THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE.
January 12th, 1887.
The Imperial Institute, while it will be the grandest and most enduring memorial of the Queen's Jubilee, will also be associated in history with the name of the Prince of Wales. It was by him that the idea was first entertained, and the proposal first made; and to his zealous and persevering efforts the successful carrying out of the project is due. There had been various circumstances preparing this way for the great undertaking, but it was the success of the Indo-Colonial Exhibition, held in 1886, that led to the proposal of a permanent Imperial Institute. It would be a visible emblem of the unity of the Empire, and a place for illustrating its vast resources; a museum for exhibiting its manifold products and industries; a centre of information and communication for all the countries throughout the world under the British sovereignty; and be helpful to the increase and the distribution of the wealth of the nation. It would co-operate and not conflict with older institutions of tried utility, such as Colonial museums and exchanges, emigration societies, technical colleges, and other organizations for the welfare of the people. The scheme was worthy of being adopted as a national memorial of the Jubilee of the Queen's reign, and was fittingly inaugurated by the heir apparent to the throne.
Of the progress of the movement, and of the home for the Institute at South Kensington, it is not necessary here to speak, but the following speech of the Prince of Wales, at St. James's Palace, on the 12th of January, 1887, gives the best summary of all that is designed and expected in regard to the Imperial Institute.
Letters had been sent out inviting many influential persons to meet His Royal Highness as chairman, and the members of the organizing committee of the Institute. The banqueting room at the old Palace was filled with an audience such as has rarely been brought together on any occasion in recent years. Many of the most distinguished men in all departments of public life, the Lord Mayors of London and York, with nearly 200 Mayors, Provosts, and Chief Magistrates of English and Scottish boroughs, Masters and Wardens of City Companies, and Directors of great corporate bodies and societies were present. The Prince of Wales, on entering the room, accompanied by Prince Albert Victor, was warmly received; and thus he addressed the meeting:—
"My Lords and Gentlemen,—You are doubtless aware of the general feeling on the part of the public that some signal proof of the love and loyalty of Her Majesty's subjects throughout her widely extended Empire should be given to the Queen when she celebrates the fiftieth year of her happy reign. In order to afford to the Queen the fullest satisfaction, the proposed memorial should not be merely personal in its character, but should tend to serve the interests of the entire Empire and to promote a feeling of unity among the whole of Her Majesty's subjects. The desire to find fitting means of drawing our colonies and India into closer bonds with the mother country, a desire which of late has been clearly expressed, meets, I am sure, with the Queen's warmest sympathy. It occurred to me that the recent Colonial and Indian Exhibition, which presented a most successful display of the material resources of the colonies and India, might suggest the basis for an institute which should afford a permanent representation of the products and manufactures of the whole of the Queen's dominions. I therefore appointed a committee of eminent men to consider and report to me upon the best means of carrying out this idea.
"Upon the report of the committee being submitted to me, and after giving every clause my full consideration, it so entirely met with my approval that I accepted all its suggestions, and I therefore directed that a copy of that report should be sent to each of you. As I trust you have mastered the suggestions of that report, I do not purpose re-stating them to you in detail, but I would remind you that I propose that the memorial should bear the name of the Imperial Institute of the United Kingdom, the Colonies, and India, and that it must find its home within buildings of a character worthy to commemorate the Jubilee year of the Queen's reign.
"My proposals also are that the Imperial Institute should be an emblem of the unity of the Empire, and should illustrate the resources and capabilities of every section of her Majesty's dominions. By these means every one may become acquainted with the marvellous growth of the Queen's colonial and Indian possessions during her reign, and will be enabled to mark by the opportunities afforded for contrast how steadily these possessions have advanced in manufacturing skill and enterprise step by step with the mother country. A representative institute of this kind must necessarily be situated in London, but its organization will, I trust, be such that benefits will be equally conferred upon our provincial communities as well as upon the colonial and Indian subjects of the Crown. It is my hope that the institute will form a practical means of communication between our colonial settlers and those persons at home who may benefit by emigration. Much information and even instruction may beneficially be imparted to those who need guidance in respect to emigration.
"You are aware that the competition of industry all over the world has become keen, while commerce and manufactures have been profoundly affected by the recent rapid progress of science and the increased facilities of inter-communication offered by steam and the electric telegraph. In consequence of these changes all nations are using strenuous efforts to produce a trained intelligence among their people. The working classes of this country have not been slow to show their desire for improvement in this direction. They wish to place themselves in a position of intellectual power by using all opportunities offered to them to secure an understanding of the principles as well as of the practice of the work in which they are engaged. No less than 16,000,000 persons from all parts of the kingdom have attended the four exhibitions over which I presided, representing fisheries, public health, inventions, and the colonies and India, and I assure you I would not have undertaken the labour attending their administration had I not felt a deep conviction that such exhibitions added to the knowledge of the people and stimulated the industries of the country.
"I have on more than one occasion expressed my own views, founded upon those so often enunciated by my lamented father, that it is of the greatest importance to do everything within our power to advance the knowledge as well as the practical skill of the productive classes of the Empire. I therefore commend to you as the leading idea I entertain that the institute should be regarded as a centre for extending knowledge in relation to the industrial resources and commerce of the Queen's dominions. With this view it should be in constant touch, not only with the chief manufacturing districts of this country, but also with all the colonies and India. Such objects are large in their scope, and must necessarily be so, if this institute is worthily to represent the unity of the Empire.
"To some minds the scheme may not be sufficiently comprehensive, because it does not provide for systematic courses of technical instruction in connection with the collections and libraries of the proposed institute. I would be the last person to undervalue this suggestion. I am well aware that the advantages we have enjoyed in the competition of the world by the possession of fuel, combined with large mineral resources and by the maritime habits of our people, are now becoming of less importance, as trained intellect has in other countries been more and more applied to productive industry. But I know that this truth has already penetrated our centres of manufacturing activity, for many of the large towns have founded colleges and schools of science and art to increase the intellectual factor of production. London, also, has taken important steps in the same direction. The Imperial Institute should be a supplement to, and not a competitor with, other institutions for technical education in science and art both at home and in the colonies. At the same time, I trust that the institute will be able to stimulate and aid local efforts by directing scholarships for the working-classes into suitable channels, and by other similar means.
"Though the institute does not engage in the direct object of systematic technical education, it may well be the means of promoting it, as its purpose is to extend an exact knowledge of the industrial resources of the Empire. It will be a place of study and resort for producers and consumers from the colonies and India when they visit this country for business or pleasure, and they, as well as the merchants and manufacturers of the United Kingdom, will find in its collections, libraries, conference and intelligence rooms, the means of extending the commerce and of improving the manufacturing industries of the Empire. I trust, too, that colonial and Indian subjects visiting this country will find some sort of social welcome within the proposed building. This institute will thus be an emblem, as well as a practical exponent, of the community of interests and the unity of feeling throughout the extended dominions of the Queen.
"From the close relation in which I stand to the Queen, there can be no impropriety in my stating that if her subjects desire, on the occasion of the celebration of her fiftieth year as Sovereign of this great Empire, to offer her a memorial of their love and loyalty, she would specially value one which would promote the industrial and commercial resources of her dominions in various parts of the world, and which would be expressive of that unity and co-operation which Her Majesty desires should prevail among all classes and races of her extended Empire.
"My lords and gentlemen, I have invited you to meet on this occasion in order that I may appeal to you to give me your assistance in establishing and maintaining the Imperial Institute. If you approve of the views I have expressed, I am certain I may rely upon your strenuous co-operation to carry them into effect. I admit that it has not been without anxiety that I resolved to make the propositions I submitted to you, but confidence and support have come to me in the knowledge that I can appeal to you, and through you to the whole country, to give your aid to a work which I believe will be of lasting benefit to this and future generations."
Resolutions were proposed and speeches made by Earl Spencer, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Viscount Hampden, the Lord Mayor of London, the Mayor of Newcastle, and the Marquis of Lorne, approving the scheme, and promising hearty support. The Lord Mayor proposed a vote of thanks to the Prince, who tendered his thanks for the attendance at the meeting, and the approval given to the proposal.
"I am glad, gentlemen, to have this opportunity of expressing to you collectively and individually my deep feelings of gratitude, in seeing you all here to-day at a time of year when travelling is neither easy nor pleasant, considering the distances which you have had to come; and also for the kind response which you have made to my appeal. It augurs well for the future, and I feel convinced you will do all in your power to assist me in making this Imperial Institute worthy of the name of our Queen and of her Empire. The promotion of this scheme is with me a labour of love, and it must, I am sure, strike you all that, apart from wishing to do honour to the name of my beloved mother, nobody is more desirous than I am that a monument, if I may use the term, may be erected worthy of her Empire."
A public meeting was held the same day at the Mansion House, attended by a large number of the most influential men in the City. The Lord Mayor (Sir Reginald Hanson), Earl Granville, Mr. Plunket, M.P., Mr. Mundella, M.P., Mr. Goschen, M.P., and Lord Rothschild, were among the speakers, and resolutions were passed with an enthusiasm which gave good augury for the success of the Imperial Institute.