COLONIAL BANQUET AT THE MANSION HOUSE.
July 16th, 1881.
The Lord Mayor of London entertained the Prince of Wales, President of the Colonial Institute, and a large company of representatives of the Colonies, with other distinguished guests, at dinner, at the Mansion House, on July the 16th, 1881. Seldom has there been such an assemblage in the Capital of the British Empire. Governors, Premiers, and Administrators of so many countries were present, that one might almost wonder how affairs went on in their absence. But rulers as well as subjects must have holiday rest, and the facility and rapidity of travel allow easy access from all parts of the world to "the mother country."
The Lord Mayor (Sir William McArthur, M.P.), after the toast of "The Queen," said that they were honoured with the presence of an unexpected but very distinguished guest, the King of the Sandwich Islands. It was the first time that His Majesty had visited Europe, and he naturally wished to visit the land which first made known to the world the islands of the Pacific. "Having once visited the Sandwich Islands," said the Lord Mayor, "I was charmed not only with the beauty of the scenery and the fertility of the soil, but with the good order which everywhere prevailed. His Majesty reigns over a very prosperous and a very happy people."
The toast being duly honoured, the King of the Sandwich Islands expressed his high sense of the graciousness of the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and the other Royal and distinguished persons he had met, and would carry back to his country the most grateful and pleasant recollections of his visit.
Tho Lord Mayor next gave "The health of the Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, and the other members of the Royal Family." In response to the toast, the Prince arose amidst great cheering, and said:—
"My Lord Mayor, your Majesty, my Lords and Gentlemen,—For the kind and remarkably flattering way in which you, my Lord Mayor, have been good enough to propose this toast, and you, my lords and gentlemen, for the kind and hearty way in which you have received it, I beg to offer you my most sincere thanks. It is a peculiar pleasure to me to come to the City, because I have the honour of being one of its freemen. But this is, indeed, a very special dinner, one of a kind that I do not suppose has ever been given before; for we have here this evening representatives of probably every Colony in the Empire. We have not only the Secretary of the Colonies, but Governors past and present, ministers, administrators, and agents are all, I think, to be found here this evening. I regret that it has not been possible for me to see half or one-third of the colonies which it has been the good fortune of my brother the Duke of Edinburgh to visit. In his voyages round the world he has had opportunities more than once of seeing all our great colonies. Though I have not been able personally to see them, or only a small portion of them, you may rest assured it does not diminish in any way the interest I take in them.
"It is, I am sorry to say, now going on for twenty-one years since I visited our large North American colonies. Still, though I was very young at the time, the remembrance of that visit is as deeply imprinted on my memory now as it was at that time. I shall never forget the public receptions which were accorded to me in Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, and if it were possible for me at any time to repeat that visit, I need not tell you, gentlemen, who now represent here those great North American colonies, of the great pleasure it would give me to do so. It affords me great gratification to see an old friend, Sir John Macdonald, the Premier of Canada, here this evening.
"It was a most pressing invitation, certainly, that I received two years ago to visit the great Australasian Colonies, and though at the time I was unable to give an answer, in the affirmative or in the negative, still it soon became apparent that my many duties here in England would prevent my accomplishing what would have been a long, though a most interesting voyage. I regret that such has been the case, and that I was not able to accept the kind invitation I received to visit the Exhibitions at Sydney and at Melbourne. I am glad, however, to know that they have proved a great success, as has been testified to me only this evening by the noble Duke (Manchester) by my side, who has so lately returned. Though, my lords and gentlemen, I have, as I have said before, not had the opportunity of seeing these great Australasian Colonies, which every day and every year are making such immense development, still, at the International Exhibitions of London, Paris, and Vienna, I had not only an opportunity of seeing their various products there exhibited, but I had the pleasure of making the personal acquaintance of many colonists—a fact which has been a matter of great importance and great benefit to myself.
"It is now thirty years since the first International Exhibition took place in London, and then for the first time colonial exhibits were shown to the world. Since that time, from the Exhibitions which have followed our first great gathering in 1851, the improvements that have been made are manifest. That in itself is a clear proof of the way in which the colonies have been exerting themselves to make their vast territories of the great importance that they are at the present moment. But though, my Lord Mayor, I have not been to Australasia, as you have mentioned, I have sent my two sons on a visit there; and it has been a matter of great gratification, not only to myself and to the Princess, but to the Queen, to hear of the kindly reception they have met with everywhere. They are but young, but I feel confident that their visit to the Antipodes will do them an incalculable amount of good. On their way out they visited a colony in which, unfortunately, the condition of affairs was not quite as satisfactory as we could wish, and as a consequence they did not extend their visits in that part of South Africa quite so far inland as might otherwise have been the case. I must thank you once more, my Lord Mayor, for the kind way in which you have proposed this toast.
"I thank you, in the name of the Princess and the other members of the Royal Family, for the kind reception their names have met with from all here to-night, and I beg again to assure you most cordially and heartily of the great pleasure it has given me to be present here among so many distinguished colonists and gentlemen connected with the colonies, and to have had an opportunity of meeting your distinguished guest, the King of the Sandwich Islands. If your lordship's visit to his dominions remains impressed on your mind, I think your lordship's kindly reception of His Majesty here to-night is not likely soon to be forgotten by him."
The Duke of Manchester, in responding to the toast of "The House of Lords," said that he took much less part in the proceedings of that august body than many of its members. He had, however, lately visited some of our colonies—and that was, perhaps, the reason why he was called upon to respond to that toast. Having given some remarkable statistics of progress in Australia, he said, "It was calculated that Australians and New Zealanders, per head, man, woman, and child, consumed £8 10s.-worth of British goods, while France only rated at 7s. 8d. per head, and the United States at 7s. per head. These were facts showing that, if for no other reason, there were very forcible financial reasons why we should consolidate, encourage, and promote in every way the prosperity of the British Colonies."
The Speaker, in returning thanks on behalf of the House of Commons, said he was one of those who had a great faith in the future of the English people throughout the world. Wherever Englishmen set their foot they grew and prospered; they had learnt the habit of self-government, and were well acquainted with the forms of government, and they carried with them English customs, English habits, English institutions. Thus we had a great Colonial Empire firmly compacted together of colonists from the old country, all loyal subjects of the Crown. He trusted and believed that that state of things would long continue, and he hoped that the bonds between those colonies and the mother country would become closer and closer from generation to generation.
The Lord Mayor then proposed the toast of the evening, "The British Colonies," to which the Earl of Kimberley replied, concluding with these words: "This is a representative assembly, and one of the most remarkable ever gathered together in this Metropolis. I congratulate you, my Lord Mayor, on the happy notion of bringing together this assembly, which must have an equally happy effect in promoting good feeling both here and in the Colonies, inasmuch as it is a type of the union which ought to bind us together."