After short speeches by Lord Carlingford, Mr. Mundella, and the Lord Mayor, the Prince inspected the various parts of the Institute, including the rooms where specimens of the work of students of the Finsbury College, and where exhibits from foreign technical schools were displayed.
ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY MEETING IN GUILDHALL.
August 1st, 1884.
One of the most important meetings presided over by the Prince of Wales, and one of the most memorable gatherings for many a year past seen in the City of London, was that held in the Guildhall, on the 1st of August, 1884. The object was to celebrate the Jubilee of the Abolition of Slavery in the British Colonies, to recall the work of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society during the last half-century, and to consider the position and prospects of the slavery question at the present time throughout the world.
It was in every respect a most remarkable meeting. The great Hall was densely crowded from end to end. On the platform were assembled large numbers of distinguished persons, of different creeds, and opposite political parties, but all united in the cause which had brought them together that day. The names of a few of those present will show how various were the classes thus represented. The Lord Mayor (Alderman Fowler, M.P.), and the Chief Magistrates of London, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal Manning, Earl Granville and the Earl of Derby, Sir Stafford Northcote and Mr. W. E. Forster, Mr. Sergeant Simon. Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Mr. T. R. Potter, Mr. Henry Richard, and many other leading members of Parliament, sat together on the same platform. There were present a few of the veterans who had taken part in the anti-slavery struggles fifty years before, such as Joseph Sturge and Sir Harry Verney, M.P. Descendants of the early champions of the cause, bearing the honoured names of Wilberforce, Lushington, Buxton, Pease, Forster, showed that the spirit of their fathers was maintained in a new generation. Among the ladies on the platform were the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, Miss Gordon, the sister of General Gordon, of Khartoum, and some members of the Society of Friends, always abounding in good works.
The Secretary of the Society read a list of names of those unable to be present, but expressing warm sympathy with the purpose of the meeting. There were letters from the Chief Rabbi, from Lord Salisbury, the Duke of Norfolk, the Duke of Sutherland, the Duke of Argyll, Lord Carnarvon, and other men of distinction. The most touching communication was from the venerated Earl of Shaftesbury, who had promised to attend, but was obliged to dictate a letter from a sick-bed, in which he expressed the satisfaction he felt in having lived to see such changes in regard to slavery during the past fifty years. On the daïs behind the platform were busts of Granville Sharp, and of Clarkson, decorated with flowers, and in front were exhibited massive wooden yokes and iron chains, such as are used for the gangs of slaves in the journey to the coast of Africa.
Well might Lord Granville express his delight on "looking at this assembly of eminent men in all the walks of life in this country, of different professions, of different pursuits, of different religious denominations, of different political parties, all absorbed by one philanthropic idea, and presided over by the illustrious Prince, the Heir-Apparent to the Throne." How the Prince came to occupy this position, it may interest many readers to know. Mr. Allen, the Secretary of the Society, and Mr. W. E. Forster, went to ask him to preside at the meeting. Mr. Forster, for whom the Prince had high personal esteem, reminded him that his father had made his first public appearance as chairman of a meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society. The Prince did not need to be reminded of this, but at once most cordially assented to preside from his own interest in the subject, and if Mr. Allen would give a few necessary dates and facts he would do the best he could. With this assurance the success of the meeting was secured.
The Lord Mayor, according to civic custom, having taken the chair for an instant, then vacated it, and invited His Royal Highness to preside over the meeting. The Prince then rose, amidst enthusiastic cheers, and said:—