The Prince vacated the chair, which was then taken by the Lord Mayor, and His Royal Highness left, amid loud cheers. His Royal Highness afterwards graciously consented to become Patron of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society.
VISIT TO IRELAND IN 1885.
April 9th-17th.
Seventeen years had passed since the Prince and Princess of Wales had been in Ireland, and had been received with generous and loyal enthusiasm. It was feared by many that the spirit of loyalty in the Irish people had died away and could never be revived. The selfish and treasonable agitators who had long stirred up hostile and disloyal feelings were vexed and angry when they heard of another Royal visit. They used every means that a malign ingenuity could suggest to repress the generous impulses of the Irish race, and did all in their power to prepare for the Prince and Princess of Wales a reception different from that which had been given on their former visits. When they found that the mass of the people looked forward with joyful anticipation to the coming of the Prince and Princess among them, they recommended, on the part of what they called the national party, to maintain a "dignified neutrality," and to abstain from joining in the loyal demonstration with which it was evident the Royal visitors would be welcomed. The design proved a failure. From the moment of landing at Kingstown to the day of their departure, not in Dublin only, but in the progress through the south of Ireland, the feeling of disaffection and disloyalty was overborne by the spontaneous and hearty enthusiasm of the people.
The first manifestation of loyal feeling was displayed at Kingstown, when an address was presented by the Commissioners of the township. The reply of the Prince shows how the spirit of the address was appreciated:—
"Mr. Chairman and Town Commissioners of Kingstown,—It has given me great pleasure to receive the address with which you have greeted me on my first landing in Ireland after some absence from your shores, and I am grateful to you for the welcome which you have accorded to the Princess of Wales and myself. I value, I can assure you, very highly the expression of loyalty and attachment to the Crown which your address contains, and I will not fail to communicate to the Queen the sentiments of loyalty and of devotion which you express towards Her Majesty. Most certainly do I hope that this may not be the last visit which we shall pay to a country where we have always been welcomed by kindness, and where the hospitality which we have invariably received on all former occasions has left so many pleasant recollections impressed on our minds."
On arriving at Dublin the first address was presented by the City Reception Committee, the citizens having, with the hearty co-operation of all classes, undertaken to pay the common courtesies of welcome, which rightly should have been done, and on former occasions were done, by the Lord Mayor and Corporation. An address was at the same time presented by the Chamber of Commerce. To both addresses the Prince thus replied:—
"Mr. Martin, Mr. Guinness, and Gentlemen,—On behalf of the Princess of Wales and myself, I thank you heartily for the address you have read to me, and I am very grateful to the citizens of Dublin who through you have welcomed me to their city. It gives the Princess and myself much gratification once more to visit a country where we have received so much kindness, and I regret the length of the interval which has elapsed since we last were in Ireland, and fully appreciate your sentiments of loyalty to the Throne and Constitution, and I will take care to communicate to the Queen your expressions of devotion and attachment to Her Majesty. It will give me much pleasure to renew my acquaintance with Dublin and see the results of the civic and private enterprise to which you refer. The furtherance of the welfare of all classes of the realm is an object which is dear to me, and I trust that the efforts of the Commission of which I am a member will tend to the improvement of the dwellings of those who contribute by their labour to the prosperity of our great towns, and will thus add to their public utility as citizens as well as to their private and domestic happiness. I hope to visit many parts of Ireland and see much of the work, as well as share some of the amusements, of the Irish people. The kindness with which you have greeted me encourages me to look forward with pleasure to my visit to a country where courtesy and hospitality have ever been the characteristics of the people."
One passage in the address of the Chamber of Commerce the Prince did not refer to, but it is of great importance. After the warm expressions of loyalty to the Throne and the Constitution, and of devotion to the Queen and the Royal Family, the address continued, "We earnestly desire that your present visit may be productive of so much pleasure to your Royal Highnesses that you may feel encouraged to honour Ireland hereafter by visits of more frequent occurrence and of longer duration. We venture to assure you that it would be a great gratification to Her Majesty's loyal subjects in Ireland if a permanent Royal residence should be established in our country, and if some members of the Royal Family should see fit to make their home among us for some part of every year." About the permanent Royal residence in Ireland, the Prince kept a judicious silence, for it is a point which involves financial as well as political questions. But the opinion of the best Irish, of all classes, may well be considered, if the proposal is brought before Parliament.