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 have
seen 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
upon 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 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
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