To manifest still further the interest taken by the British government in the event, it was made known in October that "when the Duke of York opens the new Commonwealth Parliament, the guard of honour, it is directed, shall be so made up as to be representative of every arm of the British Army, including the Volunteers. To the Victoria and St. George's Rifles has fallen the honour of being selected to represent the entire Volunteer force of the country. A detachment of the regiment, between 50 and 60 strong, will accordingly leave for Australia in about a month and will be absent three or four months." The honor of the appointment to be the first Governor-General of the new Commonwealth fell to a Scottish nobleman, John Adrian Louis Hope, seventh Earl of Hopetoun, who had been Governor of Victoria from 1889 to 1895, and had held high offices at home, including that of Lord Chamberlain in the household of the Queen. Lord Hopetoun landed at Sydney on the 15th of December and received a great welcome. On the 30th, his Cabinet was formed, and announced, as follows: Mr. Barton, Prime Minister and Minister for External Affairs; Mr. Deakin, Attorney-General; Sir William Lyne, Minister for Home Affairs; Sir George Turner, Treasurer; Mr. Kingston, Minister of Trade and Commerce; Mr. Dickson, Minister of Defence; Sir John Forrest, Postmaster-General. AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1901 (January). Inauguration of the Federal Government. The government of the Commonwealth was inaugurated with splendid ceremonies on the first day of the New Year and the New Century, when the Governor-General and the members of the Federal Cabinet were sworn and assumed office. Two messages from the British Secretary of State for the Colonies were read, as follows: {34} "The Queen commands me to express through you to the people of Australia her Majesty's heartfelt interest in the inauguration of the Commonwealth, and her earnest wish that, under divine Providence, it may ensure the increased prosperity and well-being of her loyal and beloved subjects in Australia." "Her Majesty's Government send cordial greetings to the Commonwealth of Australia. They welcome her to her place among the nations united under her Majesty's sovereignty, and confidently anticipate for the new Federation a future of ever-increasing prosperity and influence. They recognize in the long-desired consummation of the hopes of patriotic Australians a further step in the direction of the permanent unity of the British Empire, and they are satisfied that the wider powers and responsibilities henceforth secured to Australia will give fresh opportunity for the display of that generous loyalty and devotion to the Throne and Empire which has always characterized the action in the past of its several States."