On Saturday, July 10, a dinner was given at the St. George's Club, Hanover Square, in honour of the Colonial Premiers, five of whom were present. A distinguished company assembled; but the occasion would not have merited mention in a history of the Queen's reign, had it not been for a speech made by the Right Hon. G. J. Goschen, First Lord of the Admiralty. In language, the very simplicity of which riveted attention from the first--coming as it did from the most eloquent member of Lord Salisbury's Cabinet--Mr. Goschen announced that he had that day received a battleship from Sir J. Gordon Sprigg, representing the Government of Cape Colony! His actual words were:-- "To-day I have had an interesting scene, a simple scene, but one which will come home to all of you. I received the present of an ironclad at the hands of a British Colony. (Loud cheers.) There was no ceremonial, there was no great reception, there was no blare of trumpets; but Sir Gordon Sprigg simply came to the First Lord of the Admiralty and told him that the Cape Colony was prepared to place an ironclad of the first-class at the disposal of the Empire. (Cheers.) I thank him on behalf of the English nation, I thank him on behalf of the Government, and I thank him also on behalf of the Empire at large, of which the Cape Colony is so distinguished a part. That offer of a first-class battleship is accompanied by no conditions; but it is proposed that that ship shall take its place side by side with those sister ships, paid for by the British taxpayer, which many of you have seen at Spithead. (Hear, hear.) No conditions attach to it; it is a free gift intended to add to the power of the British Empire." (Cheers.) This statement evoked expressions of great enthusiasm from the gentlemen who dined at the St. George's Club that night; the next morning it thrilled the entire nation. The zenith of the Jubilee celebrations of 1897 was reached; a self-governing Colony had come forward and presented to the Crown the most magnificent gift of which history has any record! Jewels and gold and the richest products of Oriental looms have been showered on our Empress-Queen until her palaces have become museums of priceless offerings; but that of the Government and people of Cape Colony outvalued these as much as they outvalue the treasures of ordinary men. Not so much the gift itself, however, but the spirit of the givers touched the heart of the British people. Not in their most visionary dreams had Imperialists contemplated such a consummation as this. Sentiment, so often and so thoughtlessly derided, had triumphed over the cold calculations of the "practical" politician, and the foundation-stone of a united Anglo-Saxon Empire had been laid. [Illustration: A. Prince of Wales. B. Duke of Coburg. C. Duke of Connaught. D. Princess of Wales. E. Duke of Cambridge. _S. Begg._} {_By permission of the proprietors of the "Illustrated London News."_