Five years before this, on the 4th of April, 1865, the Prince had visited the great works erected at Barking, in Essex, and thence to the Erith Marshes to perform the ceremony of starting the great engines which lift the waters of the Southern Outfall Sewer. In a brief speech on that occasion the Prince congratulated Mr. Thwaites, then chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works, and Mr. Bazalgette, the engineer, on the completion of an important portion of the great scheme for disposing of the sewage of London, and purifying the water of the Thames. WORKMEN'S INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. _July 16th, 1870._ In the summer of 1870, while the news of impending war on the continent stirred public feeling, preparations were being quietly made in many a home and workshop for an international exhibition of art and industry. The special feature of the display was to be the encouragement of individual intelligence and skill, every object exhibited having attached to it the name of the workman, as well as the firm in whose employment he was, if not exercising his art on his own account at home. The Prince of Wales kindly consented to open the exhibition, in the name of the Queen. This was done on the 16th of July, 1870. Having received an address, giving an account of the purpose of the collection, the Prince thus replied:-- "Gentlemen,--I thank you for your address, and assure you that it is with very great pleasure I undertake the duty imposed upon me by the Queen in opening this Exhibition. The objects proposed in it are such as cannot fail to meet with the cordial approbation of all who are interested in the growth of our arts and manufactures, and who wish to connect that growth with a corresponding increase of sympathy and friendly relations between employers and their workmen. In imparting to this Exhibition an international character, you have sought to extend the range of good which may result from it, and by inviting competition between our workmen and those of foreign nations, not only to afford a wholesome stimulus to both in the exercise of their various callings, but to contribute, as far as you can, to that kindly intercourse between countries which must in the end prove the principal security for the peace of the world. The allusion which you have made to my beloved father, who would doubtless have regarded this Exhibition with the liveliest interest, as the natural supplement of that first one with which his name is especially connected, will be as affecting as it must be gratifying to the Queen. It will be my agreeable duty to report to her the proceedings of to-day, and I have only now, in her name, to wish success to the undertaking."