"I thank you for the loyal address which you have presented to me, and would express the heartfelt satisfaction which I experience in visiting an institution with which my lamented brother's name will ever be associated. You have referred to his touching words when laying the foundation stone of this building, and I am reminded that on that memorable occasion he stated that he had lent his aid to an enterprise on the accomplishment of which he would be able to look back with feelings of satisfaction and pride! It was not permitted to him to see this noble structure in its finished state, but I rejoice to know that prior to the great calamity which befell us he had received an intimation that the building was approaching completion. "I observe with pleasure the names of the distinguished contributors to the building fund, and I rejoice that the Queen has shown her interest in an institution which met with the warm support of my revered father. Sixty years ago the Duke of Sussex performed the inaugural ceremony of your old building; and it speaks much for the vitality of your institution that after so lengthened a period a member of my family should be again invited to declare a building open so extensive as this one, the erection of which has been absolutely demanded by the expansion of your work. An institution in which provision is made for 6000 students, and to which both sexes are invited, must exert a very beneficial influence on the young men and women of the Metropolis, for whose mental advancement it has been erected. Many of the students in the old building have worthily distinguished themselves, and it behoves those who partake of the greater advantages of the new institution to emulate the noble examples which have been set by their predecessors. "The movement initiated by Dr. George Birkbeck was a very remarkable one, and the foundation of the old institution was an event of historic importance. We are informed that this movement has spread not only throughout the Kingdom, but that its ramifications have extended to different parts of the world, and the presence to-day of representatives of our Colonies is to me one of the most interesting features of the proceedings. The success of Dr. Birkbeck's work is to be traced in the fact that, in the words of Professor Tyndall, 'it responded at the proper time to a national need, and to a need of human nature.'