"My lords and gentlemen, I have invited you to meet on this occasion in order that I may appeal to you to give me your assistance in establishing and maintaining the Imperial Institute. If you approve of the views I have expressed, I am certain I may rely upon your strenuous co-operation to carry them into effect. I admit that it has not been without anxiety that I resolved to make the propositions I submitted to you, but confidence and support have come to me in the knowledge that I can appeal to you, and through you to the whole country, to give your aid to a work which I believe will be of lasting benefit to this and future generations." Resolutions were proposed and speeches made by Earl Spencer, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Viscount Hampden, the Lord Mayor of London, the Mayor of Newcastle, and the Marquis of Lorne, approving the scheme, and promising hearty support. The Lord Mayor proposed a vote of thanks to the Prince, who tendered his thanks for the attendance at the meeting, and the approval given to the proposal. "I am glad, gentlemen, to have this opportunity of expressing to you collectively and individually my deep feelings of gratitude, in seeing you all here to-day at a time of year when travelling is neither easy nor pleasant, considering the distances which you have had to come; and also for the kind response which you have made to my appeal. It augurs well for the future, and I feel convinced you will do all in your power to assist me in making this Imperial Institute worthy of the name of our Queen and of her Empire. The promotion of this scheme is with me a labour of love, and it must, I am sure, strike you all that, apart from wishing to do honour to the name of my beloved mother, nobody is more desirous than I am that a monument, if I may use the term, may be erected worthy of her Empire." A public meeting was held the same day at the Mansion House, attended by a large number of the most influential men in the City. The Lord Mayor (Sir Reginald Hanson), Earl Granville, Mr. Plunket, M.P., Mr. Mundella, M.P., Mr. Goschen, M.P., and Lord Rothschild, were among the speakers, and resolutions were passed with an enthusiasm which gave good augury for the success of the Imperial Institute. THE LONDON ORPHAN ASYLUM. _March 12th, 1887._