(Loud Applause.) The Desire For Such Closer Intimacy Is One Of The Most Remarkable And One Of The Best Features In The Political Life Of The Present Day.

Our periodical literature, our proceedings in parliament, the public discussions which have recently taken place and in which some

Of our most prominent Canadians have taken a part, all indicate a remarkable awakening to the importance of the noblest colonial empire which the world has ever seen, and a desire to draw closer the ties of sympathy and allegiance which bind us reciprocally. (Applause.) And, ladies and gentlemen, whatever difficulty there may be in the way of a revision of the political relations of the mother country and her colonies, it is satisfactory to reflect that there are none in the way of such an alliance as that which you are establishing to-day between the culture of the old world and that of the new. (Applause.) In the domain of science there can be no conflict of local and imperial interests - no constitution to revise - no embarrassing considerations of foreign and domestic policy. We are all partners and co-heirs of a great empire, and we may work side by side without misgiving, and with a certainty that every addition to the common fund of knowledge and mutual enlightenment is an unmixed advantage to the whole empire. (Loud applause.) I believe, Lord Rayleigh, that your visit will be fraught with far reaching advantages both to hosts and guests. We shall gain in acquaintance with our visitors, and in the publicity which their visit will give to the resources and attractions of this country. We believe that it will be more justly appreciated in proportion as it becomes more widely known and more thoroughly understood. (Applause.) Sympathy, as a distinguished Canadian has lately written, begets knowledge, and knowledge again adds to sympathy. You, ladies and gentlemen, who have lately left the mother country, will gain in the opportunity which will be afforded you of studying the life of a people younger than your own but engaged in the solution of many problems similar to those which engage our attention at home, and observing the conduct of your own race amidst the surroundings of another hemisphere. On every side you will find objects of interest. Our political system, the working of federation, the arrangements of the different provinces for the education of our youth, our railways pushed across this continent with an enterprise which has never been surpassed by the oldest and largest communities - (loud applause) - our forests, our geology, our mineral resources, our agriculture in all its different phases ranging from the quiet homesteads and skilful cultivation of the older provinces to the newly reclaimed prairies of the North-west, which we expect to yield us this season a surplus of from six to nine millions of bushels, the history and characteristics of our native races, and the manner in which we have dealt with them - all these will afford you opportunities of study which few other portions of the globe could present in such variety.

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