Fifty-one
years ago, King Edward, then Prince of Wales, came across the sea to visit his
future subjects in Canada and to shake hands with his American relations who,
under a former king, had wandered off after strange gods and set up business
for themselves. On the morning of the 18th of August, 1860, the
prince and the Duke of Newcastle, together with the retinue that accompanied
them, arrived in Quebec, and till the latter part of September, when he bade
farewell to Hamilton as he was leaving Canada to cross into the United States,
his tour was one round of festivities. At every point, corporations and
societies fired addresses at the prince, to which he replied in a hearty
manner. The prince was then only about nineteen years of age, but he bore
himself with all the cleverness of a man and as a representative of his good
mother, Queen Victoria. Everywhere the people received him with loyal
affection, Canada had then a small population, not exceeding 4,000,000, and at
that time was slowing recovering from the financial panic of 1857 that had
spread over the entire American continent. Hamilton was a town of but few
industries, and they were built on a small scale. Yesterday, when King Edward’s
brother was here to visit the city, the committee that had him in charge was
able to show him one of the most prosperous in all Canada, with its nearly four
hundred great manufacturing industries, and a population that could afford to
have meat three times a day, a majority of whom live in their own comfortable
houses, and are able to clothe themselves and their families as becomes a
prosperous people. Some five or six years before the prince’s visit to Canada,
the Duke of Newcastle delivered a speech in which he foreshadowed the
possibility of a closer union between Canada and the mother country, and the
coming of the prince was to open the way to the formation of a new empire on
this continent. One of the fruits of the prince’s visit was the creation of Red
River into a colony, and then the formation of a united confederacy extending
from Canada on the east to British Columbia on the west, composed of six or
eight independent state sovereignties, united under a single vice-regal federal
head, to be as nearly independent as can be made to consist with the Queen’s supremacy.
The prophecy of the Duke of Newcastle in that speech of nearly sixty years ago
has been working to a fulfillment.
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The children and young people of
Hamilton half a century ago, when the Prince of Wales visited here, have either
passed from the stage of active life, or have gone out to other homes in this
or the adjoining country. In looking over the list of committees who had the
prince’s reception in charge, not one of the members of those committees is now
living. Half a century makes great changes. Only two men who were prominent in
public affairs then are now living – the Hon. Adam Brown, chairman of the waterworks
commission, and D. B. Galbraith, a member of the same commission. Of the 25 men
who did duty on the police force during the visit, only one survives – John
Carruthers, then chief of police. At first it had been announced that the
prince could only spend one day in Hamilton, but when the program was made up,
it was found that this would not do at all, so the committee got busy in
communicating with the Duke of Newcastle and got the time extended to three
days. Happy Hamilton! At first it was only arranged for a banquet at the Royal
hotel and a ball in the hall of the Mechanics’ institute in the evening, but
when the time was extended to three days, the banquet and ball were changed to
the Anglo-American hotel, and in the yard in the rear of the hotel was built a
large dancing pavilion, the dining room being used for the banquet. It cost
something to dine and dance with royalty, for the price of the tickets was put
at $10 to admit a lady and a gentleman. As every gentleman had to wear a dress
suit and the gowns of the ladies were of the finest quality, it is needless to
say that nthe company assembled at the Anglo-American on that historic night
was made up of those who had money to burn. Let it be said to the credit of the
old-timers in Hamilton, that they never did anything in a half-hearted manner :
and the later visits of the members of the royal family give evidence that the
newer generations are not one whit behind
the fathers and mothers of half a century ago.
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Hamilton was then constructing its
great waterworks system, and although water had been turned on in the mains in
the latter part of 1859, it had been decided that in view of the coming of the
prince, the formal inauguration of the system should be left until his arrival.
Then the provincial exhibition would be in full blast, and here the prince was
to have a view of what Canada was doing in agriculture, the breeding of fine
horses, cattle and other domestic animals, and also what it promised in the
future as a manufacturing country. The residences of Messrs. Juson and McLaren
were set apart for the home of the prince during his stay. As the grounds of
both residences adjoined, it made it very convenient for the royal party. No
lovelier spot could have been selected. The prince and Duke of Newcastle and
their retinues occupied the Juson houses, and the attaches and others of the
party occupied the McLaren house. Etiquette requires that when royalty occupies
the homes of the people, the family moves out during the time, and as they
always have their own chef, purveyor and servants, there is very little clash
in the appointments.
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On the Friday preceding the arrival of
the prince in this city the Hamilton Field Battery, under command of Lieut-Col.
Booker, went down to Niagara Falls by train and went into camp, awaiting the
arrival of the prince. The officers in charge of the battery were Captain
Harris, Lieut. Villiers, Lieut. O’Reilly, Lieut. McCabe and Quartermaster
Blachford. On the arrival of the train with the royal party, a royal salute was
fired by the battery. The party remained at the Clifton House over Sunday, and
on Monday went down to Brock’s monument at Queenston, where the prince
performed the ceremony of laying the cornerstone of the monument, after which
they went down to the old town of Niagara. Here it might be stated as a matter
of history, that on the 22nd day of August, 1792, Prince Edward,
Duke of Kent, the grandfather of the young prince, had landed in the same town.
Niagara was then the only town in Upper Canada and was also the capital. On
Monday evening about five o’clock the royal party arrived in Hamilton and was
welcomed by a royal salute by the field battery. There was an immense throng to
greet the guests of the city, and there were hearty cheers as the procession
went from the depot to the combined residences of Messrs. Juson and McLaren. It
would be interesting to give the names of the merchants whose business houses
were decorated and illuminated, but space will not permit. That evening, the
prince and his party attended a concert by the Hamilton Philharmonic society.
At half-past ten the next morning, the royal party visited the Central school,
where the prince was presented with an address by Dr. W. L. Billings, chairman
of the board of trustees.
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That afternoon was to be the crowning
feature of the visit. The prince was to have the honor of inaugurating the
waterworks system. The Hon. Adam Brown and his associate commissioners were
waiting anxiously for the arrival of the party, which had been sent in the
wrong direction by a mistake of the policeman who was to point out the way. Governor-General
Head, who was one of the party, was wrathy and said things, but the prince and
the Duke of Newcastle poured oil on troubled waters and restored to good humor
the governor-general. After the address of greeting by Mr. Brown, the prince
entered the engine room and turned on the steam in both engines, and when the
wheels went round, the prince went outside and in his boyish way yelled with
delight to see the stream playing 100 feet high. Thus was the Hamilton
waterworks system inaugurated, and as that date may be remembered for all time
to come we will state that it was on Tuesday September 18, 1860.
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The ball and banquet that night at night at
the Anglo-American was a fitting close to the reception of loyal Hamilton to
the Prince of Wales, afterward King Edward. There was such a demand for tickets
that the number had to be limited, and many a fair young girl and her escort
who had gone to the hotel hoping to gain entrance had to sorrowfully return
home – or go to Ecclestone’s confectionery and eat ice cream and cakes instead
of the viands prepared for royalty and his entertainers. A few minutes before
eleven o’clock the royal party entered the ball room, the orchestra playing God
Save the Queen. His royal highness opened the ball with Mrs. D. McNab, dancing
the first set of quadrilles with her. That no mistake may be made in the
future, let us here state that royalty in dancing with a subject, or anybody
not of royal blood, never extends the right hand to his or her partner – always
the left hand. The ladies with whom the prince danced that night were : Mrs.
David McNab, Miss Mills, Miss MCnab, Miss Widder, Miss Smith, Miss Thomas, Mrs.
William Lawrason, Miss Strickland, Miss Murney, Miss Powell, Miss Emily Murney,
Miss Proudfoot, Miss Benson, Miss Geddes and Miss Reynolds. How mad the other
girls were who did not have the honor of dancing with the prince! It was almost
the dawn of morning when the weary prince turned his face toward his temporary
home and slipped into his pyjamas for a few hours’ sleep.
The next day the prince inaugurated the
Provincial exhibition, and at two o’clock that afternoon bade farewell to
Hamilton for his tour in the United States. For three days, Hamilton was on the
top wave of happiness, for never before had it enjoyed such a gala time. In
replying to the address of the officers of the exhibition, he said : “My duties
as representative of the Queen, deputed by her to visit British North America,
cease this day, but in private capacity I am about to visit, before my return
home, that remarkable land which claims with us a common ancestry, and in whose
extraordinary progress every Englishman feels a common interest. Before,
however, I quit British soil, let me once more address through you the
inhabitants of Western Canada, and bid them farewell. May God pour down His
choicest blessings upon this loyal people.” The prince made one of the best
kings that ever ruled over the British Empire. Future Musers will tell to the
readers of the Spectator the incidents and events of the visit yesterday to the
city by the Duke and Duchess of Connaught. In 1860, this old Muser was working
in Cincinnati when the Prince of Wales visited that city, and we had the
pleasure of seeing his royal highness and the reception that was tendered to
him by the people of that American city.
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