The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-06-04 00:00:00

THE WELLINGTON COLLEGE

Our columns yesterday contained an account, reported
to-day from the court circular, of the ceremonial observed
at the laying the foundation stone by her Majesty, of the
Wellington College. We now complete the account, by
supplying the address of the presidents and governors of
the institution to the Queen, and her Majesty's most

gracious reply.
The Vice-president (the Earl of Derby) read the
address, which was as follows

answer

"May it please your Majesty,—We, your Majesty's
most dutiful subjects, the vice-president and governors of
the Wellington College, approach your Majesty with the
assurance of our devoted loyalty and affectionate attach-
ment to your Majesty's throne and person, and with the
expression of our heartfelt gratitude, on our own part,
and that of all interested in this institution, for the un-
failing support and encouragement with which your
Majesty has deigned to honour it from the very first idea
of its establishment. When, upon the death of the late
illustrious Duke of Wellington, the country was anxious
to testify its deep veneration for his memory, and only
doubtful how best to give effect to the general feeling,
your Majesty was graciously pleased at once to adopt
(if indeed it may not be truly said that the idea originated
in your Majesty's own mind) the suggestion of combining
with a building, of which the architectural character
should be worthy of the occasion, an institution which
should perpetuate the name of the great deceased hi
conjuction with the permanent endowment in favour
of the service to which he owed his fame, and
on which he has conferred imperishable lustre. Sur-
rounded by all the blessings of domestic life, which
your Majesty well knows how to prize far above the
splendours of a throne, your Majesty's maternal heart
could sympathise with those less fortunate mothers, whose
lot:itmight be to look with anxiety upon a rising family,
orphaned in their country's service, and doomed to
struggle with all the evils of severe, and, above all, un-
educated poverty. An institution which should mitigate
these evils, should soothe these anxieties, should shelter,
protect, and educate these orphans, was the monument
which your Majesty invited the country to raise to the
lasting memory of the Great Duke. Your Majesty most
munificently headed the subscription for this object, and
the public have liberally responded to the call. On every
occasion on which the powers of the crown could be
brought to bear upon the ends in view, as in granting and
facilitating the passing of the Charter of Incorporation,
we have gratefully to acknowledge your Majesty's con-
tinued and unvarying support. Our deliberations have
been constantly- aided and guided by the presence and
advice of your Majesty's illustrious consort, the president
of the college ; and, in approaching the accomplishment of
our design, we have to tender to your Majesty the
expression of our humble gratitude for the sanction and
encouragement given to our undertaking by your
Majesty's presence and participation in a ceremony
originally intended to have marked the day which gave to
the world the great captain of the age, and supplied, in an
addition to your Majesty's domestic happiness, a touching
incident for the pencil of one of our greatest artists. It is
believed that the building about to be erected on the site
on which we stand, will be visible from the domain which a
nation's gratitude bestowed in perpetuity on the illus-
trious duke; and his descendants will have before their
eyes at once a memorial of the greatness of their dis-
tinguished ancestor, and of their country's recognition of
his unequalled services. It is our anxious hope that
within these walls, at no distant period, 200 orphans of
officers of your Majesty's and of the East India Com-
pany's service, may be lodged, boarded, partially clothed
and provided, between the ages of eleven and sixteen,
with the elements at least of such a religious, moral, and
intellectual education as may fit them for their future
career in life, whatever that career may be; and, if not
gratuitously, at least at a scale of expense far below
what any other institution could afford them. The
admissions will be regulated by strict attention to the
claims of the deceased officer, and the circumstances of
the surviving parent; without requiring any further
disclosure of such circumstances than may serve to
show that the total provision for the family, if equally
divided, would not exceed a given amount. Not-
withstanding the munificent contributions of your
Majesty and the public, we are not yet in a condition
to carry out our plan to its full extent ; but, looking
to the circumstances of the time, to the many claims
which may be urged upon us consequent on that which
we may happily term the late war, we have deemed it
desirable not to delay the erection of our intended build-

ing, and to rest satisfied with the partial application of
our plan, both in respect of numbers and terms of admis-
sion, until the proved efficacy of our system may induce
such increased support as may enable us to augment the
former, and render the latter yet more liberal. With
these views, we are assured that your Majesty will join
with us in commending our infant institution to the pro-
tection of that God ' who is the Father of the fatherless,
and defendeth the cause of the widow;' and to that
Almighty Protector we offer our fervent prayers, that
your Majesty may long be spared to witness the increas-
ing prosperity of this institution, which, we trust will
for ages associate the memory of your Majesty's happy
reign with the glory and patriotism of Wellington, and
show with what judicious liberality enduring honour was
paid to the greatest man of his age, by the gratitude of
his sovereign and his country."
Her Majesty returned the following most gracious

"I have received with sincere gratification the address
which you have this day presented to me. It affords me
the greatest satisfaction to avail myself of this occasion to
testify anew my warm and heartfelt participation in the
general feeling of affection and veneration for the memory
of that illustrious man whose name will be associated with
the institution which we are now meeting to inaugurate.
That satisfaction is enhanced by the character of the

monument which you propose to raise to the lasting
memory of the Duke of Wellington, and also by the cir-
cumstance of the time selected for its erection. There
could not be a more worthy record of the country's
gratitude to its greatest soldier than a permanent endow-
ment for the protection and education of the orp-

the brave men whose lives have ben laid down
in the service of which he was the chief ornament
and pride. Nor could there be a more appropriate
time for raising such a monument to his memory,
than while we are gratefully admiring the gallantry
and devotion which have been so conspicuously
displayed by my army in the late war. I have deeply
sympathised with the domestic sorrows and priva-
tions (the inevitable results of war) which have made so
many mourners, and I feel that we cannot better celebrate
the re-establishment of peace than by laying the founda-
tion of an institution which, while it will tend to sooth
their sorrows, and to mitigate the severity of their priva-
tions, will hold up to the imitation of all those who share
its benefits the example of a distinguished patriotism, of
an unceasing devotion to his country's service, of an
honesty of purpose, and of a determination in the perform-
ance of his duty, by which the long and eminent career of
the Duke of Wellington was so remarkably distinguished.
I can express no better wish for my own son, who
bears the name of that great man, than that he
would take as his guide through life the example of one
with whom it will soon be his high distinction to be con-
nected. I heartily join with you in commending this
institution to the Divine blessing, and in praying that
with its increasing prosperity the benevolent intentions
of its founders may be realised."
Her Majesty read through this long address with much
feeling and emphasis, especially the allusions to the great
duke, which brought signs of visible emotion into the
eyes of the Duchess of Wellington, who was in immediate
attendance on the Queen. An equally interested partici-
pant in the ceremonial, although unhappily he could not
be a spectator, was Lord Charles Wellesley, who, not-
withstanding his deprivation of sight, assisted .at the
foundation of this great memorial in honour of his illus-
trious parent.