the many important Colonial Expeditions that have failed from hence, it cannot but be a fource of increaſed gratification now to find that the lateſt, and certainly by no means the leaſt important of them all, is now to depart from our ſhores.
It was juſt a century ſince that the Canadas, after a long and bloody ſtruggle, became an integral part of the Queen's dominions; and it was about fifty years ago that this fine Country came under the particular obſervation of your Royal Highneſs's illuſtrious Grandfather. As the reſult of this obſervation, the Duke of Kent, in 1814, afforded the high ſanction of his approbation to thoſe preliminary meaſures which have ſince reſulted in a perfect union of the Canadian provinces, and the eſtabliſhment of reſponſible government in the colony.
The viſit of your Royal Highneſs, and the renewed aſſurance it conveys of the enduring intereſt felt by Her Moſt Gracious Majeſty in all that concerns Her mighty Empire, muſt, under the circumſtances to which we have ventured to allude, be productive of unalloyed pleaſure to every ſubject of the Crown on either ſide of the Atlantic; but when it is remembered that Her Majeſty has graciouſly deputed your Royal Highneſs to inaugurate a work, not leſs remarkable for its great engineering merits, than as a proof of advancing proſperity, traceable to the wiſe meaſures which have, from time to time, been ſanctioned by Her Majefty for the improvement of our Colonial Inſtitutions, we feel aſſured of the eſpecial ſatifaction that muſt reſult from the expedition of your Royal Highneſs.
We earneſtly pray that your Royal Highneſs may be favoured with a ſpeedy and ſafe voyage, and that you may return to your native land in perfect health, as we are aſſured you will with all the pleaſure that muſt reſult from the good work which, in the name of Her Majeſty, your Royal Highneſs has undertaken.
