9 Nov. 1859 for the celebration of his eighteenth birthday, which was reckoned in royal circles a virtual coming of age. His parents again presented him with a carefully penned exhortation in which they warned him that he would henceforth be exempted from parental authority, but that they would always be ready with their counsel at his request. As he read the document the sense of his parents' solicitude for his welfare and his new responsibilities moved him to tears. But the assurance of personal independence lacked genuine significance. In the Easter vacation of 1860 he paid a first visit to his father's home at Coburg, and made 'a very good impression.' He pleased his parents by the good account he brought them of 'dear' Stockmar's state of health (Letters of Queen Victoria, iii. 5; 25 April 1860). On his return home he found (Sir) Richard Owen lecturing his brothers and sisters on natural history, and he attended once (23 April 1860). In London at the opening of the long vacation he enjoyed the first of his many experiences of laying foundation stones. He performed the ceremony for the School of Art at Lambeth.
A formidable journey was to interrupt his Oxford undergraduate career. In July 1860 he carried out a scheme long in his parents' In Canada, July-Sept. 1860. minds, which exerted on his development a far more beneficial effect than any likely to come of his academic training. During the Crimean war the Canadian government, which had equipped a regiment of infantry for active service, had requested the queen to visit Canada. She declined the invitation, but promised that the Prince of Wales should go there as soon as he was old enough. When that decision was announced, the president of the United States, James Buchanan, and the corporation of New York, both sent the queen requests that he should visit America. The queen very gradually overcame maternal misgivings of the safety of an English prince among American republicans. The American invitations were at length accepted, with the proviso that the American visit was to be treated as a private one. In any case the projected tour acquired something more than a merely colonial interest. An impressive introduction to public life was thus designed for the heir to the English throne. A large and dignified suite was collected. The prince was accompanied by the duke of Newcastle, secretary of state for the colonies, by the earl of St. Germans, lord steward of the royal household, and by Col. Bruce, his governor. Major Teesdale and Capt. Grey (d. 1874), son of Sir George Grey, went as equerries, and Dr. Acland as physician. Young Lord Hinchingbrooke, one of the Eton associates, was to join the party in America.
Leaving Southampton on 9 July 1860 in H.M.S. Hero, with H.M.S. Ariadne in attendance, the prince reached Newfoundland on the 23rd. The colonial progress opened at St. John's with processions, presentations of addresses, reviews of volunteers, levees, and banquets, which were constant features of the tour. Thence they passed to Halifax and Nova Scotia (30 July). On 9 Aug. he landed on Prince Edward Island, and on the 12th, near the mouth of the St. Lawrence, the governor-general of the Canadas, Sir Edmund Head, boarded the royal vessel. On the 20th the prince made a state entry into Quebec, the capital of French Canada. He stayed at Parliament House, which had been elaborately fitted up for his residence, and a guard of honour of 100 men was appointed to form his escort through the colony. At Montreal on 1 Sept. he opened the great railway bridge across the St. Lawrence ; and passing thence to Ottawa, he there laid the foundation stone of the Parliament building. On the way to Toronto, the capital of upper Canada, the only untoward incident took place. Strong protestant feeling in the upper colony resented the enthusiasm with which the French Roman catholics of lower Canada had welcomed the prince, and the Orange lodges resolved to emphasise their principles by forcing on the prince's notice in their street decorations the emblems of their faith. At Kingston on Lake Ontario the townsfolk refused to obey the duke of Newcastle's direction to remove the orange colours and portraits of William III from the triumphal arches before the royal party entered the town. Consequently the royal party struck the place out of their itinerary and proceeded to Toronto, where a like difficulty threatened. Happily the Orangemen there yielded to persuasion, and the reception at Toronto proved as hearty as could be wished.
Leaving Canada for the United States, the prince made an excursion to Niagara Falls (17 Sept.), where, somewhat to his alarm, he saw Blondin perform on the tight rope, and at the neighbouring village of Queenstown (18 Sept.) he laid the crowning stone on the great monument erected to the memory of Major-general Sir Isaac Brock [q. v.], who was slain in the American war
