82 PEOCEEDINGS AT GENEEAL MEETINGS. 



" It is our sincere hope that it may please Divine Providence to restore your 

 Eoyal Highness speedily to the full enjoyment of health and strength ; and we 

 earnestly pray that your life may be long preserved as a blessing to your Royal 

 mother and to your country. 



" Sealed with the corporate seal, and signed at the desire and in presence of a 

 Special General Meeting of the Society, by Sir Thomas Buchan Hepburn 

 of Smeaton, Bart., Senior Director present, Chairman, in the absence of 

 his Grace Walter Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, K.G., President of 

 the Society. 

 " Society's Hall, Edinburgh, 13th May 1868." 



Lord Melville, in proposing the adoption of the addresses, referred to the sym- 

 pathy felt by all classes with Her Majesty, and said he could not understand why 

 a Prince so popular and so justly beloved had been made the object of such an 

 attack. Whatever grievances, he said, the Fenians might be supposed to have 

 had, that was not the way to have them redressed. The attempt had also been 

 made at a time when the people were congratulating themselves upon the suc- 

 cess of their efforts to give a loyal reception to His Royal Highness, who was in 

 the execution of his duty. His Lordship, after referring to the stay of His Royal 

 Highness in Edinburgh, expressed a hope that he would soon arrive in England, 

 restored to his wonted health. 



Mr Laavson of Borthwick Hall — I rise to second the motions which your Lord- 

 ship has so feelingly put to this meeting. No words of mine can add to the 

 universally spread thankfulness that our Royal Duke has been spared to us and 

 to a country which so sincerely esteems and beloves him. I am sure also that I 

 may say, on behalf of this Society, that we appreciate the value of such ties the 

 more when we see the possibility of losing them, and that we accept his Royal 

 Highness's escape from a fatality too dreadful to think of, not as an accidental, 

 but as a providential interposition, highly calculated to cement more strongly 

 than ever the bond of attachment which exists between us and the person and 

 family of our Sovereign. 



The addresses were unanimously adopted. 



Mr Irvine of Dram moved that the addresses be transmitted to the Duke of 

 Montrose for presentation ; which was seconded by Sir James Gardiner Baird, 

 Bart., and unanimously agreed to. 



Lord Melville proposed a vote of thanks to the Chairman, and the proceed- 

 ngs terminated. 



GENERAL MEETING, 24th JUNE 1868. 



His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, E.G., 

 President of the Society, in the Chair. 



New Members. — The noble Chairman, in opening the proceedings, said — 

 The first business that comes before the meeting to-day is the election-of new 

 members. I see there is a very large number, which the Secretary will read. 



Mr F. N. Menzies then read the names of 104 candidates, who were balloted 

 for and duly admitted. 



Reply to the Address to the Queen. — The noble Chairman said he had 

 now to report to the meeting that an answer had been received to the address from 

 this Society to the Queen on the occasion of the atrocious attempt on the life of 

 the Duke of Edinburgh. The Duke of Montrose was still in charge of the address 

 to the Duke of Edinburgh until he had an opportunity of presenting it to His 

 Royal Highness on his arrival in this country. 



Chair of Agriculture. — Mr Walker of Bowland said it would be in the re- 

 collection of the members of the Society that at the last general meeting of the 

 Society it was agreed to give a sum of L.150 for ten years towards the endowment 

 of the Chair of Agriculture in the University of Edinburgh, or rather to assist in 

 providing a salary for the Professor of that Chair. The grant was given on con- 

 dition that Government should contribute an equal or greater sum for that pur- 

 pose. He had now to report that the Directors made the necessary application to 



