476 B.epo)'t of the Senior Steward of Implements at Windsor'. 
Govemovs and Members was held in the large tent under the 
presidency of the Prince of Wales, and the whole proceedings 
were characterised by the utmost enthusiasm. His Royal High- 
ness made an opening speech which made a great impression on 
all who heard it, and it is therefore recorded below : — 
My Lords and Gentlemen : I take the chair with peculiar pleasure upon 
this occasion, firstly, because it is the fiftieth annual meeting' held in the 
Society's Showyard, and secondly because we are gathered together, under 
the shadow of Her Majesty's own residence, and in her own park, to cele- 
brate the opening of a Show of unparalleled magnitude and importance, held 
under Her Majesty's presidency. It will be a source of great gratification 
to Her Majesty to know that so large an assemblage is gathered here to- 
day ; and that so far everything has be^n a complete success. As you all 
will have seen, the Show is unequalled in the history of the Society, not 
only in its extent, but also in its comprehensiveness; and I do not think I 
can do better, in bidding you a cordial welcome as Acting President of the 
Society, than quote the words of my lamented father at a fdmilar gathering 
held here in the year of the Great Exhibition in 1851, when he said: — 
" Your encampment singularly contrasts with that which tlie barons of 
England, the feudal lords of the land, with their retainers, erected around 
old AVindsor Castle on a similar mead, though not exactly in the same 
locality. They came then clad in steel, with lance and war-horse. You 
appear in a more peaceful attire, and the animals you bring with you to the 
meeting are the tokens of your successful cultivation of the arts of peace. 
King John came trembling amongst his subjects, unwillingly compelled to 
sign that Great Charter which has ever since been your birthright. Your 
Sovereign comes confiding among her loyal and loving people ; she comes to 
admire the result of their industr}^ and to encourage them to persevere in 
their exertions." These words apply with redoubled force and meaning at 
the present moment, and when Her Mnjesty visits the Show, as she hopes to 
do on Thursday, I am sure that she will be highly gratified to know that 
her year of oihce has been crowned with so magnificent a success. 
Votes of thanks were unanimously accorded to the Mayor 
and Corporation of Windsor, to the Lord Mayor of London and 
the Mansion House Committee, and to the Windsor Local Com- 
mittee for services rendered in connection with the Show. 
The follov/ing resolution was then moved by the Duke of 
Richmond and Gordon, and passed by acclamation, the whole 
assemblage rising to their feet and giving ringing cheers : — 
The Royal Agricultural Society of England, in general meeting as- 
sembled, desires, with every feeling of loyal attachment, to express to Her 
^lajesty the Queen its grateful sense of the honour and benefit conferred by 
Her Majesty's gracious condescension in the acceptance, during its Jubilee 
year, of the position of President of the Society. 
By this act Her Majesty has shown in the most direct manner the great 
interest which she feels in one of the most important industries in Her 
Majesty's dominions. This must be a great incentive to those engaged in 
agriculture to continue tlieir efforts to meet the depression under which 
that industry has for so long been unhappily suffering. 
The Society, at the close of Her Majesty's year of office, desires onco 
more to assure Her Majesty that there is no class of her subjects more 
devotedly attached to Her Majesty than the agriculturists of England. 
