The Prince of Wales, in addressing the King, described the
Exhibition as " a complete and a vivid representa- tion of all your Empire." He went on to describe the purpose of the Exhibition very much in the terms in which his great-grandfather, Prince Albert, would have described it. " It will suggest to the world, I truly believe, that the most powerful agency of civilization has its heart set upon peaceful actions and the good of mankind." The King in replying spoke of the Exhibition as illustrating to the world " the spirit of free and tolerant co-operation which had inspired peoples of different races, creeds, institutions and ways of thought to unite in a single Commonwealth and to contribute their varying national gifts to one great aim." In referring to the Exhibition of 1851, the King, bearing in mind, of course, the too optimistic conviction of Prince Albert that such an exhibition would usher in an epoch of perpetual peace, said :- " Our object here is not quite so ambitious, and for that very reason perhaps more hopeful of attainment.. . . Business relation_ between strangers may or may not lead to friendship. Co-operation between brothers for the proper development of the family estate can hardly fail to promote family affection, and we hope further that the success of the Exhibition may bring lasting benefit not to the Empire only, but to mankind in general. No nation or group of nations can isolate itself from the main stream of modern commerce, and if this Exhibition leads to a greater development of the material resources of the Empire, it will at the same time be raising the economic life of the world from the disorganization caused by the War."
