To his Excellency the Most Honorable George Augustus Constantine, Marquis of Normanby, Earl of Mulgrave, Viscount Normanby, and Baron Mulgrave, of Mulgrave, all in the County of York, in the peerage of the United Kingdom; and Baron Mulgrave, of New Ross, in the County of Wexford, in the peerage of Ireland— a member of her Majesty's most Honorable Privy Council; Knight Grand Cross of the most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George; Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Colony of Victoria and its Dependencies, etc., etc., etc.
May it please your Excellency,
We the undersigned, who have been deputed for that purpose by a numerous committee representative of all parts of the colony of Victoria, beg leave to approach your Excellency with the assurance of the profund1 loyalty of the inhabitants of this colony to the throne and person of Our Most Gracious Sovereign.
We extremely regret that the sad intelligence of the sudden and untimely death of His Royal Highness the Duke of Albany2 has deferred, at your Excellency's desire, and in effect prevented the carrying out of, the arrangements which had been made to entertain your Excellency at a Public Banquet, prior to your Excellency's relinquishment of the office of Governor and final departure from amongst us.
Deprived of that opportunity we crave permission, in the present form, to tender to your Excellency cordial thanks for the wise, sound and able administration which has marked the period of your Excellency's Government and conduced largely to public confidence and general advancement.
We respectfully assure Your Excellency of the sincerest good wishes of the inhabitants of Victoria for the lasting health and happiness of your Excellency, Her Ladyship the Marchioness of Normanby and other members of your Excellency's family.
Signed at Melbourne, Victoria, this 9th day of April, 1884.3
Typesetter's error for 'profound'?
On 30 March 1884 Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, haemophilliac youngest son of Queen Victoria, died aged 30 after a fall in Cannes, France (ODNB).
The newspaper report continued 'Among the signatures attached to the address, on a cursory examination, we observed the following:' There follows a long list of names, among which is 'F. Von Mueller'. The report includes the speeches made at the presentation, which was held at Government House in the presence of some of the signatories, not including M. The City Council presented an additional address.
Letter not found. The text given here is from 'Addresses to his excellency the Governor', Herald (Melbourne), 9 April 1884, p. 3.
Please cite as “FVM-84-04-09a,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on