Read it through once

It would be quite impossible to indicate here the great regret expressed by the Canadian press, and the people generally, at this result of the invitation. Many reasons were adduced, other than those given in the despatch, and including diplomatic requirements in Europe, Royal visits and delicate negotiations then pending, Eastern troubles and complications, Australian jealousy if omitted from such a tour, as well as the difficulties involved in any possible visit to the United States. During the year a full-length portrait of the King was received at Government House, Ottawa, painted by Luke Fildes, R.A., and the portraits of the King and Queen, specially painted by J. Colin Forbes, the Canadian artist, were also received and hung in the Parliament Houses. In 1907 King Edward visited the Canadian pavilion at the Dublin Exhibition of that year and inspected its exhibits while Queen Alexandra accepted from one of the Departments the gift of a rug made by French-Canadian women. In the next year much practical appreciation was shown in Canada of His Majesty's special arrangement under which the "Life and Letters of Queen Victoria" was offered for sale at a low popular price; a Royal cablegram of sympathy was sent to the sufferers by the Fernie (B. C.) fire; the Edward Medal, established by the King for the recognition of courage in saving or trying to save life in quarries or mines, was extended to Canada and all parts of the Empire. In the last year of his reign the King's third Derby victory was a popular one in Canada and throughout the Empire and his establishment of a Police Medal for the recognition of "exceptional service, heroism or devotion to duty" was also applied to Canada and all the British Dominions. During the year His Majesty presented a gift of money to T. L. Wood, a blacksmith at Port Elgin, N. S., and accepted a horse-shoe of exquisite workmanship which had been wrought by him while lying on a sick-bed; visited and praised the exhibition of British Columbia fruit at Islington on December 6th.