The Prince as an Empire Statesman
The breadth of view shown by the late Prince Consort was one of his
greatest and most marked qualities. He seemed to have the faculty of
seeing further into the future than most men and of preparing his own
mind for developments which were yet hidden from the view of
contemporary statesmen. Hence his famous Exhibition of 1851 and the
realization of the fact that to encourage trade and commerce some
knowledge of the world's products and resources was not only desirable
but necessary. Hence the early perception, which he shared with the
Queen, of the coming importance of the Colonies and of the necessity of
bringing the Crown into touch with those over-sea democracies which were
growing up to nationhood in such neglected fashion and with such little
practical concern in the Motherland. Hence the dislike of the Queen and
himself--because she had the statesman's understanding as well as her
husband--to the Manchester school, and their opposition to the line of
thought which said that Colonies were useless except for commerce and
not much good for that. Hence the Queen's long-after regard for Lord
Beaconsfield and her appreciation of his stirring and romantic
Imperialism.
The Prince of Wales unquestionably inherited this capacity for
statecraft from his parents. Natural and hereditary pride in his future
Crown and in the greatness of the United Kingdom was developed by
teaching and study and visits into an intense pride in the vast Empire
which grew so rapidly from year to year around his country and under
its Crown. Having a broader and saner outlook than many of those about
him, without the spur of ordinary ambitions, or the hampering influence
of partisan considerations, he was enabled to view this development more
carefully, wisely, and clearly than the busy diplomatist or the
much-occupied statesman. Hence the pleasure with which he saw the
Imperial Federation League formed in 1884 and watched the efforts of Mr.
W. E. Forster and Lord Rosebery to build upon the preliminary principles
already evolved by Lord Beaconsfield. It was not long before he saw an
opportunity to promote this sentiment of unity and encourage the
extension of Imperial trade. He had visited different parts of the
Queen's dominions and understood something of the immense possibilities
which were still lying dormant. His sons had since travelled over an
even larger portion of the Empire and had, no doubt, in private as well
as in their published journals, told him much of the more recent
progress of those great outlying communities. Contemporaneously,
therefore, with the founding of the League just mentioned, His Royal
Highness proposed the holding of a great Exhibition which should meet
the new needs of the time as his father's had done in 1851. Then, the
interests of British trade were cosmopolitan and Colonial development
slight and unimportant to the immediate concerns of England. Now,
British commerce was contracting with foreign countries and steadily
growing with British countries. Hence the new Exhibition should, he
thought, be confined to British resources and products and be Imperial
instead of international.
On November 10th, 1884, the Queen issued a Royal Commission to arrange
for the holding of an Exhibition of the products, manufactures and arts
of Her Majesty's Colonial and Indian dominions in the year 1886. The
Prince of Wales was to be President and Sir Philip Cunliffe-Owen,
Secretary, of the Commission. The first meeting took place at
Marlborough House on March 30th, 1885, with His Royal Highness in the
chair. Amongst the members present were F. M. the Duke of Cambridge, the
Marquess of Salisbury, the Marquess of Lorne, the Earl of Derby, the
Earl of Dalhousie, Earl Cadogan, the Earl of Kimberley, the Earl of
Lytton, F. M. Lord Strathnairn, Mr. Edward Stanhope, Sir Stafford
Northcote, Mr. W. E. Forster, Sir M. E. Hicks-Beach, Sir H. T. Holland,
Sir John Rose, Sir R. G. W. Herbert, Sir Charles Tupper of Canada, Sir
Arthur Blyth of South Australia, Sir F. D. Bell of New Zealand, Sir Saul
Samuel of New South Wales, Mr. Charles Mills of Cape Colony, Mr. R.
Murray Smith of Victoria, Mr. James F. Garrick of Queensland, Sir W. C.
Seargeant, Sir G. C. M. Birdwood and many other distinguished
representatives of British, Colonial and Indian interests. In the course
of his somewhat lengthy speech detailing the objects of the movement and
the methods of operation, the Prince described the proposed Exhibition
as one by which the "reproductive resources" of the Colonies and India
would be brought before the British people and the different countries
concerned be able to "compare the advance made by each other in trade,
manufactures and general material progress". He pointed out the desire
of the Motherland to participate in the development of Colonial material
interests and then added: "We must remember that, as regards the
Colonies, they are the legitimate and natural homes, in future, of the
more adventurous and energetic portion of the population of these
Islands."
The Secretary announced that the preliminary list of guarantees provided
for L128,000, including L20,000 from the Government of India, L10,000
from that of Canada, L19,000 from the various Australasian Governments
and L1000 each from individual subscribers such as Lord Cadogan, Sir
Thomas Brassey, Sir Daniel Cooper, the Earl of Derby, Mr. Henry
Doulton, Sir J. Whittaker Ellis, Mr. Samuel Morley and the Earl of
Rosebery. This latter list indicated in a most marked manner the
personal influence of the Prince of Wales. On May 3, 1886, the eve of
the formal opening of the Exhibition was marked by a meeting of the
Royal Commission at which the Prince presided, sketched the history and
progress of an undertaking to which he had given much time and intimated
that the guarantee fund now amounted to L218,000, of which the City of
London had recently voted L10,000. In proposing a vote of thanks to the
Royal chairman, seconded by Earl Granville, the Duke of Cambridge said:
"It is not the first time that His Royal Highness has acted as President
in undertakings of this nature, and it is very difficult for any person
to praise him in his presence without appearing fulsome; but it is not
fulsome to say that he has always devoted his whole energies to bringing
everything to a successful issue with which he is connected."
OPENING AND SUCCESS OF THE EXHIBITION
The Colonial and Indian Exhibition was opened on the following day at
South Kensington by Her Majesty the Queen in the presence of an immense
gathering, representative of all parts of the British realm. It was, in
fact, the first of those great fetes with which the people became so
familiar in the next two decades and which did so much to unify and
typify the power of the Empire. In the brilliant throng surrounding the
Queen and the Prince of Wales, as the latter read an elaborate address
of loyal welcome, were the members of the Government, the various
Foreign Ambassadors, distinguished men in every walk of life,
representatives of Colonies and British islands in all parts of the
world--Lord Salisbury, Lord Rosebery, Lord Cranbrook, the Earl of
Northbrook, the Dukes of Manchester, Buckingham and Abercorn, the Earl
of Iddesleigh, Lord Granville, the Earl of Kimberley, Lord Napier of
Magdala, Sir M. E. Hicks-Beach, Sir F. Leighton, Sir Charles Tupper and
Mr. Hector Fabre from Canada, Sir Alexander Stuart, Sir Arthur Blyth,
Sir Samuel Davenport, the Hon. James F. Garrick and the Hon. Malcolm
Fraser, from Australia, Sir Lyon Playfair, Sir Richard Cross, Sir
William Harcourt, Lord Wolseley, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Mr. H. C.
E. Childers, the Maharajah of Johore, Rustem Pasha, Count Hatzfeldt,
Earl Spencer, and many others. Madame Albani sang that splendid ode by
Lord Tennyson beginning:
"Welcome, welcome with one voice
In your welfare we rejoice,
Sons and brothers that have sent,
From isle and cape and continent
Produce of your field and flood,
Mount and mine and primal wood,
Works of subtle brain and hand
And splendours of the Morning Land,
Gifts from every British zone
Britons, hold your own!"
The National Anthem was first sung in English and then in Sanskrit as a
compliment to the Indian visitors. The address read by the Prince of
Wales referred to the origin and progress of the project, to the
development of the Colonies, to the late Prince Consort's interest in
Exhibitions and to his own position as President of the present Royal
Commission, and concluded as follows: "It is our heartfelt prayer that
an undertaking intended to illustrate and record this development may
give a stimulus to the commercial interests and intercourse of all parts
of Your Majesty's dominions; that it may be the means of augmenting that
warm affection and brotherly sympathy which is reciprocated by all Your
Majesty's subjects; and that it may still further deepen that steadfast
loyalty which we, who dwell in the Mother Country, share with our
kindred who have elsewhere so nobly done honour to her name." The
Queen's reply expressed an earnest hope that the Exhibition would
encourage the arts of peace and industry and strengthen the bonds of
union within the Empire. An interesting feature of the proceedings was
the receipt of a telegram from Sir Patrick Jennings, Premier of New
South Wales, expressing that Colonial Government's "thanks and
appreciation to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales for the profound
interest" he had shown in the success of the great project now so
auspiciously opened. The London _Times_ on the following day spoke of
the "energy and devotion" of the Prince in this connection, and the
press as a whole at home and in the external Empire joined in
congratulating him upon the issue.
The Exhibition was a great success in every way. Over five and a half
million visitors were recorded and the Queen helped, personally, to
maintain public interest in it by herself visiting the various Sections
repeatedly. The final meeting of the Royal Commission was held at
Marlborough House on April 30th, 1897 and the Prince of Wales submitted
an elaborate and exhaustive Report which was afterwards published. In
his own remarks the President pointed out that the project had served
its main purpose in very largely promoting knowledge of the Empire's
resources and products and that, incidentally, its success had given the
management a surplus of L35,000. This sum, he suggested, should be
largely devoted to the advancement of the project for a permanent
Exhibition or Imperial Institute--"in the promotion of which the Queen
and I both take so warm an interest." Later in the evening the Prince
expressed the hope that as the late Exhibition had been, allegorically,
burnt that day, "the Imperial Institute may be a Phoenix rising out of
its ashes. I trust that it may be a lasting memorial not only of that
but of the Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen." Of the sum mentioned,
L25,000 was accordingly voted to the new project.
The proposal of the Heir Apparent--as first expressed in a letter to
the Lord Mayor on September 13, 1886--was that the idea evolved in the
Exhibition should be made permanent and be embodied in an Imperial
Institute which should be at once a visible emblem of the unity of the
Empire, a place for illustrating its vast resources, a museum for
exhibiting its varied and changing products and industries, a centre of
information and communication for all British countries, an aid to the
increase and distribution of national wealth, a medium for combining in
joint co-operation older and smaller institutions of tried utility, and
a fitting national memorial of the Queen's Jubilee. The movement
developed steadily and, on January 12th, 1887, a gathering was held at
Kensington Palace, upon invitation of the Prince of Wales, and was one
of the most representative over which even he had ever presided. Amongst
those present were Lord Herschell, Chairman of the Organizing Committee,
the Earl of Carnarvon, Lord Revelstoke, Lord Rothschild, Sir Lyon
Playfair, Sir H. T. Holland, Sir John Rose, Sir Henry James, the Right
Hon. H. H. Fowler, Sir Frederick Leighton, Sir Charles Tupper, Sir Saul
Samuel, Sir Edward Guinness, Sir Ashley Eden, Sir Owen T. Bourne, Sir
Reginald Hanson, Lord Mayor of London, Mr. J. H. Tritton, Chairman of
the London Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Pattison Currie, Chairman of the
Bank of England, Sir Frederick Abel, Mr. Neville Lubbock, Lord Campden,
the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, the Lord Mayor of York, the Mayor of
Newcastle and nearly two hundred other mayors, or chief magistrates, of
British towns.
The Prince of Wales was accompanied by Prince Albert Victor and spoke at
length upon the objects to be served and the progress already made in
the matter which he had so much at heart. "It occurred to me that the
recent Colonial and Indian Exhibition, which presented a most successful
display of the material resources of the Colonies and India, might
suggest the basis for an Institute which should afford a permanent
representation of the products and manufactures of the Queen's
dominions. I, therefore, appointed a Committee of eminent men to
consider and report to me upon the best means of carrying out this
idea." So much for the initiation of the scheme. The Report had been
duly submitted and accepted and he now invited co-operation and
assistance in establishing and maintaining the proposed "Imperial
Institute of the United Kingdom, the Colonies and India." His Royal
Highness pointed out that no less than sixteen million persons had
attended the four Exhibitions over which he had presided--the Fisheries,
Healtheries, Inventories and Colinderies, as they were popularly
called--and expressed the strong belief that they had added greatly to
the knowledge of the people and largely stimulated the industries of the
country.
INITIATION OF THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE
"My proposals are that the Imperial Institute be an emblem of the unity
of the Empire and illustrate the resources and capabilities of every
section of Her Majesty's dominions." The Colonies and Motherland would
thus teach other and emigration would also be greatly aided along
British channels. He believed that the work upon which he had entered in
this connection would be of lasting benefit to this and future
generations and, after a careful review of the whole situation, declared
that "from the close relation in which I stand to the Queen there can be
no impropriety in my stating that if her subjects desire, on the
occasion of the celebration of her fiftieth year as Sovereign of this
great Empire, to offer her a memorial of their love and loyalty, she
would specially value one which would promote the industrial and
commercial resources of her dominions in various parts of the world and
which would be expressive of that unity and co-operation which Her
Majesty desires should prevail amidst all classes and races of her
extended Empire."
A public meeting at the Mansion House followed with the Lord Mayor in
the chair and was addressed by Earl Granville, Mr. A. J. Mundella, Mr.
G. J. Goschen, and others. Strong resolutions of support and approval
were passed, many telegrams of sympathy with the object announced, and a
statement of initial subscriptions given which included the names of
Lord Rothschild, Sir W. J. Clarke of Australia and Lord Revelstoke.
During the next six years the project was steadily pressed forward;
large individual subscriptions obtained by the personal influence of the
Prince of Wales, supplemented by the growing sympathy with the Colonies
and with Empire unity; while grants were given by the British, Indian
and Colonial Governments. Gradually, the splendid building in South
Kensington, known over the world as the Imperial Institute, approached
completion and, on May 9th, 1893, was opened by the Queen amidst stately
ceremonial and all the trappings of regal magnificence. Nearly all the
Royal family were present and, in the progress through the streets, a
particularly enthusiastic reception was given to the Duke of York and
Princess May of Teck whose engagement had been very recently announced.
Around Her Majesty and the Prince of Wales, as the latter presented the
address of the Committee, were ranged the most representative men of
England, many Ambassadors, and Indian Princes and Colonial statesmen.
Lord Salisbury, Mr. A. J. Balfour, Mr. H. H. Asquith, Sir William
Harcourt, Lord Rosebery and Lord Randolph Churchill were there, but not
Mr. Gladstone. After a brief description, in the address, of the objects
and history of the Institute, the Prince continued as follows: "We
venture to express a confident anticipation that the Imperial Institute
will not only be a record of the growth of the Empire and of the
marvellous advance of its people in industrial and commercial
prosperity during Your Majesty's reign but will, also, tend to increase
that prosperity by stimulating enterprise and promoting the technical
and scientific knowledge which is now so essential to industrial
development." After some brief words from Her Majesty the great building
was declared open and another important project initiated by the Prince
of Wales had reached completion. The London _Times_ of the succeeding
day referred with accuracy, in this connection, to his "clear-sighted
initiative and untiring energy" and a member of the Executive Committee,
which had the enterprise in hand, wrote to the same paper that during
the past six years "every important step in connection with the
Institute has been taken under the immediate direction of the Prince of
Wales. By his energy men have been moved to action and difficulties
apparently insuperable have been overcome. The result of years of
devoted labour was accomplished to-day."
EARLY ADVOCACY OF IMPERIALISM
These were the two chief products of what may be called the Empire
statesmanship of the Prince of Wales. Long before either of them were
undertaken, however, he had shown a deep and sincere interest in the
unity of the Empire--a natural outcome of his training, his travels, his
individual abilities. For many years he acted as President of the Royal
Colonial Institute, accepting the position at a time when people were
only beginning to awake to the fact that Great Britain was more than an
Island and sea-power and when the Institute was the rallying ground and
centre for a small group of men like the late Duke of Manchester, Lord
Bury, Mr. W. E. Forster and Sir Frederick Young, who devoted much energy
and enthusiasm to the promotion of what long afterwards became known as
Imperialism. The patronage and support of His Royal Highness did very
much to give the movement, in its earlier days, a place and an influence
and to establish the Institute as the factor which history has since
recognized it to have been. It was in this connection, on July 16th,
1881, that the Lord Mayor of London--Sir William McArthur
M.P.--entertained the Prince of Wales at a banquet attended by many
representatives of the Colonies and distinguished guests. In his speech
the Prince referred with extreme regret to his not having been able to
visit all the Colonies, and especially, Australia. He had greatly
desired to accept the invitation extended to him two years before to
visit the Exhibitions at Sydney and Melbourne. "Though, my Lords and
gentlemen I have not had the opportunity of seeing those great
Australian Colonies, which every day and every year are making such
immense development, still, at the International Exhibitions of London,
Paris and Vienna, I had not only an opportunity of seeing their various
products then exhibited, but I had the pleasure of making the personal
acquaintance of many Colonists--a fact which has been a matter of great
importance and great benefit to myself."
A further reference was made to the sending of his sons to visit
Australia and memories of his own tour of British America were revived,
with an expression of special gratification at seeing his "old friend,"
Sir John Macdonald, Prime Minister of Canada, present on this occasion.
In August, 1887, the Prince of Wales showed further and practical
interest in Australia by accepting the post of President of the Royal
Commission appointed by the Queen, in England, to promote and help the
Melbourne Exhibition of 1888. The Earl of Rosebery acted as
Vice-President and much was done in making the British exhibit a good
one. Years before this, speaking at the laying of the foundation stone
of the first Melbourne Exhibition--February 19th, 1879--the Governor of
Victoria, Sir George F. Bowen, declared it to be well-known that the
Heir Apparent was animated by "a desire to visit the Australian Colonies
in person should high reasons of state permit." As illustrating the
opinions formed of him by colonial statesmen, the following may be
quoted from the autobiography of that uncouth, clever, patriotic
personality, Sir Henry Parkes: "I met His Royal Highness on several
occasions in London, and he struck me as possessing in a remarkable
degree the princely faculty of doing the right thing and saying the
right word."
Another matter to which the Prince of Wales gave an Imperial character
was the Royal College of Music which he initiated, organized and finally
inaugurated on May 7th, 1883. Upon the latter occasion he explained in
his speech that the institution was open to the whole Empire, that
scholarships had already been provided by Victoria and South Australia,
and that he hoped it might become an Imperial centre of musical
education as well as a British centre. "The object I have in view is
essentially Imperial as well as national, and I trust that ere long
there will be no Colony of any importance which is not represented by a
scholar at the Royal College." During the years which followed, up to
the time of his accession to the Throne, the interest of the Prince of
Wales in everything that helped Imperial unity was continuous and most
earnest. At the Jubilee periods of 1887 and 1897, he entertained many
Colonial statesmen, as he had done at other times when opportunity
served, and he was always delighted to meet them and to discuss the
affairs of their countries with men who naturally knew them best. It was
a process of mental equipment for the government of a vast empire which,
in addition to his early travels, must have made the experience and
knowledge of Queen Victoria's successor as unique as were the conditions
and greatness of his Empire.
During the last Jubilee the Prince presided, on June 18th, as President
of the Imperial Institute, at a banquet given to the Colonial Premiers
and other representatives in London. Upon his right sat Sir Wilfrid
Laurier, Premier of Canada, and upon his left Mr. Whitelaw Reid, the
special Envoy of the United States. Amongst others present were Lord
Salisbury, Sir Hugh Nelson, Premier of Queensland, the Marquess of
Lansdowne, Lord Rosebery and Mr. Chamberlain--all of whom spoke; while
Lord Ripon, Lord Dufferin, Lord Kimberley, the Marquess of Lorne, Sir W.
V. Whiteway, Premier of Newfoundland, Lord Rothschild, Sir Donald Smith
(Lord Strathcona) the Archbishop of Canterbury and a splendid array of
other representative men in Church and State, army and navy, art and
science and literature, were also present. In one of his tactful
speeches on this occasion, His Royal Highness referred to the enormous
growth of the Colonies during the Queen's record reign and expressed the
hope that present peaceful conditions might long continue. "God grant
it," he added, "but if the national flag is threatened I am convinced
that all the Colonies will unite to maintain what exists and to preserve
the unity of the Empire." In little more than a year these words were
fully borne out by events.
But the Prince of Wales was never content to make mere speeches in
advocacy of a principle. His aid to the Royal Colonial Institute and
organization of the Imperial Institute were cases in point. When the
Imperial Federation League was formed he could only help its aims
indirectly because there were political possibilities in its platform,
but when, in 1896, the British Empire League succeeded to its place and
mission, with a broader and more general platform, the Queen and the
Prince extended their patronage to the organization. On April 30, 1900,
a great banquet was given under its auspices to welcome the Australian
Delegates who had gone "home" to discuss the Commonwealth Act, and to
recognize the services rendered by Colonial troops in the South African
war. The Duke of Devonshire occupied the chair, with the Prince of Wales
and the Duke of York on either hand, and next to them again the Dukes of
Cambridge and Fife. The Marquess of Salisbury, Lieutenant Colonel
George T. Denison, President of the League in Canada, Mr. Chamberlain,
Mr. Edmund Barton of Australia and Mr. J. Israel Tarte of Canada were
amongst the speakers, and others present included the Right Hon. C. C.
Kingston, the Hon. Alfred Deakin, the Hon. J. R. Dickson, Sir John
Cockburn and Sir James Blyth of Australia, the Earl of Hopetoun, Lord
Lansdowne, Lord Wolseley, Lord Knutsford, Lord Strathcona, the Earl of
Onslow, the Earl of Jersey, the Earl of Crewe, Lord Kelvin and Earl
Grey. The Prince of Wales was enthusiastically received and
congratulated upon his recent escape from assassination at Brussels.
After some eloquently appropriate remarks upon this point, he welcomed
the Australians in kindly words and then referred to the war. "We little
doubt," he went on, "that in a great war like the one we are now waging
we should have at any rate the sympathy of our Colonies; but it has
exceeded even our expectations. We know now the feeling that existed in
our Colonies and that they have sent their best material, their best
blood and manhood, to fight with us, side by side, for the honour of the
flag and for the maintenance of our Empire." Such words may fittingly
conclude a brief record of the Prince of Wales' interest in Empire
affairs up to the time of his accession to the Throne.