The Prince as Heir Apparent
The Heir to a Throne such as that of Great Britain has an exceptionally
difficult place to fill. He has to have the broad sympathies and
knowledge and training of a statesman without the right to express
himself upon any of the political problems and issues of his time; he
has to live in a never-ending blaze of publicity and be liable to
unscrupulous, or too scrupulous, criticism without the power of direct
reply; he has, perhaps, to suffer in private life and character from the
caustic shafts of men at home or abroad who do not like the institution
which he represents; he has to officiate in a ceaseless round of
functions and public ceremonial; he has to travel constantly from Court
to Court in Europe and, in the case of the Prince of Wales, he had to
act for several decades the part of the Sovereign in public life without
the resources or responsibilities which the actual ruler would naturally
possess.
There are, of course, important compensations. He has the foremost place
in every leading national event, the privilege of knowing as intimately
as he pleases the great men of his own and other countries, in every
line of statecraft and human attainment, the pleasure of travel in many
lands and amongst varied scenes and people, the opportunity of taking up
any matter of a non-political character which he deems useful to the
state, the people, or the Empire, with a reasonable certainty of
substantial backing. To succeed, however, in the position as did Albert
Edward, Prince of Wales, demands a peculiar combination of qualities
which very few men possess in any rank of life. Tact, self-restraint,
self-reliance, knowledge of human nature, energy, dignity, good
intentions earnest patriotism, are more or less necessary.
How seldom these qualities have all been possessed by Heirs to the
British Throne is plain upon the pages of history. There have been
amongst them seventeen Princes of Wales of whom the best, before the
chief of the line, was the Black Prince, and of whom only four have
reached the Throne since the time of Edward VI. They were Charles I,
Charles II, George II, and George IV., and the careers of the last two
consisted in the establishment of rival Courts, continuous disagreements
with their fathers, the headship of political factions, and the
possession of characters about which the least said the better. The
Prince who became Edward VII. may be said to have created the position
of Heir Apparent, as his Royal mother created that of a modern
constitutional Monarch.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE POSITION
He established himself as a sort of advisory statesman to the nation, an
absolutely impartial leader in questions of high, as distinct from party
politics, the first gentleman in the land in society, sports and
manners, the leader of philanthropic projects and social reforms. He
became the busiest man in England, the most popular personality in the
three kingdoms, the head and front of many important public
undertakings. Such a development was new to British institutions, but it
came about so gradually that only when he ascended the Throne did people
fully realize how large a place the Prince of Wales had held in public
affairs as well as in their affections. Mr. Chauncey M. Depew, the
eloquent American Senator, expressed the personal side of the matter
very well when he said, with some surprise, after first meeting His
Royal Highness: "I met a thoughtful dignitary filling to the brim the
requirements of his exalted position. In fact, a practical as well as a
theoretical student of the mighty forces which control the government of
all great countries and make their best history."
There were many sides to this career, and in some of them the Prince
never received the credit which he deserved. One was the essentially
business-like management of his financial affairs. From the time of
attaining his majority the Heir Apparent received L40,000 a year by
grant of Parliament; at his marriage a special grant of L10,000 was
given the Princess of Wales; when their children grew up the Prince was
given L36,000 to apportion amongst them as he saw fit. During his
minority the wise management of the revenues of the Duchy of
Cornwall--which is an hereditary appurtenance of the Prince of Wales--by
the late Prince Consort, gave the Heir Apparent a total of L600,000, of
which L220,000 were expended upon the purchase of Sandringham, and a
considerable sum upon improvements there. On the Prince's marriage he
was voted L23,455 to defray expenses and his allowance for the Indian
tour of 1875 was L142,000 of which L69,000 was for presents. Marlborough
House was given him by the nation, though he paid taxes upon it like any
other citizen. The Duchy of Cornwall was so well managed after it came
under his control that it yielded in 1897 a total income of nearly
L74,000, or almost double the value of the returns received forty years
before. Birk Hall, an estate inherited from the Prince Consort, was sold
to the Queen for L120,000. The total public income of the Prince of
Wales during many years was about L180,000, or nearly a million dollars,
and the management of his finances was always careful. The stories of
extravagance and indebtedness were absolutely without foundation. Yet
these tales of poverty were always widespread and were probably believed
by many millions of people.
The truth is that he was a first-rate business man in money affairs,
knew how to make his income go to its furthest extent, and had an
established system on his estates and in his palaces which combined
comfort and luxury with judicious economy. A few words upon this point
may be quoted, in passing, from an article in the well-known _Ladies
Home Journal_ of Philadelphia, written in July, 1897, by Mr. George W.
Smalley, an American critic of authority who lived in London for many
years: "It is not a subject which I care to touch upon, but I may refer
to the stories about the Prince of Wales' financial position. It is a
matter with which the American public has absolutely no concern.
Nevertheless all sorts of stories are printed here about his debts to
this person or that. Such stories were circulated when Baron Hirsch
died--so circumstantial that they must have either been based upon
minute knowledge or have been pure fabrications. They were not based
upon knowledge, minute or otherwise, because they were not true." These
stories were rendered more absurd by the fact that a rough calculation
of his receipts during forty years of public life would indicate a sum
of between thirty and forty millions of dollars.
CHARITIES OF THE PRINCE
Of course the expenses of the Heir Apparent were very great even when
those are excepted which the nation paid. His personal gifts to
benevolent institutions, educational concerns, religious interests,
objects of social, moral and physical improvement, hospitals and
infirmaries, asylums, orphanages, commercial and agricultural
organizations, the relief of children and foreigners in distress, deaf
and dumb and blind institutions, memorials and statues, Indian famines,
war funds, calamity funds of various kinds at home, in the Colonies, and
abroad, have been reckoned by an English student of statistics at L3,200
a year, or L128,000 in forty years--$640,000 spent in response to public
appeals alone without reference to the many private charities about
which little was known except that a very large amount of assistance
was given yearly by the Prince and Princess in response to all kinds of
private and authenticated requests. In this general connection Mr.
Gladstone, when Prime Minister, spoke very warmly during the
Parliamentary discussion of 1889 upon the Royal grants of that year. "It
will be admitted," he said in the course of his somewhat famous speech,
"that circumstances have tended to throw upon the Prince of Wales an
amount of public work in connection with institutions as well as with
ceremonials, which was larger than could reasonably have been expected,
and with regard to which every call has been honourably and devotedly
met from a sense of public duty."
Reference has been made in the preceding pages to the infinitely varied
public functions of His Royal Highness and the aid thus given to
charities and benevolent objects. A few instances only were quoted in
which many thousands of pounds were obtained for worthy objects through
his patronage. The fact is that the Heir Apparent gave his position a
rather unique characteristic in this respect by becoming a sort of Grand
Almoner of the nation. Almost any charity which he patronized or which
the Princess supported with his approval, became a success, and it is
probable that every thousand pounds which he gave away became a hundred
thousand pounds through the _prestige_ of his example and his often
vigorous and effective personal exertions. One of the interests to which
he was most devoted was that of the London and other hospitals.
Attendance at the festivals, or annual dinners, was frequent, and the
consequent subscription to their funds from time to time considerable.
During the Diamond Jubilee the Prince thought he saw in this cause a way
to fittingly commemorate that great event--as he had already marked that
of 1887 by the Imperial Institute.
Under date of February 5th, 1897, therefore, an elaborate statement and
earnest appeal appeared in the London _Times_ and other great papers
signed by the Prince of Wales, and asking for organized help in making
up the existing deficits of L100,000 in London hospitals. The Royal
writer pointed out that the efforts of individual institutions,
praiseworthy as they had been, failed to obtain more than a small number
of subscriptions from the great population of the metropolis; that the
reasons for this was partly the difficulty of choosing amongst so many
useful charities, partly the lack of definite opportunity for giving
annual subscriptions to the cause as a whole, partly a feeling that
small sums were not worth contributing; that it was proposed to
establish this "Prince of Wales Hospital Fund" in order to commemorate
the 60th anniversary of the Queen's reign by obtaining permanent annual
subscriptions of from L100,000 to L150,000. He also announced that Lord
Rothschild had accepted the post of Treasurer, that a commencement in
subscriptions had been made, and that the Lord Mayor had promised his
active assistance.
The success of the movement thus inaugurated by the Heir Apparent was
pronounced. The annual Report of the Council of the Fund, which was
issued on May 2nd, 1899, stated that during the past two years L89,000
had been distributed, and that the hospitals had been enabled to re-open
and maintain two hundred and forty-two beds. It had, however, not come
up yet to the requirements and, on March 1st, of this year, the Prince
made another effort to help the hospitals. He called a large and
representative meeting at Marlborough House, and placed before it a plan
for the establishment of an Order to be called the League of Mercy. Its
object would be to reach locally persons who did not subscribe to minor
Funds, or individual institutions, and to do this by offering an honour
in the form of this decoration, "as a reward for gratuitous personal
services rendered in the relief of sickness, suffering, poverty or
distress." These services would be apart, altogether, from gifts of
money, (although the latter would be gladly accepted) and must be
continued during five years. The Queen was to be head of the Order and
the Heir Apparent its Grand President. All names were to be submitted to
Her Majesty and the honour itself was not to confer any rank, dignity or
social precedence. The plan was approved, and its success marked despite
some caustic and unjust criticisms in certain Radical papers. On
December 1st (1899), following, the annual meeting of the Hospital Fund
was held at Marlborough House, with His Royal Highness in the chair, and
attended by Lord Rowton, Lord Iveagh, Cardinal Vaughan, Lord Lister,
Lord Reay, the Chief Rabbi and others. Lord Rothschild submitted a
statement which showed the year's receipts to be L47,000, the first
distribution from the League of Mercy to be L1,000, and the total amount
of the Fund to be L217,000. The meeting of December 18th, in the
following year, showed receipts of L49,468; of which L6,000 came from
the League of Mercy. In his speech upon this occasion Lord Rothschild
heartily congratulated the Royal chairman upon his "wisdom and
foresight" in forming this League. In passing, it may be said that
Grey's Hospital, London, was one of the individual institutions which
the Prince undertook personally to help, and at one special banquet, at
which he presided for this purpose, he was enabled to announce total
subscriptions to the extraordinary amount of L151,000.
THE PRINCE AND THE WORKINGMEN
There was no part of his public career more creditable to the Prince of
Wales than his sincere, unforced friendship and sympathy with the
workingman. Like his philanthropic work, it was the natural product of a
generous disposition, and won the honest liking of men who had always
looked with suspicion upon aristocratic, to say nothing of Royal,
efforts in their behalf. This was another illustration of the difference
between Heirs Apparent to the Throne. Imagination fails to grasp the
thought of the Stuarts or the Georges, when holding that position,
trying to help the poor or uplift the labourer! Speaking at a meeting in
London on January 12th, 1887, Lord Mayor, Sir Reginald Hanson, said:
"All those who have been engaged in this scheme (the Imperial Institute)
know that the Prince of Wales is one of the first in this country who
looks to the interests of the working classes." For many years, indeed,
he had been an annual subscriber to the Workingmen's Club and Institute
Union and to the Workingmen's College in Great Ormond Street. In the
Alexandra Trust, founded by Sir Thomas Lipton, at the instance of the
Princess, much interest was taken by the Heir Apparent as well as his
wife, and, on March 15th, 1900, they privately and unexpectedly visited
the Restaurant in City Road and inspected this praiseworthy effort to
supply wholesome food at low prices to the poor. After walking about and
speaking to many of the people, they enjoyed a "three-course dinner"
costing four pence half-penny, and left amid a scene of great
enthusiasm.
More than once the Prince aided workingmen's institutions by visiting
them. On one occasion he heard that an Exhibition in South London,
promoted by workingmen, was languishing for want of patronage and at
once arranged to visit it unofficially. He went through it carefully,
buying a number of articles and expressing much interest in the project.
There was no further neglect of the institution by the general public.
There was, perhaps, no single work in which he more appreciated the
opportunity of doing good than that connected with the Housing of the
Poor Commission to which he was appointed in 1884. He more than once
presided at its meetings and took an active part in the investigations
which were necessary. He attended every sitting and studied quietly and
privately the whole condition of the poor in the poorest quarters of
London and other cities. The Prince never hesitated to criticize those
who neglected their charitable duties, or to praise those who lived up
to the level of their opportunities, and in connection with an
institution which he opened at Deptford, in 1898, his condemnation of
the wealthy people in that neighbourhood was severe.
On March 4th, 1900, the working-class dwellings built in Shoreditch by
the City Council were opened by the Prince of Wales. They were largely
the product of the Royal Commission in which he had taken such interest
and whose proposals were the basis of so much progress in this
direction. His Royal Highness was accompanied on this occasion by the
Princess and Lord Suffield and was surrounded on the platform by Lord
Welby, the Earl of Rosebery, the Bishops of London and Stepney, the Earl
and Countess Carrington and others. In his speech the Prince was
expressive and vigorous upon the necessity of better housing for the
poor. "I am satisfied, not only that the public conscience is awakened
on the subject but that the public demands, and will demand, vigorous
action in cleansing the slums which disgrace our civilization and the
erection of good and wholesome dwellings such as those around us, and in
meeting the difficulties of providing house-room for the
working-classes, at reasonable rates, by easy and cheap carriage to not
distant districts where rents are reasonable." He concluded an elaborate
speech upon the question generally by expressing the hope that the
Legislature would deal with and punish those who were responsible for
insanitary property. Speaking at a banquet of the London County Council
on December 3rd of the same year, the Prince again urged attention to
the improvement of dwellings in various city areas. A part of this
generous desire to aid the poor was the Princess of Wales' dinner to
three hundred thousand persons in London at the Jubilee of 1897.
Contributions poured in unceasingly to the project and amongst others
was the gift of twenty thousand sheep from the pastoralists of New
South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. The organization of the dinner was
in the hands of the Lord Mayor of London and it proved a great success.
The gifts of a statesman were cultivated by the Prince of Wales upon
every proper opportunity. His Empire unity ideas and projects were
abundant evidence of this while a not less distinct proof of statecraft
was the apparent absence of it--the absolute non-partisan position of
the Heir Apparent. No one was ever able to say that he held political
views of any particular type. His delicate tact was particularly shown
in his kindness and courtesy to Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone. When the aged
statesman finally retired from politics the Prince visited him again at
Hawarden Castle and was photographed in a family group. He and the
Princess attended his funeral and showed the greatest respect for his
memory and services. When the time came, in 1900, for Mrs. Gladstone to
be laid beside her husband in Westminster Abbey one of the incidents of
a sad occasion was the wreath sent in by their Royal Highnesses with the
following inscription:
_In Memory of Dear Mrs. Gladstone._
"It is but crossing with abated breath
And with set face, a little strip of sea,
To find the loved ones waiting on the shore
More beautiful, more precious than before."
In preparing a national memorial to the eminent Liberal leader the
Prince of Wales accepted the post of President of the General Committee
with the Duke of Westminster as Chairman of the Executive. With Mr.
Cecil Rhodes, he was long upon terms of intimacy and never concealed his
admiration for the great Imperialist's career and objects. There can be
no doubt that he knew much of South African affairs and was instrumental
in the Duke of Fife taking a place on the Directorate of the South
African Chartered Company. The only occasion upon which the Prince ever
withdrew from a prominent Club was his retirement from the Traveller's
because they had black-balled Mr. Rhodes. Not the smallest evidence of
statecraft which the Prince of Wales showed, in a semi-personal way, was
his warm sympathy with the emancipation of the Jews and his belief in
their absorption into the life and interests of England. His presence at
the marriage of Mr. Leopold de Rothschild caused, long since, a
sensation in Jewish circles but it was only the first of many
compliments which the Heir Apparent bestowed upon the "chosen people" up
to the days when one of them became Prime Minister and a daughter of the
House of Rothschild married a future Premier--the Earl of Rosebery. The
late Baron Hirsch, the present Lord Rothschild. Sir Reuben Sassoon and
Sir Moses Montefiore were amongst his personal friends and he made a
thorough study of the position of the Russian Jews--showing them
practical sympathy in various indirect ways. Of course, this partiality
was open to misconstruction and the rumour of indebtedness to Jewish
financial interests was so prevalent at one time that Sir Francis
Knollys had to write a correspondent, who directly asked the question,
an official statement as Private Secretary to the Prince, that the
latter had no debts worth speaking of and could pay every farthing he
owed at a moment's notice.
There is no question, however, that this friendship with a powerful
financial class, ruling great interests in every nation, gave the Prince
of Wales a much enhanced influence abroad. In the same way his obvious
liking for American men and women of standing and ability was marked and
did undoubted service in promoting good feeling between the two
countries--where it was not grossly and untruthfully misrepresented by
sensational journals. Really distinguished visitors from the United
States, whether rich or poor, always found a welcome at the hands of His
Royal Highness and amongst those whom he appears to have especially
liked were James Russell Lowell, Thomas F. Bayard, Whitelaw Reid and
Chauncey M. Depew. American women who have been absorbed into English
life and society like Lady Harcourt, Mrs. Chamberlain and the Duchess of
Marlborough were always treated with marked courtesy by both the
Princess and himself. His visit to the United States in 1860 had also
taught him something of conditions there which those around him were not
always fully aware of. Hence the value of the message which was sent to
the New York _World_ in the name of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of
York during the Venezuelan crisis. If it be true that a private letter,
a word spoken in season, or a brief drawing-room conversation, is often
more influential than a cloud of newspaper writing, then the Prince of
Wales was for years a potent force in promoting good-will between the
Empire and the Republic.
As a diplomatist there can be no doubt of the Heir Apparent's influence.
He succeeded, in fact, to much of the power held in that respect by the
Prince Consort. It was the post of an unofficial and secret personal
mediator between the Sovereign of Great Britain and those of other
countries. Thoroughly acquainted with the personality of foreign rulers,
related to the majority of those in Europe, knowing their degrees of
national influence and personal power, familiar with the statesmen's
position in Court and Legislature, associated more and more closely as
the years went on with Queen Victoria's personal view of foreign policy,
the Prince's position was one of very great indirect power. Through his
heirship to the British throne he was naturally upon terms of something
like equality with those whom he met as rulers at Berlin or St.
Petersburg, at Paris or Vienna, and more in sympathy with their point of
view than men of less than Royal rank. To quote Mr. George W. Smalley in
_McClure's Magazine_ of March, 1901: "His is a strange nature. He has,
very fully and strongly, the pride of Kings and what the pride of Kings
is, a republican who has lived all his life in a republic can hardly
conceive. He has behind him, moreover, the loyalty of an expectant
nation." Upon the other hand he knew more about the people and was more
of them than any other hereditary ruler or prospective ruler in the
world. Hence the strength of his position when conferring with a German
Emperor, or a Russian Czar, or talking quietly with some Foreign
Minister at a time of crisis.
INCIDENTS OF DIPLOMATIC INFLUENCE
This personal influence of the Heir Apparent was a factor often ignored.
"Again and again," says Mr. Smalley, from the point of view of one who
watched for years at the source of power in London, "the Prince has gone
abroad as--in effect, though of course never in name--an Ambassador from
the Queen to some Sovereign on the Continent. He has laid her views at
some critical moments before the German Emperor and carried home the
Emperor's response." This sort of personal intercourse must, many a
time, have solved vital and serious issues. When William II. visited
Windsor in 1899 and the Queen, with the aid of the Prince of Wales, Lord
Salisbury and Mr. Chamberlain, evolved the terms upon which the
countries were to stand in regard to the coming South African war, can
there be any doubt as to the place in these negotiations which the Heir
Apparent held, or as to the advantage which his many earlier visits to
Berlin in the days of Bismarck and the Kaiser's initiatory years of
rule, must have been to him? The result of this intercourse was, in the
end, the turning of a possible national enemy into a friend; the change
of the Emperor who wrote the famous Transvaal cablegram into the ruler
who took the first train and boat to Windsor and bowed his head at the
death-bed of Queen Victoria.
Another interesting incident in this connection may be found in the
friendship known to have existed between the Prince of Wales and the
Czar of Russia. Nicholas II. bore the same relationship of nephew to him
that was borne by William II. and, like the other Imperial ruler, came
to bear a similar feeling of respect and regard for his
uncle--sentiments not always felt between relations, royal or otherwise.
It was on August 31st, 1894, that the Princess of Wales received a
despatch from her sister, the Czarina, that Alexander III. was nearing
his end in the far-away Palace of Livadia. As rapidly as train and ship
could carry them the Royal couple travelled to Russia, but only in time
for the prolonged and splendid ceremonial of a state funeral. In this
great and solemn pageant, lasting a week, and extending from Livadia to
St. Petersburg, the Czar and the Prince were constantly together, in the
most intimate relations, at a moment when the former was just
emerging--as yet a young and inexperienced man--into the
responsibilities of perhaps the most difficult position in the world. It
was little wonder if the youthful autocrat of ninety millions took
counsel of his experienced and genial relative, and found in his society
comfort and knowledge and the basis of a lasting friendship. Let Mr. W.
T. Stead in the _Review of Reviews_, of January, 1895, describe the
situation:
It was fortunate for every one that he stood where he did, as no
one outside the Royal Castle could have been to the young Czar what
the Prince was at Livadia, and afterwards. In the long and almost
terrible pilgrimage to the tomb which followed, when the corpse of
the dead Czar was carried in solemn state from the shores of the
Black Sea to the tomb in the Cathedral that stands on the frozen
Neva, the Prince was always at the right hand of the Czar. Alike in
public or in private, the uncle and the nephew stood side by side.
After the first gush of grief had passed, it was impossible but
that thoughts of the relations between the two Empires should not
have crossed the minds of both. These two men share between them
the over lordship of Asia. To the Czar, the north from the Oural
to the far Sagahlien; to the other, the south from the Straits of
Babel Mandeb to Hong Kong. No two men on this planet ever
represented so vast a range of Imperial power as the first mourners
at the bier of Alexander the Third.
At St. Petersburg, the Duke of York joined the mourning group of Royal
personages, and there, on November 26th, the young Czar was married to
his cousin, Princess Alix of Hesse, and a still closer tie of
relationship formed with the Royal House of England. From this time
forward the diplomatic relations of Russia and Great Britain steadily
improved and there has never been any doubt amongst those in a position
to judge that it was very largely due to the close friendship between
the Prince of Wales and his Imperial nephew. In France, and especially
amongst its leading men, His Royal Highness was for long an influential
factor in keeping the wheels of international relations moving smoothly.
Personally popular, his tactful course at critical periods helped
greatly in maintaining official amity. The root of this wide-spread
influence and practical statecraft, in addition to elements already
indicated and covering more directly the personal equation, was well
described by Mr. Smalley in an article already quoted: "First of all,
the impression of real force of character. Next, that combined
shrewdness and good sense which together amount to sagacity. Third,
tact. Add to these firmness and courage, and base all of these gifts on
immense experience of life by one who has touched it on many sides and
you will have drawn an outline of character which cannot be much
altered. Add to it the Prince's constant solicitude about public matters
and his intelligent estimate of forces--which last is the chief business
of statesmanship. Add to this again the effect upon the hearer of
conversation from a mind full, not indeed of literature, but of life; a
conversation of wide range, of acuteness, of clear statement and strong
opinion, of infinite good humour."
To these varied lines of useful statesmanship and personal labour in
which the Heir Apparent was engaged for so many years, may be added the
personal influence which he exercised over men of the Empire from time
to time, and his constant inculcation of pride in country and of
patriotic principle. There will then be seen a total record worthy of
his later place as the hereditary ruler of vast dominions. In the former
connection one incident may be mentioned as told by a correspondent
during the Indian tour: "The Prince's tact is remarkable, and the news
of his friendliness soon spread over India; one officer of great
experience in Indian affairs declared that in asking the Maharajah
Scindia to ride down the lines with him at Delhi, His Royal Highness
performed an act which was worth a million sterling." Upon the latter
point his speeches during forty years to innumerable military
bodies--Militia, Volunteer, or Naval--may be mentioned. His earliest
deliverance of this character was in presenting colours to the 100th, or
Prince of Wales' Royal Canadian Regiment, at Thorncliffe, on January
10th, 1859. His first speech as an officer of the Army was, therefore,
of an Imperialistic character: "The ceremonial, in which we are now
engaged, possesses a peculiar significance and solemnity because in
confiding to you for the first time this emblem of military fidelity and
valour, I not only recognize emphatically your enrollment into our
national force but celebrate an act which proclaims and strengthens the
unity of the various parts of this vast Empire under the sway of our
common Sovereign." The fact that this address of the youthful Prince--he
was not eighteen--was probably revised and approved by the Prince
Consort and the Queen, illustrates how early his education in
Imperialism began, and how far in advance of public opinion the Queen
and her sagacious husband were.
Through the years that followed the Prince of Wales was never backward
in urging efficient military and naval protection for British
interests. Upon the question of the Navy two speeches, delivered in
1899, may be referred to as indicating the patriotic statesmanship of
the Heir of the Throne Speaking at the Middlesex Hospital banquet on
April 12th he said: "In this country it depends on our Navy and our Army
to uphold the honour and _prestige_ of our nation and to protect the
interests which have made it the vast empire it is. I rejoice to think
that Her Majesty's Government have thought fit to increase our Navy. I
realize by your applause how heartily you reciprocate what I have said,
and I believe that this feeling exists not only in this room but
throughout the length and breadth of Her Majesty's dominions. In
strengthening our Navy, God forbid that it should imply in any way that
we threatened other countries--just the reverse--for, in order to be at
peace, we must be strong. Therefore, the best policy is to strengthen
our first line of defence--the Navy. I hope the motto of which our
Volunteers are so proud may ever be retained by the Navy; that of
defence, not defiance." A little later, as President of the Royal
National Lifeboat Institution, he presided over a banquet in London on
May 1st. In proposing the toast of the Army and Navy he declared that
the country owed them much. "I am sure the desire of every Englishman is
to see both in a high state of efficiency and that he does not grudge
putting his hand in his pocket to maintain them, because he knows that
if he has a good fleet and a good army he is safe and the honour of the
Empire is safe."
An incident occurred on April 4th, 1900, which afforded abundant proof
of the popularity of the Prince of Wales and indicated the importance
his position had attained in the eyes of the world. He had been
travelling to Denmark accompanied by the Princess, and his train had
arrived at Brussels _en route_ from Calais to Copenhagen. The carriage
was a special one and was leaving the station at a slow, preliminary
rate when a youth named Sipido jumped on the foot-board of the car and
fired two shots, in rapid succession, point-blank at the traveller who
was just taking a cup of tea with his wife. He was about to fire a third
time, but was seized by the stationmaster, arrested and sent to prison.
The man turned out to be a Belgian, expressed no regret for his
attempted crime, said that he was willing to try again, and stated,
under cross-examination, that his object was to avenge the thousands of
men "whom the Prince had caused to be slaughtered in South Africa." He
was afterwards tried under the laws of Belgium and acquitted. After
sending dispatches to the Queen and the Duchess of York, containing
assurance of safety, the Prince and Princess proceeded on their way to
Denmark.
[Illustration: EDWARD VII AND HIS QUEEN ALEXANDRA CROWNED
On August 9, 1902, amidst all possible pomp and solemnity the Sovereign
of the British Empire and his beloved Consort received the joyful homage
of their subjects]
[Illustration: KING EDWARD VII WITH QUEEN ALEXANDRA GOING IN STATE TO
THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT]
[Illustration: THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY PAYS HOMAGE TO HIS SOVEREIGN
When the Primate came to do homage to Edward VII and was about to exhort
the King to "stand firm and hold fast" he was quite overcome, and his
Majesty to prevent his falling, stretched forth his hand to assist him.]
[Illustration: THE TOWER OF LONDON]
The event created a profound sensation in Great Britain and throughout
Europe and the British Empire. The first feeling was of astonishment
that one of the most popular members of the world's Royal circle should
be the object of such an attempt; the second that more care had not been
taken by those responsible for his safety in travelling; and the third
was admiration for the perfect coolness and obvious bravery which he
showed during and after the ordeal. Everywhere tributes of sympathy were
tendered in language of unstinted appreciation of the Heir Apparent's
public services and character. Speaking at Acton, on the same evening,
Lord George Hamilton, M.P., said: "What could have induced any foreigner
to raise his hand against the Prince of Wales passed his comprehension.
If there was one individual who had utilized his position and abilities
to promote the welfare of the poorer section of society it was the
Prince of Wales. No kinder, no more philanthropic, no more humane man
existed on the face of the earth." At other meetings which were going
on, sympathetic allusions were made to the event, amidst loud cheers, by
Lord Strathcona, Sir William Wedderburn, M.P., the Earl of Hopetoun, and
Sir Wilfrid Lawson. Telegrams poured in at Windsor and Marlborough
House from every point of the compass. Resolutions of congratulation
were passed in every portion of the Empire during the next few days, and
"God bless the Prince of Wales" rang loudly through the United Kingdom
and many a distant country.
King Leopold of Belgium was one of the first to express his deep regret
at the occurrence; the Governments of Victoria, South Australia, Western
Australia, Queensland, New Zealand, Tasmania, Cyprus, Mauritius and
Barbados, the President of France, the Portuguese Parliament, the Town
Councils of Ballarat and Bendigo in Australia and Durban in South
Africa, the Agents-General of all the Colonies in London, the Australian
Federal Delegates in London, the Masonic Grand Lodge of New Zealand, the
Corporation of London, the Government of Servia, the High Commissioner
for South Africa and the Hon. W. P. Schreiner, Premier of Cape Colony,
the Governor-General of Canada, the Governor of Malta, and some eight
hundred other Governments, public bodies, or prominent persons,
telegraphed messages of congratulation or formal Resolutions. The
references of the British and Colonial press were more than sympathetic.
The London _Standard_ thought that "the veneration felt for the Queen as
well as the general regard for the Prince's personal qualities and his
universal popularity might be supposed to give him absolute immunity,
even in these days of frenzied political animosity and unscrupulous
journalistic violence. The Prince is almost as well-known on the
Continent as he is at home, and his invariable courtesy and unaffected
kindness of heart have been appreciated and acknowledged in capitals
where his country is not regarded with affection." The London _Daily
News_ pointed out the utter absence of all excuse for such an attempt.
"The Prince had refrained with admirable tact and discretion from
interference with public affairs. All sorts of charitable and
philanthropic concerns have found in his Royal Highness a sympathetic
friend."
Returning home, on April 20th, the Prince of Wales was given a pleasant
surprise at Altona where, as his train stopped on German soil, he found
the Emperor William and Prince Henry of Prussia waiting with their
suites to welcome him to Germany and, at the same time, to offer
personal congratulations upon his escape. This occurrence created wide
comment in Europe generally, and was taken to mean a desire by the
German Emperor to express friendly national as well as friendly personal
feelings. When His Royal Highness arrived at Dover, the welcome was
immense in numbers and enthusiastic in character. The same thing
occurred at Charing-Cross Station, London, where he was met by the Duke
of York and the King of Sweden and Norway and wildly cheered by
thousands of people on his way to Marlborough House. As the _Standard_
put it next day: "No address of congratulation, presented by dignitaries
in scarlet and gold, could have been nearly as eloquent as that sea of
friendly faces and the ringing cheers of loyal men." In response to the
innumerable congratulations received, as well as to this reception, the
Prince of Wales issued a personal and public note of thanks in the
following terms:
"I have been deeply touched by the numerous expressions of sympathy and
goodwill addressed to me on the occasion of the providential escape of
the Princess of Wales and myself from the danger we have lately passed
through. From every quarter of the globe, from the Queen's subjects
throughout the world, as well as from the representatives and
inhabitants of foreign countries, have these manifestations of sympathy
proceeded, and on my return to this country I received a welcome so
spontaneous and hearty that I felt I was the recipient of a most
gratifying tribute of genuine good-will. Such proofs of kind and
generous feeling are naturally most highly prized by me, and will
forever be cherished in my memory."