Part 7 (1/2)

The Prince of Wales in India

To make a Royal tour of the vast British possessions in Hindostan was an inspiring idea. To const.i.tute the Crown a tangible evidence of Imperial power and a living object and centre of Eastern loyalty and respect was a policy worthy of Mr. Disraeli and of the statecraft in which he had once declared imagination to be an essential ingredient. To precede this action by the purchase of the Suez Ca.n.a.l shares in order to safe-guard the pathway to the Indian Empire and to succeed it with such an impressive appeal to Oriental individualism and personal loyalty as the proclamation of Queen Victoria as Empress of India were strokes of statesmans.h.i.+p such as no other Englishman of that time was capable of initiating.

INCEPTION OF THE PROJECT

In Bombay, when the project was finally in full fruition, the Prince of Wales told a distinguished audience that ”it had long been the dream of his life to visit India,” and there seems no room to doubt that it was a part of the original plan mapped out by the keen perceptions of the Prince Consort for the education of his eldest son. It was unquestionably suggested to the former by Lord Canning, when Governor-General of India in the wild days of the Mutiny, but the idea necessarily slumbered until the young Prince was old enough to undertake the heavy duties involved.

By that time his father had pa.s.sed away; the old-time rule of the East India Company was gone; a new and greater India had expanded in territory and population; while the loyalty of its native Princes had become a constant marvel to other peoples. Yet there were causes of discontent and grounds for trouble. The myriad ma.s.ses of Hindostan did not yet fully understand who was ruling over them, nor had they ever fully comprehended how the rule of the Company pa.s.sed away. The word ”Queen” had to them an Eastern significance which did not exactly compel respect, and that personal side of Government which means so much to the Oriental mind had never been brought home to them. The a.s.sa.s.sination of Lord Mayo proved the possibilities of greater trouble, and there was always the danger of Russian aggression and the existence of border warfare. In the winter of 1874, therefore, the question of a Royal tour was seriously considered, and some correspondence pa.s.sed between the authorities concerned. To send the Heir to the Throne on such a visit was a unique project, and there were various difficulties to overcome.

India was accustomed to visitors of the type of Alexander the Great, of Timour, Baber, Mahmoud of Ghuznee and Nadir Shah; but a peaceful progress of the foreign Heir to its Throne was another matter. Brief and hasty visits to some of its Princes had been made in recent times by Prince Adalbert of Prussia, the King of the Belgians and the Duke of Edinburgh, but there had never been a state tour of the country with all its accompaniments of splendour and costliness, the danger from fanatics and the trying changes of climatic conditions.

ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE TOUR

It was not an easy matter to arrange, and the probabilities are, that if the Prince of Wales had not himself insisted that it was his duty to go, the project might ultimately have been abandoned. He had by this time come to fill so important a place in the public eye and in the external functions of Sovereignty that his absence for six months, or more was a serious consideration. The preliminary obstacles, however, were overcome, and on the 16th of March, 1875, the Marquess of Salisbury, Secretary of State for India, announced that the visit would take place, and a little later the _Times_ stated that Sir Bartle Frere would accompany His Royal Highness. The former was widely known in India through administrative duties admirably performed in Bombay and the North-West Provinces. The Duke of Sutherland, a much respected n.o.bleman, was selected as one of the suite, together with Lord Suffield, head of the Prince's Household; Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Ellis, Equerry to the Prince, and who had served in India; Major-General (Sir) D. M. Probyn, V.C., who arranged the details regarding horses, transport and sporting; Mr. Knollys, who has since been so well known as Sir Francis Knollys, the Prince's Private Secretary; Lord Alfred Paget, an old man and most attached friend to the Prince; the Rev. Canon Duckworth, who went as Chaplain; and Dr. Fayrer, who attended in the capacity of guardian to the Prince's health, and afterwards became a well known physician and Sir Joseph Fayrer, Bart., F.R.S., etc.

The Earl of Aylesford, Lord Carington and Colonel Owen Williams were invited, as personal friends of the Prince of Wales, to join the party, while Lieutenant the Lord Charles Beresford, M.P., who had accompanied the Duke of Edinburgh on his preceding hasty visit, also lent his experience and unflagging gayety to the suite, and was aided by Lieutenant Augustus Fitz-George of the Rifle Brigade. Mr. Sydney Hall was the official artist of the tour; Mr. Albert Grey (afterwards Earl Grey) was Private Secretary to Sir Bartle Frere; and the present Sir William Howard Russell was a special correspondent with the nominal duties of Honorary Private Secretary to the Prince. When Parliament met various questions were asked as to whether the expenses of the tour were to be charged to the British or Indian Governments; whether the Prince would represent the Queen; whether he would supersede the Governor-General for the time being, etc. On July 8th Mr. Disraeli made a full statement for the first time in connection with the subject. He alluded to the previous travels of the Prince of Wales and expressed the opinion that they were the best form of education for a Royal personage.

But the rules and regulations and etiquette which sufficed for the Prince in Canada and other countries would not do in India. One important difference was the probably costly character of the ceremonial presents which would have to be exchanged between the visitor and his hosts amongst the native Princes. Money would have to be granted for this, and the sum of 30,000 had been casually estimated for the purpose. The estimate of the Admiralty for the expenses of the voyage and corresponding movements of the fleet was 52,000. He would ask for a vote of 60,000. The Prince would go as the Heir Apparent to the Crown and be the formal guest of the Viceroy from the time of setting foot upon Indian soil. The expenses of the tour were to be charged to the Indian Budget. This statement created some criticism, while the very small amount proposed for expenditure caused still more comment. As a matter of fact, the Prince did not exceed, in the end, the comparatively small amount voted.

THE JOURNEY COMMENCED

On Sunday, October 10th, a farewell sermon was preached at Westminster Abbey by Dean Stanley, who expressed the hope that the visit might leave behind it ”on one side the remembrance of graceful acts, kind words, English n.o.bleness, Christian principles, and on the other awaken in all concerned the sense of graver duties, wider sympathies, loftier purposes.” On the following day the Prince left London amid marked popular demonstrations of respect and regard, and with every evidence of a deep public interest shown by the press of the country. At Dover thousands of people cheered the Prince farewell. He took the boat for Calais, accompanied by the Princess, who, however, did not land, but returned home next morning. At Paris he was accidentally met by President MacMahon, who was leaving on the train for another place, and welcomed to France; officially he was received by Lord Lyons, the British Amba.s.sador. On the following day His Royal Highness lunched with Marshal MacMahon at the Elysee. This visit and the ensuing journey through Turin, Bologna and Ancona to Brindisi was carried out in a private and non-official capacity. Nevertheless, at every station there were officials, guards of honour and crowds of people to see the special go through and to do honour to the traveller. The bulk of the Royal suite followed the Prince a little later, and on October 16th the whole party met at Brindisi and the voyage proper commenced.

WELCOMED BY THE KING OF THE GREEKS

Later in the same day H. M. S. _Serapis_, under the command of Captain the Hon. H. Carr-Glyn, accompanied by the Royal yacht _Osborne_, left Brindisi, and two days later the Prince was being welcomed in Athens by the King of the h.e.l.lenes--Otto I--and by a picturesque Court clad in the attractive costumes of the nation. Visits to the Acropolis and to the country house of the King were followed by a State banquet at the Palace, which gathered together all that was eminent in modern Grecian life, glittering with laces, orders and decorations, and including some young men who have since become famous--Tricoupi, Delyannis, Commoundourus and Zaimes. Illuminations of the city ensued, and in the morning, after a Royal reception, the Prince left Athens through crowds of people, who seemed a little more demonstrative than had been the case at first. On October 20th the Piraeus was left behind after a farewell visit from the King and at dawn the next day Crete was in sight. The s.h.i.+p steered steadily ahead and three days later was welcomed at Port Said by Egyptian frigates on sea and Egyptian infantry on sh.o.r.e.

There was no cheering from the people but much curiosity. A formal welcome was offered for the Khedive by Princes Tewfik, Hussein and Ha.s.san, who were accompanied on their visit to the _Serapis_ by the well-known statesman Nubar Pasha, and other officers of the Court. The Prince then transferred himself to a smaller vessel--the _Osborne_--and with a Royal Standard floating over the s.h.i.+p for the first time since the Empress Eugenie had opened the Suez Ca.n.a.l, he traversed that famous waterway. At Ismaila, the Prince and his suite landed and took a special train to Cairo, where His Royal Highness was welcomed by the Khedive in person, with the towering form of the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia standing behind, and a brilliantly uniformed Court around him. To the Prince of Wales the Gezireh Palace was given as his temporary residence.

The succeeding day was occupied with ceremonials of various kinds, a banquet being given by the Khedive at the Abdeen Palace in the evening, when the Prince pa.s.sed to and fro in a lane of light made by myriad many-coloured lamps.

On October 25th, the Prince of Wales invested Prince Tewfik--afterwards Khedive of Egypt--with the Order of the Star of India amidst all possible state. In a letter he told His Highness that the honour was conferred to mark British appreciation of the Khedive's friends.h.i.+p to England, and his good work in promoting the safety of British communication with India. The next day saw the Royal departure from Cairo after a formal visit from the Khedive, the Princes his sons, and his Ministers, who were again at the station to see him off a little later. Suez was reached in the evening and, amid elaborate preparations from the Pasha of that place, crowds of people and illuminated men-of-war in the roadstead, the Prince and his party boarded the _Serapis_ and, accompanied by the _Osborne_, proceeded on the voyage to Aden. Perim, which has been described as ”a gigantic blistered clinker,”

was reached and pa.s.sed on October 31st, and from the s.h.i.+p the Prince got his first view of Her Majesty's Indian troops. It is to be hoped that the cheering Bombay Infantry drawn up on that vitrified surface, got a fair view of the Prince in return. On the following day the volcanic-like Island of Aden was reached, and its fortifications gazed upon with interest. As the flag flew from the mast-head of the _Serapis_ to announce its arrival the s.h.i.+ps and crags rang with the roar of cannon. The Prince landed, clad in uniform of a somewhat mixed character, with Field Marshal's insignia, and accompanied by his suite.

Upon, or around, the platform and triumphal arch erected at the landing-place, was every variety of picturesque oriental costume with a background of mountain and blistered rock and white, painted houses.

Chiefs from the mainland in gorgeous array, the King's Own Borderer's Regiment, all the ladies of the island in European or Asiatic costume, fierce-looking Arabs, meek-looking Hindoos, sleek Pa.r.s.ees, people from all the regions between the Persian Gulf, Zanzibar and Arabia, were there to welcome him.

THE PRINCE RECEIVES AN ADDRESS

A formal address was presented to His Royal Highness by the Resident--a Pa.r.s.ee--and then followed a drive through decorated streets with numerous arches and curious mottoes to the Residency. A Levee was held here and later in the day the s.h.i.+p was again boarded and steamed away from the Indian Gibraltar as it lay bathed in lines of light along all its town and batteries.

Bombay was reached on November 8th, after a voyage which was upon the whole pleasant--certainly as far as surroundings and comforts could make it. For a few hours official visitors streamed on board, and then in the afternoon Lord Northbrook, Viceroy of India, appeared on the scene and was received with the honours due to his station. There had been some idea abroad that difficulties might arise as to the respective positions of the Heir Apparent and the Viceroy in State ceremonial, but from the day of this first formal meeting there does not seem to have been the slightest trouble upon the point. Each knew perfectly what pertained to the position and rank of the other. Then came the Governor of Bombay, Sir Philip Wodehouse, and with him the Commander-in-Chief of the Presidency, Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Staveley, and the members of the Council. Meanwhile the harbour was filled with s.h.i.+ps and boats of all kinds, flags were streaming everywhere, in the distance was a vast triumphal arch spanning the waterway between two piers, and, as the Royal and Vice-regal party stepped into the barge and started for the landing-place, the cannon roared, bands played, guards saluted and crews cheered.

As the Prince of Wales landed the scene was one of the most splendid conceivable. Long lines of seats draped in scarlet cloth stood out under the sides of the gigantic archway and upon them stood a mult.i.tude of native notabilities--Chiefs, Sirdars and gentlemen, Pa.r.s.ees, Hindoos, Mahrattas and Mohammedans--a crowd glittering in gems and bright in all the brilliant hues of Oriental garb. Amongst them also were the officers of the Government and Munic.i.p.ality, leading citizens and dignitaries, and all the ladies who could be found within a radius of a hundred miles. Flowers and shrubs and banners and flags were everywhere. An address expressive of loyalty and pride in the British Throne was presented from the Munic.i.p.ality and duly answered, and then the Prince, with Lord Northbrook at his side, walked along a carpeted avenue, speaking to various Princes and Chiefs as they were presented--the first being Sir Salar Jung, the Prime Minister and representative and famous statesman of Hyderabad. At the end of the avenue, where carriages were taken for the procession of seven miles through the teeming streets of the city, a band of Pa.r.s.ee girls in white were waiting to strew garlands and flowers in the Prince's carriage and on the roadway.

There was no music in this wonderful night procession and its surroundings are difficult to describe. Mr. W. H. Russell, the diarist of the Royal tour, speaks of the spectacle as being absolutely baffling to the eye. ”There was something almost supernatural in these long vistas winding down banks of variegated light, crowded with gigantic creatures waving their arms aloft and indulging in extravagant gesture, which the eye--baffled by rivers of fire, blinded with the glare of lamps and blazing magnesium wire and pots of burning matter--sought in vain to penetrate.” The piled-up ma.s.ses of human beings along these miles of streets; the Pa.r.s.ee women in brilliant costumes, which vied with the colours of the surrounding fires and lights; crowds of Mohammedans; Hindoo temples with roofs covered by Brahmins and their votaries; a Jew bazaar, an American store, a European warehouse, or a j.a.pan temple in close proximity to each other and all bearing a burden of people in varied dress; flashed a picturesque and never-ending variety of sight and colour and character to the gaze of the quiet, dignified man who drove through it all as the central figure of a spectacle whose like may never be seen again. A banquet followed in the great hall of Government House, and a state reception closed the varied proceedings of this first busy day in historic Hindostan.

Meanwhile, camp-fires blazed for miles around the city, the fiery furnace of the streets settled into as much of silence as an Oriental centre under such conditions could attain and all over India, in every mart and village and town where a gun could be found, volleys had announced the arrival of the heir to its Imperial throne. In the morning a Royal reception was held at Government House and, amid splendid surroundings and every form of dignity and severe etiquette necessary to impress the visiting Princes and Chiefs and Rajahs of the great Presidency of Bombay, His Royal Highness stood or sat for hours in the intense heat, clad in a stiff uniform, laden with lace and b.u.t.toned up to the throat. With him were the Duke of Sutherland, Major-General Lord Alfred Paget, Sir Bartle Frere, Lord Suffield, Lord Charles Beresford and the rest of his suite. The Oriental dignitaries, each in great state, came with attendants and ceremonies and gifts in accordance with his rank. Each Prince was treated along graded lines of cordiality, courtesy or civility, as was supposed to become his position. The little Rajah of Kolapore; the Maharajah of Mysore; the Maharana of Oodeypore; the Rao of Cutch--who left a sick bed and returned home to die; the little Gaekwar of Baroda, who was described as looking like a crystallized rainbow and was accompanied by the famous statesman, Sir Madhava Rao; Sir Salar Jung of Hyderabad; and the Maharajah of Edur; were received one after the other and then a succession of less important rulers with tremendous names, fierce-looking guards and more or less gorgeous costumes.

At the end of what was a Durbar in all but name the Prince was only beginning his functions for the day. The Viceroy had to be received and many matters discussed; a visit was paid to the _Serapis_ where the men were celebrating the Prince's birthday, as were many millions throughout India; telegrams were exchanged with the Princess at Sandringham; every step was marked by pomp and splendour; a state banquet was held in the evening and another, but less formal, reception afterwards. Meantime, the city, the s.h.i.+pping and the harbour were a blaze of light and general illumination--the great bay looking as if it were filled with rows of fiery pyramids and the streets as if all India were trying to pa.s.s through them. On November the 10th the Viceroy bade farewell to the Prince, who did not see him again until near the end of his tour. He went on a journey himself to parts of India which His Royal Highness was unable to visit. Another formal reception of lesser Rajahs and Nawabs took place in the morning. In the afternoon the Prince drove into Bombay, accompanied by Sir Philip Wodehouse and held a Levee in the Government Buildings. Then followed a visit to the harbour where, in an open s.p.a.ce, seven thousand children of all castes, cla.s.ses, colours and creeds, dressed in brilliant hues and laden with flowers, sang patriotic songs. They almost smothered the Royal guest in flowers as he ascended to his place. State visits were then made to a number of the native Princes who had been already received and, in the evening, a grand European ball, given by the Byculla Club, was attended. Other Chiefs were visited next day by the Prince--those who had not residences or were not of sufficient importance being a.s.signed reception rooms at the Secretariat, or Government Buildings.