Part 14 (1/2)
”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,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 Chair upon terreat Imperialist's career and objects There can be no doubt that he knew much of South African affairs and was instru 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 as 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 thesince, 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 thehter 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 ah 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 friendshi+p with a powerful financial class, ruling great interests in every nation, gave the Prince of Wales a much enhanced influence abroad In the sa for A and ability wasbetween the two countries--where it was not grossly and untruthfully uished visitors from the United States, whether rich or poor, always found a welcost those whom he appears to have especially liked were James Russell Lowell, Thomas F Bayard, Whitelaw Reid and Chauncey M Depew Alish life and society like Lady Harcourt, Mrs Chah were always treated with marked courtesy by both the Princess and hiht hi of conditions there which those around him were not always fully aware of Hence the value of the e which was sent to the New York _World_ in the na the Venezuelan crisis If it be true that a private letter, a word spoken in season, or a brief drawing-room conversation, is often , then the Prince of Wales was for years a potent force in proood-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 n of Great Britain and those of other countries Thoroughly acquainted with the personality of foreign rulers, related to the rees of national influence and personal power, faislature, 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 heirshi+p to the British throne he was naturally upon ter like equality with those who, at Paris or Vienna, and more in sympathy with their point of view than e W Sazine_ 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 Ger quietly with son 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 atched for years at the source of power in London, ”the Prince has gone abroad as--in effect, though of course never in nan 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 terard to the co 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 hi of a possible national enee of the Eram 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 friendshi+p known to have existed between the Prince of Wales and the Czar of Russia Nicholas II bore the same relationshi+p of nephew to him that was borne by William II and, like the other I 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 fro his end in the far-away Palace of Livadia As rapidly as train and shi+p could carry them the Royal couple travelled to Russia, but only in tied and splendid cereeant, lasting a week, and extending fro, the Czar and the Prince were constantly together, in the most inti--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 enial relative, and found in his society co friendshi+p 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 ale to the tomb which follohen 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 ihts of the relations between the two Empires should not have crossed the minds of both These two men share between them the over lordshi+p of Asia To the Czar, the north froahlien; to the other, the south fro No two e of Imperial power as the first mourners at the bier of Alexander the Third
At St Petersburg, the Duke of York joined the es, and there, on Nove Czar was married to his cousin, Princess Alix of Hesse, and a still closer tie of relationshi+p forland From this time forward the diplomatic relations of Russia and Great Britain steadily ist those in a position to judge that it was very largely due to the close friendshi+p between the Prince of Wales and his Ian influential factor in keeping the wheels of international relationssmoothly
Personally popular, his tactful course at critical periods helped greatly inofficial amity The root of this wide-spread influence and practical statecraft, in addition to ele more directly the personal equation, ell described by Mr Smalley in an article already quoted: ”First of all, the impression of real force of character Next, that coacity Third, tact Add to these firifts 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 ent estimate of forces--which last is the chief business of statesain 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 stateood humour”
To these varied lines of useful statesmanshi+p 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 incidentthe 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 hihness perfor” 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 cerenificance and sole to you for the first time this enize emphatically your enrollment into our national force but celebrate an act which proclaithens the unity of the various parts of this vast En” 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 Ian, 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,the patriotic states at the Middlesex Hospital banquet on April 12th he said: ”In this country it depends on our Navy and our Are_ 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 Governht 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 rooth and breadth of Her Majesty's do 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 then 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 thelishh state of efficiency and that he does not grudge putting his hand in his pocket to ood 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_ froe 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 as 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 ret for his atteain, and stated, under cross-exae the thousands of htered in South Africa” He was afterwards tried under the laws of Belgiu 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, an of the British Ee 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 Prie to Edward VII and was about to exhort the King to ”stand firm and hold fast” he was quite overco, stretched forth his hand to assist him]
[Illustration: THE TOWER OF LONDON]