TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE PRINCE OF WALES. THE Prince of Wales during his visit to Canada and the United States has done great things on the posi- tive side, and deserves all the gratitude and all the admir- ation he has received—and they have been overwhelming. In spite of this, we are not sure that the negative side is not the more remarkable part of the tour. Though it sounds almost incredible, or like the worst type of courtier's flattery, the Prince of Wales really does seem to have made no mistakes. He has not said or done anything to spoil his welcome. Yet how very easily, even with the very best intentions, he might have made a slip here or encouraged a misunderstanding there, or failed in tact or good temper. Throughout his long ordeal of roaring and wreaths and high-pitched if hearty adulation there has been no whisper of an accident or of any selfishness, or even of any yielding to the sense of weariness or boredom. He has not hurt anybody's feelings or destroyed anybody's pleasure. Think for a moment what this avoidance of giving any ground for offence means in the situation in which the Prince found himself. He had to play a new and a very trying part among people, both in Canada and the United States, inclined to be critical on many things and distinctly " touchy " on others. On countless occasions it would have been the easiest thing in the world to do the wrong thing,. or to use words which might have been misunderstood or been twisted into meaning something which they were not intended to mewl. The Prince of Wales is essentially a modest man, and we should not be surprised to hear that while we were writing he was saying to himself in his cabin in the ' Renown ' : " Well, thank Heaven, I managed not to put my foot in it, and that's something after all ! " It is indeed something, something to boast of. The Abbe Sieyes plumed himself that his great achievement during the Terror was to have lived. The Prince of Wales has quite as great an achievement to his credit in having been in the limelight for a month without once having made his friends or himself wish he had " never said that What is the secret of the Prince's success ? What enabled him not only to charm two continents but to play two roles, which he had to change in an instant, without the slightest uneasiness ? In Canada his was the role of the Heir Apparent, the man who had the right to expect loyal sympathy, who could rely upon the pride of Empire. As the latest link in the mystic chain which stretches back and back through the ages and forms the glorious line of crowned figures from Alfred to the Prince's own father, he could by his mere presence awaken the flame of patriotism in every heart. The moment he was across the border the r8le was changed. Though " the house " seemed superficially made up of the same elements, of men and women talking the same language in the same key as the Canadians, yet a complete change of tone was necessary to hold, or rather not to offend, the audience. In the United States the Prince was a guest, not a fellow-subject, and yet no foreigner. He had to render it clear that while his heart warmed to the other half of the English-speaking race, he would be making a fatal error both in their regard and in the regard of the men he had left to the northward if the difference between the Canadian and the American peoples were not clearly marked. Here was a task capable of trying the ablest and most tactful man of the world—a crux for orators or diplomatists. Yet the Prince of Wales sailed triumphantly over this troubled sea without getting even the slightest buffet from the waves. Nobody ever thought of saying in Washington or New York that he had forgotten that the people he was among were not his future subjects, or that he had been inclined to " come " the Prince over them. In Canada, on the other hand, no one ever murmured : " He has forgotten that he is one of us."
What enabled the future Sovereign of the British Empire to do this was something very simple. He could do it because he has an honest heart. Add good sense, modesty, and that curious and most English quality which can only be described as the detestation of swagger, and we have read the Prince's simple secret. The Prince of Wales, we may be sure, and be thankful for it, is no analyst of his feelings, no dabbler in introspection ; but we may be sure also that what he was determined to do was not to allow any man to accuse him of swank, of pomposity, or of " doing the grand." Though he has that natural dignity which comes from good breeding and a good conscience, it is impossible to imagine the Prince of Wales, even in his inmost thoughts, saying to himself : " A person in my position must—." Wisely careless of the minor arts of Royalty, he followed his own natural instinct, not his own or somebody else's reasoning. That instinct never led him astray. What delighted the Canadians and Americans was not a finished work of art, the result of deep thought and careful prepara- tion, but the promptings of good nature, and of a strong desire to do his duty and be worthy of his high name.
Though the Prince of Wales owes his success to his honest heart and to a clear and simple character, we must remember that these qualities could not by themselves have borne the fruit they have borne. They might, if not de- stroyed, have been stifled by a bad upbringing. It was his good fortune, and the good fortune of us all, that he was bred in a family happy and united, in which the sense of duty ruled, but in which also there was a sound home life. It is no secret that the Prince is devoted to his father, his mother, his brothers, and his sister. There has never been, and we do not believe there ever will be, a hint of jealousy or of friction between father and son. History records, almost as if it were a Royal tradition, the dislike shown throughout the eighteenth century by our Kings to their heirs. Happily that evil tradition has been completely broken. King George, as is well known, was devoted to his father, Edward VII., and he has had the happiness, not only to love his son, but to inspire devotion in the Prince of Wales as in all his children. Nor has the Queen failed in her part, though that is a matter upon which we feel it would be an impertinence to dwell. Kings in a Consti- tutional Monarchy must endure comments even on such intimate relations as those between father and son. Of the Queen we have only the right to record that she has earned, and receives, the love of her children. There is no need to produce proofs of what we have said as to the Prince's upbringing. It is afforded by the Prince himself. Any one who knows anything of human nature would say with conviction : " A young man like that could only have come out of a home where things go well." Good homes, of course, do not always make good men, but who can deny that unhappy homes cast a shadow even on the best of mankind ?
One is almost ashamed to go on writing eulogistically of the Prince, for one feels he might so easily and naturally retort : " Well, if you think I did well and you want to be pleasant, for Heaven's sake stop writing all this flap- doodle." We take the point, as the lawyers say. The Prince of Wales has thoroughly enjoyed, as no doubt be ought to have enjoyed, the cheers of the crowds and the hearty good wishes of the speakers at banquets and deputa- tions, but we can thoroughly- sympathize with him for being inclined to be put off by analyses of his character, even though it may be necessary to make them. We have said already that we are certain that the Prince is not introspective, but we should not be surprised if, like the natural young man he is, his feelings could be expressed by some such words as these : " All this praise is very nice, but how on earth am I to live up to it ? I don't want to be a plaster Prince or the nation's darling like King Alfred, or a stunt Royalty ' of any kind, and if this sort of thing is not stopped that is what they will make of me ; yet if I try to stop it now they will say I am ungrateful, and I shall hurt somebody's feelings. Besides, though State visits are all right, I should like sometimes to travel with a friend or two and not be always making speeches." If these very natural reflections come to the Prince, and if he should ever worry himself about how to " keep it up," we would venture not upon that most odious of all things to a young man, good advice, but upon " a straight tip." Let him remember always to be himself, and not to be talked into trying to be something or somebody else. If we mistake not, his natural instinct is to take interest in a great many things, not to be censorious or priggish, and not to interfere with other people's opinions, but to be friendly with all honest men however much they may differ from him. That is the right attitude for " the lad that is born to be King," and it is one which we expect coincides with the Prince's own view of things. The ordinary man in the workaday world has to fight hard against this or that wrong or preju- dice, or for this or that scheme. Happily for him, a King may, and indeed ought to, possess a comprehensiveness, almost an indulgence of view, which would be reprehensible in any one whose duty and whose position did not demand that he should represent the whole nation and not merely a part of it. A Constitutional King, or a man who will be a Constitutional King, must remember that it can never be his duty to cut himself off from any one of his subjects because of that subject's opinions, be they what they may. Our Kings, as the chiefs of a crowned Republic, early learnt not to be afraid of the advocates of republicanism, and in the same way the King, though he may have his own views like the rest of us, should never desire to condemn, and should never be afraid of coming to close quarters with, those who want to alter the present social order, provided always that they are honest political malcontents, not political malefactors. In order to " keep it up," as the Prince of Wales might say, and certainly is sure to wish, let him, like Marcus Aurelius, be specially, careful not to fall into the hands of a sophist or self-pleased philosopher. Socrates would have been the very best possible guide for a King, for he had humour and common-sense ; but the ordinary social philosopher should be avoided like the plague. So much for generalities. Specifically, let the Prince remember never to leave go of the hand which America has held out to him and which he now grasps. It is quite certain that in the years to come things will happen which will tempt him, and may give him an excuse, to judge America harshly. We may see great efforts to make him anti- American, or again he may be told that if he appears too pro-American he will forfeit the love and good opinion of those who must necessarily and rightly be nearer to him, the men of the Empire. Let him swear to himself that he will never yield to such malicious promptings. He may have in the future, like other Englishmen, to differ from, or to take a firm stand against, some section of American opinion, but let him determine that if he does it shall never be with bitterness or venom, and that come what may the other half of the English-speaking race shall always be to him as they are now—brothers in blood.
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