The Life of King Edward VII
unveil the statue and fittingly eulogize the Royal French youth who had
fought and died for the country which had been so kind to his parents.
On May 5th, 1879, the Prince of Wales presided at the annual banquet of
the Cabdrivers' Benevolent Association. On May 23, 1880, he presided at
a dinner in aid of the funds of the Princess Helena College and the
result of his patronage and the careful speech delivered was a total
donation of L2000, to which he contributed his customary one hundred
guineas. On June 17th of the same year he visited the new Breakwater and
Harbour at Holyhead and, during the visit, there were loyal
demonstrations on sea and land and a banquet attended by gentlemen
representing most of the leading English and Irish railway companies.
During the same month the King of Greece visited England and the Prince
had an opportunity of returning some of the many hospitalities which he
had received from His Majesty and of presenting him to the Corporation
of London at a great banquet of welcome. As Duke of Cornwall he also
laid the first stone of Truro Cathedral in this month. Writing of this
and other functions on June 18th the _Times_ declared that the
representative duties of British royalty were heavier than the private
functions of the hardest-worked Englishman. "In these scenes and a
hundred like them a Prince's function cannot be discharged
satisfactorily unless he be at once an impersonation of Royal state and,
what is harder still, his own individual self. He must act his public
character as if he enjoyed the festival as much as any of the
spectators. He must be able to stamp a national impress upon the
solemnity yet mark its local and particular significance."
DISTRIBUTES PRIZES, PRESENTS AND COLOURS
New colours were presented to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers by the Prince as
they were embarking from Portsmouth for India, on August 16th. On May
24th, 1881, he presided at the festival dinner of the Royal Hospital for
Women and Children in London, contributed one hundred guineas to its
funds and was able to announce donations totalling L2000. At King's
College, London, on July 2nd, His Royal Highness, accompanied by the
Princess, distributed the annual prizes and pointed out the history and
merits of the institution. On July 18th the Prince, accompanied by the
Princess of Wales, laid the foundation of a City and Guilds of London
Institute, established for the technical training of artisans, and
delivered a speech of considerable range and length. He also accepted
the Presidency of the Institute. The seventh annual meeting of the
International Medical Congress was formally opened by the Prince,
accompanied by the Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia, on August 3rd. He
was received by a Committee composed of distinguished medical men such
as Sir W. Jenner, Sir William Gull, Sir James Paget and Sir J. R.
Bennett and, during the ceremony, spoke upon the progress made in late
years by medical science.
The death of Dean Stanley on July 18th of this year was felt as a
personal and severe loss by both the Prince and Princess. The former had
no warmer or wiser friend; the latter no greater admirer in the highest
sense of the word. It was fitting, therefore, that His Royal Highness
should take the lead in raising a suitable Memorial to the distinguished
Churchman and he attended and spoke earnestly at a meeting called in the
Chapter-house of Westminster Abbey, for that purpose, on December 13th.
Dean Bradley presided and there were also present Archbishop Tait of
Canterbury, the Marquess of Salisbury, Earl Granville, the Duke of
Westminster, the Marquess of Lorne, Mr. J. Russell Lowell, the American
Minister, Lord Chief Justice Coleridge and others. In his speech the
Prince spoke of his intimate friendship with Dean Stanley over a period
of twenty-two years, of their association in the East and of the great
charm of his companionship. "As the Churchman, as the scholar, as the
man of letters, as the philanthropist and, above all, as the true
friend, his name must always go down to posterity as a great and good
man and as one who will make his mark on a chapter of his country's
history."
During the next few years the public events of the Prince's career
continued along very much the same lines, varied by some rapid trip to
the continent, or visit to the country home of some noble friend, or a
shooting excursion to some place where game was plentiful and companions
congenial. The central events, aside from his promotion of the Fisheries
and other Exhibitions, were the visit to Ireland in 1885, the support
given to an Empire policy by his patronage of the Imperial Institute and
similar concerns, his active connection with the Masonic Order and his
conduct of the Jubilee of 1887. The International Fisheries Exhibition
grew out of a comparatively small affair at Norwich in which the Prince
of Wales had taken an active interest. In July 1881, as a result of his
initiative, a meeting was held in London, a committee was formed and the
preliminary work done. In February 1882 a second meeting occurred and
further organization was effected with the Queen as Patron, His Royal
Highness as President and the Duke of Richmond as Chairman of the
General Committee. The Exhibition was finally opened on May 13, 1883, by
the Prince of Wales, who had around him most of the members of the Royal
family, the Foreign Ambassadors, Her Majesty's Ministers and other
distinguished persons, His address defined the reasons for the
enterprise in a sentence: "In view of the rapid increase of the
population in all civilized countries, and especially in these sea girt
kingdoms, a profound interest attaches to every industry which affects
the supply of food; and in this respect the harvest of the sea is hardly
less important than that of the land." In results he thought the
Exhibition should enable practical fishermen to acquaint themselves with
the latest improvements in both their working craft and life-saving
systems. It was a great success. The total visitors numbered 2,703,051
and there was a financial surplus of L15,243. Of this, two-thirds was
put aside to assist the families of fishermen who had lost their lives
at sea, and L3000 was used to organize a Fisheries Society in order to
keep up the interest in the subject and encourage the study of ways and
means to help the fishermen.
THE PRINCE ENCOURAGES EXHIBITIONS
In replying to an address from the Executive Committee at the closing of
the Exhibition, on October 31st, the Prince had suggested that other
Exhibitions might very well be held dealing with the three great
subjects of Health, Inventions and the Colonies. The first subject dealt
with was that of Health. Owing to the death of his brother, the Duke of
Albany, on March 28th, 1884, the Prince could not do much more than
initiate the project but it was carried on by the Duke of Buckingham as
Chairman of the Committee. Its active progress was marked by the
inauguration of the work of the International Juries by the Prince of
Wales on June 17th. Like the Fisheries and the "Colinderies" which
followed it in 1886, the "Healtheries" proved ultimately a great
success. Meanwhile, minor incidents were occurring. On March 1st, 1882,
as Colonel of the Corps, the Prince presided over the 21st anniversary
dinner of the Civil Service Volunteers and spoke at some length upon the
importance of the Volunteer force. Others present on the occasion were
the Dukes of Manchester and Portland, Viscount Bury, Lord Elcho and
Colonel Lloyd-Lindsay. On March 10th, 1883, the Duke of Cambridge,
Commander-in-Chief, called a meeting in London to consider what could be
done with the neglected British graves in the Crimea and the Prince of
Wales, who had felt the matter keenly during his visit of years before,
moved a Resolution declaring that immediate steps should be taken in the
matter. He spoke with earnestness, contributed L50 toward the project
and was supported by General Sir W. Codrington, Admiral Sir H. Keppel,
General Sir L. A. Simmons and Lord Wolseley.
The new City School of London, on the Thames Embankment, was opened by
His Royal Highness on December 12th, 1882, accompanied by the Princess
of Wales. On May 21st 1883 crowded memories of his Indian tour were
revived by the opening of the Northbrook Club for the use of Native
gentlemen from the East Indies. In his speech the Prince referred with
gratitude to his "magnificent reception" in India and expressed his
strong approval of the establishment of a place where natives of that
Empire could meet together for purposes of relaxation and intercourse.
The City of London College, intended chiefly for young men who could
only attend evening classes, was inaugurated on July 8th of this year.
The Princess was also present. In the House of Lords on February 22nd,
1884, the Prince made one of his very few speeches in that
Chamber--although a frequent attendant at its sessions. It was in
connection with a motion presented by Lord Salisbury for the appointment
of a Royal Commission to inquire into the housing of the working
classes. His Royal Highness declared that a searching inquiry was very
necessary, expressed his pleasure at having been named a member of the
Commission, referred to his own experiments at Sandringham, and
expressed the hope that measures of a drastic and thorough kind would
result. Three days later, accompanied by the Princess, their three
daughters, and Her Royal Highness the Marchioness of Lorne, the Prince
of Wales visited the Guards' Industrial Home at Chelsea Barracks and
distributed the annual prizes.
On March 15th, not for the first time, he presided at the annual meeting
of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and spoke strongly of its
valuable and important work. Other speakers were the Dukes of Argyll and
Northumberland, Admiral Keppel and Lord C. Beresford. The Guilds of
London Institute was opened on June 25th and the speech made by the
Prince was more elaborate than usual. He was well supported by Lord
Carlingford and Mr. A. J. Mundella, M.P. An important and interesting
incident of this year was the action of the Prince of Wales in presiding
over a densely-crowded meeting in the Guild Hall, London, called to
celebrate the Jubilee of the abolition of slavery in British countries
and to consider the past and present work of the Anti-Slavery Society.
On the platform were many distinguished men in every sphere of the
national life and the speech of His Royal Highness was probably the
longest he had ever delivered. It was a succinct history of the
abolition of slavery in various countries and colonies and contained
many expressions of warm approval toward those who had worked to that
end--the extension of "the sacred principle of freedom." Sir Stafford
Northcote, Archbishop Benson of Canterbury, Mr. W. E. Forster, M.P.,
Cardinal Manning and others spoke, and it was afterwards announced by
the Lord Mayor that the Prince had consented to become Patron of the
British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society.
The unveiling of the statue of Charles Darwin in the Museum of Natural
History on June 9th, 1885, evoked a brief speech and a reference to "the