Denbighshire Free Press

"EDWARD THE PEACEMAKER." I SPECIAL MEMOIR. King Edward the Seventh was born at Buckingham Palace on Noventber 9, 1841. On the 4th of the following monfih Queen Victoria issued letters patent creating Mir Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. He was christened at St. George's Citapei. Windsor, on January 25, 1842, receiving- the names of Albert Edward. His Royal mother, Queen Victoria, createci the new comer, by letters patent, on the 1.ti of December, 1841, Prince of Wales and Ear of Chester: "And this our said and most dear son, the Prince of the United Kingdon of Great Britain and Irelnaci, as has beei accustomed, we do ennoble and invest with the said Principality and Earldom by gird ing him with a sword, by putting a coronet on his head, and a gold ring on his finger, and also by delivering a gold rod into his- hand, that he may preside tuere, and direct and defend those parts." Our late lamented Sovereign followed the example of his honoured mother in selecting the second of his names for his style as Sovereign. In the family circle our dead King was always caned in has younger days "Berty." In the late Queen's journals he is often so referred to. One instance may be noted. Queen Victoria wrote of a happy yachting excursion in Cornwall in 1846, re- calling that the whole population of Truro came to the banks of the river at Sunny Corner and were "enchanted when Bertie was held up for them to see the Duke of Cornwall." Lord Palmerston had so re- ferred to the young Prince in pointing him out at Penrhyn to the Corporation there; and the Queen recorded in her journals how the old Mayor had said in reply, "he hoped he would grow up a blessing to his parents and to his country." The late King had good fortune in regard to both his parents. "In Queen Victoria/' says Lord Macaulay, "her subjects have found a wiser, happier, geatler Elizabeth. No former monarch has so thoroughly com- prehended the great truth that the powers of the Crown are hold in trust for the people, and are the means, and not the end, of government. This enlightened policy has entitled her to the glorious distinction of having been the most constitutional monarch the country has ever seen." The late King's father, the Prince-Consort, died as far back as the 14th of December, 1§61. He well deserved the'title which has been given him, "the Good Prince." His influence in this country, it has been gene- rally allowed, was exercised in praiseworthy directions, whilst many an advance in art, science, and manufactures, owed much to his sagacious mind. In his private character he was singularly attractive. His pleasures were all of a high and noble kind, befitting a Prince of his great position, and nothing could be more beautiful than the warmth and constancy of his affections. The estimation in which he was held by her who knew him best may be seen from the following extract from a letter written by the Queen to King Leopold of Belgium, in the month following the advent of her first-born son: "I wonder," she say?, "very much whom our little boy will be like. You will understand how fervent are my prayers, and I am sure everybody's must be, to see him resemble his father in every, every respect, both of body and mind." STUDENT AND TRAVELLER. The young Prince was a student, in suc- cession, at Edinburgh-where he was the pupil of Dr. Lyon Playfair, and of Dr. Schmitz, at Oxford, where he was entered at Christ Church, and also at Cambridge, where he was at Trinity College. The Prince had already had an unusual experi- ence in travel and in knowledge of all sorts and conditions of men. He visited Canada and the United States, under the guidance of the Duke of Newcastle, in 1860, and his welcome at Washington and in the great American cities was hardly less enthusiastic than that which he met with within the bounds of the British Empire. Just before the death of his estimable father-Prince Albert-the young Prince of Wales, who had been made a Colonel in the Army and a K.G. on his eighteenth birth- day, had his first experience of soldiering in Ireland, at the Curragh of Kildare, and, in the same autumn, during a short tour in Germany, he met the- gentle and beautiful ladv destined to be bis future wife, the Princess Alexandra, whose father had not then become King of Denmark. It had been previously arranged that the Prince, by his special wish, as his father recorded in one of his letters, was to make a tour in Egypt and the Holy Land, during which he tad the great advantage of being accom- panied by Dean Stanley. Not very long after his return home the betrothal of the Prince of Wales to the Princess Alexandra became an accomplished fact, and on March 10, 1863-when the bridegroom was in his 22nd year—the marriage took place in St. .George's Chapel, Windsor, and in connec- tion with the ceremony there were rejoic- ings and public illuminations all over the kingdom, which have only been transcended by those of the Jubilee and the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Never before had there been seen in London such crowds and such excitement as when the "Sea- kings' daughter from over the sea came thither to be married to the heir to the British throne. Her charm proved even greater than had been anticipated, and from the moment of her arrival on our skores she, who became the Queen Consort of our late lamented Sovereign, has held a secure position in the, hearts of the people. The then Prince of Wales was called npon, by hia widowed mother s desire for seclusion in her grief, to take from the, moment of his marriage a prominent part in the public life of his country. Few men knew more intimately the principal places in the kingdom. He" had known ^ermanv gad the German Courts since his childhood, end wm acquainted with all the members of to. jøi» 40000 of Europe. Uø went to ftussla In the autumn of loob to be present at the marriage of his sister-in-law, the Princess Dagmar, with the late Czar, and he took the opportunity of visiting Moscow. In the winter of 1868-69 he and our Queen Alexandra carried out a long Continental and Oriental tour, visiting Copenhagen, Berlin, Vienna, Trieste, Cairo, and the Nile, Constantinople, the Crimea, Athens, and Corfu. A NATION'S ANXIETY. Those whose memories carry them back to 1871 cannot but have vivid recollections of the great public excitement and sympathy occasioned when the then Heir-Apparent was struck -down with typhoid, and when in every town in the kingdom news of his death was gravely feared.. Intense anxiety was felt not only by the Royal Family, but by the whole nation, and great relief was experienced when on the 14th of December-the anniversary, by the way, of his father's death-the Prince took the turn, and began gradually to recover. The state of feeling at the time may be seen from the following letter addressed by the Queen to her people on the day the Prince was pronounced to be out of danger. "The Queen," she said, "is very anxious to express her deep sense of the touching sympathy of the whole nation on the occa- sion of the alarming illness of her dear son the Prince of Wales. The universal feeling shown by her people during those painful, terrible days, and the sympathy evinced by them with herself %nd her beloved daugh- ter the Princess of Wales, as well as the general joy in the improvement of the Prince of Wales's state, have made a deep and lasting impression on her heart, which can never be effaced. The Queen wishes to express, at the same time, on the part of the Princess of Wales, her feelings of heart- felt gratitude, for she has been as deeply touched as the queen by the great and uni- versal manifestation of loyalty and sym- pathy. "The Queen cannot conclude without ex- pressing her hope that her faithful subjects will continue their prayers to God for the complete recovery of her dear son to health and strength." The 27th of February, 1872, was set apart as a day of thanksgiving for the Prince's complete recovery. On that day the Prince went in state to a solemn service in St. Paul's, accompanied by the Queen, the Prin- cess of Wales, and many other members of tha Royal Family. No fewer than 13,000 people, including all the great officers of State, took part in the service, which- was conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The rejoicings on the occasion were natural and spontaneous. The streets were gaily decorated, and the pavements crowded as the procession of Royal carriages made its way from Buckingham Palace to the Cathed- ral. There was a magnificent illumination in the evening. THE CANADIAN VISIT. At Sandringham, where so much of the home life of the King was spent, there is a simple cross over the grave of the groom who caught the fell fever at the same time as his Royal master; and the inscription is: "One wa.s taken and the other left." Queen Victoria and Prince Albert showed much ability in utilising their children in the service of the Empire. And saying this leads us to speak of important journeys undertaken by his Majesty when Prince of Wales. An expedition to Canada and the United States came off in 1860, before his marriage —in fact, he was just then in his twentieth year. He sailed from Plymouth, took a fort- night to cross the Atlantic, and arrived at Newfoundland on July 23. There his pre- sence produced a fever of excitement. From Newfoundland he visited Halifax, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec. The whole colony, both French and English, rose to receive him with enthusiasm; and, as the "Times" corre- spondent remarked, the whole land resounded with preparations for his visit. The papers predicted that he would have a career which would equal that of his Royal mother. It was Prince's hats, Prince's boots, Prince's umbrellas, Prince's coats, Prince's cigars, and the whole country nodded with Prince's coronets and feathers. His father told Baron Stockmar that the Prince was generaly pronounced in Canada to be "the most perfect production of nature." He was spectally admired for his dancing. On one occasion it was noted that he "very affably corrected some of the blundering dancers," and that "very properly he took a new partner whenever he stood up." At a Newfoundland ball he stood up eleven times, and at another he was "the hero of seven quadrilles, four waltzes, four galops, and three polkas." This record was broken at Quebec, where, out of twenty-four, he joined in no fewer than twenty-two dancee. His punctilious adherence to all engage- ments is still spoken of in Canada, as one of the memorable features' of a memorable tour. Once, while his Royal Highness was in Quebec, arrangements were made for a visit to some rather celebrated falls. Probably it was felt that it would be discourteous to refuse the hospitable efforts of the good people of Qoebec to provide amusement for their honoured guest; but the weather was horrible beyond all description, and to reach the waterfall on the appointed day it. waf; necessary to pass through something like a waterspout. The decorations of the houses were washed away, the streets of the city were turned into swamps, wild storms oi wind and rain swept over the whole country. But multitudes of persons had come from I a distance to see the Prince of Wales, ana, although his entertainers tried to prevail upon him to stay indoors, he insisted on ad- hering to the programme. Consequently the party plodded on through mists and rain which threw the little fall of Caudiere com- pletely into the shade. The Prince seems at a very early period to have adopted an inflexible rule on all eucb matters as these. When Q IJLÜ. 8 yagement was entered into, nothing wasg( illowed to interefere with it. S; AT WASHINGTON'S TOMB. I; From Canada the Prince proceeded to visit he United States, in response to a kindly worded invitation, which had been forwarded to him before his leaving Great Britain. [n the States he travelled not as Prince of Wales, but as Baron Renfrew, though more often than not people insisted on distin- guishing him as Prince. g From the time of his crossing the border |j he enjoyed a welcome quite up to the level of that which he had received in the Dominion. B The first important town in the States || visited by the Prince was Chicago, from which he proceeded to Cincinnati and Saint I Louis. I On the 3rd of October he reached Wash- ington on a visit to the President—Mr. | James Buchanan. The most interesting I incident of his stay at the seat of Govern- g ment was an excursion on the 5th, in com- J pany with the President, to Mount Vernon, the home and the burial-place of Washing- | ton. It is thus the reporter of the "Times I speaks of the event:— E "Before this humble tomb the Prince, the President, and all the party stood uncovered. It is easy moralising on this visit, for there ■ is something grandly suggestive of historical retribution in the reverential awe of the Prince of Wales, the great-grandson ofgj George III., standing bareheaded at the footE of the coffin of Washington. For a few Iff moments the party stood mute and motion- less, and the Prince then proceeded to plant ■ a chestnut by the side of the tomb. It seemed, when the Royal youth closed in the earth around the little germ, that he was burying the last faint trace of discord be- tween us and our great brethren in the West." In New York the eager delight with which the young Prince was everywhere hailed may be said to have reached its highest point. His entry there was an ovation such as has seldom been offered to any monarch in ancient or modern times. It was not a reception. It was the grand impressive wel- come of a mighty people. It was such a mingling of fervent, intense enthusiasm, of perfect good order, of warmth and yet kind respect, that one is fairly at a loss how to convey in words any adequate idea of this most memorable event. Nor was cultured Boston, the last of the AmeriQan cities visited by the Prince, behind the great com- mercial metropolis of the States in the warmth and splendour of its reception. In 1862 he went on another tour of great interest. Accompanied by the late Dean Stanley, one of the best of travelling com- ?anions, he went through Germany and taly, afterwards visiting Egypt, Syria, and the Holy Land. THE INDIAN TOUR. It was in 1875 that King Edward VII.— then Prince of Wales—made the tour of what was destined to be his Indian Empire. About E140,000 was voted for the expenses, and the journey was conducted under the direction of Sir Bartle Frere, whilst Dr. W. H. Russell, the famous Crimean correspon- dent of the "Times," acted as private Secre- tary, and was afterwards an historian of the I scenes. The Prince embarked at Brindisi on board the Serapis in October, and going by way of Athens and Egypt he reached Bombay and, after visiting Poonah and the Gaikwar of Baroda, went on to Ceylon, and so to Calcutta, first touching at Madras. From there he proceeded to the great cities of the Ganges, and through Lahore to the frontier of Cashmere and Nepaul, returning by way of Allahabad to Bombay. It was at this time that Queen Victoria assumed the title of Empress of India, and partly on that account the Prince was acclaimed on his return home with more than usual cere- mony and welcome. "The dream of his life," as the late King himself described his Indian visit, was a magnificent success. The native Princes received him with signs and tokens of a. hospitality Oriental in its gorgeousness. They were gratified with the visit and pleased with the personality of the Heir Apparent to the English Throne. THE KING AND HIS PEOPLE. j Taking a keen personal interest in all public affairs, religious, social, and charit- able, educational and recreational, King Edward VII., as Prince of Wales, made himself familiar to all who became his sub- jects in almost every part of his vast domain. One thing, however, the late King always did; he kept clear of party politics. While listening to the views of statesmen^ of every thinking, he strictly refrained from "taking sides," and none could say with mirety whether he would have been Liberal or Conservative were he free to speak out. In Ifce House of Lords he took part in several ceremonial introductions. Thus he acted as a sponsor to his brothers and the Duke of Fife, and to his own two sons. Wkn the Duke of Clarence was introduced oa ft peer in 1890, his father, noting his nervousness, prompted him quietly and un- obtrusively. If the late King's position shut him out happily from politics, there were many enterprises in which he took a conspicuous interest. The Exhibitions, which in London, Paris, and elsewhere did so much to encou- rage commercial reciprocity, and to discover the achievements of the nations, found nc more zealous patron than Edward VII. Moreover, musicians never appealed to him in vain, and he did his utmost for the cause of musical education. And he endeared himself to all Englishmen by his love of sport. At SandriBgham he always. lived the life of a country gentleman, and he neg- lected nothing which properly belonged to a personage of influentiality. The late King once described himself in a speech as "a farmer on a small scale,' and in Norfolk the encouragement he gave to farming was weU understood. He was trustee of the Royal Agricultural Society, and a famous breeder of cattle. His yachts were known in the Solent, and no one en- joyed a more distinguished career upon the turf. As a patron of cricket he was enthu- siastic and large hearted. The famous Ken- nington Oval-in appanage of the Duchy oi Cornwall—would not have been the Alece., of Surrey cricketers but for his sympathetic liberality. He long, too, held the foremost place in British Freemasonry. A man of rare and unfailing tact, and n food speaker at any manner of ceremonial function, the King, as Prince of Wales, was often aptly referred to as the hardest working man in the country." Withal he was a fine type of the English gentleman, ever ready to sacrifice his own ease tc attend a dinner or a meeting given for charitable purposes. To his friends he wat true as steel, and he had personal friends in all ranks of life. Poor men in hundreds car; bear witness to his charity. No enemy ever accused him of any kind of mean action. Taking a lively interest in all important movements, he never sought to use his influ- ence to promote his personal friends tc public trust and emolument. In private conversation he stood by his own opinions, and defended them by argument, but never liked others to concede to the Prince or to the Sovereign what they would have denied to the man. These opinons of the Prince were shaken in the lapse of years. As time passed he mellowed under experiences, some bright, some sad. He presided over Commissions that brought him into touch with the troubles of the people; he suffered evere enough troubles himself, especially in the loss of his eldest son, and the first speech, he delivered as a King showed the und heart and the excellent judgment which years and experience brought him. ROMANTIC MARRIAGE. His much-loved Consort, Queen Alexandra, like her illustrious partner in Sovereignty, has been able to boast a large attachment of admirers everywhere. Eldest daughter and second child of the Duke of Holstein, whe ater became King Christian IX. of Den- mark, she was born in the Red Palace, Amaliegarde, Copenhagen, on December 1, 1844. Of the first 20 years of her life there U little to- Bicueto jir iA_i',{imiJl. -pq7:411n If iircle in which luxury and splendour wereS absent, this period of her life was passed in» a, quiet, uneventful way, although anecdotes I sf her early days, her studies, her abilities,S and family devotion, cannot fail to interest. Princess Alexandra had scarcely reached her seventeenth birthday when she first met the Prince of Wales. The meeting took place at Worms, and is the subject of various roman-l tic stories. Her first visit to England was| made shortly afterwards. There have beengj six children of the marriage that took place | under such happy auspices at Windsor in| March, 1863-three son's and three daugh- ters. Prince George, Duke of York-the second, later Prince of Wales, and now the occupant of his lamented father's throne-- is the only surviving son. The eldest son;| Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and! Avondale, died .in January, 1802, in his 27tii| year, on the eve of his marriage. The third! son, Alexander, born in 1871, died an infant.| In a retrospective appreciation, the| "Times" well said: In all his public rela-8 tions as Prince of WTales, the late King waa| as unique among those who had occupied the| pi same position as was his mother among| Sovereigns. He has never failed in his duty! to the Throne and the nation. lie never fol- lowed the examples of his predecessors byj encouraging intrigues, or placing himself at| the head of a faction. What is more, he showed a scrupulous care, worthy of his mother herself, never to overstep by a hair's- breadth the line marked out for him by the Constitution, and never to compromise by 'any leaning to this party or the other the 'position which he expected one day to fill. To all the servants he invariably displayed equal and impartial courtesy and amiability. The late King was fortunate, as well as in his own character, in the cordial affection he inspired in, the nation at large. He had by his side a Queen who also won the hearts of the people by her possession of all qualities that go to make up womanly grace and worth. The Princess of Wales, from her ar- rival on our shores, was universally popular and beloved; and as Queen Alexandra she increased her hold upon the nation's affec- tions by maintaining in her life and Court all the high traditions upheld by Queen Vic- toria. She has long been the recognised head of British Charity, and her devoted labours in connection with the hospitals be- come Queen Alexandra even better than her exalted rank. KING EDWARD'S TACT. The King of Great Britain is not, it is pointed out, and can never be, an absolute ruler. He is not expected to initiate a policy so much as to hold the rival policies in a proper balance. Wherefore he needs the rarest strength of all—the strength to ab- stain from interference, where interference would appear unconstitutional. This strength those who knew him best admitted King Edward to possess. He exercised the tact which comes from knowledge. Widely travelled, he was beset by no insular pre- judices. He knew the peoples and King,? of all foreign States. Their languages were familiar to him, and the ties of relationship wherewith he was bound to most of the monarchs of Europe rendered his advice in- valuable to his Ministers. As his mother's representative, the late King accomplished a vast amount of func- tional work. Everyone recollects how he represented Queen Victoria at the great Naval Review in connection with her Diamond Jubilee, in which 150 vessels of war took part; and how he rode by her Majesty's side in the grand and memorable procession of Diamond Jubilee Day. ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION. Two incidents in the late King's life that cannot be forgotten were of an unpleasant character. In July, 1898, when on a visit t, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild at Waddes- don Manor, the Prince slipped on a stairta^1 and fractured his knee-cap. It was a serious accident, and it was feared that he would be lamed for life. But with skilful surgery and careful nursing, he recovered entirely from its effects. The accident called forth from far and near expressions of cordial sympathy with his Royal Highness. These expressions were, however, as nothing compared with the sympathy, allied with in- dignation, aroused iii the early part of 19CO, when King Edward, as Prince of Wales, had a narrow escape from assassination. He was travelling to Denmark with the Princess, and the train was just moving from Brussels Station when a young Anarchist jumped up to the carriage door and fired at the Prince. One of the bullets went startlingly near the Prince, but, hapily, he escaped injury, and his assailant was promptly captured. News of the attempt on the Prince's life created an immense sensation, and when he returned to England after his visit to the Princess's home, he had a reception such as even he had never experienced before. It is interesting to record that the first occasion upon which King Edward the Seventh took his place beside Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort was in 1854, at the debate on the Address in the Houses of Parliament in answer to her Majesty's mes- sage announcing the opening of war with Russia. A COUNTRY GENTLEMAN. King Edward VII. inherited his father's fondness for all sorts of rural life. At San- dringham, his Norfolk estate, the King once. said. "It is only here that I feel completely -at home." The estate embraces about 7,000 acres of the most varied country. It was sold in 1861 to the then Prince of Wales by the Hon. Spencer Cowper for £ 220,000. The King was an exceedingly good shot, and never happier than when out after the birds. The injury to his knee, which it was feared at one time micht interfere with this I form of sport, did not later seem to have much effect upon his walking powers, and he was as ready for a tramp across country as most men of his age. On a fine morning in summer quite a crowd of visitors from Hunstanton, Lynn, and other places were in the habit of going to Sandringham in phaetons and waggon- ettes to see the "Royals walk into church. They had to be content to take a passing look and go heme again, for the church was too small to accommodate more than the village co- tion "I wonder the Prince keeps his head as well as he does," said an old rustic one day in a stentorian whisper, "with having a hundred folks standing just to watch him walk into church." The aside was quite audible to the Royal party, and though the then Prince still "kept his head," he was unable to keep his counte- nance. The late King, as Prince of Wales, stay- ing onco with Lord Rothschild, said to iii,, host, "Your life, Rothschild, may at times be an arduous one, but it is an easy one compared with mine. I long for a private life, and I know that c;tn never be mine. If I appear in public without a smile on my face, the papers announce that His Royal Highness locks worn and sad, and we fear that revelations of a startling kind wili shortly come to light.' If on tiie contrary, [ appear with a smile, it is given in the papers that Ihe Prince of vVales looked pleased and happy, and is in the best of health,' whereas, perhaps. I am feeling extremely unwell and upset. What sort of clothes I wear, the colour of my ties whether I shook hands with Mr. So-and-So. or only bowed to him. and the reason why J only bowed—all these trifles are noticed and made public." One of our late King's favourite play- things was a weighing machine, into whicl it amused him to invite his guests- especially those who came to make a lengthened stay under the hospitable roof at Sandringham. For he held that whatever their weight on arrival it must, needs increase during a visit to such bracing air. The quaintest photograph of the late King in existence was an X-ray picture of his hand. Besides showing the Royal phalanges and metacarpel bones with start- ling distinctness, the picture reproduced the outline of the gold bangle which his Royal Highness always wore as a souvenir of his visit to India. A CAMBRIDGE STORY. When the late King, as Prince of Wales, was in residence at t&e Uni.yersitl. be feajp- [pened, as lie was walking into Cambridge ji [with a friend, to be overtaken by a showei. j| fAs they were passing the hut of an old jg j woman who sold sweets they asked for the g loan of an umbrella. Not recognising them, |j she said, "You can have my old market | gamp if you like; but I knows I won i gj lend mv best 'un to nobody, not the Prince j| of Wales hisself." Next day ?:he was horri- g fied at the receipt of her old umbrella, ac- | companied by a brand new one, "With the gj Prince of Wales's compliments." | Among the late King's many duties as | Prince of Wales was the position of trusteo g of the British Museum. There he might | have been seen on the occasion of trustee: g meetings, walking down the galleries to the K Librarian's office, quite unrecognised by the I public, the attendants cmefully. refraining 1 from mentioning his presence until, his work 9 over, he quietly departed. Most of his work B as Prince of Wales was of this quiet but S useful kind, and the toiling classes owed his | late Majesty much gratitude for the zeal | he displayed in promoting the better hous- 8j I ing of the poor, and for the zeal which, as | Prince and King, he exhibited in hospital | s work. i St. James's Palace, in the courtyard of | I which Edward A II. was proclaimed on | January, HiOl, is an irregular red-brick building at the Green Park end of Pali Mall, it became the official residence of the Sovereign after the destruction of Whitehall in the reign of William III. This palace was much enlarged by Charles I., who went fortii from it to his" trial ittWcstmmster and who spent in it his last night. Little of the original jialace now remains except the Chapel Royal, the Presence Chamber- still bearing the initials of Henry VIII. and Anne Bolevn—and what is known as Hol- bein's gateway. "THE PEACEMAKER." Perhaps no other Sovereign who ever sat on the British throne, not even excepting his revered mother, ever held so high a place in the hearts of his people as did King Edward. And this popularity was not restricted to the people of our own country or Empire. All over the world his name stood for all that is best in monarchy, and it will be for the his- torian to estimate to what degree the res- pect in which Great Britain is held in the Chancelleries of Europe and the world is due to the King's unfailing tact and superlative ability as a diplomatist. His influence has always been on the side of peace, and again and again he has intervened with unfailing tact in moments of international irritation, and has smoothed over matters which had previously appeared very serious indeed. The official chronicles may record no trace of these occasions, but it is none the less true and well known that to his Majesty's personal efforts is largely due the entente cordiale between France and this country, while everybody will remember his visit to Berlim in the early part of last year, when this country was agitated and nervous over the scare of a German invasion, and part of I the Press of both countries seemed to be exerting itself to promote hatred instead of | goodwill between the peoples. His Majesty i and his gracious Consort took the hearts of the German people by storm. They were TC- ceived with very remarkable demonstrations I of enithilsiasm, the gathering clouds dis- persed and the two peoples were brought closer together than ever before. Fine testimony was borne to the ever- ready and unflagging service of inter- national conciliation wijh which King Edward's name will nlw::1Yf: be connected, by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sir Edward Grey, in March, 1909. Sir Edward said:- "It is an understood constitutional practice that the work of the Foreign Office shall be transacted by the Sovereign through the Foreign Office, and through the Foreign Office entirely. Let me say that there has been no Sovereign who has adhered more closely, rigidly, and con- sistently to that constitutional practice than the present King. I know that to be true of the Foreign Office; I believe it to be true of every other department. The I King's visits abroad have, I think, been exceedingly valuable to the foreign polic)" of this country. They have been valuable especially for this, that the .King in his own person has a special gift, which l| think can never have been exceeded, ofl conveying both to the Government and the people of the country to which he goes an impression of the good disposition and goodwill of the people of this country."