was chiefly owing to His Royal Highness's initiative that a fund was established for providing a national memorial to the hero of Khartoum. At the first meeting of the committee the Prince made a touching speech, in which he said of Gordon

"His career as a soldier, as a philanthropist, and as a Christian is a matter of history. . . Many would wish for some fine statue, some fine monument, but we who know what Gordon was feel convinced that were he living nothing would be more distasteful personally than that any memorial should be erected in the shape of a statue or of any great monument. His tastes were so simple and we all know he was anxious that his name should not be brought prominently before the public, though in every act of his life that name was brought, I am inclined to think, as prominently before the nation as that of any soldier or any great Englishman whom we know of at the present time."

It is well known that it was His Royal Highness's suggestion that a hospital and sanatorium should be founded in Egypt open to persons of all nationalities. The Princess was present at the special service held in St. Paul's on 13th March, the day of public mourning for the loss of General Gordon.

Three days later the Prince of Wales, accompanied by his eldest son, presided at a meeting of the Royal Colonial Institute, and spoke of the personal as well as of the political interest he took in everything that concerned the colonies. On the next day Prince Albert Victor was initiated as a Freemason in the presence of a large and most distinguished company, his father, the Prince of Wales, receiving the Royal apprentice in his quality of Worshipful Master of the Royal Alpha Lodge. On the following day the Prince of Wales, Prince Albert Victor, and the Duke of Edinburgh went to Berlin to congratulate the aged Emperor William on his 88th birthday.

It had been decided, not without the most anxious consideration, that the Prince and Princess of Wales, accompanied by their eldest son, should pay a visit to Ireland. The announcement was received with the greatest excitement both in Ireland and in America.

United Ireland, the chief organ of the Nationalist party, then edited by Mr. William O'Brien, and said to be largely written by Mr. T. M. Healy, brought out a special number devoted entirely to

expressions of opinion from eminent Irishmen of all kinds on the Prince's visit. Every Nationalist Member of Parliament, every

From a Photograph by Chancellor, Dublin

prominent ecclesiastic, in a word, every Irishman of conspicuous Nationalist views, was invited to say what he thought of the forthcoming Royal visit. The answers filled a copious supplement, and

their tenour was one of unanimous disapproval, expressed in some cases strongly, and in others in terms of studied moderation. Almost all the letters agreed in counselling an attitude of absolute indifference to the visit, but abstention from any kind of display of hostility to the Prince himself was insisted on; and it was openly said that the part which His Royal Highness was playing in this pageant was a more or less passive one. This, perhaps, showed more than anything else that has occurred during the Prince's life the personal liking and respect in which he is held.

It may be added that when the Prince and Princess arrived early in April 1885 the Nationalist party made no sign, but as there was naturally a great display of rejoicing on the part of the Antinationalist citizens, the Press, perhaps unfortunately, chose to regard this reception as a proof that the Home Rulers were wholly discredited. The Nationalist leaders therefore made up their minds that it was necessary to make some protest against the Royal progress as an answer to these taunts, and accordingly from Mallow till the Royal party left Ireland they were the victims of some very unpleasing demonstrations, and at Cork collisions occurred between the police and the mob, though no serious injuries were reported on either side. The Colonial and Indian Exhibition, called for short the Colinderies," may be said to have been the most successful of all those with which the Prince of Wales was intimately associated. It was opened by the Queen on 4th May 1886, and Her Majesty was received by the Prince and Princess of Wales, His Royal Highness conducting her to the daïs. In the Royal Albert Hall, where the opening ceremony took place, everything was done to make the scene as impressive and interesting as possible; and at the special desire of the Prince, Lord Tennyson wrote an Ode for the occasion, which was set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and sung by Madame Albani in the choir. This exhibition resulted in a net surplus of £35,000.

In September some correspondence between the Prince of Wales and the Lord Mayor, suggesting the establishment of a Colonial and Indian Institute to commemorate the Queen's Jubilee, was published, and excited a great deal of interest both at home and in the Colonies. A public subscription was opened at the Mansion-House; and later in the same month His Royal Highness, having been informed that

a movement was on foot to present him with a testimonial in recognition of his services in connection with the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, wrote to request that any fund subscribed might be devoted to the furtherance of the Imperial Institute, and a great deal of his time that autumn was dedicated to this scheme.

The Prince of Wales in 1886 also extended his patronage to two great engineering achievements, by opening the Mersey Tunnel and by laying the first stone of the Tower Bridge. It is interesting to note in this connection that the Prince has long been an honorary member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and when he attended their annual dinner in the same year, he made an amusing speech, in which he attempted to picture what sort of a world ours would be without engineers.

One of the busiest years ever spent by the Prince and Princess of Wales was 1887, when the Queen's Jubilee was celebrated. To His Royal Highness was left the responsibility of a great number of the arrangements, and on him fell almost entirely the reception and entertainment of the foreign Royal personages who attended the splendid ceremony in the Abbey as the Queen's guests. In many cases the Prince was obliged to welcome in person the Royal visitor to London, and he was indefatigable in his efforts to make everything go off as smoothly and successfully as possible, while it need hardly be said that he took a very prominent part next to the Queen in all the Jubilee functions.

CHAPTER XI

SILVER WEDDING OF THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALESENGAGEMENT AND MARRIAGE OF PRINCESS LOUISE OF WALES

CONSIDERABLE preparations were made early in 1888 for the Silver Wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales, but it was well known that the Royal family were expecting daily to hear of the death of the old German Emperor, William I., which actually occurred just before the Prince and Princess of Wales's Silver Wedding Day, and everything in the way of public rejoicing was countermanded. Still the 10th of March was not allowed to pass entirely unobserved. The whole of the Royal family then in England, preceded by the Queen, called at Marlborough House to offer their congratulations in person, and for that one day the Court mourning was abandoned. The Prince and Princess of Wales with their family lunched at Buckingham Palace with the Queen, while in the evening Her Majesty attended a family dinner-party at Marlborough House, this being the first time she had ever been to dinner with the Prince and Princess in London. The Queen, after leaving Marlborough House, drove through some of the principal West End streets in order to see the illuminations. Her Majesty also gave a State ball at Buckingham Palace in honour of the event, and the King and Queen of Denmark gave a grand ball at the Amalienborg Palace at Copenhagen.

Archbishop Magee (then Bishop of Peterborough) writes in a letter to his intimate friend and biographer, Canon MacDonnell, the following amusing account of his share in the rejoicings: