Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1860-10-31
THE PRINCE OF WALES.

Il
Prince of Wales to sail At any rate, if it be not
his stay will be protracted but afew days longer
He will leave our shores after having seen what 2
Prince of Wales never saw BEFORE and what he could
see in no other part of the world In Paris else
where on the continent such crowds as he saw IN
this country could not have been assembled without
a tumult and would not have been permitted by the
authorities to come together. In London, even,
such assemblages would have been watched by an
army of police and could hardly have been brought
together without riot and loss of life. In America,
and in America only, vast crowds can gather TO-
gether, enjoy the amusement or transact the busl-
ness of the hour, and dsperse without having dis
turbed the peace or rendered the presence even OF
single Waterman necessary. Could there be a bet
ter commentary upon republicanism as it exists IN
America, or upon the asseveration OF Thomas Jet-
ferson that this is the strongest Government in the
world?
The Prince if he be man of reflection, will have
received food for thought which may last him for
the rest of his lite. 1t is true that King of Eng
land is not governing King. But as the first man
in the realm as the Executive of the nation, the
man who bears the sword and executes the laws, as
the fountain of honor from which flow all dignies
and all rewards, as the commanderin-chief of the
army and navy. and as the head of the Church, his
position is most potential for good or evil. From
the despotisms on the continent, be can learn moth
ing. There is analogy between them and the
Governments of which he is the head. But in this
country, he saw government of the people in its
strictest and most extensive sense. We do not be-
lieve the British people will ever change their form
Of governmental least such thing cannot take
place, in our opinion. in many centuries. If Lord
BrOugham is to he trusted, they have natural and
instructive love of royalty which will prevent them
for ages to come, at least, from making greater
change in the Executive than consists in substtu-
ting one branch of the royal family for another
Yet, with the preservation, always of hereditary
chief ,nagistracy. it seems obvious to us that the
constitution of Great Britain is becoming more DEM
ociatc every year of its exstcnce-that the people
are every year acquiring Importance, and that the
aristocracy are gradually losing their power The
time will surely arrive, when every man in England
will vote for his representative in the lower House
of Parliament and when that time shall have come,
England will cease to be governed by few great
families, she always has been since the accession
of the House of Hanover 1t is certain that even
before the reign of the Prince should he live to he
King shall have terminated great advances will
have been made in the direction of popular influence.
In England revolution is perpetually progress.
1t never sleeps from day to day. nor from year to
year. The strong, hard, everyday sense Of the
ton, the possession of which renders the race from
which they are sprung people distinct from all
others the face of the globe preserves them from
the danger of those sudden and violent explosions
on the continent Their revolution resembles the
encroachment of river upon its banks. 1t is grad
ual, almost m?crceptiblc. 1t never pursucs fresh
advantage until has secured the one last obtained
1t nndermneS an abuse thoroughly. that when it
advances. it is certain to fall. 1t is important for
future King of England, thus situated, to see how
safely the race, branch of which he will be
called to reign may he entrusted with power limited
only by such laws they themselves have made
lie may thus that his throne and his person may
be sae in the mi LIST of the greatest freedom, and it
may save him from many mistakes, into which he
might otherwise be liable to fall.
How the Prince pleased with his reception it
is difficult to say As man Of sense we think he
ought to have been very well pleased He could not
avoid seeing, at any rate, that there was. all
sides, earnest desire to make his time pass as
agrecably as possible. Surely that is enough for
any man of candor and sound Judgment Much has
been said of the vulgarty of that curiosity with
which he was pursued wherever he went They
are but snobS Who talk in this strain. The curiosi-
~ was natural, and nothing which is natural is vul-
gar. Alteration, pret~nSon. and assumption, alone,
are vulgar. The man who docs the best he can, in
the best way he knows. and without pretending to
be than he is, cannot be vulgar, let him be as
awkward as he may. In this sense neither the pub
lie curiosity nor the attempts to honor the Prince,
had the slightest touch of vulgarity about them
The first natural. and could not therefore, be
vulgar The last had no pretenson in them, and,
therefore, vugarity. The people of this country
had seen Prince before Vas it not natural
that their curiosity should be aroused by the visit of
SO great Prince this is? Even if it sometimes
proved little annoying, it not the less compli-
menary. Lord Nelson could not appear in the
streets of London without being followed by ten
thousand boys and iders. who waited at the door
whenever he went into a shop. and huzzahed when
ever he came out. Such popularity must have be-
] l.,k =
that he would have l'een something very like a
brute not to have felt kindly disposed towards those
who sought to do him honor in this way.-Rieh-
n,ond Dispatch