Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-04-06
A ROYAL PRINCE IN LONDON.

The Future King of England Among
/ the Wretched POsr of the Metropolis.
Robert Collgers London Letter to Boston Herald
A fortnight ago two or three of the
morning journals announced, in a few OBJ
scure lines, that His Royal Highness the
/ Prince of Wales, in company with his
! personal friend Lord Darlington, had Wis
tied some of the worst neighbOrheods and
most crowded districts of London in order
that he might see for himself how the alb
/ ject poor live. This item Of news was
treated with much less accentuatiOn than
would have been cricket match, or even,
I perhaps, dog fight. Not because all the
dolngs of the Prince of Wales are notdu-
| ly heralded, for they are. But it is simply
an illustration of the conventional way in
which the London press deals with all
matters. The daily papers of this vast
metropolis do not essay to register. or
even to indicate, the popular pulse of this
enormous population. The outside world
can learn little of the current and tone of
feeling in London through London's news
papers, The world of the London newspa-
! pers is essentially and almost exclusively
the political and diplomatic world.
am no toady, God forbid Living in
England has not lessened, in the least,
my respect for, and adherence to, my own
great, Just, free American republic. The
longer L am away from America. and
llVlng under a monarchy. the more am I
attached to the simplicity and sincerity
OF republican form Of government. So.
from what / am about to write. do not
fancy that l have had my head turned. 1t
mas been my happiness TO know certain
families of the English nobility in whose
homes 1t IS pleasure and Joy to be a
guest, put, Tor the very same reason that
IL is pleasure and JOY to be a guest in
certain homes in Boston and Chicago.
There are in these homes simple hospitaIi-
ty, good breeding and holy living. So do
not do me the injustice of believing. be-
cause l am living in London. and am hon.
ored with the acquaintance Of titled peo-
pie, that am getting weak in my repub-
ucan. backbone. / am not. Historic
ndelity imposes upon me the duty of re-
cordlng the deep, indeed profound. impress
sion which has been made upon the pub
lie mind by the fact that the heir to the
throne OF Great Britain has thus outward
~, and IN most unusual way. taken so |
genuine human interest in the physical.
social and moral condition and prospects
OF the very lowest and hardest pressed
subjects of this realm,
Nobody who knows the Prince Of Wales |
ever suspects him Of being a humbug. No |
man in the United Kingdom is freer of all |
the characteristics Of the charlatan than |
he IS. HIS Royal Highness is uncommon /
ly straightforward, independent and |
manly. l may tell you what may be to |
you secret, and will certainly be a sur |
prise, that this ''frst gentleman in Eu |
rope was himself among the very first
who moved in the matter of seeking ont /
the cause OF, and discussing the remedies |
for, the wretched animalism Of the lowest |
classes Of his fellow country people. Ne |
man In Europe-nO man in the world I
born to the purple, has a profounder hu- /
man interest in his fellOw-men than has /
the Prince Of Wales. His exalted rank |
imposes, in these modern times, a charac |
ter of function the performance of which |
no old-time ruler ever dreamed Of In the |
days to come, kings must be useful; when |
only ornaments, the nations will despise !
them just as they are coming to despise /
all men who feast and bring nothing for |
others to feast upon. The Prince of Wales |
is subject of the crown, distinguished /
above many Of high rank in his unceasing |
activities for the good ana advancement |
of his fellow-subjects. Have you taken |
in the full significance of the fact that this |
future King of England has been put !
upon ''TOyal commission on housing the /
pOOr?' 1t is the most significant eventin /
the social history of English royalty. | |
hear also upon the same authority that |
the Prince will visit, from time to time. |
and far as possible incognitO, all the worst !
districts of the METROPOLIS