The Topeka state journal., 1901-02-09
WHEN EDWARD WI WAS
IN THE UNITED STATES.
ET~HE present- 80 of Eneland was III

/ THE present king Of England was IN
/ 4 the United States but once. and
a that was in 1860. under the guar
| dianship of the Duke of Newcastle,
when he was scarcely F9 years of age.
I 1t may be said either that he took in
Canada on the way. or visited the Unit
ed States in connection with his Ameri-
can trip, the first extensive voyage he
had then taken but, as his time was
about equally divided between the two
countries, neither can claim that IL was
peculiarly favored at the expense Of the
other.
Landing at st. Johns, Newfoundland,
on July "A. 1860. the then Prince Of
Wales, who was travelling as Baron Rem
frew, spent nearly two months in Cana
da, on his way west visiting Niagara,
where he saw the great Blondin cross
the chasm on a tightrope and said,
Thank Godl" when the performance
was over.
Crossing into the United States on
Sept 20, the prince was met by more
than $4,000 people at Chicago. went out
for a days shooting Of prairie chickens
and then continued to st. Louis, where
he was also royalty received. A tale
went the rounds at the time that when
the procession of lovely women passed
before the prince and the governor Of
Missouri, who were standing on a dais
in the ballroom. the latter, an eccentric
bachelor, turned to his guest and, slap
ping him on the shoulders, said,
Prince, don't you wish you were gov
ernor of Missouri The princes reply
is not recorded
Proceeding to Washington, the heir
apparent to the English throne tarried
several days as the guest of President
Buchanan, who wrote home to his royal
mamma that her son had "wOn all
hearts,, etc. In point of fact, Albert
Edward was a gracious, fun loving lad
at that time and possessed winning
personality In a speech made on the
eve of his departure from Canada
he is reputed to have said. My duties
as representative of the queen cease
this day. but in a private capacity am
about to visit before return home
that remarkable land which claims
with US common ancestry and in whose
extraordinary progress every English
man feels a common interest"
However much he may have felt the
sentiment herein expressed, at all
events the princes tact served him well
when in the United States. At Mount
Vernon he planted a chestnut tree at
,the grave of Washington, the chief OF
the rebels against his great-grandfa-
ther, George III; in Philadelphia he
moralized over the famous Liberty bell,
and in Boston shook hands with the
only survivor of the battle of Bunker
Hill, Ralph Farnharn, who had reached
the age Of los years Every city that
had the honor of entertaining him went
wild over England's future king.
AS there was no structure in New
York large enough to contain all those
who wished to do him honor, ball was
held in the old Academy of Music, al
which only 5000 persons were privileged
to attend.
The festivities We're marred by the
breaking down of the floor.
The ball to the prince given in Boston
was the grandest function of the kind
ever seen in that city, and the bellies Of
the period We're dazzling in expansive
crinonnes. No expense was spared. the
outf1tters and caterers being given
carte blanche, and the receipts from
tickets to the grand ball, $4,000. fell
"a 900 short of the outlay.
So it was amid universal expressions
of good win that he who was to be
England's Edward VII passed through
a portion of the United States. bearing
innumerabIe testimonials of our friend
ship when he left Portland. Ne, for
England, where he arrived after a tem-
pestuous voyage.
WALLACE WILCOxsON.