The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-06-30
ENGLAND'S NEXT. KING.
The Prince OF Wales is ifferent
From His Father.

From His Father.
Intellectually the Prince Of Wales is
q typical Guelph. He has not inherited
his fathers quick moving mind. His
speeches are rather terrible perform
anccs to read or listen to. He has new
er quite found his platform legs. To
do him justice, he has no desire To- find
them. He would far rather he OH a
quarterback. But he cannot escape
the penalties of his position. Hardly n
week goes by without his being oblig-
ed to deliver a public speech on some
subject of which he probably knows
nothing, of which at any rate he can
not possibly know more than the al
phabet. \ clever man would get used
to such ordeals, would even learn how
to emerge from them triumphantly.
But fifteen years at sea are not good
preparation for this kind of work, and
the prince gets no farther than a few
amiable commonplaces. awkwardly ex-
pressed. Very possibly the English
public would prefer not to have it 9TH
erwise. \ brilliant prince would strike
q great many Englishmen as improper.
And, after all. the possession of com.
Portable, uneXciting intellect saves the
/ Prince of Wales from a great many
dangers. among others from the dan
ger of being misunderstood. His face.
it is generally agreed. is the image of
his mind. Stupid would he an eXag-
geratcd as we'll as an unkindly ad-
jcctive to apply to it, but in the heavy
eyes and their wonderful power of
warding off expression one detects
! the insignia of sound British stolidity.
There is no scandal-it would be diff
icult to imagine any scandal-attach-
ing to his private life. And the gossip
that he inclined to intemperance is
let me say 1t with oil possible empha-
sis-the idlest Of calumnies. In none
of his actions does he give any open
! ing for criticism. In none, too, does he
inspire any great enthusiasm. An un-
interesting man? One hears that COM
ment passed, and on the whole it is not
perhaps without some share of truth
If he has not inherited his fathers
swiftness of apprehension, neither
has he inherited his tact. And perhaps
the most interesting thing about him
is his recklessness Of speech in pri-
vate, the way he blurts out anything
that may be In his head. Moreover
he has some rather strong political
views-views which incline toward O
decidedly stiff necked Toryism. And in
addition he is fond of getting up cases
in connection with the leading ques
tions of the day.
The combination of these qualities
leads at times to some amusing devel
opments. and the spectacle of the
Prince of Wales trying to convert g
leading free trade publicist to tariff
reform and lecturing cabinet ministers
on their iniquities is by no means un
common. In another age one can cas-
lily conceive the prince enacting the
part of George III. He holds forth, a
any rate. on the misdeeds of ''thost
- Radicals" in quite the old au
tocratic style. But the prince and 6
king are two very different person
ages. and as the supreme head of af
fairs he would. one imagines. be every
thing that is decorous, solemn and {
tritle dull. At the same time he woult
be free from embarrassing ties, he ha!
no set and strongly disapproves o.
his fathers "set." and in time no doub
he will make a most manageable ruler
-IIarper's Weekly.