Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-29

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| be called upon to speak in public with in
crsasing frequency. duty OF his nisn
prospect that has some terrors for him.
He has been trained very carefully for
the past few years in the art OF speaking
| In public. and I believe a large number
OF King Georges speeches were collected
and bound for use in the royal school
room, and the Prince Of Wales used fire.
| quently to recite extracts from them when
he was in Mr.. Hanselrs charge. The
young princes powers Of OratOry are. OF
course, not yet developed, but he pos
sesses a good and clear delivery and
pleasing information, and gives promise OF
becoming good speaker. His efforts in
satisfactory.
Speaks French and German.
The Prince of Wales, like all men,
bers Of the English royal family. has
been brought up to speak in French
and German as we'll as in his native
tongue, and he speaks both of these
foreign languages quite fluently. When
the prince was at Osborne a German
gentleman and his wife. who could
speak very little English came to
visit the naval college, and were es.
Wales" who was the only cadet who
could speak German f1uently. The
visitors had no idea of the rank of
their young escort, and the lady,
when going away. asked the prince
If he had lived much in Germany. "Oh.
no, 1 have never been there" laughed
the prince, and then added, But l
have several German relatives" fact
that apparently explained the f1uency
in German to the ladys satisfaction:
1t would not be true to say that the
Prince Of Wales is Of a very studious
| disposition. With the exception. per-
haps, of the Princess Victoria and the
Princess Royal. none Of the royal fam
lily is great booklover. But the
| wisdom to be imbibed from books is
not the wisdom which a prince stands
most in need of. Rather it is knowl-
edge of men and affairs that the heir
to great throne should acquire. 1t
Is this sort of wisdom that the late
king had in very high degree, and that
the present monarch possesses and
| the prince has given every evidence
that he inherits those powers of keen
| shrewdness which are so markedly
characteristic of the English royal
family. The great influence in the
Prince of Wales life has been the
love of his home. and this influence has
tended not to weaken. as it sometimes
does. but rather strengthen his natur-
al manliness of character, and it has
fitted him to play his part supremely
| we'll in the larger life; at the opening
of which he stands.
Brilliant Career Closed,
Sir Eldon Gorst's death closes one of
the most brilliant careers Of recent years
His health had not been Of the most ro-
bust for some years past, but there is no
doubt that the strain of his duties during
| the four years that elapsed since he was
appointed to succeed Lord Cromer was
largely responsible for his breakdown.
His selection as the new British agent
and consul general In Cairo came in the
| nature of surprise to many people.
Though this was frankly In the nature
of a compromise, it was overlooked by
many that he had already shown con-
siderable promise in the diplomatic serv
passed in Egypt. He was successfully
controller OF direct taxes. under secretary
ST state for finance, adviser to the min
lister OF the interior and financial adviser
to the Egyptian government. He was Sc
lected by reason of the fact that he was
known to stand well with the khedive,
| with whom at that time Lord Cromer
most emphatically did not. while it was
hoped that he would be able to conciliate
the extreme nationalists.
| That he failed utterly and completely
| in this latter respect is not to be placed
against him; indeed it is doubtful If any
one else whom the government could have
| appointed would have met with any bet
| ter measure of success Subsequent events
| have shown conclusively that the ma
| tionalist party in Egypt utterly decline to
| be conciliated. and because Sir Eldon
GOrst was in favor with the khedive was
| the very reason for their bitter and I'M
| relenting opposition. Had it not been for
| a desire of the home authorities to try
| the policy of the "siken glove" "a policy
so frankly condemned by ex-President
Roosevelt in his Guildhall speech) there
| can be no doubt that Lord Kitchener
| would have followed Lord Cromer. Now
| that this policy has been tried and has
failed, ii remains to be seen whether the
| Egyptian nationalist will fare any better
| under the sterner rule of the ex-sirdar,
as it is an open secret that Lord Kitch-
| ener is at last to be appointed as sue
cessor of the late agent.
Kept on Courageous1y.
The difficulties under which Sir Eldon
Gorst labored almost constantly will
probably never be known. During the
whole time, however, he kept a stiff upper
lip and went on laboriously building and
building. only to see his edfice ruth
lessly swept away before the rooftree was
reached Possibly he made too much of
his influence with the khedive. Had he
not been so we'll in with the palace
party it seems possible that he would
nave IdTeu DetLeT WIN t0e extremists.
Upon every occasion he displayed a dis
position to hold out the hand of fellow
ship to those who have been most bitter
in their attacks upon him, and it is,
rather, a satire upon recent events in
Egypt that the very man who was ap-
pointed to represent this country there
because Of his known conciliatory atti-
tude toward the extremists was the
one who was forced, much against his
will, to introduce the repressive press
act
Had his health been better it is posi-
bic that he would have done better One
cannot, however, but feel strong sym
pathy for the man, handicapped as Sir
Eldon was, who struggled nanfully
against his fate. Not until the very
last moment did Sir Eldon Gorst put
his rod of power into other hands. He
was plucky to the last. The tragedy Is
all the greater because it comes at a time
when he might reasonably have looked
forward to many more years of public
work of the manner in which his heart
delighted. Sir Eldon Gorst was a COM
paratively young mamie was in his
fifty-first year-and those who knew him
best are convinced that he had not yet
reached his zenith. and that his best
work remained still to be done.
School of His Own.