New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-07-07

1iue' Out 1t was nearly brought on by
.ile opposition of her Ministers to the
queens scheme. The Prince, who from
'he beginning had a keen interest in af-
lars wished to see the foreign dis
patches' Lord John Russell supported
MS request. The Queen reluctantly al
loWed selection to be shown him.
linen Mr.. Gladstone tried. He sug-
gested that the Prince should take over
some Of the duties Of the Lord Lieu
tenant Of Ireland; to which the Queen
OBJECTED that he was too intimate with
the Duke Of Abercorn and therefore
might be suspected Of Orangeismi
twenty years later Mr.. Gladstone, who
was never persona 0rdtd TO the Queen
induced her to agree that her son should
nave access to certain specified and care
tully restricted sources of knowledge
The Prince. 1t is worth noting, had al
ways shown regard for Mr. Gladstone.
He meant, so far as he was concerned
to hold the balance even between the
two great parties in the state and be
tween their leaders. He did not allow
conduct either to Mr.. Disraeli or to Mr.
Gladstone. He paid TO each on his ac-
cession as Prime Minister visit Of cere-
mony which was also a visit of good will
Mr.. Gladstone thought the Prince ought
10 Know what was done in the Cabinet:
the Queen thought he was entitled to
know only such official news as she
should dole out to him She depre-
Gated says the biographer. "the discus
sion Of national secrets over country
house dinner tables" There was never.
l think, any ground for that imputation
on the Princes honor or discretion
Finally she yielded, but even then
yielded only in part. Thenceforth, re-
marks Sir Sidney, drily, the Prince was
supplied with much private intelligence
by Mr.. Gladstone's private secretary
With or without the QUEENS knowledge.
he then began to take a certain part in
public business. He was more than
fifty years old. But not for another
three years did Her Majesty finally give
way. and upon the proposal Of Lord
Salisbury allow the Prince the priv
ileges Of Cabinet Minister in respect of
foreign dispatches.
There is, however. another story which
Sir Sidney does not tell. The Queen, said
one Of those who knew her, asked the
Prince some time after his fathers death
to act for certain purposes as her private
secretary. In the fulness Of youth, fond
n al
liking drudgery he refused. Some years
later, believing he had made a mistake
and becoming conscious Of an appetite
for news he told his mother he regretted
his refusal and would be glad TO assume
the duties she had proposed 10 him. The
Queen answered.
1T is too late. The place has been
filed"
1t was after this incident that the eff
forts above related were made. The
story may or may not be accurately
given, but 1t rests on authority of which
his biographer might have taken notice.
AS for dispatches, they cannot have
been what the Prince most cared for. He
wanted the facts, which are not always
to be sought in formal diplomatic COM
munications. While Prince Bismarck
was at the height OF his power a Ger
man historian asked his permission 20
consult the Foreign Office archives down
to within thirty years. by all means"
said Prince Bismarck. Asked why he
granted leave, he answered:
For two reasons. First events thirty
years old and more are no longer current
events. They have ceased to interest
the public. What is said about them by
professor of history cannot matter.
Second, the official dispatches do not
contain the real truth. That is to be
sought in the private letters of Foreign
Ministers at home and Ambassadors
abroad and In notes of oral communica-
tons"
/ may add that when in 1895 the
Prince Of Wales, as l have narrated else
where, gave me his private cipher ad-
dress and asked me to send him cable
messages from time to time, he clearly
had one thing in view. He wanted early
news OF such American or Anglo-Ameri-
can matters as / thought likely to in
terest him. and to affect the relations
between the two peoples. He wanted to
know what was going on and to know 1t
as soon as the Ministry Of the day knew
1t, or sooner.
On all which a much stronger COM
ment than Sir Sidneys is in order. To
the general mind, or to the minds Of peo-
pie conversant with affairs, these &C.
counts Of the Princes education and Of
his long exclusion from all real knowl-
edge Of events are so many testimonies
to the Princes natural capacity for great
affairs. His trade was to be King.
He was never taught 1t, yet he proved
himself in his nine years tenure Of the
Throne a King almost Of the first order.
Ill brought up, taught arrliss, his nature
turned, so far as parents and tutors
could turn it, from its true course, ex-
Guided from all share In public business
and for long time from all knowledge
of it, serving an apprenticeship to every
thing but the business Of reigning. sub
ject to German influences at the most
critical time of his early life, standing
not in the light but In the shadow during
forty long years Of completed manhood,
and, finally, succeeding to the Throne
only at sixty years Of age and long past
his prime, he nevertheless became al
most at once a competent and very soon
great ruler. He had led for forty years
the life Of a man Of the world; no more
and no less He knew the world, and in