nse of the vastness of
their dominions and the equivalent greatness of their national duty and
responsibility. It helped to lay the foundation of that Imperial future
of which Disraeli then dreamed and for which others have since laboured
with a measure of success shown in the events preceding and following
the accession of Edward VII., King and Emperor.

CHAPTER IX.

Thirty Years of Public Work

During the years between 1872 and the end of the century the Prince of
Wales filled a place in public affairs not unlike that of the Prince
Consort in the later and ripest period of his useful life. He grew
steadily in the faculties which make for wisdom in council and action
while retaining and developing the qualities which make for popularity
and, in a Prince, may embody the characteristics and feelings of his
nation. In those thirty years he saw much and travelled far; met many
men of varied qualities and attainments and character; learned much by
personal experience and observation and much from other people's
experience; tested almost the pinnacle of earthly splendour in his
Indian tour and learned in private something of the suffering which
comes to all individuals whether great or little. He created the
position of Heir Apparent as now understood; gave it a significance and
value never before attained to; and filled it with a tact and ability
which no detraction or misrepresentation could practically affect, and
which in time made him the admittedly most all-round popular man in the
United Kingdom.

Before his illness the Prince had carried out a good many public
engagements and helped a great number of useful objects. After that
event and the outpouring of popular sentiment which found vent in the
National Thanksgiving he became still more devoted to his round of
public duties. On July 5th 1872, His Royal Highness visited the new
Grammar School at Norwich and inspected the Norfolk Artillery Militia
of which he was Honorary Colonel. At a banquet given by the Mayor he
referred to his late illness, in expressing thanks for local sympathy,
and added: "It is difficult now for me to speak upon that subject but as
it has pleased Almighty God to preserve me to my country I hope I may
not be ungrateful for the feeling which has been shown towards me and
that I may do all that I can to be of use to my countrymen." On July
25th, he reviewed four thousand boys of the Training ships and Pauper
Schools of the Metropolit