ll his life in a republic can hardly
conceive. He has behind him, moreover, the loyalty of an expectant
nation." Upon the other hand he knew more about the people and was more
of them than any other hereditary ruler or prospective ruler in the
world. Hence the strength of his position when conferring with a German
Emperor, or a Russian Czar, or talking quietly with some Foreign
Minister at a time of crisis.

INCIDENTS OF DIPLOMATIC INFLUENCE

This personal influence of the Heir Apparent was a factor often ignored.
"Again and again," says Mr. Smalley, from the point of view of one who
watched for years at the source of power in London, "the Prince has gone
abroad as--in effect, though of course never in name--an Ambassador from
the Queen to some Sovereign on the Continent. He has laid her views at
some critical moments before the German Emperor and carried home the
Emperor's response." This sort of personal intercourse must, many a
time, have solved vital and serious issues. When William II. visited
Windsor in 1899 and the Queen, with the aid of the Prince of Wales, Lord
Salisbury and Mr. Chamberlain, evolved the terms upon which the
countries were to stand in regard to the coming South African war, can
there be any doubt as to the place in these negotiations which the Heir
Apparent held, or as to the advantage which his many earlier visits to
Berlin in the days of Bismarck and the Kaiser's initiatory years of
rule, must have been to him? The result of this intercourse was, in the
end, the turning of a possible national enemy into a friend; the change
of the Emperor who wrote the famous Transvaal cablegram into the ruler
who took the first train and boat to Windsor and bowed his head at the
death-bed of Queen Victoria.

Another interesting incident in this connection may be found in the
friendship known to have existed between the Prince of Wales and the
Czar of Russia. Nicholas II. bore the same relationship of nephew to him
that was borne by William II. and, like the other Imperial ruler, came
to bear a similar feeling of respect and regard for his
uncle--sentiments not always felt between relations, royal or otherwise.
It was on August 31st, 1894, that the Princess of Wales received a
despatch from her sister, the Czarina, that Alexander III. was nearing
his end in the far-away Palace of Livadia. As rapidly as train and ship
could carry them the Royal couple travelled to Russia, but only in time
for the prolonged