the unclouded felicity which they had enjoyed under her rule, and the rule of her mild predecessors. One crowning felicity had been denied to them in the course of their long and happy career, and this was a sight of the Czarina. Happy in this respect, they could sing their Nunc dimittis, and pass away in peace to a more permanent, if not to a happier, form of existence. The knout was very carefully garlanded with crocuses, and looked like an emblem of village happiness.
It is said that after thirty years of age few men receive new ideas. However this may be, it is clear enough that as soon as a crown is placed upon a human head, it can scarcely be expected that the wearer should add much to his stock of what elderly maiden ladies call “general information.” Princes, therefore, should see something of the world before all men are in a conspiracy against them to hide from their view the true purport and meaning of life. When John Smith travels about, the railway authorities are not careful to place red cloth between the cab and the platform, in order that his feet may remain in ignorance of the vulgar pavement. Neither does he find triumphal arches at every village he visits—nor are the towns in which he may stop for the night upon his lawful business brilliantly illuminated in honour of himself and his amiable consort. Nor, luckily for him, does the mayor of every corporate town make him a tedious oration as he steps out of the railway-carriage. John Smith, moreover, becomes practically aware that working people do not always wear their best clothes, and that factory girls occasionally handle something as well as flowers. Whenever the day comes—may it be a far distant one!—when this young Prince is called to the throne, for the rest of his life he stands condemned to the monotony of royal routine. All the knowledge of human life he can ever hope to gain he must gain now. Under any circumstances, it would be impossible that he should be more than a spectator of the terrible struggles of humanity. The stern but awful teaching of adversity is denied to him. Louis Philippe and Louis Napoleon are the only two monarchs of our time who have graduated in the great University through which all of us—save kings—must pass. Hence their success.
We have all been delighted with the intelligence we have received of late from Canada about our young Prince. The enthusiasm which his mere presence has excited seems to have been all that could be desired. It is impossible, however, to disguise from oneself the fact, that the Canadas have rather been seeing the Prince, than the Prince the Canadas. The physical features of the country of course were open to his inspection—that is, as much of them as could be seen from the deck of a steamboat, or through the window of a railway carriage. The Prince no doubt saw the great waterfall as well as any ordinary traveller. Niagara does not roar out flattery even to princely ears. The same thing may probably be said of two or three other of the great transatlantic sights: but, for the rest, the Prince might as well have been acompanying his royal mother upon a “Progress.” Wherever he has gone, he has been greeted by obsequious governors, mayors, chairmen of railways, and so forth, just as though he had been the Prince of Wales without an incognito. The burden of their song has been, just that which is invariably addressed to princes—
Que son mérite est extrême!
Que de grâces,—que de grandeur!
Ah! combien Monseigneur
Doit être content de lui-même!
It was scarcely worth while going so far to listen to such stuff as this. We have a few mayors and aldermen at home who could have supplied the article without stint. On the other hand, although the Prince will not in all probability derive much instruction from his journey, as a political move it seems to have answered well. The Canadians have ever been a loyal race—are they not next door neighbours to republicans? The Prince’s visit has confirmed them in their attachment to the British crown.
There is much in the States which it would be well the Prince should see with his own eyes, but which he never, never will see. The adulation of the United States will prove greater than the adulation of the Canadas. We are almost tempted to rush to his rescue, when we think of the amount of “speechification” which our youthful but unfortunate Prince will have to endure. Would that he could learn something of the true nature of life in the United States. It would prove a more useful lesson to him than all the very respectable Dons at Cambridge or Oxford can impart to him in the way of information. There is the great problem of Slavery, for example, which he might study with advantage upon the spot. Of course the the wretched negroes would be washed in eau-de-Cologne on the occasion of his visit, but still he might learn something from the sight, even through all the masks and disguises which cover the reality of all this human wretchedness. For the rest, we all wish a prosperous journey and a happy return to our young Prince; and, in the words of the old Canadian boat-song, pray that whilst away from us he may meet with
cool heavens and favouring air!
GEORGE STEPHENSON’S PUPIL—JOSEPH LOCKE.
