Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1895 — A POPULAR PRINCE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A POPULAR PRINCE.

Practically at tha Haad of tho Gov- • rnmtnt Now. “If Great Britain were to adopt a republican form of government tomorrow, and if there were to be a popular election for President of the British Republic, the Prince of Wales would easily receive a majority of all the votes in the United Kingdom over any other candidate who could be named.” These words from one of the leading public men of England, himself anything but a royalist in principle and temperament, fairly reflect the views of the most experienced and astute judges of publio opinion in Great Britain. For a score of years the prince has practically performed all the social and public duties of a British monarch, while holding the position and receiving recognition only as the first

of the queen’s subjects. He has made some errors, but they have not keen serious errors. Helms had to satisfy a groat many people, widely differing in temperament, education, politics ar.d religion, and yot possessing a certain common instinct of nationality, an insulate prejudice, a respect for established institutions and traditions quite unknown to cosmopolitan people like the Americans. So it is that, when the prince speaks so felicitously at the dedication of some new philanthropic or religious institution, most non-conformists readily forgive his sporting tendencies, while all but the ultra Jacobins among radical workingmen forget his royal blood when he strides democratically among the horses in the saddling paddock on Derby day. In short, the Prince of Wales satisfies the tastes, ideas and prejudices of the average Englishman better than any member of his royal houso has yet succeeded In doüßfußf a. -'■'-—a that invariably greet his every public appearance are the echo of a spontaneous and general popular regard—heightened, of course, by the respect and affection inspired by the character of his lovely and estimable wife. It is this foeling, undoubtedly, which has given rise to the rumor of the queen's abdication upon the occasion of the celebration of her next birthday. The rumor is not a new one. A good deal was said about it during the Jubiloe year, 1887. Each succeeding year, as the queen’s infirmities have grown upon her and she hue taken less and less intorest in public affairs and more persistently withdrawn from all social duties, there has been moro or less talk of the same character.

THE PRINCE OF WALES.