Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/594

 to gratify his request for the regular communication to him of the confidential despatches, but Queen Victoria was still unwilling to assent, save on terms of rigorous selection by herself, which the prince deemed humiliating. He let it be known that he asked for all the confidential papers or none. But Gladstone encouraged his thirst for political knowledge, although it could only be partially and informally satisfied.

With Dilke, who became under-secretary for foreign affairs in Gladstone's administration in May 1880, the prince rapidly developed a close intimacy, and through him apparently hoped to play a part on the political stage. The prince anxiously appealed to the under-secretary 'to be kept informed of foreign affairs.' Dilke perceived that the prince's views of modern history were somewhat vitiated by the habitual refusal to him of official knowledge. But in Feb. 1881 Dilke willingly assented to the prince's proposal that while in Paris next month he should see M. Jules Ferry, the premier, and endeavour to overcome his unreadiness to negotiate promptly a new Anglo-French treaty of commerce. Dilke prepared a note of what the prince should say. In March he satisfactorily performed his mission, which was a new and pleasing experience. Gambetta, who was Dilke's personal friend, wrote that the prince ' had made some impression.' But the general negotiation moved forward slowly. In the autumn Dilke arrived in Paris. The prince was there again at the time, and once more offered to use his influence, both with M. Ferry and with M. Tirard, minister of commerce. The prince showed himself anxious to become better acquainted with Gambetta, and Dilke invited the two to meet at 'déjeuner' (24 Oct. 1881). A day or two later (on a suggestion from the prince made through Dilke) Gambetta sent him his photograph, which he signed thus: 'Au plus aimable des princes. L. Gambetta, un ami de 1'Angleterre.'

The cordiality of the relations between Gambetta and the prince forms an interesting episode in the career of both men. Gambetta was clearly impressed by the width of the prince's interest in European affairs. The prince in the Frenchman's eyes was far more than 'un festoyeur'; he loved France 'a la fois gaîment et serieusement,' and his dream was of an Anglo - French entente. According to Madame Adam, Gambetta's confidante, the prince, by disclosing to the states- man at an early meeting secret negotiations between Bismarck and Lord Beaconsfield, led Gambetta to qualify the encouragement which he was proposing to offer Greek ambitions for territorial expansion. But Madame Adam seems here to exaggerate the influence of the prince (, Mes Souvenirs, vii. 15 seq.).

In March 1881 the royal family was greatly shocked by the assassination of the Tsar Alexander II in St. Petersburg. Lord Dufferin, the English ambassador, promptly advised, on grounds of humanity and policy, that the prince and princess, whose sister was the tsarevitch's wife, should come to Russia for the funeral of the murdered sovereign. Queen Victoria deemed the risk almost prohibitive, and warned Lord Dufferin that the responsibility for any untoward result would rest on him ( Life of Lord Dufferin). But neither prince nor princess hesitated for a moment. They attended the funeral, and the prince invested the new tsar with the order of the Garter. Their presence proved an immense consolation to the Russian royal family and lightened the heavy gloom of the Russian court and capital. Courage was never lacking in the prince. In the summer of 1882 the outbreak of rebellion in Egypt, and the resolve of the English government to suppress it by force of arms, deeply stirred his patriotic feeling. He at once offered to serve in the campaign. The duke of Cam-bridge, the commander-in-chief, to whom he addressed his proposal, forwarded it to the government, and Lord Granville, the foreign minister, replied to the duke on 30 July 1882, 'It is highly creditable to the pluck and spirit of the prince to wish to run the risks, both to health and to life, which the campaign offers, but it is clearly undesirable H.R.H. should go' (, Duke of Cambridge, 1901, ii. 234-5). Precedents for the appearance of the heir-apparent on the field of battle abounded in English and foreign history, but they were held to be inapplicable.

A desire to be useful to the state, in spite of his lack of official position, repeatedly found expression during Gladstone's second administration. In the struggle between the two houses over the franchise bill (November 1884), the prince offered his services in negotiating a settlement. He asked Lord Rowton to let it be known that he was willing to act as intermediary