Page:Marie Corelli - the writer and the woman (IA mariecorelliwrit00coat).pdf/310

 House, the inrush of undesirable aliens, the traitorous attitude of the pro-Boers, the crowding out of British industries by an excess of foreign competition, the German slanders upon our army, the change in the British uniform to the German model, and the flattering attentions of Germany towards America, were all touched upon by the novelist with a force and satire that were entirely new and unexpected. One of her best points was made in alluding to the words uttered by the Prince of Wales, on his return from his Colonial tour, in the course of his famous speech at the Mansion House, i. e., "The old country must wake up if she intends to maintain her old position of preeminence in her Colonial trade against foreign competition."

She continued:

"I believe it is the first time in all the annals of English History that any Prince of Wales has deemed it necessary to tell the old country, which gave him his birth and heir-apparency, to 'wake up'! It has been called a 'statesmanlike utterance' in many quarters of our own always courteous Press, but by our Continental neighbors it has been simply taken as a royal and official statement of British incompetency. It has even been said that no Prince of Wales should ever have admitted any possible likelihood of weakness in his own country. We must remember, however, that the warning of his Royal Highness was directed against foreign competition, and may have been intended to prepare British trade