Page:Speeches and addresses of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales.djvu/15

Rh what he has said; and therefore some important occasions are included when no speech was made.

It is the variety of subjects that will strike most readers, [sic] Let it be noted, moreover, that the speeches now reproduced are only those addressed to meetings where reporters for the press were present. There have been innumerable meetings besides, meetings of Commissions, of Boards, of Councils, of Committees, at none of which has the Prince ever been an inactive or silent member, but rather the guiding and moving spirit. If the voluntary offices of His Royal Highness were printed at length, they would far outnumber those mere honorary titles with which the College of Arms concerns itself; and are such as imply thought and work, in many useful and beneficent ways.

Long may His Royal Highness have the health and the will for such offices and duties. If his future career is equal to the hopes and promise of his early life, and the performances of the last twenty-five years, he will leave a name illustrious and memorable in the history of the British Empire.