264 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SEALER 



strolling through the garden, the Prince took pains to say how 

 warm was his mother's regard for America ; that she had never 

 forgotten the attentions shown his brother during his visit to 

 the United States, and moreover her one wish was to maintain 

 friendly relations with the country. In illustration of this, he 

 went on to say that as a boy the first full realization he had of 

 his mother's influence as a queen of her power, outside her 

 immediate surrounding was at the time of the Mason and 

 Slidell difficulty. "At this critical stage of affairs, I happened 

 to be in the room," he said, "when Lord John Russell brought 

 in a state paper for the Queen to sign. After reading it over 

 she handed it back to him, saying, 'This will lead to war.' 

 Again he returned and handed her the paper. Looking over it 

 the second time, she gave it back with the remark, ' This must 

 be still further modified.' Once more the document was sub- 

 mitted, and after some discussion, in which the words 'war,' 

 'battleships,' and 'armies' figured largely, she wrote her sig- 

 nature." 



During several geological walks together Mr. Shaler formed a 

 favorable opinion of the Prince, and once, while the two were 

 going through a hospital with Dr. Acland, he was struck with 

 the young man's disposition to efface himself. As he approached, 

 the various invalids tried to rise in order to show their respect 

 for the Queen's son, but in every instance he protested against 

 the exertion, and at last turned to Mr. Shaler and said, "This is 

 the misery of my position; I cannot go about without being 

 bothered by this kind of thing." 



The journal for Sunday, May 5th, continues : 



Mr. Shaler lunched to-day with some gentlemen at one of the colleges 

 (I forget which one). On his return he said he had never before been so 

 strongly impressed with the rich associations of English life. While sitting 

 at the table, attracted by its splendid color, he happened to look fixedly at a 

 stained glass window just in front of him and then turning to his neighbor 

 he made some comment about it. "Yes," the neighbor answered indiffer- 

 ently, " it is rather a good bit of glass ; it was ordered to be put in place, you 

 know, by Richard III when he was a student here." 



