THE INDIAN EMBASSY.
November 1875-May 1876.
The visit of the Prince of Wales to India, apart from what it brought of personal information or amusement, must be regarded as one of the most important services he has yet rendered to the Empire. This is why we call it an embassy rather than a tour or a journey. It appears that as far back as the year 1858, the idea of a tour in the Eastern possessions of the Crown was suggested by Lord Canning to the Prince Consort, as part of the education of the Heir Apparent. But he was then only seventeen, and the proposal was made merely as an incident of foreign travel. A succession of events, both at home and in the East, caused the scheme to be postponed, nor was it seriously renewed till the Prince had attained an age, and acquired an experience in affairs, which would secure for the expedition high consideration for political and imperial, as well as personal, purposes.
In the beginning of the year 1875 it was rumoured that the project was seriously entertained, and on the 16th of March the Marquis of Salisbury made an official announcement to the Indian Council of the intended visit. Many arrangements, however, had to be made, and many difficulties surmounted, before actual preparations for the journey commenced. All these are recounted in detail by Dr. W. H. Russell, in the introduction to his book on the 'Prince of Wales's Tour,' a reprint in expanded and permanent form of his letters as the special correspondent of the Times. Dr. Russell had the advantage of accompanying the Prince as one of his personal suite, under the title of Honorary Private Secretary. It is fortunate that the journey had such a historian. The work not only gives a Diary of the tour in India, with a full record of the proceedings of the Prince, but is in itself a most interesting and instructive book of travel, full of information, conveyed in the graphic and bright style which has made the author famous as a man of letters. To this book the reader of these pages is referred for the story of the Royal expedition, both in India and in the countries through which he passed on the outward and homeward journey.[A]
[A] 'The Prince of Wales's Tour: a Diary in India, with some accounts of the visits to the Courts of Greece, Egypt, Spain, and Portugal.' By William Howard Russell, LL.D. With illustrations by Sydney P. Hall. Sampson Low & Co.
The Prince was fortunate in the companions of his journey, even to the humbler and useful attendants. It is greatly to the credit of his judgment and his right feeling that the first to whom he expressed a wish to accompany him was Sir Bartle Frere, a wise and good man, and whose Indian experience would be of immense value. In the suite there were, of his own household, Lord Suffield, Sir Dighton Probyn, Colonel Ellis, and Sir Francis Knollys. The Duke of Sutherland, Lord Alfred Paget, Lord Aylesford, Lord Carington, Colonel Owen Williams, Lord Charles Beresford, Captain Fitz George, were invited to join the expedition. Canon Duckworth was selected as chaplain, and Sir Joseph Phayrer as physician; Mr. Albert Grey, secretary to Sir Bartle Frere, Dr. Russell, and Mr. S. P. Hall as artist, completed the list of those who formed the suite of His Royal Highness. Several of these—General Probyn, Colonel Ellis, and Dr. Phayrer—had long Indian experience; and Lord Charles Beresford had accompanied the Duke of Edinburgh in his Indian tour the year before.
The route to be laid down required much consultation, partly from public considerations and partly from questions of climate and care for the Prince's health. The best time of starting had also to be considered. At last all was arranged, and on the 11th of November the Prince started. The route was to be viâ Brindisi, to Greece, Egypt, Bombay, Ceylon, Madras, Calcutta, Lucknow, Delhi, Lahore, Agra, Gwalior, Nepal, Bareilly, Allahabad, Indore, Bombay, and home by Egypt, Malta, Gibraltar, Spain, Portugal. The departure from Lisbon was on the 7th of May, and on the 11th the Serapis anchored off the Isle of Wight, where the Princess of Wales and the children, in the Enchantress yacht, awaited the arrival. "The scene at the landing at Portsmouth," says Dr. Russell, "was a becoming prelude to the greeting which the whole country gave the Prince of Wales on his return from the visit to India, which will be for ever a great landmark in the history of the Empire."
The numerous and diverse events and incidents of the months in India—the sight-seeing, the adventures (some of them strange and perilous), the shooting parties and hunting expeditions, the manifold amusements and excitements of travel—all these were enjoyed by the Prince as much as if he were only the most light-hearted tourist or keenest sportsman. But at the same time, so far as official ceremony and public affairs were concerned, he bore himself all through with a thoughtfulness and dignity worthy of his high position, and of the important mission with which he was entrusted as representing Royalty and the British nation.
There was ceremonial reception at Athens, and again in Egypt in the court of the Khedive, but the first official and formal event of the Prince's mission was the investiture of Prince Tewfik, the Viceroy's eldest son, with the Order of the Star of India. This was done in the palace, with imposing ceremony.