For Americans the King has shown a strong liking, but it is absurd to assert that his favour has been confined to those American men and women whose social position has been entirely purchased by their wealth. He has frequently gone out of his way to show special courtesy to distinguished American visitors, whether rich or poor; and the diplomatic representative of the United States in London has always found a specially cordial welcome at Marlborough House. This was particularly the case with James Russell Lowell and with T. F. Bayard. Indeed, it will be remembered that on Mr. Bayard’s giving up the post of American Ambassador, the King broke his rule and accepted Mr. Bayard’s invitation to dinner, thereby paying a signal compliment to the whole American people. The King’s telegram to the _New York World_, during the war-scare which followed President Cleveland’s Venezuelan Message, will be remembered as having done much to calm the public anxiety in both countries. American women who have married Englishmen can rely on receiving from the King and Queen Alexandra the most tactful consideration and courtesy. This was conspicuously shown in the cases of Lady Harcourt, the daughter of Motley, the great American historian; of Mrs. Joseph Chamberlain; and of the young Duchess of Marlborough. It is no slight testimony to His Majesty’s political insight that at a time when the Colonies were not fashionable, and when they were actually regarded as a source of weakness rather than of strength to the Mother Country, he did all that he could--so far as the traditional restrictions of his position would allow--to foster a different view of Britain’s relations with her daughter-States. Since those days he exerted himself to promote the success of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition; and his interest in the Empire was yet more strikingly demonstrated in the foundation of the Imperial Institute. His Majesty’s gracious Message to his People Beyond the Seas further illustrates his interest in his Colonial dominions, but assuredly the crowning testimony is his consent to part with his son and his daughter-in-law for many months that they might inaugurate the Australian Federal Parliament and visit the other important States of the Empire. His Majesty’s interest in India, too, is strong, and his knowledge of Indian affairs is very wide. Every new book of any importance which is published on any Indian subject is added to His Majesty’s library, which is by this time extremely rich in works relating to the vast Eastern territories over which he is now Emperor. His Majesty’s visit to these great kingdoms and provinces, to which he made graceful allusion in his Message “to the Princes and Peoples of India,” was paid at the express wish of his mother, who saw with characteristic foresight how valuable it would be in promoting peace and conciliation among the various creeds and races of Hindustan. CHAPTER XXII THE KING AND THE SERVICES