The meeting of December 18th, in the following year, showed receipts of £49,468; of which £6,000 came from the League of Mercy. In his speech upon this occasion Lord Rothschild heartily congratulated the Royal chairman upon his "wisdom and foresight" in forming this League. In passing, it may be said that Grey's Hospital, London, was one of the individual institutions which the Prince undertook personally to help, and at one special banquet, at which he presided for this purpose, he was enabled to announce total subscriptions to the extraordinary amount of £151,000. THE PRINCE AND THE WORKINGMEN There was no part of his public career more creditable to the Prince of Wales than his sincere, unforced friendship and sympathy with the workingman. Like his philanthropic work, it was the natural product of a generous disposition, and won the honest liking of men who had always looked with suspicion upon aristocratic, to say nothing of Royal, efforts in their behalf. This was another illustration of the difference between Heirs Apparent to the Throne. Imagination fails to grasp the thought of the Stuarts or the Georges, when holding that position, trying to help the poor or uplift the labourer! Speaking at a meeting in London on January 12th, 1887, Lord Mayor, Sir Reginald Hanson, said: "All those who have been engaged in this scheme (the Imperial Institute) know that the Prince of Wales is one of the first in this country who looks to the interests of the working classes." For many years, indeed, he had been an annual subscriber to the Workingmen's Club and Institute Union and to the Workingmen's College in Great Ormond Street. In the Alexandra Trust, founded by Sir Thomas Lipton, at the instance of the Princess, much interest was taken by the Heir Apparent as well as his wife, and, on March 15th, 1900, they privately and unexpectedly visited the Restaurant in City Road and inspected this praiseworthy effort to supply wholesome food at low prices to the poor. After walking about and speaking to many of the people, they enjoyed a "three-course dinner" costing four pence half-penny, and left amid a scene of great enthusiasm.