American Power at this time because of Canada, an Asiatic Power because of India and an African Power because of many possessions, so Canada was an European Power because of its connection with Great Britain, and Australia an Eastern Power because of its proximity to China and Japan, and a European Power because of the nearness of Germany in New Guinea and of France in New Caledonia. Hence, to all these countries and for obvious reasons of common interest, the importance in an Empire sense of the King's personality and diplomacy during these years. King Edward's training was of a nature which fitted into his personal characteristics in this respect. His Royal mother had cultivated his boyhood memory for faces and names most carefully; from the days of his youth he was thoroughly conversant with many foreign languages; from his coming of age he was in constant touch with the best of British and European leaders. He had not reached maturity before experiencing the difficulties of a tour of Canada and the United States in days when there was no royal road mapped out by precedent for the management of the tour and at a time when Orange and Green were in frequent conflict in the British-American provinces and feelings of international kindliness were not quite so strong in the United States as they were at the close of his reign. In 1876 he had toured India amidst gorgeous ceremonial and amid an infinite variety of racial and religious occasions, or incidents, which only rare tact could successfully meet. How much exercise there was of this Royal statecraft behind the scenes during his nine years of sovereignty only the distant future can reveal and then but partially. His Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs, Lord Salisbury, Lord Lansdowne and Sir Edward Grey, were all men of exceptional capacity and rare experience.