A hundred years ago
The two sons of the Prince of Wales, failing whom the Crown would again devolve upon a female sovereign, again a Victoria, started on Thursday from Portsmouth, in the 'Bacchante,' on a cruise round the world. It is understood that they will visit Australia before their return. The journals have, for the first time, devoted large space to the two Princes, whose lives hitherto have been comparatively retired. It is remarkable that so little do the people at large know of the elder Prince, who will be so important a person to them, that they are not even certain of his name. Most people call him Prince Victor; but the Times, after calling him at first Prince Albert Victor, slides into the name used, we believe, on the 'Britannia,' and calls him thenceforward Prince Edward. Edward VII would be the more historic name, but Victor I, the more separate, and, say in A.D.3000, the more easily remembered. importance both as individuals and members of a community. I have already said that the day of party politics was passing. Now politics must go wider. Democracy must be seen as not only the casting of an occasional vote for a representative in Parliament or local government. Industry, the social services, education, the planning of committees must be made more democratic. The choice which the market can give us must be extended to other aspects of life. The Liberal Party should seize the opportunity which Mrs Thatcher has created, and press forward in this direction.
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