Textbook Advances in Social Simulation 2015 1St Edition Wander Jager Ebook All Chapter PDF
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Wander Jager
Rineke Verbrugge
Andreas Flache
Gert de Roo
Lex Hoogduin
Charlotte Hemelrijk Editors
Advances in Social
Simulation 2015
Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing
Volume 528
Series Editor
Janusz Kacprzyk, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
e-mail: [email protected]
Advisory Board
Chairman
Nikhil R. Pal, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India
e-mail: [email protected]
Members
Rafael Bello Perez, Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas, Santa Clara, Cuba
e-mail: [email protected]
Emilio S. Corchado, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
e-mail: [email protected]
Hani Hagras, University of Essex, Colchester, UK
e-mail: [email protected]
László T. Kóczy, Széchenyi István University, Győr, Hungary
e-mail: [email protected]
Vladik Kreinovich, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, USA
e-mail: [email protected]
Chin-Teng Lin, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
e-mail: [email protected]
Jie Lu, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
e-mail: [email protected]
Patricia Melin, Tijuana Institute of Technology, Tijuana, Mexico
e-mail: [email protected]
Nadia Nedjah, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
e-mail: [email protected]
Ngoc Thanh Nguyen, Wroclaw University of Technology, Wroclaw, Poland
e-mail: [email protected]
Jun Wang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
e-mail: [email protected]
Wander Jager • Rineke Verbrugge • Andreas Flache
Gert de Roo • Lex Hoogduin • Charlotte Hemelrijk
Editors
Advances in Social
Simulation 2015
123
Editors
Wander Jager Rineke Verbrugge
University College Groningen Faculty of Mathematics and Natural
University of Groningen Sciences
Groningen, The Netherlands Institute of Artificial Intelligence
University of Groningen
Andreas Flache Groningen, The Netherlands
Faculty for Social and Behavioural
Sciences Gert de Roo
Department of Sociology Faculty of Spatial Sciences
University of Groningen Department of Spatial Planning
Groningen, The Netherlands and Environment
University of Groningen
Lex Hoogduin Groningen, The Netherlands
Faculty of Economics and Business
University of Groningen Charlotte Hemelrijk
Groningen, The Netherlands Faculty of Mathematics and Natural
Sciences
Department of Behavioural Ecology
and Self-organisation
University of Groningen
Groningen, The Netherlands
v
vi Introduction
as the organizers of the special sessions. For a list of all people involved in shaping
the contents of the conference and reviewing the submissions, see the next pages.
The papers published in this volume are a representative selection from a broader
set of research papers presented at Social Simulation 2015.
Shah-Jamal Alam
Floortje Alkemade
Frédéric Amblard
Tina Balke
Stefano Balietti
Riccardo Boero
Melania Borit
Giangiacomo Bravo
Edmund Chattoe-Brown
Emile Chappin
Guillaume Deffuant
Virginia Dignum
Frank Dignum
Bruce Edmonds
Corinna Elsenbroich
Andreas Ernst
Tatiana Filatova
Armando Geller
Rosanna Garcia
José-Ignacio García-Valdecasas
José-Manuel Galán
Nigel Gilbert
William Griffin
Rainer Hegselmann
Gertjan Hofstede
Luis Izquierdo
Marco Janssen
Bogumił Kamiński
ix
x
Jean-Daniel Kant
Bill Kennedy
Andreas Koch
Friedrich Krebs
Setsuya Kurahashi
Jeroen Linssen
Iris Lorscheid
Michael Mäs
Ruth Meyer
Michael Möhring
Jean-Pierre Muller
Martin Neumann
Emma Norling
Mario Paolucci
Jakub Piskorski
Gary Polhill
Juliette Rouchier
Jordi Sabater-Mir
Frank Schweitzer
Roman Seidl
Jaime Sichman
Flaminio Squazzoni
Przemyslaw Szufel
Karoly Takacs
Shingo Takahashi
Richard Taylor
Pietro Terna
Klaus Troitzsch
Harko Verhagen
Nanda Wijermans
Auxiliary Reviewers
Adiya Abisheva
Floor Ambrosius
Apostolos Ampatzolglou
Priscilla Avegliano
Quang Bao Le
Gustavo Campos
Thomas Feliciani
Monica Gariup
Amineh Ghorbani
Bao Le
xi
Robin Mills
Ivan Puga-Gonzalez
Mart van der Kam
Mark Kramer
Pavlin Mavrodiev
Keiko Mori
Vahan Nanumyan
Tomasz Olczak
Sjoukje Osinga
Francine Pacilly
Klara Pigmans
José Santos
Simon Schweighofer
Annalisa Stefanelli
Yoshida Takahashi
Keiichi Ueda
Harmen de Weerd
Nicolas Wider
Special Session Organizers
xiii
Contents
xv
xvi Contents
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
From Field Data to Attitude Formation
Abstract This paper presents a multi-agent model for simulating attitude formation
and change based on perception and communication in the context of stabilization
operations. The originality of our model comes from (1) attitude computation that
evaluates information as part of a history relative to the individual and (2) a notion
of co-responsibility for attitude attribution. We present a military scenario of French
operations in Afghanistan along with polls results about the opinion of citizens
toward present Forces. Based on these field data, we calibrate the model and show
the resulting attitude dynamics. We study the sensibility of the model to the co-
responsibility factor.
1 Introduction
The new conflicts that arouse during the two last decades have brought a deep shift
in military strategies [19]: most of the stabilization operations conducted by western
Forces involve opponents who blend themselves into the “human environment”
to turn the population in their favor. In order to counter them, one should not
only rely on tactical actions against them but also on non-kinetic actions such as
reconstruction or specific communication actions that aim at altering the “hearts
and minds” of the population. In this context, understanding the impact of actions
performed by the intervention Force on the population’s attitude is a major issue.
The concept of attitude derives from social psychology and could be defined as
“a mental and neural state of readiness organized through experience” [2]. Multi-
agent simulation of attitude dynamics seems a promising approach to study such
complex social phenomenon since it is funded on individuals micro modeling and
their interactions to analyze emergent macro trends [7]. While multiple agent-based
models have been proposed to study attitude and opinion (i.e., expressed attitude)
dynamics [3, 5, 20], the major difficulty relies in validation: can a given model
correctly reflect the attitude dynamics of a population in a conflict zone? Opinion
polls can provide target values. However, collecting field data to feed the simulation
model and assessing the validity of its outcome (based on the expected values)
can prove to be very difficult.
As part of our research, we have been given access to polls results about
opinions of the population toward the different present Forces (foreign Force and
Taliban) in an area of Afghanistan where French Forces conducted stabilization
operations.1 Along with these survey results, we have reconstituted the military
actions sequences of each Force through a series of interviews with officers who
were in charge of the situation. Our analysis of these data has brought light to
attitude dynamics that go against classical approaches in social simulation. First,
most models compute the attitude as the aggregation of the impact of each feature,
seen as independent criteria or events [5, 20]. However, people do not evaluate each
action (such as food provision, military patrol, and bombing attack) independently
but toward what similar actions represents in general in terms of direct and indirect
consequences for the population. It corresponds to Kahneman’s memory-based,
retrospective approach of evaluation [13]. Second, we noticed that populations
attitude toward the UN army could decrease when it fails to accomplish its securing
mission. For instance, in case of a bombing attack, victims will not only blame
insurgents who are directly responsible but also the Security Force which have
“failed” to prevent such an event. It corresponds in this case to the concept of “role-
responsibility” in the sense of Hart [11]. In generally, people tend to attribute the
responsibility of an action to other people, groups, or situational factors in addition
to the direct responsible [12, 14].
In this paper, we propose a multi-agent simulation model based on field data
that will help to better comprehend attitude dynamics in conflict zones where the
population is confronted to antagonists Forces.
1
These opinion surveys have been ordered by the French Ministry of Defense.
From Field Data to Attitude Formation 3
2 Related Works
3 Field Data
3.1 Scenario
In the course of the NATO intervention in Afghanistan to stabilize the country, the
French Forces were tasked to maintain security in the regions of Kapisa and Surobi
between 2008 and 2012. It is in this context that members of CIAE2 were sent in the
2
Joint Command for Human Terrain Actions: in charge of civil-military actions (e.g., recon-
struction) and community outreach actions (i.e., attitude influence operations) that complement
conventional security operations.
4 K.-L. Brousmiche et al.
Fig. 1 Scenario of Blue and Red Forces actions. The time points P1; : : : ;P4 correspond to the
dates of the opinion polls presented in the next section
area from October 2010 to September 2012. Through a set of six interviews with
all the successive officers in charge (three colonels and three commanders) from the
Joint Command for Human Terrain Actions, we managed to rebuild the sequence of
the events that took place during their tenures, originating both from the NATO and
from the Taliban insurgents. This sequence takes the shape of a scenario (see Fig. 1).
Each action is characterized by a reach, a frequency, and a payoff: how many
people were directly affected by the action, how many times per week if it is
frequent, and how each individual is impacted. These values were defined based on
subjective assessments of this domain’s subject matter experts (including members
of CIAE). For instance, we defined the action “patrol” as being triggered by the Blue
Force, affecting the population with a positive impact of 30 and a reach of 20 people,
repeated three times per week in average. Similarly, “IED” (Improvised Explosive
Devices) are done by Red Forces and affect one individual with a payoff of 100.
The number of victims of each attack was defined according to open source records
(e.g. [8]).
We can observe that both Forces have a constant background activity toward
the population composed of non-kinetic actions. However, the Red Force activity
is heavily decreased during winter which corresponds to the second period on the
scenario. One reason is that local Taliban leaders leave the region to avoid the arid
climate. Also, the surveillance systems, including drones, are more effective in the
absence of foliage, making it more difficult for insurgents to place discretely the
IEDs. On the Blue Force side, the activity decreases constantly due to the political
decision taken after the big human losses on the first period. Indeed, the French
government began to adopt a “retreat” strategy after the suicide attack of Joybar
(July 13th 2011) which caused considerable human casualties among the Blue
Forces.
From Field Data to Attitude Formation 5
In order to follow the progress of population’s sentiments and to link them to foreign
Forces activities, the French Ministry of Defense financed opinion polls in Afghan
regions where the French forces were operating. Those surveys were conducted by
Afghan contractors between February 2011 and September 2012 with an interval of
approximately 6 months issuing into four measure points P1, P2, P3, and P4 of the
opinion of the population of Kapisa toward the Blue Force and the Red Force on the
period corresponding to our scenario (see Table 1 below).
Opinions toward Red Force in the context of security decrease in summer
periods. This could be explained by their high activity level as exposed in the
previous section. As for the Blue Force, the global opinion value keeps decreasing
along with their decreasing activities. In overall, the opinion dynamics showed by
these polls results are consistent with the scenario previously established.
4 Model
Beliefs about actions will be the core element in our model: attitudes and
communications will be based on these beliefs. We note a.i/ the belief of individual
i about an action a.
Each a.i/ is a tuple: hname.a/; actor.a/; coResp.a/; bnf .a/; payoff .a/; date.a/i
with:
– name the unique name of the action (e.g., “patrol,” “suicide attack”)
– actor 2 A the actor who performed the action (Blue or Red Force)
– coResp 2 A the co-responsible actor of the action, if any (e.g., Blue Force will
be co-responsible of “suicide attacks” performed by Red Force)
– bnf 2 Ind [ A the beneficiary of the action, i.e., the individual or actor who
undergoes the action
– payoff 2 R the impact value of the action, negative when the action is harmful
(e.g., attack) and positive when it is beneficial (e.g., food provision)
– date 2 N the occurrence date of the action.
Attitudes are computed as the aggregation of evaluation of similar actions seized
by the individual in his past. Two actions are similar if and only if they have the
same name and actor. For instance, two distinct patrols done by the Blue Force in
the same area are considered as similar. We call general action the meta action that
includes similar actions. We denote ga.i; a/ the general action corresponding to the
action a according to the individual i and ga.i/ the list of all general actions that i
knows.
Actions can be perceived via direct perception (the agent is beneficiary of the
action), actors communication toward the population (the agent receives a message
from the actors), or intra-population communication (the agent receives a message
from another individual).
When an agent receives a new information about an action a, it adds it to its belief
base (if the action is not already present) and, possibly, communicates about it.
Moreover, the agent revises its attitude toward the actor of the action. Our model of
attitude construction is based on the model proposed by Fazio [9] (see Sect. 2). In
short, Fazio proposes to compute the attitude as the average of beliefs’ evaluations
(i.e. how much this fact is beneficial) weighted by their accessibilities (i.e. how
accessible is the information in the subject’s mind).
First we compute the interest of an information to estimate its accessibility and
its narrative interest (whether or not to communicate the action to other agents).
Second, we evaluate the action based on its payoff. Third, we compute the impact
of co-responsibility, if required. Finally, we aggregate these evaluations, weighted
by their accessibilities, to compute the attitude.
From Field Data to Attitude Formation 7
Interest of an Action
Action Evaluation
Fishbein and Ajzen [1] advance that the evaluation of an action is weighted by the
attitude toward its beneficiary. For instance, a beneficial action for my enemy is
harmful to me. Therefore, we define the evaluation of an action belief as:
Co-responsibility
In our case study, the Blue Force endorses the role of security guardian, thus
they are co-responsible of all actions compromising the security of the population
including Talibans’ attacks from population’s perspective. Thus, we introduce a co-
responsibility mechanism that enables individual to attribute a fraction 2 Œ0; 1,
parameter of the simulation, of an action payoff to the co-responsible. This
mechanism occurs when an individual faces an action a in which (1) there is a
co-responsible actor, (2) its impact is negative (i.e. there is no co-responsibility
8 K.-L. Brousmiche et al.
for beneficial actions), and (3) its evaluation is negative. In that specific case,
the individual adds a belief a0 with actor.a/ D coResp.a/ and evaluation.a0 / D
evaluation.a/.
Aggregation
Let gaList.i; actor/ be the list containing all the general actions performed by the
actor in the belief base of agent i. The attitude att.i; actor/ of the individual i toward
the actor is given at each time of the simulation by:
0 1
X X
@ evaluation.a/ interest.a; i/ A
att.i; actor/ D
jga.i; a/j
ga.i/2gaList.i;actor/ a.i/2ga.i;a/
5 Experiments
We input the action sequence presented in the scenario of both Red and Blue Forces
into the simulation scheduler; one tick corresponds to 1 day: the simulation covers
the period between the first and last opinion polls in 554 ticks. The two agents
corresponding to each Force will then operate their actions according to the scenario.
The artificial population representing the inhabitants of Kapisa is composed of 150
agents connected by an interaction network based on a small-world topology [15]
with a degree of 4 (i.e., each individual has four neighbors in average).
Before running the actual simulation, we initialize the population with a personal
history for each individual and an attitude corresponding to the value given by P1.
Indeed, one of our model originality resides in the fact that the attitude depends on
the agent’s cognitive state characterized by its beliefs and accessibility values. Thus,
we must give individuals an initialization belief with a certain reach and payoff for
both attitudes toward Red and Blue Forces. These beliefs represent the interactions
From Field Data to Attitude Formation 9
with Forces preceding to the simulation span. Another subtle point in our model
is that individuals are surprised when they witness a totally new action, resulting
in an overestimation of the action’s impact. In order to habituate them to certain
regular actions (such as patrols, preaches, and radio broadcasts) we need to run an
initialization scenario before the actual one in which the population is confronted to
these actions, until we reach a stable point (approximately 200 ticks).
Once the simulation is properly initialized, we calibrate the model parameters using
each opinion polls results as objectives. We have four points to calibrate per Force,
thus totaling eight points of calibration. The model parameters are shared among all
individuals of the population:
– ˛ the weight of emotional sensibility toward the surprise factor
– the level of sensibility to a stimuli (i.e., payoff)
– the co-responsibility factor of Blue Forces for harmful Red actions.
We also have to determine the parameters of initialization actions to attain the first
point P1: one positive and one negative action per Force. To do so, we fix their payoff
values (negative for the harmful action and positive for the other) and calibrate their
reaches.
We define our fitness function as the sum of differences’ squares between each
point of the opinion poll results and its corresponding percentage of favorable indi-
viduals in the simulation. We choose to minimize this fitness using the evolutionary
algorithm CMA-ES that is one of the most powerful calibration method to solve
this kind of problem [10]. Once the fitness stops progressing over 500 iterations, we
interrupt the calibration process and save the parameters. Each calibration iteration
is based on the average output on over 20 simulations replica since the model is
stochastic.
Figure 2 shows the results of our model once its parameters have been calibrated.
Plain curves represent the objectives to reach that are based on the collected opinion
polls results (see Sect. 3.2); dashed curves correspond to the simulation results, with
˛ D 0:70, D 0:08, and D 0:15 (as obtained by the calibration).
We can observe that the attitude dynamics tendencies are well reproduced. The
average difference between results and objective points is 13:25 % with a maximum
of 19 % for the last point. This gap between survey and simulation results could be
explained by several factors in addition to the model itself: field data are generally
inaccurate and capture only a limited part of reality.
10 K.-L. Brousmiche et al.
Agent-based simulation enables not only to reproduce aggregated data but also to
analyze micro behaviors. Figures 3 and 4 below show the dynamics of population’s
attitudes means values between two polls along with their corresponding scenario.
The decreasing general tendency of the attitude toward the Red Force between
P1 and P2 in Fig. 3 is due to the constant pressure activity that affects negatively
the population. We can observe repercussions of each occurrence of action on the
attitude dynamics. For instance, in Fig. 3 we can clearly see attitude decreasing
toward Red Force at each IED (Improvised Explosive Device, gray blocs in the
figure) and also that the first occurrence has the greatest impact since the population
is surprised. Besides, we can notice that the impact of a suicide attack is much
greater than other actions (mid-July 2011 and June 2013).
In Fig. 4, we can see that attitudes toward the Blue Force are also impacted by
each of its actions. Moreover, we can notice that the curve greatly decreases when
the suicide attack perpetuated by Reds occurs. This phenomenon is enabled by the
mechanism of co-responsibility (see Sect. 4.2), the Blue Force is also responsible of
these attacks, in a moderate way. Similarly, the attitude toward Blue Force decreases
constantly since the background communication actions and patrols are not enough
to counter their co-responsibility toward the pressure activity for Reds.
6 Conclusion
We have collected information on the opinion dynamics and the events during
the involvement of French army in Afghan war. These information were analyzed
and processed with the support of subject matter experts. Based on these field
From Field Data to Attitude Formation 13
References
1. Ajzen, I., Fishbein, M.: The influence of attitudes on behavior. In: Albarrac, D., Johnson, B.T.,
Zanna, M.P. (eds.) The Handbook of Attitudes, pp. 173–221. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
Publishers, Mahwah, NJ (2005)
2. Allport, G.W.: Attitudes. In: Murchison, C. (ed.) Handbook of Social Psychology, pp. 798–844.
Clark University Press, Worcester, MA (1935)
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Much has to be accepted which it may not be always pleasant to
accept; but she showed a wonderful power, on the one hand, of
observing with the most absolute strictness, the limits of her
action which the Constitution draws, and, on the other hand, of
maintaining a steady and persistent influence on the action of
her Ministers in the course of legislation and government
which no one could mistake. She was able to accept some things
of which, perhaps, she did not entirely approve, but which she
thought it her duty in her position to accept.
"At the Court at Saint James's, the 23rd day of January, 1901.
Present,
{217}
The King then "caused all the Lords and others of the late
Queen's Privy Council, who were then present, to be sworn of
His Majesty's Privy Council." Orders had been previously given
for proclaiming "His present Majesty," in the following form:
"Whereas it has pleased Almighty God to call to His Mercy Our
late Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria, of Blessed and Glorious
Memory, by whose Decease the Imperial Crown of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is solely and rightfully
come to the High and Mighty Prince Albert Edward: We,
therefore, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of this Realm,
being here assisted with these of Her late Majesty's Privy
Council, with Numbers of other Principal Gentlemen of Quality,
with the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of London, do now
hereby, with one Voice and Consent of Tongue and Heart,
publish and proclaim, That the High and Mighty Prince, Albert
Edward, is now, by the Death of our late Sovereign of Happy
Memory, become our only lawful and rightful Liege Lord Edward
the Seventh, by the Grace of God, King of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Emperor
of India: To whom we do acknowledge all Faith and constant
Obedience, with all hearty and humble Affection; beseeching
God, by whom Kings and Queens do reign, to bless the Royal
Prince Edward the Seventh, with long and happy Years to reign
over Us."
The proclamation was made in London, with antique and
picturesque ceremony on the succeeding day, January 24, and
the following official report of it, from "Earl Marshal's
Office," published in the "London Gazette":
"This day His Most Gracious Majesty King Edward VII. was, in
pursuance of an Order in Council of the 23rd instant,
proclaimed with the usual ceremonies. At 9 o'clock in the
forenoon, the Officers of Arms habited in their tabards, the
Serjeants-at-Arms, with their maces and collars; and
Deputy-Serjeant Trumpeter in his collar; the Trumpeters, Drum
Major, and Knight Marshalmen being assembled at St James's
Palace, the Proclamation was read in the Grand Court by
William H. Weldon, Esq., Norroy King of Arms, Deputy to Sir
Albert W. Woods, Garter Principal King of Arms, in the
presence of the Earl Marshal of England, the Lord Steward, the
Lord Chamberlain, the Master of the Horse, and many other Members
of Her late Majesty's Household, with Lords and others of the
Privy Council and several personages of distinction. Deputy
Garter read the Proclamation. Then the Officers of Arms having
entered Royal Carriages, a procession was formed in the
following order:
{218}
"The Lord Mayor then read aloud the Order in Council requiring
the herald to proclaim his Majesty within the jurisdiction of
the City, and returned it to the herald. … The trumpets
sounded and, the officials of Westminster having filed off,
the cavalcade advanced into the City as far as the corner of
Chancery-lane. There was another fanfare of trumpets, and the
herald then made the proclamation, reading it with admirable
clearness. When it was over the spectators, who had listened
with bared heads, cried 'God Save the King.' The trumpets were
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cheering, which lasted while the Lord Mayor and his retinue
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and the procession made its way to the Royal Exchange, the
route being down Fleet-street, up Ludgate-hill, through St.
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"To My People. Now that the last Scene has closed in the noble
and ever glorious life of My beloved Mother, The Queen, I am
anxious to endeavour to convey to the whole Empire the extent
of the deep gratitude I feel for the heart-stirring and
affectionate tributes which are everywhere borne to Her
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universal expressions of what I know to be genuine and loyal
sympathy with Me and with the Royal Family in our overwhelming
sorrow. Such expressions have reached Me from all parts of My
vast Empire, while at home the sorrowful, reverent and sincere
enthusiasm manifested in the magnificent display by sea and
land has deeply touched Me. The consciousness of this generous
spirit of devotion and loyalty among the millions of My Subjects
and of the feeling that we are all sharing a common sorrow,
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trying and momentous days. Encouraged by the confidence of
that love and trust which the nation ever reposed in its late
and fondly mourned Sovereign, I shall earnestly strive to walk
in Her Footsteps, devoting Myself to the utmost of My powers
to maintaining and promoting the highest interests of My
People, and to the diligent and zealous fulfilment of the
great and sacred responsibilities which, through the Will of
God, I am now called to undertake.
EDWARD, R. I."
{219}
"To My People Beyond the Seas. The countless messages of loyal
sympathy which I have received from every part of My Dominions
over the Seas testify to the universal grief in which the
whole Empire now mourns the loss of My Beloved Mother. In the
welfare and prosperity of Her subjects throughout Greater
Britain the Queen ever evinced a heartfelt, interest. She saw
with thankfulness the steady progress which, under a wide
extension of Self-Government, they had made during Her Reign.
She warmly appreciated their unfailing loyalty to Her Throne
and Person, and was proud to think of those who had so nobly
fought and died for the Empire's cause in South Africa. I have
already declared that it will be My constant endeavour to
follow the great example which has been bequeathed to Me. In
these endeavours I shall have a confident trust in the
devotion and sympathy of the People and of their several
Representative Assemblies throughout My vast Colonial
Dominions. With such loyal support I will, with God's
blessing, solemnly work for the promotion of the common
welfare and security of the great Empire over which I have now
been called to reign,
EDWARD, R. I."
"In the whole range of English social and political life there
is no position more difficult to fill satisfactorily and
without reproach than that of Heir Apparent to the Throne, and
it may be justly said that the way in which that position has
been filled for more than the ordinary lifetime of a
generation has contributed to the remarkable increase of
devotion to the Throne and the dynasty which is one of the
most striking characteristics of Queen Victoria's reign. In
the relations of private life, from his childhood upwards,
'the Prince' has been universally and deservedly popular.
Cheerful and amiable, kind and generous, ever ready to
sympathize with the joys and sorrows of those around him, a
true friend, and a loyal antagonist, possessing considerable
mental culture and wide intellectual sympathies without any
tinge of pedantry, he has represented worthily the type of the
genuine English gentleman. Though a lover of sport, like most
of his countrymen, he differed from some of them in never
regarding it as the chief interest and occupation in life. If
he had been born in a humbler station he might have become a
successful business man or an eminent administrator, for he
possesses many of the qualities which command success in such
spheres of action. He is a quick and methodical worker,
arranges his time so as never to be hurried, is scrupulously
conscientious in fulfilling engagements, great and small, with
a punctuality which has become proverbial, never forgets to do
anything he has undertaken, and never allows unanswered
letters to accumulate. Few men have a larger private
correspondence, and his letters have the clearness, the
directness, the exquisite tactfulness, and the absolute
freedom from all affectation which characterize his
conversation. … "In public life he has displayed the same
qualities and done a great deal of very useful work. The
numerous and often irksome ceremonial duties of his position
have been invariably fulfilled most conscientiously and with
fitting dignity. Of the remainder of his time a considerable
part has been devoted to what might be called semi-official
activity. In works of benevolence and public utility and in
efforts to promote the interests of science and art he was
ever ready and anxious to lend a helping hand. He never
forgot, however, that in his public appearances he had not the
liberty of speech and action enjoyed by the ordinary
Englishman. Whilst taking the keenest interest in public
affairs of every kind, he carefully abstained from
overstepping in the slightest degree the limits imposed on him
by constitutional tradition and usage. No party clique or
Court camarilla ever sheltered itself behind him, and no
political intrigue was ever associated with his name.
Throughout her dominions Queen Victoria had no more loyal,
devoted subject than her own eldest son. If this strictly
correct attitude had been confined to his relations with the
Head of the State we might have supposed that it proceeded
from a feeling of deep filial affection and reverence, but, as
it was displayed equally in his relations with Parliament and
politicians, we must assume that it proceeded also from a high
and discriminating sense of duty. Of the Prime Ministers,
leaders of her Majesty's Opposition, and politicians of minor
degree with whom he came in contact, he may have found some
more sympathetic than others, but such personal preferences
were carefully concealed in his manner, which was invariably
courteous and considerate, and were not allowed to influence
his conduct."
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