The Dominion. TUESDAY, MAY 10, 1910. THE NEW KING.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 813, 10 May 1910, Page 6

The Dominion. TUESDAY, MAY 10, 1910. THE NEW KING.

AI,THOUGH it is natural that tho people of his Empire should find it difficult to believe that Kino George can add to the nobility and value of the Royal officc held by his groat father, there is yet as much hopefulness as sympathy in their attitude he takes up the sceptre. It is tho saddest but kindliest of Nature's dispensations that no mail, not even tho greatest, is indispensable, and this truth will assist to remove the misgivings with which the Empire accepts the appearance of any new figure in the place occupied by tho most profoundly trusted of all the Sovereigns of Britain. It would be idle to dony that these misgivings aro real and genuine. They are not the emotional' product of the occasion: what is being said and thought of tho late King's value to the safety of Britain and the peace of tho world has all been said and thought in cold blood for several years. By so much as Edwakd raised the Crown above the high point of usefulness and honour at which Victokia left it, by so much King Georgk's task exceeds the task set to his father upon his accession. It is a heavier sceptre that he takes up, and he takes it up in circumstances of far. greater difficulty. He has'not only to continue unimpaired the influence of the British Crown upon tho policy of tho world: ho has to meet a domestic crisis in some vital particulars unprecedented in tho nation's history. Yet there exists ho real reason why his subjects should not face the future under his guidance with cheerfulness and good hope.

His Majesty has given abundant proof that ho has a keen and practical mind, ancl that ho .has an original endowment of the "discre-. fcion and prudence" that were commended to Queen Victoria by her wise uncle a,nd adviser, the King of the Belgians, as' tho .cardinal monarchical virtues. Above all, lie has had the inestimable advantage of close association in' recent times I with tho work of his father, whose I faithful discharge of his 1 promise | that while thorc was breath in his j body he would strive to promoto the best interests of his people is the soundest guarantee that he most carefully Committed his principles 'of action to his son. It must bo remembered, also, that his late Majesty was no less wise in selecting his friends than was Queen Vic-. Tom, who, strong and' self-reliant | as she was;-appreciated more than most people the value, of loyal and,! disinterested, advisors. Some of 1 these friends, tested by the trust of I two wise Sovereigns, still remain j at the service of the present King, j In his spocch at the holding of his Privy Council his Majesty made manifest his sense of the great gravity of the trust transferred to hitn. His loss, he said, was more than the loss of a father: he had lost a King, a father, and a friend. There is here an official intimation of a 'douhlo importance, namely, that his Majesty as a subject shared 'to tho full tho sentiment of his follow-subjects towards tho late monarch, and that as the hoir-ap-parent he shared his late Majesty's counsel and has been fully advised in all important matters of policy. There are wanting in him some of the assets peculiar to King Edward. Ho has not tho weight and urbanity of ago; his relationship to tho Enropean monarchs cannot enable him easily to cxcrcise the influence exercised by 1 his father. Yet without these assots his Majesty may be trusted, if not to enlarge tho beneficent powor of the Throne, < yet at any rate to maintain unimpaired the policy and principles committed to his care.

It is possible now to consider tho new outlook in the domestic politics of Britain. There is in somo quarters a tendency to think that the merits of the policies in dispute between the two great British partios will weigh with the ICinq in deciding upon his reply to the Government's request—in the event of the "Veto" Bill being rejected by the Lords—that enough Peers shall bo created to ensuro tho destruction of tho authority of the Upper House. His Majesty will certainly make up his mind without reference to whother tho Budget and Home Rule are good or bad things, for the question will present itself to him as the question, not of the Budget or Home Rule, but of the sort of government—bi-cameral or Single Chamber—that accords best with the constitutional traditions of the Kingdom. Our own opinion is that his Majesty will decide against the Government, on the ground that it has not "shown cause" for the great change that it is proposed to effcct. It is impossible to avoid feeling that should the King so decide some of the Radicals will not scruple to say that they have another reason for regrotting the death of Kinq Edward. For tho old flame of political bitterness, temporarily quenched, will assuredly blaze forth again in due courso, and we may guess at the tactjcs of the extreme Radicals from our knowledge of the manner in which they quoted the late King's prorogation speech after tho laying aside of the Budget as proof of his sympathy with the Government's policy and his indignation at the action of the Lords. On the other hand, if his Majesty decides to give the Government the required assurances, his judgment will be loyally accepted. In any case, the sorrowful event which the Umpire is mourning will secure to 'lie Kino h very great readiness on the part of tho vast

majority of his people to take his view as the right one. During the past few morfths there has been a great deal 'of light-hearted talk about the application of the melt-ing-pot process to the Crown. The deep and solemn feeling that pervades the Empire is the best possible proof of the strength of the British monarchy to-day. Although his Majesty has taken up a responsibility of the utmost gravity and difficulty, he takes it up in circumstances that should fill him with pride and hope. ■ ,