SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 1017, "GOD SAVE THE KING"

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3100, 2 June 1917, Page 6

SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 1017, "GOD SAVE THE KING"

.To-morrow will- bo tho third war birthday of King George V, and in two months more the great struggle will havo lasted three, years. Throughout the tremendous ordeal through which the Empire is .passing His Majesty has associated himself unreservedly with the joys and sorrows, hopes and anxieties, of his people. He has set an expcllent example of national service. He has not spared himself. Ho has done all that a King ought tc- do in a great national crisis, and in war, as in peace, he has proved himself to be an ideal head for a constitutional monarchy of the British typo. -He has made tho-Thronc a real centre of unity for the many peoples in various stages of civilisation who gladly acknowledge allegiance- to the Crown. To some of the native races over whom he rules the British Cabinet and Parliament count for little or nothing. They do not understand tho meaning of representative institutions. But they know what kingship means. In their minds King and Empire cannot be separated. They feel that the might and majesty of the British Empire is centred in King George. Tho King's enemies aro their enemies, and ' the King's friends their friends. It is to the King that they send their war gifts. For instance, fcho paramount chief of the Basuto nation recently forwarded to tho High Commissioner for South Africa the sum of £40,000 as a gift ■to the King for tho purposes of the war. It is to the King, not to the Government, that somo sixty of the most, important, ruling Princes of India recently expressed gratitude for the invitation of the Maharajah ofßikanir. to attend the Imperial War, Conference. In his reply tho King is/careful to associate himself with his Government. He assures tho Princes that he relies upon their proved devotion to the Throne, and rejoices that ono of their number should, attend the Conference at tho invitation of the Government. To the- Princes and people of India and the'native races of British possessions in other, parts of the world the King of .England-is no mere figurehead. He is n, very real, august, and potent personage. ■ The enthusiastic devotion of tbo people of India- to their KINGEmperor has teen a great help ■ to the Empire in this time of war. The personal character of tho loyalty, of tho Indian rulers finds impressive expression in a t-latemdpt recently made by tho Maharajah of Bikanie to a representative of. tho Associated Press:

I lovo'tho King-Emperor as the representative o£ sovereign power, and I love him as a man (said the Maharajah). Thero is no sacrifice wliioli lie might ask of me that I would not make. My resources, my life, nn<l the lives of tho men of iiikanir belong: to him. . . .

My brother rulers lovo their KingEraperor, and will follow whero ho leads, through thick and thin. At an early stage, in the war India,-wae virtually denuded of British troops, which wero needed to stem the. onward rash of the Germans. The existence of tho Indian Empire depended <-n the loyalty of Princes and people. Far from wanting to sever relations with tho British Government, the ruling- Princes desire to remain n part of tho Empire, for thero is no Government so great, or so good, as His Majesty's. Wo want to stay and help in tho achievement of ovon greater things than have beer, accomplished in. the past. . . Thero is every indication that the Government of India has no greater desire than to Gee tho Princes and the peoplo stand on their own feet under the guidance of England. Loyalty? Call it selfishness, or devotion, or what you will, wo of the ruling houses of India "havo followed, and will follow, tho British flag through adversity, and through, triumph, to Iho end.

Tho'Empire is afc present reaping 'the fruits of tlio wisdom, gvaciousnoss, and tactful dignity displayed by George V as Emperor of India, combined with the justice and beneficence- of British rulo in Britain s great Eastern dependency. _ At the present moment, whuo Continental dynasties sta-nd in jeopardy, King George sits firmly on the Throne of bis ancestors. Ho has followed closely in the steps of_ VicIOEIA a-D,d Edwaed .yil a and in all

his official acts ho bas exhibited a scrupulous determination to keep well within the limits of monarchical authority prescribed by law, cub'rora. and precedent-. He realises tha.t he is not a-n autocrat but the constitutional Sovereign of a group of free- nations. He has proved that kingship is not incompatible- with "liberty, democracy, and progress. Throughout the keen political struggles which have taken place since his accession he has avoided.even theappearance of partisanship, and bis success in holding the balance fairly botwecn the opposing parties affords convincing proof of the correctness .of his conception of the duties of a- British King in the twentieth century. He recognises that ho occupies his Throne not by any special divine right but by the consent and good will of his people, who know that under the sovereignty of George V they enjoy all the liberty which, the freest of other nations have acquired under republican political institutions. In Mb book entitled The Governance of England, Mr. Sidney Low points out that in recent years tho bond of Empire- has not been the Imperial Parliament, which the Legislatures of the Dominions have- been inclined to regard with jealousy, nor the Imporial Gabinet, which they look upon as only one of tho many committees that administer the selfgoverning portions of tho Empire; but tho Throne. The King is the head o£ the Empire, and there is no other. At tho recent War Conference Sir Eobert Borden declared that the Crown is the tie which binds together the Imperial Commonwealth of United Nations known as tho British Empire. Amid the 'strife of parties the Throne stands as a perpetual reminder of tho fundamental oneness of the British peoples. It is the symbol of national unity and continuity, the permanent connecting link between the past, trie present, and the future. King George understands his people and is understood by them. As Lord Cu'rzon remarked at the opening of the School of Oriental Studies, His Majesty is the most travelled Sovereign since the days of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. There is hardly one of the countries the languages of which are going to be taught in that school which tho Kino has not visited and of which he cannot speak with personal knowledge No part of tho Empire is more loyal than New Zealand, and in this 'time of national stress and trial wo, in full harmony with the people of all parts of the Empire, join on this occasion even more fervently than usual in the prayer— Sond him victorious, . Happy and glorious. Long to reign over us. , God eavo the Kins.