Abdication of Edward

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 19, 23 January 1937, Page 3

Abdication of Edward

PUBLIC OPINION IN INDIA BOMBAY, Dec. 20. Edward VIII. ’s abdication was no more a surprise to India than it was to the rest of the Empire. For nearly a week comments in the Press had prepared the ground for the alternative to which events were moving rapidly. The search of a via media, in which a few newspapers joined, was soon abandoned. It was no use discussing inorgauatic marriage as a question in constitutional law when it found no support as an acceptable solution. To the average Indian it was not quite clear how the morganatic marriage differed from a proper marriage . When abdication emerged as the more possible alternative, sympathy for Edward VIII., in several Indian-owned newspapers, took the bolder form of a regular union with Mrs Simpson. These have systematically insisted on the King’s right to regulate his private life as he pleased; they have denounced any other point of view as “snobbery.” Denunciation has become considerably stronger now that abdication has actually taken place. In most comments, appearing immediately after abdication, all the emphasis is on the “pain and pathos of it all.” Several newspapers depart from, the tendency to stress Edward’s courage and prefer to view tho episode as a whole. “We doubt,” writes one Indianowned newspaper, “if such a momentous .event would have passed with such calm and such dignity in any other country on earth. There is something great in the King, in the British Monarchy, in tho British people. Merely to think of this is enough to enhance one’s respect for the British character and the British constitution.”

It would be a mistake to conclude from one or two pessimistic comments that there has been any alteration in the traditional Indian attitude towards the Monarchy. “Monarchy is greater than the King” is u conception, which Indian students of British history have long considered in the abstract; it needed the vivid reality of an abdication, as a contemporary event, to drive it homo to the Indian mind. Sympathy for Edward VIII. personally continues; there is anxiety for his future welfare. Hut it seems that on the whole the episode will react healthfully on political India in two ways. First it will make India aware of the passionate faith of the British people in the integrity of their Constitutor The evidence comes at a good moment since politicians of a certain class have for some time been counting on the possibility of England bending before a future crisis. It is a picture of the collective strength of the British people which will be an eyeopener to many. Secondly, except to those who are harping on “the Baldwinian intrigue,” it is an example of Imperial unity which is full of meaning to India.

India has transferred her allegiance to George VI. with a feeling of profound respect and sympathy for the new King. Newspaper after newspaper has offered its homage to George VI. with the greater cordiality because he has taken on a task for which until tho last moment he was not prepared. Succession to him “who was trained for Kingship” assures the new Emperor of the greater sympathy.