The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1920. THE COMING OF THE PRINCE.

Southland Times, Issue 18826, 20 May 1920, Page 4

The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1920. THE COMING OF THE PRINCE.

The King, as the Constitutional Sovereign of the Empire, occupies exactly the same place in the whole British Empire as be does in Circa! Britain ; and his House, although originally founded in Gieat Britain. belongs equally to all the other nations of the Commonwealth. In these words the Prince of Wales, who is to arrive among the people of Southland to-day, epitomised the constitution and organisation of the great confederation of nations in which we are a part and he gave to the British people the world over the inspiration that should Laid to the recognition of his real status —the Prince of the British Empire. K wc look down the array of titles that his Highness bears we find that he is the Grand Master of the Order of the British Empire; but that does not give us any guide to the actual 'position that he at piesent occupies. He is the Prince of Wales by virtue of the title granted to him by his father the King and he is the Heir to the Throne at the steps of which teeming millions, living under different skies, sundered by mighty oceans, distinguished by varying speech and religion, meet in unity as the subjects o; one Crown, lie is the Prince, then, of New Zealand exactly as he is the Prince of Wales, of Canada, of Australia and of till the units in this far-flung commonwealth of free-men. This was the great fact behind his simple statement in the North Island that the Empire is his home, not merely Britain. It is true that the needs of the Empire make it well nigh impossible for the overseas dominions to see as much of the Royal Family as they desire; but whenever the dominions are presented with an opportunity to give expression to their sentiments there is no doubt about the depth and the wealth of their loyalty. The Prince has, been called an Ambassador of Empire. In one sense lie certainly is, but we regard ambassadors as the representative:; that the nation semis to foreign countries—no part of the Empire is foreign to the Prince. Wherever lie goes lie meets people who revere him as the future ruler, who admire him for his good qualities, who love him for what he is. At no stage in the history of the world has any man. young or old, possessed as does our Royal visitor, the affection of so many millions, at no stage has any prince been able to claim u tithe of the pc;' onal loyalty that he enjoys. From tire days of the war, when, as he himself has pul it, he found his manhood among the fighting men of the Empire to these days when he is conquering the hearts even of people who make a boast of their republican principles, has Royal Highness has been the centre of the Empire'.-, attention and he may claim with full justice to be the best-loved prince the world litis ever known,. He is the Prince of the People. The Throne that he will one day occupy rests upon the strongest possible foundation, the free will and love of free men; and the purity of his democratic ideals, the grandeur of his fondness for the democratic masses will strengthen that foundation far more than could any purely political or material considerations. The Prince comes to us as the embodiment of the spirit of youth, lie represents, he is the leader of the “younger generation of England’’ and of the Empire. He has said it, and he has shown it conclusively by his acts in Britain, in Canada and in this country. As a young man he is taking up the splendid work that his grandfather and his father commenced; the union of the Crown and the people by ties of affection instead of political interest. Unconsciously, parhaos, he is assuming the leadership of the young people who will be the dominant factor in the Empire when it comes to his turn to sit on the throne of his fathers, and that leadership will be the more real, the more potent and lasting because it is spiritual rather than material, because it is independent of the vagaries of the ballot box. He has a young man’s reverence for age, but he is part of the younger generation and he knows how the Empire to be feels and what it hopes. Under the Constitution of Britain, that indefinite , structure of most definite qualities, the King rules by and with the cogent of his people and we are at times prone to think upon the legal limitations of the Crown without at the same time considering the enormous powers that the King may exercise in the affairs of the Empire. General Smuts has explained tp us the paramount importance to us of the hereditary kingship by reveal-

ing to us the weaknesses and dangers of republicanism, and his words arc extremely appropriate at this moment:

You cannot make a Republic of the British Commonwealth of Nations, because if you have to elect a President not only in these Islands, but all over the British Empire, who will be the ruler and representative of all these peoples, you are facing an absolutely insoluble problem. Now. you know the theory of our Constitution is that the King is not merely your King, but he is the King of all of iis. He represents every part of the whole Commonwealth of Nations. If his place is In be taken by anybody else, then that somebody will have to be elected by a process which, I think, will pass the wit of man to devise. Therefore, let us be thankful for the mercies we have. We have a Kingship here which is really not very different from a hereditary Republic, and I am sure that more and more in the future the trend will be in that direction, and I . shall not be surprised to see the time when our Royal Princes, instead of getting their Consorts, among the Princelings of Central Europe, will go to the Dominions and the outlying portions of the Empire I think that in the theory of the future of this (heat Empire it is impossible to attach too much importance to this institution which wo have existing, and which can be developed, in. my opinion, to the greatest possible uses for its future preservation and growth. This is the material side of the matter, the need we have for the Throne, and it does not touch the greater thing: the paramount need for a King who is the true Sovereign of the People, who rules because he is loved, who is powerful because his subjects wish him to be so. The Caesars and Emperors of the olden times were great because they were mighty in war, but we look forward to days of development in peace and in brotherly affection. Military display and pcaip do not impress us as they did our forefathers, but we have replaced those bunds of .steel with something more powerful: the ties of human love. In the forging of those ties the Prince of Wales lias shown hims-rl/to be an adept, and his success is due to the fact that ho himself is a lover of humanity, that he is a man in the highest and noblest sense of that exacting term : a Prince.