The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1916. THE KING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 27, 28 December 1916, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1916. THE KING.

The part King George is playing in , the 'present war is dwelt on by the Spectator, which acceptably points out many things that the King has done and is doing about which we ' know little. The most unobtrusive monarch in Europe in his way of serving his' Empire and its subjects King George does not like display, but as the London journal referred to above j fairly argues, a democracy has a right! I to know and estimate accurately tnej '■services which it receives; and that, | not only for the sake of the example, I set,, but because nothing tends so much j to build up national union' as the} consciousness of common struggles, efforts, and sacrifices, fn the first place, by comparison, the Kling is: not a rich man so far as the propor-j tion of his income winch lie can Dispose of according to his own p»r- ---| sonal tastes and wishes is concerned. A very large part of that income is--1 allocated to various purposes in ad-J Ivanee, and when King George, a few I months ago, handed over to his Ministers £IOO,OOO to be spent as they I thought fit in the, national interests,! he was doing a very large and generous thing. Probably at His Majesty's! desire no great mention of this waS | made, but the example was well' worth while' making widely known. . The Spectator further points out how | manv and how generous the King's gifts* to all the funds for soldiers, Red, Cross, and other objects incidental to the war have been. Following, too,' the example of the Rider of All the' Russias, King George ordered total j abstinence from alcoholic liquors in the Royal households and Ins example j was again followed by many, flie has | doubtless had many difficult tasks In the great problems—military, political j and industrial, which his Ministers have, in accordance with the Constitu-, tion,'bad to place before him, but ho. lias never wavered from his duty, and has taken his stand ever for England's' welfare with zeal and enthusiasm. His visits to our soldiers in the trenches have made him much beloved, and it "must bo remembered that such visits | . have been undertaken at no little ( ' personal risk. It is well-known also that there is hardily a hospital for wounded in England that he has not visited; and his fine' sympathy has brightened up and encouraged nufny a ' wifferer. One lot of German wounded [in one large hospital spoke for days; afterwards of the way he talked w ! them in their own language, enquired ( . about their wounds, and told them , they had fought bravely. And his own j ! troops undergoing training in England J '. are never long without a visit from ; him! The King is, again, ceaseless in.

his activity in visiting the camps,*both' large and small, of troops in training, and to all ho offers words of encouragement and cheer. The soldiers from' the Dominions, too, have been in?p?ct-' ed by him every time that opportunity' offered. It would hardly be too much to say that the King knows his soldiers and sailors quite as well as any general or admiral in his service. Tiie troublous events of the reigii have altered our outlook on many tilings, and to the most indifferent it should be brought home by what be . had done and is doing that the King is no mere figure-head.