NOTHING LIKE THIS IN MODERN HISTORY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 19 November 1907, Page 4

NOTHING LIKE THIS IN MODERN HISTORY.

* "It was the sincere belief of a certain school of political theorists not' long ago that the monarchy of England was a spent force," declares the Daily Telegraph. " 'The King can do no wrong,' said these rather shallow thinkers, 'but he can do no right; for in the English Constitution he can do rothing at all.' Majesty in the United Kingdom, they opined, represented the pomp and circumstance, but no longer the power and prestige, of Royalty. "That was a very superficial and childish view of the actual state of affairs. It would be easy to reply to these theorisers that the Sovereign, in a limited monarchy like ours, possesses as much power as any potentate ought to possess who cannot be called to account for its exercise; and it would be 110 less easy to show how in the long reign of Queen Victoria the Sovereign had again and again exerted a restraining or inspiring influence, in national mid international affairs, that made for progress and for righteousness. How completely has King Edward upset all these flimsy criticisms of Constitutional Monarchy. THE KING'S VISITING LIST.

"His Majesty returns to England after a fcw r weeks' staj on the Continent, during which time he has talked with the Kaiser at Wilhemshohe and with the ruler of Austria-Hungary at Iscbl; the French Premier, M. Clcinenceau, has had an audience of His Majesty at Marienbad, and he iias received M. Isvolsky, the Russian Foreign Minister; and all Europe is pleased. Moreover, in six short years he has brought about the entente cordiale with France, has gained the goodwill and confidence of Spain, has strengthened tho bonds of friendship with Italy and with Austria, has- dispelled the | jealousies of Germany, and, we have no doubt, has lent his aid to the understanding with Russia. So far as we can recall, not a voice has been raised in this country to hint that the King has in any the smallest iota overpassed the limits of the Constitution. From no single party in the State is there a breath of remonstrance; on the contrary, Liberals and Tories, Trades Unionists and Socialists, have been at one, with a strange unanimity, in declaring that King Edward VII. had done, and was doing, precisely what they would wish the Sovereign of these

islands to do. ■ "There has been nothing like this in modern European history; nor could there be. One Sovereign only could fulfil this role —the King of England We have no Continental ambitions, and the nations of Europe recognise

the fact. But that quality in itself was not enough. There was required in the Monarch of these islands a man ivho understood the feelings of his own nation, and had sympathy with the lights and obligations of other nationalities. That has been King Edward's unique qualification. He has realised and impersonated tho sound doctrine: 'England's greatest interest, is peace.' OBJECT OF THE KING'S VISITS. "It has been the ill-fortune of na-

tions that their monarchs have been tiained to live for military glory; it is a new thing to have a Kins acclaimed as 'Peacemaker.' Hence the incapacity, the unwillingness to believe that the Sovereign Head of the largest Empire in the world can possibly be seeking the peace of Europe, with no motive in the background that is not subtle and mayhap sinister. We can in all sincerity assure these critics that the one thing they have failed to realise and apprehend is that England's King has understood, right down to thu ground, what England's people think and feel on these matters. That is the whole mystery—that, and nothing more."