The Daily News. MONDAY, MAY 9. THE KING IS DEAD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 384, 9 May 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, MAY 9. THE KING IS DEAD.

We knew the King, although few of U9 had seen liim. He was the people's friend. Separated, detached, isolated., punished almost, for being what lie was, ho was still one of the people, loving them and being Moved .by them. It rot known why the opportunity produces the man, why, at a critical time in the affairs of the Empire Edward tl'i' Seventh happened to be the kind of man he was, but there is reason for deep thankfulness now that he has peacefully laid his burden down, that 'he made no mistakes as a workman.! The King was suddenly called upon to [ undertake the greatest trust in all the world—to be Lord Paramount over a vast Empire embracing many nations, whose destinies were diverse and whose ambitions were various. King Edward in his exalted position was an object foi the eye of the world. He was the leader of many peoples of many col-j ors and speaking many languages. And hj spoke to all with one language—the language of all nations —the language o' the heart, it is only given to anj isolated personage once in a century or so to occupy a great position such as he occupied, and to hold the innumerable strings of partnership with a just hand.j King Edward was kind to the humble, but he would much, rather that there had been 110 humble; he was the soul of chivalry and high, honor. He was England's first gentleman, and the prince and pattern for gentlemen of all! nations. He was never tired or abrupt cr discourteous. Always he was just a gentleman. It was this great quality, that gave him strength to perform his multitudinous duties when suffering greatly; it wis this quality that made him as welcome at Berlin as in London iti Paris as in Liverpool, or in Madrid as in Manchester. The personal mag-j ru tism of the Sovereign was given to him so that he might have the best of a'l kingly assets in performing unthink-j able prodigies of tact and diplomacy j The kingly pride of the Sovereign was tlit great pride of humility. His distinguished mother, whose knowledge of statecraft was the admiration of nations, as she took the oath at her, Coronation, swore simply: "I will be good," aiid her successor, saturated with her high ideals, showed from his earliest occupancy of the greatest Throne the world knows, the sincerest desire and the most pronounced ability to guide the Empire in the right way. And so when lEdward died the great masses of his subjects ibowed their heads and sobbed. From one end of King Giorge's Empire to the other there rises the cry of the children for their lost father. Every outpost in all the King's wide domains, every city on the Continent, every village in the civilised world, is pouring out its grief. For a moment national feuds die down, and in the presence of a great grief all rancour i~ sweetened, all enmities refined, all evil thoughts unuttered. Looking lovingly back upon the Victorian era and the decade succeeding it, the people of the Empire may minutely examine the monarchy, and, finding it very good, must elect to give such continued fealty to the Crown as has willingly been given for many generations. Death respects no Crown and 110 law. It; comes to everyone, and to Father Time King Edward and subjects are but straws in the same sheaf. Since King Edward came to the Throne other jewel!! have been set in the diadem of Empire, and the Royal Standard floats over new territory, where justice "had never before been done. King Edward typified in himself the salient characteristics of the best of the people he governed. The King would have been a great man if he had been brought up in WhHecliapel instead of the palace; he would have been a humanist, a leader and a gentleman under any f circumstances. It is good to think that if he had any faults his virtues overshadowed them; if he was sometimes weak that he was 'but a man and possessed also a man's strength, and that as he was strong so he was generous. The grief of the peasant and the grief of the prince do not vary. Perhaps the grief of the prince is more poignant because of the eminence of the dead. And so at fie moment the mother Queen and her children are bowed in sorrow at the bier of the great dead. The kind father, the loving husband, the earth's most exalted emperor, lies beyond the influence of strife or sorrow, sin or the

luckerings of nations. Ami we in this little outpost of Kino; George's dominions reverently bow in sorrow for the weeping wife and bereaved son, whose new burden 01 kingship is so heavy The King is dead. Long live the King!