THE PRINCE'S VISIT.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 April 1920, Page 6

THE PRINCE'S VISIT.

its; bkarjwi y J. iellWThe tour of the overseas Dominions by the Prince of Wales •is a notable event in itself; but its importance is vastly enhanced if we remember that our distinguished visitor is really a royal ambassador on a serious mission, and that my have far-reaching results on the movement for unity of Empire. OTic present visit by a. member of the Royal Family is the culminating one of a series that began nearly half a century ago with the journey of the Duke of Edinburgh...Later, King Edward, as Prince of Wales, visited Canada and India. Then, about twenty years ago, came the grand tour of the Dominions and India by King George and Queen Mary. These visits mark the deep interest taken by the reigning house in the question.of Imperial unity; and all indications point to that union being speedily consummated. Other influences besides that of Royalv have been"at work to bring about the desired union; and not the least has been that of the poets. The influence of poesy on the movement towards Imperial Federation has not yet been fully realised, but it must be seen to be one of the forces that make for the wider patriotism and the solidarity of the company of nations comprised in the British Empire. Although the federal movement is necessarily of recent origin, the Imperial idea that underlies and is ■the inspiration of that movement is of much older date. It can be traced to "the spacious days of great Elizabeth," when the defeat of the Spanish Armada gave birth to the consciousness of Britain's destiny, and when the national bard proclaimed with the confidence of a patriot and seer — "This England never did nor ever shall Lie at the proud foot of a conqucrer." The so-called conquests of England—the floman, the Anglo-Saxon, the Danish and the Norman—had been but the assembling of the racial elements that went to the making of "This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle. . . . This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England." On the union with Scotland, England issumed the prouder name of Great Britain, adopted as her flag the Union Jack, and developed a fuller consciousness of her world destiny. Then came the Napoleonic wars, when Britain assumed the role of arbiter in European affairs. Slightly ante-dating that period, and also following upon it, there' was a remarkable outburst of poetic and patriotic fervor. The National Anthem assumed its present (and pennanent) form, and James Thomson, in addition to his blank verse poems, "Britannia" and "Liberty," produced that imperishable lyric, "Rule, Britannia," with a ringing confidence in England's destiny fully equal to that of Shakespeare. Take, for example, the stanza "The nations not so blest as thee Must in their turn to tyrants fall; But thou shalt flourish strong and free The pride and envy of them all! liule, Britannia, Britannia rule the waves; Britons never shall be slaves." Among other lyrical outbursts, Thomas Campbell's "Mariners of England" deserves mention, because of its stirring reference to "the flag that braved a thousand years the battle and the breeze." Meanwhile the work of British colonisation had been making steady progress. The loss of the American colonies, due to stupid ineptitude in high quarters, might well have driven home the lesson of the necessity for forging bonds of union between the Mother Country and her oversea "possessions," as they were then called; but so far from that being the case, a generation later found British statesmen exclaiming "Let the colonies go'." From that, time the cause of Imperial unity has been more or less of a living issue, though hindered and obscured by being (like nearly every other great question) dragged through the mire of English party politics. The then Poet Laureate, Tennyson, became an ardent advocate of Imperialism, and administered a stinging rebuke to the Little Englanders, who thought the colonies a burden upon the Motherland—"Whereof wo lately heard a strain to shame us— So loyal is too costly, let them go!" In poem after poem Tennyson continued to champion the cause he had so much at heart. As poetry these productions are of little merit. The greatest height was, perhaps, reached in the memorable stanza "We sailed wherever ship could sail, We founded many a mighty State; Pry God our greatness may not fail Through craven fear of being great." His lyric, "Hands All Round," though admirable in sentiment, was beneath mediocrity as poetry. A somewhat higher noto was struck in "Britons, Hold Your Own"—"Shall we not, through good and ill, Cleave to one another still? Britain's myriad voices call— Sons, be welded each and all Into one Imperial whole, One with Britain, heart and soul, One Life, one Fleet, one Flag, one Throne. Britons, hold your own!" Of rarer poetic flavor was a sonnet by William Watson, ending with these eloquent lines, addressod to overseas Britons — "Remote compatriots, wheresoe'er ye dwell, By your prompt voices ringing clean and true, We know that with our England all is well. Young is she yet, her world-task but begun! By you we know her safe, and know by you, Her veins are million, but her heart Kudyard Kipling has also shown himself a true Imperialist in spirit; and the higher patriotism breathes in every line of his "Recessional," with its earnest prayer for the land that has been given "Dominion over palm and pine." Kipling looks at Imperial politics with the eyes of one who has spent a large part of his active life overseas, and he has frequeat shrewd cuts at the Little Englandm, as for instance—

' "This U England's awful way of doing business—iShe would servfc her God or Gordon . !■•; just Hie didn't think - of Sergeant fl Vraat's-his-narac." The recent world-shaking war, and the way jn which the overseas Dominions rushed to the help of the Motherland did much to dispel British ignorance and apathy, with the result that England's former "awful way of doing business" is to be abandoned, and as soon as more pressing affairs of State are disposed of, we are promised practical measures for the closer union of the Empire. Already the Dominions (have been, given the status of ''nations." While it would thus soeni that the war has done most ! to help Hie cause of Imperial federation, it must not he forgotten that it was the patriotic impulse given by the poets that led the Dominions to give such a splendid demonstration of their loyalty, for Swinburne had long ago addressed to all Britons these lines—"Stand fast and forget not the sign that is given Of the years and the wars that are done, The token that all who are born of the Wood Should in heart and in blood be one." From Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and other British lands, minor poets have for years been sending their messages of ardent attachment to Britain, and the cumulative effect of these has no doubt been great. The Canadian poets have been especially fervid in the expression of their loyalty and definite in theiT call for unity of Empire. Wilfred Campbell and Frederick George Scott have written many patriotic poems that deserve to live. It was Arthur Weir, the less-known Canadian, who wrote—"Well we know that we arc One people beneath every starOne blood, one steel; and, afar, The nations know we are strong." Jean Talon l'Esperance voiced the loyalty of French Canadians in a fine lyric containing the lines—"o triune kingdom of the brave, 0 sea-girt island of the free. 0 Empire of the land and wave Our hearts, our hands, are all for thee." And Canada'.; aspirations for Imperial Federation were well expressed by Thomas Maefarlane, when he wrote—"Unite the Empire, make it stand compact. Shoulder to shoulder, let its members feel The touch of British brotherhood, and act As one vast nation, strong and true as steel!" May this loyal aspiration be speedily ealised in form, as it already is in fact!