THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 1901. THE ROYAL VISIT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 12, 21 March 1901, Page 17

THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 1901. THE ROYAL VISIT.

fHERE was a time when a loyal progress e\en through a few English counties would have been a serious undertaking. In the Caroline era, and even close up to the days of Queen Anne, nobility and royalty rode at a footpace on horseback — the ladies sometimes on T4jp*' pillions or on side-saddles (tir^t introduced » into England from France in i:iss) ; or they crawled with cumbrous and comfortless dignity at the rate of three miles an hour over the deplorable roads of the period. Colonisation ha>. swept round the world on sevenleague boots since then, and has extended the bounds of the Empire towards both poles and towards the i Niiv^ and the setting sun. And at the same time the industrial re\olution has enabled the royal tourist of to-day to tra\el from London to Melbourne in the time that in thed.ns of "William 1 11. would be consumed by a heart-breakum, bone-bruising journey from London to Liverpool and back. The British throne stands no longeron the post- Restoration belief in the divinity that 'doth hedge a king.' Tknny>on\s well-known linos describe it ;>s broad-based upon the people's will : iirmly planted on a baMs of personal worth in the ruler, on the popular weal, and on the innate respect of our people for lawfully con^tituud authority. The change implies a permanent abandonment of the Eastern idea of a royalty set apart, living in .i sanctum sanctorum hedged round from vulgar approach by an almost impenetrable barrier called a 'court' — anidci which has reached its climax of absurdity in the pitiful seclusion of the Tien Tse or ' Son of Heaven' who is supposed to guide the destinies of the Land of Floweis. Royalty is compelled by present-day conditions to live more than ever in the public eye. British royalty during the past sixty years has not alone ' shown itself to the people ' in the home kingdom ; but since the year 18(50 member^ of the reigning family have at times visited the outlying portions of the Empire — Canada, Australia, etc. The departure of the Duke and Duchess of York — the future King and Queen of England — last Saturday on the record tour of the kind is a further evidence of that practical wisdom which serves at the same time to strengthen the throne and to consolidate the State.

To foreigners unacquainted with British history and institutions, the enthusiasm of preparation and expectation aroused in these far outskirts of the Kmpire over the approaching royal visit must be a riddle indeed. Its secret lies partly in the personal worth of the sovereigns of the present generation ; but chiefly in the wise and statesmanlike extension of free representative institutions, which have raised up bo many self-governing and prosperous States in the far-off boundaries of the Empire. William IV. — as Justin McCarthy points out in his History of Our Oirn

Timrs — ' held to and exercised the right to dismiss Ministers when he pleased and because he pleased,' With his death the long era of person d rule closed for ever in England. The late Queen Victoria was the first actual British constitutional sovereign. At an important period in the history of European monarchies she popularised British royalty by her personal \irtues and her prudent regard for the limitations of her offiea ; and during her long day — which saw the fall of many a roy.il house — her throne was buttressed round about with a popular reverence and affection, such as made Evlkaiid of VVurUHubuig Lhe bc»L uolovoJ of the princes of h>^ day. The mantle of the late Queen's popularity covered all her house. Whatever his defects or limitations, Edwakd VII. is exceedingly popular in Great Britain. He deserves the good-will of Irish people for the liberality of his personal views on questions intimately affecting their national wellbeing ; of Catholics, for his marked evidences of good-will totards our ecclesiastics and ecclesiastical institutions ; and of all friends of civil liberty for the stern and uncompromising manner in which, on September 1. 1860, he publicly declined — despite urgent pressure — to allow himself to be either trapped or cajoled or bullied at Kingston (Canada) into association with or countenance of the dark-lantern fanatics of the Orange lodge. The Duke and Duchess of York — the future King and Queen — are as yet little past the portals of their public life. They have to make their own mark in their own way. But all the traditions surrounding them are in their favor, and we bespeak them a right royal welcome to our shores.

We have referred to the play of free representative institutions as the chief cause of the deeply-rooted loyalty of the far-out members of the Empire to the British throne. These fresh southern lands, especially, have never been subjected to the hampering and selfish restrictions which, in the old colonial days, kept America bound in paralysed dependence upon the mother-country, forbade the export of any of her produce except to England, barred the entry of hu" harbors to foreign ships, and in the end compelled the great revolutionary war which won that ill-governed land its independence. Rome was once saved by geese. And the disastrous ending of the American war led in time to the death ot the 'old colonial idea' in every part of the Empire except in the sister — or rather step-sister — isle, Green Erin of the Tears. The winning of American independence led to the.-c southern colonies being ruled for the benefit of the governed rathei than with a selfish and exclusive eye lo the immediate and direct advantage of English mci chants and manufacturers. Endowed with liberal constitutions, t lie various colonies were permitted to woik out their destinies, each in its own way. And the result has bt en a growth of almost unexampled rapidity, pejee, prosperity, equal laws, and that contentment which is at the same, lime the best prop and safeguard of the existing order.

Ireland 1^ i.oa llic last spot of British earth that is governed in accordance with the principle chat lay at the root of the sellish and now discredited policy of the old colonial days. As a consequence it is the only nation within the Empire where population has declined at a phenomenal rate, where trade has shrivelled, hope withered, and discontent is a running sore. And yet we cannot find in the history of any nation or empire that ever existed an instance in which a conquered country rendered such conspicuous and faithful military service to its conqueror. And that service is steadily and loyally rendered despite the fact that through all those years the Irish people in their own land ha\e been subjected to galling political disabilities which forbid any claim upon them for such sacrifice and fidelity from those who guide the destinies of the Empire. British ministries— and especially those of t.e'Tory party — still persist in keeping up a little Poland within" a few hours' journey of the heart of the Empire. Their deplorable policy towards the Irish nation has not only deprived the British dominions of the services of much lighting material of the highest order in the day of her need ; but it is sending it abroad in every ship to swell the military strength of nations with which England may at any time be engaged in a deadly struggle. Every fair-minded man who has lived under the happy conditions of our free constitutions in these young

lands will join with us in the fervent 'hope that the present reign may speedily witness the application of the one remedy — self-government — which promises the permanent removal of the rampant evils that are eating like a cancer into the vitals of the Green Isle. The approaching royal visit may indirectly tend to that end by giving the highest subjects of the British throne an object-lesson in the benefits which Home Rule has conferred upon these young and flourishing southern lands.