Part 25 (1/2)
Photo by Paul Tho and His I the burden of his great position and e of succeeding a greatbeen trained in statecraft, diploovern in years--only forty-five--strong, so far as was known, in body and health, equipped with a vigorous intelligence and wide experience of home and European politics and, as of special importance at the time of his accession, instinct with Imperial sentiment and acquainted, practically and personally, with the politics and leaders of every country in the British Empire--notably India, Canada, South Africa and Australia He was not known to the public as a , reserved, quiet thinker and student of men and conditions Great patience and considerable tact, common sense and natural ability, eloquence in speech and fondness for home life and out-door sports, he had shown as Prince of Wales or Duke of Cornwall He spoke Gerlish with ease and accuracy; he had seen much service in the Royal Navy and was understood to be devotedly attached to the wide spaces of the boundless seas; his Consort was beautiful, kindly, and graceful in bearing, with a profound sense of the importance of her place and duties and a sincere belief in the beneficence and splendid mission of British power
The Prince of Wales beca at the moment of his Father's death; on May 7th His Majestyto his Accession and accepted the oath of fealty froentlemen assembled To them he delivered a brief address expressive of his personal sorrow and sense of his onerous responsibilities: ”In this irreparable loss, which has so suddenly fallen uponthat I have the sympathy of my future subjects, ill n, whose own happiness was found in sharing and pro theirs I have lost not only a Father's love, but the affectionate and intimate relations of a dear friend and adviser No less confident a sympathy which is assured tohere, littledeclared that so long as there was breath in his body he would work for the good and amelioration of his subjects I am sure that the opinion of the whole nation will be that this declaration has been fully carried out To endeavour to follow in his footsteps, and at the saovernment of these realms will be the earnest object of my life I am deeply sensible of the heavy responsibilities which have fallen upon me I know that I can rely upon the Parliament and on the people of these Islands and e of these arduous duties and their prayers that God will grant e that I have in my dear wife one ill be a constant helpood”
This speech, delivered with obvious feeling and indicating a real understanding and appreciation of his late Father's character and career, made a most favourable impression upon the Council, the Nation, and the E tact and a clear grasp of the fundamental conditions of the ti George issued the following Message: ”My beloved Father was always closely associated with the Ar personal attachment, and from the first day he entered the service he identified hi conducive to its welfare On my accession to the Throne I take this earliest opportunity of expressing to all ranks allant and devoted service to hih I have been always interested in the Army, recent years have affordedmore intimately acquainted with our forces both at home and in India, as well as in other parts of the Empire I shall watch over your interests and efficiency with continuous and keen solicitude and shall rely on that spirit of loyalty which has at all times animated and been the proud tradition of the British Are was issued with special and personal interest He was devoted to that arm of the service From the year 1877 when he entered as a Cadet of twelve years old, and 1879 when, with Prince Albert Victor--afterwards Duke of Clarence--he went around the world in H M S _Bacchante_, and 1885 when he becahted in the Naval service, imbibed the free air of the seas of the world and becoland's naval record and achievereat battleshi+ps; in 1888 he counboat _Thrush_; in succeeding years he held more important commands and finally in 1897 had becoe spoke as follows:
”It isto the Throne to rateful I auished services rendered to the late King, reat solicitude for its welfare and efficiency Educated and trained in that profession which I love so dearly my retires of affection for it For thirty-three years I had the honour of serving in the Navy, and such intimate participation in its life and work enables hly I can depend upon that spirit of loyalty and zealous devotion to duty of which the glorious history of our Navy is the outcome That you will ever continue to be, as in the past, the foremost defenders of your country's honour I know full well, and your fortunes will always be followed by s of pride and affectionate interest”
Parliament met in special Session on May 11th to tender its con The Addresses froistically to the great work of the late King in building up and n relations To therief and the national sorrow and then added: ”King Edward's care for the welfare of his people, his skill and prudent guidance of the nation's affairs, his unwavering devotion to public duty during his illustrious reign, his si be held in honour by his subjects both at home and beyond the Seas” Meanwhile an infinite variety of articles were being written about the new King In Canada and the United States the sa papers; in Canada were reproduced many of the attractive articles written by special Aland Soe; others containedstories, hasty i A re His Majesty was the absence of serious criticishtest cause for condemnation in a life of forty-five years lived in the continuous white light which beats upon Royalty with such e was and had been essentially a sailor Prince; that he had in his younger days been open-handed, free, and possessed of a certain natural and bluff and pleasant geniality which was, however, quite different fro Edward; that so of this characteristic had disappeared from public view after the death of his brother, the Duke of Clarence, and his own assumption of public duties and public work as heir presued by the accession of his father to the Throne; that in his travels through the outer spaces, the vast Colonial Doed about with etiquette, too , and bewildering environ except devotion to the immediate duty of the moment; that under the circumstances of his I word or even an unwise gesture ht, upon occasions, evoke a storm, where not even his carefully-selected suite could be expected to understand all the varied shades of political strife and the infinite varieties of public opinion, it would have been eniality--as that word is interpreted in democratic countries; that upon hly indicate a personal and unaffected enjoy a for the Tercentenary; that the responsibilities of his position, the personal limitations of his environ an heir to the throne, had however, and upon the whole, sobered the one-tie--a states; that he hat none of the Royal fa of an orator as he proved by his splendid speech in London upon returning from the Empire tour of 1901 and by his delivery of otherwise routine addresses upon many occasions; that there could be absolutely no doubt as to his love of home, his devotion to wife and family, his personal preference for a quieter life than that which destiny had given hie was married to Princess May of Teck, on July 6, 1893, and the children of the Royal pair at the Accession were as follows:
H R H, Edward Albert Born June 23, 1894 H R H, Albert Frederick ” Dec 14, 1895 H R H, Victoria Alexandra ” April 25, 1897 H R H, Henry Williae Edward ” Dec 20, 1902 H R H, John Charles ” July 12, 1905
Of the new Queen Mary ht be said Unspoiled by the social adulation, the personal power of her environment; devoted to her ho her children to be the first object and aim of a woman's study and attention, she yet found ti principles of her future position, to beconty--not only in the ordinary sense but in that newwhich has come to stamp the British Monarchy with such an international and Ie The future Queen had some special qualifications for her position She was British by birth and training and habit of thought--the first Queen-Consort who could claihter of George the Third she was the popular child of a popular ton Palace on May 26, 1867, in a rooht of day Interested in the theatre, in music, and the drama, charitable by nature and incessant in her work for, and aer participant in social affairs and presiding at the Marlborough House functions with tact and distinction; winning during her tour around the E and respect of the people; the mistress and careful head of her household, a constant friend and adviser and associate of her Royal husband, a loving and devoted mother; the Princess of Wales before she entered upon her inheritance of power had well proved her right to help in holding the reins of a greater position and in setting the example of leadershi+p in her natural and i the throne of Britain and its far-flung realm
[Illustration: KING GEORGE V Son and successor of Edward VII upon the throne of England]
[Illustration: QUEEN MARY, CONSORT OF GEORGE V]
[Illustration: THE KING AND QUEEN AT TORONTO King George V and the Queen when they visited Toronto, Canada, October 10, 1901, as Duke and duchess of Cornwall and York]
[Illustration: KING GEORGE V LEARNING TO SPLICE ROPE
In this interesting old photograph King George (on the left), and his older brother, the Duke of Clarence (on the right), are shown as boys on the ”Britannia,” where they were thoroughly taught the principles of seamanshi+p The Duke of Clarence, as Heir to the Throne, died in 1892 at the age of 28 years, leaving the right of succession to his younger brother]
[Illustration: THE ROYAL CHILDREN OF KING GEORGE V AND QUEEN MARY Photograph by Paul Thoht: Their Royal Highnesses, Henry William; Albert Frederick; Edward Albert, Prince of Wales; John Charles; Victoria Alexandra, George Edward]
What can be said of the future? It e V will know his people well He is thoroughly English in life, character, feelings; he knows Europe and the E man; he is in sympathetic touch with rich and poor alike and has taken for many years deep interest in philanthropic and other schemes for the betterment of the poor; he has been trained in the school of constitutional s of his father and the potent exaraph_ said of hi probably with the knowledge of Lord Burnham, its proprietor, who had for many years been on intimate ter had undergone sedulous training and been educated to rule by learning to obey ”The country will discover in him what those admitted to his confidence have always realized--adth; wise coht into character; and a singularly upright and lofty conception of his kingly duty He has a frank, generous, unspoiled nature, is quick in apprehension, deliberate in thought, careful in expression, controlled by a far-reaching consciousness of duty and is animated by a vivid sense of his exalted mission He is a keen sportsman, an ad George has also been trained Imperially He has trod the soil of his elobe and visited seas and lands which no other British sovereign ever saw; he has seen the courage and commercial skill and success of hiscivilizations of new states and territories thousands of reat ie in 1902 to land,” to a people who do not readily take advice fro the lines of their development In other directions there is much to be hopeful for His Majesty has chosen his friends well They are said, in an intimate sense, to be few in nuurs well of the others He has a strong sense of duty, his addresses indicate the principle of Imperialism in its best sense, his life has commanded the respect of his people It may well be, and surely will be in his case, as with the late Queen, with Wellington and Nelson and King Edward himself, that
”Not once or twice in our fair Island's story The path of duty was the road to glory”
To the political situation at his accession, therefore, King George brings a trained intelligence, detailed and intie, a keen perception of the basic interests and feelings of his people No one knows, no one can knohat are his political opinions The probabilities are that his principles are not those of any so-called party If they were closely analyzed in the light of environ's policylike this: (1) TheNavy and a United Empire; (2) the hts and privileges and absolute independence of party These two lines of ambition would really be, and are, one, as in his opinion and, indeed, in that ofparty phantoms the interests of Great Britain, of the Empire, and the Monarchy, are identical
In the political crisis of 1910 two questions are uppere In order to defeat the latter proposals the Liberals in part have created the for can act only upon the advice of his Ministry unless tacitly and by unusual agree Edward, he acts as a conciliatory force If the Government asks hiislation curbing and crippling, if not abolishi+ng, the Upper House, he can either assent or refuse assent means the destruction of a portion of the Constitution--and a portion very close to the Throne and which acts as a real buffer against the hasty action of an impetuous and sometimes in or go to the country on an issue in which it is quite possible the people will not support theainst the Governed the full force of the growing fiscal feeling, the desire for Tariff Reform, the develop the Colonies a preference in the Britishneed for son nations
Whatever course the King takes under all these conditions will bring the Crown into the conflict--either as yielding to the Liberals and thus antagonizing the Conservatives, or by refusing the de up a party--sainst the Monarchy itself There is another eleland, ”the dominant partner,” is not really behind the Asquith Government Its majority at the recent elections was infinitesimal; what there was came from Wales and Ireland and Scotland; and that of Ireland was divided upon the fiscal issue The whole situation is, therefore, very much clouded to the eye
So far as one writer can estimate the end of such a crisis it will probably be one of co in the British constitution is in the nature of a compromise Constitutional monarchy in its essence is a half-way house between Autocracy and Republicanise to the minds of its supporters is that the system has the extremes of neither, the best qualities of each, and all the advantages of that strength and permanence which moderation and toleration always afford In Britain the systereat mass of the people Mr Asquith is not an extremist, Mr Haldane and Sir Edward Grey are e and Winston Churchill are more heard of it does not follow, and it certainly is not the fact, that they are more influential They hold the same place in Liberalism that Mr Chamberlain with his republican tendencies (which they do not profess) and his ”three acres and a cow” held to Mr Gladstone and the Liberal leaders of thirty or forty years ago The Conservatives, also, are not desirous of pushi+ng the issue too far They believe in and have tested the affection of rural England for the aristocracy and the preference of nearly all England for a second Chaht the issue on the hereditary principle The acceptance, by a very largethat ”the possession of a peerage should no longer, of itself, give the right to sit and vote in the House of Lords,” removes this point fro a strong, reforainst the Liberal policy of a weakened, emasculated echo of the House of Commons