The Auckland Star WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 1936. THE MONARCHY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 21, 25 January 1936, Page 8

The Auckland Star WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 1936. THE MONARCHY.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, 'And the good that we can do.

"We have no memory of him but at his best, and his best was something very high. He fell, asleep at peace with all the world." Again, as often before, Mr. Baldwin has expressed in simple words the thought and feeling of the British nation at a time of deep emotion. The address in which he moved the resolutions of the House ,of Commons, of

loyalty to King Edward and of condolence with the Queen, struck a note in perfect accord with the feeling of his audience inside the House and of the sorrowing people

throughout the British Commonwealth. It was, as he truly declared, a feeling "far removed from conventional grief." In the last few days full realisation has come to the people of the part which the Head of the Empire played during more than twenty-five years which were perhaps the most eventful in the history of the modern world.

The spiritual power of the Crown, as Mr. Baldwin said, is far greater to-day than ever before. It is not the power of force, but a moral power which must depend on the personal character and quality of the monarch. liis Royal prerogatives, indeed, are strictly limited by law and by custom, so that a monarch impelled by selfish motives, or one who was estranged from his people or involved in conflict with his Parliament would become largely a formal figure, without influence and ultimately without significance. Such a calamity would spell the end of the Commonwealth, for Britain and the Dominions are bound by no legal bond except that of allegiance to the King. Most fortunately the Kings of the House of Windsor, especially in the last century, have been distinguished by their high sense of duty. The King whose earnest inquiry, a few hours before his death, concerned the welfare of his Empire undoubtedly hastened his own end by his devotion, day in and day out, to the duties of his high office and the service of his people. It is the fuller appreciation of the personal quality of King George, and the thought of how different the history of the Empire might have been had that quality been otherwise, which have given a deeper note to the universal expressions of sorrow at his death.

Mr. Baldwin's address left nothing to be desired —and it is the test of a panegyric that it shall be felt to be not merely inspired by a great occasion, but to come from the heart — but the spokesmen of the Opposition parties also gave expression to the thoughts of large masses of the late King's subjects. As Major Attlee recalled, the King during his lifetime was called upon to assent to the limitation of the powers of the House of Lords, and to the far-reaching changes in the constitutional relationship of the Dominions and India to the Mother Country. The apprehension voiced, especially at the time of the controversy concerning the House of Lords, that constitu- [ tional changes would undermine the Monarchy itself, has been proved unfounded, mainly because King George did not stubbornly set his face against the march of democracy. "He allowed, nominal sovereignty to be apparently diminished, but by doing so he established his real sovereignty in the hearts of the people."

King Edward, in his first communication to his "faithful Commons," declared his resolve to follow in the path which his father had set before him. His people would wish for nothing iless, and they would desire nothing more. The sincere» sense of loss felt in the death of King George is matched by the universal confidence felt in the character and capacity of his successor. It cannot be doubted that the British Commonwealth in the future, as in the past, will be touched by the fires of adversity." In the past the people have been inspired and strengthened by the character and example of their monarch, whom they have often "taken for granted." It may well be hoped that the keen realisation now felt of the worth of King. George will be long remembered, so that the arduous path of his successor will be made easier.