THE MEETING OF KINGS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 18, 16 October 1907, Page 5

THE MEETING OF KINGS.

v. WHAT THEY-MAY ACCOMPLISH. . It is natural that the public of Europe, shonld disenss the meetings of the Kings and: Emperors, now so frequent, with unusual interest. Thoro arc many burning questions , about, and, on the Continent at all events, most mon feel that in their settlement their own futures are seriously involved. The Kings are sure, people think, to discuss tlfoso qnostions in thoir interviews, and they may come to decisions'as important as any which hove been arrived at since the great intorriow at Tilsit, which might have caused the modern history of the world to be otherwise written. Just now the peoples appear inclined to over-appreciate the Kings and their position in politics, assigning even to Constitutional Monarchs an initiative and a regulating power which in most canes do not belong to them. Still, they all have influence with the statesmen who do the work; jmd tho nations, pentrated as thoy are with "secret alarms, watch anxiously the ceromonials and the formal speeches which indicate, they, think, whethor that influonco will be exerted for peace or war. The tendency is to bclievo that Royal visits, with their attendant embracings, and foastings, and pret-tily-worded speeches, must promote peace, just as it is said the free intercourse of nations must promote international amity. As n matter of fact, many nations which know each other very well hate each othqr very hard, and it is possible to dislike an acquaintance after you havo. dined with him more .bhan when you were to each other merely names. Napoleon, for all his genius, rarely modo a good impression on any Sovereign TJth whom ho talked, even the gentle and wise' Queen Louisa of Prussia hating him after they had talked together with a sharpor ind more poignant feeling. Still, even a kindly delusion on the part of the multitudes has a beneficial effect. Kingship a Profession.

It is therefore, wo- think, well that in the present situation of Europe the Sovereigns should often meet. Monarchs can sometimes supplement certain defects inherent in diplo-' matists.; Kingship is , a profession like another, and tho of any profession, especially if it is a close one, though they may feel keen jealousy, feel also a certain bond of sympathy and possess a certain capacity of mutual understanding.- They have common interests which, though: not necessarily opposed to those of their peoples, aro to a certain extent apart from theirs. They are almost compelled by position to look on politics with.different oyes from tho politicians who serve them, for they have different traditions,- and must, for thoir own security, hove 'sought to' maintain their permanent oxomption from party feelings. It would ho too inconvenient for a Monarch to lovo or ■dislike any. party in the : State, and often thoy i regard thomsolvcs as so highly placed, both Sin respect to thoir subjects, and to tho speekl favour of heaven, that they can tolerate Tritli grace • what to most of thoir agents appears intolerable. They are, too, bound together by many ties of relationship, for thero are only two families in Europe—tho Roman Catholic and the •' Protestant—and' they usually care about their relations as tho only equals with whom 'they aro ever likely to come into personal contact. They form at the' lowest a privileged caste, not only with separate rights, but with claims of their own whiclv.at , least in their own eyes, differentiate them from the remainder of mankind. Thoy can speak to each other rrioro freely than the majority of Foreign , Ministers can, and can taker for. granted certain ambitions and certain fears wMch their Ministers would think it .most inconvenient to discuss, or oveil.to montion. , A Bourbon and a Hohenzollcrri 'would'not, for 'instance, have found it necessary to bargain for silence about Alsace-Lor-raine, as, according to M. Laur, ■ Gambetta and Bismarck found it necessary to do in their great interviow at priedrichsruh, before they could foel it possible to speak with any approach to freedom. Sovereigns placed as those two -Ministers were would have assumed in silence that such a subject as tho ceded provinces was'of necessity barred,' not only by expediency, but by the courtesy of Kings. ■ . -.'."... ' , The Kingly Attitude. : There would, too, in the Sovereigns bo a breadth of view, an absence, of sense of the importance of detail,' and ii freedom"" from certain reserves—all things" which hamper diplomatists, who' know themselves responsible to Parliamentary, masters, who may or may not;trust them, but , in either caso .imperfectly"' understand' them. Tho secrecy, again, which onyelops the prirato talk, of Kings must make that talk more straightforward, if -not mo'ro pertinent, than tho conrerstition of diplomatists, and less protected by etiquettes, which, so far as ono may judgo from momoirs, aro roaroly, if evor,: broken. Kings, too, in modern times, feel of all men tho magnitude .of tho risks involved in war, and are far. less likely to "threaten-, each other than-any Ministers are. They must at" loast bo 'disposed to compromise, if compromise is' possible,' and tlioy'are certainly not more burdened with scruples as .to tho moral wrong of' compromising at tho exponso of third parties than hardened.jpoliticians. Unions'two Sovereigns'jar, sharply during their meeting, 'ire should say that.when they part some potential, causes 6f wnr would 'be less operative then before the interview.' 'Each would hare recognised that tho other had a riglrt to be ambitious, and would be'-more tolerant of any evidence of ambition than the Minister who has to think , of the possible cry of tho multitude behind him.

And then it must bo remembered that the demeanour of Kings who moot is watched by millions with a secrot impression that if they aro • decently friendly.. they, cannot bo plotting hostilities. And in that opinion much pnblic opinion, antecodontly hostile may'bo soothed away. The people imbibe from the graceful etiquettes so sedulously'maintained tho idea that the misunderstandings which seomed to them so grave were partly imaginary, and becomo as comparatively gonial as families which suddenly learn that thoy havo mistaken each other's objects and complaints. This has boen, indeed, the visible result-of, tho meeting, between King Edward and the Emperor William. No one at all •knows what passed at that interview, but the »ations watching smd their newspapers saw symptoms of friettdliness,, and ceased to gird at each other, as they had been doings as if the expression ef. suspicion under insulting forme were the most obvious of duties. Oil upon Water,

When, as sometimes happens, • tho Sovereign can make Iris, kindly, feelings manifest in a popular way,.the effect,on public opinion is, that of oil upon water —a 'statement which any. one may vorify who remembers how i greatly tho geniality of, our own Erag has ■ affected F-ronoh Bopnblicans. They felt that ;kis Majesty's absence of reserve, and. his |joadinoea ; as it were, to shako hamta with the President and his family, woro proof [ that ono Constitutional Monarch at least did not.feel that curious Monarchial phjuo at tho equality assumed by an elected ruler whjeh has repeatedly affected serious politics, even wbon tho Monarch was so wise and so peaceful as the Emperor of Austria. What King Edward may do without derogation any other King may do, and a fruitful cocao of annoyance to the uncrowned State has been buoutly swept away. .On the whole, therefore, wo think that, unless in very exceptional circum£(SßiiQee, .the meeting of .Monarchs, though it cannot alter tho drift either of evonts or of national policy, must tend in a certain though varymg degree to the promotion of those mutual understandings and mutual feelings, if not of friombhip, at least of courteous regard, which Bmooth tho way to peace.' That ie something to effect by a process which is riot only cheaper than war, but than those losses which aro caused by rumours of misunderstandings to which a sensation-loving Press so often gives a weight that tho speeches of the most dignified statesman fail to lighten, Tboy aro supposed to speak to order; and Bovorcigns to be.moro or less spontaneous.