The Dominion SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1929. THE PRINCE’S TOUCH

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 175, 20 April 1929, Page 8

The Dominion SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1929. THE PRINCE’S TOUCH

After the luncheon at the Mansion House at which the Prince of Wales personally thanked the workers for the Distressed Mining Districts Fund, an incident occurred which strikingly revealed the power of the human relationship between the British Throne and the people. Mr. A. J. Cook, the Miners’ Secretary, in thanking the Prince, remarked that his whole-hearted enthusiasm had brought the Throne quite close to the populace. Then he added: “It is thanks to the Prince that I am able to come here without contaminating any one of you. His conduct and attitude have shown that all mankind has great qualities in common. You, Sir, he said, speaking directly to the Prince across the table, “have done a marvellous thing. Never was I so impressed as by your speech on Christmas Eve. I was with two Communist friends when your name was announced. They undoubtedly scoffed, but when.you finished tears were in their, eyes, and they put their hands in their pockets and gave what they had. Mr. Cook has never made any secret about his leanings towards Communism. During the Coal Strike he openly boasted that he had received substantial contributions to the campaign funds from Moscow. When the strike collapsed he paid a visit to Russia, presumably, one is entitled to think, for the purpose of personally thanking the donors. That the Prince should have personally intervened on behalf of the sufferers by the strike apparently surprised him. His personal encounter with the Royal champion of the distressed miners has now been a revealing demonstration to him of the fact that, the Throne knows no political parties, no sects; that it knows its subjects merely as men and women; that the contact between them is essentially human. Few people will read the story of the above incident without interest. “Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn,” declared Burns in one of his sublime poetic inspirations. As true as that undoubtedly is, it is equally true, as Shakespeare says, that “one touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” The Prince of Wales, wherever he has gone, in whatever circles he has mingled, has shown an infinite capacity for human understanding, and for promoting the spirit of kinship. He has recognised that though there may be differences of opinion, strong political and social antagonisms, between individuals and groups of individuals, there is in all a residuum of humanity through which they may be assembled on common ground. In its broader sense, the political importance of the Prince’s personality cannot be over-estimated. It has assisted to create a new atmosphere in relation to the Throne —a closer and more human contact between the Royal House and the people. From this new conception of Royal responsibility there is being created a deep-seated conviction that , the preservation of the Throne is not only a matter of constitutional moment, but that it is entirely and exclusively in the public interest. Whatever Mr. A. J. Cooks opinion of that may be, his encounter with the Prince has at least demonstrated to him that it is essentially a human institution.