MR. BALDWIN’S ORDEAL

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 64, 9 December 1936, Page 10

MR. BALDWIN’S ORDEAL

The manner in which the British' Prime Minister has handled the difficult and delicate problems arising from the crisis precipitated by the King’s proposed marriage does infinite credit to his patience, courtesy, and forbearance. On the one hand he has been called upon to discuss a most intimate question relating to his Sovereign s matrimonial intentions, with his Majesty himself, and to submit the Government’s view of it in terms which in the nature of the case must necessarily have been expressed with a plainness beyond all possibility of misunderstanding. On the other hand, he has had to deal with a public and Parliament amazed, alert, and suspicious, demanding information and strongly tempted to sharp divisions of opinion upon what the King should or should not be. allowed to do. Furthermore, he has had to handle the question in its Imperial aspects, consult with the Governments of the Dominions, and at every stage of a crisis of which suspense has been the most' trying characteristic, preserve as far as possible the equilibrium of overseas sentiment for the Throne. Throughout. Mr. Baldwin has comported himself with the dignity appropriate to his high office and the sagacity and acumen required of him in the dual and extraordinarily difficult role of adviser to the King, and to the Parliaments and the peoples oi the Commonwealth. His manifest aim has been to save not only the situation but also the King, and his efforts are a tribute to his devotion and loyalty to the nation as a whole. It has been a trying ordeal, the end of which is not yet. Tn skilful hands the crisis might have taken a more dangerous course. The nation should be supremely grateful to Mr. Baldwin. '