THE MONARCHY

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 68, 17 September 1927, Page 17

THE MONARCHY

LESSONS OF HISTORY

"GOD SAVE THE KING"

LECTTJEE TO CADETS

A. visit was paid by Their Excellencies the Governor-General and Lady Alice Fergusson to the Community Club on Tuesday evening, when a lecture was delivered to some.3oo Senior Cadets on the subject of "The Monarchy" by Professor F.-P. Wilson, of Victoria University College. Their Excellencies were received by Colonel J. J. Esson, . C.M.G., Chairman, and the members of the General House Committee, and besides the Cadets on parade there was a good attendance of members of the club. •

Professor Wilson said'he did not propose to discuss the subject of "The Monarchy" so much as to tell them ■what was really meant by the words "Goa Save the King." Many knew the tune, but few appreciated exactly What was meant by those words. The word "King" came in..lt had a different meaning now to what it had in Saxon and Norman times. The ■ old Saxon Kings, such as Alfred, of whom, they knew, were not Kings in the modern sense, nor were they Kings in, the sense of a century or two later. They were small "Kings" who led their tribes to war. They did not make laws. ,Laws then were merely customs; what it was customary to do was law. But as society emerged out of the tribal stage the necessity arose for some better organisation. That came with the Norman Conquest, when William the Conqueror actually became the ruler of England. By this he did not mean that William I. personally ruled all England. What he did was to appoint subordinates to do the ruling, and anyone who had a grievance had the right to appeal to the King. That was necessary at that time as an endeavour to secure justice. But justice was not always done, and so later on they came to the crisis when King John was forced by his nobles to sign the Magna Carta. Very little later, in. the 13th century, they came to a new era when representatives o£ the people were called together and they- had tho beginnings of the modern Parliament. THE POWER OF PARLIAMENT. , Parliament, however, did not have Jhuch power at the commencement. The King was independent of it in carrying on wars., until Parliament, having the power of the purse, discovered that, if it kept the national'pockets buttoned up, the King could not conduct wars. Prom that time the people of England began to exercise more and more control of their own affairs, and there thus arose a marked difference in the status of the King as .compared with former times. The "Kings" of Biblical times were merely leaders of small tribes, and the "tyrants" spoken of merely used their positions for their own interests. Our idea of Kings was not that they should use their own positions in their own selfish interests. A couple of centuries ago many Continental Kings, although they retained power, still considered that they were the first servant of the State; in other words they regarded themselves as existing for the good' of the State, while "tyrants" thought the State existed for their good. In tho 19th Century, however, tho English Monarchy gave the; pattern for a new type. While Napoleon was exercising his power in Europe there were ■very few Kings of our typo. In this England was very fortunate. She had developed her Parliament which made the laws and governed the country. Our Kings, however, had not always been of tho best type. We had to admit that James I. had a great idea of Ms own position. He declared that Kings were the images of God, and that just as 'it was blasphemy to take tho name of God in vain, so it was blasphemy to speak disrespectfully of the King. Charles 1., his son, as the result of insisting on the Divine right of Kings, lost his head.. That was an indication by the people of England that they regarded the King not as ruling by Divine right but only by consent of the people. HEAD OF THE STATE. From that time onwards the Kings of England reigned, but did not govern. They reigned as head of the State, but they did not govern. "Who, then, did govern? The Prime Minister, who was the direct representative of the,people. They in a few years' time "would have a voice in determining who was to rule New Zealand. His Excellency occupied the same position in New Zealand as His Majesty occupied at Home. The King was one of the hardest worked men in the Empire. If they read Strachey's "Life of Queen "Victoria" they would see that he described the Prince Consort as rising summer and winter at 5 o'clock in the morning, going to his desk and working there until breakfast; and after breakfast resuming at his desk, spending from 12 to 15 hours a day there in going through State documents and never resting until he went to bed late at night. King George V. enjoy«d no eight-hours' day. In addition to going through' State documents, discussing affairs of State with Ministers, and in giving audiences to foreign notabilities and representatives from all parts of the Empire, he had to attend many functions of State. It was a job that very few of them would care to undergo. The King always had to set the example of duty. He enjoyed no private life, he was seldom free, so that they would see that his position was by no means an enviable one. "A PERPETUAL PRESIDENT." "What, he asked, was specially meant by the words "God Save the King"? Why did not Americans similarly say "God Save the President"! Most Americans, as they knew, proclaimed themselves Republicans. Yet it was a sur- . prising thing that of the Americans who visited. England the first great desire of at least 60 per cent, of them was to see the English King; they were just as keen to catch a glimpse of him and to see him as any Englishman. _An American had described the King, as "the perpetual President of a democratic Republic." He was really more representative of the people of England than was the American President representative of the people of .the United States. Instead of being in offiae for only four yeart as the representative of a political party, as in the case of an American President, the King of Eng. land was in office for his lifetime and knew no party. When Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald, the .Labour Leader, became Prime Minister the King acted the same towards him as towards Mr. Baldwin, the Conservative Prime Minister. The King knew no distinction between Labour men, Liberals, or Conservatives, and that was where the special strength of tho Throne lay. He was the head of the State. But was it necessary to have a head of the State? In every country! it had" been found necessary to have ! some- one who could represent the whole nation, and in England the King

did represent the whole nation. So when we said "God Save the King" we meant "God Save the head of the State," and what the State meant was themselves. The King represented us. He was our head. It was necessary to have someone as head of the State, and to represent us, and when the King died his eldest son succeeded him. SERVICE OF THE STATE. When they removed their hats when the National Anthem was being played or sung they were in reality showing their loyalty to their fellow-men; by refusing to do so they did dishonour to their fellow-men. The words "God Save the King" were a prayer for the State, which the King repre-' sented. There were four things which he would like them to remember. The first was that the King was the head of the State and, therefore,' represented the State which comprised us all. The second was that he was above political parties, treating all parties cordially and alike. The third was that loyalty to the King meant loyalty to their fellow-citizens, loyalty to the State. Fourthly, they used the terms "His Majesty's Government," "Soldiers of the King," and "On His Majesty's Service," in each of which phrases the King typifies the State. His Majesty was a servant of the State, and as such was a servant of his fel-low-men. The Prince of Wales had said a day or two ago the Crown stood • above all distinctions of country, race, or party, and that if ever he was called upon to fill the high office of the Crown he hoped he would prove worthy of it. They had seen him and watched him, and knew that he could be relied upon to do this. GOVERNOR-GENERAL SPEAKS. His Excellency, on being invited by Colonel Esson to speak,, said he had not come there expecting to speak or to make any sort of address, so what he said would be just what he happened to think of at the moment. Firstly, he would like to say how much he thought they ought to be grateful to Professor Wilson for his address. He personally was extremely interested in it, and he was sure they all were; "You heard what Professor Wilson said about the King being the head of the State," proceeded His Excellency. "There is just this one point I would like to make' in amplification of that. His Majesty the King is not only the head of tho State in England, Scotland, and Ireland, but he is the head of the British Empire, and it is really that point which is so very interesting, because, as you know, the British Empire is composed of many countries scattered' all over the world, peopled with different races with different interests, different religions, and different ideas. What is it that binds the British Empire together? Wo canuot stick together unless there is'some central point on to which, we arc, so to speak, tied. What wo really cling to, what keeps us together, is the King. Tho fact, said His Excellency, that we-had a King as the head of the State meant that we had something in common, something tangible to cling to. In the British Empire tho personality we all clung to was the King, and we all stuck together because we were loyal to the King as the head of the Empire. If wo once did away with that head of the Empire he thought that they would find that tho Empire would fall to pieces. It was exactly the same thing as in the caso of a school cricket or football team. Without a captain the team would go to pieces at. once.. So it was with the British Empire, and if tho British Empire went tho whole of tho civilised world would go with it at'once. The words "God Save the King" meant loyalty to tho State to which wo belonged. But what did loyalty mean? It was no use just saying "I am loyal." They had to show it, and tho way to show it was by giving service to tho State. That was the only sort of loyalty worth having—service to our country which was the finest thing we could give. THE SOLDIER'S CREED. Professor Wilson at the beginning of his lecture, said His. Excellency had expressed the hope that they would never be called upon to go and fight. They all echoed that hope, but tliey wore the King's uniform now. lie had worn that uniform for 45 years, just as they were now beginning to wear it. They were proud of that uniform, bocause it taught them that they were 'soldiers of the King following in the footsteps of thoso who had worn his uniform. They were proud to belong to that great band of brothers. There were three things that distinguished the soldier's creed which distinguished those who wore the uniform, and it was these three things'which he wished to impress upon* them. The first was that all who wore His Majesty's uniform were proud of the honour. They looked upon it as an honour because they were upholding tho honour of the uniform, which was exactly tho same as upholding the honour of a school. The second thing in the soldier's creed was discipline. Some people believed that meant punishment. It did not mean that at all; it meant solf-control. It mean the power of self-control which made a man do a thing instinctively without thinking anything more about it. It was t]io same as in playing/a game—doing it instinctively. This lead to the third thing,, which was duty. Duty simply meant doing a thing they knew to be right because it was right-—not doing it in expectation of reward, or from fear of punishment, but because it was the right thing to do: It was that which won the war..lt was that which was at the bottom of all the splendid deeds they ever heard of, of the lino record of the N.Z.E.F., of what made New Zealand, and of what mado the British Empire. It was loyalty to the King whom they served as tho head of the State. ' - As the Governor-General resumed his seat the three hundred Cadets present gave three, rousing cheers for liis Excellency and three more for Her Excellency. Their Excellencies witnessed the subsequent unveiling of an enlarged photograph of Mr. J. P. Firth, C.M.G. late chairman of. the General House CommiL tee, and afterwards inspected the club rooms, canteen, and gymnasium, and witnessed the boxing classes at work. The hostess for the evening was Mrs. E. L. if.. Meachen.