KING EDWARD'S DEATH

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXI, Issue 15332, 15 June 1910, Page 7

KING EDWARD'S DEATH

THE CLOSING SCENES. A PEACEFUL END. ' Tho London correspondent of tho "Argus," writing on May 13, says:— A stupendous calamity has plunged tho Empire into sudden mourning. The brief 'but brilliant reign of King Edward VII. closed at midnight last' Friday, after a short illness. Thirtysix hours before he was taken from his country nobody was aware of the seriousness of his Majesty's ailment. Even his medical attendants did not realise that he was suffering from anything worse than a bad attack of ordinary* bronchitis. WANING HEALTH. On tho morning of his death the King transacted business of State with Lord Knollys, his private secretary. You have been told of his interview on Thursday with Lord Islington, this now Governor of New Zealand, and with Major Robinson, the Queensland AgentGeneral, and how his Majesty loft his bedroom to receive those gentlemen in Hie audience chamber. When ho returned to his private apartments after that audience tho King had fresh fits of coughing, and it was from this time that his illness took a rapid turn for the worse. For two or three years King Edward's health was on the waria —slowly, almost imperceptibly. His roservo of strength gradually gave out, so that he was unable to stand the shook of a serious illness, as in the days of the appendicitis operation of 1902. There was a thickening of the palate and throat through over-smoking, and fa*. lung cells lost their normal elasticity. Attacks of bronchial catarrh vrero not infrequent. ALARMING SYMPTOMS.

On returning to tho palace on Monday evening his Majesty was seen by his physicians, who found him feverish, with aggravated symptoms of bronchitis. He passed a disturbed night, but was" better on Tuesday morning (May 3). Contrary to the urgent desire of his physicians, ho received official visitors and gave audiences. At seven o'clock that evening he told the medical men that he felt ill, and he obviously suffered no little from shortness of the breath.. On "Wednesday morning, after a bad night, his Majesty complained of throat irritation, and the specialist who had seen, the King on former occasions examined him, and found him suffering from throat catarrh. Dining "Wednesday morning his Majesty again gu7« several important audiences. As th« day advanced the difficulty in breatiling and the cough told severely on. ilia Majesty's strength. That night one sf the Court physicians remained at Buck- \ in.gham Palace. Thursday •morniiif; brought no improvement; nevertheless, the King persisted in transacting business, and received Lord Islington and Major Robinson. The latter states that the King was very husky, with every sign of a cough and cold. At n'o*h there was a bluish colour of the skin, due to ineffective heart action.

QUEEN ALEXANDRA'S RETURN. In the late afternoon Queen Alexandra- a:\-j vd from the Continent. Acconliii'-, *o one account, she received a folejjrjUßi at Calais stating that the King' Vas unwell. The official medical report states that she was unaware of his Majesty's illness' until she reached London, when the first thing she noticed was that the King was not present to meet her, as he usually did when she returned from her travels. It was on Thursday night that the physicians issued tho first bulletin, which the King himself modified before it left the palace. In the early hours of Friday morning his Majesty had fresh difficulties En breathing and heart distress, with many fits of coughing. Nevertheless, that Friday morning he transacted business with his private secretary. The Queen was hi almost constant attendance upon him. By noon on Friday his Majesty had become extremely ill,'and at thrca o'clock in the afternoon consciousness began to fail. He rapidly grew worse as the evening advanced, and consciousness never completely returned. Between six o'clock and the hour of death all members of the Royal Family not living in the palace were sent for. The Princess of Wales, who had been with Que«a Alexandra, most of the day, had returned to Marlborough House. She sent for Princess Christian, tho Duchess t<f Fife, the Duchess of Albany and sora< of the brothers of the Princess of Wales, All the members of the family who \w« not abroad were present in the deathchamber when his Majesty passed away. THE HOUR OF DEATH. Describing tho final scene In his Wiv nion at the special service at St Paul» on Saturday, the Bishop of London (Dr Wilmington Ingram) said:—" Nw. thing could have been more Christian than the passing of the late King. He who had already faced death twlc* faced it for the third time unflinchingly, Tho quiet family gathering rounC the bedside; the last prayer said br th« Archbishop one minute before tho "Kins died ; tho blessing pronounced when ail was over: the simple and clear aftd genuine reliance on Divine help expressed both by the Into and the presoat Kings, were all acknowledgments that there is indeed a blessed and only Potentate and King of Kings." THE NEWS GOES FORTH. Tho public outside the pnlaco vr9t% aware that tho King's plight was rarj) bad, but were unprepared for such fe' sudden termination of the Royal lifV Everybody expected the King's wonderful constitution would support him fw at least a few days, hence there wer* not even any preliminary rumours c? death. It was only when tho Prinoa of Wales left the palace on the. stroke of midnight, followed by three or Poaj Pressmen, who wero seen to be in haste, that the waiting crowd feared the worei had happened.. The reporters confirmed their fears. Before half-part twelve the news was being flashed u> the uttermost parts of tho earth. At that time the country was asleep. fijr Saturday morning every newspaper lis tho land published tho Empiro's ioaa. Everywhere it was felt to be a national calamity. People could hardly ro&l&s that the Great Peacemaker had pa»«d away. You have learned by cable., of most of tho public .inoidents that followed. WORLD-WIDE SORROW. The civilised world has joined in on« profound expression of sorrow, and in making tribute to the high purpose of King Edward's reign. There lias been a universal homage to the dead Sovereign's uprightness and love of justice and peace from the remotest parts of the globe. All civilisations and races have vied in expressions of sorrow. Every day a wave of sympathy has been flowing to our Court from every part of tho kingdom, and both nation and Court have received tho sympathy of kings, princes and statesmen from all over the world. Humble villagers up and down the land have forwarded postoards to the Queen Mother, as Queen Alexandra desires to be known. The "out-of-works" who crowd night* ly the Salvation Army shelters, the unemployed have made their sympathies known to Queen Alexandra. In tho' past winter her Majesty sent, many art tides of clothing to the human dere* licts who assemble on tiie Thames embankments, and form one of the moss Saddening spectacles in the midst of this the wealthiest city of tho world. These poor creatures have not forgotten the Queon Mother in r.er hour of grief. I need not describe the messages cf sympathy, for you know by the cable messages more of such details than I have space to tell. The foreign countries which were most demonstrably sympathetic were Japan, Franco and tho United States. In Franco every town and .village oppoari ti ha'ro iroiio into mourning. j ( , iu United SUuttw liiero has been an uveis whelming egression, tf

papers and pulpits voice full and warm appreciation of the lato King as a man and a rider.

SINCERE RELIGIOUS FEELING. On another and more delicate subject, I quote- from the "Church Guardian." That paper states:—" Into the late King's personal feelings on religious subjects wo have no right to inquire. In such matters oven monarchs are entitled to privacy. It may, however, bo said without impropriety that lie was a convinced and siucore member of the Church of England, and that he insisted with' punctiliousness winch might well have been imitated by many of Tiis subjects upon the duty of churchgoing. It was well understood by the guests at Saudriiigham that they were Expected at least to attend morning prayer, and it is a' notable fact that the King was a warm personal friend pf one Archbishop of Canterbury. He probably, when in health, hover onco in his life missed going to fchurch on Sunday. Like his father, he was profoundly impressed by tho Solemnity of the act of Communion, and it is an open secret that he would have preferred to communicate quietly in the early morning of coronation day rather than in the midst of the poimp and distraction of what was a pageant as well as an act of worship. As it was, he insisted that the spectators should be excluded from that part of the Abbey from which his Communion could have been closely observed, Of the jKing's tolerance in matters of religion .Wo have the best proof in his wellknown repugnance to reading tho declaration against tho doctrine of tranfcnbstantiation, which it is understood is to be made- less offensivo for his successor."

VACCINATION TREATMENT. The official report of tho King's physicians incidentally stated that long nefor* going to Biarritz the King underwent a vaccination treatmont to secure bim for some time from catarrhal attacks. The vaccine was tho new form of. treatment discovered by Drs A. Latham and Harold Syitta, of St tJeorglj's Hospital. There is no hiocuSation. In the King's case a culturo ras prepared from the patient's mouth, and ms Majesty took a wineglass of milk with a small quantity of the microbe extract once a week. The treatment was so successful that there was no bronchitis or derangement of health for fifteen months.