FUNCTION OF KINGS.

Northern Advocate, 24 July 1923, Page 2

FUNCTION OF KINGS.

KKKiNIiM} or ituiJKG i

Europe tft-duy is a large body of l republics bounded on the north and also on the south by a belt of kingdoms. Gone are the overlords of Germany, Russia, and Austria, and in their stead are republics, more or less closely modelled in their form of government upon the European type of republic which France has worked out since the surrender ,of Napoleon 111. at Sedan, writes CharTes 11. Shorrill in an English journal. That means a rule by a Cabinet made up of Ministers who together control a majority of the country's Parliament, all governed by a Prime Minister able to hold together that majority. The instant he loses that control, or the Cabinet falls x below j a majority of the Parliament in a vote j of confidence, out he goes, and a new Cabinet is put together by someone able to assemble enough elements to give it a majority. In Europo the Legislative body controls the Executive, and can at any moment change it. With us their powers are separate and balanced. And what about the kings of Europo, how do they rule? The answer is: they do not; they only reign. Each and evory one of them has the government of his country lodged in the hands of a Parliament, the same as in the neighbouring republics. Just like the President of Ckecho-Slovakia, a kingcan designate a Parliamentary leader to form a Cabinet; but if when formed it cannot win a majority in Parliament, out goes the ->vould-be Prime Minister to make. way for some one able to command sufficient Parliamentary support.

From this it may be safely concluded tliiit all tha Governments of Europe: hut Russia are surprisingly similar in fact, whether headed by a king or a president, because always they are governed by a majority of the people's Parliamentary representatives.

Similar as are all the Parliamentary Governments of Europe to-day, both kingdoms and republics, very striking is the differenc-e between what the kings and the presidents contribute to .these Governments. In one feature they are alike; thov carry out the spectacular part of governmental business—an onerous burden. Theirs it is to open Parliament, to lay cornerstones of important buildings, ,and generally, in their persons to demonstrate with due dignity the existence o£ orderly government, without which civilisation halts. Already we begin j to see the wide gulf between the pre- I sidency of the United States, with its tremendous powers vested in one man for four years, and a European king or president, reigning or presiding in a country where governmental power J resides not in him, but in the majority of Parliament. The next step is to decide whether European kings are useful factors in the governments of their respective countries or are only figureheads. Let us begin by a glance at the British. Empire, a voluntary association of selfgoverning dominions plus a number of colonics. The writer ventures the assertion that if the roynl house of Greafr Britain or a royal succession were abolished, the Empire would not long hold together. It is the fashion to describe British royalty as "the golden thread" that binds together the Empire; and there is more fact than fancy in this statement. Royalty represents historical tradition. It represents, as a visible symbol, national patriotism —the pride of race, that for which men | i die in battle. 11

There i.> a magnificence about a king of an ancient race tlu.it makes an appeal impossible for any president of a French Republic. In a country like India, the presence at the Delhi durbar of the King-Emperor meant for three hundred million people something that no duly e'ected president could evoke. Americans are an homogeneous people living all together, with small experience in governing millions of alien peoples, and so do not understand what an asset in such intricate business is the personality of a king.

Xor is England the only kingdom whose king is of practical utility in it= ''sch cm aof things entire." Some years ago Iceland desired to separate from Denmark, and there would have been trouble if this desire had been negatived. But Iceland had fisheries and otlit interests with which the Danes did not wish to lose touch. Quite a governmental dilemma, was it, no,t? It was solved by granting frosdoni from Denmark to Iceland on condition that both retained the same king Could anything be more simple? And yet it worked. i

Modern Spain has been passing through a. separatist, crisis greater than mo?t outsiders can grasp. A nationalist movement has been going on in Catalonia, that enlightened strip of territory skirting the Mediterranean, equipped with a distinct language, and it has threatened the continued unity of t.he country. Unless outsiders ire mightlv mistaken, it is nothing but personal popularity of tlw; dashing young king that has kept this separatist. movement in check. The better elements in Catalonia resent the advanced Socialism springing up there, and a great appeal was made to the ,j .e steady folks when, upon the occasion of the anarchistic outbreaks in Barcelona, the king insisted upon visiting that city an ] walking freely about the streets. t

Portugal was lost to Spain in 2G40, but quite rcccntly .there has been u noteworthy rapproachment between the two countries looking .towards closer business relations. This was vociferously opposed by certain Portuguese on grounds more vocal than reasonable. They were silenc-ed by a brief but apt public statement by the Spanish King to the effect that Portugal had nothing to fear from Spain, as appeared from the fact that Elvas on the frontier had many cannon frowning Spainwards, while Badajoz, fronting her, had none at all! The effect of his f:ateindn!t was immediate and widespread, and much more potent than any saying of a purely political official. Worse things have happenod to Poitugal since she became a republic in 1910 than would be a union, as an autonomous state, with Spain.

The Mritar remembers that the chief memory he brought with him from a long interview in July, 1921, with King Gustaf of Sweden in Stockholm was the interest taken by His Majesty that a foreigner studying the country should meet all its leading men, regardless of whether they were his partisans or not. Especially did he urge seeing the Socialist leader Hjalmar Granting, then out of power. Since then Branting has become Prime Minister, proving that the King was wiser than the wisest political prophets, all of whom were then agreed that the giving of the franchise to Swedish wombn spelt the end of Branting in politics.^

I "Fighting in the Balkansy has long been the favourite all-the-yfear sport of European war correspondents, but recently a certain sagacious Queen of those parts has contributed a peace factor of no small potency. The Quecri of Eoumania has married one (laughter to the King of Jugo-Slavia, another to the King of Greece, a.nd a son to a sister of the Greek Tving. Certainly this makes it more doubtful than ever before that the royalties of those three capitals— Bucharest, Belgrade, and Athens—will wish war with each other; and if Balkan royalties no longer desire war, Mars is going to feel robbed of ancient allies!

When is a king not a king? The European answer is easy to read. He is a king just so long as he realises that though he reigns, he does not govern, and also that he must usefully servo his people's government. Such a king is a national asset. • Any other sort will not last long in the Europe of to-day.