THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1918. THE KING AND THE NATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17011, 19 November 1918, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1918. THE KING AND THE NATION.

The world has never furnished so arresting a contrast in contemporary monarcha as Wilhelm of Germany and George of Britain present today. The ambitious Hohenzbllem, execrated . in the land that but yesterday was subjected to his imperious will, hides in Holland in fear of his own people, and begs an inglorious refuge in the lonian Islands. His British Majesty, secure in the affection of his people, walks amidst their grateful cheers, and the declaration of his country's Prime Minister that his throne has won added respect, stability, and lustre evokes enthusiastic popular approval. The difference in not that which lies between' defeat and victory. Wilhelm the dishonoured would have received a measure of execration even in triumph; it was seeking him long before his subjects' final disillusionment made him no longer feared. George the beloved would have had honour still, even had his realm been shattered. The truth is that they stand apart as two absolutely distinct types, the one representing all that is most repellent in the German character, and the other embodying all that is best in the average British citizen. In marked opposition to the posturing vanity, itching restlessness, palpable insincerity, and selfish uncouthness of the Kaiser, are the candour, simplicity, earnestness, and sympathy of Britain's King. He is naturally unpretentious and guiltless of endeavour to turn events into occasions of self-glory. Had he not been King he would have made a wholly admirable English country gentleman, seeking the simple joys and doing the plain duties of such a gentleman'B life. His pronounced individuality, expressed in energetic talk and eager interest, has made him a welcome influence, and his happy laughter— boon the Kaiser never knew—has proved him delightfully human. His generosity has devoted to war purposes, in one sum, practically his whole income for a year. To set a conspicuous ..example in patriotism he gave up alcohol for tW duration of the war, and long ago so reduced his scale of r living that rationing, to which he at once conformed on its introduction, hardly made any difference at his table. He has been religious Without ostentation. Throughout the eight years of his reign he has been an example to his people.

. Those eight years have been charged with industrial unrest, constitutional crisis, political agitation and ' excitement; ' and' the strain of more than four years of an unprecedented- war has. filled half the term. But he has met all demands. Before his accession he took the duties of coming kingship seriously, visiting even the outmost dominions of • his inheritance. Six times has he been to Canada, three times to India, and twice to South Africa and Australasia. ' Before the war he was accessible to every appeal for his help, and since its outbreak he has been indefatigable in his country's service. Mr. Lloyd George, who himself knows what work is, said of him some 15 months ago: "There is one man who JBNvorking as hard as the hardest-worked man in this country, and that is the Sovereign of this realm." He has known more about the -war than has any one of his Cabinet Ministers. All the secret Foreign Office papers, all the confidential reports of diplomatic missions abroad, all the correspondence of the India Office and the Colonial Office, all the uncensored naval and military despatches, and all the multitudinous returns of Government Departments on the myriad subjects that claim bis interest, are perused by him. His working day during the war has averaged between 12 and 16 hours. He has taken a personal interest in every branch of the fighting services, visiting the Grand Fleet and the naval■; bases and the armies in France, and especially endearing himself to his people by the patient thoroughness and simple kindliness of his tours through munition works and hospitals.

\ He represents a conception of monarchy of which Germany has known nothing. The Sovereign of the British Empire is mot its overlord. It does not belong to him: he belongs to it. By the assertion of citizen-rights, expressed in those enactments defining the monarch's duties that are the milestones of our nation's constitutional progress, and in those Parliamentary changes that are the witness to the life and vigour of the body politic, the King's prerogative has become one of service rather than sovereignty. As a substitute for such despotic rule as the Hohenzollerns-and the Hapsburgs have delighted to exercise, the establishment of a republic is an innovation both warranted and expedient: the violent dethronement of violence leaves no alternative immediately available. But where, with less tragic upheaval, the popular will finds freedom, a purified monarchy may well remain— as the fount of honour* rather than the source of law, the rallying centre of a people's affection instead of the imperious creator of their fears. In such a kingdom there may be citizen-freedom the equal of that enjoyed in the most thorough-going republic. To a freedom of that fine type we British have attained, and in our loyalty to the Sovereign we really express our fealty to the great commonwealth of which he is the representative rather than the ruling head. When the throne is occupied by one who serves the realm with such conspicuous devotion and dutifulness as has His Majesty during the years of our trial and his, it becomes a bulwark of national liberties and a bond of national union. . '.■■.-■>■