GOD SAVE THE KING!

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1509, 31 January 1901, Page 52

GOD SAVE THE KING!

(“N.Z. Times,” January 26.) “The King is dead. • Long live the King.” So runs the old French saying, and its inner burden is that individual monarchs come and go, playing for a brief stay their part of success or failure 1 , in the great pageant of the world’s stage, and then depart, but that there must be no break in the continuity. The ruler must bet: there, and the official honour vouchsafed, to - the Royal dead of yesterday is perpetuated in the '--Royal living of to-day. While yet the Empire rings with the mournful echoes of universal lamentation over the passing away, into the great Ewigkeit, of one whose very name is destined, in British annals, to become a synonym for patriotism, dignity and nobility, any , discussion as to the personal characteristics of the ruler who succeeds may, to some, appear both premature and irreverent. The future interests and welfare of the British nation are, however, so intimately connected with' the personality and the persona l influence of the Sovereign as to fully justify some sober and careful consideration of th© past career, private and public, of him who is now called upon to succeed to the British Grown. During the years of the new King’s earlielr manhood Rumour and Scandal did not fail to busy themselves with name. Married to a handsome and amiable Princess, who has become, with the British people, as great a personal favourite as the late Queen. Victoria herself, the Prince was, it is notorious, not always so regardful of his own personal reputation or of the serious responsibilities of his position as he might have been. Modern iprotctypes of Bardolph and Feins welre occasionally, so it was openly stated during the seventies, numbered iamongst his more intimate associates, and if there were no open scandal, sufficient was known as to a reckless conduct of life to render the public mind a prey to grave anxiety as to future developments. With increasing years, and weightier - domestic and State responsibilities, the follies and errors of “hot, tempestuous . youth” gradually gave way to a more proper sense of what was due to his own personal honour and to the! dignity of his position. A staidness and sobriety of conduct replaced the youthful tendency to roysteringj and the Prince gradually but surely became what he has bedn for many years, the able and ever- „ welcome representative of a Sovereign whose age and increasing feebleness pro- ; vented her from taking personal part in many public functions, and a chief citizen who devoted the larger part of a busy life to stimulating by his personal interest tlie success of numberless enterprises calculated to bd of service in fur-, . tlierihg the moral, intellectual and. mar :- teriaj. welfare of the people over whom birth and destiny were ond day to call : upon him to rule. The serious illness which brought- him, in the winter of 1878 and 1879, to the very . portals of Death, and his recovery from Which was : made the occasion for a function so inlpretesively solemn as to move the heart of the nation as probably during the eentury it had never been moved before, was, it is generally believed, the turning point in the Prince’s career. From that time forward Scandal has untainted his name, save in the chronioling of peccadilloes so trivial that their mere recording savoured of irresponsible rumour or of sheer malice. " ,

In many ways the Prince is well equipX>ed for the kingly role he now possesses. Personally a man of great tact, geniality of demdanour and generosity of nature, lie has tastes in occupation' and recrea-

tion which cannot fail to win him a broad-based popularity. He is a keen sportsman, a good shot, and was in his youth and middle age a staunch patron of all manly games and exercises; and although it may be that his pdnehant for the turf has rather shocked the Puritan element, it is not to 'be denied, on the other hand, that a royal patron of the turf who “runs to win,” and who exercises hi 3 influence in the direction of stamping out dishonesty and trickery in the conduct of great national sport, is very much m.ore a “persona grata” with the great majority of Englishmen than would bo a prince whose personal tastes ignoredthe turf. The Prince that was, the King that is, will net, it may be safely predicted, imitate the evil precedent* set by his male predecessorswrij the,; Throne. Unlike George the Fourth, and William the Fourth, he will imagine, meddle in politics. For.’him! there will be no political parties to sympathise with or to flout. Rather will he, if he choose, as Heaven grant ho may, to follow the example of his august mother, steadfastly hold himsdlf alcof from aught save the necessary official connection with politics which is incumbent upon him as a monarch.

In his personal relations with th© various European sovereigns connected with him through marriage! or by ties of blood, he will, we may feel assured, uso such influence as he possesses to bring about a permanent international amity and mutual good will. The Great Ruleir of the Universe has entrusted him with a weighty but an honourable charge. May our King be a true King—a “Konning man,” as Carlyle put it, one who knows his duty and is able to perform it,- to the honour of himself and to the glory and welfare of his nation. '‘"God Save the King.”