PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3384, 22 January 1919, Page 65

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

"THE KINO'S POSITION." .Many of my readers, though perhaps not many boys, have heard of the typical paper for the masses "John Bull," edited by Horatio Bottomley, who was returned at the recent election at Home —the first Parliament elected under the terms of the New Reform Bill.

A gentleman has forwarded to me several issues—l took it regularly, but it was one of the periodicals 1 cut out when the war went on so and to-day I am writing a Chat upon the principal article in the number for November 9. Bottomley is a sturdy, whole-hearted fiatriot, and " John Bull " illustrates his ypical characteristics. He is a robust orator, appealing to the fair-play righting instincts of the race. The article refers to his meeting in Albert Hall, perhaps the largest hall in London. Though there was a pouring rain for hours before the time of the address, notwithstanding the influenza epidemic, queues were formed, and the crowd became so great that the doors were opened to allow as many in as possible. The meeting, however, did not commence before the advertised time, for Mr Bottomley did not wish to break faith with the thousand boxholders, the seats being distributed among as many shades of opinion as possible. Among those at the meeting were Lord Beresford, Havelock Wilson, Arnold White, Ben Tillett, and Brigadier-general Page Croft. . He says —of course, he is describing his own meeting; but we know he is one of Britain's foremost patriotic speakers—"l have adressed many meetings in that great historic hall, some of them equally crowded and enthusiastic, but never one quite like this." The atmosphere was charged with the electriccurrent generated by a large audience on the tip-toe of expectancy, and was perhaps heightened when Lord Beresford—another magnificent John Bull type,— when opening the meeting said, " Why have you all come here to-day?" and received the unexpected answer from a woman in the audience, " Because we all love John." "And "nobody enjoyed the answer more than dear old ' Charlie,' " of whom many a good story is told. But I must hurry on, for I have made copious extracts. Briefly, Bottomley sees outraged Democracy breaking loose in Europe, as it did about 1848, only more so, and is anxious how Britain should weather the storm. There are stupendous times ahead—these I may refer to again, indeed many times; but the main thing is, Bottomley, who sees far, thinks that our King's life and influence -will save the situation;, further, that only "an hereditary. head of the State" in the shape of a sovereign who is hereditary and reduced to the position of a figurehead, can keep the Empire together. With this introduction, I'll let Bottomley speak, and. link up the extracts by a few words to make the whole run smoothly.

FALLING CROWNS AND THRONES. " A prince was murdered to make war inevitable; thrones are falling -that pease may be made certain. . . . Think of the Nemesis that awaits the criminal of Europe. Fearing Russia, he forced the Czar into war, hoping to bully the head of the Romanoffs into an alliance. All he has accomplished is the death of his brother monarch, the end of another reigning family; and where he schemed for victory he but provoked a revolution. What nightmare must have tortured the Kaiser as he watched the Russian holocaust of his own making. . . . Constantino, that infamous and treacherous King, who would have lured Greece to a ruin not less complete than that of Turkey, is hiding his craven head lest, it being seen, he loses it. His lying consort, who played, like the Czarina, the traitor's part, and professing love for the country over which she ruled, lived only to further the schemes of the AllDamnedest, has passed into oblivion. A Royal woman's perfidy added to a King's treachery is the record of Constantine and his consort. To-day they are fugitives from justice. . . . Ferdinand, the willing tool of the Kaiser—another socalled Royal person, who fattened on flattery and thought himself the equal of his patron—knows not where to lay his head. . . . Karl, the craven King of Austria, who, knowing his.people wanted peace, yet fearing the wrath of the Potsdam autocrat, still pattered with war, has surrendered his throne in the hope of saving his life. But all frantic scuttling and burrowing of the Royal rabbits will avail them nothing. Their thrones have disappeared, their crowns lack even the dignity of a top hat. . . . And all this is the work of the last of the Hohenzollerns —the man who, born of an English mother, yet. sought the ignominy and downfall of the people whose blood flows in its mongrel body. He schemed to bend England to his will, to find, not ' a place in the sun,' but a place where the sun of vain-glory should shine on him alone. He tried to gain the whole world only to rule his own soul. . . . Surrounded by bullies of the Prussian army, made to believe himself the anointed of the Lord by the flattery of the sycophant and the adulation of the bedecked lackeys who hung about his Court—this man, cousin of our own King . , . • planned and plotted to outrival the might and majesty of the British Empire. There was a time in his megalomania when he seriously propounded his right of succession to the British throne, and made it a sullen grievance that he was not permitted an active part .in shaping Britain's Imperial destinies. With jealousy in his heart and hatred on his lips, he Bought over the means to our undoing. Balance of Power, the Triple Alliance, the mummery in the East and the Holy Land, the spectacular journey of his ape-like son through India, that earlier challenge fas the insolent patronage

of Kruger in the Boer war—all waft directed to one end: the undermining of the beneficent rule of the Anglo-Saxon, in order to substitute the cruel and ro» pressive of the Teuton. . . ." EMPIRE AND MONARCHY. "As wo contemplate the break-up off kingdoms, the revolt of oppressed an<B deluded peoples, the cries from enslaved races once more; pressing towards the Light of Liberty, let us thank God thai we as a people and an Empire look if with fear at the rousing of the Demonl of Disorder, at any rate, with quiet assi'r* ance that we live under a Constitution,'/ and owe allegiance to a sovereign head ot a State which finds none but free meii within its borders." Mr Bottomley says, further,, that "whilef thrones are falling like ninepins," ha. knows that, by his going in and out* among the people, it would be futile td shut his eyes to the fact that " therd is an undercurrent of unrest in regard' to our monarchical institutions"; but h« has come to the conclusion " that any; other constitution which we might estab* lish in place of the Limited Monarchy now prevailing—which, as I have so ofteit pointed out, Is nothing more or less thatf the Hereditary Presidencv of the British;. Republic—would inevitably result in thai disruption of our Empire and the loss certainly of India, and probably of some o! our other dominions beyond* the seas." And he tells us why he came to thi? conclusion, one which for years has been toy «>wn'. '1 am satisfied that the system of constitutional government and free institutions under which we liva affords the best security and safeguard for peace and prosperity. . . . The. Hapsburgs, the Romanoffs, and the zollerns . . . were never in any trua sense the symbols of free empire and good government; they sought to perpetu* ate the mediaeval, worn-out doctrines oi kingship. For our own Empire, how 1 * evei*, with its vast diversity of colour, -and creed, an hereditary head o? the State—a figurehead, if you will, bufc a symbol and centre which the natives or distant lands may rally round—is ad absolute necessity. The Indian prince, fo* instance, would never serve under thai banner of a President of a There may be people who think that Empire is an unmixed blessing, bus whether they be right or wrong, it ill certain that Empire, in its true sense, and Monarchy must stand or fall together, "...i

KING v. KAISER. eg The concluding paragraph contains- - ?M story relating a "superb snub" our lata! King Edward " administered to his macfc nephew at the Kiel Regatta." The Kaisery in proposing his uncle's health, said: " would remind your Majesty that my navyi is now one of the finest in the world.'* His uncle's reply was : " Your Majesty has spoken of your newly-born navy, ana j the interest I. have always taken la | yachting compels me to congratulata your Majesty upon your devotion to this particular branch, of sport." No bitterer sarcasm was ever spoken, Bays BottomleY. Truly, the ex-Kaiser's responsibilities wer'ej taken as lightly as if they were a sportj and the manoeuvring of men and theuj slaughter was to him like a great gama of chess with soldiers as pawns. Tragi-, cally, he insisted that other nations should! participate in the game, so his game in.--. volved other men who have had to M slaughtered in the same wholesale wa# as those of his own nation and dtherf nations coming into his orbit. KING NOT A PERSONALITY, BUT A SYMBOL. With this extract I'll conclude, again expressing as it does my own ideas, whicfy may sound like treason, but which resfi on a surer foundation than blind personal' worship: "To me the King is not ai Personality, but a symbol—and as long as he fulfils his mission I shall. be his loyal and contented subject, and shall be grateHj ful to him for filling a post essential to the safety and well-being of the British! Empire. ... GOD SAVE THE} KING!"