Our Diplomat—King.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13661, 1 August 1908, Page 3 (Supplement)

Our Diplomat—King.

POSITION in EUROPEAN POLITICS. (By Sigma, in the "Daily Chronicle.") Tlie King's visit to Russia, is a tempting theme for the. commentating, publicist." Of its many aspects I select one and one only. It is the one that displays his Majesty in the familiar and beneficent . role of Royal Ambassador, and makes the trip to Reval appear as the fitting culmination of his many pilgrimages of peace.

Walter Bagehot used to say that an English sovereign had three constitutional rights—the right to be consulted, the. right to encourage, and the right to warii; He added, shrewdly enough, that a ruler of great sense and sagacity would need no others. King Edward, who is pre-emin-ently a ruler of great sense and sagacity, has not only turned to account the normal privileges of a British sovereign, he has created new ones. AMBASSADOR OF PEACE. Bagehot's list of the Royal prerogatives needs, indeed, 'amplifying to-day. To -the ordinary' constitutional functions of advice, suggestions; and criticism, the King has added another more striking, and more humane function, in the discharge of which the British Monarchy may hereafter be seen to be fulfilling its most serviceable mission. He has constituted himself a sort of travelling Am : bassador on behalf of international amity. He has assured the task of approaching the peoples and rulers and statesmen, of Europe, and of negotiating with them as a quasi-official, but wholly representative spokesman of the nation. This is altogether a novel development of the Royal activities. I do not mean to imply that Queen Victoria abstained from interfering in the conduct of foreign policy. On the contrary, her wishes and opinions were at all times a great and sometimes a determining factor in the calculations of T)owning-6treet. We know how eagerly she interested herself in the SchleswigHolstein crisis; how she rebuked Palmerston, and finally caused his. ■ downfall for taking decisions of great importance in foreign affairs without consulting her; how she insisted on seeing, studying, and at times altering every dispatch of any significance that was sent out by the Foreign Office; ' and how she made it: a rule to have all important conversations' with foreign ambassadois reported to her. We know, : top, that .frequently the Queen proved herself a. better statesman than any of her Ministers, and that in at least three conspicuous instances, in which j she failed-,to convert them, posterity has alreadv. pronounced judgement in her favour. *We know, in short, . that. through long practice and intuitive clear-headed-ness she became almost! a permanent Secretary of State, entering zealously into all political questions, free from praise and blame, as mutih the counsellor of her Ministers as they were her advisers. I- recall all this for the purpose cf showing that it is rather the. direction than the fact of King. Edward's activities m foreign affairs w-hich is really new; Queen Victoria's influence was hidden frpnr the popular eye and operated almost exclusively in the Council Chamber. By the mass it was unguessed at. -A' million, eyts-' see King Edward's handiwork where not: a hundred suspects the. late Queen's. He labours in the open, beneath the gaze of special correspondents, paying rounds of visits from one European Court to another, attending : fetes, banquets, receptions' and races' where all may see him,and fraternising as freely with the people as with the rulers and : statesmen of the countries he enter's. • RESTRAINT. ' For such'" expeditions' as ' these' Queen Victoria's Health and sex '-and--•naturally: homekeeping temperament disinclined her. The''King, by working on an ampler scale and amid circumstances of far more publicity, has forced Great Britain'and has forced Europe' to rediscover- -the' -British monarchy as :an active instrument of diplomacy. - It was-never a passive one, but iix 'the late Queen's time 7 -its .. activities were veiled and, air but unknown. To-day they seem notel beiiause "'they' are niore open, more'-visiblej ' and therefore" moi'eproductive. '■ Where Queen Victoria stayed 'at home arid' wrote- letters or- grant-' ed, audiences the King has charged himself with a roving and public, commission; for . the safeguarding of British interests : and the promotion. 6f international good- ■ tfilU - : ■■::•>"";■'■- ' ' - - - . [ The first element, of success in an. under-: . taking of this delicate character is per'son- * ality. The King is equipped for it both by -temperament and position? As a con- '. stitutional and not an autocratic Sovereign 1 he enjoys in these missions of-pacification - a'privileged liberty. It'ls a, liberty which '- enables him to step outside the humdrum - diplomatic circle and to negotiate; as it ' with the peoples" whom he visits - and not merely with their officials. He - is not directly responsible. He may' speak t for England,"'but he cannot by himself i commit her to anything. A range is! thug permitted him that monarchs with more n despotic powers are obliged to deny themselves. .. . ■ ■ "■ •■":'■ .'■■>'•

- The peculiar characteristics of the King's mind and ' temperament enable him to extract from the advantages of his position their last ounce of profit. He is ail excellent judge of niun and affairs. He learns and assimilates. with extraordinary quickness—l have heard men who know both debate whether the King's mind or ilord Rosebery's is swifter to' take a. point. He: has no prejudices, unless it is the prejudice of, a decided temperament and a pertinent intelligence against dullness and flaccidity. : His- mastery of all. .arte of social ingratiation and his unfailing bon h'oiriie and - air 'of . being at home • and of ehjoying; himself.- wherever he .goes, make him' l supreme of .staying off friction,- bringing > men-' together ? and! putting ' them at their ease. .Too -.naturally dignified ..ever ;tol be thinking 'of'his dignity, .too- modern in;feelings \ and 'tastes to-call in;the aid o'f '. ceremony, when; ceremony is .put of place," he : knows ■ by . a happy instinct - the

These are great gifts. And for the. purpose of unofficial- diplomacy they are enormously reinforced by his Majesty's genius for silence. It is in that quality mure, I think, than in any other the King shows liis superiority as . a national Ambassador over the German Emperor. The German Emperor's knowledge of what to do and say remains uncorrected by. his knowledge of what not to do and say. In King Edward both sort 6 of knowledge unite in a rare and admirable balance. A BRILLIANT RECORD.

Though a man of strong emotions and vivid perceptions, with a native, strain of impulsiveneasj, lye keeps Mmself ahfay and completely in hand. With.'these aptitudes his Majesty has contrived in - the past seven years to makeinmself the most commanding figure in European politics, and to play a part, in a revolution as far-reaching as any in history. In all that time not a word can be quoted and scarcely an act can be pointed -to that showed haste- or immaturity, or that did not-in the end nake for practical appeasement.

To assess the tangible results of the King's endeavours it is enough -to compare Great Britain's position to-day with what it was in 1901. Seven years ago' England and France were still "pursuing their secular qiiarrel with a. bitterness that on both sides of the Channel had come to accept the normal basis ..of their relations. From Cairo to, Bangkok' tho two powers scowled at each other 1 with-a mutual and insensate suspiciousness.. The contrast between what was: and what is hi

jardly needs elaborating. It is patent tothe most careless observer; -and'the world is right in dating the happy revolution that ha 6 overtaken Anglo-Frenclr relations from the King's first visit to Paris after his : accession and from'the action of his personality upon the emotions of a responsive people. And that, though the greatest, is only one of the King's triumphs. The'success ■which he first achieved at Taris he has since repeated afc'Vienna, 'Lisbon, at Rom© and Madrid. , s If the. bonds, '•; that unite , Great Britain and Portugal f. have been recemented and , strengthened ; -if the Anglo-German relations have entered the temperate- zone ;• if Spain has forgotten British sympathy with America- during the war of 1898 ;4f-.the cloud ( that hijuig over Anglo-Italian friendship'.for some. years after the disaster at AScfwa has been dissipated; if the . Mediteranean Powers are in accord; if an; English Princess shares the new-born tbione v in Norway and if the- Anglo-Russian agreement -has fructified in a happier understanding between the 'two Governments and the two' is to ; King Edward.;■; that: the diplomacy which led, to. these achicyeV | meats and which preserves them: must [ first of'all,be, credited. \ '.! ,