THE REAL KING EDWARD.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 4, 24 July 1912, Page 61

THE REAL KING EDWARD.

LONDON, June 7. O/ F NEW light is thrown upon the f I late King Edward by the semi--4* j| official memoirs -which Sir Sidney Lee contributes to the new supplement to the “ National Dictionary of Biography,” published-this Week. In this monograph we have the first real, intimate, authoritative account of King Edward as a sovereign and a man. It will cause some revision pi judgment in -both home and foreign politics, for it diminishes considerably the political role sometimes ascribed to King Edward, especially in foreign affairs.

ffbe public have, perhaps, made insufficient allowance for t'he degree to which he had as Prince of AN ales been excluded from all State secrets until quite a few years before his accession. The exclusion was due to Queen Victoria, herself a most intent politician, but jealous of her son entering politics. It was not due to all of whom liked the Prince, and some of whom, notably Mr. Gladstone and Sir Charles Dilke, were really anxious that his political education should be less starved, starved, however, it was, tiU he was too old to make up the arrears. As King he took considerable interest in politics on its personal side, and in the relations, on this side, between the Courts of Europe; but Sir Sidney Lee is emphatic tha-t he had neither the inclination nor the capacity to turn to diplomatic account the ceremonial visits which he made all over the Continent. They gratified his zest for travel, and, above all, his keen delight in giving or receiving splendid hospitality; but there their purpose and significance ended. Sir Sidney Lee tells us that the pres-en-ce of Mr. (now Lord) Hardxige on these visits has been quite misinterpreted. He went do coach the King on minor matters, and also to take note, for the benefit of the Foreign Secretary, of any major matters which might creep in; but there was never any question of the King and him concerting negotiations.

Nor had King Edward any diplomatic antipathy to Germany. As the husband of a Danish Princess, he resented the seizure of Schleswig-Holstein in 1864, and as the brother of the Empress Frederick he did not care for Bismarck. For the present Kaiser personally he had a very genuine affection; and on German foreign policy, as on other foreign policy, he had really no views beyond a sincere attac-lunenit to peace. In other words, we are told that the common belief both here and abroad that King Edward played an active part in foreign affairs is a fallacy. “Le roi paeificatur” bestowed upon him by Parisian journal-

ists is, Sir Sidney says, “symbolically lust, but is misleading if it is taken to imply any personal control of diplomacy.” King Edward created an atmosphere, not an entente. He was the advance agent of Peace, and he left it to his Ministers to v-onrplete the work. A Somewhat similar role is indicated by the late King’s attitude in home politics.

Sir Sidney’s monograph is. from some points of view, a writing down of the late King's achievements. “Edward the Peacemaker” dwindles to Edward the tactful host and genial guest ; the story of a crowned diplomatist, uncle of half the other crowned heads of Europe, using his unique position to twine with Machiavellian subtlety the silken threads of a diplomacy more redoubtable than Bismarck’s, is ruthlessly “knocked on the head,” and the legend of him as a malevolent spider spinning anti-Germ in Webs across Europe utterly discredited. Much has been written about King Edward since he died, but nothing with the same knowledge as we find in the monograph. It is the real thing. We are told that, apart from the public records, Sir Sidney Lee has had access to unpublished and unwritten source?. ‘"lt is hoped that the result will be to remove some widely disseminated misapprehensions and to furnish some new and authentic elucidations.” This memoir whieh “co ordinates the manifold activities of the Sovereign in a just and biographic spirit,” is written with a happy personal touch which makes it very readable.