The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1872-02-09
The Prince of Wales.

It is not said that le was vicious,
but only dull, and absolutely self
indulgent. After al, we must have
great pity for kings end princes who
are born so highly. Tney breathe
incense. They feed on fattery.
They have not the chance
of hearing and knowing the
truth that the rest of US have.
The poor little princess, Of whom it
is told that she said that if the people
did not have bread, she wondered
that they did not eat cake, of course
never said it. But the force of the
story is its naturalness. There was
no reason why she should not have
said it, because there was every rea-
son why she should have thought it.
The sting Of the story is not left in
the princess, but in those who make
the system of which the princess is
part. So to the Thoughtful spectator
there was something sad and signifi
cant in the career of this young man.
He was really the head of an extra
ordinary and long-enduring political
system. Without any merit of his
own, and by the mere chance of birth,
he was an essential part Of the Brit
ish monarchy. He was "the king
of the constitution, and with the
Lords and Commons he composed
political England.
The tragedy of his position was
not that he was to be a king without
a single royal attribute, because
the king of England is a name mere.
Iva mere ceremony. His sole func-
tion is to obey under the mask of
commanding. His majesty's pleas
ure in England means the will Of
Parliament; and if his majesty ven
lures to interpolate his own individ-
uality, his majesty must mediate
Charles the martyr, and beware.
The misfortune was not, therefore.
that man who was not kirgly was
10 be king, but that he was a part of
a system which required an illusion
that he could not supply, and not
only that he conld not supply, but
which he constantly dissipated. A
monarchial system, or q constitu-
tional government with permanent
executive, may endure as long as a
tradition of loyalty or romantic and
imaginative regard for a certain
family survives. and as long as the
system is not thought to he extrav
agantly expensive. A head of the
system, therefore, who impresses
the popular imagination confirms
and perpetuates it. The illusion be-
comes for the time a reality. A
manly, modest, sagacious, courteous
king not only satisfies the ima6ina-
tion, but he may also become real
part of the system by the Legitimate
influence ofhis good sense upon ad
But as the world grows, the
glamour of royalty necessarily van
lshes. Restored for a moment by
the dazzling qualities of a really su-
perior man surprisingly born to a
crown, it is constantly worn away bv
the course of civilization itself. The
press, the telegraph, the photograph.
are material agencies in this work.
More than all. one great, prosperous
and powerful republic, a government
by elected officers without regal fic-
tions of ANY kind, is forever weaken
ing the monarehial system. At last
it must prove its greater cheapness.
1t becomes a mere question ofmoney,
of relative expense. Imagination
and tradition help it no more. As
roistering prince was
brought like a common yagabond
before the court for trial, so royalty
itself is placed at the bar of public
opinion, and ordered like a suspected
grocer to show its accounts.-Edi-
tors Easy Chair, in Harper's Maga-
zine for February. 6