The Irish standard., 1902-05-10
CORONATION or KING EDWARD.

l
! Aurelian's triumph in ancient Rome
as given by William Ware in ''Zeno
bia," Reynolds Newspaper Of Londol
gives the following account of Ed
wards coronation which is to take
| place next month:
And in the year 1902 King Edward
VII. of England was crowned. HI
| had already reigned for more than {;
year; SO the Coronation was simply {;
Npageant to crafty the people and tc
popularize the institution of monarchy
in their eyes. The morning looked
gloomy. There was much discomfort
abroad. n holiday for three days had
been proclaimed, but the master men
refused to pay the workers their or
binary wages on so mOmentOuS an
occasion, their loyalty stopping short
ut the threshold Of the purse. More
over so little real affection for the
Throne existed among the people that
owing to their unwillingness to con-
tribute voluntarily, it was found neces-
sary to impose tax upon the people,
so that the appearance of joy might be
simulated in the various towns and
villages.
Now ut this period the English ma
ton had arrived at the height of its
power and was already exhibiting all
the symptoms of the consequential de-
cay. The country possessed much
wealth, ravished from the barbarians
in Africa, Egypt, India, and wherever
the British legions could penetrate.
But there was incredible poverty
among the mass of the people. The
streets of all the large towns were
filled with a ragged disappearing con-
course. Sodden women, infant in
arms, staggered through the mean
streets. Behind the palaces of the
wealthy arose the desolate abodes OF
vice and misery. A mercenary clergy
trafticked in religion. Society was cor
ruDt and vicious. There was an ap-
palling amount Of pauperism. The
land had fallen out Of decay owing
to the selfishness of the possessing
classes, and the Indifference of the
besotted and broken people.
The nation had gone mentally
wrong, MS we'll as physically, lunatlc
asylums being erected on every side.
The physical deterioration was shown
in the constant building of hospitals;
the moral in the extension OF Jails.
Public conscience was dead; the laws
even were not observed.
So it came to pass that Edward
went in procession to be crowned,
amid the plaudits of the shabby mob
in the thoroughfares. and the adorinG
obscuuiousness of the wealthy ana
titled in Westminster Abbey.
At this time the food of the people
had been taxed to carry OH one of the
lengthy and costly wars of aggression
by which, on the model of ancient
Rome. the British Empire had been
built up. The contrast between the
glttcring cavalcldc that wound its
WAY to the poem in stone built by the
mnnk-;,rchitrctS when all England
bowed before Rome. and tho :snunt
pale. melancholy faces OF til" Spcrt;'
tors, was striking. tnAccUStOmrd tC
novelty in the dull rnutin" of then
! monotonOuS lives: starving as to cdu
cation by the state clergy, who fear
| cd nothing so much rs knowledge. tht
blank faces Of citizens expressed that
utter Jack OF imagination which is the
chief flower of the intellect and the
source of all enjoyment.
The GroOmS Of state bore past tll
Royal Rcgali;,-St. Edwards Staff, tho
Spurs. the Sccptrc With the Cross. Tho
Pointed Sword of Temporal Justice
the Curtan,. or Sword of Mercy. th'
Sword of State. the Sccptre With thu
Dove. the Orb. ST. Edwards Crown
the Patina. the Chnlicc. the Anointin.
Spoon. the Coronation Bracelets. th'
Saltscller of State. and other lumbe
from the Constitutional Old Curiosit!
Shop. Nothing was lacking to giv'
effect both from the point OF view o
pageantry, and of moral lesson.
The skeleton ut the feast was there
in those sordid and crowded ranks o
Il decaying State. that had resorted t.
the last refuge Of decrepitude and
constituencies Universal Plunder. Th'
drunkard. the beggar. the thief. th'
errant woman, the unemployed. TIN
bankrupt. the Intoxicating liquor ven
dor. the nameless and the brainless
And do they not live in history-art
they not the legitimate successors o
the older egos. the Roman mob chloro
formed into submission by bread an
circuses.
In darksome holes-in garrets foul
In ruined sheds with rags bedight
We live the comrades of the owl,
And thieves. the constant friends o