Evening star., 1903-08-15
PLEASED THE IRISH
Recent Visit of British King
and Queen.
INCIDENTS OF TRIP
WHAT THE LONDON empty"
SEASON MEANS.
Everybody Who Can Goes to the
Country During the Month
Of August.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

| VI AoEo
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star
LONDON, August s. 1903
! Edward VII. special ambassador of his
| country, is back again from his last and
most successful mission and no one has any
| doubt that he has accomplished more good
| than a dozen land bills and overcome to a
| great extent the harm that the last half
dozen English chief secretaries for Ireland
| have done. People begin to see that 1t is
| no joke to be a real king and that the Of
flee held by Edward VII is no mere sine
cure but has obligations and duties which
| well performed make the position useful
one well ornamental
| The powers of English sovereigns are so
| restricted that in the case of a weak person
| the monarch would degenerate into mere
| figurehead and this is the inevitable ten
! dency in Britain, where official jealousy is
| so strong. Only the other day a naval
| chaplain wrote a personal letter to the
| king asking if he would sanction the drink
! ing of his health in water instead of liquor
| so that the teetotalerS might have no ex-
| Cuse for breaking their pledges. The king
| replied that such sanction would have to
| be issued by the navy authorities and he
| hoped that they would do so, he would
1
| Even in so simple a thing as this the SOW
| ereign has power to act, or If he did
| would be regarded by officials as usurping
| authority.
So the kings influence must be exerted
| in diplomatic and tactful ways 1t cannot
| have been much pleasure for the king and
| queen to go poking about the slums of
| Dublin; looking into country novels, where
! the pigs live on equal terms with the peo-
| pie; tossing about a storm bound coast on
| the cranky royal yacht in rough weather;
| receiving addresses from pompous mayors
| and being stared at and almost handled by
a curious and dirty peasantry. This how
ever, is what the aged royal couple have
| been doing for the past week and 1t is this
| freedom from detectives and officiaism
| this open -handedness and confidence that
has won the Irish.
Applause for Royalty.
| To a man they shout for the king. ITO
| the devil with the ffunkies and curse Dub
, lin CASTLE but God bless the king and
| queen!' The impression that was made
| in ireland was excellent and in one re-
| spect at least a new era has dawned for
| the country The royal visit which some
| in high places affected to consider in the
| light of an experiment, has been abundant
| ly justified by results. To argue that all
| cause for unrest in Ireland has been re-
| moved would be to take an unwarrantable
| liberty with the essentially nonpOlitical ma
| ture of the visit, but it may with safety be
| said that the middle and lower classes will
| be disinclned to lend an ear to those who
| preach the doctrine that, from the king
downward the people of England are the
| enemies of Ireland. The excellent impress
| sion created by their majesties in Ireland
| would still further be strengthened by the
announcement that the royal visit was to
| be annual event.
Some of the stories of the royal doings
| in Galway are very homely, and L think
worth giving as an evidence of the demo-
.,;+ Li1l, = t,;,N 40
! The queen, accompanied by Lady Dudley,
went into a typical Connemara cottage,
| few feet square and showed a motherly
| interest in the bareiegged children who
| happened to be at tea. Her majesty patted
the cheeks of the brown-skinned little ones.
Two boys were weaving ii piece of Come
mara tweed, and the queen at once pur
chased thrty-fve yards
II very glad that you have bought
| that, said the king. lifting the cloth and
examining it.
Through mud and slush their majesties
tramped to a Wretched clay cabin, thatch
rooted. and with smoked-dried raftera,
where an old man, Patrick Kerrigan,
eighty years of age. and partly bed-ridden,
has lived over half a century. AS the
cabin is some distance from the road. the
king and queen walked through a soft bo-
reen their passage being challenged by his
majesty the pig. Mrs. Kerrigan received
the visitors, but had no idea who they
were. The king and queen chatted with
her, and when the queen asked if it wasn't
very cold in winter, the old lady good
naturedly replied that if there were more
holes in the roof it would be much colder
The fire was smouldering, and Mrs. Ker-
rigan afterward said, Sure, if 1 had
known that it was the king and queen I'd
have made them bonfire.
Interview With the Invalid.
While the king talke>. to the son, Tom
Kerrigan, who works a loom. the queen
penetrated into the dark. mud -fioored inner
room, and found old Kerrigan sitting on
the side of the bed. The royal lady and he
talked about his ailments, and when Lady
Dudley told him his visitor was the queen,
his excitement was intense. Mrs. Kerrigan
did not know who her callers were till she
had shaken hands with them and they had
gone. Sure" she said afterward 'the
king was much cherrier and nicer than
many man who has got a baste to drive
on the road before him."
Next the majesties went to the cottage of
Michael Joyce, who lives on the main road
of the townland. Mrs. Joyce at once
recognized her visitors. wiped chairs for
them with her apron and shooed away a
number of chickens that shared the living
room with the family. Round about stood
the Joyce boys, unkempt. tarefooted, dirty
from playing In the street. The queen and
Mrs. Joyce sat and chatted about cooking.
the departure of royalty being retarded by
a drenching rain.
These are some of the pictures that are
predict that the Irish will long remem-
ber the visit with the friendliest feelings
That these things could be done in Ireland
and Scotland shows how different both
races are from the English. In England
the royal couple would be mobbed and
"kowtowed' to that such freedom of con-
DUCT is impossible.
empty" Season in London.
London is now in the annual condition
known as empty" That is to say, all
smart people have left for country houses.
seaside hotels or exorbitant and bad
lodgings. No one of any social preten-
uons remains in London in August No
matter how comfortable ones home Is or
how dirty and uncomfortable seaside apart
ments may be, if you are anybody at all
you must go away somewhere and nav
from to guineas week for three small
rooms for your family. You will for this
sum have dining or drawing room filed
with bad furniture, stuffed birds under
glass cases. paper flowers on the mantel
nm fha llc