The Washington herald., 1907-11-06
Lese Majestic in England.


These be parlous times in Merrie Eng
land The spirit OF lese majestic stalks
abroad. The ancient tenet that "the
king can do no wrong is no longer
universally entertalned-if Il ever was.
Affairs generally are in dreadful pother,
and, as the new reporters say. IT is plain
that the end is not yet.
Several years ago, TO begin at the be-
ginning. it seems that one John Murray.
a prominent London publisher, received
permission to bring out. in book form.
such letters of Queen Victoria as that
estimable lady's royal descendants
deemed right and proper for the hoi polloi
to see. After innumerable delays. the
work has been published 1t is in three
volumes. the price Of which IN England
is three guineas, or about SIS. And now.
with all the facts before IL. and with
apparently no fear of royal wrath, comes
London's famous Thunderer to say that
the books could easily be produced" for
ten shillings S240). Criticisms many and
severe the Times hurls. ostensibly nj Pub
Usher Murray, but really, say disinterested
observers. at no less parsonage than
King Edward VII, Emperor of India, De-
fender Of the Faith, &c. &c. 1t was the
King with whom Mr.. Murray made his
arrangements. IL was the King who de-
termined what should and what should
not be used OF all the vast amount of
material afforded by his mothers let
ters And. finally. according to the
Times very obvious intimation. It is the
King who is receiving a very large part
Of the I 400 per cent profit which that
newspaper alleges is being made out Of
the books as published by Mr. Murray
And so. all OF loyal England stands
aghast at the temerity Of the solid. dull.
conservative old newspaper which has long
been called the foremost I'm all the world.
Heretofore all Britons have sworn by the
Times Now many OF them. especially
those OF the class which dearly loves a
lord" are swearing at IT, We of this
country are incapable Of appreciating just
what the covert attack on his majesty
actually means. To quote from the Lon
don correspondent or the New York Times
Saturday Review of Books:
The real pain which this attack causes here
would be almost incompTehensble by Americans
who call their great men by nioknAmes and christen
toy bears after a President"
All, well; into each life some rain must
fall. as the poet said. OF course. English
men who love their ruler are panied
Equally. of course, their ruler is pained
But he is not alone in his grief. He has
the sympathy OF many another monarch.
real or potential, against whom lesser
! Thunderers have thundered. Even EN-
peror William-even our own King Theo-
dOre-has felt the sting OF newspaper crit
/ icism, just and unjust. 1t may be a new
! experience for Edward. and it may mark
the beginning Of new epoch in British
Journalism; but he is in very distinguished
company, and we do not see why he
should care overmuch-especially II, as
the Times hints. he is enjoying that 400
per cent profit on a literary work which
all over the world, is making the record
of the very best Of the six best sellers
! look Ike a lightning bug in immediate
| juxtaposition TO a powerful searchlight.
! Our message to both the King and his
! subjects is: Cheer up!