The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-08-13
KING EDWARDS MESSAGE
Prepared by the Prime Minister Re-
vised by His Majesty.

vised by His Majesty.
A Presidents message and the reg
ular speech from the throne in Eng
land have naturally good deal in
common, since they deal with current
problems and announce the policy OF
their respective governments. It IS
not generally known however, how
very dissimilar are the methods by
which these messages or speeches are
prepared There can be no question
that President Roosevelt writes or
dictates every word of his annual mes
sages, while with King Edward the
custom is very different In the first
place the speech is prepared by the
Prime Minister, assisted generally by
one or two of his principal lieutenants
in the Cabinet. When the first rough
draft is ready 1t is discussed at one
or more meetings Of the whole Cabi-
net, and usually on these occasions
the speech in its original form re-
ceives considerable revision. Possibly
every Minister present has some par
tlcular measure or other that he de-
of the party program, and 1t needs
considerable tact and patience on the
part of the Premier to reconcile con-
Eicting interests and to get his fel'
low Ministers to recognize that a Par
liamentary session is limited for time,
and that with the best will in the
world II is impossible to include every
measure that he would like to see
passed.
AS it is, scarcely a session passes but
what II is found that the original
program was much too long.
After the Cabinet is agreed on the
outline Of the Kings speech the Pre-
mier goes to the King, either at Buck
ingham Palace or Windsor. and the
draft is laid before him.
II is a mistake, II is said. to sup
pose that this Is a mere formality.
and that the King assents to the
speech as a matter of course. On
the other hand, the King makes II
! his custom to go most carefully
through the draft line by line with mis-
chief Minister, often pausing to dis
cuss the principal points of many OF
the measures referred to. The para
graphs which deal with relations with
other Powers end foreign policy re-
ceive special attention at the hands
Of the King, since 1t is a subject in
which the KiEg takes the greatest in-
terest-
On more than one occasion since he
came to the throne the King has en-
| tirely remodeled references to for
| eign Powers and has written sugges-
tions on the draft with his own hand.
| When His Majesty" thus suggests
alterations in the text of his speech
Il is once more considered by the
Cabinet, and, If II seems better "a
their collective ju1gment, the altera-
tions are allowed to stand.
It by no means follows that the Cab
met will adopt suggestion because
| Il has been made by the sovereign, and
on more than one occasion the Minis.
ters have found it necessary to stanC
by their original text When this IL
the case of course the King bows
to the desires Of his Ministers anC
~ithdraws his amendments.
A serious deadlock once took place
In this connection. Once Queen Vic
toria resolutely declined to pass a par
agraph inserted in a royal speech b!
the Prime Minister of the period--Mr
Gladstone. Neithcg tx G"ccG moi
.he Premier would bulge an inch from
the positions they had taken, and |
seemed as though the dissolution o
parliament were the only manner II
which the difficulty could be over
come.
Ultimately, however, a group of Cab
met Ministers managed to effect
compromise and the crisis came 10 al
end When the final draft Of tn
speech has been prepared the Premie
once more CONVEYS 1t to the King, VIII,
then signs 1t. Neither the Great Sea
nor any other seal is attached to this
simply Edward Rex" in the King
bold handwriting, and the document 1
ready for presentation to Parliament
On occasions when the sovereign
does not purpose to open Parliamen
In person at the same time that tn
speech is signed the warrant authori2
ing a certain number Of peers to ac
as commissioners to open Parliamen
| 90 likau,fca aIunad