New-York tribune., 1910-08-28
Tbus Ending Anomaly Of Being Emperor ,
Of Only q Portion Of His
Empire. India.

! cesSors on the throne the title OF EN-
reror of the British
Parliament has no voice in the mat
ter. For if it was able to bestow upon
Queen Victoria the title of Empress of
india at the instance OF Lord Beacons-
field. II was because India remains sub
jcct TO the Parliament at Westminster;
whereas Canada Australia, New Zealand
! and South Africa are virtually indepen-
dent thereof and self governing, the only
ties between them and the mother coun-
/ try being, first and foremost. their 10y
atty to the crown, and, second, the right
. Of appeal from all colonial courts OF
justice. not to any English tribunal but
to the sovereign of the whole British
Empire and his Privy Council, which he
recruits from all portions of his vast
dominions. All that it would be neces-
sary for George V to do when assuming
the title of Emperor of the British would
be to have the act ratified by his Privy
Council-that is to say. by any of the
members thereof whom he may summon
for the purpose.
BY assuming this title, by means of an
order in council, on the occasion of his
coronation King George would put an
end TO the anomaly created by his being
Emperor only of a portion of the British
Empire-namely. India. All the great
self governing colonies enumerated above
are embraced in what is officially known
as the British Empire: the home govern
ment is known in the colonies as the
imperial government, and the court of
ultimate appeal, constituted by the soy
ereign and his Privy Council, is known
as the Court of the Empire. But, as mat
ters stand now. all this huge empire is
without its Emperor
IF George Y fulfis these expectations
and adopts a title embracing the oversee
d"minions and territories. thereby
strengthening the link between them and
the crown, he will, after all, be merely
reviving an ancient dignity of the reign
ing house of England. only those, how
ever. who in their studies have made a
speciality of English history are aware
that the imperial title was used by the
rulers of England from the earliest times
down to the beginning of the reign Of
James ].
The sovereigns who reigned over Eng
land prior to the Norman Conquest were
wont to style themselves ''Bretwalda."
which is declared to be the Anglo Saxon
equivalent of Emperor, all doubts as to
the correctness of this rendering being
set at rest by the existence in the Brit
ish Museum of d Latin document bear
ing the signature of King Athelstane in
which he is described as Rex-that is.
kiEg-and as "Cesare Totius Britain
ni9.'' which means Caesar Cor EN-
peror) of all Britain In another Latin
state paper. likewise preserved at the
British Museum, his immediate success
sor is designated as Rex ct Basileus,"
the latter being the Greek word for en-
peror. The assumption of the imperial
dignity by these old Anglo Saxon mon
archs was due to the fact that they were |
not only monarchs of their own par
ticular kingdom but likewise the suze-
rains OF all those other kingdoms into |
which England and Wales were in those |
days divided.
In the British Museum there is like |
wise to be found an old Latin poem of !
the time of William the Conqueror,
which describes his transformation from