New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-07-07
Edward the Seventh
copyright. 1912 by George W. sm,r.v,
London, June IA.

London, June IA.
rsw King Edward the Seventh has
.,red upon the scene. His life by Sir
sidney Lee in the first volume OF the new
s,nn,ement to the Dictionary OF Ma
.,oral Biography presents to the world q
azure In many respects unfamiliar botn
,s his personal character and in his con-
'.,,rtional position as Sovereign he Is n
rte sketch a different person from the
pr,rce of Wales and King of England as
-rst neople have heretofore believed him
o. he. There are new facts. Some Sc
-.,s are disclosed. Details Of private
40. are laid bare. The relations between
~. prince Of Wales and his mother, be-
,uAen the King and his Ministers, are
ass,t with in a new spirit, and with
.rsat freedom. While the avowed pur-
nose Is biographical, the treatment Of the
.uh,ect is largely critical, and an an
.,veis e attempted which is meant to he
anal which is based on evidence not
hitherto attainable; which is offered as
,mpartial, and has been accepted as i'm
martial by the majority.
=, has nevertheless been challenged
and a discussion has begun; of which the
.r5 Is not Vet. THE Daily Telegraph
led the attack. I can hardly be wrong
q, suggesting that Lord Burnham in
.n,rsd il, since he Is chief proprietor and
his is still. whenever he chooses, the d.
,ecting mind Of this great newspaper.
us was, moreover, a close personal
tr,.nd of the late King, who was often
his guest at Hall Barn. Lord Burnham
MACE In Buckinghamshire. This pro-
test, therefore, may be taken as a trih-
ute Of personal affection, and when the
rdfe Is condemned as a serious blunder
which most thinking men will deplore. It
ha Kings Friend who is speaking. That
title had once a sinister political mean
ing. I do not use II in that way. but in
the natural sense Of the words. There is
plenty of other comment, but have seen
none which goes so far as Lord Burn
hams The comment itself testifies to
the Importance Of the article, which is
summarized in all papers. The summary
and extracts and comment are on an I'M
usual scale The Times deals with II
twice over; once on its leader page and
again in its Literary Supplement.
suppose it must be admitted that the
GENERAL effect, though not the intention,
Of the biography is to diminish the late
Kings fame. He is disparaged in two
ways. He is no longer to be recognized
as a creative force In diplomacy, the true
author Of the entente with France and OF
the entente with Russia On the other
hand, we are asked to believe that his
Intervention in purely English politics
went beyond the true constitutional lin
itations upon the powers of the Sow
ereign. They are two very grave mat
tiers, and in both 1 believe the popular
view comes much nearer the truth than
Sir Sidney Lees.
In one matter at least the foundation
Is laid for a truer estimate Of the King s
native force of character. The story OF
bis youth and of the cast iron scheme Of
raining devised for him by his father
has never before been told so fully. The
Prince Consort did his best to make over
the boy in his own image. The Princes
y notions of the relation between royalty
end the rest OF mankind were extremely
German. He thought all intercourse be-
tween them ought TO be ceremonious;
that future King of England ought TO
be brought up as If he were to attain to
the measureless dignity Of a German
Prnceling. He ordained that friend
ships and conn adeships with boys of
meaner mould were to be discouraged
and even forbidden. The future King
was hardly allowed to be boy himself.
the particular kind Of book was chosen
for him and he'was allowed no other.
He might read history, but not fiction.
Even Sir Walter Scott seemed to this
German pedant demoralizing The re-
suit was that the Prince hated all books
to him. Languages he learnt rapidly, but
literature never. He was never to know
the toy Of that early and invincible love
Of residing which Gibbon said he would
not exchange for all the treasures Of the
Indies. He was never TO free himself
from the straitjacket which his father
fastened about him, as Stuart Mill did
from his Mil left It on record that
after eighteen years Of strictest drill al
the hands Of his father, beginning with
Greek at three and followed by an in
flexible course Of reading, the only books
that did him much good were the books
he chose for himself after his emancipa-
ton at twenty-one. The Princes emen-
cipation took a different turn. He read
nothing The only book he cared to
open was the book of human nature
The art Of reading that book was born
with him, and to the day Of his death re-
NAMED with him: spite Of his fathers
Efforts to close II. He knew men. He
even knew something OF women.
His fathers death brought him no re.
lease. We all know with what passion
ate affection the Queen chung to her hus-
bands memory. To her he was Deity
To him she sacrificed no small part q
her career and her rightful place as
Queen; and she sacrificed her son on the
same altar. She persevered in tht
scheme Of rigid tutelage devised and
enforced by Prince Albert. The at
n1osphere the boy breathed was German
The ideas instilled into him were Ger
man; and so were the ideals. England
the Prince Consort never understood
Perhaps never liked. He would have
Germanized his boy IL he could, but the
English blood in him was too strong. il