The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1915-06-05
By The Countess Of Warwick.


insisnds Distinguished Woman Social Worker.
TN the great gale that sweeps over Europe
the few rags that hide the nakedness OF
monarchy Gutter like scarecrows; I md
cayseis watching for the gust that VIII reveal
To the gsze OF the least discerning what
dangerous aud ridiculous thing the bare bones
81 kingshp have become.
England has aied the teeth OF the serpent
can bite NO more-the phrase is swinburne's
iot mine. We keep our kings we keep tho
egalia IN the Tower. well-housed and well
cooked after. and between the ruler and the
ruled there n a pleasant. but indefinite reia-
ionship. We should not go TO war because the
house OF Guelph Jealous OF the house OF
dapsburg or on bad terms with the house OF
Hohenzollern.
Those German pundits who believe that King
Edward made the Ango-German war have
aever grasped our national attitude toward
monarchy, OF King Edwards ungrudging recos-
aition OF the merits OF the German people.
With us monarchy is an abstraction. very
little more.
There was a time when II was supposed to be
the fountain OF honor. but politicians have
fouled the waters much and have bought
and sold honors unblushingly that modern
royalty would be little ashamed TO father SO
large an illegitlmate progeny. business
nation. we have a fixed price for everything.
exceeded their allowance the State would hest
tate to make up the deficit Baronies. baronet-
cies, knighthoods and the rest have their hxed
price generally. though not invariably, paya-
BILE to the party whips who consider them
selves morally bound to deliver the goods.
When we were on the brink Of war last
rear. NJ Poincare wrote a touching letter to
King George. such an old-time king might
have sent to brother sovereign. King
ad has
--one would wager that nothing save the sigma
ture involved his heart his pen. II was no
more than the letter of greatly harassed
minister who was trying to think while he
balanced himself high and unstable fence
Here was ample evidence that all who run
might read OF the final surrender of the
monarchy. and incidentally, OF the desire OF
england to maintain peace.
Nobody wants more than the shadow OF
kingship in my country. Everybody with
more than the most perfunctory knowledge OF
history has realized that half the wars OF the
world have been fought for the qualification
OF kings and most OF the others have been
waged in the name OF religion T. e., to demon
strate the superiority OF one orthodoxy over
cnother Slowly. and at such sacrifice as the
world may well shudder TO contemplate. we
have come within sight Of the end of religious
strife. There remain wars OF kingship. ;he
present one is little more than that.
Down 10 a few years ago the old gates we're
still standing at Temple Bar to divide the City
from Westminster At Warwick Castle the
drawbridge is stn lowered every night. In
some of the cities of Southern Spain watch
men, armed with spears and oil lamps. still
proclaim the time Of night and the state Of
the weather. The Miracle" OF the Sacred Fire
remains an annual spectacle at Eastertide In
the Church OF the Holy Sepulchre that is In
Jerusalem.
The world. as though conscious OF the ugli-
less OF 30 much that is modern. stiil clngs to
old customs and institutions even when they
are absurd. That is why klngship survives.
The house OF Haspburg has been ruling in
Europe since the thirteenth century in Ger
inany as wei. as Austria for part Of the time:
the rule o: tao iiohenzollerns dates from 1871.
Oc=iren. CoJqt Berthold is said to have
Urigisa.cd 81 rnu eleventh centurv ne House
Of savoy .aa: Governs Italy. In spain. we
ind the ubigu tDus Hapsburgs and the Bour-
bons sharing rule Hohonzollern Is In
Gumania and the distan sire In Greece. A
Princess OF the Hohenzollern house the
mother OF King Albert Of Belgium. Ferdinand
Of Bulgaria has Coburg and Bourbon blood.
system OF inter-marriage has retained
lower In the hands Of a few houses but nature
nldisposed toward inbreeding and mas
courged the cunning Of kings with insanity
md disease While democracy has Grown ia
iature and in vision. while Il has been claim
hg is own place In the sun. the small priv
lecd class has diminished physically. mentally.
morally, but stlu clinEs desperately 20 lace
here are a few brilliant exceptions. Albert
Belgium for example. but Hapsburgs Hohen
Dllcrns. COburgs and Burbous are. generally
fpeaking longer qualified from any stand
point rule the destinies OF free peoples
fhey are a little better than Wcll-connectet
tnarchrOnisms. avid OF the power that Is pass
ing from them and ready 60 make any sacri
nee that their subjects are capable Of maklnl
IN order that theiF tmetarnishod prestige maj
shine again.
The wishes Of their people are the last thinr
20 be considered by autocratic m0narchH. The,
VII not stand in The scale against the interests
or heir relatives. and in the courts OF Europl
"a D. hard 90 ind a ruler who is not a cousin
or some sort 90 an his fellow sovereiFns Jeai
0uiy. ambition. OBJ report, dyspepsia. disease
ocmcniia. any one of these evils II 90 be backed
~ greed, may avail tO plunge innocent nation
INTO the bell Of war Forces that sway "A re
public are powerlcss I'M an absolute monarch,
or in one where scrgllify and orthodoxy sfriv,
hand in hand. There are few Furopaan ruler
Who have half me saracity OF the chief adviser
M %SCCel -