The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-12-04

.ionipert' helr 10 the throne, born on September
10. 1904, and Princess Giovanni, born in 1907.
Inc then prince of Naples entered the Italian
army in 1887 as sublieutenant; he became colonel
In 1890, major general two years later, lieutenant
general In 1894 and general in command of the
forces at Naples In 1897.
King Victor Emmanuel is honorary doctor nj
laws of the universities of oxford and Pennsyl-
vania, honorary commander in several foreign
armies a knight of the Garter and an authority
on numismatics. A volume publit he by him on
this subject was recently crowned by the Institute
of France.
An exceptionally happy incident. which has
made its due impression on a people of such
artistic tastes as the Italians, was the recent dis
covery, or, rather, rediscovery, of a war lyric by
one OF ltalys great poets, which is being adopted
as appositely made for the present struggle.
When Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia had under
taken the redemption Of Italian provinces, over
half a century ago. Giosue Carducci had com.
posed a noble poem, with the title ITO the King
A National Song" By sons strange fate 1t was
neglected and then forgotten.
It's every line is today appropriate to the work
of redemption of Italian provinces undertaken by
Victor Emmanuel III.
War Fixes the Nations Attention.
The kings name should not be banded about,
is the declaration of an Italian writer, made in
the Tribune. The marvels of activity, of courage,
OF abnegation, of heroic and smiling fatherliness
shown by King Victor Emmanuel, says this writer,
marvels constantly renewed and constantly ris-
ing to heights unattained by others, have now be-
come like the pure air one breathes and the pure
SKY one contemplates for the calming of fears
and the exaltation of the spirit. 1t is impossible
to succeed in giving adequate account of them
and 1t is dangerous to weave a crown of anec-
dotes.
Some might be led to form a mental picture
of the king through an anecdote which should not
and cannot be regarded otherwise than as a
symbol.
Let lis how reverentIv ba soys Io+
to build up images that would only be inferiori-
tes' that would sound as ordinations. Let us
keep in our heart with regard to the king a re-
ligious sense, a mystic feeling.
In a correspondence from the front a noted
French writer, Mr.. Jean Carrere, after describing
the kings life in the field, dwells upon the de.
gree to which Victor Emmanuel has become popu-
lar with his army and his people.
Before the war, he says, Victor Emmanuel was
profoundly respected by all, admired by those who
mad the honor to approach him, beloved by those
around him, but, perhaps, in the precise and
broader sense of the word, he was not absolutely
popular. This, be 1t remarked, for reasons which
are profoundly to the honor of the monarch. In
order to be popular in the time of peace a SOW.
ereign must have certain external forms of ex.
uberance. a certain prediction for pomp and
show and, If one may adopted a modern term. a
certain capacity for bluff" All these were re-.
pugnant to the straightforward, sincere and tn
some extent democratic nature of the king Of
Italy. He would certainly never have consented
10 lend himself to any of those displays and
theatricanties by which certain other sovereigns
loved to put themselves In evidence.