Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-26
REVOLUTION
IN ENGLAND
British Thinkers Are Beginning
to Wonder How and When
the Monarchy Will
Cease to Be
BY GILBERT VIVIAN 'sELDEs

L Picking the Next One Next what
Revolution. to be sure Nothing has so
excited and unnerved and impressed the
| British mind since the war began as the
revolution in Russia And now they are
looking for the next In Berlin? In Con-
stantinopls2 Iu--well why not London?
why not, indeed? Bernard Shaw said
recently that the British Empire was conn.,
! posed Of many sef-governing parts. one
Of them, and the only one, was governed
without the slightest reference to the char
acter and habits Of the population. That
one is Great Britain. Revolutions are in
! the air Is one likely here?
There are several reasons why a revolu-
! tion is unlikely some Of them on the sur
face like the well. known and exaggerated
British tradttoualism, and some deeper,
like the question Of India l have heard it
| said that the present monarch before the
war, gave himself until about 1920 to re-
| main on the throne. Since the war began
there has heen an amount Of applause at
the movies and God Save the King has
been sung and hummcd and played oftcner.
But no one seriously believes that King
George has done a. much for himself as.
say King Albert or Kaiser wilhelm, 1t
wasn't in his power TO do so much.
Republic of Great Britain
At the same time the feeling Of democracy
has crystallized In a pamphlet which was
sent to me a few weeks ago I read first Of
the British Empire, then Of the British COM
monweath, later Of the British democracy,
and finally. quite casually, Of this republic
Of ours" 1 have no reason to believe that
the author desired to overthrow the king
ship He meant merely that this country
was a republic and might as well be called
so.
But if the monarchy has not increased
its prestige, it has not had the opportunity
TO make mistakes The day after the Rus
! sian revolution you could have seen and
| heard many outbursts Of anger The ques-
| tion Of food and the question of taxes were
| apparently worrying people But it was
| the ministry or It's predecessor or the Coun-
| ty Council that was held to blame, The
| Briton thinks seldom Of his ruling family
when he is met by distasteful action on
the part Of the Government,
|
| Russian revolution all had an undertone
| Of envy In structure Russian republic
would leave Britain struggling far behind
| as a democratic nation. Russia and France
| and the United States would he the three
| great demoCracies People at these meet
| ings, hard-headed business men, men and
women with accents which spoke Of the
counting house and the market place, have
spoken to me lightly Of "our turn next"
! Their chief grudge against the royal fam
iy seems to be a matter Of pounds and
pence The monarchy is supposed TO be
useless and to cost much. There is a lit
tie talk Of the nobility--not much. The
nobility has done It's share in this war.
One Of the best republicans I know here
gave me his reasons today for not believing
that a revolution" Vas coming. His first
point was that there was no acute tyranny
and no blazing wrong to start with He
quoted me the famous lines about the Ma
poleonic wars, when THE House Of Lords
| throughout the war did nothing in particu-
Jar and did it mighty well'-only he ap-
| piled it to the royal house.
And then. you see, after all, the King
does make difference in our politics. He
| doesn't count-Eood enough. But people
do not feel quite the same about electing
| a member who will in turn have something
TO do with the character of the Prime Min
istcr as they would about electing a Presi-
dent That is where you can talk about
our British stubbornness, 1t would not be
the new form which we would object to-
but something different i'm the spirit Don't
forget that Victoria did have something to
do with choosing her Premers and that
Edward VII had an influence on his, and
II is said, King George has had bit to do
with the personnel even Of the present Min
istry We do not want TO give our King
mower But. Illogical as 1t is, We rejoice
a little in the powers we have left him.
Uses of the Monarchy
"The monarchy had a use in another
way, and that is in a way which we are not
likely to lose sight Of. Because-short of a
} wild and improbable popular rebellion-it
the monarchy goes il will go because the
House of Commons holds the door open
. and points the way. And in the House
We have to consider not Great Britain
! but the FIVE domnious and India. We
aren't looking forward to dissolution as a
result Of this war, 30 you think the In
dian troops together with our Lancashire
t regiments took Bagdad simply to prepare
q the day when India ard Lancashire will not
, he interested in each others existence? NJ
fear We are coming closer together. And
the King will never he pure hgureheat
so long as he is p link. You see, that IS
not a defense But I think it is an eNpla
nation
! with India IN particular, the case Is
+. different from that Of the dOminions Th'
domInions are going to be far more in
dependent and yet far more closely related
to us. That's another matter which ough
TO be Of interest 10 you Americans Bu
1 India Is different We think of it a gooC
deal. l think that most of us feel we hav,
found the right way---it isn't far differsn
from your way Of dealing with backward
peoples, except that we are not in sucn
| dreadful hurry But IN the long and, L
both OF us, painful process Of building up
| self-governing dominion In India we d
reed something to hold India together, IN
cultivated classes feel about the monarch!
(which is the empire there) as we feel abou
IT, For the rest the Emperor is a usefu
| thing,
There you are am a republi
can. II takes a positive philosophical ef
fort on my part 10 sing God Save tn
8 King on the spur Of the moment | can
, | realize that what mean is, God help Brit
= | aim or bless her But / believe that
/ shant see a republic here. II We get on
l. | It will not be quite like yours-we like ou
h ministerial system and we are looking t
| pf nj