Evening star., 1925-08-11
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
KING EDWARD VII. Sir sidney
l.. G.. M.
Lee The Macmillan Company.

hINU EDWAhD VII. Sir Sluney
Lee. The Macmillan Company.
Sixty-five years ago next month
the 20th--a certain English youth
crossed over from Canada to Detroit.
Setting out from this point he began
a tour of the cities of the Middle West
and the East-Chicago, St. Louis, Gin
cinnati, Pittsburgh, Washington, down
to Richmond, then up to Philadelphia
and New York. These cities, along
with the rest of the United States,
have grown and matured amazingly
within the intervening years. Never
theless, there must even at that time
have been much to interest this young
English traveller. He could recall, and
no doubt did, that less than 80 years
before-often. the span of a single life
the United States was no more than
string of seaboard colonies, depend
encies Of the English crown. And he
must also have looked with keen con-
Germ upon the presidential campaign
then in full swing. that in scant six
weeks later named Abraham Lincoln
the head of the republic, precipitating
thereby another war in the name of
human freedom. But not even the
political turmoil of an impending cleo
ton could, wherever he went, divert
from this traveller the crowds who
followed his comings and goings in
free and full evidence of their admira-
ton and friendship. A New York
writer summed the joyous progress of
this young Baron Renfrew: He may
consider himself lucky lad If he es-
cape a nomination for President be-
fore he reaches his homeward bound
fleet" This. the visit Of the Prince of
Wales to the United States in 1860.
Just the other day-60 years or
thereabout after the visit of the prince
who became Edward VII-there came
this way upon much the same errand
of friendship another royal lad. the
grandson of King Edward-himself
now the Prince of Wales. And so
alike are the two in all points OF per-
Sonality, in their equal gift for friend
ship, in modesty and good sense. in
tact and readiness. In their power to
win and charm, that the two seem
like one and the same. The one re-
vival, a temperance of the other
So. reading Sir Sidney Lees Life of
Edward VII" one at a hundred points
of pure personality expressed in char
acteristic acts and attitudes feels that
he is reading, also, parts OF unf1n-
iShed chapters in the life of the King $
grandson, as well-the present Prince
of Wales and future King of England
**
A notable story. this one by Sir Sid
ney Lee A distinct act of crea-
ton besides. Not man-created out
of the dust of the earth, TO be sure.
certain man re-created, instead, in
his own living image out of a huge
bulk of material-documents official
on the one hand, intimate and deeply
revealing on the other. Fragments
in bulk. these, from which to choose
and co ordinate for the complete and
rounded figure, for the true and
living figure of a man set down within
a circuit of activity and influence
that embraced I'm varying emphasis
the wide world itself.
Before this author was the man
himself-as memory, association, the
word of friends. the word of the
world. as rumor and reputation and
something of truth made him-as
these make all men. Out of this mass
Sir Sidney Lee, with his seasoned
knowledge of life. with his knowlege
of human nature in it's various reac-
tionS, set himself to the task of repro
ducing this personality and charac-
ter-fnding the true proportions, COR
recting wrong impressions by way of
the evidence in hand, Strengthening
truth in the same manner, re-eStimat-
ing values, projecting fair and logical
conclusions. This material was the
clay. the colors. with which inspired
,1,~r -
inner truth by way of outer form.
Something after this fashion must
Sir Sidney Lee have worked over the
life of Edward VII up to the time of
his accession TO the throne of
England
From this so competently produced
and deeply interesting book a man
energies. tangible and vivid. One
whose long training and wide ex-
perience and personal temperament
equipped him for kingship at spe-
cially vital juncture of world affairs.
man of political sagacity whose eff
forts were all toward peace through
out the world. A man of keen un-
derstanding and kindly ways Jeal-
ously guarding the prerogatives Of
his high station, he expended himself
freely in many ways for the encour-
agement of the arts and the promo
ton of institutional schemes. A man
of social qualities and with a keen
interest in the sports of England.
This is the ripe period of the Prince
of Wales, period TO whose COM
pletion the author devotes this big
volume OF preparation, pprtraying the
childhood and somewhat harshly re-
stricted youth of the queens eldest
-hn1 f,,i1 i
history is, in sum. the natural and
logical sequence of events applied
to the character and destiny of Ed
ward VII during the years prior to
his lnVestfture as King of England.
X
THE SCHOOL FOR AMBASSADORS.
j. j. Jusserand. G. P. Putnam 8
The former Ambassador of France
to the United States introduces this
general survey of the history of diplo-
macy, with the whimsical suggestion
that diplomacy may at no distant day
fall into direct word-of-mouth com.
| munications between London and
Washington, Paris and Berlin, and SO
on back and forth around the globe,
disposins of international matters
with the increasing celerity of trans
acting all other business. This posi-
bility out of the way, NJ. Jussera nd
reviews diplomacy as one of the old.
Test of the arts of official intercourse
among nations. In evidence of the
long lineage of this art the author
quotes authority to prove that when
Pandora opened the fatefuf box that
released all manner of evil things
upon the world. at that moment arose
the necessity for the institution of
diplomatic relations to supplant the
| ca arlier. more omen ways of wa riding off