Evening star., 1927-11-22

/ NhiS HtS VI Tie IOIuen f1eoce, at
tention. There will be a general mus.
ter in Barcelona. Spain, in 1929, at
! which all Kings and ex-Emperors,
knights ex-officio, will be present in
full regala-scarlet and purple. Also
all presidents of republics of Europe
| perhaps of the world.
AT that happy reunion, such as the
world has not known since the reign
of Charles Quint. in the sixteenth
century, there will be a grand march,
headed by former Emperor Wilhelm
| ii. late of the German Empire, and by
war President POincare of France and
ex-President Loubet of that same
country. How the "buddies" will cele.
brate the happy reunion! The Kings
of Belgium. Great Britain, Italy,
Spain and Germany!
What delicate question must be
solved by the ma jordomo Of King AL.
fonso's castle in deciding the prece.
dence of the royal and presidential dig.
| nltaries! Shall mere plebeian presi.
| dent walk in advance of his ma iesty
by divine right?
King Alfonso will preside over the
congress of the Knights of the Golden
Fleece, for he is commander of the
order in Spain. Who today is the
commander of the order in Austria is
a mystery. For the order now is
twins, half being Spanish and half
| Austrian, where originally it was one
great order for the protection of the
state and church."
What church, while Wilhelm II and
knights? What state, since todav all
royal and elected heads of kingdoms
and republics of Europe are members?
And why is it called the Golden
Fleece when it processes to have no
intention to fleece" anybody?
Perhaps no incident of modern times
has so clearly empha sized the tremen-
| dOus change in world Statorrsft as
does this announcement that in 1929
an attempt is to be made in that most
backward of European kingdoms,
Spain, to revive the pomp and circlm-
stance of glorious royalty and bring
back the trappings of the age of chiv.
airy.
| Time was when Kings of Europe
| maintained q community of their own,
quite apart from the life of the masses.
All Kings addresse1 each other as
| Dear cousin" and, in fact, most of
them were actually cousins by birth
| Their subjects lived in al..ther world,
or rather were born into this world
only to serve the interest o. the
whims of their royal sovereisns, un-
elected and ruling by divine right.
The World War brought into vivid
| horror the divisions which had risen
in the aims and purposes of the
knights of the Golden F'le ce, for in
stead of a union of strength to defend
the thrones and protect the Papal
Church. which two aims were the
| ostensible ideals of the original order,
one group of knights in con.
spiracy to conquer the other knights
and with them conquer and rule the
world.
Fl. G. Wells. the historian, nov.
elist and socialistic dreamer, fore.
tells in his Outlines of History" an
early achievement of Wilhelm 8
vision, when all the world will be
under one rulership, whether royal
or republican. But he depicts condi.
tlons precedent to that development
FIRST, the world must repudiate all
present prejudices and attain com.
mon level of education-Darkest
Africa and New York for example.
All must abandon their present re.
hglons. and all religions will be
| hlelseu INTO new one, "Slmpllfied,'
so that 1t will be neither Christian
nor Buddhist, nor Mohammedan nor
Jewish. Perhaps Mr.. Wells knows
just what his own faith is going to
be, or possibly the knights of the
Golden Fleece will devise a creed
which will embody the essence of all
creeds-if such is conceivable by Law.
| men.
Then all national patriotism will
be out of order, for there will be
no nations, and all the world will be
one-but whether one republic or one
empire under Me und gott" is not
yet clear. and cannot be asserted
until castles in Spain" open :heir
portals and lower their drawbridses
1t has not been officially indicated
that the United States will have
even an observer" at the conclave
Of the knights, although President
Coolidge and former President Taft
are eligibles as KNIGHTS. Perhans not