Evening star., 1936-12-05
Edward Wildcats?
Keeping Throne and His Love, Too, Might Topple
Popular Rule in England.

Job. Taking It involves certain 90.
legations.
A British King must live up to
certain duties. Affirmative and mega
tive. certain performances and alb
stinences. Some Of these obliga tions
are in the area of the unenforceable-
and are therefore the more obliga-
tory, upon every person and much
more upon a king. It il obedience to
the unenforceable that makes the
world go round. keeps society a going
concern. All OF us practice 1t. as a
rule unconsciously and instinctively.
Men do the decent thing" They
practice courtesy. consideration, self
restraint. respect for the feelings Of
others regard for the standards Of
others. charity for the needs Of others,
and many additional virtues for the
breach OF which there Is no prison
term on any statute book.
Even in the area of the so-called
enforceable. OF formal law. most Of
US submit not because of the threat
ened force, but because of sense OF
right. For one man who refrains
from stealing because Of fear Of Jail,
10000 refrain because Of inner stand.
ards of decency. I think the essay.
which I cannot now fully remember,
made the point that that civilization
is the highest in which the largest
area of rule Is unenforceable, the
smallest area Is written into statute
One Of the considerable number Of
things that are amiss in the world Is
the increasing disposition to rely upon
force, to try to enforce the unen-
forceable, to pass a law"
True. David Edward can retort that
he didn't take" the job-it was wished
on him by inheritance. But he did
take II. IN the sense that if he didn't
want it he could have declined it. let
it pass to his younger brother. In
fact. he did take" the job. and Is
about to make his taking formal.
through the ceremony of coronation.
Conspicuously, rather hagrantly. he is
trying to take the crown and have
the lady too.
Consider the Alternative.
However. perhaps we can bring this
excursion into royal romance back into
the more sustere field Of government
which Is the usual provinces Of this
column. Consider the effect OF the
alternative outcomes.
Suppose the King abdicates. That
would be triumph for tradition,
yielding to convention. As such. it
would be step in the direction oppo-
site to that in which the world is mov-
ing. 1t might make for stability. for
conservatism.
Suppose the King follows the other
course. takes the crown and the lady
both. That would involve, apparently,
resignation OF the cabinet and a gen.
eral election in England. Suppose he
gets away with it," suppose the peo-
Pile support him. That would mean 4
very bizarre thing. 1t would mean
increase in the prestige Of the crown.
decrease in the authority OF cabinet
and parliament 1t would be step
toward that personal government
which is now spreading everywhere.
Measurably. the King would make an
advance toward the absolutist con-
ception OF government. Well. If the
world is determined to have dictators.
maybe the hereditary ones are as sat-
isfactory as the opportunist ones
Kaiser Wilhelm could have been no
worse than Hitler-and some OF Will
helms predecessors were infinitely
better than Hitler. Dictatorship mod
ified by the amenities of royalty,
modified by popular regard for hered-
itary monarchy, might be better than
the raw crudities of Hitler, Mussolini
and Stain. Dictatorship achieved by
birth may be better than tatorship
achieved by demagogy and main-
tanned by force.
However, all this is pretty specula-
tive. I warn the reader TO regard it
as no more weighty than an attempt
to write something on the only topic
that, apparently. people want to read
about.
tCopyrtsht, 1881