Evening star., 1936-12-10
Romance Affects World
History Making Decision Is Forced by Englands
Crisis Over Love.

King took the oficial first step. there
may have been an unofdcial first step
preceding. Conceivably 1t may be that
the prime minister spoke to the King
informally about the gossip and news
paper uproar arising from his asso-
citation with Mrs. Simpson. And 1t
may be that thereupon the King said
that while he expected to marry Mrs.
Simpson, he did not expect to make
her Queen. Maybe 1t was then the
King asked the prime minister and
Parliament to pass the legislation
which would enable him TO do this.
If all this seems to be disquisition
on a very fine point, the answer Is
that In the crisis as a whole, every
thing depends on who is in the right
in the right in a constitutional sense.
The basic question is whether, in all
matters, the existing division Of
prerogative between King and Parlia-
ment shall continue. In one outcome,
Parliament may retain all its powers
and prerogatives. In another. the
King may succeed in taking away
that is. in getting back for the
monarchy-some of the powers the
monarchy was deprived of centuries
ago. And If the King has the force
OF personality and the popular sup
port to get back the very considerable
power Of making any one he chooses
Queen of England and Empress of
the Dominions-with that start, he
might get back greater and greater
powers.
Personal Rule Gaining.
In the present state of the world,
the fundamental question of organized
society everywhere is whether parlia-
mentary government shall survive One
OF Hitler's subordinates the other day.
justifying his dictator, said. I'VE have
brushed aside that institution called
a Parliament" Everywhere, parlia-
mentary government is waning,
personal government rising. parlia-
mentary government means govern
ment by the people, exercised through
their domocratically chosen repre-
sentatives. Personal government Is
government by dictators. Everywhere,
peoples are called upon to choose
between the two.
If now parliamentary government
suffers a breach in Britain, it will be
serious breach indeed, for 1t was in
England that parliamentary govern.
ment arose and grew. England is the
parent Of parliamentary government
and, with the United States, the pres
ent chief exemplar of it. II parlia-
mentary government recedes in Eng
land, the battle may be lost in the
world. That the beneficiary of the
new alignment in Britain would be
the hereditary monarch is a striking
fact, but not a difference in principle.
1t would merely be that while Ger
many, Italy and other countries get
their dictators through opportunism,
England would make its start toward
absolutism by turning back toward
dynastic succession.
May Change World.
If the quantity of print and talk
about two persons in love seems great.
no writer needs to apologize; no read
er needs to feel he Is letting himself
be occupied with triviality. The valu-
alton is sound that crowds from the
front page the Spanish civil war and
President Roosevelt's moves toward
international peace. No matter what
happens from now on, the King and
Mrs. Simpson have changed the course
OF the world. It is not extravagant
to say that practically every person in
the world, and endless generations
still unborn, will live lives different
because of the wish of a 42-year-old
Englishman to marry a 40-year-
lady born inconspicuously in Balti-
more, U. S. A. Government every
where will be modified. in one direc-
ton or the other. depending upon
whether parliamentary government
keeps its power or the King triumphs.
(Copyright. 1850