Evening star., 1936-12-11
AbD|CAT|ON MOVE
SADDENS PRESS
British Editors Say Choice
Was Between Service
and IndividuaIism.
BY the Associated Press.

LONDON, December 1.-THE Brit
ish press today marked with regret
the abdication Of King Edward VIII.
The London News Chronicle: "The
people felt that Edward had it in
him to be Q great King. But when
the supreme decision came between
personal choice and public duty he
lacked Just the requisite fiber to stay
the tremendous course. It had to be
all or nothing. Only he himself can
ever know the intolerable conflict
within his own breast or what precise
prompting led him at length to the
decision which the whole nation 80
deplores."
The Edinburgh Scotsman: "This
should not have been the end. There
ought to have been q point at which
his majesty himself felt he was tread
ing q dangerous path. Even within
the past week he might have put per-
sonal inclination aside and dedicated
himself anew as his peoples hoped
and wished to the service Of his
country and his empire"
The Birmingham Daily Post: HE
abdicated because In the matter Of
his contemplated marriage he could
neither accept the advice Of his min
isters nor hope that any alternative
ministry would advise him differently,
and because within the area Of the
British commonwealth ministerial ad-
vice on matters of concern to the
state must always prevail"
The Liverpool Post: I'VE have
passed through a dangerous time; We
must try to forget and turn to the
next tasks. Of which there are many
to hand"
The Daily Telegraph: "The price
Of renunciation astounds the world.
A King who had won 50 COM
pletely the affections OF his people
might have asked Of them almost
anything and they would have given
1t with both hands. But there Is al
ways the something which duty must
deny, and it will be the abiding grief
to the thousands who have loved the
King that the one thing he asked, not
merely of his ministers, but through
his ministers Of them, was a marriage
which he deems necessary for his hap
piness, but which they judged to be
disastrous to crown and realm"
The Leeds Mercury: THE personal
tragedy, in whose bitterness we all
share. has. not been allowed to become
. national calamity"
The London Daily Mirror: I'VE
must rally round the Kings successor.
His task Is tremendous We believe
he will face it bravely. 1t is for him
to unite us all again with high sense
Of public duty which may in time
efface the painful memory of these
days of humiliation, anxiety and grief"
The Blackshirt British Fascist
publication): The King has left the
throne. He has left it because poll
ticians faced him with a cruel choice
between the nation and the woman
he loved. We cannot blame the Kings
brother who now assumes the burden
which the King lays down, and he will
receive our loyalty in accord with the
consistent policy Of this movement to
be loyal to the crown not only in fair
weather. but also in foul"
The Londen Times: "They pro-
foundly misunderstood the earlier
signs Of division in this country who
represented 1t as an issue between
the peoples King and a hidebound
set of aristocrats and ecclesiastics. 1t
would be far more accurate to say
that his majesty's circle was too large
ly composed of men and women, some
Of them Of high birth and all of them
remote from the people, who cared
less his his welfare than for their
own amusement.
The real clash was between the
thoughtlessness Of an exotic society
and the hard core of British tradition