Year: 1872

The PRINCE OF WALBs.-lt Is not SAID
that he was vicious, but only dull, and
absolutely self-indulgent. After all, we
must have great pity for kings and princes
who are born so highly. They breathe
incense. They feed on fattery. They
have not the chance of hearing and of
knowing the truth that the rest of us
have. The poor little princess. Of whom
it is told that she said if the people did
not have bread, she wondered that they
did not cat cake, Of course never said it.
But the force of the story is its natural
ness. There was no reason why she
should not have said it, because there
was every reason why she should have
thought it. The sting of tho story is not
left in the princess, but in those who
make the system of which the princess is
part. So to the thoughtful spectator
there was something sad and significant
in the career Of this young man. He was
really the head of an extraordinary and
ng-enduring political system. Without
any merit Of his own, and by the mere
chance of his birth, he was an essential
part of the British monarchy. He was
"the king" of the constitution, and with
the Lords and Commons he composed
political England.


The tragedy Of his position was not
that he was to be king without single
royal attribute, because of England is a
name merely-a mere ceremony. His
sole function is to obey under the mask
of commanding. His majesty's pleasure
in England means the will of Parliament;
and if his majesty ventures to interpolate
his own individuality, his majesty must
mediate Charles the martyr and beware.
The misfortune was not, therefore, that
a man who was not kingly was to be king,
but that he was part of a system which
required an illusion that he could not
supply, and not only that he could not
supply, but which he constantly dissipat-
ed. A monarchical system, or consti-
tutional government with permanent
executive, may endure as long as tradi.
tion of loyalty or romantic and imagina.
tive regard for certain family survives,
and as long as the system is not thought
to be extravagantly expensive. A head
of the system, therefore, who impresse,
the popular imagination confirms and
perpetuates it. The illusion become.
for the time a reality. A manly, modest
sagacious, courteous king not only satisfies
the imagination, but he may also become
a real part Of the system by the legiii
mate influence of his good sense upon al
ministration.


But as the world grows, the glamour
Of royalty necessarily vanishes. Restored
for moment by the dazzling qualities O
a really superior man surprisingly borr
to crown, it is constantly worn away
by the course Of civilization itself. Th'
press, the telegraph, the photograph, art
material agencies in this work. Nor
than all, one great, prosperous, and pow
erful republic, a government by elected
officers without regal fctions of any kind
is forever weakening the monarchica
system. At last it must prove its great
cr cheapness. 1t becomes mere ques


ton of money, of relative expense. I'm


agination and tradition help it no more
AS Shakespeare's roistering prince wa
brought like common vagabond bcfor
the court for trial, SO royalty itself j
placed at the bar of public opinion, an'
; ordered like suspected grocer to shoy
J its accounts.