Show ROYAL FRIENDSHIPS I i j fThc amenities of sovereigns arc of leas s Importance nowadays than they were In the times of the Irrevocable Pnsl The ultimate policies of state are controlled by commercial rathsr than dynastic Intctcsts by jiailonal nnd rnclartiniiuthlita u uUnpllpathlcH JOther than by die frlcndsKlpsot royal families Bearing these fuels In mind ° ne will not bo nptto exaggerate the I S significance of the exchange of cour I teelea between King Kdwonl and his imperialGerman nephew It doe6 not follow because the kaiser has been made u British Field Marshal and the I vng a German Admiral that the armies arm-ies and pavles of the greatest powers on land nndsca respectively will hero after act In alliance for offense and de fense Nevertheless the Intimacy be tween the sovereign houses of Great Britain and Germany cannot fall to be i I reflected In the future relations be I tvcen the nations over whom they I reign In Germany particularly the I 1 sovereign wields a mighty Inllnenou on I j public h Opinion and the entcntu between I 1 tho kaiser and King Edward cannot i but be aidful In removing the1 asperity I I J of the filings entertained by Germans for their British cousins and It would be singular If the fashion of being eoort fri inds with Germany having been set by the King should not bo j adoptefl by British society Of course commercial rivalry will S remain a source of irritation It makes a considerable difference however Whether a commercial nival be regarded merely as i a persistent competitor or as a dangerous enemy and this la the difference which Is likely to bo effected In i the points of view of the two nations by the rapprochement of their rulers Moreover in ono respect royal friendships friend-ships still have a considerable bearing upon International affairs While cly attic are no longer equivalent to po litical and military alllancqa for oWens and defense the Inner councils of the related sovereign families of Europe have l more often harmonized differences differ-ences between states and exerted restraints re-straints upon the Impetuously inclined members of the conclaves than ono i coulcj Infer from the published documents docu-ments of the foreign offices Working in i secret as they do it will be Impossible fl Im-possible estimate the weight of their Influence i until the royal archives allah have been laid open to t the historians of 1 fifty or one hundred years hence It has been sumlsed and it Is probably true that the admonitions of Queen Victoria were Instrumental in avert ing i war between Germany and France In i J875 and In preventing clashes of arms on Bother momentous occasions That her voice was raised for peace when the kaisers telegram to Presi dent Kruger caused the mobilization of the British reserve ficet may confident J I I ly i be presumed Thus while no longer an active force in world politics dynastic dy-nastic Influence remains a sedative of Incalculable i value The mutual understanding under-standing bQtwccn the King and the falser would be a priceless gain for Great Britain If It should accomplish nothing more than the termination of the recurrent mutterings of continental anglophoblsts about an antiBritish European coalition and that the royal friendship will act like wet blanket on the ardor of the Chauvinists of France and Russia goes without saying An antiBritish coalition without Germany would be like the play ofHamlet with the title part omitted Philadelphia Philadel-phia Record i |