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Show NEW RULER FORMALLY PROCLAIMED AS KING By Associated Press. LONDON, May 7. "The king is dead. Long live tho king!" The transition from Edward VII. to George V. as king of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India is now complete. King George V. was formally proclaimed pro-claimed as successor to the throne at 1 o'clock this evening. The ceremony wns impressive, occurring in tho throno room ot St. James palace in tho presence pres-ence of the privy council under the presidency of tho Earl of Crewe. The mourning features were for tho time being act aside, and King George nppeared in tho uniform of an admiral, ad-miral, whilo the distinguished gathering of privy councilors and officers of tho court wero in lovee dress and wore the regalia and decorations of thoir high orders. The proclamation of kingship was a sonorous documont conferring upon the new sovereign all tho attributes of a rulor which his father had possessed. pos-sessed. Tho response of King George was marked by deep omotion as he solemnly affirmed his purpose to fulfill ful-fill to tho host of his ability the gTcat trust reposed in him. Tho oath was administered to the king by tho lord chancellor. Following a custom, the members of tho cabinet who wero present tendered their formal resignations to tho new rulor, who at onco returned tho resignations unacted upon. Thereupon tho inombor3 of the cabinet and the privy councilors kissed the king's hand, according to the traditional tra-ditional customs, to signifj- allegiance to the new ruler. King Goorge drove in simple fashion back to Marlborough house without tho military escort and pomp which has characterized royal functions of lato yearB. The funeral of King Edward has not yet been set, but it is belioved he will bo buried at Frogmore in about ten days. Now King on the Throne. With today's ceremony and in his forty-fifth year tho second son born to King Edward VII. and Queen Alcxnn dra becomrs tho ruler of tho United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland nnd of tho British dominions beyond tho seas, king, defender of the laith and emperor of India. , . Tho tolling of tho great bell in St. Paul's cathodral at minute intervals between 5 and 0 o'clock this morning, an office performed only for tho sovereign sover-eign and the archbishops of Canterbury Canter-bury and York, conveyed to countless thousands of Londoners and suburbanites suburban-ites tho first intimation of tho death of King Edward VII. Crowds coming into tho city on early trainB proceded toward Buckingham palace and by 9 o'clock an immense stream of peoplo was slowly filing past the front of tho building with its drawn blinds, aTound to the west end of the palace to gaze on the windows of tho chamber where tho body of tho dead king was lying. On tho bulletin board was still pinned tho shoot of foolscap with its tidings of the momentous evont Bcrawlcd hurriedly in a dozen words and this waB another center of interest inter-est for the throng, each of whom Boemod doterniinoa to read with his own eyes tho official announcemnt. Over tho palaco tho royal standard was half-masted, but except for this, and the frequent coming and going of officials and attendants at tho palaco, thero was littlo outward ovidence ot tho passing away of tho great king. Alexandra Is Brave. Queen Alexa'ndTa iB bearing up bravely. Sho had breakfast as usual in her own apartments today. Members or tho royal household attended at-tended a special servico in tho privato chapel of tho palaco nt an early hour. The denth or his majesty has causod a general suspension of business and the abandonment of all racq meetings and other sports, public gaieties and. privato entertainments. Tho theatres have ben closed today and the law courts took a recess as a token of respect. re-spect. Everywhere throughout tho country flags woro placed at half mast on pub'lic. buildings, warships and ship- Sing, whilo church bellB sounded the oleful news. Early today it was stated that Georgo V, would bo proclaimed king from the steps of tho royal exchaugo at 2:30 o'clock this afternoon. Subsequently Subse-quently it wap found impossibio to get the privy councillors together so early and the meeting with tho now king in the throne room of St, .Tames palaco was postponed until 4 o'clock this aft trnoon. Summons wero Bent to all tho councillors, but only a small proportion of them wero noar enough to tho city to attend tho ceremony of hearing the king's oath and declaring their allegiance alle-giance to the now monarch. Following the mooting of tho privy councillors with the king tho proclama- tion of the accession of George V. was puhlicly mado by heralds and their pursuivants to the accompaniment of a fanfare of txumpcters in the qund-rnnglo qund-rnnglo of tho palaco nnd repeated in Charing Cross, tho Royal Exchange, Temple Bar and Cheapsido. The American feeling rogarding tho death of King Edward was in accordance accord-ance with cabled instructions from Secretary Knox, expressed this morning morn-ing to Sir Edward Grey, secretary of stato for foreign affairs, by American Embassador Rcid, in tho following let-tor: let-tor: "Sir: My government instructs mo to express to you and through you to the British government and people tho sincero and profound sympathy of tho president, rAo government and tho peoplo peo-plo of tho United States in tho loss of their British kinsmen of a ruler so beloved be-loved and so ;jiietly distinguished among all tho nations of tho earth for his wisdom and kindliness und for tho influence of theno high qualities in bo-half bo-half of all that is best. "I havo tho honor to bo, with highest high-est consideration, eir, your most obedient obe-dient and humblo servant, "W11ITELAW REID." |