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Show i ' 1 Groundless Apprehensions IT is said that the last hours of England's late king were disturbed by forebodings oi trouble i to come to the royal family; partly because of the late warfare on the House of Lords, partly because of the peculiar disposition of him who Is , now George V.; partly because of the unrest of the ' English people, and finally because of apprehen- I sions of what his nephew, the present emperor of i Germany may have in his mind to do. k At we see it, whatever elpe the sentiment of the English people may lead to, the offices of ffl, king and of the lords of that country are not in : danger. An occupant of either office may be punished pun-ished for wrong doing, but the office is safe. "When seven hundred years ago the stormy barons circled around the sullen and false-hearted King John and wrung from him magna charta, they simply sim-ply demanded their rights; they did not trench in the least upon his. Again, after the foolish Charles had declined to convene parliament for eleven years, running the kingdom his own way, the people under Cromwell took him prisoner and placed him on trial, convicted and beheaded him. The charge against him was that he had denied de-nied the people their chartered rights, and when this was established, they speedily put him out of the way, but they did not disturb his office. They did not organize a republic; rather, while insisting upon their own rights, they respected every right which 'pertained to the office of sovereign. sov-ereign. It will be the same way in the future. They may abolish the house of lords, for that is but a detail, but they will not question the titles of the lords themselves. There are many reasons for this. They believe the form of their government is nearer perfect than any other ever devised by man. They believe, be-lieve, further, in fully rewarding eminent services rendered their country in every useful field. When the Duke of Wellington came home from Waterloo, they gave Um a lofty title, a great estate es-tate and a great chest of gold. When a lawyer reaches the eminence in his profession which singles him out to be a judge of their great court, they pay him a princely salary. sal-ary. They do this for ample reasons. One is to lift him above the petty cares which wear out so many lives. That leaves him free to devote all his time to his office, and then it takes from him the temptation to dishonor his office for money. Moreover, More-over, it is a notice to every young 'barrister in the kingdom, that If he can become great enough in his profession, his country will recognize and reward him. The result Is that every young soldier In the army keeps in mind how it fared with Wellington and Marlborough; no young poet, but compares his lines with some of Tennyson's, and whispers to himself: "He was made a Lord for his work." Should George V. prove as unworthy as did more than one George before him; should he trench enough on the rights of his people, they might rise up and depose him, but they would put another king in his place, for the dream of earning and obtaining a title of nobility is the sweetest dream that ever comes to the average Englishman. As to the fear of what the Kaiser may some time do, that is idle, for the Kaiser is a most level-headed man, one of the last in the world to attempt impossibilities. |
