But the things already conceded by the House of Lords constitute a vast measure of reform; and between what the radicals will insist upon and what the Lords have conceded, there must lie some reasonable middle ground that can be determined with the good-will of the new King and the approval of the nation. The discussion that the details of this adjustment must yet evoke will doubtless be absorbing and at times rather violent. But in so far as the situation has merited the use of the word "crisis," it has already been met, and there remains only that normal process of adjustment that is always going forward in a country that governs itself by discussion and by the pendulum swings of party change. THE NEW KING AND HIS MOTHER, THE DOWAGERQUEEN ALEXANDRA also voted, almost unanimously, that the time has come for a change in its own structure; and it has recognized the principle that the holding of a peerage ought not to carry with it a seat and a vote in one of the lawmaking chambers. It is not, indeed, to be expected that the House of Lords will meekly consent to be annihilated; nor will it readily accept a reform as sweeping as the radical wing of the Liberal party would demand. SONS OF THE KING SALUTING, AFTER PROCLAMATION OF NEW REIGN bility of serious trouble. Doubtless the House of Lords will remain in some form, having for its nucleus those really able and patriotic statesmen whose absence from an upper chamber would be a calamity. King George succeeds King Edward with universal good-will, and with even less misgiving than when King Edward succeeded Queen Victoria. All the machinery of British gov THE KING IN UNIFORM ernment goes on as smoothly as did our own governmental machinery when Vice-President Roosevelt succeeded President McKinley, or when President Taft succeeded President Roosevelt. King George is a man of mature years, stable character, and conscientious devotion to the responsibilities that lie before him. It is not possible to believe that he will exert unwise influences upon the course of domestic affairs in British government and life, and it is not less hard to believe that he will undo any of the tactful and useful work performed by his father before him in making friends for England among the powers of Europe and promoting the cause of international peace. King George knows the colonies especially well and grew up in the British navy. His devotion to the colonial empire and to England's sea power must, of course, have some bearing upon the directions in which his influence will be exerted. Mr. Stead has written for us an unusually interesting analysis of the character of the new King, and an admirable tribute to the usefulness of the late King Edward. When Mr. Stead, with his radical proclivities, can write as he does (see page 682) upon these two successive heads of the English reigning family, one may fairly infer that there is no longer any republicanism in England that seriously contemplates an abolition of the monarchy. closer to the mass of the serious-minded British people than was the pleasure-loving Edward at any time in his career. England and Germany PROCLAIMING THE NEW KING IN FRONT OF THE LAW COURTS, IN THE STRAND above the horizon of practical statesmanship the question of independence for the great self-governing colonies, namely, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. These countries know King George, are aware of his interest in them, and accept him in a spirit of loyalty that is more than formal. They will believe, unless they have strong evidence to the contrary, that their interests are quite as dear to him as those of the United Kingdom. It would seem natural that King George might be inclined toward the views of those who would imperialize the House of Lords in the process of reforming it, that is to say, he might favor bringing into it some representation, however limited, from the great Englishspeaking colonies. Thus from the standpoint of British affairs in the large sense it might seem reasonable to hold the view that King Edward is succeeded, not for the worse, but for the better,-inasmuch as King George is incomparably better acquainted than his father was with the British Empire and the world at large, while in personal habits and in actual acquaintance he is much The change on the throne comes at a time when the British Empire is on terms of peace and amity with the whole world. It is true that England has suffered recently from an acute hysterical mania due to the curious delusion that Germany is making elaborate preparations for an immediate invasion of the island kingdom. The English newspapers have been filled with wild outbursts against Germany; and every German waiter in a London restaurant has been eyed with suspicion as a spy or a member of an advance German military corps a quarter of a million strong, with arms and ammunition concealed and ready to seize London at a moment's notice. Meanwhile, there has been no feeling in Germany of a corresponding sort, and no more thought of invading England than of bombarding New York. It is usually a condition of exceptional freedom from foreign complications that permits a comfortable, somewhat overfed Britain and America The relations between Great nation, like the English, to indulge in the of the type of the Florida, launched by our luxury of a war-scare. The way to under- Government at the Brooklyn Navy Yard last stand it is to study the alarm expressed in month. The question becomes acute. certain quarters in the United States over the supposed intention of Japan to capture the Philippines and Hawaii and bombard San Francisco. The last thing in the world Japan has in mind is to attack the United States; and the last thing on the program of possible German operations is an attack upon either England or America. Germany is becoming one of the greatest of maritime commercial powers, and means to have a navy suited to her position as an international merchant. The sooner England gives up the idea that she must build at least two monstrous battleships every time Germany or the United States builds one, the easier it will be to arrive at some agreement among the nations for limiting military and naval expenditure. King George is a naval authority; and his cousin, the Emperor William, who has made him a visit of condolence and who attended the funeral of Edward on May 20, is also a master of naval problems. The greatest service these two monarchs could render the world just now would be to find a way to end the craze for building battleships have never been more agreeable than at this moment when a new sovereign begins his reign. No communication between our State Department and the British foreign office for a number of years past has used the sharp tone of earlier days, or has been even controversial in its nature. The Alaska boundary question was a delicate and dangerous one, but we settled it in a decent way and it is now forgotten. Our right to control our own canal across the Panama Isthmus, and to protect it with any defensive works we deem suitable, has England's entire approval. The last outstanding question of any importance has to do with the rights of our fishermen of the North Atlantic coast, and that is just on the point of settlement by arbitration at The Hague. Senator Elihu Root, of New York, and the other lawyers of the group who are to present the case of the United States before the arbitrators sailed on May 21. They will find arrayed against LAUNCHING THE "FLORIDA," BROOKLYN NAVY YARD, ILLUSTRATING THE RAPID EXPANSION OF NAVAL STRENGTH AND EXPENDITURE Photograph taken May 21.-Copyright by the American Press Association, N. Y. From Left to Right: Robert Lansing, Watertown, N. Y.; Dr. James Brown Scott, Solicitor of the State Department; Hon. Charles B. Warren, Detroit, Mich.; Hon. Samuel J. Elder, Boston, Mass.; Hon. George Turner, Spokane, Wash.; Mr. Chandler P. Anderson, New York, and Senator Elihu Root. AMERICAN COUNSEL EMBARKING FOR THE HAGUE TO ARGUE THE FISHERIES CASE them a dazzling galaxy of English, Canadian, and Newfoundland jurists. The five arbitrators, selected from the permanent Hague Court, are all eminent international law authorities and comprise an Austrian, a South American, a Dutchman, an Englishman, and an American. The member from this country is Judge George Gray and the Englishman is Sir Charles Fitz Patrick. The subject is a complex one, and it is not easy to carry the points of the controversy in one's memory. A full and frank statement of it all is made for our readers this month by an able Newfoundland writer, Mr. P. T. McGrath (see page 718). There ought to be a broad and radical change in the commercial relations of the United States and Canada, and it is to be hoped that the near future may see a much greater freedom of trade across the boundary line than has existed in recent times. But it is worth noting, meanwhile, that relationships between Canada and the United States under the McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft administrations have shown a tendency to grow more intimate and neighborly than ever before. Adverse tariffs cannot prevent growth of trade with Canada. Mr. Roosevelt Ambassador The plans that had been made. as Special for entertaining Mr. Roosevelt were modified by reason of the death of King Edward. The etiquette of court mourning changed the German program, but in a quiet and unofficial way the American guest probably had better opportunity to confer with the Emperor and with German public men than if the time of his stay in Berlin had been all taken up with the more formal entertainments that had been proposed. Mr. Roosevelt's address at the University of Berlin was given as previously scheduled, but his last formal address abroad, which was to have been given at the University of Oxford on May 18, was postponed until June 7. While at Berlin Mr. Roosevelt received a message from President Taft asking him to represent the United States as special ambassador at the funeral of the English King. Thus fate gave an official character to Mr. Roosevelt's advent upon English soil, and brought him into relation with the remarkable group of royal and titled personages who had come to dignify the obsequies of one king and to extend the hand of brotherly greeting to another. |