It would really seem as if the bickerings and jealousies of the past few years were but a superficial and transient feature in the relations between Great Britain and her Continental rivals, and the true underlying feelings they entertain for her are better gauged by the dignified and even touching expressions which have poured in from every capital in Europe, to say nothing of more remote regions.
To select a few examples may perhaps seem partial; but it is impossible to help expressing one's gratification at the attitude of the French President and the feeling utterances of M. Waldeck-Rousseau and M. Delcasse. Great Britain is so closely knit to France by social intercourse, commercial relations and the thousand and one miscellaneous ties that spring up between countries which are rather united than separated by face and twenty miles of sea, that it would have been strange indeed if your neighbours had failed to manifest that impulsive warmth of heart for which the national character is known.
We can hardly say we are surprised at the striking demonstration of opinion throughout the other great Republic where community of origin, language, religion and the better understanding that now happily exists between the two people had prepared us for affectionate sympathy. Nevertheless England is sensible of many State Legislatures, stretching over the vast expanse of the American continent, and fitly crowned by the President's message of condolence to our king.
Of the Russian and German Emperors, who both of them intend to be present at the funeral obsequies, it is difficult to speak too gratefully. We trust that the Tsar's recovery of health may be complete enough to enable him to carry out his noble and affectionate purpose. The German emperor has shown himself a worthy monarch of the great country over which he so admirably rules. His very first apprehensions of possible danger and the resolute way in which he has cancelled important engagements of State to enable him to remain and pay a tribute of personal respect at the funeral of England's Queen will be remembered.
The universal cry of mourning and condolence has, after all, its less sorrowful aspect. An event which touches the hearts of so many millions of foreigners and bids them grieve with us is a force, insensibly it may be that, but powerfully working in the direction of these softened asperities and calmer feelings that should lead to general peace.
We must not be understood as arguing that if it were not for our recent bitter loss there would be increased danger of war. But we do believe that where a sorrow, common to all humanity, comes home to men, there must ensue a mitigation of those unfriendly comments that but too often lead third parties to infer that the relations of the other two are far more strained than they really are. Mr Kruger quite counted on this international unfriendliness ripening into actual hostility and active intervention and this ignorance and want of judgement have cost his country her independence.
Lastly, these great and powerful expressions of popular condolence are all tributes to personal rule which, with all deference to our Republican friends, we believe to be the best guarantee of peace in these days. The old medieval conceptions of monarchical rule are as obsolete as plate armour; instead, thereof we see monarchs, even those of the youngest kingdoms vying with one another in cheerfully sacrificing their resources, their leisure, their pleasure, nay their very lives in furthering the welfare of their subjects. It is after all one of the beneficial results of newspapers that the publicity cast upon modern thrones has fired the ambition of the best sovereigns, whose example others have been constrained to follow.
In consequence we find every ruler from the princelets of India up to the sons of Edward II or Wilhelm II, educated for their high posts with a scrupulous fidelity and perfection of training which less conscientious ages would have almost laughed at.
Herein, we find the true moral of our late Sovereign's death and her son's accession. It marks a solemn step, a fresh link in the chain of personal and responsible rule that girdles most of the powerful States of the world.
