o far, deigned to cast
their eyes on me.

The King. That fault will be repaired. Be sure of that!

The General (to the Mayor). To have that from his Majesty's own mouth
is equivalent to seeing it gazetted. I am fortunate to be able to be the
first to congratulate you!

Bang. Allow me to congratulate you also!

The Priest. And me too! I have had the honour of working hand in hand
with you, Mr. Mayor, for many years; I know how well deserved such a
distinction is.

The Mayor. I feel quite overcome; but I must beg to be allowed to lay my
thanks at your Majesty's feet. I trust I shall not prove unworthy of the
distinction. One hesitates to make such confessions--but I am a candid
man, and I admit that one of the chief aims of my ambition has been to
be allowed some day to participate in--

The King (interrupting him).--in this falsehood. That just points
my moral. As long as even upright men's thoughts run in that mould,
Christianity cannot pretend to have any real hold on the nation. As for
your decoration, you are quite sure to get one from my successor.--In
a word, Christianity must tackle monarchy! And if it cannot tear the
falsehood from it without destroying it, then let it destroy it!

The General. Your Majesty!

The King (turning to him). The same thing applies to a standing army,
which is a creation of monarchy's. I do not believe that such an
institution--with all its temptations to power, all its inevitable vices
and habits--could be tolerated if Christianity were a living thing. Away
with it!

The Priest. Really, your Majesty--!

The King (turning to him). The same applies to an established
church--another of monarchy's creations! If we had in our country a
Christianity worth the name, that salvation trade would stink in men's
nostrils. Away with it!

The Mayor (reproachfully). Oh, your Majesty!

The King (turning on him). The same applies to the artificial disparity
of circumstances that you prate about with tears in your eyes! I heard
you once. Class distinctions are fostered by monarchy.

Bang. But equality is an impossibility!

The King. If _you_ would only make it possible--which it can be
made--even the socialists would cease to clamour for anything else. I
tell you this: Christianity has destroyed ideals. Christianity lives on
dogmas and formulas, instead of on ideals.

The Priest. Its ideals lead us away from earth to heaven--

The King. Not in a balloon, even if it were stuffed full