, at
Windsor, and having also strong home ties in the County of Norfolk,
which have existed now for nearly forty years, the King feels he will
be unable to make adequate use of Osborne House as a Royal residence,
and he accordingly has determined to offer the property in the Isle of
Wight as a gift to the nation." Following the Coronation came multitudes
of editorial comments upon the event, and one of the most concise and
expressive was that of the London _Times_: "The significance of the
Coronation ceremony on Saturday lay in its profound sincerity, as a
solemn compact between the Sovereign and his subjects, ratified by oath,
and blessed by the highest dignitaries of the National Church. It was a
covenant between a free people, accustomed for long centuries to be
governed according to statutes in Parliament agreed on, and their
hereditary King, and a supplication from both to God that the King may
be endowed with all princely virtues in the exercise of his great
office. Though the details of the ceremony do not mean to us all they
meant to our forefathers, the ceremony itself is a no less strong and
enduring bond between the King and subjects. The most striking feature
of the Coronation was that it was the first to be attended by the
statesmen of self-governing Colonies, and by the feudatory Princes of
India."

With the event also came an Ode from Mr. Alfred Austin, entitled "The
Crowning of Kingship." On August 11th the King held a Council at
Buckingham Palace, attended by the retiring and new members of the
Cabinet; invested many distinguished personages with their Coronation
honours; and gave an audience to Sir Joseph Dimsdale, Lord Mayor of
London, who presented the City's Coronation gift of $575,000 toward the
King Edward Hospital Fund, in which His Majesty had so long taken so
deep an interest and to which, on this occasion, there was contributed
20,000 penny donations from the poorest quarters of London.

Various functions of a Coronation character or connection ensued. On
August 12th some 2000 Colonial troops who were present at the event, in
a representative capacity, from British dominions beyond the seas, were
received by the King on the grounds of Buckingham Palace. Under the
Royal canopy were the Queen and the children of the Prince of Wales, and
in attendance were Earl Roberts, Lord Kitchener, Mr. Chamberlain and
various Colonial Premiers, including Sir Wilfrid and Lady Laurier. After
the march past, t