ountries the Upper House and the aristocracy are natural and
inevitable, if not necessary, adjuncts to and supporters of a Throne.
Where, as in Britain, that House and that aristocracy have upon the
whole much to be proud of in personal achievement, much to be credited
with in social legislation and still more to be approved of in the
individual public work of its Salisburys, Roseberys, Devonshires, and a
multitude of other historic personalities with, also, a close and vital
interest in the country through large landed responsibilities, the
situation can readily be appreciated. Not that the Monarchy was an issue
in itself; but there can be no doubt, despite such speeches as the
following quotation from Mr. Winston Churchill's address at Southport on
December 8, 1909, that King Edward felt the danger of weakening his
immediate, natural and fitting environment of (with certain exceptions)
an energetic and patriotic aristocracy surrounding a popular Throne:

"There is no difficulty in vindicating the principle of a
hereditary monarchy. The experience of every country and of all the
ages show the profound wisdom which places the supreme leadership
of the state beyond the reach of private ambition and above the
shocks and changes of party strife. And, further, let it not be
forgotten that we live under a limited and constitutional monarch.
The Sovereign reigns but does not govern; that is a maxim we were
all taught out of our school-books. The British monarchy has no
interests divergent from those of the British people. It enshrines
only those ideas and causes upon which the whole British people are
united. It is based upon the abiding and prevailing interests of
the nation and thus, through all the swift changes of the last
hundred years, through all the wide developments of a democratic
state, the English monarchy has become the most secure, as it is
the most ancient and the most glorious monarchy in the whole of
Christendom."

While all this political change and controversy was going on the King
was performing a multitude of personal and social and State duties.
There was always the vast amount of detailed study of current
documents--all of which he looked into before signing as had Queen
Victoria before him; there was the strenuous and incessant round of
State functions including the reception of visiting Sovereigns and
ambassadors, and spe