Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/620

 round the west coast, making inland excursions by motor. Coming south, he inspected the exhibition at Cork, and on leaving Queenstown on 1 August issued an address of thanks to the Irish people for his re- ception. He expressed a sanguine belief that a brighter day was dawning upon Ireland. There was good ground for the anticipation, for the Land Purchase Act which was passed during the year gave promise of increased prosperity.

A second visit to Ireland of a more private character followed in the spring of 1904 and confirmed the good impression of the first visit. Two visits of the sovereign in such rapid succession were unknown to recent Irish history. The king was now the guest of the duke of Devonshire at Lismore Castle, and of the marquis of Ormonde at Kilkenny Castle, and he attended both the Punches- town and Leopardstown races. His chief public engagement was the laying the foundation stone of the new buildings of the Royal College of Science at Dublin (25 April-4 May). A third and last visit to Ireland took place in July 1907, when the king and queen opened at Dublin the International Exhibition (10 July). The popular reception was as enthusiastic as before.

In his relations with the army and the navy he did all that was required of their Eeiations titular head. Like his mother with the army he was prouder of his asso- andnavy. ciation with the army than with the navy, but he acknowledged the need of efficiency in both services, and attached vast importance to details of etiquette and costume. He was an annual visitor at Aldershot, and was indefatigable in the distribution of war medals and new regimental colours. He did not study closely the principles or practice of army or navy organisation and he deprecated breaches with tradition. But he put no real obstacles in the way of the effective application of expert advice. He received daily reports of the army commission inquiry at the close of the South African war (1902-3), which led to extensive changes. The chief military reform of his reign was the formation in 1907 by Mr. (afterwards Viscount) Haldane of a territorial army. The king shared Queen Victoria's dislike of any plan that recalled Cromwell's regime, and he mildly demurred to the employment of Cromwell's term, ' County Association,' in the territorial scheme. But he was flattered by the request to inaugurate personally the new system. On 26 Oct. 1907 he summoned the ma faith in Lord Fisher. lord-lieutenants of the United Kingdom to Buckingham Palace, and addressed them on the new duties that h * d been imposed on them as officers of the new territorial army. Twice in 1909 on 19 June at Windsor and on 5 July at Knowsley he presented colours to territorial regiments. His attitude to measures was always con- ditioned to a large extent by his interest in the men who framed them, and his liking for Mr. Haldane, the war minister who created the territorial army, mainly inspired his personal patronage of the movement. In the navy the same sentiment was at work. His faith in Lord Fisher, who played a leading part in the re-organisation of the navy during the reign, reconciled him to alterations which often conflicted with his conservative predilections. A large in- crease in the navy took place while he was king, and one of his last public acts was to review in the Solent on 31 July 1909 an imposing assembly of naval vessels by way of a royal benediction on recent naval policy. In home politics the king was for the most part content with the role of onlooker. His position He realised early that the in home constitution afforded him mere politics. formalities of supervision which required no close application. He failed to persuade his ministers to deal with the housing question. Few other problems of domestic legislation interested him deeply, and he accepted without searching comment his ministers' proposals. To complicated legislative details he paid small heed, and although he could offer shrewd criticism on a subsidiary point which casually caught his eye or ear, he did not invite elaborate explanation. His conservative instinct enabled him to detect intuitively the dangers underlying political innovations, but he viewed detachedly the programmes of all parties.

When the tariff reform controversy arose in 1903 he read in the press the chief pleas of the tariff reformers, and remarked that it would be difficult to obtain popular assent to a tax on bread. He deprecated licensing reform which pressed unduly on the brewer and he was displeased with political oratory which appealed to class prejudice and excited in the poor unwarranted hopes. He was unmoved by the outcry against Chinese labour in south Africa. He was not in favour of woman's suffrage.

Disapproval of political action usually took the shape of a general warning addressed to the prime minister. In filling all