Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/626

 their observance. For any defect in cos- tume or uniform he had an eagle eye and was plainspoken in rebuke.

King Edward cannot be credited with the greatness that comes of statesmanship and makes for the moulding of history. His relations Nether the constitutional checkb with politics. , . i v on his power nor his discursive tastes and training left him much oppor- tunity of influencing effectually political affairs. No originating political faculty can be assigned him. For the most part he stood with constitutional correctness aloof from the political arena at home. On questions involving large principles he held no very definite views. He preferred things to remain as they were. But he regarded all party programmes with a cheerful i optimism, sanguinely believing that sweep- j ing proposals for reform would not go very far. From youth he followed with close I attention the course of foreign politics, I and it was not only during his reign that i he sought in tours abroad and in hospi- talities at home to keep in personal touch with foreign rulers and statesmen. His main aim as a traveller was pleasurable recreation and the exchange of social courtesies. But he rarely missed ms love an occasion of attesting his love of peace. ., . of peace among the nations, i Not that he was averse from strong meas- ures, if he thought them necessary to the due assertion of his country's rights. But in his later years he grew keenly alive to the sinfulness of provoking war lightly, and to the obligation that lay on rulers of only appealing to its arbitrament in the last resort. He was a peacemaker, not through the exercise of any diplomatic initiative or ingenuity, but by force of his faith in the blessing of peace and by virtue of the influence which passively attached to his high station and to his temperament. His frequent absences from his dominions remotely involved his position in a certain element of danger. There was a specious ground for the suggestion that in home affairs he did too little and in foreign affairs too much. The external show of personal control which belongs to the crown at home seemed at times to be obscured by his long sojourns in foreign countries. The impression was at times encouraged, too, that the king was exerting abroad diplomatic powers which under the constitution belonged to his ministers alone. He grew conscious of the exaggerated importance which the foreign public attached to his foreign movements, and he confessed at times to some embarrassment. But he fully realised the futility of encroaching on His social instincts. ministerial responsibilities, and in his inter- course with foreign rulers and diplomatists, so far as politics came witliin the range of the conversation, he confined himself to general avowals of loyal support of ministerial policy.

His sociability, his love of pleasure, and the breadth of his human interests stood him in good stead in all relations of life. He had an unaffected desire for others' happiness, and the sport and amusements in which he openly indulged were such as the mass of his subjects could appreciate and share. The austere looked askance on his recrea- tions or deemed that the attention he paid them was excessive. But his readiness to support actively causes of philanthropy and social beneficence almost silenced articulate criticism. His compassion for suffering was never in question. He valued his people's approbation, and welcomed suggestions for giving every class opportunities of greeting him in person. Many times he cheerfully responded to a schoolmaster's request that in passing a schoolhouse on a private or public journey he should pause and exchange salutations with the schoolchildren. With the promptitude of an expert man of busi- ness, he was able to distribute his energies over a very wide field with small detriment to any of the individual calls on his time. He had a passion for punctuality. The clocks at Sandringham were always kept half an hour fast. He gave every encourage- ment to the progress of mechanical invention for the economising of time which distinguished his reign. He became an ardent devotee of motoring, in which he first experimented hi 1899, and which during his last years formed his ordinary mode of locomotion at home and abroad. In the development of wireless tele- graphy he also showed much interest, exchang- ing some of the earliest wireless messages across the Atlantic with Lord Minto, governor-general of Canada (21 Dec. 1902), and with President Roosevelt (19 Jan. 1903).

He had a strong sense of ownership and was proud of his possessions. Though his attitude to art was largely that of a rich owner of a great collection, he had a keen eye for the fit arrangement of his treasures, and knew much of their history. He dis-liked wasteful expenditure, but personally made careful provision for his own and his friends' comfort. No pride of rank limited his acquaintance, and he always hospitality, practised hospitality on a generous scale. If he had a predilection for men of wealth, his catholic favour embraced every kind of faculty and fortune.