The troublesome little affair of the Duke of Cambridge's pension
has ended. The pension would have been voted to anybody else who had served in such a capacity for forty years—indeed, it is less by 2200 a year than the Duke would have been entitled to as a Cabinet Minister—but the con- stituencies are determined that Princes who work shall work for nothing. They are paid, they say, for being Princes. Even Tory Members, therefore, found it impossible to vote for the pension, and a hint was conveyed to the Duke that it would be wise to withdraw his application. The Duke immediately complied, though maintaining that his services justified the request; and Mr. Balfour on Friday week read hie letter to the House of Commons. It is impossible to reason with a prejudice of this kind; but suppose the Duke during his tenure of office had won a pitched battle. We maintain that in the national interest the Sovereign ought to be able to reward special service by a special grant, even though the service is not of a kind which can be made patent to a meet- ing of electors. If needful let the grant lie for six weeks on the table of the House, like an alteration in the Education Code. In this case the fact that the Duke enjoys an appanage as Prince of the Blood had nothing to do with the matter.
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