Before we deal chronologically with the course of the crisis
in Parliament we must say a word in regard to the deliberate attack upon the King made by Mr. Ward in the House of Commons on Tuesday night—an attack which, we regret to say, was welcomed by the bulk of the Liberal Party with rapturous applause. We cannot find words sufficiently strong to condemn the falsehood and the unfair. ness of Mr. Ward's suggestion. We say this, not because we think that the King should be exempt from criticism if be has acted unwisely, or because we hold courtier-like views as to criticizing Royalty, or, again, because we think that the King can do no wrong in fact as well as in theory. In our crowned republic the King must be censured where he deserves censure. Since, however, we exact from him, and, as we think, rightly exact, the neutrality of a Judge or of the Chair- man of a Committee with hostile elements on it, and since the etiquette of the Constitution, and here again quite rightly, does not allow him to defend himself any more than can a Judge, it is essential that he should not be exposed to reckless and unjust charges, and held up to odium for doing things which he bas not done. As the Prime Minister, in language which, we are glad to say, was both adequate and sincere, has pointed out, the King in the present crisis has behaved in the true spirit of the Constitution.
