Australian Blunderbuss

Thwarted, humiliated as never before was George V, King & Emperor, Defender of the Faith last week. Not since his grandmother Queen Victoria wrote her anonymous letter to the London Times has a British sovereign evinced such intense displeasure.* Again last week the Times served as vox Regis, spoke for the Crown words which set every Briton of birth and breeding a-bristle with indignation. It all began at Australia House. Situated in the heart of London this outpost contains Maj. General Hon. Sir Granville de Laune Ryrie, High Commissioner in Great Britain for His Majesty's Government in Australia. Up to last week Australia House had been as unimportant in English eyes as the equally imposing India House --mere symbols both. Up to last week the appointment of a Governor General for one of the Dominions had always been announced by His Majesty's Government in Great Britain, had always contained the hallowed words: "His Majesty has been graciously pleased to approve. . . ." Like a blunderbuss fired from Australia House came last week this blunt phrase: "The King, on the recommendation of Scullin, has appointed. . . ." Sir Isaac Isaacs. Even before Prime Minister James Henry Scullin of Australia set out for London to attend the Imperial Conference (TiME, Oct. 13, et seq.), he promised Sir Isaac Alfred Isaacs, that the King-Emperor would appoint him Governor General of Australia. That the King-Emperor would perform what had been promised by one subject to another in advance; that Mr. Scullin should have proved strong enough to make His Majesty do it--such was the Empire scandal in London last week. As for Sir Isaac Isaacs, he, apart from being a brilliant lawyer and an able politician, is ideally fitted to receive viceregal honors by the dignity of his present office: Chief Justice of the Australian High Court. Born the son of an humble Australian tailor, Sir Isaac will be the first "native" representative of the Crown in a Dominion. The Thunderer. Other London newspapers did not receive the Royal plaint. There was no "hand out" to the press. Alone "The Thunderer" (the London Times} spoke in editorial guise a piece personally approved if not actually written by George V. Excerpts: "There seems reason to doubt whether His Majesty even knows Sir Isaac by sight. . . . "His Majesty must have been placed during the last few days in a position which is in accord neither with constitutional usage nor common courtesy. . . . "Sir Isaac's name was apparently submitted without alternative and without that preliminary consultation which formed an essential part of the procedure of the past. . . ."

The last thunderous rumblings were particularly poignant:

"A weaker sovereign might have mistaken obstinacy for strength and resisted his minister's [Mr. Scullin's] advice. . . . The powers of the Crown will be all the stronger for His Majesty's consent in this case, but they must assuredly be kept in reserve. . . ."

Cheers for Scullin. Announcement of the Scullin-Isaacs coup to the Australian House of Representatives last week was greeted with cheer on cheer. In the Parliamentary lobbies close friends of Mr. Scullin told of his verbal tussle, face to face with George V. The right of Australia (under the Imperial Conference decision of 1926) to dictate who shall be her Governor General naturally was not questioned by His Majesty. But the monarch sought to win Mr. Scullin over by expressing himself as "more than willing to do Australia the greatest conceivable honor," by sending out as Governor General one of His Majesty's own sons.

* She wrote to squelch, did squelch, the publicly expressed resentment at her practice of remaining inaccessible year after year, in mourning for her beloved husband, Prince Consort Albert. Although published "anonymously," the letter was discreetly made known as from the Royal hand. When a pile of letters from people he did not know was brought to the late, great Georges Clemenceau he usually threw away the signed ones, read the anonymous "because letters people write but do not sign always contain what is really in their hearts."

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