The bare details of an illness such as this can give no idea of the burden of apprehension which it entailed upon millions of people, the financial losses which it meant to thousands of merchants and others in all parts of the world, the dislocation of a political, social, and general character which it involved in London, the consternation which it naturally caused in every centre in the Empire. The first effect of the King's illness was to create a new tie of sympathy between himself and his subjects. Human suffering borne so patiently during that week of concealed sickness and with such earnest determination to go through what must have come to appear the frightful ordeal of the Coronation appealed strongly to people everywhere in the Empire, while the externally dramatic passage from preparations for the greatest of national festivities down into the valley of the shadow of death came home to the hearts of every one with peculiar force. This was particularly apparent in Westminster Abbey where the last rehearsal of the great Coronation choir, in the presence of the Bishop of London and under the musical direction of Sir Frederick Bridge, was proceeding at noon on June 24th. Suddenly, Lord Esher entered and told the sad news to the Bishop, who, in a few words, turned the service of national rejoicing into one of solemn intercession. Everywhere there were similar services and similar sudden changes. Coronation day, despite the King's kindly wish that demonstrations and functions outside of London should proceed, was turned into a season of special service and prayer in Great Britain and in the many other countries of the Empire.
A pathetic service was held in St. Paul's Cathedral on the evening of the announced illness, and the Bishop of Stepney spoke in most impressive terms. "As the days have passed, our thoughts and, I trust, our prayers have been centred in the King as he has moved to his Coronation watched by millions of eyes. Only yesterday we welcomed him to London with heartfelt joy. All around us is the glamour of preparation for a splendid festival. The very air is vivid with the glow of popular enthusiasm. From all parts of the earth our brethren have come to rivet anew the links which bind them to our ancient Monarchy. And now come the tidings that this King is laid low with sickness and that the great day has been postponed. We are bewildered. We cannot realize, except in imagination, the dislocation of the life of a whole Empire." Meanwhile, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York had asked their clergy to hold intercessory services on June 26th, and Cardinal Vaughan, for his Church, had given similar orders. "The finger of God," he wrote to his clergy, "has appeared in the midst of our national rejoicing and on the eve of what promised to be one of the most splendid pageants in English history. This is in order to call the thoughts of all men to Himself. The King's life is in danger. Danger being imminent, let us have immediate recourse to the Divine mercy and by public prayer seek His Majesty's recovery." The Chief Rabbi held special Jewish supplications and the Chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales telegraphed to Sir Francis Knollys their hope that it might please God to spare the King's valuable life so "that he may rule for many years over his devoted people."
Telegrams of inquiry and sympathy poured into the Palace, the Departments of the Government, and the Guildhall, for days after the eventful incident of the operation. On the day that should have witnessed the stately splendour of the Coronation, St. Paul's Cathedral was the scene of a solemn service of intercession for the recovery of the King. The Bishops of London and Stepney, the Archdeacon of London and Canons Holland and Newbolt were the officiating clergy and with them were the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and a dozen other Bishops. The Lord Mayor of London was present officially and the Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Teck. So were the special missions of France, Spain, Germany, Mexico and other countries, the Hon. Whitelaw Reid and Mr. Choate, the American Ambassador. Lord Selborne, Lord Cadogan and Mr. Ritchie represented the Cabinet while the Premiers of Canada, Australia, Cape Colony, Natal, New Zealand, Western Australia, and South Australia, with the Sultan of Perak, the Rajah of Bobbili, Sir Jamesetjee Jejeebhoy, and others represented the Colonial and Indian Empire. A large number of the leaders in the public, social and general life of the country were also there. At the same time a similarly impressive service was held in Margaret's, Westminster, the official church of the House of Commons, attended by the Lord Chancellor and Speaker, the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman, Lord and Lady Londonderry, and many members of both Houses of Parliament. A multitude of other churches held intercessory services at home and abroad on this day—notably, perhaps, one arranged by the National Council of Free Churches and held in the City Temple. Orders were given by the heads of all kinds of denominations in all kinds of countries to pray for the King on the succeeding Sunday and, in most of the great Colonies of the Crown, that day was specially set apart for the purpose.
EXPRESSIONS OF SYMPATHY
Meanwhile, the messages continued to pour in from Governments as well as individuals or institutions. General Sir Neville Lyttelton for the Army in South Africa, Lord Hopetoun for the Government and people of Australia, Sir Edmund Barton, the Premier of Australia, the Legislature of New South Wales, the Governors of the other Australian States and New Zealand, the Governors of Fiji, Gambia, Cape Colony, Mauritius, Bermuda, Newfoundland, and Gibraltar, the Administrators of Sierra Leone, Seychelles, Ceylon, Hong-Kong and Wei-hai-Wei, the Governor of the Straits Settlements and the Premier of Natal sent despatches of sympathy and regret. In the United States much kindly feeling was expressed. Papers such as the New York Commercial-Advertizer, Tribune and Post were more than kindly and generous in their regrets; others were merely sensational. The President hastened to cable an expression of the nation's sentiments and, at Harvard University on June 25th, said: "Let me speak for all Americans when I say that we watch with the deepest concern and interest the sick-bed of the English King and that all Americans, in tendering their hearty sympathy to the people of Great Britain will now remember keenly the outburst of genuine grief with which all England last fall greeted the calamity which befell us in the death of President McKinley." Prayers were also offered up for His Majesty in the Senate and House of Representatives. Germany was largely silent in its press but outspoken and warmly sympathetic in the person of its Emperor. Austria was more than friendly and at Rome a Resolution passed unanimously through both Houses expressing earnest wishes for "the prompt recovery of the head of the State which has long been Italy's best friend." The French press was moderately sympathetic and dwelt upon King Edward's love of peace, while the leading Russian newspapers paid tribute to the same elements in his character and laid stress upon his high qualities as a man and a Sovereign.
On the Sunday following the serious stage in the King's illness the metropolis was the scene of many special services. At Marlborough House Chapel, Queen Alexandra, the Prince and Princess of Wales and other members of the Royal family were present in the morning, together with a crowded gathering of members of the Court and old friends of His Majesty. Bishop Randall Davidson of Winchester preached a sermon of eloquent retrospect—a picture of the events of the past few days and weeks. Almost from his seat on a great throne their Sovereign had passed to a hushed sick-room; during a crowded week the people had passed from bouyant expectancy to crushing disappointment, from loyal admiration of a splendid occasion to personal sympathy with a stricken King. At the Chapel Royal the Bishop of London preached and drew a lesson of humility from the tragic event, while in St. Paul's Cathedral the Bishop of Stepney preached to an audience which included various Indian Chiefs and King Lewanika of Barotze. Mgr. Merry del Val, the Papal Envoy to the Coronation, addressed a gathering at the Brompton Oratory attended by Sir Wilfrid and Lady Laurier and Mr. Justice Girouard of Canada, Sir Nicholas O'Conor, British Ambassador at Constantinople, Lord Edmund Talbot, Lord Walter Kerr, first Sea Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Howard Glossop and Lord Clifford of Chudleigh. The Reverend Bernard Vaughan, at the Warwick Street Roman Catholic Church, dwelt upon the great loyalty of his people to the Throne and declared that much might and should be done by Roman Catholics "to build up and consolidate an Empire where every man could breathe the air of freedom, claim his share of justice and practice his religion in peace."
Amongst the special incidents of the day were prayers for King Edward in all the principal towns of Greece as well as in the churches of Athens and prayers and sermons upon the subject in many of the churches of New York. On July 3rd Cape Town was brilliantly illuminated as an expression of pleasure at the King's recovery. Four days later the Prince and Princess of Wales visited Grey's Hospital and His Royal Highness in speaking to the institution, for which the King had done so much when Heir Apparent, referred to the occasion as the first on which he had been able to attempt an expression of the unbounded gratitude which they all felt for "the merciful recovery of my dear father, the King." He spoke of the important work undertaken by the Hospital and then proceeded: "I wish to take this first opportunity to say how His Majesty the King, the Queen, and whole of our family have been cheered and supported during a time of severe trial by the deep sympathy which has been displayed towards them from every part of the Empire. And I should like to say that we who have watched at the sick bed of the King fully realize how much, humanly speaking, is due to the eminent surgical and medical skill, as well as to the patient and highly-trained nursing which it has been His Majesty's good-fortune to enjoy".