Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Snowden told his country last week that the words of "God Save the King" are unimportant. "The real thing," he said to the House of Commons, "is the tune."
To this tune an Englishman and an American may sing, both correctly, as follows:
Englishman: God save our gracious King, etc.
American: My country, 'tis of thee, etc.
But the last half of the second stanza, which last week caused Mr. Snowden to take refuge in the tune, is (when mis chievously interpreted, as no loyal sub ject should think of doing) an explicit intimation that the King is not even smart enough to get himself out of petty political scrapes:
0 Lord our God arise,
Scatter his enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save the King!
It was not because the two songs are sung to the same tune that the Chancellor of the Exchequer was heckled last week in the House of Commons about "God Save the King." As a matter of fact the former German anthem (until 1920) was also sung, as is the present Swiss anthem, to this same convenient tune. (It was probably composed in England by one Henry Carey [1692-1743], although his torians are not positive.)
The point raised by Conservatives in the House last week was whether the words of "God Save the King" are at all "suit able." It was hoped to trap the Labor Government into a damning admission that they are not.
As everyone knows, neither "God Save the Wales" King" nor implies "God much Bless the confidence Prince of that either H. M. or H. R. H. can be depended on to do anything to save the nation. Responsibility for action is shifted to the Deity. Indeed the second half of the third stanza of "God Save the King" (seldom sung) has an edge of skepticism:
May he defend our laws.
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice,
God Save the King!
In preparation for the British Trade Exhibition at Buenos Aires to be opened by Edward of Wales in mid-March, there were distributed to Argentine school chil dren last week over 100,000 typewritten copies of "God Save the King," "in English rendered in Spanish phonetics."
Excerpt:
God siev au greichas Kin,
Lon liv au novel King,
God siev di Kin.
Send jim victorias,
Japi and Glorias,
Lon to rein over as,
God siev di Kin!
Dia chasest guiifts in star,
On jim bi plisd tu por,
Lon mei ji rein.
Mei ji defend au lus,
And ever guiv as cos
To siin wit jart and vois,
God siev di Kin!
When Theodore Roosevelt visited Buenos Aires in 1913, 100,000 children (coached by the same ingenious method) sang in synthetic English "The Star Spangled Banner."
Parliament's Week
The Lords—
¶ Passed (second reading) with an approval natural to landed proprietors the Labor Government's bill to "reclaim" 1,000,000 acres, create 100,000 new small farms, send 500,000 unemployed men "back to the land."
The Commons—
¶ Learned with apathy that Sir Oswald and Lady Mosley had resigned from the Labor Party to found "The New Party." With them resigned Oliver Baldwin, Socialist son of Conservative Leader Stanley Baldwin and two other Laborites of little note.