The address to be given by the Prime Minister in
Westminster Abbey on May 7th, as part of the Jubilee celebrations, so far as I know sets a precedent, for this is something quite different from the short speeches laymen have occasionally made when unveiling memorials in the Abbey. The occasion is notable, since Mr. MacDonald is a Labour Prime Minister, as he would be the first to insist, a Scotsman, and a Presbyterian—as King George himself is when he crosses the Tweed. Those facts make his accep- tance of the invitation to him strikingly symbolic of the national unity. The subject, I understand., is the spiritual basis of empire, though that may not be the exact title of the address. It is the kind of thing the Prime Minister might do very well indeed. So might Mr. Baldwin, and in a. different way. The Scottish approach and the English would have been well worth comparing, if it had been possible to arrange for two addresses on successive days, or in successive weeks. I believe there was at one time some talk of it.
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