THE AUSTRALIAN TROOPS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1541, 28 May 1885, Page 2

THE AUSTRALIAN TROOPS.

No thoughtful man, says the Daily Telegraph, who looks behind the spectacle at Suarim can fail to see that which is far ‘more important, even in its bearing on practical politics, than the mere fact of 500 soldiers coming from New South Wales. \et this mere fact invites our attention, and appeals to our imagination as few recent events have done. No wonder that the wharves and quays of '.uakitn wore crowded, when the sight to be seen was the birth of a new Power in tho world—the debut of Australasia on the stage where nations play their part. Never in history had the like been witnessed. It was the uprising of the Southern Hemisphere, and the stretching out of her mailed hand to the North. She had counted for little before ; she was ever to be reckoned with in future, and that more and more seriously as time goes on. Happy for Mother England

that the young communities of the Antipodes are her children—that they fly her fltg, do homage at the foot of her Throne, and are ready to espouse her quarrel ! With almost paternal interest the homestaying Briton dwells upon the apparition of the new Australian force side by aide

with the historic regiments of the old land. Our Special Correspondent has told ua that the New South Wales troops are “composed of men belonging to all social classes—prosperous citizens, men strong, straight and well sat up, from the country and the bush, retired soldiers an i sailors, artisans,” and so forth. We hear further of their admirable physique, and of the fact that they are men, not boys

a scrimmage.” Who does not see in this description all the signs of a real national movement, heightened by the enthusiasm, and almost recklessness, of national youth ? It was with a force thus composed that Cromwell destroyed for ever the theory of “Divine right.” With such a force Washington secured the liberties of his country, and Republican France hurled back from her frontiers the banded armies of European kings. Noble as free are the volunteer soldiers of New South Wales, while, though their numbers be few, they are an earnest of the potential help that lies behind. The great drama now in progress may have in reserve far more momentous acts than any yet played. Its stage may widen indefinitely, and its scenes be shifted from African deserts to Asiatic steppes ; but in proportion to the urgency of the case will be the assurance that the British Empire—north, south, east, and west—is ’one, indivisible and invincible. It is here that the significance of the Suakim incident enters, in the highest possible sense, into the region of practical politics. The arrival of the Iberia, followed by the Australasian bringing tho Artillery, has, we may be sure, supplied a topic for reflection in many quarters, not all of them friendly to our country. It would be surprising if we had no jealous rivals, and if these did not wish to convince themselves that “ Old England is going down the hill ” It is for them a case of “ Old England ” no longer. Let desire prompt ever so assured a c mviction that tho Motherland, her energies expended, is becoming effete, they cannot shut their eyes to the existence of these stalwart sons—“fine, bearded fellow3,keeu for a scrimmage.” An American poet has imagined the hoses that fell in the Secession War marching past Washington’s statue, and tells in rhythmic verse how the dead of a hundred battlefields defiled before the “ silenc grey reviewer.” We would anticipate the future. What a spectacle that will be when, after some such gigantic and decisive struggle as may yet be in store, the might of the British Empire parades in magnificent array—soldiers of the home lands standing side by side with soldiers from the Dominion that spans a Continent ; from the great Southern island which is a Continent in itself ; from Africa and India, and many an outlying dependency of which, in this connection, we have hardly yet learned to think I Hera is a theme for the poets and painters of the future, such as those of the present might envy from their hearts. The fact is, familiarity almost blinds us to an ever-present marvel, until an incident like that at Suakim opens our eyes. Then we see of what stuff the flaah-and-blood defences of our Empire are composed, and how much reason we have to consider “ England, hedged in with the main, That waterwalled bulwark, still secure, And confident from foreign purposes.” In the pride of this assurance—a justifiable pride, if ever there was one—we are now looking at the entrance of a British colony upon the active military duties that empire brings. The representatives of New South Wales in Africa will do their duty as becomes men of English blood ; but the great thing for ua to reflect upon is that every blow of the Colonial sword will ring throughout Europe a note of warning to Old England’s possible foes.