THE Cromwell Argus. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1870.

Cromwell Argus, Volume 1, Issue 49, 19 October 1870, Page 4

THE Cromwell Argus. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1870.

j The people ia various parts of this country i seem to be startled out of their usual propriety by the war intelligence that has come to hand ; and sundry other items are supposed to be on the way, which, when received, will have the‘effect of ) biinging matters to a crisis. Pauic- ■ mongers are hard at work in the press, in i j Public meetings, and in other ways, to j help on the general effect. Trade is going i to the had altogether. Marketable goods j from Europe are soon to rise to famine j prices. The British money market is to | tighten up, if not to close at once, against i all foreign investments, however tempting All our projected schemes of borrowing l°y millions are to collapse. Our anticipated improvements «ire to he known only in the pages of Hansard. Bills of t he last session of the Assembly, relating to roads, railways, immigration, and kindred subjects, j are to stand over to more propitious tunes. | Some suggest annexation with the United j States of America as the only solution of j our difficulties. Others go in for iuclepen- ; deuce pure and simple. They can see no i way of settling the vexed question for j -^ HW Zealand, hut by cutting the painter ; ; turning the old country adrift, and lettiim I the Britishers shift for themselves. Let | them learn by the loss of the Nbw Zeaj bind gem from the British Crown how to | keep and care for those which still sparkle j in it. Let New Zealand rise to the occaj sion, and shake off' the incumbrance of O'd j England, and thus put herself out of all | danger of war complications. Of old things, all are over old; I Of good things, none are good enough: j I We’ll (Mew Zealand) try if we can’t mould the i world of other stuff. | The most approved remedy for the alarm- ! ing symptoms—the one which occurs the j | “lost frequently and is the most fiercely ap- | j phi tided is to make a savage demand j upon England for that which liiugland has j been politely forcing upon ns for many | years. The danger is becoming more ini- j minent every mail. To be safe, we must j be independent. As a beginning to all the rniu that is to come afterwards, the rate of marine insurance and hills of exchange is raised lU per cent, and this is but the initial form" of the evil: where will! | the end he 1 and when will it come '? But, i | now, to be serious, where is the foundaj tion of all this fearful apprehension ? What are the colonial interests that are ' likely to suffer to any appreciable extent? ' It may suit the purpose of some large ! wholesale firms that have just got in their ! summer stocks ; false alarms may increase the profits of their trade ; and banks and insurance institutions may increase their premiums by the same means. The war between France and Prussia can in no | way increase the risks by sea transit. The uritish navy is just now in a condition to ° make the neutral flag of England respected ° at the ends of the earth, ami the world C over. When we commit our gold to ° English bottoms, it is just as safe as when s committed to English banks, and all past v experience goes to show that it is so. " Since Otago was established (to go no fur- = ther back) nearly £800,000,000 sterling have been wasted in war, 2,000,000 useful ( lives have been destroyed ; but how many I British ships returning from ports in the > South Pacific have been seized I how much £ merchandise has been confiscated to S foreign powers 1 In 1853, war broke out 1' between Russia and Turkey. In 1854, 1 war was declared between the Western a Alliance and Russia. In 1864, Austria V ami Prussia hectored down Denmark, a massacred thousands of Danes, and dis- 1 merabered the Danish monarchy. In o iB6O, France and Austria fought out the v battles of Magenta and Solferino, and q some other battles that might be men- f, tinned. But when, in all these, fearful con- a flicts, was our import or export trade a

endangered? A wholesome drend of tj English fleet is the best insurance oj merchant navy can enjoy. And if oi I trade with Prance and Prussia should I interrupted, it is so small, and of such nature, that were it to cesse for ever tl result would not be serious. From Fran< we get brandy and wines of various kind! but the loss of these would be all kinds c gain to us. From Berlin we get our fane goods, Noah's arks, grinning monkeys climbing bears, and shrieking whistles The war may the importation o such articles to some extent. The fun 1 our nursemaids and little ones mi^l receive a terrihle shock, but it would no last long, and the youngsters would scjoi recover. Tf the flags of the two belli gerents never, fluttered again in our porti we could miss them without nationa bankruptcy, though not without regret We are far more frightened than hurt Our raw material of flax, hides, hoins, leather, grain, gold, and wool, may be sent home to markets that free trade has opened wide for their reception, and to merchant princes whose word of honor is worth more to the world, and to us, than the oaths of two perjured kings. Each potentate is protesting in the name of God that he is not responsible for the war, while both (and in sight of all Europe) had laid a plan which, had it matured itself into results, would have banished peace from the earth. Should Great Britain ever be drawn into the whirlpool of war, with past experience to guide us, we have nothing to fear.