THE BISHOP OF MELBOURNE ON WAR.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1209, 1 May 1885, Page 3

THE BISHOP OF MELBOURNE ON WAR.

In the lecture delivered by the Bishop of Melbourne at Wangaratta ho referred to the possibility of war in the following terms ; “ The dear old mother was now suffering fr ra attacks on all sides ; rebellions in Canada and South Africa ; and wars in the Soudan. But the old mother was strong enough to meet,them all, and to beat them all. We were a peaceably people and did not want to fight, but he ventured to say that, if we were driven with our backs against the wall, we certainly would fight. There was in the pioneers of the country all the grit and energy of the parent stock. They had had to work hard for the land they possessed, and he had seen remarkable cases in that colony of solitary men -among the pick of the world—who wi'h their own right hand had accomplished the great work of which he spoke. Did people think that such men as there would stand meekly by it the Russians invaded their colony ? They must take their lives before they could take their lands. England, just now, seemed to be in a fix, but he had faith in the justice, integrity, and courage of the English people. There was no intention to make unjust aggression upon anybody; but if the despots of the world would not let us alone they would find that though England was teased with local rebellions, no Czar of all the Russians could jump our Empire without finding that he had made a gieat mistake indeed. It took a long time for an Englishman to get to the fighting pitch, but when you got him there it was hard to get him back again,"