THE AUSTRALIANS IN THE SOUDAN.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1214, 5 June 1885, Page 3

THE AUSTRALIANS IN THE SOUDAN.

You will have heard by cable of the enthusiastic reception of the New South Wales troops at fusion, and of tbe prompt icquiescence of General Graham to their •equest that they might at once be sent to ihe front. Both facts show the desire of she Government to give tbe Colonials fair play, and every chance of displaying what they are made of. Our authorities know they will fight light heroes— cela va suns lire. The question to be decided is whether the discipline of these troops in action equals their courage. The following is from the Telegraph of April IJust now it is not an uncommoa thing for steamers to enter the harbour of Suaxin. They approach the Arab port in such numbers that even Usman’s Digna’s scouts, watching from their blood-stained hills, must long ago have ceased to connect tbe spectacle with- any other thought than that Allah is delivering more and more nnljeliey; rs into his Prophet’s hands. Idur keen-sighted, fee. probably saw tbe Iberia steaming in to fair anchorage on last Sunday, and observed that she came from tbe South, as did the' Indian transport* awhile ago. Yet not even the Matnli him- | seif, in his mo'st inspired moment, could j have imagined, the full significance of tbe fact that this new arrival brought, not ihe swarthy soldiers of Bengal and the Punjaub but stalwart, bearded white men, wearing the scarlet tunic and speaking the English of the legions which had descended from the North. The Arab, though clad in the triple brass ot bis fana‘ icism and incapable of dismay, might well have gazed with uneasiness upon the snectacle, and felt serins misgivings as to the issue of his conflict with a Power that summons fighting men from all ends of the earth. Other eyes than those of desert warriors looked iq>on tne Iberia, and to the minds of many Ml the world over she baa beenjvery present to day. Crowds of soldiers went to the water’s edge and cheered her, ships manned yards and flung down upon her decks a storm of bnrrahs j while her- in England news of her arrival sent a thrill of pride and pleasure through the land, and, doubtless, set not a few Europeans s atesmen pon ie ing tbe possibilities she shadowed forth. ... No thoughtful man who looks behind the spectacle at Suakin can fail to see that which is far more important, even in its bearing on prac ical politics, than the mere fact of 500 soldiercoming from New South Wales, Yet this mere fact invites our attention, and appeals to our imagination as few events have done. No wonder that tbe wharves and quays of Suakin were crowded, when the sight to be seen was the birth of a new power in the world—the debut of Australasia on the stage where nations play their pa t. Never in history had tbe like been witnessed. It was the uprising of the Southern Hemisphere, and the stretching out of her mailed hind to the North. She had counted for little before ; she has ever to be reckoned with in future, and that more and more se iously as time goes on. Happily for Mother England that the young communities ot the Antiuo-ies are her children—that they fly her flag, do homage at the foot of her throne, and are ready-to espouse her quarrel. With almost parental interest the home-staying -Briton dwells upon the apparition of the new Australian force side by side with the historic regi - ments of the old land. Ouf special correspondent has told ns that the New South Wales troops are composed' of men belonging to all social classes-—prosperous citizens, men strong, straight, and well set up, from the country and the bush, retired sailors and soldiers, artisans, and so forth. We hear further of their admirable physique, and ottho fact that they are men not boys—fine bearded fellows, keen-for a scrimmage. Who does not see in this description all the signs of a real national movement, heightened by tbe enthusiasm and almost recklessness of national youth T ' , . We would anticipate the future. What a spectacle that will be when, after Some such gigantic and decisive straggle 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 to India, and many an outlying dependency of which, in this con neclion, we have hardly yet learned to think. Here is a them) for the poets and painters of the fnture snob as those of the present might envy from their heaits.— Evening Star’s ” London Correspondent.