THE Evening Star. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1869.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1978, 7 September 1869, Page 2

THE Evening Star. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1869.

Every time the mail from Europe arrives, the inconvenience of the present postal arrangement is manifest, but it was aggravated yesterday by our bad telegraph system. The Daily Times announced the arrival of the steamer at Hokitika on Sunday and the difficulty of landing the mails. Had the Bluff route been adopted, the news would have been in possession of the public yesterday morning. The mails were landed and the message was transmitted to Timaru at eleven o’clock, but it appears that at Timaru a message cannot be transmitted while another is in course of being received, so that the first slip was not published in Dunedin until half-past three o’clock. Every dispatch was afforded at Dunedin, and we daresay at Timaru, also although we cannot compliment the Telegraphist there upon his quickness ; for although we delayed the publication of the Star in order to give our readers as much news as possible, the last slips were not received until too late for insertion. As it happens the news is not of much importance. Seldom has a mail brought news of less Colonial interest. The principal part of it relates to the Irish Church Bill, the passing of which was already known by the latest telegrams received by the last Mail. Neither is the intelligence of the debate on New Zealand affairs of much greater concern, as it only confirms, what was already known, that the British Government do not purpose giving help in the Maori war. The three Commissioners who are to go to England may manage to get it, but it is to be hoped before they reach Homo

it may be found it is not needed. With regard to the affairs of the old world, they appear at present in their best shape. There is a remarkable absence of political turmoil. Her Majesty pursues her queenly avocations in peace, and no warlike rumors reach vis. Even the Alabama claims do not put in an appearance this Mail. There have been riots here and there, in Ireland and the United States, arising out of the traditional feud between the Orangemen and the Roman Catholics, but even these have been fewer than were anticipated. The principal ferment is in Spain. The difficulty of settling down to order after a revolution is not yet overcome, nor is it likely to be for years to come. However corrupt a Government may be, there are too manv interested in maintaining its form, if it has subsisted for a series of years, to permit an easy peaceful alteration. The Emperor of the French has given another proof of his talent to cope with political difficulties. He has met the growing demands of the time, and a change of Ministry is the consequence. It cannot be said that affairs in France look very promising. As age increases with Napoleon, it is very evident that he has ruled France more by personal influence than through a political system, thoroughly approved of and accepted by the people. There are signs of discontent —sounds in various directions—mutterings that seem to portend a storm, should he be taken away suddenly, or before his son arrives at mature age. His ambition to found a dynasty may yet be defeated, for though it is now twenty-one years since the revolution that placed him in power, the ideas of the present generation are not essentially changed. He has done much. Could he live and rule twenty-live years more, perhaps he might succeed, although the form of government he has instituted, in consequence of its being an endeavor to reproduce the past, when the traditional aristocratic element necessary to its stability was to be created, has within itself the seeds of dissolution. But whatever changes take place internally in Europe, New Zealand is not likely to be otherwise than remotely affected by them. It is not now England’s policy to expend blood and treasure to seat a monarch on a throne from which he may have been driven most righteously by his people. Nor is it the fashion to mix up a nation with family quarrels of Princes. Those were quite sufficient pretexts for broils and contentions when the nations of the world were struggling between barbarism and civilization, and it seemed uncertain whether they would sink into the one or rise to the other. That day has past ] but there is sufficient of the old leaven left to render war possible between England and some maritime power, and then England’s Colonies, nolens nolens , would be dragged into the quarrel. If Colonial relationship with the Mother Country is to give no advantage, it ought to involve no risk. The present relationship between them is not by any means satisfactory in that respect. Now that the world is at peace, surely some arrangement amongst the nations might be made, excepting Colonies from being treated as belligerents. When the time of danger comes, it will be too late. If there is one subject on which the Colonies of Australasia should be united more than another, it is that. Their position, their commerce, their importance, entitle them to be heard, and the justice of their claim would be acknowledged by every Old World and American power, #