The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING GISBORNE. O0T 2, 1906.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1874, 2 October 1906, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING GISBORNE. OOT 2, 1906.

It is not easy to “ fix ” the exact meaning of Lord Milner’s words in ] his reference to a “spirit of antiNationaliaiu ” when receiving the | address presented to him by residents lof Capo Colony. It will bo nows to most people to hear that there is such a thing as a feeling of anti-National-ism existing to such a degree as to be worthy of the notice of anyone who has occupied so high a position in the administrative affairs of the nation as Lord Milner has done, and it will be difficult to believe that it does exist outside of South Africa. But that is just what His Lordship meant, for he is explicit in tiio statement that- “ there j wa3 greater danger in the Motherland on account of the spirit of antiNationaiism ” whore “ there were so many people, . ■ who felt impelled by conscience to side against her.” This is a serious allegation, and one tnat should not havo been maue witho ct very tangible grounds for believing it (o be true. Lord Milner Las. hitherto proved himself to bo a particularly

cautious and diplomatic gontloman when dealing with the ul'l'uirs of titato, and ono would hardly credit him with doing capable of committing himself to so Horious an accusation without tangible grounds ; and yet somo hesitation if not sorioim doubt as to his

justification for so doing is, under the ciicumstances, (jnito excusable. Indeed, until some tangible proof is available, unbiassed and well-informed inclination can load only in the direction of doubt, or to tho belief that His Lordship has for once permitted himself to commit a gravo on or of judgment in according too much signili-

caiKio to insignificant fact. Or, it may bo that ho has mistakon manifestations of public ropugnanco to a certain, lino of administration which claims his ardent approval for a fooling of public resentment towards tho British Crown. In oitlior caso our conjectures offer no satisfactory explanation of the astounding uttorance which tho ox-plenipoten-tiary lias thought fit to utter, and wo aro placod iu tho position of oithor having to accept his words literally ns a truth, or of rejecting them as an oxaggoration to say tho least. Candidly, we prefer to accopt tho latter viow, and to ascribe Lord Milner’s dellection from his usual soundness of thought and expression to tho feeling of disappointment that has taken possession of his mind sinco a change has boen made in his administrative policy in South Africa. That ho has boen bitterly disappointed over that matter is now a matter of history, but no ono over suspected, probably, (hat that disappointment would so soon develop into a belief that disloyalty was assuming rampant proportions in the heart of tho .Empire itself. It is not oasy to think that tho charge of disloyalty, anti-Nationalism, or whatever it may be called, iB anything more than a mistaken belief, for wo look in vain for any evidences of its existence within tho British Isles. Surely no ono would bo so insane as to accuse England herself of any such obliquity, and Scotland would have little difficulty in refuting the charge. It remains then for Ireland to clear herself from tho imputation, and wo venture to say that with equal promptness and effectiveness she can and would cast it back upon her accuser with righteous disdain. It is true, of course, that in her case a fovv of hor misguided people have given utterance to disloyal sentiments ; but it should bo remembered that, as in the case of Lord Milnor himself possibly, disappointment brooded over affected tho display of common-sense and created the erratic thoughts—disappointment at the delay of reforms clamored for until excitement supplanted reason and burst forth in the form of threats. That may have been interpreted as a display of disloyalty ; but when Irish patriotism was put to the test whonevor the British Crown was endangered by outside enemies it has never failed, and England herself has not fought more strenuously or successfully for the maintenance and honor of the British Crown than Ireland has History is replete with instances of Ireland’s loyalty manifested at the crucial moment, and the British Army to-day, as it has always been, is officered to a large extent by Irishmen who have taken a front rank when warlike honors have been deservedly bestowed by the nation; nor is the rank and file of the army or navy deficient in a similar respect. Where then shall we look for the evidences of disloyalty worthy of such prominence as that given to it by Lord Milner, whose vision has evidently assumed telescopic proportions by reason of his disappointment ? If anti-Nationalism does exist at all (and we are prepared to admit that it does exist perhaps in the minds of an exceedingly insignificant few), it exists in such a limited degree as to be a negligible quantity in the discussion of national questions, much less so at semi-private functions such as the presentation of an address. The suggestion of a “proxZulu” agitation if Natal had not promptly suppressed the rebellion is equally ludicrous, and for which there is no reasonable support in fact, if we may except the energies of our old colonist lawyer, Mr Jel'icoe, who never lost a chance to advertise himself, and those of the Bishop of Natal, who apparontly believed that tho honorable conduct of warfare had been violated, and an offence committed against Divine law. But upon such slender threads of evidence there is no justification for hanging a serious national accusation of anti-Nationalism which means dis loyalty to the Crown and nothing else. Had Lord Milner applied his charge to South Africa there may, probably Is, some justification for it, for one can well understand that in a country just conquered, and overrun with aliens whoso game is to play one set of circumstances off against another if by so doing they may satisfy their own insatiable greed, nothing would be more natural than to find there the I evidences unmisfakeably marked ; but nowhere else within the confines of the Empire that now oncircles the globe can we find them in such proportions as to cause a moment’s thought to be wasted on their possible consequences