THE Grey Riber Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1211, 15 June 1872, Page 2

THE Grey Riber Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 1872.

The news to hand by the Suez mail, though given to us piecemeal, contains many items of very serious importauce, whether the social condition of Great Britain, the state of the European Continent, or the American complications are considered. In England new life seems by some means to have been infused into the masses, and in all directions we are told of strikes occurring, and unions of O3e kind or other being formed, and, what is more, in a majority of cases these seem to have been successful. Labor in this age has learnt its value, and insists on receiving a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. Had such combinations as now achieve their ends taken place some few years back, those connected with them would have been arrested, or shot down wholesale, and many who escaped the soldier's bullets would, at least, have paid for tbeir hardihood by undergoing long penal terms of servitude. The change has been as rapid as it is welcome, and so long as artisans or laborers only ask what is fair and just, as between employers and employed, they will at least meet with heartfelt sympathy at the antipodes. The agricultural laborers have astonished the English people more than any other class, and it is evident that the wretched condition in which they have lived for all time past will now, at least be largely ameliorated. Democracy of a reasonable and not insane or disloyal kind is largely spreading, and Ihe powers that be are wisely yielding in moderat en to the pressure. Whilst this is so, it is somewhat surprising and paradoxical 1o find that Conservatism is gaining g-otmd, but such is the case, as shown by the return of Conservatives in many recently contested oleefcions, and the ovation paid to My Disraeli on the occasion of his late visit to Lancashire. The Gladstone Ministry is very clearly in great danger at the present time, public feeling having greatly thinged in consequence of the humblepie a 'tit tide (hat the Cabinet has taken in connection with the Alabama claims and

the indirect damages. The temper of the country will not submit to anything so preposterous, and on the ground that a Conservative Ministry would rather risk a war of any magnitude than drag the honor of the country in the mud, as the peace-at-any-price party would seem to be willing to do — public confidence is reposed in the former at the present crisis. It is rather difficult to clearly understand the American situation at the present time. The British Government, , apparently, have been compelled to take ' a stand, from which Parliament will not let them flinch, under penalty of immediate ejection from office. On the other hand, the American people seem split up into factions, and undecided whether to abandon the claims or risk a rupture. The latest dates tell us that Secretary Fish considers the English proposals for an amicable settlement unacceptable, and in the very latest telegram the American journals announce that their Government will asks we presume they mean, make, no further compromise, and the Congressional Committee therefore expects England to withdraw from the Geneva arbitration. This is unquestionably what EngUnd will do, and then comes the question — What next 1 If the Americans are deluded into attempting, as one of their "patriots" has promised, the collection of their little account at the point of the bayonet, their success is hardly likely to equal their enterprise ; and whilst fully recognising the fearfully grave consequences to both nations in the fraticidal strife, there is no fear as to the ultimate result, or that if war is forced on Britain, she will, at no distant period have a contra account to present that will swallow up Alabama claims twice over. It iB to be hoped that the good sense and moderation of the rulers will avert such a calamity, but from the tone of the, English papers it would appear as though the people wbuld rather prefer open war to the shilly-shallying and utter humbug that has hitherto characterised the negotiations. Public patience in the old country is being rapidly exhausted, and Parliament is bent on bringing the question to an issue one way or other. The same feeling seems to pervade on the other side of the Atlantic, so at any moment a spark may fire the mine to which the train is already laid. The withdrawal of England from the Geneva arbitration does not necessarily imply active hostilities, but such a course would probably bring them about. On the Continent it would appear as though a second Franco-German war was in the highest degree probable at no distant date. France is quietly arming and repairing the fearful military damages that she sustained so recently ; whilst it seems that the Germans are fully aware of what is being done, and threaten to put. a- stop tn the course now being adopted by their late foe. Though the cloud is at present no bigger than a man's hand, a renewed storm may yet arise from it that may possibly exceed the last in its intensity. Altogether the prospects of universal peace are by no means glowing, and very shortly there is every apparent chance of the roar of cannon fired in anger being once more heard.