MOMENTOUS CONSIDERATIONS.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 413, 28 November 1884, Page 6

MOMENTOUS CONSIDERATIONS.

TO THE EDITOR. Slß,—- We are familiar with the phrase, v drifting into war" and in view of the pre- . p irations for war by the Australasian colonies, the phrase may at the first glance seem' inapplicable to them, and yet if it can be shown that, end how such war may, we cannot be benefited thereby but must reap serious injury from it, and that there is a Way by which we may avert it, then I hold that if we do not enter on that way we are as effectually " drifting into war " as if we had made enemies to ourselves and took no steps to protect ourselves from their consequent resentment. Before enlarging on these heads a few remarks on war generally may not be amiss. We read of '• honorable warfare" and ''civilised warfare." No greater misnomers [ are conceivable. All war, whether waged barbarians or civilized nations, is (as "Phil Sheridan, who could speak from his j experience of the late American civil war, confessed} cruelty. It i 3 worse. It is cruelty, homicide, rapine organised— a sort of hell let loose — and incendiaiism. Civilised ? war, specially, or as I prefer to term it j the war of civilised nations, is chiefly distin- • guishablo from that waged by barbarians ] by a bad " preeminence " in the use of! in- f ferrial machines of various types and by so ' employing destructive agencies as to work ; the largest amount of destruction of which \ their nature is capable. As for bombard- ' men{s (which seems to be all the fashion ' — c. </., the English Lefore Alexandria and ] the French at I'onquin) when there is not adequate means of resitting them they are simply massacres in which the bombardiers in all but perfect security pound the bombarded to smash without once coming in close contact with the assailed. So much for the pride and pomp of glorious war, which I suspect is not justifiable save for defence, to resist aggression, to cover a lost, J or to establish a new, nationality. I have now to consider the notion that the advent. of war notwithstanding our preparations ( for it is problematical— at the worst a remote contingency. It is said the war-horse sniffs the battle from afar off. Wolesley, England's " only general ; Marshall MacMahon and Admiral Courbet France's greatest and only military geniuses both, by sea and land ; Phi} Sheridan, America's greatest general; Admiral Lynch of South America and O'Donnell of Spain (all Irishmen and by the way no mean authorities as to the nature of a •' shindy " or in carrying one out), men who are well able to read the times, have unanimously given it as their opinion that a general death, struggle amongst the kingdoms of Europe is not far distant. Let us hear the utterance of Wm. Gladstone himself — the grand old man, as some are pleased to call him He has declared that "Whether England acquire Egypt by larceny or by purchase, the acquisition will prove the egg of a future Noi'th 'African Empire." It is no less certain that the predominance of England in the Mediterranean is, and has been, regarded for some time back with much jealousy by the nations having port 3on that inland sea, and that such a step as the appropriation of Egypt, virtually converting the Mediterranean 1 into an English lake, and giving England 1 such' preponderant power in that quarter, would be resented proportionately ; and it can scarcely be doubted that were England either to annex Egypt or a protectorate over it, France would declare war against her and probably be assisted maritimely by. both Italy and Russia, and. it may; be, by Germany. Whatever may be said or thought of the esprit of the military forces of England and France by land, the naval 'power of France is admittedly in the ascendant in Europe. 'In such a contingency it is absolutely certain that the two principals,"whoever they - may be, will either seek-to desolate each other's colonial possession's oi -hold them to ransom, perhaps both ; but in any case, even supposing England to; be ultimately victorious it is hard, to say. what lossess they may sustain, or how England willbe assisted in her conflict by' being hampered with our defence — released from which, she would be better able to cope with her foes. The' motive impelling Britain to possess herself of Egypt as a half-way-house between England and India and from which the .tports. of "the .Red Sea she could Teadily, summon troops to her aid from India or despatch British troops thither ffrom Egypt, are probably "as strong as thpse which prompt France and Italy to oppose any permanent occupation of that country by England, and, as there seems to be no way of reconciling or adjusting those conflicting ambitions, collision seems inevitable, for neither party is likely to ■waive its pretensions. Our latest telegrams make the unpleasant announcement that strong dissatisfaction is being shown by the Great Powers at the long occupation of Egypt by Britain. Every well wisher of his adopted country (New Zealand) so far from courting war, with all its attendant horrors, calamities and atrocities, will strain every nerve to avert it and more especially in the present case, since, let the war anticipated end how it may, we can only reap injury from it. Were there any moral or physical necessity for our engaging in such war or could it ever be shown that England would be aided "by such action on our part, the question would of course wear a different aspect. I cannot see that there is any one of these*, and I think the way is open to secure at once an exemption from war and the strengthening of England for what might prove a mortal combat. All that is requisite for this purpose is to proclaim our independence by a declaration of right,and promptly apprize the European Government of the fact. No nation or power would then molest us, nor have even a pretext to do so unless we chose to make them our enemies by , arrogant and untenable assumptions or by insolent invective. I submit that for the strengthening of England, in view of the thickening hostility, were all her colonies to proclaim their independence it would, by the proportionate liberation of her naval armament'and land forces, be a real service to her in the conflict •which now seems inevitable, and it should fo-» always remembered that there is no benefit England derives from her colonies as sucH which she would not derive in a much greater degree were they independent \ states. 'As to the security of the vast commerce between England and these , colonies we may safely leave it in England's charge seeing that she as as deeply interested in its security as we Ourselves are, _ I shall now strengthen the positions I have ' assumed by the testimony of that eminent Britisli publicist Goldwin SmithAs the days are past when the colonies could not even manufacture a horse-shoe nail without the permission 'of the Mother Country, and as they now fix their own tariffs without regard to anything but their own special interests, "it is not easy to see what interest England herself has in a connection which would be most onerous and dangerous in ease of war." " The colonies," says the same sagacious i writer, " could trade with the Mother Country if they were independent just as well as they can now. As dependencies they can claim the protection of the armament in time of war, Ivi it is from their connection with he>' and Iw Imperial diplomacy and from, tTtat alone that tlieir liability to be involved in mar arises. Not one of them has enemies of its own." "Progressive concessions of self-govern-ment extending at last to tariffs, and in the case of Canada to something like the negotiation, of commercial treaties, have bioaght the colonial dependencies to the verge or independent states." The continuation of the sentence may well open our eyes to the scheme that has been on foot to re-capture the colonies arid re-impose, though in a less calling form than in the past, the yoke of bondage. Goldwin Smith continues the sentence as follow* : -" At this, point there "is a re-action of sentiment among the Imperialists and while a return, to downing, street' government is seen to be. out, of the , queWon, proposals are put &*th for politic, ,'ally, re-incorporating the colonies with _the i$ Motfcer Countrv under the »anie of Im-

perial Federation." Were it only to give the coup de grace to this pernicious scheme the assertion ©f our independence would not be inopportune. — 1 am, &c, J. M. i Ofcama, Nov. 21, 1884.