A CHILD'S QUESTION.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 1, Issue 16, 2 August 1849, Page 4

A CHILD'S QUESTION.

The discussion of the Oregon question (which threatened a war between England and America) had assumed its most serious aspect, when a British ship, the "Earl of Eglinton," was driven ashore on the island of Nantucket, and six of her crew perished in the waves, in presence of hundreds of the islanders, notwithstanding the most despera'e exertions to save them. Some of the leading merchants of the town were foremost in the efforts to rescue the drowning men from the terrible surge* They vied with the hardy whalemen in venturing into the surf, each with a rope fastened round his body, by which he was to be drawn ashore the moment lie had got hold of one of the ship-wrecked mariners. Several of the English sailors were thus drawn almost senseless upon the beach, where they were caught up in the aims of strong men, and conveyed into the town. Every door was opened, nnd every fireside ready for their reception ; and warm clothes, and warm sympathies, and every comfort that kindness could dictate, were in profuse requisition to make them at home. 'l'he details of the disaster were rehearsed, and all the hairs-breadth escapes of those on ship and shore. An eminent merchant, who had perilled his life in the surf in plucking from it 9 fierce eddy a struggling sailor, wis relating his adventure at Ilia fireside, wiih his little daughter on his knee, when the little thing, loukflg into the father's f>ce,

with its earnest eyes full of tears, asked, in all the simplicity of a child's heart, " Why did the people work so hard to save the British sailors, if they want to go to war and kill them ?" It was a word fitly spoken ; and it passed around from house to house, and from heart to heart, and many were made thoughtful by the child's question.—Emiu Burritt. The Child's question is a sterling commentary on the folly and wantonness of war. But the contrariety of feeling which so much amazed the child, has frequently excited astonishment in bearded men, rescued from destruction, and kindly tended, by antagonists who but the minute before tugged hard with them in mortal strife. We forget if it were upon occasion of Lord Exmouth's bombardment of Algiers, that sume Turks, saved from drowning by extraordinary exertions of British seamen, exclaimed "Those English are an incomprehensible people. They fought us like devils; and when they have blown our ships to pieces, they have perilled their own lives to savo those of their enemies."