Page 4 Advertisements Column 4

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 199, 24 August 1870, Page 4

The Melbourne Argus says : — We have news from the Cape of Good Hope to 7th June. The only item of interest in the papers we have is an account of a rather note-worthy ceremony, that of the Cape Mounted Rifles, now disbanded, depositing their standards in St. George's Cathedral, there to remain as honourable memorials of (he gallant corps which had so long creditably borne them. The | Cape Argus, referring in a leading article to the " touching ceremonial," remarks : — Other regiments strike their tents to pitch them again elsewhere, but the Cape Corps has ceased to exist, and the half funeral ceremonial with which they bade furewell to the Cape, and left all that remains of fheir old glory in the keeping of the Church, symbolizes more than anything the break-up of the whole military camp in South Africa. Henceforth the British army, wherever it may achieve glory, is to be nothing to the Cape. It may and will survive in the memory of the colonists much as the fading standards of the disbanded corps will be seen week after week by the congregation at St. George's. But that is all. Its work is done ; and it was almost impossible, to re f lain from enquiring whether the disbanding of the corps did not foreshadow the narrowing of British influence and the decline of British power. England will not, like ancient Rome, be a prey to the power and discipline she herself created ; but she may suffer from a too great eagerness to withdraw her own authority from remote dependencies, and discourage the spirit of energy and enterprise which has planted her flag under every sky, and brought the members of al most every tribe on earth under her sway Protection and Free Trade. — A correspondent of the Weekly Times, in order to show "that America is becoming alive to the blighting effects of the protective laws," sends to that journal the following extract from a letter written by the Secretary of the American Free Trade League : — " This League is daily becoming stronger, and, if the contest with the protectionists be prolonged, its future power and influence may perhaps bear comparison with that of the Anti-Corn Law League. Last year we collected some 30,000 dollars, this year our subscriptions will amount to 50,000 dollars. It is impossible within the limits of a letter to give you a clear notion of the present proportions of the free-trade mevernent in this country, but I would say that within the last six months our progress has been gratifying beyond all expectations. The question is now fairly before the people, and the tariff is being debated in Congress with more spirit and with more intelligence than at any previous time for years. I can mention no more significant fact than that there is no newspaper in the Western States, with a circulation entitling it to a position of a leader of opinion, which advocates a high tariff. There are many political leaders and proprietors of newspapers who hesitate, as yet, to call themselves free traders; they prefer the name of revenue reformers, But the whole tendeucy of their teaching is towards free trade, and against protection. At the present time the attitude of our political parties with reference to free trade is a staange one. The Republican paity, which administers the Government, is divided. Its members from the West are with us, while those from the East are mostly against us. The Democratic, or opposition party, is more nearly unanimous in its advocacy of free trade ; the members from Pennsylvania alone being weavers. One of the objects of this League is to arouse public opinion, jind to force this question, by all legitimate methods of agitation, into our politics. We have succeeded already in doiug this, and our province now i 3 to educate opinion. It is impossible as yet to fVrsee how political parties will be affected by this new issue, but the Republican party, which possesses an overwhelming preponderance of power, will be forred to abandon its protectionist doctrines, and to adopt free trade, or the free traders now in its ranks will go over to the opposition. A new Congress will be elected next autumn, and the indications are unmistakeable that the Protectionists will be beaten. The sitting Congress was elected without reference to this issue, and from the present contest about the tariff, little is to be hoped this session."