New Zealand Times. MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4225, 5 October 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1874.

The three great European powers, Russia, Prussia, and Great Britain, are actuated at the present time by the common policy of annexing further territory. This is no new thing for Russia to do, and not a novel course for Prussia to pursue, but it is entirely at variance with the policy that has obtained in England during the long Whig rule that recently was brought to an end —for a considerable period of time, it is believed. And, fortunately, these three powers can do this without anyone feeling alarm at the advances made by the other. " There never was a period," said the Prime Minister, at a recent banquet at the Mansion House, "in the history of this country, so far as my personal experience extends, in which Her Majesty's Government received from all nations, countries, Powers, and States so many professions of friendship and regard as England has at the present moment." What these professions may be worth is quite another matter; but the fact remains that they are given. And they have not been obtained by a policy of isolation. Both the Foreign Secretary and Mr. Disraeli have intimated that they consider England should have a voice in European affairs. Indeed, at the very banquet alluded to,. Mr. Disraeli said that he recognised the obligation of England to hold itself responsible to European countries "with regard to any of the questions that may arise, and which may affect the fortunes of the world." This, is a striking departure from the policy of Messrs. Gladstone and Bright; and it seems to be viewed with the greatest satisfaction throughout the country. It may be that the influence of Great Britain is courted, in view to certain contingencies that may arise ; but there is no questioning the fact that the peace of the world is safest whilst there is a good understanding between the great powers. If tho British Cabinet saw ground for alarm on account of Russian conquests in Asia, or in the unmistakable design that the Prussian Chancellor has upon Denmark, the speech of Mr. Disraeli at the Mansion House could not have been made.

It is a new, thing, remarked an English journal, "to hear a Prime Minister, in referring to our Colonies, speak of 'increasing' our Empire. It smacks of constructive statesmanship, yet it really appears that we have at last a Ministry with Imperial views and aims, and a Premier who has the audacity to avow them." That Fiji will be taken over, there cannot be much question, after the Premier's speech. And if it be, the annexation of the other groups of islands will certainly follow. But, whilst the Conservative Cabinet has quite decided to take Fiji, it is not at all clear in what way the island should be governed. Lord Carnarvon thinks it should be " a, Crown Colony of a rather severe type"—that is to say, governed by a few officials : but let it be governed how it may, there will be two' difficulties constantly cropping up. One of these may be termed the Native difficulty, and the other is one that will arise from the desire that there always is amongst colonists to acquire the title to land held by the Natives. In this respect the experience of a New Zealand Minister would be invaluable to the Home Government. We have only to contrast the difference between the result of the policy of Sir Donald McLean—for his it is, and his solely—and that which attended the line previously adopted. Before,. there were disastrous wars that cost much of both blood and treasure. Now the country is being pierced by roads, which will lead to its gradual settlement ; and the Natives are every day better reconciled to the acquisition of estates by their white neighbors. How delicately, and in how politic but yet firm a manner this has all been brought about will probably be never known to the outside world. But in consequence of the happy effect of this policy, and in face of the certainty that the British Government has determined to take over Fiji, the presence of Mr. Vogel in Lon-. don will be peculiarly opportune. He will be able to put the suggestion forcibly to the Secretary of State for the Colonies that there may be wisdom in commencing the British Empire in Polynesia as it was commenced in India ; or, at least, that it would be to the advantage of Great Britain that if Fiji be made a Crown Colony of a severe type, the annexation of the Navigator and Friendly Isles might be commenced by a company being formed in London and New Zealand to trade between this Colony and those groups. And he can point to the perfect success with which the Native difficulty has been got over, and the almost certainty that were the same policy applied to the Samoans, the same result would follow. It is impossible not to suppose that such arguments as he would bring forward would have great weight with Lord Carnarvon. The only power likely to view with jealousy the spread of British authority in Polynesia would be America ; but as the American commercial marine has been virtually swept off the ocean by the ruinous protective policy adopted, there is less occasion than there was for an American naval station in the South Pacific. Even that at Honolulu has been virtually abandoned. The progress of Russia in Independent Tartary, as it has been called, is viewed with a very different eye by English statesmen of this generation to what it traa by those of a prior period. Turkestan just borders on British India ; and although from it Russian emissaries might intrigue with the fierce mountaineers of Affghanistan, or even Beloochistan, so as to give trouble to England in the East, if she were engaged in a European war, British agents might play the very same game with Russia in Bokhara, Khiva, and Khokand. After all, it is beginning to be understood that it is better for all parties these savage inhabitants of Turkestan, whose most congenial occupation is that of cutting each other's throats, should bo ruled as Crown Colonies of the "rather severe type." Russian rule simply means military despotism, and this is the only form of government practicable amongst such people. But the significance of the Russian acquisition of territory is not to be found solely in the fact that she has advanced her boundary 700 miles to the south and 900 miles to the south-east during the past quarter of a century. As long as she acquired merely acres: of mountain, desert, and ice in northern Asia, her conquests were of littja moment. But the territory she has more recently taken over has been the seat of powerful and prosperous empires, the people of which once were in a comparatively speaking high state of civilisation. Their country was situated in a latitude scarcely lower than that of the southern countries of Europe, and ; remarkable'for their fertility and the beauty of their climates. Under Russian'rule the trader will be' as safe in them as-in southern-Europe, and this great advantage the merchants of Bombay,

Madras, and Calcutta will, not be slow to appreciate. Hitherto, their agents, travelling in Turkestan, did so with their lives in their hands, just as much as if they travelled overland from Calcutta to Canton.

When the two Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein were conquered, in the Dano-German war of 1864, it was generally supposed that Denmark would, in process of time, become German territory. The great seaboard that it would give would be invaluable to Prussia ; and it was without surprise that we learned Prussia had invited Denmark to become a member of the Germanic Confederation. So well was it understood , this must happen, some day or other, that in the protest of the Denmark March Club, during the war, it was strongly insisted upon that Denmark, with her slight population might, with honor, have allowed Prussia and Austria to seize the Duchies, without taking up arms in. their defence, but for the principle involved ; also, that taking them made Denmark a Germanic Dependency. At that time the opinion in England was that a very high-handed act was perpetrated by the German powers, and English statesmen would have taken active measures to prevent it, but for the unwillingness to act of the Emperor of the French, who then failed to see the important part Prussia would play in deciding th 9 destinies of Europe. But as England did not act in 1864, and as the opinion of British statesmen must be very well known by Prince Bismarck, the probability appears to be that events in connection with Prussia and Denmark will be left to take their course. If Germany is resolved to have Denmark, she will, and the 1,500,000 people who make the sum total of the population, may bo none the worse for the change. If it should take place, it must have been present to the mind of Danish, German, and British statesmen, for a long period of time. But the time for making it does not appear to be whilst the King is as hale and well as he is at the present time. Prince Bismarck has probably, in inviting Denmark to join the league, but been anticipating events.