The Daily News. FRIDAY, MAY 28. THE EMPIRES AWAKENING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 103, 28 May 1909, Page 2

The Daily News. FRIDAY, MAY 28. THE EMPIRES AWAKENING.

There may he sonic diU'ereine of opinion sis to tin. 1 reality uf thi* naval dauber that lias stirred the I'nited Kingdom and tile colonies to their depths; there may not be unanimity behind Xuw Zealand's offer of Dreadnoughts. but that there is unanimity throughout the Km pi re that Britain's pre-eminence at sea must be maintained there remain? no doubt. Kven. therefore, were tin so-called naval scan- a myth, it has justified its creation by having aceom plished infinitely more in binding to

gether an Kmpire than could have bee i accomplished by a decade oi economic argument. The race has suddenly been 1 awakened to the fact that if its predominance is to be piaintaiiu'd it cannot be by living on the achievements ot the past. The pretence- of juuill'crenet? with which the nation has in later days approached its obstacles can no longer be a safe policy. There is no sentinieut in this international race for power; the swift and the strong only can survive. " What we have got to change," says the London 'Spectator, " i* a certain light-heartedness, or complacency of temper, that lias lately marked our people —tile' easy belief that everyone must admire and respect- our good intentions and our able and uuiuaintariau point of view. We nave got in future to face the world, not as we should like it to be, but as it is—the world of blood and iron." These are the symptoms, mid these are the remedies, j .ie disease of our body politic, takes two forms, lhere ave the men who ape humility, who imagine that envy and ambition are disarmed by a smiling l protestation of brotherhood. i-o* mese visionaries there i s no awakening save the sword. Hut it is not in the shibboleths of peace that the real u.mger lurks. We are menaced by the defeats of our qualities, ami imagine that because we are great and wealthy the rest of mankind has only to admire and be content. It is this complacency that kills eil'ort. Confidence and pride are admirable qualities when properly controlled and directed, and Britons need not abate one iota ot eitncrj but piosperity is apt to give them a new ■character. The Prince of Wales, in u speech, recently alluded to one of these perversions of conlidence and pride when he spoke of the need of Britain making known to the world the goods she has to sell. And it U not of trade alone that the reproach may be made, but oi patri- i otism. There are timid, well-nieaiiiug j people who are convinced that patriotism is a dangerous malady, and would vigorously suppress any of its synni- i tonis. But it is not .this antagonism that kills. Patriotism Minguisnes because we ignore the truth that in every lorm of activity ,l the Empire must be the silent partner who calls upon us for an extra margin of eil'ort.. eulogy and selfsacrifice." We need someone to preach to us the doctrine of Bushido --that doctrine which hns been the inspiration of the Japanese and has raised them—not, as many people imagine, at a. bmmd, but by slow degrees—to the power and dignity of a nation. It is the gospel of patriotism—-of .sacrifice, and of strenuous eil'ort for our country ami the Kmpire. Xew Xealanders have got to realise that the time is fast approaching when they will be called upon to literally share the responsibilities of the Kmpire. Whatever may be the outcome of the Defence Conference, one thing is certain. England cannot be expected to bear the costly burden of policing the who!" Kmpire. Rach and every part must bear its fair share. The cost will be heavy, but it is the price of national safety, which this country will not shirk.