The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 1881.

Temuka Leader, Issue 363, 15 March 1881, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 1881.

The amount of human life sacrificed in connection with the Crimean war has never been, and probably never will be fully known. Three hundred thousand Russians, a hundred thousand French, and sixty thousand British, is but an approximate estimate, which, if the facts were fully known, would likely be considerably exceeded in every instance. Of the first 27,000 British soldiers who left } the shores of England in the first instance ( only 2000 returned to their native land.

Disease and sever!(y of the weather destroyed more than powder and shot. The inefficiency of-the British commissariat arrangements aroused the ire of the British public to such an extent as to upset a strong Government, and drew the attention of the military . authorities to the necessity of a thorough revisal of the British military system'. From the close of the Crimean war to the signing of a treaty of peace, Britain anew turned her attention to the- manufacture of implements of destruction, with a mind and a will never before exhibited by her to the world. ■ Armstrongs and .Whitworths in turns being declared the most marvellous inventions of modern times. Gun boats and wooden walls in her navy were superseded by the torpedo boats and iron walls, which in turn were declared a triumph of skill far exceeding anything before known. Steam rams, sheathed with five inches deep of iron, as a girdle around them, were believed to be capable of driving everything before them. Other nations, however, besides Britain, were at work, and it was soon found that iron was prepared to meet iron as readily as wood met wood. Not only England but Franco, Russia, Austria, Prussia, and last, but not least, Italy, went in for improving their armies and navies, with a disregard to cost never before witnessed by the civilised world. The public looked on with expectation of a great crash soon taking place somewhere. The notion of the peace party, or John Bright school, that the disputes of nations could be settled by arbitration, which for a time influenced the public to a considerable extent, and which led to Britain being found in such a state of unpveparedness at the commencement of the Crimean war, (and consequently to tho desolation of so many hearths) was now cast aside. The idea that the best way to secure a lasting peace is to be prepared for war, now took possession of the British public to such an extent that the British Government found it necessary to adopt this principle as the policy of England, the first outcome of which was the development of the Volunteer system to an extent never before known in the British Isles. The warlike spirit was now aroused throughout the whole length and breadth of the land. Three hundred thousand well-drilled volunteers ready and willing to defend their country and their homes, was a spectacle that caused the nations of the earth to stand in awe of the British arms that had been considerably dimmed now shone forth with a brightness more dazzling than ever. The talk of a French invasion that had just been on the cards, for the hundred and twentieth time, speedily ceased, and France anew sought the friendship of England. The former power, however, ever restless, and her military head as ambitious as ever for more glory, soon provoked a war with Austria, and to the surprise of many, conquered that great military empire. Austria’s emperor was only a youth, enjoying life with his young wife. He had been caught napping by the crafty Napoleon the Third, and overthrown before he was aware that he was at war. Meantime, Britain, who had come out of the Crimean war only as second best, was gradually resuming hei place among the European nations, her policy being now to wait, and watch her cunning enemies, and to keep steadily adding to her army and navy. In the meantime the great American civil war between the North and South commenced. President Davis, with his brave, devoted generals on land commanded the admiration of all Europe ; the Alabama, with her bold Captain Symes, on sea, astonished and delighted the naval authorities and the old salts who enjoyed a sea fight. England still looked on and watched, but more than once was she nearly tempted to join France in acknowledging the independence of the South. Fortunately for England Earl Beaconsfield held the helm—his counsel prevailed. Non-interventionbeingadopted as a part of the British policy in her programme for future guidance, she consistently carried out this principle, and consequently sealed a solid friendship with the United States that has done so much good to both nations. Had Britain acted otherwise a war with America would have been the result, and destruction of the commerce of both nations would have been the consequence. Although British subjects could go to bed in the full assurance that no sudden visitation of an invading foe would disturb their slumbers, yet it was not all gain. Military movements and naval manoeuvres unhinged the public mind. ‘ Nothing but war ships, military movements, and volunteer encampments were talked of. Art and science, apart from that connected with the sword and (he rifle, were left to take care of themselves. Meantime, the American war came to an end, and the Yankee, always energetic, lost no time in devoting move attention to her manufactures, the result being that while England kept on drilling and experimenting with her ironclads, America was flooding her market with cheap goods. To such an extent was this carried out, that England’s workshops were almost shut up. To this cause may be ascribed to some extent, her late severe commercial depression. Peace to England, however, was the result of her thorough preparedness for war. France, elated with her victory on Austrian soil, turned her attention to Prussia—an old enemy. Napoleoa

the Third, now Emperor of Fiance, was under no restraint. England, who .had checked his ardor for the battle field when engaged iu the Crimean war, now resolved to let him have his own way. The next that we hear of him is that he is leading the French army i n German soil, and teaching his only son and heir his first military lesson on the battle field. In mcckery of religion, of which he seemed less impressed than even his tyrannical uncle, lie boasts of his son re. ceiving his baptism of fire. Query ": Had

this prostituting of one of the Almighty s divinely-appointed ordinances anything to do with the sudden blotting out of his name and "generation from the earth? There is a strange coincidence between the way God often punished his ancient people for flagrant disobedience of his holy laws, and the way he dealt with the Emperor of the French and his son and heir. Britain, slow but sure, now began to prove by ocular demonstration the soundness of her policy of neutrality. France got her way, and France was humbled by United Germany in a way she never was humbled before. Hemmed in on every side, her capital was shut up a prey to anarchy and communism, her walls surrounded by a victorious Prussian army, while her Emperor lay a helpless prisoner of war, and his beloved wife — the beautiful Empress Eugenie—had to fly, an exile from her home. Britain looked on and watched, Russia matured new schemes for tho subjugation of Turkey, Austria strengthened her fortifications and increased her army, Italy increased her already powerful navy, France, still on her knfees, made several attempts to reover herself from her state of utter prostration, signs a treaty of peace with Prussia, giving a heavy Indemnity : Prussia- counts the cost in blood and treasure and finds it a dearly bought victory, and still in danger of a visit from a revengeful enemy, but Britain rests herself in calm repose. Waterloo, tho sore that rankled between England and Fiance, had hitherto only to be named in France to cause every Frenchman to clap his hand to his sword, is now entirely forgotten. ■ The Franco-Prussian war, and the greater humiliation that Franca had experienced at the hands of Prussia, destroyed the enmity that had hitherto existed against England, and from that time till now between England and France there has existed more real friendship than ever before existed during any period of their history. Britain’s wooden, or rather iron walls, Britain’s volunteer army, Britain’s manufactures, and Bri-. tain’s progress in the arts of peace, we must leave for another article.