The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY. SEPTEMBER 29, 1885. SPAIN AND GERMANY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1398, 29 September 1885, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY. SEPTEMBER 29, 1885. SPAIN AND GERMANY.

A short time ago the news reached us that Germany had seized one of the Caroline Islands which belrnged to Spain, and that consequently a difficulty had arisen between tbe two nations. At one time this item of news would have been looked upon wMi more alarm than it has been on this occasion. Spain was once mistress of the seas, and would not lu.ve hesitated to avenge the insult Germany appears to have given to her flag. Her power, however, is a ibing of the past; her former gWy is gone, and constqnentlj there is iitie* danger of her going to war with perhaps the most powerful nation on earth— Germany, The Caroline Islands are situated fo the eastward of the Phillipine Islands, and are set down as Spanish colonies in the Statesmans Year Book of 1881, They have a population of 28 000, and an area of 905 square miles. There can be little doubt but that they belong to Spain : yet the excuse Prince Bismarck gives for annexing them is that he believed they did not. He has asserted that the instructions of the officer who performed the ceremony of annexation was not to seize the island if it was found to be in the possession of Spain, This assertion carries falsehood on the face of it. The German Government could not. be so ignorant of geography as not to know t hat it belonged to Spain ; and if such were tbe officer’s instructions be would not have seized the island after having found a Spanish Governor in possession of if, and a man-of-war in the harbor. It is obvious, therefore, that Bismarck’s instructions were to seize the island whether possessed by Spain or not, and that the officers omy obeyed these instrnctions. Germany, it appears, has been seized with earth hunger to an alarming extent. We have experienced it in these far off dependencies of the British Empire. There can he no doubt but that Germany’s conduct toward?. England with regard to New Guinea, Samoa, and other South Pacific Islands was equally as bad as that with regard, fo Spain and if she bad been a weak nation instead of what she is Mr Gladstone would have buckled on his armour and thrashed her without further parley. Germany, however, is powerful, and her swaggering arrogance is becoming unbearable, and why tbe prsen* English Government has decided to support her in tbo action she

has taken with regard to Spain is one of those things which cannot easily bp understood. If Mr Gladstone had been in power we should have understood it easily. His Government appeared to shiver and shake before Print*® Bitmarck ; hut why the present Government should follow in the same footsteps cannot easily be explained. Bismarck has not treated Spain any worse than he did England ou the coast of Africa as well as in the South Seas, and under these circumstances one would think that a sort of a fellow-fee ing would stmt Up between the two injure*; nations, and Uut they would common cause against lhe common pueray. A novel phas- of iln* question is that both nations have decided to accept the mediation of His Holiness itie Pope regarding the difficulty. Oneupon a time the Pone was the great mediator between nations, but it is, we believe, a long time since qm slums of the kind have been referred to him, and it is certainly extraordinary to find Bismarck consenting to abide by iiis decision now. It is not lung since Bismarck was a violent peisecutor of the Catholic Chu'ch ; he took detennin* d steps to subjugate the Pope to his will, but he was ignojnini ius'y defeated and had to give in, Since then lie has adopted a more friendly attitude towards the Pope ami the Catholi. Church ; but we did not expect him I* go to the extent, of submitting a question of such moment to the arbitration of the Vatican.