The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1886. THE NEW HEBRIDES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1510, 25 May 1886, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1886. THE NEW HEBRIDES.

It is one of the gravest questions of the hour as to how far the Imperial power of Qreat Britain will descend from the path of honor for the purpose of obtaining peace at any price. To the Anglobaxon, glorying in his Teatonic tradi liens, sad was the sight of viewing English statesmen cowering before the threats of Hessian aggression, fiat sadder still it is to contemplate the indifference which the parent country manifests at the gradual plunder of the just inheritance of its Australasian empire. Historians never weary in re. cording the splendid past of the English people. While deploring tbs loss of the American colonic* they thought the lesaon taught by that re* hellion would strengthen the power of future colonisation. The English race was destined to become a planter of nations, while other countries like Spain collapsed and fell ruined, by a narrowminded despotism. Born under a free constitution and endowed with the vigor of their insular climate the klaxon race peopled lands hitherto unknown, and, while increasing the wealth and commerce of their native country, carried civilisation into every clime. Justice and humanity prevailed over heathen darkness, and the natives quietly began to till their lands once red with human blood. Away to the North-East of Australis lies a group of islands, resting in the sun-lit waters of the Pacific. For years the Presbyterians have labored there, and no expense and trouble have been spared in endeavoring lo improve the destinies of the New Hebrides race. Missionaries have left the comforts of their own country to dispel the darkness of savage life, and their work has not been in rain. Already the natives respect British rnle. Cammercs has i arisen, end another path lies open for the development of Australian expansion. In spite of all this tbs English Government has expressed itself willing to yield the New Hebrides to France, provided that country cesses to send its criminals to the Pacific, New Caledonia was annexed by France, and terrible evils bavs followed. The rile outcasts of French society were bnrled into the boundaries of Australia and its adjacent islands. Instead of following the example of England, French statesmen sent the dregs of their country to devastate the fairest islands of the Pacific. They now demand the New Hebrides, pretending to apologise for the past, and making mock promises for the future. It is necessary to read the past, and then the end can be easily determined. Their new possessions will be crowded with hordes of outcasts ; far the French bare never been colonists. They failed in the past and they will do as well in the future. Their instincts teach them to stay at home, and to these instincts they cannot but be true. Thera is not the slightest doubt these islands would have at once been surrendered, but for the prompt action of the Presbyterian Church. Its vigorous protest aroused the minds of men to the real state of affars. The New Zealand Premier towards it adopted a course of action both unfair and unjust. It was asked lo abandon the work of years for the doubtful promise given by a nation renowned for its fickleness. Once possessed of the New Hebrides France would crowd them with convicts, and with these the natives, already enlightened by the effort! of Christianity, would have lo arpociate. The Presbyterians hare therefore only two courses open First, by protesting against French annexation, and preserving intact the great inheritance of the coming empire ; or, next, by quietly suffering foreign occupation, and hence laying the foundations of future wars Australis, instead of reigning supreme in the southern hemisphere will have dangerous neighbors, and accordingly unceasing sources of anxiety. Islands So easily given away will have to be regained, and future writers will tell th* story of hard-fought battles caused by the efforts of a repentant nation endeavoring to retrieve the errors of the past. When future troubles arise, and the red sun gleam* through the war clouds, posterity, when driving the foreign intruder from its shores, will bitterly reflect that English statesmen better than their fathers never were. [Since the above was written we find that Great Britain has replied that the New Hebrides will not be ceded to France on any consideration.]