AN HISTORICAL PARALLEL.

Observer, Volume v, Issue 115, 25 November 1882, Page 163

AN HISTORICAL PARALLEL.

Some of the English papers are recommending the application of Draconian measures to certain mischievous persons who are accused of haying instigated and encouraged Arabi Pasha in his recent rebellion. Amongst the latter is a wellknown lawyer named Blunt, who has, since Arabi's trial, been engaged for the defence. Ifc seems that Blunt, with more assurance than authority, took upon himself to tell Araibi Pasha before the war began that the British Grovernment would not prop up the Khedive M'ith bayonets, leaving him to draw the obvious inference that he was at liberty to work his own sweet will. The Satwclay Revieio and other journals now seek to saddle Blunt with a large share of the responsibility for the waste of blood and treasure, and lament that in the present unsatisfactory condition of international law the arch-instigator cannot be made to pay the penalty by the Pantagruellian process.

We should not have referred to tliis subject but for the fact that it suggests a local paralell. When Sir Grey was negotiating with Tawhiao and his immediate adherents for a permanent adjustment of outstanding questions, two prominent Europeans, whom we believed to be acting for party and personal interests, threw all the weight of their influence into the scale to thwart the Ministerial programme, and that they succeeded only too well is a matter of history. Indeed they may be fairly held primarily responsible for the failure of the subsequent attempts to solve the problem. What inducements they offered, or what promises they made on behalf of the party they 3ervbd, or pretended to serve, is unknown, but Tawhiao could tell if he chose to unseal his lips, and we think the time has come when he ought to speak. The question that arises, however, is this : — lf the English newspapers can show that good grounds exist for saddling such amateur diplomatists as Blunt with the evil consequences of their acts, ought not the law in New Zealand to be made to reach the men who jeopardise the peace and progress of the country by stirring up strife between the two races, and thwarting well devised plans for the adjustment of long standing differences ?