MR GLADSTONE ON THE UNION OF ENGLISH SPEAKIHG PEOPLES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1992, 14 April 1885, Page 4

MR GLADSTONE ON THE UNION OF ENGLISH SPEAKIHG PEOPLES.

Mr Gi.vnvroNK, with his cnstomaiy eloquence, li.is iccontly i (.'commended the cultit ntion of a good undo -standim.' among all " Engluh spunking peoples," adding that "if them shall not be a ijood understanding among them theie will have been a base desuition of an easy ilnty, a r/rmi >•> fnilo such as might stir another l)ant ■ to denounce it, a renunciation of the noblest, the most beneficial, the most peaceful primacy ever pieseuted to the heart and understanding of man." In view of the unhappy decision of Mr Gladstone's Cabinet to refuse the proffered military ai') of most of the colonies, the following extiact from a letter to the Times, by " Australia,' 'is not without interest : —Heaven be thanken that in Britain's colonies there throbs a patriot passion fervent to aid the fatherland in welding into one the widely -dispcised uembcts of the Empire. F»om Canada, from New South Wales, from Victoria, from South Australia have comepioffeis of aid in arms and treasuie in ;\ crsis which may be one of dire need. Valuable ns is the material proffered, the heait which prompt the offer are imtnrsutably moie piecious. To sue Mr Gladstone' own 'voids, it serins to requite " portentous degeneracy '' in the Imperial Government to make unwoithy answei to hci gallant children. That dcgeneiacy may be slionn in many ways. A lack of uisdom may cieatu a rift which time may widfn into a clusni. An Act passed under Mr Gladstone's auspices in 1873 was unhappily framed bo as to imply that the mothei -country was one among* all foreign countucs in relation, to the Australian colonies (30 Viet., No 22, 1873). The object of the A;jt, which, of course, found favour in various minds for divers and conflicting reasons, was to enable the Australian cobnies and New Zoaland to regulate intercolonial customs duties differentially as regarded duties or importations from abroad. The term "foreign country" was not used, but the mother-country was included in the phrase, " The teim 1 country ' shall mean any conntiy or place except Australian colonies, and the colony of New Zealand " that the Australian colonies aie not aliens in heatt they are now pio\m«, and we may hope that no English Minister w ill chill their ardour.