AN AMERICAN PHOPHECY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 253, 7 August 1941, Page 4

AN AMERICAN PHOPHECY.

A prophecy made by an American, General G. Watson Webb, in a speech delivered on March 18, 1854. seems to be in process of fulfilment. General Webb'said: “The contingency to which J allude as being the only one which could prompt American interference in European affairs, is, I sincerely hope, very far distant, but i’t; is one which should never be lost sight of in England, and which may ultimately be averted altogether by its being constantly kept before the world—l mean a combination of the Continent (of Europe) at some future day against England as the great embodiment of constitutional liberty in Europe.. That day may come; bow soon, if ever, He alone knows in whose hands are the destinies of nations, but come when it may, our interests and our feelings will alike combine to make us come to the rescue. We shall come; it may be from a conviction that, in fighting your battles, we are contending for the cause of constitutional liberty. Our plea or ’our excuse may be self-preservation; but in such a contingency come wo will; and 1)0 assured that the youthful giant for wo shall bo a giant before that dav arrives—will not come the less willingly or strike loss effectively because his strength will bo put forth on behalf of a parent who, if she was not always a kind mother, gave to us our AngloSaxon blood, and sent us forth imbued with her laws, her literature and her love of constitutional liberty.”