The Daily Southern Cross.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3351, 13 April 1868, Page 2

The Daily Southern Cross.

' LCTOXO, NOW I7XO. If I h»t« bun wnbuniihad, yrt tbtra ilm ▲ tboownd bw^ona from the ipark I bow.

MONDAY, APRIL 13.

It is impossible but that; the news which we published in an extra on Saturday, morning, to the effect that his Royal Highness the I)uke of Edinburgh was obliged to abandon his intention of visiting New Zealand, should cause great disappointment throughout the colony. After having looked forward for many months to the opportunity which was to be afforded to us of (displaying our loyalty to the British throne, and expressing those feelings of personal attachment whichxcplonisjß in this distant part of the world, no less than, o the inhabitants of Great Britain; entertain for their Queen, and all her family, we find ourselves deprived of the expected occasion, and New Zealand alone of all the Australian, colonies is unable to welcome the Prince to her shores. But we feel sure that there is not one person in the country, if we except those wh6 have joined the inisera^e'"* Fenian conspiracy, who would really hare wished tha,t the Prince shpuloV, .come here against the advice of his medical attendants, and at, . the risk of bringing .on a relapse consequent upon the unavoidable excitement which must attend a State visit. To this colony the loss is indeed , very great ; but we say with confidence that the colonists will be contented to accept it without grumbling, now, that they know that the Prince was really anxious to visit them, and that he only consented to forego his ; intention at the urgent, persuasion of the medical men. It would be a poor loyalty which would object to surrender its own pleasure when the health of him to whom the professions were made demanded that this shoidd be done. Such is not, the kind oi*,, loyalty of which New Zealand boasts. ■ It is said, in the note received from the. Brince, that he had been obliged to, abandon his intention of visiting New Zealand ," for , ft i thepresent." Perhapsweshould be wrong in laying any very great stress upon these last words, but they evidently show that his Royal Highness had thoughts of beingable to visit us here, at some, .future time. /yjTe sincerely bjope that;,; jthis 'm^y be^p,! and , ihxb the day may yet arrive when Prince- Alfredjwill, come here in good health, and enable us to prove to him, persoiially^ ; that. r the^.p.eopJe^of.JNesr Zealand are second in loyalty to none. | Apart from the,, question of. Princess h>alth, there is another consideration whicti^ unhappily for us, is at present^pne^of much .weight, arid will cause many" -of the colonists, when they, hear $hat ; we I<? are not to be honoured T by * visit, to feel relief from a great anxiety rather than regret - ' The Prince was ■ shot by a Fenian* A and from the taint of that conspiracy New Zealand is by no means free. It may be that we should have thought ourselves well able,, to ensure our visitor's perfect safety while 'lie remained with us, and in all .probability the measures which would have been taken for this object would have sufficed. But there would none the less ; hare been a dread lest "something might happen," — a neverceasing anxiety, which would inevitably have damped our pleasure at receiving the Prince. ' Everyone would have been longing to get "tne visit pver, in safety, and .when it was completed the same feeling of relief which now prevails would ,hare been noticeable in our farewell Better; then, that the visit should \ have been given up, or delayed until a quieter ', time, when the Fenian conspiracy has^ passed, and we are able to welcome the^JDuke without any fear, and to bid farewell with unmixed regret ; and if this time should not. come, we shall still be in a better position than the unfortunate polony of New South Wales, where Prince Alfred's visit must ever be remembered with sorrow' arid shame for the cowardly outrage to which he was there , subjected.

We publish elsewhere a report stating .that a man had been arrested on board the ' Galatea' under the most suspicious circumstances, This report is taken from the Jjfelson ColgnuV of the 10th instant, but ire are very much inclined to doubt its reliability, as no mention of any such attempt is made in the Welling' ton Independent of the 7th instant, although the ' Rakaia had arrived at Wellington on the preceding evening. Had! the report really been brought by the 'Rakaia,' we cannot image that it would be in Nelson, and not in Wellington, that it would first gain publicity.