Hawke's Bay Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 17, 1900. IMPERIALISM OE JINGOISM?

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 11590, 17 July 1900, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 17, 1900. IMPERIALISM OE JINGOISM ?

; These is undoubtedly a danger that the i spirit of Imperialism, which has received , suoh a great impetus from the war in ' South Africa, may deteriorate into mere 1 Jingoism, This was evidenced by cur I Premier, who, intoxicated at the praise bestowed on the colonies, and especially i New Zealand, for the part they have played in an Imperial crisis— a movement . initiated by Mr Seddon, and for whioh he I deserves all oredit— suggested that the , colony should raise a contingent for service in China, in what is not an Imperial, but an international, crisis. That the ' Australian flast should be employed is natural enough, for it is really an Imperial force, and its proximity to the scene of hostilities made it specially acceptable when time was of the greatest importance. But to send a hundred or two men from New Zealand to assist all the Powers of Europe in restoring order in China would have excited the ridicule, not the admiration, of the world. It would have been Jingoism pure and simple. Captain Russell had some weighty words to say on this Bubject in his speeoh on the Addrees-in-Eeply. He by n« means depreciated what had been done in South Afrioa, for while casting some deserved ridicule on the bombastic remarks put into the Governor's mouth, he said a common danger, a - sacrifice in common, and the crimson thread of kinship traceable across the battlefield shed by colonial troops from every quarter of the globe, would do more to bind the Empire together than all the vaporings of every frothy poli- . tioian who had ever spoken in a representative Chamber. An endeavor and sacrifice common to all would bind the Empire closely together. But when dealing with the proposal to largely inorease the Volunteer force, and to enlist men liable for Imperial as well as colonial purposes, he said that "more Volunteer corps" and "more munitions of war" were both good of their kind. He recognised that we wanted more Volunteers and more munitions of war, but they were as nothing compared to that whioh he believed Ministers had not thought of, and would not consent to. What was wanted was more organisation and disoipHne; the perfecting of the machine. These would be of more importance to us than more Volunteers, and munitions of war would be useless without thum. "Sir," the member for Hawke's Bay went on to say, "an untrained army is a rabble, and I maintain the Government have not yet appreciated the fact that unless they have in this country effioient professional officers, and unless they educate our volunteer officers, and inorease our artillery, and set to organising and disciplining our troops, they are doing very little good indeed by merely increasing the number of the volunteer corps. The experiences of the campaign in South Africa have been misread by honorable members, who may imagine the defence made by the Boer farmers in Sooth Afrioa is proof that there fe no real necessity for organisation and discipline. That the Boers have made a wonderful defence is perfeotly true) and it is a satisfaction to me— and it mußt be a oonsolation to New Zealand as a peace-loving country— to think that the powers of defence have been so enormously in* Creased by arms of preoision. But, sir, the lesson to be gained from the campaign in South Afrioa— as I read it at any rate —is that the failure of the Boers to withstand the might of England for years, as they might have done, ia beoause they laoked organization and diuoipline, and that as an army they have not been in that state of efficiency in Whjoh they might hays been. Sir, I

believe that; many honorable members will disagree with me, but the whole evidenoeof the campaign leada me to the belief that if, after the battle of Magersfontein and the affair at Stormberg, there had been trained, organised, and diaoiplined troops who dared to come out into the open, the reverses that fell to onr anna at those two places would have been converted into most appalling disasters j if there had been any trained European troops they wonld have dared, as the Boers did not dare, to come out from the kopje and sweep onr temporarily paralysed forces to perdition. But they dared not face organised though disheartened troops in the field, and it is owing to want of discipline and cohesion that I believe their complete demoralisation at the present time is due. Sir, if our forces^ are to be good we must organise, organise, organise. We must have good artillery, and trained artillerymen. I have on many occasions in this House urged that we must educate our Volnnteer officers. Sir, the evidence of our fighting-men in South Africa goes to prove that no better fighting material and probably no better officers are to be £ ound than the men sent from this colony. They immediately came under the influence of the discipline of the Imperial army, and thus benefited and added to their glory by the instinctive and natural training they got in this country, superadded to the discipline and training of men under control, and have become troops we have indeed cause to be proud of." Dealing with the Imperial aspect of the qnestion, Captain Bnssell went on to urge that the first essential in the defence of the Empire is that every portion of the Empire should be able to proteot itself ; and if New Zealand were in a position to organise forces of sufficient strength, as we easily could, to hold our own against all comers, then indeed we should have done something towards the strengthening of the Empire. "No man in this Chamber," he continued, "is more an Imperialist than myself, but at the same time we must be very careful how we enforce any scheme for compulsory service outside the colony. The temptations to the young men to embark in the South African campaign were very great indeed. Love of adventure, love of fighting, a desire for change, that hope of bettering one's self which is inherent in us all, caused many men to go to South ' Africa. But circumstances might bft entirely different if we had a body of men enrolled in this colony and obliged compulsorily to go and fight in che mountains of Afghanistan or in the valley of Yangtse-Kiang. It is quite probable that if we expect that the more skilled and enterprising of our young men shall enrol themselves in a force liable to serve ontside this country at the behests of the Imperial Government, the result will be that the class of men whom we most desire to see enrolled in our Volunteer forces will not join them at all. The father of the family, the man in business, the man who has work whioh emgrosses hiß daily attention, will be prepared to give his time to the volunteer service in defence of this colony j he will be prepared to sacrifica his life in defence of this country, but he will refuse to be ' commandeered '—to serve in another part of the world. And so, while prepared to consider the question in all its bearings, do not let us in a spirit of unconsidered enthusiasm bring in a scheme which will be liable to break down when put into praotice, and so render the latter end of the Volunteer force worse than the first. I find I have a note here which says that a young man will not engage to go any day, anywhere, for any time. That puts the position concretely. We ought to be extremely careful to see that in our desire to be Imperial we are not foolish." I