Mt. Ida Chronicle NASEBY, FRIDAY, DEC. 23, 1898. TWO CHRISTMASES.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 29, Issue 1521, 23 December 1898, Page 2

Mt. Ida Chronicle NASEBY, FRIDAY, DEC. 23, 1898. TWO CHRISTMASES.

Tjiis if a brighter Christmas for the British Empire thim the festive day of yeur. In li>97, tin- ureal jubilee celebrations long past and almost forgotten, our triwpn in lent of thousands wen; raiigxi aloi.g ihe lu'iinn frontier with an uppnremly <tiiii<>»t. impossible Murk to do. itti'i »viib it teeoid of serious .Hi-o-iti'i-s ti> discourage their l<iti!cr». Out relations with France in regitr-J to West Africa were of the moat critical kind, iavotv-

ing as their natural consequence a delicate position towards Russia as well. The sensational occupation by German warships of the port of Kiao-chau haJ sat the whole civilised world agog ; and the prompt answer of Russia further north only served Co intensify the feeling that Great Britain ■ had been tricked, humiliated, and dishonoured before the nations. To the suggestion made in feverish haste in England that the trade interests of America and Great Britain required a prompt alliance between the two peoples against the aggressions of Germany, Russia and France in Chinese territory, the Yankees (all unconscious how soon they themselves would stand in need of England's mighty friendship) returned through their newspapers a derisive and almost insolent rojoinder. It seemed as though the world were in arms against the British nation, which had two serious wars upon its hands—for the Soudan advance seemed as grim a business then as the Indian rising itself—and besides was faced with simultaneous plague and famine in India, while the international complications above briefly outlined frowned from every point of the political horizon. Things have straightened out wonderfully in the short twelve months since. We have polished off the Indian rebels, smashed Mahdisin and the Khalifa for ever, conquered the famine, beaten down the plague to the proportions of a mere nuisance, re-etablished our power and influence in China, ' sent France and her insolent statesman to the rightabout (they are snarling helplessly at our heels to-day i, come to terms with Germany, practically secured Delagoa Bay (thereby incidentally demolishing Kruger's power tor further mischief), set all Yankeedom chanting " God save the Queen" and saluting the Union Jack, and, finally, according to the latest cablegrams this week, we are afc this moment engaged in applying convincing arguments to Russia with the view of showing the ally of France that her interests and ours are on the same general lines. This is the plain, unvarnished, unexaggerated account of the achievements of British statesmen, British soldiers, and British sailors since Christmas 1897 : and we have not even attempted to chronicle smaller matters, such as our successful leadership in Cretan affairs, the progress made in Rhodesia and Uganda, the immense development of the power of our fleet, the Italian Mediterranean treaty, and many other such important successes. Not a bad record for the men of the tight little islands that could be squeezed into a corner of Europe or Asia and be hardly noticed on the new map! To-day the British empire commands, in a degree never surpassed since Waterloo, the respect and admiration of neutral nations and the fear of insolent enemies. The alliance of the the two great Anglo-Saxon nations, who will together wield a power such as Rome in her greatest days never dreamed of, is uearing its practical accomplishment; and when the last link is welded, the greatest advance ever recorded towards securing the peace of the world will have been finally recorded. It is at this season of peace and goodwill that Britons may well look back with pride and hope upon the nation's work of 1897. and feel that through the wisdom and power of the pilots of our empire millions upon millions who might, but for them, have been in the extremity of despair to-day, are rejoiciug instead, in the blessed certafnty of a merrv Christmas.