IS THE POWER OF ENGLAND DECLINING?

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9325, 30 March 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

IS THE POWER OF ENGLAND DECLINING?

Profkssoe. Armixifs Yambery discusses this question in the pages of a leading ]Sew York magazine. The conviction (ho says) grows upon us that ,all this continual talk about the decline and impending downfall of the mighty island empire is attributable chiefly to that strictly conservative tendency inherent there more than elsewhere in the popular mind itself, which to this day has prevented the British people from giving proper consideration to tho altered circumstances and to tho demands of the present time. England ought to have familiarised herself long ago with the thought that her flag is no longer the only one that "rules the waves," and that in order to regain and keep up her supremacy in the oceans of the world supremacy which may be yet attainable— her navy must be first of all free from any taint of inferiority or inefficiency. Isolated voices of criticism in the Parliament and the prejudicial reports about the manoeuvres | near Spitliead have done incalculable dam.- | age to England's reputation and authority, and every Briton ought to consider it his foremost duty to repair an injury which almost amounts to national disgrace. England still has the grandest material at her disposal, and with her prestige of centuries it would be comparatively easy for her to maintain her rule on the seas and to give the lie to the rumours of her maritime decline. Similar demands are forced U]X>n England with regard to her army. She must at least treble her arm} - , or she must abdicate her position as one of the great Powers of the world. It is a sad and an odious necessity to which England must submit in this case, but the precious jewel of liberty is surely worth this sacrifice. With Continental critics the view is prevailing that John Bull, clinging to his money bags and deep in the study of his commercial balance-sheet, is utterly indifferent; to his army and navy, and to his national greatness. As far, however, as I know England, I must characterise this as a tremendous mistake. Indifferent in questions of detail, and shockingly ignorant of all matters relating to Asia and Africa, the English manufacturer, merchant, and even the simple workman, is thoroughly patriotic; a patriot who in the hard struggle of everyday life has but little time left for the pursuit of far-reaching political speculations, and who takes a far deeper concern in municipal, parochial, or religious questions than in the arming of Herat, in the relation between the Nizam and the Viceroy, or in the revolt of Dinizulu, but for all that a patriot who recoils from no sacrifice, ever so great, where the honour and glory of tho Union Jack is involved. It is not his fault, but the fault of the shameful party machinations of English politicians, that England has been left behind in the organisation of an armament befitting her political position, for the words spoken in the municipal council of London in relation to the national defence have certainly found a ready echo in the smallest borough of England. It is not the great mass of the English people, but the governing class, which is contaminated with the failings of the century. England's fall, indeed, would be the severest blow that could be inflicted not only upon the Anglo-Saxon race, but upon mankind in general. The consequences of such a calmaity would, under the present circumstances, prove fatal just now, when Eastern and Central Europethreatened by the black clouds of medUeval feudalism, and tempted by a statesman whose luck is equal to his astuteness, to tread the gloomy path of retrogression—have only England, the nearest beacon light of liberty, to look up to. Heaven forbid that the waves should close upon this pharos, for the light of the great republic across the ocean reaches but feebly the old mother continent, and the time is as yet far off when " the power of the English-speaking race will outweigh that of all the rest of the world," as is said by an enthusiastic writer in the April number of this magazine.