THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY DECEMBER 25, 1895.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10008, 20 December 1895, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY DECEMBER 25, 1895.

The perplexing phase assumed for the moment by the relations of the United States and England is deplorable. Viewed in any light it must be deeply regretted by every one that lias for years, as thousands have, looked to the growing friendship between the two great families of the Anglo Saxon race as the future guarantee of liberty and peace to the whole world. That it will result in war wo refuse to believe, the good sense and good feeling of the great body oE American citizens as well asoftheßritish people being sure to avert such a fratricidal and bloody conflict. It is not too much to say that the people of the British Empire are as proud in thinking of the greatness and glory of our American relatives, as they are in contemplating the success and power of the British Empire itself ; and we are sure that the feeling is cordially reciprocated by the great bulk of the Americans themselves. To have all this jeopardised even for a day over the concernsof a contemptible little community of half breeds that is forever in a state of turmoil with itself or its neighbours, gives a shock, to which we can only find relief in believing that the appearances are not real, and that the heroics of the American President are but part of that peculiar and unfortunate policy of party muueuvring by which the domestic politics of America are controlled. It is needless to say that such an attitude as that of the chief ruler of the United States, if taken towards any other of the great Powers, would have been almost inevitably tantamount to ft declaration of war; and it does seem unworthy of a great nation like the United Stales to tamper with that forbearance which it is wellknown England is compelled by the good feeling of its people to extend oven to the vagaries of the Americans. Assuming as we are compelled to do, that the tone of the President is not real, but only adopted for some particular purpose in the exigencies of party politics, the foolishness of it is just as inconceivable ; for the withdrawal from the high grounds taken by the President—which will be unavoidable—must surely neutralise any advantages gained for the moment, and lower the prestige of himself and his party before their opponents; while the wound that has been given to the fraternal relations between the two peoples must remain, and perhaps rankle, long after the exciting cause has passed away. It is unnecessary to discuss the position that has given rise to this unfortunate occurrence. England has no desire, we feel assured, either to infringe on the sanctity of the Monroe doctrine, or to extend theboundariesof the empire by an aero beyond what she is justly entitled to. The American President and the American people must know that as well as ourselves. Any clifl'erence of opinion as to the limits of those rights would have been sure to have been submitted to the arbitrament of equity and good conscience, without the necessity for any such hectoring dictation as that of the President, declaring what lie would do if so and so were not done. His assumption of a right at all to intervene, is itself an aflront; and his threat of force, ail act of braggadocio, that but for the unpleasantness of the situation would be ridiculous. If wo allowed ourselves to think of the development on the lines indicated by the President, we are struck with the absurdity. Without questioning in any way either the courage or the potentialities in the great American Republic, wo cannot nut remember that the struggle around Venezuela would boa naval one ; that the first note of war would be followed by the rush of every American warship to shelter from the British fleet, and the blocking of every port on the Atlantic from which a gunboat could escape: while a small squadron dispatched to the Caribbean Sea would dispose of the Venezuelans. No army by land could reach the scene of disturbance, and the Americans could only satiate their feelings by raiding their peaceful and unoffending neighbours in Canada. Even the, occupation of Canada if permitted without the shedding of oceans | of blood, would be 110 practical gain, for the Americans don't want Canada unless it come to them in friendly [ union ; and a forced conquest, even if

successful, would be fin embarrassment and a heartburning for generations to come. And all this for the sake of a half-civilised State that can have no real sympathy with American institutions and is only attached by a cupboard love; and with the loss of the friendship of the only nation in the world, that is attached to the American people by the closest ties of blood and cordial sympathy. The whole thing is so preposterous that it refuses to be considered as a serious possibility ; and we can only wonder at the imprudence and the recklessness of the action of the American President, in flinging a firebrand, which in these days of popular sway, might excite a conflagration which neither he nor any other ruler could control.