THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1895.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10013, 27 December 1895, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1895.

Ere this reaches our readers at the Antipodes, the difficulty raised by the President of the United States over the Venezuela question will doubtless have composed itself, and the " wild whirling words" it gave occasion to, will have passed into thin air. Nevertheless the incident will have served a purpose in having to some degree put to the test the sentiments of loyalty to the empire, and of unity of interest entertained in these remote party of Her Majesty's dominions. It has been often said that the first sound of war between England and a foreign Power would be tho signal for the colonies setting themselves to consider the readiest way of riddiug themselves from the complications involved in their inclusion in tho fate and fortunes of the British Empire. It is true wo have not heard the actual noise of war, but the sounds that have reached us recently from the United States have been as nearly like the sound of coming battle as could very well be conceived; and if the sentiments evoked among us and the publio opinion promptly formed, are significant of how it would be when the last word of peace had been spoken and war had been determined on, it cannot be said that they lend much confirmation to the theory that foreign trouble would bring disintegration to the colonial empire. So far as we can discover, but one opinion has found public expression throughout these colonies, and that is one of resentment towards the attitude of the American President and of cordial sympathy with the action of the Imperial Government. Taking this as a general index of public sentiment, and judging further from personal expressions of opinion encountered in the ordinary concourse of society, we cannot fail to see that the incident lias been the occasion of bringing to clearer light the force of conviction existing in the colonies, that in good or ill our interests are one with those of England, and ought so to be. This is the more notable from the fact that there is no other nation in the world to which colonists have more friendly dispositions than they have to the Republic of the United States, Recogiiisinginthemourownllesliand blood, we know that among all that is worthy and best in the States, the feeling of kinship and its claims is reciprocated. Notwithstanding this, and the sincere regret that has been felt at the prospect of possible hostilities, it seems apparent that if the unhappy occasion had arisen, the war fever would have been as hotly felt throughout these colonies as in the United Kingdom, £\Ve have good hope that the difficulty has passed, and that the ill-considered action of the Government of the United States will have left no worse results than a warning what a fragile tiling international friendships may be, even among nations connected by the closest ties, But the incident is one that points in tho direction of more intelligible relations among the scattered dependencies of tlie Empire, and between them and the Imperial centre itself. Before the occurrence of this trouble the greater portion of the community had barely more than a knowledge that such a colony as that of British Guiana existed, and yet the bearing of its interests has had the potentiality of plunging the whole Empire in war. Similarly the Empire, oil whose territories the sun never sets, has so many points of contact with most of the principal nations of the earth, that a complication of this kind may at any time occur; and we cannot but be affected by the fact that our prevision of the possibilities of such difficulty equally with our influence in relation to them is inappreciable. It is something, to be sure, to know that it is all in good hands, and there is no doubt that whatever may be the sympathy of many in the colonies for the liberal principles of Mr. Gladstone and the party supporting them, there is a general sense of satisfaction that on a critical occasion like this tho Foreign policy of the Empire is in tho hands of tho Marquis of Salisbury. Still, we cannot conceal from ourselves Ihe fact that there is something anomalous in the destinies of great communities like those of the Colonies and the Dominion and the issues of peace and war involving, it might be, their national existence, being in the hands of those over whose actions the colonies have no influence in deed or word. No complaint is raised regarding this, and in existing circumstances it cannot be otherwise, But anyone may see in an inoident like this the proof that sooner or later there must be a modification of this transient relation, and a federal union of the empire, however it may be sometimes discredited, must ultimately be tho inevitable and only alternative to disintegration.

There has been another lesson imparted to the colonies by the insight which has been given to us into the working of political institutions under another form. The only rational explanation of the extraordinary action of the President of the United States, that presents itself at this stage is, that he was driven to raise this difficulty with England by the exigencies of party politics. If the explanation proves to be correct, it presents the seamy side of republican government in a manner that does not prepossess ja its favour. Wo are sometime? told

by those who settle our interest? for us from the standpoint of their own predilections, that the ultimate destiny of the colonies is to resolve themselves into independent republics, With the power of the elected ruler to play so fantastic and mischievous tricks in diplomacy, and with a political system that requires such heroic remedies to maintain its activities, the example is not taking; and the whole incident over the Venezuela question has done as little to enamour us of the free institutions of republican America, as the prospect of war has served to shake out allegiance to the Empire.