THE New Zealand herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 1896.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10036, 24 January 1896, Page 4

THE New Zealand herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 1896.

The public have read with the deepest satisfaction the cabled abstract of Mr. Chamberlain's speech at the banquet given to the new Governor of Queensland which appeared in yesterday's Herald. Never in tho history of the Colonial Empire have the feelings of colonists been so sympathetically in touch with the Imperial Government as at this hour, and one cannot help thinking that the time is opportune for taking some forward step in the direction of giving concrete expression to the spirit of union and identity of interests that so sensibly pervades the colonial mind. It used to be said that the sight of danger, in the form of foreign complication and possible invasions, would be the signal for tho colonies to disband ; and that the risk of being dragged by England into war would set colonists to consider the speediest way of saving themselves by stepping outside the Empire. The teaching of the past few weeks, as gathered from every quarter of the Australasian colonies, is that the more imminent the danger the closer the bond,and that if England in defence of the interests of the Empire gets into trouble with another Power the colonies would respond promptly with an assertion of unity of interest, a devotion to the cause, and a fighting spirit that will not take second place in fervour to the feeling in the Mother Country. England has treated her colonies with a generosity aad a trust that have never been shown by any nation to its dependencies before; and the instincts of human nature, apart from considerations of self-interest which are indubitable, impel us to stand by the Union whensoever occasion may demand.

The events of the past few months have quickened the patriotic or national feelings of colonists to no common degree. We cannot but recognise the two questions—of Venezuela and Transvaal— which Lord Salisbury has taken so firm and dignified a stand, are colonial questions, and that the action of the British Government has been quite in the spirit of the statement made by Mr. Chamberlain in his speech : The Empire was held in trust for British residents throughout the world, and England was determined to maintain her rights, and fulfil her duties." We know that the spirit of British policy is peace and peaceful development, and that the greater portion of the illwill entertained towards England, whenever it is entertained, throughout the world, is mere envy of her colossal colonising powers, and dislike of her colonial expansion. Wo should be a strangelyconstituted people if, as colonists, we did not see in this an irresistible reason to draw closer and closet'; and if war, or the risk of war, did not lead us to set our faces against England's and our enemies. This sense of identity of interests has been silently and steadily pervading the colonial mind during the lapse of the years, and it only required some startling incidents like those relating to British Guiana and South Africa to let ourselves see how strong that feeling is. It is true that the feeling in these two cases have been different. Towards Americans as our own tlesh and blood there is a kindly sentiment that it would require a good deal to turn to hate, The feeling generally was one of pain, that our own kith and kin should, as Mr. Chamberlain has said, have exhibited unexpected "hostility and even hate where we had expected friendship in view of the traditions and community of interests involved": and colonists have not experienced any kind of warlike satisfaction in thinking of a collision between the American and British Navies, and the certainty of the former being swept off the face of the seas. Notwithstanding" this there has been no faltering in relation to the calm firm attitude of Lord Salisbury, and let be the consequences what they might be the colonies would have followed as with a personal interest, and would have cheerfully rendered their aid in whatever was done for maintaining the interests of the Empire. In the case of the' insolent intrusion of the German Emperor in relation to the suzerainty of the South African Republic, and of the intrigues of President Kruger, and the complications thence arising, the sentiment Mas a very different one, and no very poignant regret would have been felt perhaps, and the colonies would have very cordially fallen into line with British sentiments, if in that case words had passed to blows. However that might be, the colonies have within the past fow weeks been swept as with a wave of pride and thankfulness that Lord Salisbury is at the head of the affairs of the Empire ; and though there are thousands and tens of thousands in these colonies who have all their lives sympathised warmly, with Mr. Gladstone's liberalising principles, it is not fancy to say that for the time being at least, an: overwhelming' sense ) of • the value of the ,-, Salts 1 bury Government to the Empire forms the political creed of Australasia, \. nf; r i

. In those circumstances, it seems opportune that ton effort should be iiiii'dli to giVe visible expression to the unity of interests and destiny of England arid her Colonial Empire, An Imperial Conference is about to be held in London, to deal with the subjedt of the trans-Pacific cable. The preliminary intercolonial Conference fecently held on' the same subject in Sydney gave an emphatic eitdorsatioh it tile Imperial character of the project in affirming that the cable must touch on British. soil alone. There had been some hesitation on that point before, commercial relations seeming to claim that sentiment should not mix with business. The late wave of patriotic feeling has settled that, and the delegates at the Conference have correctly interpreted Australasian opinion in declaring that the Pacific cable liitist be British only. Such an expression of Imperial sentiment should be accepted by British Ministers, not merely for what it says, but for what it suggests. That cable should be Imperial in every sense. Instead of being constructed or worked by a private company, sudsidised or otherwise, it should be constructed, held, and permanently worked by the united Governments of England, Canada, and Australasia, not only for sake of the smaller cost and the greater efficiency, but as a tangible evidence of unity and co-operation, the fruits of which would ultimately show themselves in a hundred ways. Such a course would nob only familiarise the Governments with one another, blit pave the way to further co-operation on many and varied lines— as the frequent conferences between the representatives and the officials of the various Australian Governmentshave insensibly removed all their dividing lines, and made them practically federated before federation. But, further than this, the Imperial character affixed to the cable project by the delegates representing Australasian opinion might well suggest to Mr. Chamberlain to make the coming Conference the occasion for laying down the first lines of that Imperial federation in favour of which lie is known to be strongly prepossessed. It has been, of course, the fashion of. some to speak of the federation of the Empire as a pretty dream, but impossible of realisation; yet anyone but a fool must know that a hundred years from now there is only federation for it or dismemberment. Those of us who feel as the Canadian Premier did, that British subjects we were born and British subjects we intend to die, would die all the happier if we knew that our children or our children's ohildren may be spared the confusion and the conflict and the political uuhappiness that would come of the break up of the Empire into independent fragments. For that is what is inevitably doomed to happen if a modus vivendi is not discovered by which the future powerful sections of the Empire can preserve their relations to one another as integral parts of one great Power, while enjoying that share in influencing the destinies of the Empire, to winch by their Wealth and population and strength they will be entitled. To Mr. Chamber-' lain it has come as it never came to man before, to seize the opportunity of leading the colonies on these lines. To men of narrow conceptions, who mistake the limitations of their own minds for the bounds of the whole realm of statesmanship, the idea of a federated Empire extending the world over, is altogether too vast for their mental grasp. But Mr. Chamberlain is not formed that way, and he has evidently grasped a subject that transcends all others in the future development of the race. His undoubted and great ability, his tastes, his ambition, his present commanding position, and we might add his extraordinary career and picturesque personality, are so many factors for the solution of this rare but most interesting problem ; while the circumstances of the Empire, With apparently many enemies and few friends, the popularity of Lord Salisbury's administration in the colonies, and the strong wave of patriotic feeling that is sweeping over the Empire, point to the occasion as well as to the man,