THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1904. THE SITUATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12696, 26 October 1904, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1904. THE SITUATION.

The astounding events in the North Sell completely obscure every other topic. That English fishermen, peacefully pursuing their customary work in waters as familiar to them as our daily-trodden roads" are to us, should be attacked without warning by the sustained fire of a fleet with whose Government our own is on terms of international amity, is an unprecedented and uhimagihed circumstance. It is, therefore, moie thai? difficult to know how to considei a situation so extraordinary. Are we to give free rein to our natural indignation, and treat it as a wanton and murderous outrage' for which no reparation atone? Are we to stare in bewilderment at an inexplicable arid incomprehensible action? Oi are we. to reflect that some terrible mistake and monumental incapacity on.the part of the, Eulsiap commandei led to ar 'intetnational crime foi which Russia will immediately do hei utmost to make amend? Hot anger that counts no cost and admits no palliation came first to all of us; bewilderment followed ; inability to conceive that the outrage will riot be earnestly deplored by the Russiar Government is an equally natural conclusion. This is evidently the view taken by bui colonial Government, judging from the terms of the moderate and care-fully-worded resolution introduced to both Houses • yesterday. On the face of it, the design of this resolution is to allay public excitement, and to assist the Imperia 1 Government in the herculear task of preventing an outbreak of wild indigna- ; tion from plunging the Empire into ! what may be unnecessary wai. It | would be an easy matter for the King arid Ms advisers to hurl the | Channel Squadron against the Rus- | sian ■ fleet, and thus to precipitate an Armageddon into which every European nation might be drawn. But it is the true, though the harder, course, to leave diplomacy unhampered by rash and incendiary utterI ances so long as' there is reason to ! believe that war can be honourably l avoided.

- That ftussi? has not acted towards us of late in a spirit that inspires us with confidence in her conception of the rights of neutrals is an argument which should strengthen- the British peoples in the determination to preserve at this juncture a resolute self-restraint. The incident— to use a mild term that certainly does not express its either a dastardly outrage fox which the entire Russian State must be brought to book by the united British peoples, or an amazing mistake, i in every way regrettable, for which the St. Petersburg Government can properly disclaim responsibility, and make satisfactory amends. < The Londo Times, expressing English opinior with all its old-time vigour, demands that tht? answei to this obvious alternative shall be insistently obtained by the BalfOui Administration, a demand which every part of the Empire will spontaneously endorse. But whatever the answer may be, we are confident that the Imperial Government can be fully trusted to act with firmness and sagacity in a crisis fraught with possibilities of a most momentous character. It is the strength, of the British national character that it justifies its full and free exercise of political criticism on all ordinary occasions by instinctively and uhquestioningly supporting the constitutional authority whenevei great national emergencies arise. Not once, but many times, this national characteristic has enabled us to triumph over difficulties that would have engulfed a less united nation, and when it is appealed to in this emergency, it should no*- be appealed to in vain. The Baltic fleet will not vanish from the argus eyes of our Navy while diplomatic representations are being made in St. Petersburg, and if there is a great wrong to avenge, it will not become greater because the Imperial Government accords to the Tsar every reasonable opportunity to show that it was really a colossal mistake. The explanation of the Paris Temps, that om Engi lish fishermen failed to obey the sigj nals to keep away from the Russians I in no way. alters the case, but clearly

enables the Russian Government to disown the action and to punish the crime of the real offenders. Count Lamsdorff is reported to have stated, that Russia will make full reparation if the British account proves correct, so that we should agree to ignore all irresponsible remarks calculated to make the breach irreparable, and to await the result of official and authoritative communications.

But while we should avoid hasty words and still hastier actions, we should take home to our hearts and let burn into our brains the madness and folly of grudging in times of peace the cost and the trouble of being ready for war. 'From the Baltic to the Pacific the every energy of a barbaric continent is devoted to the military art; nor is Western Europe much less devoted to the task that our British peoples too often repudiate with disdain. It is true that we have a great Navy, but even the naval strength of the Empire, great as it is, is grudgingly supported when we consider the tremendous interests it has in its keeping. We may avoid war now, and probably shall, but the time may come, and must come, when we cannot avoid war, and when we shall have to rely for our liberties, our properties, and our lives upon our fighting arm. Here in New Zealand, the most Britisl- of the colonies, we treat national defence as though it were, an unpleasant duty, when in reality it is the first and most pressing, and should be the most popular national duty of any people which has much to defend. r This North Sea incident will not be unfruitful if it leads us to realise seriously and solemnly that so. long as tremendous armaments, for sea and land, ait sedulously worked for by nations that are possible enemies, whethei they are to-day our friends or our foes, it is courting attack and inviting war for oui Empire to neglect any precaution.. It should not. be, possible for any nation or combination of nations to treat conflict with oui Empire M a matter in which they might hope to gain. Nor could they do so if we were wise enough to perceive that what we pay for defence is nothing but an insurance against war, and that the efficiency of the insurance depends upon the sufficiency of the payment.