THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1908. HANDS ALL ROUND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13722, 11 April 1908, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1908. HANDS ALL ROUND.

Though an excellent understanding between Britain and the great Republic of the West has happily prevailed for years past, and the Home Country has felt assured of the moral support of the United States in any outside international controversy, it is very satisfactory to find that the long-talked of Arbitration Treaty between the two great Eng-lish-speaking nations has now been definitely agreed upon. Since America abandoned her old Continental isolation, and, as a result of (he war with Spain and an agitation in the Sandwich Islands, annexed (he Philippines and the Hawaiian Group, thus becoming not merely a Continental but a World-Power', there lias been present in the minds of the .statesmen of both nations a sense of the greater risk of friction at some time or another respecting matters of colonial policy. United as the two peoples are by ties of blood and a common heritage of historic glories, there have unhappily in the past been times when friendliness has been strained almost to breaking-point, when a train of international misunderstanding only required a casual match to bring about a disastrous explosion. On one occasion, still within the memories of some of us, only the tactful alteration of a dispatch by Queen Victoria, at the suggestion of the Prince Consort, averted war. Everything depended on that reply to the American demands. The. people of the United States were in a mood so irritable, so ready to take offence, and some were so anxious for war, that the situation was an intensely critical one, and the tactless imperative- \ ness of the British Cabinet's note \ would assuredly have precipitated I hostilities but for the happy inter-j vention of the Sovereign. What a i relief the unexpectedly conciliatory tone of the dispatch was to the ; American authorities they have themselves left on record. It is peculiarly gratifying that at hist a definite treaty of honourable arbitration in any international difficulty that may a " between Britain and America, has been arranged, with a binding force)

of at least five years. That it will be renewed at the end of that experimental stage we may confidently assume, and thus all prospect of possible war between the two great closely-related nations recedes into dim distance. 1 But may we not hope "this treaty j will prove but a stepping-stone to j an even closer alliance, an alliance | more on the lines of our treaty with j Japan, an alliance by which each i engages to come to the other's help i if circumstances demand that assist- | ance should be given 1 To bring | about the closest possible " rapI prochement 7 ' between England and I America is to-day, as the far-seeing j Sir George Grey often Reminded us, I one of the noblest aims to which I the statesmen on both sides of the | Atlantic can devote themselves. It I should be a cardinal feature of the i foreign policy of both countries. England and America, standing shoulder to shoulder, could and would guarantee the peace of the world to a degree that no other possible alliance short of a federation of all the great. Powers and an agreement to submit all their causes of difference to arbitration could possibly guarantee it. And things seem, happily, working in the indicated direction. Our trans-Atlan-tic cousins lose no opportunity of reminding themselves of their British descent. As one slight indication of it, we may remark, in passing, that they keep up St. George's Day (April 23), the time-honoured festival of our race, with an enthusiasm that puts our own apathy to shame. America glories in the historic past of the race from which she sprang and from which, but, for a chain of ignorant blundering at Home, she might never have detached herself. That good came out of the evil we may and do heartily admit. She would never have made the marvellous strides she has done, or developed the natural resources of her vast dominion as she has developed them, had she been tied to the apron-string of Great Britain as tightly as the foolish old mother sought to tie her growing daughter in those olden days. But we must nevertheless deplore the blundering, policy on our part which compelled her, in sheer desperation, to strike I out for herself. And in proportion as we deplore it, and the rankling ill-will to which it so long led, we must rejoice in the healing effects of Time, the manifest desire on both sides to forgive and forget, and the closer-drawing of heart to heart on both sides of the Atlantic. Every one who desires the wellbeing of the Empire must hail with satisfaction every indication of increasing friendliness between Britain and the States It is a matter of very deep concern to all the component parts of Greater Britain, and most especially to Canada and the Pacific colonies. Canada will most of all welcome the treaty whose iatification will now be so speedily announced. The contiguity of frontier for thousands of miles, the absence of any natural barrier or sign of delimitation, renders such a treaty especially desirable in the interests of " Our Lady of the Snows," or, as she prefers to be called, the "Land of the Maple." But it concerns us, too. The question of who is to be supreme in the North Pacific touches us closely. Our fears for the future are centred mainly in the Eastern races. Japan is our friend, at present, and we hope for many years to come, in which event her splendid navy will be for the time being a source of strength to us. But we cannot ignore the possible danger involved in our determination at all risks to maintain the assured predominance i of British folk in these Australasian lands. This may in the not distant future bring us into collision with Japan, and cause her guns to be turned against us. China is not a source of grave political danger yet, but she may become one sooner than we think. She is awakening to a consciousness of her strength, and a determination to make her voice heard in the world's councils, and to treat other nations no less cavalierly than they treat her. The future, therefore, shows unmistakable signs of danger ahead of us, on the colour question, and every instinct of self-preservation should prompt us to draw as closely as it is possible to draw them the bonds of friendship between the Mother Country and America. It is a great war of races the world sees ahead of it a i'ew generations hence, the Occident against the Orient, the Caucasians against the Mongolians. The blood ties which will ultimately bind the latter together, when their < present private jealousies have been appeased, demand as their counterpoise the strengthening of blood ties and all bonds of friendship in the West, and first and foremost of all between Greater Britain and the great Republic of America, We shall have an opportunity of doing our little part in the noble work when the American fleet visits our waters, and it is most cheering to find the true significance of the historic occasion so generally recognised. Auckland is honoured to speak the country's welcome to our cousins, and she will, we are sure, spare no pains to do it worthily and impressively, and to cement the bonds of Empire.