THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THE SHADOW IN THE PACIFIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 1514, 9 November 1912, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THE SHADOW IN THE PACIFIC.

We publish. iij-our Supplemjit to the NEW ; Zealand HEitAtb' 'morning the second and concluding article by Canon Mac Murray dealing with General Homer Lea's notable and •'fchoiight-cqmpelling ;; •?' The -Day 'of the Saxon." Out contributor, who is well known for his broad-minded and patriotic views on. Imperial questions, has rendered a national service by calling public attention to the well-reasoned opinions of the able American military writer" regarding the imminent dangers that threaten not only the' British Empire, but the supremacy of the Saxon race as a great world Power. While experts may differ as to the inevitableness of events that appear to be shaping themselves, no one who has seriously reflected on the signs of the 'time can doubt that the world is entering upon a period of rapid and momentous changes. No one with clear enough vision into futurity has yet arisen to discern with pellucid distinctness the exact form which these changes are likely to take, but it is possible for all who are ordinarily well informed to catch glimpses of some of their outlines. Nations, like nature, are never at rest. However imperceptible the fact may sometimes be, they are always constantly growing or decaying. T They know nothing of stagnation, for national stagnation is death. The swing of the pendulum is either forward or backward. The movement may be so slow that we have failed to detect it. But something suddenly happens, and then our eyes are opened to the truth— that a new force has sprung into life and an old force become feeble and worn out. What is happening in the Balkans at the present moment is a striking illustration in point. A powerful confederacy has come into being and an old empire has been shattered and humiliated. In India and the Far East a new leaven is at work among the myriads of Asiatics, and the fermentation it is producing is beyond all question destined to effect many startling transformation's.

It is in the Pacific that General Homer Lea sees the.possibility of;the gravest perils to the British Empire, if not to the Saxon race. Australasia lies a vast and splendid prize for the teeming millions of brown and yellow people that swarm abound' it. i Jfoijs'ngariy aft large as Europe, with less than the population of London. They number three times the population of 1 , the

whole of Europe,: and are increasing at a far greater rate than the whites. As Canon Mac Murray asks very pertinently, " What chance have six millions of whites, increasing very slowly, of holding-.an' almost empty continent against a thousand million of Chinese, Japanese, and Hindus, increasing so rapidly that they must find an outflow from their own lands It is as certain as anything in this world', can be that were any overwhelming disaster to befall the British navy we in this quarter of the globe would be immediately brought face to face with an Asiatic invasion. That is the shadow that lies across the Pacific.' So long as Great Britain, retains her command of the sea we may regard it with what Carlyle calls " pot-bellied equanimity." But Germany is seriously challenging that supremacy, and her ever-growing Fleet already constitutes a grave menace to the continuance of British power. We believe, however, that the coming struggle, which so many eminent authorities among statesmen and military and naval men look upon as inevitable within the next few years, if not sooner, can be faced with calmness if the whole Empire is put into a state of complete preparedness and the people can be- inspired in the mass with a self-sacrificing spirit of fervent patriotism. But there is need at the present moment for a greater seriousness of outlook and a greater determination to be ready for whatever eventuality we may as a race be confronted with.