THE Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, 24th NOVEMBER, 1892.

Southland Times, Issue 12459, 24 November 1892, Page 2

THE Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, 24th NOVEMBER, 1892.

There never was a time when " news by cable" had a deeper interest fur the political student tnan it possesses at present. No quarter of the world can be said to be at the moment free frooi something like a crisis, active or imminent, and it may be alleged with peculiar emphasis that it cannot be conjectured what a day may bring forth. It is not only that the great European Powers continue to hold within them those elements of sodden strife that have so lotig been apparent ; but that in the case of each there have been snperadded materials that heighten great'y the probabilities of disturbance. Russia is invariably in the foreground as the prompter or fomenter of mischief, and at present' her hand can be "keen laying trains that may any day end in explosion. There is the perennial Bulgarian difficulty, which increases just as the existing Prince and Government of that country seem to acquire stability in position and authority. Turkey was threatened but the other day by her watchful creditor, and this appears to have been preliminary to tbe demand for free passage through (he Dardanelles for Russian ships and material? of war. The Pamir affair is still vague and uncertain in its significance and issues, but that it is connected wii,h India and may have grave resultp, both the utterances of the Russian Press and the traditional policy of the Empire mnke abundantly evident. Then there is the rumoured alliance with France, to which some events lend a degree of probability, and which, if it exists, may lead to startling results. Besides a'l this, there is the certainty that the fires of discontent with the Czar's government are still burning; and, last of all, the threat of ano her famine, possibly more devastating than the last, and not at all unlikely to be the forerunner of revolution. France is in the height of trouble, the existence of the Government being threatened through the Premier's agency in the Carmaux strikes, and the dread being felt everywheie that, after all, anarchy may be triumphant. Perhaps the most disturbing note that has yet been heard from Europe is the announcement which camft to hand tT?o doys ago that the Paris bunkers were eomiiounc!ing with the Anarcbieta for immunity from attacks by dynamite. The report is scarcely credible, and, for the sake of France and every other civilised country, it is to be hoped that it may turn out untrue. It is impossible to conceive anyhing at once so cowardly and so certaia to defeat its own purpose in the end. There was only one possible attitude, if not only the great interest that the bankers represented but every other interest in the country was to be saved from rujn— and that was, determined and uncompromising resistance to anarchic designs. Nothing could be more fatal to government and t) the sofety of society than tbe acknowledgment of th<s p^werof the dynamiters that was iuvolved in the compact which is aleged to have been made. Besi4es being an illegal contract, os we may fairly assume, it must, in the nature of tbe case, be an absolutely futile one, for it is inconceivable that after thp display pf weakness exhibited in the first conces~ sion, further plunder should not be demanded, and blackmuliug should not go on for ever. 1 be banker?, if they have yielded according to report, have simply given awny the cause of law and order as far as it was in their power to do to. In Ftriking contrast to this French pusillanimi'y has com? the announcement that tbe British Cabinet hid refused the demand of the National party in Ireland that tbe dynamiters now in pii^on should be relea6pd, It would n->t be easy to estiruato the value of tuia

robust decision, or to calculate ifs effect in begetting some confidence in Mr Gladstone's Government in the minds of those who were beginning absolutely to distrust it. What will be its influence on the fortun<B of tbe party is another question. Tbe release of the prisoners was one of the two immediate steps insisted on by Mr John Redmond, and, it is understood, by both branches of the National party — to say nothing of the American contingent, which, by its possession of the sinews of war, controls so largely the policy of Home Rule. Another instance of vigoar on tbe part of the British Government is their expressed determination not to withdraw from Uganda — although this resolve was in great measure forced upon them by popular urgency. It is scarcely necessary in support of an assertion as to tbe unrest of the world, to inquire minutely into the position of Germany, threatened by socialism, disturbed by the erratic conduct of the famous ex*' hancellor, and occasionally alarmed by the eccentricities of the Emperor himself. And the other members of the Triple Alliance, Austria and Italy, staggering under the burdens of huge armies, are in no enviable plight, while they too are exposed to the socialistic danger that is enveloping all Europe. The outlook in America, after tbe virulence of a great party conflict, has some cheering features, and there is a sense of relief throughout tbe world that the tension of her outrageous tariff is about to be relaxed. The consequence of the abandonment of protection, which those who know the sentiment of the country best seem to think imminent, can hardly be measu-ed, first in its effect on America herself, and then on the commerce of oth»r nations. It is a most reasonable prophecy that free trade in America' would be the death-knell of Victorian protection, and the example of Victoria would be contagious throughout the Australian colonies. But there are also dark spots in the social system of America, among the blackest being those that mark the aims and condition of labour. The strike at Homestead exhibited the fiercest spirit of the class which is in revolt against capital, and tbe most recent intimation from the States revealed the frightful los 3 in money and sacrifice of life which that struggle occasioned. Another lamentable feature of social life wa3 disclosed by the attempt to wreck a train of negroes on their way to exercise thfir votes. Where such forces are at work there can be no assurance of tbe stability of tbe body politic, »nd any day m*y bring about unlooked for disaster. We might glance at other quarters of the world, but enough has been said to justify the position taken .up at the outset, and to afford excuse even for those who, following the lines of prophecy, trace in the confusion tlat is abroad ij the earth signs of the end of the present order of things and the advent of a New Dispensation.