THE WEEK.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 333, 25 April 1885, Page 12

THE WEEK.

The British troops are to bo withdrawn from the neighbourhood o£ Suakim (so we are informed on the strength of th? Daily Neios), and, as tin's paper is specially well informed at present,, it is probable that the news is correct. For my own part, T confess to a feeling of. disappointment at the intelligence. It is quite true that for a good many months to come the expeditionary force under General Graham could not do a great deal there. It is also true that they may and probably will be needed elsewhere much more pressingly, and were it only that for the present they were withdrawn to return again if necessary in autumn, there would be little room for regret. What I fear is that in withdrawing the force England will practically abandon the enterprise, and leave its completion to Italy. To do this is to abandon, I fear, much more than barren laurels in the Soudan. It is to abandon, at a very critical time, the alliance of Turkey. It is to lose a kind of support of infinite "v a 1 . jo to E.i^an.l in Afghanistan and in India amongst the Mahomrnedan population ; on the other hand, it is to trust a great deal to an untried ally. It is not usually well to hand over half-done work to a new workman, and all experience since the Italian troops were introduced into the Red Sea lias been unfavourable to the experiment. If England is to return from Suakim, someone must take her place there. Should that someone be Italy, as appears to be likely, I fear it will be found that the active co-operation counted upon from General Graham's force will not be available for the Nile expedition If this, too, is to be abandoned, England will for once have withdrawn her hand from a great work, begun indeed, but left unfinished. I observe that the part of the press which is ready to fall down and worship every action of Mr Gladstone, looks upon the introduction of Italy into the affairs of Upper Egypt as a stroke of genius. So far as I can see, or events have yet made manifest, it was very much the reverse. lam not aware that Italy has ever been tried in a position of the kind into which Mr Gladstone's constitutional hatred of the " incxprcssable Turk " has thrust her, and it is at least an open question how she will acquit herself in it. For my own part [ cling to the old adage that if you want a tiling done you must do it yourself. If England wants law and order restored in the Soudan — if she wants Egypt freed from the menace of a fanatical enemy on her borders — if she desires to punish those who killed Gordon and massacred those for whose safety he devoted his life — she must do the work herself if she is to have it done satisfactorily. If Italy undertakes it she will do so with other objects than ours, and the results, we may rely upon it, will be other than we could wish. The work, too, is all before her, and she most likely will not do it if we leave it to her. All that is said and rumoured about dissension and mutual hostility must not deceive us. The pacificator of the Soudan and the destroyer of the Mahdi's power has no holiday task before him, and whether English or Italian he will have deserved the credit when he has accomplished the task.

After a momentary lull the war cloud seems again to be threatening between F2n<---land and Russia. The events of the week have not indeed been man}'. In England, in India, in the colonies, the note of preparation is being heard on every side, and the same is evidently true in all parts of: the Russian Empire. From Afghanistan all sorts of confused and con trad ictoiy rumours have come to us as news. On one day we have heard that the Russians have made no aggressive movements since their attack upon the Afghans, on thy next we learn that they have taken charge of the place lately occupied by the Afghans. Entirely in the interests of order and good Government of course. From Russian sources we learn that the Russian troops were forced into fighting the Afghans by the aggressive proceedings which were advised by British officers. From Sir Peter Lumsden we learn that these, statements are utterly false, and that the Russians are wholly to blame. From St. Petersburg we are told that the Russian generals and troops are doing nothing whatever on the Afghan borders, and from other sources we learn that the inhabitants are being forced to make a military road to aid the invasion of the country and the capture of Herat. Reduced to plain English the week's news amounts to this and nothingmore — England is inquiring and parlej'ing, remonstrating and reasoning, Russia is lying and all the time advancing, taking advantage of our unwillingness to fight, to secure as much for himself as possible, and preparing a large stock of grievances for future use in case they should be obliged to withdraw from any of the positions now seized by their armies.

In the meantime Mr Gladstone's Government is awaiting final answers to their questions as to the lighting at Penjdeh. When it arrives they will find that they must demand reparation for the utterly unjustifiable attack upon the Afghans, and the withdrawal of the Russian army from the disputed territory. This might have been complied with before the Russians had seized on positions of strategic importance, but I scarcely think it will be done now. Russia is hardly a fair agent in Central Asia. She has assumed the position of a great, indeed an unconquerable, power before the various

tribes of Turkomans and others she has conquered, or, at least, exacted submission from. She cannot afford to be degraded from this position. By submitting to this she would lose far more than at first sight appears. She would lose tlie respect of her latety subjugated peoples, aud instead of conquering more territory, she might easily find that she had lost much of what she has already gained. This is the true danger of the situation, and it is a very serious one. The prospects of a war were serious enough a fortnight ago — they are much more serious now. On the one hand, Russia is far more deeply committed than she was thon. On the other, she is far better prepared. -^he spring ice has broken up in the Baltic, and the Russian fleet is ready for sea. The Russian cruisers are ready for action, and at their appointed posts. Large reinforcements are on their way to Afghanistan. In a word, Russia has gone almost too far to draw back, and English feeling will hardly allow the Government to abandon the position it has tikon up, or to give way to the dictation of Russia.

Meanwhile the colonies are in a forwai-d state of preparation. All the principal ports are more or less efficiently armed, and everywhere the military spirit is in the ascendant. The notion of Russian cruisers levying contributions on the chief colonial cities may now, at all events, be safely dismissed as a dream — a- mere nightmare, in fact, produced by excitement and ignorance of the facts. That there are, and will be, Russian cruisers in these seas is pretty certain : that they will ever venture into any important harbour becomes daily more and more unlikely. For my own part, I am disposed to rate the powers of injury to commerce of Russia's cruisers in these seas at a low figure. The vessels themselves are not, go far as we know, first-class, and even if they were, they could do little or nothing without coals. Itwill be more difficult than appears to seize and empty coal vessels, as they must be looked for on the high s-as. To hang about the coast would be to invite capture, as news of the fact could be sent by cable to (the head-quarlers of the British fleet in a fewminutes after the discovery was made, and the stranger might not only fail ,to secure coals, but might even be secured himself.

The Government of this Colony have acted wisely in issuing their new volunteer regulations. The objaet of these seems to 'be t-^L encourage bona-fide volunteering- a t this crisis. So far as appears the changes are likely to be beneficial. In some respects indeed it is hard to understand their meaning—as, for instance, why, if it is desirable that a volunteer company should be filled up to the full strength or! a hundred men, it should only get capitation for sixty-three. Unless this is meant to encourage the fojiuna tion of new corps instead of the increase of the old, it is a mistake. Even if that is its intention it is not at all wise. The addition of new men to a well-drilled corps is a far better increase of strength than the formation of an altogether new company of raw recruits. Nevertheless, it is satisfactory to find that some encouragement is to be given to volunteering, even if it is not given in the best possible way.

Mr Balknce hints that we maybe disposed to sund a contingent to Afghanistan, which he considers much more reasonable than sending them to the Soudan. For my own part I see but Jittle in his reasoning. A war in Afghanistan has just as little direct interest for us as one in the Soudan. It is certainly no easier — indeed much less easy — to reach the seat of_ war in Central Asia than in equatorial Africa. England, it may be said, is attacked in Afghanistan, but she is not even threatened oa the Nile. This is a .fallacy. England is just as directly assailed on the borders of Egypt as on those of India, as she is equally bound to protect each. However, if the Defence Minister thinks otherwise he is welcome to his opinion, and I can only hope he will do what he can to raise our local forces to such efficiency that if wanted either in Asia or Africa for the protection of the Empire, they will prove a valuable assistance to the cause or! the Mother Country, which, in all parts of the world, is also the "cause of the colonies.

The arrangements of the New Zealand University Senate are like those of the Medes and Persians, unalterable it would appear. It is not given to everyone to acknowledge a blunder, and this grace has been denied fc>\ the Senate ; yet a mistake they certainly diet make. The plays of Terence selected for examination subjects are by no means necessary aids to Latin scholarships. They are witty, amusing, and coarse, partaking of the morality of their time in no slight degree. Yet who would prescribe the worst of Smollett's writings — Ferdinand Count Fathom for instance — at an English examination, on the ground that Smollett is an English classic? Surely if our young lady graduates are not supposed to be modest, some little consideration may be extended to our professors.

For a wedding present buy a cabinet sewing machine from D. S. Chambers. .

Skinny Men.—" Wells' Health Renewer" restores health and vigour, cures Dyspepsia, Impotence Debility. The N.Z. Drug Co., General Agents.

Catabbh of the Bladder. — Stihginw irrifcafon, inflammation, all Kidney and similar Complaint* cured by " Buchu-paiba." The N.Z. Drug Co GenS ral Agents. • "*