The Star. SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 1881.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4160, 20 August 1881, Page 2

The Star. SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 1881.

Qvs. opinion that the people of Australasia must feel considerable gratification at the announcement made by Mr Gladstone, that the members of ;his Government realise that they owe " great duties" to the Colonies, we have already expressed, and also some degree of cariosity as to the nuasurea that will bo taken to give practical shape to the sense of responsibility evidently oppressing the mirjds of the British Premier and his colUaguea. Will the genius of the Gladstone Ministry follow cut the policy of the despised Jingo e, or will it strike out an entirely new and original line ? This is a question of considerable interest. The Imperialiet policy of Lord Beaconsfield, of course embraoed the Colonies, and the coarse which he took to conciliate the distant peoples in the far corners o£ the Empire was certainly entirely consistent with the love of aristocratic display which formed so large a portion of the nature of the man. Under tbeadininistration of the Beaconsfield Government the Prince of Wales visited Canada, calling forth as a matter o£ course a vasfc amount of latent loyalty in the Dominion. It is also understood to have been tie deeire o£ the great Imperialiet Minister, that the Heir to the Throne should have visited Australia, upon the occasion o£ the recent Melbourne Exhibition, but considerations which have never been explained, but which perhaps may easily b? gaesßed, interfered to prevent suoii a design being carried to fruition. The Duke of Edinbuegh, it will be remembered, visited Australia and New Zealand during the time the Jingcs were in power, and upon his return the Imperial exchequer was called upon to recoup the Royal puree the expenditure entailed in lavishing presents upon the admiring colonists — their sons and daughters. An opinion may fairly be hazarded that had the people of these Colonies guessed that the feiv gifts now to be found within their territories which came from the Royal hands of the eon of Her Majesty, were to bo paid for out of the taxation of the people of the Mother Country, the value would have been restored at once. Indeed, it baß always been a mjstery why the Colonial Legislatures did :aot immediately refund to the Brit'ah Government the money so expended. The colonists of thet-e southern lands, however, received the Duke of Edinburgh enthusiastically, and his visit from a political point of view was a auccses. Then the Marquis of Lome was appointed by the Beaconsfield administration to the Governorship of Canada, which

doubt was a moßb substantial recogni* tion of the high estimation in which the Colonies as a whole wore held by the Imperialist Minister. It ia true that the presence of tho husband of the Princeßs Louise iv England was felt to be exceedingly irksome by tbe members of tbe reigning family, and tho Premier owttd it us a duty to his Royal Mistress to get rid o£ the Mavquia somehow as soon as possible In the estimation o£ the devoted people of Avgylc the Campbell iriay bo only second in importance to theGovaiiNOßof the Univeretf, bnfc he waa made to realiaeuccomforlablythathe was of small account atnongofc the Royalties at Buckingham Palace. The appointment to Canada, therofuvc, was a happy thought which cut both waje. The Salons of Royally were xelieYed o£ the presence of one who had a claim to be there — with a difference ; whilst the Colonies — through tho Dominion — were rooognieed and placated. Lastly, Australia has again been reoognißcd by the visit of the children of tho Prince of Wales. This, however, is only a figment of the great Jingo policy. As the Prince of Wales could not go to Melbourne, his children were Rent aB the next best that could bo done, and at every place they have visited of course the loyalty of the people to tbe throne has overflowed.

Ti)("8« aro tbfi niiny.lo means which the ImperiahV, br.;,in divined to tickle* tho pLoplo cf t\a>- Ciloihum and bind them in sympathy v.ml Jove t.o tho Empire. Wr-input !n rio plain waiter-d-incX way of our 1 fir. gunge, they must Btrike ono a,a raltcr contemptible, bat they aro to bo judged by their aacccee, ncd* of their euc* oeßs there <'.:m be no doubt. Now, what is Mr Gladstone going to give us? Aie wo to ontimio to be tickled with soiortH of the R yal Hcnao and poor sor.o in-lr.w for whom it in felt to ha ucrcußtiary '.o r-r do the Liberal id< us of tli ; prti.^Mt LVinier in reference to Liv ;.''<;.t rulicK follow a more btrictly cohatituJopal cuurMi ? In short, ib Mr bLAUSTONK difcpoßed to

continue h follower of Beaconsfield, or are hiß impulses towurda a n alisaiion of tbe viewa of Adam ' MITH ? As every reader of bis works ia aware, Adam Smth declared thai, jowerfal Colonies Cl.uUI not be kep:: joined to the mother cuuiitiy unless placed upon a footing o£ equality. At present the people of iho Ooloniea are comprehended in the British. Empire, but they are not of it. No policy prevails common to the people of iho whole Empire ; so fai indeed from that bejtg the caae, it will be fouad that the Ooloniea make laws fur in advance of those of the mother country — frequently in direct .opposkion to her interests — and not in harmony -with each other. The theory of Adam Smith, designed to make tLc oolonie3 re<il3y portion o£ the Empire, Traa to extend to thsm the Bamw ■weight in the Legislature and Government as any other part Gf it by means of representation in the Imperial Parliament; a::a, &s the Colon-Its grew in strength n -..king tho Beat of executive autiiority removable, ao that powerful Colonies should not ba made to feel that tu^ir importance wa* not recognised. "We £oar the future that Adam Smith ear/ into with prophetic vision i 9 yet slicj et-nturiea away; indeed, we would not venture to predict that, bio comprehuuiKve viewa will ever find realisation, bat undoubtedly they scould be more ia harmony with the aspirations of popiuationn dezcendtfd from a free peoplo aad governed by frea institutions among themaelvt-a than the childish, displays of infantiia royalty. It is possible that Mr Gladstone and bia collsagues may be able to find some tertium quid, the tendojicy of which ia to draw the compon':iiti parts of the Empire together •without the adoption of such an elaborate and advanced schema as Adam Smith designed, bnb containing in principle the filemtntg o2 Hia proposal. The Ooloniea ding to rAitir connection with the Motherland, and their aspirations are, towards v closer, strongor, and truer union, bc-aod by conaideratioDS of sympathy and common iutereet. The electric wire hns b*en the means of twaeping a^ay the distancts wliiek fesparates the Motherland and tbe children that have goca out from her. As the cable nowa \v« constantly publish ttstifits, wa are bat two dajß distant from the Old "World, and our people cc-aticao to be moved by a lively intevost in all that takes place there ; in&eed, a very largo proportion of the articles which fill tho columns of the coluaiil ?ress hare relation to Home and Imp jrifll politics. Thio proves that -there is a very close bond of sympathy -subsisting amongefc the people — the Anglo-Saxon says on this side of the globe at all events, and so loag as this is maintained the Empire can never fall

to pieces,