Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1885. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1143, 9 May 1885, Page 2

Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1885. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

The ominous war clouds which threatened but the other day to enwrap the European sky in a dark canopy of mortal strife have been, for the time being, dissipated by wiser counsels of peace. Now, instead of fighting it out in Afghanistan, England and Russia will arrange the delimitation of the Afghan frontier in London. Sir Peter Lumsden and General Stewart have been recalled, and the Boundary Commission, which caused all the trouble, is thus broken up. A genuine sigh of relief has passed over the Continent; for the Great Powers quite recognised their peril, as war between England and Russia would, in all probability, be the signal for a general European rising. The English Press is indignant at the conditions accepted by the Gladstone Government; and in the House of Commons Lord Randolph Churchill characterised the agreement come to with Russia as a cowardly surrender of England's rights. Whatever may be the conclusion of the little affair, the spectacle of two of the First Powers of Europe threatening each other, and then drawing back mutually at the last moment, like a couple of bellicose schoolboys, afraid to join isatie, each for fear of getting his nose in * bloody condition, will present itself as a grim caricature of the dignity of great nations. We are not quite out of the wood yet, however, as the Gladstone Cabinet has to deal with the House of Commons now in session, and it is altogether unlikely that the English public will accept peace at the expense of national honor, even if a vacillating and timorous old man is quite content to purchase peace at any price. Russia may have got such a scare at the warlike attitude of England that she will concede all that the latter demands ; but if duplicity and trickery count for anything, the Russians will contiuue somehow to outwit tbe English. Then, again, the fierce martial spirit that has passed like a wave of new life over the whole British Empire will make the people impatient of a dishonorable peace ; so that one of not the least difficulties which Mr Gladstone might have to face is an enraged British people. The independent tribes of [ndia have caught the war fever, and it is stated that unless a vent is found for their wild spirit now thoroughly aroused, there is extreme danger of the princes making war upon each other. These are only a few of the minor difficulties in the way of finally settling the Afghan frontier question ; but if the Russians on the present occasion rnn away they , will live to fight another day. No doubt the incident will come as a wholesome lesson to England ; and if ever she is caught napping again, she deserves to be defeated. Both army and navy must be re-organised in the most thorough manner, and the reserves and volunteers materially strengthened all along the lines. As the athlete keeps himself in full training always, so must a nation with the vigor of power in its grasp maintain the very elements of its security in the shape of drilled and disciplined men. The English are essentially a martial people ; and so long as the spirit of our fathers is not allowed to slumber beneath the delusive dream of endless peace, the stability of the British Empire rests on a secure foundation. _______