AN AMERICAN VIEW OF GREAT BRITAIN'S CHANCES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4339, 29 April 1896, Page 6

AN AMERICAN VIEW OF GREAT BRITAIN'S CHANCES.

In the course of a thoughtful and interesting article on the Transvaal trouble, the 'New York Nation' thus expresses its opinion on the chances of Great Britain in case of the Mother Country being forced into a war : — " The German Emperor has sent a despatch to the Boers over the heads of the British authorities, who, by the convention of 1884, are the sole representatives of the Transvaal in foreign affairs, congratulating them on the repulse of a band of British malefactors. This in England is, excusably enough, considered insulting, and might cause a war between him and his grandmother, in which he would unquestionably get the worst of it. In the first place, his little navy would either have to venture out to sea and fight — in which case it would be promptly destroyed — or it would have to shut itself up in port. In either case the German ports would be all blockaded, and their foreign commerce destroyed, except what conld reach the sea through other countries. In the next place, he could not bring a regiment of his fine army into play against the British anywhere, and could not get within 2,000 miles of the Boers. In the third, he would promptly lose all the German colonies abroad, including the principal one, New Guinea, which the Australians are only too ready to seize. He would be unable to defend his colonies in Africa, which Rhodes and his men would be too happy to appropriate. The only contingency in which he could make even a decent struggle would be through an alliance with France, but to get this he would have fco surrender Alsace and Lorraine. France is the only Power in Europe which has a navy that could successfully stand up against that of Great Britain, but in the next naval war most of the ships engaged will probably be sunk on the spot, leaving the Power with most ships mistress of the seas, and that Power will probably be Great Britain, who would, after a general war, in all likelihood occupy the position in Europe she occupied after Trafalgar. All persons proposing to attack her ought to consider these things seriously. She is never such a dangerous enemy as in the face of a combination against her."