THe Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1870.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 724, 15 October 1870, Page 2

THe Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1870.

Shortly before the prorogation of the British Parliament, an interesting debate took place in the House of Commons upon the European war, in the course of which Mr Gladstone took occasion to defend the Government against what he termed Mr Disraeli's charge of undue reductions of the services, by saying:—" We refer with satisfaction to the reductions that have been made ; we are glad that we have been able to lessen the burdens of the people, and we are especially glad to have been able to afford that relief, because we contend, and we think we can prove, that in the midst of all that relief and all that reduction there has been no diminution whatever, but, on the contrary, there has been a husbanding and an increase of our real domestic available force. What is the use of a system of naval defence which dots your vessels of war over the whole globe, multiplying occasions of difference, of quarrel, of danger, and of conflict into which Parliament finds itself hurried by the act of some subordinate agent abroad, but which would never have been accepted on the recommendation of a Cabinet? What is the use for the purpose of defending these shores, and of enabling you to assert the dignity of the United Kingdom at a great European crisis, of that sporadic system which enables you, if you think fit, to vaunt your strength in those parts of the world where the flass of the Queen's ships may be flying, but which, instead of

adding anything, actually deducts from the real strength and energy of the country?" The opinions expressed by the Prime Minister of England are strangely at variance with a recent despatch from the Colonial Office, in which we were assured that in the event of foreign attack the whole available strength and resources of the Empire would be directed to repel an invasion of any portion of the dominions. At the time, the high-sounding words of Earl Granville were taken by many to have had no serious significance, and the very decided views expressed by Mr Gladstone must dispel the belief that England is likely in the future to undertake the entire defence of all her vast colonial possessions. If, in the future then, the armaments of Great Britain are to be limited to what shall suffice for the defence of her own shores and waters, and the protection of the great highways of commerce, the fact remains that the colonies must either trust to their remoteness and insignificance to protect them from the hostility of foreijm belligerents, or make such preparation as shall admit of a successful resistance to any petty armament that a hostile power might despatch to their shores. Victoria in this respect has very properly taken the initiative, and details of her defences recently made public showed a degree of preparedness no less gratifying than unexpected. Her example mighc be well emulated in New Zealand ; not that the ports of this Colony, forming the chief centres of commerce and population, offer such inducements to a foe as the capitals of the neighboring colonics ; still it is only natural that in a contest with England the enemy would prefer to limit operations by sea to attacks upon the most remote and ill-defended portions of the Empire rather than to risk any great naval encounter. V e should thus become liable to suffer most seriously from the consequences of England's quarrels with nations possessing the means of despatching war-vessels to these colonies ; and, although, a portion of the British navy would doubtless be scouring the Australian, Indian, and Pacific seas, and would, in the event of need, be speedily at hand, yet our more important ports ought to be armed sufficiently to prevent the sudden incursion of an insignificant force. In our present unprotected state, a single hostile war-vessel might pillage or destroy the chief ports of this colony without our being able to offer any effective or temporary resistance.