The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning Tuesday, January 8, 1889. ENGLAND'S DISGRACE.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 244, 8 January 1889, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning

Tuesday, January 8, 1889. ENGLAND'S DISGRACE.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’et at be thy oountry’E, Thy God’s, and truth’s.

A climax that has Idng been expected by some farseeing people has at last been reached in connection with the Samoa trouble. England has been forced back step by step and the Germans have quietly but surely taken ad vantage of every weak point. England has not only forsaken a native king who incurred the displeasure of Germany mainly on account of his support of the former country, but her rulers have shown a weakness that is humiliating to any Britisher. The history of this Samoan affair has been too recently enacted to require any sketch of it at this moment: what may occur in the immediate future, or what may have already occurred, it would be useless to imagine. If England has acted with weakness Germany has acted with a brutality and oppression that is a lasting disgrace to a great nation, and proves to what meanness even those so powerful can stoop in their greedy desires. Here are the representatives of one of the most powerful nations in the world goading to desperation and retaliation a few hundreds of natives who are on their own territory—Germany aiding a rebel band to depose the rightful ruler, German gunboats shelling the habitations of these unfortunate people, and a German contingent being landed to enforce the dishonest demands that have been made. We may search history for a more disgraceful record of tyranny over a weak and helpless people. It is a certain satisfaction to know that in the first encounter Mataafa’s people defeated their enemies, and it would no doubt be a much greater satisfaction to many to learn that the German warship had also been sunk, for it would have been a poor reparation for the wrongs that have been inflicted on these unfortunate natives, for the sole-object of giving one nation a better advantage in the way Of bartering than is held by other nations. According to the telegrams we are told that the British and American warships are getting into fighting trim. From this it will be understood that a very serious crisis has arrived, but we do not think after studying the previous history of this trouble that the other war vessels in harbor are likely to interfere until at least they have instructions from their respective Governments. Decisive action should have been taken long since, and might have been taken with immediate effect, but as England's humiliaiing propensities increased so did the high handed policy of Germany until it has now taken the form of undeniable outrage. Though the Germans were baulked in the first instance there is little hope they will cease until they have had further revenge, in spite of the presence of the English and American men-of-war, and without regard for the warlike preparations that are being made by those vessels. Far better it would be for England to step aside and allow the' Germans to continue their cruel work than to continue deceiving the natives and her own people as well. It

was never worth while to risk an European war over so comparatively unimportant a matter as the Samoa affair, and the British Government having acted without any regard for her dignity in the first stages is hardly likely to go to the length now of permitting a conflict with Germany ; it would simply be lunacy to do so, but all the trouble might have been avoided by a little firmness at the outset. What we should very much like to learn would be that Mataafa has been able to hold his ground against the foreign usurper and the native rebels, though against such superior forces it would be nonsense to suppose that possible. As we have previously said England’s whole dealings in connection with these islands of the Pacific have been a record of dishonor, which is beginning to tell its own tale. Germany has now practically assumed control over Samoa, and however much we may regret the cruelty of that nation’s representatives and the fate of the unfortunate natives, however much we may deplore the humility that has characterised the British policy, any precipitate action that might now involve a grave conflict between the various Powers must be strongly deprecated.