A FEDERATED AUSTRAL SIA.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1304, 1 October 1883, Page 4

A FEDERATED AUSTRAL SIA.

;'■>•' .;■• — i".y. •- -. -: The Rev. James -Jefferis, LL.B., receri^dfelive^a'lecturl'in Sydney 1 on,. "■Aus^v t^a^ : .'^Jp[tffleral■'iug. ,, , T. c cohcHjsipri 'tfas.i? tallows :— '. .', ■ ,' I -^y^lfAn>;safigtuneeii6xigh to tlitn.fe that in lcST^whe.vwe'- tenter upon tlfe second 1 -ifentur^ ' 'Qiir histb)/, the JJomiuiou oT J li.l^trhia^y/.;jßiight begiii its noble and •lieheficent' ' career. ;i Qui f hfiu'f e'i i^'d^ed^py ouFpk^'aiid presqut, , rhi^ht yf t e\\ k' iji^le.'iinagi hat^ou tq tn- ■ utu^p^t. . OiyUisatioi^fpi' 40 centuries , has be^n progressing. (Westward. China and India, Persia and Babylon, Egypt-; and*- Syria; 'Greece aud- Rome; ; { o I Charlemagne and the kingdi,nH of* itfp'dern Europe, England andAniWica,;.': hkve successively or lit up ■£ljb' darkne^.p^f h'^manlvyj.byjthe .spleiif-' dour. of the' Tarts aiid letters. America, lates.tr born of the great nations, is entering.upbn'a vigorous maturity. But westward.. from the golden gates ot* Bah Fi-an cisco there stretches -a ; w*aste'' Cff%ateis to the eastern coasts of Asia) ■^Jhere-- the c*ra^idj !, (^f"!c{vllisaiim reached. This circuit of' the earth is complete. In the Northern Hemisphere there ..are- yjio iP^w worlds for civilisation to conquer. But '-hdre-in these southern • seas the • colonising energy of our race has discovered a continent ringed round with noble islands' : a land vast 'in ' extent, with genial climate and fertile soil, with inexhaustible, coal : and- immense deposits of metals, • and every material product fro. n the three k.ngdom of Nature for th c v ses an d appliainces of civilised, life.' The sons of Britain have' brought with them' to this land all'thie ; results of intellect, and all the ' dictates of morality which their fathers discpyered arid practised.. They left behind them thp inequalities and injustices which feudalism bequeathed to the natid'us of Euiope. We have comei bringing with us the pliilosopliy of Scotland, the science .of England, and the literary gemns^bf Ireland. We have .established the|Brj^ish Constitutioii, tl^ freest.; under tbe snttA ;W'e have founded public; schools which already rival those of' Oxford and Cam bridge... : hate .daily papers not unworthy to 1 be pla'ced(sn the same ; table with .The' .Times.. „ J^ . our phvsiqhc, ' degenerating ? athletes have., again. ; and ,again : .been crowned with olive iv the Olympian games of England. Are these signs of waning intelligence? Let the Victorian oration we read in Sydney 'but yestei'aay, so broad in its 1 view, merciless iv its criticism; furnish a-.repTjr'i- • Aiid it it be thougbt: .'ay'iweafcnesa'' in that able address that it iaildd in doing justice to tlie. Qiirtstain Churches, we Will uot forget that, judges were once special pleaders, and .that bad habits ' are not easily broken.; . Have we failed in. government ? No doubt we urea little too democratic for Lord Salisbury, bufc.^ we are not now, regarded, hy Englishmen generally as experimenting ia legislation . .The _ Brltisli— Paulial „meut has' adopted certain reforms frara. !' jtju'e ' Ctlunial Statiie-bo^k. ,' ' Vote by , (ballot, household suiiragie, the transfer 1 .- rf pt jaiid by rfigistration-^-)hese, a,s- ,6ir; , ,^orge JBowen once said, " are as much ' _an importation from Australia as wool, ; au^gold." And now think, of; thist Australian,. people^.. with these advan-i , ..Ijag^s 1 ol: ' blood and ' gifts ' of .'fpijtune, in- 1 t , creasing and' multiplying like "the" Jews, ,-, in the land of Goshen. A good'n^aiiy' oi' the'seniors presehtcpu.ld testify ',',u.'om. ,'j aj pleasant but ahxioiis '.'jßxperieiicei tliat A"- ,8 *- ra h a is a woiiueiiul' country for^ , .".weans." Sir Herculea Rpbinsou once showed tlie prbbp.bditie's' of our' future in the Way oi, population.' .' Arguing from the rate ot ( increase in' ri HewSduth Wales, he said that by the : middle of next century— -which' some of our boJ*s and girls will live to reach — ■ the population of Australia will be 81,000,000," ' which - was that of Gieali " Britain about 10. years- ago. ; .W ; hat a vision is that of noble cities, and busy towns, and quiet -hamlets, of world-* wide commerce and extending riianu* facturi^s, of fleets and arrpjes, of science and philosophy, of architecture and engineering, of .paintiiig and poetry, . and of ' churches,, lei- us hope, still differing in creeds, aiid methods of wprship^-as .the," human outcome of liberty— but . boidiiig fast to ; those ... diyine. verities which are" most, surely ,: believed, us.' Amid the happy seclusion of these southern seas, iv ; |f Australia, .{and- Tasmania, and,, ew . ;Zeaflapd,.un^ler auspices more fayoifv-' . a^e than, any people have yet enjoyed, fi nation may come into being for a, .., , care^f : more : peaceful aud nob lessv . glorious Jthan any r ..people have,. yet displayed. A dream? Yes, hub a r . dream a polutely .certain to be .relised, if only we Kreak dbwnj'the harriers of „. ,(3plouj»l isplatipjOj, , j and . federate into the Dominion /pf ."A us^ralasia.",