Introduction.

The force of this pregnant sentence may not unreasonably be applied to the [unclear: ent] suddenly evolved ebullition of French affection toward Russia, whose [unclear: domient] autocracy is in principle and practice the very antipodes of that republican [unclear: ment] which at present animates and rules the Gallic people and their [unclear: poli]. Doubtless, the "inevitable reaction"^* will, in due course, follow the late [unclear: lar] enthusiasm for Russia, which found such extraordinary expression [unclear: when] Bussian Fleet and its officers and crews visited Toulon and Paris. There [unclear: can] no doubt that at the time of these Russian receptions there was promise of [unclear: a] close rapprochement, a more than mere friendly connection, if not an actual [unclear: aty] of alliance, offensive and defensive, between France and Russia. The feeling [unclear: nrest] which these demonstrations awakened in Great Britain, both in and [unclear: out] Parliament, led the French Premier publicly to express a hope that the [unclear: excitent] which this Franco-Russian friendship (this Autocratic-Republican allian[unclear: ce] "powers eternal! such names mingled!") created in England might [unclear: pedily] pass away. But time went on and it did not pass away. On the [unclear: trary] it grew stronger and spread. Britain's far-off dependencies, in these [unclear: podean] seas, have become alive to the danger which would threaten these shores [unclear: ed] their vast sea-borne commerce should there arise a European war in which England became involved. The possible imminence of such a calamity has [unclear: cted] the attention of the colonial authorities on the other side of the Tasm[unclear: an] as well as of those in these islands.

The Defence Minister of New Zealand, acting on the advice of the Commandant of the Defence Force, has ordered the transmission to England of the guns in our [unclear: tifications,] for alterations and modern improvements, so as to render them fully [unclear: tive] as weapons of defence. The coal port of Westport, whence was obtained the superior coal which enabled Captain Kane to carry the "Calliope" out of [unclear: moa] in the teeth of a tropical cyclone, is to be fortified: so also is the Port of Greymouth, on the same coast.

Major-General Edwards, an experienced officer of the British Army, has specially [unclear: ted] to the Government of Victoria on the defences of the Australian Colonies,

^* Since these lines were written it would almost appear that this reaction has already [unclear: shown] beginnings, for, by reason of France having decided to place an import duty on grain and other [unclear: tuffs] which will seriously affect Russian agricultural products, a marked feeling of dissatisfaction with France has been displayed. France also, while reducing the import duty on Russian [unclear: teum]. subsequently extended the same privilege to America, the only strong competitor of [unclear: sia] the oil market. This, too, has caused irritation. "Friendship is Friendship,' says the [unclear: Vr]emya, "but do ut des is the basis of commercial relations, and France had better [unclear: re] her position in taking such a course." But the French Ministry have declined to make my alteration.

page xii and has recommended federation of the military forces of the four [unclear: prin] Colonies in the Australian Continent. Regarding the danger to which, in the [unclear: e] of war, these possessions would be subject, General Edwards says,—

"The Australian Colonics offer a rich and tempting prize to a hostile country, and if [unclear: f] Colonies had to rely on that own resources as regards defence they would certainly lie call [unclear: ed] fight for their own and peudence; and, without cohesion of power and combination, their [unclear: po] would be one of great danger."

During the la it month the New South Wales Government sent a [unclear: detach] of the Submarine Mining Company of Engineers to Newcastle to comple[unclear: te] fitting up of the submarine mining stations at that port.

It is curious to read this utterance of to-day by Lord Salisbury and [unclear: comp] with the narrative which is reprinted in the body of this pamphlet. Twen[unclear: ty] years ago Russia was steadily advancing her outposts in Central Asia, near[unclear: er] nearer to the frontiers of British India, and there was a feeling of possible [unclear: cod] of interests in the air, and of their reference to the "dread arbitrament of [unclear: un] Then "the pay of my imagination" took practical shape one sunny [unclear: mor] in Auckland, in the direction of considering what might probably [unclear: happ] to that city and to other defenceless colonial seaports in the event [unclear: of] European war, and a consequent equally sudden and unannounced visitation [unclear: of] few powerful hostile ships to our then wholly unprotected shores. Next [unclear: morn] the exploit of the Russian cruiser "Kaskowiski," (following at a modest distan[unclear: ce] the lines of the famous "Battle of Dorking,") appeared in the columns of [unclear: th] Daily Southern Cross, to the editorial chair of which I had recently been [unclear: appoi] by Sir Julius Vogel, who was then the proprietor of that journal.

Years after the publication of that narrative circumstances came to [unclear: ligh] which prove I that Russia did seriously contemplate a descent on these Colonies and their commerce on the sea. Since 1873 more than one "war scare" has [unclear: agita] the minds of Australasian communities. Hitherto the uneasiness has been [unclear: cans] by the possible action of Russia. Now it is Russia cum France,—a warlike connection of a much more serious character in view of the results of a combination of the fleets of two such allies.

When one morning in 1885 the sudden apparition of the Russian [unclear: crui] "Vestnik" was beheld comfortably anchored in Wellington harbour, on the man-of-war ground, which she had quietly reached during the night, entering the harbour without any pilot's assistance, there once more arose a feeling in the public mind that the ports of the colony were certainly not so safe from a hostile [unclear: incu] as they ought to be. It was felt that what was then done by way of unannounced entrance in peaceful guise might be as easily accomplished with unfriendly [unclear: int] by vessels of greater power than the "Vestnik." About that time, too, as was subsequently ascertained by the naval authorities at Home, there were lying in the Russian naval station at Vladivostock, on the Russian Asiatic coast, two war [unclear: vess] fully equipped, and only waiting for a then expected declaration of war. ready for immediate despatch to Australasian waters with a hostile object, which could not be misunderstood.

Since the Crimean war of forty years ago the Russian fleet has been enormously strengthened and enlarged, especially since 1877. That of Turkey, on the other hand, has dwindled and fallen into what might almost be termed decay, so much so as now to be considered quite incapable of coping with Russia in the Black Sea, for the latter Power deliberately broke the Treaty of Paris of 1850, by which she was prohibited from building war vessels in the Euxine, where she now owns a page xiii [unclear: ful] fleet of ships of latest modern construction, one possesses also a squadr[unclear: on] special cruisers described as "splendid" and powerful, belted with complete [unclear: line] belt six inches thick, and having a speed of 16 to 18 knots per ho[unclear: ur]. ironclad cruiser, the "Rurik," which was launched little more than a year [unclear: ago],. long, 67ft. broad, with a displacement of 10,933 tons, 13,250 indicat[unclear: ed] power, and armed with 16 heavy breech-loading guns. This vessel, it [unclear: was] at the time of her completion, is able to make the voyage from the Baltic to [unclear: vostock] (19,000 miles) "without once coaling by the way." There are [unclear: others] this type of ship being constructed, and there have been many smaller vessels [unclear: ed] to the Russian Navy in recent years.

Russia's policy is still the same. The same desire to reach Constantinople, with was frustrated in 1853 by the Crimean war, and again when the Treaty [unclear: of] Stefano was annulled, mainly by British interference in 1878—is still the policy the "august monarchs" of the north.^* The desire of Peter the Great that the [unclear: ble] eagle might float over the dome of the mosque of St. Sophia still remains [unclear: erished] dream of Russia's policy, and that is scarcely veiled in the offici[unclear: al] quoted above. The "Sick man of Europe," as the Emperor Nicholas designed the Sultan of Turkey in 1852, is far more worn and sick to-day than he [unclear: was] years ago. His dominions have been diminished and divided. Russia has [unclear: red] possession of more Turkish territory than she surrendered alter the [unclear: ean] war, and Turkey is sensibly weakened as respects both dominion and [unclear: es,] as well as finance. Her debt is enormous and growing. The impecunious [unclear: tion] of her heavily-taxed Empire is notorious. There are still thirty millions [unclear: ing] of the last war indemnity due to Russia. A successful war Waged by Russia [unclear: hst] Turkey would be far more likely to drive the Turk out of Europe now than [unclear: ed] at all probable when Nicholas declared war in 1853, or when, twenty-fo[unclear: ur] later, the Russo-Turkish war arose, resulting in the crowning defeat at Plevna.

Movements among smaller kingdoms are not infrequently indicative of more [unclear: tant] action, of which such movements are only the, initiative, stirred up to colour for an interference on the part of the more grasping of the Greater [unclear: rs] so as to lead to a foregone conclusion when the time is ripe. For example, [unclear: fessed] regard for the orthodox faith, and the protection of the "Holy Places" [unclear: usalem,], was made the pretext by Russia for declaring war against Turkey [unclear: in] and similarly the question of the succession to the throne of Spain was [unclear: in] the flimsy pretence of Napoleon III. for that war with Germany, for whi[unclear: ch] sides had for a considerable time been making gigantic preparations. [unclear: In] Russia declared war against Turkey under the guise of projection of the [unclear: vm] trodden Christian subjects' of the Porte, though the acquisition of more [unclear: tory,] and a nearer approach to Constantinople, were the true objects of this [unclear: ian] protection, which history shows has almost invariably developed into [unclear: occu] and ultimate absorption. It is thus that small pretexts lead up to gre[unclear: at] There may be, therefore, more than is apparent in the late action [unclear: of] young kingdom of Servia, which, as was announced a few weeks ago, was [unclear: lising] her reserves because of an alleged secret alliance between her nei[unclear: gh]-Blulgaria and Roumania, presumably the outcome of Russian intrigue.

Only recently Russia gathered a large army corps near the German fronti[unclear: er], she has just completed arrangements for securing a naval station in the [unclear: rranean] Sea.

All the great nations of Europe are spending vast sums in armaments and [unclear: ments] of war. Armies, colossal in strength and numbers beyond all [unclear: mod] experience, are declared to be ready for the crisis on the shortest notice. [unclear: Even] (Gladstone's Ministry (whose ultra-peace doctrines lost us the Soudan) [unclear: were] strained to profess themselves prepared to spend some twenty millions to [unclear: strea] the British Navy. In presence of these great European preparations, and [unclear: of] universal unrest which prevails, and from which these preparations spring increase, the prospects of maintaining peace in Europe are not assuring.

What is there, then, to guard the Colonies and the great fleets of mercha[unclear: nt] with their ever increasing colonial commerce, in their passage on the hi[unclear: gh] which those powerful cruisers of the Tsar are intended to be the "most [unclear: effe] means" of intercepting, capturing, or destroying? For, being interpret[unclear: ed], the plain meaning of the official utterance in the Russian Gazette above [unclear: reco] What the Confederate cruisers Alabama and Shenandoah did in the destruction the mercantile marine of the North during the civil war in America, Russia [unclear: dently] hopes to accomplish, or at least to attempt, in any war in the future [unclear: in] she may be engaged, against a foe possessing vast sea-going commerce. Her [unclear: con] and the uncertainty of peace-preservation, particularly with France as a possib[unclear: le] is a standing menace to the commerce of Britain and her Colonies. The [unclear: me] fleets of England swarm in every sea, laden with the products of all [unclear: lands] smoke of her great steamers, and the white canvas of her sailers, can be [unclear: trac] well-known routes where an enemy's cruisers may lie in wait. Our rich and ponderous Colonies, with numerous and wealthy cities and towns, require a certa[unclear: in] assured protection on the waters from any possible foe.

It is true that conditions have greatly changed within the last twenty you. The important Australasian cities have been fortified, the harbours protected forts armed with guns of power and precision, and approach has been [unclear: fu] rendered dangerous to hostile warships by means of torpedoes, electrically [unclear: con] from the shore—a valuable guard, provided the advent of the enemy were [unclear: pro] detected in the sombre gloom of a moonless night. We have now, in [unclear: Austral] waters, a Colonial Squadron, which did not exist twenty years ago, and an [unclear: ene] ships would, in ordinary circumstances, have no easy task to evade their [unclear: vig] But the interests of British and Colonial commerce are so scattered over eve[unclear: ry] that, in the face of a great war, it would be a herculean task to safeguard [unclear: our] chant fleets on the sea, and at the same time to prevent aggressive visitation [unclear: to] coasts. Nevertheless, great and arduous though the task may be, it is what [unclear: Be] and Britain's dependencies look for at the hands and by the foresight of [unclear: Brit] statesmen. Her colonial children will afford all the assistance they can by [unclear: cornb] effort provide. But the navy of Great Britain is the grand guardian of her [unclear: coasts] her commerce; the great arm on which her scattered millions at Home and [unclear: abr] have for generations been taught in the main invariably to depend. The [unclear: vast] borne commerce of the United Kingdom and its Colonies is, by comparison, [unclear: ever] greater importance to the people of the British Isles themselves than it is [unclear: to] dwellers in these dependencies. A glance at the figures of the annual trade [unclear: in] appendix hereto will suffice to demonstrate this proposition.

In that appendix there will also be found tables conveying some instructi[unclear: ve] and figures regarding the naval and military forces, when on a war footing, [unclear: of] principal powers of Europe, more especially of the five great Powers, [unclear: which] this moment to be standing face to face in painful expectation of a possi[unclear: ble] coming struggle. Particulars are given of the British-Australasian Navy, [unclear: and] the infant navies of the four principal Australian Colonies, together [unclear: with] figures setting forth the numbers of the permanent and volunteer forces [unclear: belog] to the different colonies of the Empire, and a summary of the armed forces [unclear: of] world. There are besides instructive extracts from the recent [unclear: writings] speeches of eminent authorities, whose opinions carry weight and me[unclear: rit] sideration.

As already mentioned, Lord Salisbury, in his speech at Cardiff, repeated brief, mutatis nominibus, the story of the "Kaskowiski," as the same is detailed the succeeding pages. If such an occurrence was felt by a great statesman [unclear: to] possible occurrence on the shores of the British Isles, it is none the less, [unclear: pro] more so, on the coasts of these Colonies, unless they are carefully guarded [unclear: on] waters of the Austral seas and on the great trade routes to and fro.