The Northern Guardian.
Hartlepool, Cleveland, England, 1896-12-25 00:00:00

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Zlte gouthan Guarbian
(DAILY)

SATURDAY. DECEMBER 26. 1896.

THE YEAR ABROAD.

EIGHTEEN hundred and ninety-six came in
like a lieu ; it goes out like the proverbial
lamb, and we congratuiate ourselves as a
nation that thin iv the case, giving credit to
a strong Administration for the improved
condition of affairs. The year could not have
opened more stormily. There was war in
South Africa, and rumours of war in the New
World; the feeling of unrest roused by the
Emperor William's ill-timed telegram to ,
President Kruger; the sudden commission of
a flying squadron; the patriotic demonstra-
tions made by the Australasian Colonies—
all these events, following within a few hours
of each other, combined to make the first
week of the new year a period of unexampled
excitement. For a few dark days, indeed, it
even appeared possible that the unbroken
peace in Europe enjoyed by our country
since the Crimean War was destined to be
ruptured. We did not understand the
presence of Dr. Jameson in the Transvaal ;
still less did we understand the sympathy
with the South African Republic openly
avowed by the Germans. All these things,
however, have been made clear in the course
.of the year. The Jameson bubble has been
pricked, and the intrigues of the speculators
who created it exposed to the world, while,
we think we can safely add, our sentiment of
friendliness toward Germany is in a fair way
to be re-established. The war-cloud, too, that
for a brief moment threatened England and
the United States, has been dissipated, we
hope never to return again, by the good
sense of either nation, and the ptospect of
an arbitration treaty which will put an
end once and for ever to the recur-
rence of any such scandal. So there is
peace between the branches of the Anglo-
Saxon race, and the forthcoming tribunal
-which is to settle the Venezuelan difficulty
will stand as a precedent for all time in the
settlement of such territorial questions an
may arise. To return to Africa, from which,
as did the Romans of yore, we may always
look with certainty for something new, the
record of the year is one of war, East, West,
and South. In the East we have witnessed
the most successful of all our joint Nile
expeditions, and the recovery of a part, at
least, of theSoudan to civilisation; in the West
a British invasion has once and for all put an
end to the barbarism of human sacrifices
in Ashantec, and established a Govern-
ment upon a ci v ilised basis ; in the
South, after months of desultory fighting, in
which many valuable lives have been lost,
the Chartered Company is beginning to assert
itself over the Mstabele, whose rebellion was
apparently encouraged by the failure of the
Jameson raid. In Asia we have seen the
settlement of the Anglo-French difficulties in
Siam, the gradual spread of Russian influence
In China, and a rebellion in the Philippines
which threatens the sovereignty of Spain in
those distant seas, even as it is still manaced
in Cuba, despite the &nth of the insurgent
leader Nlaceo. We have no time here to dis-
cuss the growth of good feeling which has
intensified itself between the Mother Country
and the colonies during the period of °Ur
review. Suffice it to say that we are thank-
ful for it, and that we look forward to 1897
with confidence as a year in which this feel-
ing may find public expression on the occasion
of the glorious celebration of Her Majesty's
reign—destined to take place in the coming
summer.