King Edward's realm: Story of the making of the Empire

(India).

1. The Sepoy Mutiny had its centre at Delhi, where lived the old emperor in great state and luxury, but without a vestige of power or authority. The mutineers placed this shadow of an emperor at their head, making him their centre of union, and his sovereignty a cause to fight for. The great powder-magazine within the city was luckily in British hands. Of the garrison in charge of it were two British officers, who, at the sacrifice of their own lives, applied a torch to the powder, and in a moment the building, with hundreds of Sepoy mutineers, was sent flying into the air.

2. There were two circumstances which in the most providential manner enabled our countrymen to hold their own until succour reached them from England. These were the loyalty of the Sikhs, who had recently been conquered, and the passage across the seas of British troops on their way to China. These troops were intercepted at Cape Town and Singapore, and diverted to India. The Sikhs threw in their lot with their conquerors, and fought like lions for them throughout the Mutiny. A few weeks after the first outbreak, a combined British and Sikh force arrived at Delhi. Our men posted themselves on a commanding ridge outside the city, and held it against all comers, whilst waiting for reinforcements.

3. Sir John Lawrence was straining every nerve to collect forces in the Punjab, and to push them on, with all speed, to Delhi; whilst his brother, Sir Henry Lawrence, was rendering a service, scarcely less valuable, at Lucknow. Forewarned by telegraph, he made every preparation for defence within his power before the rebels in the city heard of the outbreak. He brought all the Europeans within the "Residency," as the government buildings were called, and stocked it well with provisions and ammunition. Lawrence himself was mortally wounded, near the beginning of the siege, by the bursting of a shell that crashed into his room, where he was writing at table. When dying he desired that on his tomb should be engraven:

HERE LIES
Henry Lawrence
WHO TRIED TO DO HIS DUTY.

4. The siege of Lucknow is one of the most memorable in our history. We may well be proud of the splendid stand which a small band of our countrymen made here, in the presence of their wives and children, against myriads of the enemy, who were kept in check for nearly three terrible months, until relief came.

5. All this time the eyes of India and Great Britain were earnestly fixed on Delhi. It was there all felt the question was being fought out, who should be masters of India. For three weary months our men had to cling to their position on the ridge, outside the city, before obtaining guns sufficiently heavy to begin the siege. Great was the joy in the British camp when the guns arrived, and with them General Nicholson, known alike to friend and foe for his daring valour. All were eager to follow where he led.

6. After a bombardment of three days, two great breaches in the walls opened the way for the assault, and an entrance at each breach was made at the point of the bayonet, but whilst leading on his men the gallant Nicholson was slain. Of the many daring deeds performed that day the most memorable was the perilous exploit of blowing up the Cashmere gate, to make a third entrance for our troops. A small band of heroic men volunteered to place bags of powder under the gate, and to take the risk of being shot or blown up in the attempt.

7. "I placed my bag," said Sergeant Smith, "and then at a great risk reached Carmichael's bag (for he was killed), and having placed it in position with my own, arranged the fuse for the explosion, and reported all ready to Lieutenant Salkeld, who held a quick-match. In stooping down to light the quick-match, he was shot, but in falling had the presence of mind to hold it to me. Burgess was next him and took it. I told him to keep cool and fire the charge. He turned round and said, 'It won't go off, sir; it has gone out, sir.' I gave him a box of lucifers, and, as he took them, he let them fall into my hand, he being shot through the body at that moment. I was then left alone, and was proceeding to strike a light, when the fuse went off in my face, the light not having gone out as we thought. I took up my gun and jumped into the ditch but before I had reached the ground the charge went off, and filled the ditch with smoke." Before the smoke cleared away our troops were through the gateway.

8. But though the entrance to the city was gained the work had only begun. Every street and public building had been fortified, and had to be won by steady and continuous fighting. It was not until the sixth day that our men had fought their way to the palace in the heart of the city. When the British flag waved over the palace, all felt that the neck of the rebellion was broken, and that our Indian Empire was saved. The old emperor was sent as a state prisoner to Rangoon, where he died in 1862, being buried in the night-time near his bungalow, so that no native might know the resting-place of the last of the emperors.

9. Three days after the fall of Delhi, General Havelock reached the Residency at Lucknow, after fighting half a dozen battles on the road and forcing his way through streets lined with armed rebels. We can imagine the kind of welcome the troops received on their arrival. "In a moment," writes a lady, one of the survivors of the garrison, "big, rough-bearded soldiers were seizing the little children out of our arms, kissing them with tears rolling down their cheeks, and thanking God that they had come in time." They had come in time to save the women and children from falling into the enemy's hands, but not in sufficient numbers to remove them.

10. For final deliverance they had to wait nearly two months longer, until the arrival of the Commander-in-chief, Sir Colin Campbell, at the head of a small army of 5,000 men. It is interesting to know that Lieutenant Roberts, now Field-Marshal Lord Roberts, was an officer in the relieving force, and gave proof of his daring spirit, as the troops fought their way through the city, by hoisting the British flag, amid a shower of bullets, on the tower of a fort they had captured. Sir Colin now turned his arms against every city in revolt, and before the end of the following year (1858), the embers of the rebellion were finally stamped out.

(India).

1. As soon as peace was restored to India, after the Mutiny, a proclamation, at Calcutta, declared that the governing power of the East India Company was abolished, and that henceforth the sovereign of England would be the immediate ruler of India. In this proclamation, which may be regarded as the Magna Charta of the people of India, it was announced, in the name of the queen, that we desire no further extension of territory in India, but that what we had got we intended to hold; that we would respect the rights, dignity, and honour of the native princes; that we would in every way endeavour to further the interests of the people, and in no way interfere with their religious convictions.

2. The title of Empress of India was not assumed until some years later. But the assumption of that title, and the change in the form of government, as stated in the proclamation, gave great satisfaction to the princes and people of India. Our Indian government acquired new dignity in their eyes, and our rule became more acceptable, since they could now regard themselves as fellow-subjects with ourselves of the same personal sovereign. They had now distinct promises on which they could rely, for they knew by experience that their English masters would feel themselves bound by their own words. Nothing is more gratifying to our national pride than the reliance thus placed on the pledged word of our Government. "It is certain," says a great Polish writer, in reference to the Boer war, "that if King Edward VII. guaranteed to the Boers, with his royal word, the enjoyment of their liberty and laws, not an Englishman would be found throughout the gigantic British Empire, who would not burn with shame if the royal promise were broken."

3. The improved state of feeling among the people of India, in consequence of the changes which had been made, and the distinct promises they had received, showed itself very clearly, when, a few years later, the Prince of Wales—now King Edward VII.—paid a visit to India as the representative of Queen Victoria. His progress through the land called forth a succession of brilliant demonstrations—cities, temples, and palaces, being illuminated in his honour. All the princes and rajahs of India vied with each other in the magnificence of their trappings and the splendour of their welcome. And when at last the Prince set sail for England, the ship was laden with numerous memorials and presents of great variety, value, and interest. The proclamation in the following year of the queen's new title, as Empress of India, tended to draw still closer the ties of love and loyalty between Her Majesty and her Indian subjects.

4. Sweeping changes were made in our Indian army at the close of the Mutiny. That army now contains only two natives to one European, and the artillery is kept almost entirely in the hands of British soldiers. Many wars have occurred in India since it came under the British crown, but they have all been wars on her borders, keeping strife and danger far removed from every home in India. They have been wars to preserve internal peace, and to strengthen our frontiers, especially on the borders of Afghanistan, the only quarter from which an invading army could approach India except by sea.

5. But the chief enemy we have had to fight in India since the days of the Mutiny is famine, which has been known to carry off in a single year five millions of people. This calamity has arisen not from want of food in India, but from the difficulty of transporting it to the distressed districts. As famine in India is caused by an insufficient rainfall, great works have been executed to store water in vast tanks or lakes—for instance, by damming up the outlet of some mountain valley—and to cut canals for carrying water to the crops suffering from drought. Great engineering works have been taken in hand to keep the great rivers in bounds, and to prevent their waters in time of flood from rushing with ruin and havoc over the land.

6. If the British were to abandon India to-morrow they would leave behind them a grand memorial of their works for the good of the country, in their schools and colleges, their telegraphs, railways, roads, bridges, canals, reservoirs, and river embankments. People who have only seen such things in our own island-home, have no conception of the great scale on which such works have been carried out in a large country like India—a country as large as all Europe, leaving out Russia—where the rivers are immense, and subject to terrible floods from the down-pouring tropical rains which fall most copiously on the southern slopes of the Himalayas.

7. It is true that we do not give India the same kind of government we give Canada and Australia. We are obliged to govern India, not according to the notions of the natives, but according to our own. We take care, however, to keep order and see justice done, not only in the provinces under direct British rule, but also in the dependent states, which occupy about two-fifths of the country, and contain one-fourth of the population. There are no less than seven hundred of these states, great and small; none of them may make alliance with any other state except Britain; each of them must admit a British resident, who keeps an eye on its government. If any prince, after repeated warnings, fails to reform, he is replaced by another native, for Britain annexes no longer. On the other hand, a prince who does his duty and governs wisely, receives from the Emperor some mark of distinction or titular honour, nowhere in the world more valued than in India.

8. It will be seen then that our government of India is despotic, like that of a schoolmaster, who makes his own laws and administers them for the good of his scholars. There is, however, this difference. In India, the natives themselves are admitted to a large share in the administration of the laws and in the service of the state, an arrangement tending to keep the educated natives contented and to train them for the work of self-government.

9. On the whole, it may be said with truth that there is nothing more wonderful in the history of the world than that, under the flag of these two little islands, there should have grown up the greatest and most beneficent despotism that the world has sees. The very face of the country has changed; pestiferous swamps have been drained, and are now fertile lands with healthy cities. Wide tracts of jungle, the secure refuge of evil beasts, have been reclaimed. The great rivers are now brought under control; canals receive their surplus waters, and instead of causing desolation, bring fertilizing streams to a thirsty land. Railroads transport corn and rice through tunnels cut in the mountains, and across mighty rivers, to distant famine-stricken districts. In short, the story of India's progress under British rule is one of which we may well be proud.

10. The advantage, however, has not been all on one side. The connection with India has brought, and still brings, much grist to our own mill. It provides high salaries for about eight hundred of our most competent countrymen, acting as governors, magistrates, and high state officials; it offers employment for our engineers and land surveyors; it serves as an excellent training-ground for our officers and soldiers; and, above all, it opens up a splendid trade to our merchants and manufacturers. Were India to fall into the hands of a foreign power, like Russia, our merchants would probably find themselves, if not shut out entirely from the markets of India, much hampered in doing a profitable business. But with the government in our own hands we can make such regulations as tend to the mutual advantage of the two countries. So flourishing is the trade between them now that its annual value amounts to more than £50,000,000.

11. Such being the mutual advantages to India and Britain of our rule in that great country, it would be an indelible stain on our name and nation, if through indifference, or negligence, or faint-heartedness, we were to lose an empire built up by so much genius and heroism under the controlling hand of an unseen Power.

"We sailed wherever ship could sail,
    We founded many a mighty state;
Pray God our greatness may not fail
    Thro' craven fears of being great."

(Australia).

1. To measure the progress that has been made by our kinsmen in Australia, we must know something of the country in its natural condition, and of the special difficulties they have had to contend with. One of these difficulties was of our own making, and that was the landing there of shiploads of our worst criminals, many of whom fled to the "bush," and preyed upon the lonely settlers, or committed outrages upon the natives, who naturally tried to take revenge upon any white men that came in their way.

2. The plants found in Australia by the early explorers had, with few exceptions, never been seen in any other parts of the world. Strange to say, no wheat or any other cereal grew there, and but few fruits or vegetables fit for human food, although both soil and climate are in many parts so favourable to their growth that, since their introduction, they have thriven as well as in most countries.

3. The animals peculiar to Australia are even more strange than its plants. Of all the useful animals belonging to other countries, not a single representative was found here. All our domestic animals, however, have been introduced, and thrive remarkably well. One, indeed, the rabbit, has thriven so well as to form a serious pest. So rapidly do these animals multiply here that the colonists are obliged to incur much expense in the effort to keep down their numbers. Of the quadrupeds found elsewhere Australia only possessed, when first discovered, some species of rats and mice and a sort of wild dog, or dingo. Most of the native animals are pouched, like the kangaroo.

4. Dingoes cannot be trained for the service of man. They are always ready to prey upon his flocks. So great a pest are these animals, in certain parts, that each man on a sheep-station is expected to carry strychnine, in order to poison the carcase of any dead animal he may chance to find in his wanderings, with the view of destroying the dingoes that may happen to feed upon it. These animals destroy far more than they devour. On entering a sheepfold they bite and kill without stint or stay. There is, however, one drawback to their wholesale destruction, as they are the natural enemies of the kangaroo. Since the dingoes have become scarce, the kangaroo has multiplied greatly. In some districts droves of these animals are still seen, eating up every blade of grass and starving the sheep off the land.

5. As the native productions of Australia are of little service to man, it is not surprising to find the natives a low order of savages. There is no bond of union between them. They consist of many tribes, always ready to go to war with each other. It is supposed that about 50,000 survive, but through intemperance, wars and diseases, their numbers are gradually dwindling. They have already almost disappeared from the more settled parts, but as such a large proportion of Australia is uninhabitable by white men, they will probably long linger in the more remote quarters of the continent.

6. Like all wandering savages, their senses are remarkably acute, and their skill and cunning in hunting and snaring beasts and birds can hardly be surpassed. Advantage is taken of this fact by the Australians, who employ them to track out fugitives, when offenders against the law have to be pursued, or when cattle have strayed.

7. The natives were at first a source of great trouble to the settlers. They stole their sheep and ran off with their horses, caused their cattle to stampede, and killed their shepherds and herdsmen. But as the colonist never moved out of doors without his firearms, they soon gained a wholesome dread of his power. One tribe of "blacks" also was always ready to help the white man to pursue and punish the men of another tribe. In Queensland, indeed, a body of native police, officered by Europeans, was formed to cope with the disorders and depredations of the savages, who are bolder and more numerous in that part of Australia. But the experiment was attended by dreadful results, for a member of one tribe displays savage enjoyment in the slaughter of members of any other tribe. Among the settlers also were men who had been dangerous criminals, and who had no compunction in murdering "blacks," as if they were devoid of human souls.

8. One of the great bars to progress in Australia is the irregular supply of rain. Whilst droughts are not infrequent, there is occasionally an excessive downpour, causing disastrous floods. The amount of rain that falls from first to last would probably be sufficient to make Australia a well-watered country. But owing to the extreme irregularity of the rainfall the plains are liable to be alternately deluged and burnt up. Explorers have often been in danger of perishing with thirst from this cause; for instead of finding a large lake, where they had seen one on a former occasion, they find nothing but a stretch of baked mud.

9. In times of drought the rivers, too, dwindle into mere threads of water, or become too shallow for navigation. Even the Murray, the largest of Australian rivers, is at times but an indifferent waterway. Still worse, its mouth consists of shallow channels of shifting sand, so that no steamer can enter it from the sea. Large sums have been expended in trying to remove the bar at its mouth and form a harbour; but the attempt has been abandoned, for as fast as the sand is dredged away, fresh deposits of silt take its place.

10. These are some of the difficulties and drawbacks which the Australian colonists have had to fight against. But in spite of them an extraordinary advance has been made, thanks to their own energy and enterprise, to the mineral wealth of their country, and to their freedom from war. Contrary to the experience of nations, in other continents, the Australians have never had to fight a regular battle in their own land. This immunity from war they owe, in large measure, to the protecting arm of the mother-country, and to the wisdom she has shown in granting self-government to her Australian colonies as soon as they became fit to manage their own affairs.

(Australia).

1. Next to wool as a source of Australian wealth comes gold. The discovery of gold, in 1851, had a wonderful effect on the progress of Australia. The discovery was made, near Bathurst, in New South Wales, by Hargraves, one of the numerous adventurers that left the colony in 1848 to dig for gold in California. The first thing which impressed him on his arrival in the gold country was the resemblance between it and the district around his own home in Australia. The more he saw of the gold-diggings in California, the more he was struck with the likeness. At length he resolved to return, and on searching a creek near his old home, he found it rich in gold.

2. At the news of this discovery, thousands hastened to the diggings from all parts of the colony. The news of this "rush" for gold had hardly reached the people of Victoria, when it became known that there was a still richer gold-field at Ballarat in their own country. The gold fever seized upon the Victorians, and in a few weeks most of the men in the colony were grubbing for gold. Workshops were left without workmen, ships without crews, and houses without tenants. The squatters were left to look after their own sheep, and farmers saw their crops spoiling for want of labourers to harvest them. Ordinary business came to a standstill, and even schools were closed for want of teachers.

3. To the streams of men from every part of Australia was soon added a flood of adventurers from all quarters of the world, including numbers of escaped convicts from Tasmania. Of those who came in the hope of rapidly making a fortune at the diggings, the majority were doomed to disappointment. But a few picked up gold nuggets of considerable size, and one miner at Ballarat hit upon the largest mass of gold ever found. It was called the "welcome stranger," and was worth upwards of £8000. The scene at the gold-fields is thus described in the "Story of the Nations:"—

4. "The banks of the Yarrowee presented a strange appearance, with the eager line of men standing shoulder to shoulder, washing in the muddy water the dirt brought them from time to time by a companion. A little further back the earth was cut into innumerable holes, flanked by great mounds of red soil, in and around which men busily ran or dug with feverish energy. At night the scene was even more weirdly curious, for the glaring lights of the theatres and grog shanties, with the flaring torches and fires of the miners, joined in throwing into strong relief the shadows of the tents and their wild surroundings. Above all rose the hum of a city, broken now and again by bursts of noisy revelry. Wealth easily won was as readily squandered, and the lucky digger showered gold with a free hand. Prices were exorbitant, for the miner, drunk with fortune, seldom asked for change, and the style of living generally was recklessly extravagant."

5. The value to Australia of the discovery of gold within her territory has been far greater than the worth of the gold itself, though that, in forty years from its first discovery in 1851, amounted to the extraordinary sum of £300,000,000. It has been the means of bringing to her shores hundreds of thousands of enterprising men, who on leaving the gold-fields have settled down in the country to gain a livelihood, if not a fortune, by steady industry in some useful employment. Thus, just before the discovery of gold, the population of Victoria was less than 80,000; now, half a century later, the population is nearly one-and-a-quarter millions.

6. Gold-mining is now one of the regular industries of Australia. But gold is no longer to be picked up on the surface. It is now only obtained by sinking shafts, and much expensive machinery is required in working the mines. The yield of gold in Victoria and New South Wales is, of course, much less than it was, but the annual value is still considerable.

7. Gold-mining has also been long carried on in Queensland. Indeed, the Mount Morgan mine in that colony has proved itself one of the richest mines in the world. Its story is a curious one. A young squatter had bought a farm near Rockhampton, but it was on a rocky hill, and he found that for grazing or cultivation it was useless. He was, accordingly, glad to sell it to three brothers, named Morgan, at £1 an acre. The dirty grey rocks of which the hilly farm was composed turned out to be so rich in gold, that the hill, which had cost the Morgans £640, was sold for £8,000,000. And now West Australia, which has long lagged behind the sister colonies, can also boast of its gold mines, and has fairly started on its onward march.

8. Australia has lately followed the example of Canada, and formed her six colonies into one great dominion, under the name of the Commonwealth of Australia, which started on its new career on the first day of the twentieth century. Each colony, or state, retains control over its own local affairs, but the Parliament of the Commonwealth is empowered to decide all questions relating to defence, railways and telegraphs, customs duties and postal rates, and all other matters common to the whole country.

(Australia).

1. The story of Australian exploration tells of hardships and hazards innumerable. It is a story that is highly creditable to the dauntless courage and persevering energy of our brothers in Australia. As landlords of a vast estate, they have endeavoured to ascertain its nature, and to learn how best to turn it to profitable account. This knowledge could only be gained at the expense of many lives, and at the cost of great self-sacrifice. The explorers who have lost their lives in the fulfilment of their self-imposed task, if not entitled to a place on the roll of martyrs, have certainly earned a place among the makers of our empire. Of such men we can only give one or two examples in this brief account.

2. The vast interior is worse to cross than the Sahara, for while it is often quite as hot and quite as dry, it is covered in many parts with a dense "scrub," consisting of prickly shrubs and the dreaded porcupine grass. The constant pricking of this grass causes raw and bleeding swellings round the horses' legs; and to escape from it, they will prefer to force their way through the densest scrubs. Here they rush along, frequently forcing sticks between their backs and their loads; then comes a frantic crashing through the scrub, packs are forced off, and the horses are lost sight of for hours or even days.

3. Mr. Kennedy, who explored in Queensland, describes the difficulty of travelling in the tropical jungles of that colony. He speaks, in particular, of the terrible lawyer vine and the equally-dreaded tree-nettle. The former is a species of rattan, armed with hooks and spurs, which once fast never let go. The other is a forest-tree belonging to the nettle family, and its broad leaves sting so severely as to cause serious inflammation; horses, indeed, which have plunged about and got stung all over, sometimes die from the effects.

4. For exploring the interior, Adelaide, in South Australia, has been a favourite starting-point; in 1840 Mr. Eyre made his perilous journey along the shores of the Australian Bight to King George's Sound, a distance of 1,200 miles. The greatest difficulty was to find water. He had with him ten horses and six sheep. Before moving the animals from their halting-place it was necessary to secure water for them, and Eyre himself explored in advance, sometimes five or six days at a time, without finding a drop, being reduced to collecting dew with a sponge and rags. When 600 miles from his destination Eyre was left with one native servant, two horses, 40 lbs. of flour, and four gallons of water. It was 150 miles further before they obtained a fresh supply of water. Thus they struggled on for a month, living on horse-flesh, with a little flower-paste or damper. They had then the good luck to attract the notice of a whaling ship near the shore, and were kindly received on board for a fortnight. Being sufficiently recruited, they continued their journey, and after undergoing further hardships for twenty-three days, succeeded in reaching King George's Sound.

5. In 1860 an expedition set out from Melbourne to cross the continent from south to north. Burke and Wills were first and second in command. These two men accomplished the last part of the journey alone, and on foot, for all the camels had sunk with fatigue. Having reached the shores of Carpentaria, they retraced their steps in the expectation of coming across the men and stores they had left at a certain place on the route. Four months and a half after leaving the depot they reached it again, only to find a notice stating that their friends had left that same morning. The word "dig" was cut on a neighbouring tree, and buried beneath it they discovered a small supply of provisions.

6. On their way back to the depot they had been rejoined by one of the party. The three deserted wanderers rested for a couple of days, and then started for Adelaide. They were rapidly dying of hunger when they met some natives, who treated them in a friendly manner. After resting with them for four days they resumed their journey. But first Wills, and then Burke, completely broke down and died. The only survivor wandered on until he met with a tribe who permitted him to stay with them. He was afterwards found by a rescue party from Victoria, but so weak that he could scarcely speak. The blacks were rewarded for their kindness with gifts of looking-glasses, gay pieces of ribbon, and other articles of finery.

7. While the explorers just mentioned were crossing the continent from Melbourne, another expedition, under Stuart, was attempting to cross from Adelaide. About the centre of the continent Stuart reached a mountain, which has been named Central Mount Stuart. He had penetrated within 200 miles of the Gulf of Carpentaria, when he was forced to turn back through the hostility of a numerous tribe of natives. Nothing daunted, Stuart set out again from Adelaide on New Year's Day, 1861, and got about 100 miles beyond the point already reached, when his further progress was barred by an impenetrable scrub. He made strenuous efforts to pass the obstacle, but without success. Reluctantly compelled to turn back for want of provisions, he arrived safely in the settled districts, north of Adelaide, and for the third time attempted to reach the goal; and this time with well-earned success. Neither on this, nor on any of his previous journeys, did Mr. Stuart lose a single man of his party.

8. This journey had important results. It showed that through the centre of the continent was a chain of fertile spots and grassy plains, through which a track might be found for a telegraph line, stretching from Adelaide in the south to Port Darwin in the north. But the difficulties to be overcome in carrying this line across the continent were considerable. For one thing, the two ends of the wire were 1,600 miles apart, and for no small part of the way it had to pass through a desolate region void of water and pasture. The northern section of the work proved the most difficult to accomplish; for there were no trees for posts, and the tropical heat was too great for European labour. Indian coolies and Chinese labourers were hired, wells were dug along the route, iron posts were imported, and by great exertions the task was, in 1872, completed.

9. It is by this telegraph line that Australia is in constant communication with the rest of the world. Thanks to this magical wire, Australians are able to read at their breakfast tables events which had occurred on the opposite side of the globe a few hours previously. Thanks to the same wire, if an important cricket match is being played in Australia, we at home can almost stand round the field and watch it in progress. Whilst the telegraph has brought us within easy speaking distance of Australia, the steam-ship has also wrought its wonders. It is worth remembering that at the time when Australia received its first ship-load of settlers, the Orkneys and other remote parts of Scotland were as far distant from London, in respect to the time taken in travelling, as are the Australian colonies to-day, whilst the difficulties and risks of the journey were considerably greater.

(New Zealand).

1. Of all the colonies, with the exception of Tasmania perhaps, New Zealand most resembles the mother-country both in climate and scenery. At the same time it is wholly unlike Australia. If a long-sleeping Briton could be set down among the Otago hills, and, on awaking, be told that he was travelling in Galway or the west of Scotland, he might be easily deceived, though he knew those countries well; but he would feel at once that he was being hoaxed, if he were told in any part of Australia that he was travelling among Irish or British scenery.

2. Everything English seems to flourish here. The only quadrupeds seen are those imported from Europe. The complaint is that many of our English animals and plants thrive only too well. Hosts of pigs run wild; rabbits also spread over the country in battalions, and do great damage to the crops. Gorse and sweet-briar, brought by the early settlers from "home" are with difficulty kept in check. Even the English grasses are displacing those of native origin. Our house-sparrow is now the most common bird in New Zealand, and our house-fly seems likely to be as often seen there as here.

3. In colonising Australia little account had to be taken of the natives, who were both few and feeble. It was otherwise with the natives of New Zealand. The Maoris, as they called themselves, were a fierce, warlike race, strong and brave, who were not content with killing their enemies, but fed upon their flesh afterwards. They were not, however, mere naked savages. They wove mats and clothing from flax, and cloaks of great value from the dressed skins of dogs. In the narrative of the wars between the Maoris and the colonists, one is constantly reminded of the war between the ancient Britons and the Romans; in both cases the natives were brave and skilled in war, and owed their final defeat to their own divisions and to the superior arms of their enemies.

4. The first settlement was made here in 1840 after a friendly treaty had been made with the Maoris. By this treaty they took Queen Victoria for their sovereign, but on the express understanding that their lands should remain at their own disposal. "The shadow of our lands," said an old chief, "will go to the queen, but the substance will remain in our own hands." Emigrants began to pour in and to purchase lands at a low price. At the end of twenty years the Maoris began to awake to the fact that the settlers were increasing very rapidly, and now outnumbered themselves, whilst their lands were continually passing out of their hands. A movement, accordingly, soon took place among themselves for the purpose of stopping the sale of land to the stranger.

5. The war that ensued lasted, off and on, for ten years. Aided by British troops, the colonists at last convinced the Maoris that their cause was hopeless. They consented to live at peace on the terms offered, and have ever since been as good as their word. All, except a few of the older people, call themselves Christians. They have become to a certain extent educated and civilised; many of them have farms and ships. But with the change in their habits has come a change in their spirit. They seem to feel themselves a doomed race. "As the white man's rat," they say, "has extirpated our rat, as the European fly is driving out our fly, as the foreign clover is killing our ferns, so the Maori himself will disappear before the white man."

6. Since 1870, when the war ended, the whole of New Zealand has made steady progress. In the course of the next ten years, such a stream of emigrants came flowing in that the population almost doubled itself. All skilled labourers who came found ready employment and good pay. It was a time when much money was spent on public works. The New Zealand Government had raised a loan of ten millions from men of capital in England. The money thus borrowed was devoted to three purposes: (1) to improve the means of communication by constructing roads, railroads, bridges, telegraphs, and coasting-vessels; (2) to purchase lands from the natives whenever they were willing to sell; and (3) to aid men of the right stamp to emigrate from Britain.

7. New Zealand is, as I have intimated, an eminently British Colony. The colonists are almost entirely of British descent. Their trade is nearly confined to the British Empire, seven-tenths of it being with the mother-country, and nearly all the rest with Australia, India, and Fiji. The discovery of the method of keeping meat frozen in cold air chambers during the passage of a vessel through the tropics has been a great boon to New Zealand, and a great advantage to our own land, enabling British workmen to purchase excellent meat at a moderate price.

8. A moment's reflection on these facts will serve to bring home to our minds the mutual advantages accruing to the mother-country and her colonies, when in friendly relations with each other. We observe that New Zealand has received the aid of British troops in her war with the natives; she has been able to raise a large loan for public works at a moderate rate of interest from men of property at home; and she enjoys here a ready market for her produce.

9. The mother-country, on her part, has been able to provide new homes for her surplus population in a country like their own; she has secured seven-tenths of the trade of New Zealand, increasing thereby the amount of profitable employment for her workpeople; she has drawn from the colony supplies of cheap food to help fill the hungry mouths of her millions, and quite recently she has received the substantial aid of 6,000 New Zealand troops in her war in South Africa.

(South Africa).

1. The story of South Africa, since the British gained a footing there, is marked by many a dark spot of misfortune and disaster that we would gladly forget. When Britain, in 1806, took possession of the Cape, the country was occupied by Boers, Hottentots, and Kaffirs. The building up of a British state, with such conflicting elements, has been a work of extreme difficulty, which has put the best qualities of the British race to a severe test, and much of the work still remains to be done.

2. The Home Government, for many years, only valued the Cape as a military post and naval station, occupying a commanding position on the waterway to India. They shrank, accordingly, from extending British rule in South Africa beyond the narrowest limits, and for many years made no attempt to colonize the country. It was not until 1820 that a body of picked emigrants, numbering 5,000, were landed at Algoa Bay, and, having been taken 100 miles inland, were put in possession of farms of 100 acres each.

3. The first three years were years of blight which killed the growing grain, and then came a flood which washed away their cottages and gardens. Many of the emigrants were good artisans but bad farmers. They had been set out like so many plants, in well-ordered rows, and told to grow where they were placed. But the experiment was bound to fail. Before long many of the men deserted their farms and found work as artisans, whilst those who were fitted for farm-work added the derelict farms to their own, and thus in time each one found himself in the sphere for which he was best adapted.

4. The coming of the British settlers had a marked effect on the government of the colony. The governor was no longer able to rule simply as he thought best. The new-comers were not disposed to be treated as children. They wanted law and government, but insisted on their right to question the acts of the governor, and to see that he governed according to law, and not merely according to his own will and pleasure. It is interesting to find from an official report made to the House of Commons that,—"The introduction of the English settlers, and the right of discussion which they claimed and exercised, have had the effect of exciting in the Dutch and native population a spirit of vigilance and attention, that never existed before, to the acts of the government, and which may render all future exertion of authority objectionable that is not founded upon the law."

5. The history of South Africa, for more than thirty years after the first British settlement, is marked by two special features, both arising from the fact that three races—British, Boer, and Kaffir—were contending for the mastery. One feature was the repeated migrations of the Boers to get away from British rule and taxation, and from British justice, which was dealt out even-handed to black men and white men alike. The Boers succeeded in forming two republics—the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. They also attempted to settle in Natal, but that colony was annexed by the British government (1843).

6. The other feature of those early days was the frequent necessity of going to war with the Kaffirs. Several serious wars had to be fought with the natives, who were very numerous, before they were convinced that the white man had come to stay, and that his arm was stronger than theirs. Each war with the Kaffirs ended in an extension of British territory, and by the middle of the century nearly the whole country south of the Orange river was taken under British rule.

7. The governor that did most for the peace of the colony was Sir George Grey, who had already done a good work for the empire in South Australia and New Zealand. He secured the good offices of the Kaffir chiefs by taking them into his pay, and he opened schools where their young men might be trained in some useful occupation, as farming, gardening, and carpentry. But he met with only moderate success. Like the negroes of the West Indies, most Kaffirs hate work and have no desire to better their condition. Given a noisy musical instrument, a bright sun, and a gaudy dress, and their mirth and gaiety seem boundless.

8. Sir George Grey also tried to cure the natives of their belief in witchcraft, but in this he miserably failed. He did much, however, to put down the practice of "smelling out" witches. The Kaffirs believe that diseases and disasters of all kinds are caused by wizards and witches, and in every tribe there was a professional witch-finder whose duty it was to go through certain forms, calling "smelling-out," and then point out the individual, who was supposed to have caused the mischief. This practice did not commend itself to the governor's sense of justice, and he did all he possibly could to put it down.

9. The superstitious belief of the Kaffirs was the cause of a terrible tragedy during Grey's term of office. Thousands of their cattle had been carried off by a pestilence, when a Kaffir prophet consoled the poor natives by assuring them that the Kaffir chiefs, long dead and gone, were about to return to earth with a new breed of cattle, which disease could not touch, and that their coming would result in the triumph of the black men over the white. But all this, he said, would only happen if all the present cattle and corn were destroyed. Thousands took the madman at his word and made away with their corn and cattle. The great day of deliverance was fixed for February 18th, 1857, and to their amazement the sun rose and set as usual, leaving the poor dupes face to face with starvation. The Kaffirs suffered so dreadfully from the scourge of famine, and their numbers were in consequence so much reduced, that we hear of no more wars during the next twenty years.

10. During this peaceful time Cape Colony made steady but slow progress, but, in 1870, an event occurred which awoke the colony to new life. This was the discovery of a rich diamond-field around Kimberley. Men and capital began to flow into the country and the wheels of industry began to turn more rapidly. Farmers obtained a good market, trade became brisk, railways were speedily laid down. The diamonds are found in a kind of "blue ground," which is nothing but a stream of volcanic mud cast up in ages past. So rich is it in diamonds that the mines have yielded, since 1870, a yearly revenue of between two and three million pounds.

11. The blacks in 1878 made one more hopeless attempt to oust the white men. The struggle ended in the British government taking possession of all the Kaffir lands, except Basutoland, and adding them to Cape Colony. Basutoland is a native state under the direct rule of the British Crown. This arrangement was made in response to the prayer of a Basuto chief: "Let me and my people rest and live under the large folds of the flag of England."

(South Africa).

1. No sooner had we put down the Kaffirs and annexed their territory to Cape Colony than we had to advance into Zululand and finally add that country to the Empire. The Zulus were then under the rule of their king Cetewayo, who kept a large army, well drilled and armed with musket and assegai. This force was a standing peril to Natal, and to save this colony from the horrors it feared, a British force crossed the Tugela—which separates Natal from Zululand—to destroy, if possible, the Zulu king's "man-slaying machine."

2. The invading army crossed the river at a ford called Rorke's Drift (1879), and a division of the troops suffered a great disaster, not far from there, at Isandlana. Happily, a small detachment had been left to guard the passage at the ford. The command of this post was in the hands of Lieutenants Chard and Bromhead, whose names deserve an honoured place in our memory. With a force of 104 men they made an heroic defence against a savage host of 3000 warriors, who had reddened their assegais in the blood of our countrymen, taken by surprise, at Isandlana.

3. During the fight a building used as a hospital was set on fire by the Zulus. The brave defenders gallantly repulsed every attack whilst the sick were removed. A sort of redoubt was then constructed of bags of mealies in the centre of the camp, and when hard pressed to this they retired. The vigour of the siege continued from four in the afternoon until midnight. With the first light of morning the Zulus retired, on hearing of the approach of the British main-body, leaving three hundred black corpses on the ground. Of the gallant defenders seventeen were killed and ten wounded.

4. When the British General first came in sight of Rorke's Drift and saw smoke rising from the burning hospital, he felt certain that the depot had been captured, and that Natal, at that moment, lay at the mercy of a horde of savages. But he was quickly relieved at the sight of a British flag and the sound of a British cheer, and then he learned the story of the defence of that isolated post by the undaunted resolution of a little band of heroes, by whose conduct Natal was saved from invasion and massacre.

5. After a large force had landed from England, the invasion of Zululand was renewed, and a pitched battle, fought at Ulundi, brought the war to a close. To prevent the country from falling into the hands of the Boers, Zululand was annexed to Natal, and now forms part of the British Empire. The Zulus have ever since lived in peace and contentment.

6. It also became necessary to take under our wing the country of the Bechuanas on the west of the Transvaal; for there also many of the Boers were settling and making themselves at home on their neighbour's territory. Khama, a king of the Bechuanas sent to ask for British protection. "There are three things," he wrote, "which distress me very much—war, selling people, and drink. All these I shall find in the Boers, and it is these things which destroy people to make an end of them in the country." A part of Bechuanaland was, accordingly, brought under British rule, and the remaining part under British protection.

7. The next addition to the empire in South Africa was a vast country now known as Rhodesia, a country that owes its name to Cecil Rhodes, to whose marvellous enterprise its possession is mainly due. From its fertility, climate, and mineral wealth, it now bids fair to become a flourishing British Colony.

8. It was, however, difficult at first to make a settlement here, because it was partly occupied by the warlike Matabele, a tribe akin to the dreaded Zulus. Their king, Lobengula, kept an army of 10,000 warriors, who lived only for the joy of fighting. Permission, however, was purchased from Lobengula to search for, and work, the minerals within his territory. And a pioneer force was sent to turn this permission to account (1890). Before two years had passed it became quite clear that the Matabele warriors must be crushed before any progress could be made. Thanks to our machine-guns and modern rifles, this was soon effected.

9. A decisive engagement was fought near Bulawayo, the Matabele capital. The enemy foolishly hurled themselves against our small force when some were laagered, the rest entrenched. After an hour's carnage, they began to retreat with the loss of 1000 killed and wounded. A day or two later a loud report rent the air, and huge columns of smoke were observed to rise from Bulawayo. The king had fled after ordering his magazine to be blown up. Lobengula died shortly afterwards of fever, and his kingdom was placed under British rule.

10 The patriot that secured Rhodesia for the empire, has, unhappily, had his work cut short by an early death. Much as he had done for his country he hoped to do still more. His keen disappointment finds utterance in his last words: "So little done, so much to do."

CHAPTER VI.

Unity of the Empire.

1. It cannot be said that such is the unity of the British Empire that go where you will in it, you will find the same amount of liberty as at home, and exercise as large a share in the making of the laws. That can only be said if you go to one of the self-governing colonies, like Canada and Australia. But wherever you go within the limits of the empire, you may be pretty sure of being governed by law and not by caprice, and if wronged, of getting justice in a court of law. The empire stands for law and justice. These are two strands of the cord that unites the whole empire, independently of race and colour.

2. But the colonies which are peopled mainly by our own kinsmen enjoy with us the advantage of liberty in its fullest sense. It is worth while considering what is included in that word liberty. It means the right to form our own opinion on all subjects, and to express the same freely, without injury to others, in speaking or writing. It means the right for employers and workmen, like buyers and sellers, to settle their own terms without interference. It means the right to worship God according to conscience without having to suffer penalties or disabilities on account of our religion. It means the right to be governed according to law, and to be judged without fear or favour; and above all, the right to take part in levying taxes and making new laws by means of our representatives in Parliament.

3. So far as a people enjoys the right last named, it may in a real sense be said to govern itself. And it is this self-government which constitutes the crown of liberty. Only it must be remembered that it is not every nation, nor all in any nation, that are fit to govern themselves. Some nations are like children, not wise enough to know what is for their own good. Every nation, indeed, passes through the stages of childhood and youth before it reaches an age when it becomes capable of managing its own affairs with discretion.

4. In the colonies where men of our own race have chiefly settled, the period of childhood and youth has soon passed away, because I suppose their ancestors had spent a long period in these stages in the old country. It is astonishing on looking back a hundred years to see how much remained to be done in the cause of freedom even in England, which is now able to boast of being free and the mother of free nations. The mention of a few of the evils then existing will show how far we have travelled on the path of freedom since the centenarian of to-day was born.

5. The slave trade still went on, and slaves were still employed in our colonies; Roman Catholics were still at a serious disadvantage on account of their religion; children were permitted to work in mines and factories, however young, and even to climb chimneys for the purpose of sweeping them; crimes like stealing a sheep or a horse were punishable by hanging; trade was in fetters—scarcely was a thing imported duty free, even wheat from abroad was heavily taxed.

6. For a nation to be free the law must be supreme, and the people must have a share in making it through their representatives. Yet, a century ago, such large towns as Leeds, Manchester, and Birmingham, sent no members to Parliament at all; whilst old decayed boroughs sent two. And the franchise, or right to vote at Parliamentary Elections, was limited to a privileged few. Thus one class of the people made the laws which all were expected to obey. These blots were removed by three Reform Bills, which were passed at intervals of twenty or thirty years.

7. It is worth observing from this example how gradual have been the changes made in our Constitution, or system of government. We seem to have learnt the lesson that true freedom can only be obtained when it is allowed to grow, when time is given for it to strike its roots deep in the life of the people. For the enjoyment of real freedom the law must be adapted to the wishes as well as the needs of the governed; that is to say, it must be moulded by public opinion, and the two must grow together so as to fit in with each other.

8. This is the secret of the ready obedience paid to the law by English people in general. Nothing so strikes a foreigner, on entering "the land of the free," as this willing submission to authority, especially as exemplified in the crowded streets of London, where all drivers instantly obey the policeman whose duty it is to direct the traffic. The coachman may have a prince or a duke in his carriage. It makes no difference. He must wait his turn. All alike willingly obey the officer in authority because he acts without fear or favour, with a single eye to the public convenience. Here we have a typical instance of the close connection that exists between law, order, and liberty, those three watchwords of every true Briton throughout the empire. The British are a law-abiding nation, because they join in making their laws, and as a practical people realise the fact that without obedience to law there can be no order, and without order no enjoyment of liberty.

9. It is interesting to read the impressions of an Eastern Potentate in his recent visit to England. "I have been particularly struck in this enormous metropolis with the loyal, willing recognition of lawful authority which pervades all classes, enabling your civil and municipal government to work smoothly, and your press to speak out fearlessly, and like watchdogs to bark at the least sign of encroachment upon the liberties of the subject. By a wave of his hand the police officer directs traffic at crossings and junctions of streets. By his writ or summons the magistrate orders you to appear to bear witness in a court of law. No one thinks of disobeying the policeman or the magistrate. Both are recognised as acting in the execution of their respective spheres of duty. I cannot think of Britain without realising how the source of all her strength is founded upon obedience. You detest tyranny. You love liberty. You bow to authority."

10. Much of what is here said about us resolves itself into one great characteristic, which stamps us all as one people, in whatever part of the empire we may chance to live, and that is the passionate love of justice or fair-play. What men of our race ask for is a fair field and no favour.

1. Not long ago a discovery was made which turned all eyes to South Africa as the land paved with gold (1886). In a district known as the Rand, in the west of the Transvaal, gold reefs were discovered of extraordinary richness. Many important results have grown out of this discovery, the most momentous being the great Boer War.

2. The gold-fields of the Transvaal drew a large stream of adventurers and gold-miners from all parts of the world. These "outlanders," as the Boers called them, included a large proportion of men of British nationality. These men were treated by the Boer government with gross injustice, and by Boer officials with open contempt. And when our government demanded fair treatment for British subjects, the Boers took offence at what they considered undue interference. Here then was one cause of the quarrel which ended in war.

3. But there was another cause not less potent. The gold mines of the Transvaal were so productive that the Boer treasury soon overflowed with gold. This wealth stirred the ambition of the Boer leaders, and made them dream of South Africa as a great federal Republic, with the Transvaal as the leading state, and the Boer flag as the national standard. This, of course, meant the sweeping of British authority out of South Africa.

4. The gold at their disposal seemed to the Boers to give them a fair chance of accomplishing this result. At any rate, it enabled them to build forts, to provide arms of the best modern type in abundance, and to employ European officers as artillery instructors. It is true, they may have reflected, our numbers are comparatively small, but all our forces are close at hand, whilst the British will have to draw theirs from a country 6,000 miles away.

5. And so at last the die was cast, and, on the 11th October, 1899, a Boer force entered Natal in the hope of driving the small British army into the sea before reinforcements could arrive from England. In this they failed, as we know, by the splendid stand made by our troops, under Sir George White, at Ladysmith. It is not our intention to tell the story of the war, whose main incidents are fresh in our minds, but to show what a marvellous effect that war has had in drawing out the great qualities of our race, and in uniting the whole empire.

6. In the beginning of the war our arms met with serious reverses. In one dark week of December came the news of three disastrous failures, in our attack on the enemy's position, in three different quarters. But what was the effect of this threefold misfortune? It braced the nation to put forth its strength, it stiffened their resolve to conquer in the end, whatever the cost in blood or treasure. A mighty wave of patriotism swept over the land, and thousands of our best and bravest responded to the call to arms. Regulars, militia, volunteers, yeomanry—all alike, men of all classes from prince to peasant, eagerly proffered their services.

7. Still more remarkable was the effect which the need of the great mother had upon her sons in all parts of the empire. From Canada, from Australia, from New Zealand thousands of brave men hastened to the rescue, all sent off from their distant homes with the acclamations of enthusiastic crowds. Offers of help came from every corner of the empire; nor were such offers limited to men of British origin. Indian princes pressed their services on our acceptance, and the Maoris of New Zealand were as eager as any in their land to fight for the flag. But the British government wisely declined the services of all who were not of British blood. The war was a contest between the Boers and the British for supremacy in South Africa, and it was resolved to make it a fair stand-up fight between the two races.

8. The spirit in which our nation girded themselves for the fight, when the blows of misfortune fell hard upon them in that dark December week, is well exemplified in the prompt response of Lord Roberts to the call made upon his services, as commander-in-chief of our army in South Africa, at the very moment when he had received the crushing news of the death of his son, in a gallant attempt to rescue some guns after the battle of Colenso.

9. No need to tell of the splendid services Lord Roberts rendered at the seat of war, how, within six months from his departure from England, he led his army in triumph into the capitals of the two Boer states, and made their conquest in the end almost a certainty. In taking his farewell of the army, the general paid a well-deserved tribute of praise to our soldiers, who "by their pluck, endurance, discipline, and devotion to duty" had covered themselves with glory. "For months together," said their commander, "in fierce heat, in biting cold, in pouring rain, you have marched and fought without halt, and bivouacked without shelter... You have forced your way through dense jungles, over precipitous mountains, through and over which, with infinite labour, you have had to drag heavy guns and ox-waggons.... You have endured the suffering, inevitable in war, to sick and wounded men, without murmur, and even with cheerfulness."

10. And if any other testimony is needed in favour of "Tommy Atkins," as we fondly call our soldiers, we have it in the despatch of a German officer: "We can only marvel," he says, "at the heroism with which British troops in close order attempt to scale steep heights under a fierce hail of bullets. We can only marvel at the intrepidity with which they try to force a passage through narrow mountain passes where the enemy lie concealed."

11. A thrill of pride, then, may well go through the heart of every Briton when he thinks of the deeds of courage, the splendid resolution, and the cheerful patience of our troops in South Africa. The nation, too, has given full proof that the spirit of their fathers, the same old spirit that has carried the old flag through so many times of stress and strain, is still active as ever, that the fibre of our race is as hard and well-knit as in days of yore.

12. War is at best a great calamity, but the war we have waged with the Boers has brought us compensations. It has proved that our soldiers and sailors are as truly hearts of oak now as formerly, and that our brothers in the colonies are made of the same stuff as the best of ourselves. It has done still more in revealing to the whole world that the British Empire is not a mere name for a number of territories scattered over the globe, but that it is a living whole animated by one and the same spirit. All nations may now know that the honour and interests of the empire are dear not to Britain alone, but to the whole family of nations that have sprung from her; and that in any future contest with Great Britain they will have to reckon also with the Greater Britain beyond the seas. "Shoulder to shoulder, all for each, and each for all, we stand united before the world, and our children have shown that they are not unwilling to share with us the obligations as well as the dignity of the empire."

13. The union of the empire has now been cemented by the blood so freely shed by our kinsmen in South Africa. In confirmation of the hope that the bonds of that union will only grow stronger with the increasing years, we may mention the impressions that the Prince of Wales has brought home with him from his tour round the empire. "If asked," he says, "to specify any particular impressions derived from our journey, I should unhesitatingly place before all others that of loyalty to the Crown, and of attachment to the old country, which they invariably referred to as Home. And with this loyalty was unmistakable evidence of the consciousness of strength, of a true and living membership in the empire, and of power and readiness to share the burden and responsibility of that membership."

14. Everywhere the prince had evidence of that pride of race, that unity of sentiment and purpose, that feeling of common loyalty and obligation, that eager desire to claim their share in the glories of a great empire with a great past and, perchance, a greater future—in a word, that imperial patriotism, which keeps in view the welfare of the whole empire,—

"One with Britain, heart and soul!
One life, one flag, one fleet, one throne!"

1. Our sovereign serves the same purpose in the empire that a keystone does in an arch, and that is to lock the whole fabric together. The recognition of this fact has led King Edward in assuming his title to call himself king, not only of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, but also of the British Dominions beyond the seas. It has led him also to send his son the Prince of Wales, round the empire to carry his message of sympathy with his subjects on the loss of their beloved queen, and of thanks for the splendid way in which they had rallied round the old flag in South Africa.

2. It is by the interchange of such kind offices and services that the various parts of the empire are knit together; and it is the sovereign who has in his keeping the chief power of drawing them all more closely together by a common attachment to his person and loyalty to his throne. That the spirit of unity in the empire has for many years been steadily growing in strength is largely due to the character and example of our great Queen Victoria.

3. When Her Majesty celebrated her Diamond Jubilee, the demonstrations of love and loyalty, on the part of her people, in all parts of her empire, were so striking that it seemed impossible for that love and loyalty to be surpassed; yet it is certain that the noble part the queen played in the course of the Boer war intensified those feelings of devotion, and placed her on a still higher pinnacle of glory, not only in the eyes of her subjects, but of the civilised world.

4. It would take too long to mention one tithe of the queen's kind acts and words of comfort to the mourners and sufferers as the war went on. Her many kind messages to the besieged as well as the sick and wounded, her hearty congratulations to generals and soldiers on their gaining some victory or important success, her farewells to those going out to hazard their lives, her reception of troops returning from the war, and her visits to the military hospitals with her words of sympathy to those maimed or wounded in their country's service—all these things are written indelibly on the hearts and memories of the British people.

5. Nor will they ever forget the example of calm fortitude the queen set the nation in the days darkened by sad news from the seat of war, nor her self-sacrifice in visiting London and Dublin, after the turn of the tide, to show her admiration and gratitude for the devotion and bravery of her troops, and the patriotic spirit of her people. The task was only achieved at the cost of great fatigue and exhausting excitement, for Her Majesty's years numbered more than fourscore. As in this Boer war, so throughout her long reign, Queen Victoria was ever the centre of our national life, and the vital link between all parts of her world-wide empire.

6. The great Queen is dead, but we have every reason to believe that her son and successor, King Edward VII., will prove equally worthy of his exalted position. As Prince of Wales we all know he did his utmost to promote the well-being of the whole nation. His name is associated with numberless institutions set on foot for benevolent purposes. The affectionate relation existing between King Edward, when Prince of Wales, and the British people have been especially shown on two turning points in his life—his happy marriage and his dangerous illness.

7. Nothing could have exceeded the warm welcome given to the Princess Alexandra when she entered London to become his bride, or the great rejoicing throughout the land when she became the Princess of Wales (1863). But the joy of the nation on this happy event was of small significance compared with the wondrous sympathy manifested when the Prince seemed on the bed of death, and the Princess on the point of becoming a widow. All the nation seemed to stand around that bed, and to watch with increased hope or fear, every change in the progress of the disease. It was then perceived that as a nation we had a heart that could throb as with one pulse.

8. When the Prince was raised from the bed of sickness, a day of National Thanksgiving was solemnly observed. The Queen, accompanied by the Prince and Princess of Wales, appeared in St. Paul's Cathedral, with ten thousand of her subjects, to, acknowledge the hand of God in restoring health to the Prince, and the Prince to the nation (1872). Since then both prince and people have felt that they belong to each other.

9. We may, therefore, confidently hope that the link between the King and the nation will only grow stronger with the advancing years. And this hope is confirmed by the assurance that the King's solemn resolution, as he withdrew from the death-bed of the good and wise Queen, was to reign in the same spirit and after her example. This is apparent from his address, on the following morning, to his Privy Council:—

Your Royal Highnesses, my Lords and Gentlemen,

This is the most painful occasion on which I shall ever be called upon to address you.

My first and melancholy duty is to announce to you the death of my beloved mother, the Queen, and I know how deeply you, the whole nation, and I think I may say the whole world, sympathise with me in the irreparable loss we have all sustained.

I need hardly say that my constant endeavour will be always to walk in her footsteps. In undertaking the heavy load which now devolves upon me, I am fully determined to be a Constitutional Sovereign in the strictest sense of the word, and as long as there is breath in my body to work for the good and amelioration of my people....

In conclusion, I trust to Parliament and the nation to support me in the arduous duties which now devolve upon me by inheritance, and to which I am determined to devote my whole strength during the remainder of my life.