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.
(2) IMPERIAL SPIRIT OF OUR RACE.
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!"
(3) THE SOVEREIGN IN RELATION TO THE EMPIRE.
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.
10. In this address, we observe, the King solemnly declares that he will act as "a Constitutional Sovereign in the strictest sense of the word." This means that in his official acts the Sovereign will be guided by the advice of his ministers, not merely by his own personal will and wisdom. This principle is the corner-stone of the British Constitution, as it makes the King's ministers responsible for his action, in all state affairs, and enables the nation, through Parliament, to call them to account for the same.
11. It is a maxim of our Constitution that "the king never dies," which implies that at the moment one reign ends the next begins. Hence the accession of Edward VII. dates from the 22nd January, 1901, but his solemn installation as king was deferred until June 26th, 1902, a day that will long be remembered as Coronation-day, when King Edward received the crown, as the symbol of sovereignty, in the presence of representatives from every corner of his wide dominions.