FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE.
At the Canadian Club, Winnipeg, on December 29th, 1914.
It is within the bounds of probability that the four free nations of the Overseas Dominions will have put into the fighting line 250,000 men if the war should continue another year. That result, or even the results which have already been obtained, must mark a great epoch in the history of inter-Imperial relations. There are those, within sound of my voice, who will see the Oversea Dominions surpass in wealth and population the British Isles. There are children playing in your streets who may see Canada alone attain that eminence. Thus it is impossible to believe that the existing status, so far as concerns the control of foreign policy and extra-Imperial relations, can remain as it is to-day. All are conscious of the complexity of the problem thus presented, but no one need despair of a satisfactory solution, and no one can doubt the profound influence which the tremendous events of the past few months and those in the immediate future must exercise upon one of the most interesting and far-reaching questions ever presented for the consideration of statesmen.
RESOURCES OF EMPIRE.
At a meeting of the United Kingdom Branch of
the Empire Parliamentary Association, House
of Commons, July 13th, 1915.
I appreciate very sincerely, and very warmly as well, what Mr. Bonar Law said with regard to the part which Canada has played in this great contest. There was no doubt in my own mind as to what that part would be, and I took the responsibility four days before the actual declaration of war of sending a message to His Majesty's Government stating that, if war should unhappily supervene, they might be assured that Canada would regard the quarrel as her own, and would do her part in maintaining the integrity of this Empire and all that this war means to us. We are not a military nation in Canada; we are a peace-loving and peace-pursuing people with great tasks of development within our own Dominions lying before us. Thus, for a struggle such as this, upon so gigantic a scale, we were naturally unprepared. But even so, relatively unprepared as we were, the Minister of Militia and Defence in Canada succeeded in placing upon the Plain of Valcartier, within six weeks of the outbreak of war, a force of 33,000 men, thoroughly armed and equipped in every branch of the Service—artillery, commissariat, Army Service Corps, and all the vast organisation that is necessary in war as carried on in the present day.
We have sent overseas up to the present time nearly 75,000 men, including troops which are doing garrison duty in the West Indies. We have in Canada to-day 75,000 men in training, with organisation being prepared as rapidly as possible for their advent to the front when needed. The response from every province in Canada, indeed, has been so warm, so impressive, so inspiring, that our difficulty has been to secure arms and equipment and material and all that is necessary to enable our men to go to the front. So far as the men were concerned they were there in abundance. So far as the other preparations were concerned we have been very much in the same condition as yourselves, unprepared for war upon so tremendous a scale. In this conflict we are engaged with great nations whose military preparation has extended over nearly half a century, and whose aim, as far as we can comprehend it, has been world-wide supremacy by force of arms. Naturally in the opening months, and the opening year, of such a struggle we could not accomplish all that might be expected at first, but I take comfort in this thought, that for purposes of war, or for any other purposes, the resources of this Empire are not only abundant, but almost unlimited, and there is yet time for that preparation which perhaps ought to have been made at an earlier day. The day of peril came before our day of preparation had been fully reached.
Looking back on what we had to face and upon what we had to contend with, I venture to think that the condition of affairs to-day is one upon which we should rather congratulate ourselves than otherwise. I have no fear for the future, although the struggle may be a long one and may entail sacrifices which we did not anticipate at first. I think I may bring to you from the people of Canada this message, that in whatever is necessary to bring this war to an honourable and triumphal conclusion, Canada is prepared to take her part. And I am sure that is true of every Dominion of the Empire. Last autumn, in speaking before a Canadian club in the west of Canada, I said that if this war should continue for a year it was reasonably probable that the oversea Dominions would have in the field 250,000 men. I venture to think that to-day, if you estimate what Australia has done and is doing, what New Zealand has done and is doing, what South Africa has done and is doing, and what Canada has done and is doing, the oversea Dominions of this Empire have, either in the field, or in training as organised troops, no less than 350,000 men.
Mr. Bonar Law has spoken of the courage and resourcefulness of the Canadian troops. They went to the front as men taken from civil avocations of life, with no prolonged military training, but with the habit of overcoming obstacles, with a certain resourcefulness, with all the traditions of the great races from which they spring, and in such a manner as made us sure that their record would be worthy of the great Dominion which they represented. I would not speak the truth if I did not confess to you that I am proud, very proud indeed, of the part which they have played. I am equally proud of the splendid valour shown by the men of these islands in that great retreat against overwhelming numbers, under difficulties which I think were greater than those which ever attended a great retreat before; and I desire to pay my tribute to the splendid valour and heroism of the British Army at that time, worthy of the highest traditions of the race from which we all spring. It is almost superfluous to speak of the splendid valour which has distinguished the troops of Australia and New Zealand at the Dardanelles. I had the pleasure of sending telegrams to the Governments of these two Commonwealths and of congratulating them upon the part which their men are taking in these very dangerous operations.
What a fantastic picture it was that Prussian militarism made for itself before the outbreak of this war. It pictured Canada, Australia, and New Zealand standing aloof and indifferent, or seeking an opportunity to cut themselves aloof from this Empire. What is the actual picture to-day? They are bound to the Empire by stronger ties than ever before, and are prepared to fight to the death for the maintenance of its integrity and for the preservation of our common civilisation throughout the world. What of South Africa? The Prussian picture was that it should flare into rebellion at once, cut itself off from the Empire, and proclaim its independence. What is the actual picture? The heroic figure of General Louis Botha receiving the surrender of German South-West Africa—territory larger than the German Empire itself.