The news of the British reverses was expected by all the enemies of England—enemies within and without—to prove the final blow to the British Empire. "The British Colonies," said one of the more moderate French journals, "will certainly secede when disaster weakens the Mother country's grasp upon them." Mr. John Morley in his famous article, "On the Expansion of England," had argued before the war, in much the same style, that at the first sign of peril the Australians and Canadians would "cut the painter." "Is it possible to suppose," he had asked, "that Canadian lumbermen or Australian sheep farmers would contribute anything towards keeping Basutos and Zulus quiet?" The question was answered, and answered speedily and dramatically, when upon the top of the sad messages announcing from South Africa defeat upon defeat, came telegram after telegram from the great self-governing Colonies, offering far more than money—their own flesh and blood. Then it was seen and realised at last that the Empire was one and indivisible—that it was something which, like the Church, neither distance nor climate could disunite. Never before in history had the Colonies of a great state spontaneously offered for distant service thousands of men. And thus were triumphantly justified the foresight which had led England to concede to her settlers the largest measure of self-government and the new spirit of pride in the Empire which had first found definite expression in the celebrations of 1897. Then Colonial troops had marched in all the pomp of peace through the streets of the capital; now they were to march of their own free will to the bloody work of a desperate war.
Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth, & Co.]
This gun is one of a battery presented to Lord Roberts by Lady Meux, manufactured at the Elswick Works and manned by Elswick Volunteers.
[Copyright 1900 by Underwood & Underwood.
Commissioned to accompany the Commander-in-Chief in South Africa.
Australian and Canadian contingents.
[Nov.-Dec. 1899.
On December 14, before the news of Colenso was known, the Premier of New South Wales had telegraphed to Mr. Chamberlain asking him whether the Home Government would care for more men from New South Wales. A statement to that effect in the Sydney Parliament was greeted with the wildest enthusiasm, the members rising and singing "God save the Queen." Mr. Chamberlain lost no time in replying. His answer ran:—"The Imperial Government is prepared to entertain the offer of further troops, mounted men preferred. It is indispensable that the men should be trained and good shots, supplying their own horses." Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, West Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania, all agreed to contribute men. The total strength of the new contingent was fixed at 1,000 mounted infantry, but this total was largely exceeded. A field battery and a field hospital were despatched in addition by the New South Wales Government, while New Zealand supplied four Hotchkiss guns. The patriotism of the Colonial Parliaments was equalled by the patriotism of the peoples who had to find the men and money. Great landowners came forward with offerings of horses; citizens subscribed thousands of money for the perfect equipment of the force and the pensioning of dependents of the men who volunteered. Doctors in good practice volunteered to accompany the troops, and the difficulty was not to obtain men, but to settle who was to go and who to stay behind. Ten thousand men could with ease have been enlisted in a week. The Colonial Administrators were not content with sending help; they sent it quickly, and their forces were the first of the new levies to appear in the field. Moreover, they quietly assembled and drilled yet a third contingent, to be ready for the worst. The total strength of the second contingent was, as far as can be ascertained, as follows:—New South Wales 900 men, Victoria 300, New Zealand 234, Queensland 150, South Australia 100, West Australia 90, and Tasmania 45. From first to last Australia placed over 8,000 men in the field, or nearly a complete division. As an example of the general enthusiasm may be mentioned the fact that an insurance company offered a pension of a pound a week for life to the first Australian who won the Victoria Cross, an honour which fell to Trooper Morris, of the New South Wales Lancers.