"The great enthusiasm and the general eagerness to take an active part in the military expedition which has unfortunately been found necessary for the maintenance of British rights and interests in South Africa have afforded much gratification to Her Majesty's Government and the people of this country. The desire exhibited to share in the risks and burdens of empire has been welcomed not only as a proof of the staunch loyalty of the Dominion and of its sympathy with the policy pursued by Her Majesty's Government in South Africa, but also as an expression of that growing feeling of the unity and solidarity of the Empire which has marked the relations of the Mother Country with the Colonies during recent years."
Additional Contingents Sent
On December 18th events in South Africa and the pressure of loyal proffers of aid from Australia and elsewhere induced the Imperial Government to change its mind, the Second Contingent was accepted, and once again the call to arms resounded throughout Canada. The first Regiment had been composed of infantry, the second was made up of artillery and cavalry. Eventually, it was decided to send 1,220 men, together with horses, guns and complete equipment, and they duly left for the Cape in detachments toward the end of January and in the beginning of February. A third force of 400 mounted men was recruited in the latter month and sent to the seat of war fully equipped and with all expenses paid through the personal and patriotic generosity of Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, the Canadian High Commissioner in London. In addition to "Strathcona's Horse" another independent force of 125 men was offered in similar fashion by the British Columbia Provincial Government and duly accepted at London and Ottawa, while a movement was commenced to proffer an organized Dominion Brigade of 10,000 men, if required. Little wonder, when such a popular spirit was shown, and when the anxiety to enlist and the influence used to obtain a chance of going to the front were greater than men show to obtain positions of permanent financial value, that Lord Roberts, shortly after his appointment to South Africa, should have cabled his expression of belief that: "The action of Canada will always be a glorious page in the history of the sons of the Empire. I look for great things from the men she has sent and is sending to the front." Meantime even the slightest opposition to the policy of aiding the Empire had died out—in fact, its assertion would have been dangerous, or at least unpleasant, and when Parliament met early in February the Government announced its intention of asking a vote of two million dollars for expenses in the despatch of the Contingents and for the payment after their return, or to their heirs, of an addition to the ordinary wage of the British soldier. This brief description of Canada's action during an eventful period may be concluded by a quotation from the speech of the Hon. G. W. Ross, Prime Minister of Ontario, at a banquet given in Toronto on December 21st to Mr. J. G. H. Bergeron, P.M., of Montreal—a French-Canadian who also expressed in fervent terms what he believed to be the loyalty of his people to the British Crown. Mr. Ross declared in emphatic and eloquent language that:
"Canada and the Empire"
"It is not for us to say that one or two Contingents should be sent to the Transvaal, but to say to Great Britain that all our money and all our men are at the disposal of the British Empire. It is not for us to balance questions of Parliamentary procedure when Britain's interests are at stake, but to respond to the call that has been sent throughout the whole Empire and to show that in this western bulwark of the Empire there are men as ready to stand by her as were her men at Waterloo. It is not for us to be pessimists, but to have undying faith in British power and steadily to maintain the integrity of her Empire. He hoped that the present strife might soon pass, and that at its close Canadians will feel that they have done their duty to the flag that has protected them and under whose paternal Government they have prospered in the past. Their motto should be 'Canada and the Empire, one and inseparable, now and forever.'"
Throughout Australasia, from the commencement of the crisis, there was great interest taken in the question. The press and the public discussed its phases with ever-increasing sympathy for the British cause and the liberties of the Uitlanders. There has always been in recent years much good feeling between these Colonies—partly from the development of trade, partly from Australian admiration of Cecil Rhodes, partly from the common ties of life in a tropical or semi-tropical climate, partly from the keen and mutual interest felt in Gordon during his last lonely campaign in the deserts of Northern Africa, partly from such incidents as the proffer by the Rhodes' Ministry of financial aid to the Australian Governments during the banking crises of 1893. The relation in sentiment and practice has, in fact, been much closer than that between Canada and the Cape, although the desire to help in time of need could hardly be greater. During the earlier period of the controversy public meetings were held to discuss its details in the various capitals of Australia and New Zealand, and resolutions passed somewhat in the terms of the following motion, proposed by Sir Henry Wrixon, M.L.C., seconded by the President of the Chamber of Commerce, and accepted with enthusiasm by a great gathering in the Melbourne Town Hall, on May 16, 1899:
"Twenty-one thousand British subjects in the Transvaal having petitioned the Queen through the High Commissioner, Sir Alfred Milner, to extend her protection to them, to cause an inquiry to be held into their grievances, to secure the reform of abuses, and to obtain substantial guarantees from the Transvaal Government and recognition of the petitioners' rights, this meeting desires to record its sympathy with their fellow-countrymen in the Transvaal, and hopes that Her Majesty may be pleased to grant the prayer of her subjects."
Australia's Sympathy
With the progress of events this feeling of sympathy grew stronger, and culminated in a wave of military and loyal enthusiasm such as few had thought possible and none had considered probable. In July the Governments began to consider the subject of active participation in what seemed to be an impending struggle, and troops were offered to the Imperial authorities in the following order: Queensland on July 11th, Victoria on July 12th, New South Wales on July 21st, New Zealand on September 28th, Western Australia on October 5th, Tasmania on October 9th, South Australia on October 13th. The first offers were declined, for the time being, on the ground that it was hoped war would be averted and that, meanwhile, it was not desirable to assume an openly hostile attitude. The Legislature which first moved actively in the direction of organization was that of New Zealand, and the speeches of its leaders on September 28th indicate the general view taken by the people themselves. The Premier, the Right Hon. R. J. Seddon, declared that "the Colony shared the privileges of the Empire, and ought to share its responsibilities." The Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. W. R. Russell, supported the action of the Government strongly, and declared that "the Colony was loyal at heart to the Imperial idea. It was not merely the sending of a few men, for the power of England was more than enough to cope with the trouble. He hoped the British flag would float over South Africa, and that another empire like India would be formed in that part of the world. The present proposal would do more to consolidate the Empire than any speeches of politicians." A Meeting of the Colonies of Australia Meanwhile an agitation commenced in Australia proper for a federal, or united, contingent, and culminated on September 28th in a meeting of the Military Commandants of the various Colonies at Melbourne. Victoria was represented by Major-General Sir Charles Holled-Smith, K.C.M.G., C.B.; New South Wales, by Major-General G. A. French, C.M.G.; Queensland, by Major-General H. Gunter; Western Australia, by Colonel G. H. Chippendall; Tasmania, by Colonel W. V. Legge; South Australia, by Colonel J. Stuart. A plan was carefully evolved and submitted to the respective Governments, but was frustrated at the last moment by the hesitancy of the recently formed Ministry in New South Wales. Mr. W. J. Lyne had not long since defeated the Right Hon. G. H. Reid in the Legislature, and did not seem to know his own mind upon this new subject; or else he was seriously afraid of a possibly hostile Labor vote. At any rate, he refused to move in the matter until Parliament met again, and gave reasons not dissimilar to those adduced in Canada by Sir Wilfrid Laurier for the brief delay which afterwards occurred at Ottawa. On October 5th it was announced that the Queensland offer of troops, made some three months before, had been accepted, and that the voluntary proffer of service by some seventy-five Mounted Rifles from New South Wales, who happened to have been drilling at Aldershot, had also been considered favorably by the War Office. On October 10th this latter body marched through the streets of London on its way to the front with bands playing and banners fluttering to the breeze, and amid a reception which the city seldom accords to events of less importance than a state visit of the Queen or the departure of an army. It was not the little line of mounted men in the characteristic uniform of the Australasian trooper that caused a manifestation of almost unprecedented popular enthusiasm from the densely crowded streets of the metropolis; it was the fact that this tiny force represented a living loyalty in the breasts of Colonists in great countries all around the globe. Naturally such a "send-off" had its effect in Australia, and a week later the Melbourne Argus was able to say with patriotic enthusiasm regarding the universal desire to aid the Mother Country that:
Australia's Appreciation of England's Protection