It was a long time before some of us realised that not only England, Scotland, and Ireland, but also the Greater Britain on which the sun never sets, had gone to war. Gallant deeds are being performed every day all over the Empire, and it is only by accident that we hear of some of them. The War enormously increased their number.
Take, for instance, the magnificent courage shown by Mr. Saxby Wellacott, the son of the Vicar of Totnes. This young man is not a soldier but a civilian attached to the Public Works Department at Accra, in West Africa. Yet he played an active part in the operations of the Field Force which added Togoland to our Empire early in August. The Germans put up a good fight. They mined the roads and railways and electrified the wire entanglements; but it is also reported that they used dum-dum bullets, which as you know is not fair fighting.
Mr. Wellacott, together with two French officers and thirty Senegalese troops, advanced on a river called the Chra. The Germans blew up a bridge and opened fire on the tiny allied force with three Maxim guns and a couple of hundred rifles. The firing went on for two hours, and Mr. Wellacott got left behind. He managed, however, to get back to his motor-cycle, started it and rode it for five miles with a wounded man in the side-car. Most wonderful of all, he succeeded in carrying the motor-cycle over two bridges, though it weighed six hundredweight. At last to his great joy he found the main column but rest was not for him yet. The Allied forces had to fight all day the next day, achieving victory the following morning.
The Germans were foolish enough to think when the war broke out that there would be terrible trouble in Ireland, a rebellion in India, and that the great Dominions—Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa—would seize the opportunity to desert the Empire.
As a matter of fact, the very opposite of these things happened. Irishmen of all parties rushed to enlist. A great wave of passionate loyalty swept over India. Her Princes and her peoples poured out their offerings of men and money. Regiments of magnificent native soldiers—Rajputs, Sikhs, Gurkhas, Pathans—were granted the dearest wish of their hearts, namely to fight shoulder to shoulder with our white troops.
As for the Dominions, most valuable help in men and money was instantly offered by Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and gratefully accepted by the Mother Country. South Africa’s help was not less valuable, for the Union Government undertook to conquer the German colonies on the East and the West.
About the middle of October, quite a little army came from Canada: horse, foot, gunners, sappers, all fully equipped. These splendid fellows are used to roughing it, and have their wits sharpened by Colonial life. They brought a great many pets and mascots—dogs, goats, birds, and so on—but the strangest of all was a little boy! He had been a paper boy, and he was so eager to come with the Canadians that one regiment smuggled him into their ship. By the time they landed in England the little chap had blossomed into a bugler!
I must tell you about the song sung by the Canadian cavalry contingent composed of British Columbian Rough Riders, as they rode through their beautiful country to the sea. This song soon became extraordinarily popular. Here are two verses:
“British Columbia Horse are we,
From Canada’s Pacific Sea,