Premier of Natal.
Born in London in 1838 and educated at St. Paul’s School. He went to Natal in 1859, and entered the Colonial Parliament in 1872; nominated to Executive Council, 1880. Attorney-General, 1893. Prime Minister, Attorney-General, and Minister of Education, 1897.
From Photo] [by H. N. King.
A. BLACK, V.C.
Sergeant W. J. Gordon, 1st West India Regiment, obtained the Victoria Cross for interposing his body and receiving a bullet intended for his superior officer.
Reviewing the Jubilee celebrations as a whole it is impossible not to be struck by the leading characteristic of them all—their complete success. The Sovereign Lady in whose honour everything was done, was delighted with all; her subjects throughout the Empire enjoyed themselves hugely; not a single accident dimmed the happiness of Jubilee Day in London; the Procession was the most splendid ever witnessed; the Review at Spithead transcended in magnificence anything of the kind recorded in the annals of our navy; and the Review at Aldershot was a triumph for our brave little army. Almost as remarkable was the exaltation of national sentiment manifested at this time. It seemed as if we had suddenly discovered that we belonged to a very great Empire, and were overjoyed at the thought of it. When we saw the Colonial Premiers and the Colonial soldiers, we realized for the first time that we were co-heirs with them to a hundred Empires, and our imaginations were kindled. Our political views widened out to the furthest horizon and we were Conservatives and Liberals no longer, but Imperialists. We wanted but a sign from the Colonies themselves to declare ourselves Imperialists for ever, and we received a hundred signs. The offer of a battleship from the Cape Colony was the greatest of these signs, but it was only one of many. The Colonial Prime Ministers came to us bearing messages of affection from the great new Britains they represented, and in one or two instances their proposals shadowed forth measures of great advantage to us and to them. Canada, in particular, offered a considerable reduction of the tariff in return for the reception of Canadian goods on terms which have hitherto been rendered impossible by the existence of commercial treaties between this country and Germany and Belgium. She asked, in fact, for liberty to trade with this country on terms specially advantageous to both ourselves and Canada; and in promptly giving notice to terminate the treaties referred to, Lord Salisbury’s Government accorded to Canada the honour of taking the first practical step towards solving the fiscal difficulties which stand in the way of Imperial federation. The exhortation of the great bard who represents so strongly the spirit of the Victorian age seemed now for the first time to have come right home to the heart of the nation:
“Sons, be welded each and all,
Into one imperial whole;
One with Britain, heart and soul!