in the world.  Through dark days which brought out the virtues of our race as nothing has done in our generation, we struggled grimly on until the light had fully broken once again.  And of all gifts that God has given to Britain there is none to compare with those days of sorrow, for it was in them that the nation was assured of its unity, and learned for all time that blood is stronger to bind than salt water is to part.  The only difference in the point of view of the Briton from Britain and the Briton from the ends of the earth, was that the latter with the energy of youth was more whole-souled in the Imperial cause.  Who has seen that Army and can forget it—­its spirit, its picturesqueness—­above all, what it stands for in the future history of the world?  Cowboys from the vast plains of the North-West, gentlemen who ride hard with the Quorn or the Belvoir, gillies from the Sutherland deer-forests, bushmen from the back blocks of Australia, exquisites of the Raleigh Club or the Bachelor’s, hard men from Ontario, dandy sportsmen from India and Ceylon, the horsemen of New Zealand, the wiry South African irregulars—­these are the Reserves whose existence was chronicled in no Blue-book, and whose appearance came as a shock to the pedant soldiers of the Continent who had sneered so long at our little Army, since long years of peace have caused them to forget its exploits.  On the plains of South Africa, in common danger and in common privation, the blood brotherhood of the Empire was sealed.

So much for the Empire.  But what of South Africa?  There in the end we must reap as we sow.  If we are worthy of the trust, it will be left to us.  If we are unworthy of it, it will be taken away.  Kruger’s downfall should teach us that it is not rifles but Justice which is the title-deed of a nation.  The British flag under our best administrators will mean clean government, honest laws, liberty and equality to all men.  So long as it continues to do so, we shall hold South Africa.  When, out of fear or out or greed, we fall from that ideal, we may know that we are stricken with that disease which has killed every great empire before us.

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