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CANADA.
Perhaps
the most important and enduring results of the present war will be those
which were least intended and are least material in character. This
conflict will always be remembered by Britons as that in which the
British Empire finally "found itself." That Empire, which its enemies
expected to fall to pieces in the hour of England's test and trial, will
emerge from the struggle with a greater strength and unity than could
have been won by centuries of political effort and aspiration. Mr. Bonar
Law, the present Secretary of State for the Colonies, has expressed the
truth in a few simple words:—"Our enemies said, and probably they
believed, that the outbreak of war would be the signal for the breaking
up of the British Empire. They have been mistaken. After this war the
relations between the great Dominions and the Mother Country can never
be the same again. The pressure of our enemies is welding us together,
and the British Empire is becoming in reality, as well as in name, a
united nation."
It is
impossible to estimate the effect of this common experience,
unparallelled in the history of the world on the countless races
sheltered under the British flag. Englishmen, Scotsmen, Irishmen,
Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, Newfoundlanders, South Africans,
Indians and every other race in the Empire have fought shoulder to
shoulder for the same objects and ideas. Hitherto the wars of the
British Empire have been carried on by comparatively small armies, not
representing, as our armies in this war, all classes in every community.
Today the entire British nation is fighting on the various fronts. Men
of varied races are beginning to know each other by personal contact and
friendship, and those vast contingents, when they return to their
several states, will exercise a powerful influence in promoting the
spiritual and political unity of the Empire.
When
the war bugles of the Empire sounded in August, 1914, every province
sprang to arms. It was no mere love of adventure that prompted this
impulse, but a feeling not only that the power and prestige and even the
existence of the Empire were at stake, but that the ideas of freedom and
justice and fair dealing upon which the British Empire is founded were
involved in the struggle. It may be interesting to describe in a few
articles the many forms which this loyal and ungrudging assistance of
the whole empire took. We may begin with Canada as the Dominion nearest
the homeland. The promptitude with which she prepared for the conflict
was astonishing. In less than two months from the outbreak of war the
Dominion, which only numbers between seven and eight millions of people,
concentrated, armed and sent to Europe an Expeditionary Eorce of 33,000
men. This was a voluntary army, the first complete Division ever
assembled in Canada, and by far the largest force that ever crossed the
Atlantic at one time. This first Division was destined to do wonders. It
was scarcely flung into the furnace of war before it was called to a
stern and decisive duty. On the battlefield of Langemarck it barred the
way to the advancing Germans and saved the day for the Empire, the
Allies and the world.
But
this force was only an earnest of the fighting power Canada was to put
in the field. Now, after nineteen months of war, power has been taken by
Order in Council in Canada to increase the number of men to 500,000, and
the recruiting shows that this figure will easily be attained. Returns
from several military districts show that up to December 15th, 1915, the
number of recruits enlisted for all purposes since the outbreak of the
War amounted to 198,000 men and 7,000 officers. Exclusive of officers,
Ontario had raised 77,000 men, Quebec 24,000, the Maritime Provinces
20,000, Manitoba and Saskatchewan 37,500, Alberta 21,200, and British
Columbia and the Yukon 19,700. Canada has indeed followed the drums.
"From the workshops and offices of new cities, from the lumber camps of
her forests, from the vast wheatfields of the west, from the farms and
orchards of the east, from the slopes of the Rockies, from the shores of
Hudson Bay, from the mining valleys of British Columbia, from the banks
of the Yukon, from the reaches of the St. Lawrence, the manhood of
Canada hurried to arms."
And a
glorious account of themselves they have given and are giving on this
western front. At Neuve Chapelle, Ypres, Festubert, Givenchy and
elsewhere they have built up a record of individual and collective
valour which has never been transcended in the long annals of war. They
have earned innumerable honours and rewards from the V.C. to the "
mention," and the extent to which they have borne the heaviest brunt of
the fighting is shown by the figures of 13,000 casualties sustained down
to November 30th, 1915.
But
Canada's contribution is not exhausted in these fully and splendidly
equipped contingents of all arms. It has taken many other forms. Here is
a brief table of the money raised in the Dominion for specific objects
down to the end of November :—
Canadian Patriotic Fund ... $9,000,000
Canadian Red Cross ...
3,500,000
British Red Cross......
2,000,000
But
there have been also most generous and welcome gifts in kind. The
Dominion sent 1,000,000 bags of flour; Alberta, 500,000 bushels of oats:
Quebec, 4,000,000 lbs. of cheese; Nova Scotia offered 100,000 tons of
coal, but the gift was changed to 100,000 dollars for the relief of
distress: Prince Edward Island sent 100,000 bushels of oats, with cheese
and hay; Ontario, 250,000 bags of flour; Saskatchewan, 1,500 horses; New
Brunswick, 100,000 bushels of potatoes; Manitoba, 50,000 bags of flour;
British Columbia, 25,000 cases of tinned salmon. This is by no means a
complete enumeration, and further gifts are still coming in.
And
Canada has done a great work for the war hospitals. The Dominion
Government furnished £20,000 for the organisation and equipment of a
hospital in France known as the "Hospice Canadien."
The
women of Canada sent £57,192 as a gift, £20,000 to be handed to the War
Office for hospital purposes and the balance to the Admiralty for the
Canadian Women's Hospital at Haslow.
The
Canadian War Contingent Association in England are maintaining a large
military hospital at Shorncliffe.
The
Canadian Government have sent a handsome contribution to the
Anglo-Russian Hospital.
Hospitals are being maintained by the Canadian Red Cross.
The
Provincial Government of Ontario has provided and equipped a large
military hospital at Orpington in Kent.
And
finally must be mentioned the invaluable Canadian contribution in the
manufacture of munitions, clothing, foodstuffs, etc., for the Allied
Armies. Sir Robert Borden stated in the House of Commons on February
22nd of this year (1916) that British purchases in Canada were much
greater than most people imagined and that large orders had been given
for boots, clothing, blankets, copper, rifles, and foodstuffs. Even
submarines have been produced in the Dominion and delivered for use, and
Canada has placed her credit to the extent of twenty millions sterling
at the disposal of the home country.
Truly
all this constitutes a wonderful record in patriotic service, and its
ultimate political effects will prove as important as its immediate and
practical utility.
NEWFOUNDLAND.
It is
interesting to recall what Newfoundland, the smallest autonomous
Dominion, has done to aid in the defence of the Empire. In the same week
in which War was declared a Patriotic Association was formed in the
Colony, and the Government undertook to increase the already enlisted
Naval Reserve of 600 men to 1,000 and to enlist a further force of 500
men for land service. Since then the naval force has been increased to
over 2,000, while the land forces compose a regiment of 1,500 strong,
with others under training at St. John's. From a colony of 250,000
people, with a substantial emigration and no immigration whatever, this
is something of an achievement. After a period of training with
Kitchener's Army, the Newfoundland Regiment left England for Alexandria,
whence they proceeded direct to the Gallipoli Peninsula. There they bore
their part in the struggle side by side with their brothers-in-arms from
Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, being present at Suvla Bay and
at the evacuation of Helles. They claim to have reached the nearest
point to Constantinople, namely, a hill which they captured and called
Caribou Hill. The Newfoundlanders were also the last unit to leave the
peninsula. They greatly distinguished themselves again in the early
events of the forward movement on the Western Front.
It is
a source of pride to Newfoundlanders that the men of their regiment are
almost without exception native-born. This is the first time through all
the years of its eventful history that the Colony has ever enlisted a
force for foreign service. But the call of the Empire was strong, and
the loyal response it received will have earned for Newfoundland an
honourable place in any scheme of closer imperial union which may be
formed when the War is over. It should be added that the naval force has
been largely engaged in patrolling the Dardanelles and the North Sea,
and that the Colony has also raised a Patriotic Fund of £20,000 with
which to assist the families of the soldiers and sailors now on active
service. The women of the Colony have sent £4,000 worth of comforts for
the sick and wounded and for the men in the trenches, while a valuable
gift of' aeroplanes has also been presented by this loyal and
enterprising member of the British family.
AUSTRALIA.
To
those who knew the Australian spirit and remembered the share Australia
has already taken in the wars of the Empire it was not surprising that
this young cub of the British lion should be ready and eager for the
fray when War was declared in August, 1914. Australia seems to be an
ideal breeding and training ground for soldiers. The type of fighting
man produced in the island continent—high-spirited, athletic and with a
strong dash of fearless dare-devilry—is perhaps the finest in the world.
Before the War, Australia had already provided herself with a system of
compulsory military training and also with a very efficient fleet unit
consisting of a great battle-cruiser, the "Australia," three smaller
cruisers, the " Melbourne," "Sydney," and "Brisbane," and flotillas of
submarines, torpedo-boats and destroyers. Immediately upon the
declaration of War the Commonwealth undertook to raise, equip and
maintain an expeditionary force of 20,000 men for service in Europe with
the Armies of the Empire. At the same time, with a loyal fidelity to
promise, the entire Australian
Navy
was placed at the disposal of the British Admiralty. Among the earliest
gifts, £100,000 was voted as a present to Belgium '' in grateful
acknowledgment of the heroic services the citizens of that country have
rendered mankind in the defence of their national right to live at peace
in their own country."
Needless to say these gifts of men and money were only first fruits of
the splendid generosity which was to be shown by this young nation of
five million people planted on a continent of three million square
miles. The original 20,000 now appears a small matter, for by this time
nearly 300,000 have been recruited for foreign service, and Australia
has not yet called a halt in this respect. In other words the
Commonwealth has already raised an army nearly as great as that which
was put into the field by the whole Empire during the South African War
and twice as large as the original expeditionary force sent to France in
1914. All these men came forward as volunteers for foreign service,
though many of them had been compulsorily trained under the system
adopted some years ago.
The
Australian soldiers are magnificently equipped, mainly with clothing,
boots, hats, belts and rifles turned out in Australian factories. All
the costs of equipment, arming, transport within the Commonwealth and
across the wide seas, commissariat and medical supplies have been met by
Australia from the beginning, and another large item of expenditure has
been the purchase, shipment and maintenance of thousands of splendid
horses, most of which, under the conditions of modern warfare, have
remained inactive in Egypt.
The
Australian Army is the best paid the world has ever seen, the minimum
scale being 6s. per day for the privates, with substantial increases to
the non-commissioned officers and very generous remuneration for those
who hold commissions. A few months ago the Federal Treasurer announced
that in pay alone the Commonwealth was expending money at the rate of
£33,000,000 per annum. The pensions are also on a liberal scale, as may
be judged from the case of the widow of a sergeant-major with eight
children who draws £78 10s. herself and £13 per annum in respect of each
of her children —a total yearly income of £178 10s.
The
Commonwealth is now represented in practically every branch of the
fighting forces— infantry, cavalry, artillery, the navy, the
flying-services, mechanical transport, the camel corps, the miners'
corps, and for home service the coaling battalions. Munition factories
have been established in various states and a considerable body of
Australian engineers is now scattered throughout the munition works in
England. I need not here re-tell the story how these troops from under
the Southern Cross won imperishable glory on the blood-splashed beaches
and ridges of Gallipoli. They and their New Zealand comrades have given
a new name, " Anzac " (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) to the
scene of their exploits and to the pages of military annals. They are
now winning fresh laurels in the battlefields of France and Flanders,
where they are holding an important section of the British fighting
lines.
While
the Commonwealth troops were bivouacking under the pyramids of Egypt in
the days before the great Dardanelles adventure, the Australian Fleet
was quietly but efficiently mopping up the German colonies and
possessions about the Pacific Ocean and dealing with the stray German
commerce-raider. It was in the very early days of the War that the
little Sydney' at last rounded up and battered to pieces the redoubtable
" Emden" near the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean. The first of the
German colonies to be dealt with was Samoa. The choicest jewels in this
island coronet belonged to Germany, and the British flag was hoisted
over these amid a concourse of surprised natives within a few weeks
after the declaration of War.
On
September 12th, 1914, Rear-Admiral Patey on board the "Australia"
telegraphed the news of the occupation of Herbertshohe and Simpsonshaven
in the Bismarck Archipelago, and very soon all these islands, together
with the German slice of New Guinea, 72,000 square miles in extent, were
secured. But there was a good deal more of Germany left in these tepid,
coral-hued waters. The Solomons, hitherto held jointly by England and
Germany, are now held solely by England. These form the largest group of
islands in the Pacific, covering a sea-space of over 600 miles. They are
extremely fertile and their loss will be severely felt by Germany. The
German possessions in the Mar-schall, Carolines, Pelew and Ladrones
groups have shared a similar destiny, being occupied either by Japan or
Britain, and Germany has now entirely disappeared from the surface of
the Pacific Ocean. Australia never asked for war with her neighbour, but
she had not witnessed with any great pleasure the establishment of a
bullying and aggressive Power like Germany almost within cannon-shot of
her own shores. The revelations of Prussian character during the present
War have abundantly justified her fears.
And
there were other reasons for Australia's distrust of Germany. Nowhere in
the world had Germany carried further and with more determination that
policy of commercial penetration which has everywhere had its ulterior
political objects. From the beginning of the War Australia began
resolutely to tear away the tentacles of this German octopus. Germany
had secured almost a monopoly of Australian metals. Whatever metals
Britain wanted had to be purchased through such German firms as the
Hirsches, Beer-Sondheimers, the Metallgesell-schaft, and the rest. Even
munitions, the life's blood of modern war, flowed into British hands
through these polluted channels. Mr. Hughes, the Premier of the
Commonwealth, has told us how he proceeded to deal with the strangling
meshes of this Teutonic net. '' After fourteen months of war we are able
to say a change has been made. Direct outlets have been established for
Australian products in Great Britain and Allied countries. The policy of
the Government is to encourage the development of the metal industry so
that all ores produced in the Commonwealth may be treated therein, and
above all the policy of the Government is that the industry must not
fall into German hands after the War. We are going to cut every trace of
the German cancer out." Metal exchanges have been established under the
control of the Australian Goverment, and the sale or purchase of
practically every ton of metals and ores must be registered. All sorts
of precautions are taken so that the enemy shall not secure either
representation on the metal exchanges or any of the products of the
industry. The authorities have even insisted that all enemy shareholders
in companies incorporated in Australia shall surrender their shares to a
Public Trustee, who will see that such shares and dividends are saved up
until the end of the War.
As
Mr. Hughes has said, "the mining companies of Australia, around which
the octopus tentacles of the great German metal combine were so tightly
drawn at the beginning of the War, now all breathe freely. Every
tentacle has been cut and the severed ends completely destroyed. If
Germany ever gets a foothold in the metal industry of Australia again,
it will be because Australians voluntarily surrender themselves to the
embraces of the beast. Not only is every German contract annulled, but
fresh channels have been opened up and markets found with Britain, the
Allies and friendly neutrals. And when war ceases Germany will have lost
that control over the metal industry which has done so much to enable
her to wage war effectively and to build up her industrial and
commercial position." Verily this may prove a shrewder loss than even
the alienation of her Pacific possessions.
Much
might be said about the efficient way in which the Commonwealth took in
hand the distribution and carriage of the wheat crop in the interest of
producer and consumer as against the speculator and forestalled In all
these and other tasks Australia has had an able and energetic leader in
Mr. Hughes, the Premier of the Commonwealth. It must be added that, like
the other Dominions and Dependencies, Australia has set no limit to her
generosity in money and supplies of all kinds. The Acting Government
Statistician has had a report prepared showing, so far as can be
ascertained, the amount contributed by the people of each State of
Australia to the various relief funds from the beginning of the War to
October 31st, 1915. The States appear in the following order:—New South
Wales, £1,995,119; Victoria, £1,152,592; Queensland, £707,264; South
Australia, £376,189; Western Australia, £142,024; Tasmania, £119,549.
These sums amount in all to a total of close upon 4J millions sterling.
Nowhere has the sentiment of Empire loyalty attained a more splendid and
practical expression than in the great island continent of the South.
NEW
ZEALAND.
The
true crusading spirit, the conception of the European conflict as a Holy
War on behalf of Christian civilisation, has been manifested in New
Zealand. Those beautiful and fertile islands, a little smaller than the
United Kingdom, hold just about a million people, including the
aboriginal Maori folk. The contribution of men and money and material by
a population not much larger than that of the city of Birmingham is
indeed memorable. The motives of this passionate zeal and loyalty have
been set forth by the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie, formerly Prime Minister and
now High Commissioner in London for New Zealand. " I doubt," he writes,
'' if any event chronicled in history has so fired the imagination and
kindled the anger of a people, and indeed, of the world, as Germany's
infamous treatment of Belgium. But this I do know—it fired the heart of
New Zealand, and when it was decided to send an Expeditionary Force to
the Front to aid Great Britain and her Allies, there was an almost
turbulent desire on the part of our youth and manhood to enlist. Long
accustomed though they were to the arts of production and quite
unaccustomed to those of destruction, they seemed to realise
instinctively that something more than the safety, security and
restoration of Belgium was at stake."
It is
a long, long way from New Zealand to Europe, but Mr. Mackenzie tells us
how the children of the Southern Cross realised that the freedom of the
world was involved in the freedom of Europe. " And they foresaw, too,"
continues the High Commissioner, '' that all those principles of
constitutional liberty and government so inherent in the British
character would go by the board if the German Kaiser and his emissaries
were allowed to obtain the upper hand." The war recruiting was helped by
the system of universal military training which had been adopted about
two years before, and in the course of a few weeks from the beginning of
hostilities New Zealand was able to mobilise and equip a thoroughly
trained contingent-horse, foot and artillery, with all the auxiliary
forces—of eight thousand men, the pick of her young manhood. This force
joined the Australian army and was transported at once to Egypt where
the training was completed.
This
first contingent was followed by several others, until the total number
that has sailed up to date from the islands reaches 30,000, and even
this total is being largely increased. With a poignancy of contrast
these soldiers from a new nation in another hemisphere were encamped for
months in the oldest country of the world, under the shadow of the
pyramids.
They
received their baptism of fire in the task of repelling the Turks from
the Suez Canal. But a greater and sterner ordeal awaited them. They and
their Australian comrades became a part of the Dardanelles Expeditionary
Force, and the name of '' Anzac '' commemorates for ever the dash and
heroism and endurance displayed by these Australasian fighting men on
the shores and heights of Gallipoli. It is noteworthy that the New
Zealand ranks contained a number of Maoris, that ancient and chivalrous
native race which, once the enemy of Britain, is now numbered among the
most loyal and contented of British peoples. The gallant deeds of these
representatives of New Zealand's original inhabitants will be duly
recorded when the history of those soul-stirring events is told in
greater detail.1 On the Western
Front, too, the New Zealand troops have played a distinguished part.
As in
the case of the other Dominions and Dependencies, the dispatch of
fully-equipped armies has been only one aspect of New Zealand's
contribution to war and victory. This total has now been carried up to
the half million pounds sterling.
But
there remains to be recorded a vast contribution in foodstuffs and
clothing. A hundred and forty-eight shipments of these have reached the
High Commissioner in London. It may be interesting in this case to give
an enumeration of the sort of supplies sent by a British Dominion. The
foodstuffs comprised 583 carcases lamb, 10,888 carcases mutton, 122
quarters beef, 152 crates rabbits and hares, 9 packings bacon, 86 boxes
butter, 92 crates cheese, 18 sacks flour, 20 sacks gerstena, 15 sacks
wheat, 54 sacks barley, 73 cases jam, 15 sacks peas. The clothing
shipments included 2,540 cases of clothes, 67 bales of blankets, and
there were in addition one case of books, and two cases of toys for
Belgian boys and girls.
It
need hardly be said that both m New Zealand and the home country
everything has been done for the comfort of the sick and wounded of the
New Zealand contingents. Here, again, one may refer to the prospective
political results of this close and sympathetic co-operation between the
home country and the daughter States of the Empire. " I believe," writes
Mr. Mackenzie, '' this world-war has done more to consolidate the
British Empire and strengthen the bond of sympathy and the " crimson
thread of kinship " than any power under heaven could have done. We are
being purged with fire, but I believe—indeed, I am convinced—that we and
our noble Allies will emerge from the ordeal better men and a stronger
race. Only we must be of good courage and of steadfast resolution,
sustained by the conviction that we and our Allies are fighting in a
just and righteous cause and for all that is best for the highest
interests, not only of our day and generation, but of our posterity. We
must fight to ensure a peace that shall be more enduring than bronze."
SOUTH
AFRICA.
No
portion of the British Empire has rendered more brilliant service to the
common cause than South Africa. The German campaign of bribery and
intrigue and corruption, which had been more extensive and determined
here than elsewhere, proved a miserable failure. Some weak and restless
spirits. became its victims, but the Dutch Government, under that great
Imperial statesman and soldier, General Botha, make short work of this
attempt at rebellion. The Union Government, having settled that little
business, braced itself for an enterprise which was much larger and more
difficult than has perhaps been generally realised—the conquest and
occupation of the 322,500 square miles constituting German South-West
Africa. That job required an army of 58,000 men, who were all enrolled
in British South Africa. And that vast territory, having been conquered,
had to be garrisoned, the German regular troops being now, of course,
all prisoners of war. This duty has absorbed in itself a considerable
force. In addition to all this, the Union of South Africa has provided
forces for the defence of the north-eastern frontier of Rhodesia, where
Britain, Belgium and Germany are in close neigbourhood, and has just
recruited another substantial force which, under General Smuts, Minister
of Defence, will soon account for Germany's last remaining over-sea
colony in East Africa.
Under
General Smuts are gathered South Africans, Rhodesians, East African
colonists, a sprinkling of Australians and Canadians, regiments raised
in the United Kingdom and native troops. These columns have now
penetrated far southwards from British East Africa into German
territory. At the same time other British troops .under General Northey
are pushing their way into German East Africa through the gap between
Lakes Tanganyika and Nyassa. Belgian troops are operating from the West
and Portuguese from the South. The Allies will soon hold well over a
million square miles of German territory over the seas.
With
all these responsibilities to itself and the Empire the Union has not
been able to vie with other Dominions in the size of its contingents
raised for European service. We must remember that the white population
of South Africa is only about a million, situated in the midst of a
black population six times as large. Moreover, this million consists of
two races, and it is not to be expected that the Dutch element, whose
European homeland is not belligerent, should be so strongly impelled to
enlistment for European service as the British South Africans. Yet,
despite all this, the Union has done magnificently even in this respect.
It has sent to England a force of 7,000 men, who certainly represent
some of the finest fighting material which the British Empire affords.
This
splendid contingent consists firstly of the First South African Infantry
Brigade under Brigadier-General H. T. Lukin, C.M.G., D.S.O., with its
four regiments recruited over the whole length and breadth of British
South Africa and containing representatives of such well-known corps as
the Duke of Edinburgh's Own Volunteer Rifles, the Rand Rifles, the
Imperial Light Horse, the South African Constabulary, the Transvaal
Scottish and the Cape Town Highlanders. Then there is the regiment of
Heavy Artillery, largely recruited from Cape Colony and transferred
almost bodily from active service in German South-West Africa. To round
off the contingent, a general hospital, a field ambulance, an aviation
squadron, a signalling company and a military record office have been
provided. Nor must we forget that South' Africa has its own
representation in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, the force
consisting of 300 naval reservists in Cape Colony and Natal. From these
a contingent of three officers and 76 men have come to England and are
attached to the Royal Naval Division.
Meanwhile Rhodesia, that proud mother of first-class fighting men, has,
as might be expected, thrown herself heart and soul into the fight,
primarily, of course, into the fight in South Africa. No fewer than
5,000 Rhodesians are under arms, that is, a good 40 per cent, of the
adult white male population. A considerable contingent from Rhodesia
have also come home "on their own" for service in Europe, and this
applies also to South Africa in general. The Germans, we are told, have
already complained of the frightfulness of the Rhodesian sniper.
Rhodesian troops will, of course, find their chief task in the East
African campaign.
Of
the gifts of money and material sent " home " from South Africa it is
impossible to give any complete enumeration. The best course is to take
a few examples at random. The Matabililand Central War Fund Committee
sent £900 to the Prince of Wales's Fund and £100 to the British Red
Cross Society. The "Friend" newspaper of Bloemfontein sent £4,164 odd to
the Secretary of State for the Colonies to be allocated at his
discretion. The European residents of Basutoland sent £1,835 to the
Prince of Wales's Fund and those in Bechuanaland a similarly handsome
gift. Gifts of money, foodstuffs, tobacco, etc., are past reckoning.
Especially gratifying has been the generosity of the great native
chieftains. Khama and the Bamangwato people sent £817 to the Prince of
Wales's Fund. Lewanika, a great Rhodesian chieftain, sent a contribution
of £200, and Griffith, paramount chief of the Basutos, has raised large
sums from his tribe. Such gifts are welcome not only for their own sake,
but as showing that the natives of South Africa appreciate the freedom
and protection they enjoy as subjects of the British Empire.
INDIA
AND CEYLON.
Among
the many painful disappointments which the Germans have suffered during
the War, probably the severest has been the splendid and helpful loyalty
to the Empire displayed by the Indian people. In India, at least, the
Germans had hoped for sedition and disloyalty. Believers in brute force,
they could not imagine how races so diverse as the British and the
Indian could be bound together by any other ties than those of mastery
and submission. They never imagined that, whatever may have been the
faults of British rule, it has at any rate stood for justice, humanity,
and a generous tolerance, and that the 320 millions in England's
greatest Dependency would show their appreciation of these principles in
the hour of her need and danger. Yet so it was. The Viceroy of India,
who represents the King-Emperor, had no need to appeal for help. India
sprang voluntarily and instinctively to the
defence of throne and Empire. Instead of England having, as Germany
hoped and expected, to send more troops out to India to strengthen her
hold there, she was able to take away more than three-quarters of the
regular British troops and a good half of the native army, replacing the
regulars only by Territorial's.
In
September, 1914, a stately armada of transports entered Marseilles
harbour bearing troops from India to fight in France, for England and
France, against Germany. Those were critical days and the 70,000 Indian
troops rendered inestimable service. In their first serious action on
October 28th they carried the village of Neuve Chapelle. It may
truthfully be said that if England had not been able to throw these
Indian reinforcements into the fighting line, but had been obliged
rather to send out more troops to India, the British forces would
scarcely have been able to bear back the German onrush at that time.
Britons will not quickly forget the decisive help afforded by their
Indian fellow-subjects in those dark and perilous days.
And
not only in France have these martial sons of India upheld the honour of
the flag. In Mesopotamia, on the Suez Canal, in China and East Africa,
Indian troops, those in our own service and those of the Maharajas, have
done and are doing splendid service. Mean- . while in India the
manifestations of loyalty were universal. That sentiment found
expression in the Viceroy's legislative council • where Sir G. Chitnavis,
an Indian member, asked the Viceroy to assure His Majesty that in the
hour of crisis the whole country was with him and would loyally and
devotedly do everything possible to ensure the success of the British
arms. He moved a resolution of '' unswerving loyalty and enthusiastic
devotion to the King-Emperor '' which was seconded by one of the
principal Mahomedan leaders, the Rajah of Mahmudabad. Mr. Banerjee, one
of the severest critics of the Indian Government in the past, said that
Indians desired to tell the world and all else whom it might concern
that their loyalty was not "lip-deep" and that behind the serried ranks
of the finest armies in the world were the vast and multitudinous races
and peoples of India, bound together as one man. Nay, even the
disaffected forgot their grievances in those days. The leader Tilak, who
had twice been imprisoned for sedition, addressed a meeting in his
native town, urging the people to sink their differences and support the
Government in every possible way. '' The presence of English rulers," he
said, "was desirable even from the point of view of Indian
self-interest."
Expressions of loyalty, sympathy and friendliness streamed in from the
feudatory and independent chiefs with whom the Government of India is in
relationship. The premier chief, the Nizam of Hyderabad, offered a
contribution of £400,000 towards the cost of the War, and in particular
to defray the entire expense while on foreign service overseas of his
own regiment of Imperial Service Lancers and of the 20th Deccan Horse.
The Maharajah of Mysore offered 50 lakhs of rupees (£330,000), while the
Gaekwar of Baroda placed at the Government's disposal the whole of his
troops and the resources of his state. The Maharajah Scindia of Gwalior,
in addition to sharing the expenses of a hospital ship, the idea of
which originated with himself and the Begum of Bhopal, offered to place
large sums of money at the disposal of the Government of India and to
provide thousands of horses as remounts. He also gave a Motor Ambulance
Corps. The Maharajah of Kashmir, not content with subscribing personally
to the Indian Fund, presided at a meeting of 20,000 people held at
Srinagar and delivered a stirring speech, in response to which large
subscriptions were collected. The Maharajah Holkar offered free of
charge all the horses belonging to his state forces. The spirited
Maharajah of Bikanir offered his Camel Corps and with the well-known and
chivalrous Sir Pertab Singh, the Grand Old Man of India, and other
chiefs came himself to serve in France. The Aga Khan, in addition to
directing the Mahomedan community to place their personal services and
resources unreservedly at the disposal of Government, volunteered to
serve as a private in any infantry regiment of the Indian Expeditionary
Force.
From
the most remote regions, from Chiefs, like the Mehtar of Chitral, of
border states, offers of help came to the Viceroy. Even extra-Indian
rulers showed their practical sympathy. The Prime Minister of Nepal
placed the military services of the state at the Government's disposal
and presented machine guns. The chief of Bhutan, bordering on Thibet,
and the Arab Chiefs in the Aden Hinterland offered gifts; and lastly the
Dalai Lama of Thibet offered a thousand troops and stated that Lamas
innumerable throughout the length and breadth of Thibet were offering
prayers for the success of the British Army and for the happiness of the
souls of the victims of war.
It
should be added that the Victoria Cross has been won in seven cases by
Indians, while over 1,300 other decorations have gone to the Indian
Army. Like the peoples of the self-governing Dominions, the Indians have
felt that this War was their own, that the very foundations of the "
free, tolerant and unaggressive Empire " to which they belong were
threatened. Their loyal co-operation cannot fail to have a profound
effect on the future relations between India and England, and so long as
the British Empire exists and the annals of the great War are read, the
part India played in the struggle will be honourably and gratefully
recorded.
CEYLON.
Ceylon, the premier Crown Colony, has given generous assistance to
England and the Empire during the present crisis. She has sent a
contingent for foreign service and contributed £1,000,000 in ten yearly
instalments to the cost of the War, besides a handsome contribution to
the Prince of Wales's Eund. The Planters' Association of Ceylon provided
100,000,000 lbs. of tea for the use of troops in the field.
The
scheme adopted by the Overseas Club to raise a flotilla of aircraft
which should be representative of all the outlying parts of the Empire,
has received enthusiastic support in this Colony. The first gift was a
sum of £1,500 wherewith to purchase the aeroplane which was named '' A
Paddy-bird from Ceylon." This was followed by a further £2,250 for the
armed biplane named "A Devil-bird from Ceylon," and recently another
£2,250 has been received by the British War Office, with a request that
the third machine may be named "A Nightjar from Ceylon." The cable which
accompanied the last remittance stated that subscriptions were still
coming in, and it is hoped that yet another '' bird'' may shortly be
dispatched from the island. A well-known Colombo lawyer has personally
subscribed £2,250 for a biplane, thus making four aircraft already
presented by this Colony.
THE
WEST INDIES.
The
British West Indies are like a necklace of pearls strung round the
Caribbean Sea, fastened at one end to British Guiana on the '' main ''
of South America, and at the other to British Honduras in Central
America. The Bahamas form a sparkling pendant of jewels to this
necklace, extending almost to the shores of Florida. These insular and
continental possessions have an area of about 112,000 square miles and a
population of over two millions. The names of nearly all the islands are
familiar to the readers of British naval and military annals. Jamaica,
Trinidad, Tobago, Turk's Island, Dominica, St. Lucia, Barbadoes, St.
Vincent, Grenada, Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, the
Virgins, and the rest will always be associated with the deeds of such
British seamen as Drake, Hawkins, Benbow, Vernon, Rodney, Howe and
Nelson. How much fighting has been done by British troops in these
regions may be gathered from the large number of regiments on whose
colours are inscribed the names of St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Dominica,
Martinique, Guadeloupe, Havannah and other islands within or outside the
British Empire.
But
the British Indies have their own native military tradition rich with
records of Imperial service. The West Indian regiments, which were
raised in the last years of the eighteenth century, primarily for
service in the Carolinas, have fought in many other parts of the Empire
—Ashanti, Kumassi, West, East and South Africa. At one time there were
ten of these regiments, but in 1850 only four were left, and in 1888 the
1st and 2nd West Indian Regiments were amalgamated into a single one,
consisting of two battalions, each of four companies. This regiment has
taken part during the present War in the difficult operations in German
Cameroon and has been stationed in many places in British West African
possessions, in the West Indian Islands and in British Guiana. The
regiment is easily distinguishable by the Zouave uniform, which is quite
unique in the forces of the Empire.
When
the present war broke out, the wave of patriotism which ran like a tidal
wave over the Empire swelled high round the West Indian Islands. All the
old fighting tradition which has been kept up by the volunteer and
militia units of the islands sprang into life. Thousands of natives,
many of whom had seen service in the West Indian Eegiment, volunteered
for '' the Front." In every village where an instructor could be found
drill companies were formed. From the beginning of the war many who
could afford the time and money left the islands and joined the Canadian
expeditionary force or the battalions of the new armies in England. Many
have been killed or wounded in France or Gallipoli, and by these
sacrifices the West Indies, which are among the oldest of British
possessions, will be linked still more indis-solubly to England and the
rest of the Empire.
But
this sporadic enlistment did not satisfy the patriotic sentiment of the
West Indians, who were determined to be even more directly represented
in the battle for the Empire and the Empire's principles of liberty,
justice and tolerance. They were determined to furnish units for the new
armies, and permission to do this was at last obtained in the summer of
1915, when the countless islands and the mainland colonies began to send
their quotas of men to the West Indies War Contingent, or, as it is
known, "The British West Indies Regiment." This contingent, consisting
of the 1st and 2nd service and 3rd reserve battalions, with another
1,500 men in training in Jamaica, and various reserve units embodied in
other colonies, was shortly encamped for final training in Sussex. It is
rapidly becoming a full infantry brigade, and, if needful, can be
increased to a division. The physique of the men is excellent, and they
may be trusted, under their commanding officer, Colonel A. E. Barchard,
to acquit themselves worthily of their ancestral military tradition.
In
generous contributions of money and material, as well as of men, the
West Indies have vied with every other part of the Empire. Jamaica, the
beautiful and valuable island which the genius of Oliver Cromwell gave
to the Empire, has especially distinguished itself. Jamaica has quite
recently offered to raise another 10,000 men and to pay all attendant
cost to the extent of a total charge of £60,000 per annum for forty
years. But besides this she has subscribed thousands to relief funds,
fifty thousand pounds' worth of sugar, and large consignments of
oranges, grape-fruit, cocoa, and cigarettes for the troops at the Front.
British Guiana organised a branch of the National Relief Fund, raising a
very large subscription, gave a thousand tons of sugar and furnished
half a million pounds of rice for the use of the British Indian forces.
Barbados supplied £20,000 worth of sugar and contributions to the Prince
of Wales's Fund. The Bahamas subscribed several thousand pounds to the
same fund, and £10,000 as a contribution towards war expenses, and they
maintain a unit of 200 men in the field. The Legislative Council of
Dominica voted £4,000 to H.M. Government and £1,000 to the Belgian
Relief Fund, as well as fortnightly consignments of lime juice for the
military hospitals. The Legislative Council of St. Vincent and the
planters of that island provided large quantities of arrowroot for H.M.
Forces. St. Lucia sent cocoa and £1,000 to the Prince of Wales's Fund:
Montserjat, guava jelly for naval and military hospitals and £1,000 for
the same fund; Dominica gave £10,000, Turks and Caicos Islands £1,000,
Cayman Islands £105 to war expenses; Bermuda, oldest of British
possessions, and often grouped with, though not geographically belonging
to, the West Indies, voted £3,450 annually for 15 years to the cost of
the War, £40,000 to Imperial relief funds and a ton of arrowroot to the
British Red Cross Society, while £1,000 went in private subscriptions to
the Prince's Fund. Besides all this, private persons sent gifts in money
and kind which it would be impossible to enumerate. It must be allowed
that the Governments and people of the West Indies have filled the cup
of their generosity to the brim. The Panama Canal has opened a new era
of prosperity for the British West Indies, and it is a happy coincidence
that at the very beginning of this era they should have made such a
striking and practical manifestation of their loyal devotion to the
British Crown and Empire.
CROWN
COLONIES AND PROTECTORATES.
The
attempt to describe what the individual provinces of the self-governing
Dominions, what the Protectorates and Crown Colonies and naval stations,
down to the loneliest mid-ocean islet, have contributed to the strength
of the Empire during the present war, would result simply in an endless
enumeration. Something must be said, however, to commemorate the
services of those forty millions of black-skinned British subjects
living mostly in the Continent of Africa. This is a deep and wide
reservoir from which a very large supply of fighting material of a very
high quality could be drawn. Basutos, Matabili, Hausas and other African
tribes which keep the old organisation of clan and chieftain also retain
a great deal of the old fighting tradition. The West African Frontier
Force is an admirable body of troops upon which has fallen most of the
fighting in the newly-conquered German colony of Cameroon. The King's
African Rifles are a no less celebrated regiment, and they have done
good service in the more southerly parts of the Continent.
England could have raised an additional force of perhaps a quarter of a
million men from the African Protectorates. But it must be remembered
that it is contrary to the English tradition to employ black aboriginal
troops against a white European enemy. Germany would have had no such
scruple if she had been able to transport any of her black troops over
the seas. France, too, as she was perfectly entitled to do, has employed
her " armee noire," consisting largely of Senegalese blacks, on European
battlefields. There is no reason, at any rate, why the British coloured
troops should not have been used against Turks, and some scores of
thousands of the best African native troops would have been very useful
at Gallipoli, Salonika and on the Tigris. Nevertheless, the black
subjects of King George from Africa and the West Indies have done
excellent service, and their loyalty and patriotism have been manifested
in many ways.
It
may be convenient here to give some examples of generous service
rendered by various outlying portions of the Empire which do not fall
under the great Dominions and Dependencies. Eirstly, as regards men.
Contingents have been offered and sent from the smallest communities of
the Empire. Erom Malta came 750 volunteers for foreign service. The far
outpost of Shanghai sent a British contingent of 100 men. From Fiji, out
of a white population of 4,000, chiefly women and children, 300 men will
have been sent to the front. All the Sultans and Sheiks of the Aden
Protectorate offered their services for the war. Very striking, too, has
been the response to the Empire's call made by Britons living in
extra-British countries. From Guatemala, a small independent republic of
about 2,000,000 people in Central America, came 40 volunteers out of a
total British population of 82, and these 40 came at their own expense,
the journey costing £65 per head, to place their services at England's
disposal. From the Argentine over 2,000 British recruits have come home,
the British Patriotic Committee there assisting the passage of some 350.
The United States too have shown that blood is thicker than water, and
60,000 citizens of the States applied to join the Canadian volunteers,
but, of course, could not be accepted. And all this time there has been
a continuous migration homewards of men who wished to be at the "centre
of things" in these strenuous days. For example, Rhodesia has
contributed from her small British population 1,000 men for Imperial
service, many of them travelling home third class in their eagerness to
offer themselves.
At
the same time the gifts of supplies of all kinds have been
uninterrupted. Mauritius gave 2,000,000 lbs. of sugar for the Army and
Navy, as well as two money contributions of £10,000 each. The Urewara
Maoris of New Zealand set apart 1,600 acres of land in support of' the
Empire Defence Fund. The Kavirondo chiefs of the Kisumu District gave
3,000 goats for the troops at the front. The East African Protectorate
sent 100 tons of coffee, the Masai Moran of the Matapatus 30 bullocks
for th& troops. The enumeration of creature comforts thus supplied might
be continued indefinitely. And the money has poured in as continuously
and plentifully. Still confining ourselves to the smaller and more
detached communities, the-Fiji Islands sent £10,000 to the Prince of
Wales's Fund, Ceylon £15,000, Hong Kong £20,000, the Falkland Islands
£4,000, Sierra Leone £5,000, the Sultan of Sokoto £1,000,. Lewanika,
Chief of the Barotse, £200, Sarikin. Muslimin, of Nigeria, £1,000,
Nyasaland £450. A sum of £35,000 was contributed in the early days of
the War to the Prince of Wales's -Fund through Singapore, besides a
large subscription from all parts of the Malay Peninsula to a Belgian
Relief Fund.
The
squadron of sixteen aeroplanes, presented by all nationalties in Malaya,
has been completed at a cost of £25,881. Mr. Alma Baker, of Perak, is
very much to be congratulated on the success of the scheme which he
organised, and which he has since so liberally supported. The squadron
consists of four fighters and twelve scouts. A glance at the list of
subscribers shows the cosmopolitan nature of the population of Malaya,
besides bearing testimony to the patriotism of the various races. Four
of the scouts were paid for by public subscription as follows—one by all
nationalities in Kinta, Perak; two by all nationalities in the Malay
Archipelago; one by the Chinese of Malacca. The other contributors are
representative of the following nationalities— British, French, Dutch,
Jews, Armenians, Chinese, Japanese, Natives of India (all races), and
Malays. Although the squadron is now completed, Malaya does not propose
to rest on her oars, and further machines are now being subscribed for.
One, for which Australians and New Zealanders are now being asked to
subscribe, is to be called " Anzac," and the women of Malaya are
preparing to provide a " Women's Aeroplane."
Other
gifts of aeroplanes recently acknowledged include the '' Saran5 5
presented by the residents of Saren; "Jamaica No. 2" presented by the
People of Jamaica, and a machine given by the Omanhene chiefs and people
of Kivahu, Gold Coast. The latter makes the eighth aeroplane presented
by the private generosity of persons in this Colony.
Mr.
E. C. Eliot, His Majesty's Resident Commissioner in the Gilbert and
Ellice groups of Islands in the Western Pacific, refers with
gratification, in a recent official report, to the magnificent spirit of
loyalty to the British cause which has been displayed by the whole
native community since the outbreak of hostilities. There have been
countless private applications to " fight for King George," and in some
of the islands the entire population wished to leave for the seat of
War. When it was explained to them that for prudential reasons their
services could not at the moment be availed of in the field, their
enthusiasm found vent in raising money for the Prince of Wales's
National Relief Fund, a total of about £3,000 being collected.
This
patriotic ardour has extended to the remotest frontiers of the Empire.
The Emirs of the Northern Provinces of Nigeria sent £38,000 as a
contribution from the Native administrations towards the military
expenditure of the Nigerian Government. That Government also undertook
to assume the charges for interest and a sinking fund of 1 per cent, on
a share of the war debt amounting to £6,000,000. The Legislative Council
of the Gold Coast voted £60,000 for the expenses of the Togoland
expedition, and £80,000 eight annual instalments towards the cost of the
War. Zanzibar contributed £10,000 to the mother country in aid of war
expenses. Mauritius raised over £5,000 in three weeks to provide a gift
of aeroplanes to the British War Office, and has contributed £3,400 to
Red Cross Funds. The Egyptian Red Crescent Society sent £1,000 to the
British Red Cross. Basutos, Bechuanas, Tembus, dusky tribes of the Dark
Continent, dwellers Where Afric's sunny fountains Roll down their golden
sand, have been lavish in their offers and gifts of money and
provisions. The many loyal protestations such as came from the Sultans
of Brunei (Sarawak), Perak (Malay), Kelantan (Malay), Sierra Leone
chieftains and others were gratifying m those early days of strain and
stress and will not be forgotten. From Egypt have come clouds of
cigarettes of subtlest aroma, and Khalil Pasha Khazal sent eight fine
horses. Verily " the Kings of Tarshish and of the isles brought
presents; the Kings of Arabia and Saba offered gifts." The history of
the world can show no such outburst of loyalty on so vast a scale and
expressing itself in such practical manifestations. From the Great War,
which in the German hope and expectation was to break up the British
Empire, that Empire will date a new era of power and prosperity and a
closer and more organic union such as otherwise it might never have
attained.
J.
SAXON MILLS. |
