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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