THE RALLY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.
What was the British Empire doing while the Germans were overrunning
Belgium? At home, the War Office[217] was working night and day to equip
and dispatch an army for service in France. The Territorials were
stationed at all the points which needed defence, and the recruiting
offices were very busy. On all the hoardings appeared placards calling
upon men between the ages of nineteen and thirty-eight to serve their
king and country. Every day fine, stalwart recruits, full of energy and
zeal, flocked to the colours. Large camps were formed in the south of
England, and the work of training the new armies was carried on with
the utmost speed.
But what of Britain overseas? The Germans had been taught to believe
that the British Empire was only a very loose collection of states, with
no bond of union between them and the mother country. It was a
jerry-built empire, so they thought, and they were assured that when the
time of stress came it would tumble to pieces like a house of cards.
Canada, they said, was drifting towards the United States, and would one
day be part of that country; Australia had long wished to "cut the
painter;" South Africa was yearning to throw off the yoke; India was a
powder magazine which would explode with a spark; Egypt was only waiting
for a chance of rising in revolt. The moment a great trial of strength
came there would be an end of the British Empire. Such was the belief of
the Germans. What really happened you shall now hear.
[Illustration: Men of the New Army drilling in Hyde Park, London.
_Photo, Central News._]
One of our poets speaks of the peoples of the Dominions as
"Children of Britain's island-breed,
To whom the Mother in her need
Perchance may one day call."
That day had arrived. The Mother in her need had called, and with one
heart and one voice her sons across the seas replied, "Lo! we come."
When war began to threaten, the Dominions lost no time in sending offers
of help and words of cheer to the Home Government. Britons beyond the
seas rallied gloriously to the old flag. In Canada men of all parties
at once forgot their differences and stood shoulder to shoulder, just as
they were doing in Great Britain and Ireland. On the day that Germany
declared war on Russia (1st August), Sir Robert Borden, the Prime
Minister of the Dominion of Canada, held a Cabinet Council, at which
arrangements were made for guarding all the points of danger, and for
calling up the Militia, which correspond to the Territorials of the
British Isles. In time of peace these number about 44,500 men. Within a
few hours fifteen regiments had volunteered for active service, and
thousands of men were begging to be allowed to serve. Never before had
such enthusiasm been seen in the Canadian cities. The Duke of Connaught,
the Governor-General of the Dominion, spoke the simple truth when he
said, "Canada stands united, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, in her
determination to uphold the honour and traditions of our Empire." On
Tuesday, 3rd August, news arrived that Britain had declared war on
Germany. The crowds which had gathered about the newspaper offices stood
silent for a moment, and then turned to go. The time for shouting had
gone by; the hour of work and sacrifice had arrived.
In a few days, more than 100,000 men had offered themselves. Old members
of Strathcona's[218] Horse, and the Royal Canadians, who had fought so
gallantly in South Africa, pressed forward eagerly to re-enlist. From
all parts of the Dominion they came--French Canadians from Lower Canada;
farmers, and artisans, and clerks from Ontario; the hardest riders and
the best shots of the prairies; the miners, trappers, and pioneers of
the west and north. Every province sent its quota of men. Two hundred
frontiersmen from Moosejaw,[219] finding that they could not be enlisted
as cavalry, took the road to Ottawa at their own expense, and having
purchased their outfits, declared that, if they were not accepted for
service, they would hire a cattle ship and sail for Europe "on their
own." It is pleasant to note that 60,000 citizens of the United States
offered to enlist in the Canadian army.
Nor were the Redskins behindhand. Many applied for enlistment, and a few
were allowed to join. Some of the tribes sent money to the war funds,
and the Blood Indians of Alberta passed the following resolution: "The
first citizens of Canada, the old allies of warring French and British,
the Redskins, the devoted wards of Victoria the Good and of her
grandson, King George, are no whit behind the Sikhs of India, the men
from South Africa, or the British Regulars in testifying to their
loyalty to the Crown or to the unity of the British Empire." Two chiefs
sent £200 from their tribal funds, and hoped that Great Britain would
ever remain the guardian of the weak. Other tribes also sent money and
proffers of help.
Rich citizens opened their cheque-books freely to fit out the regiments.
One Montreal[220] millionaire offered to provide all the money for
raising, equipping, and supporting Princess Patricia's Light Infantry,
or "Princess Pat's," as they are known in Canada. A Calgary[221]
cattle-dealer offered fifty thousand dollars to equip a legion of
frontiersmen, and the various provinces vied with each other in sending
money and provisions for the use of the British forces. The Canadian
Government offered a million bags of flour, Ontario 250,000 bags, and
Manitoba 50,000 bags. Alberta and Prince Edward Island sent oats, Nova
Scotia coal, Quebec cheese, New Brunswick potatoes, British Columbia
tinned salmon, and Saskatchewan horses. In addition, Canada offered her
two cruisers, the _Niobe_ and the _Rainbow_, for general service, and
her two submarines for duty on the Pacific coast.
[Illustration: Views in Quebec.
1. Dufferin Terrace. 2. The Citadel and Château Frontenac. 3. Plains of
Abraham, and Wolfe Monument. 4. Sous-le-Cap Street. 5. Montmorency
Falls. 6. Church of Notre-Dame des Victoires. 7. Parliament Buildings.
8. French Cathedral.]
The women of Canada subscribed for naval hospitals, and the Canadian Red
Cross Society sent a fully-equipped field hospital and £10,000 in money.
When Canadians learned that the Belgians were in distress, they opened
their purses most generously. Everybody did his or her "little bit." A
newsboy of Toronto[222] gave a street car ticket worth a few cents; it
was afterwards sold for a thousand dollars. The citizens of Berlin,[223]
Ontario, sent the following cable message to Lord Kitchener:--
"Berlin, Ontario, a city of 15,000 population, of which 12,000 are
Germans or of German descent, purposes raising £15,000 or more for the
National (Canadian) Patriotic Fund. The German people want to see
militarism[224] in Germany smashed for good, and the people set free to
shape a greater and better Germany. We feel confident that England has
appointed the right men in Mr. Churchill[225] and Lord Kitchener to boss
the job."
At first the Canadians intended to raise a force of 22,000 men to be
sent overseas, and another 10,000 men to guard the Dominion; but so many
men wished to go to the front that the strength of the first force sent
to Britain was largely increased. The men were fitted out with the best
of everything. Their clothes and weapons were as good as money could
buy, and their horses were especially fine. Motor transport and an
ammunition train were provided, and more than a hundred fully qualified
nurses went with the troops. Wealthy men provided the regiments with
machine guns; they had their own aviators, doctors, and chaplains. By
the end of September the force was ready to be transported overseas. It
numbered 31,250 men, with 7,500 horses, and everything necessary for
taking the field. The force was assembled at the Valcartier[226] Camp,
near Quebec.[227]
The departure of the troops from Valcartier at the end of September was
a sight never to be forgotten. At various times in the day trumpets
sounded, the battalions packed their kits, and long lines of khaki-clad
men marched along the road to Quebec amidst crowds of cheering
Canadians. The bands struck up "It's a Long Way to Tipperary," and the
troops trudged off in the highest possible spirits.
The greater part of the artillery marched late in the afternoon and at
night. Rain fell heavily, and they arrived in Quebec soaked and
mud-spattered, but as full of enthusiasm as ever. The guns, ammunition
wagons, transports, and horses filed along narrow roads flanked by
autumn-tinted trees and fringed by quaint French-Canadian villages. At
one point, we are told, the white-haired old curé[228] of a French
village stood for nearly half an hour up to his knees in the wet grass
of his orchard, plucking apples from the trees, and throwing them to the
men as they swung along. They cheered him, and a French-Canadian battery
which passed sang the Marseillaise.
Never since the days of Wolfe[229] had Quebec witnessed such martial
scenes as when the troops tramped through the steep streets of the old
city to embark on board the thirty-two transports which were to convey
them to the mother country. Everywhere one heard cheering and the music
of bands and bagpipes. Wives and sweethearts bade farewell to their dear
ones, and then crept away from the noisy throng to weep in solitude or
to return to their homes, where the long, anxious hours of waiting were
to be passed until the war should end and the heroes return. Alas! many
of them were destined never to return, but to find a last resting-place
in the clay of France and Flanders.
At last came the day when all the troops were on board ready to depart.
Dufferin Terrace, overlooking the harbour, was black with thousands of
men and women waving handkerchiefs, and ever and anon breaking into loud
cheers, as the transports steamed slowly one by one down the river and
past Point Levis.[230] The cheers did not cease until the last of the
big vessels, carrying the pride of Canada's soldiery, disappeared from
view between the Isle of Orleans[231] and the mainland.
Guarded by grim warships, the transports crossed the ocean, and on the
morning of October 15th arrived in Plymouth Sound. It was very fitting
that the gallant sons of Canada should tread English soil in the port
from which their sires in the brave days of old had gone forth to
discover new homes for British people in the great continent of the
West. Those of them who knew anything of British history must have felt
their hearts swell as they gazed at the grassy slopes of Plymouth Hoe.
The list of great seamen who trod that greensward before sailing to the
New World is in itself a page of romance--Sir Richard Grenville[232]
for Virginia, Sir Humphrey Gilbert[233] for Newfoundland, Sir Martin
Frobisher[234] for the North-West Passage, and, above and beyond all,
Sir Francis Drake[235] for the circumnavigation of the world.
In the days following their arrival the Canadians were landed, and
marched through the streets to the railway station, _en route_ for
Salisbury Plain, where their training was to be completed. As they
passed along the Plymouth streets between the lines of townsfolk all
sorts of gifts were pressed upon them. "We were snowed under with good
things," said one of the men.
While the first contingent was hard at work in the mud of Salisbury
Plain, a second and a third contingent were being raised in Canada. As
soon as it was announced that more men were needed, a far larger number
of recruits flocked to the standard than could be accepted. Within a
little more than four months after the outbreak of war Canada had raised
over 90,000 men for the service of king and country.
* * * * *
[Illustration: Transports arriving at Plymouth.
_Photo, Central News_.]
The island of Newfoundland stands outside the Dominion of Canada; so she
made a special effort of her own, for she was just as eager to come to
the help of the mother country as any other of our overseas possessions.
The coasts of Newfoundland, as you know, are inhabited by
fishermen--fine, hardy fellows, who are at home in stormy seas, and can
turn their hands to almost anything. In the old days the Newfoundlander
was the backbone of our navy, and a branch of the Royal Naval Reserve
has long been established in the island. On the outbreak of war
Newfoundland offered to increase her naval reserves up to 3,000 men, and
to provide and equip 500 soldiers for active service overseas.
* * * * *
In this rally of the Empire Australia played her part right manfully.
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth spoke for all when he said: "We
must sit tight now and see the thing through at whatever difficulty and
whatever cost. We must be steadfast in our determination. Our resources
are great, and British spirit is not dead. We owe it to those who have
gone before to preserve the great fabric of British freedom and hand it
on to our children. Our duty is quite clear. Remember, we are Britons."
Mr. Andrew Fisher, who became Premier a little later, spoke in the same
strain. "Australia," said he, "will support Great Britain with her last
man and her last shilling."
Australia and New Zealand were in a better position to send assistance
to the mother country than any other members of our overseas empire.
Australia possesses a navy of her own, consisting of one battle cruiser,
three light cruisers, three destroyers, and two submarines, and these
she at once placed at the disposal of the Admiralty. Every able-bodied
male in Australia and New Zealand is obliged to serve as a cadet from
twelve to eighteen years of age, and in the Citizen Defence Corps
during manhood. When war broke out Australia had 85,000 cadets under
training, and 50,000 men in the Citizen Defence Corps, the latter being
fully armed and equipped. One of our generals, who inspected the
Australian artillery some time ago, was much struck with the smartness
and skill of the men. "I would not be afraid," he said, "to take them
into action against European troops to-morrow."
The Commonwealth at once asked for 20,000 volunteers, and immediately
twice as many men as were needed rushed to enlist. They were such fine
fellows that it was difficult to decide which of them to accept and
which to reject. The Queensland Bushmen offered to provide a regiment,
and were prepared to supply their own horses, while the yachtsmen of
Australia were ready to join the Royal Naval Reserve. Even the German
settlers stood by their fellow-Australians in this crisis, and declared
that they were prepared, if the necessity arose, to sacrifice their
property and their lives for the welfare of the British Empire. Instead
of "cutting the painter," Australia doubled it, and made it more secure
than ever.
[Illustration: Canadian Troops on Salisbury Plain.
_Photos, Alfieri and Central News_.
The King reviews Canadian troops on Salisbury Plain (top). Three cheers
for his Majesty the King! (middle). The armoured motor cars of the
Canadians (bottom).]
Gifts of money and produce were most generously made to the Belgians, to
the Red Cross Society, and in aid of other war funds. The sheep farmers
of New South Wales gave 40,000 carcasses of mutton, 1,500 sheep,
1,000,000 cartridges, 20 tons of dried fruit, and 1,500 horses up to the
end of September, and in November added another 7,600 carcasses of
mutton. From all parts of Australia came flour, wine, bacon, beef,
condensed milk, butter, arrowroot, biscuits, sheep, fruit, and clothing.
[Illustration: Australians for the Front.
_Photo, Central News_.]
Before long 20,000 men, together with a Light Horse Brigade of 6,000
men, were ready to embark. Meanwhile many thousands of other men were
being trained, and it was decided to send 2,000 of them regularly to
Great Britain to repair the wastage of war.
The troops departed in silence and secrecy. There was a squadron of
German warships in the Pacific Ocean, and had the commanders of these
vessels known when and by what route the transports were to set sail,
you may be sure that they would have tried to sink them. When the
vessels arrived off the Cocos-Keeling Islands[236] in the Indian Ocean,
Japanese warships warned them that the Germans were near at hand, and
that part of their route had been strewn with mines.
Perhaps you are surprised to learn that Japanese warships were then
policing the Pacific Ocean for Britain. In the year 1905 we came to an
agreement with the Japanese that if any Power made an unprovoked attack
upon us or upon them both countries would join their forces to fight the
enemy. On 15th August Japan gave notice to Germany that if she did not
clear out of Kiao-chau[237] war would be declared. Germany refused, and
on 23rd August war was declared. At once Kiao-chau was attacked, and the
ships of the fine Japanese fleet took over the work of patrolling the
Pacific Ocean. In the next volume we shall learn how Japan played her
part in the war.
One of the Australian soldiers tells us that the Japanese warned them
that German cruisers were about, in the evening, and that orders were at
once given to the men to put on life-belts and fall in at their messes.
At eight o'clock they were all lined up on deck; the ship's lights
were put out, and in the pitch-black darkness they waited for the
enemy's attack. All were bare to the waist, and had their trousers
rolled up to their knees. Thus they stood for a full hour, without a
word being spoken except by the officers. Suddenly they heard the boom
of a gun some distance astern, and soon afterwards saw the dark form of
a cruiser dash across their bows and disappear in the darkness. It was
the famous German cruiser _Emden_, of which we shall hear in our next
volume. She was in too great a hurry to stop and attack the transport,
for the biggest and fastest vessel of the Australian Navy, H.M.S.
_Sydney_, was chasing her. The danger had passed away, and the rest of
the voyage was uneventful.
[Illustration: Australians near the Pyramids.
This picture shows Sir George Reid, High Commissioner of Australia,
visiting the camp of the Australian contingent in Egypt. In the course
of a speech he said, "The Pyramids have been silent witnesses of many
strange events, but never before have looked upon such a splendid array
of troops."
_Photo, Record Press._]
When the transports arrived in the Suez Canal the men learned that they
were not to proceed to the front, but were to disembark and help to
protect Egypt. This was, of course, a disappointment to them; but they
were somewhat consoled when they learned that they might see active
service very soon, for the Turks had joined the Germans, and were
talking of attacking Egypt.
* * * * *
You know that New Zealand has also her cadets and her Citizen Defence
Corps, and was, therefore, able to send trained men overseas without
delay. Long before volunteers were asked for, men were besieging the
Minister of Defence with offers of service. By eleven o'clock on the
morning of 6th August, a thousand volunteers had handed in their names
in the city of Auckland[238] alone. Gifts of money and produce, horses,
and motor cars were at once forthcoming, and a few weeks later New
Zealand presented the mother country with an aeroplane.
Less than three weeks after the declaration of war, a cable message was
sent to the War Office in London, saying that New Zealand had 8,000 men
ready to go to any part of the world at a moment's notice. These troops
consisted of mounted rifles, field artillery, and infantry, and along
with them were 500 Maoris,[239] who were most eager to fight for
Britain. Two hundred of them were sent to Egypt to be trained, and it
was thought that they would prove admirable scouts. Amongst the white
volunteers were five members of the famous "All Black" football team
which played so well in Great Britain a few years ago, and three Rhodes
scholars. All the men were splendid specimens of young manhood. Their
voyage was without incident, and they were landed in Egypt to join the
Australians and British Territorials in the defence of that country.
* * * * *
British South Africa found herself, on the outbreak of war, with German
forces on her frontiers. In the German colony of South-West Africa there
was a large and well-equipped German army, and in German East Africa
there were other forces. Further, there were some Boers who had not yet
become resigned to British rule, and it was thought--as afterwards
proved to be the case--that they had been bribed by the Germans, and
would seize the opportunity to rise in rebellion. South Africa could
not, therefore, send forces to help the mother country; but, under the
command of General Botha,[240] who himself had been a leader of the
Boers[241] in the late war, she undertook to guard herself and attack
the Germans on her borders without the help of soldiers from Great
Britain or from any of the Dominions. We shall see in the next volume
how she carried out this duty. Meanwhile she sent many gifts of money
and produce to Great Britain.
* * * * *
There was no part of the British Empire, however small, which did not,
to the best of its ability, help the mother country in her hour of need.
From the Barbadoes came £20,000; from the Falkland Islands, £1 per head
of the population, as well as £750 for the Prince of Wales's Fund.[242]
St. Kitts and Nevis, in the West Indies, sent £5,000 to the same fund;
Mauritius, British Guiana, and Jamaica sent large gifts of sugar;
Southern Rhodesia sent maize, and Hong Kong a large donation to the
Prince of Wales's Fund. Take a map of the world and search out one by
one the overseas possessions of Great Britain. You cannot find a single
place under the Union Jack that did not rally to the Empire as soon as
the call to arms was sounded. No wonder the King was deeply touched by
these tenders of loyal service, and no wonder that he thanked his
overseas subjects in a noble message. The hearts of all Britons in the
mother country were deeply stirred to feelings of joy and pride when
they knew that the men of the Dominions were
"Welded, each and all
Into one Imperial whole,
One with Britain, heart and soul--
One life, one flag, one fleet, one throne!
Britons, hold your own!"
[Footnote 217: The home of the Army Council and of the Headquarters
Staff in Whitehall, London. The Army Council completely controls the
army. At the head of it is the Secretary of State for War, who is a
member of one of the Houses of Parliament and of the Cabinet.]
[Footnote 218: So called because raised by Lord Strathcona (1820-1914)
who rose from a clerk in the Hudson Bay Company to be head of the
company and High Commissioner for Canada. The construction of the
Canadian Pacific Railway was almost entirely due to him.]
[Footnote 219: City of Saskatchewan, Canada; 400 miles west of Winnipeg,
on the Canadian Pacific Railway.]
[Footnote 220: Chief city and commercial capital of Canada, on the St.
Lawrence, Province of Quebec.]
[Footnote 221: Town, Canada, Province of Alberta; on the Canadian
Pacific Railway, 2,262 miles west of Montreal.]
[Footnote 222: Capital of Ontario, Canada; second city of the Dominion;
on north-west shore of Lake Ontario.]
[Footnote 223: Town, 60 miles south-west of Toronto.]
[Footnote 224: An over-great love of war.]
[Footnote 225: Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, born 1874, First Lord
of the Admiralty since 1911. He first became a minister in 1906.]
[Footnote 226: _Val-kar-tyā´._]
[Footnote 227: Capital of Province of Quebec, on north bank of St.
Lawrence, 145 miles north-east of Montreal.]
[Footnote 228: Parish priest.]
[Footnote 229: James Wolfe (1727-59) defeated the French on the Heights
of Abraham, to the west of Quebec, and by this victory won Canada for
the British. He is referred to in the first verse of "The Maple Leaf,"
Canada's national song, which runs as follows:--
"In days of yore from Britain's shore
Wolfe, the dauntless hero, came,
And planted firm Britannia's flag
On Canada's fair domain!
Here may it wave, our boast, our pride;
And joined in love together,
The Thistle, Shamrock, Rose entwine
The Maple Leaf for ever!"]
[Footnote 230: Opposite to Quebec, on the other side of the river.]
[Footnote 231: To the east of Point Levis.]
[Footnote 232: Seaman of Devonshire, a relation of Sir Walter Raleigh,
whom he assisted in founding Virginia. In 1591 he engaged a whole
Spanish fleet with his single ship the _Revenge_, and was fatally
wounded in the fight.]
[Footnote 233: Cousin of Sir Walter Raleigh. He took possession of
Newfoundland (1583), but went down in the _Golden Hind_ on the return
voyage.]
[Footnote 234: Served under Drake, and fought against the Spanish
Armada. Perished in the Arctic Ocean, 1594.]
[Footnote 235: Francis Drake (1540-1596), the greatest of English
admirals, the first Englishman to sail round the world (1577-1580). He
singed the King of Spain's beard in 1587, and fought against the Spanish
Armada (1588).]
[Footnote 236: Group of twenty coral islands in the Indian Ocean, 700
miles south-west of Sumatra. They produce cocoanuts.]
[Footnote 237: German protectorate on the east coast of the Chinese
province of Shantung. It was seized from China in 1897. The port is
Tsing-tau. The Japanese first attacked this place on August 23, and
declared that at the end of the war they would give it up to China.]
[Footnote 238: Largest city of New Zealand, in a fine harbour in the
north of North Island.]
[Footnote 239: Tall, brown-skinned natives of New Zealand. They are a
clever, cheerful race, very fond of games, riding, and feasting. Some of
them visited this country in 1889, as members of a New Zealand football
team.]
[Footnote 240: Louis Botha, born 1863, first Prime Minister of the Union
of South Africa.]
[Footnote 241: Dutch farmers of what was formerly the South African
Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State.]
[Footnote 242: On August 7, 1914, the Prince of Wales founded a National
Fund to relieve distress brought about by the war. He was its first
treasurer, and he generously offered to pay the whole cost incurred in
working the fund. Early in December 1914 it had reached £4,000,000.]