New Britain herald., 1915-12-23

northern and three in the southern
 hemisphere all rapidly developing in
 power and influence; great depen-
 dency with a population of 300,000.-
 900 embracing a dozen races with 1 beWildering divergence of creed, caste, | tradition, custom and language; pro- 1 tectorates involving responsibility for l the development of great territories 1 and the protection and welfare of
 large populations; 8 score of fiscal i systems under which each unit of l the Empire levies customs duties
 against the remainder; the safeguard
 ing of territories which in some part l of the world touch those of every
 other great power; the protection of
 the ocean pathways without which
 necessary nter-communication could ] not be assured; the necessity of con 1 sidering all these varied and some times conflicting interests and con- 1 ditionS in determining questions 1 touching foreign relatises; a varied
 and seemingly confused medley of l statutes, charters, orders in council, l conventions. traditions and under standings for the governance of. all l these widespread possessions; consid- CT this very imperfect summary of the conditions and problems which meet those called upon to administer
 the affairs of our vast Commonwealth. A nasty Judgment would determine that any structure so apparently un- stable must crumble at the first great shock.
 Tt shall be to the honor of the British race as long as this war is remembered that the principle upon
 which is founded the governance\o of yair far-fung dominions and all its people of varied and divergent race, lang uage, creed and ideal. by ties which proved even stronger in war times than in peace. It is founded upon the principle of liberty and upon the theory and practice of autono- nous government applied wherever conditions permit and to the. most generous extent that experience can possibly sanction. For this supreme reason the empire is strong in the day of trial.
 Great Britain Unprepared.
 "The outbreak of the war found Great Britain utterly unprepared for military operations upon the tremen- dous scale which has been found nec- essary. Communication between our scattered possessions is essential to their unity and continued national existence. Thus the fighting power of the empire is concentrated al- most wholly in the navy. established with no aggressive intention, and maintained solely for self-protection and self-preservation. Attempted az. gression against any great military na- tion under such conditions was utter 1y inconceivable, for our military pow CT was relatively insignificant. Apart from every other consideration the absolute lack of adequate military preparation for this war speaks for itself and unanswerably proclaims that the dominions which owe alle- glance to the British Crown followed the paths of peace and earnestly de- sired to avoid war.
 Such indeed was the ideal of the Canadian nation; but in common with all the Empire the spirit of our people when tested proved worthy of their highest traditions. Within six weeks after the outbreak of war a force of
 nearly 35,00O men was assem bled, thoroughly armed, equipped and or sanized in every branch of military service. It's journey across the Allan tic In a great armada of steamships began on October 2, 1914. Nearly 100000 Canadian soldiers have since gone overseas and during the past ten months they have poured across the ocean at the rate of more than 2,0OO per week. Our authorized force is now 250,000 and more than 100000 are already under arms.
 Canadians at Ypres.
 Has our national spirit been o6 fo1y needs? For courage and devotion I point to the Canadians at Ypres, at Festubert. at Givenchy. For self l sacrifice, I see the women yielding 1 their dearest at the country's call and consecrating their lives to all missions of mercy. For the bountiful gener- osity of our people I need but men, tion $6,O0O,000 for the patriotic fund. S2,0O0,0O0 for the British Red Cross society; $3,400,000 for our own Red Cross and kindred societies, more than S2,O00,000 for the starving and des- titute in Belgium, at least $3,0O0,000 Tn other patriotic contributions from provinces and individuals, $5,0OO,OOO in food products and other supplies useful for war purposes placed by the Dominion and the provinces at the disposal of the British government. Men of great financial experience be- lieved that subscriptions by the public at large to the recent war loan of $50,000,000 would probably reach $10, 0,OOO,O0O and could not exceed $1 100000. The public added $70,- OOO,OOO to the $15,o0O,O0O and the total subscriptions ran close to s11O,- 900, 1000.
 1T have spoken of all these things in order that you may truly compre- bend what our course has been in this war, and that you may perhaps believe that Canada has made her