Page:The empire and the century.djvu/706

 By LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR EDWIN H. H. COLLEN, G.C.I.E., C.B.

no period of our history has it been more imperative than at the present time that those who believe in the Empire should understand what its constituent forces are, and how these can be applied to the maintenance of its security. The days of isolation of the Mother Country are sped, never to come again; but the task is one of enormous difficulty, requiring years of labour and the efforts of many minds, both of statesmen and of soldiers. Unless we apply ourselves earnestly to it, in a patient and scientific spirit, we shall never achieve that which should be the aim and object of this long and laborious work, the safety, peace, and honour of all the dominions over which the Sovereign of this island-kingdom rules, whether by his Lieutenants and Viceroys, or through the constitutional Governments of those great countries oversea, united to us by the bonds of race, religion, speech, interest, and sentiment.

In all the discussions which have taken place since the war in South Africa upon the vital subject of the defence of the Empire, at. least three main points stand out sharply above all the mists of doubt and detail gathering round them: the need for an army for service oversea, capable of large expansion, the powerful help which can be given by the armed forces of the self-governing Colonies, and the fact that the defence of the land frontier of the Empire means the defence of the 663