Page:What I Know Of The Labour Traffic.djvu/20

17 splendid shams which prevail in the old country; and the old country hates the new religion, and would, if possible, suppress it. The religion which is fast laying hold of the minds of men, is one in which Nature is reasserting her position as high priest. There is more Nature in the colonies than there is at home; and, therefore, more independence and a sweeter freedom.

Nature teaches us, and so, for that matter, does St. Paul, that if a man does not work, he shall not eat; if he does not obey the laws of his being he must perish; if he does not dress and keep the garden in which he is placed, if he does not compel the earth to yield her increase, he shall be turned out of the garden, and a flaming sword which turns every way, shall be kept going to keep him out of it. If any community, or any unit of which the community is composed, persistently and of set purpose, sets itself to oppose, thwart, obstruct, or in any way embarass [sic] the march of improvement, or does not keep in sympathy with the head of all things, even though he or it may only belong to the lowly feet, the consequences, however disastrous, must be borne.

In our great industrial war, there is absolutely no titles to sell or give away; no pensions are possible to imbecility; and profit or reward must be the natural fruition of effort in subordination to rational rule. The determination to apply this law in all its rigour has, for the moment, given an appearance of ferocity to colonial public life, which, however much it is to be regretted, could not well be helped. In this war self-sacrifice shall be prohibited as irrational, but so also shall brutal selfishness. Although, if any rich planter, smitten with remorse for the way he has increased his substance, thinks fit to endow a college for teaching the English tongue to Islanders, and the Polynesian tongues to doctors, overseers, Government agents and others, we will not hinder him in carrying out his merciful intent, while he and his class shall be allowed the full benefit which may result from such an institution being founded. We will not allow the morrow to take thought for itself, but take care that what we do to-day shall lead to something better next morning. If a man smites us on the right cheek we will take care that he does not do it again. If our enemy hungers we will find him a job; if he thirsts he shall have the chance of earning an honest penny.

If our neighbour becomes unfriendly; takes to making guns or dynamite, and shows an unmistakeable hankering to come and spoil our garden, or take it from us, we will not spend our money in setting up rival manufactories of destructive diabolical explosives, but we will make that garden so sweet to live in, so sacred to possess, so holy and beautiful to behold, and so glorious to defend, that none shall dare to make us afraid, and those who do not love us, shall be made to tremble and fear—not for the vengeance we shall inflict, but for the impregnable defence which it would be death to try to destroy.

This, if it be not the actual national life of Australia, is the spirit of it; this is the tendency which unconsciously it is assuming. The hope we are cheered by is the hope which we of to-day look to see realised; that in this new land Englishmen, Scotchmen, Welshmen, and Irishmen