i i (S\ ^:lOSANCElfjv. e ■^HHAINft-aVVV I ^OFCAllFOSJi^ ^OFCAllFOftj^ ^AOJiTVo-jo'^ ^oinm^"^ •^smwm'^ ^^ME•UNIY!R% "^^UONVSOl^ 5 1 1/-^ ^ ^.OFCAllF0fi5fc, s ^ hoim-i^^ %13DNVS01^ '%a3AlNn3WV' ^I^DNVSOl^ CO ^;^lllBRARYQc ^OFCALIFO^ ^lOS|ANCElfj^ -^>MIIBRARY(7^ -^lUBRARYQc^ ^^EUNIVERS'/^ i/T^t iunri ILKVI ii^<5 i 1^1 \WEUNIV!R5'/A -, ,, , _ o %a3AINn-3Wv o 5 ? ^OFCAlIFOfti^ "^AaaMNnawv^ '^^ %0dllVJJO'^ .>VjOF-CAllFO/?;l^ ^OFCAIIFO% ^(?Aaviiaii# en < o ^!^EUNIVER% so %a3AINn-3WV^ ^lOSANCEl^^ o "^JBAINrtJWV^ 5MfUNIVER% ^lOSANCn^^ ^^MmO/: ^l-UBRABYO/^ o ^JVlJQNVSOV"^ -< ■%a3AINft-3WV^ ^^\^UNIVER% ^lOSANCElfj;*, ^ -:^{tWIV!W/A vvU)SANCEUr> IU(7! |U(7t i\^i Ifjet OMVERSITY of CALIFORJ^M AT LOS ANGELES UBRARY THE PARTING OF THE WAYS THE PARTING OF THE WAYS OR, CONQUEST BY PURCHASE BY THE AUTHOR OF "LETTERS FROM A VEILED POLITICIAN" 1910 DUM SPIRO SPERO TORONTO THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY LIMITED zgii 115933 JN S37 DEDICATED TO THE PEACE-LOVERS OF THE WORLD IN TRUTH AND SINCERITY Ufijo.191 CO . . oi " All Empire is no more than power in trust. a •H ft O yii CONTENTS I. n. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. INTRODUCTION STATEMENT OF CONDITIONS A BLOODLESS REVOLUTION THE CHOICE . GROWTH OR DECAY . THE CHARACTERS OF CENTURIES TWENTIETH-CENTURY TENDENCIES VARIATION OF NATIONAL IDEALS THE LAW OF NATIONS MODERN WARFARE CONQUEST BY PURCHASE FINANCIAL CHAOS MIDNIGHT THE CORONATION PEACE AND GOODWILL PEDIGREE STOCK POWER IN TRUST A FUTURE DAWN 1 3 7 9 13 15 19 25 31 35 43 49 61 67 71 73 75 77 IX INTRODUCTION London, 1911. My dear Compatriots, You received my last small volume with so much kindness and sympathy that you have en- couraged me to send yet another into the arena of discussion. The correspondence which I had the pleasure of addressing to you in the spring of 1910 was called " Letters from a Veiled Politician." It has brought me interesting replies from the uttermost ends of the earth as well as from near at hand, and has made for me many new friends of all kinds, who wished to ascertain for themselves what brand of politician was sequestered behind that veil of mystery. So very urgent and insistent did the demands from correspondents become that the veil should be cast aside and the personality inspected, and *' that 1 2 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS the said character should become a man of action as well as one of words," that the counsels of my ad- visers ultimately prevailed, and words gave place to action. Instead of remaining an armchair politician who did what thinking had to be done in the sanctity of the home and the seclusion of the library, I have been taken forth to meetings, ushered on to public platforms, and been persuaded to utter speech instead of penning words. The unexpected results surprised no one more than myself, but showed that my correspondents were right. Thus my unknown friends have had their way, the veil of anonymity has in good sooth been rent asunder, the mystery has been disclosed, and the per- sonality stands revealed for all who care to know it. But because you, my dear Compatriots, have shown me great kindness, and have given my efforts a warmer welcome than ever they deserved, I am still, and shall always remain, Whether in privacy or publicity, Yours cordially, The Veiled Politician. STATEMENT OF CONDITIONS London, 1911. Friends, Britons, Countrymen, In the recent letters sent to you last year by me, it was stated sadly in grief and pain that I con- sidered that we were very nearly at the blackest hour of our folly and wrongdoing, but that we had not quite reached the climax of our national iniquity and ill-health. The darkest hour was yet to come, but would shortly be at hand. A year has passed. And now, Compatriots, it is borne in upon me that the hour of midnight is striking in our national affairs- — that the blackest, most sombre hour of Great Britain's revolution is at hand. The culminating point is here. Let us review the facts. Not content with robbing Peter to pay Paul until our national affairs are in a morass of financial 3 4 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS chaos, we are gaily allowing the Government to continue its pleasant task of dealing out doles to all and sundry, until it looks as if there will scarcely remain an unpaid unofficial person who may dare to speak his mind, in this our little island of the North. Freedom of speech will have been bought and liberty of action suppressed. If proof be needed of the arbitrary methods of tyranny now encouraged, the procedure obtaining ground in the House of Commons is sufficient to show us that liberty of speech is no longer allowed there, and that by every known device the gag and the guillotine are in daily use by our Parliamentarians. Not satisfied with blithely doing their level best to wreck the Constitution which it has taken a thou- sand years to build up and establish in perfection, the Government are actually giving thought and tongue to the idea how they may best separate, divide, and divorce Ireland from the United King- dom, and they have treated the Imperial Conference in such a manner that it would appear, to the watching multitudes, who have the consolidation of their Empire at heart, to have successfully checked and thwarted any forward motion of growth. Not STATEMENT OF CONDITIONS 5 content with these disastrous deeds, they are actually pledged to ratify the Declaration of London, a treaty which places in jeopardy the food- supply of this nation in times of war. Surely these tactics are more dangerous to the hungry thousands of Britain than any policy of Imperial Preference. Such short-sighted doings, performed by the Liberal Government whilst the whole Empire is on the tiptoe of excitement to know how progress may be made and achievement rendered possible, are sufficient to make one inclined to echo Shakespeare's sentiments, as expressed in the mouth of one of his Kings of England : " The first thing we'll do, let's kill all the lawyers." The legal profession may be very able at circum- venting the law, but it is the worst possible guide for any country. Lord Kosebery is absolutely justified when he tells us, in his recent stirring speech delivered in the House of Lords, that we are really in the throes of a bloodless revolution, but one that is full of dis- honour to our country and pregnant with the spirit of disaster. 6 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS The complete programme of the allied forces of the E-adical Government is not as yet revealed ; but let them carry the two measures which are already disclosed, and many others will inevitably follow. The House of Lords rendered impotent, it will be then much easier to attack the Monarchy, and the Socialists will never rest until some man, eaten up with personal ambition, makes himself President, with a Republic at his back. This is the trend of their legislation, and the path in which they will ask us to walk. Thus, our oldest institutions, our dearest tradi- tions, and our most sacred rights, are all endangered by the proclaimed programme of the present Minis- try, and still further menaced by their hidden designs. Truly, the hour of midnight is striking Here and Now. Only our eyes are so blind and our ears so deaf that we scarcely see whither we are being driven or listen to the roar of the incoming waves of destruction. We are, in reality, in the midst of the crisis, and A BLOODLESS REVOLUTION 7 we must gird up our loins and gather all our strength in order to exert a conscious choice as to which path we shall tread. Two divergent ways are plainly to be discerned, and either one awaits our footsteps. 1. The one direction is in that ot growth and development, sufficient to meet the requirements of the Twentieth century. It must have for its aim the unification and consolidation of the British Empire, and it must treat our islands of Britain as if they were to be in future what Providence intends them to become — the heart of that mighty concern. The whole construction must be placed upon solid foundations of rock which can resist all future attempts at separation. 2. The other direction is that of decline and decay. From being the greatest Empire the world has yet seen, we may, through neglecting the wishes and wants of our Dominions, part company with our children, and, having slowly and by degrees lost them, just as we once lost the American States by our own folly, it will take but a short time to be- come a third-rate European Power, and, finally, to be submerged under another sphere of mfluence. 8 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS Whenever the supremacy of the ocean is wrested away, starvation may be forced upon us. Our Dominions could not hold together without our assistance ; they would be a prey for any powerful rival, and they would eventually be absorbed either through warfare, or, more likely, without it. The choice of the present day consists in deciding whether you wish to uphold and unite the British Empire in all its present strength and augment its power, or whether you consider that her day is over, and it would be better to encourage one of her rivals ; and your choice of life or death for the Empire will not be made, as in the olden days, upon any battlefield, to the roll of drums or the martial sound of arms, or with the strife and conflict of troops. It will be made, here and now, in your own house, in your own heart, and in these small islands of our Anglo-Saxon race. It is said that the Battle of Waterloo was won upon the playing-fields of Eton. This is only a slight exaggeration of the reality, for conquests are gained not only by the military skill of adversaries in action, but in far greater degree by the moral fibre and grit of the people at THE CHOICE 9 home, whose national spirit characterizes and con- trols their armies abroad. No country which is rotten at the core becomes or remains victorious. If you wish to become enlightened as to what the United Kingdom would be like when we had lost our Empire and remained merely a little island nation, you have but to cross the Channel and spend a few weeks in Holland, when you would receive a good deal of illumination upon the state of afiairs that obtains when a non-self-supporting country wilfully renounces Welt-Politik, and exists ever afterwards in a backwater of civilization, in- stead of being on the main flood of its tide. The Dutch used to occupy the proud position of power which is ours to-day, with huge expanse of territories all over the world, with a navy which dominated the seas, and with problems and similar responsibilities identical with those that face us now. A drifting policy, small-minded leaders, and un- wise legislation, cut them apart from their colonies, caused their wealth to be wrested from them, their power to wane, and involved them in the loss of everything except their tiny mother-country. 10 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS If the same conditions prevail with us, we shall suffer far more terribly than they, for we have a more numerous population to feed, and the sparrows here are very hungry ones. The United Kingdom devotes by far the larger proportion of its national energies to commerce and manufactures, or the production of goods ; it has largely ceased to cater for itself in the way of pro- viding or producing food - stuffs, but it has not changed its appetite or its appreciation for these things. On the contrary, we eat more than we ever did as a nation, and it is simply impossible to imagine what happens to all the nourishment we imbibe into our " little Mary " and import into our little island. This amounts in value to the colossal figure of £20,000,000 per month, or £500 (£484) a minute, aU the year round, day and night. Such sums are staggering in their immensity to average intellects, but, without this vast amount of nourishment, we should all be famished, and it re- quires but small imagination to depict the scenes of misery and destitution that would ensue without this constant supply of provender for our multitudes. THE CHOICE 11 It is not enough, my friend, that you have your home, your weekly wage, your glass of beer, and your pipe, or even that you will receive your old age pension by-and-bye ; it is far more necessary for you to maintain the United Kingdom in all its in- tegrity and honour, and to cling to your British Empire as a drowning man clings to a raft, because, without these two essentials, your meals will become doubtful and your sustenance problematical. In- stead of finding your food slightly more expensive than it used to be, you may be left whistling for it altogether. The best people to provide your daily bill of fare are your own kindred beyond the seas, because our usefulness one to the other is truly mutual and reciprocal. They grow, and are only too anxious to sell their surplus production of food to us ; we make and can provide them with the goods and manu- factures they require. It appears surely to be a dispensation of Providence that our interests and requirements are so thoroughly interlaced and sub- servient to each other. Is it mere coincidence that our manufacturing district of woollens requires more than £25,000,000 12 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS worth of wool to keep the mills moving and the workpeople occupied, and that Australia has abun- dance of this raw material which she must sell in order to convert her produce into wealth ? Is it only chance that our two staple foods in England are bread and meat, and that Canada can supply us with the former, and Australia and New Zealand with the latter, not to mention South Africa, which accommodates us with the necessary shekels wherewith to clinch our bargains ? Surely it is providential that all the articles and raw materials which we depend upon so enormously to keep us alive and to give us work are exactly the raw materials and products which our daughter Dominions wish to dispose of, that they may flourish by providing their countries with other possessions more needed there than their own surplus supplies. It is useless to make manufactures without markets to sell them ; it is heart-rending to grow crops that nobody eats ; but here we find within our Empire an obvious buyer and steady consumer in close touch, a natural producer, and an energetic grower, linked together by common interests. It is a matter of give and take. But the day GROWTH OR DECAY 13 John Bull imagines he has no use for the British Empire, he will find his dinner in jeopardy and his workshop shut up. Occupation and nourishment will both be gone ! Britain and her children are mutually beneficial one to the other, and not one of this circle of nations would enjoy as much prosperity when separated or divided, as they do united. Here my prophetic soul would venture to hazard a prediction, which is : That the day when the " workshops of the world " — England, Germany, and America — have enjoyed the greatest prosperity will rapidly pass, and the palm will be yielded in future to those countries which are the natural food stores of the universe — to wit, the granaries, the orchards, the gardens, the dairies, and the cattle ranches, which lay themselves out to nourish and feed the aforesaid workshops. Henceforth it will be even more momentous to be fed than to produce articles of manufacture, and the most brilliant future lies with those countries who cater for the absolute necessities of immediate existence. This has already been the case the last five years, 14 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS when Argentina, Canada, and Australia have had unparalleled prosperity and trade with edibles. The world carries on her back more millions of human people than she has ever borne before, and, although the different needs and demands of various races are extremely divergent, they all require some sort of food to keep them alive. Here is the answer to several questions. Herewith the key to sundry problems. The British hold their key in their own hands, unless they are ignorant enough to throw it away in a fit of the spleen, for a benign Providence has seen fit to shower untold blessings upon their unthinking heads; but even this beneficent attitude of a Supreme Power requires close attention, and proper obedience to its dictates and decrees. Hitherto there have always been crumbs to feed the sparrows ; in future the sparrows will have to culti- vate and superintend and pick up these crumbs much more carefully. The past leads up to the future. When we turn our gaze back to the olden times, nothing is more interesting to the student of history than the overwhelming proof, to be gathered from its pages, that every century has had its own aims, THE CHARACTERS OF CENTURIES 15 ideals, and ambitions. Each has had a distinct individuality with different tendencies and varied characteristics, which distinguish every one of them from its predecessors or successors. Some have been brilliant centuries, when growth, development, and achievement seem the predominant features, and every decade is bathed in the radiant sunshine of progress. Others are overshadowed by gloom, darkness, and difficulty. Retrogression is apparent, and we can see from our distant point of view what forces were at work to make matters stand still or recede. It does not lie within the scope of these humble pages to paint the visage of the centuries, one by one, as they appear in continuous single file before us, but so different are the characteristics and ten- dencies that the centuries themselves appear to have proclaimed, consciously or unconsciously, the fact that "A change came o'er the spirit of my dream." The modern history of Britain begins in 1066 with the conquest by the Normans. And, roughly speaking, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were 16 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS occupied by the struggle for power between the great feudal lords and the Church, with the Pope at its head. National ideals centred round religious zeal and deeds of warfare. Those were the centuries of the Crusades, when men rode forth to fight against the infidel in the Holy Land, in order to gain supremacy for their religion and reflected glory for themselves. They died in this world to live in the next. They sought years of hardship and privation in order to purge themselves of sin and gain forgiveness from the Creator. The Popes and the Church encouraged these religious wars, to augment their own influence and to counteract that of the feudal lords of Europe. These early centuries seem to be divided between the dictates of the religion of the period and the growth and power of feudalism, both to succumb eventually in later centuries to the sovereignty of the monarch and the greater freedom of the people. In succeeding centuries this intense religious life passed into quite diflerent channels, and its aims and objects became enlarged and ennobled, finding an outlet in the birth of architecture, art of painting, THE CHARACTERS OF CENTURIES 17 music, and literature, all of which culminated in the Renaissance. We may here pass over the inter- mediate and vastly interesting centuries, merely stating that the eighteenth century was chiefly occupied by individualistic struggles for the rights of man, and that it led up to their great successor, the Nineteenth century. This is the one in which we began existence, and which therefore helped to make us what we are and to mould our aims and ambitions, whether we are conscious of it or not. The Nineteenth century saw nations reach their zenith as such, and it was dominated by the policy of Nationality. It was pre-eminently the period in which the United Kingdom of Great Britain reached her highest water-mark as a nation (with outlying colonies, which she then regarded as somewhat of an expense and a burden). Under a truly great Sovereign, Queen Victoria the monarchy of Britain attained a stability and an influence which had never before been reached. Every aspect and every side of our national life was nourished, strengthened, and developed, until we could point to great men in every walk of life. 2 18 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS The higher the level of national life, the more frequent the occurrence of great men. The chief aims and objects of our fathers and forefathers in the latter half of the last century were to maintain — 1. Great independence of spirit. 2. Complete liberty of action and speech. 3. Tranquillity of existence. They devoted their efforts and energies to — 1. Commercial prosperity. 2. Care of their landed property. 3. Accumulation of wealth (in order to keep it). Their main ideals were domestic, industrious, political, and literary, whilst their actions were governed by the sense of conscience and its dictates, summed up in the motto : "Duty first, pleasure after." These sturdy, virile sentiments produced, as might be expected, a strong, manly race, which conquered difficulties easily, and with them, incidentally, the world. The Twentieth century is only in its extreme TWENTIETH-CENTURY TENDENCIES 19 youth at present, aged eleven years, but already the tone of its voice is in an absolutely different key, and the songs it sings have other melodies, the dominant harmonies of which appear to the listening ear as follows : 1. Great expectations from the State. 2. Purchase of, conscience by various means. 3. Love of change. (As evinced by the wish for great rapidity of motion and an increased desire for travel.) Our efforts and energies appear to be devoted in the direction of — 1. Great mechanical activity and invention. (Foreign competition is killing our commerce.) 2. Desertion and neglect of landed property (owing to recent legislation). 3. Keen struggle for wealth (m order to spend it). Our domestic ideals are that all children "shall have a good time," and find the way paved for them, seeing that we have small confidence in their being able to fight for themselves. This is a great mistake, as strength comes from the use of capability, and capability is only found through facing facts. 20 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS There is a dearth of first-rate Uterature ; brain- power tending in the direction of the arts of heahng, discovery, and mechanical inventions ; but the truest poetry of the last decade to be found in the English language has been written by a woman (Laurence Hope). This fact is significant of the new forces at our command which, in the Twentieth century, will be far more fully developed. Politics, having sunk to the level of charlatanism during the present century, are viewed askance by some of the worthiest of its natural supporters, and are therefore left to the lawyers, who are answerable for the present discreditable condition of affairs. The general appreciation and knowledge of art is considerably higher than it was forty years ago, and we are also decidedly more musical. The world has become practically very much smaller owing to improved means of transit ; we are therefore brought into contact much more fre- quently with people hailing from the four quarters of the globe, and are less insular and more cosmo- politan ; our views should therefore be broader, and we should be feeling inclined for the spirit of growth which will enable us to keep pace with natural laws. TWENTIETH-CENTURY TENDENCIES 21 The globe has decreased in size so considerably that natural laws have been modified. Where once the cost of transit gave protection to our trade, there now exists none. Where once the difficulty and length of time it took to ship troops and marshal men from one Continent to another, gave security and stability to the maintenance of existing con- dit'ons, there now exists a possibility of sudden de elopments and quick change, unforeseen in forjQer days, and the full significance of which is at present unrealized except by a few prophets. The scope and grandeur of every undertaking has grown tenfold. Instead of the small shop of yester- day run by one individual, we see developing a constant combination of undertakings, until we have the huge stores of to-day, managed by a competent Board of Directors. In place of the many private banks of former years, we see medium and small banking concerns swallowed up, or taken over by large ones, until even huge affairs join forces to gain solidarity. The quiet, private hotels in secondary streets, which were always patronized by our parents, are no longer to be found, and colossal caravanserais in 22 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS the primary thoroughfares replace them. The same movement of increasing size is to be noticed all around in stores, banks, hotels, railways, companies, and countries. Instead of the small man of the Nineteenth century, who then seemed very big, it is the day of the big man of the Twentieth century, who now appears very small. This is due to the fact that our ideals, aims, and ambitions have all become inflated by the law of growth. We are in the position of a manufactory, the business of which has expanded beyond all anticipation, but which the managers, ignoring all the developments of steam and electricity, insist on carrying on by the antiquated methods of hand- power and the penny post. Not until we have had the wisdom to alter our methods and bring our system of management up to date, will there be peace or harmony, completion or stability, common sense or knowledge, in any of our important works or enterprises. We are still trying to govern this country of ours as if the conditions of the United Kingdom and her colonies of the Nineteenth century held good. We TWENTIETH-CENTURY TENDENCIES 23 do not grasp the one and all-important fact that the Twentieth century finds the British Empire stretching its mighty wings over the entire globe, and that these small islands of the Motherland must, in order to fulfil their real destiny, accept without hesitation their new r61e, and fit them- selves into becoming the axle of the vast wheel upon which turns our mighty Imperial machinery, the considerably strengthened diameter of a hugely enlarged circumference, and the heart of our colossal organism, whose business it is to nourish and enliven all outlying limbs and extremities. Instead of clinging conservatively to a past stage of development which is over ; which reached its culmination in Great Britain from 1870 to 1880, and which now has been outgrown, we should accom- modate ourselves to present conditions, and realize the change of dimensions dominating us hence- forward. It cannot be too often repeated that the atmo- sphere of the present day is one of huge enterprises, large endeavours, and vast constitutions ever tend- ing to become grander in degree and greater in magnitude. 24 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS The fact is worth noticing that except for one or two leading spirits, who have been able to keep pace with the times, the really comprehensive view of present-day affairs is found not amongst our " Most potent, grave and reverend seniors " or our prominent politicians, whose ideals and views naturally belong to the previous century which nurtured them, but amongst the younger and rising generation, who are far more in touch with present necessities, and are more sensitive to the beat of the pulses of to-day than their elders. The leaders in power, both here in the United Kingdom and in the far-away Dominions, are, for the most part, totally incognizant of the claims of our new century, because their views and characters were formed fifty years ago, and have not moved with the times, whereas the change of spirit and the wonderful development which has taken place during the last half- century is a striking and fundamental one. The ideal of countries or states fifty years ago was to aim at becoming a self-contained nation, and V'VRIATION OF NATIONAL IDEALS 25 tbey bast 1 their conception upon the most brilliant example before their eyes at that period — namely, England. But the United Kingdom is herself typical of the conversion of small states into larger ones that there might be an increase of power, for the clans in the north grew to be Scotland, and the heptarchy in the south grew to be England, and, with Wales and Ireland, they became Great Britain. If we look abroad to other European countries we find the same trend of operations. Germany passed through many weary years of storm and stress in order to realize her dream of a happy Fatherland. Italy struggled towards the same goal of national unity, from Tuscany and Lombardy in the north, to Naples and Sicily in the south, until their great man Cavour succeeded in setting a seal upon her ambitions. V>^herever we glance we see the same desires governing different races and at work under vary- ing conditions, but always tending in the same direction, unless decay drives them to do the opposite. 26 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS The last century, which was the culminating hour of national life, brought about the Unity of America. Unity of Germany. Unity of Austria-Hungary. Unity of Italy. Federation of Canadian States. The present century during its short span of being has witnessed already The Federation of the Australian States. The Federation of the South African States. Thus we notice that all movement is continuously towards the fusion and amalgamation of Dominions, and in the future we shall be shown an advance along the same lines ; but henceforth dealing with nations which shall combine together to create either Empires or Republics — which partake of an Imperial character in as far as their interests, responsibilities, and burdens are practically identical. It therefore behoves us more than ever to " learn to think imperially." If we cannot do this, we have not grasped what the present century demands of VARIATION OF NATIONAL IDEALS 27 us, for to-day independent nations are precluded from being amongst the giants of the earth. Their era was the Nineteenth century, and it is gone for ever. We, the British race, have developed through many stages occupying the space of a thousand years, ever pressing forward to our ultimate goal — that of a Colossal Empire ; and our children, in the shape of Canada and Australia, no longer have the possibility of choosing whether they will become independent nations or not. They have the opportunity of deciding between two other destinies. It is an important choice, and it must be made now. They can either continue to remain portions of the British Empire, and become her greatest supports and the fairest jewels in her diadem of nations, or they can be absorbed in other spheres of influence and become parts of different Empires or Republics. It is undoubtedly open to Canada to choose between the British Empire and the American Re- public, and the choice is no new one. Neither she nor Australia, nor New Zealand, nor 28 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS South Africa will ever be able to face the world of to-day unallied or unsupported, as a mere inde- pendent nation. Without the British Fleet behind them, their separate existence would not be main- tained for a twelvemonth. It is equally absurd for them to suggest remaining neutral when we were waging war, because the opposite case of our re- maining neutral when an enemy attacked them is quite out of the question : we must all give and take. If the various portions of our Empire do not adhere to each other and cement their unity with us, we shall in due course be driven apart, and, merely as a matter of existence, shall be gathered up into the fold of other forces. The Empire, remaining intact, is sufficiently strong to maintain its prestige, and by the unerring law of gravitation to attract other countries unto itself through being symbolical of strength. Numbers count and express power. We need only turn back a few pages of recent history to observe that immense progress and greatly increased prosperity have invariably followed the combination of interests of uniting states or the VARIATION OF NATIONAL IDEALS 29 federation of various kingdoms. In every instance the sinking of party interests to the welfare of the whole has been fraught with unexampled prosperity, followed by surpassing success, and has opened the way to unprecedented grandeur. We must ponder on these examples. Already, for the want of a broad-minded policy, we are in the anomalous position of having an alliance with the very Power which is, by her natural position in the East, of the greatest menace to two of our far-away daughters. The revision of the Japanese Treaty modifies this somewhat, but surely blood is thicker than wate:: ? The perfection of alliances would be those connecting us with our own kith and kin. Are we to continue to ignore their likes and dislikes, their difficulties and dangers, until the time arrives when our interests appear superficially to be diametrically opposed to theirs ? This has already happened in Canada with the Reciprocity Treaty. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who is a politician of the Nineteenth century, believes it to be for the ad- vantage commercially of his country, but nobody in the wide world considers it to be for the benefit of 30 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS the Empire ; and therefore, in reahty, it will not prove to be beneficial to Canada ultimately or fundamentally. President Taft himself declares it must be passed in order to undermine our Imperial power and prevent us from placing a band of strength like a girdle around the earth. He is statesman enough to see that we ought to do this. If we deal with questions bit by bit, in isolation, and piece by piece, independently, we shall obtain a very inferior result and a far more unfavourable condition to that which could be assured by build- ing with foresight, planning with combined effort, and consolidating with real unity of purpose. When nations deal with each other, there remains, after all has been said and done and dis- cussed, but ONE unchangeable law which dominates them recklessly, ruthlessly, and relentlessly. This law of nations always has been, always will be, and for ever shall remain the same, and it is that MIGHT IS RIGHT. This universal and unchanging law of countries is not of our making, and we may wish that things THE LAW OF NATIONS 31 were otherwise. We might desire that the whole world was ruled by a great longing for the conditions that insure peace — to wit, that everybody alive was supremely content with the existing order of affairs, and that nobody ever wanted what they had not got. Under such unforeseen circumstances peace might prevail, but to arrive at this blissful state of mind the whole category of laws relating to the growth and development of nations and of humanity would have to be changed. This proposition would be rather a large one, and there is absolutely no guarantee that the plan of Providence coincides with our wishes for peace. It would mean re- versing the engines of progress and instructing the machinery of the world to work backwards instead of forwards. No engineer would waste his time playing pranks upon his dynamo, and no nation will ever listen to peacemaking proposals when there is anything to be gained by making war. We can only look into the future by careful study of the past, and in the wonderful record of " What has been " we may, if we are wise, foresee " What will be." 32 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS History shows us that nations have ever followed " The good old rule, the simple plan, That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can." If your strength as a nation is greater than another's — you dictate terms. If you are the weaker — you accept them. Or, in other words, provided your right arm is strong enough to knock down your opponent, you may convince him by peaceful methods that your way is best (which, with the aid of diplomacy and tact, you can generally do), but if he is in any doubt as to whether his strength is greater or less than yours, there will invariably be a struggle, merely for the purpose of ascertaining where power exists. Nations are, after all, only composed of individuals, and the natural instincts which guide and prompt humanity will in all probability determine the course of action adopted by the conglomeration of people forming a nation. Therefore let us look to it that we are strong. Great strength is ever productive of peace. Weakness never. Let our power to back up our arguments by might THE LAW OF NATIONS 33 be above all discussion, and then our right to exert supreme influence will remain unquestioned and un- challenged. The means and methods of welfare have followed the inevitable law of development and the spirit of evolution governing the whole of our solar system, and have changed as much in their possibilities as the law of nations has changed not at all. And here be it mentioned that there is only one satisfactory method of being strong enough to mount guard over every ocean and over all the land which we possess, and that is by the co-operation of our daughter nations in the formation and maintenance of an Imperial navy and an Imperial army to under- take the gigantic task of defending our enormous possessions. Separate armies and separate navies will be ten times as costly and not one - twentieth part as efficacious as one huge system of defence, embracing every point of the compass where flies the British flag. It is a century of mammoth undertakings. Let us not violate its spirit, but yield to its influence in all the majesty and glory of its requirements. In the olden days our ancestors, the Britons, 3 34 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS sallied forth to slay with their bows and arrows, which mode of aggression has now been relegated to the level of a pleasant pastime for a summer's afternoon. Archery is a pretty art, but it is not war, and no longer can a warrior claim to be such for being able to sing : " I shot an arrow into the air ; It fell to earth, I knew not where." It is indeed a far cry from the time of bows and arrows to the day of Maxims and Dreadnoughts, but just as surely as the characteristics of the Twentieth century are the result of the forceful changes at work during the period of its prede- cessors, so are the Maxim and the Dreadnought the outcome, through many devolutions, of the bow and the arrow. By placing the twain together side by side, and omitting the intermediate stages of transi- tion, we may best perceive and realize the tremendous forces unceasingly and irresistibly at work to drive us ever onwards and forwards upon our voyage of discovery and evolution upon this planet called the Earth. Growth is the natural law of Mother Nature, and cannot be avoided. MODERN WARFARE 35 Decay and death are the only other alternatives she offers us. The desire to stand still, or remain at rest, or to select peaceful treaties of arbitration as a mod^us operandi signifies nothing at all, except that one will go to the wall and others will press forward to usurp the vacant place. The race is to the strong and virile, never to the indolent, the fat, or the lazy, and least of all to those who love luxury. The mere fact that men are doubtful whether they care to fight or not shows deterioration. But the methods of modern warfare are so changed that not only do we fight with Dreadnoughts instead of arrows, but we have even more up-to-date and far deadlier weapons to withstand. These weapons are resources which are more dangerous than barbed arrows or poisoned spears, and which are so novel that they have taken us un- awares, and stabbed us in the back before we have had time to recognize that they are indeed evil in effect and murderous in intention ; for we have hitherto regarded them as friends, and have collected as many of them as possible. 36 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS And where, it may be asked, do we find these baneful instruments of maUgn animosity, these dum- dum bullets of hydra-headed capacity, these slow- working and all-enveloping forces which disturb our personal peace, destroy our public equilibrium, and disintegrate our national legislation ? Like all real dangers, they will be found in the place where they are least expected. Put your hand in your pocket, my friend ; IT IS THERE, in the shape of THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR. These all-pervading coins hail from the West, and are, in the modernity of their corrupt use and in the diabolical inventions of their infernal abuse, the most terrific of all Twentieth-century weapons. The innocuous bow and arrow (1) was as an innocent infant, the grim Maxim gun (2) as a young lady of grace, and the destroying Dreadnought (3) as merely a capable man when judged by the scope of the disaster they were able to encompass in comparUon to the monstrous evil, the untold dis- tress, and the disastrous developments which can MODERN WARFARE 37 be brought about by the abuse of filthy lucre in its most virulent and poisonous forms. It can produce calamitous entanglements hundreds of miles away by simply lifting its finger ; it can gi'apple with inimical communities, squeezing their breath from out of their bodies by the grip of its iron fangs whilst five thousand miles distant ; it can mete out distinction to friend and destruction to foe without turning its head or stretching its limbs, and even when radiating from a different hemi- sphere. Here is a story of the (1) innocent baby type, warranted not to harm. In an important manufacturing centre of the North of England lived two families ; one " had made itself" and the other was "on the make." The Z.'s, owing to great attention to business and some engineering propensities, had, from " nothing in particular," arrived at great comfort and well- being. They were typically nouveaux riches, with all the attendant attributes. Of the second family, Mr. X. was a wizened-up little man, who had had bad times, worked very hard, and also came from " nowhere in particular." He was eaten up by 1159^3 38 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS ambition, and meant to rise at all hazards in this world before he went to the next. One evening a big ball took place, and Mr. X., with some difficulty, squeezed himself in, and was amply rewarded by being requested to conduct Mrs. Z. to supper. Here indeed was a triumph for him ; but, alas ! the lady viewed the matter in a diiferent light, and gave her poor partner such a bad time with snub- bing and drubbing that in the end he gnashed with his teeth and said, " I'll make her pay for this !" Mrs. Z. was so large, so prosperous, so bedecked with diamonds, while Mr. X. was so small, so wizened, and so insignificant, that the contest looked an uneven one ; but he took a holiday in America and there learnt new methods. He har- boured his resources ; she spent hers. He strained every nerve to one end ; she grew obese. Time passed, until one day the Z.'s woke up to find themselves and their affairs lying in the hollow of Mr. X.'s hand. He could have ruined them ; he preferred to have the honour of buying them up, and asking the men of the Z. family to work under him. There was no bloodshed, only a jingling of coins ; but it was a fight to the finish. Two of the MODERN WARFARE 39 members of the Z.'s died of mortal diseases brought on by mental worry, the third emigrated, and the sole remaining representative of a once influential family (if I remember aright) entered the army, choosing a profession which promised greater peace of mind, if not of body. The amount of pressure brought to bear upon recent events by the potentialities of the Almighty Dollar must be carefully studied to be believed. Another instance may be quoted as exemplification of the second degree of strength it can take (2) — say that of grim Maxim guns. If we turn to the land of the Rising Sun, we find a sturdy island race attacking a mammoth European Power in order to gain further territories to feed its teeming multitudes, and conducting operations with dignity and skill throughout the conflict. And just at the moment when she is victorious, when the Russian Fleet has been annihilated, when her aspirations could be realized and expansion gained, a decree is issued which puts an end to the war, just as surely as if a long row of Maxim guns boomed out, " Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther." 40 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS The determining factor which brought the con- clusion of the Kusso- Japanese struggle was not that Russia had been defeated or that Japan was successful, but the very convincing and cogent reason that her war-chests were empty, her credit already sufficiently pledged, and the overwhelming conviction that any additional sinews of war were unattainable. In this case the Almighty Dollar, instead of provoking conflict, rather dictated terms of peace, exactly as the goal (which was the appropriation of Korea) was in sight. The Japanese bided their time, and have lately quietly and unostentatiously grasped their spoils of war in the annexation of Korea (after repeatedly denying their intentions of so doing) without further expenditure of life or lucre, and that they have been allowed to do this is due to the law governing nations that MIGHT IS RIGHT. Now for the remaining example of war (3) that will be fought to the time and temper of the third degree — namely, that of Dreadnoughts — although waged by the invisible, unrecognized meaus of finance. MODERN WARFARE 41 To find this we may go West, to the United States, and Canada. They are engaged upon dis- cussing a Commercial Treaty, called the Reciprocity Treaty, but in reality it is a feat of arms to gain supremacy without any bloody feuds, but typical of modern warfare as it takes us unawares. It is idle to think that there is any possibility of truly sound, mutual reciprocity between a popula- tion of ninety millions and that of nine millions. The best condition for the continuance of friend- ship, affection, or comradeship is that of equality, and one might as well attempt to be friends with a pigmy, one-tenth one's own size, as for there to be any chance of real reciprocity between such dispro- portionate numbers. Again, it is urged that close proximity induces friendship and union. But it is not necessarily so. Great strength is undoubtedly a magnet that excites attraction, but mere neighbourhood pro- vokes enmity far more frequently than it produces friendship. Were France and Germany friends ? Were Russia and Japan friends ? But they were neighbours, cheek by jowl. 42 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS Any two persons, states, or nations, desirous of exactly the same things, are rivals ; and we all know that there can be no true friendship where there is rivalry or jealousy. Again, it is intimated that union from the North to the South is more in keeping with natural ten- dencies than union from East to West. History proves the contrary. Oddly enough, where expansion, emigration, or change of peoples, races, or stocks has taken place in the history of the past, the rule of the road of all great movements has invariably been from East to West, even from the very beginning, when our fore- bears, the Aryan stock, swept westwards from Central Asia. Numberless successors have followed suit, so that we may with reason consider the correct lines of expansion to be from East to West, and not from South to North. Railways have a habit of developing in the direc- tion of and along the waterbeds of rivers, and it is not for nothing that the great trans-continental railways of Canada run from East to West and West to East. For the rivers flow thus. CONQUEST BY PURCHASE 43 This same rule of the road may be observed in the formation of cities, where it is ten chances to one that the main thoroughfares, which are thronged with crowds and filled with vibrating movement ; those which find popularity with the well-to-do ; those where the ground rents and leases steadily increase in value, and those which enjoy the greatest favour for shopping, commerce, or promenade, lie ever in this same direction of East and West. In vain have Londoners built a fine new street running North and South, and called it Kingsway. It remains comparatively neglected. There are crowds in Piccadilly, the Strand, Oxford Street, Knightsbridge, and many other arteries which follow the course of the sun, and which must there- fore be running in the natural direction. Those who take hints from Nature are wise in their generation. A great orator has proclaimed his undying admira- tion for a magic boundary of the length of 4,000 miles with never a flanking bodyguard or an armed fortress to uphold it. He does not see the trend of modern warfare in the West, which is to buy up the resources of the country steadily and surely 44 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS until the boundary is non-existent, wafted away by cunning magicians in the black arts of necromancy. Americans want reciprocity with Canada in order to obtain control of her wheat supply, and in so doing to draw away trade from Canadian ports to American ports ; also as an outlet for their capital, which they would prefer to be able to invest in new American factories, industries, and projects, instead of as at present in Canadian undertakings ; and finally they wish for it so that they may grip Canada in a vice, and at such close quarters of financial dependency that they can either squeeze her as dry as a sponge or entirely absorb her. All these excellent pleas for reciprocity are so many very forcible reasons militating against it. Where would freedom of action, liberty of speech, or independence of religion be ? Already the Almighty Dollar is being hurled into Canada in all its iniquity to buy votes, to canvass commerce, and to persuade the leaders of commerce by unrighteous means, and to bring ruin upon the loyalists of the Dominion. In past years there have been in Canada bloody battles to withstand America's aggression, and to CONQUEST BY PURCHASE 45 save all that was dear to her inhabitants by repel- ling the neighbouring foe. To-day the war waged is even fiercer in intensity than formerly, but the bullets will be dollars, and the cannons huge trusts, and the arch-enemy enor- mous vested interests. Would it not be a thousand times better to develop the country slowly and naturally with British capital, which has already made the railways, the canals, and the buildings, and the chief wealth of the nation, and which helps Canadians to live, than with Ameri- can dollars, which will strangle independence and assist them to die ? The Nineteenth-century ideal that Canada can become a separate unit as an independent nation is an absolutely mistaken one, and belongs to a past era. She will be obliged to adopt Twentieth-century tactics and become a much more important member of the British Empire than she has hitherto been, or be absorbed in the Bepublic of the United States — and her decision will have to be formed shortly. Truly the influence wielded by these modern weapons, consisting of corrupt ideals and mate- 46 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS rialized lucre, is a malign and mischievous one, which must be regarded as rankly poisonous. It would appear as if the difficulty experienced by a wealthy man of trying to obtain admittance through the needle's eye is only an echo of the difficulty of a very rich nation trying to become really instrumental in the path of progress. So rotten do they grow at core, that they stand every chance of youthful decay setting in before ever having attained any supremacy that is of an enduring character, of an elevating quality, or of a beneficial influence in the world. Foul means of this description will eventually be overcome by the legitimate methods of ordinary warfare, and the barbarity of the abuse of filthy lucre be overridden by the moral qualities appertain- ing to forces of greater sanity. The ethics of finance, being of a very vast and comprehensive nature, cannot be adequately dealt with here, but, surely, no more interesting problem survives to occupy the human intellect. It may perhaps be serviceable to distinguish between right and wrong methods, the legitimate and illegitimate uses, and the just and the oppressive forces, all of CONQUEST BY PURCHASE 47 which lead up, directly or indirectly, to the pro- motion of wealth and well-being or to the exercise and encouragement of evil. Money is the very best servant and the very worst master known to mankind. As long as it is kept in a subservient position its influence is good, its uses beneficial, and its character irreproachable, but once it is elevated to the rank of a superior we can observe on all sides the iniquity of its behaviour, the tyranny of its grasp, and the curse of its sway. In order to reach its full significance it must remain under wise control, it must serve and obey, it must exist for the welfare of humanity, and not for its destruction. And this is the point where mistakes are apt to creep in upon us. " Men with each other vie, Amassing coin, but faces grim belie Their golden dross, for sordid, ill-gained pelf, The Means towards End becomes the End itself, And loses virtuous character thereby." Having glanced at the abuse of wealth through dishonesty, corruption, and "graft," we may now turn our attention to another rich country, and see 48 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS the form of errors arising from carelessness, extrava- gance, and sloth. The former madness is injurious all round ; the latter is baneful to the nation itself. It may be urged that too much time is spent writing about finance, and that it betokens a money- grubbing instinct which is derogatory to character and unwholesome in influence, seeing that two letters were addressed to taxpayers in my last volume, and that the same subject is approached here. To balance this complaint I would plead that when we have all discovered the happy Elysium wherein we may dwell, without owning possessions of any sort or kind, it will be a suitable time to give up considerations of " ways and means," but until that pleasant Utopia arrives, it behoves us all to give our very serious attention to those same exasperating exigencies of existence. Often I have pondered upon the curious manner in which human life engenders expense in any state of civilization. The higher the civilization the greater the ex- pense. FINANCIAL CHAOS 49 From its very outset human life necessitates a doctor, a nurse, and other paraphernaHa, all of which cost money, and all of which are advisable if the new life and the old one are to have a fair chance. I have even taken the trouble to reduce my own life to a tabulated form of currency, and have invariably been driven to the unwelcome con- clusion that human existence is a very expensive aifair, but that it alone can be so productive as to create wealth for all its necessities. Thus it is quite essential to gain some under- standing upon this important question of wealth and well-being, which will assist us very greatly if discussed without prejudice. Neither the ethics of finance, nor the study of political economy, nor thoughts upon ways and means, are base or degrading in themselves ; on the contrary, if considered rightly, fairly, and squarely, they are helpful and elevating ; it is only the mis- taken point of view which is apt to be misleading. Probably it will be conceded that during the last century the United Kingdom has had, on the whole, the greatest amount of business to transact of any nation in the world. 4 50 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS The Clearing House of the City of London grapples successfully with a volume of transactions per day which would paralyze any other financial circle. Our Metropolis has at the present time so great a variety of wares and goods sent her, and holds such a recognized supremacy in markets of every descrip- tion, that she must rank as the greatest mart the world has yet seen. She is facile princeps as a trading centre. Our individual and private business aifairs are no less wonderful than the variety and complexity of the many undertakings of our huge Metropolis. They are conducted with care, prudence, and experience. Thirty years ago our business men had become perhaps somewhat careless through prosperity ; to- day the handicap of Free Trade is so tremendous that they have been forced to reconsider every possibility of husbanding their resources and of keeping pace with the newest machinery and appliances (and even then cannot prosper well with such handicaps), so that our best workshops are thoroughly up-to-date and our manufacturers travel around the globe to see things for themselves. FINANCIAL CHAOS 51 They are not perhaps quite as thorough or economical as the Germans, neither are they so industrious or so cunning as the Americans, but they are the fairest, most upright, and the straightest people in the realms of business to- day. Again, if Great Britain undertakes to govern another country, she forthwith institutes financial reforms, sets her foot sternly upon peculation, intro- duces honesty and integrity in public concerns, until a bankrupt country becomes self-supporting and flourishing. To quote only one instance, let us remember what English rule has done for Egypt, due to the great work of Lord Cromer ; it is typical of what we have accomplished in many countries, and of the manner in which we put our shoulders to the wheel when we find ourselves in posts of responsibility in other climes. Thus, we see that in our own private and individual arrangements ; that in our great Metropolis the multitudinous affairs of which are carried on by thousands of honest workers year in, year out ; and that in any position of trust where we may be placed 52 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS for the public benefit of other countries, we are entitled under all these conditions to be considered worthy descendants of those ancient knights-errant who were sans peur et sans reproche. Our honesty and justice have become household words, all the world over, and are the foundation upon which our power has been built. But, alas ! we must now reverse our shield and look at the other side, and instead of depicting to you another picture in glowing terms, a very different scheme of colouring will be noticed — one that is fraught with greys and blacks and hideously dirty shades : a vision where honesty is replaced by robbery, where experience is shelved and ignorance predominates, where the Briton's birthright of justice is sold to the politicians who have dragged it in the mire for a quarter of a century. Let us choose at random a couple of well-known business affairs, and look at their management and construction. Hundreds of similar concerns exist in Great Britain, and might equally well be selected to show good methods, but these will suffice. FINANCIAL CHAOS 53 I. An Industry. Messrs. J. and P. Coats, Limited, cotton manufacturers. Total capital £10,513,542 Net profit 3,152,186 Dividend paid, 7s. per year per share (1910). Price of Shares. 1908. 1911. £%l ... £12 (+ 3i points). The management is undertaken by seventeen Directors, all chosen for their sound business ability and wide experience in trade. II. A Kailway. Great Western Kailway Company. Total capital £124,874,615 Net receipts 3,244,635 Dividend paid, 6f per cent, per annum (1910). Price of Shares. 1908. 1911. £139 £145 (+ 6 points). 54 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS The management is undertaken by twenty Direc- tors, all chosen for their undoubted integrity, busi- ness experience, and influential position. A National Affair. Total capital in Consols ... £573,739,142 Revenue, 1910 (circa) ... 180,000,000 Dividend paid, 2 J per cent, or 3 per cent, at present quotation. Price of Consols. 1908. 1911. £89 £79* (-10 points). The management left entirely to one Chancellor. Chosen for his undoubted powers of speech. Previous experience of finance or business — none. Reputation — irresponsible. Welsh solicitor. Verily, we have a competent Treasurer to keep the nation's treasure in the Imperial treasury ! Moreover, we even consider ourselves business- like ! Folly can go no farther. It is the limit. Of course, there is the Cabinet to keep an eye on our affairs ; but as each member of this august body * This price to-day, probably lower shortly. FINANCIAL CHAOS 55 has his own department, managed on the same absurd system, which gives him more work than he can possibly accomplish, it must be conceded that in the majority of cases where there is diversion of opinion, the heads of each branch carry the day. We have also the permanent officials of the treasury who manage the routine work, frame estimates, and who really do possess experience ; but it remains optional for the Chancellor to profit by their advice or to disregard it. If any business had a chairman who saw his stock tumble ten points in three years, to the tune of £57,000,000 sterling, and who took a half-point off the same stock whenever he tried to " explain the situation," he would be kicked out of the chair pre- cipitately and dismissed with the order of the boot. If to this small item of £60,000,000 odd we add the sum of the universal decline in all gilt-edged securities which has taken place during the same three years, and which is entirely due to the descent of our national security, we shaU arrive at the real total and colossal amount of wealth lost to our country. All this substance wasted, all this money squan- 56 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS dered, all this power thrown away, comes out of your savings, my friends. And why ? For the absurdly simple reason that Taffy has never learnt the elementary rule of arithmetic, that you cannot eat your cake and keep it. He is so busy eating cake and passing the plate around that all purses are empty. Be it said that, although the British workman is befooled to the top of his bent by presents from the Radical Government, even he is beginning to hazard a very shrewd guess that the same benefits come out of his own pocket in the end, which is, of course, the truth ; and therefore he is beginning to look gift- horses much more seriously in the mouth, and to hesitate about accepting them, and this shows dis- cretion. When shall we be able to teach our workers that unless the Nation as a whole is prospering and managed by up-to-date methods, disastrous effects must in time fall upon the less wealthy members of the Nation, even more than the well-to-do? How can we teach them to realize that the prosperity of the individual depends on the prosperity of the FINANCIAL \ CHAOS 57 whole, and that strength of armaments, soundness of finance, and straightforwardness of policy are the sole means of bringing occupation and happiness to the mass of the people ? There are several minor causes for the stupendous drop in Consols, but here are the two chief explana- tions : 1. The main factor is undoubtedly the extremely high taxation of to-day ; if all resources are spent as income, capital necessarily becomes a spectre of its former self. 2. The other reason is our absurdly antiquated system of conducting the public finances of the kingdom. It would be more suitable to a third-rate shop in a provincial town than to the Imperial treasury in the Twentieth century. Make a change in these two causes, and Consols will recover themselves ; but continue with present legislation, and they will descend farther to yet more abysmal depths. A small Board of Experts would soon improve matters. Also please observe that our dexterous helmsman has had everything in his favour — fair winds and 58 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS most propitious weather. Not a ripple of a war- scare to upset his craft, but a boom in trade to inflate his sails, and all conditions absolutely of a roseate hue upon the horizon. Yet with taxation on a war-footing in time of profound peace, not a penny has been remitted from our great burdens — not a single retrenchment has been suggested, thrift is unknown, prudence discarded. Being on the absolute crest of the financial wave, he puts nothing aside for the furrow which will assuredly follow ; he takes no thought for future probabilities, but he creates greater liabilities for the State, and hands round cake ad lib. to purchase more votes. Could anything be more monstrous or iniquitous ? It is unfair, unjust, and positively iniquitous that the income - tax, which has avowedly been acknowledged over and over again to be a war tax, to be used increasingly in time of conflict and sparingly in years of peace, should be maintained upon its present warlike footing in an era of pro- found tranquillity. The first measure which claims the attention of any honest Chancellor is the remission of at least FINANCIAL CHAOS 59 threepence off this burdensome and aggressive mode of collecting revenue, for if the sinews of war are exhausted in times of peace, where is the necessary- muscle, in the shape of " wherewithal," when struggles arise ? Instead of inaugurating any additional expen- diture, or crushing the country with further liabilities (however desirable in themselves), it is imperative to surrender property which can no longer be claimed by the State with any shadow of justice, seeing that the reason for this irritating form of taxation departed with the end of the South African War. Honesty is the best policy, and by far the wisest one in the long run, and this primary virtue of the British is shocked and outraged by the present dis- honest tactics, which savour too much of corruption. If we allow our Government to become corrupt at the core, our national credit is seriously injured and our upright character impaired. " If I lose my honour, I lose myself." Moreover, a high income-tax conduces immensely to the unemployment of domestic servants, clerks, 60' .^^^^THE PARTING OF THE WAYS agents, and all other salaried wage-earners, as when a whole class is wilfully wronged it is obliged to protect itself by inflicting unintentional hardship on the classes beneath it. The injustice to that patient sufferer, the middle-class of England, which has been her backbone for generations, must be redressed before we can conscientiously spend money on the Insurance Bill or any other new undertaking. Presumably we all wish to see the national health improved, but we may differ as to the best means of accomplishing this, and there are at least two possible ways before us. In my youth I had a great many doctors and no health ; I now have excellent health and no doctors. This happy change has been brought about by the study of physical rules and adherence to the simple laws of Nature ; and the results have been miraculous, the improvement extraordinary, and the benefit to myself immense. It has brought me a new heaven and a new earth ! Thus, if, instead of supplying our populace with unlimited medical attendance, we could provide MIDNIGHT 131 them with such improved constitutions that thej'^ would never need a large proportion of the proposed physic or physicians, we should be conferring an even greater boon and blessing upon them, in the shape of presenting them with a new lease of life. We could immensely improve the national health by having a national army, and in this simple manner should enrich the State instead of impoverishing it, and should augment the people's physical status instead of doctoring it by physic. The benefit obtained by well-conducted physical drill, exercises and discipline, on the growing youth and manhood of the nation, would be enormous, ph5^sically and morally. Men who had had no previous experience of cleanliness, discipline, and self-respect, would develop all these qualities, and become far happier, stronger, more useful citizens than previously ; and all this improvement could take place within a few months of well-directed, well-organized, and well-fed training. The individual characters, constitutions, and general health of the men would benefit immensely, and through the manhood of the nation all future generations would profit. If, also, instead of building sanatoria for consump- 62 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS tives, we were to insist upon the proper seclusion of all our feeble-minded and mentally defective population, who would thus gain considerate care and kindly shelter, the criminal classes, the paupers, and the vast army of unemployables would from this time forward and from this wise beginning show decreases instead of constant increases, and save the State very great expense in the maintenance of law and order, police and prisons. These two strokes would be far more beneficial than any possible results of the Insurance Bill as it now stands. We shall only have to wait until bad times set in after the good ones, till lean years follow the fat ones, till the revenue shrinks instead of swelling, to enable us to realize how precarious, unsound, and unprincipled is the Budget of 1911 (no less than that of 1909), and how easily we may find ourselves in the throes of a severe panic. So be it ! We are such dunderheaded idiots that it may take nothing short of an earthquake to convince us that a highwayman is not a suitable person to be entrusted with the national treasure-box, and that the responsibility is far too tremendous and too MIDNIGHT 63 onerous to be undertaken any longer single-handed by an amateur ; rather does the subject demand the close attention of a small Board of Experts. Every^w^here throughout the universe we have seen the law of growth, the development of schemes, the reconstruction of organizations commensurate with their progress ; only at the headquarters of our Government departments is no change to be found, no readjustment observed, no rational improvements carried out in administrative affairs. The Ship of State has become as antediluvian in constitution as the patriarch Noah's ark ; it is totally inadequate to deal with our vastly extended responsibilities, our immensely additional burdens, or our hugely increased endeavours ; but instead of making fundamental alterations, our helmsmen battle with the elements surrounding them, in unthink- able folly, with nothing more advantageous than the antique resources of a hundred years ago, and without condescending to adopt up-to-date machinery. It signifies only slightly which party may be in power ; it is the system which requires modifying, and, as long as such prehistoric methods prevail, 64 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS our sanity as a nation is open to grave doubt, and our wealth and welfare will remain seriously jeopar- dized. We are living cheerfully upon the edge of a precipice. The day of the one-man-show belongs to the last century ; we chance to live in this one, which demands larger conceptions, better qualifications, and greater administrators. Even if we cannot agree upon the measures which will ultimately be necessary, and even if we cannot hit perfection all at once, we can at least introduce a few transitional stages of reform, which would be extremely beneficial. Where, then, is our small Board of Directors for the Crown Colonies, with its Chairman as Colonial Secretary ? Where, then, is our Board of the Dominions, with some seats filled with their representatives, and with its Chairman as Imperial Secretary ? Where is our Imperial Navy ? Our National Army? Where, indeed, is any modern machinery for the wise direction of our great Empire ? Everywhere we grope we are confronted with MIDNIGHT 65, impenetrable gloom, with dense darkness, with mid- night. " Watchman, will the night soon pass 1" Not as long as we allow the real issues before us to be obscured by bribery and corruption offered by unscrupulous politicians, who have forgotten that the country deputed them to govern well and wisely, and w^ho are oblivious that they have sworn allegiance to His Majesty the King, but who, in spite of their solemn oath, are bent upon the de- struction of all that is sacred to an Englishman, and who try to remain in office, whatever the cost of perjuring themselves, by bartering away a portion of our possessions, in order to enjoy a scandalous majority in the two Houses. Not as long as we are content to be governed by members of the legal profession who, by the very nature of their calling, are in the habit of seeing black white, and who are constantly subordinating their conscientious convictions to pecuniary profit, and who, therefore, have their honour dulled, and their perceptions damaged, in their desire to win their cases, whether they are just and proper ones, or the reverse. 5 66 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS Not as long as we tolerate a lower sense of duty among our Members of the House of Commons and political leaders than would be countenanced in any other public body of men. For instance, do politicians compare favourably with our police force in their standards of serving the community, and in the righteousness and integrity of their behaviour in public causes ? The level is of an extremely inferior quality, and altogether more despicable than that which is given to the service of the country elsewhere. " Watchman, will the night soon pass ?" Not as long as the sound common sense, the love of law and order, and the innate honesty of the British people, slumber peacefully, without concern for the grave crisis at hand, little realizing that the hour is striking when they should make a bold stand for their liberty, freedom, and continued prosperity. Not as long as those amongst us who could well afford to devote their strength and energies to helping the cause of Right and Reason are too occupied with their own self-centred pursuits to join in decided patriotic action of the necessary sort. THE CORONATION 67 Not as long as we, as a nation, cling to the aims and ambitions of the Nineteenth century in all its past glory and grandeur, without seizing the dominant fact, that it is imperative to tread the paths of pro- gress, and to adapt ourselves and our ideas to the new circumstances, varied forms, and different de- mands made upon us by another century, which will ultimately outshine and eclipse its predecessor in splendour and magnificence. "Watchman, will the night soon pass?" The poet tells us that " There is a budding morrow in midnight." May we all be ready to welcome the breaking of the dawn when it arrives. Perhaps this budding morrow has been heralded by the moving spectacles which have been witnessed in the special Coronation pageants. For weeks beforehand we, as a nation, had been planning, arranging, and spending, in order that each one of us might fulfil om* appointed task, whether it were Duke, or constable, or the man in the street. 68 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS We had determined previously that this year, at any rate, we would open our doors to our kindred beyond the seas, and would offer them of our best, regardless of effort or expense. Flowers were to be pressed into the service, new clothes worn, trades- people encouraged, and hospitality to reach its culminating point, all with the happiest of results. Our brethren have been welcomed with open arms, and have grasped us by the hand with fervour. We found that we liked each other ; our hearts are nearer together, and our opinions of each other im- proved by closer intercourse and warmer sympathy. Does all this mean nothing ? No! It means that at the bottom of our hearts we wish to cement friendship and improve ties and uphold the best traditions of our vast Empire. Consider, also, the extraordinary display of loyalty and admiration of the thousands and tens of thou- sands who have had the satisfaction of greeting their Sovereigns in one or other of the numerous royal ceremonies or functions. Many had been in position all night in order to see their Monarch face to face ; many more had THE CORONATION 69 forgone their repasts so that they might station themselves in a good post where they could hail him as he passed. One and all seemed to be largely imbued with a spirit of patriotism, fortitude, and patience not easily forgotten. There was nothing unseemly, rude, or false. Where else could such orderly, loyal, well-conducted crowds be seen except in the British Empire ? And did it all mean nothing ? No — a thousand times, no ! It meant that the people of this realm love, admire, and respect their rulers, that they desire to maintain the Crown in its full grandeur and glory, and that it is a monarchy which fulfils their ideals, permeates their lives, and suffuses their existences with rays of hope and sympathy which would not otherwise be present. They love the King and Queen. By the side of all this splendour of State, glory of tradition, and grandeur of achievement, a republic would appear poor, mean, and sordid. *' We associate with the monarchy the ideas which it represents — the majesty of law, the administration of justice, the fountain of mercy and of honour. We 70 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS know that in the estates of the reakn and the privi- leges they enjoy is the best security for pubhc liberty and good government." So spake Lord Beaconsfield in 1872, and it holds good to-day. The British public are not anarchists, socialists, or revolutionaries ; only their so-called political leaders are these things. When their long hours of patient waiting were over, how did this marvellous people behave ? Did they fight, slay, or kill ? Not they ! The business of the day being over, they quickly dispersed in the greatest good order, as patiently, as full of dignity, and as good-temperedly as they had come. Only the crowds of a country which had *' the sublime instincts of an ancient people" could con- duct themselves so admirably. Where, then, is the revolution ? Only in the hearts of our party politicians and in the breasts of the wirepullers. Our greatest foes and our arch-enemies, my friends, are the traitors that are within our gates, the wolves we nourish within the fold, who could create disorder PEACE AND GOODWILL 71 out of order, revolution out of peace, and turmoil out of welfare. Are you going to allow such treachery ? Open your eyes and look whither they would conduct you, to which goal they are leading you, and which way they would invite you to take. They have already ruined many homes (through the failure of banks), have rendered property valueless and land unsaleable ; they have already meted out so much disaster that it is bound in any case to take time to heal the wounds. But halt, pause, consider, before you are further dragged towards the abyss. Let us turn our backs on the midnight and welcome the dawn with enthusiasm. It would be so simple to go forward to meet it. We have only to encourage the resources at our command, to harness the desires and tendencies already apparent, and persuade them to turn in the direction of progress, right, and reason, instead of running riot over the land. Then the dawn will be here. What were the characteristics of the present decade as diagnosed a few pages back ? 72 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 1. Great expectations from the State. 2. Purchase of conscience by various means. 3. Love of change. 1. Very good. By all means let us encourage expectations from the State ; but instead of personal increment, titles, or emoluments, let us once more be free, upright, independent folk, and turn our expectations to making the State become cognizant of present demands, improve itself so that it may more successfully cope with its greatly enhanced responsibilities, and become a State we can look up to with pride. 2. This is the most unfavourable feature of the day, and we must set our faces steadily against being offered any manner of means that deflect us from the course of honesty, either in the shape of salaries, gifts, doles, titles, or official posts. Let us not put our souls in the melting-pot ; there is sufficient therein already. Avoid the baneful influences of the Almighty Dollar as you would the plague, but harbour and husband money as a servitor. 3. Love of change. Instead of restlessly roaming to and fro without aim or object, let us travel over PEDIGREE STOCK 73 the possessions belonging to our Empire, and see the different portions of it at first hand. If we do not return wiser and prouder and more hopeful patriots, we shall have travelled with eyes that have not seen and with ears that did not hear. But this would not be the case, for the British race still possesses all the qualities, all the energy, and all the character that has made it what it is. Only our politicians are astray, hopelessly astray. We have been pausing during the last twenty years because the atmosphere has changed from a national one to an Imperial one, and we have not yet grasped the full significance of this development or accommodated ourselves to it, but it is my firm conviction that it is merely a phase which will lead to further power. " Reculer pour mieux sauter." We are born to responsibility, and it is our duty to retain and undertake it, no less than our pride and pleasure. The Anglo-Saxon race, or the people of Great Britain, originally emerged from a fusion of the Romans, who were empire builders ; of the Normans, 74 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS who were conquerors ; of the Danes, who were Vikings and rulers of the sea ; and of the Britons (who shot their bows and arrows straightly), with dashes of Teutonic elements. The hereditary instincts of these magnificent races have been in our veins for 800 years, and a combination of their qualities dominates us now. There have been no other disturbing influences brought here, by any conquest of our island ever since, to ruin the blend. Is it, therefore, any wonder that the British can rule the waves, that they possess qualities of leader- ship unknown in other peoples, and that their superabundant energies found nations and govern dependencies all over the globe ? No better stock could possibly have been devised for holding the earth, even if selected with pre- meditation. Their code of honour and justice is the highest that has ever existed, their powers of governing are respected universally, and their inherited love of freedom and sound common sense have been amongst the greater agents for the civilization of the world. If only as a matter of duty, we must maintain POWER IN TRUST 75 supremacy, as it is undoubtedly for the welfare of the whole universe, and for its peace and prosperity. Think of the conflict, the strife, and the appalling oppression which would prevail if ever the power fell into other hands. The Belgians in the Congo, the Americans in the Philippines, are both very different forms of the same thing — namely, inability to govern alien races. " Chien de chasse, chasse de race." The futile antics of party politics struggling against these unyielding natural laws appear to be similar merely to the ill-advised behaviour of obstreperous children. But they may bring ruin upon us as they encourage other Powers to take liberties and encroach on our rights. Any race which wishes to dominate in the future must inevitably conform to the tendencies which govern the globe, and place itself in harmony with unchangeable influences, and the greater its power of flux and change with the incoming tide, the more it will become the fittest to survive. It is because the energies of the Anglo-Saxons lie in the direction of nation building that they have 76 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS succeeded so admirably in peopling a vast portion of the earth and in dominating it. As long as we continue to follow the inexorable laws of growth, we can command the future ; but the day we, as a country, or as a race, or as a Party Government, look back and spend the time retracing the steps which have cost us so dearly in heroes and lives, we shall become a pillar of salt, as did Lot's wife. We must go forward and march abreast of the Twentieth century, or we are lost, and another Empire will become supreme for the retrogression of mankind. Many human-made commands may be broken with- out dire results, but the laws of Mother Earth and Mother Nature can never be treated without re- spect, or without paying the penalty for disobedience, either by individuals, peoples, nations, or Empires. But beware of mongrels and mongrel races ; their instincts are low, their ideals material, and their capabilities of an inferior order. " All Empire is no more than power in trust." We have been entrusted with the care of the British Empire, and our first duty is to strengthen and consolidate it, so that it may remain for all time in power, in wisdom, and in just responsibility. A FUTURE DAWN 77 Just as the Eighteenth century was taken up by struggles for the " rights of man," and the Nine- teenth century saw the growth and consummation in the life of nations, so it is inevitable that the Twentieth century will be occupied by the consolida- tion and struggle for the supremacy of empires. Efforts towards supremacy amongst the three races composing these empires are already visibly perceptible, and a struggle may take place any day. This irresistible march of events will hasten onward, whether we join in it with courageous hearts, or whether we hang back and are left behind through our own ignorance. How much grander it would be to keep pace with present-century requirements, to fall cheerfully into step with her martial music, and to win a glorious race amongst competitors by a sustained and reasoned effort ! The dreamer may see visions of the promised lands, the philosopher may point out the best road to lead to them, but ultimately it rests with you, the men and women of the United Kingdom and of all portions of the British Empire, to join in a cam- paign which shall prove conducive to the framing of 78 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS wise legislation for the preservation of our posses- sions and the maintenance of our responsibilities. These come to us as a heritage from our ancestors, to be held in trust as a hostage for the welfare of the world, and to be handed down to our successors as an Imperial responsibility of sacred power for the promotion of peace. Strength commands peace, weakness never. In Terra Pax Hominibus. The author desires to express acknowledgments to the following authors for their books of reference : The Expansion of England The Map of Life . Great and Greater Britain Imperial Federation Round the Empire Industrial Efficiency The Valor of Ignorance England and the English Land Reform The Wheel of Wealth . Our Navy for A Thousand Years Foundations of the Nineteenth Sir John Seeley. W. E. H. Lecky. Ellis Barker. Dr. G. Parkin. Dr. G. Parkin. Dr. Arthur Shadwell. Homer Lea. Price Collier. The Rt. Hon. Jesse Collings. J. B. Crozier. Admiral Sir S. Eardley-Wilmot. Century Houston Chamberlain. and others. BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTBRS, GUILDFORD ej This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 4 ^V3^•uvll^uff/^ 5 -n CJ S ^ ^(?Aavaan# 3 ' ^ ^lllBRARYQr^ ^tllBRARYQ^ ^OFCAlIFOftij, .H;OFCAIIFO% mmmis/A %3AINfl-3ViV** ^^OJITVJJO'^ ^^JOJIIVJJO'?' 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