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Title: Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India - Reissued for use in the United Kingdom
Author: Mackinder, Halford John
Language: English
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SEVEN LECTURES
ON THE
UNITED KINGDOM
FOR USE IN
INDIA.
_Reissued for use in the United Kingdom._
BY
H. J. MACKINDER,
_Lately Director of the London School of Economics and Political
Science: Author of “Britain and the British Seas.”_
With Lantern Illustrations.
_ONE SHILLING NET._
PUBLISHED FOR THE VISUAL INSTRUCTION COMMITTEE
OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE,
BY
WATERLOW & SONS LIMITED, PRINTERS, LONDON WALL.
1909.
The Slides to accompany these Lectures are sold on behalf of the
Committee by Messrs. Newton & Co., of 3, Fleet Street, London, E.C.,
from whom the books of lectures can also be obtained. The complete
set of 377 Slides, many of them coloured, may be had for £35. 0s.
0d. The Slides to accompany the several Lectures will be sold at the
following prices: First Lecture, £6. 0s. 0d.; Second Lecture, £5.
15s. 0d.; Third Lecture, £4. 15s. 0d.; Fourth Lecture, £2. 15s. 0d.;
Fifth Lecture, £10. 15s. 0d.; Sixth Lecture, £3. 0s. 0d.; Seventh
Lecture, £4. 0s. 0d. Single Slides will not be sold.
* * * * *
Many of the slides in this series are copyright.
_ENTERED AT STATIONERS’ HALL._
THE VISUAL INSTRUCTION COMMITTEE,
APPOINTED BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR
THE COLONIES.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF MEATH, K.P., Chairman.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH, G.C.M.G.
SIR PHILIP HUTCHINS, K.C.S.I., late Member of the Council of the
Secretary of State for India.
SIR CHARLES LUCAS, K.C.M.G., C.B., of the Colonial Office.
SIR CHARLES HOLROYD, Director of the National Gallery.
H. F. HEATH, Ph.D., Director of Special Enquiries at the Board of
Education.
H. J. MACKINDER, M.A., late Director of the London School of
Economics and Political Science.
R. D. ROBERTS, D.Sc., Secretary of the Gilchrist Educational Trust.
PROFESSOR MICHAEL E. SADLER, LL.D., Professor of the History and
Administration of Education in the University of Manchester.
JOHN STRUTHERS, C.B., LL.D., Secretary to the Scotch Education
Department.
PREFACE.
The component parts of the British Empire are so remote and so
different from one another, that it is evident that the Empire can
only be held together by sympathy and understanding, based on widely
diffused knowledge of its geography, history, resources, climates,
and races. It is obvious that if this knowledge is to be effective it
must be imparted to the coming generation. In other words it must be
taught in the Schools of the Empire.
In the Autumn of 1902, a Committee was appointed by the Secretary of
State for the Colonies to consider on what system such teaching might
best be developed. The Committee came to the conclusion that children
in any part of the Empire would never understand what the other parts
were like unless by some adequate means of visual instruction; and,
further, that as far as possible the teaching should be on the same
lines in all parts of the Empire. It was decided to make a beginning
by an experiment on a small scale, and for this purpose to invite
the three Eastern Colonies of Ceylon, the Straits Settlements, and
Hong Kong to bear the expense of a small book of Lantern Lectures on
the United Kingdom for use in the Schools in those Colonies. Other
parts of the Empire were afterwards invited to have editions which
would be suited to their own special requirements prepared at their
own expense, and up to the present date editions have been issued
for the Eastern Colonies, for the West Indies, for West Africa, for
Mauritius, and for India. Editions are now in preparation for Canada
and for South Africa.
The lectures contained in this little volume are identical with those
prepared under the foregoing scheme for use in India. It has been
represented to the Committee that it would be stimulating to children
in the United Kingdom to have presented to them an account of their
own land as seen from the point of view of children in another part
of the Empire. The effort on the part of English children to imagine
themselves in the position of Indian children should tend to arouse
and impress a valuable feeling of political sympathy.
The Committee, however, have always had in mind the preparation
of illustrative lectures on the Colonies and India as well as on
the United Kingdom. The experience which they have now gained has
convinced them that if this part of the work is to be done as
well as it can be done, it is advisable to have the illustrations
prepared on a uniform system by a highly skilled artist or artists
specially commissioned for the purpose. They were so fortunate as to
interest Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales in their work, and
through her powerful and gracious support, and that of Lady Dudley
and a Committee of ladies who were good enough to collect a sum of
£4,000 for the purpose, they have been able to make a beginning of
a work which will take some years to complete. The Committee desire
me to record their warm gratitude to Her Royal Highness, to Lady
Dudley, and to the Committee of ladies for making this part of the
undertaking possible.
During the past year an artist, Mr. A. Hugh Fisher, has been
travelling through India collecting material for the Committee,
and it is hoped that before another twelve months have elapsed a
course of lectures on that country, well illustrated by means of the
lantern, may be published. Ceylon, Somaliland, and Cyprus have also
been visited, and Mr. Fisher is now in Canada, and will presently go
to the Far Eastern Colonies. Other parts of the Empire will be dealt
with successively, and in the course of three or four years, the
Committee intend to have available for purchase by public educational
authorities and others a complete survey of the Empire, uniform in
method. Their hope is that with the aid of the various Governments
and the kindness of many official and private friends, they may put
together a series of illustrations rich in colour, suggestive of life
and incident, and artistic in composition. I shall be responsible
for the letterpress, and in that work hope to have the assistance of
the Directors of Education in the several Dominions and Colonies.
The Committee trust that in this way they may succeed in presenting
in their relative importance and proportion all the chief facts
essential to the popular understanding of the Empire.
H. J. MACKINDER.
LONDON,
_December, 1908_.
PREFACE TO THE INDIAN EDITION.
The object of these Lectures, and of the lantern slides which
accompany them, is to give to the school children of India, through
their eyes as well as their ears, a true and simple impression of
what the United Kingdom and its people are like. If this intention
has in any degree been realised, it is probable that with some
modification of the form of the lectures the interest of adults
may also be aroused. The changes necessary to suit particular
circumstances may be introduced in the process of translation into
the vernacular. In regard to children, each lecture may well supply
several hours’ lessons, being meant as the text for teaching, and a
guide as to the method of teaching, and not simply to be repeated
word for word in a single hour.
My thanks are due to many who have given me help, especially to the
Colonial Office Committee who debated at length the preliminary
scheme, and to the Principal, Staff, and Students of the Stockwell
Training College, before whom the lectures were experimentally
delivered. I am also under obligation to those who have supplied me
with material for some of the slides, particularly to Sir William
Abney (V. 49, 50), Sir Benjamin Baker (I. 40, 41), Mr. G. J. S.
Broomhall (VI. 39, 40), the Geological Photographs Committee of the
British Association (VI. 8), the Great Western Railway Company
(VI. 42), Messrs. Huntley & Palmers (VI. 41), Sir Walter Egerton
(VII. 28), General Kemball (VII. 29, 30), the London & North Western
Railway Company (VI. 43), the London & South Western Railway Company
(III. 19, 20, 21), Sir William Matthews, K.C.M.G., of Messrs. Coode,
Son & Matthews (I. 23, 24, 25, 26), Sir Andrew Noble, of Sir William
Armstrong, Whitworth & Company (VI. 26, 30), the Peninsular and
Oriental Steamship Company (I. 56, 57, 58, 59), Messrs. R. & J. H.
Rea (VII. 7), Mr. William Taylor (I. 9, 11, 47), Mr. Graham Wallas
(VI. 36), Dr. Lynden Macassey and the late Mr. Yerkes (VI. 46, 47).
The scheme which is here realised was carried through in the first
instance owing to the enterprise of the three Colonies, Hong Kong,
the Straits Settlements, and Ceylon. This is one of several Editions
adapted to the special points of view of other parts of the Empire.
I desire to thank for their kind suggestions Sir William Lee-Warner,
K.C.S.I., Sir Philip Hutchins, K.C.S.I., Sir Thomas Holdich,
K.C.M.G., Sir W. Curzon-Wyllie, K.C.I.E., and Mr. Theodore Morison.
H. J. MACKINDER.
LONDON,
_March, 1907_.
The following editions of these Lectures have been issued--
=1. Eastern Colonies Edition, Sept., 1905.=
In use in Ceylon, the Straits Settlements, and Hong Kong.
=2. Mauritius Edition, June, 1906.=
In use in Mauritius.
=3. West African Edition, Sept., 1906.=
In use in Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, and Southern Nigeria.
=4. West India Edition, Sept., 1906.=
In use in Trinidad, British Guiana, and Jamaica.
=5. Indian Edition, March, 1907.=
In use in the following Provinces:--Madras, Bombay, Bengal,
the United Provinces, the Punjab, Burma, Eastern Bengal
and Assam, the Central Provinces, and the North West
Frontier Province.
=6. Indian Edition for use in the United Kingdom, Jan., 1909.=
=Canadian and South African Editions are being prepared by direction
of the Governments of the Dominion of Canada and of the South African
Colonies.=
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
LECTURE I.--The Voyage from India to London,
with fifty-nine lantern slides 1
LECTURE II.--London, the Imperial City, with fifty-nine
lantern slides 17
LECTURE III.--The Scenery of the United Kingdom,
with fifty-three lantern slides 32
LECTURE IV.--Historic Centres and their Influence
upon National Life, with forty-four
lantern slides 46
LECTURE V.--Country Life and the Smaller Towns,
with sixty-one lantern slides 59
LECTURE VI.--The Great Towns, their Industries,
and Commerce, with forty-seven
lantern slides 73
LECTURE VII.--The Defences of the Empire, with
fifty-four lantern slides 84
SEVEN LECTURES on the UNITED KINGDOM.
LECTURE I.
THE VOYAGE FROM INDIA TO LONDON.
[Sidenote: 1. Map of the Indian Ocean.]
The British Empire consists of a number of lands scattered over the
whole world. Some of the most important of these lands are round the
Indian Ocean. In this map we see to the east Australia, to the west
South Africa, and to the north India, which are three out of the six
or seven great lands belonging to the Empire. Then there are smaller
lands; some of them so small that on the general map of the Indian
Ocean they hardly appear. We can only show their names and a dot
for their positions. Such, notwithstanding their importance in the
world’s trade, are Singapore, Mauritius, and Aden. There are other
lands of intermediate size, and notable of these is the Island of
Ceylon. Among the smallest of all the British Territories are the
Seychelles, a coaling station for the Fleet, placed nearly midway
between Mauritius, Zanzibar, and Colombo. On the mainland of Africa
in the neighbourhood of Zanzibar is also the considerable territory
of British East Africa, through which runs the Uganda Railway from
Mombasa to the great lake of Victoria Nyanza and the sources of the
River Nile.
[Sidenote: 2. Map of India.]
Of all these countries the most important is our own land of India.
As you know, it has three hundred million people. Here we have a
map of India and of the allied states, Afghanistan and Nepal. You
see upon it in the darker tint of red the territories which are
immediately under the British Government, and you see also in the
lighter tint the Native States, ruled by their own chiefs, although
protected by the British Raj. In no other part of the world do we
find peace secure from end to end of a vast territory, and yet within
it great states ruled by their own chiefs, as in Kashmir, Rajputana,
Central India, Haidarabad, and Mysore. Some of the principal
countries of Europe are little larger than some of the Native States
of India, yet the continent of Europe is full of armaments, and there
is always danger of war there. India owes to the British Raj peace
for a fifth of the human race, and yet the different laws, languages,
and religions have been preserved, so that the people of each part
and of each race are able to live according to their own historic
customs.
[Sidenote: 3. The Himalayas.]
India lies between the mountains and the ocean. Along one-half
of her land frontier the highest range of mountains in the world
makes a great rampart, defending her from invasion. The railways
which now extend through the whole land not only help to prevent
death from starvation when the harvests fail, but also enable the
Indian Government to concentrate the army quickly for the defence
of the only portions of the frontier of India by which invasion is
possible. In 1738, Nadir, Shah of Persia, invaded India, took Delhi
and slew one hundred thousand of the people. In 1761, Ahmed, Shah of
Afghanistan, invaded India and defeated the Mahrathas in the great
battle of Panipat, almost at the gates of Delhi. After that time
the British Raj grew up, and no foreign enemy has since been able
to disturb the peace of India. Who can measure the value of peace
for the millions of our people? There are nearly 730,000 villages in
India: without peace they could not reap their harvests. There are
over 2,000 towns in India: without peace their trade would be ruined.
[Sidenote: 4. The Ocean: The Surf at Madras.]
But we must not forget that more than one-half of the boundary of
India is washed by the waves of the great sea. Why is it that we
need not maintain great armies along the coast of India? The water of
the ocean spreads round all the lands of the world, and enemies from
many lands might come in ships to attack us. The reason why we need
give little thought to the defence of our shores is that the British
Fleet is strong, and is ready in distant parts of the ocean to fight
with any hostile fleet that might set out to invade India. No rule
in India has ever before had the advantage of peace on the ocean.
The Emperors at Delhi in former centuries were obliged to pay for an
Abyssinian Fleet to give some protection to their shores.
In three ways therefore India draws great profit from her share in
the British Empire. In the first place she is saved the cost of
defending her sea border from foreign invasion. In the second place
the sea road lies peacefully open for a vast commerce with the rest
of the world. And in the third place, by means of the railways from
her ports to her land frontiers she is able to defend those frontiers
not only by the Indian Army, but, if necessary, by all the strength
of the other parts of the Empire brought over the seas and carried
quickly to the threatened point. Never before has the peace of India
been so secure at so small a cost. This is the strength which comes
from standing not alone, but as one of the league of nations which is
known as the British Empire. It is a splendid thought to think of the
many separate races, each living their own lives according to their
own traditions, which are now held peacefully together within the
British Empire. In Britain itself you must remember that there are
the English, the Scotch, the Irish, and the Welsh, just as in India
there are the Rajputs, the Sikhs, the Mahrathas, the Bengalis, and
many other races. Once the English and the Scotch used to fight one
another; but now there is peace in Britain as there is in India. Yet
throughout the British Empire all men are free to think and say what
they like.
[Sidenote: 5. Map of the Railways of India.]
[Sidenote: 6. Sutlej Bridge.]
[Sidenote: 7. Bhor Ghat Reversing Station.]
The Empire is held together to-day chiefly by means of railways on
the land and steamships on the sea. The railways of India end at the
foot of the mountains. In the plains they cross the broad rivers by
long bridges. In the Deccan they descend to the sea by ways that are
cut into the mountain face. Here we have a bridge over the Sutlej, on
the Delhi railway, and here the curious Reversing Station on the Bhor
Ghat above Bombay, where the steepness of the ground does not allow
space for the railway to bend on its way down the mountain side.
The modern capitals of India are naturally on the coast, for it is
there that the life of India comes into contact with the life of the
world over the sea. In these capitals, protected by the Fleet, the
commerce borne by the railways connects with the ocean-borne commerce.
[Sidenote: 8. Map showing the Unity of the Ocean.]
Let us spend a moment considering why it is that trade over the
ocean is of such vast importance to India, and why, therefore, the
sea-ports are the greatest of her cities. In this map you see at a
glance that all the lands of the world are in truth islands, for even
the largest continent is surrounded by the ocean. Therefore a ship
can go from any coast you will to any other coast. But by road or by
railway it is possible to travel only from one part to another of
the same island or continent. Hence it is that ocean-borne commerce
is the most general, for land-borne commerce is limited by the coast
and can go no further. It would be impossible for us to trade over
the land with England. At some point or other we must cross the sea,
and traffic over the sea is much cheaper than on the land. Therefore,
in some cases it even pays to carry goods from point to point along
the coast of India, instead of carrying them by land. This map also
tells you why the one British fleet can defend all the coasts of the
British Empire. It is because the ocean is one, and the fleet can
sail from any part of it to any other part.
[Sidenote: 9. Ships of the time of Vasco da Gama.]
[Sidenote: 10. Sailing Ship.]
The voyage to Britain used to be a long one, and not without danger.
True that the same ship could go all the way from Calcutta to London,
carrying passengers, mails, and cargo; but in former times the
passage took many months, for ships, as you know, could then only be
moved by the wind, and at some seasons the wind blew in a direction
contrary to the course of the ship. Moreover, even the East India
ships were small, and we must remember the rough seas which they had
to traverse when rounding the Cape of Good Hope. Here, for example,
are the kind of ships in which Europeans first came round the Cape
to the Indies in the time of Vasco da Gama. And here is a sailing
ship of later times, much improved both in hull and sails, but still
liable to be delayed by contrary winds and by calms.
[Sidenote: 11. P. & O. s.s. “Caledonia.”]
In the present day, however, the British Empire is knit together by
means of large vessels, moved by steam, in which men come and go with
certainty over thousands of miles of trackless ocean. This is one of
the steamers of the great Peninsular and Oriental Company, which,
together with other companies, trades through the Suez Canal between
Britain and India. You will see, then, that by using steam instead of
the wind, by substituting large ships for small, and by cutting the
Suez Canal, so that the voyage may be through shorter and generally
calmer seas, men have brought London, the capital of the Empire,
within less than a month of India, whereas it used to be five months
away.
[Sidenote: 12. Dalhousie Square, Calcutta.]
[Sidenote: 13. The Hugli.]
[Sidenote: 14. Madras from the Sea.]
[Sidenote: 15. Arrival of the Viceroy at Madras.]
[Sidenote: 16. Bombay Rampart.]
We have seen that the modern capitals of India are the sea-ports. In
no age before this dared men place their great cities on the open
coast, for they were exposed to attack there by pirates as well as
foreign enemies. The present capitals of India are therefore new
towns. Calcutta is on a strip of low ground beside the bank of the
River Hugli. Only 200 years ago it was a small village. Yet here
to-day is a stately city, and in the river are ships from all parts
of the world. Madras was a stretch of open surf-beaten coast 270
years ago, but to-day it has half-a-million people, and a harbour
of stone piers built far out into the sea to break the force of the
waves, so that great ships may land their passengers and cargoes in
calm water. Bombay, also, some 240 years ago was an unimportant islet
with only some 10,000 inhabitants, and to-day, as you know, it is a
city which rivals Calcutta in its wealth and grandeur. Karachi has
grown similarly from a much later beginning on an utterly sterile
desert coast.
[Sidenote: 17. Queen’s Memorial, Bombay.]
[Sidenote: 18. Bombay Harbour.]
In these Lectures we are going to make a visit to the British Isles,
the land in all the world which, after our own land of India, should
be of the greatest interest to us, for it is the centre of the Empire
to which we owe so much. We may start on our voyage from any one of
the five great ports of India: Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Karachi,
or Rangoon, and we shall naturally leave by that port which is most
conveniently placed with reference to the particular part of India in
which we live. If we sail from Bombay we will visit before we start
the monument of the great Queen Victoria, who for more than 60 years
ruled both India and England.
[Sidenote: 19. Out at Sea, Deck scene.]
[Sidenote: 20. Saloon of P. and O. Steamer.]
[Sidenote: 21. Engines of P. and O. Steamer.]
[Sidenote: 22. P. and O. Steamer--a State Room.]
A mail steamer upon the ocean is now like a great moving hotel, which
goes from port to port with wonderful punctuality. Here you have a
scene on deck when out at sea. And here is the saloon with the tables
set for the dinner of several hundred people. Nor must we forget to
look at the engines, which turn the heat of burning coal into power
equal to that of ten thousand horses. And, lastly, we will glance
into a private cabin and see the comfortable berth. All this is very
different from the rough voyage of only fifty years ago.
Of steamers altogether--some of them fast mail boats, some slow cargo
boats--the British Empire possesses for ocean-going purposes 9,000.
These are parts of the Empire just as much as the land. Therefore you
must think of the British Empire as consisting of many countries,
which, together, make one-fifth of all the land in the world; and you
must think of it as consisting also of these 9,000 steamers upon the
ocean, which, as you know, measures three-fourths of the surface of
the globe. The whole Empire--lands, ships, and people--is protected
by the British Navy upon the ocean, and by the Army distributed
through the British lands.
[Sidenote: 23. Colombo Harbour and Breakwater.]
[Sidenote: 24. Colombo Harbour, North-West Breakwater in progress.]
[Sidenote: 25. Colombo Harbour, Diver at work.]
[Sidenote: 26. Colombo Harbour, Blockyard.]
But it is not enough to have swift, comfortable ships. Deep, calm
harbours are needed, where the great ships may lie close to the land
and discharge their burden. Here for instance we have a monument
of which British engineers may be proud. This is a view of Colombo
Harbour in the Island of Ceylon where the ships gather from Calcutta,
and Madras, and Rangoon before they leave the Indian seas. The slide
shows the main breakwater, built upon the bed of the sea, which
protects shipping from the rough waves of the south-west monsoon. And
here we have another view, showing a new part of the breakwater in
process of building. Observe the huge block which is being lowered by
the crane into the sea. Do you note that the crane itself is movable
upon wheels, which run upon two pairs of rails? Next we have the
diver descending to his work, with his head in a helmet, into which
air is pumped from above. He has to prepare the bed on which the
great blocks of concrete are laid. Lastly, we have the blocks shown
in the blockyard stored ready for use.
Before we start on our voyage, we will cable to our friends in
London, telling them to expect us. The electric cables are a very
important part of the British Empire, although they lie two and three
miles deep on the ocean bottom. Indian students and others who happen
to have no friends in London are welcomed and introduced by the
Northbrook Society or by the National Indian Association. The address
of the first is 185, Piccadilly, London, and of the second Caxton
Hall, Westminster.
[Sidenote: 27. Forest Scene in Ceylon.]
[Sidenote: 28. Aden from the Sea.]
[Sidenote: 29. Aden, the Tanks.]
Now let us go on our journey. We are traversing the ocean in a mail
steamer; we leave Colombo or Bombay or Karachi and steam westward
into the Gulf of Aden. Here we have one of the most remarkable
contrasts of climate to be found in the world. In Ceylon or at Bombay
rain and heat combine to produce a luxuriant tropical vegetation
capable of supporting much human and animal life. There are other
countries--and we are going to traverse some of them--which although
hot enough, have little rain. Let us realise this contrast; for in
taking a voyage from Colombo or Bombay to Aden we go from a well
watered country to one which lacks water. Here is a scene in Ceylon,
showing the rank vegetation which results from tropical heat and
monsoon rains. Here, on the other hand, is the British fortress of
Aden. It rains on an average in Aden only once in several years, but
when it does rain it rains very hard, and these great tanks were
constructed to gather the water from the naked rocky slopes around,
and to store it for use in the next few years. You see that two or
three shrubs are grown as curiosities beside the tank. But as Aden
grew into a populous settlement the tanks were not sufficient for the
wants of the people. The British distil fresh water from the sea.
[Sidenote: 30. Bumboats at Aden.]
Aden is a British fortress. It is not an island, but it is the
next thing to an island--it is a peninsula. It is therefore easily
defended by warships on the sea. The narrow isthmus connecting it to
the mainland has been fortified.
[Sidenote: 31. Routes from India to Suez.]
[Sidenote: 32. The Suez Canal.]
So we pursue our journey until we come to Suez. This map shows you
the routes from India across the Western Indian Ocean and up the
Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea to Suez, at the entrance to the Suez
Canal. On the right hand we see Mecca marked in the map. Peace on the
ocean, the traffic of steamships, and the British station at Aden
have rendered the Haj less expensive than it used to be and less
dangerous, so that many more Mohammedans now go to Mecca from India.
Next we see our steamer in the Suez Canal. The banks are brown and
desert, for a shower of rain is very rare, and the whole isthmus is
naked rock and sand. The sea way is now continuous from the Red Sea.
But the making of the Canal would have been impossible unless there
had been fresh water near at hand in Egypt for the nourishment of the
workers. The army of workmen who dug the Canal were supplied with
sweet water by means of a small canal from the Nile. So you see that
the Suez Canal was possible only because of the great river of Egypt,
which brings water through the desert from far off sources.
[Sidenote: 33. Map of Lower Egypt.]
In this map of Lower Egypt you will see named the Gulf of Suez,
which is the end of the Red Sea. Up the Red Sea come ships from Aden
and the Indian Ocean. Here, on the other hand, is the Mediterranean,
through which we shall pass to the Atlantic Ocean. And here is Suez,
and the Isthmus of Suez, with the line of the Suez Canal. All that
is shown yellow is barren, waterless desert, but the parts tinted
with green are fertile and cultivated. As you see from the map, the
isthmus is about 100 miles across. Remember that the voyage from
Bombay to Britain is some 7,000 miles long--3,500 miles as far as the
Canal and 3,500 miles beyond the Canal. Between the Eastern Ocean
and the Western Ocean is only the Isthmus of Suez, but this used to
compel men to take their ships far south through rough seas, round
the Cape of Good Hope.
[Sidenote: 34. The Overland Route through the Desert.]
Let us, therefore, cross into Egypt, and ask what it is that has
made possible this great change in the route of commerce and empire.
Before the Canal was cut, but when already steam had been applied to
the moving of ships, there were a few years in which passengers and
letters were taken by one ship from Bombay to the Isthmus of Suez,
and then on by another ship from the other side of the Isthmus to
Britain. They were carried across the desert on the backs of camels.
Here we have a picture of the thirsty desert. See the bones of a
camel which has fallen by the way; the flesh has been picked off by
vultures, and the sun and air have dried what remained to cinders.
The camel is often called “The Ship of the Desert,” and this camel
must have broken down just as ships are sometimes wrecked.
[Sidenote: 35. Cairo--The Citadel.]
[Sidenote: 36. The Road to the Pyramids.]
[Sidenote: 37. The Pyramids and the Sphinx.]
[Sidenote: 38. Climbing the Pyramids.]
At the end of their desert journey the travellers overland, before
the Canal was made, came to the city of Cairo. We see it here with
its citadel in the foreground. Notice within the citadel the great
Mohammedan mosque with its towering minarets. Cairo is now occupied
by the British, and there is freedom of religion for all races,
as in every part of the British Empire. Close to Cairo are famous
monuments, the Pyramids and the Sphinx, built some six thousand years
ago. We see the Pyramids first in the distance as we drive from Cairo
along this road. The trees which you see are watered daily, for rain
is very rare in Egypt. Here we have arrived at the Pyramids, which
are just on the desert edge, because the land watered by the Nile is
too valuable for purposes of cultivation to permit of their being
placed on fertile ground. The Pyramids and the Sphinx have hardly
changed in this intensely dry climate through the space of 6,000
years, although the Sphinx has been partly buried in the sand. In
order that you may appreciate the size of the Pyramids let us show
a party of tourists climbing the great Pyramid, and note the huge
blocks of stone of which it is built.
[Sidenote: 39. The Nile Valley in Flood.]
And now let us ask the question for which we are making this
excursion from the Suez Canal into Egypt. How comes it that here,
in the rainless desert, there is fresh water to make possible the
cutting of the Suez Canal? It is because the Nile, the river of
Egypt, comes from the South beyond the desert. There every summer
the rains fall in Abyssinia, and the Egyptian Nile, far away to the
north, rises in flood. Here is a view, taken from the edge of the
desert at the brink of the valley, in the time of the annual flood.
When the water subsides the crops are sown, and presently the harvest
is reaped without so much as a shower of rain to aid the growth.
[Sidenote: 40. The Assouan Dam.]
[Sidenote: 41. Opening of the Assouan Dam.]
Now, sometimes it happens, as it happens also in India, that the
rains fall short in Abyssinia. In such years the Nile brings down
to Egypt a much smaller quantity of water. The fertilising flood
is small, and there is danger of famine. As a precaution against
these droughts, and also to extend the cultivated area some way into
the desert, the British have constructed, near the southern end of
Egypt, a great dam right across the valley. Here the dam is shown
just when it was finished, and before the water had risen behind
it. Do you notice beside the dam the canal with locks, by which the
river traffic goes up and down notwithstanding the barrier to the
flow of water? Do you see also all the openings in the dam to let the
water through when it has risen high enough behind the masonry? Let
me show you this same dam on the day when it was opened by the Duke
of Connaught, brother of the King of England. This is he, wearing a
white helmet and with medals and orders on his breast. Beside him
are standing the Duchess of Connaught, the Khedive of Egypt, whom
you may distinguish by the fez which he wears, and Lord Cromer, the
great Englishman who has helped the Khedive to build the dam. You
can distinguish Lord Cromer by his tall white hat. The water in the
picture has risen to a high level behind the dam, the sluices have
just been opened, and the stream is pouring on once more towards the
sea. Every year the water now collects behind the dam during the
period of flood, and is then let gradually down during the period
of low Nile. Thus Egypt is becoming rich because its people are
saved from famine, and new land, formerly desert, is brought under
cultivation.
[Sidenote: 42. Port Said--Coaling.]
Let us return to our ship, which is waiting for us at Port Said, the
port at the northern end of the Suez Canal. Here is a great mail
steamer taking in coal for the remainder of her voyage from India. Is
it not wonderful to think of the thousands upon thousands of tons of
coal that are dug out of the ground in the British Islands and sent
over the seas to drive most of the 9,000 steamers which do the trade
of the British Empire?
[Sidenote: 43. Map of the Mediterranean.]
[Sidenote: 44. Malta.]
[Sidenote: 45. Gibraltar.]
And now we have come into the western seas and to the lands of the
white man. On leaving Port Said, we steer westward at first, through
the Mediterranean Sea. We call at Malta and Gibraltar, which are
British ports, like Aden and Colombo. Malta is an island. Here is a
view of its harbour, showing the fortifications. But the fortress of
Gibraltar is on a peninsula like Aden, and a low isthmus, to the left
of the picture, connects it with the mainland. The front of this tall
cliff above the isthmus is pierced with galleries, which every here
and there come out to the cliff front and allow place for a cannon.
So you see that in Europe, as in Asia, the sea power of Britain has
islands and little peninsulas for the calling places of its ships.
Close to Gibraltar was fought Trafalgar, the most celebrated of
British victories at sea.
[Sidenote: 46. Map of Western Europe.]
[Sidenote: 47. In the Bay of Biscay.]
We pass through the Strait of Gibraltar, which is only eight miles
across, and has Europe visible on the one hand and Africa on the
other. Now we emerge from the Mediterranean and steering northward
round the western lands of Europe, we at last approach the British
Isles. We cross the Bay of Biscay, a part of the broad Atlantic. Huge
billows often roll in from the ocean, and play with our great steamer
as a child plays with a toy, yet there is a busy traffic of ships on
these wide waters.
But there was a time when Britain had no Colonies, and consisted
only of British Islands. There were then fewer people in Britain
than there are now, and the English Channel, up which we are to
sail, protected the British people from invasion by enemies, so they
were able to develop the government and the freedom which have since
helped Britain to give peace and to give justice through so large a
part of the world.
[Sidenote: 48. Eddystone Lighthouse.]
As we steer into the home waters of Britain, the first object we see
is a famous lighthouse, built on the dangerous Eddystone rocks, ten
miles away from the coast of England. You will notice that there is
also the stump of an older lighthouse. The waves of the ocean are
sometimes very terrible, and this is the fourth lighthouse which has
had to be built on these rocks. Britain is surrounded by several
score of lighthouses placed upon all the dangerous points round its
shores.
[Sidenote: 49. Map of the Straits of Dover and the Thames Estuary.]
Passing Eddystone, we may call at Plymouth to land some of our
passengers, who will hurry to London by train. But we will proceed up
the English Channel. Off Dover we turn north and round the promontory
of Kent, with cliffs of white chalk on our left hand. Entering the
broad estuary of the Thames we are soon off Gravesend, having passed
Chatham, one of the chief stations of the Navy. At Gravesend we shall
probably have to anchor for a short time, because the river is tidal
and is deep enough for large vessels only at high water.
[Sidenote: 50. Channel Boat approaching Dover.]
[Sidenote: 51. Dover--Admiralty Pier, S.S. “Pas de Calais” unloading.]
[Sidenote: 52. Dover--Admiralty Pier, S.S. “Queen” loading the Indian
Mails.]
Dover, seen from our deck quite clearly as we came past it, is a
place of much interest to those who live in the East. You know that
nowadays the letters from India and the neighbouring lands are not
carried to Britain all the way round by sea past Gibraltar, but are
landed at a Mediterranean port and brought across Europe by rail.
They cannot enter England, however, without once more being placed
upon a steamer--this time a small packet, which rapidly crosses
the twenty miles of water between Britain and the Continent, known
as the Straits of Dover. You can see across the Straits of Dover.
There are white cliffs which glisten in the sunshine on both sides.
Here is one of the Channel steamers unloading at Dover pier. Do you
see the railway train drawn up alongside? It is about to leave for
London. Notice the crane lifting baggage from the steamer to the
train, so that there may be as little delay as possible. Here is
another Channel steamer at Dover. She is just about to leave for
the Continent. The railway train has arrived--a whole van, less the
wheels, is being raised on the crane and placed on the steamer. It is
full of baggage, and is lifted thus to save time--for every minute is
worth money. Some hundred bags of mails have to be carried on to the
vessel. Think of the many, many thousand letters written every week
in Britain which are going to the East--to India and to Ceylon, to
the Straits Settlements and Hong Kong and Mauritius.
[Sidenote: 53. Gravesend--Shipping waiting for the Tide.]
[Sidenote: 54. Sunset near Gravesend.]
[Sidenote: 55. The same ten minutes later.]
Let us now go back to our steamer. The tide turns, and we leave
Gravesend, passing slowly up the river towards London. The scene is
often very animated at Gravesend, as several score of vessels, great
and small, get up their anchors and begin to move with the running
stream. Sometimes as you look westward up the Thames in the evening,
the light in the sky is magnificent, for the clouds are dense with
smoke. You must remember that this city of 7,000,000 people has
a cold winter, and each room has a place for a fire to keep its
inhabitants warm. By good fortune we have been able to photograph
such a sunset from the hill above Gravesend. Do you see the river
shining on the dark ground below? Here is the same sunset taken ten
minutes later. These two slides have not been painted with a brush
according to an artist’s imagination, they have been photographed in
colour, and they are absolutely true in their effect.
[Sidenote: 56. Arrival in Dock.]
[Sidenote: 57. Welcome on Deck.]
[Sidenote: 58. Landing.]
[Sidenote: 59. Steamers in Dock.]
At last we enter one of the docks which receive ships from the river
at high tide. The dock gates are closed behind us, so that when the
tide falls in the river our steamer will remain afloat beside the
wharf. We see here the great vessel being pushed slowly into her
berth by steam tugs which were waiting for her. And here we have a
scene on deck when the gangways have been opened to the shore, and
friends have come on board to welcome our British fellow-passengers,
many of them returning home after years of absence. Now we set foot
on land, and run by train past miles of houses until we come into the
centre of the vast city, and reach our hotel. Meantime the captain of
the ship and the crew have gone to their homes, and the great ship
lies at rest in the dock--silent after her long voyage.
We will unpack our trunks and sleep for a night before we go into the
streets of London to see the metropolis of the Empire.
LECTURE II.
LONDON, THE IMPERIAL CITY.
[Sidenote: 1. Areas of India and the British Isles compared.]
Before we set out through the largest and most populous city of the
world, let us consider what it is that we are going to look at. Let
us try to understand the size of the United Kingdom and of London
by comparing them with India and its chief cities. First we have a
map showing the area of the British Isles compared with the area
of India. We see that the British Isles are small as compared with
India; but they have a far more dense population. There are more than
twice as many people to the square mile in the United Kingdom than
there are in India. This is due to the fact that the people of India
live for the most part in villages, whereas in the United Kingdom the
majority of the people live in the cities. In India only about ten
per cent. of the whole population live in towns with more than five
thousand inhabitants.
[Sidenote: 2. Populations of London, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Delhi,
Rangoon, and Karachi compared.]
Now let us compare the populations of our chief Indian cities with
that of London. We have here circles which represent by their areas
the population of London on the one hand, and on the other hand of
Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Delhi, Rangoon, and Karachi. We see at
a glance that London has a population greater than the combined
population of all these great cities.
We notice the words “Greater London” round the black circle. London
may be measured in three ways, for it consists of three zones, one
within the other. In the centre there is the oldest part, the City
of London, which is now the chief place of business. Round the
city there has grown up, in the course of centuries, a great ring
of population known as Inner London. Outside this again, there has
sprung up of recent years a still wider zone of suburbs, which is
called Outer London. These three, the City, Inner London and Outer
London, together make Greater London.
[Sidenote: 3. Areas of London and Calcutta compared.]
[Sidenote: 4. Areas of London and Bombay compared.]
[Sidenote: 5. Areas of London and Madras compared.]
We will next consider how much space the seven million people of
London take. On this slide we have two little maps, of which the
lower shows in pink the ground covered by the houses of London, and
above we have Calcutta shown in like manner. In the next slide the
map of the houses of London is repeated, but the outline above is
that of Bombay, set on its island between the harbour and the ocean.
Lastly, we have a comparison of the area of London with that of
Madras. In proportion to its population Madras covers a large area,
for as you know there are several spaces within it planted with trees
and without houses, but even Madras is small as compared with London.
[Sidenote: 6. The London Docks.]
Now let us start on our way through the town. The chief feature of
London is the River Thames. The time was when London was only a
small village on the banks of the Thames. To-day the Thames is the
harbour of London, the greatest port in the world. Let us go on a
little steamer along the river, and let us begin with the docks. An
immense quantity of food is needed to feed seven million people.
Great quantities of coal are required to keep them warm in their
cold winter, and to supply gas and electricity during their long
winter nights. Much material is, of course, also required for the
construction of their houses and public buildings. Of all these
commodities a large part is brought in by sea, and is discharged in
the docks. You will remember that at the end of the last Lecture we
told how the water is held up in the docks, even when the tide falls
in the river. Many of the smaller steamers, however, do not go into
the docks. They are able to lie in the river itself and rise and fall
with the tide.
[Sidenote: 7. The Tower Bridge.]
When we leave the docks and proceed up the river, we come presently
to a bridge, the nearest to the sea of many bridges which carry roads
and railways over the Thames. This is the Tower Bridge. It is a very
striking object, visible in any distant view of London, for as you
see it is borne on two lofty piers, between which there is an upper
and a lower way. The upper way is used by foot passengers when the
lower way is lifted, as in the slide, to allow of the passage of
ships with masts.
[Sidenote: 8. London Bridge.]
But, though the Tower Bridge is so remarkable a structure you must
remember that it is only new. The most celebrated bridge in London,
perhaps in the world, is called London Bridge. It stands next above
the Tower Bridge. Two thousand years ago there was no London; where
the houses are now were then forests and marshes. Some seventeen
hundred years ago the first London Bridge was built; it was rebuilt
afterwards more than once; but no second bridge was put over the
River Thames to connect the north and the south of London until a
century and a half ago. For all those centuries there was one London
Bridge. By means of this Bridge the traffic of the south of England
crossed the Thames to the north. But London Bridge stopped the ships
coming up from the sea and prevented them from going further into
the land, because in early days men could only build small arches
for a bridge, and these were neither broad enough nor high enough
for sea-going ships. So it was that London grew round London Bridge,
for here was not only the lowest bridge on the river but also the
most inland point to which sea-going ships could ascend. It was an
important place, therefore, both for land traffic and for water
traffic.
[Sidenote: 9. The Tower of London.]
On the north bank of the river, a little below London Bridge, the
Kings of England in old time built a fortress to defend the town,
and also to keep its population in order. This fortress is still
standing, although against modern weapons it would now be useless.
It is known as the Tower of London, and is a very interesting old
place, quiet and silent amid the noisy metropolis around. The King’s
Crown and Coronation jewels are kept here.
[Sidenote: 10. The River below London Bridge.]
The Tower Bridge is so called because it crosses the river beside
the Tower of London. Here we have a view taken from London Bridge,
looking down the busy river to the Tower Bridge. You can just see the
Tower of London on the left hand.
[Sidenote: 11. Plan of Greater London.]
On this slide we have shown again the map of the space covered by the
houses of Greater London. The red indicates the area of the houses
and streets. The green marks the pieces of tree-covered ground known
as parks, which have been retained for the pleasure and health of the
people of London. Note the River Thames, like a very broad street,
winding through the midst of the town. Note also the docks branching
from the river, and the bridges across it. Here, marked with their
names, are the two lowest of the bridges--the Tower Bridge and London
Bridge. You observe that there are no bridges lower than these, and
that all the docks open below bridge. Do you see that London Bridge
is still almost exactly in the centre of London? At first the river
curved through forests and marshes; then there grew up a little
town beside the bridge; that town went on growing larger and larger
until it is now as large as a small country. But the head of the sea
navigation is still at London Bridge, and the vast metropolis extends
in all directions round its harbour. Each day there enter some 700
ships from all parts of the world, many of them from the coasts of
England itself, but some from the most distant lands--from America,
Africa, the East, and Australia.
[Sidenote: 12. Greater London with Central London marked off.]
[Sidenote: 13. Central London with the City boundaries.]
You see this rectangular space marked off on the map of Greater
London? I am next going to give you a map, on a larger scale, of the
central and most important part of London; it is contained within the
rectangle. Here it is, with the boundary of the City of London shown
in red upon it. We see the chief streets, and we are able to mark out
the route which we are going to take. We start from the Tower and the
Tower Bridge; we pass beneath London Bridge, with the City, the chief
business centre, on our right hand; we go under several more bridges
and arrive at Westminster, where Parliament sits and the King-Emperor
is crowned; then we land, drive past Buckingham Palace, where the
King lives, and so to the chief parks. Turning eastward again we
return through Trafalgar Square to St. Paul’s Cathedral, which is
the Cathedral of London; finally we reach the Bank of England, in
the centre of the City, and come back to London Bridge, from whose
neighbourhood we started. The whole round measures about eight miles,
and yet, as you will remember, the map upon which we have traced it
is but the central and smaller part of London.
[Sidenote: 14. Waterloo Bridge and Somerset House.]
It would tire you were I to attempt to show all the bridges under
which we pass, but there is one which we must not omit. This is
Waterloo Bridge, architecturally the finest bridge in London, perhaps
the finest of all the buildings in London. The road, as you see, is
quite level, and it is carried upon a series of great stone arches.
The bridge is called Waterloo Bridge because it was completed soon
after the Battle of Waterloo. As we go through London you will find
that there are two famous battles--the Battle of Waterloo on the
land, and the Battle of Trafalgar on the sea--which are constantly
remembered by Englishmen. They were fought ninety and a hundred
years ago. Because Britain was victorious in them the British Empire
exists to-day. Therefore these battles and the men who fought them
are deemed worthy of commemoration in the metropolis of the Empire.
Beyond Waterloo Bridge we see on the slide a fine building known as
Somerset House, the office into which the taxes of the people of
England are paid for the government of the country.
[Sidenote: 15. The Embankment at Waterloo Bridge.]
[Sidenote: 16. Cleopatra’s Needle and Somerset House.]
[Sidenote: 17. The Thames Embankment.]
[Sidenote: 18. The Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.]
[Sidenote: 19. Westminster Abbey from Dean’s Yard.]
Here we have one of the arches of Waterloo Bridge, spanning the
riverside road which is known as the Thames Embankment. The traffic
from north to south is carried, as you see, over the bridge, while
that from east to west passes under it. Here we have yet another
view of the Embankment, with Somerset House and Waterloo Bridge in
the distance. We can see Somerset House better in this view, because
the bridge is not in the way. In the foreground we have Cleopatra’s
Needle, a single piece of stone as high as a tower. It was brought
from Egypt in a specially built ship, having been presented to the
Queen of England by a former Khedive of Egypt. The next slide shows
the bend of the river, with the Embankment beside it. You see the
trees planted along the road--they are green in the summer, but in
winter the leaves fall and they are black. In the distance, showing
over the housetops, is the great dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral. At
last we reach Westminster, and look across the water to two of the
chief buildings of London, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster
Abbey. The Houses of Parliament were erected in the beginning of the
reign of Queen Victoria, but Westminster Abbey was built more than
600 years ago. We have here a view of the Abbey from the land side.
[Sidenote: 20. The King opening Parliament--the State Coach.]
[Sidenote: 21. The same--the Procession.]
[Sidenote: 22. The Coronation in Westminster Abbey.]
[Sidenote: 23. The same, another view.]
[Sidenote: 24. The King and Queen at the opening of Parliament.]
[Sidenote: 25. His Majesty the King.]
Westminster is the centre of the Empire. Here at the beginning of
his reign the King is crowned. Here each year he opens the Session
of Parliament. Let us see something of the splendid pageants which
take place at Westminster on these occasions. This, for instance,
is the King driving in the Coach of State, with the Queen beside
him. And here is a photograph of the procession through the streets
at the opening of Parliament. Next we have the Coronation in
Westminster Abbey, and in another slide a more general view of the
interior of the Abbey on that great day when his present Majesty,
the Emperor-King, Edward VII., was crowned by the Archbishop of
Canterbury, in the presence of the chief men of the Kingdom, and
of the Empire, and of visitors from all parts of the world. The
picture is taken at the moment when the Crown, the emblem of royal
authority, is being placed upon the King’s head. In his hand he holds
the Sceptre. In the next slide we have the King and Queen Alexandra
seated upon the throne at the opening of Parliament, and then follows
a portrait of the King in the Robes of State.
[Sidenote: 26. Westminster Abbey--Poets’ Corner.]
After the solemn state of these great ceremonies, we will return for
a moment when the Abbey is empty, and look, not at living people, but
at the monuments which record the famous men who in the past have
helped to make the British Empire. This is called the Poets’ Corner.
Here in this particular corner of the Abbey are gathered together the
monuments of the men who have written. By inspiring the British race
with noble ideas they have helped to make the Empire no less than
have the victors of Trafalgar and Waterloo. All the Abbey is full of
monuments--in other parts of it you will find record of the statesmen
who have given counsel to our Kings and Queens, and of the soldiers
and sailors who have fought for them. Here, too, are the monuments of
Viceroys of India.
[Sidenote: 27. The Houses of Parliament from Whitehall.]
Let us cross the road to the Houses of Parliament, first glancing
at them once more from the outside. We see the two lofty towers,
visible, when the weather is clear, from every hill round London.
This is the Victoria Tower, named after Queen Victoria, and this is
the Clock Tower. When Parliament is sitting by day a flag is flown
from the Victoria Tower, and when it sits after dark a powerful
electric light shines from the Clock Tower, so that all men may know
that laws are being made for the government of the Empire.
[Sidenote: 28. Westminster Hall--Interior.]
We will enter the building through Westminster Hall, which was part
of the Old Westminster Palace of the Kings of England. Set round it
are statues of our past Kings and Queens. Formerly the Parliament met
to give counsel, and the Judges sat to give justice, in the King’s
Palace, but in more recent times the business of the country has
become so great that it cannot well be housed in a single building.
The Palace of Westminster has, therefore, been given wholly to
Parliament, and has been rebuilt, except for this splendid Hall,
which has been preserved.
[Sidenote: 29. House of Lords--Interior.]
[Sidenote: 30. House of Commons during Debate.]
Let us pass on, and look for a moment into the House of Lords in the
morning when it is empty, and the sun is shining through the windows.
Here is the throne upon which the King sits when he opens the session
of Parliament each year. Parliament consists of two bodies of men,
who are known as the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The
Lords are the great dignitaries of the realm--the chief landowners,
merchants, lawyers, and bishops. The Commons, on the other hand,
though many of them are rich and clever men, do not help to make the
laws because of their position in the State, but because they are
elected by the people of England to tell the King what the people
wish for. Here is one of the most celebrated of Englishmen, the late
Mr. Gladstone, speaking in the Commons as the King’s Prime Minister.
It is the Prime Minister’s duty each evening to tell the King what
the Commons have said, and so, though the King is not there, the King
and the Commons work together for the government and peace of the
Empire.
[Sidenote: 31. Cabinet Council.]
These two large assemblies, the Lords and the Commons--each of them
containing several hundred men--could not conduct the detailed
business of the country. A small number of them, therefore, are
chosen to be the King’s Ministers, and the Ministers form a
Committee or Council, which is called the Cabinet. Here is a picture
of a Cabinet Meeting. It meets privately; no one knows what the
Cabinet says in its discussions--we only know what it decides to
do. Presiding over the particular Cabinet shown in this picture is
another great Englishman, now dead, the late Lord Salisbury. Among
the other Ministers you will see Lord George Hamilton, who was at the
time Secretary of State for India.
[Sidenote: 32. The Treasury.]
[Sidenote: 33. The Admiralty.]
[Sidenote: 34. The Foreign Office.]
[Sidenote: 35. The Law Courts.]
Near to the Houses of Parliament are the offices of the various
Ministers. They are large and handsome buildings, for each Minister
has a staff of officials under him. Here, for instance, is the
Treasury, where the finances of the country are managed. And here is
the Admiralty, whence the British Navy in all parts of the world is
controlled by means of telegraphic messages. Here, seen from one of
the parks, is the fine building in which are housed both the India
Office and the Colonial Office. The part of it to the left hand, with
the tower, contains the Foreign Office, where business is transacted
between the British Empire and foreign countries. The India Office
is at this right-hand corner. The Prime Minister lives in a house
opposite to the door of the Foreign Office, in a little street called
Downing Street, and the Government is, therefore, often spoken of
simply as Downing Street. Finally, we have the Law Courts, which,
until lately were in the Palace at Westminster.
[Sidenote: 36. St. James’s Palace.]
[Sidenote: 37. Buckingham Palace.]
[Sidenote: 38. Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, with her Son, Grandson,
and Great-Grandson.]
The Palaces of the King are only a short way from the Abbey and the
Houses of Parliament. Here is St. James’s Palace, where the Sovereign
sometimes holds great receptions of his subjects. Do you see the
sentry at the door? He is one of the King’s Guards, a chosen body
of soldiers, who remain near the King’s Palaces, except when they
are sent out of the country to take part in foreign wars. Here is
Buckingham Palace, where the King lives when he is in London. Behind
it there is a large garden. Remember, however, that great as he is,
the King is a man, just as we are. He is a father and a grandfather,
and he had a mother, our beloved Queen and Empress Victoria. In this
picture we have four generations of the Royal Family of England;
Queen Victoria, who was our Sovereign, King Edward VII., who is our
Sovereign, the Prince of Wales, who will be King after his father,
and the little Prince Edward of Wales--destined, we hope, some day to
ascend the throne of his ancestors. It is the throne of one-fifth of
all the world.
[Sidenote: 39. The Crowd at the Funeral of Queen Victoria.]
[Sidenote: 40. Police regulating Traffic.]
[Sidenote: 41. A Policeman.]
From the King let us turn to his people. Here is a crowd of the
people of London, gathered in the Park when Queen Victoria was taken
to be buried. It was a mighty, silent crowd, never to be forgotten by
those who saw it. Of course there are some people in the great crowds
of London, as of all other places, who are bad and disorderly, but
in general the people of London obey the Law. Here, for instance, we
have a busy point where four streets meet. Two policemen control the
traffic, now letting this stream of carriages pass, and now that.
Often a driver is in haste, but when the policeman raises his hand,
the driver silently waits until he has leave to proceed. Only in
this way could seven millions of people live together and do their
business. The policemen of London are a fine body of strong men, who
very rarely lose their tempers or presence of mind, whatever the
sudden difficulty with which they may be faced. Here is one of them
politely telling the way to an enquiring stranger. You see that he
carries no firearms, yet there are only about 20,000 police to manage
all these people.
[Sidenote: 42. Hyde Park--Rotten Row.]
[Sidenote: 43. St. James’s Park--Children at Play.]
[Sidenote: 44. The same--Children Fishing.]
[Sidenote: 45. The Zoological Gardens.]
[Sidenote: 46. Flowers in the Park.]
[Sidenote: 47. The Crystal Palace.]
[Sidenote: 48. St. Thomas’s Hospital.]
Perhaps the most beautiful possessions of London are the parks, in
which, in the midst of their province of houses, the people take
exercise and find health and amusement. None of the other cities
of the world--not Paris, or Berlin, or New York, or Peking, or
Calcutta--have anything quite similar to the parks of London, for
they are not formal gardens or bare parade grounds, but pieces of
rural country; and they are not just outside the town, but contained
in its midst. This is a celebrated road in Hyde Park, where only
horses and no carriages go. It is called Rotten Row. Here we see
it on a summer day, when the sun is shining, with men and women
upon horseback taking the air. But the parks are not merely for
the amusement of the rich people who can afford to keep horses;
they are also for the poor. Here, for instance, we have a picture
of children at play, and here another, taken in St. James’s Park,
showing children fishing for the little fish that live in the water
of the lake. In Regent’s Park there is a Zoological Garden, in which
are kept animals from all parts of the world. Here we see a group of
children, who, by way of a holiday treat, are having a few moments
on the back of an elephant. These parks of London have much money
spent upon them, so that the poor people of London have in parts of
them gardens to look upon which are as fine as the gardens of rich
men. Here, for example, we have a scene among the flowers in Hyde
Park. Nor must we forget the Crystal Palace, an immense house of
glass, where the people may find amusement in all weathers. Of course
there are still large parts of London which are ugly, and completely
covered with small houses. In these parts the life of the people
in the dark, chilly, wet winter is not very bright. But men are
always at work to better these wretched quarters, and gradually they
will disappear. To serve the poor who fall ill, a number of large
hospitals have been built, and some of these are fine buildings,
and well placed. Here, beside Westminster Bridge, is St. Thomas’s
Hospital, which faces the Houses of Parliament.
[Sidenote: 49. The Imperial Institute and London University.]
Now let us consider another aspect of London. To rule an Empire of
300,000,000 people men require skill, and must be educated. Nearly
every man and woman in all the seven millions of London can now read
and write. There are hundreds of free schools where these things
are taught. But the Ministers of the King, and the judges, and the
administrators who go out to the Colonies, require greater skill, and
for them, and for the doctors and engineers and other learned people,
there are Universities. Here is the fine building occupied in part by
the Imperial Institute and in part by the University of London. You
know of the University of London, because it holds examinations not
only in London but also in other parts of the Empire--for instance,
in Ceylon.
[Sidenote: 50. British Museum--Interior of the Egyptian Room, with
Rosetta Stone.]
Here we come to another of the great centres of learning in London.
This is the British Museum, in which have been gathered historical
treasures and documents from all parts of the world. The library
of the museum contains more than a million books. In the room that
is here shown, you see on the stand in the centre one of the most
celebrated of all documents. It is written on a stone, called the
Rosetta Stone, because it was found at Rosetta in Egypt. Men have
learnt from it--because it is written in two languages side by
side--to understand the ancient language of the Egyptians. It is
necessary to gather these treasures together in the centre of the
Empire in order that learned men may study them conveniently, and
compare them with one another, without having to lose time in long
journeys.
[Sidenote: 51. Trafalgar Square.]
Now let us leave Westminster and the West End of the town, and as we
drive through the streets towards the City of London, the place of
merchants, let us stop on the way for a moment to see some of the
chief monuments which record the history of the British Empire. This
is Trafalgar Square, named after the greatest victory at sea. Here is
the monument of Admiral Lord Nelson, who won the battle and died in
the moment of victory. There in the centre, standing upon a smaller
column, is a more recent monument, erected in memory of General
Gordon, of whom probably you have heard. He fought for China in the
Taiping rebellion, and afterwards died for Britain at Khartoum.
[Sidenote: 52. St. Paul’s Cathedral--West Front.]
[Sidenote: 53. St. Paul’s Cathedral--Interior.]
[Sidenote: 54. Nelson’s Tomb.]
[Sidenote: 55. Wellington’s Tomb.]
Next we come to St. Paul’s Cathedral, of which this is the West Front
and the chief entry. Before it is a statue of Queen Anne, one of
the Sovereigns of England, who lived 200 years ago. The Cathedral
was rebuilt in her reign. Here is the interior, with the sunbeams
striking down from the dome. To the left is the tomb of the Duke of
Wellington, who won the battle of Waterloo. In the crypt below is
also the tomb of Lord Nelson, who saved the Empire in the battle of
Trafalgar. Here we have another and nearer view of the tomb of the
Duke of Wellington.
[Sidenote: 56. The Royal Exchange and the Bank.]
We will now drive on to the middle of the City. Here to the left is
the Bank of England, the centre of the finance of the Empire. Beside
it is the Royal Exchange, on the upper floor of which the insurance
of ships at sea is effected. The statue is of the Duke of Wellington,
and was erected by the merchants of London. See the dense traffic
of carriages, for this is the very heart of the business quarter of
London, and it is the busiest time of the day. If you saw this very
spot late on a summer’s evening, or if you saw it on a Sunday, the
day of rest, you would find it quiet and nearly empty.
[Sidenote: 57. View from the Dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral.]
Had we climbed just now to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral and looked
eastward over the City, we should have seen in the background the
river and the Tower Bridge, but in the foreground the broad roof of
Cannon Street Railway Station. There are many railway stations in
the City, and for the following reason. The City of London, which
measures one square mile, is occupied at night by only 27,000 people.
In the daytime there are probably 360,000 people at work in it. These
people go out at night to sleep in Outer London, and are brought back
in the morning by trains, by omnibuses, and by cabs.
[Sidenote: 58. Day and Night Populations of the City.]
This diagram shows you clearly the meaning of these facts. The
largest (pink) square represents the population of Greater London.
The very small (black) square in the centre is the night population
of the City. The square (red) of intermediate size represents the
number of the people who crowd into the City in the daytime but at
night sleep without. So that the City is like a huge pulsating heart,
which sends its blood outward through the streets and along the
railways at evening, and receives it back in the morning.
[Sidenote: 59. Interior of St. Pancras Station.]
Finally, we enter one of the chief stations of London, whence the
trains start, not only at morning and evening, in and out between the
centre and the suburbs, but also on longer journeys past the green
farms and busy factories of Britain to the coasts which everywhere
surround it. London is only the heart and the brain of the Empire;
it could not stand alone, for there is no food grown in it. London
is great only because Britain is a productive country and the
British Empire is great. Therefore, when we have rested after our
sight-seeing in the metropolis, we will go out to the green fields
and the smaller towns, and will see what England and Scotland and
Ireland are like, for from them have come the men who have made both
London and the Empire.
LECTURE III.
THE SCENERY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.
[Sidenote: 1. Physical Map of British Isles.]
At the close of the last Lecture we found ourselves in one of the
chief railway stations of London, from which the railways go out
through the open country--twenty different lines in twenty different
directions--to end on the coasts around the island of Great Britain.
We might, of course, take a train from one of these stations and
travel rapidly through the country; but I prefer that you should go
another way, by which you will see more. Here, in this map, we have
the English Channel, up which our steamer brought us from India. We
see the promontory of Kent round which we came; we note the Straits
of Dover across which the Indian mails are carried; and we see the
Thames, up which we passed into the midst of the great city--to the
Tower Bridge and London Bridge.
I now propose taking you up the River Thames beyond London. We
will travel up the river almost to its source here in the Cotswold
Hills, and we will look from the brink of the hills westward over
the country beyond. This will give us a very good idea of the
rolling, fertile plain which occupies all the South of England.
Then returning to the east again we will follow the coast round
from the Fens to Kent, and to the promontory of Cornwall. The rest
of Britain may best be seen in two strips. The first begins here in
Cornwall and Devonshire, and extends northward through Wales and the
Lake District into the east of Scotland. It is mountainous, and has
many beautiful wooded landscapes. The second begins in the South
and West of Ireland, and extends up the West of Scotland. This also
is mountainous, but it is on the edge of the stormy ocean, and is
mostly naked and without trees, but has magnificent cliff scenery.
[Sidenote: 2. Thames Steamboat on Bank Holiday.]
Now let us start on our trip through Britain. Here is a steamboat
on the Thames above London. It is crowded with people, for the
photograph was taken on a Bank Holiday. On four week-days, and four
only, in the year the Banks are closed, and business ceases, while
everyone makes holiday. Those who live in the metropolis naturally
spend the day outside, among the green fields and on the river banks.
[Sidenote: 3. Richmond Bridge.]
[Sidenote: 4. Richmond--View down the River.]
Here is another scene on the Thames. It is near Richmond Bridge.
There are holiday makers who prefer to spend their holiday quietly,
fishing in the river. Next is a view from Richmond Bridge itself.
See the crowd of little boats ready for those who would take their
pleasure in that manner.
[Sidenote: 5. Magna Charta Island.]
We gradually leave the neighbourhood of London and come to quieter
reaches of the Thames, where the water is never disturbed by the
tide, and rich green meadows edge the silent stream. This is a little
island in the river where, seven hundred years ago, Magna Charta was
signed--the famous document by which the then King of England granted
to his people ways of justice which have been practised ever since.
But the island is now merely a little green spot, surrounded by
rippling water, upon which a house has been built for the refreshment
of passing boat people.
[Sidenote: 6. Clieveden.]
[Sidenote: 7. Nuneham Bridge.]
We glide on to places where the woods cover steep slopes and overhang
the water. Here, for example, we have such a wooded bank, crowned
with the country house of a rich man. And here another wooded scene,
with a timber bridge, and a cottage hidden away among the leaves.
[Sidenote: 8. Landscape from Cotswolds.]
[Sidenote: 9. The same--Bredon Hill.]
[Sidenote: 10. The same--Saintbury.]
But we must not think only of holidays, or of the Thames as an idle
river in a rich country. England is a fertile country, and cultivated
almost from end to end. There are crops of grain--wheat, barley, and
oats, which, as you know, in the northern countries take the place of
rice--and there are also broad fields of green grass where the cattle
and sheep feed. Here is a view taken from the edge of the Cotswold
Hills, near the source of the Thames. It gives a good idea of an open
countryside in England. The land, as you see, is cut into fields by
hedgerows, which are long belts of green, growing bush planted for
the purpose of preventing the cattle and sheep in one field from
straying into the next, where they might damage the standing crops.
If you looked down upon such a country from a balloon, you would see
it divided into little oblongs and squares, all beautifully kept.
Many of them would be green with grass, but others would change in
colour with the season, showing ploughed soil in the winter, green
growing corn in the spring, and golden harvest in the autumn. But at
all times the bushy hedgerows would strike you most, for in other
countries men use fences of dead wood or of iron wire, but the green
hedges of England, often bright with flowers, are a sight never to
be forgotten. The roads traverse the country between two lines of
hedge almost all the way. Here is another scene in the same part of
England, and yet another, with the fields and hedges spreading away
to the horizon.
[Sidenote: 11. Landscape--Brook and Poplars.]
Next we come to a landscape such as you find beside the brooks which
wander sluggishly through the rich plain. Note the tall poplar trees
set against the shining western sky, for it is evening, and the man
and boy are going home after their work in the fields.
[Sidenote: 12. Scene in the Fens.]
There are parts of England which were once marsh, but have long been
drained and brought under tillage. In these the hedges are usually
wanting, for the ditches serve to divide the fields. The chief
district of this kind is known as the Fens. It is situated near the
East coast. Here we have a Fen scene, with a horizon like that of the
sea, so level is this old marsh land. Note the windmill for pumping
the water out of the lower ditches into the higher. The wind sweeps
freely over the great flat expanse.
[Sidenote: 13. Surrey Pine Wood.]
[Sidenote: 14. Knole Park.]
[Sidenote: 15. “The Monarch,” Cassiobury Park.]
You must remember that, although it very rarely rains as heavily
in England as in India, and there are no Monsoons, yet there is
rarely a season of so much as a few weeks in which it does not rain
a little. England is, therefore, a moist land on the whole. It must
once have been clothed with forest and marsh almost from end to
end; now, however, there are left only small patches of woodland,
and no marshes at all. Here is a typical scene in a pine wood in
a sandy district not far from London. Most of the woods are round
the parks or pleasure grounds of rich men. These parks are among
the most beautiful spots in England. You will remember that in the
last lecture we saw how that the public parks of London were perhaps
the most beautiful and characteristic things in the metropolis. If
you were to look down from almost any high hill upon a cultivated
English landscape with fields and hedges, you would probably notice
two or three large green spaces--larger than a good many fields put
together. These would arrest your attention because of their lack of
hedges and because of the trees scattered about them. Round their
borders you would see several plantations or patches of woodland. In
the centre of each would be the mansion of a rich man. The people of
the neighbourhood are generally allowed to go freely through these
parks, and to use them as playgrounds except, of course, close to
the house. Here we have a scene in Knole Park. One of the most
remarkable points about the parks of England is the fact that since
there is no undergrowth, and since the trees are felled and thinned
out, each tree grows to perfection, spreading out to its proper shape
in a way that we rarely see when trees are crowded together in a
forest. Some of these park trees grow to a magnificent size, and to a
great age. Here is one in Cassiobury Park, known as “The Monarch.”
[Sidenote: 16. A Garden.]
Immediately round the park-house of the great man you will find a
garden--a garden that is kept, every yard of it, with the greatest
care. The grass is beautifully green, and is cut short, so that it
becomes a natural carpet. The hedges are pruned, and grow so thick
that they become living walls through which you cannot see. To these
gardens are brought trees and plants from all parts of the world.
There are even tropical plants, but these must of course be grown
under cover of glass, which lets in the sun’s light and heat but
keeps out the cold. You remember the giant glass house of London,
which was spoken of in the last lecture as the Crystal Palace. In
the garden before us we see a tree known as the Araucaria, which is
brought from the cooler parts of South America, and will grow in the
gardens of England without glass shelter. Palms, however, will not
grow in England in the open air, though they are often exposed in the
gardens as special treasures during the summer.
Let us now look at some of the more exceptional scenes in the British
Isles, for the things which to you are least familiar--the great
green carpet of grass, the long lines of green hedgerow, the white
roads between twin hedges--all these things, which to you appear
strange, occur for so many miles in the country of England, that they
are common and hardly noticed by the people who live among them.
There are scenes in the British Isles, however, which even English
people go to look at, and in some parts these are so beautiful that
people of other countries travel far in order to see them. We will
begin with the coast districts along the East and South of England,
and then we will go to the two strips of mountainous country which I
pointed out to you just now on the map.
[Sidenote: 17. The Downs--The Devil’s Dyke.]
[Sidenote: 18. Dover Cliff.]
This is a scene on the Downs--long lines of hill made of the same
white chalk which is exposed in the cliffs of Dover. The chalk forms
treeless, hedgeless, breezy uplands with winding and branching
valleys. The hills between the valleys are rounded like great
shoulders, and are all overgrown with a thin grass, short like
velvet, upon which feed many small sheep. Here and there the white
chalk shows through, as it were a scar on the hillside, and the roads
are white lines running up and down hill. Here is a view on the edge
of the Down country, overlooking lower wooded ground. The valley
entering the hills to the right is very deeply cut and is known as
the Devil’s Dyke. At Dover, and at several other places on the coast,
the Downs come to a sudden end at the cliff brink, and you can see
layer upon layer of white chalk cut short by the waves rolling in
from the sea. To-day, in places like Dover, men have built walls
which stop the waves from breaking away more of the land.
[Sidenote: 19. Sea breaking at Lyme Regis.]
[Sidenote: 20. Cliff at Sidmouth.]
[Sidenote: 21. Beach at Exmouth.]
The people of England are very fond of the sea-coast and many of them
live there for a time each year for reasons of pleasure and health.
There is exhilaration in such scenes as this, where the waves break
against the stone piers which have been built out into the sea. Or
again, what could be more pleasant than to wander along such a coast
as this, and to note the evidence of the sea’s might in the broken
and caverned rocks? But children love sandy shores, where they may
dig with small spades and build castles of sand, which for a few
moments resist the waves of the incoming tide. The tides are large
along the British coasts, and in many parts broad shores of sand are
alternately covered by the water and uncovered.
[Sidenote: 22. Clovelly.]
[Sidenote: 23. Lynton--Road through Wood.]
[Sidenote: 24. Lynmouth Waterfall.]
[Sidenote: 25. Dartmoor.]
[Sidenote: 26. Land’s End--Longships Lighthouse.]
Now we come to the first of the two strips of mountainous country
which I have described to you on the map as occupying the West and
North of Britain. There is much rain in these districts, brought
by the west wind from the neighbouring ocean. Here is a little
village by the sea in the West Country. It is called Clovelly.
You see the houses of the fishermen running up the hillside, and
you see how the whole hill is covered with trees, because of the
moisture of the air. Let us drive into these woods by the roads
which have been constructed through them. This is a view at Lynton
in the same West Country as Clovelly. Here is yet another scene in
the district showing a waterfall in the wood. If we drive further
inland, up some valley, we emerge presently on to the high ground
above, where the violent winds and the torrents, fed by the rains,
prevent the growth of much wood, and give us naked landscapes such
as this upon Dartmoor. You notice here a characteristic of the hilly
parts of England; the green hedgerows are wanting, and the fields
are divided by stone walls--rough stone walls, without cement. But
even here there grows a low bush, called gorse, which bears many
small yellow flowers, and at times this bush covers entire hillsides
with a cloak of brilliant gold. Now we come to the rocky coast of
Cornwall, known expressively as the Land’s End. It is very different
from the tamer edge of the chalk country. See how the hard dark rocks
have been shattered by the mighty Atlantic waves, and see how the
dangers which they present to navigation are guarded against by the
Longships Lighthouse. Notice the ship going round the point beyond
the lighthouse. It is steering northward to go up the channel of sea
which divides the island of Great Britain from that of Ireland.
[Sidenote: 27. Snowdon.]
[Sidenote: 28. Welsh Bicknor--Cattle in River.]
[Sidenote: 29. The Wye.]
We will travel gradually northward through the inner strip of
mountainous country. We come first to the peninsular land of Wales,
where live the Welsh people, some of whom still speak the Welsh
language, though most of them can now talk English. Here is a view
from the island of Anglesea, across the Menai Strait to the barren
heights of Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. In the foreground
are bridges over the narrow strait, the one for the railway, the
other for the road. The name Snowdon is derived from the fact that
the white snow which falls in the winter lies upon the summit longer
than upon the lesser heights around. But remember that in Wales
you are still in the middle strip of Britain, and deep down in the
valleys between the mountains there are rich, woodland scenes. Here
is a spot on the River Wye. It is a stream of pure water coming down
from the mountains, with a wood covering the hillside and cattle
cooling their feet in the water. Here is yet another scene on the
same river, where a gorge traverses the rocks, but the steep slope is
overgrown with trees because of the moisture.
Next we go northward from Wales into that part of the North of
England which is called the Lake District. In the northern, and also
in the more southern regions of the world--in parts of North America,
in parts of South America, and in New Zealand--there are countries
sown all over with the most beautiful lakes--lakes that are narrow
and long and deep, with rivers flowing into one end and out again
from the other end. These lakes are often in mountain valleys, and
if the slopes on either hand be wooded, they present some of the
most beautiful scenes in the world. Outside Britain such valley
lakes occur in Norway, in the west of North America, in the west of
South America, and in New Zealand. The Lake District of England
is a little knot of mountains, with deep valleys radiating from
the central peaks like the spokes of a wheel. Each of the valleys
contains a lake.
[Sidenote: 30. Ullswater.]
[Sidenote: 31. Lodore Falls.]
[Sidenote: 32. Bridge at Lodore.]
Here is a view of Ullswater, one of these lakes. Do you see the
combination of hill, and water, and green tree growth which together
make the picture? Here is another scene in the same Lake Country,
where the clear, fresh water from the hilltops comes leaping over the
little rocks through a tunnel of green leaves, with here and there
a gleam of the sunshine piercing through. And all the time there is
laughter, as the poets say, to be heard in the tumbling water. Yet
one more scene of the same kind from the same Lake Country.
[Sidenote: 33. Loch Lomond.]
Let us now go on to Scotland. In part it is a lake country like
the North of England, but on a rather larger scale. Here is Loch
Lomond, one of the most famous of the Scottish lakes. The word loch
is Scottish for lake. The Scottish people used in many parts to talk
a language of their own, but, like the Welsh, most of them now talk
English, and form, with the English, a single people, loyal to one
king.
[Sidenote: 34. Ben Venue.]
Here are a few more views in the same country. This is Ben Venue--the
word Ben in Scottish means “mount.” We note in this slide the same
combination of beautiful mountain forms, water, green foliage, little
islands with green trees upon them, and houses hidden away in the
nooks. It is a wild and yet a soft and inhabited country. It is loved
by the Scottish people, whose great writers have written tales and
poems about it. You know that it is the poetry and the songs and the
legends of a race which make a nation proud. Scotchmen working in
many a distant land, remember the time of their childhood when they
lived among these scenes, and far away they still read the books
which tell of them.
[Sidenote: 35. Killiecrankie.]
[Sidenote: 36. Loch Katrine.]
Here is the Pass of Killiecrankie, famous in history for a battle of
a hundred and sixty years ago--one of the last battles fought within
the British Isles. And here, lastly, is Loch Katrine, with a steamer
conveying tourists to enjoy the scenery. Loch Katrine is close to
the manufacturing district of Scotland, where is Glasgow, a city of
a million inhabitants. Now great cities have great wants, and one of
the wants--most costly to supply but essential to health--is pure
water. The water of Loch Katrine, deep and clear, gathered from the
mountains, is carried underground through a tunnel pierced by man
to supply the great city of Glasgow. Wherever you go in the British
Islands you will find within a few miles of one another the silent
beauties of Nature, and teeming, noisy homes of millions of people,
for the land is but a small one, and is crowded with inhabitants.
[Sidenote: 37. Giants’ Causeway.]
[Sidenote: 38. Basalt--near view.]
Let us now pass to the second strip of mountainous country--to the
bleak coast-land along the Atlantic edge of Ireland and Scotland;
and here let us first visit a district containing some of the chief
natural wonders of Britain. You know that in certain parts of the
world there are mountains called volcanoes, which have heat within
them, and throw up great clouds of steam, to be seen glowing in the
brilliant light for a great distance round. At times streams of hot
liquid rock flow from them, which may cover a whole countryside,
destroying vegetation, houses, and people. In Asia there are such
volcanoes, in Japan, in the Philippines, in Sumatra, and in Java,
but fortunately there are none in India. In the British Islands also
there are to-day no volcanoes, but before history began this region
had volcanoes on a magnificent scale. In the West Country beside the
ocean--in the north of Ireland and in the West of Scotland--there
once welled up from underneath immense quantities of flowing hot
stone, which hardened into thick beds of rock. While the stone was
cooling it usually cracked, as you may see the silt beside river
banks crack in hot sunshine along many lines crossing one another.
In the same manner, this liquid rock cracked as it cooled, and
because it was of very even consistence the cracks were regular in
their distribution. The result was that the rock was split into
columns standing side by side. Here, in the North of Ireland, is
such columnar rock. The place is known as the Giants’ Causeway, for
the people in the North of Ireland who lived centuries ago, and were
ignorant, wondered at this beautiful regular rock structure. The
tops of the columns are like a pavement, and the Irish said that the
pavement must have been made by giants. Therefore it was called the
Giants’ Causeway. But each slab, as we see in the next slide, is
the top of a column and is separated from its neighbouring columns
by the cracks which formed in the cooling rock as it solidified.
So we realise how much more wonderful is Nature than man in his
ignorance is apt to think. But we realise also how the poetry of
a race begins, and we understand the love with which Irishmen and
Scotchmen, scattered over the world, look back on the country of
their childhood, which is not only beautiful, but wrapped in the
legends told them by their nurses.
[Sidenote: 39. Staffa.]
[Sidenote: 40. Fingal’s Cave.]
This is the island of Staffa, where we see the same rough pavement
of column tops, and a wall of column sides. In places, where the
waves of the ocean beat fiercely upon the exposed parts, some of the
columns have been removed, so that the rock above has been undermined
and caves have been formed, which resemble, with their vaults above
and their chiselled walls on either hand, some great temple made by
man.
[Sidenote: 41. Killarney.]
[Sidenote: 42. Killarney, Old Weir Bridge.]
Now let us away to the far South-West of Ireland. There, hidden
in the midst of high mountains, are the Lakes of Killarney. This
is one of the most beautiful spots in all Britain, for the lakes
are sheltered, and though close to the ocean are wooded along
their shores. Here is a view at Killarney, across the lakes to the
mountains which neighbour them. Hanging round the heights are the
mists and clouds of the Atlantic. All this district is bathed in
moisture, and green the year round, but hardly ever free from cloud.
It is the combination of mountain, lake, wood, cloud, and sunshine
which gives an ever changing, always flickering, beauty to this part
of the ocean edge. Here is another scene at Killarney. The boat and
the men are waiting to take visitors down the stream.
[Sidenote: 43. In Connemara.]
[Sidenote: 44. Connemara--Lough Scene.]
Northward of Killarney, upon the edge of Ireland, is Connemara, a
region of wild, naked rock scenery, so wet and poor that over large
districts bog moss clings to the surface instead of grass. We see
here the torrents of rain water descending from the mist-bathed
mountains. This is another scene in the same country of Connemara
with a rare clump of trees, making still more evident the general
nakedness of the landscape. The beauty of it depends on the shapes of
the hills, and on the alternation of land and water.
[Sidenote: 45. Highland Scene--A Stag.]
[Sidenote: 46. Highland Scene--A Golden Eagle.]
And now we come to the grandest, most lonely scenery in the Western
Highlands of Scotland. Here on the heathery and grassy moors, which
spread for miles and miles over the mountain heights, are still to be
found some of the wild animals of Britain, which elsewhere have been
driven from the land by civilisation. This is a stag of the large
species known as the Red Deer. You see here the colouring of the
moors and the atmospheric effects which you must put for yourselves
into the black and white photographs that follow. But first we have
another colour photograph, a golden eagle beside her nest on the
crags.
[Sidenote: 47. Sligachan, Skye.]
[Sidenote: 48. Glen Sligachan, Skye.]
[Sidenote: 49. Loch Coruisk, Skye.]
Now we have two or three views in the Island of Skye. They are in
black and white, but your minds must clothe them in the rich tints
we saw just now. Note the treeless character of the scene. And see
here a mountain rising nakedly to the sky, without even the covering
of grass or heather. And again, in this same Island of Skye is Loch
Coruisk, one of the wildest and remotest spots in the United Kingdom.
From the head of the loch there is a walk of several miles over
a mountain pass before you reach the first habitation of man. So
curious is the contrast between the ocean edge of the British Islands
and the thickly populated plain of England. London is the largest
city in the world, but the Highlands of Scotland are among the least
populated regions of all Europe. Here, therefore, is the playground
of many of the British people, who go in the summer time to walk over
these mountains, to steam through these lochs, to catch the fish,
and to shoot the deer and the birds. So they gain the health which
enables them to work in London at the business of the Empire during
the dark winter.
[Sidenote: 50. Clett Rock, Thurso.]
[Sidenote: 51. Duncansby Head.]
Finally we come out to the ocean itself, and here we see the great
history of Nature. Layer upon layer, hundreds of layers thick, we
have the beds of rock which were once laid down at the bottom of the
sea. They are now dry and hard, and have been cut into by the waves,
so that this stack of rock, which was once a piece of Scotland, is
now detached as a little island. Here is yet another scene where the
rocks are of a different kind, and the shape of the islets therefore
different.
[Sidenote: 52. Atlantic Rollers.]
[Sidenote: 53. Sunset on the Atlantic.]
These are the rollers of the rough northern sea, which work upon the
hard stone. But occasionally even the Atlantic Ocean calms. As we
look out to the west on this lovely summer evening, let us remember
a fact never to be forgotten. The islands of Britain, which centre
in London, with all their natural beauty and their 43 millions of
people, are what they are, the focus of a great Empire, partly
because they are set as islands in the ocean, and partly because they
were peopled long ago by proud and masterful sea races of men.
LECTURE IV.
HISTORIC CENTRES AND THEIR INFLUENCE UPON NATIONAL LIFE.
[Sidenote: 1. Stonehenge.]
The English did not always live in the British Islands. They came,
long centuries ago, across the sea from the mainland of Europe.
Before them there lived in the islands peoples of whom we know
but little. Some of these early peoples have, however, left to us
monuments, which have been preserved in the more lonely parts of
the country. They were apparently temples, built with great stones,
such as we see here at Stonehenge. Of the language of the people who
built them we know nothing--of their arts of life we know little. We
believe that they were barbarous tribes who offered human sacrifices;
but at least they must have had some command over machinery, or they
never could have raised such stones as these, which are more than
twice as high as a man.
[Sidenote: 2. The Roman Wall.]
After these people there came others, and yet others, and at last a
very powerful and highly civilised people, the Romans, who conquered
nearly all the Western world. They conquered England, but never
Ireland or Northern Scotland. The Romans have left monuments in
various parts of the country, of which the most remarkable is this
wall across the island. They did not care to invade those rugged
regions of the North, filled with mountains and great moorlands,
which we saw in the pictures of the last Lecture. In Scotland there
continued, therefore, to dwell the wild peoples who inhabited all the
island before the coming of the Romans. The mountaineers were kept
out of the South by a stone wall, built right across the island, the
remains of which are still for the most part standing to-day. The
Roman wall shows you something of the strength of the Roman people,
to whom the islands of Britain owed their first civilisation.
[Sidenote: 3. Roman Bath at Bath.]
Here is another evidence of the Roman epoch in Britain. It is the
ruin of a Roman bath in the town which is now called Bath. The houses
around are, of course, modern. Hot water rises at Bath from great
depths, and is used for medicinal purposes. The springs were known
to the Romans, and for that reason they built a Roman city here.
All the upper portion of the building is, as you see, gone, but
there remains the bath itself, with the steps leading down to it,
and the bases of the columns which formerly supported a covered way
around. The Romans came from the South--from the Mediterranean--and
experienced a climatic difficulty in Britain, just as white men
to-day experience one in the tropics. But white men have difficulty
in tropical climates because of the heat; the Romans had difficulty
in the northern countries because of the cold; and therefore it was
that they valued the warm water of the baths at Bath.
[Sidenote: 4. Round Tower at Glendalough.]
Christianity was first preached in Britain while the Romans were
there. It was carried by missionaries even beyond the Roman frontiers
into Ireland, and afterwards into Scotland. When the Romans left the
country, after ruling there for 400 years, there came over the seas
the forefathers of the English--a race of wild, bold seamen. They
were not Christians; but at first they did not conquer either Ireland
or Scotland, and the Christian religion continued among the ancient
peoples of those countries. Some of the most ancient of the Irish and
Scottish monuments relate to the time when the English were newly
come into England. This round tower, for instance, is probably a
monument of that time. It is in a very beautiful mountainous portion
of Ireland, and is known as the Round Tower of Glendalough.
[Sidenote: 5. Iona Cathedral.]
Crossing the sea to Scotland, we come to the islet of Iona, placed
out in the Western ocean beyond the coast of the mainland of
Scotland. Here are the ruins of a Cathedral of great antiquity. At
Iona there ruled the Lord of the Isles, who was King over the pirates
from the North. They seized all the Western isles of Scotland and
held them until about six hundred years ago, when they were defeated
at sea, and there was peace on the ocean off Britain.
[Sidenote: 6. King Alfred’s Statue at Winchester.]
Let us now return to England--to the England which had been conquered
by the Romans and abandoned by them, and had been conquered afresh
by the tribes of the English from over the water. Let us pass on
through some dark centuries, as they are called, because history has
little to tell of them, until we come to the first great Englishman,
King Alfred the Great, from whom our present King-Emperor, Edward the
Seventh, is descended. King Alfred lived a thousand years ago, and is
called Great because he united the tribes of the English, and made
the Kingdom of England. Here is the monument erected in his city of
Winchester on the thousandth anniversary of his death.
[Sidenote: 7. Bradford-on-Avon Church.]
Some generations before King Alfred, Christian missionaries came
again to the land of England and slowly converted the English to
Christianity--first one tribe and then another. Here is, perhaps,
the most ancient of the Christian churches of England--it is at
Bradford-on-Avon. The missionaries came from Rome, and taught the
English to build in stone, with round tops to the windows, as the
Romans built.
We have now mentioned five ages of English history. First, were the
Ancient Britons; second, the Roman conquerors; third, the English
conquerors; fourth, the Christian Missionaries; and fifth, was King
Alfred. A sixth age had to elapse before the England which we know
was made. In this a new race of fierce seamen came over the water,
who were called Normans, or North men. One branch of them were the
Pirates just now mentioned at Iona. Another branch conquered the
southern part of Britain, the part now called England, and added
one more strain of blood to the people who have ever since lived
in Britain and sailed the ocean. The Normans completed the work of
King Alfred, and the English, being now united, have not since been
conquered from across the water. You see that it was by no chance
that the people of Britain became the race of sea-fighters and of
rulers beyond the sea such as they are now known in all parts of the
world.
[Sidenote: 8. Iffley.]
[Sidenote: 9. Durham Cathedral.]
All this time the English were advancing in civilisation. Though
they fought among themselves, though they obeyed their rulers with
difficulty, already they venerated the churches of their Christian
religion. While they could not put their wealth into beautiful
houses, which might be pillaged, yet they were able to build
magnificent churches, which all men respected, and these churches
are the most splendid monuments they have left to us. Before they
crossed to Britain the Normans stayed for a time on the mainland of
Europe and learned there a new style of building. Here is the Norman
church of Iffley. You still notice the rounded Roman arches, but
the building is clearly of a more finished type than the church of
Bradford-on-Avon, which we saw just now. Next is the great cathedral
at Durham, also Norman work, but with some later building added, for
in each generation men loved to enlarge and enrich the chief temple
of their town or district.
[Sidenote: 10. Canterbury Cathedral.]
We now come to a Cathedral of later date. It is that of Canterbury.
Here, as you see, the windows have pointed tops to them, for they
are built in the Gothic style, which succeeded the Roman style of
the Normans. Canterbury Cathedral is a very large church. Its three
great towers contain bells which call the people to worship. This is
the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and is placed where
the missionary Augustine first taught the Christian religion to the
English, who had lately crossed the seas into Britain.
[Sidenote: 11. Salisbury--West Front.]
Here is the west front of Salisbury Cathedral. You see clearly that
we are coming into civilized times, for the men who built this
cathedral could work in stone with delicate skill. They no longer
employed great massive columns and rows of narrow, round headed
windows. All this front has pointed arches, and in many of them you
have sculptured images of the good men of past times.
[Sidenote: 12. Wells Cathedral.]
[Sidenote: 13. Wells--West Front.]
This is Wells Cathedral, surrounded by beautiful trees and gardens.
And here is the front of the same cathedral, with still more delicate
and elaborate work. Do you realise the love which the builders put
into each little piece of what they did?
[Sidenote: 14. Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford--Interior.]
And here lastly is the interior of Oxford Cathedral. It is very
interesting, because upon arches of Norman date, roughly and
massively hewn, you have a vaulted roof of the latest and most
delicate Gothic or pointed style. In this respect the cathedrals
of England are like everything else that is English. In each age
Englishmen accept with veneration what their forefathers hand down to
them, and adapt it with as little change as possible to the needs of
their own time. It is only so that a mighty and lasting Empire can be
founded.
In the country parts of England, where no town requires a large
building for worship, here and there a church has fallen, in times
of past strife, into decay. But the people of the present take care
of these ruins, and regard them with veneration, for they are often
very beautiful, and preserve a record of the past most faithfully,
because there has been no need to adapt them to modern requirements.
[Sidenote: 15. Glastonbury.]
[Sidenote: 16. Netley.]
Here, for instance, is the ruin of Glastonbury Abbey, and here that
of Netley Abbey. In both, as you see, the roof has fallen in, but you
can imagine what kind of church there must have been formerly. With
these exceptions the buildings in England are maintained in perfect
order, for the cool, moist climate requires that, for comfort sake,
the weather should be kept out.
While the cathedrals were built without defence, and beautiful
churches were often set in the green country and yet were not
attacked even in wild ages, the houses of the great men of the land
were formerly small fortresses or castles. These castles still stand
in different parts of the country, having in some cases been adapted
to modern requirements; but for the most part they have become ruins,
for it was easier to build again from the foundations. Moreover, many
of them were broken in warfare.
[Sidenote: 17. Stirling Castle.]
[Sidenote: 18. Alnwick Castle.]
Here is Stirling Castle, set high on a rock, in Scotland; and here
is Alnwick Castle, built near the frontier between England and
Scotland. For centuries there was much fighting between the English
and the Scots, though now, as you know, they have joined together in
friendship, and are subjects of one King.
[Sidenote: 19. Windsor Castle.]
Here is the greatest of all the Castles. It is Windsor Castle--the
castle of the King of England. It stands on a hill beside the River
Thames, higher up the river than London. You can see the Round Tower
in the centre of it. In all the old castles there was a strong refuge
in the centre for final defence in case a besieger should effect an
entry into the outworks, and this most important part of the castle
was called the “keep.” At Windsor the Round Tower was the keep. Here
to the right we have the church of the castle, called St. George’s
Chapel. In the old times there lived within such a castle as this of
the King of England almost a whole town of his servants. You will
remember from the second lecture that the Parliament and the Judges
used to sit in the King’s Palace at Westminster. In modern times
people think it healthier and more comfortable not to be crowded.
[Sidenote: 20. Windsor Round Tower.]
Now we go inside the castle and stand beside the Round Tower. You see
from the slightly pointed heads of the windows that the Tower belongs
to a later time than that of the Normans, who built with round-headed
windows.
[Sidenote: 21. Windsor from Home Park.]
Here is one more view of Windsor Castle. The Round Tower is in the
background to the right, for this front of the building is new, and
is in the nature of a palace rather than a castle. These wooded
slopes are the beginning of the beautiful park which lies round the
castle. Here are the rooms in which used to live Queen Victoria, our
Empress, the mother of King Edward.
Western history is divided into three periods which are generally
known as Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Times. The last
of these periods began about four centuries ago. The Middle Ages
included about a thousand years. The Romans belonged to Antiquity,
but King Alfred is of the Middle Ages, and so are most of the castles
and cathedrals, except St. Paul’s Cathedral, which was built about
two hundred years ago, when the earlier cathedral of London had been
destroyed by fire.
[Sidenote: 22. Hatfield.]
It took the whole of the Middle Ages--a thousand years--to establish
law and justice and order in England, a fact which shows with what
care order should be treasured, once it has been attained. But at
last men began to feel that even their rulers, who in a rough age are
liable to attack, might leave their houses unfortified, and place
them in the midst of pleasant gardens. This was the beginning of
Modern Times. Here is Hatfield House, built for one of England’s
most famous statesmen, the Lord Burleigh, who three hundred years
ago, served one of her greatest monarchs, Queen Elizabeth. A few
years ago Hatfield was the home of another British statesman, Lord
Salisbury, who was a descendant of Lord Burleigh, and served a still
greater monarch--Queen Victoria. You see how different from a castle
is the appearance of this house. It has square broad windows, giving
a flood of light within, even to the ground floor; for the men who
built it had no longer to fear that they would be attacked by arrows
and by guns through their windows, and therefore they could afford
to let in the light of the sun, which is loved in this cool Northern
land.
But you must not think that all of England’s greatness has been made
by her rich and powerful men. It is the glory of England that some
of the most valuable things done for her have been done by poor men.
You remember from the second Lecture that in Westminster Abbey, not
only was our King-Emperor crowned, with the dignitaries of the empire
round him, but also that there is a space called the Poets’ Corner,
where are the tombs and monuments of some of the chief writers who
have inspired the English with ideals of order and justice and
freedom. These poets were mostly poor men--some of them very poor.
[Sidenote: 23. Stratford-on-Avon.]
Here in the town of Stratford-on-Avon, in the centre of England,
is the humble cottage, still preserved with care, in which at
the time when the splendid house of Hatfield was built for Lord
Burleigh, there was born and lived the greatest of all English
writers, Shakespeare. To-day, in every town in which the English live
throughout the world there are copies of at least two books, the holy
book of the English--the Christian Bible--and the book full of human
wisdom, which was written by Shakespeare.
[Sidenote: 24. Blenheim.]
In London, in the Cathedral of St. Paul, we saw the monuments over
the tombs of Nelson and Wellington, the sailor and the soldier who
won the victories of Trafalgar and Waterloo. Two hundred years ago,
that is to say a hundred years before Nelson and Wellington, there
lived another great general, who commanded the armies of England
and won victories in the days of Queen Anne. He was the Duke of
Marlborough, and this is the house, Blenheim Palace, which England
built for him in gratitude for the victories he had won. In our own
times, Queen Victoria and King Edward have given rewards to Lord
Roberts and Lord Kitchener, whose names and deeds you know. Blenheim,
as you see, is a modern palace, not a fortified castle of the Middle
Ages. But it is built in the ancient style, for there was law and
order in the Empire of the Romans, and they also could therefore
build spaciously and openly.
[Sidenote: 25. Eton--from Playing Fields.]
[Sidenote: 26. Eton--from the River.]
[Sidenote: 27. Eton--4th June.]
Now there is one kind of old building in the land of England which
we have not yet mentioned, though it is very interesting and very
important. The youth of the English race, and especially that part
of it which in after years is to work for Government at Home, in
India, and in the Colonies, is carefully brought up in the midst
of monuments of the past. For Englishmen wish that the citizens of
the British Empire should not think too greatly each of himself,
but should think greatly of the State which they serve. Therefore
they bring up their youths to know that among their ancestors there
were also men who did good work for the Nation. The highest thing
an Englishman can do is to play his part well in his generation by
adding a little to the great scheme of order and freedom which we
call the British Empire. This is the ancient building of Eton, the
chief of the public schools of Britain. It was founded by one of the
Kings of England under the shadow of Windsor Castle. Here is another
view of it, taken from the Thames, which flows between Windsor and
Eton. And here are the boys amusing themselves in boats on their
annual festival-day. The view, as you see, contains the Round Tower
of Windsor Castle.
[Sidenote: 28. Oxford--from Magdalen Tower.]
[Sidenote: 29. Oxford--High Street.]
[Sidenote: 30. Oxford--Wadham Garden.]
When the boys have grown to be young men, they go from school
to the Universities. There are two ancient Universities in
England, well-known to not a few students from India, Oxford and
Cambridge, each adorned with beautiful buildings and gardens, and
full of memories of the great men of the past. There are also
ancient Universities in Scotland and Ireland, and there are new
Universities in England such as the London University. But the
historic Universities of Britain are Oxford and Cambridge. Here is
the University of Oxford as viewed from the tower of one of its
colleges. We see that it is a city filled with monuments and splendid
buildings. This is the High Street in Oxford, with the Church of the
University and some of the Palaces called Colleges, within which
the young men live, together with some of the Professors who teach
them. There are twenty-one of these colleges in Oxford, each with
200 or 300 students living within. Here is the garden of one of the
colleges, where men may walk and think.
[Sidenote: 31. Cambridge--King’s.]
[Sidenote: 32. Cambridge--King’s Chapel--Interior.]
[Sidenote: 33. Cambridge--Clare Bridge.]
Let us visit for a moment the sister University of Cambridge. This is
the Church in the college that is called King’s College, for it was
founded by one of the ancestors of King Edward. Here is the interior
of that church. You see how delicately the great span of the vault
is built. This church was erected at the close of the Middle Ages,
when men no longer put up fortresses for houses. Therefore they had
learned to build lightly, and to plan arches and windows with daring
skill. Next is a scene in the gardens of the Cambridge colleges, with
a bridge spanning the little River Cam.
[Sidenote: 34. Oxford--Commemoration Procession, with Prince of
Wales.]
[Sidenote: 35. Oxford--Merton College Library.]
We will return for a moment to Oxford and see something of the
working of the Universities. Here is a solemn procession of the
dignitaries of the University of Oxford. This is the President of the
University, called the Vice-Chancellor, and beside him, as a member
of the University, is the Prince of Wales, the son of the King. In
front of them are two Bedels carrying the maces of state. Next we
have the interior of one of the many libraries of the University. It
is the library of Merton College. The first duty of the University
is to treasure and increase knowledge. The second is to impart that
knowledge, so that it may be used for the good of mankind. But there
is also a third, which, for an imperial nation, is very important.
How comes it that young Englishmen, at home and in all lands of
the earth, have learned to work together? In part, no doubt, it is
because the schools have taught them not to think too highly each of
himself. In part, also, it is because they have learnt from books,
and are intelligent. But in part it is due to the games which they
play at school and at the University. These games not only develop
the body and give decision to the character, but they also teach
each man to sacrifice himself for the common cause. If eight men
row a boat in a race, no one can win victory for himself alone, but
submitting his will, must strive that his boat may win against the
boat which is chasing it.
[Sidenote: 36. Oxford Boats--The Start.]
[Sidenote: 37. The same--The Race.]
[Sidenote: 38. The same--A “Bump”.]
[Sidenote: 39. The same--After the Race.]
Let us look for a moment at two or three scenes in these contests at
Oxford, where men learn to work together, to keep their tempers, to
bear defeat, and to try again. The subject is one of great interest
to us here in India, for our young men now play the same games as the
English. Here is the start for the race. The boats are arranged in
procession at equal distances. All start together at the firing of a
pistol. Each tries to overtake and touch the boat in front of it. A
boat which succeeds in the effort starts the next day in the place
ahead of the boat which it has overtaken. Thus at the end of many
days a boat may work its way up to the head of the procession. But
a man who rowed in that boat would not say that he won the race--he
would only claim to have rowed along with other good men in the
victorious boat. Thus all men will know that he has not only learnt
to strive hard, but also to obey. Here is the race in progress, and
here is a “bump”; the second boat has caught the first, and the man
who steers the first boat is good-temperedly acknowledging defeat by
holding up his arm. Here lastly are the boats resting at the close of
the race.
[Sidenote: 40. A Football Match--England v. Scotland.]
You must not think, however, that these games are confined to the
Public Schools and the Universities. The millions of people who never
go to either play the same games and learn the same lessons from
them. Here you will recognize a football match. It is being played
between England and Scotland, each country having chosen the best
team available from among its countrymen. In this game you can see at
once that a man would be unpopular who played selfishly for his own
distinction and not for the victory of his team.
[Sidenote: 41. A Cricket Match--England v. Australia.]
Football is in England a winter game, for it requires considerable
activity. Cricket is more especially the national game, and it is
a game which, as you know, the English carry with them into every
corner of the globe, including the tropics. The great Colony of
Australia is not everywhere tropical, but as a whole it is much
warmer than the home country. Cricket is played there with much zest.
Now, because Australia is in the south and Britain in the north,
their seasons are reversed. Therefore, during the Australian winter
a cricket eleven is often sent to England, where it arrives during
the northern summer. This is a cricket match, played before many
spectators between England and Australia.
[Sidenote: 42. Oxford and Cambridge Athletics--The Hurdles.]
[Sidenote: 43. Finish for the Half Mile.]
There are many other athletic contests in which strength and skill
are matched. Here, for instance, is a race between representatives
of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Even in this contest,
where one man only can win, the English do not say simply that he
won the race, but they say that he won it for Oxford or Cambridge,
as the case may be. Part of the glory is not his, it belongs to the
University which trained him. Here is the finish of another race.
[Sidenote: 44. Ladies Playing Hockey.]
Lastly, we must not forget that half the nation consists of women.
The English like their women to play games, and to learn lessons of
courage and self-control which shall make them brave and helpful
wives in foreign countries or on the borders of the Empire. These
ladies are playing the game of hockey. Probably, they are students
at one of the Universities, for it is felt that women require
intelligence no less than men, if they are to be the wise mothers of
a race of rulers.
LECTURE V.
COUNTRY LIFE AND THE SMALLER TOWNS.
In the last Lecture we saw how the history of England, and the
monuments which have come from it, surround the schools and the
universities, and influence the upbringing of the men whom we know
here in India as officers of the Army and of the Navy, as Civil
Servants, and as merchants. Let us now, however, describe the early
surroundings of those whom we know chiefly as the rank and file of
the Army and as the sailors of the Navy.
Let us consider the homes of the people outside the Metropolis--the
small towns scattered over the whole land, and the hundreds of little
villages, the farms, and the cottages in the green countrysides and
by the shores of the sea.
[Sidenote: 1. View of Chipping Campden.]
Here is the little town of Chipping Campden, in the West of England,
set in a valley amid low hills and shaded by green trees, with its
church tower rising in the centre. Do you see the sloping roofs of
the houses which speak of a rainy climate, and the chimneys rising
from their ridges, telling of the cold winters and of blazing fires
round which in the long evenings the families gather?
[Sidenote: 2. Street in Chipping Campden.]
This is a street in the same little town of Chipping Campden. Is
it not peaceful and silent? How different the lives of the people
brought up here from those who live in the sound of the unending
traffic of London!
[Sidenote: 3. A Business Street.]
Here is another street in a country town, with shops where food and
clothing are sold. There is an inn, too, which bears the sign of a
Cock. The use of signs instead of names to distinguish houses is
an old custom which has survived from the times when men could not
read. See the school children gathered in the street watching the
photographer who is taking the picture.
[Sidenote: 4. A Residential Street.]
Next we go into a residential street, where are the houses of the
doctors and the lawyers of the little town. Some of the shopkeepers
also dwell here, for when they can afford it they like to withdraw
in the evening from their shops. These people are known in England
as the middle classes, for they are neither very rich nor very poor.
From among their children have come many who have helped to make
England what she is.
[Sidenote: 5. Town Church and Town Hall.]
In the middle of the town there is the Church and also the Town Hall
where meetings of the inhabitants are from time to time held for the
management of local affairs. This slide, for instance, is taken in
the little town of Cirencester. In front is the Town Hall, and in
rear of it the Church with its tower.
[Sidenote: 6. A Market.]
These small towns could not exist if it were not for the country
around them. On six days of the week they are silent and sleepy,
but on the seventh they wake up and do much business. This day,
known as Market Day, brings the farmers and their wives from all the
country round to sell their produce and to buy in the shops their
requirements for the week. Two or three times a year the market is
specially a large one, and is known as a Fair. Here is a Fair in
the little town of Burford. As you look down the street you can see
the green country without. But the street is full of people, and
there are stalls set up in it because there is no room for all the
purchasers in the shops. Therefore it is, that these small towns are
known as Market Towns.
[Sidenote: 7. Yarmouth.]
Some of the towns round the coast, however, are differently employed.
They depend not so much upon weekly markets as upon their fisheries.
Here is a scene at Yarmouth, with a number of old fishermen waiting
with their baskets on the quay for the return of the boats.
[Sidenote: 8. Newlyn Harbour.]
[Sidenote: 9. Landing Fish.]
In the next slide we have the fishing fleet of Newlyn, lying
sheltered in its harbour. And then we have a view of the boats on
their return deeply laden with their catch. Since Britain consists
of islands and has shores on all sides, the fisheries have much
importance.
But after all, if we would find the old life of England in which have
been reared the generations of men who have spread over the whole
world making the Empire and its commerce, we must go not only outside
London, but outside even the market and fishing towns into the rural
country.
[Sidenote: 10. A Country Road, Saintbury.]
Here is a road running past a farmhouse and cottages, with a flock of
geese in the foreground which are being reared for food in the winter.
[Sidenote: 11. A Village Street.]
[Sidenote: 12. Village Church and School.]
And here we enter a village, with its church visible up the street. A
village differs from a town in having no weekly market. It has fewer
shops, and is generally smaller. It is the place where the labourers
live who work on the surrounding farms. In its centre three buildings
generally stand near together. There is the church, not infrequently
several centuries old, and round the church is the churchyard with
the graves of twenty generations of the past villagers. Then there is
the school, and thirdly, there is the house of the clergyman. These
are the little institutions found in each of the several thousand
villages which are scattered at intervals of a mile or two over the
whole of the British Isles. Some of them contain two or three hundred
inhabitants, and some of them a thousand or twelve hundred.
[Sidenote: 13. Stoke Poges Church.]
Here is another village church, with a pointed spire instead of a
blunt tower. It is clothed, as you see, with creepers, and around
are the tombstones in the graveyard. There are generally bells
in the towers and spires of these country churches. On a bright
Sunday morning, when labour has ceased and the people take their
weekly rest, these bells ring merrily through all the green country
summoning the people, rich and poor, to assemble in the church for
the worship of God.
[Sidenote: 14. Cottages, Bisham, Berks.]
Let us now look at some of the houses which stand not even in
villages, but quite alone, or in groups of two or three, amid the
fields. Beside this road we have a short row of cottages clothed with
creepers, like the church that we saw just now, each with its little
garden in front. Do you see the labourer’s wife standing at her door
with a child on her arm and a dog at her feet? It is from thousands
upon thousands of such little homes as these, that have come the
soldiers and sailors who have fought for England, and the workmen
who have worked in the factories and have made England the great
industrial and commercial country which we know.
[Sidenote: 15. A Country Inn.]
Next we have a little inn by the roadside with a cart stopped beside
it. The dog is waiting for his master, the carter, who has gone
within to talk and rest and drink.
[Sidenote: 16. Mapledurham House.]
Such is the quiet life of the humbler people in the country parts of
England. But here and there through all the land there rises also
the country home of a rich family. Of all the features of England,
perhaps the most beautiful and the most indicative of peace and
strength and wealth, are these country houses of the upper classes.
We have one here surrounded by perfect trees and by spreading lawns
of thick short green grass.
[Sidenote: 17. Interior at Long Marston, Charles I. kitchen.]
Many of these houses are old, and have been little changed, though
well cared for, during several generations. This, for instance, is
a kitchen in one of them dating from 250 years ago. Do you note the
great beam of oak which supports the ceiling? Oak is an English tree
which, like teak in India, gives a timber as strong as iron.
[Sidenote: 18. Knole House.]
Here is another and yet grander house, surrounded by one of those
noble parks of which you heard in the last lecture.
[Sidenote: 19. Hunt Scene, Streatley, Berks.]
You may imagine with what pleasure the leading men of England escape
from their work in London, either in Parliament or in the Law Courts
or in the City, to these quiet, proud homes in the country, where
they may give themselves to sport both in winter and in summer--for
the climate of England is rarely either too hot or too cold for
activity throughout the day. Here, for instance, is a winter scene
in a country park, with a pack of dogs, or, as they are called,
hounds, in the foreground, for the hunting of the fox. The men on
horseback are ready to follow the hounds across the country, leaping
the hedgerows of which you heard in the third Lecture. With them you
may notice two or three ladies on horseback, who also will follow the
hounds and leap the hedges. That it is winter time you may tell from
the leafless branches of most of the trees.
[Sidenote: 20. Nuneham Park.]
On the other hand, we have here a summer scene in a country park with
a cricket match in progress.
Now I think you can understand something of the country life of
England. The village generally consists of the Squire, the Vicar,
the Schoolmaster, the Farmers, and the Labourers. The Squire owns
most of the land. He was educated at a great school. His sons become
officers in the Army and in the Navy. He is the unpaid magistrate of
the district, and lives in the great house in the park. Beside him,
and living in a smaller home, is the Vicar, who ministers on Sundays
in the church and visits the people in their homes to help them in
illness or trouble. In addition there are often Ministers of the
Free Churches, for religion is a matter for each man’s conscience,
notwithstanding the existence of a State Church. Beside the Vicar and
the Ministers is the Schoolmaster, to whom by law the children must
be sent to learn to read and write. Then there come the farmers, who
rent pieces of land from the Squire, and farm them with the help of
the labourers. The farmers live in farmhouses surrounded by cattle
sheds and corn barns, and the labourers occupy cottages such as we
have seen.
[Sidenote: 21. A Farmhouse.]
All these dwellers in the country--squires, vicars, schoolmasters,
farmers, and labourers, and also the tradesmen of the market
towns, depend for their livelihood on the crops of the field. In
one way or another they all receive a share of the harvests. Let
us therefore spend a few moments in considering the operations
of British agriculture. They are very different from those of a
tropical country, and it is impossible to understand the writings of
British authors unless you know something of the aspects of British
agriculture. The centre of the farm is the farmhouse, such as we have
here, with its outhouses for the farm implements, and for the young
animals which require protection against the weather. In the centre
of the picture you see the poultry, which are fed by the farmer’s
wife and daughters, while the farmer and his sons are away in the
fields. Close by the house a heap of firewood is laid ready for the
winter, and there is also the farmer’s gig, in which he drives to
sell his corn at the weekly market in the nearest town.
[Sidenote: 22. Hay Cutting: old style.]
A great change has taken place of late in the methods of farming,
for the steam engine has been applied to agriculture as well as to
the industries. Let us look for a moment at the old style of farming
which is now rapidly going out. Here, in a field surrounded by a
hedge, are three men mowing grass with scythes. The grass will be
left to dry in the sun; it will turn brown, and will then be heaped
into a hay stack for the winter food of the farm horses.
[Sidenote: 23. Thrashing: old style.]
Next we see the old method of thrashing corn. The man in the picture
holds a flail, or rod jointed in the centre, with which he beats the
corn, and so separates the grain from the straw.
[Sidenote: 24. Old Man Digging.]
And here we have an old rustic digging the ground with a spade.
Probably he is a man who can neither write nor read; for when he was
a boy the children of country villages were not obliged to go to
school.
[Sidenote: 25. Old Shepherd.]
[Sidenote: 26. Old Woman.]
Here is another such old rustic, a shepherd, who has spent his life
in tending sheep. Probably he never went to London, or, indeed, to
any of the large towns which have now been brought by railways to
within an hour or two of his home. But quite likely he often has
letters from a son who is a sailor in the Fleet in the China Seas,
from another son who is a soldier in India, and from a daughter who
is married to a farmer in Australia. And here is his wife, seated in
a corner of the village church.
[Sidenote: 27. Mare and Foal.]
[Sidenote: 28. Shire Horse.]
[Sidenote: 29. Landseer’s “Blacksmith’s Shop.”]
By far the most abundant crop in England is green grass, and the
English farmer therefore keeps many animals to feed upon it. Here
we have a mare and foal. The farm horses of England are much larger
and thicker built than the small horses of most parts of the world.
They are more powerful, but they are slower. Some of the English
cart horses are nearly as large as an average elephant. Until modern
times, when the steam engine was introduced, all the work of the farm
was done by men and horses. Here is another grand horse, and here a
picture painted by a great English artist, Landseer. It is owned by
the English nation and hung in the National Gallery, which stands in
Trafalgar Square. The picture is in the midst of London, but, as you
see, it represents a country scene, the shop of a shoeing smith, who
is putting an iron shoe on to the hoof of a horse in order that it
may not be injured by the paved roads. Beside the horse you see two
other of the animals that are common in every English countryside, a
donkey, which is the poor man’s horse, and a dog. Among the northern
nations, as you know, dogs are cared for and treated as companions.
[Sidenote: 30. Ploughing.]
Here we have one of the chief operations of British farming in which
horses and men work together. They are turning over the ground with
the plough to prepare it for the seed. Ploughing is usually done in
the autumn, so that the land may lie fallow, that is to say at rest,
for a time before the crops begin to grow in the spring.
[Sidenote: 31. Wheat in Sheaf.]
[Sidenote: 32. Carrying Corn.]
With this coloured slide we come to harvest time. The grain has
turned under the summer sun to a beautiful golden brown, and has
been cut and set in these stooks, where it is drying in the hot
August weather. Presently it will be taken away in wagons, drawn by
horses, and stacked. Do you see on the ground the straight lines of
stubble due to the fact that the seed from which the corn grew was
cast into the straight furrows made by the plough? In this slide the
last sheaves of the harvest are being gathered in. There will be much
rejoicing in the village to-night because the harvest has been safely
got, and rain storms have caused it no harm during the critical days
after it had been cut, when it stood drying in the sun.
[Sidenote: 33. Reaping Machine.]
The first farm machinery introduced in modern times was worked by
horses not by steam engines. For example, in this slide we have a
horse-drawn reaping machine employed to cut down corn, thus saving
the hand-work of many men.
[Sidenote: 34. Thrashing Machine.]
Here is a thrashing machine driven by a steam engine. The corn is
placed on the top of the machine where stand the two men; it is
caught into the running parts of the machine which are driven by the
engine to the right hand; it is beaten in the machine so that the
grain falls from the straw into the bags which you see, while the
straw is lifted by the elevator on to the stack to the left hand,
there to remain until required for the bedding of horses.
[Sidenote: 35. Cows.]
[Sidenote: 36. Cattle chewing Cud.]
Besides tilling the ground for the growth of corn, the farmers of
Britain keep many millions of cattle and sheep which feed upon
grass. Here is an ordinary country scene with cows, which are kept
for the sake of their milk. One of the chief foods in these northern
countries is the milk of cows, and the butter and cheese prepared
from milk. These cows live upon the grass, which is kept green by the
moist climate. Here we have cattle lying down chewing the cud.
[Sidenote: 37. Cattle Market, Faringdon.]
Next is a scene on a market day in a small country town. It is a fair
to which the farmers have brought in their cattle for sale.
[Sidenote: 38. Sheep.]
[Sidenote: 39. Sheep with Shepherd and Dog.]
[Sidenote: 40. Sheep Dog.]
[Sidenote: 41. Sheep Market: Chipping Campden.]
The most numerous animals on British farms are the sheep. This is a
fortunate fact, for wool is the most suitable material from which
to manufacture the warm clothing needed during the northern winter.
Here is a flock of sheep grazing. And here is another flock with the
shepherd who tends them, and his dog. Sheep-dogs are usually of the
kind known as Collies.
They are very remarkable creatures. A well-trained Collie obeys the
shepherd perfectly, and can bring a large flock of sheep to him
or guide it in any direction that he orders. Here is a coloured
photograph of a Collie dog. And lastly we have a sheep market,
similar to the cattle market which we visited a moment ago.
These are the principal rural occupations of Britain, the growing
of corn and the tending of cattle and sheep, but there are others,
although on a smaller scale.
[Sidenote: 42. Hop Garden.]
Here, for instance, we have a hop garden, where the creepers known
as hops are grown upon poles, and supply a little fruit which, when
dried, is used for the purpose of giving flavour to beer. Hops are
picked in the hot weather, and a great number of people are required
for the purpose. These people are, for the most part, got from the
great city of London, for the part of England in which most hops grow
is close to London. Once a year the very poorest of the poor people
of London are carried out by train, and they camp for two or three
weeks in tents in the hop country.
[Sidenote: 43. Apple Tree in Bloom.]
[Sidenote: 44. Apple Blossom.]
This is an apple tree in blossom. Later in the year it will bear a
fruit which is used for the purpose of making a drink called cider.
There are whole orchards of such apple trees, presenting a very
beautiful sight in the spring-time when they are gay with blossom.
Here is a colour photograph of apple blossom; you may easily imagine
that when these flowers deck the trees the whole landscape is
brilliant, not so much with green, as with pink and white--indeed,
one of the great differences between England and the tropics is
that in addition to green there is so much brilliant colour in the
foliage. Not only have you these orchards of white and red, but the
grassy fields are at times all golden with flowers that are called
buttercups and daisies, and, as we shall see presently, the trees in
the autumn turn from green to brilliant shades of brown.
[Sidenote: 45. Apples.]
Here is a basket of apple fruit, each with a rosy cheek on its green
skin. In Britain other fruits take the place of the mango and guava,
which are unknown in the north.
[Sidenote: 46. Strawberries.]
[Sidenote: 47. Roses.]
Fruit is grown in large quantity for the markets of the great
town populations. Here in this slide is one of the finest of the
northern fruits, the strawberry, which you probably know. See how
it is coloured, like so many other things northern. And here is yet
another crop of England. The vast cities with their millions of
people--many of them well-to-do--demand in their houses the flowers
of the country. Therefore there are parts of England where not merely
corn and cattle, and not merely fruit, but also flowers are grown for
the supply of the towns. This is the best known of the flowers of
England, the rose, which grows also in other parts of the world, but
is pre-eminently the national emblem of England, and praised as such
in English poetry.
[Sidenote: 48. Hay-stack.]
Let us turn for a moment finally to a side of English life which
is different from all that we know here in the tropics. There are
seasons in Britain, not rainy seasons and dry seasons, but seasons
of heat and of cold. In the winter the vegetation stops growing, and
there is little food in the fields for the animals. Then all the life
of the land, animal and human, must be maintained by foresight, by
the storage of the fruits of summer, or by the import of supplies
from other countries. The cattle are kept alive by means of hay, that
is to say, of grass cut in the summer, dried in the sun, heaped into
hay-stacks, and there preserved until required in the winter. This is
a hay-stack laid by for the winter supply of the animals.
[Sidenote: 49. Beech--Autumn Tints.]
When the hay and the corn have been harvested and the apples have
been gathered and turned to cider, and the roses have bloomed, and
the strawberries have been eaten or boiled to jam, then the summer
wanes, and a change sets in. Day by day, as September and October
pass, the green leaves of the trees gradually turn to all manner of
brilliant hues of red and brown, and presently, as the rains and the
winds increase, they fall and litter all the ground as we see them
here. At last, in November, the trees become naked, and show the
tracery of their branches against the sky.
[Sidenote: 50. Park--Autumn Tints.]
[Sidenote: 51. River Scene with Autumnal Beeches.]
There are few more splendid natural scenes than those of the fall
of the northern year. Let us look at one or two more of them
photographed in colour. This is an English park in the autumn, and
this a wood by a river bank.
[Sidenote: 52. Virginia Creeper.]
[Sidenote: 53. Hughenden Church--Autumn creepers.]
Many English houses are covered with creepers which are green in
the summer and then turn to red--to blood-red at times--before the
leaves finally drop and leave the house naked. This is the Virginia
Creeper, which did not originally grow in Britain, but was brought
from America. And here is a church clothed with red Virginia Creeper.
Green ivy is a creeper native to Britain. It clothes with green many
old buildings throughout the winter, because its leaves are like
leather, and thick, and can withstand the cold.
[Sidenote: 54. Leafless Elm Trees.]
This is a December landscape. The trees have shed their leaves,
and their naked boughs are clear against the sky. See the bleak
appearance of the land, so that you may look over miles and miles of
open country, though it is studded with many trees. To the eye of one
accustomed to the tropical forest, England in the winter time is a
naked and strange land.
[Sidenote: 55. Cottage, Winter Scene.]
[Sidenote: 56. Winter Scene in Wood.]
[Sidenote: 57. Frozen Lake side with hoar-frost.]
[Sidenote: 58. Hockey on ice.]
There are times when the cold is such that the rain is frozen and
falls in hard stones, known as hail, and there are other times when
the clouds themselves freeze, and then there fall white snow-flakes
like little feathers, which accumulate on the ground, covering it
with a white carpet which melts into water and disappears when the
weather grows warm again. Here is a country cottage half buried in
snow, and the snow is on the road and on the branches of the trees.
And here is a wood-side, hung not with snow, but with hoar-frost. You
know how dew stands on the leaves in the early morning. In Britain,
in the winter time, the dew clings to the branches not as liquid
water, but as a white feathery substance like snow, and yet it is not
snow, for it has not fallen from the clouds in flakes, but has been
formed from the air around, and clings by little stalks to all the
branches, surrounding them and clothing them. Here is yet another
scene of hoar-frost. The surface of the pool is frozen over, and has
a covering of hard ice. All the ground is hard like iron; men cannot
dig with spades, and even horses cannot draw the plough through the
ground. The cattle are gathered into the sheds of the farms, where
they are fed upon the hay which was saved for them in the summer. The
nights are very long and the days are short--not like the tropical
day and night, each approximately twelve hours in length. Even poor
men must now be idle, and many spend time in active sports. Here, for
instance, the game of hockey is being played on the ice, which is
strong enough to bear people upon it safely. Here is one of the roots
of the energy of the British race; it is bred in a climate which is
warm enough for men to work in through most of the year but with
every now and then a spell of frost, which appears to stimulate human
activity. On the other hand the heat of the summer is rarely such
that men must rest in the middle of the day.
[Sidenote: 59. Skating.]
These men are skating on the ice which is very smooth. That they may
glide the more easily they put skates on their feet--sharp steel
edges which slip so easily that it requires some skill to stand upon
them. It is an exhilarating sight to see men and women moving with
the speed of railway trains, the blood aglow in their cheeks and
their eyes flashing with pleasure.
[Sidenote: 60. Curling.]
In Scotland men play the game of curling upon ice. The weights glide
over the surface instead of rolling like balls.
[Sidenote: 61. Thames frozen over.]
Lastly, we have a very curious scene. Once in every few years there
comes a colder winter than usual, and then even the running water of
considerable rivers will freeze. Here is the Thames frozen completely
over and bearing many people.
LECTURE VI.
THE GREAT TOWNS, THEIR INDUSTRIES AND COMMERCE.
[Sidenote: 1. Group of Tin Miners.]
[Sidenote: 2. Tin Mine Shaft.]
[Sidenote: 3. Four Hundred Fathom Level, Dolcoath.]
[Sidenote: 4. Tin Mine Boring Machine.]
[Sidenote: 5. In a Tin Mine.]
Five hundred, six hundred, and seven hundred years ago Britain was
what Australia is now. It supplied nearly the whole of Europe with
wool. As we have seen in the last lecture, the agriculture and the
pasture of Britain are still important, but now, of course, Britain’s
fame is chiefly as a mining, an industrial, and a commercial country.
Even in antiquity there was one part of the land which was important
on account of its mines. The oldest mines of Britain are tin mines,
and they are still worked, although the tin of the world is now
mainly got in the Malay Peninsula, and the neighbouring islands.
Singapore is now the great tin port of the world, but at no very
distant time tin was obtained almost exclusively in Britain--in that
part of it which forms the rocky peninsula of Cornwall stretching out
into the western seas. The Cornish miners, though they no longer find
much employment in Cornwall, are the most skilled miners of gold in
South Africa. So we find within the British Empire three districts
which are very closely related to one another by the bond of tin:
Cornwall in England, the Malay Peninsula, and the gold mines of South
Africa. Here is a group of Cornish miners, men from whose race have
come not a few leaders in other parts of the Empire. These are two of
them descending a shaft into the depths of the earth to work for tin.
One of the deepest mines in the world is in Cornwall. And here is a
passage in the depths of the earth with rails laid for trolleys to
run along, carrying the ore which is to be raised to the surface and
there treated, so that from rock is obtained shining metallic tin. In
this slide we see miners at work on the face of the rock, drilling
holes in the hard stone into which explosives are inserted with the
object of shattering the stone and splitting the ore into fragments
that can be handled. Observe with how little clothing they work, for
at these depths the temperature is high. Our final scene in a tin
mine is comparatively near to the surface.
[Sidenote: 6. Map showing Coalfields of United Kingdom.]
[Sidenote: 7. Map showing distribution of Population about the
Coalfields.]
But, although some tin is still got, tin mines are now relatively
unimportant in the life of the country. There has developed in
Britain in the last century and a-half a vast system of industries
based, not merely on the use of human muscles, but on power derived
from the burning of coal. Here is a map showing, in black, the
coalfields of Britain. They lie chiefly in South Wales, in the
Midlands, in the North of England, and in Central Scotland. Those
of Ireland produce but little. Compare this map with the next,
which shows, in red, all the districts of denser population. It is
obvious that of all the larger areas coloured red, only the London
district is devoid of coal, and coal can easily be brought to London
by sea. These facts tell us at once that in their modern growth the
activities of the British population are based chiefly upon coal.
Three-quarters of all the people in Britain live within the areas
coloured pink, which measure not more than about one-twentieth of the
British Isles. In the main, therefore, Britain is a country of town
and factory populations, and in lesser degree only of agricultural
and fishing people. A hundred years ago the population of the whole
British Islands was not more than 16 millions, and it was mainly
agricultural. To-day it numbers 43 millions, and is mainly industrial.
[Sidenote: 8. A seam at Glasgow dissected to show the origin of Coal.]
Coal is won from the depths of the earth, where it is laid in great
sheets, which are known as coal seams, and these are underlaid and
overlaid by the solid rock. Immediately under each coal seam there is
usually a layer of clay, and if you examine that clay you will often
find in it, here and there, threads of coal penetrating downward from
the seam above. These are obviously the blackened roots of trees.
Sometimes, in the coal itself, you will find complete stumps of trees
preserved. For, in fact, the coal seams are nothing more than the
buried, rotten forests of vastly ancient times. You know that in
our great tropical forests when the wood rots it turns brown, and
even black. Wherever wood grows old in the use of men it darkens.
So we see that though the climate of Britain is cold, and though
vegetation does not grow with the same colossal power as when driven
by tropical rain and heat, yet buried deep in the rocks of Britain
there is compensation in the shape of ancient timber called coal.
The sunshine and rain of far-off times are thus the chief bases of
British prosperity, just as the sunshine and rain of to-day are the
chief bases of our prosperity in the tropics.
Most of the industries of Britain are in the North or North Midlands.
In these parts, you will remember, we are mainly away from the better
agricultural districts. The smiling fertile cornfields and rich
lowland meadows are replaced by bleak uplands with stone walls and
few trees.
[Sidenote: 9. Colliers’ houses.]
Here is a row of cottages where dwell colliers of the north of
England. What a contrast with the homes of the agricultural labourers
which we saw in the last lecture! And yet the colliers who work in
the coal mines are much better paid than the labourers on the farms.
[Sidenote: 10. View of Colliery above ground.]
This is a coal mine, or, as it is called, a colliery. Here is the
chimney of the pumping station which lifts water from the mine, lest
it should be flooded by underground springs. The same engine is used
to raise the coal to the surface.
[Sidenote: 11. The Pit-mouth.]
Next we come into the yard of the colliery, to the pit-mouth itself.
These colliers have done their spell of work, and have just come to
the surface again, all blackened and grimy with coal dust. Each of
them holds a small lamp of a special kind. It is so made that the
flame cannot pass out, even though the lamp be upset. The object is
to prevent explosions of the coal gas which is often disengaged in
the mine. Occasionally the colliers are careless and open the lamps,
and as a consequence we sometimes hear of a terrible explosion with
great loss of life.
[Sidenote: 12. In the Cage.]
[Sidenote: 13. At work on a four-foot Seam.]
[Sidenote: 14. Levelling in a Coal Mine.]
This is the cage ascending to the surface, bringing miners begrimed
with coal dust, and each carrying his lamp and his can of liquid
needed for drink in the depths of the earth, because the heat is
there great, and there is much perspiration from labour. Next we see
the actual working of the mine. The roof is supported by timbers,
which are now brought to Britain from foreign countries in great
quantity, because Britain is so populous that men cannot afford
the space for the forests in which to grow the wood needed for the
mines. Note the vertical thickness of the coal. It is to this that
the towering forest of former times has been compressed in its ruin.
Here with his lamp hung to one of the posts is the miner, stripped to
his work, using his pickaxe to detach the lumps of coal. And here,
finally, with the seam of coal more plainly visible than in the
darker corner we have just left, are miners occupied in levelling,
and so guiding the course of the tunnel. The coal is taken in trucks
from the face where it is worked to the foot of the shaft, and thence
raised to the surface.
We must now consider the uses to which the coal of England is put. We
have already seen it exported to drive British ships in foreign seas.
We have also noted the chimneys to the houses in Britain, which are
warmed by coal fires. But the chief use is in the industries which
give employment to so many millions of the British people.
[Sidenote: 15. Rope making.]
Now, the industries are chiefly textile, or of iron and steel. Men
require clothing, and this is mostly woven or textile; and they
require tools with which to work, and these are chiefly of iron and
steel. Here is the simplest form of textile industry--the manufacture
of ropes and mats. All the textiles are made of fibres, which are
mostly got either from the stalks and other fibrous parts of plants,
or from the wool and hair of animals. In olden times men clothed
themselves with skins, and still do in some barbarous lands; but
in these days nearly all the world wears clothes that are woven,
that is to say, that are made of fibres laid across one another and
interlaced so that they form a sheet of material. The roughest fibres
are fit for the making of rope. By the weaving of rope, mats of one
sort or another are manufactured. Here we have a factory for rope and
mat making. The fibres are being laid straight, and side by side,
in the machinery. We notice that the machines are driven by endless
straps, worked from a long shaft running through the top of the shed.
The shaft is rotated by the action of a steam engine, which is, of
course, driven by the burning of coal. Now, since the machinery
was made with the help of coal-heat, it follows that coal has been
utilised twice over in this process--for the making and also for
the driving of the machinery. One other thing we notice, the number
of women employed to control the machinery. Women used formerly to
spin and weave cloth in their own homes. With the introduction of
machinery and steam-power they now have to perform the same work in
factories.
[Sidenote: 16. Linen Spinning Mill.]
[Sidenote: 17. Dobbie Loom.]
[Sidenote: 18. Jacquard Loom.]
There are two essential processes in all textile
manufacture--spinning and weaving. In its simplest form spinning
is the making of rope, and weaving is the interlacing of rope in
two directions for the purpose of making a mat. When the rope is a
delicate thread we call it yarn, and when the mat is a fine cotton or
linen fabric we call it cloth. Here we have a linen mill seen from
outside, and here a loom for the weaving of the spun flax. A power
loom driven by steam can do the work of very many pairs of hands. See
the spindles on which the yarn is wound, and the cloth coming from
the loom. In a hand loom there would be but a single spindle. So that
you can imagine the immense multiplication of power due to machinery.
Here is another kind of loom. Note, again, the endless straps and the
overhead shafting connected with the engine.
[Sidenote: 19. A Bradford Mill.]
[Sidenote: 20. Wool Spinning.]
[Sidenote: 21. Cotton Spinning.]
Let us glance for just a moment at this larger mill, at this
wool-spinning room, and at this cotton-spinning room. They require no
further description, for they merely differ in scale from those we
have already studied.
[Sidenote: 22. Glass Blowing.]
[Sidenote: 23. Glass Blowing.]
And now we will turn from the making of textiles, which employs
several millions of the inhabitants of Britain, and gives rise to
perhaps the largest single trade of Britain, the cotton trade. Let us
turn from that to consider the other great group of the industries,
those which are based essentially on the melting of metals by the
heat got from coal. One of the simplest and one of the oldest forms
of this is the making and blowing of glass. It is true that glass
is not a metal, but for industrial purposes it has many properties
somewhat similar to those of metals. It can be melted, for instance,
and worked while hot. Here we have a man engaged in blowing glass
which has been melted by the use of coal. And here, when he has
blown the bottle, he is shaping it with tools.
[Sidenote: 24. Pottery making.]
[Sidenote: 25. Pottery making.]
A somewhat similar industry, although not involving the melting of
the material in the first instance, is the making of pottery. Pottery
was formerly made in the homes of the people, and the potter’s wheel
was worked by the foot, as it still is in the East. But nowadays
the wheels upon which the pots are shaped are driven by steam.
Here we have women at work upon pottery. And in the next slide are
men engaged upon a similar process, but their tools are driven by
the foot. The pottery that is being made in this instance is of
the costly kind, which is produced in small quantity, and demands
artistic labour. It requires so little power that it is not worth
while to drive the machinery by steam. In large measure steam has not
replaced human skill for the very finest work.
But the most important by far of the industries which are based on
the use of coal for the melting of the raw material are those which
deal with iron and steel.
[Sidenote: 26. Blast Furnace.]
[Sidenote: 27. Rolling Steel.]
Here we have a group of blast furnaces, where the iron ore is mixed
with coal and burnt. The molten iron flows out from the bottom of
the furnace and cools into long blocks known as “pigs.” It would
be impossible to show all the processes through which the pig iron
is passed in the manufacture of the many wares made of iron and
steel. Let us glance at a very few. Here we have a man inserting a
white-hot, thick, short block of metal into a machine. He will lift
it from that plate with his pincers and will insert it under the
roller. The roller, crushing it, will reduce it in thickness and will
greatly elongate it to this hot flexible rope. When cold, a steel rod
will be the result.
[Sidenote: 28. Making an Armour Plate.]
Next we see a great sheet of steel coming out of the furnace, not
melted but white hot. This is to be used as an armour plate on a
battleship. We see how that the men are clothed and masked for the
purpose of standing the heat, and how that they are armed with tools
appropriate for the handling of the hot metal.
[Sidenote: 29. Steam Hammer.]
In this slide hot blocks of metal are being hammered under a steam
hammer. Again we notice that the man is clothed and masked in order
that the heat may not injure him. The hammer is descending rapidly
with repeated blows upon these two pieces of white hot metal, and,
striking them as a blacksmith will strike two pieces of iron on his
anvil, it forces them together and welds them into a single piece.
Now we must remember that coal is here used no less than four times.
It heats the metal to be forged, it raises the hammer, and beforehand
it was used in the smelting of the metal from its ore, and also in
the making of the hammer.
[Sidenote: 30. Boring a large Gun.]
[Sidenote: 31. Building an Ironclad.]
[Sidenote: 32. S.S. “Oceanic” in Dock.]
[Sidenote: 33. The launching of an Ironclad.]
But the rolling of plates and bars of steel, and the hammering
of blocks of hot metal together, are but the first and roughest
processes in the highly complicated industries whereby from rocks
of the earth are obtained those wonderful complicated tools of
civilization which we call railways, and bridges, and locomotive
engines, and mail steamers, and battleships, and guns, and--perhaps
most delicate of all--the machine-tools used in factories for the
making of machinery. Let us consider a few instances of these more
advanced processes. Here we see one of the finest exhibitions of
power--the boring of a steel gun while cold. Next we see the building
of a battleship, also made of steel. Then follows the sight of the
screws of a great ship. These screws are made of the most finely
tempered metal, lest they should break under the constant strain
to which they are exposed. Finally we have here the launching of a
battleship--an occasion of rejoicing and holiday at the close of
a year’s task. As she floats she displaces perhaps 15,000 tons of
water. The great ship is of steel from end to end. It is the product
of the work of thousands of people--the colliers who got the coal
from the colliery; the miners who got the iron ore from the mine; the
makers of iron who smelted the iron from the ore; the makers of steel
who converted the iron into steel; the rollers of bars and plates,
the builders of the ship and the builders of the engines. Presently
there will have to be added also the builders of the guns. Then we
must not forget the people who made the machinery wherewith these
people worked, and also the people who built the houses, and made the
clothes, and grew the food, which they needed for their living. Thus
a whole society of people is required to construct the ships which
defend the Empire of the King.
Let us turn for a moment to consider the large towns in which the
British industries are carried on. We have here a phase of the
national life very different from the quiet existence of the little
market towns which we saw in the last Lecture. Outside London, there
are some twenty very large towns in the British Isles. There are
three of them--Glasgow, Liverpool-Birkenhead, and Manchester-Salford,
each of which has a million people.
[Sidenote: 34. Men Leaving Works.]
[Sidenote: 35. A Hospital Interior.]
[Sidenote: 36. A School Interior.]
[Sidenote: 37. A Public Park.]
[Sidenote: 38. The Municipal Buildings, Glasgow.]
This is a crowd of workers, pouring out of a factory at the close
of their work. Do you note the tall chimneys of the factory in the
background? There are probably a hundred other factories in the
neighbourhood. You may imagine the organisation that is needed to
supply the wants of these great populations. Food must be gathered
from the country districts and from distant parts of the world, and
must be brought in daily to the crowded areas where millions of men
live and little or no food is grown. And all the wants of the people
must be attended to on a similar great scale. Here, for instance, is
a hospital, in which the workers who chance to be injured in the
pursuit of their daily duties are tended. Do you see the nurses
moving about between the beds? This is a school where the children
are taught. Every child is compelled by law to receive instruction.
And this is a park such as have been provided for recreation in the
great provincial towns--Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow,
and others. Here, finally, we have the Town Hall in the centre of one
of these towns, whence a million of people are governed, and where in
these times even the generation of electricity for the supply of the
factories is organized. Note the monuments erected to commemorate the
services of those citizens, who either locally in the town, or in the
Government in London, or in the parts of the Empire beyond the seas,
have deserved well of people and King.
One thing more remains to be considered. We have seen something of
the metropolis, something of the rural districts, the small country
towns, the fishing ports, and the great industrial towns. But, in
these days, the whole land of Britain is knit closely into a single
community by the facts that the greater part of its food and raw
material for manufacture must be distributed from the seaports,
that modern means of communication have so reduced space within the
islands that almost every village has a telegraph office, and that
the extreme ends of the island are not more than 24 hours apart by
express train. Let us look at a few aspects of these most recent
developments.
[Sidenote: 39. Corn Mill, exterior.]
[Sidenote: 40. Corn Mill, interior.]
[Sidenote: 41. Packing Biscuits at Reading.]
[Sidenote: 42. Locomotive Engine, Great Western Railway.]
[Sidenote: 43. Four-line Track with London and North Western Express.]
[Sidenote: 44. In a Travelling Post Office.]
Here is a large corn mill, and here the interior of such a mill. The
grain is lifted from the importing ship and carried on these straps,
running on rollers, to the place where it is to be stored. And here
is a scene of interest to all Britons who go to the remoter frontiers
of the Empire. It represents the packing of biscuits in tin boxes
for export. The food having been imported is carried into all the
land by railways. The British railways are, of course, relatively
short, but run through dense populations, and are probably the most
efficient in the world. Here is a recent express engine capable of
hauling a passenger train without stopping for 300 miles. Next we see
such an express running on a four-line track and picking up water for
its boiler from troughs laid between the rails. Time is very valuable
in Britain. Here, as an instance, is the interior of a travelling
post office, which runs on express trains. The letters are sorted on
the road, and the mail bags thrown out and caught up at fixed points
while the train runs.
[Sidenote: 45. The Forth Bridge.]
Perhaps the grandest feat of engineering in connection with the
British railways is the Forth Bridge. See how small the houses appear
when compared with it.
[Sidenote: 46. Electric Power Station, Chelsea.]
[Sidenote: 47. Electric Train on Metropolitan District Railway.]
But another revolution in all the conditions of British life is
now preparing. Electricity is being used to distribute power from
great fixed engines, and locomotive steam engines have already
been displaced on the shorter lines. Here is part of the interior
of the largest power station in the world, where is generated the
electricity for four railways which traverse London. This is the
boiler house, with automatic stokers. And last we have an electric
train. You note the absence of a locomotive.
Thus we see how the 43 million people of Britain co-operate in a
single vast complex machine. But we must remember that it is not only
the present generation which has made Britain such as we see it, but
many millions in the past, the results of whose work we of to-day
have inherited.
LECTURE VII.
THE DEFENCES OF THE EMPIRE.
Though we are so many miles away, I think you will agree that in the
past six Lectures we have seen something of the two islands which are
the centre of the British Empire. These islands are interesting to us
because the great Empire of which we are a part has grown from them.
Let us devote this last Lecture to the Empire as a whole. Let us
learn how it is held together, and how it is defended, so that there
may be peace and justice in all its parts.
[Sidenote: 1. Map of Empire with Naval Bases.]
In this map we see once more that the British Empire consists of a
large number of separate lands scattered over the world. We have
first of all the two British Islands set in the sea off the coast
of Europe. They are separated by water from the military powers of
Europe, and have no land frontier over which invasion may come. Then
we have in North America the great Dominion of Canada, encompassed
on the east and north and on most of the west by the ocean, with
land frontiers only towards the United States. Next we have the
Australasian Colonies, all of them islands, as in the case of the
Mother Country. There are four considerable islands in the South
Seas--Australia, Tasmania, and the North Island and the South Island
of New Zealand. Crossing the Indian Ocean we come to South Africa,
with water on three sides. Although South Africa appears to be
neighboured by other States on the north, yet it is wholly different
from India or Canada, or one of the great powers of Europe, because
the adjacent territories are only thinly peopled, mainly by savages.
South Africa is, therefore, isolated almost as effectively as is
Australia. Then we come to India with ocean to the south-east and to
the south-west, with the bleak tableland of Tibet to the north-east,
and with accessible neighbours only to the north-west. Even Egypt
and the Soudan, which appear to have great lengths of land frontier,
are in effect detached by the desert, and hardly less secure than
if they were surrounded by water. Lastly, we have on either side
of the Atlantic West Africa and the West India colonies. These are
the larger lands which form the British Empire, or are protected by
it. In addition, there are many islands--some of them wealthy and
important out of all proportion to their size, because they are trade
centres or are covered with tropical plantations.
[Sidenote: 2. The Cables of the Indian Ocean.]
But the mere enumeration of the lands of the British Empire gives
little idea of what that Empire really is. All these lands, severed
by ocean and mountain and desert, would be separate countries were
they not tied together by some 9,000 steamers and many thousand miles
of submarine electric cable. Therefore, the steamers upon the ocean
and the cables upon the bed of the ocean must be counted as important
elements in the material fabric of the Empire. It is they, and they
alone, which give it unity.
Now it is clear that for practical purposes the British Empire has
only two land frontiers--the one on the north-west of India, the
other on the south of Canada. It is therefore obvious that an attack
upon any other part of the Empire must be conducted over the water.
Even if there were attack upon the land frontiers, the enemy would
undoubtedly operate also upon the ocean for the purpose of breaking
the communications between the different parts of the Empire. He
would seek to destroy the steamers and cables, so that one part of
the Empire might not send help to another part. The first interest,
therefore, of every section of the British Empire, is that there
should be peace upon the ocean, so that the steamers may ply
regularly and that the cables may not be disturbed. If the British
Navy were defeated, the Empire could no longer exist.
Do you remember the map which was shown early in the first lecture,
giving the lands of the world in black so that they might contrast
with the blue sea? And do you remember that the object of that map
was to prove that all the lands of the world, even the greatest
continents, are surrounded by the ocean, and are in reality islands?
The ocean, therefore, is a single vast sheet of water covering
three-quarters of the globe. A squadron of ships can in a voyage of
about a month go to any point on the coasts of the world. Clearly
then one Navy will suffice for the sea defence of every land in the
British Empire, for if the enemy’s fleet is attacking one part, a
British fleet can go to that part, sure that the opponent fleet
is not in any other part of the world. But if the enemy divided
his fleet then the British fleet can be divided to meet him. The
battleships of Britain are moving fortresses, which can be carried
over three-quarters of the world instead of being fixed at a single
point as they would be if they were on land.
I need hardly remind you, however, that a ship can only keep the
sea while it has coal and food. Therefore, although one Navy is
enough--providing it be strong--for the defence of every part of the
British Empire, yet it is essential that wherever a British fleet
may go it should find at no great distance British ports ready from
time to time to equip it afresh. It is in Britain’s power in one
short month to send a great fleet of battleships to any part of
the ocean where they may be required. They would arrive ready for
action, because at each stage of their journey there would be British
harbours to replenish their stores and to make good defects. On the
direct route to India, for instance, we have Gibraltar, Malta, and
Aden. On the alternative route, round the Cape of Good Hope, are
Sierra Leone, Ascension, St. Helena, Simonstown, and Mauritius.
Therefore, while the Navy defends all parts of the Empire, each part
has also a duty to the Navy.
The most necessary lesson to learn in regard to the sea power of
Britain is that even though no battle fleet should during long years
visit our own waters, yet our commerce and our peace depend upon the
Navy. Owing to the British sea power Hong Kong, for instance, now
stands fourth among all the ports of the world in the tonnage of its
shipping. It is solely because the battleships of the world, except
those of our ally, Japan, are at present in western waters that the
British battleships are concentrated there to watch them.
Do you realise the economy of the British Empire? One Navy defends
one-fifth of all the lands on the globe. Were India and Canada and
Australia and South Africa separate states, each must maintain a
navy, and the navy of each would be useless unless it were strong
enough to contend with the other great navies of the world. Even
the resources of India would not suffice to maintain a great fleet
without very heavy taxation. Indian security and prosperity are at
present wholly in the keeping of the British Navy.
[Sidenote: 3. First-Class Battleship, H.M.S. “Dreadnought.”]
Let us consider that Navy for a few moments as it exists at the
present time. It consists in the first place of battleships, each
bearing a few powerful guns. The ship is partly clad in steel
armour to resist hostile shot. The guns can fire with accuracy to a
distance of several miles. The crew numbers some 800 skilled men. The
engines have the strength of 20,000 horses. The whole vast fortress,
with her regiment of men, can be propelled over the ocean at the
rate of 20 miles an hour. It is clear, however, that the strongest
battleship afloat would run the risk of defeat if she were attacked
simultaneously by several hostile battleships. Therefore, the British
battleships move in squadrons of six or eight, and to ensure victory
these squadrons are grouped in fleets, and all the battle-fleets
of the British Navy are now gathered in Atlantic and Mediterranean
waters, because it happens that just now all other battle-fleets but
that of our ally are collected in those waters. This is the reason
why the British battleships are not distributed--here a ship and
there a ship--over all the world, but are gathered together in one
part. Should occasion require it, they can go together to any other
part. Those, therefore, who ask that battleships should be sent, a
few here and a few there, to defend every threatened port, do not
know the first principle of success in war. If you divide your force,
even a small fleet--if very efficient--might defeat you by fighting
each of your divisions in turn. In war you must concentrate to win.
[Sidenote: 4. First-Class Cruiser. H.M.S. “Carnarvon.”]
So much for the battleship. But here is a ship appearing as large
and important as any battleship. It is a first-class armoured
cruiser. Her engines are, it anything, even more powerful than those
of a battleship. She carries more coal and can keep the sea for a
longer time without returning to port, but her guns are not quite
so powerful as those of a battleship, nor is her armour quite so
thick. There are other cruisers, somewhat less powerful than armoured
cruisers, which are said to be protected, because they carry less
defence against shot, and there are still others known as scouts,
whose name reveals their special purpose. Now what is the object of
these cruisers? This is an important question, because the British
Navy contains more cruisers of one kind and another than battleships,
and yet victory in battle is determined by strength of battleships
more than of cruisers. The first object of a cruiser is to obtain
intelligence for the battleships. Although a battleship can move
fast, yet she cannot move so fast as ships that have not to bear such
vast weights. The cruisers find out for the battleships what is going
on in seas around, and whether the enemy is near. Of course they must
be prepared to fight the enemy’s cruisers, and to prevent them from
approaching to gain information for their own admiral. In these days
cruisers communicate with the battle-fleets by wireless telegraphy,
and by acting together, so that a message is taken up and passed on
by successive ships, an immense area of sea may be covered, and even
the distant position of the enemy’s fleet may be ascertained.
But the cruisers have also another function, which is to defend
commerce. Here again you must not measure the protection given to our
commerce by the frequency with which you see our cruisers. In time
of war it would not as a rule be the duty of cruisers to accompany
or, as a phrase is, to convoy our merchant ships from port to port.
You will remember that we have 9,000 ocean-going steamers, and we
should have to build an immense and costly fleet of cruisers, if we
were going to protect them all by the method of convoy. Let us try to
understand the action of cruisers by comparing them to policemen upon
the land. In almost every community there are a certain number of
thieves, who from time to time break into houses and steal, but we do
not protect our houses by having a policeman always on guard in each.
Our method is to detect the thieves and to arrest them. In other
words, our aim is not so much to defend our houses from robbery, as
to remove the thieves from society. Precisely in the same way our
cruisers would not so much defend our merchantmen, as hunt down and
destroy the cruisers of the enemy who broke the peace of the ocean.
Our aim would be so to clear the water of hostile cruisers that our
liners might steam with the same regularity and certainty in time of
war as in time of peace.
[Sidenote: 5. First-class Destroyer. H.M.S. “Derwent.”]
[Sidenote: 6. Submarine Boat passing the “Victory.”]
Battles at sea are won by the use of battleships to fight and of
cruisers to give information and to prevent the enemy from gaining
information. But near the coast, and even on the high seas when the
larger ships have been injured, there is scope for smaller vessels,
which launch torpedoes against the enemy. Some of these vessels float
on the surface and are known as destroyers. They move with great
speed so as to avoid the enemy’s shot, and their best opportunity is
by night or in thick weather. Others dive below the surface and are
known as submarines. They seek to avoid the enemy by passing out of
his sight, and might thus deliver an attack by day.
Now these are the parts of a fleet. The battleships which do the
serious fighting, the cruisers which cover the battleships, and
the torpedo craft which are used to complete the destruction of an
enemy’s fleet or to defend narrow and difficult waters, where ships
cannot move with speed and freedom.
We need not think, however, that a fleet must always fight. If it
were strong enough, the enemy would not risk a battle, but would take
refuge in his harbours. It would be the duty of a British fleet to
watch these harbours closely in order to attack the enemy at once if
he came out. Our commerce could then proceed peacefully, because the
enemy would have no ships in position to attack it. So you see that a
strong Navy makes for peace, whereas a weak Navy challenges to battle.
Before we leave this picture of a submarine let us note alongside
the old sailing battleship, Nelson’s “Victory.” You see the three
white stripes along her sides, each pierced by many portholes. In
the time of Nelson there was a gun in each porthole, so that the old
battleship sailed upon the wind and fought with many small guns.
[Sidenote: 7. Collier shipping Coal at Cardiff.]
Nowadays a fleet moves by steam and consumes much coal. The best coal
for fighting purposes is that which gives little smoke, and thus
does not reveal a fleet to the enemy or obscure tactical signalling.
Nearly all the smokeless coal of the world is got from South Wales in
the British Islands. Here is a steam collier shipping such coal at
the port of Cardiff. This vessel carries about 2,300 tons of coal,
and can be loaded in two hours. Each of the four tips which you see
is capable of shipping a 10-ton waggon every minute, so that the
ship receives 40 tons a minute. One of our great fleets, such as the
Mediterranean Fleet consumes about a shipload of coal every day. Thus
you realise of what significance would be coaling stations of the
Indian Ocean should it ever again be necessary to send a battle-fleet
into our waters.
[Sidenote: 8. Quarter-deck of H.M.S. “Majestic” showing 12-inch guns.]
[Sidenote: 9. Six-gun in action.]
[Sidenote: 10. The same.]
[Sidenote: 11. Gun in action (Marines.)]
[Sidenote: 12. Hoisting projectiles.]
Now let us go quickly through a few typical scenes on a man-of-war
and let us learn something of the life of the sailors who navigate
and fight her. This is the quarter-deck of His Majesty’s Ship,
“Majestic.” The two guns which you see have a bore 12 inches in
diameter. Here is a 6-inch quick firing gun with her crew in battle
position. Do you see the men to the left who are hoisting the
ammunition from the depths of the ship? Here is a nearer view of
the same gun. And here yet another with the gun’s crew, this time
not of bluejackets, but of marines. Every large man-of-war carries
a certain number of men trained to act as soldiers who are called
marines. These help to fight her guns and are sent ashore should it
be necessary to land a force to deal with some local difficulty. Here
we have yet another scene on deck where seamen, or bluejackets as
they are called, are hoisting ammunition from the magazine.
[Sidenote: 13. Officers of H.M.S. “Fawn” in oilskins.]
[Sidenote: 14. Lieutenant of H.M.S. “Fawn” in lammy suit.]
[Sidenote: 15. Cleaning arms, H.M.S. “Diadem.”]
[Sidenote: 16. Morning Prayer.]
[Sidenote: 17. Sub-Lieutenants at Field-Gun Drill.]
Men-of-war are built of steel. They are moved by coal and steam,
and their guns fire armour-piercing projectiles and shells filled
with high explosives. But there is one other substance essential
to a fleet, and that is brain. A gun, however powerful, is useless
unless the gunner aims with accuracy. A ship, however speedy, is
comparatively useless unless handled with skill. A fleet, however
numerous, may be defeated unless controlled by a good admiral.
Therefore the greatest importance is attached in the British Navy to
the efficiency of the men and the officers. It takes several years to
make a seaman, and a bluejacket serves for no less than 12 years,
but it takes longer to make an officer. He begins to learn as a boy,
and he is always afterwards learning. He is taught by his seniors in
the service. Therefore you will understand that no nation can build
up an effective navy very quickly. For, in the first instance, it
has no officers to teach those who come after. Even at the end of
several years it could only have a few officers of skill. So you will
understand that it has taken several generations to train the great
service to which the naval officers of Britain belong. Here are four
of them in their waterproofs on a wet or rough day. Here is another
in thick clothing for a colder day. Here, to the left of the picture,
is a warrant officer superintending his men while they clean their
rifles. And here, to give you an idea of the comradeship of the men
who spend their lives together in the small space of a ship and in
the presence of danger, is a scene on deck when the ship’s crew are
mustered for morning prayer. One last slide and we must turn from the
navy to the army. Here are some sub-lieutenants at field-gun drill
upon the land. It often happens that our ships must send men ashore
to fight in our land wars, because, naturally, our men-of-war are
very frequently first on the spot, and if the enemy does not threaten
a sea-fight, the sailors are free to defend or to attack before the
soldiers arrive. You may, perhaps, remember that in the South African
war there was a naval brigade at the defence of Ladysmith.
If you have followed me thus far, I think that you will have little
difficulty in understanding the part in the defence of the Empire
which has to be played by our land forces. If you have fully realised
the necessity for concentrating battleships into great fleets, and
for using cruisers boldly to hunt down the commerce destroyers of the
enemy, you will have learnt that incidentally most of the shores of
the Empire are at times laid open, perhaps not to invasion in force,
but at least to raids by hostile cruisers and small military forces
escorted by them. It would be very costly to tie adequate fleets to
every threatened point. In nine cases out of ten the whole war would
go by, and the enemy would never come into the neighbourhood of such
a tied force. Moreover, defeat in the crucial battle would be risked
in this attempt to give to every commercial centre the protection for
which in panic it cried out.
[Sidenote: 18. Cape Town.]
The alternative is to free the fleet for its proper purpose of
attacking the enemy and clearing him from the ocean, by providing
such land forces in each locality as shall suffice to deal with
any likely attack. More especially is it needful to protect the
coaling and refitting stations of the fleet, in order that in each
sea the ships may find the refreshment they require, and may not
have to return to distant ports while the enemy’s cruisers are left
unwatched. Here, for instance, is Cape Town, a quite likely refuge
for our damaged ships in certain contingencies. It might happen,
though it is not very probable, that Cape Town should be seized by a
hostile raiding force, whose aim was to injure the trade going round
the Cape to Australia and New Zealand. Now it is clear that if a
British cruiser squadron had to watch the Cape it could not hunt for
the enemy’s cruisers in the adjoining ocean. In time of war it might
therefore be needful, under certain circumstances, to maintain in
Cape Town and its neighbourhood such a land force as would suffice to
deny the Cape harbours to the enemy. This is called the local defence
of the Empire.
[Sidenote: 19. New South Wales Lancers.]
[Sidenote: 20. Royal Canadian Artillery.]
[Sidenote: 21. A Bengal Lancer.]
[Sidenote: 22. Madras Lancers.]
[Sidenote: 23. Bombay Artilleryman.]
[Sidenote: 24. A Goorkha.]
In various parts of British Territory we find local armies intended
for the purpose here described. In this slide, for instance, we have
a troop of New South Wales Lancers, as typical of the Australian
Forces of the King. In the next is a battery of Canadian Artillery
passing through a street in Ottawa when the winter snow is on the
ground. Then we come to the great Indian Army. It is composed,
as you know, of soldiers of many different races--of Englishmen
and Scotchmen, who used formerly to fight with one another in
the British Isles--and of such peoples as the Marathas and the
Mohammedans, who used formerly to fight with one another in India.
All are now combined for the defence of the Empire, so that there
may be peace and order from the Himalayas to the ocean. Here we have
a Bengal Lancer, wearing a medal which he has won in the service
of the Emperor; and here a group of Madras Lancers--as you see by
their stripes non-commissioned officers. Then follows a Bombay
Artilleryman, with a whole row of medals on his breast, a man who has
seen repeated service in the defence of his country. And then again
we have a Goorkha. These four representatives of the Indian Army,
from the east, the south, the west and the north, must suffice to
remind us of the part we play in the great defensive scheme of the
Empire.
[Sidenote: 25. Hong Kong Regiment.]
[Sidenote: 26. Malay States Guides.]
[Sidenote: 27. West India Regiment.]
There are many other local forces in our various lands. Here for
instance are some Sikhs of the Hong Kong Regiment, and then we have
a private of the Malay States Guides. Then, crossing half the world,
from the east to the west, we come to a soldier of the West Indian
Regiment, who serve both in the West Indies and in West Africa.
This man we may note is a sergeant, and he wears the Victoria Cross
for conspicuous courage. The Victoria Cross may be won either by an
officer or a private, a soldier or a sailor, of any race throughout
the world which serves in the Armies or the Navy of our Emperor.
[Sidenote: 28. West African Frontier Force.]
[Sidenote: 29. Soldier of West African Frontier Force.]
[Sidenote: 30. Mounted Infantry in the Kano-Sokoto Expedition, 1903.]
There are other forces in West Africa besides the West Indian
Regiment. Here, for instance, is the Lagos Battalion of the West
African Frontier Force drawn up on the Parade Ground at Lagos. And
here is a soldier of the Gambia Company of the same force. There are
frequent small wars in the wilder parts of the West African Colonies
and Protectorates, one of which, Nigeria, is half as large as India,
though of course not so populous.
Here is a scene typical of the varied difficulties which have to be
met by the very varied army of our King. Mounted Infantry of West
African soldiers, commanded by white officers, have arrived at some
wells, one of which is to be seen at the foot of the officer on the
right. Unfortunately on this occasion a caravan with cattle had
passed and drawn all the water, so that the column had to move on
another 10 or 12 miles. Such are the difficulties to be encountered
on the frontiers of the Empire. It is evident that local men will
meet these difficulties most easily. Each race knows its own land
best. Therefore, while the King has one Navy to defend the whole
Empire, he has many Armies in its different parts. Both the Navy and
the Armies are essential to one another. As long as the Navy keeps
the sea, no great force can invade the British Empire, except on its
two land frontiers. On the other hand, the Navy can only be free to
command the sea if the King’s subjects in each land are prepared to
defend the Naval Bases should it be necessary.
[Sidenote: 31. Map of World showing position of important campaigns
on land since 1660.]
There is one thing more, however, to be added. Battleships and
cruisers can sail over all the ocean, except where covered with
the northern and the southern ice. Three-quarters of the world,
therefore, lies open to them. But battleships and cruisers cannot
sail over the plains and the mountains. It is, hence often necessary,
when the enemy has been defeated at sea, to land a British Army in
order to achieve a given end. In this map each red dot, and you see
how many there are, marks the position of a land campaign fought by
Britain in the last two centuries and a-half. The most striking fact
is that no dot is placed in the British Isles. There were a few small
battles fought in Britain during the first hundred years of this
time, but no great campaigns in the sense that there were British
campaigns on the mainlands of Europe, Asia, Africa and America. Had
all the small wars been inserted, some parts of the continents would
have been coloured red all over, for the dots would have joined. Now
I think we may draw this conclusion from the map--that the British
Navy has saved the British Isles from war on land, but that the
British Army has often carried war into the country of its opponents.
The Army is now stationed chiefly in India, because of the Indian
Land Frontier in the north-west, and in the British Isles, but
portions of it are also in Gibraltar, in Malta, in Egypt, in South
Africa, and in other parts.
You will remember, of course, that when we visited London in the
second of these Lectures, we came repeatedly to the names Trafalgar
and Waterloo. Trafalgar was Britain’s culminating victory on the
ocean. It was fought by a fleet of battleships in order to free the
ocean from Britain’s enemies, and to allow her commerce to grow and
her Colonies to have peace, although there was war on the continent
of Europe. The battle of Waterloo was Britain’s great victory on the
land, fought in Europe by her Army and that of her allies ten years
after Trafalgar. The Colonies had peace by reason of Trafalgar, but
Waterloo brought the war to an end.
[Sidenote: 32. Battle of Trafalgar, showing types of ships.]
[Sidenote: 33. Death of Nelson, showing types of sailors.]
[Sidenote: 34. Wellington at Waterloo.]
[Sidenote: 35. Battle of Waterloo, British squares prepared to resist
cavalry.]
[Sidenote: 36. South African Battlefield--soldiers taking cover on
the Veldt.]
[Sidenote: 37. South African Light Horse crossing a River.]
[Sidenote: 38. A Field Battery fording a River.]
[Sidenote: 39. Royal Engineers building a Bridge.]
[Sidenote: 40. Night-Signalling from an Armoured Train.]
[Sidenote: 41. Armoured Train under Fire.]
Let us look for a moment at the kind of Navy and Army which won
these victories. Here is an old print of the Battle of Trafalgar,
showing the sailing ships, and the many guns in their sides. Here
is the copy of a picture of the death of the great Admiral Nelson,
who fell in the moment of victory at Trafalgar, giving his life
for his King. Here next is a picture of Wellington at the battle of
Waterloo. The battles of those days were strangely different from
the battles of our time, for rifles and guns had not then a precise
aim. Here, for instance, are the close ranks of the British infantry,
formed in square at Waterloo. That is Wellington, on horseback,
speaking to them. Now look at the next picture. It is a battle-field
in South Africa. The men do not even stand up; they lie apart from
one another, each taking shelter behind some convenient obstacle. In
this particular case the obstacles are ant-hills, which are frequent
in the veldt of South Africa. Here are other scenes in the South
African War. First we have South African Light Horse crossing a
river; then a field battery fording a river. The uniforms of the men
are not red, as we saw them at Waterloo, but “khaki,” that they may
be indistinguishable from the ground, and may not present a target
for the hostile marksmen. Here are Royal Engineers building a bridge,
with floating pontoons, in the case of a river which is too deep to
be forded. And so we come to scenes in which greater and greater
skill and science are needed and not courage alone. It is for this
reason that preparation is needful, and that the Army must be trained
and maintained during peace. We have, for instance, here an armoured
train on the railway, bearing an electric light, wherewith in the
night-time it searches the ground for opponents, and by throwing the
beam of light on to the clouds, signals to friends in the distance.
Here is the same train under attack.
[Sidenote: 42. Firing big Gun on Land.]
[Sidenote: 43. Cavalry charging at Laing’s Nek.]
In the South African War more powerful guns were employed than ever
before on land. Here is one borrowed from a great cruiser for the
defence of Ladysmith. Here, in contrast, is a charge of cavalry. The
chief function of cavalry is to obtain information, and to screen
the movements of infantry by repelling hostile cavalry. In fact, the
action of cavalry is not very unlike that of cruisers at sea.
There is a splendid side to war. There are occasionally magnificent
scenes in it. There is always room for skill and courage. But it is
none the less horrible. Some people have thought that it might be
possible to carry on government without wars and to maintain no Navy
or Army. Heavy taxation would be avoided and much suffering escaped.
As yet, however, no one has shown how this can be accomplished. The
map of the world which you had before you just now, sprinkled with
red dots, each marking a long campaign and many battles, is evidence
of what Britain has gone through in the defence of her Empire during
the last 250 years. The world changes slowly, and there is at present
no likelihood of wars ceasing. If that be so, the wisest and the most
humane course is to be strong so that enemies may shrink from attack,
and peace may be preserved. It is for this reason that membership of
the British Empire is a high privilege.
[Sidenote: 44. Ambulance at Magersfontein.]
Something, however, may be done to alleviate sufferings in war, and
by agreement among the nations a red cross on a white flag raised on
the battlefield secures the immediate neighbourhood from being aimed
at intentionally, for it indicates that the wounded are collected
there and that the surgeons are at work.
[Sidenote: 45. Troops embarking to go Abroad.]
[Sidenote: 46. Shropshire Light Infantry on Parade.]
[Sidenote: 47. Northumberland Fusiliers on Parade.]
[Sidenote: 48. Black Watch--Types of Men.]
[Sidenote: 49. Royal Artillery--Gun Drill.]
Lastly, let us look for a few moments, as we did in the case of the
Navy, at the daily life of the soldier in peace time. We have him
here leaving England in a trooping steamer for foreign service.
Here is an infantry battalion on parade at home, and here another
battalion with its camp in the background. Next we have some men
of the regiment called the Black Watch. They wear a Scottish
uniform--once the garb of the Highlanders who dwell in those far
northern regions of Britain where, as we saw in the third Lecture,
are still to be found the great red stag and the golden eagle. This
is a group of Artillery at gun drill.
One fact more. The British Army is small among the armies of the
world. The aim of Britain is not to attack any other power, but
merely to defend her Empire. Moreover, Britain can perhaps afford
to have a small army because she has a great fleet. Under ordinary
circumstances she may count on preventing an enemy from invading
most of her territories, in force at any rate, by the help of her
fleet alone. This is the basis of the British Peace. The use to which
Britain puts her strength is to carry the idea of justice, which her
children learn at home, through all the lands whose happiness has, in
the course of history, been entrusted to her.
[Sidenote: 50. Holyrood Palace, with Troops on Parade.]
[Sidenote: 51. Trooping of the Colour.]
[Sidenote: 52. Sailors Marching Past.--Birthday Review.]
[Sidenote: 53. The Emperor-King in Naval Uniform.]
The Army and the Navy, as everything else in the Empire, are
headed by our Emperor-King. For one last moment let us return from
the Empire to Britain itself. Here is one of the King’s Highland
Regiments before his Scottish palace at Holyrood on his birthday.
Here on the same occasion are his Guards in London, and here his
sailors at Portsmouth. For the sake of order, of justice, and of
peace the subjects of the King are loyal, and recognize the duty of
obedience. Here, finally, is our Emperor-King Edward, as Admiral of
the British Fleet.
[Sidenote: 54. The Flag of the British Empire.]
What is the chief lesson we should carry away from these Lectures? Is
it not that the Empire can only be defended as a whole, and with the
full co-operation of all its citizens? Surely then it is the duty of
each of us to uphold the flag and to learn something of the defences
of the Empire, and of the way it should be guarded and its rights and
honour maintained before the world.
_Waterlow & Sons Limited, Printers, London Wall, London._
Transcriber’s Notes
Inconsistencies in hyphenation and spelling such as
“battle-field/battlefield” and “hay-stack/hay stack” have been
maintained.
Multiple punctuation errors, such as missing periods, have silently
been corrected.
Contents: Changed page “22” to page “32”.
Page 2: Changed “moutains” to “mountains”.
Page 27: Changed “Pekin” to “Peking”.
Page 32: Added “a” to “take train”.
Page 41: Changed “Phillipines” to “Philippines”.
Page 70: Changed “V irginia” to “Virginia”.
Page 90: Changed “closelv” to “closely”.
Page 93: Changed “snores” to “shores”.
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