Chapter IV: Part 4

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.]