208 Royal Colonial Institute. 



whicli is more important or more promising than that of this Institute. I have been 

 much impressed by the words of my fellow-member from AustraUa, because in every 

 sense of the word our situation out yonder is exactly what is his in the Southern Sea ; 

 it is part of the new great Pacific Question, and I hope there will be those of us who 

 will be able, somehow, and somewhere, to call your attention to the seriousness of 

 the situation that confronts Australia and British Columbia on the New Pacific to-day. 

 The Chairman has outlined some plans for the future, and those plans are large enough 

 and strong enough for any work you may have in hand. One of the first is the 

 educational propaganda. That is the forerunner of organisation always. I have been 

 wondering whether there cannot be some means of getting your Journal more before 

 the outside world. I have no hesitation in saying that that Journal is the most useful 

 magazine in the Empire to-day. It seems a great waste of opportunity that this 

 splendid compendium of Imperial thought and ideals is put into the hands merely 

 of the 5,500 members of the Institute who believe every word of the Journal already. 

 We have read of One who came into the world to bring not the righteous, but sinners 

 to repentance — and some steps ought to be taken to put the Journal into the hands 

 of hundreds and thousands of people in the Empire and prepare their minds on the 

 subject. I do not know that I can do better than read to you the interesting words 

 which fell from one than whom there has been no wiser or kindher statesman in our 

 country of Canada. Speaking at the annual dinner of the Institute in 1902, Earl 

 Grey said : — 



I hope I may be permitted to make the suggestion that you would be adding to your 

 strength and to the power of carrying out your ideals if you woiild extend your 

 membership to those who are unable to afford so high a subscription as £2 a year 

 in addition to the entrance fee of £3. . . . I am not proposing you should extend 

 the Club privileges of the Institute to those who pay a smaller subscription than 

 is at present contributed by your Fellows ; but I do say that it would be "wise to 

 harness to your chariot the big heart and collective strength of the operative classes of the 

 Empire, and, by offering to aU terms of membership which shall be within the reach of the 

 poorest wage-earner, to enable every imperial-minded artisan to enrol himself as an 

 Associate of the Colonial Institute, and thus contribute his share towards the realisation 

 of your inspiring ideals ... I should like you to be able to say to them " enrol 

 yourselves in the Army of the Empire as members of the Colonial Institute. . . ." 

 The Institute has now an income of about £7,000, and a fellowship of over 4,000. Add a 

 new order of Associates to your organisation, and, if you display sufficient recruiting energy, 

 you will have an income of £70,000 or more, and the membership running into hundreds 

 of thousands. Is it too much to hope that £100,000 might be raised by the Colonial Institute 

 every year to increase the civilising power of the British Empire ? 



This was ten years ago, recollect. 



In my opinion these words ought to be the slogan of the Institute. I am not myself 

 an optimist ; there is an element of fataUsm in optimism which I much distrust, because 

 it leads us to lean too much on false securities. It is the philosophy of life which 

 locks the stable door after the horse is stolen, or (to adopt a more present illustration) 

 which walls up your windows after the sufiragettes have gone by. I am an optimistic 

 pessimist, but I have hope large enough to believe that there are hmidreds of thousands 

 of good enough men in this Empire to become members of the Institute and take part 

 in its work. It is something which must be done. The time has come for us to face 

 the situation. The world is full of dissension and strife and anarchy. It is time for 

 those who love law and order to get together and organise their forces ; and I do not 

 know who is able to do that if this Institute will not. The suggestion of Lord Grey with 



