470 AFRICAN EXPERIENCES 



I thank you heartily for myself. I thank you still more 

 because I know that what you have done is to be taken 

 primarily as a sign of the respect and friendly goodwill 

 which more and more, as time goes by, tends to knit 

 the English-speaking peoples. 



I shall not try to make you any extended address of 



mere thanks, still less of mere eulogy. I prefer to 



speak, and I know you would prefer to have me speak, 



on matters of real concern to you, as to which I happen 



at this moment to possess some first-hand knowledge ; 



for recently I traversed certain portions of the British 



Empire under conditions which made me intimately 



cognizant of their circumstances and needs. I have 



just spent nearly a year in Africa. While there 1 saw 



four Bi'itish protectorates. I grew heartily to respect 



the men whom I there met — settlers and military and 



civil officials — and it seems to me that the best service 



I can render them and you is very briefly to tell you 



how I was impressed by some of the things that I saw. 



Your men in Africa are doing a great work for your 



Empire, and they are also doing a great work for 



civilization. This fact and my sympathy for and belief 



in them are my reasons for speaking. The people at 



home, whether in Europe or in America, who live 



softly often fail fully to realize what is being done 



for them by the men who are actually engaged in the 



pioneer work of civilization abroad. Of course, in any 



mass of men there are sure to be some who are weak 



or unworthy, and even those who are good are sure to 



make occasional mistakes — that is as true of pioneers as 



of other men. Nevertheless, the great fact in world 



history during the last century has been the spread 



of civilization over the world's waste spaces. The work 



is still going on ; and the soldiers, the settlers, and the 



