;i8 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



MISS WRENCH, 

 Assistant Honorary Organiser. 



ganisation which should aim at draw- 

 ing together the men and women of the 

 wide scattered Dominions and Colonies 

 which form the British Emoire. 



This idea had originated really 

 from the late Cecil John Rhodes, in a 

 document, now in Lord Grev's posses- 

 sion, written at the age of 23, one night 

 on the South African veldt: — 



" One asks oneself, what is the chief 

 aim in life? To some comes the desire 

 to amass great wealth, to others the 

 wish for a happy marriage, to myself 

 came the longing to render myself of 

 use to my country." 



Rhodes then went on to remark that 

 to his mind the greatest danger the 

 Empire would have to face would be 

 that of ignorance — the ignorance of 

 one part about the other. He felt, in 

 these early years, that the greatest ser- 

 vice he could render to his country 

 would be the formation of a vast secret 

 society, which had as its sole aim and 

 object the furtherance of the British 

 Empire and its interests. 



Mr. Wrench, who was staying at Ot- 

 tawa with Lord Grey, when shown 



Rhodes' reflections, felt that there was 

 still a real need for an organisation of 

 this kind, entirely dissociated from 

 party, but that there was no need for 

 anything secret in connection with it. 

 Before drawing up the Over-Seas Club 

 creed and objects in their final form, 

 Mr. Wrench discussed his ideas with 

 his friends. Helpful suggestions were 

 received amongst others from Lord 

 Northcliffe, Mr. J. L. Garvin, the Editor 

 of the Observer, and Mr. Norman 

 Angell, the author of the " Great Illu- 



sion 



For many years Lord Northcliffe had 

 felt that there was a real need for a 

 truly Imperial, non-party newspaper, 

 a journal which would give a conden- 

 sation of the week's news in the old 

 country without any party bias. He 

 put his views into practice by the pub- 

 lication of the Over-Seas Edition of 

 the Daily Mail, which was first issued 

 in November, 1904. The wonderful 

 progress of the Over-Seas Club move- 

 ment has been chiefly due to the fact 

 that Lord Northcliffe placed this jour- 

 nal at its disposal. For that reason the 

 foundation members will always re- 

 member gratefully Lord Northcliffe's 

 help, which was so largely instrumental 

 in starting their organisation. 



The Over-Seas Club is strictly non- 

 party, non-sectarian, and recognises no 

 distinction of class. The objects mem- 

 bers were to set before themselves were : 

 ■ — (1) To help one another ; (2) To ren- 

 der individual service to the Empire, if 

 need be to bear arms ; (3) To insist on 

 the vital necessity to the Empire of 

 British supremacy on the sea ; and (4) 

 To draw together in the bonds of com- 

 radeship the peoples now living under 

 the folds of the British flag. All mem- 

 bers, men or women, believing that the 

 British Empire stands for justice, free- 

 dom, order and good government, 

 pledge themselves to maintain the heri- 

 tage handed down to us by our fathers. 



The objects of the Club were duly 

 outlined in the columns of the Over- 

 Seas Daily Mail on August 27, 1910. 

 The response was surprising, and to- 

 day, not quite three years after its in- 

 ception, the Club has no fewer than 

 110,000 members. Mr. Wrench was at 



