Australia's Destiny 271 



not stopped short at coveting. American influ- 

 ence in the Sandwich Islands; German aggression 

 in Samoa, in New Guinea, and last of all in the 

 Marshall Islands ; French interference in New 

 Caledonia and the New Hebrides these incidents 

 have in turn given the alarmists cause to raise 

 their voices. Australian politicians have been 

 untiring and vehement in their protests to the 

 Colonial Office, but the effect of their representa- 

 tions has never been appreciable. The sphere of 

 foreign influence in the Pacific has enlarged by 

 almost imperceptible degrees, and only the other 

 day, the Australian Prime Minister awakened 

 with a gasp to the consideration of sixteen foreign 

 naval stations within easy striking distance of 

 Australian shores. Distance is being annihilated 

 by time, and the remote and peaceful Australian 

 is now confronted by possibilities it was once the 

 fashion to ridicule. 



Perhaps the Boer War furnished Australia 

 with its first real reminder that national responsi- 

 bility must go hand in hand with national am- 

 bition. It is not easy for the home-keeping 

 Englishman to grasp the real meaning of the 

 wave of patriotism that swept over Greater 

 Britain during the progress of that struggle. 

 " The loyalty of the Colonies" has degenerated 

 into a phrase for the use of party politicians, who 

 too seldom stop to consider its meaning. Whether 

 the Colonies will always be loyal to Great Britain 

 is a question that may yet have to be decided. 



