Will Australia Ever be An Empire ? 



Hy TJIK HeV. HeNKY WoliliAl.I.. 



Tlie soa-giri Continent of Australia is a vast and 

 lonely outpost o( the greatest empire of all time. 

 And within the Uritish Empire, of which Australia 

 forms a part, there is a population of not less than 

 400.(X)0,000 of people. Since '' the morning stars 

 sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy," 

 no other flag ever floated over such multitudinous 

 hosts, and no government was ever administered across 

 such va-it territories, 



rilK 1(I\ IXi; KLK.MK.N'r I.\ -NATION lUII, DING. 



The writer liui'.* not blusli t(i i)\i n (juitc frankl.v that 

 he has never looked on the wind-lluttcred Hag of the 

 Kmpire, on lomly seas or ainicl the waving palms 

 ol tropical archipelagoes, witliout regarding it as a 

 symbol of the pre.sence and guardiansliip of Almighty 

 (iod. He believes that the looms of (lod, working 

 through ages of pain and mvstery, through labours 

 and privations immeasurable, through education 

 diverse and ottcn crude, and through the unfolding 

 processes ol nligion, have woven ever.v thread of our 

 Kmpire flag. It will surely not hurt, but rather 

 ■ riliance and glorify, a Briton's patriotism to recognise 

 the imMiineiice of the Eternal God in matters pertain- 

 ing to national life. No Christian mind can belie\e 

 that (!od throws haphazard shuttles across the mighty 

 looms that weave the destinies of the nations. 



Kor more than a (|uarter of a century, spent in 

 many strange plates and amongst many strange 

 peoples, r have carried an ever-deepening conviction 

 that Australian enterprise, courage, .-md personality 

 are dcstineil t<i play a great and important part in 

 the further extension of Mritish hopes and ideals 

 amongst the uncounti'd millions who live and struggle, 

 or drift and dnMin and die, in close proximity to the 

 shores of our .Vustralian Comnionwealth. 



^ IIIK W KITE .MAN S HllfDKX. 



It is by far too late in onr Empire's history for 

 any man to argue that imperialism is a mistake, or 

 that our fathers were guilty of a huge blunder when, 

 in frail crafts but with stout an<l <launtleRs hearts, 

 they Haile<l liiyonil the narrow gi-ographical lines nl 

 the l'nit(sl Kingdom, and planted their ensign on 

 many n wihl and lonely strand. The Empire is a 

 l:i<t a ere.scinl I ict that neither \\f nor an.v people 

 on the face ol tin- earth to-day can afford to ignore. 

 I''<ir weal or woi' we hold beneath the folds of thi' 

 llritish Hag the di'Stiny of alien races who number 

 3 10,1 KM 1,(100, 



We English-»pi'. iking subjects of our king are only 

 some (iO,O0O,IKl() III people — stretched like a loiig-diawn 

 white thread iuoiiiid tho vast circumference ol an 

 Kiiipire that coniilns a series of cluNtering nations 

 spread over a ten i;ory whose ar<a is live times greater 



llian the iiM.iiiil . iii|,i I llnMlv III. I .11 li:i«t liiiir 



times the size of that valiant and historic empire over 

 which the old Roman emperors so proudly flung their 

 golden eagles. Unless the thin white thread of British 

 personalitv that now wraps itself around the globe, 

 throbs and glows with an aluKist divine passion for 

 liberty and justice, it will some day suddenly snap 

 asunder, leaving such wreck behind as humanity has 

 never before witnessed. 



The racial ([uestion is without doubt the most com- 

 plex and important question of our times. Under 

 modern science <listances are melting, implements of 

 destruction are bec<iming more terrible every hour, 

 and human brains, whether they think behind pale 

 brows, or brown, or black, are keener in their think- 

 ing than at any other period in human history. 



.\ NATIONAL NERVE-SVSTEM, 



For hvc liundied .years and more there has bei'n 

 at work a vast series of events that have resulted in 

 .spreatling around the globe a national nerve-system 

 that has to a won<lerfiil extent heightened human 

 sensitivity in relation to government. There was 

 onc<> a period during which two nations might easily 

 in agonies of prolonged warfare without, to any 



'•oil 



serious e.\tent, disturbing the eiiuaniniity of other 

 nations. But it is not so to-day. It can never be so 

 again. If in our da.v a ritle barks in far-off Fashoda, 

 or a lishing-smack is rammed in the North vSea, or a 

 lonji-hairivl (Serman »haws a brush across a canvas 

 witliin sight of a British fort, or a gatling gun ratt'es 

 its hail on an oasis, or cannon shot splash in the 

 Yellow Sea, or the cutlasses of bluejackets flash be- 

 neath the palms of some lonely coral island, then 

 the whole wid(> world is awake in a twinkling, and 

 the biggest men in all the nations stretch themselves 

 on tip-toe in the attempt to see beyond all others 

 wliat these things mean. 



'i'his state of facts makes it eminently necessary 

 that we, in Australi.i, look upon the complex rela- 

 tionships of our Empire with a keener and more in- 

 telligent .scrutinv. It is everything to u.s that tho 

 British Empire has entered upon a gigantic bargain 

 with millions of alien peoples a bargain that will 

 produce goods that will rei|iiire centuries to deliver. 

 .\iiiongst us are men who would haie us believe that 

 a political while chalk-line, drawn aiuiind our almost 

 illimitable coast line, is (|uile sullicient for these 

 things. They think it is a wise policy to refrain 

 from discussing the racial problem: for they believe 

 that to agitate the iinest.on would imperil shipping, 

 imperil immigrati<iii, imperil real estate, imperil com- 

 merce, and. above all. imperil race-purity. 



CRE.St ENT ALIEN RACES. 



Not only for the benefit of the coloured siibjcct- 

 r;ii-..v •■.iiniiiit ti><l {o iiiir Empire's eliargi'. but also 



