822 REPORT— 1902. 



cast at the very commencement of a new century. Nothing is so sure as that if 

 we cannot show ourselves to he worthy we shall not long he allowed to play the 

 part ; jealousy confronts us on all sides; and we have learnt that the struggle for 

 existence is Nature's first law, against which philanthropy is powerless so long as 

 it be not universal — a contingency which is not even remotely possible. It is little 

 short of remarkable that we should be able to go so far as we do in securing the 

 services of able men to conduct our affairs generally ; but we cannot be too 

 mindful of the duty incambent upon us of developing the store of ability latent in 

 the nation and above all of maintaining intact our heritage of individuality. 



The call to organise the forces of our empire is imperative but we do not heed 

 it in any proper manner. For many years past we have rarely refused to treat 

 with utmost consideration the representations of those who have dwelt on the 

 importance of our Navy. One of the most highly respected men in the country 

 at the present day is our gifted American cousin, Captain Mahan, on account ot 

 the way in which he has exercised his powers of imaginative insight and taught 

 X18 to understand our achievements at sea, to appreciate the true meaning and 

 value of sea power. We need a Mahan to discuss the larger issues of national 

 defence through education, to teach the nation the true meaning and value of 

 education. The Ship of State is of vastly greater consequence than the mere 

 Navy : yet those who direct attention to the insufficient character of its arma- 

 ment are scarce listened to ; not the slightest effort is made to secure for it a 

 scientifically adjusted and organically complete machinery for the effective adminis- 

 tration and working of all its departments ; the drill of its crew is woefully 

 incomplete ; what is worse, there is a terrible absence of organisation and discipline, 

 a terrible aljsence of willingness, little if any desire to co-operate among those who 

 nre charged with its care ; and the consequences of neglect are not immediately 

 obvious. In war we appreciate the effects suddenly : a long list of killed and 

 wounded brings its meaning home to us at once ; we know that we must pay 

 the penalty of defeat forthwith ; the indemnity exacted can be expressed as a 

 lump sum. The battle of life is waged in a less obtrusive way, the killed and 

 maimed are not scheduled in any regular manner, and so it escapes our notice that 

 in reality the carnage is awful, that few if any escape without severe wounds, that 

 defeat is constant and yet often dealt so .silently and imperceptibly that it excites 

 little comment. But we know that vastly more than is done might be done to 

 alleviate if not to prevent suffering and even to give charm to life where at 

 present there is but pain, if only our efforts could be organised. If we reflect on 

 the bareness of the life lived by the majority, on the debasing conditions under 

 which very many are placed, on the terrible evils consequent on indulgence in 

 drink — surely we must agree with Tyndall that the essential point is to raise life 

 to a higher level, to elevate the general tone of thought, and that it is our duty to 

 consider more seriously than we have done hitherto what use can be made of the 

 forces at our disposal for the purpose. 



If we will but picture to ourselves how most of our difficulties, and especially our 

 slow advance are consequences of lack of imaginative power, or perhaps rather of 

 failure to exert the power which, though latent in most of us, is not sufficiently 

 called into being by practice; if we will but consider how much of our success 

 has been due to the exercise of imaginative power : we may be led to propound a 

 fruitful theory of education, a theoretical basis on whicla a sound educational 

 structure may be reared. It has been well said by Carlyle ' that all that man 

 does and brings to pass is the ve.sture of a thought.' In fact, the illustrations 

 which may be given of the value of theoretical conceptions, of imaginative power, 

 are innumerable. Taking recent events, if we consider the success achieved by the 

 late Mr. Khodes, the narrow-sighted will say he was a practical man : a man who 

 did things and led others to do. Those with broader views recognise that at 

 heart Mr. Rhodes was a theorist, an idealist, a man of imagination — hence his 

 success. And men such as Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener, whose immense 

 services to the nation have been so universally admitted of late, are not merely 

 practical soldiers of experience but men gifted with powers of insight and 

 jjnagination — men able to apply theory to practice. Some of those who were 



