Essay No. 40
An Appeal to British Boys and Girls
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A MEMBER
OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE?
BY
Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, V.C., K.G., 0.M., etc.
I SHOULD like to think that every boy and girl in this country realises that the Union Jack is the flag of the British Empire—whose children they are—the emblem of its greatness, and as such should be revered by all true Britons. And I should like also to think that every boy and girl has learnt that the red patches on the maps of the world in their schools mark those islands and countries far away from England which go to form that Empire. For without such knowledge it is not possible for boys and girls to understand what the flag ought to be to them—an incentive to so conduct themselves that, at all times and under all circumstances, they may prove themselves worthy of being members of the great Empire which the Union Jack represents.
This Empire has not come to us by accident. It has gained its high position amongst the nations of the world by the courage, enterprise and fortitude
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of our forefathers, and it is maintained by the noble, self-sacrificing lives of our women as well as by the energy, uprightness and fair dealing in their inter. course with other countries, of our men.
We can maintain this Empire in all its glory so long as our men and women possess and are actuated by the same self-sacrificing energy, courage and devotion to the flag as were those who bequeathed to us our great inheritance.
You who are boys and girls now will in a few years be grown men and women—the fathers and mothers of the next generation—citizens of this Empire and sharers in its good or evil fortune.
What you have to remember is that it is now, while you are young, that you have to prepare yourselves to face the responsibilities as well as the advantages and the glory you have inherited.
First of all, let me appeal to you, the boys. If you wish to be worthy of the Empire you must learn what duty means—duty to your God, duty to the Empire, duty to your fellows. You must work hard and conscientiously, and the sooner you under¬stand this the better it will be for you in after life. I am all in favour of games. Played in a fair and manly spirit, and in moderation, they are of great value ; for to succeed in games you have to keep your body fit and well by the exercise of self-denial and self-restraint ; you have to overcome difficulties, and you must learn to accept defeats with
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boys. To you also character is the first essential, and character can only be fostered by the exercise of self-sacrifice. By self-sacrifice I do not mean unthinking, blind submission. I mean the conscious sacrifice of the lower to the higher self that is in each of you.
If you look upon amusement as the main object in life; if you take as your aim, not the highest, but the easiest ; if you despise duty as a drudgery, and refuse all obligations that require unselfish devotion ; if you are not pure in thought and deed, what will be the result ? You will be unfit to take your place in the ranks of true British women. You have a great part to play ; you have to help your men-folk, your sons and your brothers, in their struggles against tempta-tions, and you have to fit yourselves to teach the generation that comes after, in their turn, to fulfil the sacred duties of life.
The Union Jack, I have said, is the outward emblem of the British Empire. Our soldiers and our sailors salute it whenever they see it ; our regiments used to carry it into battle, and many a brave man has died to save it from falling into an enemy's hands. That emblem should, I repeat, be understood and reverenced by every one of us, man or woman, boy or girl.
Once when we were at war with Holland a British admiral found himself, with only two ships, face to face with the whole Dutch fleet. Before going into
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and girls are now practised in physical exercises and in drill. And I trust that, in a short time, every British boy will receive a certain amount of military training and be taught to use a rifle with skill. This training cannot begin too early in life. It is not necessary that every boy should enter the army or the navy ; but every able-bodied boy should certainly pre¬pare himself to be a useful citizen-soldier and to be able to help his country in her time of need. He should be taught that though war, if wanton and aggressive, is a bad and cruel thing, it is nevertheless a most sacred duty and imperative on every man—most of all imperative on Britons, the inheritors of so great an Empire and so glorious a past—to be able to defend in war, if necessary, that Empire, and to jealously guard every right and tradition we hold dear.
PRINTED By CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, MC
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