The Star. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1911. THE IDEA OF EMPIRE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 21 June 1911, Page 4

The Star.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1911. THE IDEA OF EMPIRE.

Delivered every evening by 6 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho. Manutahi, Alton. Hurleyville, Patea. and Waverley.

■- —* . . Many, recent events, and, most of-all, the, Coronation of King George V., to taise place to-morrow, lead to the concentration qi thought on the idea of Empire and its meaning to the individual units of that vast association oi dominions on which the sun never sets. Sometimes we hear statements to this effect: —The Englishman in Ms own country, or the Scotsman, or the Irishmail, asks —"V\ rhat is Canada," or Australia, or New Zealand to me ? What should I care about their welfare?" And the Australian, Canadian or New Zealander asks —.- 'What is England, or Scotland, or Ireland to me, that I should worry myself concerning the doings of these ancient lands?" All of these questioners proclaim themselves patriots: they pride themselves that they are so devoted to their own country that "Empire" has little meaning for them. They place their own land first and foremost, and would find in the interrogatory of the poet a final expression of the limits of their allegiance—

"Breathes there a man with soul so

dead • N Who never to himself has said—

'This is my own, my native, land?' " Now, it is quite right, quite natural, that a man should passionately love his own country: some of the greatest deeds in history are associated with the sentiment of patriotism. We cannot but bow in reverence to the man who reveres the land that gave him birth. Reverence commands reverence. One of the finest scenes in Shakespeare is the return of King Richard 11. to the coast of Wales, and his burning apostrophe to the earth that gave him life—

"I weep for joy To staod upon my kingdom once

again— Dear earth, I do salute thee with my hand, . - • : Though rebels wound thee with their horses' hoofs: ' As a long-parted mother with her child Plays fondly with her tears and smiles in meeting, So, weeping, smiling, greet I thee, my earth, And do thee favor with my roval hands:" There is something indefinably ennobling and elevating in such patriotism; but there is no reason why the most fervid love of one's own land should exclude, or interfere with, that feeling of motherhood and childhood which unites, m indissohible bonds, the great confederation of peoples of the whole British Empire by ties of race, and language, common ideals for. the progress of ail, and community of all essential interests. What is the Old Country to us?— Shall the son forget his mother? What are the new lands to- those at Home?— Shall the mother forget her children ? It may be answered that these are merely sentimental ideals. Let^no man scoff at sentiment. Sentiment is a sacred possession. Sentiment has been a powerful force in making the British Empire what it is to-day—the greatest empire s the most humanely-governed empire, the world has ever known. Even material blessings flow from sentiment. What are the material blessings ■to you—to the Empire's "men in the street?" Lord Milner uttered a profound truth in a recent pronouncement when he averred that there is no exaggeration in the statement that, .without exception, British citizenship is the most valuable citizenship in the whole world. Regarded as a free pass, it has the widest currency. The man of white race who is born a British subject can find a home in every portion of the world, where he can live under his own flag, enjoying the same absolute freedom and the same protection for person and. property as he has always enjoyed; using his own language, and possessing, from the first moment that he sets foot' there, the full rights of citizenship. And that without sacrificing anything, without foreswearing allegiance to the land that gave him birth, as he must do in order to obtain citizen rights in any foreign country. He can go from England to Canada, from Scotland to New Zealand, from Ireland to Australia, from New Zealand to Canada, from Australia to Scotland, with the feeling that he is one of the common stock of all these countries. Were there ever such material privileges ? History does not show, from first to last, such a parallel. Where, now, is there any reason in the individual unit of the British Empire who holds that he should be indifferent to the welfare of all its parts save that in which he is personally concerned ? Rather does not his personal concern lie in the maintenance and broadening of Imperial sentiment? Is it not his duty to jealously guard the interests, so far as in him lies, of every portion of the Empire—that Empire which stands for the highest ideals of civilisation yet attained, and for the advancement of all its parts without invidious differentiation? Such interests can best be guarded by those who, while possessing unwavering loyalty to their own land, possess likewise an equally unswerving fealty to the throne and person of the King whose Coronation we are about to celebrate.