Mr. Chamberlain arrived in Kimberley on Thursday week, and made
two important speeches on the following day. Replying to addresses of welcome in the Town Hall in the morning, Mr. Chamberlain, after a cordial reference to the work of those who had defended Kimberley during the siege, devoted most of his speech to the privileges and responsi- bilities of Empire. "Each stone of the future Empire," he observed, "has been cemented by blood," and no man should boast of Empire unless he was prepared to make sacrifices for it. The Motherland, which in a time of trial had nobly sus- tained its claim to the headship of the British race, could not much longer sustain the burden alone, and therefore called her children from the four corners of the world to help her to maintain what in the past she had maintained by her sole efforts. His experiences since he had landed in South Africa had dispelled all doubts as to how they would answer that call. A small minority, as in the United Kingdom, might haggle about the cost, but he was sure that the people of the Colonies would feel no sacrifice too great to maintain their fundamental position.
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