4. The gold at their disposal seemed to the Boers to give them a fair chance of accomplishing this result. At any rate, it enabled them to build forts, to provide arms of the best modern type in abundance, and to employ European officers as artillery instructors. It is true, they may have reflected, our numbers are comparatively small, but all our forces are close at hand, whilst the British will have to draw theirs from a country 6,000 miles away. 5. And so at last the die was cast, and, on the 11th October, 1899, a Boer force entered Natal in the hope of driving the small British army into the sea before reinforcements could arrive from England. In this they failed, as we know, by the splendid stand made by our troops, under Sir George White, at Ladysmith. It is not our intention to tell the story of the war, whose main incidents are fresh in our minds, but to show what a marvellous effect that war has had in drawing out the great qualities of our race, and in uniting the whole empire. 6. In the beginning of the war our arms met with serious reverses. In one dark week of December came the news of three disastrous failures, in our attack on the enemy's position, in three different quarters. But what was the effect of this threefold misfortune? It braced the nation to put forth its strength, it stiffened their resolve to conquer in the end, whatever the cost in blood or treasure. A mighty wave of patriotism swept over the land, and thousands of our best and bravest responded to the call to arms. Regulars, militia, volunteers, yeomanry--all alike, men of all classes from prince to peasant, eagerly proffered their services. 7. Still more remarkable was the effect which the need of the great mother had upon her sons in all parts of the empire. From Canada, from Australia, from New Zealand thousands of brave men hastened to the rescue, all sent off from their distant homes with the acclamations of enthusiastic crowds. Offers of help came from every corner of the empire; nor were such offers limited to men of British origin. Indian princes pressed their services on our acceptance, and the Maoris of New Zealand were as eager as any in their land to fight for the flag. But the British government wisely declined the services of all who were not of British blood. The war was a contest between the Boers and the British for supremacy in South Africa, and it was resolved to make it a fair stand-up fight between the two races. 8. The spirit in which our nation girded themselves for the fight, when the blows of misfortune fell hard upon them in that dark December week, is well exemplified in the prompt response of Lord Roberts to the call made upon his services, as commander-in-chief of our army in South Africa, at the very moment when he had received the crushing news of the death of his son, in a gallant attempt to rescue some guns after the battle of Colenso.