9. No need to tell of the splendid services Lord Roberts rendered at the seat of war, how, within six months from his departure from England, he led his army in triumph into the capitals of the two Boer states, and made their conquest in the end almost a certainty. In taking his farewell of the army, the general paid a well-deserved tribute of praise to our soldiers, who "by their pluck, endurance, discipline, and devotion to duty" had covered themselves with glory. "For months together," said their commander, "in fierce heat, in biting cold, in pouring rain, you have marched and fought without halt, and bivouacked without shelter... You have forced your way through dense jungles, over precipitous mountains, through and over which, with infinite labour, you have had to drag heavy guns and ox-waggons.... You have endured the suffering, inevitable in war, to sick and wounded men, without murmur, and even with cheerfulness." 10. And if any other testimony is needed in favour of "Tommy Atkins," as we fondly call our soldiers, we have it in the despatch of a German officer: "We can only marvel," he says, "at the heroism with which British troops in close order attempt to scale steep heights under a fierce hail of bullets. We can only marvel at the intrepidity with which they try to force a passage through narrow mountain passes where the enemy lie concealed." 11. A thrill of pride, then, may well go through the heart of every Briton when he thinks of the deeds of courage, the splendid resolution, and the cheerful patience of our troops in South Africa. The nation, too, has given full proof that the spirit of their fathers, the same old spirit that has carried the old flag through so many times of stress and strain, is still active as ever, that the fibre of our race is as hard and well-knit as in days of yore. 12. War is at best a great calamity, but the war we have waged with the Boers has brought us compensations. It has proved that our soldiers and sailors are as truly hearts of oak now as formerly, and that our brothers in the colonies are made of the same stuff as the best of ourselves. It has done still more in revealing to the whole world that the British Empire is not a mere name for a number of territories scattered over the globe, but that it is a living whole animated by one and the same spirit. All nations may now know that the honour and interests of the empire are dear not to Britain alone, but to the whole family of nations that have sprung from her; and that in any future contest with Great Britain they will have to reckon also with the Greater Britain beyond the seas. "Shoulder to shoulder, _all for each_, and _each for all_, we stand united before the world, and our children have shown that they are not unwilling to share with us the obligations as well as the dignity of the empire."