to fight in our land wars, because, naturally, our men-of-war are very frequently first on the spot, and if the enemy does not threaten a sea-fight, the sailors are free to defend or to attack before the soldiers arrive. You may, perhaps, remember that in the South African war there was a naval brigade at the defence of Ladysmith. If you have followed me thus far, I think that you will have little difficulty in understanding the part in the defence of the Empire which has to be played by our land forces. If you have fully realised the necessity for concentrating battleships into great fleets, and for using cruisers boldly to hunt down the commerce destroyers of the enemy, you will have learnt that incidentally most of the shores of the Empire are at times laid open, perhaps not to invasion in force, but at least to raids by hostile cruisers and small military forces escorted by them. It would be very costly to tie adequate fleets to every threatened point. In nine cases out of ten the whole war would go by, and the enemy would never come into the neighbourhood of such a tied force. Moreover, defeat in the crucial battle would be risked in this attempt to give to every commercial centre the protection for which in panic it cried out. [Sidenote: 18. Cape Town.] The alternative is to free the fleet for its proper purpose of attacking the enemy and clearing him from the ocean, by providing such land forces in each locality as shall suffice to deal with any likely attack. More especially is it needful to protect the coaling and refitting stations of the fleet, in order that in each sea the ships may find the refreshment they require, and may not have to return to distant ports while the enemy’s cruisers are left unwatched. Here, for instance, is Cape Town, a quite likely refuge for our damaged ships in certain contingencies. It might happen, though it is not very probable, that Cape Town should be seized by a hostile raiding force, whose aim was to injure the trade going round the Cape to Australia and New Zealand. Now it is clear that if a British cruiser squadron had to watch the Cape it could not hunt for the enemy’s cruisers in the adjoining ocean. In time of war it might therefore be needful, under certain circumstances, to maintain in Cape Town and its neighbourhood such a land force as would suffice to deny the Cape harbours to the enemy. This is called the local defence of the Empire. [Sidenote: 19. New South Wales Lancers.] [Sidenote: 20. Royal Canadian Artillery.] [Sidenote: 21. A Bengal Lancer.] [Sidenote: 22. Madras Lancers.] [Sidenote: 23. Bombay Artilleryman.] [Sidenote: 24. A Goorkha.]