Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India: Reissued for use in the United KingdomMackinder, Halford John
History
Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India: Reissued for use in the United Kingdom
Mackinder, Halford John
Great Britain
In various parts of British Territory we find local armies intended
for the purpose here described. In this slide, for instance, we have
a troop of New South Wales Lancers, as typical of the Australian
Forces of the King. In the next is a battery of Canadian Artillery
passing through a street in Ottawa when the winter snow is on the
ground. Then we come to the great Indian Army. It is composed,
as you know, of soldiers of many different races--of Englishmen
and Scotchmen, who used formerly to fight with one another in
the British Isles--and of such peoples as the Marathas and the
Mohammedans, who used formerly to fight with one another in India.
All are now combined for the defence of the Empire, so that there
may be peace and order from the Himalayas to the ocean. Here we have
a Bengal Lancer, wearing a medal which he has won in the service
of the Emperor; and here a group of Madras Lancers--as you see by
their stripes non-commissioned officers. Then follows a Bombay
Artilleryman, with a whole row of medals on his breast, a man who has
seen repeated service in the defence of his country. And then again
we have a Goorkha. These four representatives of the Indian Army,
from the east, the south, the west and the north, must suffice to
remind us of the part we play in the great defensive scheme of the
Empire.
[Sidenote: 25. Hong Kong Regiment.]
[Sidenote: 26. Malay States Guides.]
[Sidenote: 27. West India Regiment.]
There are many other local forces in our various lands. Here for
instance are some Sikhs of the Hong Kong Regiment, and then we have
a private of the Malay States Guides. Then, crossing half the world,
from the east to the west, we come to a soldier of the West Indian
Regiment, who serve both in the West Indies and in West Africa.
This man we may note is a sergeant, and he wears the Victoria Cross
for conspicuous courage. The Victoria Cross may be won either by an
officer or a private, a soldier or a sailor, of any race throughout
the world which serves in the Armies or the Navy of our Emperor.
[Sidenote: 28. West African Frontier Force.]
[Sidenote: 29. Soldier of West African Frontier Force.]
[Sidenote: 30. Mounted Infantry in the Kano-Sokoto Expedition, 1903.]
There are other forces in West Africa besides the West Indian
Regiment. Here, for instance, is the Lagos Battalion of the West
African Frontier Force drawn up on the Parade Ground at Lagos. And
here is a soldier of the Gambia Company of the same force. There are
frequent small wars in the wilder parts of the West African Colonies
and Protectorates, one of which, Nigeria, is half as large as India,
though of course not so populous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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