Many other prominent persons, Sir John Thompson, Sir Charles Tupper, Sir Wilfred Laurier, shared the same opinion, and confidently asserted that Great Britain had but to hold out her hand and the hand of Canada would go out to meet it with firm and cordial grasp. Then came the hour and the opportunity. Canada acted exactly as Canada's greatest men had expected her to act. She did not jump to action, for the idea of participating in the active affairs of the Empire had scarcely dawned upon her, but, the opening once made, Canada lost no time in availing herself of it. Great things have small beginnings, and the grand movement which has astonished the universe commenced in a simple manner. While the possibility of war drifted like a small cloud on the horizon, a certain Colonel Hughes, of Lindsay, Ontario, set to work to raise a volunteer regiment for possible service in South Africa. In September 1899 he openly expressed himself. In answer to energetic remonstrance he wrote, that "unless the Government of the Dominion showed itself patriotic enough to do its duty by the Imperial Government, he was justified in his action, the object of which was to assist in upbuilding the British Empire and rendering justice to one's fellow-countrymen, even at great sacrifice, and that as little delay as possible should result on the outbreak of hostilities in enrolling a corps." The idea, to use the popular phrase, "caught on." All the notabilities of the Dominion put their heads together, with the result that, early as October 3, the Canadian Military Institute in Toronto proposed to offer a Canadian Contingent to the British Imperial Government, in the event of a war breaking out with the Boers. It was also suggested and carried unanimously, that whereas all the expenses of the Canadian Contingent sent to the aid of the British troops in the Crimean War had been borne by the British Government, the expenses of the Contingent it was now proposed to send to South Africa, should be provided by the Dominion of Canada, that the Canadian Government should train, arm, equip, transport, and pay the force raised, and, if necessary, pension those deserving it. The offer of a Canadian Contingent was accordingly made through the Government to the British Government, who accepted it with two reservations--First, that the force raised should consist of 1000 men only; Second, that half the expenses of the Contingent should be met by the Imperial Government. To this the Canadians consented under protest, declaring, however, that should any further assistance be required during the course of the war, they would be ready and glad to send it.