A speech of Mr. Seddon's, the Premier of New Zealand, made at this time, perhaps best explains the enthusiasm of the colonies and proves the fervour of their devotion, though he was himself speaking only for New Zealand. "At the present time," he said, "fighting men, not fault-finders, are required in the interests of the Empire. The war is only nominally with the Boers; actually it is with all those who are jealous of the growing power of the British Empire, and who, rejoicing at our reverses, are aiding and abetting the Boers. The reverses suffered are only temporary: they will be followed by the invariable, inevitable success of British arms. The people of New Zealand are determined that the prestige of the British Empire, to which they belong, shall be maintained at all hazards. Though New Zealand is Radical and Democratic, even termed by some Socialistic, there is in the present emergency an amount of imperial patriotism in the country not to be surpassed elsewhere in Her Majesty's dominions." [Illustration: [_Photo by Notman, Montreal._ STALWART CANADIANS. This group consists of volunteers, all over six feet in height. Three of them are bankers; several are members of the North-West Mounted Police.] [Sidenote: Volunteers from Asiatic dependencies.] [Sidenote: [DEC. 1899.] The feeling of Australasia and Canada was echoed wherever the British flag flew. In India, native princes offered their purses, their armies, and their swords. Native regiments voluntarily subscribed a day's pay to the War Fund. In India, in Ceylon, and in the Straits Settlements, small corps of mounted volunteers were raised and despatched to the front. There would have been no difficulty in providing hundreds of men in India alone, and that without drawing upon the garrisons, but the Europeans could not well be spared from their posts. In South Africa itself volunteering proceeded with the greatest alacrity, and some thousands of men were raised in Cape Colony among the British and the loyal Dutch. [Illustration: [_Photo by Talma, Melbourne._ THE RIGHT HON. R. J. SEDDON, Premier of New Zealand since 1893.] [Illustration: [_Photo by Elliott & Fry._ LORD STRATHCONA, High Commissioner for Canada.]