Lord Roberts on Sympathetic Relations with the Colonies.

At a meeting of the Court of the London Scottish Corporation, at which £3760 was subscribed for the purposes of the charity, General Lord Roberts, of Khandahar and Waterford, who possesses the Victoria Cross for Valour, is a Knight of the; Grand Cross of the Bath, Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire, Knight page 36 Grand Cross of the Star of India, and a Doctor of Laws, Cambridge—in proposing the toast "The Scottish Corporation," after referring to the beneficent character of the charity, spoke as follows:—"The history of the Scottish Corporation appeared to him to be characteristic of the Scottish race. It illustrated their power of cohesion as well as their pride in their nationality—a power and pride which had made them equally illustrious in war and successful in peace. He had observed a Scottish regiments that almost every soldier looked, not only to his individual interest, but to the credit of his corps and the honour of his country, and, similarly in the pursuits of civil life, the Scotchman showed the same patriotic feeling resulting in an active desire to serve his fellow-countrymen. (Cheers). If the component parts of the Empire were determined and prepared to hold together in matters of Imperial policy, we might rely on British interests being maintained and British influence extended to the great advantage, not only of ourselves, but of the less civilised races with which we were brought in contact. He had no intention to express an opinion on any of the political questions of the day, but he might venture to remind them that in the excitement and turmoil of domestic affairs they were sometimes apt to forget the necessity for cultivating close and sympathetic relations with that Greater Britain beyond the seas which was one of the principal sources of oar national wealth, and an essential element of our national greatness. (Cheers) The industry, enterprise, and self-reliance which distinguished men of British descent would, he trusted, do as much in the future as they had in the past to increase the prosperity of all classes in the United Kingdom. But not less conducive to such prosperity was the peaceful and uninterrupted development of the resound of the whole Empire; and this could not be secured unless the mother country and its several colonies and dependencies were determined to defend Imperial intern whenever and wherever they were seriously endangered. (Cheers). He had as hesitation in expressing his conviction that, whether morally or physically, the British race was certainly inferior to none on the face of the globe, and that the maintenance of our rule over less civilized and less enlightened races was beneficial, not only to our colonists and the home population, but to humanity as a whole." (Cheers.)