,/"■ 
 
 1/ 
 
 Foreign &> Colonial 
 Speeches 
 
 By the Right Hon. 
 
 Joseph Chamberlain, M.P. 
 
JViotoi^rnf'/u'd by 
 
 Elliott cr= Fry. 
 
t\ 
 
 i 'r)]ijm"^l 
 
 \ /-.>. .r. 
 
 
 
 -, ,i.>'n-;i'-' 
 
Foreign ^ Colonial 
 
 Speeches 
 
 By the Right Hon. 
 
 Joseph Chamberlain, M.P. 
 
 Authorised Edition 
 
 London 
 George Routledge & Sons, Limited 
 
 Broadway, Ludgate Hill 
 
 Manchester and New York 
 
 1897 
 
Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson d-r' Co. 
 At the Ballantyne Press 
 
Preface 
 
 When Lord Salisbury was called upon to form a 
 Government in the summer of 1895, ^^^ when it 
 was known that it was to be strengthened by the 
 inclusion of the Liberal Unionist leaders, there was 
 much speculation as to the office which Mr. Cham- 
 berlain would be invited to occupy. To his own 
 immediate friends it was well understood that he 
 had a decided preference for the Colonial Office, 
 but to " the man in the street " the appointment 
 came as a surprise. 
 
 By a curious but common misapprehension, this 
 great Department, charged with so many interests 
 vitally affecting the future of the British Empire, 
 had come to be regarded as an office of secondary 
 importance ; and it was a surprise to many that the 
 post should be deliberately chosen by a statesman of 
 the reputation and energy of the member for West 
 Birmingham. Those, however, who had more closely 
 
vi Preface 
 
 watched the political career of Mr. Chamberlain 
 recognised the fitness of the choice, which gave him 
 an opportunity of carrying into practical effect the 
 ideas and the policy which had long been present to 
 his mind. 
 
 There is an undefined impression that in his earlier 
 days Mr. Chamberlain was dominated in regard to 
 foreign policy by the views of the " Manchester 
 school " and the " peace-at-any-price " party. Never 
 was there a greater mistake. Although he has never 
 shown any sympathy with the noisy "jingoism "of 
 the music-halls, he has always been an Imperialist in 
 his conceptions. As President of the Board of Trade, 
 from 1880 to 1885, he was precluded from taking 
 any very active part in foreign and colonial afiairs ; 
 but, even at this time, Mr. Bright is reported to 
 have said that " the junior member for Birmingham 
 was the only ' Jingo ' in Mr. Gladstone's Cabinet " ; 
 and it is certainly true that in all his public 
 speeches, whether as a youth in the Birmingham 
 and Edgbaston Debating Society, in Parliament, 
 or outside, Mr. Chamberlain has given evidence of 
 his strong sense both of the advantages and the 
 obligations of empire. 
 
 Between " Little Englandism " and Imperialism 
 it seems to us that there is no half-way house, and 
 
Preface vii 
 
 no room for the laissez /aire policy which too long 
 regulated the attitude of this country towards her 
 colonies and dependencies. Either we must relin- 
 quish our possessions abroad, and leave the colonies 
 to themselves, in order that the mother country 
 may avoid all causes of complication with foreign 
 Powers; or we must boldly recognise our respon- 
 sibilities to our kinsmen beyond the seas and to 
 the native races who own the sway of Her 
 Majesty. 
 
 This is the text which has been the subject of so 
 many of Mr. Chamberlain's addresses. This is the 
 lesson which he has been enforcing upon his fellow- 
 countrymen — that the democracy of the British 
 Empire have the greatest possible interest in the 
 conduct of its foreign and colonial affairs — that their 
 comfort, happiness, and very existence, depend upon 
 a wise, a far-sighted, and spirited policy. 
 
 Recognising, as he has long done, the gravity of 
 the problem with which the United Kingdom is con- 
 fronted, with its limited area and ever-increasing 
 population, Mr. Chamberlain has constantly insisted, 
 as no other statesman has insisted before, upon the 
 supreme importance of maintaining the integrity of 
 the Empire, of developing the " Imperial estate," of 
 extending the dominions of the Queen, and of pre- 
 
viii Preface 
 
 serving and extending friendly relations between 
 the mother-country and all her colonies and depen- 
 dencies. 
 
 This policy, and the methods by which it may 
 be carried into effect, are fully set forth in the 
 following speeches, and are now presented for the 
 consideration of those who share Mr. Chamberlain's 
 belief in the destiny of the Anglo-Saxon race and 
 the future of the British Empire. ,. 
 
 THE EDITOR. 
 
 London, June i, 1897. 
 
Contents 
 
 V 
 
 A Mission to the United States 
 and Canada 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Mild Sovereignty of the Queen ... 3 
 loronto, Dec. JO, /SSy , , 
 
 Britons in America 14 
 
 J Philadelphia, Feb. 2g, 1888 
 
 Relations with the United States and the 
 
 Colonies v. .20 
 
 Devonshire Club, April g, iSSS 
 
 Egypt 
 
 The 13RIT1SH Occupation of Egypt ... 31 
 li\tm.\n^\\a.m, March 24, i8go • 
 
 Egypt and the Soudan . . . . . , . 45 
 House of Commons, March 20, i8g6 
 
X Contents 
 
 The Unity of the Empire 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Future of vhe British EImpire . •* • 73 
 Dinner gi /en on the completion of the Natal 
 Railway, London, Nov. 6, iSgjj 
 
 A Young Nation 82 
 
 Imperial Institute, London, Nov. zi, i8gj 
 
 Splendid Isolation , . -91 
 
 Whitehall Rooms. London, Jan. 21, i8g6 
 
 A Noble Heritage loi 
 
 Congress of Chambers of Commerce of the 
 Empire, London, June 10, i8g6 
 
 The Expansion of the Empire 
 
 Pegging out Claims for Posterity . . . 109 
 House of Commons, March 20 y iSgj 
 
 Want of Employment and the Development of 
 
 Free Markets . . . . . . . ^131 
 
 Birmingham, Jan. 22 , i8g4 
 
 British Trade and the Expansion of the Empre 140 
 Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, Nov. ij, 
 j8g6 
 
 Imperial Trade 
 
 The First Step to Federation . . .161 
 
 Canada Club Dinner, London, March 2j, iS^^ 
 
/ 
 
 Contents xi 
 
 PAClf 
 
 Commercial Union of the Empire . . . 177 
 
 Congress of Chambers of Commerce of the 
 Empire, London, June 9, iSgd 
 
 South Africa 
 
 British Interests in South Africa . , . 191 
 Lojidon Chamber of Commerce, May i^, 1888 
 
 South African Affairs 204 
 
 Constitutional Ckib, London, April 22, iSgd 
 
 The Progress of South Africa . . . . %ii< 
 Sruth African Dinner, London, May 21^ i8g6 
 
 Our Rights and Obligations in South Africa . 220 
 Cafd Monico, London, March 27, iSgy 
 
 Imperial Policy 
 
 A Year's Work . . . . . . . . 229 
 
 Birmingham, Jan. jo, iSg^ 
 
 The True Conception of Empire .... 241 
 
 Royal Colonial Institute Dinner, March ji, 
 i8g7 
 
 Index . . . ' .' . . . ^ • . • 249 
 
A Mission to the United 
 States and Canada 
 
 A 
 
The Mild Sovereignty of the 
 
 Queen 
 
 Toronto, December 30, 1887 
 
 /// the autumn of 1887, Mr. Chamberlain went to the 
 United States as Chief British Commissioner and 
 Vlempotentiary to arrange a settlement of a long- 
 ftariding controversy/ as to the respective rights and 
 hligations of the fishermen of the United States and 
 'anada. 
 The negotiations resulted in the corwlusion of a 
 eaty, which was afterwards rejected by a party 
 ie of the Senate of the United States. The Com- 
 issioners had, however, arranged a modus vivendi 
 be in operation until the treaty was ratified ; and 
 is instrument has since been renewed from time to 
 ^e, and still regidates the relations of the two 
 mtries in regard to the fisheries. 
 During his visit to America, Mr. Chamberlain 
 le several public speeches in the United States 
 \d Canada on the relations between the English- 
 aking peoples. The follozoing address was 
 
4 The Mild Sovereignty of the Queen 
 
 delivered on December 30^ 1887^ in responding' to the 
 toust of'''TheConimen'ud hiterests of the Empire^'' at 
 the annual dinner of the Toronto Board of Trade: — 
 
 Mr. ]*resident and Gentlemen, — I thank you most 
 sincerely for the kindness with which you have 
 received me and for the assurance which this kind- 
 ness gives me of your sympathy and support. I am 
 very glad to be here among you, and to have the 
 honour of meeting so many of the prominent repre- 
 sentatives of the activity and enterprise which have 
 done so much for the prosperity of the Dominion, and 
 which have made of the Queen City of Canada a great 
 centre of commercial life and enterprise. 
 
 Mr. President, you said truly that the subject to 
 which you have called me to respond is a far-reaching 
 one. It is the commercial interests of the empire — 
 not of any part alone. (Applause.) I am glad that 
 the Board of Trade of Toronto think me worthy of 
 responding to so large a toast. It proves to me that 
 you, at all events, have not been prejudiced by 
 anything that you may have heard to Ydy disadvan- 
 tage. (Hear, hear.) I read this morning, in one of 
 your most influential journals, that I had declared 
 that the interests of Canada must be subordinated to 
 those of Manchester; and la another article in the 
 same paper I have seen it stattd that I came over 
 here to represent British exporters. That is a most 
 unfortunate misrepresentation. I am here as a repre- 
 sentative of Great Britain in behalf of her colony of 
 
The Mild Sovereignty of the Queen 5 
 
 Canada, whose interests Great Britain is bound in 
 honour to maintain and defend. If I had used any 
 language like that imputed to me I should have been 
 unworthy of the position that I hold. 
 
 I regret these mistakes on the part of an influential 
 organ of public opinion, not so much on personal 
 grounds as because they tend to discredit and em- 
 barrass the negotiators who are engaged in your 
 defence, and to that extent they damage your cause. 
 But I have referred to this matter for another reason 
 — because I want to point out to you that we hear a 
 little too much about antagonism of interests. (Ap- 
 plause.) Our interests are your interests and those 
 of the mother country, and I will go further and say 
 that those of the United States also lie in the same 
 direction — (applause) — and that what the plenipo- 
 tentiaries have to do is to show that there is no 
 divergence of interests; or that, if a divergence 
 exists, we have to deal with it in such a spirit as shall 
 show that we desire to reach a friendly, agreement 
 which will be mutually beneficial and satisfactory. 
 
 Now, I am speaking to-night under considerable 
 difficulty, and I confess that at first I hesitated to 
 accept your hospitable invitation, because I was 
 afraid that it was not possible for me to make an 
 adequate response to your kindness. As you are well 
 aware, the mission I have undertaken imposes re- 
 strictions upon me that I am compelled to observe. 
 I am not able to discuss as I would like some of 
 those questions which have probably the greatest 
 
6 The Mild Sovereignty of the Queen 
 
 interest for all of you. But I was assured that you 
 would make every necessary allowance for me, and 
 that you would not expect from me any premature 
 disclosure of confidential negotiations, or any full and 
 complete discussion of matters of controversial policy. 
 
 Although I am afraid that I cannot promise you 
 the communication of any State secrets, yet I think 
 there are some general considerations which affect 
 my mission, and which I may perhaps, with your 
 permission, lay before you. 
 
 In the first place let me refer to the spi;it in which 
 a mission of this kind ought to be undertaken. As 
 I passed through England on my way to the United 
 States, and again when I crossed the boundaries of 
 the Dominion, there was one idea impressing itself on 
 my mind at every step, an idea which is indelibly 
 written on the face of this vast country. That 
 idea is the greatness and the importance of the 
 destiny which is reserved for the Anglo-Saxon race 
 — (Cheers) — for that proud, persistent, self -asserting, 
 and resolute stock, that no change of climate or con- 
 dition can alter, and which is infallibly destined to 
 be the predominating force in the future history 
 and civilisation of the world. (Renewed cheering.) 
 It is said that patriotism begins at home. I am an 
 Englishman. I am proud of the old country from 
 which I am come. I am not unmindful of its glorious 
 traditions or of the value of institutions, moulded, as 
 they have been, by centuries of noble endeavour. 
 (Applause.) * 
 
The Mild Sovereignty ")f the Queen 7 
 
 But I should think our patriotism was dwarfed and 
 stunted indeed if it did not embrace the Greater 
 Britain beyond the seas — (loud cheers) — if it did not 
 include the young and vigorous nations carrying 
 throughout the globe the knowledge of the English 
 tongue and the English love of liberty and law ; and 
 gentlemen, with those feelings I refuse to think or 
 to speak of the United States of America as a foreign 
 nation. (Applause.) We are all of the same race 
 and blood. I , /jse to make any distinction between 
 the interests of Englishmen in England, in Canada, 
 and in the United States. We can say with regard 
 to all these peoples, the older and younger nations : 
 Our past is theirs — their future is ours. You cannot, 
 if you would, break the invisible bonds that bind us 
 together. Your forefathers worshipped at our shrines. 
 They sleep in our churchyards. They helped to make 
 our institutions, our literature and our laws. These 
 things are your heritage as much as they are ours. 
 If you stood up to deny us, your speech, your coun- 
 tenances, your manner of life, would all combine to 
 avow us. (Loud cheers.) Gentlemen, I urge upon 
 you our common origin, our relationship, because 
 while these things confer privileges, they also entail 
 obligations. We are branches of one family. It 
 behoves us to do all that is in our power to promote 
 the good-feeling and affection that ought to charac- 
 terise intercourse between kinsfolk. Differences 
 there must arise — petty conflicts of interests and of 
 right. If we approach them in a proper spirit of 
 
8 The Mild Sovereignty of the Queen 
 
 forbearance and kindness, I do not believe that any 
 controversy will or can arise between any members of 
 the English-speaking race that will not be capable of 
 favourable and satisfactory adjustment. (Applause.) 
 
 Gentlemen, I am glad to tell you that this spirit 
 has animated one and all of the plenipotentiaries who 
 have recently been engaged in the conference at 
 Washington ; and it is upon the existence of that 
 spirit that I base my hope and belief that we shall 
 find an arrangement of this difficulty and controversy 
 that will be satisfactory to every man who desires 
 sincerely to promote the amity of the English- 
 speaking people. (Applause.) 
 
 I do not think it necessary that I should urge 
 upon you your special interest in good neighbour- 
 hood with that great republic that for thousands of 
 miles is separated from you only by an invisible line. 
 (Hear, hear.) The great interests with which we 
 are entrusted, important as they are, are really 
 insignificant beside the importance of maintaining 
 those good relations, and to secure those good 
 relations ; and all that is necessary to maintain and 
 confirm them is that we should approach this ques- 
 tion in the spirit that I have indicated, and deal 
 with it as among friends, and not as between suhrer- 
 saries, stickling for petty points and extremest rights, 
 and counting every small concession made in the 
 interests of peace a loss and a sacrifice. (Applause.) 
 
 I will make one more general observation, and it 
 is one to which I anticipate a general assent. Any- 
 
The Mild Sovereignty of the Queen 9 
 
 thing which can increase and develop commercial 
 relations between two countries is not only good in 
 itself, but it will tend to bring about this good 
 feeling that I desire. I think that the prospect of 
 improved relations with the United States is hopeful, 
 and my hope is altogether independent of any formal 
 bargains or negotiations. No man who considers 
 intelligently what is passing in the United States at 
 this moment can doubt that circumstances will at no 
 distant date force the government of that country to 
 modify their tariff more or less liberally. Sooner or 
 later that tariff will be altered so that it will cease to 
 be what it is at present, a wall of commercial ex- 
 clusion between the United States and the rest of 
 the nations of the world. (Applause.) Whenever 
 this change is effected it must have a g reat influence 
 on your policy in the Dominion. 
 
 What is the pressing, the most urgent need of 
 Canada at this moment ? It is the early and rapid 
 development of the illimitable resources of your 
 country that have been opened up by your magnifi- 
 cent railway enterprises. (Loud applause.) You 
 want to get upon the ground, at the earliest possible 
 moment, an active, industrious population, which 
 will work your mines and till your fields. A tariff 
 which is unnecessarily high — understand I do not 
 presume to offer any opinion on your tariff, I merely 
 make a general observation ; I do not say whether 
 your tariff is, or is not, unnecessarily high ; that de- 
 pends upon how you feel it — (cheers and laughter) — 
 
lo The Mild Sovereignty of the Queen 
 
 but I say that a tariff that is unnecessarily high 
 must have a tendency to bear heavily upon precisely 
 the industry — the agricultural industry — which you 
 wish to foster and to develop, and to divert from it 
 labour which will go into other industries stimulated 
 by this tariff. I am ready to sympathise with the 
 inhabitants of a new country who repudiate any idea 
 that their country shall be one in which existence 
 shall be monotonously confined to a single trade or 
 industry. I understand the desire — I will go further, 
 and say the need — for various pursuits and occupa- 
 tions ; but I say that in the case of Canada any 
 anxiety on this score is surely a little premature. 
 (Loud cheers.) The first object is to get the popu- 
 lation on the land. When you have multiplied 
 those industrious producers, you will find you have 
 created a vast population of consumers ; and powerful 
 industries, suited to your local interests, will spring 
 up and prosper whether there be any tariff or not. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 You will see, from what I have ventured to say, 
 that I am in favour of the widest possible commercial 
 union and intercourse, not only with the United 
 States, but with all the world. (Cheers.) That is 
 the true *' unrestricted reciprocity." There is, how- 
 ever, a restricted reciprocity which would make you 
 dependent for your financial freedom upon the 
 Government of another State, and perhaps pave the 
 way for the surrender of something which is still 
 more important ; I mean your political independence. 
 
The Mild Sovereignty of the Queen 1 1 
 
 There are those who have adopted the well-known 
 saying of Mark Twain, and who still think that as, 
 upon this continent, the lion must lie down with the 
 lamb, it would be better if the lamb consented at 
 once to lie down inside ike lion. (Laughter.) I 
 confess I do not entertain that opinion, and I do not 
 think it worth while, even if it were proper, to 
 discuss to-night the various proposals, more or less 
 disguised, more or less insidious, for your painless 
 extinction and possible absorption. 
 
 I have not discovered in the course of my stay in 
 the United States any general desire on the part of 
 the American people, who have a good stock of 
 territory of their own, to increase it and to increase 
 their responsibilities at the same time ; and any such 
 arrangement as that which I have been considering, 
 if it comes about at all, must come about after full 
 discussion, and with good-will on both sides. When 
 you become tired of the mild sovereignty of the 
 Queen — (applause) — when you cease to be proud of 
 the institutions which yourselves have framed, with 
 due regard to your local needs and requirements, 
 and when the slender tie which still binds you to the 
 mother country, and which, like the electric cable, if 
 it exerts no pressure, still maintains the community 
 of sympathy and interest — when this tie becomes an 
 irtolerable strain, then it will be time enough for us to 
 consider the necessary measures of relief. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 But, in the meantime, I cannot but think, that in 
 working out the great problem of federal government 
 
1 2 The Mild Sovereignty of the Queen 
 
 which seems to have been left in charge of the 
 English people, we shall more quickly reach the 
 perfection of our free institutions by diversity of 
 effort, and that this will prove to be more fertile and 
 more effective than the immediate adoption of a 
 single course of action. Of one thing you may rest 
 assured ; that if you desire to remain an integral 
 part of the vast empire of Great Britain, your 
 interests will be maintained and your rights will be 
 respected, having behind them all the influence which 
 that empire can wield ; your fellow-subjects through- 
 out the world will rejoice in your prosperity, will 
 take pride in your ceaseless activity, and look for- 
 ward with confidence to the speedy development of 
 your resources. It is only a short time in the 
 history of a nation since your confederation was 
 established. Less than a human generation has 
 passed away, and yet a new Canada has been 
 revealed to us — not an ice-bound desert, which im- 
 perfect information formerly caused us to picture, 
 but a vast stretch of fertile territc-ry, which is sure 
 to be the home, at no distant date, of a teemir^ 
 population of God-fearing, law-abiding and indus- 
 trious men and women, determined, as I hope they 
 will be, to maintain — ay, and not only to maintain, 
 but also to draw closer — the bonds which unite them 
 to Great Britain. I am confident that their loyalty 
 and affection will never lack a warm response ; and, 
 gentlemen, they will be " citizens of no mean city " — 
 (applause) — a dominion the like of which the world 
 
The Mild Sovereignty of the Queen 1 3 
 
 has never seen, whether in regard to its extent, its 
 resources, its population, or its beneficial influences. 
 One of our poets, Matthew Arnold, has written of the 
 burden of this vast empire. He has spoken of Great 
 Britain as a Titan staggering under the burden of 
 the obligations of empire. Yes ! obligations ! But 
 we will not lessen them by a cowardly surrender, or 
 by a mean betrayal of the interests that are entrusted 
 to our care. (Applause.) Relief must be found in 
 drawing together the great component parts of the 
 empire, and not by casting away the outposts or 
 cut* ng off the bulwarks. True democracy does not 
 consist in the dismemberment and disintegration of 
 the empire, but rather in the knitting together of 
 kindred races for similar objects. 
 
 Gentlemen, you have your portion in the lot of our 
 national life. It may well be that the Confederation 
 of Canada may be the lamp to light our pathway 
 to the Confederation of the British Empire. That 
 idea may only exist at present in the imagination of 
 the enthusiast ; but it is a grand idea. (Hear, hear.) 
 It is one to stimulate the patriotism and the states- 
 manship of every man who loves his country; and, 
 whether or not it should ever prove capable of 
 practical realisation, let us all cherish the sentiment 
 which it inspires, let us do all in our power to 
 promote the closer relations, the kindly feeling, the 
 goodwill, which ought always to exist between the 
 sons of England throughout the world and the old 
 folks at home. (Loud and prolonged cheering.) 
 
Britons in America 
 
 Philadelphia, February 29, 1888 
 
 The Jbllowing address was delivered on February ^9, 
 1888, in the Horticultural Hall, Philadelphia, to 
 3000 English men and women, members of the Order 
 of the Sons of St. Georg-e. Mr. Chamberlain was 
 received loith enthusiastic applause, and, after thank- 
 ing the meeting for its kind welcome, proceeded as 
 follows : — 
 
 I DEEM it a great privilege and pleasure to meet this 
 representative gathering of the Sons of St. George. 
 I have while here made myself acquainted with the 
 nature of your organisation and your history, and have 
 followed with the greatest interest the more recent 
 developments of your work. I can only say, as far 
 as I understand your objects, and the way you pro- 
 pose to accomplish them, that you have my sympathy 
 and good wishes. 
 
 I suppose I am right in assuming that the vast 
 majority of this great meeting are British Americans. 
 (Cheers.) I should like you to consider what is 
 
Britons in America 1 5 
 
 involved in that distinctive appellation. In the first 
 place, you are Americans, who have loyally and 
 patriotically, without reservation, thrown in your lot 
 with the great Republic that has so generously 
 opened the portals of its constitution to you, and 
 invited you to share its privileges and responsibilities. 
 I cannot but congratulate you on your choice. Here, 
 in Greater Britain, you find the characteristics of the 
 Great Britain you left behind. You find the tenacity 
 and endurance of the race, and learn that in crossing 
 the Atlantic it has not lost its courage and devotion 
 to duty. Its aspirations to liberty are tempered only 
 by its reverence for law. You have changed your 
 residence, but have not changed the cardinal con- 
 ditions and features of your life. Your mother 
 tongue still sounds in your ears, and the institutions, 
 literature, religion, and laws of your adopted country 
 are household words to you all. You decided to 
 share the fortunes of America, but you have not on 
 that account surrendered your great inheritance in 
 the past of England. You have behind you a thou- 
 sand years of glorious traditions, and who can tell the 
 possibilities of the future, or measure the prospects of 
 human progress ? 
 
 There is another leading idea connected with 
 your Order. You are British Americans, and you 
 have to show that allegiance to your new country 
 is not incompatible with an affectionate regard 
 for your old home. I believe that friendship 
 and unbroken amity between Great Britain and the 
 
1 6 Britons in America 
 
 United States is the best guarantee for the peace 
 and civilisation of the world ; and it was to promote 
 that object that I came to this country, accepting at 
 twenty-four hours' notice the difficult and delicate 
 mission with which I was charged by the Queen. 
 That mission has accomplished its purpose, and the 
 result of our labours is now submitted to the judg- 
 ment of the American people. It is not a mere 
 treaty of fisheries that we have made ; it is a treaty 
 of amity and good neighbourhood. (Cheers.) Great 
 Britain has held out the right hand of fellowship to 
 the United States, and I believe that every patriotic 
 American who can rise above party bias will be in 
 favour of grasping the hand thus held out. If you 
 want to appreciate the treaty, you must first appre- 
 ciate the spirit in which it was submitted, and in 
 which those who negotiated it came to this work. 
 We do not regard this long-standing difference as a 
 dispute between hostile or rival nations, but rather 
 as a difference of opinion between friends mutually 
 anxious to remove every cause of dispute. Under 
 these circumstances, to speak of concessions which 
 have been made to us, or which are made by us, as 
 an ignominious surrender on either side is an abuse 
 of language. There has been no surrender on either 
 side of anything that it was honourable to maintain. 
 There have been concessions on both sides made 
 between friends, who would, if they had been 
 enemies, have disputed them even at the point of the 
 bayonet. 
 
Britons in America ' ^7 
 
 I have been in America four months, and during 
 that time I have received from every one with whom I 
 have been in contact personal kindness and hospitality, 
 which have made a deep impression on me, leaving 
 upon my mind an overwhelming burden of gratitude. 
 At the same time I have been pained at some ex- 
 pressions which have been publicly used by indi- 
 viduals, and especially by language which I have 
 seen in the press, concerning my country. We are 
 treated as though we were a foreign and rival nation. 
 I decline to be considered a foreigner in the United 
 States. (Cheers.) I feel much as a distinguished 
 diplomatist, who once told the Prince of Wales that 
 the world was divided into three classes — Americans, 
 Englishmen, and foreigners. I confess that I am 
 astonished at men who boast of an unbroken line of 
 British descent, and who are proud of the purity of 
 their speech, when I hear them fouling the nest from 
 which they sprang, and imputing to Englishmen a 
 policy, a malignity, a duplicity, and an arbitrr-ry 
 character, only existing in their diseased imagina- 
 tion. (Cheers.) I should like to appeal to these 
 hostile critics, and should wish to ask them whether 
 they have considered all the inferences which may 
 be drawn from such sentiments as these. Have they 
 forgotten their early traditions, that we are of the 
 same blood as themselves, men of the same character, 
 and imbued with the same love of justice which is 
 the distinguishing feature of our race ? Which of 
 us in this world is infallible ? We may be open to 
 
 B 
 
1 8 Britons in America 
 
 their friendly remonstrances, but we are depicted 
 as monsterB of iniquity. 
 
 I wonder they did not reflect that they are deriding 
 the stock from which they come, and are throwing 
 discredit upon institutions which they embody, and 
 which we, in the old country, have perfected through 
 a long course of centuries until now they are even 
 more democratic than those of the United States. 
 (Cheers.) When I see different views sometimes 
 presented to the American public by those professing 
 to be its guides, philosophers and friends, I incline to 
 think that the time has come when some American 
 Columbus should undertake the discovery of England 
 — (laughter) — not the England so frequently de- 
 picted to you as the dreary land groaning under a 
 cruel and tyrannical government, a nation which is 
 on the downward road to speedy well-deserved extinc- 
 tion, but the England of to-day, the true England, the 
 mother of nations greater than herself, existing under 
 a popular government in which all are represented, the 
 England, which, in her glorious maturity, wields the 
 sceptre of dominion over hundreds of millions of 
 contented subjects. 
 
 I believe this Order of yours will do something to 
 remove prejudice and to produce a right impression 
 of the character of Englishmen and English policy. 
 I heartily wish you prosperity and success. You are 
 right to identify yourselves with the fortunes of 
 America, to play your part in the government of this 
 vast continent, and to have your share of its respon- 
 
Britons in America 19 
 
 sibilities, and your part in its obligations. You are 
 right at the same time to keep green in your hearts 
 the memory of your native land. That is a sentiment 
 which has been implanted by the Creator Himself 
 deep in the human breast, and I hope that you have 
 not forgotten the ties binding you to your old home, 
 to the motherland that bore you, and to the traditions 
 of the proud-spirited dominant race to which you 
 belong. 
 
 , \ 
 
Relations with the United 
 States and the Colonies 
 
 Devonshire Club, April 9, 1888 
 
 On April 0, 1S88, M?: Chamhcrlain icas entertained 
 at a house dinner at the Devonshire Club upon his- 
 I'eturnJ'rom the United States^ and to mark the eom- 
 pletion of his labours in eonncetion xcith the Fishery 
 Commission. Earl Granville occupied the chair and 
 proposed^'' The Guest <)/'the Evening'.'" In returning 
 thanks Mr. Chamberlain said : — 
 
 I THANK you very much for the warmth of your 
 reception, and for the kindness with which you have 
 honoured the toast which has been proposed by Lord 
 Granville. I appreciate fully the unusual character of 
 this gathering. I am very glad to see so many of my 
 old colleagues, and friends, and fellow-workers, from 
 whom I am temporarily dissociated by a difference 
 which I regret as much as they can do. (Cheers.) I 
 think from their presence here to-night, as well as from 
 the speech to which we have just listened, that I may 
 
Relations with the United States, Qfc. 21 
 
 venture to assume two things. In the first place, that, 
 in spite of divergencies of the most important cha- 
 racter upon ]X)liti«jal and domestic questions, there is 
 no intermission of the personal regard and good-will 
 — (cheers) — which has been cemented by a long pre- 
 vious acquaintance. In the second place, that every 
 Englishman who is worthy of the name sympathises 
 with the objects of my recent mission, approves of 
 such measure of success as has been already obtained, 
 and is eager for a final settlement which shall remove 
 all causes of difference between the United States and 
 ourselves. (Cheers.) 
 
 I confess, my lord, that your hospitality to-night 
 places me in a somewhat embarrassing position. I 
 do not pretend that I am able to glide over thin ice 
 with such skill as yourself. (Laughter.) I feel, as 
 far as I am concerned, that it would be better for me 
 to forget for one evening all subjects of party or 
 sectional character. (Hear, hear.) At the same 
 time the most ordinary diplomatic discretion precludes 
 me from saying anything of importance about the 
 negotiations or about the treaty which is now under 
 the consideration of the Legislatures of the countries 
 chiefly concerned. In these circumstances I can sym- 
 pathise with Figaro in the comedy of Beaumarchais, 
 who undertook to edit a journal under the conditions 
 that he was to say nothing against the Government, 
 nothing about politics, nothing about morality or reli- 
 gion, nothing against men in office, and nothing about 
 any one who had any interest in anything. (Laughter.) 
 
22 Relations with the United 
 
 He endeavoured, I remember, to get out of his diffi- 
 culty by calling his newspaper a journal inutile. 
 (Laughter and cheers.) If, my lord, to-night I have 
 to pronounce a diseours inutile, I think I may claim 
 some excuse ; but, whatever may be my personal diffi- 
 culties, I do not think this representative demonstra- 
 tion can possibly be considered as useless. It is, as 
 you have pointed out, a significant fact. It marks 
 the change that has taken place in public opinion in 
 this country in the course of the last quarter of a 
 century. It is quite curious to look back to the time 
 of the great Civil War and to the opinions which 
 were then expressed by distinguished statesmen 
 and writers on both sides of politics. They were 
 animated by a sincere dread lest the United States 
 should become a great aggressive Power, dangerous 
 to the peace of the world ; and there is no doubt that 
 they were genuinely afraid of the introduction in this 
 country of American ideas and of American institu- 
 tions. 
 
 Why, gentlemen, it is ludicrous to contrast the 
 results as we know them with the fears and the antici- 
 pations of those too timid politicians. (Hear, hear.) 
 The United States of America in the interval which 
 has elapsed has more than doubled its population, 
 until at the present time it exceeds the whole Eng- 
 lish-speaking population of the British Empire. 
 Yet, so far from being aggressive, it is the most 
 pacific country in the world ; and it has shown the 
 remarkable spectacle of a nation of sixty millions 
 
States and the Colonies 23 
 
 content with an army of 25,000 men, and a fleet which 
 is barely sufficient to carry the national flag to the 
 principal centres with which it has commercial inter- 
 course. (Cheers.) 
 
 As to the introduction of American institutions 
 into this country, we all know that America has 
 developed a conservatism which must be the envy of 
 many people in the United Kingdom. (Laughter and 
 cheers.) Nowhere in the world is the authority of 
 the law greater, is the respect for the law more 
 universal. (Cheers.) It is now over a century since 
 they adopted the Constitution which then went far 
 beyond the ideas of the governing classes of Europe. 
 But now they have adhered to that Constitution with 
 a persistency and a devotion unparalleled in history; 
 and there are many Americans who say that much 
 of our recent legislation is unconstitutional and revo- 
 lutionary. (Hear, hear.) As to our practice, they 
 are astonished at the mildness with which we meet 
 the assaults upon the authority of Government. 
 (Cheers.) I do not know whether it is this devotion 
 to their Constitution, or whether it is this respect for 
 law, and this determination that the rule of the 
 majority constitutionally expressed shall be respected 
 by the minority, which has commended American in- 
 stitutions in this country ; but, at all events, I think 
 that there is now an appreciation of American insti- 
 tutions, and of the American people, which, perhaps, 
 did not exist a generation ago. (Cheers.) 
 
 All the prejudice, all the ignorance. I hope, and 
 
24 Relations with the United 
 
 certainly all the dislike, have vanished from the 
 minds cT Englishmen ; and there is now among all 
 parties, and among all sections, one universal feeling 
 of goodwill and admiration, not untinged with envy, 
 and a cordial desire for a hearty and for a durable 
 friendship, (Cheers.) That was the feeling which I 
 considered myself specially commissioned to express 
 in the conference at Washington. 
 
 As Lord Granville has said, I claim no triumph, and 
 I sought no triumph. I should have thought it a 
 mistake in politics, to speak of nothing higher. (Hear, 
 hear.) But I claim, in common with my colleagues, 
 to have done our best to secure an equitable and 
 a friendly arrangement. (Cheers.) I do not think 
 that this spirit was inconsistent with the mainten- 
 ance of the great colonial interests which were com- 
 mitted to the charge of the British Plenipotentiaries. 
 I believe we all held it to be our duty to yield every- 
 thing that good neighbourhood and the comity of 
 nations could claim at our hands, while at the same 
 time we held fast to treaty rights ihtA> long usage and 
 equity and international law had sanctioned. (Hear, 
 hear.) 
 
 I believe that we have fulfilled the conditions that 
 we laid down for ourselves in undertaking this 
 mission. I see that Mr. Secretary Bayard, the states- 
 man who holds the most important position in Mr. 
 Cleveland's Government-,, says, in a letter that has 
 been recently published, " Conciliation and mutual 
 neighbourly concession have together done their 
 
States and the Colonies 25 
 
 honourable and honest work in this treaty, and have 
 paved the way for relations of amity and mutual 
 advantage." I believe that that opinion would 
 express the view of the vast majority of the people of 
 Canada. I have no doubt that it is in accordance 
 with the opinion of the vast majority of the people of 
 the United States ; and I hope and trust that it will 
 receive its final endorsement from the great repre- 
 sentative bodies which have now to pronounce upon 
 it. (Hear, hear.) If that be done, when we have 
 removed the local and temporary, although long- 
 standing, causes of difference between us, then I 
 think that we may trust to the good feeling and 
 common interests, and more than all to tl 3 common 
 blood, and common origin, and common traditions of 
 the Anglo-Saxon race, to preserve unbroken the 
 amity and peace which are essential to the progress 
 and civilisation of the world. (Cheers.) In the case 
 of the United States of America I hope for amity and 
 peace, and I ask for nothing more. Our course has 
 been marked out for us as separate and independent, 
 but I hope as friendly, nations. 
 
 But is it necessary, is it desirable, that our relations 
 with Canada, with our great colonies in Australasia 
 and South Africa, should follow the same course, 
 should result in a similar absolute independence ? I 
 am willing to submit to the charge of being a senti- 
 mentalist, when I say that I will never willingly admit 
 of any policy that will tend to weaken the ties 
 between t^e different branches of the Anglo-Saxon 
 
26 Relations with the United 
 
 race which form the British Empire, and the vast 
 dominion of the Queen. (Cheers.) We all feel a 
 natural pride in the restless energy and dauntless 
 courage which have created this great empire. We 
 feel a satisfaction in the constant evidence which is 
 given us of the affectionate attachment of our fellow- 
 subjects throughout the world to their old home. 
 (Hear, hear.) It seems to me that it would be un- 
 patriotic to do anything which would discourage this 
 sentiment — that it would be cowardly and unworthy 
 to repudiate the obligations and responsibilities which 
 the situation entails upon us. (Hear, hear.) I would 
 be willing to put it on the lowest possible grounds. 
 Experience teaches us that trade follows the flag, and 
 even in commercial questions sentiment is a powerful 
 influence on the question of profit and loss. A great 
 part of our population is dependent at the present 
 moment upon the interchange of commodities with 
 our colonial fellow-subjects, and it is the duty of 
 every statesman to do all in his power to maintain 
 and increase this commercial intercourse, and to foster 
 the attachment upon which to a large extent it is 
 founded. We have to watch for opportunities to 
 strengthen the ties between our colonies and our- 
 selves. There is a word which I am almost afraid to 
 mention. I have been assured upon the highest 
 authority that confederation is an empty dream, the 
 fantastic vision of fools and fanatics. 
 
States and the Colonies 27 
 
 " It cannot be. The vision is too fair 
 For creatures doomed to breathe terrestrial air. 
 Yet not for that shall sober reason frown 
 Upon that promise, nor that hope disown. 
 We know that only to high aims are due 
 Rich guerdons, and to them alone ensue.' 
 
 I am well aware that up to the present time no 
 practical scheme of federation has been submitted or 
 suggested, but I do not think that such a scheme is 
 impossible. (Hear, hear.) There are two points 
 which have to be prominently borne in mind. There 
 is the question of commercial union and the question 
 of union for defence. I have heard it argued that 
 the colonies would be very foolish to allow themselves 
 to become mixed up in our old-world policy, and to 
 concern themselves with wars in which they can have 
 no possible interest or advantage. But I may point 
 to the action of the colonies not so very long ago in 
 the case of the Egyptian war — (hear, hear) — when 
 they exhibited a sentiment, which I think we should 
 all be ready to appreciate, on an occasion in which 
 they certainly had nothing but a sentimental interest. 
 But I will go further. I suppose the colonists read 
 history ; and if they do, they will know that every 
 great war in which this country has been engaged 
 since the great French war at the beginning of the 
 century, and that every dispute which has seriously 
 threatened our peace, have arisen out of the concerns 
 and interests of one or other of the colonies or 
 of the great dependency of India. (Hear, hear.) 
 
28 Relations with the United States, ^c. 
 
 Under these circumstances it appears to me that it 
 may be at least as much to the interests of the 
 colonies, as to those of the mother country, that we 
 should seek and find a concerted system of defence. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 The difficulty in the case of commercial union is, 
 no doubt, much greater. It is no use to expect that 
 our colonies will abandon their custom duties as 
 their chief and principal source of revenue. It is 
 hardly to be hoped that the protected interests, 
 fostered by their system, will willingly surrender the 
 privileges which they now enjoy. All we can do is 
 to wait until proposals are made to us ; to consider 
 those proposals, when they come, with fairness and 
 impartiality ; and to accept them if they do not in- 
 volve the sacrifice of any important principle or of 
 any interest vital to our population. 
 
 Meanwhile, we ought not to do anything to dis- 
 courage the affection, or to repel the patriotic and 
 ^oyal advances of our fellow-subjects and fellow- 
 kinsmen, who are proud of the glorious traditions 
 of our country, who share with us our history, our 
 origin, and our common citizenship in the greatest 
 and freest empire that the world has ever known. 
 (Loud and continued cheers.) 
 
Egypt 
 
The British Occupation of 
 
 Egypt 
 
 Birmingham, March 24, 1890 
 
 Speech delivered on March ^4-> 1S90^ at the annual 
 soiree of the Wed Birmingham Liberal Unionist 
 Association : — 
 
 I AM delighted to be once more amongst you, as I 
 have always regarded our relationship as a relation- 
 ship between friends rather than the more formal 
 connection which usually prevails between a mem- 
 ber and his constituents. (Cheers.) Now, if I 
 consulted my own feelings, and perhaps the feelings 
 of many of you, I should stop here. (Laughter.) I 
 have been told already by one gentleman that he 
 is thirsting for the blood of those who would interrupt 
 such proceedings as yours. For my part I agree 
 with him, and I feel it to be almost an unpardonable 
 presumption to interpose anything in the nature 
 of a speech. (A voice. — Hear.) I am not in the 
 least surprised at that gentleman's agreement. The 
 
32 The British Occupation of Egypt 
 
 gentleman who agrees with me is, no doubt, free and 
 independent; but I am a slave. (A laugh.) I am 
 told that the majority, at all events, would not be 
 satisfied unless I took the opportunity of addressing 
 a few words to you upon some matters of public 
 interest. If that is so, I obey your behests, and I 
 will endeavour, to the best of my ability, to comply 
 with your wishes. 
 
 But about what shall I speak ? I cannot help 
 thinking that you must be almost as tired as I am of 
 the eternal Irish question, and of the personal abuse 
 and recrimination which attend every discussion of 
 it. This is altogether an exceptional meeting, and 
 under these circumstances, perhaps, I may be per- 
 mitted to take an exceptional subject, and for once 
 in a way to leave the well-worn and beaten path of 
 political controversy and to discuss with you a 
 question which at present, at all events, is outside 
 all party politics — a question of the very greatest 
 importance to all of us, but which at the same time 
 has received so little public attention that I do not 
 believe the majority of the public have as yet made 
 up their minds about it. 
 
 Since I last had the pleasure of meeting you, I 
 have been able to fulfil a long-felt desire to visit that 
 wonderful land of Egypt which has so great a 
 fascination for travellers, and which affords so many 
 subjects of profound interest for the historian, the 
 archaeologist, and the politician. Thousands of years 
 before this country was inhabited by the English 
 
The British Occupation of Egypt 33 
 
 race, thousands of years before we have any record 
 whatever of our history, of our conditions, of our 
 population, Egypt was a powerful Empire with a 
 great and refined civilisation ; and even to this day 
 in Egypt there exist the ruins of this civilisation 
 to attest the influence, and the power, and the 
 cultivation of dynasties which held their sway there, 
 at a time which goes back to the earliest records of 
 our biblical history. I have seen the relics of this 
 wonderful past pictured on the tombs and collected 
 in the museums. I have seen the whole domestic 
 rid public life of this ancient people; the tools 
 which they used, the instruments they played upon, 
 the ornaments they wore, the models of their houses, 
 their clothes — everything which enables one to re- 
 constitute the life of the people ; and, if 1 only had 
 time, I could go on for a considerable period, and 
 not altogether without interest to you, in telling 
 you of this marvellous picture of a long-lost civili- 
 sation, which has been unveiled for us by recent 
 discoveries. 
 
 But I am not going to talk about old Egypt. I am 
 going to talk to you about the latest chapter in the 
 history of this wonderful country, a chapter in which 
 for the first time England and Englishmen have 
 played the most prominent part. I want to tell you 
 in the fewest possible words what is the great task 
 which we have undertaken in Egypt, how far we 
 have already accomplished it, and what ought to be 
 the policy of the English nation with regard to it. 
 
 c 
 
34 The British Occupation of Egypt 
 
 Now you all know that the occupation of Egypt 
 was forced unwillingly upon the Government of Mr. 
 Gladstone. I do not think that any of us liked it 
 at the time, or that any of us would not have been 
 glad to have escaped from the obligation; but, in 
 common with other European Powers, and especially 
 in common with France, we had undertaken a great 
 responsibility. Europe had interests in Egypt. 
 Europe could not suffer Egypt to go back to a state 
 of barbarism ; and Europe had made of France and 
 England mandatories of its will. We had told the 
 present Khedive, who had come unexpectedly and 
 perhaps unwillingly to the seat of power after the 
 forced abdication of his father, Ismail Pasha, that, if 
 he would follow our advice, we would maintain his 
 authority. In the disorder which followed the state 
 of things to which the country had been reduced by 
 its previous government, in the confusion which pre- 
 vailed, and with every kind of petty and personal 
 ambitions seething all round, a military insurrection 
 broke out. This insurrection led to disorder at 
 different times and in different places. There 
 was a massacre of Christians and Europeans, in 
 which many scores, and probably many hundreds, 
 perished; and it became absolutely necessary to 
 interfere. Every attempt was made by France 
 and England to prevent anything in the nature 
 of armed intervention, and peaceably to settle 
 the difficulties which had arisen. But i.rabi Pasha, 
 who was himself the tool of others less honest 
 
The British Occupation of Egypt 35 
 
 even and more self-seeking than himself, had his 
 head turned by the success which followed his first 
 efforts, and finally he defied the Powers of Europe, 
 and began to fortify Alexandria against the foreign 
 fleets. 
 
 There were then two alternatives open to us. We 
 might have retired from the scene altogether. We 
 might have abandoned the Khedive, who had de- 
 pended upon our pledges, and who had wholly 
 followed the counsel which we had given him. We 
 might have left Egypt to anarchy, to disorder, and 
 to massacre ; and we might have allowed all the great 
 European interests — not merely the interests of the 
 creditors of Egypt, but the interests of all who had 
 honestly invested capital in industrial enterprises in 
 that country — to go to ruin. If we were not to do 
 that the only alternative was by an armed intervention 
 forcibly to restore order. 
 
 We decided that our honour and our duty required 
 us to take the latter course ; but, at that moment, 
 France, which had recently undergone a change of 
 Government, suddenly altered its policy, retired from 
 all share in the business, and threw upon our shoulders 
 alone the whole responsibility of restoring Egypt once 
 more to its proper place among the nations of the 
 world. I think that the policy of France was hardly 
 worthy of a great nation. I think that it was a short- 
 sighted policy, and I know that it was taken in direct 
 opposition to, and in defiance of, an eloquent protest 
 by M. Gambetta, who was one of the greatest of 
 
36 The British Occupation of Egypt 
 
 French statesmen and patriots. But when that 
 policy was taken it left to us no alternative. The 
 duty was cast upon us. We had to go alone or to 
 be unworthy of our mission. We decided to go on 
 and endeavour to carry out the work of regenerating 
 Egypt. 
 
 Now let me tell you, as shortly as I can, what was 
 the state of Egypt, of this ancient country, at the 
 time that this duty was cast upon us. The Govern- 
 ment of Ismail Pasha, the predecessor of the present 
 Khedive, was one of the worst Governments to which 
 Egypt had ever been subjected; at all events, the 
 worst Government of which we have any historical 
 knowledge. It was arbitrary, it was cruel, it was 
 oppressive. But these are the common characteristics 
 of Oriental Governments. Many Governments which 
 had preceded it had been of the same character ; but 
 what was worse than all, what made this the most 
 fatal of all the Governments of Egypt, was that it 
 was incapable, inefficient, and ignorant, to a degree 
 which made it disastrous to the country. What was 
 the result of the action of this Government ? In the 
 course of the reign of Ismail Pasha an enormous debt 
 was contracted, altogether disproportionate to the 
 means of the country. It was expended largely in 
 extravagance, in foolish enterprises, and very little 
 for the benefit of the real interests of Egypt. The 
 revenues had ceased to meet the expenditure ; there 
 was an annual and an increasing deficit, and in a 
 short time it was perfectly evident that if the state of 
 
The British Occupation of Egypt 37 
 
 things continued Egypt would be absolutely bank- 
 rupt. The taxation was onerous in the highest 
 degree, not merely because it was heavy in itself, but 
 because it was levied by corrupt officials, who were 
 themselves underpaid, and who sought to recoup 
 themselves, and to make their fortunes, by extorting 
 from the unfortunate peasant more than what he w as 
 legally required to pay. He had no justice in any 
 European sense of the word. The courts were cor- 
 rupt; they carried out their business in a most 
 ineffectual way, even when they were honest. Torture 
 prevailed almost universally. What is called the 
 kourbash — that is to say, the bastinado — was used 
 upon every occasion ; was used to extort the payment 
 of taxes ; was used to obtain confession of crime ; was 
 used to secure respect for authority, and for the 
 position of every village tyrant, and every provincial 
 governor who was inflicted upon this miserable 
 country. You had a system of forced labour called 
 the corvie, which was intended originally to main- 
 tain works of in'igation, and to keep clear the canals, 
 by which the great system of watering the country 
 was carried out. This had been abused, as everything 
 else had been abused ; and hundreds and thousands of 
 men were taken from their own work, taken from 
 their fields at a time when the harvest ought to have 
 been proceeded with, or the fields ought to have been 
 tilled, in order to labour on the land of others, and 
 without prospect of any direct advantage or benefit 
 to themselves. You had a conscription, a forced 
 
38 The British Occupation of Egypt 
 
 conscription, which also pressed most injuriously upon 
 the people, which was open to the same objection as 
 the corvee — that is to say, that while it pressed very 
 lightly upon the rich, it pressed very hardly indeed 
 upon the poor ; the rich escaped by means of bribes, 
 but the poor could not escape. They had double 
 burdens to pay. Under the conscription an enormous 
 army was formed in order to carry out the ambitious 
 projects of the then Khedive. This army was engaged 
 for life. The men were sent in chains to the Soudan 
 and the equatorial provinces of Egypt. They were 
 sent in chains to a country in which they perished 
 like flies, some of them in consequence of the con- 
 ditions of the life to which they were condemned, 
 some of them because they were badly fed, and 
 others by the sword of the fanatical tribes against 
 whom they were constantly at war. Lastly, to sum 
 up this account of the pr-ivious condition of Egypt, 
 the irrigation of the country, upon which its welfare 
 depended, without which it would be a barren desert, 
 and which alone has accounted for its extraordinary 
 fertility, wf.s allowed to get into bad order. The 
 canals were choked up, and the cultivation of the 
 country was hindered. In the supply of water the 
 rich once more benefited at the expense of the poor. 
 They could get all the water, and the best water, 
 while the poor could get no water at all. So that you 
 had the unfortunate peasant in this position — that, 
 while the exactions upon him were increasing almost 
 beyond the power of a human being to sustain, the 
 
The British Occupation of Egypt 39 
 
 only means by which he could obtain a bare sub- 
 sistence, let alone meet the claims upon him, were 
 being taken away or doled out to him by corrupt 
 oflScials. 
 
 That was the state of things only eight years ago. 
 Those were the Augean stables which England had 
 to cleanse ; and I say to you, after having inquired 
 into this matter on the spot, after having consulted 
 not merely the officials, whether Egyptian or English, 
 but having taken the opportunity of conversing with 
 every native with whom I could come in contact, and 
 with representative men who were well able to express 
 their opinions — I say to you that the state of the 
 fellaheen of Egypt was more miserable than the con- 
 dition of any similar peasantry on the face of the 
 earth. 
 
 Eight years later what did I find when I went to 
 Egypt ? I found a total change. I found the finances 
 restored. I found an equilibrium between revenue 
 and expenditure. I found the deficit turned into a 
 surplus, which was being used for the reduction of 
 taxation and for the promotion of public works and 
 national education ; and remember that this surplus, 
 which is already a large one, might have been much 
 larger but for the action of the French, who have 
 refused their consent to the conversion of the debt, 
 which would have enabled the interest on a portion 
 of the debt to be reduced, and consequently the 
 burdens on Egypt to be diminished. I do not think 
 that such action as that is worthy of a great and 
 
4© The British Occupation of Egypt 
 
 generous nation. They retired from the jBeld. They 
 left us to do the work. Surely they might rather 
 help us to do it well than throw difficulties in our 
 way. (Hear, hear.) Courts of justice had been es- 
 tablished throughout the country, and although I will 
 not say that they are perfect, yet, at all events in 
 theory, you have a complete code of equal justice, 
 and I believe that corruption, at any rate, has almost 
 entirely become extinct. Taxation has been revised. 
 The peasant knows now exactly what he has to pay 
 and when he has to pay it. Payment has been fixed 
 at dates to suit his convenience — when the harvest 
 has been gathered, and he is best able to meet his 
 obligations. The oflicials have ceased to be ill paid ; 
 they receive their salaries as regularly as the Custom- 
 house collectors in England ; and the time has gone 
 by when these local officials could, even if they 
 wished, extort from the peasant one farthing more 
 than his legal obligation. The corv6e has been 
 gradually reduced during several years, and this year 
 it has bsen abolished altogether. (Cheers.) Con- 
 scription for the army has been gradually reduced. 
 It is no loviger as onerous as it was. The army, which 
 has been under Sir Francis Grenfell, has been made 
 a most efficient machine for the defence of the 
 country. It is about one-fourth of the number at 
 which it stood in the time of the late Khedive, and 
 now the men are only taken, as here, for short 
 service, and then return to their families. During 
 their service they are well paid, well cared for, and 
 
The British Occupation of Egypt 41 
 
 well looked after. The irrigation has been reviewed 
 and renewed. New works have been established. 
 More water has been procured for the purpose. 
 Arrangements have been made to secure an equal 
 distribution of it. The rich and poor stand exactly 
 on equal terms. Each man, according to the extent 
 and character of his land, may depend upon having 
 a proportionate amount of what is truly in Egypt the 
 water of life. 
 
 All of this has been done in seven years. I do not 
 say there is not still a great deal to do ; but at least 
 you will well understand what a change has been 
 effected in the condition of the peasantry of Egypt 
 by the operations which have taken place under the 
 British occupation. One of the Ministers said to me 
 when I was in Cairo the other day, "This is not a 
 reform, this is a revolution and a new birth." (Hear, 
 hear.) 
 
 I have spoken to you about the present, and now 
 I want to say a word or two to you about the 
 future. I am going to make a confession. I 
 admit I was one of those — I think my views were 
 shared by the whole Cabinet of Mr. Gladstone — who 
 regretted the necessity for the occupation of Egypt. 
 I thought that England had so much to do, such 
 enormous obligations and responsibilities, that we 
 might well escape, if we could, this addition to them ; 
 and, when the occupation was forced upon us, I 
 looked forward with anxiety to an early, it might be 
 even, to an immediate evacuation. The confession I 
 
42 The British Occupation of Egypt 
 
 have to make is that having seen what are the 
 results of this occupation, having seen what is 
 the nature of the task we have undertaken, and 
 what progress we have already made towards its 
 accomplishment, I have changed my mind. (Cheers.) 
 I say it would be unworthy of this great nation 
 if we did not rise to the full height of our duty, 
 and complete our work before we left the country. 
 (Cheers.) We have no right to abandon the duty 
 which has been cast upon us, and the work which 
 already shows so much promise for the advantage 
 of the people with whose destinies we have become 
 involved. 
 
 This great alteration is due to the influence of a 
 mere handful of your fellow-countrymen, a few 
 scores of Englishmen acting under Sir Evelyn Baring, 
 our Minister at Cairo. They, by their persevering 
 devotion, and their single-minded honesty, have 
 wrought out this great work, and have brought 
 Egypt from a condition which may fairly be described 
 as one of ruin, to the promise of once more being 
 restored to its ancient prosperity. I hear sometimes 
 of pessimists who think the work of England is 
 accomplished, who will tell you that we have lost the 
 force and the capacity to govern. No ; that is not 
 true ; and as long as we can spare from our abundance 
 men like these, who, after all, are only ordinary 
 Englishmen — men like these, who are able and 
 willing to carry their zeal and their intelligence 
 wherever it may conduce to the service of humanity, 
 
The British Occupation of Egypt 43 
 
 and to the honour of their native land — so long as 
 we can do that we need not despair of the future of 
 the United Kingdom. (Cheers.) But we owe it to 
 them, we owe it to ourselves, that their work shall 
 not be in vain. You cannot revolutionise a country 
 like Egypt — you cannot reform all that is wrong in 
 her system, all that is poor and weak in the character 
 of the people — in a few minutes, or a few years. 
 Egypt has been submitted for centuries to arbitrary 
 despotism. I believe there is hardly any time in her 
 history, even if you go back to almost prehistoric 
 ages, when she has not been in the grasp of some 
 foreign ruler; and, under these circumstances, you 
 cannot expect to find ready to your hands a self- 
 governing people. They are not able — they cannot 
 be able — to stand alone ; and they do not wish to 
 stand alone. They ask for your support and assist- 
 ance, and, without it, it is absolutely impossible that 
 their welfare can be secured. If you were to 
 abandon your responsibility, your retirement would 
 be followed by an attempt once more to restore the 
 old arbitrary methods and the old abuses, which in 
 turn would no doubt be followed by anarchy and 
 disorder ; and then in time there would be again a 
 foreign intervention, this time the intervention of 
 some other European country. I have too much 
 confidence in the public spirit of the country to 
 believe that it will ever neglect a national duty. 
 (Hear, hear.) A nation is like an individual ; it has 
 duties which it must fulfil, or else it cannot live 
 
44 The British Occupation of Egypt 
 
 honoured and respected as a nation ; and I hope that, 
 as we have been singled out for the perfonnance of 
 this great duty, the whole nation, without distinction 
 of party, will resolve to carry it to a triumphant 
 issue. (Loud cheers.) 
 
Egypt and the Soudan 
 
 House of Commons, March 20, 1896 
 
 On March 20, 1896, Mr. John Morley moved a re- 
 duction in the Foreign Office Vote in order to discuss 
 the policy of the Government, who had recently an- 
 iwunced their intention of despatching a military 
 expedition along the valley of the Nile as Jar as 
 Do7igola. In replying to Mr. Morley, Mr. Cham- 
 berlain said : — 
 
 Mr. Lowther, as a member of the Cabinet which the 
 right honourable gentleman opposite (Mr. Morley) be- 
 lieves to have gone mad — (laughter) — I hope I may, 
 nevertheless, be permitted to congratulate the House 
 upon the return to this House of the right honourable 
 gentleman, and upon his active participation in our 
 debates. (Cheers.) We do not always agree with 
 him, and we do not agree with him upon the present 
 occasion, but we feel his presence amongst us, and his 
 part in our discussions will certainly add to them a 
 variety and interest which otherwise they might have 
 missed. (Hear, hear.) 
 
46 ^gypt ^^^ the Soudan 
 
 I may say that the right honourable gentleman is 
 entitled to claim, as he has done, that he is pursuing 
 a consistent course in the line which he has taken to- 
 day. He says that in the past he has been impartial ; 
 and I readily admit that statement. He has attacked, 
 I think, as strenuously as he is attacking us, the 
 gentlemen who are now bis colleagues, when they 
 were pursuing a policy similar to that which he now 
 condemns. It is a suggestive and instructive fact 
 that the criticism of the right honourable gentleman, 
 like the criticism which has proceeded from every 
 other member of the House upon the proposal of the 
 Government, is a criticism which comes from men 
 who are in favour of immediate, or, at all events, of 
 the earliest possible evacuation of Egypt. We have 
 to bear that in mind. From such a standpoint the con- 
 clusion of the right honourable gentleman is perfectly 
 logical and intelligible. It is quite clear that in such 
 a case it is natural for him to exaggerate the diffi- 
 culties attending the prosecution of our present 
 policy, and to depreciate the value of that policy, 
 whether in Egypt or in Italy. 
 
 If Egypt has ceased to be any concern of ours, if 
 our duty is to " scuttle " from Egypt at the earliest 
 possible moment, what matters it whether Dervish 
 rule is barbarous, as the right honourable gentleman 
 himself admits it to be, or whether it is, as the hon- 
 ourable member for Northampton (Mr. Labouchere) 
 told us the other day, more civilised than our own ? 
 (Laughter.) What does it matter whether Egypt is in 
 
Egypt and the Soudan 47 
 
 danger, or whether she has, as the right honourable 
 gentleman says, an impregnable frontier at Wady 
 Haifa ? If we are to go out of Egypt, and no 
 longer to make it our concern that the prosperity 
 and security of Egypt shall be maintained, cadit 
 qv/estio, the whole discussion comes to an end, 
 and I shall be prepared to follow the right honour- 
 able gentleman in his natural conclusion. The 
 greater contains the less, and every argument we 
 have heard to-night, as every argument which we 
 heard in the same direction the other night, are all, 
 if I may say so, tainted by this preconceived deter- 
 mination of honourable gentlemen that our duty is 
 to have nothing more to do with Egypt. 
 
 Let me point out, at this stage, what seems an 
 extraordinary inconsistency on the part of the right 
 honourable gentleman. He was talking of the possi- 
 bility of Egyptian rule in the Soudan. What my right 
 honourable friend spoke of was Anglo-Egyptian rule, 
 meaning Egyptian rule under English influences. But 
 the right honourable gentleman opposite, in speaking 
 of Egyptian rule, described it as a return to a rule so 
 barbarous, so corrupt, that the Soudanese would not 
 submit to it under any circumstances. But, at the same 
 moment, the right honourable gentleman argues that 
 we have so renovated the character of the Egyptian 
 Government — (hear, hear) — that all possibility of 
 barbarous and corrupt rule has ceased, and we may 
 safely leave Egypt. (Cheers.) But if the Egyptians, 
 under our guidance during the last fifteen years, have 
 
48 ^gyp^ ^"^ ^^^ Soudan 
 
 become a new people, if we can safely leave Egypt, 
 and the reforms we have instituted, to the Egyptians 
 whom we have trained and educated, surely in the 
 same way you may leave to them also the responsi- 
 bility for the recovery of the Soudan. 
 
 Let us suppose that it is our policy to recover the 
 Soudan in the way the right honourable gentleman 
 has suggested. In the first place, it is quite impossible 
 to judge of the present policy of the Government unless 
 we can first make up our minds whether the position 
 in Egypt is to remain as at present, or whether we 
 seriously contemplate an immediate withdrawal. 
 
 I think the admission of the right honourable gen- 
 tleman renders it unnecessaiy for me to dwell largely 
 on the arguments in favour of remaining in Egypt. 
 I will summarise them briefly. In the first place, 
 we point to the advantages which our stay there has 
 conferred upon Egypt. I do not think there is any- 
 thing in our recent history to which we can look back 
 with greater pride and satisfaction than the peaceful 
 revolution accomplished in Egypt — (cheers) — by a 
 handful of British civil administrators, and a handful 
 of British officers, supported, no doubt, in the last 
 resort, by the strength of the British Empire. What 
 was the state of the case when we went to Egypt ? 
 The country appeared to be in the last state of decay. 
 Her finances were bankrupt, her army had been 
 annihilated, her administration was corrupt, justice 
 was an empty name, extortion and torture were 
 practised, the administration of every department 
 
Egypt and the Soudan 49 
 
 was feeble and inefficient, the great system of irriga- 
 tion, upon which the prosperity of Egypt depended, 
 had been allowed to fall into desuetude, and had 
 ceased to be capable of providing for the necessities 
 of the country. Commerce and agricnlture were 
 almost ruined. 
 
 We have been in Egypt fifteen years, and I say 
 that every traveller to whom I have spoken, who 
 has been in Egypt with an impartial mind, whether 
 Englishman or American, or even in some cases a 
 foreigner — because I have seen some remarkable 
 articles by a distinguished Frenchman on the subject 
 — admits that the change amounts, as I have said, to 
 a revolution. To those who have not travelled in 
 Egypt I point to Lord Cromer's most interesting 
 report. A deficit of nearly a million sterling has 
 been transformed into a surplus of over a million. 
 At the same time there has been a great reduction of 
 taxation which presses on the people. I do not 
 speak of the regularisation of that taxation, or its 
 just collection, instead of being extorted by persons 
 making their fortunes out of the collection. Corvee 
 has been abolished, judicial institutions have been 
 reformed, large grants have been made for education, 
 and the irrigation system, under the care of British 
 engineers, has been restored to a position which I 
 can say it hardly occupied even in the country's most 
 prosperous days. 
 
 The second argument I have is that every well- 
 informed person, whether our own authorities in 
 
 D 
 
50 Egypt ^^d the Soudan 
 
 Egypt, or those impartial travellers to whom I have 
 referred, agrees that at the present time, if we were 
 to leave Egypt, all this would be undone. The right 
 honourable gentleman, the leader of the Opposition 
 referred the other day to a speech of mine, delivered 
 in 1884, in which I protested against a policy of 
 annexation or establishing a protectorate over Egypt. 
 He quoted that speech as though it involved an 
 admission on my part — at all events, in 1884 — that 
 we could safely leave Egypt. Whatever may have 
 been the case in 1884 — and I deny that even in that 
 year I had any idea that evacuation could shortly 
 take place — whatever I may have thought, or we may 
 have thought, in 1884, I believe that now, at any 
 rate, the vast majority of the English people are 
 convinced that our work is not complete, and that 
 it would be dishonourable in us to leave Egypt until 
 it was completed. 
 
 But I do not mean to be understoood as saying 
 that our present policy alters in the slightest degree 
 the position we hold in Egypt. Whatever that 
 position may be with regard to eventual evacuation, 
 the policy announced on Tuesday last does not in the 
 slightest degree affect it. The situation is not 
 altered ; we shall, at least, be as ready afterwards 
 as we were before — (laughter) — to consider any pro- 
 posals leading to the eventual evacuation of Egypt, 
 and we have never gone back from our pledges in 
 that respect. But all I point out is that in the past, 
 no doubt, we were too sanguine as to the time at 
 
Egypt and the Soudan 51 
 
 which the fulfilment of the pledges given could 
 properly take place. No doubt, under pressure, 
 statements were made at different times, and by 
 different Governments, which were not indeed state- 
 ments that amounted to promises, but which were 
 rather in the light of an expression of hopes, and 
 references were made to the periods after which the 
 evacuation might possibly take place. That is a 
 mistake which I do not think we are likely to repeat. 
 (Cheers.) All we say is that the position in Egypt 
 is such that the difficulties of evacuation are greater 
 than we anticipated, that it vvill take longer to make 
 a self-supporting people of the Egyptian nation than 
 we Imagined to be possible, and I cannot help adding 
 that, if the difficulties attending such a task were 
 great in themselves, they have not been made easy by 
 the action of some of our allies, who have interfered 
 to hamper and embarrass our administration. 
 
 Now, I proceed to argue the question of the " new 
 policy," as it has been called. Although we are pre- 
 pared to say that it is not a new policy, but only a 
 development of the old policy of the country, I am 
 ready to argue the point on the assumption that at 
 all events the vast majority of tbo House are deter- 
 mined that we shall remain in Egypt until our work 
 has been accomplished, and until we can retire with- 
 out any idea that, by our retiring, we should sacrifice 
 all the advantages which Egypt has hitherto gained 
 by our presence in that country. I believe the 
 policy I am defending is the only justifiable policy if 
 
52 ^gypt ^^^ t^^ Soudan 
 
 we continue to hold ourselves responsible for Egypt, 
 and if it be desirable in the interests of Egypt. 
 
 Sir, the right honourable gentleman laid the foun- 
 dation of his argument in an attack on the Govern- 
 ment, because, as he said, they had only furnished to 
 the House three trumpery telegrams as the basis of 
 their policy. I must say that a greater perversion of 
 the action of the Government I never heard in the 
 course of my experience in this House. What are 
 the facts? The statement of the policy of the 
 Government was made, in the first place, in a speech 
 by the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and then 
 in fuller language by my right honourable friend the 
 leader of the House, and I must say a clearer state- 
 ment was never made of the objects the Government 
 were pursuing, and the reason for which they were 
 pursued. (Cheers.) The right honourable gentle- 
 man spoke as though the sole grounds for the policy 
 of the Government were certain rumours which had 
 been current as to the movements of the Dervishes, 
 and that upon those rumours, detailed in three tele- 
 grams, we were basing our whole policy. That is 
 absolutely contrary to the facts. The Under-Secretary 
 for Foreign Affairs mentioned in the course of his 
 early statement that we had had notice of movements 
 showing a certain ferment among the Dervishes 
 previous to the decision of the Government. That 
 statement might have stood by itself. I do not 
 know whether the right honourable gentleman sus- 
 pected the integrity of the Government, but he 
 
Egypt and the Soudan 53 
 
 claimed to see the original telegrams on which the 
 statement was made, and the telegrams were given 
 to show that the statement was justified; but the 
 Government have never put forward these rumours 
 as being the basis of their policy. 
 
 I shall, perhaps, repeat a little of what was con- 
 tained in the argument of my right honourable friend, 
 but I hope I shall be able to show to the House that 
 it is not upon so slender a foundation that we base our 
 policy. But, for the right honourable gentleman to 
 found, as he did, his whole attack upon the Govern- 
 ment upon this misapprehension of the importance 
 of the telegrams, is a course of argument I can only 
 describe, in his own words, as flimsy, irrelevant, 
 meagre, and hollow. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 I ought to notice another argument of the right 
 honourable gentleman. I have spoken of the advan- 
 tages which our rule has conferred upon Egypt. The 
 right honourable gentleman says this policy will 
 withdraw these advantages from Egypt because it 
 will submit Egypt to a large expenditure. First, the 
 funds are to come from a surplus which we are not 
 permitted to use in any other way for the benefit of 
 Egypt. Although the assent of the majority of the 
 Caisse has already been given — and we have no 
 knowledge at present which would lead us to assume 
 that the assent of the remainder of the Powers will 
 not be given — to this expenditure, we know perfectly 
 well it has been refused, and would probably be 
 refused, to expenditure for other purposes. There- 
 
54 ^SyP^ ^^^ ^^^ Soudan 
 
 fore we are not withdrawing from Egypt funds which 
 we can use for the ordinary purposes of administra- 
 tion. I go beyond that, and I say, if this policy 
 should have any of the results contemplated in the 
 speech of the right honourable gentleman, if it should 
 Lave the great result of relieving Egypt from the 
 constant pressure and menace of a Dervish attack, 
 the saving to Egypt would more than compensate 
 her for the capital expenditure, supposing that capital 
 expenditure were not the unlimited sum which the 
 right honourable gentleman referred to, but a sum 
 within the fair resources of Egypt herself. 
 
 It has been said that any advance beyond the 
 frontier would be a new departure and a reversal of 
 the policy which fixed our frontier at Wady Haifa. 
 That policy was set aside when we went to Sarras and 
 Murad Wells. When exception is taken to this 
 expedition, it is well to bear in mind that we have 
 already proceeded beyond the old frontier to positions 
 in one case forty and another eighty miles distant. 
 
 I want the House to follow me in my view of the 
 situation, and in order to do that I must ask the 
 House to go back for a minute to the circumstances 
 which prevailed when Egypt was forced to abandon 
 the Soudan. There is no doubt that the corruption 
 and inefficiency of the Egyptian Government — 
 although, bad as it was, it did not compare for a 
 moment with the brutal and barbarous tyranny of 
 the Khalifa — predisposed the population to rebel, 
 and when a leader was found who, on the one hand 
 
Egypt and the Soudan 55 
 
 appealed to their religious fanaticiBm, and, on the 
 other, promised them a redress of material grievances, 
 he found a soil prepared for his operations, and was 
 readily supported by the great bulk of the tribes. 
 When, at the commencement of the campaign, he 
 gained, as he did, easy victories over the ineffi- 
 cient, badly led, and ill-treated troops of Egypt, he 
 enhanced the prestige attaching to hi*^ name and was 
 able to go on to conquer the whole country, and to 
 establish himself after the fall of Khartoum. 
 
 At that time the Mahdi was at the height of his 
 power, influence, and prestige, and it was absolutely 
 impossible for Egypt to have reconquered the Soudan 
 against the forces of the Mahdi. Such reconquest 
 could have been undertaken only by Great Britain ; 
 it could have been carried out only by an enormous 
 expenditure of blood and treasure. As at that 
 moment the regeneration of Egypt proper had not 
 been commenced, it appeared to the Government at 
 that time — and I have no doubt that at the time the 
 decision was a wise one, nor do I think that any one 
 ever contested it — that it was a necessity of the 
 moment that the Soudan should be abandoned. But, 
 even at that time, the abandonment was not adopted 
 without great hesitation. We knew perfectly well 
 what it raeant for the Soudan ; we knew also what it 
 meant in the future for Egypt. Practically, at the 
 moment of the decision, it appeared to be an inevit- 
 able one. 
 
 I must, however, remind the House that that 
 
56 ^gyp^ ^^^ *^^ Soudan 
 
 decision was reconsidered by the same Government 
 at a later date. What happened ? An expedition had 
 to be sent from this countr}^ not in order to recover 
 the Soudan, but for the relief of General Gordon ; 
 and when, unfortunately, that expedition arrived in 
 the neighbourhood of Khartoum too la^ to relieve 
 General Gordon, the Government had then to con- 
 sider under the altered circumstances, with a large 
 force in the Soudan, whether they were still under 
 that obligation to retire from the Soudan ; and that 
 Government decided that it was their duty to remain. 
 (" No, no.") Does the honourable member doubt it ? 
 I will give him the date and everything. That 
 Government in 1884 decided that it was its duty to 
 remain, and, to use the words of General Gordon, " to 
 smash the Mahdi at Khartoum." Those are the words 
 of General Gordon. 
 
 The Government decided to follow the advice of 
 General Gordon and smash the Mahdi. Why did 
 they do so ? They did so because they believed it 
 was necessary for the safety of Egypt. The leader 
 of the Opposition has a practice against which I am 
 inclined respectfully to protest ; it is to single out for 
 quotation speeches of those who have been his col- 
 leagues in the Cabinet in order to fix upon them some 
 special responsibility for the decision of the Cabinet 
 to which they belonged. He has done that on several 
 occasions with regard to the Duke of Devonshire and 
 myself. He knows that, while every member of the 
 Cabinet has a corporate responsibility for the decision 
 
Egypt and the Soudan 57 
 
 of the body to which he belongs, that that may not 
 necessarily involve his own personal opinion upon the 
 subject. I suppose there has never been a case in 
 which sixteen or seventeen gentlemen have met 
 together without dijffering in opinion on some points ; 
 I imagine that in most cases in which they differ, the 
 minority yield to the majority ; and, if that be the 
 etiquette of our constitutional system, the member of 
 a minority is not bound to oppose in public everything 
 to which in private he may have offered objection. 
 I make this observation to introduce a quotation from 
 what was said by the leader of the Opposition, when 
 the decision of the Government to smash the Mahdi 
 was questioned by the right honourable gentleman, the 
 mover of this amendment. I do not attempt to fix 
 upon the right honourable gentleman any special or 
 personal responsibility ; I only say that as the mouth- 
 piece of that Government on that occasion he used 
 these words : " For the safety of Egypt I do think 
 it is absolutely necessary that the military power of 
 the Mahdi should be broken at Khartoum." I say that 
 the policy of that Government, the Government which 
 decided upon the evacuation of the Soudan, was, 
 when the opportunity occurred, to reconquer the 
 Soudan. I see my right honourable friend shakes his 
 head. I will make a correction ; to use his own words, 
 the policy of that Government was that the military 
 power of the Mahdi should be broken at Khartoum, 
 and some kind of orderly government set up in its 
 place. I point to that as showing that it was the 
 
58 Egypt ^"^ the Soudan 
 
 opinion of the Government of that time that the 
 safety of Egypt could be secured only by establishing 
 an orderly government at Khartoum. 
 
 We know perfectly well that that Government did 
 not carry out its intention ; it did not smash the 
 power of the Mahdi ; and there was a good and suffi- 
 cient reason. The relations with Russia became ex- 
 tremely critical ; a credit of eleven millions had to 
 be asked for ; and it was impossible to keep a large 
 force of British troops locked up in the Soudan. 
 (Hear, hear.) I quite agree ; I understand the object 
 of that cheer. But what is it that we have proved ? 
 It is that the Government, of which the leader of the 
 Opposition was the spokesman, believed it was desir- 
 able in itself, on its merits, to smash the power of the 
 Dervishes at Khartoum, but there were circumstances 
 which made it undesirable to carry out that desirable 
 policy at the time. Yet the policy in itself was a 
 wise policy, a desirable policy, and necessary in the 
 interests of Egypt. 
 
 I think the mover of the amendment did some 
 injustice to Egyptian rule when he spoke in such ex- 
 aggerated terms of its mischievous character in the 
 Soudan. Let him bear in mind what we have been 
 told in the interesting book to which he referred, the 
 account of Slatin Pasha's experiences in the Soudan. 
 Slatin Pasha points out that in the Soudan under 
 Egyptian rule telegraph and post-office services were 
 established, Christian churches, and schools, and 
 Mahommedan mosques, were built, the lands were 
 
Egypt and the Soudan 59 
 
 cultivated, and hostile tribes were compelled to keep 
 the peace. 
 
 But what followed when the Egyptians abandoned 
 the country ? We are told in the same book that at 
 l^ast 75 per cent, of the population have been de- 
 stroyed by war, famine, and disease, while the 
 remainder are little better than slaves ; that the slave 
 trade, with all its horrors, prevails in the land ; and 
 that great plains, once occupied by considerable popu- 
 lations, have been reduced to desert wastes. It must be 
 remembered, when the honourable member for North- 
 ampton (Mr. Labouchere), following Mr. Gladstone, 
 talks of the people of the Soudan as " rightly strug- 
 gling to be free," that the result of that struggle has 
 been that they are now much more slaves than ever 
 they were under Egyptian rule. (Ministerial cheers.) 
 
 I will not dwell upon the results of the change of 
 rule in the Soudan ; but, deplorable as those results 
 are, we have to consider, not the interest of the 
 Soudan, but the interest of Egypt. Egypt is under 
 our protection — Egypt is a dependency of ours. 
 (Ministerial cheers.) Let us ask ourselves, if Egypt 
 were independent and strong, what would be the 
 policy of patriotic Egyptian statesmen ? Anybody 
 who knows anything of the opinion of the most dis- 
 tinguished politicians in Egypt can have no hesitation 
 as to what their answer would be. Do not let the 
 House make a mistake. Every nation has, in these 
 matters at any rate, two policies. It has a practical 
 and present policy ; it has a future and ideal policy. 
 
6o ^8^yP^ ^"^ ^^^ Soudan 
 
 I am talking now of the ideal policy, and not of the 
 immediate practical policy of that country ; and I 
 say that the aspiration and ideal of every Egyptian 
 statesman, without exception, is the recovery of the 
 Soudan. (Ministerial cheers.) 
 
 I particularly desire that I may not be misunder- 
 stood on this point. I do not say that if Egypt were 
 independent she would at present enter upon a cam- 
 paign for the reconquest of the Soudan, but I say that 
 Egyptian statesmen believe that, until her influence 
 over the Soudan has been recovered, there will never 
 be permanent peace, and that there will never be per- 
 manent prosperity, in the country. They make, and 
 they have always made, it a grievance against English 
 intervention that by it they were forced to abandon 
 their hope of recovering the Soudan, and it is a curious 
 fact that some of those foreign critics, who are now 
 representing the policy of the Government to be a 
 fatal, injurious, and offensive policy, have done every- 
 thing in their power to induce the Egyptians to lay 
 stress upon this particular grievance — that we did 
 not allow them to reconquer the Soudan. (Hear, hear.) 
 The opinion of those Egyptian statesmen to which I 
 have referred is, and has always been, that the Nile is 
 the life of Egypt, and that accordingly the control of 
 the Nile is essential to the existence and security of 
 Egypt. I say again that, while this is the ideal of 
 every Egyptian statesman, I do not for a moment 
 suppose that, even if they were left alone, they would 
 attempt the reconquest of the Soudan with their 
 
Egypt and the Soudan 6i 
 
 present resources ; but they hope and believe that 
 sooner or later their influence there may again become 
 paramount. 
 
 I now come to the practical policy of Egypt. The 
 present policy of Egypt itself is the defence of the 
 Egyptian frontier — that is to say, the defence of all 
 that we call Egypt proper. We are asked to believe 
 that this defence ought to consist of the maintenance 
 of what we have been told is the ideal frontier of 
 Wady Haifa. The right honourable gentleman, the 
 member for the Forest of Dean (Sir C. Dilke), spoke 
 of that frontier as being exceptionally strong, because 
 there was a desert in front of it, through which 
 the Dervishes must pass to an invasion of Egypt. Of 
 course I do not deny that. The desert in front of Wady 
 Haifa is a barrier against conquest, but it is also a 
 screen for raids. (Hear, hear.) Experience ha« 
 shown very clearly that, however excellent that fron- 
 tier may be, if anything like a conquest of Egypt 
 were attempted by the Dervishes, it is no protection 
 at all against continual incursions and raids, which 
 are made from behind our frontier at Wady Haifa ; 
 and the position is one of permanent insecurity to the 
 villages and lands that lie on the inner side of our 
 frontier. That being so, I say that no possibility of 
 our fulfilling our duty to the people who are actually 
 within our frontier exists so long as Dervish power 
 continually threatens the peaceable industry of those 
 people by these sudden raids and incursions ; and we 
 cannot leave out of account altogether the fact that , 
 
62 Egyp^ ^"^ ^h^ Soudan 
 
 in spite of this strong frontier, it was possible for a 
 very serious invasion to be made — an invasion the 
 forces of which the right honourable gentleman, the 
 member for the Forest of Dean, somewhat under- 
 estimated, but which, under other circumstances, 
 might have attained still larger dimensions. 
 
 I admit that, bad as the situation is at Wady Haifa, 
 it has been borne for some years ; and it might have 
 been borne for some years longer but for recent events 
 which have materially altered the situation. The defeat 
 of the Italians has caused a new situation. If we ask 
 the House to go beyond Wady Haifa, it is not in con- 
 sequence of three telegrams, which the right honour- 
 able gentleman described as trumpery telegrams ; 
 but it is because of the entirely new situation that 
 has been created by the disastrous defeat of the Italian 
 army by the natives in that part of Africa. (Hear, 
 hear.) It is no new thing to say of barbarous and 
 savage tribes that their aggressive force is largely 
 determined by what I must call moral as opposed to 
 physical considerations. It is determined by their 
 enthusiasm ; by their fanaticism ; and, above all, by 
 the prestige of success ; and a body that would be 
 absolutely inoffensive, that would not stir a step under 
 other circumstances, might be encouraged and driven 
 to a dangerous degreo of fanaticism and fury by such 
 an event as that to which I have refened. (Hear, 
 hear.) 
 
 The defeat of the Europeans in Abyssinia has 
 encouraged, and, according to the last advice we can 
 
Egypt and the Soudan 63 
 
 get, 18 likely to still further encourage, a dangerous 
 ferment amongst the Dervishes ; and it is now the 
 opinion of all the authorities that if Kassala were to 
 fall — and, though we hope for the best, we cannot be 
 absolutely certain that it is still secure — if Kassala 
 were to fall, the effect might be altogether incalculable 
 upon Egyptian interests (hear, hear); because, though 
 we have reason to believe that up to the present time 
 there has been great discontent with the Khalifa — 
 that many tribes have been alienated from his rule 
 by his barbarity and cruelty, it is possible, in the 
 presence of a great defeat of Europeans, with the 
 consequent rising of the courage, and the spirit, and 
 the hopes of the native tribes, that their intestine 
 disputes may be put aside, and that they may join 
 together in one great effort to destroy that Egyptian 
 civilisation of which we are the protectors. (Hear, 
 hear.) 
 
 That is the position. (Ministerial cheers.) That 
 is the caase of the new poKcy, as it has been called. 
 That is the cause of the development of our policy ; 
 that is the basis upon \rhich we ask the House to 
 place it. (Ministerial cheers.) We say that it is to 
 the interest of Egypt — almost to the paramount 
 interest of Egypt — that, if possible, Kassala shall not 
 fall. (Ministerial cheers.) The right honourable gen- 
 tleman, the member for the Montrose Burghs (Mr. 
 Morley), made an attempt, which I do not think was 
 worthy of him — although it has been made by other 
 honourable members — to distinguish between the 
 
64 ^gypt ^^^ ^^^ Soudan 
 
 interests of Egypt and the interests of Italy in this 
 matter. Sir, the interests of the two countries are in- 
 separable. You cannot separate them. Even if Italy 
 did not appeal, as she does appeal, strongly to our 
 sympathies in her present time of trouble — even if she 
 were pi\t out of the question altogether — it would still 
 be the interest of Egypt to do what she could to 
 prevent the fall of Kassala. (Ministerial cheers.) 
 
 The advance which we have taken is dictated by 
 this consideration — that it is the wiser policy of 
 Egypt to anticipate the threatened attack — the attack 
 which we believe to be probable, and even certain — 
 in the event of the fall of Kassala ; that it is the 
 wiser policy of Egypt to anticipate this attack, and 
 to prevent that concentration of the Dervir'nes upon 
 a single objective which would, after a success in the 
 first instance, bring them, with all the prestige of that 
 success, to attack Egypt itself. (Hear, hear.) We 
 want to create a diversion. If we were to allow the 
 Dervishes to direct all their efforts against Kassala, 
 and if Kassala were to fall, then all their 1 jrces would 
 combine against Egypt. In the meantime we make 
 a diversion, which we were told from the Opposition 
 side the other night that Italy would not be thankful 
 for, and which could not be of any use to Italy. But 
 honourable members who said that were a little pre- 
 mature. If they had waited twenty-four hours they 
 would have seen that Italy has appreciated the course 
 we have taken ; that she has warmly and cordially 
 accepted it, and has thanked ns for it. (Ministerial 
 
Egypt and the Soudan 65 
 
 cheers.) It is an incident that, in attempting the 
 defence of Egypt, we are also assisting the Italians. 
 We hope that we may be able to lessen their task and 
 enable them to hold their own. I ask, does any 
 responsible politician on the other side of the House 
 object to that policy ? Will they make it a ground 
 of additional criticism and complaint that in en- 
 deavouring, as we are, to secure the best interests 
 of Egypt, we are also at the same time helping our 
 Italian allies ? (Cheers.) 
 
 The other day, at a public dinner, Lord Rosebery 
 taunted the Government with the isolation in which 
 he said we were placed, and he attributed that 
 isolation to our policy. The present policy, at all 
 events, does not find us isolated in Europe. (Cheers.) 
 One of the members who spoke the other night said 
 that all Europe ' '\a against us. The right honourable 
 gentleman oppodite made a great point. He com- 
 plained that the leader of the House, in pointing out 
 that it was probable that the Triple Alliance, at all 
 events, would support us, and that he could see no 
 reason why the other two Powers should not support 
 us, had shown a want of foresight. 
 
 What is the case ? The case is that Germany has 
 supported us ; that Austria has warmly approved the 
 course we have taken ; and that Italy has thankfully 
 accepted it and cordially received the announcement. 
 (Cheers.) As to France and Russia, we wait. 
 (Ironical cheers and counter-cheers.) It would be as 
 unwise as it would be discourteous on my part, or on 
 
 £ 
 
66 ^gypt ^"^ t^^ Soudan 
 
 any one's, to anticipate what the ultimate decision of 
 those countries will be. We have no reason at 
 present to know or to suppose that it will not be 
 found in accordance with the views of the other 
 three Great Powers. (Cheers.) I say then that our 
 policy at the present moment is warmly supported by 
 three of the Great Powers of Europe, and it is no 
 longer, at any rate, a policy of isolation. (Cheers.) 
 I am convinced that Lord Rosebery, at least, will not 
 make it a charge against us that we have been able, 
 in pursuing the primary interests committed to our 
 charge, to show our sympathy and our goodwill to a 
 gallant and friendly nation. (Cheers.) 
 
 Thf3 advance which we have decided to make is to 
 Akasheh, some eighty miles from Wady Haifa. The 
 Under-Secretary, while of course declining to pledge 
 himself in regard to matters which must depend 
 largely upon military considerations, pointed out 
 that the advance might possibly extend to Dongola 
 — that is, as far as any present intention of the 
 Government is concerned. (Ironical cheers.) But I 
 will add to that. The advance, whatever it may be, 
 will be limited by two considerations. It will be 
 limited in the first place by our power to maintain 
 the security of the communications — (hear, hear) — 
 and it will be limited in the second place by the 
 nature and extent of the resistance we may find. 
 (Ironical cheers.) I was really under the impres- 
 sion that we were discussing a matter which the 
 Opposition thought to be of exceptional gravity — 
 
Egypt and the Soudan 67 
 
 (Opposition cheers) — but I should not be in the least 
 aware of it from the interruptions of honourable 
 members opposite. With regard to the security of 
 the communications, the railway will follow the 
 troops to Akasheh, and it will provide for the commu- 
 nications with the troops, because it is not intended 
 to cut them off from their supplies and from Egypt. 
 
 Let me say one other word, and that is in answer 
 to something which fell from the leader of the 
 Opposition about the question of permanent occupa- 
 tion. The making of the railway may, I think, be 
 assumed to be a pledge that where we go we shall 
 remain. (Cheers.) We have no idea of handing 
 back to barbarism such territory — be it more or less 
 — as we may recover for civilisaiion. (Cheers.) 
 
 On the other hand, I desire to make clear another 
 point to which I have already referred. Her Majesty's 
 Government have no conception of such a policy of 
 reckless adventure as was indicated by the right hon- 
 ourable member for the Forest of Dean. We do not 
 count upon "incalculable expenditure" and " gigantic 
 military efforts," nor do we propose to "lock up 
 large masses of troops in the rainless deserts and 
 untravelled countries of the Soudan." Nothing of 
 the kind ever entered into our minds. 
 
 There is a contingency which appears to have 
 entered into the mind of the right honourable mem- 
 ber for Montrose, and which is worth while taking into 
 view. We have no doubt been told by authorities from 
 time to time, as he says, that the power of the Khalifa 
 
68 Egypt and the Soudan 
 
 is waning ; that, owing to his extraordinary misgovern- 
 ment, he has no friends left him but the Bagara tribe ; 
 and that, the moment news arrived of the approach of 
 the Anglo-Eg3q)tian forces, his followers would leave 
 him, and his empire would totter to its fall. I admit 
 that when I was in Egypt I heard much conversation 
 to this effect, and received similar assurances from, 
 among others, some of the leaders and sheikhs of the 
 tribes in the Soudan ; but I think that it would be 
 dangerous to place upon these statements anything 
 like implicit reliance. 
 
 I do not think it is possible to predict the effect of 
 this advance. (Ironical cheers.) The advance itself will 
 make clear whether, as is affirmed in some quarters, 
 the Dervish power is hollow and a sham, or whether, 
 on the contrary, it still stands so firmly as to make 
 any assault upon it a dangerous and difficult opera- 
 tion. (Ironical cheers and laughter.) All I say is — 
 and I cannot conceive why it should be the cause of 
 merriment — that this distinctly is the policy of the 
 Government. If this Dervish power should prove to 
 be unbroken, if it is capable of what I have called 
 serious resistance, if to destroy it would put upon 
 the finances of Egypt a strain beyond the resources 
 of that country, and a strain beyond that which a 
 patriotic Eg3rptian statesman would himself be willmg 
 for the country to undergo, then there is no intention 
 whatever on the part of the Government to enter 
 upon such a policy. (Ironical cheers.) 
 
 On the other hand, if it were found true, as has 
 
Egypt and the Soudan 69 
 
 been suggested, that the power of the Dervishes was 
 entirely broken, that the tribes, tired of the mis- 
 government which has prevailed, were willing to 
 welcome the advance of the force, then I think it 
 would be very unfair and very unwise to refuse, to 
 Egyptians at all events, the possibility of recovering 
 the position which they believe to be essential to their 
 security. (Cheers.) 
 
 I say again that that is the ideal which we keep in 
 view. The present policy of the Government is 
 confined to what we believe to be the immediate 
 needs of Egypt. We are not going to take the 
 extraordinary risks which have been depicted in such 
 glowing colours by right honourable gentlemen oppo- 
 "*te ; but we do ask that the House will meet the new 
 situation which has been created by recent events, 
 and that they will consent to make the demonstra- 
 tion which will anticipate, and, as we hope, may avert 
 the possibility of a revival of the Demsh power. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
The Unity of the Empire 
 
The Future of the British 
 
 Empire 
 
 Dinner given on the completion of the 
 Natal Railway, London, Nov. 6, 1895 
 
 On November 6', 1895, Mr. Chamberlain rcw* the prin- 
 e'lpal ffiie.si at a dinner f>'h'en in the Whitehall Roomtt 
 of the Hotel Mctropole, London, bij Mr. Walter Peace, 
 C.M.G. {the Agent-General Jor Natal), in eelebration 
 of the eompletion of tJw Natal-Tran.svaal Railway. 
 This was the Jirst public oreasion on whieh Mr. 
 Chamberlain appeared in hh official capacity as 
 Seeretary of State for tlw Colonies ; and, in replying 
 to the toast <7,"" The Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, 
 Seeretary of Jtate Jbr the Colonies^" whieh was pro- 
 posed by Sir Charles Tapper, High Commissioner of 
 Canada, Mr, Chamberlain said: — 
 
 I THANK you sincerely for the hearty reception you 
 have given to this toast. I appreciate very much 
 the warmth of your welcome, and I see in it con- 
 
74 The Future of the British Empire 
 
 firmation of the evidence which is afforded by the 
 cordial and graceful telegram from the Premier of 
 Natal, which has been read by your chairman, and 
 by other public and private communications that I 
 have received, that any man who makes it his first 
 duty, as I do, to draw closer together the different 
 portions of the iiritish Empire — (hear, hear) — will 
 meet with hearty sympathy, encouragement, and 
 support. (Cheers.) I thank my old friend and 
 colleague, Sir Charles Tupper, for the kind manner 
 in which he has spoken of me. He has said much, 
 no doubt, that transcends my merits, but that is a 
 circumstance so unusual in the life of a politician — 
 (laughter) — that I do not feel it in my heart to com- 
 plain. (Laughter.) I remember that Dr. Oliver 
 Wendell Holmes, who was certainly one of the most 
 genial Americans who ever visited these shores, said 
 that when he was young he liked his praise in tea- 
 spoonfuls, that when he got older he preferred it in 
 table-spoonfuls, and that in advanced years he was con- 
 tent to receive it in ladles. (Laughter.) I confess that 
 I am arriving at the period when I sympathise with 
 Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. (Laughter and cheers.) 
 Gentlemen, the occasion which has brought us 
 together is an extremely interesting one. We are 
 here to congratulate Natal, its Government and its 
 people, and to congratulate ourselves on the comple- 
 tion of a great work of commercial enterprise and 
 civilisation, which one of our colonies, which happens 
 to be the last to have been included in the great circle 
 
The Future of the British Empire 75 
 
 of self -go vera ing communities, has brought to a suc- 
 cessful conclusion, giving once more a proof of the 
 vigour and the resolution which have distinguished 
 all the nations that have sprung from the parent 
 British stock. (Cheers.) 
 
 This occasion has been honoured by the presence 
 of the representatives of sister colonies, who are here 
 to offer words of sympathy and encouragement ; and, 
 in view of the representative character of the gather- 
 ing, I think, perhaps, I may be permitted, especially 
 as this is the first occasion upon which I have publicly 
 appeared in my capacity as Minister for the colonies 
 — (cheers) — to offer a few words of a general appli- 
 cation. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 I think it will not be disputed that we are approach- 
 ing a critical stage in the history of the relations 
 between ourselves and the self-governing colonies. 
 We are entering ujwn a chapter of our colonial his- 
 tory, the whole of which will probably be written in 
 the next few years, certainly in the lifetime of the 
 next generation, and which will be one of the most 
 important in our colonial annals, since upon the events 
 and policy which it describes will depend the future 
 of the British Empire. That Empire, gentlemen, 
 that world-wide dominion to which no Englishman 
 can allude without a thrill of enthusiasm and 
 patriotism, which has been the admiration, and per- 
 haps the envy, of foreign nations, hangs together by 
 a thread so slender that it may well seem that even a 
 breath would sever it. 
 
76 The Future of the British Empire 
 
 There have been periods in our history, not so very 
 i'ar distant, when leading statesmen, despairing of the 
 possibility of maintaining anything in the nature of 
 a permanent union, have looked forward to the 
 time when the vigorous communities to which they 
 rightly entrusted the control of their own destinies 
 would grow strong and independent, would assert 
 their independence, and would claim entire separa- 
 tion from the parent stem. The time to which they 
 looked forward has arrived sooner than they expected. 
 The conditions to which they referred have been more 
 than fulfilled; and now these great communities, 
 which have within them every element of national 
 life, have taken their rank amongst the nations of the 
 world ; and I do not suppose that any one would con- 
 sider the idea of compelling them to remain within 
 the empire as within the region of intelligent specu- 
 lation. Yet, although, as I have said, the time has 
 come, and the conditions have been fulfilled, the results 
 which these statesmen anticipated have not followed. 
 rCheers.) They felt, perhaps, overwhelmed by the 
 growing burdens of the vast dominions of the British 
 Crown. They may well have shrunk from the re- 
 sponsibilities and the obligations which they involve ; 
 and so it happened that some of them looked forward 
 not only without alarm, but with hopeful expectation, 
 to a severance of the union which now exists. 
 
 But if such feelings were ever entertained they are 
 entertained no longer. (Cheers.) As the possibility 
 of separation has become greater, the desire for 
 
The Future of the British Empire jj 
 
 separation has become less. (Renewed cheers.) 
 While we on our part are prepared to take our share 
 of responsibility, and to do all that may fairly be 
 expected from the mother country, and while we 
 should look upon a separation as the greatest 
 calamity that could befall us — (hear, hear) — our 
 fellow-subjects on their part see to what a great 
 inheritance they have come by mere virtue of their 
 citizenship ; and they must feel that no separate 
 existence, however splendid, could compare with 
 that which they enjoy equally with ourselves as joint 
 heirs of all the traditions of the past, and as joint 
 partakers of all the influence, resources, and power 
 of the British Empire. (Cheers.) 
 
 I rejoice at the change that has taken place. I 
 rejoice at the wider patriotism, no longer confined 
 to this small island, which embraces the whole of 
 Greater Britain and which has carried to every 
 clime British institutions and the best characteristics 
 of the British race. (Renev;ed cheering.) How could 
 it be otherwise ? We have a common origin, we have 
 a common history, a common language, a common 
 literature, and a common love of liberty and law. W(^ 
 have common principles to assert, we have common 
 interests to maintain. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) I 
 said it was a slender thread that binds us together. 
 I remember on one occasion having been shown a 
 wire so fine and delicate that a blow might break it ; 
 yet I was told that it was capable of transmitting 
 an electrical energy that would set powerful machinery 
 
78 The Future of the British Empire 
 
 in motion. May it not be the same with the relations 
 which exist between the colonies and ourselves ; and 
 may not that thread of union be capable of carrying a 
 force of sentiment and of sympathy which will yet be a 
 potent factor in the history of the world ? (Hear, hear.) 
 Thjre is a word which I am almost afraid to 
 mention, lest at the very outset of my career I should 
 lose my character as a practical statesman. I am 
 told on every hand that Imperial Federation is a 
 vain and empty dream. (Cries of " No, no.") I 
 will not contest that judgment, but I will say this : 
 that that man must be blind indeed who does not 
 see that it is a dream which has vividly impressed 
 itself on the mind of the English-speaking race, and 
 who does not admit that dreams of that kind, which 
 have so powerful an influence upon the imagination 
 of men, have somehow or another an unaccoun' ble 
 way of being realised in their own time. (Hear, 
 hear.) If it be a dream, it is a dream that appeals 
 to the highest sentiments of patriotism, as well as to 
 our material interests. It is a dream which is calcu- 
 lated to stimulate and to inspire every one who cares 
 for the future of the Anglo-Saxon people. (Cheers.) 
 I think myself that the spirit of the time is, at all 
 events, in the direction of such a movement. How 
 far it will carry us no man can tell ; but, believe me, 
 upon the temper and the tone in which we approach 
 the solution of the problems which are now coming 
 upon us depend the security and the maintenance 
 of that world-wide dominion, that edifice of Imperial 
 
The Future of the British Empire 79 
 
 rule, which has been so ably built for us by those 
 who have gone before. (Cheers.) 
 
 Gentlemen, I admit that I have strayed somewhat 
 widely from the toast which your chairman has 
 committed to my charge. (No.) That toast is " The 
 Prosperity of South Africa and the Natal and 
 Transvaal Railway." Ap to South Africa, there can 
 be no doubt as to its prosperity. We have witnessed 
 in our own time a development of natural and 
 mineral wealth in that country altogether beyond 
 precedent or human knowledge ; and what we have 
 seen in the past, and what we see in the present, is 
 bound to be far surpassed in the near future. (Hear, 
 hear.) The product of the mines, great as it is at 
 present, is certain to be multiplied many fold, and 
 before many years are over the mines of the Trans- 
 vaal may be rivalled by the mines of Mashonaland 
 or Matabeleland ; and in the train of this great, 
 exceptional, and wonderful prosperity, in the train 
 of the diamond-digger and of the miner, will come 
 a demand for labour which no man can measure — 
 a demand for all the products of agriculture aud of 
 manufacture, in which not South Africa alone, but 
 all the colonies and the mother country itself must 
 have a share. (Cheers.) 
 
 The climate and soil leave nothing to be desired, 
 and there is only one thing wanted — that is, 
 a complete union and identity of sentiment and 
 interest between the different States existing in 
 South Africa. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, I have no 
 
8o The Future of th British Empire 
 
 doubt that that union will be forthcoming — (cheers) 
 — although it may not be immediately established. I 
 do not shut my eyes to differences amongst friends 
 which have unfortunately already arisen, and which 
 have not yet been arranged. I think these differences, 
 if you look below the surface, will be found to be due 
 principally to the fact that we have not yet achieved in 
 South Africa that local federation which is the 
 necessary preface to any serious consideration of the 
 question of Imperial federation. (Cheers.) But, 
 gentlemen, in these differences, my position, of 
 course, renders it absolutely necessary that I should 
 take no side. (Cheers.) I pronounce no opinion, 
 and it would not become me to offer any advice ; 
 although, if the good offices of my department were 
 at any time invoked by those who are now separated, 
 all I can say is that they would be heartily placed at 
 their service. (Cheers.) 
 
 Gentlemen, I wish success to the Natal Railway, 
 and to every railway in South Africa. (Cheers.) 
 There is room for all. (Cheers.) There is prosperity/ 
 for all — (hear, hear) — enough to make the mouth of 
 an English director positively water. (Laughter.) 
 There is success for all, if only they will not waste 
 their resources in internecine conflict. (Hear, hear.) 
 I have seen with pleasure that a conference is being 
 held in order to discuss, and I hope to settle, these 
 differences. I trust that they may be satisfactorily 
 arranged. In the meantime I congratulate our 
 chairman, as representing this prosperous colony, 
 
Th^ Future of the British Empire 8i 
 
 upon the enterprise they have displ^'^ed, upon the 
 difficulties they have surmounted, ana on the success 
 they have ah'eady achieved. (Cheers.) And I hope 
 for them — confidently hope — the fullest 'lare in 
 that prosperity which I predict without hesitation 
 for the whole of South Africa. (Cheers.) 
 
 F 
 
A Young Nation 
 
 Imperial Institute, London, Novembep ii, 
 
 1895 
 
 On November 11, 1896, Mr. Chamberlain presided at 
 a banquet which was given at the Imperial Institute 
 in honour of Colonel Gerard Smith, the Governor- 
 Designate of Western Australia. After the usual 
 loyal toasts, Mr. Chamberlain proposed the health of 
 Colonel Gerard Smith, and said : — 
 
 I NOW propose the health of our gi est, Colonel 
 Gerard Smith, who has been appointed by her 
 Majesty Governor of Western Australia, in succes- 
 sion to Sir William Kobinson, who has retired, after 
 a long and most honourable career in the public 
 service. (Cheers.) 
 
 The choice of a governor is part of what is plea- 
 santly called the patronage of the Colonial Office. 
 (Laughter.) I am noi, fond of the word, and I 
 dislike excessively the impression which it appears 
 to produce upon certain of the public that the 
 Secretary of State for the Colonies has always in his 
 
A Young Nation 83 
 
 gift a number of eligible and lucrative appointments 
 — (laughter) — which are at the disposal of any one 
 who has failed in other ./alks of life. (Laughter.) 
 Whenever a new Administration comes into power, I 
 am afraid, there are many expectations of this kind 
 which are inevitably doomed to disappointment ; and 
 even when they may be gratified without injury to 
 the public service, I think that sometimes there is 
 disappointment to the sanguine hopes which have 
 been formed by those who have solicited these 
 appointments. At all events, although I myself have 
 but a slight experience, I have come to the con- 
 clusion that a large portion of my time in future will 
 be devoted to explaining to a number of estimable 
 gentlemen why it is absolutely impossible for me to 
 appoint nine-tenths of them to positions in the 
 colonies, and that another large portion will be taken 
 up in explaining to the one-tenth who are successful 
 that I cannot immediately remove them to more 
 favourable situations and to healthier climes. 
 (Laughter.) 
 
 Gentlemen, I suppose there is no part of this 
 patronage which involves greater responsibility or 
 more anxious consideration than the selection for the 
 approval of her Majesty of gentlemen fitted to fill 
 the important and dignified office of her Majesty's 
 representatives in our self-governing colonies. (Hear, 
 hear.) Such a man, the occupant of such a position, 
 ought to have high character and good social stand- 
 ing. He should have a large experience of affairs. 
 
84 A Young Nation 
 
 He should have tact and discretion, exceptional 
 intelligence and attractive personality ; and I regret 
 to say that, as day by day the requirements increase, 
 there is a tendency to diminish the emoluments. 
 (Laughter.) I cannot help saying that we may well 
 be proud of the fact that there is not, that there 
 never has been, any real difficulty in finding men 
 who are willing and anxious to accept positions 
 which certainly do not offer any great pecuniary 
 attractions, with the hope of being able to render 
 good service to the empire, and in so doing to earn 
 distinction and honour for themselves. (Cheers.) 
 
 Gentlemen, I think that the friends who have met 
 here to-night to wish God-speed to Colonel Gerard 
 Smith will hope with me that he will take a worthy 
 place in the illustrious roll of colonial Governors. He 
 is going to an interesting colony at an interesting 
 time. (Hear.) The history of Western Australia is 
 a singular one. It is said, I know not on what 
 authority, that it was the first of the Australian 
 colonies to be discovered by any European visitor, 
 and that in the early part of the fifteenth century it 
 was visited by the Portuguese, who called it at that 
 time "the land of parrots," in consequence of the 
 incredible bigness of those birds which they found 
 upon the shores. I do not know, as I have said, 
 whether that claim can be sustained; but, if the 
 colony be the first in Australasia to be discovered, I 
 think it will be admitted by its warmest friends that 
 it has been one of the latest to be developed. (Cheers.) 
 
A Young Nation 85 
 
 It was only colonised by the English in 1829, and 
 for many years, in spite of its great advantages, in 
 spite of the well-known salubrity of its climate and 
 its great natural resources, it seems to have made 
 very little progress. But in the last few years a 
 change has come " o'er the spirit of its dream," and 
 this young nation has made strenuous and rapid 
 progress. In 1850 — that is to say, twenty years 
 after its colonisation — the white population was only 
 5800. At the last census it was 76,000. The revenue 
 in 1880, fifteen years ago, amounted to only £ 1 80,000 
 a year; in 1895 it has risen to ;^i, 125,000. 
 
 There are some persons, I believe, who attribute 
 this happy result to the concession of self-government 
 a few years ago. I myself am in favour of self- 
 government in the circumstances of the Australian 
 colonies, but I confess I have never ventured to 
 attribute such magical power to it. (Laughter.) 
 Possibly the gold discovered may have had some- 
 thing to do with the change which we are all glad to 
 chronicle. ("Hear, hear," and laughter.) At all 
 events, in 1 890 — that is to say, only five years ago — 
 the export of gold was ^86,000 ; in 1 894 it amounted 
 
 to ;£"9IOjOOO. 
 
 I think, then, we may say that the prospects of 
 this colony are indeed encouraging, and that it may 
 hope in a very short time to rival the prosperity and 
 population of the older settlements of Australia ; and 
 here, in the old country, we have nothing but good- 
 will and sympathy for this vigorous offshoot of the 
 
86 A Young Nation 
 
 parent race. (Cheers.) We h.'.Nre, of course, relin- 
 quished absolutely all right to interfere. We have 
 hardly a claim, except perhaps the claim of kinship 
 and mutual interest, even to offer suggestions ; but 1 
 think we may venture to hope that this colony, while 
 profiting by the experience of other self-governing 
 communities, will not hesitate to strike out a line for 
 itself if its interests should dictate a separate course. 
 What are the interests of a colony in this condition? 
 What are the circumstances ? Here is a vast territory 
 eight times the area of the U jited Kingdom of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, with a white population which is 
 one five-hundredth part of the population of the 
 mother country. Of this area only a fraction is in 
 anything like profitable occupation. Does it not 
 stand to reason that the first need for many years to 
 come of any colony in this position must be labour — 
 labour to till the soil, labour to work the great natural 
 resources of the country ? (Hear, hear.) We may 
 say to Western Australia, and to every country in the 
 same position — Get population, and all else shall be 
 added unto you. (Cheers.) We hope, then — and 
 we are justified in hoping — that in order to induce 
 this immigration everything will be done to make life 
 desirable and ecoi}omical to the labourers, who are, as 
 I have said, the greatest need of the colony, and that 
 no obstacle will be placed in the way of the intro- 
 duction of the articles of necessity and of luxury 
 which this population will need. I know that there 
 is an idea prevalent in new communities, with which 
 
A Young Nation 87 
 
 I have very great sympathy, that they should en- 
 courage a diversity of employment, that it would be 
 a mistake to commit as it were for all time the whole 
 of the population to a single industry ; but there 
 need be no fear of that in such a case as the one 
 which we are considering; for with the growth of 
 population there will necessarily come, naturally and 
 without artificial stimulus, a demand for local manu- 
 factures ; and it seems to me that the clear duty of 
 the colony, and the clear interest of the colony, is to 
 spend its whole energy in cultivating to the best 
 advantage the natural resources of the soil, with the 
 certainty that this will result in the development of 
 all the elements of a great nation. (Cheers.) 
 
 I look forward to a time, which I think is not very 
 distant, when our great colonies in Australasia will 
 imitate the wise example of Canada, and will agree 
 to unite — (cheers) — for the purposes which are 
 common to all. (Cheers.) I see with satisfaction 
 the great step in that direction which has just been 
 taken by the legislature of New South Wales, and 
 I feel confident that Western Australia will not be 
 behind the sister colony. Such a step as the federa- 
 tion of Australia will be the consummation of a great 
 idea, in which local jealousies and petty ambitions 
 will be buried in the foundation of a mighty common- 
 wealth, which — in a time that is, at all events, 
 historically visible — is destined to outstrip the waning 
 greatness and the lagging civilisation of the older 
 countries of Europe. (Cheers.) It will be a step in 
 
88 A Young Nation 
 
 the direction of that Imperial unity which we cherish 
 as the ideal future of the British race. (Renewed 
 cheers.) And it will enable this old country of ours 
 to extend its fame and its history in the greatness of 
 its children across the sea. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 Gentlemen, whatever may be in store for us, I am 
 sure that to-night our hearts go out to this young 
 and fresh country of ours in Australasia, and that 
 with the good wishes which we offer for the success 
 of the government of our friend and guest, Colonel 
 Gerard Smith, we send also a message of sympathy 
 and goodwill to our fellow-subjects and fellow-citizens 
 in Western Australia. (Cheers.) 
 
 In responding' to the health of the Chairman, Mr. 
 Chamberlain said : 
 
 I am extremely obliged to you for the welcome 
 which you have given to me to-night. It is a 
 great pleasure to me to have these opportunities 
 of making the acquaintance of those who have 
 already distinguished themselves in connection with 
 our great colonies. Sir Robert Herbert has said 
 many kind things, but I am well aware of the 
 saying that no man should call himself happy 
 until he is dead — (laughter) — and there is another 
 statement which I like even better, which is, " Let 
 not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself 
 as he that putteth it off." My career as Secretary 
 of State for the Colonies is yet to be made ; but I 
 
A Young Nation 89 
 
 will say this, that no one has ever been wafted into 
 office with more favourable gales. (Hear, hear.) It 
 is to me an encouragement and a great delight to 
 find that in the colonies and in the mother country 
 there is some conJSdence, at all events, in my desire 
 to bring them closer together. (Cheers.) I will 
 venture to claim two qualifications for the great office 
 which I hold, and which, to my mind, without making 
 invidious distinctions, is one of the most important 
 that can be held by any Englishman. These qualifi- 
 cations are that, in the first place. I believe in the 
 British Empire — (cheers) — and, in the second place, 
 I believe in the British race. (Renewed cheering.) 
 I believe that the British race is the greatest of 
 governing races that the world has ever seen. (More 
 cheering.) I say that not merely as an empty boast, 
 but as proved and evidenced by the success which 
 we have had in administering the vast dominions 
 which are connected with these small islands. (Cheers.) 
 I think a man who holds my office is bound to be 
 sanguine, is bound to be confident, and I have both 
 those qualifications. (Laughter, and cheers.) I wish 
 sometimes that the English people were not so apt to 
 indulge in self-criticism, which, although it does no 
 harm at home, is sometimes misinterpreted abroad. 
 (Hear, hear.) We are all prepared to admire the 
 great Englishmen of the past. We speak of the men 
 who made our Empire, and we speak of them as 
 heroes as great as any that have lived in the pages of 
 history ; but when we come to our own time we doubt 
 
90 A Young Nation 
 
 JT 
 .# 
 
 and hesitate, and we seem to lose the confidence 
 which I think becomes a great nation such as ours ; 
 and yet, if we look even to such comparatively small 
 matters as the expeditions in which Englishmen have 
 recently been engaged, the administrations which 
 Englishmen have recently controlled, I see no reason 
 to doubt that the old British spirit still lives in the 
 Englishmen of to-day. (Cheers.) When I think of 
 the incidents of 3uch a campaign as that of Chitral, 
 when I think of the way in which in numerous pro- 
 vinces in India — and I might speak from my own 
 experience of the administration in Egypt — of the 
 way in which a number of young Englishmen, picked 
 as it were haphazard from the mass of our popula- 
 tion, having beforehand no special claims to our con- 
 fidence, have nevertheless controlled great affairs, and 
 with responsibility placed upon their shoulders have 
 shown a power, a courage, a resolution, and an intelli- 
 gence, which have carried them through extraordinary 
 difficulties — I say that he indeed is a craven and a 
 poor-spirited creature who despairs of the future of 
 the British race. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, I thank 
 you for the reception you have given me, and I hope 
 I may deserve your confidence. (Hear, hear.) 
 
Splendid Isolation 
 
 Whitehall Rooms, London, January 21, 
 
 1896 
 
 The inciu'sion of Dr. Jameson into the Transvaal zvas 
 made on December ^9, 1895, and on January -7, 1896, 
 the Emperor of Germany sent a message to President 
 Krilger in terms which were considered to he nn- 
 friendly to Great Britain, and which were greatly 
 resented in this country. In view of the threatening 
 aspect of affairs the " Flying Squadron " of powerjul 
 ships was commissioned and made ready for sea in a 
 Jew days, and assurances of sympathy and support 
 were received from the principal Colonies of the 
 Empire. 
 
 These were the circumstances under which the follow- 
 ing speech w^ delivered on January ^1, 1896, when 
 Mr. Chamberlain presided at a complimentary banquet 
 ivhich was given to Lord Lamington, at the Whitehall 
 Rooms, Hotel Mttropole, on the occasion of his depar- 
 ture to take up his appointment as Governor of the 
 Colony of Queensland. In proposing the toast of the 
 evening the Secretary of State for tlie Colonies said : — 
 
92 Splendid Isolation 
 
 I THINK that I see before me a representative 
 gathering of British subjects, whose principal in- 
 terests lie in that great group of Australian colonies, 
 whose present greatness and importance give us but 
 a faint indication of the splendid future which 
 awaits them (Cheers.) For of one thing I am 
 certain, whatever may be the fate of the old country 
 — and even as to that I have sufficient confidence — 
 (cheers) — no man can doubt that our vigorous off- 
 spring in the Southern Seas are bound at no distant 
 time to rival the older civilisation of the Continent of 
 Europe in wealth, in population, and in all the 
 attributes of a great nation. (Hear, hear.) But, 
 although, as I have said, your interests lie in this 
 direction, I have an instinctive feeling that to-night 
 you are thinking not so much of Australian politics 
 and of Australian progress as you are of events that 
 have recently occurred — (loud cheers) — in another 
 quarter of the globe and of their connection with 
 Imperial interests. If that be so, I hail the fact as 
 another proof of the solidarity of Imperial sentiment 
 in making it impossible that a blow can be struck, or 
 a chord sounded, in even the most distant portion of 
 the Queen's dominions, without an echo coming back 
 from every other part of the British empire. (Cheers.) 
 It would be inopportune in me, it would be im- 
 proper, if I were to dwell on the incidents which 
 have diverted attention to South Africa. Those 
 incidents will be the subject of judicial inquiry in 
 this country and in Africa, and I assume that, with the 
 
Splendid Isolation 93 
 
 fair-mindedness which distinguishes them, my coun- 
 trymen will wait to hear both the indictment and 
 the defence before they pronounce a judgment. 
 (Cheers.) But, in tht xneantime, I will venture to 
 say that I think there is a tendency to attach too 
 much importance to sensational occarrences which 
 pass away and leave no trace behind, and not enough 
 to the general course of British policy and the 
 general current of colonial progress. I have heard 
 it said that we never have had a colonial policy, that 
 we have simply blundered into all the best places in 
 the earth. (Laughter.) I admit that we have made 
 mistakes. I have no doubt that we are answerable 
 for sins of commission a? well as for sins of omission ; 
 but, after all is said, this remains — that we alone 
 among the nations of the earth have been able to 
 establish and to maintain colonies under different 
 conditions in all parts of the world, that we have 
 maintained them to their own advantage and to ours, 
 and that we have secured, not only the loyal attach- 
 ment of all British subjects, but the general good- 
 will of the races, whether they be native or whether 
 they be European, that have thus come under the 
 British flag. (Cheers.) This may be a comforting 
 assurance when we think of occasional mistakes, and 
 when we are rebuked even for our misfortunes — 
 (laughter) — we may find some consolation in our 
 success. (Cheers.) 
 
 There is, gentlemen, another consideration which 
 I think is not inappropriate to such a gathering as 
 
94 Splendid Isolation 
 
 this. A few weeks ago England appeared to stand 
 alone in the world, surrounded by jealous competitors 
 and by altogether unexpected hostility. Differences 
 between ourselves and other nations which were of 
 long standing appeared suddenly to come to a head 
 and to assume threatening proportions ; and from 
 quarters to which we might have looked for friend- 
 ship and consideration — (cheers) — having regard to 
 our traditions and to a certain community of interest 
 — we were confronted with suspicion, and even with 
 hate. We had to recognise that our success itself, 
 however legitimate, was imputed to us as a crime ; 
 that our love of peace was taken as a sign of w*?ak- 
 ness ; and that our indifference to foreign criticism 
 was construed into an invitation to insult us. (Loud 
 cheers.) The prospect of our discomfiture was 
 regarded with hardly disguised satisfaction by our 
 competitors, who, at the same time, must have been 
 forced to own that we alone held our possessions 
 throughout the world in trust for all — (cheers) — and 
 that we admit them to our markets as freely as we do 
 our own subjects. (Cheers.) I regret that such a 
 feeling should exist, and that we should be forced to 
 acknowledge its existence ; but, as it does exist, I re- 
 joice that it found expression. (Cheers.) No better 
 service was ever done to this nation, for it has enabled 
 us to show, in face of all, that while we are resolute 
 to fulfil our obligations we are equally determined 
 to maintain our rights. (Loud cheers.) 
 
 Three weeks ago, in the words of Mr. Foster, the 
 
Splendid Isolation 95 
 
 leader of the House of Commons of the Dominion of 
 Canada, "the great mother-empire stood splendidly 
 isolated." And how does she stand to-day? She 
 stands secure in the strength of her own resources, 
 in the firm resolution of her people without respect 
 to party, and in fh . abundant loyalty of her children 
 from one end of the Empire to another. (Loud cheers.) 
 The resolution which was conveyed to the Prime 
 Minister on behalf of the Australian colonies, and the 
 display of patriotic enthusiasm on the part of the 
 Dominion of Canada, came to us as a natural response 
 to the outburst of national spirit in the United 
 Kingdom, and as a proof that British hearts beat in 
 unison throughout the world, whatever may be the 
 distances that separate us. (Cheers.) 
 
 Then let us cultivate those sentiments. Let us 
 do all in our power by improving our communica- 
 tions, by developing our commercial relations, by 
 co-operating in mutual defence — (cheers) — and none 
 of us then will ever feel isolated ; no part of the 
 empire will stand alone, so long as it can count upon 
 the common interest of all in its welfare and in its 
 security. (Cheers.) That is the moral I have derived 
 from recent events. That is the lesson I desire to 
 impress on my countrymen. In the words of Tenny- 
 son, let 
 
 " Britain's myriad voices call, 
 ' Sons, be welded each and all, 
 Into one Imperial whole, 
 One with Britain, heart and soul I 
 One life, one flag, one fleet, one Throne ! ' " 
 
96 Splendid Isolation 
 
 (Loud cheers.) And in the time to come, the time 
 that must come, when these colonies of ours have 
 grown in stature, in population, and in strength, 
 this league of kindred nations, this federation of 
 Greater Britain, will not only provide for its own 
 security, but will be a potent factor in maintaining 
 the peace of the world. (Cheers.) 
 
 Our guest to-night goes out to take his part in 
 this work of drawing tighter the bonds which unite 
 us to our children in the Antipodes. He goes to an 
 infant colony, an infant which is destined to become 
 a giant, and the future possibilities of which no man 
 can measure. Queensland has an area, which — shall 
 I say ? — is three times greater than the German 
 Empire. (Laughter and cheers.) It has a soil which 
 can produce anything. It has vast mineral resources. 
 In a generation its population has increased fifteen- 
 fold. It has already a revenue of three or four 
 millions sterling. It has completed 2500 miles of 
 railway. It has exports valued at ten millions 
 sterling, all of them, except a small fraction, coming 
 to the United Kingdom or to some of the British 
 possessions. Yet this colony of Queensland, great as 
 it is, is only one of seven, all equally important, 
 equally energetic, equally prosperous, equally loyal. 
 (Cheers.) I say that the relations between these 
 colonies and ourselves are questions of momentous 
 import to us both, and I hope that our rulers and 
 our people will leave no stone unturned to show the 
 store that we all set on the continued amity, the 
 
Splendid Isolation 97 
 
 continued aflfection, of onr kindred beyond the sea. 
 That is the message we ask Lord Lamington to take 
 with him, and we wish him health and nrosreritv in 
 
 ». ^ y 
 
 the colony over which he is about to preside. (Loud 
 cheers.) 
 
 Jn rcspntuJinff to the toast of " The Chairman,'"' 
 which 7cas proposed by Sir James Gar rick, Mr. 
 Chamberlain said : 
 
 Nothing could be more gratifying to me than 
 that this toast should have been proposed by the 
 eloquent representative of the colony which we 
 have met to honour as well as its future Governor, 
 and nothing could be more agreeable than the 
 kindly response which you have given to the 
 toast. It almost emboldens me to think that there 
 may yet be occasions upon which 1 shall venture 
 to address my fellow-countrymen — (laughter and 
 cheers) — a point on which, I admit, I have had grave 
 doubts since I have become acquainted with certain 
 criticisms of my recent performances. (Laughter.) 
 When I became Secretary of State for the Colonies I 
 accepted with that office certain duties, not the least 
 pleasant being that of presiding over gatherings 
 similar to this. I attended a meeting of the friends 
 of South Africa on an occasion interesting especially 
 to our colony of Natal, and I made a speech upon 
 that occasion in which, in my simple and ingenuous 
 way — (laughter) — I ventured to point out that this 
 
 (i 
 
98 Splendid Isolation 
 
 was on the whole a considerable Empire, and that any 
 true view of its perspective would take into account 
 the greatness of the colonies, and the magnitude of 
 their resources, as well as the past history of the 
 mother country. And thereupon I was surprised to 
 read, in the report of a speech of a minor luminary of 
 the late Government — (laughter) — on the occasion of 
 the recent raid into the Transvaal, that that unfor- 
 tunate occurrence was entirely due to the " spread- 
 eagle speech " which I had made. (Laughter.) It 
 is extraordinary what great events spring from 
 trifling causes. I had no conception that my words 
 would travel so far or have so great an influence. To 
 the best of my knowledge and belief, 1 have never 
 made a " spread-eagle " speech in my life. (Hear, 
 hear.) I think I have bean able to distinguish 
 between patriotism and jingoism. (Cheers.) But 
 in order that there may be no mistake, I desire to say 
 now, in the most formal way, that the few remarks 
 which I have addressed to you to-night are not to be 
 taken as an intimation to any individual to carry on 
 war on his own account — (laughter) — or to make an 
 invasion upon a friendly nation with which we are at 
 present at peace. (More laughter.) But this is not 
 all, because this afternoon I read in an evening news- 
 paper that this same speech, which I thought so 
 natural and so innocent, was really the dictating 
 cause of our diflSculties in British Guiana, and of the 
 complications with our cousins across the Atlantic. 
 It appears that in speaking of Imperial unity, in 
 
Splendid Isolation 99 
 
 endeavouring to popularise that idea among my 
 countrymen, I am giving offence to other nations. 
 
 Gentlemen, I cannot help thinking that Lord Rose- 
 bery was mistaken, when, a short time ago, he said that 
 the " Little Englanders " no longer existed among us. 
 (Cheers.) A pretty pass we must have come to if 
 the Minister who is responsible for the British colo- 
 nies is forbidden to speak of their future, of their 
 greatness — (loud cheers) — of the importance of main- 
 taining friendly relations with them, of the necessity 
 of promoting the unity of the British race, for fear 
 of giving offence. (Renewed cheers.) I remember 
 a story of a certain burgomaster in a continental 
 town to whom complaints were made that naughty 
 boys were accustomed to throw mud upon the passers- 
 by. He was asked to intervene, and he issued a 
 proclamation which was to the effect that all respect- 
 able inhabitants were requested to wear their second- 
 hand clothes in order not to give offence. (Loud 
 cheers.) I do not so understand the position which 
 I hold. (Loud cheers.) I decline to speak with 
 bated breath of our colonies for fear of giving offence 
 to foreign nations. We mean them no harm ; we hope 
 they mean us none. But not for any such considera- 
 tion will we be withheld from speaking of points 
 which have for us the greatest interest and upon 
 which the future of our Empire depends. (Cheers.) 
 Sir James Garrick has kindly attributed to me very 
 creditable motives in seeking the office which has been 
 conferred upon me. He is perhaps not far wrong in 
 
loo splendid Isolation 
 
 thinking that I have long believed that the futare of 
 the colonies and the future of this country were inter- 
 dependent, and that this was a creative time, that 
 this was the opportunity which, once let slip, might 
 never recur, for bringing together all the people who 
 are under the JSritish flag, and for consolidating 
 them into a great self-sustaining and self- protecting 
 Empire whose future will be worthy of the traditions 
 of the race. (Loud cheers.) 
 
A Noble Heritage 
 
 Congress of Chambers of Commerce of 
 THE Empire, London, June io, 1896 
 
 On Juiie 10^ 1806^ Mr. Chamhaiahi prcskhd at the 
 banquet luid at the Ilolhorn Restaurant in eonneetion 
 with the third Congress of the Chambers of Commeree 
 of the Empire. After propofiin^ the toa.sts of " The 
 Qiieen'''' and " The Prinee ami Prinecss of Wales atul 
 the Royal Family^ Mr, Chamberlain said : — 
 
 I HAVE now to propose to you the toast of the even- 
 ing, "Commerce and the Empire," and <jentlemen, 
 although this is a toast of infinite sc^pe which appeals 
 to our imagination as well as to our material intei est, 
 I hope to observe in my remarks upon it the brevity 
 of which the compounder of the toast list has set me 
 an example. He has found it possible to put before 
 you a toast of this magnitude in what practically 
 amounts to two words. Succinct as he has been, he 
 might have been still briefer, for I believe that the 
 toast of the Empire would have carried with it all 
 that is meant by commerce and the Empire, because, 
 
102 A Noble Heritage 
 
 gentlemen, the Empire, to parody a celebrated ex- 
 pression, is commerce. It was created by commerce, 
 it is founded on commerce, and it could not exist a 
 day without commerce. (Cheers.) But this fact 
 does not derogate in the slightest degree from the 
 high ideal which we have formed of that world-wide 
 dominion, which covers so large a portion of the 
 earth's surface, and which to so many hundreds of 
 millions of persons has brought civilisation and 
 security and peace. (Cheers.) It is true that the 
 great Napoleon called us a nation of shopkeepers ; 
 but we may bear in mind that it was his ambition to 
 open shop himself — (cheers and laughter) — and I 
 think the taunt was born rather of jealousy than of 
 contempt. (Cheers.) The fact is history teaches us 
 that no nation has ever achieved real greatness with- 
 out the aid of commerce, and the greatness of no nation 
 has survived the decay of its trade. Well, then, gentle- 
 men, we have reason to be prcud of our commerce and 
 to be resolved to guard it from attack. (Cheers.) 
 
 If I were to ask myself the oft-repeated question, 
 whether this Empire is destined to follow the empires 
 of antiquity and to perish, and the memory of it to be 
 forgotten, or whether we are to sink like some of our 
 rivals into a condition of mediocrity or obscurity, I 
 confess my answer would depend not so much upon 
 what may be done or said by the population of these 
 small islands, but rather upon the eventual deter- 
 mination of that greater Britain which forms, in 
 space at any rate, the larger portion of the Empire — 
 
A Noble Heritage 103 
 
 (cheers) — and upon the arrangements which they 
 may make to bind us together in closer union. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 Gentlemen, the advantages of such a union are now 
 universally appreciated. They are becoming the 
 commonplaces of after-dinner oratory. No o-ie now 
 has to argue for the principle. We in this country 
 are, I think, pretty well convinced of the assured 
 future of our colonies and our dependencies. (Cheers.) 
 There may have been times, but it is long ago, when 
 these great countries, with their enormous poten- 
 tialities, were not appreciated in the United Kingdom. 
 We know now their capabilities for the production 
 of every article of general necessity or general use. 
 We know of their enormous mineral and natural 
 lesources. We know that they must inevitably grow 
 in wealth and in power and in intellectual strength. 
 We know that day by day they are attracting to 
 themijelves a vigorous and intelligent population. 
 (Cheers.) But knowing all that, is it wonderful that 
 we desire that the ties of blood and of language, of 
 laws and of religion, which now bind us so closely 
 together should never be loosened by selfish compe- 
 tition, by unworthy jealousy ? — which nevertheless 
 insensibly spring up even between kindred nations 
 unless their institutions are linked together by some- 
 thing more material than sympathy. (Cheers.) More 
 and more our sons leave our shores and go to distant 
 lands, and we desire that the lands to which they go 
 should be British like the land that they leave. 
 
I04 A Noble Heritage 
 
 (Cheers.) We desire that if they leave us they 
 should continue to associate themselves with what 
 they leave behind, and should continue to cherish our 
 aspirations for the greatness of our common race. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 That is our position, but am I wrong in thinking 
 that the colonies share our feelings and share them 
 to the full — that they have no idea of cutting them- 
 selves adrift from the great history of the mother 
 land, from the glorious traditions in which we find 
 the germs and origins of the ordered liberty which 
 they enjoy, from the history of the struggles in which 
 their ancestors took no mean part, and from all the 
 common pride in the glories of art and literature 
 which, perhaps, more even than our victories in arms, 
 have made the name of Britain illustrious ? (Cheers.) 
 No, gentlemen, I believ^e that our colonies recognise 
 the fact that the life of a great nation is fuller than 
 the life of a small one, and the life of an old nation 
 more instructive than the life of a new one; and 
 I am convinced that none of our colonies will be 
 backward in the effort to secure and maintain this 
 connection, nor ready to abandon its part in the 
 heritage which belongs to all of them. (Cheers.) 
 
 We ask you who come from the colonies to attach 
 yourselves closer to us. The benefit is not all on our 
 side. It is not to a decrepit ruin that you are asked 
 to cling. (Cheers.) You have come here, and I think 
 you will agree with me in saying that there are no 
 signs here of waning life or decaying greatness. 
 
A Noble Heritage 105 
 
 (Cheers.) The continued growth of this country is 
 almost as remarkable as the growth of those sister 
 nations that we call our colonies. I could name large 
 cities in our midst the annual addition to whose popu- 
 
 , lation could furnish many townships even in most 
 vigorous communities. (Cheers.) Surely, then, it is 
 better to remain a valued associate in such an Empire 
 as this than to sink isolated and separate into a fifth- 
 rate Power. (Cheers.) It is better for your commerce 
 and for our commerce that we all alike should share 
 in the free interchange of commodities between 
 300 millions of people, than that we should be en- 
 gaged in setting up barriers, one against the other, 
 and in exciting a competition from which all will be 
 sufferers. The unity of the Empire is recommended 
 to us by sentiment, and sentiment is one of the 
 greatest forces in human affairs, but it is recom- 
 mended to us no less by our material interests ; and 
 it is, in my opinion, the duty of every statesman, 
 whether in this country or in the colonies, to make 
 permanent and to secure this union by basing it upon 
 material interests ; and, although I am ready enough 
 to admit that there is much that still remains to be 
 done — we are sowing the seed of which, it may be, 
 we shall not reap the harvest — yet I am optimist 
 enough to think that the forces of cohesion are 
 
 :, greater than the forces that tend to disruption. 
 
 ' (Cheers.) 
 
 I rejoice in everything which tends to identify the 
 
 ' ' commercial life of the colonies with that of the 
 
1 06 A Noble Heritage 
 
 United Kingdom, and therefore I welcome sucli a 
 congress as this which is met in our metropolis to-day, 
 and I cannot doubt that its deliberations, with the 
 opportunity which it affords for personal intercourse 
 and communion, will be fruitful of future good. I 
 appeal to the representatives of the commerce of the 
 United Kingdom to facilitate our task, to make sacri- 
 fices, if need be, to secure this great object and ideal ; 
 and I appeal to the delegates from the colonies to 
 recognise and to reciprocate the spirit in which we bid 
 them welcome, and to recognise the pleasure with 
 which we see them once more "at home" — (loud 
 cheers) — and I ask them to carry back to all the 
 quarters of the globe where the Union Jack floats 
 over a British community the assurance of the affec- 
 tion, the pride, and the confidence with which the 
 mother country regards her distant children. (Loud 
 cheers.) 
 
The Expansion of the 
 Empire 
 
Pegging out Claims for 
 Posterity 
 
 House of Commons, March 20, 1893 
 
 In December 1890, Captain lAigard induced King" 
 Mwanga, of Uganda, to sign a treaty acknoxoledging 
 Jbr two years the supremacy of the British East 
 Africa Company. Oimng to tlie incessant intrigues 
 of the Catholic or French Party, Mwanga was en- 
 couraged to try to free himselfj'rom allegiance to the 
 Company, ami for some time the country was in a 
 state of anarchy, until Captain Lugard succeeded in 
 restoring peace. Meanwhile the Directors of the Com- 
 pany, with theh' comparatively small capital of half a 
 million, ami without the power to raise taxes, htul 
 beconw somewhat aj)f ailed at tlie vast responsibility 
 caM upon them., and in 1891 gave it to be umlerstood 
 that it zvas their intention to retire from Uganda. 
 Tliey were, however, induced to hold on, till in 
 September 189'2, a letter Jrom the Foreign Office was 
 sent to them accepting the principle of evacuation, but 
 offeriTig assistance to the Company to pi'olong the 
 
I lo Pegging out Claims for Posterity 
 
 occupation to the end of March 1893. In January 
 1893^ Sir Gerald Portal^ Her Majedf/.H representative 
 at Zanzibar^ reus appointed to proceed to Uganda to 
 inquire into the position^ and to furnish information 
 to Mr. Glud.Hto^ne'fi Government to enable them to 
 decide us to the course to be ultimately adopted. It 
 was in connection with this Eapedition that Mr. 
 Labouchere moved a I'eduction of £5000 in tlie Esti- 
 mates^ and in speaking on this Motion on March fW, 
 1893, Mr. Chamberlain said : — 
 
 The discussion, opened by the honourable member 
 for Northampton (Mr. Labouchere), and carried on 
 by the honourable member for Sunderland (Mr. 
 Storey), has been an extremely interesting and im- 
 portant one, and many serious questions have been 
 raised in the course of the debate. I confess that 
 when I listened to my two honourable friends I 
 thought that their primary object was to show to the 
 Committee the difference between Liberals in office 
 and Liberals out of office — (laughter) — between 
 Liberals above the gangway and Liberals below the 
 gangway ; and I certainly think that they proved 
 that while Liberals above the gangway are extremely 
 latitudinarian in their acceptance of Liberal 
 principles, Liberals below the gangway remain 
 rigidly sectarian as long, at all events, as there is no 
 prospect of their being transferred to the bench 
 above the gangway. (Laughter.) That is no doubt 
 an extremely interesting question, but it is one on 
 
Pegging out Claims for Posterity 1 1 1 
 
 which, [ think, that an outsider like rayeelf, who haa 
 been excommunicated from the congregation — 
 (laiighlei) — has reaiiy veiy little right to offer an 
 opinion. I do not like to interfere in domestic 
 squabbles. I know the proverb which says it is 
 wrong to put your (inger between the bark and the 
 tree, and therefore I shall leave my honourable 
 friends to settle this private question with my right 
 honourable friends upon the Government bench. 
 (Laughter.) 
 
 But there is another issue that has been raised 
 which perhaps has a greater, a more general, and 
 even a national interest, and it was put, to mj'^ mind, 
 extremely well by my honourable friend the member 
 for Sunderland. He said that he as a Radical — I 
 may perhaps in passing say that there are Radicals 
 and Radicals — (laughter) — and that, although 1 fully 
 admit his claim to be a Radical, I hope he will admit 
 that there are other Radicals who do not hold alto- 
 gether with his opinions — (bear, hear) — was opposed 
 to the expansion of the Empire, and that he would 
 not spend a penny for any such object so long as 
 there are poor and distressed and destitute persons 
 at home for whom the money which can be afforded 
 by the State might be expended with great advan- 
 tage. That is a very important statement, and I 
 should like to know how far it is likely to meet with 
 general concurrence. I wonder, in the first place, how 
 far my honourable friend's economy will carry him ? 
 Take, for instance, one of the subjects which we have 
 
1 12 Pegging out Claims for Posterity 
 
 been discussing to-night. We are spontling at the 
 present time ^{^ 200,000 a year, which might be spent 
 on the poor anrl destitute at home, in the endeavour 
 to put down the slave trade. Is my honourable 
 friend prepared to move that that expenditure should 
 cease ? 
 
 Mr. Storey : Tliat is not a question of expenditure 
 for the expansion of the Empire. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain : No, no. My honourable friend 
 made two statements. He said, in the first place, that 
 he was opposed to the expansion of the Empire. That 
 may stand by itself. But he said, also, that he was 
 opposed especially to the expenditure of money abroad 
 which might be laid out for the advantage of persons 
 at home who are poor and destitute ; and the infer- 
 ence every one who heard him would draw was that, 
 so long as there were poor and destitute persons in 
 the United Kingdom, they had the first claim upon 
 our consideration. Then, I ask him whether, for 
 himself and for those whom he professes to represent, 
 he considers that the ^200,000 a year now spent in 
 order to put down the slave trade might be better 
 spent on the poor and destitute at home ? 
 
 Mr. Storey explained that his statement was that 
 he was not prepared to spend money on these wild 
 expeditions for expanding the Empire in Africa or 
 elsewhere so long as so much was needed at home. 
 If he had to choose to-morrow in this House as to 
 whether he would spend ;^200,000 a year in improv- 
 ing the slums in London, or in putting an end to the 
 
Pegging out Claims for Posterity 1 13 
 
 slave trade, he would speud it in attending to the 
 slums of London. 
 
 Mr. CiiAMUEKLAiN : I am much obliged to my 
 honourable friend. He conlirms my suspicion, lie 
 would to-morrow prefer to devote the j^200,ooo a 
 year, which this country spends in endeavouring to 
 put down the slave trade, on the improvement of the 
 position of persons in the slun^s. I am not sayiug 
 for a moment that it is not an arguable contention, 
 but I am curious to know how far my honourable 
 friend is consistent. We have it that the honourable 
 member thinks the hereditary duty and responsibility 
 which this country has taken on itself in regard to 
 the sUwe trade of less importance than the now duty 
 which "'e foresees in the future of dealing with the 
 slums. (Laughter.) I am tempted, however, by his 
 answer, to ask him how he reconciles this intense 
 sympathy with the poor with the vote which 1 under- 
 stand he is going to give on Friday night — to spend 
 something like ;^300,ooo a year in paying members 
 of Parliament — (much laughter and cheers) — who do 
 not live in slums — (laughter) — and who do not want 
 to be paid. (Renewed laughter.) Buu I must put 
 another question to my honourable friend, and I ask 
 it because I think he is the best representative of a 
 view which I regard as consistent, arguable, and as 
 well worthy of serious consideration. He is opposed 
 to all expansion of the Empire, on the ground, as I 
 understand, that we have enough to do at home. 
 
 Now, suppose this view, which he puts before the 
 
 H 
 
114 Pegging out Claims for Posterity 
 
 Committee, and which will not be nccepted to-day by 
 the majority of the (Committee, had been put fifty 
 or one hundred years ago, and Huppose it had been 
 accepted by tlie Parliament of that day. I ank myself 
 what would now be the position of this country, what 
 would be the position of persons in the slums for 
 wlioiri my honourable friend has so much sympathy 
 and feeling? (Hear, hear) Does my honourable 
 friend believe, if it were not for the gigantic foreign 
 trade that has been created by this policy of expan- 
 sion, that we could subsist in this country in any 
 kind of way — I do not say in luxury, but in the con- 
 dition in which, at the present time, a great part of 
 our population lives ? Does he think that we could 
 support in these small islands forty millions of 
 people, without the trade by which a great part of 
 our population earns its living — a trade which has 
 been brought to us by the action of our ancestors, 
 who in centuries past did not shrink from making 
 sacrifices of blood and treasure, and who were not 
 ashamed — if I may borrow the expression which has 
 been referred to more than once to-night — to peg out 
 claims for posterity ? Are we, who enjoy the advan- 
 tages of the sacrifices which they made, to be meaner 
 than those who preceded us ? Are we to do nothing 
 for those who come after us ? Are we to sacrifice 
 that which those who went before have gained for 
 us ? If this idea of closing all the doors through 
 which all new trade is to come to us be accepted by 
 this House, at least we ought to adopt some means 
 
Pegging out Cliiims for Posterity 1 15 
 
 by wliidi oiir ijopiilation can be kept statioiinry ; und 
 we mIiouM bear in iiiiiid that when our ancehtors 
 pegged out clainiH tor us in many partn of tin* world, 
 theHe were not, at the time, more promising tlian tho 
 claiuiH which we are now marking out. (('heers.) 
 
 What are we asked to do to-night? Tliia is not a 
 question ol' Uganda oidy ; but we are asked to reverse 
 the whole policy of this country — a policy undertaken, 
 I believe, with the consent of the vast majority of tho 
 people of this country — and to relinrpiish the vast 
 advantages which have accrued to us by the surrender 
 of Heligoland, and by the treaties and engagements 
 with foreign States, and to secure which our country 
 has made sacrifices, in the belief that we were, in 
 return, getting a (juid pro (juo. That quid pro quo we 
 are now asked to sacrifice, and are asked to give up 
 all share in what has been called the partition of 
 Africa. (Cheers.) JSJy honourable friend almo&t 
 always speaks in the first person singular, therefore 
 I do not suppose that he claims to speak for more 
 than himself, and I think that he will find himself 
 to-night in a nunority. In the country I believe that 
 he is in a still smaller minority. (Cheers.) I be- 
 lieve that the people oi' this counti-y have definitely 
 made up their minds on this question, ajid have 
 determined that tbcv will take their full share in dis- 
 posing of these new lands and in the work of civilisa- 
 tion they have to carry out there. (Cheers.) They 
 are justified in that determination — justified by the 
 spirit of the past, justified by that spirit of adventure 
 
1 1 6 Pegging out Claims for Posterity 
 
 and enterprise wliicli lias rendered us, of all nations, 
 peculiarly fitted to carry out the work of colonisation. 
 (Cheers.) It is a curious fact, and one which I have 
 never been able to explain, that, of all the nations in 
 the world, we are the only one which has been able 
 to carry out this work of colonisation without great 
 cost to ourselves. Take, for instance, the case of 
 France, which has been ruling for so many years in 
 Algeria. Up to this moment, although French rule 
 there has been beneficent, Algeria costs to the French 
 exchequer large sums annually. The same is the case 
 with regard to Tunis, and, also of the foreign posses- 
 sions of Germany, and the possessions of Italy in 
 Abyssinia. It is likewise true of the foreign posses- 
 sions of Portugal. Except in the case of Spain, in 
 the discovery of America, and the early history of 
 Holland, up to comparatively recent times, this is the 
 case with the possessions of all foreign countries, which 
 have not been able to carry out their colonisation 
 permanently without expense to their subjects. 
 
 All these facts should lead us to be hopeful in 
 undertaking this new work of colonisation which does 
 not differ from what has been done in other directions 
 in the past. If we are not going to give up this 
 mission — I adopt the expression which has been em- 
 ployed — let us look the matter in the face and be 
 prepared, if need be, for some sacrifice of life and 
 money, which, in the first instance, we may have to 
 make. We have come to the point at which we 
 should not consider life so sacred that it may not be 
 
Pegging out Claims for Posterity 1 17 
 
 sacrificed to save life. I hold that, both in matters 
 of life and money, we may sacrifice both, if we see 
 before ns a prospect of good, and a satisfaction for 
 the sacrifice we may have to make. (Cheers.) This 
 country has by large majorities declared its convic- 
 tion that it is our duty to take our share in the work 
 of civilisation in Africa. We are not, therefore, 
 prepared to sympathise with my honourable friend 
 below me, nor to count the cost which, in the long 
 run, will prove to be well expended. (Cheers.) 
 
 I leave the general question and come to the par- 
 ticular matter of Uganda. (Mr. Storey : " Hear, 
 hear.") My honourable friend is pleased to hear this, 
 but let me remark that he said nothing whatever 
 about it. (Laughter.) His observations were directed 
 to the general question of the expansion of the 
 empire. I say in the first place — and, after all, I do 
 not think that our divisions should make us indif- 
 ferent to national honour — (cheers) — I say our honour 
 is pledged; and whatever you may think of the 
 matter, it is too late to go back. (Cheers.) The 
 Government are in a state of suspense. They are 
 always in a state of suspense. (Laughter.) I respect 
 the honourable member for Sunderland for having a 
 definite policy. I, and those who agree with me, have 
 also a XDolicy, and I believe in the expansion of the 
 empire , and we are not ashamed to confess that we 
 have that belief. We are not at all troubled by 
 accusations of Jingoism. But the Government have, 
 on the other hand, no policy whatever. (Cheers.) 
 
1 1 8 Pegging out Claims for Posterity 
 
 My profound sympathy is given to the Government, 
 who are endeavouring once again to do what no 
 Government has ever done with success — namely, 
 to ride two horses and to promote two different 
 policies at the same time. (Laughter.) Here is 
 my honourable friend below me, the member for 
 Leicester (Mr. Picton), the great opportunist of the 
 present Parliament. (Laughter.) He has an excuse 
 for the Government. I do not know whether the 
 Government approve of their defender — (renewed 
 laughter) — he says that he approves of their policy 
 of inquiry. This policy of inquiry? Is there any 
 man in this House who believes in it? (Cheers.) 
 The Government have plenty of information at their 
 disposal ; they know now all that they will know when 
 8ir Gerald Portal reports; but it is difficult to go 
 against old friends; it is better to appoint a commission 
 than to come to a decision. (Hear, hear.) I wonder 
 they did not send out a Judge of the High Court. 
 (Great laughter.) But they have sent a " commis- 
 sion of inquiry" to Uganda, and, of course, the 
 commission cannot report until very late in the 
 session ; and then, as my honourable friend, the 
 member for Leicester, says, the one supreme object of 
 the Government will have been accomplished, and 
 then, perhaps, he will support them in attending a 
 little to what he calls subsidiary questions. 
 
 It is a "Tiost convenient doctrine which my honour- 
 able friend, who is a leader among the new Radicals, 
 has now taken up. He never mentioned his new 
 
Pegging out Claims for Posterity 119 
 
 convictions in the time of the late Government; I 
 never heard him explain then that the Government 
 might have in hand a supreme object which would 
 lead them to disregard all subsidiary ones. The only 
 things he cared about then were the subsidiary 
 questions. (Laughter and cheers.) I do not accuse 
 him of inconsistency ; it is delightful to note tho 
 growth of his mind. (Great laughter.) 
 
 I was saying thai in Uganda we cannot go back if 
 we would. What have we done there ? By a charter 
 we gave to a company certain powers. Not only was 
 the company intrusted with discretion, but distinct 
 and definite pressure was put upon it to go forward, 
 and to prevent other ccintries from coming in and 
 taking possession of territories which were within the 
 sphere of British influence. Rightly or wrongly, the 
 company yielded to that pressure of public opinion : 
 they went forward in Uganda ; they broke up such 
 government as there was in Uganda. I am told the 
 honourable member for Dumfries has said, in an 
 excellent and powerful speech, that the normal con- 
 dition there was one of massacre. Of course, there 
 was a Government there — such a Government as you 
 may expect in those countries ; and if we have no 
 business there whatever, and no responsibility, and 
 never intend to take any, we had better have left 
 those people to work out their own salvation for 
 themselves, be it by massacre or in any other way. 
 But, as a matter of fact, we did not do so. We broke 
 up the authority of those who were held to be chiefs 
 
1 20 Pegging out Claims for Posterity 
 
 among the people. We came in at a cost which to 
 my mind was trifling in comparison with the results 
 achieved. We have secured for Uganda the pax 
 Britannica which has been so beneficial in India. 
 
 I heard the Prime Minister (Mr. Gladstone) to-night 
 speak about the sad and deplorable circumstances in 
 Uganda ; I think he spoke of those occurrences as 
 constituting a massacre. There was no massacre at 
 all. What existed in Uganda at that time were 
 anarchy and civil war of the worst kind. If we 
 had not been there, thousands, and perhaps hundreds 
 of thousands, of people would have been cruelly mas- 
 sacred; and, after the victory of one party, what re- 
 mained of the other would have been cruelly tortured. 
 
 Captain Lugard was on the spot. Let me say, in 
 passing, that I sometimes feel we do not do justice to 
 our bravest and noblest citizens. Of Captain Lugard 
 I know no more than any member of the House may 
 know — I know him only through reading his works. 
 He was, I believe, an Indian officer who was sent to 
 Uganda under the orders of the company ; he under- 
 took a work of the highest responsibility and the 
 greatest importance. Any one who reads his accounts 
 impartially will agree in this — that he was, at all 
 events, a man of extraordinary power and capacity, 
 tact, discretion, and courage. Courage is a common 
 virtue, but he has shown it in no common way, and 
 he has exhibited a modesty which is beyond all 
 praise. (Cheers.) It is something for England to 
 glory in that we can still boast such servants as these. 
 
Pegging out Claims for Posterity 121 
 
 I was saying that he was present in Uganda when 
 this state of things arose. He took his measures. 
 In the confusion which followed, four hundred lives 
 at the outside were sacrificed. Captain Lugard him- 
 self puts the number at considerably less. It was 
 deplorable, no doubt; but that sacrifice cheaply pur- 
 chased the peace and temporary civilisation which 
 followed. Long before now the people would have 
 been at each other's throats but for the presence of 
 the English. You gave a charter to the company, 
 and through it have undertaken this responsibility ; 
 you have never disavowed them ; and now you cannot 
 leave that country whatever it may cost you. Even 
 if, as the honourable member for Northampton said, 
 it cost you another expedition, you are bound at all 
 hazards to fulfil the obligations of this country, to 
 maintain the faith of this country to the people to 
 whom it is pledged. 
 
 What would happen if you left ? Would not the 
 Protestants, Catholics, and Mahomedans be at one 
 another's throats, and would there not be a massacre 
 almost unparalleled in the history of Africa ? And who 
 would suffer most ? Those who have been our allies ; 
 they are the people whom we have disarmed, and who 
 would now fall an easy prey to their enemies. I do 
 not think my honourable friend contemplated sach 
 an abandonment as that. He was quite ready to 
 protest against any further extension of the empire. 
 But the extension has been accomplished, and we are 
 dealing now with what has taken place and cannot be 
 
122 Pegging out Claims tor Posterity 
 
 recalled ; and I say it would be as great a disgrace as 
 ever befel England if you were to retire from a 
 country whose prosperity and the lives of whose 
 people depend absolutely upon your continuance of 
 the hold you have upon them. 
 
 The honourable member for Northampton has made 
 one of those speeches to which we are accustomed. It 
 was a very amusing speech on a very serious subject, 
 but I do not think that questions of international 
 policy ought to be determined by satire. (Cheers.) 
 The consequences of the decision at which this com- 
 mittee is about to arrive will extend to long years 
 after you have made it. (Cheers.) The decision at 
 which you are about to arrive involves the faith of 
 Great Britain, and the influence of Great Britain, not 
 only in Uganda, but in the whole of Africa, for news 
 travels fast even in that vast continent. (Cheers.) 
 
 The honourable member has talked about the cost 
 of an expedition to Uganda, but I do not understand 
 this measuring duty and honour by the money it 
 costs. (Cheers.) The honourable member for North- 
 ampton, however, is only following the example oi 
 the right honourable gentleman the Chief Secretary 
 for Ireland (Mr. Morley) in that respect. (Cheers.) 
 If we have to protect people who are in danger 
 of their lives we ought not to count the cost. 
 (Cheers.) According to the argument of the hon- 
 ourable member, if it will cost ;^io we may protect 
 their lives, but if it will cost a million we had better 
 keep the money in our pockets. (Hear, hear.) I 
 
Pegging out Claims for Posterity 123 
 
 believe that the honourable member for Northampton 
 has ludicrously exaggerated the cost of this matter, 
 lie has told the committee that it will be necessary 
 to bring up the British troops in large numbers if we 
 are to have an expedition like that to the Soudan. 
 But Uganda is only six hundred miles from the coast, 
 while the Soudan is two thousand miles from the 
 coast. 
 
 Mr. LAnouCHERE ; I was referring to the expedition 
 to Suakin. 
 
 Mr. CiiAMHEKLAiN : The honourable member speaks 
 as if Suakin were really a serious part of our work in 
 connection with the Soudan. Our position in Suakin 
 was abandoned. The railway was abandoned. I 
 confess now that I wish it had not been abandoned. 
 (Cheers.) The heavy part of that expedition was the 
 cost incurred in the attempted rescue of Gordon. 
 (Cheers.) The two expeditions are absolutely in- 
 comparable. All the evidence — and I believe it to 
 be good evidence — goes to show that the peace of 
 Uganda and of the neighbouring countries can be 
 secured at a comparatively small expenditure. A 
 few English officers with a small body of Soudanese 
 troops will be able to keep the country quiet. The 
 honourable member for Northampton talks of the 
 cost of erecting forts, but all the forte that will be 
 necessarv are mere stockades, which can be erected 
 at the cost of a few shillings, and which will be 
 amply sufficient to withstand the assaults of savages. 
 (Hear, hear.) I do not see the slightest reason for 
 
124 P^gg^^g out Claims for Posterity 
 
 believing that the cost of preserving the peace, and 
 of policing the country, need be anything more than 
 the taxation of the country itself will bear. We have 
 had this same ((uestion argued over and over again 
 with regard to other parts of Africa, and in every 
 case the discretion and the prudence of a few l*]nglish 
 officers has enabled the peace of the district to be 
 preserved without a single farthing of expense to the 
 English Exchequer. 
 
 The honourable member spoke of possible danger 
 that would arise from the attacks of the Mahdi and 
 Senoussi. As for the Mahdi, those who know best do 
 not fear him in any way. Mahdism is a periodic out- 
 burst of fanaticism which is nearly exhausted, and I 
 believe that in a very short time the Soudan will fall 
 like a ripe pear into the lap of Egypt. (Hear, hear.) 
 The Senoussi is a person of a very different character, 
 and it is very difficult to prophesy what will be the 
 future of the party he leads. Tradition and all in- 
 formation as to this sect are, however, entirely in a 
 different direction, and he is not at all likely to interfere 
 with the position we may acquire in Uganda. Putting 
 aside these two improbable hypotheses, there is no 
 reason to believe that the cost of our protectorate or 
 rule in Uganda is likely to be anything but moderate 
 in the first instance, and nothing at all in the course 
 of a very few years. 
 
 As to the commerce of Uganda, the late Mr. 
 Mackay, the African missionary, who was so univer- 
 sally respected, said that the climate of Uganda 
 
Pegging out Claims for Posterity 125 
 
 is excellent, that the country can produce almost 
 anything, and that the only difliculty is the want of 
 transport and of British enterprise; but that when once 
 those two things were secured there was no reason 
 whatever why Uganda should not be a most pros- 
 perous, even a wealthy, country. Ilow can we expect 
 the commerce of Uganda to thrive when the cost of 
 traffic between that country and the coast amounts to 
 about ;{^200 per ton ? But what would the honour- 
 able member have said about the cost of carriage to 
 the North- West of Canada a hundred years ago ? 
 Until the Canadian Pacific Railway was constructed 
 there was scarcely any trade in those great dominions 
 of the British Crown. I maintain that the prospects 
 of Uganda are quite equal to those of the North-West 
 of Canada fifty years ago. This is what Lord Kose- 
 bery means by pegging out claims for posterity. 
 Lord liosebery knows that the returns from Uganda 
 cannot be immediate, but he knows that the returns 
 some time or another are certain. 
 
 This brings me to another point. I have quoted 
 the opinions of Mr. Mackay to the effect that you 
 cannot have a commerce in Uganda without a means 
 of transport. I call the policy of the Government 
 one of drifting. They might just as well take a bold 
 stand now, because the result will be the same. They 
 have committed themselves just as much by sending 
 this mission as they could have done by saying, *' We 
 are going to retain the country, and make the best of 
 it." (Hear, hear.) The question is, Are we going 
 
126 Pegging out Claims for Posterity 
 
 to make the best ot* it, and how much time are we 
 going to waste before we make the best of it ? I 
 believe that nothing can be done in this territory 
 unless you are prepared t ^ 'nake the railway at a 
 cost of some two-and-a-haU" millions, or of three 
 millions, according to that groat financial authority, 
 the member for Northampton. (Ijaughter.) That 
 would be the cost if you made the whole six hundred 
 miles, but those who are best ac(|ujunted with the 
 country think that it would be sufficient at first to 
 carry the railway up to the mountains, a distance of 
 three hundred miles. If you made the line up to the 
 mountains you would get over all the country which 
 is difficult for animal porterage, and by animal 
 porterage you would be able to carry on the traffic 
 for the rest of the way. The cost of a railway for 
 three hundred miles would be a million and a half. 
 But whether the railway is to coat a million and a half 
 or three millions, you had better make up your minds 
 to-night that if you are going to stay in this territory 
 you will have to spend the money — that you will have 
 to guarantee some interest on the money in order 
 that the line may be made. I firmly believe that the 
 railway will be a good investment, and if you spend 
 this money the working classes of this country, and 
 the people in the slums, for whom the honourable 
 member for Sunderland is so anxious, will benefit, 
 for the whole of the work will, of course, be done in 
 this country, and the line will be engineered by 
 natives of this country. Even in the honourable 
 
Pegging out Claims for Posterity 1 27 
 
 member's view, therefore, the money will not be 
 wholly thrown away. I believe that the chances of 
 this railway are just as good as were the chances of 
 the railways which were built in India thirty years 
 ago and which are now producing a large revenue. 
 This railway will bring you into coninumication with 
 twelve millions of people in the countries contermi- 
 nous with the Victoria Lake and the oth'^r great 
 lakes ; and, whatever may be said of Uganda, nobody 
 will deny that the neighbouring countries, like 
 Unyoro and Usoga, are countries of enormous natural 
 wealth. As soon as you make porterage possible we 
 shall have a large commerce. 
 
 We shall get from this country gum and rubber, 
 and perhaps even wheat, and in return we shall 
 send out large quantities of our manufactures. It 
 is a most remarkable fact that as soon as we 
 created this company, and this sphere of influence, 
 the British and indeed the general trade of Zanzibar 
 increased at a perfectly marvellous rate. In the last 
 year for which we have returns it nearly doubled, 
 increasing from 72,000 to 131,000 tons. If that is 
 done in the green tree what will be done in the dry ? 
 I think, therefore, that the investment is one which 
 a rich country can wisely undertake. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 With regard to the slave trade, the railway will 
 certainly do more than anything else could do to put 
 a stop to the abominable traffic in slaves. (Hear, 
 hear.) What is the slave trade and its cause? 
 People do not make slaves from mere love of cruelty 
 
128 Pegging out Claims for Posterity 
 
 and mischief. Tliey carry on the blavo trade because 
 they get their livelihood by it, and the slave trade in 
 Africa is largely a matter of porterr,ge. Tribes are 
 enslaved in order to carry burdens down to the coast, 
 and then are sold for what they will fetch. If you 
 can give to the slave-raiding Arabs peaceful means of 
 making an honest livelihood, do you think that they 
 are so fond of war that they will not accept these 
 means ? Whenever it has been made profitable to a 
 nation or tribe to keep the peace they have always 
 done so. Take an illustration. In the old days we 
 had to fight with the people of the Punjab, and when 
 we had conquered them they supplied us with our best 
 native soldiers. But now that peace reigns, and the 
 country is prosperous, these people, who were once 
 the most warlike race in India, are confirmed agricul- 
 turists and peasants, and we cannot get from them 
 an adequate number of recruits for our army. What 
 happened in India will happen in Africa. 
 
 Make it the interest of the Arab slave traders to 
 give up the slave trade and you will see the end of 
 that traffic. Construct your railway, and thereby 
 increase the means of traffic, and you will take away 
 three-fourths if not the whole of the temptation to 
 carry on the slave trade. 
 
 I ask the Committee, Are they in earnest in this 
 matter of the slave trade ? Is the hereditary senti- 
 ment of the British people still alive ? Do we hold 
 it to be one of our prime duties, as Lord Rosebery 
 said, and great glories, to take a prominent part 
 
Pegging out Claims for Posterity 129 
 
 in Buppressing thiH trade? If we do, let un look 
 l)oIdly in the face the necesHities of the Rituation, and 
 let us spend our money wisely. We spend j{^200,ooo 
 a year for a squadron on the East coast which, I 
 am afraid, has too often increased indirectly the 
 horrors and sufferings itailed by the slave traffic, 
 and now we are asked lO sanction an expenditure 
 which I believe will be much more fruitful of good 
 results. 
 
 I wish, in conclusion, to say that I do hope that 
 the Government will take to heart this debate. They 
 get no credit from either side by taking a middle 
 course. (Cheers.) I am uncertain, whether, if the 
 majority of them follow out their wishes, they would 
 not at once pronounce in favour of the absolute eva- 
 cuation of Uganda, and whether they would not be 
 prepared to take all the risks of such a course. At 
 all events that would be a bold course, and they 
 might make their own defence, and might go to the 
 country and see if they could get approval for it. 
 But, on the other hand, they may take the course I 
 urge most earnestly upon them. I do not care 
 whether they say that course was forced upon them 
 by the proceedings of the party opposite, or in obe- 
 dience to their own wishes ; but at least they could 
 say in the present situation, and with the responsi- 
 bilities which we have undertaken, and which are 
 incumbent upon them as much as they were upon 
 their predecessors, that they will face this problem and 
 that they will carry out the policy which of course will 
 
 I 
 
1 30 Pegging out Claims for Posterity 
 
 result in the protectorate or the annexation which is 
 feared by the honourable member l;elow me, but 
 which I believe will do credit to the British name aad 
 will in the long run be in accordance both with our 
 interest and our honour. (Cheers.) 
 
Want of Employment and the 
 Development of Free Markets 
 
 Birmingham, January 22, 1894 
 
 On January 22, 1894, M^- Chamberlain presided at 
 the third annual meetings of the West Birmingham 
 Relief Association. In dealing" with the question of 
 the unemployed he argued against proposals Jbr 
 municipal workshops and Jbr tlie limitation of the 
 hours of labour, and proceeded to urge that the only 
 real remedy was to develop and extend the free 
 markets Jbr British mamjactures. He said : — 
 
 We must look this matter in tne face, and must recog- 
 nise that in order that we may have more employment 
 to give we must create more demand. (Hear, hear.) 
 Give me the demand for more goods and then I will 
 undertake to give plenty of employment in making 
 the goods ; and the only thing, in my opinion, that 
 the Government can do in order to meet this great 
 difficulty that we are considering, is so to arrange its 
 policy that every inducement shall be given to the 
 
132 Want of Employment and the 
 
 demand ; that new markets shall be created, and that 
 old markets shall be effectually developed. (Cheers.) 
 You are aware that some of my opponents please 
 themselves occasionally by finding names for me — 
 (laughter) — and among other names lately they have 
 been calling me a Jingo. (Laughter.) (Tam no more 
 a Jingo than you are. (Hear, hear.) But for the 
 reasons and arguments I have put before you to- 
 night I am convinced that it is a necessity as well as 
 a duty for us to uphold the dominion and empire 
 which we now possess. (Loud cheers.) For these 
 reasons, among others, I would never lose the hold 
 which we now have over our great Indian dependency 
 — (hear, hear) — by far the greatest and most valuable 
 of all the customers we have or ever shall have in this 
 country. For the same reasons I approve of the con- 
 tinued occupation of Egypt ; and for the same reasons 
 I have urged upon this Government, and upon pre- 
 vious Gov<imments, the necessity for using every 
 legitimate opportunity to extend our influence and 
 control in that great African continent which is now 
 being opened up to civilisation and to comme.'ce ; 
 and, lastly, it is for the same reasons that I hold that 
 our navy should be strengthened — (loud cheers) — 
 until its supremacy is so assured that we cannot be 
 shaken in any of the possessions which we hold or 
 may hold hereafter. *| 
 
 Believe me, if in 'any one of the places to which I 
 have referred any change took place which deprived 
 ns of that control and influence of which I have been 
 
Development of Free Markets 133 
 
 speaking, the first to suffer would be the working- 
 men of this country. Then, indeed, we should see a 
 distress which would not be temporary, but which 
 would be chronic, and we should find that England 
 was entirely unable to support the enormous popula- 
 tion which is now maintained by the aid of her foreign 
 trade. If the working-men of this country under- 
 stand, as I believe they do — I am one of those who 
 have had good reason through my life to rely upon 
 their intelligence and shrewdness — if they understand 
 their own interests, they will never lend any counte- 
 nance to the doctrines of those politicians who never 
 lose an opportunity of pouring contempt and abuse 
 upon the brave Englishmen, who, even at this moment, 
 in all parts of the world are carving out new dominions 
 for Britain, and are opening up fresh markets for 
 British commerce, and laying out fresh fields for 
 British labour. (Applause.) If the Little Englanders 
 had their way, not only would they refrain from 
 taking the legitimate opportunities which offer for 
 extending the empire and for securing for us new 
 markets, but I doubt whether they would even take 
 the pains which are necessary to preserve the great 
 heritage which has come down to us from our 
 ancestors. (Applause.) 
 
 When you are told that the British pioneers of 
 civilisation in Africa are filibusters, and when you are 
 asked to call them back, and to leave this great con- 
 tinent to the barbarism and superstition in which it 
 has been steeped for centuries, or to hand over to 
 
134 Want of Employment and the 
 
 foreign countries the duty which you are unwilling to 
 undertake, I ask you to consider what would have 
 happened if loo or 150 years ago your ancestors 
 had taken similar views of their responsibility ? 
 Where would be the empire on which now your 
 livelihood depends? We should have been the 
 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland ; but 
 those vast dependencies, those hundreds of millions 
 with whom we keep up a mutually beneficial rela- 
 tionship and commerce would have been the subjects 
 of other nations, who would not have been slow to 
 profit by our neglect of our opportunities and obli- 
 gations. (Applause.) 
 
 Let me give you one practical illustration, in order 
 to show what ought to be done, and may be done, in 
 order to secure employment for our people. I will 
 take the case of a country called Uganda, of which, 
 perhaps, you have recently heard a good deal. A few 
 years ago Uganda was only known to us by the 
 reports of certain entei-prising and most venturesome 
 travellers, or by the accounts which were given by 
 those self - denying missionaries who have gone 
 through all these wild and savage lands, endeavouring 
 to carry to the people inhabiting them the blessings 
 of Christianity and civilisation. (Applause.) But 
 within very recent times English authority has been 
 established in Uganda, and an English sphere of in- 
 fluence has been declared. Uganda is a most fertile 
 country. It contains every variety of climate ; in a 
 large portion of it European colonisation is perfectly 
 
Development of Free Markets 135 
 
 feasible ; the products are of the utmost richness ; 
 there is hardly anything which is of value or use to 
 us in our commerce which cannot be grown there ; but 
 in spite of these natural advantages, during the past 
 generation the country has been desolated by civil 
 strife and by the barbarities of its rulers, barbarities 
 so great that they would be almost incredible if they 
 did not come to us on the authority of thoroughly 
 trustworthy eye-witnesses. 
 
 All that is wanted to restore this country to a state 
 of prosperity, to a commercial position which it has 
 never attained before, is settled peace and order. 
 (Hear, hear.) That peace and order which we have 
 maintained for so long in India we could secure by a 
 comparatively slight exertion in Uganda, and, when 
 this is proposed to us, the politicians to whom I have 
 referred would repudiate responsibility and throw 
 back the country into the state of anarchy from 
 which it has only just emerged ; or they would allow 
 it to become an appanage or dependency of some 
 other European nation, which would at once step in 
 if we were to leave the ground free to them. I am 
 opposed to such a craven policy as this. (Applause.) 
 I do not believe it is right. I do not believe it is 
 worthy of Great Britain ; and, on the contrary, I 
 hold it to be our duty to the people for whom at all 
 events we have for the time accepted responsibility, 
 as well as to our own people, even at some cost of 
 life, some cost of treasure, to maintain our rule and 
 to establish settled order, which is the only founda- 
 
136 Want of Employment and the 
 
 tion for permanent prosperity. When I talk of the 
 cost of life, bear in mind that any cost of life which 
 might result from undertaking this duty would be 
 a mere drop in the ocean to the bloodshed which has 
 gone on for generations in that country b':)fore we ever 
 took any interest in it. 
 
 But I will go further than that. This rich country 
 should be developed. It is at the prese it time 800 
 miles from the sea, and unless we can reach a country 
 by the sea we cannot obtain its products in a form or 
 at a cost which would be likely to be of any use to 
 us, nor can we get our products to them. Therefore 
 what is wanted for Uganda is what Birmingham has 
 got — an improvement scheme. (Laughter.) What 
 we want is to give to this country the means of com- 
 munication by a railway from the coast which would 
 bring to that population — which is more intelligent 
 than the ordinary populations in the heart of Africa 
 — our iron, and our cloths, and our cotton, and even 
 our jewellery, because I believe that savages are not 
 at all insensible to the delights of personal adorn- 
 ment. (Laughter.) It would bring to these people 
 the goods which they want and which they cannot 
 manufacture, and it would bring to us the raw 
 materials, of which we should be able to make 
 further use. 
 
 Now, it is said that this is the business of private 
 individuals. Private individuals will not make that 
 railway for fifty years to come, and for the good 
 reason that private individuals who go into invest- 
 
Development of Free Markets 137 
 
 ments like railways want to see an immediate pros- 
 pect of a return. They cannot afTord to go for ten 
 or twenty years without interest on their money, and 
 accordingly you will find that in undeveloped coun- 
 tries no railway has ever been made by private exer- 
 tion, but has always been made by the prudence and 
 foresight and wisdom of a government. 
 
 If the Government choose to employ its credit in 
 order to make a railway from the coast to some point 
 of the country from which the goods of Uganda 
 could easily reach it, I venture to say that at once 
 would spring up a great industry, a great trade, 
 which would be beneficial to the people of this 
 country, and that, in the long run, it might be ten 
 years, it might be fifteen years, and it might even 
 be twenty years hence, not only would this indirect 
 advantage come to the country, but the railway 
 itself would more than pay its expenses. That has 
 always been the result of such expenditure. Take 
 the case of India. In India it was impossible to 
 make the railways in the first instance by private 
 capital and private enterprise. The Government 
 undertook them, and they did not pay their way for 
 some time, but now the whole of that vast network 
 of railways is paying fair interest upon the expendi- 
 ture which has been made. (Applause.) And, in 
 the meantime, the trade of India, the wealth of 
 India, the population of India, not to speak of the 
 wealth of this country, has increased enormously. 
 The fact is, that railroads are the very arteries which 
 
138 Want of Employment and the 
 
 carry the life-blood of countries, that without them 
 the country languishes and dies, that with them it 
 springs up again into healthy life ; and I am con- 
 vinced that, when we ask the Government to give 
 employment to its people, we should not dwell upon 
 such proposals as those which I have ventured to 
 stigmatise as impracticable, we should not ask them 
 to establish municipal workshops, or to insist on an 
 eight hours day; but we should ask them to look 
 about in places like Uganda, in some of those vast 
 undeveloped possessions which own the sway of the 
 British Crown, and to see whether or not, by a 
 judicious investment of money, by a little looking 
 into the future, they might not only find present 
 employment for all the men in this country, who 
 would be engaged in making these railways, in 
 furnishing the plant, in supplying the things which 
 would be required by those who have to manage and 
 supervise them, but might also establish a foundation 
 for a trade which for generations yet to come may 
 find employment for the working population of this 
 country. (Applause.) 
 
 Ladies and gentlemen, I ought to make an apology 
 for having strayed so far from the direct object of 
 the meeting, but my excuse must be that I do not 
 see too much of my constituents, and that when I 
 have such an opportunity as this, I may be justified 
 in looking a little beyond the mere palliatives for 
 distress such as those which in this association we 
 
Development of Free Markets 139 
 
 are to the best of our ability endeavouring to provide, 
 and may seek beyond tliem if haply we may trace 
 the causes for this distress, and if haply we may 
 find some permanent and effectual remedy. (Loud 
 applause.) 
 
 . t 
 
British Trade and the Expan- 
 sion of the Empire 
 
 Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, 
 November 13, 1896 
 
 The ^ following .speech xoajt delivered in the Grand 
 Hotel, Birrningham, at a banquet given to Mr. Cham- 
 berlain by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, on 
 November 13, 189G. Mr. P. A. Mnntz, M.P., pre- 
 sided. The toast of' '■^ Her Majesty's Ministers'''' 
 having been proposed by Councillor Tonks, Mr. 
 Chamberlain replied asjbllows : — 
 
 I THANK you moet heartily on behalf of my col- 
 leagues and myself for the cordial reception which you 
 have given to this toast ; and I can assure you that 
 we value very highly the support of the representa- 
 tives of commerce irrespective altogether of party 
 considerations. (Hear, hear.) The present Govern- 
 ment, like all the Governments that I have known in 
 our constitutional system, came into office in conse- 
 
/ 
 
 British Trade, ^c. 141 
 
 queuce of a party victory. It is, therefore, in a sense, 
 a party Government ; but, from the moment that we 
 accepted and entered upon the duties of office, our 
 most important duty, our most absorbing care, has 
 been not the party legislation which occupies prob- 
 ably the largest part of our public discussions, 
 but the development and the maintenance of that 
 vast agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial 
 enterprise upon which the welfare and even the 
 existence of our great population depends. (Hear, 
 hear.) 
 
 Now, I think, gentlemen, that you may safely give 
 the widest interpretation to the statement that I have 
 just made. 
 
 All the great offices of State are occupied with 
 commercial affairs. The Foreign Office and the 
 Colonial Office are chiefly engaged in finding new 
 markets and in defending old ones. (Hear, hear.) 
 The War Office and Admiralty are mostly occupied 
 in preparations for the defence of these markets, and 
 for the protection of our commerce. (Hear, hear.) 
 The Boards of Agriculture and of Trade are entirely 
 concerned with those two great branches of industry. 
 Even the Education Department bases its claims to 
 the public money upon the necessity of keeping our 
 people well to the front in the commercial competition 
 which they have to sustain ; and the Home Office 
 finds thb largest scope for its activity in the protec- 
 tion of the life and the health, and in the promotion 
 of the comfort, of the vast army of manual labourers 
 
142 British Trade and the 
 
 who are engaged in those indimtries. Therefore, it is 
 not too much to say that commerce is the greatest of 
 all political interests — (hear, hear) — and that that 
 Government deserves most the popular approval 
 which does most to increase our trade and to settle 
 it on a firm foundation. 
 
 I think the time has come when I may put in a 
 modest claim on behalf of the Government which I 
 represent. (Cheers.) I will not dwell upon the re- 
 covery of trade to which Mr. Tonks has referred, 
 which undoubtedly was coincident with our accession 
 to office — (hear, hear, and laughter) — and which has 
 continued, I am happy to say, down to the present 
 time. But it may be said that that was only a 
 coincidence, and that it was due to circuiTistances 
 over which we had no control. I have observed that 
 Sir William Ilarcourt stated on one occasion that 
 this improvement in trade began to manifest itself 
 during the discussions upon his Budget — (laughter) 
 — from which I imagine that he would like you to 
 infer that it is due entirely to the increase of the 
 death duties. (Laughter and cheers.) That is a 
 matter of controversy which it would not be proper 
 for me to discuss more fully on the present occasion. 
 (Laughter.) Neither will I claim credit, although I 
 think I might, for the fact that we have, by giving 
 relief in taxation to the greatest and the most dis- 
 tressed of all our industries, done somethic^ to 
 brighten the prospects of agriculture — (cheers) — 
 upon which the manufactures of our towns and so 
 
Expansion of the Empire 143 
 
 many other interests largely, if not entirely, depend. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 But I think — although I do not n^ake a party claim, 
 and although I am not here to-night to make a party 
 speech — I think I may claim, perhaps with the assent 
 of some of my poluical opponents, credit to the 
 Government for doing all in their power to increase 
 and to develop those great free markets in the world 
 to which we look now, to which we shall have in 
 future to look still more, for outlets for British trade 
 — for the trade which, I am sorry to say, foreign 
 nations, and even some of our own colonies, are 
 threatening by hostile and restrictive tariffs. (Hear, 
 hear.) Attention was called the other day, in a very 
 able and a very powerful speech delivered by Lord 
 Rosebery in Edinburgh, to the fact that during the 
 last few years we have added 2,600,000 square miles 
 to the territories which are either dominions of the 
 Queen or over which the Queen exercises her influence. 
 I am not quite certain that the orator was not him- 
 self a little alarmed at this vast development, although 
 I think that he has in some sort contributed to it by 
 speeches of a stimulating character on previous 
 occasions. (Laughter.) 
 
 I should be perfectly prepared to admit that, if 
 other nations would only stand aside, it might have 
 been wiser that we should have proceeded more 
 gradually, and that we should have developed the 
 countries that we already possessed before seeking 
 this vast extension. But there was no appearance 
 
144 British Trade and the 
 
 of such an inclination on the part of other nation?. 
 (Laughter.) I can truly say that we were not the 
 first or the most eager to move; but, if we had 
 remained passive, what would have happened ? {'Is it 
 not as certain as that we are sitting here that the 
 greater part of the continent of Africa would have 
 been occupied by our commercial rivals, who would 
 have proceeded, as the first act of their policy, to 
 close this great potential market to British trade? 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 Let me make one remark here, the proper con- 
 sideration of which would, I think, do very much to 
 modify that jealousy with which undoubtedly foreign 
 nations regard our extension. fMy remark is this — 
 that we, in our colonial policy, as fast as we acquire 
 new territory and develop it, develop it as trustees 
 of civilisation for the commerce of the world. (Cheers.) 
 We offer in all these markets over which our flag 
 floats the same opportunities, the same open field to 
 foreigners that we offer to our own subjects, and 
 upon the same terms. (Hear, hear.) In that policy 
 we stand alone, because all other nations, as fast 
 as they acquire new territory — acting, as I believe, 
 most mistakenly in their own interests, and, above 
 all, in the interests of the countries that they ad- 
 minister — all other nations seek at once to secure 
 the monopoly for their own products by preferential 
 and artificial methods. 
 
 Under those circumstances, I say, it was a matter 
 of life and death to us that we should not be fore- 
 
Expansion of the Empire 145 
 
 stalled in these markets of the future to which we 
 have learned to look for the extension of our 
 trade, ard even for the subsistence of our people — 
 (hear, hear) — and in considering the results of our 
 policy I think we Britons — I must not say English- 
 men, because my Scotch friends — (hear, hear) — 
 would think I was excluding them from a field in 
 which, indeed, they have taken even more than their 
 fair share — (laughter) — but I say that the results of 
 our policy are results upon which we Britons can 
 look back with satisfaction. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 It is interesting to notice that we alone have been 
 successful, astonishingly successful, in making these 
 acquisitions profitable. (Hear, hear.) Every addition 
 to the colonial possessions of France, or of Germany, 
 adds immediately, and continues to add, to the latest 
 date, a heavy burden upon the taxpayers of the 
 mother country. Whereas, in our case, all our colonies 
 and territories are either self-supporting from the 
 first, or become so in a very short space of time, 
 the French colonies and the German colonies seem 
 somehow or other to fail to att* act anv commercial 
 
 « 
 
 and civilian population. I think the recent official 
 returns of the German Empire show that in their 
 colonies, which extend over more than a million square 
 miles, there are less than seven hundred civilian 
 Germans — less, in fact, than there are of that nation- 
 ality in many of our own colonies. (Laughter.) 
 While in the foreign colonies no population from the 
 mother country is attracted, in our colonies we find 
 
 K 
 
146 British Trade and the 
 
 that settlement proceeds gaily, and they take off our 
 most adventurous spirits and relieve us of some of our 
 surplus population. (Cheers.) 
 
 I think I may go further and say that this system, 
 while it is certainly satisfactory to ourselves, is pro- 
 ductive of advantages to the people over whom we 
 exercise control. (Hear, hear.) It is said that you 
 cannot make omelettes without breaking eggs. You 
 cannot exercise control over barbarous countries, 
 which previous to your arrival have been in a state of 
 constant anarchy and disorder, without occasionally 
 coming into conflict with their savage rulers and 
 having to shed some blood ; but I say that univers- 
 ally it has proved to be the case that after a time we 
 have secured the pacification of the country, we have 
 put an end to the tribal conflict which has previously 
 interfered with progress, we have stopped those 
 slave-raiding expeditions which have been fatal to 
 commerce, and we have secured the permanent im- 
 provement of the country and the increase of the 
 population. (Cheers.) Now that is a statement 
 which I believe applies universally to all the new 
 acquisitions which we have made on the continent of 
 Africa, and I cannot help thinking that it justifies 
 even that large extension of territory which has been 
 forced upon us. (Cheers.) 
 
 I said I was going to make a claim for the Govern- 
 ment. I have been describing to you that policy 
 which commends itself to our minds, and which 
 hitherto has been so successful. I go on to say that 
 
Expansion of the Empire 147 
 
 during the last twelve months, we, the present 
 Government, have redeemed from barbarism in 
 Ashanti and in the Soudan, with a small expenditure 
 of life and treasure, by expeditions which have been 
 admirably planned— (hear, hear) — splendidly led — 
 (hear, hear) — and successfully prosecuted — (cheers) — 
 two provinces, where previously trade was impossible, 
 because no man could call his life or his property his 
 own, or consider himself to be safe from the tyranny 
 and cruelty of his native rulers. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 I note here a certain inconsistency in l . i of 
 those men of light and leading who profess to in- 
 struct and to guide public opinion. In Dongola, and 
 in Ashanti, the country was ruled by two princes, 
 whom I think I may describe as "great assassins." 
 (Hear, hear.) In these two countries the number of 
 the victims was tenfold the number of all that have 
 suffered by Turkish tyranny and Turkish cruelty in 
 the last few years, and the kind of cruelty that was 
 practised upon them was, if possible, even more 
 horrible than that which struck so deep a chord of 
 indignation and sympathy in regard to the Armenian 
 massacres. We all sympathise, I am sure, with the 
 people who in Asia Minor have suffered from the 
 cruelty of the Turk, and from the anarchy which 
 has prevailed in their land. We sympathise with 
 those who desire by every practical means to come to 
 their aid and to prevent the continuance of these 
 cruelties ; but is the fact that the Armenians are of 
 the same colour as ourselves, or that they profess the 
 
148 British Trade and the 
 
 Christian religion, a reason why the sympathy which 
 we feel for them should not be extended to still 
 larger populations in Africa and elsewhere who are 
 suffering from at least equal tyranny ? (Cheers.) 
 Yet I find that those who have been preachmg a 
 crusade for the Armenians, in spite of the knowledge 
 that such a crusade might easily produce even 
 greater evils than those which we seek to avoid, 
 have said not one word of sympathy, one word of 
 approval, for a policy which at comparatively small 
 sacrifice has, I believe, diminished the sum of 
 human misery by a greater amount than would have 
 been the case even if we had secured the destruc- 
 tion of the Turkish Empire. (Cheers.) 
 
 I say that to my mind this inconsistency needs to 
 be explained, and I want to know how one and the 
 same man can preach a crusade and encourage this 
 country to take risks on behalf of the Armenians, 
 whom I admit to be well worthy of your sympathy, 
 and then can describe the expedition in Egypt — 
 which has rescued a whole province from the greatest 
 possible suffering, and has restored it to civilisation 
 and to peaceful industry — as ** wanton folly " and an 
 ** infatuated policy." (Cheers.) It is not only in the 
 Soudan, or in Ashanti, that this policy has been 
 pursued. Two other expeditions, which seem almost 
 to have escaped public attention although their 
 resnlts are of the utmost importance to humanity 
 at large, have also been successfully conducted, one 
 in East Africa, the other in Nyassaland, under Sir 
 
Expansion of the Empire 149 
 
 Harry Jolmatoii. Both these expeditions have been 
 successful, and have struck a heavy blow at that 
 system of slave-raiding which has been probably for 
 centuries the curse of Central Africa, and has pre- 
 vented the civilisation and the improvement of that 
 vast continent. 
 
 I would not like you, however, to suppose that it is 
 only on military expeditions that I base my claims to 
 your support for the policy of the Government. 
 After conquest must come development — (hear, hear) 
 — and by the railways in the Soudan, by the railway 
 to Uganda, the railways which are being planned or 
 are already in progress on the West Coast of Africa, 
 and by other railways which we are stimulating and 
 encouraging by every means in our power in all the 
 dominions of the Crown, by furthering the means of 
 communication in all parts of the world, and especially 
 those between our own colonies and ourselves, by 
 endeavouring to bring out the latent resources of 
 our territories,/we are actively pursuing that policy 
 of developing the Imperial estate which I ventured 
 to recommend to the House of Commons as the true, 
 the wise, and the economical policy for this country 
 to pursue. (Cheers.) If we pursue it, and if, like 
 that of so many great empires that have passed away, 
 our great dominion comes to an end, we shall at least 
 have left behind us the material monument of our 
 progress through the world. Just as the Romans 
 left their roads which remain to this day to speak for 
 their intelligence and their courage, so we shall leave 
 
150 British Trade and the 
 
 railroads and means of communication which we 
 have provided as permanent benefits to the country 
 over which we have exercised Imperial sway. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 (That is part of our business ; we have to find new 
 markets, and we have to develop old ones. But there 
 is something else to be done, something in which your 
 co-operation and the co-operation of the commercial 
 classes is absolutely necessary, and that is to see that 
 this country retains at least its fair share of trade in the 
 markets we have provided. That is a question which 
 has created a good deal of interest, and as to which the 
 impression appears to prevail, encouraged, I think, by 
 the speeches of some very prominent personages 
 indeed, that British trade is being undermined by 
 foreign competition, that British manufacturers have 
 lost all their old energy and enterprise, and that 
 British workmen have lost their cunning. If the object 
 of statements of that kind is merely to stimulate you 
 to further exertions, if these bogeys are dressed up 
 in order to frighten you into an unwonted activity, 
 perhaps they may prove to have their advantages ; 
 but believe me, I think it would be a great mistake 
 that we should be too much discouraged, that we 
 should begin to despair, either of our country or of 
 ourselves. 
 
 These extremely pessimistic statements will not 
 bear a moment's serious examination. 
 
 What is the charge made against British industry ? 
 I wish to confine it as far as possible to its prominent 
 
Expansion of the Empire 151 
 
 characteri8tic, in order that I ,may deal with it in a 
 few words. Germany is the countiy which we are to 
 fear. (Laughter.) Gemiany is the country which 
 is to undermine our industry, and which Las made 
 this astonishing progress. Germany, we are told, ia 
 making inroads upon our trade as the sea encroaches 
 upon our shores. (Laughter.) Well, I am not certain 
 that the sea does encroach upon our shores. (Laugh- 
 ter.) At least I am certain of this, that if it makes 
 inroads on some portions, for instance, of the east 
 coast, there are other portions of the country in 
 which the sea is retiring, and in which laud is being 
 reclaimed for profitable cultivation. 
 
 But I would prefer to reply to charges of this 
 kind by facts and figures rather than by rhetorical 
 ornament. Let us look, then, at the course of trade 
 as between Germany and this country, and when wo 
 do so I think we shall find that, although there is 
 reason for WAtchfulness, there is no reason at all for 
 despairing — (no, and hear, hear) — and there is hardly 
 reason for serious alarm — certainly nothing of a 
 kind which would make Mr. Chantrill's hair stand 
 upon end. (Loud laughter.) I do not want, at a 
 meeting of this kind, to burden you with many 
 statistics, but I will ask you to follow me in one or 
 two figures so plain and so simple that I think they 
 will be sufficient to prove my case. If Germany is 
 encroaching in this terrible way upon the trade of 
 the United Kingdom, of course we should expect to 
 find that the exports from the United Kingdom 
 
152 British Trade and the 
 
 would materially have diminished, and the exports 
 from Germany have materially increased. What are 
 the facts ? The last year for which I have complete 
 returns is 1894, and I take a period of ten years 
 backwards from 1894. In 1885 the total export of 
 domestic produce from the United Kingdom — that is, 
 leaving out of count altogether the foreign and 
 colonial produce which comes to this country, and 
 which is re-exported at a profit, and taking only 
 things of our own manufacture and production — was 
 213 millions. In 1894 i^ ^^^ 216 millions, an 
 increase of three millions. The total exports of 
 domestic produce from Germany were 143 millions 
 in 1885, and 148 millions in 1894 — that is to say, 
 they had increased five millions, while ours had 
 increased three millions. 
 
 Then, what has been the course of trade between 
 Germany and this country? Here I have the 
 returns down to last year, 1895. The exports of 
 produce from the United Kingdom to Germany have 
 risen in the ten years from twenty-six millions to 
 thirty-three millions, an addition of seven millions. 
 The exports in the other direction, from Germany to 
 the United Kingdom, have risen in the same time 
 from twenty-one millions to twenty-seven millions, 
 or an increase of six millions. That is to say, the 
 trade of both States has increased in practically the 
 same proportion, but the increase of British trade 
 has been seven millions while the increase in German 
 trade has been six millions. (Cheers.) 
 
Expansion of the Empire 153 
 
 Now is it not perfectly clear, whatever special 
 changes may have taken place, that the general 
 movement of trade has not been of material import- 
 ance ? There have been considerable fluctuations in 
 the course of the ten ytars which I have taken 
 for the purpose of examination, sometimes in favour 
 of Germany, sometimes in favour of this country, but 
 on the whole, and taking the whole period, the 
 result shows that there is substantially no change of 
 importance in the relative proportion of German and 
 of British trade. 
 
 There is only one other branch of inquiry to which 
 I would direct your attention, and that is the exporti. 
 of the two countries to our colonies and possessions. 
 The returns are again for different periods, but they 
 are substantially the same period. 1 find that the 
 exports from the United Kingdom to the principal 
 colonies and dependencies of the British Crown 
 averaged 105 millions in 1884-85. They rose to 
 113 millions in 1893 to 1895 — that is to say, a 
 rise of eight millions. The exports from Germany 
 at the beginning of the period were only one and a 
 half million, and they rose to four and a half 
 millions, which is an increase of three millions. In 
 this case you will see that the percentage of increase 
 of the German exports is very large, but the actual 
 amount of increase is only about one-third of the 
 amount of increase of British products ; and I may 
 add that that increase, although it appears very 
 large as between 1884 and 1893-95, ^^^ ^^ok place in 
 
154 British Trade and the 
 
 the first five or six years of the period, and there 
 has been no increase in the lust five years. I say, 
 then, that, on the whole, 1 think 1 have justified my 
 position. While it is most important that this ques- 
 tion should have your careful and continu'^ us atten- 
 tion, there is no reason whatever for putting forward 
 alarmist views of our position, which are greedily 
 accepted abroad, and which lead our foreign friends 
 and competitors to take altogether an erroneous view 
 of the commercial power and the commercial influence 
 of Great Britain. (Loud cheers.) 
 
 But I have not been satisfied to rest entirely upon 
 official statistics, which deal with only the general 
 movement of trade. Mr. Tonks referred to the cir- 
 cular, which, after consultation with this and with 
 many other chambers of commerce in the United 
 Kingdom, I issued to all the Governors of the 
 colonies of the Empire. The returns to that circular 
 have already to a great extent been received, and the 
 remainder are still coming in. Undoubtedly they 
 contain an immense amount of most valuable and 
 most interesting information, and, when they are 
 coupled with the samples of foreign goods which 
 have found a sale in those countries, I think they 
 will give to every manufacturer and to every working 
 man an opportunity of estimating the character and 
 the importance of the competition with which he is 
 threatened. (Cheers.) 
 
 When these returns are complete, I intend that 
 they shall be published in a Blue-book, with a com- 
 
Expansion of the Empire 155 
 
 plete aurnmary of the whole of the results ; but, in 
 the meantime, 1 may say this, that, while they give 
 to us no reason for excessive alarm, they do show 
 that, in certain branches of our trade, in particular 
 industries, and particular classes of goods, we have 
 been outstripped by our competitors, and have lost 
 trade which we ought to have retained. (Hear, hear.) 
 What is the reason of that ? The reasons, no doubt, 
 are multifarious, but the principal reason undoubtedly 
 is to be found in what 1 must call the too great 
 independence of our manufacturing population, 
 and by manufacturing population I include all 
 classes, the manufacturers as well as their work- 
 people — and it is unfortunately true that in late 
 years our competitors abroad, and especially our 
 German competitors, have shown a greater willing- 
 ness than we have — (hear, hear) — to consult the 
 wishes, and, if you like, the prejudices of their 
 customers. It seems to be a theory with certain of 
 our manufacturers that consumers were sent into 
 the world by Providence in order to take the things 
 which they (the manufacturers) make — (laughter) — 
 and that there is no corresponding obligation at all 
 upon the manufacturers to make the goods that the 
 consumers want. (Laughter and cheers.) I have 
 been very much struck by the interest which has 
 already been taken in these exhibits, which have 
 hitherto been confined to the City of London ; and 
 the number of manufacturers and working people 
 who have visited them makes me sanguine that whe ; 
 
156 British Trade and the \ 
 
 the exhibit8 have been through the cuuutry, as they 
 are now to go — (cheers) — and have been seen in each 
 district by the people wlio are siHJcially concerned in 
 them, we shall find that our manufacturing people, 
 whether employers or employed, will be perfectly 
 prepared to profit by the object-lesson which they 
 afford. (Cheers.) 
 
 I do not believe that it is necessary for us, in order 
 to maintain our position, to copy slavishly the methods 
 of our foreign competitors. (Hear, hear.) I do not 
 believe in adopting in this country the bureaucratic 
 and almost military organisation by which they 
 attempt to discipline their trades and industries. 
 (Cheers.) I do not believe in adopting foreign rates 
 of wages or foreign hours of labour. (Cheers.) But 
 I do believe in stimulating the invention of our 
 people, in maintaining that originality on the part 
 of our manufacturers and merchants, which, after all, 
 has given to us our great character for enterprise and 
 individuality. (Cheers.) I believe in maintaining 
 the high standard of technical and scientific instruc- 
 tion, and I believe generally in keeping abreast with 
 the current of industrial progress — (cheers) — and [ 
 think we have good reason to believe that this is in 
 effect what we are striving to do. If I look to the 
 question of invention, which, after all, is one of the 
 most important factors in the increase of our trade 
 — (hear, hear) — I find that since the change in the 
 Patents Act which I was able to inaugurate in 1 883 
 — (cheers) — the number of patents annually taken 
 
Expansion of the Empire 157 
 
 oat in the United Kin^lorn alone has risen from 
 something like 6000 to nearly 30,000. (Cheers.) It 
 is a curious and a most interesting and a most en- 
 couraging fact that some of the greatest inventions 
 that have recently been made — inventions which have 
 led, like the cycle industry, to the employment of an 
 enormous number of people in this country, and I 
 hope to corresponding profits — (laughter and hear, 
 hear) — at all events, to the original owners — (renewed 
 laughter and cheers) — I say it is an encouraging fact 
 that these inventions have almost invariably been 
 English inventions. (Cheers.) We are making great 
 progress also in connection with our technical instruc- 
 tion, although it is still in its infancy, and for my 
 part, I see no reason upon this review to doubt for 
 a moment that we shall be able, with a continuance 
 of the efforts which we are now making, to hold our 
 own against all competitors. (Cheers.) 
 
 Mr. President, I have been permitted before I sit 
 down to propose what I think is the toast of the 
 evening, " Prosperity to the Birmingham Chamber 
 of Commerce and its officers," and I have pleasure in 
 connecting the toast with the name of Mr. Albert 
 Muntz, M.P., the president of the chamber, and Mr. 
 J. B. Chantrill, the acting chairman. (Cheers.) I 
 have the greatest pleasure in proposing this toast 
 because my oflBce has brought me into close com- 
 munication with the chambers of commerce, and I 
 have received from them most valuable advice and 
 assistance. I want to take this, which is the first 
 
15^ British Trade, &c. 
 
 opportunity I have had, to express especially my 
 thanks to the London Chamber, which has most 
 actively co-operated with me, and which has con- 
 tributed very largely to the success of those colonial 
 exhibitions to which I have referred. But the fact 
 is that, whenever I have had occasion to apply to 
 any chamber of commerce throughout the United 
 Kingdom, I have always received the most hearty 
 support, for which I desire to express my sincere 
 gratitude. 
 
 If I may, in conclusion, make a statement of the 
 result of my experience, without being thought to be 
 in any way a critic, I would say that that experience 
 seems to show that it is by practical methods of this 
 kind, by assisting in the work of education, by dis- 
 seminating information, by giving that expert advice 
 which you are so well entitled to offer, and not by 
 academic discussion upon highly controversial points 
 of i'igislation and policy, that chambers of commerce 
 will best serve the important interests which they 
 specially represent. (Cheers.) We all pride ourselves 
 upon being practical men in Birmingham, and I 
 have no doubt the Birmingham Chamber will show 
 a good example in this respect to all the chambers of 
 the Empire. I have, therefore, very much pleasure 
 in proposing " Prosperity to the Chamber and the 
 Health of its IVesident." (Loud cheers.) 
 
Imperial Trade 
 
The First Step to Federation 
 
 Canada Club Dinner, London, 
 March 25, 1896 
 
 Mr. Chamherlam was the principal g\test at a iVmner 
 of the Canada, Club held on March ,?«7, 1890, at the 
 Albion Tavern y Aldersgate Street, London. The 
 Preifident of tlw Club, Sir Robert Gillespie, occupied 
 the Chah; and in proposing the toast oj' " 'The 
 Governor-General (the Earl of Aberdeen) and the 
 Dominion of Canada^'' associated with H the names oJ' 
 Mr. Chamberlain and tfw Hon. Dr. Montague^ 
 Minister of Agriculture in the Canadian Cabinet. In 
 
 responding Mr. Chamberlain said: — 
 
 * 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen, — I feel honoured in 
 being associated in this toast with Dr. Montapue, a 
 member of the Ministry and of the Parliam»)nt of 
 Canada, and I have much pleasure in meeting so 
 many representatives of that gi'eat Dominion, which, 
 whether we have regard to the area of its territory, 
 to its population, to its natural resources, or to any 
 other test by which we gauge the greatness of a 
 
 L 
 
1 62 The First Step to Federation 
 
 people, stands tc-day first among the group of 
 kindred nationp, which, together with the United 
 Kingdom, form the British Empire. (Cheers.) 1 
 have on two occasions had the pleasure of visiting 
 Canada, and I have had the opportunity of making 
 the accpiaintance of many of her leading statesmen, 
 and notably of the late Sir John Macdonald, that 
 most Imperially-minded man — (cheers) — whose guid- 
 ing idea throughout his long political life was to 
 maintain intact the local independence of Canada in 
 close alliance with the mother country. (Cheers.) I 
 think that at times he had no easy task. (Hear, 
 hear.) There were prominent men on both sides of 
 the Atlantic who at one time assumed that the 
 manifest destiny of Canada was to be absorbed into 
 the f^reat Republic on its southern frontier. (" No, 
 no " ; " Never.") That was the opinion. (Hear, 
 hear.) It is an ancient controversy, and I do not 
 think it necessary to refer to it to-night except to 
 mark the contrast between the doubt and hesitation 
 of those days and the determination now of every son 
 of Canada to maintain his local institutions, his 
 separate identity, and at the same time to draw closer 
 the bonds which unite him to the great parent State. 
 (Hear, hear, and cheers.) 
 
 The recent isolation of the United Kingdom, the 
 dangers which seemed to threaten us, have evoked 
 from all our colonies, and especially from Canada, an 
 outburst of loyalty and affection which has reverber- 
 ated throughout the world, which has had a great 
 
The First Step to Federation 163 
 
 effect, and which testifies to a sentiment that is 
 deeper than words can express. (Cheers.) We 
 have been told by cynics that these expressions of 
 loyalty and affection arc superfluous — that they are 
 the ornaments of after-dinner oratory — (No, no) — 
 but that they would not bear the test and trial of 
 serious conflict, that if a war should ever arise the 
 mother country would be left to her fate — (No, no) 
 — and that the colonies would take care of them- 
 selves. That idea, at any rate, must have been 
 dispelled by what has recently happened. (Hear, 
 hear.) The shadow of war did darken the horizon, 
 and to none of her Majesty's subjects was that 
 shadow more ominous than it was to our fellow- 
 citizens in Canada; but there was no hesitation, 
 although, if that had happened which would have 
 been abhorrent to all of us, the brunt in the first 
 instance would have fallen on Canada. A unanimous 
 voice went up from the people and Parliament of 
 Canada to say that this matter, although it did not 
 directly affecc their interests, yet affected the honour 
 of the British Empire, and they made common cause 
 with us. (Cheers.) They were prepared to stand 
 shoulder to shoulder and to bear their share in all 
 the evils that might come upon us. Their decision 
 was emphasised in the debate to which you, Mr. 
 President, have referred, which took place recently 
 in the Dominion Parliament, and the moral of which 
 was summed up in the conclusion of the eloquent 
 speech of Mr. M'Neill, the mover of a luyal and 
 
164 The First Step to Federation 
 
 patriotic resolution, when he said, " The British 
 people are one people, animated by one spirit, and 
 determined to stand together as one man in defence 
 of their common rights and in the maintenance of 
 their common interests." (Hear, hear, and cheers.) 
 "We desire peace before all, we regard war with 
 horror, but we are prepared to accept it with all its 
 consequences, come from what quarter it may, if it 
 be necessary to do so in order to defend the honour 
 and the integrity of our own Empire." (Cheers.) I 
 call your attention to the last words of the orator. 
 He speaks of " our own Empire," and he struck the 
 right chord, for the Empire of Great Britain is the 
 common heritage of all her sons, and is not the 
 appanage of the United Kingdom alone. (Cheers.) 
 Now in the course of that debate many speeches 
 were made all to the same effect, and the resolution 
 was unanimously passed with acclamation. 
 
 But again and again allusion was made to the 
 opportunity, to the occasion, which every well-wisher 
 to the unity of the empire was bound to seize, and a 
 hope was expressed that something might be done to 
 bring us nearer together. Sir, we share that hope — 
 (hear, hear, and cheers) — and I ask you now, gentle- 
 men, is this demonstration, this almost universal 
 expression of loyalty from all our Colonies, to pass 
 away without a serious effort upon the part both of 
 colonial and Imperial statesmen to transform these 
 high sentiments into practical results ? (Cheers.) 
 I have, at any rate, thought that it was my duty, the 
 
The First Step to Federation 165 
 
 first time I had the opportunity of speaking, at least 
 to call attention to the position of this great ques- 
 tion, which has been before us now for a good 
 number of years, which has appealed strongly to the 
 sentiments of the people, but which has not up to 
 the present time resulted in anything like a practical 
 scheme. In the year 1884 a league was formed — 
 the Imperial Federation League — under the most 
 favourable auspices. The late Mr. Forster was its 
 president, and it afterwards enjoyed the assistance of 
 a long series of distinguished statesmen and promi- 
 nent personages ; but two years ago it was dissolved 
 without having accomplished its object, unless, 
 indeed, its chief object was the education of public 
 opinion to the importance of the subject. Sir, I think 
 that we may, at all events, learn from its experience 
 that the complete realisation of our hopes, if they 
 are in the direction of a federation of the empire — 
 their final realisation — is a matter of such vast 
 magnitude and such great complication that it 
 cannot be accomplished immediately. 
 
 But it does not follow that on that account we 
 should give up our aspirations. (Hear, hoar.) It is 
 only a proof that we must approach the goal in a 
 different way, that we must not try to do everything 
 all at once, that we must seek the line of least 
 resistance. To create a new government for the 
 British Empire — a new government with large 
 powers of taxation and legislation over countries 
 separated by thousands of miles of sea, in conditions 
 
1 66 The First Step to Federation 
 
 as various as those which prevail in our several 
 dependencies and colonies — that, indeed would be a 
 duty from which the boldest statesman might shrink 
 appalled. We may, however, approach this desirable 
 consummation by a process of gradual development. 
 (Hear, hear.) We may bear in mind the words of 
 the poet that 
 
 " A great Design is seldom snatch'd at once ; 
 'Tis Patience heaves it on." 
 
 We may endeavour to establish common interests 
 and common obligations. When we have done that 
 it will be natural that some sort of representative 
 authority should grow up to deal with the interests 
 and the obligations we have created. What is the 
 greatest of our common obligations ? It is Imperial 
 defence. What is the greatest of our common in- 
 terests ? It is Imperial trade. (Hear, hear.) And those 
 two are very closely connected. It is very difficult to 
 see how you can pretend to deal with the great question 
 of Imperial defence without having first dealt with the 
 question of Im perial trade. Imperial defence is largely 
 a matter of ways and means, and ways and means are 
 dependent upon the fiscal and other commercial ar- 
 rangements you may make ; and, therefore, the conclu- 
 sion to which I arrive is this — that if the people of 
 this country and the people of the colonies mean what 
 they have been saying, and if they intend to approach 
 this question of Imperial unity in a practical spirit, 
 they must approach it on its commercial Mde. 
 
The First Step to Federation 167 
 
 We have a great example before us in the creation 
 of the German Empire. How was that brought 
 about ? You all recollect that, in the first instance, 
 it commenced with tlio union of two of the States 
 which now form that great empire in a commercial 
 Zollverein. They attracted the other States grndnally 
 — were joined by them for commercial purposes. A 
 council, a lleichsrath, was formed to deal with 
 those commercial questions. Gradually in their 
 discussions national objects and political interests 
 were introduced, and so, from starting as it did on a 
 purely commercial basis and for commercial interests, 
 it developed until it became a bond of unity and the 
 foundation of the German Empire. 
 
 We have another reason wliy we should approach 
 this subject from its commercial side; and that is, that 
 in regard to this the colonies, to whose feelings we must 
 pay tlie utmost deference, who must, in fact, in one 
 sense at any rate, take the initiative in any movement, 
 have clearly pointed, by their action, to commercial 
 union as the point upon which, as they consider, the 
 whole subject is most ripe. Let me remind you of what 
 happened at the great conference at Ottawa which 
 was held in 1 894 ? The principal resolution — prin- 
 cipal, at all events, in regard to its importance — which 
 was passed at that conference, was in the following 
 terms : — " That this conference records its belief in 
 the advisability of a Customs arrangement between 
 Great Britain and her colonies, by which trade withiu 
 the Empire may be placed upon a more favourable 
 
1 68 The First Step to Federation 
 
 footing than that which is carried on with foreign 
 countries." (Cheers.) It is quite true that that was 
 the declaration of a general principle, and that no 
 definite plan was submitted to or adopted by the 
 conference, but we have other means of information. 
 We are acquainted with the speeches that were made 
 there, and we know what was in the minds of the 
 delegates. I observed in the Times this morning a 
 telegram from Canada which tells us that Mr. M'Neill, 
 the gentleman who moved the patriotic resolution to 
 which I have already referred, has moved another 
 resolution in the House of Commons of Canada, by 
 which he proposes to declare that it is desirable in 
 the interests of Great Britain and of the colonies 
 that a moderate nd valorem duty, independent of any 
 existin^r duty, should be imposed both by the colonies 
 and by the mother country upon all imports from 
 foreign countries. (Cheers.) 
 
 That, therefore, is the suggestion — for I will call 
 it no more — it is not a formal proposition, but it is 
 the suggestion that has been made to us by our 
 colonies for carrying out a system of commercial 
 union. At any rat« a proposition of that kind is 
 entitled to respectful consideration, and if we object 
 to it, we ought, I think, to propose an alternative, or 
 we ought — and this is the only other thing for us to do 
 — to say at once that all that we have said, all that 
 we have done, all that we have thought about Imperial 
 unity, has been thrown away, and that that idea must 
 be abandoned as an empty dream. 
 
The First Step to Federation 169 
 
 Now, Sir, do not let us minimise the proposition 
 we are asked to consider. It would involve in the 
 case of the United Kingdom a most serious disturb- 
 ance of our trade ; it would be a great change in the 
 principles which for many years past have guided our 
 commercial policy. It involves the imposition of a 
 duty, it may be a small one, but it is a duty upon 
 food and upon raw material, and whatever may be the 
 result of imposing such a duty as to which, if I had 
 time, I could discourse for many minutes — whatever 
 may be the actual result — the tendency is to increase 
 the cost of living which would intensify the pressure 
 upon the working classes of this country — (No, no 
 and hear, hear) — and it would also have a tendency to 
 increase the cost of production, which would put us, 
 of course, in a worse position than now in competi- 
 tion with foreign countries in neutral markets. 
 
 I see no use in shutting my eyes to the consequences 
 of the proposition — (cheers) — which I desire to con- 
 sider with an impartial mind. The first thing is to 
 establish the facts, and the facts are as I have stated. 
 
 In retum, under this proposal we should get a 
 small, and a very small, consideration in the shape of 
 a preference of, it may be 2 per cent., it might be 
 even 5 per cent., in our competition with foreign 
 manufacturers in the colonial market. 
 
 What, then, is the proposal we are asked to con- 
 sider ? It is a very startling proposal for a free trade 
 country — (hear, hear) — and I say that in its present 
 form it is a proposal which it is impossible for us to 
 
170 The First Step to Federation 
 
 adopt. (Cheers.) I do not say that merely because 
 a proposal of this kind is contrary to free-trade prin- 
 ciples ; because, although i am myself a convinced 
 free-trader in the sense of believing that the theory 
 is undoubtedly the theory on which the world would 
 become most prosperous, yet I have not such a 
 pedantic admiration for it that, if sufficient advantage 
 were offered to me, I would not consider a deviation 
 from the strict doctrine. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Cobden 
 himself took this view, and compromised his prin- 
 ciples in making the French treaty ; and it cannot be 
 expected that we, his disciples, should be more ortho- 
 dox than the apostle of free trade himself. (Hear, 
 hear and laughter.) 
 
 But my first point is that in the proposal and the 
 suggestion which has hitherto been made there is no 
 sufficient quid pro qico, the advantage offered is not 
 enough to induce this country to take the certain loss 
 and the possible risk which would be involved in 
 revising altogether its present commercial policy. 
 Having regard to the amount of the colonial duties 
 which are at the present time levied upon British 
 produce, it is evident that a fixed addition such as is 
 suggested would be a much smaller preference in the 
 case of goods going to the colonies than it would be 
 in the case of goods coming from the colonies to this 
 country. In the case of this country the preference 
 would be given on the present cost price of the 
 goods, but in the colonies the preference would only 
 be reckoned on the cost of the goods plus the heavy 
 
The First Step to Federation 171 
 
 duties now imposed. The percentage therefore would 
 be much more in favour of the colonies than it 
 would be in favour of the United Kingdom. (Hear, 
 hear.) 
 
 The second point, which is much more important, 
 is that our foreign trade is so gigantic in proportion 
 to the foreign trade of the colonies that the burden 
 of an arrangement of this kind would fall with much 
 greater weight on the United Kingdom than upon 
 our fellow-subjects in the colonies. 
 
 I therefore think we may very fairly ask them 
 to better their offer if, as I believe, the}^ desire to 
 proceed upon those lines, and if those lines do really 
 offer the best direction in which we can proceed. 
 
 The arguments I have used, and a good number of 
 others with which I should not think of wearying 
 you, have been very ably stated in an important 
 despatch which was addressed by my predecessor. 
 Lord Ripon, in 1895, to the Governors of all the 
 colonies, and that despatch has been generally assumed 
 to be an absolute negative to the proposals of the 
 colonies. That is a mistake. That despatch is con- 
 clusive, in my opinion, as to the particular proposal 
 which has up to the present time been suggested for 
 our consideration, but it does not bar the door to 
 other proposals, which, being more favourable, might 
 receive a more favourable consideration. There is one 
 passage in Lord Ripon's despatch, most important in 
 my eyes, which somehow or other seems to have 
 escaped general attention. It is a paragraph to this 
 
172 The First Step to Federation 
 
 efEect : — " The resolution " — that is, the resolution of 
 the Ottawa Conference — " does not advocate the estab- 
 lishment of a Customs union comprising the whole 
 Empire, whereby all the existing barriers to free 
 commercial intercourse between the various members 
 would be removed, and the aggregate Customs revenue 
 equitably apportioned among the different communi- 
 ties. Such an arrangement," says Lord Kipon, 
 " would be free in principle from objection, and, if it 
 were practicable, would certainly prove effective in 
 cementing the unity of the Em.pire and promoting 
 its progress and stability." 
 
 Now that is another suggestion. That is a sug- 
 gestion of an alternative to the proposition which I 
 have been considering ; and I would like to be allowed, 
 in order to make the course of my a^'gument per- 
 fectly clear, to summarise what I have said to you 
 upon this point. 
 
 I have laid down four propositions which I think 
 cannot be controverted. The first is that there is a 
 universal desire among all the members of the Empire 
 for a closer union between the several branches, and 
 that, in their opinion as in ours, this is desirable — 
 nay, it is essential for the existence of the Empire 
 as such. My second proposition is that experience 
 has taught us that this closer union can be most 
 hopefully approached in the first instance from its 
 commercial side. My third proposition is that the 
 suggestions which have hitherto been made to us, 
 although we know them to have been made in good 
 
The First Step to Federation 173 
 
 part, are, when considered from the point of view of 
 British interests, not suflSciently favourable to be 
 considered by this country. My fourth proposition 
 is that a true Zollverein for the Empire, that a free 
 trade established throughout the Empire, although it 
 would involve the imposition of duties against foreign 
 countries, and vrould be in that respect a derogation 
 from the high principles of free trade and from the 
 practice of the United Kingdom up to the present 
 time, would still be a proper subject for discussion 
 and might probably lead to a satisfactory arrangement 
 if the colonies on their part were willing to consider 
 it. (" Hear, hear," and cheers.) 
 
 It has been assumed, in Lord Kipon's despatch and 
 in many other documents, that the colonies must 
 necessarily refuse to consider a proposition of this 
 kind because it would interfere with the necessities of 
 their revenue, that they are obliged to rely upon in- 
 d^'-ect taxation for the funds by which their adminis- 
 tration is carried on, and that they could not enter 
 on such an agreement as this without providing ways 
 and means by methods which, at present at any rate, 
 are altogether unpopular in many of our colonies. I 
 am not convinced of the truth of that statement, and 
 I want especially to point out that the advantages 
 of such a proposal are so great to the colonies, as it 
 would undoubtedly lead to the earliest possible 
 development of their great natural resources, would 
 bring to them population, would open to them the 
 enormous market of the United Kingdom for their 
 
174 The Fii.t Step to Federation 
 
 products, their food, their timber, their sugar — the 
 advantages, I say, are so important that it appears to 
 me that the colonies themselves would be bound to 
 give to any suggestion, of this kind at all events, a 
 careful reconsideration. 
 
 My second point is that we are dealing with an 
 entirely exceptional state of things, and that we can- 
 not, even if we wished, imitate exactly the German 
 ZoUverein. We are not conterminous countries ; we 
 are countries, as I have said, separated by thousands 
 of miles, in some cases, and the circumstances of our 
 different countries vary so considerably that it is 
 evident that in any arrangement as to general free 
 trade within the Empire exceptions must be made in 
 the case of articles that are chieSy taxed for revenue 
 purposes. For instance, we cannot admit free trade 
 in spirits or in tobacco, and to any gentleman who 
 has any experience other articles will suggest them- 
 selves, which, in one part of the empire or another, 
 are the subject of strictly revenue duties, an''"' might, 
 by common agreement, be excluded from any such 
 arrangement. But the principle which I claim must 
 be accepted, if we are to make any, even the slightest, 
 progress, is that within the different parts of the 
 empire protection must disappear, and that the duties 
 must be revenue duties, and not protective duties in 
 the sense of protecting the products of one part of 
 the empire against those of another part. 
 
 It seems to me that if that principle were adopted 
 there would be reason for calling a council of the 
 
The First Step to Federation 175 
 
 Empire, for calling representatives from the different 
 States forming the Empire ; ar ' although the subject 
 would be one of enormous difficulty and the greatest 
 complication, still, with the good-will that exists and 
 the ultimate goal in view, I cannot but think that 
 something like a satisfactory and a workable arrange- 
 ment might be arrived at. (Cheers.) And although 
 in such a case the principles of free trade would lose 
 something in their application to the dealings be- 
 tween ourselves and foreign countries, advocates of 
 free trade must remember how much they would gain 
 by its extension to all the States which form the 
 British Empire, States which are after all, whatever 
 may be said of their present position, more likely to 
 develop and increase in prosperity and population and 
 wealth and power and commerce than any of the 
 foreign States with which we have relations. 
 
 Mr. President, I feel that I owe you some apology 
 for dealing at such length with a subject which might 
 be thought to be too serious for after-dinner oratory, 
 but there is no doubt that we all feel that it is a 
 subject of enormous importance, and I desire very 
 much to call attention to it. I speak on this occasion 
 for myself only. I want, not to lay down a course of 
 policy which must be followed, but I want to provoke 
 discussion — to provoke discussion in this country and 
 to provoke discussion, above all, in the colonies ; and 
 if the details of such a subject as this are prosaic, at 
 all events the ultimate aim that we have in view 
 appeals to our highest sentiments of patriotism. To 
 
176 The First Step to Federation 
 
 organise an empire — one may almost say to create nn 
 empire — greater and more potent for p'^ace and the 
 civilisation of the world than any that history has 
 ever known — (cheers) — that is a dream if you like, 
 but a dream of which no man need be ashamed. 
 (Loud cheers.) We appreciate and we cordially 
 respond to the notes, the stirring notes, of loyalty 
 and affection that have been evoked from our colonies 
 when the great mother country has appeared to be in 
 danger. We look forward with hope and with con- 
 fidence to the development of those countries which 
 are populated by our children and our kinsmen, but 
 these sentiments alone will never make an empire 
 unless they are confirmed by bonds of material 
 interest, and we can only found Imperial unity upon 
 a common weal. (Cheers.) And so, if you will per- 
 mit me, I will conclude in the words of a Canadian 
 poet who, addressing the statesmen of the Dominion, 
 
 said : 
 
 " Unite the Empire — make it stand compact. 
 Shoulder to shoulder let its members feel 
 The touch of British brotherhood ; and act 
 As one i^reat nation — strong and true as steel." 
 
 (Loud cheers.) 
 
Commercial Union of the 
 
 Empire 
 
 Congress of Chambers of Commerce of 
 THE Empire, London, June 9, 1896 
 
 On June 9, 1896, Mr. Chamberlain, aw Honorary 
 President, took the Chair at the opening meeting of 
 the Congress of Chambers of Commerce of the Empire, 
 which was held in the Hall of the Grocers'' Company, 
 Prince's Street, E.C. There was a large attendance 
 of delegates Jrom all parts of the Empii'e. 
 
 My Lords and Gentlemen, — In opening the pro- 
 ceedings at this, the third Congress of the Chambers 
 of Commerce of the Empire, it is a great pleasure to 
 me, both as your honorary president and as a member 
 of the Government, to bid you all — and especially 
 those who come from a distance — a heartv welcome. 
 As Secretary of State for the Colonies I rejoice in 
 every fresh indication of the essential unity of the 
 Empire-T-(hear, hear) — and of that community of 
 
 M 
 
178 Commercial Union of the Empire 
 
 interest upon which we found all our hopes of main- 
 taining and strengthening the relations between the 
 mother country and her colonies and dependencies. 
 (Hear, hear.) I think we may say that the omens 
 were never more favourable, and I am encouraged to 
 hope from your deliberations that you will make an 
 important advance towards the goal to which all our 
 patriotic aspirations and our mutual interests are 
 steadily tending. The very existence of such a 
 congress as this — the fact that to-day the represen- 
 tatives of the commerce of the Dominion of Canada 
 and of the West Indies, of Australasia, of South 
 Africa, and of our great Indian dependencies, should 
 meet in London the delegates of the commerce of the 
 United Kingdom — is evidence that we have to a great 
 extent annihilated space, and that the distance which 
 separates us is no longer any barrier to those free 
 communications and that personal intercourse which 
 are the conditions of national unity. Insensibly the 
 bonds between us are strengthening and multiplying. 
 You have for a long time — you gentlemen who come 
 from the colonies — been in our thoughts; you are 
 now actually in our sight. Your claims, your wishes, 
 the resources of your separate countries, your political 
 conditions — all these are becoming as familiar to us 
 as if we were all provinces in one great kingdom or 
 States in a true Imperial federation. (Cheers.) I 
 think that further knowledge must tend to complete 
 the agreement between us, and that it will bring 
 within the range of practical politics that splendid 
 
Commercial Union of the Empire 179 
 
 ^rearn which has been cheribhed by all the greatest 
 and most patriotic statesmen, both at home and in 
 the colonies, when we may reach a union in which 
 free States, all of them enjoying their independent 
 institutions, will yet be inseparably united in defence 
 of common interests, and in the observance of mutual 
 obligations. (Cheers.) 
 
 My lords and gentlemen, I have studied the long 
 and multifarious list of proposals which will be laid 
 before you, and I can assure you that your decisions 
 will be carefully noted by Her Majesty's Government. 
 One thing I observe with great satisfaction, and that 
 is that the same note rings throughout the whole of 
 them. There is one guiding principle, and I think it 
 is a significant fact, that, almost without exception, 
 all these resolutions, whether they are propounded by 
 the colonial or by the home Chambers, tend in the 
 direction of greater uniformity and of closer union 
 between the colonies and ourselves. (Cheers.) I find 
 that you are called upon to consider the necessity for 
 improved communications within the limits of the 
 Empire ; that you are asked also to consider the 
 possibility of greater and cheaper facilities of inter- 
 Imperial postage ; that you are asked to see whether 
 some approach may not be made to greater uniform- 
 ity in commercial law — in the laws regulating inter- 
 Imperial commerce; and I note one resolution — 
 which I think comes from my own city of Birmingham 
 — in favour of the creation of an Imperial council for 
 consultation and advice. (Cheers.) 
 
i8o Commercial Union of the Empire 
 
 All these proposals are of great and of pressing 
 importance, but they are, I was going to say, dwarfed 
 into insignificance in comparison with other proposals 
 which will also be put before you and which are in- 
 tended to secure the commercial union of the Empire. 
 (Cheers.) It is, I c^mnot help thinking, to your 
 deliberations and your discussions on this question 
 that the public will look with the greatest interest 
 and the greatest expectation, because it must be 
 evident to you that if this question could once be 
 satisfactorily settled, all the other things to which I 
 have referred would follow as a matter of course in its 
 train. If we had a commercial union throughout the 
 Empire, of course there would have to be a council of 
 the Empire, and that council would be called upon to 
 watch over the execution of the arrangements which 
 might be made, and to consider and make amend- 
 ments in them from time to time ; and, whenever such 
 a council is established, surely there will naturally be 
 remitted to it all those questions of communication 
 and of commercial law in which the whole of the 
 Empire is mutually interested. (Hear, hear.) Even 
 Imperial defence could not be excluded from its 
 deliberations, for Imperial defence is only another 
 name for the protection o'.' Imperial commerce, and 
 to such a council as I have imagined to be possible 
 the details of such defence, the method of carrying it 
 out, the provision to be made for it, would naturally 
 be remitted. Gradually, therefore, by that prudent 
 and experimental process by which all our greatest 
 
Commercial Union of the Empire 1 8 1 
 
 institutions have slowly been built up we should, I 
 believe, approach to a result which would be little, if 
 at all, distinguished from a real federation of the 
 Empire. In my personal opinion this is a question 
 which dominates all other Imperial interests, to which 
 everything else is secondary, and which is at the root 
 of the problem with which we have now to deal. 
 The establishment of commercial union throughout 
 the Empire would not only be the first step, but the 
 main step, the decisive step towards the realisation 
 of the most inspiring idea that has ever entered into 
 the minds of British statesmen. (Cheers.) 
 
 I shall not venture to anticipate the discussion in 
 which you will shortly engage, but perhaps you will 
 permit me very briefly to lay before you the conditions 
 of the problem with which you must deal. There is one 
 advantage which we must recognise at the outset — 
 that is, that I believe we are absolutely unanimous as 
 to the object which we desire to attain. (Cheers.) 
 No one nowadays, in this country or outside of it, 
 denies the enormous benefit it would be to the 
 British race throughout the Empire if we could 
 arrange some union which would lead to closer re- 
 lations, and which would retain within the Empire, 
 and for the benefit of the Empire, the trade and the 
 subjects now diverted to foreign lands — (cheers) — 
 but up to the present time we have not been 
 agreed as to the methods by which this object may 
 be reached. 
 
 It appears to me that there are only three lines 
 
1 82 Commercial Union of the Empire 
 
 of progress which have been siiggesteJ, or which 
 can be suggested, to accomplish this great object. 
 The first of them is a proposal that the colonies 
 should abandon their own fiscal system, and should 
 adopt ours, that they should carry out fully the 
 doctrires of free trade, that they should open their 
 markets not only to us, but to all the world, and that 
 they should abandon entirely the protective duties 
 upon which now they rest very largely for the 
 revenues they collect. That is a proposal which is 
 supported by the Cobden Club, by extreme, or, per- 
 haps, I ought to say, by orthodox free traders ; and 
 there is no doubt a great deal to be said for it. I do 
 not deny that possibly it might be for all concerned 
 the best solution. At the same time I am bound to 
 poij3t out that that would not bring about commercial 
 union in the sense in which we have generally under- 
 stood the word — (hear, hear) — because that would 
 be in the direction of cosmopolitan union, but would 
 offer no particular advantage to the trade of the 
 Empire as such. But what is to my mind a much 
 more fatal objection, is the fact that, speaking 
 generally, the colonies will not adopt this proposal. 
 We must consider it, therefore, as a counsel of per- 
 fection, and if we are to wait until the colonies 
 generally are converted to our views in regard to the 
 advantages of free trade, let us recognise the fact 
 that in that case we must postpone the hope of com- 
 mercial union to the Greek kalends. (Hear, hear.) 
 Free trade in this country has been developed, no 
 
Commercial Union of the Empire 183 
 
 donbt, to the great advantage of this country, for a 
 period of half a century, but in spite of that it has 
 made no converts. We do not find — again I am 
 speaking generally, because I know there are excep- 
 tions — but we do not find that there is any consider- 
 able approach to our system on the part of the 
 colonies, and there is no approach at all t'^ it on the 
 part of foreign countries. 
 
 I pass on, then, to the second proposal, which has 
 been laid before a similar congress to this, and which 
 found expression at the great conference at Ottawa a 
 year or two ago — that is, a proposal which has been 
 favoured by some of our principal colonies, and which 
 has been advocated with great force and eloquence by 
 leading colonists. It is the very reverse, in spirit at 
 any rate, of the proposal I have just been considering, 
 for whereas the first proposal requires that the 
 colonies should abandon their system in favour of 
 curs, this proposal requires that we should abandon 
 cur system in favour of theirs, and it is in effect that, 
 while the colonies should be left absolutely free to 
 impose what protective duties they please both on 
 foreign countries and upon British commerce, they 
 should be required to make a small discrimination in 
 favour of British trade, in return for which we are 
 expected to change our whole system, and impose 
 duties on food and raw material. Well, I express 
 again my own opinion when I say that there is not 
 the slightest chance that in any reasonable time this 
 country, or the Parliament of this country, would 
 
: . T' " 
 
 184 Commercial Union of the Empire 
 
 adopt so one-sided an agreement. (Cheers.) The 
 foreign trade of this country is so large, and the 
 foreign trade of the colonies is comparatively so 
 small, that a small preference given to us upon that 
 foreign trade by the colonies would make so trifling 
 a difference — would be so small a benefit to the total 
 volume of our trade — that I do not believe the 
 working classes of this country would consent to 
 make a revolutionary change for what they would 
 think to be an infinitesimal gain. 
 
 You will, then, see that so far we have only arrived 
 at a deadlock. We have a proposal by British free- 
 traders which is rejected by the British colonies ; we 
 have a proposal by colonial protectionists which is 
 rejected by Great Britain. We have, therefore, if we 
 are to make any progress at all, to seek a third course 
 — a course in which there shall be give and take on 
 both sides, in which neither side will pedantically 
 adhere to preconceived conclusions, and in which the 
 separate interests of the parts shall be subordinated 
 to the good of the whole. 
 
 I admit that, if I understand it correctly, I find 
 the germs of such a proposal in a resolution which is 
 to be submitted to you on behalf of the Toronto Board 
 of Trade. (Hear, hear.) What is that resolution ? 
 Again I say I hope that I am correctly explaining it. 
 That resolution I understand to be one for the crea- 
 tion of a British Zollverein or Customs Union, and 
 would establish at once practically free trade through- 
 out the British Empire, but would leave the separate 
 
"N 
 
 Commercial Union of the Empire 185 
 
 contracting parties free to make their own arrange- 
 ments with regard to duties on foreign goods, except 
 that this is an essential condition of the proposal — 
 that Great Britain shall consent to place moderate 
 duties upon certain articles which are of large pro- 
 duction in the colonies. Now, if I have rightly 
 understood it, these articles would comprise corn, 
 meat, wool, and sugar, and perhaps other articles of 
 enormous consumption in this country, which are at 
 present largely produced in the colonies and which 
 might, under such ai- arrangement, be wholly pro- 
 duced in the colonies and wholly produced by British 
 labour. (Cheers.) On the other hand, as I have 
 said, the colonies, while maintaining their duties upon 
 foreign importations, would agree to a free inter- 
 change of commodities with the rest of the Empire, 
 and would cease to place protective duties on any 
 product of British labour. That is the principle of 
 the German ZoDverein, that is the principle which 
 underlies federation in the United States of America ; 
 and I do not doubt for a moment that if it were 
 adopted it would be the strongest bond of union 
 between the British race throughout the world. 
 (Cheers.) I say that such a proposal as that might 
 commend itself even to an orthodox free trader. It 
 would be the greatest advance that free trade has 
 ever made since it was first advocated by Mr. Cobden, 
 since it would extend its doctrines permanently to 
 more than 300,000,000 of the human race, and to 
 communities many of which are the most prosperous. 
 
1 86 Commercial Union of the Empire 
 
 the most thriving, and the most rapidly increasinj^ in 
 the world ; and, on the other hand, it would open up 
 to the colonies an almost unlimited market for their 
 agricaltural and other productions. (Cheers.) 
 
 Of course, the details of such a scheme would require 
 the most careful examination. There may have to be 
 exceptions made to the principle, although I believe 
 the principle itself must be adopted if any progress 
 is to be made at all ; but I am not going to discuss 
 these exceptions on the present occasion. I only 
 want to impress on you my personal conviction that 
 if a proposal of this kind came to us from the colonies, 
 backed by any considerable support on their part, it 
 would not be met with a blank refusal by the people 
 of this country. (Cheers.) I say, gentlemen, if it 
 were proposed to us by the colonies, because I do not 
 consider it would be either wise or practical that a 
 proposal of this kind should come in the first instance 
 from the United Kingdom. We know how strenuously 
 the colonies cling to their own independence, and their 
 own initiative. If they desire, as we believe they do, 
 this closer union, if they are willing to make some 
 sacrifice of their present arrangem^enta and convic- 
 tions in order to secure it, let them say so. Let the 
 offer come voluntarily from them, and I believe it 
 will be considered in this country not in any huckster- 
 ing spirit, but will be entertained as part of a greater 
 policy that is intended to unite in the closest bonds 
 of affection and of interest all the communities which 
 are under the British flag, and all the subjects of Her 
 
Commercial Union of the Empire 187 
 
 Majesty throughout the Empire. (Cheers.) I hope 
 you will not consider that 1 have gone beyond ray 
 duty in making these observations to you. (Hear, 
 hear.) Believe me that I am actuated solely by the 
 strong desire I entertain that your deliberations, 
 which in any case will be most useful, should have 
 some practical result in bringing us nearer to the 
 object which we all have in view, and which I do not 
 hesitate to say is the greatest object which Britons 
 can pursue in what I believe to be a critical stage in 
 Imperial history. (Loud and prolonged cheers.) 
 
South Africa 
 
British Interests in South 
 
 Africa 
 
 London Chamber of Commerce, 
 May 14, 1888 
 
 On May 14, 1888, Mr. Chamberlain presided at a. 
 meeting" which teas held in the Cannon Street Hotel, 
 hy the London Chamber of Commerce, at which the 
 Rev. John Mackenzie delivered an address on South 
 African questions. In opening the proceedings Mr. 
 Chamberlaiti said : — 
 
 I HAVE accepted with very great pleasure the invita- 
 tion to preside at this meeting on two grounds — in 
 the first place, that the question which we are met to 
 discuss is one of the very greatest importance and 
 interest, well worthy of the consideration of this 
 representative body in the greatest commercial capital 
 in the world, and, in the second place, because the 
 lecturer has peculiar qualifications for the work that 
 he has undertaken. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Mackenzie has 
 
192 British Interests in South Africa 
 
 spent a great part of his life in Sonth Africa ; he has 
 occupied a high and important official position ; he is 
 intimately acquainted with the chiefs and tribes of 
 that part of Africa, and he is hardly less versed in 
 the complications of colonial politics, and the charac- 
 teristics of colonial officials and statesmen. Under 
 these circumstances, whatever he may have to say to 
 us will be well worthy of our consideration ; and, 
 whether we agree with him or not, at all events it 
 will be most valuable at a time like the present, 
 which I venture to say is a critical time in the 
 history of our relations with this portion of our 
 dominions, to have the information and the sugges- 
 tions that can be afforded by so competent an 
 observer. 
 
 I have said that t^e question is one of great im- 
 portance to the representatives of a commercial 
 community. The trade of South Africa has suffered 
 from even greater fluctuations than that of the rest 
 of the world. It has been unduly inflated owing to 
 the wave of speculation which passed over the 
 country, and recently it has been as unduly depressed 
 in sympathy with the falling off which we have 
 witnessed everywhere else. But, referring only to 
 the trade with the United Kingdom, I find from the 
 latest official returns that the total exports of mer- 
 chandise to the Cape and Natal reached more than 
 ;^8,ooo,ooo in 1882, and that they fell to something 
 over ;^3, 500,000 in 1886, which is the last date to 
 which the official returns extend. During the same 
 
British Interests in South Africa 193 
 
 time the imports from the Cape and Natal to the 
 United Kingdom were ;^6,25o,ooo in 1882, and they 
 were more than ,6^4,500,000 in 1886. But these 
 figures refer to merchandise alone, and they are 
 altogether exclusive of the exports of gold and of the 
 exports of diamonds, which in the last year reached 
 a declared value of something like ;^3, 500,000. 
 
 I think you will agree with me that these figures, 
 taken as they stand, and without allowing for the 
 increase which undoubtedly has since taken place in 
 1887 and 1888, are not contemptible figures, and 
 that they cannot be properly disregarded even by 
 the greatest commercial nation in the world. And 
 you must bear in mind that they give no idea at 
 all of the probable future development of the 
 countiy. The great staples of South African trade, 
 its wool, and its ostrich feathers, and its wine, and 
 to a small extent its corn, gave at one time no 
 promise of anything like a great or rapid expansion ; 
 but recently, the extraordinary productiveness of the 
 mining industry, and the existence of great auri- 
 ferous deposits, not only in British territory, but in 
 the independent territories which are to the north- 
 ward, all promise an increase in the prosperity of 
 the country which must have very considerable effect 
 upon all its other productions. 
 
 Now, at this stage, I would like to guard myself 
 against a suspicion that I should be inclined to put 
 forward our material interests in this great present 
 and probable future trade as a reason or an excuse 
 
194 British Interests in South Africa 
 
 for unnecessary extension of territory, or for wrongful 
 invasion of the rights of any other people whatsoever. 
 (Hear, hear.) But you must remember that, so far 
 as the unoccupied territories between our present 
 colonial possessions and the Zambesi are concerned, 
 they can hardly be said to be practically in the 
 possession of any nation. The tribes and chiefs that 
 exercise dominion in them cannot possibly occupy 
 the land or develop its capacity, and it is as certain 
 as destiny that, sooner or later, these countries will 
 afford an outlet for European enterprise and European 
 colonisation. (Cheers.) And in considering what 
 part this countiy is to take in this great movement, 
 it is worth while to look to both sides of the account, 
 and to see the profit that may be in store for us, 
 when we are also reckoning the sacrifices and the 
 risks that we may have to encounter. 
 
 What is the problem for which we have to seek a 
 solution ? It is undoubtedly the most difficult one 
 with which we have to deal in connection with any of 
 the vast dominions of th3 Queen. We can get very 
 little assistance from our experience in othar cases. 
 When we talk of the practically independeijit colony 
 of the Cape, we are apt to think of those other great 
 self-governing colonies in Australia and in the 
 Dominion of Canada. When we speak of the ad- 
 ministration of native territories, we are inclined to 
 assume some resemblance to the conditions with 
 which we have had to deal in our East Indian 
 dependency. But those who know the country will, 
 
British Interests in South Africa 195 
 
 1 am sure, confirui nie wlieu I say that there is no 
 analogy whatever between these cases, aud that there 
 is nothing in the experience of the past which can 
 safely guide us in dealing with the difficulties wiiich 
 South Africa presents. 
 
 Look at the facts of the case. We have, in the 
 first histance, as the principal feature in the condi- 
 tions of South Africa, the Cape Colony with a popu- 
 lation of 340,000 whites and 760,000 natives ; but the 
 whites of the Cape Colony are not homogeneous ; 
 they are not of the same blood and of the same race. 
 A majority of them, probably 180,000, are of foreign 
 origin, either Dutch or French ; and although i am 
 glad to think, and to know, that they are as loyal as 
 any other subjects of the Queen, and as well inten- 
 tioned towards the British connection, yet the facts 
 of their history, and their traditions, and, above all, 
 their methods of administration of native affairs, are, 
 in some sort, antagonistic to — at all events they are 
 different from — those which are pursued in accord- 
 ance with the philanthropy, cr what some people 
 would call the sentimentalism, of British adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 Then there is the Crown Colony of Natal, with a 
 population of 30,000 whites and of 400,000 natives. 
 Lastly, there are the native territories, in which, 
 here and there throughout the country, are scattered 
 something like 3000 whites, while there are 500,000 
 natives. 
 
 Altogether we have 370,000 whites and 1,750,000 
 
196 British Interests in South Africa 
 
 of natives ; and, besides these, there are, in the vast 
 territories of which I have spoken, which lie between 
 our colonies and the Zambesi, probably another 
 population amounting to nearly 1,000,000 natives. 
 Nothing we can do, nothing that our legislation can 
 devise, will prevent the white population from 
 spreading into these unoccupied territories — (hear, 
 hear) — and the questions that we have to consider 
 are, first, who is to direct this necessary and certain 
 movement, who is to determine its limitations, who 
 is to prepcriuo the conditions under which the work 
 of colonisation is to go on ; and, in the second place, 
 we have to determine who is to protect that great 
 population of natives forming the vast majority of 
 those wlio now inhabit this portion of South Africa, 
 who is to undertake their protection, and to secure 
 that they peacefully continue their progress in civil- 
 isation and in orderly government. In other words, 
 who is to be the dominant power in South Africa ? 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 Now, before we attempt to answer this question, 
 let us consider for a moment what has been the 
 past policy of the British Government. I am not 
 speaking of any particular Government ; I am speak- 
 ing of all Governments. Fortunately, the questions 
 affecting South Africa have not hitherto been made 
 party questions, and we at least have been spared 
 this difficulty in dealing with the subject. All 
 Governments and both parties are equally responsi- 
 ble for the policy, or the want of policy, which has 
 
\ 
 
 British Interests in South Africa 197 
 
 hitherto prevailed — (hear, hear) — and if I ask you to 
 review it now, I beg you to believe that I am not 
 casting any blame upon any one, and if I were 
 inclined to do so — if blame, indeed, does attach — I 
 am here frankly to admit that, so far as mv limited 
 Parliamentary life is concerned, I am, perhaps, as 
 great an offender as any. 
 
 The policy of successive Governments for a long 
 period of time has been the policy of shirking. 
 (Cheers.) There is no doubt about that. It has been 
 the avowed policy, and, considering the difficulties 
 that we have had to encounter, and the small profit 
 that we have ever derived, it is not, perhaps, wonder- 
 ful that there should have been an attempt to get rid 
 of responsibilities and burdensome obligations, and 
 that everything that we have done has been directed to 
 this end. The concession of self-government to the 
 Cape Colony, the premature and ill-advised attempt 
 to secure confederation, the war with the Transvaal 
 and the subsequent retirement from that country, the 
 transfer of the Basuto people to the Cape Colony, the 
 indifference to the recent acquisitions on the West 
 Coast by Germany, every one of those things, and 
 many other parts of our policy to which I might 
 refer, are all dictated by the. same desire on the 
 part of successive Ministries and successive Govern- 
 ments to wash their hands of the whole business. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 I think it must be apparent that this policy of 
 shirking has not been consistently and logically 
 
198 British Interests in South Africa 
 
 carried out, and it will also be admitted that it has 
 been a most conspicuous failure. (Cheers.) We 
 have tried to avoid complications and native wars, 
 and in the short period which has elapsed since 
 full self-government was conferred upon the Cape 
 Colony, we have been engaged in no fewer than six 
 serious struggles, which have involved not only a 
 deplorable loss of human life, but a loss to the British 
 taxpayer of something between ;^ 7,000,000 and 
 ;^8, 000,000 sterling. (Hear, hear,) What has 
 happened in every case has been this : When diffi- 
 culties — difficulties that might, perhaps, have been 
 foreseen, and might, perhaps, have been prevented — 
 have come upon us, we have endeavoured to put 
 them off from us as long and as far as we could, and 
 then, when at last they culminated in open disturb- 
 ance, we have reluctantly undertaken the duty of 
 settling matters, and we have settled them with more 
 or less discredit, and then we have hastened to shake 
 ourselves free from the whole question, and to retire 
 into fancied security until we have once more been 
 roughly awakened. (Cheers.) 
 
 If this policy of shirking is to be continued, do let 
 us understand what it means, and do let us carry it out 
 to the end. If the British public have made up their 
 minds that they have no interest in South Africa 
 beyond their interest in maintaining a naval station 
 at the Cape, if they think that they can honourably 
 throw off all the obligations which they have con- 
 tracted to the great populations that have trusted to 
 
British Interests in South Africa 199 
 
 us, if they think they can afford to give up the large 
 trade that wq enjoy, and the prospect of larger trade 
 in the future, then let us squarely face the issue. Let 
 us say to all the world that we intend to retire ; that 
 we intend to leave Boers and British and natives to 
 fight out their quarrels as best they may, and that 
 whatever happens, whatever bloodshed and turmoil 
 may be the result, that we will not move a British 
 soldier nor spend one farthing of British money in 
 order to put things straight. That at all events 
 would be a consistent policy. It would not be a very 
 noble policy. (Cheers.) It might, however, find 
 defenders, although I confess that I should be very 
 sorry to argue for it myself. 
 
 What would happen in such an event ? The Cape 
 Colony, flourishing as it undoubtedly is, enterprising 
 and ambitious as its statesmen have shown its 
 Government to be, would be altogether unable to step 
 into our vacant places. It would be quite impos- 
 sible that 180,000 Dutchmen who, being in the 
 majority, would control the government of the 
 colony, would be able, according to their principles, 
 to deal satisfactorily with the affairs of something 
 like, roughly speaking, 3,000,000 of natives, and 
 sooner or later, with the sympathy and, perhaps, at 
 the suggestion of the Dutch in the Transvaal and of 
 the Orange Free State, they would stretch out their 
 hands to the kindred nation which is already estab- 
 lished on the West Coast of Africa, and I venture to 
 say that Prince Bismarck and the German Empire 
 
200 British Interests in South Africa 
 
 would not shrink from a responsibility which would 
 give them a colony better than anything they have 
 hitherto dreamt of possessing, and would give them 
 access to those vast auriferous and fertile regions 
 which stretch almost into the very heart of the 
 African continent. (Cheers.) 
 
 Speaking for myself personally, I say reject a 
 policy which will lead to such results. (Renewed 
 cheers.) Now, what is the alternative? There is 
 only one alternative, and that is that we should 
 frankly accept our obligations and responsibilities. 
 (Cheers.) We should maintain firmly and resolutely 
 our hold over the territories that we have already 
 acquired, and we should offer freely our protectorate 
 to those friendly chiefs and people that are stretch- 
 ing out their hands towards us and seeking our 
 protection and our interference. (Cheers.) I have 
 no doubt that a policy of this kind would enable us, 
 with much less risk than has attended the policy we 
 have hitherto pursued, to prescribe the conditions 
 under whiv^h in the future this necessary work of 
 colonisation and civilisation shall go forward. I 
 believe that by such a policy alone can we secure the 
 interests of the great majority of the population, and 
 can we justify our position as a nation. 
 
 If it be adopted, it will raise, no doubt, one or 
 two questions for discussion, and prominently among 
 them the question of the continued retention in 
 the same hands of the two great offices of High 
 Commissioner and of Governor of the Cape Colony. 
 
British Interests in South Africa 201 
 
 It appears to me that this is a question which 
 depends very much upon the personal qualities 
 and characteristics of the man who may be chosen 
 to fill these two offices. If he is an able and 
 discreet and, above all, a firm and resolute man, 
 it is quite possible that he may be able to main- 
 tain an Imperial policy in South Africa in the 
 territories under the protection of the Crown, and 
 at the same time he may be able to impress this 
 policy upon the Government of the Cape Colony ; 
 but, if he should ever be weak or incompetent, it 
 is probable that the Government of the day, the 
 Government of the majority at the Cape Colony, 
 would impress him, and that they would secure the 
 adoption of their policy in the administration of these 
 trans-colonial territories, and once more we should be 
 called upon to pay the piper without setting the tune. 
 (Hear, hear.) I will not venture myself to offer any 
 final judgment upon this question. It is a matter 
 which must be left to the responsible advisers of the 
 Queen, who have much better opportunities of know- 
 ledge than any that I can possess ; but one thing I 
 do say, that, if we are once for all to recognise our 
 obligations in regard to this great continent, we must 
 do so in pursuance of an Imperial policy, and not of 
 a colonial policy, if in any respect their policy differs 
 from ours. (Cheers.) It is only upon those terms that 
 the people of this country can be asked to take the 
 risk, can be asked to make the possible sacrifices 
 which will be called for from them, and it is only in 
 
202 British Interests in South Africa 
 
 that way that we can justify the additional liabilities 
 that we assume. 
 
 I have endeavoured to state very briefly and 
 succinctly the conditions of the problem, the facts of 
 the case, and the alternative policies from which we 
 have to choose. Undoubtedly the question for our 
 decision is one of the very greatest importance. We 
 have suffered much in this country from depres- 
 sion of trade. We know how many of our fellow- 
 subjects are at this moment unemployed. Is there 
 any man in his senses who believes that the crowded 
 population of these islands could exist for a single 
 day if we were to cut adrift from as the great 
 dependencies which now look to us for protection 
 and assistance, and which are the natural markets 
 for our trade ? (Cheers.) The area of the United 
 Kingdom is only 1 20,000 miles ; the area of the 
 British Empire is over 9,000,000 square miles, of 
 which nearly 500,000 are to be found in the portion 
 of Africa with which we have been dealing. If to- 
 morrow it were possible, as some people apparently 
 desire, to reduce by a stroke of the pen the British 
 Empire to the dimensions of the United Kingdom, 
 half at least of our population would be starved — 
 (cheers) — and at a time when a policy of disintegra- 
 tion is openly preached by high authorities — (renewed 
 cheers) — it is well to look the consequences in the 
 face. No doubt the burden of this great Empire is 
 tremendous, and the responsibilities and the obliga- 
 tions which fall upon us are greater than those which 
 
British Interests in South Africa 203 
 
 have weighed upon any other nation in the history 
 of the world. It is true, as was so well said by the 
 poet whose loss we are all deploring, that ** the weary 
 Titan staggers under the too vast orb of his fate." 
 But if we face our obligations, if we perform our 
 duties well and faithfully, the honour and the credit 
 will be proportioned to the sacrificfss that we may 
 make ; while the abandonment of those duties would 
 be as fatal to our material prosperity as it would 
 be discreditable to our national character and our 
 national honour. (Cheers.) 
 
 / 
 
South African Affairs 
 
 Constitutional Club, London, 
 April 22, 1896 
 
 On April 22, 1896, Mr. Chamberlain wm entertained 
 by the Constitutional Club at a complimentary dinner, 
 presided over by the Earlqf' Kintore, G.C.M.G. Afier 
 referring to tlie Unionist victory at the recent General 
 Ekction, aiid the Government programme, Mr. Cham- 
 berlain proceeded to deal with Colonial ajfairs. 
 
 In my own department I gladly recognise the support 
 and the assistance which I have received from oppo- 
 nents as well as from friends in the very difficult 
 situation with which I have had to deal. I think you 
 will perhaps expect that I should say something 
 about that matter. You will, however, understand 
 that anything like an exhaustive discussion of it is 
 impossible at the present time. But the policy of 
 Her Majesty's Government is a policy about which I 
 venture to say there is no obscurity, and the objects 
 we seek are open to all the world. I think I can 
 make that clear to you in a few sentences. 
 
South African Affairs 205 
 
 There are two governing factors in the South 
 African question : the first is that Great Britain is, 
 has been, and must continue to be — (loud cheers) — 
 the paramount Power in those regions. (Cheers.) 
 Our interests there are superior to those of every one 
 else, and I believe I speak the opinion of the nation 
 when I say that, at all risks and at all costs — (cheers) 
 — we will resist any foreign interference. (Loud and 
 prolonged cheers, many of the guests rising and 
 waving their handkerchiefs.) 
 
 That is the first condition. But the second con- 
 dition arises out of the peculiar situation of our 
 own possessions in South Africa. In South Africa 
 two races — the English and the Dutch — have to 
 live together. At the present time the Dutch are 
 in a majority; and it is therefore the duty of 
 every statesman, of every well-wisher of South 
 Africa, to do all in his power to maintain amicable 
 relations between the two races. (Cheers.) In 
 our own Cape Colony the Dutch are in a majority. 
 There are tens of thousands of Dutchmen in the 
 Cape Colony who are just as loyal to the Throne 
 and to the British connection as, let me say, our 
 French-Canadian fellow-subjects in the Dominion 
 of Canada. But, at the same time, these Dutch 
 fellow-subjects of ours very naturally feel that 
 they are of the same blood as the Dutchmen 
 in the two neighbouring Republics; and they 
 sympathise with their compatriots whenever they 
 think that they are subject, or are likely to be 
 
2o6 South African Affairs 
 
 subject, to any injustice, or to the arbitrary exercise 
 of force. 
 
 Gentlemen, these are the two propositions which 
 I hope will be universally accepted : that we are, and 
 will remain, the paramount I^ower — (hear, hear) — and 
 that, at the same time, we will use every exertion, 
 and exhaust every means, to secure a good feeling 
 between the Dutch and the English. (Cheers.) 
 
 Let us apply these conditions to the situation in 
 the Transvaal. What are the facts ? The South 
 African Republic, at the present time, stands alone 
 among civilised nations in refusing to the majority of 
 its population, the majority to which it owes all its 
 prosperity, the commonest rights of citizenship ; and, 
 because it refuses those rights, this majority is subject 
 to injustice and to abuse. The administration is 
 defective. The preservation of order, the administra- 
 tion of the police, and the departments of State are 
 subject to just criticism. These are real grievances ; 
 they are admitted to be so by everybody who has 
 impartially considered the subject. The contemptuous 
 rejection of the reasonable claims of the majority has 
 been the cause of difficulties in the past, and, if it is 
 persisted in, it must of necessity be the cause of 
 further difficulties in the future. 
 
 Now, as the paramount Power, we cannot be in- 
 different to a state of things which involves injustice 
 to our own subjects, and which involves danger to 
 the peace of South Africa ; but, as a Dutch Govern- 
 ment ourselves, as well as an English Government, it 
 
South African Affairs 207 
 
 ought to be our object, in endeavouring to secure 
 the redress of these grievances, to carry with us our 
 Dutch fellow-subjects. (Cheers.) Up to a recent 
 date, the sympathy of the Dutch population at the 
 Cape, in the Orange Free State, and even of pro- 
 gressive Dutchmen in the South African Republic 
 itself — the sympathy of all three was with the 
 Imperial Government and with the Uitlanders in 
 endeavouring to secure the redress of grievances. 
 (Hear, hear.) There has been a revulsion of feeling 
 since from causes which are well known ; but I do 
 not despair — in fact, I have a confident hope — that we 
 shall be able, in the course of no lengthened time, to 
 restore the situation as it was before the invasion of 
 the Transvaal, and to have at our backs the sympathy 
 and support of the majority of the Dutch population 
 in Africa. If we have that united opinion, it will 
 constitute a force which no power in Africa can 
 resist. (Cheers.) 
 
 That is the policy — the South African policy — of 
 Her Majesty's Government. (Cheers.) It requires, 
 believe me, the exhibition of patience as well as 
 of firmness. (Hear, hear.) There are some of our 
 friends in the Press, and soL.e hot-headed and 
 enthusiastic persons in the House of Commons, who 
 seem to imagine that a state of things which is the 
 result of long years of past administration can be set 
 right in a few days or a few weeks. I do not believe 
 that even a Heaven-born Minister could secure such 
 a result. (Laughter and " Hear, hear.") We have 
 
2o8 South African Affairs 
 
 to look beyond the immediate present. We have to 
 look, not to a temporary success, but to the future of 
 South Africa as a whole ; and, convinced as I am 
 that the happiness and the well-being of all the 
 people of South Africa depend on the removal of the 
 race prejudices which have hitherto existed, I am 
 determined, so long as I have the honour to hold my 
 present position, to exhaust all the forces of per- 
 suasion, of argument, and of negotiation, in order to 
 bring about an object which I firmly believe is as 
 desirable in the interests of the South African 
 Republic itself as it is important to the peace and 
 welfare of the whole of South Africa. (Cheers.) 
 
 My lords and gentlemen, before sitting down I 
 should like to say a word or two about another 
 matter which naturally occupies public attention and 
 has caused a great deal oi public anxiety — I refer to 
 the rising in Matabeleland of the native tribes in 
 that country. Of course, it is a matter which is 
 entirely distinct and which must be kejit entirely 
 separate from the question of the Transvaal. Her 
 Majesty's Government are alive to the serious 
 character of this insurrection, and they have taken, 
 and are taking, every step which local experience, 
 local authority, local knowledge can suggest for the 
 purpose of repressing this revolt. At the same time 
 we believe that the repression of a rebellion of this 
 kind is a matter mainly, and, in the first instance, for 
 local resources. We do not intend, therefore, unless 
 some quite unexpected emergency should arise, to 
 
South African Affairs 209 
 
 Bentl large detachments of the British Army to South 
 Africa iu order to put down the Matabeleland rising. 
 Experience shows that the British Army is not by 
 its organisation, by its system, by its economical 
 arrangements, the best suited for work of tliis kind ; 
 and we hold that it is altogether inconsistent with 
 the principles upon which the British Empire has 
 been created and maintained to employ the British 
 Army for such a purpose. What is the history of 
 the British Empire ? Upon my word, I sometimes 
 think there must be a degeneration of the British 
 character when I find people shrieking out almost in 
 hysterics because a rising has taken place in some 
 distant part of our dominions. Our Empire was 
 created by the enterprise and resource of pioneers, 
 who trusted to their own strong arms and brave 
 hearts, and never thought of calling for a coi'ps iVarm6c 
 every time they were threatened with danger from 
 the savages into whose regions they had penetrated. 
 And, bear in mind, it is not our fellow-subjects in 
 danger who are making this claim; it is made for 
 them by friends, who, very badly, as we think, repre- 
 sent their feelings and their interests, and who 
 exhibit fears to which those who are in danger are 
 strangers. There is no part of the world in which 
 this feeling of self-reliance is stronger than it is in 
 our South African dominions ; and, while our fellow- 
 subjects expect, and rightly expect, that we shall 
 defend them against any civilised foreign foe, I 
 think they will resent the imputation that they are 
 
2IO South African Affairs 
 
 unable to take care of themselves in the presence of 
 a native rising. (Cheers.) 
 
 The only difficulties are the difficulties of transport 
 and of distance. The letters which I receive cause 
 me to believe that there are people who think that 
 troops can be sent to Matabeleland as quickly as we 
 send a telegraphic message. They do not know, 
 apparently, that it takes probably two months to go 
 from Capetown to Bulawayo — I do not mean by the 
 mail, and by day and night relays, but two months 
 for an organised military force. I believe, however, 
 that at the present moment our brave fellow-subjects 
 in Bulawayo are holding their own, and will hold 
 their own. In the meantime there are thousands of 
 men in South Africa who are ready and willing to go 
 to their assistance as fast as transport can be pro- 
 vided for them. (Cheers.) I ask from you, and 
 from the country at large, that you will show, in 
 the presence of difficulties and even of dangers, 
 which are necessary incidents in a world-wide 
 dominion such as ours, that calmness, that reserve, 
 which are evidence of conscious strength, and which 
 I believe we rightly consider as among the best 
 characteristics of the British race. (Prolonged 
 cheers.) 
 
The Progress of South 
 Africa 
 
 South African Dinner, London, 
 May 21, 1896 
 
 On May ^1, 1896, Mr. Chambeiiain presided at the 
 South African Dinner which was held in the White- 
 hall Rooms, Hotel Metropole. The gathering is an 
 annual one of gentlemen connected zvith South Africa, 
 ami this year, in consequence of recent events, more than 
 usual interest was taken in the reunion. The morn- 
 ing newspapers of this date contained hiformation of 
 the commutation oftlie death sentence which had been 
 parsed on four of the Johannesburg Reform leaders, 
 and the imposition cf terms of imjmsonment andjines 
 on tJiem and their fellow-prisoners which were con- 
 sidered to he altogether excesmve. Mr. Chamberlain, 
 on rising to propose " Prosperity to South Africa,'''' 
 was 7'ece'ived with loud and prolonged cJieering. 
 
 My Lords and Gentlemen, — I have now to propose 
 to you what is called the toast of the evening, " Pros- 
 
212 The Progress of South Africa 
 
 perity to South Africa." (Hear, hear.) I believe 
 that this task has fallen on several cocasions to my 
 predecessors in the office that I now hold, and I con- 
 fess that I am inclined to envy those who spoke under 
 happier circumstances, and probably with less re- 
 straint and reserve than I think is indicated for me 
 under present circumstances. (Hear, hear.) When 
 I accepted the invitation of your committee some 
 months ago the position was one of considerable 
 anxiety ; but, at the same time, I hoped that long 
 before this banquet the clouds might have rolled 
 away, and South Africa be once more basking in the 
 sunshine of its extraordinary prosperity. (Hear, hear.) 
 Unfortunately this is not the case. The causes of 
 discontent and of unrest in South Africa still remain, 
 and very little progress, I am sorry to say, has been 
 made towards that reconciliation of the two great 
 races, the Dutch and the English, which I am assured 
 is felt to be of as great importance in Pretoria as it is 
 known to be in London. (Cheers.) 
 
 I cannot pretend that I regard the information 
 which was published in the papers this morning as 
 entirely satisfactory. (Loud cheers.) I fear that it 
 may not tend to the speedy realisation of our objects. 
 I regret it, and I confess that I am the more dis- 
 appointed because I have expressed my belief in the 
 magnanimity of President Kruger. (Hear, hear.) 
 I have believed that with him " the quality of mercy 
 wap not strained," and that he would be the last per- 
 son to be animated by anything like vindictive feel- 
 
The Progress of South Africa 213 
 
 ing towards the men, who, whatever mistakes they 
 may have committed — and we all think that they 
 have committed grievous errors — (hear, hear) — are 
 nevertheless the men who have created, by their 
 energy and their enterprise, the prosperity of the 
 State over which the President presides. (Cheers.) 
 
 You will understand that I do not think c.-at this 
 is the time or the occasion for public discussion of 
 the present situation. (Hear, hear.) There is the 
 less necessity for that, because, at all events, the 
 policy of Her Majesty's Government has been clearly 
 and definitely expressed, ai;id will not be changed. 
 (Prolonged cheers.) We intend strictly to fulfil our 
 legal obligations (Hear, hear.) We intend also 
 strictly to maintain our legal rights. (Cheers and 
 " Bravo.") We do not at all abandon the hope that 
 we may be able to do something to bring together the 
 two races that have been temporarily separated by 
 recent events, and to secure a complete and satisfac- 
 tory understanding; but I cannot conceal from 
 myself that the prosperity of South Africa depends 
 to-day less upon its marvellous natural resources, 
 upon its agriculture, and its mining industry, than it 
 does upon the statesmanship, the wisdom, and the 
 moderation of the men who are mainly responsible for 
 its political destinies. (Cheers.) 
 
 Gentlemen, political disturbances are not the only 
 misfortune which we have had to regret recently in 
 connection with South Africa, We have to lament 
 that aggravated outbreak of rinderpest, which is 
 
214 T^G Progress of South Africa 
 
 really a most serious event, threatening the prosperity 
 of large districts, especially those inhabited by our 
 native allies and subjects ; and we have also to regret 
 the rising in Rhodesia, which I cannot help thinking 
 was connected with the slaughter of the cattle which 
 took place in consequence of the outbreak of disease. 
 
 As regards the first of these two misfortunes, the 
 Government are doing what they can to prevent the 
 worst results. We have given authority to take any 
 steps which may be necessary to preserve the people 
 who are suffering from starvation, and, if possible, to 
 give them the opportuni|;iy of employment, and you 
 may rest assured that this matter will be most care- 
 fully watched during the next few months. 
 
 As regards the rising in Rhodesia, I think we may 
 congratulate ourselves that this outbreak, in resisting 
 which I know the Dutch and the English, forgetting 
 all their differences, have been fighting side by side 
 with equal bravery — (cheers) — I say that we may 
 congratulate ourselves that this outbreak has been 
 successfully suppressed ; for, indeed, I think we may 
 feel assured that the back of the rebellion has been 
 broken ; and, although there has been a lamentable 
 loss of life and a great loss of property, still it is some 
 compensation to us to find that the »ettlers in that 
 remote region, left as they have been to their own 
 resources, without any organised military force, and 
 without the hope of succour for many weeks, have 
 risen to the occasion, and have, without assistance, 
 dealt with the matter with signal success. (Cheers.) 
 
The Progress of South Africa 2 1 5 
 
 We shall not forget in this connection the names of 
 Clifford, of Duncan, of Selous, of Napier — (cheers) — 
 and of all the others who have accepted the respon- 
 sibility, and have behaved as Englishmen always do 
 under similar circumstances, who have justified our 
 faith in our fellow countrymen whenever they are 
 exposed to danger and peril, and are thrown in this 
 way upon their own resources. (Cheers.) 
 
 I think now that we may hope that peace will 
 speedily be restored, and that then the active develop- 
 ment of the country may once more proceed. (Hear, 
 hear.) What has happened in the past in this vast 
 new territory is sufficiently striking. Twenty years 
 ago — I might almost say ten years ago — the country 
 was practically unknown. It was known only to be 
 inhabited by a savage tribe, and to be governed by a 
 cruel and barbarous ruler, and it seemed to be entirely 
 removed from civilisation ; and yet now Bulawayo is 
 in daily and hourly communication by telegraph with 
 London. The capital has its churches, its chapels, 
 its schools^ its banks, its clubs, and, of course, its 
 newspapers — (cheers) — and all the incidents of a 
 great and organised community. (Hear, hear.) In 
 a very short time two great main lines of railway 
 will connect it, one with Capetown and the other 
 with Beira ; and really Bulawayo and Salisbury will 
 be as near to us as Scotland, for instance, was to our 
 ancestors. Well, this is a wonderful result, anu now 
 that naturally so much ill is thought and so much ill 
 is spoken of chartered companies, I think we ought 
 
2i6 The Progress of South Africa 
 
 in common fairness to remember to their credit this 
 extraordinary proof of their energy and enterprise. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 My lords and gentlemen, on occasions of this kind 
 it is, I believe, customary to quote an encyclopedia of 
 statistics. I cannot help thinking that it is a prac- 
 tice which is more honoured in the breach than the 
 observance. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) Statistics 
 have always seemed to me to be a somewhat indi- 
 gestible dessert to a good dinner — (laughter) — but, 
 although I will not trouble you with many figures, I 
 will call your attention to one or two facts which, 
 after all, are based upon figures. I find, for instance, 
 that in the last ten years, between 1884 and 1894, 
 which is the last period for which I have the oflficial 
 statistics, that the trade — the export and import 
 trade — of Cape Colony has a great deal more than 
 doubled — (cheers) — while the export and import 
 trade of Natal has increased by over one-third; 
 and this progress is still going on. (Renewed 
 cheers.) I think there are very few markets, espe- 
 cially the large markets, of which anything like that 
 increase can at the present time be predicated. (Hear, 
 hear.) I find that in 1 894 the total imports of South 
 Africa were over fourteen millions sterling, which, of 
 course, is no small fraction of the total of our export 
 trade, and to this, also, I desire to call your attention. 
 Of the fourteen millions, more than twelve millions 
 come from the United Kingdom and from the British 
 possessions. (Cheers.) . :" "^ . 
 
The Progress of South Africa 217 
 
 Gentlemen, I do not think that we grudge our 
 foreign competitors the two millions which remain 
 to them — (laughter and cheers) — and I do not think 
 that the progress of this colony, or of any of the 
 great dominions of the Crown, ought to excite their 
 jealousy and their hostility. What they sometimes 
 seem to forget is that every colony of the British 
 Empire, and every new countiy which is brought 
 under civilisation and under the British flag, are open 
 to them, and open to all foreigners, just as freely, 
 and with as little restriction, as they are to our own 
 subjects. (Cheers.) Is there any one of them that 
 can say the same ? (No.) Under these circumstances 
 I confess I cannot understand the feeling with which 
 the spread of British influence is in some quarters 
 regarded, because I maintain that the spread of 
 British influence is a gain not merely to Great Britain, 
 but to the whole of the civilised world. (Cheers.) 
 
 In any case, gentlemen, whatever may be the diffi- 
 culties, and even the dangers of the present, I have not 
 lost confidence in the future. (Cheers.) I believe in 
 the determination of the people of this country to 
 maintain at all risks that position which they have 
 earned with so a great an expenditure of blood and 
 treasure. (Cheers.) At the same time, I believe in 
 their desire to stand well with all men, and to adopt 
 a conciliatory policy, especially with regard to our 
 Dutch fellow-subjects. (Cheers.) I have received 
 this morning a copy of an address *^^o Sir Hercules 
 Kobinson on the day, I think, that he left Capetown, 
 
2i8 The Progress of South Africa 
 
 from which I will venture to read you a passage or 
 two. It is signed by sixty-five members of the Cape 
 Parliament, all of whom are either Africanders or 
 represent Africander constituencies; and after 
 acknowledging, as they deserve, and in the highest 
 terms, the services which Sir Hercules Robinson has 
 recently rendered to South Africa and the empire — 
 (hear, hear) — they go on to say : ** It would be super- 
 fluous to give your Excellency the assurance that 
 there need be no apprehension whatever on the part 
 of Her Majesty's Government of any spirit of hostility 
 in the minds of ourselves, the Africander people, 
 against England. If South Africa be left to work 
 out its own destiny, we feel convinced that such a 
 course must at no distant date result in the complete 
 restoration of the good understanding between the 
 great European races who have adopted Africa as 
 their home, which to a marked extent was disturbed 
 by recent lamentable events. We would further 
 avail ourselves of your Excellency's visit to England 
 to request you to kindly inform the Secretary of 
 State for the Colonies that, while we are convinced 
 that he will continue to guard the interests of the 
 empire in South Africa, and to uphold the reputation 
 of British statesmen for high-mindedness and fear- 
 lessness in the execution of their duty without regard 
 to persons or classes, we at the same time humbly 
 hope that he will with unabated energy continue to 
 resist all efforts which may be made to induce Her 
 Majesty's Government to depart from that policy of 
 
The Progress of South Africa 219 
 
 moderation and conciliation which can alone secure 
 the real progress and true happiness of South Africa 
 and its people." (Cheers.) 
 
 Gentlemen, those are wise and moderate and 
 patriotic words. I do not doubt that the great 
 majority, at any rate, of the people of this country 
 are impressed by similar sentiments. (Hear, hear.) 
 We must have patience — we can afford to wait. 
 (Hear, hear.) Time is on our side, and I do not 
 doubt that its healing hand will close the wounds 
 that have been so brutally opened, and will remove 
 all the obstacles in the way of the prosperity of 
 South Africa. 
 
Our Rights and Obligations 
 in South Africa 
 
 Cafe Monico, London, March 27, 1897 
 
 On March ^7, 1897, Sir Alfred Mihier, Governor- 
 Designate of the Cape Colony and High Commissioner 
 Jor South Africa, was entertained by his Jriends ^at a 
 farewell dinner at tlie Cafe Monico. In proposing 
 the health of the chairman {Mr. Asquith), the Secre- 
 tary of State for the Colonies said : — 
 
 My Lords and Gentlemen, — I have been permitted 
 to propose to you the next toast, the only other toast 
 upon our list this evening. It is, of course, the 
 health of our chairman, Mr. Asquith. (Cheers.) I 
 cannot doubt that it has been to him a great pleasure 
 to preside over such a meeting as this, the like of 
 which, I believe, could not have been held in any 
 other country, and which, as he has told us, is, even 
 in our own, exceptional in its character and its 
 composition. (Hear, hear.) We fight our political 
 battles in this country with great energy, and some- 
 
Our Rights and Obligations, ^c. 221 
 
 times, perhaps, with too much vehemence ; but, 
 fortunately, there is a large space in the field of 
 politics, and a still greater space in our social life, 
 which is altogether free from any taint of party 
 bitterness. Foreigners tell me that what has struck 
 them most in their experience of this country is the 
 fact that political opponents, even in the midst of the 
 bitterest controversy, can still remain firm personal 
 friends. 
 
 To-night we have an example of what I have been 
 saying. Here are all shades of opinion, animated, for 
 this occasion at any rate, by a common sentiment ; 
 and I think that Sir Alfred Milner may well be 
 proud, as he has told us he is proud, to go to the 
 most diflBcult task to which the command of the 
 Queen has called him, and to which, I may say, he 
 has also been called by the almost unanimous opinion 
 of his fellow citizens, with the assurance of the 
 hearty good-will of all sections of his fellow country- 
 men. (Cheers.) I am to be asked shortly in the 
 House of Commons to lay upon the table such 
 written instructions as I may have given to Sir 
 Alfred Milner. (Laughter.) I will not anticipate 
 the secrets which I may have to disclose in answer to 
 that novel request — (more laughter) — but I am con- 
 fident that, independently of all instructions, Sir 
 Alfred Milner has imposed upon himself, and carries 
 within his breast, the duty of maintaining the rights, 
 the interests, the obligations, and the honour of 
 Great Britain. (Cheers.) 
 
222 Our Rights and Obligations 
 
 He goes, as I have said, to the performance of a 
 difficult task. We will not condole with him ; for a 
 man of resolution, of resource, and of ability, finds 
 his best opportunities in tlie difficulties which he has 
 to encounter. Although the situation which is present 
 to our minds is not free from anjjiety, or even from 
 danger, yet I am sanguine enough to believe that the 
 problem before us, and before Sir Alfred Milner, is 
 not an insolvable problem. For what is it ? It is to 
 reconcile, and to persuade to live together in peace 
 and goodwill, two races whose common interests are 
 immeasurably greater than any differences which may 
 unfortunately exist. (Cheers.) 
 
 This is a question which has been presented more 
 than once in the history of this country. Sir Alfred 
 Milner has alluded to the case of Canada. In 
 Canada, in some of the West Indian islands, and in 
 the Mauritius, we have seen the question solved in 
 the most satisfactory manner, and the Queen has no 
 more loyal subjects than the French population in the 
 Dominion of Canada, and in the islands to which I 
 have referred. (Cheers.) 
 
 In South Africa, at first sight, at all events, it 
 would appear that the question is encompassed with 
 even fewer difficulties than those which have arisen 
 in other parts of the world ; for here the differences 
 of manners, of customs, of blood, and, what is, perhaps, 
 more serious than all, of religion, are much less than 
 in the cases which I have recalled. I say, then, under 
 these circumstances, we have reason to hope. In the 
 
in South Africa 223 
 
 Cape Colony, in Natal, and in the Orange Free State, 
 we find that these differf-nces have been no bar to 
 Bocial intercourse, to intermarriage, and to co-opera- 
 tion in all good work. On many occasions, and 
 notably in the case of the recent insurrection in 
 Khodesia, the burgher of the Transvaal and the 
 British citizen have fought side by side, and shed 
 their blood upon tht, same field, in the same cause 
 and against the same foe. (Cheers.) 
 
 In these circumstances, what has been proved to be 
 possible in so many cases must surely be possible in 
 all. As we, on our part, are ready, at all times, to 
 extend to our Dutch fellow-subjects, with open hands, 
 all the privileges which we enjoy ourselves, and, as we 
 have shown again and again by our declarations and 
 by our actions, that we have no intention and no desire 
 to interfere with the independence of neighbouring 
 States, we may entertain the hope that the Govern- 
 ment of the Transvaal will come to see that it is its 
 duty to fulfil to the letter the obligations which it has 
 voluntarily assumed in connection with the London 
 Convention, and that it will, in time, extend the hand 
 of fellowship to the large number of foreigners who 
 have contributed so largely to the success and to the 
 prosperity of the State. (Cheers.) 
 
 There is, however, one other condition which has 
 to be fulfilled. I mistake very much the mind of my 
 countrymen if they are not, at this moment, deter- 
 mined to support the present Government, or any 
 Government which may be in its place, in maintain- 
 
224 ^"^ Rights and Obligations 
 
 ing in their integrity the rights which we have under 
 the Convention, and our position as the paramount 
 Power i . South Africa. (Loud cheers.) It may be 
 true, as we have recently had it suggested to us, that 
 there are eminent persons in South Africa who have 
 aspirations for an independent federation of States, 
 in which Dutch influence would be predominant, and 
 which would look for sympathy and support rather 
 to the Continent of Europe than to this country. If 
 such an aspiration exists, in my opinion it is incom- 
 patible with the highest British interests — (cheers) — 
 it is incompatible with our position at the Cape 
 itself, one of the most important strategic points in 
 the Empire, the possession of which is absolutely 
 necessary to us as a great Eastern Power. (Renewed 
 cheers.) It is an aspiration which cannot be accepted 
 by the people of this country, and until it is frankly 
 abandoned there cannot be a final and satisfactory 
 settlement. (Cheers.) But, short of this, we are 
 ready now and at all times to give the fullest and 
 most favourable consideration to the wishes and 
 sentiments, even to the prejudices of all parties in 
 South Africa, and to co-operate with them in all 
 measures for the good of the whole community. 
 
 My Lords and Gentlemen, — I know that I have 
 wandered from the subject of the toast. It is a habit 
 contracted in the House of Commons — (laughter) — 
 but I am quite sure that you will to-night gladly 
 recognise the ability with which Mr. Asquith has 
 presided over these proceedings, and the grace with 
 
in South Africa 225 
 
 which he has proposed the toast of the evening, and 
 has expressed our sentiments towards our distin- 
 guished guest. We are met here united by the 
 common desire to do that guest honour, and it would 
 be altogether out of place if I were to dwell upon the 
 differences which separate us elsewhere ; but this, at 
 least, I may say, that while we know that any party 
 is fully justified in regarding Mr. Asquith as a most 
 brilliant and powerful leader, we, his opponents, are 
 also glad to recognise in him an honourable, although 
 a formidable, foe. (Cheers.) We all, to whatever 
 party we belong, rejoice in the position which he hat? 
 achieved for himself, and which his attainments and 
 character fully deserve. (Cheers.) 
 
Imperial Policy 
 
A Year's Work 
 
 Birmingham, January 30, 1897 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain attended the ninth annual dinner of 
 the Birmingham Jewellers^ and Silversmiths' Associa- 
 tion, on January 30, 1897, and responded to tfw toast 
 of " Her Majesty's Ministers.'''' 
 
 On behalf of my colleagues and of myself, I thank you 
 for the way in which you have received the toast 
 which has been so sympathetically proposed by my 
 friend Mr. Lord. I have often attended your gather- 
 ings — ("Hear, hear," and applause) — since this 
 association was first formed. I begin to think that 
 you may consider that it is degenerating into a habit 
 — (laughter) — but the fact is that I look upon this 
 annual banquet as an institution which I should 
 greatly regret to miss, since it gives mo the oppor- 
 tunity, not only to exchange greetings with my 
 friendis and constituents, but also of saying some- 
 thing upon the political situation, in which we all 
 have a common interest. (Applause.) I do not 
 know that it adds to the interest of what I have to 
 
230 A Year's Work 
 
 say that upon such occasions as this I am not 
 tempted to make a party speech. I address those 
 who differ from me in politics as well as those who 
 agree, and I am led into that portion of the political 
 field which is common irround for the moderate men 
 of all parties. (Hear, hear.) I think I may, how- 
 ever, be justified in the belief, after your cordial 
 reception of the toast, that you consider that Her 
 Majesty's present Ministers are earnestly desirous of 
 upholding the honour and the interests of this 
 country — (applause) — and that these have not suf- 
 fered in our hands. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 Mr. Lord referred to the twelve months that have 
 past since I last addressed you. As he says, it has 
 been a time of great anxiety, and even danger. 
 There have been on more than one occasion periods 
 when a false step might have led to a collision, and 
 might have brought this country into a conflict the 
 issue of which no man could foresee. It is something 
 to be able to say that the danger, if it has not entirely 
 disappeared, has at all events receded, and that the 
 result has been accomplished without any loss of our 
 proper influence, and without any derogation of the 
 great primary objects which the Government and 
 which the country have had in view. (Applause.) Mr. 
 Lord has referred in feeding terms to the universal 
 sentiment which was aroused in this country on the 
 occasion of the massacres of Christians in the Turkish 
 Empire. Lord Salisbury, by his patience, his firm- 
 ness, his resolution, has convinced the Powers of 
 
A Year's Work 231 
 
 Europe — always, I am sorry to say, inclined to sus- 
 picion where England is concerned — lie has convinced 
 them of our disinterested desire for peace, and at the 
 same time of our determination, as far as our power 
 and our influence extend, that the misgovernment of 
 which we complain, and which has been a scandal to 
 Europe, shall be brought to an end. (Applause.) 
 It is difficult to be sanguine of the future in a case 
 like this, where there are so many conflicting inter- 
 ests ; but I think that we may now entertain some- 
 thing like a sanguine hope that the concert of 
 Europe has been re-established, and that it will be 
 effective to prevent the recurrence of anything like 
 those outrages which have shocked the conscience of 
 the civilised world. (Cheers.) 
 
 Mr. Lord referred to another matter, which is one 
 for unmitigated congratulation. That cloud of which 
 I remember speaking when I last addressed you, 
 which overshadowed our relations with the United 
 States of America, has been dispelled — (cheers) — 
 dispelled by mutual concessions which are honourable 
 alike to the statesmen of both these great countries ; 
 and now, for the first time in the history of the world, 
 a treaty of arbitration has been signed between two 
 great Powers, each of them proud, each of them 
 sensitive, each of them properly confident in their 
 own strength and resources — (hear, hear) — by which 
 it is sought at any rate to make war in future abso- 
 lutely impossible between them. (Loud cheering.) 
 Gentlemen, that is an achievement worthy of the 
 
232 A Year's Work 
 
 Jubilee of the Queen ! (Cheers.) For while I believe 
 that we all desire to be on the best terms with all the 
 Powers, it is something more than a desire, it is 
 almost a religion, with us to preserve constantly 
 feelings and relations of the most friendly and cordial 
 character with our kinsmen on the other side of the 
 Atlantic. (Cheers.) It is not for me to predict the 
 fate of that treaty. I do not know what course may 
 be taken by that distinguished body, the Senate of 
 the United States, in whose hands its confirmation 
 rests. I have had some experience. Nine years ago 
 I was myself instrumental in making a treaty by 
 which the then Government of President Cleveland, 
 and the then Government of Lord Salisbury, agreed 
 upon terms by which a long-standing fishery dispute 
 was settled. (Cheers.) But that treaty, as you know, 
 was rejected by the then Senate of the United States. 
 But, although the treaty was rejected, the negotiations 
 were not fruitless, for the modus vivcndi which accom- 
 panied that treaty, which was intende^d only to occupy 
 a temporary place until the treaty was ratified, has 
 since been renewed again and again, so that the 
 quarrel, which at one time threatened to embitter our 
 relations, has been allowed peacefully to slumber ever 
 since. (Cheers.) And so I am encouraged to believe 
 that even if the Senate should reject this latest 
 treaty, which I hope they will not do — (hear, hear) — 
 still these negotiations also will have their effect, and 
 the common sense, and the sense of justice, and the 
 Christian sentiment of the people of the United 
 
A Yearns Work 233 
 
 States will support that efiPoi't for peace which we, at 
 all events, have shown our earnest desire to maintain. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 Sir, there is another event which has taken place 
 in the past twelve months, and to which I refer with 
 satisfaction. I allude to the brilliantly led, and the 
 splendidly successful, expedition to Dongola — (cheers) 
 — by which a great fertile province has been rescued 
 from a barbarous tyranny, and has been restored to 
 prosperity and to civilisation. That is something of 
 which we as a country may be proud, in spite of the 
 sneers of our foreign critics — (cheers) — and I hope 
 that this policy, which I believe has the support of 
 the vast majority of Englishmen, may be carried to 
 its legitimate conclusion — (cheers) — and that before 
 very long we may see the tyranny of the Khalifa 
 destroyed, and the security of Egypt established by 
 giving to that country the practical and substantial 
 control of the great river upon which its existence 
 depends. (Cheers.) We have heard much of the 
 moral obligations of this country in regard to 
 Armenia. We have been told that it was our duty 
 to protect this unfortunate population. There is a 
 school amongst us — not, indeed, a very numerous or 
 a very influential one — which calls itself the " For- 
 ward Party," and which is, in my opinion, so retro- 
 grade in its policy that it would carry us back to a 
 period of universal war in pursuit of its views and its 
 theories ; but I am ready to go so far with them as to 
 admit the existence of this moral obligation, although 
 
2 34 A Year's Work 
 
 I must add that it is limited by our power and by 
 our resources, and by the probability of useful inter- 
 ference. (Hear, hear.) But we have a moral obliga- 
 tion which is equally incumbent upon us in regard to 
 the Soudan, and that is an obligation which is well 
 within our power and our resources. (Hear, hear.) 
 We have an opportunity, if we seize it, which comes 
 seldom to any civilised nation, of reducing in an 
 almost incalculable degi'ee the sum of human misery 
 and human suffering in the world. (Cheers.) I do 
 not believe that the Government will be backward in 
 fulfilling this obligation, and I do not believe that 
 our countrymen will be backward in their support. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 I say, then, that the three events to which I have 
 referred — the establishment of the concert of Europe 
 in order to put an end to misgovernment in Turkey ; 
 the treaty of peace and arbitration with the United 
 States; and the expedition to Dongola — form alto- 
 gether a record of which no Government need be 
 ashamed ; and I admit I was a little surprised, 
 although, I perhaps more than most people, should 
 make allowance for election speeches — (laughter) — 
 because I have made more than most people — (re- 
 newed laughter) — I was a little surprised to find that 
 a very distinguished friend of mine — Mr. John 
 Morley — the other day took a general view of what 
 he called the political drama, and found every- 
 thing bad — everything without a redeeming feature. 
 (Laughter.) Now, speaking in that spirit which I 
 
A Year's Work 235 
 
 desire to preserve on such an occasion as this, and 
 speaking to reasonable men, does not that appear to 
 be rather a dyspeptic view of affairs? (Laughter.) 
 I dare say that Mr. Morley was thinking chiefly of 
 our domestic controversies ; and, if I might venture 
 to say so, I would add that this is a mistake which 
 the leaders of the lladical party are constantly 
 making. They forget, in the attention which they 
 give to these domestic controversies, which, after all, 
 whichever way they are settled, are of minor import- 
 ance — they forget the great part which the country 
 has played, and is called upon to play, in the history 
 of the world. I say that this is the fatal mistake 
 which alienates from men, otherwise influential and 
 worthy of admiration, the sympathies of the great 
 masses of their countrymen. (Hear, hear.) Because, 
 let the little Englanders say what they like, we are a 
 great governing race, predestined by our defects, as 
 well as by our virtues, to spread over the habitable 
 globe, and to enter into relations with all the countries 
 of the earth. Our trade, the employment of our 
 people, our very existence, depend upon it. We cannot 
 occupy an insular position, and we cannot occupy 
 ourselves entirely with domestic matters — (hear, hear) 
 — and therefore foreign affairs and colonial affairs 
 will continue, as long as our country exists, to be the 
 greatest and the pre-eminent interest to the people of 
 the United Kingdom. (Applause.) 
 
236 A Year's Work 
 
 A/ler (kaliufr with varhu.s fjiu'-ttiom of domestic 
 policy, Mr. Chamberlain proceeded as Jollowa : 
 
 I do not want to make any invidious comparisons, 
 but is there any Government of recent time— the late 
 Government for instance — which has done so much in 
 so short a time ? I put this before you in all humility, 
 but at the same time with a certain inner conscious- 
 ness that when the balance is struck it will be on the 
 right side. (Hear, hear.) But whatever may be the 
 opinion formed of our policy and of our programme, 
 there is one thing which must not be left out of view. 
 What is the alternative ? It is not enough to criti- 
 cise ; it is not enough to destroy. You must be 
 prepared to offer a substitute for the policy which you 
 condemn ; you must be able to construct a programme 
 of your own. Now it seems to me that the policy of 
 the Opposition would be to leave undone all those 
 things which we have done, or proposed to do, and to 
 do many things which we have not the slightest in- 
 tention of doing. They would, for instance — and I 
 am taking my opinion entirely from their own 
 speeches — they would abandon Cyprus, which we 
 intend to develop and to make a prosperous possession 
 of this country. (Applause.) They would retire 
 from Egypt, which we intend to restore and make 
 secure. (Applause.) They would cut down our 
 Imperial dominion in proportion to tae smallness of 
 our army. We propose to increase our army in 
 proportion to the greatness of our empire. (Cheers.) 
 
A Year's Work 237 
 
 They would destroy the union of the United King- 
 dom, which we are pledged to maintain — (hear, hear) 
 — and I gather that they would lay additional taxa- 
 tion upon the people of England to the extent of two 
 millions and a half per annum, in order to start 
 Ireland fairly as an independent country — as what 
 they call a separate entity. Gentlemen, if these be 
 the two policies, and I think I have stated them 
 fairly — I am perfectly content to leave the choice to 
 you and to the people of the United Kingdom. 
 
 Now, before I sit down, there is one other matter 
 which is connected indirectly, at any rate — directly, 
 I think I may say — with my own department. 
 (Applause.) The present year is the sixtieth year of 
 the reign of the Queen — (applause) — and you will 
 agree with me that the date marks an absolutely 
 unparalleled chapter in the history of our country. 
 (Hear, hear.) No monarch in England has reigned 
 so long; no monarch has reigned s*^ well and so 
 wisely. (Loud applause.) None have enjoyed so 
 continuously and so rncreasingly the love and the 
 respect of their subjects. In no previous reign has 
 there been such progress, especially in all that con- 
 duces to the prosperity and the happiness of the 
 masses of the population. (Hear, hear.) In no 
 period of like extent has there ever been so great an 
 extension of this empire of ours. Gentlemen, a 
 commemoration of a reign so remarkable should 
 surely be exceptional also. (Hear, hear.) We have 
 had commemorations, we have had loyal demonstra- 
 
238 A Year's Work 
 
 tions on previous occasions. On previous occasions, 
 as no doubt now, representatives of foreign countries 
 have come here to testify to the feeling of respect 
 which is entertained for the personal qualities of our 
 Queen. Our great dependency of India on previous 
 occasions, and again now, will give evidence of the 
 loyalty of its population to the Empress, who has 
 always shown such a marked interest in their welfare 
 and happiness. But those things have happened 
 before. But what has not happened before, what 
 has neve:: happened in the history of this country, 
 has been to secure a personal representation of the 
 empire as a whole — (applause) — of that great empire 
 with its more than eleven millions of square miles of 
 territory, with its three hundred and fifty millions of 
 people, with their different religions, their different 
 constitutions, their separate manners and customs, 
 all united solely by the bond of allegiance to the 
 Queen of these realms. (Applause.) 
 
 You will have seen, gentlemen, the proposal that 
 has been made, and is being carried out, to secure 
 such a demonstration, and that an invitation has 
 been addressed to the Prime Ministers of all the self- 
 governing colonies of the empire to come to England 
 and to take part in this unique ceremonial. I have 
 every reason, from the replies I have already received, 
 to believe that the invitation has been gratifying to 
 the colonies, and that it will be received in the spirit 
 in which it has been tendered. These gentlemen will 
 come here as the guests of the nation. (Applause.) 
 
A Year's Work 239 
 
 And who are they ? They are the rulers of kingdoms, 
 almost all of which are manifold larger than the 
 United Kingdom itself, and all of them inhabited by 
 considerable populations, that are destined to become 
 at no distant date great nations, animated, as I hope 
 and believe, by affection and regard for the great 
 motherland that has given them birth, and that has 
 instilled into their hearts those sentiments of equal 
 justice and ordered liberty which have hitherto 
 accompanied their progress as independent and self- 
 governing States. (Applause.) Gentlemen, I hope 
 that we shall have the opportunity, not merely in 
 London, but in our great provincial centres — (hear, 
 hear) — of welcoming these rulers of States beyond 
 the sea, these men who, under the Queen, are the 
 constitutional heads of the communities, which, by 
 a fr9« choice, have selected them to preside over 
 the destinies of these provinces of a great empire. 
 We shall have them ; we shall have at the same time 
 a representation of the great Crown colonies, with 
 their infinite variety of climate and of production ; 
 and in this way we shall secure a demonstration that 
 00 other country can make — (cheers) — a demonstra- 
 tion of power, of influence, and of beneficent work, 
 which will be a fitting tribute to the best and the 
 most revered of English Sovereigns. (Cheers.) 
 
 It is my belief that great good will result from this 
 gathering, that a meeting between those who repre- 
 sent in so marked a degree the interests of the great 
 colonies and the members of Her Majesty's Govern- 
 
240 A Year's Work 
 
 ment, will lead to an interchange of ideas about 
 matters of common and material interest, about 
 closer commercial union — (hear, hear) — about the 
 representation of the colonies, about common defence, 
 about legislation, about other questions of equal im- 
 portance, which cannot but be productive of the best 
 results. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 But, after all, this is the great motive which 
 influences the Government. We want to show to 
 these gentlemen, we want to show to the colonies 
 that they worthily represent, that the days of 
 apathy and indifiEerence have long ago passed away. 
 (Cheers.) We want to prove to them that we are as 
 proud of them as we believe that they are proud of 
 us. (Cheers.) We want to show them that we have 
 confidence in their future, and hope in their closer 
 union with ourselves, so that in the time to come the 
 British Empire, founded upon freedom, buttressed by 
 the affection of its several members, fortified by 
 mutual interest, shall stand impregnable and un- 
 assailable " four-square to all the winds that blow." 
 (Loud and prolonged cheering, amid which the right 
 honourable gentleman resumed his seat.) 
 
The True Conception of 
 
 Empire 
 
 Royal Colonial Institute Dinner, 
 March 31, 1897 
 
 The Jolloxoinff speech zcas delivered on March ol, 
 1897, at the Hotel Metropok\ when Mr. Chamberlain 
 presided at the annual dinner oj' the Royal Colonial 
 Institute : — 
 
 I HAVE now the honour to propose to you the toast 
 of "Prosperity to the Royal Colonial Institute." 
 (Cheers.) The Institute was founded in 1868, almost 
 exactly a generation ago, and I confess that I admire 
 the faith of its promoterg, who, in a time not alto- 
 gether favourable to their opinions, sowed the seeds 
 of Imperial patriotism — (hear, hear) — although they 
 must have known that few of them could live to 
 gather the fruit and to reap the harvest. (Cheers.) 
 But their faith has been justified by the result of 
 their labours, and their foresight must be recognised 
 in the light of car present experience. 
 
 Q 
 
242 The True Conception of Empire 
 
 It seems to me that there are three distinct stages 
 in our Imperial history. We began to be, and we 
 ultimately became, a great Imperial Power in the 
 /'eighteenth century, but, during the greater part of 
 that time, the colonies were regarded, not only by us, 
 but by every European Power that possessed them, 
 as possessions valuable in proportion to the pecuniary 
 advantage which they brought to the mother country, 
 which, under that order of ideas, was not truly a 
 mother at all, but appeared rather in the light of a 
 grasping and absentee landlord desiring to take from 
 his tenants the utmost rents he could exact. The 
 colonies were valued and maintained because it was 
 thought that they would be a source of profit — of 
 direct profit — to the mother country. 
 
 That was the first stage, and when we were rudely 
 awakened by the War of Independence in America 
 from this dream, that the colonies could be held for 
 our profit alone, the second chapter was entered 
 upon, and public opinion seems then to have drifted 
 to the opposite extreme ; and, because the colonies 
 were no longer a source of revenue, it seems to have 
 been believed and argued by many people that thair 
 separation from us was only a matter of time, and 
 that that separation should be desired and encouraged 
 lest haply they might prove an encumbrance and a 
 source of weakness. 
 
 It was while those views were still entertained, 
 while the little Englanders — (laughter) — were in their 
 full career, that this Institute was founded to protest 
 
The True Conception of Empire 243 
 
 against doctrines so injurious to our interests — 
 (cheers) — and so derogatory to our honour ; and I 
 rejoice that what was then, as it were, " a voice crying 
 in the wilderness " is now the expressed and deter- 
 mined will of the overwhelming majority of the British 
 people. (Loud cheers.) Partly by the efforts of 
 this Institute and similar organisations, partly by the 
 writings of such men as Froude and Seeley — (hear, 
 hear) — but mainly by the instinctive good sense and 
 patriotism of the people at large, we have now reached 
 the third stage in our history, and the true con- 
 ception of our Empire. (Cheers.) 
 
 What is that conception ? As regards the self- 
 governing colonies we no longer talk of them as 
 dependencies. The sense of possession has given 
 place to the sentiment of kinship. We think and 
 speak of them as part of ourselves — (cheers) — as part 
 of the British Empire, united to us, although they 
 may be dispersed throughout the world, by ties of 
 kindred, of religion, of history, and of language, and 
 joined to us by the seas that formerly seemed to 
 divide us. (Cheers.) 
 
 But the British Empire is not confined to the self- 
 governing colonies and the United Kingdom. It 
 includes a much greater area, a much more numerous 
 population in tropical climes, where no considerable 
 European settlement is possible, and where the native 
 population must always vastly outnumber the white 
 inhabitants ; and in these cases also the same change 
 has come over the Imperial idea. Here also the 
 
244 The True Conception of Empire 
 
 sense of possession has given place to a different 
 */^ sentiment — the sense of obligation. fWe feel now 
 that our rule over these territories can only be justified 
 if we can show that it adds to the happiness and 
 prosperity of tLe people — (cheers) — and I maintain 
 that our rule does, and has, brought security and 
 peace and comparative prosperity to countries that 
 never knew these blessings before. (Cheers.) 
 
 In carrying out this work of civilisation we are 
 fulfilling what I believe to be our national mission, 
 and we are finding scope for the exercise of those 
 faculties and qualities which have made of us a great 
 governing race. (Cheers.) I do not say that our 
 success has been perfect in every case, I do not say 
 that all our methods have been beyond reproach ; put I 
 do say that in almost every instance in which the rule 
 of the Queen has been established and the great Pax 
 Britannica has been enforced, there has come with it 
 \ greater security to life and property, and a material 
 ^ improvement in the condition of the bulk of the 
 populationj (Cheers.) No doubt, in the first instance, 
 when these conquests have been made, there has been 
 bloodshed, there has been loss of life among the 
 native populations, loss of still more precious lives 
 among those who have been sent out to bring these 
 countries into some kind of disciplined order, but it 
 must be remembered that that is the condition of the 
 mission we have to fulfil. There are, of course, 
 among us — there always are among us, I think — a 
 very small minority of men who are ready to be the 
 
The True Conception of Empire 245 
 
 advocates of the most detestable tyrants, provided 
 their skin is black — men who sympathise with the 
 sorrows of Prempeh and Lobengula, and who de- 
 nounce as murderers those of their countrymen who 
 have gone forth at the command of the Queen, and 
 who have redeemed districts as large as Europe from 
 the barbarism and the superstition in which they had 
 been steeped for centuries. I remember a picture by 
 Mr. Selous of a philanthropist — an imaginary philan- 
 thropist, I will hope — sitting cosily by his fireside 
 and denouncing the methods by which British civili- 
 sation was promoted. This philanthropist complained 
 of the use of Maxim guns and other instruments of 
 warfare, and asked why we could not proceed by 
 more conciliatory methods, and why the impis of 
 Lobengula could not be brought before a magistrate, 
 fined five shillings, and bound over to keep the peace. 
 (Loud laughter.) 
 
 No doubt there is humorous exaggeration in this 
 picture, but there is gross exaggeration in the frame 
 of mind against which it was directed. You cannot 
 have omelettes without breaking eggs; you cannot 
 destroy the practices of barbarism, of slavery, of 
 superstition, which for centuries have desolated the 
 interior of Africa, without the use of force ; but if 
 you will fairly contrast the gain to humanity with 
 the price which we are bound to pay for it, I think 
 you may well rejoice in the result of such expeditions 
 OS those wnich have recently been conducted with such 
 signal success — (cheers) — in Nyassaland, Ashanti, 
 
246 The True Conception of Empire 
 
 Benin, and Nup6 — expeditions which may have, and 
 indeed have, cost valuable lives, but as to which we 
 may rest assured that for one life lost a hundred will be 
 gained, and the cause of civilisation and the prosperity 
 of the people will in the long run be eminently ad- 
 vanced. (Cheers.) But no doubt such a state of things, 
 such a mission as I have described, involve heavy 
 responsibility. In the wide dominions of the Queen the 
 doors of the temple of Janus are never closed — (hear, 
 hear) — and it is a gigantic task that we have under- 
 
 v* taken when we have determined to wield the sceptre 
 of empire. Great is the task, great is the responsi- 
 
 t bility, but great is the honour — (cheers) ; and I am 
 convinced that the conscience and the spirit of the 
 countr)'^ will rise to the height of its obligations, and 
 that we shall have the strength to fulfil the mission 
 
 -i which our history and our national character have 
 imposed upon us. (Cheers.) 
 
 In regard to the self-governing colonies our task is 
 much lighter. We have undertaken, it is true, to pro- 
 tect them with all the strength at our command against 
 foreign aggression, although I hope that the need 
 for our intervention may never arise. (Hear, hear.) 
 But there remains what then will be our chief duty 
 — that is, to give effect to that sentiment of kinship 
 to which I have referred and which I believe is deep 
 in the heart of every Briton. We want to promote 
 
 , a closer and a firmer union between all members of 
 the great British race, and in this respect we have in 
 recent yeare made great progress — so great that I 
 
The True Conception of Empire 247 
 
 think sometimes some of our friends are apt to be a 
 little hasty, and to expect even a miracle to be accom- 
 plished. 1 would like to ask them to remember that 
 time and patience are essential elements in the de- 
 velopment of all great ideas. (Cheers.) Let us, 
 gentlemen, keep our ideal always before us. For my • 
 own part, I believe in the practical possibility of a * 
 federation of the British race — (loud cheers) — but I 
 know that it will come, if it does come, not by pres- 
 sure, not by anything in the nature of dictation from 
 this country, but it will come as the realisation of a 
 universal desire, as the expression of the dearest wish 
 of our colonial fellow-subjects themselves. (Hear, 
 'tv^rir. J 
 
 That such a result would be desirable, would be in 
 the interest of all of our colonies as well as of our- 
 selves, I do not believe any sensible man will doubt. 
 It seems to me that the tendency of the time is to 
 throw all power into the hands of the greater Empires, 
 and the minor kingdoms — those which are non-pro- 
 gressive — seem to be destined to fall into a secondary 
 and subordinate place. But, if Greater Britain 
 remains united, no empire in the world can ever sur- ) 
 pass it in area, in population, in wealth, or in the * 
 diversity of its resources. (Cheers.) 
 
 Let us, then, have confidence in the future. (Hear, 
 hear.) I do not ask you to anticipate with Lord 
 Macaulay the time when the New Zealander will 
 come here to gaze upon the ruins of a great dead 
 city. There are in our present condition no visible 
 
248 The True Conception of Empire 
 
 signs of decrepitude and decay. (Cheers.) The 
 mother country is still vigorous and fruitful, is still 
 able to send forth troops of stalwart sons to people 
 and to occupy the waste spaces of the earth ; but yet 
 it may well be that some of these sister nations whose 
 love and affection we eagerly desire may in the future 
 equal and even surpass our greatness. A trans- 
 oceanic capital may arise across the seas, which will 
 throw into shade the glories of London itself ; but in 
 I the years that must intervene let it be our endeavour, 
 ^ let it be our task, to keep alight the torch of Imperial 
 patriotism, to hold fast the affection and the confi- 
 dence of our kinsmen across the seas, that so in every 
 vicissitude of fortune the British Empire may present 
 an unbroken front to all her foes, and may carry on 
 ^1 even to distant ages the glorious traditions of the 
 British flag. (Loud cheers.) It is because I believe 
 that the Royal Colonial Institute is contributing to 
 this result that with all sincerity I propose the toast 
 of the evening. 
 
Index 
 
Index 
 
 Abkrdbkn, The Earl of, i6i 
 
 Abyssinia, The Italians in, ii6 
 
 Admiralty, The, and its duties in relation to Trade, 141 
 
 Africa, The Civilisation of, 13J 
 
 British trade with, 1 32 
 
 The partition of, 115, 144 
 
 See also under " South Africa," " Cape Colony," " Natal," &c. 
 Agriculture, The relief of, 142 
 Algeria, 116 
 Anglo-Saxon Race, The, its destiny, 6, 235 
 
 its branches have common interests, 7 
 
 the privileges and obligations of relationship, 7, 13 
 
 all disputes should be capable of satisfactory adjustment, 
 8,25 
 
 the problem of federal government, 1 1 
 
 its characteristics are found in America, 1 5 
 
 no policy admissible that will tend to weaken the ties 
 between its different branches, 25 
 
 its vigour and resolution, 74 
 
 the greatest of governing races, 89, 93, 244 
 
 unity of, 103, 104 
 
 characteristics of, 210 
 Armenian massacres, 147, 148, 230, 231, 233 
 Army, The British, 236 
 Ashanti expedition, 147, 245 
 Asquith, Mr., 220, 225 
 Australia — 
 
 the splendid future of the Australian colonies, 87, 92 
 
 loyalty of, 95 
 
252 Index 
 
 Australia, federation of, 87 
 
 Auatria and the Doogola Expedition, 65 
 
 Barinu, Sir Evelyn, and Egypt, 42, 49 
 
 Basutos, their transfer to the Cape Colony, 197 
 
 Bayard, Mr., and the Fishery Commission, 24, 25 
 
 Beaumarchais and the journal inutile, 21 
 
 Benin Expedition, 246 
 
 Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, 140, 157 
 
 Birmingham Jewellers' and Silversmiths' Association, 229 
 
 Birmingham, Speeches at, 31, 131, 140, 229 
 
 Birmingham, West, Relief Association, 131, 138 
 
 Board of Agriculture, 141 
 
 Board of Trade, 141 
 
 " British American," what is involved in the appellation, 15, 18 
 
 >9 
 British East Africa Company, 109, 119 
 
 British Empire, The, its magnitude, 12, 13, 75, 78, 98, 238, 247 
 the burden of its obligations, 13, 76, 203, 246 
 dismemberment and disintegration are not results of true 
 
 democracy, 13 
 bangs together by a slender thread, 75 
 the pioneers of, 89, 133, 209 
 solidarity of Imperial sentiment, 92, 95 
 secure in the strength of its own resources, 95, 240, 248 
 founded on commerce and exists by commerce, 102 
 its future depends ..pon the colonies, 102 
 the Little Englanders and its expansion, iii, 133, 202 
 a matter of existence to retain the dominion which we now 
 
 possess, 114, 132, 145 
 our ancestors did not shirk tlieir responsibilities, 134 
 vast development during the last few years. 143 
 the extension of the Empire forced upon us by the action of 
 
 other nations, 144 
 advantages of British rule to the native races, 146, 244, 24C 
 development of the Imperial estate, 149 
 railroads the monument of British progress through the 
 
 world, 149 
 area of, 202 
 its army, 236 
 
Index 253 
 
 British Empire, The, its extension dnring the Queen's reign, 237 
 See also under " Great Britain," " Imperial Federation," 
 " Imperial Trade," " Colonies," Sec. 
 British Guiana, 98 
 British South Africa Company, its energy and enterprise, 216 
 
 Canada, visits of Mr. Chamberlain to, 3, 162 
 
 importance of friendly relations with the United States of 
 
 America, 8 
 the advantage of developing commercial intercour»c with 
 
 the United States, 9 
 the tariffs of the United States, 9 
 
 the development of her resources her most pressing need, 9 
 the effect of high tariffs npon agriculture, 10 
 commercial union with the United States, 10 
 political union with the United States, 11, 162 
 her interests maintained and rights respected by Great 
 
 Britain, 12 
 the confederation of, 12, 13 
 misconceptions about, 12 
 her loyalty will never lack a warm response, 12 
 opinion with regard to the Fishery Commission, 25 
 her expressions of loyalty at the time of the message of the 
 
 Emperor of Germany to President Kriiger, 95 
 railways, 125 
 
 population and resources, 161 
 her alliance with the Mother Country, 162 
 prepared to stand shoulder to shoulder with Great Britain 
 
 at the time of the Venezuelan crisis, 163, 164 
 Ottawa Conference and an Imperial Customs Union, 167 
 Mr. M'Neill's resolution on Imperial trade, 168 
 loyalty of the French Canadians, 205 
 amicable relations of the two races, 222 
 See also under " Fishery Commission " 
 Canada Club, 161 
 
 Cape Colony, trade with Great Britain, 192, 193 
 concession of self-government, 197 
 transfer uf the Basutos to, 197 
 a naval station, 198 
 duties ot the Governor, 200, 201 
 
254 Index 
 
 Cape Colony, loyalty of the Cape Dutch, 205 
 
 its mixed population, 195, 205 
 
 sympathy of the Dutch with the Boers, 205 
 
 its growing trade, 216 
 
 relations of the two races, 223 
 
 the possession of the Cape absolutely necessary to Qreat 
 Britain as a great Eastern Power, 224 
 Chamberlain, Mr., friendly reception in America, 17 
 
 pained by expressions in the American press concerning 
 Great Britain, 17 
 
 former colleagues, 20, 21 
 
 mission to America, 5, 21 
 
 willing to submit to the charge of being a sentimentalist, 
 
 25 
 rr.latioDs with his constituents, 31 
 
 visit to Egypt, 32 
 
 makes a confession with regard to the occupation of Egypt, 
 
 41,42 
 speech delivered in 1884 on the Egyptian Question, 50 
 protests against Sir William Harcourt's methods of debate, 
 
 56,57 
 
 the administration of praise, 74 
 
 qualifications for the post of Colonial Secretary, 89 
 
 accused of making a "spread-eagle" speech, 98 
 
 domestic squabbles ot the Liberal Pavfcy, 1 1 1 
 
 called a Jingo, 132 
 
 visits to Canada, 3, 162 
 
 Free trade, 170 
 
 his policy has received support from opponents as well as 
 friends, 204 
 
 receives a message from members of the Cape Parliament, 
 218 
 Chambers of Commerce, thanked for their assistance, 1 58 
 
 how they may best serve the interests which they represent, 
 158 
 Chambers of Commerce of the Empire, Congress of, 177 
 Chitral Campaign, 90 
 
 Cobden Club, and a Customs Union of the Empire. 182 
 Oobden, Richard, and Free Trade, 170, 185 
 Colonial affairs of pre-eminent interest, 235 
 
Index 255 
 
 Colonial Office, The patronage of, 82 
 new markets, 141 
 
 circular on trade to the Colonial Governors, 154 
 Colonial Secretary, qualifications for the post of, 89 
 Colonies, The Self-Ooverning, demonstrations of loyalty at the 
 
 time of the Egyptian War, 27 
 loyalty of, 28 
 a critical stage in the history of the relations between them 
 
 and the Mother Country, 75, 100 
 as the possibility of separation from the Mother Country 
 
 becomes greater, the desire for separation has become 
 
 less, 76 
 joint heirs of the traditions of the past, and joint partakers 
 
 of the influence, resources, and power, of the British 
 
 Empire, 77, 104, 164, 243 
 bound to the Mother Country by a slender thread, 77 
 qualifications for a governor, 83 
 send assurances of sympathy and support when the Mother 
 
 Country is in danger, 90, 95, 163, 176 
 errors in our colonial policy, 93 
 the British people the most successful colonisers, 93, 116 
 
 145 
 the future of the colonies and the future of Great Britain are 
 
 interdependent, 99, 104 
 
 upon the colonies depends the future of the British Empire 
 102 
 
 their wealth and capabilities, 103 
 
 they have a noble heritage, 104 
 
 comparison between the exports of Great Britain and Ger- 
 many to the colonies, 153 
 
 destined to become great nations, 239 
 
 the first stage in Imperial history, when the colonies were 
 regarded as a source of profit, 242 
 
 the second stage, or the policy of the Little Englanders, 242 
 
 the third stage, or the true conception of Empire, 243 
 
 Great Britain undertakes to protect them from foreign 
 aggression, 5, 246 
 
 sentiment of kinship, 243, 246 
 
 may equal, and even surpass, the greatness of the Mother 
 Country, 248 
 
256 
 
 Index 
 
 Colonics, The Crown, and Dependencies, Great Britain develops 
 her territories as trustees of civilisation for the commerce 
 of the world, 94, 144, 217 
 
 British and foreign colonies compared, 117, 145 
 
 their wealth and capabilities, 103 
 
 infinite variety of climate and productions, 239 
 
 Great Britain's obligations to the native races, 244 
 
 Pax Britannica, 244 
 
 sentimental philanthropists, and the promotion of civilisa- 
 tion, 245 
 
 See also under "Imperial Federation," " Imperial Trade," 
 " Canada," " Cape Colony," &c. 
 Commerce, The foundation of the British Empire, 102 
 
 and the expansion of the Empire, 114 
 
 duty of a Government to create new markets, and develop 
 the old markets, 132, 143, 150 
 
 India, our best customer, 132 
 
 Egyptian trade, 132 
 
 all the great offices of State are occupied with commprcial 
 affairs, 141 
 
 the greatest of all political interests, 142 
 
 British trade threatened by hostile tariffs, 143, 144 
 
 British and foreign commercial policies compared, 144 
 
 pessismistic statements of the condition of British trade 
 will not bear examination, 150 
 
 comparison of the trade statistics of Great Britain and 
 Germany, 151 
 
 Colonial Oflico circular to Colonial Governors, 154 
 
 we have lost trade which ought to have been retained, owing 
 to the too g;oat independence of our manufacturing popu- 
 lation, 155 
 
 how to maintain our commercial supremacy, 156 
 
 British trade with South Africa, 192, 193 
 
 See also under ' Imperial Trade " 
 Commercial law, J79 
 
 Communications, imprcved, within the Empire, 179 
 Concert of Europe, The, 230, 231, 234 
 Cromer, Lord, his work in Egypt, 42, 49 
 Cycle industry, The, 157 
 Cyprus, The development of, 236 
 
Index 257 
 
 Death Duties, The, 142 
 
 Democracy, true, and the Empire, 13 
 
 Dilke, Sir Charles, and the Dongola Expedition, 62, 67 
 
 Dongola Expedition, the Foreign Office vote, 45 
 difficulties of the advance exaggerated, 45 
 the advance not a new policy, 51, 54 
 
 rendered necessary by the movements of the Dervishes, 52 
 telegrams regarding the movement of the Dervishes, 52, 53 
 cost of the expedition, and the assent of the Caisse, 53 
 situation altered by the defeat of the Italians, 62 
 wise to anticipate the threatened Dervish attack, 64 
 necessary to prevent the fall of Kassala. 64 
 in attempting the defence of Egypt we are also assisting the 
 
 Italians, 64,65 
 attitude of the Powers with regard to the expedition, 65 
 the advance limited by two considerations, 66, 68, 69 
 " Where we go we shall remain," 67 
 not a policy of reckless adventure, 67 
 brilliantly led and splendidly successful 233 
 control of the Nile, 233 
 moral obligation in regard to the Soudan, 234 
 although described as " wanton folly," and '• an infatuated 
 policy," has put an end to much cruelty and barbarity, 
 147, 148 
 
 East Africa, expedition in, 148 
 
 Education Department and corainercial compotition, 141 
 
 Egypt, a question outside party politics, 32 
 
 an interesting country, 32 
 
 ancient prosperity, 33 
 
 occupation forced upon Mr. Gladstone's Government, 34, 41 
 
 Arabi Pasha's insurrection, 34 
 
 two alternatives, 35 
 
 change of French policy, 35 
 
 M. Gambetta protested against the attitude taken up by the 
 French Government, 35 
 
 the duty of undertaking the regeneration of Egypt, cast upon 
 Great Britain, 36 
 
 its deplorable condition under Ismail Pasha, 36, n, 48 
 
 K 
 
258 
 
 Index 
 
 Egypt, the kourbafih, 37 
 the corvee, yj 
 the army, 38, 48 
 
 neglect of the irrigation and the canals, 38, 49 
 water supply, 38 
 
 miserable condition of the peasants, 39 
 what British administration has done for the finances, 39, 
 
 49 
 France and the conversion of the debt, 39 
 reform of the Courts of Justice, 40, 49 
 taxation revised, 40, 49 
 abolition of the corvee, 40, 49 
 re-organisation of the army, 40 
 renewal of the irrigation system, and the distribution of 
 
 water, 41. 49 
 not a reform, but "a new birth," 41 
 to complete the work of reform before leaving the country is 
 
 Great Britain's national duty, 42, 43, 48, 50 
 the work of Englishmen in Egypt, 42, 49, 90 
 the Egyptians are not a self-governing race, 43 
 the value of the Dongola Expedition to Egypt, 46 
 Dervish rule, 46 
 Wady Haifa, 47, 61 
 policy of " scuttle," 46, 47 
 Egyptian rule in the Soudan described by Mr. John Morley 
 
 as barbarous and corrupt, 47, 58 
 arguments for remaining in Egypt, 48, 49 
 a Frenchman on the British occupation, 49 
 Lord Cromer's report, 49 
 grants for education, 49 
 to leave now would undo the work which has been the 
 
 result of British occupation, 43, 50, 51, 236 
 a mistake to state the period after which evacuation might 
 
 possibly take place, 51 
 difficulties in the way of evacuation, 51 
 the corruption and inefficiency of the Egyptian Government 
 
 responsible for the loss of the Soudan, 54, 55 
 Mr. Gladstone's Government and the abandonment of the 
 
 Soudan, 55 
 the expedition for the relief of General Gc- on, 56, 123 
 
Index 259 
 
 ^C^yp^i ^n 1S84, the Government decided " to smash the Mahdi at 
 Khartoum," 56, 57 
 Sir William Harcourt the spokesman of the Government, 
 
 57, 58 
 the intention of the Government not carried ont owing to 
 
 critical relations with Russia, 58 
 Slatin Pasha on Egyptian rule in the Soudan, 58 
 the consequences of the abandonment of the Soudan, 59 
 the ideal policy of every Egyptian statesman, 60, 69 
 that we did not allow them to reconquer the Soudan is a 
 
 grievance of the Egyptians, 60 
 control of the Nile necessary to the existence and security 
 
 of Egypt, 60, 233 
 the present and practical policy of Egypt is the defence of 
 
 the Egyptian frontier, 61, 69 
 Dervish raids, 61 
 Dervishes encouraged by the defeat of the Italians in 
 
 Abyssinia, 63 
 if Kassala were to fall the effect might be incalculable upon 
 
 Egyptian interests, 63, 64 
 Mahdism a dying force, 124 
 trade with England, 132 
 Soudan railway, 149 
 See also under " Dongola Expedition " 
 Egyptian War, and Colonial demonstrations of loyalty, 27 
 Eight hours' day. An, 131, 138 
 Employment, Want of, and the expansion of the Empire, 131, 
 
 132, i33» 202 
 how Uganda may find employment for British working- 
 people, 134-139 
 English politics and personal friendship, 221 
 Exhibition of foreign goods sold in British Colonies, 155 
 
 Fishery Commission, The treaty rejected by the Senate of the 
 United States, 3, 232 
 but the modus vivendi is still in operation, 3, 233 
 Mr. Chamberlain's aims are misrepresented, 4, 5 
 no antagonism of interests between Great Britain and 
 Canada, 5 
 
26o Index 
 
 Fi8hery CommiBsioD, the plenipotentiaries animated by a spirit 
 of conciliation, 8, i6, 25 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain's object in serving on the Commission, 16 
 
 not a mere treaty of fisheries, but a treaty of amity, 16 
 
 concessions made on both sides, but no " ignominious sur- 
 render," 16 
 
 every Englishman sympathises with the objects of tho 
 mission, 21 
 
 treaty rights maintained, 24 
 
 Mr. Bayard's opinion of the treaty, 24, 25 
 
 Canadian and American ditto, 25 
 Flying Squadron, The, 90 
 Foreign affairs of pre-eminent interest, 235 
 Foreign Office and Uganda, 109 
 
 and new markets, 141 
 Forster, Mr., and the Imperial Federation League, 165 
 "Forward Party, The," 233 
 
 Foster, Mr., leader of the Canadian House of Commons, 94 
 France and the Egyptian question, 35, 39 
 
 and the Dongo'a expedition, 65 
 
 the cost of her colonial possessions, 116, 145 
 Free Trade, 169, 170, 175, 183, 185 
 Froude, Mr., 243 
 
 Gambetta, M., and the Egyptian question, 35 
 
 Oarrick, 8ir James, 97 
 
 Germany, and the Dongola expedition, 65 
 
 the message of the Ejaperor to President Kriiger, 90, 94 
 
 colonial possessions of, 116, 145 
 
 her trade compared with the trade of Great Britain, 151 
 
 creation of the German empire, 167, 185 
 
 German West Africa, 197 
 
 her aims in South Africa, 199, 200 
 Gladstone, Mr., and Uganda, 120 
 Gordon, General, Expedition for the relief of, 56, 123 
 Government, The most important duty of a, 141 
 Granville, Earl, at the Devonshire Club, 20, 21, 24 
 Great Britain, bound to maintain the interests of her Colonies, 
 5. 246 
 
 pride in, and her institutions, 6 
 
Index 261 
 
 Oreat Britain, her institutions more democratic than those of 
 the United States, 17 
 
 the true England, 18 
 
 has not lost the force and capacity to govern, 42 
 
 she is not isolated in Europe, 65, 66 
 
 and the Triple Alliance, 65 
 
 English habit of self-criticism misinterpreted abroad, 89 
 
 appeared to stand alone in the world, 94 
 
 holds her possessions throughout the world in trust for all, 
 94, 144. 217 
 
 resolute to fulfil her obligations and maintain her rights, 94 
 
 her continual growth of population, 105 
 
 proud of her colonies, 106, 176, 240 
 
 no signs of decrepitude and decay, 248 
 
 see also under " British Empire." " Imperial Federation,'" &c. 
 Grenfell, Sir Francis, and the Egyptian army, 40 
 
 Harcouut, Sir William, the personal responsibility of Cabinet 
 Ministers, 56, 57 
 the military power of the Mahdi, 57, 58 
 improvement of trade and the death duties, 142 
 
 Heligoland, transfer of, 115 
 
 Herbert, Sir Robert, 88 
 
 High Commissioner in South Africa, the duties of, 200, 201 
 
 Holland, The Colonial possessions of, 116 
 
 Holmes, Dr. Oliver Wendell, 74 
 
 Home Office, 141 
 
 Imperial Defence, the great wars and disputes in which Great 
 
 Britain has been engaged during the present century have 
 
 arisen in connection with the concerns of the Colonies or 
 
 India, 27 
 
 it is to tbe interests of the Colonies, as much as to those of 
 
 the mother country, to have a concerted system of defence, 
 
 28,95 
 
 depends upon fiscal and commercial arrangements, 166 
 
 another name for the protection of Imperial commerce, 180 
 
 Imperial Federation, the confederation of the Empire is a grand 
 
 idea and a splendid dream, 13. 78, 178 
 
262 Index 
 
 Imperial Federation, no practical scheme has yet been submitted, 
 but it is not impossible, 25-28, 247 
 
 the spirit of the time is in the direction of such a move- 
 ment, 78 
 
 local federation must come before Imperial federation, 
 80 
 
 the ideal future of the British race, 88, 100 
 
 potent factor in maintaining the peace of the world, 96, 
 176 
 
 recommended by sentiment and by material intereat, 105 
 247 
 
 necessary to seek the line of least resistance, and to proceed 
 by a process of gradual development, 165, 166 
 
 common interests and common obligations must be estab- 
 lished, 166 
 
 Imperial defence and Imperial trade, 166 
 
 must be approached from its commercial side, 166, 167, 172, 
 180, 181 
 
 the Colonies must take the initiative, 167 
 
 there is a universal desire among the several branches of the 
 Empire for closer union, 164, 172, 178, 187 
 Imperial Federation League, 165 
 Imperial Postage, 179 
 Imperial Trade, trade follows the flag, 2G 
 
 sentiment has a powerful influence in commercial questions, 
 26 
 
 duty of every statesman to maintain and increase com- 
 mercial intercourse between Great Britain and her 
 Colonies, 26, 95 
 
 it is usdess to expect the Colonies to abandon their custom 
 duties as their chief source of revenue, 28 
 
 necessary for Great Britain to wait for proposals from the 
 Colonies, 28 
 
 no nation has achieved real greatness without the aid of 
 commerce, 102 
 
 free interchange of commodities, 105 
 
 commercial union will make permanent the unity of the 
 Empire by basing it upon material interests, 105 
 
 the example of the German Empire, which was founded on 
 a commercial zoUverein, 167 
 
Index 263 
 
 Imperial Trade, resolution passed at the Ottawa Conference 
 
 respecting a Customs arrangement between Qreat Britain 
 
 and the Colonies, 167, 183 
 the tendency of the Ottawa proposal would be to increasie 
 
 the cost of living and the cost of production in Qreat 
 
 Britain, 169 
 the return for this sacrifice would be small, 169, 170 
 a proposal which it is impossible tu adopt, 169, 170, 17a, 
 
 173. '«3 
 the burden of .such an arrangement would fall heavily on the 
 
 United Kingdom, 171 
 will the Colonies better their offer? 171 
 Lord Kipon's despatch uf 1895 was not an absolute negative 
 
 to the proposals of the Colonies, 171, 173 
 an alternative suggestion, a true zdliicrehi fur the Empire, in 
 
 which Protection is to diriiippcar, is in principle free from 
 
 objection, 172, 173, 174 
 this alternative proposition would be of great advantage to 
 
 the Colonies, 174 
 proposed meeting of representatives of the mother country 
 
 and the colonie6 to consider the question of a Customs 
 
 Union, 175 
 a suggested Imperial Council for consultation and advice 
 
 on commercial matters, 179, 180 
 commercial union the first step tu Imperial Federation, 181 
 commercial union dominates all other interests, 181 
 no one can deny the advantage which commercial union 
 
 would be to the entire British race, 181 
 there are only three lines of progress in the direction of 
 
 commercial union, 181 
 first, the proposal which finds favour with the orthodox 
 
 Free Traders, but which the Colonies will not adopt, 182 
 second, the proposal of the Ottawa Conference, which the 
 
 United Kingdom cannot accept, 183, 1S4 
 third, the suggestion for tlie creation of an Imperial 
 
 Customs Union which would practically establish Free 
 
 Trade throughout the British Empire, 184 
 the laet proposal, if adopted, would be the greatest advance 
 
 that Free Trade has made since it was first advocated, 
 
 18s 
 
264 Index 
 
 Imperial Trade, exceptions to the principle of such a proposal, 186 
 
 the colonies must take the first steo, 186 
 India, the native army, 128 
 
 loyalty of, 238 
 
 administration of, 90 
 
 the best customer of the United Kingdom, 132 
 
 railways, 137 
 Irish question, The, 32, 237 
 Italy and the Dongola Expedition, 46, 62, 63, 64, 65 
 
 British good-will to, 66 
 
 colonial possessions of, 116 
 
 Jameson's, Dr., raid, 91, 207 
 
 Johnston, Sir Harry, expedition to Nyassaland, 149 
 
 Khalifa, The, and the Soudan, 54, 55 
 
 his power on the wane, 68 
 Khartoum, 55, 56 
 Kriiger, President, 90^ 212 
 
 Labouchere, Mr., and Egypt, 123 
 
 and Uganda, no, 121, 122, 123, 126 
 Lamington, Lord, 90, 97 
 Liberals, in office and out of office, above the gangway and below 
 
 the gangway, the difference between, no 
 Little Englanders, accuse Mr. Chamberlain of making a " spread- 
 eagle " speech, 97-99 
 views with regard to the British Empire, in, 113, 133, 235, 
 242 
 Lobengula, 245 
 
 London Chamber of Commerce, exhibition of foreign-made goods 
 sold in the Colonies, 158 
 and South Africa, 191 
 London, speeches in, Devonshire Club, 20 . 
 
 House of Commons, 45, 109 
 Whitehall Rooms, 73, 91, 211 
 Imperial Institute, 82 
 Holborn Restaurant, loi 
 Albion Tavern, 161 
 
Index 265 
 
 London, speeches in, Hall of the Grocers' Company, 177 
 
 Cannon Street Hotel, 191 
 
 Constitutional Club, 204 
 
 Cafe Monico, 220 
 
 Hotel M§tropole, 241 
 London Convention, The, 223 
 Lugard, Captain, in Uganda, 109 
 
 a tribute to, 120 
 
 Macaulay, Lord, 247 
 
 Macdonald, Sir John, 162 
 
 Mackay, Mr., and Uganda, 124, 125 
 
 Mackenzie, The Rev. John, on South Africa, 191, 192 
 
 Mahdi, The, and Uganda, 124 
 
 Manchester, The trade of, 4 
 
 Mashonaland, The mines of, 79 
 
 Matabeleland, The mines of, 79 
 
 the rebellion, 208, 209, 214, 215, 223 
 
 difficulties of transport, 210 
 
 the rinderpest, 214 
 Mauritius, The French population in the, 222 
 Milner, Sir Alfred, farewell dinner to, 220 
 
 his difficult task, 221, 223 
 
 his instructions, 221 
 M'Neill, Mr., moves a patriotic resolution in the Canadian Parlia- 
 ment, 163 
 
 and Imperial trade, 168 
 Montague, the Hon. Dr., 161 
 Morley, Mr., and the Dongola Expedition, 45, 52, 53 
 
 inconsistency of, 47 
 
 and Uganda, 122 
 
 criticises the work of the Government, 234, 235 
 Mwanga, King, 109 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, 102 
 
 Natal, trade with Great Britain, 192, 193 
 
 its mixed population, 195 
 
 its growing trade, 216 
 
 relations of the English and Dutc b, 223 
 
266 Index 
 
 Natal-Transvaal Railway, 73, 74, 79, 80, 97 * 
 
 Navy, The British, 132 
 New markets, 132, 143 
 Nupe Expedition, The, 246 
 Nyassaland, expedition in, 148, 245 
 
 Orange Free State, and Germany, 199 
 
 relations of the English and the Butch, 223 
 Order of the Sons of St. George, 14, 18 
 
 Patents Act, and the number of patents, 156 
 
 Patriotism, the wider patriotism which includes the whole of 
 
 Greater Britain, 7, 77 
 Peace, Mr. Walter, 73 
 Philadelphia, Speech at, 14 
 Picton, Mr., and Uganda, 118, 119 
 
 Portal, Sir Gerald, and the Uganda Expedition, 109, 118 
 Portugal, Colonial possessions of, 116 
 Postage, Imperial, 179 
 Prempeh, 245 
 Punjab, The, 128 
 
 Queen's Jubilee, The, the Queen's Reign, 237 
 
 visit of the Premiers of the self-governing colonies, 238 
 a demonstration that no other country can make, 239 
 
 Queensland, 90, 96 
 
 Radical Party, The, and foreign and colonial policy, 235 
 Railways, railway disputes in South Africa, 80 
 
 Indian, 137 
 
 Uganda, 126, 137, 149 
 
 Queensland, 96 
 
 Soudan, 149 
 
 Rhodesia, 215 
 
 the arteries of a country, 138 
 Rhodesia, its rapid development, 215 
 
 see also " Matabeleland " and " Mashonaland " 
 Rinderpest in South Africa, The, 213, 214 
 
 Ripon's, Lord, Despatch to the Colonial Governors, with refer- 
 ence to an Imperial ZoUverein, 171 ' 
 
Index 267 
 
 Robinson, Sir Hercules, Address by members of the Cape Parlia- 
 ment to, 218 
 Rosebery, Lord, and the isolation of Great Britain,, 65, 66 
 
 and the little Englanders, 99 
 
 on pegging out claims for posterity, 125 
 
 on the suppression of the slav^ trade, 128 
 
 and the growth of the Empire, 143 
 Rosmead, Lord, see uuder "Robinson, Sir Hercules " 
 Royal Colonial Institute, 241, 243, 248 
 Russia, Critical relations with, 58 
 
 and the Dcngola Expedition, 65 
 
 Sebley, Professor, 243 
 
 Selous, Mr. , 245 
 
 Senoussi, The, and Uganda, 124 
 
 Slatin Pasha's experience in the Soudan, 58 
 
 Slave Trade, The, in the Soudan, 59 
 
 British policy with regard to, 112, 128, 129, 130, 146 
 
 and the Uganda railway, 127 
 
 the causes of, 128 
 
 Sir Harry Johnston's expedition to Nyassaland, 149 
 Smith, Colonel Gerard, 82, 84, 88 
 
 Soudan, see under " Egypt," and " Dongola Expedition " 
 South Africa, its development and prosperity, 79, 81, 212 
 
 its mineral wealth, 79 
 
 the mother country and all the colonies will share in its 
 prosperity, 79 
 
 its climate and soi), 79 
 
 the one thing wanted, unity and identity of sentiment and 
 interest, 79 
 
 local federation must precede Imperial federation, 80 
 
 conference to discuss railway disputes, 80 
 
 the Rev. John Mackenzie, 191 
 
 fluctuations in British trade with the Cape and Natal, 192, 
 
 193 
 the great resources of the country, 193 
 
 is Great Britain to take any part in the development of the 
 
 unoccupied territory ? 194 
 
 the difficulty of the South African problem, 194 
 
 the composition of the population, 195, 196, 205 
 
268 Index 
 
 South Africa, how is tlie work of colonisation and civilisation 
 
 to go on? 196, 200 
 treatment of the natives, 196 
 who is to be the dominant Power ? 197 
 successive Governments have avowedly shirked the diffi- 
 culties of the South African problem, 197 
 the attempt to secure confederation, 197 
 British indifference to German acquisition of territory on 
 
 the West Coast, 197 
 the policy of shirking has been inconsistently carried out, 
 
 and has been a conspicuous failure, 1 98 
 the cost of six African wars, 198 
 the policy of ''scuttle'' would be a consistent but not a 
 
 noble policy, 199 
 Great Britain's retirement would be Germany's opportunity, 
 
 199 
 the only alternative to the policy of shirking, and the policy 
 
 of scuttle, is that we should accept our obligations and 
 
 responsibilities, 200 
 is it advisable that the two offices of High Commissioner 
 
 and of Governor of the Cape Colony should be retained in 
 
 the same hands ? 200, 201 
 the Imperial policy must prevail over the colonial policy, 
 
 201 
 there is no obscurity about the policy of the Governmer* 
 
 204, 213 
 
 Great Britain must continue to be the paramount Power 
 
 205, 224 
 
 the duty of maintainlDg amicable relations between the 
 
 English and Dutch races, 205, 207, 208, 212, 213, 217 
 Great Britain intends to fulfil her obligations and to maintain 
 
 her rights, 213, 217, 222, 224 
 its prosperity depends more upon statesmanship than upon 
 
 its marvellous natural resources, 213 
 rinderpest, 213 
 trade statistics, 216 
 Address to Sir Hercules Robinson on leaving Cape Town by 
 
 members Oa the Cape Parliament, 218, 219 
 to reconcile the two races is not an insolvable problem, 
 
 222 
 
Index 269 
 
 South Africa, a federation of States in which Dutch influence 
 would be predominant is incompatible with the highest 
 British interests, 224 
 see also under "Cape Colony," "Natal,'' "South African 
 Republic," " Rhodesia," &c. 
 South African Dinner, 211 
 South African Republic, The mines of, 79 
 Dr. Jameson's raid, 90, 92 
 the raid said to be due to Mr. Chamberlain's " spread-eagle " 
 
 speech, 98 
 the Boer War, 197 
 and the Cape Colony, 199 
 the grievances of the Uitlanders, 206, 223 
 Great Britain, as the paramount Power, cannot be indifferent 
 to a state of things which involves danger to the peace of 
 South Africa, 206 
 up to the time of the raid the sympathy of the Dutch of the 
 Cape and the Orange Free State was with the Uitlanders, 
 207 
 sentences on the Johannesburg Reform leaders, 211, 212, 
 
 213 
 the London Convention, 223, 224 
 Spain, Colonial possessions of, 116 
 Storey, Mr., and Uganda, no, 117 
 
 and the expansion of the Empire, 1 1 1 
 and the slave trade, 112 
 Suakin, 123 
 
 Technical education, 156, 157 
 Toronto, speech at, 3 
 
 a commercial centre, 4 
 Toronto Board of Trade and Commercial Union, 184 
 Trade, see under "Commerce," and " Imperial Trade" 
 Transvaal, see under "South African Republic" 
 Tunis, 116 
 Tupper, Sir Charles, 73, 74 
 
 Uganda, its development will entail some sacrifice of life and 
 money, 116, 135 
 the Government policy, 118, 129 
 
270 ' Index 
 
 Uganda, the Commission of Inquiry, 118 
 
 we cannot go back even if we would, 119, 121 
 
 history of the British occupation, 109, 115, 119, 134 
 
 anarchy and civil war, 120, 121, 135 
 
 Captain Lugard's work, 120, 121 
 
 our alHes in Uganda would suffer if we were now to leave the 
 
 country, 121, 135 
 the decision affects British influence throughout South 
 
 Africa, 122 
 we ought not to count the cost, 122 
 peace can be secured at a comparatively small expense, 123, 
 
 124, 135 
 its climate and productions, 124, 125, 127, 134, 135 
 it requires means of transport and British enterprise, 125 
 cost of carriage, 125 
 necessity of a railway, and the cost of its construction, 126, 
 
 136, 149 
 
 the railway should be made by the Government, 137 
 
 prospects of the railway, 127 
 
 the construction of the railway would benefit trade, 1 37 
 
 it would eventually more than pay expenses, 1 37 
 
 t. sellers and missionaries, 134 
 Undeveloped estates, 138 
 Union of the United Kingdom, 237 
 Unyoro, 127 , 
 
 Usoga, 127 
 United States of America, visit of Mr. Chamberlain, 3 
 
 not a foreign nation, 7, 17 
 
 their relations with Canada, 8, 9 
 
 their commercial tariffs, 9 
 
 they inherit English traditions and history, 15, 17 
 
 British Americans, 15 
 
 friendship with Great Britain the best guarantee for the 
 peace and civilisation of the world, 16, 25 
 
 reception of Mr. Chamberlain, 17 ' 
 
 abuse of England by a section of the Press, 17, 18 
 
 change of public opinion in England with regard to the 
 United States and their institutions, 22, 23 
 
 population, 22 
 
 the most pacific country in the world, 22, 23 
 
Index 271 
 
 United States of America, its Conservatism, 23 
 
 adherence to their constitution unparalleled in history, 23 
 
 American opinion of British legislation, 23 
 
 good feeling of England, 24 
 
 American opinion of the Fishery Treaty, 2$ 
 
 the Venezuelan dispute, 98, 231 
 
 commercial union, 185 
 
 Treaty of Arbitration with Great Britain, 231, 232, 233, 234 
 
 Venezuelan Dispute, 98, 231 
 Victoria Lake, 127 
 
 War Office, The, and trade, 141 
 West Coast of Africa, Railways in, 149 
 West Indies, 222 
 
 Western Australia, its history, resources and population, 84, 85, 
 86 
 gold exports, 85 
 its first need is labourers, 86 
 
 its clear duty is to spend its whole energy in cultivating the 
 natural resources of the soil, 87 
 
 Zanzibar, no, 127 
 
 Printed by Ballantvne, Hanson df Co. 
 London «2r» Edinburgh