THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 Henri BOURASSA, H. P. 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 AND 
 
 CANADA 
 
 TOPICS OF THE DAY 
 
 A LIvCTURE DELIVERED AT THE '^THEATRE NATIONAL 
 
 FRANgAIS." MONTREAL, ON THE 20lh 
 
 • OF OCTOBER 1901., 
 
 / TraiislLitcd from the French.) 
 
 IN/I O IM T F? E A l_ 
 
 C. O. BEAUCHE-MIN €i FILS, Eduoks-I'ublishkrs, 
 256 and 25S Saint-Paul Street.
 
 Knthuku according lo Act of the Parliaineiil of Canada, in the year one 
 thousand nine hundred and two, by Hknri BOURASSA, in the office 
 of the Minister of Agriculture, Otmwa.
 
 PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 In publishing this translation of a somewhat hurried piece of work, my 
 purpose is not to seek for success and applause among the English-speaking 
 Canadian public. It is not either to convince them, as may be necessary 
 with the French-Canadians, that Imperialism is a living reality. But this 
 lecture gave rise to .some press-comments; my words have been distorted 
 at leisure by a large number of party organs. This, I am used to ; and it 
 would leave me perfectly indifferent, were it not for the false conclusions 
 that were drawn because of the welcome extended by my fellow-country- 
 men to what is termed my " disloyal, anti-English utterances ". 
 
 If I fail in bringing over to my views any of my English-speaking readers, 
 I hope, at least, to dispel the erroneous notions which they may have 
 gathered from so-called reports of my lecture. 
 
 I may be allowed to quote here a paragraph from a letter I sent to one 
 of those newspapers. 
 
 I don't pi-eteml tonny kiiul ol infallibility in my views on Imperialism. I liave the 
 greatest respect for all those who uphoUJ honestly and sincerely ideas and principles 
 to which I am sincerely and honestly opposed. I claim the right of fighting them with 
 the same libei ty that they enjoy themselves. You may say lliat I have thrown ridicule 
 on the apostles of Imperialism, their words and their deeds. Well, one fights with such 
 weapons as he has at his hand. I have heard many an imperialist state loudly that 
 Gladstone was an old " humbug," and his policy the cause of all troubles and disasters. 
 Have not the anti-imperialists an equal right to say that the results of ^Ir. Chamberlain's 
 policy are not such as to be boasted about? Why should I be made to appear as a 
 disloyal Anglophobist because I have cho.sen to remain faithful to ideals that led 
 British opinion for centuries and that are still upheld in Great J !ri tain by many of her 
 most learned and respectable citizens ? 
 
 The Empire " I held up to ridicule " is the one which the new school is endeavouring 
 to build up ; but the bulk of my argument went to prove that Ihe decentralised 
 British Empire of old days, the only one of its kind, was far superior to the Spanish, 
 Portuguese and French colonial empires, and in fact, the best that ever was— as the 
 British political constitution is the best means of internal government. 
 
 Further than this. I offer no apology — nor need I do so. 
 
 Those Imperialists who persist in taxing such sentiments with disloyal- 
 ty, and denying to any Canadian, whether of French or British extraction, 
 the right of holding and expressing opinions contrary to the apparent 
 sentiment of the majority, prove themselves untrue to the best of British 
 traditions. Not only do fhey endeavour to upset all the i)rinciples 
 which have been so far acknowledged as the basis of British power and 
 preMigc. but they even try to stifle free and fair discussion. 
 
 I am prepared to go much further than the Imperialists, and admit that 
 ihey may be right in assuming that the time has come for a radical change 
 
 775697
 
 — 4 — 
 
 in the constitution of tlic Ivnpirc. 15ut the very manner in which they 
 accept, or ratlicr refuse to accept, any discussion of their theories, slandering; 
 and disfiguring every contradictory statement, is a strong admission of 
 weakness. The most beneficient social reforms, the most needed political 
 changes, cannot but acquire strength and value from a broad discussion. 
 What has given British institutions their most valuable characteristics. 
 if not the ver}- fact that they were freely and thoroughly discussed and 
 even opposed to the bitter end? 
 
 Since delivering this lecture, I have compiled a mass of documents, ex- 
 tracts of which are appended to this pamphlet. With a view to presenting 
 these extracts under a more digestible form. I have divided them into chap- 
 ters, the headings of which are self-explanatory. Those documents, the 
 reader is invited carefuliy to study; and from their perusal b.e may gath'er 
 what Imperialism means to us. 
 
 British Imperialism — as opposed to British democracy, to British tra- 
 ditions, to British grandeur — is a lust for land-grabbing and military do- 
 minion. Born of the overgrowth of British power, bred by that stupid and 
 blatant sense of pride known as Jingoism, it delights in high-sounding for- 
 mulas: — "Britannia, rule the -ci'az'es-' " . . . "Britons never shall be sla- 
 ves!"... "Trade follozt's the Flag".., " IVhat zvc have.ive hold!"...; to 
 this last axiom, the Pri ne-Minister of Ontario has added: — "and zvliat 
 zi'e don't have, we take" — which is now supplemented by public good 
 sense by: "when zve can." 
 
 Having undertaken more responsibilities than she is able to stand, sur- 
 roimded as she is by hostile or indifferent nations, the new Britain of Mr. 
 Chamberlain is in sore need of soldiers and sailors to prop the fabric raised 
 by her frantic ambition. Being actually denuded of troops at home, she 
 turns in distress to her colonies. Realising as they do that without 
 practising evasion they cannot possibly achieve their purpose, British rulers of 
 to-daj' resort to deceit and bribery with colonial statesmen ; they lull the 
 credulity and inflame the jingo feelings of the people of the colonies. Under 
 miscellaneous names and variegated unifoms — Royal Rifles, Mounted In- 
 fantry, Strathcona Horse, Yeomanry — they extort from us whatever they 
 may get in the shape of human material for their army; even if they have to 
 dangle before our eyes a few paltry advantages to be thrown as a sop to us 
 whenever we get tired of this deadly game. 
 
 In short, MILITARY CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE COLONIES 
 TO GREAT BRITAIN, in men and treasure, but mainly in men, constitute 
 British Imperialism. 
 
 There is one feature of this movement to vvh'ch I call the special 
 attention of my English-speaking readers. It is the duplicity in tactics 
 with which it is carried on. In England, the taxpayer hears only of the 
 great benefits to be gained by the Mother country : she is going to be helped 
 with colonial contributions to her army and navy — not only in time of
 
 — 5 — 
 
 need, but as a permanent military system that will save her from the 
 dread of conscription. In the colonies, we are told that our free and vo- 
 luntary sacrifices in the cause of the Empire in South Africa are bound to 
 bring us incalculable advantages in trade and industry, in immigration 
 from the British Isles, etc. 
 
 In Canada, the same double game is carried on by politicians of all 
 shades. In the English-speaking provinces, both parties run for the prize 
 of " loyalty '", — each side claiming the credit of having done the most for 
 Great Britain. Of sole devotion to Canadian interests, we hear no more. 
 The Tories have discarded in awe the famous exclamation of their greatest 
 leader: "So much the worse for British connection! " while no Liberal 
 would dare repeat with Mr. Laurier in 1891 : "I prefer the American dollar 
 to the British shilling. " The only point in real dispute between both parties 
 is which of the two will eat the biggest piece of the jingo pie. All 
 this, of course, does not prevent them from selling Canada wholesale to 
 American railway magnates. 
 
 In Quebec, the same comedians show themselves under totally different 
 w'igs and costumes. Like Maitre-Jacques, of Moliere, the moment they 
 cross the provincial border they truck the coachman's livery for the gook's 
 apron. It is no longer a question of which party has done more for Great 
 Britain, but, the less done, the greater credit claimed. " The government are 
 selling us to Great Britain," shout the Conservatives : " put us back in power 
 and save the country!" — " There is no such thing as imperialism," retort the 
 Liberals ; " it is but an empty dream, kept up by a few eccentrics. We 
 have only permitted a few men to go to Africa ; had our opponents been in 
 office, many more men would have gone and more money would have been 
 spent. Keep our illustrious compatriot, Laurier, in power and be safe from 
 Tory imperialism!" 
 
 This double game cannot last — but the sooner stopped, the better for 
 Canada, for Great Britain and the Empire. Here, it must fatally bring ill- 
 feeling and serious clash between the two races, led as they are, by the 
 same men, in two opposite directions. As regards British connexion, it 
 will be seriously endangered the moment the people of Great Britain and 
 the colonists find out that delusive and contradictory expectations have 
 been bred in them. 
 
 These are the two dangers of imperialism, which, for my part, as a Ca- 
 nadian, I wish my country to avoid. 
 
 Were I the disloyal Anglophobist that I am now well reputed to be, I 
 could well afford to rest in silence and joy. A few years more of this 
 drifting, and racial feuds will develop that will drag us by the most painful 
 but the surest ways towards annexation to the United States. 
 
 HENRI BOURASSA, 
 
 Papineauville, Jamnry, 1902.
 
 GREAT BRITAIN AND CANADA. 
 
 Bonds between Great Britain and Canada. 
 
 Our destinies are bound up with the destinies of Great Britain 
 and, to a large extent, with those of the United States. Of course, 
 I am not referring- here to the pohtical hnk which binds, us to the 
 British Crown : were it not for the many hgaments from which it 
 derives its whole strength, British connection would, indeed, 
 amount to very little. 
 
 From Great Britain, we hold the constitution under which we 
 live — an ofifspring of British maturity. How could we tho- 
 roughly understand that constitution, how could we master the 
 secret of its vitality, and foresee what fruit it may bear, without 
 knowing the old parent-tree, a mere branch of which it is? More- 
 over, upon that constitution we have grafted certain elements, bor- 
 rowed from the American constitution, and copied from such por- 
 tions of the work of the Adams, Madisons and Hamiltons as most 
 materially differ from British institutions : that is, our federative 
 form of constitutional government. 
 
 The majority of the Canadian people are of British extraction. 
 Their implantation into the American soil being of recent date, they 
 are less acclimatised than we are on this continent. In the life of 
 the Mother country they participate more than we do. In short, 
 they are more English than we are French ; and occasionally, even 
 more English than the native of Lancashire, or Somersetshire. 
 
 Of British and American capital our industries, our trade, our 
 financial institutions, our means of communication were born, and 
 upon the same capital they still feed and grow and develop. There- 
 fore, in its origin, as well as in its operations, our mdustrial life 
 is either English, or American. 
 
 Materalism is the chief characteristic of our age. On this con- 
 tinent especially, financial interests are overwhelmingly predo- 
 minant : Intelligence has to pick up the crumbs that Wealth allows 
 to fall from its table. Here, in Canada, we are still in the prime of 
 life, and because of the eccentricities of our territorial overgrowth, 
 we cry out for some food that will build up our nerves and tissues
 
 — 7 — 
 
 and brace up the forces of our system. Tlierefore, Dur future will be 
 determined by our material interests, in spite of the outbursts of 
 enthusiasm and patriotic sentiments which stir up both races, one 
 after the other. 
 
 Though few and far between, those fits of passion, with the 
 English element, are marked by more convulsive vehemence than 
 with the French, and are more pregnant with far-reaching conse- 
 quences. If it can be truly said that the onward march of nations 
 is hastened during their moments of frenzy, these acute crises only 
 make for the influence of English-speaking Canadians who have 
 already in their favour the strength of numbers and of capital. 
 Were they to-morrow, from a sense of their material interests, to 
 draw closer to the United btates, those very same voices would be 
 heard singing the glories of the " Stars and Stripes ", which but 
 yesterday were hurraying themselves hoarse over the visit of the 
 heir to the throne of England. 
 
 Placed as we are between Great Britain, who holds us, and the 
 United States, who is waiting to gobble us up, we are 
 ignorant of the history of both nations. Of Caesar's and Napoleon's 
 campaigns we know more than we do about the movements of the 
 two nations with whom our destinies are in the present, and are 
 likely to be in the future still more inextricably, blended. We have 
 at most a few ready-made opinions pinned upon the turning-points 
 in our history wdiere our interests and the interests of those two 
 great nations have clashed : the cession of our territory to England, 
 the American Revolution, the War of 1812. the Rebellion of 1837. 
 the Union of the two Canadas with the conquest of responsible 
 government. Confederation, the Secession war with the W^ashing- 
 ton Treaty, the Transvaal war. While reviewing, from near or 
 far, these various events, we rather instinctively side either with or 
 against England, either with or against the United States. But 
 the political tendencies of those two nations, and their moving 
 causes and constequences, and — wdiat is still more important to 
 us — the forces of attraction and repulsion brought to bear upon 
 us. we utterly neglect to study and watch. 
 
 To the subordination under which we iiave until now been 
 living this strange inertia is no doubt due. In vain do our Canadian 
 imperialists proclaim that we have attained the status of a nation : 
 the fact is that we have never yet exercised one of the essential prero- 
 ,f;atives of national sovereignty : I mean the conduct of and the con- 
 trol over our foreign relations. Trusting to the wisdom, so cons- 
 picuous down till the present outburst of jingoism, of British 
 statemanship. we have relied upon Great Britain for the manage- 
 ment of our international relations, and as a result, foreign politics 
 and even British politics are utterly unknown to us. We arc
 
 ilu'ii as ill-propareil as is liossihlc lor llu' task which confronts us — 
 that of (.lirecting" our own course, and stccrini; clear of dani^vrous 
 rocks, as well as keepinfi- our rulers on the ri^hi track. 
 
 \W this conviction 1 have been t^iiided in selectin<;- the subject of 
 this lecture, and I may say that for the last two years this preoccu- 
 i:)ation has been the t^uidin^- princi])le of my public life. 
 
 Leaving- aside all considerations of American ])olitics. I merely 
 propose to approach the evolutit)n of l*>ritisli Imperialism — a held 
 of research wide enoueh in itself. 
 
 To deal with the i)ast. present and future relations of dreat 
 Uritain and Canada, so as not to give a mere synoptical table, is to 
 review the history of the British Empire, or at least to trace the 
 development of the imperialist instinct in the British nation. This 
 evolution T shad merelv sketch in outline. 
 
 Genesis of the Imperialist instinct. 
 
 Imperialism is no novel tendenc}- in Kn_s4'Iand. nor is it of modern 
 growth in the world. Like all social movements, it is footed in the 
 very nature of man. 
 
 There are, in human nature, two ever warring instincts : indivi- 
 dualism, by which man strives to prevail over the community and 
 to free himself from laws, taxation and mutual responsibilities ; and 
 communism, through which men endeavour to secure by their com- 
 bined efiforts a larger sum of power, a quota of which is to be shared 
 by every one. Of the latter instinct were born such groups as 
 family, tribe, nation, empire, and also association, business partner- 
 ship, trust, — in short, all soc'al agglomerations the members 
 of which give up more or less of their individuality for the 
 achievement of an object, either moral or material, which no single 
 individual, through his own unaided efforts, could ever attain. 
 
 In a proper balance between those two instincts lies the best gua- 
 rantee of individual liberty and national prosperity. 
 
 In the political sphere, the only one we are concerned with here, 
 it mav be said that this spirit of association and expansion must be 
 proportioned to the intellectual and physical powers of each race 
 and adjust itself to the peculiar conditions of the country where it
 
 — 9 — 
 
 lias developed its hereditary instincts. Should it try to overstep 
 such limits, a nation would overtax its powers and temperament, 
 thereby imposing upon its members additional self-sacrifices. 
 When carried away by a sense of pride, or by enthusiasni or des- 
 pair, a nation may consent to such sacrifices; but individual re- 
 action is bound to follow, and the violence of that reaction corres- 
 pondin.^- to the previous over-tension, the association is brou'^^ht 
 back within its normal limits. 
 
 Such is the genesis of all empires from the very dawn of ages ; 
 and the various stages of their life may, like those of man's life, 
 be described in these few words: birth, growth, expansion, decay, 
 death. 
 
 What stage of her journey has England now reached, and how 
 long are we to dog the footsteps and follow in the wake of the Mo- 
 ther-country? Such is the problem on which, without presuming 
 lo solve it. I am going to ofifer a few remarks. 
 
 Early growth of England. 
 
 CONQUEST OF SCOTLAND AND IRKl.AND. 
 ■• : J- 
 
 Like all other nations, England possessed, from its very origin, 
 instincts favourable and unfavourable alike to the growth of Impe- 
 rial'sm. ^^lth her, as with other nation-states, the unfavourable ins- 
 tinct was the first to develop and was long predominant. In 
 England, the imperialistic tendencies were of much slower growth 
 than elsewhere ; they may prove harder to cope with and result 
 more disastrously to the nation. 
 
 The first natural limit of a nation is its geographical environ- 
 ment, and resulting therefrom, the unity of race. The geographical 
 outlines of (^zreat P»ritain were well defined ; national unity was a 
 necessity : she had either to conquer Scotland or to be conquered 
 by her. Concjuer England did, and it was the great effort of the 
 early stage of her growth. The assimilation of the Scottish race 
 was extremely profitable to the English people. 
 
 Historians devote more attention to England's continental wars, 
 because these wars did really set in niot'on greater forces, and were 
 pregnant with far-reaching results to Europe and to the civilised 
 world. Tkit from a social point of view, these struggles were not the 
 desire of the English people. They were brought about by a train 
 of political accidents, such as the Norman succession, the alliance 
 •of the English Crown with the Houses of Britany, of Guienne and 
 of Anjou.
 
 — lO — 
 
 TriK" to say, iimsi oi the wars \va,i;v(l durint; the Middle-Ages 
 and tlirinii^Iniui a Ions;- period of modern liistory may be assiji^ned 
 to similar causes. But, with other nations, feudal alliances, and the 
 contiicts they involved, enabled peoples and races to find their 
 ])roper level. The cause of princes became the cause of communi- 
 ties. And after a succession of victories and defeats, of conquests 
 and evictions, each of the continental nations was allotted its due 
 >hare of territory, of greatness and prosperity. 
 
 Despite her many achievements, England was final Iv compelled 
 to return wathin her own borders ; and not until she had checked 
 the lust of territorial acquisition and recalled the boundaries of her 
 conquests from beyond the channel, did her greatness actually 
 dawn. The time had not yet come for her Imperial'sm to develop 
 the growth of its latent germs. 
 
 Of the fruits of this first fit of military domination, the violent 
 and arbitrary conquest of Ireland is all that is now left to England. 
 A deadly germ it may yet prove to be, and one which will be most 
 potent in bringing about the downfall of Great Britain. 
 
 Apart from this blunder, an outcome of the vindictive spirit 
 stirred up by the Reformation, the England of Elizabeth and of 
 Cromw^ell ran her normal course: an intense development of 
 activity wathin, to which the discovery of coal, and the utilisation of 
 steam, were soon to give a fresh impetus ; a foreign policy of 
 neutrality, except with respect to such interventions as were meant 
 to keep the balance between the continental powers, and prevent any 
 of them becoming a menace to her own trade and security. 
 
 Expansion of the English People. 
 
 But the moment came when the very catise which had compelled 
 England to return within her natural limits, that is. her geograph- 
 ical isolation, forcibly determined her expansion and gave Impe- 
 rialism a new life under a new form. 
 
 From the growth of her industry and the increase of her popula- 
 tion, her inhabitants had to seek new lands. and her traders, foreign 
 markets. To this circumstance the growth and development of the 
 colonising and maritime instinct of the British people are due ; and 
 even then accidental agencies were needed to stimulate that move- 
 ment. 
 
 There is nothing more unhistorical than the legend which attri- 
 butes to the Englishman an inherent aptitude for colonisation and 
 maritime pursuits. Owing to his stay-at-home propensities and his 
 love of comfort, he feels a reluctance to go and settle abroad. From 
 his slow temperament and uninventive mind, as from his insularity.
 
 — II — 
 
 lie cannot adjust himself to the social and economic environments 
 oi other nations. unal)le as he is to understand them. Feeling un- 
 comfortable abroad, he makes himself disliked. Is there under 
 heavens one single spot where a born Englishman has endeared 
 himself to his neighbours and reciprocated their love? This 
 remark 1 make in no spirit of disparagement, those characteristics 
 of the stock being a mere resttlt of atavism. When you meet him 
 in his proper environment, at home, the Englishman evinces quali- 
 ties, political, social and individual, which make of him a most 
 afifable and estimable man. To sum up, I might say that as a host, 
 he proves the most charming, and as a neighbour, the most execrable 
 of all men. 
 
 This lack of adaptability prevented English traders and colo- 
 nists from expanding in Europe. They went out across far ofif seas, 
 to seek new lands wliere they could live, every man by himself and 
 be his own master, and establish trading-posts free from the 
 competition of European industry, then superior to their own. 
 
 As I have jtist stated, this movement was hastened by accidental 
 agencies. C )t these the chief one was the result of the religious 
 qtiaVrels which brought Flemish and French Huguenot mechanics 
 to England. More skilled and intelligent than the native labourers, 
 these new-comers gave a strong impetus to British trade and indus- 
 try. Within the realm, identical religious controversies, coupled 
 with the dynastic contests from which sprang England's modern 
 constitution, threw a large number of her inhabitants on the shores 
 of America. 
 
 And thus was born the great IJritish Empire. 
 
 Growth of the British Empire. 
 
 ITS SUPF.RlORn Y. 
 
 I am not going into a historical review of that wonderful expan- 
 sion which soon covered one half of the New^-World and a large 
 portion of the Old. Let it suffice to invite attention to a fact which 
 of the British Empire makes an essentially different organism from 
 all the empires of old, or of those which grew alongside of it. 
 
 All Empires, modern or ancient, were born of some political or 
 military idea. They were the outcoiiie of conquests or treaties con- 
 trived, undertaken, conducted or achieved by conquerors, states- 
 men, ruler.^ and diplomatists. And history bears witness to the 
 fact that, as a rule, those political structures collapsed with their 
 authors or their successors, whether single or collective.
 
 12 
 
 The British Kinpirt.'. on the contrary, was built up and developed 
 like the Uritish constitution, outside of any <:^eneral theory or pre- 
 concerted plan of action, without government help and often con- 
 trary ro the wishes of the Crown and the sense of the people. 
 
 Go back to the history of the thirteen American colonies, to that 
 of India, i^i .\ustralia or Xew-Zealand, and you will find that those 
 countries were built up 1)\- Eui^lish settlers and shop-keepers, by 
 political or sectarian refui^ees and discharj^^ed convicts. Of these 
 some were in (|uost of peace and liberty, others, of wealth ; some 
 had turned in aniL^er from tlie i)arent's roof, cursing' the men and 
 institutions of tlu'ir country; others, indiflferent to all the rest, 
 cared only for pelf. To none of these pioneers did it ever otcur 
 that he was endowing" his country with an empire. 
 
 \\"hat a striking and typical contrast with the schemes, the mas- 
 terstrokes which prompted the conc|uests of Caesar, Charlemagne, 
 Charles \'. Frederick. Napoleon and Bismark. and with the enter- 
 prises of Isabella of Spain, Richelieu, and Colbert I 
 
 But all human undertakings — and here I refer to such under- 
 takings as have promises of life in them, and enter into the plan.s of 
 Providence — seem to be governed by a mysterious law in virtue 
 of wh'ch cause and effect, means and end, are kept in balance. Born 
 of lofty ideals, their natural tendency is to sink below their level, 
 in the very process of their growth ; while those of a low origin, 
 tend to rise above their level and prosper. 
 
 With man, instinct, rather than reason, is the controlling prin- 
 ciple. That form of government is the best which grows and 
 shapes itself to the temperament of the nation ; that nation is the 
 strongest which develops in accordance, not with the theories of 
 philosophers and politicians, even were they men of genius, but in 
 harmony with the requirements of its character : and they are the 
 true statesmen who, in ruling the state, are guided not bv their own 
 philosophical conceptions, but b}- the instinct of the people. 
 
 That empire-builders are bound to commit serious blunders goes 
 without saying. Such is the case when wretched settlers are trans- 
 ferred to countries with an unfriendly soil, under a deadlv climate, 
 who, from sheer disappointment and the wreck of their hopes, 
 block the settlement of the country. Such is the case again, when 
 colonies are founded :n the neiszhbourhood of w^arlike nations, and 
 compelled by the parent-state to maintain armies of occupation. 
 Now, that soldiery, those hirelings so to. say, tyranising over the 
 colony and hampering its progress, only come back home to scatter, 
 like so many wrecks of humanity, over the Mother country, no 
 longer fit for anything, and but too often bent on mischief. 
 
 Left to their own enterprise, colonists will look for a rich soil, a 
 favourable climate and congenial neighbours. From the urgency
 
 _i3 — 
 
 of self-protection, the only warlike spirit will be bred in iheir 
 breasts I that may atone f;)r the horrors of war: the necessity of 
 (lefendin;^- one's family, one's home, one's inheritance. As a nation 
 is brutitied and involved by militarism, so it is ennobled by that 
 innate spirit. Traders also, self-interest beinji: their guiding prin- 
 ciple, prove to be good pioneers ; they run their ships towards lands 
 where a buying and selling tr^de may be developed, that is. towards 
 rich. ])rosp;rous, peace-loving countries. ' 
 
 Colonial Policy of England. 
 
 As I have alreach stated, it was in defiance of thj leaders of the 
 nation, that most of the colonies of (ireat ISritain were folmded ; 
 and the settlers had no end of troub'e in getting the Mother countr}- 
 to acknowledge and welcome their existence. 
 
 Long did the East India Company, at their own risk, exercise 
 all the prerogatives of sovereignt}- — fighting, ruling, administer- 
 ing justice and public affairs, practising bribery and robbery ■ — 
 before the IJritish government could be induced to extend its cons- 
 t!tutit)nal authority over the acts and the officials of that powerful 
 corporation, and raise the I>ritish fiag over the territories wdiich 
 they had conciuered, occupied, or protected. 
 
 The trial of Warren Hastings stands in history as a witness to 
 the frame of mind of the law-makers of those times. Read over 
 iigain the admirable ])ages in which Macauly has, with a masterly 
 hand, recorded as in plates of bronze, that memorable event, and 
 behold what took place less than a century later ; listen to the 
 rabble and the swell stock- jobbers of London cheering, as a hero 
 of the Empire, Cecil Rhodes — more gtiilty, from his own avowal, 
 than was the Nabob himse'f. Hastin^\s was but an official of a 
 commercial corporation : in no way was the honour of the Crown 
 imi)licated bv his doings, which from the corr^uption of the country 
 and the age. as well as from the wild and bloody anarchy into 
 which India had fallen, may in a large measure be accounted for. 
 Rhodes, a prime minister of a British colony, a privy councillor of 
 England, honored as ho was with the confidence of Her Majesty's 
 advisers in London, breaks the plighted word of his sovereigii, 
 commits an act condemned by the Law of Nations. Trtie, he is 
 turned out of power by the electorate of his colony, but he still 
 enjoys the confidence of the Queen whose majesty he has sullied, 
 while at the colonial secretary's own hand be receives a certificate of 
 honour ( i ) . 
 
 (i) "I am T'crfectly convinced that, while the fault of Mr. Rhode.s is aliout as gieat a fault 
 " as a politician or a statesman cm comtnit. there has been nthine proved — and, in my 
 " opinion, there exists nothing — which affects Mr. Rhodes' personal po>-ition as a man of 
 " honour." - l''roni Mr. Chamberlain's speech in the House of Commons. (See London 
 ] niics, July 27lh, 1897.)
 
 — 14 — 
 
 In those two events the developnuiu of liritisli imperiahsni is 
 ilhistrated to perfection. In l^nj^laiul, a century aj^o, the standard 
 of honour, lioth in private hfe and in pubHc hfe, was below the 
 present standard. In the records of those days, is to be found 
 sliamelessly paraded to the l)road tla\iii;ht the most shockin^^ de- 
 pravity. lUit the sense of j.;;'overninent was sound. Ini])rovin,c^ ter- 
 ritorial or,L;anisation was made more of than acquirin^^ new lands, 
 mainly l\v saich means as mij^ht have involved risks of war for the 
 nation. 
 
 Pitt and Wellington. 
 
 The younger I'itt was the embodiment of that idea. Like \\ al- 
 pole, he was a champion of peace, of political reform and financial 
 reorganisation. When war was forced upon him, he only yielded a 
 reluctant consent to that dire necessity, after allowing France to 
 humble his ambassadors and foment rebellion in Ireland. 
 Refusing to commit his country to a i)olicy of military adventures 
 and conquests, he preferred to supply his allies with the sinews of 
 war. that they might buy soldiers and arms. He realised, as Napo- 
 leon, did that England was a nation of shop-keepers, and that she 
 had better be saddled with taxation than inoculated with the 
 virus of militarism . Not until after his death did the lust for mili- 
 tary glory take hold of his country and pave the way for Welling- 
 ton and his armies. The great general I admire, less on account 
 of his easily won victories over an exhatisted eneni)- than for his 
 tenacity of purpose, his patience, his generosity, h:s magnanimity, 
 liis humaneneas. But England could well have spared the great 
 Duke ; and she would fare better to-day had her government 
 adhered to Pitt's policy of keeping her people at home, in the colo- 
 nies and on her ships, while subsid:sing the continental nations 
 until they got tired with slaughtering each other. 
 
 Notwithstanding the huge and clumsy monuments which, in all 
 the cities of the king'doin, proclaim the glory of the victor of Water- 
 loo, I persist in seeing in Will'am Pitt the great man of modern 
 England (i). While he reluctantly bore the weight of Bonaparte's 
 unbounded ambition, he reorganised England's navy; when forced 
 to create an enormous national debt, he regulated its management 
 and redemption : he reconstructed the government of India ; he 
 
 (i) Even Gladslone, to my tniiid, does not rank above Pitt in this respect As a world- 
 statesman Gladstone is unquestionably a Ki'catrr man than Pitt. His policy is more ideal, 
 more eclectic, more human. From his politics every nation may learn useful lessons. 
 Gladstone belongs to humanity. Pitt is thorou°;hly English: his methods are suitable to 
 England alone, but they suit her to perfection.
 
 — 15 — 
 
 paved the way for electoral reform and catholic emancipation. 
 In short, he ruled England in accord with her national tempera- 
 ment ; he set her in her normal course, and forced, so to speak, his 
 successors hoth whig and tory to follow along the main lines of 
 his policy. 
 
 The American Colonies. 
 
 Let us go back to the American colonies. Here again crops up 
 the same reluctance to territorial acquisition. However, the pros- 
 perity of the colonies and their commercial intercourse with the 
 traders of the Mother country, finally compelled the attention of 
 the home government, and, as was the case with India, brought 
 about official recognition. This resulted in the creation of the 
 several colonial constitutions whereby His Britannic Majesty, while 
 accepting the allegiance of his subjects over-seas, left them to bear 
 the burden of self-government, taxation and defence. 
 
 From a strange obliteration of historical sense, which often leads 
 to a confusion of the ideas of cause and efifect, we have come to the 
 conclusion that these constitutions were the work of the far-seeing 
 genius of England. As a matter of fact, a. provision which im- 
 posed upon the colonies almost all the burdens and responsabili- 
 ties of their own government, was, in the mind of her statesmen, 
 the onerous consideration for which the colon; sts were granted the 
 signal privilege of being admitted to the rank of His Majesty's 
 subjects. 
 
 Upon that principle of decentralisation, — a principle quite novel, 
 and essentially antagonistic to the paternalism of the colonial 
 empires of Spain, Portugal and France, — was built up the British 
 Empire, and the day came when that little island to the north of 
 Europe ruled the widest area of scattered lands that ever acknowl- 
 edged one single authority. It' is then no paradox to state that of 
 the anti-imperialistic sense of the English people was born the 
 British Empire, and that in the strength of that instinct lies the se- 
 cret of its maintenance (i). 
 
 (i) Burke has given full expression to this idea in his speech in favour of conciliation 
 with the American colonies : '...when I knowthat the colonies in eeneral oiee little or nothing 
 " to anv care of ours, and that they are not squeezed into this happy form by the constraints 
 "of watchful and suspicious eovernment, but that, through a .t'/V ami salutary "eglect. i\ 
 " generous nature has been suffered to take her own way to perfection — when I reflect 
 " upon th«"se effects — when I see /unt' profitable they ha-c'-- been to us, I feel all the pride of 
 " power sink, and all presumption in the wisdom of human contrivances melt and die awav 
 " within me. My rigour relents. I pardon something to the spirit of liberty."
 
 — i6 — 
 Germs of new Imperialism. 
 
 However, the first g"erms of Iin])erialisin were soon to develop, 
 and. possibly, this was bound to happen, it is with nations wIkj 
 colonise before niakins.;^ concpiests as with those who make conquests 
 before colonising": the moment comes when thev are confronted by 
 an identical situation, with a colonial empire for the defence of 
 w hich they have to provide. 
 
 From the expansion of British power in India resulted a stand- 
 ing army and a civil service, both of which proved unmitigated 
 social evils by attracting British youth towards militarism and bti- 
 reaucracy. In order to market off the products of that country, 
 Great I'ritain, later on, waged her Chinese wars, and developed her 
 odious opium trade. I n?ed not refer to that plutocracy devoid of 
 ail scrupules and tradit'ons, to those corrupt nabobs, w'ho debased 
 public ideals and put a price on national representation. ( )f this 
 curse England succeeded in ridd'ng herself. 
 
 In America, the New-England colonists had at last forced upon 
 the ^klother country the conquest of Xew-France ; and with a 
 view to protecting the route to India, Great 1 Britain felt botmd to 
 annex to her dominions the Dutch colony of the Cape. To the 
 Irish question were thus added two fresh racial . problems, than 
 which there are none more irritating, none more fraught with 
 dangers and more difficult to .solve. 
 
 The American Revolution. 
 
 The British government attempted to force the American colo- 
 nies to share in the costs of their own defence and of the Seven- 
 Years' war. " From this first move towards political imperialism 
 resulted the momentous event wdiich gave birth to one of the 
 greatest of modern world-powers. Such a sudden reaction 
 benefited both Great Britain and Canada. Realising the wash of 
 Lord Chatham, the American Revolution checked the progress of 
 imperialism in Great Britain ( i ) . It ushered in the era of our po- 
 litical emancipation and constitutional liberty. 
 
 (O Tlie speech delivered on thai question by the great .statesman, in the House of 
 Lords, on the iSth of November 17;/, is worth reading over, — the more so as it has 
 so close an application to the South-African crisis. Anxious as he was that England should 
 keep her American colonies, Chathani nevertheless said : ' If I were an .American, as I am 
 '• an Enslishman. while a foreign troop was landrd in my c >unlry. I never would lay down 
 "my arms — never — never — never!" ("learly, were Chatham still livin<.;, he would be 
 denounced as a traitor and a pro- Boer !
 
 — 17 — 
 
 England's reluctance to grant the Canadian provinces 
 an autonomy which the American colonies had long enjoy- 
 ed has often heen, with some, a matter of astonishment. This 
 apparent contradiction is easily cleared up if we bear in mind that 
 England's sole purpose, as I have just stated, in bestowing such a 
 large measure of liljerty upon the Plantations, was to be relieved of 
 cumbersome responsibilities. On the other hand, the rebellion of 
 the Anglo-American settlers, while resulting from the encroach- 
 ments of the government of George III, Grenville and Lord North 
 was wrongly imputed to the working of colonial self government. 
 No wonder then that we were denied privileges that had been con- 
 ceded to the other colonies with the sole view to safeguarding the 
 interests of the Mother-country. 
 
 To be rightly understood, the relations of Great Britain to the 
 colonies must be studied in the light of this constant fact : that the 
 exclusive interest of Great Britain was the main spring which 
 moved her statesmen, whenever they had to modify the colonial 
 status. 
 
 Emancipation of Canada. 
 
 After half a century of struggles you are familiar with, the acute 
 stage of which was reached in 1837, we finally secured responsible 
 government and provincial autonomy. 
 
 Since then, peacefully we have run our course, losing sight of 
 English politics. Causes of friction becoming fewer and slighter, 
 the exact notion of the cjuarrels of the past we have even allowed to 
 get obscured. God forbid that I should re-open wounds that are 
 healed over ! But to my mind, to allow history to be superseded by 
 legend, mainly when history tends to repeat itself under a new 
 form, would be a dangerous thing. 
 
 It is growing into a fashion with our public men to dwell upon 
 the debt of eternal gratitude they think we owe the motherland for 
 the generosity, the disinterestedness, the magnanimity displayed in 
 the granting of dur liberties. " The past is a guarantee of the 
 future ; the struggles of the first half of last century are no more 
 to return. " they say ; " never shall England, noble-minded as she 
 is, dream of taking away from us one single atom of the autonomy 
 S(^ fully and so unreservedly conceded to us. " 
 
 To the statesmen who so nobly and so manfully struggled, and 
 with such unflinching tenacity, for the triumph of those principles of 
 liberty, decentralisation, respect to minorities, which ever were in 
 the past the glory and the strength of Great Britain we do. indeed, 
 owe — and England and the whole world with us owe — a debt of gra- 
 
 2
 
 — i8 — 
 
 titude. I spoke a moment ago of Lord Wellington. What a noble 
 spectacle it was to see this old soldier, hardened by fifty years of 
 military discipline, of campaigns and battles, standing up on the 
 floor of the House of Lords and entering his protest against the 
 bill for the L'nion of the two Canadas, and thereby constituting 
 himself — unconsciously perhaps — the champion of a weak off- 
 spring of the old French parent-tree, at which he had struck so 
 many a hard blow ! 
 
 Yes, indeed, to such men as Gosford, Ellenborough, Brougham, 
 Peel, Grey, Bright, Gladstone — to all those who, few though they 
 be, were, out of a pure love of liberty, instrumental in securing and 
 preserving to us political freedom — our admiration and our grati- 
 tude are due without stint. 
 
 But history and geography should be respected. Do not let us 
 forget that if the persistent efforts of those great men bore fruit, it 
 \\as after years and years of a laborious incubation ; that they had 
 to contend against formidable opponents, some of whom attempted 
 to blot out the French element, while others, the progenitors of the 
 Imperialists of today, aimed at the enslavement of the colony. In 
 the views of Lord Durham himself, one of the most liberal-minded 
 statesmen of his days, the Union of the two Canadas meant the 
 absorption of the French element. We have loosened the knot, I 
 grant, and made the best of the situation that confronted us ; but I 
 fail to see why we should put upon a pedestal the statesman who 
 planned the extinction of our nationality, after the methods of pain- 
 less tooth-drawing practised by the quack doctor. In plain English, 
 baseness is but another name for gratitude of that kind. 
 
 The victory of our champions was then but a partial victory, won 
 through particular circumstances altogether foreign to love and 
 generosity : the distance of the colony, the near neighbourhood of 
 the United States, the cost and dangers of military domination, 
 such were the circumstances which conspired to win over to our 
 side the votes of many noble Lords and Commoners, and brought 
 home to the English people that conciliation was the best policy. 
 
 As Mr. John Morley recently remarked, the tax-gatherer is the 
 best of school-masters. Should England, made wiser by the won- 
 derful resistance of the Boers and the increasing disaffection of the 
 Cape colonists, be compelled to make peace in Africa, would the 
 heroes of this war of giants owe a great debt of gratitude to 
 Lord Salisbury and Mr. Chamberlain, or to Sir Edward Grey who 
 is quite willing that they should be hanged, if only in due form, or 
 even yet to the Canadian government who have become the accom- 
 plices of the British authorities and approved of such hangings, 
 burnings and devastations as vividly bring to mind Sir John Col- 
 borne's deeds, who was known here under the name of the " old 
 firebrand "?
 
 — 19 — 
 
 A new chapter is opened, in the history of oiur country, which alters 
 the situation so favourable to us of sixty years ago, and this, I think 
 1 may here point out without violating my oath of allegiance. The 
 champions of our liberties are no more ; their disciples, reduced to 
 iuipotency, have been succeeded in the British cabinet by adherents 
 of a new school of thought, the direct descendants of the very men 
 who had planned our enslavement. To- sum up, I tell you in the 
 language of our neighbours : " Eternal vigilance is the price of 
 libertv. " 
 
 Cobden and his School. 
 
 The campaign of Cobden, with the triumph of free-trade, was 
 another timely circumstance which strengthened our new-born li- 
 berties. An immense impetus was given to British trade, and the 
 former artisan'of Manchester became the prophet of Great Britain. 
 To Cobden, Imperialism, both military and political, was abhor- 
 rent; colonial expansion he distrusted. In the remote possessions 
 of England he foresaw a source of dangers abroad and within ; in 
 the infinitude of colonial and foreign questions engrossing the 
 attention of Parliament, an unpediment to social reform ; in the 
 necessity of an army and a war fleet, a bold defiance of foreign 
 powers, and an insuperable obstacle to the fulfilment of his two 
 most cherished dreams, free-trade and universal peace. 
 
 The endorsation of his system by the English people he failed to 
 secure, but he succeeded in spreading enough of his doctrine to 
 enlist their support in favour of a policy of complete colonial de- 
 centralisation as an initial step towards secession. His comparison 
 — after Turgot — of the ripe fruit dropping from the tree, became 
 the familiar image by which rulers and subjects realised the Em- 
 pire. The colonies were given to understand that they were to be 
 self-reliant and self-supporting, and that whensoever they thought 
 fit to sever their connection with the motherland, no obstacle would 
 be put in the way. 
 
 Revival of Imperialism. 
 
 While we were enjoying an absolute security, and getting used 
 to this large measure of independence, the remembrance of the 
 heavy price paid for our liberty began to vanish. Out of colonial 
 expansion were soon to grow new germs of that political and mili- 
 tary Imperialism, which had been checked by the American Revo- 
 lution, and retarted bv the influence of Cobden.
 
 — 20 
 
 A further expansion of liritisli power to tlic North of IncHa was 
 a sequel to the huhan mutiny, and resulted later on in the Afs^hanis- 
 tan war — a forerunner to ever-recurring^ trouhles with Russia. 
 I'Voni the occu])ation of E^Sfvpt s])ran,<;- the war in the Soudan, a 
 fresli seed of friction with France. 
 
 In the eyes of Ghulstone. these enterprises were of ill aug^ury. 
 That lie was not the only (we to share these views, has heen clearly 
 shown of late 1)\' Air. Cecil Rhodes' strantje revelations. 
 
 South Africa. 
 
 It. was in the South African soil, however, that the causes were 
 to germinate through which Eng-land was to launch out into mili- 
 tary adventures. 
 
 Did Bismarck ti'uly forecast that South Africa was^ to be the grave 
 of British power ? That he who carved out of the entrails of Austria 
 and France the most warlike emp re ever known to Europe since 
 .\apolcon, should have foreseen the danger to England from increa- 
 sing militarism, would indeed sound very strange. He was, however, 
 clear-sighted enough to understand that a policy, which suited such 
 an homogeneous and compact state as Germany, might prove 
 fatal to a motley and widely scattered empire like Greater Britain. 
 It was not, I presume, out of humanitarian considerations, or a 
 regard for international morality, that the man who cynically 
 mocked at " professor " Gladstone, made such a forecast. 
 
 I am not going into a review of the history of that unhappy 
 country : the stirring events which are now unfolding themselves 
 have made it familiar to you. But it furnishes so striking an illus- 
 tration of my argument that a few pages may be summarised here, 
 in which the respective methods and results of both English politi- 
 cal schools are wonderfully pictured. 
 
 It is a characteristic feature of the birth of Cape Colony that it is 
 the only real offspring of Imperialism. The conquest of India and 
 of Canada, the acquisition of the other colonies, resulted from 
 events more or less foreign to the will of the English nation. But 
 the Cape was acquired and held by Britain for political purposes 
 and as a strategical point on the route to India. Given back for a 
 while to Holland, it was claimed again by England. An attempt 
 was first made to rule the colony from London by the sword. Thence 
 resulted the rebellion of the Dutch Colonists, put down by the s.word 
 and halter, the emigration of the Dutch people to the north, and the 
 birth of the two small republics which, true to the word of old Presi- 
 dent Kruger, one of the last survivors of the Great Trek, are to-day 
 staggering humanity.
 
 To the Afrikanders, on both sides of the Vaal and Orange, the 
 victory of the Cobden school and the advent of Lord Grey to the 
 Colonial office proved as beneficial as they did to Canada. The 
 independence of both republics was acknowledg'ed. In Cape Colony 
 the inhabitants of Dutch stock were allowed the free exercise of 
 their ])oliticaI and civil rig'hts. Pacified by the emancipation of 
 tiieir countrymen of the Transvaal and the Free State, the Cape 
 Boers accepted as loyally as we did liritish institutions. A new 
 generation rose up among them, an educated class, which, while 
 they remained deeply attached to the native soil and clung to their 
 old traditions, drew somewhat closer to the Anglo-African element. 
 Sympath}' was of quicker growth and more deeply-seated there 
 than it was here, no doubt because the Boers having no Universities 
 of their own, the Dutch youth who desired to obtain a first-rate 
 educaticMi was obliged to go to the schools and Universities of the 
 Mother-country to get diplomas wh:ch he could not secure in his 
 own native land : he came back to the colony, having acquired the 
 language and the manners of his English-speaking neighbours, and 
 above all imbued with those feelings of esteem and confidence 
 which well-bred and educated Englishmen are wont to inspire in 
 those who have enjoyed their hospitalit\- ( i). 
 
 From the awakening of the old spirit of Imperialism, with Dis- 
 raeli and Carnarvon in the Cabinet, and Shepstone in Africa, peace 
 and harmony were disturbed and the old feuds re-kindled. The 
 unwarrantable annexation of the Transvaal, in 1879, caused the 
 Boers of the North to take the field ; and henceforth, although they 
 were not continually under arms, hatred and mistrust poisoned 
 their minds for ever. The rebound in Cape Colony was instan- 
 taneous. For such is the inexorable law of the history of South 
 Africa : Great Britain's respect for her pledges to the Free State and 
 Transvaal Boers is the unerring barometer by which the loyalty of 
 the Cape and Xatal Boers ever mav be measured. Enormous and 
 but too frequent — alas ! for the peace and honour of England, — 
 have been the variations of this barometer. As Lord Roberts 
 rightly said, South-Africa is the land of falsehood. As a matter of 
 fact, British Colonial Secretaries and High-Commissioners have 
 sown in the African soil such a copious seed of imposture that it is 
 no wonder English generals should find it next to impossible to 
 reap the laurels of victorv. 
 
 The defeat of Majuba Hill and Gladstone's return to power 
 brought the imperialistic schemes to a temporary stand-still. The 
 generosity and lofty spirit displayed by the Grand Old Man in 
 dealing w'th that question are now sneered at by the eminent sta- 
 
 (i) See Mfi/'fiuiiies, ch ix, page cxxxii.
 
 tesinen who so noisily callotl out all the reserves of the Empire to 
 crush the Hoers. A war expLMicliture of half a hillion pounds ster- 
 lini^. another prospective expenditure of five hundred millions, 
 seventy thousand men disabled, 200,000 soldiers held in check, the 
 inipossihility to find any more recruits, the stupidity of the British 
 statT exhibited to the world, the military prestige of Great Britain 
 destroyed (i). with a ubiquitous foe at the very doors of Cape 
 'J'own — and all this, mark well, two years after the declaration of 
 lu>stilities. one year after the war had been proclaimed by the 
 Crown Ministers of En.uland to be over, three months after Mr. 
 Chamberlain had decreed with a high hand that the companions of 
 Botha and Dewet were no longer to be considered as belligerents : 
 — all this, I say, may be very glorious for Great Britain, all this 
 may make for Empire and for the interests of Canada ; but I still 
 hold that the results of Gladstone's policy compare favourably with 
 Mr. Chamberlain's masterstrokes, backed as they are by the elo- 
 quence of all his Colonial sycophants. 
 
 The Gladstone Cabinet, 1880=1885. 
 
 THE EMPIRE AT ITS ZENITH. 
 
 Of the time of the second Gladstone administrat'on it may truly be 
 said that Great Britain was then at the zenith of her power. India was 
 peaceful, the possession of Egypt, secure ; Australia and New-Zea- 
 land were entering upon an era of unprecedented prosperity ; Ca- 
 nada was about to put at the disposal of the Empire her transcon- 
 tinental railway ; and the great statesman, whom popular favour 
 was so soon to forsake, was going to grapple with the most distur- 
 bing factor of British politics, a problem bristling with difficulties : 
 the emancipation of Ireland. This obstacle, which time had only 
 rendered more difficult to cope with, Gladstone's genius failed to 
 overcome ; his political prestige vanished in the attempt ; he had 
 to give up his post, and soon disappeared from the stage of this 
 w^orld. before his own country had realised the loftiness and wis- 
 dom of his views. He was the last survivor of the great struggles 
 of Cobden and the anti-imperialist school (2). On his favourite disci- 
 ple. Lord Rosebery, his successor in the chronological order, de- 
 volved the leadership. 
 
 (i) See Lord Rost^bery's speech at Chatain : Appcndicfs. page xli. 
 
 (2) Of which he vv-a<; not a fjllower at first. Cu'-iously enough. Lord Roseberj' is passing 
 through the very opposite evolution which brought Gladstone from the deepest toryism to 
 the verge of radicalism.
 
 — 23 — 
 
 A peculiar cross between a statesman and a sceptical dilettante, 
 Lord Rosebery soon understood that he lacked the necessary 
 vigour to keep within party lines the incoherent elements of his 
 parliamentary majority. Strange to say. he is now evolving into a 
 full-fledged Imperialist, although, at the time, in a valedictory 
 address to his political friends, he did sum tip, in that clear, elegant 
 and plausible style of his, the dangers which imperialism conjures 
 up. 
 
 Disruption of the Liberal Party. 
 
 The advocacy of Irish Home rule it was which occasioned the 
 split in the Liberal party. But deep-seated and numerous — to 
 quote Mr. Chamberlain himself — were the underlying causes of 
 friction. Party cleavage led up to the formation of the Tory- 
 Unionist party, the most conspicuous and the most active member 
 of which Mr. Chamberlain soon became. This new group seemed 
 the least qualified to favour the germination of imperialistic 
 ideas. The Tory element was recruited from the ranks of the 
 Established Church and the landed aristocracy — both conservative 
 in the narrowest sense of the word, both opposed to internal 
 reforms and to adventures abroad, though instinctively favorable to 
 the autocratic and military government of the Empire. The Liberal 
 faction which followed Mr. Chamberlain had sprung from the radical 
 element ; until then, its members had championed the most advan- 
 ced reforms: the extension of franchise and of public education, the 
 improvement of the labouring classes, state-control over public ser- 
 vices. Fire and water are no more antagonistic to each other than 
 this socialistic policy was to militarism and warlike expeditions ; it 
 logically excluded Imperialism and the interference of the British 
 Parliament in Colonial affairs. But circumstances were soon to 
 show how weak an obstacle principles and consistency oppose to the 
 personal ambition of a man with an iron will, possessing the 
 lust of power. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain's Position. 
 
 The position of Mr. Chamberlain within the ranks of his allies 
 was a thoroughly false one. He would fain have transferred from 
 that Birmingham fortress of h's the whole socialistic equipment 
 through which he had come to be the prophet arid the hope of the 
 labour associations. The dogged opposition of his Tory colleagues 
 was the rock on which his efforts foimdered. He then made up his
 
 — 24 — 
 
 muul iliai he should sock n foreign nu^'slioiis a favourable field tor 
 liis activity. Anxious as he was to make the Enj^lish people fors^et 
 tlie failure of his social reform schemes, he endeavoured to stir up 
 national ])ride. With methods akin to those of the demagogues of 
 American politics, he soon succeetled in importing into England the 
 tone anil arguments of the yellow press. Taking advantage of 
 what iiis disc pies styled the .senile timidity exhibited by Lord Salis- 
 bury in the settlement of the Sino-Japanese war. and of the gigan- 
 tic schemes of Mr. Cecil Rhodes, he dangled before the eyes of the 
 Jingoists the prospect of a Cape-to-Cairo African Empire. At the 
 time of the Fashoda incident, his wreckless utterances frightened, 
 and rightly so. his colleagues and sound public opinion. The doors 
 oi the Foreig-n (Office were closed in his face. Then it was that he 
 desperately threw himself into the im])erialisL movement, sq conai'e- 
 nial to his aggressive and domineering s]:)ir:t. That he had found 
 the nival road to success he had rightl\- surmised. 
 
 Doctrinaire Imperialists and their Impotency. 
 
 There is one theoritical po'nt in which I concur with doctrinaire 
 Imperialists, and it is that the British Empire, like all human institu- 
 tions, cannot remain at a stand-still. It must tread the path traced 
 by the development of its hereditary tendencies. In the opinion of 
 the Liberal school, the logical outcome of the growth of Empire is 
 the natural and harmonious disjunction of its component parts. 
 According to the new school, this disastrous disruption can and 
 must be obviated at any price for the general advantage of the Em- 
 pire, and in the best individual interests of the Mother country and 
 her colonies. 
 
 On the other hand. Imperialists — or at least British Imperialists 
 — are alive to the fact that to draw closer that union is no easy 
 task. In spite of official platitudes and temporary outbursts of en- 
 thusiasm, reports of which are sent over from the colonies by a 
 well inspired press, they know from experience, and their instinct 
 warns them, that free men, accustomed to govern themselves with- 
 out any interference from outside, and with half a century enjov- 
 ment of all the national prerogatives, will not easily surrender such 
 privileges. From their own history they have learned this lesson, 
 that never do the intrig-ues of ambitions men and factions finally 
 succeed in inckicing a whole nation to take a step backward. That 
 we are not so pliable as our titled and official representatives prove 
 to be, they know or at least apprehend.
 
 — 25 — 
 
 It is still a deep-rooted tradition in En^^land that decentralisation 
 and Colonial self-government are the underlying principles of the 
 British Empire. This is the deliberate opinion of the influential 
 classes, while with the masses it is an instinctive sentiment. 
 Towards the colon'es the English people, at large, are still indifife- 
 rent. That we have contributed soldiers and arms in defence of the 
 Empire in his African war, the Englishman knows very well ; but 
 as these uncalled-for manifestations of devotedness have neither 
 resulted in victories gratifying to his national pride, nor brought 
 him any relief from the heavy burdens thrown upon him by this 
 disastrous war, he does not think it worth while to respond to our 
 love in the noisy, demonstrative manner which has become famil.'ar 
 to us, — still less to impose upon himself the slightest sacrifice in 
 the shape of trade advantages to the colonies (i), — the more so, 
 as our official representatives lose no opportunity of impressing 
 upon him that we do not ask for any compensation. This coldness 
 of the English people may eventually prove the best safeguard of 
 our liberty against enterprising jingoists or weak-spirited poli- 
 ticians. 
 
 The group of the systemat'cal Imperialists whose object would 
 be to re-organise the Empire from a threefold standpoint — political, 
 commercial and military, — represent but an "nsignificant faction in 
 the British Parliament. After bringing to white-heat the fervour of 
 these enthusiasts, Mr. Chamberlain, practical as he ever is, left 
 them -n the lurch. In Parliament, they made several attempts to 
 further their views on the ground of coinmercial Imperialism. Xo 
 later than last session, they seized the House of Commons with a 
 motion in favour of inter-imper!al preferential trade. On the very 
 tvening that Sir Howard X'incent moved his resolut'.on, Mr. Chain- 
 berlain, whose health was flourishing the day before, as well as the 
 day after, was unavoidably absent from the House on the plea of 
 ill-health, leaving to his colleague, the Chancellor of the Exche- 
 (|uer. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the task of strangling in the cradle 
 the first-born of those theories of his (2). 
 
 But it is with Imperialism as with many other doctrines, and 
 heresies especially, the diffusion of which is wrought rather by the 
 action of indirect forces than by the voice of their best recognised 
 e.xponents. In the economical and military situation of Great Bri- 
 tain, Mr. Chamberlain finds a field of action, interested co-operators, 
 and arsfuments far more forcible than the homilies of those who 
 
 (1) Fee Appfiidici's, chapters vand vi. 
 
 (2) See Appendices, pages Lxxxvi. to xci.
 
 — 26 — 
 
 worship al the sliriiu- o\ an I'.iiipiri' upon which the sun is never 
 allowed to set (i). 
 
 Uecay of British Industry. 
 
 Hut unquest onahly it is with free trade as with any other poli- 
 tical system which does not extend beyond the sphere of material 
 interests : whether it be true or beneficial altogether depends upon 
 its endorsation by the majority. In Cobden's own mind, not until, 
 following;- in the footsteps of Eng^land, all th.> other nations should 
 have thrown their gates wnde open to the world, was his work to 
 achieve ptrfection. Now, in this regard, the expectations of the 
 great economist have been falsified. 
 
 The English producer has seen the civilised nations gradually 
 closing their doors against him. His best customers, Germany and 
 the Un:ted States, have boldly gone into extensive manufacturing. 
 For some years the trade of Great Britain was not seriously ham- 
 pered. Her vessels still went on carrying over the seas articles of 
 consumption for the whole world. As a result, her Statistical Year- 
 I>ook contained almost fabulous figures which evoked general 
 astonishment. It must be remembered that these ever-increasing 
 figures do not merely represent the selling and purchasing power of 
 the British people. Of these an enormous proportion covers the 
 cargoes of exchange which are simply entered and cleared, Eng- 
 land being only left the profits — no doubt very large — accruing 
 from the cost of transportat'on. By this, neither the English ma- 
 nufacturer nor the English workmen, nor the exporter of English- 
 made goods, is in the least benefited. Thanks to her marine and to 
 her widely-scattered Empire, England has. unt'l within recent 
 years, continued flood'ng with the output of her manufactures the 
 markets of remote and half-civilised countries. But there came a 
 time when, from the protective policy of the other industrial na- 
 tions, flowed an unlooked-for result. After having realised 
 enormous profits on their own markets, closed as they are to 
 foreign competition, German and American manufacturers took to 
 exporting their over-production to foreign markets, selling 
 ihe'r goods with a bare margin of profit and even beneath the cost 
 of product on. 
 
 (i) Nearly at the ve'v moment I waK eiving utterance to this remark, Mr. .\SQriTH, 
 the acVnowledjieci lead-rof the Liht-ral Imperialists, made a similar statement in a speech 
 delivered at Kdinbirch on the i6th October, which [ find thus reported in the Motitreal 
 //er Id ci the •list of October : — 
 
 " The most formidable enemies of free trade are not to be found in people like my friend 
 " Sir Howard Vincent and his ragged rejjiment of economic Bohemians... There are large 
 •' sections of the Tory party who are honeycombed with fiscal heresies Thev tell us that 
 " we are the only preat free-trade country in the world; and ask whether we are wiser than 
 " our neighbours or competitors..."
 
 — 27 — 
 
 A further result is proving fatal to the English manufacturers, 
 which is the outcomt* of that intellectual torp.jr, so characteristic of 
 the race, and made still more glaring by their self-confidence, a 
 quality that has stood them in such good stead on many an occa- 
 sion. As a French diplomatist once remarked to me, this quality is 
 turned into a defect, the moment it is deprived of its means of 
 action. Apt as he is to believe that the whole world v^^as created for 
 the benefit of England, other nations having to be content with her 
 leavings, the English niamifacturer thinks that mankind iis only too 
 happy to wear the same style of dress, hats and shoes, as the citi- 
 zens of London and Birmingham think fashionable. English pro- 
 ducts are being gradually superseded by similar German and Ame- 
 rican goods suitable to the taste of the countries where they are 
 sold. 
 
 Owing to this blind self-confidence, coupled with his habits of 
 order and thrift, the English manufacturer labours under a further 
 disadvantage. While he works his machinery to the snapping 
 point, his foreign competitors are unceasingly improving their 
 process of manufacture and striving to bring their methods up to 
 date. They manage to manufacture in a quicker and cheaper way, 
 notwithstanding higher paid labour as in the United States, and the 
 scarcity and cost of raw material, as is the case with Germany. 
 
 From these combined circumstances arises a practical result 
 which is being felt all over the world ; and to-day dry goods and 
 cutlery " made in Germany ", machinery, locomotives and steel 
 rails manufactured under the prohibitive duties of the Dingley 
 tariff, are to be bought everywhere. And by " everywhere '" I 
 mean not only such neutral countries as where England and her 
 competitors are battlmg with equal arms, but in Cobden's own land, 
 at the very doors of her great manufacturing centres. iVlanchester, 
 Sheffield and Glasgow ( i ) . 
 
 Role of the English Colonies. 
 
 What part have the English colonies played in this co itest where 
 the Mother country is daily loosing ground and strength? So far, 
 they have done their duty by themselves, as it behooved the daugh- 
 ters of a mother who rightly prides in her commercial genius. 
 Their still growing populations, scattered over vast territories, the 
 needs of their infant industries, the instinctive aversion of young 
 anid rather poor communities to direct taxation, all these causes 
 
 (i) See Appendices, ch. ix : Depresiion of Bvitnh /)idus/> jipsge cxxviii).
 
 — 28 — 
 
 have conspired to the adoption, l)y the colonies, of hii^h tariffs of a 
 more or less protective nature. 
 
 In Canaila, owins;- to the neighbourhood of the L'nited-vStates, 
 apart from any other motive, we have been precluded from carry- 
 ings out Cobden's theor es. in spite of our recent attempts to open 
 our doors wider to I'ritish trade, it may be assumed in a general 
 way that for many years to come, the colonies w'll mainta'n their 
 customs tariffs on all the:r imports, including those from England. 
 
 Commercial Imperialism. 
 
 Hence the Hritish manufacturer stands confronted by the follow- 
 ing conditions : his goods are shut out from the markets of the 
 civilised world by protection, and from the open markets by foreign 
 competition, whereas the needs of home consumption are amply 
 supplied. He looks, about, in quest of a remedy. He begins to 
 question whether he had not sooner build tip for himself a more 
 modest al)ode than the world-palace in which he has so far dwelt as 
 a supreme ruler. In order to secure a few markets which he might 
 properly call his own, he would gladly consent to a few sacrifices 
 of principle and even of treasure, to be shared in common with his 
 fellow-citizens. To achieve that result he needs turn to countries 
 where he could exercise some political authority. Only in the 
 English colonies is such a situation to be found. 
 
 But " gii'e and take" is ths cardinal princple of good business 
 relations, and of this the British manufacturer is well aware. He 
 is the last man to believe that sentimental outbursts may be produ- 
 cive of permanent results. He foresees that when once they have 
 outlived the period of fierce love, the Colonies will demand in 
 return for their self-sacrifices more substantial rewards than 
 medals and titles for their great men. Then it is that the problem 
 bristles with difficidties. 
 
 Impoverished as he is, and overburdened by direct taxation, the 
 British rate-payer does not mean to tax his own food, that English 
 plutocrats may acquire the estates of a ruined aristocracy, nor even to 
 Ijestow favours upon his colonial kinsfolk, whose welfare is of far 
 less moment to him than the problem of his every day meal. For 
 it is the necessaries of life that the Colonies have to sell him. and on 
 which he may ofTer them a profit.* On silk goods and wines from 
 France, on toys and fancy articles from Germany, on art products 
 from Italy, he would readily have duties levied ; but neither would 
 the English manufacturer nor the farmer from the Colonies benefit 
 thereby. From every colony would come a demand to the British 
 ratepayer to impose a duty : from Canada, on h's kmiber. bread-
 
 — 29 — 
 
 stufifs, butter and eggs ; from Australia and South Africa, on his 
 wool and woollen goods, and his meat ; from the West Indies, on his 
 sugar, already taxed for the purpose of replenishing an empty public 
 exchequer, a result of Messrs Rhodes' and Chamberlain's entrepri- 
 ses ; to say nothing of the fact that he has long been paying double 
 price for his tea and his ale, in order to maintain his army, navy 
 and monarchy ( i ) . 
 
 And thus it happens that for the purpose of extending a slight 
 favour to the producers of each colony individually, the English 
 consumer would be compelled to burden with taxes almost every 
 staple article of consumption. How absurd the Zollverein is, which 
 is so dear to the heart of Sir Charles T'upper and of Sir Howard 
 \'incent, is thereby clearlv shown. 
 
 Distress of England. 
 
 MILI TARV IMPERIALISM. 
 
 From the question of taxation I am led to the study of British 
 Imperialism as viewed from the standpoint of England's military 
 position. Disastrous as it is to-day, that situation was already but 
 too complicated before the peasant-soldiers of the Transvaal 
 and the Free State had started striking at the British Lion such 
 terrible blows as they have dealt out within the last two years. 
 
 Let England show herself in the least aggressive or exacting, 
 and forthwith causes of conflict will crop up in every direction. In 
 Egypt, in Afghanistan, in the Southern Seas, from the insolence of 
 a clerk, from the blunder of a Consular agent, from the exigen- 
 cies of any one of her Colonies, she may be forced into a war with 
 France, Russia or Germany. Owing to the eclipse of her ascenden- 
 cy in China, she is already being made to pay by anticipation, and 
 a hundred fold, for all that the gold mines on the Rand and the 
 diamonds of Kimberley could ,ever yield. England has learnt les- 
 sens from her South African misadventure, which she will remem- 
 ber ; and, from a strictly military point of view, one of these object- 
 lessons is that, brave as thev are, British ofiicers are inefficient, 
 and that such recruits as she may now enlist do not deserve the 
 name of soldiers, being, on the confession of Lord Kitchener him- 
 self, bttt a mere horde of ciunbersome parasites. 
 
 Great Brita n has always placed more reliance on her navy than 
 on her army for the general defence of the Empire. I am quite 
 
 (i) See Sir Michael Hicks-Beach's speech, in tlie Hoii.se of Commons, page lxxxix of the 
 Appendices.
 
 — 30 - 
 
 williii};' to ooinoiile with tlie g^encral opinion in vog^uc till lately — an 
 c pinion wlvch, by the way, is less general nowadays — and say that 
 the supremacy of the British navy remains unimpaired. But is the 
 Brit sh navy still able to cope with the combined fleets of any two 
 other nations? For such is the principle laid down by the British 
 author.'ties as the primary guarantee of the safety of the Empire; 
 and such is the question, whicli being asked by many a well-infor- 
 med Englishman, they all hesitate answering in the affirmative (i). 
 That this same problem is being solved abroad in a much more 
 pessim'stic spirit as to Great Britain goes without saying. I am not 
 at all (jualified to revise these calculations ; but what may be asser- 
 ted without rashness and without technical knowledge, is this, that 
 it has grown out of fashion for the world at large to stand in awe 
 of Brit'sh power. Hence risks of Great Britain being involved in 
 war have largely increased. 
 
 Moreover, the provoking policy which, in spite of the resistance 
 offered by Lord Salisbury, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach and other dis- 
 ciples of the old conservative school, the jingo element have 
 forced upon the British Government, renders very problematical 
 the certainty and even the possibility of any foreign alliance. Long 
 shall England have to remain in her present isolation which to her 
 does not seem so splendid now as it did heretofore. But, even 
 though there were no cause of alarm other than the present war — 
 which is by no means within the realm of imagination — Great 
 Britain is in sore need of recruits to fill the ranks of her army (2). 
 Did she persist in discarding the ideas championed by Cobden, 
 Bright and all those whom Mr. Chamberlain, in one of his frolic- 
 some moods, nicknamed " little Englanders ", — did she refuse to 
 reverse her policy of militarism. — where is she going to find the 
 necessary material to meet her deficiencies? Two resources only she 
 has at her disposal : conscription, or an appeal to the Colonies, a 
 resort to either of which would prove equally dangerous. 
 
 Conscription or Appeal of the Colonies. 
 
 Conscription spells danger from within; conscription conjures up 
 revolt from five m'llions of angry British toilers, a fresh curse to 
 be grafted on Irish hatred ; possibly, conscription means the disrup- 
 tion of the United Kingdom, the overthrow of Monarchy and the 
 advent of social revolution. 
 
 (i) See Appendices, ch. iv (2° Navy), pa<^e Lxxi. 
 
 (2) See, in the Appendices, Mr. Brodrick's speech in the House of Commons. 8th March 1901 
 (page Lxv) and Lord Wolseley's, in the House of Lords, aSth June (page lxx).
 
 — 31 — 
 
 Neither is an appeal to the Colonies attended with less formidable 
 difficulties. Forced contributions of men and money are out of the 
 question. But the Imperialists are clinging on to the hope bred in 
 them by the naivety, the enthusiasm, the gullibility, so many proofs 
 of which have beei) given by the colonists, within the last two 
 years. 
 
 Imperialists entertain the ultimate hope — and of all their theo- 
 ries this is perhaps the most plausible and the most dangerous to us 
 — that at the critical moment the problem is to be solved by an 
 amalgamation of military and economical imperialism. The Bri- 
 tish rate-payers would be induced to consent to increased taxation 
 in favour of colonial products, by being led into the belief that the 
 only alternative to the bugbear of conscription lies in this assis- 
 tance of colonial legions. The Colonies, on the other hand, would 
 be iinvited to fill the ranks of the army and navy by being offered 
 trade advantages. To sum up the theory, the colonies are to pur- 
 chase, by paying the tax of blood, the advantage of a preferential 
 treatment in the british market for their farm produce. Whether 
 the contract be carried out or not, we may even now consider as a 
 foregone conclusion that the balance of profit will not be in our 
 favour. 
 
 It seems almost superfluous to add that so long as the Colonists 
 are simple enough to offer their blood without any compensation, 
 the Mother country will place no obstacle in their way. (i) 
 
 Jingoism, Sports, Materialism. 
 
 The third basis on wh'ch British Imperialism rests is that blatant 
 Jingoism referred to a moment ago. 
 
 On this point, Cobden's anticipations have been realised. Colo- 
 nial expansion, even where peacefully carried out and without any 
 regard to Imperialism, has promoted the growth of militarism in 
 British institutions. Into the ranks of shopkeepers who have inven- 
 ted the axiom : " Trade follows the flag, " the lust of territorial 
 acquisition has wormed its way. In British youths, brutal instincts 
 are being developed by the invasion of sportic games. There is, 
 now-a-days, in the higher ranks of English society a large class of 
 young men who have become masters in such arts as managing a 
 sfud, organising a stable, supervising a dog-kennel. Thirsting as 
 they are for glorious adventures, these hardy young men are very 
 ill-prepared to shine in the councils of the nation. From the ascen- 
 
 (i1 This tallies with the oninion very distinctly expressed by Sir Michael Hicks-Beach in 
 his speech, at Liverpoo'.24t:i October, 1900. See Appendices, page xlviii rt ^eq.
 
 — 2>^ — 
 
 dciicv which this class of athletes are daily gaining, the dehasement 
 Kt the moral and intellectual standard of the Uritish I'arHanicnt, and 
 the growiig power of tiery appeals to a s])irit of pride and aggres- 
 siveness, are easily accotnited for. 
 
 Last year, Mr. lininetiere wrote a remarka])le article dealing 
 with the moral situation of England, her v:'rtues and vices, her 
 glories and her weak points (i). To his mind, the great social 
 cr'me of the English people lies in this, that by disseminating 
 thnnighout the world the greed of gold and a love for luxurious 
 living, they have debased the ideals of mankind. 
 
 If that theory be true, this greed of gold was bcamd to find its 
 nemesis hi Africa. For our own safety, and for the w-elfare of the 
 world, which is still in need of the lessons so great and so fruitful 
 lo be learnt from the best English traditions, let us hops that the 
 whole weight of punishment will fall upon the guilty ones. 
 
 The Colonies Taxed as in 1774. 
 
 Though with different outward signs, and with dissimilar means 
 of action, the Imperialist movement is shaped on lines and is ai- 
 ming at results simdar to those which lured the autocratic govern- 
 ment of George III into their struggle with the American colonies 
 in the i8th century: TAXATION ^)F THE COLONIES FOR 
 THE DEFENCE OF THE EMPIRE. To this fact, last year. 
 Lord Selborne, Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, with 
 that characteristic frankness of British statesmen — a feature 
 both interest:ng and fruitftd of English politics — publicly bore 
 witness. In his opinion, the only difference lies in this, that the 
 ministers of George III blundered into a policy of colonial taxa- 
 tion by the British parliament, whereas the present ministers are 
 endeavouring to induce the colonists to use their power of self- 
 taxation for the benefit of the Mother-country (2). The present 
 schemes of British rulers are attended both with greater facilities 
 and more serious obstacles than was the situation of 1774. They 
 are in closer touch with the Colonies ; in the remote possessions of 
 England, numerous and devoted cooperators of the home govern- 
 ment are to be found in a class of conceited speculators and politi- 
 cians, greedy of titles and honours. On the other hand, owing to 
 
 (1) I have not under mv hand tlie Enfi;lish review in which that article was published in 
 French. If my memory serves me well, it was in the Qnarteyly A't'^7>zt', of either January 
 or April, i9:>i. On this point, I am free to say that I prefer Mr. Brunetiere's opinion to the 
 far more severe views expressed by Lord Beresford. See Apf>e>idices, page cxiviii. 
 
 (2) See Appendices, page cvii.
 
 — 33 — 
 
 the enjoyment of half a century of greater freedom and to the 
 steady progress of democracy, both in England and in the Colonies, 
 the Imperialist plans are more difficult of achievement. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain^s Means of Action. 
 
 Let us examine for a moment the methods by which Mr. Cham- 
 berlain is striving to bring the Colonies over to his views. 
 
 He began by dangling before their eyes the bait of an Imperial 
 Zollverein. But, as I said before, he had to back out of his position 
 in face of the hostile attitude of the English rate-payers. In spite 
 of his dogged tenacity, the Colonial Secretary does not long cling 
 to ideas which have no chance of success. This pet scheme of his, 
 however, he did not give up before he had wrested from the colo- 
 nial governments the promise of a contribution to the British army 
 and navy. That the whole system rests on the idea of colonial military 
 contributions, it cannot be questioned ; all the rest — commercial reci- 
 procity, political representation, judiciary appeal — are mere acces- 
 sories tending to secure the adoption of the principle and its per- 
 manent development. Soldiers and seamen, is what England needs, 
 and to extort such help from the Colonists, she resorts to every 
 available force of attraction. 
 
 With that audacity of his, which is at times akin to genius, Mr. 
 Chamberlain bluntl}' put the question to the Premiers of all the 
 self-governing Colonies, gathered in London for the great Jubilee 
 of 1897. The moment was well chosen. In a piece of oratory that 
 will remain classical, and recalls one of Macaulay's most beautiful 
 pages, where the great historian describes the solemn preparations 
 of Hasting's trial before the HoUse of Lords, Sir Wilfrid Laurier 
 has described this ostentatious display of Imperial pageant, chiefly 
 meant to dazzle the Colonial subjects of Her Majesty (i). 
 
 Imperialist Comedy. 
 
 JUBILEE, ROAYL TRIP, THE KING S CORONATION. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain may be credited with a clear insight into human 
 nature ; he knows that a love for parade is among the common 
 failings of popular masses, and that nothing will secure a warmer 
 welcome to a poor play than clap-trap and a showy stage-setting. 
 
 (i) See, in the Appendice'i, the speech of the Duke of Devonshire, page.s viil— ix»
 
 — 34 — 
 
 The Jubilee was the opening scene of the Imperialistic comedy. The 
 trip (/ la Jules I 'erne of Their Royal Highnesses has filled the 
 intermission. The ci^rnnation of His Majesty will be the closing 
 scene of the play. 
 
 But " grasp all, lose all " is an aphorism which applies here. In 
 spite of the hosannas of a time-serving press, the royal trip has 
 belied the expectations of its promoters. As at the time of the 
 Jubilee, so upon the occasion of the Coronation, official representa- 
 tives from the colonies will gather in London, who may easily be 
 won over and fashioned into docile tools of the powers that be : a 
 title to one, a medal to another, an opening in the House of Lords, 
 kissing His Majesty's hand: few virtues are proof against such 
 temptations. 
 
 But when royal favours are peddled from door to door, like 
 apples and doughnuts, they lose much of their lustre and prestige. 
 It is no longer a question of entrapping a few select political per- 
 sonages open to conviction, and in whose capture British statesmen 
 must find as much delight as professional sportsmen do when hun- 
 ting priceless game. The ambition and vain glory of a gaping 
 crowd must be pampered. The unfortunate princes are apt to 
 blunder in a thousand ways : here, a reception is cancelled, and 
 thousands of good people are denied the pleasure of prostrating 
 themselves before the idol, who for months had been ransacking 
 the fashionable cloth'ng stores and torturing soul and body to come 
 up to the degree of grotesque required by Court etiquette ; there, 
 some important personage is offered but a paltry tip, who ex- 
 pected to get at least a knighthood, satisfied as he is that he had 
 stooped low enough before Jingoism to deserve such a recognition ; 
 elsewhere, another big-wig who had put on a thousand dollars 
 worth of furs, bought expressly for the occasion, does not receive a 
 solitary picayune. You think I am joking, but I am qu'te in ear- 
 nest. Were the secret and moving causes of most political evolu- 
 tions to transpire, you would be amazed at the decisive part played 
 therein bv the most childish vanities and the most vulgar ambitions. 
 
 Results of the Jubilee. 
 
 it must bL- admitted on the other hand that, in 1897, Mr. Cham- 
 berlain did not achieve any immediate result. Sir Gordon Sprigg, 
 the Premier of Cape Colony, was the only one who promised a con- 
 tribution that was readily ratified by the Parliament of his Co- 
 lony (i). 
 
 1) See Ap/>e.'uiiies, page xxiv ef seq.
 
 — 35 — 
 
 By a cruel irony of facts, Cape Colony is now chafing under the 
 yoke of military despotism ; its constitution has been suspended, 
 and the volontcers enlisted, equipped and paid by those very same 
 Colonies which had refused their contribution in 1897, are now 
 helping to ransack the farms and to hang the inhabitants of 
 the only Colony which yielded a ready consent to the request of 
 the Imperial government. But let me not anticipate events. 
 
 The Colonial secretary was the last man to be disheartened by the 
 refusal of the colonial delegates. Meanwhile, he succeeded in prevai- 
 ling upon several of them to commit themselves by word of mouth. 
 Then it was that Mr. Laurier, — who by the way had now become 
 Sir Wilfrid, and a member of the Privy Council of Great Britain — 
 publicity pledged the aid of the Colonies in defence of the Mother 
 country. To my mind it never occurred to the Prime Minister of 
 Canada that in so doing he was going beyond a liearty acknowled- 
 gement of England's generous hospitahty(i), — which was evidenced 
 from his attempted opposition to the sending out of Canadian 
 troops to South Africa. But our representatives, when addressing 
 the British public, should bear in mind that Englishmen are by no 
 means so fond of high-sounding formulas as we are. Used as 
 they are to hear their statesmen think aloud and speak their own 
 minds, they look more to the substance than to the form of political 
 declarations, and take words for what they mean. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain made the most of his opportunities by follow- 
 ing up quickly the gains secured from the Colonial Prime Ministers, 
 and he started sowing throughout the Empire the seeds of Impe- 
 rialism which were to germinate so luxuriantly. 
 
 Jingoism in the Colonies, 
 
 SOUTH-AKRICAN WAR. 
 
 I have referred to the development of Jingoism in England. 
 This beautiful flower Mr. Chamberlain hastened to transplant into 
 the Colonies where it could not fail to find a favourable soil for its 
 growth and efflorescence. It was from their fitness to i[,row this 
 mustard-seed that the Governors-General and the Commanders of 
 colonial militias dispatched from England since the Jubilee, were 
 
 (i) I have left this statement of my own views exactly as it was first uttered. But I must 
 say that from the research and compilation of the numerous documents whicli are to be 
 found in the Apfiendicrs. 1 have been led to see in their proper light nuny facts of which 
 theretofore I had but a faint notion. I refer the reader to the record of the Jubilee, ch. i of 
 the Appendices.
 
 -36- 
 
 all sckvictl. Of this class Lord Minto and Col. Hutton are supreme 
 t>pos. A mail witli no political record and with no future prospect 
 in public I'fc. trained as he was to solditriy rule, the "fits dc famillc" 
 who presiiles over our destinies, was sent here to stir up the Impe- 
 rial.stic movement, in ilisregard of the traditions of disunity and 
 respect to the Constitution inaugurated by Lord Elg'in, and scrupu- 
 li>usly atlhcred to by all his successors for the last fifty years. As 
 to Gen. Hutton. he made a boast of having smashed a Cabinet in 
 Australia, and in the midst of his petty court of Rideau Club, in 
 Ottawa, he declared that he was ready to repeat the same exploit 
 in Canada. 
 
 The Transvaal question was then entering upon its acute period. 
 As 1 have stated on the floor of the House of Commons, it was in 
 order to snatch from the Colonies, at a moment when the voice of 
 reason is stifled by pride and passions, the tribute of blood which 
 until then he had been denied, that Mr. Chamberlain forced the 
 South African war. 
 
 However, the movement was admirably organised and does 
 credit to the enterprising genius of the dictator of our destinies. 
 I'nder the name of the South African League, Mr. Cecil Rhodes 
 started a huge trust composed of all the speculators of the Rand. 
 By means of this powerful body, he bought out nearly every En- 
 glish newspaper in the Transvaal, in the Free State, in Cape Colo- 
 ny, in Xatal, and he had a regular system of correspondence orga- 
 nised between the editors of that reotile press and the Tory and 
 Jingoist newspapers of London, foremost of wdiich was the Daily 
 Mail. Then. ;n their turn, these well-informed organs would send 
 over the good w-ord to the newspapers having the widest circulation 
 in the various Colonies. Here, the paper which was deemed worthy 
 of being the standard-liearer of the Transvaal stock-jobbers, was 
 the Montreal Star. 
 
 Then it was that, througout the IJritish world, was started and 
 kept up that campaign of falsehoods in the course of which the 
 ferocious inhal)itants of the Transvaal and their interesting vict'ms, 
 Cecil Rhodes c'r Co., were described under such colours as were best 
 calculated to inflame the indignation of British subjects throughout 
 the world. People have at times wondered at the warl'ke spirit 
 which was then displayed by our English-speaking fellow-ci- 
 tizens. What to me seems still more strange is this, that after 
 having been saturated during three months with so corrosive a 
 liquid, their blood was not still more overheated. 
 
 With this preliminary work Mr. Rhodes did not rest satisfied. 
 Towards the end of the session of 1H99, a certain Mr. Allen, an 
 official of the " Chartered Company ", arrived in Ottawa. He 
 organised among members of Parliament a Committee of his
 
 — i7 — 
 
 League, wherein he introduced a few heads from each herd — i 
 I^eg your pardon ! — a few representatives of every pohtical group : 
 (irits, Tories, Rouges, Bleus, Senators, members of the House of 
 Commons, past, present and future Ministers of the Crown (i). 
 He then made a glowing description of the sufferings and humiUa- 
 tions to which the Uitlanders of Johannisberg were subjected. It 
 was this very same individual who hastily snatched from Parlia- 
 ment, one Monday morning, a resolution of sympathy with the 
 miners and approval of Mr. Chamberlain's policy. Of course, 
 this resolution was moved by the Prime Minister and seconded by 
 the leader of the Opposition. (2) 
 
 Intrigues of Lord Hinto and General Hutton. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Governor-General and the Commander of the 
 Militia did not remain with their arms folded. In July, 1899, while 
 Mr. Chamberlain was tendering to Mr. Kniger an offer of arbitra- 
 tion which he withdrew later on. General Hutton was writing to 
 several officers of the Canadian Militia, urging them to get ready to 
 take active service in South Africa. That the frantic campaign 
 conducted by the Star in September was inspired by Lord iMinto 
 and managed by General Hutton, I affirm without hesitation. In 
 well informed circles, Mr. Graham's trips to Ottawa were an open 
 secret. While the Prime Minister was stating that the Cabinet 
 would not send out troops. General Hutton asserted that the Cabinet 
 would send out troops. It was the General who carried the day. 
 
 Do you understand now why the government wheeled around all 
 of a sudden, and yielded to a demand for the enlistment of troops 
 after meeting it with a refusal? Do you understand why, at the 
 general election of 1900, both government and Opposition candi- 
 dates vied with each other in distorting the meaning of that event? 
 Do you understand why party-organs and camp-followers wish 
 to draw the curtain over this episode, and consign to oblivion 
 and contempt the few voices that were raised in protest a-^ainst 
 these intrigues and wire-pullings in high and low places? 
 
 No Precedent. 
 
 An attempt has bc-en made at d'sarming our suspicions and 
 allaying our misgivings by promisin-;" us that this action of the 
 
 (i) See Appi'iidircs. page cxxxiv. 
 (2) See Afipnidicrs, page xxxi rl sft;.
 
 j^ovoriunciu slu)ukl iiui be construed into a precedent. Ikit to tlie 
 Order ill Council embodying; this rider, the Colonial Secretary 
 repliotl by sendinj:;- his thanks to Canada for having: assumed her 
 share of the burdens of Empire ; and our representatives did bow 
 acquiescence, and our Parliament, with the exception of ten votes, 
 refused to ratify the reservation made by the Cabinet. ( i) 
 
 On the strength of this tacit acquiescence, Air. Chamberlain 
 boastetl on the tloor of the House of Commons and on all the plat- 
 forms in Eng^land and Scotland, that he had at last secured the 
 participation of the Colonies in the wars of the Empire and that 
 the losses of the war were more than compensated by this happ)' 
 result. (2) 
 
 In this scheme so marvelously contrived and carried out there 
 was l>ut one flaw : the Boers did not play the part assii^ed to them 
 by Mr. Chamberlain. Fioth Dewet and Botha still persist in denv- 
 ing the United-Empire the baptism of glory dreamed of by its 
 creator. 
 
 Xever daunted by obstacles which only nerve him to renewed 
 exertion, the Colonial Secretary goes on with his work in spite. of 
 reverses and disasters ; but those reverses are but a forerunner of 
 the angry shrieks which will soon haunt him, should the god of 
 battles, at whose shrine he would fain have the Empire worship, be 
 unwilling to lend a more favourable ear to his prayers. 
 
 Colonial Representation. 
 
 That Imperialism rests on militarism I stated above ; but I will 
 now approach some consequences of this military policy. 
 
 I say that from the fact of our contributing, w^hether directly or 
 indirectly, whether permanently or accidentally, to the imperial 
 exchequer, it necessarily follows that we should be represented in 
 the Imper'al Councils. 
 
 That among colonials of modern times, and mainly among the 
 Australians, the sense of pride and the standard of intelligence are 
 by no means so much below the standard of the same characteris- 
 tics displayed by the American colonists of 1776 as would at first 
 sight appear, the British authorities know very well. Thev are also 
 alive to the fact that we shall not always be fooled into believing 
 
 (1) See Appendices, page xxxv el seq. 
 
 (2) " I say that the los<?es of the war — the losses of treasm -» certainv. and I think I wonld 
 almost say the loss of life — will be compensated by the new .'ense of unity in this great 
 Empire. We have realised the Empire !" Speech at Oldham. 25th September, 19D0 (Extra- 
 
 Parliamentary Hansard, Vol II.)
 
 — 39 — 
 
 that when making an outlay of $2,500,000 for sending 
 out troops to South-Africa, we are not contributing to the imperial 
 exchequer, nor to a war the conduct of which, both political and 
 mil.tary, is utterly beyond our control. 
 
 How to provide such adequate representation as would prove 
 satisfactory to the motherland and to the colonies alike is the ques- 
 tion we are met with. Were such a system to find acceptance with 
 colonials, they should at least be persuaded — to put it mildly — 
 into the belief that they are given their due share of control over the 
 appropr'ation of such moneys as they would be called upon to con- 
 tribute to the imperial exchequer. On the other hand, neither 
 shonld colonial representation obstruct the mechanism already too 
 complicated of the Home government, in the management of do- 
 mestic business, nor should it take away from the British govern- 
 ment their supreme control over imperial affairs. 
 
 Many schemes have been propounded, all of which have failed to 
 come up to actual needs. 
 
 As to representation in the Imperial Parliament, that is altoge- 
 ther out of question. The presence of the Irish members in the 
 House of Commons is already proving troublesome enough to the 
 English, but that their numbers should be swelled by the admission 
 to Parliament of Canadians, Australians, New-Zealanders and 
 Africans. As to the House of Lords, so abhorrent is it to the 
 feelings of the noble Peers to see their sanctuary invaded, that in 
 such aversion we have a guarantee that our virtuous Canadian de- 
 mocrats and Australian socialists will not be tempted — collectively, 
 at least — into surrendering their principles. 
 
 It is suggested that a sort of Consultative Council should be 
 created to wdiich a limited number of delegates from every colony 
 would be admitted. Under such a plan, it would be the business of 
 those delegates, acting as outside members of the colo- 
 nial cabinets, to transmit their decisions to their respective govern- 
 ments to be submitted for ratification to the parliaments in the co- 
 lonies. The dangers which such a scheme might conjure up I need 
 not dwell upon. From our experience of the influence now- 
 exerted from afar by the British authorities over, colonial mi- 
 nisters, it may safely be inferred that for the British government to 
 keep under the yoke men in close touch with them, and upon whom 
 the whole weight of their favours and seductions could be brought 
 to bear, would prove no difficult task. In all such issues as involved 
 the interests of both the iMother country and the colonies, the 
 British government would never fail to secure a majority in the 
 council, which would prove the easier from the fact that the United 
 Kingdom wctuld long be represented by a larger numlier of dele- 
 gates that the combined colonial representation.
 
 — 40 — 
 
 That colonial parliaments would be free to withhold their sanc- 
 tion is no doubt true. But such decisions being- crystalised into 
 goveriunent measures, a notable change would have to come over 
 Canada and our political ethics, for such a guarantee to prove 
 efl'cctive. 
 
 1 besides, do not let it be supposed that such a council is going to 
 be suddenly called into being by an Act of the Imperial Parliament. 
 Nothing could be more foreign to British traditions. You may 
 tlepend ui)on it. in the old country, they are good hands at shaping 
 constitutional evolutions. 
 
 They will, a:^ an initial step, invite the opinion of the colonial 
 Prime Ministers who are going next summer to the King's corona- 
 tion to lay at the feet of His Majesty a tribute of the unswerving 
 loyalty of his colonial subjects and a pledge of their robust naivete 
 as well. This is going to be but a second edition of the Jubilee. 
 
 Then, later on, if need be, another opportunity may be seized for 
 again calling to the Metropolis representatives from the 
 colonies. Those visits ad liiiiina, so to speak, will in the end recur 
 periodically, and our colonial agents, being meanwhile on the spot, 
 will feel but too happy to act the part of those duennas in comic 
 ])lays who carry the ''billets dou.v" exchanged between lovers. 
 Finally, accomplished facts will be given a legal sanction. 
 
 These are the methods which have gone to the making of all 
 British institutions (i). 
 
 Colonial Agents. 
 
 Already Mr. Chamberlain has succeeded in remodeling the role 
 of colonial agents in London and converting their offices into so 
 many 1)ranches of the Colonial Office. Downing-street is near 
 Victoria street, but the office of the Colonial Secretary is still 
 nearer Lord Strathcona's office. 
 
 That the noble Lord has given his endorsation to the creation of 
 an Imperial Council, a scheme which has also been approved of by 
 Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and by the Hon. Mr. Ross, the Ontario Pre- 
 mier, you may perhaps be unaware (2). No wonder, indeed, that 
 Lord Strathcona should be so surcharged with devotion to imperial 
 interests. In the eyes of the former president of the Canadian 
 
 (i) In this connection, see, in the Afl/>,'iidirrs. Mr Chamberlain's speecli at the Jubilee Con- 
 ference, page IV ; the Colonial Premiers' addresses during the Jubilee festivities, pages 
 \-itie/s,y.,- the debate on Colonial Kepie.'entation, page cm ; the reports of the Congresses 
 of the Chambers of Commerce, pages cv e/ sfg. 
 
 (2) See Appendices, pages xviii et cxix. Mr. Ross seems to have modified his opinions on 
 this matter : he prefers the pilgrimage .system (page cxxti).
 
 — 41 — 
 
 I'ac'fic Railway Company, the j^overnment that opened to him the 
 doors of the House of Lords is undoubtedly the most desirable and 
 the best government in the world. But what I am still more sur- 
 prised at is that the political destinies of Canada should be largely 
 left in Lord Strathcona's hands. It ought to be provided in our 
 statute-book that the Canadian High-Commissioner in Lon- 
 don shall not accept any favour at the hands of the British govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Titles and Decorations. 
 
 Some may perhaps think that I have dwelt at too great a length 
 upon these matters of titles and decorations. But to my mind, 
 they are of greater importance than is generally believed. For 
 many centuries, it was but a means for the Crown to pander to a 
 craving among its subjects which is absolutely harmless, and one 
 inherent, so to speak, in human nature, being found among the 
 Red-skins and encouraged also bv the Congo potentates 
 among their faithful servants. With the latter it is customary to 
 wear medals in the ears or in the nose, while with us it is the fashion 
 to pin them upon the breast or the abdomen, in all which cases the 
 principle is the same. 
 
 Now, under imper.'alistic rule, such trifles assume a novel signi- 
 fication. Mr. Chamlierlain expects that the men who are to receive 
 those rewards should deserve them, and when his servants happen 
 to fail in their duty, he takes precious good care to refresh their 
 memory. L for one, should not offer the least objection to political 
 gratitude growing 'nto a habit with us, were not such services to 
 be paid for at the cost of the people's liberties ( i ) . 
 
 Our Guarantees. 
 
 So far, I have review^ed rather at random Imperialism with its 
 aims, its hopes, and its means of action, pointing out at the same 
 
 (i) Pos.sibly I may have too exclusively cirruinscribed to ourown times the feature of poli- 
 tical corruption of which royal decorations bear the stamp. Being one day asked why he 
 had refused the Oarter. Lord Melbourne made reply " that he did not see why he should be 
 such a fool as to buy himself, when he could buy soiuebody else wiUi it." (.See " IValpole'' of 
 John Morley, page 74). This system Mr. Chamberlain has extended to thecolonies, and it is 
 from the colonial standpoint that the change I have pointed o\it has chiefly made itself felt. 
 These remarks, let it be well understood, apnly neither to magistrates nor to state-officials, 
 nor to professors, that is, to any of those who neither are actiially in the political arena nor 
 intend to enter the same. My ideal is Governor Jones, of Nova-Scolia, declining twice 
 the offer of a title. But there is no disputing about tastes. Far be it from nie to 
 say or to insinuate a word of disparagement against such men as think it fit to accept similar 
 rewards, and who. from the position they occupy, are not bound to show, at the sacrifice of 
 our national independence, their gratitude to Mr. Chamberlain.
 
 — 42 — 
 
 time the dangers it conjures up, as also the obstacles whicli circums- 
 tances place in the way of its progress. 
 
 Our .guarantees. 1 nuist confess, are greater abroad than at 
 home. 
 
 In England, apart from the indifference of the people to our inte- 
 rests, we may rely upon the resistance offered to imperialism by the 
 middle classes, and mainly by the educated classes. Nowadays the 
 brag.garts have it all their own way ; but the day is not far distant 
 when those upri.ght and well-thinking men w^ho have braved the 
 storm of jingoism shall see their clear-si.ghtedness and their courage 
 duly appreciated. 
 
 The reaction, however, may be slow to come. The liberal party, 
 so deeply divided as it is on the South African question, is afraid to 
 approach the problem of Iiuperialism, and to look the question 
 squarely in the face. For the most part, the opposition members are 
 hostile to Mr. Chamberlain's Ceasarism and to his attempts at a 
 barbarian conquest of South-Africa. But, lest the split in their 
 ranks should be intensified, they seal their eyes to the connexion 
 between the South-African question and the general policy of the 
 Empire, and refrain from speaking theif mind. In the eyes of the 
 colonists, whom he fawns upon and whose good faith he skilfully 
 exploits, Mr. Chamberlain is fast evolving .nto the supreme and 
 infallible arbiter ; and owing to the absence from the iHouse of 
 Commons of a parliamentary group of men willing and ready 
 vigourously to denounce the weak and fallacious basis of his impe- 
 rial policy, that policy is .gradually .gaining ground. 
 
 Australia and New=Zealand. 
 
 The Australans will prove more strenuotis opponents of Impe- 
 rialisiu than we are. To Mr. Chamberlain's attempts at amending, 
 against their will, their constitut'onal charter, well they knew how 
 to resist. While we, under the pressure of the Colonial Office. 
 were blotting out of the statute book of British Columbia the 
 anti-Mongolian Immigration Act. Australia was passing into law a 
 similar and still more drastic measure, and to the demand of the 
 British authorities for the repeal of that le.gislation thev opposed a 
 flat denial. 
 
 I think I have somewhat contributed to dispelling the legend 
 about the enthusiam displayed by the Australian colonies upon the 
 occasion of sending out their troops to South-Africa. iLast summer. 
 in London, I met a statesman who has occupied an important posi- 
 tion in New-Zealand, and I have it from his own mouth that the 
 loyalism of that colony is far less pronounced than, from her
 
 — 43— . 
 
 outside attitude, one would be led to believe. By way of explana- 
 tion, he told me that consequent upon her financial troubles, New- 
 Zealand had made a warm appeal to British capital, the need of 
 which was still being keenly felt. " But when, " he went on to say, 
 " her financial standing shall have grown stronger there will be a 
 considerable cooling off in the loyalty of New-Zealand. " To me, I 
 confess this practical feature of imperial'stic love was most grati- 
 fying. 
 
 In Canada. 
 
 In Canada, the situation seems to be fraught with greater dan- 
 gers. With those who affect to call me a visionary I would fain 
 believe that none here takes stock in Imperialism. 
 
 But when, looking backwards, I survey the route that has been 
 travelled, I cannot help believing in the possibility of a fresh evolu- 
 tion or rather in the progress of the evolution already started. 
 
 At the outset of my still short parliamentary career, there was 
 in the House of Commons a member from Ontario, Mr. MacNeill, 
 who had been nicknamed the " Father of the Empire ". He was 
 the only out-and-out Imperialist in the House, and everybody used 
 to laugh at his prophesies and homelies. Now, three years later, 
 the whole House was a unit in cheering to the echo the speeches 
 fallen from the lips of the leaders of both parties, which, though 
 more eloquent in tone than the addresses of that good old Mr. Mac- 
 Neill, still emanated from the same source, were sandwiched with 
 the same arguments, and had all the same object in view (i). 
 
 The ** British Empire League ". 
 
 The Canadian branch of the British Empire League was, for 
 many years, but a sort of a political club where a few enthusiasts 
 like Dr. Parkin and Colonel Denison used to sing the glories of Im- 
 perialism. These gentlemen are still there, but by their side nowa- 
 days are to be found ministers of the Crown and a whole regiment 
 of Senators and members of the House who are anxious to make 
 up for lost time by repeating over and over again — only they do 
 so with stronger enphasis now — the old speeches of the founders 
 of the league. At the congress held last year, in Ottawa, 
 
 (l) See, in the Appcudia s, Mr. Knssell'.s rcii arks, at tlic meeting of tlie " JJritish Empire 
 Leegue". page cxvir.
 
 — 44 — 
 
 It was moved by a Conservative seconded by a i^iberal 
 that the time had come for the colonies to contribute to the main- 
 tenance of the Imperial army and navy (i). Last summer again, 
 the Toronto Globe stated that the hour had struck for the colonies 
 to pay the tribune of war to the motherland (2) 
 
 But in a public indifference, encouraged by political organs, lies 
 the main danger ; it lies also in a too strict party discipline, and 
 tinally in the want of an influential class of men who, while taking 
 an interest in politics, keep aloof from the movements and intrigues 
 of factions. 
 
 Our rural and urban popular classes are notably superior to the 
 corresponding classes in England. — being more enlightened, more 
 moral, more regardful of their own dignity, more conscious of 
 their responsibilities. But I ask, where could they get the neces- 
 sary information on all those topics? Surely not in the party 
 organs, which, while they vie with each other, in the Quebec pro- 
 vince, in denouncing the imperialistic tendencies of their opponents, 
 take mighty good care to draw a red herring across the track, as to 
 the tendencies of their own patrons. In the English-speaking pro- 
 vinces, it is a regular steeple-chase in which each party strives to 
 out-run the other in the race of devotion to the Empire. 
 
 There are to be found in England a large class of highly edu- 
 cated men who closely watch the current of public affairs, making 
 their views known in newspapers and magazines, before the various 
 clubs and in social circles. These men, free as they are from all 
 party ties, do indeed exert a considerable influence upon public opi- 
 nion. The w^ant of such a class of men is precisely what is felt 
 here. Still, a feeling of independence is being awakened, which, 
 let us hope, will be fraught with good results. 
 
 In a party spirit carried to a point of intensity unknown in En- 
 gland, and in the racial cleavage which is so rampant here, is to be 
 found a two-fold element of weakness which leaves us poorly 
 equipped indeed for warring against imperialistic schemes. 
 
 That in a country where the representative system obtains, the 
 government is to be carried on by the see-saw policy of two parties, 
 one in power and the other in opposition, I for one, readily admit. 
 Further, that the action of politicians should, in a large measure, be 
 shaped by their desire either of climbing into office or getting a 
 new lease of power. I equally understand. But that, for the sake 
 of remaining in office, or of turning a government out of powder, 
 men should sacrifice the very principles which are the guarantee of 
 our security and of our national destinies, is indeed past my under- 
 
 (1) See Appendices, page cxvii. 
 
 (2) See Appfudiccs, page cm.
 
 — 45 — 
 
 standing-. What I still less understand is this, that an important 
 section of those to whom the people has intrusted the protection of 
 its interests should, from a sense of devotion to their leaders or to 
 their party, vote in favour of what they inwardly condemn as a 
 crime. 
 
 Our two Races. 
 
 From the presence of the two races in Canada, there is no rea- 
 son, I believe, to dread any danger or even any additional trou- 
 bles, if only our politicians be willing-, instead of pandering to sec- 
 tional prejudices, to appeal to the best sentiments of both elements. 
 A mutual regard for racial sympathies on both sides, and a 
 proper discharge of our exclusive duty to this land of ours, such is 
 the only ground upon which it is possible for us to meet, so as to 
 work out our national problems. There are here neither masters 
 nor valets ; there are neither conquerors nor conquered ones : there 
 are two partners whose partnership was entered into upon fair and 
 well defined lines. We do not ask that our Enghsh-speaking fel- 
 low-countrymen should help us to draw closer to France ; but, on 
 the other hand, they have no right to take advantage of their over- 
 whelming majority to infringe on the treaty of alliance, and induce 
 us to assume, however freely and spontaneously, additional burdens 
 in defence of Great Britain. 
 
 The Canadian soil, with its blood and its wealth, with its past, its 
 present and its future, in short, our whole national inheritance is 
 ours only to be handed down unimpaired to our descendants. I, for 
 one, respect and admire in my English-speaking fellow-country- 
 i man his love for his dear old and glorious motherland ; — and I am 
 ! bound to say that he would be beneath my contempt the man who, 
 I in her hours of trial, did not tingle in sympathy with his Mother 
 ; country. I have a right to expect that he should reciprocate that 
 i feeling by showing the same regard for his fellow-countrymen who 
 ! still keep in their hearts an undying love for France, the land of 
 I their origin. But, apart from all such considerations within the 
 province of the heart or of the mind, I say that the only sure way 
 of obviating fatal misunderstandings lies in a determination that 
 we shall, both of us. French and English alike, look at all constitu- 
 tional and political questions from a purely Canadian standpoint. 
 
 Independence and Annexation. 
 
 From the nationality problem to the question of Independence is 
 a natural transition. But the question of Independence, I frankly 
 confess, is of no present moment.
 
 -46- 
 
 As a primary ciuidilion of iiuK'pcmk'iice, a nation must need 
 make sure that peace, both at home and abroad, is on a basis promis- 
 inj^ of continuance. So lonj^ as a more sincere and detinite under- 
 standing- between both races shall not have been reached — and not 
 until the Canadian people have forced their public men to adopt a 
 purely Canadian policy shall that happy result be achieved — I say 
 that we are not ripe for Independence. 
 
 Even though, at home, we were ripe for Independence, I hold 
 that, placed as we are in the immediate and exclusive neighbourhood 
 of the United States, this ought to be a hint to us that it were safer 
 to postpone the day of our emancipation. 
 
 The United States have reached a turning point in their history, 
 which is proving just as formidable as the crisis through which 
 England is now passing. For the time be:ng, their thirst of expan- 
 sion is being quenched in the blood of their " wards " in the Phi- 
 lippine Islands. But in the event of Canada becoming ind2pendent, 
 it is in our direction that their frenzy would soon vent itself. To 
 tell the truth, I am not of those who are lost in wonder and extasy 
 at the material advantages to be derived from annexation to the 
 United States. 
 
 Being younger and having more push, being also better endowed 
 in the matter of natural resources and territorial unity, the Americans 
 seem less obnoxious than their kinsmen across the sea to the conse- 
 quences of the imperialist evolution. But they are w^anting in such 
 traditions and in great need of such a class as previously referred 
 to of enlightened men who can still be largely instrumental in 
 working out England's salvation. Being delivered over more and 
 more to the wTeckless schemes of a plutocracy which is alike un- 
 conscious of political responsibility and contemptuous of public mo- 
 rality, being more greedy than the English are of material gratifi- 
 cations, our neighbours are more exposed to those social crises a 
 forerunner of which, and a warning as well, is to be found in the 
 assassination of president McKinley. 
 
 At all events, should the risks of Annexation prove less to be 
 dreaded than I am apprehensive of, it will never be too late for 
 Canadians throwing in their political lot with the American Repu- 
 blic. A young nation has nothing to lose and everything to gain by 
 having an alternative within its grasp. Under British rule, it is 
 always optional w'ith us to change our allegiance and to raise the 
 star-spangled banner ; while having become Americans, we should 
 be absolutely, or at least for many years to come, bound to the Re- 
 public. 
 
 Of the many arguments that can be adduced to justify the ne- 
 cessity for us of unceasingly warring against the imperialist mo- 
 vement, even though we were sure that final victory w^ill be ours.
 
 — 47 — 
 
 one of the most cogent is based on the dangers reactions are 
 attended with, which ever prove more violent than the previous 
 movements. 
 
 The false position we are assuming cannot but be fraught with 
 bitter disappointment, from the fallacious arguments resorted to by 
 the promotors of that movement. 
 
 In Great Britain, what is mainly impressed upon the rate-payers 
 is the profit to be derived from tapping the colonies and speculating 
 upon their innocence , with a view to obtaining recruits for the 
 army and the navy. In Canada, they make it a point to dwell upon 
 the guarantees of peace and power, and trade development which 
 are to be found in a closer connexion wth the Mother country. On 
 the day when, as the English say, " we shall compare notes ", 
 wrangling will take the place of honeyed words. And what I 
 apprehend is this, that such a counter-movement may hasten the 
 progress of Annexation. , 
 
 Under such circumstances, it is towards Independence that we 
 should naturally drift ; and beyond doubt, to the French-Canadian 
 element, this solution would prove most acceptable. But such an inde- 
 pendence as is gloriously proclaimed in the fulness of_ its strength 
 and maturity by a united people is one thing, and such an emanci- 
 pation as might be stimulated into a kind of hot-house growth by 
 the intrigues of warring factions and by domestic quarrels is quite 
 another matter. That the imperialistic disease has embittered re- 
 lations between both races in Canada goes without saying. The 
 majority of anti-imperialists being chiefly recruited from the ranks 
 of French-Canadians, it stands to reason that were Independence to 
 be proclaimed, it could only take place after protracted and acrimo- 
 nious struggles which would re-echo long after the period of eman- 
 cipation. Under the absolute control of the Canadian Parliament, 
 our constitution would be exposed to terrible assaults, mainly di- 
 rected against the French-Canadian minority, whose only refuge, 
 under such circumstances, w^ould be Pan-Americanism. 
 
 On the other hand, should such a reaction originate with the En- 
 glish-speak'ng provinces, it would proceed from mere considera- 
 tions of profit and loss. It would be brought about by disappointed 
 financiers, manufacturers and tradesmen, from not having derived 
 from Imperialism all the benefit they anticipated. As a conse- 
 quence, a disposition to draw closer to the United States would show 
 itself, which would be largely encouraged by American capitalists 
 who are already in a fair way of monopolising our trade avenues 
 and several of our most important industries as well (i). With our 
 
 (i) See Appendices : The Americans in Canada, pagecxxxii.
 
 -48 — 
 
 I'.iis^lish-siK'akiiiL; l'clU>\v -countryincn there is no such aversion, 
 hred hy race. lani;uas;e ami reht;ion, as is feU by French-Canadians, 
 lo absorptiiMi by the .Vnierican repubhc. 
 
 W'liat 1 should like is this, that between the old British frigate 
 which threatens to founder on the rock of Imperialism and the 
 American corsair, making- ready to pick up her wrecks, so cau- 
 tiously and so steadily should we steer our bark that we shall 
 neither be swallowed up in the abyss with the former, nor be car- 
 ried away in the track of the latter. Let us not break the chain in 
 a hurry, but let us also beware of foolishly riveting the links of it. 
 
 To such a situation as would be imposed on us by the triumph of 
 imperialistic ideas these suggestions do not apply. Were the advo- 
 cates of Imperialism ever to get the upper-hand, well, then, I should 
 say : " Forward ! Let us be independent, without any hesitation 1 " 
 X(.) people can afford to incur any unnecessary risks ; but never 
 should a nation hesitate to brave dangers and face the unknown, 
 sooner than retracing its steps and falling back under the yoke. 
 
 ^^'hatever the future may have in store for us, in the views of an 
 all-wise Providence, whatever the drift of coming events, there is 
 btit one way of facing tFat future, — and it is this, that we shall neither 
 be carried away by extravagant enthusiasm nor suffer our moral 
 ideals to be debased. Let us deepen and broaden the lines of our 
 patriotism, directing all its energies less towards the worship of 
 party leaders than towards the pursuit of principles and lofty 
 ideals. Let us make ready for the coming struggles, by fearlessly 
 discharging, though in no spirit of vain glory, without flinching 
 and like true-hearted men, the duties and the tasks of our every- 
 dav life.
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 J
 
 I
 
 TABLE OK CONTENTS. 
 
 I— DIAMOND JUBILEE. 
 
 i" Official documents i 
 
 2" Speeches and opinions of British and Colonial statesmen . viii 
 
 II— CONTRIBUTION OF THE COLONIES TO THE SOUTH 
 AFRICAN WAR. 
 
 i*^ Interpretation in Canada xxxi 
 
 2'^ Interpretation in England xxxix 
 
 III— PERSISTENCY AND NATURE OF THE IMPERIALISTIC 
 MOVEMENT IN GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 i'' General Elections, 1900 xliii 
 
 2"^ Opinions of several statesmen xlv 
 
 3° A few dissentient voices Iv 
 
 IV— MILITARY IMPERIALISM : ITS PROGRESS. 
 
 1" Army Iviii 
 
 2° Navy Ixxi 
 
 V— COMMERCIAL IMPERIALISM : ITS STAGNATION .... Ixxxvi 
 
 VI— FURTHER EVIDENCES OF THE INDIFFERENCE OF 
 GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 i" Pacific Cable xcii 
 
 2° Embargo on Canadian cattle ............. xcvii 
 
 3° Alaska boundary and Nicaragua Canal xcviii 
 
 4*^ British emigration to the Colonies ci 
 
 5*^ Colonial representation ciii 
 
 VII— DEVELOPMENT OF IMPERIALISM IN CANADA. 
 
 i'' Congresses of the Chambers of Commerce of the Empire, cv 
 
 2*^ The " British Empire League " in Canada cxiii 
 
 3*^ A few witnesses cxviii 
 
 VIII— RESISTANCE SOF THE AUSTRALIANS cxxvii 
 
 IX— MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 " The future of the Anglo-Saxon race " cxxviii 
 
 Depression of British industry cxxviii 
 
 The Americans in Canada cxxxii 
 
 Good feeling between Briton and Boer in Cape Colony . . c.x.xxii 
 
 Cecil Rhodes' Representatives in Canada ....... cxxxiv
 
 INDEX OK NaMKS. 
 
 ABERDEEN, Lady.— : cxxxii. 
 
 ALLAN, Senator — : cxxxiv. 
 
 ALLEN. J. -Davis — (Mr. Cecil Rhodes' Agent) — : xxxi, xxxii, cxxxiv. 
 
 ANDERSON, James — President, Chamber of Commerce, Edinburgh — : ex. 
 
 Ar))ty & A'ai'3' Gazette (London) — : Ixxxii. 
 
 ARNOLD-FURSTER, Hon. H.-O.— M. P., Secretary to the Admiralty—: 
 
 Ix, Ixxxii. 
 ASQUITH, Rt. Hon. H.-H.— M. P., Home Secretary 1892-95—: Ixxxii. 
 AVEBURY, Lord — Vice-President, Chamber of Commerce, London—: liv, 
 
 cix. 
 BALFOUR, Rt. Hon. Arthur-James— AL P.; First Lord of the Treasury, 
 
 Leader of the House of Commons — : xl, Ixiv, Ixxxvii. 
 BALFOUR, Hon. J. (Chamber of Commerce, Melbourne, Victoria) — : cxii. 
 "BANK OF OTTAWA."—: cxviii. 
 
 BARTON, Hon. — Prime Minister of Australia — : cxxvii. 
 BEDFORD, the Duke of—: Ixix. 
 
 BELCOURT, N.-A.— M. P. (Canada)—: xciv, cxxxiv. 
 BERESFORD, Lord Charles — Rear-Admiral — : xxvi, Ixxi, Ixxiii, cxxviii. 
 BLACKWELL, Thomas-F. — President, Council of the London Chamber of 
 
 commerce — - : cxii. 
 BORDEN, Hon. F.-W.— Minister of Militia (Canada) — : xxxvii. 
 BORDEN, R.-L. — M. P., Leader of the Opposition (Canada) — : cxvii, 
 
 cxxxiv. 
 BOSC, AL du — Spanish Charge d'affaires at Washington — : (lix). 
 BOSTOCK, Hewitt— M. P. (Canada)—: cxxxiv. 
 BOURASSA, Henri — M. P. (Canada) — : xxxvi, xxxviii, Ixxxiv. 
 BOURINOT, Sir John — Clerk of Commons (Canada) — : cxxxiv. 
 BOWDEN-SMITH : see SMITH. 
 
 BOWELL, Sir McKenzie — Senator, ex-Prime Minister (Canada) — : cxv. 
 BRADDON, Sir Edward — Prime Minister (Tasmania) — vi. xv. xx. xxiii, 
 
 xxiv. 
 BRASSEY. Lord — Ex-Secretary to the Admiralty; Governor of Victoria, 
 
 1895-1900 — : (xxvi), lii, Ixiv, Ixxiv, Ixxix. 
 BRASSEY, Hon. T.-A.— : xiv. 
 "BRITISH EMPIRE LEAGUE"—: viii, xix, lii. 
 BRODEUR. L.-P. — M. P. (Canada), Speaker, Commons — : cxxxiv. 
 BRODRICK. Rt. Hon. Wm. St. John— M. P. ; Under-Secretary of State for 
 
 War. 1895-98; for Foreign Affairs, 1898-1900; Secretary of State for 
 
 War, 1900 — : Iviii, lix, Ixv, Ixvi, Ixviii. 
 BROOKFIELD. Col. A.-M.— M. P. (Great Britain) — : Ixvii. 
 BRYCE, Rt. Hon. James— M. P., Under-Secretary for Foreign Aitairs 1886; 
 
 President Board of Trade 1894: — : liv, Ivi. xc. 
 BUCHANAN, T.-R.— M. P. (Great Britain)—: Ixxvii. 
 BUXTON, Sydney— M. P., Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies 1892- 
 
 95— :(cvi). 
 CAMBELL-BANNERMAN. Rt. Hon. Sir Henry— M. P.; Secretary for 
 
 War 1892-94; Liberal Leader. House of Commons — : Iv, cxxxii'
 
 INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 CAMBRIDGE, the Duke of— Field Marshall Commanding-in-chief, 1856- 
 1895 — : xxiv. 
 
 CARLING, Sir John — Senator, ex-Minister of Agriculture (Canada) — : 
 cxxxiv. 
 
 CARRINGTON, Earl— Governor New South Wales, 1885-1890— : Ixxxi. 
 
 CHAMBERLAIN, Austen— M. P.; Financial Secretary to the Treasury — : 
 xcvi, xcvii. 
 
 CHAMBERLAIN. Rt. Hon. Joseph— M. P., Secretary of State for the Co- 
 lonies — : i, ii, iii, iv, vii, xiii, xxi, xxxv, xxxvi, xl, xliii, xlvi. Hi, lix, 
 Ixi, Ixiii, Ixxxvi, civ, cv, (ex), cxxiii, cxxix. 
 
 CHARLTON, John— M. P. (Canada)—: (xciv). 
 
 CHURCHILL, Lord Randolph— M. P.; Indian Secretary, 1885-86; Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer, 1886-87 — : cxxxii. 
 
 Citizen, The (Ottawa) — : xcix, c. 
 
 CLARKE, Sir G.-S.- — -Governor of Victoria — : Ixxxiii. 
 
 COLLEN, Major General Sir Edwin — Late military member of the Council 
 of the Governor General of India — : Ixxi, (ci). 
 
 COLOMB. Sir John— M. P. (Great Britain)—: (xvii), Ixxiv, Ixxvi, Ixxxi. 
 
 "COLONIAL PARTY"—: xviii. 
 
 Daily Chronicle (London) — : xiii. 
 
 DAVIES, Sir Louis— M. P., Minister of Marine & Fisheries (Canada)—: 
 Ixxix, Ixxxiv, Ixxxv, xcviii, cxv, cxxv, (cxxvii). 
 
 DENISON, Col. George-T. — President British Empire League (Canada) — : 
 XX, (cxiii), cxiv, cxvi. 
 
 DERBY, Earl of — Late Governor of Canada i888-i8qs — : cxxv. 
 
 DEVONSHIRE, Duke of— Lord President of the Council—: viii, xix, xxi, li. 
 
 DILKE, Sir Charles— M. P. ; Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Afifairs 
 1880-82; President Local Government Board 1882-1885 — : xxii, Ixiv, 
 Ixvi, Ixxv, Ixxvii, Ixxviii, Ixxix. 
 
 DOBELL, Hon. R.-R.— M. P.. Minister without portfolio (Canada) — : cxiv. 
 
 DRAGE, G.— M. P. (Great Britain)—: Ixiii, Ixiv. 
 
 DRUMMOND, Hon. G.-A.— Senator, (Canada) — (Board of Trade. Mont- 
 real) — : cviii, cxxxiv. 
 
 DUNN, G.-H. — Chamber of Commerce, Cape Town — : cviii. 
 
 EDWARDS, W.-C— M. P.. (Canada) — : cxxxiv. 
 
 Electrical Reviezv (London)—: cxxxi. 
 
 Expansionist (New York) — : cxxxii. 
 
 FABER. G.-D.— M. P. (Great Britain)—: xxxvi. 
 
 FISHER, Hon. Sydney— M. P., Minister of Agriculture (Canada) — : 
 (xcvii). 
 
 FLEMING, Sir Sandford— : xcii. 
 
 FLOWER. Ernest— M. P. (Great Britain) — : Ixxxix. 
 
 FLYNN, J.-C— M. P. (Great Britain)—: xcvi. 
 
 FORREST, Sir John — Prime Minister (Western Australia) — : xxiii, xxvi. 
 
 FOSTER, Hon. Geo.-E. — Ex-Minister of Finance (Canada) — : cxxii. 
 
 FOWLER, Rt. Hon. Sir Henry— M. P. ; President Local Government Board 
 1892-94; Secretary of State for India 1894-95 — : xlvii, Ixxxviii. 
 
 FRANKFORT de MONTMORENCY. Viscount—: Ixxix. 
 
 FRENCH, Major General— Commander of Militia (New South Wales) — : 
 Ixxix Ixxx 
 
 GEOFFRION, L.-E.— iChanibre de Commerce. Montreal)-: cxi. 
 
 Globe, The (Toronto) — : xii, xiii, xxxii, cii. 
 
 GOSCHEN, Rr. Hon. G.-J. (now Lord)— M. P., First Lord of the Admi- 
 ralty — : V, xvi, xxiv, xl, Iv, Ixxv, Ixxvi. Ixxviii. Ixxix. 
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL: see MINTO. 
 
 GRANT, Principal—: (cxv). 
 
 HADRILL. George— (Board of Trade, Montreal) — : ex.
 
 INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 HAMILTON, Major General Sir Ian—: cxxiii. 
 
 HAMPDEX. Viscount— Governor New South Wales, iSps-QS^— : Ixix. 
 
 H AX BURY, Rt. Hon. Wm.— M. P., President Board of Agriculture—: 
 
 xcvii. 
 HARCOURT, Sir W.-Vernon— M. P. ; Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1886- 
 
 189^ — : xc. 
 H EATON. Henniker— M. P., (Great Britain)—: xc, xcvi. 
 HEDDERWICK. Thomas— M. P. (Great Britain)—: ciii. 
 HICKS-BEACH. Rt. Hon. Sir Michael— M. P., Chancellor of the Exche- 
 quer — : XV, xxxix, xlviii, Ixv, Ixxxviii, Ixxxix, xc, (cxiii). 
 HOGAX. J.-F.— M. P. (Great Britain) — : lix, Ixxxvi. 
 HOPKINS, Sir J.-O.— Admiral— : Lxxxiv. 
 HUTTON. Major General— Commander of Militia (Canada) — : xxxvii, 
 
 (Ix), (Ixxxv). 
 "IMPERIAL FEDERATION" (Defence)—: xxii. xlv. 
 KEMP, A.-E.— (Board of Trade, Toronto)— now M. P. (Canada)—: cix, 
 
 cxn. 
 KEARLEY. H.-E.— AL P. (Great Britain)—: Ixxvii. 
 KIMBERLEY, Earl of — Late Secretary of State for the Colonies. Foreign 
 
 Affairs, etc.: Liberal Leader. House of Lords — : xvii. xli, xlvi. 
 KINGSTON. Hon. C.-C— Prime Minister (South Australia)—: x, (xxvi). 
 LAMINGTON. Lord— Governor of Queensland, 1895-1900— : Ixii. 
 LANSDOWNE. Marquess of — Secretary of State for War, 1895-1900; for 
 
 Foreign Affairs, 1900; — late Governor of Canada. 1883-88 — : xi, 
 
 xxxix. Ixii, Ixix, Ixxx. 
 LAURIE, General— M. P. (Great Britain) : late M. P., (Canada)—: Ixiv. 
 LAURIER. Sir Wilfrid— M. P., Prime .Minister (Canada)—: (ii) (iii), (vi), 
 
 ix. xi, xiii, xvii, xviii, xxi, xxviii, xxix, xxx, xxxiv. xxxvi, xxxvii, 
 
 (xlix), (lix). Ixiii. Ixxxiv, (xc), (ciii), (cxi), (cxxiv). 
 LEE, Lt.-Col. Arthur-H.— M. P. (Great Britain) ; late Military attache 
 
 British Ambassy, Washington — : Ixvi. 
 LEGGE. Col. H.— M. P. (Great Britain)—: Ixvii. 
 LIPTON. Sir Thomas—: cxxxi. 
 
 LOCH, Lord — Governor of Cape Colonv, 1889-95 — : xxv, cxxxiii. 
 LO.CKHART. R.-A.— (Chamber of Commerce. Edinburg)— : cvi. 
 London Letter, The — : Ixxxv. 
 
 LORNE, the Marquess of — late Governor of Canada. 1878-83 — : xxv. 
 LOWTHER. James— M. P., (Great Britain)—: Ixxxix. 
 McFARLANE. Thomas— (Board of Trade. Ottawa)—: cviii. cxi. 
 McKEX'ZIE. Fred. -A. {The American Invaders) — : cxxviii. cxxxii. 
 McLEOD. G.-K. (Board of Trade, Fredericton. N. B.)— : cix. 
 MacNEIL. A.— M. P. (Canada) — : cxxxiv. 
 
 MILLS. Hon. David — Senator. Minister of Justice, (Canada) — : xcix, cxxv. 
 MILNER. Sir Alfred— Governor of Cape Colony—: (Iv). 
 MIX'TO. Earl of — Governor of Canada — : xxxviii. 
 MOXK. Frederic-D.- M. P. (Canada)—: cxviii. 
 
 MORLEY. Rt. Hon. John— M. P.: Chief Secretarv Ireland 1885-95—: Ivii. 
 MORRISON. Aulav— M. P. (Canada)—: cxviii. 
 MULOCK, Hon. Wm. — M. P.: Postmaster General (Canada) — : xciii, xcv, 
 
 cxiv. 
 MYERS, A. M. (Chamber of Commerce Auckland. X'^ew Zealand) — : cxii. 
 Naval Annual of Great Britain — : Ixxiv, Ixxix. 
 "N.WY LEAGUE" (Great Britain)—: Ixxiii. 
 NELSON. Sir H.-M.— Prime Minister (Queensland)—: x. 
 OSLER. E.-B. — (Board of Trade. Toronto) — : cvi. cxxxiv. 
 PARKER. Gilbert, M. P. (Great Britain)—: cxxiii. 
 PARKIX. Dr.— : cxxii.
 
 INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 PARLIAMENT of Canada—: xxxiii. 
 
 PINAULT, Lt.-Col. L.-F.— Deputy Minister of Militia (Canada)—: xxxui. 
 PIRIE, Capt. D.-V.— M. P. (Great Britain)—: Iviii, lix, Ixi. 
 PREFONTAINE, Raymond— M. P. (Canada)—: cxxxiv. 
 PRIVY COUNCIL (Canada) — : iii, xxxv. 
 REDMOND, Wm.— M .P. (Great Britain)—: Ixxxii. 
 
 REID, Hon. G.-H.— Prime Minister (New South Wales) ; now Leader of 
 the Opposition, Australia — : ii, xi, xx, xxiii, xxvii, xxix, Ixxiv, cxxvii. 
 RHODES, Cecil — Prime Minister of Cape Colony — : (cxxxii), (cxxxiv). 
 RITCHIE, Rt. Hon. C.-T.— M. P., President Board of Trade—: xxxix. 
 ROBERTSON, Edmund— M. P.; Civil Lord of the Admiralty, 1892-95—: 
 
 Ixvii, Ixxxi. 
 ROBERTSON, Ross— M. P. (Canada) — : cxxxiv. 
 ROBINSON, Commandant C.-N.— : Ixxix. 
 RODDICK, Dr. J.-G.— M. P. (Canada)—: cxxxiv. 
 ROLLIT, Sir Albert-K.— M. P. ; President Association of the Chambers of 
 
 Commerce (Great Britain) — : xxiii. 
 ROSEBERY, The Earl of— late Prime Minister of Great Britain—: xii, xli, 
 
 xlvii, Ixii, cxxix, cxxx. 
 ROSS, Hon. Geo.-W. — Prime Minister (Ontario) — : ci, cxvi, cxx, cxxi. 
 RLISSELL, Benjamin — M. P. (Canada) — : cxvii, cxxxiv. 
 RUTHERFORD, J.-G.— M. P. (Canada)—: cxxxiv. 
 SALISBURY, the Marquess of— Prime Minister of Great Britain—: xii, 
 
 xlvi, 1, (ex). 
 SAMUEL, H.-S.— M. P. (Great Britain)—: Ixxvi. 
 
 SEDDON, Hon. R.-J.— Prime Minister (New Zealand)—: vi, xix, (Ixiv). 
 SELBORNE, the Earl of— Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1895- 
 
 1900; now First Lord of the Admiralty — : cvii. 
 SMITH, Sir N. Bowden— Admiral— : xxvii. 
 SOUTTAR. Robinson— M. P. (Great Britain)—: Ixxvii. 
 SPENCER. Earl— Lord President of the Council, 1886; First Lord of the 
 
 Admiralty, 1892-95 — : xlvii. 
 SPRIGG, Sir J. -Gordon— Prime Minister (Cape Colony) — ; (v), xvi. xxii, 
 
 XXV, xxix, cxxxiii. 
 STANLEY, Lord— M. P., Financial Secretary of the War Office—: Ixvii. 
 Star, The, (Montreal) — : xxxi, xxxii, xxxiv, lix. 
 STRATHCONA. Lord— High Commissioner for Canada (London) — : cvi, 
 
 cxix. 
 THOMAS. Freeman— M. P. (Great Britain)—: Ixvii. 
 THOMPSON, John — (Chamber of Commerce, Manchester) — : cix. 
 Times. The (London) — : (xii). xvii, xxvi, xxix, xxx, Ixxiii, ci, cxxvi. 
 TONKS, J.-W. (Chamber of Commerce, Birmingham) — : cvi, cvii, cix. 
 TREVELYAN, C.-P.— M. P. (Great Britain) — : (xviii), Ixxvii, civ. 
 TRYON, Sir George—: (xxv). 
 TUPPER, Sir Charles— late Prime Minister (Canada) — : xxxv, Ixxxiii, 
 
 xciv, xcv, cv, cxv. 
 TLIPPER, Sir C.-Hibbert— M. P., ex-Minister of Justice (Canada) — : cxvii. 
 TURNER, Sir George — Prime Minister (Victoria) — : viii, xii, xiv. 
 TWEEDMOUTH, Lord— Lord Privv Seal, 1892-95—: Ixx. 
 VINCENT, Sir Howard— M. P. (Great Britain)—: Ixxxvii, xc. 
 WALES, The Prince of— (now the King)—: xi. 
 
 WHITEWAY, Sir William— Prime Minister (Newfoundland)-: xx. 
 WHYTE. J.-G. (Bank of Ottawa)—: cxviii. 
 
 WILLIAMS, Rt. Hon. Powell— Financial Secretary, War Office—: Ix. 
 WOLSELEY, Lord— Field Marshall Commander-in-chief, 1895-1900— : liii, 
 
 Ixx.
 
 INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 W'VXDl lAM. Rt. Hon. ricorge — Under-Secretary for War, 1898-1900: now 
 
 Cliiet Secretary for Ireland — : xxxix, lix, Ix. Ixi. Ixiii, Ixiv. 
 VOl'N'c". s;;r Frederick — \'ice-President Colonial Institute — : cxxi. 
 
 A B B FR E: V I AT" I O IM S 
 
 P. D. : "Parliamentary Debates," of the British Parliament. 
 
 E. P. H. : " Extra-Parliamentarv-Hansard," a selection of speeches 
 made by public men outside of parliament, letters to the press, 
 resolutions and manifestoes, etc. Published bv G. WAL- 
 POLE, London. ' 
 
 is,' OTA. — AV Iho ilnJics in /he qtioiations are mine. — H. B.
 
 I 
 Diamond Jubilee* 
 
 J 897. 
 
 lo. Official Documents. 
 
 On the 1st of February 1897, Mr. CHAMBERLAIN was asked, in 
 the House of Commons, whether he was going to take advantage of 
 the Jubilee festivities to hold a conference with a view to discussing 
 matters of Imperial interest with the Colonial Premiers who would 
 be present in London. The Colonial Secretary replied that the sug- 
 gestion "zvill be taken in consideration/' (P. D., Vol. 45, page 924). 
 
 On the 23rd of the same month, Mr. Chamberlain was asked by 
 two members if a decision had been arrived on the matter and what 
 questions of Imperial concern would be discussed. 
 
 Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN : I will say in answer to both hon. gentlemen 
 that there is no question of holding what is called an Imperial Conference, 
 but, of course, if the Premiers come, the Government will take the oppor- 
 tunity of discussing with them any matters of common interest which any 
 of tliciii may desire to raise... (P. D., Vol.46, page 978.) 
 
 On the 29th of March, the Colonial Secretary was asked if replies 
 had been received from the Colonial Premiers, how many had ac- 
 cepted the invitation, 
 
 "and whether he can give a general indication of the subjects of Imperial 
 interest on which it is proposed to invite their opinions and cooperation?" 
 
 Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN: The answers from the Premiers of the self- 
 governing Colonies are still incomplete. I have already stated that no 
 formal conference is intended, although Her Majesty's Government will be 
 glad to have the opinions and cooperation of the Premiers on any matters 
 of common interest. (P. D., Vol.47, page 1552.) 
 
 On the 13th of May, the Secretary of State for the Colonics laid 
 down the correspondence exchanged with the Governors of the
 
 sclf-g-overnint^ Colonies on this matter {Parliamentary Papers, 
 1897^ \'ol. Lix, page 621 ; — No C : 8485). The papers show that three 
 days before he declared in Parliament that the matter would be 
 "taken in etvisideration'', Air. Chamberlain had taken official action. 
 This is essentially characteristic of Mr. Chamberlain's methods. 
 The whole imperialistic movement, both in Great Britain and the 
 Colonies — but especially in the Colonies — has been marked, 
 from the start, with this duplicity and secrecy of org-anisation. 
 
 In his official despatch to Lord Aberdeen, dated January 28th 
 1897 (Xo 2. page 624), Mr. CHAMBERLAIN was inviting the 
 Prime Minister of Canada to be present at the celebration which 
 was going to take place in ivondon. He added : 
 
 6. Should it be found practicable to carry out this idea, as I hope may be 
 the case, the great self-governing Colonies of Her Majesty's Empire would 
 be appropriately represented by their Premiers, who would be accompanied 
 on any special ceremonial occasion by an escort or guard of honour con- 
 sisting of a detachment of the local forces ; and I have no doubt that such 
 a demonstration would do honour to the colony and be highly appreciated 
 in this country. 
 
 7. Her Majesty has also been pleased to signify her willingness to re- 
 ceive the Colonial Premiers, and to witness a march-past of the Colonial 
 troops. 
 
 8. Should this invitation be accepted by the Premiers of the self-govern- 
 ing colonies, their presence in London would afford a most valuable op- 
 portunity for the discussion of many subjects of the greatest interest to the 
 Empire, such as Commercial Union. Colonial Defence, Representation of 
 the Colonies. Legislation with regard to emigrants from Asia and elsewhere, 
 and other similar subjects. 
 
 9. It is not anticipated that the duration of the actual ceremonies in con- 
 nection with the celebration will extend beyond a week : but I am disposed 
 to think that some four or five weeks might be profitably employed, not 
 on!}' in the discussion of the subjects I have mentioned, but in connection 
 with other objects for the advancement of the interests of Her Majesty's 
 Colonial Empire, and should Mr. Laurier find it in his power to remain so 
 long in this country. Her Majesty's Government trust that he will allow 
 them to consider him as their guest during this period. 
 
 A similar despatch was sent to the Governors of all the self- 
 governing colonies. The Prime Alinister of Xew South Wales. Air. 
 REID, hesitated in accepting (No 5. page 626). But the Premiers 
 of all the other Australasian colonies having decided to accept the 
 invitation. Air. Reid gave way and went to London. 
 
 It will be noted, in some of the following documents, that Air. 
 Reid was the only one, of all the Colonial representatives, to 
 sound a somewhat discordant tune in the imperialistic concert of 
 which Air... Chamberlain constitued himself the dir-ector. 
 
 He was also the only one who refused a title and a decoration. 
 
 In none of the replies sent by the various colonial governments of 
 Australasia, allusion or references were made to the proposed con- 
 ference.
 
 The Canadian Government was evidently better prepared to 
 accept Mr. Chamberlain's direction. On the 20th of April 1897, 
 Lord Aberdeen transmitted to the Colonial Secretary a Report of 
 the Committee of the PRIVY COUNCIL of Canada, dated April 
 15th, acknowledging Mr. Chamberlain's invitation, and advising 
 
 "that the Premier and Madame Laurier should accept Her Majesty's gra- 
 cious invitation to be present at the celebration, and that a suitable force 
 selected from the Militia and other corps in the service of the Dominion of 
 Canada should also be despatched to England in accordance with the sug- 
 gestions contained in the despatch under consideration. 
 
 The Sub-Committee further join in the hope expressed by the Right Hon- 
 ourable the Secretary of State that it may be found possible to take ad- 
 vantage of the assemblage of the Premiers of the self-governing colonies 
 for the discussion of the many and important questions of interest to the 
 Empire to which he has referred. 
 
 The Sub-Committee unite most sincerely in the hope that the result of 
 the approaching celebration may be such as will tend powerfully to cement 
 the union between the Mother country and her colonies, both socially and 
 politically... (No. 15, page 629.) 
 
 I need not say that this Report was never communicated to the 
 Canadian Parliament. Nobody in Canada ever suspected that 
 when the Prime Minister left for England to represent us at 
 the Jubilee Celebrations, he was officially authorised and com- 
 missioned by his Cabinet to enter into a bargain with Mr. Cham- 
 berlain " to cement the union between the Mother country " and 
 Canada " both socially and politically. " But this throws an ins- 
 tructive light upon the various speeches made in England by Sir 
 Wilfrid Laurier, and upon some of his declarations which caused 
 so much amazement at the time. 
 
 On the 13th of August 1897, Mr. CHAMBERLAIN transmitted 
 to the Governors of the self-governing colonies a Report of the 
 " Proceedings of a Conference hctzvecn the Secretary of State for 
 the Colonies and the Premiers of the self-governing colonies, at the 
 Colonial Office. London, Jnnc and July 1897. " This Report had 
 been presented to the British Parliament on the 31st of July {Par- 
 liamentary Papers, 1897; Vol. lix, page 631 ; — No C. 8596). 
 
 In his letter to the Governors, Mr. CHAMBERLAIN said, refer- 
 ring to his despatch of the 28th of January already quoted : 
 
 ...I intimated to you the hope of Her Majesty's Government that their 
 — [the Colonial Premiers'] — presence here might afford a valuable op- 
 portunity for the informal discussion of many subjects of great interest to 
 the Empire. I have now the honour to enclose for your information a 
 memorandum showing how that hope was fully realised and giving an ac- 
 count of the business transacted... 
 
 Every Canadian anxious to know what the present rulers of En- 
 gland are aiming at in their colonial polxy, should read attentively
 
 that I\<.'iM.n which has never !)coii put hefore the piibHc of this 
 count rv. 1 wiH simply i^ivc the following- summary and extracts. 
 
 The tirst meeting was held on the 24th of June. In his opening 
 address. Mr. CILUIP.ERL-MN explained that what the British 
 Government wished, was to ascertain the views of the colonial re- 
 presentatives on Imperial problems, saying: 
 
 " We are in the position of those who desire rather to learn your views 
 than to press ours upon you." 
 
 He did not fail however to state his own views. 
 Regarding the political relations between the United Kingdom 
 and the Colonies, he said : 
 
 ...Strong as is the bond of sentiment, and impossible as it would be to 
 establish any kind of relations unless that bond of sentiment existed, I be- 
 lieve we all feel that it would be desirable to take advantage of it, and to 
 still further tighten the ties which bind us together. In this country, at all 
 events, I may truh- say that the idea of federation is in the air... It is 
 quite true that our own constitution and your constitutions have all been 
 the subject of very slow growth and that they are all the stronger because 
 they have been gradually consolidated, and so perhaps with Imperial Federa- 
 tion : if it is ever to be accomplished it will be only after the lapse of a 
 considerable time and by gradual steps... 
 
 I feel that there is a real necessity for some better machinery of con- 
 sultation between the self-governing colonies and the ^Mother country, and 
 it has sometimes struck me — I ofifer it now merely as a personal sugges- 
 tion — that it might be feasible to create a great Council of the Empire to 
 which the Colonies would send representative plenipotentiaries, — not mere 
 delegates who were unable to speak in their name, ivithoiit further reference 
 to their respective govcrnviients, but persons who by their position in the 
 colonies, by their representative character, and by their close touch with 
 colonial feeling, would be able, upon all subjects submitted to them, to give 
 really eflfective and valuable advice... It might slozvly grow to that Federal 
 Council to which we must always look forward as our ultimate ideal. 
 
 . . . But, of course, with the privilege of management and of control will 
 also come the obligation and the responsibility. There will come some form 
 of contribution towards the expense for objects which we shall have in com- 
 mon. That, I say, is self-evident, but it is to be borne in mind, even m 
 these early stages of the consideration of the subject. 
 
 He insisted lengthily on the ciuestion of Imperial defence : 
 
 ...We are looking to the colonies as still children, but rapidly approach- 
 ing manhood... and to establish in the early days this principle of mutual 
 support and of a truly Imperial patriotism, is a great thing of which our 
 colonial statesmen may well be proud. 
 
 I shall be very glad to hear the views of the Premiers in regard to this 
 question of any contribution which they think the colonies would be willing 
 to make in order to establish this principle in regard to the naval defence 
 of the Empire. As regards the military defence of the Empire, I am bound 
 to say that we are still behindhand, although a great deal has been done in 
 recent years... I would remind the Premiers assembled that if war breaks 
 out, war will be sudden, and there will be no time for preparation then.
 
 Therefore, it is of the first importance that we, all having a common interest, 
 shoud have beforehand a scheme of common defence against any possible 
 or at all events any probable enemy, and we ought to have these schemes of 
 defence before us. . . 
 
 The interchangeability in the several groups is a matter of great import- 
 ance, but how much greater it would be if there were interchangeability 
 between the whole forces of the Empire, between the forces which you have 
 in the several colonies and the forces of which you have seen some examples 
 at home since you came to these shores!... If you have, as Canada has at 
 Kingston, an important military College, it may be possible for us to offer 
 occasionally to the cadets of that college commissions in the British Army... 
 
 This, will enable the deluded Canadian to understand what the 
 object was of bringing' to the Jubilee those " guards of honour '' 
 composed of colonial militiamen. As far as commissioning the 
 Canadian officers in the British Army, the scheme is now accom- 
 plished ; and I was hardly rebuked in the House, last session, when 
 I said that the Canadian people have not gone to the expense of 
 building and keeping the Kingston IVIilitary College for the purpose 
 of training military men for the British Army and depriving our 
 own militia of their best officers. The following sentence will show 
 what Mr. Chamberlain's idea was pointing at : 
 
 It seems to me possible that although in the first instance the idea is that 
 such a Regiment coming to this country would come solely for that pur- 
 pose — [drill and instruction] — and would not be engaged in military opera- 
 tions, yet if it were their wish to share in the dangers and the glories of 
 the British Army and take their part in expeditions in which the British 
 Army may be engaged, I see no reason why these colonial troops should 
 not, from time to time, fight side by side with their British colleagues... 
 (Pages 8 and 9.) 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain referred to the cjuestion of commercial relations. 
 But there he found great difficulties in the way, on account of the 
 wide difference between British and colonial fiscal policies. 
 
 The question of Imperial naval defence was presented by Mr. 
 GOSCHEN, First Lord of the Admiralty. He 'spoke of the contri- 
 bution of the Australasian Colonies, which, he said, would be more 
 effective were it not hampered by the restrictions imposed upon 
 it ( I ) , and if the British authorities were given a free hand in the 
 management of the Australasian ships. He added : 
 
 I value the principle which is involved in the contribution of the colonies 
 to the Navy which was settled some years ago; and I think it would be 
 a great pity and a retrograde step if such ties as have been established were 
 to be cut. Sir Gordon Sprigg has sent us a very gracious proposal from 
 the Cape, which shows the development of that system (2). We should be 
 very glad to open up negociations with Canada, if not i)recisely on the same 
 
 'i) These restrictions consist mainly in I he fact that tne men-of-war are not allowed to 
 sail out of Australasian waters. 
 
 (2) See page xxiv.
 
 VI 
 
 linos, because its situation is somewhat different, yet on other lines. (Page 
 i6.) 
 
 The result of the Conference was not conspicuous at the time. 
 On the matter of commercial relations, the following resolutions 
 were adopted : 
 
 1. That the Premiers of the self-governing Colonies unanimously and 
 earnestly recommend the denunciation, at the earliest convenient time, of 
 any treaties which now hamper the commercial relations between Great 
 Britain and her Colonies. 
 
 2. That in the hope of improving the trade relations between the Mother 
 country and the Colonies, the Premiers present imdertake to confer with 
 their colleagues with the view to seeing whether such a result can be 
 properly secured by a preference given by the Colonies to the products of 
 the United Kingdom. (Page 14.) 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain had evidently succeeded in placing this question " 
 on the basis adopted by Canada, — that of colonial love without 
 reciprocal favours from the motherland. 
 
 On political relations, the resolutions adopted were as follows : 
 
 I. — The Prime Ministers here assembled are of opinion that the present' 
 political relations between the United Kingdom and the self-governing 
 colonies are generally satisfactory under the existing condition of things. 
 
 Mr. SEDDON (New Zealand) and Sir E.-N.-C. BRADDON (Tasma- 
 nia) dissented... because they were of opinion that the time had already 
 come when an effort should be made to render more formal the political 
 ties between the United Kingdom and the Colonies. The majority of the 
 Premiers were not yet prepared to adopt this position, but there was a 
 strong feeling amongst some of them that w-ith the rapid growth of popula- 
 tion in the colonies, the present relations could not continue indefinitely, 
 and that some means would have to be devised for giving the colonies a 
 voice in the control and direction of those questions of Imperial interest in 
 which they are concerned equally with the Mother country. 
 
 It is interesting to compare this last paragraph with a speech deli- 
 vered by Sir Wilfrid Laurier at Liverpool on the 12th of June, 
 1897 (I). 
 
 2.^ They are also of opinion that it is desirable, whenever and wherever 
 practicable, to group together under a federal union those colonies which 
 are geographically united. — Carried unanimously. 
 
 3. — Meanwhile, the Premiers are of opinion that it would be desirable 
 to hold periodical conferences of representatives of the colonies and Great 
 Britain for the discussion of matters of common interest. — Carried un- 
 animously. (Page 15.) 
 
 On the question of Imperial defence, the only resolution adopted 
 was one in favour of the renewal of the arrangement between Great 
 Britain and Australasia. (Page 18) 
 
 (i) See page ix.
 
 It is proper, I think, to point out just now that the commercial 
 question and the principle of colonial representation, even under the 
 most primitive form, have remained at a standstill, while the question 
 of colonial participation to the defence of the Empire has made enor- 
 mous progress. The British authorities have succeeded in getting 
 Kingston Cadets for the Imperial Army ; they have established a 
 recruiting station for the British Navy in Newfoundland ; they have 
 entered into negociations with the Canadian Government for the 
 organisation of a naval reserve in Canada ; — but, above all, they 
 have realised their most cherished hope by inducing the colonists to 
 " fight side by side with their British colleagues. " The contrast 
 between the progress of Military Imperialism in favour of Great 
 Britain and the stagnation of Commercial Imperialism in favour of 
 the Colonies, shajl be found in the documents gathered in Chapters 
 IV and V. 
 
 Some questions of minor interest were also discussed, and among 
 those was the Pacific Cable. Details on this matter are to be found 
 in Chapter VI. 
 
 At the last meeting, the Premiers unanimously adopted the 
 following resolution : 
 
 The Premiers, before they separate, beg to put on record their apprecia- 
 tion of the many courtesies which they have received at the hands of 
 Mr. Chamberlain personally, and of the kind treatment which has been ex- 
 tended to them by the Government and people of the United Kingdom. 
 (Page 19.) 
 
 On the 8th of July 1897, the Secretary of State for the Colonies 
 wrote a letter to Lord Aberdeen, Governor General of Canada, 
 congratulating the Canadian troops on their good appearance and 
 discipline at the Jubilee. This letter was published in cxtcnso in the 
 Toronto Globe, July 24th, 1897, and contained the following para- 
 graph : 
 
 Her Majesty's Government feel that they are justified in hoping that the 
 effects of this exceptional military gathering will be permanent, and that 
 the Imperial and national interests which have been by this means so for- 
 cibly illustrated and brought home to the minds of all classes of Her Maj- 
 esty's subjects will now be realised in a manner that has been scarcely pos- 
 sible before ; they can hardly doubt that the events of the last few weeks 
 will have done much to knit closer the bonds of union between the Colonies 
 and the -^'other country, and to this end the presence of the Colonial troops 
 will have largely contributed.
 
 V 1 1 1 
 
 2". Speeches and Opinions of British and Colonial Statesmen. 
 
 MKFTING OV TllK " r.RrilSH EMPIRF. LEAGUE" 
 IIVKIUMOI,, JUNK ritli, 1897. 
 
 As soon as thcv tonchod the British soil, the Colonial representa- 
 tives were stormed hy the British statesmen. As if it were to em- 
 pliasise the real inspiration of the Jubilee festivities, the first recep- 
 tion q-ranted to them was that of the " British Empire Leag-ue, " at 
 Livefpool. on the I2th of June. The Duke of DEVONSHIRE, 
 Lord President of the Council and President of the League, said: 
 
 ...We are fortunate to-day in being able to be the first to receive on our 
 soil the Premier of Canada, representing, as he does, not one of our self- 
 governing colonies, but the federation of eight self-governing Colonies — a 
 statesman whose acceptance by the whole of the Canadian people. English 
 as well as French, Protestant as well as Catholic, is a symbol of the vital- 
 ity and reality of the Federation. We receive him with still greater gratifi- 
 cation, inasmuch as the first measure which he has proposed to his Parlia- 
 ment has been a step, and we believe a long step, in the way of closer com- 
 mercial connection with this country, a proof of the desire of the Canadian 
 statesmen, backed by the Canadian people, to add the strength which they 
 have gained from a wise measure of federation to our strength, and to 
 weld the bonds which unite us together more closely and. as we hope, more 
 permanently. . . 
 
 Sir George TURNER, Premier of Victoria, said : 
 
 ...We are not unmindful of the many benefits, privileges, and advantages 
 which have been granted to our Colonies, and we are determined on this, 
 that should the time ever vmfortunately arrive when the British people here 
 should require any definite and distinct proof that the sons of this nation 
 m far distant lands still possess the feelings of loyalty to the motherland, 
 we shall do what is right and proper in assisting that motherland (loud 
 cheers). ...I can honestly say this — if ever the Colonies do leave the 
 Empire it will not be the fault of the Colonies. 
 
 {Times, June 14th. 1897.) 
 
 BANQUET AT THE PHILAR.MONIC HALL 
 
 The Duke of Devonshire, the Colonial Premiers, and other distin- 
 guished visitors of the City were in the evening the guests of the 
 Liverpool Incorporated Chamber of Commerce at a Banquet given 
 in their honour at Philharmonic Hall. 
 
 The Duke of DEVONSHIRE said : 
 
 ...We have at present an opportunity which may not, within any very 
 short time recur of hearing that which we ought to know respecting the 
 feelings and the wants and the wishes and the views of our fellow countrv-
 
 IX 
 
 men in the Colonies, and that we shall better utilise that opportunity by en- 
 deavouring to learn from thcin rather than to impress upon tliem our own 
 viczvs. However close tlie connection between our Colonies and ourselves 
 may be at the present time, however much closer it may come to be at some 
 future time, it must be that our Colonies should know a great deal more 
 about us than it is possible for us to know about them... 
 
 ...I will only, before I sit down, once more express my opinion that the 
 present time and the weeks which are to succeed to it may be a time of 
 momentous importance to the British Empire. The future of that Empire 
 depends almost, I think, in equal proportions upon considerations of mat- 
 erial and of sentimental character. The unity which we desire will not be 
 broup-ht about, such unity as we possess will not be maintained, unless both 
 parties feel that it is to their mutual interest and advantage, and I do not 
 believe that even the ties of mutual advantage would be strong enough to 
 cement the union of the Empire as we hope to see it, unless those considera- 
 tions were supplemented by others of a more imaginative character. The 
 proceedings of the next few weeks will, I think, afford material of both 
 these characters, and I think wc and our guests will both hear and say 
 much which will strengthen the conviction that the continued and increased 
 unity of the Empire is to the material advantage of both the United King- 
 dom and the Co onies. 
 
 ...I do not think that it is possible that the masses of our people should 
 remain indifferent to the presence among them of leading statesmen of 
 great communities the magnitude of which they have scarcely up to the 
 present time realised, surrounded as they will be by the representatives of 
 armed forces of the Crown, the existence of zvhicli they have hitherto scarce- 
 ly knozvn. And I do not think that it can be without effect upon the imag- 
 ination of our guests themselves when they will witness next Tuesday week 
 the acclamation with which our Queen will be received in the crowded streets 
 of London... Again, I do not think that any of our Colonial guests who 
 will see, as they will see on the following Saturday, the display of the 
 naval power of Great Britain will remain indifferent spectators of that 
 demonstration. And I think that every one of them will feel more strongly 
 than perhaps he has ever yet done that it is no mean thing to be a citizen 
 upon equal terms of a State which possesses a naval power so unique and 
 so unrivaled as that which they will see at Spithead... 
 
 The Hon. WILFRID LAURIER, after a general review of 
 Canadian political history, said : 
 
 As thoughts of separation disappear, thoughts of union, of a closer 
 union, take their place. To-day the sentiment exists in Canada in favour 
 of a closer union with the motherland... What will be the future of these 
 Colonies — what will be the future of the British Empire? The time may 
 come — the time is coming probably when the present citizenship of the col- 
 onies, satisfied as they are with it at present, satisfactory as it is to them 
 now, may become inadequate. The time may come when from the mere ag- 
 gregation of numbers, and an increase of population, the sentiments and 
 aspirations in favour of a closer union will have to be met and acknow- 
 ledged and satisfied. What then will take place again? Gentlemen, I hard- 
 ly venture to give my own opinion, but perhaps I may be pardoned for 
 saying that in my own estimation, in my own views, and views largely held 
 in the Colony from which I come, the solution may be found without 
 coming into violent contact with the constitution of these realms, without 
 disturbing the existing state of things, on the old British principle of repre- 
 sentation. . .
 
 This may be in tlio more or less distant future : l)Ut there is something 
 which conunands our immediate attention. Political union maj' be more or 
 less distinct, but there is a duty depending upon all parts of the British 
 Empire, and tiiat is in favour of more extended commercial relations. 1 
 claim for the present Government of Canada that they have passed a re- 
 solution by which the products of Great Britain are admitted on the rate 
 of their tariff at 12*%, and next year at 25% reduction. Tins tvc have done 
 not asking any compensation. There is a class of our fel!ow-citizens who 
 ask that all such concessions should be made for a quid pro quo. The Can- 
 adian Government has ignored all such sentiments. We have done it be- 
 cause we owe a debt of gratitude to Great Britain... 
 
 Sir H. j\I. XELSOK responded for Qtieensland : 
 
 ...He agreed with the sentiments which the noble Duke delivered that 
 afternoon with regard to the trade of the Empire. He was one of those who 
 bel evcd that free trade was best for the whole world; but it was to be cou- 
 pled with a very important condition, and that was that the whole world 
 should accept it... With regard to protection, he must say that his sent- 
 iments and the sentiments of the people he represented amounted to this, 
 that protection also was a policy that must be entertained with the greatest 
 caution. When they found themselves surrounded by other nations who 
 would not deal fairly with them, they must do something to protect them- 
 selves to a degree that was necessary to obtain fair and equitable trading 
 conditions. . . 
 
 Mr. KINGSTON (Premier of South Australia) also responded: 
 
 ...If some scheme could be happily arrived at between the Mother country 
 and her Colonies by which those objects could be achieved, they in South 
 Australia would be only too glad. They had been told that it was their 
 duty to feed the hungry : they would be only too glad to discharge that 
 duty with Australian meat. They had been told it was their duty to give 
 drink to the thirsty ; might they also entertain the pious aspiration that the 
 day might soon come when the thirst of Great Britain might be more large- 
 ly assuaged by the aid of Australian wines .-^ 
 
 {Times, June 14th. 1897.) 
 
 The contrast is striking between the sciitimcnfal love of Canada, 
 and the practical amity of Australia. 
 
 BANQUET AT THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE 
 
 LONDON, .ii;ne IStll, 1S07. 
 
 The Prince of Wales and the members of the governing body of the Im- 
 perial Institute entertained the Premiers of Colonies at a banquet in the 
 Institute last evening, at which a very large company was present. The 
 Prince of Wales was in the chair, and the distinguished persons present in- 
 cluded Lord Salisbury, Lord Rosebery, Mr. Chamberlain. M. P.. etc., etc. 
 
 The idea of military help from the colonies began to take the 
 lead.
 
 XI 
 
 The Marquis of LANDSDOWNE said: 
 
 ...That Empire of which we were so proud would be but a mere empty 
 phrase unless its citizens were prepared to hold and defend the splendid 
 heritage which we possessed... No statesmanship, domestic or coionial, 
 would desire to involve the Empire in war for any selfish or ignoble cause] 
 but in a cause which was neither nelfish nor ignoble the' Mother country would 
 be true to her Colonies and the Colonies would be true to the Mother country. 
 There ivas no reason to doubt as to the policy of the Colonics a.'.u\ the great de- 
 pendencies of the Empire. But it was necessary that there should be the 
 frankest possible interchange of ideas between us and the Colonies as to 
 the part which they zvotild severally have to play in the event of the calam- 
 ity of liar. If the soldiers of the Colonies and our own should ever be call- 
 ed upon to stand side by side it was reasonable- that the scheme of defence 
 should be considered, and that the Co'onies should have the advantage, 
 when they were spending money generously for the purpose of Imperial 
 defence, of the wider experience in military afifairs of the Mother country. 
 He could not help hoping that in the interval of hospitalities a short time 
 might be found for conference on these important questions. He felt sure 
 that as time went on there would be a closer drawing together of the bond 
 which united the forces of the Colonies to those of the Mother country, and 
 an ever-increasing sense of comradship between the officers and men of the 
 different parts of the Empire. 
 
 The PRINCE OF WALES : 
 
 Gentlemen, this is not the time, nor is it necessary, for me to allude to 
 the loyalty of our great Colonies. We have heard what has been spoken 
 to-n:ght, and we shall hear stil! more. We know that our Colonies look 
 towards the Mother country with affection, and in the hour of need and 
 danger I feel convinced that they zvill always come forward to our assist- 
 tance. . . 
 
 The Hon. WILFRID LAURIER : 
 
 ...Lord Lansdowne has spoken of a day when perhaps our Empire might 
 be in danger. England has proved at all times that she can fight her own 
 battles, but if a day were ever to come when England was in danger, let 
 the bugles sound, let the fires be lit on the hills, and in all parts of the 
 Colonies, though we might not be able to do much, whatever we can do 
 shall be done by the Colonies to help her... 
 
 The Hon. G. H. REID (Premier of New South Wales) : 
 
 ...I think I may safely say in this company that there is no one who 
 would desire to revert to the methods of Colonial administration which 
 prevailed before the present reign. For the past forty or fifty years your 
 wise and generous statesmanship has, I submit, produced splendid results. 
 You have surrendered in many ways during that time Imperial control, but 
 with that very surrender of Imperial control there has been a correspond- 
 ing growth of Imperial power...
 
 XII 
 
 Tlu' I-",ai-l ()t RC^SEBERY: 
 
 ...I will venture to suggest to this great assembly — I speak now not as 
 a nicnihor of the opposition but as a private person — I won d venture to 
 hope that this unparalleled gathering of Prime Ministers from every part of 
 the Co:nmon\veaith of nations which is bound under the Crown should not 
 separate without some effort being made to draw the bonds of Empire 
 closer. . . 
 
 Lord bALISBURY: 
 
 ...There is talk of fiscal union, there is talk of military union. Both of 
 them, to a certain extent, may be good things. Perhaps we may not be 
 able to carry them as far as some of us think, but in any case they will not 
 be the basis on which our Empire will rest. Our Empire will rest on the 
 great growth of sympathy, conmion thought, and feeling between those who 
 are in the main the children of a common race, and who have a common 
 history to look back upon and a common future to look forward to... 
 
 Sir George TURNER (Premier of Victoria) : 
 
 . . . Perhaps, in the not far distant years that were to come — he hoped it 
 might be in the lifetime of all who were present — they might see in ex- 
 istence in the British Dominions a Parliament which would be so represent- 
 ative as to be able to deal with the wants of all the Colonies and of the 
 British Dominions, and yet be able to leave to the various Colonies the 
 glorious privilege of looking after their own local affairs. 
 
 (Times, June 19th, 1897.) 
 
 The Toronto Globe, of June 19th 1897, published a special cable 
 from London, June i8th., giving an account of the banquet of the 
 Imperial Institute. The last paragraph read as follows : 
 
 All the morning papers contain editorials upon the banquet, which they 
 agree in thinking a worthy and appropriate formal opening of the Jubilee 
 festivities. All highly praise Mr. Laurier's eloquent speech, especially his 
 declaration that the Colonies would assist England in time of trouble. 
 
 CO.MMliNTS OF THE PRESS 
 
 The following arc extracts from letters or telegrams to the , 
 Toronto Globe. 
 
 In the special cable dated London, June 22nd. and published in the 
 Globe of the 23rd, appeared the following paragraph : 
 
 The Times and all the morning papers contain long telegrams from all 
 the Colonies describing the enthusiasm in connection with the Jubilee fetes 
 The editorials express a rather quiet satisfaction over the Jubilee honour?, 
 though the liberal organs betray some measure of disappointment, f^iter- 
 ature is practically ignored. There is unanimous approval, however, of the 
 honours conferred upon Colonial statesmen, and this is especially keen in 
 the case of Mr. Wilfrid Laurier. The admission of the Premiers to the 
 Privy Council is regarded as a sort of recognition of the right of the Col-
 
 XIII 
 
 onies to share in the Imperial Councils. The Daily Chronicle says : " If, 
 as we believe, this was Mr. Chamberlain's idea, we heartily congratulate 
 him." 
 
 London, June 15th. — (Special.) — ...And note how soon the orchid 
 finds its way into Mr. Laurier's buttonhole — and the orchid, as every one 
 knows, has English political associations. Does the Canadian Premier think 
 of that? He is told that he has chosen Mr. Chamberlain's favourite flower, 
 and seems to like the sweet badge none the less for that. — {Globe, June 
 26th, 1897.) 
 
 London, June i6th. — (Special.) — From the Daily Chronicle. — "...Mr. 
 Laurier stands out as a great object lesson in British rule, and no one who 
 listens to his incisive and persuasive oratory can doubt that, judged by the 
 standard of British statesmansh;p, he is an ideal spokesman for the people 
 who have shown the path by which first each group of Colonies and then 
 perhaps the Empire as a whole is destined to reach its full development. 
 But the Imperial federation of which Mr. Laurier may prove the herald is far 
 from that which has too often appropriated the name." 
 
 " There is something almost dramatic in the idea of Mr. Laurier as a 
 leader — a half-unconscious leader perhaps — of this cause of Imperial 
 unity. By birth, long descent and instinct he is a devoted French-Canadian." 
 ...{Globe, June 30th, 1897.) 
 
 London, June 22nd. — It is well understood here that Premier Laurier 
 accepted the distinction of Knighthood from Her Majesty only because it 
 was the personal wish of the Queen that he should do so, and I may add 
 that if Her Majesty's desire had been fully realised the Canadian Premier 
 would have received yet higher honours. — {Globe, June 23rd, 1897.) 
 
 MR. CHAMBERLAIN AND THE COLONIAL PREMIER.S 
 
 The Premiers of Canada, Ne\i' South Wales, Victoria, New Zealand, 
 Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, and Cape Colony, who have come 
 to England for the purpose of attending the Jubilee celebrations, paid a 
 visit to Birmingham yesterday, anl were entertained at luncheon by the Lord 
 Mayor of Birminghan-:. 
 
 The Hon. WILFRID LALJRIER said: 
 
 ...He would say that it was generally believed throughout the Colonies 
 that it was best for them and the motherland that there should be a more 
 intimate connection between the two. Many schemes of union had been sug- 
 gested, but they all had the fatal objection of interfering with the freedom 
 of the trade of the Colonies. The Colonies had already granted certain con- 
 cessions to the Mother country, and they asked for no quid pro quo, for no 
 pound of flesh . . . 
 
 Mr. CHAMBERLAIN said : 
 
 ...I observed that Mr. Laurier, when he set foot upon these shores and 
 in his first speech at Liverpool, while he spoke of the satisfactory character 
 of the relations between the Colonies and this Country, nevertheless uttered 
 a warning which it would be well to bear in mind, for he said that the 
 situation as it is to-day could hardly be expected to last for ever, and that
 
 XIV 
 
 cither tlic Colonics would draw closer to us and would take a larger share 
 in the Government and administration of the Empire, or else they might 
 insensibly, anti I hope unwillingly, drift apart. That is, in my opinion, the 
 greatest problem with which the statesmen of the Empire have to-day to 
 deal with. I hope that the feeling .in the Colonies is the same as the feel- 
 ing at home. I am certain that in the United Kingdom we all should feel 
 that a separation between ourselves and any one of our Colonies would be 
 not only a disaster, but it would be the greatest discredit that could fall 
 upon us. and. if that feeling is shared by our kinsmen across the sea. then 
 I do not doubt that our statesmen are capable of finding some effective 
 means of giving a practical form to the aspirations which we have in com- 
 mon .. . If our self-governing colonies desire now or at any future time to 
 take their share in the glories and in the responsibilities of Empire, they 
 will find that we are ready to meet them more than half-way... 
 
 (Times, June 22nd, 1897.) 
 
 SIR GEORGE TTRNER AT NORM.AXHURST 
 
 The hon. T.-A. BRASSEY and Lady Idina BRASSEY yesterday enter- 
 tained several of the Colonial Premiers and their friends at Normanhurst, 
 the seat of Lord Brassey. 
 
 Mr. Brassey svtb.Tiitted the toast — "The United Empire," — welcoming 
 the guests in his father's name, as well as on behalf of Lady Idina Brassey 
 and himself. The feeling in favour of Imperial unity was certainly much 
 stronger than it was when he was in the Colonies a few years ago. Now 
 that the desire for unity was stronglj- evoked, full advantage should be 
 taken of the moment to strengthen that desire, or else it might wain. We 
 could not expect monetary assistance from the Colonies for naval defence, 
 but the Colonies could help z'cry materially with men. 
 
 Sir Georg-e TURNER, in responding, said : 
 
 ...Ultimately all the difficulties, all the troubles, all the lions in the paih 
 of that great movement of bringing the motherland and her Colonies more 
 closely together would disappear. He did hope that before many years they 
 would see a celebration in honour of the great unity of the Empire. 
 
 {Times. June 24th, 1897.) 
 
 OPINIONS OF SIR GEORGE TURNER 
 
 Sir GEORGE TURNER, Prime Minister of Victoria, has expressed the 
 following views on colonial aff^^irs to a representative of Renter's Agency. 
 On the subject of trade relations with the Mother country he said: 
 
 " Victoria is a heavily protected colony, and I do not suppose our people 
 are prepared to give up protection . . . We cannot afford to relinquish our 
 duties because we derive two millions annually, principalh' from ad z'alore)ii 
 duties... Canada's recent action with regard to tariff is an experiment which 
 we shall watch with great interest. All I can ask our people to do is to in- 
 crease duties as against foreign countries. I think the majority of Victor- 
 ians would be satisfied with such an arrangement so long as the Colony got 
 some benefit in return." 
 
 (Times, July 5th. 1897.)
 
 \v 
 
 OPINIONS OF SIR EDWARD DR ADDON 
 
 A representative of Renter's Agency has had an interview with Sir Ed- 
 ward BRADDON, Prime Minister of fasmania. Asked first for his views on 
 the question of Imperial defence. Sir Edward said : 
 
 " My opinion is very much the same as it was at the time of the Sydney 
 Conference of Premiers, last year, when it was agreed that until the Col- 
 onies were federated it would be very difficult to perfect a defence system. 
 To make a force effective it is essential that it should be under the control 
 of one officer acting as Commander-in-chief. At present each colony has 
 its own small army — composed chiefly of volunteers — under its own local 
 commandant. It seems to me for many reasons that federation must pre- 
 cede an effective Imperial defence scheme..." 
 
 Turning to the larger question of Imperial federation, Sir Edward Brad- 
 don, in reply to questions, expressed the following view : 
 
 " No doubt this question has been largely advanced and the feeling in fa- 
 vour of Imperial federation strengthened by the splendid reception accorded to 
 the Colonial Premiers on Jubilee day. The interchange of views and con- 
 ferences with Mr. Chamberlain must all help it forward to some extent. In 
 the Colonies there are a number of people against Imperial federation; 
 there are many in favour of it. So far as the Premiers are concerned, all 
 that is now proceeding in London favours the idea that the number of those 
 desirous of bringing this scheme to pass will be greatly increased. But 
 Imperial federation must be a growth ; it cannot be effected by a coup-dc- 
 niain . . . Imperial federation, to be complete, must include the creation of 
 a Federal Parliament at Westminster, in which the Colonies shall be fully 
 represented. It is obvious that this cannot be done at once. But step by 
 step — -by an Imperial Council or other means — this end may be attained 
 when the United Kingdom and the Colonies come to feel the necessity for 
 it. Speaking for Tasmania, I believe, if put to the test, it would be found 
 that the majority are in favour of Imperial federation. — (Times, June 26th, 
 
 1897.) ' i-''iiif 
 
 A COOLING DOU.SE FROM SIR MICMAEI, HICKS BEACH 
 
 Every one of the numerous functions where the British and Colo- 
 nial statesmen met together was marked with eltusions of the most 
 tender love. A cooling douse was most timely thrown on that 
 display of juvenile enthusiasm by Sir Michael Hicks l>each, Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer. Several extracts from the Chancellor's 
 speeches will be found in the following chapters ; their characteris- 
 tics are the clearness and the precision with which this eminent 
 statesman has never failed to express his views with regard to what 
 Imperialism should be : a system by which the Colonies would con- 
 tribute to Imperial defence by supplying Great liritain with men 
 and money, without expecting any favour in return. 
 
 On the 30th of June 1897, Sir Michael HICKS REACH was 
 banqueted at the Hotel Cecil, in London. Having descril)ed the 
 Jubilee cerebration as a strong demonstration of the feeling existing 
 in Great Britain and in tlic Colonies in favour of a closer union, he 
 said :
 
 X\I 
 
 Another point arising out of the recent celebration was their navy, the 
 strength of which, as they saw it last Saturday, was a source of pride to 
 them and possibly a little source of envy to the foreigner. Their navy cost 
 the tax-payers of this country i22.ooo.ooo a year. Their navy not only 
 defended the coasts of the United Kingdom: it defended their trade and 
 commerce throughout the world, especially their trade with the Colonies, 
 and it would assist the Colonies in repelling any foreign invasion. The Col- 
 onies were all great and growing nationalities. Canada had recently been 
 described as a nation, and this was true, but did Canada contribute to the 
 cost of the Imperial navy? When they came to business this was a ques- 
 tion which would have to be very carefully discussed between Her iNlaj- 
 esty's Government and the Premiers of their great self-governing Colonies, 
 and he trusted that it might be satisfactority solved. 
 
 Let them consider again the question of trade. iHe thought there was no 
 more fascinating idea than that of an Imperial ZoUverein ; b:it hitherto 
 the proposals on this subject that had come from the Colonies had been in 
 conflict with England's established policy of free trade. Lately, however, 
 Canada had proposed an arrangement of quite another kind which would 
 not violate that established policy, but would recognise the great advan- 
 tages which the Dominion had received in common with their other Colonies 
 from this country's system of open ports, and would, at any rate, to some 
 extent, return it by opening in some measure her ports to this country. 
 That seemed to him a more possible agreement for their mutual benefit 
 than anything which had hitherto been proposed, although there were dif- 
 ficulties in the way. He believed that the celebration of this year had done 
 something towards making an advance in the direction of Imperial federa- 
 tion. He believed it had taught them, not merely their great common in- 
 terest, but the principles on which that common interest was based — the 
 principle of Empire and the principle of freedom. — (Times, July ist, 1897.) 
 
 B.^XQUET OF THE COLONI.A.L INSTITUTE 
 
 LONDON, JCLY 'iil, ISiC 
 
 A Banquet was given last night at the Hotel Cecil by the Royal Colonial In- 
 stitute to commemorate the 6oth year of Her Majesty's reign... 
 
 Sir J. GORDON SPRIGG (Premier of Cape Colony), in proposing "The 
 Naval and iMilitary Forces of the Empire" said that... 
 
 ...He could assure them that they in the outposts of the Empire, felt 
 still more than those at home the necessity of having the power of the 
 British navy to protect their coasts, and it appeared to him only reasonable 
 that they should, according to their measure, in those distant outposts, con- 
 tribute something so as to relieve the British tax-payer from the heavy 
 charge i.-nposed on him by the maintenance of the fleet, in whose main- 
 tenance those at the outposts of the Empire had an equal interest. 
 
 M. GOSCHEN (First Lord of the Admiralty) said: 
 
 ...The question of the unity of the Empire had been one of the darling 
 parts of his political creed. There were days when it was thought that the 
 Colonies might be a burden to the Empire. Those were the days when it 
 was thought that the Colonies possibly might prefer to be independent be- 
 cause they would not be exposed to the risks of a British war. Those cra- 
 ven ideas had vanished in these latter days. For the past thirty-three years 
 he had seen year by year the growth of that idea which he believed would
 
 XVII 
 
 largely affect the future of the Empire. He did not wish on a festive oc- 
 casion to touch upon the financial point, to wh.ch Sir Gordon Sprigg had 
 rather seductively invited them. It was suggested to him by a great friend 
 of the Colonies(i) — who was present that evening — when the co'onial troops 
 visited the fleet at Spithead, that there should be presented to them some 
 rows of figures wh ch would show how little the colonies contributed to 
 Imper'al defence. He, however, was unwilling to admit the idea, because it 
 seemed to him that on a festive occasion one did not like to see leaflets 
 distributed stating that contributions would be thankfully received. And 
 so, on that occasion, he would only appeal to the loyalty and liberality of 
 their fellow-subjects... 
 
 (Times, July, 3rd, 1897.) 
 
 THE COLONIAL PREMIERS AND THE N.ATIONAL LIBERAL CLUB 
 
 LONDON, .lULY 8(1, 1S07, 
 
 A luncheon was given on Saturday by the National L'beral Club in hon- 
 our of the Colonial Premiers, and it was attended by Sir Wilfrid Laurier, 
 Sir George Turner, Mr. R.-J. Seddon, Sir Hugh Nelson, Mr. C.-C. King- 
 ston, Sir E. Braddon, and Mr. H. Escombe. 
 
 lyord KIMBERLEY, in proposing "Our Guests, the Premiers":... 
 
 ...There might be and there would be very many difficult questions to 
 solve in the future, before they could achieve, possibly in some future day, 
 a still closer union, but with the temper that now prevailed and with the 
 conviction of the people ot this country that it was from the Colonies es- 
 pecially that the movement must come for a closer union — a movement 
 wh ch would be readily met by this nation — with that conviction he strong- 
 ly believed that those who were to succeed them would be wise and pru- 
 dent enough, and would have patriotic feedings enough, to bring about a 
 closer union than now existed. He coupled with the toast the name of Sir 
 Wilfrid Laurier. 
 
 Sir Wilfrid LAURIER, who was warmly received, thanked Lord Kimber- 
 ley and those present for the kind manner in which the Colonies had been 
 spoken of... At the present time the race he represented was loyal to the 
 Crown of England. He said so not with any sycophancy, bnt because they 
 were free, and so long as they were free they would be loyal. If he had an- 
 other thought to add "it was that while he did not believe in the Parliament 
 of man he believed in the Par lament of Greater Britain, and it would be 
 the proudest day of his life — he could not hope to live long enough to see 
 it, but some of those who were in Canada that day might live to see it — 
 to see a Canadian of French descent promoting the principle of freedom in 
 that Parliament of Greater Britain. 
 
 Commenting editorially on these speeches, the 7'iiiics said : 
 
 ...These communities are now ready to draw closer the ties that bind 
 them into one Emp're, as soon as the wisdom of statesmen, the maturing 
 of public opinion, and the growth of material links shall enable effect to be 
 given to the wishes shared by all. // is not yet clear how that Pariiament 
 of Greater Britain is to be constituted, to which Sir Wilfrid Laurier looks 
 forward with prophetic visions... 
 
 (Times, July 5th, 1897.) 
 
 (i) Sir John Colomb (see page i„xxv).
 
 XVIII 
 
 SIR W.Ll'Uin I.ALKIKR AXU THli COLONIAL PARTY 
 
 That iirciinary Parlia.nentary proceedings are for the moment eclipsed by 
 the questions of wider Imperial importance brought into prominence by the 
 visit of the Colonial Premiers was shown yesterday when far more interest 
 was evinced in the burden of Sir Wilfrid Laurier's address to the Colonial 
 Party than in the report stage of the Workmen's Compensation Bill... The 
 Cha.rman, in introducing Sir Wilfrid Laurier, stated that there were five 
 points upon which it was felt that discussion would be profitable: ist, The 
 representation of the Colonies in the Imperial Parliament; 2nd, trade on 
 mutually preferential terms between the Mother country and the Colonies; 
 3rd, Asiatic Immigration; 4Lh, the laying and protection of a Pacific Cable; j 
 and 5th. Imperial penny postage. 
 
 Sir Wilfrid LAURIER, in an address lasting three quarters of an hour, 
 dealt in detail with the topics thus enumerated. In regard to the first point, j 
 he expressed the view that the time had arrived when the great self-govern- 1 
 ing Colonies should be directly represented either in the Imperial Parlia- { 
 nient or in some grand national Council or federal legislative body, gen- i 
 uinely representative of the Empire as an organised entity. The assured and , 
 permanent un ty of the Empire, he maintained, demanded a revision of the ! 
 present situation in this respect. As to the form in which representation 
 would be acceptable to the Colonies, he was not prepared to give an op- 1 
 inion ; but possibly some scheme similar to that of the American Constitu- I 
 tion, under which Territories were represented in Congress by members who . 
 could speak and advise, but could not vote (!) until their constituencies : 
 attained the dignity of States, might prove a stepping-stone towards a 
 solution of the difficulty. One thing was certain — the national sentiment I 
 in the Colonies in this connection was growing stronger every day and 
 could not be overlooked. It was a question that would have to be faced. 
 In answer to a remark interjected by Mr. Hogan. Sir Wilfrid Laurier said 
 that no doubt when Australia and South Africa were confederated like 
 Canada, the problem of Colonial representation in the Imperial Parliament 
 would be much simplified. — (Times, July 6th, 1897.) 
 
 The report communicated to us of Sir Wilfrid Laurier's speech to the. 
 Colonial party at the House of Commons on Monday made the Hon. Gentle- 
 man express the view that the time had arrived when the great self-govern- 
 ing Colonies should be directly represented either in the Imperial Pariia- 
 ment or in some grand national Council or federal legislative body genuine- 
 ly representative of the Empire as an organised entity. This should have 
 been "the time would arrive," etc. — (Times. July 7th, 1897.) 
 
 That same extraordinary idea of having- the Colonies represented 
 in the Imperial I'arliament by delegates deprived of voting power 
 was taken up in the House of Commons, bv Air. Trevelyan M. P., 
 on the 3rd of April 1900. (i) 
 
 (i) See Colonial Rfpres'ti it ion, pajes en: — civ.
 
 XIX 
 
 MEETING OF THE liRHISH EMPIRE LEAGUE 
 
 LONDON, JULY olll, 1S9V. 
 
 The Duke of Devonshire presided yesterday at Merchant Tailor's Hall 
 over a meeting convened by the British Empire League, of which His Grace 
 is President, " To welcome the Colonial Premiers in the City of London." 
 The Premiers present were Mr. R.-J. Seddon, (New Zealand), Sir Wm. 
 Whiteway, (Newfoundland), etc. 
 
 The Duke of DEVONSHIRE said: 
 
 ...I have said that the proof is abundant of the desire of a more effect- 
 ive national unity which exists here in this country. We know equally well 
 that it exists to the same extent in those portions of the Empire which lie 
 across the sea. Not only have we the speeches delivered by our Colonial 
 visitors — men whom -we are entitled to regard as speaking with authority 
 not their own opinions only, but also those of the popu.ations and the coun- 
 tries whom they govern, and whom they represent here — not only have we 
 these utterances all in the same tune, but, if confirmation were needed, in 
 the reports we daily receive in the telegrams about the celebration of the 
 6oth year of Her Majesty's reign in every part of the world, we learn that 
 they have in no degree misrepresented or exaggerated the feeling in favour 
 of Lnperial unity which exists in the British Dominions in every part of 
 the world... It is satisfactory, I think, to know that the recent weeks — 
 the present time is not entirely given up either by ourselves or by our 
 visitors to great historical pageants or to festivities and mutual congratuia- 
 tions. The opportunity has been taken of the presence of the distinguished 
 colonial statesmen among us, some of whom we are able to welcome here 
 to-day — the opportunity has been taken by the Minister who is responsible 
 for our colonial relations not only to have interviews with each of them 
 individually — interviews necessarily of a confidential character upon mat- 
 ters relating to their own especial country — but also to hold meetings of 
 them collectively, meetings which also up to the present time have been of 
 a confidential nature, but at which questions of a more general character, 
 affecting the ivliolc range of our relations, have been considered and dis- 
 cussed. As I have said, up to the present time those meetings have been 
 entirely confidential. The time may come when it may be found possible to 
 make some public statement respecting the tenour and character of those 
 discussions or the conclusions which have been arrived at. 
 
 Whether this be so or not I do not think I am violating any confidence 
 when I say that the subjects which these Colonial Statesmen have been in- 
 vited to discuss with Mr. Chamberlain are to a very great extent .similar 
 to, if not absolutely identical with, those contained in the Constitution of 
 the British Empire League — the extension of our trade with the Colonies, 
 the effect of existing laws and treaties upon our commercial relations with 
 each other, the subject of communications between the Mother country and 
 the Colonies, or between the Colonies themselves, by means of steamships 
 or of telegraphs, the subjects of postal conuiiunications,— a/'CT'i' «//, ilu> sub- 
 ject of Imperial naval and military defence... 
 
 Mr. SEDDON, after thanking them warmly for their hearty rcce])ti(»n 
 to himself and the other Premiers present, said that the good work done 
 by the British Empire League had been appreciated by every well-wisher 
 of the Empire. He might go further and say that the presence of the Col-
 
 XX 
 
 onial Premiers that day in the Mother country was in a great degree owing 
 to the exertions and work of the League. As to their discussions with 
 Mr. Chamberlain, he was not at liberty to speak freely. The questions 
 which had been propounded and asserted by the League were nearer to frui- 
 tion than many present anticipated... The attitude of the Colonies in the 
 past proved that they were with the Motherland. It had been said that senti- 
 ment should count for little, but sentiment must ever count for much; and 
 the Colonics — those in the distant parts of the Empire must not have their 
 loyalty gauged by the amount they were able to contribute to either dc- 
 fe'nce'or anv other purpose of the Empire... The conference now taking 
 place between the Colonial Prime Ministers and the Imperial authorities 
 sufficiently warranted him in saying that it was a practical test of the ad- 
 vantages of a closer connection between the Mother country and the Col- 
 onies. If we went further and said that later on, in the British Parliament, 
 the ten millions who were at present disfranchised should be heard, he only 
 said that which required to be developed and which would eventually take 
 place. . . 
 
 Sir William WHITEWAY afterwards spoke:... It would be very 
 advantageous if more were known of the colonists, socially and politic- 
 ally. A few years ago, for instance, when he and some colonists were 
 in this country, a friend of his was asked whether he ate with them 
 and how they were dressed (Laughter) ; and a telegram had just been 
 received from Ireland containing an invitation to them to visit that 
 country, but with the request that they should appear in their native 
 costumes... They could hardly appreciate the work which they had to per- 
 form in the Colonies; and when they were asked to give large aiiiouiits for 
 the defenee of the Empire, they desired that all the circumstances of the posi- 
 tion should be considered. If, however, England should ever be in any 
 serious difficulty, the Colonies would not be backward in shedding their 
 blood for her. . . 
 
 Mr. G.-iH. REID (Premier of New South Wales), who arrived at this 
 point, was called upon to speak : . . . It seemed to him that the history 
 of the relations between the Mother-country and the Colonies showed that 
 the less tightly the ties between them had been drawn, the fewer the official 
 ties were, the larger and broader and more powerful were those other ties 
 which lay deep in the nature of the British race. 
 
 Sir Edward BRADDON, in addressing the meeting, remarked that, as the 
 President had observed, the Colonial iPremiers were not in a position to 
 speak freely. . . He was sure that Tasmania would be foremost of all the 
 Colonies — a long way before the Colony represented by Mr. Reid — in 
 joining closer together the bonds which united them with the Mother count- 
 ry. It was all very well to talk about loose bonds — they served very well 
 now, when the Colonies were especially loyal ; but the time must come, it 
 would not be in his day, when one of two things must occur — that the 
 Colonies must break away and set up their own nationhoods, or become 
 members of the great British Empire. He would leave this country... bit- 
 terly disappointed if some step were not taken to forward that which would 
 bring the Mother country and the Colonies closer together. 
 
 Col. George T. DENISON, President of the British Empire League in 
 Canada, in proposing the election of Lord Salisbury as a Vice-President of 
 the League, stated that at the present time in Canada the entire people were 
 absolutely united on the general idea of the permanent unity of the British
 
 XXI 
 
 Emnire. . . Canada was the fifth mercantile marine power of the world, and 
 the Dom'nion had a population of about 75,000 seafaring men. He asked 
 the people of England to unite with Canada to press on the two Govern- 
 ments the taking of some steps by which those rugged, hardy mariners might 
 be trained and educated for naval pursuits, in order that in case of war they 
 might form a great naval reserve to assist if their services should ever be 
 required. 
 
 (Times, July 6th, 1897.) 
 
 MINISTERS AND THE COLONIES 
 
 Last evening, the Master and Wardens of the Worshipful Company of 
 Cordwainers gave a ladies banquet at the Hotel Cecil... 
 
 The Duke of DEVONSHIRE, proposed "The Naval and Military Forces 
 of the Empire." He said : 
 
 ...Certainly no progress — no adequate progress — can be made in the 
 solution of the great question of Imperial defence in all its bearings unless 
 the people of this Empire — whether they be the people inhabiting Great 
 Britain or the more distant portions of the Empire across the sea — become 
 more alive than hitherto to the essential conditions of the problem; and I 
 do not think that a more practical step towards bringing home to the under- 
 standing and intelligence of the people of the conditions of that problem 
 could have been taken than that which had just been taken of exhibiting to 
 our co'onial fellow countrymen the magnificence and strenglh of our naval 
 power, which, if necessary, we could bring on any occasion to the defence 
 of their shores. At the same time, by the representation which we have 
 witnessed among us of the material which our Colonies possess of organ- 
 ised forces which will supplement the exertions of the navy, we have brought 
 home to the minds of our people at home and to the minds of our fellow 
 countrymen from the Colonies some of the most essential conditions of this 
 problem. . . 
 
 Mr. CHAMBERLAIN proposed the next toast : " The British Empire." 
 
 ...We hope that before long we may witness the federation of the great 
 Australian Dominion. We believe that that would give such strength and 
 influence to that portion of our Empire that it would be for the benefit of 
 our Colonies, and would secure their future prosperity. If that be accom- 
 plished, as it may be at no distant date, it must be fo'lowed by the federa- 
 tion of the South African Colonies. These two important changes will un- 
 doubtedly be the first step towards the federation of the Empire. Meanwhile 
 our business — the business of British Statesmen — is to remove obstacles 
 and to lay the foundations of closer relations; and it is for our Colonies 
 — for them alone — to decide when, in their opinion, the time has come 
 that they shall take up their part in the noble heritage we have preserved 
 for them as well as for ourselves, and if they desire at any time to share 
 with us the glories and the privileges of empire — if they are willing to 
 take on their shoulders their portion of the burden we have borne so long — 
 they may rest assured that their decision will be joyfully received, their 
 overtures will be cordially welcomed by the niotherland. . . 
 
 Sir Wilfrid LAURIER, who was cordially greeted, in responding to the 
 toast, remarked that Mr. Chamberlain had opened the subject which at that 
 moment more than any other was engaging the attention of all races which
 
 X X 1 1 
 
 composed tile British Empire. At no distant date it was manifest to all 
 tliat tlie parting of the ways would be reached by England and her Colon- 
 ies, and when the parting of the ways should have been reached the pro- 
 blem would be whether the Colonies should be more closely united with the 
 Motherland or whether their relat:ons should cease altogether. The Colon- 
 ies had a national pride, and no tie and no bond would be permanent in 
 the Co onies until it gave to its national pride the greatest possible expres- 
 sion. In Canada they had unbounded faith in their own country. When she 
 had reached the full development of her manhood nothing ivould satisfy her 
 bui Iinl'crial rcpri-scutation. 
 
 (Times. July 9th, 1897.) 
 
 One cannot help adinirinj^- the adroitness with which Mr. Chaiji- 
 l)i:rlain always puts forward the wish of the Colonies for closer 
 union. When the question came before Parliament, however, as will 
 be shown in chapters IV and V, it became quite clear that in the 
 minds of British statesmen, closer union meant drawings help from 
 the Colonies without any favour in return for the Colonies. 
 
 IMPERIAL DEFENCE. 
 
 At the Hotel Cecil, yesterdav morning, a deputation, appointed by the 
 IMPERIAL FEDERATION (DEFENCE) Committee, waited upon Sir J. 
 Gordon Sprigg, Premier of Cape Colony, to present to him an address con- 
 gratulating the people of Cape Co'ony on the resolution of the'r Legidature 
 declaring that the time has arrived when steps should be taken to arrange 
 some basis of contribution by the Colonies towards the Imperial navy... 
 
 Sir Charles DILKE, M. P., said that... There were many of them who 
 felt that, however great might be the difficulty in the way of any closer 
 political connection between the Colonies and the Mother country, the truest 
 and most practical form, at the moment, of Imperial federation ivas federa- 
 tion for the defence of the Empire and for resisting any of those great 
 strains which might come upon us. In that practical form of federation. 
 Cane Colony, by its recent act, seemed to have taken the longest stride 'that 
 had ever been taken up to the present time. . . 
 
 S'r J. Gordon SPRIGG, in reply, said he felt that the Committee in taking 
 up the position which they did were standing upon sure ground. He could 
 see that the unity of the Empire might be worked upon the grounds which 
 the Committee mentioned. In this question of Imperial defence other sug- 
 gestions had been brought forward with resard to commercial relations, but 
 in that matter he satv great difficulty. — (Times, July loth, 1857.) 
 
 COLONIAL PREMIERS AND CO.MMERCE. 
 
 LONDON, .JULY OtII, 1S07. 
 
 The London Chamber of Commerce entertained the Colonial Premiers 
 last evening to a dinner at the Hotel Metropole. Sir Albert-K. ROLLIT, 
 M. P., President of the Chamber, occupied the chair...
 
 XXIII 
 
 Sir John FORREST proposed " The Defensive Forces of the Empire." 
 He remarked that those who were not strong would in a time of difficulty 
 have to go to the wall and he therefore hoped that in this great country 
 and in all parts of the Empire they would not he lulled into a false secur- 
 ity in time of peace. If those who lived in a far off part of the world 
 wanted to have any voice whatever in the control of the destinies of this 
 great Empire, to which they were so proud to belong, they must throw in 
 their lot altogether with it. and bear their share of the responsibilities... 
 
 The CHAIRMAN then proposed the toa.st of the evening — "The Colon- 
 ies and Commerce and our colonial guests"... 
 
 ...They had learned the beauty of helping on the development of their 
 colonies by their capital, and the Colonies had reciprocated by repaying 
 that capital and paying the interest upon it in the shipment of goods, which 
 was the first great step towards commercial union. He might add that if 
 England had kept to that instead of lending money to foreign countries and 
 experiencing the sad truth that there were peoples, like individuals, of whom 
 it might be said that it was not their interest to pay their principal nor 
 their principle to pay their interest, they would be in some respects in a 
 better financial position than they were in that day... 
 
 There were other questions — that of naval defence, with all its respons- 
 ibility; that of British Cables; and, further, there was the question whe- 
 ther, if obligations of an Imperial character were contracted, as in naval 
 defence, the corollary of representation in the Councils of the Empire ought 
 not to accompany the contribution of the various Colonies. Their statesmen 
 must face and not shirk this problem. 
 
 iMr. G.-H. REID, in responding to the toast, remarked that Sir John 
 Forrest did not at all represent the sentiment of the people of Australia 
 when he spoke of them as being an.xious to join in the partnership of what 
 was called Imperial federation. The term was a beautiful one — like Meso- 
 potamia — but he never yet heard from any statesman or body of statesmen, 
 or even a league, a definition of what it really meant. The people of Aus- 
 tralia, like the people of this country, had become accustomed to manage 
 their own afifairs. They gloried in their equality with the people of England, 
 and any attempt to bring the Co'onies back to a relative position which 
 would make them insignificant — which would make them some indefinite 
 minor quantity at Westminster — would never succeed in Australia... The 
 English people need not get anxious about drawing closer the ties between 
 the Colonies and the Mother country. Sometimes the greater the number of 
 ties the more irksome such connection became. When they thought of the 
 glories of this great country and of the recent magnificent spectacle of con- 
 cord and loyalty, which had excited the admiration of their bitterest ene- 
 mies, he asked them to think twice before they manufactured fresh ties. It 
 was not the official connection — not the Governor — in New South Wales ; 
 it was not the Sovereign on the Throne which bound the British together, 
 because behind all these benificent institutions there lay that which did bind 
 them — the same blood, the same history, the same traditions, and the same 
 future. 
 
 Sir E. BRADDON also responded to the toast:... There was no doubt 
 whatever about the intense loyalty and devotion qf the people of the Colon- 
 ies to the Mother country, but in the future one of two things must hai^jjeii 
 — either the ties between them would be drawn closer, or the Colonies, as 
 they 'grew and expanded, would drift asunder from the Mother country. 
 There was nothing that he should deplore more than that. His jjolicy would 
 always be in favour of Imperial Federation, but, at the same time, when
 
 XXIV 
 
 the Colonics and especially when the Mother country was ripe for it, there 
 should be that representation of the Colonies and all parts of the British 
 Empire in an Imperial Parliament, which meant Imperial Federation. He 
 did not agree in the minor view of Mr. Rcid. He beheved that the Colonies 
 would take a higher view, and a view which he hoped would be taken was 
 that the closest union possible should be effected between Australasia and 
 the Mother country. 
 
 {Times, July loth, 1897.) 
 
 THE COLONIES AND THE NAVY. 
 GIFT OF A BAITLKSIIIP. 
 
 •"ive of the Colonial Premiers were, on Saturday night, the guests of the 
 mbers of the St. George's Club, at a dinner held at the Club house, Han- 
 
 Fi 
 
 meniL^.o ^^ ^..^ w... v..v.v..g,^ .^ ^,^.^, ^^ ^ ^.w..^. ..^.^^ ^^ ^..^ ^....^ ..^....^, ^^^.. 
 over Square, W. Lord LOCH, the President, occupied the chair, and the Pre- 
 miers present were Sir H.-M. Nelson, Sir J. Gordon Sprigg, Sir E.-N.-C. 
 Braddon, Sir J. Forrest, and Mr. H. Escombe. 
 
 The toast of " The Army, Navy, and Reserve Forces " was proposed by 
 Sir E.-N.-C. BRADDON, who said that... He was not without hope that 
 the Army, Navy, and Reserve Forces would secure that closer union, tnat 
 greater consolidation of the Empire which they all desired to see. He was 
 an Imperial fcderationlst — he believed in a complete unity of this great 
 Empire. The people of the Australasian colonists were at the present time 
 loyal to the core, and he did not want to see them cool in their loyalty 
 by reason of po iticians and statesmen not seizing opportunities which pre- 
 sented themselves to weld them together more closely with their fellows of 
 the Mother country... 
 
 The Duke of CAMBRIDGE... responded for the Army. He said:... 
 Although we might not have a very large Army at home, we knew that we 
 had the great assistance, should it be caled for, of the various colonies... 
 England was now in the glorious position of knowing that she was able to 
 ward off danger, from whatever quarter it might threaten, and that posi- 
 tion should be strengthened by drawing as close as possible the bond of 
 union between the Colonies and the Mother country, and showing to the 
 world that we were a combined Empire, and not a nation merely depen- 
 dent on isolated efforts. 
 
 Mr. GOSCHEN, responding for the Navy, said: 
 
 ...To-day I have had an interesting scene, a simple scene, but one which 
 will come home to all of you. I received the present of an ironclad at the 
 hands of a British Colony. There was no ceremonial, there was no great 
 reception, there was no blare of trumpets ; but Sir Gordon Sprigg simply 
 came to the First Lord of the Admiralty and told him that the Cape Colony 
 was prepared to place an ironclad of the first class at the disposal of the 
 Empire. I thank him on behalf of the English nation, I thank him on be- 
 half of the Government, and I thank him also on behalf of the Empire at 
 large, of which the Cape Colony is so distinguished a part. . . That offer of 
 a first class battle-ship is accompanied by no conditions, but it is proposed 
 that that ship shall take its place side by side with those sister ships, paid 
 for by the British tax-payer, which many of you have seen at Spithead. No 
 conditions attach to it; it is a free gift intended to add to the power of
 
 XXV 
 
 the British Empire. I value the gift of the Cape Colony specially for two 
 reasons — one political and the other strategical I value the political principle 
 which it acknowledges of the community of interests between the Colonies 
 and the Mother country, and I value the strategical principle — that the 
 best plan to assist the power of the British navy, the best plan to defend 
 the Colonies, is to leave an entirely free hand to the central authority which 
 organises Imperial defence. I value the political princ.ple not on financial 
 grounds. Whether the contributions are large or small the real point is this 
 — that the Colonies acknowledge the community of interests. As I ven- 
 tured to say the other night, it has not always been so. There was a timj 
 when the Colonists thought that their interests might be separate from the 
 Alother country, and, if we were engaged in war with European powers, tho 
 best plan for the colonists would be to stand aloof. Those ideas have van- 
 ished entirely in the present day; those ideas have been buried with man ; 
 other prejudices and a different creed prevails to-day. . . We do not wish 
 to turn the enthusiasm of the Jubilee into cash; we do not wish to pre-s 
 on this occasion for contributions in money from the Colonies except for 
 this purpose — not merely to relieve the British tax-payer, I put that entirt.- 
 ly aside — an acknowledgement of the principle that the Colonies, like our- 
 selves, are interested not only in their own ports, not only m the coaimercc 
 which clusters round their islands, but they are interested in this nation 
 being strong, and they recognise that the foreign policy of the Colonics 
 must be backed up by the Imperial navy; for a foreign policy without a 
 navy would be committed to a principle of weakness which neither the 
 Colonies nor the Mother country would ever be prepared to accept. . . 
 
 The Marquis of LORNE, reply'ng for the " Reserve Forces," remarked 
 that it was one of the best signs of the times that in our great Colonies now 
 there was a trained body of citizen-soldiers able to take the field when any 
 danger might threaten Great Britain. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN next proposed the toast of the evening — " The Pre- 
 miers of Her Majesty's self-governing Colonies." He said that the Premiers 
 now present in this country would have realised the strong desire on the 
 part of the people of this country to draw as close as possible the bond of 
 union with the Colonies which they represented. 
 
 ...Years ago he took part in the negociatlons which were carried out in 
 Australia for the establishment of that naval contingent to which Mr. Cos- 
 chen had referred. He was associated at that time with Sir George Tryon. 
 who, in his communications with the Premiers of some of the Colonics 
 pointed out that the true defence of Australian waters was not by keeping 
 the ships which were then to be constructed at the expense of the Colonies 
 within Australian waters, but that possibly the best defence for those waters 
 might even be in the Chinese seas, and that it was necessary that the ad- 
 mirals should have power to send the ships to ivhatcz'cr part of the zvorlJ 
 their services could be best used in. The action of Cape Colony and that 
 taken by the Australasian Colonies were a symbol of their desire for unily 
 with the Mother country. Knowing, as he did, the patriotic and loyal feel- 
 ing of the people of the Australian Colonies, he had not the sliglUcst doubt 
 that they would renew in some form or other their contriliution to the Im- 
 perial defence of the Empire. . . 
 
 Sir Gordon SPRIGG responded for the Cape of Good llo])e: 
 
 The proposal which he, as First Minister of the Government, was priv- 
 ileged to make to the First Lord of the Admiralty was an ihustration of how 
 
 ()
 
 XXVI 
 
 they were welding together the different nationalities in Cape Colony. It was 
 a matter whieh was discussed in the Cape Legislature, where there were a 
 large nunilier of Dutch members, and the proposal was brought forward 
 iliore by an independent member. It was supported by himself, and other 
 members of the Government to the utmost of their power, and it was car- 
 ried tlirough without any division... The carrying out of the proposal was 
 contingent upon the ratification of the Legislature of Cape Colony, but he 
 felt the utmost assurance that when the Legislature met next year the gift 
 would be ratified, and that they would have the great satisfaction of know- 
 ing that they had contributed to the navy, which was the great instrument 
 in creating the Empire, and that by which the Empire was being to be main- 
 tained. 
 
 Sir John FORREST replied for Western Australia... The Colony which 
 he represented was prepared to continue its contributions to the Imperial 
 navy. Britons must defend their commercial relations and assist one an- 
 other to the utmost of their power. Personally, he had never ceased to try 
 to inculcate amongst the people of Western Australia a spirit of love and 
 admiration for the Mother country, and he had always felt the same good 
 will towards the people of England that he felt at the present time. He 
 Iioped that as time went on there would be found a means of knitting more 
 clcsely together the various parts of the Empire into one harmonious whole. 
 
 (Times, July 12th, 1897.) 
 
 The Australian Premiers did not evidently accept the suggestion 
 made to them by Mr. Goschen and Lord Loch to abandon to the 
 iJritish Admiralty the full control of the Australian sqUadron. The 
 Times gave expression to the disappointment felt by the British 
 authorities in an article published the same day. from which the 
 following extract is taken : 
 
 It is to be feared from the remarks of iMr. KINGSTON, the Premier of 
 South Australia, and from certain observations dropped by some other in- 
 fluential Australian politicians, that, notwithstanding the unanimous view 
 of naval experts and the attempts of Lord Brassey and others to popularise 
 it in our great Southern Colonies, the old mistaken notion that local in- 
 terests can be best defended locally still survives to some extent amongst 
 Australians. Possibly the example of Cape Colony, as intelligent as it is 
 courageous and generous, may induce them to abandon a theory which goes 
 far to diminish the utility of the large sacrifices they have made, and which, 
 we doubt not, they will he ready, when the time comes, to renew. 
 
 it may be noted here that Lord BERESFORD did not approve of 
 the principle la'd down by the Governme.it of Cape Colony, when they 
 offered a battleship to the British Naval authorities. The Toronto 
 Globe of July 27th. 1897, published a letter from its London corres- 
 pondent, in which T read the following: 
 
 It was said in a former letter that the Cape Co'ony's ofifer of a first class 
 battleship to the British Navy, though highly appreciated, was not regarded 
 by Naval experts as the best plan of promoting the object in view This 
 statement is confirmed by a letter from Lord Charles BERESFORD. who 
 says the generous and magnificent gift of an ironclad presented bv the Cape
 
 XXVI I 
 
 rightly deserved all the praise and kindly sentiments which it had evoved in 
 this country. He should be very sorry, however, if the patriotic zeal and 
 loyalty so splendidly exhibited at the Cape were to form a precedent for 
 future contributions from the Colonies towards Imperial defence... In his 
 opinion, both for strategical and political reasons, it would be a far reach- 
 ing, if not fatal, mistake to accept the principle that the best contribution 
 of the Colonies in aid. of Imperial defence would be in the direction of sup- 
 plying money for either building or maintaining ships of the fleet. A very 
 ackward state of affairs might arise if this principle was largely extended. 
 During war. it was quite likely that it might be necessary to remove the 
 fleet from colonial waters. If during its absence a hostile cruiser bombard- 
 ed the colonial coast towns it was idle to think that in such a case there 
 would not be friction, soreness, and some misunderstanding among those 
 colonists who had paid towards the expenses of that fleet. He was most 
 strongly of opinion that colonial contributions to Imperial defence should 
 consist entirely of local naval bases under their own control, thoroughly 
 equipped in every detail, that would enable a fleet to refit and repair dam- 
 ages quickly. Grand, generous, chivalrous, as the suggestion from the Cape 
 must be regarded, he could not but help thinking that the million necessary 
 to build and equip a first class battleship would be far more beneficially 
 expended for Imperial defence if used to make the Cape a more efficient 
 naval base. 
 
 OPINION OV HON. G. W. REID. 
 
 It may have been noted that as the ardour of the other colonial 
 representatives was growing in intensity, Mr. Reid was asserting his 
 dissenting views more strongly. On the I2th of July, the Earl of Sel- 
 borne, Under-Secretary for the Colonies, presided at a complimen- 
 tary dinner to the Premier of New^ South Wales. 
 
 Admiral Sir N. BOWDEN-SMITH, in responding for the Navy, said ii 
 should not be forgotten that the Colonies of Australia and New Zealand were 
 the first to contribute towards the maintenance of the Imperial navy in their 
 own waters, an example that had now been followed by the Cape. He hoped 
 that when the present agreement with Australia expired it would be renew- 
 ed in a liberal spirit on both sides. They ought to remember that, in the 
 event of a war with a great naval power, the interest of the Colonies might 
 possibly be served by the fleet, which was stationed in Australian waters, 
 fighting some battle a considerable distance from the shores of the Colonies 
 themselves. . . 
 
 MR. REID said that: 
 
 Many of their most zealous lovers of Imperial unity — men with the no- 
 blest motives, — seemed to wish to drag them forward into that future to 
 which the Chairman had referred, in company with a number of projects 
 for which, he thought, there was still some room for consideration. He had 
 never ceased to admire the zeal with which many very splendid proposals 
 had been advocated for, for instance, providing for the representation of 
 Australia and the other self-governing colonies in the Houses of Parliament; 
 and in some of his more romantic moments he had almost come to picture 
 the presence of the most noble the Duke of Woolloomooloo side by sicle with
 
 XXVIII 
 
 the distinguished Lords he saw on either side of him. He confessed, seeing 
 how Parliaments worked at present, the spectacle of another union of Par- 
 liaments was too appalling... It had always seemed to him that complete 
 as were our Parliamentary institutions and those of the Colonies, the blend- 
 ing of these two perfections might be attended with mischievous conse- 
 quences... To those who were anxious to introduce startling changes in the 
 relations between the different parts of the Empire — which, he admitted, 
 did seem unsatisfactory to the eye, but which in the course of every day life 
 he submitted had worked most admirably — he thought they had a right to 
 ask for some substantial proof that the present relations could be improved. 
 He said that he g:reatly admired the liberal offer which was made on Satur- 
 day by the Premier of the Cape. No offer could be more timely or more 
 welcome, because it was the Cape which was giving us all the trouble. They 
 in Australia had given the Mother country very few naval or military anxie- 
 ty, but the colony which he represented had spent something like £500,000 in 
 providing a naval base for the fleets of Her Majesty in the Pacific. Then 
 the Australian Colonies contributed an amount per annum which would 
 represent £3,000,000 or £4,000,000 worth of warships. After stating that the 
 naval agreement with Australia was sure to be renewed, he said he cheer- 
 fully recognised, and heartily reciprocated, the magnificent generosity of 
 spirit which was shown by the people of England towards the Colonies, and 
 just as the statesmen and people of England pledged themselves to stand 
 by the Colonies in the time of extremity, to the last man and to the last 
 shilling, so they, as no unworthy scions of the same stock, said to the people 
 of England that, few as they were to-day, and slender as were their finan- 
 cial resources, if the time of danger came on our race we should find that 
 the spirit which animated us in our treatment of them would be shown by 
 them under the same flag. 
 
 (Times, July 13th. 1897.) 
 
 Mr. Reid insists most emphatically on the mutual pledge : " just 
 as the statesmen- and people of England pledged thenisehes to the 
 last man an to the last shilling. " Before pledging Canada to Bri- 
 tish wars, we might have ascertained how many men and how 
 many shillings England would be ready to risk in defending Canada 
 against the United-States, our only possible ennemy? 
 
 THE CANADA CLUB. 
 
 .JULY 14th, ISi)". 
 
 A dinner was given last night at the Albion Tavern bv the Canada Club. 
 Sir Robert Gillespie presided, and the company included Sir Wilfrid Lau- 
 rier. Sir Donald Smith, Sir Louis-H. Davies, etc. 
 
 Sir Wilfrid LAURIER said that... Very kind reference had been made to 
 the soldiers of Canada during their short stay in England. Might their hope 
 he gratified that the scourge of war might disappear from the earth, but if 
 i; should be the misfortune of the British Empire to be engaged in war. 
 no matter with what countrj^ he was sure that the Canadian soldiers would 
 give a good account of themselves. 
 
 (Times. Ju'y I5lh iJ^'oj.)
 
 XXIX 
 
 THE COLONIAL PREMIERS I \' PARIS. 
 
 Paris, July igth. — -...The British Chamber of Commerce had the happy 
 idea of inviting them —[the Colonial Premiers] — • to a banquet to meet the 
 British Colony here... 
 
 Sir Wilfrid LAURIER... 
 
 While remaining French, he was profoundly attached to British institu- 
 tions. Speaking for his fellow-countrymen, he could vouch that they were 
 satisfied with their existing institutions and with their present rule. But 
 those relations could not remain forever unaltered. The day would come 
 when, by the force of events and the development of the colony, the ties 
 now so slight between Canada and Great Britain must be modified, and 
 Canada would aspire to a higher position. The problem would then have 
 to be solved by the Mother country. The existing ties would either have 
 to be severed or to be drawn closer. If the problem should be solved, 
 which was not improbable, by Imperial representation, Canada would at no 
 price accept anything depriving it of its legislative autonomy. It was per- 
 missible, however, to hope that the solution of the problem would be a clo- 
 ser union with the Mother country, and if this took the shape of Imperial 
 representation, it would be a glorious day to see Canada represented in the 
 Federal Parliament by a descendant of the French race. 
 
 Mr. G.-H. REID said:... 
 
 The patriotic display made recently by all parts of Greater Britain in 
 honour of our illustrious Queen has quickened a desire in some quarters 
 for closer political and commercial relations, but, so far, no definite policy 
 worthy of serious consideration has been unfolded. As for political ties, the 
 truth may resemble a paradox, but it is the fact that the more slender the 
 official tie has become the less has been the strain upon it, so that the vir- 
 tual independence of the self-governing colonies has brought about a de- 
 gree of Imperial solidarity without precedent in history. As for commercial 
 ties, the trade of Greater Britain is mainly with the United Kingdom, and 
 the slight changes possible scarcely call for a policy of adventure... 
 
 Sir J. Gordon SPRIGG said:... 
 
 One word on Greater Britain. I believe that the ties uniting us among 
 ourselves and with the Mother country will become closer and closer, so that 
 at a given moment we shall feel that we form but one family in this great 
 and glorious Empire, over which Queen Victoria has reigned with such un- 
 paralleled success. 
 
 Commenting on the above speeches, the Times of the same date 
 said : 
 
 It will be noted that Sir Wilfrid Laurier has once again expressed his 
 belief that the day must come when, by the force of events, the Colonics, or 
 Canada at all events, will be compelled to seek for the establishment of 
 closer relations with the Mother country...
 
 XXX 
 
 In another article devoted especially to " Canada and the Empire " 
 the Ti)iics said : 
 
 No figure has been more prominent or more honoured among the Colonial 
 representatives than that of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. the Canadian Premier... 
 
 Sir Wilfrid Laurier has responded to the sympathetic movement of this 
 country by taking the lead in a movement towards some closer form of Im- 
 perial union. He alone of all the Colonial Premiers at present in this coun- 
 try has ventured to suggest in public speech the desirability of representa- 
 tion of the Colonies in the Imperial Parliament of the future. That he 
 should do so is particularly interesting as indicating the direction in which 
 Colonial evolution under present conditions may tend... 
 
 In a letter dated July 20th 1897 and published on the 23rd, the 
 special correspondent of the Times in Paris gave the report of a 
 long interview which he had with Sir Wilfrid Laurier just before 
 the banquet of the Chamber of Commerce. The following is an 
 extract from Sir Wilfrid's declarations : 
 
 I shall perhaps be led into saying something to-night on the federal idea 
 now occupying English minds. As for us, we are quite satisfied with our 
 present situation. We are gaining in prosperity and strength. We feel our- 
 selves independent, and we cling all the more to the Mother country be- 
 cause we seem to be acting quite freely. Perhaps one day, in five or ten or 
 twenty years, when we are twelve or fifteen millions, we may be hampered 
 by our present situation. Then the federal idea will present itself quite 
 naturally. And then, I am convinced, the best way of realising this idea 
 will be found. A Parliament will perhaps be created, in which both the Col- 
 onies and the Mother country will be proportionately and equitably represent- 
 ed, and in which common interest will be discussed with full respect for 
 the interest of each. But, for the moment, we have brought to the Mother 
 country an incontestable demonstration of our loyalty, and the whole world 
 must have been the witness of it.
 
 II. 
 
 Contribution of the Colonies to the 
 South African War* 
 
 lo. Interpretation in Canada. 
 
 The secret intrigues which have preceded the sending of Canadian 
 troops to South Africa, have been invariably denied in official 
 circles. As one may well believe, those operations were not per- 
 formed in open light, on Parliament square, and they could not be 
 easily detected in newspaper reports or public speeches. I find, 
 however, in perusing the newspapers of July 1899, a few paragraphs 
 which raise a corner of the curtain behind which |M. Cecil Rhodes' 
 agent was exerting his efforts to secure the adhesion of Canada to 
 his master's policy. 
 
 On the nth of July, the Montreal Star announced Allen's arrival 
 in Canada : 
 
 Mr. Allen's object in coming to Canada at the present juncture is to en- 
 list the sympathy and support of the Canadian people in the work which 
 his countrymen in Africa are carrying on. Already, he says, the Australian 
 colonies have moved in the matter, and have, by a series of resolutions, 
 asked the Imperial Government to protect the rights of British subjects in 
 Paul Kruger's republic. Mr. Allen is desirous of obtaining a similar pro- 
 nuncio from Canadians. 
 
 The following dav, the same organ had another interview with 
 Allen : 
 
 Mr. Allen, it may be remarked, comes to this country for the purpose of 
 interesting the Canadian people in the South African question and show 
 them that as members of the Empire they have a direct interest in South 
 Africa. 
 
 In any country where people are not thoroughly ])repared to be 
 humbugged without enquiring a little in the matter, this would not 
 have been an easy task.
 
 Tlio L'tlamlcrs' dclco-nte went on: 
 
 The objects of the Imperial South African Association of which the Right 
 lion. Lord Windsor is president, are to uphold british supremacy and to 
 promote the interests of british subjects in South Africa, with full rccogni- 
 t on of colonial self government, (i) 
 
 The masters' thou<?ht was coming- out through the ag-ent : it was 
 alreaily decided that the South-African RepubHc was to be a british 
 colony. 
 
 Coming to practice I am convinced that nothing would more contribute 
 to a pacfic and satisfactory solution of the South African question than an 
 expression of opinion from Canada similar to that which came from Aus- 
 tralia in May last. The Australians have convinced Mr. Kruger and the 
 Imperial Government, by public meetings and through the press, that they 
 regarded as a matter of moment that their fellow countrymen in the Trans- 
 vaal should be admitted to political equality with the Boers, and that british 
 supremacy should be maintained throughout South Africa. 
 
 And then, on the 22nd, the Star had the following despatch from 
 Ottawa: - 
 
 Mr. J. Davis Allen, delegate of the Imperial South African Association, 
 delivered an address in one of the Senate committee rooms last night to 
 senators and members of Parliament on the South African crisis. Sir Mac- 
 Kenzie Bowell occupied the chair. Mr. Davis Allen is a delegate of the 
 Imperial South Afijican Association. The meeting was an enthusiastic one, 
 the object being to get Parliament to pass resolutions in favour of the 
 Uitlanders. 
 
 The Toronto Globe had, on the 24th, a short paragraph on this 
 matter : . 
 
 .A. VISITOR FRO.M JOH AXXESBUKG. 
 
 As a result of the presence in Ottawa of Mr. J. Dav^s Allen, the re- 
 presentative of the Uitlanders Association of Johannesburg, it is probable 
 that an efifort will be made to have the Dominion Parliament pass a resolu- 
 tion of sympathy with the aliens residing in the Transvaal. It is not prob- 
 able that the Government will consider it advisable to ask Parliament to 
 give unsolicited advice to the Imperial Government or to pass what would 
 be an opinion on a matter of grave international importance. 
 
 A week later, ]\Ir. Allen had succeeded in bringing to his terms 
 the Prime ^linister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the whole 
 representation :n both Houses. On the 31st of July, after a few 
 minutes, — not of discussion — but of oration and patriotic singing, 
 the Canadian Parliament solved a problem which had occupied the 
 attention and anxieties of British statesmanship for nearly a century ; 
 and the folow'ng resolution was adopted unanimously : 
 
 (1) For the name.s of Uie Canadians who enlisted in this association, see faze cxxxiv.
 
 xxxin 
 
 1. Resolved, That this House has viewed with regret the compHcations 
 which have arisen in the Transvaal Republic, of which Her Majesty is 
 suzerain, from the refusal to accord to Her Majesty's subjects now settled 
 in that region, any adequate participation in its government ; 
 
 2. Resolved, That this House has learned with still greater regret that 
 the condition of things there existing has resulted in intolerable oppres- 
 sion, and has produced great and dangerous excitement among several 
 classes of Her Majesty's subjects in her South African possessions; 
 
 3. Resolved, That this -House, representing a people which has largely 
 succeeded, by the adoption of the principle of conceding equal political rights 
 to every portion of the population, in harmonising estrangements and in 
 producing general content with the existing system of government, desires 
 to express its sympathy zvith the efforts of Her Majesty's Imperial author- 
 ities to obtain for the subjects of Her Majesty who have taken up their 
 abode in the Transvaal such measure of justice and political recognition as 
 may be found necessary to secure them in the full possession of equal rights 
 and liberties. 
 
 (Debates, House of Commons, 1899, Vol. HI, page 8994.) 
 
 The apparent purpose of this resolution was to supply the Uitlan- 
 clers with a new argument and enable them to point to Canada as a 
 country where, under British rule, different races could live on equal 
 terms of citizenship. I need not say, however, that this resolution 
 never went to South Africa. It remained in Mr. Chamberlain's 
 pocket-book, so as to be used, first, as an argument against his poli- 
 tical opponents in England, and second, as a pledge from Canada to 
 supply armed help when the time came of sanctioning by force the 
 principle laid down in the resolution. 
 
 Let us see how the organisation worked when war broke out. 
 
 As soon as the 28th of September, the Toronto Globe gave out 
 that a Canadian contingent would be sent to South Africa ; it went 
 as far as giving all the "details of the recruiting and equipping of the 
 volunteers. It" was well known then, in Ottawa, that General 
 Hutton and his staff were actively engaged in preparing for action. 
 However, on the 28th of Septeniber.^Lt. Col. PINAULT, Deputy 
 Minister of Militia, wrote the following letter to Canadian officers 
 who had offered their services : 
 
 In reply to your inquiry, I have the honor to state that the last news re- 
 ceived from the War Office. London, is to the effect that the Imperial 
 authorities are not recruiting for the army and are not preparing any expedi- 
 tion (of recruits) to Africa. Therefore, it would be fruitless to forward 
 your application to England. 
 
 (Globe, September 29th, 1899.) 
 
 On the 28th, the Montreal Star had the following special cable 
 from London :
 
 XXXIV 
 
 Canada's proposal to tender a regiment for service in South Africa has 
 awakened the keenest interest, which is accentuated to-day by the reports 
 of Sir Charles Tupper's Halifax speech cordially supporting the idea. 
 
 I cannot learn, however, that any definite official offer has been received 
 at the War Office, though a private letter has been received by Mr. Cham- 
 berlain from Sir Wilfrid Laurier, making tentative suggestions. 
 
 The project will undoubtedly do so much to again convince Englishmen 
 of Canada's strong and practical Imperialism. 
 
 Hopes are expressed that Canada will not lessen the intrinsic value of 
 the offer by calling upon the War Office, at this moment of extreme pres- 
 sure, to arrange for transportation. 
 
 The object lesson of a united Empire would be greatly increased if each 
 Colony would itself p!ace its troops at the British disposal at the British 
 base. Cape Town. 
 
 It is hard to bring into concurrence this announcement of the Star 
 correspondent with the following declaration of the Prime ]\Iinister j 
 of Canada — unless the explanation shc'uld be found in the word? : 
 " private letter. " Politicians and diplomatists, in all lands and all 
 times, are apt to make fine distinctions between official opinions | 
 and private sentiment. 
 
 On the 3rd of October. Sir Wilfrid LAURIER made the follow- 
 ing statement to the special correspondent of the Toronto Globe, in 
 Ottawa : it was published the following day : 
 
 As I understand the Militia Act, and I may say that I have given it some 
 study of late, our volunteers are enrolled to be used in the defence of the 
 Dominion. They are Canadian troops, to be used to fight for Canada's 
 defence. 
 
 The Prime ^Minister then explains that in a war where England 
 would be fighting against a power whose navy could threaten 
 Canada, the Government would be justified in sending Canadian 
 soldiers abroad, without waiting for an actual attack upon our 
 shores ; and he adds : 
 
 The case of the South African Republic is not analogous. There is no 
 menace to Canada, and, although we may be willing to contribute troops, 
 I do not see how we can do so. Then, again, how could we do so without 
 Parliament's granting us the money? We simply could not do anything. In 
 other words, we should have to summon Parliament... And so it is that 
 we have not offered a Canadian contingent to the Home authorit es. The 
 Militia Department duly transmitted individual offers to the Imperial Gov- 
 ernment, and the reply from the W'ar Office, as published in Saturday's 
 Globe, shows their attitude on the question. As to Canada's furnishing a 
 contingent, the Government has not discussed the question for the reasons 
 which I have stated — reasons w^hich. I think, must easily be understood by 
 every one who understands the constitutional law on the question. 
 
 On the 5th of October, Sir Charles TUPPER sent the following 
 message to Sir Wilfrid Laurier :
 
 XXXV 
 
 Yarmouth, N. S.. October 5th. 1899. 
 Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Ottawa: 
 
 I hope you will send a contingent of Canadian volunteers to aid England 
 in the Transvaal. I know it will be warmly welcomed by the British gov- 
 ernment, be of great service to Canada and promote the unity of the Em- 
 pire. A friend of mine will insure the lives and limbs at his own expense 
 to a million dollars, and I will heartily support in Parliament your action 
 in this matter. 
 
 CHARLES TUPPER. 
 (Montreal Star, October 17th, 1899.) 
 
 On the 3rd of October, the very day on which Sir Wilfrid Laurier 
 stated that his Government had ofifered no troops and was debarred 
 by the constitution from sending anv,the Secretary of State for the 
 Colonies, Mr. CHAMBERLAIN, wired to Lord 'Minto an official 
 despatch which began as follows : 
 
 Secretary of State for War and Commander-in-Chief desire to express 
 high appreciation of signal exhibition of patriotic spirit of people of Canada 
 shown by offers to serve in South Africa, and to furnish following informa- 
 tion to assist organisation of force offered into units suitable for military 
 requirements. . . 
 
 On the 13th of October, the Government gave way and decided to 
 send a contingent. They then adopted the famous ORDER IN 
 COLINCIL which contained the following paragraph : 
 
 The Prime Minister, in view of the well-known desire of a great many 
 Canadians who are ready to take service under such conditions, is of op- 
 inion that the moderate expenditure which would thus be involved for the 
 equipment and transportation of such volunteers may readily be undertaken 
 by the Government of Canada without summoning Parliament, especially 
 as such an expenditure under such circumstances cannot be regarded as a 
 departure from the well-known principles of constitutional government and 
 colonial practice, nor construed as a precedent for future action. 
 
 This is what was termed the " No-precedent Clause ". 
 
 A copy of this Order-in-Council was sent to Mr. Chamberlain, on 
 the 20th of October, 1899. In this reply, dated November 15th, 1899, 
 the Colonial Secretary said : 
 
 The desire thus exhibited to share in the risks and burdens of Jvupire 
 has been welcomed, not only as a proof of the staunch loyalty of the 
 Dominion, and of its sympathy with the policy pursued by Her Majesty's 
 Government in South Africa, but also as an expression of that growing 
 feeling of the unity and solidarity of the Empire which has marked the rela- 
 tions of the Mother country with the Colonics during recent years... 
 
 In Other words, the sending of the contingent was welcomed for
 
 XX.W 1 
 
 the very oppositive motive to that expressed by the Canadian Go 
 vernment, namely, because it did mean a precedent. 
 
 The above documents are contained in the correspondence laid 
 down in the British Parliament in November, 1899 {Farliaiiientary 
 Papers, 1899, Cd. 18), and in the Canadian Parliament, in March, 
 1900. 
 
 I may give just here another striking illustration of the most 
 extraordinary methods used by ^Ir. Chamberlain and of the weak- 
 ness shown by our own rulers in their relations with the Colonial 
 Secretary. 
 
 On the 4th of June 1900. I put the following question to the 
 Government : 
 
 Has the Government, or any of its members, been consulted as to the con- 
 ditions upon which the South African war should be settled? Is it the in- 
 tention of the Government to ofifer any suggestion or opinion on the matter? 
 
 To which the Prime ^linister. Sir Wilfrid LAURIER. replied : 
 
 Neither the Government nor any of its members have been consulted as 
 to conditions upon which the South African war should be settled. They 
 are not considering the advisability of offering any suggestion or opinion 
 upon the matter. 
 
 (Debates, House of Commons, 1900, Vol. H, page 6625.) 
 
 On the 7th of August following, Mr. FABER (M. P. for York) 
 in tne House of Commons of England, asked — 
 
 the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, considering the part 
 taken by Canada and Australia in the South African war, it is proposed to 
 ascertain the views of the Governments of those countries in regard to the 
 settlement and government of the Transvaal and Orange State when the 
 war is over ? 
 
 _Mr. CHAMBERLAIN: I have already made myself acquainted with the 
 views of the Colonies of Canada and Australasia in regard to the main 
 points of the future settlement, and Her Majesty's Government are in com- 
 plete accordance with them as to the necessity for annexation, the establish- 
 ment of a Government supported by military force, with the ultimate ex- 
 pectation of an extension to both colonies of representative self-govern- 
 ment. (Cheers.) 
 
 (P. D., Vol. 87. page 909) 
 
 At the next session, I again brought the matter forward. On the 
 i8th of February 1901, I put the following question: 
 
 1. Was the Canadian Government or any of its members consulted by the 
 British Government on the South African question, since the first of June 
 last? 
 
 2. Did the Canadian Government or any of its members offer anv opinion 
 or make any suggestion to the British Government on the matter?'
 
 XXXVII 
 
 The Prime Minister (Rt. Hon. Sir Wilfrid LAURIER) : The Canadian 
 Government was not consulted, nor was any of its members, by the British 
 Government on the South African question since June ist last. No member 
 of the Canadian Government offered any opinion on the matter. 
 
 (Debates, House of Commons, 1901, Vol. I, page 106.) 
 
 It is hardly possible to conceive a more direct and positive contra- 
 diction. Either Mr. Chamberlain consulted Canada or he did not. If 
 he did, how could the Prime Minister of Canada state most empha- 
 tically, on two different occasions, that his Government had not 
 been consulted? If he did not, why did the Canadian Government 
 leave without protest this abuse of their name by the Colonial Secre- 
 tary, in favour of his policy? 
 
 I need not give here, as I have done in the french edition of this 
 pamphlet, all the declarations and expressions of opinion from Cana- 
 dian statesmen, proving that they never attached any real impor- 
 tance to the reservation which they had themselves introduced in 
 their Order-in-Council. As a matter of fact, friends and supporters 
 of the Government, and even members of the Cabinet, when addres- 
 sing English-speaking portions of the Canadian people always 
 endeavoured to minimise the meaning of the " No precedent Clause." 
 But in the Province of Quebec, it was pointed out to the people, and 
 most strenotusly insisted upon, that the Government had taken pro- 
 per care not to commit Canada to any future participation in Pritish 
 wars. 
 
 I will just give here a few extracts from speeches made at the 
 time of the departure of the first contingent from Quebec. 
 
 On the 28th of October 1899, at a banquet at the Garrison Club, 
 the Hon. F. W. BORDEN, Minister of Militia, said: 
 
 This marked an epoch, and a most important one, not only of the Militia, 
 but of Canada, and of the Empire. The people of Canada have at last fully 
 realised the debt they owe the Empire... The Empire is no longer a power 
 with dependencies, but a power made up of several nations. The process 
 of Empire building in this sense may have gone slowly, but now it has come. 
 In the past, the main difficulty was to find a means of bringing about this 
 step, but now it is developed, just as the great constitution under which 
 the Empire is governed has been developed, just as Canada is now taking 
 part in the wars of the Empire without any one being able to tell how it 
 all came about. . . 
 
 Major General HUTTON said: 
 
 This is in its way a matter of satisfaction, but, gentlemen, what after all 
 is the contribution of a thousand men to [the] requirements of a great 
 Empire? This is numerically nothing; and what Canada has to look to, if 
 she is to fulfil her role as a portion, and one of the greatest portions, of 
 the great confederation of the Mother country and her Colonies, called the 
 British Empire, is that the time may come when not 1,000 men, but 50,000 or
 
 XXXVIII 
 
 loo.ooo may be required to maintain the unity, the integrity, nay, the very 
 existence of our Empire... 
 
 (Montreal Star, October 30th, 1899.) 
 
 The next dav. at a dinner at the Citadel, the GOVERNOR GE- 
 NERAL said that: 
 
 The contingent was the first present which Canada had given in the great 
 Imperial cause. This was a new departure, and the future was filled with 
 possibilities. The present expression of Imperial union was more expressive 
 than a written constitution could be. The sending of these troops might 
 raise the question of Imperial Federation, but he was not there to discuss 
 that question. He had always been opposed to written constitutions; he 
 would prefer to trust the feelings of the heart... 
 
 (Montreal Star, October 31st, 1899.) 
 
 At the general review of the troops, Lord :MINT0 had said: 
 
 Canada has freely made her offerings of this military contingent to the 
 Old Country, and in so doing has accepted the difficulties which she knows 
 must follow. The people of Canada have no desire to consider the quibbles 
 of colonial responsibility. What they have done is to insist that their loyal 
 offers should be made known, and they heartily rejoiced when they were 
 graciouslv accepted. 
 
 (Montreal Star, October 30th, 1899.) 
 
 When came the session of 1900, the Government asked the House 
 of Commons to ratify their unconstitutional expenditure of mone}- 
 used without previous authorisation from Parliament, for the 
 equipping and sending of the two contingents. It then appeared to 
 me that, if they were sincere when they stated in their Order-in- 
 Council of October 13th that they entered into such an unpre- 
 cedented action because it was not to be considered as a precedent, 
 the Government could have no objection to a Parliamentary ratifi- 
 cation of their declaration. I therefore made the following motion : 
 
 That this House insists on the principle of the sovereignty and the in- 
 dependence of Parliament as the basis of British institutions and the safe- 
 guard of the civil and political liberties of British citizens, and refuses con- 
 sequently to consider the action of the Government in relation to the South 
 African war as a precedent which should commit this country to any action 
 in the future. 
 
 That this House further declares that it opposes any change in the politi- 
 cal and military relations which exist at present* between Canada and Great 
 Britain unless such change is initiated by the sovereign will of Parliament 
 and sanctioned by the people of Canada. 
 
 (Debates. House of Commons, 1900, Vol. I, page 1837.) 
 
 Both the Leader of the Government and the Leader of the Oppo- 
 sition ttnited their efforts to smash up that motion, and forced the 
 almost unanimous vote of Parliament to nullify the safeguards 
 which had been offered to us in the Order-in-Coitncil.
 
 XXX IX 
 
 2o. Interpretation in England. 
 
 I will now give but a few of the declarations made in England by 
 the leading statesmen of both parties. These will prove, I thinlc, 
 that the sending of our troops was not considered so much as an 
 actual and effective help in the present war, but as the beginning of 
 a new military organisation for the Empire. 
 
 THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. 
 
 SPEECH AT SHEFFIELD, NOVEMBER '2ND 1899. 
 
 ...Upon another incident in these operations — [referring to the war] — 1 
 feel bound to say a word — I mean the participation of our great colonies... 
 It was with regret that we found ourselves obliged to impose limits upon the 
 numbers which they were willing to furnish, but to my mind the value of 
 this colonial force is not to be measured merely by their numerical strength 
 in the fighting line. Its presence will impress upon the civilised world two 
 great truths. — First, that " Greater Britain " is not an empty phrase, and, 
 secondly, that we should not have obtained this large measure of voluntary 
 support unless the cause for which we were fighting had been a just cause. 
 (E. P. H., Vol. I, page 49-) 
 
 RT. HON. C. T. RITCHIE, M. P. 
 
 SPEECH AT I.AUdHTON', ESSEX, NOVEMBER STH 1S99 
 
 ...Unhappy as was this war, it had had the effect of drawing more close- 
 ly the bonds between the Mother country and her colonies, and it had shown 
 that in times of danger and difficulty, when the interests of this country 
 were imperilled, our fellow subjects in every colony would stand behind us. 
 (E. P. H., Vol. I, page 80.) 
 
 MR. GEORGE WYNDHAM, UNDEK-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR. 
 
 SPEECH AT DOVER, NOVEMBER 13TH, 1899. 
 
 ...A source of Imperial strength has been revealed in its full proportions 
 by this war, the strength and the magnitude of which none of us had sus- 
 pected. That source of Imperial strength is the splendid spirit, the discipline, 
 and the loyalty of our colonies... We have seen that proved to the full in 
 South Africa. We have seen an earnest and a guarantee of it in the case 
 of Canada and Australia... (E. P. H., Vol.1, page in.) 
 
 RT. HON. SIR MICHAEL HICKS BEACH, CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER. 
 
 SPEECH AT BRISTOL, NOVEMBER 13TH, 1899. 
 
 ...But in connection with this campaign there would be remembered the 
 way in which the great self-governing colonies at the other end of the globe
 
 had come forward to assist the Mother country. As Captain Chaloner had 
 well said, it would be the ger;ii of a movement which, conducted by ti'isc 
 and f^aticnt counsels, should lead to the unioii of the Empire — a union 
 which would give them cohesion and strength in any conflict in which they 
 might be engaged with any other power. That was the great lesson to be 
 learned from the war... (E. P. H., Vol. I, page io8.) 
 
 RT. HON. JOS. CHA.MliKRl.AIX. .SECRETARY OF S'I'ATE FOR 
 THE COLONIES. 
 
 SPEECH AT LEICESTER, NOVEMBCR 20TH, 1899. 
 
 ...Then again, we must rejoice — all of us — in the patriotism which has 
 been exhibited by our great self-governing colonies in Canada and Austral- 
 asia. Their contingents are now marching to the front; in fact the evening's 
 telegrams show that some of them are already engaged. What a splendid 
 reflection, that the Empire stands as one man against all its enemies! We 
 value their assistance, not so >iihc1i for its material importance, although we 
 welcome it on that account; but much more because it is a demonstration 
 opened to all the world of the essential unity of the British Empire. In 
 the future, at any rate, let others, as well as our own citizens, know that 
 no part of the Empire can be wrongfully used, that every other part will 
 tingle in sympathy with it, every other part will bring its modicum of as- 
 sistance. And is it not something more than that ? — - not only a testimony 
 to the unity of the Empire, but a testimony to the justice of our cause. It 
 is said that greed of gold is moving us in this matter, but how does it effect 
 our liberty loving colonies in Australia and Canada? When we are forced 
 to listen to the slanders of a foreign Press, we call to witness the voices 
 and the affection of our Colonies in the seif-governing countries... (E". P. 
 H., Vol. I, page 215.) 
 
 RT. HON, J. G. GO.SCHEN, FIR.ST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY- 
 
 Speech at the Headquarters of the First [Middlesex Rifles, Ber- 
 keley Square, London, i8th December, 1899. After reviewing the 
 history of the S. A. War, its disappointments and its causes, he said : 
 
 Another compensation which we have had has been in the attitude of our 
 colonies, who have been seized with the Imperial idea, and who know that 
 there is more at stake than simply the fortunes of the iMother countr}^ and 
 that every part of the Empire is deeply involved in the issue of this war, 
 and from every part there comes the encouragement of offers of assistance 
 and effectual help... (E. P. H., Vol.1, page 298.) 
 
 RT. H.).\. A. J. BALFOUR, FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY. 
 
 SPEECH AT MANCHESTER, STH JANUARY IHOO. 
 
 ...I have been obliged to admit that the war has been in many respects 
 up to the present time fraught with disappointments — disappointment of 
 expectations formed by those most qualified by expert knowledge to decide. 
 But do not let it be supposed that I, tor one moment, suppose that the war. 
 even as it is at the present moment, has not been fruitful in great deed-
 
 and great blessings to this Empire. . . Think, again, of the thrill of sympathy 
 which has gone from the Mother coimtry, the heart of the Empire, to every 
 one of its extremities, and has been returned, as it were, from the extrem- 
 ities, again to reinforce the heart of the Empire, from all our colonies, from 
 allour dependencies, — from Canada, from Australia, from New Zealand — 
 from India, from the great princes of India, our feudatories — all agreed 
 upon a common object and moved by a common aim and prepared to make 
 a common sacrifice. Is that nothing? I think it is everythuig. . . (E. P. H., 
 Vol. I. pages 334-335- ) 
 
 LORD KIMBERI.EY, LEADER OF THE LIBERAL PARTY IN THE 
 HOUSE OF LORDS. 
 
 SPEECH AT NEWCASTl.K-dN'lYNE, NOVEMBER 14TH. 18!til. 
 
 ...Whatever might be the result of all this, there was one gain, which we 
 could not be deprived of. viz., the fact that our colonies now regarded 
 themselves as truly part of the Empire, and were willing when occasion 
 arose to share the great burden of maintaining it... (E. P. H.. Vol. I, 
 page ii8.) 
 
 EARL OF RO.SEBERY. 
 
 SPEECH AT BATH, OCTOBER STtH, 1S90. 
 
 After having appealed for union of all factions on the S. A. war, 
 he said : 
 
 ...I will give you another reason, because in this contest our world- 
 empire has called to her assistance from every corner of her dominions 
 detachments of her subjects, not to give her their assistance, for, thank God, 
 we can do without that, but to show their sympathy, their resolution to be 
 one with the Mother country in the hour of trial. How would Chatham have 
 rejoiced to see that within a century and a half, that Empire which he had 
 won for you was so consolidated as to send troops to the assistance of the 
 Mother country!... (E. P. H.. Vol. I. page 24.) 
 
 SPEECH AT CHATHAM, .lANCAKV 23r1i, IHOO : 
 
 Having referred to the war and its reverses, he said : 
 
 There has been a great loss of prestige, and although the word " prestige " 
 has not always been in good odour in this country, yet every thoughtful 
 person must recognise that prestige is a token of Empire, and a very use- 
 ful asset in the possession of an Empire. I suppose that at the end of 1898, 
 the prestige of this country stood higher than it has stood since Waterloo. 
 I am afraid that this war has dispersed a good deal of that sentiment, hut 
 I ask you to remember that if prestige was ill-founded it is infinitely better 
 that it should be dispelled now than that, resting on a rotten foundation, 
 it should lure us by its dream of power into enterprises which might be 
 much more disastrous... I could say the test of the character of our people 
 will alone counterbalance the losses we have undergone. But I say much 
 more. We have a greater gain than that still to reckon up. Five and twenty 
 
 7
 
 XLII 
 
 years ago we had an Empire in name. It was the fashion to consider it as 
 something loosely compacted together, which at any moment might break 
 up. and as to which it was only a calculation of time when the principal 
 niombcrs of it might depart and set up for themselves. I remember those 
 days well. I dare saj' some of you may remember them too. What, at any 
 rate, this war has done, if it has done nothing else, is ro prove that the 
 Empire is a fact, that it is based on a rock, that it is as compact as that, 
 and is not merely a small congeries of countries in the world. Australia, 
 Canada, aye, and great parts of India have shown a spirit not inferior to 
 that of the Mother country herself. . . I say, then, that if with all our 
 reverses we had purchased only the fact that our Empire is a vmited Em- 
 pire, and therefore henceforth a supreme factor in the balance of the world, 
 wc should have made a profitable transaction out of the ivar so far as it has 
 gone... Great as is the task before us in the field at this moment, the task 
 that remains for us after this war is completed is the greatest task that ever 
 lay before a nation. You will have, when this war is over, to put your 
 Empire on a business footing... I believe that is a task which will oc- 
 cupy this Government, and perhaps many Governments, before you will see 
 your Empire as it should be. (E. P. H., Vol. I, pages 386-7-8-9.)
 
 Ill 
 
 Persistency and nature of the Imperialistic 
 Movement in Great Britain* 
 
 lo. General Elections, 1900. 
 
 It may be said, in a general way, that the last general elections, 
 in England, were virtually a triumph for the Imperialistic idea. It 
 • would be useless to quote the numerous speeches of nearly all 
 the Unionist candidates and several of the Liberal Imperialists, who 
 made of the military unity of the Empire the main plank of their 
 platform. I will just give an extract of some of the declarations 
 made by Mr. CHAMBERLAIN who may properly be looked at as 
 the Prophet and the head of that movement. 
 
 In his electoral address to his constituents of Birmingham West, 
 dated September 21st 1900, Mr. Chamberlain said: 
 
 The issue which, in common with the rest of the electors of the United 
 Kingdom, you will be called upon to decide is the most important presented 
 to the people of this country during the present generation. We have reach- 
 ed the final stage in a great war, which has involved a heavy sacrifice of 
 life and treasure, but has been made illustrious by the heroism of the Im- 
 perial forces and the patriotism of all classes of the people of the Untied 
 Kingdom, and has also enlisted, for the first time in the history of the 
 Empire, the enthusiastic support of our kinsmen in all the self-governing 
 colonies... (E. P. H., Vol. II, page I3-) 
 
 Through the whole campaign, Mr. Chamberlain delivered a great 
 many addresses ; and in each and everyone of them, he claimed as 
 the best title to public favour for the Unionist Government, the 
 fact that, thanks to the South Africa war, the Colonies had been 
 brought to supply armed help to Great Britain. 
 
 I give here a paragraph from his speech at Coventry, on the ist 
 of October. It is one of his most eloquent and forcible efforts.
 
 XL1\" 
 
 ^I'l'I'.l'H AT COVKNI'ltV, CMTOUKU \sl. llHKI. 
 
 ...Xow. goiitloincn, tlu> Govcrnmonl wliich 1 represent is an Imperialist 
 Government. For tive years, during which we have'^been in office, we have 
 had one guiding principle, one great object to attain, and that is to weld 
 together all parts of the Empire, to make of them a united whole, to secure 
 their atTection, to inspire their confidence. It was that idea which may be said 
 to have permeated the great ceremonial of the Jubilee of the Queen. It was 
 that idea which has been present to our minds in the federation of Australia. 
 It is with that object that we have done everything to appeal to our colonists 
 to recognise their importance in this great Imperial system, to induce them 
 to see and to know that we love them, that we believe in them, and that ice 
 looh to tliriii for aid and support. Now*, have we not succeeded?... How 
 came it that all these men, without distinction, were ready to offer their 
 lives and their treasure in order to support the cause of the Empire? It was 
 because they thought that this Government was reasserting the principles 
 upon which this Empire has been founded, reasserting the principles which 
 in rccoit times srcm to nic to have been too much forgotten, the principles 
 which were in times past the principles of Pitt, of Canning, and of Palmers- 
 ton. Those principles are based upon this, that as long as the British Empire 
 endures, a British subject, whatever may be his colour, so long as he is 
 engaged in his legitimate occupation, shall be maintained in all his rights 
 hy the whole force of that Empire. It is because we asserted that principle 
 in South Africa that we have had this grand, this unanimous support from 
 our colonists, because they have learned to believe at last that to belong to 
 such an Empire is a privilege, an honour, and a protection. Now, I say that 
 this new sense of pride in the British Empire is the work of Her Maj- 
 esty's Government, and for that you are asked to reward us by turning out 
 the Government and by disgracing the statesman who has been placed in 
 a position of responsibility in carrying out these principles... New pride 
 has been kindled in this great Empire. We know that if ever the mother- 
 land is in danger we shall not be isolated. These sister nations of ours, 
 great to-day, but destined at no short distance of time to be still greater, 
 have given of their best to help us in our time of need and trial. But, 
 gentlemen, there is also another side to the question. We have to recognise 
 that this spirit on the part of the colonists is one w'hich we have to reci- 
 procate. If they will do that for us, we must be ready to do it for them — 
 and wherever the British race may be scattered, in whatever quarter of the 
 globe they may be insulted, oppressed, or put upon, there we must go to 
 their assistance. Now this is the work upon which we ask your verdict... 
 If you are now false to the principles in accordance with w'hich your Empire 
 has grown great, and upon which it must always depend, if you are indif- 
 ferent to the wishes of your colonists who have supported you in this war. 
 then, gentlemen, you will lose your colonies and vou will disgrace the 
 Empire.. (E. P. H., Vol. II, pages 178-180 and 186.)' 
 
 AT STOrRBRIDlif:, Ol TOBEK '.ITII, K'Ofl. 
 
 ...But this is an Imperial issue, and every colonist and kinsman you have 
 across the sea has almost an equal interest with yourselves in this election. 
 I wish they had votes! There would not be a Little Englander or even a 
 Liberal Imperialist in Parliament... I have spoken in this election with 
 feeling, wiht earnestness, because I believe, in the bottom of my heart, that 
 this is a crisis, not in the history of this country alone, but in the history 
 of the Empire. This, gentlemen, is a creative time, it is the time when we 
 can make or mar the Empire. (E. P. H., Vol. II, page 213.)
 
 XLV 
 
 And the supreme appeal under the form of a Message to the Na- 
 tioji, sent to the Birmin}:;liam Daily Mail to he posted on the screen 
 i^iving- electoral results : 
 
 PATRIOTISM BEFORE POLITICS. MAY THE UNION BETWEEN 
 THE COLONIES AND THE MOTHERLAND. NOW CEMENTED 
 BY THEIR BLOOD, BE FOR EVER MAINTAINED. (E. P. H., Vol. 
 II, page 216.) i 4 . i 
 
 I need n(jt say that the question of g-rantiui^ to the Colonies reci- 
 procal favours of any kind was never mentioned hy Mr. Chamher- 
 lain in anv of his numerous addresses. 
 
 2°. Opinion of Several Statesmen. 
 
 The s])eeches that i have (juoted so far were all made either at the 
 hef^inning- of the war or during^ the electoral period — that is, at 
 times where the pass'ons of the people were aroused and could tell 
 upon the thought and language of puhlic men. The following 
 quotations are all taken from declarations made either previous to 
 01 after the electoral campaign, and in occasions where there was 
 no need of appealing to popular sentiment. Several of those 
 expressions of opinion come from mtn who are. hy their position or 
 occupation, free from popular influence. 
 
 This Chapter contains but declarations made outside of Parlia- 
 ment. Parliamentary Debates are quoted in the two following 
 chapters ( i\' and v). 
 
 On the 15th of March, 1900, the IMPERIAL FEDERATION 
 ( DEFEX'CE) Committee, addressed a memorial to Lord Salisbury 
 on the subject of the military defence and or-^anisation of tlv.- Em- 
 p're. The following paragraph is contained therein: 
 
 From the foregoing it will appear that wliile, on the one liand, tli" rnl ni<'s 
 have well earned their right to recognition as full citizen.s of the Empire, 
 on the other hand the assi-stance of eleven million people, Ooth in men and 
 in money, i.s most desirable in order to provide for its future security. 
 L'nder the circumstances, and in view of the strong desire now being evinced 
 by the British people for the better organisation of the Empire^ to^ which 
 they lielong. the Committee ventures to suggest to Her Majesty's (K)vern- 
 ment that a Conference of representatives of the self-governing colonies of 
 the Empire be summoned at an early date, to consider w:th Her Majesty's 
 Ministers the best means of organising the resources of the Empire for its 
 defence. 
 
 .A.mong the suggestions made by the Conuuittee ary tlie following: 
 
 (a) That an Imperial Council be established, as proposed l)y Mr. Cham- 
 berlain in 1897, and as recommended to a former Government in iXg,? by 
 the Imperial Federation League.
 
 XL VI 
 
 (b) That an Imperial fund be established to which all moneys voted by 
 the Parliaments of the self-governing countries for the general defence of 
 the Empire, for such term of years as may be agreed upon, should be paid. 
 
 (c) That the administration of this fund should be vested in the Imperial 
 Council. 
 
 On the 17th March, Lord SALISBURY replied through his secretary 
 " That the observations of the Committee will receive the serious considera- 
 tion of Her Majesty's Government." 
 
 On the 30th March, Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN, acknowledging receipt of 
 a copy of the Memorial, stated "that the whole iubjecc ox mc ueiencc ui 
 the Empire is, and for some time past has been, receiving the most serious 
 consideration of Her Majesty's Government." (E. P. H., Vol. I, pages 496-7.) 
 
 LORD KI.MDF.KLF.V, I.IBER.Al. LK.NDER IX THE HOUSE (5F LORD.S. 
 
 Speech at a dinner of the National Liberal Club, in London, on 
 the 2ist February, 1900: 
 
 ...I am an Imperialist. In what way? you will ask. Well, in this way — 
 in the way I believe every true Englishman is an Imperialist — namely, 
 that, having this great Empire, we desire that it should be knit as closely 
 together as possible under the free institutions that prevail. Vv e uesirc lu 
 uphold and preserve that Empire — every one of us — but the Imperialism 
 which means that we desire to lay hands upon more and more territory in 
 all parts of the world — that is not the Imperialism with which I sympa- 
 thise. The true Imperialist fee'ing is the feeling that is promoted by the 
 splendid example which the colonists have shown us during the present 
 war... (E. P. H., Vol. I, page 450.) 
 
 Speech at a dinner of the Eighty Club, in London, on the 3rd of 
 April 1900: 
 
 ...The sympathies and support of the colonies give a power to this 
 Empire, which I hope will be exercised for peace, which it could never 
 possess if it were restricted to these Islands, great and powerful as they 
 may be. This is the feeling that has forced itself, not very fast, upon the 
 English people, and though we see it now in an exaggerated form, yet it is 
 founded upon true and sound principles... We must look at facts as they 
 are, and though we do not seek to extend our territories, we shall remain 
 Imperialistic in our desire to knit together still nearer our colonies... 
 (E. P. H., Vol. I, page 57I-) 
 
 Speech at a dinner at the National Liberal Club in London, in 
 honour of the Australian delegates, on the 2nd of May 1900. 
 
 ... I look forward to the time when we shall be brought still closer to- 
 gether, and brought closer together, not merely by sentiment, but also by a 
 feeling that it is for the advantage and safety of the whole Empire, including 
 our colonies in every part, that we should have a union which will not be 
 forced upon them, but will join us the closer when those extraordinary 
 changes which await us take place, and when the very ends of the earth 
 will be brought closer together. . . The time will come, in my belief, when
 
 XIvVII 
 
 they will not only come forward to help us as they have done so magnif- 
 icently in our difficulty in South Africa, but when it will be found that we 
 shall be able to frame some system of common defence that will be of as 
 great advantage to this country as I believe it will be to our colonies. 
 (E. P. H.. Vol. I, pages 644-5.) 
 
 .SIR HEN'KY FOWLER, M. P. 
 
 Speech at a banquet to Service Volunteers for South Africa, at 
 Wolverhampton, i6th February, 1900: 
 
 These independent, self-governing communities, have shown not merely 
 by eloquent words or by enthusiastic cheers, but by spontaneously sending 
 forth thousands of their sons to fight and to die for their fatherland — that 
 our Empire is one and indivisible, and that if ever it should be in peril 
 from stress or storm it can summon to its defence a vast army of men of 
 every class and creed and clime, who are proud of their allegiance to the 
 one flag and the one throne... (E. P. H., Vol. I, page 447.) 
 
 Speech to his constituents at Wolverhampton, on the 19th of 
 April, 1900. 
 
 ...We have witnessed a oneness of feeling throughout the British Em- 
 pire which indicates a new epoch in our Colonial relations. There was a 
 time when some statesmen were in favour of the abandonment of the col- 
 onies and India. The inexorable logic of facts has proved too strong, and 
 that school has had its day. Our determination is to maintain our colonies, 
 and to link them to each and to us by even closer ties... (E. P. H., Vol. 
 I. page 607.) (i) 
 
 LORD SPENCER. 
 
 Speech at Edinburgh, 24th April, 1900. 
 
 ...And now what did we want with regard to the colonies? We wanted 
 to draw them closer and closer to ourselves. We wanted to give them full 
 liberty of action to legislate for themselves as they desired, but, on the 
 other hand, we reserved to ourselves the right to maintain certain principles 
 which he considered essential for the Mother country, such as free trade, 
 which had had such a wide effect on spreading the commerce of England, 
 and her influence in every part of the globe. We desired to get the sons 
 of the colonists to join the people of this country and help to officer and 
 man our ships and regiments... (E. P. H., Vol. I, page 628.) 
 
 I,ORU ROSEBKRY. 
 
 Speech as President of the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Edin- 
 burgh " Unity of the Empire Association, " April 4lh, 1900. 
 
 ...I know that at this moment our Empire is regarded with great jeal- 
 ousy, and even with great dislike, throughout Europe. It is vain to shut 
 your eyes to these things, and those who are cognisant of the spirit which 
 inspires, not the governments, but the nations of large parts of Europe — 
 
 ) Cf Sir Heury Fowler s seiitiineiits on colonial Iraile preference (pa^e i,xxxvni).
 
 of the great majority of the countries of Europe — must feel, without 
 charges of panic or pessimism being brought against them, that our country 
 cannot be too prepared for every emergency when it has so large an army 
 lied up in South Africa... We had to be ready and be prepared. We have 
 already borne great sacrifices for the Empire, but we are willing to bear 
 greater still. We are ready to do all that in us lies to promote the unity 
 of that Empire, and to strengthen that Empire, and we, in this Association 
 shall watch, and foster, and encourage every symptom hopeful and encoura- 
 ginsr. from any quarter, which may justify us in hoping that before long we 
 may see the Empire united, not merely in sentiment, but in constitution 
 an(i in fact... (E. P. H., Vol. I, page 5/8.) 
 
 .SIR .MICH.AKL H1CK.S-HK.A.CH. CHANCELLOR OF THE E.XCHEQUER. 
 
 Speech at the Primrose dinner of the St. Michael's Ward Con- 
 servative Association at Bristol April 19th. 1900: 
 
 ...There have been previous occasions, in the time of the Crimean war, 
 and in the time of the Soudan expedition, when Canada and Australia have 
 offered assistance to the Mother country; but those occasions were as no- 
 thing compared to the uprising all over our Indian and colonial Empire of 
 the deepest and strongest sentiment of Imperial rather than local patriotism, 
 and of a determination that, come what may, they would stand by and sup- 
 port the Empire. There have been many who have hoped for some kind 
 of Imperial Federation. Well, that is a delightful dream ; it may be more 
 than a dream, but it is a matter in which, whatever we do, we must not 
 attempt to force the pace . . . People are very apt to forget that our great 
 colonies on the other side of the globe are in a very different geographical 
 and social position from ourselves, as compared with the Swiss Cantons or 
 the United States to each other, and I confess I do not anticipate, what- 
 ever the future may have in store, to see in my time anything like a sys- 
 tem under which there would be even an attempt at a common fiscal sys- 
 tem or legislation on domestic afifairs for the whole British Empire by a 
 Parliament sitting in London. I do not myself believe that that is within 
 anj- reasonable possibility. But the idea that the progress of this war has 
 done so much to put forward is undoubtedly that of a common organisa- 
 tion for Imperial defence, and we have in the loyal and generous action 
 of our colonies an earnest of the time in which there may be some kind 
 of common organisation among us, which may control Imperial policy as a 
 whole, representatives of the colonies acting in concert with represent- 
 atives of the Imperial Government, in which all of us may take our fair 
 and adequate share in the responsibilities and defence of the Empire at 
 large... (E. P. H., Vol. I, pages 612-613.) 
 
 On the 24th of Octoljer, 1900, Sir \L Hicks Beach was entertained 
 at a banquet by the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. Responding- 
 to the toast " The Chancellor of the Exchequer ". Sir Michael made 
 one of the clearest and most interesting- pronouncements on Impe- 
 rialism which may have fallen froin any Brtish statesinan. He said : 
 
 ...We have all recognised with admiration the sacrifices which our col- 
 onies have made in sending to fight side by side with our men, men from 
 Australia and Canada, in the cause of the Empire in South Africa. We all 
 appreciate the way in which the blood of those who have suffered has weld-
 
 XLIX 
 
 ed the Empire together. But I do not know that even that movement, 
 great and important as it has been, was more remarkable than the congress 
 of the Chambers of Commerce of the Empire, which took place last sum- 
 mer m London (i). That was a meeting at which there were differences of 
 opinion, sometimes fundamental differences, no doubt, as must be expected 
 from men bred in different schools of political economy, and coming from 
 all parts of the world, from countries with very different conditions from 
 those of the country in which we live ; but, nevertheless, there was a deter- 
 mination, if possible, to come to a common agreement — a desire to give 
 and take, which was of the best and most hopeful augury. I do not think 
 this the occasion on which to go into all these subjects, but there are two 
 subjects which stand out prominently from the debates on that occasion, 
 and on which I should like, if you will permit me, to say a few words. 
 The first was a desire for a commercial union, a closer commercial union 
 throughout the different parts of the Empire ; the second was a greater 
 organisation for the common defence of the Empire. Now, with regard to 
 the first, naturally enough, there were great divergencies of opinion. The 
 result of your discussions was somewhat indefinite, because the subject was 
 approached by some from the protectionist point of view, and by others 
 from the free trade point of view. Gentlemen, I wish to say, for myself, 
 that I am convinced that it is impossible to approach this subject from a 
 protectionist point of view. / do not believe in the idea of preferential 
 duties in favour of our colonies as compared zvitli foreign eountrics on the 
 imports of the United Kingdom. I do not want to argue the question to- 
 night. I think if I had to argue it I could show you that any such duties 
 would be dangerous to the utmost degree to our foreign trade, which is 
 essential to the prosperity of this coimtry. But I may venture to say this 
 much, that I entirely sympathise with a remark which I saw recently in the 
 press attributed to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Prime Minister of Canada, when 
 he said that in his opinion an Imperial Zollverein. though far distant in 
 the future, was only possibly attainable with absolute free trade throughout 
 the Empire. I am confident that this great question — and it is a great 
 question — can onlv be approached and dealt with on the. principle of free 
 trade, and that any attempt to deal with it on any other principle is unkmd 
 and unfair to our colonists themselves, and is misleading them as to the 
 possibilitv of public feeling in this country. To suppose that this country, 
 after fifty years experience of what the freedom of taxation on unports (if 
 raw material and food means to us, will deliberately resort to the taxation 
 of raw material and food from foreign countries, is to my mind an nnpo.s- 
 sibility. I do not wish to argue the question further. I wish, as I have said, 
 simply to state my own opinion that any per.son in our colonies or in this 
 .country who founds his views as to the future on the possibility of any 
 solution of this question except on the basis of free trade, is founding his 
 views on a foundation of sand, and I would not for the world have; the 
 re.sponsibilitv of saying to our fellow-subjects that we can deal with U on 
 any other basis than that of free trade. But, gentlemen, I now luni u> the 
 second question. It is the question of Imper.al defence... (1'.. r. Ik. vol. 
 II. page 383.) 
 
 The Empire has increased under successive Governments, some of them 
 by no means favourable to any increase at all. You cannot help expansion 
 with an Empire such as our own, and that expansion no doubt necessitates 
 greater expenditure. How is that to be borne? Well, 1 suppose every one 
 will say bv the Imperial Exchequer. Gentlemen, T am bound to say some- 
 thing on that subject. There is no Inii)erial Exche(iuer. I wish there was. 
 
 (i) See page cvii rt srq.
 
 But I know very well that nothing whatever will persuade (and rightly so) 
 our great self-governing colonies to give up their power of self-taxation to 
 any Assembly in which their votes might be dominated by the votes of the 
 United Kingdom, and therefore the great bulk of this expenditure falls on 
 the Exchequer of the United Kingdom. While an expanding Empire we 
 ought to have a much more widely spread system of contribution to Imper- 
 ial defence than that which we at present enjoy. I do not believe you will 
 find a single colony that will object to that. The whole history of the South 
 African campaign shows that they have come forward voluntarily to a man 
 in a matter which at first, apparently, did not affect them, to place their 
 men and means at the disposal of Her Majesty's Government for the safety 
 of the Empire, and I am convinced-that our colonists in America, in Can- 
 ada, and in Australia are much too proud to desire to impose on the Mother 
 country anything more than she ought to fairly bear for Imperial defence. 
 We have at the present moment a great feeling of enthusiasm on the part 
 of Her Majesty's subjects throughout the world. For the present and future 
 of the Empire, I desire to see that feeling utilised. I desire every politician 
 in this country or in the colonies, and every man of business, to do his best 
 to ut.lise and to systematise while they can that feeling of enthusiasm. 
 There are great difficulties in the way, of course, because with the bearing 
 of such contributions there must come some share of responsibility for 
 foreign policy. But these questions require discussion and consideration by 
 the representatives of the Imperial Government and the great self-governing 
 colonies, whose views it is our duty to keep before us ; and we shall not do 
 our duty if, in the course of the coming years, we do not utilise the enthu- 
 siasm which the South African campaign has evoked to endeavour to go at 
 least one step forward in the principle of the common defence of a common 
 Empire. (Page 385-) 
 
 l.(Jkl) >ALISI!L RV. 
 
 Speech at a Banqtiet of the British Empire Leag'ue, in London, 
 April 30, 1900. 
 
 The service which the colonial contingents have rendered upon the field 
 is splendid and unexampled, and yet to my mind it is exceeded by another 
 serv.ce which they have rendered to us all — that they have drawn the 
 whole Empire together... 
 
 It is a great event which this war and the devotion of the colonial troops 
 has caused... We know that after what the colonies have done we are a 
 much more important nation in the world than we were. Our character is 
 in reality more respected, our wishes are more regarded... 
 
 Well, of course, the result of this strange growth of an Empire, which, 
 I may say, has taken place before our eyes, has set people think. ng whether ■ 
 they cannot help nature and Providence a bit, and push it further on by 
 artificial contrivances. / am speaking, of course, of military matters alone. 
 I do not wish to express an opinion upon any proposals that I have not 
 seen. But speaking generally, I should be inclined to discovmtenance any 
 assistance to anticipate the natural working of the circumstances in which 
 we and the colonies find ourselves. They have worked with great efficiency. 
 They hdve produced Imperial cooperation beyond all our hopes and beyond 
 all our expectations. 
 
 If any of you ask to push forward in colonial legislation, I should im- 
 plore you to wait. The concurrence of the world's causes — to use a more 
 modern phrase — what I should prefer to call the causes of Providence, 
 have brought together the parts of this Empire in a wonderful concurrence
 
 LI 
 
 — have given them a force which all the world can recognise, and which, 
 if you will only allow it to grow by its own laws and according to the im- 
 pulse of its own vitality, will undoubtedly exercise an influence over the 
 character and the progress and the habits of the world such as has never 
 been exercised by any Empire before. (E. P. H., Vol. I, pages 634-5-6.) 
 
 ■JHE UUKt OF DEVONSHIKK, LOKH PKKSIlJKNT t)F lUb. iXJUNClL. 
 
 Speech at a meeting at Derby on the S. A. War, November 14th, 
 1899. 
 
 ...While we must all feel and admit that war in any circumstances, and 
 especially on so serious a scale as the present war, is a great evil and a 
 great calamity, it may yet have its compensations and its mitigating con- 
 ditions. This war has already brought about a closer union between our- 
 selves and our Colonies and has revealed to us a source of strength and 
 power for this Empire which was scarcely known to ourselves, and certain- 
 ly was little known to the world in general... (E. P. H., Vol. I, page 124. j 
 
 Speech at the Third Annual Meeting of the British Empire Lea- 
 gue, in London, 23rd July, 1900. 
 
 ...During the last few months it might almost be said that the whole 
 Empire has become a British Empire League, and every mhabitant of that 
 Empire, whether within the limits of the United Kingdom or in our Col- 
 onies or our great dependencies, has become, unconciously, a member of the 
 League... It is difficult to fix exactly the date at which this great wave 
 began to gather and to roll forward on its onward course. It became con- 
 spicuous in 1897, when, in the Diamond Jubilee, representatives of all our 
 Colonies gathered together here to do honour to our illustrious Sovereign 
 on the completion of sixty years of Her reign. It was 'then that many of 
 us discovered, almost for the first time, that our Colonies were not only vast 
 territories oflr'ering unlimited facilities for immigration and for the employ- 
 ment of the industrial and commercial energies of our people, but that they 
 were also already great and organised communities, enjoying pohlical in- 
 stitutions similar to our own — communities already possessing their Min- 
 istries, their statesmen, in power and in opposition, their Parliaments ; and 
 at the same time we discovered that they were not only thus organised for 
 , the purposes of government in times of peace, but that they were also to a 
 very considerable extent organised for the purposes of Imperial defence and, 
 if necessary, of foreign war. We discovered at the same time that those 
 great communities, highly organised, as I have said, were also animated by 
 the same sentiment as those of our people at home of patriotic and Imperial 
 devotion. Th€ events of the present year have given a practical proof of 
 the force and vitality of those feelings in the manner in which oar Colonies 
 have come forward to aid us in the struggle in which we have been so long, 
 and are still unhappib^ engaged in South Africa. The sacrifices and suffer- 
 ings which that contest has entailed have not been without their compensa- 
 tions. We have, both we at home and our Colonies, learnt lessons from that 
 war which will be remembered. Our Colonies have learnt that we, the 
 British people and our Government, have entered upon that war and have 
 conducted it for the defence of the interests of the British people, whose 
 home is the world, and not only these small islands, and that we are pre- 
 pared to defend those interests all over the world in the same way as we
 
 arc prepared to defend our own. We, again, have learnt that, if we are to 
 fultil tlie duties imposed upon us by our colonising instinct and our instincts 
 of expansion, we must rely not only upon our own strength and our own 
 right arm. but that we must put full confidence and trust in the loyal and 
 ungrudging assistance which, we have learnt, will be offered to us by every 
 colony of the British Empire... (R. P. H.. Vol. I, pages 807-808.) 
 
 LoKli i;U.\SSEY. 
 
 On the 22nd Septcni])cr, lyoo. a meeting- of the Imperial Liberal 
 Council was held at the \\'e.stern Palace Hotel, when Lord Brassey 
 delivered his presidential address. He said : 
 
 ...But we have drawn near to the limit beyond which it would be rash- 
 ness to advance. Extension of territory involves proportionate expenditure 
 on naval and military preparations, borne without a murmur while the 
 country prospers, but certain to be less popular if trade were dull and em- 
 ployment difficult to obtain. We can safely guard what we have got. The 
 prudent statesman will hesitate to add to responsibilities already so vast. 
 I speak not less stronglj^ on this point because I have given a large part 
 of my attention to questions of naval defence. In this connection the federa- 
 tion of the British Empire is an object of the first importance, and recent 
 events have advanced it by a long stride. The Mother country and her 
 daughter States, in one of which I have lately spent five happy years, have 
 stood together as they never stood before. The time seems now to have 
 come when a permanent machinery might be set up on the model of the 
 Committee of the American Senate on Foreign Affairs. In the Privy Coun- 
 cil or the House of Lords, representation might be given to all parts of the 
 British Empire, and in the one 01 the other a Consultative Committee of 
 Advice might be constituted, to which treaties could be submitted, and which 
 should have a voice on the issues of peace or war. While looking to the 
 colonies to take the initial steps in Imperial Federation, the subject may 
 worthily engage the attention of the best men on both sides... (E. P. H., 
 Vol. II, page 362.) 
 
 RT. HON. JOSKPII CHAMRI-.RI.AIX. 
 
 On the 24th of October, 1900, Mr. J. Chamberlain was the principal' 
 guest at a banquet of the Fishmongers" Company, in London, 
 when he was presented with the honorary freedom of the Company. 
 Responding to the toast of his health, propose^d by Mr. R. P.. Mar- 
 tin, M. P., ^Ir. Chamberlain said: 
 
 ...What is perhaps the greatest feature of all in this eventful modern 
 history, look at the action of the Colonies, the self-governing colonies, in 
 the period of trouble and trial which came upon the motherland. What 
 sympathy they have shown! How practically they have shown it! How 
 universal has been the sentiment! I speak of the self-governing colonies 
 because under the circumstances it was their aid only that ive could accept. 
 For political reasons we were unable to accept the offers that crozvded upon 
 us from ez'ery dependency of the Queen, and above all from the feudatory 
 princes who own her benificent suzerainty in our great dependency of India. 
 But confining myself to the self-governing colon-.es, what have they done
 
 LIII 
 
 for us? At the first threat of war they hastened spontaneously — it was not 
 our suggestion — it was their own good thought — they hastened spon- 
 taneously to offer their aid, and they have given us in this war of their best 
 and their bravest. They have fought and some of them died to maintain the 
 honour of the flag and the interests of the common Empire. They have 
 done something more, they have given us their moral support — the moral 
 support of great, free, independent nations, proud of their own liberty, and 
 able to take an impartial and judicial view of the merits of the struggle in 
 which we were engaged. I do not think that anything could have been more 
 grateful to the people of this country, more useful in regard to our position 
 with other nations, than the sight of the colonies of Great Britain, of the 
 sons of Great Britain, hastening freely to give their support to the mother- 
 land in a cause which they themselves considered and believed to be just. 
 Then, in view of all this, is it too much to say that in these last twelve 
 months the Empire has been borne anew? The Empire now is undoubtedly 
 not the Empire of England, but the Empire almost of the world — of all 
 our possessions, of all our dependencies, and let it be borne in mind in 
 
 I future that we recognise in them absolute equality of right and position in 
 all that we claim in regard to ourselves. I believe that this new feeling is 
 a compensation for the war. In our trial our hands were stayed by our 
 colonies, as the hands of Moses were stayed by Aaron and Hur, till victory 
 
 . waited upon our arms. Shall we ever forget, shall we ever be ungrateful, 
 will any one ever again dare to say that the colonies are an encumbrance to 
 the Empire which they have done so much to maintain and support? This 
 is the new situation, this is the new Imperialism which has been so grossly 
 misrepresented, but which is. nevertheless, so well understood, which has 
 received the overwhelming support of the majority of this country without 
 reference to ordinary party lines or division... (E. P. H.. Vol. IT. page 
 380.) 
 
 LORD WOLSKLEY. 
 
 On the 1st of November, 1900, Lord Wolseley and Mr. Henry 
 Chaplin were guests at the 277th annual " Feast of the Guttlers' 
 Company of Hallamshire ". 
 
 Lord WOLSELEY, responding to the toast " The Land and Sea 
 Forces of the Empire, " said : 
 
 ...In speaking of the Army, I cannot but feel what a very different 
 thing the Army is at the present moment from what it was ten years ago, 
 to which time I have referred. Then the Army only consisted, as I have 
 said before, of the forces which we had in this country — the regular Army, 
 the Yeomanry, the Militia, and the Volunteers. But look abroad and see 
 of what it consists of at the present moment. What has been done in South 
 Africa in regard to the military forces there? It was felt eight or nine or 
 ten months ago that the force in South Africa was not sufficiently large. 
 This idea became well established throughout the country, and what was the 
 result? From the north and the south, from the east and the west, came 
 in application from every colony for the privilege and honour of serving 
 imder the flag of Her Majesty the Queen. They volunteered their services, 
 and not only volunteered their services, but the Colonies sent the men to 
 South Africa, and I am sure that of all forces which went to South Africa 
 none did better service than the contingents sujiplied by Canada. Australia.
 
 LIV 
 
 New Zealand, and even by our smaller colonies. We have heard a great 
 deal for the last ten, fifteen, or twenty years, regarding the federation of 
 our Colonies. Well, war is a terrible thing, and no one knows how hor- 
 rible it is except those people who have taken part in it, but it has its 
 good side as well as its bad, and one of the great results, good results, 
 which has been brought about by this war has been directly the federation 
 of our Colonies. I think we might have passed Acts of Parliament, and the 
 various Colonies throughout the world might also have passed acts of par- 
 liament, to bring about this Federation, which we have looked forward tt) 
 for so many years, but I believe they would have fallen very flat, and would 
 have done little in comparison to what has been done by the great feeling 
 of comradeship which has been cemented by men fighting shoulder to 
 shoulder, men coming from all parts of our dominions... (E. P. H., Vol. 
 IT. page 397.) 
 
 RIGHT HON. JAMES DRYCE. 
 
 C)n the 29th November. 1900, Mr. Bryce spoke at a dinner of tin- 
 .Vinety-Nine Club, at Leeds. 
 
 ... I am not aware that any body in the Liberal party ever proposed that 
 we should abandon any part of our immense dominions, or that we shoul<i 
 slacken in any way the ties that bind us either to our colonies or to our 
 own possessions. On the contrary, I believe that if any one can suggest a 
 scheme by which our self-governing colonies can be brought into closer 
 relationship, a better defined-relationship, with the iMother country, in whicli 
 they can bear their share of the Imperial defences, and have also a share 
 of consultation in Imperial matters — I believe the Liberal party would 
 heartily welcome the proposal... (E. P. H., Vol. II, page 457.) 
 
 LORD AVEBURY. 
 
 Speech at the annual dinner of the Royal Colonial Institute, Lon- 
 don. April 24, 1901 : 
 
 ...There never was a time when iMother country and colonies were moi( 
 thoroughly in sympathy, more loyal to the Crown and the Empire. I hoi-c- 
 the time may come though it cannot be huiiied, when these warm feelings 
 may find expression ui some more definite Constitution for the Empire. \V ■ 
 often hear of the Imperial Exchequer, Imperial funds, and the Imperial 
 forces. As a matter of fact there art no such things. There is an Exche 
 quer for Great Britain and Ireland, an Indian Exchequer, a Canadian Ex 
 chequer, and so on, but there is not an Imperial Exchequer. In Souili 
 Africa we have supported our fellow-countrymen Vv^ho were oppressed and 
 defrauded, to defend two of our colonies which were attacked. This ha- 
 cost us thousands of valuable lives, added many millions to our taxes, and 
 over 130 minions to our debt. We may make such sacrifices cheerfully, be 
 cause we felt it was our duty, but obviously we could not do so over and 
 over again. No one can say what part of the Empire will next be attacked 
 — where the next danger may arise. It is clear that the weight of respons- 
 ibility for the Empire must eventually be borne bj^ the Einpire as a whole, 
 and not by any part. The Colonies have loyally and cheerfully recognisdi 
 the force of these considerations, and we on our side cordially recognise 
 the inaterial assistance, and perhaps even more the moral support, they have
 
 LV 
 
 given us at a time when the Foreign Press, with some few honourab'e ex- 
 ceptions, have so grossly misrepresented and maligned us. It will be for 
 British statesmen in all parts of the Empire to devise some plan by which 
 we can create Imperial funds and Imperial forces, and perhaps I may add 
 an Imperial Council, to provide for the service, the necessities and the safe- 
 ty of the whole Empire... (E. P. H., Vol. II, page 593.) 
 
 LORD GOSCHEK, FIRST LORD OV THK A DM I RALIV. 
 
 Speech at the same dinner, April 24, 1901 : 
 
 . . .A huge bill has been incurred in the maintenance of the unity of the 
 Ernpire. The bill has been presented, and the demand has been made that 
 it is to be paid. The cost is enormous. It has been placed before the 
 country in the plainest and most unvarnished words. And it is well it 
 should be so. It is well that the nation should realise what Empire costs. 
 All classes are now summoned to realise it — to realise it under what, if I 
 may give my personal opinion, is the equitable distribution of burdens wh ch 
 they are called upon to bear under the Budget as proposed by the Chancel- 
 lor of the Exchequer. All classes are to contribute to the cost of the Im- 
 perial interests. It is natural, at a time like this, we should speculate as 
 to how the tax-payers in the United Kingdom are likely to be affected by 
 the demands that have been made — made for. the sake of united Empire... 
 
 ...Our fellow-subjects in the Colonies will see the attitude which the 
 tax-payers have shown in this respect. They will see the readiness with 
 which these increased burdens are borne. I hope our Colonial fel ow-sub- 
 jects will take to heart the suggestion made by Lord Avebury to-night in 
 regard to an Imperial Exchequer. I did not see, however, that there was an 
 enthusiastic reception of the general idea that there should be such an Im- 
 perial Exchequer. The Colonies will see, at all events, that we in these 
 Islands have not shrunk from lavishing our treasure on behalf of what is 
 not simply a British interest but an Imperial interest, dear to all parts of 
 the Empire... (E. P. H., vol. II, pages 593-594-) 
 
 3°. A Few Dissentient Voices. 
 
 The expressions of opinion against the ImperiaHstic movement 
 in itself or in its connection with the South African war are much 
 scarcer and less definite. I will, however, quote the few following 
 extracts, which show quite clearly the sentiments of the most cons- 
 picuous opponents of the war amongst those that are called in the 
 House of Commons " front-benchers ". 
 
 SIR HENRY CAMPBELL- BAN'NERMAN, LEADER OF I'llK LllJKRAL I'AR'IV. 
 
 Speaking at Manchester on the 15th of November, 1899, Sir 
 Henry Cai'apbell-Bannerman, referring to a statement attributed to 
 Sir Alfred Milner in which the Governor of Cape Colony was re- 
 ported as saying: " I am determined to break the dominion of Afri- 
 kanderdom ", said :
 
 ...Tlu- power of AfrikamliTtloni is British as well as Dutch, and the 
 wliolo I'lTort of a true statesman ought to he directed not to reduce and des- 
 troy it init to huild up and <levelop it and make a nation hy its means. If 
 we are to coin barbarous words, I would say that if South Africa is to be 
 saved to the Empire it will be saved by Afrikandcrdo)n and never by Dozvn- 
 in}i-Strcctcry. Just consider for a moment, as an illustration, the splendid 
 spirit which prevails in Canada at this moment, the loyalty to this country, 
 the imity of feeling among themselves, and imagine what it would have 
 been if a few years ago, wdien the French Canadians were perhaps a little 
 self-asserted, and our own kinsmen in that colony w'ere perhaps a little 
 impatient — I am trying to put it mildlj', — if at that moment the Governor 
 Cioneral had proclaimed that he regarded- his mission to be to put down 
 Canadaism ?. . . ( K. P. H., Vol. I. page 135.) 
 
 Except that the design has not been " proclaimed," that is exactly 
 ilu^ work which Lord Minto is endeavouring to perform just now; 
 and in this he is well helped by the weakness or the complicity of 
 both political parties. 
 
 Speaking of Roclidale on the j8th September, 1900, the Lil^eral 
 Leader said : 
 
 Let us renemlier that if our Empire is to stand it will not be by military 
 strength, at any rate it will not be b\' military strength alone, or by our 
 bold defiance of the world. It will be by the prosperity and the loyalty of 
 a happy, healthy, free and contended people... 
 
 There are a number of people who are called Jingoes, a certain nimiber 
 of others are called Little Englanders, but the great bulk of the people of 
 this country are neither one nor the other. At all events, eighty or ninety 
 per cent, I would say, of the Liberal party, which we know best, are reason- 
 able and common sense men who want to maintain our Empire, who want 
 to assert the interests and the rights of our Empire, wdio do not want to 
 see any harm come to it from any quarter of the globe, but who, on the 
 other hand, fully realise the tremendous responsibilities we already have, 
 who do not wish unnecessarily to add to them, and above all who wish to 
 do nothing that is offensive or aggressive towards any of our neighbours 
 in the world. If we adhere to that policy I believe we can maintain this 
 great Empire for many years and generations. Such an event as we have 
 seen this year accomplished — the Federation of our possessions in the 
 Southern Hemi.sphere — is a lesson to us that by leaving the people to have 
 their own w-ay, by giving them local self-government, by not interfering with 
 them, by obeying their wishes, so far as we can, and at the same time by 
 encouraging them by our example and by our advice where it is asked, we 
 can build up a great, strong nation which will be of immense assistance to 
 us in the development and maintenance of the Empire. But if we take any 
 (.)thcr course, if we undertake responsibilities that we are not ripe or fit for, 
 we shall be undertaking a task that we cannot possibly do justice to, and 
 in trying to do too much we shall fail to do anything. . . (E. P. H., Vol. 
 IL pages 108-109.) 
 
 RIGHT HON. J.A.MK:s B'^'CE. 
 
 Speech at Aberdeen on the 26th September, 1900: 
 
 ...It has now become the fashion to assume that neither morality nor 
 Christianity has anything to do with international relations — that our onlv
 
 LVII 
 
 objects are to be territory and trade, our only guide self-interest, and our 
 only means force. But it ought to be an enlightened self-interest. Business 
 is business, and this war is bad business. It is not only bad business, it 
 is bad Imperialism. And why? Because it has made us hated all over the 
 \vortld — and no nation, least of all an Imperial nation, can afford to des- 
 pise the opinion of the rest of the world — because it has shaken our hold 
 on a vital part of our Empire, because it has left us worse off in South 
 Africa than we were before and with far greater difficulties to confront... 
 (E. P. H., Vol. II, page 86.) 
 
 RIGHT HON. JOHN MORLEY. 
 
 Btit the clearest expression of sentiment against Imperialism, to 
 my mind, is the one which was given by Mr. Morley, the most 
 faithful survivor of the great Liberal School. Speaking at a dinner 
 given at Cambridge on the 19th of May 1900, in honour of the Aus- 
 tralian delegates, Mr. Morley said : 
 
 We v^ere told the other day by the Prime Minister that the Manchester 
 School is dead... Let us suppose then that the Manchester School is as 
 dead as they say. Let them defile the graves of its professors, and let them 
 sink the names of Cobden and Bright in coffins of lead into the abyss of 
 eternal oblivion, provided they leave us three principles in living and active 
 operation : untaxed food and free-trade as the foundation of our fiscal 
 policy; non-intervention in the affairs of the continent of Europe as the 
 foundation of our foreign policy; and freedom and independence for our 
 colonies as the foundation of our colonial policy. . . (E. P. H., Vol. I, 
 page 706.) 
 
 When I compare these few though refreshing expressions of 
 sound principle with the numerous boastings of the domineering 
 school, — the more I am told that Bryce and Morley have no follow- 
 ing nor influence in England, the more I say that it is time for us to 
 look after the guarantees of our self-government.
 
 Military Imperialism : Its progress* 
 
 The documents contained in this Chapter will show clearly, I 
 think, the predominant, I may say, the exclusive idea which per- 
 meates British Imperialism. They prove the critical situation in 
 which England is placed as far as her military organisation is con- 
 cerned. It will be found also how British statesmen are constantly 
 thinking of " utilising " and " tapping " colonial loyalty. This 
 undertaking, as remarked by Mr. Wyndham, requires " any amount 
 of diplomacy " (i). I did not go further back than the Jubilee year. 
 It is worthy of notice that before that period, the idea of getting 
 military help from the Colonies was very seldom — if ever — mani- 
 fested in the debates of the British Parliament. 
 
 I have divided those documents into two classes, as indicated by 
 their respective titles : ARMY and NAVY. 
 
 1°. Army. 
 
 SESSION' OF 1897. 
 
 ^ On the 4th of ^larch. Captain PIRIE, M. P.. asked the Under- 
 Secretary of State for War — 
 
 ...whether, having regard to the changes about to be made in the British 
 Army, and to the fact that in many cases our territorial recruiting areas 
 do not suffice for the demands made upon them by their territorial regi- 
 ments, the Government will give serious consideration to a proposal to 
 create regimental districts in the several greater Colonies of the Empire, 
 especially, in view of the popular sentiment in favour of such a proposal 
 recently exhibited in Canada, and in commemoration of the 6oth anniversary 
 of iHer Majesty's reign? 
 
 Mr. BRODRICK: A proposal of the nature referred to in the question 
 has been received from Canada and has been referred to the Canadian Gov- 
 ernment for an expression of their opinion upon it. iHer Majesty's Govern- 
 ment are fully alive to the desirability of encouraging such tendencies on 
 the part of the Colonies, but it is obvious that any steps in this direction 
 
 ([) See page lxt.
 
 LIX 
 
 must need very careful consideration before action is taken. (P. ])., Vol. 
 46. page 1 579-) 
 
 It was shown in the first cltapter, in the report of the Jubilee Con- 
 ference, that Mr. Chamberlain had proposed an exchange of troops 
 between Great Britain and the Colonies. On the 30th of July 1897, 
 the Montreal Star had the following telegraphic despatch from its 
 London correspondent : 
 
 In Army circles the announcement made by Rt. Hon. VV. Brodrick, Par- 
 liamentary Secretary to the War Ofiice, that there should be an niterchange 
 of the troops of the Empire, and that some of the colon'al battalions should 
 do duty in England, the British Regulars taking their places in the Colonies, 
 has created the greatest interest, and more details are eagerly looked for... 
 
 SE:;-ION OF I S9S. 
 
 On the 24th of Febiiuary, Captain PIRIE, M. P., asked if the 
 opinion of the Canadian Government had been ascertained on ihe 
 question of establishing in Canada " a territorial recruiting area ; " 
 also if steps were taken to create " regimental districts in several 
 greater Colonies of the Empire ? " 
 
 Mr. BRODRICK: The opinion of the Canadian Government on this sub- 
 ject has not been communicated to Her Majesty's Government. I am not 
 aware of any proposal to create regimental districts in any other colony. 
 (P. D., Vol. 53, page 1521.) 
 
 I may note, in passing, a slight evidence of the pressure exercised 
 by Mr.^uHAMBERLAIN on the Canadian Government. On the 
 29th of July 1898, the Colonial Secretary, in reply to some question, 
 explained that Mr. Du Bosc, late Spanish charge d'affaires at Wa- 
 shington, had been expelled from Canada by Sir Wilfrid Laurier " by 
 his — [Chamberlain's] — direction" (P. D., Vol. 63, page 437). 
 
 This act of complacency on the part of our Government does not 
 seem to have been rewarded by any better treatment of Canada cit 
 the hands of the American alithorities. 
 
 SESSION' OF 1S99. 
 
 On the 9th of February. Mr. HOGx'^N, M. P., asked: 
 
 ...whether an interchange of Imperial and New South Wales troops has 
 been decided upon, and whether a similar concession will be made tdotlier 
 self-governing colonies desirous of availing themselves of it? 
 
 The Under Secretary of State for War (Mr. G. WVNDIIAM): The 
 Government of New South Wales has agreed to the principle of an inter- 
 change of troops, and the details of the scheme are now receiving careful
 
 LX 
 
 consiiloratioii. Sinii ar exchanges arc under discussion with the Govern- 
 ments of the chief self-governing colonies. (P. D., Vol. 66, page 323.) 
 
 I hi the 2 1 St of the same month, a question was put, asking whe- 
 ;her a decision as to the raising of a new battaHon in Canada to take 
 place of the looth Regiment (Royal Canadians), had been delayed 
 l)y I'ritish or Canadian authorities; also if recruiting for the British 
 Army in general could not be done in Canada. 
 
 Mr. WINDHAM: ...The question of recruiting for the regular army in 
 Canada is now under consideration... has been under consideration for 
 :iome time. 
 
 Mr. ARNOLD FORSTER: Will the Hon. gentleman say whether the 
 obstacles has arisen here or in Canada? 
 
 Mr. WYNDHAM : I am not prepared to call the due consideration of 
 the question an obstacle either on the one side of the Atlantic or the other 
 (P. D., Vol. 67, page 45-46.) 
 
 On the 27th of April, ^Ir. AR.XOLD FORSTER put the follow- 
 ing question : 
 
 I beg to ask the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether his atten- 
 tion has been called to the statement contained in the report of Major 
 General HUTTON to the Canadian Government to the effect that a proposal 
 has been made by the Imperial Government that recruiting for the lOOth Regi- 
 ment (Royal Canadians) shall be opened to British subjects in the Dom- 
 inion of Canada, and that complete arrangements for carrying this out have 
 been prepared ; whether this statement was made by authority of the War 
 Office : what steps, if any, have actualh' been taken in the direction in- 
 dicated: and whether the early withdrawal from Canada of the lOOth 
 Regiment (Royal Canadians) is taken with a view of recruiting the Regi- 
 ir.ent ? 
 
 Mr. Powell WILLIAMS: The Secretary of State has not yet received 
 IMajor Hutton's report, and the War Office has not authorised any such 
 statement as that referred to in the question. We are in communication 
 with the Dominion Government as to recruiting in Canada, but the arrange- 
 ments, which I am glad to say are progressing satisfactorily, are not suf- 
 ficiently advanced for any statement to be made. . . (P. D., Vol. 70, page 711.) 
 
 C:)n the 2nd of Alay following, Mr. ARNOLD FORSTER asked: 
 
 I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention 
 has been called to the official report made to the Department of Militia 
 and Defence of the Dominion of Canada by Major General HUTTON, com- 
 manding the Canadian Militia, and specially to the passaee therein relating 
 to recruit'ng for the Imperial service, in which he states that it has been 
 proposed by the Imperial Government that recruiting for the Prince of 
 Wales' (Leinster Regiment, Royal Canadians) shall be opened to British 
 ^ubjects in the Dominion of Canada, and that complete arrangements for 
 carrying this out have been prepared, and will be published as soon as the 
 final instructions and the requisite official form had been received ; and
 
 LXI 
 
 whether Major General Hutton is correctly informed, and. whether this 
 statement was made by him with the knowledge or under the authority of 
 the Colonial Office? 
 
 The Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. J. CHAMBER- 
 LAIN) : 
 
 I have seen the statement in Major General Hutton's report referred to 
 in the question. A suggestion of the nature described in that statement had 
 been the subject of discussion between Her Majesty's Government and the 
 Canadian Government, and I presume that General Hutton made the state- 
 ment in the belief that a decision had been arrived at, which was not the 
 case. (P. D., Vol. 70, page 1120.) 
 
 On the 2 1 St of July, as the House in Committee was discussing tho 
 Army Estimates, Mr. PIRIE (Aberdeen) said: 
 
 When zve arc in sucli desperate straits as at present coneerning our 
 Army, it is our bounden duty to put forward what suggestions we can for 
 improving matters... The Colonies are a field which is practically un- 
 touched. It is typical of the War Office that there is delay after delay, 
 procrastination after procrastination, and not tangible or ^.ractical result as 
 regards recruiting in the Colonies. For three years the question as regards 
 Canada has been as far advanced as it is to-day. . . (P. D., Vol. 74, page 1639.) 
 
 Replying, Mr. WYNDHAM, Under Secretary of State fcr 
 War, sad : 
 
 The Hon. and gallant member d'd make a very importimt suggestion. H^c 
 said that more should be done to tap the Colonics, and he almost denounced 
 the Government for not having achieved more in the direction of entering 
 into an understanding with Canada and the other Colonies. There again I- 
 would ask the Committee to use their imagination, and to conceive what an 
 elaborate process it must be by which the Mother country, with vast ac- 
 cumulated wealth, could approach a new country, where there was no ac- 
 cumulated wealth, to explain to that colony that our Navy confers great 
 benefits upon them, and then to ask the latter into some arrangement for 
 defence. What does that mean? It means that that colony has to adjust 
 the new civilisation to the old, which must always be difficult. Any 
 amount of diplomacy is necessary, for the thing must be put on its proper 
 basis, which is that if any colony exhibits a great wish to take some por- 
 tion of the burden of Empire, the Mother country should, as far as possible, 
 modify its arrangements to meet the wishes of the colony. To go further 
 than that would be folly, and to go even so far is a matter of infinite cor- 
 respondence and negotiations. We have been in communication zvitli Can- 
 ada and at this present moment we have arrived at the stage of having 
 drawn up certain proposals which I hope we shall to-day or to-morrow 
 transmit to Canada to invite their opinion upon. Clearly it would be im- 
 possible for me to indicate the nature of the proposals, but I can assure 
 the Hon. member that there has been no slackness on our side, no want of 
 annreciat'on of the aspirations to take some portion of the burden of Empire 
 which have been put forward by Canada... (P. D., Vol. 74, page 1643.)
 
 LXII 
 
 SESSION OF 190c. 
 
 On the 1 2th of February, the House of Lords was discussins: the 
 military measures to be taken for and on account of the South 
 African war. 
 
 The ^[arquess of LAXSDOWXE. Secretary, of State for War, 
 admitted that " the MiHtia is now 30,000 below its establishment. "' 
 (P. D., \'ol. 78. page 1 177). He indicated at length the means chat 
 were to be taken in order to increase the forces, and he added : 
 
 We also intend to offer commissions to the Colonies, from whom we have 
 already received manj' excellent officers, and I am sure an i; one who knows. 
 as I know, anything about the Miitary College at Kingston, Canada, will 
 not doubt that officers taken from that source are worthy to take their place 
 by the side of the very best officers of our Army. (Page 1180.) 
 
 On the i5Lh, Lord ROSEBERY took part in the debate: he said: 
 
 You are known, on the confession of your own Minister, to be denuded 
 of troops at home. You are sending every available man and gun that you 
 can spare to South Africa. What is the amicable disposition of foreign na- 
 tions on which you can reckon, so that we shall be left uninterrupted to 
 pursue this war? I know there is nothing so unpopular, nothing so distaste- 
 ful to the British public, and yet nothing so salutary, as to remind them of 
 the opinion of foreign countries. But whether pleasant and salutary or not. 
 in the crisis in which we are placed it is absolutely necessary to take notice 
 of it... I confess I watch the situation in Europe and elsewhere more 
 closely tlian I watch the situation in South Africa... 
 
 The speaker then alluded to the coldness with which Germany and 
 United States had received the " public overtures " made to them by 
 the British Government " for an alliance ; " he spoke of the anti- 
 Eritish feelincTs of the French people, in spite of the conciliatory 
 attitude of their Government, and of the points of friction with 
 Russia : and he added : 
 
 "When you see a want of amity on the part of foreign Powers,... I 
 say it may be given to any of us, however light-hearted we may be. to 
 pause and to ask the Government to take a large grasp of the situation 
 and to make proposals to the country which are adequate to that situation." 
 (P. D., Vol. 79, page 30-31.) 
 
 Lord LA^nXGTOX said: 
 
 The Secretary of State for War... referred to the intention of giving 
 commissions to colonial officers. I would ask whether something more 
 could not be done. There was a proposal some time ago to have an inter- 
 change of Regiments between this country and the colonies... I think that 
 after what we have seen of the work of the colonial forces, and what they 
 are capable of doing, the present is an opportune moment to endeavour to 
 bring into c'oser touch with one another the component forces of the dif- 
 ferent parts of the Empire...
 
 LXIII 
 
 Having- referred to the new federation of the Australian colonies, 
 he added : 
 
 It is of good augury that synchronous with a political movement that 
 will enlarge her aspirations and add to her defensive strength, Australia, 
 peopled by those of our own blood, should give us of that blood freely and 
 voluntarily. This two fold event can but strengthen the ties which bind our 
 Empire. And it would be a further aid in Ihis direction were the Govern- 
 ment to mark their appreciation of the services of the colonists by endea- 
 vouring to bring them into closer touch with the Imperial army, when revi- 
 sing our military system, and this without injuring local action or initiative. 
 (P. D., Vol. 79, page 35-36.) 
 
 On the 19th of February, Mr. DRAGE (Derby) asked, in the 
 House of Commons : 
 
 I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for war whether, in view of 
 the services rendered by the Colonies in the present war, he will consider 
 the desirability of consulting the Colonial Governments before proposing any 
 scheme for the permanent reorganisation of the forces of the Empire ; and 
 whether, in view of the approaching visit of representatives of the Austral- 
 ian colonies, he will suggest to the Secretary of State the desirability of 
 obtaining their views on the subject. 
 
 The Under Secretary of State for War (Mr. WYNDHAM. Dover) : 
 Yes, sir, I have already said that we propose to await and, if need be, to 
 invite, an expression of opinion from colonial Governments on that and 
 kindred questions. The representatives have been sent oyer with a special 
 object, but their presence may give us opportunities of informally discus- 
 sing the question which the Hon. member has raised. (P. D., Vol. 79, page 
 364.) 
 
 On the 22nd of February, being- asked as to the provisions of the 
 Militia Laws of the self-governing Colonies, Mr. CHAMBERLAIN 
 said : 
 
 In Canada the Militia roll includes all male inhabitants between eighteen 
 and sixty, who are British subjects and not specially exempted. The Militia 
 may be called out for active service either within or without Canada... 
 (F. D., Vol. 79, page '797.) 
 
 It is rather interesting to compare this opinion with that expressed 
 by Sir Wilfrid LAURIER in his interview to the Toronto Globe, on 
 the 3rd of October 1899, when the Prime Minister explained why 
 the Canadian Government couM not send troops to South Africa. 
 Sir Wilfrid had then said : 
 
 ...Our volunteers are enrolled to be used in the defence of the Dom- 
 inion. They are Canadian troops to be used to fight for Canada's defence. (i) 
 
 (I) See page xxxiv.
 
 LXIV 
 
 On the 3rd of April. General LAI'RIE, M.P., (formerly a 
 niemlxT 0/ the Canadian Parliament) put the following question: 
 
 I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can in- 
 form the House whether the offers of no commissions in the Army to the 
 Australian Colonies and 44 to the Dominion of Canada are intended as a 
 recognition of the services rendered to the Empire in South Africa by the 
 Australasian and Canadian troops ; and whether it is intended to increase 
 the number of commissions to be offered to Canada so that the people of 
 the Dominion may be afforded, in proportion to population, the same op- 
 portunity of rendering military service to the Empire as is to be afforded 
 to their fellow subjects in Australasia? 
 
 Mr. WYNDHAM: The numbers of commissions are approximatively as 
 stated in the question. If all the commissions offered to Canada are filled, 
 the Secretary of State will be quite ready to consider a further offer. 
 (P. D., Vol. 81, page 1057) 
 
 On the 3rd of July, Mr. DRAGE asked : 
 
 I beg. to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether any attempt has 
 been made to ascertain the views of the Colonial and Indian Governments 
 on the reorganisation of the military forces of the Empire ; and whether 
 the Government will consider the desirability of adding to the Committee 
 of the Council of Defence representatives of the great self-governing col- 
 onies and of India. 
 
 Mr. A. -J. BALFOUR: I understand that opportunity has been taken to 
 consult the authorities on the question referred to by my Hon. friend. The 
 Committee referred to in the question is a committee of the Cabinet, and 
 the Government, therefore, cannot add to it in the manner suggested. 
 (P. D., Vol. 85, page 405- ) 
 
 On the 19th of July 1900, lord BRASSEY (Ex-Governor of 
 Victoria) brought before the Hoitse of Lords the question of the 
 reserve forces of Australia. He said : 
 
 ...I strongly urge that Her Majesty's Government should concert mea- 
 sures with the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia with a view 
 to raising an Imperial Yeomanry in Australia of at least 5,000 men, under 
 engagement to serve in any part of the Empire, the cost to be met by joint 
 contributions from the Imperial Exchequer and from Colonial funds... 
 (P. D., Vol. 86, page 437.) 
 
 SESSION OK I 900- I 90 I. 
 
 On the nth December, 1900, Sir Chas. DILKE asked: 
 
 I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether Mr. Seddon's 
 scheme for the erection in the self-governing colonies, by British financial 
 assistance, of an Imperial military reserve has had its consideration ; and 
 whether the scheme, as modified in its financial proposals by a joint com- 
 mittee of the two Houses of the New Zealand legislature, has yet been sub- 
 mitted to him?
 
 I,XV 
 
 The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir M. HICKS BEACH) : I have 
 not. personally, had the scheme brought to my notice, but I am aware 
 that it is under the consideration of the Government. (P. D., Vol. 88, 
 page 501.) 
 
 On the 8th of March 1901, Mr. BRODRICK, the new Secretary 
 of State for War, brought before the House the Army Estimates. 
 He made an exhaustive review of the miHtary position of Great 
 Britain, showing the heavy strain caused by the South African war, 
 and the imperative need of complete reform and of a large increase 
 in the forces of the Empire. The whole speech should be read. I 
 quote the following extracts : 
 
 In approaching the subject of reform, I would ask the House to allow me 
 to mention two points on which we differ from any other nation in regard 
 to the problems we have to face. In the first place, we have got to keep 
 an enormous force abroad, quite apart from war. in a time of peace. We 
 have got to provide, to equip, 115,000 men in India and the Colonies, mostly 
 in tropical stations, and we have to attempt to do that, which no other 
 power attempts, relying entirely upon voluntary enlistment... 
 
 ...Is our army in future for home defence to be a voluntary army, or is 
 it to be recruited by compulsion?... I know very well how easy it is 
 in this House to win cheap cheers by a proud declaration about adhesion 
 to the voluntary system. I think the voluntary system for home defence is 
 not a thing to be proud of, unless you get an efficient defence... Therefore 
 my adhesion to the voluntary system is strictly limited by our ability to 
 obta'n under it a force with which our military authorities can satisfy the 
 Government that they have sufficient force to resist invasion and can main- 
 tain to their satisfaction. At the same time the Government fully recognise 
 that, while the country is willing to pay heavily to escape invasion, it is 
 incumbent on the Government to exhaust every means before coming for- 
 ward with any such proposals, and especially under the circumstances of 
 the present time. 
 
 We have never had such recruiting as we had last year under the in- 
 fluence of the warlike spirit that pervaded the country and the conviction 
 that the war was just and necessary... I do not believe that this great spirit 
 of recruiting will continue with the same intensity after the war is over. 
 I am not at all certain that the ease with which money is obtained now 
 will be borne out by the pleasure with which the taxation necessary for it 
 will be paid... I am attacked for parsimony. I think the day is not .far 
 distant when I shall be attacked for extravagance;... and I even think, as 
 I pass the lamppost in Palace Yard, there will be plenty of people who 
 would be glad to hold on to one end of a rope if they could only be per- 
 suaded that I myself or the Chancellor of the Exchequer was attached to 
 the other end. 
 
 ...I will not entertain the question of a European war, but I think no 
 man in the House will be so bold as to say that under all circumstances 
 we shall be able to keep ourselves free from European entanglements... We 
 cannot shut out the possibility of having to send a large force to defend 
 our own possessions, nor can we suppose that if ever we should become un- 
 happily entang'ed in a European war we can limit our enterprise solely to 
 the defence of our possessions, and to the action of our fleet... (P. IX, Vol. 
 90, pages 1058 to 1063.) 
 
 The Militia should be 150,000 strong, but it is only 100,000 strong. There 
 is something worse than that:... As a matter of fact we have to take and
 
 l.Wl 
 
 train about 30.000 each year, and we only produce 100,000 of a total force 
 on the six years' engagement. The reason is very simple. The inducements 
 we offer the men are not sufficient to keep them. (Page 1071.) 
 
 Now, we intend to put our money on the Yeomanry, and we expect great 
 results... The pay will be 5 s. a day, with ration allowance and forage... 
 I trust the day is not far distant when some of our colonial brethren who 
 have given us mounted assistance during this war will be willing, subject 
 to flu- conscut of their ozi'ii Govcrnnicnt, to keep up mounted contingents, 
 also under the title of Imperial Yeomanry who, when occasion demands, 
 will be available to join our own Yeomanry should they ever volunteer to 
 go abroad. (Pages 1074-5-6.) 
 
 Oil the 14th of March, Sir Chas. DILKE spoke on the same 
 question : he said : 
 
 ...It had been almost universally accepted after the experience we have 
 had of colonial mounted infantry in this war that there would be some 
 sketch, however faint, of the future constitution of an Imperial mounted in- 
 fantry throughout the Empire. I know it is said that these suggestions 
 should come from the colonies, but they have come. You would not be for- 
 cing any such scheme on the colonies, but you would only be accepting an 
 invitation already made. Suggestions have been already made by Canada 
 and Australia, and in New Zealand a definite scheme has been proposed by 
 the Government, and the country will be disappointed that no reference has 
 been made to that scheme by the Secretary of War. 
 
 Mr. BRODRICK: I made a distinct reference to it. 
 
 Sir Chas. DILKE : The point on which reformers in this House have 
 always insisted, and the necessity for which has been terribly shown in the 
 early stages of this w^ar, is that we should not wait for war to make these 
 preparations, but that an arrangement with the colonies should be made in 
 time of profound peace so that it might be in working order when war 
 broke out, and not have to be made much too late to render all the assist- 
 ance it would have rendered in the earlier stages of a war. (P. D., Vol.90, 
 page 1665.) 
 
 On the 15th of ]\Iarch, during the same debate, Mr. Arthur LEE 
 (Hampsire) said: 
 
 In regard to the raising of the Imperial Yeomanry, I must express deep 
 regret that the question of the cooperative defence of the Empire has not 
 been brought forward in some shape in this connection. It may be said 
 that the time is not ripe. I think the time is peculiarly ripe. I have lived 
 for some years in the Colonies and am still in touch with colonial opinion, 
 and my belief is, whatever the governments of the Colonies may be saying, 
 that the people are only too ready to take part in any scheme of cooper- 
 ative defence of the Empire, if you will give them the opportunity. The 
 governments are waiting to see which zvay the cat will jump, and I'believe 
 that any well considered proposal would meet with a most enthusiastic 
 response. Failing such a proposal, I wish the Right Hon. gentleman had 
 been able to suggest a scheme by which each of the Colonies concerned 
 would have accepted a fixed share, however small, in the Imperial offensive 
 army... (P. D., Vol. 91. page 147.)
 
 LXVII 
 
 . Mr. Edmund ROBERTSON (Late Civil Lord of the Admiralty, 
 1892-95) : 
 
 The Colonies are either self-governing or they are Crown Colonies. If 
 they are Crown Colonies then we have the power and the right to make 
 them pay for a portion of the burden of Imperial defence. If the self-gov- 
 erning Colonies count for anything in this additional expenditure proposed 
 by His Majesty's Government, then I say those colonies ought to contribute 
 to that expenditure... When the time comes for the settlement of the debt 
 for the war in South Africa — which is an Imperial war for co'onial 
 defence — are you going to ride off on the clap trap that certain colonies 
 who have gone to the front indulge in? Is that to be the answer in regard 
 to what ought to be demanded from the colonists for their share of this 
 imperial war? If the. colonists pay their share of the burden of this war 
 they ought to pay at least one third of the whole cost, which has fallen 
 upon this country. (Page 174.) 
 
 On the 14th of May, the House discussed a motion of the Secre- 
 tary for War in favour of a new organisation for the Army. Lord 
 STANLEY, Financial Secretary to the War Office, said : 
 
 ...Complaint has also been made that the Colonies have not been included 
 in the Imperial Yeomanry. But the Government intend to bring forward a 
 scheme to establish in the Colonies a force composed of the same class of 
 men, under the same rules and regulations, and fighting, if necessary, in the 
 time to come under the same flag, under tlic same name, which a portion 
 of them have certainly helped to make historic... (P. D., Vol. 94, page 92.) 
 
 Mr. Freeman THOMAS (Hastings): 
 
 I entirely agree with the Right Hon. Baronet, the member for the Forest 
 of Dean (Sir Chas. Dilke), in the suggestion he throws out, and to which 
 I was glad to hear the noble Lord give a most friendly assent. :n regard 
 to the Imperial Yeomanry in the Colonies. I believe that in regard to these 
 Yeomanry it would be a graceful action on our part, having regard to past 
 events, if we followed the suggestion which has been made. I believe such 
 action would be received with enthusiasm in the colonies, and I am bound 
 to say they would make a body of men second to none for the defence of 
 the Empire... (Page 106.) 
 
 On the 15th of r^Iay, during the same debate, Col. I'ROOK- 
 FIELD, M. P., whose argument was that Mr. Brodrick's plan of 
 reorganisation was totally inadecjuate, said : 
 
 ...It is hoped... that this Imperial system will in time include colonial 
 troops a^ well. I don't see why they are excluded at the present moment... 
 It could be done by pressing into service all those colonial troops whom he 
 is candid enough to say he only intends to ask in an incidental way. (P. D., 
 Vol. 94, page 353.) 
 
 On the 20th of May, 
 
 Col. LEGGE:... asked the Secretary for War whether he would con- 
 sider the advisability of inviting the Colonies to raise regular corps for ser- 
 vice in the Imperial Army at home and abroad both in peace and war?
 
 LXVIII 
 
 Mr. BRODRICK: The proposal has been repeadedly considered, but has 
 not hitlicrto been found practicable. I hope a beginning of such a connec- 
 tion niav be made through the Imperial Yeomanry. (P. D., Vol. 94. page 
 
 \Vc have now the origin of the third Canadian contingent. People 
 whose proud feelings were aroused by the title of Yeomanry may 
 now see wdiy this name was adopted. The British authorities have 
 sacrificed the namc\ but they have the fact: they have succeeded in 
 establishiii_y: m the colonies a system for '* raising regular corps for 
 service in the Imperial Army. " It was a similar attempt that 
 was denounced by the Canadian Military Gazette in January and 
 February of last year. 
 
 The sending of this late contingent is therefore more serious, 
 when looked at from the view-point of our future, than the two fir^t 
 expeditions : it is the inauguration of a new military policy which 
 the British Government had never contemplated in past years, even 
 when we were but a Crown colony. That the consent of the Cana- 
 dian Cabinet was sought for and considered as an essential condi- 
 tion of the bargain, is clearly shown in ^Ir. Brodrick's above quoted 
 speech on the 8th of March last ( i ) . 
 
 This fresh encroachment upon our constitutional liberties has 
 been made without any previous consultation of the will of parlia- 
 emnt. And this time, popular pressure cannot be invoked as an 
 excuse. It is claimed we pay nothing. The cjuestion of cost is a 
 mere side-issue : wdiat is at stake is the self-government and the na- 
 tional dignity of our country. 
 
 I do not insist on the moral responsability which Canada has 
 assumed in sharing in this odious war ; — a war in which incendia- 
 rism and executions have become the favourite w^eapons ; a war that 
 causes the conscience of the whole civilised world to revolt : a war 
 which makes the best and the noblest of Englishmen shiver with 
 horror and shame. 
 
 Many a times I was asked in London : " How is it that you Ca- 
 nadians are helping the Tories wath arms, money and argument, in 
 order to impose by brutal force in South Africa the very principles 
 against which you struggled for fifty years and from which you 
 were freed bv us, British Liberals ? " 
 
 (I) ".■■. Subject lo the consetit 0/ their 07fngoveinineitl. .." (Pajje lxvi.
 
 LXIX 
 
 I had the advantage of following a part of the debate raised in 
 the House of Lords, last summer, by the Duke of Bedford on the 
 reform of the Army. No one who listened to the able speech deli- 
 vered on that occasion by Lord Wolseley, could help but being 
 struck with the distress in which the British Army is now placed. 
 
 In his remarks, on the 25th of June, the Dlike of BEDFORD 
 said : 
 
 I am calling attention to proposals presumably the outcome of our recent 
 experience of actual warfare... Yet the proposals of the government ignore 
 the three principal lessons of the war. There are no attempts to create a 
 real Reserve... There are no efforts to provide a body of 30,000 men who 
 can be embarked at a day's notice without recalling men from civilian life 
 to take the place of boys serving with the colours, thus disorganising every 
 unit on the eve of embarkation. There are no indications of any determina- 
 tion on the part of the Government to found, on the reorganisation of our 
 military system and on the patriotic devotion of our colonies, a well-con- 
 sidered scheme of Imperial defence. (P. D., Vol. 95, page 1350-51.) 
 
 He them makes an argument against the system of conscription 
 — and he ends his speech by moving the following proposition : 
 
 That, in the opinion of this House, the terms now offered to recruits are 
 not sufficient to fulfil the requirements involved in the proposals for the 
 reorganisation of the military forces. (Page 1370.) 
 
 On the 28th of June, in the course of the same debate, Lord 
 HAMPDEN (Late Governor of New South Wales, 1895-1899) 
 speaking of the plans suggested by the War Secretary (Mr. Bro- 
 drick ) for the organisation of the Yeomanry, said : 
 
 ...I should like to allude to the action of Australia. I do not mean to 
 refer to the magnificent services and sacrifices which Australia has made 
 in this war... what I wish to refer to is the possible cooperation between 
 the great self-governing colonies and the British Government in maintain- 
 ing a force of mounted infantry which may be employed within the limits 
 of the Empire... (P. D., Vol. 96, page 213.) 
 
 The Marquess of LANSDOWNE, late Secretary for War and 
 now Secretary for Foreign Affairs, replying to the remarks made by 
 the Duke of Bedford on the 25th, said : 
 
 That the noble Duke should blame us because we have not in a few 
 months at our disposal brought forward a comprehensive scheme of col- 
 onial defence appears to me to be the climax of unreasonableness. Any 
 scheme designed for Imperial defence on a large scale implies cooperation 
 between British and colonial forces, and requires most careful and delicate 
 preparation ; and to my mind the idea of attempting to rush any scheme 
 of the kind through the Parliaments of this country and the colonies within 
 a few months is absolutely preposterous... (Page 219.)
 
 LXX 
 
 He then pointed out the danger of increasing the war estimates. 
 
 I may add. in passing, that Lord Lansdowne does not realise vhe 
 progress made by our parhament. in the way of subserviency, since 
 he was Governor of Canada. 
 
 Lord W'OLSELEY said : 
 
 ...Of the many important lessons we have learned from this war one of 
 the most important, in my opinion, is that our army is altogether too small. 
 There are only two means by which we can obtain an adequate Army for 
 our purpose. The first is by compulsory service, and as to that I do not 
 th:nk myself that the time has j'et arrived for it, that the people's minds 
 are yet sufficiently accustomed to the idea of conscription : and the second 
 is the simple process of poimds, shillings, and pence... You advertise for 
 men, but you get only boys. They say they are eighteen: but we know per- 
 fectly well that a large number of them are under eighteen, and if they pass 
 the medical examination and the requirements as regards height and chest 
 measurement they are accepted. But supposing a recruit is eighteen, he will 
 not be a thoroughly good soldier until he has had three years service... 
 The number of men that w'ill have to be discharged at the end of the war 
 will be very large. I believe you will require the year after the war from 
 8o,OGO to ico.coo. and the idea that you can get this large number of men 
 by the proposals stated by the Secretary for War in his able and admirable 
 speech is the idea of a visionarv and not of a practical man... (Pages 235- 
 6-7.) 
 
 Lord T\\'EED^IOUTH : 
 
 I do not advocate any verj- large increase of pay to our soldiers, and I 
 fully recognise all that has been said by the noble Marquess the Secretary 
 of State for Foreign Affairs as to the danger of swelling our already gigantic 
 estimates. (Page 242.) 
 
 A few davs later, speaking at the Roval Ignited Service Institu- 
 tion, Lord VVOLSELEY said that: 
 
 The first question we had to answer was — What was to be the strength 
 of our Army?... How we were to get an army resolved itself in his mind 
 into a very simple problem, and that was that every man in England must 
 ofifer himself or else pay some one else to serve for him. We must raise 
 an armv, and if we could not get it for i shilling we must get it for 2 shil- 
 lings.. . 
 
 {Tiiiu-s. July 8th. I go I.) 
 
 Taking together the arguments of Lord \\'olselev and Lord 
 Tweedmouth, which are quite expressive of the general feelings in 
 England just now, one must come to this conclusion: England needs 
 soldiers ; she can get but children at home to filf the ranks 
 unless she increases largely the pay, and even then it is not quite sure 
 that she will get the required number of proper recruits. On the 
 other hand, conscription is hateful to the people, and the burden of 
 taxation has almost reached the limit of possible endurance. Is it
 
 LXXI 
 
 not natural therefore that the British mihtary and pohtical autho- 
 rities should look for help from those colonies which they des- 
 pised so long, to which they find it impossible to grant the slightest 
 commercial advantage, but from which they hope to get cheap and 
 efficient material for their army and navy? And indeed nearly all the 
 official representatives of the Colonies, when in London, never 
 fail to assure their beloved English masters that they can speculate 
 at leisure upon colonial devotion. 
 
 I could have multiplied quotations from military authorities to 
 prove how badly they want recruits from the Colonies to take the 
 place of the United Kingdom citizens who find it more 
 convenient to let their dear colonial kinsmen fulfil the duties which 
 they do not care to assume themselves. I will just give this 
 extract of an article on *' The Army of India ", written by Major 
 General Sir Edwin COLLEN, late military member of the Council 
 of the Governor General of India, in the Empire Reviezv of Decem- 
 ber last : 
 
 There can be little doubt that every one, civilian or soldier, who thinks 
 at all about the matter, would look with favour upon a plan of Imperial 
 defence to embrace a Navy with sea-power sufficient to cope with possible 
 combinations, an adequate home defence, and the ability to take the field in 
 such strength as our responsibilities require, supplemented by military for- 
 ces, organised beforehand, from the other parts of the Empire, with due 
 provision for local defence. Call them by what name we may, regulars or 
 permanent troops, militia, yeomanry, or volunteers, we must have soldiers 
 to take the field in large numbers and well organised, to defend England, 
 the countries in which she has a stake, and every outpost of the Empire. 
 
 This is the problem which has to be solved, and although opinions may 
 differ as to the number of men we ought to have, the means by which we 
 should obtain them, and the organisation into which they should be formed, 
 few will be found to disagree very seriously with this general statement of 
 the question. But at once, and in the very forefront of our difficulties 
 there rises up the solid obstacle of ignorance. How can we be brought to 
 appreciate the conditions of every part of the Empire? The only possible 
 way is to try and spread the knowledge of those conditions. It is imper- 
 ative that education, whether for high or low, shall in the future teach a 
 far wider acquaintance than it does at present with the history, geography, 
 and characteristics, of the components parts of the Empire, and that those 
 who hope to lead and govern shall have an intelligent appreciation of the 
 naval and military organisation, and resources, of the whole... 
 
 2°. Navy. 
 
 DISTRb-SS OF THE BRITISH NAVY. 
 
 In February 1897, Lord Charles BERESF(3RD published, in 
 The Nineteenth Century, ■an article entitled: "Urgent questions 
 for the Council of defence ", which created quite a sensation. Re- 
 ferring to the Report of the " Hartington Commission ", of 1890, 
 Lord Beresford then said :
 
 LXXII 
 
 It is six years since this Report was printed, but I contend... that the 
 same dangerous and inefficient state of things exists to-day, and this can 
 be conchisiveiy proved. The whole of the Report teems with facts so mon 
 strous, and reveals a state of affairs so shocking, that in any other country 
 in the world there would have been a complete reorganisation of the 
 " system "... 
 
 Logically, the first question to be dealt with is the personnel. The coun- 
 try may build many tleets and squadrons but they are useless for winning 
 actions' without the human element in the shape of officers and men to 
 man them. . . 
 
 It is absolutely ridiculous to call the present 25,000 R. N. R. men a reserve 
 at all. They are excellent material, but they are of no use. First, because 
 few of thcni would be available in war time, and secondly because they ari' 
 untrained and vmdisciplined. Very few of them have ever seen a gun fircl 
 afloat. A large proportion of them take their 28 days' drill spread a week 
 at a time over the year. Each time they have to start afresh. The "twenty- 
 eight days" is in itself a farce... 
 
 On looking at that Return it will be found that in the British Navy there 
 are included vessels (put down as fighting ships) which it would be criminal 
 to send to sea to fight an action. There are forty-five vessels in the British 
 list in that return which are still armed with muzzle-loading guns. Not 
 one single vessel in the Return of any other European nation has a muzzle- 
 loading gun on board . . . 
 
 It must not be supposed that only the ships with muzzle-loading guns are 
 worthless. There are others in the British Navy that are armed with 
 breech-loading guns and yet are worthless as fighting ships. All the " C " 
 class of cruisers, for instance. A list could be made out of eighty or ninety 
 of such ships utterly imfit to be kept in commission or reserve as " fighting 
 ships."... 
 
 ...I have been charged with saying unjustly that the Admiralty is not 
 run on businesslike principles. What firm would keep obsolete plant and 
 machinery on its premises? What railway would keep George Stephenson's 
 " Rocket " in reserve to supply the place of a modern express engine should 
 the latter break down?... 
 
 ...When I had a seat in the House, I brought forward a motion that one 
 of the unarmoured ended battleships should be thoroughly tried by perfor- 
 ating its ends, and placing it in the same position as it would probably 
 occupy in an action. This motion I was asked by a member of the Cabinet 
 not to press, the argument he used being, " Suppose your theory is correct, 
 do you think it would be to the advantage of England to show other na- 
 tions that thirteen out of twenty-two of her first class battleships are in- 
 ferior to those of France, and that they can be made dangerous from small 
 gun-fire?" The Right Hon. gentleman quite forgot that it would be still 
 worse for other nations to discover this when the thirteen ships in question 
 went to the bottom in war time by turning turtle with their crews... 
 
 It would be possible to continue a list of startling and serious facts about 
 our administration and its want of method, so as to fill up more than one 
 number of this Review, but it would not be wise to reveal too many of our 
 weaknesses at once. Foreign Powers know them. The British tax-payer is 
 the only person who does not. Of course Their Lordships at Whitehall 
 know all these facts, but under the " system "' they are not supposed to do 
 anything. . . 
 
 If ever war comes and finds us unprepared, it will bring with it a ter- 
 rible load of responsibility to those who have been trusted and paid by the 
 country to see it adequately defended, and while the " system " is largely 
 responsible for the evils that did and still exist, yet, in the past, individuals 
 have also been to blame, and the sentiment, " It will last my time " has 
 been a common one with those holding high positions.
 
 IvXXIII 
 
 On the 22nd of May 1897, Lord Beresford spoke at a meeting of 
 the Navy League, at Canning Town : 
 
 " Having declared that by some mistake, the government were 15,000 men 
 short of the 100,000 men they sad they had. Lord Beresford spoke of the con- 
 dition of the mercantile marine. It was in a shocking condition and in a 
 very critical state, and unless something were done, when war came about 
 we should be open to an accusation of folly, aye, of criminal folly. Half 
 the men of our mercantile marine were not Britishers, and in his connexion 
 he advocated a revision of the restriction put on shipowners. The Treaty 
 of Paris, we were told, would avoid many of the evils he foresaw; but of 
 all the false and misleading theories he had heard of that was the worst. 
 That Treaty, which was regarded as international law, was signed by one 
 English Minister, but it had never been ratified by Parliament, and he hoped 
 that it would be looked into. 
 
 (Times, May 24th. 1897.) 
 
 The Tillies of September 3rd, 1897 pubHshed a letter addressed by 
 Mr. R. H. Macdonald, Lord Beresford's secretary, to Mr. Edward 
 Lovekin ; in which he says that — 
 
 "while he — [Lord C. B.] — believes authority recognises the position, and 
 made a general attempt to improve the personnel of the Royal Naval Reserve, 
 for which reason he forbore to criticise until he had seen the result of their 
 efforts, nothing has yet occured to alter his opinion that the manning of the 
 naval and mercantile marine needs serious over-hauling, and that the con- 
 ditions of joining and training men of the Royal Naval Reserve require en- 
 tire alteration." 
 
 It does not appear that the Admirahy have since accomphshed all 
 the reforms suggested by Lord Beresford — at least if there was 
 any foundation in the following annolmcement made by the Times 
 on the 2nd of July last : 
 
 It is stated that Lord Charles BERESFORD, although entitled to retain 
 his Mediterranean command for another two years, is anxious to be re- 
 lieved of his official responsibilities next February, his desire being to have 
 a free hand in criticising recent developments in ministerial policy with 
 reference to naval and military administration. 
 
 I find in the Times of the 27th of June 1901 another opinion, quite 
 instructive, which cannot be attributed to any sentiment of disloy- 
 alty : 
 
 The following memorandum, dated June 26th, and signed by Mr. H. Sey- 
 mour Trower, Chairman of the Executive Committee, and Commander 
 W. Caius Crutchley, R. N. R., the Secretary, has been issued by the NAVY 
 LEAGUE : 
 
 On October 20th. 1900, the Navy League issued a statement of facts show- 
 ing that Great Britain, after holding the command of the sea unchallenged 
 for the better part of a century, had lost it because: ist, Our recent naval 
 programs for men, ships, and material had been insufficient; 2nd, The pro- 
 
 9
 
 LXXIV 
 
 grams proposed by the responsible minister and sanctioned by Parliament 
 as the least compatible with safety had not been carried out; 3rd, The ships 
 that were included in our naval estimates, although laid down, had been 
 delayed on the stocks, or were under equipment, until some of ihem would 
 be half obsolete before they were complete, and a large number of the prom- 
 ised battleships were not j'et included on the strength of the navy ; 4th, 
 Other nations had ostentatiously and successfully increased their programs 
 of naval construction, thus still further diminishing our relative strength; 
 5th, A new and resolute claimant for sea-power had arisen. 
 
 In the \llth Chapter of the Naval Annual for 1901, Lord BRAS- 
 SEY confirms entirely what Lord Beresford stated in 1897: 
 
 ...Fifty years ago we had 200,000 British seamen in our mercantile ma- 
 rine; we have scarcely half that number at the present time... The falling 
 of in numbers is the more deplorable, because it is mainly amongst the 
 younger men. The state of things is grave, and calls for the attention of 
 statesmen. (Page 153.) 
 
 If navaJ and political authorities differ as to the means to be taken 
 for strengthening and improving the organisation of the fleet and 
 its manning, there is one point on which they all agree : the neces- 
 sity of using the zeal and the enthusiasm of the colonies to increase 
 the personnel of the Navy as well as the territorial Army. Let us 
 see now how this problein has been dealt with in the British Parlia- 
 ment for the last few vears. 
 
 SESSION OF 1898. 
 
 On the nth of March, Sir John COLOMB. AL P., was arraigning 
 the Government in general and the First Lord of the Admiralty in 
 particular for not urging inore strongly the Colonies to contribute to 
 the British Navy. He then said : 
 
 He — [the First Lord] — told us that Australia was clamouring for naval 
 assistance. Now I think it is time that we should just remind them, in an- 
 swer to this clamour, that we are bearing almost the whole burden of the 
 cost of the Navy. . . 
 
 Now^ I hold in my hand a paper: it is the proceedings of a conference 
 held at the Colonial Office between the Secretary of State for the Colonies 
 and the Premiers of the self-governing colonies in June and July last (i). 
 It is a very remarkable paper, because it gives you what the Secretary of 
 State for the Colonies says and it gives you what the First Lord of the 
 Admiralty says, but it does not give you what the Premiers said. 
 
 The Speaker then gives lectlire of a statement which, he says, was 
 made by Mr. REID, Prime Minister of New South Wales.^on his 
 return from the Jubilee. The text is as follows : 
 
 (i) See pages iii to vii.
 
 LXXV 
 
 The conferences between Mr. Chamberlain and the Colonial Premiers 
 were four in number. On the question of Naval Defence it was evident that 
 the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the First Lord of the Admiralty had 
 first mtended, or hoped, that the Australian contribution to Naval Defence 
 would be substant.ally increased, and that the movements of the Australian 
 Squadron would not be restricted as in the existing agreement. I took ad- 
 vantage of a speech made by Mr. Goschen at the banquet of the Royal Col- 
 onial Institute, in order to put an end to any such expectations. I ventured 
 to suggest that we could best do our duty to the Empire by developing the 
 resources of the Australian Continent, and that to cripple our slender fin- 
 ances in order to make a paltry reduction in the cost of the British Navy 
 would not be a good thing for the Mother country or ourselves. 
 
 The First Lord of the Admiralty (Mr. GOSCHEN) : I do not accept that 
 statement at all. 
 
 (P. D., Vol. 54. pages 1438-39-40.) 
 
 On the 1 8th of March, the First Lord of the AdmiraUy, Mr. 
 GOSCHEN, referred to the ahovc speech of Sir John Colomb; he 
 said: 
 
 My hon. friend alluded to the question of the Jubilee, and suggested that 
 the opportunity afforded by last year's Jubilee should have been utilised to 
 urge upon the Colonial representatives the desirability of increasing the con- 
 tributions for Imperial defence. The Government, however, were of opinion 
 that to mix up business and hospitality in that way would have been a very 
 questionable proceeding. — 
 
 He then reminds that Sir John Colomb wanted him to distribute 
 to the Colonial Delegates a paper showing the proportion of the 
 naval expenditure of the Colonies compared to the proportion of 
 their commerce to the rest of the world. ( i ) 
 
 ...No doubt the idea that the Colonies should contribute to the cost of 
 Imperial defence had now taken root to a certain extent, and I hope that 
 it may grow to (be) a very vigorous plant.. (P. D.. Vol. 55, page 255.) 
 
 Sir Charles DILKE:... When he — [the First Lord] — says it was im-' 
 proper to mix up business with jubilation, he should have been remembered 
 that there were discussions upon this subject, and that business was to that 
 extent mixed up with jubilation... (Page 262.) 
 
 I cannot help thinking that in one colony at least it would be possible to 
 try. with every prospect of success, a colonial reserve — namely, in New- 
 foundland... There is only one colony where there is an excellent, hardy 
 fishing population, but ill-paid and numerous, and there are local circum- 
 stances which make it probable that a very large number of fishermen will 
 be induced to accept service of the kind he refers to... (Page 263.) 
 
 Mr. GOSCHEN : That is a matter which is under consideration now. 
 I agree with the Right Hon. gentleman that this colony offers the best 
 chances of success in that direction... There are no doubt great adminis- 
 trative difficulties to be overcome, but I will give the matter my best con- 
 sideration. (Pages 263-4.) 
 
 (1) See page xvii.
 
 LXXVI 
 
 On the ^^otli of June, 
 
 Mr. H.-S. SAMUEL: I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty if, 
 having regard to the admitted want of an efficient naval reserve to man 
 Her Majesty's ships and vessels under stress of war, the Government will 
 take steps to utilise the oflfers which have been made by Canada, New Zea- 
 land and Malta to provide local naval reserves for service in the fleet if 
 required, or to encourage such loyal and patriotic efforts? 
 
 The FIRST LORD of the ADMIRALTY: An exposition of the character 
 of the offers which have been made by different colonies in respect of the naval 
 reserve cannot be put into the limits of a ministerial answer at question 
 time, and without explaining the offers it is impossible to explain the dif- 
 ficulties which surround their acceptance, and the doubt as to their prov- 
 iding the results desired. Generally. I may say that I would gladly utilise 
 the sea-faring population of the colonies for increasing our power at sea, 
 but the difficulties in the way of adopting any scheme which has up till 
 now been brought to my notice, have thus far been insuperable. (P. D.. 
 Vol. 60, page 639.; 
 
 SESSION OF 1899. 
 
 During' the debate on the Navy Estimates in the House of Com- 
 mon.s on the 13th of March, Sir J. COLOMB, having- referred to 
 the great increase, in wealth and population, of the British Colonies, 
 said : 
 
 ...With an Empire with a revenue of 257 millions and with common in- 
 terest, surely it cannot be expected that only a small oart of that revenue 
 should bear forever the whole charge of its defence. When you come to face 
 the problem of how you are going to combine these forces, you are met 
 with this fact, that you cannot force your self-governing colonies to con- 
 tribute to the common defence. You gave them self-goverment without any 
 reservation, and you must abide in honour by that. But the question is : 
 . are we quite right in ignoring these growths, and not paying a little more 
 attention to what lies before us ? It strikes me as very remarkable that the 
 First Lord — [of the Admiralty] — . . . did not see the opportunity and seize 
 it to draw the attention of the public in this country and in our colonies 
 to the fact of the Cape contribution — [of a battleship for the British 
 Navy] — and to the fact that that is the beginning of a policy which must 
 be pursued if the Empire is to survive... Surely the time must come for 
 drawing the attention of Canada to the fact that were circumstances to 
 change in the United Kingdom, their trade m'ght be imperilled, simply be- 
 cause the people of the United Kingdom had got a cold fit about the iNavy. 
 My belief is that if you go on as you are going, the time is not far distant 
 when you will have to chose between imperilling the Empire by reducing 
 the Navy or increasing the taxation on the people of this country only to 
 a very serious extent. If then it is discovered, and it will be discovered 
 before long, by the people of this country that they alone are paving for 
 the protection of a trade exceeding in value the total sea-trade of France 
 — a trade that never comes to nor goes from the United Kingdom, you will 
 have this question raised in a hostile spirit, which will be disastrous to the 
 colonies and to ourselves... (P. D., Vol. 68. page 593-594.)
 
 LXXVII 
 
 Mr. KEARLEY (Devonport) : 
 
 It was stated last year by a prominent member of the Canadian Govern- 
 ment that there were as many as 76,000 eLgible men in Canada well suited 
 to join the Reserve. A deputation was received by the First Lord on this 
 question last year, and he very properly insisted that if entries were to be 
 received from the Colonies for the Reserve that the men should be as well 
 trained as ours, and that they should undertake to go through the same 
 training, put in the same drill, and go afloat for six months. He also of- 
 fered that if the Canadian Governme.it would pay the expenses of training 
 these men that this country would pay their retainer... (Page 59S.) 
 
 Sir Clias. DILKE, referring- to the speech of Mr. Kearley, said: 
 
 My Hon. friend is right in saying that there is a marked decline in the 
 number of boys, and he put forward a remedy to meet that state of things. 
 The time, in my opinion, has come when you ought to look to all possible 
 sources of supply, with the view of increasing the number of the Reserves. 
 (Page 615.) 
 
 On the 14th of April, Mr. TREVELYAN, M. P., spoke of the 
 faciHties which young colonists should be given to enter the Navy 
 as Cadets; he suggested that examinations should be held in some 
 of the leading colonies ; he then added : 
 
 Wc are all, in this House, of course, in favour of Imperial Federation, 
 but hardly any one of us has any particular scheme of uniting our Colonies 
 more closely to ourselves, on which Federation must mainly depend, though 
 we all admit at present that sympathy and sentiment may do something. 
 But there may be ways in which the Colonies and the Mother country may 
 be drawn more closely together, and one of the ways of doing that is by 
 attempting to draw the Colonies into taking some share in the Imperial 
 service... We know the interest the Secretary of the Colonies has in the 
 Colonies, and I think that he is doing a good deal in a quiet way to draw 
 the Colonies and Great Britain together, and I suggest that this is one of 
 those little things which may in the future develop into something very 
 greatly to the advantage of the Empire... (P. D., Vol. 69, pages 1213-4. ) 
 
 On the i8th of April, Mr. BUCHANAN, M. P., moved a resolu- 
 tion denouncing the increase in national expenditure (P. D., vol. 69, 
 page 1496). He said that the increase of troops in Africa was a 
 reversal of Lord Cardwell's policy with regard to nu'litary relations 
 with the Colonies : 
 
 I thmk we should go in the direction of withdrawir.g Inii)erial troops as 
 far as possible from these Colonies and making them responsible for their 
 own defence... (Page 1502.) 
 
 Mr. SOUTTAR seconded the motion, saying: 
 
 ...It is time that there was a clear understanding as to what liie defence 
 of the Empire implies.,.
 
 LXXVIII 
 
 He then explained that Great Britain should defend India and 
 the Crown Colonies, but that the increase of the Army and Navy 
 was due to the necessity of defending the self-governing- colonies ; 
 he went on : 
 
 I do not think that the \vork:ngmen of this country should be any longer 
 called upon to bear the defence of the workingmen in Canada, in Australia, 
 in New Zealand and the Cape... They protect against us as severely as any 
 foreign country — 
 
 — not a word of the Canadian preferential tariiT ! — 
 
 I have known men go to Canada and be told that Canada was kept for the 
 Canadians, and be forced to return to this country... (Pages 1514-15.) 
 
 Sir Charles DILKE moved an amendment excepting the navy 
 from the suggested retrenchment of expenditure ; he said : 
 
 ...Our fleet is not necessitated by the Colonies, but necessitated by our 
 position and trade apart from the question of whether we possess these 
 colonies or not. I entirely concur that it would be immensely advantageous 
 to this coiuitry if these colonies should make some sacrifice for naval de- 
 fence. We all agree with that and if anything prevents our speaking out 
 very strongly on this matter it is from fear that this would do more harm 
 than good. When some of the Colonies are already moving in that direc- 
 tion, to press the matter too rapidly m.ight retard rather than advance the 
 cause we all have at heart... (Page 1519.) 
 
 On the 27th of July, Sir Charles DILKE, speaking on the Naval 
 Works Hill, said: 
 
 I am anxious that the Colonies should make a contribution towards our 
 naval expenditure; but while that suggestion should be constantly pressed 
 upon the colonies, it is impossible for this country to suspend the expend- 
 iture until that is brought about... (P. D., Vol. 75, page 557.) 
 
 SESSION OF 1900. 
 
 On the 26th of February, the House was discussing the Navy 
 Estimates. The First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. (iOSCHEN, 
 spoke at length on the measures to be taken in order to increase the 
 strength of the Navy and especially the Naval Reserve. He said : 
 
 ...We are not inquiring as to how we can organise naval reserves in our 
 colonies. The military instincts of the colonies have been so developed in 
 connection with the war in South Africa as to inspire us with the hope 
 that, if we can only find an adequate system of organisation, we shall be 
 able to get valuable contingents for our navy from Australia, Canada, and 
 elsewhere. But there are some difficulties in the way, partly on account of 
 the differences in wages in the colonies and partly because we have not got 
 the same appliances for training in the colonies that we have at home... 
 (P. D., Vol. 79, page 1120.)
 
 LXXIX 
 
 It was a well known fact in Ottawa, during the session of 1900, 
 that Sir Louis DAVIES contemplated the organisation of a training 
 ship for Canada. No doubt, if the measure had been brought before 
 the Canadian Parliament, it would have been under the pretence of 
 forming a naval reserve for Canada. The above declaration from 
 the British Minister shows us what was the real object in view: 
 recruiting for the British Navy. 
 
 Sir Charles DILKE said : 
 
 Suggestions have been made with regard to the Colonies. The First Lord 
 in previous debates anticipated the difficulties with regard to wages in 
 Australia, and with regard to Canada there are difficulties with which the 
 Admiralty is familiar. But the First Lord did not mention the case of 
 Newfoundland, where the wages are very low and where there is an enor- 
 mous fishing population which would be available under a scheme similar 
 to our own. 
 
 Mr. GOSCHEN: That has been done. 
 
 Sir Charles DILKE: I am very glad to hear that, because I am certain 
 there is an enormous reserve proportionately to the population to be obtain- 
 ed in Newfoundland... (P. D., Vol. 79, page 1167.) 
 
 Mr. Goschen was true to his word. In the Naval Annual for 
 1901 (page 32), Commander C. N. ROBINSON, R. N., says: 
 
 A branch of the Royal Naval Reserve has been established in the North 
 American colonies, and fifty seamen from Newfoundland have been embark- 
 ed in ships on that station for six months' training. 
 
 On the 19th of July, Lord BRASSEY raised a debate in the 
 House of Lords on "The Reserve forces of Australia" (i). 
 Speaking of the contribution of Australia to the Navy, and of the 
 restrictions imposed by the Australian Governments, he said : 
 
 The true feeling in the Colonies must be gauged by recent .events. When 
 we stood in a recent crisis face to face with the sudden emergency in China. 
 no objection was urged to the removal of certain vessels from the Austral- 
 ian squadron to China. The Colonies offered a ship which has been ac- 
 cepted; they offered the services of their naval brigades, which have also 
 been accepted. What has happened lately I feel sure would happen again. 
 I feel certain that all the available naval forces of the Australian Colonies 
 will at all times be available for Imperial defence... (P. D., Vol. 86, 
 page 439.) 
 
 Viscount FRANKFORT brought the attention of the War Secre- 
 tary on a letter of Major General FRENCH " On Colonial Reser- 
 ves ", which had appeared in the Times of July 12th. 
 
 (i) See page lxiv.
 
 LXXX 
 
 I quote the following extracts from that letter : 
 
 The present war in South Africa has demonstrated the fact that the 
 defence of the British Empire in the future is not a question to be left 
 wholly to the people of the British Isles, but that the English-speaking 
 people throughout the Empire are willing to take their share in its defence 
 and provide the men, and possibly the money, therefor. 
 
 Having had an experience of a dozen years in Canada, and a similar 
 amount in Australia, mostly with Colonial forces, I would like to make two 
 points clear : 
 
 1. It is idle to hope or expect that any large force of Imperial troops 
 paid at Imperial rates could be raised in these colonies for ordinary garrison 
 work or duties in peace time; 
 
 2. It is equally certain that thousands of men can be raised in war time, 
 who will engage for the war at a fair rate of pay. 
 
 He then explains, as to the first point, that the average wages paid 
 in Australia would prevent any amount of people jo'ning the army; 
 and as to the second point, he emphasises the enthusiasm and 
 the readiness with which the Australians have enlisted for the South 
 African war. 
 
 The real way, in my opinion, to help Old England to keep the flag flying 
 all over the Empire is to form " War Reserves " in the colonies. In doing 
 so, the specialities of the colonies should be borne in mind ; thus Canada 
 with her 75,000 sailors and fishermen on the Atlantic seaboard should prov- 
 ide a large " War Reserve " for the Fleet, and probably would do so if the 
 Admiralty, instead of framing cast-iron regulations suitable for Great 
 Britain, would appreciate the fact that the most suitable time to carry out 
 the training of these fishermen would be the time of year when they could 
 not carry on their usual avocations. 
 
 The rest of the letter is devoted to the means that should be taken 
 in order to organise a large Army Reserve in the Australian Colo- 
 nies. It ends with this most suggestive sentence : 
 
 NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT; IF WE WAIT TILL THE COLD 
 FIT COMES ON, PROGRESS MAY BE MADE IMPOSSIBLE. 
 
 This letter, dated, Sydney, New South Wales, May 8th, is written 
 and signed by Major General French, in his official capacity as 
 Officer Commanding the militia in that colony, i. e., the same posi- 
 tion as that occupied by Major General Hutton in Canada. This 
 proves, I think, what kin'd of work has been performed by those 
 gentlemen in the Colonies, under the direction of the present Im- 
 perial Administration. 
 
 Coming back to the House of Lords, — the Marquess of LANS- 
 DOWXE, Secretary of State for War, said : 
 
 My Lords, with the general principle laid down by the two noble Lords 
 who have addressed your Lordships, I desire to express my entire concur-
 
 LXXXI 
 
 rence and sympathy. . . I am sure we all of us feel that this cooperation of 
 the colonial forces has not been the result of any passing mood on their 
 part; it is not a mere momentary effervescence of loyalty, it is the result 
 of a deep-seated patriotism and an abiding desire to bear with us a part in 
 the burden of Empire. I am sure one and all of us would wish and hope 
 that if this country should find itself again circumstanced as it has been of 
 late we should find the colonies ready to take their place by our side. And 
 if it would be possible, as the noble Lord behind me desired, for us to come 
 to some understanding with the colonies by which that cooperation might 
 be rendered easier both for them and for us, I for one should greatly rejoice 
 at it. But I venture to suggest that the matter is one in which we can 
 scarcely proceed with too much caution... (P. D., Vol. 86, pages 441-2-3.) 
 ...I can only add to what I have said that, agreeably to the suggestion 
 of the noble Lord behind me, I shall make it my business, in consultation 
 with the Secretary for the Colonies, to advance the policy the noble Lord 
 has advocated as much as we can possibly advance it... (Page 447.) 
 
 Earl CARRINGTON:... I hardly think that the colonists themselves 
 know how deep-seated that patriotism is. It seems to me to be like one of 
 those great Australian underground rivers that disappear in the bowels of 
 the earth, and then come up again, and appear and disappear again, and then 
 when they are tapped they rise in a huge geyser, finally rushing down in 
 a mighty torrent to the ocean. I think we can always rely on having the 
 colonies on our side, but it must be on one condition. This country must 
 recognise that there must be perfect equality between the soldiers of our 
 great self-governing colonies and the English, Scotch, Welsh and Irish 
 troops. . . (Page 448.) 
 
 SESSION OF 1 90 1. 
 
 On the 2 1 St of March, the House in Committee was discussing- the 
 Navy Estimates; Mr. Edmund ROBERTSON said: 
 
 ...I deny that it is the right or the duty of this country to go on, un- 
 aided, bearing this tremendous Imperial burden of naval expenditure... 
 This Government seems to blind itself to the fact, and the country also 
 knows it not, that this noble Navy of ours... is as much the servant of 
 our self-governing colonies — I say nothing of the others — as it is of the 
 people of England, Scotland, or Ireland... The poorest mill girl who drinks 
 tea in my constituency has to pay for the free naval defence of the million- 
 naire squatters of Australia and the millionnaire timbermen of Canada... I 
 challenge him — [the Secretary to the Admiralty, Mr. Arnold Forster] — to 
 say whether we are going on forever adding to the expenditure for the 
 Navy without making the faintest suggestion that these great self-governing 
 colonies might contribute from their wealth to the Navy, which now is sup- 
 ported by the farthings of the poor as much as by the pounds of the rich 
 in the United Kingdom. (P. D., Vol. 91, pages 782-3.) 
 
 Sir John COLOMB : . . . We have approached a time when we must ask 
 this question — " Can we go on indefinitely paying for the defence of an 
 Empire which covers all parts of the world out of the resources of an 
 Island in but a corner of it?" I am a true Imperialist — I have always 
 been that; but I hate the Imperialism which perorates about the Empire 
 and refuses to face the real question of making the arrangements for its 
 common security a matter of practical and united action of all its parts... 
 (Page 783.)
 
 I.XXXIl 
 
 On the 22ncl of March, during- the same debate, the Secretary to 
 the AdniiraUy, ^[r. ARXOLD FORSTER. replying to Mr. Ro- 
 bertson, said : 
 
 There was one point in the speech of the Hon. and learned member with 
 which I am specially .sympathetic. He spoke, as he has often spoken before 
 in this House, about the desirability, almost the necessity, of sharing the 
 burden of Naval defence with those other great members of our Imperial 
 connnunity which get the benefit of that defence... I can only say that there 
 will be no want of cooperation on our part which may produce such a 
 state of fee'ings in our colonies as to bring about the most desirable result 
 wished for by the Hon. and learjied member... I am not quite sure that the 
 shortest and most certain way to obtain the cooperation we desire is to 
 blame the colonies for not having given that which they have not been asked 
 to give. We may take a lesson from the old fable, and believe that the sun 
 will induce a man to take off his cloak sooner than the storm. (P. D., Vol. 
 91. page 979.) 
 
 On the 25th of ?vlarch, in the same debate. Mr. WilHam RED- 
 MOND said : 
 
 ...Before increasing the number of men in the Navy he would like to 
 hear whether the Government had put themselves into communication with 
 the great self-governing colonies of the Empire, and asked them whether 
 they were prepared to bear any share of the enormous cost which this 
 great increase involved... (P. D., Vol. 91, page 1131.) 
 
 The Secretary to the AD ^11 R ALT Y rephed that : 
 
 He was very much in sympathy with the views of the Hon. member for 
 East Clare, and he most fervently desired that we should have contributions 
 from all our great colonies to our navy as well as to our army. (Page 
 1132.) 
 
 Commentino- upon this debate. The Army and Xaz'y Gazette said 
 on the 30th of March 1901 : 
 
 The Canadians have not yet risen to a proper sense of their obligations 
 to the Navy; they contribute nothing to the maintenance of the fleet and the 
 preservation of their sea-trade. On the other hand, it js unwise to lose 
 sight of the consideration that the United Kingdom could ill-afford to reduce 
 its Navy even if we lost most of our Colonies. This aspect of the question 
 is seldom dealt with by the reformers. 
 
 I may add here what Mr. ASOUITH said at Edinburgh, 
 on the 1 6th of October last. After having insisted strenuously 
 on the imperative necessity for England of maintaining her Xavy in 
 the most effective condition, he said : 
 
 Why, if you once lost command of the sea you would be starved into sub- 
 mission before a single foreign soldier had occasion to set his foot upon 
 your shores. (From the Montreal Herald. October 31st, 1901.)
 
 LXXXIII 
 
 In 1893, Sir Charles TUPPER, then High Commissioner in 
 London, dealt with the same subject at a banquet in Winnipeg. He 
 said : 
 
 I deny that we are a burden to the Empire. I say that if to-morrow Can- 
 ada became a portion of that great Republic which lies to the South of us, 
 England could not reduce her Army by a man, nor her Navy by a ship. 
 She would want more soldiers, and sailors and ironclads than she has to- 
 day in order to maintain her prestige... (Winnipeg Free Press, September 
 20th, 1893.) 
 
 He then went on, explaining that we had directly or indirectly 
 contributed to the defence of the Empire in various ways and to an 
 amount which he figured at $180,000,000. 
 
 These opinions, coupled with that expressed by Sir Charles Dilke 
 on the 1 8th of April 1899 (i) — all coming from avowed 
 Imperialists — should smooth our conscience as to our obligations 
 towards Great Britain. 
 
 OPINION OF SIR JOHN HOPKINS. 
 
 Since I have given my lecture at Montreal, we have had another 
 well defined expression of opinion, and from a most competent 
 authority, on the necessity of drawing help from the colonies. 
 
 On the 23rd of October last, the London Chamber of Commerce 
 gave its first monthly dinner for the session 1901-1902, under the 
 presidency of Lord Brassey, President of the Chamber and late Go- 
 vernor of Victoria. The subject of discussion was *' The Navy and 
 Colonial defence ". 
 
 Sir G. S. CLARKE, Governor of Victoria, said : 
 
 ...The action of the Navy was essentially offensive. Of late years, we 
 had too much before us the defensive idea and it was largely because of 
 that that the present war, which called for the offensive on a large scale, 
 found us somewhat unprepared... 
 
 Thanks to the splendid spirit of the Colonies, our army in South Africa 
 was reinforced by gallant men from all parts of the Empire. That proved 
 that in a time of need, if our quarrel was just, we could count on the as- 
 .sistance of our fellow-subjects in every part of the world. Our indebted- 
 ness to th*e colonies for coming to our help in the day of need showed the 
 importance — 
 
 — not of expressing gratitude, as some might think, but 
 
 — of expanding and developing the local forces of the Empire. It was some- 
 times said that the colonies ought to submit a scheme of Imperial defence, lie 
 
 (I) See page Lxxvni.
 
 LXXXIV 
 
 thought that was the duty of people at home rather than of the colonies. It 
 was for us to frame a scheme of Imperial defence, and, with the assistance 
 of the colonies, to fill up the details. If we desired to maintain the head- 
 shir> of the Empire we must lead in all things. 
 
 Admiral Sir J.-O. HOPKINS said that when he was in Australia, years 
 ago, there was no local force, the people being too occupied in digging gold 
 and making themselves a great nation. Since then the people of Australia 
 had spent a certain amount of money on ships, but those ships were now 
 all obsolete. In future the policy of colonial defence, so far as the Navy 
 was concerned, must be to send out good ships manned by British seamen. 
 But if in time of need the colonies offered volunteers for the Navy they 
 should not be snubbed with the remark, " What do you know about the 
 sea?" They would soon learn all about the sea. iHe was aware that on the 
 coast of Canada there were 40,000 fishermen inured to the sea in its severest 
 and most dangerous aspects, and that to-morrow, if only some one would 
 hold up his hand, 10.000 of these hardy men would join the Navy. Some of 
 the men had been taken to sea and reports about them proved that they 
 were the very best of seamen. 
 
 (Times, October 24th, 1901.) 
 
 NAVAL RE.SERVE IN CANADA. 
 
 As one may have noticed, correspondences and negociations with 
 Canadian authorities on the matter of a naval reserve, are not un- 
 freqiiently mentioned in the above quotations. 
 
 When Sir Louis DA^'IES, Canadian Minister of Marine, was in 
 London in 1899 he had some conversations with the Imperial autho- 
 rities on that matter. As usual, when Imperialistic questions are at 
 stake, the Canadian people have been kept in the dark. 
 
 On the 7th of March 1900, I put the following question to the 
 Government in the House of Commons : 
 
 1. Has the attention of the Government been called to the declaration 
 made last week in the British Commons by the Right Hon. iMr. Goschen, 
 First Lord of the Admiralty, which declaration was reported as follows by 
 the Associated Press : 
 
 "COLONIAL NAV.\L RESERVE." 
 
 _" The Admiralty was considering how it could organise a mval reserve in conjunction 
 with thecotmies. He explained that will an ade(i"ateorofanisation the government could get 
 a verj' valuable contingent f ron t^'anad i and Anstrrilia. The negotiations with Canada were 
 very well advance I. Canadn had asked that the period of training be reduced, but a final 
 decision on the subject had not been reached ? " 
 
 2. Have any negotiations been conducted, or are there any going on at 
 the present time between the British government and the Canadian govern- 
 ment, or any member of said governments in relation to the subject mention- 
 ed by Mr. Goschen? 
 
 The PRIME MINISTER (Sir Wilfrid LAURIER) : The attention of 
 the government has been called to the report of the declaration said to have 
 been made by Mr. Goschen ; but the ga\-ernment do not think it would be 
 wise to take official notice of a report of that kind, without having seen
 
 LXXXV 
 
 the words of the minister himself. In the meantime, I may say that no ar- 
 rangement has been made and no negotiations have been carried on, but 
 there have been informal communications between this government and the 
 Imperial authorities on the subject. 
 
 ("Debates of the House of Commons," 1900, Vol. I, page 1473.) 
 
 But what was informal and even unknown to the Canadian Par- 
 liament, was well known in London. The Toronto Globe of May 
 I2th 1899 gave an extract from an article of the London Letter in 
 which it was said : 
 
 Australia has long contributed in cash towards the maintenance, of a 
 squadron of small cruisers ; Cape Colony proposes to find the interest on 
 the cost of a battleship. Natal offers free coal and now Canada proposes to 
 find trained men. In spite of Mr. Goschen's optimistic assurances, we must 
 regard Canada's contribution as the most valuable of all. It may be as easy 
 as is asserted by the First Lord of the Admiralty to obtain as many men 
 as are required for the Navy itself. It is certainly not so easy to find the 
 requisite number of suitable men for the Royal Navy Reserve. At the pre- 
 sent moment if we had to mobilise in earnest, every available man from the 
 Royal Navy and the Reserve alike would be required to man our existing 
 ships. We have no real reserve. iMoreover, we are increasing the number 
 of our ships each year, and we shall not have the men to put on board 
 them. Another argument in favour of the Canadian proposal is that it is 
 desirable to have trained men available on the spots to fill up the gaps 
 created in action. By all means let the Admiralty do everything it can, not 
 only to aid the Dominion Government in giving effect to its scheme, but 
 to induce the Governments of other self-governing colonies to follow a 
 similar plan. 
 
 Sir Louis DAVIES admitted himself at a meeting- of the Cana- 
 dian hranch of the British Empire League, held in Ottawa in April 
 1900 that " he had the honour of discussing it with Mr. Goschen. 
 ^ and matters had progressed fairly well. " (i) 
 
 j I have it from the most reliable authority, though I could not di- 
 
 i vulge the name, that :n the summer of 1899, General Hutton asked a 
 
 French Canadian officer of the militia to prepare an estimate of the 
 
 number of young men who could be enlisted for the British Navy in 
 
 the Quebec counties on both shores of the Lower St. Lawrence. 
 
 (I) See page cxv.
 
 Commercial Imperialism: Its stagnation* 
 
 We have seen that, while admitting- the existence of certain obs- 
 tacles in the way of military Imperialism, British statesmen never 
 offered the slightest oppDsition to any policy which could 
 bring- the Colonies to contribute to the support of their Army and 
 Navy. On the contrary, they never lost the oppnr. unity of assur.'ng 
 Parliament and the people of Great Britain of their earnest 
 efforts in that direction. " Let us be prudent, " they say, " let us 
 proceed with caution and diplomacy, and the end will be reached. " 
 
 Let us see how the very few propositions made in the Bri- 
 tish Parliament in favour of better commercial terms for the Colo- 
 nies were considered by Her Majesty's advisers. 
 
 On the 27th of April 1897, 
 
 Mr. J.-F. HOGAN, M. P. : I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the 
 Colonies 1° whether he has observed that the new Canadian tariff provides 
 for preferential trade relations with the Mother country; and 2° whether 
 Her Majesty's Government will embrace the earhest opportunity of recog- 
 nising and. if practicable, reciprocating the action of the Government of the 
 Dominion in this important matter? 
 
 The Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN) : The 
 answer to the first part of the hon. Member's Question is in the affirmative. 
 Her Majesty's Government cord'ally appreciate the friendly spirit which is 
 shewn by the action of the Dominion Government, but I understand that 
 the proposals do not depend on any alteration of the system of free trade 
 established in the United Kingdom. (P. D., Vol. 48, page 1138.) 
 
 We will now^ see what happened wilh three motions of a similar 
 nature of which Sir Howard VINCENT was either the father or the 
 chief supporter. These motions were made in 1897, 1899 and 1901. 
 It would be hard to detect through the debates which those proposals 
 gave rise to, a conspicuous progress of that reciprocal love 
 which " the blood shed in a common cause '" is supposed to have so 
 i^trongly developed.
 
 LXXXVIl 
 
 FIRST MOTION, I 897. 
 
 Oti the 27th of April, Sir Howard VINCENT moved that a 
 (hity of ten per cent ad valorem be imposed upon all fully manufac- 
 tured goods, and of five per cent upon partly manufactured articles, 
 imported in the United Kint^dom from foreign countries — thereby 
 offering colonial goods the benefit of that differential duty — 
 the proceeds of those taxes to be applied to forming a national fund 
 for the granting of pens'ons to old aged people of the workin;^- 
 classes. Sir Howard insisted on the enormous increase of foreign 
 importations to the detriment of British industry. He also pointed 
 out the policy inaugurated by the Canadian Government, saying: 
 
 The important step just taken in this direction by the Dominion of Can- 
 ada [Cheers^ could not fail not only to be very gratefully received in this 
 country, but also to contribute very materially to the development of trade 
 within the Empire... (P. D., Vol. 48, page 1172.) 
 
 The Rt. Hon. A. J. BALFOUR, First Lord of the Treasury, ex- 
 plained in a few words why the British Government could not see 
 their' way to taking any step contrary to the tradional free trade 
 policy of Great Britain. He admitted, however, the danger that was 
 threatening British nianufactures, but he said that the great consum- 
 ing classes were not prepared to raise the cost of their most required 
 articles of consumption. He d'd not make the slightest reference to 
 the preferential tariff of Canada. He promised that the attention 
 of the Government would be directed to the question of Old Age 
 Pensions (pages ii 73-1 179). 
 
 Sir Howard Vincent said that after this promise, he was ready to 
 withdraw his motion. 
 
 SECOND MOTION, 1 899. 
 
 During the session of 1899, the Chancellor of the Exchequer intro- 
 duced in his Finance Bill a clause by which the duties on imported 
 ^ wines were raised. 
 
 On the nth of May, Sir Howard VINCENT moved an amend- 
 ment to the effect of excluding from the extra duties all wines " pro- 
 duced in any British Colony or possess'on. " (P. D. Vol. 71, page 
 370). He sa'd that his amendment did not spring — 
 
 — ^ from any desire on the patt of any British Colony or colonial Govern- 
 ment to interfere in the slightest degree with the fiscal arrangements of 
 .this country, but rather from a genuine desire on behalf of a great mass 
 of the people in this country to give better trading terms to their own kith 
 ■and kin than to foreigners... (Pages 370-371.)
 
 LX XXVI II 
 
 He evoked the Jubilee eelebration, the Colonial Conferences of 
 1887 and 1897, and the numerous evidences given by the Brit'sh 
 Government and especially by the Colonial Secretary in favour of 
 closer relations with the colonies. He ended with these words : 
 
 This course would encourage the development of trade in all parts of the 
 British Empire, and stimulate that healthy feeling which in recent years had 
 existed between the motherland and her daughter colonies. (Page 378.) 
 
 The Chancellor. Sir Michael HICKS BEACH, refused positively 
 to accept the amendment, saying: 
 
 It is not a financial matter of any great importance, but my hon. friend 
 has raised a principle the importance of which I do not think he has ade- 
 quately represented to the Committee, and it is for that reason, and not on 
 account of the small sum involved, that I feel compelled to object to his 
 proposal... What my hon. friend,... asks me to do is to adopt a precedent 
 which would involve a return to a system of differential duties in regard 
 to our colonies, which was abolished forty years ago... Is my hon. friend 
 prepared, or is the Committee prepared, to impose a differential duty — 
 which will have to be of a substantial amount to be of any use — on corn 
 and timber from foreign countries in favour of corn or timber from Can- 
 ada?... Now, whatever the force of sentiment in this matter, and I admit 
 the force is very great indeed, sureh^ the sentiment might be tempered with 
 a little business-like consideration... (Pages 379, 381, 383 and 384.) 
 
 He then spoke of the high protective duties imposed by tl e Coio- 
 nies on British goods, without the slightest allusion to the prefe- 
 rential tariff adopted by Canada two years previous ; and he ended 
 as follows : 
 
 I say that in' such a case as this, to my mind, it would be utterly un- 
 reasonable that we W'ho bear the burdens of Empire should surrender our 
 fiscal freedom in the way my hon. friend proposes... (Page 387.) 
 
 Sir Henry FOWLER supported strongly the views of the Chan- 
 cellor. He ended his remarks by raying: 
 
 ...I hope every gentleman on this side of the Hottse, will support the 
 Government in its resistance to the retrograde policy which is involved in 
 the proposal of the hon. iMember. (Page 389.) 
 
 It is the same gentleman wdio was to exclaim, a few months later : 
 
 These independent, self-governing communities, have shown not merely 
 by eloquent words or by enthusiastic cheers, but by spontaneously sending 
 forth thousands of their sons to fight and to die for their fatherland that 
 our Empire is one and indivisible, and that if ever it should be in peril 
 from stress or storm it can summon to its defence a vast army of men of 
 every c'ass and creed and clime... 
 
 Our determination is to maintain our colonies, and to link them to each 
 other and to us by even closer ties. . . (i) 
 
 (O See page xlvii.
 
 LXXXIX 
 
 The change of rhetorics is wonderful. Sir Henry Fowler is one 
 of the leading liberal Imperialists: ab itiio, disce ouines. 
 
 Mr. James LOWTHER, M. P., took the opposite view and sa^d 
 that — 
 
 ...The want of sympathy of his Right Hon. friend towards this question 
 of inter-British trade was lamentable. Here was an opportunity for the 
 Government to perform a graceful act which would have been much ap- 
 preciated by our Colonies, and which would have cost a mere bagatelle, but 
 his Right Hon. friend had discarded that opportunity, and had taken refuge 
 in the miserable platitudes of the Cobden Club. (Page 390.) 
 
 Sir Howard Vincent's motion was defeated bv 192 votes against 
 
 This was after the Jubilee but before the South African war. Let 
 us see now what has been the result of our devotion to the mother- 
 land, as far as our interests are concerned. 
 
 THIRD MOTION, I9OI. 
 
 On the 20th of June last, the second clause of the Finance Bill, 
 imposing import duties on sugar, was discussed in the House of 
 Conimons, in Committee. I take the following extracts from the 
 Parliamentary reports of the London Times, June 21st 1901 : 
 
 Mr. FLOWER (Bradford W. ) moved the first of two amend- 
 ments, the efifect of which was to reduce the duty on siigar imported 
 from " His Majesty's Colonies or possessions " by 333^ per cent. 
 He said that — 
 
 ...Canada had carried out a proposal which had extorted enthusiasm from 
 this country; and he submitted that, in view not only of what Canada had 
 done but of what Australia was capable of doing, the Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer should make a serious attempt to consider the question of an 
 inter-Empire preferential tariff. If our Colonies were prepared on certain 
 questions to meet us, ought we not to be prepared to meet them?... The 
 time was ripe for the Chancellor of the Exchequer to respond in a sympa- 
 thetic spirit to the proposals of the Colonies... 
 
 The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Michael UlCKS-BEACII 
 said : 
 
 It would not only deprive the Exchequer of a third of the Revenue on 
 sugar coming from British posses.sions ; it would also impose that third 
 upon the consumers of sugar in this country, for it was obviously clear that 
 consumers here would pay just as much for colonial sugar paying two 
 thirds duty as for foreign sugar paying the full duty. Therefore, not only 
 would the Exchequer be deprived of a certain amount of revenue, but it 
 would impose that amount on the consumer for the benefit of the colonial 
 producer... In pursuance of the same policy, Canada might ask that a duty 
 
 10
 
 should be iniposcd on our corn and flour imported not produced in Canada. 
 and similar claims might be advanced on behalf of Canadian timber, Aus- 
 tralian wool, and meat from New Zealand, and so on, through all articles 
 preference would be claimed for colonial produce... If, on the other hand, 
 we refused to foreign nations the treatment extended to our Colonies, what 
 would happen? We had an export trade with foreign countries double the 
 amount of the trade with our colonies, and were we prepared to risk the 
 loss of this trade by declining to give foreign countries in return for the 
 same concessions the treatment we gave to the Colonies?... 
 
 Sir Howard VINCENT regretted the speech they had jiist heard, and 
 thought it unfortunate that the Secretary for the Colonies was absent. . . 
 As to whether such treatment would be advantageous to the Colonies, 
 would his Right Hon. friend say that the preference granted to British 
 goods by Canada was of no advantage to British trade? 
 
 The Chancellor of the EXCHEQUER thought the Hon. member could 
 not find that any great improvement of the trade between Great Britain and 
 Canada was due to that preference, for the simple reason that the prefer- 
 ence still left a protective duty as against the British manufacturer in fa- 
 vour of the Canadian manufacturer, and the result was that, although our 
 trade in Canada had largely increased, the trade of the United States with 
 Canada had also largely increased. 
 
 Sir H. VINCENT said that the facts published by the Canadian govern- 
 ment and the statistics of the Board of Trade showed that since this pre- 
 ference was granted. iBritish trade with Canada had increased. They owed 
 an enormous debt to Sir Wilfrid Laurier for the boldness with wdiich he had 
 advocated these proposals and for his firm attitude during the general elec- 
 tion last year. . . 
 
 S'r W. HARCOURT said... They all recognised the zeal and valour 
 with which the Empire across the seas had sent their forces to aid in this 
 war; but the taxation for the war would not fall upon them, but upon the 
 petty population of 40.000,000 w'ho occupied little England. And the propo- 
 sal was that the workingmen, on whom this taxation would fall, were to 
 have an additional burden put upon them in order to give rel'ef to those 
 who did not pay the taxes. . . 
 
 Mr. Henniker HEATON (Canterbury) said that if the Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer could see his way to agree to the amendment- the greatest 
 enthusiasm would be felt... A motion such as that which was now before 
 the Committee would promote kindly feeling towards England, and its rejec- 
 tion, after such a sacrifice as Canada had made, would cause great disap- 
 pointment in that part of the Empire. It would be thought that we did 
 not care about the Colonies when dealing with questions of taxation... 
 
 The Chancellor of the EXCHEQUER said he felt strongly the kindliness 
 and good will shown by the action of Canada. But, greatly as he valued 
 that kindness, he thought the action itself was of far more importance than 
 the actual eflfect it would have upon a great industry. 
 
 iMr. BRYCE (Aberdeen S.) said that. . . He held that the more this propo- 
 sal was examined the more its impracticability was demonstrated, but it 
 would be of great benefit if the debate and the firm stand which had been 
 taken prevented these proposals from being put forward in the future.
 
 xcr 
 
 When the division was called much amusement was created on the op- 
 position side of the House by the apparent inhability of Sir Howard Vincent 
 to secure the services of a co-teller. The hon. member, amid a good deal of 
 ironical cheering and laughter, crossed the floor of the House and attempted 
 to induce some members of the opposition sitt ng below the gangway to 
 come to his aid. No disposition, however, was shown in that quarter to help 
 him, nor was he more successful 1 in his appeals to hon. members sitting 
 behind the Treasury bench. The result was that both he and Mr. Flower 
 evinced a desire to withdraw the amendment, but the opposition forced a 
 division, the Chairman naming, amid general amusement, Mr. Kearley and 
 Mr. Lough — [both opposed to the amendment] — as tellers for the amend- 
 ment. 
 
 The Committee divided and the numbers were 
 
 For the Amendment i6 
 
 Against 366 
 
 Majority 350 
 
 The announcement of the numbers was received with cheers and laughter. 
 (The Times, June 21st, igoij^ 
 
 It does not appear that the " enormous debt ' of gratitude to.vards 
 Canada and Sir Wilfrid Laurier weighs very hea/.ly upon iJritish 
 representatives. 
 
 As a striking illustration of the simple mindedness of the colo- 
 nists and the stubborn self-love of the Briash. it may b2 interes.'n .;■ 
 to observe that the motions which I brought before the Parliament 
 of Canada to assert the principle that Canadians should stay at 
 home and look after themselves, was met by the same crush at the 
 hands of our inflamed loyalists as the proposition laid down by Sir 
 Howard Vincent, that Great Britain should reciprocate in good 
 treatment towards the Colonies, was at the hands of the I.')ritish 
 Parliament.
 
 VI 
 
 Further evidences of the Indifference of 
 Great Britain* 
 
 1°. Pacific Cable. 
 
 The urgency of this question was discussed at the Jubilee Impe- 
 rial Conference. The British authorities had evidently made up 
 their mind that the larger share of the construction and the main- 
 tenance of the Cable should be assumed by the Colonies, in spite of 
 the great benefit to be derived by Great Britain from that new inter- 
 Imperial means of communication ; and so it followed that the Colo- 
 nial delegates did not then come to a final vuiderstanding. Nego- 
 tiat'ons went on for one year, after which the Australasian colonies 
 decided to pay eight eighteenths of the total cost, and in 1899, 
 Canada assumed the responsibility of five eighteenths ; — thus leav- 
 ing five eighteenths, i. e., a share equal to that of Canada, to be 
 borne by Great Britain. 
 
 After many hes'tations and delays, the British Government offered 
 to bear five eighteenths of the possible loss of revenue, " provided 
 ])riority be given to Imperial Government messages and that they be 
 transmitted at half ordinary rates. "" 
 
 This raised the indignat'on of Sir Sandford FLEMING, the long 
 time promoter of this great enterprise, and a convinced Imperialist. 
 The eminent engineer gave vent to his sentiments in a letter which 
 was published in the Toronto Globe, on the 8th of May 1899 ; the 
 following is an extract from that letter : 
 
 ...It is impossible to believe that it is the full or final judgment of Her 
 ^Majesty's Home Government, for the following reasons, viz: 
 
 1° It would always be regarded as a recession on the part of the Mother 
 country from a common understanding with Canada, Australia, and New 
 Zealand. 
 
 2° It would alw^ays be regarded as an attempt to retard the expansion 
 and cripple the commerce of the Empire, in the interest of a few rich 
 monopolists.
 
 XCIII 
 
 3° It would always be regarded by the people of Canada, Australia and 
 New Zealand as an unjustifiable and discourteous act to them. 
 
 4° Its effect would be far reaching, and its immediate effect would be a 
 fatal blow_ to the scheme for establishing a system of State-owned British 
 cables encircling the globe. 
 
 5° It would be a very grave retrograde step in the Imperial movement 
 which aims to draw closer the bonds between the Mother country and her 
 daughter lands. 
 
 Sir Sandford then gave the who'le history of the scheme, stating 
 plainly that the decis'on of the British Government was due to the 
 influence of the monopolismg Cable companies. As to Canada's 
 interest in the matter, he said : 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that a Pacific cable is greatly required by Can- 
 ada for purely Canadian purposes. While it is necessary to Australasians 
 and their correspondents in the United Kingdom to have an alternative line 
 in order that correspondence may be facilitated and never interrupted, it is 
 not so indispensable to the Dominion. It must be recognised by all that 
 Canada is moved not by necessity, not by narrow selfish consideration, but 
 by her zeal for Imperial unity. 
 
 In spite of this urgent and eloquent appeal, it took over two years 
 more to bring the British authorities to the fulfilment of their 
 engagements. It is only in August last that Mr. Austen Chamber- 
 lain, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, finally brought before the 
 House a bill providing for the expenditure, out of the British Ex- 
 chequer, of five eighteenths of the cost of construction. It thus took 
 over four years to bring the British Government to assume a share 
 equal to that of Canada in the cost of an enterprise which, according 
 to the most reliable authority on the matter, is far more useful to 
 Great Britain end to Australasia than it is to Canada. 
 
 It is worth while comparing some of the remarks that were made 
 in the Canadian Parliament upon this question with the arguments 
 used in the British Parl'ament. 
 
 On the 25th of July 1899. the Hon. VVm. MULOCK inlrodr.ccd a 
 resolution in the Canadian Commons, for the purpose of enabling lIk' 
 Government to assume the responsibility, in capital and interest, of 
 five eighteenths of the debentures to be issued for the construction of 
 the cable — the total capital amount being limited to £1,700,000. 
 Canada was also made responsible, in the same proportion, for lur 
 share of the possible deficits in the running expenditure, lie ex- 
 plained that the colonies of New Zealand, Queensland, New South 
 Wales, and Victoria had assumed the responsibility of two eigh- 
 teenths each, mak.ng, for the four of them, eight eighteenths ; and 
 that Great Britain was to pay the balance, that is. five eighteenths. 
 (Debates of the House of Commons, 1899, \'ol. III. ])age 8354).
 
 XCIV 
 
 Ik' tlicn added that the Hoard of Directors would be composed of 
 eight members ; au'd that, according to the relative responsibilities 
 assimied. Australasia should be represented by 3-5/9, Canada by 
 2-2/9, ^"^1 Great I'r'tain by 2-2/9. He said: 
 
 As this scheme will be largely centered in Great Brita'n, and as the Brit- 
 ish Government will be largc'y interested in its management, it became 
 necessary, in the first place, to arrange how the respective Governments 
 were to be represented... Australasia has given over her 5/9, and we. our 
 little surplus of 2/9, and allowed Great Britain, which would also be entitled 
 to 2-2/9 in the representation, the benefit of this surplus, so that Australia 
 will have three representatives, Great Britain will have three and Canada 
 two. making eight in a 1... (Pages 8354-55.) 
 
 As usual the lien got the lion's share in the control. 
 
 Sir Ch.arles TL'PPER. Leader of the Opposition, said : 
 
 . . . From an Imperial point of view, I feel that England would have 
 dishonoured herself if she had lost the opportunity that was presented of 
 taking her share, and of implementing the action of Australia and of Canada 
 in bringing this to a successful termination... The importance of this en- 
 terpr se lo the interests of the Empire cannot be over estimated, for, assu- 
 ming that this enterprise could not be a commercial success, assuming that 
 the entire expense was sunk without any prospect of return, still England 
 might at no distant date be called upon to expend treble the amount in 
 order to repair a disaster .that could not occur if this Pacific cable w-ere in 
 operation. To Austra'as'a it is a matter of the most vital import, it is a 
 matter upon which not only their trade, but the security of their country, 
 might, at no distant date, absolutely depend... It is of immense consequence 
 to her — [Britain] — that she should be able to hold secret and confidential 
 communications of the most important character between the seat of gov- 
 ernment in London and Canada and Australia without the possibility of 
 foreign intervention, or of cable communication being interfered with... 
 (Page 8366.) 
 
 Several speeches were delivered on both sides of the House, all 
 ritign? wich the glory of Empire. Mr. John CHARLTOX, M. P., 
 being the only opponent of the scheme. 
 
 The purport of the resolution was embo;lied 'n " The Pacific 
 Cable Act. 1899" (62-63 Mc. Cap. 3). 
 
 The next year, the announcement had come, as referred to in the 
 above quoted letter of Sir Sandford Fleming, that the British 
 Government were going back on their pledges. The matter was 
 brought in the House of Commons at Ottawa^ by Mr. BELCOURT, 
 M. P.. for Ottawa City. He read resolutions adopted by the Ottawa 
 Board of Trade 'nsisting on the necessity of carrying out the 
 scheme and stated that 
 
 ...obstacles have been occasioned largely through the opposition of a monop- 
 oly called the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company... (Debates, 1900. 
 Vol. III. page 7041.)
 
 xcv 
 Sir Charles TUPPER said : 
 
 ...I think we all agree that not only commercially, but from a strategic 
 point of view, the construction of the Pacific cable from Vancouver or 
 Victoria to Australia, is a matter of deep moment. It is impossible, in my 
 judgment, to overrate its importance to Australia. It is also commercially 
 and in every other way, a matter of great importance to Canada, and of 
 still greater importance to the United Kingdom... In the case of war be- 
 tween a European power and England, the communication with Australia 
 could be easily cut off, and a great deal of damage done by the enemy, be- 
 fore it became known. Canada is not so directly interested, but Canada is 
 a component part of the Empire, and as such deeply interested in every 
 thing that tends to a closer commercial mtercommunication between the 
 various parts of the Empire... Every thing that Canada could be asked to 
 do, she has done, and it would be greatly to be deplored, if any action 
 should be taken by any one of the parties concerned, without the absolute 
 consent and approval of the others... (Pages 70-18-49. ) 
 
 This was a reference to the arrangement reported as having been 
 entered into recently between the Governments of Victoria and New 
 South Wales and the Eastern Extension Company. This proved 
 afterwards to be accurate : the new contract was signed 'two weeks 
 after the agreement with England and Canada had been concluded. 
 
 Mr. MULOCK, who had been made the patron of the scheme in 
 Canada, did not conceal his anxieties : 
 
 I cannot conceive that there is any real foundation for this rumour and 
 the Imperial Government not take the Canadian Government into its con- 
 fidence. I agree with the Leader of the Opposition that the failure of this 
 scheme would be a national calamity. Perhaps he is right in s_^ying that it 
 chiefly concerns Australia. When I took up this subject, I was of that op- 
 inion and had difficulty in discerning the Canadian interests in it. But, as 
 I studied it, I came to the conclusion that we were common partners in the 
 scheme, and, without nicely weighing the relative interests of the different 
 parts of the Empire in it, it is a scheme that so concerns the Empire that, 
 whether Canada is more or less concerned in it, if we are to take an in- 
 terest in what concerns the Empire, we should give this scheme oilr un- 
 qra'ified allegiance... (Page 7050-51.) 
 
 As usual, Canada plays the part of the sentimental paying partner. 
 It is rather amusing to think that in a scheme where Canada takes a 
 hand for the benefit of others she should be the most zealous in 
 tendering her help and money, while the true interested parties, 
 Great-Britain and Australasia, raise the obstacles and delays. 
 
 We did not stop there. At the following session the Government 
 brought an amendment to the Pacific Cable Act, extending the limit 
 of debentures to be issued for the construction of the cable from 
 i 1, 700,000 to i2,ooo,ooo, and increas'ne thereby Canada's responsi- 
 bility to five eighteenths of the surplus. The best of it was the reason 
 given by Mr. MULOCK for this increase of our liability : he said 
 that the Eastern Extension Telegra])h Company having ac(|uired
 
 XCVI 
 
 new rii^hts in Australasia, which the minister could not conceive to 
 be true a year previous, the Pacific Cable Board was bound to 
 indemnify them {Debates, House of Commons, 1901, Vol. L pages 
 S()('>-S()/ ) . In other words, we had to become responsible for five 
 eighteenths of the amount required to redeem the broken pledges of 
 two of the most d'rectly interested parties in this agreement. 
 
 Let us now go across to Westminster. 
 
 On the 31st July last, ^Ir. Austen CHAMBERLAIN, Finan- 
 cial Secretary to the Treasury, reported to the House a resolution 
 adopted in Committee, authorising the British Government to raise 
 funds to the extent of £2,000,000 for the construction of the Pacific 
 Cable — with the understanding that Canada and Australasia would 
 be responsible for the share which they had already assumed, as 
 above stated. ]\Ir. Chamberli'n said : 
 
 The colonial Legislatures had passed legislation accepting their share of 
 responsibility for the interest and sinking tund and for any extra cost there 
 might be above the receipts in the early years of the working of the cable... 
 and the Government could not and would not lightly refuse their co-opera- 
 tion in a great Imperial undertaking when it was asked for by those self- 
 governing colonies. It was also of great advantage to this coimtrj' that 
 there should be an alternative line to those which already existed to Austral- 
 asia, by which messages could be sent without touching foreign territory... 
 Because of the strategic importance of the cable in time of war, because of 
 its commercial importance in times of peace, and because, too, of the deep 
 interest felt in it by the Governments of Canada, Australia, and New Zea- 
 land, iHis Majestj^'s Government had entered into an agreement with the 
 Colonies to bear their part in this great Imperial undertaking... (P. D., 
 Vol. 98, page 778.) 
 
 On the 1 2th of August, the second reading of the Bill was moved. 
 All;. FLVXX said: 
 
 ...There is not an argument left in this enterprise; it is nothing but an- 
 other development of the shoddy Imperialism which has met us at every 
 turn in this House for the last two years... (P. D., Vol. 99, page 485.) 
 
 Mr. HEXXIKER HEATOX said: 
 
 ...I will leave other speakers to deal with the terms of the contract. All 
 I know is that the Canadian Government are doing the lion's share of the 
 work. I know it is the intention of the Canadian Government, as I hope it 
 is of the English Government also, to construct a cable from England to 
 Canada, and I look forward to the day when we shall have six penny 
 telegrams to India, shilling telegrams to Australia and penny telegrams to 
 America. I am sure that that day will come; and I regard the scheme now 
 before the House as a great step forward towards the breaking up of one 
 of the greatest monopolies the world has ever seen, and towards the con- 
 solidation of the Empire. (Pages 487-488.)
 
 XCVII 
 
 Mr. Austen CHAMBERLAIN said : 
 
 ...This is the first time when our great self-governing colonies have ap- 
 proached this country with a proposal for combined action in a great com- 
 mercial undertaking... We hold that this country has an interest, if not as 
 great as that of the colonies, at any rate a great interest, in promoting these 
 trade communications and increasing these cable facilities. We hold that the 
 construction of this cable will be of material advantage to us in time of 
 war, and we ask the House to ratify the agreement we have made to carry 
 out the undertaking which has already been ratified by every colonial Gov- 
 ernment concerned — an undertaking which will form, I hope, a lasting and 
 successful monument to the co-operation between the colonies and the 
 Mother country. (Pages 494-495.) 
 
 2°. Embargo on Canadian Cattle. 
 
 Some years ago, the British Board of Agricuhitre imposed some 
 very stringent restrictions on the importat'on of live cattle from 
 America. This was done under the pretence of preventing the 
 introduction and the spreading in England of pleuro-pneumonia. 
 Under the new regulations, all cattle had to be slaughtered at the 
 port of entry. Th's told heavily on stock-raising and cattle trade in 
 Cana'da. In 1895 or 1896, the British Parliament ratified by law the 
 rules of the Board of Agriculture. Canadian stock-raisers and 
 traders vainly endeavoured to have the restrictions removed as far as 
 Canadian cattle were concerned. Our Agriculture Department had 
 thorough examinations performed and exhaustive reports publish- 
 ed, proving conclusively that Canadian cattle were most healthy, — 
 much more so than the British stocks — and that although a few 
 traces of the disease had been found in years past, it had now enti- 
 rely disappeared. Several stock-raisers of Scotland have petitioned 
 the British Government on the matter, stating that the importation 
 of Canadian cattle would be of great advantage to them and ask- 
 ing that the restrictions should be removed as far as Canada is con- 
 cerned. Last summer, Mr. FISHER, Canadian Minister of Agri- 
 culture, made tremendous efforts in the same direction. He 
 addressed a great many agricultural bodies, he wrote letters to news- 
 papers and reviews, he laid down his case before the liritish autho- 
 rities in the most convincing way — but all in vain. 
 
 On the 9th of October last, the Rt. Hon. Wm. HANl'.URY, 
 President of the Board of Agriculture - a position equivalent to 
 that of a minister — declared emphatically at Edinburgh that he 
 would never yield to that demand " so long as he was Minister of 
 Agriculture " ( i ) . 
 
 (1) .See Montreal Star, October 26th, 1901, and Montreal Herald, Octobt-r jotli, 1901.
 
 xc\in 
 
 As a matter of fact, these regulations are nothing but a protective 
 measure in favour of the wealthy stock-raisers of England. No Ca- 
 nadian could have any objection to the English breeders safeguar- 
 ding their own interests, even at our expense ; but it seems rather 
 unfair that in order to conceal their real object, they should persist 
 in branding our cattle, before the whole world, as a diseased cattle, 
 whilst, in fact, it is practically free from a plague with which the r 
 own stocks are infected. This 's especially ironical, at a time when 
 one cannot open a British or a Canadian newspaper without being 
 almost satiated with 'nterminable talks of mutual love and recipro- 
 cal favours. 
 
 Coming across the Atlantic this summer, I met an English trader 
 who told me. in presence of an English stock-raiser, that the cattle 
 embargo was a fine thing for this compatriot of his, and others of the 
 same class, — but, when he wanted to feel safe that he would not be 
 poisoned, he made a point of asking his butcher for a piece of Cana- 
 dian beef. His fr'end assented to the proposal but manifested no 
 special anguish at the idea of his countrymen being poisoned by the 
 meat of his over-fed cattle, nor at the harm done to his beloved 
 Canadian kinsmen. 
 
 3" Alaska Boundary and Nicaragua Canal. 
 
 This is neither the time nor the place to discuss these two impor- 
 tant questions. I will simply remind the reader that after having 
 given so many tokens of friendship to our American neighbours 
 during their war with Spa'n ; having secured their consent to sub- 
 mit the Venezuela imbroglio to arbitration, their cooperat'on in 
 China and their friendly neutrality in South x\frica, — Great Britain 
 has not made the slightest effort to have our own difficulty on the 
 Alaska frontier settled either by mutual agreement or by judicial 
 arbitration. 
 
 After the Anglo-American Commission had sat for six months and 
 dissolved without any apparent result, one of the British Plenipo- 
 tentiaries, Sir Louis iDAVlES, Canadian iMin'ster of iMarine. naively 
 admitted that he had to write " a big volume " in order to convince 
 the British authorities that they should take our side of the contro- 
 versy instead of helping the Americans against us (i). Such an 
 annoimcement, coming at the very moment where we were pro- 
 testing so loudlv, both in words and in deeds, of our unbounded 
 
 (i) See Montreal Herald, October 31st, 1^99.
 
 XCIX 
 
 love for Great Britain, must have deepened in the minds of the 
 American statesmen the conviction that their refusal to comply with 
 the mo;t legitimate wishes of Canada would not entangle them in 
 any serious difficulty with the British Government. 
 
 I need not say that the fruitful results of that big book of S'r 
 Louis Davies are not yet conspicuous. 
 
 The Empire Rcviciv came out in November and December last 
 with two most interesting and elaborate articles from the Hon. 
 David MILLS, Canadian Minister of Justice, on " The Monroe 
 Doctrine and the Literceanic Canal." Mr. Mills, whose authority on 
 ■constitutional and international questions cannot be disputed, sets 
 forth, in the most convincing way, the rights of Great Britain and 
 the baseless pretensions of the Luiited States. He says : 
 
 The provisions of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, in this regard, are vital to 
 Canada, and the Government of the United Kingdom must not, for any 
 political consideration, sacrifice the interests of Canada, and the future of 
 the British Empire upon this continent... (Page 413.) 
 
 These articles were counuented upon and highly praised by 
 British Press. They had scarcely been spread over the Empire when 
 the announcement came that the Government of the United King- 
 dom had sacrificed " the interests of Canada, and the future of the 
 British Empire." Had the British press frankly admitted that Great 
 Britain was forced to the abandonment of her rights in Nicaragua 
 bv her difficulties in South Africa, no objection could be raised — 
 especially by Canada who did so much to encourage the Mother 
 country in her foolish war policy and so little to help her in getting 
 out of it by counseling peace :n proper time. But instead of accep- 
 ting, in a discreet and dignified way, the result of insuperable cir- 
 cumstances, the London papers haye been bragging most grotes- 
 quely of this abandoiini;nt of Brit'sh and Canadian richts. 
 
 These untimely rejo cings proved too much for some of our 
 Canadian loyalists. On the 5th of December, the Ottawa Citizen, 
 one of the leading organs of the Tory party, came out with a most 
 sensible article on what its editor called: " /// timed Effusion": 
 
 The comments of the British Press on the Roosevelt message are calcul- 
 ated to give loyal Canadians a large, well-developed pain. Most of the 
 newspapers, says the cable correspondent, " remark upon the tone of exulta- 
 tion adopted by the President in dealing with the Canal question," but for 
 the most part the British press evince less concern over that than a desire 
 to svcophantly applaud and be pleased at any cost with every thmg that 
 is said and even the way he says it... The idea that some quid pro quo 
 for Canada in the shape of a settlement of the Alaskan boundary question 
 might have been exacted as a slight return for the big concession on the 
 Canal question is apparently furthest from their thoughts.
 
 Tlie article then goes on saving that as long as che people of 
 Great Britain considered the United States as a still infant nation, 
 they always spoke of them in a 
 
 patronising language calculated to rub any self-respecting people the 
 wrong way... Now when that country has got wealthy and heady, instead 
 of exercising a restraining influence by a firm diplomatic policy and an out- 
 spoken but friendly criticism on the part of its press. Great Britain grovels, 
 admires and placates. 
 
 This ari'cle prompted a correspondence which appeared the fol- 
 lowing day and to which the Citizen gave the position of a leading 
 article, without any comments or reservation on its part. The article 
 is entitled : — " Canada's position in the Empire ". It is. from top 
 to bottom, a lecture to the beloved motherland, couched in a lan- 
 guage the like of which, falling from my rebel lips, w^ould have 
 brought on my head the wrath and execration of all the standard 
 bearers of loyalty — the Citizen, no doubt, among the first. 
 
 I risk the reproduction of a few paragraphs from that article : 
 
 . . . Many of our leading newspapers have been representing Britain as 
 an indulgent mother, protecting us with her army, navy and great prest;ge. 
 and Canada as a selfish and ungrateful dependent, accepting everything and 
 contributing nothing towards the defence of the Empire. 
 
 The writers who thus slander their own country have profited little by 
 their study of histor3^ When and where, in the last eighty-seven years, has 
 Britain protected us or championed our cause? 
 
 He then goes on with a list of the cases where Great Britain has 
 sacrificed or bartered our interests for the sake of her own advan- 
 tage. And he adds : 
 
 I assert unhesitatingly that in the settlement of every dispute between 
 Britain and the United States, Canada has been the victim. Like Artemus 
 Ward, who was willing to sacrifice all his wife's relations on the altar of 
 his country, the imperial government has cheerfully sacrificed Canada's in- 
 terests to maintain friendly relations with the United States. 
 
 Owing to our geographical position. Britain's army and navy could afford 
 but slight, if any, protection to Canada... The onh- possible enemy that 
 Canada need fear is our neighbour on this continent, the mighty republic. 
 Against their aggressiveness British power and prestige have hitherto failed 
 to protect us. and, if ever there was a possibility of such protection being 
 granted in the past, it is rapidly diminishing if it has not alread}' disap- 
 peared. 
 
 We are doing far more for Britain than Britain has done for Canada in 
 nearly a century. While we are admitted to the markets of the United King- 
 dom on no better terms than the worst enemies of the Empire, we give 
 British trade a substantial preference. While Britain has never, since the 
 last war with the United States, taken a firm stand to protect us from the 
 rapacity of our neighbours. Canadians have risked their lives, shed their 
 blood and taxed themselves cheerfulK- to maintain the prestige of the 
 Empire.
 
 CI 
 
 It is high time that Canadians became, not less loyal, but more patriotic. 
 While we have no right to condemn the policy of the Imperial government, 
 which has been dictated in the interest, or what has been regarded as the 
 interest, of the Empire as a whole, we should look the fact squarely in the 
 face — that in any clash of interests between the United States and the 
 Dominion we need look for neither sympathy nor support from the imperial 
 government. We will be expected to adhere to the traditional policy of 
 Downing Street and sacrifice ourselves for the benefit of the Empire and 
 the maintenance of cordial relations between England and the great Amer- 
 ican republic. 
 
 4°. British Emigration to the Colonies. 
 
 The following is a striking evidence of the indifference manifested 
 by the British authorities towards the Colonies, whenever British 
 interests are not at stake ; — and also of the ridiculous submissive 
 position which some Canadian statesmen and public organs think fit 
 to take in presence of the superc'lious attitude of their London 
 masters. 
 
 In a letter written to the London Times, in September last, the 
 Hon. G. W. ROSS, Prime Minister of Ontario, gave some striking 
 figures showing that the bulk of British emigrants, for the last ten 
 years, had gone to the United States : 520,000 out of 726,000 i. e. y2 
 per cent, as against 90,000 or 13 per cent, to British North America. 
 He pointed out eloquently the advantages that the Emp:re would de- 
 rive from the emigration to the British Colonies of the surplus popu- 
 lation of the LTnited Kingdom, and he suggested, as a means to this 
 end, " the teaching of the geography and resources of the British 
 Empire "' ( i ). He added, as an inducement, that, with an increased 
 population, — 
 
 Canada would furnish a basis for the food supplies of the Empire, and 
 an admirable recruiting ground from the Army and Navy. Moreover (and 
 this is of great importance) with an addition to our population of such 
 persons as would naturally emigrate from the United Kingdom, the attach- 
 ment of Canadians to the Empire would be greatly and permanently 
 strengthened. 
 
 (Times, September gth, 1901.) 
 
 I wonder if the last sentence intimated an apprehension of the re- 
 luctance which the French Canadians may have towards the new 
 centralising policy of Great Britain? Any how, it seemed proper, 
 even to such a strong Imperialist organ as the Times, to cool 
 down Mr. Ross' patriot'sm. Commenting editorially upon this 
 letter, it said, referring to the average British emigrant : 
 
 CO It is noteworthy that this 'teaching of geography " was al.so suggested to the British 
 people by Sir Kdwin CoLLEN as a means of better aopreciating what war material could 
 be drawn from the colonies. (See chapter IV, page lxxi.)
 
 Gil 
 
 Those who leave these shores for the United States are assuredly not all 
 of the type or class described by Mr. Ross ; probably an appreciable per- 
 centage are of a t^-pe and class which neither the United States nor the 
 Dominion need greatly desire as citizens... The average emigrant is not 
 the well educated, well-to-do artisan, " educated in our day schools at great 
 expense, and trained in industrial methods in our technical schools and fac- 
 tories" — [words taken from Mr. Ross' letter] — ... His going to the United 
 States rather than to the Dominion, to South Africa, or to Australia is 
 probably much less an affair of the flag than it is of latitude and longitude. 
 South Africa is closed for the present, though we all hope that before long 
 new openings and brighter prospects will be found there. Australian is a long 
 way off, while the American Continent, is, by comparison, close at hand. 
 Canada, as we know, is not " Our Lady of the Snows," but nothing can alter 
 the fact that the United States lie south of the Dominion nor its influence 
 on the stream of emigration. If Canada were a part of the United States, 
 or if the British flag waved undisputed from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf ' 
 of Mexico, the stream of european emigration would probably still flow 
 mainly to the middle latitudes of the North American Continent. Xo im- 
 proved " teaching of the geography and resources of the British Empire " 
 can alter the fundamental fact that temperate zones best suit the people of 
 these Islands. 
 
 (Times, September nth, iQOi.i 
 
 It will be noticed that among tl;e tl:ree great groups of self-gover- 
 ning Colonies, Catiada is pointed out as the least suited to Brit'sh 
 emigrants. As far as South Africa is concerned, the only inconve- 
 niences foimd are those arising from the accidental conditions of 
 war; and as for Australas'a, distance seems to be the only obstacle; 
 — but Canada is described as not having the advantage of ly:ng in 
 a " temperate zone " ! 
 
 But if there is indifference in Brit;sh official spheres as far as 
 emigration to Canada is concerned, there is more earnestness in 
 favour of emigration to South Africa — for the excellent reason 
 that there are British political interests to be served in that region. 
 
 On the 2nd of July last, the Toronto Globe published the follow- 
 ing special despatch from Ottawa : 
 
 Advices received from England intimate that the consent'of the Imperial 
 Government has been given to a scheme for S>tate-aided emigration to South 
 Africa. This news will be received with much regret in Canada and the 
 other Colonies which are looking to the British Isles for settlers to occupy 
 and till their vacant lands. After the sacrifices which the Colonies have 
 made in blood and treasure to help the Mother country, it seems but a poor 
 return for the latter to throw its mighty influence into the scale in favour 
 of emigration to South Africa. Canada has special reason to feel annoyance. 
 
 This " regret " of the Globe d'd not prevent it from paying its 
 courtesies to the iMother countrv verv soon after the announcement 
 of this ■' poor return " for our sacrifices. 
 
 In a leading article, commenting upon the speeches made at the
 
 cm 
 
 Dominion Day Dinner 'n London (i). the Globe ^aid, on the 20th 
 of July 1901 : 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain evidently realises the magnitude of the question of 
 Imperial unity, and is not willing to see the high ideal aimed at wrecked 
 by haste or over-zealousness. . . It is recognised that the movement towards 
 unity must be spontaneous on the part of the Colonies... The creation of 
 a definite corporate union of autonomous parts, acting from a common 
 centre, presents difficulties so great that it is perhaps unwise at the present 
 time even to regard it as desirable. This, however, if ever accomplished, 
 must be the last step in Imperial unuy rather than the first. The first, or 
 among the first, as we have said on previous occasions, is the devising of 
 some scheme of Imperial defence wherein the great colonies will begin to 
 bear some share of the heavy burden which hitherto has fallen upon the 
 Mother country alone. Once this all important step is taken, we shall ap- 
 proach the parent country on more equal terms in all subsequent negotia- 
 tions for closer union. 
 
 This is indeed ideal Imperial'sni : first, we supply England with 
 soldiers and war taxes ; and then .... we will see later oii. In the 
 meanwhile, whenever the British Government descriminates against 
 Canada, we express respectful " regrets " ; but we assure them right 
 away of our readiness to stand it again as long as they like. 
 
 5°. Colonial Representation. 
 
 This question held a considerable place — as shown in the first 
 chapter of these documents — in the discussions of the Jubilee Con- 
 ference as well as in the speeches and the declarations of the Colo- 
 nial Premiers present at the Jubilee festivities. It came only once in 
 four years before the Parliament at Westminster. 
 
 On the 3rd of April 1900, Mr. HEDDERWICK, M. P., made the 
 following motion : 
 
 That, in the opinion of this House, it is desirable in the interests of the 
 Empire, that the Colonies should be admitted to some direct representation 
 in the Imperial Parliament. (P. D., Vol. 81, page 1144-) 
 
 Mr. Hedderwick made a short review of the development of the 
 Imperial idea. He spoke e^xqucntly of the part taken by the Colonies 
 in the South African war, adding : 
 
 But if it were thought desirable to turn what is a mere voluntary con- 
 tribution into a certain and fixed quota, how could that be accomplished 
 without admitting the Colonies to our councils, and giving them a voice 
 in the determination of Imperial policy?... (Page ii3oi) 
 
 (i) See page cxxin
 
 CIV 
 
 He quoted in this respect the opinion and the speeches of Sir Wil- 
 frid Laurier in the Canadian ParHament, saying: 
 
 For what is it that Sir Wilfrid Laurier claims? It is the right, as the 
 Premier of a colony, to sit in judgment upon the Imperial Parliament, and 
 to approve or disapprove, to assist or not assist in our decisions. I cannot 
 help thinking that on this occasion of the Transvaal war it was fortunate 
 that the judgment of Sir Wilfrid Laurier was in our favour. . . (Page 1138. ) 
 
 The motion was seconded Ijy ]\Ir. TREVELYAN, who said : 
 
 ...Of course the loyaltj^ of the colonies and their action at the present 
 time shows their intense affection for the Mother country, but that loyalty 
 has not been entirely unquestioning, although it has been given as gracious- 
 ly as it could be given... The suggestion I am going to make is not my 
 own, or I should not venture to make it. It conies from a colonial source. 
 It is that the Agents General or some other people in thoroughly respons- 
 ible or representative positions should be allowed, not to have voting 
 power, for it would be ridiculous to suggest voting power — it would mean 
 so little — but that they or some others in a representative capacity should 
 be allowed to have a voice in our discussions (i)... (Pages 1 142 and 1 143.) 
 
 The Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. CHAMBERLAIX, 
 opposed the motion — though he declared himself in full syinpathy 
 with its object which was " to induce a closer union between the Co- 
 lonies and the Mother country. " But he stated that the motion was 
 not capable of actual application and led only to a useless " acade- 
 mic discussion. " He said very sensibly that the Colonies would not 
 accept such inadequate representation as suggested by Mr. 
 Trevelyan. As to the participation of the Colonies in British wars, 
 he said : 
 
 I believe that if in any stress, or difficulty, or crisis of our fate, we did 
 make a call on the Colonies, their efforts would be immensely greater even 
 than those they have already made... (Page 1144.) 
 
 He acknowledged the right of representation which the Colonies 
 would acquire by such contr'butions but he stated that this right had 
 not yet been asserted by the Colonies. He therefore rejected the 
 proposition as premature. 
 
 ^Ir. HEDDER\\'ICK withdrew his motion. 
 
 (i) See speech of Sir Wilfrid Laurier before the Colonial Party. July, 1S97, chapter I. 
 (Page xviii.)
 
 VII 
 
 Development of Imperialism in Canada* 
 
 1°. Congresses of the Chambers of Commerce of the Empire. 
 
 The following notes and extracts are all taken from the official 
 reports of the Congresses. The report of the Second Congress, 
 1892, was published on the 14th of July of that year as a supple- 
 ment to the Chamber of Commerce Journal. The two others were 
 published in special pamphlet form by the London Chamber of 
 Commerce. 
 
 SECOND CONGRESS, 1892. 
 
 At this Congress, held in London in June and July, Sir Charles 
 TUPPER, then High Commissioner for Canada in Great Britain, 
 vainly endeavoured to bring the Congress to the adoption of a mo- 
 tion in favour of an Imperial Preferential tariff. His proposition 
 was defeated by a vote of 58 against 33 ; but the principle of a com- 
 mercial union of the Empire, based on free trade, was set down. 
 Nothing was done in the way of military or political Imperialism, 
 
 THIRD CONGRESS, 1896. 
 
 This Congress was opened on the 9th of June by Mr. CHAM- 
 BERLAIN who reiterated the idea of a commercial union of the 
 Empire. He added : 
 
 If we had a commercial union thro'.ighout the Empire, of course there 
 would have to be a Council of the Empire, and that Council would be call- 
 ed upon to watch over the execution of the arrangements which might be 
 made, to consider and to make amendments in them from time to time; and 
 whenever such a Council is established, surely there will naturally be remit- 
 ted to it all these questions of communication and of commercial law in 
 which all parts of the Empire are mutually interested. Even Imperial 
 Defence could not be excluded from its deliberations, for Imperial Defence 
 is only another name for the protection of Imperial Commerce. To such a 
 
 II
 
 CVI 
 
 Council as I have imagined to be possible, the details of such defence, the 
 method of carr3'ing 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 institutions have slowly been built up, we should 
 in this way, I believe, approach to a result which would be little if at all 
 distinguished from a real Federation of the Empire. (Page 4.) 
 
 The motion in favotir of comniercial union was made by Mr. 
 OSLEK. Fre.sident of the Toronto Board of Trade, and practically 
 supported by an amendment of Sir Donald SMITH (now Lord 
 Strathcona). who had succeeded Sir Charles Tupper in the High 
 Commissioner's office. These propositions were strongly opposed 
 by the British Delegates, and especially by Mr. Sydney BUXTON, 
 M. P., late Under Secretary of State for the Colonies. The Cana- 
 dian delegates vainly appealed to sentiment : they were told plainly 
 by their British colleagues that if the colonists wanted a closer union 
 with the Alother country, they should not ask from her any sacrifice 
 in favour of colonial trade. The result was still worse than in 1892. 
 The motions of ^Ir. Osier and Sir Donald Smith had both to be 
 withdrawn, and the following resolution moved by Mr. LOCK- 
 HART, delegate from the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, was 
 adopted : 
 
 That in the opinion of this Congress it is the duty of the Government to 
 take immediate steps for the attainment of a closer political and commer- 
 cial union between the Mother country and the Colonies ; and that a copy 
 of this resolution be sent to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State 
 for the Colonies. (Page 38.) 
 
 It will be noted that, this time, the word " political " was inserted. 
 
 Mr. G. TOXKS, delegate of the Birmingham Chamber, moved: 
 
 That as a first step towards Imperial Federation it is desirable that a Con- 
 sultative Imperial Council should be formed, whose members for the time 
 being should be resident in England. That the Council should be called to- 
 gether in cases where the interest of the colonies represented were 
 affected in matters of Trade, Finance or Imperial Defence. That this 
 Council should consist of members elected by every self-governing colony 
 in some adequate and relative propo'-tion to its electorate, and that its func- 
 tions should be purely consultative. That the Crown colonies should also 
 be represented on this Council. (Page 45.) 
 
 This motion was adopted imanimously. 
 
 There was no further step on the question of Imperial Defence.
 
 evil 
 
 KOl.RTH CONGRESS, I900. 
 
 At this Cong^ress, opened in London on the 26th of Jime, the inau- 
 gtiral address was deHvered by the Earl of SELBORNE, Under 
 Secretary of State for the Colonies. He insisted mainly on the 
 question of Imperial Defence, — 
 
 -- which, said he, on glancing at your agenda, seems to me to be that which 
 is attracting the most attention this year. 
 
 Gentlemen, that is a very old question in a new form. The whirligig of 
 time has indeed presented us with a strange inversion. A century and a 
 quarter ago it was this question of Imperial Defence which lay the root of 
 that quarrel with our American colonies, which finally lost them to us. To- 
 day it is the same question which is operating more than any other to draw 
 the different parts of the Empire together. Then the Imperial Government 
 stated a fact, which I hold to be indisputable, that it was the business of 
 llie colonies to contribute to their own defence. Now that fact is admitted, 
 without any pressure on the part of the Imperial Government, by the Col- 
 onies concerned. Then the Imperial Government endeavoured to force the 
 method of contribution on the colonies, which colonies held that they had 
 not been properly consulted, and were not being dealt with in a constitu- 
 tional manner. To-day it is the Colonies that come forward and give of 
 their best to the Imperial Government when the Imperial Government has 
 need of it. That question, which a century and a quarter ago seemed likely 
 to destroy the British Empire, is the question of all others to-day which is 
 going to consolidate it... Therefore, while it would, I think, be a great 
 mistake of statesmanship to attempt to ask the Colonies to do that which 
 they are not in a position to do, because the conditions and the circum- 
 stances of each colony are so conflicting, the particular conditions of a 
 future struggle are so unknown it is impossible to lay down exact rules as 
 to the assistance which this or that colony may be prepared to give. But 
 what, I think, the colonies may do, and what I would suggest that the 
 Chambers of Commerce in the different parts of the Empire, should assist 
 in doing, is to urge those colonies not only to complete the preparations 
 for defence of their own shores and their own territories in case of an 
 emergency, but to take stock of the material they possess, from which, if 
 they so desire it in time of emergency, they may proffer help to the Mother 
 country. . . 
 
 (Official Report, 4th Congress, pages 6 and 7.) 
 
 The first question put before the Congress was that of the Impe- 
 rial Council. It was moved by Mr. TONKS. of Pjirmingham, in 
 the following terms : 
 
 That the increasing cordiality and sense of union between England and 
 her Colonies, renders practicable the proposal for the formation of a Con- 
 sultative Council of Representatives to deal with the colonial questions, a 
 Resolution on which subject was unanimously adopted at the last Congress 
 of Chambers of Commerce of the Empire, and that the matter be brought 
 under the notice of Her Majesty's Government. (Page 9.) 
 
 In the course of h's remarks. Mr. TONKS said: 
 
 It might be better in this, matter of the Imperial Council, to begin with
 
 CVlll 
 
 consultation with the idea that we might end with Federation... this great 
 Council would meet together on some friendly basis, and though at' first 
 purely of a consultative character, would no doubt pave the way for the 
 Federation which is so much desired. To proceed step by step is probably 
 the wiser course... (Pages 8 and 9.) 
 
 This " wiser course " was too slow for the colonists, anxious as 
 they were to throw themselves in the great Empire. Mr. G. H. 
 DUXX, delegate of the Chamber of Commerce of Cape Town, 
 moved : 
 
 That the time has arrived when a serious effort should be made to form- 
 ulate a scheme of Imperial Federation, whereby the self-governing Col- 
 onies shall be represented in the Councils of the Empire; — That as a means 
 to this end, all the self-governing Colonies should contribute a percentage 
 
 — to be decided by their representatives in Conference — 
 
 — not even by their Parliaments ! — 
 
 — of their annual revenue to the cost of Imperial Defence ; — That repre- 
 sentation in any Federal Council should be in proportion to the respective 
 contributions of the several States; — That copies of this Resolution be for- 
 warded to Lord Salisbury and the Premiers of the self-governing Colonies 
 for their consideration. (Page 11.) 
 
 Of course, it was in order that this motion should be seconded by 
 a " loyal " Canadian. It fell to Mr. Thomas ]\IcFARLANE, repre- 
 sentative of the Ottawa Board of Trade, and moreover, an official 
 of the Canadian Government, to perform that duty. In his homily, 
 this staunch Imperiahst quoted the speech delivered by Lord Salis- 
 bury, at a banquet of the British Empire League, on the 30th of 
 April 1900. In this speech, an extract of which appears in chapter 
 III ( I ) , thePrime Minister of England had advised the Imperialists 
 not to go too fast in their work. Mr. McFarlane denounced this po- 
 licy of procrastination, and urged the British authorit:es to come 
 back to Lord Beaconfield's colonial policy of centralisation and 
 Downing-Street domination. 
 
 Senator G. A. DRUMMOND. representative of the Montreal 
 Board of Trade, came to the rescue. He declared that Air. Tonks' 
 motion did not go far enough ; that the colonists, the Canadians 
 especially, 
 
 ...who sent their sons to Africa were not influenced by any such milk-and- 
 water sentiment as "increased cordiality and sense of union"... I think 
 that the time is coming w'hen England will recognise that she must bind 
 her Colonies to her as an integral part of the Empire, and that no descrip- 
 tion such as this, of a sense of union, will be allowed to take root for one 
 moment. (Page 12.) 
 
 (i) See page L.
 
 CIX 
 
 it was hard work for the British delegates to cool down the 
 ardour of these enthusiastic colonists. Lord AVEBURY. delegate 
 of the Association of Chambers of Commerce of the United King- 
 dom and of the London Chamber, observed that : 
 
 In voting for the original Resolution, we desire it to be understood that 
 we so vote because we believe that the Resolution of the Birmingham Cham- 
 ber will carry us as far as we are prepared to go. Many of us, in sup- 
 porting what is proposed by the Birmingham Chamber to-day, believe that 
 the time is not far distant when we shall see carried what is suggested by 
 the Cape Town Chamber. (Page 12.) 
 
 ■ At last, an understanding was reached on the following resolution 
 which Mr. TONKS substituted to his original motion : 
 
 That the feeling of Imperial citizenship throughout the Empire, and the 
 sense of union already attained between the Mother country and her col- 
 onies render practicable and advisable the formation, at an early date, of an 
 Imperial and Consultative Council of representatives, in which the mother- 
 land and her colonies shall have due representation to deal with colonial 
 and Imperial questions, and that the matter be brought under the notice of 
 Her Majesty's Government. (Page 14.) 
 
 This motion was seconded by Mr. McLEOD, delegate of the 
 Board of Trade of Fredericton, N. B., Canada. 
 
 A delegate made the following observation : 
 
 I think you will not allow the words " to deal '' with colonial questions to 
 be included : you are making the Consultative Council also an executive 
 Council. (Page 14.) 
 
 It was then suggested that the words " consider and advise " 
 should be substituted to " deal with ". The Canadian delegate 
 refused at first to accept the amendment ; but the English delegates 
 checked his zeal, and the resolution was finally carried tuianimously 
 as amended. 
 
 The motion in favour of inter-imperial trade was made by Mr. 
 KEMP, delegate of the Toronto Board of Trade, now representing 
 one of the Toronto electoral divisions in the House of Commons of 
 Canada. It was fought by most of the British delegates. The 
 patriotic colonials vainly pointed out the sacrifices made by the Co- 
 lonies in favour of Great Britain during the South African war. and 
 asserted that they were ready to help the motherland at any time. 
 The Canaldian delegates insisted also on the good will of Canada as 
 shown in the preferential reduction of duties granted to British im- 
 ports. None of these sentimental arguments moved the stern 
 Scotch and English representatives. Mr. THOMPSON, delegate 
 of the Manchester Chamber, speaking of the Colonies said :
 
 ex 
 
 Their trade is of great value to us, but we esteem their friendship even 
 more highly than their trade. The events of the past year have brought 
 home to every Englishman the immense moral and material support which 
 our colonial kinsmen can and do render to the Mother country in the de- 
 fence of the Empire. This is far better than any mere community of in- 
 terests, it is emphatically a union of hearts... (Page 21.) 
 
 Mr. AXDl'vRSOX. delegate of the Edinburgh Chamber, summed 
 up the situation in a very few words, and told ])lainly to the 
 colonists : 
 
 SENTIMENT IS ONE THING AND BUSINESS IS ANOiHER. 
 (Page 26.) 
 
 Finally the Canadian dele^^ates had to withdraw their motion and 
 to accept a compromised resolution wh'ch read as follows : 
 
 That this Congress urges upon Her Majesty's Government the appointment 
 by them of a Royal Commission, composed of Representatives of Great 
 Britain and her colonies and India, to consider the possibilities of increasing 
 and strengthning the trade relations between the different portions of the 
 Empire, and that the Chairman nominate a representative deputation to wait 
 upon the Premier, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and the President 
 of the Board of Trade and lay the question fully before them. (Page 43.) 
 
 When the delegatiou tried to accomplish their mission. Lord 
 Salisbury refused to receive them ; and Air. Chamberlain told them 
 plainly that in the present state of mind of the Brit'sh public, it was 
 perfectly useless to push the matter any further. 
 
 The question of Imperial defence was, brought by Mr. HADRILL, 
 delegate of the jMontreal Board of Trade. His motion read as 
 follows : 
 
 Whereas, in the opinion of this Congress the time has arrived when Great 
 Britain, her Colonies and Dependencies, should take united action for the 
 all desirable adoption of measures conducive to the strength, progress, and 
 permanent solidarity of the Empire, and 
 
 Whereas it is generally recognised that the colonies should contribute 
 towards the cost of the naval and militar}- defence of the Empire, and 
 further, that an advantageous commercial bond is one of the strongest links 
 in national unity, and that the maintenance and strengthening of trade is 
 the key-stone of a nation's successful development ; 
 
 Therefore be it resolved — That in the opinion of this Congress the bonds 
 of the British Empire, would be materially strengthened, and the union of 
 the various parts of Her Majesty's Dominions greatly consolidated by the 
 Colonies contributing towards the naval and military defence of the Empire; 
 
 Be it further resolved — 
 
 That in order to make the foregoing operative, the Chair shall appoint, 
 before this Congress dissolves, a representative and proportionate Commit- 
 tee of Home and Colonial delegates to devise a scheme based upon the 
 above Resolutions, and to report to this Congress, and that a copy of these 
 resolutions be officially forwarded to the Home Government, and to the 
 Governments of the Colonies and Dependencies. (Page 45.)
 
 CXI 
 
 The motion was seconded by Mr. McFARLANE, delegate of the 
 Ottawa Board of Trade. This inflamed patriot would have pre- 
 ferred the wording- of the resolution to be stronger. He said : 
 
 It is not our business certainly to have anything to do, and perhaps very 
 little to say, with military affairs and their conduct — the military defence of 
 the Empire or the naval defence of the Empire; but I think what we civil- 
 ians have to do is to provide money in abundance for the purpose... How- 
 ever much the colonies may have done in South Africa, England bears by 
 far the largest share of the cost. We want, if possible, to have this thing 
 properly arranged... You must in some way or another tax the colonies 
 in an equitable way, and in such a way as will be just to the Colonies and 
 to the Mother country itself. We believe in Canada that the best manner, 
 the most equitable way in which that money can be raised for the defence 
 of the Empire, is by placing a small ad valorem duty on all imports coming 
 into the Empire from foreign countries... (Page 45.) 
 
 M. L. E. GEOFFRION of the Chamber of Commerce of Mont- 
 real, spoke as follows : 
 
 In the name of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, whilst approving 
 all of what has been said regarding closer commercial relations with the 
 Mother country, I would like to say if Canada takes part in the defence 
 of the Empire she should be moved by a more elevated sentiment, prompt- 
 ed by circumstances of urgency, right, justice, and reasoned gratitude, but 
 without any written law. Without written law is the manner in which the 
 Canadians, the French Canadians, have always shown their loyalty, espe- 
 cially recently by their contribution, with the considerable expense implied, 
 of a force of over 3,000 men enlisted to fight the battles of the British 
 Empire in South Africa, with the glorious but still bloody results known. 
 Since those acts of devotion have taken place without being prescribed in 
 our Constitution, and Canada understands her natural obligations as regards 
 the defence of her territory, and since the nation, through its represent- 
 atives, has chosen to assert that its recent assistance beyond the frontier 
 was complimentary and not obligatory, and that it did not constitute a pre- 
 cedent ; considering on the other hand, that our Sovereign attributed the 
 same value to this act, and was satisfied therewith, our Chamber, for all 
 the reasons given, does not feel disposed to adopt the principle of the prop- 
 ositions submitted. (Page 46.) 
 
 It will be noted that this argument was almost a verbatim repeti- 
 tion of the argument used by Sir Wilfrid Laurier in the House of 
 Commons of Canada, — and reasserted throughout the Province of 
 Quebec by his colleagues and followers — to prove that my action 
 with regard to Canada's contribution in the war was useless, and 
 that our country was not pledged to any future participation in 
 British wars. 
 
 Mr. GeofTrion then offered the following amendment : 
 
 That the Colonies be not asked to contribute to the defence of the 
 Empire unless they do so willingly, and without coercion or written law.
 
 CXII 
 
 In this Congress, representing the trade, industry, and finances of 
 the whole Empire, there was found no man imbued enough with the 
 true traditions of British self-government to support this expression 
 of common sense. Mr. Geofifrion's motion could not be put by the 
 Chair, and ]\Ir. Hadrill's motion and Mr. McFarlane's platitudes 
 were ratified unanimously, with the dissenting voice of Mr. Geof- 
 frion. 
 
 I need not say that no protest came from the British delegates: 
 this time, it was not merely " sentiment," but good " business " for 
 them. 
 
 The Colonists evidently bore no grudge against their British col- 
 leagues for all the rebukes they had received at their hands. 
 
 At the banquet bv which the Congress was closed on the 29th of 
 June i900,Mr. Thomas F. BLACK\\TLL, Chairman of the Coun- 
 cil of the London Chamber of Commerce, said : 
 
 ...I think that we, as a nation, must feel proud of those efforts that our 
 colonies have made, and it must give us the assurance that in the future 
 we shall know where to look for our soldiers, not onl}' in this United King- 
 dom, but in that greater Empire of which we are so proud. I feel sure, 
 from the patriotic spirit that has been shown, not only in the hour of vic- 
 tory, but in the hour of misfortune... that our Queen has only to call 
 upon her subjects throughout the world, to have that same ready response, 
 and to find that we can gather our soldiers from every quarter of the globe. 
 (Page 84.) 
 
 Captain Arthur M. MYERS, from Auckland, New Zealand, 
 said, speaking of Colonial help in the South African war : 
 
 ...We certainly felt it was an opportune time to show to the world that 
 the display at Her Majesty's Jubilee was not an idle display — that we 
 meant business. When the opportunity came, we thought, therefore, it was 
 a privilege to be able to say that we appreciated the honour of fighting side 
 by side with the Imperial Forces, and endeavouring to participate in their 
 glorious traditions... (Page 85.) 
 
 Mr. KEMP, of Toronto, said: 
 
 . . . One of the questions which has been discussed in the Congress was 
 with reference to an Imperial Council;... and I hope that this Imperial 
 Council will be organised soon, and that year in and year out the voices of 
 the different parts of the Empire may be heard in London, — heard in order 
 that Great Britain ma}- be in touch with all parts... A good deal has been 
 said about contributing to the Imperial defences, and I can assure you, my 
 Lord, — [referring to Lord Selborne, Under-Secretary of State for the 
 Colonies] — that it is the desire of the Canadian people^ as far as politics 
 will admit of it. and as far as we can educate the people to it, to do our 
 fair share... (Page 91.) 
 
 The Hon. James BALFOUR, from Melbourne, Victoria, said:
 
 CXIII 
 
 ...We have to see that no other flag but the British flag shall float over 
 South Africa. We wish to assist the Mother country and be always ready 
 to come to her assistance. (Page 92.) 
 
 Sir Michael HICKS-BEACH was quite right in saying ( i ) that 
 this Congress was still more remarkable than the contribution of 
 the colonies to the South-African war. 
 
 It is the truest expression of what Imperialism means : plenty of 
 sentiment, of devotion, of war contributions, on the part of the 
 Colonies ; — strict adherence to self-interest on the part of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 The progress of this idea is easily detected through the delibera- 
 tions of those three Congresses. 
 
 In 1892, the principle of commercial union was laid down — more 
 or less. 
 
 In 1896, it was " commercial and political union " ; — and, as a 
 consequence, the organisation of a " purely consultative " Imperial 
 Council. 
 
 In 1900, commercial union is decidedly thrown aside. The esta- 
 blishment of an Imperial Council is strongly urged, " to begin with 
 consultation with the idea of ending with Federation." But the 
 defence of the Empire becomes the main question, and the principle 
 of a forced contribution from the Colonies to the war budget of 
 Great Britain is proclaimed by the Colonial delegates themselves. 
 
 That idea has since been taken up by Lt. Col. DENISON, Pre- 
 sident of the Canadian Branch of the British Empire League, in a 
 leaflet which was sent broadcast throughout Canada. His sugges- 
 tion was that we should raise a five per cent duty on all our imports 
 and devote the proceeds to the defence of the Empire. In the fiscal 
 year previous to the last, our contribution would have amounted to 
 over $6,000,000. 
 
 2°. The " British Empire League " in Canada. 
 
 MEETING OF I9OO. 
 
 The League held its annual meeting at Ottawa on the 14th of 
 March 1900. Lieut. Col. G. T. Denison, the President, was in the 
 Chair. Amongst those present were Sir Charles Tupper, Hon. 
 David Mills. Hon. W. S. Fielding, Sir Louis Davies, Hon. Wm. 
 Mulock, Hon. R. R. Dobell, Sir MacKenzie Bowell, and a great 
 many others including several members of Parliament and Senators. 
 
 (i) Speech at Liverpool, 24 October 1900 (Page xi.ix.)
 
 CXIV 
 
 The annual report ])resente(l 1)\ the President ended as follows: 
 
 This war and the community of feeling and action which it has thus 
 brought forth must pave the way for further steps in the direction of con- 
 solidating and strengthening the Empire, not only for defence but in every 
 other way in which, by increased trade and mutual advantages, every part 
 may be assisted and strengthened to be a help and support to every other... 
 In order that Canada may be better prepared to meet her obligations in 
 case of need, your Committee would express the hope that the Government 
 will at once take steps to improve the militarj^ forces of this country, not 
 only in numbers, but in equipment, drill and organisation, so that in case 
 of need we may be prepared to do our full share in defending the interests 
 of that Empire under whose flag we enjoy a safety and confidence that we 
 could not have under other conditions... (Page 163.) 
 
 In presenting- that rejiort and movinL^ its adoption. Col. DENI- 
 SOX said : 
 
 ... In order to occupy our proper position in the Empire, in order that 
 we may be able to do our share in defending its interests, our military 
 forces should be put into the best possible conditions, and we should prov- 
 ide ourselves with a sufficiency of arms and equipments of all kinds... 
 (Page 164.) 
 
 The great object that we, as a League, should work for is to do all that 
 we can to urge the improvement of our defences and the aiding of the navy 
 by a reserve of trained seamen. We should urge the calling of another 
 Imperial conference to arrange the terms of the assistance that we ought 
 mutually to give, and the best method of raising the revenue required for it. 
 
 The men we Canadians have sent to South Africa are helping to bind 
 the Empire together, and they are rendering services to the cause of Imper- 
 ialism that will not be forgotten... (Page 165.) 
 
 The Hon. W'm. MULOCK seconded the report. After endorsing 
 
 the patriotic sentiments expressed by the Chairman Mr. Mu- 
 
 lock touched on the war and proceeded : 
 
 ...Where is the Manchester school to-day? Where are the Little Eng- 
 landers to-day? They are as extinct as the dodo almost. To-day the ques- 
 tion has ceased to divide the people of the Empire, and to-day the British 
 people in all parts of the world have, I submit, pre-eminently passed upon 
 it as the national creed of the country, the national unity of the Empire. 
 That is the essential part of the creed of the people of Canada . the creed, 
 the dominant portion of the creed, of everj' part of this country, and if, 
 therefore, we can as an Association give any help practically to give effect 
 to that creed, to promote step by step the unification of the people by uni- 
 ting them in interest and in sentiment, whether it be as we move on in 
 that line, attaining the ultimate goal of this association and of the British 
 people throughout the world, the complete union, the complete federation, 
 of the British Empire... (Page 166.) 
 
 The Hon. R.-R. DOBELL warmly endorsed all that had fallen from the 
 previous speakers concerning the importance of the objects of the League, 
 and particularly as to the value of the Pacific Cable. He looked forward 
 to the further development of the principle of representation as the solution
 
 cxv 
 
 of the Imperial questions. Little Englanders, said Mr. Dobell, are as ex- 
 tinct as the dodo, but there is another bird, of which there are ten left 
 in Canada. (Page i66.) 
 
 This was an alktsion to the ten members who had voted in the 
 House, the day previous, to declare that the future of Canada was 
 not pledged by the sending of troops to South Africa. Mr. Dobell 
 was himself one of the thirteen ministers who asserted the same 
 principle on the 13th of October 1899 and denied it on the 13th of 
 March 1900. (i) 
 
 Sir Charles TUPPER. after referring to the recent work done by Dr. 
 Parkin in the cause of Imperial federation, and to the great unifying in- 
 fluence throughout the Empire which the ultimatum of President Kruger 
 had given rise to, went on to speak as follows : 
 
 No person who listened to the most brilliant and eloquent address 
 — Ifrom Sir Wilfrid Laurier] — that we in the House of Commons of Can- 
 ada listened to last night, can fail to appreciate the tremendous impulse 
 that the South African war has given to this great vital question of the 
 unity of the Empire. That address was cheered not only by the ordinary 
 supporters of the Prime Minister of Canada, but it was cheered with equal 
 enthusiasm by, I mPght say, all in the House of Commons... (Page 167.) 
 
 Sir MacKENZIE BOWELL moved a resolution favouring the establish- 
 ment of a naval reserve in Canada. In supporting the resolution he ex- 
 pressed his gratification at the unanimity of feeling that existed, not only 
 at this meeting but throughout the Dominion at the present time, partic- 
 ularly upon the great question which is agitating and threatening the Em- 
 pire to which we belong. He warmly advocated the formation of a naval 
 reserve in Canada... (Page 167.) 
 
 Principal GRANT seconded the motion. 
 
 Sir Louis DAVIES... spoke of his warm interest in the work of the 
 League. He commended ihe policy of not depending on written constitu- 
 tions and programmes. The federation of the Empire was already taking 
 place all over the world... 
 
 The resolution had in vie-.v the training of the naval men of Canada so 
 as to be of use to the British Navy when called on. Great Britain must 
 provide in the future as in the past the greatest navy in the world — equal 
 to the navy not of one, but of any combination of powers. That navy would 
 be our defence. We could not supply ships to that navy with a limitation 
 like that of the Australian Colonies, that such ships could only be used for 
 the defence of Canada's shores, but he believed it possible to work out a 
 scheme whereby the great fishing population of both coasts of Canada could 
 be so trained as to efficiently support the British Navy, ready to take their 
 place in defence of the Empire on board of Great Britain's ships. He did 
 not mean to say that a scheme had been framed, but informal negotiations 
 had been going forward. He had had the honour of discussing it with Mr. 
 Goschen, and matters had progressed fairly well... (Page 168.) 
 
 (i) See Chapter II, pages xxxv atid xxxvi ii.
 
 CXVI 
 
 The following officers were elected : 
 
 President. — Lieut. Col. G.-T. Denison. 
 
 Vive- Presidents. — Ontario, Sir Oliver Mowat. Sir MacKenzie Bowell, 
 Mr. Alex. McNeill, M. P. ; Quebec : Lord Strathcona. Hon. J. -Israel Tarte, 
 Mr. A. McGoun; Nova Scotia: Sir M. Daly, Archbishop O'Brien; New 
 Brunswick : Senator Wood, Dr. Weldon ; Prince Edward Island : former 
 Lieut. Governor Rowland; Manitoba: Hon. J.-C. Patterson; North West 
 Territories: Hon. C.-H. MacKintosh ; British Columbia: Hewitt Bostock, 
 M. P. 
 
 {Tlie British Empire Rcviezv, Vol. I. n° lo; — April 1900.) 
 
 MEETING OF I 90 I . 
 
 The ^Meeting of 1901 was held at Ottawa on Wednesday, Febru- 
 ary 13th. Lt. Col. George T. Denison, President, occupied the chair, 
 and among those present were several AUnisters of the Crown, 
 Senators and Members of the House. The Hon. George W. 
 ROSS, Prime Minister of Ontario, not being able to attend, sent his 
 regrets in a letter which ended as follows : 
 
 Hoping the meeting may be a success, and a means of strengthening our 
 relations with the Empire, as well as strengthening the influence of the Lea- 
 gue itself, which has already done such good work, etc. (Page 180.) 
 
 The annual report, dated January 26th 1901. contained the follow- 
 ing paragraphs : 
 
 Your Committee consider that an Imperial Consultative Council should 
 be established, and that immediate steps should be taken to thoroughly or- 
 ganise and combine the military and naval defensive power of the Empire. 
 Preparatory to this being done, your Committee would urge upon the Can- 
 adian Government and Parliament to at once re-organise the Militia force 
 of Canada upon broader lines, and in accordance with the spirit of modern 
 w'arfare, as shown by the late experiences with improved weapons in the 
 operations in South Africa. We have seen the whole Empire coming to the 
 assistance of one part. No one part can tell where the next blow may be 
 struck, and it is the interest of each part to be completely ready to do its 
 full share in the common defence, in order that it may fairly claim assist- 
 ance in the hour of need. This much, whether with an Imperial Conference 
 or without one, is the manifest duty and interest of the Canadian people. 
 
 Your Committee have repeatedly urged the importance of forming a Royal 
 Naval Reserve in Canada. At the annual meeting of this League two years 
 ago, Sir Louis DA VIES expressed the intention of the Government to take 
 steps to form such a reserve. Your Committee, therefore, feel confident 
 that this branch of the national defence will soon be organised on an ef- 
 ficient footing. (Page 179.) 
 
 In moving the adoption of the report, the PRESIDENT said: 
 
 The war in South Africa, we may hope, will soon be concluded, and we 
 may look about us and estimate the effect of the movement of the great 
 self-governing colonies in aiding the Mother country to defend Imperial
 
 CX\'1I 
 
 interests. The assistance may not proportionately have been very large, but 
 it has shown for the first time the awakening of the great colonies to a 
 sense of the duty they owe to the Motli^r country and to each other. The 
 step that has been taken cannot be retraced, and the whole question of the 
 relative duties and responsibilities of each part of the Empire must, sooner 
 or later, be discussed and agreed upon... 
 
 In our League we have advocated an Imperial Conference, both by resolu- 
 tion and in the annual report. We think one should be called in England 
 this year. The time is opportune. The Empire is full of the Imperial idea... 
 
 The military forces in every colony should be put upon an effective foot- 
 ing, both in men, arms, munitions and factories for the manufacture of 
 weapons. Each colony should agree to furnish its quota in case of need in 
 just proportion, which could be easily agreed upon. In the meantime, here 
 in Canada we should thoroughly and effectively organise and equip our 
 forces, and should undertake to maintain and garrison Halifax, Esquimalt, 
 Quebec, etc., in proper strength, so as to enable us promptly to furnish our 
 first call in case of war. (Applause)... (Pages iSo-i.) 
 
 The motion for the adoption of the report w^as seconded by Sir 
 Charles Hibbert TUPPER and adopted. 
 
 An Imperial Conference. 
 Sir Charles Hibbert TUPPER moved : 
 
 That this League being in favour of the formation of an Imperial Con- 
 sultative Council, urges strongly upon our Government and upon the Lea- 
 gue in England, that an Imperial Conference be called in London at an 
 early date to consider the establishment of such a Council, and to consider 
 also the question of Imperial defence. Imperial preferential trade. Imperial 
 cables, a uniform insolvency law, and such other subjects as may be agreed 
 upon. (Page 182.) 
 
 Dr. Benjamin RUSSELL, M. P., said he could not subscribe to all the 
 sentiments uttered by the President, m moving the adoption of the address, 
 but fortunately the resolution did not commit them to an endorsation of 
 Col. Denison's view in regard to difficult and delicate questions. He there- 
 fore gladly seconded the resolution... It was astonishing with what rapid- 
 ity the country was coming around to the adoption of views which but a 
 few short years ago were propounded by half-a-dozen men, who were con- 
 sidered lunatics... (Page 182.) 
 
 The motion was agreed to. 
 
 Royal Naval Reserve. 
 
 Mr. R. L. BORDEN, M. P., the Opposition Leader, moved a 
 resolution in favour of the formation of a Royal Naval Reserve 
 amongst our seafaring men. 
 
 He said there were in the maritime Provinces as fine a body of sea- 
 faring men as could be found in the world. If organised, as effective a 
 body of naval militia could be obtained as Canada already possessed in its 
 land forces... (Page 182.)
 
 CXVIII 
 
 Mr. Aulay MORRISON, M. P., seconded and strongly endor- 
 setl the motion which was carried unanimously. 
 
 Position of Quebec. 
 
 Mr. Frederic D. MONK, the Opposition Leader from Quebec, 
 said that this was the first meeting of the League he had attended. 
 
 Its report would be carefully scanned by himself and by the people of 
 Quebec. The Province of Quebec would not stand aloof from the great ques- 
 tions which were now being examined. They realised that there were a 
 great many things to be improved on in the relations between the Dominion 
 and the Mother country... He hoped the first resolution would be carried 
 out, because there was no place where these relations could be examined 
 better than in the Metropolis. He was also in sympathy with the other 
 resolutions. Quebec had special rights to preserve, and was anxious that 
 they should be maintained but she was also anxious, and had given proof 
 of her anxiety, to do her best for the development of this country and this 
 great Empire. (Page 183.) 
 
 The following officers were elected for the ensuing year : 
 
 President, Lt. Col. G.-T. Denison, Toronto, (re-elected; ; Vice-Presidents 
 for Ontario. Sir Oliver Mowat. Sir MacKenzie Bowell. Alex. McNeill ; — 
 for Quebec, Lord Strathcona and Mount-Royal, Hon. J. -I. Tarte. Arch. 
 McGoun ; — for New Brunswick, Senator Wood and R.-C. Weldon, K. C. ; 
 — for Nova Scotia, Lt. Gov. Jones and Archbishop O'Brien ; — for Prince 
 Edward Island, Hon. W. Howland : — Manitoba, Hon. J.-C. Patterson ; — 
 North West Territories, Hon. C.-H. Macintosh; — British Columbia, Lt. 
 Gov. Joly. . . 
 
 Messrs Borden, Monk, Kemp, Brock, Barker and all other mem- 
 bers of Parliament, not already on the Executive Committee, were 
 
 added to that body 
 
 (The British Empire Reviezi.', Vol. II, n° 9, March 1901.) 
 
 3°. A Few Witnesses. 
 
 BANK OF OTTAWA. 
 
 At the meeting of the shareholders of the Bank of Ottawa, on the 
 13th of December 1899, ^I^- J- ^- WHYTE, in seconding the adop- 
 tion of the annual report, said: 
 
 ...It occurs to me that the advantages received from the connection with 
 the Mother country are not sufficientlj^ appreciated. The very prosperity, of 
 the Bank, as exemplified in the report we are considering, and the security 
 for life and property enjoyed by the people of this country, is largely due 
 to the protection afforded by the Army and Navy of Great Britain and 
 towards the maintenance of which Canada contributes nothing. The feeling 
 is growing throughout the Dominion that the time has come for some 
 amendment to the articles of co-partnership and that we should cease to
 
 CXIX 
 
 occupy the undesirable position of taking all and giving nothing. It is true, 
 we have, recently, voluntarily, sent a thousand of our bravest and best 
 young men, to assist in maintaining the rights of British subjects in South 
 Africa, and from present appearances the second contingent offered will 
 likely be accepted, but that is not enough. The country can afford, in ad- 
 dition to making greater provisions for the defence of the different prov- 
 inces, to follow the lead of Australia and Cape Colony and make a direct 
 annual contribution to the cost of supporting the British Navy... (Ottawa 
 Free Press, December 14th, 1899.) 
 
 LORD .STRATHCONA. 
 
 In December 1900, Lord STRATHCOiNA was installed as Lord 
 Rector of Aberdeen University. In bis inaugurated address, he spoke 
 at lengtb of tbe Imperialistic movement, the South African war, and 
 Canada's devotion to the Empire. He said, among other things : 
 
 I believe that one of the results of the war will be to bring much nearer 
 the consolidation and unity of the Empire... 
 
 There are some who think that the solution of the problem is to be found 
 in the representation of Canada and the colonies in the Imperial Parlia- 
 ment. I am not one of those who share that view, at any rate until a truly 
 Imperial Parliament to deal with Imperial Affairs can be established... 
 That may be the ultimate solution or it may not. But, in the meantime, the 
 constitution of an Imperial Council, in conjunction with the Colonial Of- 
 fice, consisting of representatives of Her Majesty's Government, and of Can- 
 ada and the Colonies, has been mentioned as a preliminary step, even if 
 the Council were only consultative at the commencement. 
 
 No doubt, Lord Strathcona considers that he is well able to per- 
 form the duties of representation for Canada in England. With all 
 due respect to the noble Lord, should Canada accept to be thus 
 represented by a single individual, having no direct responsibility 
 to the people, it would be time to ask what has become of the good 
 old British traditions of " No taxation without representation," and 
 of " Government of the people by the people^ " 
 
 He then spoke of the defence of the Emp're and proved that Ca- 
 nada had already contributed largely, though indirectly, to the mili- 
 tary organisation of the Empire ; and he added : 
 
 I, do not mean to say that the Colonies ought not to pay towards the cost 
 of the Army and the Navy. No such proposal has yet been made to them ; 
 but I am sure that, if put forward, it will be taken into serious considera- 
 tion. As to the Navy, much more co-operation is possible. Up to the present 
 time, or at any rate until quite recently, the large seafaring populations 
 in the United Kingdom and in the Colonies have not been utilised to any 
 appreciable extent for the formation of a trained naval reserve. A begin- 
 ning has been made in Newfoundland, and may be extended. Speaking of 
 my own country, no better material could be found than among the 70.000 
 hardy sailors and fishermen who inhabit the long cost lines of the Dominion. 
 
 (Montreal Herald, Jdnuary 5th, 1901.)
 
 cx\ 
 
 HON. G. W. RdSS, I'UIMK MINISTER OF ONTARIO. 
 
 From the old Canadian Liberal that he was, the leader of the 
 Ontario Governient has become one of the most zealous apostles of 
 Mr. Chamberlain's gospel. Mr. ROSS was last summer in England 
 and did not fail to sing the right tune in the concert of which the 
 Colonial Secretary is the chief director. 
 
 At a meeting of the British Empire League, held in London Mr. 
 Ross was reported as having expressed himself in these terms : 
 
 The Hon. G.-W. ROSS said the British Empire League served the great 
 purpose of diffusing through the Empire a sentiment of autonomy and 
 unity that made the remotest extremities of the Empire feel that they were 
 vitally connected with its center. Canada had felt for many years that while 
 as a Colony she was admired she was not very much appreciated. Thanks 
 to the present Colonial Secretary and to others at home the clouds had now 
 been dispersed, and Canada felt herself to be nearer the heart of the Em- 
 pire than at any previous period. It was good that the next step should 
 be in the direction of making the union so substantial in sentiment sub- 
 stantial also in fact, and he looked forward to a federation of the Empire 
 colonially as well as imperially. . . {The Canadian Gazette, London, August 
 8th, 1901.) (i) 
 
 Some of Mr. Ross' addresses in Great Britain have just been 
 published in pamphlet form. I do not find there the words above 
 quoted, but the two following extracts are worth while reading. 
 
 Speaking in London, on the 25th July — this may be the same 
 speech as the one referred to by the Canadian Gazette — Mr. Ross 
 said : 
 
 I do not think we can keep a standing army for the defence of the Em- 
 pire, but I believe we can contribute something for a naval reserve. We 
 have 50,000 fishermen who, with a little training, could be drawn on libe- 
 rally- for the navy... (Page 18). 
 
 Then at Manchester, on the 31st of July. : 
 
 I say to you here in Manchester that we are willing — I think we are 
 willing — in Canada to impose a duty of five per cent or all importations 
 from any foreign coimtry, excepting the Colonies of the Empire, the money 
 to be annlied as a war tax or as a defence fund for the defence of the Em- 
 pire. Will you reciprocate that? Will you impose a five per cent tax on all 
 imports from foreign countries, excluding the colonies, as a defence fund 
 for the defence of the Empire? Surelv that is a practical basis. ("NO! 
 NO!")... (Page 27). 
 
 These NO ! NO ! are most expressive. When honest John Bull 
 IS generously ofifered some of our flesh and treasure, he tenders a 
 
 (i) See also Letter to the Times, 9 September 1901 (Page cr.)
 
 ex XI 
 
 graceful assent ; but when comes the hint of " reciprocating that " 
 lie bursts out in loud protest. This is Imperialism in a nut-shell. 
 
 SIR FRKUKRICK. YOUNG AT TORONTO. 
 
 On the 25th of October last, a meeting was called in Toronto by 
 the Canadian branch of the British Empire League to meet Sir Fre- 
 derick YOUNG, Vice-President of the Colonial Institute of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 Sir Frederick naturally preached the imperialistic doctrine of 
 which he is one of the most distinguished promoters. 
 
 I take the following quotations from the report published bv the 
 Toronto Globe on the 26th : 
 
 I have been invited to address you on a great national question, which 
 has been called "Imperial Federation"... The subject has been deeply in 
 my mind for many long years. More than a quarter of a century ago I 
 published a volume under the title of " Imperial Federation," which ad- 
 vocated the principle to be adopted in dealing with it. I need not say that 
 the ideas I then formed have only since been strengthened and confirmed in 
 my mind. Although they were much ridiculed and derided as visionary and 
 chimerical, they have been proved possible by time until they have encour- 
 aged me to believe that they are already descending from cloudland and 
 are rapidly being brought within the range of practical politics. 
 
 And now, I will give you in brief my definition of Imperial Federation. 
 It is comprised in the eight following words. It means " The government 
 of the Empire by the Empire." — 
 
 to take place of " the Government of the People by the People " — 
 
 ...Without attempting to define completely or accurately the class of ques- 
 tions which under a system of Imperial Federation would be dealt with by 
 a supreme senate of the whole Empire, I would mention one or two of 
 the class which would come forward before it. Those I would allude to 
 would be questions of peace and war, national defence, communications be- 
 tween the heart and extremities of the Empire, fiscal questions from an 
 imperial standpoint, emigration or colonisation... 
 
 The speaker then refers to the vice-regal trip over the Empire and 
 to the " loyal sentiments and enthus-astic devotion " of the people in 
 all parts of the King's realms, adding: 
 
 But even this outburst of sentintent is not alone sufficient. In political 
 matters a great empire requires some machinery beyond personal loyalty, 
 most valuable as it unquestionably is, in the present state of the world, for 
 its due and successful government, lest the sentiment (left alone) should 
 evaporate and die out... 
 
 The Hon. G. W. ROSS, Prime Minister of Ontario, moved a vote 
 of thanks to Sir Freiderick Young. He said : 
 
 12
 
 CXXll 
 
 It is true, as Sir Frederick Young has said, tliat there was a time in Eng- 
 land when considerable apathy j)revailed as to the colonies. I believe that 
 lime has iiappilj- passed away... Sir Frederick Young has referred to the 
 great question of the Federation of the Empire. That is of all others the 
 i|uestion that will ultimately settle whether the British Empire is to be con- 
 solidated, or whether the Colonics are to remain in a state of aloofness, as 
 now, from the Empire. . . Get Federation just as soon as you can, but in get- 
 ting it see that w-e in this outpost of the Empire retain just as much of 
 that liberty which we now enjoy as Britain herself would retain. 
 
 Of the several schemes which have been brought forward, one suggested 
 by Mr. Chamberlain — and of all our Colonial Secretaries I think he best 
 grasps the colonial situation — is a permanent consultative council for the 
 Colonies. I am not in favour of a permanent consultative council not res- 
 ponsible to the people of Canada... In the meant'me I think we should go 
 upon the methods adopted for the past few years, that is, to agree to con- 
 ferences which may meet at London . . . 
 
 In concluding Mr. Ross said such questions as those of defence, of com- 
 merce, and so on might well be relegated to a federated parliament. It 
 was necessary to impress the people of the old country with our trade ad- 
 vantages, and to do this he suggested an active propaganda in Britain. 
 Their attention secured, the great market we would have would be readily 
 appreciated. 
 
 There is a good deal of commaii sense talk in this — nittch more 
 .■^o than in some of the titterances g.ven by ^Nlr. Ross in London last 
 summer. Btit if he wants " to impress the people of the old conntry" 
 iliat we mean business, the Ontario Premier, as well as his fellow- 
 Imperialists, had better stop asstiring the British people that they 
 may count at leisure upon Canada's devct'on. 
 
 The vote of thanks was seconded by the Hon. George E. FOS- 
 TER, e.x-minister of Finance. He said that — 
 
 He regretted that there was apathy in Great Britain among her statesmen 
 in reference to the great question of Imperial unity, and hoped they would 
 be stirred up from that apathy as a result of the royal tour and the unfor- 
 tunate but glorious war in .Africa... 
 
 He then spoke of the importance of mutual cooperation between 
 C^reat Britain and her colonies to resist the keen competition of 
 fore'gn trade, saying: 
 
 Briton.s speak of their generosity in buying from every market, but sjen- 
 crosity. like charit}', should begin at home... 
 
 Dr. P.\RKIX, C. M. G., was called up(Mi and spoke very briefly of the 
 iipathy that, in his opinion, existed in Canada... To-day the position of 
 affairs in South Africa was a cause of concern, yet Canadians remained 
 cool and critical. .. They talked of the mobility of the North West Mount- 
 ed Police. Why were there not 5.000 of them in South Africa now? Can- 
 adians ought also to closely study their duties, and enquire whether they 
 should enjoy the advantages and escape the responsibilities of British con- 
 nection. jHe agreed with Sir Wilfrid Laurier, that Canadians should have 
 a place in the councils of the Empire.
 
 CXXIII 
 
 DOMINION' DAV UINNEK. 
 
 si K i.dris ri.wii's AND iKix. i>AViii Mii.r.f 
 
 One of the numerous social functions of which Mr. Chamberlain 
 avails himself to warm up the devotion of the colonists, and espe- 
 ciall}- of the Canadian official representatives during their annual 
 pilgrimage to the Mecca of Imperialism, is the Dominion Day 
 Dinner in London. That event took this year unusual majestic 
 proportions. Instead of having the toast of Canada proposed by a 
 Canadian, as it was done previously, the Prophet himself was in- 
 duced to perform the operation. 
 
 The Dinner was presided 1)\' Lord Strathcona. Mr. Gilbert PAR- 
 KER. M. P., -n proposing " The Imperial Forces "' remarked very 
 sensibly that .... 
 
 ...It might be permitted to a simple citizen to point out that the colonies 
 were now bearing, quite independently of any special contribution, a very 
 large share in the defence of the Empire. It was all done voluntarily, and 
 it could only be done voluntarily, for it could not now be said to the col- 
 onies " Yon must be taxed for this and that, for the defence of the Empire." 
 
 This was not the i)roper tune. Major Ceneral Sir Ian HAMIL- 
 T( )X was more faithful to the dutv of the hiuir: 
 
 ...After referring to the great assistance which the Chairman had ren- 
 dered in connection with the war, he expressed the hope that the bonds be- 
 tween the Mother country and the colonies, which have been drawn so close- 
 ly together by a cruel war, would be riveted together in -times of peace. 
 
 Mr. CHAMBEKLAI .\ then propfxsed "The Dominion of Cana- 
 da ". He said : 
 
 ...When the utmost liberty was conceded to the Canadian ]3eop!e to work 
 out their own destinies, to travel on lines they themselves should appoint. 
 I think it cannot be denied that the statesmen of this country and many of 
 tlie most eminent Canadians believed that that was only a step towards an 
 inevitable result that it was only a movement in the direction of complete 
 separatioii. . . But fortunately for us, and still more fortunately, I think, 
 for Canada, these anticipations have not been fulfilled... 
 
 ...I do not think the world has ever seen anything more striking, more 
 suggestive, than the way in which all our colonies and dependencies have 
 come together and have moved with us in the great struggle which has been 
 forced upon us, and according to their opportunity have pressed forward to 
 our assistance. They have shown, at any rate, that they understand the 
 meaning of the word Empire. It means privileges, great privileges ; but it 
 means responsibilities and obligations, and they have shown that they at all 
 events are not unwilling to fulfil them. ' Here is CanadtO'here is our great- 
 est colony, far removed from the sound of strifes by thousands of miles 
 without any direct interest. :and yet stirred in unison witli irs, because an 
 Imperial interest was endangered. "Touch us," the kmi)ire may now say.
 
 CXXIV 
 
 " ill any part, ami the wliolo Empire will thrill." In this quarrel, which in 
 one sense is not Canada's, only in the sense in which she is a part of the 
 Empire, she has sent us of her best. She has also sent us soldiers as we 
 have been told to-Jiight, unsurpassed in valbur and efficiency, to stand 
 shoulder to shoulder besides the army of Great Britain and besides the 
 battalions of South Africa and of Australasia. There the imion of the 
 Empire has been sealed in blood. In the words, the eloquent words, of Sir 
 Wilfrid Laurier, no bond of union can be stronger than the bond created 
 by common dangers faced in common."... 
 
 Sir Wilfrid Laurier, on another occasion, is reported to have said that 
 if we looked forward to a closer union, in which the colonies could recogn- 
 ise with us these common obligations as a matter almost of legal respons- 
 ibility — that if we wanted their help, we must call them to our counsels. 
 Well, Sir, of one thing I am convinced — that in this movement, which I 
 think is progressing, nothing could be more fatal than to be premature. 
 The movement is one which must come from our Colonies, and must not 
 be unduly pressed upon them by us. But if they desire this closer connec- 
 tion, if they are willing to assist us, not mereh- with their arms, but also 
 with their counsel and their advice. I believe that there is nothing that the 
 people of this country will more readily welcome... 
 
 We are grateful to you for your support and for your sympathy. We 
 are isolated — isolated among the great nations of the world — but as long 
 as we have our relations — our household — around us we are not alone. 
 As one of your statesmen has said, our isolation is " splendid '" — as long 
 as you share it. . . 
 
 One cannot fail to notice the striking difference of terms in wlrch 
 Mr. Chamberlain expresses his views on the military unity of the 
 Empire and the political union which might be a consequence of the 
 former. Hi.s sole object evidently — and in this he gives voice to 
 the real feeling of the English people — is to get military help 
 from the colonies ; as long as he can get it without any com- 
 pensation, or even any proportion of common control, being given to 
 the colon:'es, he will keep the movement in the direction which the 
 South African war and colonial jingoi.'^m have given to it. 
 
 It will be noted also that the Colonial Secretary did not make the 
 sl'ghtest allusion to the no-precedent clause in the Order-in-Coun- 
 cil adopted by the Canadian Government for the enlistment of 
 troops in October 1899. Mr. Chamberlain has always ignored that 
 reservation, probably judging that it was but a political dodge to 
 smooth the apprehensions of those Canadians who had not yet 
 " understood the meaning of the world Empire. "' And in this he 
 was perfectly justified by the subsequent attitude of the Government 
 and Parliament of Canada. He had another proof, in the present 
 occurrence, that his opinion was well founded. Two Canadian Mi- 
 nisters were present at this Dom'nion Day Dinner. Both of them 
 had in 1899 consented to the insertion of the no-jjrecedent clause : 
 but they carefully avoided to recall it to the attention of the blaster 
 of the Empire.
 
 cxxv 
 
 Air. David MILLS said: 
 
 ...The feeling in favour of the unity of the Empire had grown very 
 rapidly during the last five years in Canada. Every one was anxious to see 
 the imit}' of the Empire preserved ; to see by degree some system of union 
 organised which would prove satisfactory to the self-governing colonies and 
 to the United Kingdom. They were satisfied that such a condition of things 
 might he brought about, and that feeling was largely due to the reciprocal 
 feeling which had sprung up in the United Kingdom... 
 
 This was especially conspicuotis in the way the British Parliament 
 had crushed down tlie week previotis Sir Howard Vincent's propo- 
 sition in favotir of preferential treatment of colonial prodttcts on 
 the British market (i). 
 
 Sir Louis DAVIES, who also responded, said they could not take any 
 step which was more calculated to retard the cohesion of the Empire than 
 to force at the present time the public opinion which was growing towards 
 that cohesion. Alluding to Mr. Chamberlain's reference to the feeling which 
 existed some years ago between the Mother country and her colonies, he 
 said it was true that at one time there was a great deal of distrust on both 
 sides : that they in the Colonies looked towards Downing Street with fear 
 and distrust. But reciprocal sympathy had since sprung up between England 
 and her colonies, and reciprocal action had followed on that sympathy... 
 
 We know what Canada has done for Eng'land of late; hut I 
 wonder what Sir Louis Davies could point out as the "reciprocal 
 action " of England ? 
 
 . . . He was sorry to see in one of the London newspapers a short time 
 ago a statement to the effect that a false public opinion had been worked 
 up in Canada in reference to the action of the Canadian Government in 
 sending troops to assist in South Africa. He had no hesitation in saying 
 that never in his life he had seen such continuous enthusiasm in all parts of 
 Canada as with respect to the action the Government of Canada then took. 
 
 This was an official correction of the statement wh'ch I had just 
 made through the London Daily Nezvs, that the province of Quehec 
 had accepted with great reluctance the action of the government and 
 that, in the English provinces, the sentiment had not been quite as 
 unanimous as the attitude of our public men and newspapers made 
 it appear to be. 
 
 Lord DERI )Y ( Late Governor of Canada under the name of 
 Lord Stanley) in responding, said: 
 
 ...They had listened to speeches from statesmen coming from th:s side 
 of the water and from the other ; they had had expressed in noble words 
 those feelings of satisfaction at the manner in which the Dominion of Can- 
 
 (i) See pa^e i.xxxi.x.
 
 CX.W 1 
 
 ada and the Alolher country liad been drawn together, and they had heard, 
 in words which lie himself believed to be prophetic, anticipations of a still 
 greater and closer union. 
 
 Commenting- on tliese .speeches the " Times " from which I have 
 taken the al)ove extracts, said echtorially : 
 
 . . .The colonists have shown that they know what Empire and Imperial 
 citizenship mean. They mean great privileges, but the}' also mean, as Mr. 
 Chamberlain reminded his hearers, responsibilities and obligations. The col- 
 onists have not flinched from either during the struggle. They have been 
 eager to do that full duty. We are told to-day in a weighty article from 
 our Toronto correspondent how many amongst them are now anxiously re- 
 flecting whether they permanently bear their due share of the burden of 
 Imperial defence... (lliiics, July 2nd, 1901.)
 
 VIII 
 
 Resistance of the Australians* 
 
 The British papers of September and October last have pubUshed 
 several articles and correspondences showing that the new Austra- 
 lian Parliament has made up its mind to resist persistently the 
 interference of the British Government in their legislation affecting 
 trade, immigrat'on and labour — especially as far as Asiatic labour 
 is concerned. Mr. Chamberlain having sent a despatch to Lord 
 Hopetoun, Governor General of the new Commonwealth, r.^ques- 
 ting some amendment to the proposed legislation on those questions, 
 Mr. BARTON, the Prime Minister, 
 
 " stated that, with the concurrence of his colleagues, he had put a minute 
 to that despatch stating that he quite agreed with the principle of the policy 
 laid down, and promising that the Commonwealth Government wonld not 
 propose any legislation conflicting with the wishes expressed." 
 
 " Mr. REID (ex-Prime Minister of New South Wales and Leader of the 
 opposition in the new Federal House) fiercely denounced the Barton Cab- 
 inet for giving Mr. Chamberlain such a promise. It was both unconstitu- 
 tional and improper that the home Government should be informed of the 
 policy of the ministry before it was announced to the Commonwealth Par- 
 liament. He would seriously consider whether that action on the part of 
 the Barton Cabinet should not be discussed by the House of Represent- 
 atives on its merits." 
 
 (Despatch to the Times, Sept. 28th, 1901.) 
 
 Other correspondences state that being frightened at the attitude 
 taken by Mr. Reid and by the Labour Party, the government will 
 probably recede from their former attitude and reject Mr. Cham- 
 berlain's request. This is already done as far as Asiat c labour and 
 immigration, and also pauper immigrat'on from Europe, are con- 
 cerned — without even excepting British :mmiqran':s that Mr. Ross 
 is so anxious to have in the British Colon es. 
 
 Had he been a member of our Canadian Pari anient, Mr. Reid 
 would have had occasion for many similar denunciat ons. For thi.' 
 last four years, all the steps taken by the Canadian Government on 
 matters of Lnpcrial policy have been kept secret. Some of those 
 l)argains came out later on before Parliament ; some have been made 
 public in the most extraordinary way. j^uch as Sir Louis Daves' 
 announcement before the British Etnpire League ( 1 ) ; and others 
 are still unknown. And every t'me, the opposition supported the 
 Government in that Star-Chanibcr-like policy. 
 
 (I '; See p.Tge ex v.
 
 IX 
 
 Miscellaneous* 
 
 " The Future of the Anglo-Saxon race. " 
 
 (Article bv Lord Cliaries Bert»sror(l. in the Xoith A incricnn RcDiew, DetL'inbKr ll'fK), vol. 171, pase 
 802). 
 
 There arc rocks ahead, however, which may yet wreck the Anglo-Amer- 
 ican barque. With moderately fair skies and smooth seas the supremacy of 
 this great race has been built up, and with success have come all the evils 
 which are so historically associated with the fall of the Empires and Na- 
 tions of the past. In the Motherland, the corruption of money has wrought 
 fearful havoc in the ranks of Society. In the United States, there are om- 
 inous mutterings of the coming storm. The Plutocrat is gaining power each 
 day on both sides of the Atlantic, and the Democrat is likely to be crushed 
 under the heel of a worse tyrant than a King who wore the purple, or any 
 Ecclesiastical Dignitary who set up claims to temporal power. 
 
 British society has been eaten into by the canker of money. From the top 
 downwards, the tree is rotten. The most immoral pose before the public 
 as the most philantropic, and as doers of all good works. Beauty is the 
 .slave of gold, and Intellect, led by Bea,iity. unknowingly dances to the 
 strings which are pulled by Plutocracy. 
 
 There was one good point about the old order of kingh' supremacy and 
 infallibility. It was its birthright to be the protector of chivalry, man- 
 liness and purity. Sullied as it was by many crimes, the ideal was always 
 there, and each generation it brought forth fresh shoots. But what shall 
 we say of the new order of Wealth, of the greed for gold which is its main- 
 spring, of the way in which those wdio by birth and education should be 
 the sternest protectors of the race, abandon all and fl ng themselves on the 
 shrine of the Golden God? 
 
 This is the danger wdiich menaces the Anglo-Saxon race. The sea which 
 threatens to overwhelm it is not the angry w^aters of the Latin races, or of 
 envious rivals, but the cankering worm in its own heart, the sloth, the in- 
 dolence, the luxurious immorahty, the loss of manliness, chivalry, moral 
 courage and fearlesness which that worm breeds. (Pages 806-807.) 
 
 Depression of British Industry, 
 
 To those who may think that I am animatetl with prejudices, 
 and painting under false colotirs the present situatron of British 
 indtistry, I commend the lecture of a book recently publ'shed in 
 London by Mr. Fred. A. AIcKenzie, and entitled " The American 
 Invaders ". This very interesting book shows the eiiormotis displa- 
 cement of English manufactnred products in favour of American 
 goods. It begins as follows :
 
 ex XIX 
 
 American brains, enterprise, and energy are to-day ousting British traders 
 in the battle for commerce in many lands. 
 
 Ten years ago England was easily first in the iron, shipping, cotton and 
 coal industries. We took from America rawfood products in considerable 
 quantities, but America was our greatest customer for manufactured goods. 
 Now the situation is changed. America has already far outstripped us in 
 iron and steel making. It is making great gaps in our shipping business, it 
 is seriously competing with us in cotton, ana is planning to take from us 
 our export coal trade. 
 
 Where not long since America was our largest customer, we are now the 
 biggest and most profitable buyers from America. The United States Gov- 
 ernment reports declare that England takes seventy-nine per cent of their 
 ■ products sent to Europe, and sixty per cent of all the products which the 
 -American farmer sends abroad. 
 
 It ends l)y the followiiis;" di.snial words: 
 
 We are becoming the hewers of wood and drawers of water, while the 
 most skilled, the most profitable, and easiest trades are becoming American. 
 
 If my readers want some higher authorities to sanction the very 
 crude and convincing facts enumerated by Mr. McKenzie, I might 
 refer them to Mr. Chamberlain and to Lord Rosebery, those two 
 shining I'ghts of Imperialism. 
 
 Addressing a meeting of the Court of Governors of the Birming- 
 ham University, of which he is the Chancellor, Mr. CHAMBER- 
 LAIN said, on Janitary 17th last: 
 
 No one can read the reports that have recently appeared of the progress 
 of manufactures in the United States in the Times newspaper, and the let- 
 ters which have appeared in that and other journals as to our general com- 
 mercial position, without being fully aware that we have somewhat fallen 
 behind, that we have reached a critical stage, and that it depends very much 
 upon what we are doing now, at the beginning of the 20th century, whether 
 at its end we shall continue to maintain our supremacy or e\en equality 
 with our great commercial and manufacturing rivals. 
 
 And he insisted lengthily and forcibly on the importance of de- 
 veloi)ing technical education, {l^iiiics, Jan. i8th., igoi). 
 
 Tlie day previous. Lord ROSEBERY spoke at the annual dinner 
 of the Wolverhampton Chaiuber of Commerce. He said: 
 
 ...The war I fear is not a military war — and wlien I say I fear. I do 
 not mean that I regard it with cowardice or disquietude — but the war I 
 regard with apprehension is the war of trade which is unmistakably upon 
 us... When I look round me I cannot blind my eyes to the fact that so 
 far as we can predict anything of the twentieth century on which we have 
 now entered, it is that it will be one of acutest international conflicts in point 
 of trade. We were the first nation in the world — of the modern worl.d — 
 to discover that trade was an absolute necessity. For that we were nick- 
 named a nation of shopkeejicrs ; but now c\ery nation wishes to be a
 
 ex XX 
 
 nation of shopkeepers too. and I am bound lo say that when we look at 
 the character of some of these nations, and when we look at the intelligence 
 of their preparation, that behooves us not to fear, but to gird up our loins 
 in preparation for what is before us. There are two nations which are ob- 
 viously our rivals and our opponents in the commercial warfare that is to 
 come — I do not intend b}- any means to put others out of the category, but 
 I do say that it is to America and to Germany that we have to look in 
 the future for an acute and increasing competition with regard to our trade, 
 and I am bound to say that in looking at these two countries there is much 
 to apprehend. The alertness of the Americans, iheir incalculable natural re- 
 sources, their acuteness, their enterprise, their vast population, which will 
 in all probability within the next twenty years reach 100,000,000 make them 
 very formidable competitors with ourselves. And with the Germans, their 
 slow but sure persistency, their scientific methods, and their conquering 
 spirit, devoted as these qualities are at this moment to preparation for 
 trade warfare, make them also, in my judgment, little less redoubtable than 
 the Americans. . . 
 
 I see a great many articles now in the papers as to the decline of our 
 trade... I saw the other day in one of those papers, that. I think, out of 
 4.000 commercial travellers that had passed through Switzerland, only 28 
 represented English firms... 
 
 H:s concltision. like that of ]\Ir. Chamberlain, was the necessity 
 of a strong technical and commercial edttcation. (Ths Times, 
 January 17th, 1901.) 
 
 On the 2ist of March last. Lord ROSEBERY dolivered an 
 address on commercial education before a meeting called by the 
 London School of Economic and Polit'cal Science. He there said : 
 
 ...From whatever standpoint we may regard the age. 1 think we all must 
 be aware that we are coming to a time of stress and of competition for 
 which it is necessary that we should be fully prepared. It is not necessary 
 here to indicate what form that stress or that competition may take, but in 
 military matters, in naval matters, in commercial matters, in educational 
 matters, we see more clearly day by day that we shall not be allowed to 
 rest on any reputation that we possess already, but that we shall have to 
 fight for our own hand in every department of human activity and human 
 industry if we wish to keep our place. 
 
 {'J'iiiu's. March 22nd. igoi. ) 
 
 Quite recent]}-. Lord RUSEiJER"^' spoke at IJiriningham of the 
 " Fatal gift " of " self-complacency " whicli characterises the En- 
 glish nation : 
 
 The nation which is satisfied is lost. The nation which is not progressive 
 is retrograding. "Rest and be thankful" is a motto which spells decay... 
 " What was good enough for my father is good enough for me " is a treas- 
 ured English axiom which, if strictly carried out, would have kept iis to 
 wooden ploughs and water clocks. In these days we need to be inoculated 
 with some of the nervous energy of the Americans... 
 
 Occasionally the nation wakes up and finds that its methods or niacliinery 
 are out of date and even decayed.. It demands, for example, that some 
 department or another should be placed on a business footing and brought up 
 to date, and having made the demand it turns its attention to something 
 else or goes to slumber. . . 
 
 (London Times. October i6th. 1901. I
 
 CXXXI 
 
 (Jn his return from Amer'ca to London, Sir Thomas LIPTON 
 was interviewed by a newspaper reporter. To many people, Sir 
 Thomas is better known by the successive defeats of his Shamrocks; 
 but as a financier and tradesman, he is one of the conquerors of this 
 world. His opinion :s a good authority. 
 
 Here is one of the questions that were put to the great British 
 dealer : 
 
 And do you think tliat the Americans are going to become still more 
 formidable competitors with us in the future? 
 
 I am sure of it, — was the reply. They get work ready while we are 
 thinking about it, and they execute orders before we have finished drawing 
 the plans. They have the best machinery it is possible to invent, and they 
 pay wages high enough to attract the best workmen. Then, in their methods 
 of doing trade they can beat us in neutral markets. We try to make people 
 buy what we can to sell them. The Americans, on the other hand, are 
 ready to sell what other people want to buy. They are taking away a lot 
 of our trade, and they will take away more in the future if we do not wake 
 up. 
 
 (Montreal Herald, November 13th, 1901.) 
 
 A few^ weeks ago. the Loudon Electrical Rcviciv had the foUow- 
 
 We have over and over again used our influence to persuade British elect- 
 rical engineers and promoters to burn their search-lights direct on India, 
 and to do their level best to keep possession of the market so far as pos- 
 sible. The urgent necessity for following this advice is emphasised by a 
 sentence in the Financial News : " It is believed that a wealthy American 
 syndicate will shortly approach the municipalities of all the large towns of 
 India not provided with electric installations, with a view of remedying the 
 deficiency." 
 
 This problem of foreign competition and of the continued depres- 
 sion in British manufactures and trade has been occupying for some 
 years the attention of the statesmen of the United Kingdom. As 
 early as 1885, a Royal Commission was appointed to study this ques- 
 tion. Its final report \vas published in 1886 {Parliamentary Papers, 
 1886, C. 4893). On the 28th 01 November 1895. a despatch was 
 sent by Mr. Chamberlain to the Governors of all the Colonies, 
 asking for information and details as to the then situation of British 
 trade in the dilTerent parts of the Empire. The replies of the Go- 
 vernors were published in 1897 {Pari, papers, 1897. C. 8449). In 
 [898, the Board of Trade had a blue book issued containing extracts 
 from memorandums received from the British diplomatic and con- 
 sular agents all over the \yorld. pointing out the main causes of the 
 .successful competition of foreign trade — American and German 
 esi)ecially. {Pari. Papers, 1898. C. 9078). 
 
 By reading these documents, the reader may convince himself 
 that I have not darkened purposely the situation of the manufac- 
 turer of Great Britain.
 
 ex XX 11 
 
 Americans in Canada. 
 
 in Mr. McKEXZIE'S book, already quoted, a full chapter is 
 devoted to the invasion of Canada by American capitalists. An 
 article on this subject appeared in The Bxpansioiiisf, of Xew York, 
 in Aug'ust last. I quote the following paragraph : 
 
 It is satisfactory to know that attention is being given by responsible and 
 competent men in this country to the policy indicated in the foregoing 
 — Ithat of bringing closer Canada and the United States] — and that ad- 
 vantage will be taken of the opportunitj- afforded by financial conditions to 
 gain control of the transportation systems of Canada, as American capital 
 is becoming a dominant factor in the development of Canada's forests and 
 mineral resources. The two cannot be separated, but must be linked for the 
 common benefit. (Page 24.) 
 
 The Countess of ABERDEEN was more than right when she 
 said at Dundee, in October last : 
 
 Was not the gloom which over hung the land due in great measure to the 
 fact that this countrj- had departed from the principles of Liberalism and 
 erected in its stead a false and tj-rannical patriotism, before which they 
 must bow down or be crushed? To throw doubt on the wisdom or justice 
 of the present government was to brand themselves as traitors. We were 
 squandering our sons and our monej- on the veld of South Africa, and al- 
 lowing Americans to buy up our commercial interests both in this country 
 and in Canada. 
 
 (Times, October i8th, 1901.) 
 
 Jingos may call this noble woman a " pro-Boer "" and a " Little 
 Englander " ; — but she is undoitbtedly niore enlightened and more 
 jiatriotic than those who go on, howling " God save the King " and 
 " Rule, Britannia ! " 
 
 Good Feeling between Briton and Boer in Cape Colony. 
 
 In a speech delivered at ^Manchester on the 19th Xovember 1899. 
 Sir Henrv Campbell- Banner man quoted the following words written 
 by Lord Randolph CHURCHILL in 1891 : 
 
 The old hostility between the English and the Dutch which at the time of 
 the Transvaal war had attained a dangerous height seems to have entirely 
 passed away. The two sections regard each other with a feeling of respect, 
 friendship, and mutual trust. The genius of the Prime Minister. Mr. Cecil 
 Rhodes, has mainly contributed to this auspicious state of things. He has 
 known how to acquire and retain the confidence of the English and Dutch 
 Colonists, and he has shown them in the daily practice of self-government 
 that their interests are entirely and absolutelv common.
 
 CXXXIII 
 
 It is useless to remind the reader that this was written previous 
 to the Jamieson Raid, when Mr. Rhodes was enjoying the full con- 
 fidence of the Boer element in Cape Colony. 
 
 Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman added : 
 
 This writer goes on to speak of the settlement after Majuba, and, having 
 been himself an active opponent and denouncer of that settlement in this 
 country, he passed judgment upon it as a wise and prudent and necessary 
 settlement. 
 
 (Extra Parliamentary Hansard, for 1899-1900. Page 134.) 
 
 At a dinner of the St. George's Club, in London, on the loth of 
 July 1897, Lord LC)CH, late "Governor of Cape Colony, spoke of the 
 loyalty of the inhabitants of that country, saying: 
 
 ...We might depend upon the loyalty of the Colonies for the maintenance 
 of the integrity of the Empire. And in no whit backward were the people 
 of the Colonies of South Africa in that respect. Whether they claimed their 
 descent from English or Dutch progenitors, they were loyal, he was pre- 
 pared to state, to the backbone. He had no hesitation in declaring that the 
 descendants of the Dutch population of the Colonies of South Africa were 
 as loyal for the maintenance of the integrity of the Empire and as loyal to 
 the Crown as the people of any Colony in Her Majesty's Dominions... 
 
 Sir J. GORDON SPRIGG, leader of the utra-loyalist party and 
 Prime Minister of the Cape, added on this subject that — 
 
 He did not-think' the .difficulties of the Dutch and the English question 
 were insurmountable. Two of his colleagues in the Cape Administration 
 were what was called Dutch, and yet they worked together most amicably 
 to support him, an out-and-out Englishman. They were endeavouring to 
 weld together the various nationalities, the different communities, into one 
 solid whole. Although considerable disturbance had been created in the rela- 
 tions between the English and the Dutch in South Africa, the course of ad- 
 ministration which they had been pursuing there and the good sense which 
 had been exhibited by the people of different nationalities had considerably 
 allayed that disturbance, and a much better feeling now existed than wa-^ 
 the case some time ago. He had the utmost confidence in saying that they 
 would bring matters straight and that they would get back to the state of 
 things which prevailed there some few years ago without resorting to the 
 dreadful arbitrament of war. 
 
 (London Times, July 12th, 1897.) 
 
 Both these testimonies — the latter especially — are the more con- 
 clusive that they come from staunch opponents of Gladstone's policy 
 and that they were given more than a year after the unjustifiable 
 aggression of Mr. Rhodes' agent against the South African Re- 
 public.
 
 cxxxn 
 
 Cecil Rhodes' Kepresentatives in Canada. 
 
 Just as this pani])lilet was going to the press, a friend of 
 mine sent ine a pamphlet where are to be found the names of the 
 Canadians enlisted by Davis ALLEN, as members of the " Impe- 
 rial South African Association." I give them here : 
 
 CANADIAN COMMITTEE. 
 
 Dr. J. G. RODDICK, M. P. (Chairman) : W. C. EDWARDS, Esq., M. 
 P. (Treasurer); A. MACXEILL, Esq., M- P.; R. L. BORDEN, Esq., M. 
 P. (i) : J. G. RUTHERFORD. Esq., M. P.; B. RUSSELL. Esq.. Q. C, M. 
 P.: L. p. BRODEUR, Esq.. M. P. (Deputy speaker of the House of Com- 
 mons) (2) : Raymond PREFONTAINE, E'sq.. Q. C, M. P., (Mayor of Mont- 
 real) ; E. B. OSLER, Esq., M. P. : Ross ROBERTSON. Esq., M. P. ; N. A. 
 BELCOURT. Esq.. M. P. : Hewitt BOSTOCK. Esq.. M. P. ; Hon. Senator 
 ALLAN: Hon. Senator DRUMMOND; Hon Senator Sir John CARLING. 
 K. C. M. G., P. C. ; Sir John BOURINOT. K. C. M. G.. Clerk of Parlia- 
 ment (Hon. Secretary). 
 
 (i) Now Leader of the Opposition. 
 (2) Now Speaker.
 
 I
 
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