villi . 2. . ( IcrLlJ. ii>i ' S. \ BRITANNIC CONFEDERATION. .#^ BRITANNIC CONFEDERATION. XI Scries ot iptapcrs bv? ADMIRAL SIR JOHN (ULOMJi, PROFESSOR KDWAIM) A. FREEMAN, GEORGE (4. CHISHOLM, PROFESSOR SHIELD NICHOLSON, MAURICE H. HERVEY, AND THE RIGHT TTONr.LE. LORD THRING. EDITED, WITH A\ INTRODUCTION, DV ^WVWVV. S^TT.VA WTTTT^ sK.t'liETAKV AM> EDITOIl, ROYAL SCOTTISH GEOGUAPIIICAI. SOCIETY. Published by the Authorily of the Council of theRmLjUpScnUishitCograpliical Society. Reprinted froii^^^^^i^^j^mnfldi^atM^irsinc." './ A /• r ■ '*^r,?-ii ifi^M:e^: GEORGE THILIP & SOX, 32 FLEET STKEET, E.G. LIVERPOOL: 45 to 51 SOUTH CASTLE STREET. 1892. DA 1% CONTENTS. M >- ■< OQ to o UJ o CO Introdcction. By the Editor I. A Survey OP Existing Conditions. By Admiral Sir John Colomb, K.C.M.G., M.P. . ■ — I.- ir. The Physical and Political Bases of National Unity. By Edward A. Frkemax, M.A., D.C.L., LL.D., Eegius Professor of Modern History at the U niversitv of Oxford ..... III. The Commerce of the British Empire. George G. Chisholm, M.A., B.Sc. T By IV. Tariffs, and International Commerce. By J. Shield Nicholson, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Edinburgh . V. Alternative Measures. By Maurice H Hervey, Principal of the Illawarra College, New South Waks VI. The Consolidation of the British Empire By the Eight Honourable Lord Thring K.C.B I'AGK ix M^ 57 93 ^■^ 123 149 INDEX 175 433226 MAP AND DIAGRAMS. MAP OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, AND ITS OFFICIAL AND COMMERCIAL RELATIONS. DIAGRAMS TO MR. CHISHOLMS PAPER. INTRODUCTION. THE present series of papers was planned with the object of partly satisfying the recent public de- mand for clearer and more reasonable views concerning the question of Imperial Federation. These papers were oi-iginally published in the Scottish Geographical Magazine— the Monthly Journal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society — and are now re-issued in book- form, in order to meet the demand for a wider circulation. The intention of the Series is to treat the subject academically, as being one for legitimate discussion by students of Applied Geography. Although necessarily limited to those aspects which came more or less within their horizon, a considerable amount of latitude has been allowed to the authors of the papers, who have not hesitated to avail themselves of this freedom of treatment. Indeed, the reader cannot fail to observe a "ood deal of adverse criticism. Most of the vital points at issue have consequently been examined in greater or less detail, in accordance with the judgment of individual contributors ; and, it is to be hoped, the ground has thereby been cleared for a rational and X INTRODUCTION. profitable discussion of the wliole question. They have dealt with facts, and not with fancies. The contributors alone are responsible for their respec- tive statements. A map of the British Empire has been specially constructed to illustrate this series of papers. It was designed by myself, and compiled by Mr. J. G. Bartholomew. An attempt has been made to indicate the official and commercial relations between the British Empire and foreign countries by a system of lettering and colouring which is readily discernible. Extraneous data are rigidly excluded. It is doubtless a misfortune that no name can, appa- rently, be found to characterise the closer and more permanent union which, in the opinion of the Federa- tionists, should replace the ill-defined and unstable relations existing at the present day between Great Britain and her Colonies. But, after all, it is not so much the nariif as the thiiuj which is of prime import- ance. There will be time enough to find a more appropriate designation when once the component parts of the British Empire have been consolidated into a responsible World-power, At present, we are only groping in the dark towards the attainment of an ideal on which history sheds little or no light. The title selected for this series of papers is, there- fore, not free from objection ; ))ut at least it has the merit of implying an inviolable political union between those self-governing Colonies which at the present time acknowledge the over-rule of Her Britannic Majesty. INTRODUCTION. xi It is assumed, in the absence of any matured scheme, that tliis union, which exists already in theory ratlior than in fact, will take the form of a Confederation. Obviously, too, all Crown Dependencies are excluded. During the year i8gi the great Colonies made con- siderable pi'Ogress in the direction of Britannic Con- federation. It is clear that, before a scheme of sufh- cient elasticity can be found to bind the self-governing Colonies together, and attach them to the British Crown by ties which sliould bear any ordinai'y friction, the political unity of adjacent Colonies is an e.ssential con- dition of success. Ceographically speaking, territories under the same — or approximately the same — conditions of economical productiveness, demand and supply, gain immeasurably in strength if they can present to the outside world an united front, and to each other per- fect freedom of intercommunication and interchange of commodities. Thus, the separate Colonies of Austral- asia have found no difficulty in adopting, at least in principle, a plan of Federation among themselves on Free Trade lines. Their attitude towards the Empire has been sufficiently characterised Ijy the maintenance, at their own expense, of an Auxiliary Squadron of the Imperial Navy in Australian waters. Since this community of interests has been recognised, is it too much to hope that the obstacles to Britannic Confedera- tion will not be found to be insuperable ? Unfortunately, the very reverse of these conditions is observable in the North American continent, where the Colony of Newfoundland and the Dominion of Canada xii INTRODUCTION. have been unable to agree upon the Fisheries Question, and have in consequence displayed a lamentable want of unity of interests. But in this case the proximity of a foreign State has complicated, if not caused, this divergence of interests. It is an exception to our case which proves the rule. Fortunately, the loyalty of the powerful and prosperous Dominion of Canada to the Imperial connection has survived a severe test. Although, as every geographer must concede, the political destinies of Canada are intimately associated with the development of the whole North American continent, they are not of necessity exclusively depen- dent thereon. The result of the recent general election in Canada expressed the determination of the Dominion to cast in its lot with Great Britain, and thus to main- tain its political unity, rather than to relinquish its independence by the alternative of absorption into the United States. Furthermore, by the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and other public works, the- greatest service has been rendered in the consolidation of the British Empire. Nor must it be overlooked that, both in Canada and Australia, the principles of Free Trade are rapidly gaining ground ; for it is to the general adoption of these principles that the Empire must look for its ultimate consolidation. In South Africa the movement in favour of Federa- tion has made marked pi-ogress. But the unsettled political conditions, the presence of progressive Dutch States, and a preponderating native population, must necessarily delay tlie formulation of any practicable INTRODUCTION. xiii scheme. it is, Jiowever, to be noted that, in South Africa, a Zolloerein has been advocated as the basis of any future political federation. The recent commercial treaties concluded between the Allied Powers of Central Europe, being based on Free Trade principles, illustrate in a very striking manner what may be called the centripetal tendency of the economical interests of States, though, in the case of the.se Powers, their common action was, doubtless, largely inspired by motives of State policy. [f it be expedient for individual States thus to adjust the balance of power in continents, it is absolutely necessary for a World-power like Great Britain to pro- vide against any distxirbance of her vast Colonial rela- tions. The loss of one or more of her great Colonies would, at the present stage in the World's history, be all l)ut irretrievable ; and yet, by having conceded self- government to these ColoTiies, it is admitted that, in principle, she has revoked all claims of sovereignty over them : at least, a Colonial civil war is entirely out of the question. It is, therefore, quite natural that, in view of the possible disintegration of tlie Empire, no means should be left untried to binil its separate parts together by the strongest ties of political union. Another danger which threatens the integrity of the Empire is the possibility of attack by a hostile Power. Probably this outweighs every other consideration, in so far as the immediate safety of the Empire is con- cerned : for to be prepared for war is to avert it. It is, therefore, reasonable to assume that the first important xiv INTRODUCTION. step towards ]jiitannic Confederation will be the forma- tion of a League for Defence. The Colonial Empire of Great Britain occupies the best strategic positions in nearly every quarter of the World, and the possession of any portion of it l)y a foreign Power would be a constant menace to the safety of its other parts. Granted that it be possil)le to establish a Britannic Confederation capable of defending its vital interests against any probable combination of Powers, its con- solidation would be a mere matter of time. Even at the present rate of growth of the Empire, and of its moral and material progi^ess, the time would not be long before its members would enjoy the most envialde lot of any nationality on Eartli. JNIoreover, the centre of gravity — so to speak — of World-power is shifting constantly to tlie West. What the Mediterranean Sea was before the discovery of America, the Atlantic is to us to-day : the centre around which are grouped the most advanced nations of the Earth — the focus of civilisation, it is not too much to infer that, once the Isthmus of Panama is cut, or other- wise ceases to oil'er obstacles to shipping, the stream of Imman progress will partly become diverted into the Pacific, anil that the political development of the States on its shores will receive an impulse such as the World has never before experienced. An entirely new set of political and commercial conditions will, of coui'se, be a necessary corollary to such a development : the Pacific will then vie with the Atlantic for the supremacy in human interests. INTKODLCJ ION. xv llial, undiT llits>' circumstauc't's, llic L'ulunial JMiipiie of (ireat Britain, onco consolidated, would exercise a preponderating influence on llic World's history re- quires no fni'ther demonstration. It', indeed, it be found possible to achieve only a measure of this result, no degi-ee of self-sacrilice, either on the part of the Colonies or on that of tlic mother-count rv, should l)e regarded as excessive. AKTliLTK SIJ.VA WHITE. Edinuuiuui, is/ Fchniarii, 1892. A SUKVEY OF EXISTING .CONDITIONS. By Admieal Sir JOHN COLOMB, K.C.M.G., M.P. A A SURVEY OF EXISTING CONDITIONS. P( )IJ'ri('AL terminology is generally difficult, but the title that has been selected for the series of papers to whieli the present one is introductory is more than usually free from objection. The substantive is well chosen, because the federal union to be attained in the scattered Empire^ of the Queen must necessarily assume the looser foi'm of a confederacy, and not that of a federa- tion, sti'ictly so called. The adjective is equally apt, since "British " is so constantly used in the nari-ower, insular sense, whilst "Britannic" — tlie territorial title of the sovereign of these realms, who is to all the World "Her Britannic Majesty " — has a wider range of association, and litly expresses the larger sweep of the idea it is desired to emphasise. If it be not too late to change, the imperial Federation League might with advantage adopt the title of this series of papers. To answer the question, " What is the empire of Her Britannic Majesty 1 " we must turn lirst to geography and then to history. Geographically, the lirst thing noticeable is the scattered character of the Empire that is usually coloured red on the maps. It literally en- circles the globe east and west, north and south. If it were not so ^cattei-ed the first thing to strike the eye would be its vast extent, — more than nine millions of square miles of the Earth's surface, a tifth part of the 4 BRITANNIC GONFEDEKATION. whole habitable globe, the largest empire of the ancient or modern World These characteristics lie patent. But, if we tiegin to look closely and to analyse, two other features shape themselves that have important beai'ings. One of these is the distribution of the ter- ritories between the Temperate and the Torrid zones ; the other the isolated portion of the little land that gives its name to, and is the political centre of, this world-em))racing Empire. Of these characteristics the scattered position of the component parts of the Empire and their climatological distribution are the two that have the most direct bearing on the present subject. The distribution of the territories between Temperate and Tropical climates enables us to draw a sharp line between the Tropical and the Tempei-ate countries. The political confedera- tion of the Empire can I'efer only to those countries where men of British race live from one generation to another under free Britisli political institutions. What- ever the more remote future may have in store, the present question must leave out of account those Tropi- cal portions of the Empire inhabited, and only capable of permanent habitation, by the dark-skinned races, governed by the vicegerents of Her Britannic Majesty, and not intrusted with the free Briton's right of self- government, still less therefore to be endowed with the privilege of sharing in the government of other men of British race. The only point of the question that affects them is whether they would continue to be governed by the United Kingdom alone, or by a united empire. When we talk, then, of a Britannic confedera- tion, we must really be thinking of the Britannic Empire lying in Temperate or sub -Tropical latitudes; and that, A SURVEY OF EXISTING CONDITIONS. 5 for practical })urposes, at tlie present time resolves itself into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British North America, British South Africa, and Australasia. The second of the two characteristics having a direct political bearing on our subject — the scattered position of the four great groups just enumerated — is fundament- ally responsible for the existence of such a question at all as that which now confronts us. If these counti'ies, inhabited as they are by a population almost entirely of common origin and otherwise homogeneous, had lain in geographical contiguity, there would never have arisen such a condition of affairs as we see at present in the political relations of each part of the whole to the centre and to the parts. There might, indeed, and, among a people so wedded to self-government in local affairs, no doubt would have arisen, the need for some loosening of the central authority over such matters by the adoption of a federal system. But the need for drawing closer would never have occurred, because the existing absence of almost every substantial political tie would never have resulted under such geographical conditions. It is distance that has produced this result. When the Colonies in the Temperate latitudes, inha- bited by Britons, grew out of being governed on the same principles as those in the Tropics, as mere depend- encies of Great Britain, it was their distance from the seat of government that prevented their incorporation into the United Kingdom, or a legislative union being thought of, while, as to the federal idea, it was not until recently that it has come to be regarded by us as a via media between complete legislative union and the absence of all real political union whatever. There 6 BRITANNIC CONFEDERATION. wei'e uncloiil)tedly other causes determining the direc- tion that Colonial self-government then took. Bat, if the Colonies had been newly-opened countries next door to us, those causes themselves would never have been called into existence. It was geographical position that lay at the root of the developments that have taken place. Historically, the actual course of events has been briefly this. All colonies and plantations having originally been treated alike — that is, both nursed and governed by Britain and from Britain — those that lay in Temperate regions, and had no native population of which any account had to be taken, but were in- habited entirely by men of British origin, became Little Britains, and after a time claimed the same amount of political freedom and the same political institutions as were enjoyed by their brethren in the mother-country. Distance making legislative union impossible, and federation not heing " in the air," this political freedom was conferred by creating local Parliaments, and placing them in the same position towards the Crown, represented by the governor, as that held towards it directly by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Nominally the Parliament of the United Kingdom as well as the Crown retained supreme authoritv over the Parliaments so constituted. Practi- cally the power of the Parliament is a reserve force to be called out of abeyance only in great emergencies such as that which, while we write, has arisen with i-egard to Newfoundland ; while that of the Crown, acting through the executive government of the United Kingdom (as distinguished from the Crown, represented by a colonial governor and acting through a colonial A SURVEY OF EXISTING CONDITIONS. 7 executive), is not miicli more substantial. The poli- tical connection between any Colony and the United Kingdom is of the slenderest ; between any two Colonies, except where it has since been created — as between the Colonies of British North America by Canadian confederation — there is none at all. But before we can get a complete bird's-eye view of the seneral situation we must note some other circum- stances that accompanied the grant of parliamentaxy self-government to the Colonies. With the right to manage their own domestic affairs the government and people of the United Kingdom also made to the Colonists two free gifts of a strictly material nature, and at an enormous sacrifice to themselves not fully realised at the time. The first and greatest of these gifts was nothing less than the fee-simple of the vast territories, on the fringes of which they had settled. The vastness of this unconditional and unreserved bounty is even now scarcely appreciated. I'he sacrifice it entailed on the mother-coiuitry is hardly recognised at all. It is not only that the heritage of the whole race was made over absolutely to a few mere handfuls of its members, so that now a native of Great Britain has no more property in and no more rights in or concerning the territory of Victoria, for instance, than any Fi'enchman or German possesses, and may even be refused permission to enter that territory if his pecuniary means fail to come up to a certain standard : that is not all. There was another and directly pecuniary sacrifice made when these lands were so lightly given away. The Empire of Great Britain has cost some eight hundred millions to build up. The National Debt was^ a mortgage upon the whole of the 8 BEITANNIC CONFEDERATION. territories composing that empire. Yet tliese large and fertile lands, containing unknown reserves of wealth, were simply given away to a few favoured members of the race, freed from all responsibility for the mortgage debt that lay upon them, the whole burden of which remains on the shoulders of the people of the United Kingdom. Nine-tenths and more of the area of land charged with its repayment has been released, and the whole stands secured upon the remaining tenth. After this it seems almost a small thing to come to — but it was no small thing— the second pecuniary gift that accompanied the concession of self-government to the Colonies. The people of the United Kingdom further gave them the right of levying all taxes, both of customs and inland revenue, and applying the pro- ceeds for their own exclusive benefit. And, negatively, they required from them no contribution of any kind whatever in respect of those Imperial services, supported by the United Kingdom, of which the Colonists en- joyed the advantages especially with themselves. These Imperial services consist of the naval and military, the Diplomatic and Consular, and the Colonial Office staff. The United Kingdom keeps up the Colonial Office for the purpose of maintaining what may be called the discipline of the Empire. For example, Newfoundland was recently allowed to negotiate the basis of a reciprocity treaty with the United States. Canada objected that its terms were injurious to her. The Colonial Office had to adjust these conflict- ing interests ; and we have lately read the kind of language the Newfoundlanders use towards that Office in consequence. It is by means of the first four-named A SUPYFvY OF EXISTING CONDITIONS. 9 services that the foreign relations of the Empire, whether in peace or war, are conducted. These re- lations accordingly remain under the sole conti'ol of the Government and people of tlie United Kingdom. Wlien, therefore, we speak of the political independence of the Colonies, there is this very large deduction to be made : that, whereas they are self-governing and mutually independent in respect of their domestic affairs, in respect of their foreign I'clations they re- main, constitutionally, in as completely a dependent position as any of the Tropical Possessions of the Crown : and herein will be found to lie the whole cnix of the matter. When the Colonies were granted the right of self-government, the grant was partial only ; they were not endowed with the Imperial franchise, because they were not then in a position to undertake the corresponding Imperial obligations and responsibilities. The Imperial franchise still remains vested exclusively in the people of the United Kingdom, and upon them exclusively devolve all the responsibilities attaching to the defence of the Empire in time of ^ war, and the maintenance, defence, and advancement of the rights and interests of individual Bi'itish subjects, of the several countries in the Empire, and of the Empire as a whole in time of peace. There are other aspects in which the Imperial relationship may be viewed, but herein lies its fundamental difficulty. We are now in a position to look into the situation more closely. What is the actual working of the present anomalous arrangement ? To the Colonies it means that, while on the one hand they escape altogether the political difficulty, the labour and expense, the money- tax and the blood-tax, involved in responsibility for the lo BRITANNIC CONFEDERATION. maintenance and defence of the Empire in all its foreign relations, they find themselves, on the other hand, without any constitutional voice in foreign affairs — even when these nearly affect their own special in- terests — and are unable to carry out or procui-e the adoption by the mother-country of any foreign policy, however much they may desire it. Witness the annexa- tion of New Guinea, attempted, on behalf of Australia, by the colony of Queensland, but vetoed l)y the Govern- ment of the United Kingdom, and the whole annexation policy of Australia in the South Pacific continually pressed upon the Home Government, and that Govern- ment's steady I'efusal to carry it out. They find them- selves at the same time exposed to the inconvenience and risks of wars entered upon by the Government of the United Kingdom — wars in which it is possible they may — some of them at any rate — have no direct in- terest, and in the making or ending of which they have no part or voice. How does this affect the United Kingdom ? In the first place, the people of the United Kingdom have to bear the whole pecuniary expense of the four services concerned with foreign affairs (with the exception of some military contributions from India and the Crown Colonies), the advantages of which are shared by all parts of the Kmpire and every individual in it alike. And, more than that, they may be called upon to under- take a war, involving untold loss and misery and enormous expense to themselves on account of some sinde one of the Colonies. On whatever account the war, the whole Empire suffers in some way, or at least, runs the risk of suffering, but in all cases the United Kingdom immeasurably the most of all. Colonists, A SURVEY OF EXISTING CONDITIONS. ii i-eferrino to these risks, sometimes talk of Great Britain coinof to war in some cause that does not concern them. There miijlit be a war in wliich not all the Colonies would have a direct interest, as, for instance, if we went to war with France on behalf of Newfoundland, or with America on behalf of Canadian interests i» Bering Sea or elsewhere. Australasia and South Africa would have no direct interest there, but neither would the United Kingdom itself. ] [istorically, the facts are all the other way. Britain's quarrels for the last three centuries, wherever the theatre of war may have been, and whatever the ostensible rams belli, have not been fought on grounds concerning Britain herself, but have been in one way or another Colonial wars ; and Britain's rmly danger of war now lies, not at home, but in one corner or the other of the outlying Empire. A war with Russia, even, would not in the future any more than in the past arise from any danger threatening these Islands, but from the danger that threatens our lines of communication and those of the Colonies, that threatens India, and, more remotely, Australasia in the South, and Canada in the North, Pacific. The existing anomalous condition of the Imperial relationship has grown up, as we have seen, from the partial nature of the transition from the absolute dependence of the Colonies to the position they now enjoy. So long as they were in a completely dependent position, and the territories themselves remained the property of the people of Great Britain and Ireland, it was only right and natural that the mother-comitry should mainly undertake the work of Imperial defence as well as the control also of local defences. When the Colonies obtained domestic self-government and the 12 BRITANNIC CONFEDERATION. ownership of their own lands they were left to supply their own local defences, for which this country then ceased to be responsible, but were not then wealthy enough to undertake the expense, or jiolitically advanced enough to be intrusted with the responsibility, of shar- ing in an}^ Imperial obligations, whether of defence or otherwise. But their growth has been, and continues to be, very rapid ; and things have reached a stage now, when on l)oth sides it is felt that the present loose and anomalous relationship is unsatisfactory, for different reasons, to both parties to it, and fraught with danger to the maintenance of Imperial unity. The anomalous nature to-day of a state of things that was all very well even a generation ago becomes trans- parentl}^ plain when we compare the matei-ial condition of the Colonies then and now\ In a paper which I read in 1886, before the Royal United Service Institution, upon " Imperial Federation : Naval and INIilitary," some of the most striking com- parisons were brought out between the material develop- ment of the Empire at the period of the great Exhibi- tion of 185 1, and at that of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886. These were illustrated by diagrams ; and it is not a little significant that many items in the comparison, in which the Colonial portion bulks large in 1886, were in 1851 too small to admit of illustration on the scale adojited. The Consolidation of the British Empire is, I understand, to form the subject of a special paper in this series ; but, without trenching unduly on the province of that paper, it will be useful, in this preliminai-y exposition of the case for considera- tion, to notice some of the main outlines in the picture of the Empire drawn in the lecture referred to, and A SLRVEY OK EXlttTlNG CONDITIONS. 13 some further statements made by myself, in the House of (Jommons, in dealing only a few months ago witli the question of the growth of Colonial sea-borne com- merce and the need of naval defence. in 1 85 I the trade of the Colonies (which throughout must be taken to mean liritish North America, Austial- asia, and South Africa, as distinguished from Dependen- cies like India, Ceylon, A\'est Indies, Sec.) amounted to 24 millions of pounds sterling. In 1884-85 the same trade had risen to 176 millions. A similar comparison for the whole Empire between the two Exhibition years, 1851 and 1886, brings out the fact of the follow- ing astounding growth. In 1S51 the total trade of the Empire, Cnited Kingdom, Colonies, and Dependencies, added togethei", amounted to not quite 400 millions (y^399j7^5!79^); '^^ which that of the United Kingdom counted for 324 millions, odd. In 1886 the total stood at 1079 millions odd, of which the United Kingdom supplied 644 millions, the Dependencies 258 millions, and the Colonies the balance of 176 millions. Between the same periods, 1851 and 1886, the growth in shipping annually entered and cleared at British ports was equally I'emarkable. At the former date the movements of shipping in the Colonies, being less than 5 million tons, could not be illustrated in the diagrams on the scale necessarily adopted to bring the measure- ments for the whole Empire within manageable limits. It was then only 4 millions and three-quarters tons, while in 1884-85 it had risen to 26 millions and a half. The totals of such movements of shipping for the Empire, for 185 1, gave a Little over 25 millions and a quarter tons (25,283,241), of which the United Kingdom had 14 millions and a half. In 1886 the total stood at 14 BRITANNIC CONFEDERATION. 141 million tons. And here, it is to he noticed, the proportions have to be reversed. The share of the United Kingdom is 64 millions against 67 millions pi'ovided by the Dependencies (5[ millions) and the Colonies (16 millions). The l)earing of these figures on the question of Im- [)erial Defence, which means primarily the defence of sea-borne commerce, is, of course, obvious ; and, in the same paper, two other comparisons were made, giving direct point to this connection. One of these compared, on the one side, the trade of the live principal countries (exclusive of the United States) having sea-boards on the Pacilic Ocean, and, on the other, their effective naval power. The countries were Peru, Japan, Chili, China, and Australasia, in the order of an ascending scale of their commerce. The trade of Peru and Japan was comparatively insignificant ; that of Chili about a quarter, and of China less than half, of Australasia. On the other side, we find that Peru's navy had recently been destroyed in the war with Chili; Japan at that date maintained 7 sea-going modern cruisers, Chili 8, and China 7, irrespective in all cases of ships of other classes. What do we find against Australasia, whose trade exceeds that of all the others put together ? The entry at the time was, " Austi'alasia maintains no ocean cruisers." The other table compared the Colonies (in the same sense as here throughout) with the United States of America — a country inhabited liy an equally industrial and peace-loving population. The area of the Colonies is a little over 7 million square miles ; that of the United States a little over 3 millions. The Colonial trade was 176 millions, against 293 millions for the A SURVEY OF EXISTING CONDITIONS. 15 United States; tlie revenue 37 uiillions and a half, a<,'ainst 72 million.s and a half. Jiiit the " Expenditure on War Forces " by tlie States \\ as 1 1 uiillions and three-quarters, while that of the Colonies was "in- capable of being showu on the diagram," being but little more than the odd three quarters of a million (^802,559). On the motion for going into Committee of Supply on the Navy Estimates in March last, I raised a debate bv "calling attention" to the growth of Colonial maritime commerce, and the increase of British naval responsi1)ilities caused thereby. I pointed out that our Home population was now dependent on maritime trade for food, and, 1 might have added, for the means of buying it to be gained by working up the raw materials, the supply of which also depends on the safety of our ocean-trade. Foimerly, danger to our commerce was virtually cuniined to European waters and the North -West Atlantic. The area of danger now includes evei'y sea in the World. At the close of our great European war (1815), the commerce to be protected was that of the United Kingdom alone. At that time, though we had already asserted the supremacy of the seas, and had only the germs of an outlying empire to defend, the naval estimates were ;^2 2,000,000. For the present year the estimate is only something over ;^i 4,000,000 ; and we have to protect an immense empire, having a vastly extended area and an enormously increased sea-commerce. The increase over, roughly, fifty years — from the commencement of Her Majesty's reign — is shown by the following figures. In 1837 the annual revenue of the United Kingdom was 55 millions, and the i6 BRITANNIC CONFEDEKATJON. annual sea-commerce was valued at 155 millions. At the present day the revenue is 89 millions, and the sea- commerce 744 millions. But a mucli larger proportion- ate growth of sea-commerce is shown on the side of the outlying portions of tlie Empire. The aggregate revenue of these was, at the heginning of the reign, 23 millions, against 105 niillions now; while the sea-commerce, then under 55 millions, has now risen to 460 millions. During this period, therefore, the revenue of the United Kingdom has increased only by about one- half, and the sea-commerce has increased five times, while the revenue of the rest of the Empire has in- creased nearly five times, and its sea-commerce about nine times. Of 194 millions of revenue raised last year throughout the Empire, 105 millions were raised in the outlying parts ; and that portion constantly increases, whilst that of the United Kingdom remains about stationary. Here, then, we have a \ery pregnant comparison indeed. But there is more behind. The commerce of the outlying portions of the Empire is capable of division into two classes — tliat carried on with the United Kingdom, in which, therefore, the United Kingdom is equally interested, and that carried on in- dependently. The former is put down at 187 millions, the latter at 273 millions, per annum. It is accord- ingly not only the trade of the rest of the Empire rather than that of the United Kingdom which has so greatly increased the bulk of the commerce requir- ing naval protection, but it is in chief part their inde- pendent trade in which the United Kingdom has no direct interest whatever. This independent sea-borne trade of the outlying portions of the Empire is four A .SURVEY OF EX18TING CONDITIONS. 17 times that of Russia, two and a half times that of Italy, about lialf that of the United States, nearly e(jual to that of Germany, and about three-quarters that of France; and it is increasing every year at such a rate as to be fast overtaking the sea-borne commerce of the United Kingdom itself. And how is the naval protection of tliis commerce — • the commerce of the whole Bi-itish Empire, of which so large a [)roportion is of tlie character shown — how is its protection pi'ovided and paid for ? Let it be borne in mind that the commerce of the United Kingdom requiring protection is valued at 744 millions ; that of the rest of the Empire 460 millions, of which 273 millions have no connection with the United Kingdom at all. Well, the Uniteil Kingdom finds 14 millions and a quarter of the cost, tlie rest of the Empire 38 1 fhoiimji'h. Of this not very magnificent total India alone finds 254 thousands (two-thirds of which, how- ever, is for troopships and harbours, not for sea-going vessels protecting trade), and the balance, except some few hundreds, consists of the ;^i 26,000 to be contributed by Australasia towards the cost of the local squadron to cruise in its OA\n waters exclusively. Out of eKortj pound derliwi spent (luriuij the current year for the tiava/ j^yotecfion of the Empire the outlying portions will spend about 6\'l., and the United Kingdom the halaiice of 19.S. ^^d. Enough of these comparisons, taken from the sources already indicated, have been given to demonstrate very clearly two or three propositions. First, the provision made for Imperial Defence is very far indeed from keeping pace witli Imperial property requiring defence. Second, the growth of commei'ce, which causes the B iS BRITANNIC CONFEDERATION. increase of property to be defended, is miich more rapid in the outlying Empire than in the United Kingdom ; and of that growing commerce outside the United Kingdom the major part is independent, and has no direct interest whatever for the United Kingdom. Third, the United Kingdom bears practically the entire burden of the defence of the commerce of the whole Empire, to which India contributes an insignificant quota, and the self-governing Colonies simply nothing at all — for the other small quota from Australasia figur- ing in the Estimates is devoted to local, not Imperial, defence, and is demonstrably no relief whatever to the expenditure of the United Kingdom, which was in- creased iKO'l passu with that contribution. 'If we turn for a moment from the navy to the army, we find that towards the expense of this arm of defence the self-governing Colonies contribute nothing at all, while the Dependencies do. Looking at the Diplomatic Service, we see at this moment the whole burden of Canada's dispute with the United States being borne by the British Foreign Office and its Diplomatic agents, while the Canadian Government merely look on and criticise, and they and the whole people of Canada are able to devote themselves to fighting a general election in which this grave question plays no part whatever. We see also, at this very moment, the Foreign Ofiice and the Colonial Ofiice engaged in most difiicult negotiations with France on behalf of Newfoundland in her dispute with that Power ; while, again, the Government and people of Newfoundland not only lend no help — not only even stand by and criticise — but^ in addition to criticising, i-efuse to move a finger to help their champion. Apart from the Diplomatic Service proper A SURVEY OF EXISTING CONDITIONS. 19 thei-e is the Consular establishment of Great Britain in every country on the face of the globe, by means of which every business man in the Colonies is being assisted, either directly or indirectly, year in and year out. In short, every individual Colonist gets the full advantage of lieing a citizen of one of the oldest, richest, and most powerful States in the World without either, directly or indirectly, paying one penny-piece for the privilege, j Such a condition of affairs has not in it the elements of permanency. It is possible, on the one hand, that when the true state of the case comes to be widely known and appreciated in the United Kingdom, the tnx-payers may become restive under such an ap- parently one-sided l)argain. On the other hand, the Colonies, though well enough satislied at present with an arrangement that relieves them of expense and responsibility, may not always be content, even at a saving to their pockets, to have their foreign relations managed for them as they now are. Moreover, there is room for very grave doubt as to whether the pro- tection of the mother-country would prove, in the actual event of war, as effective as is assumed. In addition to the probability of the fleet proving in- adequate to the large responsibilities to be faced, it is pretty certain that, in the event of the food-supplies of the United Kingdom being seriously threatened, the British tax-payer would insist on the whole strength of his na\'y being concentrated for their protection. At present, however, the Colonists do not seem to concern themselves about this. There are two directions in which men's thoughts are moving in the Colonies in connection with this 20 BRITANNIC CONFEDERATION. question. Among some there is a ten