LORD ROSEBERY ON THE COLONIES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1755, 1 February 1888, Page 3

LORD ROSEBERY ON THE COLONIES

At tho Service banqaut Lard Bosebery, m proposing tbe toast of the evening, aald : — The great diooovery, as it seems to me, of the nineteenth century has been the British Empire. Ido not mean to pre* t >nd that tbe world was not aware pro* viou^ly to this centnry of the existenoe jf the United Kingdom and of certain

fortified plaeea la ffurope which belong

to that kt'gdom. They were aware, moreover, of that place which oooupiea a 8 »rt of separate shelf m their minds — the mpire of ladia. They k ear if it as governed by * private company, as a land

<f mythical wealth, whtoa sent Home occasionally nabobs, and sometimes a statesman or a conqueror. Id another category they placed the colonies as regions li no particular ocnufO'lon wtih the United Kingdom, but as regions of unbounded territory whloh gratified the national vanity on the map, whloh mpDtied comfortable places to sorna politicians, not perhaps m tholr first pr ma — (laoghter)— and whioh afforded ucill-

ties for tryli g soolal experiments m that seoluaion winch is so de/lrable. That was the condition of things not many years a;o. In those day a false prophets m aheepß* clothing went about preaching np and down tbe country — first, (hit it would be well for the country to bo rid of its

| jolonles ; and, oeoond'y, as far as their voice could be heard by the oiloniaU, that it would be well for the colonies «o be rid of tbe Mother Country. Bat about forty years ago— less than that — a new and wakened senae of Imperial responsibility dawned on the people of this oountry, A bloody mutiny oiled the attention of the Government of the Empire to the responsibility that It had In lidla. It assumed the responsibility and annax<d India directly to the British Orowa ; and since then we have hid m tbe colonies a new sebse of our responsibility too No one caa deny that the teachings of thuse false prophets to whom I have a laded have eatlrely failed to produce their til«or. There have boen various oaasea for this, but there Is one which is perfect'y c c ir. In the first pace steam and electricity have dona their work. Tbe news of London today is the news of Toronto or Melbourne the same day But tbe communication by rail has been of muoh greater importance still. The roving spirit of the British raoe has found development for Itself m wandering through its own Empire. Our countryn»n bare learned to appreciate the charms of a Oanadlan winter, cf an Australian summer, as wall as the cool season of India, They have gone out often to hunt but they have invariably relumed having received large and Important Impressions, having m*de friends m tho retj'ona they have vftitcd, and they have returned to form not unimportant Hqlcb m the chain which binds the Empire together. I have said that tho discovery of tbe British Empire has been a great disoovery. Ii dawned on the British oit'zan some thirty or forty yeaty »go. I feel some sort of ohftcnß m •«y<Dg th*t I belleve^here baa been no such discovery on tha part of our colonial fellow -subjects. They at least have always been aware of the British Empire. Thuy have been sensible of thblr resp jnsiblll'y, and they have baon more than sensible of the homo to which they have had a continual and permanent title. Let me Bay one more woid of this discovery of tho Britten Empire. It hia only dawned on British aubjeots, but It had not dawned on them even at tbe first, I do not know anything more striking as an exemplification of the way Ib wMch various events have oallpd tbe attention of the world to that Empire than the voyage of Baron Hubner through that Empire, I duro say some gentlemen bore present had tbe privilege of meeting Baron Hubner m Australia. 'Well, what did that mean 1 It meant

that an elderly Austtian statesman, brought up ia the sobool of Mettemloa and In the strictest Conservative philosophy of that school, after joa neylng ronad the world on his own aoco mt, h»d bten so impressed by the sudden bound of tbe British Empire that he had made n journey expressly to travel through It and to learn the nature of It. The result of that travel you will find m a book, which to my mind, is the moat vivid And n Oit Interesting of all books on ihe British Kmplre, as it shows the impre slon on a foreki* and Austrian statesmaa of what the nature and oipcaltleß of thit Empire really are. As regards this matter of travel, I once took the liberty m a short speech to urge on the attention of my fellow countrymen, so far aa 1 oould urge anything, that it would be desirable, if it were possible, that pet won s should not be called to administer the Governmeat of this Empire without sotna personal knowledge and study on the spot. I tlnught I had mada a remark nob particularly dangerous m itself ; but whea I returned to London, having at that time the honor of being m the then Cabinet, I was very coldly received by my colleagues. Thy said to me, " What Is tbia you havo been saying lv Edlnburg V I repealed the remark, and they replied : " We have been golnj through th' 3 matter with seme eire, and we find that tho Cabinet would bo coi fiatd to Chllders and yourself." They denounced

me ia cntneasurrp terms for pretending to otter a general truth and attempting to snatch at a monopoly ot power In conjunction with Mr Ch'ldera. You see that a persan'a beet intentions with regard to to oar Empire bavo nnfc with contlnuvl

difficulties. But that U not tho only difficulty. P!nppa3 a gen*. It man engaged I » Eog'l h politics cho se t) go and visit some p^rt of Mor M* j«Bty'a dominions. He Is at onoa affably re ; r)sched on h!» return with a w sh to egc.ftp6 r iome difficult and oritigal qaestion which ho is not'prepared to face at the present moment. Well, this Ib not the' case io Australia. That Ib the point I was oomlng to In oon-

neotlon with thU' qais'lon of political (ravel. Political travel told not morely In favor of Bnglncd by sending Englishmen to see other puts of the Empire, bat, to my nvnd, it has told even more- m bringing Acstralian statesmen into touoh with the statesmen of the Mother Country. This U a privilege of which they avail themselve* without stint and without reproach.