THE EMPIRE'S FUTURE

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1553, 24 September 1912, Page 5

THE EMPIRE'S FUTURE

4 PLACE OF THE DOMINIONS. "CALL US TO YOUR COUNCILS." LOHD ESHKIi'S SCHEME. In issuing, in pamphlet form, through' Mr. .liilm Murray, the lecture which ha delivered in the spring on "The Committee of Imperial. Defence: Its Functions and I'otentialilies," Viscount Esher refers in a prefatory note to n possible lino of development of this body, so as to answer the cry of the Dominions, "Call us to your councils." lie points out that he has publicly and privately advocated the representation of the Dominions on this Committee; aiid, after referring to sonic of the recent developments to which the Prime Minister directed attention in his recent speech, he remarks that "the rise of a groat SeaPower in comiietition with the British .Navy—that force upon which, hitherto tho security of Croat Britain, and of the British Empire has rested—has rendered imperative, the consideration of Imperial Defence as a pr.oblom which cannot bo solved by Ureal. Britain alone." He adds that "statesmanship has before it tho choice between foreign alliances and a practical Federation of the Empire for purposes of common defence." The matter, he claims, is urgent, and a decision cannot be postponed, particularly in view of Mr. Borden's staleinent that Canada cannot nnd will not be "a mere adjunct of Great Britain"—a declaration, which Lord Esher believes, the other Dominions would re-echo, "it means that mutual help between the component ports of the Empire demands mutual confluence, and u common responsibility for I'oreigD affairs." § An Imperial Council. In Lord Esher's opinion, the only adequate representative of a great Dominion is its Prime Minister, and since time and distance would not permit-, of attendanceat every meeting, of which six or seven aro held each year, he makes Iho following suggestion :- "I suggest, as- the first step, complete confidence and free communication between tho British and Canadian Prime .Ministers upon all first-class questions of foreign policy. Annual visits, or biennial visits, to London in July, to bo followed by a series of meetings of the Conunittea of Imperial Defence, in order to ventilate and deal with technical questions, would ho an admirable development and sufficient for. our present needs. Jt would test the strength of our Imperial bonds. "There is, however, a condition 'precedent, and a necessary step antecedent to this. :' It'is to-, establish, confidence'and communication between our Prime Minister, as chairman of the Imperial Defonco Committee, nnd Mr. Borden, as chairman of tho Canadian Defence Committee.

"Mr. Asquith. possesses in the secretariat of the Committee of Imperial Defence a special bureau, well qualified for this purpose. The focrelariat of the Conunittea is the private and public bureau of (ha Prime Minister!

"Indian administrators arc aware of (ho importance of tho wooklv 'private and cnnfidcntial' letters Hint pass between tho Viceroy and the Secretary of.. State for India. Although members of the Indian Councils may lie reluctant to admit tho fact, it nevertheless remains that the vital and crucial business of the Indian Empire is discussed and settled by (his 'private and confidential* correspondence. "That is''flip model ami precedent which' might be adopted and followed by tho Prime Ministers of Great Britain and Canada, as a first step towards closer union. ■ ;

"Cabinet Ministers may not like the su<r gestion. It is another illustration of tho unpalatable thesis with which I lmve attempted to deal in this lecture, that tin status of a Cabinet Minister, relative (n thei Primo Minister, lias changed and is changing. , "Wo cannot: revert to the practicsof Lord Liverpool. The rrimo Minister to-day must inevitably bccomo more and mora an Imperial Chancellor. He will bo forced, to devolve the conduct of business in Parliament, more and more upon hi? colleagues. Ho will 1» forced'to trench more and more upon the functions of (lip foreign Secretary, the Colonial and Indiar Secretaries of State, and the First Lord of tho Admiralty. New Imperial Machinery. Having thus suggested the first step in the evolution of an Imperial maehino adoquate to the now needs of tho Empire, Lord Esher concludes:— "The dn.v cannot now be far distant when the affairs of the Colonial Office should be relieved of tho affairs of tho Dominions. 'The Colonial Office in that sphere is an anachronism. Every consideration points lo the bureau of the Primo Minister, to tho secretariat of the Committ6o of . Imperial Dcfencc, as the suitable machinery for keeping Groat Britain and tho ' Dominions in touch, and as a means of establishing niori- intimate, moro confidential, and more binding relations between the Mother Country and the Dominions, which very shortly will surpass her in population and wealth, as they do already in area and extent. , "In order to federate more or less independent groups of men of the same race and speech some menace is required to • their pride and independence. "First, the Chauvinism of tho Napoleonic tradition, and, secondly, the French spirit of Hcvanche, federated, and have kept together.-the German Kmpire. "Bismarck, far-seeing, of esprit positif, found in .Alsace-Lorraine the.instrument. ho required to hold together the South and North German peoples.., "His successors have provided us with a'weapon equally potent for our purposes. No British statesmen could have federated the British Empire. That object i: going to be accomplished by the menace of tho German fleet."In view of Lord Esher's unique position, in association with Lord Fisher and Sir George Clarke, one of the founders of the committee, and as 0110 of its members. who has studied tho problem of j Imperial defence with close attention for v many years, these suggestions are .certain tn ailract widespread notice at the prosent juncture.