THE DOMINION. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1912. IMPERIAL FEDERATION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1577, 22 October 1912, Page 4

THE DOMINION. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1912. IMPERIAL FEDERATION.

* . Amongst tho many useful papers , which kept last month's meeting of the British Association at the very high standard Eet in recent years was one of special interest to the overseas Dominions. This- was an advocacy of the Federal principle by Mr. Herbert Samuel, the British Postmastcr-Generiil. It is of course' incumbent upon British Ministers just now, in their fight for Irish Home Rule, to see a good deal more virtue in the Federal principle' than Mr. Asquith was able to see in it at the Imperial Conference last year. , ;Thcy have been driven by the logic of their position to admit, through Mn. Churchill, that the Kingdom should be thickly studded with' little Legislatures—a corollary of the main proposition so absurd as to warrant Mn. Balfoljr's witty ! suggestion that Mr. Churchim. [ might really have been intending to expose tho weakness of the Home Rule Bill. So far as the Dominions are concerned, the harnessing of Irish Home Rule to the Federal idea is of importance mainly, and almost entirely, for its possible effect upon the wider question of the Constitution of the Empire itself. Mr. Samctel recognised that British statesmanship, in its dealings with the immediate situation, "nad • to consider the needs both of the United Kingdom and of the Empire." He opened his argument by contending, truly enough, that a look' at America or Germany would make clear the falsity of the not uncommon idea that greater centralisation is the true pursuit of national statesmanship and that it is unwise "to create, or oven to retain, powerful provincial institutions." This may be admitted, but it really docs not touch the actual facts of the. Empire. Federalists and anti-Federalists arc agreed as to tho necessity that the Dominions shall retain their autonomy under a common Crown. The opponents of Federation are opponents also of Union. The point .the PostmasterGeneral had to meet, and did not meet, although he candidly noted it, was that Imperial Federation would bo a blow at tho autonomy which his argument assumed as the thing most necessary to preserve or to create. Passing from his defence of Irish Homo Rule as a measure rendered necessary by the incapacity of Westminster to handle Irish,. Scottish, Welsh, and English local concerns (if. was really only rendered expedient by the election totals, of course), Mit. Sahufx pointed out that only three constitutional , organs served the whole Empire equally—the Monarchy, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and the Imperial Conference. To these a fourth is in process of being added—the Committee of Imperial Defence, This meant, bo urged, that

so far as there was an t v Imperial Constitution, the Dominions had no share in sovereignty and wore more "adjuncts, not integral parts." The choice of the worn "adjuncts" is significant. Nobody, or no country, likes to think of himself or itself as an adjunct. What the Minister sought to do was to represent; the Dominions as being, in a sort, in a condition of servitude. He wont on to do the best lie could for the Federal idea, but he was unable to l conceal his understanding of the enormous obstacles 'in the way of Imperial Federation. He was a special pleader, but he was a halfhearted and anxious one; and this encourages us in the hope that ultimately, when they cease to be ad- , juncts themselves (of Mh. Redmond) the Liberal statesmen of Britain will gladly rush back to the traditional Liberal policy of non-inter-ference with and non-compulsion of the self-governing colonies. The public is very much in the dark as to tho direction which the urgency of the defence problem is giving to the ideas of the responsible Ministers throughout the Empire. We can only speak for that "man in the street" wlio thinks about these questions and keeps his eyes and his miud open; and we fancy that it is possible that at any time the whole question of Imperial relations may taku a new and important turn. This being so, we commend to our legislators this passage from Mr. Samuel's speech as a good picture of the possibilities under Imperial Federation: The creation of a central authority chosen by the wholo Empire, and governing its common affairs, would obviously be a task surrounded by tho most formidable difficulties. Tho most important of the common interests was- defence. Defence was largely a matter of finance. Was the Federal Parliament to have powers of levying taxation in the United .Kingdom and in the Dominions? If so, how were such powers to lie enforced? What was to hnppnii if one' part of the Empire dissented from the legislation passed by the Federal Parliament? Was it possible to devise a Constitution in such a way that ite laws should be operative only in the territories of such of them as did concur? Responsible to n Federal Parliament would be a Federal Executive dealing with foreign affairs, naval and military defence, and Questions of trade. Could the statesmen drawn from the Dominions as members of such an Executive be able nt once to share in tho conduct, nt the centre, of its current business, and also to keep in sufficiently close touch with the countries from which they came to remain authoritative exponents of their views? What stops could bo contemplated if the representatives of one or' two of the Dominions were to dissent from the policy of tho rest, and, with the approval of their constituents, were to resign their posts?

Mb. Samuel, after this ■ illustration of the great perils in the Federal idea-, recovered himself in time to remember that after all Federalism was his cue. His recovery, corning soon after the shrewd and striking quoted, has a somewhat unconvincing air. He had little doubt that ultimately "such elements of Federalism as suit the case would be brought in." One can almost think of Mitt Samuel's paper what Mr. Balfoue said last week o£ Mr. Churchill's speech. The questions asked by Mr. Samuel were never considered, never thought of, by our representatives at the . Imperial Conference last year. They have certainly never been answered Jby anybody; and we trust they will be kept in mind always by the peoples of the Dominions and put to everyone who advocates organic Federation.'