A NEW BRITISH EMPIRE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2800, 19 June 1916, Page 4

A NEW BRITISH EMPIRE

« ■ Actually speaking to his consti- I tucnts at Ladybank, but in reality 1 raising his voice across the seas to the uppermost frontiors of the Empire, tno Prime Minister of Great Britain has declared formally and explicitly for a reconstruction of our Imperial constitution. True, tho proposition has morely been stated in goneral terms, but tho machinery for ■ tho elaboration of the details of the new Imperial edifice has been promised, in the shape of a great post-war confcrcnce of representatives from every constituent element of the Imperial fabric—from the great Dominions,, from tho Grown colonies, depen l ' dencics, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. It is the most important post-war undertaking to which Mu. Asquith has yet committed himself, and though it may be difficult to visualise the architecture of the structure which this epoch-marking congregation of Imperial delegates in conforence _ assembled will be charged to design, one can see clearly that from these deliberations an immensely powerful system for the further development of all things essentially British must emerge. We may well term this conferencc tho I "Imperial Settlement," for, as .Me, I Asquith has indicated, the delegates will have within tho scope of their deliberative vision not only fast questions' at issue between the mperial Government and the overseas peoples, but the regulation of 'the whole governmental system of the Empire, to tho end that in all international decisions affecting the Empire the Imperial units may be represented. The machinery for giving effect to this tremendous ideal will necessarily be complex. Its design will involve fundamental and far-reaching amendments to British and Imperial constitutional law, while new principles of representation must be formulated. Not the least important topic on the agenda paper will be the regulation ot tho Irian question, which will no longer exist in its present form .as an embarrassing and clogging influence in Britain's domestic politics, but will emerge from tho arena of. local party strife, and take its legitimate place in Imperial politics. Me. Asquitk's declaration is to the British Empire an Imperial' message of hope—the silver-lining to the clouds of war.