The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1888

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2488, 21 June 1888, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1888

Equal and exact lusticc to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political.

Though the subject of Imperial Confederation does not just now occupy so prominent a place in the thoughts of English and Colonial statesman, as it did a short time back, it must not be said that the great movement has been set aside as impracticable or relegated to the limbo that awaits visionary conceptions. Questions of domestic expediency and international urgency have been crowding themselves of late, in such numbers upon the immediate attention of the people, both in Great Britain and Australia, that the concentration of thought and reason that was being devoted to the object of building the scattered Anglo-Saxon family into one mighty Confederation has been relaxed in favour of more pressing events. This is not to be construed as an admission of weakness on the part of its advocates. The idea of creating the immense and world-wide British Empire into a solid, concrete structure that shall endure as long as the foundations of the earth do last, is so vast and far-reaching, and so pregnant with immeasurable consequences to the Anglo-Saxon communities themselves as well as to the world at large, that not a little time is required to enable its full meaning to become sufficiently understood in every quarter, and permit of a. decided public opinion to be formed on so wide a subject. It has to be studied in the abstract ere it can be accepted generally in a concrete shape. Whilst the subject is flattering to pride of race and national patriotism, these feelings so far confine the subject within the regions of sentiment, from which it must emerge ere it can bo regarded with the serious and resolute observation of a practical possibility, absolutely necessary of attainment. There is, however, no doubt that such is the height to which the question is being impelled, more or less steadily, as circumstances and unexpected conditions favour it. From the time when the late Eight Honourable W. E. Forster first breathed the idea, in all its nobility of sublime statesmanship, of a mighty confederation of the AngloSaxon race, during his visit to the Great Republic about fifteen years ago, it has retained a hold in the minds of great men in England, America and Australia, at first fluttering in the haze of political dreamland, then assuming out of its primordial void a defined shape, expanding and developing into a form of beauty and majesty on which the eyes of the people of a mighty empire will become fixed and from whose hearts will arise aspirations and hopes of securing the possession of so divine a creation. Already have we seen the realisation of many progressive stages towards the maturity of Imperial Federation. The tragical death of the heroic Gordon at the post of duty in equatorial Africa struck a chord in the hearts of every British subject throughout the world, who deplored the fate of a noble countryman even as the nation mourned the loss of one of her bravest sons. The same blood beat with one pulse from North to South, East to West, and the colonies burned to avenge the death of the soldier-martyr; the young lions roared in unison with the deep tones of the old lion. The Soudau contingent from NewSouth Wales, and the offers of military aid from tho other colonies, may have boon tho outcome of strong sontiment only, which, though effervescent, still proved that the road towards tho goal of Federation was becoming more discernablo, and that the soil was favourable for tho sowing of the seed. The attitude of the colonies on such questions as the deportation of Prench reeidivistes, foreign annexations in tho Pacific, tho exclusion of Chinese, with all their diplomatic intricacies, gave indications of tho readiness of the colonies to enter upon questions of foreign policy with the Mother Country, and with a potentiality of their own. The great exhibition hold in London last year, tho founding of the Imporiai Instituto by tho Prince of Wales, and the mutual undertaking entered into by the Imperial Government and tho various great colonies for naval defensive measures, are each and all distinctive advances towards the fulfilment of tho great scheme of confederation. The minds of leading statesmen of the day are prepared to promote its realisation, and in both houses of the Imperial Legislature in London is the feeling of friendship and cordiality towards the colonics strongly displayed in a marked degree.

The difficulties in the path of more rapid progress, however, are still very great, and not easy of being surmounted. The greatest of all the obstacles is the system of tarifl's adopted by the various colonies, if wo can term by the name of system the discordant used policies carried out by each of these separate British communities, which arc so thoroughly antagonistic to the economic policy of tho Mother Country. The colonies are

pursuing an unnatural tarifl" warfare against each other and Great Britain, which is full of discouragement to the linal achievement of Imperial Federation. Until the opposing elements can be reconciled and harmonised the attainment of the most sublime idea of national unity yet presented to the world is impossible of accomplishment. Before it can be drawn within the reach of consummation, the people of the colonies must become alive to the fact that it is necessary to make many self-sacri-fices. The existing tariffs of the colonies are framed out of pure selfish interest and not on any single defined principle which should ani mate the whole of the communities that form the British Empire. Before Anglo-Saxon confederation can become a political and economic actuality, this confusion of tariffs must be reduced to order and unison within our own wide boundaries, by setting aside intercolonial jealousies, whatever course we may adopt towards the trade of alien nations. Finally, we should not lose sight of the fact that, though we are shel-

tered by the might of the British Government, the envy and illwill of powerful nations are directed towards us, and that they would welcome an opportunity of breaking our commercial supremacy by destroying our colonies, and humiliating the Mother Country, To strengthen that supremacy and consolidate our power, we should become one in all our arrangements, fiscal and political, protecting ourselves in every respect against the foreigner and all his attacks, industrial or warlike.