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Group D. — Extracts from Letters of Prominent Clergymen. I. From the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Algoma : — Nothing, in my judgment, is more needed, or better calculated to promote the cause of Imperial unity and progress, than the proposal you have laid before me in your letters. And I am firmly convinced that you are right in saying that, for the present, what we should see first and above all else is a better knowledge of each other, as the true basis upon which Imperial institutions may be built securely when the time is ripe. 11. From the Right Reverend W. D. Armstrong, D.D., Moderator, Ottawa :— I hail with patriotic delight anything that will tend to bring the various parts of our great Empire into closer and more sympathetic union. I do not feel competent to discuss the whole problem, but it seems to me you have put first things first when you advocate an Imperial Intelligence Department. It is certainly in the line of progress and pre-eminently safe. The opportune time will come for something more, but unions on paper without carrying the intelligence are unsafe and often hurtful. 111. From the Reverend James Barclay, D.D., St. Paul's, Montreal : — My sympathies are entirely and enthusiastically with you in your wise and practical proposals. We are scarcely ready yet for the Imperial Council, but what you propose may finally lead to something of the kind. IV. From the Right Reverend James Carmichael, Coadjutor Bishop of Montreal : — My opinions do not differ widely from your own. I welcome anj'thing that makes for much closer union between Britain and her children, and State-owned cables and telegraphs would clearly aid in developing such union. I cannot help thinking that unless there existed some recognised body that could focus in itself, and utilise the intelligence gained, no matter how widespread such intelligence might be, it could not fail but to lose a great deal of its force. My mind all along has been that if we really desire to make Imperialism a real live question in Canada we must work for an Imperial Council, and hence I think Sir Frederick Pollock weakened his position as a political missionary when he relegated the Council to a very back seat in his address before the Montreal Board of Trade. V. From the Most Reverend Cornelius O'Brien, Archbishop of Halifax : — It seems to me your proposal, in your letters addressed to the Canadian Club, is practicable, and would be, as a first step towards unity of the Empire, most useful, if slightly modified. As 1 have no faith in the usefulness of the daily Press, as now generally conducted, to disseminate helpful knowledge, I should desire some other method for conveying to the public the news transmitted over the various Government cables. Do not make it easier and cheaper for the daily Press to obtain an additional supply of accounts of crimes and horrors. If the -world were sufficiently sensible to establish an efficient censorship over the despatches much good could be accomplished by means of your proposal. In any case a fuller knowledge of one another must precede any lasting union. VI. From the Very Reverend G. M. Milligan, D.D., ex-Moderator, Toronto :— I think the Greater Britain must be a growth, like its predecessor, in order to be healthy and strong. Men are too ready to intermeddle with Providence. He that believeth in a Great British future will not make haste. The spread of knowledge in the way you indicate and the assimilations which time alone can effect are the surest means of giving us an Empire which I trust God will use as a mighty instrument in the promotion of peace and prosperity in the world. VII. From the Most Reverend Paul Bruchesi, Archbishop of Montreal: — [Translation.] I met Mr. Geoffrey Drage at Montreal, who explained his project to me. This project, which is also that of Sir Frederick Pollock and of many other distinguished people in England, is a serious one. I lack perhaps the exact information to fully appreciate the matter. I hope to have the opportunity of studying it and discussing it with men more familiar than I am with political questions. But my view, after having read your remarkable letters, is that the project first needs to be matured, and that Canada will not now consent to be governed by a regularly organized Imperial Council. With regard to the proposed creation of an Intelligence Department to make better known the real sentiments of the autonomous colonies, I should not like for the moment to express an opinion. VIII. From the Very Reverend William Moore, D.D., ex-Moderator, Ottawa : — The unity of the Empire has been one of my lifelong dreams, and first took shape in my mind under the stress of the excitement of " The ' Trent' Affair," during the Civil War in the United States. War was then threatened by the great republic, and I saw in imagination the stalwart sons

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