He then continued, according to the Times report :—
"The full information we asked for has not yet arrived in its final form, but when it does the Government will con- sider and determine. It is better to consider and determine first and to announce after than to announce first and to consider after. Any one considering the problems facing the statesmen of the Empire must confess that they are great. The existence of the Empire depends upon the security of the paths across the sea. Under modern conditions this task is a very serious one, but the people of the whole Empire will be rather stimulated than oppressed by the greatness of the task. Those who imagine that the Mother of the Nations is dead or dying are mistaken. Those people are of the same stock which made the Empire, and the British race dwelling within the British Isles will be as firm to defend the Empire and their trust as were their fore- fathers before them."
We are glad that Mr. Borden put in those words as to Great Britain not being moribund. In Canada there is no doubt a common notion that Britain is played out ; a very loose analogy between the age of nations and that of human beings does far too much service, and much harm is thereby done. There would be no sort of future for the Empire if colonists all believed that the centre of the whole was an effete institu- tion inhabited by a doddering population. The delusion that this is so is no doubt often aided by our national pastime of violent self-criticism.
