Mr. Borden next discussed the relations between the Imperial and
Dominion Parliaments. The Imperial Parlia- ment, elected mainly upon domestic issues, had now granted to the Dominions practically complete control over their own affairs in all but one important respect. "The policy which settles the issues of peace and war for the entire Empire is formulated and carried out by a Government which is respon- sible only to a House of Commons elected by the inhabitants of the United Kingdom, and which continues in office only so long as it enjoys the confidence of that House whose composi- tion is usually determined by domestic issues." So long as the Dominions were regarded as the wards of the Mother Country this state of things was necessary. But the time was at hand when they would be called upon to take their reasonable share in maintaining the Empire's security, and they could then no longer be regarded as wards by self-constituted guardians. Mr. Borden ended by expressing his sense of the deep importance of the next few years in determining the fate of the Empire.
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