A deputation waited on Lord Salisbury on Wednesday, and another,
we believe, waited upon him yesterday, though we shall not hear what it said and, what he replied till this number of our journal is printed off, on the subject of calling a Con- ference with our leading Colonies to draw up a plan of Federa- tion. The request was very cautiously worded, the object being, as it was stated, to secure to the Colonies "a real and effective share in the privileges and responsibilities of a United Empire, under conditions which are consistent with the present political Constitution of the United Kingdom, and with the self-government possessed by the Colonies." That is very like asking what very few people have the self-restraint not sometimes to ask, that they may be permitted both to keep their cake and to eat it, and as a rule this has not been found possible. Lord Salisbury treated it as an "enigma" rather than as a problem to which a solution could really be found. He pointed out that the two subjects on which Federa- tion must begin are a Customs Union and a Union for War, a Zollverein and a Kriegsverein. The former is impossible at present, because this country is deeply attached to Free- trade, while our leading Colonies are deeply attached to Protection. The latter is difficult, because it means a common control of foreign policy, and a common control of foreign policy involves a balance and appraisexnent of the voting elements of which the Empire is composed, including our Asiatic, and Lord Salisbury might have added our African, Dependencies,—a balance and appraisement in which it is not very easy to bring our Colonies and the United Kingdom to concur. On the whole, Lord Salisbury evidently thought Federation an aspiration rather than a hope, and deprecated convoking a meeting without having definite proposals to lay before it. A Conference of foreign Powers, be said,—and this is to all intents and purposes, except so far as regards the sentiments involved, a Conference of foreign Powers,—is never asked for without some definite proposal to make.
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