20 MAY 1871, Page 3

Mr. Macfie on Friday week brought up the Colonial question

by moving for a Committee to inquire whether " ameliorations " were /hot possible in the relations between them and the mother country. He supported the plan of Federation, the colonies being repre- sented either by a Council to aid Lord Kimberley, or by an elected " Conference " with the power ad hoc of a constituent assembly. Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen in reply hoped that no opinion in favour of disintegration would ever be avowed by a British Government ; declared that it was our intention to main- tain and defend the connection with the Dominion, and that the colonies increased the aggregate power and prestige of the British Government ; and believed that if any colony grew strong enough to wish for and to claim independence, this country would be able to convert it from a dependency into a faithful and powerful ally. He was not going to prophesy, but a vision floated before his mind of all colonists bound together by a tie too strong for any hostile attack to break. The Government refused the Select Committee only because they believed the existing system would foster the prosperity of the colonies and maintain the integrity of the British Empire. Had Mr. Gladstone uttered Mr. Knatch bull-

Hugessen's speech, the greatest of our colonial difficulties, the belief that Government looks forward with pleasure to disinte- gration, would have been over.