On Wednesday, there was a meeting of the Glasgow and
West of Scotland branch of the Imperial Federation League, at which Lord Rosebery and Lord Brassey urged the im- portance of Federation to British foreign policy, Lord Brassey pointing out, what is perfectly true, that to a great extent trade follows the flag,.—our trade with Canada, for instance, being far more important and elastic than our trade with the United States. From this he deduced that we ought to give the Colonies a predominant influence over our foreign policy, and to do all that we can to give them that in- fluence in a tangible form such as would bring the reality of the federation home to the Colonial mind. We are as anxious as any one could be to retain our Colonies and to strengthen the hearty good feeling between them and us ; but the Fedemtionists seem to us to mean that British foreign policy in Europe should become more and more reserved, not to say colourless, and that we should apply all our strength to supporting the wishes of our Colonies for the exclusion of other Powers from all influence, legitimate or illegitimate, in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Is not that a policy which for the United Kingdom might very easily become both very exhausting and very unreal,—full of peril, and full of aims which British citizens could not possibly appreciate or understand ?
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