In the House of Lords on Monday the Duke of
Devonshire drew attention to the question of the Colonial Conference, . and related the history of the extraordinary tangle into which the Government have got themselves over the matter. Mr., Chamberlain stated in 1903 that nothing would be worse than to negotiate with the Colonies, and probably come to an agreement, and then at the next General Election find the . whole idea repudiated by the country. The Duke went on to , recount Mr. Balfour's action in regard to the question of the Conference. It had been suggested that the Conference before the General Election might supersede the Conference promised after the General Election. "We are not accus- tomed to scrutinise with verbal minuteness the declarations of Ministers of the Crown, and when a Minister of the Crown informs us that a Conference will be held after a General Election, plain men do not expect that a Conference will be held before a General Election." The Duke of Devonshire ended by declaring that it would be "neither reasonable nor respectful, nor even a decent thing," to ask the Prime Ministers of self-governing Colonies to come here to discuss fiscal relations and to pass resolutions, and then to tell them that it will all go for nothing, and that they are expected to meet here once more to discuss the whole matter over again. Space has not allowed us to do justice to the Duke's speech, but it was one of the weightiest and most statesmanlike that even he has ever delivered.
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