TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE GREAT COUNCIL OF THE EMPIRE. THE Imperial Conference has been a great success. The Premiers have taught us much, and they would be the first to say that they have learnt much. Though not in as the conference must in practice be regarded as the fullest acknowledgment yet made of the equality in kind—not, of course, in degree— which the Dominion Governments of the King possess in all matters that concern the Empire as a whole. The 'self-government of the Dominions in their home affairs is absolutely complete, and has been so for so long that we need not discuss it. We should no more dream of interfering with the government of the Commonwealth of New Zealand than we should with that of some entirely independent Power like Spain or Sweden. It is only in the field of foreign policy and of the inter-relations between the Dominions that special powers, or rather we should say special initiatives, still belong in a larger degree to the Home Government than to the overseas Governments. This, clearly, is in one sense inevitable. Foreign States in affairs of general policy, as apart from local and border claims, can deal with only one government, and that government at present must of necessity be the Home British Govern- ment. This does not mean that the British Parliament or the pritish Executive is to have things its own way. Both pet, as the lawyers would put it, not as beneficiaries but as trustees when any matter of foreign policy involving the Dominions as a whole, or any one of them, is called in question. Their function is the same when the relations between the various parts of the Empire demand regu- lation. The Ministry at Westminster must settle any conflict of interests between parts of the Empire not in the way that will be of greatest benefit to the people of these islands, but in the way which will confer a general benefit. But though this function of trusteeship is good as a makeshift or as a system preliminary to one closer and better defined, it is admittedly not one that 'can be permanent. In our opinion, our Imperial Consti- tution is already ripe, we will not say for final settlement, but for a settlement which may be expected to last for a couple of generations. Further than that it would be useless to look.
It has been suggested, not unnaturally but we think Ive can show unwisely, that no treaty shall be binding upon any Dominion until it has been ratified by the Parliament of that Dominion. Under this system each Dominion would have a right of veto over any and every treaty made with a foreign Power. If the veto was only local, and the treaty was made subject to its not applying to the Dominions where it was not ratified, we should not only set up a new code of international law which would be one long entanglement, but should also place ourselves at a great disadvantage in all negotiations. As we have seen from what happened in regard to the American Senate and the Peace Treaty, the veto is a very dangerous power when it is lodged in the hands not of the negotiators and not in those of the persons responsible for working the general foreign policy of the country— in which working there must be endless give and take— but in the hands of an external body which neither negotiates nor, in the matters involved, possesses executive power and responsibility. In addition, it is obvious that there are many questions developed in foreign treaties whioh can be properly settled only in consultation with representatives of the whole Empire. These are problems of policy where the merits and demerits must be weighed and such questions asked as : " Is this a case where Dominion A has a right to veto the whole of a treaty because of an injury that may be done to her, or is it a case where she ought to sink her prospective injuries in consideration of the benefits which will accrue to the rest of the Empire ? " Again, " Cannot the Treaty be modified to meet the objection of Dominion A without losing the great advantages expected by Dominions B, C, and D, or, say, by the Mother Country " What do the conditions we have been discussing amount to when set down shortly and in order ? They may be expressed as follows :- 1. The Dominions must not be bound by treaties to which they do not give their assent directly or indirectly.
2. The Dominions cannot be given individual rights of veto, i.e., the right to accept or refuse ratification of a treaty ; that might be injurious to the whole Empire, and might give dangerous opportunities to foreign Powers when seeking diplomatic bargains.
3. Foreign negotiators should be in a position to know exactly where the final treaty power resides in the British Empire.
It seems to us that the proper way for observing and co-ordinating these conditions is not to be found in the setting up of an Imperial Parliament or anything in the shape of an Imperial Federation. We are not ripe for developments of that kind, and shall not be ripe for another fifty years. What we are ripe for, in our opinion, is a Great Council of the Empire or Magnum Concilium. (Don't let us use the un-English expression " Grand," which, after all, only means great.") To this Great Council all treaties should be submitted for ratification. and that ratification should be given or withheld bc a plain majority of votes. The principle of representation in the Great Council of the Empire should be as follows. One member should be sent by every Dominion possessing over a million of white inhabitants, and that voting power should be increased by another vote whenever the population passes the fifteen-million boundary.. The voting power of the United Kingdom should be assessed on a similar principle. There should be one vote for every ten millions of inhabitants. That is, suppose the new Census to give us fifty million inhabitants, or indeed, to make the rule tally exactly anything over forty-five million, we should have five votes in the Council. India must of course be dealt with on a special basis. Her voice must be heard, but in India our position is unquestion- ably one of trusteeship. We should be repudiating the whole of our history if we were to ignore the fact that we are there trustees for a people in the position of minors—i.e., persons not sufficiently developed to govern themselves. In our opinion, two representatives of India, one named by the Viceroy and one by the new Assembly, would be the best compromise. The Home Government should also name a representative for the African and other Crown Colonies.
The Great Council of the Empire should not, we hold, be a body with permanent or regular sessions. We do not want to have to put either ourselves or the Dominions to the trouble and expense involved. The Great Council would be summoned only for the ratification or non- ratification of any proposed treaty. It must of course discuss with closed doors, but all its decisions must be made public. Further, it ought to express an opinion upon the consequences either of ratification or non- ratification, and to suggest means for dealing with those consequences should they appear to require extra expendi- ture in order to secure the safety of the Empire. It must be left entirely to the Dominions to say whether they would like to send their Prime Ministers or special Envoys. The place of meeting must also be left for further con- sideration. There are, obviously, great advantages in London, but we can also see good reasons why Winnipeg should be chosen. It would suit Canada, and it is com- paratively easy of access from Australia and New Zealand, and also from London and the Cape and India. Perhaps, geographically, an even better spot might be Malta. Malta also has the advantage of possessing splendid public buildings in which to lodge the Envoys. Each Dominion might have an Auberge or Inn in the sense of " Lincoln's Inn " or " Gray's Inn." The Great Council of the Empire would no doubt be the beginning of a federal system, and the right way of beginning it, but till it ripened thd Imperial Conference would meet as now. Though tho Great Council's main function for many years would be that of ratifying treaties or the reverse, it would also be a very convenient body to which to refer any difficulties that may arise as to the relations between the Dominions or as to a conflict of Dominion laws. For example, it would be the sort of body to which a general marriage law of the Empire might be referred or the laws under which full Imperial citizenship is granted. The Imperial Delegates or High Commissioners should all be sworn of the Privy Council and should be referred to collectively as " My Lords " as are those Lords of the Council who sit in the Judicial Committee. Constitutionally, indeed, the Great Council of the Empire would be the last and greatest Committee of the Privy Council.
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