THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE.
IN our opinion the Imperial Conference has been a very great success, and has proved how unwise as well as mis- taken is the policy of those fussy and pessimistic persons who, in effect, declare that unless something strong and violent is done for the Empire, and done at once, it will crumble to pieces. In contrast to these demands that we should do something in a hurry to tighten the bonds that bind us to the daughter nations is the wiser counsel that we should go slowly and step by step, keeping always before us the ultimate goal of closer union, but never running the risk of destroying altogether the cables that bind. the Mother Country to the Dominions by putting a sudden strain upon them. Steady and continuous hauling will ultimately bring all the craft together, but if we get into a fluster and jerk wildly at the ropes, we are certain to produce a disaster, The policy of the steady haul is the policy of the Imperial Conference, with its sober talk and quiet resolutions—resolutions which excitable people are inclined to condemn as twaddly generalizations. In truth, this Imperial Conference, like its predecessor, while doing a good deal of sound, practical work, has been specially useful and helpful from the educative point of view. Owing to the very great amount of discussion that goes on in our Press and in our litera- ture about the Empire, it is difficult to persuade the Dominions that the Home Government and Parliament and the nation in general do not wish to interfere in their affairs, either legislative or executive, in the very slightest degree. The inhabitants of the Dominions are, so to speak, made anxious by the amount of talk which they hear, though somewhat dimly, about them and " our Imperial destinies," and so forth. It is only human nature when one hears dim and confused talk going on at a distance in which one catches one's own name often repeated, and a phrase or two like "a fuller sense of duty," " urgent responsibilities," "helpless and undefended con- dition," and the like, to jump to the conclusion that the talkers are unduly interfering with one's private affairs. The first impulse of the natural man under such condition. is to shout out, " Mind your own business!" or, at any rate, to indulge in very audible asides to the effect that " he'll be d—d if he lets anybody else run his home ! "
When, however, the Colonial statesmen come within close earshot of the group of talkers and examine its con- stitution, they find in the first place that the discussion is anything but unfriendly and aggressive ; that the speakers, though belonging to the Mother Country, give much harder words to the Home Government than to the Colonial Governments ; and, finally, that the talkers are usually not the men who have the power or the responsibility, but are merely discussing at large—" booming in vacuo." The next discovery made by the Colonial statesmen, if they do not know it already, as most of them do, is that no one here, and least of all the Government, wants for a moment to draw political bills of exchange upon the Dominions which their rulers may not be inclined to honour.
Further, this last Conference has proved that there is nothing whatever in the suggestion, sometimes made by Colonial critics, that, though the Home Government is per- fectly willing to take all the help it can get in the matter of defence from the Dominions, it is not willing to consult them or take them into its confidence in the matter of foreign policy—a matter which all reasonable men must admit concerns them very deeply. The admission of the Colonial Premiers to the arcana of the Constitution—the Imperial Defence Committee—is a proof that the Home Government has never dreamt of taking up the line that Foreign Affairs are something too subtle, difficult, and im- portant for the overseas statesmen to comprehend, and that they must be shut out from such vital matters as beyond their ken. Such a feeling, of course, has never existed here, and the frank way in which the Primo Minister, the Foreign Secretary, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and the Secretary of State for War have each and all confided in the Premiers has shown that there is no attempt on the part of the Cabinet to keep Foreign Affairs and Imperial Defence as their private preserve. But though the notion that the Dominions are treated with a want of confidence as regards foreign policy has, we believe, been entirely dissipated by the present Conference, the minds of many people in the Dominions will still be haunted with the idea that the Dominions may be committed to a policy of war against their will, and that this ought not to be. This, no doubt, is at the back of the caveat which so constantly appears in the speeches and writings of our overseas statesmen—the caveat that their defence forces will not be used in war unless the Dominion Governments approve of the war and its objects, and that the Dominions will be able to choose whether they will or will not participate in a particular war. That, we venture to say, though it may sound reasonable at first hearing, is a purely theoretical statement and one which could never be acted on. If we go to war all subjects of the King become at once in a state of war with all the subjects of the Power with whom we are at war. You cannot have war with limited liability or war in watertight compartments. In other words, it would be impossible for the Dominion of New Zealand to say to a Power with which we were at war, " We do not approve of the action of the Mother Country and we mean to stand out." The Foreign Power would, of course, refuse to drawany distinction of that kind. It would be certain to say, "So long as you remain part of the British Empire you are at war with us. Your only way of escaping the consequences is to secede from the British Empire and declare yourself an ind, p tudent State. If you are willing to do that, we will recognize your independence ; but if you do not do that, we must treat you as enemies." It is because he realizes this that Sir Joseph Ward asks, as he asked in his interesting speech at the Colonial Institute on Tuesday last, for some kind of closer Imperial co-operation in which the people of the Dominions would have the power to influence foreign policy and control the fighting services of the Empire. We here come to the real crux of Imperialism. For ourselves we are perfectly prepared to give the Dominions the share in controlling Imperial policy which is due to the proportion which their white population bears to the popu- lation of the Mother Country. But it is clear that if the D )minions are to be given their proportionate share of control they must also bear their proportionate share of the cost. Probably Sir Joseph Ward and the New Zealand Government are quite prepared to shoulder the full burden, but we very much doubt whether any of the other Dominion Governments would go as far. Indeed, it is pretty clear that this was what Sir Wilfrid Laurier really meant by objecting to the Dominion Governments being too closely consulted on matters of foreign policy. He realizes that the more the Dominions are consulted, and the more influence they are given in Foreign Affairs, the more unanswerable will become the claim that they shall bear their proportionate share in Imperial Defence. For this tremendous alteration he and the Canadian Govern- ment are not at present prepared. Taking a general view of the whole situation, it appears to us that the time has not come to make any alteration in our present system. We must wait and allow the play of forces to develop our Imperial relations, and not hurry events. After all, the existing relations do not in reality give any cause for anxiety either here or in the Dominions. Though, theoretically, it is not necessary to consult the Dominions before any great step is taken in foreign policy, everyone knows that no step of that kind would be taken which would be disliked by the Dominions. If the over- seas Governments are not given a formal or direct voice, they certainly have a very powerful informal and indirect one. To take a specific case : It is one of the open secrets of the Empire that though the Home Government in theory would have a perfect right to renew the alliance with Japan without consulting the Dominions, that alliance will certainly not be renewed in 1915 without the fullest and freest consultation with the Dominions. While that re- mains the practice, if not the theory, of the Constitution, the Dominions will have nothing to complain of. No doubt the time may come when the Mother Country will be inclined to insist that the indirect influence of the Dominions upon foreign policy has become so great that it will be necessary to have some sort of Imperial Council in order that the Dominions may shoulder the great responsi- bilities which they will in effect have undertaken by influencing our foreign policy in particular eases. It is quite possible that this point may be reached in twenty years. If things go well with the Empire it is conceivable that in twenty years the white overseas population may be half the home population. If that result be achieved, and if, as is by no means unlikely, the quickening of communi- cation bring New Zealand as near to us as Canada was forty years ago, we do not see why an Imperial Council should not meet once a year in London, or possibly at some more central point, for considering Imperial affairs. Suez would, we presume, be about equidistant from all points of the Empire. An Imperial Conference held at a camp in the desert near Suez would offer a warm yet bracing December holiday for the statesmen of the Empire. Before we leave the subject of the Imperial Conference a word may be said as to one of the advantages of the Conference which has not yet been realized by the general public. When an army is marching on a broad front, and in four or five columns, communications up and down the line of march are comparatively easy. What is difficult is lateral communication between one column and another. It is the same with the Empire. Lateral communication, i.e., the creation of relations between the various Dominions, is a matter of very great importance. It is comparatively easy for the Mother Country to get into satisfactory relations with the Dominion Governments. It is far more difficult for them to understand each other's views and each other's difficulties. At an Imperial Con- ference the Premiers learn some of the difficulties of the Empire by discussion among themselves. Let us take as an example one which we have already quoted for another purpose. If New Zealand is inclined to censure the Mother Country for going too slow in the matter of forming to Imperial Council, and is demanding a larger amount of control over Foreign Affairs, it is very useful for her statesmen to learn that the objection to such closer union in regard to Foreign Affairs does not come from any want of sympathy on the part of the Mother Country, but largely from the attitude taken up by the Dominion of Canada, which, almost in so many words, vetoes official con- sultation with the Dominions on Foreign Affairs. The truth is, the Empire must march as a whole, and this means that it must march at the pace of the slowest column. Good lateral communication, such as that secured at the Imperial Conference, makes clear to everyone the causes which render slow marching a necessity. In saying this we are imputing no sort of blame to Canada, but, on the contrary, we believe that the Canadian Government is wise in hastening slowly.
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