At the Colonial Office, on Wednesday, there was a ceremonial
at once novel and significant. Lord Derby on that day received the Agents accredited to the Governments of seven great, self- governing Colonial Dependencies,—namely, the Dominion of Canada, South Australia, New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, Victoria, and the Cape of Good Hope,—when Sir Alexander Galt, the Commissioner of the Government of the Cana- dian Dominion, addressed Lord Derby, in the name of all these Governments, congratulating him on his acceptance of the Seals
of the Colonial Office, and his resumption of the guidance of a Department of State usefully discharged by him under a. former Administration,—a reference, no doubt, skilfully introduced to indicate that our Colonial Dependencies ignore our political distinctions, and regard Lord Derby with equal favour, whether he serves a Conservative or a Liberal Government. Sir Alex- ander Galt then went on to express the hearty attachment of these great communities to the Empire and the Sovereign, their earnest wish for our prosperity, and their anxious desire to maintain the tie between the mother-country and themselves. This formal interview was welcomed as evincing a growing sense of the importance of the Colonial Empire, and of the reasons for giving a better formulated position to the accredited Agents of the Colonial Governments, and Sir A. Galt touched upon the advantageous result of bestowing on the Colonies independent popular Governments. Finally, he expressed for all the Colonies the profound conviction that Lord Derby would give the same consideration to the interests of the Colonies which they had been recently accustomed to receive. Lord Derby made a suit- able reply, magnifying•the Colonies and the pride of the country in them, and expressing the belief that every British Govern- ment alike would show the same deference to the views of the various portions of our Colonial Empire. We have elsewhere expressed our conviction that some formal position, akin to that of recognised Ambassadors or Envoys, should be accorded to these Colonial Agents, for this would at once enhance their dignity, and help the British Government adequately to realise it.
