THE COLONIES AND -IMPERIAL DEFENCE.
[TO TER EDITOR OF TDB `SPUCraTOn..] SIR, .—A man whose speech is misunderstood has generally only himself to blame ; but at the risk of imposing such blame upon myself, I hope that I may be allowed to point out that you, like other friendly critics, have a good deal misunder- stood the object of my amendment to the Address. That object was twofold,—first, to call attention to the fact that the Colonies are heavily indebted to us for their defence ; and secondly, to suggest a method by which their indebtedness can be discharged without a diminution of their powers of self-government, to which they rightly attach supreme im- portance. Instead of advocating, as you appear to imagine, that the Colonies should make an annual contribution to the Imperial Exchequer, I expressly said The Colonies did not want to contribute to a central Navy. Their ideal was to have navies of their own, to spend their own money in their own way" (see Times report). In view of this perfectly legitimate attitude of the Colonies, I suggested that we should treat them no longer as children, but as partners, and should negotiate with them permanent treaties of alliance, more or less analogous to our temporary Treaty with Japan. I believe that in this way we can combine—I hope for all time—their ideal of national independence with our ideal of [We greatly regret to have formed a conception of Mr. Harold Cox's attitude which was not consistent with the facts.—ED. Spectator.]
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