THE NEWFOUNDLAND COMPROMISE. T HE Newfoundland difficulty has ended in a
compromise which can be described as fairly satisfactory. After raising a very unpleasant and heated discussion with the Colonial Office, the delegates have agreed to pass a mea- sure which shall operate till 1893, and have, moreover, promised to carry through the Newfoundland Assembly an Act of a permanent character which shall do all that was intended. to be done by the Imperial Bill which was yesterday hung up by Mr. Bryce's resolution. That the Government were right. in insisting that no measure for a single year could be accepted, we do not doubt for a moment. The Newfoundland question has too long been the sport of "temporary measures," "yearly renewed understandings," " modi vivendi," and "departmental agreements," to make it possible for a prudent Govern- ment to accept a twelve months' measure. The dele- gates may have sincerely promised a permanent Act as a complement to their one-year Bill ; but who could feel sure that such a measure would ever get passed into law ? No man can bind a Legislative Assembly six months ahead ; and it is by no means impossible that, after the one-year measure had been passed, it would have proved impossible to obtain a satisfactory permanent measure. What could the Colonial Office do if, when the time for introducing the permanent Bill arrived, they were informed from St. John's that the temper of the Assembly at the moment made a postponement necessary, and that perhaps, after all, it would be better to trust to a continuance Act later on than to attempt permanent legislation ? No doubt it may be said that the Government have aban- doned this position by accepting a Bill which only lasts till 1893, plus the promise of permanent legislation ; but this is not really the case. A one-year Act would have left them no room to turn round in. As it is, they have two clear years ; and if the permanent measure is not passed in a satisfactory form, they will be able next year to re- introduce legislation into the House of Commons without that necessity for hurry which is so apt a source of em- barrassment to Governments. The present compromise does not force them to fight with one arm tied, as did that originally suggested by Sir William Whiteway. The whole Newfoundland imbroglio shows how ex- ceedingly difficult it is for the Home Government to deal with the less important sections of the self- governing portion of the Empire. It is far easier to bring a great than a small Colony to reason. The large community has a sense of responsibility which can be appealed to, and through which it can be influenced. The small one has, unfortunately, nothing of the kind, and is usually possessed at the same time of an over- whelming sense of its own importance. Again, in the case of the great Colonies, it is always possible in the last resort to recall the fact that the connection between the Mother-country and her daughter is maintained almost exclusively for the benefit of the latter. For example, if the Dominion of Canada at the present moment, or in the future the Commonwealth of Australasia, were to insist on acting in such a way as to embroil us with a foreign Power, and were to be entirely regardless of the wider interests of the Empire, we could say If you are satisfied, that the United Kingdom is sacrificing your interests in order to oblige a foreign Power, and is generally injuring and humiliating you, we must ask you to consider whether you had better not cease to claim our protection, and should not deal yourselves. at first-hand with the Power to whom you say you are being sacrificed.' In all probability the good sense and far- sightedness of the statesmen of the greater English com- munities will always prevent any necessity for putting this question ; but if not, and if it ever has to be put, it is not likely to fail in its effect. Unfortunately, hoWever, we cannot possibly address such an interrogatory to New- foundland, for it would be impossible for us to allow her to set up for herself, even if she wished to do so. British North America must move all together if it move at all.' We cannot separate the interests of one part from the rest. Canada, if she so decides, is, of course, at liberty to enter the Union ; but as long as she prefers to remain independent, we cannot, in fairness to her, allow a State of the Union to be anchored at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, and almost touching the coast of Labrador. We are bound to let the Dominion have a voice in the future of Newfoundland. This inability on our part to offer Newfoundland the natural alternative to what she very unfairly calls "English coercion," gives her an enormous advantage in her bargains with England. She realises that our patience is bound to be inexhaustible, and that there is no risk of her being told to choose between being reasonable, and being left to her own devices ; and she inclines to act accordingly.
It is impossible to touch on the question of the New- foundland debate and nut to notice the conduct of Sir William Harcourt. The Member for Derby has often before brought disgrace and humiliation on his party, but never so signally as on Thursday night. His speech was of a kind which even ' Sir George Campbell could not stomach. Here was a compromise arranged after infinite trouble and heartburnings between the representatives of the Mother-country and of the Daughter-State. Under such circumstances, it might have been expected that every Member of the House of Commons would have breathed a sigh of relief, and have done his best to put an end as speedily as possible to a painful incident. Not so Sir William Harcourt. He had prepared a speech on the amiable prin- ciple that England's difficulty is Harcourt's opportunity, and he was determined to make use of it. It is true that his remarks lost half their power for mischief owing to the compromise. Nevertheless, the wound was still open, and something might yet be done te make it rankle. Accor- dingly, he delivered a harangue which must have filled with shame and disgust every fair-minded and patriotic man among his followers. His remarks could serve no good purpose. There was no legislation to be stopped, no Parlia- mentary action to avert. All they could do was to make ill- blood between the Colony and the Mother-country, and still further embarrass the difficult relation in which we stand to France in the matter of the Newfoundland Fisheries. Lest it may be said that our language is too strong for the occasion, we will support it by quotation. Here is some of the oil of vitriol which the Member for Derby threw upon the troubled waters :—" From first to last the conduct of the Colony and of the delegates has been beyond all praise. [" Oh, Oh !" from the Government side.] I notice the unfortunate spirit exhibited by that utterance,—a spirit which has nearly brought us into an extremely false posi- tion. It is that domineering and dictating spirit which is a great danger in dealing with our Colonial Empire." The fact that the Newfoundlanders are peculiarly apt to think themselves injured and slighted, has been one of the great difficulties of the situation. Yet here is Sr William Harcourt attempting to egg them on to further unreasonableness. He acts like the mischief-making schoolboy who tries to get up a fight between his com- panions by telling one of them that he is being bullied and domineered over, and by hinting that if he were not an angel he would not stand it. Even worse was the following :—" They [the Newfoundlanders] had a right to demand that the English Government should use their influence to ameliorate that position by negotiations of all kinds. Anybody who had looked at the map, and who knows the French shore of Newfoundland, must feel what is the irritation existing among the population of New- foundland, and what is the necessary inconvenience to which they are subjected. Let honourable gentlemen endeavour to consider what would be the feeling of the inhabitants of Great Britain if along the shore from Portsmouth to John o' Groats—along a length of 700 miles—there was not a single Englishman who could erect a building, or construct a railway, or conduct any of the business of civilised life on that shore. The people of Newfoundland felt that that was a great grievance, and they desired that some method should be found to relieve them from that inconvenience. People in that situation well deserved the greatest consideration at the hands of her Majesty's Government, and ought to have been dealt with most tenderly and most judiciously." Now, if this means anything, it means that the Government have been blind to the grievances of the Newfoundlanders, and that they have taken no pains to remedy them. If Sir William Harcourt does not mean this, what is the use of harping on a most unfortunate condition of affairs of which every one is aware ? It can do no good ; it must do harm, to inflame the minds of the Newfoundlanders by pointing out how great are the evils from .which they suffer. But of course Sir William Harcourt knows this well enough, and he knows also that Lord Salisbury has been trying every possible expedient open to him, except a declaration of war, to put an end to the rights of the French in New- foundland. That he has not yet succeeded is not his fault. Yet Sir William Harcourt's language implies that Lord Salisbury has practically betrayed the interests of the Colony. We shall be representing the feelings of no small section of the people of England, when we express the hope that the nation may never be so unfortunate as to have its destiny entrusted to the hands of a politician who can speak as Sir William Harcourt spoke on Thursday night.
In strong contrast to the action of the Member for Derby was that of Professor Bryce. The tone and temper of his speech was excellent. His reputation will be as much raised by the incident as Sir William Harcourt's will be lowered. His intervention in the debate saved the Oppo- sition from the odium which must have otherwise fallen on them. Nor must we forget to include Sir George Campbell in our commendation. His courageous repudiation of his chief will atone for many Parliamentary absurdities, both past and to come.
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