MR. CHAMBERLAIN’S LETTER
I would, however, like to insert the wise words which Mr. Chamberlain wrote on March 16th, 1902, in reply to a request sent by desire of our Committee for some official recognition. After acknowledging my letter he continues:
“I heartily approve of the efforts you are making to draw closer the ties between our Colonial kinsfolk and ourselves. I believe that the questions of sentiment enter more largely into these things than the average man is willing to admit, and that we have lost much in the past by the absence of personal intercourse with those whose support and friendship are daily becoming more important to us as a Nation. The Colonials are especially sensitive to these personal considerations. They find it difficult to understand our preoccupations and the impossibility of returning the hospitality they so freely offer when we visit them.
“No Government can set this matter right, as it is not a question of official recognition, but of private and personal courtesy.
“I look therefore with the greatest hope to the work of such associations as yours which may help to make our Colonists feel that we appreciate their affection and desire as far as in us lies to reciprocate it.”
He then proceeds to explain the view which he says he has already discussed with Mr. Alfred Lyttelton—namely, that it is wiser to refrain from giving official colour to a work which had better maintain a “private and personal character.” He continues:
“I cannot dissociate myself from my office, and I do not think that it would be wise or desirable that I should extend the vast field of responsibility which that office already covers by associating myself publicly with these private Associations.”
He expresses himself as ready at any time to give such assistance as obtaining special privileges for the guests we represent at the Coronation or other functions, and then says:
“But I feel that, except in such ways, I had better stand apart, and that the great value of these associations lies in their non-official character. I represent the Government—you represent the people, and I think it is most important that this distinction should be carefully preserved.
“I am open to conviction, but I think I am right in begging you to accept my reasons and to excuse me from accepting a request which as a private individual I should have been proud to comply with.”