Imperial Federation: The Problem of National Unity

by George R. Parkin

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The Conference of 1887, though merely tentative, proved how great is the variety of subjects which may usefully come under the consideration of such gatherings. New questions are constantly arising. A single illustration may be given. The right of Canada to make independent treaties has been so strongly urged by the leaders of the Opposition in the Dominion Parliament that it is difficult to see how, when next in power, they can avoid pressing the claim upon the Imperial Government. In the constitution outlined by the Australian convention at Sydney 'external affairs and treaties' were among the subjects specially reserved for the Federal Government. A prominent Victorian barrister has pointed out that this provision would bring up the whole question of the nature and limits of the Imperial connection. Newfoundland is now claiming the right to form separate treaties with foreign powers, and has thereby come into conflict with Canadian interests. It is clear that such questions should be settled on broad principles of general application. The fixing of such principles would of itself justify a conference of representatives of all the communities concerned. But conferences are occasional, and it would still be necessary to provide some means of more continuous contact between the thought of the Governments of the colonies and that of the mother-land. On this point of an adequate constitutional nexus we have many important suggestions, to a few of which reference should be made.

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Sir Frederick Pollock, in an article contributed to an English journal in March, 1891, says: 'Is there not any way, short of a gigantic constitutional experiment, of providing a visible symbol and rallying-point for the feeling of Imperial patriotism which has so notably increased within the last ten years? I think there is. One part of our constitution retains, not only in form, but in fact, the vigour of perpetual youth, and is capable of indefinite new growth as occasion may require, without doing any violence to established usage. I mean the Privy Council. From the Privy Council there have sprung within modern times the Board of Trade, the Judicial Committee, the Education Department, the Universities Committee, and virtually though not quite formally, the Local Government Board, and the several commissions now merged in the Agricultural Board. Why should there not be a Colonial and Imperial Committee of the Privy Council, on which the interests of the various parts of the Empire might be represented without the disturbance of any existing institution whatever, and whose functions might safely be left, to a large extent, to be moulded and defined by experience? … It might be summoned to confer with the Cabinet, the Foreign or Colonial Minister, the Admiralty, or the War Office, at the discretion of the Prime Minister or of the department concerned; and its proceedings would be confidential. … It is hardly needful to mention the Agents-General of the self-governing colonies as the kind of persons who {308} should be members of the Committee now suggested, being, of course, first made Privy Councillors. … I believe that such a Committee might give us something much better than a written constitution for the British Empire; it might become the centre of an unwritten one.'

In the Nineteenth Century for October, 1891, Sir Charles Tupper suggests a plan similar in principle to that of Sir Frederick Pollock, but more clearly defined. Assuming that at no distant date the Australasian and the North African groups of colonies will be federated, as the Canadian provinces now are, he proposes that each of these three great British communities shall be represented in this country by leading members of the Cabinets of the countries to which they belong, ministers going out of office when their own governments are changed, and so permanently representing the views of the government in power. Such a minister should in England be sworn ex officio a member of the Privy Council, and though not a member of the Imperial Cabinet would be in a constitutional position to be called upon to meet it on every question of foreign policy or when any question that touched the interest of a colony was being considered. To this suggestion Sir Charles Tupper lends not only the great weight of his personal authority, but he supports his proposal by the expressed opinion of men like Earl Grey, the Marquis of Lorne, W. E. Forster, and others.

Once more, Lord Thring, looking at the question {309} as a constitutional expert, has stated his opinion that the best way in which the colonies could at present directly intervene in the general policy of the Empire would be by elevating the position of Agents-General to one akin to that of a minister of a foreign state, and by giving them in addition, as members of the Privy Council, the right of constitutional access to the British Government. This, he thinks, would satisfy the immediate necessities of the case, and would pave the way for the fuller representation which must come with the fuller acceptance of national responsibility.

Nothing can more fully show the change that has come over the public mind than the fact that proposals such as these are now made by constitutional authorities and responsible public men. It illustrates a complete reversal of the policy which was assumed without question by the statesmen of the last generation. The discussion has become one not of the principle of unity, but of ways and means to arrive at the most satisfactory constitutional nexus between the mother-land and her offshoots.

But it must not be thought that discovering the precise point of constitutional connection is the only or even the most important step towards effective unity. While the constitutional question is being debated there is much which Parliaments can do, much in which every voter in the Empire, by the use of his political influence can assist, to forward the cause of political unification. Foremost among these practical measures may be put the establishment of the cheapest possible {310} postal and telegraphic communication. The practical advantages which would flow from an inter-Imperial system of Penny Postage have been so often and so effectively presented by those who have given special attention to the question, that it is unnecessary to dwell upon them here. But from another aspect it may be said that when the emigrant of the remotest colony knows that, because he is a British citizen, the penny stamp upon his letter will carry the home news of father, mother, brother or sister over all the extent of a world-wide empire, such a fact will be more to the nation than the strength of many ironclads in the stronger national sentiment, the deeper feeling of national unity which it will evoke.

The same may be said of extended and cheapened telegraphic communication, which even now makes possible an extraordinary sympathy of national thought.

The beginning which has been made in co-operation for naval defence and in the strengthening of posts essential to common security, can with advantage be carried much further than it has yet been.