Perhaps the most interesting speech of the evening was the last one. It was delivered by Colonel Denison, a Canadian, and President of the Empire League in Canada. He stated that he had been sent over to this country to do what he could to promote a movement for the defence of the Empire, and indicated that one of the proposals to be discussed at the Colonial Conference at the coronation would be one to impose a duty on foreign imports at every port in the Empire, in order to raise an Imperial Defence Fund common to the whole Empire. He said the duty might be 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 per cent. There was one exclamation of dissent when this proposal was mentioned, but Colonel Denison’s breezy, confident manner, and evidently strong conviction on the subject, excited general sympathy. Lord Tweedmouth’s attitude during the Colonel’s speech, as it may be described, suggesting an Imperial war tax, was rather quizzical than sympathetic.
By this time the newspapers were beginning to notice my work. Fortunately for me about the same time Mr. Seddon had been speaking on similar lines in South Africa, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier also in the Canadian House of Commons. This alarmed the Liberal party, and the Manchester Guardian began to criticise and find fault with me to my great satisfaction, for I knew I could stand anything better than being ignored.
A friend of mine in the Liberal ranks told me about this time that the leading Liberals were in a great state of anxiety at my work. They believed, he said, that Chamberlain, Seddon, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier had all agreed that the scheme was to be put through at the Imperial Conference, and that I had come over as an advance agent, to break the ice, to open the discussion, and prepare the way. I evaded making any definite reply to this suggestion, jokingly saying that I was not surprised to hear that they were anxious.
I had another hint that the Liberal party purposed arranging for a great meeting at Leeds, at which Lord Rosebery was to speak, and a direct effort made to rally the whole Liberal party together, under the banner of Free Trade, as against the proposed corn tax, and the preferential arrangements with the colonies, I thought it desirable that I should have a talk with Lord Rosebery at once, and wrote asking him for an interview. He invited me to lunch the next day, the 8th May. There was no one present but his son and his secretary, and I appealed to him earnestly, appealed to his sympathy with Imperialism, and to his services to Imperial Federation, and urged him to assist me in my work. I pointed out the dangers of the precarious food supply, and the disintegrating influences that might break up the Empire, and put my case as clearly as possible. He seemed to get more and more serious as he saw all the arguments on that side, and when I was leaving I said to him; “It is too bad of me to come and unload all my gloomy forebodings upon you.” His reply was, “I share a great many of them with you.” I knew then, as I knew at the meeting in 1890, that at heart he was a warm Imperialist, but is terribly hampered and embarrassed by his party affiliations. The meeting took place at Leeds on the 30th May. In his speech he made two or three remarks which showed he was not as opposed to my policy as I expected. In reference to the corn tax he said:
Not another acre of wheat, we were told by one Minister, would be planted in consequence of this tax, which removed, to my mind, the sole inducement to vote for it, for if more of our country could be placed under wheat it would solve some of the difficulties connected with the land.
Again he said:
But there is a much graver issue connected with this corn tax—an issue which has, in reality, only recently been imported into the discussion. It is, I think, quite clear from the last speech of the Colonial Secretary, that it is intended as a prelude to a sort of Zollverein or Customs Union throughout the British Empire. Now, speaking for myself, I cannot summarily dismiss any proposal for the closer union of the Empire, because it has been the ideal of more than the last twenty years of my life (hear, hear), an ideal of which I spoke to you at Leeds when I was last here. I do not say that Free Trade is a fetish, a religious dogma, which must be accepted and applied on all occasions without consideration or reservation. . . . I do not know, my mind is open, and I shall wait to hear.
His speech was more friendly than I expected, although some of his party objected to an “open mind.”
Before the Leeds meeting the Liberals held a meeting in Scotland, at Aberdeen, on the 20th May, where the Rt. Hon. James Bryce made a vigorous speech against the corn tax, which it was believed was being put on preparatory for the Imperial Conference.
On the 23rd May I addressed the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce under the chairmanship of its President, Sir Alfred Jones, who treated me with the most unbounded hospitality. The meeting was very large and successful, and although my views aroused criticism and were objected to by some speakers, I had a chance to reply in acknowledging a vote of thanks, and as I had the strongest arguments I had little difficulty in effectively answering objections.