England, Canada and the Great War

by L. G. Desjardins

The Imperial War Conference held in London, last year, passed the following very important "Resolution" dealing with the future constitutional organisation of the Empire:—

"The Imperial War Conference are of opinion that the readjustment of the constitutional relations of the component parts of the Empire is too important and intricate a subject to be dealt with during the war, and that it should form the subject of a special Imperial Conference to be summoned as soon as possible after the cessation of hostilities.

"They deem it their duty; however, to place on record their view that any such readjustment, while thoroughly preserving all existing powers of self-government and complete control of domestic affairs, should be based on a full recognition of the Dominions as autonomous nations of an Imperial Commonwealth, and of India as an important portion of the same, should recognise the right of the Dominions and India to an adequate voice in foreign policy and in foreign relations, and should provide effective arrangements for continuous consultation in all important matters of common Imperial concern and for such necessary concerted action, founded on consultation, as the several Governments may determine."

We can await without the slightest alarm the holding of the proposed "special Imperial Conference to be summoned as soon as possible after the cessation of the hostilities." The fundamental principles upon which "the readjustment," if any one is made, "of the constitutional relations of the component parts of the Empire" are to rest, are well defined in the above "Resolution":—through preservation of "all existing powers of self-government and complete control of domestic affairs;—full recognition of the Dominions as autonomous nations of an Imperial Commonwealth, and of India as an important portion of the same";—the admission of "the right of the Dominions and India to an adequate voice in foreign policy and in foreign relations."

Upon that large and strong basis, I, for one, am ready to wait with patience and confidence the result of the deliberations of the future special Imperial Conference. With regard to the proposed Conference, I cannot see any reason for anyone to indulge in the "Nationalist" hysterical fears of an oppressive Imperialism devouring, as the old mythological god—Saturn—his own children.

As I have said, the work of the special Imperial Conference will be rendered more or less easy by the conditions of the future peace. I pray, with all the fervour of my soul, that the war shall not end by a hasty compromise—as wished for by our blind, if not really disloyal, pacifists—by which the world would be doomed to another disaster far worse than the one it is straining every nerve to overcome, and that after years of the most costly warlike preparations. Such a peace would be the saddest possible conclusion of the present conflict, and much worse than the sacrifices yet to be borne by the prosecution of the war to a finish. We must all implore Providence to save Humanity from such a cataclysm.

A special Imperial Conference meeting under such disheartening circumstances would indeed have a most difficult task to accomplish. It was evidently an act of wisdom on the part of the Imperial War Conference of last year to express the opinion that the special Imperial Conference should be summoned only after the cessation of hostilities.

When peace shall have been restored with the only conditions which can be satisfactory to the Allies and to the world at large, a special Imperial Conference will be in order, having for its object to consider the readjustment of the constitutional relations of the component parts of the Empire, in conformity with the requirements of the new situation which will have grown out of the necessities of the war. However important the task, the tranquility of the world being, let us hope, assured for many long years, there will be no reason for the Conference to proceed hastily to any insufficiently matured conclusion. The representative public men who will meet in London from all over the Empire will not forget, we may rest confident, that the safest way to a good working readjustment will be, as it has always been in the past, that which will follow the straight line of natural growth. Dry cut resolutions, imprudently adopted, and pressed upon unwilling populations would have ninety-nine chances out of a hundred to be more injurious than profitable.

Every sensible man must acknowledge that the war has in an extraordinary manner hastened the rapidity of the advance towards the turning point in the Constitutional organization of the British Empire. The day is near at hand when the problem will have to be faced with courage and broadness of mind. Very blind indeed, and far behind the times, is he who does not realize that TO BE, OR NOT TO BE, for the Empire, is confined to two clear words: CONSOLIDATION or DISSOLUTION. The tide has either to ebb or flow, the wave to advance or recede. The edifice must be strengthened or left to decay. Like any living being, a political society, be it great or small, after its birth, more or less laborious, grows to a prosperous and healthy old age, or crumbles down prematurely. Very much depends, for either course, on the wisdom or extravagance of the way of passing through life. Unmeasured ambitions, wild expectations, are too often, alike for the individual and the nation, the surest road to a lamentable ruin. Wisdom, the outcome of sound moral principles, and wide experience, is, on the other hand, the safest guarantee of longevity, of bright old days full of contentment, honour, prestige and true grandeur.

Grave will be the responsibility of those who will meet in solemn conclave to lay down the foundations of the future British Imperial Commonwealth. No less serious will be the responsibility of the populations, scattered over the five continents, who will be called upon to pronounce, freely and finally, upon the propositions which will be submitted to their approval or disavowal. Consequently undue haste would be more than ill-advised.