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Art. 15.—THE ORGANISATION OF THE EMPIRE.

1. The Problem of the Commonwealth.

Curtis. Macmillan, 1916.

Preface by L.

2. The Empire on the Anvil: being suggestions and data for the future government of the British Empire. By W. Basil Worsfold. Smith, Elder, 1916.

3. Imperial Unity aud the Dominions. By Arthur B. Keith. Clarendon Press, 1916.

THE organisation of the Empire is regarded from different points of view and desired for different and sometimes antagonistic reasons by the peoples of its several parts. The Englishman, who lives in England, hopes for a lightening of his heavy taxes, when the Dominions shall bear their full share of the common burden of Imperial defence; while the citizens of the Dominions, on their side, think more of exercising some control over the Empire's foreign policy, which determines the issue of peace or war, than of calculating the responsibilities which this would bring in its train. A third section of the inhabitants, both of Great Britain and the Dominions —although it is diminishing in numbers and importance -either from indifference or because they disbelieve in the possibility of closer union upon terms which would be just to all portions of the Empire, are content with the existing loose relationship between its parts, and deprecate as dangerous all attempts to formulate a legal bond. A fourth section which, like Aaron's rod, may swallow up the others, refuses to admit that the Union of the Empire should be regarded as a question of profit and loss or depend upon a nice speculation as to the balance of gain. Lord Milner has expressed the ideals of this school in many passages of his collected speeches. 'Imperial Unity,' he says in one place, 'is not a question of shifting burdens but of developing new centres of strength. . . . I believe that, as the self-governing Dominions grow in power, they will feel a stronger desire to share in the responsibilities and the glory of Empire.' It is a high merit of Mr Curtis and Mr Worsfold, whose books are now under notice, that they approach the problem of Imperial Organisation from all these differing points of view, and that, having each taken part under Lord

Milner in the making of the Union of South Africa, they can appreciate its many difficulties.

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Mr Curtis describes his 'Problem of the Commonwealth'* as an answer to the question, "How a British subject in the Dominions can acquire the same control of foreign policy as one domiciled in the British Isles?"" The makers of the Australian Commonwealth had in mind the same idea, when they adopted as one of the resolutions upon which their Constitution Act was founded, a statement that the contemplated Federal Union was designed to enlarge the powers of selfgovernment of the people of Australia.' Such a Such a conception involves a high ideal of citizenship, for which the world may not be ripe; and therefore Mr Curtis, in his earlier chapters, appeals to history to prove that the sphere of patriotism has in fact extended with each expansion of British power. The loss of the American Colonies caused a temporary check, and in the opinion of contemporaries destroyed the Empire. A new idea, however than which none of greater importance has appeared in the field of politics since Edward I, borrowing from the Church, applied the principle of representation to his 'Model Parliament'-saved the Empire from its anticipated dissolution. It became recognised gradually that the method of Empire was to distinguish between the local and general interest of the communities which compose it; and that, while the former may be put under the absolute control of local authorities, the latter are the concern of all the communities whose interests they affect. For Mr Curtis and his colleagues of 'The Round Table,' holding this view, the problem of Empire is to separate the local interests of Great Britain, the Dominions and the Colonies from the general, and to provide a machinery for a joint control of the latter, without interfering with local independence in respect of the former. Had this conception of local autonomy combined with association for common purposes been

Mr Curtis uses the word 'Commonwealth' to express the conception of a Government which is controlled by the public opinion of its citizens, as opposed to the Eastern theocratic State. Its fundamental notion is that 'Society is at its best when it is able and free to adapt its own structure to conditions as they change, in accordance with its own experience of those conditions.'

grasped in the 18th century, the United States of America might be sharing with the British Empire to-day a common responsibility for the general peace of the world. The extension of the United States from the 13 original States to the 49 which now compose the Union is itself an example and a proof of the possibility and the wisdom of extending over a wide area the powers and burdens of a Commonwealth. Australia is not less like England, nor do its interests diverge further from those of the United Kingdom, than California is unlike New York or the interests of Missouri diverge from those of Pennsylvania. It is idle, however, to deplore the past. Enough if we recognise, with Mr Curtis, that 'the British Empire, as at present established, cannot endure unless it can realise its own character as a Commonwealth in time, by extending the burden and control of its supreme functions to every community which it recognises as fit for responsible government.'

The two-branched policy of local independence and joint responsibility for affairs of common interest, the recommendation of which is the theme of Mr Curtis and Mr Worsfold's volumes, has not yet been put in practice in its entirety. The theory of local autonomy has been applied with logical completeness; but no constitutional machinery has been devised for the cooperation of the Dominions, either inter se or with Great Britain, in respect of their external affairs. Temporary expedients, such as the Imperial Conference, have been improvised for the interchange of views between Prime Ministers; but there is no constitutional organ which can express with authority the voice of the Empire as a whole. The spirit of cooperation is strong; but, in the words of Sir George Foster, it has not been mobilised so as to face the problems of Empire, trade, communications, defence and foreign policy, not by temporary expedients but with method, plans and foresight.' This restatement by a Canadian Minister of the historic policy of the Tory Party may be compared with Disraeli's utterance on the same subject in 1872:

*

'I do not object,' he said, 'to Colonial self-government; I cannot conceive how our distant Colonies can have their

* Interview in 'The Times,' June 11, 1916.

affairs administered except by self-government; but selfgovernment, in my opinion, ought to have been conceded as part of a great policy of Imperial consolidation.' *

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Such views made no appeal to the then dominant middle class, who were inclined rather to agree with Cobden that the Colonies were as great a burden as the National Debt, of which we shall be glad if any foreign country will relieve us.' In the same spirit, Lord Dufferin, on his appointment as Governor-General of Canada, was advised by Robert Lowe to bring about the independence of that Dominion; and Lord Blachford, who as Permanent Under-Secretary of the Colonial Office presided over the destinies of the Empire for eleven years, declared in 1891 that no one but a fool could contemplate any other future for the Colonies than separation, which it had always been his policy to encourage. and facilitate.

Until Prof. Keith's volumes on 'Responsible Government in the Dominions,' of which his present work may be regarded as a continuation, revealed to the profanum vulgus the secrets of the Colonial Office, few even of those who were directly concerned realised with what logical completeness this policy had been applied. Governors have been stripped of every attribute of the Prerogative except the power of granting a dissolution and of refusing assent to certain classes of Bills, which are designated in his instructions, such as Bills affecting the currency, or divorce, or treaty obligations, or any Bill of an extraordinary nature and importance, whereby the prerogative of the Crown, or the rights and privileges of British subjects not residing in the State, or the trade or shipping of the United Kingdom and its Dependencies may be prejudiced.' ‡ Nominally a Governor is Commander-in-Chief of the local forces, but he cannot move a soldier without the consent of his Ministers, who alone can give direction to the military authorities; nor could he refuse to confirm the sentence of a CourtMartial except on the same advice. As representing the King, he is the fountain of honour; but it is doubtful

* Quoted from Sichel's 'Disraeli,' pp. 205-6.

† Cobden's 'Political Writings,' pp. 242-3. Edit. 1886.

Instructions to the Governor of New South Wales, Oct. 29, 1900.

whether he can recommend anyone as a fitting recipient of His Majesty's favour of whom his Ministers disapprove. Certainly the latter could require him to forward their remonstrance to the Colonial Office. Nominally the Governor exercises the prerogative of mercy; but it has long been settled that, in exercising this, he acts as Governor-in-Council.

While the powers of a Governor, as representative of the Crown, have diminished, those of the Legislature have increased; so that, although in theory the Imperial Parliament can legislate for all the Empire, so tender is it of Dominion sentiment, that even such measures as the Copyright or the Patents Acts are only binding on a Dominion which expresses its assent; and, manifest as would be the convenience of an Imperial Commercial Code, the local Legislatures seldom adopt even such measures as the Partnership Act or the Bills of Exchange Act without laying traps for the unwary by textual variations from the British original. Yet, unlimited as is the control of the Dominion Legislatures over their internal affairs-even over such debatable matters as tariffs, immigration, waste-lands and trade-they still lack the chief attribute of independence, viz. a voice in the issues of peace or war. No Dominion Parliament has any extra-territorial jurisdiction, unless this be conferred on it expressly-as the Supreme Court of New South Wales, for example, has been given cognisance over crimes committed on British ships by British subjects in Otahiti or any other island in the Pacific which is not subject to England or to any European power (9 Geo. IV, c. 83, s. 4).*

Prof. Keith gives an interesting review of the futile attempts of Canada, Australia and New Zealand to escape from this limitation of their powers, either by asserting in vain their right to annex unoccupied territories or by attempting to impose their shipping

*Prof. Keith does not notice this exceptional instance of extraterritorial jurisdiction, under which a case of piracy was tried in Sydney in 1891. The Agents-General for the Australian States are appointed usually by a Commission and not under an Act of Parliament. Their position is that of Ministers accredited to the British Government, and is, as Prof. Keith points out, quite distinct from that of the Agents-General for the Canadian Provinces, who have no direct official relations with the Imperial Government,

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