On Wednesday, Lord Rosebery also delivered to the Chamber of
Commerce a speech on general politics. It was, in the main, a plea for the Federation of the Empire. He held that the cause of the existence of that Empire was commerce, without which we should possess but two islands in the Atlantic not altogether friendly to each other, and that com- merce and the Colonies would in future be the main factors in determining our foreign policy. In all continents it was through the interests of our Colonies and Dependencies that we were coming into contact, sometimes hostile contact, with the great European Powers and the United States. In Asia, we now almost march with France and Russia ; in Africa, with France and Germany ; in America, with the United States ; and in Australasia, though there we have, except in New Guinea, sea frontiers, with both France and Germany. The Colonies, therefore, will make their voices heard in the Foreign Office ; and he held it to be impossible under such circumstances to retain the Colonies, unless the connection were made less loose and unsatisfactory than at present. We hold the exact con- trary, and deduce from Lord Rosebery's own premisses that the Empire depends upon the present looseness of the federal tie. The moment England discovers that she is liable to perpetual wars at the will of Colonies which she cannot com- mand, she will let the Colonies go. She will fight for honour, but not for Canadian cod. Lord Rosebery thinks only of opinion in the Colonies, and never of opinion in London. Like his leader, he is anxious for everybody except English- men, who, nevertheless, do not intend to place their fate at the mercy of their own children.
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