COLONIAL NATIONALISM.* ALL Englishmen who value a right understanding of
England's relationship with her daughter-States will welcome Mr. Richard Jebb's book, even if they do not invariably agree with his conclusions. It is a record full of sympathetic insight into the difficult questions of Colonial temperament and aspirations as they are concerned with Imperial sentiment. We say "Colonial" because as yet we lack a better word to describe the new British nations ; but it
• Studies in Colonial Nationalism. By Richard Jebb. London: E. Arnold:
1123. 6d. net.) ,j .
is absurd to catalogue them under the beading "Colonies" with, for instance, the West Indies, the Straits Settlements, or Ceylon. The term is scarcely less misleading than " dependencies," as applied to such self-governing countries as Canada, Australia, or New Zealand, and the present volume largely concerns itself with demonstrating the truth of this contention. It is "a feeling that in England the contemporary imperial question is often approached from an obsolete standpoint " that has induced the author to attempt " to present a modern view of imperial evolu- tion in the light of some three years' [1898-1901] travel and residence in Canada, Australasia, and the other parts of the Empire." Colonial readers will best appre- ciate the pains which he has taken towards adequately and conscientiously realising the conditions of their political existence and the trend of their ideals ; but it is to England that the book is most instructive. Rarely does it happen that, amongst the many books of " discovery " which embody the observations of visitors from the Old to the New World, one is to be found conveying not the point of view of the former so much as that of the latter soundly criticised in the light of wider experience. This volume is one of the rare instances. It is an exception to the rule of super- ficial observation, wrong impressions, and misunderstandings which only too frequently characterise the expressed and written opinion of travellers in new civilisations. It is essentially a work that will be welcomed, not derided, in Canada and Australasia. And that is to say no small thing of its merits, and of the success with which its author has achieved his object.
The book divides itself naturally into sections dealing with the growth of nationalism in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, besides much that is in explanation and illustration of this growth, and of its influence upon the attitude of the daughter-States towards the Mother-country and one another. It opens with several illuminating chapters which trace the evolution of a national spirit in Canada in spite of the difficulties and pitfalls of racial differences. How curiously dissimilar the growth of the national spirit has been in Dominion and Commonwealth is well illustrated. To Canada nationalism has been a necessary condition of existence. There was not time to await its slow maturity. The pressure of outside influences such as Australia has never known hurried it into being. Her powerful neighbour to the south forced her to emerge from the dependency of mere colonialism into a self- assertive national individuality of her own. The conduct and result of the negotiations as to the Alaskan boundary have taught her that she must aspire to look to herself in settling international disputes affecting her own interests. Two chapters are devoted to the last-named question, and although they are scarcely pleasant reading, they will serve, as they are intended to serve, as typical instances of the necessity for the development of the national spirit in Canada. National consciousness in Australia has been of slower growth. Federal union has not been achieved until over thirty years later than that of the Canadian provinces, despite the fact that the Australian Colonies enjoyed the advantage of a homogeneous population. The author gives an explanation of this seeming paradox •
"In Canada the unmistakable hostility of a powerful neighbour gave urgency to the vital question of the national future—to bo or not to be. Meanwhile the Australians, secure in their anti- podean isolation, long remained immune from the external pressure which history associates with the birth of nations in the now world as in the old."
The progress of the Federal movement in Australia is care- fully traced, from the first tentative proposals of Earl Grey towards the establishment of a " General Assembly of Australia " in 1847, to the opening of the first Commonwealth Parliament in 1901. The growth of the national idea is followed, from its enunciation by Dr. James Dunmore Lang- e well-known Sydney political divine of the middle third of the last century, whose enthusiasms were republican and against the British connection—to the present widespread and unyielding advocacy of it by the Sydney Bulletin. To a consideration of the aims and influence of that journal the
author devotes a chapter under• the heading of " The National AustiaLlian Newspaper•." While he writes of it as an "imperial institution," he carefully makes plain the scope of its vices as character-sketch of this unique publication,—a journalistic achievement as clever as it is daring, and as narrowly bigoted in some respects as it is honest and fair in others. Although it has always been openly hostile to all things British, and was for many years the uncom- promising advocate of separation, Mr. Jebb holds that its work in the cause of Australian nationalism entitles
it to the unstinted thanks of the Empire. This is a true estimate. The Bulletin has many sins to account for. It has never scrupled to distort evidence to snit itself in the statement of its controversial cases. It has persistently insisted upon the false note of pessimism in the class of Australian literature which it has cultivated. But it has hellied to make a nation,--and too much could not be said by Australian Federalists in praise of its whole-souled and broad- minded efforts to promote Colonial union. To that end it has contributed more than any other paper in the Southern Hemisphere. Incidentally it may be said that its cynical financial and mining columns contain some of the most honest criticism in the world. Concerning its attitude during the South African War—vindictively anti-British—the author remarks :— " Those who seek to rest a united Empire upon the basis of national patriotism and national sovereignty cannot subscribe the orthodox excommunication pronounced upon an influential journal which has laboured more earnestly, and perhaps more effectively, than any of its contemporaries to foster the sentiment of Australian self-respect—the motive of the contingents."
We hold no brief for the Bulletin, nor do we profess an unstinted admiration for it; but it is right that its real services to the Commonwealth, and indirectly to the Empire, should be recognised, as Mr. Jebb has recognised them.
" The Case of the Small Nation" is the case for New Zealand in her refusal to join the Australian Federation. There are few, even amongst the most enthusiastic advocates of Australian unity, who do not hold that New Zealand acted in her own interests in refraining from throwing in her future with the Commonwealth. She had little to gain, and large possibilities of loss. New Zealand differs as much climatically, geographically, and socially from Australia as England from Madeira. But we think that Mr. Jebb is incorrect in concluding that a lack of national senti- ment had much to do with her remaining outside. Our experience of the country and the people leads to a belief that the national sentiment is in New Zealand almost stronger than on the mainland. But it is New Zealand nationalism, not Australasian. Perhaps the most typical reason mentioned as to why New Zealand did not desire the blessings of an Australian alliance was lack of a desire to play " the unwilling role of much cow in periods of Australian drought."
Of the remaining chapters of the book, one deals with the influence of the South African War in establishing nationalism in matters of defence ; two review the Colonial Conference of 1902, and discuss in detail the question of Colonial naval assistance ; two more, under the heading of " Nationalism in Tariffs," add to the literature of the vexed question of preferential trade. There is not space here to do more than note their enthusiastic advocacy of Mr. Chamberlain's proposal. Whether, however, the reader agrees with their conclusions or not, they are instructive and interesting,— especially in those portions which deal with fiscal affairs beyond the seas. The two chapters on "Imperial Partner- ship "—the first relating to the " Partner-States," and the second to the " Dependencies "—are valuable contributions tq our• knowledge of present-day Colonial conditions and require- ments,—a feature, indeed, which characterises the whole work.
But it is in q The Soul of the Empire "—the concluding chapter—that one finds the best exposition of the author's Imperialism. It is a kind of eulogistic open letter to Mr. Rudyard Kipling, who is addressed as "the seer through whom the soul of the Empire found utterance." This last subdivision of the book gives a clear statement of the author's enthusiasm for a true view of what we are apt wrongly to call colonies as free nations within a free Empire. Ho honours the patriotism of free people who place their native land first, wherever in the Empire it may lie. We cannot refrain from the following quotation, as illustrating the broad- ness of his conception of the subject of his " Studies " "The future of the new countries lies with the native born, whose first love, like that of their forefathers, is for the land of
their own birth True, some there are who repudiate their own country for the sake of lip loyalty to England, and for them the patriots have no use. Such loyalty has no self-respect. It looks on applauding while the old country does all the chores and pays all the bills. . . . . . No ; I cannot enthuse over the abject loyalty of the colonialist, always running down his own country (which generally is a good one) and insulting mine by claiming it instead. Give me rather the plain parochialist, who says from his heart, ' Of no mean city am I'—be it Winnipeg, or Walgett, provided he is genuine enough to defend with his own life, if need be, the country he condescends to live in."
The new nations should be grateful to Mr. Jebb. He has expressed with admirable and unmistakable distinctness what they feel as to the way in which England should regard them. And he has given to England and Englishmen not a little food for healthy reflection concerning the mental attitude which it behoves them to adopt towards their oversell. brethren.
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