THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE.
FVERY time that the Imperial Conference meets in London it attracts more interest than the time before ; it is continually growing in esteem and useful- ness. Never before, however, has the Conference hap- pened to have such adventitious importance as it has to-day. It meets in a world of men harassed by dis- appointment. Immediately after the War we all hoped that the fabric of international society would be quickly repaired, but we now know that the repairs have yet to be done, and just because attempts so far have failed the problem is to that extent the more formidable. We deliberately speak of the condition of the world in general because it is the greatest possible mistake to imagine that on this occasion or ever in the future the Imperial Conference will discuss exclusively what in the old days used to be called " Colonial affairs." The Dominions are now recognized to be sister nations with Great Britain, and there is not a single question in the whole range of foreign policy which does not affect them as intimately as it affects us. The stock subjects of a Conference in former times used to be trade and Imperial defence, but now the Conference is required to think of those two subjects in terms of international treaties, treaties giving military guarantees, disarmament treaties, the League of Nations, and so on.
If the exact status of the Dominions in relation to Great Britain has never been exactly defined, it is because the British are singularly bad at definitions. We act by instinct, hardly ever by formula. We meet troubles as they arise and improvise solutions. We are almost incapable of thinking things out years in advance. We find that sufficient for the day is the political evil thereof. It is true that about thirty years ago some politicians talked much more confidently than they would dare to do to-day of the coming of Imperial Federation. The idea of Imperial Federation broke down because the Colonies dreaded the interference which a centralized rule in London seemed to imply and because the difficulties of communication over such vast distances were insuperable. But even if there had not been these obvious objections, the British mind would probably have failed to grapple with such an unfamiliar task as drawing up a hard and fast Constitu- tion with everything handsome about it.
The machinery for conducting the relations of the various parts of the Empire has -grown as fast as one could have expected. In 1887 the Colonial Conference was summoned for the first time, and in those days a .good many British politicians had still hardly got rid of the feeling that the Colonies were a disagreeable " responsibility." In trade, they felt, Great Britain could not derive such advantages as she was asked- to confer, and as for defence, the British taxpayer paid for everything except some small local navies and a few Colonial troops. In 1907 the Colonial Conference became the Imperial Conference ; and in 1923 it is no exaggeration to say that the representatives of the Dominions come to London, not merely acknowledging their obligations as becomes powerful elements in the Empire, but proud in the knowledge that the services which they have already rendered entitled them to speak to the British Government on terms of equality. The Dominions would be readily granted any technical position they claim. If they are ready to speak we who live in Great Britain are anxious to hear and to agree. We do not know whether there is any doubt on this subject in the Dominions themselves. If there is we are glad to take our share in trying to dissipate it. What every sensible Englishman desires is that the Dominions should freely express their views on every conceivable subject of Imperial policy. The times have long gone by when any reasonable person here could say that such matters had nothing to do with the Dominions.
The Dominions are united to us by bonds that are strong precisely because they are easy. Not long ago Mr. Bonar Law blurted out the simple truth when he said that if a Dominion cared to separate itself from the Empire, Great Britain would not try forcibly to prevent it. A correspondent of the Morning Post has pointed out that the manner in which the Treaty of Versailles was signed left the question of Dominion status confused. The British representatives signed in the name of the Empire, not mentioning Britain at all, whereas the Dominion representatives signed on behalf of their own countries without mentioning the Empire. This literally meant that Britain alone had the right to sign for all. But if Britain had really intended to sign for all, the signatures of the Dominion representative; would have been superfluous. It is the intention that counts in equity, and the intention notoriously was that the signatures of the Dominions at the end of the Treaty should be equivalent to an assertion that their status was equal to that of Great Britain. Moreover, the Dominions were admitted to the League of Nations as independent units, though, of course, the British Commonwealth would vote as a whole unless it were so mad as to want to destroy its own policy. We cannot agree that there is anything to worry about in this question of status.
Now that the potential independence of the Dominions is clear, there is a splendid opportunity for the repre- sentatives of these autonomous States to record unequi- vocally their opinions about the construction of a new world. Their declaration would come with greater force than ever before. Just as it is open to the Dominions to say what position they want in relation to the Empire and what kind of representation they want in London, so it is, as it seems to us, an obligation upon them to give us and mankind in general the benefit of their opinions.
We turn now to the representation of the Dominions in London. Within recent years the Dominions have several times made it clear that they valued good opportunities for consultation more than anything else. Continuous consultation is the ideal. The idea of an. Imperial Cabinet—which experience during the War showed to be a possibility—quite yielded to the principle of a continuous consultation. It is for the Dominions themselves to decide how they would like to be repre- sented in London. Are the High Commissioners to be vested with political powers, or are special Ministers from the Dominions to be accredited for the purpose ? It has sometimes been said that the Prime Ministers of the Dominions would not devolve any of their more important powers upon representatives in London, if only because persons at such a distance from one another would tend to get out of touch. In these circumstances speed of communication is the panacea. At the last Conference it was agreed to have an all-British wireless service, and though we understand that the Dominions have been steadily constructing their part of the service, the British Government has apparently not yet decided whether it is admissible or not to employ a private wireless company for such work.
We desire to say a very few words in conclusion about the Empire Exhibition of next year. We feel sure that every one of the Dominions regards this enterprise very seriously indeed. The Exhibition will be a unique demonstration, not only to outsiders, but to British citizens themselves. We do not yet know all that the Empire can produce ; we do not know with what margin of safety, if any, the Empire can be described as self- supporting. The Imperial Conference is a great oppor- tunity for all the Prime Ministers to take counsel together how they can make the Exhibition a glorious success. To take the Exhibition seriously is good, but to organize victory while there is still time is better.
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