THE VALUE OF THE IMPERIAL IDEA. . T HERE has been,
and probably will be again, a good deal of foolish talk about Imperialism and the Empire ; but in spite of that, we hold not only that the Imperial idea is a sound one, but that those who have encouraged its growth and steadily forced what at first seemed almost a delusion upon their fellow-countrymen have done a real and great service. There are few of us, be their political opinions what they may, who are not at heart proud and grateful when they read of how New. Zealand, Australia, and Canada are showing their eagerness te come to the support of the Mother.country at the present crisis. No doubt here and there a churlish critic may ask—as we regret to see that the Daily Chronicle has allowed one of its contributors to ask—what business New Zealand has to interfere in a quarrel not her own ; but that is not the standpaint of the nation as a whole. The vast majority of Englishmen would never think of asking such a ques- tion, for they take it for granted that New Zealand has the most perfect and absolute right to take a side and express an opinion in the present quarrel. The notion that our difference with the Boers is no business of any of the Colonies belongs to an antiquated policy,—a policy that regarded the Colonies as temporary dependencies, destined sooner or later to drop off the parent stem, but till they did drop off, to be treated as dependencies. The growth of the Imperial idea has changed all that. A germ of thought fructifying in the minds of thinkers and writers has produced a veritable revolution, and has afforded yet another example of how the greatest of human changes are due far more, often to thought than to physical action. It is the essence of the Imperial idea to insist that the self - governing communities oversea are not dependencies of the United Kingdom,' not possessions, appanages, or provinces of Great Britain and Ireland, but parts of an Empire, of which the United Kingdom also is only a part. The exact philosopher may say that this is all nonsense, all verbal hair-splitting, and that nothing is changed by giving a thing a new name. We venture to differ. We believe that everything is changed when Australia looks upon herself, and is looked upon here, as part of the British Empire, and not as a dependency. It is true that she is only a part of the Empire, and that at present the United Kingdom forms an infinitely greater part of the whole than she does, but that does not alter the facts of the situation. There is a world of difference between being a clerk and a junior partner. The predominant partner may in practice regulate the affairs of the firm, but the junior partner feels that he has his share, and that that share is growing in importance with the years. We shall possibly be regarded as basing too much on the sense of pride in this partnership, and on the satisfaction felt by the Colonies in being part of a great Empire,—an Empire greater than the -United Kingdom, and of which the United Kingdom is only a part. We may of course be wrong, but in our belief such sentiments play an enormous part in national life and development. Nothing is more false, in our opinion, than the notion that nations think only of self-interest. They think a great deal more of matters which concern•their pride and self-respect. It is clear that what makes the Colonies so eager to take part in the present struggle is their desire to show that they realise themselves to be sharers in the burden of empire, and not merely dependencies of Great Britain. They feel also that the present struggle is in a very special sense an Im- perial one. They see, that is, as we have pointed out several times in these columns, that the people of these islands, if the matter is judged from an insular standpoint, have nothing whatever to gain and a great deal to lose by a. war with the Boers. We shall not keep the gold of the Trans- vaal. All, in fact, that we shall have to do with gold at the present juncture is to spend a great deal of it in securing the rights of free men to the Outlanders. We are fighting, that is, not io our selfish interests, but in the interests of the Empire as a whole, and in order to protect a great community of British subjects settled oversea. We know, and the Colonies know, that if the grievances of the Outlanders remain unredressed, racial hatred will be supplemented by hatred for the Imperial Power, and that the end can only be the loss of South Africa to the British Empire. But no one who cares for the British Empire,
and no community which forms a part of that Empire, will tolerate that possibility for a moment. That is why Canada, New Zealand, and Australia feel that they are minding their own business when they interest themselves in the Transvaal struggle, and no less than the Mother- land resolve that nothing shall be allowed which will lead to the separation of South Africa from the British Empire. Let no one suppose, then, that the Colonies are anxious to take their share in the coming war out of any foolish desire to win the praise of England. They are acting because they do not mean, if they can help it, to see the beginning of the end of the British Empire inaugurated in South Africa.
We have dwelt upon the value of the Imperial idea as illustrated by the support, both physical and morat, which we are now drawing from the Colohies, but we are quite prepared to be told that if we examine the question of strength impartially we shall find that the United King- dom standing alone, and not as part of an Empire, would be infinitely stronger than she is at present. We shall be told that if our vast Fleet were not kept scattered over Australian. Canadian, and Pacific waters, but were concentrated at home, it would make us infinitely more formidable than now, and would give us far greater weight in the councils of Europe. Possibly that is so, though we doubt whether such selfish, or, not to beg the question, self-contained, strength would not be liable to wither for want of room to grow. But in any case we would rather have the burdensome responsibilities of ,senior partner in the Empire than such security. After all, nations, like men, in the end exist and flourish by taking, not avoiding, responsibilities, for a nation lives by its moral strength and not by its Treasury balances. The nation that does not think merely of its own material interests, but regards itself as a trustee and as having duties towards others, gains a moral strength and vigour which keeps it sound at heart. Lest this shall be said to be mere talk, let us take a concrete example. If we were to conquer the Transvaal and annex it as a dependency, we should certainly get no good, and prob- ably a great deal of harm, from the transaction, even though we might appear to gain in physical strength. But as all the world knows, if we win in the coming fight with the Transvaal we shall take no thought of benefiting these islands. We shall simply and solely act as trustees for the Empire. Our first, and indeed our only, care will be to establish on lines of absolute racial equality a self-governing community which, while part of the Empire, shall enjoy the most perfect internal independence,—an independence based on free- dom and equality such as exists in Canada, Australia, or New Zealand. But who can deny that such a desire to do what is best for the Empire as a whole, and to think of its future and its prosperity rather than of our own im- mediate gain, will benefit the nation ? We may feel, then, that the growth of the Imperial idea has been a real and solid gain to the nation. By sharing with the self-govern- ing Colonies the position of parts of a whole, rather than by retaining an absolute and concentrated authority for these islands alone, we may have lost a little physical power, but we have gained immensely in moral force. To call us a pirate Empire, as Mr. Morley does, is surely to err somewhat in the art of political rhetoric. We have no desire to see Mr. Morley suspend his criticism, for honest criticism, as his always is, is a most valuable medicine for the body politic, but we cannot help thinking that here, at any rate, his invective lacked point as well as polish.
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