The Right Hon. W. H. Smith, M.P.:^*

I have no claim whatever to appear at a Federal meeting like this, for my connection with the Colonies is exceedingly slight. It consists only of that connection which, I believe, almost all Englishmen have—a connection of interest, a connection of investment, and therefore I page 30 can only speak from the point of view of an Englishman desirous of seeing the interests of his country and the interests of the Colonies, which are identified with England, promoted and advanced. But, gentlemen, I can quite understand why I have been selected to take part in this meeting. It is in order to show that politicians of this country of all orders, degrees, and parties have one common aim and purpose, and that is the security, the development, the advancement, and the prosperity of the Empire, that we regard our Colonial friends, our cousins, and our neighbours as Englishmen in the full and true intent of the word, and that they are entitled and should obtain as complete a place in the management and in the control of the affairs of the Empire as we Englishmen claim in our own little island. In saying this I do not wish to go an atom further than my friend, Mr. Forster, has gone. We are not here to discuss the details of any scheme of Federation. We are not here to prepare a scheme which shall be put forward for the acceptance of Great Britain or the Colonies. We are here to insist upon the principle to which your Chairman has given expression in the fullest and strongest terms—the principle of unity—a unity of sympathy, of common interest, of a common purpose, and of a common object. The resolution I am called upon to move is as follows:—

"That the political relations between Great Britain and her Colonies must inevitably lead to ultimate Federation or disintegration. That in order to avert the latter, and to secure the permanent unity of the Empire, some form of Federation is indispensable."

It appears to me that that is a proposition which is absolutely incontrovertible. (Cheers.) In recent years, within the memory of those who are within this room, the progress of the Colonies has been so vast, their extension—to use the words of Professor Seeley—has been so enormous, that unless they become integral parts of the Empire, and unless they have a voice, a concern, a power of expression page 31 in its policy in those matters which are common to the Colonies and Great Britain, disintegration appears to me to be inevitable. (Hear, hear.) We have heard recently of an event which has occurred in the Australian seas. Unless there was a cordial feeling of sympathy and interest binding together the mother-country with the Colonies, it would be possible to conceive a different course of policy pursued by the Colonies from that which the Mother Country would seek to pursue for herself; and I can conceive no circumstances which would tend more to the disadvantage of the mother-country and also to the disadvantage of the Colonies than that a separate and distinct course of policy should be pursued on matters of that kind and importance. (Hear, hear.) But I can only refer to that question as an indication of the questions which certainly must arise in the course of the next few years unless we can find some mode of expressing that unity in stronger and more complete terms than exist at the present moment—some system by which the voice, the policy, the interests of the Colonies shall be blended with those of the mother-country, and expressed in the mother-country itself more completely than they are at the present time. (Cheers.)

My friend, Mr. Forster, has referred to our position in England. We have a large population; we have a vast amount of capital. The Colonies have great opportunities and great means for the employment of the population and for the development of their resources by means of the capital which is found to exist here. There is a basis of common interest and common advantage which we at home at all events cannot afford to neglect or leave undeveloped or unused. There can be no doubt whatever, however men may cavil at the sentiment, that the circumstances in which this country is placed require that we shall advance, and in saying that I do not wish it to be understood that we are to advance by force of arms, to advance adversely to the interests of community at large, or to the world at large. We seek no such means of advancement, but I will ask you page 32 to consider one question—that is the increase of the population of this country, which is something altogether independent of law, or of any system which exists at the present time, to bring under control.

Our population advances; but it is certain the actual material resources of the country cannot advance in the same proportion. The increase of our population is out of all proportion to the increased capacity of the ground, the land in which we live, to maintain that population. We trust to the development of our manufactures, of our commerce, and of our trade, and these undoubtedly afford vast resources for our population; but no statesman, no Englishman can say that with all these magnificent resources at our command we dare shut our eyes to the fact that emigration, the peopling of the earth, is a necessity of this country, a necessity which we must endeavour by all means to make as successful as we possibly can. How can we do so with greater advantage to this country, to those who remain as well as those who go, than in connection with the Colonies of Great Britain, in connection with those communities which are English-speaking, which have English habits and customs, and which are in deep and real sympathy with England at home as well as abroad? I cannot myself see why every boy, if he leaves this country to become a settler in Australia or in Canada, should forego his right to take an interest, and his duty to take an interest, in the prosperity of his mother-country. (Hear, hear.) I believe in both the duty and the right. And although we do not seek to express the particular mode in which that voice shall be exercised, let us at least assert the principle that unity is to be maintained, that some method shall be found, some course adopted which shall give our colonists all the rights, and the interests, and the advantages which belong to resident Englishmen in Great Britain and Ireland. (Cheers.) I believe it can be done. At the same time, there is no worse method than by at the present time endeavouring to frame a constitution or basis of a Federal page 33 Council, or Federal Parliament, or anything of the kind. Federation means only at the present time an aspiration after union, and it means that those who have given their life to the interests of the Colonies—and I do not distinguish the interests of the Colonies from those of the country at large, but speak of them as one country and one people—should endeavour by discussion, by study, by application, by weighing of objections, by meeting them, to at last elaborate some system which will grow into the most perfect expression of the views and wishes and wants of our fellow-subjects and countrymen beyond the seas. (Cheers.) I read some time ago a paper by Sir George Cornwall Lewis, deprecating any attempt to give expression to the views and sentiments of the Colonists in England by anything in the nature of Parliamentary representation because of the enormous distance which separated the Colonies from this country. Well, what was the distance in time which separated Scotland and Ireland from the capital 100 years ago? (Hear, hear.) Was that distance less than that which separates England from Canada at the present moment? Is Australia more remote than many of the islands to be found on the west coast of Ireland and Scotland? For all practical purposes the electric telegraph and steam have brought the most distant and the most remote colony into nearer relations, and certainly into greater sympathy with the interests of Government in the capital of London than the distant and remote portions of Great Britain were some 100 or 200 years ago. (Hear, hear.) Government was possible then, and I believe Government will be possible under the altered conditions which I suggest may possibly arise. But let me say this, as an individual, that I do not contemplate any union, any federation, any system of any kind whatever which in the slightest degree interferes with the perfect domestic and local self-government of the Colonies. (Cheers.) I regard it as an essential condition of any arrangement or attempt at arrangement that entire independence, so far as page 34 local self-government is concerned, should be thoroughly and entirely respected. (Hear, hear.) It is impossible for us here to venture to pass laws dealing with local affairs, with the difficulties of which we are only imperfectly acquainted; but there are questions on which undoubtedly union must exist.

I could not help being struck the other clay with an expression of the objects of Federation in the Bill which, I believe, has passed through one or two of the Parliaments of Australia within the last few days. It says, by way of preamble:—"Whereas it is expedient to constitute a Federal Council of Australia for the purpose of dealing with such matters of common Australian interest in respect to which united action is desirable as can be dealt with without unduly interfering with the arrangement of the internal affairs of the several colonies of the respective Legislatures." Instead of Australian I would insert English, and say that, without unduly interfering with the internal management of the several colonies by their respective Legislatures, you should have a common executive and a common power for the purpose of dealing with matters of common interest, for the purpose of dealing, for instance, with a common enemy, whether he be a convict who seeks to obtain entrance on your shores, or whether he be an enemy who seeks to take advantage of your weakness. I will venture to use the words used by Professor Seeley, in a book which I have read with great interest. He says: "All political unions exist for the good of their members, and should be just as large and no larger than they can be without ceasing to be beneficial." That is a doctrine to which I entirely adhere. If this union is not to be beneficial to its members do not attempt it. It is because I believe the union will be most beneficial to its members that I most earnestly advocate it, and I advocate it as something which will tend to advance the prosperity and happiness and strength of the Empire. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Forster made one remark of great moment. He said page 35 he thought a union of this kind would have the effect of averting war. I believe that thoroughly. (Hear, hear.) There is nothing which tends to avert war so much as strength—strength exercised wisely and properly, and I believe when we see England bound in a league of defence with her Colonies that war, so far as regards the Colonies themselves, will be impossible, and that war, so far as regards England herself, will become much less probable. It is therefore in the interests of peace and of the advancement of the human race at large that I most earnestly press this resolution on your acceptance. (Cheers.)

The Right Hon. Gentleman then proposed the first Resolution, as follows :—"That the political relations between Great Britain and her Colonies must inevitably lead to ultimate Federation or Disintegration. That in order to avert the latter, and to secure the permanent Unity of the Empire, some form of Federation is indispensable."