MR. CHAMBERLAIN

AS AN EMPIRE BUILDER

'He has done more to bring the Empire together than any other man in it.' I WILLINGLY adopt these words from the editor's invitation to write it, as the text of the following article.

Sir Wemyss Reid's deliverance in the last number of this Review has considerable significance as the testimony of a strongly avowed political opponent to the remarkable position Mr. Chamberlain holds in the estimation of his fellow-countrymen. He attributes the recent unmistakable increase in Mr. Chamberlain's popularity to the German Chancellor's clumsy attempt to give him a lesson in political manners, and to the success of the Colonial Secretary's crushing reply. He says:

The German Chancellor, by making him the object of an attack which was at once clumsy and unjust, and by identifying his name with the honour of our army, naturally and inevitably made the nation, without regard to party, rally to his side. Its feeling that in this quarrel it must stand by him was increased by the blunt manner in which he responded to Count von Bülow's words of censure, and flung back at him the sneers in which he had indulged. The net result is that, for the moment, Mr. Chamberlain is master of the situation, and has been made stronger as a member of the Government than he ever was before.

It is undeniable that the dignity and self-control with which Mr. Chamberlain dealt with a very delicate situation, and administered a grave and severe rebuke without the possibility of rejoinder, reassured the country as to his admirable capacity in a branch of statesmanship about which there had previously been a certain measure of misgiving. The few firm crisp sentences in which he vindicated himself and the army, and instantly arrested the flood of foreign calumnies that had so deeply stung the people of the whole Empire, struck a responsive chord in every part of it. Their (in the best sense) Palmerstonian ring convinced the Empire that it had a minister who could upon occasion speak for it as it would be spoken for. The voice which some had feared was only potent to raise storms was seen to be equally powerful to allay them. Since Parliament reassembled,

the moderation and strength of Mr. Chamberlain's speeches have only served to deepen this impression. It is hardly to be wondered at if he has gained enormously in popularity and prestige, and has become stronger in the Government'—and, what is more important, in the Empire than ever he was before.'

But far more interesting and impressive than the tardy admissions of political opponents has been the striking demonstration at the Guildhall, where the Corporation of the City surrounded the presentation of its address to Mr. Chamberlain with all the dignity and magnificence which centuries of experience of such ceremonies have taught it to bestow. Nothing was wanting in the enthusiasm of the crowd in the streets, in the reception accorded to Mr. Chamberlain in the Guildhall itself, or in the words which were spoken, to heighten the compliment and to carry conviction to every mind of the sincerity of the tribute to a great minister.

And yet, favourable as recent events have been to Mr. Chamberlain, they are but passing incidents in a great and progressive career. They are rather the occasion for than the cause of a demonstration of regard. His real claim to the lasting admiration and gratitude of his country must be based upon his services to the cause of Imperial unity. It is for his conspicuous share in the knitting together and consolidation of the Empire that he will be remembered in history.

From the chaos of political parties and the confusion of political aims, which have been so strange a feature of our national life during the last sixteen years, there has gradually emerged one great idea and one striking personality, the idea of a united Empire and the personality of Mr. Chamberlain.

The political ability of Mr. Chamberlain was of course already recognised in 1885. His success in the House of Commons was assured, but his interest had so far mainly followed the line of domestic legislation. Few could have foreseen in him the Imperial minister of to-day. In like manner the desire or aspiration for Imperial unity is no new thing. There were Imperialists and Imperial Federationists before Mr. Chamberlain. His detractors are very fond of asserting that he neither invented nor discovered the Empire. They may be permitted this rhetorical jibe. It would be easy to quote from eighteenth-century writers to show that the idea of 'an oceanic polity' and an Imperial State' had even then taken a definite form in the minds of a few political thinkers. In our own times the writings of J. R. Green and of Seeley have probably done more than any others to give definite form and historical basis to the idea. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of Seeley's Expansion of England in the history of the evolution of the British Empire. If the phrase can be applied to any book, we may surely say it was epoch-making. Its central idea was at once so simple and so inspiring that its influence

was immediate and profound. It was widely read both at home and in the colonies, and to it may be traced the origin of the ardent propaganda which was speedily set on foot and proved so attractive to the most promising young men of the day. The late Mr. Forster, it will be gratefully remembered, was one of the first among practical statesmen to adopt Imperial Federation as a political creed. He was speedily followed by many men who are now prominent in public life in all parts of the Empire, of whom Lord Rosebery is undoubtedly the most distinguished. Rapid as was from the first the progress of the Imperial idea, it will not be denied that it was for a time almost exclusively confined to the educated. Neither at home nor in the colonies was it grasped by the masses. It needed some strong practical mind to bring it down from the clouds into the street. To Mr. Chamberlain more than to any living man belongs the credit of quickening and vitalising this great principle. To him more than to anyone else it is due that what was an aspiration, or at most a sanguine hope, has become a commanding political fact.

The conception of a united Empire was not his; he would be the last to claim it. As Mr. Bernard Holland says in his Imperium et Libertas, it came amongst us like 'a spirit seeking embodiment.' It has, no doubt, appealed to other minds just as strongly as it has appealed to Mr. Chamberlain. But he of all Englishmen has had both the will and the power to use the wonderful opportunities secured to him by his official position and his own personal gifts for the furtherance of this great political ideal.

When he took office as Colonial Secretary the loyalty of the colonies was beyond question, and their desire for closer union with the mother country already showed vigorous signs of life. Statesmen at home of all parties had hitherto observed an attitude of cordial expectancy, but of great and very proper caution. Mr. Chamberlain set to work steadily, persistently, and without for a moment forcing the pace, to keep the idea of the Empire before the minds of his fellow-countrymen in every part of the British dominions. He showed the colonies how much a strong and sympathetic minister could do for them. Whatever his preoccupations and anxieties in wider fields, the smallest colony received its due share of his watchful attention. He gained the confidence of all by his care of their interests and his scrupulous regard for their susceptibilities. Probably for the first time they realised that they were represented in the inmost councils of the Empire by one of the most powerful members of the Cabinet.

Meanwhile he lost no opportunity of educating people at home. His remarkable power of simple and lucid statement has made his speeches upon all colonial and Imperial questions the best possible political training. The meaning of the Empire and the idea of Imperial unity and consolidation began to be widely understood. For every

one who had read Seeley's Expansion of England a hundred heard or read Mr. Chamberlain's speeches. Others had made their fellowcitizens conscious of the Empire; Mr. Chamberlain made the Empire conscious of itself.

Nor did he confine himself to speeches. Many object lessons have brought home to the popular mind, far more clearly than any speeches could, the lessons it was of vital importance to teach. The Jubilee procession of 1897 was unique and never to be forgotten by those who saw it as a pictorial representation of the Empire, infinite in its variety but unmistakably one in its devotion to a common Sovereign. The conference of Colonial Prime Ministers, which was held during the Jubilee festivities, marked in a rudimentary manner the opening of a new epoch in the history of the Empire. The offer by Canada of preferential treatment to the mother country, and its acceptance by the Home Government, with the consequent denunciations of our treaties with Belgium and Germany, was a tentative step in the direction of closer commercial union between different parts of the Empire. The federation of the Australian colonies is at once a result of and a stimulus to the spirit of Imperial consolidation which is abroad. Mr. Chamberlain has known how to take advantage of each one of these and numerous other events less important individually but similar in kind. Through them he has sedulously fostered the sense of common interests, common dangers, and a common destiny.

When the war broke out in South Africa he reaped his reward. I do not refer to the outburst of passionate loyalty nor to the generous offers of military assistance which poured in from every colony. Such were to be found in our past history and might have come with equal spontaneity, though in less volume, at an earlier period. What I would draw attention to is the immediate and clear realisation, both at home and in the colonies, of the true meaning of the war. People-not trained politicians, but plain men-in all parts of the Queen's dominions understood at once that the question at issue was not the franchise, not the innumerable evasions, oppressious and provocations of the Boer Republics, not any greed for 'gold or territory,' but the absolutely vital question of maintaining the security and integrity of the Empire. It proved clearly how far their political education had gone that they did not allow themselves to be diverted by side issues from this one central fact. All our colonies were looking on with poignant interest to see how the mother country would deal with so grave a crisis. Failure to maintain the Imperial authority meant a deathblow to Imperial unity, the beginning of disintegration. When they saw that the people of the United Kingdom met the danger with the same unwavering firmness and clear grasp of principle which the Northern States of America had shown in their struggle for the maintenance of the Union, they

rallied to us with redoubled enthusiasm, stood shoulder to shoulder, and assumed their full share of the obligations of Empire.

Everyone agrees that the war marks a new era in our history. The British race throughout the world has made common sacrifices for a common object. We have learnt that we can in future rely upon the whole material and moral forces of the Empire in the hour of trial and danger. The mother country no longer stands alone; she faces the world with her children by her side.

But this accession of strength inevitably brings with it increased obligations. Mr. Chamberlain said at Birmingham in January

last:

A new factor has entered into the politics of this country. In future you will have to take account of the opinion of your colonists. You will have to consult them; and, if you wish that they should always stand by your side, you will have to be guided, to some extent at any rate, by their wishes and their aspirations.

These are pregnant words and call to mind others already uttered by Sir Wilfred Laurier. If you want our help, you must call us to your councils.' Those who have helped us in South Africa will have to be consulted in its final pacification. It would be an insult to refuse them their share in the settlement for which they have fought as valiantly and as determinedly as we have ourselves. Surely this marks the most solid step which has so far been made towards Imperial consolidation. It is an easy passage from occasional consultation to constant correspondence upon questions of common interest. The exact course which the changes that lie before us will take is not easy to predict, but it is obvious that we are making rapid strides towards far-reaching constitutional developments.

Undoubtedly one of the most remarkable results of the war has been the steady growth of an Imperial public opinion. This has shown itself in many ways, in the practically unanimous approval of the war throughout the Empire, in the identity of views expressed by the different colonial Prime Ministers with regard to its objects, in the support given by every colony to the administration of Lord Milner in South Africa, in the common indignation and repudiation of foreign attacks upon the humanity of the Imperial troops, in the universal determination that the fight shall be fought to a finish and that what has been gained by arms shall not be thrown away in negotiation,' and finally in the desire that where all have played their parts in the same spirit of loyalty and co-operation all should be consulted in the final settlement.

This new-born Imperial public opinion seems likely in the future to exercise a far-reaching influence. Already it has declared itself distinctly in favour of Mr. Chamberlain. There is a passage in Mr. Balfour's speech at the Guildhall which is well worth quoting:

I believe that the more you consult colonial opinion, the more it will be brought home to the minds of every one of you that in those outlying and most