New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-06-29
AN IMPERIAL ZOLLVEREIN.
AL GRAFTON ON COBDENISM-THE
COLONIAL PREMIERS IN LONDON.


Federation is discussed by practical statesmen
Lord Salisbury presented this summary OF the
English Free Trade system in that famous Hast
ings speech which he has found it impracticable
to explain away: Mr. Chamberlain emphasized
the same truth when he declared year ago that
the question of imperial unity must be APP
preached on the commercial side, and on give
apd-take principles: and the Duke of Devon
shire, the least emotional among English states
men. has taken up his parable at Liverpool ana
shown that rev markets are not thrown open by
the influence Of Free Trade alone. and that the
consolidation of the Empire is the greatest OF
England's commercial and material interests.
Mr. Laurier's first words on his arrival from
Canada are in accord with these practical views
Of hard headed calculating craftsmanship. Tan
ada" he saws In effect has made John Bull
good business offer in the new tariff That
offer will he withdrawn if England neGec's -
meet Canada halfway and to abrogate the
treaties with Germany and Belgium. Either
Canada will have to retreat or England VIII
have 10 advaVto."
Devotion 20 the Golden theory Of Free TRACE
has been an English sentiment almost as power
full as loyalty TO the Queen. One statesman AFTER
another has discovered that while 1t is oeauu-
III! and edifying sentiment. it is not business
ample and confessed year ago that he was
willing to 81 crifce Cobdensm If he could obtain
q working basis for an Imperial Zolvereih'
which would open the way for Imperial federa-
,ioo The Duke Of Devonshire thought nat MS
COLLEAGUES had gone too far. and he TOOK adVah-
,age Of an early occasion 10 explain that inc
cecrotarv for the Colonies had not meant what
ne said Mr. Chamberlain may not be rish' vi
poll,ic every time he speaks but ne lhVafiao'y
Knows what ne is about. and speaks clearly ana
directly to the point.
ycar has passed and the cold mpassive
commentator on the Canada Club speech mas
himself been converted. 1t is now the cau'io"'
and conservative Duke Of DeVonshlre WHO pi0
nounces what is correctly described as II iu'e'"'
Grafton on Cobdenism. He asserts 'ha' Virtues
were assigned 10 il that 1t did not possess "''N
that results were predicted which ana not ioiio"'
and that the doctrines and practlce Oh Tue -"1
chester school discouraged and discredited the
deyelopmen; Of the imperial spirit lie was oiiO0
readv 70 believe Cobden's prophecy that the
whole world would be converted to Free lraue'
I'M. he can no longer be convinced that IL Is the
hes, thing for England that II shouo pe 'h' 0'-''
free-trading country in the world
-opDrNIsM FATAL TO EMPIRE
Tho Duke Of Devonshire's argument IS 'oe'
cal on. He recalls the time when Ehshshiii'"
doubted whether the Canadian ana Aus'l a'ia,
colonies would remain permanently uiiiteu WIZ"
.ho mother country. or whether il would be ad-
yantageous 10 have the imperial cohlecuon'
mair,aired That was when Golden and Bright
We're proclairning the universal brotherhood Vi
nations and explaining that the loss or the
American Colonies was a good thing for po'h
tho, and the mother country. and that Aus
81 cd 10
neaccahly from the Empire whenever they
rnirht think il best to do so. The fanatca
Cobdenite Of those days believed that tarii1s
would disappear from the face OF the earth
that wars would come to an end and that ma
tions would b linked together by the bonds OF
naciec trade re did not care how soon remote
colonies should cease to he connected with the
mother country and set up for themselves Oh
the model Of the United States. The expansion
Of the Empire did not interest him wheh MS
IMAGINATION was fired with enthusiasm Tor uni
versal Free Trade
But that period Of Cobdenite fanauclsm mas
passed THE world" remarks the Duke OF
Devonsh!re has not become the commerclal
paradise which predicted in the early Gays
Of Free Trade opinion, when it was hoped 'hat
Free Trade would bind all the nations or the
earth so closely together that IT would be mat
ter of comparatively little importance to US by
whom they were ruled or under what influence
they were governed
Since Cobdens prophecies have been uniul-
filled and the world has remained Protectionist
from motives Of enlightened self-interest' II IS
now considered of the utmost importance that
the various sections OF the Empire should be
bound together in commercial union ana con-
solidated by Imperial Federation.
The Jubilee is a unique event which Is IN
spring Engshmen at home with feehnS Oh
pride in the Empire and Colonists abroad with
a lovaI warming for closer connection with the
mother country. When the town shows of the
next fortnight. with their stately pageantry and
pleasurable excitement are over something VIII
have been done to strengthen the ties of imperial
kinship. But. as Lord Salisbury and Mr.. Cham
berlain have each said, sentiment is not bust
meas Jm.erial Fedora ton is a theme which APP
meals with magical potency to the imagination
Of the Queens subjects but IT is one Of the
most complex problems with which creative
craftsmanship has ever been confronted.
The Imperial Federation League attempted to
solve the question Of political union. and it did
more harm than good. The British Empire
League which is entertaining the Colonial Pre-
miers this week in four cities, is organiza-
ton for promoting good feeling between the
mother country and its dependencies without
having any definite scheme Of political union or
organic change in the constitution of the En-
pire. 1t is not undertaking TO explain how
worldwide empire be governed otherwise
than by a centralized administration in the one
great capital but fl Is helping Englishmen TO
understand that their citizenship is not con-
fined to the British islands but transcends in
dignity anything that was known in the Ro-
man world. This Is sagacious policy. because
the problem Of Imperial Federation is beset
with difficulties which are apparently insupera-
bic.
AS soon as Australia or South Africa offers
TO share with the mother country the burdens
Of maintaining the Royal Navy, the question Of