The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-03-02
AUSTRALIANS FUTURE. "A


Federal government, are interesting
themselves in the choice of national
I flag In fact the idea of nationality
has spread so widely during the past
few years and has brought about such
a. vital union of the colonies, that
! flag other than that of the mother
country seems to be its proper anc
necessary emblem. How much farther
this idea may go and what it may lead
to in the direction of complete political
independence no one can yet tell; but
that it is full of portents to the integ-
rity of the British Empire, appears in
THE eagerness of Joseph Chamberlain 10
press his scheme of imperial federation
and draw the people of Australia and
ether outlying dependencies into a sin
gle great nation having the British
Isles as pivotal base.
There are many things in the way o.
imperial Observation-Disclosures that may
become insurmountable. In the first
place the people of Great Britain and
Ireland do not want to lose control of
the imperial Parliament at Westmin-
ster, as they would surely do if the
colonials were permitted to send MEM
bers there in the same proportion to
the number of Inhabitants which OBJ
tains in Great Britain and Ireland. In
sisting as they do upon the control of
Parliament they would deny colonials
the full vested rights of a British cleo
tor, discriminating between the home
born Englishman and the British Tit
lander. somewhat as did the late
government of the Transvaal between
the burgher and the foreign resident.
Naturally the effect of such diScrimin-
alton would be the same in one place
as another. We cannot imagine that
Australia or Canada or any other part
of the so-called British Empire would
accept the actual community of empire
which Mr.. Chamberlain proposes, while
bereft of the vital privileges involved.
To become a real empire of the Anglo
Saxon spirit, Great Britain must make
every citizen equal in his political OPP
Irortunities.
| There are, moreover strong objec-
tons to Imperial federation on the other
side. AS the premier Of Canada sub
stantially said not long ago, speaking
of the possibility that Great Britain
might ask Canada to supply it with an
army corps for South Africa, I've will
defend our own part Of the Empire; We
cannot levy troops for the defense of
some volunteers" Surely that would
be a very loose empire indeed which
could not mass all it's forces or at least
draw upon all, for the defense of any
threatened point.
! The colonials object. also, to a COM
mon tariff Their interests demand
economic protection, while those of
Great Britain require free trade. An
Iar ire with
gagged in hindering each others trade
would be an anomaly. The true en-
pire, such as Chamberlain dreams of
must be homogeneous. If 1t is not, its
status is that of confederacy; and as
Great Britain and her colonies have a
confederate relation now, why not let
it stand rather than go to the trouble
Of establishing the same thing over
again under another name?
The truth seems to be that Chamber
lain's idea is an iridescent dream, which
will vanish when the stubborn econom-
ic and military facts of the situation
are encountered. What then? Must
not the British Empire continue prac-
tically as it is, a congeries of States
bound together partly by tradition and
mainly by Self-intereSt, but ready
where self-interest is violated to fail
apart into separate Anglo-Saxon ma
lions, majestic in their racial fraternity
but unailied in political purpose? In
the light of all past history and future
probabilities, such would seem to be the
natural fate of that mighty power. We
may well anticipate that if ever Great
Britain stands ringed by enemies, as
was Caesar in the Senate House. its
colonies will be glad to stay out of the
bloody press If by so doing they can get
immunity from harm and chance to
work out their own salvation
When that day comes it wiz be but
the severing of a single weak tie for
Australia TO become republic and take
in her own hands the lighted torch of
progress passed to her willing hand by
other great free States