The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-28

outCome or the great war tHerc as ho doubt that 1t will not end without hay
 ing done much to bring about the closer federation of the British em- pire. There are many who believe that 1t will give the final impetus to the
 movement for the United States of Brit ain with an imperial Parliament, In reality as we'll as in name, to govern the sister states
 There never has been a time in the history of the British empire when conditions were more favorable for the accomplishment of this ideal. The grant of home rule to Ireland has removed
 one cause of friction not only in the home islands but throughout the em- p're, for there is no doubt that the l great influence of the Irish in the do- minions beyond the seas did much to
 keep apart the dominions and the nome | land. Now this friction is removed and the Irish in the dominions, as at home. are among the most loyal supporters of the empire in which they are about to take their rightful place as full partners.
 Before going into the questions in- volved in the coming encouragement It
 may clear matters up little to glance at the composition of the British em- pire Surely there never was in the history of the world an empire so loosely flung together, and yet the war has shown that there never has been an empire more united in spirit. To begin. of course, there are the par ent islands, which not only govern
 themselves. but through their Parlia-
 ment to some extent at least. govern the whole empire. Next in the scalo | l.... which have their own Parliaments and for all practical purposes. so far at least as their home affairs are con cerned. are as independent of England as the United States, for instance Eng
 land, 1t is true, gives them viccroys. but these viceroys are mere ornamental figureheads. The real rulers are the dominion premiers and tehir cabinets. who carry out the will of their own people as expressed in their Psrlia- ments. Almost the only ties, it would seem, are those of language and the throne. In one very important field. however. the mother country still
 keeps control-that of foreign rela- tions. To some extent even that has
 been relaxed in the case of Canada,
 which has been allowed to carry on it's own negotiations in a more or less in
 formal sort of way with its great neigh
 Dor. the United States, but even here
 all strictly official negotiations have
 had to come through the British em-
 bassy at Washington and the British foreign office.
 The other self-goyerning dominions have never even had this amount of liberty extended to them. The self-governing do-
 minons are Canada, Newfoundland, Aus
 tralia, New Zealand and South Africa
 Next to them come the two great de-
 pendencies of India and Egypt, which. of | po haV a Ia rto, nf al
 ernment but rather less than that of tha
 dominions, and after them the crown col
 onies. such as the West Indies. Malta,
 Cyprus and a host Of smaller islands all
 over the world, which are governed d.
 rect from Downing street, London.
 It is not proposed at present and indeed
 it would not be practicable to include the kcrown colonies in any scheme of federal
 tion. The proposal is that the self-gov-
 erning dominions should be given an equal
 share in the common government of the
 empire and that possibly India might be
 included Egypt has become a member
 of the family so recently that she has
 not yet been seriously considered.
 Before the war there was of course
 large volume of opinion in favor of the scheme of federation, and one of it's fore
 most advocates was Earl Grey. formerly
 governor general of Canada. It must be
 admitted, however, that the movement
 languished and that even in the domin-
 ions themselves there was little enthu-
 siasm for it. The people of the dominions
 felt that they were getting on very well
 as they were. They managed their home
 affairs to suit themselves, and when they
 had any foreign affairs, which was not
 very often, they were well enough looked after by Downin@ street. The imperial connection cost them nothing, for there
 are at present no imperial taxes. Even in | ha fnf of f,arair Aafp ttofe
 they did was purely voluntary. Australia contributed some ships to the navy, which
 have done splendid work, and the other
 dominions maintained militia, which
 has also proved extremely useful.
 The war, however, has changed all this. The dominons have been called on to do their share against Germany and they have responded nobly. Canada has sent. or will send before the war is over, an army of 200,000 men to Europe. Australia will send almost an equal number AL ready Canadian troops are fighting in France and Australians in Egypt. With the Canadians are the Newfoundlanders and with the Australians are the New Zealanders. Tn South Africa General Botha has taken on the whole burden of clearing out the Germans and sub duing the rebels and very well he is do- ing the job This means that all the do-
 niInions are paying their share of the cost O1 tuc war, yet as lHlIlSS are HOW they will have not word to say directly in its settlement. It cannot even be argued
 that the settlement will not affect them directly, for already they have all under taken new responsibilities. Australia, fer instance. quite independently has sent out her ships and men and captured Ger
 man colonies in the Pacific which she IS administering-from Melbourne, not from Downing street. South Africa is attack
 ing the German colonies in West and East
 Africa and when they are conquered will add them to her own territories. Canada
 is deeply interested in any settlement of the ownership of certain of the German colonies in the north Pacific and in China. Tho dominions are now almost in the po- sition which led to the revolt of the North American colonies against George III, that of taxation without representation. True 1t is voluntary taxation-and that makes a vast difference-and they have only to make serious demand for repre- scrtation to get 1t. The interesting fact is that the demand is beginning to be made.
 This demand is taking the form at pres- ent of request that . meeting of the imperial conference should be called this year. This Is a more or less informal meeting of the dominion prenliers and their chief advisers with the members of the imperial cabinet in London. It has beer held at varying intervals for the last ten years or 50, but 1t has no legisla- tive power and is exactly what its name implies-a conference. at which matters oc imperial interest are discussed and from which the members go back pledged to nothing, but with a clearer idea, per- haps, than they had before of what the other divisions of the empire are thinking and saying.