THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. No. XCIV.-DECEMBER 1884. IMPERIAL FEDERATION FROM AN AUSTRALIAN POINT OF VIEW. THE question of Imperial Federation has never been raised in a finer vein of patriotic feeling than it was by Lord Rosebery at Aberdeen in an address which he delivered to the Trades Union Conference. He assumed that leading statesmen were giving their attention to the subject as one which must be discussed before long, and he arrived at the conclusion that those who professed to lead opinion in this matter must take the people into their confidence. If there really was to be federation, it involved immense constitutional changes, and a basis of action must be found for this in the wishes and the reasonable conclusions of the people themselves, of the many who feel, as well as of the few who have to think and devise. He declined to specify or to dogmatise how it was to be done, but he asserted that the more immediate unification of the outlying portions of the empire with the central system of government is expedient, and even necessary, if the British Empire is to perpetuate its existence in correspondence with its achievements in the past. To do this the federal principle must be recognised, and he declared for union on that principle. The Imperial Federatists are, if I understand aright, influenced in the first place by a hope that they may re-create a united empire on a grander and more substantial footing than the present one; and in the next place they think that the empire will thus be prevented VOL. XVI.-No. 94. 3 N from entering upon a period of decrepitude and decadence, from which nothing can save it unless we have recourse to some sort of heroic reconstruction suited to the circumstances of the times. Lord Rosebery to some extent adopts this view. While in Australia he lately expressed himself strongly in favour of doing all in his power to promote the lasting union of Australia with the mother country, and he does nothing more than justify his intentions when he raises the question of Federation as he has done. His speech at Aberdeen will be read with much interest in Australia. It was the deliberate statement of one who, having been an eye-witness of the immensity of the British possessions beyond the seas, believes in the necessity for a constitutional reconstruction of the British Empire, so as to bring the whole into more active and more sympathetic accord. The Empire has to be reconstructed, he thinks, and the people have to think out the question with their statesmen. He invites them to do so, and every really patriotic man who prizes his inheritance in history as the best of his political possessions is entitled to respond to the invitation. The present writer responds to it in this spirit, and perhaps, so far as Australia is concerned, he has some slight right to do so, for he has lived a life of active sympathy and of intercourse with many of the leading men of Australia, whether as explorers of new country or as explorers in the tangled paths of experimental politics. In order to arrive at an adequate conception of Imperial Federation from an Australian point of view, it may be desirable, in the first place, to trace briefly the causes which have led up to the movement in favour of Australian Federation. Previous to 1870 very little had been done. Up to that time the various colonies or states of Australia had been fully occupied with their own internal affairs, industrial and political. The Franco-Prussian war in that year showed what mighty catastrophes might still occur in the history of nations. The necessity for union was felt. The great despotic powers of Germany and Russia might combine, and at one time Russia openly declared that she would no longer be bound by her engagements. Belgium, too, was threatened. These European complications drew the attention of our leading men to the possible position in which we might find ourselves, and the result was a strong recommendation to federate, which came from a Royal Commission then sitting at Melbourne. It may be well here to quote a few of the pregnant opening sentences of that report, in order to indicate the spirit which then animated the community. Advantages of a Federal Union.-On the primary question of a federal union of the Australian Colonies, apart from all considerations of time and method of bringing such a union about, there was a unanimity of opinion. The indispensable condition of success for men and nations is that they should clearly understand what they want, and to what goal they are travelling, that life may not be wasted in doing and undoing; and as we are persuaded that the prosperity and security of these colonies would be effectually promoted by enabling them to act together as one people, under the authority of a federal compact, they cannot, we believe, too soon come to an understanding upon this fundamental point. The difference in strength and prestige between isolated communities having separate interests, and a national confederation with a national policy, has been illustrated in the history of almost every great State in the world, and conspicuously in the history of States of which we share the blood and traditions. The effects of such a confederation, where it is voluntary and equal, are felt throughout the whole complicated relations of a nation's life, adding immensely to its material and moral strength. By its concentrated powers it exercises an increasing gravitation in attracting population and commerce. It multiplies the national wealth by putting an end to jealous and wasteful competition, and substitutes the wise economy of power which teaches each district to apply itself to the industries in which it can attain the greatest success. It enlarges the home market, which is the nursing mother of native manufactures. It forms larger designs, engages in larger enterprises, and by its increased revenues and authority causes them to be more speedily accomplished. It obtains additional security for peace by increasing its means of defence; and by creating a nation it creates along with it the sentiment of nationality—a sentiment which has been one of the strongest and most beneficent motive powers in human affairs. The method indeed by which States have grown great is almost uniform in history. They gathered populations and territory, and on these wings rose to material power; and with the sense of a common citizenship there speedily came, like a soul to an inert body, that public spirit by whose inspiration dangers are willingly faced and privations cheerfully borne in the sacred name of country. We cannot doubt that it is the destiny of the Australian Colonies to pursue a similar career, and their duty to prepare for it. They possess resources and territory which fit them to become in the end a great empire. They are occupied by a population already larger than the population of many Sovereign States; they yield a revenue greater than the revenue of six of the kingdoms of Europe; and we believe that they share the sentiment which may be noted as the most subtle and pervading of our century-the desire to perfect the union and autonomy of peoples of the same origin. Fourteen years have passed since the date of this Royal Commission Report, and all this while Australia has been feeling her way, step by step, without presumption, but with a growing sense of responsibility. The Federal Union now contemplated, and not far, as we believe, from its accomplishment, can by no means be compared to the Canadian Federal Compact. The autonomy of the different States proposing to enter the union is left almost undisturbed. It would be difficult to say that the Confederating States surrender any powers now possessed by them. They will be left as free to act within their own borders, and to legislate, as they now are. They propose, however, to take to themselves additional powers-powers which are perhaps inherent in their constitutions, but which have not been acted on. Thus, if the union be consummated and ratified by imperial legislation, the States adherent to it will become one for some higher purposes of government-purposes which may be termed national. The Federal Council will indeed be a select body of the consultative and administrative rather than of the parliamentary kind. It will possess limited and defined powers, though it is hoped that it may lead up to a more comprehensive union of the Canadian type. This, it has been considered, after a good deal of consultation, is all that can be done just now. To attempt more would have been useless, and the hope is that when once a union has been effected the necessity for a closer union will be demonstrated. The Select Council of Advice thus created will concern itself chiefly in those affairs of Australia which may be termed external, or common in their application to all the Australian colonies alike. This will at any rate give a common citizenship. Thenceforward the people of Australia will be Australians in a political as well as a geographical sense, and then will come to them the soul, as we may hope, which was prefigured for them by the Melbourne Commissioners in 1870. Possessed of that, we are assured that dangers are willingly faced and privations cheerfully borne in the sacred name of country.' It may, I think, be assumed as certain that the Federal Constitution provisionally agreed to at Sydney, scarcely twelve months ago, was as much as would be accepted, at the present time, by the adherent Legislatures. Four of these-Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and Tasmania-all of them being self-governing colonies-that is, colonies enjoying the rights of responsible government-have heartily accepted the preliminary articles of union. Western Australia and Fiji, both of them being still Crown Colonies, have also accepted them, and that acceptance carries with it the assurance that they too will shortly be admitted to the higher order of more responsible Governments; Western Australia certainly will be, though Fiji may still have to wait for some years. But, however that may be, there are six Australian States or Colonies which stand committed to the Australian Union -New South Wales hesitates. It has always been anticipated that there would be hesitation in this quarter. The Legislative Assembly declined, by a majority of one, on a motion of the previous question, to ratify the resolutions. This may cause some delay, but it is scarcely probable that serious difficulty will arise out of it. It is not likely to alter the determinations arrived at by the assenting Colonies, and it is hoped also that it will not alter the decision of her Majesty's Government as to the enabling Bill which will have to be brought into Parliament. As regards New Zealand, friendly resolutions have been passed, though nothing definite has yet been decided. It must be admitted, however, that some not inexperienced politicians in Australia, and especially in New South Wales, consider this Federal Constitution as unpardonably defective. It no doubt embodies the maximum of State rights with the minimum of Federal rights. The contention of this section of politicians is, that it would have been better to have waited and to have worked out the system of autonomous State Governments, until the lapse of time, the improved state of railway communication, and the presence of some real impending danger had drawn them together. When the hour had struck the change would come. Victoria and New South Wales would then come together, and possibly would effect a legislative union, merging the two Parliaments into one, just as Upper and Lower Canada were united; and, if that were once brought about, then the lesser stars of the Australian constellation would be attracted into the orbit of the united colonies. Such has been the contention of those who are not quite satisfied with the prospects of the proposed union. Nevertheless, it must be remembered that the union of these two States alone was in itself improbable. Their policy has been and still is diverse. Victoria, restricted in territory, and mastered by an ambition to create a manufacturing State by the processes of protection, was in no way inclined to surrender her principles on this point. On the other hand, New South Wales, with an abundant territory, rich in minerals, and especially in coal, rich also in pastoral treasures, and with a splendid frontage of some six hundred miles to the Pacific, looked to a future quite different from the special industrial development of Victoria. The gradually growing preponderance which was hers by virtue of her larger territory justified delay and a waiting game. It seems quite possible that New South Wales may still prefer a waiting game. Perhaps there is no great harm in this, for it is quite desirable that the weak points of the present proposed Federal Compact should be understood. The objections to it have scarcely been adequately stated in the Legislatures which have adopted it. The general sentiment in favour of Australian autonomy sufficed to carry the resolutions through, but in a movement of this kind something more than general sentiment is necessary. It testifies, however, to the principle to which reference was made by Lord Rosebery when he gave his adhesion to the trades-union maxim of Strength for mutual objects with separate management for separate objects.' This he defined as the aim of trades unions, and as equally applicable to federal unions. 6 So far, then, the movement in favour of Australian autonomy has prospered. There have been no claims to the hegemony of any particular State. The representative governing men of Victoria and New South Wales have in this respect behaved very well. Either the one or the other of these States has a population fully three times as many as South Australia or Queensland, and yet they have expressed themselves as content to go into the Union not only on an equality with them, but with Tasmania, where the disparity of population and of resources is still greater. The same may be said of New Zealand. Victoria undoubtedly has led the way. Her Premier, Mr. Service, has been very much in earnest, and he has been zealously supported by Mr. Berry, the able leader of the Victoria democracy. By both parties in Victoria, by the Upper House as well as by the Lower House, the scheme proposed has been accepted as a reasonable solution |