“ Those memories of the war are common to us all. Therefore all we had before the war in the way of sentiment and spiritual ties are enormously strengthened today. We have, therefore, the heritage of the past and the common sacrifice of the present to unite us. ”

“ I think that it is the people who have all along been perhaps suspect in their imperialism who have kept the British empire together. The objection of the British government to responsible government was put in a form which could not be answered and never has been answered—How can a British governor be responsible and obedient to a locally elected legislature if its policy should differ from the policy of the imperial government which he represents? ”

“ Sixty years after that another Prince of Wales came to Canada; the ties had not slackened much in the meantime, though we had had responsible government all the time and self-government had been widening all these years (applause) .
What are the considerations which make for the unity of the empire... Every influence that operated in August, 1914, is in full vigor today. All those spiritual ties, the common flag, the common language and literature and laws Which we had in August, 1914, we have still. ”

“ May we not then hope that in the society of English-speaking nations, in whose solidarity the hopes of the race and perhaps the future of the world are bound up, an honored place may be found by the side of the Motherland, now first among equals, for the great Republic of the United States of America. ”

“ One was the virtual creation—it is a matter of record—in the summer of 1918 of an imperial council of safety and defence, which was made up of the premiers of the British nations and of no one else. The other was the conference between the overseas members of the imperial cabinet and the admiralty, followed by the declaration of naval policy by the dominions, which was an amplification and expression of the general imperial policy which had been decided the previous year. ”