John Buchan

“ It is only on the executive side, in the administration of services common to the whole Empire, that the 'trustee' doctrine might break down from sheer inadequacy of knowledge. This danger seems to demand some kind of advisory council as its remedy; but a mere consultative body of colonial statesmen, summoned to act as assessors to the Cabinet on certain questions, is scarcely the true solution. For it is essential that any council should have within itself the capacity for extending its functions when occasion arises; it should contain in its constitution the nucleus of wider powers. ”

“ Our people travel further, have wider interests, know more of the life of their relations oversea. Most significant of all, the vision of a united Empire is ceasing to be the perquisite of a few theorists, and is slowly penetrating local politics, so that in some form or other it is becoming, like the monarchy, a presupposition of all parties in the Colonies and at home. But though the leaven is at work, the time for actual union is still far distant. ”

“ No policy of Imperial consolidation can afford to disregard the formal aspect of such a union, which is embodied in questions of constitution and law. For one thing, this law and constitution are for the moment the only overt links of Empire, and as such are the first things which a wider development must reckon with. For another, the forms which accompany growth have an organic relation to that growth. ”

“ Till a man sends his son as readily to a post at Melbourne or Ottawa as at Sheffield, till we see a continual coming and going between English and colonial society, till the rich man has his country house or shooting-box as naturally in the Selkirks or on the East African plateau as in Scotland, we shall not see those common interests which are necessary for a common administration. The impulse to federation exists, but it must be a thousandfold stronger before we can talk about the fact. ”

“ Our law, again, has either been bodily taken over by the daughter nations, or, through the medium of the ultimate appeal court, embodies and interprets not only the constitutional charters of the Colonies, but several alien legal systems which survive within their borders. Whatever the defects of these controlling agencies, it is impossible to deny that they are profoundly vital to the present facts of union and to its future ideals. ”

“ And the cardinal point is that any constitutional union must proceed on the executive side, and not on the legislative. We must begin humbly with small emendations, waiting to see what new conditions the centripetal forces will create. Provided we have the rudiments from which unity can spring, we may well be content to move slowly, since 'the counsels to which Time hath not been called, Time will not ratify.' The 'trustee' doctrine is sufficient for our present needs, and by the time it is too narrow we shall have got enough material wherewith to fashion a new one. ”

“ Some speedy means of transit, again, is necessary between the units of so vast an Empire, otherwise the federal machinery will break down from sheer exhaustion. To be compelled to come at the present rate of travel from Vancouver, or Wellington, or Johannesburg, to attend a common council, would strain the loyalty of any statesman. More vital still, the population of the Empire, and notably of Britain, must become more mobile and elastic, shaping their daily interests to accord with the wider conception of patriotism. ”

“ It may be doubted, to begin with, whether the federal ideal is the most suitable for an Empire which contains self-governing Colonies on the one hand, and on the other lands where autonomy is eternally impossible—dependencies which must always be directly administered by the Crown. ”

“ If, again, an appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council brings him to town, the majesty of the Imperial law will seem poorly recognised in the shabby room up a stair in Downing Street. And the ordinary Englishman, on the other hand, may complain with equal logic that matters of great importance to himself are hurriedly discussed, because the men who were elected to look after them have to give their attention to Indian frontier defence or South African labour. ”

“ Our practice must be squared with our constitutional creed, and the Crown, which is the Imperial Executive, must be given such advisory assistance and such an extension of the area of its delegation as will increase its practical efficiency. The 'trustee' doctrine of the British Parliament may well be allowed to stand for the present, till facts compel a change. In effect, the self-governing Colonies are even now independent in their legislative powers, and there is no desire in the British Parliament to tamper with their freedom. ”

“ Unity, in a word, must precede union. For the Empire is an organic growth, and any form we impose upon it must be adequate to its living movement, otherwise, instead of chain-mail, we shall have a strait waistcoat. Supineness is bad, but in this connection it is infinitely less dangerous than haste. The South African Federation Act of 1877 fell stillborn, because South Africa was not ripe for any such development. The incident has a moral in connection with any scheme for the federation of the Empire. ”

“ Much is due to a succession of judges who showed in their work a breadth of outlook and a grasp of essentials which is not always associated with the legal profession. Men like Lord Cairns and Lord Watson were Imperial statesmen in the truest sense, and though there have been mistakes, no suspicion has ever entered the mind of our Colonies and dependencies as to the unswerving fairness and the complete efficiency of the tribunal. The legality of an order of the King in Council and the title of some Bengali native to land are submitted to the same impartial scrutiny. ”

“ Before federation or anything like it is possible, certain conditions must be present. There must be a comparatively uniform development throughout the Empire, the different parts which make the federal units showing a certain level of civic well-being. One State may be richer than another, or may base its wealth on different grounds; but all must have attained to a certain height of self-conscious national life, otherwise they will enter the federation on different terms, and instead of harmony will find abiding discontent. ”

“ The Scottish feudal tenure and method of construction of wills were harmonized and brought up to date without need of legislation by a long series of decisions in the House of Lords from Mansfield downwards, and certain disruptive elements in the Canadian constitution were counteracted by judgments of the Judicial Committee. To have the power of construing colonial laws and customs is to have the power to guide and restrain—to have, in effect, control of development. ”

“ We cannot reasonably expect such contributions unless the contributors are sure that their own representatives will have a share in the management of them. At first the Imperial Cabinet would be only the British Cabinet with colonial members added for a special purpose; but, as the Empire developed and the centre of gravity changed, the two things would be able to separate, if necessary—the Imperial Cabinet remaining the right hand of the Crown for the administration of the Empire, and its parent, the old Cabinet, narrowing its functions to the government of these islands. ”

“ The problem of our tropical possessions will always raise difficulties in the way of a type of union which in essence belongs to white men and the temperate zones. Again, federation means the creation of a new representative body, either out of the British Parliament, by adding to it colonial representatives, or independent of it, but on analogous lines. ”

“ A rigid system applied prematurely will either be inoperative, and so bring the ideal into discredit, or it will curb and choke the life, and produce monstrosity instead of growth.
But the movement towards unity is there all the same, and conditions are beginning to adapt themselves. Distances grow less yearly, and the insularity of both England and the Colonies becomes daily weaker. The centrifugal forces are slackening, and the centripetal are increasing. ”

“ We are changing rapidly both as a nation and as an Empire, and while our present forms do well enough for the moment, because of their traditional elasticity, they will not last for ever, and the time will come when we must look for others. ”

“ The tendency has dangers as well as merits, but it is impossible to deny its reality; and in such circumstances it would scarcely be wise to add to existing anomalies by the creation of another impotent legislature. But even granting the value of the federal ideal, we are faced with two potent centrifugal forces—distance in space and disparity in development. ”

“ The body would be wholly consultative, discussing from time to time, between the meetings of the Imperial Cabinet, the same class of questions as would be dealt with there, and giving assistance to the British Cabinet on any matters which might require summary treatment As a staff to assist the Council in its deliberations. Sir Frederick Pollock's suggestion of a continuous Imperial Commission is most valuable. A permanent Intelligence Department is one of the crying needs of the Empire. Such a body need not be composed only of officials. ”

“ It is difficult to create armies and navies in the hour of need, and it is no easier to improvise a constitution.
↑ Such an Imperial Cabinet would, of course, account to the British Parliament, though indirectly, by means of its colonial representatives, it would account also to the colonial legislatures. If legislative federation ever came into being, it would be responsible to the federal legislature. ”

“ Such a task is surely worthy to be entrusted to the most splendid and representative court we can create, the more because such splendour and comprehensiveness are factors on which depends its success. ”

“ An Australian or Canadian attending a debate in the Parliament which ultimately controls his destinies may spend days listening to the discussion of local questions before one Imperial consideration emerges; he may hear men without a suspicion of accurate knowledge pronounce glibly on matters of vast Imperial moment ”

“ Further, it is important, if such a council is ever to grow into a real Parliament of the Empire, to see that the colonial members shall really represent their Colonies. If they are nominated by the Crown, they may be a most competent and valuable element, but they will not be representative. They will be unable to claim any mandate from the people. The advice we take, the share in the executive power we grant, will not be the advice or executive acts of the Colonies, but of a few independent colonial statesmen, whom their countrymen are not unlikely to regard, in Mr. ”

“ If we may borrow the usual metaphor of writers on federation, there are many centripetal forces at work. The old sentiment of kinship has been revivified by partnership in war, and the course of foreign affairs and the rise of other empires is increasing the sense of mutual dependence. ”

“ Happily there are many able workers in the field, and in a little we may look to find English political thought impregnated with similar conceptions, for in our politics an idea must first become a truism before it can hope to be given effect to. ”

“ Advisory and executive functions, and a quasi-representation, seem to be three essentials in any experiment Till the principle has been generally accepted, detailed schemes are simply a waste of time, but it is worth while to get our minds quite clear on the necessary elements of any plan. ”

“ New constitutional experiments become safe and normal when interpreted in the last resort by a strong central court Mistakes can be corrected or ignored, antiquated débris cleared away, laws extended to correspond with changed conditions. ”

“ But obviously the dualism has its drawbacks, since only the first duty is seriously recognised in the election of Parliament, and the growing mass and complexity of the work are apt to give a perfunctory character to the execution of one duty, or the other, or both. ”

“ And the main political fact of recent years has been the growing unimportance of representative assemblies, constructed on the old lines, and a tendency to delegate power to the executive, without requiring a constant oversight by an elected body. ”