DOMINION & WAR

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 292, 23 September 1935, Page 8

DOMINION & WAR

SOVEREIGN STATUS.

THE THEORY OF NEUTRALITY

In his new book, “The King’s Grace,” John Buchan, now Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor-General-desig-nate of Canada, discusses in a chapter titled “The Changing Empire” the status of tho Dominions as affected by the Statute of Westminster and their relation to the Motherland in time of war.

“In former days,” he writes, “tho handling of foreign policy has been in the hands of the British Cabinet., and its decisions had bound the Dominions. Under its auspices treaties had been signed, and by its will war had been declared and peace concluded. “But the new conception of an alliance of sovereign States made this procedure impossible. A Dominion could not pledge itself to war, except with the consent of its own Parliament; it must have the right to make treaties in the name of the King; it must, if it so desired 1 , have diplomatic representation in foreign capitals. The problem was how to combine these .necessary functions with some unifying principle which . would enable the Empire to have a continuous foreign policy, and, in a crisis, to speak to the world with a single voice

Old Methods Gone. “When Mustapha Kemal’s troops advanced to tho Dardanelles in tho autumn of 1922 and for a moment Britain seemed to be on the verge oi war, Mr Lloyd George appealed to the Empire for aid. Hie response of the Dominions, half-hearted and resentful, was a warning that the old methods had gone vor ever. The ensuing Treaty of Lausanne was formally accepted by Canada, blit not any obligations arising from it, and at the Imperial Conference that year it was resolved that ‘no treaty should be negotiated by any Government of the Empire without due consideration of the possible effects in other parts of the Empire.’ “That year, too, Canada arranged a fishery treaty with the United States, the signature of which she insisted must be by the Canadian plenipotentiary under powers issued to him by the King. From 1924 onward various Dominions appointed their separate diplomatic representatives. In the Locarno treaties the Dominions and India were specially excluded from the British obligations arising thereunder, unless they specifically assumed them.

The Balfour Definition. “The Empire was drifting, into a constitutional tangle, which it was the business of the Imperial Conference in 1926 to unravel. A formula drafted by Lord Balfour attempted a definition of the relations of Great Britain and the Dominions —‘They are autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal ‘in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any respect in their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the Biitish Commonwealth of Nations.’ “From this certain consequences followed, of which the chief was that the British Government, as Government, had no right of interference in Dominion affairs, and that a GovernorGeneral must represent the King and the King alone, and' be appointed on Dominion advice. A committee of lawyers and officials sat in 1929 to work out certain conclusions, and the result was the Statute of Westminster. which became law in 1931. This enactment removed, with a few small exceptions, every shackle from a Dominion’s sovereign power. It left the Crown as the sole legal link holding the alliance together, and it provided, therefore, that any law - affecting the Crown should require the assent of every Parliament in the Empire.

Finding a Way. “]f the spiritual ‘Via, Veritas, Vita,’ he taken as a motto for any great human undertaking, the two last words have been for the Empire inteipretod and fulfilled. From the days of the Elizabethans it lias had the Lite. It has now by slow stages reached the Truth, a doctrine which permits free growth within a generous framework. It remains to find the Way, the machinery of an executive alliance, the means of" giving expression to its unity of spirit. “These means wo are still m P 10 * cess of discovering in the various departments of economics, foreign affairs and defence. The conference at Ottawa in 1932 was such an attempt: so wore the numerous trade agreements negotiated in the fast few years. The pressure of economic problems is forcing the component parts of the Empiie into a closer collaboration, and correcting the fissiparous tendency which was inevitable after the dissolution ot the older bonds. “A Court of law, I think, would have some difficulty in interpreting the exact meaning of the Ballou- Definition, or in pronouncing upon the full implications of the Statute of Westminster. Can a Dominion remain at peace if Britain is at war? Tn theory, perhaps, but scarcely in fact for no Imperial statute would prevent Britain s opponent from bombarding the Dominion’s ports if it so desired. A Dominion may have power to secede from the Empire, but what then becomes ot its relation to the Crown? What is the right of the constituent provinces of a Dominion against a Dominion Government, rights of which Britain in some cases remains the trustee. What indeed is the true meaning of a Dominion ?

Unity Through the Crown. “Wh> have left unexplored certain arcana imperii in the hope fhat the need for exploration may never arise. That has always been the British way. WTien wo start to write out a constitution wo never make a. complete job of it. W r e do not believe that the meaning of an Empire, which is ini continuous growth, can he enshrined in

any document. So instead of a definition wo have been content with spacious generalities. “But one thing has emerged from the debate, the tremendous meaning of the Crown. It is the foundation of the new doctrine, the one principle which gives unity to a vast growth whose destiny is unpredictable. W ithout it no tie of sentiment or blood or tradition would bind for long. To the Empire it provides a centre for its long memories and a personality for its devotion. There can be no question but that it has acquired since the war a far deeper and more intimate meaning for the Britains overseas.”