THE GERMAN COLONIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 91, 11 January 1919, Page 9

THE GERMAN COLONIES

NOT TO BE RETURNED MR. BALFOUR'S EMPHATIC DECLARATION [Some weeks ago Mr. A. J. Balfour,; British Foreign Minister, made an impor.tant statement on tho subject of the Uerman colonies. Fragments from the speech have appeared from time to time, but in the full report Mr. Balfour appears at his best as an inimitable exponent of a situation.] Mr. Balfour, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who with' LieutenantGeneral Sir John Monash, General Commanding the Australian Imperial, Force, was the guest of the Australian and New Zealand Luncheon Club recently, made an important declaration with .regard to the future of the conquered German colonies. "In no circumstances;" he 6aid, "is it consistent with the safety, with the security, with tho unity of tlia British Empire that the German colonies should be returned to Germany," a pronpuicement which was received with loud applause. 1 Sir James Mills presided over a large and representative company, and ofk-ied a h?a:iy welcome to Mr. Balfour and Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, Mr. Balfour's Speech. Mr. Balfour, who was : eceived with loud cheers, in reply, said: Tour chairman in his opening remarks locked forward to a time when we should bn able to survey four or five years of war and say, "This was an evil dream." ■ .1. think he is right; and I agree with him iJ .at, though the end is not yet, the end is in sight. (Cheers.) We have no right to suppose that our enemies, or the most formidable of thein, are crumbling to pieces before tho united strength, moral and material of the Associated Powers. Yet,, though many efforts may still be required, though our sacrifices are not yet at an end, I think :we may hojie that we have, entered, upon a phase of this tremendous struggle in which there will bq no reversal of fortune, but that after.the prolonged efforts that we have all made in common, we shall in common enjoy the fruits of victory. (Cheers.) On an occasion like this, when I am given the opportunity of addressing the Australian and New Zealand Club, inevitably, one's thoughts travel beyond the limits of the United Kingdom and survey that great Empire; of which the United Kingdom is the centre, but of which the extremities axe. like th 6 United Kingdom, free, self-governing, autonomous' communities. Meaning of Imperial. I notice in current controversy that the. word . "Imperialistic" has an evil odour. If. you say the ambitions of this or that, country are Imperialistic ' you mean to imply that thesa ambitions are to, embrace within its orbit subordinate nations for th'e purpose of'coercing and exploiting them., That, I suppose, is ,what is meant, by Imperialistic. The British Empire is Imperial, but it is not .(Cheers.) I am told that there are observers—and that- even some are to be found among our brothers in America—who think the word "Imperial" covers designs unworthy of. a free people. I hope these critics are few. I think they are few. But at all events, speaking for myself, whatever may be said about the adjective "Imperialistic," I am liever going to be ashamed of the adjective Imperial. In ray view the British Empire, almost unconsciously, as it has happened always before to our race, almost unconscieusly or half-consciously, is now engaged in the greatest political experiment which the world has ever seen. The United States of America have prior title to the claim United States, and that title will for all time be associated with that great and free community, But in truth and in grammar, and if you choose to find out the meaning of your word from the dictionary rather than from common usage the British Empire is more an empire, of United States. than the United States itself. As we all know, the various units' of that great Republic are under a central Government at Washington, and they , have a -common legislature which can within : .certain limits control the destinies of the whole of that great continent. No such experiment is open .to us. Simply for geographical reasons, or largely for geographical reasons—l am sitting between an Australian arid a New Zealander—most distinguished' representatives of those distant parts of the Empire—merely because Australia and New Zealand are at the Antipodes, it is clearly impossible that they should share the intimate day-to-day controversial life of a free people in the Northern, Hemisphere while they, are carrying on similar work in the Southern Hemisphere. A New Political Task.

There cannot bo .precisely and exactly the same relations between "Westminster, and, let us say, Sydney, or Wellington as there are between Washington and San Francisco, or Washington and other of the great cities of the United Slates. Tho dividing ocean flows between; time and distance settle these matters, and no community of thought, however complete,, no similarity of ideas, no identity of language, literature, education, social economy,' can wholly bridge, even with all that modern inventions can do, can wholly Bridge the vast spaces which divide us from' the most distant Dominions of onr ' common Empire. There has been thrown upon us the task owing to this distribution of the Empires territories, whether w© live in ' Australia, New Zealand, the Cape, Canada, or in tlus country a great political responsibility, and a new political task for which there is no paralley in the history of the world. And the question is, shall we be able ■to rise to the height,of these great responsibilities? Now, if we are to do so, two conditions must be fulfilled. One is the material condition. The communications which unite us all together are sea communications, and under no circumstances can -we risk that tlioso great arteries shall he severed by any foe, whoever he may be. (Loud cheers.)

Problem of the German Colonies. It is from that point of view mainly— though certainly not wholly—that I individually, and speaking for myself, face the problem of tho German colonies conquered from Germany by the efforts of Australia, by the efforts of New Zealand, by the ofEorts of South Africa, and bv the efforts of those living in the Motherland. (Cheers.) If those colonics are returned, what Isecurity is there—what security can there be—that they will not be used by their original possessors as bases for piratical, warfare? (Cheers.) • I have given long l.nd anxious thought to this question, and I have seen no answer to it except the answer which I am convincedaal t in this room will give unanimously, which i 6 that under no circumstances is it consistent with the safety, with the security, with tho unity of the British Empire, that the German colonies should be returned to Germany. (Loud cheers.) And please noto this doctrine of which you have just approved by your applause is no selfish or "Inroemlistic" doctrine. It is one in which the interests of the whole civilised world are as closely concerned, or almost as closely concerned, as the interests of the British Empire itself After all, more and more the world is being united by the bonds of commerce, 'of travel, and of mutual intercommunication. Aro these to be at the mercy of a Power which has been bound by no treaty, checked by no scruples, and which is as deaf to its pledged word as to tho voice of humanity and decent methods of warfare? (Cheers.) Therefore, fellow-citizens of mine, drawn from the parts remotest from tho Motherland, all may agree that if we are to remain in our own interests an'd in the interests of the world, in tho highest interest, as I think, of the true progress of liberty, .if we are to remain a united Empire, it is absolutely , necessary that tho wnys by which wo can communicate with each other should never again be at the mercy of any unscrupulous Power. (Cheers.) United Imperial Work. That is the first condition of our successfully carrying, out this great experiment in human organisation known as the British Empire. That is tho material condition; I had almost said physical condition. The other condition is moral. This Empire of ours doe 3 not rest upon force. (Cheers.) It rests upon mutual comprehension; it rests upon mutual attraction; it rests upon the i oommon convictions that sprung from one

origin, owning one system _ of laws, ana*", mated by one system of ideals. It ie our business as a united Empire to carry on, despite the distance, despite all tho material obstacles, with conjoint action— to carry on a great united and Imperial work. I have always cherished this view of our destinies. I have always behoved in its accomplishment. But if twenty years ago I had had to -make a to an audience .like this on an occasion liko the presont, I[ should have had to admit that up to that date, indeed up to a much later date, whatever faitli I had ill the unity of the Empire, I should havo had to admit it had never been put to the strain of any great or overwhelming trial. And tho critics of those days believed that tho British Empire was a purely fair-weather construction, admirable when tho winds were not boating on it or when the floods had been excluded, but Utterly ineffectual really to meet the strain and stress that como on any human organisation from time to time as generations flow on. I had a fainvthat when the time of strain came this great Empire would not prove itself unequal to the task thrown upon it. But I had no proof. Well, whatever else may bo said of these four years of war, thoy have supplied that proof -fully and abundantly. (Cheers.) Enemies' Disappointments, . Onr enemies have had many disappointments; they have had disappointments about the temper and abont the power of the United States; they have .had disappointments about the efficiency and 'supremacy of their own Army. They have had bitter disappointments about the success of their naval and especially l of their submarine warfare. (Cheers.) But I do not know that they hive had any disappointment greater than that of finding that the various free communities which make up our Empire were all without exception prepared to ' throw themselves wholeheartedly into this great strugglo for freedom, and wer# as prepared as the Mother Country to make all the sacrifices whether of men or of money, whether of commerce, whether of wealth —to make all the sacrifices necessary to see that our high Imperial ideals should not be shattered. (Loud cheers.) Ido not believe there was. a single German statesman, occupied as they were for years! before the war in weighing our shortcomings, in analysing our weaknesses, who ever thought that even if Great Britain went into the war she would find fighting by her side Canada, Australasia, South Africa, India, and the whole might of the mighty Empire. (Cheers.) That is one of the greatest disappointments'to them. To me it is much more. It is much more than tho fact that it meant so many more hundreds •of thousands of gallant soldiers were added to our fighting forces, so much more of the resources of the Empire were put at the disposal of the Associated Powere in this great 'war. It is much more; it is the standing proof and evidence that this Empire not only stands for freedom and for peace, hut that in those; rare moments when every effort is required from every citizen, when every man has got to consider that he may be called upon to make the final and ultimate sacrifice of all that he holds dear for some great national cause, it was found that men tof British blood and British birth, members and fellow-citizens of this great Empire, were all one in heart and one in courage in whatever part .of the globe their homes might be found, from wherever they may have drawn, their origin. That is, one of the great heritages of this war. : j ' Bond of Unity. The war will leave us all poorer in wealth, 1 will leave every one of us de-' prived of dear friends, of near relations. It will leave a memory behind of suffering, of agony, of- trials almost too heavy to he bome; but" it will also leave behind a memory of the power which this Umpire lias shown to throw all its strength unselfishly into a great cause. It will leave behind it a memory of Australians and New Zealanders—it is to them 1 am speaking to-day in particular, but not to them alone—of their fighting side by r,ido with their brothers horn in this country, with all our sufferings in a common cause. And I think I may say, without undue arrogance or without unfounded hopes that it will leave us with the expectation and the certitude that these efforts will not be in vain, but will 'be crowned not only by an honourable, but a triumphant and a durable peace. I am glad to have this opportunity of saying to any fellowcountrymen 'from whatever part of the Empire they may be drawn, how deeply I feel the increased sense of unity which now and for all time is going to bind us together. (Lofid cheers.)