Evening Post. MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1905.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 142, 18 December 1905, Page 6

Evening Post. MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1905.

A SANE IMPERIALISM.

In discussing the chief appointments to Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's ■Ministry when they were announced on Tuesday last, we referred to the oxtraordinary array of talent, which it included, hut the minor offices have been since filled in quite as remarkable a manner. Mr. Thomas Shaw, Mr. John Lawson Walton, K.C., Mr. Edward Robertson, K.C., Mr. Herbert L. Samuel, and Mr. Winston Churchill are all men whose attainments have givon them a standing independent altogether of party politics, and make a considerable addition to the already high intellectual distinction of the new Ministry. The youngest and by no means the least brilliant of the new men is 'Mr. Winston Churchill, who, though only thirty-one years of age, and member of the Unionist party until last year, has been given by the Liberal leader the important position of Under-Secrelary for the Colonies. Though the Canadians, like most other people, have been agieeably surprised by the excellence of the Ministry a» a whole, we aro told that " hardly nny | of tho Canadian newspapers comment favourably on My. Winston Churchill's appointment." It cortaiuly cannot be said of the now Under-sociotary in the Colonial Office, as The Times says of his superior officer, " his record is perfectly free from partisan speeches." So clear is Lord Elgin's record iv this respect that he is an unknown quantity from the colonial standpoint, but the excellence of his Indian administration 'makes us very roady to take him on trust and to hope for tho best. Canadian coolness towards Mr. Churchill, however, is not surprising under the circumstances. Ho is a very youthful offshoot of an ancient stock, which has combined brilliance and uncertainty in about equal proportions ; and ever since Mr. Chamberlain launched his fiscal propaganda no critic has treated it with more uncompromising candour than Mr, Churchill. An Canada is the only colony where Mr. Chamberlain's doctrines appear to have taken any hold at all, or, to put it more accurately, the only colony betraying any inclination to put into helpful practice the sentimental or selfish tenderness which nearly ail colonists naturally feel towards them, it is not surprising that Canadian opinion should look comewhat askanco at the elevation of Mr. Chamberlain's youthful assailant to the second place in the Colonial Office. Yet we shall be disappointed if this not tinnatuinl distrust does not thaw before the new Undur-Secretary has teen many months in office. The speech which he was reported on Saturday as having made to the City Liberal Club appears to up indeed to strike exactly the right note — a note as definitely Imperialist as that of Mr. Chamberlain himself, basing the opposition to his policy on equally high Imperial ground. "Fieotrade and selfgoverning peace,"' said Mr. Churchill, "would bo tho principle governing tinLiberal Government's colonial policy, the nation giving with an open hand and an open bean, all it had a right to give— its protection, credit, and groat free market, and asking no price, diiving no bangain, seeking no calculated repayment." Whether one agrees or disagrees with this declaration of policy, it cannot bis justly termed either narrow or pusillanimous or parochial. It must never be forgotten that despite that neglect of the colonies by the British Liberals which, during the last thirty years, has made the average colonist at once d Radical in his own country und a Conservative in Imperial politics, it is to the Liberal Parly that the colonies owq t'lio perfect autonomy which, next 1o the protection of the British flag, is the inoEt priceless posa&Mon they have gob , and it is no mere coincidence that the Liberals of Great Britain stand us one man to-day in defene*^ JJ»»i;_idcai

Is any preferential scheme possible which will not diminish the perfect freedom at present enjoyed by the colonies in the matter of their tariffs? To tighten to galling point the bonds which now hold the Empire together in fiee and easy fashion would be a very simple matter, but neither harmony nor strength would be promoted in that way, and the Btatesrnen in the Old Country who have emphasised this danger are just as much entitled to the gratitude of the colonies as Mr. Chainbsrlain with his insistence upon dangers of an opposite kind. "Let me point out," said Mr. Asquith in his first reply to Mr. Chamberlain, "that the colonies have no grievance of any kind against us. We give them free admission through our open door into the largest and best market in the whole world. On the other hand, they have at home complete fiscal autonomy. For my part, I believe if they had not had it, the Empire would not have kept together so long. They have complete fiscal aulunumy, and in the exercise of that freedom the large majority of them have erected protective tariffs,' not only against foreign nations, but also against the Mother Country. 1 do not complain of that for a moment. If you give your colonies freedom, as you were right to do, you must allow them to exercise it in accordance with lot'al sentiments and local opinion." Mr. Chamberlain's original programme proposed an express limitation of that freedom by asking the colonies not to foster any new industry that might compete with those of the Old Land ; the Liberals would like to see us all freetraders, but_ they desire to impose no pressure, "asking no price, driving no bargain, seeking no calculated repayment." An Imperialism which watches with the utmost jealousy any infringement whatever on the autonomy of any member of the Imperial union ia not as well calculated Iv roust the enthusiasm of the music-halls as the tariff patriotism which beats the big drum ; but colonists should be the last persons to deny that the one ideal is just as Imperial and just as much entitled to respect as the other.

The news from Russia indicates further advance of the revolutionary movement. Sporadic as the various outbreaks may appear, there seem to be signs of an amount of co-ordination implying intelligent leadership. Riga, with inhabitants numbering over a quarter of a million, in point of population the sixth city in the Empire, and one of its principal ports — the key of the Baltic provinces — seems the chief source of anxiety. It is now the scene of fierce lighting, .and much Government property hr.s been destroyed by the insurgents, who havo cut ofi all communication save by sea. The Governor has urgently called for reinforcements, and the warships at Libau, some two hundred miles away, have been ordered to the scene of disturbance. Whether they will prove to be of any real .assistance remains to be seen. One-fourth only of the population of Riga is Russian, and there is nearly an equal proportion of Letts, the remainder consicting chiefly of Germans. Riga itself is not a very practicable port, especially about this season. Large vessels etinnot enter at any time, and have to discharge at a point some fifty miles au^', and tho harbour is frozen up on an average four months in tha year. Having cut off land communications, therefore, the insurgents have gained a great advantage. The Tsar has given sound advice to a reactionary deputation, and has referred to his own "inflexible, unchangeable will." Unfortunataly, words alone and the soundest of advice are now of little avail. The date of the rising at St. Petersburg appears to have been fixed, for the authorities at the capital aro arming additional police to act as troops on 22nd January next. They may fairly be expected on that fateful day to attach themselves to whichever may appear to be the stronger pide. Meantime the complicity of tho Government in the recent outrages at Tiflis against Jews and Moslems, the latter including many Ottoman subjects, has brought about complications with the Porte, which will not tend to diminish the perplexities of Kaiser Wilhelra, who of all men outside Russia is probably the most deeply interested in her internal affairs. From Central Russia the news to-day is equally unpromising. There has been trouble at Moscow, the commercial capital, all along, and now the lailway men and Cossacks aro reported io be in actual conflict, whilo the Rostoff Grenadier vegiuient is in open mutiny, has seized the arbenal and its contents, and with a machine gun drawn up in front of tho barracks appears to have practically "taken charge."