The Hastings Standard. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 1903. ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES.

Hastings Standard, Volume VIII, Issue 3092, 3 August 1903, Page 2

The Hastings Standard. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 1903. ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES.

I A large number of men there are to whom office adds importance, and some lev.' who dignify an office by miusing ilijir c .vn force; ulness into l he. di!ii..; ci-nneeled with it, enlarging its iiSL'i"-: vital beyond, the sphere 01 its previous influence. Of this latter class is Mr Joseph Chamberlain who, although almost sixty when he assumed subordina! e Cabine! rank. rosary'-. ti:-:\*. rtinur. in the British !iiivi-a;:U'i;i hi;.-;, during his tenure oi' oiiice, raised io- i.ieparl menl from ;i i.-!i:,]pi-.r.i!iv."i;. iiisi-rnifieant factor i:i the governing ma'.hiaery to the very phot on which th;i future of the Bn tish Kmpire re-vs. a:<d his Colonial policy has electrified Kuropc into painful anxiety regarding develop-

nicnts fraught will] menace to tbe ; r irauie with England and her world wide dependencies. Mis recent, declaration regarding preferential trade with the colonies has set. the political parties in Great Britain by the ears, and the whole Empire is now in a. high fever of debate dissecting the question and eagerly contending on cither sides that the Empire's .downfall will result from the success or their opponents. Although the proposals seemed to have come down upon the nations like a thunder clap, the enthusiastic manner in which the pronouncement was received, and the strenuousness of Us discussion, proves, above" all things, that the country was ripe for a change in its fiscal policy, and that, it was the instinctive Statecraft of the Colonial Secretary, in springing his scheme at the exact moment, rather than the masterfulness of a powerful Minister, that cau sed his proposals to he received by such a large section of the Empire as a means to the fast anil firm unity, of the British Empire. In this regard it is dif&cuHi to see what Sir William Hiarcourt means when, according to to-day's cables, he writes :—" Since the colonies are united to the Motherland in the bonds of brotherhood, pride, and affection, Mr Chamberlain's plan to unite them by obligations of interest is superfluous, while the means proposed will be mischievous to the centre of the Empire.'' If anyone, in a less important public position than Sir William Ilarcourt, spoke such nonsense, his utterance would have been ignored. Underlying the sentimentalities of the colonies with the Motherland, there is a deep sub-sttrata of self-interest, as represented by trade and there is no use in closing one's eyes to the fact that, should Britain and her colonies ever come into conflict on vital trade questions, they would feel as little compunction in "dropping the pilot" as did the American colonics in 1783. A stronger, if perhaps a baser, thread must be woven with the silk in the bonds that unite our States, and, in this

commercial age, the necessity. lor pla cing the Empire on the more solid foundations of mutual interests, must ultimately be recognised and accepted as the foundation of the most modern fiscal policy.