England and her Colonies.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XX, Issue 6439, 25 December 1895, Page 1

England and her Colonies.

SPEECH BY MR CHAMBERLAIN. Mr Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, was the principal guest, on the 6th November, at a dinner given by Mr Walter Peace, CMC;:, the AgentGeneral for Natal, in celebration of the completion of the Natal-Transvaal railway. In replying to the toast of his health, Mr Chamberlain said :—" This occasion has been honored by the presence of the representatives of the sister colonies, who are here to offer words of sympathy and encouragement—(hear, hear) — and in view of the representative character of the gathering I think, perhaps, I may be permitted—especially as this is the first occasion on* which I have publicly appeared in my capacity as Minister for the Colonies—(loud- cheers)—l may be permitted to offer a few words of general application. (Hear, hear.) I think it will not be disputed that we are approaching a critical stage in the history of the relations between ourselves and the selfgoverning colonies. We are entering upon a chapter of our colonial history the whole of which will be written in the next few years, and certainly in the next generation, which will be one of the most important in our colonial annals; but upon the events and the policy that it describes will depend the future of the British Empire. (Hear, hear.) That Empire, gentlemen that world-wide dominion to which no Englishman can allude without a thrill of enthusiasm and patriotism —(hear, hear) —which has been the admiration and perhaps the envy of foreign nations —hangs together by a thread so slender that it may well seem that even a breath would sever it. There have been periods in our history, not so very far distant, when leading statesmen, despairing of the possibility of maintaining anything in the nature of a permanent union, have, looked forward to the time when the vigorous communities to which they rightly entrusted the control of their own destinies would grow strong and independent, would assert their independence and would claim entire separation from the parent stem. The time to which they looked forward has arrived sooner than they expected. The conditions to which they referred have been more than fulfilled, and now these great communities, having within them every element of national life, .have taken their rank amongst the nations of the world ; and I do not suppose that anyone would reckon the . idea of compelling them to remain with the Empire as within the reach of intelligent speculation." (Hear, hear.)' Continuing, Mr Chamberlain said : "And yet, although, as I have said, the time has come and the conditions have been fulfilled, the results which those statesmen anticipated have not occurred. (Cheers.) They felt perhaps overwhelmed by the growing burden of the vast dominions of the British Crown. They may well have shrunk from the responsibilities and the obligations which it involved, and so it happened, at any rate, that some of them looked forward not only without alarm, but with hopeful expectation to the severance of the union which now exists. But if such feelings were ever entertained, they are most certainly entertained no longer. (Loud cheers). As the possibility of separation has become greater, the desire for separation has become less — (renewed cheers) —and w'hile we on our parted are prepared to take our part and to do all that may be fairly expected from the mother country, and while we should look upon the separation as the, greatest calamity that could befall us, our fellotosubjects throughout the world on their part see to what a great inheritance they have come by the mere virtue of their citizenship, and they most feel that ho separate existence, however splendid, could compare with, that which they enjoy equally with ourselves as'joint heirs of all the traditions oi ; the past, and as joint partakers of all the influence, resources, and power of the British Empire. (Loud cheers.) Gentlemen, I rejoice that the change has taken place. I rejoice at the wider patriotism, no longer confined to these small islands, which embraces the whole of Greater Britain and which has carried into every clime British institutions and the best characteristics of the British race. (Cheers.) How could it be otherwise. We have a common origin, we have a common history, a common language, a common literature, a common love of liberty and law.. (Cheers.) We have common principles to assert, we have common interests to maintain."