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|All Rights Reserved.! THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

J}Y THE RIGHT HON. SIR CHARLES

W. DILKE, Bart., M.P.

Author of " Greater Britain," &c.

I.— BIRD'S-EYE VIEW.

The British Empire, with its recent extensions in the form of protectorates and spheres of influence, has an area of nearly four Europes, public levenues of 260 millions sterling (without counting the vas>t sums raised in the United Kingdom for local rates), a population of 400 millions, and half the sea-borne trade of tho world. It stands at the top of almost every scale by which Powers are estimated, except indeed as regards its military strength in land forces ; the total war strength of the British Empire, apart from armed police, being almost exactly the same as the peace footing of the Russian Empire— namely, 950,000 men. The British Empire produces almost every requirement of man, and stands first among tho Powers in wheat, wool, timber, tea (as far as value goes,— having displaced China), coal and iron (in both of which the. United States runs us close), and, perhaps, now gold. Tho doubt as to gold may come as a surprise to some. Our goldfields in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, India, and even British Guiana, the Gold Coast, and some of oar smaller colonies, aie so well advertised that it is a little startling to find that the United States, who do not talk much about their gold in present times, Btill produce almost as much as we do in our whole Empire, and that Russia produces half as much. Not only is there a close race as regards iron between ourselves and the United States, but in steel they have now beaten us out of the field. In silver we are nowhere as compared with the United States. In precious stones, and most of the minerals besides those which I have named, we stand first. In tobacco we stand second to Spain, and in coffee, sugar, and other articles very high. With regard to sugar, the wails of the ¥/est Indian planters have made many think that our sugar iiidustiy lias been destroyed by the bounties of the Protectionist Powers; but, whilst West Indian sugar has been pining, British sugar raised in Fiji, in Queensland, and in some other colonies, lias been inez-easing fast in bulk, and there is not that falling oft' in total production which might be expected to judge from the complaints. The colonising mania which has seized on Germany and France, and had seized on the Italians, who have recovered after a bad fit, cannot confer on France and Germany an empire similar to our own, because the best places were already in British hands. German colonisation has up to the present time been singularly unsuccessful ; French colonisation has at great cost added an enormous African territory to the French Republic, but one which is unlikely to yield a fair return upon the efforts which it has involved. The only country which possesses a domain which can be compared with our own is Russia, who not only has an enormous amount of agricultural and mineral resource in her Asiatic territory, but has the immense advantage over us of possessing that territory in a contiguous form, and being practically impregnable and almost unassailable by her enemies. The position which we should hold, had we, as we ought to have, a fleet absolutely supreme against every possible combination, belongs to Russia without the expenditure of money upon ships. She could not be vitally dama<,«- 1 even if her army were far smaller than it is, and as matters stand she could hardly be hurt at all.

The immense wealth of the United States and the energy of her people make her a more formidable rival than mere , extent of territory would imply, for in extent of territory the United States is biit equal to Canada or to Australia. Of Canada a large extent is subject to a heavy winter or is actually barren. On the other hand she possesses not only the vast agricultural resources which are known, but mineral resources which we know as yet but little, and which may possibly be found to rival those of the United States. The American union may in time come to exert a leadership over the whole of Central and South America, and in this way may bring within her orbit a much larger territory and resources infinitely greater than her own ; but there is a good deal of resistance, and her supremacy in The Americas, although probable, may lie a long way ahead. The development of Russia, though rapid, is not likely to be more rapid than our own. But that Germany and France can continue to go the pace of the other Powers is hardly to be supposed, while no other country is worth naming in the comparison.

The influence of our laws and race in the future of the world are beyond dispute. They are continued even by the rival Power #f the United States. Whatever might happen to the fabric of the British Empire, SAustralasia could not be destroyed ; and the position of Australia and New Zealand in the southern hemisphere and in the Pacific nnist colour the future of half the world.

The British Empire outside the United Kingdom of which I have to write consists, of course, of the Indian Empire, of the 11 Self-governing Colonies, and of the Crown Colonies, and in addition to these, of many Protectorates and spheres of influence, some of which are under the control of the Foreign, some of the Colonial, and some of the Indian Offices. Their strange and divergent forms of government I shall contrast in the next chapter. It is not easy to form any estimate of the cost to us of our empire across the seas. Many of the stations, such as Gibraltar and Malta, aro held for military reasons, and can hardly lie looked upon in any light except as being on the same footing as our fleets. With regard to many of our coaling .stations it is difficult to allot the military expenditure which belongs to them as portions of the Empire and that which is expended because they are necessary to the protection of our f-e'i-bm no trade, which trade might exist and flourish even if we had no dependencies across tho fc-ij. fv>, too, with tho co.sl of the French and Gemum colonies; it is not easy to say what it is. Algeria is

in some degree governed as though it were a part of France itself, and military expenditure in Algeria, which is very great, cannot be separated from the expenditure on the French land forces at home, because the army corps which, in timo of peace, is stationed in Algeria, is utilised in Europe in time of war, and its place taken by territorial levies, supposing that the sea communications of France with Algeria are not cut, as they might be cut by a British fleet. The French expenditure upon colonies is on a much higher scale than our own, and money has been poured forth like water by France in the French Soudan or back country of Senegal. It has been computed that the French colonies cost over a million sterling in addition to the expenditure from the Estimates of the War Office and Ministry of Marine. The German colonies which are mainly new, and chiefly African, also cost a large sum of money for very intangible results. The German tiMe with tho German colonies is very .small, and the German civil population in Geiman colonies almost non-exi&lent.

No country possesses a dominion which j in the least resembles India, and a compari- j son with the Russia.ii Caucasus and Siberia, j taken together, would more fit the case of • India than any comparison with the colonies , or dependencies of any European nation. The moral to be drawn from the circumstances which have been described is that the growth in the popular mind of the ideal of what, in his admirable " History of British Colonial Policy," Mr Hugh Egerton calls j "a world-empire, sea-girt, and resting on,, the ccmwuid of the sea," forms, as he says, | ,nu answer to the " recrudescence of militarism amongst the Continental Powers." To the marvellous Empire, of which I have named tho leading statistical facts, the name of Greater Britain is now often given, although in common use it is applied only to that Empire with the deduction of the United Kingdom. When I first used the term in writing, in 1866-7, the book which I published under that .title in 1868, I included under Greater Britain the countries inhabited by our race, and having our speech and our common law, which are under a different political flag. Popular usage is. however, too strong to give any support to a possible attempt to use the term " Greater 1)" ii jin" as I first used it in 1863 for the countries oi English speech and English law in addition to those of British rule, and as Mr Egerton says of the British Empire " Perhaps the words 'Greater Britain' best describe the new point of view. Aworltlempire, tlic separate points of v/iiicK are being more and more closely linked by ihe discoveries of science. Enjoying in each ' separate part absolute independence, connected not by coercion or paper bulwarks, '; but by common origin and sympathies, by j a common loyalty and patriotism, and by | common efforts after common purposes, j such, amidst much to alarm and to disturb, ! is the apparent outcome of history, the co- J lonial policy with which Great Britain will [ enter trpon the untrodden paths of a new century." The phrase " Greater Britain," if it is not thoroughly clear to us at home, is still less understood abroad. Those wlio } profess to understand it in foreign countries , find it exasperating, and those who are called j upon to translate it into a foreign tongue meet with difficulty. Last winter, for example, the Figaro rendered the phrase into . French and back again by way of making it clear: —La Plus Grande Bretagne — The Highest Britannia." The question how far this strange empire, of which we find ourselves more or less in j possession by a process of historical accre- ' tion, can be more closely knit together is one which has not unnaturally occupied the best minds of the country. The better the t impulse and the more poetic the soul of the t statesman concerned, the more likely ho is ' to conceive a close union, not only as desir- ■ able, but possible. The more he knows the 1 component parts of the Empire, and ' especially India, on the one hand, and the great self-governing colonies of Australia , on the other, the more inclined lie is to doubt the feasibility of a nearer connection, unless it be merely one for purposes of defence. Proposals for a political union, legislative or even administrative, have recently declined in favour ; and were for a time replaced by plans for a customs union which themselves seem to have seen their ' best days, and which we shall discuss in the j conclusion.

The closer union of the Empire for the purposes of defence is well within view, and war would rapidly bring it into shape. Why, however, it may be asked, should Aye wait for that calamity to loke steps which all concerned admit would be taken then? Not only are our military forces unorganised' as regards any close connection between the forces of the self-governing colonies, of the Home country, and of India, but even in the territories which are administered from Home there is an increasing want of unity of action. The Foreign Office for some time lias had its armies in British East Africa, in Uganda, and in the Central Africa Protectoiate. The Colonial Office has long had some military forces of its own, not under War Office command, and has this year greatly increased them by the creation of the West Africa Frontier Force. Surely the time has come for welding these armies, the Indian army and the armies of the self-governing colonies, into one great force, so far as general direction goes. As for fleets, the Australian colonies contribute towards a local squadron, which, however, the Admiralty is not allowed to move upon intelligible principles of maritime strategy. The Cape has recently offered to contribute an ironclad ship without restriction, and the only counter proposal in South Africa, which has been made by the Dutch leader, Mr Hofmoyer, is itself a proposal for large assistance towards a most pressing matter of Imperial defnee — a British cabl to the Cape, instead of the present detached cables which, all of- them, touch foreign ground.

In the next article I shall treat of Tho Indian Empiie: ;md shall eoui r.H 'w lib if? autocratic forms the slrangel/ divergent systems of government which flourish in other parts of the Qiion's dominions. CIUEI/ICS W. DILKE.

Sorqeanl Shirlpj', who lias been slationecl in Dunedin for pome timo pftfX, has been transferred to Wrllinvlon. XLis placo will bo taken l>y .Sergeant Mulviilo, who was stationed I in JDunodin a couplo of years ago, *

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18980818.2.90

Bibliographic details

Otago Witness, Issue 2320, 18 August 1898, Page 24

Word Count
2,201

|All Rights Reserved.! THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Otago Witness, Issue 2320, 18 August 1898, Page 24

|All Rights Reserved.! THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Otago Witness, Issue 2320, 18 August 1898, Page 24

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