MR CHAMBERLAIN'S BIRMINGHAM. SPEECH.

Taranaki Herald, Volume L, Issue 12290, 24 June 1903, Page 2

MR CHAMBERLAIN'S BIRMINGHAM. SPEECH.

The London Times of "May 22 contains the following report of Mr Chamberlain's slpeecli whidh gave rise to the preferential trade controversy : —'Mr Chamberlain last Friday ad/dressed a great meeting of his constituents in the Birmingham Town Hall. After referring at some length to his experiences and impressions 'd.uri'ng his South African journey, he said his ideas still ran more on the questions connected with the ftitairc of the Empire than on iihe smaller local controversies about education, temperance reform, ali'd finance, which he found agitating 1 the minds of people in this country. Our Imperial . policy was rital to our colonies, and vital to us. Upon that policy and upon what we did during the next iew years defended the enormous isslie whether this great Empire was io stanid together, one free nation against all the worfcl, or to full apart into separate States eaoh selfisihly seeking its own interest. Disputing the serious significance of recent by-elections, he saild :— Let me say in all seriousness, that if I were- assfurad that the- main lines of our Imperial 1 andr national policy, those things which touch our existence were assured, if, I co;uld tell that tliere was 'thai, continuity in foreign antt Colonial policy which I have known to. exist in pas.l -iim^s, I for one .should be very willing\.indet£l to allow to my political opponents "their chance in >their turn to try. theft 1 ' i^aritis at the difficult domestic, ptobleins \vi:h which we have to -deal. After eight years of I such strenjiioius work, |«a telUom fa 1 Is to the lot of a politldmn. f oans-ay for myself, and 1 believe [ can say for all my colleagues, that I would rejoice if I could bo Tfilioved, ax all events, for a time, anicl^if I could oecxipy '"' instead of the post of a pro- ; minont actor the much, more easy ' and less responsible ' post of .universal I critic. j THE OPPOSITION : THE EMPIRE. But w&at do I want in oi'der to face the future not only without regret but I with absolute relief and rejoicing ? I want to know that the party which would tajlcc our place has frartkly [abandoned that disastrous policy of Homo Rule (hear, hear), which wdulri begin by 1 the disruption of the United Kingdom and which, would end in the disruption of the Em^re (hear, hear); for, believe me, it is borne in upon me now more than ,e|ver, you cannot wea l ken tho centre without destroying all that depends lipoii the centre! If vtou want an Empire you must be strong and united ,at home. ('Hear, hear.) If reparation begins, here, take my word for it will not &tp>p here. The Empire , itself will bo dissolved into its component atoms..', lt I could believe, however, that dfxv opponents had frankly abandoned Home Rule— if Sir Henry Cauvpbell-Bannerman, as the leader of the party, sihaulid divest himself of that cUrio/us antagonism to everything British (Hoar, hear, arid laughter)' which makes him the frienid of every country but his own — if I thought that his follpwers were animated by that broader patriotism by which alone our Empire can be held together, then, indeed .'I wotald be the first to sing riunc dimittis. (Sear, hear.) But this assurance is- wanting. (Hear, hear!) " I have "read with care a iv l interest all the sSpee,Cihes tWt haVo been made by Ohe leaders of the Liberal party; anfd in none of them , ido I l\m\ a frank acceptance of that national and Imperial policy which I believo at the present time is the fix-sit necessity of ' a united kingidom. As long as that is the case, however ajnx\cms 1 may be personally for rest, I confess I cannot look forward without dread to Standing over the sequrity and oxistenco of this great Empire to the hands of those who have made cooninon cause with its enemies (hear, hear), who have charged their own coiuntrymen with methods of barbarism (hear, hear), and who apparently have been untouched by that pervading sentiment which I foiind everywhere where the British flag floats a'nfcl which has done so much in recent years to 'draw us together. I should not require to go to South Africa m oiidcr to be convinced that this feeling haK obtained deep hold on the minds anld hearts of our children beyond the seas. It has had a hard life of it. This feeling of Imperial patriotism was checked for a generation by the apathy and the indifference which were the characteristics of our former relations with our colonies. It was «lisooaraged vby our apparent acceptance of the doctrines ,of the Little Englanders, of the provincial spirit which tajught us to consider ourselves alone txnd to regard with indifference all that concerned those,' however lo>al they miglht bo, .who loft these shores m order to go to our colonies abroad. But it was never extinguished. The embers wore still alight. And when in the lale war this* old country of ours nhowod that i'fc was still possessed by the spirit of our ancestors, showed thai it was still prepared to count v.o saorifice that was nectary in ordor t6 maintain tho honour and the mtores'!s of the Kmipife that was committed to its charge, then you found

a response from your brethren, your children across the seas/ a response sjuch as has . not been ' v known before, that astonished the wdrld by a proof an undeniable proof, of aiYection and, regard. (Cheery), „I'liave. siaid that that was a "new chapter, the beginning- of a new era." Is -it" to e'nfcl' there? (•'No.") Is it to'dnd with the end of the war, with the termination of the crisis that brought.it forth? Are we to sink that with the old policy of selfish isolation, which went very ar to dry and &k&\ to saip the loyalty of our Colonial brethren ? I do not think sso. I think these larger issues touch the people of this country. I think they have awakened to the enormous irrfportance of a creative time like the present, taking advantage of the opportunities that are offered in order to make permanent what has begun so well. Remember, we are a j kin«dom, an olid country. We proceed here upon settled lines. We have our quarrels and our disputes anjd we pass legislation which may be g-009 or bail, but which, at any rate, can :»e altered; btut we go towards an object which is sufficiently defined. We know that whatever changes there may be, whatever meandering of the current, at all events the main stream ultimately readies its appointed destination. That is* the result of centuries of constitutional progress and foeed'onv btat the Empire is not old. The Empire is new, the Empire is in its infancy: Now is the time when we can moiuld that Emjpire and when we and those, wiho live with us can deicifcie it 9 future : clesrtiaiiea.