350 VENEZUELA AND AFTER 



imperial unity. A general system of naval and 

 military organization and action has been put 

 into operation; tariff preferences, varying in 

 scope and volume, have been generally estab 

 lished in reciprocity among the subordinate 

 members of the empire, with the United King 

 dom enjoying in most cases a unilateral ad 

 vantage; a great impulse has been given to 

 exclusively British lines of communication and 

 transportation. These and many other in 

 stances of consolidating activity reveal the 

 widely scattered dominions of the British crown, 

 though geographically so discontinuous, as a 

 very effective unity. 



In the process through which imperial unity 

 has been practically realized there has been 

 a mighty, if subtle, reaction of the colonial 

 spirit upon the motherland. Canada, South 

 Africa, Australia, New Zealand are democratic 

 in their social structure and their political 

 ideals. Two of them embody the most ad 

 vanced democracies in the world. An im 

 perial council in which a leading part is played 

 by the chosen representatives of such com 

 munities must inevitably take color in its 

 resolutions from the programme of radicalism. 

 The colonial secretary who goes from a dis- 



