Australia's Destiny 273 



ally as a naval subsidy, and New Zealand only 

 pays an amount in proportion. Yet all the 

 Colonies gladly combined to bear the cost of an 

 Imperial line of cable, in the administration of 

 which they were allowed some voice. 



These instances of Colonial sentiment and 

 Colonial policy are advanced merely in explana- 

 tion of the manner in which the Boer War 

 changed the Australian outlook upon the world 

 outside. It brought home at once the reality of 

 the Imperial tie and the unsubstantial nature of 

 the Imperial fabric. It showed, as nothing else 

 could have done, the desirability of an Imperial 

 Federation, and the obstacles that existed in the 

 way of such a Federation. 



Australia to-day is halting on the path towards 

 Imperial unity. Rightly or wrongly, the Aus- 

 tralian believes that in order to enter into closer 

 relations with the Mother Country he will have 

 to lay aside that striving for race purity which is 

 an instinct with him. Since the Federation of 

 the Australian States was accomplished, the whole 

 history of the world has been rewritten for Aus- 

 tralia. A new Power has grown up in the Pacific. 

 In the sudden rise of Japan, the Australian dis- 

 cerns the most sombre menace to all his most 

 cherished ideals. From the Australian's point of 

 view, the position is an intricate and difficult one. 

 Almost in the moment when the Commonwealth 

 was deciding that the Japanese was not a desirable 

 citizen for Australia, and passing legislation to 



