282 



SIR CHARLES BRUCE, G.C.M.G., ON 



■Qsed." These dangers he ilhistrated in detail, indicating the 

 true temper in which they should be guarded against. Eor my 

 purpose to-day I define Empire as an aggregate of administrative 

 units, of diverse constituent elements, professing allegiance to a 

 central sovereign authority, and I define the true temper of 

 Empire as a temper which "mingles wisely and in fit proportion'* 

 the sovereignty of the central authority with the liberties of the 

 constituent arers. 



Geographically, the British Empire is an aggregation of 

 scattered territories separated by oceans and continents, subject 

 to every variety of climate, comprising societies fundamentally 

 dissimilar and in every stage of physical, intellectual and 

 economic maturity. Collectively, they include one-fifth of the 

 territorial surface of the globe, and more than one-fifth of its 

 inhabitants, while the natural factors of distinction between the 

 temperate zones and the tropics have determined a political 

 classification into four main groups, approximately exhibited in 

 this table. 





Area in square 

 miles. 



Population. 



United Kingdom 



120,000 



44,500,000 



Dominions ... 



7,500,000 



18,000,000 



Crown Colonies 



1,860,000 



40,000,000 



India 



1,800,000 



300,000,000 



I submit as a self-evident proposition that the existence of the 

 Eritish Empire depends on a recognition of the United Kingdom 

 as the seat of a sovereign authority, and on the methods of 

 exercise of this authority in relation to the Dominions, the 

 Crown Colonies and India. I propose to discuss the true 

 temper of Empire in the exercise of this authority in politics, 

 economics and defence. In the term " politics," I include all 

 that relates to executive, legislative and social functions ; in the 

 term "economics," all that relates to the development and 

 distribution of natural resources ; in the term " defence " ali 

 that relates to the maintenance of internal order and protection 

 against foreign aggression. The temper of the sovereigi:k 

 authority in the United Kingdom in relation to the Dominions 

 has been exhibited in a policy based on a mutual desire that 

 they should remain in the empire, each building up a nationality 

 in its own way, and gradually increasing its autonomy, until a 



