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SIE CHAELES BRUCE, G.C.M.G., ON 



must be remembered that during the 'sixties the idea of 

 separation had grown to be a fixed purpose. This decision was 

 immediately followed by the gradual withdrawal of all the 

 Imperial troops from the self-governing colonies, a process 

 practically completed in 1870. In the Crown Colonies, where 

 it was found impossible to withdraw the Imperial troops, the 

 military contribution was fixed on the basis of a capitation rate 

 for each man on the strength, varying according to the branch 

 of the service to which he belonged, and varying also in the 

 different colonies. This system was a source of constant 

 irritation, and has since been abandoned in favour of a con- 

 tribution representing a percentage of the gross revenues of 

 the colonies subject to certain deductions. As regards the 

 Dominions, the question of their contribution is the gravest of 

 the subjects submitted to the consideration of the Imperial 

 Conference. 



The conclusions of the Departmental Committee of 1859, 

 were summed up by Sir Charles Adderley (afterwards Lord 

 Norton) in a recommendation : — " That every part of the 

 Empire should raise its own means of defence at home and at 

 the sound of danger all should be ready to rally round the 

 threatened point, the ocean being our proper medium of national 

 inter-communication, and every enemy being made aware that 

 on his temporary success in any quarter, the vengeance of the 

 whole Empire waits," I conceive that this proposition expresses 

 the true temper of Empire, but it has not always been accepted. 

 In reviewing Seeley's Expansion of England, published in 1883, 

 Viscount Morley wrote, " What is the common bond that is to 

 bring the Colonies into a Federal Union ? ... Is it possible to 

 suppose that the Canadian lumberman and the Australian 

 sheep-farmer will cheerfully become contributors to a Greater 

 Britain fund ? ... Is there any reason to suppose that South 

 Africa would contribute towards the maintenance of cruisers ? 

 No, we may depend upon it that it would be a mandat im'p^ratif 

 on every federal delegate not to vote a penny for any war, or 

 preparation for war, that might arise from the direct or indirect 

 interests of any colony but his own." History has signally 

 falsified this prediction, and I venture to believe that the recom- 

 mendation of Sir Charles Adderley's Committee commands the 

 unanimous assent of the Imperial Conference. With that body 

 it rests to find the practical methods of carrying it out. It will 

 be a work of time. Sir Donald Wallace in The Weh of Empire 

 relates that a Canadian minister once said to him, " Believe me, 

 the best way of strengthening the Empire is not to rush into 



