PREFERENTIAL TRADE.
'Imperialism.' I think those of you who know me are aware that my sympathies were not with that section of the party. The divisions to which I have alluded came to a head during the South African War. I went through South Africa in the two months before the war broke out—August and September, 1899—and can tell you of my own knowledge that the Boers went to war trusting in two things: first, in foreign intervention, and, secondly, in a change of Government in this country. The British Navy made foreign intervention impossible. But there is not the remotest doubt that the Boers were induced to prolong the struggle by speeches delivered in this country by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and his friends. Even if the question of Tariff Reform had never been raised, I could never have forgiven Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman for his 'Methods of barbarism.' Our worst enemies were not the Boers in the field, but they were the men, the members of the Liberal Party in this country, who were making speeches such as those to which I have alluded. Lord Rosebery, Sir Edward Grey, Mr. Asquith, and others of the Liberal Party, did their best to counteract the pernicious influence exercised by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and those who thought with him. I endeavoured to do my little part as a member of the Committee of the National Liberal Federation; and I may perhaps be pardoned for mentioning the grounds on which I resigned my seat on the Committee of the Federation last year. I took that step because, in the first place, I believed the resolution on the war which was going to be put at the annual gathering of the Federation would have an injurious effect on
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