PROBLEMS OF EMPIRE.
Majesty's Government had made, and the same views which I held were shared by every member of my council. My instructions, however, were perfectly clear, and I had to require each member to vote against his conviction, and in support of the claims of Her Majesty's Government.' That is an instance of the way in which our Crown Colonies may be governed.
It is the interest of few Members of Parliament to move in questions of this kind, because they know full well that few of their constituents have any knowledge of them or pay any heed to them. Therefore, in my belief, our system of Imperial Government is as bad for the Crown Colonies as it is for those other parts of the Empire that we have been discussing.
We have seen that our system of Imperial Government is unsatisfactory to our great self-governing Colonies as well as to India and those parts of Greater Britain which are not able to govern themselves; to the former because they have no constitutional share in that government, to the latter because their affairs are managed without the knowledge and attention which their importance demands.
An imperial Parliament necessary.But is not the Government of Greater Britain as unsatisfactory to us English Liberals as the Government of Great Britain and Ireland. We Englishmen do not wish to shirk our Imperial responsibilities. We know that it would be impossible for our teeming population to exist in this small island if it were not for our great possessions in every quarter of the globe; if it were not for our great over-sea commerce, which brings us the raw materials for our manufactures and the bread that we eat. We wish to see Greater Britain well governed,14
