Page:Problems of Empire.djvu/179

THE MONTREAL CONGRESS. while there was an immense advance in the commercial prosperity of Great Britain until the last years of the century, the population of Ireland diminished to onehalf. Mr. Childers, a great Liberal statesman, and Chairman of the Financial Relations Commission at the time of his death, was of the opinion that however beneficial the policy of Free Trade might have been to the people of Great Britain, it was not so as regards Ireland. I believe that when we are considering this great question, we ought not to forget the people of Ireland.

To turn to the resolution and the amendment. I sincerely trust that a solution will be found which will enable this resolution to be carried unanimously. It is possible that some of the English delegates may feel that by assenting to the resolution they may be straining the letter of their instructions. I would ask them to consider whether they will be straining their spirit. In my judgment the situation has been profoundly modified from that existing at the time when we received our instructions, by the resolution passed on Monday last. That resolution recognised the duty of the Colonies to participate in the defence of the Empire. But let me observe in parenthesis that we advocates of Imperial Federation in the mother country do not expect any substantial contribution from the Colonies until we are prepared to give them a voice in the control of Imperial expenditure and Imperial policy. That resolution was adopted unanimously through a considerable sacrifice of opinion on the part of some of our Colonial colleagues. Are we English delegates to make no sacrifice in return? If we refuse to give any consideration to that policy which our Colonial colleagues 161