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PROBLEMS OF EMPIRE. have so much at heart, this Congress will end in failure; if, on the other hand, a solution can be found agreeable both to the supporters of the resolution and of the amendment, this Congress will end as it began, with a most important step in the direction of Imperial unity, a desire for which has been so common a feature in our discussions, and a cause to which some of us, at any rate, have devoted and intend to devote the best energies of our lives.

I hope that the members of the Canadian Manufacturers' Association will not judge me too harshly if I discuss the Imperial Trade question from the British rather than the Canadian standpoint, and that I may be allowed to make a few preliminary remarks on the subject of Imperial Federation.

It is sixteen years ago since I first became associated with Dr Parkin, in the advocacy of Imperial Federation. After travelling through the length and breadth of the British Empire, I came to the conclusion that the Empire could only remain united by the recognition of two principles—first, that every part of the Empire has a right to manage its own internal affairs; and, second, that each part has the right to a voice in the control of Imperial expenditure and Imperial policy, subject to the condition that it bears its fair share of Imperial burdens.

For some years I have thought that the burden of defending the Empire was becoming too heavy for the taxpayers of the mother country alone. Russia, 162