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 only in the sense of an equal national status, might be regarded as a step towards federation. The other essential feature of federation, namely, the association of citizens as units, distinguished from the association of States as units, always on the basis of equality, may take a long time to appear in practice, as Mr. Deakin admits. It never can appear as the outcome of a negative policy. Nor is it likely to appear if the principle of alliance is found to satisfy all practical requirements. The conditions of the British Empire are quite different from those which have produced the classical examples of federation. For immediate purposes it is enough if we realize in what respects the present Imperial system fails to meet practical requirements, and to what extent any specific proposal, if carried out, would modify the prospect of fixture developments. Judged by such tests, the Imperial Conference seems to offer a sound principle of organization for the time being. It seems calculated to subserve the two great Imperial ideals—namely, the peaceful and sympathetic development of kindred democracies and the future of British administration in the tropics.