Page:The empire and the century.djvu/871

 alone. They represent expenditure, and the public is the ultimate paymaster.

We halt between two uncertainties, and it is a matter of doubt whether the public, as it gains further knowledge, will force on the administration, or whether in this matter it will be for the administration to lead the public. The situation is perhaps hardly ripe for action. But a great opportunity is preparing itself, and the statesman who first sees his way to formulate a constructive policy of tropical development which shall command the confidence of the country is likely to live in British memory as the leader of one of the most important movements to which our colonial history has given rise.