That would prove that in England they did not regard this
great question as one of party politics. One of the most important
results in connection with that League had been the celebrated
Colonial Conference, which the League had been able to induce the
Government to summon two years ago at Westminster. They all knew
what a remarkable gathering that was, which was presided over by
Lord Knutsford (then Sir Henry Holland), the summons being
responded to by the self-governing Colonies of the Empire sending
their foremost men to represent their interests. From South Africa
were sent such men as Sir Thomas Upington, Sir John Robinson, and
Mr. Hofmeyr, and he confessed that, when he had the honour of being
at the first meeting of the Conference, and seeing these men
gathered in the Foreign Office, and having present the Prime
Minister, Lord Salisbury, if his dream of Imperial Federation was
to be anything more than a dream, he felt that these were the first
symptoms of its realization. It was the first time in history that
the Colonies of Great Britain had come to the Mother Country to
consult on great National questions.
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