Ever since I traversed those
great regions which own the sway of the British Crown outside these
islands, I have felt that there was a cause, which merited all the
enthusiasm and energy that man could give to it. It is a cause for
which any one might be content to live; it is a cause for which, if
needs be, any one might be content to die." Lord Rosebery was at
this moment the President of the Imperial Federation League, and
only recently he addressed a letter, on behalf of the League, to
Lord Salisbury, asking that the Government would summon another
Conference like the one which took place with such wonderful
results two years ago, and which Lord Salisbury had said he hoped
would be the first of many more. The answer he gave, however, was
something to the effect that he did not think it desirable that the
Government should move in the matter, but that the Colonies should
take the initiative. With all humility he would ask how anything of
this kind could be moved, except by some motor? There must be
something to move the colonists, and who could do that so well as
Her Majesty's Government, by inviting, in a courteous and
sympathetic spirit, the Colonies to come again and consult on
Imperial subjects.
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