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"the authority of the Govern- work extremely well.
ment of the United Kingdom
in such grave matters as the
conduct of foreign policy, the
conclusion of treaties, the
declaration and maintenance
of peace, or the declaration of
war . . . cannot be shared,"
no progress can be made.

It is the right to co-operate, not the right to advise, which the Dominions claim, and with nothing else will they be satisfied. Again, it is sometimes suggested that the problem could be solved by giving representatives of the Dominions seats in the Upper House of the British Parliament. But this proposal is obviously inconsistent with the admitted and indefeasible right of each Unit in the Empire to administer its own internal affairs in its own way, and upon that ground alone the proposal must be rejected.

The true solution of the problem of Imperial Federation will probably be found in the election of an Imperial Council, similar in its constitution to the United Delegations of Austria and Hungary, to which would eventually be committed the administration of all “common affairs" within the Empire. It may not be easy to predict the future destiny of Austria - Hungary, but it may at least least be asserted that the political clouds which hang over the dual Monarchy are due to racial antipathies, and not in any way to the administration of their "common affairs" by the United Delegations, which, admittedly, have done their

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system under which the "common affairs" of AustriaHungary are administered could, without serious difficulty, be adapted to the needs of the British Empire. Members of the Imperial Council might be appointed by the legislatures of each Unit within the Empire from among its own elected members, and members of the Imperial Council would be liable to be dismissed from office at the pleasure of the legislature which appointed them. The number of the representatives of each Unit would bear the same proportion to the total number of members as the population of the Unit might bear to the whole population of the Empire; or the representation of each Unit might be in the same ratio to the total representation of the Empire as the produce of its Imperial taxes might bear to the total Imperial revenue. The members of the Imperial Council would work through an executive appointed either by the Crown or by the Imperial Council itself from amongst its members, and the Acts of the executive would require for their validity the ratification of the Imperial Council. There is no doubt in an Imperial Council constituted in this form that the representatives of the United Kingdom (which would constitute one Unit) would largely predominate, but of that the Dominions could not reasonably complain, for their representation on the Imperial Council would increase in direct ratio with their future develop

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ment. To the Imperial Council framework of the Imperial constituted in this manner Federation in the future. would be intrusted the administration of foreign affairs and matters of Imperial defence, both of which subjects by general consent of all parties ought to be lifted above party politics. Each Unit would be free to raise its own quota of Imperial taxation in its own way. If it be asked whether the Imperial Council would be granted coercive power to impose its decrees upon recalcitrant members of the Imperial Federation, the answer will be that as such a scheme as is here outlined could only be inaugurated with the consent of all the Units of the Confederation, each Unit would be free to abandon its position within the Empire, but that, while it would probably be inadvisable, at all events at the outset, to invest the Imperial Council with coercive powers, it would in practice be found impossible for any Dominion to refuse to raise its contribution towards the cost of an Imperial or a defensive programme which its own representatives had had a real voice in framing. The same difficulty presented itself to the promoters of the American and German Federations, and was in each case satisfactorily overcome. Moreover, the alternative open to a seceding Dominion would be far from exhilarating, and must be borne in mind, namely, separation without the possession of adequate means whereby either its trade or its territory could be protected! Such, in bare outline, must be the

it would be idle to suggest that
Imperialists are prepared to
limit the policy of Imperial
Federation to foreign affairs
and Naval Defence. They
realise with Mr Bonar Law
that "there could never be co-
operation in war unless there
first had been co-operation in
peace," and they look forward
to the time when commercial
intercourse within the Empire
shall be wholly free and un-
trammelled by tariff restric-
tions, and when the Imperial
Council will be intrusted with
the regulation of external trade
relations as one of the "common
affairs" of the Empire. That
is the
the scheme of Imperial
Federation which was first
propounded by Adam Smith.
At the same time, while Im-
perialists recognise that the
hour is not yet ripe for the full
realisation of their Imperial
policy, they hold that unless
the policy of Imperial Prefer-
ence is forthwith adopted as
the first step towards free
trade within the Empire, the
whole fabric of the Empire
will be put in jeopardy. That
Imperial Preference would
incalculably strengthen the
manufacturing trade of Great
Britain, and improve the con-
dition of labour in this country,
is abundantly proved by trade
statistics, and the value to this
country of Colonial Preferential
Tariffs is admitted even by
such staunch free traders as
Lord Cromer and Mr Asquith.
That Imperial Preference would
tend to lower the price of food-
stuffs in this country is equally

tion of the world would thereby be stimulated and increased, unless, indeed, the laws which govern supply and demand no longer obtain!

certain, for the wheat produc- future shall not hold to our lips the chalice of vain regret for opportunity neglected and dead." Is it not time, then, that the Conservative Leaders formulated their Imperial Programme? We are told to "think Imperially," but it is important first of all to understand what Imperialism means. The old Imperialism spells chaos and disintegration, the new Imperialism consolidation and Peace!

This, then, is the meaning of the new Imperialism, and upon these lines must the future programme of the Conservative Party be framed. To every man who loves his country, ay, and to every man who loves his pocket, such a policy most surely makes its appeal. It is seen that not only the maintenance of the Empire, but the very existence of Great Britain as a sovereign Power, is contingent upon the realisation of this scheme of Imperial Federation. But "time is of the essence" in this matter of Imperial Preference. "Is it not a mistake," as Mr Chamberlain once pointed out, "to keep your umbrella shut up until you are wet through?" It is fifteen years now since Canada first granted preferential duties to Great Britain, and to-day the war-clouds lower darkly on the horizon. Yet nothing has been done! How long is Great Britain to remain glum and unresponsive? "The issue," said Mr Borden on July 16, at the House of Commons, "is fraught with grave significance for us, but with even deeper meaning for you. The next ten or twenty years will be critical in the history of the Empire; they may be even decisive of its future. God grant that whether we be of these Mother Islands or of the great Dominions beyond the Seas, we may so bear ourselves that the

"Wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set;

God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet."

The policy of Imperialists will pass unscathed through the ordeal of financial criticism. Imperial Preference is a business question, but it is also something more, for under Imperial Federation alone can the British race work out its glorious destiny. "Civis Romanus sum was a password which no one in ancient times could afford to disregard; why should not "Civis Britannicus sum " be its counterpart to-day?

To the true patriot Imperialism connotes not merely British commercial prosperity, but a World-wide Peace secured by the unassailable supremacy of the British Empire. The consummation of this policy would be the "crowning mercy' of Conservative statesmanship. The alternative is drift and national decay. The British race stands at the parting of the ways.

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"Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?"

ARTHUR PAGE.

THE ABU ZAIT CONSPIRACY.

"WELL," thought Burke, as he rummaged in his despatchbox for the Intelligence Department Cipher, "it's the first time I've had to use this since I've been here." He found the sealed envelope and threw it on to his camp-bed,-a piece of furniture that lent itself to the uses of a table, a sofa, and a depository for folded garments during waking hours,-turning again to lock up the box. He recalled the day, now more than a year ago, when he had taken over the cipher from Grantham, his predecessor as Inspector at Abu Zait. The recollection came back vividly as he looked at the sealed envelope lying on the bed. He could almost hear Grantham's caution, "You'd better open the envelope and see that it's all correct. I've never looked at it since I took it over myself."

Burke remembered how he had taken out the type-written code, examined it with a vague feeling that there was something interesting and romantic about a cipher, and then, taking a new envelope from the rack, had put in the document and made it secure by a generous application of red sealing-wax. "Better make it quite safe!" he had said to Grantham, and with a half-serious, half-absurd precaution, had prodded the soft wax with the edge of a little key that formed one of a bunch on his chain.

With these things in his mind he picked up the envelope,

and there, sure enough, were the two little depressions made by the teeth of his key. His left hand went mechanically to his pocket, out came the bunch, and - yes, the teeth corresponded to the two marks! He laid the key's edge carelessly on to the wax, playing with it as a man not in a hurry to begin the tiresome deciphering of a code wire. It was hot, and he was in the mood to think nothing of much importance. "Those chaps in the Intelligence can't be easy without their little mysteries," he grumbled, looking lazily at the key as it fitted down on to the

wax.

Suddenly his face became alert and the grumbling undertone of his thoughts gave place to a rigid attention. Did the key fit?

He held the envelope to the light and carefully examined the parallel marks on the seal. Surely one was deeper than the other, and a little wider! He looked closely at the edge of the key, again brought it into contact with the wax, and then stood erect, the envelope in his hand.

Out there, beyond the door of the hut, the sun beat down from a cloudless sky upon the silver bosom of the river, and away across the flat bushcovered desert at the far side the flicker of warm air rising made a tremulous undulation, as if the horizon danced at its skyward edge.

Burke was dimly conscious of these things as his mind pounded out the reluctant certainty that the seal had been tampered with.

A certainty it was to him, and reluctantly he admitted it, for to admit it was to convict some person or persons in his little community of treachery to the Government. 66 "Who could have done it?" he asked himself as he ripped the edge of the envelope with his penknife and took out the code. He reached for the telegram and looked at its meaningless groups of letters with awakened interest, for the mystery of the seal had touched some deep chord of suspicion and induced a state of mind alert for plots and secret hostilities.

Then with the telegram spread out on the table before him, and the cipher by his side, he worked out the groups letter by letter until at last the detached syllables fell together into this disturbing message

"Fear serious conspiracy among native officers and officials. Keep under personal observation Mansur Effendi Awad, and if possible intercept his communications with Yousbashi Ahmed Hamdi at Hillet el Sheik. Report any important information obtained."

Burke put down the telegram and stood erect, again gazing vacantly across the river at the slice of brown desert with its trembling, streaming horizon.

"Mansur Effendi Awad! the clerk employed in the Post

VOL. CXCII.-NO. MCLXIV.

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Burke groped in his coatpocket, found his case and took out a cigarette. He lit it with much deliberation, paying minute attention to the job, so that the end glowed uniformly in its whole bright circle, not irregularly as might happen with a hurried or careless smoker. A blue ring floated up into the still air as Burke, with a rigid concentration, set himself to explore the situation. Mansur was suspected of conspiracy. Mansur was a telegraph clerk. Mansur, therefore, would be the person most interested in getting hold of the cipher code and most capable of using it. It seemed clear that the envelope had been tampered with, so it might be assumed that Mansur had succeeded in getting access to the code. Well, how had he managed it? The code was always in the locked despatchbox, the key on Burke's chain by day and on the chair next his bed at night. Clearly the box could only be opened at night, and by one familiar with his habits-by one of his servants, in short.

"Not Billal." He called up the image of his faithful old black, smiled almost affectionately, and acquitted him. But could he as easily acquit Mahmud,

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