of both interchange and union between the British and Dominion services; and that, with the same object, the standard of vessels and armaments should be uniform.”

With respect to army matters, a plan for "organizing the forces of the Crown (wherever they are) so that, while preserving the complete autonomy of each dominion-should the dominions desire to assist in the defence of the Empire in a real emergency-their forces could be rapidly combined into one homogeneous Imperial Army."

The recommendations of the Imperial Defence Conference are now being translated into action. Canada has determined to commence the formation of a navy of her own, instead of contributing in money or in ships (as New Zealand preferred) to the strength of the British fleet; and although some have questioned the wisdom of this particular decision, there has been apparently a consensus of agreement in this-that the issue of the Conference will have an important bearing upon the growth of the Dominion to the stature of a nation, much more powerful than of yore in her naval and military resources, and in the patriotism of a people not only free, but trained to arms and prepared for war.

In the recommendations of the Conference lies the assurance that between Great Britain and Canada there is at last an open and mutual recognition of two far-reaching principles.

The first is that, while the Dominion is to have the entire control of her own forces, these, in their organization, armament, and training, are to be

capable of immediately taking their place as portions of one Imperial sea and land force.

The second, embodied not in so many words but in spirit, is that the Mother-Country and Canada, among the other oversea dominions, are mutually dependent at all events, for the greatness of their future upon their union.

The steps which, under expert advice, are being taken towards the creation and development of a Canadian Navy-to be the nucleus, it is hoped, of a more powerful one in the future-will no doubt be modified from time to time, as experience suggests. It is enough to say here that a certain number of war-vessels1 will be built, or acquired, manned, and armed at the Dominion expense, and, as far as may be possible, in Canada and by Canadians. These vessels will probably be stationed on the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards, for the protection in war of the coast and commercial routes leading to it, and to police the seas in time of peace.

The double seaboard of Canada, on the Atlantic and Pacific, renders the provision of a fleet unit of the same kind as that of Australia unsuitable at this moment. Adequate dockyards and shipyards will be constructed wherever necessary. Not only Halifax and Esquimalt,2 as at present, but later

1 At present eleven in number-viz., four cruisers of the improved Bristol class, one of the Boadicea class, and six destroyers of the improved river class. For this service there is to be an appropriation this year of 3,000,000 dollars (about £600,000). The navy is now being organized by, and is under the command of, Rear-Admiral C. E. Kingsmill, Director of the Naval Service of Canada.

2 The maintenance and garrison of these ports have now been taken over by the Dominion Government.

on Quebec, Montreal, St. John' (New Brunswick), Sydney, Prince Rupert on the Pacific, and points upon the great lakes, may become, in varying degrees of importance, Canadian naval stations. Training-ships will be acquired, or have already been so, a naval college established, and it is hoped a due provision of naval matériel of war accumulated at secure points.2

The personnel to man these vessels is to be looked for eventually in the creation, by voluntary enlistment, of a naval force for a term of years, and a naval volunteer force, with a reserve.3

In the land forces the standard or patterns of arms, equipment, stores, and transport, especially for the units of first-line transport, are to be those of the home regular army, of which the field-service regulations and training manuals are to be adopted as the basis of the organization, administration, and training of the troops.

The above, with the establishment of a local Canadian section of the Imperial General Staff, the interchange between the home and Dominion services of officers, men, and units, with the training together of those services to the extent which may be found practicable, complete the important points aimed at by the Imperial

1 It has been determined, apparently, to grant subsidies for building dry docks at Quebec (Levis) and St. John.

2 The Niobe and Rainbow already secured are available for this service, and a naval college is to be established at Halifax.

3 Among the trained seamen on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and the fishermen of the Maritime Provinces of Canada, there is excellent material for the personnel of a Canadian fleet.

4 At present, apparently, to be organized into one division of all arms and one mounted brigade, capable of taking their places in the Imperial Army.

Defence Conference of 1909 in respect of Canadian defence.1

The second principle which is embodied in spirit in the recommendations of the Conference-viz., that the Mother-Country and Canada, among the other oversea dominions, are mutually dependent for their future greatness upon their union—has been expressed by Lord Charles Beresford in the following words:

"Whether we like it or not, we stand or fall together. You cannot hurt one of the dominions without hurting the Imperial whole; you cannot hurt the Mother-Country without knocking the heart out of the Imperial whole."2

This community of interests, however, wants to be more widely understood than it is; and as it has a bearing upon the strength and security of Canada, it is not departing from the subject of Canadian defence to refer further to it.

Let us first consider the importance of Canada to England.

In conversation, after the rebellion in Canada of 1837-38, the Duke of Wellington said:

"If you lose Upper Canada, you lose all your Colonies in that country; and if you lose them, you may as well lose London."

1 The presence this autumn in England of the "Queen's Own Rifles " from Canada, at the instance and cost of their Commanding Officer, Sir H. Pellatt; of a British Cadet Team in Canada, at the invitation of the Dominion; and the appointment of an officer of the New Zealand forces to command a brigade at Aldershot, form interesting first steps, but, it is to be hoped, merely first steps, in the direction of united and uniform training and interchange of personnel.

2 Speech at the Jubilee Press Conference in London, July 26, 1909.

Sir Archibald Alison also writes in 1843:

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According as these [the North American] Provinces remain attached by durable cords to the parent State or are severed from it, they must ultimately become either an unbounded source of its strength or the immediate cause of its ruin.

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What is meant by this, it may be assumed, is not that Great Britain, even though deprived of her possessions in the Western world or compelled to ransom her capital from an enemy, could not continue an important Power, but that her position as the head of a world-wide Empire, with its prestige and influence for good, would have passed away-certainly temporarily, and probably for all

time.

It required exceptional foresight to see seventy years ago the value of Canada to the MotherCountry to-day. Then the shortest route from Great Britain to China and Japan did not lie, as now, across Canadian territory. Then the granaries of Western Canada did not exist, nor was their future possibility even dreamt of. Then the anticipated difficulty of the Mother-Country-the food of her people in war, which these granaries can almost entirely supply-was not urgent. Then Sea-power on the Pacific, and the Pacific ports of Canada, had not the same meaning for Great Britain which the growth of Australia and New Zealand and the rise of Japan have now given to them. Then the increasing power and prosperity of the United States of America, of United Germany,

1 The North American Provinces, Newfoundland excepted, became united in the Dominion of Canada in 1867.