ure of events and the
masterful eagerness of Mr Chamberlain alike gave to the meetings a much
more serious aspect.

English imperialists were intensely interested and intensely hopeful.
'I cannot conceal from myself,' declared Mr Chamberlain in his opening
address, 'that very great anticipations have been formed as to the
results which may accrue from our meeting.' The enthusiasm of Canadian
and Australian and New Zealander for the cause of the mother country in
the war had led many to believe that the time was ripe for a great
stride toward the centralization of the Empire. The policy of autonomy
as the basis of union was attacked as obsolete. According to the new
imperialism, the control of the Empire should be centralized, should be
vested in the British Government, or in an Imperial Council or {197}
parliament sitting at London, in which numbers and the overwhelming
force of environment and social pressure would give Great Britain
unquestioned dominance. Mr Chamberlain himself shared these hopes and
these limitations. He was, indeed, more popular in the colonies than
any other British statesman, because he had recognized more fully than
any other their strength and the value of their support. Yet he, too,
laboured under the delusion that Australia and Canada were simply
England beyond the seas. He not only looked at imperial questions from
the point of view of one who was an Englishman first and last, but
expected to find Australians and Canadians doing the same.

These expectations were destined to be rudely shattered. The new
imperialism did not give scope for the aspirations of the Dominions.
Its apostles had failed to recognize that if the war had stimulated
imperial sentiment in the Dominions it had also stimulated national
consciousness. The spectacular entry upon the world's stage involved
in sending troops half-way across the globe, the bravery and the
steadfastness the troops had displayed, had sent a thrill of pride
through every Dominion. The achievement {198} of federation in
Australia and the new-found prosperity of Canada gave added impetus to
the national feeling. And, as a cross-current, opposed alike to the
rising nationalism and to any kind of imperialism, there was still the
old colonialism, the survival of ways of thought bred of the days when
Englishmen regarded the colonies as 'our possessions' and colonials
acquiesced. These three currents, colonialism, nationalism, and
imperiali