or effective development in the direction of
confederation.

"For it must be remembered, that the somewhat complex British
constitution is not the creation of any one Monarch, or Parliament.
It has grown to its present dimensions little by little, influenced
always by the necessities of particular cases. The House of Peers
has ever been summoned by writ, and early precedents indicate, that
the Sovereign was not always limited to a particular class of
Barons, who alone could be invited to the deliberations of the
nation.

"Although it is not admitted, it is nevertheless the fact, that, at
the present time, all who are most anxiously desirous of seeing a
way to establish a means of drawing together, in Council, the
Colonies and the Mother Country, are quite disagreed, as to what is
the best means to this end.

"A formal confederation is desired, but all are agreed upon the
difficulties which, for the present, at any rate, stand in the way
of completing an exactly defined treaty, or definition, to
confederate as between the Mother Country, and the Colonies.

"Perhaps a means to this much-desired end may be discovered, by way
of less formal, but almost equally effective, courses of policy as
regards Colonial possessions.

"Every one feels the difficulty in the way of summoning Colonial
Representatives to either the House of Lords or the House of
Commons, for, while special provision would be required to increase
the numbers of the House of Commons, there are apparent and real
obstacles in the way of inviting Colonial Representatives to sit in
the House of Lords, either as ordinary, or as _Life_ Peers.

"It does not seem too much to hope that, before long, the Crown,
may desire to see assembled in London, during some period of the
annual session of the Imperial Parliament a Council of Colonial
Delegates, meeting in a place to be assigned to them, who will have
no voice in other than Colonial Policy, just as now, the House of
Lords has no voice in the originating of Money Bills, who will be
free to discuss any measure affecting Colonial Policy in general,
or the affairs of any Colony, in particular, who will be entitled
to forward their conclusions, requests, or opinions to Her
Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, and