being shot by a casual English loafer, or winter visitor, he would have known how to handle ignorant crowds without the use of artillery and rifles: at any rate a Protestant should have done anything rather than shoot down Roman Catholic converts: nothing of the kind has ever happened in British India: it is very true that there are very few French Roman Catholic Missionaries in India, and the British, Spanish, Italian, Belgian, German, Roman Catholics never give any trouble: the French Missionary, whether Protestant or Roman Catholic, has always La France on his brain his own co-religionists deplore this egregious Chauvinism.

The decision of the Government to send out a Commissioner to make a local inquiry and report does not satisfy the Religious Press: where, they say, can more competent witnesses be found than Captain Lugard, and the British Missionaries? is the evidence of Bishop Hirsch, and his French colleagues not to be taken? are they to be treated like the Irish landlords during the investigation into the eviction of tenants? All sense of equity seems to disappear under the presence of a confused mass of denominational Religion, spurious Nationality, and spread-eagle Imperialism. Mr. Gladstone made one frightful mistake in bombarding Alexandria, and sending Gordon to Khartum : he is older and wiser now: but, says the Missionaries' advocate “until the decision is finally made, the people will not settle down": let us hope that practically it is made: "The English Missionaries cannot feel the confidence they should in the future of the country": it is not the Missionary's business to meddle with such matters: let him preach the Gospel, attend to his schools, and eschew politics, and the people will love him, and cherish his memory: it is a wrong departure to have what Mr. Ashe calls "political Protestants."

With regard to the French scare I add the following:

"There is evidently much misconception as to the exact application of the terms of the Berlin Act to the present case. The Act is clear enough.

It stipulates that, when any Power takes possession of any part of the coast of Africa it must intimate the same to other Powers in case there may be pre-existing claims. And, again, that no act of annexation will be regarded as valid unless steps are taken to establish an effective jurisdiction. All this applies only to the coast. As to the interior, the convenient category of 'spheres of influence' was established. It has therefore been considered internationally convenient that when a Power has, in agreement with other Powers, declared a certain area to be within its 'sphere of influence,' reasonable time should be given her to establish herself effectively in the territory. The British East Africa sphere, extending over a million square miles, has been defined in agreement with Germany and Italy. Though neither France nor the Congo Free State is a direct party to it, it would not only be an act of extreme unfriendliness for either to take advantage of the immensity of the sphere and slip in by a back door, as it were, but it would introduce an element of discord into the partition of Africa which it was the object of the Berlin Conference to obviate. Both France and the Free State possess enormous areas in Africa within their spheres,' which are as yet entirely unoccupied, and which are, therefore, as open to annexation by other Powers as the remoter parts of British East Africa."

The most extraordinary literature has appeared indicating the colour of the waters, which have been stirred-perhaps the most astounding is "The Uganda Catechism" by an Oxford Doctor of Divinity: a more foolish paper, and one more replete with inexact statements we have rarely seen : whether this Catechism is to take the place of the Church Catechism in the Uganda Sunday Schools, or to be taught, as an extra, to the children of the poor in England, it is not stated it is printed and published at the expense of the Missionary Society: the price is not given: it would be dear at a penny: I only allude to it, as it indicates neatly the electoral tactics now applied to Missionary desires.

Question 36. What can individuals do to prevent such a lamentable catastrophe (as the withdrawal of the officials of the Company)?

Answer (1). They can commit the whole question to the King of Kings in believing prayer.

(So far we are with the Catechist and his Catechumens.) Answer (2). They can do much in conversation, etc., to arouse public interest in what threatens to become a national disgrace.

NEW SERIES.

VOL. V.

F

Answer (3). They can write letters to their representative in Parliament, which will interest him in the subject and lead him to help in averting the impending disaster: (in fact threaten him against the next Election).

Answer (4). They can unite in memorializing Government either with the definite proposals, which the AntiSlavery Society has adopted, or in more general terms such as the Missionary Society, a non-political organisation, felt constrained to use.

Question 37. Is there anything further that can be suggested in connection with this subject?

Answer. Yes: That thou doest do quickly, for the night cometh, when no man can work.

The learned Doctor has omitted from his list of measures: Thunder from the Pulpit: pass resolutions in Diocesan Conferences it has not yet come to "Denounce from the Altar," but the younger members of this generation may live to hear that also: when once clerics meddle in political matters, they brook no opposition, and hesitate at no measures it has been the bane of the Church of Rome from its earliest day: up to this day the Church of England has abstained from indulgence in Imperial appetites: It is to be hoped that the Uganda fever will burn itself out.

The methods used are not new, nor unique: The Americans set us the example: a fair description of their methods covers the case for annexation of Uganda:

"It strives to bolster them up by the arguments, true and false, which seem most likely to appeal to the prejudices and the credulity of the greatest number; and it endeavours to prove the soundness of those arguments by a number of good stout assertions upon matters of fact. The whole is, of course, larded with a pungent criticism of Democratic shortcomings and garnished with elaborate dissertations to show that America owes all her prosperity, moral and material, to the disinterested services done her by the great Republican party."

Dec. 1, 1892.

PHILO-AFRICANUS.

THE SOLUTION OF THE COLONIAL

QUESTION.

DEFINITE PROPOSALS OF THE IMPERIAL FEDERATION LEAGUE.

BY ROBERT BEADON.

THE Council of the Imperial Federation League, under the presidency of Mr. Stanhope, M.P., late Secretary of State for War (who, upon the change of Government, succeeded Lord Rosebery, the President for the previous six years) adopted on the 16th November, 1892, the Report of the Special Committee appointed in the previous year to formulate definite proposals whereby the object of Imperial Federation might be realized. The Committee consisted of Lord Brassey (chairman), Mr. James Bryce, M.P. (now in the Cabinet), Sir John Colomb (then M.P. for Bow and Bromley), Sir Daniel Cooper (late Speaker of the N.S.W. House of Assembly), Mr. H. O. Arnold Forster (now M.P. for West Belfast), Lord Lamington, Sir Lyon (now Lord) Playfair, Mr. James Rankin, M.P., Sir Rawson Rawson (a former Colonial Governor, and author of important works on commercial statistics), Lord Reay (formerly Governor of Bombay), and Sir Charles Tupper (High Commissioner for Canada). As an influential Scotch paper said, it would be difficult to pick eleven men better qualified by their special knowledge and experience for the work they had in hand. The Report issued by this strong Committee was a unanimous one, and it was unanimously adopted at the largely and influentially attended meeting of the Council of the League to which it was presented last November. The cordial support given to the report by Mr. Stanhope receives additional significance from the nature of the offices which he held in the last Administration, namely, the Secretaryship of State for the Colonies, and later that for War. Before proceeding to the report itself, it will be necessary first to recapitulate very briefly the circumstances leading up to its preparation, and then, somewhat more fully, to

examine the general problem towards the solution of which the report affords a substantial contribution.

The Imperial Conference held in London in 1887, and attended by Ministers from all the Colonies having responsible Government, had been convened by the Government of that day at the express instance of the Imperial Federation League. The personal discussion between Colonial representatives and Ministers of the Imperial Government of the various questions that came before that Conference relating to Imperial Defence, legal matters, postal and telegraphic communication, trade, etc., was productive of a much better understanding between the different parts of the Empire, and led to some practical results, especially in connection with the matter of Defence, calculated to pave the way to that closer political union for joint action in matters of common interest to which the advocates of Federation look as the only means of maintaining the permanent unity of the Empire. The League therefore upon the initiative of Lord Rosebery, its then President, specially resolved not long afterwards that the establishment of periodical Conferences of like nature should be its first aim.

In pursuance of this policy a deputation of the League in June, 1891, waited upon Lord Salisbury, as Prime Minister, to urge the convocation of a second Conference. In the course of his reply the Prime Minister, after stating that the subject brought before him by the deputation was "nothing more nor less than the future of the British Empire," continued as follows:

"As has been pointed out, owing to the operation of external causes and some external impulses, there is a feeling of unrest in Canada, and even in Australia—a feeling which may not improperly be described as an unwillingness to continually acquiesce precisely in the present state of things. Sir John Colomb very justly pointed out a consideration of which, in my office, I am especially sensible-the large portion of our foreign negotiations, our foreign difficulties, and the danger of foreign complications which arise entirely from our Colonial connections; and the effect is that from time to time we have to exercise great vigilance lest we should incur dangers which do not arise from any interest of our own, but arise entirely from the interests of the important and interesting communities with which we are linked. . . . Referring to the proposal which had been brought forward