so well depicted by Adam Smith for the country of their origin.

And as regards the other colonies, which by the force of circumstances as well as by the fear of example, we have gradually admitted to self-government in all essentials, there can be no question that though only nominal subjects in peace they would be devoted allies in war. And for this purpose even the nominal sovereignty has its advantages, although in the meantime the home country bears a disproportionate part of the burden of defence and in return has not even freedom of trade.

§ 3. Ideal of British Empire in Development of British Constitution.

Adam Smith himself, however, did not look upon empire merely from the economic standpoint even when his subject was emphatically the wealth of nations. Writing before the separation was an accomplished fact, and before it seemed likely that it ever would be an accomplished fact, he propounded a scheme of imperial federation which he described as the natural development of the British Constitution. In place of the Greek ideal of friendly disintegration he set up the ideal of Roman organisation with one essential difference; the provision, namely, for the representation of the provinces. It was the absence of this principle of representation which on Adam Smith's view ruined the Roman Empire, and it was in the adoption of this principle that he sought for the nexus that should bind into one the different

parts of the scattered British Empire. "The idea of representation was unknown in ancient times. When the people of one state were admitted to the right of citizenship in another, they had no other means of exercising that right but by coming in a body to vote and deliberate with the people of that other state. The admission of the greater part of the inhabitants of Italy to the privileges of Roman citizens completely ruined the Roman Republic. Though the Roman Republic, therefore, was necessarily ruined by the union of Rome with the allied States of Italy, there is not the least probability that the British Constitution would be hurt by the union of Great Britain with her colonies. That constitution, on the contrary, would be completed by it, and seems to be imperfect without it."1

§ 4. Practical Difficulties.

There are, Adam Smith admits, very great difficulties in the way. "I have heard of none, however, which appear insurmountable. The principal arise not from the nature of things, but from the prejudices and opinions of the people, both on this and on the other side of the Atlantic." Adam Smith confronts these prejudices, and in spite of them carries his proposal to the logical conclusion. Representation in the Imperial Parliament, "or, if you will, the statesgeneral of the British Empire," for the conduct of imperial affairs is to be based on taxation, and in proportion to the taxation is to be the representation.

1 Book IV. chap. vii.

2 Book v. chap. iii. p. 397.

The difficulties to be met in the establishment of an Imperial Parliament, based on taxation, are boldly faced and boldly answered. The people on this side, he says, are afraid that in the course of time the balance of the constitution would be overturned, and that either the power of the crown or the power of the democracy would be unduly increased. His answer is an appeal to the idea of growth; as the numbers increased there would be the same proportions in the monarchical and democratic elements as before. The people on the other side of the Atlantic were afraid that owing to their distance from the seat of empire, they would not have the same real share in the Government, and that they would not be treated with the same consideration. The answer is that the colonial representatives would find it to their interest to bring before the Imperial Parliament any cases of malversation of authority in these distant places, and that their success as representatives would largely depend on their efficiency in pointing out and removing any causes of dissatisfaction of their constituents. And he goes on to say that the difficulty of distance would not be of very long duration, because with the growth of wealth and population "in little more than a century the seat of empire would naturally remove itself to that part of the empire which contributed most to the general defence and support of the whole." Nor must this idea of the transference of the seat of empire be regarded simply as the logical outcome of the scheme of a visionary. Adam Smith, first and last, is under the

domination not of imagination, but of facts; his ideals-large as they are-are raised within the limits of reality. He was well aware, from the history of the past, that the seat of empire might be transferred in response to changes in the distribution of power; and he based his anticipation of the superiority of the American colonies over the mother country in wealth and population on the relative progress already made, and on an appreciation of the wonderful natural resources of the North American continent.

And if any scheme of imperial union is to be successful in our century, we must also allow for the possibility that in little more than a century from the present day Canada may surpass the United Kingdom in wealth and numbers. And Canada is only one of the growing nations of the empire.

§ 5. The Case of India.

In dealing in his chapter on Colonies with the growth of empire and the organisation of imperial power, Adam Smith refers also to India. Here again, as already shown in the last chapter, his most severe condemnation is bestowed on the "shopkeeper" policy of the mercantilists. The greatest of economists asserts with vehemence that the government of the millions of India cannot be subordinated to the trade policy of the mercantile classes of Britain. The ruling country must take up the burden of government itself, and apply without fear the principles of justice to the dependency. It is matter

of history that the ideas emphasised by Adam Smith as regards the rule of subject races have been the guiding rules in the subsequent expansion of the British Empire over alien races. These ideas were

by no means the creations of Adam Smith; in the phrase of to-day they were part of the subconsciousness of the nation, and were being called to the surface not only by Adam Smith but by all the great statesmen and thinkers of his time; they found the most exuberant expression in the rhetoric of Burke; they were embedded in the arid forms of Parliamentary bills. And, here again, whatever scheme of empire is adopted in our own day the difficulty of a growing ✔ India has to be faced; in this case not a mere growth of numbers, but a growth of ideas.

§ 6. The Public Debts of the British Empire.

1

So far the account of Adam Smith's imperialism has been taken for the most part from the chapter on Colonies; it must be supplemented by the later chapter that forms the fitting climax to the whole argument of the Wealth of Nations.2 This later chapter is entitled, "Of Public Debts." The real burdens of national debts, and their dangers, are exposed with arguments that have only lost their force through familiarity, and through the unparalleled growth in the taxpaying capacity of the nations of the world. It seems probable, judging from the rapid increase of public debts, that this old learning must be revived. In this place, however,

1 Book IV. chap. vii.

2 Book v. chap. iii.