1554 IMPERIAL UNITY [PART VIII 
take part in all the wars of England. That is a matter that 
must be determined by circumstances, upon which the 
Canadian Parliament will have to pronounce and will have 
to decide in its own best judgement.’ So at the Imperial 
Conference * he maintained the view that if the Dominions 
claimed a right to be consulted, and they were consulted and 
their advice was followed, they would be bound to follow the 
fortunes of England by active participation in a war ensuing 
on the adoption of the course advised, and so in Canada before 
the Conference he stated that the question of the Declaration 
of London was one for a sovereign power, not for Canada, 
though it could be discussed in a quasi-official way.2 
The attitude of Canada—no doubt the only possible atti- 
bude—of course prevents any real partnership in the foreign 
policy of the Empire for the present, and explains if it hardly 
justifies the somewhat sarcastic references in the opposition 
press in Australia 3 to the statements of Mr. Fisher as to the 
results of the Conference in this regard. Still, the acceptance 
of the principle of consultation in such a case as the Declara- 
tion of London is a real step in advance without any exact 
parallel. 
Great importance attaches also to the decision with 
regard to the question of naturalization. It is not merely 
that the decision to permit a foreigner who has become 
naturalized in one of the Dominions under the local law 
to obtain, after five years’ residence in the British Empire, 
a naturalization which would be of world-wide effect is 
a logical one, and does a good deal to lessen the absurdity 
by which a man may be Prime Minister of a, Colony and yet 
an alien * when he attends the Coronation ceremony. but it 
! Parl. Pap., Cd. 5745, p. 117, where he reiterates his earlier view. 
* The Liberal press in Canada almost unanimously supported the Prime 
Minister's attitude. 
’ e.g. Melbourne Age, June 2, 1911; Hobart Mercury, June 2. For 
a moderate view, cf. British Australasian, June 3 ; Times, July 13 (where 
also Mr. Fisher's views are given) ; Parliamentary Debates, 1911, p. 587. 
¢ Ineligible for a Privy Councillorship or a Peerage ; see 12 & 13 
Will. IIL c. 2, 8. 3. A baronetcy or a knighthood can of course be 
bestowed even on an alien; see Forsyth. Cases and Opinsons on Consti-