PREFACE.

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who have been able to do ‘so, like our
authors. This is the more necessary, as
the London newspaper is so largely enlisted
in Mr. Chamberlain’s cause. Information
thus furnished cannot but be consciously ‘or
unconsciously coloured by the channels
through which it passes. Yet no one can
pronounce on these problems without the
largest and most unbiased knowledge.
There is, too, another danger—to my
mind a very grave one—to which our
authors call attention. It is this, that the
views which are cabled from London to the
Dominion are as favourable as the London
Press to Mr. Chamberlain’s agitation. This
is a serious matter of which I have no
personal knowledge. But if it be true that
the effect of these communications is to
misrepresent the Liberal party, corporately,
as it is misrepresented at home, and tax it
with indifference or hostility to the idea of
Empire, the mischief is an Imperial peril.
For the Liberal party is predominant
throughout the Empire. There is not a
self-governing Colony which would tolerate
a Cabinet holding the views and policy of