CHAP. TI1] THE CONFERENCE OF 1911 1553
of explaining to the Dominion Governments the aspects of
international politics which affect them directly, and it
would be absurd to suggest that this is the first time on
which a general statement on the course of foreign politics
has been made to Dominion ministers; the Defence Con-
terence of 1909 must have necessitated explanations. Butitis
true that this is the first occasion on which it has been
considered desirable that an Imperial Conference should
receive from the Imperial Government a full exposition of
the general course of foreign politics as it presents itself to
the Foreign Secretary. It is natural, therefore, to under-
stand the emphasis laid both by Mr. Fisher! and General
Botha on the fact that the Prime Ministers have been taken
into confidence and given a share in the Government of the
Empire.
On the other hand, it must be remembered that nothing
has yet been done to make this share other than nominal, and
Sir Wilfrid Laurier has on his part emphasized the fact that
Canada gives no undertaking that she will automatically
take an active part in wars entered into by the Government
of the United Kingdom. He expressly declined to accept
a resolution asking that political treaties in general should be
submitted to the Dominions before they were ratified by
the Imperial Government, giving as his reason that, if the
Dominions demanded that they should be consulted in regard
to such treaties, they would be bound to accept the conse-
quences of the policies denoted by such treaties. = -
This is, of course, in perfect harmony with his repeated
declaration in Canada. ‘If England is at war,” he said in
1910,2 ‘we are at war and liable to attack. I do not say that
we shall always be attacked, neither do I say that we would
* Cf. Governor-General’s speech, Ceptember 5, 1911, Debates, pp. 5, 6;
Mr. Deakin, ibid., p. 110; Mr. Fisher, pp. 129, 130 (for the earlier views of
nis government in 1909, see above, pp. 1284-6); Sir J. Findlay, New
Zealand Debates, clv. 98.
* Canada House of Commons Debates, 1909-10, p. 2965 ; cf. also Ewart,
The Kingdom Papers, pp. 50-2, 108-12; Thompson, Canada House of
Commons Debates, 1908, pp. 3954-71; Sir W. Laurier, ibid; 3971-4;
Mr. Fielding, ibid., 3978, 3979 : Round Table, i, 435-42, 518-22.
