M 709.
UNITY OF THE BIPIRE.
By Joseph Martin.
The British Commonwealth.
36
Reference is sometimes made in countries which have no love
for the British Empire to the alleged failings of the British
Government and the weaknesses of the ties which bind the Empire
together.
Small grievances or disturbances in the Dominions, Colonies
Actually,
or Dependencies are magnified into risings or revolts.
considering the number and variety of the territories owning
allegiance to the British crown, there is little real dissatis-
faction in any of them.
The most important parts of the Empire are, of course, the
self-governing Dominions Australia, Canada, the Irish Free State,
L
With Britain these
form what has come to be called the British Commonwealth of Free
Nations, and the establishment of this commonwealth marks one of the most profound and far-reaching constitutional changes in the
history of the British peoples.
Newfoundland, New Zealand and South Africa.
The principle upon which the Commonwealth is based is that of
Each Dominion the co-operation of an association of free peoples. is a self-governing community, with its own sovereign freedom, but accustomed to co-operate closely with the others in matters of common concern, and all associated under the British crown.
Speaking as Chairman of the Imperial Conference, 1957, Mr. Stanley Baldwin, M. P., then British Prime Minister, and now Lord Baldwin of Bewdley, said that the British Empire has hever been a static organism. "Bearing within itself seeds of development of
which its founders were unaware, it has been moulded by, and itself has moulded, a political philosophy." During the past quarter of
a century there have been far-reaching changes in mutual relationships, and he referred in particular to the Declaration of the Imperial Conference of 1926 and to the passage
status and