ges and territorial rights of the several
existing colonies shall remain intact, except in respect to such
surrenders as may be agreed upon as necessary, and incidental to the
power and authority of the National Federal Government.

2. That the trade and intercourse between the federated colonies whether
by means of land carriage or coastal navigation shall be absolutely
free.

3. That the power and authority to impose customs duties shall be
exclusively lodged in the Federal Government and Parliament, subject to
such disposal of the revenues thence derived as shall be agreed upon.

4. That the military and naval defence of Australia shall be intrusted
to Federal forces under one command.

I submit these resolutions as a groundwork on which a debate may be
raised on the whole question with which we have to deal. They certainly
give a fair expression of the outline of the constitution which we want,
as it exists in my own mind, and to that extent I at once acknowledge
the paternity of the motion I make. I venture to appeal to every colony,
and to every delegate representing every colony, to meet the work on
which we are about to begin, in a broad federal spirit. We cannot hope
for any just conclusion--we cannot hope reasonably for any amount of
valid success--unless we lose sight to a large extent of the local
interests which we represent at the same time that we represent the
great cause.

There can be no federation if we should happen, any of us, to insist
upon conditions which stand in the way of federation; there can be no
complete union of these governments, of these communities, of these
separate colonies, unless we can so far clear the way as to approach the
great question of creating a federal power as if the boundaries now
existing had no existence whatever. I cannot too fervently impress upon
my co-representatives from all parts of Australia the necessity of
keeping in view the one object of the better government of Australia,
the whole Australian people.

By my second condition I seek to define what seems to me an absolutely
necessary condition of anything like perfect federation, that is, that
Australia, as Australia, shall be free--free on the borders, free
everywhere, in its trade and intercourse between its own people; and
that there shall be no impediment of any kind--that there shall be no
barrier of any kind between one section of the Australian people and
another; but, that the trade and general