n more immediately practicable proposals for improving the
"imperial estate"; and at the Diamond Jubilee of 1897 the visits of the
colonial premiers to London emphasized and confirmed the new policy, the
fruits of which were afterwards seen in the cordial support given by the
colonies in the Boer War. Even in what Mr Chamberlain called his
"Radical days" he had never supported the "Manchester" view of the value
of a colonial empire; and during the Gladstone ministry of 1882-1885 Mr
Bright had remarked that the junior member for Birmingham was the only
Jingo in the cabinet--meaning, no doubt, that he objected to the policy
of _laissez-faire_ and the timidity of what was afterwards known as
"Little Englandism." While he was still under Mr Gladstone's influence
these opinions were kept in subordination; but Mr Chamberlain was always
an imperial federationist, and from 1887 onwards he constantly gave
expression to his views on the desirability of drawing the different
parts of the empire closer together for purposes of defence and
commerce. In 1895 the time for the realization of these views had come;
and Mr Chamberlain's speeches, previously remarkable chiefly for
debating power and directness of argument, were now dominated by a new
note of constructive statesmanship, basing itself on the economic
necessities of a world-wide empire. Not the least of the anxieties of
the colonial office during this period was the situation in the West
Indies, where the cane-sugar industry was being steadily undermined by
the European bounties given to exports of continental beet; and though
the government restricted themselves to attempts at removing the
bounties by negotiation and to measures for palliating the worst effects
in the West Indies, Mr Chamberlain made no secret of his repudiation of
the Cobden Club view that retaliation would be contrary to the doctrines
of free trade, and he did his utmost to educate public opinion at home
into understanding that the responsibilities of the mother country are
not merely to be construed according to the selfish interests of a
nation of consumers. As regards foreign affairs, Mr Chamberlain more
than once (and particularly at Leicester on 30th November 1899)
indicated his leanings towards a closer understanding between the
British empire, the United States and Germany,--a suggestion which did
not save him from an extravagant outburst of German hostility during the
Boer War. The unusually outspoke