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THE bREAM OF A BRITISH ZOLLVEREIN 40 3
Similarly, there could be unions within the Empire
for idefltical legislation in each part as to the various
subjects of commercial law-bills of exchange, marine
insu5ance, shipping law generally, bankruptcy, copy-
right, patents, trade 'marks, and so on. The business
could only be promoted by mutual agreement; but even
internationally agreements on some of these matters
have been made, and witl1 a decided impulse towards
unity in the Empire they should receive a great exten-
sion, pending the establishment of an Imperial consti-
tution which would give to a central council some direct
legislative power.
Another step .that might be taken would be the com-
mon negotiation of all commercial treaties, so that no
treaty could be made that did not bind the whole Em-
pire on the one side, and did not bind each foreign
Government to the whole Empire on the other side.
I n other words, the unit in all negotiations should De
the Empire as one State, so that foreign Governments
should not have the chance of recognising different
States as existing within its bounds. Everybody was
shocked the other day by the reappearance in the
Brussels Sugar Convention of a clause binding the
mother country to levy the same duties on colonial
sugar as on sugar from foreign countries-the same
sort of clause that had been the object of adverse
criticism in the Belgian and German treaties and had
led to the denunciation of those treaties. Against all
such possibilities in future the Empire should be pre-
pared, which can only be done effectually by our diplo-
matists insisting on Imperial unity. It would clearly
follow from this arrangement also that the Foreign
Secretary should be continually advised, not only by
his own permanent officials but by representatives from
.i\ll ~arts of the Empire. The. misfortune is th~t so~e
States which are ereally portions of the Empire, hke
Egypt, would have to be left out. Th~. excep~on is
rather a serious one, as we have seen, an forollng a
Zollverein. But it would not be fatal to a union as far