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404 ECONOMIC INQUIRIES AND STUnIES
as it goes for different purposes between ~ll those parts
of the Empire which are internationally recognised as
such.
In these different ways, then, I believe. a beginning
could be made with an effective commercial union which
would tend to unite the Empire and not to dissolve it,
and would prepare the way for a formal federation.
The condition of most of tht!se arrangements, it need
hardly be pointed out, would be the formation of a
Council of the Empire, which would consider among
other things the whole question of Imperial communi-
cations, monetary union, assimilation of commercial
law, and finally the negotiation of commercial treaties
for the Empire as a unit. At this point we touch upon
the more political side of federation. A council of the
Empire is as obviously required for purposes of com-
mon defence, and for promoting the general welfare of
the whole body, as it is for commercial union. By
suggesting a variety of matters, therefore, for con-
sideration and treatment, we bring the idea of a council
more and more within the sphere of practical politics
and with it the question of Imperial Federation itself.
Preferential arrangements, as many people are so much
attached to them, especially our fellow-citizens in the
colonies, would probably enough come up for discus-
sion in such a council j but the existence and useful-
ness of such a body would. be quite independent of
that subject, while the discussion might even be of
advantage by compelling every side to face the diffi-
culties and to make sacrifices all round for the sake of
the common Empire. [ I 902.]