STRAWS

For those tight little Englanders who look upon their colonies in a motherly sort of way, Canada's action in registering independently a treaty at the headquarters of the League will come as a severs, if not unexpected shock. The apron-strings which bind the dominions to the home government have never been pulled too tight, at least not in a hundred, years. But it must be painful to the benevolent conquerors of a large part of the globe to discover such readiness, nay, anxiety to throw off the maternal leading-strings.

It is only natural that Canada, once granted an ambassador to the United States, should regard herself qualified, as an independent nation, to register her treaties before the Secretariat. The Irish Free State has already assumed this prerogative, against the protest of England. Last December the British Government insisted that neither the League not any organization formed under the covenant could regulate affairs between England and other parts of the British Empire. The treaty, nevertheless, remains registered, and it seems likely that England has decided to acquiesce in the technical, as well as in the virtual independence of her dominions.

Once again the question of the relations of England with her colonies is focussed. A clash of interests, political and economic, undoubtedly tends, to break off the outlying parts of the Empire from the home-country. Sentiment is lauded on all hands as the binding tie. But as later generations lose the memory of the old country, will sentiment continue to prevail? When the differences in outlook and needs, already recognized, grow stronger than the bonds of affection, dissolution of the Empire will become inevitable. Meanwhile, the world can only wait and wonder which force will pull more strongly: sentiment or self-aggrandizement.