And for the future, let me add my own earnest conviction, that what is
wanted is Imperial Federation, as the goal to be ultimately reached, to
render South Africa politically satisfied and content.

Imperial Federation means a constitutional system, under which she would
be no longer misruled and misunderstood, by a Government, in which she
has no share, in which she places no confidence, and by whom her wants
and wishes are often ignored. It is not, as is frequently untruly
asserted by writers, and speakers, who have neither studied,
comprehended, nor understood its theory and intention, its end and aim,
that it means the subjugation of the independence of the Colonies to the
control of the Mother Country.

As one of its most earnest advocates, I emphatically protest against all
such erroneous interpretations, as a libel on the principle put forward,
as a plan for the National Government. On the contrary, the project of
Imperial Federation, without any _arriere pensée_, clearly and
distinctly involves the condition, that the Colonies themselves are to
take their adequate part, and share with the Mother Country in its
future concrete constitution. In the brief, but expressive phrase, I
have already publicly adopted, Imperial Federation means, "the
Government of the Empire by the Empire." In Imperial Federation,
therefore, South Africa would be fairly and influentially represented,
along with the other Colonies of Great Britain. In union with them she
would take her part in guiding the policy, and directing the destinies
of the whole British Empire.

[Illustration: Decorative]