and statesmanlike thought in the discussion of the questions submitted to them than was shown by that Conference during its short reign.  He was delighted with the noble words of Lord Salisbury, when he expressed his satisfaction, and said he hoped this would be only the first of many similar Conferences, but Lord Salisbury, like other public men, sometimes saw occasion to change his views, because not long ago he said, on a public occasion, that all he knew about Federation was, that it was a word spelt with ten letters, which was somewhat of a wet blanket to some of those who had reckoned upon Lord Salisbury as an ardent supporter.  More recently he said, in reply to a question put to him at a public meeting at the East End of London, that geographical considerations would prevent the realization of such a scheme; but his allusions to geographical difficulties vanished before modern science.  Was it not in their cognizance that in South Africa, through the medium of the telegraph, they were able to know what was taking place in England within twenty-four hours?  Geographical considerations, indeed! that might have been all very well some years ago, when it took three or four months to reach the Cape, but now it took only two or three weeks, and that time would even be probably reduced as time wore on.  Such being the case, geographical considerations had nothing whatever to do with the matter.  He had no desire to speak unfairly of the gentleman who occupied the position of Prime Minister of the Empire, but he felt sure the time would come when Lord Salisbury would think that Imperial Federation was something more than a word of ten letters; and that his geographical considerations would vanish also, as having no reason in them.  In contrast to Lord Salisbury, he would read a short extract from a speech, made only a few months ago at Leeds by Lord Rosebery, when he said:  “For my part, if you will forgive me this little bit of egotism, I can say from the bottom of my heart that it is the dominant passion of my public life.  Ever since I traversed those great regions which own the sway of the British Crown outside these islands, I have felt that there was a cause, which merited all the enthusiasm and energy that man could give to it.  It is a cause for which any one might be content to live; it is a cause for which, if needs be, any one might be content to die.”  Lord Rosebery was at this moment the President of the Imperial Federation League, and only recently he addressed a letter, on behalf of the League, to Lord Salisbury, asking that the Government would summon another Conference like the one which took place with such wonderful results two years ago, and which Lord Salisbury had said he hoped would be the first of many more.  The answer he gave, however, was something to the effect that he did not think it desirable that the Government should move in the matter, but that the Colonies should take the initiative.  With all humility he would ask how anything of this