THE COMMONWEALTH EXPERIENCE. Volume One: The Durham Report to the Anglo-Irish Treaty

Transcription

1 THE COMMONWEALTH EXPERIENCE Volume One: The Durham Report to the Anglo-Irish Treaty

2 By the same author SURVEY OF BRITISH COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS (2 vols) SOUTH AFRICA : The Price of Magnanimity THE IRISH QUESTION CONSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS BETWEEN BRITAIN AND INDIA: THE TRANSFER OF POWER (10 vols published) (editor-in-chief)

3 THE COMMONWEALTH EXPERIENCE Volume One The Durham Report to the Anglo-Irish Treaty Nicholas Mansergh, F.B.A. Emeritus Smuts Professor of the History of the British Commonwealth and Fellow of StJohn's College, Cambridge

4 Nicholas Mansergh 1969,1982 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission First edition published as one volume by Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1969 Second edition published as two volumes 1982 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / ISBN (hardcover two-volume set) The paperback edition of this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed in the subsequent purchaser

5 To The Master and Fellows of StJohn's College, Cambridge

6 'There was a time when we might have stood alone as the United Kingdom of England, Scotland and Ireland. That time has passed. We conquered and peopled Canada, we took possession of the whole of Australia, Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand. We have annexed India to the Crown. There is no going back. Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento' JOHN, EARL RUSSELL, 1870 'Suivez, suivez Seigneur, le ciel qui vous inspire: v otre gloire redouble a mepriser l' empire; Et vous serez fameux chez la posterite Moins pour l'avoir conquis que pour l'avoir quitte.' Maxime to Cesar Auguste Corneille, Cinna 'Our historic Commonwealth which comprises one-fourth of the world's population... has the unique quality of embracing nations and peoples from every continent.' DECLARATION BY COMMONWEALTH PRIME MINISTERS, 12 JANUARY 1951

7 Contents Contents of Volume Two: From British to Multiracial Commonwealth Preface to the First Edition Preface to the Second Edition Vlll lx Xl PART ONE THE FOUNDATION MEMBERS AND THE NATURE OF THEIR ASSOCIATION 1 The Commonwealth in History 3 2 Commonwealth Origins, ; English Thinking and the Canadian Experiment 34 3 South Africa; Races and Riches, War and Union 69 4 The Pacific Colonies; Self-government and Consolidation 'The Business May Seem Prosaic'; Co-operation by Conference, PART TWO THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS, The Catalyst of War Ireland; the Dominion Settlement 215 Notes 244 Index 262 Vll

8 Contents of Volume Two: From British to Multiracial Commonwealth Contents of Volume One: The Durham Report to the Anglo-Irish Treaty List of Maps PART ONE THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS Status Seeking and Tariff Reform, India: an Uncertain Goal 3 Appeasement and War: the Commonwealth Role 4 India: the Tryst with a Divided Destiny PART TWO THE COMMONWEALTH SINCE Constitutional Transformation, Irish Republican Secession, Indian Republican Accession and the Changing Position of the Crown 6 The Climax of Commonwealth and a Time of Disenchantment 7 Men of Commonwealth: Smuts, Mackenzie King and Nehru PART THREE RETROSPECT The Historical Experience Notes Bibliography Irulex viii

9 Preface to the First Edition 'Mr Deakin actually contended' wrote John Morley, secretary of state for India, complaining of some remarks made by the Australian prime minister at the Colonial Conference of 1907, 'that India had no right to a place at the conference table, because not self-governing. I dealt faithfully with him on the point. I laugh when I think of a man who blows the imperial trumpet louder than other people, and yet would banish India which is the most stupendous part of the Empire- our best customer among other trifles- into the imperial back-kitchen.'* This book, however, is written on the assumption that not Morley but Deakin had the clearer grasp of essentials- that there was a difference in kind between states that were self-governing and even the greatest of imperial dependencies and that these differences could not be papered over, merely by the nomination by the imperial power of representatives for that dependency. That was also the view, despite India's equivocal position, of Colonial and Imperial Conferences in the past and of Prime Ministers' and Commonwealth Heads of State Meetings in our own time, so much so that, by agreement, admission as of right to such gatherings became the accepted test of independence within the Commonwealth. Or, to put the point in another way, Empire, its government, organisation, administration and ideas is one thing; relations between autonomous polities within a community of states another. Both are deserving of study but it is the second, which in British history superseded the first, that provides the theme of this enquiry This book, then, is about the Commonwealth- about its origins, its development, its pattern and concepts of inter-state relations, its experience in peace and war. That Commonwealth was the heir of Empire, and imperial influences bore closely upon its earlier growth. But it developed a life and made a contribution to political thought and relations, not only distinct and distinguishable from *Lord Morley to Lord Minto, 2 May India Office Library. MSS Eur. D. 573/2. IX

10 X Preface those of Empire, but in many respects inherently opposed to them. It is that contribution, broadly conceived, which is studied in this book. The object is not detailed narrative but interpretation and analysis against a chronological background. The approagb is historical, but then so in essence was the experience. The Commonwealth was not the product of political abstractions, but of a succession of historical developments. A work that ranges so widely in time and space must rely greatly on specialist studies by other historians, and I have sought to make clear my indebtedness in this respect in footnotes and in the concluding bibliography. But I have also, at critical phases in Commonwealth evolution, sought to examine or re-examine the first-hand sources of evidence myself. I have quoted freely (though I hope not excessively) from such sources so as to convey something of the sense of occasion or the temper of debate at such times. I have many acknowledgments to make. In respect of official records I am much indebted for their help and courtesy to the staff of the Public Record Office, and of the Commonwealth and India Office libraries in London; of the Archives of Cape Colony, in Cape Town; of the National Archives of the Republic of South Africa, in Pretoria; of the Indian National Archives, inn ew Delhi; while with regard to libraries I would like to express my thanks to the staff of the University and Seeley libraries in Cambridge, and also to the staff of the libraries of the University of Cape Town, of Duke University, North Carolina and of the Indian School of International Studies, New Delhi. I have to thank the Trustees of the British Museum for permission to use the papers of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, and Mr C. A. Gladstone for giving me leave to consult the papers of W. E. Gladstone in the British Museum. The late Viscount Bruce of Melbourne showed me the personal records which he kept of meetings between the dominion high commissioners and the secretary of state for dominion affairs during the second world war, but from which I have not felt free to quote directly; Mr John Duncan allowed me to go through the papers of his father, Sir Patrick Duncan; the Indian National Archives, Calcutta, by courtesy ofsarvasri A. N. Sapru, P. N. Sapru and T. N. Sapru, made available to me transcripts from the papers of Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru; the Public Library in Cape Town enabled me to study the papers of J. X. Merriman; the Canadian National Archives in Ottawa, to whom an expression of special appreciation for their arrangements, both for week-end and (for the indefatigable) all-night study, is fitting, gave me permission to examine the papers of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Sir Robert Borden and

11 Preface XI William Lyon Mackenzie King (down to 1922). Three extracts from the diary of the Right Hon. Vincent Massey are reprinted from What's Past is Prologue by kind permission of Messrs Macmillan. I am indebted to the editors ofthe Economist, the International journal, Toronto, and the India Quarterly; to the Duke University Press and to Radio Eireann for permission to make use of material first published by them as articles or, in the last instance, delivered as lectures in the Thomas Davis series. Nor would I wish to leave unrecorded my appreciation of the patience and care with which the University Typewriting Office in Cambridge copied an often difficult manuscript. Finally it is my pleasant duty to acknowledge with gratitude a grant from the Smuts Memorial Fund at Cambridge for research and travel for the production of this book. My greatest debt is to my wife, who accompanied me on my travels and has not only checked facts and references throughout the book, but has made criticisms, comments and enquiries on every chapter and also many suggestions for additions from her own reading and research which have much enriched the work. StJohn's College, Cambridge Nicholas Mansergh March 1968 Preface to the Second Edition In the decade that has elapsed since the first publication of The Commonwealth Experience there have been significant additions to our knowledge and to our understanding of Commonwealth development and history. The opening of the official archives of the principal Commonwealth governments under a thirty year, or similar, rule, together with the publication in selected series of official documents on important topics- e.g. by the Australian Government on Australian Foreign Policy since 1937 and by the British on The Transfer of Power in India , has contributed notably to the widening of our knowledge, while understanding has been enhanced by studies both of a revisionist and a pioneering character- the former weighted towards earlier and still controversial events or personalities, the latter including detailed analyses of Anglo-dominion relations in more recent years. On the personal side the period has seen the rounding out of biographical studies of leading Commonwealth statesmen or personalities and the publication (in part) of two diaries of outstanding interest, those oft om

12 Xll Preface Jones on Cabinet treaty-making with Ireland and of Mackenzie King in his later years. Within the limits of space and relevance to theme, account of these additions is taken in this revised edition, with appropriate references in notes and an expanded bibliography. The decade since first publication has further witnessed developments, some still unfolding, which, so it seems, at this slight vantage point in time, must necessarily add to the Commonwealth experience. They include Britain's accession to the Common Market, changes in membership of the Commonwealth, what might be thought of as the climax of the process of decolonisation, the hardly-won resolution of the Rhodesia-Zimbabwe question, with the goal of independent status and international recognition attained by way of prior retreat from a unilaterally declared independence to colonial status- a classic example of the longest road round proving to be the shortest way home and, with echoes of earlier times, an improbable confrontation of Prime Minister with Governor-General in Australia and the 'patriation' of the constitution of the oldest dominion. These and other more general developments, notably the enhanced significance of economic factors, are considered, so far as may be in the longer perspective of history, in the concluding chapters. I am indebted to the J awaharlal Nehru University for an invitation to serve as a visiting professor at the School of International Studies, January to April 1980, to the British Academy for a grant to pursue research in India, and to the Leverhulme Trustees for an Emeritus Fellowship for further study of Anglo-Irish relations within the period. An extract from Lord Soames' article in International Affairs, val. 56, no. 3 ( 1980) entitled 'From Zimbabwe to Rhodesia' is reprinted with the kind permission of author and editor. I would like to thank Mrs Audrey Tester for the retyping of the revised text and its alignment with the old- no easy assignment but most helpfully discharged. My wife helped me greatly with my research, not least while in India, checked and commented on the new text, prepared the indices for both volumes and most of all sustained me with her encouragement. December 1981 N.M.