Excerpt from British Citizenship: A Discussion Initiated
With the approbation of the Council of the Royal Colonial Institute, arrangements have been made for this reprint of the recent discussion in United Empire on the subject of British Citizenship. It began in the last November number of the Journal of the Institute with the article that stands first in this small volume, and after calling forth contributions from Mr. James Bryce, Prof Westlake, Sir Samuel Griffith (Chief Justice of Australia), Mr. Malan (Minister of Education, United South Africa), and other notable jurists and men of affairs thoughout the Empire, it came to a conclusion in the present month with a review of the whole subject by the initiator of the discussion.
In the opening and concluding articles no opinion whatever is expressed about such controversial questions as devolution of government within the British Isles, the enfranchisement of women, or the status of non-European British subjects in various parts of the Empire. But from the absence of any such references it would be unfair to conclude that the writer of the articles in question has no decided opinions of his own in regard to current political subjects bearing upon citizenship. On the contrary he was drawn into the consideration of this subject by very special anxieties (which are for the most part still unallayed) as to one at least of these topics, nor from the earlier drafts for an article did he altogether eliminate controversial matter. But as his view of British citizenship enlarged, he became more and more impressed by its continuous evolution throughout our Empire and by the merely temporary nature of the obstacles that oppose themselves to such a growth. It seemed to him of chief importance to dwell upon that organic connexion, rising from the affairs of the city to the affairs of the nation and beyond, and either in its lower or higher forms affecting a larger and still larger number of British subjects. Indeed, he came to regard the mere percentage of British subjects who possess the municipal franchise as in itself not an unfair test of the ripeness of any British community for responsible government.
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