3-028-329 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Without The Self-Governing Dominions The Empire Would Fall To Pieces.'" "Pray, Silence!": Lord Grey Replying To The Toast Of The Evening At The Dominion Day Banquet [at the Garden Club in the] White City, 1909. 'In reply to the toast of the evening, "The Dominion of Canada," Lord Grey said..."Never in the whole history of this Empire has there been a more common or profound conviction that Canada and the other self-governing Dominions and the Motherland are all necessary to one another. It is admitted in every part of the Empire that without the self-governing Dominions the Empire would fall to pieces, and that without the Empire the self-governing Dominions could not stand. The protection of the British Navy is necessary in order to give Canada security for...national development. There are some who fear that...the large American immigration...may stimulate the desire of some people in Canada to be incorporated into the United States. If there is anyone...who shares that gloomy apprehension allow me...to set his mind completely at rest...Every Canadian knows that it is only a matter of time before Canada becomes the most populous and the most wealthy and, if her people live the right life, the most important portion of the British Empire".' From "Illustrated London News", 1909.