A little over a year after his accession to {311} power in 1911, Sir Robert Borden brought down his naval proposals, providing for a gift or loan to Great Britain of three Dreadnoughts to meet the current emergency, and promised to submit later on his permanent policy to the electorate. What that permanent policy would be he did not reveal. It was stated that the Government had not definitely decided against a Canadian navy, but the insistence upon the difficulty of building up a naval organization in Canada, and other remarks, made it appear that some plan of permanent contribution, with a share in the central controlling body, was under contemplation. Sir Wilfrid Laurier vigorously opposed the proposals and adhered to the policy of a Canadian navy. And, not to be outdone in bigness, he now advocated two fleet units. After a prolonged discussion and determined obstruction by the Opposition, the Government introduced the closure and forced the bill through the Commons, only to see it rejected by the Senate on the motion of Sir George Ross, 'that this House is not justified in giving its assent to this bill until it is submitted to the judgment of the country.' The Government's abrupt change of policy was in part due to the activity of the first {312} lord of the Admiralty, Mr Winston Churchill. Whether moved by his own impetuous temperament or by the advice of others, Mr Churchill threw overboard the M'Kenna memorandum, and endeavoured once more to revive the contribution policy. He was not content with laying before the Canadian prime minister the opinion of experts on the strategic questions involved, and advising on means to reach the desired end, but sought to influence public opinion in the Dominions by word and act. The memoranda sent at Sir Robert Borden's request in January 1913, emphasizing the difficulty of building battleships in Canada--which was not proposed by the Opposition--and the difficulty of helping to man the two Canadian fleet units--though at the same time men were declared to be available for as many as five Dreadnoughts, if contributed--were preceded by pressure on the Malay States to contribute a battleship, and were followed by Mr Churchill's announcement of his intention to establish at Gibraltar an Imperial Squadron composed of Dominion ships, under the Admiralty's control. When Australia suggested that a special Dominion Conference to discuss the matter should be held in Canada, New Zealand, or Australia, {313} the United Kingdom would not consent. It was made emphatically clear that Mr Churchill was in favour of contribution, not as an emergency but as a permanent policy. It was his doubtless well-meant--and invited--intervention in the dispute, ignoring the principles by which imperial harmony had been secured in the past, which more than anything else stirred up resentment in Canada.