CHAPTER XIX ORGANISATION OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE LEAGUE 206 CHAPTER XX MISSION TO ENGLAND, 1897 225 CHAPTER XXI THE WEST INDIAN PREFERENCE 242 CHAPTER XXII 1899: ESTABLISHMENT OF EMPIRE DAY 248 CHAPTER XXIII THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR 258 CHAPTER XXIV 1900: BRITISH EMPIRE LEAGUE BANQUET IN LONDON 271 CHAPTER XXV WORK IN CANADA IN 1901 285 CHAPTER XXVI MISSION TO ENGLAND IN 1902 291 CHAPTER XXVII CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. CHAMBERLAIN 338 CHAPTER XXVIII CONGRESS OF CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE OF THE EMPIRE, 1906 356 APPENDIX _A_ SPEECH IN REPLY TO SIR C. DILKE 371 APPENDIX _B_ LECTURE ON "NATIONAL SPIRIT" 377 INDEX 405 COLONEL GEORGE T. DENISON _Frontispiece_ FACSIMILE LETTERS _facing p._ 114 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER A UNITED EMPIRE The idea of a great United British Empire seems to have originated on the North American Continent. When Canada was conquered and the power of France disappeared from North America, Great Britain then possessed the thirteen States or Colonies, as well as the Provinces of Quebec and Nova Scotia. The thirteen colonies had increased in population and wealth, and the British statesmen burdened with the heavy expenses of the French wars, which had been waged mainly for the protection of the American States, felt it only just that these Colonies should contribute something towards defraying the cost incurred in defending them. This raised the whole question of taxation without representation, and for ten years the discussion was waged vigorously between the Mother Country and the Colonists.