Imperial Federation League

Francis Labilliere, William Westgarth and John Dennistoun Wood served on a committee of six to draft the prospectus of the Imperial Federation League.

[2] It aimed to promote the Imperial Federation, to be formed in a similar way to the confederation of a majority of British North America into the Dominion of Canada in the mid-19th century.

The United States and Canada were held up as concrete examples of how vast territories could be effectively managed while maintaining a central representative authority.

The Imperial Federation League combined politicians, journalists, and intellectuals, like Sir John Robert Seeley, James Bryce, Alfred Milner, Froude and Lord Tennyson.

The Victorian Branch was a supporter of the notion that Imperial Federation could be encouraged best by not enunciating a clear plan.

[7] The League promoted the closer union of the British Empire under an "Imperial Federal Government" however it did not settle on any particular scheme of what this would comprise, whether a Federal Parliament, a Council, or Conferences, other than that it would include representation from the parts of the empire to consider matters of foreign policy, defence, and trade.

The Imperial Parliament (Westminster, stripped of its local responsibilities) would handle foreign affairs, the army, the navy, and those colonies (including India) which had a population the bulk of which was "alien".

The League was divided between those who wanted to establish a clear pathway for Imperial Federation and those whose view was that the program could best be advanced by general discussion, aiming to move opinion in favor of federation with specifics to be worked out later (Parkin, in Canada, argued that that was the method used to bring about Canadian Confederation).

While Salisbury agreed to the calling of the Colonial Conference he would later dismiss federation as nothing more than "a word spelt with ten letters".