General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1921 Original Publisher: The Clarendon press Subjects: World War, 1914-1918 Great Britain European war, 1914-1918 History / Military / World War I Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER II THE DOMINIONS AND THE UNITED KINGDOM, 1914-16 Responsibility of United Kingdom for declaration of war in 1014 – Legal effect of declaration – The War Prerogative of the Crown – Non-interference with Dominion autonomy – Postponement of Imperial Conference in 1915 – Gradual recognition in United Kingdom of necessity of closer co-operation with Dominions. The pre-war organization of the Empire rendered it inevitable that when, on August 4, 1914, the necessity of protecting the liberty of Europe and vindicating public right compelled the Imperial Government to declare war against the German Empire, the decision to take part in hostilities rested on the sole responsibility of that Government, though its action vitally affected the whole of the British Empire. It is true that the Dominion Governments in the days immediately preceding the final decision had spontaneously sent messages assuring the Crown of their readiness to afford such aid as the crisis might render necessary, but it was impossible for these Governments to form any deliberate opinion on the details of the issue or to intervene with any suggestions as to means of securing the maintenance of peace. Fortunately for the unity of the Empire in the struggle the wrongdoing of Germany was flagrant and unabashed, so that it was impossible for serious doubt to be felt as to the justice of the British action. Moreover, nowhere was the falsity of the German accusation that the British Governme…
