In 1897 and 1902, the British Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, held Colonial Conferences, which were attended by representatives of all self-governing colonies. Chamberlain, an ardent imperialist, used these conferences to reach consensus on his vision of imperial unity. The author of this article analyses the negotiation strategies adopted by Britain, Canada, and Australia at these two conferences, with an emphasis on the 1902 conference. Australia’s Prime Minister Edmund Barton and Defence Secretary John Forrest advocated their plan of ‘one fleet for the Empire’s Naval Defence,’ or imperial Kriegsverein. Although Chamberlain showed considerable interest in imperial Kriegsverein at the 1897 conference, he dismissed it at the 1902 conference. On the other hand, Canada’s Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier advocated imperial preference, or imperial Zollverein, at the 1902 conference. For Britain to introduce imperial Zollverein, it was necessary to impose food tariffs to give favourable treatment to imports from the colonies. Although Chamberlain distrusted Laurier and recognised that food taxes would be unpopular with the British, he ultimately sided with Laurier and supported imperial Zollverein. The following year, Chamberlain launched a tariff reform campaign. This article demonstrates that Laurier’s manoeuvring tactics, not the Australian government’s unskilful negotiations, led to this result.
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