Balfour Declaration of 1926

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search For the declaration which communicated the British government's support for a Jewish national home in Palestine, see Balfour Declaration of 1917. The Balfour Declaration of 1926, named after the British Lord President of the Council rthur Balfour, !arl of Balfour, "as the name given to a report resulting from the #$%& 'mperial Conference of British !mpire leaders in London( 't states of the )nited *ingdom and the +ominions:
,They are autonomous Communities "ithin the British !mpire, e-ual in status, in no "ay su.ordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or e/ternal affairs, though united .y a common allegiance to the Cro"n, and freely associated as mem.ers of the British Common"ealth of 0ations(,

The inter1imperial relations committee, chaired .y Balfour, dre" up the document preparatory to its approval .y the imperial premiers on 0ovem.er #2( 't "as first proposed .y 3outh frican Prime 4inister James Barry 4unnik 5ert6og and Canada7s Prime 4inister at that time, William Lyon 4acken6ie *ing( The document accepted the gro"ing political and diplomatic independence "ithin the dominions, in particular Canada, since World War '( 't also recommended that the governors1general, the representatives of the *ing "ho acted for the Cro"n as head of state in each dominion, should no longer also serve automatically as the representative of the British government in diplomatic relations .et"een the countries( 'n follo"ing years, 5igh Commissioners "ere gradually appointed, "hose duties "ere soon recognised to .e virtually identical to those of an am.assador( The first such British 5igh Commissioner "as appointed to 8tta"a in #$%9( The conclusions of the conference "ere restated .y the #$:; conference and incorporated in the +ecem.er #$:# 3tatute of Westminster .y "hich the British Parliament renounced any legislative authority over dominion affairs e/cept as specifically provided in dominion la"(