Federation and the British colonies; a paper of suggestions

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FEDERATION

BEITISH COLONIES

A PAVER OF SUGGESTION'S

BY

PATRICK H. W. ROSS

LONDON
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIYINGTON

FETTER LANE, FLEET STEEET, E.O.
1887

[All rights reserved']

LONDON :

PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LIMITED,
ST. JOHN'S HOUSE, CLERKENWELL ROAD.

li

PREFACE.

IT was not the author's intention when he com-
menced this pamphlet to assume the didactic. If,
in the course of his remarks, he has betrayed a too
frequent use of the " ipse dixit " in the expression
of his opinions, he craves his readers' indulgence.
His positiveness has only been aroused by the sin-
cerity of his desire to serve (in however humble
a degree) his Country and his Countrymen.

He would ask that these pages be taken for what
they were honestly meant to be, — a short record of
reflections and in-borne convictions on topics of
paramount interest to every British subject on the
face of the Globe — coming from " one of the Masses "
to " the Masses."

HAWAII, May, 1887.

A 2

FEDERATION AND THE BRITISH

COLONIES.

IT is the proud boast of this nation that the " sun
never sets " on its Empire. It would be as well,
perhaps, to consider what are the ties that bind this
Empire together, to consider —

Firstly, What we are, and

Secondly, What we have.

The almanack tells us that we are —

England and Wales, Scotland and the Isles,
Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Isles, with
an area of some 120,000 miles.

That we have —

India, Australia, Canada, Tasmania, New Zealand,
and many smaller Colonies and possessions, amount-
ing in all to an area of nearly 8,000,000 square miles.

Now when we say that we have India, and that
we have Australia, Canada, or any other great
colony, as everybody knows, we use the same verb,
but with a very different meaning.

India we have, we hold, and mean to keep,

6 Federation and the British Colonies.

defending the country's possession with all the
power and energy at our command.

The great colonies we have only in name, we
hold only by the silken ties of community of race,
religion, and kindred associations ; and we shall
only keep just so long as they wish to stay by their
Mother country.

We cannot be said to own that which we are not
prepared to guard at all hazards. There is a wide
difference between the military and the municipal
colony.

Should another mutiny arise in India, we should
do as we did in 1857, fight till we quenched it.
The colonials would most probably help us in the
struggle.

But in the event of a colony asserting its in-
dependence ! Does any one think we should ever
have a second Colonial War of Independence ? The
thing is impossible.

No government would ever lead England into
such a war. Public opinion, far more powerful
now-a-days than it was in 1775, would never tolerate
such a line of policy.

The great Australian colonies and Canada are
much nearer and much dearer to the Mother
country than they were even twenty-five years ago.
Steam and electricity have annihilated distance,
and intercourse has ripened the bud of a sympathetic
goodfellowship into the flower of a strong mutual
respect and affection.

Federation and the British Colonies.

Since, then, the United Kingdom cannot and
would not lay any stronger claim to the possession
of the colonies than the colonies themselves are
willing to allow, it is necessary for the abiding
strength of the nation that our present system of
Colonial Government be remodelled to suit the
existing state of affairs.

The Canadian should feel that he owns 1 England
as much as the Englishman feels that he owns1
Canada ; the Australian should consider himself as
personally and directly interested in the Indian
Empire as the Englishman. In point of fact,
"things are not what they seem." We, British,
are Great Britain and Ireland, Australia, Canada,
and New Zealand, and we have and own India and
the rest of our Empire.

The sons are of age ; their apprenticeship has
been served ; their articles are out. They must be
admitted into the firm, or they may go into business
on their own account. A

Colonial policy is not like the laws of the Medes
and Persians, " which alter eth not," but has already

1 The easiest way to express a simple idea is to express it in the
simplest of words. I speak of " ownership " as the word is to my
mind the most suitable one to use in such a connection. Every
man who contributes towards the support of his country has the
right to consider himself as a part proprieter of his country and
his country's possessions. It is very certain that the monarch
does not own the country ; equally sure that no class of society
does. Who, then, is, or are, the owners, if not the people, — you, —
your neighbour, — components, units of Britain's wealth and strength.,

8 Federation and the British Colonies.

seen considerable change, and will in the near future,
let us hope, see further changes.

In good King George's time, the doctrine held
with a too rigid faith with regard to our colonies
was that of the Complete Sovereignty of the Mother
country.

Circumstances arose 2 which somewhat modified
that rigid rule ; the doctrine now held, to the best
of my belief, is that of Guardianship or Tutelage.

Let us suppose, for example, that we had not lost
America, that the United States were still British
Colonies. We should then be in the position of
guardian to a country of 55,000,000 inhabitants, of
3,600,000 square miles, with a revenue so far in
excess of her expenditure as to allow her to pay off
no less a sum than $1,722,660,000 of her Public
Debt in the course of the past twenty years.
In pounds sterling, £344,500,000, or an excess of
£17,225,000 sterling per annum. Eather a trouble-
some ward if she chose to be unruly !

There is small comfort in the thought that had
our statesmen been more sagacious, or had the
people had more power in 1775, the doctrine of
Complete Sovereignty would have yielded to that of
Guardianship, before and not after the battle of
Lexington.

Canada and the great Australian Colonies are far
more powerful now than the United States were a

2 The American War, and, subsequently, Declaration of In-
dependence.

Federation and the British Colonies. 9

hundred years ago, and their capabilities are fully
as great, if, as we stoutly maintain, their power of
development is as great under the beneficent British
control as America's became when relieved of that
control.

It would be a shameful avowal for us to allow
that the rapid progress to wealth and power of the
United States is due, in however remote a degree,
to their having been freed from British restraint
and connection.

Such may be the case, but we cannot admit the
fact ; nor will we allow such an assertion to pass
unchallenged. "We claim to be the freest of the
free. We know of no Government which can be an
improvement upon our own.

Still, it would be as w^ell to remember that the
United States once were, and perhaps might yet
have been, British Colonies; to take note of the fact
that it is quite within the bounds of possibility for
the Australian Colonies to federate, or for Canada
to seek her independence ; to remember that as the
United States have risen to immense wealth and
strength, so will the great colonies grow rich and
strong ; and, above all, that it is infinitely important
that they should rise to wealth and strength as a
part OF us rather than apart FEOM us.

As with families, so with nations, the future hope
and pride is with the youth and early manhood, not
with the ripe and aged.

The history of the past year shows us that men's

io Federation and the British Colonies.

minds are turning in the direction of a unification
of our British Empire. The violent rejection of
Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule for Ireland Bill was
due to the energetic resistance with which the
nation met the proposals that appeared to menace
the strength of the Union between Great Britain
and Ireland.

When this great idea of cementing our Union
with the colonies shall be forced upon the country's
notice as keenly, as prominently as the Irish
Question was forced upon its attention, then and
then only shall we see the beginning of such an
augmentation to Britain's strength as will mark
this Jubilee year of Her Majesty's reign in letters
of brass, more lasting than gold, that shall testify
to ages to come how in 1887 —

Federation and the British Colonies.

I I

THE PEOPLE OF THE BRITISH,

PROUD OF THEIR EMPIRE, AND PROUD OF THEIR QUEEN,

IN THIS, THE FIFTIETH TEAR O.F HER REIGN,

SEEKING TO GLORIFY AND PERPETUATE

THE JOYOUS JUBILEE OF VICTORIA'S RULE,

FINDING NOT IN MONUMENTAL BRASS

NOR STONE COMMEMORATIVE
SUOH LASTING PROOFS OF BRITISH FAITH,

OF BRITISH LOVE, AND LOYALTY,

As ANIMATE THE NATION'S HEART;

BY FIRMER UNION OF GREAT BRITAIN'S SONS,

BY EQUAL INCIDENCE OF BRITAIN'S LAWS,
GAVE TO THEIR QUEEN, THEMSELVES AND TO POSTERITY

AN EMPIRE, WHOLE, INCORPORATE;
WHOSE DIVERSE SHORES THE SEAS connect BUT ne'er

divide^
WHOSE SOVEREIGN LADY QUEEN, MAY GOD DEFEND.

VICTORIA,
VICTORIA THE TRUE !

1 2 Federation and the British Colonies.

No time-could be better for a National Federation
thanjfche^pFesent. The approaching " Golden Wed-
ding" of Victoria with her people leads most men to
devote some time to the consideration of a suitable
form of Jubilee "Memorial," commemorative of the
glad event, and expressive of our grateful apprecia-
tion of the incalculable benefits that the blameless
life of a pure, true woman has conferred upon the
nation's political, social, and moral life.

In the strengthening and expanding of the nation
itself we have a memorial worthy of our Queen, and
worthy of ourselves, so gigantic in its proportions,
so universal in its formation, as to defy comparison
and exclude all parallel.

The three great pillars of our memorial are Con-
solidation, Federation, and Regeneration, or, if you
choose, Strength, Unity, and Goodwill.

By Consolidation is implied " the act of making
compact and firm." We would be loth to think
that our British " institutions " were anything but
firm.

Our government is the very opposite of unstable,
our national character the reverse of flighty. The
distinguishing traits of the British are steadiness and
conservatism. Conservatism in the sense of our
veneration for the glorious roll of England's history,
and for our cherished British " institutions ;" our
pride of birth; and in the Englishman's invincible
repugnance to the sinking of his nationality. Per-
haps this last characteristic has not been brought

Federation and the British Colonies. 1 3

to the notice of many of our home-stayers so clearly
as it might be. A little reflection, however, will
assure most men that there is hardly a stronger, a
more universal sentiment hidden away in every
manly heart that beats on British soil than this —
that the British are peerless among the races of men.
Take the Englishman abroad. Does he attempt to
ingratiate himself with " natives " of the country
he may be in? Does he learn their language?
Does he " do in Rome as Rome does " ? Does
he compliment ? I think not. He takes his country
with him wheresoever he goes. Unconsciously to
himself he betrays often an assurance of which he
dreamt not he was the possessor, and unwittingly
wounds the susceptibilities of sensitive foreigners by
a passive arrogance so inborn as to be a part of his
very being.

I know of no better instance of our honourable
stiffneckedness in preserving the nationality than
in the case of Englishmen who have emigrated to
the United States 3 (often men in needy circum-
stances) . The citizens of the great Republic share (or

3 I would here note an exception in the case of the many
thousands of Irishmen who have left us and joined their lot with
that of our friend and cousin. Their defection is chiefly due to
political discontent. God grant that by a happier dispensation
of National Government they may obtain that measure of local
autonomy which is so manifestly their due. We should thus
retain the confidence, co-operation, and goodwill of a people so
warm-hearted^ generous, and brave as the Irish. The British
Empire cannot afford to lose the least one of her sons' sympathy
and allegiance.

1 4 Federation and the British Colonies.

inherit) this peculiarity to a marked degree. They
honour their national Eagle as faithfully as we our
Lion, and take very good care that all such as wish
to enter their political fold do leave behind them
everything of their Mother country ties ; their burden
of home association is completely cast off at the
threshold of the new Oath of Allegiance to the new
country.

I speak of the rights of citizenship.

The Englishman who takes that oath renounces
his birthright, is no longer an Englishman, but sinks
his nationality and becomes an American citizen.
And how many Englishmen are there who have for-
sworn their country within the last twenty years ?
Very few indeed, compared with the hosts of
Germans, Italians, and Europeans of all nationalities
who take out their naturalization papers every
year.

Many of our countrymen there are living in the
United States, but not as citizens. They cannot
face that oath; and, notwithstanding material
advantages that await the naturalized citizen, these
men remain as they were, English, for reasons that
all can feel within themselves, but few explain.

Here is conservatism of the purest type, catholic
to Radical, Liberal, and Tory alike.

We may naturally suppose that a people, so
eminently sober-minded and practical as the British,
would possess sufficient common sense to make the
most of that which they have, to see wherein their

Federation and the British Colonies. \ 5

strength lies, and to pursue the course which tends
to make firm that which is loose.

Our future strength lies with the development of
the Colonies. Our Governmental ties are loose. "We
cannot force the Colonies into a stronger union, and
consequently, we must adopt the principle of

FEDERATION.

Federation is defined as the " act of uniting in a
league." I am afraid that many of us at home and
abroad may take exception to both term and defi-
nition. People may ask, " What need have we of a
league ? Our Empire is not composed of petty King-
doms and Principalities too weak in themselves to
guard themselves, and needing that union of forces
which alone gives strength."

A few, perhaps, though I hope not many, might
consider it beneath the dignity of the mighty parent
country to entertain any proposals of co-partnership
with her robust sons. Such are the men to whom
history teaches no lessons, who never gain by ex-
perience, who having eyes see not, having ears
hear not. There can be no question of dignity or
pride between father and son, mother and daughter.

These are our jewels, and precious jewels they are.
Our need of Federation is in our future system of_^
government. We need a Federal Government. One
universal national system, binding from without,
loosening from within. National in matters of
national defence and foreign relations; territorial^

1 6 Federation and the British Colonies.

in relation to internal affairs; having a truly Imperial
Parliament of representatives from all the component
parts of the United Empire, and Local Parliaments
(analogous to the State Legislatures) in each country
to direct its own affairs.

I do not know that there is any occasion to enlarge
upon this subject in these few pages. We can all
understand the privileges that are ours in
The integrity of our Judges,
The purity of the Civil Service,
The general honour and fair-spirited tone of

our public men,

And in the absence of that fierce uncontrollable
excitement and political upheaval of the nation that
inevitably attends the election of a President of a
Republic.

We know also that these privileges are over and
above the personal rights of the subject as secured
by law. No legislative enactment of itself could
force public men in high office to adopt a lofty ideal
of unswerving rectitude in their path through life.

I believe that the happy result is due to two causes,
partly to the general Christianizing influences of
the age, but mainly to the force of good example as
shown forth by the excellent lady whom we delight
to honour as England's Empress-Queen.

So that in our Federal scheme we have only to
adopt so much of what is good in another system of
government as may be necessary for the remodelling
of our own, without in any way losing a particle of

Federation and the British Colonies. 1 7

that which we so justly consider to have made
England " happy and glorious."

"We, the public, have not to formulate detail :
that we leave to our ministers and public servants,
who are generally to be found willing and able to
elaborate their views on all subjects of public interest
to such as seek to hear them.

For a national work to be thorough it is an
absolute necessity that it be done by the nation,
not for the nation, by government, class, or
individual.

The ideas conveyed by the words Consoli-
dation and Federation are plain enough. Unity and
strength are the logical outcome of the two;
simplicity, also, undoubtedly, after a time.

The greatest difficulty is to induce the conser-
vative British mind to accept a new idea or an old
truth in a new guise.

I believe that this can only be effected by

REGENERATION,

or a new birth of opinions formed by different classes
of society of each other. Such a knowledge of and
sympathy with the wants of others as shall move
men to a comprehension of the fact that in the
prosperity of all lies the true safety of the prosperity
of the individual.

One cannot be surprised that so many Englishmen
fail to understand and sympathize with perhaps the
most important class of society that exists in the

1 8 Federation and the British Colonies.

Colonies, the Western United States, and all new
countries.

I refer to the mechanic and artisan.

What can the parson, the soldier, the artist, the
trader, the lawyer, the doctor, and clerk (whose
wants are generally limited to occasional domestic
repairs) know of the mechanic and artisan in a
country where skilled labour is plentiful and low-
priced ?

They know nothing of them, do not mix with
them socially, and do not have that pressing need
of their services which can alone cause them to
appreciate their tme value.

It is impossible to over-rate the importance of
the craftsman in a new country. His is the creating
hand. The reason for such a difference in the
mechanic's position in England and the Colonies is
so simple that I doubt if it is worthy of mention.
In England the mechanic has had his special day —
the supply is greater than the demand ; but in the
Colonies the converse is the state of affairs. There
he is the most important factor in the economy of
progress. His is the most useful, and, consequently,
the leading class of colonial society. Not that
I would infer that the actual operative mason,
carpenter, blacksmith, or mechanical engineer is
the leader of, or giver-of-tone to polite colonial
society in the conventional sense of the term. It
is, however, an indubitable fact, that a great portion
of the wealth and intelligence of the United States

Federation and the British Colonies. 19

and the Colonies is with the descendants of those
who at one time did labour with their hands, and
who, naturally revering their forefathers and pro-
genitors, feel an honest pride in the fruits of honest
labour, experience no false shame in consorting with
the class from which they sprang, and give to that
class a social status which its importance in the new
country rightly deserves, but which it can never
attain at home.

I have not spoken of the farmer and the stock-
raiser, because I think their position is so clearly
defined and so fully recognized by all classes at
home and abroad, as to obviate the necessity for
special remark. The agriculturalist is the colonial
aristocrat. Why a farmer's should be considered
a more "respectable" vocation than a carpenter's
I cannot tell, and yet I believe it is so considered
by many thousands of excellent persons at home.
I only know that the farmer " out West " has to
be his own carpenter, mason, blacksmith, and
everything else at times.

Perhaps the imagined social superiority of the
farmer to the mechanic is due to the fact that the
former is supposed to be more of a master and less
of a hand-worker than he really is.

We can readily perceive that in a country where
the more ornamental elements of military, naval,
literary, and fashionable folk are in a minority,
the stronger element of practical self-made men
would be in the ascendant, and would inevitably

B 2

2O Federation and the British Colonies.

make its influence felt in the legislature and in
the tone of its general society.

The chief characteristics of self-made men of
the pioneer type are fearlessness, independence,
common sense, and an intense dislike of anything
approaching to patronage from others.

Success in life, moreover, does not, as a rule, sour
men's kindly disposition, nor does it narrow their
views. We may well believe our Colonial brothers
to be of generous soul and liberal mind.

So that we have to bring a class, inclined to the
pursuit of the ornamental, imbued with what are so
aptly termed " Old World ideas," and perhaps too
prone to attach an extravagant estimate to the
advantages of high birth and purely social refine-
ments, into touch with a class distinguished for
vigour of progressive idea and independence of
personal thought.

An exalted idea of one's own importance is
generally supposed to be one of the greatest barriers
to genial intercourse, and until the leading classes
of home and colony honestly appreciate the good
that lies in each other, we may safely assume that
perfect cohesion of parties is still a thing to be
hoped for. Nor will the Union be complete until the
distinction between the Colonial and the Londoner
is no greater than that which now exists between
the Yorkshire men and the men of Kent, until men
come to look upon our Empire as connected by the
seas and not divided by them, and — to use a

Federation and the British Colonies. 2 1

paradox — until England is as much of Australia as
Australia is of England.

For the purposes of simile, we may imagine the
"Old Country" to be in the fifth age of man,
" with eyes severe and beard of formal cut, full of
wise saws and modern instances;" and the young
pioneer "full of strange oaths and bearded like
the pard, jealous in honour." The former is the
strong man, of reflective mind, rich in experience,
in theory, and knowledge of the world, but one in
whom the vigorous fires of early manhood have lost
their morning glow ; whose heavy hand insensibly
must lose its facile cunning, whose strength remains,
but whose rejuvenescent powers must inevitably
fade.

The latter is the keen bustler of the present
decade, by force of circumstances and natural bent
of character, of a more practical and inventive turn
of mind than he whose " mise-en-scene " is comfort-
ably arranged for him before his first bow is made
upon the Stage of Life.

Energy misdirected is too familiar an experience
for us not to wish that the young life of the Colonies
may be spared the many mishaps, trials, and
disappointments that have fallen to the lot of the
dear old home-country in her long struggle from
darkness to light.

" Sweet are the uses of adversity," as the people
of the United States have discovered, ay, and
are discovering even now, a generation after the

22 Federation and the British Colonies.

fratricidal struggle that convulsed their nation was
brought to a close.

God forbid that any such mortal agony should
come upon the Colonies as tore the heart of the
American Republic in 1863. Let us rather hope
that in their case sympathy with sorrow, patience
with weakness, and above all denial of self (qualities
that unvaried success can but tend to deaden) may
be quickened by an absorption of the life of the old
into the life of the new ; and, as the faithful son
takes upon himself not only the glories but the
sorrows of his father's life, so may we trust that
in the commingling of the lives of England and her
Colonies, the latter may avoid the pitfalls and
snares that have beset the path of older nations, and
learn, too, something more of human love and
human suffering than the uniformly prosperous
conditions of colonial life (as a whole) permit of.

In the perfect union of our Old World wisdom
with our New World energy, we have within our
grasp the possibility of such power and prosperity
as makes one's very being to thrill with joy.

Our Empire is maintained, not by force of arms,
not by a blind enthusiasm too unreasoning to be
trustworthy, but a sincere, clear-sighted, and tem-
perate loyalty that finds in the British Constitution
a defence for the people, a safeguard for their
rights, and liberty for all.

We are, I think, a fortunate race in our disposition
and national temperament.

Federation and the British Colonies. 2 3

In our loyalty to the Crown there is an under-
current of self-interest, which, though detracting
from the poetic beauty of loyalty in the abstract,—^
as an exalted sentiment of fidelity and personal'
devotion, gives to that loyalty a practical stability
of purpose more thorough, more enduring than the
vain plaudits of a passionate, but too often ephemeral
zeal.

" Reverence," as Mr. Carlyle has said, "the highest
feeling that man's nature is capable of, the crown
of his whole moral manhood, "and self-respect are
too clearly marked traits in the British character.
To a greater or less degree, one or other, or both, of
these excellent qualities are present in most of us.

Without reverence for things higher and holier
than ourselves, self-respect is apt to become in-
tolerant conceit, unchecked by shame, unbridled by
fear of public opinion. Without some measure of
self-respect, reverence may degenerate into slavish
baseness.

We have, in the chronicle of the first French
Revolution, the story of a people robbed of their
faith, and the exercises of their religion. After the
story comes the moral. With what joy the unhappy
French returned to the pleasures of a humble and
reverent worship of a protecting, personal God.
What stronger proof can be adduced of the solace to
frail mortality in the knowledge of a superior Power,
our Guide in health, our Comforter in sorrow ?

In a lesser degree this same feeling holds good of

24 Federation and the British Colonies.

the light in which men should regard the ruler of
their native land.

The ruler, be he King or President, is but the
embodiment of law, the temporary guardian of an
imperishable trust. The respect shown and the
reverence felt for the person of the Sovereign in our
country, are as beneficial to ourselves, as justly due
to the object of our veneration.

Liberty, undisciplined, must turn to licence, and
licence is fatal to life.

The history of Republics of all ages runs much
on these lines.

A lack of reverence for the high station of the
chief magistrate4 (within the possible reach of all),
and an intimate knowledge of the early struggles,
prosaic life and shortcomings of the time-being
incumbent of supreme office, render it impossible
for men to attach great weight to the opinion of any
one person or class. There is no tribunal higher than
that on which the ambitious one himself has a seat.
Each thus becomes his own member, and — to quote
Mr. Carlyle once more — "if every man's selfishness,
infinitely expansive, is to be hemmed-in only by the
infinitely expansive selfishness of every other man,
it seems as if we should have a world of mutually
repulsive bodies with no centripetal force to bind
them together."

So that if we view our Royal Family solely as a
" centripetal force," and with no feelings of personal
4 "The magistrate must have his reverence." — Burke.

Federation and the British Colonies. 2 5

interest whatever, I cannot help thinking that in this
instance of our paying for a sentiment we show more
practical wisdom than the advocates of Republicanism
are possibly aware of.

Should it appear that the writer has dwelt with
too fond a touch on the virtues of the British, he
would beg absolution from the charge of "Jingoism ;"
partly on account of the circumstances under which
these lines are written, and also because in all efforts
of an incentive nature, a cheerful and encouraging
complacency is of more value than the captious
despondency of a torpid pessimism.

If, perhaps, he has wandered from the subject of
Regeneration — regarded as a new birth or remodel-
ling of our opinions of each other, and of our relative
importance in the British Commonwealth — he might
urge that, in matters of introspection, it is well to
determine not only our views of others, but also of
ourselves.

How many there are who lead a dual life ! that of
necessity, the prosaic life of the bread-winner, and
the other, the life of the " might-have-been/' that
pleasant flowery path, so dear to the heart, wherein
the fancy loves to linger, building delightful castles
in the air, feeding the imaginative soul with visionary
dreams of its own undeveloped possibilities.

How many an embryonic hero has passed away,
"unhonoured and unsung," save in the trusting
heart of some poor mortal, his faithful friend in life,
his resting-place in death.

26 Federation and the British Colonies.

Who is there that does not envy the lot of the man,
who, freed from the harassing cares of daily work
for daily bread, with healthy frame and healthy
mind enters into the arena of British Politics,
honestly determined to devote himself to his coun-
try's service ? a calling as arduous as any that can
be conceived. But what a prize is his of whom it may
be said, " He did his duty."

Beyond all recompense, above all earthly honours,
is the taking into the heart of a man's memory by
his loving countrymen.

"Why does the eye grow moist, the breath come
short, and the blood run hot, at the story of Nelson's
life and Nelson's death ? Is it not because he was
so human in his strength and in his weakness ; be-
cause he was as obedient and unselfish as he was lion-
brave ; as simple and kind as he* was the very pink
of patriotic devotion ? Lord Nelson not only did,
but lived his duty, and for this reason his memory
will be cherished for long ages after his glorious
victories are forgotten. Now, each one of us has a
duty to perform, each has his unit of support to
give to the measure of federation, each has his unit
of sound to add to the nation's voice in expressing
her desire.

If for a moment we glance at the history of
another nation, in many respects not unlike our own
— the Kingdom of Portugal — we shall find material
for serious, if not anxious thought.

The mere mention of such names as Bartolomeo

Federation and the British Colonies. 2 7

Diaz, Yasco de Gama, Fernando de Magalhaens, and
Pedro Alvarez Cabral, tells us of perils by wind and
sea, of pluck, of enterprise, of such romantic venture
in foreign lands, as never yet has failed to rouse the
British sympathy with a National spirit so like its
own.

They tell of a little mother country and her giant

colony-son.5

* * * * # * *

66 In 1821 a revolution took place in Brazil, which
country declared itself an independent Empire under
Pedro I., October 12th, 1822.

"•In 1832, Pedro I. of Brazil took Oporto ; in 1833
Lisbon ; in 1834, his brother Don Miguel submitted
to him, and Maria II., the daughter of the Brazilian
Emperor, came to the throne of Portugal."

We have not to inquire into the causes that led
to such a change in the relations between country
and colony. Sufficient for our purposes to note that
the early struggles of a colonizing Power are of little
use to that Power, without the systematic cohesion
that should bind the different countries in one body
politic ; constructive skill, as is well known, being
of a different nature to administrative ability.

The keystone to national unity is the character
of its people. A mutual confidence and respect
accompanied by national clannishness is the true

5 The area of Portugal is 35,000 square miles.
„ „ „ Brazil „ 3,200,000

28 Federation and the British Colonies.

medium through which to regard one's fellow-
countrymen.

Happily for England there are many millions of
us whose hearts are fixed on the question of British
Unity, who need no clarion cry to rouse their
"salient" Patriotism; no cold review of benefit in
prospect to prompt a selfish mind to interested
action.

But if, perchance, Providence have blessed the
reader with such clear perception of the Practical,
such keen appreciation of the Material as to
enshadow what trace of the Emotional may
(all unsuspected) yet survive the tender glamour
of his childhood days — then would I humbly
beg his patience yet awhile until our argument
is done.

Passing by questions of collective interest, omitting
mention of co-operation as the most successful factor
in modern progress, national and commercial, let us
consider the subject in as directly personal a view as
possible.

The problems of Home Rule for Ireland and
London Socialism are of such importance in these
times as to merit consideration of a personal nature.
As one of a Federal Union, Ireland would have as
complete local autonony as that enjoyed by any one
of the United States.

At what measure of gain might we not value a
stop to the miserable wrangling in Parliament so
painfully familiar to us all ?

Federation and the British Colonies. 2 9

Much more should we have cause to greet the day
that brings peace and contentment to a fevered,
unhappy people.

Socialism, in the definite sense of " a theory
advocating a more harmonious arrangement of
the social relations " between man and man,
is fairly well in line with what has been said
in support of Federation. In its vaguer applica-
tion to, but more familiar aspect of, organized
discontent, may we not hope that by still readier
intercourse, yet closer impact of home and colony,
we shall arrive at the surest method of regulating
the demand and supply of labour of all grades ;
and thus, by tapping the fountain-head of "un-
employ," reduce to harmless proportions a stream
of distress only too liable to dangerous winter
flood.

It is not always easy, nor, indeed, expedient to
instance cases of personal profit, directly the con-
sequent of state action. So much depends upon
circumstances. But we may confidently assure our-
selves that the policy which seeks to develop the
resources of a country bears in its train opportunities
for profit to the capitalist, the merchant, and the
artisan. We have but two great truths to consider,
and our work is begun : the power of the people,
and the simplicity of human affairs.

With the first of these there should be more of a
quiet conviction than noisy assertion.

The man who does is he who hath the power ; not

30 Federation and the British Colonies.

the orator who speaks, nor the journal that ex-
pounds, but the man wlio votes.

Princes, peers, and politicians are the people's
servants, and not their governors. The height of
our individual ambition is to serve the country. The
Heir- Apparent for centuries has borne as his proud
motto the words " I serve," and our beloved Queen
has for the last fifty years been a living proof of a
fact that the Sovereign rules to serve her people,
not herself.

The briefest scrutiny of self will show us that we
are all, to some extent, guilt}' of mystification in our
several trades, professions, and callings.

The knowledge that has been so long a-coming is
highly prized when gained ; the skill that years of
practice brings is valued in proportion to the diffi-
culties overcome in its attainment.

But the weakness of human vanity demands a
mystery-cloud, and thus, shrouding the lower slopes
of that humble mount on which we stand, our emi-
nence is the more effective by reason of the baffling
shadows cast about the feet of those who seek to
follow.

This mystification, we of the laity find in the ob-
scurity of theological disputation, enveloping in chill-
ing mist the warmest, straightest truths that ever
came to man from heaven.

"We see it again in the needless involvement of
medical terms, an experience common enough in
countries where physicians are few, and the healing

Federation and the British Colonies, 3 1

art is self-administered with written aids. Text-
n mechanical engineering are proverbially

encumbered with technicalities so puzzling to those

who need practical adviojejn^siTnpIp wQrjk In law
(as in all the various callings of our fellow-men)
there is the same tendency to exaggerate the severity
of training and sharpness of intellect requisite to
ensure success.

But they who win in the battle of life know full
well that the path, though hard, is straight, that the
surest weapons are perseverance and common sense,
and that with practice alone man can perform well-
nigh the impossible.

And (to end this dreary page of platitude), let us
note what an infinitude of talk hampers our every
movs towards political reform : so much spoken, so
little done : such " nine-pin " obstacles set up, ap-
parently for the sole pleasure of bowling down again.
Let us remember that the realities of to-day were
the chimeras of our grandfathers, that the dim
surmise of 1830 has become the accomplished fact
of 1887. Fortified with a sense of the simplicity of
human affairs, when divested of the outer husk of
sophistry, we may in conscious strength press on to
that firm union of British hearts and British lands,
with the conviction that, the voice of the people
once upraised, difficulties will disappear as do the
mists of morn before the light of day.

And so I leave a topic, the contemplation of which
is very pleasant to me.

32 Federation and the British Colonies.

Much that I have said is not new, much is tame,
much verbose ; but such as it is I offer it, my best.
Two familiar maxims have ever been before me, a
stimulus, a guide : —

" J'ai fait un peu de Men; c'est mon meilleur ouvrage." — Voltaire.

" Learning thy talent is, but mine is sense." — Prior.

I have tried to do good, I have tried to write sense.
If I should have succeeded, then is my happiness my
reward.

From this far-distant lodging the eye turns wist-
fully homeward.

On such a spot as this dwelt the great Camoens,
large-hearted Camoens, whose sympathetic verse
glows in each exile breast.

" This is my loved, my happy land so sweet,
Whereto if Heaven concede that I repair
In safety, ....
Then may this life be ended with me there ! " 6

6 From Mr. J. J. Aubertin's beautiful translation of the " Lusiads
of Camoens," London, 1884. Canto III., stanza xxi., commencing,
" Esta he a ditosa patria minha amada," &c.

Ross, Patrick Hore Warriner

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