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Republisaedfrom the " Acadian Recorder/* HALIFAX: Pm^^TED AT THE ACADIAN RECORDER OrriCE» 1856. posed Union has been, for some time, pretty freely- canvassed by the press and by leading public men, in all parts of British America, and has been form- ally submitted to the consideration of the legisla- tures in two of the Provinces — Canada and Nova- scotia; — and the entire absence, as yet, of any pub^ lie indication of opposition to it, is a very signifi- cant fact. But although it may be said — as, for many reasons, we believe it reasonably may — that the leading statesmen of British America are pro- foundly impressed with the importance of the pro- jected Union, and that a majority of the well in- formed classes look forward to its consummation with favorable eyes ; still it is important that the masses should be instructed with regard to- it— etdl more important that all classes should be im- pressed with a sense of the necessity for early ac- tion in the matter. It is but natural that pressing and immediate wants should engage more atten- tion than future advantages ; that our Provincial politicians should give more consideration to ques tions of local interest than to those more remote^ ones of national importance. It is the duty of those who can perceive the evils at times arising from this ever narrowing policy, to endeavour to restrain # within its proper limits. It is therefore the duty of such, in this instance, to lead the minds of the great body of the people away from party squabbles and exclusively local legislation, to a consideration of this imi^ortant subject of British American nationality. To do this, is something which comes especially within the province of the press. A Union of these Colonies, considered upon broad, national grounds, not with reference to its )3earing upon existing class grievances and local iiili;rv;&Lo, id U cutiicwiiat ijiiiv^wii crvjr-j- v • - upon. That the British North American Provinces should be politically combroed into a single com- pact nation, appears almost self evident. There r I 4 r I 4* are no arguments, few, if any, plausible objections, against such a project, to he combated. Why were they ever disunited ? It was accident, net design, which led to their original organization as separate Colonies. The territory which they com^ prise fell under the dominion of the British Cro*vii at different periods, a fact which accounts in part for their separate organization. In the early stages of their history as Colonies, they consisted but of so many wildernesses, .iach containing a small nucleus of peopled territory^ These settled spots were far distant from each other, separated by un- explored wilds, and, with the means of communis cation in use at that day, intimate intercourse be- tween them was impossible, A separate Colonial Government for each was indispensible. The causes which rendered separate Governments ne» cessaiy, in the first instance are now removed. There is now no reason for a continuance of the n unless we admit the validity of that last and poor- est argument which ultra conservatism makes use of against every projected reform : " it must con- tinue to be, because it always has been." The natural barriers which once separated these Province's from each other, are now in a great mea^ eure removed ; those which remain are only artifi* cial. They are like brothei^ who, owing to some misfortune, have been far removed from each other in infancy, each scarcely conscious of the other's existence ; but who now, when in the full vigor of manhood, find themselves face to face, conscious of the natural ties which exist between them. For brothers, under such circumstances, to remain coldly aloof from each other, in accord^ ance with the most chilling conventionalities ever observed in society between utter strangers, inr «tead of cordiallv ioininfir hands with the deter- mination of spending the remainder of their days in mutual intercourse and fraternal love, would be ^carcel^ more ridiculous than forthc North Ameri^ <^an Provinces to remnin lon.ay Chaleur to Fredericton as is now required to go roni Halifax; to Toronto. For near a hundred years after the Union of England and Scotland, the journey, or voyage, from Edinburgh to Lon- don was not usually made in less than a week. By passing across the State of Maine, Quebec, or Montreal^ may now be reached from Halifax in 36 hours. But \yithout going into a foreign country, at all, when the railroads now in course of con- struction m the Lower Provinces are completed, the journey from Halifax to Quebec may be made with ease and comfort in three davs. Comi^Wp me Chain of railway which all belieVe must, with- in a very few years, bind the provinces together, "■^r- whetlier they become politically more closely con- nected or not ; and the time will not occui)y inorer than 36 hours, at the slowest rate of* railway tra- velling. When the construction of this one wan- ting link in the railway chain, comprising the dis- tance from Miramichi, or Woodstock, in New Brunswick, to Trois Pistoles, in Canada, shall have been undertaken and completed, the time oc- cupied in traveUing over the entire length of the Provinces, from 1800 to 2000 miles, will not be more than half that now required to make the journey from one extremity of Novascotia to the other, along our ordiuary post roads. Again, the facilities for communication by letter, within and between the Colonies, have undergone a still more striking improvement. Ten years ago, it required at least ten days for a letter to pass be- tween Hralifax and the Westernmost towns of Canada. The invention of the electric telegraph has effected a great revolution in this matter. There are no two towns, or viHages, of a thousand inhabitants, in these provinces which do not now communicate with each other, by telegraph, in half a day, and which ?;ia^ not do so in one hour. The progress of their individual developement. has now brought the Provinces into immediate contact v/ith each other. They arft separated by no natural obstacles to their union ; they are sub- ject to the same Crown ; they are governed accor- ding to the same constitutional principles ; they enjoy substantially the same laws ; they have the same great interests in common : they are every day attracted more closely towards each other by commercial intercourse and fraternal feeling ; and there is no good reason, no plausible pretext for longer upholding the artificial barriers which still hinder them from becoming one to all intents and purposes. British North America occupies, ait thcr present time, a singularly anomalous position. It presents the spectacle of a country inhabited by a people of whom it is no empty boast to say they are not inferior in enlightenment and intelligence to any in the world. They enjoy a constitutional Govern- ment, have been entrusted with the entire control of all their exclusively internal affairs, and have shown themselves not less capable of self govern- ment than any other people. Yet they have no voice whatever in anything which concerns their relations with ibreign countries. British North America comprises, at this moment, the materials of a prosperous and powerful nation, and contains the elements, which, under favorable circumstances for development, will speedily make of it an em- pire inferior in power and influence to no one that has hitherto flourished upon earth. Yet it has no national existence whatever — it is a nonentity in the commonwealth of nations. On several occasions, the Provinces have expe- rienced not only the mortification but the serious injury to their Interests which must naturally at- tend this peculiarity of their position. In two in- stances, large portions of our territory have been conceded ta the United States. Great Britain gained nothing by the transactions, whilst British America incurred serious losses, and losses which must be felt more and more with the lapse of time. On a more recent occasion, the invaluable fisheries of our country veere given away to the United States without any adequate return being made for them. This latter assertion may be denied. It may even be contended that British America has, by its own acts, admitted the justice of the Fishery Treaty of 1854 ; but the assent of the Pro- vinces to an arrangement h-om which there was no escape, scarcely amounts to an admission either of the justice, or expediency, of such an^arrangement. But without entering into this question at all, it I 4 V wkb 4 9 cannot he denied that, in each of these instances, tlie Jiritish Government, whilst treating with a foreign power relative to matters in which the North American section of the Empire was espe- cially--nay, almost exclusively—interested, ignored the existence of these Provinces. In these in- stances, the injustice experienced by the Colonies was not of that immediately oppressive character which could provoke, or which would warrant any rebellious acts on the part of the British Americans ; but a consideration of them leads directly to certain inferences which cannot be too deeply impressed upon the minds of our readers. Ihe whole Provinces of North America, as at pre- sent oi^anized, have no voice in the British Im- penal Government, and have no means of exercis- ing any control over its acts. We know from actual experience that when their interests con- flict with those of the single city of Manchester, or of any class, party, or section of Great Britain, they must be disregarded. The latter can maki their mfiuQucefelt in the Imperial Parliament ; for they are represented there. The former are not so represented and they have no equivalent means of exerting an influence upon the Imperial Govern- ment. Mere remonstrances on their part wUl b« unheeded. ^ Within the last few weeks, a project of the Im- perial Government has been shadowed forth in the Mmistenal organ, for transporting the felons of Great Britain to the Hudson's Bay Territory. Ihis would be equivalent to making the ^ North T[!i!"'^^° Provmces so many penal colonies, llieie is nothing to prevent the transported con- victs from making their way direct to Canada, except a toilsome journey such as the hunters and r&r^ ?f «".^^r ^, ^hinlc nothing of, a journey ;:" -T "" "^'^,;vao naa lived a few months in thit w^v^7 "1?" *^ consider a serious difiiculty in the >^ay of getting out of it, if he were disposed to do 10 «o. It has never been the habit of British states- men to recede from a position once taken upon any point relating to the colonies; and it is not probable that they will do so in this instance. The cases just mentioned may, by some persons, not be considered as involving very serious griev- ances. But admit the principle, and what may it not lead to ? We have no security that the dearest interests of British America may not be sacrificed to further a pet project of some British statesman, or to gratify the desires, or appease the wrath, of some foreign ally. The Colonies possess no means of preventing such a misfortune. Nor is it at all without the bounds of probability that such may occur and be deeply injurious, if not ruinous to British American interests. In stating such an opinion and in asserting that the Imperial Govern- ment has already, in treating with foreign powers, ignored the interests of these Colonies, we mean to attribute to British statesmen no remarkable de- gree of moral turpitude, or political baseness. Admit them to be endowed with intellect, wisdom, and moral sense not very far above the average of men, we have no right to expect that they will be very ready to perceive, or evince any remarkable degree of vigor in guarding, the interests of this remote and colonial portion of the Empire. Tho education of the British statesman must naturally make him intimate only with " Home" politics, certainly not with those of the colonies. His con- stant dependence for his position upon the appro- val of the people of the United Kingdom, ensures his making their welfare his first consideration. That of the colonies whose approval, or disappro- val, cannot affect him in any way, will be consi- dered a matter of little moment. How will a Union of the Colonies remedy all this? It will not enable the British Americans, like the people of the United Kingdom, to exert a direct control over members of the Imperial Go-' } ] I 's' } ] i I li » 11 vernmcnt. No : but it will give to theii country puch a standing mat no British statesman will be- lieve that he can, any longer, venture to treat it as a political nonentity, for it would challenge the res- pect ol* the Imperial authorities. Nor, in such an event, could a British Home Government outrage the feelings, or trample upon the interests, of the young nation, wii-. iLr-juiiity. It could not then be considered asufficlci.t p; laranty of the safety of British American interest:, tiiat a Colonial Secre- tJiry sat in the British Cabinet. Some more special representation in Downing Street, or at St. James's, would then be considered essential when the rela- tions between British America and any foreign power came under discussion. But in whatevCi. way the connecting link between these Colonies and the Mother Country was maintained, the latter forming, as they would, a compact State, embra- cing a vast territory rich in untold resources, a State advancing in wealth and strength with almost unparalleled strides and inhabited by a free and aspiring people, woidd form a nation which no outside power cowZc? venture to injure, or to insult; and if anything of the kind were attempted, British America would not submit to it. Although stdl a dependency of the British Crown and a section of the British Empire, the North American Colonies would then be entitled to and would receive from all foreign powers the consideration and respect due to an independent nation, and to a nation of the first rank. The people of this country would also, as British Americans, then receive that consi- deration among foreigners the absence of which has been deeply felt and complained of by almost every North American Colonist who has passed beyond the borders of bis native Province. The circumstances in which the North American Colonies are now placed considered in connection with their future capabihties as compared with those of most other countries, render it incumbent 12 upon them to make the most of their means and oppoi-tunities. We mean that it is incumbent u pon them, not merely with a view to their own selfish ends, but in order fitly to discharge their responsi- bilities to the human race in the aggregate. Great and solemn responsibilities seem to be imposed upon British America and a lolly and bright career marked out for it, by the capabilities of its situation. The poetical and popular legend that " Westward the star of empire holds its course" may not be so entirely truf as to authorise its employment as a premise in an argument ; but its truth seems to be borne out in a great measure by the history of the civilized world, The countries from v^^hich the monarchs of the Assyi'idn and Babylonian Empires, in the earliest ages of history, dictated laws to the world, are now among the most desert and barbarous upon earth. The jackall roams undisturbed upon the site of Ninevah and the crocodile may sport in the waters which sweep over the ruins of Babylon ; and it is considered among the great triumphs of modern learning, skill, and ingenuity that the spot where either of these wondrous cities once stood can now be pointed out. Egypt also which once from its gigantic palaces radiated wisdom and glory over the world may now be called figuratively and is almost literally, a desert. Egypt, although waking to a new life, is governed by a vassal of the weakest sovereign in Europe ; and its social position is but little superior to its political rank. Greece, their successor in the race of civilization and the possession of empire, is now a chaos of marble ruins. As a nation she has just commenced the toilsome task of undoing the work pf nineteeen centuries of barbarism. The same sor, Rome. Coming down to a comparatively modern period, >Ve iin4the.sceptre of the civilized, woi'ld swayed 1" ^. '1 4 T < i- . '] T V / t i 13 in turn hy various nations of Westein Europe: although now Britain, if any, may claim the rank of mistress of the World. JBut are we to suppose that Europe, will continue to hold that proud posi- tion at the head of the World which she has occupied for the last five, or six, centuries ? In the present aspect of that continent, one mav well ask, m some perplexity, where next will the sun of civilization extend its brightest rays ? Where next will Tnith take her strongest stand in the great warfare of opinions ? and what coun- try shall next be the instructress of nations and the glory of the worid ? Presuming that the development of men, or of nations, in all that can enoble them, or add to their permanent strength, can take place only under conditions of civil freer dom and security of freedom, the prospects of Europe, for many, many years, appear gloomy in :he extreme. The present condition of that quarter of the worid is obviously that of a smoulr dering volcano about to break forth ; and we be* lieve the most of those now living in the worid will yet feel the earthquake shocks when the erup- tion does come. Even now, comparatively silent as Europe is, there is, in almost its every corner, a terrible life and death struggle going on between Liberty and Despotism ; and through the stillness we may frequently hear the growling thunder that forbodes the coming political storm. In Frrnce, Italy, the Austrian Empire, and most parts of Germany, we see regal power, long the aggress^ or, now " with terror and with toir' grappling with the shackled and maddened people to bind yet heavier chains upon them, just as we may have seen a sane man in mortal struggle with a maniac^ The condition of Spain, sad althoujrh it is. is bet- ter than theire ; for her spoke in Fortune's wheel has, in its revolution, commenced to move up,» wai-ds. If Russia is more quiet, it is because she IS more bai-barous ; for thei« the mjiUons of ^eif« u turn not against the despotic heel that crushes them only because they do not know that they are troil- lG lends to stimulate suci a feeling. They are not, like so many others, subject to the caprices of a despotic will, or ground down by tyrannical en- actments, so as ^o feel that existence itself must be the iirst, the all absorbing consideration. They have passed beyond the circle within which the bare necessities of national existence engage all the energies ; and have now some spare capital of physical and intellectual vigor which they desire to exj)end in what we may call the luxuries of na- tionality — a world wide name, an eminent rank, an extensive influence, and all the brilliant advan- tages attending them. It can have no cooling ef- fect upon such aspirations to know that their reali- zation must be attended with irksome burdens and harassing responsibilities, any more than the ambitions of an individual man could be checked by similar warnings. Yet the young man, and the aged one too, with all the experience of three score years and ten, still strive upwards, although certain that every new step on the ladder will biing its ad- ditional burdens and anxieties. In the case both of the nation and the individual, it is right that it should be so. Had it been otherwise, men would all still be living in wigwams, or burrowing in the earth, in primitive wretchedness, like the savagea pf some of the Californian plains* .i The British Americans, considered as a distinct people, are an oftshdot from a nation notoriously the most ambitious and the most successfully am- bitious in the modern world. Tlie view of the great achievements of the Mother Goimtry is a constant incentive co Tdtish America to go and do likewise. It is not just to assert the unreasonable- ness of such a desire and to urge that in all which V^1ufA£] fe\ iifi4-irkitnl itir fit/:* 1»ti-rki* f*e\t%n^Vf,T Ci\-\f\\\\t\ t*e\ln ^ sider itself identical with the former. It would be scarcely less reasonable to insist that, ao far as the executioM of all ambitious projects i« concern- 3 IS ed, the individual man should merge his personal identity in the nation to which he helongs, and live sotdy for his country and without being known to do so. However closely the British Americans must and do consider themselves connected with the Mother Country, by natural affection, loyalty, political bonds, and similarity of interests, they nevertheless cannot bun feel that they are a oepar- ate and distinct people. This feeling is intensified by the consciousness, that, with however much kindness they may be treated by their fellow sub- jects of Great Britain, they yet occupy a political rank almost immeasurably inferior to that of the latter. Again, the natural longings of British America for national consideration, are stimulated by the immediate presence of other young nations enjoy- ing all the distinction and marks of respect which independence gives ; but in all other respects so similarly circumstanced that the Provincialist feels constantly inclined to ask with dissatisfaction why there is this great difference between them. And what is done by Great Britain to satisfy these very natural and honorable " aspirations to be great" ? Nothing whatever. We admit that she should not be expected to do much, except to refrain from throwing any obstacles in the way of the upward progress of British America. As we haye already observed, the people of this comitry must them- selves work out their own national destiny. That Great Britain will hinder their doing so after the plan we are now advocatmg, there seems no reason to suppose. But it is undeniable that Britain has always been in the habit of checking everything like a demonstration of distinct nationality on the nnrt: nf hk^r rrnlnnipM r nn/1 thnvt^ ianrk vnaar\n tn ri/^nl-it that she will continue to manifest such a policy towards the Provinces while they continue thus dis- united and comparatively powerless. This she may continue to do quietly, with the most provoking c 4 r ^ c 4 r ^ 19 coolness, without making any deviation from the policy pursued for centuries, and therefore without seeming to inflict any flagrant injury upon, or quite outrage any feeling of, the colonists. Wars will be engaged in which may seriously injure this coun- try ; treaties with foreign countries will be entered into which may deeply affect our interests ; but we must silently abide by the consequences. British America will continue to see the most inconsider- able of foreign nations treated with eveiymarkof deference, whilst it is regarded as a political nonentity. We can think of nothing with which to compare the anomalous political position of the British Americans except the social condition of the few aboriginal Indians who still stroll about our forests and shores. These Indians have perfect liberty to come and go as they please, without their legal right to go anywhere off the public highway being acknowledged ; to abide by their own customs, provided they do not infringe any general law of the land. We acknowledge them as fellow coun- trymen and fellow subjects, and in cases of emer- gency they may tjlaim and receive the protection of our laws ; yet we deny them the right of suf- frage under our Constitution ; we possess ourselves of property without considering any claim which they may have therein ; and we frame general le- gislative enactments without any regard whatever to their interests. We are compelled by the evi- dence of our senses to acknowledge their existence ; yet in every act, public or private, of which they are not the direct object, we quite ignore their ex- istence. In a remarkably similar manner are the more privileged fellow countrymen of these In- lAiClUCi i,i C^avCiVl KJJ tiJT^ii i^Mi-_- TT ^j?,5T-rjX-T-/t;:r --^ix 5.ii-_- -.---•-- ---?t side of the Atlantic. We may enjoy our own pos- sessions, plod on within our own borders, get as rich as we can, manage our own exclusively inter- nal affairs, provided that in so doing we do not iii 20 anyiliiiig run counter to the wishes of our brethren at "iionie" ; yet the latter, when not directly treat- ing with us, act in all things as if we had no exis- tence at all. British America seeks con»panionship with the parent State ; Great Britain, not even re- cognising the manifestations of such a feeling, yet graciously hows " the very humble servant" of the least respectable of foreign nations. A notable instance of this was witnessed during the last war. In no part of Great Britain itself was there a more general and fervid zeal manifested for the national caiise than in British America. This country had a disposition to do anything and everything which its limited ability would admit of to aid the Mother Country in that struggle. Offers were repeatedly made to raise colonial troops for the British army — offers which, if favorably received, would have been followed up with vigor and attended by a suc- cess which could have brought no discredit upon the Biitish arms and would have been a source of pride and satisfaction to the colonies. The British Government cojdly — and, may we not add, con- temptuously ?-~^eelined the proffer-.d sei-vices, but ra^ into a whole series of broils by endeavouring to enlist the mercenary vagaboijds ot hostile, for- eign states. Judging from present appearances, the time is probably not remote when Great Bri- tain will not feel herself in a position to reject any such offer, although humble ; and will have a satis- faction in finding that these Provinces, from hav- ing become united and consequently strengthened, aj-e in a position to render her substantial assistance. It would be useless to ask that the British Amerir can should be placed upon the same footing, poli- tically speaking, as the native of the United King.- a request. The one must always have a direct influence upon the Imperial Government; the other, only an indirect one. The latter must continue to occupy, in many respects, a more distinguished i i f - 21 position limn tlie former. But there is no good veu8on vvJjy the British American should continue in a position so immeasurably inferior to that of liis more favored fellow subjects. A Union of the Provinces would immediately lessen the distance between him and them ; and, we may reasonably liope, ultimately annihilate it altogether. It would elevate British America to a national standing; give it moral weight in the councils of the Motlier country and change the machinery which now connects them ; and raise the British American people in their own estimation and in the estimation of the world. It will be said that a Legislative Union of the Pro- vinces will place them in a position of virtual indepen- dence with respect to the parent State as well as to other nations. Grant that it will do so. It may then be urged as an objection to such a course, that it is al- together a novel one. The position which these Pro- vinces now occupy, is, politically speaking, quite a no- vel one. Men, whether individually, or in communities, are ever seeking precedents for any step they may con- template taking. The precedent — that of the United States — which most readily presents itself to a British American's mind in thinking of this Union, leads him to contemplate a Federal Union, one of the worst poli- tical organizations that the art of man ever contrived. The uninventive inchnation to follow slavishly the most familiar examples, causes the still existing frag- ment of a Canadian faction to hug the absurd and de- grading idea of attaining i nationality by rebellion and annexation to the United States. We have no in- tention of contending that precedent should be wholly disregarded in making political changes ; but it must be remembered that to contend for the necessity of an example to follow in every case is to put a stop to all human progress. m : . It is needless for these Provinces, in" contemplating any^teps towards indepe. .3nt nationality, to seek for a precedent which will just suit their case. They can find none. The old Koman colonies — Britain, for in- atgnce — were cast off and thrown upon their own re^ 4 22 fources, owing to the inability of the parent State to protect herself, or them, from foreign conquest. They, each in turn, submitted to foreign conquest and thus became so many distinct nations. The condition of the Netherlands when rebelling against the yoke of Spain, furni^es no parallel whatever to that of British America now. The case of the United States also, at the commencement of the revolutionary war, was quite dissimilar to that of British America, at the present time. They had always enjoyed a degree of national independence hitherto unknown to these Pro- vinces ; and At last & rupture with the Mother Coun- try upon a matter of vital moment led, by an open re- bellion, to thek entire separation from her. The peo- ple of Mexico and of the great Spanish colonies of South America, took up arms against the short lived Bonaparte dynasty of Spain. Circumstances growing out of this first outbreak led them to transfer their hostaity from the monarch to the kingdom which he ruled, and resulted finally in their independence. The case of Brazil just previous to its attaining inde- pendence, furnishes many points of resemblance to that of British America at the present time ; yet it too is different. Brazil, at the time of its separation from Portugal, had far outgrown tjie proportions of a Co- lonial dependency. Yet the relations between the two contmued to be of the most friendly nature. Their final and complete separation was effected without bloodshed and, we might say, amicably ; yet it was brought about by a singular train of accidents such as may nev«r occur again. "^ *>»*»*,.. The people of British America entertain feelings of the most devoted loyalty towards their Sovereign and attachment towards Great Britain. They have no cause of complaint against the parent State which would warrant any violent measures for effecting a se- paration, even if they had the power of using such with effect ; nor do they desire such a separation. All they wish— all that their circumstances require, is for theivi to be elevated in the political scale to a national rank. This can be done, without making any wider separation between the Provinces and Great Britain than already exists, and without any political convul- sions, by bringing about a Legislative Union of the T T I ^ 23 former and by some modifications of the absurd madH- nery of the Colonial Office. The means proposed for attaining this end are novel ; the precise object thus to be attained has had no parallel in the history of na- tions ; but the means and the object are not more new than the circumstances which suggest the one and de- mand the other. Certainly it is no less the interest of Great Britain than of British North America, that the latter should become influential and powerful whilst still maintain- ing the closest connection with her. There is no inde- pendent State, however powerful, that, in the national tumults in which it has at times been involved, has not felt itself constrained to employ means and sub- mit to indignities at contemplation of which an indi- vidual man might blush, in order to strengtlien its position by forming alliances with other States. Yet the precarious nature of such alliances, the rottenness of their foundation, and their costliness to those who seek them, have become proverbial among statesmen and historians. No nation of modern times has ex- pended more and profited less by such alliances, thai! Great Britdn. Admit that there has been and will still be for a fime reasonable pretext for pursuing such a policy, is there any reason why Britain should for- ever go on entreating, plotting, subsidizing, outraging her own principles, to secure allies only, in niiie cases out of ten, to be cheated, or betrayed, by them at. last ? The British Empire including colonies of immense ex-* tent in every quarter of the world, comprises an ag- gregate area of over 4 millions of square miles, and contains more than 200 millions of inhabitants. These colonies have never yet taken any conspicuous part in the great national contests in which the Mother Coun- try has so long and with scarcely any intermissipli beei> involved. It is even argued that they are a source of weakness to GreAt Britain. There is certainly little prospect of any reliance being placed in them for much actual assistance So lojig as they contiiiue in the huiiio ble condition of mere dependencies. But should it not be the policy of Great Britain to seek to dev elope the strength of her great colonial empires, to foster a nati- onal feeling in each of them, and to raise them, as op- 24 jyortuirities occur to favor sucli a couibe, from the con- dition of dependencies to a rank more nearly appf oacli- ing that of allies ; yet of allies more closely comicctod to her by blood and interest than any foreign Statos c^ ever be ? Were such a policy to be commcnfod even now, the time cDuld not be remote when, clos^cly leagued with those vast colonial nations of North America, India, Australia, and The Cape — each in it- self an empire — Groat Britain might regard with in- difference any combination of foreign powers, and in- deed set the world at defiance. So far as this country is concerned, such a policy would at once be organized by bringing about, or by sanctioning, a L(?gislative Union of the North American Provinces. Still keeping out of view those requirements of the present and those local wants, which naturally urge the North American Colonies towards a Union, is not a contemplation of the future which that Union would make sufficient in itself to convert any British Ameri- can to an ardent advocacy of the measure ? By the mere act of a Legislative Union of Canada, !^^w Brunswick, Novascotia, and Prince Edward Island, a nation would be founded, and one comprising a terri- tory nearly equal to that of Great Britain, Prance, and Italy combined ; and quite capable of sustaining^ as dense a population. But there is no reason why the Union policy should be stayed here. Newfoundland is now, for all practical purposes, nearer to Canada than Ireland was to England in 1800 ; and might also come into the new arrangement. Whether so or not, the whole continental portion of British America would, of course, come under the central Governmwut organized by the tfnion. Of that vast territory over which the Hudson's Bay Company now exercises a do- minion which it must soon renounce, the world at large is only beginning tv larn the value. Between Lake Superior and the S. ?> ' Mountains there lies a tract more extensive iliun the whole of the organized Pro- vinces to the Eastward of it, and possessing agricultur- al resources superior to theii's. It is watered by many magnificent rivers the principal of which, the Sas- katchewan, ranks upon the North American Contin- ent next in length and volume to the Mississippi and I r 25 the St. f.awTcnce. It is 1600 miles in length, through 1400 of which it is navigable, and affords the easiest ■water ti*ansit from the Atlantic ocean to the base of the Hocky Mountains. Along the valley of the Saskatchfe* wan is also found the most direct and easiest, if not the only practicable, railway route quite across the ^North American Continent, In this section of British America alone might b§ poured the whole surplus population of Europe for the next century. This territory along with that of the now organized Pro-^ vinces would, in a proportion to its area equal to that of Prussia, or a little more than half that of England, of which it is certainly capable, sustain a population of 136 millions. Westward of the Rocky Mountains again, we have another immense territory greater in extent than that watered by the Saskatchewan and its tributaries and, according to all accounts, quite equal to it in resources. In the rear of all these and stretch- ing to the Arctic Ocean lies a still greater expanse of country usually described as a sterile and inhospitable wilderness, and tenanted only by the hardy, adven- turous hunter and the Esquimaux. Yet this immense tract abounds in valuable resoiu^oes, although they dif- fer from those of the rich agricultural territories which bound it on the South. The rivers which course through it, and Hudson's Bay which it almost sur- rounds, contain wealth for the fisherman to an extent scarcely equalled by any other part of the world. The lands in that cold region have, of course, been but im- perfectly explored as yet ; but the reports brought back by the scientific men who have visited it,lead to the be- li f that it abounds in n^neral wealth of almost every (lj.-.cription rendering it questionable if it is much in- ferior in value to any portion of this continent. To bring these immense ten-itories under one, vigor- ous, local Government ; to extend over them an ac- tive population, animated by a spirit of nationality, eager to elevate their country in the commonwealth of nations, and possessing all the means as well as the _„:n j.^ .!_ ^~ the Colonies. To adopt such a measure, would be to found an Empire and an Empire which, with its vast territory, its almost unlimited resources for the deve- 11 -26 lopement of internal strength, and its' unrivaled advan- tages of geographical position, might soon sway the destinies of the New World and become, at the same tune, the right arm of that power which even now is the greatest upon earth. A Legislative Union of the North American Colonies is a simple measure, easy of •donsuramation ; but the magnitude, the grandeur of •the results which would spring from it, arc incalculable.