BEING 
 
 THREE PAPERS UPON THIS SUBJECT, 
 
 ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BETWEEN THE YEARS 1854 and 1861. 
 
 BY 
 
 P. S. HAMILTON, 
 
 | Barrister at Law, and Chief Commissioner op Mines for the Province 
 of Nova Scotia. 
 
 gttontvrsil: 
 
 PRINTED RY JOHN LOVELL, ST. NICHOLAS STREET. 
 
 1804. 
 
UNION OF THE COLONIES 
 
 OF 
 
 
 BEING 
 
 THREE PAPERS UPON THIS SUBJECT, 
 
 ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BETWEEN THE YEARS 1854 and 1851. 
 
 BY 
 
 P. S. HAMILTON, 
 
 Barrister at Law, and Chief Commissioner of Minks for the Provings 
 of Nova Scotia. 
 
 ponfrtal: 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL, ST, NICHOLAS STREET, 
 
 18G4. 
 
UNION OF THE COLONIES. 
 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The dates appended to the several titles of the following 
 papers indicate the time at which they were respectively 
 published. They are the results of perhaps the most note¬ 
 worthy, and certainly the most public efforts which, ever since 
 1849, the author has, within what seemed not beyond the 
 possible limits of his direct or indirect influence, persistently 
 made, on every seemingly fitting occasion, to advance the 
 great political scheme which these essays advocate. They 
 were, at the respective times of their original publication, 
 pretty generally circulated by the author himself among the 
 more prominent statesmen and politicians of the North Amer¬ 
 ican Colonies, and, to a more limited extent, of England also. 
 With these classes they so far met with favor as to be, each 
 of them, republished in full in several of the British Amer¬ 
 ican political journals and other periodicals, and in part by 
 several of those of the United Kingdom. 
 
 Since the first of these little essays was offered to the public, 
 the popular min d has become comparatively familiarized with 
 the subject of a British American Colonial Union, and the 
 minds of most of our public men are probably matured there¬ 
 upon. Indeed, many points upon which the honest and 
 painstaking student of Colonial politics then feared to offer 
 his convictions to the public lest they might be scouted as 
 those of an eccentric theorist, have, of late, come to be 
 gravely and generally discussed as practical questions ; and 
 what, in 1854, might have been, and in some instances per- 
 
4 
 
 haps was, laughed at as the scheme of a visionary, is now 
 ably advocated by the leading minds of the country. In 
 preparing the following papers, the author considered that 
 he was about to address minds, to many of whom the subject 
 matter of these papers was new. He therefore endeavored 
 to suggest rather than instruct, and purposely refrained from 
 entering upon the discussion of many matters of detail upon 
 which his own opinion was matured, considering that to 
 do so would then be premature, and that the views which, 
 upon such matters, he would have to propound, might alarm 
 the preconceived notions, or prejudices, of some classes whom 
 he addressed. But of late the discussion of the subject of 
 Colonial Union—discussion of the most able, widely spread, 
 and popular character—has gone far beyond where it is left 
 by the following papers. In fact, we have ceased to be 
 merely theoretical; we are becoming practical. Whilst these 
 lines are being written, a Convention, comprising the leading 
 statesmen of British America, has already met at Quebec to 
 settle the basis of a Union of these Colonies. 
 
 Under these circumstances, it may now be not unreason¬ 
 ably asked,—why republish the following papers ? When 
 the importance—nay, the necessity, of a Union of the Colo¬ 
 nies is conceded, and when our leading statesmen are actually 
 engaged in arranging the terms of that Union, why republish 
 works mainly devoted to advocating that necessity, and which 
 treat only generally of the practical details ? The answer 
 may be given in very few words. The author has very fre¬ 
 quently of late been applied to for copies of some one, or all, 
 of these essays; but all have been, for some time, out of 
 print, and therefore not procurable. Again, whatever the 
 result of the Quebec Convention, it is probable that the reso¬ 
 lutions of that body will be submitted to the several Culonial 
 Legislatures for approval before being acted upon. It is 
 possible that the scheme matured by the Convention may be 
 opposed, in whole or in part, in some of those Legislatures. 
 
Under these circumstances, the writer considers ‘ it the 
 duty of every person entertaining such earnest convictions 
 as he does of the absolute necessity of the projected Union 
 for the well-being of his country, to do anything and every¬ 
 thing he honestly can which may, by any possibility, aid in 
 the consummation of that Union. 
 
 It will be perceived that there is a repetition of some ideas 
 in the course of these essays; and some of the arguments 
 urged in favor of Union were more particularly applicable at 
 the period when they were enunciated than they seem to 
 be at the present time. But as to eliminate all the passages 
 to which such objections apply would be to produce a new 
 work, the author prefers reproducing these brochures in their 
 original form. Referring to the earliest of these pamphlets 
 written in 1854—the author believes that he was the first to 
 correct an error in which the public had been content to rest 
 — universally *so far as any public announcement to the con¬ 
 trary could show—down to that period, relative to the mate¬ 
 rial progress of the North American Colonies as a whole. It 
 was there shown that, notwithstanding the constantly reite¬ 
 rated opinion to the contrary, the growth of these Pro¬ 
 vinces in population, commerce, wealth, and political impor¬ 
 tance generally had, down to 1851, been much more rapid 
 than that of the United States, and therefore of any other 
 part of America. The argument based upon the statistic 
 which were furnished to prove this fact, has still greater 
 force now than it had then. In the ten years from 1851 to 
 1861, the Provinces of Canada, New Brunswick, Nova 
 Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, together added consider¬ 
 ably more than a third to their population, it having increased 
 from 2,253,000 in 1851, to 3,170,211 in 1861. During the 
 same decade the trade of these Provinces has about doubled. 
 In 1851 their imports amounted jointly to £6,833,855 stg.; 
 their exports to £4,189,051 stg. In 1861 their imports 
 had attained the value of £11,581,680 stg.; their exports 
 
=£9,641,947 stg. We have abundant evidence that in every 
 other respect, the progress of these Colonies has been equally 
 satisfactory. 
 
 It will be seen that, in warning British American Consti¬ 
 tution makers against the evils of Federalism as exemplified 
 in the United States, the author has ventured to predict the 
 eaily and complete failure of the Federal Constitution in 
 that country. His predictions have been fully verified at an 
 earlier period than even he had supposed. It will also be 
 seen that the probable aggressions of the United States 
 republic have been dwelt upon as a sufficient reason why, for 
 defensive purposes alone, these Colonies should be consoli¬ 
 dated. Some persons may suppose that the dissolution of 
 that Republic—and who is there outside of the Northern 
 States who can doubt that it is irrevocably dissolved ?_ren¬ 
 
 ders this argument now valueless. The writer does not think 
 so. Before the severance of the Northern and Southern 
 States, the well-known opposition of the latter to any further 
 u annexation ” of non-slaveholding territory furnished a par¬ 
 tial guarantee that that Republic, as a whole, would not molest 
 our British American soil. But we have no such guarantee 
 now. When the Northern States come out of the present 
 war, their ambition for territorial extension will unquestion¬ 
 ably direct their desires towards British America more ear¬ 
 nestly than they ever were before. If, on coming out of the 
 struggle in which they are now engaged, those States do not 
 find themselves too much enervated to attempt further active 
 aggressions, there is a strong probability that, without the 
 Colonial Union now under consideration , they will attempt 
 conquests on their Northern frontier. There is no proba¬ 
 bility whatever that they could succeed in securing perma¬ 
 nent possession of any part of the organized Colonies of 
 British America. But the effort would necessitate a severe 
 defensive struggle on the part of those Colonies ; and it is to 
 be feared that it would eventuate in the Yankee Republic 
 
7 
 
 becoming possessed of the great central tract of British 
 America, lying between Lake Superior and the Rocky Moun¬ 
 tains, a territory which is invaluable to us, and which seems 
 to be, even now, especially coveted by that Republic. But, 
 with the projected Colonial Union and the defensive power 
 which that Union would provide, we shall make it necessary 
 for our republican neighbors to refrain from attempting any 
 concjuest in the direction of our frontiers. 
 
 Neither can it be supposed that the hostile feeling of the 
 Northern States towards everything British, and especially 
 towards British America, has become in any way mollified 
 during the past few years. It is scarcely necessary to tell 
 any British American that the very reverse is the case. 
 The aggressive disposition, on the part of our nearest neigh¬ 
 bors, towards these Colonies, is stronger now than it ever 
 was. Should the Colonies become forthwith,politically con¬ 
 solidated, and be therefore placed in a position to assume 
 not only a strong defensive but an offensive attitude, there is 
 little, or no probability that such aggressive disposition will 
 be practically manifested. Should these Colonies remain 
 wholly disunited as at present, or not firmly consolidated as 
 a political unit, very disastrous results may be anticipated, 
 viewing the matter even from this point alone, results which 
 may prove irremediable but, with such a consolidation, we 
 may smile at any hostile demonstration that can be made 
 upon our most assailable frontier. 
 
 Whilst a Convention of the leading statesmen of the Colo¬ 
 nies is actually engaged in discussing and elaborating the 
 details of a scheme for Union, the adoption of which the 
 members of that Convention expect to procure, it would be 
 useless here to advocate special views upon any of those 
 details. Even if the author could assume that he is capable 
 of instructing the members of that Convention, their plan 
 must have been elaborated before these lines can reach the 
 eyes of the public. Again, it seems scarcely necessary to 
 
8 
 
 discuss here, with a view to influencing the minds of the 
 members of any of those bodies to whom it may be submitted 
 for approval, any detail of a scheme which will doubtless be 
 accepted, or rejected, as a whole by such bodies. But there 
 is one point upon which the author conjectures that the Con¬ 
 vention may feel a delicacy in propounding any views, espe¬ 
 cially for the approval of the Imperial Government—that is, 
 as to the Constitution of the head of the proposed consolidated 
 Colony of British North America. 
 
 So late as 1854,—when the first of the following papers 
 was written,—and even later, republican propensities seemed 
 to be so rampant in North America that one could scarcely 
 venture to hope for a popular hearing to any proposal for 
 extending or perpetuating the monarchical principle. Even 
 British Americans—truly loyal British Americans, believing 
 themselves firmly attached to royalism-had, unconsciously 
 perhaps, become imbued, to a certain extent, with republi¬ 
 canism. Fortunately, a great change has come over us. 
 Hie anticipations of those who had ventured to predict 
 the utter, signal failure of republican institutions on this 
 continent, have already been fully verified. The last, much- 
 vaunted model republic, the United States, has proved an 
 ignominious failure beyond all question to any person outside 
 its borders. Glance over the whole of South America, where. 
 JSature^ seems to have provided everything for the develop¬ 
 ment of great and prosperous nations ; and the only political 
 organization which the philanthropic cosmopolite can regard 
 with anything approaching to satisfaction is that of°the 
 Empire of Brazil, a monarchy. Coming into North America, 
 we find that Mexico, with all the natural elements of great- 
 
 ness, has, during half a century of republican rule,_or 
 
 rather, misrule,—been all that time in a state of anarchy. 
 Just now, that long distracted nation is adopting the monar¬ 
 chical form of Government, and with prospects of tranquillity 
 and prosperity combined which it never enjoyed before. 
 
9 
 
 The once United States are in a state of political chaos ; and 
 we hear rumors—vague, it is true—that the so-called Southern 
 Confederacy, when it can get the opportunity of determining 
 upon its political Constitution for the future, seriously thinks 
 of adopting the monarchical principle. 
 
 In the face of facts which are daily obtruding themselves 
 upon our notice, it is difficult to conceive that any well- 
 informed British American politician can be opposed to mo¬ 
 narchical institutions, or can be indifferent to the necessity 
 of maintaining them in our own country. But many of them 
 may not have sufficiently considered how they can best be 
 maintained and perpetuated. 
 
 On a careful study of the Constitutions of the various 
 British Colonies, it would really appear that, in framing them, 
 human ingenuity has been taxed to its utmost to devise and 
 incorporate In them two principles most conducive to the 
 political instability of those several Colonies. Human inge¬ 
 nuity seems to have succeeded. Consequently, two prin¬ 
 ciples which have been essential to the success of the British 
 Constitution as worked out in the Mother Country, have been 
 carefully eliminated from the Constitutions of the Colonies. 
 Our executive head is periodically and frequently changed ; 
 and the old English law of primogeniture and of entail of 
 real estate is not suffered to exist. The tendency of both 
 these principles, which we have not in our Colonial Constitu¬ 
 tions, is to attach men—not certain individuals or classes, 
 but men generally—to the soil, to the Crown, to their coun¬ 
 try. They tend immensely to maintain the political stability 
 of a nation ; whilst they in no way impede its material or 
 intellectual progress. An open advocacy of the law of entail 
 of real estate in these Colonies will probably be as startling 
 now as that of a political consolidation of them was ten years 
 ago. British Americans may perhaps become more fami¬ 
 liarized with the idea and more favorably disposed towards 
 it in coming years. It is not the author’s purpose, here and 
 
» 
 
 10 
 
 Pimple of law; but t, speak of 
 
 that t » m0r0 ‘“ 1,0rto ‘ ““"till to political stability,— 
 „ ■ 1 necessity for a not periodically changing, but 
 
 '“entire head,-for vitally, 
 L?Z * 1 r U *'7 monarch. It will be at once sug- 
 r n alb J e tave ° heredita O ™>narch. True ; but that 
 out : * r T fr<,l ° “ ; “ may be said, with- 
 
 amono P rT’a h “‘l "‘ W, ' g “ “ the “ntiinent of loyalty 
 
 a“lmo ht 7“*“’ "' U ' Mi " SS '»»”* “nr Queen 
 ™f ° S ° US ““ ““ e "“eh we entertain towards 
 
 Bve 1 e, ^ t ' V<> a I*— «<*«- 
 
 ve iiead neare r home—nay, at home. 
 
 renuWie S tU o ent0f ; hiSt0rJ , Cann0t but have Served that all 
 , 7 m ? den ’’ e, " bra0i “ S “y considerable 
 tied „1„ ■T' '" 1 ’ have b “ n slmrt-lived. Their poli- 
 
 »d a b ac, W “ B " S “ dis ‘metive, brilliant, 
 
 an. att,active centre in which the popular affection, conccn- 
 
 Md CT r'l W P ° W<!ts of “» s “« revolve, 
 
 the shm l 1 n,>arIj- “ is "* “ d aepiting in 
 the sutc neeessanly grantates. It i. the reproductive core 
 
 the 7 centre of tbe etellary system, the apex of 
 
 % irr; vrr ° f the areh; u »*« -s. 
 
 7 - 1 U1 113 desideratum can only be had in a here¬ 
 
 ditary executive head. 
 
 Nominally, we now live under a monarchy; but in reality 
 
 Ztff u“i 7“‘ Utions m essentially republican, even » 
 that of the head of our Colonial Government. Our Governors 
 
 :Sll P etc edT fiVG r * yearS - ^ 
 
 P°P uIar a ‘ once. It can really make 
 but little difference whether, for the brief period they hold 
 
 am" 6 ’ 77° Ch ° Sen hy P ° pular suffra S e «* the Colony or 
 
 appointed by some other power outside of it. They are 
 
 teture ° f ° ttr SOverei S n 8 from the very 
 
 tenuie of their evanescent office, they cannot be regarded as 
 Her representatives. ° 
 
11 
 
 An essential to the consolidation of these Colonies and 
 their ultimate success as a nation, will be a hereditary vice¬ 
 roy . It is scarcely necessary here to say that nothing could 
 be more grateful to the feelings of British North Americans 
 than to see that hereditary viceroyalty vested in some mem¬ 
 ber of the family of our present Queen. A viceroy heredi¬ 
 tary in some branch of the Royal Family, to which the affec 
 tions of British America so fondly cling, would be an earnest 
 of the political stability of the United Colonies. It would 
 also afford an additional tie, if any such can be wanting, 
 between British America and the Mother Country. 
 
 If it should prove, when the proceedings of that body 
 become known, that the Quebec Convention have not deter¬ 
 mined upon a hereditary viceroyalty as an element in our 
 prospective Constitution, it is certainly most desirable that 
 those who may have the power to do so, should supply that 
 element. It is one which is absolutely essential to our poli¬ 
 tical success. 
 
 The author cannot but think that the discussion here of 
 any other detail of the projected Union Constitution would 
 be uncalled for whilst we are still unaware of the decisions 
 at which the Quebec Conference have arrived upon those 
 details. Should it ever be made to appear that the following 
 brochures , either in their previous or present editions, have 
 aided in ever so slight a degree in bringing about a Union 
 of the Colonies of British North America under a stable, 
 monarchical Constitution, the writer must say that he will 
 feel proud in having assisted to lay the very corner-stone of 
 what he knows will be his country’s true greatness. 
 
 Halifax, Nova Scotia, October, 1864. 
 
OBSERVATIONS 
 
 UPON A 
 
 UNION OF THE COLONIES 
 
 of 
 
 BRITISH NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 1854-55. 
 
 A detailed scheme for a Union of the North American 
 Colonies was drawn up by the late Hon. Richard John 
 Uniacke, and submitted to the Imperial Cabinet, about the 
 commencement of the present century. A similar scheme 
 was proposed by the late Chief Justice Sewell of Quebec, in 
 1814 ; and was warmly advocated by His Royal Highness 
 the late Duke of Kent. Since then it has been strongly 
 urged upon the Imperial Government by that distinguished 
 statesman, the late Earl of Durham; it has been highly 
 recommended by nearly every author of respectable repu¬ 
 tation who has published his views upon British America; 
 it has been extensively discussed by the provincial press, 
 and by the people, at their own fire-sides ; it has been spoken 
 of, in the highest terms, on the floors of the Canadian Par¬ 
 liament ; and, in the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia, a 
 movement—in which the “ leaders” of the Government, and 
 the Opposition, of the day, cordially joined—has been made 
 to carry it into effect. This being the case, the u liter, in 
 advocating the necessity for such a union, can do little more 
 than repeat what has been already said, and give a brief 
 summary of the reasons why this idea ot union has taken so 
 firm a hold upon the British American mind. 
 
14 
 
 The principal of these reasons is to be found in the relation 
 which the North American Colonies hear to all the rest of the 
 world. Among the natives of those Provinces, there is that 
 craving after nationality which is inseparable from the minds 
 of a free people in whom the want is unsatisfied. The pe¬ 
 culiar situation of the British Americans makes them feel 
 this want in an unusual degree. Situated between Great 
 Britain, on the one hand, and the United States of America, 
 on the other, they are incessantly tantalized by the might 
 and glory of these, the two greatest nations on earth. They 
 know and they feel that British America too, is capable of 
 taking and maintaining, in the estimation of the world, an 
 honorable national rank, beside these elder powers; but is 
 prevented from doing so by her anomalous position. All the 
 institutions of both Great Britain and the United States are 
 on a grand and magnificent scale. None of those belonging 
 to the Provinces are so; because, from their disconnected 
 position, they cannot unitedly carry out any great work, and 
 no one of them is capable of doing so alone. The dissatis¬ 
 faction which this engenders, is heightened by the comparisons 
 provoked by the vicinity of their insignificant institutions to 
 those of their more distinguished neighbors. 
 
 The British American, on looking across the Southern 
 frontier of his native land, sees a people, distinct but speaking 
 the same language and having many of their leading insth 
 tutions founded upon the same model as those of his own 
 country, who have a world-wide reputation, and to whom the 
 held for individual exertion is unbounded, and for whom the 
 rewards of success are of the very first class. He there sees 
 men of the humblest grade rising to a position which places 
 them on a political level with the greatest potentates on 
 earth ; others attaining a world-wide fame as statesmen, as 
 jurists, as diplomatists, and as military and naval officers. 
 He sees the republic of the United States assuming, to itself 
 exclusively, the title of “American,” whilst its territory is 
 
15 
 
 inferior in extent, in resources, and in advantageous geogra¬ 
 phical position, to that portion of the continent to which he 
 himself belongs. He knows that the flag of the United 
 States is known and honored, in every corner of the earth, 
 as that of a nation which is considered a wonderful pheno- 
 menon’for its great achievements in wealth and commercial 
 prosperity; whilst British America, winch, under all dis¬ 
 heartening circumstances, has worked up to a position which 
 makes her, in reality, “ the third commercial power on 
 earth,” has no distinguishing rank, place, or even name, 
 beyond her own borders. He knows the American Republic 
 to be a familiar idea—its history, institutions, wealth, pow'er, 
 and future prospects intimately known—among . communities 
 who have never heard of the American Provinces; or who, 
 if they have, think of them but as some barbarous deserts 
 “ on the outskirts of creation.” On looking farther away, 
 to the other independent nations of America and to the 
 inferior States of Europe, he sees them, although inferior to 
 British America in every point of view, except the mere 
 accident of distinct nationality, seated in the commonwealth 
 of nations, and their alliance courted by the greatest 
 empires. 
 
 Turning to his native country, the contrast which he sees 
 it present to each of these, and particularly to its republican 
 neighbor, is not at all calculated to gratify his ambitious 
 feelings, whether they are of a national or merely personal 
 character. British America cannot receive that degree of 
 foreign consideration to which, taken as an aggregate, it is, 
 in strictness, entitled; because it cannot, in fact, be con¬ 
 sidered as an aggregation, but as a number of disconnected 
 and mutually independent individuals, each of which, re¬ 
 garded separately, loses immeasurably by that contrast 
 already mentioned. To be a British American, means 
 nothing -in the world’s estimation: to be a Canadian, a New 
 Brunswicker, or a Nova Scotian, is to be just the next thing 
 to nothing. 
 
r 
 
 16 
 
 On coming down to his own individual case, the British 
 American finds the prospect not more cheering. The Pro¬ 
 vinces have but few prizes to offer, as rewards to honorable 
 exertion in the higher walks of life. Those honors , which, 
 under established national organizations, furnish so powerful 
 a stimulus to industry and talent, are here “ few and far 
 between; ’ and the few which are attainable, are so insigni¬ 
 ficant, as to be insufficient, in themselves, to satisfy the 
 natural cravings of human nature for distinction. The very 
 channels by which such honors are usually attained, are 
 virtually closed against the American Colonist. True, he 
 belongs to that great empire in which, as a general rule, 
 talented exertion meets with more signal rewards than in any 
 other ; but he is far removed from the arenas on which those 
 rewards are achieved \ and practically, although not in 
 theory, is excluded from the fountain head whence they 
 proceed. Few feel the desire to enter any of those pro¬ 
 fessions by which alone they can hope to attain a distin¬ 
 guished rank as Britons , in contradistinction to mere local 
 rank ; because, by doing so, they must necessarily turn their 
 backs for ever upon what they consider as more particularly 
 their own country. Apart from this consideration, they 
 know too well that they have the smallest chance of success. 
 The British American Colonist believes—with how much 
 reason, let others judge—that it would be next to madness 
 for him to enter the British army, or navy, without that 
 interest at head-quarters—not possessed by one of his 
 countrymen out of ten thousand—which is necessary to 
 procure promotion even when it is honorably earned. A 
 similar lack of patronage aids in deterring him from entering 
 either of the English “ learned professions.” The Corps 
 Diplomatique, it is sufficiently obvious to every one, is com¬ 
 pletely closed against him. The Imperial Parliament, the 
 diplomatic body, the army, and the navy being virtually 
 closed against him, the Colonial Bar and the Colonial Legis- 
 
17 
 
 lature, farnisli the only narrow avenues by which he can 
 attain what may be called professional distinction. Whether 
 or not he possesses the particular talents required for success 
 in either of these, he knows that the distinction which that 
 success will confer is extremely insignificant. A seat in a 
 Provincial Cabinet, or on the Bench of one of the many 
 Courts which share the legal and equitable jurisdiction of 
 the Provinces, affords, in itself, but a small temptation to the 
 man of powerful intellect and lofty aspirations. The British 
 American sees men, in the Mother Country, springing up to 
 the rank of Field-Marshals, Admirals, founders of noble 
 houses, Viceroys presiding over countries which are them¬ 
 selves mighty empires—nay, to the position of virtual rulers 
 of the great empire which comprises many of such vice¬ 
 royalties. He may be by nature qualified to enter the lists 
 in competition with these world-renowned fellow-subjects of 
 his. He is precluded by his position from making the attempt. 
 A few miles from his own home he may see one with whom 
 probably he is personally acquainted, and has always con¬ 
 sidered as, in every respect, his inferior, raised to the high 
 position of President of the United States. He may not 
 aspire even to the position of Governor of his native Pro¬ 
 vince. 
 
 It may be said that it is very unphilosophical in the 
 British Americans to entertain these ambitious feelings. 
 That may be so, but the feelings are entertained neverthe¬ 
 less. They are not a more philosophical people than any 
 other enlightened class of the human family; and it is but 
 natural to suppose that they must experience emotions which 
 affect powerfully all such classes, but more particularly the 
 Anglo-Saxon race. Whatever may be said in condemnation 
 of personal ambition, it will scarcely be denied, that, where 
 that feeling is systematically held in check, or confined within 
 narrow limits, there can be no very long and peaceful con¬ 
 tinuance of what is called national progress . There will be 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 either political convulsions, or general sluggishness. Personal 
 ambition, as already shown, is now being thwarted, in British 
 America, after both these modes. Two results of this, already 
 too clearly discernible, are a strong feeling of discontent 
 among the more intellectual and better educated classes, and 
 the splitting up of the whole community into small, but 
 violent, political factions. 
 
 A Union of the North American Colonies would remove 
 the causes of this discontent and smother this faction spirit 
 among the colonists. Such a Union would throw open an 
 arena vast enough for the desires of the most ambitious— 
 one in which all professions would soon find ample scope for 
 action and rewards commensurate with their exertion. The 
 old, narrow, partizan spirit would speedily die out in the 
 new combinations thus formed ; and politicians, of whatever 
 name or party, would move with a higher and nobler aim. 
 It would also satisfy the cravings of that feeling more widely 
 extended, and perhaps deeper, than any which has self alone 
 for its object. It would satisfy the cravings of national 
 ambition. Men are not quite satisfied with their country, 
 whatever it may be, unless it possesses, in their estimation, 
 some considerable degree of grandeur or glory, either past, 
 present, or future. The accident of birth is rarely, if ever, 
 sufficient in itself to attach a man to his native country—at 
 least, it is insufficient to render him quite satisfied with it. 
 He wants something more to cling to. In contemplating the 
 existence of his country, as in contemplating that of himself 
 individually, he is not satisfied to confine his desires to the 
 isolated present, however favorably circumstanced that pre¬ 
 sent may be. lie would fain indulge in fond reminiscences 
 of the past, or exult in glorious anticipations of the future. 
 To the British American, as such, the past is a blank. A 
 consummation of the Provincial Union, would be to him an 
 assurance that the future would not present the same dreary 
 void. It would give his country a name and a standing 
 
19 
 
 which would be known and recognized in every comer of the 
 earth ; and would make it such a country as he could cling 
 to with affection, and regard with pride. Though its history 
 and local associations would be for him unconnected with the 
 traditions of a long line of ancestry, he could hope that they 
 would be brightened by the deeds of a happy and glorious 
 posterity. Few reflecting persons, in British America, of 
 whatever rank, have not perceived, with painful feelings, the 
 insignificant position which, in a national point of view, their 
 country has hitherto occupied. A compact political Union 
 would be, at once, the most effective and the most feasible 
 means of removing this wide-spread discontent. 
 
 The argument for Union comprised in the foregoing obser¬ 
 vations, is one which has been felt and appreciated only by 
 the more intelligent classes of the Colonists. There is another 
 argument, which, whether recognised or not, is certainly felt 
 by all. This is the argument deducible from the relation 
 which the Provinces bear to each other —from the effect 
 which their isolated and mutuallyindependent condition has 
 upon their internal prosperity. From the time when the 
 Provinces became separately organised as dependencies of 
 the British Crown, until the present day, they have been as 
 foreign countries to each other. They have, it is true, been 
 in many respects, alike, although separated. They have 
 been subject to the same Crown, and have had all their prin¬ 
 cipal institutions modelled upon the same originals ; yet, 
 from whatever cause, it is useless now T to enquire, they have 
 until within a few years past, kept entirely aloof from each 
 other. Each acting for itself, has quite ignored the existence 
 of the others ; and, by this means, needless differences have 
 arisen between their various juridical codes, their public 
 institutions, and their commercial regulations. Not only 
 have such differences arisen, but they have led the Colonists 
 to thwart and seriously injure each other, in their mutual 
 intercourse. Increasing wealth and intelligence, with their 
 
consequent demand for a larger field of action, having neces¬ 
 sarily brought them into closer contact, have led to the 
 removal of some of the principal impediments in the way of 
 that intercourse ; yet those very increased facilities only 
 make more vexatious the remaining obstacles to a perfect 
 Union. It is but a few years since the Colonies adopted the 
 system of free commercial interchange of commodities with 
 each other, instead of the system of protective duties which 
 they had previously upheld to their great mutual injury. 
 They are still separated commercially by the troublesome 
 barriers which necessarily exist between independent coun¬ 
 tries, however amicably united by treaty alone. The needless 
 existence of so many entirely separate and co-ordinate legal 
 jurisdictions, in a single and compact section of the empire, 
 as British America naturally is, tends, in a great degree, to 
 impede commercial intercourse between its various parts. 
 Moreover, the existence of several sets of commercial regu¬ 
 lations, alike in all leading points but just sufficiently 
 dissimilar to clash with each other and to perplex those 
 interested under them, tends, in a still greater degree, to 
 the same result. 
 
 Their political isolation hinders the Provinces from carry¬ 
 ing out any great work in which they are interested in com¬ 
 mon, and which requires their joint efforts. A melancholy 
 instance of this may be seen in their futile attempts, extend¬ 
 ing over a period of some twelve years, towards the construc¬ 
 tion of an inter-provincial railway. The Provinces were all 
 very desirous of having that great work carried on ; and, 
 since it was proposed, have, each of them within its owm 
 boundaries, undertaken and commenced similar works of vast 
 magnitude, in proportion to their means. No one doubts 
 that, if the Provinces had been united under a single Colo¬ 
 nial Government at the time this great national work w*as 
 first proposed, the road w ould now be nearly if not quite 
 completed from Halifax to the foot of Lake Huron. 
 
21 
 
 There are numerous other public works, besides railroads, 
 in which the Provinces are equally interested, requiring the 
 co-operation of all, but which, under the present system, 
 either cannot be carried on at all, or their progress must be 
 attended with checks and delays which are extremely annoy¬ 
 ing and detrimental to the general interests of the country. 
 So remote are these Provinces, socially and politically, from 
 each other, that it is extremely difficult even for private 
 capitalists, residing in two or more of them, to unite in any 
 undertaking requiring their joint efforts ; and, if the opera¬ 
 tions of the undertaking are intended to extend into more 
 than one Province, it seems to be practically next thing to 
 impossible. 
 
 To say that their present state of disunion discourages the 
 production of native literature and mechanical invention, in the 
 Provinces, may seem, at the present time, a small argument 
 in favor of Union. They being new countries, but few 
 attempts have been made in either of these branches of intel¬ 
 lectual development. Yet, however slight the results of this 
 discouragement thus far, they must increase with the lapse 
 of time ; and, if suffered to continue, would, without doubt, 
 soon become a very serious evil. Giving an individual the 
 power of securing his patent, or his copy-right, over the whole 
 of the Provinces, by going through a troublesome and expen¬ 
 sive ordeal in each one separately, can but slightly modify the 
 general tendency of complete intercolonial independence in 
 this matter. 
 
 There are innumerable points of detail in which this want 
 of Union seriously retards the general prosperity of the Pro¬ 
 vinces. Few persons, residing in British America, have not, 
 in their own persons, seriously felt its injurious results. The 
 cure for all this is obvious. Let a Legislative Union of the 
 Provinces take place, and all the evils alluded to, under this 
 division of the subject, terminate immediately. /This is too 
 nearly self-evident to require anything in the shape of proof; 
 
and the mode by which that Union would effect such a result, 
 is too plain to require any demonstration. 
 
 There is yet a third point of view in which the Provinces 
 must be regarded, furnishing an argument in favor of Union ; 
 that is, the relation which those Provinces , as component 
 parts of the British Empire , hear to foreign countries , and 
 particularly to the United States of America. Regarded in 
 this respect, their present aspect must suggest feelings of not 
 the most pleasurable nature to a large majority of the British 
 Americans, and certainly should give some concern to the 
 Mother Country. The United States have, since attaining 
 their independence, increased in area, wealth and physical 
 strength to an extent which has aroused the wonder, and 
 which, but for some attendant circumstances, might excite 
 the admiration of the civilized world. That republic has not 
 been at all particular as to the means by which her present 
 status has been attained. She is the imbodiment of ultra- 
 Democracy, among the civilized states of the New World, as 
 Russia is the imbodiment of ultra-Monarchical Absolutism, 
 among those of the Old ; and the rapid progress of the two 
 nations, from comparative insignificance to a prominent rank 
 among first-class powers, has been not dissimilar, either in 
 general nature, or in the means by which effected. That 
 rapid rise to power has doubtless been caused, in a great 
 measure, by activity in internal improvement; but it has 
 been mainly owing to a system of aggression by which they 
 have increased their own strength at the expense of neighbors 
 who were too heedless to be disturbed by those aggressions, 
 or too weak to oppose them. Great Britain, with the other 
 nations of Western Europe, has awakened to a sense of the 
 misdeeds of Russia—she still sleeps over those of the United 
 States, although none the less menacing to her own security. 
 The British American subjects of Her Majesty are too near 
 the scene of action to be unconscious, or uninterested specta¬ 
 tors of .the aggressive policy of the United States. 
 
23 
 
 In 1803, the Government of that country, by taking advan¬ 
 tage of Napoleon’s necessities, extorted from the French, 
 under the name of a purchase, the Province of Louisiana, 
 thereby more than doubling the extent of its territory. By 
 driving another extremely clever bargain with Spain, in 1819, 
 Florida was obtained. In 1842 the “ Ashburton Treaty,” 
 which settled what was called the “ North-Eastern Boundary 
 Dispute,” between Great Britain and the United States, gave 
 to the latter, without their having any valid claim to it, a 
 further acquisition of territory, inconsiderable indeed as to 
 extent, but, from its position, of incalculable advantage to 
 British America. This treaty, as has been since clearly 
 proved, was effected by means of gross misrepresentation, on 
 the part of the United States Government and its officials. 
 By a somewhat similar course of procedure, attended by what 
 British Americans will ever consider an indefensible disregard 
 of her own rights and interests, on the part of Great Britain, 
 the grasping republic, in 1846, obtained a portion of Oregon, 
 thereby reaching the Pacific Ocean and acquiring a further 
 immense increase of valuable territory. On their southern 
 frontiers, the United States have pursued a system of annexa¬ 
 tion, somewhat different, but no less successful. lor some 
 years previous to 1836, a number of “ American” citizens 
 —cautious pioneers of a class of men who have since become 
 more daring in their movements, and have acquired a wide 
 notoriety, under the name of filibustieros —pushed their way 
 southwards into the sparsely populated Mexican territory of 
 Texas. Upon finding themselves sufficiently strong to risk 
 the attempt, they raised the standard of revolt against the 
 Mexican Government. Assisted by large bodies of volun¬ 
 teers who flocked to the scene of action, from all parts of the 
 United States, the rebels did not have to contend very long 
 against Mexico, impoverished and demoralized as she was by 
 a quarter of a century of civil war. Texas became an inde¬ 
 pendent country, and, in 1845, that territory was annexed , 
 
T 
 
 24 
 
 and formed another of the United States. By this series of 
 adroit manoeuvres, Mexico lost one-fifth of her territory; and 
 the United States gained an addition nearly equal to one- 
 fifth of what they previously held. 
 
 Throughout those regions of imperfectly explored wilder¬ 
 ness, where national boundary lines are not so intimately 
 known, or so accurately defined, as in Europe, there cannot 
 be much difficulty, when the desire is not wanting, in raising 
 a dispute relative to land-marks. So it was soon discovered, 
 both in the United States and in Mexico. A dispute, turn¬ 
 ing mainly upon the question of the south-western boundary 
 of Texas, brought the two countries into actual hostilities; 
 and the year 1846 saw an “American” invading army cross 
 the Rio Grande. If the Mexican contest with the Texan 
 rebels was short and decisive, this one was still more so ; for 
 now Mexico, weaker and more distracted internally than ever, 
 had the whole of the United States as her avowed enemy. 
 Part of the price at which she purchased peace, was the dis¬ 
 posal of just one-third of her whole remaining territories 
 which went to increase the wealth and power of her insatiable 
 neighbor and enemy, and which forms rather more than one- 
 sixth of the whole territory now possessed by the United 
 States. By the peace of 1848, the latter country acquired 
 the fertile, gold-bearing California, with a wider and more 
 valuable frontage on the Pacific, and the large territory of 
 New Mexico, opening into the heart of Mexico an unobstructed 
 road for further and future conquests. Whoever has observed 
 the course of events, in that quarter, since the peace of 1848, 
 cannot suppose it will be very long before such further con¬ 
 quests will be attempted. We have but recently seen an 
 attempt made to perpetrate upon Cuba another revolution on 
 the Texan principle. 
 
 This rapid growth of the great North American republic 
 is fraught with painful considerations, to the British American 
 people—the more so from their observation of the means by 
 
25 
 
 which that growth has, in a great measure, been effected. 
 But apart from all consideration of the means by which the 
 United States have acquired the vast territories and conse¬ 
 quent political strength they now possess, one would naturally 
 suppose that the mere fact of such acquisition would be suf¬ 
 ficient to give serious concern to the British nation. In 
 1783, those States were contained within an area of less than 
 390,000 square miles,—the whole States and “ Territories” 
 together occupying but 720,000 square miles,—and contained 
 a population of not more than two and a half millions. In 1854 
 they have a territory of 2,750,000 square miles, and a popula¬ 
 tion of over twenty-four millions. The growth of the Russian 
 Empire, in territory, population, wealth—in power generally, 
 during a period of 150 years, has not equalled that of the 
 “ American” Republic, for a space of less than half that time. 
 Great Britain has begun to feel serious alarm lest the Russian 
 Autocrat should, by crossing nearly 2000 miles over the 
 savage deserts of Central Asia, attempt a conquest of the 
 Anglo-Indian Empire. It is somewhat singular that she 
 should entertain no apprehensions lest the democratic power of 
 the United States should cross the St. Lawrence and the St. 
 Croix, and attempt the conquest of her no less important 
 North American Colonies. Russia has never yet attempted, 
 or even made any decided demonstration in the way of 
 attempting, the apprehended conquest of India. The forces 
 of the United States have twice invaded the North American 
 Provinces ; and—let men say what they will about the ties 
 of kindred, and “ America’s” affection for her Mother Coun¬ 
 try—the desire to do so again remains quite as strong as it 
 ever was. There is only the most extreme possibility that 
 the United States will ever bring British North America 
 under their dominion ; but it is quite within the bounds of 
 probability that the attempt will be made—and that at no 
 very remote period, unless means are taken to prevent it. 
 The cheapest and most effective of those means would be to 
 
26 
 
 place the Provinces in a position to defend themselves—to give 
 them that self-reliance, that compactness of physical strength, 
 that unity of action, and increased dissemination and intensity 
 of national feeling, which can be given by a Legislative Union 
 of those Provinces, and by that only. 
 
 A few statistics will go far towards enabling us to judge of 
 the capacity, present and future, of the Provinces, if so 
 united, to form a bulwark against foreign encroachment. They 
 will also enable us to form an idea of the real value and 
 importance of those Provinces, and consequently of the 
 results which would be likely to follow their violent separation 
 from the Mother Country. The growth of British America 
 will be better comprehended by comparing it with that of her 
 more celebrated neighbor, the United States, whose rapid 
 progress has so much astonished the world. An opinion has 
 very generally prevailed on this continent, and also in Great 
 Britain in so far as any opinion is there entertained on the 
 subject, to the effect that, while the United States have 
 advanced amazingly in population, wealth, commercial enter¬ 
 prise, and general prosperity, British America has remained 
 almost stationary. This opinion has done serious injury both 
 to the reputation of the latter country, as a field for emigra¬ 
 tion, and to that of its inhabitants as an active and intelligent 
 people. Facts prove, that, of the two countries, the progress 
 of British America has been the most rapid. 
 
 Let us begin with the comparative increase in the popula¬ 
 tion of the two countries; and take, as a starting point, the 
 year 1783, from which period dates the separate, national 
 existence of the United States. In 1780 the population of 
 those States amounted to 2,051,000. In 1790 it was 
 3,929,872. 
 
 In 1783, it may be fairly estimated at. 2,500,000 
 
 In 1850, it amounted to 23,191,074; and, in 1851, say.. 24,000,000 
 
 Increase in 68 years, from 1783 to 1851 
 
 Equal to 860 per cent. 
 
 r 
 
 21,500,000 
 
27 
 
 The population of the whole of Canada, in 1784, and say 
 
 in 1783, amounted to. 113,000 
 
 That of the Lower Provinces, including the Loyalists who 
 
 settled there at the close of the Revolutionary War,.. 32,000 
 
 In all 145,000 
 
 The population of Canada West, in 1850, was 
 by census returns 781,000—in 1852,952,004— 
 
 and, in 1851, say. 871,500 
 
 Canada East, in 1848,-770,000 ; in 1852,— 
 
 890,261 ; in 1851 say. 840,500 
 
 New Brunswick, by census of 1851,. 194,000 
 
 Nova Scotia, by do. 277,000 
 
 Prince Edward Island, in 1848, 62,678 : at same 
 rate of increase as for three years previous to 
 
 that time, in 1851, it would be. 70,000 
 
 - 2,253,000 
 
 Increase in 68 years, from 1783 to 1851. 2,108,000 
 
 Equal to 1450 per cent. 
 
 At the same rate of increase, the population of the United 
 States would have been thirty-six and a quarter millions. In 
 the ten years previous to 1850, during which time the tide of 
 emigration set more strongly towards the United States than at 
 any former period, the population of those States increased at 
 the rate of 36*86 per cent.: that of the Provinces, during the 
 ten years previous to 1851, at the rate of 48*41 per cent. To 
 rectify the erroneous supposition which, probably, will immedi¬ 
 ately impress itself upon many minds, that this rapid growth, on 
 the part of British America, has taken place in the Upper Canada 
 section alone, it may be observed, that, during those respec¬ 
 tive decades, the population of New Brunswick—the lowest, 
 in this respect, on the Provincial list—increased at a more 
 rapid rate than that of any of the Eastern States except Mas¬ 
 sachusetts and Rhode Island ; and that Nova Scotia nearly 
 equalled the State of New York. In these computations, no 
 allowance has been made for that addition to the population 
 of the United States which has been caused by the acquisition 
 
28 
 
 of territory. That share which emigration has added to the 
 population of British America, must be due, it is but natural 
 to suppose, solely to the genuine merits of the country as a 
 field for emigration. Its name has no such prestige as has 
 attached to that of the United States, from the moment of 
 their attaining their independence. Its great commercial, 
 agricultural, and other advantages, have not been constantly 
 trumpeted to the world like those of the adjoining Republic 
 and some other Colonial sections of the British Empire. 
 
 It may be contended that a rapid increase in the population 
 of a country is no certain indication of its prosperity; but 
 certainly it forms a strong presumption of such prosperity. 
 But further statistics may be shown, affording more conclusive 
 proofs. Supposing the case of the United States to be made, 
 w*e may continue the comparison. 
 
 The tonnage of vessels owned by the Provinces (New¬ 
 foundland included) in 1806, amounted to. 71,943 
 
 In 1850,. 446,935 
 
 Increase, 374,992 tons 
 
 Equal to 521 per cent. % 
 
 The tonnage of the United States, in 1806, amounted 
 
 to. 1,208,735 
 
 In 1850,. 3,535,454 
 
 Increase, 2,326,719 tons 
 
 Equal to 191 per cent. 
 
 No one will pretend to doubt that the tonnage of the Pro¬ 
 vinces has continued to increase in the same—if not in a 
 much greater—ratio, down to the present time, although sta¬ 
 tistics of its present amount are not easily procurable. 
 
 The value of imports into the United States, in 1851, 
 
 reduced to sterling, amounts to.£43,244,986 
 
 Equal to £1-80 per head on the whole population. 
 
 The value of exports , for the same year, amounted to.... £43,677,602 
 Equal to £1*81 per head. 
 
 The imports of Canada, in 1851, amounted 
 
 to.... £4,650,088 stg. 
 
29 
 
 Deduct value of imports from other B. N. 
 
 A. Colonies,. 
 
 99,480 stg. 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 4,550,608 
 
 New Brunswick,. 
 
 970,488 “ 
 
 
 Less imports from B. N. A. Colonies,• 
 
 134,937 « 
 
 
 — 
 
 835,551 
 
 
 1,105,528 « 
 
 
 Less imports from B. N. A. Colonies,. • • 
 
 ^204,483 “ 
 
 901,045 
 
 Prince Edward Island,. 
 
 Less estimated imports from B. N. A. 
 
 107,751 “ 
 
 
 
 74,822 “ 
 
 32,929 
 
 Total, (in Sterling) 
 
 Equal to £2*80 per head on population. 
 
 In 1851, the value of exports from Ca- 
 
 
 £6,320,133 
 
 nada amounted to. 
 
 £2,652,475 stg. 
 
 
 Less exports to B. N. A. Colonies,. 
 
 193,433 “ 
 
 2,459,042 
 
 New Brunswick,. 
 
 756,021 “ 
 
 
 Less exports to B. N. A. Colonies,. 
 
 59,572 “ 
 
 696,449 
 
 Nova Scotia,. 
 
 708,462 “ 
 
 
 Less exports to B. N. A. Colonies,. 
 
 269,319 “ 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 439,143 
 
 Prince Edward Island,. 
 
 72,093 “ 
 
 
 Less exports to B. N. A. Colonies. 
 
 34,461 “ 
 
 37,632 
 
 Total (in Sterling) £3,632,266 
 
 Equal to £1*61 per head on population. 
 
 The value of ships built and sent out of the Provinces for 
 sale, is not included in the above exports. If the value— 
 which can be estimated only—of this important article of 
 British American export, were added to the above sum, along 
 with an allowance which should be made for under valuation 
 of articles, there can be no doubt whatever that the sum of 
 the value of exports would exceed—and very considerably 
 exceed—that of the United States, in proportion to the popu- 
 lation. 
 
 
30 
 
 If we carry our researches down to a more recent period, 
 the result appears still more favorable for the Provinces. 
 
 The imports of the United States, according to published 
 returns, amounted, in 1853, to <£53,595,735 stg., shewing 
 an increase of 23 per cent, since 1851. 
 
 The exports , for the same year, amounted to <£46,195,031 
 
 stg., making an increase of 5 per cent, since 1851. 
 
 In 1853, the imports of Canada, less imports from other 
 
 North American Colonies, were. 
 
 £6,269,766 stg. 
 
 Of New Brunswick, less as above. 
 
 “ Nova Scotia, « . 
 
 1,411,523 
 
 1,106,925 
 
 113,544 
 
 “ Prince Edward Island, u . 
 
 • 
 
 Increase, since 1851, equal to 41 per cent. 
 
 In the same year, the exports of Canada, less as 
 
 £8,901,758 stg. 
 
 above, were. 
 
 £4 I2fi StS 
 
 Of New Brunswick, were. 
 
 955 493 
 
 “ Nova Scotia, “ . 
 
 667,526 
 
 55.912 
 
 “ Prince Ed. Island, 11 . 
 
 _ . £5,805,284 stg. 
 
 Increase, since 1851, 59 per cent. 
 
 Newfoundland, as will be observed, is not taken into any 
 of the above calculations j although the imports and exports 
 to and from that Colony, are included in the deductions made 
 from those of the other Provinces. Neither is the trade of 
 Rupert’s Land, through Hudson Bay, or that of the Pacific 
 Coast and the already populous Colony of Vancouver Island, 
 taken into account. Although statistics from some of these 
 cannot be easily procured, enough is, however, known con¬ 
 cerning the extent of their trade, to lead to the belief, that 
 if accurate statements of the exports and imports of the whole 
 of British America could be furnished, they would prove the 
 trade of the country, in the aggregate, to be in a more pros¬ 
 perous condition even than is shown by the above figures as 
 to part. 
 
 To some persons, it may seem as absurd thus to connect 
 
31 
 
 the Atlantic Provinces with British Oregon, Vancouver, or 
 Queen Charlotte’s Islands, as to connect them, in like 
 manner, with New Zealand. But it must be borne in mind, 
 that we are considering the question of a Union of the British 
 North American Colonies ; and the great object of that Union 
 would not be attained, unless every part of British North 
 America—particularly of the continental portions—partici¬ 
 pated in it. The practicability of such a Union, with refer¬ 
 ence to geographical difficulties, is fast ceasing to be 
 considered a mere visionary idea. A petition signed by 
 several of the leading men of Canada and the Northern 
 States, has been laid before the Canadian Parliament, during 
 its present session (December, 1854,) with the object of 
 obtaining the countenance of that body to a scheme for con¬ 
 structing a railroad from Canada, through British territory, 
 to the shore of the Pacific Ocean. When this great work is 
 once seriously commenced—and commenced it assuredly 
 soon will be, and completed too; for the route proposed is 
 declared to be the only practicable one, for the purpose, 
 across the continent—the only obstacle in the way of an 
 immediate and complete political union of the whole of British 
 North America, will have been removed. The Empire for 
 which the foundation is here furnished, would be inferior in 
 extent only to the Russian, the Chinese, and the Brazilian 
 empires ; and in commanding position, its advantages would 
 be equal to those of all the three combined. Any attempt to 
 define the future capabilities of British America, if com¬ 
 pactly united under a single, local government, would require 
 a lengthened investigation of the resources of the country, 
 and would involve much speculation. Taking the least 
 favorable accounts of the resources of the imperfectly 
 explored territories which it contains, the country would be 
 quite capable, at a moderate calculation, and without making 
 any allowance for the constantly increasing facilities with 
 which intellectual culture furnishes man to provide for his 
 
82 
 
 own sustenance, of supporting a population of 100 millions. 
 Taking this in connection with the fact of its unrivalled 
 geographical position, as a commercial and maritime power, 
 we may form some idea of what British America may 
 become. 
 
 In departing from the question of the necessity for a Union 
 of the Provinces to take up that of their Constitution under 
 such a Union, the writer feels that he is beginning to step 
 upon ground hitherto but imperfectly explored. Nearly 
 every one seems to be impressed with a sense of the neces¬ 
 sity for something being done to bring the Provinces into 
 closer connection with each other. A vast deal has been 
 said on the subject, in this its general aspect; but very little 
 upon the practical details. When it has been spoken of, it 
 has been most frequently as a Federal Union ; but without 
 any reason being given for the application of that epithet, or 
 any argument to prove that that particular kind ot ! nion is 
 the most desirable. It is sufficiently obvious that any closer 
 Union, if to exist at all, must be either a Federal Union, 
 according to the usual acceptation of that term upon this 
 continent, or an absolute, legislative one. 
 
 The presumption which seems to exist, in so many minds, 
 that the Union contemplated must be a Federal one, is, no 
 doubt, founded upon our contiguity to the United States. 
 We are accustomed to see, in that great republic—our 
 nearest neighbor, and that with which our intercourse is most 
 frequent—the most remarkable example of a Federal Union 
 which the world has probably ever seen. But it will be diffi¬ 
 cult to find any argument deducible from the history, or 
 condition, of that republic, to favor the ’establishing of a 
 similar Confederation in British America. The foundation of 
 the Federal Constitution of the United States, was framed to 
 suit the prejudices of the thirteen States which originally 
 
33 
 
 formed the North American Confederation ; not because, 
 reasoning upon sound political principles, it was the most 
 desirable Constitution for the country. But, although not 
 the result of deliberative design, neither has it grown up 
 gradually out of the circumstances and necessities of the 
 country ; and it remains yet to be proved that it is the one 
 best suited to those circumstances and necessities. A Con¬ 
 federation had been previously attempted in which each 
 State, completely independent in itself, delegated, to the 
 central authority, such of its power as that State pleased. 
 That share was, at the very outset, extremely insignificant; 
 but, as time elapsed, it rapidly lessened and finally became 
 a merely nominal portion. When the Confederation was on 
 the eve of entire dissolution, and whilst the country, involved 
 in internal difficulties and with crippled resources, was 
 yet fearful of attack from foreign powers, it was deemed 
 indispensable to do something towards the consolidation 
 of its strength. Between the requirements of the collec¬ 
 tive body and the prejudices of the individual States, a 
 compromise was, at length, effected ; and in the words of De 
 Tocqueville, “ the strict rules of logic were evaded,” and a 
 Federal Constitution was formed, the principal and most char¬ 
 acteristic articles of which weV-e “ contrary to the spirit of 
 Constitutional Government.” It will be well for the statesmen 
 of British America, before taking any active steps towards a 
 Union of the Provinces, to ascertain if, since 1789, some 
 progress has not been made in the science of Constitutional 
 Government, as well as in all other sciences. 
 
 Before enquiring into a Federal Union of the North 
 American Provinces, it may be well to look into the question 
 of its practicability. To form a Federal Union upon the 
 “ American ” model, each Provincial Legislature and Execu¬ 
 tive, as at present constituted, must be expected to degrade 
 itself, in some degree, by yielding to the corresponding 
 Federal body, the possession of the supreme, internal power. 
 
 c 
 
34 
 
 If the Union were proposed in this shape, to the several 
 Legislatures, it is more than probable that one very serious 
 obstacle would be started, at the outset. It is but natural 
 that a man engaged voluntarily in any occupation, should 
 feel a great repugnance to raising up another to preside 
 over, and direct him, in carrying on that very occupation, 
 whilst he himself is to take a step lower down. However 
 consonant to reason such a course may be, under certain 
 circumstances, it must be, in almost every case, extremely 
 humiliating to the feelings. The individual supposed will, 
 particularly if in difficulty, scarcely object to associating 
 another with himself for successfully carrying on the occupa¬ 
 tion in question ; but as for giving his place to another and 
 occupying a subordinate position himself, such a step will 
 scarcely be submitted to until he is driven to the last extrem¬ 
 ity. What is true with regard to an individual will also hold 
 good with regard to a collection of individuals, even where, 
 as in the present case, it consists of a grave, deliberative, 
 parliamentary assembly. The Legislature of Nova Scotia, 
 for instance, may perceive nothing derogatory to its dignity, 
 or hurtful to its- feelings, in uniting, bodily and with powers 
 unimpaired, with those of Canada and New Brunswick; but 
 it is scarcely to be supposed that it will, without many 
 internal throes, curtail its own powers and privileges for the 
 purpose of raising up another legislative body similar, but 
 superior, to itself. 
 
 But, presume that no such obstacles will be created by the 
 Provincial Legislatures; and that the Federal Parliament 
 and Federal Government are unanimously decided upon,— 
 What is to be the prerogative of that Government; and upon 
 what objects is that Parliament to legislate ? Of what powers 
 can the several Provincial Legislatures divest themselves to 
 bestow upon the Federal Legislature ? It is presumed that 
 each Province would expect to retain the entire control and 
 management of its internal affairs. If it is not to do so, 
 
35 
 
 upon what principle can it, in one instance, retain the man¬ 
 agement of its own peculiar affairs, and, in others, yield such 
 management to another, in this respect, concurrent authority ? 
 It is clear that, in this matter of the management of the 
 internal affairs of each Province, there could be no division 
 of authority amicably^ and satisfactorily agreed upon, in the 
 first place ; and if agreed upon at all, it could only lead to 
 clashing of rival claims with no prospect of a generally bene¬ 
 ficial result. 
 
 It will scarcely be contended, in any quarter, that a Union 
 involving an arrangement of this kind is either practicable, 
 or desirable. If then the Federal Government is not to 
 interfere with the proper, internal affairs of the separate 
 Provinces,—what shall be its powers, and upon what objects 
 shall it be exercised ? We are here led to a view of the 
 striking dissimilarity between the political condition and cir¬ 
 cumstances of the British North American Colonies and 
 those of any Confederation of States which has ever existed. 
 The aim and object, in the formation of every such Confede¬ 
 ration, has been with reference to its foreign relations. 
 With scarcely an exception, the authority of the Federal 
 Government, in such unions, has been limited exclusively to 
 the management of what, in political parlance, are called 
 “ foreign affairs and to the exercise of such powers as are 
 indispensable to that management. The Federal authorities, 
 in the United States, have, according to the letter of the 
 Constitution, a more extensive power of supervision over the 
 individual States, and more numerous rights of interference 
 in the internal affairs of the collective body, than have ever 
 been entrusted to any other Federal Government. And 
 what are the powders of the Federal Government in that 
 country ? First, as the main object for which the Union 
 itself was formed, we find the exclusive power to make war, 
 and, for that purpose, to raise and equip armies and fleets ; 
 to make peace, and to conclude treaties of commerce with 
 
 
36 
 
 foreign powers ; and as indispensable requisites for the exer¬ 
 cise of these powers, the further power of levying taxes. 
 These, it is quite obvious, have reference only to the foreign 
 relations of the Confederation. The powers of the Federal 
 Government to interfere in what are exclusively the internal 
 affairs of the Union, are few and inconsiderable. The prin¬ 
 cipal are those of controlling the Post Office, and enactmg 
 patent and copyright laws. Besides these, authority oyer all 
 territories belonging to the Union, but not included in any 
 individual State, is vested exclusively in the Federal Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 It would be extremely difficult—would it not be impossible' 
 
 _to extend the prerogatives of a Federal Government, in 
 
 the Provinces, one inch beyond the limits within which they 
 are confined in that republican Confederation, without bung¬ 
 ing it into immediate and dangerous collision with those of 
 the individual Provinces. But how far must the prerogatives 
 of the Provincial Federal Government fall within those limits! 
 From the position of the Provinces as British Colonies, their 
 central Government could not, without some very material 
 modification of their present relations with the Mother 
 Country, have the power of making war and of concluding 
 treaties of peace and commerce, on its own account. The 
 possession of the right to exercise that power, and to make 
 provision for its exercise, is that which gives standing to the 
 Federal Government of the United States; and brings it 
 what respect it does possess from the individual States. The 
 Provincial Federal Government not having this right, and 
 consequently having no power to raise and equip armies and 
 fleets, and to construct and control works of national defence, 
 the only power left for it to exercise, would be—following, 
 when possible, the model of the United States—those of 
 managing the Post Office; and those of legislating upon 
 questions of naturalization, patent, and copyright. It could 
 not be permitted to levy taxes beyond the mere requirements 
 
37 
 
 of its own civil list. An inevitable consequence of this would 
 be, that impost duties and other considerable sources of 
 revenue, in the different Provinces, would still be under their 
 separate control. Then there would necessarily be separate 
 customs establishments, and conflicting, commercial regula¬ 
 tions, as at present. It is obvious that it would never pay 
 to keep up a Federal Government, however moderate the 
 expense of doing so, to perform such comparatively unim¬ 
 portant duties. But, apart from all considerations of expense, 
 such an institution, thus almost objectless and powerless, 
 w ould become at once, an object of contempt; and would be 
 practically no Government at all. 
 
 But in consenting to a Union of the Provinces, of whatever 
 nature such Union might be, the Imperial Government would 
 probably be ready to yield to them a largely increased share 
 of national privileges, attended with proportionate, national 
 responsibilities. Great Britain obviously desires, even now, 
 to bestow upon these Provinces the charge of providing and 
 sustaining the naval and military forces necessary to their 
 security against internal disorder and foreign aggression. 
 The bestowal of this charge would alone, it cannot be 
 doubted, give to the Federal Government an important rank 
 as a national Government; and would ensure it a great 
 degree of moral weight in every section of the Confederation. 
 It is further probable, and certainly very desirable, that, in 
 the event of a Provincial Union, the immense tract known as 
 the Hudson Bay Company’s Territories, or Rupert’s Land, 
 would very soon come under the immediate control of the 
 Central Government. If that Union were a Federal one, this 
 important acquisition to its exclusive jurisdiction would cer¬ 
 tainly both raise and strengthen its position. But both these 
 conditions—one of them certainly an essential one—to the suc¬ 
 cessful maintenance of a Federal Government, rest upon proba¬ 
 bilities pending in the uncertain future; and upon probabilities 
 over which those most interested in the Union have no control. 
 
38 
 
 But let the Imperial Government guarantee both condi¬ 
 tions : then upon what terms is the Federal Constitution to 
 be formed ? Upon what plan is the Federal Government, on 
 the one hand, to be balanced against those of the individual 
 Provinces, on the other? Which is to be the rule; and 
 which the exception ; upon points of authority, which shall 
 be the principal; and which the subordinate ? Such ques¬ 
 tions must be extremely difficult to answer, with the view of 
 organizing a Federal Government in any country ; but in 
 British America, owing to its peculiar, political position, they 
 are especially so. Yet these are matters which must be 
 settled before such a Union can go into operation. To leave 
 them otherwise, would be to throw the whole Confederation 
 into a state of complete anarchy. If unlimited, superior, 
 and general powers are to be given to the Federal Govern¬ 
 ment, whilst those of the separate Provinces shall be limited, 
 subordinate, and specific, it is clear that the present Provin¬ 
 cial Constitutions must be nullified, and others, entirely new 
 and essentially different, substituted for them. Hitherto 
 each Province has legislated under the conviction that it had 
 the right to legislate upon all matters immediately affecting 
 its own rights and interests; and has, at various times, 
 assumed the exclusive right to do so. Under such an 
 arrangement as that now alluded to, such legislation w ould 
 be restricted to certain classes of subjects; and even confined 
 within narrow limits as to them. The possession of the supe¬ 
 rior and unlimited power by the general Government would 
 inevitably lead to the extension of its exercise over the local 
 Governments; and these latter w r ould soon become mere 
 shadows, and the position of each Province would be sub¬ 
 stantially the same as if the Union had been a Legislative, not 
 a Federal, one, in the first place. Let the powers of the 
 Provincial Governments be unlimited as to object, and those 
 of the Federal Government be restricted, and a sweeping 
 change is still necessary in each Provincial Constitution, 
 
39 
 
 inasmuch as it must be so materially modified as to allow 
 another Constitution—the Federal one—to operate side-by- 
 side with it, and upon the same community of interests. 
 And here, as in the other case, there is every probability of 
 the equilibrium, between the general and the local Govern¬ 
 ments, being speedily destroyed. The Federal Government, 
 limited as to its objects and with circumscribed authority, 
 must be further necessarily straitened, in this latter respect, 
 from being itself the governing power of a Colony, not of an 
 independent country . It will, therefore, be wanting in moral 
 weight, as 'well as in recognised, constitutional authority, to 
 hold its nominal subordinates in check. If, therefore, a 
 rivalry of interests should spring up between different Pro¬ 
 vinces, the central Government would find itself incapable of 
 holding them long together; and would soon become itself 
 an object of contempt to them all. 
 
 It is certain that either the general or the local Govern¬ 
 ment must be superior; and one, or the other, or both, must 
 be restricted as to jurisdiction. But it must be remembered 
 that there is yet a third whose claims are to be consid¬ 
 ered. Whether or not the Federal and local Governments 
 may, in any one Province, be so nicely balanced by an arti¬ 
 ficial system of checks and counter checks, that one cannot 
 annihilate the other, it certainly seems but reasonable to sup¬ 
 pose that, when the Imperial Government claims its share in 
 the division of authority, the most skilful manufacturer of 
 Constitutions will despair of framing such a one as will ensure 
 the “ balance of power ” between the three. And if such a 
 thing ever should be attempted, and disputes should arise, as 
 they undoubtedly must, between the three ruling powers, it 
 will puzzle the most clear-headed and conscientious British 
 American to ascertain which of the members of this political 
 trinity is most entitled to his allegiance, or how it is to be 
 divided between them. If the Imperial Government is to 
 occupy a position on the soil of British America, on or near 
 
 r 1 
 
a level with those exercising Federal and Provincial author¬ 
 ity ; and to exercise a direct interference in its internal 
 affairs, conjointly with them,—then a state of constant discord 
 must ensue from the clashing of conflicting rights and rival 
 interests thus brought together. If it is not to exercise that 
 interference except in cases of dispute between the Federal 
 and Provincial authorities, but is to have “ appellate jurisdic¬ 
 tion ” in all such cases, the effect will be virtually to place 
 the Confederated Provinces completely at the mercy of 
 Imperial statesmen. This interference from without, and by 
 men unacquainted, in a great measure, with the merits of the 
 questions under discussion, is a point upon which British 
 Americans are, at present, particularly sensitive, and they 
 are much more disposed to curtail than to extend it. I here 
 is no reason to suppose that, in the event of a Union, such a 
 disposition would be at all lessened. But when such disputes 
 did arise between the Federal and Provincial authorities, or 
 between different Provinces, who would decide them ? If 
 the adjudicating power, in such cases, is not to come from 
 without, the presumption is that it will be vested in a Supreme 
 Court, as in the United States. The vesting ot such a power 
 in a civil, judicial body, would be another sweeping innova¬ 
 tion upon the British Constitution, which recognises no higher 
 authority than Parliament as entitled to deal with questions 
 strictly constitutional. But, apart from these considerations, 
 such a Court must, in cases of serious difficulty,—the only 
 cases in which the interposition of its authority would be 
 desirable,—prove inefficient; for it cannot possess the power 
 to enforce its own decrees. At all events, the creation of a 
 Court endowed with such authority, would be to establish a 
 fourth , independent ruling power over the people of British 
 America ; and, of course, would make still more complicated 
 the complication of difficulties previously existing, and which 
 must always exist where any plurality of rulers have concur¬ 
 rent authority over a nation. 
 
41 
 
 Let us suppose all obstacles to the practicability of a Fede- 
 ral Union to be removed. Is such a Union desirable ? The 
 objections to the Federal form of Government are numerous; 
 but the principal of them are owing to a few general causes, 
 simple and easily apprehended. It may be sufficient to point 
 out these causes ; for whoever will allow his attention to dwell 
 upon them, for a brief space, can scarcely require a guide to 
 indicate, or explain, their numerous results. Some of those 
 objections have been already hinted at. Under a Federal 
 Constitution, there must be a want of cohesiveness between 
 the various confederated bodies; and consequently of stability 
 and strength in the Federal Government itself—conditions 
 wdiich, under certain circumstances which are by no mean$ 
 of rare occurrence in the history of any nation, must soon 
 prove fatal to the existence of the Federal Government. 
 Where twx> Governments exercise concurrent authority, as is 
 done by the Federal and separate State Governments, ques¬ 
 tions must arise, even under ordinary circumstances, which 
 will bring them into direct collision. Were such differences 
 to arise upon general questions—upon points of policy affect¬ 
 ing, in an equal degree, every section of the Confederation, 
 the people of the individual State whose Government was at 
 issue with the central Government, would be quite as likely 
 to give their support to the one ruling power, as to the other; 
 therefore, in such a case—if such ever should occur—the 
 chances of any serious injury resulting from such differences, 
 are comparatively slight. Yet even, in this case, there would 
 be such a chance. But such collisions would be much more 
 likely to take place upon questions of a local nature, in which 
 the people of the disputant State felt themselves directly and, 
 it may be, peculiarly interested. Here, from the nature of 
 the point at issue, the tendency of affairs would be to make 
 the difference between the antagonistic Governments grow 
 wider. The people of the individual State would l^ere rally 
 round the local Government, and support it to the last extre- 
 
 
42 
 
 mity ; for its interests and their own, would be identical. 
 The political organization of the State, furnishing evidence 
 of the strength of its position relative to the disputed point, 
 and also a certain means of making its power felt, would, 
 almost certainly, prevent its yielding without a struggle. 
 People are, almost invariably, more jealous of any curtail¬ 
 ment of their local rights, or privileges, than of those of a 
 more general nature. A national insult will pass unheeded, 
 where a slight—perhaps an imaginary one—to a town coun¬ 
 cil, or similar local body, will raise a perfect storm of indig¬ 
 nation. There are always local patriots enough, in every 
 community, to promote the hostile feelings naturally excited 
 towards any power supposed to be adverse to the interests of 
 that community. Political, internal disputes, are usually 
 more difficult of adjustment and more protracted in continu¬ 
 ance, than those springing from a nation’s foreign relations. 
 In cases where such occur, we find both the opposing parties 
 uncompromising, implacable, and obstinate, in the last degree, 
 as the history of all civil wars abundantly testifies. Thus 
 where a rupture is once made between the local and the 
 general Government, it cannot reasonably be supposed that 
 anything but coercive measures will bring them together 
 again. Probably if the members of the Federal and local 
 legislatures had, in the first instance, belonged to the same 
 legislative body, the question between them would, by an 
 interchange of views and by mutual explanations, have been 
 satisfactorily and amicably arranged, after a few hours’ dis¬ 
 cussion. But where they, separately and at a distance from 
 each other, and each collective body with its particular bias, 
 legislate upon the same subject, there is little probability of 
 its merits being fairly discussed by either body; and, under 
 such circumstances, each is extremely liable to mistake, or 
 distort, the opinions and feelings of the other. When the 
 Confederation embraces a considerable number of States, or 
 when its members are separated by geographical position, 
 
43 
 
 local prejudices, or interests, it is quite obvious that the pro¬ 
 babilities of a collision are largely increased. When a dispute 
 of this kind comes to an open rupture, whichever of the two 
 conflicting parties may prove successful, the result cannot but 
 prove highly injurious to the welfare of the Confederation, 
 and ultimately fatal to its existence as a Confederation. The 
 invariably disastrous consequences to society generally, of a 
 serious civil contest of this kind, need only be alluded to. 
 
 If, in such a struggle, the Federal Government prove vic¬ 
 torious, it will take care, by some means, or other, to weaken 
 the pow T er of the refractory State and abridge its privileges, 
 with a view to lessen the probability of any future collision. 
 The discomfited State, on the other hand, cannot but regard 
 itself in the light of a conquered country ; and, as such, any 
 terms whatever imposed by the Federal authorities, will be 
 felt as an infringement of its constitutional rights. Its posi¬ 
 tion and still existing, political organization, will afford oppor¬ 
 tunities of both evading those terms and openly setting them 
 at defiance. Thus, if the Federal Government persists in 
 the course first adopted, jealousies and heartrburnings must 
 continue to exist on the part of both the contending parties ; 
 and open hostilities must become frequent until the individu¬ 
 ality of the single State is entirely destroyed. 
 
 But suppose the single State in question proves the better 
 of the two in the contest. This is a state of affairs wdiich 
 the evidence of history proves to be the much more probable 
 result of such a contest; and the reasons why it must be so, 
 it is not difficult to discover. In this case, the General Gov¬ 
 ernment, being foiled by that which is, nominally, its subordi¬ 
 nate, must, in consequence, lose immeasurably both in moral 
 weight and physical strength. The successful issue, on the 
 part of the single State, of one contest with the Federal Gov¬ 
 ernment, will naturally lead to renewed contests, on its own 
 part, and to the encouragement of similar attempts, on the 
 part of others, until the Federal Government must, in the 
 
natural course of things, become utterly powerless—an object 
 of contempt both at home and abroad ; and each individual 
 State will become, to all intents and purposes, an indepen¬ 
 dent country. 
 
 It may be said that sectional revolts may take place in any 
 country not having a Federal Government. True, they may 
 do so ; but the probabilities of their taking place are infinitely 
 less than where the Federal form exists. When the Govern¬ 
 ment is not a Federal one, the popular representatives from 
 every section of the country meeting in the same Parliament, 
 their local prejudices are softened down by this general inter¬ 
 course ; differences are compromised at their inception ; mis¬ 
 understandings are, almost immediately, discovered and 
 rectified ; and the whole country assumes the character, in 
 the estimation of those representatives, of a compact unity 
 in which the interests of each section are considered as sub¬ 
 ordinate to the interests of the whole. If a complete disrup¬ 
 tion of the representatives of any one section of the country 
 did take place, it could not, in, any ordinary case, be produc¬ 
 tive of very serious results; because the complete, political 
 local organization, which, under a Federal Government, 
 ■would make such disaffection dangerous, would here be 
 wanting. Where but a single Parliament exists, serious 
 disaffection and open revolt can take place only where some 
 flagrant act of tyranny is perpetrated upon the mass of the 
 people : under a Federal Government, they may and do result 
 from local prejudices, from grievances merely imaginary, from 
 misconception of ideas, and from a mere spirit of insubordi¬ 
 nation. 
 
 Another evil of this jealous attitude naturally assumed by 
 the general, and the various local, Governments, towards each 
 other, is its demoralizing effect upon the people generally. 
 Each of these Governments, as a natural consequence of its 
 relative position, will endeavor, by every possible means, to 
 lessen the aggressive power of the others—such a procedure 
 
45 
 
 being the most easy and effective mode of hindering that 
 power ever being turned against the particular Government 
 in question. When all are thus striving, with the same object 
 in view, the result must be—unless a state of open warfare 
 occurs, to raise and strengthen one State by annihilating 
 others—that they will weaken each other ; and this weaken¬ 
 ing influence must continue incessantly until arrested by some 
 revolution completely changing the relative position of the 
 States participating in it. It need scarcely be said, that a 
 Government cannot be thus weakened with reference to the 
 exercise of its power in one particular direction only. Its 
 strength must be diminished in every respect. It becomes 
 incapable of discharging its legitimate functions within its 
 own territory, and when its authority is unquestioned from 
 without. Not only does its Executive find itself deficient in 
 the actual, physical means of enforcing the laws ; but it soon 
 proves to be comparatively destitute of moral influence among 
 the people over whom it nominally presides ; for when a Gov¬ 
 ernment is thus so notoriously hedged in and fettered as to 
 be incapable of acting with requisite freedom, people soon 
 lose all respect for it. and particularly for that branch which 
 interferes most directly with their personal inclinations. The 
 Executive is, therefore, incapable of discharging the duties 
 which the Constitution imposes upon it; and if the State does 
 not gradually lapse into a condition of complete, political 
 anarchy and social barbarism, it is because the sound, moral 
 sense and high intellectual development of a large majority 
 of the people, produce, from the outset, an opposite tendency. 
 
 This disrespect which, under a Federal Constitution, a 
 person is likely to entertain towards the constituted, ruling 
 powers of the land, is increased by the two-fold allegiance 
 which, in strictness, he owes to the Federal and local Gov¬ 
 ernments. Cases must frequently occur in which a question 
 will arise as to which of the two has the right, and which has 
 not the right, to exert a direct control over his actions. This 
 
 
/ 
 
 46 
 
 being the fact, he will naturally set himself to work, when he 
 wishes those actions to be entirely uncontrolled, to play an 
 adroit game between the two, and eventually, to evade the 
 authorities of both. The facility which such a state of things 
 affords for thus playing off one set of constituted authorities 
 against the other, must leave upon the mind of the indi¬ 
 vidual in question anything but a feeling of respect for 
 either. 
 
 A further objection to the Federal form of Government 
 may be found in the fact, that it renders widely dissimilar, in 
 different parts of the country, certain institutions which the 
 welfare of the people requires to be everywhere alike. The 
 difference in the Constitutions of the various Confederated 
 States, is itself an evil of no ordinary magnitude, particularly 
 when attended by a difference in the elective franchise. But 
 the principal evil of this class is, that, owing to a number of 
 separate and independent Legislatures, there must be a like 
 number of distinct, legal codes ; and this amongst a people 
 all professing to belong to one and the same nation. That 
 all civil laws—with the exception of a few necessarily local 
 regulations which need not be specially indicated—should be 
 general in their application, throughout the whole nation 
 which acknowledges them, and that the mode of administering 
 them should be uniform to the same extent, are incontrover¬ 
 tible ; and are also too obvious to require any arguments in 
 proof. The evils which must result from any other arrange¬ 
 ment, are too numerous to be specified in these few pages ; 
 but any one may easily ascertain them by tracing out, under 
 the guidance of his own reason, the natural consequences of 
 such other arrangement; or by noticing its actual results in 
 those countries where it is now in operation. The existence, 
 within the territories of a single nation, of a multiplicity of 
 laws—each having a distinct, local application—upon almost 
 every question of human rights ; and of a plurality of courts 
 —each peculiarly constituted and having its peculiar rules of 
 
47 
 
 practice—administering those laws ; must, in any case, ham¬ 
 per the ordinary administration of justice, promote the growth 
 of crime, and seriously inconvenience commercial intercourse 
 between the various parts of those territories. In proportion 
 as those territories are geographically near to each other, and 
 as they are alike in climate, natural productions, and the 
 social condition of their inhabitants, those evils will be multi¬ 
 plied and more keenly felt. In fact, one of the principal 
 reasons why a Union of the Provinces is desirable, is that it 
 may remove these evils from them. It does not very mate¬ 
 rially affect the result that the differences in laws, or in the 
 administration of them, are only slight: that there is a dif¬ 
 ference at all, is what makes the difficulty. But the natural 
 consequence of independent, local legislation, is to make those 
 differences greater and more numerous. This kind of legis¬ 
 lation has the additional evil effect of cherishing those local 
 prejudices, and feelings of separate interests which, as already 
 observed, tend so decidedly to the estrangement of each mem¬ 
 ber of a Confederation from its fellows. 
 
 It may be argued against the validity of these objections 
 to the Federal form of Government generally, that the rapid 
 increase in power, wealth, and general prosperity, which has 
 taken place in the great Confederation of the United States 
 of America, proves them to be not well-founded. It is no 
 part of the object of these remarks to reason, or to speculate 
 upon, the probable future of that republic. It may, however, 
 be observed generally that because the United States have 
 grown so rapidly, under a Federal Constitution, it does not, 
 by any means, follow that such of the peculiarities of that 
 Constitution as are above indicated, have no evil effect. As 
 well might it be argued—as, indeed, it. often and vainly has 
 been—that because, under a system of high protective duties, 
 Great Britain rose to the position of first nation on earth, in 
 power, wealth, and prosperity; therefore such a system must 
 be a sound one, and should not have been abolished. The 
 
 
48 
 
 United States have become great and prosperous in spite of 
 
 the causes alluded to, not in consequence of them. It might, 
 with much more propriety, be argued, that the Federal Con¬ 
 stitution of the United States furnished a reason why that 
 republic has not, as already shown, p-own m the same ratio 
 as the British North American Provinces. _ 
 
 That the last of the objections urged against federal 
 Governments is found to be a real objection, in the Unite 
 States, few persons acquainted with that country will pretep 
 to dispute. As to the argument that Federal institutions 
 tend to the political debility and dissolution of the Union 
 wherein they exist, there is nothing to be found m the his¬ 
 tory, or present condition, of those States relative to each 
 other, to controvert it. The partial success which has 
 attended the working of the Federal Constitution, in that 
 republic, has been mainly owing, not to any special virtue in 
 the Constitution itself, but to the peculiar circumstances and 
 feelings of the people—already alluded to—which led, in t ie 
 first place, to the adoption of that Constitution. But not¬ 
 withstanding the favorable feeling of the people towards it, 
 and their sense of the necessity of conforming to its provi¬ 
 sions, at the outset, frequent examples of the mutual jealou¬ 
 sies of the States, of the injuries they inflict upon each other, 
 and of the inability of the Federal Government to reduce to 
 obedience any one of them which may evince a spirit of 
 insubordination, are to be found in the history of thac Confe¬ 
 deration. As notorious and flagrant instances of this latter 
 manifestation of weakness, may be cited the refusal of the 
 Eastern States, during the war of 1812, to furnish, m obedience 
 to the Federal Government and in accordance with the spirit 
 of the Constitution, their contingent of militia to aid in carry¬ 
 ing on the war; the protracted and successful resistance of 
 South Carolina to the confederated authorities, upon the 
 tariff question of 1882—a resistance which became success¬ 
 ful through acts of open rebellion, on the part of that State ; 
 
49 
 
 and the “ melancholy acknowledgment ” made by a member 
 of the Washington Cabinet, but a few years since, to a British 
 Minister, that the Federal Government found itself unable to 
 restrain the piratical expeditions of Louisiana. The popula¬ 
 tion of the L nited States is scattered over an immense and 
 productive territory, affording to all abundant facilities for 
 providing for their most pressing wants, and hindering those 
 clashings of vital interests which convulse society and endan¬ 
 ger its peace, in more densely populated countries; the 
 frontiers of that republic are in contact with the territories of 
 no hostile and dangerous power; and its history, as an inde¬ 
 pendent power, has not yet extended over a period of three- 
 quarters of a century. The Federal Constitution has, there¬ 
 fore, not been fairly tried in that republic; and the partial 
 trial which it has had, has been under the most favorable 
 circumstances. The results of that partial trial are anything 
 but favorable to the reputation of such a Constitution ; and 
 when the inevitable progress of events shall subject the 
 United States to those internal social convulsions and compli¬ 
 cations of foreign relations which have proved the most trying 
 ordeal of all Governments, in older nations, we have certainly 
 good grounds for believing that that Constitution, if it shall 
 have existed so long, will be found utterly inadequate to the 
 wants of the country. 
 
 On turning to the other side of the question, we find that 
 the benefits derived from a Federal Constitution, are patent 
 —so much so as to be discernible by the most superficial 
 observer—and are traceable to a single cause. The evil 
 effects, when carried to an extreme, of the principle of cen¬ 
 tralization in carrying on the operations of Government, are 
 well known. The local interests of every section of the 
 country considerably removed from the centre of authority, 
 must, under an ultra centralization system, suffer severely. 
 The Federal system, by dividing the country into certain sec¬ 
 tions, and giving to each the management, to a great extent, 
 
 D 
 
50 
 
 of its own local affairs, has a directly opposite tendency, and 
 does not conduce to the prosperity of any one of those sec¬ 
 tions at the expense of the others. The mode of its opera¬ 
 tion to produce this effect, is too obvious to require explana¬ 
 tion. Two further observations must be made, however, in 
 connection with this branch of the subject. First, this 
 management, of local affairs is, in each case, conducted by a 
 power, which, at the same time, exercises certain other func¬ 
 tions highly detrimental to the welfare of the nation at large, 
 as already shown. Secondly, these purely local affairs can, 
 it is quite obvious, be managed equally well, if not much 
 better, by a local power not endowed with those objectionable 
 functions. 
 
 The preceding remarks have reference only to such a Con¬ 
 stitution as we find in operation in the United States of 
 America, not because such a one is the form most usually 
 adopted by Confederations—it being, in strict point of fact, 
 not a Federal Constitution at all; but because it is the least 
 objectionable, with reference to the case of British America, 
 of any which have hitherto borne that name. Nearly every 
 former Confederation, besides having been formed with refer- 
 * ence only to the foreign relations of the Union, has combined 
 States having an entirely distinct nationality. 
 
 Then as to a Federal Union such as that of the United 
 States, the inferences intended to be drawn from the fore¬ 
 going remarks are, that such a Union, if attempted, w’ould 
 be repugnant to the feelings of the several Provincial Legis¬ 
 latures ; that, if not so regugnant to the Colonies, such a 
 Union could not go into operation except by virtue of a dives¬ 
 ture of authority, on the part of the Mother Country, which 
 is of a problematical occurrence ; that, supposing this condi¬ 
 tion fulfilled, such a Union could be effected only by a radical 
 change in the Provincial Constitutions, making that of the 
 elective body, and those of the various subordinate Provinces, 
 all essentially different from the Constitution which now 
 
51 
 
 prevails in each ; that, if effected, there is no probability of 
 its working with even ordinary success, owing to the compli¬ 
 cation of machinery employed and the multiplicity of interests 
 involved ; and that, if, by any means, some of these interests 
 were withdrawn and this machinery simplified, so as to make 
 a Federal Government at all practicable in British America, 
 the peculiar advantages derivable from a Government of that 
 form, would be more than counterbalanced by the disad¬ 
 vantages. 
 
 None of these objections are applicable to the plan of a 
 Legislative Union of the Provinces ; if, indeed, any valid 
 objection to it can be found. Such a Union could take place 
 immediately, and without any change whatever in the Consti¬ 
 tution which each now possesses, or in their relation to the 
 Mother Country. No political movement, pregnant with such 
 important results, could be more simple ; nor, if a Union is so 
 much desired as a very general expression of opinion renders 
 evident, more easy. The formation of the Union would, in 
 fact, necessitate no greater change, in any Province, than a 
 mere change in the seat of Government. It would not neces¬ 
 sarily follow that, from this centralization of Provincial Legis¬ 
 lative and Executive authorities, the local interests of remote 
 portions of the Union would sutler, as is generally found to be 
 the case under such circumstances. Reforms in internal 
 policy have already been adopted in a part of British 
 America, which, if made general, would effectually prevent 
 any such injurious result. The principle of Municipal Cor¬ 
 porations, which has been acted upon with such complete 
 success in Canada, and which is now so extensively advocated 
 in the Lower Provinces, furnishes ample security against any 
 abuses of the centralization system. The plan of having the 
 whole country divided into counties ; and then again into 
 townships, towns, and cities, each forming a Municipal Cor¬ 
 poration and having the entire management of its exclusively 
 local affairs; would provide, under the proposed Union, a 
 
52 
 
 more immediate and effective protection to local interests 
 than could be afforded by that of allowing each Province to 
 retain, for that purpose, its present cumbrous and expensive 
 government machinery. At the same time, no one of those 
 Municipalities, however perfectly organized, could ever be¬ 
 come dangerous, or even very troublesome, as a rebel against 
 the authority of the general Government, a statement which 
 certainly could not be predicated of any Province, under a 
 continuance of its present, political organization. An arrange¬ 
 ment of this kind would indeed be, in one sense, a Federal 
 Union ; but it would form a Confederation, not of five Pro¬ 
 vinces, but of some 140 counties and cities ; and one differing 
 essentially, both in its nature and operation, from any which 
 has preceded it. 
 
 It is more than probable, that public undertakings would 
 be found necessary requiring the co-operation of several of 
 these Municipalities ; and that questions of a purely local 
 nature would arise, requiring the joint consideration of several 
 of them. To provide for such cases, the principle of County 
 Corporations could be carried a step further and applied to 
 certain larger sections of country, each comprising several 
 counties ; so that all legislation of that tedious, burdensome, 
 and frequently injudicious character which is employed about 
 “ private bills”—all, in short, which is purely local in its 
 character, but no more than this , would be thrown off the 
 central Parliament and entrusted to those who are best quali¬ 
 fied to deal with it. An arrangement of precisely this nature, 
 for the United Kingdom, has been, in a late number of the 
 Westminster Review, ably advocated by a writer who, as a 
 liberal and philosophical expounder of political science, is 
 probably unequalled by any of the present century. It is 
 spoken of as a scheme the realization of which, in that 
 country, can be hoped for only in the remote future. Here 
 the case is different. Political changes can be easily and 
 immediately effected, in a new country such as this, which it 
 
would require many years of difficulty to impose upon the 
 prejudices which exist in the British Isles. 
 
 As already observed, the formation of a Legislative Union 
 necessitates no material change in the present Constitutions 
 of the Provinces. The incorporation of counties is not an 
 essential, preparatory measure. Without any extension of 
 that system beyond the limits within which it now exists in 
 British America, local affairs would be nearly, if not quite, 
 as well managed, and local interests as well protected, even 
 after the Union, as they now are under the disunion. But 
 the scheme of Municipal Corporations furnishes an answer to 
 the only serious objection which can be made to the Union. 
 The extension of municipal rights and privileges to every 
 county in British North America will, doubtless, take place, 
 at no distant day, whether a Legislative Union is ever effected 
 or not. The formation of Municipal Counties, and of those 
 larger and similar organizations already referred to, should, 
 and it can scarcely be doubted, would immediately follow 
 such a Union. 
 
 Only two objections have ever been publicly made to a 
 Legislative Union of these Provinces; and they are so nearly 
 groundless as scarcely to require any serious answer. One 
 is, the difference of race which exists among the inhabitants 
 of the Provinces. It is argued that the people of Canada 
 East, being of French origin, would not closely and cordially 
 unite with their Anglo-Saxon fellow subjects. One great 
 object to be obtained by the Union is a complete breaking 
 down of all local prejudices, and a fusion of races, through¬ 
 out the Provinces. That such would be its speedy result, if 
 the Union were maintained, there can be no doubt; and that 
 it could be maintained is clearly proved by the present con¬ 
 dition of Canada itself. Almost every species of disaster 
 was predicted of that country, a few years since, when a 
 Legislative Union of the two Provinces it formerly com¬ 
 prised, was first carried into operation ; yet we find that the 
 
54 
 
 closest possible, political union of the two most antagonistic 
 races in British America has been effected in Canada, with 
 complete success, and has been followed by a continuance of 
 prosperity unparalleled in the former history of that country, 
 or in that of any other country on earth. 
 
 The other objection is, that much inconvenience would arise 
 from the remoteness of some parts of the United Provinces 
 from the seat of Government, wherever that might be. To 
 this it may be said, that the same objection might be made to 
 the Canadian Union; but no serious inconvenience of this 
 kind is there found to exist. The distance from Quebec, the 
 present capital of Canada, to Sandwich, the county town of 
 Essex, Canada West, is greater than from Quebec to Sydney, 
 the most remote county town in Nova Scotia. When the line 
 of railway between Halifax and Quebec, now actually com¬ 
 menced at the two termini and upon an intermediate section 
 of the line, shall have been completed between those two 
 points, Halifax will virtually be nearer to Quebec, than Anti- 
 gonish or Annapolis now is to Halifax. That such a railway 
 communication will, within a very few years, be completed, 
 scarce any one now pretends to doubt; and the consumma¬ 
 tion of the work, so desirable for other reasons as well as 
 those of a political nature, would be hastened by a Legisla¬ 
 tive Union of the Provinces. 
 
 A Union of the Provinces, upon the plan above briefly 
 sketched out, w^ould supply all those wants so keenly felt by 
 British Americans, and which are mentioned in a former part 
 of this pamphlet. It is certainly not too much to say that the 
 Reformed British Constitution proposed by that plan is the 
 best suited to the feelings and w’ants of an intelligent and 
 free people; the best calculated to develop their energies, 
 and promote their prosperity and happiness ; the most likely 
 to bind a number of petty, detached nationalities into a com¬ 
 pact and powerful empire ; in short, the most perfect, of any 
 Constitution which either the mere force of circumstances, or 
 
55 
 
 political foresight, has ever yet put into operation. And for 
 British America, with her immense yet thinly-peopled ter¬ 
 ritories ; her vast, undeveloped resources, and superior 
 geographical position; united under a Constitution so admir¬ 
 ably adapted to extend and consolidate her power, to preserve 
 and promote her prosperity; it surely would not be presump¬ 
 tion to predict a most glorious and happy future. 
 
 The accomplishment of the Union will depend almost 
 entirely upon the action of the Provincial Legislatures ; 
 for it is evident that it is now neither the interest, nor the 
 inclination of Great Britain to resist any reasonable demand 
 of the united Provinces. And surely this is not an unrea¬ 
 sonable demand, even though it amounts—as it really does 
 —to the formation of them into a compact, powerful, and 
 virtually independent State. The time has now arrived— 
 and all interested in this subject feel that it has arrived— 
 when British America must cease to walk in leading strings 
 —to occupy the humble position of a mere dependency of 
 the British Crown. She has now attained her national majority, 
 and possesses a degree of strength and vigor which entitle 
 her to stand beside the Mother Country. It is the obvious 
 interest then of Great Britain to draw more closely and firmly 
 the connection between the two, by making it depend solely 
 upon community of interests and obligations of honor; and 
 to make the Provinces a means of support, not a cause of 
 weakness, to herself, by removing all needless restraints upon 
 their freedom and by aiding in the development of their 
 strength. All this she may do by effecting a Legislative 
 Union of those Provinces, and entrusting to them the entire 
 management of their own local affairs. British America may 
 then become a member of another Confederation upon the 
 vast and widely scattered territories of which “ the sun never 
 sets”—a Confederation the grandest that the world ever saw 
 —the Confederation of the British Empire. 
 
A UNION OF THE COLONIES 
 
 OP 
 
 BRITISH NORTH AMERICA, 
 
 CONSIDERED NATIONALLY. 
 
 1856 . 
 
 British America has its fair share of the political evils 
 which seem to be inseparable from the condition of even 
 a free people, living under a constitutional Government, so 
 long as that people remains imperfectly educated and 
 blemished by the moral imperfections which have ever char¬ 
 acterized human nature. We have our occasional victories 
 of wrong over right , our unreasonable party animosities, our 
 selfish and noisy political factions, our narrow prejudices of 
 race, creed, and locality, using the most valuable and dearly 
 cherished institutions of the country to inflict injuries upon it. 
 But there is reason to believe, and a consolation in believing, 
 that even among those who take the most prominent and 
 active part in this turmoil and clashing of selfish interests, 
 there is, beneath the narrower selfish passions so patent in 
 their ordinary conduct, a broad substratum of patriotism and 
 national spirit. For instance, amid all our sectional jealousies 
 and party rivalries, there is one great national movement 
 which has been proposed, and which, at least, has not met 
 
58 
 
 with disapproval in any part of British America. We allude 
 to the proposed Union of the British North American 
 Colonies. 
 
 It is true that this question of Union has never yet been 
 brought very directly home to the British American people. 
 They have never yet been called upon to decide, positively 
 and immediately, whether it shall take place, or not. But 
 the proposed 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 formally submitted to 
 the consideration of the legislatures in two of the Provinces 
 —Canada and Nova Scotia ;—and the entire absence, as 
 yet, of any public indication of opposition to it, is a very 
 significant fact. But although it may be said—as, for many 
 reasons, we believe it reasonably may—that the leading 
 statesmen of British America are profoundly impressed with 
 the importance of the projected Union, and that a majority 
 of the well-informed classes look forward to its consummation 
 with favorable eyes ; still it is important that the masses 
 should be instructed with regard to it—still more important 
 that all classes should be impressed with a sense of the 
 necessity for early action 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 questions 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 endeavor to restrain it 
 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 important 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 bearing upon existing class 
 grievances and local interests, is a somewhat difficult subject 
 to write upon. That the British North American Provinces 
 should be politically combined into a single compact nation, 
 appears almost self-evident. There are no arguments, few, 
 if any, plausible objections, against such a project, to be com¬ 
 bated. Why were they ever disunited ? It was accident, 
 not design, which led to their original organization as sep¬ 
 arate Colonies. The territory which they comprise fell under 
 the dominion of the British Crown 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, each containing a small nucleus 
 of peopled territory. These settled spots were far distant 
 from each other, separated by unexplored wilds, and, with 
 the means of communication in use at that day, intimate 
 intercourse between them was impossible. A separate 
 Colonial Government for each was indispensable. The causes 
 which rendered separate Governments necessary, in the first 
 instance* are now removed. There is now no reason for a 
 continuance of them unless we admit the validity of that last 
 and poorest argument which ultra conservatism makes use of 
 against every projected reform: “it must continue to be, 
 because it always has been.” 
 
 The natural barriers which once separated these Provinces 
 from each other, are now in a great measure removed; those 
 which remain are only artificial. They are like brothers 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 circum¬ 
 stances, to remain coldly aloof from each other, in accordance 
 with the most chilling conventionalities ever observed in 
 society between utter strangers, instead of cordially joining 
 
60 
 
 hands with the determination of spending the remainder of 
 their days in mutual intercourse and fraternal love, would be 
 scarcely more ridiculous than for the North American 
 Provinces to remain longer sundered by the useless forms of 
 a plurality of Colonial Governments. These Provinces now 
 find themselves face to face. The wildernesses which once 
 separated them have been prostrated, or penetrated in every 
 direction, by the stalwart backwoodsman; the savages who 
 once infested those forests have ceased to be a terror, and 
 may be said no longer to exist; the obstacles which distance 
 and which gulfs and seas formerly interposed to their mutual 
 intercourse, are now in a great measure removed by modern 
 science and skill. The communication between any two of 
 the Provinces is now almost as free as that which exists 
 between the different parts of any one of them; and an 
 immediate effect of their political Union would be to make it 
 quite as much so. Should any persons object to the distance 
 of the remote sections of British America from each other as 
 presenting great obstacles to the practicability of such a 
 Union, they should bring to recollection the facilities which 
 science and the engineering skill of the present day, as com¬ 
 pared with that of the past, afford for overcoming all such 
 difficulties. Within the memory of men still living, it required 
 as much time to journey from Sydney to Halifax, or from the 
 coast of Bay Chaleur to Fredericton as is now required to go 
 from Halifax to Toronto. For near a hundred years after 
 the Union of England and Scotland, the journey or voyage 
 from Edinburgh to London 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 thirty-six hours. 
 But without going into a foreign country at all, when the 
 railroads now in course of construction in the Lower Provinces 
 are completed, the journey from Halifax to Quebec may be 
 made with ease and comfort in three days. Complete the chain 
 of* railway which all believe must, within a very few years, 
 
61 
 
 bind the Provinces together, whether they become politically 
 more closely connected or not; and the time will not occupy 
 more than thirty-six hours, at the slowest rate of railway 
 travelling. When the construction of this one wanting link 
 in the railway chain, comprising the distance from Mirarnichi, 
 or Woodstock, in New Brunswick, to Trois Pistoles, in 
 Canada, shall have been undertaken and completed, the time 
 occupied in travelling 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 Nova 
 Scotia to the other, along our ordinary post roads. 
 
 Again, the facilities for communication by letter, within 
 and between the Colonies, have undergone a still more strik¬ 
 ing improvement. Ten years ago, it required at least ten 
 days lor a letter to pass between Halifax and the western¬ 
 most towns of Canada. The invention of the electric tele¬ 
 graph has effected a great revolution in this matter. There 
 are no two towns, or villages, of a thousand inhabitants, in 
 these Provinces which do not now communicate with each 
 other, by telegraph, in half a day, and which may not do so 
 in one hour. 
 
 The progress of their individual development has now 
 brought the Provinces into immediate contact with each 
 
 o # 
 
 other. They are separated by no natural obstacles to their 
 union ; they are subject to the same Crown ; they are gov¬ 
 erned according 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, at the 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 alfairs, and have shown themselves not 
 less capable of self-government than any other people. Yet 
 they have no voice whatever in anything which concerns 
 their relations with foreign 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 empire 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 experienced not 
 only the mortification but the serious injury to their interests 
 which must naturally attend this peculiarity of their position. 
 In two instances, large portions of our territory have been 
 conceded to the United States. Great Britain gained nothing 
 by the transactions, whilst British America incurred serious 
 osses, and losses wliich must be felt more and more with the 
 apse of tune. On a more recent occasion, the invaluable 
 fisheries of our country were given away to the United 
 States without any adequate return being made for them. 
 This latter assertion may be denied. It may even be con¬ 
 tended that British America has, by its own acts, admitted 
 the justice of the. Fishery Treaty of 1854 ; but the assent of 
 the Provinces to an arrangement from which there was no 
 escape, scarcely amounts to an admission either of the justice 
 or expediency, of such an arrangement. But without enter¬ 
 ing into this question at all, it cannot be denied that, in each 
 of these instances, the British Government, whilst treating 
 with a foreign power relative to matters in which the North 
 American section of the Empire was especially—nay, almost 
 exclusively—interested, ignored the existence of these 
 
Provinces. In these instances, 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 considera¬ 
 tion of them leads directly to certain inferences which cannot 
 be too deeply impressed upon the minds of our readers. The 
 whole Provinces of North America, as at present organized, 
 have no voice in the British Imperial Government, and have 
 no means of exercising any control over its acts. We know 
 from actual experience that when their interests conflict 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 make their influence felt in the Imperial Parlia¬ 
 ment ; for they are represented there. The former are not 
 so represented, and they have no equivalent means of exert¬ 
 ing an influence upon the Imperial Government. Mere 
 remonstrances on their part will be unheeded. 
 
 Within the last few weeks, a project of the Imperial Gov¬ 
 ernment has been shadowed forth in the Ministerial organ, 
 for transporting the felons of Great Britain to the Hudson 
 Bay Territory. This would be equivalent to making the 
 North American Provinces so many penal Colonies. There 
 is nothing to prevent the transported convicts from making 
 their way direct to Canada, except a toilsome journey such 
 as the hunters and voyageurs of Hudsonia think nothing of, 
 a journey which no one who had lived a few months in that 
 territory would consider a serious difficulty in the way of 
 getting out of it, if he were disposed to do so. It has never 
 been the habit of British statesmen 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 grievances. But admit 
 the principle, and what may it not lead to ? We have no 
 security that the dearest interests of British America may 
 
64 
 
 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 pre¬ 
 venting 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 
 Government has already, in treating with foreign powers, 
 ignored the interests of these Colonies, we mean to attribute 
 to British statesmen no remarkable degree 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. The education of the British states¬ 
 man 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 approval of the 
 people of the United Kingdom, ensures his making their wel¬ 
 fare his first consideration. That of the Colonies, whose 
 approval, or disapproval, cannot affect him in any way, will 
 be considered 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 Government. No ; but it will give to their country 
 such a standing that no British statesman will believe that he 
 can any longer venture to treat it as a political nonentity, 
 for it would challenge the respect of the Imperial authorities. 
 Nor, in such an event, could a British Horae Government 
 outrage the feelings, or trample upon the interests of the 
 young nation with impunity. It could not then be con¬ 
 sidered a sufficient guarantee of the safety of British Amer¬ 
 ican interests that a Colonial Secretary sat in the British 
 
 
 v 
 
65 
 
 Cabinet. Some more special representation in Downing 
 Street, or at St. James’s, would then be considered essential 
 when the relations between British America and any foreign 
 power came under discussion. But in whatever way the 
 connecting link between the Mother Country and these Colo¬ 
 nies was maintained, the latter—forming, as they would, a 
 compact State embracing 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—would form a nation which no outside power 
 could venture to injure, or to insult; and if anything of the 
 kind were attempted, British America would not submit to it. 
 Although still 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 
 consideration among foreigners, the absence of which has been 
 deeply felt and complained of by almost every North Amer¬ 
 ican Colonist who has passed beyond the borders of his native 
 Province. 
 
 The circumstances in which the North American Colonies 
 are now placed, considered in connection with their future 
 capabilities as compared with those of most other countries, 
 render it incumbent upon them to make the most of their 
 means and opportunities. We mean that it is incumbent 
 upon them, not merely with a view to their own selfish ends, 
 but in order fitly to discharge their responsibilities to the 
 human race in the aggregate. Great and solemn responsi¬ 
 bilities seem to be imposed upon British America and a lofty 
 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 way” may not be so entirely 
 
 true as to authorize its employment as a premise in an argu- 
 
 E 
 
 
66 
 
 ment; but its truth seems to be borne out in a great measure 
 by the history of the civilized world. 
 
 The countries from which the monarchs of the Assyrian 
 and Babylonian Empires, in the earliest ages of history, dic¬ 
 tated laws to the world, are now among the most desert and 
 barbarous upon earth. The jackal roams undisturbed upon 
 the site of Nineveh, 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 in a new life, is governed 
 bv 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 of nineteen centuries of barbarism. The same 
 dark tide has swept over her still mightier successor, Rome. 
 
 Coming down to a comparatively modern period, we find 
 the sceptre of the civilized world swayed in turn by various 
 nations of Western Europe ; although now Britain, if any, may 
 claim the rank of mistress of the world. But are we to sup¬ 
 pose that Europe will continue to hold that proud position 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 may well ask, in some perplexity, where next will the 
 sun of civilization extend its brightest rays ? Where next 
 will Truth take her strongest stand in the great warfare of 
 opinions ? and what country shall next be the instructress of 
 nations and the glory of the world ? Presuming that the 
 development of men, or of nations, in all that can ennoble 
 them, or add to their permanent strength, can take place 
 
 
67 
 
 only under conditions of civil freedom and security of free¬ 
 dom, the prospects of Europe, for many, many years, appear 
 gloomy in the extreme. The present condition of that quarter 
 of the world is obviously that of a smoldering volcano about 
 to break forth ; and we believe the most of those now living 
 in the world will yet feel the earthquake shocks when the 
 eruption 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 growl¬ 
 ing thunder that forbodes the coming political storm. In 
 France, Italy, the Austrain Empire, and most parts of Ger¬ 
 many, we see regal power, long the aggressor, now “ with 
 terror and with toil ” 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 although it is, is better 
 than theirs ; for her spoke in Fortune’s wheel has, in its revo¬ 
 lution, commenced to move upwards. If Russia is more quiet, 
 it is because she is more barbarous; for there the millions of 
 serfs turn not against the despotic heel that crushes them 
 only because they do not know that they are trodden upon. 
 The Scandinavian nations are cowed by the perpetual 
 menace of Russia,—a power which, like a huge iceberg, sheds 
 a chill over all which hang upon its shores, and threatens 
 every moment, to crush them beneath its weight. But 
 neither the Czar of Russia, nor any other absolute monarch 
 will be able long to repress the uprising of the people of 
 Europe. The maniac, although a maniac, will be free. And, 
 although it may be said as an excuse for holding the people 
 in abject submission, that, like the waters of a river from 
 which a long-standing obstruction has been removed, when 
 once free they will deluge the land and overwhelm every 
 work of human hands that they meet in their torrent-like 
 course, the deluge is none the less inevitable nevertheless. 
 
 / 
 
Pile the dam as high as you will, the waters beyond it will 
 still mount higher ; and the longer the flood is repressed, the 
 more terrible will be its power when freed. 
 
 We can but indicate, without attempting to describe those 
 aspects of the affairs of Europe which we believe to bear 
 upon our subject. That the oppressed nationalities of Europe 
 are about commencing openly to battle for freedom, appears 
 all but certain. Every unsuccessful attempt will, it is quite 
 certain, make the condition of that continent worse than it 
 was before. And when the day of final success does come, 
 as come it must, there must still a long and troubled period 
 of probation elapse before Europe can settle down in peace 
 and prosperity; for it would be as useless to expect a child 
 to leap from his nurse’s arms into the rank and society of 
 adult men and there discharge creditably all the duties per¬ 
 taining to their experienced condition, as to suppose that 
 a nation just freed from the restraints of despotism will, until 
 taught by experience, evince a faculty of rational self-gov¬ 
 ernment. From these causes we may anticipate that a long 
 night of wars and tumults with all their sad concomitants, is 
 about to settle upon Europe—a night none the less dark from 
 the certainty that it will end in a bright morning at last. 
 
 With such dark clouds obscuring the firmament of Europe, 
 is it unreasonable to suppose that “ the Star of Empire” will 
 shortly take its course to the skies of some country or 
 countries beyond the oceans which girt the Old World ? If 
 so, some of the British Colonies must be the favored lands, 
 for the United States of America have already proved a 
 miserable failure. We are not going to repeat the oft and 
 vainly uttered assertion that Britain too has passed its cul¬ 
 minating point, and is now on the decline. Whether this is 
 the fact, or not, need not change the drift of our remarks. 
 
 It seems, at all events, clear that any important accessions of 
 national strength and influence which Britain may hereafter 
 receive must come through and by her Colonies. The time 
 
must come before long when, like the aged father who sees 
 himself outstripped by the youthful vigor of his children, yet 
 lives a new and more eventful life in them, our Mother 
 Country must be content to rely mainly upon the strength 
 and found her brightest hopes upon the deeds of her Colonial 
 oflspring. She may be the centre of gravity around which 
 they revolve ; but their’s must be the substance—the 
 momentum which shall move the world. 
 
 There is no part of those vast colonial possessions which 
 seems, at the present time, so admirably calculated to fonn 
 in itself a great and powerful empire—whether wholly inde¬ 
 pendent, or one of a federation—as that section forming the 
 North American Provinces. Whilst, with this object in view, 
 the advantages which British America now possesses are 
 unsurpassed, the obstacles which would naturally impede its 
 success are fewer and more inconsiderable than would be met 
 with by any other country on earth. We are not disposed to 
 inculcate any fatalistic dogma of “ manifest destiny.” As a 
 general rule the manifest destiny of nations, as of individuals, 
 is what they themselves determine to make it. The British 
 Americans should therefore be up and at work carving out 
 their own national destiny and determined to make it a 
 glorious one; and not wait to see what the chances of the 
 times will do for them. Destiny has already brought them 
 into a position to take the flood in the tide which leads on to 
 fortune, and in their case, to national splendor, and to the 
 command of at least the New World. They will be failing 
 in their “ mission” both in what concerns themselves and the 
 human race in general if they allow the golden opportunity 
 to pass. 
 
 We have endeavored, as well as the small space which we 
 could devote to the subject would permit, to show that the 
 peculiar responsibilities of the British Americans, as at 
 present situated, demand that they should strive to attain the 
 position and the higher responsibilities of a respectable and 
 

 70 
 
 potent nationality. There is every reason to believe that the 
 longings of the people themselves tend in that direction. 
 Whether that tendency is sufficiently strong to lead to an 
 early consummation of so desirable a result, is the only 
 question. The desire, on the part of the British Americans, 
 for national eminence is, of course, rather an ambitious 
 feeling than the result of a conviction of great public duties 
 to be performed. It is useless to enquire into the causes of 
 such a feeling. It is enough for our present purpose to 
 know that it exists, and that it is not undesirable that it should 
 exist. The desire for national eminence is as deeply implanted 
 in our nature and almost as nearly universal as the love 
 of individual distinction. The more free and intelligent the 
 people, the more widely is such a desire diffused among them 
 and the stronger it burns. Everything in the circumstances 
 of the British American people tends to stimulate such a 
 feeling. They are not, like so many others, subject to the 
 caprices of a despotic will, or ground down by tyrannical 
 enactments, so as to feel that existence itself must be the 
 first, 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 
 expend in what we may call the luxuries of nationality— 
 a world-wide name, an eminent rank, an extensive influence, 
 and all the brilliant advantages attending them. It can have 
 no cooling effect upon such aspirations to know that their 
 realization 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 bring its 
 additional burdens and anxieties. In the case both of the 
 nation and the individual, it is right that it should be so. 
 
71 
 
 Had it been otherwise, men would all still be living in 
 wigwams, or burrowing in the earth, in primitive wretched¬ 
 ness, like the savages of some of the Californian plains. 
 
 The British Americans, considered as a distinct people, 
 are an offshoot from a nation notoriously the most ambitious 
 and the most successfully ambitious in the modern world. 
 The view of the great achievements of the Mother Country 
 is a constant incentive to British America to go and do like¬ 
 wise. It is not just to assert the unreasonableness of such a 
 desire, and to urge that in all which relates to nationality the 
 latter country should consider itself identical with the former. 
 
 It would be scarcely less reasonable to insist that, so far as 
 the execution of all ambitious projects is concerned, the indi¬ 
 vidual man should merge his personal indentity in the nation 
 to which he belongs, and live My for his country and with¬ 
 out being known to do so. However closely the British Ame¬ 
 ricans must and do consider themselves connected with the 
 Mother Country, by natural affection, loyalty, political bonds 
 and similarity of interests, they nevertheless cannot but feel 
 that they are a separate and distinct people. This feeling is 
 intensified by the consciousness that, with however much 
 ^fnlt Vy may be treated by their fellow-subjects of 
 Great Britain, they yet occupy a political rank almost immea¬ 
 surably inferior to that of the latter. . 
 
 A in the natural longings of British America for national 
 
 consideration, arc stimulated by the immediate P reS ^^°^^^ 
 youn ir nations enjoying all the distinction and marks of respect 
 which independence gives; but in all other respects so similarly 
 drcumstanced that the Provincialist feels constantly mchned 
 ZZk with dissatisfaction why there is this great difference 
 between them. And what is done by Great Britain to satis y 
 these very natural and honorable “ aspirations to be great . 
 Nothin- whatever. We admit that she should not be expected 
 to do much except to refrain from throwing any obstacles in 
 L 4 o? £ upward progress of British America. As we 
 
72 
 
 have already observed, the people of this country must 
 themselves must work out their own national destiny. That 
 
 Great Britain will hinder their doing so after the plan we 
 are now advocating, there seems no reason to suppose. But P 
 
 it is undeniable that Britain has always been in the habit 
 of checking everything like a demonstration of distinct 
 nationality on the part of her Colonies ; and there is no A 
 
 reason to doubt that she will continue to manifest such a 
 policy towards the Provinces while they continue thus dis¬ 
 united and comparatively powerless. This she may con- a 
 
 tinue to do quietly, with the most provoking coolness, without 
 making any deviation from the policy pursued for cen¬ 
 
 turies, 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 
 
 country ; 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 inconsiderable of foreign nations treated with 
 
 every mark of deference, whilst it is regarded as a political 
 
 nonentity. 
 
 We can think of nothing with which to compare the anom¬ 
 alous 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 fel¬ 
 low-countrymen and fellow-subjects, and in cases of emer¬ 
 gency they may claim and receive the protection of our laws; 
 yet we deny them the right of suffrage under our Constitu¬ 
 tion ; we possess ourselves of property without considering 
 any claim which they may have therein ; and we frame gene¬ 
 ral legislative enactments without any regard whatever to 
 
their interests. We are compelled by the evidence of our 
 senses to acknowledge their existence; yet in every act, pub¬ 
 lic or private, of which they are not the direct object, we 
 quite ignore their existence. In a remarkably similar man¬ 
 ner are the more privileged fellow-countrymen of these In¬ 
 dians treated by their fellow-subjects on the other side of the 
 Atlantic.. We may enjoy our own possessions, plod on within 
 our own borders, get as rich as we can, manage our own 
 exclusively internal affairs, provided that in so doing we do 
 not in anything run counter to the wishes of our brethren at 
 “ home” ; yet the latter, when not directly treating with us, 
 act in all things as if we had no existence at all. British 
 America seeks companionship with the parent State ; Great 
 Britain, not even recognizing the manifestations of 3uch a feel¬ 
 ing, yet graciously bows “ 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 Grea,t 
 Britain itself was there a more general and fervid zeal mani¬ 
 fested for the national cause 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 colo¬ 
 nial troops for the British army—offers which, if favorably 
 received, would have been followed up with vigor and attended 
 by a success which could have brought no discredit upon the 
 British arms, and would have been a source of pride and satis¬ 
 
 faction to the Colonies. The British Government coldly— 
 and, may we not add, contemptuously?—declined the proffered 
 services, but ran into a whole series of broils by endeavoring 
 tn AnlUt. t.bo mercenarv vagabonds of hostile, foreign states. 
 
 reject any such offer, although humble ; and will have a satis¬ 
 faction in finding that these Provinces, from having become 
 united and consequently strengthened, are in a position to 
 
 render her substantial assistance. 
 
74 
 
 It wduld be useless to ask that the British American should 
 be placed upon the same footing, politically speaking, as the 
 native of the United Kingdom. It would be scarcely possible 
 to grant such 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 position than the former. But 
 there is no good reason why the British American should con¬ 
 tinue in a position so immeasurably inferior to that of his more 
 favored fellow-subjects. A Union of the Provinces would 
 immediately lessen the distance between him and them ; and 
 we may reasonably hope, ultimately annihilate it altogether. 
 It would elevate British America to a national standing ; give 
 it moral weight in the councils of the Mother 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 Provinces will 
 place them in a position of virtual independence 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 altogether a novel one. The position which 
 these Provinces now occupy is, politically speaking, quite a 
 novel one. Men, whether individually, or in communities, are 
 ever seeking precedents for any step they may contemplate 
 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 political organizations that the art of 
 man ever contrived. The uninventive inclination to follow 
 slavishly the most familiar examples, causes the still existing 
 fragment of a Canadian faction to hug the absurd and degrading 
 idea of attaining a nationality by rebellion and annexation to 
 the United States. We have no intention of contending that 
 precedent should be wholly disregarded in making political 
 
75 
 
 changes ; hut it must he remembered that to contend for the 
 necessity of an example to follow in every case is to put a stop 
 to all human progress. 
 
 It is needless for these Provinces, in contemplating any 
 steps towards independent nationality, to seek for a precedent 
 which will just suit their case. They can find none. The old 
 Roman Colonies—Britain, for instance—were cast off and 
 thrown upon their own resources, 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 Neth¬ 
 erlands when rebelling against the yoke of Spain, furnishes no 
 parallel whatever to that of British America now. The case of 
 the United States also, at the commencement of the revolution¬ 
 ary 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 Provinces ; and at 
 last a rupture with the Mother Country upon-a matter of vital 
 moment led, by an open rebellion, to their entire separation 
 from her. The people 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 hostility 
 from the monarch to the kingdom which he ruled, and resulted 
 finally in their independence. The case of Brazil just pre¬ 
 vious to its attaining independence, 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 the proportions of a Colonial 
 dependency. Yet the relations between the two continued 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 tram of ♦ 
 accidents such as may never occur again. 
 
 The people of British America entertain feelings of the 
 
76 
 
 most devoted loyalty towards their Sovereign and attachment 
 towards Great Britian. They have no cause of complaint 
 against the parent State which would warrant any violent 
 measures for effecting a separation, 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 them 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 convulsions, by K 
 
 bringing about a Legislative Union of the former and by some 
 modifications of the absurd machinery of the Colonial Office. if 
 
 . The means proposed for attaining this end are novel; the 
 precise object thus to be attained has had no parallel in the 
 history of nations ; but the means and the object are not more 
 new than the circumstances which suggest the one and demand i 
 
 the other. ^ 
 
 Certainly-it is no less the interest of Great Britain than of 
 
 British North America, that the latter should become influen¬ 
 tial and powerful whilst still maintaining the closest con¬ 
 nection with her. There is no independent 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 submit to indignities at the contemplation of which an indi¬ 
 vidual man might blush, in order to strengthen 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 expended more and profited less by such alliances, than 
 Great Britian. Admit that there has been and will still be « 
 for a time reasonable pretext for pursuing such a policy, is 
 # there any reason why Britain should forever go on entreating, 
 plotting, subsidizing, outraging her own principles, to secure 
 allies only, in nine cases out of ten, to be cheated, or betrayed, 
 
77 
 
 by them at last ? The British Empire including colonies of 
 immense extent in every quarter of the world, comprises an 
 aggregate area of over four 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 con¬ 
 tests in which the Mother Country has so long and with scarcely 
 any intermission been 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 long as they continue in the humble con¬ 
 dition of mere dependencies. But should it not be the policy 
 of Great Britain to seek to develop the strength of her great 
 colonial empires, to foster a national feeling in each of them, 
 and to raise them, as opportunities occur to favor such a course, 
 from the condition of dependencies to a rank more nearly 
 approaching that of allies; yet of allies more closely connected 
 to her by blood and interest than any foreign States can ever 
 be ? Were such a policy to be commenced even now, the 
 time could not be remote when, closely leagued with those 
 vast Colonial nations of North America, India, Australia, and 
 The Cape—each in itself an empire—Great Britain might 
 regard with indifference any combination of foreign powers, 
 and indeed 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 Legislative Union of the 
 North American Provinces. 
 
 Still keeping out of view those requirements of the pres¬ 
 ent 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 American to an ardent advocacy of the 
 measure ? By the mere act of a Legislative Union of Canada, 
 New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and I rince Edward Island, a 
 nation would be founded, and one comprising a territory 
 nearly equal to that of Great Britain, France, and Italy com- 
 
 
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78 
 
 bined ; 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 Government organized by 
 the Union. Of that vast territory over which the Hudson 
 Bay Company now exercises a dominion which it must soon 
 renounce, the world at large is only beginning to learn the 
 value. Between Lake Superior and the Rocky Mountains 
 there lies a tract more extensive than the whole of the organ¬ 
 ized Provinces to the eastward of it, and possessing agricul¬ 
 tural resources superior to theirs. It is watered by many 
 magnificent rivers, the principal of which, the Saskatchewan, 
 ranks upon the North American continent next in length and 
 volume to the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence. It is 1600 
 miles in length, through 1400 of which it is navigable, and 
 affords the easiest water transit from the Atlantic ocean to 
 the base of the Rocky Mountains. Along the valley of the 
 Saskatchewan 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 be poured the whole surplus population of Europe 
 for the next century. This territory, along with that of the 
 now organized Provinces, would, in 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 one hundred and thirty-six 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 stretching to 
 the Arctic Ocean, lies a still greater expanse of country 
 usually described as a sterile and inhospitable wilderness, 
 
 
79 
 
 and tenanted only by the hardy, adventurous hunter and the 
 Esquimaux. Yet this immense tract abounds in valuable 
 resources, although they differ from those of the rich agricul¬ 
 tural territories which bound it on the south. The rivers 
 which course through it, and Hudson Bay which it almost 
 surrounds, 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 imperfectly 
 explored as yet; but the reports brought back by the scien¬ 
 tific men who have visited it, lead to the belief that it abounds 
 in mineral wealth of almost every description, rendering it 
 questionable if it is much inferior in value to any portion of 
 this continent. 
 
 To bring these immense territories under one vigorous, 
 local Government; to extend over them an active 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 will to do so, these would be the 
 results of a Union of the Colonies. To adopt such a mea¬ 
 sure, would be to found an Empire, and an Empire which, with 
 its vast territory, its almost unlimited resources for the deve¬ 
 lopment of internal strength, and its unrivalled advantages of 
 geographical position* might soon sway the destinies of the 
 New World, and become, at the same time, the right arm of 
 that power which even now is the greatest upon earth. A Leg¬ 
 islative Union of the North American Colonies is a simple mea¬ 
 sure, easy of consummation; but the magnitude, the grandeur 
 of the results which would spring from it, are incalculable. 
 
LETTER* 
 
 TO 
 
 HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, 
 
 UPON A 
 
 DNION OF THE COLONIES 
 
 OP 
 
 BRITISH NORTH AMERICA. 
 1860. 
 
 <l o $racc the Jufcc of JJctvra.otle, 
 
 f)er Jftajestifs principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, 
 4c. 4c. 4c. 
 
 May it please Your Grace : 
 
 The undersigned—author of a pamphlet entitled “ Obser¬ 
 vations upon a Union of the Colonies of British North 
 America,” published in 1855—at the suggestion of several 
 public men, in Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, 
 
 * This letter was placed in the hands of the Duke of Newcastle on the 
 day of his landing upon this continent in the suite of His Royal High¬ 
 ness the Prince of Wales, in the summer of 1860 , and was acknowledged 
 by His Grace in flattering terms of approval. 
 
82 
 
 
 •who share in his opinions; who are, as they believe, intimately 
 acquainted with the popular feeling upon political subjects 
 throughout those Prorinces; and who think that the visit of 
 Your 'Grace to British North America affords an opportunity, 
 which it would be wrong to neglect, of addressing Her 
 Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Colonies upon that 
 
 subject_begs leave to submit to the consideration of Your 
 
 Grace the following observations relative to a scheme for the 
 Union of the British North American Provinces under a 
 single Government and a single Parliament. 
 
 The scheme is one which doubtless has not now for the 
 first time been brought to the notice of Your Grace. It is 
 believed that nearly every man of eminent abilities, who has 
 within the last half century given especial attention to the 
 political status and prospects of British North America, has 
 been favorable to that Union, and has looked forward hopefully 
 to its accomplishment, as the foundation upon which the 
 grandeur of the British dominions would be perpetuated on this 
 continent. W hen His Royal Highness, the late Duke of 
 
 Kent, was a resident of these Colonies, one of the many modes 
 by which he testified his earnest desire for their prosperity, 
 and his ready appreciation of what would best conduce to 
 that end, was the hearty approval he gave to a scheme 
 for their Union which was submitted to his consideration; and 
 it would be most gratifying to those who have this project so 
 much at heart, and would, if possible, increase the attachment 
 of the British American people to the Royal Family of Great 
 Britain, if the visit of the Son and Heir of our Queen, whom 
 we now welcome to our shores, and whom Your Grace 
 accompanies, should be associated with the first steps of a 
 movement which would be really successful in consolidating 
 the now comparatively weak and disconnected North Ame¬ 
 rican Provinces into a compact Viceroyalty, forming the 
 nucleus of, it may be hoped, a powerful British American 
 Empire. 
 
It may be within the recollection of Your Grace that a 
 L nion of all the Provinces was recommended to the Imperial 
 Government hy the late Earl of Durham, when Governor- 
 General. Subsequently, and at comparatively recent periods, 
 resolutions in favor of the Union were laid before the Legis¬ 
 latures of Canada and Nova Scotia, and discussed at some 
 length. Although in neither instance were these resolutions 
 put to vote, many of the prominent men of the bodies referred 
 to expressed themselves warmly in favor of the proposed 
 change, whilst no active opposition towards it was evinced 
 from any quarter. 
 
 In the summer of 185i, the Executive Government of 
 Nova Scotia despatched to England a delegation, consisting of 
 the Hon. James W. Johnston and Adams G. Archibald, 
 Esquire, to confer with the Imperial Government, amon^ 
 other things, upon a Union of these Provinces. This subject 
 was freely discussed by them with Mr. Labouchere, then 
 Secretary of State for the Colonies. Mr. Labouchere was 
 understood by the delegates to intiqiate that Her Majesty’s 
 Government felt disposed to leave the question entirely in the 
 hands of the Colonists themselves ; and that it would oppose 
 no obstacle to the accomplishment of the LTnion. No plan, 
 however, was proposed for carrying out that object, nor did 
 anything transpire which evinced a readiness of the Imperial 
 Government to take active steps towards its accomplishment. 
 
 In the following year, the Governor-General, Sir Edmund 
 Head, in his speech to the Canadian Parliament, at the close 
 of the session of that year, signified the desirability of 
 effecting a Union with the other Provinces. The Executive 
 Government of Canada, a short time afterwards, resolved 
 upon asking the Colonial Secretary to authorise a meeting of 
 delegates from each of the Colonies to consider that subject. 
 The observations of Sir E. B. Lyttori upon the speech of the 
 Governor-General, and his reply to the three Canadian dele¬ 
 gates to England,—Hon. Messrs. George E. Cartier, John 
 
84 
 
 Ross, and A. T. Galt, who, on the 25th October, 1858, 
 specially addressed him, in accordance with the resolution of 
 the Canadian Government, were adverse to the holding of 
 any such meeting of delegates. Sir E. B. Lytton was pleased 
 to describe the question of Union as u necessarily one ot 
 Imperial character but declined to authorize the meeting 
 of delegates to discuss that question, because, with the ex¬ 
 ception of one,—Nova Scotia, it is presumed, the Impeliai 
 Government had received no expression of the sentiments of 
 the Lower Provinces upon the subject. 
 
 This, we believe, is the position in which the question has 
 been left, so far as the action of the Imperial, or Colonial, 
 Governments is to be considered. The inferenqes to be 
 actually drawn from the expressions of Mr. Labouchere and 
 Sir E. B. Lytton, relative to this matter, are, that until the 
 Colonies all insist upon the Union, Her Majesty’s Govern¬ 
 ment will not feel disposed to take any action in the matter ; 
 bat that then it will be actively dealt with as one “ of Imperial 
 character.” The writer of this communication believes, and 
 it is the opinion of all whom he has heard express an opinion 
 on the subject, that it would be wise and not unjust for the 
 Imperial Government not only to take a part, but to take a 
 leading part, in the earlier actual steps for the consummation 
 of the Colonial Union. Some of the reasons for entertaining 
 this opinion will be given hereafter. In the meantime we 
 shall endeavor, very briefly, to furnish Your Grace with a few 
 of the reasons why this Union of the North American Colonies 
 is thought desirable, and why it has taken so firm a hold upon 
 the minds of the British North American people. 
 
 The British North American people, like those of the 
 Mother Country, are an enterprising and ambitious race. 
 Collectively, and as a general rule, individually, they are 
 ambitious. From this arises a craving for nationality, and a 
 feverish dissatisfaction with the existing state of things, which 
 are not easily defined, but which are very widely spread. 
 
 ' - 
 
85 
 
 The British American people,'although they are strongly 
 attached to the Sovereign who rules over them, and to the 
 land of their forefathers, have a liberal Constitution, have 
 free institutions, and are exempt from many of the burdens 
 which weigh upon most of other enlightened communities, 
 nevertheless are not content with their political position. 
 The reason is, that position is an anomalous one, and furnishes 
 a constant restraint upon their aspirations. British America, 
 as such, has no political status in the view of nations. In 
 looking abroad, her inhabitants see countries and peoples 
 comparatively insignificant in extent and numbers, and 
 inferior to British America in everything except a distinct 
 nationality, occupying a respected place in the commonwealth 
 of nations. The inhabitants of such countries are treated 
 with a consideration to which the British Americans, wherever 
 they go, are strangers. It is because the former have a 
 known, well-defined, national position ; whilst the latter have 
 not. The unpleasant feelings thus caused are more keenly 
 experienced from the fact of these Colonies bordering upon 
 the United States. We there find a people belonging to the 
 same race, and speaking the same language as ourselves, who 
 form one of the first class nations of the world. The citizens 
 of that great Republic have not failed, whenever opportunity 
 has occurred, to flaunt their brightest honors before our eyes, 
 and to remind us of the inferior political standing which we 
 as a particular people, occupy in comparison with themselves. 
 Their motives in doing so may not be difficult to divine ; but 
 there is sufficient foundation for such comparisons to make 
 them especially odious to the Colonists. The people of the 
 Colonies feel that such a state of things need not continue. 
 It is true that it is inseparable from the present disconnected 
 condition of the Colonies ; but when it is taken into considera¬ 
 tion that these Colonies, taken collectively, now number a 
 population of nearly four millions,—that they boast of a 
 mercantile marine inferior only to those of Great Britain and 
 
86 
 
 the United States,—that their territory is greater than any 
 other upon this continent except Brazil, and is quite as rich 
 as that Empire in the resources requisite for sustaining 
 population,—it is but reasonable that they should feel dis¬ 
 satisfied with conditions in consequence of which, notwith¬ 
 standing all this, they still remain in a state of political 
 nonentity relative to the outside world. For were these 
 Colonies united so as to become one consolidated Viceroyalty, 
 the bare fact of that Union taking place would immediately 
 give British North America a high status among nations. 
 She would be looked upon and respected as a quasi inde¬ 
 pendent power of a high order ; whilst her connection with 
 the Mother Country would not, in any degree, be weakened. 
 
 The repressive effect of the present condition of the 
 Colonies upon all ambitious individual effort, within their 
 limits, is perhaps still more widely and keenly felt. Owing 
 to the very limited sphere which each separate Colony affords 
 for such effort, the prospect of achieving honors and distinc¬ 
 tions in any of what are called the prof essions , is dishearten¬ 
 ing in the extreme. Each Province has but few prizes, 
 either in the shape of titles, or more substantial honors, to 
 offer as the reward of successful talent, either to the profes¬ 
 sional politician, or to the man who follows any other avocation; 
 and those few are so insignificant as to present but few 
 attractions to men of superior intellect and lofty aspirations. 
 We are proud to know that some British American Colonists 
 have achieved distinction in the British Army and Navy ; 
 but it is to be feared that a long period must elapse before 
 very many of our young men can employ themselves in that 
 sphere, because it is too expensive for most Colonial fortunes, 
 and because when a Colonist enters the British Army, or 
 Navy, he may almost be said to expatriate himself for life. 
 As for the other paths by which the men of Great Britain 
 reach distinction and are rewarded with honors, they are 
 practically closed against the Colonist. 
 
87 
 
 U 
 
 Here again the contiguity of the Colonies to the United 
 States suggests disagreeable comparisons. In that great 
 Republic, the scope tor individual exertion is immense ; and 
 although the rewards of success in the higher walks of life 
 are not generally so great as under most monarchical Gov¬ 
 ernments, some of the “ prizes open to all,” in that country, 
 are of a very high order. Many a British North American 
 has seen individuals upon the United States side of our 
 boundary, whom he knew from personal acquaintance to be 
 inferior to him in natural abilities, education, wealth, and 
 social standing, raised in a short time to the Presidency of 
 that Republic, a position which would entitle him to rank 
 with the proudest monarchs of Europe. At the same time, 
 that British American could not reasonably aspire even to 
 become the Governor of his native Province ; and if he were to 
 go to England, all the influence which he could command 
 would probably not procure him a presentation to his Sovereign. 
 
 It is presumed that no argument can be necessary to prove 
 to Your Grace that a Union of these Colonies would create 
 a sphere sufficiently large for the exertions of the most active 
 and aspiring of their inhabitants, and necessarily provide 
 rewards commensurate with their exertions. In doing that, 
 it would satisfy a want which is believed to be now deeply 
 felt. It would do more. The reasons presented above for 
 a Union of the Provinces are for the most part, such 
 as have suggested themselves only to the more thought¬ 
 ful and educated members of the community. It is not 
 pretended that all of the masses, and of the petty, 
 local politicians, are influenced by such views. The present 
 aspect of political affairs, however, within each of the 
 Provinces, wherein the influence of the classes just named 
 makes itself largely felt, furnishes strong additional reasons 
 for the change which is now recommended to the notice of 
 Your Grace. It is obvious that a large sphere of action has 
 ever a strong tendency to enlarge and liberalize the views of 
 
the actor; whilst a small sphere, comprising only unimpor¬ 
 tant interests, tends to the very opposite result. This is 
 most especially the case in politics. It need scarcely be 
 observed, as it is so notorious, that even in independent 
 countries having representative institutions as we have, the 
 views of public men, as a general rule, become narrowed, 
 and faction more rampant, in proportion as we find the arena 
 on which they operate more circumscribed. This rule 
 applies with still greater force to the North American 
 Colonies. The people of an independent country, however 
 narrow its limits, have still national questions to discuss, and 
 national interests to preserve, or to contend with. These 
 Colonies have not. Each of them has all the machinery of 
 Government requisite for managing the affairs of an empire ; 
 yet, in the case at least of the smaller Colonies, the opera¬ 
 tion of this machinery is confined to objects and interests of 
 not very much greater magnitude than those which come 
 under the control of some English parishes. Tjnder such 
 circumstances, it is not to be wondered at that factionism and 
 extremely violent faction disputes, should prevail, to the 
 prejudice of the more important public interests. Such is 
 found to be the fact; and it will be found that dissensions 
 between what are called “ political parties,” upon questions 
 .entirely unimportant, or of so disagreeably mean a character 
 that it is offensive to honorable and enlightened men to dis¬ 
 cuss them at all, are here frequent, violent, and protracted, 
 just in inverse proportion to the population and extent of the 
 Colony under consideration. In this respect, there is only 
 too much reason to fear that these British North American 
 Colonies are gradually becoming more immoral, politically, 
 and worse. It is presumed that Tour Grace must already, 
 as a statesman of the Empire, and from occupying the 
 position of Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Colonies, 
 have verified by personal knowledge the truth of the deplo¬ 
 rable facts referred to within the last few sentences. 
 
89 
 
 There is something in the politics of these Colonies which 
 tends to constantly belittle the views and aspirations of the 
 less intelligent and reflective portion of their inhabitants. 
 Yet there is no ground to doubt that they are loyal and 
 true, and mean well. But they have been entrusted with a 
 constitutional machinery which, elsewhere and until within a 
 recent period, they have seen solemnly applied only to great 
 interests and essentially national questions; whilst they have 
 to adapt it solely to petty, local interests. They estimate 
 the magnitude of the subjects of their factious disputes by 
 their preconceived conceptions of the magnitude of the 
 machinery placed in their hands for settling them. Thus 
 too many of our Colonial politicians make “ much ado about 
 nothing,” or what is the next thing to nothing; whilst, as a 
 very natural consequence of this, really important matters 
 are lost sight of. 
 
 The proposition submitted to the consideration of Your 
 Grace is, that if even the class of these Colonists whom we 
 are now considering had much more important political 
 objects thrust upon them, such as a quasi nationality would 
 necessarily impose, legislation and the administration of 
 public affairs throughout British America would become a 
 more serious business, and w'ould be conducted with vastly 
 greater calmness, wisdom, and circumspection. That is an end 
 which it seems possible to attain within a reasonable period 
 of time, only by a Union of all the Colonies. The condition 
 of every one of these Colonies, so far as their internal politics 
 is to be considered, is deplorable, at the present time, and is 
 daily growing worse. We are fast approaching the time 
 when all of the talented and enlightened members of the 
 community will abstain from taking any prominent part in 
 our Colonial politics ; and when the management of public 
 affairs will wholly fall into the hands of violent factions, led 
 by ignorant and narrow-minded, but cunning men. lliere 
 is every reason to believe that a Tnion and consolidation of 
 
90 
 
 the Colonies would, by largely adding to the importance of 
 the subjects of British American legislation and government, 
 and necessarily elevating the position of the British American 
 politician, check this downward tendency and gradually cure 
 the evils just complained of. It seems difficult to conceive 
 any other scheme which would effect that cure. 
 
 There are other considerations favorable to the plan pro¬ 
 posed with which few persons in British North America, of 
 whatever class, have failed to be impressed. These are, for 
 the most part, of a commercial character. The isolated posi¬ 
 tion which each one of these Colonies occupies relative to the 
 others, furnishes a constant check to their commercial inter¬ 
 course, and indeed to their commercial enterprise generally. 
 It may be safely alleged as incontrovertible, that this restraint 
 can never be removed—the obstructions to trade which it 
 causes can never be wholly surmounted, except by a com¬ 
 plete and absolute consolidation of the Colonies under one 
 Government, having unlimited internal jurisdiction. Con¬ 
 sidering the near vicinity to each other of the Provinces of 
 Eastern British America, the small amount of their interco¬ 
 lonial trade seems, at the. first glance, almost incredible. The 
 causes are, however, easily discerned. One is the geogra¬ 
 phical obstacles which Nature has placed in the way of a 
 more free intercourse. During winter, or for about six 
 months of the year, Canada, Prince Edward Island, and 
 Eastern New Brunswick, have virtually no communication 
 with the remainder of the Maritime Provinces. Canada is, 
 during that period, cut off from all communication with the 
 sea, except through a foreign country which may, at any' 
 moment, be an enemy. The effect of these natural conditions 
 in constantly impeding intercolonial trade is obvious ; for 
 where a trade cannot be kept up regularly, it is not reliable, 
 and will not flourish at all,—where it must be suspended for 
 one half the year, it will exhibit no very great degree of 
 vigor during the remaining half. The cure for this difficulty 
 
91 
 
 is equally obvious. It is the completion of the line of railway 
 from Halifax to Quebec. This work*, to which reference will 
 again presently be made, would be one inevitable and im¬ 
 mediate result of a political Lnion of the Provinces, even 
 although left entirely to their own resources for its accom¬ 
 plishment. 
 
 A much more serious obstacle in the way of intercolonial 
 trade is found in the fact that it is intercolonial—that the 
 Colonies are several instead of being only one. The Provin¬ 
 ces having each a legislature of its own, without any superior 
 revising power to ensure uniformity among them in matters 
 where uniformity of legislation is essential to their common 
 interests, there are as many constantly changing tariffs, 
 varieties of currency, and local codes of commercial and 
 other laws, as there are Provinces. It need scarcely be said 
 that these are great impediments to trade between the different 
 sections of British America ; and, as a natural consequence 
 of that, the foreign trade of the country, as a w'hole, is not 
 so vigorous as it w ould be if commercial intercourse between 
 its various parts was entirely untrammeled. It is difficult to 
 remove these restrictions so long as the Provinces remain 
 separate and mutually independent. Yet, owing mainly to 
 the various hindrances to intercolonial trade already men¬ 
 tioned, that trade is comparatively so inconsiderable that each 
 of these Provinces actually effects very much larger exchanges 
 with the United States than it does with all the other Prov¬ 
 inces combined. There may not appear anything very mon¬ 
 strous, or ruinous, in this; but it is certainly not the favor¬ 
 able picture of its commerce which British North America 
 ought to be able to show. It would unquestionably be very 
 much improved upon, w T ere all barriers to commercial inter¬ 
 course betw een its various parts removed ; and a very large 
 portion—perhaps the largest portion—of the profits of 
 Colonial trade which now find their way into the pockets of 
 United States dealers, might, without resorting to any fac- 
 
titious means to divert .them therefrom, he retained by the 
 British Americans themselves: for it happens that these 
 Colonies are so circumstanced, with regard to geographical 
 position and resources, as to be each, in a great measure, the 
 complement of the others. 
 
 A few illustrations may be mentioned. Upper Canada and 
 the Far West, where the Red River Settlement already forms 
 the nucleus of what will no doubt be, one day, a dense popu¬ 
 lation, seem calculated to be par excellence the granary of 
 British America; wdiilst it seems probable that the Maritime 
 Provinces will always be in a position to receive a large share 
 of the surplus breadstuffs of the West. Canada will be a 
 great timber producing country at a time when Nova Scotia, 
 Prince Edward Island, and perhaps New Brunswick, will be 
 importers of that article ; whilst the immense fertile plains of 
 the Saskatchewan country, being nearly devoid ot timber, 
 will, when colonized, always afford a market for that product. 
 Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but particularly the former, 
 abound in coal, a substance w T hich is not to be found in Canada 
 at all. The Maritime Provinces and Lower Canada also con¬ 
 tain immense deposits of iron,—unsurpassed by any in 'the 
 world,—copper, and other mineral substances which aie 
 generally found wanting in the country farther w’est. Again, 
 the great staple export of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland is 
 fish, the greater portion of which is sent to the West Indies 
 and South America. With free commercial intercourse and 
 easy communication throughout British North America, these 
 two Provinces would, much to the advantage of the whole 
 country, become the factors for supplying Canada and the 
 interior country beyond it w r ith West India produce, and Nova 
 Scotia especially would become a British North American 
 emporium for such produce. 
 
 The comparative magnitude of the trade of these Colonies 
 with the United States, at the present time, is owing, in a 
 great measure, to the operation of what is called, somewhat 
 
93 
 
 T 
 
 V 
 
 consistently, 66 the Reciprocity Treaty.” It is not necessary 
 here to give the history of that treaty, or to describe its operar 
 tion in detail. It has largely increased the activity of trade 
 in the Colonies, and has doubtless been productive of benefit 
 to them ; but, in many sections of the Colonies, the opinion 
 prevails that this advantage has still been dearly purchased, 
 whilst the mode in which the treaty was effected is considered 
 objectionable. Since it has been in operation, the principles 
 embodied in it have been more thoroughly and widely can¬ 
 vassed than they ever were before. The treaty itself expires 
 in 1866, when, no doubt, an effort will be made to renew it. 
 If it is renewed, in any form, without the consent of the dif¬ 
 ferent Provinces, great discontent will ensue. If sought to 
 be renewed with their consent, they remaining separate as at 
 present, the question will be beset with difficulties. Nearly 
 every Province, and some sections of Provinces, will desire 
 important modifications of the existing treaty in its favor, and 
 each will naturally look solely to its own sectional interests. 
 This being the case, and the contracting parties being far. 
 removed from, and, in a measure, independent of each other, 
 it is to be feared that much difficulty, delay, and perhaps 
 total failure in settling the matter satisfactorily, will be the 
 result. Did the ratification of the treaty, however, depend 
 upon the action of a single parliament—that of the United 
 Provinces—although sectional interests might clash, the 
 whole body would yet feel then that they had interests in 
 common superior to those of a local character ; and the repre¬ 
 sentatives of conflicting claims, being brought face to face, a 
 spirit of mutual accommodation would be evolved which would, 
 in all probability, lead to an early and generally satisfactory 
 settlement. The same rules which would apply in this case, 
 w r ould apply in any other where the now unconnected Colo¬ 
 nies were called upon to settle any question where several, 
 or all, of them were interested. 
 
 If we regard this question only as one in which the inter- 
 
 
94 
 
 ests of the British Empire, as a whole, are to be considered, 
 it is submitted to Your Grace whether the arguments addu- 
 cible in favor of the proposed Union are not amply sufficient to 
 make it a matter of great importance that it should be effected 
 at the earliest possible moment. It is well to remember that 
 these Colonies are not in the safest of neighborhoods. Twice 
 has the adjoining republic made an attempt to seize upon 
 them. More than once within the memory of many persons 
 still living, it seemed not very improbable that their fate 
 would be an amalgamation with the United States. At the 
 present time, we can see nothing in the aspect of British 
 American affairs which seems to indicate such a result. Still, 
 as the Colonies are dissatisfied with their present insignificant 
 rank, it is uncertain what the future may bring forth; and 
 this appears more uncertain when we recollect that some ot 
 the greatest and most startling political changes which have 
 taken place in the world, of late years, particularly in some 
 other parts of the British Empire, have been wholly unex¬ 
 pected. But, although the Colonies, as a whole, seem not 
 likely ever to amalgamate with the United States, that repub¬ 
 lic may make serious encroachments upon their territory and 
 do much damage to their interests, in the event of hostilities 
 breaking out between it and Great Britain, whilst these Colo¬ 
 nies remain still disunited. A like result might be anticipated 
 in the event of Britain being at war with any other great 
 power which could muster a considerable force in North 
 America ; for the disconnected condition of the Colonies 
 renders them incapable of doing very much in their own 
 defence. It will not probably be contradicted that any such 
 injury to them would be an injury to the Mother Country. 
 
 Many indications have been observable, of late years, of a 
 disposition on the part of the Imperial Government to throw 
 the North American Colonies, in a great measure, upon their 
 own resources, for their own defence against foreign aggres¬ 
 sion. The principle of insisting upon their bearing a large 
 
portion, or even the whole, of the burden of their own defences, 
 is one to which no one could reasonably object, provided that 
 those Colonies were first placed in a position which would 
 enable them to act with vigor and unanimity; otherwise it 
 would impose upon them great hardship, if not injustice. 
 Were they now to be thus thrown upon their own resources, 
 they would be exposed to great dangers. Each Province 
 would naturally measure only its own resources against those 
 of the real or suspected enemy ; and the calculation would 
 have a disheartening effect, which would prevent that Pro¬ 
 vince putting forth efforts even to the extent of its own ability. 
 Such force as they could raise collectively would be of com¬ 
 paratively little service ; for they would be under no single 
 direction, and in all that related to the raising, equipment, 
 and management of such a force, the various Colonies would, 
 sometimes unintentionally, at other times through local jeal¬ 
 ousy, or sectional selfishness, be almost incessantly thwarting 
 each other, just as they are now doing, every year, in their 
 legislation upon matters in which they have a common interest. 
 Were the Colonies consolidated under a single Government, 
 they would, there is no reason to doubt, cheerfully accept, as 
 a natural consequence of their being united, the obligation of 
 protecting themselves. They would feel too, in that case, 
 their own real strength, and would not, under any circum¬ 
 stances, shrink despairingly from the duties thus imposed on 
 them. As a single Commonwealth, they would very soon be 
 in a position to assume the whole charge of their own defence, 
 or to contribute to the defences of the whole Empire to an 
 extent equivalent to that. Great Britain would thus be 
 relieved of a great burden, and British North America would 
 be to her a right arm of strength, instead of, as at present, a 
 cause of weakness. 
 
 One inevitable result of the proposed Union would be the 
 immediate connection of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and 
 Canada by railroad. The completion of a work which would 
 
enable the British Government to transport troops and muni¬ 
 tions of war from Halifax to the St. Clair River in three 
 days’ time, or which would enable them to be conveyed, 
 when the lakes are free from ice, to the very heart of the 
 continent, in one week, would be of incalculable advantage to 
 the British nation in the event of a war with the United 
 States. Its construction, and the Union of these Provinces 
 into one compact whole, would go tar towards preventing 
 such a war ever taking place. 
 
 But our expectations need not be limited to the Halifax 
 and Quebec Railway as the only work of great national 
 importance which w'ould result from this Union. Ihere can 
 be no doubt that the great impetus given to British American 
 national enterprise by the act of Union would speedily lead 
 to the completion of a continuous railway line from the Atlantic 
 to the Pacific. Many circumstances point to such a result. 
 The only practicable railway route across the continent is 
 said, and generally believed, to lie wholly within British ter¬ 
 ritory ; and in these days of rapid movement, the public 
 which travels and trades between the Atlantic and Pacific 
 coasts of America, will never be content with any slower 
 means of transit than a railway. Like the political Union of 
 the Colonies itself, such a work appears necessary to prevent 
 the great interior country drained by the Saskatchewan and 
 the Red River, and which is not inferior in agricultural 
 capabilities to any other part of the continent, from becoming 
 gradually “ Americanized,” and ultimately annexed to the 
 United States—an end to which it now seems tending. This 
 railway would be indispensable to British America itself, were 
 the Colonies of the Pacific coast comprised in the projected 
 Union; and it is believed that all the advocates of that 
 measure hope that they will be comprised in it eventually, if 
 not at the outset. But exclusive of all merely British 
 American wishes and necessities which may be anticipated 
 relative to this Atlantic and Pacific Railway, Great Britain 
 
I 
 
 97 
 
 herself has an immense interest in its construction. When it 
 
 “ r C f 6Cted . that the ^cessitj for Great Britain’s strength¬ 
 ening her position on the Pacific, and facilitating her ° 
 
 Rations therewith, is heeomhi^a~~ 
 that with tins railway in operation, Vancouver Island could be 
 reached from England in two weeks’ time, whilst that transit 
 cou d not be made in less than two months by any other 
 route that did not lie across some portion of foreign territory, 
 and not in much less than that by any other route whatever; 
 and that this railway line is on the direct and by far the 
 shortest practicable route from England to China, Japan, and 
 the East Indian Archipelago, where British interests are 
 enormously upon the increase—the paramount importance to 
 Great Britain of securing her position in British North 
 America, and procuring the early construction of this great 
 highway, which would insure to her the command of both the 
 Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, is too obvious to demand argu- 
 ment, or illustration, in proof. 
 
 . a PP ears only reasonable to suppose that an additional 
 inducement to the Imperial Government to favor the con¬ 
 solidation of the North American Colonies under a single 
 Provincial Government, would be found in the fact that the 
 machinery by which the Mother Country rules over and 
 maintains her relations with the Colonies, would be so very 
 much simplified. The toil, care, and expense of managing 
 the supreme government of, and exercising general super¬ 
 vision over, seven or eight Colonies, each of them legislating 
 for itself independently of the others, must of necessity be 
 much greater than in the case of one Colony, comprising the 
 same territory and population as the seven or eight. The 
 improved relations which, according to this view, would be 
 created between the Government of Great Britain and that 
 of her North American dependencies by the union of the 
 latter with each other, would also extend to the commercial 
 relations between the two. If instead of having as many 
 
 G 
 
98 
 
 tariffs and sets of local commercial regulations as there are 
 Colonies, the whole of British North America had but one, 
 and if unrestricted commercial intercourse might be had 
 between all sections of that country, many perplexities which 
 now encumber its commercial intercourse with the United 
 Kingdom, as well as with foreign parts, would be removed, 
 and a more spirited and reliable trade between the two 
 would ensue. 
 
 Why, it may be asked, attempt to thrust upon the notice 
 of a member of the Imperial Government arguments in favor 
 of this Union, when Her Majesty’s Government have already 
 evinced a disposition to leave the settlement of the question 
 entirely in the hands of the Colonists themselves ? Your 
 Grace will observe that many of the very facts which show 
 the necessity for a Union, are likely to hinder its accomplish¬ 
 ment by the Colonists’ own unaided efforts, and indicate the 
 desirability of the Mother Country taking a lead in the 
 measure. The narrowing tendency of the present political 
 contests of the Colonies upon the minds of their politicians, 
 has already been alluded to. Your Grace need scarcely be 
 reminded that a large proportion of the class of local and 
 ephemeral politicians everywhere always favor disunion and 
 disintegration; because in a large sphere their occupation 
 would be gone, and they would be obliged to make way for 
 more enlightened and abler men. It is not improbable that 
 many of this class in British America would oppose the 
 Union, did its accomplishment appear imminent. As also 
 mentioned above, legislation, throughout the Colonies generally 
 has unfortunately assumed, of late years, a very partizan 
 character. So far is this the case, that in more than one of 
 the Provinces it is extremely difficult to get any measure, 
 however important to the interests of the public as a whole, 
 passed through the Legislature, unless it can be made to appear 
 that the measure in question will ensure special substantial 
 benefits to the faction which then happens to be in the ascend- 
 
ency, or tend to weaken their rivals for political power. The 
 projected Union of the Colonies would not lead to the aggran¬ 
 dizement of any one now organized political party, in any 
 Colony of ISorth America, at the expense of any other party. 
 Hence a reason why a considerable number of the public 
 men of the Colonies might exhibit an indifference, or possibly 
 a hostility, towards the proposed measure. These anticipated 
 objections are, it may as well be confessed, entirely conjec¬ 
 tural. The writer does not know that any objections would 
 be made, from any Colonial quarter, to this step. He has 
 never once, either in public or private, heard any objection 
 urged to a Union of the Colonies, although the subject has 
 been pretty widely canvassed of late years; whilst he is aware 
 that many of the most prominent statesmen of British North 
 America are its open advocates. Nevertheless, owing to the 
 temper of too large a number of the Colonial politicians, and 
 the character which their discussions too often assume, and 
 to the propensity of petty, local demagogues everywhere to 
 oppose all such changes as this, it is considered not improbable 
 that the Union could not be effected without clamors against 
 it being raised from some quarter: that is, if the accomplish¬ 
 ment of the object were left wholly to the action of the 
 Colonies themselves. On the contrary, were the Mother 
 Country to take the lead in the matter, and invite the co¬ 
 operation of the various Colonies to effect the change in 
 question, that co-operation would, it is believed, be heartily 
 given. This is indeed mere matter of opinion; but the 
 cheerful compliance with which the Colonies have usually 
 responded to the direct suggestions and invitations of the 
 Imperial Government, leaves no room for doubt that they 
 would readily acquiesce in a suggestion such as this to which 
 no reasonable objection could be made. 
 
 There are other difficulties in the way of the Colonies 
 coming together solely by their own act, which are not quite 
 so problematical as those just mentioned. In all of the Colonies 
 
party animosities and jealousies are excessive; and there is 
 some reason to fear that if any party, in either of our Legis¬ 
 latures, were, as a party, to move vigorously in favor of the 
 Union, the pure spirit of faction would cause a stout opposition 
 to it from their party opponents. There is ground for sus¬ 
 picion that one great reason why more active and vigorous 
 steps towards that end have not hitherto been taken by any 
 of the many prominent public men who are known to be favor¬ 
 able to its attainment, is that they feared lest their moving in 
 it would evoke the hostility of political rivals, thus causing 
 delay to the success of the project, and possibly its ultimate 
 failure. It is credible that a similar jealousy between the 
 Provinces, as so many individuals, would produce a like result, 
 were any one of them to attempt, in advance of the others, 
 to push this scheme to a consummation. All such difficulties 
 would be at once and easily obviated by the Imperial Gov¬ 
 ernment’s taking the initiative, and inviting the several Prov¬ 
 inces to act simultaneously in arranging the terms of the Union. 
 
 Besides the arguments embodied in the foregoing remarks, 
 both in favor of the Union itself and in favor of the Mother 
 Country taking an active part in its consummation, there are 
 others which may be briefly alluded to. The universal affec¬ 
 tion entertained by her subjects for the person of our gra¬ 
 cious Queen, would render this great political change in one 
 section of her empire a matter of easy consummation now . 
 Were her Government to take a leading part in bringing it 
 about, such an act would be regarded by the British Amer¬ 
 ican people as one of maternal solicitude for their permanent 
 welfare, and would draw them, if possible, more closely, and 
 certainly attach them more securely to the British throne. 
 Should the settlement of this question be still left to the 
 chances of the future, it is difficult to say what may be the 
 result; but evil, rather than good, may be reasonably antici¬ 
 pated. Should the—in that case difficult—operation of 
 coming together be achieved by the Colonies themselves, 
 
101 
 
 V* 
 
 without aid from the Imperial Government, they would 
 probably consider that they had nothing to thank the latter 
 tor, and would draw off, wearing towards the Mother Country 
 an independent defiant air, which slight cause would change 
 into a hostile one. Every hour adds to the pressing necessity 
 tor early action in this matter. The local evils, alluded to in 
 the course of these remarks, incident to the political condition 
 of the Lower Provinces, are yearly increasing; whilst in 
 Canada something must be done forthwith. The danger of 
 delay is to that Province imminent. If the Lower Provinces 
 are not soon amalgamated with Canada, to neutralise the 
 injurious action of the contending powers there, an open rup¬ 
 ture between Upper and Lower Canada seems inevitable, 
 arid the eventual annexation of the western section of the 
 Province, as well as the Red River country, to the United 
 States, would be a highly probable result of that separation. 
 At the same time that this opinion is hazarded, it is submitted 
 to Your Grace, however paradoxical such an assertion may 
 seem in this connection, that the degree of success attained 
 by the experiment of the Canadian Union of 1840, proves 
 conclusively the feasibility and ultimate success of a wider 
 measure, which would comprise the whole of British North 
 America. In Canada were found two races in open hos¬ 
 tility towards each other, professing antagonistic religious 
 creeds, and widely differing from each other in customs, laws, 
 traditions, and national characteristics. Yet United Canada 
 has, in a career of twenty years, made such a rapid progress 
 in increase of population, wealth, general prosperity,-lhas 
 attained, we may say, such a degree of grandeur, as would 
 have been entirely impossible, had it continued, during that 
 period, two distinct Provinces. The seemingly insurmount¬ 
 able difficulties in the way of a longer continuance in opera¬ 
 tion of its present Constitution, are not owing to the fact 
 that Upper and Lower Canada are united, but result from 
 certain artificial conditions annexed to the Union Act. It 
 
102 
 
 seems' difficult to conceive how these difficulties can now be 
 got rid of without doing manifest injustice to either one or 
 the other of the two great divisions of Canada, unless by 
 combining them with the other North American Colonies 
 under a single Colonial Government. 
 
 This is probably neither the time nor the occasion to enter 
 upon any details as to the particular kind of Union that 
 would be most desirable. The writer will only venture to 
 observe, as an individual opinion, that a Federative Consti¬ 
 tution similar to that lately accorded by Imperial Act to New 
 Zealand, dividing the whole United Colonies into a number of 
 Provinces, each with an elective Superintendent and Council 
 to administer and legislate upon certain defined and exclu¬ 
 sively local affairs,—the whole being subordinated to a Vice¬ 
 roy appointed by the Crown, or hereditary in a branch of 
 the Royal Family, and a metropolitan Parliament of two 
 houses, to deal with all matters of general interest, and to 
 possess the power of exercising a general supervision over 
 the local legislation of the Provinces, so as to harmonise their 
 action, would seem to combine the greatest degree of secu¬ 
 rity to local interests with the greatest unanimity upon all 
 matters of importance affecting the whole United Colony. It 
 would also probably satisfy the wishes and aspirations of the 
 greatest number. 
 
 In conclusion, the undersigned craves permission to suggest 
 to Your Grace the desirability of making enquiries, so far as 
 leisure and convenience will permit, during the tour of Your 
 Grace through these Colonies, into the state of feeling exist¬ 
 ing among them relative to the subject of the above remarks, 
 and their expectations as to their future relations, political 
 and commercial, with their powerful neighbors of the United 
 States, with each other, but still more with the Mother Coun¬ 
 try. Should anything in the foregoing observations add to 
 the disposition of Your Grace to listen favorably to this sug¬ 
 gestion and act upon it, the object with which they were 
 

 103 
 
 penned w.U have been fully attained, for the writer believea 
 that y„„ r Grace wiU then hold communication upon this ,„b- 
 ject with many pubhc men who are as profoundly impressed 
 
 he^himself 6 t TT* f " * UniM1 of th * Colonies as 
 he himself can be, and who can much more forcibly and con¬ 
 vincingly present the arguments which go to prove that 
 necessity. 
 
 P. S. HAMILTON. 
 
 Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 28(A, 1860. 
 
 
M31785