THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTELY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



Canadian specimen, if possible, on the spot. They 

 will learn, first, that while a spontaneous con- 

 federation, such as groups of states have formed 

 under the pressure of a common danger, develops 

 mainly the principles of union, a confederation 

 brought about by external influence is apt to de- 

 velop the principles of antagonism in at least an 

 equal degree ; and, secondly, that parliamentary 

 government in a dependency is, to a lamentable 

 extent, government by faction and corruption, 

 and that by superadding federal to provincial 

 government the extent and virulence of those 

 maladies are seriously increased. If an appeal is 

 made to the success of confederation in Switzer- 

 land, the answer is, that Switzerland is not a de- 

 pendency but a nation. 



It is of Canada alone that we here speak, and 

 we speak only of her political destiny. The ties 

 of blood, of language, of historical association, 

 and of general sympathy, which bind the British 

 portion of the Canadian people to England, are 

 not dependent on the political connection, nor is 

 it likely that they would be at all weakened by 

 its severance. In the United States there are 

 millions of Irish exiles, with the wrongs of Ire- 

 land in their hearts, and the whole nation retains 

 the memories of the Revolutionary War, of the 

 War of 1812, and of the conduct of the British 

 aristocracy toward the United States during the 

 rebellion of the South — conduct which it is difficult 

 to forgive, and which it would be folly to forget. 

 Yet to those who have lived among the Americans 

 it will not seem extravagant to say that the feel- 

 ings of an Anglo-American toward his mother- 

 country are really at least as warm as those of 

 the natives of dependencies, and at least as likely 

 to be manifested by practical assistance in the 

 hour of need. A reference to the history of the 

 opposition made to the War of 1812 will suffice 

 at least to bring this opinion within the pale of 

 credibility. 



The great forces prevail. They prevail at 

 last, however numerous and apparently strong 

 the secondary forces opposed to them may be. 

 They prevailed at last in the case of German 

 unity and in the case of Italian independence. In 

 each of those cases the secondary forces were so 

 heavily massed against the event that men re- 

 nowned for practical wisdom believed the event 

 would never come. It came, irresistible and ir- 

 revocable, and we now see that Bismarck and 

 Cavour were only the ministers of Fate. 



Suspended of course, and long suspended, by 

 the action of the secondary forces, the action of 

 the great forces may be. It was so in both the 



instances just mentioned. A still more remark- 

 able instance is the long postponement of the 

 union of Scotland with England by the antipa- 

 thies resulting from the abortive attempt of Ed- 

 ward I., and by a subsequent train of historical 

 accidents, such as the absorption of the energies 

 of England in Continental or civil wars. But the 

 union came at last, and, having the great forces 

 on its side, it came forever. 



In the case before us, it appears that the great 

 forces are those which make for the political 

 separation of the New from the Old World. They 

 are: 



1. The distance, which may be shortened by 

 steam and telegraph for the transmission of a 

 despot's commands, but can hardly be much 

 shortened for the purposes of representative gov- 

 ernment. Steam increases the transatlantic in- 

 tercourse of the wealthier class, but not that of 

 the people, who have neither money nor time for 

 the passage. Everything is possible in the way 

 of nautical invention ; fuel may be still further 

 economized, though its price is not likely to fall ; 

 but it is improbable that the cost of ship-building 

 or the wages of seamen will be reduced ; and the 

 growth of manufactures in the New World, which 

 we may expect henceforth to be rapid, can hard- 

 ly fail to diminish the intercourse dependent on 

 transatlantic trade. A commonwealth spanning 

 the Atlantic may be a grand conception, but po- 

 litical institutions must after all bear some rela- 

 tion to Nature and to practical convenience. 

 Few have fought against geography and pre- 

 vailed. 



2. Divergence of interest, which seems in this 

 case to be as wide as possible. What has Cana- 

 da to do with the European and Oriental concerns 

 of England, with her European and Oriental 

 diplomacy, with her European and Oriental wars ? 

 Can it be conceived that Canadian traders would 

 allow her commerce to be cut up by Russian 

 cruisers, or that Canadian farmers would take 

 arms and pay war-taxes in order to prevent Rus- 

 sia from obtaining a free passage through the 

 Dardanelles ? An English pamphlet called " The 

 Great Game" was reprinted the other day in 

 Canada ; but the chapter on India was omitted, 

 as having no interest for Canadians. For Eng- 

 lish readers that chapter had probably more in- 

 terest than all the other chapters put together. 

 On the other hand, whenever a question about 

 boundaries or mutual rights arises with the United 

 States, the English people and the English Gov- 

 ernment betray, by the languor of their diplo- 

 macy and the ease with which they yield, their 



