184 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



On the one hand :— 



Union under one government, giving to British subjects in their confed- 

 erate and growing strength a nationality worthy of their origin, and a theatre 

 of action such as national expansion demands ; where — acknowledging the 

 sovereignty— maintaining the institutions— cultivating and perpetuating the 

 principles of the parent state — and putting forth the energies of free men, 

 they and their descendants may, under a gracious Providence, have the 

 opportunity of rising to degrees of political influence, material prosperity, 

 Intellectual and literary attainment, religious, educational and moral progress 

 and refinement of taste and manners which cannot be reached in small and 

 contracted communities. 



On the other hand is : — 



The pei-petuation of the present isolated condition of the province ; and 

 rich as she is in material benefits and prosperous within the limits which 

 small communities may attain, yet few in numbers, weak in strength, unequal 

 to the development of her own resources, unable to furnish to her sons pro- 

 fessionaJ education, or to retain at home her enterprising youth, &he has little 

 prospect for the future beyond a dwarfed existence and ultimate absorption 

 into the neighbouring republic. 



One of these must be chosen, the other rejected. There is no other alter- 

 native. My sentiments formed and publicly advocated through a quarter 

 of a century, leave me no room for deliberation now. To an old man, in- 

 dividually, any decision is of small moment ; but as a member of the com- 

 munity, in the exercise of my best judgment, on a question of vital interest 

 to all of us and those who come after, I dare not deny a national existence 

 with its privileges and duties to my descendants and my countrymen. 



I therefore accept Confederation as a great benefit, whatever my ten- 

 dencies in favor of Legislative Union, and though they were greater and more 

 fixed than they are. 



There is another point requiring explanation in connection with the re- 

 publication of my speech. 



The example of the United States was urged by me in '54 as strongly 

 Illustrative of the advantages of Confederation. The civil war that has since 

 arisen has been supposed to afford an argument in the opposite direction ;. 

 but, as I think, without reason. If history can teach anything, no lesson 

 is more plain than that taught by the great contrast between the imbecility 

 of the United States, after their independencee was acknowledged and the 

 bond was dissolved tfhat during the war had held them together, and their 

 wond.'^rful progress and power a-fter the constitution was adopted by which 

 they were united. ' 



That after three-quarters of a century, when thirteen States had increased 

 to thirty and three, and four millions of people had grown to thirty millions, 

 a powerful section possessing individually and extensive powers of State 

 Legislation should desire separation, was quite within the operation of human 

 pas.sion and interests ; and if it was necessary to meet this desire with 

 cannon balls then the civil war might be an argument against all confedera- 

 tions. But a peaceful separation might have taken place ; two prosperous 

 states might have occupied the place held by one before ; and in a few years 

 tihe parent state, renewed by natural increase and foreign accessions, have 

 been prepared to give off— when the ncessity arose — as it almost inevitably 

 will arise — fres<h offshoots, and become a mother of nations. The system of 

 confederation would then have proved itself adapted for progression such as 

 the world had never seen, and adapted equally, when reason and justice de- 

 manded it, for contraction. It must not, therefore, be charged with con- 

 sequences which forbearance and a regard for justice and equal rights would 

 have averted ; and we may hope that if in distant time a great confederate 



