248 THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON. 



ness and good-will, rather than of the jealous tena- 

 ciousness of sovereign power. When the Dominion 

 shall express desire to put on the dignity of a sover 

 eign State, she will not encounter any obstacles on 

 the part of the Metropolis. 



In regard to the Dominion of Canada, as to the 

 Colonies of Australasia, the power of the Metropolis 

 appears there chiefly in the person of the Governor, 

 and in the occasional annulment of laws of the local 

 legislatures deemed incompatible with those of the 

 Empire. On the other hand, the Colonies, which have 

 necessary relations of their own with neighboring 

 Governments, as in the case of Canada relatively 

 to the United States, can not treat thereon them 

 selves, as their interests require they should, but 

 must act through the intervention of the Metropolis, 

 which, in this respect, may have other interests of its 

 own superior and perhaps injurious to those of the 

 Colonies. 



Meanwhile the Dominion has now to provide for 

 the cost of her own military defense, and that, not 

 against any enemies of her own, but against possible 

 enemies of the Mother Country. The complications 

 of European or of Asiatic politics may thus envelop 

 the Dominion in disaster, for causes wholly foreign to 

 her, as much so as if she were a sovereign State. In 

 such an emergency, the Dominion would be tempted 

 to assume an attitude of neutrality, if not of indepen 

 dence. 



All these considerations show how slender is the 

 tie which attaches the Dominion to Great Britain. 



