w 



852 



BEPOKT — 1884. 



I 



I 



|ij| 



III 



timber, furs, and oils makinjj; up four-fiftliH of tho remainder. Of lier imports one- 

 fourth may be classed as raw material, for tlio support of textile and other i'liduii. 

 tries ; another fourth, manufactured iron ; a third fourtli, articles of food ; mid the 

 remaininjr fourth, manufactured articles of sundry descriptions. 



Witli these figures, it is easy to see what are the chief articles of intorclianire 

 But when once the railway across the continent is completed, there will he I'ucihties 

 for bringing more of the land under cultivation, and for sending its produce away. 

 The mining output, especiiilly in coal to the I'ticitic, is likely to be great, and it ig 

 quite impossible to conceive to what an extent the wliolo may grow. 



On the other hand, the United Kingdom will need increasing supplies of food 

 and though her Southern and I'^astern possessions may have the sanu' capacity for 

 producing these, the contiguity of Norlli Auierica, and its geographical posit ior, in 

 the same zone, make it peculiarly appropriate for the feeding-grouiid of I'lngland. 



But beyond England's need for importing, sho has other wants — that of tlie lamls 

 to receive her growing population which she may iind in her colonies; and tiic 

 occupation for lier accumulated manufacturing power which she may expect to 

 create through those whom she sends forth. Tluis the increase of the species mav 

 be rendered a blessing rather than a curse. 



For both to fully benetit by this mutual dependence, there ought to be the 

 most unfettered interchange of the commodities which each grows or makes, and 

 whatever may be said as to protection against foreigners, nothing in the siiapi! 

 of protective duties ought to impede or divert commerce hetween portions of the 

 eame Empire, llevenue duties stand upon a dill'erent footing ; but they sliould be 

 raised upon imported and home products alike. It would be a great step if in all 

 the colonies and the mother country the same articles were .subjected to customs and 

 excise duties at similar rates, and the whole money so raised were appropriated 

 to defraying the coat of defence. 



It is scarcely to be questioned that ab.solute free trade, at least between all parts 

 of the Empire, must ultimately e.\.ist, although it is potjible that special circum- 

 stances may for a limited period require or justify that general economic principle.? 

 sboiUd give way to particular necessities. 



As regai-ds foreign countries, the selfishness which induces them, whilst avail- 

 ing themselves of all the advantages of free trade with us, to withhold from us the 

 corresponding benefit, should be met, not by protective duties, but by an absolute 

 refusal on our part to trade with them at all. Figures prove that they reuUy 

 depend more upon us than we on them, and due notice to this effect, so given as to 

 afiord no hope of reversal, would in all probability bring about the result without 

 any actual stoppage. England might depend upon the resources, and rely upon 

 the loyalty, of her colonies to sustain her in this conflict. 



The consideration of these questions leads up to the far greater one which is 

 now attracting, and may soon absorb, the attention of statesmen, both home and 

 colonial. This is the absolute necessity for some form of federation which may 

 bind together more closely the various portions of the Empire, and so counteract 

 any tendency towards disintegi-ation. 



But whatever may be the result of deliberation on this proposition, or the form 

 it might ultimately assume, why should not the Dominion at once seek for an actual 

 incorporation into the United Kingdom ? In point of distance, when measured iu 

 time, she is scarcely farther oft' than was Ireland when she became a part of tlie 

 Kingdom. By means of the electric telegraph, instantaneous communication with 

 the Pacific will very shortly be established. With trains crossing the land from 

 shore to shore, and the magnificent floating islands which our steamers will shortly, 

 if they have not already, become, the Continent and Atlantic will be bridged over 

 more eft'ectually than the Irish Sea was at the beginning of the century. Our 

 Eastern possessions are so different hi race, climate, and position, that they must, 

 for a lengthened period at least, constitute a different empure though under the 

 same sovereign. Our Southern settlements are more remote, though perhaps not 

 so much 80 as to necessitate their remaining iu a different category. But the 

 upper portion of the northern American continent has so many points in common 

 ■with the British Isles that it would be easy to weld them into one body. It is 



