The Times of Saturday last contains an interesting tele- gram
from Melbourne giving the substance of a statement in regard to the proposals for an Imperial Zollverein made by Mr. Reid, the Premier of New South Wales. After declaring that the lurking desire to cut the painter which once existed here has been abandoned, and that a universal wish to revive the Imperial connection with the Colonies on a footing of equality has taken its place in the Motherland, Mr. Reid declares that attempts to negotiate a commercial alliance between Great Britain and the Colonies are idle. Any successful attempt to bind the Colonies and the Motherland together by the proposed Zollverein "would create an intolerable situation in which the present loyalty would be frittered away by the clashing and selfish trade interests of the various parts of the Empire." The results upon the foreign relations of Great Britain of a Zollverein might, he holds, be even more unhappy. London has become the commercial and financial magnet of the world as the result of wise principles of trade as generous as they are sound. "A fiscal coalition between Great Britain and her scattered Colonies might easily unite the rest of the world in a hostile combination armed with a new and sub. stantial motive for revenge." The whole statement is, in our opinion, marked by good sense and the spirit of statesmanship. We fear the Zollverein scheme as Free-traders, but we dread it even more as Imperialists. In that proposal lie the seeds of the quarrels which ruin kingdoms and lay cities low. We must never forget that it was a fiscal quarrel which lost us America.
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