THE FEDERATION OF GREATER BRITAIN.
THE remarkable book, or rather collection of pamphlets, which Professor Seeley has just given to the world,* may have one mischievous effect. It may strengthen the hands of that imaginative but unpractical party which is always looking forward to a Federation of the Empire. Pro- fessor Seeley contends that we English misread the greatest of all modern political occurrences,—the "expansion of England."' Optim;sta or pessimists, we none of us see the precise truth,.
• Tit, ES.1.111fiC11 Of Englund. By J. B. Beeley. London : Mncintllan. and either indulge in bombast, or are careless of gains which, wisely treated, might keep us on a level with the greatest States of the world. He holds India to be a mere possession of little or no value to the kingdom, though one which, for the sake of its own population, England may be in duty bound to retain ; but considers the real Colonies, such as the Canadian Dominion, the West India Islands, Australia, and New Zealand as parts of England, expansions of her territory into which her people pour exactly as they would pour into unoccupied lands close at home. They have done so continuously for two hundred years, have fought war after war to maintain their right to do so, and will continue doing so, until within a very short period the English who have not split off, the English under the Queen, who are already forty- five millions, will number a hundred millions, possessing, exclu- sive of India, one of the largest territories in the world. Professor Seeley believes that these hundred millions may still hold to- gether,that we are all deceived by the precedent of the American schism, that the binding forces developed by the aid of science are now stronger than the dissolving forces, and that if the English will but place themselves mentally in their true position, a great and vigorous State, equal to any other in the world, may yet be created. They ought not to think of them- selves as people of an island, but as citizens in common of an enormous, though scattered State, which they can if they please hold together by Federal ties as easily as the American Republic holds its almost equally vast and scattered popula- tion. With steamships and telegraphs, distance presents no difficulties, and the Empire, apart from India, has in it a basis of stability, its population being essentially homogeneous in race, colour, and aspirations, and we may add, not divided by any of those violent differences of civilisation which so nearly rent the Northern and Southern States violently asunder.
This is a brilliant picture, and substantially a true one ; but Professor Seeley draws from it, we think, a dangerous deduction. He does not exactly say, "Federate this Empire, and maintain it at all hazards, even civil war," for he has a lingering doubt whether a State is happier, or greater, or even stronger for being so very big, but this is the bias of his teaching. He tells us that we may enjoy this greatness, if we employ the Federal system. He shows how the United States have prospered under that system, how vigorously and splendidly they fought for their Unity ; and he brings in throughout his discourse the word "Federal," in a way that shows he regards this scheme of government as the instrument of empire. Moreover, he does distinctly recommend that Greater Britain should be so organised that its whole strength should, in case of need, be available for war ; and that, of course, implies federation of some kind. At present, we defend the Colonies on condition of directing their foreign policy ; but if they are to defend us, they must, of course, have their voice, and a potent voice, in that branch at least of the general administration of affairs. The prospect greatly gratifies many minds, and is not without a charm for all ; but it is, we believe with much reluctance, impracticable. We entirely agree that the Colonists are only scattered Eng- lishmen, and we have always maintained that we should bind the Colonies much more closely to ourselves as allies, by more honorific treatment, by mere respect for their fancies, by more attention to their Envoys, by more rigid abstinence from interference in their internal affairs, but federa- tion is impossible. The federation could not be limited by any art to Foreign Affairs, for with the first common war would come common taxation, and with . common taxation the business and the rights of the common govern- ing Power would cover all departments of life. The distant States must be represented in the Supreme Parliament, and with that great change, however effected, whether by seating Colonial Representatives in the House of Commons, or, which would be more effective, by superseding the House of Lords by a Repre- sentative Senate, with special control of patronage and foreign policy, the freedom of the Island Englishmen to direct their own lives would speedily be ended. Fifty years hence the Colonists will outnumber us, and would under this scheme govern us in our own capital, and long before that period they would hold the balance of power. Upon all questions of foreign policy, of military and naval preparation, of Colonial government, of taxation for war, they would hold their own ideas, would ally themselves with one of the great parties, and would, be irresistibly strong. We see how powerful thirty Parnellitea have made themselves, but the Colonists, if ad- mitted into Parliament, would already claim a fourth of all the seats,, or say roughly a hundred and fifty Members, a body which could always secure the casting-vote, and which, in ideas, ways, and aspirations, would be as separate from us as the Irish Ultras. They could not feel as we feel about Colonies, navies, or tariffs ; and they would not feel as we do about our relations either with the Continental States, with Ireland, or with the American Republic. The burden of government, already severe, and only borne because there is in the body of British electors a final authority, would speedily be past endurance.
Nor are we at all sure that a Federal Greater Britain, if it could be formed, would be so wisely governed as Great Britain is now. The Colonial Office is not a perfect Department, but the Colonial system of Great Britain is now the most lenient and self-denying the world has ever heard of. The Mother-country, while keeping all seas clear for her children, and defending them from all attack, asks nothing of them, neither revenue, nor soldiers for general service, nor even special commercial advantages. She is reluctant to press even undoubted claims, and often carries concession to local feeling up to the verge of principle. A Federal Government would be far more exigeant, and would often be felt by a particular Colony as intolerable as the Southern States felt the Federal Government of the Union. The new bond might well lead to disruption, instead of closer union. In war-time, this danger would be very great. Each Colony has then its special interests, which the Mother-country can and does allow for in a hundred informal ways ; while the Federal Government would be compelled to apply to all the same rigid rule. No representative system, however artistic, could make the Canadian and Australian Dominions think alike about a war for the right of fishing round Newfound- land, and the prominence of the two in British councils would only deprive the Mother-country of its present moderating power. That power is sure to tend towards peace, because, if there is war, Britain must bear all taxes, supply all soldiers, and face all consequences, with- out dreaming that States beyond ocean, represented, but not invested with power, will relieve the central people of a portion of their burden. The system, no doubt, is imperfect, more especially in the place given to the Agents, that is, in effect to the representative Governments of the Colonies ; but it allows the Empire to bind itself together by links of inter- course, trade, and mutual reliance for support and advice. If for these loose links rigid chains are substituted, however artistically they may be made, the movement of the world, which can never be foreseen, may snap them.
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