CANADA AND IMPERIAL FEDERATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 1957, 23 May 1889, Page 17

CANADA AND IMPERIAL FEDERATION.

Mr J. G. Schurman writes, in the New York Forum : — • •' With the United States we earnestly desire friendship, intercourse, and unalloyed peace, It is a double 'anachronism for, you to, visit upon Canada the ancient sin of .England. Americans are jealous of Eurdpeanlinfluence on this continent, Yet their recent treatment of Canada has obliged her to lean strongly upon her European support. The sentiment of Imperial federation has struck deep roots during tbe discussion of the fisheries question. Canada is the arbiter of her own destiny, and if she seeks it in federation, the Monroe doctrine (which in any case is not; the law of nations) 1 could not be adapted to the coercion of a free people in the final settlement of their ,own government. , Is Canada likely to choose, lmperial federation?.,, That term covers two meanings. It may stand for a federated state : (Bwndesstaat) or for a federation of states (Staatenhend). The American Union, whatever tb.Q original intention (and it was very differed according'to Jefferson), has become, as everybody recognises 3ince the Civil War, a republic of the former character, though the equality of State representation in the Senate ■survives as an element of tbe other system When Imperial federation is talked aboui in Canada, it naturally suggests the American pattern. But to that neither Canadians, nor Englishmen could agree. Not Canadians* for it. w.ould deprive them of their fiscal! independence, and without coaceivable.adr vantage t,o countervail, W w;ould t entatt (partnership in ,iKui»j>ean v Afribaa, ,an# ! Asiatic wars for interest* rtot 'direcSlj-W evela WM|>ei^;%;'i* w? MCndt Bnghßhmeii i &r |>roporttopate r©pi:esen.tft.

tion in Parliament, 1 to say nothing of equal representation in the Upper House, would, mean the ultimate absorption of England byj Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the rest. England is now the stable centre of her empire. Nay, it is her empire 1 But this scheme of Imperial federation would change all that. It would loosen England from her moorings, and send her, the prey of constant diminution, to drift in an aimless bircuit of \ the globe she now girdles with her flag. There remains the scheme of a league or federation of states. But Canada could enter this only as an equal sovereign commonwealth. The object of the federation might be defence, or any other specified purpose. Examples are found in the Germanic Confederation before 1866, the Hanseatic League in mediasval Germany, and the Bwiss Confederation up to the present century. Imperial federation, for the British Empire, might mean merely an advisory council of sovereign states. But whatever form it took, it would imply nationality in severalty. It can, therefore, scarcely be of this scheme that Sir John Macdonald says, "Imperial federation is utterly impracticable." Such a union would be almost as practicable as the present alliance between Germany, Austria, and Italy. It might even be extended to include all the English-speaking nations of the globe. It would gradually lead up to that court of envoys which, according to some writers, is the great desideratum for the sovereign states of Christendom. Thus Imperial federation, in its only feasible sense, would, in readjusting the relations of Great Britain to her colonies, prepare the way for "the parlia-' ment of man, the federation of the world." But however these things be, and whether the ultimate destiny of Canada is to be an isolated or an allied state, the first preliminary qualifying for either is that she shall move on without jar in her present career of growing sovereignty. It is necessary that she shall know the value and feel the responsibility of complete autonomy, as Bhe now enjoys its privileges. Both individuals ,and communities grow to the burdens they bear ; and Canada is no exception to the rule. But there must be no break with the past. And' the process has already gone so far that ■ there will be little difference from the present. Her position toward great Britain j will be scarcely changed from what it. is to-day. But between the English-speaking family of nations in the Old World and in the New, Canada will be no longer a dubious promise, but an outspoken pledge of peace, amity, and fraternity.