THE MEANS BY WHICH A CLOSER UNION MAY BE CREATED AND MAINTAINED
I HAVE already spoken of the ineffectiveness, in truth I should
say the hollowness, of mere expressions of good feeling, of the
airy and fleeting _entente cordiale_, between the English and
American people, arising out of temporary enthusiasm--or
sentimental passion.[1]
On the other hand, I have discarded as wholly impracticable and
dangerous a fixed, definite, written treaty of
alliance--defensive and offensive. The people break away from
the former, and the latter exists only until some temporary or
imaginary selfish purpose or interest requires it to be broken.
{153} Is there not some medium, conservative ground between a
sentimental _entente_ and a written alliance which will
indissolubly unite the Anglo-Saxon race in national sympathy and
purpose? Let us consider this aspect of the subject.
I admit that some preparation must be made in the minds of the
people of our race; that seeds must be sown in the ground of
public opinion before a conclusion can be reached between the
Anglo-Saxons upon this important subject. But these are times
for quick action,--events mature soon,--and the last few years
have been prolific in conditions which have opened the eyes and
ripened the judgment of the English-speaking people. We have
been brought close together by the instrumentalities of steam,
electricity, and science; our commercial interests have
interlocked us in a thousand ways; we have had the experience of
the Spanish War; frequent intermingling has made us better
acquainted with each other; in one word, the experiences of the
last five years have done more to unite us as a people than all
our combined antecedent history. The scales have dropped from
our eyes as if by a miracle, and we can now regard ourselves in
the mirror of our true interest and destiny.
I accordingly claim that the time and the people are alike ripe
for some _action_ which will tend to establish an indissoluble
relation. It would be an ideal condition if we could act
together for ever without the stroke of a pen--inspired by mere
affection and sympathy; but the chain moulded in {154} the fires
of sentiment, no matter how effective in some regards, is not
strong enough to bind the Anglo-Saxons together.
There are three methods by which a union may be established:
First, by uniting all the English and Americans into one nation.
At the present time such a course is absolutely impracticable,
for reasons so weighty and obvious that they need not be
mentioned.[2] What the far future will develop I shall not now
seek to foretell; I can only raise the curtain high enough to
enable us to behold our near destiny. But the necessities of the
English-speaking people may yet drive them into one nation, and
from such a possibility they need not shrink. The entire
English-speaking races might be happily united under a
_constitutional monarchy_, or a _republican federative
government_. Many worse things could happen to them in their
national life than their consolidation into one nation. But as
there is nothing in existing conditions which requires such a
radical and revolutionary step, I regard its discussion as quite
useless. I allude to it merely to clear the way for more
practical suggestions.[3]
The second means by which a permanent union could be created
between Great Britain and her colonies, and the United States
and her colonies {155} and dependencies, would be by
establishing a federation. A federation, however, is also
impracticable. A federation is the union of several independent
states for purposes of mutual interest, protection, and support;
each state reserving the control of its own internal affairs,
but surrendering to the federative council, or body, or
executive, whichever may be chosen to exercise them, all powers
necessary to enable the government thus created to deal with
foreign or external questions, and to carry out the purposes for
which the federation has been established.
The difficulty in establishing a federation is, that neither the
United States nor England would be willing to surrender its
national individuality and rank in the same degree of statehood
as Canada, Australia, or one of the minor colonies or
dependencies of either of the first-named countries. A
federation places each independent state, politically at least,
upon an equal footing, and the disparity of population, or
territory (to say nothing of prestige) is too great to render
such a plan practicable.[4]
A third method of creating a union between these nations is by a
treaty binding upon all of {156} them, by which certain rules
shall be established regulating their relations towards each
other, but not to foreign nations. This I believe furnishes
practical means of establishing a permanent and substantial
understanding, _entente_, or union between the English-American
people; and when I have used the terms "union," "alliance," and
the like, in the preceding parts of this book, I mean that,
whatever it may be called, it shall be created by a written
instrument, and attested by a legal, constitutional, and binding
treaty between all of the English and American powers and
colonies.
By this method a union can be established without forming a
federation--which means too much on the one side, in the
surrender of position and individuality by the United States and
England--while mere vague, indefinite expressions of sympathy
and ephemeral good feeling, on the other, accomplish too little.
It is too much to demand or expect a federation; while a mere
moral _entente_ falls short in effectiveness and practical
result. We have already passed through the stage of an _entente_
consisting of mutual good-will, interest, forbearance, and
respect; we have a good and solid knowledge of each other, so
that we are now ready to cement this feeling by measures which
will bring us so close together as to be practically one people.
I therefore open a conservative method--a compromise between a
federation and mere verbal expressions of good-will, which can
be consummated by a treaty authorised by the people of the
United {157} States and by the Parliament of Great Britain, and
by the peoples of all the colonies of both nations, and which
shall embrace the following subjects:
_First_: The Dominion of Canada voluntarily to divide itself
into such different states, geographically arranged, as its
citizens desire, in proportion to population, and each state to
be admitted as a full member of the American Union in accordance
with the conditions of the Constitution of the United States.
_Second_: To establish common citizenship between all the
citizens of the United States and the British Empire.
_Third_: To establish absolute freedom of commercial intercourse
and relations between the countries involved, to the same extent
as that which exists between the different States constituting
the United States of America.
_Fourth_: Great Britain and the United States to coin gold,
silver, nickel, and copper money, not necessarily displaying the
same devices or mottoes, but possessing the same money value,
and interchangeable everywhere within the limits covered by the
treaty; and to establish a uniform standard of weights and
measures.
_Fifth_: To provide for a proper and satisfactory arbitration
tribunal to decide all questions which may arise under the
treaty.
I shall proceed to give in detail my reasons for each of these
propositions. I am conscious that this general plan may be, in
many of its details, susceptible to criticism. But it furnishes
a basis {158} for discussion and amendment. I give it as a
whole. Mould it, shape it, until it is symmetrical, and its
dimensions rise as sublime and majestic as the greatest
monuments of ancient and modern liberty. Magna Charta and the
Constitution of the United States were formed to establish, and
have preserved, the principles of liberty, justice, and equality
among the Anglo-Saxon race.
Let us, the descendants of the pioneers of this race, perpetuate
and further extend our influence, power, and the political
beatitudes which form our system of government, by uniting in a
common brotherhood, and attested by a third monumental
instrument which will further instinctively mark our progress as
a people.
[1] Take the history of the Anglo-American League (_ante_ p. 57)
as an illustration of such sporadic influences and their
results. That League was formed in London during the
Spanish-American War. It was hailed in the United States with
expressions of keen delight. But, the war ended, American
enthusiasm oozed out; the Boer War began, manifestations were
had in the United States against England, the whole efforts of
the League were neutralised, if not frustrated, and the wishers
for a real union between the countries sadly demoralised. The
League is now almost forgotten, and many of its most respectable
members are quite willing to conceal the fact that such a
society ever existed. Yet the motives of its formation were
noble and unselfish; its membership highly respectable and
influential; but it confined its acts to mere _resolutions_; it
was inspired by fleeting sentimental conditions.
[2] Still the author of _The Americanization of the World_, W.
T. Stead, boldly advocates such a step.
[3] But the thought is not one which sees the light for the
first time in this book. It was the dream of many English and
Americans before the Revolution, as Mr. Lecky attests: "The
maintenance of one free, industrial, and pacific empire,
comprising the whole English race, holding the richest plains of
Asia in subjection, blending all that was most venerable in an
ancient civilisation with the redundant energies of a youthful
society, and destined in a few generations to outstrip every
competitor and acquire an indisputable ascendancy on the globe,
may have been a dream, but it was at least a noble one, and
there were Americans who were prepared to make any personal
sacrifices rather than assist in destroying it." Mr. Lecky uses
this language in eulogising the course of the Loyalists during
the Revolution.--_History of England in the Eighteenth Century_,
vol. iii., p. 418.
[4] See in this connection Professor Freeman's _Greater Greece
and Greater Britain_, Appendix, p. 105, where reference is made
to an attempt more than fifteen years ago to establish a
federation between Great Britain and her Colonies under the
paradoxical title of "Imperial Federation."
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