Republic of the Seven United Provinces

“ It is in their power to extend those blessings to their own countrymen in the heart of the South American continent, and to produce a really United Confederation of the Provinces, instead of that which is now little more than nominal, from the vast distances which intervene, and operate as a bar to almost any intercourse between them. ”

“ The people under republican organization far outnumber those still acknowledging allegiance to hereditary rulers. The countries self-governed, or forming parts of American republics, embraced in 1900 all of the continental mainland south of the United-States-Canadian boundary, together with Alaska, Cuba, San Domingo and Haiti, and Porto Rico. The provinces, islands, etc., still controlled by European powers are Canada, Newfoundland, Bermuda, and all of the West Indies except the islands just referred to, which are more definitely designated in the table on page 424. ”

“ I thought that it would be the tendency of a federation sanctioned and consolidated by a monarchical Government gradually to become a complete legislative union; and that thus, while conciliating the French of Lower Canada, by leaving them the government of their own Province and their own internal legislation, I might provide for the protection of British interests by the general government, and for the gradual transition of the Provinces into an united and homogeneous community. ”

“ The difficulties we foresee may never come to pass, and others far greater, of which we have no foresight, may arise; but for all this the Confederation presents the only means now available, as far as we can perceive, for securing to the Provinces present independence and a future political life distinct from the turbulent existence of the United States. A glance at the map will reveal the extent of [vii] the Empire which rests upon the Lakes with one arm on the Atlantic and the other on the Pacific, whilst its face is wrapped in a mantle of eternal snow ”

“ The United States already embraces so vast a country, divided into forty-four states and four territories, exclusive of Alaska and the Indian Territory, that any addition to the number of states would tend to weaken the system, and the conversion of the provinces of Canada into states of our Union would introduce new elements of discord, while with Canada as an independent and friendly republic we could, by treaties or concurrent legislation, secure to each the benefit of free trade and intercourse with the other, and without the danger of weakening the United States. ”

“ The poor ignorant inhabitants are now wrangling about the Union of the Canadas, when, in fact, those Provinces should be confederated with New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and Newfoundland, for their general good, while each retained its Local Government, as is the case with the United States. ”

“ WHEREAS the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick have expressed their desire to be federally united into one Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a constitution similar in principle to that of the United Kingdom: And whereas such a Union would conduce to the welfare of the Provinces and promote the interests of the British Empire ”

“ The Constitution is a monument of Southern ascendency. So it was that, for seventy years off and on, the United States was governed by a Southern oligarchy, whether under the hegemony of Virginia or of South Carolina. The dominion of Canada means (even under a French premier) the dominion of Ontario, with Quebec bribed, and Newfoundland not bribed enough, to enter. In 1876 the ten New Zealand provinces were amalgamated under a central Government which for many years remained that of the earlier-settled North Island. ”

“ The rebellion did not last long, but its fruits were the union of Upper and Lower Canada in one province in 1840, and the beginning of true responsible government in Canada. The two Provinces remained united till 1867, when owing to a dead-lock between the two great political parties of the colony, the British North America Act was passed, which established a Federal form of government in British North America, leaving the different Provinces the control of their own local affairs, and establishing a Federal Parliament for the management of the general business of the Dominion of Canada. ”

“ In the colonies the preoccupation of thought and energy has with equal reason been as complete. It is scarce fifty years since the Canadian provinces obtained local self-government. The last half century has witnessed the growth of a most complete system of municipal and provincial institutions, crowned by a great act of constructive statesmanship in Confederation. The organization of half a continent on material lines has kept pace with each step in political construction. ”

“ For my share, I want the population of these provinces to do that which they believe to be best for their own interests—to remain with this country if they like it, in the most friendly manner, or to become independent States if they wish it. If they should prefer to unite themselves with the United States, I should not complain even of that. But whatever be their course, there is no man in this House or in those provinces who has a more sincere wish for their greatness and their welfare than I have who have taken the liberty thus to criticise this Bill. ”

“ Thus the United Provinces became a confederacy of seven independent principalities, called in the aggregate the States General. Several years elapsed before their constitution was finally settled. Then, the supreme sovereignty of the whole was considered to be vested in the people of every province represented by the States. These consisted of deputies appointed to them from the different provinces. Each province might send to the assembly more than one deputy; but, whatever was the number of deputies sent by them, they had one vote only in the proceedings of the assembly. ”

“ It is observed, that the United Provinces have existed a long time; but they have been constantly the sport of their neighbors, and have been supported only by the external pressure of the surrounding powers. The policy of Europe, not the policy of their government, has saved them from dissolution. Besides, the powers of the stadtholder have given energy to the operations of this government, which is not to be found in ours. ”

“ In respect to the domestic relations between the Provinces and the Dominion, the Federal principle used in Canada is fundamentally the same as that which obtains in the United States and in every true Federation in the world, whether Monarchical or Republican, whether self-contained, like the United States, Germany, and Switzerland, or linked, as in the British Empire, to a supreme and sovereign Government centred in London. Each Province, as in every genuine Federation, is an imperium in imperio, possessing a Constitution of its own, and delegating central powers to a Federal Government. ”

“ They are not organized under the Constitution nor subject to its complex distribution of the powers of government. The United States, having rightfully acquired the Territories, and being the only Government which can impose laws upon them, has the entire dominion and sovereignty, national and municipal, Federal and State. ”

“ And the Government will seek, by sending representatives to the Lower Provinces and to England, to secure the assent of those interests which are beyond the control of our own legislation to such a measure as may enable all British North America to be united under a General Legislature based upon the federal principle. ”

“ But I cannot point out more strikingly the evils of the present want of a general government for these Provinces, than by adverting to the difficulty which would practically occur, under the previous and present arrangements of both Executive and Legislative authorities in the various Provinces, in attempting to carry such a plan into effect. For the various Colonies have no more means of concerting such common works with each other, than with the neighbouring States of the Union. They stand to one another in the position of foreign States, and of foreign States without diplomatic relations. ”

“ What is the common bond that is to bring the various colonies into a federal union? It is certain that it will have to be a bond of political and national interest, and not of sentiment merely, though the sentiment may serve by way of decoration. We all know how extremely difficult it was to bring the provinces of Canada to form themselves into the Dominion. ”

“ Assuming that at no distant date the Australasian and the North African groups of colonies will be federated, as the Canadian provinces now are, he proposes that each of these three great British communities shall be represented in this country by leading members of the Cabinets of the countries to which they belong, ministers going out of office when their own governments are changed, and so permanently representing the views of the government in power. ”

“ That notwithstanding various obstacles and difficulty which the powers and operation of the Constitution, established by the said statute, are gradually removing, the population of the Province has been progressive, in a ratio fully equal to that of the United States of America, without a proportionate increase from emigration; the public revenue has proved nearly sufficient to cover all necessary Colonial expenditure, and Trade and Agriculture, notwithstanding the extraordinary pressure of the present times, have, in the aggregate, greatly improved. ”

“ Since the fortune of war has conducted me hither, and it is little probable that business, necessity, or pleasure, should ever lead me again to this part of the continent of Europe, I am resolved, if I can obtain permission, to profit by the occasion, and make the tour of the United Provinces. I say the United Provinces, because the Batavian republic has not yet obtained a place in our maps and gazetters; and to the one I associate something that is great and heroic, whereas the other conveys to my mind no favourable ideas. ”

“ The Western issues are now so weighty that only the greatest prudence and wisest statesmanship will maintain the equilibrium between the conflicting forces of the East and the West of our broad Dominion. Canada now stands at the parting of the ways in its home and foreign policy. Every true and patriotic Canadian is proud of the progressiveness of these new Provinces beyond our great Lakes and anxious to see them bring their contributions to the Commonwealth by sharing in the direction of its government. ”

“ Each of the Provinces has a Governor and a Parliament of its own, chosen by the local electorate, and possesses, as has been said, a very large measure of autonomy in the management of its own fiscal and other internal affairs. Other large areas which are not yet judged by Congress to have attained sufficient development to be able to support the financial burdens and status of autonomous Provinces have remained National Territories under the direct control of the National Government. ”

“ It cannot be claimed as a right by the population on the territory of the defunct State. As they could not take the territory out of the Union, and as they, so long as they remain on it, are within the jurisdiction of the United States, the Federal Government has authority to govern them, and may govern them either as a Territory or as a conquered province. ”

“ In this country, they are avowedly not content with existing institutions and laws, but are restless to try their improving hand upon them. They desire to secure uniformity according to their own ideal standard, by consolidation, concentration, unification of the legislative and executive powers in the federal government, and the reduction of the states into the condition of subordinate, dependent provinces in a republican empire. ”

“ On the other hand, what is called 'Popular Sovereignty' in the Territories, is a phrase used to designate the right of the people of an organized Territory, under the Constitution and laws of the United States, to govern themselves in respect to their own internal polity and domestic affairs. ”

“ Assuming that at some period, near or distant, the British North American Provinces, between the Atlantic and the Pacific, unite in a federal or legislative union, and thus become too great and too strong for attack, that next best alternative would point to such arrangements, as respects the North-west, as would lead on to and promote this union, and not stand in its way. ”

“ There are many dangers inherent in the nature of the proposed Confederation; there are many obstacles to its harmonious and successful working; but on the whole some such scheme appears to be the only practical mode of saving the British Provinces from the aggression of the North American Republicans. ”

“ Discontent of the colonists.It may well be believed that such a state of things is not borne without repining by some of the most enterprising and loyal people of the Province. It is well known that the desire of getting over these difficulties has led many persons in this Province to urge the singular claim to have a convenient portion of Lower Canada taken from that Province, and annexed to Upper Canada; and that it induces many to desire an union of the Provinces as the only efficient means of settling all these disputes on a just and permanent footing. ”

“ The formula adopted in an Act of Congress organizing a Territory, is "An Act to provide a provisional government, etc., etc., etc." In course of time, no doubt, all the Territories will be admitted as States, as the territorial form of government is not provided for as a permanency by the Constitution, and is moreover anomalous in the American system. The people residing in the Territories are to a considerable extent disfranchised politically, and are not, in fact, full-fledged American citizens. ”