Imperial Federation: The Problem of National Unity

by George R. Parkin

[2] Prof. Shield Nicholson quotes Adam Smith's sentence: 'To expect that the freedom of trade would ever be entirely restored in Great Britain is as absurd as to expect that an Oceana or Utopia should ever be established in it,' and goes on to say: 'this curious example of the danger of political prophecy-should suffice to dispel the apathy generally displayed towards any consideration of the fiscal aspects of Britannic confederation … Nothing is more common than to speak of the complicated tariffs and the vested interests of the newest colonies as insuperable obstacles to any general fiscal reform. As a matter of historical fact, however, in much less than a century the commercial policy of the British Empire has passed, speaking broadly, from the extreme of central regulation to the extreme of non-interference, and there is, prima facie, no reason why a reaction should not occur if such a course is shown to be to the mutual advantage of the colonies and the mother-country.'

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CHAPTER XIV.

PLANS. CONCLUSION.

'There is not the least probability that the British constitution would be hurt by the union of Great Britain with the colonies, That constitution, on the contrary, would be completed by it, and seems to be imperfect without it. The assembly which deliberates and decides concerning the affairs of every part of the Empire, in order to be properly informed, ought certainly to have representatives from every part of it. That this union, however, could be easily effectuated, or that difficulties and great difficulties might not occur in the execution, I do not pretend. I have yet heard of none, however, which appear insurmountable.'——Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations.

THE advocates of national consolidation have been constantly subjected, as everyone familiar with current discussion knows, to two diametrically opposite forms of criticism. They are vigorously reproached by writers like Mr. Goldwin Smith for not stating in detail the method by which their purposes are to be accomplished; they are ridiculed by others as people who aim at binding together by means of a 'cut and dried plan' an Empire which has hitherto depended upon slow processes of growth for its constitutional development. It will be well to form a just estimate of these contradictory lines of criticism.

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The demand so often made for a formal and detailed statement of the precise constitutional methods by which national unity is to be secured appears to me to be put forward in defiance of the teachings of history. The grounds upon which this opinion is based are obvious to anyone who studies the methods by which Federal organization has been effected in the past.

Take first the case of the United States. The time between the recognition of American Independence in 1783 and the adoption of the Federal constitution in 1788 has been well called the 'critical period of American history.' During this period of strenuous agitation Alexander Hamilton, Madison, and other American statesmen had freely discussed in a general way their ideas upon Federal union, and had made many but widely divergent attempts to outline the main principles upon which it should be based.

Still, when the famous convention which met in 1787, eleven years after the declaration of independence, entered upon its discussions, it had to deal, not with any single plan, but with many contradictory plans, brought forward by states or individuals. It is now known that weeks and indeed months spent in anxious consultation elapsed before even the most sanguine among the delegates began to feel assurance that a plan which would harmonize conflicting ideas could be devised. Even when the Federal constitution was at length drafted, and Alexander Hamilton, at the last session of the convention, made {298} a final plea for its adoption, he emphasized his demand for the sacrifice of personal preferences by pointing out how remote its provisions were from the ideas which he had at the outset entertained and had indeed supported throughout the discussions. It was at a later period that Hamilton and other leaders of the Federation movement made their contributions to the famous 'Federalist,' a series of discussions avowedly written with a view to secure popular support for a plan which had previously, however, only been elaborated by the united wisdom of the trained statesmanship of the country[1].