I RECUR again to the resolution of the Anglo-American League:
"Considering that the people of the British Empire and of the United States of America are closely allied in blood, inherit the same literature and laws, hold the same principles of self-government, recognise the same ideals of freedom and humanity in the guidance of their national policy, and are drawn together by strong common interests in many parts of the world, this meeting is of the opinion that every effort should be made in the interest of civilisation and peace to secure the most cordial and constant co-operation between the two nations."
An inquiry into the practicability of forming a more perfect union between the English-speaking people involves the consideration, first, of their internal relations; and, second, their external relations to the other nations of the world.
What are the motives, influences, and causes which operate to induce the English-speaking {100} nations and colonies to form a closer union than that which now exists between them?
Of what real advantage is interfusion-brotherhood—union?
I shall endeavour to take up the subjects in their natural order:
I.—UNION NATURAL AS TO TIME AND PEOPLE
In the first place, then, the union is a natural one, both as to the time of its taking effect, and as to the people embraced in it.
In respect to the time: the question of a union has not been forced upon the race or dragged into public light at an unseemly period by the artificial influences of diplomacy or official negotiation. It has come before the people in a perfectly natural way—unexpectedly, and unaccompanied by any strained or superficial influence. It is the inevitable result of primary and natural causes, which have been ripening and developing, noiselessly and slowly, to this end. In a word, it is an evolution.
Passing from the question of time, the union of the Anglo-Saxon people is a natural one. It is an alliance of nations of one