Page:Australia and the Empire.djvu/255

 re-unite under a common Sovereign, through the genius of a despotic Minister.

It is this succession of mournful spectacles which has abated the enthusiasm of generous natures. Men no longer believe, like the Alcalde, that Jeremy Bentham, or any one else, could invent equitable laws capable of removing the ills of the world. The Republic of George Washington, or of Abraham Lincoln, undoubtedly cuts a great figure in history, but what of that of M. Grévy? Reflections such as these all unconsciously pass through the minds of the rising generation of Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders, whenever they can find time to idly speculate on the future of their countries. And, as Matthew Arnold would have said, they "make for" Imperial unity. Here, then, we have, I venture to think, the crux of the entire problem. Can these great and growing colonies forthwith form something approaching to an alliance with England? Can they, in other words, as they increase in power and population, be received on equal terms into the Imperial bund? Nothing else, I am convinced, will permanently satisfy them.

This is a subject which, I think, can be very fairly reasoned out between Englishmen, Australians, and