Page:Australian views of England.djvu/70

  politicians, and I am inclined to this opinion from the incompleteness and vagueness of the views expressed even by such men as Mr. Adderley. They want to withdraw the military, but they are wonderfully tender on the point of being suspected of a wish to weaken the ties of British connexion; and, when embarrassed by the logical sequence of their own arguments, they at once except all the ground on which the colonists base their claim to military protection. If the colonists are involved in the quarrels of England, forsooth, they would rush to the defence of the colonies 1 The truth is, I suspect that these gentlemen, in the dearth of popular topics, have discovered that it tickles the English voter's idea of his pocket to be told how he ought not to be taxed for the defence of the saucy and well-conditioned colonists. There is another class of politicians, however, who are much more in earnest, and possess much more ability, and exercise a much wider range of influence. They would withdraw the military, as they would remove the last hold of British power from the colonies, under the firm belief that the present connexion is only mischievous in its effects, and that it would be