Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 5.djvu/170

 THE WORLD'S FAMOUS ORATIONS

empire during that century of glory which ended in 1800, when the foundations of our Indian and Colonial dominion were laid, when so many suc- cessful wars were waged by British soldiers and sailors ? Or how can it be said that there will be less unity of the empire under the Bill than there was between 1782 and 1800, when there were two crowns, two armies, and two Mutiny Acts?

My right honorable and learned friend said the union of the crown in the same person did not make a United Kingdom, and he cited the case of Hanover; but he forgot that when our sovereigns were electors of Hanover they were members of the Holy Roman Empire, and after- ward, when that empire had already vanisned, they became, in 1815, members of the Germanic Confederation. When he says that that which makes unity of laws is the unity of the law- making power, does he remember that in a coun- try which has long been united, and which in every decade of its existence tends to become more and more united — I mean the United States of North America — there are thirty-eight sepa- rate legislatures which enjoy within their proper sphere supreme legislative power? These legislatures are entirely uncontrolled by the Federal Congress on certain subjects — subjects of wide compass and great consequence. Not only in the different States are the laws differ- ent, but the spirit in which these State laws are* administered is also different. 146

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