g hard facts. The sense of English kinship is as lively in us
as in other people, and we have the same pride in English energy,
resolution, and stoutness of heart, whether these virtues show
themselves in the young countries or the old. We agree in desiring a
strong and constant play between the thoughts, the ideals, the
institutions, of Englishmen in the island home and Englishmen who have
carried its rational freedom and its strenuous industry to new homes
in every sea. Those who in our domestic politics are most prepared to
welcome democratic changes can have least prejudice against countrymen
who are showing triumphantly how order and prosperity are not
incompatible with a free Church, with free schools, with the payment
of members, with manhood suffrage, and with the absence of a
hereditary chamber. Neither are we misled by a spurious analogy
between a colony ready for independence and a grown-up son ready to
enter life on his own account; nor by Turgot's comparison of colonies
to fruit which hangs on the tree only till it is ripe. We take our
stand on Mr. Seeley's own plain principles that 'all political unions
exist for the good of their members, and should be just as large, and
no larger, as they can be without ceasing to be beneficial.' The
inquiry is simply whether the good of the members of our great English
union all over the world will be best promoted by aiming at an
artificial centralisation, or by leaving as much room as possible for
the expansion of individual communities along lines and in channels
which they may spontaneously cut out for themselves. If our ideal is a
great Roman Empire, which shall be capable by means of fleets and
armies of imposing its will upon the world, then it is satisfactory to
think, for the reasons above given, that the ideal is an unattainable
one. Any closer union of the British Empire attempted with this object
would absolutely fail. The unwieldy weapon would break in our hands.
The ideal is as impracticable as it is puerile and retrograde.

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes:

The transcriber made the following changes to the text to correct
obvious errors:

1. p. 329, "embarassments" changed to "embarrassments"

End of Project Gutenberg's Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 3 of 3), by John Morley

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRITICAL MISCELLANIES ***

***** This file should be named 29018.txt or 29018.zip *****
This and all