they are suffered to go on, civil war. That is a
prospect which no man of just mind can contemplate--that these colonies,
sprung from the same stock, possessing the same great inheritance of
equal laws and all the riches of science which have been achieved and
stored up for us in the mother country--that we, side by side, instead
of living in brotherhood and amity, should live in constant irritation
and hostility. Either we must join hands, or we must hold out our hands
in defiance of each other. In the very nature of things we cannot be
divided and be one. In the very nature of things we cannot submit to
causes of irritation, causes of infliction, causes of dissatisfaction,
causes of exasperation, and still live in brotherhood. It is only by
joining hands in good faith as the people of one kindred; it is only by
giving and taking--by entertaining compromise as far as compromise can
be entertained without deadly injury to principle--it is only by doing
that, we can hope to found this union. If we unfortunately miss this
great occasion, and leave the work undone, it will be done in a few
years hence, and it will be done by younger hands, who will gain the
credit of having effected this bond of union, which will be in itself,
if rightly effected, of more value than any other achievement in the
history of this continent.

This is no time for glowing periods; it is no time for rhetorical
flights; but it is a time for hard and steady work in trying to do what
we are called here to do, and I would ask the honourable members to do
their utmost by a calm self-suppression, by a close attention to the
object which has brought us here, by mutual respect, mutual forbearance,
and disposition to compromise where compromise is possible, to assist
each other in bringing about this great work; and I would say that if we
do seize the occasion and succeed in doing the work, we shall have, not
now so vividly as hereafter, the blessing of this and succeeding
generations in what we have accomplished.

THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

+Source.+--The Melbourne Argus, 10 May 1901

OPENING OF THE FIRST PARLIAMENT

Ten years after the great conference of 1891, the work of Sir Henry
Parkes and his fellow federationists reached its culmination. The
first truly Australian Parliament was opened by the Duke of
Cornwall and York (King George V).

By the hand of royalty, in the presence of the greatest concourse of