m it a
slighter danger to innovate on the Act of Union than to remodel the
procedure of the House of Commons.

The central Government would again, merely from that division of powers
which is of the essence of Federalism, be as feeble against foreign
aggression as against local resistance. Home Rule, it is constantly
said, has at least this advantage, as compared with Irish independence,
that it prevents any alliance between Ireland and a foreign enemy. This
gain might turn out rather nominal than real. Neither the United States
nor France could, of course, send an Embassy to any State comprised
within the British Union; but, if war impended, they might and would
attempt to gain the favour of the Irish Ministry, or the Irish party who
controlled the Irish Parliament, or exercised the authority of the local
Government of Ireland. Suppose that when war was about to be proclaimed
between the British Federation and France, the Irish Parliament objected
to hostilities with the French Republic. Can it be denied that the local
Parliament and the local executive could, by protests, by action, or
even by inaction, give aid or comfort to the foreign enemy? The local
legislature would, in the supposed case, be aided by a minority of the
central Parliament or Congress. Obstruction would go hand in hand with
sedition. Loyalty to the Union was strong throughout the Northern States
during the War of Secession; but the tale used certainly to be told that
had Meade been defeated at Gettysburg, the leaders of the New York
democracy would have attempted "to carry the State out of the Union."
Moreover, Great Britain would perhaps find it easier to control the
action of an independent than of a confederated Ireland. Blockades and
embargoes are, as already pointed out, modes of persuasion applicable
to foreigners, but inapplicable to citizens; the Government of the Union
found it harder to check the latent disloyalty of South Carolina than it
would have found it to deal with the open enmity of Canada. This topic
is too odious and too far removed from the realm of practical politics,
to need more than the allusion required for the completeness of my
argument.

Federalism, in short, would mean the weakness of Great Britain, both at
home and abroad. As the head of a Confederacy, England, as the head also
of the British Empire, would meet undiminished responsibilities with
greatly diminished power.

_Thirdly._--Federalism is at least as likel