selves--and the election three years later was fought upon
this issue. The result was a complete rout for the Federal party; a
rout so complete that the question has hardly since reappeared within
the field of practical politics. The causes of this defeat were, in
the first place, economic considerations; secondly, Irish national
feeling and hostility to the union; and thirdly, a certain distrust
and dread of Canada. Judge Prowse, whose intimate knowledge of
Newfoundland entitles his opinion to special respect, thinks that even
in recent years there lingered some rankling memory of the days when
French Canadian raids terrified the colonists in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries.[42] However this may be, it is certain that the
outlying portions of the Empire hardly as yet felt the same community
with and loyalty to one another as they did with regard to the home
country. The relation of Newfoundland to the Dominion of Canada
resembles in many ways that of New Zealand to the new Australian
Federal system, and in each group of colonies there is a noticeable
drift towards centralization. Judge Prowse, who was a strong believer
in North American union both from an Imperial and from a Colonial
point of view, has fully indicated the difficulties. The Canadian
protectionist tariff, the greater attractions of the United States
market (inasmuch as the Dominion is a fish producer rather than a fish
consumer), the opposition which wide political changes unavoidably
excite--all these obstacles were formidable for the moment. It is
uncertain even now whether they will be strong enough to prevent,
indefinitely, the realization of the Confederate scheme. It is
possible that such a union would be followed by some disadvantages to
Newfoundland; but, on the other hand, the gain would be very great.
The politics of the colony would be braced by the ampler atmosphere of
the Dominion, and the tendency towards parochialism finally arrested.
The geographical difficulty ceased to exist when the United States
taught us how vast are the areas over which successful political
unions are possible. No one can fairly ask that Newfoundland should
take the step in the teeth of her own material interests; but,
assuming that union with Canada can be reconciled with those
interests, the Imperial issue holds the field. Its importance can
hardly be overstated. So soon as the several communities, which
together form the Empire, realize not merely their t