ss from these momentary incidents of the
week to circumstances of a more permanent and perhaps more serious
character, what are the conclusions which an intelligent traveller
from the old country may draw, with reference to the ties which bind
the colonies to the mother country? If he looks at your society and
your family life, he finds the same manners, the same habits, the same
ways of viewing circumstances and things. Your English tastes are
shown in the houses which you build, the clothes which you wear, the
food which you eat, and in the goods you buy. The national character
of the Anglo-Saxon race is shown as strongly here as in the mother
country in your spirited devotion to manly sports and pastimes; and
when we think of the other ties that bind us--a common faith, a common
literature, the same dear mother tongue--what other conclusion can be
drawn by the intelligent traveller than this--that the ties which bind
the colonies to the mother country are stronger than those which any
legislature or statesmanship could contrive, and that they are
inherent in the innermost life of the people. Gentlemen, you may call
the union which binds us an empire, you may call it a federation, you
may call it an offensive and defensive alliance of the closest
kind--you may call it what you will--the name is of subordinate
consequence while mutual sympathy and sentiment retain that binding
force which, as we have seen in this Jubilee week, you are all so
generously prepared to acknowledge in your relations with the old
country. Perhaps I may say a few words on this occasion with reference
to the mutual advantages which are afforded by our remaining together
as members of a united empire. There was a time when the connection
was less valued than it is at present by some of the eminent statesmen
of the old country. Since the days of which I speak great changes have
taken place. The map of Europe has been reconstructed on the principle
of the recognition of nationalities. The Germans have made themselves
into a nation; the Italians have made themselves into a nation. Our
tight little island is small indeed in area, in comparison with the
great territories of Continental Europe. It is small in area, but if
we and the children descended from us--these great English-speaking
nations which have overspread the world--remain united together, we
are the first of the nationalities of Europe. I think there are some
indications that the maintena