We want the federation of _union with England_, not the federation of _separation from her_. But where are we to look for such a policy, surely not to the littleness described by M. Merimée, which “_commits all possible faults to keep a few doubtful votes_--the policy that _disquiets itself about the present, and thinks nothing of the future_,”--not to the politicians who put party before nation,--not to the petty caucuses of those economic charlatans who have impoverished the empire. We want an extension of franchise, but not _mob franchise_ such as Chamberlain and his crew propose. We want extension of franchise to India and the Colonies. We want, in the House of Commons, representatives of the interests of England’s dependencies. We want practical, far-seeing, intelligent men--those who have seen the world in its different aspects, and know, by experience, its wants; not mere “globe-trotters” and travelling M.P.s, who return to their country more ignorant and puffed up with their partial knowledge than when they started; but representative men who have lived out of England long enough to have shaken off the idea that their “Little Pedlington,”--be it London or Liverpool, or Manchester or Birmingham,--is the pivot on which the world revolves. We want in fact an Imperial Parliament, not a wretched caucus of narrow-minded party politicians, whose view is limited to the horizon of the coming election, and whose whole business in life is to stump the country, making flatulent speeches, with exuberant verbosity, to gaping admirers, and pandering to the fleeting popularity of the mob.[104] FOOTNOTE: [104] The old colonial system is gone. But in place of it no clear and reasoned system has been adopted. The wrong theory is given up, but what is the right theory?--There is only one alternative. If the colonies are not in the old phrase, possessions of England, then they must be a part of England; and we must adopt this view in earnest. We must cease altogether to say that England is an island off the north western coast of Europe, that it has an area of 120,000 square miles and a population of thirty odd millions. We must cease to think that emigrants when they go to the colonies, leave England or are lost to England. We must cease to think that the history of England is the history of the Parliament that sits at Westminster, _and that the affairs that are not discussed there cannot belong to English history_. When we have accustomed ourselves to contemplate the whole Empire together, and call it all England, we shall see that here too is a United States.