In 1869[41] took place a General Election, in which great Imperial interests were involved. Governor Musgrave, in 1866, had advised Federal union with the Canadian provinces--then about to federate among themselves--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 ties with the Mother Country, but also their own organic interconnection, from that moment the whole Imperial idea receives an immense accession of strength.[43] But it is now elementary that Newfoundland, and Newfoundland alone, can take this decision. She is the mistress of her own destinies.