REPEAL OF THE UNION.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2736, 25 January 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

REPEAL OF THE UNION.

Thk.se weie the opinions of the great Sir Robert Peel on the question : —" When Mr Canning heard the first whisper in this House of a repeal of tho Union tbia was all the answer lie vouchsafed—the eloquent and iiulignaut answer, the tones of which are still familiar to my ear— 'Repeal the Union! Restore the Heptarchy !' Did Mr Canning decline to argue with the proposer of Repeal from tho lack of argument ? No ; but because conviction of the folly of the proposal flashed upon his tr.ind with an instinctive force, which required a more rapid vent than any that the tame *nd tardy processes of reasoning could supply. He overleape.d the barriers of cautious demonstration to arrive at the great truth with which his emphatic exclamation was pregnant; that the Repeal of the Union with Ireland was tantamount to the dissolution of the British Empire ; that it could only be assented to upon principles which resolved society into its first elements. Consult your senses. Look at the map. Look at the geographical position of the British lelanda, their relative position to the Peninsula, to France, to that great empire which is rising in tho west on the opposite shores of the Atlantic. Can you entertain a doubt that it is necessary for their common security that the defensive energies of these islands should be placed under the control and direction, not of one executive, liable to be thwarted by the conflicting decisions of different Legislative Councils, but of one united, superintending, supremo authority, representing the general will and provident of the general safety ? Do not you feel convinced, by the evidence of sense, that there exists an obstacle to repeal more powerful than any that mere argument can suggest ? Opposnit natum. There is a physical necessity that forbids repeal. I want no array of figures, I want no official documents. I want no speeches of 6 hours to establish to my satisfaction the public policy of maintaining the Legislative Union. I feel and know that the repeal of it must lead to the dismemberment of tliis ;rrcit empire —must make Great Britain a fourth rate power of Europe, ami Ireland a savage wilderness—and T will give therefore, at once, and without hesitation, an emphatic negative to the motion for repeal."