APPENDIX II. 187

on Protectionist lines is inaugurated in the Empire it
will lead to such discord and friction as possibly to
dismember the federation now based on freedom and
sentiment. In that case independence would become
a live sentiment in Canada; and unless the United
States undergoes a speedy and sound conversion on
the subject of the rights of its neighbour, it is quite
possible that Canada would be made the subject of
« henevolent assimilation.”

(B.)—Annexation : There is as nearly as possible in
five million people no sentiment in favour of annexation
 by the United States. May I point out that your
phrase is not annexation by the United States’ but
«« annexation by America.” Nothing would aid in the
present discussion, so far as Canada is concerned,
more than the cultivation by the British people of a
reasonable knowledge of the geography of North
America. It must be admitted that their lack of it
has cost us dearly.
Independence : ‘There is now a very general desire
for the continuation of British connection provided
events show that Great Britain desires it. British
~onnection, however, must eventually mean that we
are to share in whatever Imperial council or parliament
 manages Imperial affairs, Of course this is not
a practical question at the moment, but in my opinion
a permanent condition under which we are a colony
and must submit to have some of our affairs managed
by the Government which is also the only Government
 of England, Scotland, and Ireland, is impossible.
What Chamberlain proposes will, if granted,
strengthen the desire for British connection. The
failure to do something akin to it in the near future,
will develop the desire for independence, not as an
agreeable alternative but as an enforced necessity.
(C.)—(a) I donot see any danger of forcible annexasion
 by the United States of America. Political union,
agreed to by both parties, seems to me to be inevitable,
but it may not be realised for many years.