India she may lose any day, for it is a
government of opinion only. Australia will emancipate itself ere long,
but these provinces she may and ought to retain.
"Thirdly, independence. This is better for her than annexation by a
long chalk, and better for the colonies too, if I was allowed to spend
my opinion on it; but if that is decided upon, something must be done
soon. The way ought to be prepared for it by an immediate federative
and legislative union of them all. It is of no use to consult their
governors, they don't and they can't know anything of the country but
its roads, lakes, rivers, and towns; but of the people they know
nothing whatever. You might as well ask the steeple of a wooden church
whether the sill that rests on the stone foundation is sound. They are
too big according to their own absurd notions, too small in the eyes
of colonists, and too far removed and unbending to know anything about
it. What can a man learn in five years except the painful fact, that
he knew nothing when he came, and knows as little when he leaves? He
can form a better estimate of himself than when he landed, and returns
a humbler, but not a wiser man; but that's all his schoolin' ends in.
No, Sirree, it's only men like you and me who know the ins and outs of
the people here."
"Don't say me," said the doctor, "for goodness' sake, for I know
nothing about the inhabitants of these woods and waters, but the
birds, the fish, and the beasts.
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