A great many instances might be given of the fact.
We might take, for example, the case of that strange class of notions
which underlie the word "union," and all the eulogies heaped upon it.
Of course, union is no more a good thing in itself than separation
is a good thing in itself. To have a party in favour of union
and a party in favour of separation is as absurd as to have a party
in favour of going upstairs and a party in favour of going downstairs.
The question is not whether we go up or down stairs, but where we
are going to, and what we are going, for? Union is strength;
union is also weakness. It is a good thing to harness two horses
to a cart; but it is not a good thing to try and turn two hansom cabs
into one four-wheeler. Turning ten nations into one empire may happen
to be as feasible as turning ten shillings into one half-sovereign.
Also it may happen to be as preposterous as turning ten terriers
into one mastiff . The question in all cases is not a question of
union or absence of union, but of identity or absence of identity.
Owing to certain historical and moral causes, two nations may be
so united as upon the whole to help each other. Thus England
and Scotland pass their time in paying each other compliments;
but their energies and atmospheres run distinct and parallel,
and consequently do not clash.
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