The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-02-22
Proposed Separation Of the Dominion and
Great Britain.

The Halifax Chronicle, in reply to an editori-
al in the Toronto Globe ridculng the story of
the secret treaty, reasserts its authenticity; and
says it is creditably informed that it was sign
ed after the conclusion of the Washington ne
gotiations. by Lord De Gray for the British
government and Sir John A. Macdonald, as
Premier of Canada, on the part of the Govern
or General. The chief points had been mutual
ly agreed upon between the two governments
some years previously, and, so far as Great
Britain was concerned it had been definitely
settled as the basis of her future colonial policy.
When Lord Bury long since published his
draft of the treaty it was not deemed advisable
to reduce the understanding to the shape of a
formal compact, until the apparently satisfac-
tory conclusion of the Alabama difficulty by the
Washington treaty had, as we thought, finally
relieved England from danger and further en-
tanglements on this Continent.
The Chronacle says that only Lord Lisgar, Sir
John A. Macdonald and Sir George f. Cartier
are cognizant of the treaty, and mentions some
circumstances which indicate the fact of its ex-
istence
The following are the principal points in the
Globes article above referred to:
Somebody has been playing off a joke upon
our contemporary of the Halifax Chronicle.
From Information received" of san extraor-
binary and unlooked-for character" it alleges
that secret treaty exists between the Domin-
ion and imperial governments providing for the
peaceful separation of the two countries If
there is any one who feels alarmed at this dis
closure let him allay his fears with the assur-
ance that had any such document been signed
sealed and sworn to between the two alleged
parties, it would not have been worth the paper
it was written upon. Treaties are made be-
tween independent rulers, not between the SOW
eriegn and her servants, such as Governor
General. There may, of course, be agreements
as to policy between the government of Cana
da and the Colonial Office, but there is no treaty
making power either in the British Ministers
or in the Privy Council of the Dominion.
If there were ever to arise a Minister in Can
ada who could engage in such an intrigue he
would be checkmated in an instant by his own
Parliament; and so long as we have free repre-
sentative Institutions our fate is in our own
hands. We have, however, clue to the dis
covery of this latest 'smare's nest" Some sew
en- or eight years ago, at time of considerable
popular excitement in England as to the state
of our Canadian defences, Viscount Bury, a
son-in-law of the late Sir Allan McNab who
had been Civil Secretary in Canada to Lord Ell
gin, and afterwards to Sir Edmund Head,
wrote book called 'sChe Exodus of the West
ern Nations" Inspired, no doubt, by Temporal
ry surrounding influences, Lord Bury incorpor-
ated in this very heavy piece of literature a
scheme for the separation of Canada from
Great Britain. The people of England have,
since Lord Bury wrote, attained much higher
appreciation of the value and Importance of
colonial connections than they possessed in
1865, and the British Minister who was detect
ed in any conspiracy to disintegrate the empire
would be accorded as short shrift as the Can
adian who should be found to be his accom-
plice