" The problem would be no more affected by the
setting up of a federal constitution for the United Kingdom, than it
would be if South Africa decided, after all, to give her provinces
federal powers, or Australia carried unification by a referendum. The
notion that the Dominions could simply come inside the United Kingdom
federation, though it sometimes figures in Home Rule speeches, is merely
a product of the third form of confusion of ideas previously referred
to, and is a sheer absurdity. The terms and conditions of a United
Kingdom federation would necessarily differ in almost every respect from
those of an Imperial Federation, and a constitution framed for the one
object would be unworkable for the other. Nor would it ever be
acceptable to the Dominions, which regard themselves as potentially, if
not actually, the equals of the United Kingdom as a whole. From their
point of view the United Kingdom might almost as well be asked to step
inside the Australian Commonwealth on the footing of Tasmania, as that
they should be asked to join in, in the capacity of an additional
Ireland, Scotland, or Wales, under any scheme of "Home Rule all round.
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