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Their practical solution must be left to the profound wisdom of Members of Parliament ; their speculative solution belongs to the province of political theorists . In the first place , the Imperial Parliament still claims in 1914 , as it claimed in 1884 , the possession of absolute sovereignty throughout every part of the British Empire ; and this claim , which certainly extends to every Dominion , would be admitted as sound legal doctrine by any court throughout the Empire which purported to act under not apply with perfect accuracy to every one of the Dominions . This topic is one on which I have no wish to dwell , but it cannot be forgotten by any sensible observer who reflects upon the history of secession in the United States , or of the Sonderbund in Switzerland , or who refuses to forget the preeminently uneasy connection between the different parts of the Austrian Empire and the deliberate determination of Norway to sever at all costs the union with Sweden . Now , what it is necessary to insist upon is that this legalism which fosters and supports the rule of law is not equally displayed in every country . This admission must certainly be made by any reasoner who sympathises with the principles inherited by modern Liberals from the Whigs of 1688 . In plain truth , while every man of at all respectable instincts desires what he considers justice for himself and for the class to which he belongs , almost all men desire something more than , and different from , justice for themselves and against their neighbours . countries which make up the British Empire , if he reflects that they are occupied by different races whose customs and whose civilisation are the product of absolutely different histories , that the different countries of the Empire are in no case contiguous , and in many instances are separated from England and from each other by seas extending over thousands of miles , he will rather wonder at the boldness of the dreams entertained by the votaries of federal Imperialism , than believe that the hopes of federalising the Empire are likely to meet with fulfilment . Thus a British subject , whatever be the place of his birth , or the race to which he belongs , or I may now add the religion which he professes , has , with the rarest possible exceptions , the same right to settle or to trade in England which is possessed by a natural-born Englishman . Third Objection Proportional representation , just because it aims at the representation of opinions rather than of persons , tends to promote the existence in the House of Commons of numerous party groups and also fosters the admitted evil of log-rolling .