A full year would, no doubt, suffice for him to arrange his worldly affairs, and to see his daughter married but it would not more than suffice. It was now mid-winter, and it wanted just twelve months to that 30th of June on which, in accordance with all our plans, Crasweller was to be deposited. But I am still as energetic as ever, and as assured that the doctrine will ultimately prevail over the face of the civilised world, though I will acknowledge that men are not as yet ripe for it.Previous Chapter Next Chapter Chapter III - The First Break-Down Thirty years have passed since, and my “period” is drawing nigh. But I was, nevertheless, able to discuss the merits of the bills in committee, and I did so with some enthusiasm. I myself, at the age of thirty, had been elected Speaker of that Parliament. Its adoption was the first thing discussed by our young Assembly, when we found ourselves alone and though there were disputes on the subject, in none of them was opposition made to the system. As far as the law went it was adopted in Britannula. I think I must begin my story by explaining in moderate language a few of the manifest advantages which would attend the adoption of the Fixed Period in all countries.
We have been laborious, contented, and prosperous and if we have been reabsorbed by the mother country, in accordance with what I cannot but call the pusillanimous conduct of certain of our elder Britannulists, it has not been from any failure on the part of the island, but from the opposition with which the Fixed Period has been regarded. We repudiated no debt,-as have done some of our neighbours and no attempts have been made towards communism,-as has been the case with others.
Nothing could have been more successful than our efforts to live alone during the thirty years that we remained our own masters.
The great doctrine of a “Fixed Period” was received by them at first with ridicule, and then with dismay but it was undoubtedly the strong faith which we of Britannula had in that doctrine which induced our separation. There was, no doubt, a special cause with us which did not exist in Australia, and which was only, in part, understood by the British Government when we Britannulists were allowed to stand by ourselves. Indeed, in that respect it simply followed the lead given her by the Australias, which, when they set up for themselves, did so with the full co-operation of England. But it had its period of separation from the mother country, though never of rebellion,-like its elder sister New Zealand. It may be doubted whether a brighter, more prosperous, and specially a more orderly colony than Britannula was ever settled by British colonists.
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