"but if the whole business were not handled in a far, more rational way than it has been so far, by all parties, then such a happy relationship might be a long time coming."

Well, sometimes that kind of thing gets screwed up, as it was by the British in relation to Ireland, or by the various nations in Yugoslavia.

But sensible countries seem to handle it without too much fuss - for example in Scandinavia, when Norway went its own way in 1905, or Iceland in the 1940s; or in the way Slovakia and the Czech republic separated amicably enough in 1993, within the European Union. Or as will probably happen before too long in the case of Scotland, I suspect. And Canada always comes across as a pretty sensible country.

Quite why people get annoyed at would be secession always seems very strange to me. Leaving aside where there are other issues involved, like chattel slavery, or a newly discovered oil-field motivating a break that previously hadn't been envisaged. I'd have thought the natural reaction would be "Oh great - now I can go abroad and more or less stay home at the same time."