W. Peterson

“ Whatever may be the ultimate destiny of Canada, she will never have cause to regret that she grew up with the Empire. The story of that growth cannot be told, even in outline, without reference to the history of the two nations whose friendship is to-day one of our greatest Imperial assets—France and the United States. ”

“ As an excellent field for emigration, Canada furnishes Great Britain with an outlet for her surplus population. A grant of 160 acres of farm-lands is made by the Colonial Government to bonâ-fide settlers in the North-West. In this way the Dominion plays a special part in providing ground for the expansion of the Empire. For, without any change of allegiance, the British emigrant finds in his new home opportunities of improving his condition which he could never have enjoyed in the land of his birth. ”

“ These Ontario settlers had the opportunity, however, of adding a glorious page to their country's annals by the resistance they offered to the American invasion of 1812-1815. They were no more numerous then than the French-Canadians had been at the time of the conquest, and yet they succeeded in showing that the war party in the United States, with its raucous cry of 'On to Canada!' had made as great a miscalculation of actual conditions as Carthage, when she fancied that the invading Hannibal would be able to draw away the Italian tribes from their allegiance to Rome. ”

“ They own a double allegiance: on the one hand to the British Crown, as the Power which guarantees them the free use and enjoyment of their institutions, their language, and their laws, and, on the other hand, to the traditions of their race, the memories of the country from whence they came, but from which they have long been politically separated, and the associations of a literature which they proudly claim as their part heritage. ”

“ The federation of the Empire, if otherwise desirable and possible, will not be blocked by the spirit of racial or religious sectionalism. And in proportion as Canada can achieve solidarity for herself, and bring about the gradual suppression of such elements, whether French or English, as prevent her harmonious and homogeneous development, in like proportion will she fit herself for taking the part which longs of right to her, the leading part in the working out of a system of Imperial consolidation. ”

“ Washington's inability to appreciate the point of view of the United Empire Loyalists is, perhaps, the only regrettable feature in the career of one whom many Britons would be glad to claim as one of their national heroes. The persecutions which the United Empire Loyalists had to undergo at the hands of their insurgent fellow-citizens should not be overlooked in the story of the early days of what is now the Canadian Dominion. ”

“ Even some economic excesses would be pardoned to the Home Government by way of atonement for the deplorable lack of imagination and foresight shown some forty years ago—as, for example, when British statesmen solemnly bound Great Britain to give Germany equal rights with herself in the Canadian market. ”

“ The British working man, on the other hand, both in town and country, is obviously afraid of the dear loaf and of rising prices, which will tend to enrich the landlord and the manufacturer. And it is not easy to see how a country like Canada can reciprocate further than she has already done in advance. The desire of Canadians to manufacture for themselves, and to enjoy complete autonomy in industry and commerce, is undoubtedly a great factor in what has been referred to above as the modern spirit of Canadian nationality. ”

“ It may be said, to begin with, that Canada serves the Empire by preserving and continuing the tradition of loyalty, and that her readiness to remain in partnership is an undoubted source of prestige, as well as of military advantage. Especially, in view of her now rapid growth in wealth, population, and national spirit, the Dominion may be said to be adding daily to the resources of the Empire. ”

“ But the driving force of nationality counts for much in the commerce of the modern world, and if Great Britain should be led to depart from the orthodox principles of Free Trade, she will be able to console herself with the reflection that she was not the first. In Canada the prevailing opinion seems to be that there is really no inconsistency—in view of changed conditions—in holding that, while free imports was the true policy for England fifty years ago, something different may be called for to-day. ”

“ No country in the world has shown such increases in its trade and commerce during the past five years in proportion to the population. Within that period the figures for both exports and imports have nearly doubled.
But it is, of course, as the future granary of the Empire that Canada bulks most largely, on the material side, with the people of Great Britain. She has still some 250 million acres of the best agricultural land in the world to be taken up. There is a general consensus of opinion that it would be difficult to exaggerate the future of the Canadian North-West. ”

“ Indeed, having regard to her splendid resources, to her growing population, to the facilities of transportation by land and sea, and to the increasing pressure on the means of subsistence in European countries, one is justified in considering it possible that within the next half century Canada may even outrival the experience of the United States in the rapidity of her general development. ”

“ Amongst the advantages which the Empire confers on Canada, there is the beneficial influence of the Crown, which has meant a good deal in the development of the constitution, both in itself and also in the succession of able and distinguished Governors-General by whom it has been represented in Canada. Another obvious advantage is the security conferred on trade and commerce, and on the national interests of the country generally, by Great Britain's command of the seas. ”

“ If America gives you taxable objects, on which you lay your duties here, and gives you, at the same time, a surplus by a foreign sale of her commodities to pay the duties on these objects which you tax at home, she has performed her part to the British revenue. ”

“ The consideration that British emigrants to Canada, besides receiving substantial land grants, do not need to make any change of allegiance, hardly seems to have been allowed its full force hitherto. But organized effort is now accomplishing greater results, and the immediate future will show the extent to which the Old Country, as well as Canada, may benefit by the increased prosperity of settlers who do not go outside the limits of the Empire. ”

“ Nor is it unfair to remind Canada's critics that the Dominion has been doing a great deal for the Empire in helping to build transcontinental railways, and to develop a good canal system. Considering that his ancestors started in the wilderness without capital only about a hundred years ago (with the exception of the Laurentian valley and one or two smaller districts) the average Canadian thinks that they, and he, have done a good deal to improve an important part of the British possessions. ”

“ Canada has shown her willingness to strengthen trade relations by granting a rebate of one-third of the Customs duties not only to Great Britain and Ireland, but also to New Zealand, Cape Colony, Natal, the Transvaal, and the Orange River Colony and the West Indies. Under this preference British imports into Canada have greatly increased of recent years, though it must be remembered that other nations have by no means stood still. ”

“ The potentialities of the region here referred to will inevitably remind the reader of Canadian interest in the Fiscal Problem. Whatever may be the issue of the controversy now current, it cannot be doubted that no question could be raised that is better fitted to give the masses of the people an effective training in economic and political problems. It is, in fact, a national and Imperial issue, which ought to be kept outside the range of party politics. ”

“ Certainly in Canada any well-considered policy that will promote commercial and industrial development will be welcomed by the whole body of the people. Reference was made in an earlier part of this paper to the attitude of the French-Canadians to this and other matters. It is fortunate in many ways that the destinies of the Dominion should be wielded at the present time by a French-Canadian Premier. ”

“ It stands to reason that the Colonies must increase in population more rapidly than other parts of the world, and the experience of the next twenty-five years is certain to show that it was worth while now to try to make their trade flow in home channels. It is from this point of view that the advocates of tariff reform and revision feel justified in arguing that it should be made an item in a well-considered system of constructive and progressive Imperial statesmanship. ”

“ She ought to be reserved to a war, the weight of which, with the enemies that we are most likely to have, must be considerable in her quarter of the globe. There she may serve you, and serve you essentially. ”

“ If, when you attempted to extract revenue from Bengal, you were obliged to return in loan what you had taken in imposition, what can you expect from North America? For, certainly, if ever there was a country qualified to produce wealth, it is India ”

“ It is no disparagement to them to say that they do not 'come of the blood.' They are of another stock, and one well qualified to contribute to the common fund elements that might otherwise be lacking—social grace and vivacity, artistic and literary culture, and a spirit of happy contentment that furnishes a pleasing contrast to the rush of life on the American Continent Their position within the Empire is altogether unique, and at the same time profoundly interesting. ”

“ And behind, or even above, these allegiances is then devotion to the soil of Canada—their native land. To the French-Canadian 'Imperialism' has been made a word of fear, implying military aggression, and the forceful overlordship of subject peoples, instead of a 'business proposition' for cooperation in commerce, defence, and other matters. They are being taught by some of their leading spokesmen to regard a closer union with the Empire as incompatible with nationhood. ”

“ There are very few sections of the United States that ever had such a prospect. ... The northern limit of the farming belt, and of comfortable human settlement, has been indefinitely extended by a better knowledge of the country. Edmonton, hitherto a sort of northern ultima Thule will become a distributing point for vast regions far to the North and North-West, even to the fertile levels of the Peace River, where wheat is now known to grow as surely and as strongly as in Manitoba itself. ”

“ Twenty years will be a long enough period to show whether the new provinces will reproduce the conditions which grew up in Eastern Canada, as the result of specific contract, before Confederation, or whether wider national ideals shall prevail, such as encourage Catholics and Protestants alike, on the other side of the line, to use the same schools and Universities. ”

“ They involve no discredit to an important and highly influential section of the Canadian people, whose long residence and varied political fortunes give it a claim to ample consideration in connection with any suggested constitutional change. No one who knows the circumstances of the Dominion would expect from French-Canadians the same interest in the affairs of the British Empire as from their English-speaking fellow-citizens. ”

“ There can be no doubt that, in spite of sentiment and adverse tariffs, a natural affinity in matters commercial exists between the two neighbouring peoples. This, however, cannot be held to invalidate the position that, in regard to the Colonies generally, it is the interest and duty of the Mother-land to make every legitimate effort to establish the closest possible commercial union. ”

“ Both sections of the population are aware that the development of their common country, and even the integrity of confederation, depend on their harmonious cooperation. But in many matters they remain apart, and in none more than in regard to current proposals for Imperial consolidation. Mr. Henri Bourassa, for example, is of opinion that while his French-Canadian fellow-citizen has done his full duty to Great Britain, 'by the Empire he does not feel that he has any duty to perform' {Monthly Review^ October, 1902, p. ”

“ That dream has passed away, and in the light of the conditions which have replaced it we may feel confident that, no matter what it may it be found politically expedient to legislate at Ottawa, the future of the North- West will inevitably assert itself. ”

“ And a closer commercial union—even if secured by treaties made with each of the Colonies separately—could not, after all, be scouted as a 'squalid' basis for the Imperial consolidation which is so much in men's thoughts to-day. In a recent article in the Monthly Review (January, 1905) , Mr. Solano ably sustains the thesis that the history of British Imperial Dominion is practically one of the spread of civilization through economic expansion. ”

“ For example, the postage rate on newspapers, magazines, etc., from Canada to England is only 1⁄2 cent per pound, whereas that from England to Canada is no less than 8 cents per pound, and the rate to Canada from the United States is 1 cent per pound. ”