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diff --git a/31041.txt b/31041.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f44680 --- /dev/null +++ b/31041.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7875 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Day of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, by Oscar D. Skelton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Day of Sir Wilfrid Laurier + A Chronicle of Our Own Time + +Author: Oscar D. Skelton + +Release Date: January 21, 2010 [EBook #31041] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAY OF SIR WILFRID LAURIER *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: SIR WILFRID LAURIER 'IN ACTION' After an instantaneous +photograph taken during an address in the open air at Sorel, 1911] + + + + +THE DAY OF + +SIR WILFRID LAURIER + +A Chronicle of Our Own Times + +BY + +OSCAR D. SKELTON + + + + +TORONTO + +GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY + +1916 + + + + +_Copyright in all Countries subscribing to + the Berne Convention_ + + + + +{vii} + +PREFATORY NOTE + +In conformity with its title, this volume, save for the earlier +chapters, is history rather than biography, is of the _day_, more than +of the man. The aim has been to review the more significant events and +tendencies in the recent political life of Canada. In a later and +larger work it is hoped to present a more personal and intimate +biography of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. + +O. D. SKELTON. + +KINGSTON, 1915. + + + + +{ix} + +CONTENTS + + + Page + + PREFATORY NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii + I. THE MAKING OF A CANADIAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 + II. POLITICS IN THE SIXTIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 + III. FIRST YEARS IN PARLIAMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 + IV. IN OPPOSITION, 1878-1887 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 + V. LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION, 1887-1896 . . . . . . . . . . 91 + VI. LOOKING TO WASHINGTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 + VII. AN EMPIRE IN TRANSITION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 + VIII. THE END OF A REGIME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 + IX. NEW MEN AT THE HELM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 + X. CANADA'S NEW PLACE IN THE WORLD . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 + XI. THE COMING OF PROSPERITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 + XII. CANADA AND FOREIGN POWERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 + XIII. NATION AND EMPIRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 + XIV. FIFTY YEARS OF UNION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 + BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 + INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 + + + + +{xi} + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +SIR WILFRID LAURIER IN ACTION . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + After an instantaneous photograph taken during + an address in the open air at Sorel, 1911. + +SIR ANTOINE AIME DORION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Facing page_ 12 + From a photograph. + +PRIME MINISTERS OF CANADA, 1867-1915 . . . . . . . . " 36 + From photographs. + +GOVERNORS-GENERAL OF THE DOMINION . . . . . . . . . " 48 + From photographs by Topley. + +VICE-REGAL CONSORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 64 + From photographs by Topley. + +HONORE MERCIER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 90 + From a photograph. + +SIR WILFRID LAURIER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 128 + From a photograph by Topley. + +THE LIBERAL GOVERNMENT FORMED BY MR LAURIER IN 1896 " 168-9 + From photographs. + +SIR ROBERT BORDEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 194 + From a photograph by Montminy, Quebec. + +SIR WILFRID LAURIER IN ENGLAND, 1911 . . . . . . . . " 294 + From a photograph. + + + + +{1} + +CHAPTER I + +THE MAKING OF A CANADIAN + +Early days at St Lin--Seven years of college--Student at +law--Arthabaska days + + +Wilfrid Laurier was born at St Lin, Quebec, on November 20, 1841. His +ancestral roots were sunk deep in Canadian soil. For six generations +Quebec had been the home of Laurier after Laurier. His kinsmen traced +their origin to Anjou, a province that ever bred shrewd and thrifty +men. The family name was originally Cottineau. In a marriage covenant +entered into at Montreal in 1666 the first representative of the family +in Canada is styled 'Francois Cottineau dit Champlauriet.' Evidently +some ancestral field or garden of lauriers or oleanders gave the +descriptive title which in time, as was common, became the sole family +name. The Lauriers came to Canada shortly after Louis XIV took the +colony under his royal wing in 1663, in the first era of real +settlement, and hewed out homes for themselves in the forest, first on +the island of Jesus, at the mouth of the {2} Ottawa, and later in the +parish of Lachenaie, on the north bank of the same river, where they +grew in numbers until Lauriers, with Rochons and Matthieus, made up +nearly all the parish. + +Charles Laurier, grandfather of Wilfrid Laurier, was a man of strong +character and marked ability. In face of many difficulties he mastered +mathematics and became a self-taught land surveyor, so that he was able +to make the surveys of the great Pangman seigneury at Lachenaie. Early +in the nineteenth century he settled his son Carolus on a farm just +hewn out of the forest, near the little village of St Lin, a frontier +settlement nestling at the foot of the Laurentian hills north of +Montreal. He himself continued to reside at Lachenaie until far on in +years, when he went to live with his son at St Lin. + +Carolus Laurier followed in his father's footsteps, surveying and +farming by turns as opportunity offered. He had not his father's +rugged individuality, but his handsome figure, his alert wit, and his +amiable and generous nature made him a welcome guest through all the +French and Scottish settlements in the north country. That he had +something of his father's progressiveness {3} is shown by the fact that +he was the first farmer in the neighbourhood to set up a threshing +machine in his barn, to take the place of the old-time flail. It was +his liberal views that gave the first bent to his son's sympathies; and +he was, as we shall see, progressive enough to give the brilliant lad +the education needed for professional success, and far-seeing and +broad-minded enough to realize how great an asset a thorough knowledge +of English speech and English ways would be. + +Yet it was rather to his mother that Wilfrid Laurier, like so many +other notable men, owed his abilities and his temperament. Marcelle +Martineau, kin to the mother of the poet Frechette, was a woman of much +strength of character, of fine mind and artistic talents. She lived +only five years after her son was born, but in those few years she had +so knit herself into his being that the warm and tender memory of her +never faded from his impressionable mind. The only other child of this +marriage, a daughter, Malvina, died in infancy. Carolus Laurier +married again, his second wife being Adeline Ethier. She was much +attached to his children and they to her. Of this second marriage +three sons were born: {4} Ubalde, who became a physician and died at +Arthabaska in 1898; Charlemagne, a merchant in St Lin and later member +for the county at Ottawa, who lived until 1907; and Henri, the +prothonotary at Arthabaska, who passed away in 1906. Carolus Laurier +himself lived on in his little village home forty years after the birth +of his eldest son, and his wife lived nearly twenty years longer. + +It was a quiet, strength-shaping country home in which the future +statesman's boyhood was cast. The little village was off the beaten +track of travel; not yet had the railway joined it to the river front. +There were few distractions to excite or dissipate youthful energies. +Roaming amid the brooding silence of the hills, fishing for trout, +hunting partridges and rabbits, and joining in the simple village +games, the boy took his boyish pleasures and built for his manhood's +calm and power. His home had an intellectual atmosphere quite out of +the ordinary, and it enjoyed a full measure of that grace or native +courtesy which is not least among Quebec's contributions to the common +Canadian stock. + +He had his first schooling in the elementary parish school of St Lin, +where the boys learned their _A-B-C_, their _two-times-two_, and their +{5} catechism. Then his father determined to give him a broader +outlook by enabling him to see something of the way of life and to +learn the tongue of his English-speaking compatriots. Some eight miles +west of St Lin on the Achigan river lay the village of New Glasgow. It +had been settled about 1820 by Scottish Protestants belonging to +various British regiments. Carolus Laurier had carried on surveys +there, knew the people well, and was thoroughly at home with them. The +affinity so often noted between Scottish and French has doubtless more +than a mere historical basis. At any rate, son, like father, soon +found a place in the intimate life of the Murrays, the Guthries, the +Macleans, the Bennetts and other families of the settlement. His +experience was further varied by boarding for a time in the home of an +Irish Catholic family named Kirk. Later, he lived with the Murrays, +and often helped behind the counter in John Murray's general store. + +The school which he attended for two years, 1852-53 and 1853-54, was a +mixed school, for both boys and girls, taught by a rapidly shifting +succession of schoolmasters, often of very unconventional training. In +the first session the school came to an abrupt close in April, {6} +owing to the sudden departure of Thompson, the teacher in charge. A +man of much greater ability, Sandy Maclean, took his place the +following term. He had read widely, and was almost as fond of poetry +as of his glass. His young French pupil, who was picking up English in +the playground and in the home as well as in the school, long cherished +the memory of the man who first opened to him a vista of the great +treasures of English letters. + +The experience, though brief, had a lasting effect. Perhaps the +English speech became rusty in the years of college life that followed +at L'Assomption, but the understanding, and the tolerance and goodwill +which understanding brings, were destined to abide for life. It was +not without reason that the ruling motive of the young schoolboy's +future career was to be the awakening of sympathy and harmony between +the two races. It would be fortunate for Canada if more experiments +like that which Carolus Laurier tried were even to-day to be attempted, +not only by French but by English families. + +In September 1854, when well on in his thirteenth year, Wilfrid Laurier +returned to the normal path prescribed for the keener boys of the +province. He entered the college {7} or secondary school of +L'Assomption, maintained by secular priests, and the chief seat of +education in the country north of Montreal. The course was a thorough +one, extending through seven closely filled years. It followed the +customary classical lines, laying chief stress on Latin, and next on +French literature. Greek was taught less thoroughly; a still briefer +study of English, mathematics, scholastic philosophy, history, and +geography completed the course. Judged by its fruits, it was a +training admirably adapted, in the hands of good teachers such as the +fathers at L'Assomption were, to give men destined for the learned +professions a good grounding, to impart to them a glimpse of culture, a +sympathy with the world beyond, a bent to eloquence and literary style. +It was perhaps not so well adapted to train men for success in +business; perhaps this literary and classical training is largely +responsible for the fact that until of late the French-speaking youth +of Quebec have not taken the place in commercial and industrial life +that their numbers and ability warrant. + +The life at L'Assomption was one of strict discipline. The boys rose +at 5.30, and every hour until evening had its task, or was assigned {8} +for mealtime or playtime. Once a week, on Wednesday afternoon, came a +glorious half-day excursion to the country. There was ample provision +for play. But the young student from St Lin was little able to take +part in rough and ready sports. His health was extremely delicate, and +violent exertion was forbidden. His recreations took other forms. The +work of the course of study itself appealed to him, particularly the +glories of the literatures of Rome and France and England. While +somewhat reserved and retiring, he took delight in vying with his +companions in debate and in forming a circle of chosen spirits to +discuss, with all the courage and fervour of youth, the questions of +their little world, or the echoes that reached them of the political +tempests without. Occasionally the outer world came to the little +village. Assize courts were held twice a year, and more rarely +_assemblees contradictoires_ were held in which fiery politicians +roundly denounced each other. The appeal was strong to the boys of +keener mind and political yearnings; and well disciplined as he usually +was, young Laurier more than once broke bounds to hear the eloquence of +advocate or candidate, well content to bear the punishment that +followed. {9} Though reserved, he was not in the least afraid to +express strong convictions and to defend them when challenged. He +entered L'Assomption with the bias towards Liberalism which his +father's inclinations and his own training and reading had developed. +A youth of less sturdy temper would, however, soon have lost this bias. +The atmosphere of L'Assomption was intensely conservative, and both +priests and fellow-pupils were inclined to give short shrift to the +dangerous radicalism of the brilliant young student from St Lin. A +debating society had been formed, largely at his insistence. One of +the subjects debated was the audacious theme, 'Resolved, that in the +interests of Canada the French Kings should have permitted Huguenots to +settle here.' Wilfrid Laurier took the affirmative and urged his +points strongly, but the scandalized _prefet d'etudes_ intervened, and +there was no more debating at L'Assomption. The boy stuck to his +Liberal guns, and soon triumphed over prejudices, becoming easily the +most popular as he was the most distinguished student of his day, and +the recognized orator and writer of addresses for state occasions. + +Of the twenty-six students who entered L'Assomption in his year, only +nine graduated. {10} Of these, five entered the priesthood. +Sympathetic as Wilfrid Laurier was in many ways with the Church of his +fathers, he did not feel called to its professional service. He had +long since made up his mind as to his future career, and in 1861, when +scarcely twenty, he went to Montreal to study law. + +By this time the paternal purse was lean, for the demands of a growing +family and his own generous disposition helped to reduce the surveyor's +means, which never had been too abundant. The young student, thrown on +his own resources, secured a post in the law office of Laflamme and +Laflamme which enabled him to undertake the law course in M'Gill +University. Rodolphe Laflamme, the head of the firm, one of the +leaders of the bar in Montreal, was active in the interests of the +radical wing of the Liberal party, known as the _Rouges_. + +The lectures in M'Gill were given in English. Thanks to his experience +at New Glasgow and his later reading, the young student found little +difficulty in following them. Harder to understand at first were the +Latin phrases in Mr, afterwards Judge, Torrance's lectures on Roman +law, for at that time the absurd English pronunciation of Latin was +{11} the universal rule among English-speaking scholars. Most helpful +were the lectures of Carter in criminal law, admirably prepared and +well delivered. J. J. C. Abbott, a sound and eminent practitioner, and +a future prime minister of Canada, taught commercial law. Laflamme had +charge of civil law. Young Laurier made the most of the opportunities +offered. While carrying on the routine work of the office, joining in +the political and social activities of his circle, and reading widely +in both French and English, he succeeded admirably in his law studies. +H. L. Desaulniers, a brilliant student whose career came to an untimely +close, and H. Welsh, shared with him the honours of the class. In +other classes at the same time were Melbourne Tait, C. P. Davidson, and +J. J. Curran, all destined to high judicial rank. The young student's +success was crowned by his being chosen to give the valedictory. His +address, while having somewhat of the flowery rhetoric of youth, was a +remarkably broad and sane statement of policy: the need of racial +harmony, the true meaning of liberty, the call for straightforward +justice, and the lawyer's part in all these objects, were discussed +with prophetic eloquence. + +{12} + +But even the most eloquent of valedictories is not a very marketable +commodity. It was necessary to get rapidly to work to earn a living. +Full of high hopes, he joined with two of his classmates in October +1864 to organize the firm of Laurier, Archambault and Desaulniers. The +partners hung out their shingle in Montreal. But clients were slow in +coming, for the city was honeycombed with established offices. The +young partners found difficulty in tiding over the waiting time, and so +in the following April the firm was dissolved and Wilfrid Laurier +became a partner of Mederic Lanctot, one of the most brilliant and +impetuous writers and speakers of a time when brilliancy and passion +seem to have been scattered with lavish hand, a man of amazing energy +and resource, but fated by his unbalanced judgment utterly to wreck his +own career. Lanctot was too busy at this time with the political +campaign he was carrying on in the press and on the platform against +Cartier's Confederation policy to look after his clients, and the +office work fell mainly to his junior partner. It was a curiously +assorted partnership: Lanctot with his headlong and reckless passion, +Laurier with his cool, discriminating moderation: but it lasted a year. +{13} During this time Mr Laurier was in but not of the group of eager +spirits who made Lanctot's office their headquarters. His moderate +temperament and his ill-health kept him from joining in the revels of +some and the political dissipations of others. 'I seem to see Laurier +as he was at that time,' wrote his close friend, L. O. David, 'ill, +sad, his air grave, indifferent to all the turmoil raised around him; +he passed through the midst of it like a shadow and seemed to say to +us, "Brother, we all must die."'[1] + +[Illustration: SIR ANTOINE AIME DORION From a photograph] + +In fact, Mr Laurier's health was the source of very serious concern. +Lung trouble had developed, with violent hemorrhages, threatening a +speedy end to his career unless a change came. Just at this time the +chief of his party and his most respected friend, Antoine Dorion, +suggested that he should go to the new settlement of Arthabaskaville in +the Eastern Townships, to practise law and to edit _Le Defricheur_, +hitherto published at L'Avenir and controlled by Dorion's younger +brother Eric, who had recently died. Largely in the hope that the +country life would restore his health, he agreed, and late in 1866 left +Montreal for the backwoods village. + +{14} + +The founder of _Le Defricheur_, Eric Dorion, nicknamed _L'Enfant +Terrible_ for his energy and fearlessness, was not the least able or +least attractive member of a remarkable family. He had been one of the +original members of the _Rouge_ party and, as editor of _L'Avenir_, a +vehement exponent of the principles of that party, but had later +sobered down, determined to devote himself to constructive work. He +had taken an active part in a colonization campaign and had both +preached and practised improved farming methods. He had founded the +village of L'Avenir in Durham township, had built a church for the +settlers there to show that his quarrel was with ecclesiastical +pretensions, not with religion, and for a dozen years had proved a +sound and stimulating influence in the growing settlement. + +When Mr Laurier decided to open his law office in Arthabaskaville, the +seat of the newly formed judicial district of Arthabaska, he moved _Le +Defricheur_ to the same village. Lack of capital and poor health +hampered his newspaper activities, and, as will be seen later, the +journal incurred the displeasure of the religious authorities of the +district. Its light lasted barely six months and then flickered {15} +out. This left the young lawyer free to devote himself to his +practice, which grew rapidly from the beginning, for the district was +fast filling up with settlers. The court went on circuit to Danville +and Drummondville and Inverness, and soon, both at home and in these +neighbouring towns, no lawyer was more popular or more successful. The +neighbouring counties contained many Scottish, Irish, and English +settlers, who were soon enrolled in the ranks of the young advocate's +staunch supporters. The tilting in the court, the preparation of +briefs, the endeavour to straighten out tangles in the affairs of +helpless clients, all the interests of a lawyer deeply absorbed in his +profession, made these early years among the happiest of his career. +Arthabaska was, even then, no mean centre of intellectual and artistic +life, and a close and congenial circle of friends more than made up for +the lost attractions of the metropolis. + +But neither work nor social intercourse filled all the young lawyer's +nights and days. It was in this period that he laid the foundation of +his wide knowledge of the history and the literature of Canada and of +the two countries from which Canada has sprung. Bossuet and Moliere, +Hugo and Racine, Burke {16} and Sheridan, Macaulay and Bright, +Shakespeare and Burns, all were equally devoured. Perhaps because of +his grandfather's association with the Pangman seigneury (the property +of the fur trader Peter Pangman), his interest was early turned to the +great fur trade of Canada, and he delved deep into its records. The +life and words of Lincoln provided another study of perpetual interest. +Though Montreal was intensely Southern in sympathy during the Civil +War, Mr Laurier, from his days as a student, had been strongly +attracted by the rugged personality of the Union leader, and had +pierced below caricature and calumny to the tender strength, the +magnanimous patience, of the man. A large niche in his growing library +was therefore devoted to memoirs of Lincoln and his period. + +Congenial work, loyal friends, the company of the great spirits of the +past--these were much, but not all. The crowning happiness came with +his marriage, May 13, 1868, to Miss Zoe Lafontaine of Montreal. To +both, the marriage brought ideal companionship and fulfilment. To the +husband especially it brought a watchfulness that at last conquered the +illness that had threatened, a devotion which never flagged--for Lady +Laurier is still {17} to-day much more a 'Laurierite' than is Sir +Wilfrid--and a stimulus that never permitted contentment with second +best. + +The years of preparation were nearly over. The call to wider service +was soon to come. The new Dominion, and not least Quebec, faced many +difficult political problems. Aiding in their solution, the young +lawyer in the quiet village of Arthabaska was to find full scope for +all the strength of brain and all the poise and balance of temper which +the years had brought him. + + + +[1] _Mes Contemporains_, p. 85. + + + + +{18} + +CHAPTER II + +POLITICS IN THE SIXTIES + +Parties in flux--Church and state--The war on the Institute--Le +Defricheur + + +The year 1841, when Wilfrid Laurier was born, was the year of the Union +of Upper and Lower Canada as a single province. There followed, as he +came to manhood, a time of intense political activity, of bitter party +and personal rivalry, of constant shift in the lines of political +groups and parties. The stage was being set and many of the players +were being trained for the greater drama which was to open with +Confederation. + +Canadian political parties had originally been formed on the plain +issue whether or not the majority of the people were to be allowed to +rule. In Upper Canada the governing party, known as the 'Family +Compact,' composed chiefly of representatives of the Crown and men who +had inherited position or caste from their Loyalist fathers, had been +attacked by a motley and shifting opposition, sober Whig and fiery +Radical, newcomers from Britain or from the States, and {19} +native-born, united mainly by their common antagonism to clique rule. +In Lower Canada the same contest, on account of the monopoly of +administration held by the English-speaking minority, dubbed +'Bureaucrats' or the 'Chateau Clique,' had taken on the aspect of a +racial struggle. + +When at last self-government in essentials had been won, the old +dividing lines began to melt away. All but a small knot of Tory +irreconcilables now agreed that the majority must rule, and that this +would neither smash the Empire nor make an end of order and justice in +the province itself. But who were to unite to form that majority, and +what was to be their platform? In the Reform party there had been many +men of essentially conservative mind, men such as John Redmond before +the winning of Irish Home Rule, who on one point had been forced into +hostility to an order of society with which, on other points, they were +in almost complete sympathy. Particularly in Quebec, as John A. +Macdonald was quick to see, there were many such, quite ready to rally +to authority now that opportunity was open to all. Other factors +hastened the breakdown of the old groupings. Economic interests came +to the fore. In the {20} discussion of canal and railway projects, +banking and currency, trade and tariffs, new personal, class, or +sectional interests arose. Once, too, that the machinery of +responsible government had been installed, differences in political +aptitude, in tactics and ideals, developed, and personal rivalries +sharpened. + +As a result of this unsettling and readjustment, a new party developed +in the early fifties, composed of the moderate sections of both the +older parties, and calling itself Liberal-Conservative. It took over +the policy of the Reformers, on self-government, on the clergy +reserves, on seigneurial tenure. The old Tory party dwindled and its +platform disappeared. Yet a strong Opposition is essential to the +proper working of the British system of parliamentary government; if it +did not exist, it would have to be created. No artificial effort, +however, was now needed to produce it. A Liberalism or a +Liberal-Conservatism which stood still as time marched by soon ceased +to be true Liberalism; and new groups sprang up, eager to press forward +at a swifter pace. + +In Canada West the 'Clear Grit' party, founded by Radicals such as John +Rolph, Peter Perry, and William M'Dougall, and later {21} under the +leadership of George Brown, declared war to the knife on all forms of +special privilege. Denominational privilege, whether the claim of +Anglicans to clergy reserves, or of Roman Catholics to separate schools +in Canada West and to ecclesiastical supremacy above the civil law in +Canada East; class privilege, like the claim of the seigneurs to feudal +dues and powers; sectional privilege, such as it was asserted Canada +East enjoyed in having half the members in the Union parliament though +her population had ceased to be anything like half--all these Brown +attacked with tremendous energy, if not always with fairness and +judgment. + +In Canada East the _Rouges_ carried on a similar but far more hopeless +fight. The brilliant group of young men who formed the nucleus of this +party, Dorion, Doutre, Daoust, Papin, Fournier, Laberge, Letellier, +Laflamme, Geoffrion, found a stimulus in the struggle which democratic +Europe was waging in 1848, and a leader in Papineau. The great +agitator had come back from exile in Paris to find a country that knew +not Joseph, to find former lieutenants who now thought they could lead, +and a province where the majority had wearied of the old cries of New +France and were {22} suspicious of the new doctrines of Old France. He +threw himself into violent but futile opposition to LaFontaine and +rallied these fiery young crusaders about him. In _L'Avenir_, and +later in _Le Pays_, they tilted against real and imaginary ogres, and +the hustings of Quebec rang with their eloquence. Their demands were +most sweeping and heterogeneous. They called for a vigorous policy of +colonization and of instruction and experiment in agriculture; for +simplification of judicial procedure and the forms of government; for +the election, on the American plan, of administrative as well as +legislative authorities; for annual parliaments; for increased powers +of local government; for universal suffrage; for the abolition of +clergy reserves, seigneurial tenure, and church tithes; and for the +repeal of the Union. They joined the disgruntled Tories of their +province in demanding, for very different reasons, annexation to the +United States. Many of these demands have been approved, some have +been disapproved, by time. Right or wrong, they were too advanced for +their day and place. The country as a whole wanted, and doubtless +needed, a period of noncontentious politics, of recuperation after long +agitation, of constructive {23} administration, and this the +Liberal-Conservative majority was for the time better able to give, +even though corruption was soon to vitiate its powers for good. + +The alliance of the _Rouges_ with the 'Clear Grits,' who were ever +denouncing French Canada's 'special privileges,' was a great source of +weakness to them in their own province. It was, however, the hostility +of a section of the Catholic hierarchy which was most effective in +keeping these agitators long in a powerless minority. In the early +days of the party this hostility was not unwarranted. Many of the +young crusaders had definitely left the fold of the Church to criticize +it from without, to demand the abolition of the Pope's temporal power +in Europe and of the Church's tithing privileges in Canada, and to +express heterodox doubts on matters of doctrine. This period soon +passed, and the radical leaders confined themselves to demanding +freedom of thought and expression and political activity; but the +conflict went on. Almost inevitably the conflict was waged in both the +political and the religious field. Where the chief question at issue +was the relation of church and state, it was difficult to keep politics +out of religion or religion out of politics. It was {24} to be one of +the signal services of Wilfrid Laurier, in his speech on Political +Liberalism, to make clear the dividing line. + +The conflict in Canada was in large part an echo of European struggles. +In the past Canada had taken little notice of world-movements. The +Reform agitation in Upper Canada had been, indeed, influenced by the +struggle for parliamentary reform in Great Britain; but the +French-speaking half of Canada, carefully sheltered in the quiet St +Lawrence valley, a bit of seventeenth-century Normandy and Brittany +preserved to the nineteenth, had known little and cared less for the +storms without. But now questions were raised which were +world-questions, and in the endeavour to adjust satisfactorily the +relations of church and state both ultramontanes and liberals became +involved in the quarrels which were rending France and Italy, and +Canada felt the influence of the European stream of thought or passion. +When in 1868 five hundred young Canadians, enrolled as Papal Zouaves, +sailed from Quebec to Rome, to support with their bayonets the +tottering temporal power of the Pope, it was made clear that the moving +forces of Europe had taken firm hold on the mind and heart of Quebec. + +{25} + +In Old France there had been much strife of Pope and King. The Pope +had claimed authority over the Church in France, and the right to +intervene in all state matters which touched morals or religion. King +after king had sought to build up a national or Gallican Church, with +the king at its head, controlled by its own bishops or by royal or +parliamentary authority. Then had come the Revolution, making war on +all privilege, overturning at once king and noble and prelate who had +proved faithless to their high tasks. But in the nineteenth century, +after the storm had spent itself, the Church, purified of internal +enemies, had risen to her former position. + +Within the Church itself widely different views were urged as to the +attitude to be taken towards the new world that was rising on the ruins +of the old order, towards the Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity and +other ideas of '89. One wing called for relentless hostility, for an +alliance of altar and throne to set up authority once more on its +pedestal and to oppose at once the anarchy of democratic rule and the +scepticism of free-thought. This ultramontane attitude--this looking +'beyond the mountains' to a supreme authority in Rome to give stability +in a shifting {26} world--found able and aggressive exponents. De +Maistre denied the right of individual judgment in politics any more +than in religion, insisting on the divine source of kingly power and +the duty of the Pope to oversee the exercise of this power. Lamennais +brought De Maistre's opinions into practical politics, and insisted +with burning eloquence on the need for the submission of all mankind to +the Pope, the 'living tradition of mankind,' through whom alone +individual reason receives the truth. Veuillot continued the crusade +with unpitying logic and unquenchable zeal. In this era the disputes +turned most significantly on control of press and school, for, as the +revolution progressed, it gave the masses political power and made +control of the means of shaping popular opinion as important as control +of feudal fiefs or episcopal allegiance had been in earlier days. +Opposed to this school stood men like Montalembert, Lacordaire, and +Bishop Dupanloup--men who clung to the old Gallican liberties, or who +wished to make peace with liberalism, to set up a Catholic liberalism, +frankly accepting the new order, the right of the people to rule +themselves, and seeking to show that by liberty of thought and +discussion the true interests of {27} the Church would be advanced and +its power be broadest based. Now one wing, now the other won, but in +the main the current flowed strongly towards ultramontanism. Pius IX, +liberal in sympathies up to 1848, completely reversed his position +after that date. In the Syllabus which he issued in 1864 he gave no +quarter to modern tendencies. The doctrines that 'every man is free to +embrace the religion which his reason assures him to be true,' that 'in +certain Catholic countries immigrant non-Catholics should have the free +exercise of their religion,' and that 'the Roman Pontiff can and ought +to be reconciled with progress, liberalism, and modern civism,' he +explicitly condemned as false and heretical. + +In Canada these successive conflicts had found many echoes. During the +French regime Gallican principles of the power of the king over the +Church had been frequently asserted; governor or intendant had, in a +few notable instances, endeavoured to bridle the Church authorities. +When the English came, the Church lost its place as the state church, +but it consolidated its power, and soon was freer from intervention +than it had been under the Most Christian King of France. During the +French Revolution Canada was kept {28} isolated from contact with +France, but after the Restoration, with ultramontanism in the +ascendant, intercourse was favoured; and the most thoroughgoing +principles of clerical supremacy, with the most militant methods of +controversy, found lodgment here. In both private and public life, +among clergy as well as laity, each of the opposing tendencies was +stoutly championed. + +When Wilfrid Laurier went to Montreal in 1861, the leaders of the +Liberal or _Rouge_ party had sobered down from the fiery radicalism of +their youth, and were content to leave the authorities of the Church +alone. But leading authorities of the Church remained suspicious of +that party. Bishop Bourget of Montreal, one of the most pious and +energetic of ecclesiastics, firm to the point of obstinacy, seemed +determined to crush it out. And though many eminent churchmen held out +for a broader and more tolerant policy, the ultramontanes, by reason of +their crusading zeal, steadily gained the ascendancy. + +The issues raised in Quebec were manifold. Among them were the right +of private judgment, the authority of canon law in the province, civil +or ecclesiastical control over marriage, clerical immunity from the +{29} jurisdiction of civil courts, and the degree of intervention which +was permissible to the clergy in elections. + +The first question, that of the right of private judgment, concerned +the future leader of Canadian Liberalism and became acute in connection +with the _Institut Canadien_ of Montreal. This was a literary and +scientific society, founded in 1844 by some members of the same group +who later organized the _Rouge_ party. It supplied the want of a +public library and reading-room in Montreal, and a hundred branches +sprang up throughout the province. The _Institut_ soon fell under the +suspicion of a section of the clergy. It was declared by Bishop +Bourget that immoral or heretical books which had been put on the +_Index_ were contained in the library. Rival societies were founded +under the auspices of the Church and many of the members of the +_Institut_ were induced to secede. + +Nevertheless young Laurier joined the _Institut_ shortly after coming +to Montreal. In 1863 he was one of a committee of four who endeavoured +in vain to induce Bishop Bourget to specify what books were under the +ban, and in 1865 and 1866 he was a vice-president of the society. Like +his associates, he was {30} placed in a difficult position by the +bishop's unyielding attitude, for he did not wish to quarrel with his +Church. So far as he was concerned, however, his removal to +Arthabaskaville in 1866 ended the episode. + +The remaining members of the _Institut_ struggled on until 1868, when +they published a _Year-Book_ containing an address by Mr L. A. +Dessaules, president of the _Institut_, commending toleration.[1] A +nice question of interpretation followed. Mr Dessaules asserted that +he meant to urge personal toleration and good-will. Bishop Bourget +contended that the address meant dogmatic toleration or indifference, +the attitude that one creed was as good as another. In spite of an +appeal to Rome by Joseph Doutre the work was placed on the _Index_, and +the announcement followed that members who persisted in adhering to the +_Institut_ would be refused the sacraments of the Church. After this +blow the _Institut_ {31} dwindled away and in time disappeared entirely. + +Meanwhile Mr Laurier's weekly newspaper at Arthabaskaville, _Le +Defricheur_, had come under the ban of Bishop Lafleche of Three Rivers, +in whose diocese the little village lay. Subscribers refused to take +their copies from the postmaster, or quietly called at the office to +announce that, in spite of their personal sympathy, they were too much +afraid of the cures--or of their own wives--to continue their +subscriptions. The editor warmly protested against the arbitrary +action, which threatened at once to throttle his freedom of speech and +to wipe out his saved and borrowed capital. But the forces arrayed +against him were too strong, and some six months after the first number +under his management appeared, _Le Defricheur_ went the way of many +other Liberal journals in Quebec. It was not likely that Mr Laurier's +growing law practice would have long permitted him to edit the paper, +but at the moment the blow was none the less felt. + + + +[1] 'Is it not permissible,' Mr Dessaules asked, 'when Protestants and +Catholics are placed side by side in a country, in a city, for them to +join in the pursuit of knowledge? ... What is toleration? It is +reciprocal indulgence, sympathy, Christian charity.... It is +fraternity, the spirit, of religion well understood.... It is at +bottom humility, the idea that others are not worthless, that others +are as good as ourselves.... Intolerance is pride; it is the idea that +we are better than others; it is egotism, the idea that we owe others +nothing.' + + + + +{32} + +CHAPTER III + +FIRST YEARS IN PARLIAMENT + +In the Provincial Legislature--In federal politics--The Mackenzie +government--The Riel question--Protection or free trade--The Catholic +programme--Catholic liberalism--The clergy in politics--Political +liberalism--In the administration + + +Less than five years had passed after Wilfrid Laurier came to +Arthabaskaville, a boyish, unknown lawyer-editor, when he was chosen by +an overwhelming majority as member for Drummond-Arthabaska in the +provincial legislature. His firmly based Liberalism, his power as a +speaker, his widespread popularity, had very early marked him out as +the logical candidate of his party. On many grounds he was prepared to +listen to the urging of his friends. His interest in politics was only +second, if second it was, to his interest in his profession. The +ambition to hold a place in parliament was one which appealed to +practically every able young lawyer of his time in Quebec, and, thanks +to the short sessions of the provincial assembly and the nearness of +Arthabaska to Quebec, membership in the legislature would not greatly +interfere with his work at home. Yet his health was still {33} +precarious, and it was with much hesitation and reluctance that he +finally consented to stand for the county in 1871, at the second +general election since Confederation. Though ill throughout the +campaign, he was able to make a few speeches, and the loyal support of +his friends did the rest. His opponent, Edward Hemming, a barrister of +Drummondville, had been the previous member for the riding. At the +close of the polls--those were still the days of open voting--it was +found that, while the Liberal party in the province was once more badly +defeated, Wilfrid Laurier had won his seat by over one thousand +majority. + +When the legislature met at Quebec in November, there was a lively +interest on both sides of the chamber in the young man of thirty who +had scored such a notable victory. At that time the legislature had an +unusually large number of men of first rank in eloquence and +parliamentary ability, including Cartier, Chapleau, Cauchon, Holton, +and Irvine. All these except Chapleau were also members of the House +of Commons, since at that time no law forbade dual representation, and +the standards were relatively high. The Government under Chauveau, the +prime minister, {34} was too firmly entrenched to be shaken by any +assaults from the Opposition leader, Henri Joly de Lotbiniere, and his +scanty following. In the criticism, however, the member for Arthabaska +took a notable part. He did not speak often, but when he did his +remarks were fresh and constructive. In the debate on the Address he +scored the Government for its backward educational policy, urged active +steps to check the exodus of French Canadians to the mills of New +England, praised the ideals of British Liberalism, and called for a +truce in racial and religious quarrels. In a later speech he presented +the keenest constitutional criticism yet made of the system of dual +representation, showing that it tended to bring the provinces too +completely within the orbit of the central power and confuse local with +federal issues. Three years later, it may be noted, the system was +abolished. + +The vigour and yet moderation of these first efforts, so aptly phrased +and so admirably fitted to the peculiar requirements of parliamentary +speaking, the grace and flair of the orator, gave the member for +Arthabaska at a stroke high rank in the party. He was very soon urged +to seek the wider opportunities of federal politics. Ottawa, it was +clear, would {35} make much greater demands upon his time than Quebec, +yet his health was now improving. Accordingly he determined to make +the change, and in the general federal elections of 1874 he was +returned for Drummond-Arthabaska by a majority of two hundred and +thirty-eight. + + +In 1874 the Liberal Government at Ottawa, under Alexander Mackenzie, +seemed assured of a long term of office. It had been given an +overwhelming majority in the election just concluded; its leaders were +able and aggressive; and the Opposition was still crushed by the +indignation which followed on the exposure of the Pacific Scandal. + +Yet there were many weaknesses in its situation, which time was to make +clear. The Government's forces were not closely united: the only bond +holding together several of the groups which made up the majority was +that of common opposition to the late administration. Many stragglers +on the flanks were waylaid and brought back into their old camp by that +arch-strategist, Sir John Macdonald. The question of leadership was +not fully determined. In Ontario Edward Blake divided allegiance with +{36} Alexander Mackenzie, and Blake's inability to make up his mind +definitely to serve under Mackenzie greatly weakened the party. In +Quebec the situation was even more serious. Dorion was the man whose +constructive ability, admirable temper, and long years of fighting +against heavy odds marked him out as chief, but family and health +considerations determined him to retire to the quieter if not less +heavy labours of the bench. Fournier soon followed. Laflamme, in +whose office Laurier had studied, was hardly a man of sufficient +weight. Holton, leader of the small group of English Liberals in +Quebec, was also in very poor health. To fill the gap Mackenzie +summoned Joseph Cauchon, a former Conservative who had left his party +on the Pacific Scandal; a man of great ability, active in the campaign +for Confederation, but weakened by an unfortunate record of corruption +in earlier days, a record which his Liberal opponents of those days had +painted in startling and unforgettable colours. + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: PRIME MINISTERS OF CANADA, 1867-1915 + + 1. ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, 1873-78 + 2. SIR JOHN ABBOTT, 1891-92 + 3. SIR JOHN THOMPSON, 1892-94 + 4. SIR WILFRID LAURIER, 1896-1911 + 5. SIR JOHN MACDONALD, 1867-73, 1878-91 + 6. SIR MACKENZIE BOWELL, 1894-96 + 7. SIR CHARLES TUPPER, 1896 + 8. SIR ROBERT BORDEN, 1911-] + +====================================================================== + +These difficulties were, however, not insuperable; and doubtless the +party would have drilled into working cohesion under definitely +acknowledged leaders, had it not been for two more serious sources of +{37} weakness. The first of these was the commercial depression which +fell upon Canada, in common with the rest of the world, in 1873, and +made it possible for an Opposition, itself most courageous in promises, +to hold the Government responsible for all the country's ills. The +other was Mr Mackenzie's high-minded but mistaken idea of his duty. +Somewhat lacking in imagination though he was, Alexander Mackenzie had +in him the stuff out of which party leaders are made. He was a man of +vigour and ability, a hard-hitting debater, a thoroughgoing democrat, +and he had a well-earned reputation for downright frankness and +unswerving honesty which could easily have rallied the country's trust +and affection. But while prime minister he gave to the details of +departmental administration the care and thought and time which should +have gone in part to his other duties as leader in constructive policy +and chieftain of the party. He failed to keep in touch with public +opinion, and so was caught unawares. + +In spite of these drawbacks the Mackenzie administration left a notable +record. It passed the law which introduced voting by ballot and +required all elections, in a general contest, to be held on one day. +It brought {38} forth the Scott Act, which proved a useful if not a +final measure of temperance reform. It established the Royal Military +College and the Supreme Court of Canada. It pushed the Pacific Railway +forward steadily, if somewhat slowly, as a government work. Had the +stars been favourable, the Government might well have thought itself +secure on its record of legislative progress and administrative +efficiency. + +The questions which roused most debate both in parliament and in the +country were the Riel Amnesty, the National Policy, and, in Quebec, the +perennial issue of the relations of church and state. These may be +noted in turn, particularly in so far as Mr Laurier took part in the +discussions. + +For nearly twenty years the Riel question in its various phases +bedevilled Canadian politics and set race against race and province +against province. Had it been only the resistance offered by the Red +River settlers to Canadian authority which was in question in the +seventies, time would soon have brought understanding and +forgetfulness. That the half-breed settlers had just grievances, that +the Canadian authorities bungled badly their first experiment in +national expansion, all {39} would have admitted. But the shooting in +cold blood of Thomas Scott, an Orangeman of Ontario, by the order of +Louis Riel, lit fires of passion that would not easily die. And +politicians fanned the flames for party ends. Neither party was +guiltless. At the outset in Ontario the Liberals played to the Orange +gallery, while in Quebec they appealed to French prejudices. Sir John +Macdonald could attack Blake for frightening Riel out of the country +and beyond the reach of justice, by offers of reward for his arrest, at +the very time that Macdonald himself was paying Riel out of the secret +service funds to keep away from Canada. + +During the Mackenzie administration the question twice gave rise to +full-dress debates. Early in 1874 Mackenzie Bowell moved that Riel, +who had been elected a member for Provencher, should be expelled from +the House; Holton moved an amendment that action be deferred until the +committee, then inquiring into the whole matter, reported; while +Mousseau demanded immediate and unconditional amnesty. In the debate +that followed Mr Laurier made his first parliamentary speech in +English. He supported Holton's amendment, while making it clear {40} +that in his view of the evidence the country had been pledged to +amnesty by the action of the former Government. It was a forceful and +well-reasoned argument, in both its felicitous phrasing and its +moderate tone an appropriate introduction to the parliamentary career +which was just beginning. Again in 1875, when Mr Mackenzie moved that +full amnesty be given to all concerned in the rebellion save Riel, +Lepine, and O'Donoghue, and that the former two be pardoned, subject to +five years' banishment, Mr Laurier defended this reasonable compromise +against both the Quebec extremists who demanded immediate pardon and +the Ontario opponents of any clemency whatever. + +Protection was an even more fertile topic of debate in these and +following years. It was only recently that it had become a party +issue. Both parties had hitherto been content with the compromise of +'tariff for revenue, with incidental protection,' though in the ranks +of both were advocates of out-and-out protection. In Ontario the +Canada First movement, which looked to Blake as its leader, had strong +protectionist leanings, and in Quebec the _Parti National_, under which +name the _Rouges_ had been reorganized and made {41} ultra-respectable, +were of the same tendency. But Mackenzie was a staunch free-trader, +while the Liberals from the maritime provinces were opposed to any +increase in the tariff on the many things they consumed but did not +produce. Accordingly, after much hesitation, the Liberals in 1876 +declined to raise the tariff beyond the existing average of seventeen +and a half per cent. At once the Conservatives, who, it was alleged, +had been prepared to advocate freer trade, came out for protection. On +this question Laurier was more in agreement with Blake than with +Mackenzie. In early years he had been influenced by Papineau's crusade +for protection, and believed that in the existing crisis an increase in +the tariff to twenty per cent would aid the revenue and would avert a +demand for more extreme duties. Time proved, however, that the +appetites of protectionists could not so easily be appeased; and all +wings of the party presently found themselves in harmony, in resisting +the proposals to set up extremely high barriers. + +But it was on the vexed question of the relations of church and state, +and particularly of the Catholic hierarchy and the Liberal party in +Quebec, that Mr Laurier gave the most distinctive service. This +question had become {42} more acute than ever. In 1870 the +ultramontane element in the Roman Catholic Church had won a sweeping +victory by inducing a majority of the Vatican Council to promulgate the +doctrine of Papal Infallibility. There followed a wave of ultramontane +activity throughout the world, and not least in Quebec. Bishop +Bourget's hands were strengthened by Bishop Lafleche of Three Rivers, +and by other prelates and priests of perhaps less relentless temper; +while a cohort of journalists, in _Le Nouveau Monde, La Verite, Le +Journal de Trois Rivieres_, and other papers, devoted themselves +whole-heartedly to the ultramontane cause. On the other hand, +Archbishop Baillargeon of Quebec and his successor, Archbishop +Taschereau, the priests of the Quebec Seminary and of Laval University, +and the Sulpicians at Montreal, were disposed to live at peace. They +would all have denied sympathy either with Gallicanism or with Catholic +Liberalism, but they were men of tolerance and breadth of sympathy, +very doubtful whether such militant activity would advance the +permanent interests of their Church. + +There broke out a violent struggle between the two political parties in +1871, with the issue {43} of the _Catholic Programme_. This famous +document was a manifesto prepared by a group of editors and lawyers, +who, in their own words, 'belonged heart and soul to the ultramontane +school'--Trudel, Desjardins, M'Leod, Renault, Beausoleil, and +others--and was drawn up by A. B. Routhier, then a lawyer in +Kamouraska. It sought to lay down a policy to govern all good +Catholics in the coming elections. The doctrine of the separation of +church and state, the document declared, was impious and absurd. On +the contrary, the authorities of the state, and the electors who chose +them, must act in perfect accord with the teachings of the Church, and +endeavour to safeguard its interests by making such changes in the laws +as the bishops might demand. To secure this end the Conservative party +must be supported. When two Conservatives or two Liberals were +running, the one who accepted the _Programme_ was to be elected; where +a Conservative and a Liberal were opposed, the former would be +supported; if it happened that a Conservative who opposed the +_Programme_ was running against a Liberal who accepted it, 'the +situation would be more delicate'--and Catholics should not vote at all. + +{44} + +This frank declaration of war on the Liberal party, this attempt to +throw the solid Catholic vote to the Conservatives, at once aroused +violent controversy. Bishops Bourget and Lafleche announced that they +approved the manifesto in every point, while Archbishop Taschereau and +the bishops of St Hyacinthe and Rimouski declared that it had not their +authorization. + +The Liberal party was sorely pressed. In the emergency some of its +moderate members determined to throw off the incubus of their +anti-clerical traditions by reorganizing and renaming the party. So in +1871 Louis Jette and other leading Quebec Liberals undertook to secure +a fresh start by organizing the _Parti National_, and the result of the +following elections gave some ground for hope. 'This evolution of the +Liberal party,' declared Bishop Lafleche later in a memorial to the +Cardinals of the Sacred Congregation, 'had the success expected from +it; it made a number of dupes not only among our good Catholics but +even in the ranks of the clergy, who had hitherto been united against +the Liberal party.... It is from this development that there dates the +division in the ranks of the clergy on the question of politics.' + +{45} + +But this prudent step did not avert the wrath of the now dominant +ultramontane section. In 1873 a brief pastoral was issued by all the +bishops condemning Catholic Liberalism in vague but sweeping terms. +Two years later another joint pastoral, that of September 22, 1875, +went into the whole question elaborately. Catholic Liberalism, that +subtle serpent, was again denounced. The right of the clergy to +intervene in politics was again upheld, whether in neutral matters in +which they, like all other citizens, should have a voice, or in matters +affecting faith or morals or the interests of the Church. In the +latter case the clergy should declare with authority that to vote in +this or that way is a sin, exposing the offender to the penalties of +the Church. In a letter issued a year later Archbishop Taschereau +modified these pretensions, but the assault went on. Regarding the +identity of the Catholic Liberals in question both pastorals were +silent, but not silent were many of the clergy who interpreted them to +their flocks. The cap fitted the Liberal party and its chiefs, they +averred, and good Catholics must govern themselves accordingly. + +This determined attempt of a section of the {46} clergy to use the +influence they possessed as spiritual guides to crush one political +party aroused the most moderate sections of the Liberals to +counter-attacks. The election law of Canada, copied from that of +England, forbade the use of undue influence in elections, and undue +influence had been said to include use by ecclesiastics of their powers +to excite superstitious fears or pious hopes. Baron Fitzgerald had +declared in the Mayo case in Ireland, in 1857, that the priest must not +use threats of punishment here or hereafter, must not threaten to +withhold the sacraments or denounce voting for any particular candidate +as a sin. The Liberals of Quebec had no desire to deny the priest the +same rights as other citizens enjoyed, of taking part in the discussion +of any political question whatever, and using all the powers of +persuasion to secure this end. But, they insisted, for a priest to +threaten eternal punishment was as much a case of undue influence as +for an employer to threaten to dismiss a workman if he would not vote +for a certain candidate, and as just a ground for voiding an election. +The matter was pressed to a decision in appeals against candidates +returned in two federal by-elections, in Chambly and Charlevoix, and +{47} in one provincial election, in Bonaventure. In these instances +the proof of open partisanship and open use of ecclesiastical pressure +was overwhelming. 'The candidate who spoke last Sunday,' declared one +priest in Chambly, 'called himself a moderate Liberal. As Catholics +you cannot vote for him; you cannot vote for a Liberal, nor for a +moderate Liberal, for moderate is only another term for liar.' 'The +Church has condemned Liberalism, and to vote against the direction of +the bishops would be sin,' declared another. 'The sky of heaven is +_bleu_, the fire of hell is _rouge_,' another more pointedly urged. 'I +was afraid,' one witness testified, 'that if I voted for Tremblay I +should be damned.' In defence it was urged that, in the first place, +the civil courts had no authority over ecclesiastics, at least for acts +done in their spiritual capacity, and, in the second place, that the +Church had a right to defend its interests against attack, and that in +using to this end all the powers at its disposal it was employing no +undue influence. Judge Routhier, the author of the _Catholic +Programme_, upheld these contentions in the first trial of the +Charlevoix case, but the Supreme Court, in judgments delivered by Mr +Justice Taschereau, brother of {48} the Archbishop, and by Mr Justice +Ritchie, denied the existence of any clerical immunity from civil +jurisdiction, and found that the threats which had been made from the +pulpit constituted undue influence of the clearest kind. Accordingly +they voided the election. Their action met with violent protests from +some of the bishops, who, when Judge Casault in the Bonaventure case +followed this precedent, sought, but in vain, to have him removed by +the Sacred Congregation from his chair in the law faculty of Laval. +But in spite of protests the lesson had been learned, and the sturdy +fight of the Liberals of Quebec for the most elementary rights of a +free people had its effect. + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: GOVERNORS-GENERAL OF THE DOMINION + + 1. VISCOUNT MONCK, 1867-68 + 2. LORD LISGAR, 1868-72 + 3. EARL OF DUFFERIN, 1872-78 + 4. MARQUIS OF LORNE, 1878-83 + 5. MARQUIS OF LANSDOWN, 1882-88 + 6. LORD STANLEY, 1888-93 + 7. EARL OF ABERDEEN, 1893-98 + 8. EARL OF MINTO, 1898-1904 + 9. EARL GREY, 1904-11 + 10. DUKE OF CONNAUGHT, 1911-] + +====================================================================== + +It was when matters were at this acute stage that Wilfrid Laurier came +forward to do for his province and his country a service which could be +accomplished only by a man of rarely balanced judgment, of firm grasp +of essential principles, of wide reading and familiarity with the +political ideals of other lands, and, above all, of matchless courage. +Rarely, if ever, has there been delivered in Canada a speech of such +momentous importance, or one so firmly based on the first principles +with which Canadian statesmen too rarely concern {49} themselves, as +that which he addressed to _Le Club Canadien_, a group of young +Liberals, in Quebec City in June 1877. + +The subject of the address was Political Liberalism. The speaker +cleared away many misunderstandings. Liberalism did not mean Catholic +Liberalism; it had nothing to do with opinions on religion. Nor did it +mean Liberalism of the type still prevalent on the continent of Europe, +revolutionary, semi-socialist, openly anti-clerical; the type which had +been given brief currency by the young men of twenty who thirty years +before had lent the Liberal party an undeserved reputation for +anti-clericalism. No, the Liberals of Canada found their models and +their inspiration in the Liberalism of England, in the men who had +fought the battles of orderly freedom and responsible self-government +against privilege and selfish interest. As to the Church, no true +Liberal wished to deny its officers the right which every citizen +enjoyed of taking a part in his country's politics; they had opposed, +and would continue to oppose, every attempt of politicians in clerical +garb to crush freedom of speech by spiritual terrorism. The right of +ecclesiastical interference in politics ceased where it encroached upon +{50} the elector's independence. Any attempt to found a Catholic party +was not only a crime against the country but was bound to injure the +Church itself; it would lead inevitably to the formation of a +Protestant party among the majority. On individual freedom alone could +a sound national political system be built up, just as on colonial +freedom alone had it been possible to build up a lasting imperial +system. + +The speech was received with enthusiasm throughout the country. Its +renunciation at once of anti-clericalism and of ultramontanism, its +moderation and its fearlessness, rallied Liberalism to its true +standard and marked out clearly the lines within which party and priest +alike should act in the interests of church and of country. It was a +master-stroke both for freedom and for harmony. + +We are to-day sometimes prone to overlook the services of those who in +England or in Canada fought for us the battles of political freedom. +We tend to forget the services of the political leaders of the thirties +and forties who won freedom from class and racial domination, the +services of the leaders of the sixties and seventies who won freedom of +thought and speech against heavy odds. It has taken a European war to +make us realize {51} how precious are those liberties, how many great +peoples are still without them, and the height of our debt of gratitude +alike to those who won them for us in the past, and to those who +preserve them for us in the present. + + +A few months after this historic address Wilfrid Laurier entered the +Mackenzie Cabinet as minister of Inland Revenue. He had been thought +eligible for ministerial rank ever since his first entry into the +House, and might have had a portfolio in 1876 had it not been that he +objected to serve along with Cauchon. The appointment of Cauchon as +lieutenant-governor of Manitoba now having cleared the way, Mr Laurier +accepted the office and appealed to his constituents for re-election. +The tide of opinion had latterly been running strong against the +Government, but the great personal popularity of the new minister was +deemed an assurance of victory. The Conservatives, however, threw +themselves strenuously into the fight, and, much to their own surprise, +won the seat by a majority of twenty-nine. The result was due in part +to the over-confidence and inactivity of the Liberals, but on the whole +it was the handwriting on the wall--a token of the prevailing {52} +sentiment against the Government which was shortly to sweep all before +it. Another seat was speedily found for the new minister, in Quebec +East, and he entered upon a brief year's tenure of office. Though +under no illusion as to the failing strength of the Government in the +country, he loyally did his best both in the administration of his +department and in the campaigning for the party until the _debacle_ +came in 1878. + + + + +{53} + +CHAPTER IV + +IN OPPOSITION, 1878-1887 + +The party leadership--Tariff and railway--Dominion and province--The +second Riel rebellion + + +In the general election of September 1878 the Liberal party suffered +not merely defeat but utter and overwhelming rout, as unexpected and +disastrous as a tropical earthquake. Only five years before, Mackenzie +had been swept into power on a wave of moral indignation. The +Conservative leaders had appeared hopelessly discredited, and the rank +and file dispirited. Now a wave of economic despair swept the Liberals +out of power. Their majority of two to one in 1873 was reversed by a +Conservative majority of over two to one in 1878. The defeat was not +local: every province except New Brunswick went against Mackenzie. +Edward Blake, Richard Cartwright, Alfred G. Jones, and other stalwarts +lost their seats, and though Sir John Macdonald suffered the same fate +in Kingston, and though seats were soon found for the fallen leaders, +the blow greatly damaged the prestige of the Liberal party. + +{54} + +Mackenzie was stunned. To the last he had been confident of victory. +In spite of the warnings of Charlton, Cartwright, Laurier, and others, +he had underestimated the impression which the campaign for protection, +with its lavish promises of work and prosperity for all, made even in +old Liberal strongholds. He could not believe that the people of +Canada would take up the heresies and fallacies which the people of +Great Britain had discarded a generation earlier. He would not believe +that they were prepared to send back to power men found guilty of +corruption only five years before. For these illusions he paid the +penalty, in bitter regrets, in loss of touch with the party, in broken +health, and at last, in April 1880, in resignation of the leadership. +Alexander Mackenzie had deserved well of Canada and of his party; but, +apparently, both wanted more than the dauntless courage and the +unyielding and stainless honour which were all he had to give them. + +There was only one possible successor. Edward Blake had for many years +been the choice of a large section of the party in Ontario, and he now +became leader by unanimous vote. The new chief was a man of great +intellectual capacity, of constructive {55} vision, of untiring +thoroughness and industry. He stood easily at the head of the bar in +Canada. His short term of office as prime minister of Ontario had +given proof of political sagacity and administrative power. He, if any +one, it seemed, could retrieve the shattered fortunes of the Liberal +party. + +Mr Laurier's position as first lieutenant for Quebec was now +unquestioned. It was not a wholly enviable post. The Liberal +representation from Quebec had fallen to twenty. There were few able +men in the ranks. The Dorions were gone. Soon to go too were Holton +and Huntington, the English leaders who formed the connecting link +between the Liberals of Ontario and the French-speaking Liberals of +Quebec. In the Eastern Townships John Henry Pope, that shrewdest and +most pugnacious of Conservative politicians, was perfecting the +organization which later made him the uncrowned king of several +counties. True, Sir George Cartier, who for nearly forty years had +dominated Quebec politics, was gone, but Langevin, his successor in the +Conservative party, though not a strong man himself, had the clergy +behind him; and Chapleau, who entered federal politics in 1882, brought +a fiery eloquence to his party's aid. It was {56} clear that the young +Liberal leader would have no easy task in winning his province. + +Yet he was not content with provincial aims. Each year saw him more +widely recognized as a man not of Quebec merely but of all Canada. The +issues which arose in these trying years were such as to test to the +utmost men's power to rise above local and sectional prejudices and see +Canada's interest steadily and see it whole. Mr Laurier did not speak +often in these early years, but when he did speak it was with +increasing power and recognition. And in the councils of his party the +soundness of his judgment became more fully appreciated as each of the +great issues of the eighties developed. + +The chief of these issues were: the Tariff, the Pacific Railway, +Provincial Rights, and the troubles which arose out of the second Riel +Rebellion. These may now be summarily reviewed. + + +Victorious on the issue of protection, the Government more than lived +up to its promises in the first tariffs framed. 'Tell us how much +protection you want,' Sir John Macdonald had promised the +manufacturers, 'and we shall give you what you need.' And whether it +{57} was cotton or sugar or furniture, needs and wants were judged to +lie not far apart. Purely revenue duties on goods that continued to +come in freely, purely protective duties on goods which were +practically shut out, and duties which served both ends in some degree, +all were advanced. + +The Liberals, _ex officio_, that is, being out of office, opposed these +increases one and all. Neither Blake nor Laurier, however, was an +out-and-out free-trader like Mackenzie. Mackenzie had received his +point of view from his British upbringing; his colleagues had been +brought up on a continent where protection ruled. Blake, after a +session or two, seemed content to accept the country's verdict and +criticized chiefly the details of the N.P., as the National Policy of +Protection to Native Industries was affectionately called by its +supporters. Laurier, while admitting that in theory it was possible to +aid infant industries by tariff pap, criticized the indiscriminate and +excessive rates of the new tariff, and the unfair burden it imposed +upon the poorer citizens by its high specific rates on cheap goods. +But in 1880, after a night of seven years, prosperity dawned in +America. The revival of business in the United States {58} proved as +contagious in Canada as had been its slackening in the early seventies. +The Canadian people gave the credit for the improvement in health to +the well-advertised patent medicine they had taken just before the +change set in; and for some years all criticisms of the N.P. were fated +to fall on deaf ears. + +Then came the contract for the building of the Canadian Pacific +Railway, and the tariff question was shelved. Both parties were +committed to build the road to the coast. Both had wavered between +public and private construction. But the Macdonald Government had now +decided upon pushing the road through with all speed, regardless as to +whether current revenues sufficed to build it, while the Opposition +advocated a policy of gradual construction within the country's means, +concurrent with a close and steady settlement of the western plains. +The Government's first plan of building the road out of the proceeds of +the sale of a hundred million acres of prairie lands proved a flat +failure. Then in 1880 a contract for its construction and operation +was made with the famous Canadian Pacific Syndicate, in which the +leading figures were a group of Canadians who {59} had just reaped a +fortune out of the reconstruction of a bankrupt Minnesota +railway--George Stephen, Richard B. Angus, James J. Hill, and in the +background, Donald A. Smith.[1] + +Under Blake's leadership instant and determined attack was made upon +the bargain, in parliament, in the press, and on the platform. Blake +himself moved against it a resolution of over a hundred clauses, which, +as usual, exhausted the subject and left little for his lieutenants to +say. Mr Laurier particularly criticized the large land-grant and the +exemption from taxation. Had the policy of gradual construction been +adopted, he contended, it would not have been necessary to take a leap +in the dark and give the syndicate the power of a monopoly in the +western country: 'there might have been fewer millionaires in this +country, but there would have been many more happy and contented homes.' + +The Government was, however, committed, and a party majority ratified +the contract. After events justified both the policy of the Government +and, to some extent, the criticism of the Opposition. Great national +interests were at stake. Nothing short of an {60} all-Canadian railway +could bind together the far-flung Dominion. But the building of this +railway, and still more its operation, would be a task to daunt all but +the most fearless, and to those who undertook it generous terms were a +necessity. In their clear understanding and courageous grasp of the +facts, and in their persistent support of the company through all the +dark days until the railway was completed, Macdonald and Tupper and +Pope deserved well of their country. Yet it is equally clear now that +in many points the criticism of the Opposition was well founded. The +land-grant was of least value when most needed--in the early years. +The freedom of the company to select land where they pleased gave them +a mortgage on the West and power to deter possible rival roads. The +exemption from taxation of the company's lands for twenty years after +the issue of the patents, and of its capital stock and equipment for +ever, threw unfair burdens upon the straggling settlers. Still more +threatening to national unity was the monopoly clause, guaranteeing the +company for twenty years against the chartering, either by the Dominion +or by any province afterwards established, of any road enabling United +States railways to tap western traffic. + +{61} + +The issue was decided, as to any immediate effects, by the success of +the Conservatives in the general elections of 1882. The country wanted +the road, and as usual was not disposed to read too closely the fine +print in the contract. But the matter did not end there. Each party +had been led by attack and counterattack to take a stronger stand of +defence or opposition than was reasonable. For another ten years the +Canadian Pacific Railway remained, if not an issue in politics, itself +an active participant in politics. And its great weight thrown against +the Liberal party turned the scales more than once. + + +In every federal state the adjustment of the powers of the central and +of the local authorities gives occasion for much friction and +difference of opinion. In Canada this adjustment, though never-ending, +perhaps reached its climax in the eighties, when question after +question as to the rights of the provinces came up for discussion. + +We are apt to forget how recent a development the modern federal state +is. Save for certain Latin-American countries, nominally federal, the +Dominion of Canada is the third oldest of such states; the United +States and {62} Switzerland alone are of longer standing. The +Austro-Hungarian Empire and the North German Federation were formed in +the same fateful year, 1867. There were, therefore, few models before +the framers of the constitution of Canada, and the marvel is that they +planned so wisely and so enduringly. + +In determining what powers should be assigned to the Dominion and what +to the provinces, the Fathers of Confederation were led, by the +object-lesson which the Civil War in the United States afforded, to +give the central government more authority. To the Dominion they +assigned several fields of legislation which in the Republic fell to +the respective states; and the Dominion was made residuary legatee of +powers not specified. The central government, too, was given a right +of veto over all provincial laws and empowered to appoint the +lieutenant-governors of the provinces. Had Sir John Macdonald had his +way, centralization would have gone much further, for he would have +abolished the provincial governments entirely and set up a single +parliament for the whole country. Fortunately Cartier and Brown +prevented that unwieldy experiment from being tried. + +Experience has shown that the central {63} government should have full +authority to deal with foreign affairs so far as they can be +differentiated, and should have a wide measure of control over commerce +and industry, which more and more are nation-wide in scope. But, this +secured, it has been found equally essential that the provinces should +be given wide power and responsibility. Fortunately Canada has only +nine provinces, as against forty-eight states in the United States, so +that authority is less divided here than in the Republic. In a country +covering half a continent, with great diversity of climate and +resources and industrial development, centralization of all power would +mean the neglect of local needs and the disregard of local differences. +Particularly where, as in Canada, thirty per cent of the people differ +in race and language and creed from the majority, and are concentrated +mainly in a single province, the need for local autonomy as the surest +means of harmony is abundantly clear. + +It was in Quebec that the first issue as to provincial rights arose. +The Mackenzie Government in 1876 had appointed Luc Letellier de St +Just, one of their most steadfast supporters, lieutenant-governor of +that province. It was not long before political and {64} personal +antagonism strained to the breaking point the relations between the +Liberal Letellier and his Conservative ministers at Quebec. The +neglect of the premier, M. de Boucherville, to consult Letellier before +introducing some railway legislation proved the last straw, and in +March 1878 Boucherville was dismissed and Henri Joly de Lotbiniere was +called upon to form a Cabinet. This sudden rupture raised a storm of +protest in Quebec, of which the echoes soon reached Ottawa. Sir John +Macdonald, then leader of the Opposition, moved a vote of censure upon +Letellier, which was defeated on a party vote. A year later, after the +change of government at Ottawa, a Quebec ministerialist again moved in +the House of Commons the resolution of censure. + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: VICE-REGAL CONSORTS + + 1. LADY MONCK + 2. LADY LISGAR + 3. LADY DUFFERIN + 4. THE PRINCESS LOUISE + 5. LADY LANSDOWNE + 6. LADY STANLEY + 7. LADY ABERDEEN + 8. LADY MINTO + 9. LADY GREY + 10. THE DUCHESS OF CONNAUGHT] + +====================================================================== + +The Liberal leaders at Ottawa were inclined to agree that Letellier had +been too sensitive about his dignity as governor, and Sir John +Macdonald on his part would have preferred to let the matter rest, +since the elections in the province had upheld Joly, had not his Quebec +supporters demanded their pound of flesh. But the constitutional issue +was clear, and on this the Liberals rested their case. It was for the +people of Quebec, they contended, to {65} decide whether or not the +lieutenant-governor had violated their liberties. If the +lieutenant-governor could find ministers with a legislative majority +behind them to uphold his action, there was nothing more to be said: +the doctrine of ministerial responsibility covered all his acts. And +this support he had found; for the Joly Government, on appealing to the +people, had turned a minority of twenty into a majority of one. 'The +people of the province of Quebec,' declared Mr Laurier in the Commons, +'who alone are interested in this question, have decided that in their +opinion, whether that be right or wrong, the act of Mr Letellier was +just and constitutional.... You say No. What are you here for if you +say No? If your policy had been supported by the people of Quebec, you +would not now be seeking vengeance at the hands of this House.' But +logic was in vain. The vote of censure carried, and Macdonald +recommended to the governor-general, the Marquis of Lorne, that +Letellier should be dismissed. Here again a nice question of +responsibility arose. First the question had been whether the +lieutenant-governor was to be guided by provincial ministers or by the +federal government which appointed him. Now the problem {66} was +whether the governor-general should be guided by his advisers in +Canada, or by the British Government which had appointed him. With the +assent of the Canadian Cabinet the question was referred to the +Colonial Office. Mackenzie's protest against this colonial-minded +appeal was in vain, but the upshot proved satisfactory to him. The +colonial secretary replied that the lieutenant-governor was undoubtedly +responsible to the governor-general for any act, and that equally +undoubtedly the governor-general must act upon the advice, in this as +in other matters, of his responsible ministers. The governor-general +suggested reconsideration, but the Macdonald Cabinet was obdurate and +Letellier was dismissed. Fortunately the precedent thus set has not +been followed. The principle is now established that a +lieutenant-governor may be dismissed only when he cannot find +provincial ministers willing and able to support him. + +The later constitutional issues were chiefly disputes between the +Dominion and the province of Ontario. They were not merely differences +of opinion on abstract constitutional points. They were in large part +struggles for power and patronage between two very shrewd practical +politicians, Sir John {67} Macdonald and his one-time law-student at +Kingston, Oliver Mowat, for many years premier of Ontario. + +First came a struggle as to the western boundary of Ontario. The +dividing line between the old province of Canada and the territories +purchased from the Hudson's Bay Company had never been determined +After ten years of negotiations a commission, consisting of one +representative of the Dominion and one of Ontario together with the +British ambassador at Washington, gave a unanimous award in 1878, an +award which the Dominion refused to carry into effect. Other provinces +were involved. The Dominion had presented Manitoba with much of the +territory in dispute, and the conflict as to jurisdiction between that +province and Ontario nearly led to bloodshed; while Quebec was stirred +up to protest against the enlargement of Ontario, which would make +Ontario, it was said, the preponderant power in the Dominion. Mr +Laurier inveighed against what he termed the dishonourable course of +the Dominion Government. When negotiating with the Hudson's Bay +Company for its lands, it had contended that the old province of Canada +extended far west and north, but now it took {68} precisely the +opposite stand. As for Quebec's interest, he continued: 'I do not fear +the appeal that will be made against me in my own province. This award +is binding on both parties and should be carried out in good faith. +The consideration that the great province of Ontario may be made +greater, I altogether lay aside as unfair, unfriendly, and unjust.' +The Government, however, persisted in rejecting the award, and forced +an appeal to the Privy Council, only to have Ontario's claim fully +substantiated, and the total area of the province confirmed as more +than double what Sir John Macdonald would have allowed it. + +The next issue put to the test the power of the Dominion to veto +provincial laws. It was, in form, merely a dispute between two +lumbermen, M'Laren and Caldwell, as to whether the one higher up on the +stream could use, upon paying tolls, timber-slides built by the other +lower down. But, as Edward Blake declared in 1886, this was 'of all +the controversies between the Dominion and the provinces, by far the +most important from the constitutional point of view, for it involved +the principle which must regulate the use by the Dominion Government of +the power of disallowing provincial legislation.' When in 1881 a court +of {69} justice in Ontario held that the lumberman on the lower reaches +could prevent the one higher up from floating down his logs, Mowat had +an act passed providing that all persons possessed, and were thereby +declared always to have possessed, the right denied by this judgment. +This measure was at once disallowed by the Dominion Government. Then +the Privy Council upheld the contention of the Ontario Government as to +what the law had been even before the act was passed; and, when in 1884 +the provincial legislature again passed the same act, the Dominion +conceded the point. Thereafter the veto power has been used only when +Dominion or Imperial interests were concerned, or when a statute was +claimed to be beyond the power of the province to pass. The wisdom or +justice of measures affecting only the local interests of the citizens +of a province has been left to the judgment of its own people to +determine. + +The regulation of the liquor traffic provided the next battle-ground. +In 1876 Ontario had passed the Crooks Act, which took the power of +granting licences from the municipalities and gave it to provincial +commissioners. Two years later the Dominion parliament passed the +Scott Act, giving counties power to {70} prohibit the sale of liquor +within their limits. The constitutionality of this act was upheld in +1882 in the Russell case, and Sir John Macdonald concluded that if the +Dominion had power to pass the Scott Act, the province had not the +power to pass the Crooks Act. 'If I carry the country,' he declared at +a public meeting in 1882, 'as I will do, I will tell Mr Mowat, that +little tyrant who has attempted to control public opinion by getting +hold of every office from that of a Division Court bailiff to a +tavern-keeper, that I will get a bill passed at Ottawa returning to the +municipalities the power taken from them by the Licence Act.' At the +next session the M'Carthy Act was passed, providing, not for municipal +control, but for control by federal commissioners. Here again the +highest courts held in 1883 and 1884 that the Ontario measure was +within the power of the province, but that the M'Carthy Act was beyond +that of the Dominion. Once more 'the little tyrant' had scored! + +The Dominion Franchise Act of 1885 was the last important measure which +need be noted in this connection. By the British North America Act the +Dominion was to adopt the provincial franchise lists for its elections +{71} until parliament should order otherwise. Sir John Macdonald +decided, after eighteen years' use of the provincial lists and six +half-hearted attempts to change this situation, that the Dominion +should set up its own standard, in order both to secure uniformity and +to preserve the property qualifications which Ontario and the other +provinces were throwing overboard. The Opposition contended that this +was an attack upon provincial rights. The argument was weak; there +could be no doubt of the constitutional power of the Dominion in this +matter. Better founded were the attacks of the Opposition upon +specific clauses of the measure, such as the proposal to enfranchise +Indians living upon government reserves and under government control, +and the proposal to put the revision of the lists in the hands of +partisan revising barristers rather than of judges. The +'Conservatives' proposed, but did not press the point, to give single +women the franchise, and the 'Liberals' opposed it. After months of +obstruction the proposal to enfranchise the western Indians was +dropped,[2] an appeal to {72} judges was provided for the revision of +the lists, and the income and property standards were reduced. +Inconsistently, in some provinces a variation from the general +standards was permitted. The Franchise Act of 1885 remained in force +until after the coming of the Liberals to power in 1896, when it was +repealed without regret on either side. + + +Suddenly the scene shifted, and, instead of the dry and bloodless court +battles of constitutional lawyers, the fire and passion of armed +rebellion and bitter racial feud held the Canadian stage. The +rebellion itself was an {73} affair of but a few brief weeks, but the +fires lighted on the Saskatchewan swept through the whole Dominion, and +for years the smoke of Duck Lake and Batoche disturbed the public life +of Canada. + +Long years before the Great West was more than a name to any but a +handful in older Canada, hardy French voyageurs and Scottish +adventurers had pushed their canoes or driven their Red River carts to +the foot of the Rockies and beyond. They had mated with Indian women, +and when in 1870 the Dominion came into possession of the great hunting +preserve of the Hudson's Bay Company, many of their half-breed children +dwelt on the plains. The coming of the railway, the flocking in of +settlers, and the rapid dwindling of the vast herds of buffalo which +had provided the chief support of the half-breeds, made their nomadic +life no longer possible. The economic difficulties of making the +needed readjustment, of settling down to quiet farm activities, were +heightened by the political difficulties due to the setting up of the +new Dominion authority. Then it was on the banks of the Red River that +these half-breeds, known as Metis, had risen under the firebrand Riel +in armed revolt against the incoming regime. Now, in 1885, {74} it was +on the North and South Saskatchewan. There numerous groups of the +Metis had made their settlements. And when the Canadian authorities +came in to survey the land, to build railways, and to organize +government, these people sought to have their rights and privileges +accorded them. In Manitoba, after the insurrection of 1870, the dual +claims of the old half-breed settlers had been recognized. As part +Indian, they had been given scrip for 160 acres each, to extinguish the +Indian title to the land, and as part white men, they were each allowed +to homestead 160 acres like any other settler. The Metis in the +North-West Territories now asked for the same privileges. They wanted +also to have their holdings left as they were, long narrow strips of +land facing the river front, like the settlements on the St Lawrence, +with the houses sociably near in one long village street, rather than +to have their land cut up into rectangular, isolated farms under the +survey system which the Canadian Government had borrowed from the +United States. + +The requests were reasonable. Perhaps a narrow logic could have shown +inconsistency in the demand to be considered both white and Indian at +once, but the Manitoba Act had {75} set a precedent. Only a few +thousand acres were at stake, in a boundless land where the Government +stood ready to set aside a hundred million acres for a railway. The +expediency of winning the goodwill of the half-breeds was apparent to +Canadians on the spot, especially now that the Indians, over whom the +Metis had great influence, were also becoming restless because of the +disappearance of the buffalo and the swarming in of settlers. + +Yet the situation was never adequately faced. The Mackenzie +Government, in 1877, on the petition of a hundred and fifty Scottish +half-breeds at Prince Albert, agreed, where settlement had been +effected on the narrow frontage system, to conform the surveys in +harmony with this plan, and the Scottish holdings were so confirmed. +Two years later the Macdonald Government passed an act authorizing the +giving of scrip to the half-breeds of the North-West on the same terms +as it had been given to those in Manitoba. So far so good. Then came +year upon year of neglect, of clerkly procrastination, and of +half-concessions. The French half-breeds passed resolution after +resolution, sent to Ottawa petition after petition and delegation after +delegation, but in vain. The Government {76} forgot the act which it +had itself passed in 1879. Nor were the half-breeds themselves the +only petitioners. Time and again Father Andre and other missionaries +urged their claims. Some of the Government's own land agents on the +spot urged them. Charles Mair of Prince Albert, one of the first of +Ontario's settlers in the West, appeared at Ottawa four times before +the outbreak, to try to waken the Government to the seriousness of the +situation.[3] The North-West Council sent strong memorials backing the +requests of the Metis. And still, though some of the grievances were +redressed, in piecemeal fashion, no attempt was made to grapple +adequately with the difficult questions presented by the meeting {77} +of two stages of civilization, to understand the disputes, the real +wrongs, the baseless fears. When in 1883 Blake in the House of Commons +called for papers, none were brought down for two years; when in 1884 +Cameron called for a committee of investigation, the reply was that +there was nothing to investigate. + +What was the cause of this neglect? At bottom, the Government's +ignorance of the West. There was not in the Cabinet a man who knew its +conditions and needs. The Metis were two thousand miles away, and they +had no votes, for the North-West Territories were not then represented +at Ottawa. For five years Sir John Macdonald himself had acted as +minister of the Interior. In taking over the cares of a busy +department, added to the office of prime minister, he made the mistake +that Mackenzie had made. But while Mackenzie put in ten to fourteen +hours a day at departmental routine, at the expense of his duties as +leader, Macdonald did his work as leader at the expense of his +department. 'Old To-Morrow' solved many a problem wisely by leaving it +to time to solve, but some problems proved the more serious for every +year's delay. Late in 1883 Sir John gave up {78} the portfolio, but +his successor, Sir David Macpherson, effected little change. Late in +1885 Thomas White, an energetic and sympathetic administrator, became +minister, but the mischief was then already done. + +In its defence the Government urged that no half-breed had actually +been dispossessed of his river-front claim, and that many who were +demanding scrip had already received land in Manitoba. It contended +further that the agitation of the half-breeds was fanned by white +settlers in Prince Albert, eager to speculate in scrip, and hinted +darkly at mysterious forces and personages in the background, in Canada +and elsewhere. No attempt was made, however, to prove the truth of +these latter charges or to bring the guilty to justice. Doubtless the +grievances were not so great as to justify rebellion; the less excuse, +then, for not curing what was curable. Doubtless, also, this was not +the first time nor the last that a government lacked energy or vision, +and had it not been for the other factor in the situation, Louis Riel, +no heavy penalty might have followed. But unfortunately, luck or +Nemesis, the other factor was very much to the fore. + +Wearied of unending delay, the Metis looked {79} again to Riel, then +living in exile in Montana. He was the one half-breed with any measure +of book-education and knowledge of the vague world beyond the Lakes. +Early in the summer of 1884 James Isbester, Gabriel Dumont, Moise +Ouellette, and Michel Dumas trudged seven hundred miles to Montana, and +laid their case before him. He needed little urging. The call +appealed strongly to his erratic ambition. His term of banishment had +expired, and he hastened to the Saskatchewan to organize the Metis. +Still the Government did not stir, though it knew the reckless daring +of Riel and the influence he wielded. Riel at once set to work to fan +the discontent into flame. Though the English-speaking half-breeds +drew back, he soon gained remarkable ascendancy over his +French-speaking compatriots. He preached a new religion, with himself +as prophet, threatened to dethrone the Pope, and denounced the local +priests who resisted his campaign. He held meeting after meeting, drew +up an extravagant Bill of Rights, and endeavoured to enlist the support +of the Indian tribes. Still all the Government did was to send, in +January 1885, a commission to take the census of the half-breeds, +preparatory to settling their claims. Yet, {80} speaking in the House +of Commons, on March 26, 1885, Sir John Macdonald made it clear that +the half-breeds could not get both Indian scrip and white man's +homestead. On the very day that this refusal was reiterated the first +shot had been fired at Duck Lake, where a superior force of insurgents +under Riel and Dumont routed a party of Mounted Police and volunteers, +killing twelve, and seized the supplies in the government post. Open +rebellion had come for a second time. + +Now at last the Government acted with energy. On the 6th of April, ten +days after Duck Lake, instructions were telegraphed from Ottawa to give +the half-breeds the scrip they had sought, and to allow occupants to +acquire title by possession. At the same time troops were hastily +mobilized and speeded west over the broken stretches of the Canadian +Pacific Railway. The young volunteers faced danger and hardship like +veterans. In spite of the skilful tactics of Riel's lieutenant, +Gabriel Dumont, a born general, the volunteers soon crushed the +half-breeds and prevented the much more serious danger of an Indian +uprising from going far. + +Once the back of the revolt was broken, the storm broke out in Eastern +Canada. In one {81} way the rebellion had made for national unity. +Nova Scotia and Ontario and the West had thrilled in common suspense +and common endeavour. But this gain was much more than offset by the +bitter antagonism which developed between Ontario and Quebec, an +antagonism which for a time threatened to wreck the Dominion. The two +provinces saw different sides of the shield. Ontario saw the murderer +of Thomas Scott--an Ontario man and an Orangeman--a second time +stirring up revolt, and cried for summary punishment. Quebec saw the +grievances which had stirred the men of French blood to rebel. Riel +was tried in Regina in September, and found guilty of treason, with a +recommendation to mercy. The Queen's Bench of Manitoba confirmed the +verdict, and the Government, in spite of many protests, refused to +grant a pardon or to commute the sentence to imprisonment. On the 16th +of November 1885 Riel's chequered existence ended on the scaffold at +Regina. + +Now the storm raged with renewed fury. The Liberal party all held the +Government responsible for the outbreak, but were not a unit in +condemning the execution of Riel. By clever tactics the Government +took advantage of this divergence. Early in the session {82} of 1886 a +Quebec Conservative, Auguste Philippe Landry, moved a resolution +condemning the execution. The Liberals had intended to shift the +discussion to the record of the Government, but before they could +propose an amendment, the minister of Public Works, Hector Langevin, +moved the previous question, thus barring any further motion. Forced +to vote on Landry's resolution, most of the Ontario Liberals, including +Mackenzie and Cartwright, sided with the Government; Blake and Laurier +took the other side. + +The crisis brought Wilfrid Laurier to the front. Hitherto he had been +considered, especially in Ontario, as a man of brilliant promise, but +not yet of the stature of veterans like Blake and Mackenzie and +Cartwright. But now an occasion had come which summoned all his latent +powers, and henceforth his place in the first rank was unquestioned. +It was an issue peculiarly fitted to bring out his deepest feelings, +his passion for liberty and straightforward justice, his keen +realization of the need of harmony between French and English, a +harmony that must be rooted in sympathy and understanding. He had +faced a hostile Quebec, and was to face it again, in defence of the +rights of the English-speaking {83} provinces. Now he faced a hostile +Ontario, and told Toronto exactly what he told Montreal. In the great +meeting of protest which was held in the Champ de Mars in Montreal on +the Sunday after Riel's execution, Mr Laurier took a leading part, and +a year later he spoke before a great audience in Toronto and pressed +home the case against the Government--that 'the half-breeds were denied +for long years right and justice, rights which were admitted as soon as +they were asked by bullets.' + +But it was in the House of Commons that he rose to the full height of +the theme and of his powers. Seconding Blake's indictment of the +Government in July 1885, and replying to Sir John Macdonald, he +analysed mercilessly the long record of neglect. Then, replying to the +contention that the grievances were petty and that Riel alone was to +blame, he made a pointed contrast: + + +Few men have there been anywhere who have wielded greater sway over +their fellow countrymen than did Mr Papineau at a certain time in the +history of Lower Canada, and no man ever lived who had been more +profusely endowed by nature to be the idol of a nation. A man of +commanding presence, of majestic countenance, of impassioned eloquence, +of {84} unblemished character, of pure, disinterested patriotism, for +years he held over the hearts of his fellow countrymen almost unbounded +sway, and even to this day the mention of his name will arouse +throughout the length and breadth of Lower Canada a thrill of +enthusiasm in the breasts of all, men or women, old or young. What was +the secret of that great power he held at one time? Was it simply his +eloquence, his commanding intellect, his pure patriotism? No doubt +they all contributed, but the main cause of his authority over his +fellow countrymen was this, that at that time his fellow countrymen +were an oppressed race, and he was the champion of their cause. But +when the day of relief came, the influence of Mr Papineau, however +great it might have been and however great it still remained, ceased to +be paramount. When eventually the Union Act was carried, Papineau +violently assailed it, showed all its defects, deficiencies and +dangers, and yet he could not rouse his followers and the people to +agitate for the repeal of that Act. What was the reason? The +conditions were no more the same. Imperfect as was the Union Act, it +still gave a measure of freedom and justice to the people, and men who +once at the mere sound of Mr Papineau's voice would have gladly courted +death on battle-field or scaffold, then stood silent and irresponsive, +though he asked from them nothing more than a constitutional agitation +for a repeal of the Union Act. Conditions were no more the same. +Tyranny and oppression had made rebels of the people of Lower Canada, +while justice and freedom made {85} them the true and loyal subjects +which they have been ever since. And now to tell us that Louis Riel, +simply by his influence, could bring those men from peace to war, to +tell us that they had no grievances, to tell us that they were brought +into a state of rebellion either through pure malice or through +imbecile adherence to an adventurer, is an insult to the intelligence +of the people at large, and an unjust aspersion on the people of the +Saskatchewan. + + +When the debate on the Landry motion came on in the following session, +Laurier and Blake again shared the honours, along with the new minister +of Justice, John S. D. Thompson, who spoke forcefully for the +Government. Mr Laurier's speech on this occasion was perhaps the +greatest of his career, and made a profound impression. He was called +upon to speak unexpectedly, late at night, through the tactics of the +Government in not putting up a speaker. Two dull speeches had nearly +emptied the House. No one rose to follow, and the speaker had asked +whether the question should be put, when Mr Laurier rose. The House +filled quickly, and for two hours he held it breathless, so that not a +sound but the orator's ringing voice and the ticking of the clock could +be heard in the chamber. When he sat down, the opinion of {86} the +House was unanimous that this was one of the rare occasions of a +parliamentary lifetime. Thomas White generously voiced the feeling of +the Government benches when he declared: 'I think it is a matter of +common pride to us that any man in Canada can make, on the floor of +parliament, such a speech as we listened to last night.' Edward Blake +declared the speech was 'the crowning proof of French domination. My +honourable friend, not content with having for a long time in his own +tongue borne away the palm of parliamentary eloquence, has invaded +ours, and in that field has pronounced a speech, which, in my humble +judgment, merits this compliment, because it is the truth, that it was +the finest parliamentary speech ever pronounced in the parliament of +Canada since Confederation.' + +Blake and Laurier differed in their view of the tactics to be followed +by the Opposition. Mr Blake wished to throw the chief emphasis upon +the question of Riel's insanity, leaving aside the thorny question of +the division of responsibility. Mr Laurier wanted to go further. +While equally convinced that Riel was insane, he thought that the main +effort of the Opposition should be to divert attention from Riel's +sorry figure and concentrate it on {87} the question of the +Government's neglect. Accordingly in this speech Mr Laurier reviewed +once more the conduct of the Government, arraigning it unsparingly for +its common share in the guilt of the rebellion. He denied that the +people of Quebec were demanding that no French Canadian should be +punished, guilty or not guilty. As for Riel, who shared with the +Government the responsibility for the blood and sufferings of the +revolt, he urged, with Blake, that it was impossible to consider him +sane and accountable for his actions. 'Sir,' he declared, 'I am not +one of those who look upon Louis Riel as a hero. Nature had endowed +him with many brilliant qualities, but nature had denied him that +supreme quality without which all other qualities, however brilliant, +are of no avail. Nature had denied him a well-balanced mind. At his +worst he was a fit subject for an asylum, at his best he was a +religious and political monomaniac.' True, some of the Government's +experts had reported that, while insane on religious questions, Riel +was otherwise accountable for his actions, but other experts had held +him insane without qualification. In any event, the same experts for +the Government had declared that Riel's secretary, an {88} English +half-breed, William Jackson, was insane on religious questions, and +dazed at times, but that 'his actions were not uncontrollable'; yet +Quebec bitterly reflected that one of these men had been acquitted, +sent to an asylum and then allowed to escape, while the other was sent +to the gallows. 'Jackson is free to-day, and Riel is in his grave.'[4] + +On wider grounds the Government should have stood for clemency. Who +was right in the United States after the Civil War--President Johnson, +who wished to try Lee for treason, or General Grant, who insisted that +he be not touched? Twenty years after, the unity of North and South +proves unmistakably Grant's far-seeing wisdom. 'We cannot make a +nation of this new country by shedding blood,' Mr Laurier concluded. +'Our prisons are full of men, who, despairing of getting justice by +peace, sought it by war, who, despairing of ever being treated like +freemen, {89} took their lives in their hands rather than be treated as +slaves. They have suffered greatly, they are suffering still, yet +their sacrifice will not be without reward.... They are in durance +to-day, but the rights for which they were fighting have been +acknowledged. We have not the report of the commission yet, but we +know that more than two thousand claims so long denied have at last +been granted. And more--still more: we have it in the Speech from the +Throne that at last representation is to be granted to those +Territories. This side of the House long sought, but sought in vain, +to obtain that measure of justice. It could not come then, but it came +after the war; it came as the last conquest of that insurrection. And +again I say that "their country has conquered with their martyrdom," +and if we look at that one fact alone there was cause sufficient, +independent of all other, to extend mercy to the one who is dead and to +those who live.' + +In parliament, for all the eloquence of Laurier and Blake, the +Government had its way. In the country the controversy raged in more +serious fashion. In Quebec Honore Mercier, the brilliant, tempestuous +leader of the Liberals, carried on a violent agitation, {90} and in +January 1887 rode the whirlwind into power. Wild and bitter words were +many in the contest, and they found more than an answer in Ontario, +where the leading ministerial organ, the _Mail_, declared it better to +'smash Confederation into its original fragments' rather than yield to +French dictation. + +[Illustration: HONORE MERCIER From a photograph] + +The general elections, held in February 1887, proved that in Ontario +the guilt of Riel was more to the fore than the misdeeds of the +Government, and the Conservatives lost only two seats. On the other +hand, the Liberals gained less in Quebec in the Dominion contest, where +the Riel question was a legitimate issue, than in the provincial +contest, where it properly had no place. The influence of the Church, +though now transferred to Mercier in provincial politics, remained on +the side of Sir John Macdonald in Dominion politics. Counting on the +Liberal side the former Conservatives who had deserted the Government, +the returns showed the province about equally divided; but after it was +seen that Sir John was again in power, several of the wanderers +returned to his fold, influenced by his personal ascendancy or by the +loaves and fishes of patronage and office. + + + +[1] See _The Railway Builders_, chap. viii. + +[2] Indians in the eastern provinces, however, were given a vote. This +gave rise to one of the most artful, yet amusingly simple, +electioneering documents on record. In the Haldimand, Ontario, +election of 1891 the Conservative candidate, Dr W. H. Montague, +afterwards minister of Agriculture, had the following circular +distributed on the Indian Reserve, with the royal coat of arms at the +top: + + +FOR INDIANS ONLY + +To the Indians: The Queen has always loved her dear loyal subjects, the +Indians. She wants them to be good men and women, and she wants them +to live on the land that they have, and she expects in a little while, +if her great chief John A. gets into government again, to be very kind +to the Indians and to make them very happy. She wants them to go and +vote and all to vote for Dr Montague, who is the Queen's agent. He is +their friend, and by voting for him every one of the Indians will please + +QUEEN VICTORIA. + + +Liberal (or rather Conservative) supplies of fire-water effectively +backed up this touching appeal of 'the Queen.' + +[3] Mair made his last appeal but one in April 1884. Finding it +impossible to rouse the Government, he returned to Prince Albert and +brought his family back to Ontario, out of the way of the inevitable +rebellion. A final visit to Ottawa in December was equally futile. Of +the April attempt Lieut.-Colonel George T. Denison writes: 'When he +returned to Toronto from Ottawa he told me most positively that there +would be a rebellion, that the officials were absolutely indifferent +and immovable, and I could not help laughing at the picture he gave me +of Sir David Macpherson, a very large, handsome, erect man of six feet +four inches, getting up, leaving his room, and walking away down the +corridor, while Mair, a short stout man, had almost to run alongside of +him, as he made his final appeal to preserve the peace and prevent +bloodshed.'--_Soldiering in Canada_, p. 263. + +[4] 'When one considers the mass of testimony pointing to Riel's mental +defect--paranoia--the undoubted history of insanity from boyhood, with +the recurring paroxysms of intense excitement, he wonders that there +could have been the slightest discussion regarding it.'--'A Critical +Study of the Case of Louis Riel,' _Queen's Quarterly_, April-July, +1905, by C. K. Clarke, M.D., Superintendent of Rockwood Asylum (now +Superintendent, Toronto General Hospital). + + + + +{91} + +CHAPTER V + +LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION, 1887-1896 + +Dark days--Sectional discontent--Railway monopoly--Exodus and stagnation + + +The outcome of the elections was an intense disappointment to Edward +Blake. His health, too, was failing, and this increased his +despondency. He decided to give over to other hands the leadership of +his party. Early in June 1887, two months after the new parliament +assembled, he definitely and firmly refused to hold the post longer. + +Who was to succeed him? For the moment the leadership was put into +commission, a committee of eight being nominated to tide matters over. +The Ontario Liberals had always been the backbone of the party, and +among them Sir Richard Cartwright and David Mills stood pre-eminent in +experience and ability. Yet it was neither of these veterans whom Mr +Blake recommended to the party 'caucus' as his successor, but Wilfrid +Laurier; and on the motion of Sir Richard Cartwright, seconded by Mr +Mills, Mr Laurier was unanimously chosen as the new chieftain. + +{92} + +It was with much difficulty that Mr Laurier was induced to accept the +leadership. On both personal and political grounds he hesitated. He +had his share of ambition, but he had never looked for more than +success in his profession and a place in politics below the highest. +It was not that he underestimated the greatness of the honour; on the +contrary, it was his high sense of the responsibilities of the post +that gave him pause. He was not of strong physique, and he knew that +the work meant ceaseless strain and pressure. Though his profession +now gave him an ample income, he was not a rich man, and much if not +most of his law practice would have to be abandoned if he became +leader;[1] and parliament had not yet awakened to the need of paying +the leader of the Opposition a salary. + +On political grounds he was still more in doubt. Would Canada, would +the one-time party of George Brown, welcome a leader from the minority? +The fires of sectional passion were still raging. In Ontario he would +be opposed as a French Canadian and a Catholic, the resolute opponent +of the Government on the Riel question. And though it might be {93} +urged that the pendulum was swinging toward the Liberals in Quebec, +while in Ontario they were making little ground, the irony of the +situation was such that in Quebec he was regarded with suspicion, if +not with open hostility, by the most powerful and aggressive leaders of +the Church. + +Yet the place he had won in parliament and in the party was undeniable. +His colleagues believed that he had the ability to lead them out of the +wilderness, and for their faith he accepted. At first he insisted that +his acceptance should be tentative, for the session only; but by the +time the session ended the party would not be denied, and his definite +succession to the leadership was announced. + + +The Canada of 1887, in which Wilfrid Laurier thus came to high and +responsible position, was a Canada very different from the land of +promise familiar to young Canadians of the present generation. It was +a Canada seething with restlessness and discontent. The high hopes of +the Fathers of Confederation had turned to ashes. On every hand men +were saying that federation had failed, that the new nation of their +dream had remained a dream. + +{94} + +At Confederation men had hoped that the Dominion would take high place +in the Empire and among the nations of the world. Yet, twenty years +later, Canada remained unappreciated and unknown. In Great Britain she +was considered a colony which had ceased to fulfil the principal +functions of the traditional colony, and which would probably some day +go the way of all colonies: in the meantime the country was simply +ignored, alike in official and in private circles. In the United +States, in those quarters where Canada was given a thought at all, +curious misconceptions existed of her subordination to Great Britain, +of her hopelessly Arctic climate, and of her inevitable drift into the +arms of the Republic. Elsewhere abroad, Canada was an Ultima Thule, a +barren land of ice and snow, about as interesting and important as +Kamchatka and Tierra del Fuego, and other outlying odds and ends of the +earth which one came across in the atlas but never thought of otherwise. + +Twenty years earlier glowing pictures had been painted of the new +heights of honour and of usefulness which the new Dominion would afford +its statesmen. The hard reality was the Canada of gerrymanders and +political {95} trickery, of Red Parlor funds and electoral bribery. +The canker affected not one party alone, as the fall of Mercier was +soon to show. The whole political life of the country to sank low and +stagnant levels, for it appeared that the people had openly condoned +corruption in high places, and that lavish promises and the 'glad hand' +were a surer road to success than honest and efficient administration. + +Sectional discontent prevailed. That the federation would be smashed +'into its original fragments' seemed not beyond possibility. We have +seen that a racial and religious feud rent Ontario and Quebec. Nova +Scotia strained at the leash. Her people had never forgotten nor +forgiven the way in which they had been forced into Confederation. +'Better terms' had failed to bribe them into fellowship. A high tariff +restricted their liberty in buying, and the home markets promised in +compensation had not developed. In the preceding year the provincial +legislature had expressed the prevalent discontent by flatly demanding +the repeal of the union. + +Manitoba chafed under a thirty-five per cent tariff on farm implements, +and complained of the retention by the Dominion of the vacant lands in +the province. And her {96} grievances in respect to transportation +would not down. The Canadian Pacific Railway had given the much +desired connection with the East and had brought tens of thousands of +settlers to the province, but it had not brought abiding prosperity or +content. The through rate on wheat from Winnipeg to Montreal was ten +cents a bushel more than from St Paul to New York, an equal distance; +and, from the farm to Liverpool, the Minnesota farmer had fifteen cents +a bushel the advantage of his Manitoba neighbour. Local rates were +still heavier. 'Coal and lumber and general merchandise cost from two +to four times as much to ship as for equal distances in the eastern +provinces.'[2] + +Why not bring in competition? Because the Dominion Government blocked +the way by its veto power. In the contract with the Canadian Pacific +Syndicate a clause provided that for twenty years the Dominion would +not authorize a competing road between the company's main line and the +United States border running south or southeast or within fifteen miles +of the boundary; it was provided also that in the formation of any new +provinces to {97} the west such provinces should be required to observe +the same restriction. It was urged by the railway authorities that +foreign investors had demanded a monopoly as the price of capital, and +that without the assurance of such a monopoly the costly link to the +north of Lake Superior could never have been built. The terms of the +contract did not bar Manitoba from chartering railways: the Dominion +had indeed no power to forbid it in advance, and it was explicitly +stated by Sir John Macdonald at the time that Manitoba was not +affected. Yet when Manitoba sought to charter one railway after +another, the Dominion disallowed every act and repeatedly declared that +it would use its veto power to compel Manitoba to trade with the East +and by the Canadian Pacific Railway. A more effective means of +stirring up ill-feeling between East and West and of discouraging +immigration to the prairies could hardly have been devised. + +Against these conditions Manitoba protested as one man. The Winnipeg +Board of Trade denounced the policy of 'crushing and trampling upon one +hundred thousand struggling pioneers of this prairie province to secure +a purely imaginary financial gain to one soulless corporation.' Every +Conservative candidate {98} for the House of Commons in the province +pledged himself to vote for a motion of want of confidence if the +Macdonald Government persisted in its course. The Conservative +administration of the province was overthrown because it did not go +fast or far enough in the fight. At last, in 1888, Ottawa gave way and +bought off the Canadian Pacific by a guarantee of bonds for new +extensions. After some further negotiations the Northern Pacific was +brought into Canada; and if this did not work all the miracles of cheap +rates that had been expected, Manitoba at least knew now that her ills +were those which had been imposed by nature and geography and not by +her sister provinces. + +It was not only in Manitoba that economic depression prevailed, though +nowhere else were the grievances so concrete and so irritating. +Throughout the Dominion the brief gleam of prosperity which dawned with +the eighties had vanished. After the completion of the Canadian +Pacific Railway stagnation was everywhere the rule. Foreign trade, +which had reached a total of $217,000,000 in 1873, was only +$230,000,000 in 1883 and $247,000,000 in 1893; these were, however, +years of falling prices. Bank discounts, the {99} number of tons of +freight moved, and other records of general business activity showed +creeping progress and sometimes actual falling back. Homestead entries +had risen to nearly seventy-five hundred in 1882, when the construction +of the Canadian Pacific was bringing on the first western boom, but a +great part of these had been cancelled, and up to the middle nineties +entries averaged fewer than three thousand a year in the whole vast +West. + +The movement of population bore the same melancholy witness. Even the +West, Manitoba and the North-West Territories, grew only from 180,000 +in 1881 in 250,000 in 1891, whereas Dakota alone grew from 135,000 to +510,000 in the same period. The Dominion as a whole increased at less +than half the rate of the United States, and Sir Richard Cartwright had +little difficulty in establishing the alarming fact that in recent +years one out of every four of the native-born of Canada had been +compelled to seek a home in the Republic, and that three out of every +four immigrants to Canada had followed the same well-beaten trail. +There were in 1890 more than one-third as many people of Canadian birth +and descent in the United States as in Canada itself. Never in the +world's history, save in {100} the case of crowded, famine-stricken, +misgoverned Ireland, had there been such a leakage of the brain and +brawn of any country. + +Perhaps no incident reveals more clearly the stagnation and lack of +constructive courage of this period than the break-down of the +negotiations carried on in 1895 for the entrance of Newfoundland, then +still more nearly bankrupt, into Confederation, because of the +unwillingness of the Canadian Government to meet the financial terms +Newfoundland demanded. For the sake of a difference of fifty thousand +dollars a year the chance to round out the Dominion was let slip, +perhaps never to recur. Ten years later fifty thousand a year looked +small. To each generation the defects of its qualities; in one +prudence degenerates into parsimony, in another courage runs wild in +extravagance. + + + +[1] After 1887 he rarely, and after 1892 never, appeared in court. + +[2] _Plain Facts regarding the Disallowance of Manitoba Railway +Charters_, by the Winnipeg Board of Trade. + + + + +{101} + +CHAPTER VI + +LOOKING TO WASHINGTON + +Canada and the States--The fisheries dispute--Political +union--Commercial union--Unrestricted reciprocity--Jesuits' +estates--Unrestricted reciprocity + + +For desperate ills, desperate remedies. It is little wonder that +policies looking to revolutionary change in political or commercial +relations now came to take strong hold on the public mind. To many it +appeared that the experiment in Canadian nationality had failed. Why +not, then, frankly admit the failure and seek full political +incorporation with either of the great centres of the English-speaking +people, of whose political prestige and commercial success there was no +question? Annexation to the United States, Imperial Federation, with a +central parliament in the United Kingdom, each found a small but +earnest company of supporters. Or, if the mass of the people shrank +from one and held the other an impracticable dream, why not seek the +closest possible commercial tie with either nation? Thus Commercial +Union, or a _zollverein_ between Canada and the United {102} States, +and Imperial Preferential Trade, or a _zollverein_ between Canada and +the United Kingdom and the other parts of the British Empire, came into +discussion. What British and American conditions and opinion met these +Canadian movements, and what changes were made in the programmes first +urged, may next be reviewed. Canadian relations with the United States +will be noted first. + +In the decade from 1886 to 1896, when the Venezuela episode opened a +valve for the steam to blow off, the relations between Canada and the +United States were continuously at high tension. It was an era of +friction and pinpricks, of bluster and retaliation. The United States +was not in a conciliatory mood. It was growing in wealth and numbers +and power, in unprecedented ways. Its people were one and all +intensely proud of their country and satisfied with themselves. The +muckraker had not yet lifted his voice in the land. The millionaire +was still an object of pride and emulation, _Exhibit A_ in the display +of American superiority over all creation. No foreign danger +threatened, no foreign responsibility restrained the provincial +swagger. In short, the United States was 'feeling its oats.' + +{103} + +Towards Great Britain it was specially prone to take an aggressive +attitude. Still fresh was the memory of 1776 and 1812, fed by +text-book rhetoric and thrown into relief by the absence of other foes. +Still rankled the hostility of the official classes of Great Britain +during the Civil War and Tory attacks upon American manners and +American democracy. Irish-Americans in millions cherished a natural if +sometimes foolishly directed hatred against the country that had +misgoverned Erin and made it lose half its people. The rejection of +Home Rule by the House of Commons in 1886, confirmed by the results of +the general elections which followed, intensified this feeling. +Canada, the nearest British territory, had to bear much of this +ill-will, though she had no share of responsibility for its creation, +just as she had borne the brunt of invasion in wars which were none of +her making. + +There were, however, other sources of trouble for which Canada was more +directly responsible. She had followed the example of the United +States in setting up a high tariff wall. Inevitably the adoption of +protection by both countries led to friction. The spirit of which it +was born and which in turn it {104} nourished, the belief that one +country found its gain in another's loss, made for jealousy, and the +rankling sense on Canada's part that her policy had not succeeded made +the feeling the sorer. + +But the immediate occasion of the most serious difficulty was the +revival of the northeastern fisheries dispute. The century-long +conflict as to the privileges of American fishermen in Canadian and +Newfoundland waters, under the Treaty of 1783 and the Convention of +1818, had been set at rest during the era of Reciprocity (1854-66) by +opening Canadian fishing-grounds to Americans, practically in return +for free admission of Canadian natural products to the United States. +Then once more, by the Treaty of Washington in 1871, access to the +inshore fisheries was bartered for free admission of fish and fish-oil +plus a money compensation to be determined by a commission. The +commission met at Halifax in 1877, Sir A. T. Galt representing Canada, +and the award was set at $5,500,000 for the twelve years during which +the treaty was to last. The United States condemned the award with +much heat, and took occasion to abrogate the clause of the treaty on +the earliest date for which notice could be given, July 1, 1885. {105} +For that season the fishing privileges were extended, but with the next +year the whole dispute revived. The Canadian authorities insisted on +restricting American fishermen rigidly to the letter of treaty +privileges as Canada interpreted them. American fishing vessels were +not only barred from fishing within the three-mile limit but were +forbidden to enter a Canadian port to ship cargoes or for any other +purpose, save for shelter, wood, water, or repairs. Several American +boats were seized and condemned; and Canadian fishery cruisers +patrolled the coasts, incessantly active. A storm of genuine if not +informed indignation broke out in the United States. The action of the +Canadian authorities was denounced as unneighbourly and their +insistence on the letter of ancient treaties as pettifogging; and, with +more justice, it was declared that the Canadian Government used the +fishing privileges as a lever, or rather a club, to force the opening +of the United States markets to all Canadian products. + +President Cleveland sought a friendly solution by the appointment of a +joint commission. Congress, more bellicose, passed unanimously (1887) +a Retaliatory Act, empowering the president, if satisfied that American +vessels {106} were illegally or vexatiously harassed or restricted, to +close the ports and waters of the United States against the vessels and +products of any part of British North America. The president declined +to fire this blunderbuss, and arranged for the commission on which +Joseph Chamberlain, Sir Lionel Sackville-West, and Sir Charles Tupper +were the British representatives. The draft treaty which the +commission framed failed to pass the United States Senate, but a _modus +vivendi_ was arranged permitting American vessels port privileges upon +payment of a licence fee. This, together with more considerate conduct +on both sides, eased the tension. + +Once Congress had taken the drastic step of threatening complete +non-intercourse With Canada, a reaction set in, and many Americans +began to consider whether some more pacific and thoroughgoing solution +could not be found. Two were suggested, political union and commercial +union. + +The political union of the two democracies of the continent has always +found advocates. In the United States many believed it was 'manifest +destiny' that some day the Stars and Stripes should float from Panama +to the Pole. At times Canadians here and there {107} had echoed this +belief. It seemed to them better to be annexed at one stroke than to +be annexed piecemeal by exodus, at the rate of fifty or a hundred +thousand Canadians a year. In St John and Halifax, in Montreal and +Toronto, and on the Detroit border, a few voices now called for this +remedy, which promised to give commercial prosperity and political +security instead of commercial depression and sectional, racial, and +religious strife. Yet they remained voices crying in the wilderness. +As in 1849, when men of high rank in the Conservative party--notably +three,[1] who are known in history as colleagues of Sir John Macdonald +and one of them as prime minister of Canada--had joined with Quebec +_Rouges_ in prescribing the same remedy for Canada's ills, so now, in +the late eighties, the deep instinct of the overwhelming mass of the +people revolted from a step which meant renouncing the memories of the +past and the hopes of the future. Imperial and national sentiment both +fought against it. It was in vain that Goldwin Smith gave his life to +the cause, preaching the example of the union between Scotland and +England. It {108} was in vain that British statesmen had shown +themselves not averse to the idea. In 1869, when Senator Sumner +proposed the cession of Canada in settlement of the _Alabama_ claims, +and Hamilton Fish, the American secretary of state, declared to the +British ambassador that 'our claims were too large to be settled +pecuniarily and sounded him about Canada,' the ambassador had replied +that 'England did not wish to keep Canada, but could not part with it +without the consent of the population.'[2] Wanted or not, the people +of Canada had determined to stay in the Empire; and did stay until +different counsels reigned in London. Even in cold-blooded and +objective logic, Canada's refusal to merge her destinies with the +Republic could be justified as best for the world, in that it made +possible in North America two experiments in democracy; possible, too, +the transformation of the British Empire into the most remarkable and +hopeful of political combinations. But it was not such reasoned logic +that prompted Canadians. They were moved by deeper instincts, +prejudices, passions, hopes, loyalties. And in face of their +practically solid opposition the solution of the 'Canadian Question' +had to {109} be sought elsewhere than in political union with the +United States. + +Commercial union, or a _zollverein_ between Canada and the United +States, involved absolute free trade between the two countries, common +excise rates, a common customs tariff on the seaboard, and the pooling +and dividing according to population of the revenue. This was not a +new proposal; it had been suggested time and again in both countries, +from its advocacy by Ira Gould of Montreal in 1852 down to its advocacy +by Wharton Barker of Philadelphia--a strong opponent of reciprocity--in +1886. But now, for the first time, the conjuncture of political and +economic conditions on both sides of the line ensured it serious +attention; and, for the first time, in Erastus Wiman, one of the many +Canadians who had won fortune in the United States, the movement found +an enthusiastic and unflagging leader. In 1887 Congressman Butterworth +introduced a bill providing for free entrance of all Canadian products +into the United States whenever Canada permitted the free entrance of +all American products, and received a notable measure of support. In +Ontario, under the leadership of Erastus Wiman and Goldwin Smith and +Valencay {110} Fuller, the latter a leading stock breeder, the movement +won remarkably quick and widespread recognition: in a few months it had +been endorsed by over forty Farmers' Institutes and rejected by only +three. Much of this success was due to the powerful and persistent +advocacy of leading Toronto and Montreal newspapers. Needless to say, +the movement met with instant and vigorous opposition from the majority +of the manufacturers and from the Canadian Pacific Railway. + +The movement had begun entirely outside the ordinary party lines, but +its strength soon compelled the party leaders to take a stand for or +against it. Neither party endorsed it, though both went far towards +it. The Conservatives had long been in favour of a measure of free +trade with the United States. The National Policy had been adopted +partly in the hope that 'reciprocity in tariffs' would compel the +United States to assent to 'reciprocity in trade,' and many who, like +Goldwin Smith, had voted for protection in 1878, now called upon the +Government to follow its own logic. But commercial union, with its +discrimination against Great Britain and its joint tariffs made at +Washington, did not appeal to Sir John Macdonald and his {111} +following. They were, however, prepared to go far. More than half the +time of the Fisheries Commission of 1887, which sat for three months, +was spent on tariff matters; and Sir Charles Tupper made the most +thoroughgoing offer of free trade with the United States ever made by +any Canadian Government--'an unrestricted offer of reciprocity.' +Congress, however, would not consent to discuss trade under pressure of +fishery threats, and no terms were made. + +The Liberal party was equally uncertain as to its policy. It was much +more strongly in favour of freer trade than its opponents, and being in +opposition, would be more likely to take up a policy opposed to the +_status quo_. Sir Richard Cartwright in October 1887 came out clearly +in favour of commercial union. What of the new leader of the party? + +Mr Laurier's first public address after his election to the leadership +was given at Somerset, Quebec, in August 1887. After reviewing the +deplorable discontent which pervaded the Dominion, due mainly to the +Government's policy, he referred to the trade issue. The restriction +policy practised for a decade had led to a reaction, he declared, +'which has not stopped within moderate {112} bounds; on the contrary, +it has gone to extremes, and at this very hour the great majority of +the farmers of Ontario are clamoring for commercial union with the +United States.... For my part, I am not ready to declare that +commercial union is an acceptable idea.' The root of the commercial +union movement, he continued, was the desire for reciprocity with the +United States in some form, and to that policy the Liberal party had +always been, and still remained, favourable. + +In the following session the Liberal party made clear its position on +the question. It definitely rejected by a large majority the proposal +for commercial union. Adopting a suggestion of Mr J. D. Edgar, it +advocated reopening negotiations with Washington to secure full and +unrestricted reciprocity of trade. Under this policy, if carried to +its full extent, all the products of each country would enter the other +free, but each would continue in control of its own tariff, and the +customhouses along the border would also remain. Sir Richard +Cartwright opened the debate with a vivid summary of the backward and +distracted condition of Canada, and of the commercial advantages of +free access to the large, wealthy, and convenient market to the south. +{113} He concluded with a strong appeal to Canada to act as a link +between Great Britain and the United States, and thus secure for the +mother country the ally she needed in her dangerous isolation. Mr +Laurier followed some days later. He emphasized the need of wider +markets, of a population of consumers that would permit large-scaled +industry to develop, and contended that any manufacturing industries +which deserved to survive would thrive in the larger field. The same +terms could not be offered England, for England had not a tariff in +which to make reciprocal reductions. Canada would not always be a +colony; what she wanted, however, was not political independence, but +commercial independence. The opponents of the proposal had appealed to +the country's fears; he appealed to its courage, and exhorted all to +press onward till the goal should be reached. + +In parliament the discussion led to little result. The Government took +its stand against unrestricted reciprocity, on the ground that it would +kill infant manufacturing industries and lead to political absorption +in the Republic, and the division followed party lines. Meanwhile in +the country interest slackened, for the time. In the presidential +{114} campaign of 1888 the Republicans, by a narrow margin, won on a +high-tariff platform, so that reciprocity seemed out of the question. +In Canada itself a new issue had arisen. Once more race and religion +set Quebec and Ontario in fierce antagonism. + + +The Jesuits, or members of the Society of Jesus, do not now for the +first time appear in the history of Canada. In the days of New France +they had been its most intrepid explorers, its most undaunted +missionaries. 'Not a cape was turned, not a river was entered,' +declares Bancroft, 'but a Jesuit led the way.' With splendid heroism +they suffered for the greater glory of God the unspeakable horrors of +Indian torture and martyrdom. But in the Old World their abounding +zeal often led them into conflict with the civil authorities, and they +became unpopular, alike in Catholic and in Protestant countries. So it +happened that 'for the peace of the Church' the Pope suppressed the +Society in 1773, and it remained dormant for forty years. After the +Conquest of Canada it was decreed that the Jesuits then in the country +should be permitted to remain and die there, but that they must not add +to their {115} numbers, and that their estates should be confiscated to +the Crown. Lord Amherst, the British commander-in-chief, made an +unsuccessful attempt to have these estates granted to himself; but in +the Crown's possession they remained, and fell to the province of +Quebec at Confederation. This settlement had never been accepted. The +bishops contended that the Jesuits' estates should have been returned +to the Church, and the Jesuits, who had come back to Canada in 1842, +asserted their own rights to their ancient lands. Thus the thorny +question as to what disposition should be made of these lands baffled +the provincial authorities until 1888, when Honore Mercier, himself a +pupil of the Jesuits, and now a most aggressively faithful son of the +Church, grappled with the problem, and passed an act embodying a +compromise which had been found acceptable by all parties concerned. +The sum of $400,000 was to be paid in satisfaction of all claims, to be +divided among the Jesuits, the Church authorities, and Laval +University, in proportions to be determined by the Pope. At the same +time $60,000 was voted to Protestant schools to satisfy their demands. + +In Quebec the measure was accepted with little discussion. All the +Protestant members {116} in the legislature voted for it. But in +Ontario the heather was soon on fire. It was not merely that the +dispossessed Jesuits, whom some Protestants regarded as the very symbol +and quintessence of clerical intrigue, were thus compensated by the +state, but that the sanction of the Pope had been invoked to give +effect to an act of a British legislature. The Protestant war-chiefs, +D'Alton M'Carthy, Colonel O'Brien, and John Charlton, took up the +tomahawk, and called on the Dominion Government to disallow the act. +But Sir John Macdonald declined to intervene. A resolution in the +House of Commons calling for disallowance was defeated by 188 to 13, +the minority being chiefly Conservatives from Ontario. + +In opposing the resolution Mr Laurier congratulated the Government on +its tardy conversion from the vicious doctrine of centralization. The +revolt of its followers from Ontario was the inevitable retribution due +to a party which had pandered to religious prejudices in both +provinces--due to 'that party with a rigid Protestant face turning +towards the west and a devout Catholic face turning towards the east'; +and which at the same time had proclaimed the right to disallow any +provincial {117} act. He did not, however, base his position solely on +the plea of provincial rights. In itself the legislation was just and +expedient, a reasonable compromise between seriously conflicting +claims. Nor would he listen to those who called upon the Liberals to +emulate the Liberals of continental Europe in their anti-clerical +campaigns. He preferred to take tolerant Britain as his model rather +than intolerant France or Germany. Once more he declared, as he had +declared in Quebec twelve years before, that he was a Liberal of the +English school, not of the French. + +Outvoted in parliament, the champions of militant Protestantism found +strong support in the country. An Equal Rights Association was formed +to resist the danger of Catholic domination which many believed +imminent. It had less influence in the politics of the Dominion than +in the politics of Ontario, where Oliver Mowat was solemnly accused of +having conspired with Honore Mercier to raise the Jesuits to power. It +contained many able and sincere men, yet its influence soon ceased. By +1894 its place was taken by the Protestant Protective Association, or +P.P.A., a boycotting organization imported from the United States, +which had a deservedly short {118} life. But, while the fires burned +low in the East, the torch had been passed on to the far West--from +D'Alton M'Carthy to Joseph Martin. Of the conflagration which ensued +we shall learn in a later chapter. + + +Men will sometimes pray, or may try to prevent others from praying as +they list; but they must always eat. The pendulum of public interest +swung back to trade relations with the United States. Depression still +pervaded farming and manufacturing centres alike, though the +abandonment of the policy of federal coercion had lessened political +discontent. The return of the Republicans to power in 1888, it has +been seen, appeared to put freer trade relations out of the question. +The M'Kinley tariff of 1890 slammed the door in Canada's face, for in +order to delude the American farmer into believing that protection was +in his interest, this tariff imposed high and often prohibitive duties +on farm products. + +Should Canada retaliate, or make still another effort at a reasonable +arrangement with its unneighbourly neighbour? The possibility of +adjustment was not as remote as might have seemed probable. After all, +reciprocity is as much a protective as a {119} free-trade doctrine, +since, as usually interpreted, it implies that the reduction in duties +is a detriment to the country making it, only to be balanced by the +greater privilege secured at the expense of the other's home market. +James G. Blaine, secretary of state in President Harrison's Cabinet, +was strongly in favour of reciprocity, particularly with Latin-American +countries. In the same session which saw the passing of the M'Kinley +Act, the House of Representatives agreed to the Hitt resolution, +providing that whenever it should be certified that Canada was ready to +negotiate for a complete or partial removal of all duties, the +president should appoint three commissioners to meet the Canadian +representatives, and report their findings. + +This was the position of affairs when, early in 1891, Sir John +Macdonald suddenly decided to dissolve parliament, in spite of an +explicit promise to the contrary made a short time before. With the +dissolution came an adroit attempt to cut the ground from under the +feet of the Liberal party. It was asserted that, on the initiative of +the United States, negotiations had been undertaken to settle all +outstanding disputes, and to renew the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, +'with the modifications {120} required by the altered circumstances of +both countries and with the extensions deemed by the Commission to be +in the interests of Canada and the United States.' This announcement +greatly strengthened the Government's position. Since the United +States had taken the initiative there was likelihood of a successful +outcome. Many who favoured reciprocity but felt doubtful as to the +political outcome of the more sweeping proposals of the Opposition were +thus led to favour the Government. + +The announcement proved too audacious. Secretary Blaine indignantly +denied that the United States had initiated the negotiations, and Sir +Charles Tupper so admitted after the elections. Mr Blaine further made +it plain that no treaty confined to natural products would be +entertained. In the face of this statement the Government executed +another sharp turn, and appealed to anti-American sentiment and +protected interests, denouncing vigorously the Opposition's policy as +sure to lead to ruin, annexation, and--the climax--direct taxation. +Sir John Macdonald issued a skilful address to the electors, and the +cry of 'the old flag, the old man, and the old policy' appealed to +noble feelings and to deplorable prejudice alike. + +{121} + +In his address to the Canadian people Mr Laurier arraigned the National +Policy for its utter failure to bring the prosperity so lavishly +promised. Reciprocal freedom of trade with the United States would +give the larger market which had become indispensable. The commercial +advantages of such a plan were so clear that they were not disputed, it +was attacked entirely on other grounds. The charge that it would +involve discrimination against Great Britain could not have much weight +in the mouths of men whose object was to prevent the importation of +English manufactures. If it did involve discrimination, if the +interests of Canada and the motherland clashed, he would stand by his +native land. But that discrimination was involved he did not admit. +It was not essential to assimilate the Canadian to the American tariff: +'Should the concessions demanded from the people of Canada involve +consequences injurious to their sense of honour or duty, either to +themselves or to the motherland, the people of Canada would not have +reciprocity at such a price.' Direct taxation might be averted by +retrenchment and revision of custom schedules. The charge that +unrestricted reciprocity would lead to annexation was an unworthy +appeal to {122} passion and prejudice, and, if it meant anything, meant +that it would 'make the people so prosperous that, not satisfied with a +commercial alliance, they would forthwith vote for political absorption +in the American Republic.' + +The Government's appeal to the flag was greatly aided by some letters +and pamphlets of Mr Farrer and Congressman Hitt and other leaders in +the commercial union movement, which were made public and which gave +colour to the cry that unrestricted reciprocity was only a first step +towards annexation. It was in vain that Oliver Mowat and Alexander +Mackenzie, the latter now soon to pass from the scene, voiced the +deep-lying sentiments of the Liberal party in favour of British +connection, and indignantly denied that it was at stake in the +reciprocity issue. Sir John Macdonald's last appeal rallied many a +wandering follower on grounds of personal loyalty, the campaign funds +of the party were great beyond precedent, and the railway and +manufacturing and banking interests of the country outweighed and +outmanoeuvred the farmers. The Government was returned by a majority +of thirty. In Ontario it had only four seats to the good and had a +minority {123} of the popular vote, while in Quebec the Liberals at +last secured a bare majority. The other provinces, however, stood by +the party in power, and gave the Government another lease of life for +five years. + +The smoke of battle had not cleared when a remarkable letter from +Edward Blake, the late leader of the Liberal party, was published. It +was a curiously inconclusive document. It began with a scathing +indictment of the Conservative policy and its outcome: 'Its real +tendency has been towards disintegration and annexation.... It has +left us with a smaller population, a scanty immigration, and a +North-West empty still; with enormous additions to our public debt and +yearly charge, an extravagant system of expenditure and an unjust +tariff, with restricted markets whether to buy or to sell.... It has +left us with lowered standards of public virtue and a death-like apathy +in public opinion, with racial, religious, and provincial animosities +rather inflamed than soothed.... It has left us with our hands tied, +our future compromised.' A preference in the English market was out of +the question. Unrestricted free trade with the United States would +bring prosperity, give men, money, and {124} markets. Yet it would +involve assimilation of tariffs and thus become identical with +commercial union. 'Political Union,' he added in a cryptic postscript, +'though becoming our probable, is by no means our ideal, or as yet our +inevitable, future.' + +Mr Blake had persistently withheld his aid and advice from the leaders +of the party since his resignation. His action now was resented as a +stab in the back, and the implication that the Liberal policy was +identical with commercial union was stoutly denied. If, as Mr Laurier +had made clear in his electoral address, negotiations proved that +reciprocal arrangements could not be made except on such terms, they +would not be made at all. Yet the letter had undoubted force, and +materially aided the Government in the by-elections. + +The Government formally carried out its undertaking to open +negotiations with the United States. Sir Charles Tupper, Sir John +Thompson, and George E. Foster went to Washington and conferred with +Secretary Blaine. But the negotiators were too far apart to come to +terms, and the proposals were not seriously pressed. Later, when the +tide of reaction brought the Democrats back to power in 1892, the +Conservatives made no {125} attempt to renew negotiations; and later +still, when the Liberals came to power in Canada, the Republicans were +back in office on a platform of sky-high protection. + +Meanwhile, the increase of exports of farm products to Great Britain +promised the larger markets sought, and made admission to the United +States of less pressing importance. When, in 1893, the Liberal party +met in national convention at Ottawa, limited reciprocity, 'including a +well-considered list of manufactured articles,' was endorsed, but it +was subordinated as part of a general demand for a lower tariff, now +again prominent in the party programme. + + + +[1] Sir Alexander T. Galt, Sir John Rose, and Sir John Abbott. + +[2] _Memoir of Sumner_, vol. iv, p. 409. + + + + +{126} + +CHAPTER VII + +AN EMPIRE IN TRANSITION + +The secret of empire--The old colonial system--Partner +nations--Achieving self-government--Building up the partnership--The +High Commissioner--New foreign problems--First colonial +conference--Political federation--Inter-imperial +defence--Inter-imperial trade + + +When Canada's problems seemed too great for her to solve unaided, many +had looked to Washington for relief, in ways which have been reviewed. +Others looked to London. The relations between Canada and the other +parts of the Empire did not become the central issue in any political +campaign. Until late in the period now under survey they aroused +little systematic public discussion. There were few acute episodes to +crystallize the filial sentiment for the motherland which existed in +the country. Yet throughout these years that readjustment in the +relations between the colonies and the mother country, which is perhaps +the most significant political development of the century, was steadily +proceeding. Steadily and surely, if for the most part unconsciously, +the transformation of the Empire went on, until in the following period +it became a fact and a problem which none could {127} blink, and the +central theme in public interest and political activity. + +The story of this transformation, of how the little isles in the North +Sea ventured and blundered into world-wide empire; of how at first they +endeavoured to rule this vast domain in the approved fashion, for the +power and profit of the motherland; of how this policy was slowly +abandoned because unprofitable and impossible; of how, when this change +took place, most men looked to the ending of a connection which no +longer paid; of how acquired momentum and inherited obligations on the +one side and instinctive loyalty on the other prevented this result; of +how the new lands across the sea grew in numbers and strength and +national spirit and, withal, in the determination to work out a +permanent partnership on the new basis of equality--this is the most +wonderful story political annals have to tell. The British Empire of +to-day, tested in fire and not found wanting, is the paradox and +miracle of political achievement, full of hope for the future of the +rest of the world. In shaping the policy which made the continuance +and growth and adjustment of the Empire possible, Canadian statesmen of +both parties played a leading part. That {128} long story cannot here +be told, but a few of the significant steps must be recalled, to make +clear the development of yesterday and to-day. + +In the expansion of Europe over all the five continents and the seven +seas which has marked the past five centuries, the Englishman found a +roomy place in the sun. By luck or pluck, by trusted honesty or +sublime assurance, and with little aid from his government, he soon +outdistanced Frenchman and Dutchman, Spaniard and Portuguese, in the +area and richness of the regions over which his flag floated and in +which his trading-posts or his settlements were established. This +empire was ruled, as other colonial domains were ruled, to advance the +power and the profit of the motherland. The colonies and dependencies +were plantations, estates beyond the seas, to be acquired and guarded +for the gain of the mother country. They were encouraged by bounty and +preference to grow what the mother country needed, and were compelled +by parliamentary edict to give the mother country a monopoly of their +markets for all she made. Great Britain never applied these doctrines +with the systematic rigour of the Spaniard of the seventeenth century +or the German of the twentieth, but monopoly of {129} the direct trade +with the colonies, and the political subordination of the colonies to +secure this end, were nevertheless the cardinal doctrines of imperial +policy. + +[Illustration: SIR WILFRID LAURIER From a photograph by Topley] + +Slowly this old colonial system broke down. It became impossible to +keep in political subjection millions of men across the seas of the +same vigorous race. This the American Revolution drove home and the +Canadian insurrections of 1837 again made unmistakable. In the views +of most men it came to appear unprofitable, even if possible. +Gradually the ideas of Adam Smith and Pitt and Huskisson, of Cobden and +Bright and Peel, took possession of the English mind. Trade +monopolies, it now was held, hampered more than they helped, even if +costless. But when maintained at heavy expense, at cost of +fortification and diplomatic struggle and war, they became worse than +useless, a drag on the development of both colony and mother country. +So the fetters which impeded trade and navigation were discarded. + +There followed, from the forties onward, a period of drift, of waiting +for the coming separation. When the trade monopoly which was the +object of empire ceased, most men in Britain reasoned that the end of +the Empire, {130} in so far as it included colonies settled by white +men, could not be far distant. Yet the end did not come. Though +Radical politicians and publicists urged 'cutting the last link of +connection'; though Conservative statesmen damned 'the wretched +colonies' as 'millstones about our necks'; though under-secretaries +said farewell to one 'last' governor-general after another and the +London _Times_ bade Canadians 'take up your freedom, your days of +apprenticeship are over'; in spite of all, the colonies lingered within +the fold. Some dim racial instinct, the force of momentum, or the grip +of inherited obligations, kept them together until gradually the times +changed and the stage was set for another scene. + +Alike in the motherland and in the colonies men had stumbled upon the +secret of empire--freedom. Expecting the end to come soon, the +governing powers in London had ruled with a light rein, consenting to +one colonial demand after another for self-government. In these years +of salutary neglect the twofold roots of imperial connection had a +chance to grow. The colonies rose to national consciousness, and yet, +in very truth because of their freedom, and the absence of the {131} +friction a centralizing policy would have entailed, they retained their +affection and their sympathy for the land of their ancestors. Thus the +way was prepared for the equal partnership which it has been the task +of these later years to work out. + +Two lines of development were equally essential. It was necessary to +secure complete freedom for the colonies, to abolish the old relation +of ascendancy and subordination, and it was necessary to develop new +ties and new instruments of co-operation. Nowhere in early years do we +find a more nearly adequate recognition of this twofold task than in +the prophetic words of Sir John Macdonald: 'England, instead of looking +upon us as a merely dependent colony, will have in us a friendly +nation, a subordinate but still a powerful people, to stand by her in +North America in peace as in war. The people of Australia will be such +another subordinate nation.... She will be able to look to the +subordinate nations in alliance with her and owing allegiance to the +same sovereign, who will assist in enabling her to meet again the whole +world in arms as she has done before.'[1] It was Sir John also who +urged that the new {132} union should be called the 'Kingdom of +Canada,' a name which the British authorities rejected, ostensibly out +of fear of offending the republican sensibilities of the United States. +Had that name been chosen, the equality of the status of Canada would +have been recognized much sooner, for names are themselves arguments +powerful with wayfaring men. Both in act and in word the Conservative +chieftain oftentimes lapsed from this statesmanlike view into the +prevalent colonialism; but he did much to make his vision a reality, +for it was Macdonald who, with the aid of political friend and +political opponent, laid the foundations upon which the statesmen of +the new generation have built an enduring fabric. + +The first task, the assertion of the autonomy of the Dominions, had +been largely achieved. So far as it concerned domestic affairs, +practically all Canadians accepted the principle for which Liberals had +fought alone in the earlier days. In the thirties a British colonial +secretary, replying to Howe's demand for responsible government, had +declared that 'to any such demand Her Majesty's Government must oppose +a respectful but at the same time a firm declaration that it is +inconsistent with a {133} due adherence to the essential distinction +between a metropolitan and a colonial government, and it is therefore +inadmissible,' and a Canadian Tory Legislative Council had echoed that +'the adoption of the plan must lead to the overthrow of the great +colonial Empire of England.' But now, since Elgin's day (1849), +responsible government, self-government in domestic affairs, had been +an unquestioned fact, a part of the heritage of which all Canadians, +irrespective of party, were equally proud. + +In foreign affairs, too, some progress had been made. Foreign affairs +in modern times are largely commercial affairs. In part such questions +are regulated by laws passed by each country independently, in part by +joint treaty. Complete autonomy as to the first mode was early +maintained by Galt and Macdonald. In 1859 Galt affirmed the right to +tax even British goods, 'the right of the Canadian legislature to +adjust the taxation of the people in the way they deemed best, even if +it should unfortunately happen to meet the disapproval of the Imperial +Ministry.' And twenty years later, in spite of British protests, Sir +John Macdonald went further in his National Policy, and taxed British +goods still {134} higher to encourage production at home. The tariff +of 1879 was the last nail in the coffin of the old colonial system. +Here was a colony which not only did not grant British manufacturers a +monopoly, but actually sought to exclude from its markets any British +wares it could itself produce. + +Self-government in the regulation of foreign commercial affairs, so far +as treaties were essential to effect it, came more slowly, and with +much hesitation and misgiving. + +Negative freedom was achieved first. After 1877 Canada ceased to be +bound by commercial treaties made by the United Kingdom unless it +expressly desired to be included. As to treaties made before that +date, the restrictions lasted longer. Most of these treaties bound +Canada to give to the country concerned the same tariff and other +privileges given to any other foreign power, and Canada in return was +given corresponding privileges. Two went further. Treaties made in +the sixties with Belgium and Germany--history discovers strange +bedfellows--bound all British colonies to give to these countries the +same tariff privileges granted to Great Britain or to sister colonies. +In 1891 the Canadian parliament sent a unanimous address to {135} Her +Majesty praying for the denunciation of these treaties, but in vain. +It was not until the Laurier administration had forced the issue six +years later that the request was granted. + +Positive freedom, a share in the making of treaties affecting Canada, +came still more gradually. When in 1870 Galt and Huntington pressed +for treaty-making powers, Macdonald opposed, urging the great +advantages of British aid in negotiation. A year later, however, +Macdonald gave expression to his changed view of the value of that aid. +As one of the five British commissioners who negotiated the Washington +Treaty (1871), he declared that his colleagues had 'only one thing in +their minds--that is, to go home to England with a treaty in their +pockets, settling everything, no matter at what cost to Canada.' In +1874 George Brown went to Washington as one of the two British +commissioners in the abortive reciprocity negotiations of that year. +In 1879 the Macdonald Government made Galt ambassador at large to +negotiate treaties in Europe, but he was hampered by being compelled to +'filter' his proposals through the various resident British +ambassadors. When in 1882 Blake moved in the House of {136} Commons a +resolution in favour of direct treaty-making powers, Sir John Macdonald +opposed it as meaning separation and independence, ending his speech +with the declaration, 'A British subject I was born, a British subject +I hope to die.' Yet action moved faster than the philosophy of action. +In 1883 Sir Charles Tupper signed the protocols of the Cable Conference +in Paris on Canada's behalf; and at Madrid, in 1887 and 1889, the same +doughty statesman represented Canada in the conduct of important +negotiations. It was in 1891, only nine years after Sir John +Macdonald's reply to Blake foreboding separation and independence, that +the House of Commons and Senate of Canada, praying for the abrogation +of the Belgian and German treaties, unanimously declared that 'the +self-governing colonies are recognized as possessing the right to +define their respective fiscal relations to all foreign nations.' + +The first task had been practically achieved; freedom had been won; but +it still remained to rise through freedom to co-operation, to use the +newly won powers to work out a lasting partnership between the free +states of the Empire. This was the harder task. There was no +precedent to follow. Centralized {137} empires there had been; +colonies there had been which had grown into independent states. But +of an empire which was not an empire, of colonies which had achieved +self-government only to turn to closer union with the parent state, the +world had as yet no instance. + +It had not even a model in idea, a theory of how it should be done. +Such a forecast as that already quoted from Sir John Macdonald[2] came +as near as might be, but this long remained a peroration and no more. +No man and no school divined absolutely the present fact and theory of +empire. It has worked out of the march and pressure of events, aided +by the clash of the oppositions which it has reconciled. + +In the eighties and nineties four possible futures for the Dominion +were discussed. The first was the continuance of the colonial status, +the second Annexation, the third Independence, and the fourth Imperial +Federation. Colonialism had only inertia in its favour. Annexation +ran counter both to filial sentiment and to national hopes, but its +discussion served to show the desperate need of change and forced the +advocates of other ideals to set forth their creeds. Independence +meant {138} the complete severing of the ties which bound Canada to the +rest of the Empire. Imperial Federation proposed to set up in London a +new authority with representatives from all the white Dominions and +with power to tax and bind. Each played its needed part. The +advocates of Imperial Federation did much to prevent a drift towards +Annexation which might otherwise have set in. The advocates of +Independence expressed the national aspirations which must be satisfied +in any solution that would be enduring. The resultant of these forces +was of a character none had precisely anticipated. Empire and +Independence were reconciled. + +In this period the two most important steps towards co-operation were +the appointment of a Canadian High Commissioner in London and the +beginning of the Colonial Conferences. + +The first step was taken on the initiative of the Macdonald Government +in 1879. It was found necessary to appoint a Canadian representative +in London both to act as ambassador at large in dealing with European +states, and to serve as a link between the Canadian and British +Governments. The latter purpose was especially significant. In the +days of {139} colonial subordination the governor-general had served as +the only needed link. His duty was to govern the colony in accordance +with the interest and policy of the mother country, and in carrying +that out he was responsible to the British Government. Now he was +becoming the representative, not of the British Government, but of the +king, who was king of Canada as well as of the United Kingdom, and, +like the king, he governed by the advice of the responsible ministers +in the land where he resided. This change in the governor-general's +status marked the ending of the old colonial relationship. The +appointment of a commissioner to represent to one free government the +wishes of another free government was one of the first steps in +building up the new relationship. + +The initiative in the second step came from the United Kingdom. A +change was now apparent in the attitude of many Englishmen upon +imperial questions. The present value of the colonies, their possible +greater value in the future, and the need of all the help that could be +had from them, were coming to be the leading articles in the creed of +many fervent thinkers. The Imperial Federation League, founded in +London in 1884, gave {140} vigorous expression to these views; and its +Canadian branch, formed at Montreal in the next year, to be followed by +local branches from sea to sea, exercised a strong influence on the +current of Canadian thought. + +The new desire to bind the colonies closer was largely due to the +revival of protection and of imperialism both in the United Kingdom and +in foreign countries. Alike in trade and in defence, colonial aid was +by many coming to be felt essential. Abroad, protection was in the +ascendant. Cobden's prophecy of the world following Britain's example +in free trade had not been fulfilled. France, Germany, +Austria-Hungary, Italy, Russia, the United States, were rearing higher +tariffs, threatening to shut out British goods. Even Canada and +Victoria had done likewise. Moreover, France and Germany and the +United States were becoming formidable rivals to Britain, as they +turned more and more from farming to manufacturing. It was little +wonder that a section of English opinion began to sigh for protected +markets, for retaliatory tariffs to force down bars abroad, and for a +revival of the old preference or monopoly in the markets of the +colonies. + +Defence, too, assumed a more anxious {141} aspect. The nations of +Europe were entering on a mad scramble for empire, for colonial +possessions overseas. Russia pushed steadily westward to the Pacific +and south to the gates of India. France sought territory in Africa and +in Asia, Germany in Africa and the Pacific, Italy in Africa. +Nationalism had gone to seed in imperialism. Long prevented by +internal dissensions from competing with England in the acquisition of +territory, the nations of Europe, now that national consolidation had +been largely effected, turned to follow her example. England could not +logically object to their desire for territory or to their plans for +larger navies. Her Palmerstons and Disraelis had boasted of the might +of the empire on which the sun never set; her Froudes and Seeleys were +singing the glories of the 'expansion of England'; the man in the +street felt the manifest destiny of the Anglo-Saxon to rule the 'lesser +breeds'; while the American Mahan had made clear the importance of +sea-power and had pointed the means to the end so glorified. None the +less the rivalry was felt uncomfortable, the more so as these nations +did not follow Britain's free-trade policy in their new possessions, +and sometimes manifested a lack of {142} scruple which boded ill for +future peace. And so from some quarters in Britain came the demand for +colonial contributions to the Army and Navy, or failing that, for some +form of imperial federation which would set up a central parliament +with power to tax and to control. + +In August 1886 an influential deputation from the Imperial Federation +League waited upon the prime minister, Lord Salisbury, and asked him to +summon a conference of all the colonies to discuss the idea of setting +up a federal council as a first step towards centralizing authority. +The prime minister expressed his doubt as to the wisdom of discussing +political changes which, if possible, were so only in the distant +future. Believing, however, that there were other subjects ripe for +discussion, he took the momentous step, and called the first Colonial +Conference. + +Every self-governing colony and several crown colonies sent +representatives. Canada sent Sir Alexander Campbell, +lieutenant-governor of Ontario, and Mr, later Sir Sandford, Fleming, +the apostle of an All-Red Pacific cable. Lord Salisbury, in opening +the proceedings, referred to the three lines upon which progress might +be made. The German {143} Empire evidently suggested the ideas which +he and others had in mind. A political federation, like that of +Germany, to conduct 'all our imperial affairs from one centre,' could +not be created for the present. But Germany had had two preliminary +forms of union, both of which might be possible, a _zollverein_ or +customs union, not yet practicable, and a _kriegsverein_, or union for +purposes of mutual defence, which was feasible, and was the real and +important business before the Conference. + +In the weeks of discussion which followed the Canadian delegates took +little part except upon the question of the cable which was at Sandford +Fleming's heart. Australia agreed to make a contribution towards the +cost of a British squadron in Australasian waters, and Cape Colony +agreed to provide some local defence at Table Bay. Sir Alexander +Campbell referred to the agreement of 1865 as still in force, denied +that the naval defence of Canada had proved burdensome to Britain, +talked vaguely of setting up a naval school or training a reserve, and +offered nothing more. The Conference did not discuss political +federation and touched only lightly on preferential trade. As the +first of a series, and for its {144} revelation of the obstacles to +proposals for Germanizing the British Empire, it proved more important +than for any positive achievements. + +In the stand thus taken the Canadian delegates adequately reflected the +feeling both of the general public and of the leaders of both parties +in Canada at that time, alike as to political defence and trade +relations. + +As for political relations, the only proposal for change came from the +Imperial Federationists. The idea had some notable advocates in +Canada--Grant, Parkin, Denison, M'Carthy and others. But many of them +advocated it simply because it was the only theory of closer imperial +relations then in the field. At first it was too hazily pictured to +make clear the extent to which the Canadian and other parliaments would +be subordinated to the proposed new central parliament. When faced +with a concrete plan, few Canadians were eager to give up control of +their destinies to a parliament in which they would have only one-tenth +of the representation. The responsible politicians did not at any time +endorse the scheme. Sir John Macdonald, as a practical man, saw at +once a fatal objection {145} in the sacrifice of Canadian +self-government which it involved.[3] Some of the members of the +Imperial Federation League urged with plausibility that political +federation would bring the colonies new power in the shape of control +over foreign policy, rather than take old powers away, but Macdonald +much doubted the reality of the control it would give. Nevertheless +the Imperial Federation League and its branches did useful educational +work. Owing to differences of opinion among its members it was +dissolved in 1893, but was revived and reorganized two years later as +the British Empire League. + +Nor was Canada greatly interested in questions of defence. In the +sixties and seventies, it is true, the larger colonies had agreed, with +some reluctance, to assume the increasing share of the burdens of +defence made necessary by the increasing control of their own affairs. +{146} Gradually the British troops stationed in Australia, New Zealand, +and Canada (save for a small garrison force at Halifax) had been +withdrawn, and their places taken by local militia. But as yet it was +understood that the responsibilities of the colonies were secondary and +local. As a result of long discussion, the British House of Commons in +1862 unanimously resolved that 'colonies exercising the right of +self-government ought to undertake the main responsibility of providing +for their own internal order and security and ought to assist in their +own external defence.' The duty of the United Kingdom to undertake the +general defence of the Empire was equally understood; the Committee on +Colonial Defence (1860), whose report led to the adoption of this +resolution, agreed that since 'the Imperial Government has the control +of peace and war, it is therefore in honour and duty {147} called upon +to assist the Colonists in providing against the consequences of its +policy,'--a position affirmed by Mr Cardwell's dispatch of June 17, +1865. + +Given the fact and theory of political relationship as they existed in +this period, this compromise was the natural result. Under the old +colonial system the empire was Britain's, governed for its real or +fancied gain, and imperial defence was merely the debit side of +colonial trade monopoly. The myth that Britain had carried on her wars +and her diplomacy for the sake of the colonies, which therefore owed +her gratitude, had not yet been invented. True, the day had passed +when Britain derived profit, or believed she derived profit, from the +political control of the white empire, yet the habits of thought begot +by those conditions still persisted. If profit had vanished, prestige +remained. The Englishman who regarded the colonies as 'our +possessions' was quite as prepared to foot the bill for the defence of +the Empire which gave him the right to swagger through Europe, as he +was to maintain a country estate which yielded no income other than the +social standing it gave him with his county neighbours. As yet, +therefore, there was no thought in official {148} quarters that Canada +should take part in oversea wars or assume a share of the burden of +naval preparation. When an English society proposed in 1895 that +Canada should contribute money to a central navy and share in its +control, Sir Charles Tupper attacked the suggestion as 'an insidious, +mischievous, and senseless proposal.' He urged that, if Canada were +independent, 'England, instead of being able to reduce her army by a +man or her navy by a ship, would be compelled to increase both, to +maintain her present power and influence.' He quoted the London +_Times_ to the effect that the maritime defence of the colonies was +only a by-product of that naval supremacy which was vital to England's +very existence as a nation, and cost not a penny extra, for which +reason the control of the fleet must always remain unconditionally in +the hands of the responsible government of the United Kingdom.[4] Sir +Charles, too, was wont to stress the strategic importance of the +Canadian Pacific Railway as Canada's contribution to the defence of the +Empire. His arguments had much force, but they were obviously the +product of a time of transition, {149} uneasy answers to the promptings +of the slow-rising spirit of nationhood. + +Action, or inaction, corresponded to words. In 1885, when Britain was +waging war in the Soudan, New South Wales offered to raise and equip a +regiment. The secretary for war at once spread the news of this offer +through the other colonies. Sir John Macdonald's only reply was to +offer to sanction the raising of troops in Canada, the whole cost to +fall on Great Britain. The offer was declined with thanks. A company +of voyageurs, largely French-Canadian, however, was recruited in +Canada, at Britain's expense, and did good service in the rapids of the +Nile. Sir John Macdonald did not, of course, proclaim Canada's +neutrality in this war, any more than Hincks and MacNab had done in the +Crimean War, when hired German troops garrisoned Dover and Shorncliffe. +Canada simply took no part in either war. + +But, if political federation and inter-imperial defence thus fell on +deaf ears in Canada, the question of trade relations received more +serious attention. In urging the Pacific cable and a service of fast +steamships on each ocean, Sandford Fleming had hit upon the line along +which progress eventually was to be made. {150} Tariff preferences, +inter-imperial reciprocity, began to be discussed. As early as 1879 +Sir John Macdonald, on finding in England much dissatisfaction over his +high taxation of British imports, proposed to give British goods a +preference if the United Kingdom would give Canada a preference in +return. Thus, on the ruins of the old colonial system imposed by the +mother country's edict, would be built a new colonial system based on +free negotiation between equal states. In view of Britain's rooted +adherence to free trade, nothing, of course, came of the proposal. Ten +years later there was in England some discussion of protection or 'fair +trade,' and in Canada, during the elections of 1891, the idea of an +imperial _zollverein_ was rhetorically mooted as an alternative to +reciprocity with the United States. Three years later still (1894) the +second Colonial Conference met at Ottawa, on the invitation of the +Dominion Government. The object was to arrange treaties of reciprocity +in trade between the various colonies, to serve until such time as the +mother country should renounce her free-trade errors. There were many +forceful and eloquent speeches, notably one by Mr, now Sir George, +Foster, and a resolution was {151} passed in favour of an Imperial +Customs Union. But, save for a limited arrangement with New Zealand in +1895, no definite result followed. + +The policy of the Liberal Opposition in Canada in respect to +inter-imperial trade may be briefly stated. Mr Laurier's first speech, +as leader of the party, at Somerset, in 1887, has already been +mentioned. There he declared that if commercial union with Great +Britain were feasible, he would favour it. But he had more hope of +commercial union with other British colonies, which had protective +tariffs. Two years later, speaking at Toronto, he referred to the +obvious difficulties in the way of commercial union with Britain +itself. 'I would favour with all my soul,' he said, 'a more close +commercial alliance of Canada with Great Britain. But, sir, if there +is any man who believes that any such an alliance between Canada and +Great Britain can be formed upon any other basis than that of free +trade, which prevails in England, that man is a Rip Van Winkle, who has +been sleeping not only for the last seven but for the last forty-four +years. The British people will not to-day go back upon the policy of +free trade, and Canada is not in a position at the moment, {152} with +the large revenue which she has to collect, to adopt any other tariff +than a revenue tariff at best.' That free trade among all the British +communities would some day be to their advantage, and that it would +come in time, he stated elsewhere, but added that it could not for many +years be a practical issue. + +A notable step forward was taken in 1892. Hitherto Liberal and +Conservative alike had been considering the trade question chiefly from +the standpoint of the producer, seeking fresh markets by offering in +return concessions in the Canadian tariff. Now the Liberals, and the +M'Carthy wing of the Conservatives, began to speak of the consumer's +interests. The reduction of the tariff would be more important as a +relief to the consumer than as a means of buying markets abroad for the +producer. Instead of waiting for the distant day when Great Britain +should set up a tariff and give Canada reciprocal preference, the +Liberals now pressed for giving an immediate and unconditional +preference on British goods. A resolution to this effect, moved in the +House of Commons by Mr, now Sir Louis, Davies, was voted down by the +Conservative majority, but it was to bear notable fruit later. + + + +[1] _Confederation Debates_, p. 44. + +[2] See p. 131. + +[3] 'During the last few years of his life, when asked if he were an +Imperial Federationist, he would reply somewhat after this fashion: +"That depends on what you mean by Imperial Federation. I am, of +course, in favour of any feasible scheme that will bring about a closer +union between the various portions of the Empire, but I have not yet +seen any plan worked out by which this can be done. The proposal that +there should be a parliamentary federation of the Empire I regard as +impracticable. I greatly doubt that England would agree that the +parliament which has sat during so many centuries at Westminster, +should be made subsidiary to a federal legislature. But, however that +might be, I am quite sure that Canada would never consent to be taxed +by a central body sitting at London, in which she would have +practically no voice; for her proportionate number of members in such +an assembly would amount to little more than an honorary +representation. That form of Imperial Federation is an idle dream. So +also, in my judgment, is the proposal to establish a uniform tariff +throughout the Empire. No colony would ever surrender its right to +control its fiscal policy."'--Pope, _Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald_, +vol. ii, p. 213. + +[4] Address on Canada and her Relations with the Mother Country. +Newcastle-on-Tyne, November 21, 1895. + + + + +{153} + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE END OF A REGIME + +Abbott and Thompson--Tariff reform--Manitoba school question + + +The strain of a winter campaign proved too great for Sir John +Macdonald's weakened frame. On June 6, 1891, died the statesman who so +long had guided the destinies of Canada. All Canada felt the loss. No +one else voiced the common judgment with such discrimination and +generosity as did the leader of the Opposition. Speaking in parliament +a few days later, Mr Laurier declared: + + +Sir John Macdonald now belongs to the ages, and it can be said with +certainty that the career which has just been closed is one of the most +remarkable careers of this century.... I think it can be asserted +that, for the supreme art of governing men, Sir John Macdonald was +gifted as few men in any land or any age were gifted--gifted with the +highest of all qualities, qualities which would have made him famous +wherever exercised, and which would have shone all the more +conspicuously the larger the theatre. The fact that he could +congregate together elements the most heterogeneous and blend them into +{154} one compact party, and to the end of his life keep them steadily +under his hand, is perhaps altogether unprecedented. The fact that +during all those years he retained unimpaired not only the confidence +but the devotion, the ardent devotion and affection of his party, is +evidence that besides those higher qualities of statesmanship to which +we were daily witnesses, he was also endowed with those inner, subtle, +undefinable graces of soul which win and keep the hearts of men. + +As to his statesmanship, it is written in the history of Canada.... +Although my political views compel me to say that in my judgment his +actions were not always the best that could have been taken in the +interests of Canada, although my conscience compels me to say that of +late he has imputed to his opponents motives which I must say in my +heart he has misconceived, yet I am only too glad here to sink these +differences, and to remember only the great services he has performed +for our country--to remember that his actions always displayed great +originality of view, unbounded fertility of resource, a high level of +intellectual conception, and, above all, a far-reaching vision beyond +the event of the day, and still higher, permeating the whole, a broad +patriotism--a devotion to Canada's welfare, Canada's advancement, and +Canada's glory. + + +Sir John Macdonald had been prime minister of the Dominion for twenty +of its twenty-four years. In the next five years the Conservative +party had four different leaders {155} and the Dominion four prime +ministers. The first was Sir John Abbott, who had lived down the +memory of his early views in favour of Annexation and had become 'the +confidential family lawyer of his party.' A little over a year later, +ill-health compelled him to resign in favour of Sir John Thompson, an +able and honest administrator, who grew in breadth of view with +experience and responsibility. + +All Abbott's astuteness and Thompson's rigid uprightness were soon +required to deal with the revelations of rotten politics which +presently claimed the country's attention. It had long been believed +that the department of Public Works, under Sir Hector Langevin, was a +source of widespread corruption, but it was not until Israel Tarte, a +member of the House of Commons and a _bleu_ of the _bleus_, made +charges to that effect during the session of 1891, that the full +measure of the evil was understood. In the investigations and trials +which followed it was made clear that huge sums had been extracted from +contractors in the service of the Government and used in wholesale +bribery. These revelations, as a London newspaper remarked, 'made +Tammany smell sweet.' + +But the public indignation at these proofs {156} of the sinister side +of the Government's long hold on power was weakened by similar charges +brought and proved against the Liberal Government of Quebec, under +Honore Mercier. The lieutenant-governor summarily dismissed Mercier, +the Church set its face sternly against his ministry, which it had +erstwhile approved, and the people of the province voted him out of +power (1892). The effect on the public mind of this corruption at +Ottawa and Quebec was an apathy, a lowered standard of political +morality, since it gave point to the common saying that 'one set of +politicians is as bad as another,' by which good men excuse their +unpatriotic indifference to public affairs. + +The Conservative party, and the whole Dominion, suffered a further loss +in 1894, when Sir John Thompson died suddenly at Windsor Castle. Sir +Mackenzie Bowell was chosen as his successor. + +Meanwhile the fortunes and the spirit of the Liberal party rose +steadily. Mr Laurier's position as leader strengthened as each year +gave proof of his steadfast character, his courage, and his political +sagacity. He gave his time and energy wholly to the work of the party. +During these years he addressed {157} hundreds of meetings in Quebec +and Ontario, and made tours to the maritime provinces and through the +West to the Pacific. + +The convention of Liberals from all ends of the Dominion, which met at +Ottawa in 1893, had given fresh vigour to the party. At that +convention, as has already been noted, emphasis was placed upon the +need of lowering the tariff. It was urged that the tariff should be +made to rest as lightly as possible upon the necessaries of life, and +that freer trade should be sought with all the world, and particularly +with Great Britain and the United States. + +It was about this time, too, that D'Alton M'Carthy, who was mellowing +in religious matters and growing more radical on other issues, voiced a +demand for a reduction of customs burdens and for the adoption of +maximum and minimum schedules, the minimum rates to be given Great +Britain and British colonies and foreign countries which offered +equivalent terms, and the maximum rates to be applied to countries like +the United States which maintained prohibitive tariffs against Canadian +products. The Patrons of Industry, an organization of farmers which +for a few years had much power {158} in Ontario, also demanded tariff +reform. Even the Government went a little with public opinion and +lopped away a few 'mouldering branches' in 1894. Thus the tariff +remained an issue during the last five years of the Conservative regime. + + +A more burning question, however, was the revival of the old contest +over provincial rights and denominational privileges. This was the +offspring of the Equal Rights agitation, which had spread to Manitoba. +In August 1889 Joseph Martin, a member of the Manitoba Cabinet, +following D'Alton M'Carthy at a public meeting, announced that his +government would establish a non-sectarian system of education. A few +months later this was done. + +When Manitoba entered Confederation, in 1870, there had been no +state-supported system of education. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and +Presbyterians maintained denominational schools, supported by fees and +church grants. The settlers were about equally divided between +Catholics and Protestants. The Manitoba Act, Manitoba's constitutional +charter, gave the new province in most respects the same powers as the +older provinces. The province was given control of {159} education, +subject, first, to the provision that no law should be passed +prejudicially affecting any right or privilege, with respect to +denominational schools, which any class of persons had by law or +practice at the union, and subject, secondly, to an appeal to the +federal authorities from any provincial act or decision affecting the +rights of any minority, Protestant or Catholic. In 1871 a school +system much like that of Quebec was set up. Protestant schools and +Catholic schools were established, and each was granted half the +provincial appropriation. Later, as the Protestant population grew +relatively larger, the amount was divided in proportions corresponding +to the number of pupils in each class of schools. Now, in 1890, this +system was completely swept away and replaced by a single system of +state-supported schools. At first it had been the intention to make +them entirely secular, but in the end provision was made for some +non-denominational religious teaching. Any Catholic who did not wish +to send his children to such a school would be compelled to pay for the +support of a school of his own, besides paying taxes for the general +school system. + +The Catholics, first under Archbishop {160} Tache's firm but moderate +guidance, and later under Archbishop Langevin's crusading leadership, +demanded redress. The provincial authorities would not change their +policy. It was thought that the constitution provided ample protection +for a religious minority deprived of its rights. The provision was +three-fold. First, the Dominion Government might disallow the +offending act. But the Dominion Government saw fit not to exercise +this right, preferring to leave the matter to the courts, if possible. +Secondly, there was the provision of the Manitoba Act forbidding the +province to take away any rights as to denominational schools possessed +by any class of persons at the union. Test cases were brought and +elaborately argued in the courts. The Supreme Court held that the +privilege of paying only for one's own denominational schools existed +at the union, and had been infringed. The Privy Council reversed this +judgment, holding that Catholics were still free to support schools of +their own, and that this was the only privilege which they had before +possessed. + +There was still a third string to the bow--the appeal to the +governor-general in council, the Dominion Government, to pass remedial +{161} legislation. Here again the Supreme Court and the Privy Council +differed. The Supreme Court held, but not unanimously, that no right +of federal intervention existed; but the Privy Council maintained, as +the last word in the case, that the Dominion had power to intervene. + +This decision put the question squarely before the Bowell Government. +It was a difficult situation. An administration drawing its chief +strength from Ontario, and headed by a prominent Orangeman, was called +upon by the Catholic authorities to use its powers to compel a +determined province to change its policy or, in default, to pass a +federal law restoring the minority's privileges. But Bowell and his +colleagues soon made their decision. Early in 1895 the province was +ordered in uncompromising terms to restore to the minority its former +rights and privileges. The legislature declined, on the ground that +the old system was inefficient and disruptive, and urged the federal +authorities to investigate school conditions in Manitoba, past and +present, before taking the fatal step of coercion. But, after a +commission had failed to induce the province to yield, the Bowell +Government announced that at the next parliamentary {162} session +(1896) a Remedial Bill would be introduced and passed. + +On the eve of the meeting of parliament for this last historic session +came the startling news that seven of the members of Sir Mackenzie +Bowell's Cabinet, chief among them being Mr Foster and Sir Hibbert +Tupper, had revolted against their leader. The revolters urged the +supreme need of forming the strongest possible administration in the +crisis, and to that end demanded the resignation of the prime minister. +Bowell bitterly denounced the 'nest of traitors,' and sought to form a +Cabinet without their aid, but the strikers picketed every possible +candidate. Finally a compromise was reached by which the bolters were +to return under Bowell's leadership for the session and Sir Charles +Tupper was to take command at its close. + +Meanwhile Mr Laurier had been obliged to face the same difficult issue. +He was a sincere Catholic. He sympathized with the desire of his +fellow-religionists for schools in which their faith would be +cherished, and believed that at the creation of the province all +parties had understood that such schools were assured. He knew, too, +the power of the Church in Quebec, and the fierceness of the storm that +{163} would beat upon him if he opposed its will. Yet he kept a close +grip on fact. He saw clearly that any attempt by the Dominion to set +up a separate school system, which would have to be operated by a +sullen and hostile province, was doomed to failure. He condemned the +Government's bludgeoning policy and urged investigation and +conciliation by minor amendments. Further than this, in the earlier +stages of the agitation, he would not go. In spite of entreaties and +threats and taunts from the opposite camps, he remained, like +Wellington, 'within the lines of Torres Vedras.' + +At the session of 1896 the Government introduced its Remedial Bill, +providing for the organization and maintenance of distinctly separate +schools in Manitoba. The Catholic authorities accepted the bill as in +full compliance with their demands, and bent all their energies to +secure its adoption. A _mandement_ was issued by all the bishops +urging electors to support only candidates who would pledge themselves +to restore separate schools. And in January Mr Laurier received a +letter written by Father Lacombe in the name of the bishops and +published in the newspapers throughout Canada. This letter besought +the Liberal leader to support the bill, and warned him that {164} 'if, +which may God not grant, you do not believe it to be your duty to +accede to our just demands, and if the government which is anxious to +give us the promised law is beaten and overthrown while persisting in +its policy to the end, I inform you with regret that the episcopacy, +like one man, united to the clergy, will rise to support those who may +have fallen to defend us.' + +Mr Laurier met the challenge squarely. In one of his strongest +speeches he reviewed the whole tangled issue. He admitted the legal +power of Canada to pass and enforce the bill, but denied that the +judgment of the Privy Council made such action automatically necessary. +It was still the Government's duty to investigate and seek a +compromise, not to force through a bill framed in darkness and +obstinacy. The minority itself would be more effectually and more +permanently benefited by amendments made voluntarily by the province as +the result of reasonable compromise. Then he turned to the threats of +ecclesiastical hostility: + + +Not many weeks ago I was told from high quarters in the Church to which +I belong, that unless I supported the School Bill which was then being +prepared by the government, and which we have now before us, {165} I +would incur the hostility of a great and powerful body. Sir, this is +too grave a phase of this question for me to pass it by in silence. I +have only this to say, that even though I have threats held over me, +coming, as I am told, from high dignitaries in the Church to which I +belong, no word of bitterness shall ever pass my lips as against that +Church. I respect it and I love it. Sir, I am not of that school +which has been long dominant in France and other countries of +Continental Europe, which refuses ecclesiastics the privilege of having +a voice in public affairs. No, I am a Liberal of the English school, +which has all along claimed that it is the privilege of all subjects, +whether high or low, whether rich or poor, whether ecclesiastic or +layman, to participate in the administration of public affairs, to +discuss, to influence, to persuade, to convince, but which has always +denied, even to the highest, the right to dictate even to the lowest. +I am here representing not Roman Catholics alone but Protestants as +well, and I must give an account of my stewardship to all classes. +Here am I, a Roman Catholic of French extraction, entrusted with the +confidence of the men who sit around me, with great and important +duties under our constitutional system of government. Am I to be +told--I, occupying such a position--that I am to be dictated to as to +the course I am to take in this House by reasons that can appeal to the +consciences of my fellow-Catholic members, but which do not appeal as +well to the consciences of my Protestant colleagues? No! So long as I +have a seat in this House, so long {166} as I occupy the position I do +now, whenever it shall become my duty to take a stand upon any question +whatever, that stand I will take, not from the point of view of Roman +Catholicism, not from the point of view of Protestantism, but from a +point of view which can appeal to the consciences of all men, +irrespective of their particular faith, upon grounds which can be +occupied by all men who love justice, freedom, and toleration. + + +Mr Laurier concluded by moving, not an equivocal amendment, as had been +expected by the Government, but the six months' hoist, or straight +negative. A few Catholic Liberals supported the Government, but the +party as a whole, aided by a strong band of erstwhile ministerialists, +obstructed the measure so vigorously that the Government was compelled +to abandon it, in view of the hastening end of the legal term of +parliament. Sir Charles Tupper dissolved parliament, reorganized his +Cabinet, and carried the question to the country. + +A strenuous campaign followed. Mr Laurier took, in Ontario and Quebec +alike, the firm, moderate position he had taken in the House of +Commons. The issue, in his view, was not whether the constitutional +rights of the Catholics of Manitoba had been violated; {167} for he +believed that they had been. The issue was, Could these rights be +restored by coercion? The Conservatives and the Church said Yes. True +to his political faith, Mr Laurier said No. Up and down the province +of Quebec he was denounced by the ultramontane leaders. Here was +sheer, stark Liberalism of the brand the Church had condemned. Bishop +Lafleche declared that no Catholic could without sin vote for the chief +of a party who had formulated publicly such an error, and Archbishop +Langevin called upon every true son of the Church to stand by those who +stood by it. In Ontario and the other English-speaking provinces, on +the contrary, the welkin rang with denunciations of hierarchical +presumption. Sir Charles Tupper fought with the wonderful vigour and +fearlessness that had always marked him, but fought in vain. His +forces, disorganized by internal strife, weakened by long years of +office, weighted down by an impossible policy, were no match for the +Liberals, strong in their leader and in a cause which stirred the +enthusiasm of a united party. The election resulted in a decisive +victory for the Liberals. Strange to say, Manitoba went with the +Conservatives and Ontario gave the Liberals only {168} forty-four out +of ninety-two seats, though seven fell to independents opposed to the +Remedial Bill, while Quebec gave forty-eight seats out of its +sixty-five to the party which its spiritual leaders had denounced. + + + + +{169} + +CHAPTER IX + +NEW MEN AT THE HELM + +The school settlement--The new tariff + + +The long night of opposition was over. The critics were to be given +the opportunity to do constructive work. Under the leader who had +served so fitting an apprenticeship they were to guide the political +destinies of Canada for over fifteen years. These were to be years of +change and progress, years which would bridge the gulf between the +stagnant colony of yesterday and the progressive nation of to-day. + +[Illustration: The Liberal Government formed by Mr. Laurier in 1896.] + +Mr Laurier gathered round him the ablest group of administrators ever +united in a single Canadian Ministry. To augment his already powerful +parliamentary following he called from the provincial administrations +four of the strongest men[1] and took them into his Cabinet. The prime +minister himself, warned by the experiences of Mackenzie and Macdonald, +did not burden himself with a department, but wisely decided to save +his strength {170} and time for the general oversight and guidance of +the Government. + +The first task of the new Ministry was to seek a peaceful settlement of +the Manitoba school question. A compromise was {171} doubtless +facilitated by the fact that the same party now ruled both in Ottawa +and in Winnipeg. The province would not restore the system of +state-aided separate schools, but amendments to the provincial law were +effected which removed the more serious grievances of the minority. +Provision was made for religious teaching in the last half-hour of the +school day, when authorized by the trustees or requested by the parents +of a specified minimum of pupils. Any religious denomination might +provide such teaching, upon days to be arranged. Where the attendance +of Roman Catholic children reached twenty-five in rural and forty in +urban schools, a Catholic teacher should be engaged upon petition, and +equally a non-Catholic teacher should be engaged for a Protestant +minority similarly situated. Where ten pupils spoke French or any +other language than English as their native tongue, bi-lingual teaching +should be provided. In the ordinary work of the school the children +were not to be divided on denominational lines, and the schools were to +remain public schools in every sense. + +The settlement was accepted generally in the country as a reasonable +ending of the strife--as the best that could be done in the {172} +circumstances. Edward Blake, counsel for the Catholic minority, +declared it more advantageous than any legislation which could have +been secured by coercion. Speaking in the House of Commons (March +1897) in defence of the settlement, Mr Laurier again declared his +doctrine, 'that the smallest measure of conciliation was far preferable +to any measure of coercion.' The settlement, he continued, was not as +advantageous to the minority as he would have desired; 'still, after +six long years of agitation, when the passions of men had been roused +to the highest pitch, it was not possible to obtain more, nor for the +Government of Manitoba to concede more, under present circumstances.' + +By the Catholic authorities, however, the compromise was not accepted. +They denounced it as sanctioning a system of mixed and neutral schools +which the Church had condemned, and as sacrificing to fanaticism the +sacred rights of the minority. Archbishop Langevin vigorously attacked +the settlement and all the parties to it, and some of his brother +ecclesiastics in Quebec agreed with him. Voters in by-elections were +told that they had to choose between Christ and Satan, between bishop +and erring politician. The {173} leading Liberal newspaper of Quebec +City, _L'Electeur_, was formally interdicted--every son of the Church +was forbidden to subscribe to it, sell it, or read it, 'under penalty +of grievous sin and denial of the sacraments.' So the war went on, +until finally a number of Catholic Liberals, in their private capacity, +appealed to Rome, and a papal envoy, Mgr Merry del Val, came to Canada +to look into the matter. This step brought to an end a campaign as +dangerous to the permanent welfare of the Church itself as it was to +political freedom and to national unity. + +The other issue which had figured in the general elections was the +tariff. At the approach of power the fiscal policy of the Liberals had +moderated, and it was to moderate still further under the mellowing and +conservative influences of power itself. The Liberal platform of 1893 +had declared war to the knife upon protection. In 1896, however, it +was made plain that changes would not be effected hastily or without +regard to established interests. In correspondence with Mr G. H. +Bertram of Toronto, published before the election, Mr Laurier stated +that absolute free trade was out of the question, and that the policy +of his party was a revenue tariff, {174} which would bring stability +and permanence, and would be more satisfactory in the end to all +manufacturers except monopolists. He added prophetically that 'the +advent of the Liberals to power would place political parties in Canada +in the same position as political parties in England, who have no +tariff issue distracting the country every general election.' + +The new Government lost no time in grappling with the problem. A +tariff commission was appointed which sat at different centres and +heard the views of representative citizens. Then in April 1897 Mr +Fielding brought down the new tariff. It was at once recognized as a +well-considered measure, an honest and a long first step in redeeming +platform promises. In the revision of the old tariff beneficent +changes were effected, such as abolition of the duties on binder twine, +barbed wire, and Indian corn, substantial reductions on flour and +sugar, the substitution of _ad valorem_ for specific duties, and a +provision for reducing the duty on goods controlled by trusts or +combines. The duties on iron and steel were reduced, but increased +bounties were given on their production in Canada. More important, +however, than such specific changes was the adoption of the principle +of a minimum and maximum tariff. {175} A flat reduction of twelve and +a half per cent, to be increased later to twenty-five per cent, on all +goods except wines and liquors, was granted to countries which on the +whole admitted Canadian products on terms as favourable as Canada +offered. This, although not so nominated in the bond, amounted in +intention to the British preference which the Liberal party had urged +as early as 1892, for, except New South Wales and possibly one or two +low-tariff states like Holland, Great Britain was believed to be the +only country entitled to the minimum rate. But the Belgian and German +treaties, already mentioned,[2] by which Great Britain had bound her +colonies, stood in the way. While those treaties remained in force, so +the law-officers of the Crown advised, Germany and Belgium would be +entitled to the lower rates, and automatically France, Spain, and other +favoured nations. It Canada was to be free to carry out her policy of +tariff reform and imperial consolidation, it became essential to end +the treaties in question. Sir Charles Tupper, now leading the +Opposition, declared that this could not be done. + + + +[1] These were: Sir Oliver Mowat, William Stevens Fielding, Andrew G. +Blair--prime ministers respectively of Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New +Brunswick--and Clifford Sifton, attorney-general of Manitoba, who +joined the Ottawa Ministry a few months later. + +Mr Laurier's administration was formed as follows: + +Prime Minister and President of the Council, WILFRID LAURIER. + +Minister of Finance, WILLIAM S. FIELDING, of Nova Scotia. + +Minister of Justice, SIR OLIVER MOWAT, of Ontario. + +Minister of Trade and Commerce, SIR RICHARD CARTWRIGHT, of Ontario. + +Secretary of State, RICHARD W. SCOTT, of Ontario. + +Minister of Public Works, J. ISRAEL TARTE, of Quebec. + +Minister of Railways and Canals, ANDREW G. BLAIR, of New Brunswick. + +Postmaster-General, WILLIAM MULOCK, of Ontario. + +Minister of Agriculture, SYDNEY A. FISHER, of Quebec. + +Minister of Marine and Fisheries, LOUIS H. DAVIES, of Prince Edward +Island. + +Minister of Militia and Defence, FREDERICK W. BORDEN, of Nova Scotia. + +Minister of the Interior, CLIFFORD SIFTON, of Manitoba. + +Minister of Customs, WILLIAM PATERSON, of Ontario. + +Minister of Inland Revenue, H. G. JOLY DE LOTBINIERE, of Quebec. + +Ministers without Portfolio ( CHRISTOPHE A. GEOFFRION, + ( RICHARD R. DOBELL, of Quebec. + +Solicitor-General, CHARLES FITZPATRICK, of Quebec. + +[2] See p. 134. + + + + +{176} + +CHAPTER X + +CANADA'S NEW PLACE IN THE WORLD + +Laurier in England--Laurier in France--The South African War--The +elections of 1900--The conference of 1902--The Alaskan boundary + + +In 1837 a young girl of eighteen had come to the British throne. Many +had wished her well, but few had dreamed that, as the best beloved of +British sovereigns, she would prove an essential factor in a great +imperial movement which was to mark the close of her reign. The +extraordinary length of that reign, her homely virtues, and her +statesmanlike prudence had made her Queen indeed in all her vast +domains and the one common, personal rallying-point for all her people. +The year 1897 marked the sixtieth anniversary of her reign, her Diamond +Jubilee, which the whole Empire now planned to celebrate in fitting +fashion. + +The prime minister sailed for England early in June, accompanied by +Madame Laurier. It was his first voyage across the Atlantic. It can +be imagined with what interest he looked forward to seeing both the +land from {177} which he had imbibed his political ideals and the land +from which his ancestors had come to New France more than two centuries +before. But his interest and his mission were more than personal. He +had great tasks to perform. The most immediate purpose was to secure +the denunciation or revision of the Belgian and German treaties. He +was to sit in the third Colonial Conference which had been summoned for +the occasion and in which all the self-governing colonies were to be +represented. There it would be his mission to interpret to his +colleagues from overseas the new imperial and national ideals which +were taking shape in Canada. To the general public he desired to make +better known the vast opportunities Canada had to offer both for the +venturing settler and for the trader who stayed at home. Perhaps less +purposed, but, as it proved, no less successful, was a desire to bring +together more closely the land of his allegiance and the land of his +ancestry. + +From the landing in Liverpool in June until the sailing from +Londonderry in August, the Canadian prime minister passed through a +ceaseless whirl of engagements, official conferences and gorgeous state +ceremonies, public dinners and country-house week-ends. He {178} made +many notable speeches; but, more than any words, his dignified bearing +and courtly address, the subtle note of distinction that marked his +least phrase or gesture--with the striking proof which he gave, as the +French-Canadian ruler of the greatest of the colonies, of the wisdom, +the imperial secret, which Britain alone of nations had learned--made +him beyond question the lion of the hour. The world, and not least +Britain herself, realized with wonder, in the pageant of the Jubilee +ceremonies, how great and how united the Empire was; and, at this +moment, when all eyes were focussed upon London, the prime minister of +Canada seemed to embody the new spirit and the new relationship. The +press rang with Canada's praises. 'For the first time in my +experience,' declared a shrewd American observer, 'England and the +English are regarding the Dominion with affectionate enthusiasm.' When +the tumult and the shouting died and the Captains and the Kings +departed, Sir Wilfrid Laurier[1] had a proud accounting to give his +people. + +{179} + +The Belgian and German treaties, so long a stumbling-block in the path +of closer imperial trade relations, were at last denounced. The +definite, concrete offer of the Canadian preference proved effective, +for it was given freely, in no huckstering spirit, with no demand for +any equivalent or that Britain should reverse her whole fiscal system +for the benefit of a small fraction of her trade. + +The Colonial Conference was an important incident of the Jubilee year. +Mr Chamberlain, the new colonial secretary, made the chief address and +laid before the members the proposals for discussion. He suggested the +desirability of setting up an Imperial Council, with more than advisory +power, and bound 'to develop into something still greater.' But, as +only the prime ministers of New Zealand and Tasmania gave any sympathy, +the suggestion was not pressed. He spoke in laudatory terms of the +contribution of the Australasian colonies towards the British navy, and +invited the other colonies to make similar offers. As to trade +relations, the colonial ministers decided to consider whether they +could follow Canada's example of a free preference. No definite step +by Great Britain towards _zollverein_ or protection and preference was +suggested. Fruitful {180} discussion took place on Asiatic +immigration, the Pacific cable, and imperial penny postage. All these +discussions, though without immediate results, served to outline the +problems which were to face the Colonial Conference in the +future--after the Boer War had given a new turn and a new insistence to +these problems. It was not until then, and not until Australia spoke +with one voice rather than with six, that the Colonial Conference was +to come into its own as an established body for inter-imperial +discussion. + +Outside the Conference there was much discussion of imperial relations. +It was for the most part vague and rhetorical, but it showed clearly +the new-born interest which was stirring wide circles in the United +Kingdom. As yet Imperial Federation was the only scheme for closer +union which had been at all clearly formulated, and, though it had been +discredited by the failure of its advocates to find and agree upon any +feasible plan, its phraseology still held the field. Sir Wilfrid +himself sometimes expressed his vision in its formulas. In a striking +passage in his first speech at Liverpool he pictured Macaulay's New +Zealander coming not to gaze upon the ruins of St Paul's but to knock +for {181} admission upon the doors of Westminster. Yet even these +earlier speeches forecast the newer conception of the Empire as a +partnership of equal states. 'A colony,' he described Canada, 'yet a +nation--words never before in the history of the world associated +together.' Making a dramatic contrast between the rebellion and +discontent which marked the beginning of the Queen's reign in Canada, +and the willing and unquestioned allegiance which marked it now, he +showed that the secret lay in the ever-wider freedom and +self-government which had been claimed and granted. + +From London Sir Wilfrid passed to Paris. It was before the days of the +_entente cordiale_. In Egypt, in Soudan, in Siam, in Newfoundland, the +interests of Britain and those of France were clashing, and there was +much talk of age-long rivalry and inevitable war. The reports which +had reached Paris of the strong expressions, uttered by a son of New +France, of attachment and loyalty to the Empire and the Queen had made +still more bitter the memories of the 'few acres of snow' lost in 1763. +There was much wonder as to what Laurier would say on French soil. His +message there was the same. The French Canadians, he said, had not +forgotten the {182} France of their ancestors: they cherished its +memories and its glories. 'In passing through this city, beautiful +above all cities, I have noted upon many a public building the proud +device that the armies of the Republic carried through Europe--Liberty, +Equality, Fraternity. Very well: all that there is of worth in that +device, we possess to-day in Canada. We have liberty absolute, +complete, liberty for our religion, our language, for all the +institutions which our ancestors brought from France and which we +regard as a sacred heritage.... If, on becoming subjects of the +British Crown, we have been able to keep our ancient rights and even +acquire new ones, upon the other hand we have undertaken obligations +which, descended as we are from a chivalrous race, we recognize in full +and hold ourselves in honour bound to proclaim. May I be permitted to +make a personal reference? I am told that here in France there are +people surprised at the attachment that I feel for the Crown of England +and which I do not conceal. Here that is called _loyalisme_. (For my +part, may I say in passing, I do not like that newly coined expression, +_loyalisme_: I much prefer to keep to the good old French word +_loyaute_.) And certainly, if there is one thing that the story {183} +of France has taught me to regard as an attribute of the French race, +it is loyalty, it is the heart's memory. I recall, gentlemen, those +fine lines which Victor Hugo applied to himself, as explaining the +inspiration of his life: + + Fidele au double sang qu'ont verse dans ma veine, + Mon pere vieux soldat, ma mere vendeenne. + +That double fidelity to ideas and aspirations, quite distinct, is our +glory in Canada. We are faithful to the great nation which gave us +life, and we are faithful to the great nation which has given us +liberty!' + +A little later to a brilliant gathering he uttered a prophetic wish: +'It may be that here in France the memories of the ancient struggles +between France and England have lost nothing of their bitterness, but +as for us, Canadians of whatever origin, the days we hold glorious are +the days when the colours of France and of England, the tricolor and +the cross of St George, waved together in triumph on the banks of Alma, +on the heights of Inkerman, on the ramparts of Sebastopol. Times +change; other alliances are made, but may it be permitted to a son of +France who is at the same time a British subject, to salute those +glorious days with a regret which will {184} perhaps find an echo in +every generous mind on either side the Channel.' Long cheering +followed these words. Echo, indeed, they have found in these later +days of new battlefields, of a nobler cause and of bravery no less than +of old. + +At last this close-pressed summer was over, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier +returned to a country that for a brief time knew no party. Every +Canadian felt that his country stood higher than before in the world's +regard, and the welcome given to the prime minister on his return +fittingly marked that nation-wide feeling. Canada's hour at last was +come. + + +In 1899 the outbreak of the war with the Boer republics gave occasion +for a new step in Canada's national and imperial development. By +instituting the British preference Canada had made a distinct advance +towards closer union along the line of trade. Now, by sharing for the +first time in an imperial war overseas, the Dominion made an equally +momentous advance along the line of closer union for defence. + +The conflict in South Africa had been brewing for years. Over and +above the racial antagonism between Boer and Briton there was the +strife unavoidable between a primitive, {185} pastoral people and a +cosmopolitan, gold-seeking host. The Transvaal burgher feared that, if +the newcomers were admitted freely to the franchise, he and all things +that he cherished would be swamped. The Outlander was equally +determined to have the dominant voice in the country in which he was +rapidly gaining the majority. And what with corruption rife in the +little oligarchy that surrounded Paul Kruger at Pretoria; what with the +Anglo-German-Jewish mining magnates of Johannesburg in control of a +subsidized press; what with Rhodes and Jameson dreaming of a solid +British South Africa and fanatical Doppers dreaming of the day when the +last _rooinek_ would be shipped from Table Bay, and with the Kaiser in +a telegraphing mood--there was no lack of tinder for a conflagration. +Even so, the war might have been averted, for there were signs of +growth among the Boers of a more reasonable party under Joubert and +Botha. But, whatever might have been, Paul Kruger's obstinacy and +Joseph Chamberlain's firmness collided; and when, on October 9, 1899, +Kruger issued his ultimatum, demanding that Great Britain should +withdraw her troops from the Transvaal frontier and submit the dispute +to arbitration, the die was cast. + +{186} + +What of Canada? She had never before taken part in war beyond the +American continent. Yet no sooner was the ultimatum launched than +offers of service from individuals and military units began to pour +into Ottawa, and press and public to demand that a Canadian contingent +should be sent. It was a startling change from the day when Sir John +Macdonald had declined to take any step towards equipping a Canadian +contingent for the Soudan. It was not because Canada was deeply +convinced that in the Boer War Britain's cause was more just than in +the Egyptian War. The vast majority, indeed, believed that the cause +was just, that Britain was fighting to free a population suffering +under intolerable tyranny. When neutral opinion the world over +condemned Britain's policy, Mr Balfour urged in its defence that the +colonies believed in its justice. True; not because, in Canada, at +least, there was at the outset any real knowledge of the tangled issue, +but simply because of the reputation which British statesmen had +acquired in the past for probity and fairness. Nor was it that Canada +believed the Empire's existence to be at stake. Many a time leaders of +both parties had spoken fervently of coming to {187} Britain's aid if +ever she should be in serious straits. But few, if any, in Canada +believed this to be such an occasion. In the phrase of a fervent +Canadian imperialist, it seemed as if a hundred-ton hammer was being +used to crush a hazel-nut. Faith in the greatness of Britain's naval +and military might was strong, and, even more than in Britain, public +opinion in Canada anticipated a 'promenade to Pretoria,' and was only +afraid that the fighting would be all over before our men arrived. It +was just another of Britain's 'little wars.' + +The real source of the demand that Canada should now take a part lay in +the new-born imperial and national consciousness. The crisis served to +precipitate the emotions and opinions which had been vaguely floating +in the Canadian mind. The Jubilee festivities and the British +preference had increased imperial sentiment; and, with returning +prosperity and rapid growth, national pride was getting the better of +colonial dependence. A curious element in this pride was the sense of +rivalry with the United States, which had just won more or less glory +in a little war with Spain. All these sentiments, fanned by vigorous +newspaper appeal, led to the wish to {188} do something tangible to +show that the day of passive loyalty was over and the day of +responsible partnership had begun. + +Sir Wilfrid Laurier was faced with a difficult problem. He had not +expected war. 'I had hoped to the last,' he said later, 'that there +would be no war ... that the Uitlanders would get their rights from Mr +Kruger's Government, not by the use of force but simply by the means of +reason applied to the case.' Now he was suddenly called upon to decide +one of the most momentous issues that had ever confronted the Canadian +people. He had to decide it in the midst of a rising tide of popular +enthusiasm in the English-speaking provinces. Equally he had to take +into account the lukewarmness or hostility of Quebec. The majority of +French Canadians stood where their English-speaking fellow-citizens had +stood ten or twenty years before. They were passively loyal, content +to be a protected colony. The instinctive sympathies of many would be +for the Boer minority rather than for the English Outlanders in the +Transvaal. We may read the prime minister's thoughts on this aspect of +the problem from his own words, addressed to an audience in Toronto: + + +{189} + +Blood is thicker than water, and the issue may not appeal to my +fellow-countrymen of French origin as it appealed to you.... Still we +are British subjects, and claim the rights of British subjects, and we +assume all the responsibilities this entails. There are men foolish +enough, there are men unpatriotic enough, to blame us and to say that I +should have rushed on and taken no precautions to guide public opinion +in my own province. That is not my way of governing the country. I +told you a moment ago that I would not swim with the current, that I +would endeavour to guide the current, and on this occasion I tried to +do so. + + +Moreover, parliament was not in session, and British precedent required +the consent of parliament for waging war. + +In an interview given on the 3rd of October, a week before the war +broke out, Sir Wilfrid denied a report that the Government had already +decided to send a contingent, and stated that it could not do so +without parliament's consent. On the same day a dispatch was received +from Mr Chamberlain expressing thanks for individual offers of service, +and stating that four units of one hundred and twenty-five men each +would gladly be accepted, to be equipped and sent to Africa at their +own or Canada's cost, and thereafter to be maintained by the Imperial +Government. {190} Ten days later, three days after the declaration of +war, the Government at Ottawa issued an order-in-council providing for +a contingent of one thousand men.[2] + +The decision once made, the Government lost no time in equipping and +dispatching the contingent. On the 30th of October the troops sailed +from Quebec. A week later the Government offered a second contingent. +Already it was becoming clear that there would be no 'Christmas dinner +in Pretoria.' Mafeking, Kimberley, and Ladysmith were besieged, and +the British were retiring in Natal. Six weeks passed before the +British Government accepted. This time the Canadian authorities +decided to send a regiment of Mounted Rifles and three batteries of +artillery. Later a battalion of infantry was raised to garrison +Halifax and thus release the Leinster regiment for the front, {191} +while Lord Strathcona provided the funds to send the Strathcona Horse. +In the last year of the war five regiments of Mounted Rifles and a +Constabulary Force, which saw active service, were recruited. All +told, over seven thousand Canadians went to South Africa. + +The course of the war was followed with intense interest in Canada. +Alike in the anxious days of December, the black week of Stormberg, +Magersfontein, and Tugela, and in the joyful reaction of the relief of +Kimberley and Ladysmith and Mafeking and the victory of Paardeberg, +Canadians felt themselves a part of the moving scene. Perhaps the part +taken by their own small force was seen out of perspective; but with +all due discount for the patriotic exaggeration of Canadian newspaper +correspondents and for the generosity of Lord Roberts's high-flown +praise, the people of Canada believed that they had good reason to feel +more than proud of their representatives on the veldts of Africa. +After Zand River and Doornkop, Paardeberg and Mafeking, it was plain +that the Canadian soldier could hold his own on the field of battle. +In the words of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, replying to an attack made by Mr +Bourassa: + + +When we heard that our volunteers had justified fully the confidence +placed in them, that they had {192} charged like veterans, that their +conduct was heroic and had won for them the encomiums of the +Commander-in-Chief and the unstinted admiration of their comrades, who +had faced death upon a hundred battlefields in all parts of the world, +is there a man whose bosom did not swell with pride, the noblest of all +pride, that pride of pure patriotism, the pride of the consciousness of +our rising strength, the pride of the consciousness that on that day it +had been revealed to the world that a new power had arisen in the west? +Nor is that all. The work of union and harmony between the chief races +of this country is not yet complete.... But there is no bond of union +so strong as the bond created by common dangers faced in common. +To-day there are men in South Africa representing the two branches of +the Canadian family, fighting side by side for the honour of Canada. +Already some of them have fallen, giving to the country the last full +measure of devotion. Their remains have been laid in the same grave, +there to lie to the end of time in that last fraternal embrace. Can we +not hope, I ask my honourable friend himself [Mr Bourassa], that in +that grave shall be buried the last vestiges of our former antagonism? +If such shall be the result, if we can indulge that hope, if we can +believe that in that grave shall be buried our contentions, the sending +of the contingent will be the greatest service ever rendered Canada +since Confederation. + + +Meanwhile another war, much less honourable than that on the plains of +Africa, was {193} being waged against the Government on the hustings of +Canada. The general elections of 1900 gave countless opportunities for +the unscrupulous and reckless appeals to racial prejudice and for the +charges of disloyalty which have unfortunately marked so many Canadian +political contests. Sir Wilfrid Laurier had to face the attacks of +extremists in both Quebec and Ontario. In Ontario he was denounced for +hesitating to send the first contingent, and particularly for retaining +in his Cabinet Mr Tarte, who was reported to have made anti-imperial +speeches in Paris. Blissfully unaware that before the next general +election they would be lauding the same Tarte to the skies, the chiefs +of the Opposition made their war-cry for Ontario, 'Shall Tarte rule?' +Concurrently in Quebec the prime minister was denounced for sending the +contingent at all, both by Conservatives and by one of the ablest of +his former followers, Henri Bourassa, who had broken with his leader on +this issue and on other more personal grounds. Even the veteran leader +of the Opposition, Sir Charles Tupper, played a double role. 'Sir +Wilfrid Laurier is too English for me,' he declared in Quebec, and +inveighed against the prime minister, whom he characterized as {194} an +advocate of imperialism. But at Toronto, some time later, he strove to +explain away these words and to convince his hearers that Sir Wilfrid +was 'not half British enough.' + +Nevertheless, when polling day came in November, the Government was +sustained by an enlarged majority. In Ontario it lost fourteen seats, +but it gained in the maritime provinces, while Quebec still further +increased its overwhelming contingent of Liberals in the House of +Commons. The country as a whole evidently approved the Government's +policy in the war, and was not unmindful of the long-sought prosperity +which was coming under a vigorous administration at Ottawa. + +Sir Charles Tupper, now over eighty, but still aggressive and full of +enthusiasm, decided to give up the leadership of the Conservative +party. He was succeeded by a fellow Nova Scotian, Mr Robert Laird +Borden of Halifax. The new leader had been only four years in +parliament, but his ability and straightforwardness had won instant +recognition. Few changes had occurred in the ranks of the 'Ministry of +all the Talents' of 1896. Sir Oliver Mowat and Sir Henri Joly de +Lotbiniere had retired to lieutenant-governorships, and their places +had been taken respectively {195} by Mr David Mills and Mr M. E. +Bernier. The permanence of this Ministry was in strong contrast to the +incessant changes which had marked the last Liberal Cabinet, that of +1873-78. + +[Illustration: SIR ROBERT BORDEN From a photograph by Montminy, Quebec] + + +The questions of imperial relationship raised by the Boer War lent +especial interest to the Colonial Conference of 1902. Again the formal +occasion for inviting the representatives of the Dominions to Great +Britain was a royal ceremony. Good Queen Victoria had died in 1901, +and the coronation of Edward the Seventh was to take place in June. +The sudden illness of the king postponed the festivities, but the +meetings of the Conference went on as arranged. + +The United Kingdom was represented by Mr Chamberlain, Lord Selborne, +and Mr Brodrick. Sir Edmund Barton and Sir John Forrest represented +Australia, now a single Commonwealth. To speak for the smaller +colonies appeared their respective prime ministers--Mr Richard Seddon +for New Zealand, Sir Gordon Sprigg for Cape Colony, Sir Albert Hime for +Natal, and Sir Robert Bond for Newfoundland. Sir Wilfrid Laurier +represented Canada. He was accompanied {196} by Mr Fielding, Sir +Frederick Borden, Sir William Mulock, and Mr Paterson. The sessions +were more formal than on previous occasions. Only the prime ministers +of the Dominions spoke, except when questions arose affecting the +special department of one of the other ministers. The earlier +conferences had been in a sense preparatory, and the issues raised had +not been pressed. Now the dramatic pressure of events and the +masterful eagerness of Mr Chamberlain alike gave to the meetings a much +more serious aspect. + +English imperialists were intensely interested and intensely hopeful. +'I cannot conceal from myself,' declared Mr Chamberlain in his opening +address, 'that very great anticipations have been formed as to the +results which may accrue from our meeting.' The enthusiasm of Canadian +and Australian and New Zealander for the cause of the mother country in +the war had led many to believe that the time was ripe for a great +stride toward the centralization of the Empire. The policy of autonomy +as the basis of union was attacked as obsolete. According to the new +imperialism, the control of the Empire should be centralized, should be +vested in the British Government, or in an Imperial Council or {197} +parliament sitting at London, in which numbers and the overwhelming +force of environment and social pressure would give Great Britain +unquestioned dominance. Mr Chamberlain himself shared these hopes and +these limitations. He was, indeed, more popular in the colonies than +any other British statesman, because he had recognized more fully than +any other their strength and the value of their support. Yet he, too, +laboured under the delusion that Australia and Canada were simply +England beyond the seas. He not only looked at imperial questions from +the point of view of one who was an Englishman first and last, but +expected to find Australians and Canadians doing the same. + +These expectations were destined to be rudely shattered. The new +imperialism did not give scope for the aspirations of the Dominions. +Its apostles had failed to recognize that if the war had stimulated +imperial sentiment in the Dominions it had also stimulated national +consciousness. The spectacular entry upon the world's stage involved +in sending troops half-way across the globe, the bravery and the +steadfastness the troops had displayed, had sent a thrill of pride +through every Dominion. The achievement {198} of federation in +Australia and the new-found prosperity of Canada gave added impetus to +the national feeling. And, as a cross-current, opposed alike to the +rising nationalism and to any kind of imperialism, there was still the +old colonialism, the survival of ways of thought bred of the days when +Englishmen regarded the colonies as 'our possessions' and colonials +acquiesced. These three currents, colonialism, nationalism, and +imperialism, ran strong in Australian and Canadian life, and none of +them could be disregarded. A free imperialism, consonant with and +allied to national ambitions, the Dominions would have, had indeed +already, but the idea of Mr Chamberlain and his followers, which +contravened both the new nationalism and the old colonialism, could not +prevail. + +As before, the chief subjects dealt with by the Conference fell into +three fields--political relations, commercial relations, and defence. + +In opening the Conference Mr Chamberlain declared that the problem of +future political relations had been simplified by the federation of the +Australian colonies and the coming closer union of South Africa. The +next step would be the federation of the Empire, which he believed was +within the limits of {199} possibility. This might come by sending +colonial representatives to the existing House of Commons at +Westminster, but perhaps a more practical proposal would be the +creation of a real Council of the Empire, which in the first instance +might be merely advisory but in time would have executive and perhaps +legislative powers. Elsewhere Mr Chamberlain had made more clear the +extent of the power which he hoped this central council would in time +acquire: he had defined it as 'a new government with large powers of +taxation and legislation over countries separated by thousands of +miles.' + +The appeal met with little response. The prime ministers seemed in no +haste to abandon the policy by which they had already acquired powers +so many and so wide. No resolution was moved in the direction Mr +Chamberlain urged. Instead, a step was taken towards making the +Conference itself a more organic body by providing that it should meet +at intervals not exceeding four years. The vital difference between +the Conference and the Imperial Council which Mr Chamberlain desired, +was that the Council when full-fledged should be an independent +government exercising direct control over all parts of the Empire, +{200} and with a dominating representation from the United Kingdom; +whereas the Conference was simply a meeting of governments in which all +the countries met on an equal footing, with no power to bind any +Dominion or to influence its action otherwise than by interchange of +information and opinion. + +As to defence, a determined attempt was made to induce the colonies to +contribute to the support of the British army and navy. Mr Chamberlain +submitted a memorandum showing that the United Kingdom spent annually +for military and naval purposes 29s 3d per head--while Canada spent 2s, +New Zealand 3s 4d, and Australia 4s--and urged that it was inconsistent +with the dignity of nationhood that the Dominions should thus leave the +mother country to bear the whole or almost the whole cost of defence. +He trusted that no demands would be made which would appear excessive, +and that something would be done to recognize effectually the +obligation of all to contribute to the common weal. Lord Selborne for +the Admiralty followed by urging contributions of money as well as of +men to the navy. And Mr Brodrick for the War Office proposed that +one-fourth of the existing colonial militias should be specially +trained {201} and earmarked for service overseas in case of war. + +These suggestions met with a limited measure of success. Cape Colony +agreed to grant L50,000 a year and Natal L35,000 to the maintenance of +the navy, while Australia[3] and New Zealand increased their grants for +the maintenance of the Australasian squadron respectively to L200,000 +and L60,000 a year. Canada declined to make any grant or promise of +the kind desired. Her representatives stated that their objections +arose, not so much from the expense involved, as from a belief that +acceptance of the proposals would entail an important departure from +the principles of colonial self-government, which had proved so great a +factor in the promotion of imperial unity. They recognized, however, +the need of making provision for defence in proportion to the +increasing wealth and population of the country. They were prepared, +in the development of their own militia system, to take upon Canada the +services formerly borne by the Imperial Government, and would consider +the {202} possibility of organizing a naval reserve on the coasts. + +Mr Brodrick's proposal to have a special body of troops earmarked for +imperial service was endorsed by the small states, New Zealand, the +Cape, and Natal, but strongly rejected by the nation-states, Australia +and Canada. The latter countries were of the opinion 'that the best +course to pursue was to endeavour to raise the standard of training for +the general body of their forces, leaving it to the colony, when the +need arose, to determine how and to what extent it should render +assistance.... To establish a special force, set apart for general +imperial service, and practically under the absolute control of the +Imperial Government, was objectionable in principle, as derogating from +the powers of self-government enjoyed by them, and would be calculated +to impede the general improvement in training and organization of their +defence forces.' + +Thus, so far as the Dominions had awakened to the need of greater +outlay for defence, they desired to make that outlay as they made all +other expenditure, under the direction and control of their own +Governments. It may be asked, Why then did not Canada, in the +succeeding decade, make better progress along {203} this line? The +reasons were many. One was the engrossment in the tremendous task of +opening up and subduing vast continental wildernesses, a task more +costly than outside opinion often realized, a task which rose to such +proportions that the per capita burden of taxation on the Canadian +became decidedly greater than that borne by the Englishman for navy, +army, social reform, and all other expenditure. Then, too, there was +the old colonialism, the habits of thought acquired under different +conditions, which, by force of momentum, persisted after these +conditions had passed away. Though Canada had ceased to be a +'possession' and was emerging into nationhood, she awoke but slowly to +the idea of taking up her own burden of defence. There was the lack of +any pressing danger. The British navy was still unchallenged in its +supremacy. Canada had only one near neighbour; and with that neighbour +war was fast becoming unthinkable. In fact, the United States was +regarded by some as being as much a protection in case of German or +Japanese attack as a menace in itself, though doubtless most Canadians, +if put to the test, would have refused to accept such patronizing +protection as that afforded by the Monroe Doctrine; the {204} day had +not yet come, however, when the similar refusal of the South American +states to be taken under any eagle's wing, however benevolent, was to +lead to the transformation of that relationship into a self-respecting +quasi-alliance of pan-American republics. There was the view strongly +advanced by Sir Charles Tupper and others, that if Canada were +independent the United Kingdom would require not a ship the less to +protect its world-wide trade. True; and few Canadians saw the equal +truth that in such a case Canada would require many a ship the more. +And if it seemed probable, or even as certain as reasoning from the +experience of others could make it, that an independent Canada would +have been involved in wars of her own, it was also certain, as an +actual fact, that through her connection with Britain she had been +involved in wars that were not her own. All such ideas and forces not +only ran counter to Mr Chamberlain's new imperialism, but set a +stumbling-block in the path of any rapid progress in defence upon +national lines. The unwillingness of the British authorities to +sanction Dominion fleets equally blocked progress along the most +promising path. + +As to commercial relations, Mr Chamberlain {205} stated that his ideal +was 'free trade within the Empire,' presumably with a common customs +tariff against all foreign countries. This proposal met with no +support. None of the colonies was prepared to open its markets to the +manufacturers of the United Kingdom. For the present, protection was +their universal policy. It was recommended, however, that those +colonies which had not done so should follow Canada's example in giving +a preference to British goods, and that the United Kingdom should in +turn grant a preference to the colonies by exemption from or reduction +of duties then or thereafter imposed. Mr Chamberlain belittled the +value of the preference already given by Canada. The Canadian +ministers had no difficulty in showing the unfairness of his +conclusion. The preference, which had been increased to thirty-three +and a third per cent, and made to apply specifically to Great Britain +and to such other parts of the Empire as would reciprocate, had not +only arrested the previous steady decline in imports from Great +Britain, but had led to a substantial growth in these imports. Canada +would agree, however, to go further, and grant some increased +preference if Britain would reciprocate. These proposals for +reciprocal {206} preference turned upon the fact that, as a war revenue +measure, the British Government had recently imposed a duty of a +shilling a quarter upon wheat. A few months later the tax was +abolished, and reciprocal preference again became merely an academic +topic. + +Canada, still leading the way in the matter of commercial relations, +secured the passing of a resolution favouring cheap postage rates on +newspapers and periodicals between different parts of the Empire. +Already in 1898, Canada had lowered the rates on letters to any part of +the Empire from five to two cents per half-ounce, and her example had +been widely followed. + +For the much cry there was little wool. Neither in trade nor in +political relations had Mr Chamberlain's proposals received any +encouragement, and in defence matters only small and precarious advance +had been made towards centralization. Mr Chamberlain did not conceal +his disappointment. In Sir Wilfrid Laurier he had met a man of equally +strong purposes and beliefs, equally adroit in argument, and much +better informed than himself in the lessons of the Empire's past and in +the public opinion overseas on questions of the day. He was plainly +inclined to attribute {207} the policy of the Canadian prime minister +to his French descent. Divining this, Sir Wilfrid suggested that he +should invite the other Canadian ministers to a private conference. Mr +Chamberlain accepted the suggestion with alacrity; a dinner was +arranged; and hours of discussion followed. To his surprise Mr +Chamberlain soon found that the four responsible Canadian ministers of +the Crown, all of British stock, two of Nova Scotia and two of Ontario, +took precisely the same stand that their French-Canadian leader had +maintained. They were as loyal to the king as any son of England, and +were all determined to retain Canada's connection with the Empire. +But, as Canadians first, they believed, as did Mr Chamberlain himself, +that the Empire, like charity, began at home. The outcome was that the +colonial secretary perceived the hopelessness of endeavour along the +lines of political or military centralization, and henceforth +concentrated upon commerce. The Chamberlain policy of imperial +preferential trade, which eventually took shape as a campaign for +protection, was a direct result of the Conference of 1902. + +It is not without interest to note that the policy of the Canadian +prime minister as to {208} political and defence relations was not once +called in question by the leader of the Opposition when parliament next +met. Sir Wilfrid Laurier had faithfully voiced the prevailing will of +the people of Canada, whether they willed aright or erringly. + + +We must now turn to see what relations existed during these years +between Canada and the neighbouring land which Canadians knew so well. +In 1896, when the Liberal Government took office, there still remained +the disputes which had long made difficult friendly intercourse with +this neighbour; and as yet there seemed few grounds for hope that they +could be discussed in an amicable temper. In the same year the +Republicans came again to power, and presently their new tariff +out-M'Kinleyed the M'Kinley Act of 1890, raising the duties, which the +Democrats had lowered, to a higher level than formerly. Little had yet +occurred to change the provincial bumptiousness of the American +attitude towards other nations--though there had been a reaction in the +country from President Cleveland's fulminations of 1895 on the +Venezuelan question--or to arouse towards Great Britain or Canada the +deeper feelings of friendship {209} which common tongue and common +blood should have inspired. Moreover, the special difficulty that +faces all negotiations with the United States, the division of power +between President and Congress, remained in full intensity, for +President M'Kinley made the scrupulous observance of the constitutional +limits of his authority the first article in his political creed. In +Canada a still rankling antagonism bred of the Venezuelan episode made +the situation all the worse. Yet the many issues outstanding between +the two countries made negotiation imperative. + +A Joint High Commission was appointed, which opened its sessions at +Quebec in August 1898. Lord Herschell, representing the United +Kingdom, acted as chairman. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Sir Richard +Cartwright, Sir Louis Davies, and John Charlton represented Canada. +Sir James Winter sat for Newfoundland and Senator Fairbanks, Senator +Gray, Congressman Dingley, General Foster, Mr Kasson, and Mr Coolidge +for the United States. The Commission sat at Quebec until October and +adjourned to meet at Washington in November. There it continued its +sessions and approached a solution of most of the difficulties. It +seemed possible to give {210} permanence to the existing unstable +arrangements for shipping goods through in bond, to abolish the +unneighbourly alien labour laws, to provide that Canadian sealers +should give up their rights in Bering Sea for a money payment, and to +arrange for a measure of reciprocity in natural products and in a +limited list of manufactures. But the question of the Alaskan boundary +proved insoluble, and the Commission broke up in February 1899. + +Step by step the long and often uncertain border between Canada and the +United States proper had been defined and accepted. Only the boundary +between Canada and Alaska remained in dispute. There was a difference +of opinion as to the meaning of certain words in the treaty of 1825 +which defined, or purported to define, the boundary between British and +Russian America on the Pacific. That treaty gave Russia a panhandle +strip of coast half-way down what is now British Columbia; and, when +the United States bought Alaska in 1867, the purchase of course +included this strip of coast. As British Columbia grew, the +disadvantage of this barrier became seriously felt, and repeated +attempts were made to have the boundary defined and, if possible, a +port awarded to Canada. The discovery of gold {211} in the Klondike in +1896 made this all the more urgent. The treaty of 1825 provided that +north of Portland Channel the boundary should follow the summit of the +mountains parallel to the coast, and where these mountains proved to be +more than ten marine leagues from the coast, the line was to be drawn +parallel to the windings of the coast at ten leagues' distance. Canada +contended for an interpretation of this wording which would give her a +harbour at the head of one of the fiords which ran far inland, while +the United States, following the usual international doctrine that a +disadvantage to your neighbour must be an advantage to yourself, +insisted that its spite fence should be as high and as gateless as +possible. + +The main point of difference between the two countries was as to the +way of settling the dispute. The United States proposed a commission +of three representatives from each side. Given a desire for fair +dealing, such a commission is perhaps most satisfactory, at least for a +permanent body, as the experience of the Waterways Commission has since +shown. But for a temporary purpose, and in the spirit which then +existed, the Canadian negotiators knew too well that such a board {212} +could reach a decision only by the weakening of one of the British +members. They urged, therefore, that a board of three arbitrators +should be appointed, one of them an international jurist of repute who +should act as umpire. This was the course which the United States had +insisted upon in the case of Venezuela, but what was sauce for the +Venezuelan goose was not sauce for the Alaskan gander. The United +States asserted that the Canadian case had been trumped up in view of +the Klondike discoveries, and would not accept any medium of settlement +which did not make it certain beforehand that, right or wrong, the +claim of Canada would be rejected. + +The deadlock in this issue proved hopeless, and the Commission's +labours ended without definite result upon any point for the time. Yet +the months of conference had done good in giving the statesmen of each +country a better idea of the views and problems of the other, and had +contributed not a little to the final solution or the final forgetting +that the problems existed. Later, during Mr, now Lord, Bryce's term of +office as ambassador at Washington, most of the provisional +arrangements agreed upon were taken up and embodied in separate +agreements, accepted by {213} both countries. When the new era of +neighbourliness dawned, a few years later, some of the difficulties +which had long loomed large and boding ceased to have any more +importance than the yard or two of land once in dispute between farmers +who have since realized the folly of line-fence lawsuits. + +After the adjournment of the Joint High Commission in 1899 the two +countries agreed upon a temporary Alaskan boundary-line for purposes of +administration, and it was not until early in 1903 that a treaty for +the settlement of the dispute was arranged between Great Britain and +the United States and accepted by Canada. + +By this treaty the American proposal of a commission of three members +from each side was adopted. The Canadian Government agreed to this +plan with the greatest reluctance, urging to the last that arbitration +with an outside umpire was preferable. Seemingly, however, fairness +was secured by a clause in the treaty which provided that the members +should be 'impartial jurists of repute, who shall consider judicially +the questions submitted to them, and each of whom shall first subscribe +an oath that he will impartially consider the arguments and evidence +{214} submitted to the tribunal and will decide thereupon according to +his true judgment.' Further, the United States now agreed to abandon +its former position, that in any case territory then settled by +Americans should not be given up. That the United States risked +nothing by withdrawing this safeguard became clear when the American +commissioners were named--Elihu Root, a member of President Roosevelt's +Cabinet, which had declined to make any concession, Senator Lodge, who +had only a few months before declared the Canadian contention a +manufactured and baseless claim, and Senator Turner from Washington, +the state which was eager to retain a monopoly of the Klondike trade. +Undoubtedly these were able men, but not impartial jurists. In the +words of an American newspaper, 'the chances of convincing them of the +rightfulness of Canada's claim are about the same as the prospect of a +thaw in Hades.' + +The Dominion Government at once protested against these appointments. +The British Government expressed surprise, but held that it would be +useless to protest, and suggested that it was best to follow this +example and appoint British representatives {215} of a similar type. +Canada, however, declined the suggestion, and carried out her part +honourably by nominating as arbitrators, to sit with the lord chief +justice of England, Lord Alverstone, Mr Justice Armour of the Canadian +Supreme Court, and Sir Louis Jette, formerly a judge of the Superior +Court of Quebec. Later, on the death of Mr Justice Armour, Mr (now Sir +Allen) Aylesworth, K.C., was appointed in his place. + +The case was admirably presented by both sides, and all the evidence +clearly marshalled. Late in October the decision of the tribunal was +announced. A majority, consisting of Lord Alverstone and the three +American members, had decided substantially in favour of the United +States. Sir Louis Jette and Mr Aylesworth declined to sign the award, +and declared it in part a 'grotesque travesty of justice.' + +In Canada the decision met with a storm of disapproval which was much +misunderstood abroad, in Great Britain and still more in the United +States. It was not the petulant outburst of a disappointed litigant. +Canada would have acquiesced without murmur if satisfied that her +claims had been disproved on judicial grounds. But of this essential +{216} point she was not satisfied, and the feeling ran that once more +Canadian interests had been sacrificed on the altar of American +friendship. The deep underlying anti-American prejudice now ran +counter to pro-British sentiment, rather than, as usual, in the same +direction. Had Mr Aylesworth, on his return, given a lead, a +formidable movement for separation from Great Britain would undoubtedly +have resulted. But while repeating strongly, in a speech before the +Toronto Canadian Club, his criticism of the award, and making it clear +that the trouble lay in Lord Alverstone's idea that somehow he was +intended to act as umpire between Canada and the United States, Mr +Aylesworth concluded by urging the value to Canada of British +connection; and the sober second thought of the country echoed his +eloquent exhortation. While Canada had shown unmistakably at the +Colonial Conference that the Chamberlain imperialists would have to +reckon with the strong and rising tide of national feeling, she showed +now that, strong as was this tide, it was destined to find scope and +outlet within the bounds of the Empire. Now imperial sentiment, now +national aspirations, might be uppermost, but consciously or +unconsciously {217} the great mass of Canadians held to an idea that +embraced and reconciled both, the conception of the Empire as a free +but indissoluble league of equal nation-states. + +When the terms of the treaty were first announced Mr Borden declared +that it should have been made subject to ratification by the Canadian +parliament. After the award Sir Wilfrid Laurier went further, +contending that the lesson was that Canada should have independent +treaty-making power. 'It is important,' he said, 'that we should ask +the British parliament for more extensive powers, so that if ever we +have to deal with matters of a similar nature again, we shall deal with +them in our own way, in our own fashion, according to the best light we +have.' The demand was not pressed. The change desired, at least in +respect to the United States, did come in fact a few years later, +though, as usual in British countries, much of the old forms remained. + + + +[1] Shortly after arriving in England Mr Laurier had been made a Knight +Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George. Though on +personal grounds sincerely reluctant to accept such honours, he had +bowed to circumstance and the wishes of his friends. + +[2] The reason for the Government's action was clearly stated by Mr +David Mills, minister of Justice, as follows: 'There were two things +that presented themselves to the minds of the administration. One was +to call parliament together and obtain its sanction for a proposition +to send troops to South Africa. The other was to await such a +development of public opinion as would justify them in undertaking to +send the contingent ... the general sanction of the political +sovereignty of this country from which parliament derives its +existence. Now there was such an expression of opinion in this country +as to justify the government in the course which they took.'--Senate +Debate, February 6, 1900. + +[3] The Australian representatives afterwards met with much difficulty +in securing the consent of the Commonwealth parliament to this +arrangement. A majority of the members who took part in the debate +expressed the opinion that an Australian navy must sooner or later take +the place of direct contributions. + + + + +{218} + +CHAPTER XI + +THE COMING OF PROSPERITY + +The opening of the west--Railway expansion--State aids to +production--New provinces and old cries--Party fortunes + + +We have seen that in the early years of the Laurier regime Canada +attained a new international status and came to play no small part in +the affairs of the Empire. No less notable in the succeeding years was +the remarkable industrial expansion at home, the sunrise of prosperity +which followed the long night of depression. This expansion touched +every corner of the far-flung Dominion, and was based on the +exploitation of resources and possibilities of the most varied kind. +Yet the central fact, the development which caused and conditioned all +the rest, was the settlement of the great western plains. + +For years 'Canada's unequalled western heritage' had given many an +after-dinner speaker a peroration, but it had given very few new +settlers a living. The Conservative Government had achieved one great +task of constructive patriotism, in providing for the {219} building of +a railway across the vast wilderness to the Pacific. Over thirty +million acres of the choicest lands of the West had been given to this +and other railways to encourage settlement. A liberal homestead policy +had been adopted. And still the settlers came not, or if they came +they did not stay. Barely three thousand homestead entries a year were +made in the early nineties. By 1896 the number had fallen to eighteen +hundred. Canadians themselves seemed to have lost faith in the West, +for in this year the applicants for homesteads included only five +hundred and seventy settlers from the older Canada. The stock of the +railway which had been built with such national effort had fallen to +fifty. West of Lake Superior, after thirty years of Confederation, +there were little more than three hundred thousand people, of whom +nearly one-third were Indians. And, in the phrase of a western +Conservative newspaper, 'the trails from Manitoba to the States were +worn bare and brown by the waggon wheels of departing settlers.' + +In the remarkable development of the West which now began, and which +profoundly changed the whole outlook and temper of Canadian life, there +were some general factors {220} with which statesmen or business men +had nothing to do. The prices of farm products began to rise the world +over, due in part to the swing of population in every land from country +to city, and in part to the flooding supplies of new gold. The +lessening of the supply of fertile free lands in the United States gave +new value to Canada's untouched acres. Yet these factors alone would +not have wrought the transformation. In the past, when Canada's West +called in vain, low prices had not prevented millions of settlers +swarming to the farms of the United States. Even of the Canadians who +had migrated to the Republic, half, contrary to the general impression, +had gone on the land. Nor was Canada now the only country which had +vacant spaces to fill. Australia and the Argentine and the limitless +plains of Siberia could absorb millions of settlers. In the United +States itself the 'Great American desert' was being redeemed, while +American railways still had millions of western acres to sell. Canada +had the goods, indeed, but they needed to be advertised. + +The new ministers at Ottawa rose to the occasion. They were not +content to be 'merely flies on the wheel,' in Sir Richard {221} +Cartwright's unlucky phrase of 1876. They adopted a vigorous and +many-sided policy for the development of the West and of all Canada. +The preferential tariff and the prime minister's European tour +admirably prepared the way. The British people now regarded Canada +with lively interest, and for the first time the people of the +Continent began to realize the potentialities of this new northern +land. The general impression thus created was followed up by more +specific measures, aiming to bring in men and capital, to extend and +cheapen transportation, and to facilitate production. + +The call for settlers came first. Never has there been so systematic, +thorough, and successful a campaign for immigrants as that which was +launched and directed by the minister of the Interior, Mr, now Sir +Clifford, Sifton. He knew the needs and the possibilities of the West +at first hand. He brought to his office a businesslike efficiency and +a constructive imagination only too rare at Ottawa. Through +Continental Europe, through the United States, through the United +Kingdom, with an enthusiasm unparalleled and an insistence which would +not be denied, he sent forth the summons for men and women and {222} +children to come and people the great plains of the Canadian West. + +It was from Continental Europe that the first notable accessions came. +Western Europe, which in earlier decades had sent its swarms across the +sea, now had few emigrants to give. Falling birth-rates, industrial +development, or governments' desire to keep at home as much food for +powder as might be, had slackened the outward flow. But the east held +uncounted millions whom state oppression or economic leanness urged +forth. From Russia the Doukhobors or Spirit-Wrestlers, eager to escape +from the military service their Quakerlike creed forbade, turned to +Canada, and by 1899 over seven thousand of these people were settled in +the West. Austrian Poland sent forth each year some four to six +thousand Ruthenians, more familiarly known as Galicians. Both +contingents brought their problems, but they brought also notable +contributions to the western melting-pot. Their clannishness, their +differing social ideals, the influence of religious leaders who sought +to keep them a people apart, created political and educational +difficulties of undoubted seriousness. But they turned to farm +production, not to selling real {223} estate, and in a few years many +came to appreciate and follow Canadian ways, for good or for ill. And +if Doukhobor communistic practices or religious frenzy had their +drawbacks, they served to balance the unrestrained individualism and +the materialism of other sections of the community, and to add vast +potentialities of idealism to the nation's store. + +Much more significant, however, was the influx of American settlers, +which reached a great height soon afterwards. Mr Sifton knew that no +settlers could be had anywhere with more enterprise, capital, and +practical experience of western needs than the farmers of the western +and mid-western states. As these states became settled, many farmers +who desired larger scope for their energy or farms for their growing +sons were in the mood to listen to tales of pastures new. Among these +Americans, then, the minister prepared to spread his glad tidings of +the Canadian plains. Agents were appointed for each likely state, with +sub-agents who were paid a commission for every settler who came. The +land of promise was pictured in attractive, compelling booklets, and in +advertisements inserted in seven or eight thousand farm and weekly +papers. All inquiries were {224} systematically followed up. In +co-operation with the railways, free trips were arranged for parties of +farmers and for press associations, to give the personal touch needed +to vitalize the campaign. State and county fairs were utilized to keep +Canada to the fore. Every assistance was given to make it easy for the +settler to transport his effects and to select his new home. + +As a result of these aggressive efforts, the ranks of incoming +Americans, negligible in the earlier years, rose to astounding +proportions--from seven hundred in 1897 to fifteen thousand in 1900 and +one hundred thousand in 1911. This influx had a decisive effect on the +West. It was not only what these well-to-do, progressive settlers +achieved themselves that counted, but the effect of their example upon +others. Every American who preferred Canada to his own land persuaded +an Englishman or a Scotsman that the star of empire was passing to the +north. + +Backed by this convincing argument, Mr Sifton now turned to the United +Kingdom. For many years his predecessors had directed their chief +efforts to this field. Early in the eighties a large influx of British +and Irish immigrants had come, but most of them had quickly passed to +the United States. In the {225} nineties scarcely ten thousand a year +crossed from the crowded British Isles to Canada, while the United +States secured thirty or forty thousand. Now conditions were soon +reversed. The immigration campaign was lifted out of the routine and +dry rot into which it had fallen. Advertisements of a kind new to +British readers were inserted in the press, the schools were filled +with attractive literature, and patriotic and philanthropic agencies +were brought into service. Typical of this activity was the erection +of a great arch of wheat in the Strand, London, during the Coronation +ceremonies of 1902. Its visible munificence and its modest mottoes, +'Canada the granary of the Empire' and 'Canada offers 160 acres free to +every man,' carried a telling message to millions. From nine or ten +thousand in the nineties British immigration into Canada rose to fifty +thousand in 1904 and over a hundred and twenty thousand in 1911. +Australia soon followed Canada's example, with the result that whereas +in 1900 only one of every three emigrants who left the British Isles +remained under the flag, a dozen years later the proportions had grown +to four out of every five. This was empire-building of the most +practical kind. + +{226} + +This incoming of English-speaking peoples also brought its problems. +The Americans contributed largely to the rise of the 'subdivision +expert,' though in this matter of land speculation the native sons soon +bettered their instructors. The British immigrants at first included +too many who had been assisted by charitable societies, and always they +flocked more to the towns than to the land. Yet these immigrants were +in the main the best of new citizens. + +During the fifteen years of Liberal administration (1896-1911) the +total immigration to Canada exceeded two millions. Of this total about +thirty-eight per cent came from the British Isles, twenty-six from +Continental Europe, and thirty-four from the United States. This +increase was not all net. There was a constant ebb as well as flow, +many returning to their native land, whether to enjoy the fortune they +had gained or to lament that the golden pavements they had heard of +were nowhere to be seen. The exodus of native-born to the United +States did not wholly cease, though it fell off notably and was far +more than offset by the northward flow. After all deductions, the +population of Canada during this period grew from barely over five to +seven {227} and a quarter millions, showing a rate of increase for the +last decade (1901-11) unequalled elsewhere in the world. + +Closely connected with the immigration campaign was the Government's +land policy. The old system of giving free homesteads to all comers +was continued, but with a simplified procedure, lower fees, and greater +privileges to the settler. No more land was tied up in railway grants, +and in 1908 the odd sections, previously reserved for railway grants +and sales, were opened to homesteaders. The pre-emption regulations +were revised for the semi-arid districts where a hundred and sixty +acres was too small a unit. Sales of farm lands to colonization +companies and of timber limits were continued, with occasional +excessive gains to speculators, which the Opposition vigorously +denounced. Yet the homesteader remained the chief figure in the +opening of the West. The entries, as we have seen, were eighteen +hundred in 1896. They were forty-four thousand in 1911. Areas of land +princely in their vastness were thus given away. Each year the +Dominion granted free land exceeding in area and in richness coveted +territories for whose possession European nations stood ready to set +the world at war. In 1908, for {228} example, a Wales was given away; +in 1909, five Prince Edward Islands; while in 1910 and 1911, what with +homesteads, pre-emptions, and veteran grants, a Belgium, a Holland, a +Luxemburg and a Montenegro passed from the state to the settler.[1] + +After and with the settler came the capitalist. The vast expansion of +these years was made possible by borrowing on a scale which neither +credit nor ambition had ever before made possible. Especially from +Britain the millions poured in as soon as Canadians themselves had +given evidence of the land's limitless possibilities. The yearly +borrowings from the mother country, made chiefly by national and local +governments and by the railways, rose to a hundred and fifty millions. +French, Dutch, Belgian, and German investors followed. American +capitalists bought few bonds but invested freely in mines, timber +limits, and land companies, and set up many factories. By the end of +the period foreign capitalists held a mortgage of about two and a half +billions on Canada, but in most cases {229} the money had been well +applied, and the resources of the country more than correspondingly +developed. + +The railways were the chief bidders for this vast inflow of new +capital. It was distinctly a railway era. The railway made possible +the rapid settlement of the West, and the growth of settlement in turn +called for still new roads. In the fifteen years following 1896 nearly +ten thousand miles were built, two miles a day, year in and year out, +and the three years following saw another five thousand miles +completed. Two great transcontinentals were constructed. Branch lines +innumerable were flung out, crowded sections were double-tracked, +grades were lowered, curves straightened, vast terminals built, +steamship connections formed, and equipment doubled and trebled. + +In this expansion the state, as ever in Canada, took a leading share. +The Dominion Government extended the Intercolonial to Montreal and +began a road from the prairies to Hudson Bay, while the Ontario +Government built and operated a road opening up New Ontario. The +federal policy of aid to private companies was continued, with +amendments. No more land-grants were given, and {230} when cash +subsidies were bestowed, the companies so aided were required to carry +free government mails, materials and men, up to three per cent on the +subsidy. The transcontinentals were specially favoured. The Grand +Trunk system was given large guarantees and cash subsidies for its +westward expansion, and the Government itself constructed the National +Transcontinental to ensure the opening up of the north, and to prevent +the traffic of the west being carried to United States rather than to +Canadian Atlantic ports. The Canadian Northern was assisted in its +prairie construction by both federal and provincial guarantees. The +Laurier Government aided the dubious project of building a third line +north of Lake Superior, but refused to take any share in the +responsibility or cost of building the much more expensive and +premature section through the Rockies. The Borden Government and the +province of British Columbia, however, gave the aid desired for this +latter venture. Another important development was the establishment, +in 1903, with the happiest results, of the Dominion Railway Commission, +to mediate between railway and shipper or traveller. + +{231} + +The railway policy of this period is still matter for dispute. On the +economic side, it is clear that the greater part of the construction +was essential in order to open up the West, with all that this implied +for both West and East. Yet there were many evils to set against this +gain--the stimulus to unhealthy speculation, the excessive building in +settled districts, the construction of roads ahead of immediate needs +or possible traffic. The fact is that the railway policy was part and +parcel of the whole business policy of the period, the outcome of the +same new-born optimism which induced many a municipality to build +pavements and sewers before the population warranted, or manufacturers +to extend their plants too rapidly, or banks to open branches that did +not pay. Progress comes in zigzag fashion; now one need is stressed, +now another. To each time its own task, to each the defects of its +qualities. And if in the reaction from unexampled prosperity some of +the expansion seemed to have come before its time, most Canadians were +confident of what the future would bring, and did not regret that in +Canada's growing time leaders and people persevered in putting through +great and for the most part needful works {232} which only courage +could suggest and only prosperity could achieve. + +On the political side, also, there were entries on both sides of the +ledger. Campaign-fund contributions and political intrigue were the +chief debit entries. Yet there were heavy credit entries which should +not be forgotten. No other country has made the effort and the +sacrifice Canada has made to bind its far-distant and isolated +provinces in links of steel. The Intercolonial made the union of east +and centre a reality, the Canadian Pacific bound east and centre and +west, and the National Transcontinental added the north to the +Dominion, gave the needed breadth to the perilously narrow fringe of +settlement that lined the United States border. The national ends +which Sir John Macdonald and Sir Wilfrid Laurier steadfastly held in +view were so great and vital as to warrant risk, to compel faith, to +justify courage. + + +In Canada the state, without much discussion as to the theory involved, +has endeavoured to foster production in countless ways. The +encouragement and sifting of immigration and the building or aiding of +railways and canals are perhaps the most important {233} single forms +this stimulus has taken; but they are far from the only ones. Farmer, +miner, fisherman, manufacturer, artisan, all have been aided by +policies more or less effective. + +Under previous administrations the department of agriculture had done +good work and had raised the standard of farm production. That work +was now extended and re-vitalized. For the first time a farmer, Mr +Sydney A. Fisher, took charge of the department. Better farming and +better marketing alike were sought. On experimental farms and in +laboratories, studies were carried on as to the best stock or plants, +the best fertilizers or the best feeding-stuffs, to suit the varied +soils and climates of the wide Dominion. By bulletins and +demonstrations farmers were instructed in such matters as the selection +of seed, the cool curing of cheese, the improvement of stock, the +vigilant guarding against disease in herd and flock. Marketing +received equal attention. For the fruit and dairy industries +refrigerator-car services and cold-storage facilities on ocean ships +were provided. In these and other ways the effort was made to help the +Canadian farmer to secure full value for his toil. + +The miner received less direct aid. {234} Railways built into mining +areas, bounties on lead and petroleum, bounties on iron ore and steel +products, laboratory studies in metallurgy, and reduction of the duties +on mining machinery, all played a part in the great development of the +mines of Canada which marked this era. + +None too soon, an important step was taken in 1909 to ensure the +perpetuation or the prudent use of the country's natural resources. In +the early, lavish days men had believed these resources inexhaustible, +or had recklessly ignored the claims of the future in their haste to +snatch a fortune to-day. The United States had gone furthest on this +path, and was the first to come to its senses. A conference held at +Washington, in 1909, attended by representatives of the United States, +Canada, Newfoundland, and Mexico--notable also as one of the first +instances of Canada's recognition of the fact that she was an American +power--recommended the establishment of a conservation commission in +each country. Canada was the only country that acted upon the advice. +The Conservation Commission was established that very year, with wide +duties of investigation and recommendation. Under Sir Clifford Sifton +as chairman and Mr {235} James White as secretary it has performed +valuable and varied service. + +The sea was given thought as well as the land. The fishing bounties +already established were continued. Experts were brought from Europe +to improve the methods of curing fish. Co-operative cold-storage +warehouses for bait were set up, and a fast refrigerator-car service on +both coasts brought fish fresh to the interior. Laboratories for the +study of marine life and fish hatcheries came into being. +Unfortunately, disputes arose as to jurisdiction between Dominion and +provinces and between Canada and the United States, and the fisheries +did not grow at the rate of other industries. + +The manufacturer, however, continued to be the chief object of +attention. An increase took place in the service of trade +commissioners for Canada in other countries, whose duties are similar +to those of a foreign consular service. The bounties on iron and steel +production, amounting in all to twenty millions, undoubtedly did much +to stimulate that industry. The protective tariff, as we have seen, +remained in a modified form. After the notable step of 1897 towards a +purely revenue tariff, there came a halt for some years. In fact, it +seemed for a time that the pendulum {236} would swing towards still +higher duties. In 1902 the manufacturers began a strong campaign in +that direction, which was given aggressive support by the minister of +Public Works, J. Israel Tarte, often termed by opponents of the +Government the 'Master of the Administration.' This breach of +ministerial solidarity Sir Wilfrid Laurier met, on his return from the +Colonial Conference, by an instant demand for Mr Tarte's resignation. +It was made clear that the compromise which had been adopted in 1897 +would not be rashly abandoned. Yet the movement for a tariff 'high as +Haman's gallows' continued, and produced some effect. It led (1904) to +a reduction of the British preference on woollens and to an +'anti-dumping act'--aimed against slaughter or bargain sales by foreign +producers--providing for a special duty when articles were sold in +Canada for less than the prevailing price in the country of origin. In +the same year Mr Fielding foreshadowed the introduction of a minimum +and maximum tariff, with the existing duties as the minimum, and with +maximum duties to be applied to countries which levied especially high +rates on Canadian products. Only the vigorous opposition set up by the +farmers of Ontario {237} and the West checked the agitation for still +higher duties. The new tariff of 1907 made many careful revisions +upward as well as downward, but on the whole the existing level was +retained. Below the maximum or general rate, but higher than the +British preference, there was set up an intermediate tariff, for +bargaining with foreign states. This compromise tariff of 1907 +remained in force with little change or strong agitation for change +until three years later, when negotiations for reciprocity with the +United States once more brought the issue to the front. + +The field of social legislation, in which so many radical experiments +have been made by other lands, in Canada falls for the most part to the +provinces. Within its limited jurisdiction the Laurier Government +achieved some notable results. Early in its career it put down +sweating and made compulsory the payment of fair wages by government +contractors. It set up a department of Labour, making it possible to +secure much useful information hitherto inaccessible and to guard +workmen's interests in many relations. Late in the Laurier regime a +commission was appointed to study the question of technical education, +important alike for manufacturer {238} and for artisan. The most +distinctive innovation, however, was the Lemieux Act, drawn up by W. L. +Mackenzie King, the first deputy minister of Labour. This provided for +compulsory investigation into labour disputes in quasi-public +industries. It proved a long step towards industrial peace, and was +one of the few Canadian legislative experiments which have awakened +world-wide interest and investigation. + + +The growth of the West made it necessary to face the question of +granting full provincial powers to the North-West Territories. +Originally under the direct rule of the Dominion parliament, step by +step they had approached self-government. In 1886 they had been given +representation at Ottawa; in 1888 a local legislature was created, with +limited powers, later somewhat enlarged; and in 1897 the Executive +Council was made responsible to the legislature. Now, with half a +million people between Manitoba and British Columbia, the time had come +to take the last step. And so in 1905 the Autonomy Bills, establishing +the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, were brought before the +House of Commons by the prime minister. + +{239} + +There were many controversial issues involved. How many provinces +should be created? Two were decided upon, to comprise the area south +of the sixtieth parallel; the area to the north was left in the +territorial status. What should be the capitals? Provisionally +Edmonton and Regina were selected. Should the provinces be given +control of crown lands? Notwithstanding some opposition, it was +decided to maintain the policy, in force from the first acquisition of +the West, of keeping the lands in control of the Dominion, which also +had control of immigration. What financial aid should be given? +Liberal grants were provided, accepted by all parties as fair and +adequate. What legislative powers should the provinces be given, +particularly on the subject of education? This proved a thorny +question. It provoked a storm of heated controversy which for a brief +time recalled the days of the Jesuits' Estates and Manitoba school +questions. + +A clause in the bills, which Sir Wilfrid Laurier introduced in February +1905, provided: first, that Section 93 of the British North America +Act, safeguarding minority privileges, should apply; secondly, to make +it clearer what these privileges were, it stipulated that {240} the +majority of the ratepayers in any district might establish such schools +as they thought fit, and that the minority, whether Protestant or +Catholic, might also do so, being in that case liable only for one set +of school rates; and thirdly, that legislative appropriations should be +divided equitably between public and separate schools. + +Three main questions arose. Were separate schools desirable in +themselves? Was there any obligation, legal or moral, to establish or +maintain them? If so, what form should they take? + +Introducing the bills, Sir Wilfrid stated that he 'never could +understand what objection there could be to a system of schools +wherein, after secular matters had been attended to, the tenets of the +religion of Christ, even with the divisions which exist among His +followers, are allowed to be taught.' He went on to contrast the +schools of Canada, wherein Christian dogmas and morals were taught, +with those of the United States, where they were not taught, and to +point out the resulting difference in moral standards as witnessed by +lynching, murder, and divorce statistics. + +The great majority of Catholics and a {241} minority of Protestants, or +their ecclesiastical spokesmen, regarded the school as a means of +teaching religion as well as secular subjects, and wished secular +subjects, where possible, to be taught from a distinctly religious +point of view. A small minority were in favour of complete +secularization of all schools. The majority of Protestants would +probably have favoured some non-denominational recognition of religion +in the schools, and would judge denominational teaching by the test of +how far this would involve herding the children apart and putting +obstacles in the path of educational efficiency and of national unity. + +But was parliament free to grant the provinces the liberty to decide +the question solely in accord with what the majority might now or +hereafter think expedient? On the one hand, it was vigorously +contended that it was free, and that any attempt to limit the power of +the province was uncalled for, was an attempt to petrify its laws, and +to revive the coercion which Sir Wilfrid Laurier himself had denounced +and defeated in 1896. The recognition of separate schools in the +British North America Act, the critics continued, applied only to the +four original provinces, and there was probably no power, and {242} +certainly no legal obligation, to extend the principle to the West. On +the other hand, it was argued that Section 93 of the British North +America Act--introduced at the instance of the Protestant minority of +Quebec, and designed to protect the interest of all minorities--morally +and legally bound the whole Dominion; that the Manitoba Act of 1870 +confirmed the principle that the Dominion could give a new province +only such powers as the constitution provided, which meant control over +education _subject to the minority's privilege_; and that parliament, +by unanimously establishing separate schools in the North-West +Territories in 1875, had still further bound its successors, or at +least had shown how the Fathers of Confederation interpreted the +constitution. + +To many, however, the abstract questions of separate schools and the +constitution were less important than the practical question, What kind +of schools were to be guaranteed by these bills? Sir Wilfrid Laurier +declared that the school system to be continued was that actually in +force in the North-West, which had been established under the clause +respecting schools of the Dominion Act of 1875, which the present bills +repeated word for word. {243} This system worked very satisfactorily. +It gave Catholic and Protestant minorities the right to establish +separate schools, and to pay taxes only for such schools. In all other +respects the school system was uniform; there was only one department +of education, one course of study, one set of books, one staff of +inspectors. No religious teaching or religious emblems were permitted +during school hours; only in the half-hour after the close of school +might such teaching be provided. The separate schools were really +national schools with the minimum of ecclesiastical control. + +It soon became apparent, however, that the schools then existing in the +North-West, though based on the Act of 1875, were much less +ecclesiastical in character than the act permitted, and less +ecclesiastical in fact than the schools which had formerly existed in +the territories. In 1884 the Quebec system had been set up, providing +for two boards of education, two courses of study, two staffs of +inspectors, and separate administrations. But in 1892 this dual system +had been abolished by the territorial legislature, and in 1901 the +existing system had been definitely established by a series of +ordinances. To meet the {244} objections urged, the new bills were +amended to make it clear that it was the limited separate school system +established in 1901 that was to be continued, and not a complete +separate system as authorized in 1875. The bills as originally drafted +virtually gave the Church complete control over separate schools, but, +as now amended, control over religious education only. + +The measure was hotly debated, inside and outside parliament. +Particularly in Ontario the original bills were denounced by many +Liberals as well as Conservatives as oppressive, reactionary, and a +concession to the hierarchy. The West itself was not disturbed, and +the Protestants of Quebec acquiesced in the recognition of separate +schools. Mr Sifton made the measure the occasion for resigning from +the Ministry. The controversy was a great surprise to Sir Wilfrid, who +had considered that he was simply carrying out the agreement reached +unanimously in 1875. The amendment satisfied all the malcontents of +his party in parliament, but the controversy continued outside. The +more extreme opponents of separate schools would see no difference +between the new clause and the old. Archbishop Langevin strongly +denounced the {245} amendment; but the fire soon cooled. Today fewer +than one school in a hundred in the two provinces is a separate school. + + +Throughout this period of rapid growth the Liberal party maintained its +place in power. The country was prosperous and content and the party +chieftain invincible. The general elections of 1904 turned chiefly on +railway issues. The criticisms of the Opposition, many of them well +grounded, proved unavailing. The contest ended in a victory for the +Government with a majority of sixty seats in the House and of fifty +thousand votes in the country. The results presented the usual +discrepancies between electoral votes and parliamentary representation. +Though the Liberals had only 54,000 votes in Nova Scotia, as against +46,000 for the Conservatives, they captured all the eighteen seats. +Prince Edward Island, giving the Liberals a popular majority, returned +three Conservatives to one Liberal. Ontario cast 217,000 Conservative +and 213,000 Liberal votes and returned forty-eight Conservatives and +thirty-eight Liberals. An untoward incident of the elections was the +defeat of Mr R. L. Borden in Halifax. The leader of the Opposition had +won universal respect, {246} and it was to the satisfaction of +opponents as well as followers that another seat was shortly found for +him. + +In the general elections of four years later (1908) no single issue was +dominant. The Opposition alleged 'graft' and corruption, and charged +ministers and ex-ministers with breach of the eighth and neighbouring +commandments. Government officials, too, they said, were guilty of +extravagance and fraud. Timber limits, contracts, land deals, figured +in still further scandals. The ministerial forces replied in the usual +way, claiming in some cases that there was no ground for the +allegations, and in others that they themselves had intervened to put a +stop to the practices inherited from previous administrations. They +carried the war into Africa by counter-charges against leading members +of the Opposition. The air was full of scandals and personalities; but +none of the charges were of sufficient magnitude or sufficient +certainty to weigh heavily against the prosperity of the country and +the personality of the prime minister. The parliamentary majority, +however, fell from sixty-two to forty-seven, and the popular majority +from fifty to twenty thousand. + +{247} + +The years had brought many changes in the Ministry. Mr Sifton had +retired, Mr Tarte's resignation had been accepted, and Mr Fitzpatrick +had gone to the Supreme Court. Mr Oliver had succeeded Mr Sifton, Mr +Aylesworth had come from a distinguished place at the bar to the +portfolio of Justice, Mr Pugsley was in charge of Public Works, Mr +Graham had left the leadership of the Ontario Opposition for the +portfolio of Railways, Mr Mackenzie King had jumped from the civil +service to the Cabinet, and Mr Lemieux and Mr Brodeur were the prime +minister's chief colleagues from Quebec. The Opposition benches showed +almost as many changes. Of the former Conservative ministers, Mr +Foster and Mr Haggart only remained in active service, while Mr +Doherty, Mr Ames, and Mr Meighen were among the more notable +accessions. Some rumbles of discontent were heard against Mr Borden's +leadership, but the party as a whole rallied strongly to him, and his +position both in the party and in the country grew increasingly firm. + +Through all the changes the prime minister grew in strength and +prestige. Each year that passed gave proofs of his masterful +leadership. {248} The old cry that he was too weak to rule now gave +way to the cry that he was too strong. There was no question that for +all his suavity he insisted upon being first minister in fact as well +as in form. In Canada he had a hold upon the popular imagination which +had been equalled only by Sir John Macdonald, while abroad he was the +one Canadian, or in fact the one colonial statesman, known to fame, the +outstanding figure of Greater Britain. + + + +[1] It is estimated that 15 per cent of the Scottish, 18 per cent of +the English, 19 per cent of the Irish, 27 per cent of the Continental, +and 30 per cent of the United States immigrants made entry for +homesteads. The proportion of Americans who bought land was in still +greater degree much the largest. + + + + +{249} + +CHAPTER XII + +CANADA AND FOREIGN POWERS + +Europe and Asia--The United States--Reciprocity + + +The early years of the Laurier regime brought Canada into the visual +range of the outside world. During the middle years the business of +the country's internal development overshadowed everything else. Then +in the later years the relations of Canada with other countries came to +occupy an increasingly important place on the political stage. + +At last, Canada's rising star compelled the attention of foreign +countries beyond the seas. Some of these countries sent capital, and +no Canadian objected. Some sent goods, and manufacturers and producers +raised the questions of protection and reciprocal tariff privileges. +Others, as we have seen, sent men. Some of these immigrants Canada +welcomed indiscriminately, some she took with qualms, while against +others she erected high barriers, with half a mind to make them still +higher. + +First, as to trade and tariffs, which were the {250} chief subjects of +discussion with European governments. The original Fielding tariff of +1897 had adopted the minimum and maximum principle, with the intention +that a few low-tariff countries should share with Great Britain the +advantages of the lower rates. Treaty complications made this +impossible, and the lower rates were confined to the Empire. Then in +1907 came the intermediate tariff as a basis for bargaining. The +Government turned first to France. Mr Fielding and Mr Brodeur, +associated with the British ambassador at Paris, negotiated a treaty, +giving France the intermediate and in some cases still lower rates, and +receiving advantages in return. The treaty, though made in 1907, was +not ratified until 1910. Owing to existing British treaties with +most-favoured-nation clauses which bound the colonies, the concessions +given France had to be extended to Austria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, +Spain, and Switzerland. Belgium and Holland, both low-tariff +countries, received many of the same concessions, and in the same year +(1910) a special convention was made with Italy. All the latter +negotiations were carried on direct between the Canadian Government and +the foreign consuls-general in Canada. In the {251} agreement with +Italy the parties were termed 'the Royal Consul of Italy for Canada, +representing the government of the Kingdom of Italy, and the Minister +of Finance of Canada, representing His Excellency the Governor-General +acting in conjunction with the King's Privy Council for Canada.' + +Meanwhile less friendly relations had arisen with Germany. Angry at +the action of Canada in giving British goods a preference, Germany in +1899 withdrew her minimum rates on Canadian products, imposing the much +higher general rates. The Laurier Government protested that the +British preference was a family affair, and that so long as Germany was +given the same rates as other foreign countries she had no excuse for +retaliation. But this soft answer did not turn away Teutonic wrath; so +in 1903 Canada retorted in kind, by levying a surtax of one-third on +German goods. The war of tariffs lasted seven years. While it +hampered the trade of both countries, German exports were much the +hardest hit. Germany took the initiative in seeking a truce, and in +1910 an agreement was reached between Mr Fielding and the German +consul-general. Germany dropped her protest against the British +preference, and gave the Dominion the {252} minimum rates on the most +important dutiable exports in return for, not the intermediate, but the +general tariff rates. So ended one of the few instances of successful +retaliation in all the chequered annals of tariff history. + +Secondly, as to men. This was the issue with Asiatic powers. The +opposition to Asiatic immigration, so strong in Australia and South +Africa as well as in the United States, prevailed in Western Canada. +Working men demanded protection against the too cheap--and too +efficient--labour of the Asiatic as validly as manufacturers objected +to the importation of the products of European 'pauper labour.' +Stronger, perhaps, was the cry for a White Canada based on the +difficulty of assimilation and the danger to national unity of huge +colonies of Asiatics in the thinly peopled province beyond the +mountains. + +Chinese navvies first came to Canada to aid in building the government +sections of the Canadian Pacific Railway. An immediate outcry +followed, and in 1885 a head-tax of $50 was imposed on all Chinese +immigrants not of the official, merchant, or scholar classes. During +the nineties slightly over two thousand {253} a year paid the price of +admission to the Promised Land. Then growing prosperity attracted +greater swarms. Doubling the tax in 1901 only slightly checked the +flow, but when it was raised to $500 in 1904 the number willing to pay +the impost next year fell to eight. But higher wages, or the chance of +slipping over the United States border, soon urged many to face even +this barrier, and the number paying head-tax rose to sixteen hundred +(1910) and later to seven thousand (1913). These rising numbers led +British Columbia to demand total exclusion; but, thanks to the +diffusion of the Chinese throughout the Dominion, their lack of +assertiveness and their employment for the most part in industries +which did not compete with union men or the smaller merchants, the +agitation did not reach great proportions. + +It was otherwise with the newcomers from Japan. Their competition was +more serious. Aggressive and enterprising, filled with a due sense of +the greatness of Japan, aspiring to not merely menial but controlling +posts, they took firmer root in the country than did the migratory +Chinaman. At the same time Japan's rising power, her obvious +sensitiveness, and her alliance with Great Britain made it {254} +expedient to treat her subjects more warily than those of quiescent +China. There was practically no Japanese immigration until 1904-5, +when three hundred entered. In 1905 the Dominion Government decided to +adhere to the Anglo-Japanese treaty in order to secure favourable terms +in Japan's market. A clause of this treaty provided for the free +entrance of each country's subjects into the other country. When asked +by the colonial secretary whether they wished to reserve the right to +restrict immigration, as Queensland had done, the Dominion authorities +declared that they would accept the treaty as it stood, relying upon +semi-official Japanese assurances of willingness to stop the flow in +Japan itself. Then suddenly, in 1906 and 1907, a large influx began, +amounting to seven thousand in a single year. This immigration, which +was prompted by Canadian mining and railway companies acting in +co-operation with Japanese societies, came via the Hawaiian Islands. +Alarm rose rapidly in British Columbia, and was encouraged by agitators +from the United States. The climax came in September 1907, when mobs +attacked first the Chinese and later the Japanese quarters in +Vancouver, doing much damage for a time, but {255} being at last routed +by Banzai-shouting bands of angry Japanese. The Dominion Government at +once expressed its regret and in due time compensated the sufferers +from the riot. To solve the larger question, Mr Lemieux was sent to +Japan as a special envoy. Cordially supported by the British +ambassador at Tokio, he succeeded in reaching a very satisfactory +agreement. The Japanese Government itself agreed to restrict +immigration direct from Japan, and to raise no objection to Canadian +prohibition of immigration by way of Hawaii. This method was much more +acceptable to Japan's pride than direct Canadian restrictions would +have been, and proved equally effective, as the number of Japanese +entering Canada averaged only six hundred in the following years. The +Dominion Government's course was open to criticism in some points, but +its earnest endeavour to safeguard imperial as well as national +interests, and the success of Mr Lemieux's diplomacy, were indications +that the Dominion was rising to the demands of its new international +position. Incidentally it was the Government's unwillingness to agree +to complete Japanese exclusion that in 1908 brought the loss of every +seat, save one, in British Columbia. + +{256} + +After the Alaskan boundary had been settled, no critical issue arose +between the two North American democracies for several years. There +were still questions outstanding which in earlier days would have given +opportunity for tail-twisting or eagle-plucking politicians to make +trouble, but in the new era of neighbourliness which now dawned they +were settled amicably or allowed to fall into blessed oblivion. + +A remarkable change in the spirit in which the two peoples regarded +each other came about in this period. The abandonment by the United +States of its traditional policy of isolation, its occupation of the +Philippines, its policy of the open door for China, its participation +in the Morocco dispute, effected a wonderful transformation in the +American attitude towards questions of foreign policy and compelled a +diplomacy more responsible and with more of give and take. This led to +incidents--such as that in Manila Bay, when a British admiral lined up +alongside the American fleet against a threatening German +squadron--which made it clear that Great Britain was the one +trustworthy friend the United States possessed. The steady growth of +democratic feeling in Britain, her daring {257} experiments in social +betterment, her sympathetic treatment of the Irish and South African +questions, increased the friendliness and the interest which the +majority of Americans felt at bottom for what was their motherland. +Canada's prosperity awakened respectful interest. A country which +fifty or a hundred thousand good Americans every year preferred to +their own must be more than the negligible northern fringe it once was +thought to be. + +Canada reciprocated this more friendly feeling. Prosperity mended her +querulous mood and made her too busy to remember the grievances of +earlier days. Her international horizon, too, had widened; the United +States was no longer the sole foreign power with which she had to deal, +though still the most important. Yet this friendlier feeling did not +lead to a general desire for freer trade relations. Quite the +contrary; confident in her own newly realized resources and in the +possibility of finding markets elsewhere, dominated by protectionist +sentiment and by the growing cities, Canada became on the whole +indifferent to what had once appeared an essential goal. In Sir +Wilfrid Laurier's phrase, the pilgrimages from Ottawa to Washington had +ceased: {258} the pilgrimages must come, if at all, from Washington to +Ottawa. + +Washington did come to Ottawa. Notable was the visit of Secretary Root +in 1907, to discuss outstanding issues. Notable too, in another +direction, was the increased interest of the British ambassador at +Washington in Canadian affairs. This was particularly true of Mr +Bryce, who made it a point to visit Ottawa every year of his term, and +declared that he was really more the Canadian than the British +ambassador. His skilful diplomacy and his intimate knowledge of +American politics served Canada in good stead, and quieted the demand +which had frequently been voiced for a separate Canadian representative +at Washington. + +Among the fruits of the new friendliness and the more direct diplomatic +discussion was the settlement of two long-standing fishery disputes. +The much discussed Convention of 1818, in respect to the Atlantic +fisheries, was referred to the Hague Tribunal in 1910, where it was +finally set at rest. The controversy as to fur-sealing on the Pacific +was settled by international agreement in 1911. Less success was met +in dealing with the fisheries of the Great Lakes. A comprehensive +treaty {259} for the protection and development of these fisheries, +drawn up in 1908, was not ratified because of the opposition of some +private interests in the United States. + +The most significant achievement of these years, however, was a broad +provision for the settlement of all disputes as to boundary waters. +The pressure for the use of boundary rivers for the development of +power, with all the difficult questions arising as to division of the +power or obstruction to navigation, made necessary such a provision. +In accordance with a suggestion from the United States a temporary +Waterways Commission was set up (1905); and in 1910 a treaty was +ratified providing for a permanent International Joint Commission, to +consist of three Canadians and three Americans. The treaty provided, +further, that any matter whatever in dispute between the two countries, +quite aside from boundary-water issues, might be referred to the +commission for settlement, with the consent on the one hand of the +United States Senate, and on the other of the Governor-General in +Council--the Dominion Cabinet. Quietly, with little public discussion, +the two countries concerned thus took one of the most advanced steps +yet made towards {260} the peaceful settlement of all possible sources +of conflict. + + +The revival of the tariff issue was the most spectacular and most +important episode in the new relationship. The revival started in the +Republic. For some years a steadily growing agitation in favour of +reciprocity with Canada had been carried on in the New England and +Northwest states. Nothing might have come of the agitation, however, +had not the Payne-Aldrich tariff of 1909 compelled official negotiation +and opened up the whole broad issue. Under that tariff the system of +maximum and minimum schedules was adopted, the maximum designed to +serve as a club to compel other nations to yield their lowest rates. +The president was directed to enforce these higher duties against all +countries which had not agreed by April 1910 to grant the concessions +demanded. The proposal partook of the highwayman's methods and ethics +even more than is usual in protectionist warfare; and it was with wry +faces that one by one the nations with maximum and minimum tariffs +consented to give the United States their lower rates. France and +Germany were the last of European nations to accept. Canada {261} +alone remained. It was admitted that the preference granted other +parts of the Empire did not constitute discrimination against the +United States, but it was contended that the concessions made to France +should be given to the United States. + +Canada resented this demand, in view of the fact that the minimum +tariff of the United States stood much higher than the maximum of +Canada, and it was proposed to retaliate by a surtax on American goods. +In the United States there was wide sympathy with this attitude; but +under the act the president had no option but to enforce the higher +duties if the concessions were not given. Fortunately he was left to +decide as to the adequacy of such concessions, and this made agreement +possible at the eleventh hour. President Taft proposed a conference at +Albany; the Dominion Government accepted, and an agreement was reached +on the 30th of March, the last day of grace but one. Canada conceded +to the United States its intermediate rates on a few articles of minor +importance--china-ware, window-glass, feathers, nuts, prunes, and other +goods--and the United States accepted these as equivalent to the French +concessions. Then, to complete the comedy, Canada at once made {262} +these lower rates part of its general tariff, applying to any country, +so that the United States in the end was where it started--enjoying no +special concessions whatever. Canada had gone through the motions of +making a concession, and that sufficed. + +This agreement, however, was only the beginning. President Taft, who +recognized too late that he had antagonized the growing low-tariff +sentiment in the United States by his support of the Payne-Aldrich +tariff, decided to attempt a stroke for freer trade. He proposed a +broad revision of trade relations with Canada. In negotiations which +began at Ottawa and were concluded at Washington in January 1911, an +agreement for a wide measure of reciprocal free trade was effected. It +was nearly as broad as the treaty of 1854. Grain, fruit and +vegetables, dairy products, live stock, fish, hewn lumber and sawn +boards, and many minerals were put on the free list. Meats, flour, +coal and other articles free in the earlier agreement were subjected to +reduced rates, a limited number of manufactured articles were included, +some of them Canadian and some of them American specialties. The +agreement was to be effected, not by treaty but by concurrent +legislation for an {263} indefinite period. The Canadian Government +announced that the same terms would be granted all parts of the British +Empire. + +After the cabinets, the legislatures. President Taft had great +difficulty in securing the consent of Congress. Farmers and fishermen, +stand-pat Republicans and anti-administration insurgents, opposed this +sudden reversal of a traditional policy. Only by the aid of Democratic +votes in a special session of Congress was the measure adopted, late in +July. Meanwhile the Opposition in the Canadian parliament, after some +initial hesitation, had attacked it with growing force. They resorted +to the obstruction which the Liberals had practised in 1896, and +compelled the Government to appeal to the country, a week after +Congress had accepted the agreement. + +After parliament, the people. Apparently the Government anticipated +that the bargain would be welcomed by nearly all Canadians. That +expectation was not without warrant. It was such a treaty as Canada +had sought time and again during the last fifty years, and such as both +parties would have accepted without question twenty years before. +Every important leader of the Conservative party was on record as +favouring such an {264} arrangement. Yet it was received first with +hesitation, then more and more freely denounced, and finally +overwhelmed. + +On the economic issues concerned the advocates of the agreement +apparently had a good case. The farmer, the miner, the fisherman stood +to gain from it, not so notably as they would have done twenty years +before, but yet undoubtedly to gain. It was contended that the United +States was itself a rival producer of most of the commodities in +question, and that Canada would be exposed to the competition of the +British Dominions and the most-favoured nations. These arguments had +force, but could not balance the advantages of the arrangement, +especially to the western farmer. That this gain would accrue and a +large trade north and south be created, to the destruction of trade +east and west, was in fact made by the opponents of the treaty the +chief corner-stone of their economic argument. It was held, too, that +the raw products of farm and sea and forest and mine ought not to be +shipped out of the country, but ought to be kept at home as the basis +of manufacturing industries. And though the arrangement scarcely +touched the manufacturers, the thin end of the wedge argument had much +weight {265} with them and their workmen. It would lead, they thought, +to a still wider measure of trade freedom which would expose them to +the competition of American manufacturers. + +But it was the political aspect of the pact that the Conservatives most +emphasized. Once more, as in 1891, they declared Canadian nationality +and British connection to be at stake. Reciprocity would prove the +first long step towards annexation. Such was the intention, they +urged, of its American upholders, a claim given some colour by +President Taft's maladroit 'parting of the ways' speech and by Speaker +Clark's misplacedly humorous remark, 'we are preparing to annex +Canada.' And while in Canada there might be as yet few annexationists, +the tendency of a vast and intimate trade north and south would be to +make many. Where the treasure was, there would the heart be also. The +movement for imperial preferential trade, then strong in the United +Kingdom, would be for ever defeated if the American offer should be +accepted. Canada must not sell her birthright for a mess of Yankee +pottage. + +The advocates of reciprocity denounced these arguments as the sheerest +buncombe. Annexation sentiment in the United States {266} they +declared to be rapidly disappearing, and in any case it was Canada's +views, not those of the United States, that mattered. Reciprocity from +1854 to 1866 had killed, not fostered, annexation sentiment in Canada. +And, if the doubling and trebling of imports from the United States in +recent years had not kept national and imperial sentiment from rising +to flood-tide, why now should an increase of exports breed disloyalty? +Canadian financiers and railway operators were entering into ever +closer relations with the United States; why should the farmer be +denied the same right? The reciprocity proposed in 1911, unlike the +programme of twenty years earlier, did not involve discrimination +against Great Britain, but in fact went along with a still greater +preference to the mother country. The claim that reciprocity would +kill imperial preference was meaningless in face of this actual fact. +Moreover, the British tariff reformers proclaimed their intention, if +Mr Chamberlain's policy prevailed, of making reciprocity treaties with +foreign countries as well as preferential arrangements with the +Dominions, so why should not Canada exercise the same freedom? + +But elections are not won merely by such {267} debate. The energy with +which they are fought, or the weight of the interests vitally +concerned, may prove more decisive than argument. And in this contest +the Opposition had the far more effective fighting force and made the +far stronger appeal. Mr Borden's followers fought with the eager +enthusiasm which is bred of long exclusion from office, while the +ministerialists--save only the veteran prime minister himself and a +small band of his supporters--fought feebly, as if dulled by the +satiety which comes of long possession of the loaves and fishes. +Outside the party bounds the situation was the same. The western +farmers were the only organized and articulate body on the side of +reciprocity, while opposed to it were the powerful and well-equipped +forces of the manufacturers and the closely allied transportation and +financial interests. Through the press and from a thousand platforms +these forces appealed to the dominant beliefs and feelings of the +people. Quite effective was the appeal founded on the doctrine of +protection. In twenty years Canada had become a city-dominated land, +and the average city-dweller had come to believe that his interests +were bound up with protection--a belief not unnatural in the {268} +absence for a decade of any radical discussion of the issue, and not to +be overcome at the eleventh hour. But the patriotic appeal was still +more effective. Here was a chance to express the accumulated +resentment of half a century against the unneighbourly policy of the +United States, now suddenly reversed. The chance could safely be +seized, for Canada was prosperous beyond all precedent. 'Let well +enough alone' was in itself a vote-compelling cry. In fact, 'Laurier +prosperity' proved its own Nemesis. Jeshurun Ontario, having waxed +fat, kicked. An American philosopher, Artemus Ward, has recorded that +his patriotism was so worked up during the Civil War that he consented +to send all his wife's relations to the front. Many an Ontario patriot +in 1911 was prepared to sacrifice the interests of his fellow-Canadians +to prove his independence of the United States. And in Quebec the +working arrangement between the Conservatives and Mr Henri Bourassa and +his party told heavily against the Government. + +The result of the elections, which were held on the 21st of September, +was the overwhelming defeat of Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Ministry. In +Ontario the Liberals saved only thirteen seats out of eighty-six. In +the rest of the {269} country they had a majority, but not sufficient +to reduce substantially this adverse Ontario vote. The complete +returns gave 133 Conservatives to 88 Liberals. As usual, the popular +vote was more equally divided than the parliamentary seats, for the +Liberals secured 625,000 and the Conservatives 669,000 votes. The +Liberal majority of only 5000 in Quebec, 3000 in the maritime +provinces, and 20,000 in the prairie provinces was overcome by the +Conservative majority of 63,000 in Ontario and 9000 in British +Columbia. A fortnight later Sir Wilfrid Laurier tendered his +resignation to the governor-general and Mr Borden formed his Government. + + + + +{270} + +CHAPTER XIII + +NATION AND EMPIRE + +Imperial preferential trade--Political relations--Defence + + +Neither new relations with foreign lands across the sea nor new-old +relations with the United States bulked as large in these later years +as relations with the other parts of the British Empire. The question +of the Empire's future was a constant theme. It was a time of +unparalleled progress in each and all the British states. Great +Britain's vast strides towards social justice, Canada's growth and +economic activity, the similar, if lesser, expansion of Australia and +New Zealand, the unification of South Africa, all bespoke the strength +and soundness of each of the Five Nations. The steady growth of +community of feeling and of practical co-operation in many fields bore +witness that progress did not mean disunion. + +Yet there were many at home, and in Great Britain and the other lands +overseas, who were far from content with the trend of events, who {271} +were convinced that the Empire was drifting to eternal smash unless +some change in policy should be effected. To some it was Britain's +free-trade policy that was the danger; to others it was the steady +growth of self-government in the Dominions. Imperial preferential +trade, political federation, colonial contributions to a central army +and navy, were all vigorously urged as remedies. Not one of these +things came to pass in the years under survey, and yet when the +testing-time arrived the Empire proved one in heart and soul. + + +Great Britain's free-trade policy was first called in question. +Scarcely ended were the Boer War and the disappointing Conference of +1902 when Mr Chamberlain, fresh from a tour through South Africa, +launched his great campaign for imperial preferential trade. Though +protection and retaliation later became more important phases of the +tariff-reform movement, at the outset it was its imperial side which +was emphasized. The colonies and the mother country, it was urged, +were certain to drift apart unless bound by links of material interest. +Give the colonies a preference on their wheat or wool in Britain, give +British {272} manufacturers a real preference in colonial markets, and +the Empire would cease to be merely a sentiment. + +Once committed to setting up a protective tariff in order to make +reductions in favour of such colonies as would reciprocate, Mr +Chamberlain and his followers went on to find in it other great +advantages. It would aid British agriculture and British industry, +would protect both farmer and manufacturer from the competition they +were increasingly unable to bear, and would give a weapon for forcing +foreign countries to tear down their tariff barriers. The colonial +market, the home market, and the foreign market would thus all be +gained, and none too soon, if the complete decay of British industry +and the triumph of its rivals were to be averted. 'We have reached our +highest point,' declared Mr Chamberlain. 'Our fate will be the fate of +the empires and the kingdoms of the past.... Sugar has gone, silk has +gone, iron is threatened, wool is threatened, cotton will come.... We +are no longer first. We are third. We shall be fifth or sixth if +things go on as they are at present.... The trade of this country, as +measured by the exports to foreign countries and to British +possessions, {273} has during the last twenty or thirty years been +practically stationary; our export trade to all these foreign countries +which have arranged tariffs against us has enormously diminished, and +at the same time their exports to us have enormously increased.' + +For a time it seemed that the tariff reformers would sweep all before +them. Their chief was the most skilful and popular leader of his time. +The inevitable growth of other countries in manufacturing had excited +the alarm of the British manufacturer, and protectionist sentiment +among the landowners, though scotched, had not been killed. The almost +universal reign of protection in foreign countries and the other +colonies appeared to prove obsolete the doctrines of Cobden and Bright. +It seemed that fifty years of unquestioned triumph in England itself +had left free trade a traditional dogma, not a living belief. To the +poor, tariff reform promised work; to the rich, a shifting of heavy +taxation from their shoulders; to the imperialist, the indissoluble +empire of his dreams. + +Yet the pendulum soon swung against Mr Chamberlain. Investigation +showed that his jeremiads were largely unfounded, and gave new life to +the principles of free trade. They {274} were shown not to be obsolete +dogmas, but reasoned deductions from the actual situation of the United +Kingdom. Imperial preference meant a crippling tax on food and on raw +materials for no adequate return. The share of colonial markets which +British manufacturers did not have, for which they could compete, and +which colonial producers did not desire to keep themselves, was very +small. Mr Chamberlain was stricken soon after with lingering illness, +and of the younger men of capacity who came upon the scene practically +all were on the side of free trade. The stars in their courses fought +against him, for, from 1903 onward, British trade began to flourish as +never, or rarely ever, before. In the elections of 1906, though other +issues were also factors in the result, the sweeping victory of the +Liberals was mainly a triumph for free trade. + +In Canada, also, at the outset, Mr Chamberlain's proposals were widely +welcomed. He was personally popular. The majority of Canadians +believed in protection. Some of those who did not were ready to +recognize the value of a preference in the British market. Yet as the +full implications of the proposal became clear, and as the British +free-trader made good his case, opinion in Canada became {275} as +divided as in Great Britain. It was realized that it was one thing for +Canada to give a reduced tariff, leaving the fiscal system protective +still, and quite another for Great Britain to abandon entirely her +free-trade policy in order to be able to give preferential rates to +colonies or to low-tariff foreign states. Canadian manufacturers gave +the movement a warm but vague welcome; it soon became clear that Mr +Chamberlain was much mistaken in supposing they were prepared to +relinquish any corner of the Canadian market to British manufacturers. +They declared officially that they would not favour an increase in the +British preference even on articles not made in Canada: 'we were not +prepared to admit that there was any article that could not at some +point in Canada, and in time, be successfully manufactured.'[1] They +were, however, fully prepared to give British manufacturers lower rates +than American, provided that both rates were high enough. The farmer, +who chiefly was to profit, did not appear eager for the boon of a +preference in the British market, so far as farm journals and farmers' +organizations represented his view. He would be glad {276} to have +higher prices for his wheat or stock, but did not want the British +workman to pay a halfpenny a loaf to bribe him to remain in the Empire. + +To some extent opinion followed party lines. The Conservative party +had consistently supported reciprocal preference and opposed the +Laurier-Fielding free gift. The Liberals had defended that preference +as in itself a benefit to the Canadian consumer, and had deprecated +higgling with Great Britain. They would be glad to receive a +preference in Great Britain if Britain felt it in her own interest. +Convinced believers in self-government for themselves, however, they +were willing that the United Kingdom should have the same privilege, +and declined to intervene in the British campaign. Mr Borden took the +same stand as to intervention; but many of his followers were not +hampered by such scruples, and Mr Foster made eloquent speeches in +England on Mr Chamberlain's behalf. + +The Conference of 1907 was essentially an appendix to the Chamberlain +campaign. Imperial preference found vigorous advocates among colonial +prime ministers, notably Dr Jameson of the Cape, Mr Ward of New +Zealand, and especially Mr Deakin of Australia, {277} whose eloquent +appeal was one of the chief features of the Conference. All expressed +themselves as not wanting the United Kingdom to set up a protective and +preferential system unless convinced it was for her own good; but with +more persistence than success they sought to prove that it would be for +her good, and especially to show that prices to the English consumer +would not be increased, and yet that colonial producers would gain. +The representatives for the United Kingdom, ministers in the British +Government, fresh from a three-year discussion of the whole issue and +backed by the largest parliamentary majority on record, were equally +frank in their rebuttal of the arguments advanced and their refusal to +lead Britain to commit what they considered commercial suicide. Mr +Asquith and Mr Churchill were especially uncompromising; Mr Lloyd +George showed more temperamental sympathy with protection in the +abstract, but was equally clear that free trade had been proved best +for Great Britain beyond question. + +Sir Wilfrid Laurier was the doyen of the Conference, the only member +present for a third time. He took a less vigorous part than in the +previous meetings, letting the younger {278} lions roar. He had opened +the debate by announcing his intention to move again the preference +resolutions of 1902, and did so in a brief speech at the close, making +his position clear. Canada had given a free preference to British +goods deliberately, and had not repented. If it had not done for the +British manufacturer all that he would like, more could be done by a +system of mutual preference. 'Yet this is a matter,' he continued, +'that is altogether in the hands of the British people, and if they +think on the whole that their interests are better served by adhering +to their present system than by yielding ever so little, it is a matter +for the British electorate. I think the best way of serving the whole +is by allowing every part to serve and recognize its own immediate +interests.' On his motion the resolutions of 1902--recognizing the +value of preferential trade, declaring free trade between the different +parts of the Empire impracticable, urging the colonies to follow +Canada's example in giving a preference to the United Kingdom, and +urging the United Kingdom to consider the expediency of granting a +preference to colonial products, either by an exemption from or +reduction of duties now or hereafter imposed--were adopted by {279} all +the Dominions, the United Kingdom dissenting. Sir Wilfrid laid more +stress upon the proposal for an All-Red line of steamers for faster and +better service on the Atlantic and on the Pacific, with joint +subsidies, urging that the best way to bind the Empire together was to +facilitate intercourse. The proposal was received with enthusiasm; +yet, though its advocacy was continued by Lord Strathcona and Mr +Sifton, little progress was made towards its adoption. + +After the Conference of 1907 preferential trade ceased for a time to be +a living issue. Social reform, the budget controversy, the struggles +with the House of Lords, Home Rule, foreign affairs, in turn took the +leading place on the stage. Four years later, at the Conference of +1911, the subject was not even mentioned. The Unionist party was now +definitely pledged to protection on manufactures, but the tax on food, +essential to effective colonial preferences, had been thrown overboard +by a large section of the party. The British farmer was promised land +reform instead of protection on foodstuffs. Even Mr Bonar Law, +speaking in 1912, declared that he did not wish to impose food duties, +and would impose them only if, in a conference {280} to be called, the +colonies declared them to be essential. This endeavour to throw on the +colonies the onus and responsibility of making the Englishman pay food +taxes was denounced on every side, and after much shuffling a +compromise was reached to the effect that 'if when a Unionist +Government has been returned to power it proves desirable, after +consultation with the Dominions, to impose new duties upon any articles +of food, in order to secure the most effective system of preference, +such duties should not be imposed until they have been submitted to the +people of this country at a general election.' + +Thus, after ten years of ardent agitation for tariff reform, one great +party in the state was as resolutely opposed to the scheme as ever, +and, while the other was committed to it, the duty on foodstuffs, once +declared essential to save the Empire, was made conditional and given +second place to protection of manufacturers. It was by no means +improbable that the whirligig of time would once more bring to the +front food taxes and imperial preference. Yet as far as the early +years of the century went, the years within which Mr Chamberlain +declared that the decision had to be made, no step towards preference +had {281} been taken by Great Britain, and still the Empire drew closer +together instead of drifting apart. As a matter of fact, the +empire-binding value of tariff preference was greatly exaggerated by +its advocates. The Laurier-Fielding preference was a real bond of +imperial unity simply because it was a free-will offering, given from +motives of sentiment, not of profit. A system of preferences such as +Mr Chamberlain advocated might possibly be a good business arrangement +for one or all of the countries concerned, but it could have little +force as empire-cement. It would be a matter of cold-blooded bargain, +on a par with the similar reciprocal or preferential arrangements which +the protectionists proposed to make with foreign countries. There +would be nothing exclusive about it. + +Good came of the agitation. It compelled a bed-rock consideration of +British business and social conditions, and proved that if free trade +had made possible the production of great wealth, it had not been +enough to ensure its fair distribution. This searching inquest was +largely responsible for the great series of democratic and social +reforms adopted by the Asquith Government, reforms which gave the +United Kingdom the world's leadership in {282} democracy and won fresh +sympathy and loyal emulation in the Dominions. In undying words Mr +Asquith gave (1909) a definition of Liberalism which awoke immediate +sympathy in every Dominion. It expressed in concentrated form ideals +which more and more would be the common heritage of all the Empire, +particularly in those Dominions, such as Australia and Canada, where +all parties are almost equally democratic and progressive: + + +As regards the Empire, to secure full unity by allowing the greatest +diversity and the fullest liberty of self-government in all its parts. + +As regards property, to make it secure by divesting it from injustice. + +As regards political authority, to make it stable by resting it on the +broadest possible basis of popular responsibility. + +As regards religion, to remove it from the odium of alliance with +political disabilities. + +As regards trade, to make it world-wide by opening our own markets here +at home to everybody. + +And, finally, as regards the liberty of the individual citizen, to make +it a reality instead of a sham, by universal education and by an +ever-rising standard of humane conditions both in the factory and the +home. + + +We have now to review briefly the discussions which went on during +these years in {283} respect to the political relations of the +different states of the Empire. Broadly speaking, two schools or +tendencies existed. One favoured the retention of the powers of +self-government already acquired by the Dominions and the taking up of +still further duties, while at the same time aiming at full +co-operation and harmony in matters of essential common interest. The +other, declaring that the tendency towards self-government had already +gone too far and would if continued lead to the disruption of the +Empire, advocated setting up some central council or parliament with +legislative and executive control over the whole Empire, within +limitations more or less wide. One stood for a free alliance and +co-operation, the other for organic or federal union and +centralization. These two theories of empire did not, in Canada, +become party creeds; but, on the whole, Liberals were sympathetic with +free alliance, while centralization drew most of its support from +Conservative ranks. On some issues, however, there was an approach to +unanimity, and on others the division cut across party lines. + +In domestic affairs self-government was almost entirely won. Some +survivals of the {284} old colonial subordination remained in the +formal inability of Canadians to amend their own constitution and in +the appeal from the decisions of Canadian courts to the Judicial +Committee of the Privy Council--limitations which had been wholly or +mainly removed in the case of the newer Commonwealth of Australia. But +the long-contested control over copyright was finally conceded, and the +Hutton and Dundonald incidents led to the clearer recognition that if +imperial officers entered the military service of the Dominion they +were, precisely as in the United Kingdom, under the control of the +responsible civil ministers. The provision that the commander of the +militia must be a British officer was dropped in the revision of the +Militia Act in 1904. In the words of Mr, now Sir Robert, Borden in +1902, words which became increasingly true as years went by; 'Step by +step the colonies have advanced towards the position of virtual +independence so far as their internal affairs are concerned, and in all +the important instances the claim has been made by Canada, has been +resisted at first by the imperial statesmen, and finally has been +conceded, and has proved of advantage both to the Mother Country and to +the colonies.' + +{285} + +In foreign affairs self-government came more slowly, in the face of +greater opposition, but still steadily and surely. Its coming was more +imperceptible; in fact, many Canadians continued to believe that they +had no voice in the control of foreign policy, and made on this very +ground a strong plea either for setting up some central authority in +which they would have representation, or else for declining to take any +part in imperial wars because they had not and could not have a real +voice in imperial policy. + +This belief was well founded, so far as concerned part of the field of +foreign affairs, but it failed to recognize the striking advance made +in other areas. We were like M. Jourdain of Moliere's comedy, who was +surprised to find that he had been talking prose all his life without +knowing it. We had been carrying on a steadily increasing part of our +foreign affairs without consciously labelling them as such. For to-day +foreign affairs are largely commercial affairs, questions of trade and +tariff, of immigration and transportation, of fishery or power or +navigation rights. And it is largely with contiguous countries that +the most important questions arise. Now, as has been seen from the +review of relations with {286} the United States and other foreign +countries in an earlier chapter, Canada had come to have all but +complete control of such affairs. + +In 1909, following Australia's example, Canada established a department +of External Affairs for 'the conduct and management of international or +intercolonial negotiations, so far as they may appertain to the +government of Canada.' In introducing this measure Sir Wilfrid +declared: 'All governments have found it necessary to have a department +whose only business will be to deal with relations with foreign +countries.... We have now reached a standard as a nation which +necessitates the establishment of a Department of External Affairs.' +On Sir Robert Borden's accession to power one of his first steps was to +increase the importance of this department by giving it a minister as +well as a deputy, attaching the portfolio to the office of the prime +minister. For other purposes special envoys were sent, as when Mr +Fielding negotiated trade relations in France and in the United States, +or Mr Lemieux arranged a compromise with the government of Japan upon +the immigration issue. In these cases the British ambassador was +nominally associated with the Canadian envoy. Even this formal {287} +limitation was lacking in the case of the conventions effected with +France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and Italy in 1909-10, by negotiation +with their consuls in Ottawa. Finally, in the Waterways Treaty with +the United States, the international status of Canada was for the first +time formally recognized in the provision that the decision to submit +to arbitration matters other than those regarding boundary waters +should be made on the one hand by the President and Senate of the +United States, and on the other by the Governor-General in Council, the +Cabinet of the Dominion. + +At the close of this period, then, every phase of our foreign relations +so far as they concerned the United States, and an increasingly large +share of our foreign relations with other powers, were under Canadian +control. It remained true, however, that Canada had no voice in +determining peace and war. In other words, it was with Britain's +neighbours, rather than with Canada's neighbours, that any serious war +was most likely to come. Diplomatic policy and the momentous issue of +peace or war in Europe or Asia were determined by the British Cabinet. +In this field alone equality was as yet to seek. The {288} consistent +upholder of Dominion autonomy contended that here, too, power and +responsibility would come in the same measure as military and naval +preparation and participation in British wars. Just as Canada secured +a voice in her foreign commercial relations as soon as her trade +interests and industrial development gave her commercial weight, so a +share in the last word of diplomacy might be expected to come almost +automatically as Dominion and Commonwealth built up military and naval +forces, or took part in oversea wars. + +In this conception the Crown became the chief visible link of Empire. +Autonomists believed that 'His Majesty's Government' should remain a +manifold power. 'We all claim to be His Majesty's Government,' +declared Sir Wilfrid at the Conference of 1907. The Government at +Sydney was as much His Majesty's as the Government at Westminster. The +Canadian Privy Council was as much His Majesty's as the Privy Council +of the United Kingdom. The tendency in the Dominions had been to +magnify the powers of the king, who was equally their king, and to +lessen the powers of the parliament elected in the United Kingdom. In +fact the Crown became, if the metaphor is not too homely for such great +{289} affairs, a siphon which transferred power from His Majesty's +Government in the old land to His Majesty's Governments in the +Dominions. + +It was, however, not enough to have independent control. It was +equally necessary, as the other half of the policy of co-operation, to +provide means for securing united and effective action. These were +provided in many forms. High commissioners and agents-general became +increasingly important as ambassadors to London. Departments of +External Affairs ensured more constant and systematic intercourse. +Special conferences, such as the Naval Conference of 1909 in London, or +the several exchanges of visits between the Australian and the New +Zealand ministers, kept the different states in touch with each other. +But by far the most important agency was the Colonial or Imperial +Conference, now a definitely established body, in which Dominions and +Kingdom met on equal footing, exchanged views, and received new light +on each other's problems. Thus the question of co-operation between +the Five Nations became much like the problem which faces any allies, +such as those of the Triple Entente, save that in the case of the +British Empire the alliance is not transitory and a {290} common king +gives a central rallying-point. Nowhere has this free form of unity, +as unique in political annals as the British Empire itself, received +clearer expression than in the words of Edward Blake in the British +House of Commons in 1900: + + +For many years I for my part have looked to conference, to delegation, +to correspondence, to negotiation, to quasi-diplomatic methods, subject +always to the action of free parliaments here and elsewhere, as the +only feasible way of working the quasi-federal union between the Empire +and the sister nations of Canada and Australia. A quarter of a century +past I dreamed the dream of imperial parliamentary federation, but many +years ago I came to the conclusion that we had passed the turning that +could lead to that terminus, if ever, indeed, there was a practicable +road. We have too long and too extensively gone on the lines of +separate action here and elsewhere to go back now. Never forget--you +have the lesson here to-day--that the good will on which you depend is +due to local freedom, and would not survive its limitation. + + +But to many this trend of affairs was far from satisfactory. They +urged that Canada should retrace her steps and take the turning that +led to imperial parliamentary federation. This agitation was carried +on chiefly in private circles and through the press. One organization +after another--British Empire League, {291} Pollock Committee, Round +Table--undertook earnest and devoted campaigns of education, which, if +they did not attain precisely the end sought, at least made towards +clearer thinking and against passive colonialism. Occasionally the +question was raised in parliament. Typical of such debates was that of +March 13, 1905, when Colonel, now General Sir Sam, Hughes moved a +resolution in favour of parliamentary federation. Mr Borden refrained +from either opposing or approving the motion, but, as did other members +of his party, made it a starting-point for a speech in favour of +imperial preference. Sir Wilfrid Laurier declared: + + +I do not think that it would be possible to find in any of the +self-governing colonies any desire or any intention to part with any of +the powers which they have at the present time. At present we are +proud to say and to believe that the relations of the British Empire, +within all its parts, are absolutely satisfactory.... It is not in +accordance with the traditions of British history, it is not in +accordance with the traditions of the Anglo-Saxon race, to make any +change in their institutions until these institutions have been proved +insufficient or defective in some way.... The British Empire to-day is +composed of nations, all bearing allegiance to the same sovereign. + + +At the Conference of 1907 it was proposed {292} that the Colonial +Conference be changed into an Imperial Council. This suggestion met +support from various quarters, but was blocked by Sir Wilfrid's firm +opposition. He agreed heartily that the Conference should be styled +Imperial rather than Colonial, but, backed by all his colleagues, +opposed any attempt to turn the Conference into a Council, with +independent powers and an overwhelming representation from the United +Kingdom. In fact the Conference was established more firmly than ever +on a basis of equality. The prime minister of the United Kingdom, +rather than the colonial secretary, became the special representative +of his country, and the Conference was declared to be 'between His +Majesty's Government and His Governments of the self-governing +Dominions overseas.' + +====================================================================== + +[Illustration: SIR WILFRID LAURIER IN ENGLAND, 1911 + +_Left to right_--General Louis Botha, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, + Mr. Asquith, Sir Joseph Ward + +_Children standing_--Doris Harcourt, Olivia Harcourt + +_Children seated_--Barbara Harcourt, Anthony Asquith] + +====================================================================== + +At this Conference, perhaps more significant than anything that was +said or done was the presence of General Botha as prime minister of the +self-governing colony of the Transvaal. It was only five years since +Botha, as commander-in-chief of the Boers who had held out to the last, +had laid down his arms. Now he sat in the highest councils of the +Empire, saying little, studying his fellow-ministers and the common +problems, and impressing all by {293} his strong common sense and his +frank loyalty. His presence there was due to the courage and +confidence which had been displayed by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. +One of the first steps taken by Campbell-Bannerman's Ministry in 1906 +had been to grant to the Transvaal full and immediate self-government +without any intervening period of half-freedom. The policy had been a +bold one. To a German empire-framer it would have appeared incredible +folly. The king had remonstrated against it, the leader of the +Opposition had termed it dangerous and reckless, Mr Kipling had hurled +sonnets against it. But the Government had stood firm, with the result +here seen, and with still greater justification to follow. In this and +the following Conference General Botha manifested a special regard for +his Canadian colleague, like himself a leader from a minority race. +Undoubtedly Wilfrid Laurier's example, Canada's example, counted much +in making clear to Louis Botha the path which led to loyal and lasting +co-operation. + +The centralization policy found a new champion at the Conference of +1911. + +Sir Joseph Ward, Mr Seddon's successor as prime minister of New +Zealand, {294} submitted some months in advance a proposal for an +Imperial Council of State advisory to the British Government, and then, +having meantime been persuaded to go the whole road, made a speech in +favour of a central parliament. The proposal met with still less +favour than before. British, Australian, South African, Newfoundland, +and Canadian prime ministers joined in pronouncing it unworkable and +undesirable. 'The proposal seems to me to be absolutely +impracticable,' declared Sir Wilfrid Laurier. 'It is not a practical +scheme; our present system of responsible government has not broken +down,' agreed Premier Fisher of Australia. 'The creation of some body +with centralized authority over the whole Empire would be a step +entirely antagonistic to the policy of Great Britain which has been so +successful in the past, and which has undoubtedly made the Empire what +it is to-day. It is the policy of decentralization which has made the +Empire--the power granted to its various peoples to govern themselves,' +added Premier Botha of South Africa. 'Any scheme of representation--no +matter what you may call it, parliament or council--of the overseas +Dominions must [give them] so very small a representation that it would +be {295} practically of no value,' said Premier Morris of Newfoundland. +Mr Asquith summed up: + + +We cannot, with the traditions and history of the British Empire behind +us, either from the point of view of the United Kingdom, or from the +point of view of our self-governing Dominions, assent for a moment to +proposals which are so fatal to the very fundamental conditions on +which our empire has been built up and carried on.... It would impair, +if not altogether destroy, the authority of the United Kingdom in such +grave matters as the conduct of foreign policy, the conclusion of +treaties, the maintenance of peace, or the declaration of war, and, +indeed, all those relations with foreign powers, necessarily of the +most delicate character, which are now in the hands of the Imperial +Government, subject to its responsibility to the Imperial Parliament. +That authority cannot be shared, and the co-existence side by side with +the Cabinet of the United Kingdom of this proposed body--it does not +matter by what name you call it for the moment--clothed with the +functions and the jurisdiction which Sir Joseph Ward proposed to invest +it with, would, in our judgment, be absolutely fatal to our present +system of responsible government.... So far as the Dominions are +concerned, this new machine could impose upon the Dominions by the +voice of a body in which they would be in a standing minority (that is +part of the case), in a small minority, indeed, a policy of which they +might all disapprove, a policy which in most cases would involve +expenditure, and an expenditure which would have to {296} be met by the +imposition on a dissentient community of taxation by its own government. + + +Mr Asquith's statement that 'that authority cannot be shared' has +sometimes been taken to mean that the United Kingdom could not and +would not admit the Dominions to a share in the control of foreign +policy. As the context and later action showed, however, it was to +sharing control with a new super-parliament that the prime minister of +the United Kingdom, in common with the prime ministers of every +Dominion except New Zealand, expressed his opposition. Later in the +Conference a further, if far from final, step was taken towards sharing +control with the Dominions. Upon Mr Fisher's demand that the Dominions +should be consulted in international agreements such as the Declaration +of London and the conventions of the Hague Conference, it was agreed +unanimously that, at further Hague Conferences and elsewhere when time +and subject-matter permitted, this would be done. Sir Wilfrid Laurier +agreed with this proposal, though stating his view that in such +negotiations the United Kingdom should be given a free hand. Some +greater share in foreign policy, most nationalists and {297} +imperialists alike agreed, the Dominions must possess. The real +question was, whether they should seek it through a central body in +which they would have a minority representation, and whose functions it +was impossible to define without serious infringement of the existing +powers of the Dominions, or whether they were to secure it along the +line so long pursued, of independence in what was overwhelmingly the +prime concern of each separate state, plus co-operation in what was +distinctly of common interest. + + +Hardly had preferential trade as a mooted topic receded into the +background when the question of Canada's share in the defence of the +Empire came to the front and took on a new urgency and a new interest. + +The forces of Canada for land defence had been made much more effective +since the twentieth century began. The permanent militia had been +largely increased; engineer, medical, army-service, and ordnance corps +had been organized or extended; rifle associations and cadet corps had +been encouraged; new artillery armament had been provided; reserves of +ammunition and equipment had been built up; a central training-camp had +{298} been established; the period and discipline of the annual drill +had been increased; the administration had been thoroughly reorganized. +In 1911 over six times as much was spent upon the militia as in 1896. +Though the service was still very far from ideal efficiency, there was +no question that it had been greatly improved. + +In Canada as in the other Dominions the problem of bringing the +military forces into relation with the forces of other parts of the +Empire was solved without any sacrifice of the principle of +self-government in command or administration. After 1902 little was +heard of the proposal to give the British War Office control over a +section of the troops of each Dominion. Matters moved rather in the +direction of co-operative action. In 1907 it was arranged that each of +the larger Dominions should organize a General Staff to act in close +touch and to exchange officers with the newly reorganized Imperial +General Staff. It followed that equipment and administration became +largely uniform. In 1909, and again in 1911, further steps were taken +to secure effective co-operation between the General Staffs. + +Naval defence proved a harder problem to {299} solve. A beginning was +made. The fishery-cruiser service was extended. In 1905 the Dominion +took over the garrisons at the naval bases of Halifax and Esquimalt. +The minister of Marine, Mr Prefontaine, took some steps towards the +organization of a Naval Reserve, but with his death (1905) the movement +ceased. The belief in Britain's unquestioned supremacy, a reluctance +to enter 'the vortex of European militarism,' the survival of passive +colonialism, kept the vast majority of Canadians indifferent. And, +though a persistent minority of enthusiasts called on the country to +awake, the unwillingness of the British authorities to sanction +Dominion action along national lines blocked the most promising path. + +By much effort all the self-governing colonies except Canada had been +induced to send annual cheques to the Admiralty. But the total amount +was negligible, and no permanent results had been achieved. After +fifteen years of contribution not a single Australian had been trained +as a sailor. At last, opinion in the Commonwealth took decided shape +and demanded immediate national action--demanded the creation of a +Royal Australian Navy. + +{300} + +Heretofore Canada had blazed the trail that led from colonialism to +nationhood. Now Australia took the lead. The reasons were clear. +Canada's chief neighbour was the United States--on the whole, not a +militarist country--and there was little fear of military aggression. +But commercial intercourse with this neighbour, along a frontier of +three thousand miles, was close and constant, making it necessary for +Canada to take into her own hands the control of commercial relations. +Australia had no such overshadowing commercial relations with any +power, but had neighbours in the Pacific--the colonies of aggressive +European states, first France and later Germany, and the teeming and +awakening powers of Asia--which gave urgency to the question of +defence. A Commonwealth which ruled a dependency of its own, in Papua, +and shared dominion of the world's second greatest island with imperial +Germany (nowhere except in this anomalous, precedent-defying British +Empire could any one have dreamt of 'the colony of a colony'), could +not long remain indifferent to naval defence. For twenty years +discussion of the issue had gone on in Australia, clarifying and +precipitating opinion. It was no wonder that Canada, which tried to +{301} concentrate the same discussion into four or five years, years of +great economic pressure, proved more confused in opinion and less +unanimous in action. + +At the Conference of 1907 the Admiralty modified its former policy and +suggested that instead of a money contribution any Dominion might +'provide for local service in the imperial squadrons the smaller +vessels that are useful for defence against possible raids or for +co-operation with a squadron.' The prime minister of Australia, Mr +Deakin, welcomed the proposal as a step forward, but on his return to +Australia it was still found impossible to reconcile the national +aspirations of the Commonwealth and the desire of the Admiralty to +control all ships, however provided, and no definite action followed. +Canada for the present remained content, having extended the fishery +service and garrisoned with her own troops Halifax and Esquimalt. Both +parties in Canada agreed in giving no attention to the question. +During the general elections which followed shortly after the +Conference of 1907, neither Sir Wilfrid Laurier nor Mr Borden said one +word about naval defence. Nothing but a dramatic crisis would rouse +the people to give {302} the support necessary to enable either leader +to take a decided stand. + +The Kaiser provided the crisis. During 1908 and 1909 cries of alarm +over the growth of the German navy awoke the United Kingdom and found +echoes in Canada. It appeared that Britain's margin of safety was +being dangerously lessened, that the Mistress of the Seas had been +challenged. The British House of Commons voted eight additional +Dreadnoughts and the Admiralty continued to withdraw ships from the +ends of the earth and to concentrate the fleet in the North Sea. + +Since the eighties international affairs had shown increasing tension. +In Europe the struggle for national freedom, which marked the previous +era, had in many cases been perverted into an endeavour to impose one +nation's will upon another. Not only did France cherish the memory of +Alsace-Lorraine; not only did Italy dream of her lost provinces; not +only did the Balkan states plot to complete the half-done task of +driving out the Turk; but the German Austrian sought to dominate the +Magyar and the Magyar the Slav, while Italy swelled with visions of the +Eastern Mediterranean once more a Roman {303} lake, and Pan-German and +Pan-Slav drew and re-drew the map of Europe to their liking. + +But it was not in Europe alone that these nations sought expansion. +The belief that empire overseas was necessary to national greatness, +and that sea-power was the means to that end, spread through +Continental Europe. During the thirty years following 1880 France +added three and a half million square miles to her colonial +possessions, Germany a million, and Italy a quarter-million. Even the +United States was carried away by the current, and Great Britain, +already the greatest of colonial powers, picked up nearly four million +square miles more. Europe's aggression stirred sleeping Asia, and +Japan gave promise of beating her teachers at their own game. This +hasty parcelling out of the non-white world brought friction and often +threatened war. For years a conflict with Russia was believed +inevitable in England. Then France became the inevitable foe. Next +Germany took up the role. Though felt at fewer points, her rivalry was +more serious. A state with the ideals of mediaeval feudalism and the +might of a modern industrial nation--with all the wealth and organizing +power of industry and science at the disposal {304} of a monarchy based +on 'divine right,' and a military aristocracy which moulded and +mastered the nation through control of school and press and army--was a +constant danger to its neighbours. Germany's aims were more aggressive +than those of the western democracies, and its methods were more +efficient than those of other European states of no higher ideals. +True, the democratic and anti-militarist forces were gaining ground in +Germany itself, while elsewhere the folly and waste of militarism were +rousing unprecedented efforts towards peace. But no way out was found. +It was clearly impossible for one state to disarm while its neighbours +armed to the teeth. A few fitful efforts, in which Great Britain took +an honourable part, to bring about a concerted halt came to nothing. +The world appeared convinced that the only statesmanlike way to avert +war was for each state or group of states to make itself stronger than +every other state or group. The war of armaments went on unchecked. +Europe slept on a powder-mine. + +In every Dominion the new sense of peril stirred instant response. If +Britain's rivals had counted on the Dominions holding aloof in the hour +of her need, or had held their {305} resources negligible, they were +speedily awakened. In Australia, in New Zealand, in South Africa, and +in Canada, press and parliament voiced the new realization of danger +and the new determination to face it more effectively. + +At first the prospect in Canada of speedy and harmonious action was of +the brightest. Mr Foster gave notice in the House of Commons of a +resolution in favour of Canadian naval preparations, and the leaders of +both parties met in private conference and agreed upon the general +course to be followed. Late in March 1909 Mr Foster moved his +resolution and supported it with powerful and kindling eloquence. He +dwelt on the burden which Britain bore alone and the urgent need that +Canada should take a more adequate part in naval defence. He opposed +strongly the policy of a fixed annual contribution. The certainty of +constant friction over the amount, the smack of tribute, the radical +defect that it meant hiring somebody else to do what Canadians +themselves ought to do, the failure of such a plan to strike any roots, +were fatal objections. A Canadian Naval Service was the only possible +solution, though for himself he would agree to vote a Dreadnought as +{306} a preliminary step. Mr Borden emphasized the need of action, and +advocated 'a Canadian naval force of our own.' Sir Wilfrid Laurier +declared that Canada must realize to the full both the rights and the +obligations of a daughter nation by rising to any sacrifice that might +be needed to maintain unimpaired the power of the British Empire, +essential as it was not only for Canada's safety but for the +civilization of the world. As to the form of action, he opposed being +stampeded into any spectacular policy inconsistent with the principle +of self-government, and closed by moving a series of resolutions, +which, with some changes suggested by Mr Borden, were unanimously +accepted by the House. The resolutions recognized the duty of Canada +to assume larger responsibilities with growth in strength, declared +that under existing constitutional relations money payments to the +British Treasury would not be the most satisfactory solution, and +expressed cordial approval of any expenditure necessary to promote a +Canadian Naval Service to co-operate in close relation with the British +Navy. + +During the summer a special Conference was held in London, attended by +ministers from all the Dominions. Mr M'Kenna, while {307} repeating +the orthodox Admiralty view that considerations of strategy favoured a +single navy, now recognized that other considerations had to be taken +into account, and that 'room must be found for the expression of +national sentiment.... While laying the foundation of future Dominion +navies to be maintained in different parts of the Empire, these forces +would contribute immediately and materially to the requirements of +Imperial defence.' No wonder that the London _Times_ congratulated +Australia and Canada 'on their achievement in having at last educated +the Admiralty up to their own point of view.' Unfortunately the +convert was soon to backslide, but for the present hearty and ready aid +was given in establishing the Dominion naval policy. Australia agreed +to form a distinct fleet unit, consisting of a large armoured cruiser, +three unarmoured cruisers, six destroyers and three submarines, with +auxiliary ships. Canada, not an island like Australia or Great +Britain, had two seaboards to protect, ten thousand miles apart. The +Canadian representatives, therefore, while agreeing that a second fleet +unit in the Pacific would be desirable in the future, requested +suggestions, which were given, for the expenditure, first, of {308} an +equivalent and, second, of a lesser amount on two squadrons. + +When the Canadian parliament met in January 1910 Sir Wilfrid Laurier +submitted the Naval Service Bill, which provided for the establishment +of fleets according to the plan finally approved by the Admiralty. The +ships were to be under the control of the Dominion Government, which +might, in case of emergency, place them at the disposal of the +Admiralty, summoning parliament to ratify such action. The bill was +passed in March. In the autumn the cruiser _Niobe_ (11,000 tons) and +the _Rainbow_ (3600 tons), purchased from the Admiralty, reached +Canadian waters, where they were to serve as training-ships. +Recruiting for these ships was begun and, while not speedy, was +reported by the department as satisfactory. The Halifax and Esquimalt +dockyards were taken over. Early in 1911 a Naval College was opened at +Halifax; and in May tenders were received, ranging from eleven to +thirteen millions, from six British and Canadian firms, for the +construction, in Canada, of four Bristol cruisers, one Boadicea +cruiser, and six destroyers. In June (1911), at the Imperial +Conference in London, agreement was reached as to the boundaries {309} +of the Australian and Canadian stations. The naval services of the two +Dominions were to be 'exclusively under control of their respective +governments'; but in time of war any fleet or ships placed at the +disposal of the British Government by the Dominion authorities would +'form an integral part of the British fleet and remain under the +control of the Admiralty during the continuance of the war.' Training +and discipline were to be generally uniform. Dominion ships were to +fly the white ensign at the stern as the symbol of the Crown's +authority and the distinctive flag of the Dominion at the jack-staff. +Then came the reciprocity fight, the blocking of supplies by the +Conservatives, and the general elections of September, all intervening +before any tender had been finally accepted. + +Long before this time, however, the issue had given rise to bitter +party controversy. The unanimity of parliament in 1909 had not truly +reflected the diversity of public opinion. Mr Borden was not able to +carry his party with him. In the English-speaking provinces many +Conservatives denounced a Canadian fleet as 'a tinpot navy,' useless, +expensive, and separatist, and called for a gift of Dreadnoughts. Mr +Borden's lieutenant from Quebec, {310} Mr F. D. Monk, came out strongly +against either Canadian navy or contribution, unless approved by +popular vote. So, after a loyal attempt to defend the agreement of +1909, Mr Borden found it necessary to change his position. By +attacking the Laurier navy as inadequate, and at the same time +declaring that no permanent policy should be adopted without an appeal +to the people, he endeavoured to keep both wings of his party in line. +The opposition in Quebec was strengthened by Mr Henri Bourassa and his +following--'Nationalists' in some respects perhaps, but more rightly +labelled Colonialists or Provincialists. They dealt a shrewd blow in +defeating the Government candidate at a by-election held in November +1910 for Drummond-Arthabaska, Sir Wilfrid's old seat. And, though in +all the other provinces the general elections of 1911 were fought on +the issue of reciprocity, the navy was made the chief issue in Quebec. +Conservatives formed a close working alliance with the Nationalists, +who attacked the prime minister as a tool of the English imperialists, +and pictured to the habitants the horrors of the _marine_, of +conscription and the press-gang. + +A little over a year after his accession to {311} power in 1911, Sir +Robert Borden brought down his naval proposals, providing for a gift or +loan to Great Britain of three Dreadnoughts to meet the current +emergency, and promised to submit later on his permanent policy to the +electorate. What that permanent policy would be he did not reveal. It +was stated that the Government had not definitely decided against a +Canadian navy, but the insistence upon the difficulty of building up a +naval organization in Canada, and other remarks, made it appear that +some plan of permanent contribution, with a share in the central +controlling body, was under contemplation. Sir Wilfrid Laurier +vigorously opposed the proposals and adhered to the policy of a +Canadian navy. And, not to be outdone in bigness, he now advocated two +fleet units. After a prolonged discussion and determined obstruction +by the Opposition, the Government introduced the closure and forced the +bill through the Commons, only to see it rejected by the Senate on the +motion of Sir George Ross, 'that this House is not justified in giving +its assent to this bill until it is submitted to the judgment of the +country.' + +The Government's abrupt change of policy was in part due to the +activity of the first {312} lord of the Admiralty, Mr Winston +Churchill. Whether moved by his own impetuous temperament or by the +advice of others, Mr Churchill threw overboard the M'Kenna memorandum, +and endeavoured once more to revive the contribution policy. He was +not content with laying before the Canadian prime minister the opinion +of experts on the strategic questions involved, and advising on means +to reach the desired end, but sought to influence public opinion in the +Dominions by word and act. The memoranda sent at Sir Robert Borden's +request in January 1913, emphasizing the difficulty of building +battleships in Canada--which was not proposed by the Opposition--and +the difficulty of helping to man the two Canadian fleet units--though +at the same time men were declared to be available for as many as five +Dreadnoughts, if contributed--were preceded by pressure on the Malay +States to contribute a battleship, and were followed by Mr Churchill's +announcement of his intention to establish at Gibraltar an Imperial +Squadron composed of Dominion ships, under the Admiralty's control. +When Australia suggested that a special Dominion Conference to discuss +the matter should be held in Canada, New Zealand, or Australia, {313} +the United Kingdom would not consent. It was made emphatically clear +that Mr Churchill was in favour of contribution, not as an emergency +but as a permanent policy. It was his doubtless well-meant--and +invited--intervention in the dispute, ignoring the principles by which +imperial harmony had been secured in the past, which more than anything +else stirred up resentment in Canada. + +The dispute in Canada turned partly on constitutional, and partly on +technical, naval considerations. A Canadian navy was opposed by some +as tending to separation from the Empire, and by others as involving +Canada in a share in war without any corresponding share in foreign +policy. It was defended as the logical extension of the policy of +self-government, which, in actual practice as opposed to pessimistic +prophecy, had proved the enduring basis of imperial union. The +considerations involved have been briefly reviewed in an earlier +section. It need only be noted here that the constitutional problem +was no more acute in December 1912 than in March 1909. Whatever the +difficulties, they had been faced and accepted by all the other +Dominions. Australia was irretrievably and proudly committed to her +{314} own navy--'His Majesty's Royal Australian Navy'; New Zealand +announced her dissatisfaction with the original contribution policy; +General Botha declared that South Africa would prefer 'a navy of our +own.' Not contribution therefore, but local navies, afforded the only +basis of uniformity throughout the Empire. Given this attitude on the +part of all the Dominions, there was little question that forms would +soon follow facts, and each of the Five Nations be given its due place +and weight in settling common issues of policy. + +On the more technical issues there was equally wide divergence. A +Canadian navy was attacked by some as useless even in the long run. +Canada could not build up an adequate naval administration in half a +century. Inefficiency and jobbery would mark the navy's management. +The sea was one and the navy should be one; concentration at the +supreme danger point, defence by attack, were the latest maxims of +naval strategy. On the other hand, it was urged that what Australia +had done Canada could do, and that the German navy itself had been +built up in twenty years. The sea was one, but it was tens of +thousands of miles in width; {315} the trade routes required +protection, and the coasts must be guarded against sudden raids. + +Greater stress, however, was laid on the 'short-run' arguments. That +there was only one possible enemy, Germany; that war with her in a few +years was inevitable; that when it came Great Britain's fleet would be +overmatched, or perilously equalled, were the insistent contentions of +one party. That the Pacific required watching as well as the North +Sea; that relations with Germany, on Sir Edward Grey's testimony, were +improving and war unlikely; that if war came in a few years the naval +power of Britain, to say nothing of that of France and Russia, would be +overwhelming, was the other party's oft-reiterated answer. It was +urged, also, that the Canadian Government's belief in the seriousness +of the emergency must be judged by its acts, not its words. Had it +believed war imminent and the naval situation so dangerous that its +three Dreadnoughts were required, it would unquestionably have been too +patriotic to think for a moment of any other course but to bring on a +general election in 1913 to override the Senate. + +That is now ancient history. The outbreak of the Great War threw the +Canadian naval {316} question, along with so many greater questions, +into the melting pot. The temporary easing of the international +situation after 1912 was followed by acute tension again, and this time +the restraining forces gave way. The rivalry of Teuton and Slav in the +Balkans, where of late the balance had tilted against the Central +Powers because of the defeat of their quasi-ally, Turkey, provided the +setting. The murder of an Austrian prince by a Servian subject gave +the occasion, and Germany set the fatal drama in motion. What part was +played in her decision by dreams of world conquest or dread of being +hemmed in by ever-stronger foes, what part by the desire of a +challenged autocracy to turn the people from internal reform to +external policy, will not be certain until the chancelleries of Europe +have given up their secrets, if certain then; but, whatever the motive, +all the world outside Germany has agreed that had she willed she could +have averted the fatal ending of those tense days of July 1914. + +When the intervention of the United Kingdom was made inevitable and +practically unanimous by the brutal attack on Belgium, Canada never +hesitated for a moment as to her attitude. The rights of the immediate +issue {317} were clear; the whole world's liberty was plainly at stake; +the struggle promised to task, if not to overtask, every resource of +the mother country. Sir Robert Borden acted promptly and effectively, +and parliament when called in special session unanimously backed his +actions. In a few weeks the largest force that had ever crossed the +Atlantic sailed to England, and throughout the war ten thousand upon +ten thousand followed. The Dominions surprised the world, and not +least themselves, by the greatness and effectiveness of the efforts +made in the common cause. At first, distance or over-confidence +prevented a full grasp of the crisis by the general public, and even by +the leaders of opinion; but, as time went on, the sense of the +greatness of the issue deepened, resolution hardened, and the only +measures of effort were what the crisis called for and what Canada +could give. + +The country was united as on few occasions. Here and there undigested +groups of immigrants from the enemy lands stood out from the common +enthusiasm, but gave little overt trouble. In Quebec some, but not +all, of the Nationalists opposed Canada's participation in the war, +taking either the belated colonial view that it was Britain's part to +fight the {318} Empire's wars, or the more logical but inopportune view +that Canada should not fight in a war when she had had no part in +shaping the policy that went before it. They claimed to stand where +practically all Canadians had stood a generation before. They forgot +that meanwhile the world, and Canada, had moved forward. + +The ordeal of battle put to the test the facts and the theories of +empire which had been shaping in the years which have been reviewed. +The splendid response of the whole Empire to the call of need proved +that it was not the weak and crumbling structure that enemies had hoped +and zealous friends had feared. Of their own free will the Dominions +and even India poured out their treasures of men and money in measure +far beyond what any central authority could have ordained. Freedom was +justified of her children, and the British Empire proved its right to +exist by its very difference from the Prussian Empire. When General +Botha and General Smuts, after crushing with ease a rebellion which +under a different imperial policy would have been triumphant, led the +army of the Crown in triumph against the German dominions to which it +had once been proposed to banish {319} them, they gave a most dramatic +proof of the power of the unseen bonds of confidence and liberty. + +Yet, as the war proved, the Empire had not yet reached its final stage. +Now that the Dominions helped to pay the piper, henceforth they would +insist on a share in calling the tune. That the decision as to peace +and war must no longer rest solely with the government of Great +Britain, however wisely that power had been used in this instance, +became the conviction of the many instead of the few. It was still +matter for serious debate how that greater voice could be attained, and +the conflict between the policy of consultation between existing +governments and the policy of creating a new central over-government, +which had marked the years before, bade fair to mark the years after +the war as well. + +The subsidiary question of naval defence had also its after-lights. +Those in Canada who had urged the contribution policy had the gloomy +satisfaction of seeing their prophecy of speedy war with Germany +fulfilled. Those who had urged the policy of a Canadian navy had the +more cheerful satisfaction of seeing that the only 'emergency' was that +which faced the Kaiser's fleet, bottled up by {320} the vastly superior +allied forces. The battle of the Falkland Islands, redeeming the +defeat at Coronel, proved the wide range of action of fast cruisers +based on European waters, while on the other hand the raids of the +_Emden_ proved the need of cruisers for defence on every sea; and the +exploits of the _Sydney_, sister ship of Canada's unbuilt Bristols, +ended all talk of tin-pot navies. The lessons of the war as to ships +and weapons and strategy were all important for the reconsideration of +the question. Still more vital for the decision as to this and +weightier matters were the secrets the future held as to the outcome of +the war, as to the future alignment of nations, and, above all, as to +the possibility of building up some barrier against the madness, the +unspeakable sufferings, and the blind, chaotic wastes of war, more +adequate than the secret diplomacy, the competitive armaments, and the +shifting alliances of the past. + + + +[1] Report of Annual Meeting, Canadian Manufacturers' Association, in +_Industrial Canada_, 1912, p. 334. + + + + +{321} + +CHAPTER XIV + +FIFTY YEARS OF UNION + +The Dominion of Canada's first fifty years have been years of momentous +change. The four provinces have grown into nine, covering the whole +half-continent. The three million people have grown to eight, and the +west of the wandering Indian holds cities greater than the largest of +the east at Confederation. From a people overwhelmingly agricultural +they have become a people almost equally divided between town and +country. The straggling two thousand miles of railways have been +multiplied fifteen-fold, forming great transcontinental systems +unmatched in the United States. An average wheat crop yields more than +ten times the total at Confederation, and the output of the mine has +increased at even a more rapid rate. Great manufacturing plants have +developed, employing half a million men, and with capital and annual +products exceeding a thousand {322} million dollars. Foreign trade has +mounted to eight times its height of fifty years ago. The whole +financial and commercial structure has become complex and intricate +beyond earlier imagining. The changes, even on the material side, have +not been all gain. There is many a case of reckless waste of resources +to lament, many an instance of half-developed opportunity and even of +slipping backwards. With the millionaire came the slum, and the +advantages of great corporations were often balanced by the 'frenzied +finance' and the unhealthy political influence of those in control. +Yet, on the whole, progress, especially in the last twenty years, has +been unquestioned and rarely paralleled. + +Political has kept pace with economic change. The far-flung Dominion +is at last being welded into one, and a Canadian nationality is arising +of a distinct character and with conscious unity. The average man +thinks of himself no longer as first a citizen of Nova Scotia, Ontario, +or Manitoba, an Englishman, a Scotsman, or an Irishman, but as first a +Canadian. Provincial and racial jealousy, though not passed away, are +less intense and less critical than in the days of old. There is less +bitterness in party {323} conflicts, less personal abuse, and more of +the broader patriotism. Of jobbery and corruption and low political +ideals there are unfortunately no less, but there is more conscious +endeavour to grapple with and overthrow these foes. The Dominion has +found its place in the family of nations, and has taken its full share +in the transforming and upbuilding of the British Empire. Fifty years +ago, merely colonies of Britain, looked upon by most men in the mother +country as being about to break from the Empire to which they were now +profitless, and to the rest of Europe scarcely a name! To-day, sending +hundreds of thousands of men across the seas to fight shoulder to +shoulder with Britain to maintain the unity of the Empire, the freedom +of Europe and the world! History has few more striking transformations +than this to show. + +Even more striking, but less within the scope of this brief survey, +were the changes in the life and thought, in the manners and the social +texture of the nation. The growth of luxury and of restless change; +the quickening pace of business and the accompanying shortening of the +work-day and the work-week; the transformation effected by railway +{324} and steamship, by telephone and typewriter, by electric light and +skyscraper; the coming of the motor-car, of bridge, and of society +columns; the passing of cricket, the rise and fall of lacrosse, the +triumph of baseball and hockey and golf and bowling, the +professionalizing of nearly all sport; the increasing share of women in +industry and education; the constant shift of fashion, the waxing and +waning of hats and skirts; the readjustment of theological creeds and +the trend towards church unity; the progress of medical science, the +widening of university interests, the development of advertising and +the transformation of the newspaper;--all these and many more phases of +the changing times bulked larger in the daily life of the people than +the constitutional and political issues with which statesmen and +politicians had to deal and which historians have to describe. + +Even in the political and economic change no man and no party had a +dominating share. The Canada of to-day is the creation of millions of +hands, of the known or unknown few who toiled primarily for their +country's advancement, and of the many who sought their own private +ends and made national progress as a by-product. Yet if statesmen +{325} are, on the one hand, not directly responsible for good harvests +or bad, on the other, they are not 'flies on the wheel.' The powers +confided to them are great for good or ill. They may hasten or retard +material progress, and guide, if they cannot create, the current of +national destiny. It is impossible to imagine what different course +the Dominion would have taken had there been no Macdonald and no +Laurier at the helm. + +In Sir Wilfrid Laurier's career four guiding principles, four goals of +endeavour, have been steadily kept in view--individual liberty, +collective prosperity, racial and religious harmony, and growth to +nationhood. The end in view was not always reached. The path followed +was not as ruler-straight as the philosopher or the critic would have +prescribed. The leader of a party of many shades of opinion, the ruler +of a country of widely different interests and prejudices and +traditions, must often do not what is ideally best but what is the most +practicable approach to the ideal. Yet with rare consistency and +steadfast courage these ends were held in view. Ever an opportunist as +to means, Wilfrid Laurier has never been an opportunist as to ends. + +{326} + +The historic task of Liberalism--the promotion, by negative and +positive means alike, of individual freedom with full opportunity for +self-development--has been less urgent in Canada than in many other +lands. Civil liberty Canadians inherited from their fathers overseas. +Political liberty was the achievement of the generation before the +Dominion was formed. Social liberty, the assuring for each man genuine +equality of opportunity, has in great measure been ensured by the wide +spaces of a virgin continent. What legislation is required to +guarantee it further falls for the most part within the scope of the +provincial legislatures; though one most important factor in securing +equality and keeping open the door of opportunity, the free gift of +farm lands to all who will, has been a federal policy. But in one +important field, liberty of thought and discussion, the battle has had +to be fought in our own day, and has been fought valiantly and well. +In standing for the elementary rights of freedom of speech and +political action, Sir Wilfrid Laurier braved the wrath of powerful +forces in the Church he loved and honoured. He did not deny any church +or any churchman the right to take a full part in political discussion. +But he {327} did deny any religious teachers the right to brandish for +a political purpose the weapons of their spiritual armoury; and he +urged the inexpediency, in the Church's own interest, of endeavouring +to build up a clerical party. + +The promotion of the country's economic welfare has been the chief task +of every Canadian Government, and the one most in discussion. A tariff +marked by stability and by moderate advances towards freedom of trade, +a railway policy reflecting the new-found faith of Canada in its +future, an immigration campaign that opened up the West and laid the +foundation for mounting prosperity, and for a new place in the world's +regard, aid to farmer and fisherman and miner--these were the +outstanding features of the Canadian administration after 1896. +Mistakes were made, errors of omission and commission, due now to lack +of vision, now to over-confidence, but the accounting was not to be +feared. 'When I am Premier,' declared Mr Laurier in the early +nineties, referring to some dubious statistics used to prove that all +was well with the country, 'you will not have to look up figures to +find out whether you are prosperous: you will know by feeling in your +pockets.' + +{328} + +No need of Canada has been greater, none has lain nearer Sir Wilfrid +Laurier's heart, than the lessening of misunderstanding and hostility +between the men of the different races and tongues and creeds that make +up the Dominion. It is a task which has been the more difficult +because not merely was there a difference of races, but one race was of +the same blood as the people of the United Kingdom and the other of its +hereditary foe. It was always easy for politicians of the baser sort, +or for well-meaning but rigid and doctrinaire extremists on either +side, to stir up prejudice and passion. It was a statesman's task to +endeavour to bridge the gulf, to work for better feeling between +Britain and France, to emphasize the future which all Canadians hold in +common, to urge the men of each race to seek that knowledge of the +other which is the first and longest step towards harmony. In training +and temperament Sir Wilfrid Laurier was uniquely fitted for the task of +interpreting each race to the other, and though it was a task that was +never completed, he had the satisfaction of achieving a marked advance. + +The share of Canadian statesmen in working out the unique political +achievement which {329} we call the British Empire has not yet been +fully recognized. When the history of its upbuilding comes to be +written, it may well be that the names of Baldwin and LaFontaine and +Howe, of Brown and Galt, of Tupper and Blake, of Macdonald and Laurier, +will stand, in this regard, higher than those of Peel and Disraeli, +Gladstone and Salisbury, and even Durham and Elgin. Some in England +opposed the grant of self-government, believing that it led to +separation. Some, reconciled to separation, urged it. Canadians, +though not always seeing the path clear, both demanded self-government +and trusted it would make union all the firmer. It fell to Sir Wilfrid +Laurier's lot to carry out this traditional Canadian policy through an +exceptionally critical era of development. He steadfastly asserted +Canada's right to full nationhood, and as steadily faced each new +responsibility that came with added rights. He often incurred the +hostility of ultra-imperialist and of colonialist alike, going too slow +for the one and too fast for the other. Many autonomists failed to +recognize how manfully and how effectively he had stood at the London +Conferences for self-government, until at last practically all the +Dominions {330} swung into line. Many imperialists failed to recognize +how hard he had struggled to bring Quebec into harmony with the rest of +the Dominion on imperial issues and particularly on the naval question. +A wise opportunism, that met each issue as it arose and dealt with it +in the light of long-held principles, kept the nation advancing +steadily and advancing abreast. + + + + +{331} + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The primary sources to which any student of the period covered in this +work must refer are too numerous to specify here. Foremost come +Hansard and the Sessional Papers. Such autobiographies as those of Sir +Richard Cartwright, _Reminiscences_, Sir George Ross, _Getting Into +Parliament and After_, Sir Charles Tupper, _Recollections of Sixty +Years in Canada_, and Charles Langelier, _Souvenirs Politiques_, are as +few as they are valuable. For the years since 1901 see Castell +Hopkins, _The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs_. This work, +now in its fourteenth volume, is a mine of orderly information. + +A most complete historical summary of the period is found in _Canada +and its Provinces_. See the various monographs, especially in volumes +vi, vii, viii, ix, and x. Indispensable for any survey of the period +up to 1900 is Sir John S. Willison's work in two volumes, _Sir Wilfrid +Laurier and the Liberal Party_, which shows the ripe, balanced judgment +and the literary skill of the distinguished Canadian journalist at his +best. David's _Laurier et son Temps_, and his earlier sketch in _Mes +{332} Contemporains_, give brilliant impressionistic portraits of Sir +Wilfrid Laurier by an intimate friend. See also Sir Joseph Pope, +_Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald_, and Castell Hopkins, _Life and Work of +Sir John Thompson_. + + + + +{333} + +INDEX + + +Abbott, Sir John, 11, 107 n.; prime minister, 155. + +Alaskan boundary dispute, the, 210-16. + +Alberta, the forming of the province, 238-9; the school question, +239-45. + +Alverstone, Lord, 215, 216. + +Annexation sentiment in Canada and United States, 101, 137, 138, 265-6. + +Asquith, H. H., 277, 281; his definition of Liberalism, 282; and a +central parliament, 295-296. + +Australia, and imperial defence, 143, 149, 179, 195, 198, 200, 201, +202, 284, 286, 304-5; her navy, 299-300, 312, 313-14. + +Aylesworth, Sir Allen, 247; and the Alaskan boundary dispute, 215, 216. + + +Baillargeon, Archbishop, 42. + +Balfour, Arthur, 186. + +Barton, Sir Edmund, 195. + +Belgium, her trade treaties with Canada, 134-5, 179, 228, 250. + +Bernier, M. E., 195. + +Bertram, G. H., 173. + +Blaine, James G., 119, 120, 124. + +Blair, A. G., 169 n., 170 n. + +Blake, Edward, 35-6, 39, 40, 53; Liberal Opposition leader, 54-5, 57, +59, 68, 77, 82, 83, 85, 89, 135-6; resigns, 91, 172; his tribute to +Laurier, 86; his remarkable letter, 123-4; an empire-builder, 290, 329. + +Boer War, Canada's part in, 184-92. + +Bond, Sir Robert, 195. + +Borden, Sir Frederick, 170 n., 196, 207. + +Borden, Sir Robert, leader of Conservative Opposition, 194, 217, 245-6, +247, 276, 284, 291; his naval policy, 306, 309-10, 311, 312, prime +minister, 286, 311, 312, 317. + +Botha, General, 185, 292; his regard for Sir Wilfrid Laurier, 293; his +imperial policy, 294, 314, 318. + +Boucherville, M. de, 64. + +Bourassa, Henri, and Laurier, 191, 193, 268; leader of 'Nationalists,' +310. + +Bourget, Bishop, his aggressive policy, 28, 29, 30, 42, 44. + +Bowell, Sir Mackenzie, 39; prime minister, 156, 161-2. + +British Columbia, and Asiatic immigration, 252-5. + +British Empire League, the, 145. + +British Empire: formation and development of, 126-30, 270-271; freedom +the secret of, 130, 318; equal partnership in, 130-1, 270; the problem +of defence, 143, 146-8, 200-4, 298-320; political relations. 198-200, +282-97; commercial relations, 204-7, 271-81; Canada's share in forming, +206, 328-9; the Crown the chief link of Empire, 288-9; the Great War, +316-20; the question as to decision of peace and war, 319. + +Brodeur, L. P., 247, 250. + +Brodrick, St John (Viscount Midleton), 195, 200-1, 202. + +Brown, George, 21, 62, 135, 329. + +Bryce, Lord, his diplomatic services to Canada, 212, 258. + + +Campbell, Sir Alexander, 142, 143. + +Campbell-Bannerman, Sir H., his courageous policy, 293. + +Canada: political development between 1841 and 1867, 18-24; Church and +State, 24, 27-8; 'Institut Canadien,' 29-31; Ultramontanes and +Liberals, 41-50; the tariff question, 57-8, 109-14, 118-19, 124-5, +157-8, 173-5, 235-7, 274-6; provincial rights and the Dominion, 61-72; +despondency and stagnation, 93-100; the population question, 99-100, +226-7; her relations with United States, 101-6, 187, 203-4, 208-15, +256, 257-60, 266, 268; the fisheries dispute, 104-6; annexation, +106-109; commercial union, 109-112; unrestricted reciprocity, 112-14, +118-25, 260-8; upholds the imperial connection, 129-130, 216-17, 304-6; +from colony to free state, 131-9, 187-8, 197-8, 216-17, 283-8, 290; +treaty-making powers, 134-6, 175, 179, 217, 250-2, 285-8; the High +Commissioner, 138-139; inter-imperial defence, 143, 146-9, 184, 200, +201, 202-204, 299, 301; imperial federation, 144-5 and note; +inter-imperial trade, 150-2, 206; the Boer War, 184-92; cheap postage, +206; the Joint High Commission, 209-10; the Alaskan boundary, 210-17; +the settling of the West, 218-227; her land policy, 227-8; industrial +and railway development, 228-32; state aids to production, 233-5; +Conservation Commission, 234-5; the department of Labour, 237-8; +Alberta and Saskatchewan, 238-45; trade relations with foreign powers, +250-2; the Asiatic immigration question, 252-5; International Joint +Commission, 259; the department of External Affairs, 286; land defence +development, 297-8; the naval problem, 298-9, 305-309, 310, 312-15; the +Great War, 316-18, 319; progress since Confederation, 321-4. See +Parliament. + +Canada First movement, the, 40. + +Canadian Pacific Railway, the, 38, 110; the building contract, 58-61, +95-8, 252. + +Cape Colony. See Colonial Conferences. + +Cartier, Sir George, 33, 55, 62. + +Cartwright, Sir Richard, a colleague of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, 53, 54, +82, 91, 99-100, 111, 112, 170 n., 209. + +Casault, Judge, 48. + +Catholic Programme, the, 43-4. + +Cauchon, Joseph, 33, 36, 51. + +Chamberlain, Joseph, 106; colonial secretary, 179, 185, 189, 195; his +policy of centralization, 179, 196-200, 204, 206-7; his ideal of 'free +trade within the Empire,' 205, 207; and Sir Wilfrid Laurier, 206-207; +his tariff-reform campaign, 271-6, 281. + +Chapleau, Adolphe, 33, 55. + +Charleton, John, 54, 116, 209. + +Chauveau, P. J. O., 33. + +Churchill, Winston, 277; his naval policy, 312-13. + +'Clear Grit' party, the, 20-1, 23. + +Cleveland, President, 105-6, 208. + +Colonial Conferences: (1886) 142-4; (1894) 150-1; (1897) 179-80; (1902) +195-208; (1907) 276-81, 291-7, 301; (1909) 306-307; (1911) 294-6, +308-9; an important agency of empire, 289; proposal to change name to +Imperial Council, 292; Dominions to be consulted in international +agreements, 296. See British Empire. + +Conservation Commission, the, 234-5. + +Conservative party, the, 20, 23; its tariff policy, 56-8, 110-11, 113, +119-20, 157-8, 276. See Parliament. + +Crooks Act, the, 69-70. + + +David, L. O., 13, 331. + +Davies, Sir Louis, a colleague of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, 152, 170 n., 209. + +Deakin, Alfred, 276, 301. + +Denison, Lieut.-Colonel G. T., 76 n., 144. + +Desaulniers, H. L., 11, 12. + +Dessaules, L. A., advocates religious toleration, 30 and n. + +Dobell, R. R., 170 n. + +Dominion of Canada, 61-3. See Canada. + +Dominion Railway Commission, the, 230. + +Dorion, Antoine, and Laurier, 13, 21, 36, 55. + +Dorion, Eric, 'L'Enfant Terrible,' 13, 14, 55. + +Doukhobors, the, 222, 223. + +Doutre, Joseph, his appeal to Rome, 30. + + +Edgar, J. D., 112. + +Edward VII, 195. + +Election law, 37, 46, 70-2. + +Equal Rights Association, the, 117. + +Europe, the tariff question in, 140; mad scramble for empire, 141, 303; +her interest in Canada, 221, 222, 226, 228, 250; the war of armaments, +302-4, 316; the Great War, 315-20. + + +Fielding, W. S., a colleague of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, 169 n., 170 n., +174, 196, 207, 236-7, 250, 251, 286. + +Fish, Hamilton, 108. + +Fisher, Andrew, 294, 296. + +Fisher, Sydney A., 170 n., 233. + +Fitzpatrick, Charles, solicitor-general, 170 n., 247. + +Fleming, Sir Sandford, his All-Red route, 142, 143, 149. + +Forrest, Sir John, 195. + +Foster, Sir George, 124, 150, 162; assists Mr Chamberlain in his +tariff-reform campaign, 276; his Canadian Naval Service, 305-6. + +Fournier, Telesphore, 21, 36. + +France, the conflict between church and state in, 25-7; the tariff, +140; colonial expansion, 141, 302, 303; relations with Britain, 181, +183, 303; and Sir Wilfrid Laurier, 181-4. + +Franchise Act (1885), the, 70-2. + +Fuller, Valencay, 109-10 + + +Galt, Sir A. T., 104, 107 n.; an empire-builder, 133, 135, 329. + +Geoffrion, C. A., 21, 170 n. + +Germany, 143; her trade relations with Canada, 134-5, 179, 228, 251-2; +the tariff question, 140; colonial expansion, 141, 303; challenges +British naval supremacy, 302, 303-4; her responsibility for the Great +War, 316. + +Graham, G. P., 247. + +Great Britain, her relations with the United States, 103, 256-7; the +development of the Empire, 108, 126-30, 147-8; the tariff question, +140, 150, 151, 265, 266, 271-81; her relations with European nations, +140-2, 181, 183, 303-4; the Boer War, 184-92; the problem of imperial +defence, 200-2, 204, 301, 302; the Alaskan boundary, 213, 214, 215, +216; the Canadian West, 224-6; her democratic leadership, 256-7, 281-2, +293; the Great War, 316-20. + +Grey, Sir Edward, 315. + + +Hemming, Edward, 33. + +Herschell, Lord, 209. + +Hime, Sir Albert, 195. + +Hitt, Congressman, 119, 122. + +Holton, Luther H., 33, 36, 39, 55. + +Howe, Joseph, 132, 329. + +Hughes, General Sir Sam, 291. + +Huntington, L. S., 55, 135. + + +Immigration: the campaign for settlers, 218-27; the Asiatic question, +252-5. + +Imperial federation, 101, 137-8, 139-42, 144-5, 180, 196-7, 198-9, +294-5; the League, 139-40, 145; First Colonial Conference called, 142; +impracticable, 144-5 and note. See British Empire. + +Indians, the enfranchisement of, 71-2 and note. + +'Institut Canadien,' the, 29-31. + +International Joint Commission, the, 259. + +Italy, 302; the tariff question, 140; colonial expansion, 141, 303; her +agreement with Canada, 250-1. + + +Jackson, William, 88. + +Jameson, Sir L. S., 185, 276. + +Japan, her relations with Canada, 253-5; and European aggression, 303. + +Jesuits in Canada, the, 114-16. + +Jesuits' Estates question, the, 114-17. + +Jette, Sir Louis, 44, 215. + +Joly de Lotbiniere, Sir Henri, 34, 64; in the Laurier Cabinet, 170 n., +194. + +Jones, Alfred G., 53. + + +Kaiser, the, 185, 302. + +King, W. L. Mackenzie, 238, 247. + + +Lacombe, Father, his threatening letter to Laurier, 163-4. + +Laflamme, Rodolphe, 10, 11, 21, 36. + +Lafleche, Bishop, and Laurier's newspaper, 31, 42, 44; and the Manitoba +school question, 167. + +Lanctot, Mederic, in partnership with Laurier, 12. + +Landry, A. P., 82, 85. + +Langevin, Archbishop, and the school question, 160, 167, 172, 244. + +Langevin, Sir Hector, in the Macdonald Cabinet, 55, 82, 155. + +Laurier, Sir Wilfrid, his birth and descent, 1-4; schooldays, 4-10; +early bias towards Liberalism, 9; his knowledge of French and English +literature, 6, 15-16; studies law in Montreal, 10-11; his early +partnerships, 12-13; the 'Institut Canadien,' 28-30; edits 'Le +Defricheur' and opens a law office in Arthabaskaville, 13-15, 31, 92; +his marriage, 16-17; enters the Quebec Assembly, 32-3, 34; his +criticism of dual representation, 34; enters the Dominion parliament, +34-5; the Riel question (1874-75), 39-40; a moderate protectionist, 41, +57, 173-4; his address on Political Liberalism, 48-50, 24; enters the +Mackenzie Cabinet, 51, 54; leader of French wing of Liberal Opposition, +55-6; his rising popularity, 56, 184; the C.P.R. contract, 59; the +Letellier case, 65; the Ontario boundary dispute, 67-8; the Riel +episode, 82-9; on Papineau, 83-4; his great speech in the debate on the +Landry motion, 85-9; Liberal Opposition leader, 91-3, 156-7; the +hostility of the Church, 93, 164-6; advocates unrestricted reciprocity +with the United States, 111-13, 121-2, 124; the Jesuits' Estates Act, +116-17; on commercial union with Britain, 151-2; his tribute on the +death of Sir John Macdonald, 153-4; the Manitoba school question, +162-7, 172; his answer to the threat of ecclesiastical hostility, +164-6; his electoral campaign of 1896, 166-8; prime minister, 169-70 +and note, 236, 247-8, 257, 327; his doctrine of conciliation, 172; 'the +lion of the hour' at the Jubilee ceremonies, 176-8, 180-1; G.C.M.G., +178 n.; his conception of Empire, 181, 278-9, 291; his visit to France, +181-4; the Boer War, 188-90 and note, 191-3; Colonial Conferences +(1902), 195, 206-8, 236; (1907) 277-9, 288, 292; (1911) 294, 296; his +meeting with Chamberlain, 206-7; Joint High Commission, 209; desires +treaty-making powers for Canada, 217, 286; the school question in +Alberta and Saskatchewan, 239-40, 242, 244; the defeat of his ministry, +268-9; favours imperial preference, 278; opposes the doctrine of +centralization, 291-2, 294, 296, 116; favours a Canadian navy, 306, +308, 311; four guiding principles, 325-30, 34, 49-50, 121, 192; his +great task, 329-30; a Liberal of the English school, 41, 117, 165; his +personality, 3, 4, 6, 8-9, 11, 12, 13, 34, 48, 56, 82-3, 92, 165-6, 178. + +Law, A. Bonar, and food taxes, 279-80. + +Lemieux Act, the, 238. + +Lemieux, Rodolphe, 247; his mission to Japan, 255, 286. + +Letellier de St Just, Luc, 21; lieutenant-governor of Quebec, 63-6. + +Liberalism, definition of, 282, 326. + +Liberal party: leadership in commission, 91; its tariff policy, 41, +111, 112-13, 120, 125, 157, 173-5, 250-2, 276; election anomalies and +sphere of influence, 245, 269, 167-8, 194. See Parliament. + +Lincoln, Abraham, 16. + +Lloyd-George, D., 277. + +Lorne, Marquis of, 65-6. + + +M'Carthy Act, the, 70. + +M'Carthy, D'Alton, 116, 144; his tariff policy, 157, 158. + +Macdonald, Sir John, 19, 35, 39; his administration, 53, 56, 60, 62, +64-6, 68, 70, 71-2, 77, 90, 97, 110, 116, 119, 149, 150; his contest +with Sir Oliver Mowat, 66-7, 70; his tariff policy, 56, 133-4, 150; his +political craft, 35, 77, 119-20; an empire-builder, 131-2, 135-6, 144-5 +and note, 329; Sir Wilfrid Laurier's tribute, 153-4. + +M'Kenna, Reginald, his naval policy, 306-7. + +Mackenzie, Alexander, 57, 66, 82, 122; his administration, 35-8, 39, +40, 41, 51-4. + +M'Kinley, President, his tariff, 114, 118, 208, 209. + +Macpherson, Sir David, 76 n., 78. + +Mair, Charles, and the North-West Rebellion, 76 and note. + +Manitoba, its boundary dispute, 67-8; the agitation against the C.P.R. +monopoly, 95-8; the school question, 158-68, 170-3. + +Martin, Joseph, 118, 158. + +Mercier, Honore, his rise and fall, 89-90, 115, 117, 156. + +Merry del Val, Mgr, 173. + +Metis, the, 72-7, 78-9. + +Mills, David, a colleague of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, 91, 190 n., 195. + +Monk, F. D., 310. + +Montague, Dr W. H., his artful appeal, 71-2 and note. + +Morris, Sir Edward, 294-5. + +Mousseau, Joseph A., 39. + +Mowat, Sir Oliver, premier of Ontario, 66-7, 69, 70, 117, 122; in the +Laurier Cabinet, 169 n., 170 n.; lieutenant-governor, 194. + +Mulock, William, a colleague of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, 170 n., 196, 207. + + +National party, the, 40-1, 310, 317-18; and the Church, 41-8. + +National Policy, the, 56-8, 121. See Tariffs. + +Newfoundland, and the Dominion, 100, 234; and the Empire, 195, 294-5. + +New Zealand, and the Empire, 151, 179, 195, 200, 201, 202, 304-5, 314. + +North-West Rebellion, the, 72-80. + + +O'Brien, Colonel, 116. + +Oliver, Frank, 247. + +Ontario, the boundary dispute, 67-8; the M'Laren v. Caldwell case, +68-9; liquor traffic regulation, 69-70; the Riel agitation, 81, 83, 90; +the tariff question, 109-10, 112; religious controversy in, 116-118, +167-8. + + +Papineau, L. J., 21-2, 41, 83-4. + +Parliament: Liberal (Mackenzie, 1874-78) Administration, 35-8, 39-40, +51-3, 75; --Conservative (Macdonald, 1878-91) Administration, 53, 100, +116, 152; status of lieutenant-governor, 63-6; provincial rights, +67-70; Franchise Act of 1885, 71-2; the Riel (North-West) Rebellion, +72-90; the C.P.R. monopoly, 97-8, 218-19; 'the old flag, the old man, +and the old policy,' 119-25; (Abbott, Thompson, Bowell, 1891-96) rotten +politics, 155-6; the Manitoba school question, 158-68, 170-3; Liberal +(Laurier, 1896-1911) Administration, 168-70, 213, 214, 220-1, 245-6, +254-5, 269; the schools question, 170-3, 239-45; the Boer War, 189-90 +and note, 194; Conservation Commission, 234-5; Labour Disputes Act, +237-8; Alberta and Saskatchewan, 238-45; External Affairs, 286, 250-2; +the Naval Service Bill, 305-6, 308, 310; reciprocity negotiations with +the United States ends in disaster, 261-9; --Conservative (Borden, +1911-) Administration, 268-9, 230, 286, 312; the Great War, 316-17. +See Canada. + +Paterson, William, 170 n., 196, 207. + +Patrons of Industry, the, 157-8. + +Pope, J. H., 55, 60. + +Prefontaine, J. R. F., 299. + +Protestant Protective Association, the, 117. + +Pugsley, William, 247. + + +Quebec, the assembly of 1871, 33; the Letellier case, 63-6; the Ontario +boundary, 67; the Riel agitation, 81, 83, 89; the Jesuits' Estates Act, +115; the school question, 168, 243. + + +Reciprocity question, the, 104, 111, 112-14, 119-22, 261-8. + +Rhodes, Cecil, 185. + +Riel, Louis, 39-40; leader of the North-West Rebellion, 73, 78, 79-80, +81, 85, 87-8 and n. + +Riel Rebellions, the, 38-40, 72-80. + +Ritchie, Mr Justice, 48. + +Roman Catholic Church in Canada, 23-4, 27-8; its hostility to +Liberalism, 29-31, 41-8, 90, 167; the schools question, 159-61, 163-4, +167, 172, 240-1, 244-5. + +Root, Elihu, 214, 258. + +Ross, Sir George, 311. + +Rouge party, the, 21-2, 23-4, 28, 40. + +Routhier, A. B., 43, 47. + +Royal Military College, the, 38. + +Russia, 140; and empire, 141, 210, 303. + + +Sackville-West, Sir Lionel, 106. + +Salisbury, Marquis of, 142-3. + +Saskatchewan, the province formed, 238-9; the school question, 239-45. + +School question, the, 158-68, 170-3, 239-45. + +Scott Act, the, 38, 69-70. + +Scott, R. W., 170 n. + +Seddon, Richard, 195. + +Selborne, Lord, 195, 200. + +Sifton, Sir Clifford, 170 n., 234, 244, 247, 279; his immigration +campaign, 221-2, 223, 224. + +Smith, Goldwin, 107, 109, 110. + +Smuts, General, 318. + +South Africa, 198; the Boer War, 184-92; and imperial defence, 304-5, +314. See Colonial Conferences. + +Sprigg, Sir Gordon, 195. + +Strathcona, Lord, 59; High Commissioner, 191, 279. + + +Tache, Archbishop, 160. + +Taft, President, 261-3, 265. + +Tariffs: in Canada, 56-8, 150, 174-5, 205-7, 235-7, 249-52, 260-8, +274-6; in Europe, 140; in Britain, 150, 205-7, 271-81; in United +States, 260-3. + +Tarte, J. Israel, 155, 170 n., 193; 'Master of the Administration,' +236, 247. + +Taschereau, Archbishop, his moderate policy, 42, 44, 45. + +Taschereau, Mr Justice, decides against the Church, 47-8. + +Thompson, Sir John, 85, 124; prime minister, 155, 156. + +Tupper, Sir Charles, in the Macdonald Cabinet, 60, 106, 111, 120, 124, +136; prime minister, 148, 162, 166, 167; leader of Opposition, 175, +193, 194, 204; an empire-builder, 329. + +Tupper, Sir Hibbert, 162. + +Turner, Senator, 214. + + +United States, 62, 63, 99, 209; misconceptions regarding Canada, 94; +'feeling its oats,' 102; relations with Britain, 103, 257; the +fisheries dispute, 104-6; political and commercial relations with +Canada, 106-9, 109-14, 118-19, 124-5, 208-15, 257-63, 266, 268; the +Monroe Doctrine, 203-4; the Joint High Commission, 209-10; the Alaskan +boundary, 210-15; the conservation conference, 234; her diplomatic +development, 256. + + +Venezuela episode, the, 102, 208, 209, 212. + +Victoria, Queen, 176, 195. + + +Ward, Sir Joseph, 276, 293-6. + +White, James, 235. + +White, Thomas, 78; his tribute to Laurier, 86. + +Wiman, Erastus, 109. + +Winter, Sir James, 209. + + + + + Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty + at the Edinburgh University Press + + + + +Transcriber's notes: + +Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers enclosed in curly +braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where page breaks occurred +in the original book, in accordance with Project Gutenberg's FAQ-V-99. +For its Index, a page number has been placed only at the start of that +section. In the HTML version of this book, page numbers are placed in +the left margin. + +Footnotes have been renumbered sequentially and moved to the end of +their respective chapters. The book's Index has a number of references +to footnotes, e.g. the "107 n." under "Abbott." In such cases, check +the referenced page to see which footnote(s) are relevant. + +In the original book, each page had its own header. 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