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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds 6 des taux de r6duction diff6rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 A partir de I'angle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche 6 droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ■X', f \ REPUBLIC OR t COLONY ? SOME REMARKS ON THE PRESENT CRISIS BY JOSEPH ROYAL IJITB UBCTENANT DOTXBIfOR OF THX KOBTB-WIBT TEBBITOBIXt MONTREAL EUSftBE SENEGAL & FILS, PRINTERS 20 ST. VINCENT STREET 1894 ;:i jL I. '■^'4 1 m A REPUBLIC OR A COLONY '■ A Pre Gov Eus T hoi oft] noti II REPUBLIC OR t COLONY ? SOME REMARKS ON THE PRESENT CRISIS BY JOSEPH ROYAL LATE LIEUTENANT QOYEBNOB OF THE NOKTH-WEBT TEBRIT0RIE8 A IIepubwc or a Cot on y ? Some remarks on the Present Crisis, by Joseph Royal, late Lieutenant Governor of the Horth-Weet Territories.— Montreal, Eusdbe Sen^cal & Kils, Publishers, 1894 This political study of the present situation is to be had at the leading bookstores : price, 26 cts. N. B.— The Publishers earnestly request the Editor of the paper in which the above pamphlet will be noticed to sddress one copy to their office, Montreal. m H "^s^ss II REPUBLIC OR t COLONY ? SOME REMARKS ON THE PRESENT CRISIS BY JOSEPH ROYAL LATE LIEUTENANT GOYERNOB OF THE NORTH-WKBT TERRIT0BIE8 MONTREAL EUSftBE SENEGAL A FILS, PRINTERS 20 ST. VIN'CEXT STREET I8i>i F5081 ■I I J I •-^N A REPUBLIC OR A COLONY SOME REMARKS ON TUB PRESENT CRISIS ♦ • In this land of America where societies are born and in freedom reach maturity, it is natural that the Canadian constitution which has lasted for a quarter of a century should now be showing unequivocal signs of insufficiency. Though sound as a poli- tical idea in 1867, this constitution is mark- ed in an ever lessening degree by the am- m ■■1 Mi — 6 — plitude and elasticity demanded by the ever changing conditions of the country. The atmosphere that it created hardly suffices for the economic and social life that it has developed ; the intrinsic difficulties after a transient conciliation have become as threatening as before, and beneath the daring feet of the new generation the ground becomes more and more shifting and uncertain. Commerce, enlarged and powerfully vivified by a tariff wisely protective, longs for that liberty of which all the avenues save those that lead to itself are barred by the Metropolis ; and industry, after having done wonders, is loudly demanding new markets. Canada continues her forward march, but her equipment grows worse and worse for the definitive attainment of tranquillity within her borders and the development of her public wealth. A country never stands still : it advances or goes backward accord ing to the perfection of its institutions and their conformity to the ideal type adopted ^ i by its leading men. If it relaxes its speed, be assured that no half measures or mere changes of tariff will restore the charm and energy of movement that characterize young nationalities. To transfer the fur- niture from one room to another may give an appearance of movement, but it is only equivalent to a pawing of the ground and is but the deceptive illusion of life. The building tends to become too small ; the question is how to provide in time for its enlargement. The family has; multiplied, and the children have spread out in all directions like young oaks that require all the dews of a bounteous sky, all the fertili- zing rays of an unclouded sun. On the other hand, order is an essential element of a nation's progress, and what is order but the balance of all the social energies, the salutary curb applied to the manifold aspi- rations of the various groups of a great confederation like that of Canada ? Now this balance, this equilibrium, is menaced at several points of our social organism. The constitution of 1867, admirable in 8 — other respects, has not made sufficient pro- vision for the maintenance of all rights ; and when young democracies like ours do not- make such provision in time, the brutal policy of the stronger is at last enthroned as sovereign, and by a tragic deno^ment, the song of victory becomes the death-song of justice and truth. The government of majorities soon becomes the formula of the most frightful tyrannies when minorities have no guaranty for their rights, and the weak no guaranty for protection. The political contract of 1867 was the necessary result of reciprocal concessions between the contracting parties : Do tit des ; facio ut facias. Not one of its clauses should have been so construed as to be liable to a disastrous ambiguity that is the mother of chicanery and paralysing crises in poli- tics. Lucidity of expression is born of frank intention ; better wrong brutally affirmed than right timidly concealed under words open to every wind of interpretation. Let us not forget that the immense dif- ficulties of the Manitoba school question ^^ — 9 — had for pretext the ambiguous terms of a law by which in 1870 the attempt was made to do what is impossible, that is, in a mixed parliament like ours to satisfy every body. And, if the political horizon is at this moment charged with clouds, if the school question menaces the peace and freedom ofconscienceofovertwo millions of Canadians, are we not justified in regretting that the constitution of 1867 was not able to protect us from the source of this dire unrest that has overtaken us ? Such are some of the signs which impose it as a duty on every public man to con- sider the present situation so as to prepare opinion for, perhaps, the only possible re- medy, the only change which in our judg- ment would confer safety and life. It is not necessary to say whether this remedy should be applied to-morrow or the day after : our special aim is to protest against the writings and the utterances of those who assign for the salvation of the country all kinds of ill- defined projects of national and religious suicide. Our reflexions — 10 — invite discussion, and we wish it to be serious and worthy of the subject : we would challenge it in the full light shed upon the destinies of Canada by her glo- rious history and by the private character and social organization of her people. Yes, it is our belief that certain changes are absolutely necessary, changes that would give an impulse to our progress ; changes which while safeguarding all rights demand the observance of all duties ; changes that would render the power of the State stronger by making men's cons- ciences more free ; changes that would guarantee the general constitution and those of the provinces against the audacious assaults of parties ; changes that would de- termine irrevocably the organization of ter- ritories, the formation and mode of creation of new provinces ; changes that would per- mit of certain modifications in the constitu- tion of one of the great bodies of the State, modifications sanctioned by experience and the march of ideas ; changes, in fine, which, by relaxing without any shock the colonial » — 11 — ' tie, would give to Canada the right of grant- ing or refusing the favors of her customs tariffs according to the dictates of her own best interests. God forbid that we should entangle Canada in perilous adventures ! But let us have and exercise foresight in order to govern ! A critical situation gains by being looked at without disguise and face to face, without those veils of illusion in which the reality is wont to be shrouded by distrustful timidity, the laissez-faire of politicians who have gained their ow^n ends, and the guilty designs of disbelievers in patriotism. God forbid that the people of Canada, having lost all virility, should become so degenerate through the utilitarian virus and the search for material well-being as to decree their own fall ! The struggle for life is also the law of societies, and for the nation that abandons the battle there remains no expectation but to be trampled on by the feet of the fighters who pass their way. No, we do not believe that the changes (■;'■ '1 I — 12 — necessary for our political salvation, if made in time, should have any other goal than that of affirming our exceptional vitality and of realizing the providential ideal of every nation growing to maturity. But we believe also that the actual situation cannot last very long, and that if it should be unduly prolonged, so intense would become the crisis at every stage of the social organism that the heads of the government, ais- todes jtisti, would find themselves, some fine morning, without authority enough to ap- pease the final tempest, without strength to place the country in a position of security. II Here we are met by a question : have the people of Canada a right to seek their sal- vation by means that would change their political complexion ? Would not there be in such an evolution, if desired, an element of insubordination, nay, even of disloyalty, that would offend the principle of authority ? Would it not, perhaps, mean a revolt against legitimate power? If the mother country had not on several occasions de- clared by the lips of ministerial authority, of its representative men of highest dis- tinction, that the tie which attached it to Canada had become virtually imperceptible and that the day when this colony believed that the hour for separation had arrived, she would interpose no obstacle whatever ; if the Imperial Parliament had not in 1867 it'i — 14 — 1 1 itself paved the way for that event, by the gift of a constitution declaring the North-American provinces self-governing, we would assuredly have some ground for hesitation. In that case, it would be necessary to begin by addressing to the mother country our remonstrances, our petitions, and to seek in its all powerful intervention the sanction of our national ideas, the remedy for our internal difficulties. But it is well known that England's colonial system has long since ceased to demand this absolute interchange of rights and duties between the United Kingdom and the great colo- nies over sea. These latter, as was na- tural, have not failed to enter resolutely on the way that was open to them and there remain but few traces of the old regime. They are to-day in the fullest pos- session of self-government for all ques- tions of internal administration, and the only occasions on which they are reminded of their dependent status is when it is necess- ary to conclude treaties with foreign powers. I 51 a: — 15 — Doubtless, it was the least indemnity that the metropolis could insist on for the enor- mous risks to which the protection of Ca- nada by her flag has exposed her. "It " is certain," writes Sir Charles Dilke, in his Problems of Greater Britain, ** that as long " as Canada remains a British colony, but " fails to take sufficient steps for her own " protection, we stand at a disadvantage " in negotiations with the United States. " As a general rule, when one country is " invulnerable by another the advantages " and disadvantages of that situation are " reciprocal. If Great Britain did not own " Canada, the United , Kingdom and the " United States would stand to one another " in a military sense in the same relation in " which Great Britain and Germany stand " to one another, each of them to all prac- " tical purposes invulnerable by the other. " But, holding Canada as we do, we natu- " rally have to think twice before even " standing up for our own in any discussion " with the Government of the United States. " The Canadian frontier is absolutely inde- I — 16 " fensible by England On the other " hand, the overrunning of the Dominion '* by the United States in the event of war " would appear, when considered from a *' point of view wider than that of mere " British interests in North America, to be " a serious blow to the United Kingdom, " and the loss of Canada by force would " probably have a good deal of influence " upon our position in Australia and in " India. It is impossible for us of ourselves •' to strike out any new policy upon these " subjects, and evident that we must follow " Canadian lead." Such is the fact. And as for right, we maintain that the political powers are the destined means for securing order and the immediate object of society, that is, the boon of natural hap- piness. Now this natural happiness which is to be attained by the power of the state is nothing else than the protection of all rights and the discharge of all duties. We are therefore justified in concluding that if the constitution of 1867 has become — 17 — powerless to assure throug^hout the Domi- nion social order and material civilization, it behooves authority to take the measures necessary to remove the evil, and the citizens have the right to demand that this duty be discharged. At the present hour we insist that the Canadian people have the right to study and to seek their safety in the final evolution of their destinies. i Ill But it may be asked, is Canada ripe for this definitive evolution ? Does it offer the characteristics that should distinguish a nation ? Can it be said of its economic orga- nization, its traditions, its history, its institu- tions, its aspirations, its geographical situa- tion, that they form a group of communities presenting in their entirety a special type different from that of the communities that environ it ? What is a nation ? The Bible, after giving the genealogy of of each of the Sons of Noah, adds : " Such are the families of Noah according to their peoples and their nations. By them were the nations divided after the flood " : — and further on : "And the Lord said, " Behold they are one people and have all one I — 20 — language, etc." Here in these two passages we find the first concept of a nation. It is the family that, lays the foundation of society : community of origin, of language, of religion is indicated as society's primitive elements ; the secondary element, that of territory or country, appears almost imme- diately when, in punishing the children of Shem, God visits them with confusion of language and forces them to separate ; after which groups are formed according to affi- nities of speech. Now, in those early times mankind had but one religion. In the course of ages, the nation multiplies to such a degree that its territory no longer suffices either for the tilling of the ground or for other branches of industry ; and then the .era of conquest succeeds. Blood is shed and the vanquished dragged behind the chariot of the proud conqueror announces to the astonished world that the liberty of the nations has ceased to be inviolable. Grotius affirms that the nation is nothing else than a society, a people. The Encyclo- pedists hold that the nation is a collective — 21 — term servintr to desio^nate a considerable number of people settled within common limits and subjected to the same govern- ment. Coleridge writes : " a nation is the unity of a people." According to another writer, " the germinal idea of a nation is that of a union of people for the purpose of using the collective power to promote the common welfare." Bryce, in his remarkable work on the United States, relates that, some years ago, when the Protestant Epis- copal Church was engaged in revising its liturgy, several members of the convention expressed a desire to compose a prayer for the Republic and one member proposed the invocation, " Lord, bless the nation ! " On the following day, the subject being again under discussion, a certain number of lay members wished to change the fore- going invocation on the ground that the term nation was too precise a recognition of national unity. They adopted the follow- ing : " Lord, bless the United States ! " Bryce seems to approve of this illogical change because, as he alleges, the American — 22 — system is a Republic of Republics, a State composed of States, the life of which latter is more essential than that of the whole. Evidently, in Mr Bryce's judgment, a nation exists only when its allegiance is without division, when its ]3olitical regime excludes all distribution of powers and unless its pa- triotism has exclusive relation to the image of native land enlarged and unified. For him a nation is constituted only in so far as it is submitted to a form of government which neitherdelegates its powers noraccepts those of any of the divisions of the community. The author of the American Commonwealth is, in our opinion, strangely astray in thus declining to recognize the nation in an aggregation of several groups of confederate families. He attaches too much importance to the form of government in thus making a political regime the essential condition of the existence of a nationality. Mr. James Wilson, who represented Pennsylvania at the Convention of 1787, and one of the siffners of the Constitution of I 789, was not of that opinion when he said : 1 — 23 — " By the adoption of the present constitu- tion we become a nation, which as vet we are not. We will form a national character ; to-day we are too dependent on others." And this fact, the ratification of the con- stitution by the thirteen States which made up the community of the English revolted provinces, made them a nation- They had a common language, save that New York comprised a certain number of Hollanders and Swedes, while Pennsyl- vania harbored one group of Germans and New Eni^land a few settlements of French Huguenots. The same religion. Protest- antism, was also on the ascendant with the exception of the Catholic colonies of Mary- land. They had the same fundamental law — the common law of England ; the same national spirit, formed in the wars undertaken against the motherland, and the same at:achment to democratic forms on the part of their several legislatures. Their territories, if not compact, were still bounded by continuous frontiers. Out of a simple league organized with the sole object of :-. .J 11 < M — 24 resisting the tyranny of the mother country, the Convention of 1789 made a nation with a central government exercising ab- sokite authority in certain matters strictly defined over the entire federal union, of which, nevertheless, it was the creation. In our judgment, a nation is a society which has in the course of time attained its full development and possesses a sufficient degree of unity in race, territory and social and political tendencies to distinguish it from all other communities. By a suffi- cient degree of unity of race we mean the predominance of one race enabling it to absorb and control all the others in the same country ; by territorial unity we mean a region vast enough to allow of the national expansion of its inhabitants ; by unity of speech we understand such a uniformity in language as would suffice for the needs of internal and foreign relations ; by that of religion, we mean the different forms of faith and worship, Christian, Mahommedan, pagan, as principal sources of public or national sentiment. i<' I We have indicated time as one of the elements in the formation of a nation : in fact, nothing here below is the result of a day's effort. A nation cannot be impro- vised : it is essentially a work of Providence in the divine plan of human societies. Its origin, its development, its progress, its prosperity and adversity are all the theme of its history. By unity of government we understand a country administered by a reoinie distinct from that of its neighbors ; and finally, by unity of social and political tendencies we mean the peculiar character that differen- tiates the civilization of one people from that of another. This definition — to confine our survey to the great nations of the pre- sent — is applicable to England, to France, to Germany, to Austria, to Russia, to the American Republics, as to-morrow it may be alike applicable to Canada and Australia. A nation may comprise within its pale several different languages and religions without any diminution of its unity. Great Britain is inhabited by a people whose 3 •«B5l!Jiii|j — 26 — origins are sufficiently varied. Nevertheless, the fusion long since accomplished of Saxon, Angle, Briton and Norman was complete enough to render the resulting national ele- ment strong enough to control (though without absorbing) the less numerous and unassimilizable races. The nationalities of Ireland, Scodand and Wales, for instance, and the French groups of the Channel Islands have remained apart and largely intact. The English language has pene- trated to all the strata of the nation, yet in Jersey and Guernsey, in the Highlands of Scotland, the rural districts of Ireland and in the Principality of Wales, the primitive tongue of the people still flourishes and is not likely to yield to any intruder. It is the same in the matter of religion. The established religion is that of the Anglican Church ; but Catholicism in Ireland, Pres- byterianism in Scotland and Methodism among the Welsh constitute the great reli- gious divisions of the nation. In France, Austria and Russia, we see a like variety of origins, of languages and i 27 — i f even of religions. Italy, Germany and Spain alone are characterized by an approximate unity of race, religion and language. In the New World, the Spanish Ame- rican Republics are inhabited by the Latin races and likewise possess identity of reli- gion, language and origin. The Republic of the United States numbers among its inhabitants from seven to eight millions of Germans, as many of Irish, about three millions of French and some hundred thousand of Italians, Hungarians and Mex- icans, making about a third of the entire population. Of sixty-five millions of people, the Catholics form nearly a fifth ; the various Protestant sects make up the re mainder. Still, in some wards of New York, Chicago or Milwaukee, one might fancy himself in Germany ; in others, he might think he was in Italy, while in some of the States, he might imagine that he was in F'rance. This is especially the case in some isolated corners of Louisiana. The United States became a nation in the midst of incessant conflicts against the I — 28 — Indians, against the neighboring Colonies and in heroic struggles with the mother country. Like the little Canadian people, it remained for long years without any social intercourse with the nation from which it had its origin, and this condition of things was indeed almost necessary for the formation of a new nationality. A religious faith of most evident intensity animated the more energetic groups, and even when the young republic opened its doors to immi- gration from the old land, such was its innate vigor that the new elements were constrained ere long to assimilate themselves with the whole and to part with their individualities. In spite of the lapse of ages, England, France, Austria, Russia, never succeeded in fusing completely the races and tongues that went to the making of those powers. The French nation, the English nation, the Austrian nation were the results of several nationalities grouped around the strongest of them. Controlled by the leading element in each case, they ended by coordinating into a single organi- i — 29 — sation and policy and thus gave birth to a nation distinct from others by its peculiar civih'zation. History shows that the nations thus formed are among the most prosperous, the most long-lived and the most energetic, and that if a country vaunts itself (like Italy, for example) of the purity of its race, it is clear that the absence of new blood is most often the cause of weakness in social and political development. i IV Now, if we apply to Canada the test of our definition can we claim that there is such a thing- as a Canadian Nation ? Does Canada in her unity of government, territory and race present the essentials of a distinct na- tional organism ? Like Australia, like the neighboring republic, Canada is a British colony to which the Mother Country has sent its swarms of emigrants, lent its capital and communicated its form of government. But it also differs from those communities in some essential respects and presents peculiar characteristics found in neither of them. It was originally a French possess- ion, a portion of New France. Cartier landed here in 1535 ; Champlain founded Quebec in 1608, and Maisonneuve founded Montreal in 1642. Itwas ceded to England n :n. 1 w^ — 32 — i i !.l in 1 763 with a population of 70,000 souls of one orii^in.one language and one religious faith. By the treaty of Versailles the vic- tor engaged to respect the beliefs, the lan- guage and the laws of his new subjects. In other words, the United Kingdom became the godfather (without perhaps dreaming of such a thing) of this young nationality which it saved from death by separating it from the mei'e patrie, and whose existence and due development it solemnly guaran- teed. Later on, immigration from Great Britain colonized Acadia, as well as the western part of the Province of Quebec, and gave birth to settlements which subse- quently grew into Nova Scotia, New Bruns- wick and Ontario. These provinces had a gradual development. After repeated conflicts with the Colonial office, they finally attained such a degree of autonomy that in 1 866, when the political leaders of the time proposed the federation of all the colonies of British North America, the latter were ready socially and economically for that measure of quasi- independence. All these ill — 83 — provinces had their peculiar history, as they had their special methods of expansion. In turn, irritated or soothed by the political con- dition with which they had been endowed, inspired by the material wants of their geo- graphical situation, they advanced with un- equal steps along the path of progress and borrowed from the incidents of the road the peculiar physiognomies that were by and by to differentiate them from each other. The union effected by the British North America Act of 1867 was not a legislative union. It was of necessity a federation — the one alternative being no union at all — just as the republic of the thirteen American colonies in 1 7 76 had to be a federal union or no union at all. To make this clear it will suffice to recall certain facts that belong to the domain of history. Every one remembers the famous conclusions of Lord Durham's Report and the attempt made in 1841 to fuse into one the two provinces of Lower and Upper Canada. Every one knows that, after twenty- five years of varying for- • >: ' W!A'j«tPffl i ajwaJ*'' > *^''> g^'^^"^-'^^^^^^^^ 5Si'i3iii;asii8i''JSB»i!iv — 34 — tunes, the scheme had an abortive ending, the main design of the authors proving a wretched failure. The very nature of things caused this constitution to undergo a deviation in a federal direction, so that, though united in name, the two provinces remained in reality as far apart as before. The legislature nominally controlled by one prime minister had really two ; the system which came to be well known as the double majority was early imposed on all cabinets ; every administration had a pair of ministers at its head, two political Siamese twins ; and the House of Assembly soon learned that the new regime was prac- ticable only on condition that the special institutions and usages of each of the pro- vinces were respected by the other. On the written constitution was thus grafted an unwritten one which was the reflection of each of the two nationalities which the former was meant to assimilate. The germs of liberty deposited in the first caused the second to come to life, and the two pro- vinces emerged from the union regime 35 — I I Stronger, more energetic, more seasoned in political warfare and as distinct as ever after a trial of a quarter cer.tury. Some years ago, it may be recalled, there was some agitation touching a project of legislative union between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The end in view, at first sight laudable enough, was such a grouping of the populations of these provinces as would enable them to play in the federal concert a role equal to that of Quebec or Ontario; 2iX\d prima facie there seemed to be no reason why such a design should not be realized. In each province the same race, the same religion, the same language predominated. Besides, the Act of 1867 was silent as to the readjustments that might take place in the interprovincial equilibrium. Nevertheless the project did not succeed. And ior this reason : each of the provinces h.d its historic past, its heritage of tradi- tions and an autonomy thit it prized in sni'e of the apparent id'^^n*"'ty of material interests. They had grown and progressed ?ide by side too long to hi able to sacrifice I ^T^fiSSiKSB BJS^ III — P.C) — their separate life and independance. It was in fact too late for such a scheme. Surprise has naturally been caused at the almost continual wars that desolate the Spanish American Republics, and one is tempted to ask if it would not be better in the interest of civilization to unite the most of these stater under a strongly centralized government which would maintain peace within and inspirle respect abr.jr.c! But there also it is too late for tr>^ ch; nge. The sons of the same mother have come of age and been emancipated and each of them constitutes a family apart. The stream of sotial evolution cannot be as- cended any more than a nation that has bloomed forth in the free air of democratic institutions can be stifled and crushed. The Canadian Nation received its bap- tismal register in the Imperial Act o^ 1 867. Every nationality represented in eacl; of the provinces has become one o^ the units of the General Government, while guarding with jealous care the ab'.olute control of its own institutions, its civil laws — 37 — and social development. Neither Mr. Goldwin Smith nor Mr. Dalton McCarthy shows any deep ethnological knowledge when, settling the future destinies of Canada, they announce their intention of eliminating one of its nationalities because it mars the general uniformity. On the contrary it is this very diversity in unity which constitutes the beauty, the strength and the distinct phy- siognomy of the Canadian Confederation. We might here repeat the remarkable words both of Lord Dufferin and Lord Stanley, but we will content ourselves by reading what Mr. Bourinot, President of the Royal Society, said at Ottawa on the 24th of May last, while addressing a most distinguished audience. He had taken for the theme of his discourse, the words : " Canada's intellectual Strength and Weak- ness," and he spoke as follows : " In all probability the French language " will continue into a far and indefinite future " to be that of a large and inHuential section *' of the population of Canada, and it must " consequently exercise great influence on :s I 'Jl 38 — 1) I :!! (( the culture and intellect of the Dominion. Both French and English nationalities have vied with each other in the past to build up their Confederation, and have risen time and again superior to those national antagonisms created by differ- ence of opinion at crises in our own his- tory. Antagonisms are happily dispelled by the common sense, reason and patrio- tism of men of both races. We should look forward to a friendly rivalry on the part of the best minds among French and English Canadians to stimulate the genius of their people in art, history, poetry and romance, by cultivating that social and in- tellectual intercourse which may at all events find them both as one in spirit and aspiration, however different they may continue in language and tempe- rament. Many prejudices must be re- moved, social life must gain in charm and intellect must be developed by finding strenijth where it is needed in the mental efforts of the two races, with the widen- ing of the sympathies of the national i it — 39 — " elements, with the disappearance of that " provinciah'sm which means narrowness of " mental vision, with growth of experience " and knowledge with the creation of wider " sympathy for native talent. Since the days " when Canada entered on its career of " competition in the civilisation of this con- " tinent first there was an era of French " Canadian occupation, then followed that *' era which dates from the confederation of " the provinces, an era of which the first " quarter of a century has only past, of " which the signs are still a promise, despite " predictions of gloomy thinkers, if Cana- " dians remain true to themselves and face " the future with the same courage and con- " fidence that have distinguished the past". The nationality of Ontario constitutes a state in the confederation on the same title as the nationalities of Quebec, of British Columbia and of Nova Scotia. It would moreover be just as unreasonable for one of those nationalities to demand the pros- cription of all the others as for all the others to try and crush out one of them. Besides, i'''-8 i< ■ft. — 40 — f there would be difficulties in the way of such an attempt which it would be folly to ignore ; for to undertake to reduce to social and political nothingness more than a million and a quarter of undividuals or even a few hundred thousands is a task not to be accomplished easily or in a moment. In Canada the Anglo-Saxon population is in a majority. This element possesses a predominance assured to it by its numbers, its wealth and those strong and solid qualities which have enabled it to occupy one half of the American continent and to hold it as a sovereign. Still its character has been somewhat modified by the action not less energetic of considerable minorities of the Latin race with which it is in necessary daily contact for all the details of social and political life. And it is this happy two- fold character which renders the Canadian Nation different from all those that sur- round it. Its civilization, due to qualities both French and English, comprises good taste, brilliancy, and a development of ho- — 41 — nesty and prudence not met with among its neighbors. Incapable of absorbing the French race that constitutes the bulk of the population of the province of Quebec and includes important fractions of that of New Bruns- wick and Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba and the Territories, the Anglo-Sa^on race is, notwithstanding sufficiently slrong in numbers to control the destinies of Canada and to imprint the seal of its prodigious vitality on the industrial and commercial progress of the Dominion. Its power of absorbing and assimilating the colonies of German, Russian, Scandinavian and Ice- landic immigrants that arrive yearly from Europe is indisputable and enables it to maintain its role of the predominant race in Canada. Of this we do not complain. Assuredly Canadians who speak French as their mother tongue have a right to be proud of their origin. Though they do not belong to modern France, their role on this continent has been glorious enough to constitute a history of which every chapter 4 r:; I til -■ If ii 1 ii !. I — 42 — is an epic. Providence saved them from the Revolution of 1790 and from Bonaparte by making them subjects of England ; and their influence to-day in the Canadian Con- federation is considerable enough to tempt all the ambitions, and great enough to make them regarded as one of the most important elements in the groups that constitute the Nation. Uniformity of Lpeech is necessary in an independent country. By this quality we do not mean t^ at all the inhabitants should speak the same language ; for, inasmuch as the preponderance of one nationality does not preclude the existence of other units of race, in the same way the language of the majority should be that of the country for its inter- provincial and foreign relations. Nor should this give umbrage to the minority. Let us suppose a country inhabited by groups of various races speaking different lan- guages, each group strong enough to main- tain its identity without alien mixture, but too weak to take the lead and impose its ascendancy on the other. It is clear that a [/ 1 — 43 — country thus situated would never arrive at greatness or at the repute of a glorious and independent people. Now, Canada, like England, Germany, the United States and Australia, is a Christian country, whose legislation, habits and manners are inspired to a great extent by the truths cf Christ's Gospel. It differs from the foregoing States in the fact that here the Catholics form an imposing minor- ity. More numerous than any single Pro- testant sect, they are a minority only through the nominal union of the Pro- testant churches under a common name. We have already seen how the several provinces of Canada had, each in its time, each in accordance with a variety of circumstances and with local peculia- rities, developed a character of its own of social and political advancement. This character, which gives to each member of the Canadian Confederation its distinct and separate physiognomy has, in each case, a sufficiency of points of resemblance with that of the next neighbor to produce that If, ;" !■ rr i — 44 — ensemble of family features that is necessary for national unity. Now, we may ask, has Canada that ter- ritorial unity that is requisite for national life and development ? In reply to that question it may be recalled that at the time of the violent separation of the New England Colonies from the Mother Country, their population was no greater than that of Canada at the census of 189 1. Those colonies little by little pushed back their frontiers to the westward and finally took possession of the half of this part of the American continent. In 1867 Canada con- sisted of settlements marshalled along the Atlantic coast and the St. Lawrence valley, and in her turn cast her regards to the mysterious west and advanced with giant strides to the Pacific. The annexation of British Columbia finally set the seal to the conquest of her national frontiers, and at this moment the federal Parliament at Ottawa gives Jaws to a country bounded on the east by the Atlantic, on the west by the Pacific, on the north by the Polar — 45 — Sea and on the south by the coterminus line that divides our land from the United States. In fine, North America is divided into two great regions — the United States to the south, and Canada to the north. The United States, save where they touch on Mexico, are bathed on the east and south and west by the sea ; Canada has the ocean on the east and west and north. The expansion of the Canadian people is menaced, therefore, by no territorial dispute. There is room in the Dominion for a popu- lation of a hundred million souls, as there is' room in this northern half of the new world for two great federal republics, that of the United States and that of Canada. is; ^ v*' ' H } x-^ V As we have already stated, the economic situation with which Canada has been brought face to face is one for which the half measures devised by the parliamentary parties are shown to be more and more in- adequate with ev jry passing day. This situation is the natural result of the con- tinuous development of the country. Its financial institutions arc doubtless admirable in their constitution and administration ; but it is no less true that its industries and its commerce suffer no little embarrassment for lack of markets. And this unhappy state of things is simply due to the fact that Canada is not free to conclude her own commercial treaties and to take the measures necessary to secure the custom that is essential to her welfare. As a ■3- i'' w i H m I ! — 48 — colony, no foreign power will listen to her appeals unless they are backed by the Secretaries in Downing Street. Contracts are made not with the subordinate, but with the principal. For instance, the main obstacle that prevents Canada from opening commercial negotiations with the neighbor- ing Republic is her powerlessness to con- clude a treaty in which the interests of the Metropolis might if necessary be ignored or neglected. For, supposing that the two governments at Ottawa and Washington were to arrive to-morrow at an understand- ing, it would still be necessary that the treaty should be conducted on our behalf by the Foreign Secretary at London, in whose hands it would run a thousand and one risks of coming to grief if it contained the least clause favoring the United States without regard to English interests. Yet it is most important for our neighbors as for ourselves that the intercourse between the two countries should be established on a solid and permanent basis. The immense frontier that separates us makes it essential I W i — 49 — that our reciprocal welfare and advantage shouUl be placed beyond all doubt or peril. The United States require certain of our products, while Canada, on the other hand, must ever find it profitable to obtain from aerobe the frontier such articles as the Dominion neither raises nor manufactures. We import yearly from the United States more than three millions and a half dollars' worth of indian corn, nearly ten millions' worth of coal, five and a quarter millions' worth of wrought iron, three millions and a third of raw cotton, seven hundred thousand dollars' worth of india rubber, nearly three hundred thousand dollars' worth of fruit, nearly two millions and a half dollars' worth of undressed wool and hides and nearly half a million dollars' worth of kerosene. The imports to Canada from the United States during the year 1891-92 amounted to more than twenty-nine and a half million dollars' worth of articles paying customs duty, and to more than twenty three and two-thirds million dollars' worth of articles on the free list. 5 :il "If .* If ! j — so- on our side we export to the United States nearly ten millions' worth of wood, three millions six hundred thousand dollars' worth of fish, more than a million's worth of horses, a million's worth of sheep, twenty- two thousand dollars' worth of cattle, and more than a million dollars' worth of eggs, cheese, butter and fowh England takes only second rank. Of her manufactures we receive cottons to the amount of two million and a half dollars, a million and a half dollars' worth of furs, hats and gloves, nine hundred thousand dollars' worth of pottery, porcelain and drugs, more than seven hundred thousand dollars' worth of books, more than two hundred thousand dollars' worth of beer, more than a million dollars' worth of ready-made clothing, a million dollars' worth ©f carpets, eight and a half million dollars' worth of cloths, tweeds and flannels, stockings, garments, shawls, etc., three million and a third dollars' worth of copper, tin and iron rails. The whole amount of the products that we receive from Great Britain is thirty millions eight hundred i II — 51 — thousand dollars, paying customs duty, and ten millions and a half admitted free. These statistics taken frpm the published tables of 1892, and given in round numbers will suffice to indicate on which side the balance of Canada's commercial policy should incline if we would assure the pro- gress of our national wealth. It may perhaps be argued that this need of fresh outlets for Canadian commerce does not constitute a necessity of the public order, that it is a matter for the manufac- turer who should make the demand of his limited custom the measure of his produc- tion and that the government should not be held responsible for the excess. This theory we consider false. In the first place, it is contrary to the Christian idea of society according to which it is the latter's duty to promote by wise measures the healthy movement of the wealth which diffuses nutriment and vigor through the entire body politic. But to assure this benefit, it is not sufficient to : ,., •imiimm h • ^^Sii=>^.^i^...MiiU ]i I ii' !' I — 52 — stimulate the producing power which, it should not be forgotten, is of greater impor- tance than wealth itself. It is also necess- ary to help it on by wise laws, to protect it at least for a time from foreign rivalry by a tariff legislation adapted to its needs. This has indeed been already done for some fifteen years. Nor does any one doubt that without these special privileges the manufacturers of Canada would have suc- cumbed to the ruinous competition of foreign rivals determined to hold control of the market. The day after their creation they would have ceased to exist. It has been demonstrated again and again that everywhere and always agriculture, commerce and navigatijn flourish just as soon as industry has attained a certain de- gree of prosperity. The arts, the sciences, public instruction and the far-reaching cul- ture therewith associated quickly reach the level of material production, and this is the final phase in a nation's economic de- velopment. The industrial history of all countries and especially of England goes ( i| — 53 — to prove that the transition from the state of barbarism to that of the pastoral life, to agriculture, and from agriculture to the beginnings of manufacturing industry and navigation is affected rapidly by means of free trade with the more advanced nations. But it shows with no less convincing force that manufacturing industry cannot attain great prosperity, that a merchant marine cannot acquire importance, that foreign trade cannot assume considerable propor- tions without the intervention of the State. The less advanced the agriculture of a coun- try is, the greater need its commerce has to exchange the surplus of its raw products for the merchandise of other countries and the more advantageous to it will free trade be. On the other hand, the more perfect the agriculture, the industries and the social, political and economic conditions of a na- tion, the less profit will it derive from the exchange of its raw material and the surplus of its agricultural products for foreign mer- chandise. What will be the result if it is obliged to support the competition of a a- ! I !'• 'm,illUJ'^.^f.UJ. > tM-.u..J, i.\.i»m — 54 — ji rival whose manufacturing power is greater than its own ? The answer is easily made. It Wiil be retarded in its progress by this rivalry of a country more advanced than itself, and unless it takes means to protect its own manufacturers by suitable restrictions, it runs the risk of ruin in an unequal contest. Of course (we hasten to add) such a measure of protection should not have a character of permanence. Its duration must depend on the time necessary for the protected manufactures to acquire such strength that they have no longer anything to fear from foreign rivalry. We admit that the protective system would be not only contrary to universal economical principles, but even to the welfare of the country protected if it entailed the necessity of excluding for ever the competi- tion of outsiders and thus of isolating that country from the rest of the world. When the manufactures to be protected are in the earliest period of their develop- ment, the protective duties ought to be ti i I r( — 55 — i very moderate and should be increased in proportion to the augmentation of the material and intellectual capital, technical capacity and spirit of entreprise of the indi- viduals concerned. Neither is it necessary to protect all the branches of industry to the same degree. Only the most important ought to attract the attention of the State. Such for instance as require for their opera- tion considerable expenditure on buildings, management, machinery, technical skill, ability, experience and trained labor, and the products of which come under the head of necessaries of life. Manufactures of this class are doubly important, both as to their total value and from the standpoint of the country's independence. Such are cotton and woolen goods. If these leading branches of industry receive a sufficient protection and a corres- ponding development, you will soon see the other less important branches starting up around them under the impulse of a much lighter tariff. It is a grave error, made in defiance of M, II ii II ■!l^[ m : m m :| i !'■ I — 56 — the very nature of national economic con- ditions, to suppose that a country can pro- mote its prosperity, social progress and civilization by the exchange of its agricul- tural products for foreign manufactures to the same extent as by the establishment of manufactures of its own. A merely agricultural nation has never succeeded in developing beyond a certain stage its commerce, its means of intercom- munication, its external navigation, its po- pulation, not to speak of its social and political status and its influence abroad. It is inferior to a State that is at once agri- cultural and manufacturing, depending, in fact, of necessity, to a greater or less ex- tent, in its economic and political interests, on the country that takes its agricultural products in exchange for manufactured goods. It cannot calculate in advance the product required, being compelled to await the commands of the manufacturing power, its customer. The agricultural and manufacturing State, on the other hand, produces for itself t ( 13' -57 — large quantities of raw material and provi- sions, and for what it still stands in need of it applies to nations purely agricultural. Whence it follows that the country which is purely agricultural is, in the first place, as to its sales, at the mercy of the crops more or less abundant of the country that is both agricultural and manufacturing, and in the second place, it has to endure the competition of other nations like itself. Its power of selling its products, already suffi- ciently uncertain, is thus rendered still more doubtful. Finally, it is constantly exposed in its trade with manufacturing nations to the risk of being ruined whether by war or by a foreign tariff legislation which would suddenly deprive it of its customers and prevent it from obtaining the needed supply of manufactured articles. To maintain that the protective system, as we here understand it, is simply a means invented by imaginative politicians and opposed to the nature of things is to commit a fundamental error. It is unhap- pily an error that is widely prevalent. The I *: I ■II f I 1 I : '■I ^ ''( 1 -58- history of the world proves that all measures of protection had their origin in the natural efforts of nations to attain prosperity, inde- pendence and power, either in war, or in hostility to commercial laws adopted by nations that had attained industrial supe- riority. The enormous progress gained by England in manufactures, in navigation and in commerce are due to her economic policy. At first that policy was protective; then, when her industries had attained a footing of efficiency which enabled them to defy all competition, protection was succeded by free trade. This is an example to follow, not merely in the final phase of that eco- nomic evolution, but first of all and espe- cially in its initial stage. Canada has started on the right path, as every serious and impartial economist must admit. Her exports of cereals and cattle rose in 1891 to nearly forty million dollars; in lumber and minerals, to nearly fifteen millions ; in products of the fisheries, to more than five millions and a-half, and in industrial products, to twenty five millions^ — 59 — nine and a- half millions of which represent the exports of cheese and butter. Parliament has only to continue developing the country's fisheries, cherishing and protecting its agri- cultural industries, to assure to Canada a prosperity unassailable by the ordinary vicissitudes and commotions of politics. But there is one essential condition to the permanence of this progress — the commer- cial freedom of the Dominion. Urged by demands heard on all sides* the present government has done its best to open up here and there in the sister colonies some additional outlets for trade. Bui what has been the result ? In the course of the legislative session of 1893, the announcement was made that during the coming summer members of the ministry would visit the principal colonial and other centres so as to collect on the spot such data as would justify, if needful, a revision of the customs tariff as it then existed. These efforts are doubtless praiseworthy, but unhappily they have been characterized by a fatal fruitlessness. If the industries of Canada are i\ i I f i: ii!'': 'ft. — 60 — pining for lack of markets, what is the use of such inquiries ? What relief will it bring to our commerce to receive a few orders from Australia or the Bermudas ? On the other hand, to preach free trade in a country like Canada, is (we say it without fear of doing violence to either truth or history) one of the gravest economic errors that it is possible to commit. For everything there is a time. There is nothing absolute in political economy : the most brilliant theories are only relative. It is the science of experiment/^r excel /ef tee, and the mostdifficult of sciences in practical appli- cation. It is a science in which everything must have due consideration, in which no de- tail must be neglected if one would reach right and true conclusions. Nevertheless, we venture to affirm — and this as an absolute principle — that, at the present time, unless we have commercial freedom protection is gravely menaced in a future relatively not re- mote, and that the issue will b^ n.n economic situation which, unles' a r- aiedy be provided in time, will invoh country n ruin. VI Another consideration demands attention. If it is reasonable to urge that the situation of the country demands a solution which cannot be postponed without great danger, it is no less true that the denoutnent might be worse than the evil if it came to pass before the country was sufficiently prepared for it. Now, this final evolution of the destinies of Canada is in the course of accomplishment in the most natural way possible, without shock, without violence, without derangement of the social or poli- tical organism, without trouble within or opposition from without. Emancipation is a fruit well nigh ripe ; the tree that has borne it no longer holds it save with diffi- culty. The question is how to detach it be fore the winds of autumn come to dash it to H>l 1 (I i M i |. I:- ll ■ '■■ I I ll I 1 ', — 62 — the ground and bruise it. It is for Canada to take the first step, the matter concerns her alone. We are only a source of embar- rassment to the mother country which hardly dissembles the joy that she would receive from our departure. Our hesitation surprises her while it does credit neither to our energy nor to our ambition. Internally, there is hardly anything to modify. The person chosen by the country itself would take the place of the Governor- General, and we should not lack precedents in placing one of our own public men at the head of affairs. All the administrative departments would remain in operation, the only change requi- site being that of the heading of the official letter-paper. There would be one additional portfolio in the cabinet, that of foreign affairs. Apart from the creation of a consular body there would be no new department to organize. The department of Militia would remain almost as it is, save for a more effec- tive organization for the maintenance of -r-r ■ . JI ! .. i l ii ). II Ul i ».'W" wB"«ei"t"W('««" r*R?wsww«iw 63 — to lild ic- Ol order in the interior. In fine the budget would retain its actual framework, and Canada would have no more trouble than at present in raising the revenue, observing economy and upholding in Europe the splendid credit with which its governments have endowed it. In whatever direction we turn our eyes, we should perceive neither public nor private interest in the least disturbed by the new order of things. It is indeed just the opposite that would take place. Canada in control of her own political life would become a nation whose full development in all her social energies would be retarded by no obstacle. The struggle of life would assume a different character ; new careers would open to the ambition of our young men ; there would no longer be any fear, when the time arrived for gathering the fruit of many years' study and effort, of seeing themselves supplanted by strangers sent out from the old country to get rid of them. The colonial militia would be transform- L«T^ ^^^saae^s^saa Bea ft' i j m wJt iM c w |i P 1 i ii: ! 1 i 1 1 ' ' , 1 1 i !■ 1^ i i I I / 1 — 64 — ed into a small regular army, the officers of which, formerly without any prospect save that of spending on vain parades their leisure and their money, would see opening before them a serious career attended with both glory and emolument. We may here be permitted to express our approbation of the clause in the federal act of 1867 which, unlike the provision of the United States constitution, places in the hands of the central power the orga- nization and command of the military forces of the Nation. The thirteen colonies were especially bent, in the elaboration of their politics, on weakening as much as possible the jurisdiction of the central government. Their independence had cost them dear in men and money, and they were determined to take all possible precautions against the imposition on themselves of a despot under another name. Here we have the secret of the endless complications and wheels within wheels that strike the student of the political organization of that powerful na- tion. Canada's constitution was framed "fF^f'Tf^^ -'/••fmmmfimitin — 65 — under circumstances entirely different, and the different provincial autonomies might without danger for the common welfare make still larger the share of the federal state. The general security would be only the better guaranteed by the change. The neighboring republic broke violent- ly the ties that bound its constituent colo- nies to the mother country. Canada, on the other hand, would untie her bonds in peace and good will and would preserve intact the kindly relations with the mother country. It is true that we should lose the protec- tion of the British flag, and this is appearent- ly the most powerful objection that can be urged against the proposed change. Having for neighbor a nation of sixty-five million souls, what would become of Canada if left to her own resources with a population of only five millions ? The United States would make but a single mouthfull of us, if ever they entertained the desire to swallow us. That may be quite true. But the desire, is it probable that it would ever I' Pir=— ?■ iiti l»l ^!l I i Pi 111 1 1 I i — 66 — seize our neighbors ? In the first place, we do not see what interest they would have in a conquest of Canada vi et armis. Would it be to increase their power ? Would it be to augment their wealth or simply to get rid of a neighbour inimical to their social and political well-being ? Is it not their interest, on the contrary, to permit Canada to develop her own institutions, which, although different in some respects , are quite as democratic as their own ? It is to territorial ambitions that in all time wars have mostly owed their origin ; but such ambitions are not entertained by the United States. The republic has satis- fied whatever such ambitions she may have cherished without shedding a drop of blood, without firing a single shot. When she wished to rectify her frontiers and to dimi- nish the number of her neip-hbors she did who dislikes petti- we have seen her in as a great proprietor fogging would do succession buy Louisiana from France, Florida from Spain and Alaska from f 1 — 67 — Russia. Experience and reason moreover teach us that there are limits to the extent of a country as there are limits to the popu- lation that any system of politics can effica- ciously govern. The Roman empire had no very long duration and the century now closing saw the beginning and the end of Napoleon's audacious attempt to subject all Europe to the same imperial sceptre. The unity of territory that should char- acterize a nation comprises, on like grounds, the unity of climate which seems to be a natural condition of correspondence in ma- terial interests. The zone occupied by Canada embraces a country generally characterized by its rigorous winters ; the neighboring Republic is almost wholly exempt from this season of extreme cold and abundant snow. The two countries differ, therefore, as to unity of climate. Besides, a nation that does not restrict its frontiers may not be able to maintain the equilibrium that should exist between the productive forces that consti- tute its wealth, by reason of the profound II! l/T I-' .4-^.^4 » iK ft * r * xf j/Ait.artU : msaammm I' ill 1-1 — 68 — diversity of social interests and tendencies sure to be created at remote points of the empire by a population of from a hundred and fifty to two hundred millions. The statesmen of Washington, careful of the future of their great nation, will always, v/e believe, refuse to run a risk the advantage of which would in any case be problematic. Canadian civilization has besides a character of its own which distinguishes it from that of the United States. There are marked differences between their governmental system and ours. Our democracy is more real because it never ceases to act upon the government, and it also borrows from a happy combination of nationalities a cons- titutional texture eminently sound and con- servative. We claim to possess the best regime : that of our neighbors is the most compli- cated. If Canada were a region almost uninha- bited the neighboring Republic might possibly sooner or later cherish the design of acquiring it as it has acquired Louisiana, 1 1 1 \ — 69 it in Florida and Alaska. Hitherto the United States have imitated the speculator in real estate who prefers to make his stock job- bing venture on vacant lands to taking his chances with those that are built upon. The latter is embarrassed in his schemes by buildings already completed ; and in the same way countries already peopled would impede if not prevent the plans of assimila- tion entertained by the United States. The annexation of Canada would increase nei- ther the power, wealth nor progress of the Republic in a measure proportionate to the embarrassment that it would occasion in its domestic policy. Neither to be coveted nor likely to give trouble, the Canadians by the force of circumstances are indifferent to their neigh- bors, and it remains for the wisdom, pru- dence and ability of Canada's stateman to maintain with the latter the happiest of neighborly relations. Our very weakness might turn out to be our strength, and our most formidable protection to have no armament at all or almost none. Besides, a 11 l\ ,!^: :'l ,' ; ■ ir 1 ; f ' I 1 ■ ii \h \ — 70 — with the more and more astounding inven- tions that every year adds to the world's repertory, we may be justified in believing that in the future it is not always the big batallions that will decide the victory. "Among nations fear begets hatred, and every power naturally tries to destroy that which arouses its suspicion. Let us remember that the object of the Monroe doctrine is to prevent European nations planting on the free soil of America any form of government that is not republican ; it does not aim at the conquest of the world. Nor are we of those who hold that the neighboring Republic is a nation without faith or law, which abu>es its strength to maltreat the weak and cherishes a settled resolve to annex Canada at any cost. Possibly this notion was in the first place due to the Fenian raids and the uneasiness thence resulting in the intercourse between the two nations ; but every one knows that during the presidential elections it is in certain circles considered good tactics to conciliate the Irish element by twisting the — 71 — tail of the British Lion. Now, as Canada is a British possession, the annoyances that we sometimes have to put up with are really aimed at the Metropolis for which we have to pay the score. Let Canada only become independent and these vexations will come to an end. Why should we pretend to ignore it ? Does not the history of the last seventy years clearly show that England has always sacrificed us whenever our neighbors have claimed a morsel of territory, now a province, now a strait, but ever the surrender of something belonging to us ? Since the famous capitulation of Lord Ashburton Canada always knows beforehand what to expect from the boasted protection of the British flag. First of all the interests of the Metropolis ; then (if there any left) those of Canada : that is the rule. It is not senti- ment that inspires the policy of the mother country ; it is tlie desire to augment the custom of her merchants and to keep out of quarrels with other powers. Peace is the primary condition : it costs her less to endure I Si'ty 1 ^' if' '' - :V. ' i 1 : 1 1 ■ ' i; 1' ' ■',! ( 1 \ — Y2 — the affronts that Canada receives than to have a war with the United States. From this standpoint, therefore (that of imperial protection) it seems to us that the loss through separation would be sentimental rather than real. Fully responsible for all our acts, thoroughly aware of the conse- quences of our discussions with our neigh- bors, having only our own interests to consider, would it not be easier for us to avoid any cause of dispute or to arrive at a settlement in which honor and justice would be vindicated than under the actual regime of imperial connection ? We write this without any spirit of recri- mination. From its own standpoint the colonial policy of the Metropolis may be logical, and if we sometimes complain of it, it is rather to bring to light the inconve- niences inseparable from our dependent position than to bring charges against Downing Street. Canada has not, cannot have, territorial ambitions. Her possessions are sufficient and her frontiers accurately delimited so that 73 it even a child can indicate them in a mo- ment. On the other hand her diplomatic service would be confined to the main- tenance of consuls, vice-consuls and con- sular agents. No maps to readjust ; no balance of power to safeguard with jealous care ; no court, no pageantry to defray. European quarrels might cause us distress but could in no wise menace us. Swit- zerland, Holland, Denmark and the several republics of America have each represen- tatives in the ports of both hemispheres where they do or hope to do business. The expenses of these services are by no means exorbitant. In this respect Canada could follow their example. It is well known that besides the diplomatic service the great powers have also a con- sular organization the regular reports of which furnish to their merchants detailed and valuable information on the movement of agriculture, industry and commerce in the countries to which they are accredited. Of the first (diplomacy) Canada will have no need ; it is in the consular organization "^ I 4 V :> — 74 — that her advantage will lie in order to increase her exports, augment her pro- ductive power and profit by new markets opened to the enterprise of her citizens. The consular career demands an appren- ticeship, special knowledge and strict con- ditions of honor and respectability ; but Canada will not lack soimd traditions to attract and acquire the respect and con- sideration of foreign countries. Such are all or nearly all the few changes which the definitive development of Can- ada's nationhood would require. There would be no shock ; the future would be assured ; a large measure of economic progress would be guaranteed ; a fresh impulse would be given to the development of our material resources and the common welfare would be broadly organized from base to summit of the social edifice. I f 1 "!3ISStB«« VII It IS not, we believe, necessary to be a prophet to foresee that the same class of causes that led to the provincial conference of 1 866 will ultimately force Canada to seek in independence the definitive goal of her internal peace, security and strength. The evil from which the country suffered then IS that which troubles it now, a disease of growth, of ill regulated vitality. The crises of that period presented in miniature the profound agitations of the present hour. As now they concerned the organisation and regular progress of our political institutions • this part of the subject we have already considered. As now they seemed to attack the very foundation of the social organism • and this phase of the question we shall now examine. 1:1 i: It I M I J t — 7() — Let us say at the outset that Canada will never be happy until the authorities of the state practise justice in everything. If the interprovincial compact of 1867 has failed to make sufficient provision for this, it is the duty of the political leaders to take the earliest opportunity of doing away with this source of all our misfortunes and to preserve the new constitution from its bale- ful influence. This is the only means we can suggest for the restoration of peace to those portions of the social organism that have of late been so violently agitated. There are rights and liberties that ought never to be put in question. And this undesirable result is sure to follow when the constitution does not shield them from the audacious attempts of political parties. The statesman who undertakes the con struction of an edifice of Nationality should devote long and serious study to the foun- dations on which he is to raise to heaven both the partitions that divide cne several parts and the roof that covers them all. The foundations must not be too weak to \' — 77 — support the weight of the storeys tliat suc- cessively rise above them and each other. In other terms, a constitution is but poorly fitted for the glory of a great nation if as to all rio;hts and the rights of all it remains without strenofth, without voice, and if iustice is either neglected or the charge of it left to some vague hope in half- measures that satisfy no one, or compro- mises that settle nothing. Both Christian doctrine and science agree that the aim of human society is to make individuals mu- tually helpful in preparation for that supreme happiness which is the goal of every crea- lure endowed with soul and body. It is in the want of this mutual support that the idea of a concrete association has its birth. But if the supreme good is indispensable in determining the operation of human society it does not follow that this consti- tutes society's immediate aim. 1 n the pursuit of this aim the twofold nature of the human being must ever be kept in mind. Society has no right over the spiritual part of man : its action is limited to the exterior order of 1^ '\ — 78- things and to providing- individuals with facilities for obtaining physical welfare. The soul is entirely beyond its influence, its interests crosslno- the frontiers of the visible world and being provided for by religious society. Let us add as a corollary to this principle that the measure of social welfare is the welfare enjoyed by the total- ity of individuals. Bentham says that we must not judge of a country's happiness by its enjoyment of a greater or less degree of political riglit but rather by the wisdom of its civil laws and by the manner In '\ hich justice is understood and admlnlsterea. 1 at what Is this social welfare ? Is it the good pleasure of everybody ? Is it the excessive pursuit of material satis- faction ? Is It the civilization that arises mainly from progress In the Industrial arts ? Is it in politics the unchecked rule of the majority ? Is it the tyranny of numbers in religious matters ? No ; the public welfare that society craves and needs consists above all In the thoroughness with which the rights of all are safeguarded. Every indivi- i — 70- dual citizen or inhabitant of a co'intry (we are speaking of Christian countries) has a right to life, to the enjoyment of the fruits of his hibor, to the supremacy of the father in the household and to the freedom of reli- gious worship. These rights are without prescription and society exists onl)' for their protection. But as the theory of rights ne- cessarily implies that of duties, every citizen owes ol)edience to the laws, the exercise of justice and charity towards all, love to her fellow-men and the education to his children. The art of government is comprised in the conduct of a government in directing individuals to the true, the Ijeautiful or be- coming and the good or essentially right. The more rights are respected in a country, the more truly does justice reign there and the greater is the degree of civilization tha! is met there. The peace of families and the happiness of individuals are the result of the observance of the Uecal, ^" A '/ ///, Hiotographic Sciences Corporation V V ^^ O fv ^^ /<^t^. \ C^ — 88 — I Hi equally irrefutable that if the Catholic school forms as good citizens as the uns^ctarian or common school all objection is reduced to the expression of a simple preference in the choice of a method. The Protestants and deists believe in the efficacity of one method ; the Catholics in that of another. But, in that case, how can the former claim the right of forcing their opinion on the latter. Have the Catholics ever tried to force their opinions on them ? Does not the province of Quebec, where the Catho- lics have the majority, leave the Protestant minority the most complete liberty .Ms not this the case all over Canada wherever the Catholics have the predominance ? Now, if the method practised by the Catholic schools in all the provinces of the Dominion is at least as efficacious in forming good citizens as that of the common or Protestant schools, it follows that those schools have absolutely and incontestably the same right to the protection of the law and the en- couragement of the State. Yes, let us make all our schools national, A f It — 89 — that is, establishments where the child to whatever religious faith he belongs may first learn his catechism, then the glories of his own country's history and the superiority of Canadian institutions to those of other nations ; establishments where mind and heart are impressed by the beauty of patriotic associations ; where pupils are taught to be proud of the name of Canadian as children in England, France, Germany, Italy, the United States are trained to love their own lands. That is the class of National Schools that we desire, and no other. The second proposition of the opponents of the Catholic schools seems at first sight to contain a certain justice. Nevertheless on closer inspection it is seen, like the former, to rest on an alleged fact which has no real existence. It is, indeed, based on a false- hood. For, if in the schools it were the rule to give complete courses of religious instruc- tion we should not hesitate to admit that Protestants have the same right as Catholics to freedom of conscience ; and it would be im — 90 — supremely unjust and tyrannical to force the Methodist to send his child to an Anglican school, the Anglican to send his to a baptist school and so on. The religious teaching however has but a restricted and superficial place in their system. A little reading of the non- controverted portions of the Bible, a short prayer, in which the Blessed Virgin and the Saints are not mentioned at all, — that is the whole. On ground thus cleared, all Protestant children have no difficulty in meeting ; but the Catholic child cannot participate in such devotions without his faith incurring the gravest risks of which the least is indif- ferentism. Not to speak of the larger share which Catholics allot to religion in their programme of education, the interpretation of the Bible by the infallible authority of the Church, Confession, the dogma of the Eucharist, and the cult of Mary Immaculate are so many insurmountable obstacles to their acceptance for their children of the reli- gious instruction and the prayers prescribed by the Protestants in their primary schools. J ( f! — Gi- lt is evident, therefore, that there is no injustice in obliging parents of any Protes- tant sect to send their children to the com- mon school because there is nothing in the religions teaching that does violence to any rule of faith that is common to them all. And if this system satisfies them just because the beliefs of their children are respected, why should they refuse to catho- lics a system that would assure them also of the same immunities ? But, add the tyrannical majorities, the separatist system entails the expenses of a twofold administration and therewith an intolerable increase of taxes. Here we have still another falsity or at least an exaggeration of the most perverse character. Those who make the foregoing statement have been content to repeat it without the least attempt at serious demons- tration by means of figures. We insist that whatever may be the expenses of this dua- lity of administration it would be easy to reduce it to a minimum by an understand- ing between the two corporations. This — 92 — invitation has never been accepted. We are well aware that the attempt has never been made. Besides, what a monstrous doctrine is that which consents to give injustice free course because it would cost a little more to have right respected ! Is not this a sweep- ing denial of the very first principle of all human society ? Is it not to consign to the stronger the right of deciding when and how the weak should be protected, when and how the law should be enforced ? And from another point of view what means this hypocritical plea of economy ? It has always been clear to us that all that the ca- tholics ever asked is simply the manage- ment of their own funds, and to deny them this right is to falsify one of the funda- mental maxims of british constitutional law sanctioned by Magna Charta. As we have already said, the end that men have in view in living in society is mutual help, mutual protection, the reign of peace, concord and happiness by respect of neigh- borly rights. With this intention the mem- — 93 — bers of society contribute to the mainte- nance of a power, an authority, a govern- ment to which the discharge of those sublime duties are incumbent. What then is mere pecuniary outlay however great when the matter at stake is the assurance of contentment among the citizens and of harmony between the various groups of which the population is composed. Men live in society not to lay up treasures but to guarantee the mainte- nance of order which is the observance of right. There is no civilization where order is absent; there is no civilization when jus- tice does not reign ; there is no civilization where the majority, that is the stronger, tyrannize over the minority, that is the weaker. Without taking into account the agitation and irritation of public opinion ; without considering the profound uneasiness gene- rated in all minds by the school question, who can compute the enormous sums of money that it has cost the public treasury through energies diverted from their natural Ml — 94 — sphere of action, through the precious time which parliament, the legislatures, the press and the citizens have devoted to it, by the outlay of all kind that it has occa- sioned during the last five and twenty years ? We will go still further and maintain that if the incalculable waste of social energy of which we have spoken could be repre- sented by a sum of money to be set apart for the separate schools and the cause of justice, these latter would have sufficient provision for the next half century without any other aid from any one whatever. The question of expenditure ceases then to be an objection in a fair survey of the separate school system since it evidently costs more to society to refuse to render the justice that is demanded by the oppressed mi- norities. With those who would exclude from the primary schools God, the immortality of the soul, the existence of good and evil, the eternity of rewards and penalties, the De- calogue and Jesus-Christ, there can be no compromise. They are pagans, deists, — 95 — :s, nature-worshippers, boudhists while we are christians. If they had the power they would display the same bitterness against the protestant schools as they are slrowing against the catholic. But since (thank God !) they are few in number, they ally them- selves with those who most nearly resemble them and who, we repeat, put as little religion as possible into their school programme. We will not discuss this abominable system which prevails in France : it is enough to point out the existence and the alliances of such theorists. There remains one more objection which the opponents of separate schools do not dare to mention explicitely but which they whisper under their breath — we mean, the alleged incompetency of the catholic schools. They have been often challenged to prove the superiority of their methods to ours, but they have never taken up the gauntlet. Ah ! if they could only prove that the child trained in their institutions is a better christian, more learned, more en- lightened as to the duties of a father and a M !| ! ^ V \ — 96 — citizen — in a word, more civilized than the child educated in the catholic schools it is full time that the world were madt aware of it ! 'But the fact is well established that the catholic school or collegfe in Canada is at least on a footing of equality with the protestant school or college, and that our classical system is superior to theirs. The jury of the World's Fair at Chicago has left no doubt as to the first part of this asser- tion : as for the second it is of such noto- riety that no contradiction is likely to be attempted. The protestant majority, it is clear, has no sound reason for refusing to the catholic minority the control of its schools. And if that majority persists in its foolish tyranny it is because it has become so fanatically blind as to be no longer capable of a calm, serious and reasonable discussion of the question. Sentiment has got the upper hand, and nothing is more difficult than to reason with hatred, with love, or with anti- pathies of race or creed. It is for this very cause that we maintain that it is at present — 97 — impossible for any government to bring justice to bear on the final settlement of the school question, save by means of an amendment to the Imperial Act of 1867, which is hardly practicable, or by an or- ganic clause in the new constitution, which would be comparatively easy. Strange ! At first sight it might seem superfluous to enunciate the following prin- ciple in the constitution of a british country : Every citizen taxed for school purposes shall have control oj his own taxes. It is, never- theless, this fundamental axiom of popular liberties that must be inscribed on the new regime if it is to have the life and the pro- mise of a future full of strength and great- ness. The protestants of Canada look upon annexation to the United States as the most formidable of the political evils that could befall us. The english press without excep- tion shares this sentiment. It would be, they say, a national disaster, an irreparable mis- fortune, an historic disgrace, and they are right, a thousand times right. But has it ■ii> sjmmt IP — 98 — never occurred to them that the most effica- cious way to prevent that catastrophe would be to treat their catholic fellow citizens with justice ? The day when the latter will feel that they are treated as ill as their american co-religionists we do not hesitate to say that the autonomy of Canada will lose its surest support and Canadian patrio- tism its most enduring energy. All the States of the Union are pro- foundly hostile to the catholics on the school question : let the Canadian constitution pro- claim the inviolability of the father of a family on the matter of education, and at once the immense catholic minority will add to the already numerous reasons of its political allegiance the all powerful argument that its religious rights are recognized and assured in Canada, while they are ignored and persistently denied in the United States. ff VIII Here for the present our task comes to an end. In the preceding pages we have put fqrth certain consiu -ations prompted by the actual situation in Canada. The synthetic method ' .^s enabled us, for the most part, to avoid the lo-ie and arguments of special plcviding. Tho grave problem for which we have offered a solution to our public men needs to be studied with all possible calm and coolness. It would be a crime to permit sectarian animosities or party prejudices to have any act or part in it. Anterior facts, history, the end of all human society, the national tendencies of the country, with their irresistible logic — these are the necessary and absolute ele- ments of the discussion. The rest is se- condary. We affirm that the present state of affairs II '! V, — 100 — can be continued only with grave peril. The economic and social forces of the nation are profoundly disturbed, and it is neither the desolating palliation of the s/a^tis quo, nor the chimerical dream of Imperial Fed- eration that will bring Canada salvation, but the natural and final, the salutary and fruitful evolution of her own national desti- nies. We inquired whether the country was or was not prepared for this supreme mea- sure of emancipation, and we sought the signs characteristic of nationhood ; we then made due application to Canada. The fede- rative system presupposes the existence of separate nationalities, and this regime which seems to be the usual formula for the governments of the 19th century offers all the security desired by the legitimate and regular development of its several autono- mous groups. We asked ourselves whether Canada in her definitive development ran the risk of social and political overthrow, and if she was to find her enfranchisement in the sanguinary turmoil of a revolution : we endeavored to establish the contrary. mmm — 101 — Next, examining the industrial and eco- nomic conditions of the country we main- tained without fear of contradiction that our markets controlled by the Metropolis are no longer sufficient for the expansion of our productive powers. England pre- vents us from deriving from the American market all the advantages of which both we and our neighbours have need. Without the liberty to make her own treaties of commerce Canada cannot long continue the protective system which me- naces ruin, nor move towards free trade which would be speedy suicide. Then again, how is Canada to be healed of the terrible disease of religious dissension which is now eating into her vitals. The state of this question we have endeavored to lay before the reader. The conclusion reached was that in matters of principle there can be no compromise. The Catho- lics regard the education and instruction of youth as something which first of all con- cerns their faith, as a matter of social inte- rest with which the Legislature can exer- f 1 1 ^^zSEt ?e^:';=is.-x^ ., (. . r !, 11 — 102 — cise but a limited right of interference. Is It possible that outside of the circle of the Douglases, the Wyldes, the McCarthys and the Goldwin Smiths there exist no mod- erate, reasonable and practical elements with which it is feasible to enter into an understanding ? We deplore the extreme factions in all the camps. It is not to them that we address ourselves. Such men are exhaustless sources of intestine discord. They behave as if their follow-citizens were bound to submit to their tyrannical doctrines, or, again, as if in the application of a principle it was not necessary to take into account the circums- tances in which the application was made. Our suggestion was that the school question should be settled in such a way as to prevent for ever the recurrence of the discords of the present by making it the subject of an organic article in the new constitution of independent Canada. Such is our plan ; such its statement. We submit it with confidence to public opinion in all the provinces. We solicit its discussion I ' 'v I. I I' I — 103—. in the press, in the clubs, in the h'terary institutions. We ask for it the careful con- sideration of public men and of their cons- t tuents, of heads of families and of youn^ men, so that in the spirit of oneness they may be the better fitted to bear the weight of the future's grave responsa- bilities and share in the discharge of a common task the assurance of common hopes.