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 Ji/ G^- 
 
 
 SUPPLEMENT TO THE WEEK, 
 OCTOBER 25th, 1895, 
 
 -r 
 
 I 
 
 / 
 
 CANADA AND HER RELATIONS 
 TO THE EMPIRE. 
 
 O ; 
 
 4^^ 
 
 »v 
 
 LIEUT.-COL. G. T. DENISON. 
 
 [Reprinted from the Westminster Review.] 
 
 TORONTO, CANADA: 
 
 The Week Publishing Company, Limited. 
 
 1895. 
 
aNADA 
 
 NATIONAL LIBRARY 
 BIBLIOTHEaUE NATIONALE 
 
 ■ ■> 1 
 
T 
 
 CANADA AND HER HELATIOISS TO 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 • ; 
 
 The British Empire has grown with great rapidity, and the 
 relations between the Mother Country and the Colonies 
 have been constantly changiig. Canada is one of the 
 oldest Colonies, and yet her history can only be said to 
 fairly commence with the migration of the United Empire 
 Loyalists at the close of the American Revolution in 1783. 
 A little over one hundred years have elapsed, and how many 
 changes have occurred ! In 1784, the loyal exiles, who had 
 lost everything by standing true to the Motherland, were 
 practically wards of the State. Tools and other necessaries 
 had to be provided by the Imperial Government, and for a 
 time the population was necessarily fed, or partly fed, by ' 
 rations distributed by Imperial officers. The Provision 
 Lists of this date are a most pathetic feature of our records, 
 containing, as they do, the names of the very best and 
 wealthiest classes of the old colonies — educated, refined, 
 and law-abiding citizens, who had lost the savings of gener- 
 ations through their loyalty to the Empire. 
 
 After this period came the establishment of Upper 
 Canada as a Province under the Act of 1791. This Act 
 gave the people certain self-governing powers, but provided 
 for an irresponsible executive. With the growth of popula- 
 tion and means came the desire for responsible government, 
 and for the fuller control of local affairs. This came in 1840 
 with the Union of Upper and Lower Canada. In 1867, the 
 Confederation of the 1 ominion was accomplished, and 
 almost imperceptibly with the increased territory, popula- 
 tion, and strength, Canada has acquired far greater powers. 
 In a little over one hundred years she has developed from 
 the condition of a wilderness, containing in its recesses a 
 few thousand settlers governed by Crown officers, into a 
 vast Dominion with an immense area, with 5,000,000 of 
 
people, with the fifth largest mereautile marine in the 
 world, with 15,320 miles of railway, with excellent postal 
 and telegraphic communications, and with all the other 
 requirements of modern civilization. Her voice is now 
 heard sometimes in international questions where her 
 interests are affected. 
 
 Canada is independently governed as far as relates to 
 all local affairs ; hut in international matters, and sea 
 defence, the Mother Country has retained the control in her 
 own hands. As she gives us no representation, she has not 
 asked us to contribute to diplomatic, consular, or naval 
 expenses generally. This l)eing the case, Canada is at 
 present, in international affairs, entirely under the control 
 of the Home Government. Her interests and future pros- 
 pects might he seriously and permanently injured, or greatly 
 benefited, by -the action of the Foreign Office, in proportion 
 as the officials in charge of affairs either misunderstood or 
 thoroughly appreciated her position. 
 
 It is a matter, therefore, of most serious import to 
 Canada, that the public mind in England should under- 
 stand somewhat of Canadian feeling and Canadian interests. 
 The great Empire built up by our fathers can only be held 
 together by mutual confidence, by kindly feeling, by national 
 pride, and by common interest. Misunderstandings must 
 be avoided. Canada in the past has suffered great and irre- 
 parable injury by the want. of knowledge among English 
 statesmen and people of the condition of affairs on this con- 
 tinent. 
 
 Misunderstandings, negligence, ignorance, what Lord 
 Charles Beresford describes as the " savage stupidity of the 
 British Government of 1774-177C," led to the loss by the 
 Empire of the thirteen Colonies. But it meant more to the 
 loyal adherents to the Crown in those Colonies. It meant 
 to about 100,000 of them exile and the loss of their 
 possessions. It meant hardships, sufferings, privation, and 
 want — 
 
 " Dear were their homes where they were born ; 
 Where slept their honoured dead, 
 And rich and wide 
 On every side 
 The fruitful acres spread ; 
 But dearer to their faithful hearts 
 
 Than home, or gold, or lands, 
 Were Britain's laws, and Britain's Crown, 
 And Britain's flag of long renown. 
 And grip of British hands. " 
 
n 
 
 So they went penniless to Canada, while Lord Shelburne 
 and Benjamin Franklin, between them, arranged the 
 treaty of peace. Then, at the outset, Canada suffered, and 
 has suffered ever since, from the iirst misunderstanding. 
 Franklin at once began to play upon the weakness of Lord 
 Shelburne. He sent agents to London, and professed the 
 greatest of friendliness. The United States were to i)e 
 friendly forever to England ; but, as a mark of good feeling, 
 England was to give way in everything to the Americans. 
 Canada then extended down the Ohio and up the Mississippi 
 to the Lake of the Woods. There was no doubt on this 
 point, and English troops held the most important posts. 
 Franklin was anxious to get this immense territory, and 
 played upon Lord Shelburne's desire for " reconciliation " 
 and free trade with great astuteness. 
 
 Unfortunately our forefathers, the Loyalists of the Rev- 
 olution, were then fugitives, without money or intiuence. 
 Their interests were entirely ignored by Lord Shelburne, 
 who believed that the bonus with which he was endowing 
 the New Kepublic would create a lasting peace, and preserve 
 not only the friendship of the United States, but freedom in 
 their markets for English manufactures forever. In this 
 belief the Empire lost a territory of most fertile land much 
 larger than Germany. 
 
 The same misunderstanding of Lord Shelburne led him 
 to sacrifice our interests by giving the United States certain 
 rights over our fisheries. Franklin's remark, " You know 
 that we shall bring the greatest part of the fish to Great 
 Britain to pav for your manufactures," was too much for 
 Lord Shelburne, and the Canadians from that day to this 
 have suffered from his credulity. 
 
 The Loyalists wtre also sacrificed in this treaty, the 
 provision that Congress would urge the States Legislatures 
 to giant to them amnesty and redress being an empty 
 pretence which led to nothing. Another result of the mis- 
 taken belief of English statesmen in the " friendliness " and 
 good faith of the United States. 
 
 Thus, at the close of the war, with about 270,000 square 
 miles of the best part of Canada given away to their 
 enemies, with their fisheries opened to those who had 
 wronged them, deprived of all their worldly effects, and 
 driven from their homes, these true friends of England 
 •entered upon the almost hopeless task of re-establishing 
 British power on this continent. They plunged into the 
 
 -. 
 
hh 
 
 6 
 
 wilderness, and were lost to sight. They had no roads, no 
 towns, no villages, no shops, no newspapers, no printing 
 presses, no means of recording their wrongs, save by tradi- 
 tion. Their history has been written by their eneraies, and 
 for a hundred years English writers have generally made it 
 the fashion to ignore these brethren of their race, while 
 their energies in writing on 'i'ransatlantic topics have been 
 devoted to belauding the American Republic. 
 
 After many years of hardship to these Loyalists, the 
 great struggle between England and Napoleon came on. 
 England was lighting for her life against almost the whole 
 of Europe, and then the lirst opportunity arrived for the 
 United States to show their " friendliness." At once the 
 feeling of hostility became manifest. The pretended cause 
 of quarrel was one the Canadians had nothing to do with. 
 The Orders in Council were passed by the English Govern- 
 ment in the English interest alone, and on this prete;:t the 
 United States declared war. 
 
 In Upper Canada a scant population of 70,000, with 
 only 1,500 regular troops at the outset, faced the attacks of 
 a country with a population of about 8,000,000, which, dur- 
 ing the war, placed under arms no less than 86,000 regular 
 troops, and 471,622 militia and volunteers, or a total of 
 over 556,000. Once more in an English war the Loyalists 
 and their sons had to fight for three years to uphold the 
 British tiag on this continent. Practically almost every 
 able-bodied man in Canada was under arms. Our fields 
 were laid waste, and many of our villages burned ; but at 
 Detroit, Queenston Heights, Stoney Creek, Lundy's Lane, 
 Chrysler's Farm,Chateauguay, and other fields the Canadian 
 militia and their British comrades faced as heavy odds and 
 won as brilliant victories as are inscribed in the annals of 
 our race. At the close of the war we were victorious. The 
 enemy did not hold one inch of our territory, while their 
 capital city had been captured by an English army, and the 
 public buildings destroyed, in retaliation for the destruction 
 of the public buildings of the capital of Upper Canada. 
 
 Mismanagement and the want of knowledge of Cana- 
 dian affairs on the part of the Colonial Office, brought on the 
 dissatisfaction which culminated in the so-called Rebellion 
 of 1837, a paltry affair put down in a few days by the loyal 
 Militia in Upper Canada, without the aid of a single British 
 soldier, and with little or no loss. Then for nearly two 
 years the whole of our Southern border was subjected to 
 
inroads of tillibiisters from the United States, and many of 
 our people .vere killed in defending the frontier. The 
 Select Committee of the Legislature of Upper Canada 
 reported to the House of Assembly in 1888 : 
 
 " The occupation ^ind conquest of Texas in the South, 
 and the assembling of an armed force on its eastern frontier, 
 openly recruited in its principal cities and towns, com- 
 manded by its citizens, and by them also supplied with 
 arms, ammunition, clothing, money and provisions, and 
 transported in the presence of (if not encouraged by' its 
 magistrates and public officers, in steamboats and other 
 vessels into this province, and landed in it for the avowed 
 purpose of overthrowing the Government, and wresting tlx- 
 Colony from the Crown of Great Britain, sufficiently proves 
 that if the countries bordering on the ('nited States desire 
 to protect themselves from the inroads of freebooters, 
 pirates, fugitive traitors and outlaws, they must look for 
 security to their own Heets and armies, and not to the hon- 
 ourable forbearance of the American people, or the efficiency 
 or moral influence of their Government." 
 
 In 1842 the ^faine boundary question became i-o 
 strained that Lord Ashburton was sent ont by the British 
 Government to arrange a treaty. He was a weak, well- 
 meaning man, who had been intimately associated with the 
 United States by commercial and family relations. He 
 knew little or nothing of Canada, and yet our interests were 
 in his hands. Through his want of knowledge and weak- 
 ness, the State of Maine cuts up into our territory like a 
 dog's tooth, and stands a lasting monument of the sacrifice 
 of Canadian rights, 1 )aniel Webster, the American Com- 
 missioner, suppressed the evidence which was in his pos- 
 session, showing our undoubted right to the disputed terri- 
 tory, and deliberately, in writing, expressed to Lord Ash- 
 burton his confidence in the validity of the American claim. 
 This seems to have been enough for Lord x\8hburton. After 
 the treaty was agreed upon, the United States Senate de- 
 murred to ratifying it, and Mr. Webster allowed Senator 
 Rives to lay before the Senate, in secret session, the proofs 
 that an unfair treaty had been secured, and the Senate 
 then ratified it, knowing it was obtained by dishonest 
 methods. ' 
 
 ' A very full account of this transaction will be found in Tht^ LrtKt 
 Forty Yeart, or Canada sinrr fh<' Union In ISV/l. By John Charles Dent, 
 F.R.S.C. Published by (Jeorge Virtue, Toronto. 1881. '2 vols The 
 
8 
 
 In 1854 Lord I''l}j;in effcjcted a reciprocity treaty with 
 the United States, hy which in return for the right of lish- 
 ing in our waters, reciprocal free trade was permitted in 
 certain articles hetween Canada and the States. This 
 lasted twelve years, and as soon as our husiness relations 
 had hecome closely interlaced, the treaty was summarily 
 brought to an end. It was not that the treaty was disad- 
 vantageous to the United States, for the exports to Canada 
 were greater than the imports from the Provinces. It was 
 openly declared tiiat it was abrogated in the hope that com- 
 mercial disaster and financial ruin would drive u-i into 
 annexation. This attempt failed. The loyalty of the race 
 that had always stood by the Crown — a loyalty baptized in 
 blood on many a hard-fought field — was not to be affected 
 by sordid motives. The scattered provinces came together 
 under the stress of foreign hostility, and Confederation was 
 the (mtcome. 
 
 The next incident in American aggression was the 
 Fenian movement of 18VA\. For years preparations had 
 been going on in the States — a public organization was 
 effected, a President and Senate appointed, and an Irish 
 llepublic without a territory, was formally proclaimed. The 
 public offices of State of this so-called Republic were filled 
 up, a large mansion in New York rented, and the Irish flag 
 hoisted over it. The Secretary of the Treasury of the New 
 Republic issued a large amount of bonds which were readily 
 sold, and Fenian troops were organized, uniformed, armed 
 and openly drilled in the towns and cities of the United 
 
 <letails will l)e founfl in pages ^O.^ to il.S of the first volume. They show 
 that Daniel Webster had in his ])os8ession a fwMlmili of a map showing 
 the true boundary as settled in 17S,S, marked in red ink by Henjamin 
 Franklin, the United States Commissioner. He suppressed this map and 
 
 Srodueed another map whiiih gave to the United States a large portion of 
 ritish territory. When the Senate afterwards in secret session demurred 
 to ratifying it, Webster authorized Mr. Hives, Chairman of the Committee 
 on Foreign Relations, to produce the map which proved that he had 
 secured a large area which did not belong to the United States, and then 
 the Senate ratified it. This was on tlVe 17th August, 1842, only eight 
 days after the signing of the Ashburton Treaty. The Senate subsecjuentlj' 
 dissolved the injunction of secrecy and authorized the publication of Mr. 
 Rives' speech. See Dent, vol. i., 209, -JlO, 21 1. 
 
 Dr Kingsford, in his Hi'^tory of Canada, vol. vii., p. 159, speaking of 
 this, says: "We came out of tlie negotiations serious losers; but no 
 national reproach of meanness and wrong rises unbidden to wring our con- 
 sciences. It is a ((uestion if a high-minded citizen of the United States 
 can, with complacency, contemplate the proceedings of his (Jovernment on 
 this occasion." 
 
states. In May, 1H(U), these orj^'iiiiized hodio.s moved openly 
 upon Canada. Tlie railways furniHlied special facilities for 
 their transport to tin border -about 80,000 men were alto- 
 gether thrown upon our frontier, and Inr^u' mnnhcrs crossed 
 at several points. They were promptly drive out, and not 
 until the movement had faiU-d did the I'nitf States Gov- 
 ernment take any action to preserve their neutrality. 
 
 Le Caron describes an interview he and (leneral 
 O'Neill, the Fenian leader, had with President Johnson at 
 the White House, when Johnson said to O'Neill : 
 
 " Now I want you to understand that my sympathies 
 are entirely witli you, and anything; which lies in ray 
 power I am willing to do t(» assist you : but you must re- 
 member that I gave you five full days, before issuinj,' any 
 proclamation 8topj)ing you. What in God's name more 
 did you want? If you could not get there in five days, by 
 God, you could never get there ; and then, as President, I 
 was compelled to enforce the neutrality laws, or be denoun- 
 ced on every side." 
 
 These Fenian raids cost many valuii])le Canadian lives. 
 Three honour men of our I'niversity, in the same voi-nii^eer 
 company, were killed in action, fighting in the ranks as 
 l)rivate soldiers. They cost us also millions of money, and 
 a large loss in tne disturbance of lousiness. During the 
 American Civil War, the Alabama escaped by accident, 
 unarmed, from a British port, and being afterwards fitted 
 out as a war vessel, fought on behalf ot the Confederate 
 States, and di:i considerable damage to the United States 
 mercantile marine. A claim was at once made by the 
 United State;-i Government upon the British Government 
 for redress, and damages were demanded. After much ne- 
 gotiation, a High Joint Commission, to consider this and 
 other questions, was appointed, and our Premier, Sir 
 John Macdonald, was named as one of the five British 
 Commissioners. 
 
 In his letters from Washington, Sir John Macdonald 
 throws much light upon the inner history of the negotia- 
 tions. In one of his earliest letters to his colleagues, he 
 says : 
 
 " Having nearly made up my mind that the Americans 
 want everything, and will give us nothing in exchange, one 
 of my chief aims now is, to convince the British Commis- 
 sioners of the unreasonableness of the Yankees. This they 
 are beginning to find out, and are a good deal disappoint- 
 
10 
 
 ed." On April 1, 1871, lie writes, " I must say I am great- 
 ly disappointed at the coiu'se taken by the British Cora- 
 miasioners. They seem to have only one thin<T^ on their 
 minds, that is, to <,'o home to England with a treaty in 
 their pockets, settling everything, no matter at what cost 
 to Canada." 
 
 The treaty was bad enough. The United States suc- 
 ceeded in making the Arbitrators, appointed to fix the 
 amount of the Alabama claims, believe that their citizens 
 had suifered losses to the extent of $15,000,000. This was 
 promptly paid by England. The United States then paid 
 all the losses, which amounted to about S(.),000,000, leaving 
 about $9,000,000 which they had secured for losses that 
 were never sustained. This money is still in their Trea- 
 sury. 
 
 Canada did not get her Fenian claims, which were 
 founded upon the most flagrant breach of international law 
 on the part of the United States. At the end of the term 
 provided by the treaty the United States gave the neces- 
 sary notice for the abrogation of the fishery clauses. Other 
 attempts soon followed to embarrass us, and coerce or 
 coax us into closer relations with the United States. Ef- 
 forts to annex the West Indian Islands, or to make treaties 
 with them discriminating against Canada and the Mother 
 Country, failed. 
 
 Although the Washington Government had themselves 
 abrogated the fishery clauses, atid deprived us of the right 
 we had under them of free entry for our fish in the Ameri- 
 can market, they still claimed the right to fish in our waters, 
 which had been granted to them upon that condition. Our 
 Canadian Government was firm, and prohibited the fish- 
 ing. After much warlike talk, a temporary mod us civendi 
 was granted to the Americans, and the Right Hon. Joseph 
 Chamberlain and Sir Charles Tii])perwere sent to negoti- 
 ate a settlement. A treaty was agreed upon, but the 
 United States Senate promptly repudiated the action of 
 their Government, and refused to ratifv it. President 
 Cleveland, in his anger at the Senate, determined to pun- 
 ish somebody. Once more Canada was to be the scapegoat. 
 He issued his famous Retaliation message of 1888, threat- 
 erj-.ag all kinds of dire vengeance upon the Canadian people. 
 The absolute injustice of this is proved by the President's 
 own statement ; 
 
 " I fully believe the treaty just rejected by the Senate 
 
11 
 
 Avas well suited to the exigency, and that its provisions were 
 adequate for our security in the future from vexatious in- 
 cidents, and for the promotion of friendly neighbourhood 
 and intimacy, without sacrificing in the least our national 
 pride and dignity." 
 
 The McKinley Bill was the next manifestation of 
 American " friendliness." It was aimed, of course, at all 
 foreign countries, but as against Canada it was especially 
 severe, in fact almost prohibitive. The import statistics 
 were carefully studied, and on all that Canada sold excep- 
 tionally heavy increases were madj in the tariff. Barley, 
 eggs, horses and cattle were taxed, so as to almost totally 
 destroy Canadian trade in those products : the belief in the 
 States was that a prolonged dose of McKinleyism would 
 bring Canada into the Union. The Canadians, who had 
 seen their interests constantly sacrificed to propitiate 
 American friendship, now saw nearly one-half of their ex- 
 port trade practically cut off, because thy would not agree 
 to discriminate against England. They did not falter, how- 
 ever, or waver in their allegiance. They turned their at- 
 tention to other markets and their efforts to other lines of 
 production. What would you in England think if a coali- 
 tion of enemies were suddenly to attempt to cut off half 
 your export trade '? 
 
 For a number of years Canadians from our Western 
 coasthave been engaged in seal hunting in the Pacific Ocean 
 and in the Behring Sea. This gave another opportunity 
 for American aggression uponCanadia "ights. Our vessels 
 flying the flag of our Empire were captured on the high 
 seas, far from land, and their property forcibly taken from 
 them by war vessels of the United States. Diplomatic 
 remonstrances on the part of the British Government 
 against these insults to her flag caused the United States 
 to treat with our representatives for some friendly solution 
 of the difficulty. An understanding was arrived at. This 
 time it was not the Senate that broke off the negotiations, 
 but the President, Mr. Harrison, who repudiated the action 
 of his Secretary of State, and announced that he was send- 
 ing war vessels to the Behring Seas, to renew the seizure of 
 British vessels. Fortunately the then British Premier was 
 a capable man, of Imperial instincts, and on June 14, 1890, 
 the ultimatum of the British Government was presented : 
 
 " The undersigne:! is in consequence instructed formal- 
 ly to protest against such interference, and to declare that 
 
12 
 
 Her Britannic Majesty's Government must hold the Govern- 
 ment of the United States responsible for the consequences 
 that may ensue from acts which are contrary to the cstah- 
 lished principles of international law." 
 
 This firm tone and the emphatic verbal statements 
 which, it is said, were conveyed to the United States 
 Government by the British Ambassador, followed, as they 
 were, by large increases to the fleets on the Pacific and 
 Atlantic coasts, as well as by other preparations in 
 Bermuda and the West Indies, had the same effect as Lord 
 Palmerston's firmness in the Trent affair. No more vessels 
 were seized, and arrangements were soon made for the 
 arbitration which was held not long since in Paris. 
 
 Thanks to the kind feeling and liberality of the British 
 Government, we were represented on the Board of Arbitra- 
 tion by our late Premier, Sir John Thompson. 
 
 A striking instance of the method of American negotia- 
 tion has been given in the action of Daniel Webster on the 
 Maine boundary, in concealing conclusive evidence and 
 urging fraudulent claims, knowing them to be so. The 
 Behring Sea negotiation is even still more unfortunate. 
 The most important point in the United States contention 
 was based upon the Russian despatches and papers of the 
 year 1820. These papers were translated by order of the 
 United States Government, and published in their formal 
 statement of their case. In these translations were a large 
 number of interpolations and errors so glaring, that, as the 
 British counter case states, " some person had deliberately 
 falsified the translations in a sense favourable to the con- 
 tentions of the United States,"* A large number of 
 affidavits were also published. Ujjon investigation, the 
 strangest and most unaccountable mistakes were found. 
 One United States agent appeared as having signed affida- 
 vits on the same day at Victoria and San Francisco, 1000 
 miles a])art. Another received attestations on the same 
 day at Kodiak and San Francisco, 1680 miles apart. ^ Some 
 persons alleged to have made affidavits swore positively 
 
 ' /iehriiKj Sea Arhilrafioii : Counter Case, j)re.sentecl hy the Britisli 
 Government to the Tribunal of Arbitration. Ircsented to Parliament, 
 March, ISO.S, pp. 4, o. 
 
 * BehriiK/ Sen Arbitration. Argument of British (Jovernnient to 
 Tribunal. Presented to Parliament, March, 189.'}, pp. 148, 140, and 
 references. , 
 
 I 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 18 
 
 they did not do so. ^ The Tnited States were ohHged to with- 
 draw all that part of their case, although they did not 
 withdraw their claime based upon it.'^ The large sum 
 awarded to our sealery for damages, and agreed to by the 
 Washington Government, has not yet been paid by Congress, 
 although it has been requested by the President to do so. 
 
 The want of knowledge of American and Canadian 
 affairs in England is easily explained. The English people 
 know absolutely nothing about the masses of the American 
 people. Those Americans only who are possessed of con- 
 siderable means travel in Europe. Those who have means 
 are either the descendants of wealthy families who have 
 inherited fortunes, or are energetic, industrious, and ca])able 
 men who have been successful in business. The great 
 masses of the people do not cross the Atlantic. Of those 
 who do cross, those v ho are friendly to England go there, 
 while the greater portion practically avoid it, and travel 
 upon the Continent. Of those visiting England, only the 
 best, as a rule, get an introduction into English society ; 
 and from these, the choicest of the American better classes, 
 the English form their opinion of the people of the United 
 States. They do not know that this class is out of pympa- 
 thy with the masses of their fellow-countrymen, and are 
 despised and disliked at home for their friendliness to 
 England. In fact, the distinctive term " Anglomaniac " 
 has been given to the type. The ordinary American dis- 
 likes and despises an Anglomaniac about as much as a 
 llussian official would dislike a Nihilist, or a French 
 shopkeeper an Anarchist. Those Anglomaniacs, who are 
 really the best people in the United States, no doubt feel 
 friendly to England, and they ftnd it much more pleasant 
 and polite to tell their English friends of the kindly feeling 
 they bear to England, than to dilate upon the hostility of 
 the masses of their fellow-countrymen. The British people 
 should understand, however, that this class has about as 
 much influence upon American politics as the foreign 
 lodgers in the neighbourhood of Leicester Square have upon 
 the politics or public opinion of England. 
 
 This erroneous idea of American " friendliness," and 
 the indifference of the English people to the interests of 
 
 ' lirit'mh Coiiiifer Gnxf, above referred to, p. 198. See also Appenflix, 
 vol. ii. pp. 140, Ki.j. 
 
 * Briliitfi Corhter Ccute., p .1. 
 
14 
 
 their own Empire on this Continent, have sent an immense 
 amount of capital, and an enormous emigration, to develop 
 and strengthen a foreign country, while Canada, in com- 
 parison, has been neglected, and has always been oblige:! 
 to light an uphill fight alongside of her powerful rival. 
 When a distinguished English author wishes to establish a 
 colony for .young Englishmen, he does not choose a spot in 
 Canada, Australia, or South Africa, where obese young men 
 could live under their own flag, and retain their allegiance, 
 but he chooses a place among the hills of Tennessee, under 
 an alien Hag and alien institutions. 
 
 The English press is often used for attacks upon Can- 
 ada. A remarkable instance of this appeared in the (-V>?/- 
 temporary Review of last January, from the pen of Mr. Gold- 
 win Smith, in an article on the Ottawa Conference. He 
 says very little about the Conference, but devotes the greater 
 part of tlie article to harsh criticism of Canada and Can- 
 adian interests in general. There are many inaccuracies 
 and unfair conclusions, and the whole tone of the article 
 is so hostile to Canada as to have an injurious elTect upon 
 the minds of those Englishmen whose knowledge of Can- 
 ada is derived from reading instead of from personal obser- 
 vation. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to refer to the sneering tone in 
 which the Conference is dealt with, or to the extraordinarv 
 objection that the delegates " were accredited, not by the 
 Legislatures, or by the people of the Colonies at large, b' 
 only by the Governments." This is on a par with the sec- 
 ond objection, viz., that the Conference dealt with the ques- 
 tions they had been called together to discuss, and omitted 
 to discuss other subjects that Mr. Smith thought they 
 should have dealt with. Because they did not consider the 
 question of defence, he concludes, " Morally speaking, we 
 may take it as pretty well settled, that the Colonies will 
 not contribute to the defence of the Empire," and yet in a 
 postscript to the same article he refers to a subsequent offer 
 of assistance to England in case of war, from the Canadian 
 Government, of their permanent force, and only does so, to 
 sneer at the fact that the force is not a large one. 
 
 He says, "A body of French Militia was despatched 
 with the military of British Canada to put down the French 
 half-breed rebellion ; but it was not sent to the front, and 
 both the colonels being politicians, retired from the theatre 
 of war." This statement is not true. Two regiments of 
 
 •1 . 
 
15 
 
 •a 
 
 French Canadians went to the North-West. One colonel at 
 the very outset was obliged to return to Ottawa for several 
 reasons, the most important being severe illness. He left 
 with the approval of General Strange, commanding. On 
 reaching Ottawa, finding that his absence occasioned com- 
 ment, although very ill, suffering from internal hemorrhage, 
 he returned and served through the campaign. The other 
 colonel served through the whole affair. As to the state- 
 ment that they were not sent to the front, Mr. Smith should 
 have known that a French Canadian Militia regiment was 
 engaged and suffered losses in the fight at Frenchman's 
 Butte, the furthest point where there was fighting. Can- 
 adians of English origin, remembering the gallant services 
 of the French in 177'"), and in 1812-13-14, when they fought 
 beside our fathers on the same fields, and under the same 
 flag, deeply resent these unfounded sneers at our fellow- 
 countrymen. General Strange, who commanded the col- 
 umn, says : 
 
 " The ()5th, who had borne the brunt of the marching 
 for 500 miles, having been in the first advance, had tramped 
 the soles off their boots, some were literally barefoot, others 
 with muddy, blood-stained rags tied around their feet." 
 And yet Goldwin Smith says, "No French regiment went 
 to the front." 
 
 Again Mr. Smith says, " Great Britain then has fair 
 notice that the burden of Imperial defence, especially the 
 naval part of it, is to be borne by her alone." Who gave 
 her this notice ? Are Mr. Smith's statements about the 
 French to be construed as an intimation to Great Britain? 
 Great Britain has had no such notice, for the fact of the Con- 
 ference dealing with the special subjects they were called to 
 discuss is no proof of what they might have done on other 
 (questions. 
 
 Great Britain knows that in 1770, in 1812, in the 
 Fenian troubles, all of which were Imperial quarrels, the 
 " burden of Imperial defence " was not "borne by her alone." 
 In the Trent affair, certainly an Imperial, not a Canadian 
 quarrel, what happened '? Every man in Canada willing to 
 fight — people drilling in every town and village, business 
 seriously affected, but no man complaining that it was an 
 EngHsh quarrel. The flag of our fathers had been insulted, 
 and our British blood was roused as yours was, and no 
 one thought of the cost. 
 
 We are contributing towards the construction and 
 
16 
 
 guaidinj^ of the Naval Station at Esquimalt, and yet Mr. 
 Goldwin Smith says Great Britain has fair notice that we 
 will do nothing. 
 
 The fact of the Canadian Pacific llailway being of any 
 service to the Empire is a very sore subject with Mr. Smith, 
 and his attacks upon it tend very much to mislead the 
 English mind upon the subject. We will hardly take him 
 as the highest authority upon what is the best line of Mili- 
 tary and Naval communication, but he says : "It is 
 assumed that the Canadian Pacific Pailway, which forms 
 tho means of transit, is entirely within British territory 
 and therefore perfectly secure," and then he proceeds as 
 follows : " The Canadian Pacific Railway is not entirely 
 within territory even nominally British. It passes through 
 the State of Maine," etc. 
 
 In speaking of the transit across the Continent, as an 
 alternative route to the East, the mainline of the Canadian 
 Pacific is always referred to, and of the main line, which 
 runs from Quebec to Vancouver, every mile is on Canadian 
 territory. The road has a connection, by the Montreal and 
 Atlantic, with the New England railways, and the " short 
 line " branch runs through the State of Maine. It also 
 controls two railways in the Western States as feeders to its 
 system, but is it fair to place such a misleading statement 
 before the British public '? In summer, Quebec would 
 always be used to tranship, in winter fTnlifax would be 
 used, and the Intercolonial which meet^ the Canadian 
 Pacific llailway at Quebec. We have complete transconti- 
 nental railway communication, both in winter and summer, 
 within our own territory, from our seaports on the Atlantic 
 to our seaports on the Pacific, and Mr. Goldwin Smith 
 knows this as well as does any Canadian. 
 
 He talks of snow-blocks, avalanches and floods. There 
 was an exceptional flood, greater than ever before known, 
 last spring, and traffic was suspended for a short time. A 
 similar flood is not likely to occur again ; even if it did, the 
 alterations in the line, and other precautions which have 
 since been taken, would guard against a recurrence of the 
 difficulty. Several of the transcontinental lines suffered 
 far more seriously. The road is also comparatively free 
 from snow- blocks. Even in Great Britain railways are 
 often blocked by snowstorms, as they have been this winter, 
 yet it would b3 absurd to say that because snow-blocks had 
 sometimes occurred, the English and Scotch railways would 
 
17 
 
 not be of use for moving troops from one part of the country 
 to tlie other, in case of threatened invasion. 
 
 x\nother remarkable statement is that, " left to them- 
 selves, the Americans have not the slightest inclination 
 either to attack England or to aggress upon Canadian 
 independence." This denial of American hostility to Eng- 
 land and the Empire is curious, coming as it does from the 
 writer of the article on " The Hatred of England " in the 
 North Amerirun Ite.vieic of May, 1890. In this article Mr. 
 Smith, speaking of the Anglophobia among the Americans, 
 says : 
 
 '* It stivuds seriously in the way of any attempt to 
 effect a re-union of the English-speaking race upon this 
 Continent. British Canadians love a Mother Countr;y which 
 has never wilfully given them any cause for complaint, and 
 they take hostility to her as hostility to them. ..." Again 
 he says : " It is too certain that there is a genuine as well 
 as a factitious Anglophobia. . . The mass of the people are not 
 well informed : they read the old story and imbibe the old 
 hatred." Again : " The wound still bleeds in the popular 
 
 histories which form the sentiments of the people 
 
 A generation at least will probably pass before the popular 
 version will conform itself to the scientific version, and 
 before Americans, who read no annals but their own, will 
 cease, historically at least, to identify patriotism with 
 
 hostility to Great Britain " Again: " I could raen- 
 
 iion American authors whose writings would be charming 
 to me if the taste of Anglophobia were not always coming, 
 like the taste of garlic in Italian cookery, to ofi'enrl the palate 
 
 of the English reader Nor in the English press is 
 
 theie anything corresponding to the anti-British tone — I 
 use a very mild expression — of American journalism." 
 Again he says : " The Indian Empire is the regular theme 
 of Anglophobists. They never mention it without giving 
 utterance to burning words about the oppression of the 
 Hindoo." And he concludes : " I have said that there is 
 no pervading antipathy to America in British literature or 
 in the British press. . . . Therefore, whatever warrant or 
 dignity hatred may derive from reciprocation is certainly 
 wanting in this case." 
 
 There are proofs without limit of this hostile feeling. 
 The action of both political parties in 1888 showed that 
 both felt the great importance of pandering to this feeling 
 against England. 
 
 ria 
 
\H 
 
 The Neir )'(iyl, Suit's review of the year 1HJ)4 is a strik- 
 ing illustration of the anti-British tone of American 
 journalism referred to by Mr. Smith. The article showK a 
 very unfriendly feeling towards England. The statement 
 is made that in America " the hatred of Great Britain is 
 deep-rooted and unslakable," and expression is ^^iven to the 
 following sentiments : " The auspicious and ideal coalition, 
 from the point of view of the American Republic, would he 
 one between Russia, Germany and France, for the partition 
 of the British Epapire ; nothing could withstand such a 
 coalition, and there would he spoils enough for all ; nor is 
 there any doubt that. Canada, and probably the British West 
 Indies, would fall to us, in recognition of the undisguised 
 delight with which we should survey the ruin of our here- 
 ditary foe." 
 
 The extract is very significant, from the fact that the 
 Neir York Sun is the foremost advocate of annexation, and 
 is practically the organ of the Continental Union Association 
 on both sides of the boundary. Mr. C. A, Dana, who is 
 said to be the treasurer of the funds of the American wing 
 of the organization, is the editor of the /S'/m, while Mr. 
 Goldwin Smith, who is the honorary president of the Cana- 
 dian wing of the organization, is a frequent cor'.ributor to its 
 columns. 
 
 Mr. Goldwin Smith's suggestions as to how the United 
 States could destroy our railways with dynamite, pointing 
 out as he does what he considers the weak points, are quite 
 unnecessary. He is not known as an authority on the art 
 of war. He asks, " Will the Canadians who have remained 
 at home arm against their kinsmen on the other side of 
 the line ? . . . . Will the Irish of Montreal and Toronto 
 arm, in a British quarrel, against the Irish of New York 
 and Chicago ?" 
 
 Our only recent experience on these points was during 
 the Fenian raids of 18(56, when not only did Canadians 
 come home from every part of the Union to help in the 
 defence of their native land, but Irish Boman Catholics also 
 in numbers served with their fellow-Canadians in the same 
 cause. There are in the United States about 1,200.000 
 people who were born in Great Britain. Will it be said 
 that the men of England and Scotland would not arm in 
 defence of Great Britain, in case of war with the United 
 States, because a million of their kinsmen had thrown in 
 their lot with the foreigner ? The idea is a') surd ; and vet 
 
Mr. Ooldwiii Smith makes that insinuation a^'ainst the 
 Canadians, whose whole past history is a protest against 
 any such statement. 
 
 Admitting that there were only a quarter of a million 
 of people in the North-West in 18<)4, it is worderful pro- 
 gress when we remember that the Canadian Pacific Kail- 
 way, giving convenient access to it, was only opened in tlie 
 fall of 1885, less than ten years ago. The statement that, 
 as a wheat-growing speculation, the region had failed, is 
 most unfair. M mitoba wheat has no superior, and the 
 crop last year was 17,000.000 bushels.' Wheat-growing 
 pays as well in the North-West as in other countries, for 
 the price at present is everywhere depressed. 
 
 Mr. Smith also says : " The prediction that the Cana- 
 dian Pacific Jiailw ay would never pay for the grease on its 
 wheels has in fact proved too true." The Aeic York World 
 Almanac for 1895 contains the report of the Canadian 
 Pacific for 1893 ; it is as follows : 
 
 Total earnings $2(t,yO'J,;il7 
 
 Operating expenses 13,220,901 
 
 Ner. earnings 7,741, 41H 
 
 Add interest, 20;),8G.3 
 
 Total income $7,961,2711 
 
 Fixed charges 5,338,597 
 
 Surplus .$2,012,682 
 
 This last year there has been a very large falling oft' 
 in the receipts of the Canadian Pacific Eailway owing to 
 the w^orld-wide commercial depression ; but this is likely to 
 be only temporary in its effects. 
 
 From the same Almanac we find that in the ten years 
 from 1884 to 1893 inclusive, no less than 309 railroads in 
 the United States, with total stock and bond debts of $3,- 
 875,581,000, had been foreclosed, or placed in the hands of 
 receivers. These roads have a mileage of 74,312 miles, out 
 of the total for the United States of 175,441 miles. 
 
 Mr. Goldwin Smith does not put forward his own opin- 
 ion on the strength of the annexation party in Canada, but 
 quotes from Max O'Rell, a stranger, who spent a few days 
 or perhaps weeks in the country. Mr. Goldwin Smith.'^be- 
 
 ' Since this article was written, this year's harvest has produced 30,000,000. 
 
so 
 
 in«,' honorary president of tlu 
 
 Continental Union Clul) and 
 tlie principal contributor to its funds on this side of the 
 Imundary line, knows that the party, with the single excep- 
 tion of himself, consists of only a few score of dissatisiied, 
 impecunious men, without either reputation or influence. 
 
 Canadians are not likely to favour annexation. Their 
 whole traditions, their national spirit, their respect for the 
 dead that have gone before, everything that woidd appeal 
 to honour or sentiment, forbid such an idea. On material 
 grounds, everything is against it. Our people are a moral, 
 liiw-abiding people. Compare the criminal statistics, ac- 
 cording to the Chicago Trihiiitc's returns (the best avail- 
 able), we find that there were HoOT murdei's in the United 
 States in 18S9, 0015 in 18im, and 1>H()() in 18{)4. The num- 
 ber lynched in 1804 was 1!)0, of wliora four were women ; 
 the number legally executed in that vear up to October, 
 112. 
 
 The muiders per 10,000,000 of population per annum 
 in 181>;} were, England I'M), Austria 150, France 175, Spain 
 700, Italy 825, and the United States 1500 in 181)4. As 
 the United States statistics are more comprehensive than 
 the European, probably for a comparison, 1200 would be a 
 fairer estimate. In Canada, in the year ending September 
 ;50, 181)3, twenty-two persons were charged with murder, 
 and thirty-four with manslaughter, or a total of fifty six 
 for 5,000,000 people, or 112 per 10,000,000 per annum, the 
 best record of them all. Lynching is unknown in Canada. 
 The amount of money stolen by embezzlers and defaulters 
 in the United States' in 1804 amounted to $25,234,112. 
 The widespread distress and depression in the United 
 States, the fact that our share in paying the pension fund 
 of $140,000,000, would be s 10,000,000 per annum, or more 
 than the interest of our gross debt of .$300,000,000, all 
 tend to show that annexation cannot appeal to the Canadian 
 people on any ground, either moral or material. No won- 
 der Mr. Smith quotes a French traveller as his authority 
 for the extent of the annexation party. And yet his arti- 
 cles are read in England as conveying information on 
 Canadian questions. 
 
 Mr. Smith says : " A Canadian politician in England 
 spouts loyalt}' like a geyser. The same man in Canada is the 
 chief author of a tariff, which has for its main object the 
 capture of protectionist votes by the exclusion of British 
 ' goods.' A more incorrect and wilfully unfair statement 
 
21 
 
 than this, in reference to the Canadian tariff, which result- 
 (xl from the huccosh of the National Policy in 187H, could 
 hardly be imagined. Mr. Goldwin Smith himself took an 
 active part in that election, in support of Sir John Mac- 
 donald and the National Policy. lie then for the first time 
 appeared upon the political platform in an election cam- 
 paign in Canada. After Sir John Macdonald's success and 
 after the tariff legislation had heen passed, Mr. Smith en- 
 dorsed and defended it. In the Bystander for January 
 18<S0, speaking of the tjiriif, he says : 
 
 " After all, what produced the delicit which these new 
 duties of ours were required to fill '? What hut Imperial 
 aggrandizement ? England chooses to have a railroad to 
 carry her troops from Halifax to (j)uebec, and she chooses 
 that another line should he run across the Continent, to 
 take in British Columbia, a Province severed from Canada 
 by the most adamantine barriers of Nature. The outlay on 
 these objects causes our expenditure to exceed our income, 
 and the taxes thus rendered necessary are imposed by 
 English ambition on itself." 
 
 In the Bystander for July, 1880, referring again to the 
 National Policy tariff, he says : 
 
 " To allow Canada to be made a slaughter market was in 
 any case impolitic and wrong, nor shall we fare the worse 
 in any future negotiation with the United States, because 
 justice has been done by our Government to our own indus- 
 tries in the meantime." 
 
 Again in the Bystander for January, 1H81, he once 
 more defends the tariff : 
 
 " But the tariff' as a whole has fulfilled the proper pur- 
 pose of all tariffs. It has raised the requisite amount of 
 revenue. The opposition can assail it successfully only by 
 showing that a revenue sufficient to fill the deficit could 
 have been raised in a better way ; and this not one of their 
 speakers or organs, so far as we have seen, has as yet 
 attempted to do." 
 
 The above extracts show clearly that Mr. Smith sup- 
 ported the Canadian tariff, defended it for years after it was 
 passed, and understood thoroughly the causes which forced 
 the Canadian people into that line of action. He knows 
 that it was to raise a revenue, and to prevent the United 
 States making Canada a slaughter market for their goods. 
 
 To show how friendly to England is this writer, who 
 sneers at our tariff as intended for the exclusion of English 
 
sa 
 
 Roods, it i.s only nocossiiry to rooall tlx! fact that lie was 
 ouo of tliL' original littlo knot of af^itatorn, wlio coiiimoucfd 
 the Coniiiiorcial I'nion iiiovoniont in 1H87, by which Kn^- 
 linh K'xxls would have i)t'»!n taxed al)out douhlo thu prewent 
 tariff to ;^'<'t into CJanada, while the Tnited States floods 
 would have comi' in free. This waM a Kchenie for the exclu- 
 sion of Jiritish ^oodn for the benefit of the forei<^iier. It 
 diariiniinated against Kii<^laiid, and the Canadian people 
 would have none of it. 
 
 Mr. Smith also says that no one dreams that American 
 invasion could be resisted if it came, and " any force which 
 Great JJritain might have iu Canada would probably l)e at 
 once withdrawn. I'o leave it in face of overpowering odds 
 would be to court loss and dislionour." There is a prece- 
 dent for this suggestion. A Kussian woman once, to save 
 herself. Hung her children to the wolves ; but her indignant 
 fellow-villagers put lier to death. The odds in 18 1 '2 were 
 thiity to one against ua, and we wer(^ successful. To-day 
 they are about twelve to one, not counting lmi)erial assist- 
 ance, or practically the sanu( odds that Japan has lately 
 faced against China. This suggestion of Mr. Smith's, that 
 the Englishmen of to-day would abandon their fellow- 
 subjects from craven fear of the odds, gives a vivid indica- 
 tion of his idea of honour ; but it is contrary to all British 
 traditions, and is an insult to the race. The same writer, 
 in concluding his article, says : 
 
 '• The British public, if it wishes to form a safe judg- 
 ment on this case, must bring itself to believe that an 
 Englishman, heartily loyal to his country, prizing above 
 all things her interest and her honour, as proud as any of 
 her sons can be of her glories in war as well as in peace, 
 and, above all, of her glories in the lield of coloni/ation, 
 may, with all the facts daily before his eyes, be sincerely 
 convinced that it will be a happy day for her when she bestows 
 her blessing upon the reunion of her race in America, 
 renews the bond of ati'ection with the whole of it, and, in 
 emancipating a dependency, sliows herself indeed to be the 
 mother of- free nations." 
 
 These are Mr. Smith's views of loyalty to England. 
 The St. George's Society of Toronto, composed of English- 
 men, many of them most prominent citizens, " loyal to their 
 country, prizing above all things her interest and her hon- 
 our," " with all the facts daily before their eyes," expressed 
 
 
 L^ 
 
23 
 
 their vi(>WH, in the hu'ROHt meotin}j; of the Society over held, 
 in th(f f()ll()\vin<; rcHohition, which wtiH uniinimously curried 
 on the 8rdof March, IHSm: 
 
 ** Whereas, it has heen broufrlit to the attention of this 
 Society that Mr. (loldwin Sniitli, one of its Ufe nienilx'rs, 
 has openly procliiinied iuiiiself in favour of severin}^ 
 Canachi from the rest of the British Knipin;, and lias also 
 accepted the olHice of honorary president of an association 
 havinjj; for its object the active promotion of an a<fitation 
 for the union of Canaihi with the United States : Therefore, 
 this Societv desires emphatically to place on record its 
 stronji; disapprobation of any sucli movement, and herel)y 
 expresses its extreme re^^ret that the Society should contain 
 in its ranks a memi)er who is striving for an object which 
 would cause an irreparable injuiy to this Dominion, would 
 entail a loss to the Motherland of a most important part of 
 her Empire, and would deprive Canadians of their birthright 
 as British subjects." 
 
 This was followed by Mr. Smith's resignation of mem- 
 bership. If the Jiritisli public wish "to form a safe judg- 
 ment on this case," let them be guided by the above 
 opinion of a large meeting of some hundreds of !,heir loyal 
 fellow-countrymen. 
 
 Mr. Smith wishes to deprive England of an immense 
 territory, to cast off 5,000, OO'J of her loyal fellow-sui)ject8, 
 wlio have stood by the l^impire under every dilhculty and 
 every trial, on the same ground that Lord Shelburne made 
 such sacrifices in 17H3 — viz., " reconciliation.' If Mr. 
 Smith himself believed this would be effective, there might 
 be some excuse for him ; but his own article on " The 
 Hatred of England" shows that he thoroughly understands 
 American hostility, and yet he is willing to deprive England 
 of great moral and material strength, of coaling stations of 
 ine8timal)le value, of tislieries unparalleled, of mineral and 
 agricultural resources almost without limit, iu order to 
 build up and strengthen a nation that, as the Xcir Yorh- 
 Skii, the organ of his cause, says, " would view with undis- 
 guised delight the ruin of her hereditary foe." 
 
 In conclusion, permit me, as one of that great mass of 
 the Canadian people whose ancestors fought for a United 
 Empire in 1776, and in the British interests on this Conti- 
 nent in every generation since, to appeal to the British 
 public to stand fast by the Empire built up by our fathers — 
 
 A 
 
2* 
 
 to strive to weld it closer and closer together — and to look 
 towards the Colonies in the spirit that was voiced on their 
 behalf by our late Premier at the opening of the Ottawa 
 Conference : " We meet, not to consider the prospects of 
 separation from the Mother Country, but to plight our faith 
 anew to each other, and to plight anew to the Motherland 
 that faith that has never yet been broken or tarnished." 
 
 Gkobge T. Denison. 
 
 
 I'ljuUil liy C. Blackutt Kobinaou, 5 ilonlnii Street, Toronto.