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Oliver Mowat, Premier of Ontario, to the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, M.P. for East York, and formerly Premier of Cani.da. ^VSriTH A.lSr APPENDIX, PRINTED BY HUNTER, ROSE »fe CO 1891. '; -' ? 1, I i :■ «s '' ^ :. W rj ?;.,\ UNKESTRICTED RECIPROCITY. '■A H'"t, In consequence of the depressed condition of Canada, in com- mon with all the countries in the world at the time, such depres- sion having arisen from causes common to all, the people of Canada were induced by the Conservatives in 1878 to try the experiment of a protective policy, contrary to your advice. The promises and expectations which induced that experiment have since been demonstrated to have been mistaken. A protective policy has been shown by experience to aftbrd our people no sound or permanent advantage. On the contrary, it has directly and indirectly added to the burdens of the great body of our people ; and our people have become less able to bear those burdens by reason of several successive years of bad crops, and by the further injury which has arisen to our farmers at the instance of our neighbors through the operation of the MeKinley tariff. As a remedy for existing evils, the Liberals in the Dominion Parlia- ment, mcluding yourself, adopted as a plank of the Liberal plat- form Unrestricted Reciprocity of trade in the products natural and manufactured of Canada and the United States. This was a substitute for the so-called National Policy, the IMcKinley tariif, and other unfriendly devices on the part of the two countries re- spectively in relation to their mutual intercourse. The adoption of this article of the Liberal platform was approved of by the party generally, including those who had the strongest attachment to British connection. Our esteemed friend, Mr. Blake, your iirst successor in the leadership of the Liberal party, and the admired of all Canadians, was almost if not quite alone among Liberals in objecting to the adoption of this plank of the Liberal platform. In his address to the electors of West Durham, he has given powerful reasons i of public ly loss tax- lould hav'j halfbreedi*. e. story. A ""H, 3a, in com- ach depres- I people of to try the ivice. The "imen.t have L protective )le no sound iirectly and our people ; burdens by ' the further ance oi: our ariff. As a nion Parlia- jiberal plat- ucts natural This was a .inley tariff, ;ountries re- le adoption of by tho attachment tssor in the 1 Canadians, icting to the his address rful reasons CANADA vS FUTURE. 5 ' in support of his view, as he always does on every subject. His grounds, as I understand them, were, chiefly, that unre- stricted reciprocity would deprive us of needed revenue; that no way of supplying the deficiency had been suggested, and he himself saw no practicable way ; that unrestricted reciprocity was less advantageous than commercial union would be ; that commercial union would involve or lead to political union ; and that Canadians were not prepared for political union, and did not consider that they were dealing with it in endorsing unrestricted rcciprocit}', though to him that result appeared inevitable. Mr. Blake, however, observed that some of his conclusions were "in their nature speculative and not demonstrable"; and he aided, "their realisation may be precipitated, modified or retarded by political and sentimental, as well fi'; commercial and economical considerations, and by events alike beyond our know- ledge and our control. They are stated then, by no means dogmatically, which would be absurd, but only as the best fore- casts in my power, on doubtful matters, about which, had the times allowed, silence might have been more prudent than speech.'' Mr. Blake's address having been interpreted by some as expressing a desire for political union with the United States, he published a short note correcting this inference. This was the note (11th March, 1891), as published in The Globe: — "The contradictory inferences to which a sentence in my Durham letter, deiached from its context, has in .several quarters unexpectedly given rise, conquer m}-^ reluctance to trespass again so soon upon your columns ; and I crave space to say that I think political union with the States, though becoming our probable, is by no means our ideal, or as yet our inevitable future."..,,, , ■..., , . .. , , • ,/ POLITICAL UNION. 1 presume that all thinking Liberals feel more or less the difficulties which Mr. Blake suggested, but do not feel them so strongly as he does, and are more hopeful about a solution of them being found without political union. Liberals were nearly if not quite unanimous in not wanting political union ; but they did want unrestricted reciprocity ; and '/.V e REFORM PARTY, AND I they wore not asked to support unrestricted reciprocity except on fair tei'ms, such as would be consistent with British connection and with the lionor of Canada. Canadians generally are proud of their status as British subjects, and did not want unrestricted reciprocity if it was to involve a change in their nationality, or could only be obtained on terms to which they could not honor- ably agree. They did not want it at the ex[)ense of handing over to another nation this grand Dominion, so extensive in territory, so mighty in resources, and with such grand national prospects in the future. They did not want it if to obtain or keep it we had to cease to be British subjects, and also to abandon our aspirations for an independent Canada on Canada's ceasing to be part of the British Empire. We are as much attached to our nation as the people of the United States are to theirs. Their attachment to their nation does our neighbors honor, and intelligent men amongst them cannot re- gard otherwise our attachment to our nation. As no comyiercial, or other material advantage, real or sup[)osed, would induce the people of the United States to change their allegiance, so neither, I hope, will the prospect of some material advantage induce Canadians to change their allegiance to the Empire. Liberals did not see that unrestricted reciprocity would have any such effect ; they believed that with unchanged political relations unrestricted reciprocity would on the whole be a good thing, for our farmers especially, and through them for the whole com- munity. But unrestricted reciprocity at the price of annexation we were not prepared for. Many of us were not prepared to afhrm that unrestricted reciprocity at that price would be for even the material advantage of Canada. It is quite certain that" ( the farms of the United States are heavily mortgaged as well as Canadian farms ; and we have no solid ground for assuming that they are less heavily mortgaged than our own farms. So our farmers as a class, or our mechanics as a class, or our laborers as a class, whatever the reasons may be, are not less comfortable on the whole than the farmers, mechanics and laborers of the United States appear to be, though these are harassed by no McKinley tariff, find by no like obstruction to the dealing of the States with one another. ^ I Canada's futlue. r except on connection 7 are proud inrestricted lonality, or not honor- mding ovor n territory, ;)rospect8 in keep it we Diindon our sasing to be 3ple of the nation does Q cannot re- comyiercial, induce the , 30 neither, iage induce Liberals e any such tl relations Tood thing, whole com- anneKation prepared to ould be for certain that- 1 as well as urainor that Ins. So our laborers as ifortable on the United o McKinley ; the States Nor were we prepared to say that no considerations but those of material interest should be taken into account. Most of us held the reverse. It seemed clear that imrestricted reciprocity would be quite as much foi- the advantage of our neighbors as of ourselves, and it might, therefore, reasonably be ex{)ected that a fair measure would be agreed to without the condition of political union, or of what would amount to political union. To political union we would not agree. To any reciprocity short of unrestricteti reci- procity in the manufactures of the two countries it was certain the United States would not agree. .'■i ?>;-'»' THE LAST DOMINTON ELECTIONS. ul, For myself, I accepted these views as regards both British connection and unrestricted reciprocity ; and when asked by the Dominion leaders to join with others m active work for the party at the last general election, as T had done at all previous Dominion elections since I returned to public life, I did so very heartily. I believed that it would be of immense service to Canada to effect a change of Government at Ottawa ; or even to effect an increase in the number of Liberal members, though the election .should not result in a change of Government. I be- lieved that unrestricted reciprocity would be a good thing, and that the attachment of oui- people to British connection was so strong and had borne so many tests that it would stand this test also. I expressed these sentiments for you also, by your request, at the meetings in East York which I attended on your behalf. I was reported at the time as saying of you in substance as fol- lows : — ■• ' '• ■' • 'i' • ■ -J" ■ I!' -If .^ . ■» -kiitii V'_.:; » " Mr. Mackenzie thinks it important that the present Ottawa Government should be defeated for all the evil it has done in the past, for all the evil it is doing now, and for all the evil it will be certain to do in the future if it gets a renewal of power. With respect to the issues which are interesting the people now, I am authorized and instructed by him to say that he cherishes those loyal British feelings which you have always known him to have^ ^ 8 KEIOUM I'AUTY. AND and wliich lit) has taken overy suitable occa.sion during the laat 30 years to express. He sees no reason why he should not foel as strongly in favor of British connection as in early davs. He thinks also that it is of importance that wo should have recipro- city between this country and the United States in the natural products and the nianufactures of the two countries. He is thoroughly in accord with his part}' in that respect. There are some matters in connection with it on which he has publicly stated his viewsj He has declared himself as not in favor of a zollverein or of commercial union ; but he is satisfied that in .seeking unrestricted reciprocity we are acting strictly in accord with the wishes of men who desire a continuance of British con- nection. . . . If the Ameiicans will not agree to complete reciprocity, it is quite certain they will not agree to a partial measure. It can be demonstrated that unrestricted reciprocity would be an advantage to the United States as well iis to Canada. No doubt they would like us to give our country to them. That we never will do. But as a business people, when they see that our loyalty and national sentiment will not allow us to give more than unrestricted reciprocity, it is reasonable to believe that a .sensible people will not refuse what will be an advantage to them, though they cannot get what they would pi'efer." The Liberal party having adopted in their platform this plank of unrestricted reciprocity, the Conservative leaders and public journals raised for party purposes the cry that unrestricted reci- procity would lead to political union, and they asserted that the Liberal leaders contemplated and desired political union. This at the last general election for the Dominion was the Conservative answer, both to the arguments of unrestricted reciprocity, and to every charge of maladministration made against the Conservative Government ; and so strong is the aLtaclmient of Canadian peo- ple of all classes to British connection, and so sensitive in regard to everything that might seem to endanger it, that the Govern- ment obtained a majority at the elections, notwithstanding the collapse of the National Policy, and in spite of the bad legislation and bad government with which the Conservative Administration w«s chargeable. , * - iiig the last i not feel as 1 davH. He ave recipro- the natural 'ies. He is There are las publicly in favor of Red that in y in accord British con- to complete to a partial I reciprocity IS to Canada ;hem. That ley see that give more ieve that a Wantage to r. this plank and public iricted reci- )d that the )n. This at iJonservative ;ity, and to Conservative ladian peo- [e in regard the Qovern- ^anding the legislation linistration 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 III CANADA S KUTUUE. THE ANNEXATION MOVEMENT. ■ n 'i.t . Since that time discontent with the Conservative Government has increasied, in consecjuence of the scandals unearthed at Ottawa ; the proof afforded by the census and otherwise of the failure of the so-called National Policy to realize the expectations from it ; and the continued discussion of the advantaaes of free trade relations with the United States. As a result, a disposi- tion has been manifested in some fpiarters to favor even political union with the United States as the best means of obtaining such reciprocity, and perhaps as otherwise desirable. A distin- guished gentleman, resident amongst u.s, lias for some years ad- vocated that view strongly and perseveringly, and h.is insisted that political union was for every reason both our best policy and our manifest destiny. One Conserva' ' e member of the Ontario Legislature has recently adopted the same view, has openly advocated it, and has induced a ^ i jUc liieetirr m his own constituency, North Essex, to pass a resolution in favor of an- nexavi-.>-i ■ v;; /• i^m-. '\ -:■>!• r>\i'. ' '■■ ''•"'.. '>i''v ' ' ■ ;,,.«.-..., ,■ ., .; ,,,f . NORTH ESSEX. . . ,.,, ; ... i ,, '\'V'. Too much importance may have been attached to th«.i, resolu- tion as expres.sive of the public sentiment in Essex, for at a sub- sequent meeting at Windsor (I9th November, 1891), a contrary resolution was pas.sed. It was moved by a Liberal, and the re- port which I have .seen does not mention any dissentients. The resolution declared, " That it is the sense of this meeting that there is nothing in the condition of affairs in Canada at present to justify despondency as regards the future, and we deprecate the idea that the people of this country de.sire any change in its political condition, and we denounce the few malcontents who are thrusting themselves forward and attempting to create a feel- ing of disloyalty and distrust"; etc. Still more recently, viz., 27th November last, the County Council of the same county passed a like resolution with but one dissentient voice. This resolution was moved by a prominent Liberal and seconded by a Conserva- tive, and was as follows : — " Whereas certain persons of more or less prominence within the county have recently entered into an ., y ! 10 REFORM PARTY, AND agitation for annexation to the United States, we the members of the County Council, representing our loyal, fr^e and enlightened constituents, desire to place on record our firm belief and convic- tion that no country possesses a better system of government or more admirable institutions than our beloved land ; and that while desiring to live on terms of peace and friendliness with the great country lying to the south of us, we hereby repudiate all desire or intention of becoming identified with it, preferring to remain under the glorious Hag beneath which our country hajs be- come great and progressive and to retain all our existing condi- tions, which have secured equality and justice to all creeds, nationalities and conditions of men." WOODSTOCK MEETING. The previous resolution in favor of political union encouraged the friends of annexation elsewhere, and a public rueeting was called for Mr. White, to be held in my riding, North Oxford, in the loyal Town of Woodstock, the county town of the banner county of Canadian Liberalism ; and we know from a letter read at the meeting, as well as from other circumstances, that Mr. White and those who got up the meeting, were confident of carry- ing a re.solution in favor of annexation. On the other hand, there was a disposition amongst the opponents of annexation to treat the meeting with contempt and not to attend it. I saw that this course would not be wise, and at the last moment almost, our friends decided on attending. The result was, that the anti-an- nexationists at the meeting Kumbered twelve to one, and their position was expressed by the following resolution : — " That the people of Oxford of all parties are deeply attached to their beloved Sovereign, the Queen of Great Britain ; that they proudly recognize the v/hole Biitish Empire as their country, and rejoice that Canada is part of that empire ; that Canadians hflve the most friendly feelings towards the people of the United States, and ilosire the extension of their trade relations with them ; that, while differing among ourselves as to the extent of the reciprocity to be desired oi- agreed to, we repudiate any sug- gestion that in order to accomplish this object Canadians shoufd CANADA S FUTURE. 11 aembersof alightened ,ncl convic- irnment or and that s with the pudiatc all 3f erring to try hai^ be- ing condi- all creeds, nconraged eeting was Oxford, in the banner letter read s, that Mr. t of carry - land, there jn to treat V that this ilmost, our le anti-an- , and their y attached that they untry, and iians h«ve be United ions with ) extent of e any sug- f\ns shoufd change their allegiance, or consent to the surrender of the Domin- ion to any foreign power by annexatiQii, political union or other- wise." • • - The boldness of this annexation experiment in Oxford, though it came to nothing, has, in connection with some other circum- stances, called my attention to an apparent drift in some sections of our people in favor cJf political union with the United States. There are evidently more who favor such union than there had been before the complete and manifest collapse of the N P. as a remedy for financial troubles. The number is no doubt few in the aggregate as compared with the whole population of the Do- minion ; but, since the first attack outside of Essex was made in my own constituency, I have thought it my duty to take this early opportunity of stating at length some of the reasons for re- maining faithful to what has long been the recognised policy of Canadian Liberals. I wish also to correct an inference which has Ijeen drawn from a published letter of mine to Dr. McKay, my colleague in the representation of Oxford in the Legislative As- sembly, written at his request the day before the Woodstock meeting, that I am now against unrestricted reciprocity with the United States in the products of the two countries. This is not so. Loyalist as I am, I am willing to run tlie risk of a fair measure of unrestricted reciprocity. Some rijiks have to be run in all great measures, and these risks are sometimes in one direc- tion and sometimes in another. ATT.IOHMEXT TO liai'USH CONNECTION. Tl'.e attachment of Caradians to Briti.sb connection lias stood many tests during a hundred years and more, and, I lippe and think, will bear tliis test also. It was the artaelnnentXof the people of Canada to British connection that prevented them from joining the othei' colonies ni the war of the Revolution. The same attachment brought from tho.5e colonies to Canada, when the war closed, the U. E. Loyalists, men who sacrificed all, or nearly all, their acquiiod means, and submitted to the unaccustomed hartl ships and privation of a pioneer life in the woods of Canada, in ordi-r that they and their families and descendants might re- ■»"-« / w 9 ', 1 r i; III ' 1 u ri 11 n 12* REFORM PARTY, AND main British subjects. Their example deserves the respect of their descendants and fellow- Canadians throughout all time. This attachment to British connection on the part of C^ nadians of all origins showed itself again in the war of 1812 ; and con- tinued until the outbreak in the two Canadas in 1^37. At the time of that outbreak the people were laboring under such griev- ances that an English statesman of rank, after investigating the matter, declared, in effect, that the demands of the Reformers had been reasonable, and that their political opponents were to blame for the rebellion. The outbreak in both Provinces was limited. In Ontario it was put down without the aid of the mili- tarv. Most Reformers refused to countenance it, preferring to rely on peaceful agitation for the redress of their grievances, and many of them in consequence joined the rest of the community in cjushing the movement. The two Canadas were soon afterwards united, and responsible government was conceded to the Province of Canada, as it was afterwards in succession to all the other col- onies of the em{)ire. From that time the Liberals of Canada have again been amongst its most loyal inhabitants. There have al- ways been in both parties a few excellent men not shai'ing this British sentiment, and such have, as I believe, been quite as numerous among Conservatives as among Liberals ; the aggregate number has been small. In 1849, Mr. Abbott and others, carried away by one of those temporary depressions experi uexatiou to tho United Statoa. Well, sir, I know tho foolings of our people, with whom I have lived in constant communion of sontiinonts during the 30 years of my political life, and I do not heaitato a moment to say that no con- sideration of linanco or trade can have influence on the loyalty of the deaceud- ants of tho races of whom I spoke to you in tho opening of my address, or tend in the slightest degree to alienate their afibctions from their country, their in- stitutions, their Ooverument and their Queen. If anyone in this meeting believes that in refusing commercial intercourse to Canada they would under- mine the loyal feelings of our people, he is laboring under a delusion and doing an in justice to a people whose sentiment of loyalty is as indelible as your own, and i cannot do better than by atlirming with more energy, if it be possible, with Mr. jaurier, what heathrmed the other day in Boston : — " If such a boon as freedom of trade were to be purchased by the slightest sacrifice of my nation's dignity, I would have none of it. ' , ' , i. OTHER LIIJERALS ON ANNEXATION. In Oxford, Mr. Sutherland, who represents North Oxford in the Ooinnions, asserted at the Woodstock meeting that Mr. White was entirely mistaken when he declared in his speech that " those who voted for reciprocity at the last election voted for annexation." On behalf of the Liberals of Oxford he repudiated, any such idea. It might be repudiated in like manner for every constituency in the Province, or indeed in the Dominion, on behalf of its Liberal voters. 1 conclude this part of my letter by copying a few sentences from a lecture before the Toronto National Club by another pro- minent Liberal, who has done good service in tho Liberal cause in Ontario as a member of the House of Commons, a member of the Provincial Government and Legislature, as well as in other ways, and who is as well acquainted with public sentiment as any man I know, the Hon. James Young : — Both our great political parties are happily opposed to political anion, and I hope — nay, 1 feel confident — tlere are very few Canadians, especially tboae who are native born, who seriously entertain that idea. With all its blemishes, the record of the British Monarchy is a grand one. Against Philip of Spain and his armada, against Louis XIY. at Blenheim and ]lamilie3, and at the great battle of Waterloo — when the power of Napoleon was finally shivered to atoms — it can justly claim to have almost single-handed thrice saved tho liberties of the world. The world owes more to it to-day than to any other power — civil liberty, representative government, religious i-4 CANADA S FUTURE. 19 f our people, luring the 30 that no con- the desceud- Ireas, or tend try, their in- this meeting ivould under- L)ii and doing aayour own, be possible, f such a boon :rifice of my Oxford in Mr. White >eecb that voted for spudiated. for every linion, oa sentences other pro- eral cause nember of s in other nt as any union, and especially With all its Against iheim and ^poleon was gle-handed io it to-day t, religious toleration, its purest literature and its freest commerce. Whilst, therefore, wo may cherish the most kindly feelings towards our United States cousins, whilst we may admire the great republic and wish it (lod-speed in its grand career, I have mistaken my fellow-countrymen" if they are not too proud of the races from which we have sprung, too hopeful of a grfeat future for Can- adian nationality to ever seriouHly think of separation fn^m (Jreat Britain to join any other nation. . . . There is some danger, I admit, in the agitation of Mr. (Joldwin Smith and other advocates of absorption, but I (\6 not fear our fellow-countrymen's decision. I believe the vast majority of them are unalterably opposed to political union, and are fully persuaded that it would be a stain for ever on the Canadian name if, with a country so vast, with such immense natural resources, possessing at once the agricul- tural element, the manufacturing element, and the maritime element — in- deed all the elements of a great nation — we were too craven or too selfish to work out the grand national destiny tempting us onwards. j: THE LIBERAL PRESS. Then as regards the Liberal press, the leading Liberal journal ill Ontario has long been the Toronto Globe ; the leading organ of the English-speaking Liberals in Quebec is, I presume, the Mon- treal Herald. The Globe, so long distinguished for its vigorous advocacy of British connection, free trade, and the rights of our Province, has been said, and has by some been supposed, to have become the opponent of British connection. I'hat, if it were true, would be a great public calamity and disappointment. If articles or sentences may be quoted from its recent columns seeming to favor that view, it is enough at present to ])oint out that in an- nouncing the other day an enlargement of the paper and its future policy, it is stated distinctly that The Globe "adheres to its historical course and policy, is thoroughly Canadian in tone and sentiment, loyal to British connection, aggressively hostile to tariff exaction and trade restriction," etc. The Montreal Herald is equally ex})licit. Commenting on Mr. Chapleau's recent speech at Providence, R. I., and on un- founded suggestions in it that the Liberals of Canada " proposed to surrender C'anada s commercial and political independence Ity adopting the tariff of the United States along the seaboard and allowing our tariff to be dictated from Washington," the Herald answered :— " The Liberals repudiate ;iny such intei'pretation of tlieir trade policy. The Liberal trade jiolioy, so far as the United 20 JIEFOUM PAR'IV, AND i, States are concerned, is fcho freest possible trade relations with that country consistent witli our coimnercial and politicnl inde- pendence. On this point Mr. C'hai)leau imd before hiui not only Mr. Laurier's explicit declarations in Parliament and liis speech at Boston, but he had also before him the utterances of the Liberal press of (Janada, and he therefore had no excuse for indulging* in such misrepresentation." Such is still the policy, as 1 understand it, of the whole Liberal party ; of the old leaders and the new ; of the members of Parlia- ment and of the Provincial Legislatures ; and of the Liberal press. THE CASE AGAINST f'OLITIOAL TJNiON. Why are Canadians opposed to giving up Canada to the United States ? Why do we wish to retain our British connec- tion ? Why are Liberals so generalh'- opi>osed to taking that old plank out of the Liberal platform ? It is certainly not because of any hatred towards the United States. Such hatred exists amongst very few of the Canadian people, and but for the animosity prevailing in the United States against Great Britain, the number would be still fewer; per- haps there would be none. You and I know and esteem too many of the citizens of the United States to hate their country, which they love as we love ours. We know, and ad- mire, and rejoice in, the many valuable qualities which they pos- sess, and have inherited from our common ancestors, and for which the new WMjrld has given such splendid scope. We rejoice in the kindly feeling toward the great American republic which nowadays so generally j^ervades the population ol' the oM lands, and of all lands politically connected with them. We regret that a like feeling towards our nation grows very slowly amongst the masses of the people of the United States. It is making some progress, and we heartily recognise and api)reciate the progress which it has made amongst, especially, the cultured, the travelled, the religious and the non-political classes. I think that hatred of Britain does not exist at all among citizens of the United States who have settled in Canada, Canadians in general have jio hatred towards the United J U CANADA'S FUTTTUE. 21 State8, but they are againHt siirrejiderin/^ to theni thiis great country in which our lot is cast aiul whicli has l)een committed to our keeping. Wc are against giving to the 6;^,()()0,()00 of people to the south of U8 absolute power forever over all our federal and national interests. Conservatives and Liberals alike are against this, and for many reasons. A PARTY REASON. In addition to the reasons whicli are common to both (Conser- vatives and Liberals, there is a party reason why Liberals as a party should retain British connection in their platform. In a paper by a Liberal for Liberals, tliiH party reason should be men- tioned for the sake of any Liberals, though they may be few, who, though attached to theii- party, and in the public interest desiring its success, have been induced to think favorably of politi- cal union with the United States. I desire to call to the notice of such that for the Liberal party or any important section of it to favor political union with the United States would be death to all hope of Liberal ascendancy in the councils of the Donlinion. Though the Liberal party as ,a whole is sound on this question, the Conservative leaders perceived that to charge us with dis- loyalty was their best policy in order to keep themselves in power ; and every indication of an anti-British sentiment on the l>Att of any of our party is thus playing into the hands of our political opponents. At the lasit general Dominion election we lost some Liberal votes in Ontario from a fear, created by Con- servative management, that Liberal leaders were looking to politi- cal union ; and many more Liberal votes would have been lost but for the confidence of Liberals generally that the charge was false. As a mere matter of party tactics, therefore, and in ad- dition to all other considerations, it is our policy to see tliat our party shows itself on all occasions to be as true to British con- nection, ax-.' as little disposed to surrender this great Dominion to our neighbors, as the most British of Conservatives are. But there are many reasons against political union which are ]iational and common to Canadians of all parties. Let me glance at a few of the reasons which specially influence my own mind. \:\i , ) t 22 lA I it.'^j. UEFOHM PARTV, AND BRITAIN rfi OUR OWN NATION. :h.»'-! (1) Britain, tlie United Kingdom of Groat ?)ritain and Ireland, is our own nation, as it was the nation of our fatliers. It is a nation to which we may bo proud of belonging. Among the nations of Europe, otirs has been for centuries in the front as regards froodom, civilisation, Icfirning and power, nnd as regards all the arts of both peace and war. It is at this day the most extensive empire in the world, and possesses in unsurpassed measure all the elements which go to make up national greatness. We are glud that we are citizens of this om[)it<.'. We rejoice that wc were horn under its Hag, as our fathers were. Wo are proud of our present status as i^ritish subjects. We have as Canadians no grievance against tlio Imperial Govornment or Parliament, as the other American colonies had in the last century. Canada has had representative Government for a century, and res[)onsiblc Government for the last half century. We have now for the Dominion of Canada and its Provinces the very constitution which through ouj- representatives we ourselves asked for 25 years ago ; and nt^ amendment desired by our representatives since has been refused. Attachment to our own nation thus constitutes one great reason why Canadians in general are against now changing their nationality for any other. (2) Another reason somewhat akin to the first i.s, that we can- not and do not forget that Canada was won in the last century by British blood and the expenditure of British treasure. The men and the money were the eonti'ibutions of Englishmen, Irish- men and Scotclmion of the old lunds. Canada thereupon be- longed, with all its undeveloped wealth, to the whole British people. It dill not become as a matter of right the property of the first settlers, any more than Muskoka or Parry Sound or Al- goma became the property of the early s(>.ttlors of these districts, as against the rest of Ontario. The management of the ungranted lands in the old Provinces, the timber, the minerals, the waters, the fisheries, and all the money these could bo made to yield, were afterwards transfer i-ed by imperial authority to the Provin- cial Legislatures and Governments. The immense territory out- side the old Provinces, and comprising sonu' nnllions of scpiare- 'm: Canada's futuuk. 23 i.,'-} with hesittitiiijj; Canadians ASPIKATIONS FOK INDEPENDENCE. mileH, was iriore reciuitly transfon'od in liko manilor to tho Do- minion of Cv'anudfi, at tho i(j(|uest of our roprewentatives. The tiaurtfei' in ull caso.s wa,s a gift, and not by way of puichuHe and sale. ItHeuniK to most (yanailians, uk it ,so(;ruH to you and uio, that for u.s to now transfer, or H«oi< to transfer, thits j^reat J>o- minion to another nation, for sonio expected advaiitfige to uh of a material kind, tliat oiher nation not being oven a friendly one, would be in accordance with neither patriotism nor sound morals. This view has only to be fuither considered to have great weight j 1 iU . ■ \ •/ill j»(i r '■ irivi'iM -iiW (8) Again, the aspiiution of Canadians is for an independent Canada, in case of this country ceasing to be part of the British empire. Our territory is as large as the United States, or perhaps somewhat lai-gor. It has immense resources for purposes of agri- culture aiid commerce. Two-thirds of tlie wheat area of North America is in ('anada ; and United States statisticians are calcu- lating that the time is not far distant when their country will cease to export wheat, and will need to im})ort for home consump- tion. We have probably the tinost forests and richest fisheries in the world. We have coal and iron, and copper and silver, and gold and nickel. Our climate is .specially adapted for developing an active and hardy population. Canada has thus ample ma- terials for becoming a nation ; and there is ample room on the North American continent for two gi-eat nations. It would be in important respects for the advantage of their populations that there should be two such nations rather than one. Our wish, therefore, is that, in case of the Dominion of Canada ceasing to be part of the British empire, it should become an independent nation, governed by its own i^eople, but in perpetual amity and alliance with the Fatherlands, arid with our brothers of the United States. As the United States have become a great nation south of the great lakes, so Canadians like to contemplate this Canada of ours as also becoming a great nation north of these lakes. Po- litical union would put an end forever to the hope of this. Those who favour political union are not going for " Canada T^ — miirii-nllil 24 REFORM PARTY, AND first," but are goin^' for the very reverse. la case of annexation Canada would be no more. It virould, as a political organisation, be effaced from the map of the world. Annexation would be an absolute transfer of this great country, and all its resources and Federal interests, from its own people to the people of the United States. The representatives at Washington of our 5,000,000 of people would be outweighed twelve times over by the repre- sentatives of the 63,000,000 who occupy the present States of the Union. Canadians can have no plea jure in sucli a prospect. The time has not yet come for forming Canada into an inde- pendent nation^ Any who think so are deceiving themselves. The Provinces of the Dominion are not prepared for union as a nation. They are not yet sufficiently knit together in national sentiment as Canadians. Our common British connection is the strongest tie that at f)resent binds us together. Then considering, in connection with this fact, that we have a frontier of several thousand miles, alongside a nation of 03,000,000, absolute inde- pendence is plainly out of the question for the present. Apart from all other considerations, therefore, British connection is to be cherished meanwhile by all practicable and just means, in the in- terest of Canadian independence. To promote disaffection to- wards our own nation is against all our aspirations for Canada's national future. To obtain and keep independence we shall need all our people's patience and patriotism, and all our statesmen's wisdom ; and one essential requirement is the cherishing mean- while cf our British connection and the British sentiment of our people. When the opportune time comes for Canadian inde- pendence we shall need British alliance. Securing British alli- ance, we may also have the alliance of other European countries which are represented in our population, and the alliance of the United States also, with which we Jiave so many things in com- mon. But without British friendship and British al'iance pur (jeparate nationality will be hopeless. , .iiiO fjri^ ! A r. rt^.\(S',^'':> JOyiS ■'iy , THE ANIMOSITY IN THE UNITED STATES AGAINST BRITAIN. :- ? t/. '^ (4) The unfriendly feeling towards our nation on the part of the people of the United States presents one of the most powerful CANADAS FUTURE. 25 .«<^J/^^'':i ■ U,tJ objections on the part of the Canadians to political union with them. It is with the deepest regret that I have noticed from time to time so many proofs of this unfriendly feeling. The proofs are to be found in the school books which are in use ; in the 4)th of July orations ; in the tone of the newspapers and their European despatches ; in the diplomatic documents ; in the election cries ; in the speeches of public men in the Federal and State Legislatures and elsewhere ; and in many other ways. Happily, ail do not share this animosity, but it evidently pre- dominates amongst the great mass of the population. No such animosity is manifested against Russia, or Austria, or Spain, or Turkey, or any other country, as is manifested against our nation, though there is so much to create at the present day a different feeling. On this point there is no room for a reasonable doubt. Mr. Goldwin Smith has repeatedly spoken of it. He would, no doubt, be glad to believe the contrary, for he is the most power- ful of all the advocates for political union with the United States. He has had ample means of knowing the truth as regards the national senoiment, and his honesty in stating facts no one doubts, however we may dissent from some of the views or measures which he advocates. In his recent address on "Jingo- ism ■' before the Young Men's Liberal Club in Toronto, he made these observations : — "No Englishman — and he who addresses you is an Englishman to the core — can speak with hearty good- will or admiration of the Americans so long as they persist in their hatred of the old country, It is a narrow and mean tradi- tioD, unworthy of a great people." - The professor had an article on the same subject in the North American Review last year, which he entitled " Hatred of Eng- land." In this paper he showed with great clearness and force how little ground there is for the " Anglophobia " which he stated to exist. The following are sentences from the article ; — " An American journal said the • other day that the American people could not help rejoicing in any reverse that might befal England. It may well be so considering what the journals, which are the only teachers of the masses, every morning and evening tell them, and, when you are in a mood to rejoice in a man's mis- .i 26 REFORM PARTY, AND fortunes, you are not very far from being ready to do that which, if he has any pugnacity, will lead to trouble. • A war between England and France, which is the subject of constant speculation, would furnish plenty of opportunities for embroilment." This Anglophobia, he observed a little later on, " long prevented the British domiciled here (in the United States) from being natural- ised, and still estranges their hearts from their adopted country. It stands seriously in the way of any attempt to effect a re-union of the English-speaking race upon this continent. British Cana- dians love a mother country which has never wilfully given them cause for complaint, and they take hostility to her as hostility to them. ... A generation at least will probably pass . . . before Americans, who read no annals but their own, will cease, historically at least, to identify patriotism with hostility to Great Britain." He speaks also of the Anglophobia in American litera- ture, observing (amongst other things) : " I could mention Ameri- can 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 offend the palate of the English reader. . . . There is no pervading antipathy to America in British literature; no Americanophobia, if one may coin .so uncouth a word. Nor in the English press is there anything corresponding to the anti-British tone (I use a very mild expression) of Ameri- can journalism." Canadians are against political union with a nation of whom these things may be said, and as long as they may be truly said. A little incident which occured to myself in Albany in 1889 is as striking an illustration of this hatred as one could have. I hapfiened to be in Albany for a day when the State Legislature was in session. A member of the Senate moved that I should be permitted to take a seat on the floor of the House, the rules re- quiring such a motion. He mentioned the official position I occu- pied in Ontario as the reason for this courtesy. A member immediately objected on the ground of my being a British official, and threatened the mover with the wrath of their common con- stituents if tlie motion should be pressed. Another member spoke CANADA S B^UTURE. 27 against the motion, and is reported to have said that " if even Queen Victoria herself leaning on the arm of the Governor-Gen- '^ral of Canada should stand at the rail and beg for admittance to the floor," it should be refused. The objection having been taken on the ground it was, not one of the whole body of Sena- tors, except the mover, felt free to say one word in support of the motion ; and it was thereupon withdrawn. Thu;,, even in the State of New York, with which Canadians have so much inter- course, animosity against our Nation is a powe^ amongst its voters which may interfere with an act of common courtesy towards even a Colonial official. ., . , . ' I ' , \.. I hq,ve quoted what the professor says as to the chances of war between the United States and Great Britain as the natural consequence of the national animosity of the former. Canadians regard with horror such a change in their political relations th.'t they, their sons and their other fellow Canadians, may, in case of such a war, be called on either to fight or to pay others for light- ing against what is now their own nation. There is more or less of Jingoism in all nations, and it is not at all improbc^ble that the Jingoism of our neighbors would be considerably stimulated if the whole of the continent should become theirs. But for this animosity in the United States the question of political union with that country would present itself to British Canadians under very different conditions from those actually existing. One of the strongest objections to political union would be removed if the time should come when that unreason- able animosity had passed away from the national inind. The political union, on a satisfactory basis, of two communities of the same origin, both alike friendly to the mother- land of both, might be no shock either to our fellow subjects across the Atlantic, or to the loyalists of Canada, if other considerations could be got over. Such a political union might then be acquiesced in by many present opponents of union, and might be even hailed by them as tlie precursor of the political union for common objects of all English-speaking countries, including those whose popula- tions may not be wholly English-speaking. This, again, all humanitarians would like to think, might be followed by the union of all civilized nations foi; objects commou to them all, '■«iKcai 2« REFORM PUITY, AND H: including the abandonment of the enormous armies which have now to be kept on foot for their diefence against one another. CANADIANS WILL NOT BE COERCED. ,.»,..', .?' ,. (5) In discussing the desirability of unrestricted reciprocity, if attainable on fair terms, in lieu of the barriers now existing on both sides, much is necessarily said of the McKinley tariff and its effect as regards our farmers. On the other hand, if that tariff and its injurious operation are dwelt on too exclusively, some of our people may be brought to assume that in shaping the future of their country, an intelligent people should think of im- mediate material interests only, and that political union with the United States should be sought for as the readiest way of secur- ing the material advantages which we desire. That, I rejoice to know, is not now the sentiment of the masses of the people in Canada. As British subjects they do not choose to be coerced into political union by the McKinley tariff or other unfriendly measures. The agricultural schedule to the McKinley Act aflects Canada only, and was distinctly intended, no doubt, to affect Canada. But it would be a new thing for men of British blood. or French blood, or German blood, to submit willingly to be bullied or harassed or otherwise coerced into a union which is for any reason distasteful or objectionable, or for which for any reason they are not prepared. If Canadians are ever to unite willingly with the United States, the union will be the result of other means; of national friendship; of mutual good will; of common sentiments ; and of free choice. In common with most <^)iher Liberals, I have been willing to run any risk of political mion being brought about by unrestricted reciprocity, and by the freer friendly intercourse of every kind which reciprocity- may create. But, in common with my fellow Canadians of all parties, I am not for considering political union as a means of escape from the inconveniences of hostile pressure on the part of the nation with which we .are to unite. <'ANADIAN CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM SUPERIOR TO THAT OF THE UNITED STATES. - ^ , , ■» (6)1 am ail the more against political union with the United u CANADA S FUTUllE. 29 have States, because our coDstitutional system is in material respects better than theirs. The chief if not the only weakness of our system as compared with theirs is in the constitution 'of our Senate ; but this would be changed whenever our people should express the wish. The jurisdiction of our Federal Legislature is better, in that it includes important particulars which the constitution of the United States does not assign to the central authorities. Amongst these is the miHtia, a department which cer- tainly belongs to the nation as much as the regular miltary forces do- Other subjects of this class are : criminal law, and the laws as to snch commercial subjects as bills of exchange, promissory notes, interest and legal tender, all which laws ought certainly to be uniform in every Province or State of the country. Further, our system is better because it provides for a Dominion Court of Ap- peal from the Provincial Courts on all subjects, and thus secures uniformity of decision throughout the Dominion, instead of the endless diversity which prevails amongst the several States. =/ THE CIVIL SERVICK. '4,^'' l.« So, a permanent civil service is a desideratum in the Federal iind local systems of the United States ; and reformers there have tor years been making vigorous efforts to obtain such a system, regarding it as a reform of the first magnitude; but they have not been successful. We have such a system now, and have had it always, under both the Dominion and the Provincial Govern- ments. With us, Conservative Governn ents, with all their faults, do not as a rule remove office .4 and employes because they are Reformers ; and Reform Governments do not remove officers and employes because they are Conservatives ; a change of Govern- ment does not affect in that way any branch of the civil service in Canada. - . • :.* -^.j .: ■ v't : •;. > -, . ; INDKPENUENCE OF THE JUDGES, J ; -, , • Take again the still more important matter of the independence of the judges, and for this purpose, the mode of their appoint- ment, their tenure of office, etc. We have in this matter retained the British system ; and there is no subject on which Canadians liave hitherto been more of one mind than, in the general interest. \ '5 f*,>. 30 REFORM PARTY, AND ^ preferring this system to any other. But, one after another, the States have adopted the plan of elective judgen, and iixed terms at the end of which they have to go back for re-election. Such a system has a democratic look, adds to the importance of the ward politicians, and is evidently going to stay. In case of political union with the United States, what with the example of these States, the gi'adual changes of population which union may be expected to effect in Canada, and the same influences as brought aboiit the election of judges in the States, the early adop- tion of a like system here may be regarded as inevitable. "'""■' RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. -':-'''' ■■• ••'■• •■'• . _ :-.... Our system is better than that of the United States in a still more important matter, viz.. because our system provides for re- sponsible government in both the Federal authority and in the Provinces, instead of the election of executive officers for fixed terras and the exclusion from the Legislatures of the heads of de- partments. This is a fumiamental difference between the United States system and ours. The British syL>tem of responsible gov- ernment, as now understood, is the system adorled under all re- presentative constitutions of European countries, as well as in the Dominion and its Provinces, and in British colonies generally. Mr. Baldwin and his lleform coadjutors perceived the great superiority of this system over the system of the United States, and contended for it successfully after the union of Lower and Upper Canada. It was the system adopted by the Confederate States in their movement foi' separation from the Nortliern States. It is the system approved of in theory by distinguished men in the United States in and out of political life ; but there is no pros- pect of its adoption there. Prof. Bryce points out in his work on the American Commonwealth (p. 27J>), " why the fathers of the constitution did not adopt the English Parliamentary or Cabinet system. TJiey could not adopt it because they did not know of its existence. They did not know of it because it was still imma- ture, because Englishmen themselves had not understood it, be- .;3f the recogiii/ed authorities did not mention it." ' few years ago a select committee of the United States Sen. au: was appointed to consider a bill to provide that the principal Sic: CANADA S FUTURE. 81 officer of eacii of f"/lie executive departments should have a seat ; in the Senate and House of Representatives. This was a pro- , posal to adopt one of the advantages of the British and Can- adian system of responsible government. The committee unani- , inously reported in favor of the bill, and set forth in their report some of the advantages of the measure, its consistency with the constitution of the United States, and the almost universal pro- valence of a corresponding practice in all countries which make even a pretence to representative government. But the measure has never since received the slightest attention from either House of Congress or from the executive. • : .; v In a recent article in the " Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science," the reasons of this inattention are explained to be, the conservatism which objects to a revolu- tion in traditional forms of business, and the powerful private interests which would be injured by the change. The writer, referring to the experience of Great Britain, says : — " It is beyond question that precisely this public and personal responsibility has converted both Parliament and Ministry from the corrupt con- dition of Walpole's time and half a century later, gradually but steadily to the purified condition of the present day, has ex- tinguished bribery at elections, and to that end has led the House of Commons to surrender its control in the case of disputed elec- tions into the hands of the courts. It is this personal responsi- bility which has been the instrument of carrying into effect more extensive and at the same time peaceful reforms in the interest of the masses of the people at large, than have been achieved in the same time by any other nation in the world." Speaking of the United States system, which is by irresponsible committees of either House, instead of a responsible government in the British sense, the same writer makes these observations : " This is an arrangement so fruitful of corruption and jobbery that it would drag down and corrupt the purest and ablest body of men in the woi'ld. For the working of the committee system I need only refer to Prof Woodrow Wilson's work on ' Congres- sional Government.' The result is, that^no question is ever con- sidered, debated or acted upon from the point of view of the gen- eral interest of the people. It is simply a matter of securing the * «W" ! 82 REFORM PARTY, AND largest number of local and party votes by private manipulation, intrigue, lobbying and the manufacture of a spurious and fictiti- ous public opinion. The McKinley Tariff Bill, the Silver Coinage Bill, the Pension Bill are the results of just this process, and, whether good or bad, are in no way the concentrated expression of a national public opinion.. .... .The whole mass is sent upon a precisely equal footing to the standing committees, and what at- tention, if an}', they receive must depend upon the amount of pri- vate and party influence which is brought to bear upon the com- mittees It is obvious that the existing state of things gives/ an enormous advantage to private and party interest in the hands of skilled manipulators uniler the stimulus of direct gain, as against the interest of the people at large who have no agent or representative." While a member of the Opposition in the Canadian Parliament, I had an opportvmity of seeing from an Opposition standpoint tlie working of the responsible system, and I have since had experi- ence of its working in my present position. In view of my ob- servation and experience, I have not a doubt of the great value of this system as compared with every other. Liberals have had just cause to condemn various acts of the Conservative Ministries to whom the people of Canada have given their confidence, but neither you nor I doubt tHat but for responsible government mat- ters would have been very much worse. c If our Province should become a State of the Union we could not hope that its people would not, as a natural consequence, very soon, if not at the very beginning, follow the system in use at Washington and in every State of the Union. . . Again : in regard to the operations of our system, our Province is in advance of most of the States, if not all, in matters of agriculture, of education, and of temperance ; in municipal law ; laws for the regulation and security of our land titles ; laws for securing to mechanics and laborers the fruit of their labor; laws for the administration of justice; laws afi'ecting public morals; laws affecting elections ; and many other matters. We are shocked just now at the political corruption which has recently come more or less to light; and. well we may be. But d- vh'h CANADA DAH F TJTURE. 33 we would be ignorant indeed if we should suppose that in that respect our neighbors have been more fortunate tlian we have been ; and it would be absurd to say, and folly to suppose, that what has happened with us was the result of our British conec- tion. So, we complain of gerrymandering ; but gerrymandering of the same kind was first conceived and acted on by our neigh- bors, and appears to have become the resort of all their parties when they have power and opportunity. ..^,.5 .^ (7) Once more : As a Liberal 1 have a special dislike of any movement towards severing our British connection at a time when the people of the fatherland have come into a larger control of its Parliament and Government than they had at any former period of its history ; when even a Conservative Government has become liberal enough to satisfy John Bright and other life- long Radicals; and when one of England's great parties has adopted as one of its principal objects Home Rule for Ireland. Canada was loyal to British connection when ail flower was in the hands of the aristocracy and some privileged classes. Are there any Lib- erals who, without l)aving any grievance against the Imperial Parliament or Government, will be less loyal now that the body of the people are the controlling powef ? Are they willing that the advent of popular power in the old lands should be nearly contemporary with the disintegration of the empire and with the transfer of its most imjtortant dominion to a foreign power ? Let doubting Liberals consider this. ' '^m. « I i. SENTIMENTAL CuNSlDERATiONS. '' -^ Some and only some of these considerations are mattois of sentiment ; and much has been said recently in the way of decry- ing sentiment as childish, unworthy of thought, and claiming that material interest is the only consideration by which men should be intluenced. As foi- the material interests involved, I have faith and hope that these may be proved by experience to be on the whole and in the long run in favour of British connection, and of an independent nationality b3'-and-bye, rather than in favour of our giving ourselves to be swallowed up by the United States But this decrying of sentiment is absurd. From sentiment men 34 REFORM PAUTY, AND sacrifice their property and even their lives ; and every example ^ of such sacrifice goes home to the hearts of all who see it or hear of it. It is sentiment which in a thousand ways rules the world. Sentiment rules the United States, though the mighty dollar is such a power there. It was sentiment, and not any commercial advantage, which caused our neighbours to j)ut an end to thie old reciprocity treaty, as Mr. Blaine has frankly admitted. It was sentiment, in a large measure, and not any object of material benefit, which led to and sustained the great civil war between the North and the South. So }>owerful is sentitnent that no State in the Union would consent to transfer its allegiance to a foreign power, however strong material interests should be in that direc- tion. Nothing more shocks men than the idea of selling their country for gold, however great the quantity of gold may be. A people without sentiment would be cont'inned by all other civil- ised or even half-civilised peoples. Among all peoples no love is more powerful than love of country ; and fc this purpose coun- try does not mean the village, or town, or city, or the township, or county, or province, in which we live. Love of country is of the whole country or nation of which the village or province is but a portion. Our attachment to the great Empire whose sub- jects and citizens we are may bo a matter of sentiment, but it is a legitimate sentiment, and a fitting sentiment if any can be so. On a question of our political relations, to ignore or belittle all considerations except tliohc of some material interest is not to take a broad viiw of the question, but is to take an extremely narrow view of it. All Liberal tradition is against a narrow view of public questions. Principle, and not mere hope of personal profit, has always been the Liberal doctrine. Of;CASION OF THIS LEITER. , ... I am writing the present letter for publication. My special ob- ject in writing is to urge on Liberals to stand by all the accepted principles of the Liberal party in Canada, including the two arti- cles of British connection and unrestricted reciprocity. I address my letter to you with your permission and because your views and mine concur. Both of us are with our party for unrestricted reciprocity, because we believe that unrestricted reciprocity CANADA S FUTURE. 35 would be a good thing for both Canada and the United States ; and we know that i-eciprocity is only obtainable, if at all, through the Liberal party ; the only reciprocity the Conservatives go for being a reciprocity abort of what would, as we believe, be for the interest of Canada, and short at the same time of what the United States would agree to. My letter to Dr. McKay is spoken of in the (Conservative press as if it expressed new opinions on my part ; and it is suggested that the letter was written for publication, and to announce to the general public of Canada an antagonism between m^-self and the Liberal leaders, the Hon. Mr, Laurier and Sir Richard Cartwright, his able coadjutor in Ontario. The truth is otherwise on both points. My letter was written for no other object than the Woodstock meeting, and without any thought of antagonism towards either of our two friends. The sentiments expressed in it in regard to British connection I had often expressed before ; and I have repeatedly expressed publicly my concurrence in un- restricted i-eciprocity also. / ' CONFIDENCE IN MR. LAURIER. As for the Liberal leader in Dominion affairs, our eloquent friend Mr. Laurier has no follower in any of the Provinces who honors him more than I do, has greatei- confidence in his patriot- ism and uprightness, or is more glad to lollow him. I am sure that so far as his influence and policy may aflect the question of annexation, should that question ever have to be practically dealt with in our time, that influence will not be exerted or that policy designed to promote the annexation and surrender of our country to any other [)Ower. I am sure that it is for the com- mon interest that Mr. Laurier should continue to have as leader the undivided confidence and support of the Liberal party in all the Provinces. It is in the public interest that his following in the House of Commons should be maintained and strengthened. CANADIAN POLICY FOR THE FUTURE. ' " ' ; ': J hope that in the approaching bye-elections the Liberal can- didates will receive the active and zealous support of the whole party. If any lover of British connection hesitates about giving this su[)port let him bear in mind that a principal objection urged •^utmm^Hf^mm 36 REFORM PARTY, AND ii iH f\ in the United States against reciprocity is that it would prevent political union, insteatl of furthering it. The true view I ap- prehend is, that it would have no ofh^ct on that question either way. It certainly will have none if the attachment of the Cana- «lian people of British origin to the country of their fathers \a as great as wo now believe it to be. Let us all then continue to stand on the party's accepted platform as a whole — just laws, a pure administiation, economical g(»vernment, unrestricted recipro- city of trade relations in regard to the products of the two coun- tries, whether natural or manufactured ; and British connection until the time comes for Canada to take its place in the world as one of its independent nations. .,>m1 Tory sympathy for the ^South in the civil war lost to ua the for- mer reciprocity treaty. The Tory so-called National Policy has given to our farmers the McKinley tariF besides accomplishing a host of other bad things. The hope of Canada now lies in the Lib- eral party. Let no Canadian Liberals help to bar its progress or lessen its usefulness by favoring, or seeming to favor, the transfer of their country and its allegiance to any foreign power. Some of our farmers, Conservatives and Liberals alike, may talk somewhat wildlj'^ when they think of the markets from which to their loss they are excluded ; but 1 undertake to say that never, as a matter of deliberate action, will cither they or any other important sedi- tion of Canadians consent to sell their country and its nationality lor gold or greenbacks, whether in pi-ospect or in promise. Th(^y will live on as they are, in hope of better things from a better Government. ' Yours very faithfully, , , , , O. MoWAr. AFPE^;D]X. The following w^s Mr Mowat'^ letter to Dr. McKay, M.P.P., lor South Oxford, with reference to the Woodstock meeting of 24th November, 1.S91 :— Toronto, 2.Srd November, 18.91. My Dear Dji. McKay,— With reference to our conversation this morning I desire to reiterate my strong opinion that it wo;ild CANADA H Kt'THRK. 87 not be gO(hl policy for tho friends of Britirth t;onnection and tli.) old flag to stay away from Mr. Solomon White's meeting at Woodstock to-morrow. By doing .so, or not voting at the meet- ing, thoy would enable annexationists to carry a r(i.solution in favor of their views, and to trumpet it throughout the Dominion and elsewhere as the sentiment of tho community as a whole. If in the loyal town of Woodstock, thriving beyond most, if not all, the other towns of Ontario, the capital of the barmer county of ( 'anadian Liberalism, formerly represented by the great cham- pion of both British t . ) nection and Liberal principles, the Hon. George Biown, and noted heietofore for its fidelity at once to the old flag and to the Liberal views ; if in such a place a resolution were carried at a public meeting to which all had been invited, no subsequent explanation as to the thinness of tho attendance, or as to the contemptuous absence of opponents would, outside of Oxford, have any weight. There are in most counties a few annexationists ; in some counties more than in others ; but the aggregate number in the Dominion, I am sure, is small as compared with the aggregate population. The great njajority of our people, I believe and trust, are not prepared to hand over this great Dominion to a foreign nation for any present commercial consideration which may be proposed. We love our Sovereign, and we are proud of our status- as British subjects. The imperial authorities have refused nothing in the way of self-government which our representatives have asked for. Our complaints are against Pailiaments ami Governments which acquired their power from our own people. To the United States and its people we are all most friendl3\ We recojinise the advantages which would go to both them and us from extended trade relations, and we are willing to go as far in that direction as shall not involve, now or in the future, political union ; but there Canadians of every party have hitherto drawn the line, and I trust will continue to draw the line. We do not wish to disconnect ourselves with the motherland, unless it should 1)0 by-r.nd-bye to set up for ourselves as an independent nation in iViendly alliance with that land, if no longer in political connec- tion with it. But the time for absolute independence has not. come. The stronisrest tie between the Provinces of the Dominion REFORM PARTY, AND r ■;: at this moment is British connection and all that such connection >* imj3lies. British connection should therefore be cherished by all practical means until other ties and the mutual interests of the Provinces become strong enough to secure their union and the'r independence as a nation. North America is amply large enough for two independent nations; and two friendly nations would be bettor for both populations than one nation embracing the whole continent. I am glad to believe that these are your views as well as mine; and 1 should strongly advise that as many as may bo of our con- stituents who hold them should endeavor to attend the meeting to-morrow, and should carry a resolution, repudiating annexation or any present change in our political relations. Such a resolu- tion would show that we love our own nation better than any other nation, and our own institutions better than the institutions of any other country ; that we are prepared to sacrifice something if necessary — though I do not suppose any sacrifice will be nec- essary — in order to retain the allegiance of this great Dominion to the Sovereign we love, instead of suffering it to be transferred to another nation which may any aay be at war with our own nation, the nation of our fathers. For Liberals there is an additional reason for maintaining our political relation with the fatherland, in that the electorate of Great Britain and Ireland has recently been so extended that the Government and Parliament are now, and shall he ;ceforward be more than ever before, under the control of the body of the people. Agreeably to your suggestion, I have thus hastily stated my long cherished views ; and these views and sentiments I hold very strongly. I believe and trust that they are the views and senti- ments of the great majority of the Liberals, and of the Conserva- tives also, of the County of Oxford ; and 1 am very anxious that the county \ whose honored representatives you and I are, should not be misrepresented or misunderstood . I wish the Dominion to know that Oxford has not forgotten the dear lands — England, Ireland or Scotland — from which most of its population, they or their fathers, have come. There is no more enlightened or civilized CANADA S FUTURE. 39 con- nec- or free nation in the world, and I venture to say there is no nation that Oxford or its representatives can now be induced to prefer, . Yours faithfully, : V iJ 0. Mo WAT. The Rev. Dr. McMullen of Woodstock was one of the speakers at the Woodstock meeting, and one of his statements having afterwards been controverted, he addressed to the Globe the fol- lowing letter in reply : — Sir, — In a letter in to-day's Olobe, Mr. W, Sloan controverts a statement of mine at the Woodstock meeting when, in replying to Mr. Solomon White, M.P.P,, I used the words, "The condition of the Ontario (not Canadian) farmer is superior to that of the United States farmer." That statement, to the correctness of which I still adhere, was made with reference to the general comfort enjoyed by Ontario farmers. I know of no agricultural region in the States that in point of fine rolling country, pure ^vater and pure air, fertile soil, beautiful orchards, fine barns and outbuildings, and comfortable farm houses will bear comparison with Western Ontario. Take the average gathering of Ontario farmers and their families, as you see them at a county or other agricultural exhibition, and in no country in the world will you find their superior as regards being well kept, well clad, and other signs of well-to-do circumstances. The farmers of the United States constitute one of the poorest classes in the nation. Throughout vast sections of the fertile West they can raise nothing but corn, and a barn is not to be seen ; they keep no poultry, and hence, but for an insane tariff, the excellent market for Canadian eggs. The United States tariff has been intended to coerce us into annexation. Are we brought to such a pass, and are we so absolutely under their thumb tha*" we must confess ourselves " dead beat," and as " a dead beat " kno^K at the door of Uncle Sam and ask for shelter ? I mistake the self-respect of the Canadian people if that proposition is going to find favor with them. Honorable and mutually advantageous trade relations Canadians are earnestly hoping to see inaugurated, and we are suffering severely through luck of them ; but it is far 40 UEFORM PARTY AND I If I better for a nation to suffer than to be humiliated. We have most grossly mismanaged our affairs ; but when a man sees he haM done that, the next wisest step is not to go begging. There is no flag so identified with the cause of Christian civilization and humanity as that to which we hold allegiance. As regards our being a free people, we have as large a measure of freedom as they have in the States, and far more self-government than we have been making a good use of. There is no trade arrangement which the States are willing to enter into with us to which the mother country is not willing to consent. We tax her goods and she throws her market open to ours. In view of all these facts of the case, I fail to see how our recent decision is deserving of being characterized as " sentimental " rather than " practical." But even if sentiment did stir the meeting — and I admit it did — let rae say that a people without sentiment fall below the average standard of humanity, and are fit only for being slaves or paupers. Sentiment has betn one of the most potent factors in the rise and development of great nations of the past, the very inspiration of their noblest achievements ; and its decline the unfailing symptoT of national decay and overthrow. I quite agree with Mr. Sloa that some change is imperative, but I maintain at the same tirat that grumbling is a very popular sin, that many of our Canadian people do not know ♦:heir mercies, that a worse thing may befall a nation than the necessity of practising economy, that the fanners of Canada rule us all, and have the remedy in their own han«ls, and that we might wall be ashamed of ourselves in Oxford had we indicated that a change of allegiance by a high-minded people is an easily entertained proposal]. W. T. McMULLEX. Woodstock, Dec. 3rd. ' . .'M.^- have ses he rhere n and 8 our )m as in we jment h the Is and 5 facts ing of :tical." did- krerage tupers. se and ion of npto' Sloa lc timt oadian ' befall "arniers hands, rd had people 5N.