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Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppi^mentaires; T u L'Institut a microfilmi le meilleur exempiaire qu'll lui a 4ti possible de se procurer. Les details da cat axamplaira qui sont paut-Atre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mAthoda normale de f ilmage sont indiqu6s ci-dessous. r~~| Coloured pages/ y D Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommagAes n Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaur6es et/ou peliiculies Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d. Jiimio/y 24, 1863. Dear Sir, ■ '^ '■•■;*■■': ^'-■■.:^"' - * • • ;.; •' Just before leaving* England in January last, I read a letter addressed by you to the Right Hon. B. Disraeli, on the present relations of England with her Colonies. A short time ago a friend put into my hands a second edition of that letter, prefaced by some observations sugg-ested by the rejection of the MiUtia Bill submitted by the late Ministry to the Parhament of Canada. While I acknowledge that this brochure has been written with great skill and ingenuity, and in a spirit of commendable moderation, I regret to be compelled, by a sense of duty to the North American Provinces, and to the Empire at large, to question the soundness of the conclusions at which you have arrived. If I understand your argument, drawn from the History of the old Thirteen Colonies, it is this : All those Colonies provided for their own defence, and kept up standing armies, or maintained a well-dis- ciplined miiitia, wherewith to fight the French and \ Indians, with little or no cost to the mother country ; and, therefore, the five existing* colonies of British America, and all the other outlying* portions of the ^ Empire, oug-ht to do the same. Granting", tor the moment, the accuracy of your historical research, and the entire premises on "w hich you found this argument, oug-ht not every British statesman and every right-thinking* man to whom you appeal in these islands to ask, what were the results of that system ? Bead them in the early history of those thirteen Colonies. From their first foundation down to the Bevolution, they can hardly he said to have belonged to the Empire at all, or to have been ruled or guided upon any system offering the slightest hope of the perpetuity of amicable rela- tions. Founded by grasping speculators, who desired to enrich themselves at the expense of the colonists and of the mother country, or planted by Englishmen fleeing from religious persecution ai home, they knew but little of the fostering care of a maternal government from the first. Q'heir early history is V the history of backstairs influence and intrigue, the rights and interests of the colonists being eternally perilled or sacrificed by the mischievous interference of the prerogative. They rarely knew the majesty of England in any of its graceful or benignant aspects. The people of England, in those days, had but little liberty themselves. The Colonies had no responsible government. The transatlantic Britons had no faith in the British bayonet as a symbol of \ order, freedom, and civilization. They had seen it, but too recently, red with the blood of martyrs for opinion sake, and bristling* round every form of despotic usurpation. Indians in the wood, and Frenchmen on the frontier, were dang'erous enemies, but those the early settlers of New England had braced themselves to encounter and subdue. Those perils were external, but what they most feared was the internal danger of the arbitrary exercise of the power of the Crown, backed by British soldiers in their midst. The red oat was ever an object of suspicion and distrust in the New Eng-land States, and, as the Governors sent out from home were con- tinually menacing their charters, coming* into col- lision with their g-eneral courts, and trying" every variety of sap and mine by which the peculiar frame- work of those democracies might be shattered and overthrown ; and as the British soldiers were the janizaries of the Governors, rather than the g-uardians of public liberty, the prevalent feeling* of the old Colonies was this — the fewer soldiers the better; and this feeling" of suspicion and distrust, visible to the eyes of all men in all the legislation, correspondence and military org-anization of the period, finally cul- minated into armed resistance; and, when blood was shed, and tea destroyed, and minute men and soldiers were shooting each other all along that country road which is now a beautiful carriage drive from Lexington to Boston, the Provincials reaped the advantage of theu* military training, and justified the policy which you approve ; but, strange to say, without perceiving that they had objects in view the very reverse of those which you profess to have at heart. That you are a loyal gfentleman I know ; but, if I did not know it, I should certainly be at a loss to discover evidence of a desire to keep this Empire together, in your strong- recommendation that Her Majesty's Government should pursue towards those noble groups of Colonies which make up what the Times aptly styles "that mysterious unity called the British Empire," the very policy which always perilled the allegiance of, and ultimately lost us, the splendid provinces which now form the United or Disunited States. But, if we had only lost those Provinces by tolerating or encouraging the system you advocate ; if, when they had established their Independence, the genial influences of a common origin and of old fraternal relations had been re-established ; if they had treated the Revolutionary War as Englishmen do the Wars of the Eoses, or as Englishmen and Scotchmen do the old Border Conflicts, as the common treasury of History, Poetry, and Romance, but not of bitter feeling; if they had carried into practice the wise saying of a gallant American Commander in China, now a Confederate Chieftain, and remembered on all occasions, or even on great occasions, that " blood is thicker than water ;" if they had given us, what our Colonies invariably give us, their moral support to our diplomacy and their material aid, to the extent of their means, in times of peril, then I will freely admit that your argfument would be divested of half its danger. The Colonies could not be preserved by your system, but, ' they were friendly nations when they were gone, to part with them might only be a question of dignity and convenience. England might still, in her isolation, be regarded as the mother of nations, and be treated with all courtesy and respect. The Empire would be gone, but, secure of the chivalrous support of the outlying Provinces, the Islands might be safe. But let us borrow again the stern lessons of History, Did the Thirteen Colonies cease to chew the old roots of bitterness ? Did they turn to Old England as a lady turns to her mother after an elopement, when she is married and settled and all is forgotten and forgiven ? Is it not almost incre- dible with what persistent suspicion and mistrust every movement of the Imperial Government has been regarded in that country ever since the recog- nition of its Independence ? Have the people of the United States ever been without a grievance ? Has not their diplomacy been most aggressive? Did they not fall upon the rear of England in 1812, when her front was presented to the powerful armies and skilful European organization of the first Napoleon ? Were not their sympathizers flung across our frontiers during the political disturbances of Canada in 1837 ? Was not their whole moral support g^ven to Russia during the Crimean War ? Were we not, last year, openly insulted and defied, and only saved from the cost of another conflict by the vigour of the British Cabinet, the divided condi- tion of their country, and the pre-occupation of their forces by land and sea ? Does not every organ of public opinion in the Northern States come to us by every mail charged with menace and hostility to England? What have we gained, then, by the Independence of the United States, that should induce us to train the Colonies that remain to follow their example and prepare for separation ? Is it not clear that under the system you advocate, the old Thirteen Colonies maintained a doubtfiil allegiance to this country ? Is it not also equally clear that the troops they trained, when the struggle came, were, to a man, enemies to the British Crown ? And is it not painfully apparent that, as the results of the system you advocate, the Mother Country lost all the advantage of her early colonization, and trained rich and flourishing communities to regard her with feelings of hostility more implacable and undying than those which her government is called to confront in any other part of the world ? I am truly amazed that a gentleman of your keenness of perception and great political experience, can be so self-deceived as to press, at this time of day, the adoption of a policy that, in every aspect in which we view it, has proved so disastrous. Let us examine it in relation to finance. The cost of the first American War was £104,081 .21 8. Simple interest at 3 per oent on this sum would amount to £240,021,090. £50,000,000 were spent in the Second American War. The interest from 1816 to 1 802 would be £1 17,500,000. Here we have then, in round numbers, the enormous sum of £010,784,432 which Great Britain has lost by traininjr- Colonies in the mode which you recommend. Even if this country had assumed the task of defending" the old colonial frontiers, of beating off the French, and occasionally chastising* the Indians, enormous suras of money mig-ht have been saved. It is, perhaps, vain to speculate, at this late period, as to what mig'ht have been the results of a different system. Had timely concessions been made, had self-g-overn- ment been frankly conceded, had the British soldier been presented to the Colonial mind as the represen- tative of order, and the friend of freedom, who can doubt that the first American War would never have occurred, — that the second, v/hich grew out of the bitter feeling* engendered by the first, mig'ht have been avoided? Even had a period arrived when political separation became a convenience or a necessity, it l g-ht have been arrang-ed by friendly neg-ociation ; and an alliance, offensive and defensive, between the two great branches of the Ang-lo-Saxon family, would probably have insured freedom of commerce and perpetual amity and goodwill. The British troops might have been withdrawn, marching to their places of embarkation to the sound of merry ^t Ill !il! 10 music^ and followed by the acclamations of the self- reliant communities whose early struggles they had shared^ whose industrial development they had protected; whose liberties *;hey had never menaced, whose blood they had never shed. Though it may be too late to speculate on what might have resulted from applying to the old Thirteen Colonies the system wl ich now obtains, no man can deny that the old one, which you would substitute for the modem, bore no*^hing but bitter fruit, and is con- demned by every page of our old Colonial History. Let us see, now, how the modem system works. Great Britain, to maintain her position as a first-rate European power, is compelled to keep up a respec- table standing army. While Bussia maintains a standing army of 486,000 men — and France, Eng- land's nearest neighbour, with a chief of unrivalled enterprize, sagacity, and soaring ambition at her head, can call into the field in a few days 680,000 men — could England, if she had not a Colony in the world, hold any but a very inferior European posi- tion with an army of less than 100,000 in peaceful times? Could she defend her soil from intrusion and insult, in case of war, with less? If she could not, then the Army Estimates would not be much reduced even if she threw off her Colonies to-morrow. The legions might come home, and the outlying por- tions of this great Empire might be lefl to drift into new alliances and hostile connexions, but the legions would be wanted to defend the British Islands, with-? 11 out the moral support or material aid of millions of human beings, ruthlessly severed fcom all active interest in their success^ by being told that their friendship was not worth preserving. It is^ then^ folly to suppose that the Provinces^ having no power to protect their interests by diplo- macy, and no voice in determining the policy out of which hostilities may arise, would ever consent to keep up standing armies, to waste their revenues, and to assume the burden of their own defence in any wars that England might provoke. To enforce your policy would engender ill feeling, and ultimate separation. The boy who is asked to do a man's work, and is driven from the homestead because he lacks the strength, may still love the scenery which charmed his eye, and the old trees that shaded the threshold from which he has been driven j but to expect him to love very much the brethren who expelled him, would be to hope rather more from human nature than is warranted by our experience of the world. The Provinces, once separated upon^ sViCh an issue, there would be an end of friendship, of mutual sympathy, and co-operation. " To be wroth witli those we love Doth work like madness in the brain." The greater the affection the more intense the hatred. The Colonies, whose pride had been thus wounded — whose birthright had been denied — whose friendship had been undervalued — who had been it> ; 12 cast^ like Ishmael^ without the charmed circle of home-thoug'hts and filial oblig-ation — would form new ties^ and contract Transatlantic^ Asiatic, or European alliances. Friends and sympathisers enough, believe me, they would soon find ^ and they would grow and flourish, but with their growth would grow also the root of bitterness ; and at least one generation of Englishmen would have to die, perhaps twenty, before this national eviction was forgotten or forgiven. 4 Take the group of Provinces which I know best. For a century their inhabitants have lived under the Crown of England, but for only twenty years of that tlong period have they had constitutional control over their internal affairs. Over their relations to the rest of the world they have at this moment no control. Though California, three thousand miles away, is represented at Washington — though Algeria is ' represented at Paris — the noble North American Provinces, with their boundless territory and re- sources, and four millions of people, have no repre- sentation in London. You admit us to representation in your Industrial Exhibitions, but from that great arena of intellectual display, on which the finer minds of North America and of all the Colonies miofht occasionally shed some lustre, you carefully exclude us. Our columns of gold and our pyramids of timber may rise in your crystal palaces, but our statesmen in the great councils of the Empire, never. Our courts may exhibit the boundless resources and * I r 13 advanced civilization of the Colonies, but'thetneii they produce you reg-ard as inferior at all times, except when the Empire is to be defended ; thea they are to be tasked beyond their strength, and are expected to rise to the dig-nity of citizenship, from which at all other times they are carefully excluded. Is this fair? Is it just? You will not deny that Norway and Wirtemburg", with their million and a half of people— Saxony, with its two millions— even Oldenburg" and Brunswick, with their quarter of a million, are treated in Eng"- land with a deference and distinction never accorded in this country to the ^North American Provinces, with their four millions. The people of these States are foreigners 5 we are only Englishmen, on the wrong side of the Atlantic. Does it never occur to you that you ought to elevate us to the full dignity of citizenship, before you call upon us to assume all its burthens ?~that, before you ask us to share with you all the perils and cost of Empire, you should share with us its honours and distinctions ? In the simple French ballad, Jeannette expresses her opinion — . " Why, let those who make the quarrels be The only ones to fight." Whenever the war is made Mr. Adderley makes it, and Mr. Howe is called upon to shoulder his rifle and do duty upon the frontier where Mr. Adderley is never seen. Is this fair ? Yet, if I understand your argument, it is this : Whenever war is declared • i \ f\ 14 by this country the North Americans must defend their own. Let us chang^e places for a year and your hasty judgment would be corrected by your own feelings and experience. But we are told the old Colonies did this^ and where is the hardship ? I have already shown you what became of the old Colonies^ but will now show you what^ in all human probability, would become of the North American group if your advice were to prevail. The old Thirteen Colonies had to fight Indian tribes scattered through the woods, and the French on the frontiers, without roads, and hundreds of miles from the settlements. These wars were wars of out- posts and excursions. Their enemies — brave and savage enough, I admit -^rarely made their appear- ance in any very large numbers. If the whole Six Nations, or Philip's subjects, en masse, were paraded to-morrow, the State of Maine would crush them all ; and the militia of Nova Scotia ought to be a match for all the soldierF that New France could have mustered at any period in our old Provincial history. But when you ask us to defend ourselves against thirty or even against twenty millions of people of our own race, whose settlement and civi- lization precedes our own by a hundred years — who, forty years ago, were sufficiently numerous to main- tain war on land and sea for three years against the whole power of Great Britain— you ask us to do that < Iff <\ t- i which is simply unreasonable and unjust. If this be expected or asked; it is quite clear that the Queen's name is to us no longer a tower of strength — that the Imperial Government abdicates dominion in North America. Shall it be said that the diplomacy of England is to involve us in foreign quarrels^ and that the arms of England are not to be employed in our defence? It is most unfair to tell us that because the old Thirteen Colonies defended themselves against a few thousand French and Indians^ the five Pro- vinces of British America are to fight twenty or thirty States, with a population of thirty millions. The idea is preposterous, and can never be seriously entertained by the Government and Parliament of England. . Should the Northern and Southern States settle down under separate forms of Government to- moiTow, it is clear that, though our danger may be diminished, the odds will still be fearfully aglEiinst us. We shall even then have twenty millions of people, active, enterprising and sagacious, on our fiank, with a navy only inferior to that of Great Britain and France, and an army familiar with war of at least two or three hundred thousand men. I do not mean to say, that, in a struggle for the sanctity of our soil and for the freedom of our homesteads, we could not now make a gallant defence even against this mighty power. The people of the Southern States have taught us, even if we had not learnt before in the history I i ''^ " " J f ' - T iff ' } S *' » ' -^ ^ " ^ ^ i> .•'^f*;«(«Mi««r«WM9WPf i3i Tii! m 10 of Scotland^ of Holland^ and of Switzerland^ what may be done by a high-spirited and determined people, fi hting" on their own soil, against fearful odds and vastly superior numbers. If driven to do it we could fight and die in unequal combats on our frontiers. We could retire to our river heads, thick forests, and mountain fastnesses ; we' could even fall back upon our frozen regions ; and we might, if our arms were blessed by Providence, in the end weary out the enemy and win an honourable peace and secure our independence. But is it not apparent that what has happened to the Virginians would happen to us ? Our cities would be captured, our fields laid waste, our bridges would ^e blown up, our railways destroyed. The women of British North America, as remarkable for their beauty as for their purity of thought, would become a prey to a soldiery largely drawn from the refuse of society in the old world and the new. Our commerce would be destroyed, our improvements stopped, our whole society disorganized. But, whatever its issue, when the war was over, trust me that that portion of the British family who had sought our subjugation, who had shed our blood, traversed our country and outraged our women, would stand higher in our estimation than that other branch of the family, who, from craven fear or calculating selfishness, had lefb us to contend with such fearful odds — false to the fraternal traditions of a hundred years, to the glorious unity of our common history, to the dead i mr^yviT"^' 17 Englishmen and British Americans, lyingf side by side at Chrystlers Farm and Chateaug^ay, at Bloody Creek and Queenston, false to the modern union of hearts, not pens, ratified in the sight of Heaven in every large city of British America, when Queen Victoria's son, the future sovereign of this Empire, accepted the homage of our people, who hailed His Royal Highness as the representative of our Empire's unity, and who believed that protection .and alle- giance were reciprocal obligations. Far better would it be, if this were to be the result of the amended relations which you propose, that England should at once say to North America, " Assume the management of your own foreign " relations. Send your own Ministers to London, to " Washington, or wherever else you please. We will *^ admit you to the status of the most favoured nation, '^ but we can no longer burthen our Treasury with ^' your defence or hazard the contingencies of a more " intimate imion." When this was said, of course no Englishman could confront the world with the calm self-respect which marks his demeanour now. The Russian woman, who, to save her own life, flung her babes to the wolves, was slain by her friends and neighbours. This people might escape the punish- ment, but their turpitude would be none the less. On this point I speak strongly, but I speak as I feel. My life has been spent in developing the principles and policy by which this great Empire may be kept together ; and, just when the Provinces, content with iB fi' I! I' 18 wel) regulated self-g-overnment and honourable im- perial relations, are, perhaps for the first time in the world's history, proving* that British Institutions as well as a British population may safely be trans- planted, that an Englishman may go abroad any- where, and carry with him veneration for his Sovereign, affection for his brethren, and love for his native land, and»yet enjoy all the privileges of self- government under the old flag, is it not hard to see this magnificent system, of which the " Colonial Courts" and the Lancashire subscriptions are but the first-fruits, rudely shaken by speculative politicians, or perilled by such taunts and dissensions as have been of late too rife in England ? Talk of defending the Colonies,— I hope to live to see the day when the outlying Provinces of the Empire will ac freely send their contingents for the defence of these Islands, as they have this year sent their treasures to your Industrial Palace and their cheerful contributions to your distressed manu- facturing towns. The anti-colonial feeling has been assumed to be strongest among those who, in this country, are known as the Manchester School of Politicians. If this be so, and I do not assert that it is, then what a pregnant answer may be drawn from the noble manifestations of national feeling, as contradistinguished from mere local obligation, by which our country's annals have been illustrated within a month! When Lancashire is invaded by the Republicans, 19 was, who, at a distance of three thousand miles have power to stop their looms and close their factories, when g'aunt famine stalks through her streets, when hunger makes wan faces and weak frames which pestilence threatens to devour, does all England fold its arms and say to the Lancastrians, defend yourselves, protect yourselves, feed yourselves? Does Scotland or Ireland say this ? Do the out- lying I-/.ovinces say so? No! Thanks he to Alm'ghty God that this has been nowhere said. The whole Empire has rushed to the relief of Lanca- shire, and that noble Principality is saved. With such an example before him will any Manchester Man or any other Englishman, say to three hundred and fifty thousand Nova Scotians or New Bruns- wickers, or even to three millions of Canadians, defend yourselves against twenty millions of Repub- licans, whenever our diplomacy, over which you have had no control, fails to avert a war. No I this will never be said, until the Britons of the present hour are as abject as those whose "groans" for more Boman soldiers provoke our laughter in the pages of ancient history. I grant you that all Eng- land has assumed that Lancashire should help herself; and I at once concede that, to the full extent of their ability, any of the Provinces that have or are likely to become the seat of war, should, to the utmost extent of their means, provide for their own defence. I shall, by and bye, show that whatever may B 2 so III- 1 1! 11 i ! h! have been done in other parts of the Empire, the I^ritish Americans have never flinched from the performance of this duty ; but before touching this branch of the subject let me correct a very prevalent error that seems to prevail in this country, that it is the interest of North America that binds her to England. This is a popular error, and may mislead a good many people if it is not corrected. Suppose that your Scottish border was fifteen hundred miles long, and that Scotland contained thirty millions of people, with a powerful army and navy, and the second mercantile marine in the world. Suppose British America to contain your population and England ours, would you not, under such a condition of your relations, laugh at any body who told you that it was your interest to adhere to us, at the risk of the hatred and hostility of Scotland. But such is our position, and yet we adhere to you. Why ? Because it is a question of honour and not of interest. Is it from any special regard we have for the Manchester cotton spinners, the cockneys of London, or even for the very enlightened individuals who now wear the coronets of England, or divide the rhetorical dis- tinctions of the House of Commons ? No ! By the Beard of the Prophet, no ; we have heard and seen you all, and we go back to our North American homes, conscious that the race we are training' there are worthy to be classed as your equals. What then binds us to this country ? Our interest ? God 21 forbid. Let Nova Scotia throw herself behind the Morrill tariff to-morrow and shut out the manufac- tures of England^ there would be cotton mills upon her magnificent water powers in less than two years ^ and the whole consumptioa of thirty millions of people for her manufactures, as well as for her raw products, would be open to her at once. Her fishermen would immediately share the national bounties which are given by the Hepublic to foster a National Marine. The coasting" trade and the free navigation of the rivers of the United States would be open to our vessels , we could coast from Maine to California. Every Gubernatorial chair, every department, every diplomatic office, on either continent, would be open to us ^ and yet, with all these temptations to desert you, we still adhere to England. Why ? Because, as I said b3fore, it is a question of honour and affection, and not alone of interest. Our allegiance has never been divided, but has come down to us, in an unbroken stream, from the earliest records of the monarch3\ We have never been anything else but Britons. Why should we now ? Don't tempt us, by unworthy suspicions, and political hypercriticism of our every act, to desire to be anything else. Not only our blood but our thoughts have been mingled for centuries. Our fathers fought on the same fields, died on the same scaffolds, burnt at the same stakes, struggled for the same principles, won the Great Charter, built the great cathedrals and castles, cleared up the face ^W«»T«"W*»»"'*«WWI i QQ 6f England, and made her what she is ; and shall you, hecause you happen to be left in possession of the homestead, ond because we have gone abroad to Extend the territory of the Empire, to people the earth and to subdue it, to illustrate and reproduce our civilization under new forms and in distant regions— shall we, I ask, forfeit our inheritance, be deprived of our birthright, and hear our brethren plead that their interest is no longer promoted by the connexion ! Why, you think little of your interest where your honour is concerned in your transactions with foreign nations. You do not repudiate your treaty with Portugal, or your moral obligations to defend the Turk. Shall your own brethren be treated worse than foreigners? When you violate your compact with the descendants of those Englishmen whom Comwallis led to Halifax, with the descendants of the loyalists who stood by you when the old Colonies deserted, with those British and Irish emigrants who have gone to the Provinces with their shamrocks in their bosoms and their thistles in their hats, fondly believing that they were not going from home — when England does this, then let the holders of the National Scrip look out, for she may be expected to do anything. When John Bull stoops to this humiliation, when he grows 80 covetous, To lock such rascal counters from his finends, Be ready, Gods, with all your thunderbolts, p^h him to pieces." 2d I have promised to prove to you that, upon ull trying^ occasions, the North American Provinces have not shrunk from the perils or the cost of war. When the old Colonies revolted, every effort was made to induce the Northern Provinces to declare their independence. The few persons who were dis- affected were sufficiently active. A slig' * demon- stration was made upon the Common of Halifax, and the standard of rebellion was raised by a few thoug'ht- less young" men in the County of Cumberland, but these disturbances were promptly put down, and the Maritime Provinces remained firm to their alleg-iance# In 1775 the British Government had but one weak battalion in Canada,* numbering not much more than 500 men. The Republicans, under General Montgomery, invaded Canada in the direc- tion of Montreal, preceded by proclamations offering the most tempting inducements to shake the loyalty of the inhabitants. The Canadian Militia rallied to the support of the Royal authorities on every point of the frontier. At Fort St. John, Chambly, Sorel, they did duty with the regulars, and might have successfully defended this part of the province, had not Sir Guy Carleton's strategy been seriously at fault. Arnold led a force of 1200 men up the Kenebec and down the Chaudiere; Montgomery, who had * See Sir James Garmichael Smith's " Precis of the "Wars in Canada," an admirable work, just published by his sou. IJI WI IW ■■■H 24 ii taken Montreal; joined him with the bulk oi his force at Quebec. '^ The g-arrison of that city con- sisted only of one company of regulars, with some seamen and marines from a sloop of war lying in the St. Lawrence." Of the 1600 bayonets that con- fronted this formidable American invasion, fourteen hundred at least must have been wielded by the strong arms of the Canadian Militia. Four simul- taneous attacks were made by the combined Repub- lican armies, gallantly led and directed by Arnold and Montgomery. At every point the enemy was foiled and driven back by these sixteen hundred men, four-fifths of them being those raw Canadian Militia whom it seems to be the fashion, in this country, just now to depreciate and imdervalue. This time, at all events, the Province was saved by the pteady valour of the Canadians, as it was impossible for the British Government to send any efficient succour till the spring. In 1776, Arnold, still encamped before Quebec, was reinforced by a strong column of 3000 men, '^with some heavy artillery." 4000 Eepublicans occupied St. John, Chambly, and Montreal. Help came from England on the 6th of May, and the invading* armies were compelled to evacuate the Province, and, in the following" year, the war was carried into the enemy's country, and then followed that disastrous campaign which ended in the sur- render of Burgoyne's army at Saratog-a. The war of 1818-15 was neither sought nor pro iii 25 voked by the British Americans. It ^ew out of. the continental wars^ with which we certainly had as little to do. Whether a Bourbon or a Bonoparte sat upon the throne of France^ was a matter of perfect indifference to us. We were pursuing our lawful avocation^— clearing up our country^ opening roads into the wildemeLS^ bridging the streams, and organizmg society as we best could, trading with our neighbours, and wishing: them no harm. In the meantime British cruisers were visiting and search- ing American vessels on the sea. Then shots were fired, and, before we bad time to recall our vessels engaged in foreign commerce, or to make the slightest preparation for defence, our coasts were infested by American cruisers and privateers, and our whole frontier was in a blaze. You count the cost of war by the Army and Navy Estimates, but who can ever count the cost of that war to us ? A war, let it be borne in mind, into which we were precipitated without CFur knowledge or consent. -Let the coasts of England be invaded by powerful armies for three summers in succession ; let the whole Channel, from Falmouth to the Nore, be menaced ', let Southampton be taken and burnt ; let the South-downs be swept from the Hampshire hills, and the rich pastures of Devonshire supply fat beeves to the enemy encamped in the Western Counties, or marching on Manchester and London ; let the youth of England be drawn from profitable labour to defend these great centres of industry, the Miil !| v,\ m m if 26 extremities of the island bein^ given up to rapi^ and to plunder ; fancy the women of llngfland living for three years with the sound of artillery occasion- ally in their cars, and the thoughts of sonyething worse than death ever present to their imaginations ; fancy the children of England, with wonder and alarm on their pretty faces, asking for three years when their fathers would come home ; fancy, in fact, the wars of the Hoses or the Civil wars back again ; and then you can understand what we suffered from 1812 to 1815. Talk of the cost of war at a distance; let your country be made its theatre, and then you will understand how unfair is your mode of calcu- lation, when you charge us with the Army Estimates, and give us no credit for what we have done and suffered in your wars. Though involved in the war of 1812 by no interest or fault of our own, though our population was scat- tered and our coasts and frontiers almost defence- less, the moment it came we prepared for- combat without a murmur. I am just old chough to re^ idember that war. The commerce of the Maritime Provinces was not a twentieth part of what it is now, but v/hat we had was almost annihilated. Our mariners, debarred from lawful trade, took to pri- vateering, and made reprisals on the enemy. Our Liverpool " clippers'' fought some gallant actions, afed did some service in those days. The war ex- penditure gave to Halifax an unhealthy excitement, but improvement was stopped in all other parts of the Province ; and, when peace came, the coUapser was fearful even m that city. Ten years elapsed hefore it recovered from the derangement of industry and the extravagant hahits fostered hy the war. A few regiments were raised in the Maritime Provinces, their militia was organized, and some drafts from the interior were brought in to defend Halifax, whence the expeditions against the French Islands and the State of Maine were fitted out. Canada alone was invaded in force. General Smith describes the conduct of the Ca- nadian mihtia in the few but weighty words that become a sagacious military chieflain pronouncing a judgment on the facts of history. In 1812 the Eepublicans attacked Canada with two corps, amounting in the whole to 13,300 men. The British troops in the Province were but 4600, of which 3000 were in garrison at Quebec and Montreal. But 1600 could be spared for the de- fence of Upper Canada. From the capture of Michelimacinac, the first blow of the campaign, down to its close, the Canadian Militia took their share m every military operation. French and English vied with each other in loyalty, steadiness, and discipline. Of the force that captured Detroit, defended by 2600 men, but a few hundreds were regular troops. Brock had but 1200 men to oppose 6300 on the iNiagara frontier. Half his force were Canadian Militia, yet he confi'onted the enemy, and, l«iH|i ! Il li 2» in the gallant action in which he lost his life^ left an imperishable record of the steady discipline with which Canadians can defend their country. The invading army of yeomen sent to attack Montreal were as stoutly opposed by a single brigade of British troops^ aided by the Militia. In the only action which took place the Canadians alone were engaged. The enemy was beaten back^ and went into winter quarters. In 1813, Canada was menaced by three separate corps. The NiaR'ara district was for a time overrun^ and York, the capital of the Upper Province, was taken and burnt. The handful of British troops that could be spared jfrom England's European v/ars, were inadequate to its defence, but in every struggle of the campaign, disastrous or triumphant, the Ca- nadian Militia had their share. The French fought with equal gallantry in the Lower Province. At Chateaugay, Colonel de Saleberry showed what could be done with those poor undisciplined Colon- ists, who, it is now the fashion to tell us, can only be made good for anything by withdrawing them from their farms and turning them into regular soldiers. The American General had a force of 7000 infantry, 10 field pieces, and 250 cavalry. De Sale- berry disputed their passage into the country he loved, with 1000 bayonets, beat them back, and has lefl behind a record of more value in this argument than a dozen pamphlets or ill-natured speeches in Parliament. Of this action, General Smith says : lt>7- 20 ^' The affair upon the Chateaugay river is remark- able^ as having* been foug'ht on the British side almost entirely by Canadians. The Republicans were repulsed by a very inferior number of Canadian Militia^ and of troops raised in Canada^ thus afford- ing* a practical proof of the good dispositions of the Canadians^ and the possibility, to say nothing of the -policy, of improving" the Canadian Militia, so as to be fully equal in discipline and instruction to any American troops that may be broug'ht ag'ainst them at any future opportunity." -< i ; * But why need I multiply illustrations ? It is Ap- parent that but for the steady discipline and gallant conduct of the Militia, who are now held so cheap, the small British force which the mother country, fighting Napoleon on the Continent, could safely spare, would have been overpowered, and that Ca- nada would have been lost before Waterloo was won, as it would have been before the arrival of the Bri- tish troops in 1775, but for the gallant defence of Quebec. But, you may say to me, all this has changed. The year 1862 presents more formidable combiner tions to confront than the year 1812. The United States have grown and thriven, are populous and trained to war, have railroads pointing to your fron- tiers, and a powerful navy on their coasts. I grant all this, but will shew you presently that there are some- elements of hope and progress at the other side. But first let me shew you that if the ,-i-e 80 forces are so unequally balanced^ British Statesmen and Legislators are themselves to blame. When the Independence of the United States was estab- lished in 1 783, they were left with one half of the continent and you with the other. You had much accumulated wealth and an overflowing' population. They were three millions of people, poor, in debt, with their country ravaged and their commerce dis- organized. By the slightest effort of statesmanship you could have planted your surplus population in your own Provinces, and, in five years, the stream of emigration would have been flowing the right way. In twenty years the British and Republican forces would have been equalized. But you did nothing, or often worse than nothing. From 1784 to 1841, we were ruled by little paternal despotisms established in this country. We could not change an officer, reduce a salary, or impose a duty, without the permission of Downing Street. For all that dreary period of 60 years, the Repubhcans governed themselves and you governed us. They had uni- form duties and free trade with each other. We always had separate, tariffs, and have them to this day. They controlled their foreign relations — you controlled ours. They had their ministers and cour suls all over the world, to open new markets, and secure commercial advantages. Your ministers and consuls knew little of British America, and rarely consulted its interests. Till the advent of Huskis* son, our commerce was cramped by all the vices of 31 the old Colonial system. The Republicans could open mines in any part of their country. Our mines were locked up, until seven years ago, by a close monopoly held in this country by the creditors of the Duke of York. How few of the hundreds of thousands of Engflishmen, who gazed at Nova Sco- tia's marvellous column of coal in the Exhibition, this summer, but would have blushed had they known that for half a century the Nova Scotians could not dig* a ton of their own coal without asking permission of half a dozen English capitalists in the city of London. How few Englishmen now reflect, when riding over the rich and populous states of Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, and Arkansas, that had they not locked up their great west, and tiu*ned it into a hunting ground, which it is now, we might have had behind Canada, three or four magnificent Pro- vinces, enlivened by the industry of millions of Bri- tish subjects, toasting the Queen's health on theii* holidays, and making the vexed question of the de- fence of our frontier one of very easy solution. I parade these pictures of disparity in no spirit of querulous complaint, but to shew you that if the British Provinces are not stronger, the people who have struggled against all these disadvantages, and made them what they are, are not to blame. There is a British Statesman, now rendering good service in another department, who in 1839 had the sagacity to see through the rottenness of this old Colonial system, and who had the boldness to try an experi- ; 3S ment which has heen crowned with the most signal success. Lord Bussell's despatches^ written in that year, conferred self-gfovernment on the North Ameri- can Provinces. Not self-government, in the sense in which some shallow politicians in this country advocate it now, and who, if permitted, would des- troy this Empire ; but self-government to the full extent that it was then demanded^ self-government, which did not change our allegiance, that guarded every Treaty and every prerogative of the Crown, but which left us free to change our cabinets, dis- pense our revenues, control our officers, open our lands, and regulate our trade. Above and beyond all that Lord Russell has ever done, or said, or writ- ten, not excepting his services in passing your own Eeform Bill, when he dies, his fame will rest upon his despatches and on his colonial policy of 1839. The system then established has spread to the East- em and African Colonies, and it will continue to spread, wherever hereafter our people occupy the waste portions of the earth, and establish a British community. Under that system the North American Provinces, for the last twenty years, have grown and thriven. Old controversies have been settled, old grievances redressed, old abuses. swept away. We have no disputes with England, except when you send us a Governor deficient in constitutional training, tact, and common sense. The authority of the Crown is everywhere sustained by a parliamentary majority. 88 If we do not govern ourselves well^ we have nobody but ourselves to blame. Here lies our first, great source of strength, in any future contest with the Republicans across the border. Our future is assured, and it includes every element of hope, every security for rational freedom. The advancing enemy can no longer hope, to find, in any of the Provinces, a divided population. His proclamations, offering us the benefit of Bepublican institutions, would produce even less efTect than the droppings from a flock of wild geese flying over the soil. We have been guided by experience, they by theory. We have clung to institutions which have borne the test of centuries, theirs have been tried in the recent contest and have yielded to the simplest strain. We have secured, in combination, the largest personal liberty with a strong executive. They appear to be unable to protect their country without sacrificing the guards of public and social life. We will defend our country, then, because our institutions are a part of it, and our institutions are worth preserving. In any future contest with our Bepublican neighbours, trust me that the concessions made to us by England in 1839 will be worth an army upon the fi'ontier. You seem to be half repentant for the share you have had in urging these concessions. Be re-assured. Do not lend yom* fine talents to those who mean what you do not mean, who would go further than you, who would pollard the British oak that you would only trim ; who, not mil h II II 84 having* themselves the wit to guide the glorious ship of Empire, in which we are all emharked, would put her under jury masts, and hug the shore to disguise their ignorance of navigation. But I admit that when fighting is to be done, there is something more required even than enthu- siasm in a good cause. I have not lived all my life in a garrison town without knowhig the difference between discipline and the want of it ; between a soldier and a civilian. But a great mistake prevails in this country as to the amount of discipline which our North American Militia would require, in order to make them, if not quite equal to your crack regi- ments, quite as good as the ordinary rank and file in conducting defensive warfare in a new country. Let us see what our young men know that many of your old soldiers do not. I.i the first place they are trained to field work and field spOrts. They can row, swim, fish, shoot, ride, walk on snow shoes, camp in the woods in half an hour without the aid of canvas, and hut themselves in the winter anywhere where wood is to be had. These are fine accom- plishments, as your Guards would have discovered last winter, had two or three thousand of our young fellows, with their rifles and snow shoes, and a week's provision on their backs, chosen to have disputed their passage anywhere between Bic and Montreal. But suppose that war had been declared last year, and that the youngsters had joined the Guards, as they would have done to a man, how long would 35 they, with their hearts in the business^ have been learnings in addition to what they knew^ all that a disciplined soldier has to teach ; and how rapidly would they have taught the guardsman^ what for his own preservation and efficiency in such a country it is indispensable that he should know ? It is on this admirable combination of qualities^ on this reciprocal interchange of services^ sympathy, and instruction^ that, in the second place, I rely in any future wars which we may be compelled to wage in defence of our Provinces in North America. Your troops will always have the ..ighest discipline, the most perfect knowledge of a profession, in its ele- mentary stages not difficult to learn, and our young men, who cannot afford to leave their farms and play at soldiers in time of peace, will be apt scholars, and not bad teachers to the soldiers in time of peril. It was this admirable combination of the finest qualities required to make an army, that told upon the combats of 1812-15, and that will tell upon any future contests into which we may be driven. We ought to have good leadership and good drills from the first apprehension of hostilities, and, having these, it must be confessed that our materials where- with to work are in quality unsurpassed. But you will naturally ask, may they not be improved ? and should not the youth of the Colonies be trained to arms that they may be better able to co-operate with British troops in defence of our common country ? — and I answer, that we are train- c2 ■■IIRIPH n I tl 30 ing, and preparing to train them, in a mode suitable to the condition of our country— in o mode that^ while it is but little burdensome, and excites no ill will in the Provinces, can give no offence to our neighbours. Let me illustrate this part of the subject by facts drawn from Nova Scotia, with which I am best acquainted. During the long peace which followed the Treaty of Paris our Militia laws were very rarely revised, the Militia were never called out, and our population, busy with the arts of peace, " studied war no more." Matters continued in this state till the Volunteer movement began in your country. Almost simultaneous with that movement, under the personal superintendence and guidance of Lord Mul- grave, we began to raise Volunteer Companies in Nova Scotia ; and there ore now between three and foiu* thousand young men, in the flower of life, who hove selected their own officers, approved and commissioned by the Commonder-in-Chief,purchosed their own uniforms, and, under the shorp training of efficient drill-sergeonts, token from the British arn-j and paid by the Province, have become, in a riiar vellously short time, very effective trooj)s. We have one battalion that brigades with the garrison, strong companies at Pictou and Sydney for the defence of the coal mines, and many others, formed and forming, in the seaport towns and in the rural districts. Taking the number at 4000 and our population at 350,000, this would be equal to 86,000 5 87 Volunteers to be raised in England. Taldngp the cost of uniforms and amounts expended in ammuni- tion and organization at £25^000, and comparing our revenue with yours, it can be shown that our expenditure is^ in proi)ortion to our means^ equal to an outlay of £0,733,000 for your country. Should we be scolded for doing this in the short period of three years? But we have done more. We have set seriously about re-organizing our Militia. The whole force is being enrolled. Old officers are retiring with their rank. Those who are young enough and still desire to serve are told to qualify or resign. No young officer 7S appointed who has not qualified. The military spirit has revived with the apparent neces- sity, and is fast spreading all over the Provinces. Half the members of the Legislature last winter earned an appetite for breakfast in the drill-room, and used to pass my window on the coldest mornings with their rifles over their shoulders. The crack of the rifle is as common a sound as the note of the bob-link, and intercolonial shooting matches are becoming an institution. Our Militia Lawi had not been revised since that rather memorable period when Governor Fairfield called out the militia of Maine to settle the north- eastern boundary question by an invasion of New Brunswick. What took place then finely answers the argument that in the Provinces we wait for British troops to defend us. 88 On that occasion there were hut a regiment or two in all the maritime Provinces. The Canadian garri- sons were too far off, and, it heing winter, could only come to us hy the road the Guards traversed, or through the enemy's country. But we did not wait for troops from England or from Canada either. Our Militia Law was revised in a single day, and ample powers given to the Governor to spend every pound of revenue and call out every man in Nova Scotia for the defence of our sister Province. Fancy Scotland or Ireland menaced and every man in England ordered to turn out for her defence, and you have a parallel to what took place in Nova Scotia. Had we hesitated, had we waited, there might have been collisions, perhaps war, but the promptness of our demonstration astonished Gover» nor Fairfield ; and the three cheers for the Queen and for New Brunswick, given by the members of our Legislatures standing in their places, with the Speaker in the chair, however unparliamentary the outbreak of feeling may appear, proved to the militia of Maine that if they crossed the Border, a loyal and high-spirited people were ready to confront them. The territory in dispute was given away, Canada and New Brunswick were almost split in halves. The provincials laid down their arms, and accepted peace on such terms, with shame and sorrow, not much relieved by the subsequent discovery of an old map, which showed how our diplomatist had been 30 practised upon. From that period till the occur- rence of the Trent affair, last winter, the prevalent belief in all the Provinces was this, that for no North American interest, on no North American question, would Great Britain go to war. In this belief our militia laws were neglected, our training' ceased. Our oflScers grew old and obese, or died, and no- body v/ould take their places. No Government would spend a pound upon defence, and, after the withdrawal of the guarantee to the Intercolonial Bailroad in 1851, the impression deepened that the people of England were indifferent to our pros- perity or defence. When the Trent affair aroused the indignant feeling of the empire last autumn, we were, as we were in 1812, utterly unprepared. The war again was none of our seeking. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick had thousands of vessels upon the sea, scattered all over the world. Canada had her thousand miles of frontier unpro- tected. Had war come, we knew that our money losses would have been fearful, and the scenes upon our sea coasts and our frontiers, sternly painted as they must occur, without any stretch of the imagin- ation, might well bid the " boldest hold his breafh for a time." But, did a single man in all those noble Provinces falter? Nof Every man, ay, every woman accepted the necessity and prepared for war. Again, it was a question of honour and not of interest. In a week we could have ar- M sir 40 ranged, by negociation, for peace with the United States and have kept out of the quan*el. But who thought of such a thing* ? Your homesteads were safe, ours in peril, a British, not a colonial ship, had been boarded, but what then ? The old flag, that had floated over our fathers' heads and droops over their graves, had been insulted, and our British blood was stirred without our ever thinking of our pockets. The spirit and unanimity of the Provinces, no less than the fine troops, and war material, ship- ped from this country, worked like a charm at Washington. President Lincoln, like Governor Fairfield, saw clearly that he was ; "• be confronted, not only by the finest soldiers m the world, but by a united and high-spirited population. The effect was sedative, the captives were given up, and the provincials, as is their habit when there is no danger to confront, returned to their peaceful avocations. We were pursuing these most sedulously, not disturbed by any panic fear of our Bepubliean neighbours, and most unconscious of having done anything to warrant the sudden outbrea^^ of feeling that occurred in this country last su7; r j r, with T^hich we were deeply pained, and perha^ ^ not a little disgusted. The causes of complaint urged against Canada, in England, are two-fold. 1 . Her high Import Duties are objected to, and, 2. She is blamed for defeating a "Ministry on a Militia Bill. fe As respects the tariff of Canada^ let me observe^ that, when self-government was conferred upon that Province, the right to construct her own tariff was virtually conceded. By a special despatch, sent to all the provinces whon Lord Grey was Colonial Secretary, the right to impose what duties they pleased was specifically conceded, provided they were not discriminating, and were made to attach alike to importations fi-om all countries. No restric- tion of the right to protect their own industry was stated. But in none of the Provinces have protec- tive or discriminating duties ever been imposed. It is true that the import duties of Canada are rather high. But it can be shown that all the duty raised is actually required to pay the interests on the debts of the Province, to carry on its public improvements, and to provide for its Civil Inst. It cannot be shewn that there is much needless extra- vagance in the administration of the Government. With the single exception of the Governor-GeneraFs salary, regarded m this coimtry as too low to secure the higher style of talent, no public officer in that province receives a remuneration for his services that would not be regarded. in England as inade- quate, if not parsimonious. The highest judicial officers and heads of departments only receive £1000 sterling per annum. The debts of Canada were incurred for the con- struction of canals and railroads, of the highest Imperial and Provincial importance. They were de- 4fi signed to attract through British territory a large portion of the trade of the great West. When the Intercolonial Eailway is finished we shall not only control the telegraphic and postal correspon- dence of the Western States, hut secure to the people of Great Britain at all seasons a steady sup- ply of breadstuffs, should unhappily the Atlantic ports of the United States, in war, be closed against theip. Who then will venture to assert that these were not elevated objects of the highest national im- portance, and these objects being secured, surely no man will suggest that the debts incurred ought not to be honourably redeemed. Those persons, in this country, who desire that Canada should raise her revenue by direct taxation rather than by duties upon imports, do not reflect that there is a wide distinction to be drawn between an old and densely populated country and a new one but thiuly peopled. In England the mass of the inhabitants Jive in cities and villages , even in the rural districts every acre of land is owned and culti- vated, and has a money value. In Canada, as in all the Colonies, a large portion of the population live a:t great distances from each other. In the re- mote settlements land has often but a nominal value, and money is scarce. To collect direct taxes in such a country often costs more than they come to. Hence ths? preference shewji for the system of raising revenue by import duties. They yield more without harassing the people, than could be got. < i 40 with infinite labour and vexation of spirit, by any system of direct taxation. As the Provinces pros- per and population increases, the import duties will come down. In the meantime, as there is not a cotton factory in any of the Provinces, as every year the consumption of British manufactures, in all their varied forms of beauty and utility, steadily increases, and as the consumers an(][ not the producers pay the duty, why should exception be taken to our tarifis ? J trust that my explanations under this head, will be regarded as entirely satisfactory. The colonies of England take now £46,000,000 worth of manu- factures every year, and I hold, that as the selling price in England includes all that the manufacturer has to pay towards the national debt, and the main- tenance of the Army and Navy, the colonists, who honestly pay for and consume these goods, pay now, independently of their own military expenditure, a noble contribution towards the funds ^e^^icated to national defence. Let us now see whether the great Province of Canada has done, or has failed to do, anything to warrant the sharp Parliamentary and newspaper criticisms with which she has been assailed in this country. * I have shewn you that her untrained Militia has twice saved the Province, and I have shewn you that, ou the very latest occasion when Great Britain appealed to their patriotism, every man responded to the call. Let me now shew you that, although fi 44 I in i i II rv she may not have quite met the public expectations of this country (not very accurately informed as to the state of feeling in the Province), she has not been entirely neglectful of her defences, but is at this moment much better prepared to resist attack than she ever was at any former period of her history. In 1855 the Militia Law of Canada, was careiuUy revised ; under that law the Government enrolled, drilled, and armed, at the expense of the Province, a very respectable volunteer force. The country was divided into military districts, and the whole sedentary militia, consisting of every man capable of bearing arms, was organized. In 1862, the law was amended to enable the Commander-in-Chief to make the enrolment more reliable and perfect. The Volunteer organization was rendered more general, arms and clothing were given to all persons who desired to enlist in those Volunteer corps. It is assumed, on good authority, that Canada, at the close of this year, will have 15,000 volunteers, equal, if the population of the two countries are contrasted, to 105,000 for the British Islands. All the officers or the Sedentary Militia are now required to receive military training and instruction. They are removed if they do not. Hereafter no officer will be appointed or promoted who has not acquired a fair knowledge of arms. The number of officers whom it is the design of this system to qua- » V y 45 lify^ will amount to 20^000. Brigade majors have been appointed in all the districts. The Governor- General is, by statute, Commander-in-Chief, and is authorized, at his discretion, or on any apprehension of dang-er, to call out every man in the Province, or any number that may be required. Under the law, as it stands, at fifteen days' notice 50,000 men, per- fectly organized in companies and battalions, and with all their regimental officers, from a colonel to a corporal, could be placed upon any point of the frontier What skill or soldiership have the great armies of the Northern States exhibited, that we should be much afraid to confront them, if the Canadians have not degenerated, and if this country shews, as it certainly did last winter, a determination to fulfil its honourable obligations ? "A little leaven leaveneth the whole mass," and twenty thousand British soldiers, judiciously distributed and skilfully led, with this fine force at their back or serving in the ranks beside them, ought to be able to give a good account of any invading army which the Northern States can send against them. But I apprehend that when those States emerge fi*om the present disastrous civil war it will be some time before they will madly rush into a war with England. Looking to th^ir mourning households, to the maimed and emaciated soldiers wandering though their streets, to their heavy national debt, to their disordered finances, and to the tremendous power which this HI' 46 i I) Empire can put forth; if we are only true to each other^ the day is distant when those States will heedlessly provoke a contest with this country. This is evidently the opinion in Canada^ and^ so far at all events^ it would appear that^ in acting upon it; her Government has heen sustained. I have no desire to touch the local politics of Canada. I re^et that the late Government elected to fall on the Militia Bill; and that their opponents were g^ood-natured or unskilful enough to let them. I think the opposition should have recited, by resolu- tion, the reasons for which they turned the ministers out. Had they done so a good deal of the mis- apprehension which has prevailed in this country, which has evidently inspired the debates in Parlia- ment and the criticisms of the press, might have been avoided. The right of the Parliament of Canada to turn out a ministry even upon a Militia Bill, canrot be questioned. Had Lord Palmerston's Government been overthrown last winter upon the question of the fortifications, nobody would have denied the right of the majority to aim a hostile vote, and certainly no British American, even if it had prevailed, would have fancied that there was one loyal Englishman the less. I have shewn that 15,000 volunteers in Canada is equal to a force of 105,000 if raised in this country. To complete the contrast it should be remembered what boundless resources are in an old kingdom like 47 yours^ compared with all the visible means of taxation to be found in a new country like British America. You have the accumulated results of the labours of countless g'enerations of men, running* over a period of some two thousand years. You have all that your fathers and ours toiled for and made from the Boman Conquest to the departure of the " May- flower" — all that your fathers have created since, and all that in your own day and generation, having* this enormous capital to work with, you have been enabled to earn for yourselves. To say nothing* of the labour of your people, it is asserted that the machinery of this island performs the work, every year, of 800,000,000 men. With untold treasures upon the surface and be- neath it, with an annually accumulating capital that an actuary can hardly estimate, and this tremendous mechanical power in your hands, you can bear an amount of taxation which would sink any new country, with a limited population and a history of a hundred years, if she attempted to impose upon her people proportional burthens. I grant that we have less poverty, and that the property we have is more equally distributed, but we have not a tithe of your accumulated capital and productive power, and the contrast which the two countries exhibit, in this respect, should ever be borne in mind by candid reasoners whenever this class of questions is discussed. Let me now direct your attention to the state of your defences, at a period of your history when 48 England and British America nSay be more fairly contrasted than they can now. In 1688 the population of Engfland was 5^000^000. She was in as much peril as we ure now^ or ever were^ from the armies of the United States. The subtle policy of Parma and Philip was closing around her : the Armada was in the Channel^ and two of the best appointed armies of veteran troops that Europe ever saw were preparing* to land upon her shores. That they did not land was owing to the protec- tion of an overruling Providence, to the liberality of her merchants, and to the heroic achievements of those glorious seamen who left the land forces little to do. But had England been invaded how was she prepared ? Motley, in his History of the Nether- lands, tells us the story of her defences, the condition of which ought certainly to have overthrown the Ministers, had England possessed responsible Govern- ment in those days. The Spanish armies were estimated at 116,000 men. " In England/' says Motley, ^^ an army had " been enrolled, a force of 86,016 foot and 13,831 " cavalry, but it was an army on paper merely." Even of the 86,000 men (not one-fifth of the militia of Canada) only 48,000 were set down as trained, and it is certain that the training had been of the most meagre description. " Of enthusiasm " and courage there was enough, but of powder and " shot there was a deficiency." i T 40 Sir Edward Ktmilev thus desoribps the militia lie WDR sent to inspect in Cheshire nnd Lancashire: — " They were appointed two years ])H8t to have ijeen " trained six days l)y the year, or more, at tlie dis- " cretion of the muster-master, but as yet they have ^* not been trained one day, so that tliey have " benefitted nothing;, nor yet know their leaders." f^ There was a g'eneral indisposition" (in Eng-land then as in Canada now) " in the rural districts to 1^ expend money and time in military business until *^ the necessity should become imperative." Even in August, when the Armada was on the wing", "The camp was not formed, nor anything " more than a mere handful of troops mustered about " Tilbury to dpfend the road from Dover to London. " The army at Tilbury never exceeded sixteen or " seventeen thousand men." About as many as Nova Scotia could, with her two railroads, have drawn around the citadel of Halifax from her eastern and western counties in a week, had their services been required last winter ; not half as many as Canada, in twenty days, can now plant upon any point of her frontier. The aggregate tonnage of the whole Koyal Navy- was 11,880 tons, less than the tonnage of the vessels built in our port of Yarmouth in a single year.* Of the land forces Motley states that " A drilled and disciplined army, * A forcible and vivid idea of the rapidity with which the shipping of Tarmouth is increasing will be derived from the perusal of the subjoined figures, shewing the amount of tonnage D 00 whether of regulars or militiamen^ had no existence whatever." The GommissQriat arrangements were in keeping with the discipline and organization. Leicester, writing to Walsingham, says of his raw levies : — " Some want the captains showed, for these men '' arrived without one meal of victuals, so that on " their arrival they had not one harrel of heer or loaf ^* of bread ; enough, after twenty miles' march, to *' have discouraged them and brought them to " mutiny/' On the 6th August the Armada was in Calais Boads, and up to the 5th no army had been assembled, not even the body guard of the Queen ; and Leicester, with four thousand men, unprovided with a barrel of beer or a loaf f bread, was about commencing ^is entrenched Ci ^ at Tilbury. These are the facts of history, and it sometimes strikes me that British legislators and politicians would act more wisely if they were gravely pondered, before they undertook to criticise too severely nascent f owned in this port at the yarious decennial periods since 1822 :— In the year 1822 - - 3,000 tons. 1832 - - 4,318 „ 1842 - - 13,766 „ 1852 - - 18,880 „ 1862 - - 45,198 „ We very much question if there is another port on the face of the globe, with the same extent of territory and population, that can boast of equal increase in the same period. — Yarmouth Tribune^ Nova Scotia. ii n a n » » » \ h 3 I 51 but vigforous oilkhoots of that sound old stock timt, when passing through the stages of advancement which we have just reached, when the population of England was about the same as ours is now, thought themselves able to face a disciplined army with the limited amountof preparation that Motley so quaintly describes. They should not compare small things with great, but things which bear rfome proportion to each other, and they ought not to expect us to be less averse to expensive standing armies than our ances- tors were when their necessities were quite as great. But let me turn your attention to another period of English history. Let us come down the stream of time from 1588 to 1685, and inquire in what condition the army and militia of England were when her population was nearly double that of Canada. First, read what Macaulay says on the subject of direct taxation : — " The discontent excited '' by direct imposts is, indeed, almost always out of " proportion to the quantity of money which they " bring into the Exchequer, and the tax on chim- " nies was, even among direct imposts, peculiarly " odious, for it could be levied only by means of " domiciliary visits, and of such visits the English ^' have always been impatient to a degree which " the people of other countries can but faintly " conceive." It is hoped that some allowance will be here- after made for our hereditary impatience of direct taxation. D 2 T 't-i m iirt 52 After describing* the powerful, well appointed, and finely disci[>lined armies kept up by the leading" powers of Europe in the reig-n of Charles the Second, Macauluy says : — " In our island, on the contrary, " it was possible to live long* and to travel far, without " being" reminded by any martial sig-ht or sound " that the defence of nations had become a science " and a calling*. The majority of Englishmen, who " were under twenty-five ^^ears of age, had probably " never seen a company of reg-ular soldiers. The *^ only army which the law recog*nized was the '' militia. The whole number of cavalry and in- " fantry thus maintained was popularly estimated " at a hundred and thirty thousand men. (Not half the militia of Canada.) These militiamen received no pay, except when called into actual service. Macaulay describes them as " Ploug*hmen officered by justices of the peace." c By deg'rees Charles g*ot together a few regiments of troops; but the regular army, as late as 1685, did not consist, all ranks included, of above seven- teen thousand foot, and about seventeen hundred cavalry and dragoons, not a great many more, it would appear, than the mihtia oflScers of Canada. The discipline was lax, and could not be otherwise. " The common law of England knew nothing of " courts martial, and made no distinction in time of " peace between a soldier and any other subject; " nor could the Government then venture to ask the / ( I ■' T I 53 " most loyal Parliameiit for a Mutiny Bill. A " soldier, therefore, by knocking* down his colonel " incurred .only the ordinary penalties of assault and " battery, and by refusing" to obey orders, by sleep- " ing* on guard, or by deserting' his colours, incurred '^ no legal penalty at all." Let us trust that the discipline of our despised militia in the Provinces is not worse. Macaulay's description of the Navy is almost as ludicrous:—" The naval administration was a pro- " dig-y of wastefulness, corruption, ignorance and " indolence, no estimate could be trusted, no con- " tract was performed, no check was enforced." But to retuni to the Army. There was " no regi- " ment of Artillery, no Sappers and Miners." Surely we are not much worse than this in the Provinces ? Hear Dryden's description of the militia of Eng-land in the reign of James the Second : — , " The country rings around with war's alarms, And now in fields the rude militia swarms. ' Mouths, without hands, maintained at'A^ast expense, In peace a charge, in war a weak defence ; ' Stout once a month they march, a blust'ring band, iy>' And ever, but in time of need, at hand. This was the morn, when hast'ning to the guard, Drawn up in rank and file they stood prepared Of seeming arms to make a she essay, Then hast'ning t# be drunk, thv business of the day." Here, then, are the militia of England described by her poets and historians at a time when England had nearly double the population of Canada. With 7 I; m t ;f>- ■ S', 54 these pictures before us, and remembering what our Provincial Militia have done^ and knowing what they are, I do not think we need blush for their history or organization. At this moment Queen Victoria rules over fifty- one colonies and dependencies, which, with the British Islands, form the Empire that you and I desire to consolidate and improve. How this is to be done is a question of stupendous interest, de- manding the highest qualities of statesmanship for its consideration and adjustment. There are those who seem to contemplate the dismemberment of this great Empire with evident delight, and who appear to regard the spread of British institutions and civilization as a misfortune to the world at large, and an injury to the parent state. But let us see what there is within this charmed circle of Imperial duties and relations that is worth preserving. It is true that every outlying Pro- vince, as I have already shewn, may be attacked whenever the mother country is at war, yet war can only come when the plastic powers of astute diplo- macy have been exhausted, and when the dread alternative has been deliberately accepted by en- lightened public opinion. But into how many wars might not these fifty-one provinces be dragged if this Empire were dismembered, anfl if they were left to be overrun by neighbouring States, or drawn into entangling alliances with populations often ruthless or unenlightened ? 55 In the interests of peace, then, we are hoiind, if we can, to see that this Empire is kept tog-ether. We are equally hound, if we regard the interests of relig-ion. Wherever British power is acknowledged and the British bayonet gleams, the missionary of every •Christian Church can tread the land in safety, and teach and pray without personal apprehension. That dismemberment is sometimes advocated by persons who call themselves free traders, is to L.e amazing. Where, on the earth^s surface, since barter was first essayed, have so many populous countries been bound together by common interests, and by the miitual interchange of productions, on a basis of such perfect freedom ? Strike down the pow^r that binds these communities together, and into how many antagonistic systems and economic absurdities would thf^y not drift 1 This Empire possesses the noblest schools of law, the purest judicial tribunals, fro which our Colonial Courts draw forensic aninan- tion una g-uidinj];* light without stint and without shame. U hat British or Colonial judge or lawyer would disturb this equable flow of precedents and deci- sions? Then, again, if we look to literature and the arts,how charmingii isto know that while every gifted youth in the most remote Province of the Empire may win tb admiral of the community in which he lives, th^re are fift}^ other Provinces to rejoice in his success and to feel the exhilaration of his genius. How charming is it also for the emigrant, pioneer- ing in a new country, too young to have produced 7 m w mi 60 a picture or ii book, to read Tennyson or Burns by his camp tire at nig^ht, or to look at Laudseer's dog^s over his mantelpiece in the 'morning', conscious that he can claim kindred with the artist and the author, and that the ballad and the engraving- link him with treasures of literature that are inex- haustible, and of art that can never die. Whatever improvements time may sug-g'est for its better organization and further developement, this Empire, as it stands, has its uses, and should be kept together. In this opinion I am quite sure that you and I agree. We differ as to the mode. If I under** stand your argument, you would have half a hundred little standing armies, scattered all over the globe, paid out of fifty treasuries, and with uni* forms as various as were the colours in Joseph's ,. coat, with no centre of union, no common discipline, no provision for mutual succour and support. 1 would have one array that could be massed within a few days or weeks on any point of * , the frontier, moved by one head, animated by one spirit, pjjid from one treasury. Into this army I would incorporate as many of the colonial militia as were required to take the field in any Province that might be attacked, and, fi'om the moment they were so incorporated, they should be moved, paid, and treated, as an Imperial force. " There would still be work enough for the sedentary militia to do, in defending tlie districts in which they lived, bir 01 i I fJi i V 'I 57 ' u I aiid if this were done, and if the Provinces, as they would, bore a hrge part if not the whole of the burthen of local defence, they would do all that could reasonably be expected. If the county of Annapolis were attacked, I would not pay a militiaman out of the Imperial Treasury for de- fending* his own county, but if a regiment were drawn from Annapolis to defend the citadel at Ha- lifax, or the coal mines of Pictou— if it were marched into New Brunswick, or volunteered to de- fend these islands, then it should take its number, draw its pay, and be treated in all respects like any other regiment of the line. So long' as this is done we shall have an Empire and an Army. We shall soon cease to have either when the other system is tried. And why should we try it? Why should we reverse Menenius Ag-rippa's fable, and teach the belly of the Empire — the common treasury and storehouse of all its wealth, to complain? The British soldier is no longer viewed with distrust or apprehension in any part of the Empire, he is every where recognized as a citizen with a red coat on, prouder of his citizenship than of the hig;hest gTade in the finest regiment in the service. Nor is he viewed with any jealousy or dislike by the Provin^^ cial militia. Our young men know that they can study the use of arms from no more g-allant exem- plars, and they know also that when summoned to the field, they can rely upon the steadiness, the (endurance, the discipline, and the humanity of the 58 British soldier. The late illustrious Prince Con- sort, on presenting- the colours to the 13th Light Infantry, in February, 1859, expressed our opinions with great accuracy and force, when he said, " The British soldier has to follow his colours to every part of the globe, and everywhere he is the repre- sentative of his country's power, freedom, loyalty and civilization." So long* as these civilized soldiers circulate around the Empire, drawing" into their ranks, as occasion may require, the youth of the Province it is their mission to defend, so long- will it be strong" and its civilization secure. When they are withdrawn, and the outlying regions are left to drift into new experiments, •' shadows, clouds, and darkness " will rest upon the scene, and of the glo- ries of this Empire we shall chance to see the begin- ning of the end. A great deal might be said upon some passages of your letter in which you limit the growth of aris- tocracies and democracies by g*eographical lines, but I desire to confine my observations to the ques- tion of national defence. Aristocracies will grow in every country, with the increase of wealth, the de- velopment of mental power, and the grateful recol- lection of heroic achievement. They are growing* now^ in every state and province on this continent, in most of which you will find families as proud, and circles as exclusive, as any to be found in Europe ; but old trees cannot be transplanted, and any premature attempt at aristocratic transplanta- tions would decidedly fail. y r * 1^^ i 59 You seem to apprehend that the slightest ^' impact of any fragment from the ruins of the union" would terminate the connexion of these Provinces with the Parent State. I do not think so. Surely if we have resisted the impact of the whole Union, pretty seriously delivered on several occasions, we ought to be able to withstand concussion from a part. Let us look at this matter thoughtfully, and without allowing our nerves to be shaken by the eccentric movements across the line. The Southern States, even if their independence were established to-mor- row, are too far off to ever think of invading these Provinces. Their labouring population, being slaves, can never be soldiers or sailors, jand though the white men who own them are splendid material for defensive warfare, trust me it will be a long time before they will march into Canada and leave their slaves behind them. The Northern States are our immediate neigh- bours, and, next to the mother country, ought to be our fast friends and firm allies. We claim a com- mon origin, our populations are almost homogeneous, bridges and ferries, stage, steamboat, and Kailway lines, connect our frontier towns or seaboard cities. Our commerce is enormous, and is annually increasing in value. Every third vessel that enters the port of Boston goes from Nova Scotia. Our people inter- marry, and socially intermix, all along the frontier. For one man that I know in the Southern Confede- racy, I know twenty in the Northern States. All mmm 60 these mutual ties and intimate relations are securi- ties for the preservation of peace. I admit that a good deal of irritation has arisen out of the civil war, but I rely on the frank admission of the Northern people, when the war is over, that for this they were themselves to blame. The Provinces, at its commencement, deeply deplored the outbreak of that war, and for weeks their sympathies were with the North. The storm of abuse that followed the Queen's Proclamation of Neutrality, and the demand for the rendition of the Commissioners, naturally changfed the current of feeling*, and the skill and g-allantry of the Southern combatants, have won, in the Provinces as .every where else, as heroic achieve- ment always will, whatever may be the cause of quarrel, involuntary admiration. Still, our mate- rial interests, and everyday thoughts and feelings, are in accord with those of the Northern States ; and, when they come out of this war, there is no reason wh}'', having" shaken themselves clear of ele- ments of internal irritation and disturbance, they should desire to disturb us, merely because we choose to live in amity with our common parent under British Institutions. We are bound to hope, at all events, for the restoration of kindly thoughts, and the continuance of peaceful relations. If war comes, I have already shewn that we are not so ill prepared as you assume, and that, if \, e do not waste our strength in idle controversy and insane divisions, we can still maintain the power of the Crown and the integrity of the Empire. , I V X 01 In the confident belief that fair and coui'teou» dis- cussion of these momentous questions will have a tendency to steady the public mind, I have been induced to throw off these pages, which I commend to your impnrtial attention, and remain, Dear Sir, Yours faithfully. JOSEPH HOWE. trii .; m) ■If ••7ft •• 1-: