Canadian Lea\^es 
 
 History, Art, Science, Literature, Ccmh^erce 
 
 A Series of New Papers 
 
 KUAU IIKFUKk: IHK 
 
 Canadian Club of New York 
 
 Awake, my country, the hour of ili-eHuis In done : 
 imuht not, nor ili-ead. the Ki'eatncrHx of thy fate." 
 
 IIOBKRTS. 
 
 KDriEU liv 
 
 (;. M. KAIRCHILl). JR. 
 Vice-Pres. C. C. 
 
 II.I.ll.SI KA I'EU IIV 
 
 THOMSON WlLl.INC; 
 A. R. C. A. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 NAPOLEON THOMPSON & CO., PUBITSHERS 
 51 AND 53 Maiden Lank 
 
 1887 
 
±OOOD«J 
 
 /i;-^ 
 
 Copyright 1«8H, by Napoleon Thompson & Co. 
 
DEDICATED TO 
 
 HIS EXCEL L KNC V 
 
 THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE 
 
 COyEKNOR GENERAL 
 
 of the 
 
 DOMINION OF CANADA 
 
 AS A TOKEN OF THE ESTEEM IN WHICH HE IS HELD HY THE 
 CANADIANS RESIDENT IN NEW YORK 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 N apology is not needed in present- 
 ing this work to the Public, but 
 one is due to the early subscrib- 
 ers for the delay in its appear- 
 ance. A fire in the building 
 occupied by the printers caused 
 almost a total destruction of the 
 printed sheets and necessitated a suspension of work 
 for some time. 
 
 It is rare to find gathered into one volume so 
 brilliant a series of original papers by so many distin- 
 guished authors and scientists. I feel a just pride that 
 the pleasant task of editing them should have fallen to 
 my lot. I have endeavored to give them a setting 
 worthy of their value, and in this laudable effort I 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 have been most ably seconded by Thomson VViHing, 
 A. R, C. A., the illustrator, and by the publishers 
 Napoleon Thompson & Co., both of whom have spared 
 no pains to produce a handsome volume, pictorially 
 and typographically. 
 
 The Canadian Club of New York is to be con- 
 gratulated upon its wise policy of having instituted a 
 winter's series of entertainments that are not alone 
 delightful reunions of Canada's sons and fair daugh- 
 ters, in voluntar}' exile, but which have kept alive their 
 interest in the affairs of our great Dominion of Canada 
 through the clever papers which have been delivered 
 before the Club upon Canadian topics, 
 
 G. M. FAIRCHILD, Jr., 
 
 Editor. 
 
 Neui York, 
 
 December, iSSj. 
 
Table of Contents. 
 
 PACK. 
 
 Dedication • .III 
 
 Preface, ......••• V 
 
 Table of Contents vii 
 
 Errata. ^l" 
 
 The Future of the Dominion of Canada. , . . r 
 
 By EUMLND Cul-LINS. 
 
 The Schism in the An^lo-Saxon Race. ... 19 
 
 By GoLuwiN Smith, M. A., D. ('. 1.. 
 
 The Great Canadian North-West 59 
 
 By Rev. John C. Ecli.esto.n, D. D. 
 The Humorous Side of Canadian History. ... 93 
 
 By J. W. Bengchcjh, Kditor 'loronto (hip. 
 
 The Heroines of New France. 107 
 
 By J. M. I.KMOINK, F. k. S. C. 
 
 Literature in Canada, i-9 
 
 By Geo. Stewart, Jr., I). C. 1... K. R. G. S., K. R. S. C. 
 
 Echoes from Old Acadia, '45 
 
 By Prof. Chas. (i. U. Roberts, Kings College, Windsor, N. S. 
 
 Commercial Union between Canada and the United 
 
 States 1/5 
 
 By lion. B. Butterworth, M. C. 
 
"viii Table of Contents. 
 
 PAGK. 
 
 The Mineral Resources of Canada, .... 217 
 
 By John McDougali.. 
 
 An Artist's Experience in the Canadian Rockies, . 233 
 
 By John A. Frasek, R. C. A. 
 
 Canada First, 247 
 
 By Rev. GeoR(;k Grant, D. D., Principal Queen's University. 
 
 The Advantaijes of Commercial Union to Canada and 
 
 the United States, 269 
 
 By Erastus Wiman. 
 
 The Canadian Club, . 283 
 
 By G. M. Kairchii.I), Jr. 
 
 Canadian Club Officers, 1887, 291 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 3, line 5, for xclio seek, read, which seek. 
 
 108, line 23, iox guiding-halloiv, read, guiding-halo. 
 " 113. '' '5> for introduced to court, read, introduced at 
 court. 
 Page 1 13, line 16, for /// ivaiting of, read, in waiting to. 
 115, " 20, for /rtj/A/^, read lying. 
 " 141, "25, transpose Picturesque Canada after Ocean 
 . to Ocean. 
 

 ow ]p[^^e i^ob|ejMi\-llowloi_^ 
 iOo front- fhe world ^Jot^e 
 
 WaR|i***P^|fiWPii**W*WW?^^ 
 
 THE FUTURE OF THE DOMINION 
 OF CANADA. 
 
 EDMUND COLLINS. 
 
 An Address delivered before the 
 Canadian Club of Neiv York. 
 
 OME of the greatest historians of the 
 olden times, for the purpose of illus- 
 trating a nation's greatness, would 
 only take into account the number 
 of her spear's on the land, and of 
 her galleys on the sea ; and it must 
 be confessed that, even in this age of 
 industry and peace, we are not a little 
 proud of our battalions and of the 
 
 thunder of our turret guns. 
 
 In dealing with Canada, we have more substantial elements 
 
 to fire our eloquence ; we have her boundless acres, her limitless 
 
2 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 forests, and the exhaustless treasures of her rriines and seas. 
 Under the Confederation immense strides have been made in 
 national development, and this I think ought to be a guarantee 
 for the future. 
 
 But, after all, there are several gentlemen in Canada, who 
 are not satisfied with the Union. Indeed, at very frequent 
 intervals, some patriot who has failed in the pulpit or at the 
 bar, who has brought a country school into disrepute, or 
 added to the population of a graveyard, arises among his 
 countrymen, and declares that the Confederation must be 
 smashed. The intensity of his eloquence on such an occasion 
 will be commensurate with his wants. If he is able to scrape 
 along at all, he will not be very fierce, and will receive no great 
 attention ; but if there is neither brief, nor school, nor pulpit, 
 nor consumptive in sight, he rises to the very highest pitch of 
 patriotism, and some admiring organ of public opinion puts 
 an "extra" at his disposal. If, in the experience of Dr. 
 Johnson, "patriotism was the last refuge of a scoundrel," in 
 ours, treason is the first refuge of a patriot. 
 
 I presume that those who hear me are not unaware that 
 Nova Scotia has lately passed resolutions affirming a desire 
 for separation, and there is a rumor in the air that New 
 Brunswick wants to get adrift. I do m*t ^believe that these 
 ideas will prevail ; but they have undermined faith in the 
 solidity of the Union, and Castle Garden receives the 
 immigrant. It is no harm, however, to sin against the State. 
 If you libel an individual, or decry his enterprise, the law will 
 look after the matter ; but assail the country whose institutions 
 protect, and whose kindly breast sustains, and the Governor 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Cominerce. j 
 
 will select you as his chief adviser or his Secretary of State. 
 For my part, instead of providing cabinet oflfices, I should 
 prepare the cat and the pillory. 
 
 It may not be uninteresting, if not precisely cheerful, to 
 enquire about the fate likely in store for the provinces who 
 seek separation, in the event of the possibility of their release. 
 In spite of the wealth which they boast of, to me they seem to 
 stand up on the very verge of pauperdom. Enjoying the felicity 
 of independence and isolation, each one would be a Lazarus 
 at the gates of the Empire. We know very well that the 
 expense of house-keeping, in Nova Scotia and in New Bruns- 
 wick, is greater than either province is able to bear ; and either 
 one or the other is always found at Ottawa, with a threat or a 
 prayer upon her lips, asking for still " better terms." Let us 
 suppose one of these provinces cast adrift. Her only sources of 
 income would be the proceeds from the sale and lease of her 
 timber and mineral lands, and the toll of the custom-houses. 
 
 To-day Nova Scotia is almost completely stripped of her 
 forest, and the area of woodland in New Brunswick is rapidly 
 diminishing; and if there is but little income from the mines 
 for the individual, there would be less for the public treasuries. 
 The ship-yards are idle, and must remain so from now until 
 the end of time; nor is there any industry in sight or in the 
 distant future. Under the terms of confederation a sum of 
 80 cents per head is set apart from the Dominion treasury, 
 and to hope that this amount could be made up under the 
 regime of divorce, from the little provincial custom-houses, is 
 mere delusion. For the lack of responsible guarantee, the 
 obligations of these provinces would go begging in the money 
 
^ New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 market. Capital and immigration would pass by their doors, 
 and they would become the paupers of the Empire. 
 
 It is the custom, among certain people in the East, when 
 famine afflicts the land, to enter the temples and belabor 
 with clubs their favorite idols. As the timber becomes scarce, 
 and revenue falls off, these good people by the sea wax fierce 
 in their denunciation of taxes, as if the most weighty and 
 unjustifiable tax of all, tliat on coal, were not merely main- 
 tained as a sop to them. 
 
 However, it may be said, once for all, that Nova Scotia 
 and her sister will be saved from themselves. For there is no 
 road leading out of the Union. 
 
 If, in discuss"-".g the prospects of Canada in general, I 
 may be allowed to confine a few more observations to the 
 maritime provinces, I should say that I believe their manifest 
 local destiay to be maritime union. To superintend about 
 a million and a half of public business, they have three petit 
 kings, three houses of Commons, and at least two houses of 
 Lords ; while in number the judges and chief justices, to borrow 
 a fantastic comparison, are as the stars of the heaven. But let 
 alone the fact that each province requires a legislature, a 
 governor, a cabinet and a standing army of officials, to transact 
 half a million dollars of business, there must needs be in 
 addition the pomp and circumstance of presenting arms, firing 
 salutes and decking out in uniforms and cocked-hats. 
 
 I have heard many speeches delivered from those very 
 provincial thrones at the opening of the legislature, and have 
 noted some of their items. There is always a paragraph having 
 reference to Providence and the harvests; and this seems to be 
 
Art, Science, Literature, avd Commerce. 5 
 
 quite fitting, for the harvests are about the o.\\y matter in their 
 poHtical economy in which the hand of Providence is to be seen. 
 In New Brunswick, I once listened to one of those pretentious 
 speeches from the throne wherein this passage occurred, the 
 most important one of the whole communication : " During 
 the year, my Government have given earnest attention to the 
 affairs of the husbandman, and the improvement of stock ; and 
 to this end have effected the importation of a superior breed 
 of sheep." I turned to the itemized public accounts and found 
 that the numerical strength of the importation consisted in six 
 animals. Imagine putting on a cocked-hat and a sword to 
 announce that a Government had brought in Canada six ewes 
 and rams. 
 
 To sum up the matter, one capable business man could, 
 without governor or cabinet, without volunteer or the firing of 
 rusty cannon, effectually transact the whole affairs of the thre 
 petty provinces by the sea. I think, therefore, that the conch 
 sion any sensible man would arrive at in this connection wt 
 be that these provinces ought and must rid themselves by f. 
 one-half of their present expensive administration. This 
 be accomplished by a maritime union, which would give for 
 three provinces one lieutenant-governor, one legislature ar 
 but one army of official dependents instead of three. 
 
 An outsider listening to one of the maritime statesme 
 would assuredly hear him talk of retrenchments ; hear him ciph' 
 how much the Lieutenant-Governor squanders in paint at 
 coal-oil, and naturally would ask himself why in thunder 
 mention is made of the larger items? He would scarcely h xx 
 a word about maritime union, because maritime union w( jid 
 
6 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 be the death of fully one-third of the professional politicians. 
 But, suppose this part of the difificulty removed, there would 
 still be in the background the burning question : " Which 
 province is to have the seat of government?" Nova Scotia 
 would rather pay two dollars in civil expenditure, where only 
 one is needed, than that ** The Island," or New Brunswick 
 should be able to say that she was the home of the 
 government. It will be seen, therefore, that so long as the 
 question remains in its present shape, the three pinched provin- 
 ces will go on maintaining their overwhelming system of 
 magnificence and expenditures. 
 
 There is, I think, one way out of the difficulty, and 
 although I have elsewhere indicated the way, I may be 
 permitted to once more refer to it. A few years ago, when a 
 teacher made application for a school in a back district, the 
 great difficulty in his way was the question of where to board. 
 The thought that oae settler should monopolize the honor and 
 the profit of his domiciliation was in itself odious, and the 
 matter was finally settled by his consenting to " board round the 
 deestrict." Are we to infer from this, that if the government 
 of these three little united provinces would consent to " board 
 round the deestrict," the greatest obstacle to maritime union 
 would be removed. 
 
 Before discussing the governmental alternatives left to 
 Canada, we must preface our remarks by stating that the 
 political atmosphere should first be made purer if we desire to 
 contemplate with pride the future of the country. There are 
 now in public life in Canada some good men ; men who earnest- 
 ly strive to use their talent for the general good : but, after all, 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. y 
 
 such Wcitiiy ones are few. For the greater part, politics are in 
 Canada what they are in the United States, one of the lowest 
 of all the games that offer success to ability devoid of honor. 
 The best men, and the most thoughtful among them in either 
 country, are not to be found in political life ; such men shrink 
 from the ordeal which is the lot of the political candidate. 
 The successful men are generally those who are popular in the 
 billiard-room, liberal in treating at the bar, or foremost on the 
 turf or lucky in the gambling pool. As a rule too, these men 
 are without means and of no social standing ; they are devoid 
 also of education and of the knowledge indispensable to com- 
 petently help in the making of laws. If a man enters public 
 life without fortune and stripped of all honorable ambition, it is 
 deadly certain that his chief aim is to further his own interests. 
 Given an unscrupulous politician at the head of government, 
 and he will buy these men as a butcher buys a flock of sheep. 
 It is true that these men give a semblance of patriotism 
 to their movements by allying themselves with a party ; but 
 this party has become a machine, and the harm that the 
 machine does to public interests and public morals is greater 
 even than could be accomplished by loose fish who held 
 themselves aloof from either side. I take it for granted that 
 there is a splendid opportunity in store for young men in 
 Canada, provided they stand aloof of the machines and take 
 as their watchword, not Protection or Free-Trade, but the 
 purification of public life. I say the young men, because the 
 older ones have already suffered themselves to be bound to the 
 wheel, and to the end will go sinning for the party rather than 
 bring upon their brilliant names the reproach of " turncoat." 
 
I? New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 I affirm without dread of refutation, that our country is 
 worse now, and not better, for her politicians. 
 
 The Conrfederation is made up of interests more or less 
 divergent , and of aims more or less conflicting ; there is a slight 
 antagonism of religion, and there is fierce conflict of races. 
 The best and the noblest deed patriotism could perform 
 would be to restore harmony to that part of the instrument 
 which is jangled and out-of-tune ; to seek and close up the 
 joints in the Confederation; to demonstrate that the interest 
 of the many ought to prevail over that of the few ; that Canada 
 is the country of the Gaul as well as of the Celt and the Saxon ; 
 and, finally, that the triumph of the country as a whole, in 
 civilization and prosperity, is of far greater moment than the 
 success or the aims of a section, a creed, or a race. Mr. Gold- 
 win Smith describes the F"rench province as a wedge driven 
 between the Eastern and Western sections of the Union ; but 
 even this tenacious and exclusive nationality would in time 
 blend into its surroundings if the politicians did not rekindle 
 the old feuds periodically and were not continually unearthing 
 for new discords. I do not think, however, that there is much 
 room for anticipating that this province will readily submit to 
 the logic o5 environment ; if there were, such a hope dwindles 
 down to mere nothingness when we find that the execution 
 of a man convicted of treason and murder furnishing a nev/ 
 source of discord and isolation. 
 
 Before dismissing this chapter of my subject, I beg to 
 point out one condition under which much could be done to 
 improve political morals and draw men of character and 
 fitness into public life. I think the honor of a seat in the 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce, ^ 
 
 legislature should be of itself a sufificient reward to the 
 legislator. In England this is the rule, and instances like our 
 own Pacific scandal, or the many frauds that blot political 
 history in the United States is unheard of. 
 
 In our country, as in the States, a man imagines that an 
 evil political deed brings no personal taint ; until men are 
 made to feel a reproach upon their public honor as keenly as 
 a wound, the life of the legislator can not be an honest one, 
 his calling an honorable calling. Honor is everything to most of 
 the men who serve in Westminster, and for honor alone do 
 they seek the place; their fortune puts them above the debas- 
 ing influence money exercises, there we hear nothing of the sin 
 so familiar to our own ears. 
 
 I am aware that it would be a grave injustice to the 
 people of a young country to place its representation and its 
 law-making power solely into the hands of those who could 
 afford to serve without salary ; for, at such a stage in a nation's 
 life, every Cincinnatus handles his own plough. But the 
 distribution of wealth is now wide enough to make the com- 
 pensation one of honor; and wherever honor is the sole 
 reward the best men only strives for the place. Admitting 
 even that the twenty New York aldermen who perpetrated, in 
 in the early morning, the foulest act known to municipal 
 history, were not needy, we must concede on the other hand 
 that they were the product of what is worst and dishonorable 
 in the wards; if a higher standard of representation had 
 obtained, candidatures as theirs would have been out of the 
 question. 
 
10 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 And now, I shall endeavor to briefly discuss the three 
 alternatives which the future holds for Canada : — 
 
 First — Federation with the Empire. 
 
 Second — Annexation to the United States, and 
 
 Third — The formation of an independent nationality. 
 
 Federation is a vast scheme ; nothing will so capture 
 and dazzle a small mind as an omnipotent question. I may 
 state, for the benefit of those who may have forgotten the fact, 
 that the first public man of note in Canada to advocate 
 Federation, was Sir Alexander Tilloch Gait ; — but, looking 
 over the files of old Canadian papers, I find that this same 
 gentleman was at one time the leader of a movement in 
 Montreal which sought to bring about annexation. But, such 
 as the idea is, I have to deny credit for its origination with Sir 
 Alexander, or for that matter with politicians. It was con- 
 ceived by Mr. Justin McCarthy, who deals in some very splendid 
 kite-flying in the closing portion of the history of Our Own 
 Times. But Mr. McCarthy derived the inspiration from 
 Tennyson, who, as everyone acquainted with Locksley Hall 
 knows, tells us of a time when the war drum shall throb no 
 longer, 
 
 " And the battle flags be furled, 
 In the parliament of man, the Federation of the World." 
 
 I wonder that somebody has not overtopped Lord Tenny- 
 son and taken in the moon. Sir John Macdonald, on account 
 of whom I have been blamed for having over-praised him in 
 my books, has latterly favored the idea; but Sir John is now 
 nearly seventy-two, and a medical friend of mine, Dr. Ferguson, 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce, it 
 
 informs me, upon his professional reputation, that atrophy of 
 the brain begins a little after fi*ty. Moreover, it must be 
 remembered what influence an extra decoration, if it takes 
 the form of a star or a pretty ribbon, has upon the understand- 
 ing of men. 
 
 What puzzles me is how men like Sir John and Sir 
 Alexander, so thorough in their examination of questions, and 
 so sound in judgment, should have failed to find three or four 
 objections to this project, any one of which is fatal. For 
 instance, the fundamental notion in the scheme is the equality 
 of the several portions of the Empire; but, if the existing 
 Imperial constitution were to be preserved, this would mean 
 colonial representation in the House of Lords as well as in the 
 Commons. Colonial soil does not produce, that I am aware, 
 peers of the realm; and the principle of entail and primogeni- 
 ture is lacking to propagate the dignity and the status of a 
 transplanted peerage. Imagine my grandson, the third Lord 
 Collins of Canada, exercising his noble energies in sweeping 
 chimneys ! 
 
 Then, as to our concern in affairs of the Empire. 
 
 ^n the prestige and the power of Great Britain, we all 
 glory, and the throbs of transport felt at the heart of the 
 motherland thrills the colonists to the finger tips; but for 
 all this we are not prepared to give our last man and our last 
 shilling, as Sir George said we were ; nor, for that matter, any 
 man or any shilling, in erecting scientific frontiers, in making 
 disastrous excursions through the Khyber pass, or shooting 
 blacks in Ashantee. The British tax-payer may be persuaded 
 that to bear the brunt of this class of undertaking is proper 
 
12 New Papers on Canadian History , 
 
 for him, because they maintain and augment the potencv of 
 the British name ; but the Canadian tax-payer does not want, 
 and will not bear, any share in such burdens. It would be 
 only folly to expect otherwise, and this feature of the question 
 is not worthy of further discussion. 
 
 Having disposed of these tv/o barriers, let us picture to 
 ourselves a contingent of representatives from Canada crossing 
 the seas to discuss at Westminster whether a projected 
 railrcid bridge in Ontario should cross Swan's Creek or Duck's 
 Puddle, and how much compensation deacon Estabrook's 
 widow should receive for the slaughter of her cow or her 
 husband by a government engine. Imagine the widow setting 
 out from her farm to cross the wintry ocean in order to establish 
 her claim before a listening England ! 
 
 / I suppose the question of divorce would be taken from 
 the fond hands of the Ottawa senators to the House of 
 Lords ; and what a glorious occupation it would be for the 
 Howards and the Stanleys to sit and hear the petition and the 
 evidence of Martha Smith, and decide whether, after all, it 
 was not best to turn the said Martha loose again into the 
 matrimonial market. 
 
 Some one, among those present, will probably say that the 
 Parliament of the Empire would have cognizance of only such 
 questions as treaties, but three or four treaties in a life-time 
 are about the number that past history has produced. 
 
 Let me repeat the fact that there is still a mightier question 
 behind all this ; it is found in the position that the heart of 
 the Empire would occupy in relation to its outskirts. I am 
 aware that our statesmen leave India out of the programme; 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. ij 
 
 but, at the risk of repeatin^j an old joke, I will aflFirm that this 
 is like leaving Hamlet out of the play. Yet, even in doinff 
 this, I can, without danger of incurring the self-reproach of 
 wildness, permit my imagination to travel to a time when the 
 population of Canada alone will exceed that of the Imperial 
 Island ; so, when the representatives of goodly Canada would 
 move into the house at Westminster, you would have the 
 spectacle which Dundreary has best described, that of the tail 
 waggling the dog. 
 
 Let those who smile remember that a federation on the 
 mighty plan suggested is not a compact made for the span of 
 a statesman's life, but a constitution fashioned to endure as 
 long as the power and the glory of the British Empire last. 
 
 For these reasons and for a score of other good ones, 
 I do not deem the scheme of federation to be either wise or 
 practicable. It is a splendid subject to talk about, and, after 
 all, it would be a pity to deny politicians the opportunity of 
 discussing something grand now and again. 
 
 The second alternative is Annexation, and upon this I shall 
 not waste many words. At the outset, allow me to remark 
 that I can conceive of little in national ambition higher than 
 a desire to form a portion of the mightiest Republic that the 
 world has ever seen ; but, with Canada, annexation would not 
 mean alliance, it would simply mean absorption. Canadian 
 individuality of course would cease, while the material condi- 
 tion of the people would not be improved. This, however, 
 is a question about which we can only vaguely surmise. But 
 1 think that those who, like ourselves, have had an opportunity 
 of comparing certain republican institutions with corresponding 
 
14 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 ■ 
 
 ones under English monarchy, can have no difficulty in giving 
 the preference to those of the latter. 
 
 I shall not dwell upon vhe spectacle of the ermine trailed 
 through the party mire and ' \olden to the bad men who pull 
 caucus wires, for I should h to speak with some bitterness. 
 I contend that the administ. on of justice in this country is 
 not, nor can it be held above suspicion ; for, it is not lik -'ly that 
 the judge upon the bench can ignore the men who gave him 
 his eminence ; he would be more than human if he were able 
 to forget those who can, at a stated time, give him that 
 eminence again. 
 
 Nor would I, without a struggle, surrender the mild, I 
 might say fictitious, kingly prerogative for that of the veto — 
 which may be as arbitrary and capricious as the dictum of a 
 Roman Emperor. If the veto is never arbitrary and never 
 capricious, the man is to be thanked and not the constitution. 
 ' It would be well too, for those who contemplate the 
 grandeur of a political brotherhood extending from the 
 Isthmus of Panama to the land of the Esquimaux, to ponder 
 whether or not there may not be somewhere a breaking point 
 in national expansion. 
 
 Lastly, I do not think that our political vocabulary would 
 gain much in elegancJe by the addition of such candidates as 
 the " Mugwump" and the " Bloody Shirt." 
 
 But, whether there be any force or not in my objections, I 
 think that I am not over bold in affirming that our people do 
 not desire annexation and never will accept it. 
 
 Finally comes the proposal of national independence. 
 
 At the risk of shocking some of my hearers, I will state as 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 75 
 
 my belief that national independence is the more natural and 
 logical future of Canada. I think it just as natural and just as 
 logical that, in good time, the Dominion should end its con- 
 nection with the cherished motherland, as it is for the boy, 
 attaining man's estate, to leave his father's house and, single- 
 handed, achieve his own fortune. But, come independence 
 when it may, there will be no reddening of the land and no 
 serious turmoil. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone stated his belief, less than three years ago, 
 that if Canadians were to inform the mother country of their 
 desire and readiness «:o stand alone. Great Britain would not 
 say " No." After all, it will not be necessary to kill my friend 
 Colonel Dennison or any of those U. E. Loyalists who carry 
 the integrity of Canada upon the blade of their sword. 
 
 To put in a plea for Canadian independence, of course 
 you are called upon to state the gains, and you are handed a 
 bill of costs. Upon the list of gains I shall put first what 
 some may count as nought, and that is sentiment : take 
 sentiment out of the breast of man and he becomes a sordid 
 grubber for his bread. 
 
 Independence would stimulate national ambition; it would 
 give Canada a status in the eyes of the world, and divert 
 immigration to her fertile lands. 
 
 Furthermore, it would give her the power to make and 
 fashion treaties in accord with her commercial needs, and 
 give her a place among nations. 
 
 Higher aims would prevail in the political sphere, and 
 as a consequence ambition would be more lofty. In a word, 
 it would give that for which some of the noblest men that ever 
 
1 6 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 lived, fought and bled and laid down their lives. I do not care 
 to deal in heroics, but if the position of the guardian be 
 higher than that oi the ward, I take it that the standing of the 
 independent state is superior to that of the dependent one. I 
 
 ■ .. do not see how there can be any dispute on this score. 
 
 Some will say: "Granted, but your independent Domi- 
 nion will be a mere weakling among nations." And others 
 may ask: "What can she do against hostile guns? What 
 is to hinder the Republic at her side from swallowing 
 her up?" I deny that she will be a weakling. Her population 
 is greater now, and her defenses are stronger than were those 
 of the American colonies at the time of their revolt. Her 
 population is greater than any one of nearly a dozen indepen- 
 dent European kingdoms, and she has a wider area of fertile 
 land than any country on the face of the earth. Alone, the 
 valley of the Saskatchewan, according to scientific computation, 
 is capable of sustaining 800,000,000 souls. And along these 
 boundless stretches of fertile wheat-land, herds and flocks live, 
 without housing, through the winter season. In short, the 
 
 v; capabilities of this country, about whose future the misinformed 
 have doubts, are so great that an adequate recital of them 
 would be simply amazing. 
 
 Let us now consider the dangers of an attack by hostile 
 powers. In spite of all what pessimists may say, this is an age of 
 peace and not of war ; nations are not growing more warlike but 
 more peaceful. We have reached at last the age of commerce, 
 and to-day the battle is that of the ploughshare anjj not of the 
 sabre. I do not think that we need fear to see any grapeshot 
 sent across the Niagara, for our good friends the Americans are 
 
Art, Science, LiLr attire, and Commerce. i"/ 
 
 quite too busy making money lO embark into such a profitless 
 occupation. They have given us abundant proof that war is 
 not upon their programme ; for they maintain no mighty fleet 
 nor grinding army, but only ships and muskets enough to serve 
 as a police force on land and sea. Moreover, they remember 
 that the Canadian volunteers knew how to fight as early as 1812, 
 and they have not forgotten some of the lessons we taught 
 them at Chrysler's farm, Chateauguay, and Queenston Heights. 
 
 Looking into the future, I perceive my country spanning 
 this broad continent, her bosom throbbing with life and great 
 plenty. Upon the pages of her history I can read the record of 
 her achievements, it is worthy of a land with so rich an 
 inheritance. I see her artists kneel for inspiration before her 
 majestic and lovely landscapes, while able pens are moulding 
 the traditions and legends with which the land is so richly 
 strewn into an imperishable literature, encompassing history, 
 romance and song. 
 
 Later on I imagine that I see a people — intelligent, thrifty 
 and well-ordered — who, with roll of drum and the joyous waving 
 of flags, celebrates the centennial anniversary of the birth of 
 Canada; and I hear statesmen alluding to this nineteenth year 
 of the Confederation, as the one which saw unworthy men 
 strive to sever the ties of the sisterhood. Later on still, it 
 seems as if I heard them relate with pride that in spite of these 
 men's treason, the loyalty and faith of the people remained 
 unshaken ; that they went on adding rnd building, striving and 
 achieving, until they crowned their work with a nationhood 
 that in the eyes of civilized mankind stood second to none in 
 prosperity, intelligence and general contentment. 
 
^■-« 
 
THE SCHISM IN THE ANGLO-SAXON RACE. 
 
 GOLD WIN SMITH, M 
 
 ( An 
 . A., D. C. L.\ 
 
 ( Ca 
 
 An Address delivered before the 
 inadian Club of New York, 
 
 N the strength of the Anglo-Saxon race, 
 
 — of which British institutions, now 
 
 adopted by every European nation 
 
 except Russia, the British Empire 
 
 in India, and the American Republic, 
 
 besides many a famous deed and 
 
 glorious enterprise, are the proofs, — 
 
 there lurks a weakness. It is the 
 
 weakness of self-reliance pushed to 
 
 an extreme, which breeds division and isolation. Races such 
 
 as the Celtic race, weaker in the individual, are sometimes 
 
 made by their clannish cohesiveness stronger in the mass. The 
 
MO New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 Celt seems to have lingered long in the clan state and to have 
 had his character permanently moulded by it, while the Anglo- 
 Saxon as a sea-rover came early out of that state and was trained 
 from the infancy of the race to self-government. In enterprise 
 and peril Anglo-Saxon will be the truest of comrades to Anglo- 
 Saxon. But except under strong compression they are apt to 
 fly apart. Even in travelling they hold aloof from each other. 
 They quarrel easily and do not easily forget. Their pride 
 perpetuates their estrangement. In their spleen and factious- 
 ness they take the part of outsiders against each other. It is 
 thus that the race is in danger of losing its crown. It is thus 
 that it is in danger of forfeiting the leadership of civiliza- 
 tion to inferior but more gregarious races, to the detriment of 
 civilization as well as to its own disparagement. The most 
 signal and disastrous instance of this weakness is the schism in 
 the race caused by the American Revolution with the long 
 estrangement that has followed, concerning which I am to 
 speak this evening. 
 
 You and I, gentlemen of the Canadian Club of New York ; 
 you, natives of Canada, and some of you perhaps descendants of 
 United Empire Loyalists domiciled in the United States; I, an 
 Englishman, holding a professorship of History in an American 
 University — represent the Anglo-Saxon race as it was before 
 the schism, as it will be when the schism is at an end. We 
 remind the race of the time when its magnificent realm in both 
 hemispheres was one, and teach it to look for the time when 
 that realm will be united again, not by a political bond, which 
 from the beginning was unnatural and undesirable, but by the 
 bond of the heart. While the cannon of the Fourth of July 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 21 
 
 are being fired, and the speeches are being made in honor of 
 American Independence, we, though we rejoice in the birth of 
 the American Republic, must toll the bell of mourning for the 
 schism in the Anglo-Saxon race. We must ask ourselves, and 
 so far as without offence we may exhort Americans to ask 
 themselves, what the quarrel was about, whether it was such a 
 quarrel as might reasonably breed, not only enmity for the time, 
 but undying hatred ; whether it ought not long before this to 
 have given place to kinder and nobler thoughts ; and whether 
 by cherishing it and treating it as a point of national pride the 
 Anglo-Saxon of the west does not disparage and traduce his 
 own greatness. 
 
 The relation of political dependence between an Anglo- 
 Saxon colony and its mother country was probably from the 
 beginning unsound, and being unsound it was always fraught 
 with the danger of a violent rupture. Perhaps it may be said 
 that nothing could have averted such a rupture except a 
 prescience which the wisest of statesmen seldom possess, or 
 the teaching of a sad experience such as has led England since 
 the American Revolution to concede to Canada and her other 
 colonies virtual independence. The Greek colonist took the 
 sacred fire from the altar hearth of the parent state and went 
 forth to found a greater Greece in perfect independence, owing 
 the parent state no political allegiance but only filial affection. 
 It might have been better if the Anglo-Saxon, fully the equal 
 of the Greek in colonizing faculty and power of political 
 organization, had done the same. In this way it was that 
 England herself had been founded. But the sentiment of 
 personal allegiance to the Sovereign in whose realm the emi- 
 
New Papers o?i Canadian History, 
 
 grant had been born was strong in all feudal communities. It 
 shows itself clearly in the covenant made on landing by the 
 emigrants of the Mayflower, nor had it by any means lost its 
 hold over the minds even of men who took part in the 
 American Revolution. In the period during wh'ch the col- 
 onies were founded this sentiment was universal. The colonies 
 of the United Netherlands were dependencies as well as those 
 of the Spanish, French, and British monarchies. They were 
 dependencies, and as such they were protected and supported 
 by the military power of the parent state. Had the British 
 colonies not been protected and supported by the arms of 
 England, would this continent have become the heritage of the 
 English-speaking race ? The English colonist was stronger no 
 doubt than the colonist of New France ; but was he stronger 
 than the colonist of New France backed by the French fleets 
 and armies? Might he not, instead of calling this vast and 
 peerless realm his own, have merely shared it with three or four 
 other races between whom and him there would have been a 
 balance of power, rivalry, war and all the evils from which 
 afflicted and over-burdened Europe sometimes dreams of escap- 
 ing by means of a European Federation? Might he not even 
 have entirely succumbed to the concentrated power of the 
 French monarchy, wielded by the strong hand and the towering 
 ambition of a Richelieu or a Louvois ? These are contingencies 
 unfulfilled, but unfulfilled perhaps because one memorable 
 morning, on the Heights of Abraham, a British army and a 
 British hero decided that Anglo-Saxon, not French, should be 
 the language ; that Anglo-Saxon, not French, should be the 
 polity and the laws of the New World. And when that day 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2j 
 
 was won there burst from the united heart of the whole race in 
 both hemispheres a cheer not only of triumph but of mutual 
 affection and of Anglo-Saxon patriotism which history still 
 hears amidst tht cannon of the Fourth of July. 
 
 Was the connection felt by the colonists to be generally 
 oppressive and odious, or was the cause of quarrel merely a 
 dispute on a particular point with the home government of the 
 day? In the first case it might be natural, if not reasonable or 
 noble, to cherish the feud ; in the second, it clearly would be 
 unnatural. That the connection was not felt to be oppressive 
 and odious, but, on the contrary, to the mass of the colonists 
 was dear and cherished, is a fact of which, if all the proofs were 
 produced, they would more than fill my allotted hour. Franklin 
 said, only a few days before Lexington, that he had more than 
 once travelled almost from one end of the continent to the 
 other, and kept a variety of company eating, drinking, and 
 conversing with them freely, and never had heard in any 
 conversation from any person, drunk or sober, the least expres- 
 sion of a wish for separation or hint that such a thing would be 
 advantageous to America. Jay said, that before the second 
 petition of Congress, in 1775, he never heard an American 
 of any class or of any description express a wish for the 
 independence of the colonies. Jefferson said, that before the 
 commencement of hostilities he had never heard a whisper of a 
 disposition to separate from Great Britain, and after that the 
 possibility was contemplated by all as an affliction. The Fairfax 
 County " Resolves " denounce as a malevolent falsehood the 
 notion breathed by the Minister into the ear of the King that 
 the colonies intended to set up for independent States. Wash- 
 
24 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 ington, on assuming the command, declared, in his reply to an 
 address from New York, that the object of the war was a 
 restoration of the connection on a just and constitutional 
 footing. Madison, at a later day, avowed that it had always 
 been his impression that a re-establishment of the colonial 
 relations to the parent country, as they were previous to the 
 controversy, was the real object of every class of the people till 
 the hope of obtaining it had fled. Dickinson was not more 
 opposed to arbitrary taxation than he was to separation, and 
 the fiery Otis might be called as a witness on the same side.* 
 Men there were no doubt, like Samuel Adams, republicans in 
 sentiment and devoted to political agitation, who from the 
 beginning aspired to independence and meant to bring about a 
 rupture ; but they found it necessary to cloak their designs, 
 and that necessity was the proof that the general sentiment 
 was in favor of the connection. 
 
 There is another proof of the same fact which is familiar 
 to every Canadian mind and of which Canada herself is the 
 lasting embodiment. It is found in the number and constancy 
 of the Loyalists whose annals have been written in a most 
 generous spirit by a representative of their enemies, Mr. 
 Sabine, and whose illustrious and touching heritage of mis- 
 fortune is still the light and pride of not a few Canadian 
 hearths in the land in which, by the insensate cruelty of the 
 victor, the vanquished were compelled to seek a home. There 
 seems reason to believe that fully one-half of the people, 
 including a fair share of intelligence, remained at least passively 
 
 * I owe most of these citations to Mr. Sabine. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2^ 
 
 loyal till the blundering arrogance and violence of the royal 
 officers estranged multitudes from the royal cause. Twenty-five 
 thousand Americans, as Sabine thinks, according to the lowest 
 computation, were in arms for the crown. To the end there 
 were whole batallions of them serving in the royal army. Sabine 
 says that Sir Guy Carleton sent away twelve thousand exiles 
 for loyalty's sake from New York before the evacuation. 
 Judge Jones, in the history the publication of which we owe to 
 the New York Historical Society, gives a much larger number. 
 Two thousand took their departure even from the shores of 
 Republican Massachusetts. When the Netherlands cast off the 
 yoke of Spain, when Italy cast off the yoke of Austria, how 
 many Dutchmen or Italians went into exile out of loyalty to 
 the oppressor ? 
 
 This was not like the revolt of the Netherlands or of Italy, 
 a rising against a foreign yoke : it was a civil war, which divided 
 England as well as the United States. The American party in 
 the British Parliament crippled the operations of the govern- 
 ment and upon the first reverses enforced peace. Otherwise 
 the loss of Cornwallis's little army would not have been the 
 end. The contest would have been carried on by Great Britain 
 with the same unyielding spirit which, after a struggle of 
 twenty years, overthrew Napoleon. 
 
 " It is the glory of England, " says Bancroft, " that the 
 rightfulness of the Stamp Act was in England itself the subject 
 of dispute. It could have been so nowhere else. The King 
 of France taxed the French colonies as a matter of course ; the 
 King of Spain collected a revenue by his will in Mexico and 
 Peru, in Cuba and Porto Rico, and wherever he ruled. The 
 
^^ New Papers on Canadian History y 
 
 States-General of the Netherlands had no constitutional scruples 
 about imposing duties on their outlying possessions. To 
 England exclusively belongs the honor that between her and 
 her colonies the question of right could arise ; it is still more to 
 her glory, as well as to her happiness and freedom, that in that 
 contest her success was not possible. Her principles, her 
 traditions, her liberty, forbade that arbitrary rule should 
 become her characteristic. The shaft aimed at her new colonial 
 policy was tipped with a feather from her own wing." The 
 reason why the colonies took arms, in short, was not that they 
 were worse treated by their mother country than other colonists 
 in those days^ but that they were better treated. They rebelled 
 not because they were enslaved, but because they were so free 
 that the slightest curtailment of freedom seemed to them 
 slavery. Whig and Tory, as Mr. Sabine says, wanted the same 
 thing. Both wanted the liberty which they had enjoyed ; but 
 the Whig required securities while the Tory did not. The 
 Tory might have said that he had the securities which 
 Bancroft himself has enumerated, those afforded by the tradi- 
 tions, the Constitution, the political spirit of England herself, 
 against any serious or permanent aggression on colonial liberty ; 
 and that while he possessed, in municipal self-government, in 
 jury trial, in freedom of conscience and of the press, in the 
 security of person and of private property, the substance of 
 freedom, he would exercise a little patience and try whether 
 the repeal of the Tea Duty could not be obtained before he 
 plunged the country into civil war. The Stamp Duty had been 
 repealed, and though at the s?me time the abstract right of 
 parliament to tax the colonies had been asserted, this had been 
 
Artt Science, Literature, and Commerce, 2j 
 
 done with the full concurrence of Burke, and manifestly by 
 way of saving the dignity of the Imperial legislature. The Tea 
 Duty, trifling in itself, was a mere freak of Townsend's tipsy 
 genius, to which the next turn in the war of parliamentary 
 parties might have put an end, if colonial violence had not 
 given a fatal advantage to the party of violence in the Imperial 
 government. Nor does it seem to have been clear from the 
 outset, even to the mind of Franklin, that the Imperial Parlia- 
 ment, had not the legal power of taxing the colonies, unwise 
 and unjust as the exercise of that power might be. It was the 
 only Parliament of the Empire, and in regard to taxation as well 
 as other matters, in it or nowhere was sovereign power. That it 
 had absolute power of legislation on general subjects, including 
 trade, was admitted on all hands ; and surely the distinction is 
 fine between the power of general legislation and a power of 
 passing a law requiring a tax to be paid. That there should 
 be no taxation without representation might be a sound 
 principle, but in the days of the unreformed Parliament it did 
 not prevail in the mother country herself. Ship-money, to 
 which the Tea Duty has been compared, was part of a great 
 scheme of arbitrary government. It was intended, together 
 with other devices of fiscal extortion, to supply the revenue for 
 an unparliamentary monarchy, the reactionary policy of which 
 in Church and State would, in Hampden's opinion, have 
 quenched not only the political freedom but the spiritual life 
 of the nation, and made England the counterpart and the 
 partner in reaction of France and Spain. Nothing like this 
 could be said of the Tea Duty. Bancroft acquits Grenville of 
 any design to introduce despotism into the colonies. Such a 
 
28 New Papers o?i Canadian History, 
 
 design could hardly have entered the mind of a Whig who was 
 doing his best to reduce to a nullity the power of the King. 
 What Grenville desired to introduce was contribution to 
 Imperial armaments, and he may at least be credited with the 
 statesmanship which regarded the colonies, not as a mere group 
 of detached settlements, but as an English Empire in the New 
 World. The King may have had absolutist notions with regard 
 to colonial as well as to home government, but the King was not 
 an autocrat. The bishops may have wished to introduce the 
 mitre, but the bishops were not masters of Parliament. Chatham 
 was more powerful than King or bishops, and had his sun 
 broken for an hour through the clouds which had gathered 
 round its setting, the policy of the home government towards 
 the colonies would at once have been changed. 
 
 The preamble of the Declaration of Independence sets forth 
 a series of acts of tyrannical violence committed by George III., 
 and it suggests that these were ordinary and characteristic 
 acts of the King's government. Had they been ordinary and 
 characteristic acts of the King's government they would have 
 justified rebellion ; but they were nothing of the kind. They 
 were measures of repression, ill-advised, precipitate and exces- 
 sive, but still measures of repression, not adopted before violent 
 resistance on the part of the colonists had commenced. No 
 government will suffer its officers to be outraged for obeying its 
 commands and their houses to be wrecked, or the property of 
 merchants trading under its flag to be thrown into the sea by 
 mobs. Jefferson, who penned the Declaration, is the object of 
 veneration to many, but his admirers will hardly pretend that he 
 never preferred effect to truth. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce, 2g 
 
 One count in Jefferson's draft of the Declaration he was 
 obliged to withdraw. In inflated, not to say fustian phrase, 
 and with extravagant unfairness, he charges George III., 
 who, though he had a narrow mind, had at least as good a heart 
 as Jefferson himself, with having been specially to blame for 
 the existence of slavery and of the slave trade. " He has 
 waged," it says, " cruel war against human nature, violating its 
 most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant 
 people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them 
 into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable 
 death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, 
 the opprobium of infidel powers, is the war of the Christian 
 King of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market 
 where men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his 
 negative for suppressing any legislative attempt to prohibit or 
 restrain this execrable commerce." This count, as we know, 
 was struck out in deference to the sentiments of patriots, heirs of 
 the spirit of Brutus and Cassius, who were perpetuating and were 
 resolved, if they could, to go on perpetuating the violation of 
 sacred rights and the piratical warfare laid to the charge of George 
 III. Not the least curious, surely, of historical documents is this 
 manifesto of a civil war levied to vindicate the sacred principle 
 that all men are born equal and with inalienable rights to 
 liberty and happiness, when we consider that not only was the 
 manifesto framed by a slave-owner and signed by slave-owners, 
 but the Constitution to which the victory of the principle in 
 the war gave birth embodied a fugitive-slave law and a legal- 
 ization of the slave trade for twenty years. A stranger 
 inducement surely never was held out to men to fight in the 
 
JO New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 cause of human freedom than that which was offered by 
 Virginia to volunteers, three hundred acres of land and one 
 sound and healthy negro. Equity compels us to admit that 
 the want of a thorough grasp of the principle of liberty was 
 not limited to the mind of George III. A Virginian planter 
 fought not for freedom, the love of which had never entered his 
 soul : he fought for his own proud immunity from control 
 and for the subjection to his will of all around him. His 
 haughtiness could hardly brook even association with the 
 mercantile and plebeian New Englander in military command. 
 Suppose the negro had taken arms in vindication of the prin- 
 ciple that all men were born equal and with an inalienable 
 right to liberty and happiness, his manifesto would have been 
 tainted by no fallacy like that which taints the Declaration of 
 Independence. The acts of tyranny and cruelty of which he 
 would have complained, the traffic in human flesh, the confis- 
 cation of the laborer's earnings, the chain and the lash, the 
 systematic degradation of the slave, and all the wrongs of 
 slavery, would have been not temporary measures of repression, 
 adopted by authority in self-defence ; they would have been 
 normal and characteristic of the system. 
 
 On Jefferson's principle of framing indictments against 
 governments what an indictment might the Loyalists again have 
 framed against the government of Independence ! " We have 
 adhered, " they might have said, " to a connection dear to all 
 of you but yesterday, to the allegiance in which we were born, 
 to a form of government which seems the best to us, and not 
 to us only, but to Hamilton and others of your leading men, 
 who avow that if Constitutional monarchy were here attainable 
 
Arty Science, Literature, and Commerce. ji 
 
 they would introduce it here. For this we have been ostra- 
 cized, insulted, outraged, tortured, pillaged, hunted down like 
 wild beasts. The amnesty which ought to close all civil wars 
 has been denied us ; some of us have been hanged before the 
 face of our departing friends ; and now we are stripped of all 
 our property and banished from our native land under threat 
 of death if we return. Even women, who cannot have borne 
 arms in the royal cause, if they have property, are included in 
 the proscription and in the sentence of death. The proscription 
 list shows, too, that membership of the Church of England is 
 practically treated as a crime ! " Surely these complaints would 
 have been not less pertinent than those of Jefferson against 
 George III. Atrocities had no doubt been committed by the 
 Loyalists, but, as Mr. Sabine says, they had been committed on 
 both sides. Conscientious error is no crime in politics any 
 more than in religion, though it is treated as a crime by 
 fanatical revolutionists as well as by inquisitors. 
 
 Supposing even the Loyalists could have foreseen the 
 present success of the American Republic, and with the success 
 the evils and dangers which disquiet thoughtful Americans, 
 would they have been very base or guilty in shrinking from 
 revolution? We are on the Pisgah of Democracy, but not 
 yet in the promised land. No one is in the promised land at 
 least, except Mr. Carnegie who, in his genial and jocund hymn of 
 triumph, pouring forth his joyous notes like a sky-lark of demo- 
 cracy poised over the caucus and the spoils system, ascribes it to 
 Democratic institutions that the Mississippi is as large as 
 twenty-seven Seines, nine Rhones, or eighty Tibers. The 
 Democracy which shall make government the organ of public 
 
^2 . New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 reason, and not of popular passion or of the demagogism which 
 trades upon it, is yet in the womb of the future. Canada exults 
 in having exchanged her royal governors for a government 
 which is called responsible, though nothing is less responsible 
 than a dominant party. In time, we trust, her exultation will 
 be justified ; but there is too much reason to doubt whether the 
 rule of an honorable and upright gentleman, trained not in the 
 vote-market but in the school of duty, such as General Simcoe 
 or Sir Guy Carleton, was not, politically as well as morally, 
 better for all but professional politicians, than a reign of faction, 
 demagogism and corruption. Forwards not backwards we must 
 look, forwards not backwards we must go. Yet history may 
 extend its charity to those who, when they were not smarting 
 under intolerable or hopeless oppression, shrank from passing 
 through a Red Sea of civil bloodshed to a Canaan which was 
 beyond their ken. 
 
 Besides the Tea Tax, no doubt, there were the restrictions 
 on trade. These were in reality a more serious grievance, and 
 probably they had at bottom at least as much to do with the 
 Revolution as the Tea Tax. But such were the economical creed 
 and the universal practice of the day. Chatham, the idol of the 
 colonists, it was who threatened that he would not allow them 
 to manufacture a horse-nail. The colonists themselves pro- 
 bably, though they groaned under restrictions, shared the 
 delusion as to the principle in pursuance of which the restric- 
 tions were imposed, and they enjoyed privileges granted on 
 the se -ne principle and equally irrational which were supposed 
 to be a compensation. The light of economical science had 
 then barely dawned. Even now the shadows of the restrictive 
 
Ari, Scmue, Literature, and Commerce. jj 
 
 policy linger in the valleys though the peaks have caught the 
 rays of morning. 
 
 There were Americans who desired a Republic. Samuel 
 Adams we can hardly doubt was one of them. Judge Jones 
 tells us that there was a Republican association at New York 
 with classical phrases and aspirations. The patriotism of 
 those days, the patriotism of Wilkes and Junius, was classical, 
 not religious, like that of Hampden and Cromwell. It affected 
 the Roman in everything, and was not unconnected with 
 Roman Punch. But had George III. offered his colonial 
 subjects a Republic, his offer would have been rejected by an 
 overwhelming majority. Jefferson was a Rousseauist and a 
 French revolutionist in advance. When Jacobinism came on 
 the scene his affinity to it appeared. He palliates, to say the 
 least, the September massacres and gives his admirers reason 
 for rejoicing that he was not a Parisian, since, if he had been, 
 he might have canted with Robespierre and murdered with 
 Billaud Varennes. " My own affections, " he says, " have been 
 deeply wounded by some of the martyrs to this cause, but 
 rather than it should have failed I would have seen the earth 
 desolated. Were there but an Adam and Eve kept in every 
 country and left free it would have been better than it now is." 
 So inestimable to this slave-holder appeared the boon of liberty, 
 even the liberty of a bedlam turned into a slaughter-house, 
 even the liberty which went yelling about the streets with the 
 head of a Farmer-General or the fragments of a Court lady's 
 body on a pole. Jefferson and his fellow Jacobins had not 
 learned what the Puritans of the English Revolution had learned, 
 that you cannot, merely by getting rid of kings, make the soul 
 
^4 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 worthy to be free. They had not learned that tyranny is the 
 offspring, not of monarchy, but of lawless passion in the 
 possessors of power, and that it can wear the Jacobin's cap-of- 
 liberty as well as the despot's crown. A true" brother of 
 Rousseau who preached domestic reform and sent his own 
 children to the foundling hospital, Jefferson declaimed against 
 slavery and kept his slaves. His theories may have been true 
 and his sentiments may have been beautiful, but the British 
 government could not have been reasonably expected to shape 
 its colonial policy so as to satisfy a Rousseauist and a 
 Jacobin. Hamilton, as I have said, avowed his belief that con- 
 stitutional monarchy was the best of all forms of government. 
 He thought the House of Lords an excellent institution. Mason 
 said that to refer the choice of a proper character for a chief- 
 magistrate to the people would be like referring a trial of 
 colors to a blind man. Betwen the sentiments of these men 
 and Jefferson's democracy the difference was as wide as 
 possible. It would have been difficult for poor George HI. to 
 satisfy them all. 
 
 It is unquestionably true that the conquest of French 
 Canada, by setting the British colonists free from the fear of 
 French aggression and rendering the protection of the mother 
 country no longer necessary to them, opened the door for their 
 revolt. But this, again, to say the least, is no proof that the 
 colonies had been oppressed by the mother country. Had she 
 left the French power on this continent unassailed in order that 
 it might bridle them, her councils might have been reasonably 
 .branded with Machiavelism and bad faith. 
 
 The ostensible cause of this civil war, of the schism in our 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 35 
 
 race and the violent rending of its realm, must be confessed, 
 I submit, to have been inadequate. In their hearts the people 
 felt it to be so, and their feeling showed itself, I cannot help 
 thinking, in the languid prosecution of the war on the revolu- 
 tionary side. States fail to send their contingents or their 
 contributions, the armies are always melting away, brave men 
 leave the camp on the eve of battle, the Federal cause is served 
 without enthusiasm ; only the local resistance, where the people 
 were fighting for their homes as well as on their own ground, is 
 really strong. Better materials for soldiers never existed, and 
 the colonies must have set out with many thousands of men 
 trained in colonial or Indian wars. The royal armies were about 
 the worst ever sent out from England, and every possible 
 blunder, both military and moral, was committed by the royal 
 generals, who allowed advantages to slip from their hands which 
 Wolfe or Clive would certainly have made fatal while they 
 estranged multitudes of waverers who were inclined to return to 
 their allegiance. Yet Washington's last words before the 
 arrival of succor from France are the utterance of blank 
 despair. " Be assured, " he writes to Laurens, the agent in 
 France, in April, 1771, " that day does not follow night more 
 certainly than it brings with it some additional proof of the 
 impracticability of carrying on the war without the aid you were 
 directed to solicit." 
 
 Nor is it only of want of zeal and vigor that Wash- 
 ington and those who shared his responsibility complain ; 
 they complain, and complain most bitterly, of self-seeking, 
 of knavery, of corruption, of monopoly and regrating, 
 heartlessly practised in the direst season of public need, of 
 
j6 New Papers on Canadian History , 
 
 murderers of the cause who were building their greatness on 
 their country's ruin. They complain that stock-jobbing, pecu- 
 lation, and an insatiable thirst for riches, have got the better 
 of every other consideration in almost every order of men, and 
 that there is a general decay both of public and of private 
 virtue. In order that contractors may fatten, armies go unfed 
 and unclothed, tracing the line of their winter march with 
 blood from their shoeless feet. Congress pays its debts with 
 paper which it tries, like the French Jacobins, to force into 
 circulation by penal enactment, and which, like the French 
 assignats, opens an abyss of robbery, breach of contract and 
 gambling speculation, an abyss so foul that Tom Paine himself 
 afterwards proposed that whoever suggested a return to paper 
 money should be punished with death. Washington's indig- 
 nant hand lifts a corner of the veil of secrecy which covered 
 the proceedings of Congress and the life of its members at 
 Philadelphia. There was at least as much public spirit among 
 these people as there was among any other people in the 
 world. But the cause had not been sufficient to call it forth. 
 As soon as the tar barrels of revolutionary excitement had burned 
 out, the enthusiasm of the Sons of Liberty failed. The insur- 
 gents of the Netherlands, when they struggled onwards through 
 wave after wave of blood to independence, had behind them 
 the hell of Spanish rule. The American insurgents had behind 
 them no hell, but a connection in which they had enjoyed the 
 substantial benefits of freedom ; and, after tasting civil war, 
 most of them probably wished that things could only be as they 
 had been before. 
 
 The relation between a dependent colony and the imperial 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. jy 
 
 country, I repeat, was probably from the beginning false. At 
 all events separation was inevitable ; it was impossible that the 
 Anglo-Saxon realm in both hemispheres should remain forever 
 under one government, when the hour of political maturity for 
 the colonies had arrived, especially as there was a certain 
 difference of political character between the Anglo-Saxon of 
 the old country and the Colonist which prevented the same 
 policy from being equally suitable to both. What is to 
 be deplored, if any foresight or statesmanship could have 
 prevented it, is the violent rupture. What was to be 
 desired, if human wisdom with the lights which men then 
 possessed could have achieved it, was that the two poitions of 
 our race should have divided its realm in peace. Shelburne 
 and Pitt seem to have wished and tried, when the struggle was 
 over, to get back into something like an amicable partition of 
 the Empire. Among other happy effects of such a settlement 
 the fisheries' dispute would have been avoided. But the wound 
 wns too deep and too fresh. Shelburne and Pitt failed, and 
 tho two great Anglo-Saxon realms became absolutely foreign 
 countries — unhappily, they became for many a day worse than 
 foreign countries — to each other. Suppose, however, that not 
 only the separation but the rupture was inevitable ; because the 
 inevitable came to pass, were the two branches of the race to 
 be enemies forever ? 
 
 Let the Fourth of July orator ask himself what were the 
 consequences to England, to America, to the French monarchy, 
 which, out of enmity to England, lent its aid to American revo- 
 lution, and to mankind. To England the consequences were 
 loss of money, which she could pretty well afford, and of 
 
jS Neiu Papers on Canadian History ^ 
 
 prestige which she soon repaired. The Count de Grasse, as the 
 monument at Yorktovvn records, feceived the surrender of 
 CornwalHs who, hemmed in by three or four times his effective 
 number, could get no fair battle and was taken like a wounded 
 lion pent up in his lair. But Rodney who did get fair battle 
 did not surrender to the Count de Grasse. Spain, too, must 
 needs interfere in the Anglo-Saxon quarrel ; but on the blood- 
 stained and flame-lighted waters of Gibraltar sank the last 
 armament of Spain ; and the day was not far distant when she 
 was to invoke the aid of England as a redeemer from French 
 conquest. England went into the fight with Napoleon, for the 
 independence of Europe, as powerful and indomitable as 
 she had gone into the fight with Philip II. or with Louis 
 XIV. Her great loss was that of the political enlighten- 
 ment which she might have received from an experiment in 
 democracy tried by a kindred people at her side, while her 
 politics have perhaps been somewhat deflected from the right 
 line of development by the repellant influence of galling 
 memories and of friction with an unfriendly Republic. The 
 colonies having been the scene of war must have lost more 
 men and money than England, besides the banishment, when 
 the war had closed, of no small number of their citizens. This 
 loss they soon repaired, but they also lost their history and that 
 connection with the experiences and the grandeurs of the past 
 which at once steadies and exalts a nation. What was worse 
 than this, the Republic was launched with a revolutionary bias 
 which was the last thing that it needed. At the same time 
 there was engendered a belief in the right of rebellion and in 
 the duty of sympathizing with it on all occasions, which was 
 
Artt Science, Literature, and Commerce. jg 
 
 destined to bear bitter fruit at last. The rebellion of the South 
 in i86i was manifestly inspired by sentiments nursed and 
 consecrated by the Revolution. I remember seeing some words 
 of Abraham Lincoln, in his earlier days, on the right of 
 rebelling as often as people were dissatisfied with their govern- 
 ment, which it seemed to me would have justified Southern 
 secession. 
 
 Another consequence was the schis'n of the race on 
 this continent, issuing in the foundation of a separate and 
 hostile Canada, which, in the course of a few years, was to 
 encounter the Revolutionary colonies in arms and to defend 
 itself against them with at least as much energy and as much 
 success as they had defended themselves against England. 
 British emigration, moreover, was diverted from America to 
 Australia ; Anglo-Saxon cities which might have grown up here 
 grew up on the other side of the globe ; and the Anglo-Saxon 
 element on this continent, in which the tradition and faculty of 
 self-government reside, was thus deprived of a re-inforcement the 
 loss of which is felt when that element has to grapple with a 
 vast influx of foreign emigration untrained in self-government. 
 
 To the French monarchy the consequence was bankruptcy, 
 which drew with it utter ruin, and sent the King to the 
 scaffold, and Lafayette to an Austrian prison. To humanity 
 the consequence was the French Revolution, brought on by 
 the bankruptcy of the French monarchy and by the spirit of 
 violent insurrection transmitted from America to France. Of 
 all the calamities which have ever befallen the human race the 
 French Revolution, as it seems to me, is the greatest. If any one 
 is startled by that assertion let him review the history of the 
 
40 - ■ New Papers on Canadian History, ■ . 
 
 preceding half century, see what progress enlightenment had 
 made, and to what an extent liberal and humane principles had 
 gained a hold upon the governments ci Europe. Let him 
 consider how much had been done or was about to be done in 
 the way of reform by Turgot, Pombal, Aranda, Tanucci, 
 Leopold of Tuscany, Joseph of Austria, Frederic, Catherine, 
 and Pitt. The American Revolution brought the peaceful 
 march of progress to a violent crisis. Then followed the 
 catastrophe in France, the Reign of Terror, the military 
 despotism of Napoleon, the Napoleonic wars, desolating half 
 the world and lending ten-fold intensity to the barbarous lust 
 of bloodshed, the despotic reaction of 1815, another series of 
 violent revolutions, another military despotism in France, 
 with more wars in its train ; and, on the other hand. Communism, 
 Intransigentism, and all the fell brood of revolutionar}' chi- 
 meras to which Jacobinism gave birth, and which, imported 
 into this continent by political exiles, are beginning to breed 
 serious trouble even here. Separation, once more, was inevi- 
 table; but. if it could only have been peaceful what a page of 
 calamity, crime, and horror, would have been torn from the 
 book of fate ! ■ ; 
 
 Then came the disastrous and almost insane war of 1812, 
 an after-clap of the war of the Revolution. So far as that war 
 was on the American side a war for the freedom of the seas it 
 was righteous. Nobody can defend the Orders in Council, or 
 the conduct of the British government, and the only excuse is 
 that Great Britain was then in the agony of a desperate strug- 
 gle, not for her own independence only, but for the indepen- 
 dence of all nations. So far as it was a war of anti-British 
 
Ari, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 41 
 
 feeling and of sympathy with Jacobinism, as to a great extent 
 it was, the protest of Webster and New England, it appears to 
 me, may be sustained. That strife over and its bitterness 
 somewhat allayed, there came disputes respecting the bounda- 
 ries of Canada and at the same time bickerings about the 
 slave trade, which England was laboring with perfect sincerity 
 to put down. Later still came the quarrel bred by the 
 sympathy of a party in England with Southern secession. I 
 saw something of that controversy in my own country, stand- 
 ing by the side of John Bright against the dismemberment of 
 the great Anglo-Saxon community of the West, as I now stand 
 by the side of John Bright against the dismemberment of the 
 great Anglo-Saxon community of the East. The aristocracy of 
 England as a class was naturally on the side of the Planter 
 aristocracy of the South, as the Planter aristocracy of the South 
 would, in a like case, have been on the side of the aristocracy 
 of England. The mass of the nation was on the side of freedom, 
 and its attitude effectually prevented not only the success but 
 the initiation of any movement in Parliament for the support or 
 recognition of the South. If some who were not aristocrats or 
 Tories failed to understand the issue between the North and the 
 South, and were thus misguided in the bestowal of their sym- 
 pathies, let it in equity be remembered that Congress, when the 
 gulf oi disunion yawned before it, had shown itself ready not 
 only to compromise with slavery, but to give slavery further 
 securities, if, by so doing, it could preserve the Union. Not a few 
 friends of the Republic in England stifled their sympathy because 
 they deemed the contest hopeless and thought that to encourage 
 perseverance in it was to lure the Republic to her ruin. When 
 
New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 Mr. Gladstone proclaimed that the cause of disunion had 
 triumphed and that Jeff. Davis had made the South a nation, 
 some there were who echoed his words with delight ; not a few 
 there were who echoed them in despair. I first visited 
 America during the civil war, when the Alabama controversy 
 was raging in its full virulence. Even then I was able to write 
 to my friends in England that, angry as the Americans were, 
 and bitter as were their utterances against us, a feeling towards 
 the old country, which was not bitterness, still had its place in 
 their hearts ; and it seems not chimerical to hope that the feel- 
 ing which was thus shown to be the most deeply seated will in 
 the end entirely prevail. In England, already, a display of the 
 American flag excites none but kindly feelings, and the time 
 must surely come when a display of the flag which American 
 and British hands together planted on the captured ramparts of 
 Louisburg will excite none but kindly feelings here. 
 
 The political feud between the two branches of the race 
 would now I suppose be nearly at an end, if it were not for the 
 Irish, or rather for the Irish vote. I am not going into the 
 question of Home Rule, or as it would more properly be 
 called, the question of Celtic secession. But I wish to impress 
 upon my hearers one fact, which, unless it can be denied or its 
 plain significance can be rebutted, is decisive, as it seems to me, 
 of the Irish question. The north of Ireland is not more 
 favored by nature than other parts ; its laws, its institutions, 
 its connection with Great Britain under the Union, are pre- 
 cisely the same as those of the other provinces ; the only dif- 
 ference is that, having been settled by the Scotch, it is mainly 
 Anglo-Saxon and Protestant, while the rest of the Island is 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. ^j 
 
 Celtic and Catholic ; and the north is prosperous, contented, 
 law-abiding and loyal to the Union. This fact, 1 say, appears 
 to me decisive, nor have I ever seen an attempt on the part of 
 secessionists to deal with it or rebut the inference. To extend 
 Anglo-Saxon constitutionalism and legality to the clannish and 
 lawless Celt, who after the Anglo-Saxon settlement in England 
 still had his abode in Cornwall, Wales, the Highlands of Scot- 
 land, and Ireland has been a hard and tedious task. Cornwall 
 was Anglo-Saxonized early, though traces of the Celtic temper 
 in politics still remain. Wales was Anglo-Saxonized later by 
 Edward the First, and the Kings his successors, who perfected 
 his work. The Highlands of Scotland were not Anglo-Saxon- 
 ized till 1745, when the last rising of the Clans for the Pre- 
 tender was put down, and law, order, settled industry, and the 
 Presbyterian Church penetrated the Highland glens with the 
 standards of the United Kingdom. The struggle to make the 
 Celtic clans of Ireland an integral and harmonious part of the 
 Anglo-Saxon realm, carried on from age to age amidst un- 
 toward and baffling influences of all kinds, especially those of 
 the religious wars of the Reformation, form one of the most 
 disastrous and the saddest episodes of history ; though it must 
 be remembered that struggles not unlike this have been going 
 on in other parts of Europe where national unification was in 
 progress, without receiving so much critical attention or making 
 so much noise in the world. One great man was for a moment 
 on the point of accomplishing the work and stanching forever 
 the source of tears and blood. That Cromwell intended to ex- 
 tirpate the Irish people is a preposterous calumny. To no 
 man was extirpation less congenial ; but he did intend to make 
 
44 New Papers on Caradian History, 
 
 an end of Irishry, with its clannishness, lawlessness, supersti- 
 tion, and thriftlessness, and to introduce the order, legality, 
 and settled industry of the Anglo-Saxon in its place. To use 
 his own expression he meant to make Ireland another England, 
 as prosperous, peaceful, and contented. It is impossible that 
 British statesmen can allow a separate realm of Celtic lawless- 
 ness to be set up in the midst of the Anglo-Saxon realm of 
 law ; if they did, the consequence would be civil war, murder- 
 ous as before, between the two races and religions in Ireland, 
 then reconquest and a renewal of the whole cycle of disasters. 
 Nor can any government suffer the lives, property, and indus- 
 try of its law-abiding citizens to be at the mercy of a murderous 
 conspiracy, or permit terrorism to usurp the place of the law. 
 Butchering men before the faces of their wives and families, 
 beating out a boy's brains in his mother's presence, setting fire 
 to houses in which men are sleeping, shooting or pitch-capping 
 women, boycotting a woman in travail from medical aid, mob- 
 bing the widow as she returns from viewing the body of her mur- 
 dered husband, driving from their calling all who will not obey 
 the command of the village tyrant, mutilating dumb animals 
 and cutting off the udders of cows, blowing up with dynamite 
 public edifices in which a crowd of innocent sightseers of all 
 ages and both sexes are gathered — these ore not things which 
 civilization reckons as liberties. They are not things by which 
 any practical reform can be effected, by which any good cause 
 can be advanced. America has seen something of Celtic law- 
 lessness as well as Great Britain, and more Irish probably were 
 put to death at the time of the draft riots in this city than 
 have suffered under all those special acts for the prevention of 
 
Ai'i, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 4^ 
 
 crime in In;land, miscalled coercion acts, the verj^ number and 
 frequent renewal of which only show that the British govern- 
 ment is always trying to return to the ordinary course of law. 
 Americans do not allow conspiracy to usurp the place of legal 
 authority, or one man to deprive anothei of his livelihood by 
 boycotting at his will ; nor do I suppose that holders of real 
 estate in New York regard with philanthropic complacency 
 the proposal to repudiate rents. When the other European 
 governments find it necessary to put forth their force in order 
 to oppose disturbance, when Austria proclaims a state of 
 siege, or Germany resorts to strong measures in Posen and 
 Alsace-Lorraine, no cry of indignation is heard ; when Italy 
 sends her troops to restore order and crush an agrarian league 
 which is dominating by assassination and outrage like that of 
 Ireland, no American legislatures pass resolutions denouncing 
 the Italian government and expressing sympathy with the 
 Camorra. It seems to be believed that Ireland is governed as 
 a dependency by a British Viceroy with despotic power, who 
 oppresses the people at his pleasure or at the pleasure of 
 tyrannical England. I doubt whether many Americans are dis- 
 tinctly conscious of the fact that Ireland like Scotland has her 
 full representation in the United Parliament, and if her mem- 
 bers would act like those from Scotland, might obtain any 
 practical reform which she desired. The Lord-Lieutenant has 
 been compared to an Austrian satrapy in Italy. An Austrian 
 satrapy, with a full representation of the people in Parlia- 
 ment, a responsible executive, trial by jury, habeas corpus, and 
 a free press ! It happens that thirty years ago the British 
 House of Commons voted by an overwhelming majority the 
 
/f.6 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 abolition of the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland, but the bill was 
 dropped, as Lord St. Germain, the Lord-Lieutenant of that 
 day formally announced, in deference to the expressed wishes 
 of the Irish people. ;,.;;;.: V' '• 
 
 I do not blame Americans for misjudging us; the au- 
 thority by which they are misled is apparently the highest. 
 But they too know what faction is, and that in its evil parox- 
 ysms it is capable not only of betraying but of traducing the 
 country. Americans will presently see that the dynamite of 
 Herr Most and that of Rossa is the same ; that the seeds of 
 disorder and contempt for law scattered in Ireland will spring 
 up here ; that war between property and plundering anarchy 
 impends in this as well as in other countries, and that you can- 
 not strengthen the hands of anarchy in one country without 
 strengthening them in all. Openly, and under its own banner, 
 anarchism is making formidable attempts to grasp the govern- 
 ment of American cities. It is not only your neighbor's house 
 that is on fire and the flames of which you are fanning, it is 
 your own. Nor ought Americans to forget that they have re- 
 cently themselves set us an illustrious example. By them 
 Englishmen have been taught resolutely to maintain the integ- 
 rity of the nation, even though it be at the cost of the most 
 tremendous of civil wars. 
 
 But then there is the social friction. At the time of 
 the Revolution one ultra-classical patriot proposed that the 
 language of the new Republic should be Latin, forgetting that 
 Latin was the language of Nero and his slaves as well as of the 
 Gracchi. I sometimes almost wish that his suggestion had 
 been adopted, so that the two branches of our race might not 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 47 
 
 have had a common tongue to convey their carpings, scoflfings, 
 and gibings to each other. English travellers come scurrying 
 over the United States with notions gathered from Martin 
 Chuzzlewit, seeing only the cities, where all that is least 
 American and least worthy is apt to be gathered, not the farms 
 and villages, in which largely reside the pith, force, and virtue 
 of the nation ; ignorant of the modes of living and travelling, 
 running their heads against social custom, carrying about their 
 own bath-tubs, and dressing as though they were among 
 hunter tribes. Then they go home and write magazine articles 
 about American society and life, Americans go to England 
 full of Republican prejudice and sensitiveness, with minds made 
 up to seeing nothing but tyranny or servility on all sides, — 
 ignorant, they also, of the ways of the society in which they 
 find themselves, construing every oversight and every word 
 that they do not understand as a studied insult not only to 
 themselves but to their Republic. I was reading the other day 
 a book on British Aristocracy by a distinguished American, 
 the lion's provider to one still more distinguished. He was so 
 far free from prejudice as to admit that English judges did not 
 often take bribes. But, in English society, he found a repulsive 
 mass of aristocratic insolence on one side and of abject flunky- 
 ism on the other. The position of the men of intellect, the 
 Tennysons, Brownings, Thackerays, Macaulays, Darwins, Hux- 
 leys, and Tyndalls he found to be that of the Russian serf, who 
 holds the heads of his master's horses while his master flogs 
 him. He represents the leaders of English society as going 
 upon their knees for admission to his parties, which ought to 
 have mollified him, but did not. It seems that when he was 
 
^8 New Papers on Canadian History y 
 
 in England there was only one high-minded gentleman there, 
 and even that one was in the habit of traducing the hospitality 
 which he enjoyed. If people despise aristocracy as much as 
 they say they do, would they be likely to talk quite so much 
 about it ? So far from the British people being the most 
 abject slaves of aristocracy, they are the one nation in Europe 
 which would never tolerate the existence of a noblesse and 
 always insisted on the equality of high-born and low-born 
 before the law. Aristocracy has survived in England for the 
 very reason that there alone its privileges were closely curtailed 
 and its arrogance was jealously repressed. In England, as in 
 other countries, aristocracy as a political power is about to pass 
 away, and there will be other and more rational guarantees of 
 order and stability for the future. But I do not believe that 
 the British aristocracy is worse than other rich and idle classes ; 
 I do not believe it is worse than the idle sons of millionaires in 
 New York. It has at least some semblance of duties to 
 perform. All its sins are committed under an electric light and 
 telegraphed to a prurient world, which by its very craving for 
 aristocratic scandal shows that it has a flunky's heart. As to 
 the pomps and vanities of life they seem to me to be pretty 
 much the same on both sides of the Atlantic. Assured rank, 
 indeed, is less given to display than new born wealth. Surely 
 all our studies of the philosophy of history and social evolution 
 have not been utterly in vain. We ought to know by this time 
 that in a land old in story and full of the traditions and 
 relics of the past, beneath the shadow of ancient cathedrals, 
 gray church towers, legendary mansions and immemorial oaks,— 
 a land, of which the trim and finished loveliness bespeaks 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 4g 
 
 fourteen centuries of culture, — the structure of society cannot 
 be the same that it is in this New World. We ought to have 
 philosophy enough to admit that a structure of society 
 different from ours may have graces, perhaps even virtues, of 
 its own. The old cannot at a bound become as the new, nor 
 would it be better for us if it could. Americanize the planet, 
 and you will retard not quicken the march of civilization, 
 which, to propel it, requires diversity and emulation. England 
 may be politically behind America, and have lessons to learn 
 from America which she will learn the more readily the more 
 kindly they are imparted. But she is not a land of tyrants and 
 slaves. Her monarchy does not cost the people more than 
 Presidential elections. Good Mr. Carnegie, who deems it the 
 special boon of Democracy that he is perfectly the equal of 
 every other man, is no more politically the equal of a Boss than 
 I am of a Duke. One liberty England possesses, unless my 
 patriotism misleads e, in a degree peculiar to herself, and 
 perhaps it is of ah oerties the most vital and the most 
 precious. During this Irish controversy, terribly momentous 
 and exasperating as it is to us, Irish Nationalists and American 
 sympathizers with Irish nationalism, have been allowed freely 
 to express their opinions even in language far from courteous 
 to Englishmen through all the magazines and organs of the 
 English press. The English press is under the censorship 
 neither of kings, nor of th _• mob. Perhaps the censorship of 
 the mob is not less inimical to the free expression of truth, less 
 narrowing or less degrading than that of kings. 
 
 The literary men of America, whose influence on sentiment 
 must be great, are apt to be somewhat anglophobic. They 
 
^o New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 have reason to feel galled by the unfair competition to which 
 the absence of international copyright subjects them. I was 
 reading, not long ago, an American book of travel in Italy, very 
 pleasant, except that on every other page there was an angry 
 thrust at England, where the writer told us he would be very 
 sorry to live, though it did not appear that the presumptuous 
 Britons were pressing that hateful domicile upon him. Then, 
 after harping on English grossness, brutality, and barbarism, he 
 goes to worship at the shrines of Byron, Keats, and Shelley ; as 
 though the poetry of Byron, Keats, and Shelley were anything 
 but the flower of that plant, the root and stem of which are so 
 coarse and vile. A Confederate flag is descried, floating 
 probably over the home of some exile, on the Lake of Como. 
 The writer is transported with patriotic wrath ac the sight. 
 Two Englishmen on board the steamer, as he tells us, grin ; and 
 he takes it for granted that their grinning is an expression of 
 their British malignity ; yet, surely, it may have been only a 
 smile at his emotion, at which the reader, though innocent of 
 British malignity, cannot possibly help smiling. " Heaven 
 knows," a character is made to say in an American novel now in 
 vogue, " I do not love the English. I was a youngster in our 
 great war, but the iron entered into my soul when I understood 
 their course towards us and when a gallant young sailor from 
 our town, serving on the Kearsage in her fight with \.\\^ Alabama 
 (that British vessel under Confederate colors) was wounded 
 by a shot cast in a British arsenal, and fired from a British 
 cannon by a British seaman from the Royal Naval Reserve 
 transferred from the training-ship Excellent^ The writer shows 
 that by the very way in which he strives to color the facts that 
 
Art, Science, Literahire, and Commerce. 5/ 
 
 he knows the charge here levelled against the British govern- 
 ment and nation to be unjust ; and art ill fulfills her mission 
 when she propagates false history for the purpose of keeping 
 up ill-will between nations. 
 
 The soldiers, by whom it might be supposed that the 
 traditions of hostility would be specially preserved and cherished, 
 I have usually found not bitter ; but soldiers seldom are. 
 
 When Mr, Ingalls, or Mr. Fry, pours out his vocabulary 
 upon England and upon us who rejoice in the name of English- 
 men, I want to ask them, whether Ingalls and Fry are not 
 English names. These gentlemen must have very bad blood 
 in their own veins. Their education too must have been poor, 
 if it is on English literature that their minds have been fed. 
 The character of races, though perhaps not indelible, is lasting. 
 It passes almost unchanged through zone after zone of 
 history. The Frenchman is still the Gaul ; the Spaniard is 
 still the Iberian. Abraham still lives in the Arab tent. Yet 
 we are asked by American anglophobists to believe that of two 
 branches of the same race, which have been parted only for a 
 single century, and have all that time been under the influence 
 of the same literature and similar institutions, one is a mass 
 of brutality and infamy, while the other is unapproachable 
 perfection. 
 
 There has no doubt been a certain division, both of char- 
 acter and of achievement, between the Anglo-Saxon of the old 
 country and the Anglo-Saxon of the New World. The Anglo- 
 Saxon of the New World has organized Democracy, with the 
 problems of which, after the Revolution, he was distinctly 
 brought face to face ; whereas the Anglo-Saxon of the old 
 
§2 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 country, having glided into Democracy unawares, while he 
 fancied himself still under a monarchy because he retained 
 monarchical forms, is now turning to his brother of the New 
 World for lessons in Democratic organization. With the 
 Anglo-Saxon of the old country has necessarily hitherto 
 remained the leadership of literature and science, which the 
 race has known how to combine in full measure with political 
 greatness. With the Anglo-Saxon of the old country have 
 also remained the spirit of Elizabethan adventure and the 
 faculty of conquering and of organizing conquest. Surely, in the 
 British Empire in India, no Anglo-Saxon can fail to see at all 
 events a splendid proof of the valor, the energy, the fortitude, 
 and the governing-power of his race. Remember how small is 
 the number of the Anglo-Saxons who rule those two hundred 
 and fifty millions. Remember that since the establishment of 
 British rule there has never been anything worthy the name of 
 a political revolt, that at the time of the great mutiny all the 
 native princes remained faithful, that when Russia threatened 
 war the other day one of them came zealously forward with 
 offers of contributing to the defence of the Empire. Remember 
 that the Sikhs, with whom yesterday England was fighting 
 desperately for ascendancy, are now her best soldiers, while 
 their land is her most flourishing and loyal province. Yet we 
 are told that the Anglo-Saxon can never get on with other 
 races ! It is not on force alone that the British Empire in 
 India is founded ; the force is totally inadequate to produce 
 the moral and political effects. The certainty that strict faith 
 will always be kept by the government is the talisman which 
 makes Sepoy and Rajah alike loyal and true. In an American 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. §j 
 
 magazine, the other day, appeared a rabid invective against 
 British rule by one of those cultivated Hindoos, Baboos as they 
 are called, who owe their very existence to the peace of the 
 Empire, and if its protection were withdrawn would be crushed 
 like egg-shells amidst the wild collision of hostile races and 
 creeds which would ensue. The best answer to the Baboo's 
 accusations is the freedom of invective which he enjoys, and 
 which is equally enjoyed by the native press of India. What 
 other conqueror could ever afTord to allow perfect liberty of 
 complaint, and not only of complaint but of denunciation to 
 the conquered ? We, gentlemen of the Canadian Club of New 
 York, heirs not of the feuds of our race, but of its glorious 
 history, its high traditions, its famous names, can look with 
 equal pride on all that it has done, whether in the Old World 
 or in the New, from New York to Delhi, from Winnipeg or 
 Toronto to Sidney or Melbourne, and rejoice in the thought 
 that though the roll of England's drum may no longer go with 
 morning around the world, and though the sun may set on 
 England's military empire, morning in its course round the 
 world will forever be greeted in the Anglo-Saxon tongue and 
 the sun will never set on Anglo-Saxon greatness. 
 
 And if in the breast of any American envy is awakened by 
 the imperial grandeur of his kinsmen in the Old World, 
 perhaps there is a thought which may allay his pain. Power 
 in England is passing out of the hands of the imperial classes, 
 and those which gave birth to the heroic adventurers, into those 
 of classes which, whatever may be their other qualities, are 
 neither imperial nor heroic. It seems to be the grand aim of 
 statesmen, by protective tariffs and ecocomical legislation of 
 
^4 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 all kinds, to call into existence factory-life on as large a scale 
 as possible, as though this were one thing needed to make 
 communities prosperous and happy. Wealth, no doubt, the 
 factory-hand produces, and possibly he may prove hereafter to 
 be good material for the community and the Parliament of 
 Man, but he is about the worst of all material for the nation. 
 He is apt to be a citizen of the labor market and to have those 
 socialistic or half-socialistic tendencies with which patriotism 
 cannot dwell. England has been inordinately enrich^-d by the 
 vast development of her manufactures. But for her force, 
 perhaps even for her happiness, it would be better if Yorkshire 
 streams still ran unpolluted to the sea and beside them dwelt 
 English hearts. It seems at all events scarcely possible that 
 such an electorate should continue to hold and administer the 
 Indian Empire. . , : -, . ;, 
 
 Some day we may be sure the schism in the Anglo-Saxon 
 race will come to a end. Intercourse and intermarriage, which 
 are every day increasing ; the kindly words and acts of the 
 wiser and better men on both sides; the influence of a common 
 literature and the exchange of international courtesies and 
 good ofTfices — these, with all-healing time, will at last do 
 their work. The growing sense of a common danger will 
 cause Americans, if they hold property and love order, to give 
 up gratifying their hatred of England by fomenting disorder 
 in Ireland. The feud will cease to be cherished, the fetish of 
 hatred will cease to be worshipped, even by the meanest 
 members of either branch of the race. No peddler of inter- 
 national rancor will then be any longer able to circulate his 
 villain sheets and rake up his shekels by trading on the 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce, ^§ 
 
 lingering enmity of the Anglr.'" ,-. i of the New World to his 
 brother beyond the sea. But between the two branches, of the 
 race which the Atlantic divides, the only bond that can be 
 renewed is that of the heart ; though I have sometimes 
 indulged a thought that there might at some future day be an 
 Anglo-Saxon franchise, enabling a member of any English- 
 speaking community to take up his citizenship in any other 
 English-speaking commr.iity without naturalization, and that, 
 in this manner, the only manner possible, might be fulfilled the 
 desire of those who dream of Imperial Federation. But the 
 relations of the English-speaking communities of Canada to 
 the English-speaking communities of the rest of this continent 
 are manifestly destined by nature to be more intimate. I do 
 not speak of political relations, nor do I wish to raise the veil 
 of the future on that subject ; but the social and commercial 
 relations of Canada witn the United States must be those of 
 two kindred communities dwelling not only side by side, but 
 on territories interlaced and vitally connected in regard to all 
 that concerns commerce and industry with each other, while 
 united these territories form a continent by themselves. In 
 spite of political separation, social and commercial fusion is in 
 fact rapidly going on. There are now large colonies of Cana- 
 dians south of the line, and Anglo-Saxons from Canada occupy, 
 so far as I can learn, not the lowest grade, either in point of 
 energy or of probity, in thehierarchy of American industry and 
 trade. One name at all events they have in the front rank of 
 American finance. Of those American fishermen, between 
 whom and the fishermen of Canada this dispute has arisen, not 
 a few, it seems, are Canadians. Not a little of Canadian 
 
^6 New Papers on Canadian History^ 
 
 commerce on the other hand is in American hands. The 
 railway system of the two countries is one ; and they are far 
 advanced towards a union of currency. Of the old estran- 
 gement, which the Trent afTair for a moment revived, almost 
 the last traces have now disappeared and social reconciliation is 
 complete. It is time then that the Anglo-Saxons on this 
 continent should set aside the consequences of the schism and 
 revert to the footing of common inheritance, instituting free- 
 trade among themselves, allowing the life-blood of commerce 
 to circulate freely through the whole body of their continent, 
 enjoying in common all the advantages which the continent 
 affords, its fisheries, its water-ways, its coasting-trade, and 
 merging forever all possibility of dispute about them in a 
 complete and permanent participation. The Fisheries dispute 
 will have been a harbinger of amity in disguise if it leads U3 at 
 last to make a strenuous effort to bring about a change so 
 fraught with increase of wealth and other benefits to both 
 countries as Commercial Union. The hour is in every way 
 propitious if only American politicians will abstain from 
 insulting or irritating England, whose consent is necessary, by 
 reckless efforts to capture the Irish vote. Let us not allow 
 the hour to pass away in fruitless discussion, but try to 
 translate our wishes into actions. Nor need any Canadian fear 
 that the political separation to which perhaps he clings will be 
 forfeited by accepting Commercial Union. A poor and weak 
 nationality that would be which depended upon a customs 
 line. Introduce free-trade at once throughout the world and 
 the nationalities will remain as before. Abolish every custom- 
 house on the Pyrenees, France and Spain will still be nations 
 
Ari, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 57 
 
 as distinct from each other as ever. If political union ever 
 takes place between the United States and Canada, it will not be 
 because the people of the United States are disposed to aggres 
 sion upon Canadian independence, of which there is no 
 thought in any American breast, nor because the impediments 
 to commercial intercourse and of the free interchange of 
 commercial services will have been removed, but because 
 in blood and character, language, religion, institutions, laws 
 and interests, the two portions of the Anglo-Saxon race on 
 this continent are one people. 
 

 
 ^^e^ '€<^ d^^^ 
 
THE GREAT CANADIAN NORTH-WEST. 
 
 BV 
 
 A\v. JOHN C. ECCLESTON, D. D. 
 
 ( Read before the Canadian Club 
 \ of A\-u< York. 
 
 NWARD has been the march of 
 Canada in the path of progress 
 through the development of its rail- 
 way system and the enlargement of 
 its canals. Therefore, and for two 
 special reasons, I gladly accept the 
 honor conferred upon me by your 
 kind invitation to address you this 
 evening upon " the resources of the 
 
 Dominion of Canada — as developed by the recently completed 
 
 Canadian Pacific Railroad." 
 
 First, — Because it affords me a fitting opportunity to 
 
 acknowledge my personal indebtedness to Sir George Stephen, 
 
6o New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 and Mr. W. C. Van Home for their great kindness in extend- 
 ing to me the courtesies of their road, whereby I had the 
 experience of a most thoroughly enjoyable summer vacation. 
 
 Second, — Because I am glad to have a chance to tell my 
 countrymen of the " States " (for I am sure they are for the 
 most part as ignorant as I was), some things they ought to know, 
 something about this great Dominion of the North, just knit 
 together by this Iron Nexus into one grand Confederation, 
 reaching from ocean to ocean, and advancing with giant strides 
 to imperial power. ' ' 
 
 We have been so long accustomed to see Canada figure 
 on our maps as a narrow strip, with scattered villages and 
 towns along the St. Lawrence and the great lakes, with 
 innumerable smaller lakes and rivers, that it is difficult for us 
 to realize that a rival nation, with a territory vastly larger 
 than the whole American Union (not counting Alaska) and 
 hardly eighteen years old, has arisen upon our borders, and 
 like a young giant, set about making a glorious future for 
 itself ; building up great manufactories, levelling the mountains, 
 fillinf^- up the valleys, bridging the rivers of the continent, 
 digging canals, constructing thousands of miles of railroad, 
 whereby to consolidate its empire, and make accessible its 
 boundless natural resources of timber, mines and agricultural 
 lands. 
 
 We are in the habit of laughing at the mistakes of English 
 writers and tourists, concerning the geography of the United 
 States, but this ignorance about America is rot half so great as 
 the ignorance of most of our people respecting a country which 
 is at our very doors. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 6i 
 
 The battle on the Heights of Abraham (Sept. 13, 1759) 
 determined the ascendancy of the Anglo-Saxon race and 
 tongue in Arnerica. When the news of Montcalm's defeat and 
 death reached Paris, Voltaire, with his characteristic flippancy, 
 said : " Well, we are well rid of 1 5,000 K;igues of snow and ice." 
 
 Madame de Pompadour rejoiced, and said : " Now that 
 Montcalm is dead, the King will have some peace " ! But 
 the people of France, who had gloried in the heroic deeds of 
 Cartier, Champlain and De Salle, and the zealous labors of the 
 martyred missionary fathers in the New World, mourned over 
 the loss with a sore lamentation. 
 
 The Marquis de Choiseul, upon whom devolved the 
 humiliating duty of signing the treaty of peace, was discon- 
 solate. Turning to the British plenipotentiary, he said : " We 
 shall be avenged : so long as France held Canada, your Ameri- 
 can colonies, needing your protection against a foreign power 
 on their border, had to remain submissive, but now that you 
 have driven us away, they will rebel against your authority, 
 and assert their independence." We need not stop to relate 
 how the Frenchman's prophecy was verified, how in process of 
 time, the thirteen American colonies rebelled against King 
 George, not that they loved the mother country (old England) 
 less, but because they loved the liberties of Englishmen more, 
 how during the terrible years of the revolution, the tide of a 
 fratricidal war raged along the shores of the St. Lawrence and 
 the great lakes. 
 
 But, all this is of the past. We rejoice that our lot has 
 fallen on better days, that the strife of angry contention is 
 forever ended — the sword supplanted by arbitration, and that 
 
62 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 henceforth, the only contest there can ever be between these 
 two branches of the great Anglo-Saxon race, will be which of 
 the two can best improve the magnificent inheritance God has 
 divided between them in the western world. 
 
 MONTREAL. 
 
 The rattling of the train through the Victoria Bridge (one 
 mile and three-quarters long), the master-piece of Brunell and 
 Stephenson, announced our arrival at the city of The Royal 
 Mount. By ten o'clock F. M., I was safely and most comfort- 
 ably housed at the Windsor Hotel. I made the most of the 
 three days I had for viewing the city, and could profitably have 
 prolonged the time to a week, so numerous are its interesting 
 sights and so beautiful its situation, that it is considered by 
 many persons one of the finest cities on this continent. 
 
 Three miles of river frontage give ample room for shipping 
 of every class. Back of it are, first long lines of warehouses and 
 stores, then great massive public buildings and churches, and, 
 further on, palatial mansions stretching westward to the foot of 
 the mountain. Indications of a quiet, inobtrusive and substan- 
 tial wealth are apparent on every side. It is asserted that 
 there is no wealthier city area in the world than that which lies 
 between the parallelogram made by Beaver Hall Hill and the 
 foot of Mount Royal on the one hand, and Dorchester and 
 Sherbrooke streets on the other. The view from the moun- 
 tain, up and down the river, and over the Adirondack Mountains 
 of the State of New York, and the Green Mountains of 
 Vermont, is unsurpassingly grand and unique. The city claims 
 150,000 inhabitants. Here lived in former days the great 
 
Ari, Science, Literaiiire, and Commerce, 6j 
 
 feudal lords of the fur-trade : the McTavishes, the McCiillimans, 
 the McKenzies and the Frobishers, and other magnates of the 
 Hudson Bay and the North-west companies, at the time of 
 their greatest prospenty. It was at this spot that, from time 
 to time, the Ottawas, Hurons, Algonquins and other tribes, 
 who hunted the countries bordering on the great lakes, would 
 come down the Ottawa river in canoes, laden with rich peltries, 
 and barter them off for blankets, kettles, guns, knives, and all 
 kinds of " fire-water," upon all which, the fur-lords were sure to 
 make a profit of two or three hundred per cent. To-day, 
 the Indian and the beaver, frightened alike by the scream of the 
 iron horse, have retired to the inaccessible defiles of the Rocky 
 Mountains, and the fur-lords have also vanished, but the 
 beautiful city they had adorned and enriched still remains to 
 challenge our admiration. 
 
 -• 
 
 OTTAWA. 
 
 Before commencing our journey across the continent, 
 journey which properly begins at Montreal, we will stop a few 
 hours at the new and beautiful city of Ottawa, the political— as 
 Montreal is the commercial — metropolis of the Dominion. 
 Tossed backward and forward between Toronto, Kingston, 
 Quebec and Montreal, the legislators of Canada have here 
 found an abiding resting place. Ottawa is beautifully situated 
 upon high bluffs, between the spray and roars of two headlong 
 rivers, the Ottawa and the Gatineau. The Parliament buildings, 
 which cover an area of four acres and which were erected at a 
 cost of $5,000,000, are in gothic style of the Xllth century, 
 unblemished by any surplus ornamentation. No edifices on 
 
64 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 this continent are more imposing and pleasing at the same time 
 than these buildings. Built of a cream-colored sand-stone, the 
 dressings are of Ohio free-stone, while the arches, over-windows 
 and doors are of the warm Potsdam red-stone, a combination 
 of colors most gratifying to the eye. Ottawa is the centre of 
 the lumber interests. Last year the revenue of the Dominion 
 from the rental and leases of its forest limits was $1,300,000. 
 The number of feet of lumber cut was 1,600,000,000, repre- 
 senting a value of $58,000,000. 
 
 Among the far-seeing, anxiety is felt about the prodig- 
 ious annual destruction of the forests, and they do not hesitate 
 to declare that in twenty-five years at the present rate the 
 lumber interest of the Dominion will be a thing of the past. 
 One of the main causes of the forest waste, and one for the most 
 part preventable, are forest fires kindled by hunters and others, 
 who take no pains to extinguish their camp-fires or cover the 
 embers with earth. 
 
 Pioneer settlers clear the land by setting the under- 
 brush on fire ; should a strong wind arise, the flames sweep 
 onwards with a roar that is apalling. Great pine and cypress 
 trees, of two and three hundred years of age, are shrivelled up 
 like straws, the flames mounting almost in an instant from the 
 roots to the topmost branches. The very surface of the soil is 
 burnt up and the fiery hurricane, for thousands of acres, leaves 
 nothing in its passage but hideous charred trunks, naked stones 
 and mossless rocks. It is estimated that in 1881, the autumn 
 fires in the Province of Ontario consumed $15,000,000 worth 
 of timber. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 6^ 
 
 THE ORIGIN AND INCEPTION OF THE CANADIAN PACIFIC 
 
 RAILWAY. 
 
 The daily express leaves Montreal for Vancouver at 8 P. M., 
 or 20 o'clock, as they call it ; we take the sleeper at Ottawa, 
 about midnight ; but before doing so, there are several interest- 
 ing preliminaries deserving our attention. 
 
 First, a word about the history of the railroad. As far back 
 as 185 1, a Company was projected at Toronto by Mr. Allen 
 McDonald and the Hon. Henry Sherwood, by the name of the 
 Lake Superior and Pacific Railroad. This, as well as similar 
 schemes by the Hon. A. W. Morin and Mr. John Rose, came to 
 naught, chiefly on account of the adverse report of Capt. Palliser 
 who had been sent, in 1857, by the Imperial Government to 
 survey and report upon the several proposed routes. After a 
 four years' exploration, he pronounced the region of the 
 Laurentides, around Lake Superior and the Lake of the 
 Woods, impracticable for a railroad (speaking as an engineer), 
 and the Rockies as an obstacle not to be overcome. He 
 declared the central part of British America forever shut off 
 by nature from both the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards. But 
 Canada, having meanwhile consolidated her far distant and 
 outlying provinces into a Federal Dominion, the v^uestion of 
 binding these several Provinces together into some intimate and 
 practicable union, became an urgent political as well as social 
 and commercial necessity. Americanizing influences were in 
 dangerous proximity at Winnipeg and Victoria. St. Paul and 
 Portland and San Francisco were only a few hours distant ; 
 Ottawa was many weary days' journey remote. 
 
66 New Papers on Canadia7i History, 
 
 It is unnecessary to dwell upon the interminable and 
 fierce battles, the squabbles and scandals of the two rival parlia- 
 mentary parties — the Liberal and Conservative ; or among the 
 greedy speculators who opened wide their mouths to swallow 
 the big plum of 25,cxx),ooo acres of the best wheat-land in the 
 world, besides endless bonuses, and who gnashed and ground 
 their teeth when they failed to receive them. When the Conser- 
 vatives returned to power in 1878, the work of construction, 
 meanwhile undertaken by the Government, was pushed forward 
 with much energy, and the contract for the British Columbia 
 section, the most difficult of all, was awarded to Onderdonk & Co. 
 of New York. r , - 
 
 In 1880, finding the labor too great, the Government wisely 
 determined to put the construction of the road in the ha'^ds of 
 a syndicate, which subsequently resolved itself into Com- 
 pany. The syndicate was to receive from the Government 
 25,oco,cxX) acres of land, $25,000,000 in cash, und sections 2 
 and 4 completed were given them as a present. The con- 
 struction of all rival roads was prohibited for twenty years, all 
 material for construction was to enter the Dominion free of 
 duty, a free gift was made of all land required for workshops 
 :\nd stations, and an entire exemption of the whole property of 
 the Company from taxation for twenty-five years. The road 
 was, in consideration of these generous concessions, to be 
 completed and put in running condition by May 1st, 1 891. 
 
 The road is divided into four sections, and from Montreal to 
 Callander it follows the old Canada Central Railroad. 
 
 Section First begins at Callander and ends at Port Arthur, 
 657 miles. - - 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 6j 
 
 Section Second, from Port Arthur to Red River, 428 miles. 
 
 Section Third, from Red River to Sarona Ferry, I 252 
 miles. 
 
 Section Fourth, from Sarona Ferry to Port Moody, 213 
 miles. r- ^ s 
 
 Total, 2,555 rniles from Callander to the Pacific Ocean. 
 . , No sooner was the transfer to the syndicate accomplished 
 than the work commenced with unparalleled vigor. The last 
 rail was laid and the last spike driven on the 7th of November, 
 1885. Thus in the short period of five years or four years less 
 than the contract with the Government called for, the road was 
 thoroughly equipped and in running order. 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE ROAD AND ENGINEERING DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 More than 300 miles of the road have been cut through 
 the hardest rock known to geologists — sienite and trap ; moun- 
 tains had to be tunnelled by the score ; innumerable rivers of 
 various sizes had to be spanned, some by iron bridges over a 
 1, 00a feet in length ; one by a wooden bridge 286 feet above 
 the water — the highest structure of its kind in America. 
 No less than fourteen streams had to be diverted from their 
 natural beds, by tunnelling through the solid rock. The work 
 went on summer and winter, sometimes the mercury stood at 
 30 and 40 degrees below zero. On the Lake Superior section 
 there was at one time an army of 1,200 men, and 2,000 teams of 
 horses, which were supplemented in winter time by 300 
 teams of dogs. 
 
 The entile line is thoroughly built with the best of 
 
68 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 material, nothing was spared to make it first class in every 
 particular. 
 
 The rails are of steel, and of English and Prussian manu- 
 facture. 
 
 The passenger equipment embraces many novelties not 
 found elsewhere. The sleeping and dining-room cars are finished 
 with rich upholstery, delicate carvings and antique brass-work, 
 solid English comfort and artistic effect have been sought for in 
 every detail. Bath-rooms, for ladies and for gentlemen, are pro- 
 vided in the sleepers, and luxurious accommodation for smokers. 
 1 he fare in the dining-room cars is all that the most fastidious 
 epicure cculd ask, choice fruits from California are furnished 
 in season, all the way across the continent. 
 
 THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD BRIDGE ACROSS THE 
 
 ST, LAV/RENCE, 
 
 I cannot omit drawing your attention to a great achieve- 
 ment in railroading that has been accomplished by the directors 
 of the Canadian Pacific Railroad during the past summer, viz, : 
 the bridge across the St, Lawrence, about one mile below the 
 village of Lachine, where the river has a width of 3,300 feet and 
 a depth of 40 feet. The construction of this bridge, which 
 is only a few miles above the Victoria bridge, furnishes a fine 
 illustration of the great progress made in the mechanical 
 arts during the last twenty-five years. The " Victoria " costs. 
 $8,000,000 and six years were consumed in its construction, 
 the " Canadian Pacific " has been completed in less than one 
 year, at a cost of less than $1,000,000. 
 
 The masonry consists of two abutments and fifteen piers. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 6g 
 
 There are four land spans of 80 feet in length. Eight arches 
 of 240 feet each, of the ordinary Pratt truss, span the river 
 from both shores, while the channel portion of the river is 
 crossed by two flanking spans of 270 feet in length, and two 
 through " Cantilever " spans, each 408 feet long, these latter 
 spans have an elevation of 60 feet above ordinary summer- 
 water level. 
 
 The most difficult portion of the work was that of anchor- 
 ing the piers of solid masonry on the rocky bed which, in some 
 instances, was not only 40 feet below the surface but covered 
 by a " hard pan " deposit 14 feet in thickness, which had all to 
 be removed in a current of ten miles an hour. This difficult 
 task was performed under the supervision of Mr. R. J. Reid 
 of the firm of Messrs. Reid and Fleming. Original and most 
 ingenious methods were resorted to. After the bottom had been 
 carefully cleaned off with a dredge, a bottomless caisson made of 
 square timber, with carefully caulked sides, was sunk upon the 
 site of the pier; once sunk the small spaces between the rock and 
 the bottom of the caisson were carefully packed by divers with 
 bags of concrete. As soon as this was accomplished, large iron 
 boxes containing two cubic yards of concrete were lowered 
 inside the caisson, and by means of a crank acting upon a false 
 bottom, the concrete was deposited in the caisson which on an 
 average contained but one foot of water. The concrete was 
 composed of one part Portland cement, one part sand and 
 three parts broken stone. The day after the concrete had 
 reached one-third the depth of the caisson, it was found suffi- 
 ciently hardened to allow pumping and stop water from entering. 
 After levelling this first course, it was then ready to receive 
 
yo New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 the masonry, which in some cases Hes at a depth of 25 feet from 
 the water level. This system had the double advantage of 
 avoiding the expense, risk and loss of time entailed by the use 
 of coffer-dams of old ; it gave a solid and durable bed for 
 the masonry to rest upon, — a bed capable of resisting a head 
 of 24 feet of water oiiC day after its laying, and which, as time 
 goes on, will certainly become as hard as rock itself. 
 
 To accurately anchor the caissons in such a rapid current 
 was considered to be one of the most difficult operations of 
 the whole work. This was effected with the aid of scows, 
 anchors, chains and wire-ropes. For piers 13 and 14 these 
 means were not considered sufficient and entirely practicable ; 
 therefore a rough crib in the shape of a truncated triangle was 
 primarily sunk in front of those piers, the up-stream end of the 
 crib was 10 feet long, the sides and lower end being 30 feet 
 long, it was made of pieces of timber 10 inches apart, thus 
 allowing the water to pass through and reducing the pressure 
 of the current against it. These cribs were easily held in the 
 rapid current^ a small quantity of stone was afterwards brought 
 to bear on their bottom, and as tiliey were filled with stones, 
 the latter stopped the current while offering at the same time 
 greater resistance to the pressure of the water ; when entirely 
 filled these cribs formed a large eddy, behind which the perma- 
 nent caissons were floated. The eddies were so strong that 
 the caissons were forced up-stream, and instead of having to haul 
 them against the current, it required a slight force to pull them 
 down the stream into position. 
 
 Thus one of the most difficult problems in the construction 
 of the bridge was solved in a cheap, rapid and satisfactory 
 
Art, Science, Literature, a?id Commerce. yi 
 
 manner. When the tenders for the masonry were called for in 
 October, 1885, requiring, under penalties, the completion of the 
 foundations by the 30th of November, 1886, only three contract- 
 ors bold enough were found to compete for the job. Engineers 
 and others who had seen a similar work occupy the genius of 
 a Stephenson and a Brunell six years for its construction, 
 declared that it was utterly impossible to perform the work 
 within the specified time. The steel for the superstructure was 
 furnished by the Steel Company of Scotland, while the bridge 
 proper was constructed by the Dominion Bridge Company of 
 Lachine. 
 
 The whole of this great work has been executed under the 
 supervision of chief engineer, P. Alex. Peterson ; and Mr. 
 E. Shaler Smith, member of the American Society of Civil 
 Engineers, acted as Consulting Engineer for the superstructure. 
 
 [This portion of the lecture was beautifully illustrated by 
 an outline drawing of the bridge kindly furnished by Mr. Van 
 Home, Vice-President of the Canadian Pacific] 
 
 DIMENSIONS OF THE DOMINION. 
 
 I alluded in the beginning of my lecture to the ignorance 
 of Americans respecting the geographical extent and resources 
 of Canada. 
 
 Let us study for a few moments this fine chart of the 
 Dominion, across which you see the track of the Canadian 
 Pacific Railroad, as indicated by the black line passing over the 
 two eastern provinces of Quebec and Ontario, covering 290,421 
 square miles, and stretching from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to 
 
y2 New Papers oti Canadian History, 
 
 the Red River ; fasten your eyes upon the vast region once 
 known as the North-western provinces purchased from the 
 Hudson Bay Company in 1870, and now divided into four pro- 
 vinces : Assinaboia, 95,000 square miles ; Saskatchewan, 114,000 
 square miles ; Alberta, 100,000 square miles and Athabasca, 
 122,000 square miles. We have in these four provinces an area 
 of 2,665,252 square miles, a region larger than all Russia in 
 Europe, while the total area of the United States is but 
 3,547,000 square miles. The world is beginniiig to find out 
 that this vast region which was once supposed to be forever 
 abandoned to the beaver and the polar bear, really contains 
 some of the finest wheat and grazing lands of the continent. I 
 do not allude now to the comparatively well-known resources 
 of Manitoba and Assinaboia, but of regions lying four hundred 
 miles north of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, as far up as the 
 Wild Peace River, where has been grown the No. i wheat which 
 received the first prize at the Centennial Exposition in Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 Again, look at this magnificent province of Manitoba, 
 with its 123,200 square miles of area. Here are 75,000,000 
 acres, claimed by the enthusiastic " Winnipeggers " to be the 
 wheat-field of the world, six million bushels of wheat found 
 their way to the markets of the province last year. An expert 
 estimates the average yield per acre throughout Manitoba at 
 18 bushels per acre, of which 95 per cent, will grade No. i 
 hard. For 300 miles west of Winnipeg and for many miles on 
 either side of the railroad, 95 per cent, of the prairie is excel- 
 lent wheat-land, a rich black loomy soil of exhaustless fertility. 
 In the Qu'Appelle Valley there is in successful operation a 
 
Ari, Science, Literature, and Commerce. /j 
 
 joint-stock farm of 64,000 acres (100 square miles). This year 
 the proprietors expected to send 500,000 bushels of surplus 
 wheat to the market. The Manitoba wheat is well known as 
 being extremely hard, yielding 50 per cent, more than 
 Minnesota wheat. There are physical causes for this. The 
 further you travel towards the northern limit of its growth, the 
 finer the quality of the soil you meet. The subsoil, throughout 
 the intense heats and droughts of summer, is kept moist by the 
 slow melting of the deep winter frosts ; the moisture reaches up 
 and nourishes the roots of the grain, and secures the crop, 
 although the clouds may withold the later rains. Again, the sun- 
 shine in this land of the North is longer just at the needed time, 
 when the ears are ripening. Heat alone will not bring wheat 
 to maturity, solar light is also needed, and the greater its 
 amount the better the result ; and from the 15th of June to the 
 1st of July there are nearly two hours more day-light in Mani- 
 toba than in Ohio. 
 
 ,, The valley of the Red and Assinaboine rivers alone are 
 capable of feeding a population of many millions. Lord 
 Selkirk was ridiculed, in 1812 when he said these " hyperborean 
 alluvials would, some day, maintain a population of 30,000,000 
 souls." The child is born who will see Lord Selkirk's predic- 
 tion realized. Immigrants are coming every day and from 
 every part of the world, from Iceland and Russia, Sweden and 
 Scotland ; on foot and by steam, on horse-back and mule-back, 
 and in the slow lumbering " ships of the prairie " — 
 
 We hear the tread of pioneers of nations yet to be, 
 
 The first low wash of waves where soon shall roll a human sea. 
 
7^ New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 If Manitoba is to supply the world with bread, the succulent 
 beefsteaks and blooded horses will come from Alberta. It is 
 the ranch-ground of Canada, one vast area stretching from the 
 Red Deer River and across the Bow Valley to the south of 
 Belly River. We have reached here the foot of the great 
 snow-capped Rockies, the backbone of the continent ; but, to 
 our surprise, there is in the air a warmth and a moisture 
 different from anything yet experienced. The climate is more 
 that of England than Canada ; it is cooler in summer and 
 warmer in w'nter than in the plains below and behind us. 
 The "chinook" winds, wafting the moisture from the Kuro 
 Siwo— or Japan gulf-stream of the Pacific Ocean — blow with 
 regularity through the defiles of the mountains ; their action so 
 temperates the atmosphere during the winter that snow seldom 
 accumulates to any great depth, or that severe cold weather 
 prevails to any great extent, not to a sufficient extent to 
 prevent cattle and horses from roaming, all the year round and 
 uncared for, upon the thousand hills and surrounding valleys, 
 
 Calgary, the capital of Alberta, is admirably situated on a 
 high plateau, at the junction of the Elbow and Bow rivers, 
 from whence there is a superb view of the distant peaks and 
 slopes of the mountains. It is about 65 miles from the Rockies, 
 and 840 miles from Winnipeg. 
 
 The atmosphere is a marvel of purity and clearness, 
 objects ten miles away appear to be only two miles distant. 
 Words spoken in ordinary tones, at half a mile distance, can be 
 heard distinctly. If I thought of emigrating to the Dominion, 
 Alberta would certainly be my choice. 
 
 Finally, let us look at that great Province or empire, as 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce, 75 
 
 British Columbia might be justly called. Its area of 341,305 
 square miles, is larger than Great Britain and France combined, 
 and five times as large as all the New England States. You 
 see the road upon which we are to travel cutting across the 
 three great mountain ranges that divide it : the Rocky, the 
 Selkirk and the Gold. How audacious the attempt to run a 
 train of cars over this seemingly inextricable tangle formed by 
 raging torrents, treacherous glaciers and abrupt mountains, 
 presenting the aspect as if a vast molten sea, lashed by titanic 
 forces into gigantic billows, had been suddenly petrified at the 
 extreme height of the storm ! 
 
 Fifty years ago, this great Province was virtually unknown 
 to the trappers of the Hudson Bay Company. In 1843 a 
 fur-governor was stationed at Fort Camosun, now the beautiful 
 city of Victoria, to receive the valuable pelts which the Indians 
 brought in from the interior. Though it cannot yet be said of 
 this Province that it is a land flowing with milk and honey, yet 
 it is a beautiful country, endowed by nature with fertile fields, 
 rich mines, the grandest scenery in North America, and a mild 
 and salubrious climate. 
 
 EN ROUTE FOR VANCOUVER. 
 
 But let us retrace our imaginary steps, and begin at the 
 starting point of our journey of five days and twelve hours. 
 
 Having secured at Montreal our sleeping accommodation 
 through to the Pacific, we take the daily express train at 
 Ottawa about midnight, and going immediately to bed, 
 wake up the next morning to find the train skirting the 
 shores of the beautiful Lake Nipissing. The Jesuit mission- 
 
/<5 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 aries found the Indians residing around this Lake so beset with 
 spirits and infested by demons, that they called it " The Lake 
 of the Sorcerers." It abounds with fish of great size, affording 
 fine sport for experts of the rod and reel ; deer and cariboo are 
 plentiful about its shores. Nipissing was repeatedly crossed 
 by Champlain in his foreys against the Iroquois, and was in 
 the direct line of communication used by the Hudson Bay 
 voyageurs and its agents in their annual trips from Montreal to 
 Fort William. 
 
 During all of the next thirty hours we traverse a region for- 
 bidding to the eye ; it is a puzzle to geologists and is destined 
 for all times to be a cause of despair to the agriculturist. We 
 are in the region of the " Laurentides" or " Laurentian Hills," 
 that gigantic granite chain which rises on the coast of Lab- 
 rador, and, after forming the northerly wall of the St. Lawrence 
 Valley, sends one of its spurs down into the state of New York, 
 where it towers up into the majestic Adirondacks, another spur 
 circles the north shore of Lake Superior, whilst a third one 
 sweeps northward and westward and finally sinks into the 
 icy sea. 
 
 Professor Agassiz expressed the opinion that this Lauren- 
 tian range was the oldest land on our globe, the first to lift its 
 head above the primeval waters, and obey the almighty ^^z".- 
 " Let the dry land appear." Vegetation has a hard struggle 
 here with the rocks and crags, hewn into every shape by the 
 storms of years, and the boulder-strewn beds of antidiluvian 
 lakes and rivers ; but stores of minerals of incalculable wealth 
 lie buried in the bosom of these hills. 
 
 At Sudburg junction (444 miles from Montreal) the much 
 
Art, Science, Liierahtre, and Commerce. yy 
 
 abused " Algoma Mills" branch juts off, 93 miles to Georgian 
 Bay. This branch road will be soon extended to Sault 
 Ste.-Marie, and there will connect with the projected road from 
 Duluth. The Canadian Pacific Company have opened at a 
 point six miles north-west of Sudburg, copper mines of 
 wonderful promise. The ores are sulphides containing an 
 average of 16^ per cent, in copper. An expert says, " I feel 
 safe in saying there are here two hundred million tons of ore 
 in sight, and above the surface of the country." 
 
 As Port Arthur is approached, the glorious scenery of Lake 
 Superior and Thunder Bay make an impression which the 
 traveller will never forget. Thunder Cape, like a mighty 
 janitor of the harbor, rises abruptly 1,400 feet above the lake. 
 Across the water, the dark mass of the McKay's mountains 
 looms up majestically, while Pie Island sits astride the mouth 
 of the harbor like a huge Monitor at anchor. These three 
 gigantic upheavals stand in massive dignity, like three em- 
 perors, each with a cloudy crown about his head. 
 
 Six miles from Port Arthur is the rival and once famous 
 settlement of Fort William. When the North-west Fur 
 Company was in its glory. Fort William was the place where 
 the leading partners from Montreal proceeded in great state, 
 once a year, to meet their agents and factors from the various 
 trading-posts of the northern wilderness, to discuss the affairs 
 of the Company and arrange plans for the future. Wrapped 
 in rich furs, their huge canoes freighted with every convenience 
 and luxury, and manned by Canadian voyageurs, these fur- 
 lords ascended the Ottawa and the Matawan to Lake 
 Nipissing, thence up the French River to Lake Superior. 
 
y8 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 They had a retinue of cooks -ind bakers, casks of choice 
 wines, delicacies of every kind, in fact everything necessary for 
 the banquets which were indispensable adjuncts of these great 
 meets. In an immense wooden building was the great council 
 hall and which also served as a banqueting hall, decorated 
 with Indian arms and acoutrements, and trophies of the fur- 
 trade from the Rocky Mountains to the Arctic Ocean. : . ; 
 
 There was a vast deal of solemn deliberation, hard Scottish 
 reasoning and drinking. The tables groaned under the weight 
 of game of all kinds : venison from the woods, fish from the 
 lakes, with hunters' delicacies, such as buffalo tongue and 
 beaver tail, and various luxuries from London, all served up 
 by experienced cooks. - . - ^, 
 
 While the chiefs thus revelled in the Hall and made the 
 rafters resound with bursts of loyalty and old Scottish songs, 
 chanted in voices cracked and sharpened by northern blasts 
 and blizzards, their merriment was echoed and prolonged by a 
 mongrel legion of Canadian half-breeds, Indian hunters and 
 vagabond hangers-on, who feasted sumptuously on the crumbs 
 that fell from the tables, and made the welkin ring with old 
 French ditties, mingled with Indian yelps and yellings. 
 
 The feudal state of Fort William is a thing of the past. Its 
 banquet hall is deserted, its council chamber in ruins and the 
 fur-lords of the lakes and forests have vanished forever like 
 the buffalo and the beaver. Three hundred miles from Port 
 Arthur, we reach Rat Portage, the capital of the enormous 
 but not prepossessing district of Keewatin, the " country of the 
 north wind," and the " Lake of the Woods* " station. This 
 lake, — once supposed to be the source of the Mississippi River, 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce, /p 
 
 and the starting-point for a boundary line in every treaty 
 between Great Britain and the United States, — is 1 80 miles 
 long and a veritable paradise for hunters, fishermen and the 
 lovers of nature, in her inner sanctuaries. It is a favorite 
 place for summer excursionists from Winnipeg, and unequalled 
 as a place for camping parties. ^ ; . ^ ■' ' ^ ; - - 
 
 Pierre Jaultier de Varennnes, Lord of Vcrendroge, built 
 forts on the islands of this lake one hundred years before Lewis 
 and Clark saw the waters of the " great river of the west." It 
 was here one of Verendroge's sons, a Jesuit priest, and twenty 
 men were massacred by the Sioux. The lake is so profusely 
 dotted with islands that it seems, as it shifts and winds about 
 in its devious channel, like a wondrously beautiful river. 
 
 Just half way across the continent, 1,434 miles from 
 Montreal, 1,486 miles from Vancouver and 1,827 miles from 
 New York, we reach the city of Winnipeg, the ambitious rival 
 of Chicago. It is one of the "seven wonders" of the New 
 World — whatever the other six may be ; it is the central city 
 of the continent and, probably within the very near future, one 
 of the largest. 
 
 In 1870, when General (now Lord) Wolseley t cached 
 Manitoba to quell the Red River rebellion, all there was of 
 Winnipeg consisted in a few huts and cottages erected by the 
 pioneers close to the walls of Fort Garry, as a protection against 
 the knives and tomahawks of the savages. To-day it is a proud 
 city of 30,000 inhabitants, with substantial and beautiful 
 buildings and churches, which would do credit to London and 
 New York ; it claims four hundred business houses ; more 
 than fifty manufacturing establishments, fifty good hotels and 
 
So New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 over a dozen banking-houses. Last year, 6,000,000 bushels of 
 wheat passed through the Winnipeg elevators. Three daily 
 papers furnish the citizens the news of the world. Six 
 railroads center at Winnipeg and discharge at all hours 
 of the day crowds of tourists, emigrants, farmers, merchants, 
 and fill the streets with a busy, bustling concourse that reminds 
 one of Broadway or Charing Cross. I spoke of six different 
 railroads, but soon there will a seventh, which, according to the 
 sanguine projectors, is destined to revolutionize the traffic of 
 the continent. 
 
 Sir Hugh Sutherland, President of the Manitoba and 
 Hudson Bay Railway, promises that in two years' lime trains 
 will be running from Winnipeg to Churchill Harbor — Hudson 
 Bay — a distance of 715 miles. From Winnipeg to Liverpool, 
 via Hudson Bay, is but 3,641 miles, that is 783 miles less than 
 by way of Montreal, and 1,052 miles shorter than by Chicago. 
 
 It is claimed by the projectors of this new route that it 
 will considerably shorten the distance between the two great 
 empires of the East and England's principal shipping port. 
 Between Liverpool, China and Japan, a gain of 1,117 miles is 
 made over the Montreal route, while a gain of 2,136 miles will 
 be effected over the San Francisco and New York route. Tae 
 new route will not only control the wheat traffic of all the 
 north-western Provinces of the Dominion, but likewise that 
 of Minnesota, Dakota, Montana and Washington Territory. 
 The farmer shipping direct to Liverpool via Hudson Bay, 
 will receive at least 15 per cent, more for his grain and save 
 the interference of middlemen. 
 
 Time will prove the truth or fallacy of these fond hopes. 
 
Ari, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 8i 
 
 Deriding skeptics say that the first ship loaded with wheat that 
 gets blocked up, and has to spend six months in the ice of 
 Hudson Strait, will prick this bubble into flatulency. Others 
 affirm that a safe and expeditious passage can be depended 
 upon five months in the year. 
 
 Evidently Sir Hugh believes in the road, and as the 
 government has guaranteed the interest on $5,000,000 worth of 
 bonds, it is more than likely that the road will be completed. 
 
 The next step in order will be the building of a branch 
 road to Fort Yukon ; and that wonderful child, already spoken 
 of, may yet see the iron horse careering down the valley of the 
 Yukon and cooling his heels in the icv waters of Behring Sea. 
 
 Taking again our point of departure at Winnipeg, we have 
 a stretch of 800 miles of prairie before reaching the foot of the 
 Rockies. We pass on our way the thriving town of Brandon 
 (which, before it was a year old, had grown into a city of 2,500 
 inhabitants), and reach Regina, the capital of the new territory 
 of Assinaboia. Regina is the head-quarters of the *' mounted 
 police," the most efficient organized body of 500 men in the 
 world — the terror of evil-doers in general and rumsellers and 
 drinkers in particular. 
 
 Having already spoken in my preliminary remarks of the 
 Province of Alberta, and its capital Calgary, we pause once more 
 before climbing the mountains, at Bauff, which is destined, like 
 the Hot Springs of Arkansas, to be the great sanitarium for 
 rheumatic and other diseases of a chronic nature. Here, at a 
 great elevation, surrounded by snow-clad mountains, we found 
 hot sulphur springs of varying temperatures. 
 
 I met a man who told me that he had suffered such 
 
82 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 tortures from chronic rheumatism that, despairing of rehef, he 
 had come to these springs resolved to kill himself if he did not 
 find relief. After a few weeks bathing, his limbs relaxed from 
 their fearful distorted condition, pain and agony subsided, and 
 finally he was perfectly restored to health. The Canadian 
 Pacific Railroad Company are erecting a first-class hotel on the 
 spot, having every convenience for tourists and invalids, and 
 unquestionably Bauff is destined for an important future. 
 
 OVER THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 Forty-two miles from Calgary -up the Valley of the Bow 
 River — we reach the foot of the hills, and the scenery becomes 
 beautiful beyond description. At Padmore, 904 miles from 
 Winnipeg, we are in the midst of the mountains, however the 
 soil is still good and productive. The Stoney Indians, the best 
 in the North-west, own large herds of cattle and horses, and 
 hunt the wild-sheep and goats, the mountain-deer and the small 
 fur animals of the mountain parks. Great mineral wealth is 
 believed to exist in this portion of the route, not only gold and 
 silver mines, but extensive and accessible coal-fields, both 
 bituminous and anthracite. 
 
 The " Yellow Head " pass — far to the north of the present 
 route and near the source of the Fraser river — was the point 
 first chosen for crossing the Rockies, but after long and 
 continued explorations the line was located thence down the 
 North Thompson. However, after the road had been trans- 
 ferred to a syndicate by the government, an air-line from 
 Winnipeg was decided upon, and the gap of the Bow River, 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 8j 
 
 known henceforth as the Kicking Horse River — so-called from 
 the refractory steed of the engineer who mapped out the 
 international boundaries — was the point finally chosen to cross 
 the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 The adoption of this route saved loo miles, while the road 
 on that account was not more difficult to build nor more 
 heavily graded than on the longer northern line, and its 
 natural resources in land and minerals much greater. The 
 highest peak above the pass was named Mount Stephen, after 
 the President of the road. The bed of the road in the pass 
 reaches an altitude of 5,300 feet above the sea-tevel, but its 
 approaches from the east do not exceed the grade of 40 feet to 
 the mile, save in the upper five miles of the Bow River where 
 the rise reaches 75 feet per mile. The work of construction 
 was easy through this pass. 
 
 The licenery here is grand beyond description, with beau- 
 tiful peaks and abrupt mountains 5,000 and 6,000 feet high. 
 It is generally cold at night, but the "chinook" winds do not 
 allow the snow to remain long on the ground, save upon the 
 summit of the mountains. Sometimes a heavy snow-storm is 
 seen raging far above, while the sun shines in the valleys below. 
 
 The summit itself is a plateau four miles long dotted with 
 three lakes. The first, going west, is Summit Lake, the source 
 of Summit Creek ; the second. Link Lake, seems to have neither 
 exit nor entrance, no visible supply and no outlet ; whilst the 
 third and largest is the source of the noisy, impetuous Kicking- 
 Horse River, which springs from its parent head, a wild, strong 
 stream 50 feet wide, gaining in volume and speed as it rushes 
 down the Kicking Horse Valley. Although the total length 
 
84 New Papers on Canadian History^ 
 
 of this river is but 47 miles, its fall, until it finally merges with 
 the broad Columbia, the great river of the west, is over 2,8cx) 
 feet The railway follows the Kicking Horse River for 45 
 miles, and upon this plateau the work was not only extremely 
 heavy, but the gradients and curves were more difficult 
 than any yet encountered on the route. The lowest gradient 
 obtained was 1 16 feet to the mile, or about I in 45 ; this rate 
 of descent is maintained for 17 miles in one stretch. The 
 heaviest work had to be performed upon the upper part of the 
 plateau ; here, in the distance of six miles, three tunnels of an 
 aggregate length of 1,800 feet had to be constructed, and the 
 Columbia had to be crossed three times. The work on the 
 next ten miles was tolerably easy although the gradient was 
 heavy ; the lower part of the plateau has two or three tunnels 
 of about 1,400 feet ; the river is crossed no less than eight times, 
 and the same heavy gradient, with curves of ten degrees, or 
 573 feet radius, had to be resorted to. 
 
 The road follows the Beaver River to the summit of the 
 Selkirk range, which is 96 miles from the summit of the Rockies^ 
 and is about 1,000 feet lower, or 4,316 feet above sea-level. In 
 the ascent the heavy gradient of 1 16 feet to the mile is agairi 
 resorted to for about 16 miles, and then for 20 miles further on 
 in descending the western slope. 
 
 At the head of the Loop, a magnificent glacier sweeps 
 down almost to the very edge of the rails. More glaciers are 
 seen in the distance, but this one towers upwards to the cloud 
 line, just back of the station. A comfortable hotel is being 
 erected at the toot of the glacier, where tourists can enjoy a. 
 refreshing sojourn and explore the mountain of ice. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 8^ 
 
 The whole region between the main range of the Rocky 
 Mountains and the Pacific is a vast disturbed rock formation. 
 
 For 800 miles in i. north-west and south-east direction 
 there is a valuable belt of metalliferous rocks, and in addition 
 much of the country is heavily wooded. The Canadian Pacific 
 Railway having penetrated here, the whole of this immense 
 mining district has now a great future, and the gold of the 
 Columbia and Kootenay rivers as well as the galena along 
 Kootenay Lake is made accessible. The country lying around 
 the mother lakes of the Columbia, and much of the Kootenay 
 River valley, is interspersed with forest and prairie lands 
 favorable to settlement, and admirably adapted for cattle rais- 
 ing. It only needs means of communication to make it equal 
 to any part of the Dominion. The " bunch " grass, which 
 grows constantly and is green at heart, even in mid-winter, is 
 one of the most valu^'ule pasture grass in the world, and is 
 found everywhere in abundance, even at an altitude as high as 
 3,000 feet above the sea-level. The climate in the Kootenay 
 district, from the Rocky Mountains to the Shuswap Lake, is 
 very much like the mountainous portion of P'rance, whilst 
 west of the Rockies to the Pacific it compares favorably with 
 that of the south of England. 
 
 The vast region surrounding the beautiful Shuswap Lake, 
 close to the railroad Station of Sicamous, is a veritable haven 
 for the lovers of the gun and rod ; as much can be said of the 
 district in the vicinity of the famous Okanagan Lake, which is 
 reached by the same railroad station and thence by the Spila- 
 macheen River. The water of these lakes is alive with fish, 
 and their surface which is seen from the car-windows, is liter- 
 
86 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 ally covered with swan, geese and ducks of every variety. The 
 Okanagan region is also famous for its delicious bunch grass, 
 and it is claimed that its valleys can produce the finest wheat 
 in the world. 
 
 The tourist should not fail to stop at Yale, where the 
 scenery is magnificently beautiful, affording all, in the form of 
 raging torrent and snow-crowned mountain, that the most vivid 
 imagination can paint. If time can be spared a visit to the 
 once famous Cariboo gold mines, up the roaring Frazer River, 
 will well repay the traveller. Here may be found wild mountain 
 scenery unsurpassed foi crrandeur on our globe, and yet in the 
 midst of this wildness then; isa vegetation luxuriant in freshness. 
 V-'^he'-ever there is a crevice, even at the very base of the snow- 
 clad peaks, are found clumps of the beautiful Douglass pine ; 
 lower down, and wherever a handfull of soil can rest, are myriads 
 of wild-flowers and lilies of the valley. 
 
 Skirting further on the north bank of the Frazer River to 
 within a few miles of New Westminster — where the river leaves 
 the Frazer Valley and crosses th . lowlands of the Pitt River 
 marshes — the road reaches Port Moody, at the extremity of the 
 southern arm of Buward Inlet. The grand terminus of the 
 Canadian Pacific Railway is established at Vancouver, six miles 
 further down the Inlet, where the government of British Colum- 
 bia has given the railroad company a tract of land nine square 
 miles in extent. Here is the prospective site— as I was told — of 
 the great metropolis of the Pacific coast, a contemplated rival 
 of San Francisco. I was offered a building lot 25x50 feet, 
 with the primitive forest still standing on it, for $1,000, but I 
 did not purchase it. Meanwhile, as an injunction at present 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 8y 
 
 hinders the train from running through to Vancouver, we have 
 to take the steamer at Port Moody for Victoria, 75 miles 
 distant across the Gulf of Georgia, which is, for all passengers, 
 the real terminus of the road. 
 
 *^ VANCOUVER ISLAND. 
 
 The termini question of the Canadian Pacific Railway has 
 been a cause of great anxiety to dwellers on the Pacific slope 
 of the Dominion, and the occasion of no little bad blood on 
 the part of disappointed speculators. Sir John A. Macdonald, 
 with his wonted astuteness, essayed to cut the gordian-knot at 
 a reception given him by the people of Victoria last August. 
 
 " We are not, said he, to be limited to Halifax, Quebec, 
 Montreal or British Columbia, whether it be Port Moody or 
 Victoria — the termini of the Canadian Pacific Railway are 
 Liverpool and Hong-Kong ! " 
 
 Victoria, the chief city of the island, and the capital of 
 the Province, is a charming place ; it has a population of 12,000 
 which is increasing rapidly. Founded in 1843 by the Hudson 
 Bay Company, it received the name of Fort Camosun. In 1845, 
 in honor of the Prince Consort, the name was changed to that 
 of Albert, but later on and in the same year, it was definitely 
 named Victoria. ^'■''; •. : " -^ ■ :y-r--, ■■'-■.■-:•■. ■:^i H- , •.;*.■ 
 
 In 1857-58, the discovery of gold on the main-land attracted 
 crowds of adventurers, and Victoria experienced the same kind 
 of "boom" that cursed Winnipeg in 1882. Thirty thousand 
 gold hunters from California and the American territories 
 invaded the Province, and made incursions into the wilds of 
 
88 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 the Frazer River placers. The destruction of the fur-trade and 
 the almost total disorganization of society were the results of 
 this invasion. A few hundreds — surviving to famine and every 
 hardship — secured bags of gold ; but the rest perished miser- 
 ably, or drifted back to Victoria, demoralized and ruined. 
 During this period of aggressive rowdyism, the main-land was 
 constituted into a colony. 
 
 In 1866, Vancouver Island was legislatively united to the 
 main-land and the name of British Columbia was given the 
 colony, which became in 1871 a Province of the Dominion. 
 Until the first train from Montreal'arrived at Port Moody, the 
 Union was little better than one on paper; but now, with 
 daily trains bringing mails and passengers in twelve days from 
 England, with her three hundred miles of gold-bearing quartz 
 mountains, her splendid harbors, her coal-fields, her fisheries 
 and forests, the future of British Columbia is assured. She is 
 destined to gravitate to the very front rank of the communities 
 on the Pacific, if not to become some day the strongest and 
 richest Province of the Dominion. 
 
 The climate of Victoria is the most equable in the world. 
 The winter is especially mild, the mercury seldom reaching the 
 freezing point. The summer is temperate, heat seldom rising 
 above y2° . Southerly winds prevail two-thirds of the year. 
 Summer lasts from April to October ; flowers bloom out-doors 
 the whole year. And yet in Victoria we are here six degrees 
 north of Quebec, in latitude 50. The softness of the climate is 
 due to " Kuro Siwo," which brings the warmer temperature of 
 the Japan and China seas, in the same way as the gulf-stream 
 tempers the climate of the British Islands. The weather of 
 
Art, Science^ Literature, and Commerce. 8g 
 
 Vancouver Island is said by those who have thoroughly tested 
 the matter to be milder and more agreeable than that of the 
 south of England, the summers longer and finer, the winters 
 shorter and less rigorous. > 
 
 : The harbor proper of Victoria is small, with a difficult pass ; 
 but the adjacent harbor of Esquimault, across a narrow neck 
 of land, affords all the requisites of a first-class naval station. 
 The Imperial Government is spending large sums here, and 
 in the outer royal-roads the largest men-of-war can ride 
 safely. 
 
 At an early future Esquimault will undoubtedly be the 
 emporium of an immense trade with the Asiatic ports, and 
 fortnightly lines of first-class steamers, subsidized by the Home 
 Government, will ply regularly between Victoria, Hong-Kong 
 and Australia. 
 
 The coast fisheries are almost illimitable, and their capab- 
 ilities have hardly been put to contribution ; yet, the principal 
 species are halibut, salmon, cod and herring. In some of the 
 narrow estuaries and bays, at flood-tide the water is so densely 
 packed with salmon struggling to reach a spawning-ground, 
 that it is actually possible sometimes to lay boards upon the 
 backs of the swarms and walk over dry shod. Halibut, from 
 lOO to 500 lbs., are common. For ten cents Ii.dians will furnish 
 enough fish to feed ten men. Herring are raked out of the 
 water by boat loads. ^ »^ ■ \ 
 
 Here is a grand and exhaustless industry awaiting develop- 
 ment ; and, as if Providence had designed to indicate a way to 
 utilization, salt-springs of great value, yielding 3,446 gr. of salt 
 to each gallon of water, have been discovered near Nanaimo. 
 
^ New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 It would pay the Dominion Government a handsome dividend 
 to transport bodily the starving population of the icy coasts of 
 Labrador to the prolific shores of British C<^lumbia. 
 
 Some day the wheat-fields of Manitoba may become 
 exhausted and refuse to yield their tribute ; the forests of 
 Ontario and Quebec may perish before the woodman's axe and 
 the devastating flames, but the riches of the ocean are inex- 
 haustible, and each recurrent tide will bring to the inhabitants 
 of this favored land abundant food. 
 
 Ladies and gentlemen, I have detained you longer than 
 was my purpose, but my excuse for this encroachment upon 
 your patience and comfort lies in the fact that even a partial 
 development of the subject under consideration was out of 
 proportion to the one-hour time to which I should have con- 
 fined myself. I may have been incoherent and sometimes 
 perhaps inconsequential in my remarks ; but I shall be content 
 if I have succeeded, even in an imperfect degree, in diffusing a 
 knowledge of what Lord Beaconsfield once happily phrased : 
 " The boundless regions and illimitable possibilities of the great 
 North-west." 
 
 In concluding, I may be permitted to remark to the mem- 
 bers of the Canadian Club of New York, that my countrymen, 
 the great people of the United States, entertain no petty 
 jealousies for such noble competitors as I have told you of 
 to-night, but taking only into account the good secured, they 
 hail with joy the opening of this new route to the riches of the 
 mighty West. The honors of knighthood were never more 
 worthily bestowed by royalty upon any subject, than by Her 
 Majesty Queen Victoria upon the President of the Canadian 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 
 
 9' 
 
 Pacific Railroad, Sir George Stephen, in recognition of his 
 great abilities and persevering industry in bringing this great 
 work to so speedy and happy a completion. 
 
THE HUMOROUS SIDE OF CANADIAN 
 r HISTORY. 
 
 /. IV. BENGOUGH, Editor Toronto Grip 
 
 A 
 
 Read before the Canadian Club 
 of New York. . 
 
 AN I convey to you, in the hour 
 at my disposal, as much solid 
 information as you may be in need 
 of? Probably yea, because the 
 lectures given in this course, under 
 the auspices of the Canadian Club, 
 hc./e naturally pertained to that 
 glorious country, Canada. But, so 
 far as I am aware, no speaker has 
 yet dealt systematically with the history of Canada. 
 
 Pending the arrival of Mr, Goldwin Smith, who is at 
 present engaged umpiring for the foot-ball club at Cornell, 
 I propose to devote my hour to the subject suggested, and in 
 case Mr. Smith should feel offended by my intrusion into his 
 special domain, I will endeavor to mollify him in advance by 
 
g^ New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 making a pretty portrait of him right here. [A rapid sketch 
 here set forth a picture at once recognized by the audience as 
 —not Goldwin Smith— but Mr. Whitelavv Reid.] 
 
 Perhaps, before going on, I ought to apologize to the 
 American portion of my audience for not having chosen a theme 
 of greater novelty to them than the History of Canada. I had 
 anticipated an audience made up chiefly of Canadians, but it is 
 too late now to rectify the mistake. I am well aware that the 
 citizens of the United States are just as familiar with Canada, 
 her history and her affairs, as they are with Chinese Tartary, 
 and I can hardly hope to tell them anything they do not know. 
 But in view of the fact that Canada and the Republic have 
 many features in common, besides baseball, and that many 
 more or less distant relatives of American citizens are residing 
 in that country, having in a few cases been struck somewhat 
 suddenly by its charms as a place of residence, and having 
 since exhibited a clinging affection for it, which few native 
 Canadians can rival, it seems to me that all will be interested 
 in the theme I have selected. 
 
 Canada is the name given to the greater portion of the 
 continent of North America, and politically it is an integral 
 portion of the British Empire. I mention this because there is 
 an impression prevailing in Ohio and some other foreign coun- 
 tries, that Canada is owned by a railway syndicate. This is a 
 mistake. Nominally Canada belongs to Great Britain, it con- 
 tributes the adjective to the title, as Britain itself is only a small 
 affair, but really and practically the vast Dominion is owned 
 and run by the handsome and picturesque people so well 
 represented in blanket suits on the present occasion. [Allud- 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 95 
 
 ing to the uniformed snowshoers ranged upon the platform.] 
 
 I may just remark here, en passong, as they say in Montreal, 
 
 that the Canadian people when at home, invariably dress in 
 
 the costume here shown, just as the people of New Jersey wear 
 
 long-tailed coats and short breeches with straps to them, and 
 
 bell-crowned beaver hats, with stars on their waistcoats and 
 
 stripes on their pantaloons. It's the national costume you 
 
 know, but they rarely venture out of the country with such 
 
 good clothes on. When a Canadian makes up his mind to settle 
 
 in New York, he invariably adopts the New York style of 
 
 dress. He changes his clothes at the border, and then he goes 
 
 in like a regular American, to Wall Street " born." Before long, 
 
 so far as outward appearance goes, he would pass for a native 
 
 New Yorker, and you could only tell he was a Canadian by 
 
 contemplating the number of islands he owns and the magnitude 
 
 of h's ferry franchises. And this leads me to remark that when 
 
 M. Bartholdi dressed that statue of his in Greek clothing, he 
 
 availed himself of a poetic license. Canadians of the sterner 
 
 sex never dress that way, never. To illu&trate this point I will 
 
 here make a rough sketch of the statue, as pictures of it are so 
 
 rare in this city that its shape may have escaped your memory. 
 
 Not only in the matter of costume, but also in the features, 
 
 Bartholdi, with true French naiveti', endeavored to conceal the 
 
 fact that in this great work of art he was paying a delicate 
 
 compliment to a Canadian. He was afraid Mr. Wiman mightn't 
 
 like it if made too literal. For I suppose it is pretty well 
 
 known by this time that the statue is really meant for Wiman. 
 
 The very fact that it stands there bossing an island is enough 
 
 to suggest this, even if Bartholdi had never confessed his real 
 
p^ New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 design. To be sure, mustache and mutton-chops do not look 
 well in bronze,, but they're all right on pa;.>;r, and they're 
 necessary in this case to expose Bartholdi's pleasant allego;>. 
 All that remains to be changed now is the legend, which is not 
 
 
 *' Liberty Enlightening the World," but " Wiman Defying New 
 Jersey." 
 
 This, however, is a digression from our historical subject. 
 Canada was discovered by Jacques-Cartier, while engaged in a 
 fishing cruise around the banks of New Foundland. From the 
 banks to Canada would seem to be an unerring impulse of the 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce, gj 
 
 human mind. It is not true, however, that Cartier is French 
 for cashier, and time has fully vindicated this gentleman's 
 character, as the banks of New Foundland are to-day as sound 
 as ever. The coincidence was startling, it must be confessed, 
 and we can therefore excuse the newspapers of the day for 
 hinting that there was something fishy about his sudden 
 departure. 
 
 This event occurred some time after Christopher Columbus 
 had got in his work. And Columbus, by the way, as an illus- 
 tration of patience and perseverance is worthy even of the study 
 of those good Democratic statesmen who are waiting for 
 Cleveland to " turn the rascals out." I don't know what 
 Columbus looked like, but I feel sure that upon his counten- 
 ance was stamped a calm tranquil expression that no delays and 
 discouragements could change. If so, he didn't look much like 
 this. [Here a wild-looking sketch of Mr. C. A. Dana was given.] 
 
 Consider what Chris had to go through before he got 
 started on thai: memorable voyage to India. It took him just 
 twenty years to get started. Now, if it had been that he had 
 to wait for Mrs. C. . . to get dressed, we wouldn't have wondered 
 so much. But the trouble wasn't of that kind, it was purely 
 financial. He couldn't sail without raising the wind, and mark 
 his wonderful patience in raising it. Twenty years. The trouble 
 was, nobody believed in his scheme as sound, and in the public 
 interest. If it had been a surface-line franchise he was after, 
 he might have convinced the Aldermen, but Christopher 
 wasn't Sharp. It never occurred to him to get the ladies of the 
 Congregation to go around with the book, though as a matter 
 of fact he succeeded at last by the aid of a lady. Queen Isabella 
 
g8 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 of Castile, whose name is to this day a sweet smelling savor, 
 embalmed in an immortal kind of soap, " Matchless for the 
 complexion.— Yours truly, LiLY Langtry." 
 
 Columbus went from court to court after the boodle, it's a 
 way boodlers have of going from court to court, if you notice — 
 and at last he found a friend in Ferdinand. Ferdinand had a 
 lot of the proceeds salted down, as was generally suspected, 
 and he gave Columbus a check for the required amount, 
 remarking, " Go West, young man, and grow up with the 
 country." Thus was patience rewarded. The voyage was a 
 severe one, everybody was sick of it and mutinied. Columbus 
 stood on the quarter deck with his guitar and sang to the moon 
 about everything being at sixes and at sevens. A bird alighted 
 on the topmast ! Omen of success : Land must be nigh. With 
 one rapid glance the piercing eye of Columbus seizes the happy 
 portent. The fact that it was an Eagle proved that land must 
 be near ; while the shield of stars and bars upon its breast, the 
 Canada codfish falling from its talons, the ninety-cent dollar 
 hanging from its neck, and finally its piercing cry of E 
 Pliiribus Umun proved that that land could be no other than 
 America, where all men are born free and equal, but don't stay 
 so. America was discovered ; no longer could it bashfully avoid 
 the gaze of the other nations, and it doesn't. 
 
 Columbus' work made a boom in the discovery business, 
 and that's how Cartier happened to be around in time to 
 discover Canada. Cartier was a Frenchman, and he handed 
 over the country to the king of France, as a matter of course. 
 This one action is enough to show that Cartier had no connec- 
 tion with the Standard Oil Company ; but his simplicity in giving 
 
Art, Sciaice, Literature, and Commerce. 
 
 99 
 
 away the country when he might have kept it himself has 
 modified Mr. Gould's opinion of his otherwise admirable char- 
 acter. This was the first time Canada was givt;. ''way. The 
 
 offence was repeated, I've heard, at the time of the Wash- 
 ington treaty. Public opinion over there is opposed to this, as 
 a regular thing, and at present there is a disposition to conserve 
 the public interests, as it were. Perhaps I can convey the idea 
 with a sketch. 
 
700 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 When Mr. Cartier first landed in Canada there were 
 Indians there. I do not wish to pose as a sensationalist, nor 
 to rudely upset your settled convictions for the mere purpose 
 of startling you, but I do allege that there were more Indians 
 in Canada then than there are now. Several more. In fact, the 
 majority of the present inhabitants are ivliitc, though President 
 Cleveland seem to think our Government doesn't act that way. 
 
 The fact is the Indians are comparatively scarce now. 
 They don't a»'y longer pitch their tents in the main streets of 
 Toronto, Montreal and Quebec. Most of them have been 
 : killed, though they still persist, the survivors, in playing 
 Lacrosse. Had foot-ball, I mean the Yale and Andover variety, 
 been known amongst them, the race would no doubt have been 
 extinct. Then politics has no doubt helped to exterminate 
 the Red Man. An Indian can eat most anything, but he must 
 have pure air, and when the party caucus was established in 
 Canada, the Indians had to go further back. You never find 
 any Indians in the lobby at Ottawa. They couldn't stand it. 
 I am informed that Indians take an active part in politics of 
 Tammany Hall in this city, but that only shows that pure, 
 mugwumpy politics isn't so fatal to them as the corrupt kind. 
 At the same time I suspect that the Tammany politicians are 
 not really Indians of a delicate type. In Cartier's time the popu- 
 lation of Quebec was sixty, that is the pale-face population. As 
 the uncivilized red men ruled on both sides of the St. Lawrence 
 in those days, it is not likely that there were refugee defaulters. 
 The Indian is pretty mean, but he isn't mean enough to have 
 an extradition law that protects that sort of thief from justice. 
 
 These white men were honest French voyageurs, but 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 10/ 
 
 there ai ^ probably sixty of the other fellows in Quebec to day. 
 Such is progress and civilization. 
 
 The manners of the early Indi.'.n tribes of Canada are very 
 interesting. Their way of bringing up children, for example, 
 was peculiar. The infant was strapped to a board and placed 
 against a tree outside of the tent. This kept the youngster 
 straight, which is more than the modern white method does : 
 and besides it inured the child to the hardships of boarding 
 out. I might also mention the Indian system of writing. In 
 signing treaties, they used symbols for their names, thus the 
 Great Chief VVise-Owl-Who-sees-in-the-Dark, would sign in this 
 way. [Here a rough outline sketch of an owl was given J. 
 
 Now such a signature wasn't much as a work of art, but it 
 was worth more on a treaty generally than the white man's. 
 In too many cases the words our Canadian poet Mai:' has put 
 into the mouth of an Indian character were true : 
 
 " Our sacred treaties are infringed and torn, 
 Laughed out of sanctity, and spurned away, 
 Used by the Long Knife's slave to light his fire 
 Or turned to kites by thoughtless boys, whose wrists 
 Anchor their fathers lies in front of Heaven !" 
 
 This Indian method of conveying ideas by means of 
 pictures, is a great scheme, a id is now in vogue in the highest 
 journalistic circles. It forms the basis in fact, of the colossal 
 and well-earned fortunes of Messrs. Keppler, Nast, Gillam, 
 Opper, De Grimm, Hamilton, Zimmerman, Taylor and many 
 other smart young men well known to you all. Of course in 
 their hands it is greatly improved. They color their symbols 
 
102 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 more or less gaudily, and sell them for ten cents a copy. And 
 they finish them up better than the Indian artist used to. 
 For instance, in this case they would put on the modern 
 improvements in this way, and call i' Vise-Man^Looking-Two 
 ways-for-a-Presidential-Nomination. n owl was here trans- 
 
 formed into General B. F. Butler.] 
 
 The institution known as the lodge was universal among 
 the aborigines, and one of their most striking characteristics 
 was a fondness for display in the matter of dress. Nothing 
 so tickled the untutored child of the forest as to be rigged in 
 regalia, with feathers, sashes and ribbons, and the letters 
 A. F. & A. M., or I. O. O. F,, or other mysterious symbols 
 be-spangling his bosom. In such a costume he thought 
 nothing of fatigue, but would willingly travel on dusty roads 
 all day in the hottest weather. When the savage denizens of 
 Hochelaga (now Montreal) wanted to go on the war-path, they 
 would just stick orange lilies in their hair and marched through 
 that village on July I2th. That was all that was necessary. 
 
 The Indian women didn't have a vote, but the men folks 
 let them carry everything by acclamation, especially tent 
 poles and camp-fixtures, and they never endeavored to deceive 
 them by subsequently chewing cloves. In vain Miss Anthony, 
 who arrived a little before Cartier, advocated the female 
 franchise and dress reform. No doubt the latter was needed, 
 as you will see when I roughly sketch the costume then in 
 vogue. To show that the absurdity was not confined to one 
 sex, I will try to give you an idea also of the costume of the 
 young bucks of the Iroquois tribe. [Here an amusing carica 
 ture of an Indian dude and dudene ;vas given.] 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. loj 
 
 The domestic arrangements of the Canadian Indians were, 
 as we might reasonably anticipate, no better than those of 
 other barbarian people. They were especially faulty, however, 
 on the very important subject of marriage. 
 
 In the first place the courtship was peculiar. Sometimes 
 the principal parties were not consulted at all. The young 
 woman's mamma simply took a fish pole and went abroad to 
 catch whatever she could in the shape of a man. No mere 
 Indian, however handsome, had any chance while there were 
 young lords and counts visiting at Cartier's house. The 
 Indian girls were just c/azy after blue blood, but sometimes 
 they eloped with a low down Indian, because then the papers 
 always described them as beautiful and accomplished. There 
 is no mention in this early history of divorce proceedings, and 
 so we are left in the dark as to how ladies, without talent even» 
 became actresses '"n those days. 
 
 The Indians had two very noticeable vices, gambling and 
 cruelty. As to the first it is alleged that in the excitement of 
 the game (Stock Exchange or whatever they called it), players 
 often staked their lives on the result, whence no doubt is 
 derived the phrase : " You bet your sweet life." Their cruelty 
 was proverbial, they were the original inventors of the spoils 
 system, and after a victory they tortured and scalped their 
 captives without any fine distinction as to offensive partisan- 
 ship. I am glad to say this is no longer the practice in Canada. 
 We now enjoy civil-service reform and the victorious party 
 doesn't murder its enemies. It only removes them from 
 ofifice. 
 
 To return to Jacques-Cartier, he appears to have been a 
 
104 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 man of great magnetism and chivalry, as he earned the popular 
 title of the Plumed Knight amongst the simple and unsophis- 
 ticated aborigines. Just here it might be interesting to 
 introduce his portrait, which I have copied from historical 
 documents discovered in Maine. Maine at that time belonged 
 to Canada you know, and does yet by rights, some folks say. 
 [Here a portrait of J as. G. Blaine.] 
 
 Cartier was succeeded by a long train of other French 
 gentlemen whose deeds I have not time to dwell upon. At 
 length, the country passed into the hands of the British, after 
 some preliminary ceremonies on the plains of Abraham, near 
 Quebec. You are familiar, of course, with the incidents of that 
 memorable battle, and especially with the last words of Wolfe, 
 which are so often quoted. Somebody said to him : " They 
 run." "Who run?" he asked. " The Republicans." " Then I 
 die happy," he replied. 
 
 I think that was it, if I haven't got it mixed with the third- 
 party vote in Pennsylvania in November. 
 
 The British flag was still waving over the land when 1 
 left. Attempts have been made on a couple of occasions to 
 put a showier piece of bunting in its place, but without success. 
 A certain Republic, which shall be nameless, had something to 
 do with the attempts I refer to. If you had only told me of 
 your intention I could have saved you a great deal of worry 
 and expense by mforming you that the Canadians cannot be 
 conquered by force of arms. I don't blame you for trying 
 though, for everybody who knows what Canadian girls are like 
 would be anxious to conquer or perish just as you were. It is 
 a tribute to American shrewdness, however, that you have 
 
Arl, Science, Literal ire, and Commerce. lo^ 
 
 dropped the military plan, and resorted to this present scheme. 
 I have no doubt your calculation is correct that as soon as the 
 absent boodle aldermen and bank presidents form a majority 
 of our population over there, they will cast a solid vote for 
 annexation on condition of a general amnesty being granted. 
 And I have only this to say, that as soon as a clear majority of 
 our most wealthy citizens so decide, annexation will be all 
 right. But I see that my time is up, and i must drop this 
 interesting theme and bid you good night. 
 

 '■"^S. 'm '^^^^^^l::; 
 
 >' 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ ' Ji^y^' ^^ ^Sz^^lL^tU^C^ 
 
THE HEROINES OF NEW FRANCE. 
 
 /. M. LEMOINE, F. R. S. C. 
 
 ( An address delivered before the 
 ( Canadian Club of New York. 
 
 ERTAINLY, your cordial greeting 
 this evening overcomes much of the 
 diffidence I felt in making my first 
 bow to a cultured New York audi- 
 ence. However, in your presence, 
 I feel as if I required but scant 
 apology for my subject : The noble 
 devotion to duty of three of the 
 remarkable women, whose brave 
 
 deeds have illumined the early times of Canada. 
 
 This evening, I witness what to a Canadian is a very 
 
 gratifying spectacle : an array of Canada's most hopeful sons. 
 
io8 New Papers on Canadiati History ^ 
 
 striking out boldly and successfully as merchants, manufac- 
 turers, professional men, writers, in fact an arrray of energetic 
 men invadingevery important path open to the human intellect 
 and human industry in this great metropolis of the western 
 world. 
 
 Had I to dilate on the patriotism of De Longueuil ; the 
 daring achievements of his worthy brothers d'Iberville and De 
 Stc.-H^lfene ; the self-sacrificing Bollard des Ormeaux and his 
 Spartan band of heroes; the saintly memories of Jogues, De 
 Brebceuf and L'AUeman ; the lion heartedness of grim old 
 Count de Frontenac, answering admiral Phips from the 
 mouths of his cannon, as well as of other worthies whose 
 careers constitute, according to a well-remembered Vice-Roy 
 of ours. Lord Elgin, what he happily styled " the heroic era 
 of Canada," easy would be my task, ample the material. 
 
 The pregnant though silent past abounds with grand 
 figures in our historical drama ; of men illustrious in life, glo- 
 rious in death ! But it is not my purpose to entertain you this 
 evening with man's prowess in the early history of Canada. 
 My object is to recite to you the plain and unvarnished tale of 
 three of the purest, bravest and most devoted women that have 
 illustrated the early part of our history, whose heroic deeds 
 cast a guiding-hallow in the path of toiling and tottering 
 humanity, and to whose spotless record thinking men cannot 
 remain indifferent. 
 
 We have had on our side of the frontier, as you have had 
 on yours, several noteworthy women, who have left their foot- 
 prints on the sands of time. 
 
 One of the first recalled is the helpmate of the dauntless 
 
Ari, Science, Literature, and Commerce. log 
 
 founder of Quebec, Hel^ne Boull^, the girlish-bride won by 
 Samuel de Champlain from her gay and refined Parisian home, 
 and whose sweetness later on, in 1620, made fragrant Canadian 
 wilds. 
 
 On the 5th December, i6fo, Champlain was wedded to 
 Mademoiselle H^l^ne Boull6, whose father, Nicolas Boull6, was 
 private secretary in the King's household. The damsel had 
 not yet attained her twelfth year ; she had been brought up a 
 Calvinist, the faith of her father. Her mother, Marguerite Alixe, 
 originally a Roman Catholic, had also espoused her husband's 
 creed : but presently we shall see the youthful H^lene adopting 
 Champlain's religious tenets and becoming, in later years, quite 
 an enthusiast in her newly-pledged faith. 
 
 It was soon rumored that the daring founder of Quebec 
 had not only won the hand of a handsome, high-born French 
 girl, but also the heart of an heiress: 4,500 livres of her dowry 
 of 6,000 livres were forthwith placed at the disposal of her 
 liege lord to fit out vessels for his return to Quebec. However, 
 it does not appear that until her landing in Quebec, the youthful 
 bride had seen much of her elderly husband, who was constantly 
 engaged about 161 8 in distant sea-voyages, land explorations 
 and Indian wars. Champlain spent two years in France, and 
 having realized upon all he possessed there, he persuaded his 
 spouse, who had then attained her twenty-second year, to accom- 
 pany him to Canada. She cheerfully consented, taking with her 
 three maids-in-waiting. 
 
 Intense was the joy of the struggling colonists at the return 
 of their brave Governor, their trusted and powerful protector ; 
 
uo Ncio Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 great was their admiration of the winsome and lovable wife that 
 accompanied him. 
 
 The first lady of Canada very soon realized what meant a 
 Quebec home in 1620. It was a life of incessant alarms, with 
 scurvy and periodical famines for the colonists ; of gluttony and 
 pagan rites, of debauchery on the part of the greasy, naked and 
 uncouth savages hutted round the fort. 
 
 Within two years after Madame de Champlain's arrival, a 
 large band of Iroquois hovered on the outskirts of Quebec. The 
 recollection of the fatal effects of Champlain's arquebuse alone 
 deterred them from raiding the town. One day Champlain and 
 the greater portion of his men being abserjt, the war-whoop 
 was sounded ; the women and children shut themselves in 
 the fort, the Recollet Convent on the banks of the St. Charles 
 was assailed. The friars fortified their quarters, and made a 
 bold front ; the Iroquois retired after capturing two Hurons, 
 whom they tortured and burnt. Judge of the alarm of the 
 gentle deserted lady in the fort and of her French maids. 
 For four successive winters January storms and prowling Indians 
 had gathered round the battlements of the grim old fort, and still 
 Madame de Champlain remained firm at her post of duty. 
 
 One of her favorite occupations was that of ministering 
 to the spiritual and temporal wants of the Indian children, and 
 visiting them in their wigwams. Soon she appeared, in their 
 simple and grateful eyes, as a species of superior being ; they 
 felt inclined to worship her. History recalls the charms of her 
 person, her winning manners, her kindliness. The Governor's 
 lady, in her rambles in the forest, wore an article of feminine 
 toilet not unusual in those days : a small mirror hung to her 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce, iii 
 
 side. The savages took particular delight in seeing their swarthy 
 face reflected in the magical glass. It appealed irresistibly 
 to their simple nature : " A beauteous being, they said, who 
 watched over them in sickness, who loved them so much as i-o 
 carry their image close to her heart, must be more than human." 
 Blessings and offerings attended her footsteps. 
 
 The graceful figure of the first lady of Canada gliding 
 noiselessly, more than two centuries ago, by the side of the 
 murmuring waters of the wild St. Lawrence, a help-mate to her 
 noble husband, a pattern of purity and refinement, was indeed a 
 vision of female loveliness and womanly devotion for a poet to 
 immortalize. 
 
 Daily alarms, solitude, isolation from the friendly faces of 
 her youth, soon began to tell on the forlorn chdtclainc. Four 
 years of existence in this bleak wilderness was too much 
 for the high-born dame, nurtured amidst the amenities of 
 Parisian salons. She longed for the loved home beyond the 
 seas. In her dreums another solitude had been revealed to her : 
 the mystif- aolitude of the cloister, where, undisturbed, she 
 might send up her prayers on high for her absent husband. 
 
 One bright August morning in 1624, [the 15th], all Quebec 
 sorrowfully watched the sails of a white-pennoned bark, reced- 
 ing beyond Pointe Levi, conveying to less lonely climes the 
 released captive. . . . 
 
 Nineteen years after the death of her valiant knight, 
 Madame de Champlain founded at Meaux, in France, a 
 Convent of Ursulines nuns, to which she retired. On the 20th 
 December, 1654, her gentle spirit took from thence its flight 
 to less evanescent scenes. 
 
112 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 We shall shift the scene from the old Stadacona's heights 
 to the rugged though fertile land to which the magic pencil of 
 Longfellow has lent unfading glamour : to Acadia, now Nova 
 Scotia. 
 
 More than one hundred years before the forest primeval 
 and golden wheat-fields of Grand Vxt had echoed the sighs of 
 Longfellow's Acadian Maidens, there lived, loved and died on 
 the historic shores of the river St. John, at Fort St. Louis, an 
 accomplished French lady, known to history as the Lady de 
 la Tour. 
 
 Claude de St. Et"enne, Sieur de la Tour, was allied to the 
 noble French house of Bouillon, but had lost the greater part 
 of his estates in the civil wars. He came to Acadia about the 
 year 1609 with his son Charles, who was then only fifteen years 
 of age. 
 
 Charles, after the destruction of Port-Royal by Argall, 
 became the fast friend of Biencourt and lived with him, both 
 leading a free and easy woodman's life. Biencourt claimed 
 important rights in Port-Royal. 
 
 At his death, he bequeathed his claims to the young 
 Huguenot, Charles de la Tour, namingh im his lieutenant and 
 successor in the Government of the colony ; he could not have 
 selected a bolder, a more enterprising and successful leader. 
 
 In 1625, or thereabout, Charles de la Tour married the 
 lady whose adventurous career it is my object to depict. 
 
 Shortly after his marriage he removed to a fort he had 
 erected near Cape Sable, which he called Fort St. Louis, and 
 which he also intended to make a convenient depot for Indian 
 trade. 
 
Ari, Science, Literature, and Commerce. iij 
 
 About this period the French colonists were becoming 
 sensible of the weakness of their settlements in Acadia in case 
 of foreign aggression. Claude de la Tour, the father of Charles, 
 was sent to France to represent the matter to the French Gov- 
 ernment. Returning with ammunition and supplies intended 
 for Port-Royal and Quebec, the squadron, in 1628, was captured 
 with Roquemont's fleet by Sir David Kirk, and Claude de la 
 Tour was sent a prisoner to England. Far from losing heart, 
 he seems to have made the most of his captivity to forward his 
 own ends. 
 
 A Huguenot of note, he found favor at once among the 
 French Huguenots who, exiled from their own sunny land by 
 intolerance, had sought an asylum in London. 
 
 The English Monarch sought them as useful allies. 
 
 Claude de la Tour was introuuced to Court, fell in love and 
 married one of the ladies in wai.lug ol Queen Henrietta Maria, 
 the consort of Charles I., and was dubbed a Nova Scotia knight. 
 He, as well as his son who then commanded in Acadi.i, was pro- 
 mised a grant of 4,500 square miles in the new Scotch colony 
 to be founded there by Sir William Alexander, provided he 
 could persuade his son to hand over his fort to the representa- 
 tives of the English king. 
 
 The unscrupulous parent, on mentioning to his son the 
 price which those flattering distinctions and emoluments were 
 to cost, soon found out that something greater than ill they 
 might represent existed, that was summed up in the word 
 " Honor." Charles de la Tour indignantly scorned tL ^ parental 
 offer. 
 
 Trouble was in store for Charles the moment D'Aulnay 
 
11^ New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 Charnisay, Razely's lieutenant, came to Acadia in command of 
 another settlement. Charnisay was restless, ambitious, revenge 
 ful : " Acadia seemed too small for two such aspiring men." 
 Soon Charnisay set to work to supplant his rival at the French 
 Court, and succeeded through powerful friends. The blow fell 
 on De la Tour in 1641 ; his commission as the King's Lieutenant 
 was revoked and a vessel sailed from France to carry back the 
 deposed Governor. Encouraged by his spirited wife, Charles 
 refused to bend his head to the storm — urging that the 
 King's good faith had been surprised. He fortified the fort, 
 applied to Boston for help and sent a representative to the 
 Huguenots of La Rochelle seeking aid against their great 
 enemy, Richelieu. De Charnisay, in the meantime, had gone 
 over to France to prosecute his deadly plans of revenge against 
 De la Tour, and he heard of the arrival of the Lady De la 
 Tour, whose influence he dreaded very much. He at once pro- 
 cured an order for her arrest, as being an accomplice in her 
 husband's treason. She fled to England and succeeded in 
 chartering a ship in London, which she freighted with provis- 
 ions and munitions of war to relieve her husband at Fort La 
 Tour. Instead of steering straight for the Fort, the English 
 captain spent several months trading on the coast for his own 
 account. De Charnisay had not remained idle in the mean- 
 while. On returning he laid watch and succeeded in inter- 
 cepting the ship ; the master had to conceal in the hold his 
 daring passenger, the Lady De la Tour, pretending his vessel 
 was bound for Boston. De Charnisay then gave him a message 
 to deliver to the Boston authoritie: and he reached there a few 
 days after. 
 
 4. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 115 
 
 This change of itinerary, added to the untoward delay 
 which had already occurred, was a grievous loss and incon- 
 venience to the Lady De la Tour. She brought suit in Boston 
 against the English captain on the charter-party for damages, 
 which were awarded to her to the extent of ^2,000 by a full 
 bench of magistrates. She seized the cargo of the ship and 
 hired three vessels to convey herself and property to Fort La 
 Tour, where she arrived in 1644, to the great joy of her hus- 
 band, after an absence of more than twelve months. 
 
 De Charnisay, after storming at Governor Endicot and the 
 Boston people generally, for having given help to Lady De la 
 Tour, took advantage of the absence of Governor De la Toui 
 from his fort to attack it fiercely, after having first apprised 
 himself of its weak condition. The garrison, 'tis true, was 
 small, but there was at its head an indomitable spirit worth a 
 whole garrison, the Lady De la Tour. She stationed herself 
 on the bastion, directing the cannonade and infusing into the 
 combatants her own heroic spirit. Soon she had the satisfac- 
 tion of seeing De Charnisay's ship making cover behind a point 
 to prevent her sinking, and twenty of the besiegers laying dead 
 and thirteen wounded. This repulse took place in February, 
 1645. 
 
 De Charnisay's last attack on Fort La Tour occurred on 
 the 13th April, 1645. This time the attack was directed from 
 the land side. Unfortunately, the fort was in no better condi- 
 tion than on former occasions to make an attack ; moreover, 
 De la Tour was absent and in Boston, unable to reach the 
 fort, owing to the armed cruisers with which De Charnisay 
 patroled the Bay of Fundy. The Lady De la Tour, though 
 
Ji6 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 despairing of making a successful resistance, resolved to 
 defend the fort to the last.* For three successive days and 
 nights the storming continued, but the defence was so well 
 managed that the besiegers made no progress and De Char- 
 nisay was compelled to retire with loss. 
 
 Treachery, however, finally achieved what valor had failed 
 to effect. Charnisay found means to bribe a Swiss sentry who 
 formed part of the garrison, and on the fourth day, an Easter 
 Sunday, while the garrison were at prayers, this traitor per- 
 mitted the enemy to approach without giving any warning. 
 They were in the act of scaling the walls before the inmates of 
 the fort were aware of their attack. Lady De la Tour instantly 
 rushed out at the head of her soldiers and fought the besiegers 
 with so much vigor that Charnisay, who had already lost twelve 
 men besides many wounded, despaired of the success of his 
 undertaking. He therefore proposed terms of capitulation, 
 offering the garrison life and liberty if they consented to sur- 
 render. Lady De la Tour, persuaded that successful resistance 
 was no longer possible and desirous of saving the lives of those 
 under her command, accepted the terms offered by Charnisay 
 and allowed him to enter the fort 
 
 It was then that the full baseness of Charnisay's nature 
 was revealed. With the exception of one man, he ordered the 
 
 * Madame De la Tour's career is the subject of one of John Greenleaf 
 Whittier's sweetest poems, entitled : Saint John, 1647. The noble con- 
 duct of her husband in refusing to surrender to his father's sollicitations, 
 for the English king, the French fort he held, was immortalized in verse by 
 the late G^rin-Lajoie, one of our leading writers, in a drama, entitled : Le 
 Jeune Latour. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. iiy 
 
 whole garrison, Frencly as well as English, to be hanged ; the 
 one life he spared was on the dreadful condition that he should 
 become the executioner of his comrades in arms. Even the 
 slaughter of these poor soldiers failed to satisfy his blood- 
 thirsty instincts. Had he dared, he would doubtless have had 
 Lady De la Tour assassinated with the rest ; but the Court of 
 France, venal though it was, might not have tolerated such an 
 outrage. Charnisay did what was almost as contemptible ; the 
 heroic womai., with a rope around her neck, like one who' 
 should also have been executed, but who by favor had been 
 reprieved, was forced to be present at the execution of her 
 soldiers. It mattered nought to her what further schemes of 
 vengeance her implacable foe might devise. None could move 
 her, her great heart was broken. She was far away from her 
 husband, to whose fortunes she had been so faithful ; she dared 
 scarcely hope to see his face again, except, like herself, a cap- 
 tive. Her work in life was done ; she felt she was not born for 
 captivity, so she faded away and drooped day by day, until 
 her heroic soul left its earthy tenement. Within three weeks 
 after the capture of the fort she was laid to rest on the green 
 banks of the St. Johns River, which she had loved so well, and 
 where she had lived for so many years, " leaving a name as 
 proudly enshrined in Acadian history," says the historian, "as 
 that of any sceptered Queen in European history." 
 
 Let us now review one of those energetic characters which 
 marked one of the proudest epochs in Canadian history : The 
 era of Frontenac. 
 
 You have all heard of the dashing French regiment of 
 Carignan, commanded by Colonel de Sali^res, which the Grand 
 
ii8 New Papers o?t Canadian History^ 
 
 Monarque, Louis XIV., in 1664, had given his haughty Vice- 
 Roy, the Marquis de Tracy, as an escort to Quebec. It was 
 officered by sixty or seventy French gentlemen, many of whom 
 were connected with the French noblesse. Four companies, 
 some six hundred men, were disbanded shortly after their 
 arrival in New France. The officers and privates were induced, 
 by land grants, supplies of cattle and other marks of royal 
 favor to marry and settle in the New World. Many of them 
 acquiesced and became the respected sires of the leading French 
 families in after years. Among them De Chambly, Sorel, Du 
 Gu6, La Valtrie, Verch^res, Berthier, Granville, Contrecceur, 
 De Meloises, Tarieu de la Parade, Saint-Ours, De la Fouille, 
 Maximin, Lobeau, Petit, Rougemont, Traversy, De la Nouette, 
 Lacombe and others, worthy comrades in arms of De Lon- 
 gueuil, d'lberville, and de Ste-H^l^ne. 
 
 One of them, M. de Verch^res, obtained in 1672, on the 
 banks of the St. Lawrence, near Montreal, where now stands 
 the flourishing parish of Verch^res, a land-grant, of three miles 
 square, which the King materially increased in extent the 
 following year. 
 
 In those troublesome times, the seigneur's house meant a 
 small fort, to stave off Indian aggression. " These forts," 
 says the historian Charlevoix, "were merely extensive enclosures, 
 surrounded by palisades and redoubts. The church and the 
 dwelling of the seigneur were within the enclosure, which was 
 sufficiently large to admit, on an emergency, the women and 
 children, and the farm-cattle ; one or two sentries mounted 
 guard by day and by night ; with small field pieces, they kept in 
 check the skulking enemy and served to warn the settlers to 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. iig 
 
 arm and hasten to the rescue. These precautions were sufficient 
 to guard against a raid," but not in all cases as we shall soon 
 see. 
 
 Taking advantage of the absence of M, de Verch^res, the 
 ever-watchful Iroquois drew stealthily around the little fort and 
 took to climbing over the palisades. On hearing which, Marie- 
 Madeleine de Verch^res, the youthful daughter of the seigneur, 
 seized a musket and fired it. The marauders alarmed, 
 slunk away, but on finding that they were not pursued, they 
 returned and spent two days hovering like wolves around the 
 fort, however not daring to enter, as ever and anon a bullet 
 would reach the man who first attempted an escalade. What 
 increased their surprise, was that they could detect inside no 
 living creature except a woman ; but this female was so active, 
 so fearless, so ubiquitous, that she seemed to be everywhere at 
 once. Nor did her unerring fire cease, so long as there was an 
 enemy in sight. The dauntless holder of the fort Verch^res 
 was Mile de Verch^res, then in her twelfth year. This hap- 
 pened in 1690. 
 
 Two years later, the Iroquois returned in larger force, 
 having chosen the time of the year when the settlers were 
 engaged in the fields, tilling the soil, to pounce upon them. 
 Mile de Verch^res, then aged fourteen, happened to be saun- 
 tering on the river bank. Noticing a savage aiming at her, she 
 eluded his murderous intent by rushing homeward at the top 
 of her speed ; but for swiftness of foot the Indian was her 
 match, terror added wings to her flight. With tomahawk up- 
 raised, he gradually gained upon her, and was in fact rapidly 
 closing as they neared the fort, another bound and she might 
 
120 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 be beyond his reach. Straining every nerve, the Indian sprang 
 and seized the kerchief which covered her throat. Rapid as 
 thought, and whilst the exulting savage raised his arm to strike 
 the fatal blow, Mademoiselle tore asunder the knot which 
 fastened her kerchief, and, bounding within the fort like a 
 gazelle, closed the door against her pursuer. 
 
 ** To arms ! To arms ! ! " Without heeding the groans of the 
 inmates, who could see from the fort their husbands and 
 brothers carried away as prisoners, she rushed to the bastion, 
 where stood the solitary sentry, seized a musket and a soldier's 
 cap, and ordered a great clatter of guns, so as to make believe 
 the fort was fully manned. She next loaded a small field-piece, 
 and not having a wad at hand, thrust in a towel instead, and 
 discharged the piece at the enemy. This unexpected rebuff, 
 struck terror in the marauders, who saw their warriors one after 
 the other grievously hit. Thus armed and with but the aid of 
 one soldier only, she continued the fire. Presently the alarm 
 reached the neighborhood of Montreal, when an intrepid officer, 
 the Chevalier de Crisasi, brother io the Marquis of Crisasi, then 
 Governor of Three Rivers, rushed to Verch^res at the head of a 
 chosen band of men ; but the savages had made good their 
 retreat with three prisoners. After a three days pursuit, the 
 Chevalier found them with their captives strongly intrenched in 
 the woods on the borders of Lake Champlain. The French 
 officer completely routed the murderous crew — cut them to 
 pieces only a few who escaped. The prisoners were released, 
 all New France resounded with the fame of Mile de Verch^res 
 who was awarded the title of heroine. 
 
 Another instance of heroism on her part, added fame to her 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 121 
 
 reputation for courage. A French commander, M. de La Nau- 
 di^re de la Parade, was pursuing the Iroquois, some writers say 
 in the neighborhood of the river Richelieu, according to others 
 in the vicinity of the river Ste.-Anne, when there sprang, 
 unexpectedly, out of the underbrush, a swarm of the implacable 
 foes. Taken unaware M. de la Parade was just on the point of 
 falling a victim to their ambush when Mile de Verch^res, 
 seizing a musket, rushed on the enemy at the head of some 
 resolute men and succeeded in saving him from the Indian toma- 
 hawk. She had achieved a conquest, or better she became the 
 conquest of M. de la Perade, whose life she saved. Henceforth, 
 in history, the heroine de Verch^res will be known as Madame 
 de la Parade, the wife of an influential seigneur. 
 
 The fame of the heroine reached the banks of the Seine, 
 and Louis XIV. instructed his Vice-Roy in New France to 
 call upon her in person and procure her version of her 
 courageous deeds. The simple statement pleased the French 
 Monarch very much. 
 
 It was my intention to close the career of the Heroine of 
 Verch^res with this last episode, but on the eve of my leaving 
 for New York, an antiquarian friend, a lineal descendant also of 
 this noble woman, the Hon. Justice George Baby, of the Court 
 of Appeals, placed in my hand an unpublished memoir revealing 
 Madame de la Parade, as possessing the uncommon courage and 
 presence of mind you have just admired, not merely in the ' 
 spring-tide of her existence, but retaining it as well in the 
 autumn of life. 
 
 This document, aside of its historical value, gives interest- 
 ing glimpses of the vicissitudes of the daily life of the Canadian 
 
122 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 seigneurs in those time. Possibly you will forgive me for 
 trespassing on your indulgence a few moments longer, to give 
 you in English a few extracts. " Many years," says the 
 Memoir,* " after Mile de Verch6res' marriage to M. Tarieu de 
 la Naudi^re, Sieur de la Parade, she was instrumental in saving 
 his life a second time. The Iroquois, true to their sanguinary 
 instincts and to their deadly hatred of the French, never pad- 
 dled past Ste.-Anne de la Parade without leaving there some 
 trace of their hatred. About sunset, one mellow September 
 afternoon, either believing that M. de la Parade was absent and 
 that they had a chance to surprise the settlement, they landed. 
 The seignorial manor stood apart from other dwellings, a short 
 distance from the river, secluded from public gaze by a thick 
 growth of forest trees. Madame de la Parade's aged husband 
 was confined to his bed grievously ill. Except his wife and a 
 young maid servant sixteen years of age, no other inmates were 
 inside. 
 
 "The marauding Indians suddenly, landed from their 
 canoes which the rushes hid from view. One party marched 
 
 *This narrative, adds Judge Baby, I had from my aged aunt, Mile 
 Marguerite de La Naudi^re, a granddaughter of the heroine, who expired at 
 Quebec on the 17th of November, 1856, at the age of 81 years. 
 
 The venerable Mile de La Naudi^re was for years in Quebec a kind 
 of landmark between the past and the present. Her memory, conversational 
 powers and repartees, made her sought after by the highest in the land ; 
 her dignified and courteous manners reminded one of the old school. 
 More than once our Governors General and their families called on her, in 
 her St.-Louis Street mansion ; among others, the Earl of Elgin, Sir Edmund 
 Walker Head, Lord Monck. After his departure, Lord Elgin, kept up with 
 her a friendly correspondence until her death. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. I2j 
 
 towards the house, whilst another crouched behind the trees 
 waiting for a signal. 
 
 " A glimpse at the savages revealed to Madame de la 
 Parade what fate awaited her and her husband. She forthwith 
 bolted and barricaded the front door as best she could, coolly 
 directing her maid to fetch the only two fire-arms left by the 
 absent farm hands, she determined to face the foe, and if possible 
 keep them outside. 
 
 " The leader of the band and his blood-thirsty crew, had 
 scarcely ascended the wide flight of steps which led to the 
 front door of the manor, when she, without even allowing him to 
 speak, addressed him in his own dialect and in a firm voice 
 asked what he wanted. 
 
 " The chief, taken aback at hearing a white woman speak his 
 language, replied, in a subdued tone, that he wished to confer 
 with M. de la Parade — that he was the bearer of an important 
 message, stating that he and his friends knew enough of the 
 hospitality of M. de la Parade to warrant their visit to his house 
 and to expect meat and drink as well ; that they were hungry and 
 thirsty, adding also that a little fire-water would be acceptable. 
 
 " Madame de la Parade, without exhibiting the slightest 
 fear, replied that her husband was engaged, could not see them 
 told them to leave. 
 
 " The chief, convinced that he had merely to deal with a 
 lone woman, exchanged in a whisper a few words with his 
 followers ; then, raising his tone, insolently answered that if the 
 door was not instantly thrown open, that they would soon 
 find a way to enter. 
 
 " Well did Madame de la Parade know the treatment which 
 
124 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 awaited her, should the Indians enter. Her husband lay help- 
 lessly ill, within hearing of all this. Something had to be done, 
 and that instantly. Sending up to heaven a prayer for help, 
 she felt stronger, and, undaunted, spoke as follows : ' The door 
 shall remain closed, and if you refuse to go, I shall find means 
 to compel you.' 
 
 " The savages used their utmost strength in order to break 
 in ; in those days the door of a Canadian manor required to be 
 strong, as you may be sure. 
 
 " Baffled, the Indians rushed down the steps, uttering their 
 terrible war-whoop. Then crowding abreast a window, through 
 which they felt sure to find a passage, they poured in a volley of 
 shot and bullets which went crashing through the sash and 
 lodged in the wainscot and rafters. 
 
 " Quick as lightning, Madame de la Parade fired on the 
 murderous redskins, first one gun, then another. Astonished 
 by this vigorous reception, the marauders wavered, shrank back, 
 and finally retreated bearing one of their comrades wounded 
 in the leg. Instantly reloading, Madame de la Parade, had 
 just time, under the gathering shadows of evening, to give the 
 retreating horde another volley. One of those panics common 
 to Indians seems to have occurred ; and fancying the place was 
 protected they ran to their canoes. 
 
 " The brave woman's trials were only half over, for at this 
 moment, her young maid came rushing to her, saying : ' The 
 roof is on fire!' Parthian like, in their retreat, the Iroquois, 
 had directed flaming arrows towards the old peaked moss- 
 covered gable. How could her sick husband escape the flames ? 
 Even if she should succeed in carrying him beyond their reach, 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 12^ 
 
 were not the Indians lurking in the neighboring woods and 
 watching for a chance to pounce upon them ? 
 
 " She was not yet aware that the defeated savages were 
 retreating in their canoes from an imaginary pursuing foe. 
 Her first impulse was to ascend to the burning roof with her 
 maid and pour water on the flames ; her next thought was to 
 rush through the smoke and fire- to the apartment where M. 
 de la Parade lay, and implore him to rise and save himself. 
 But all in vain, he was too enfeebled. Thanking his devoted wife, 
 he replied that it seemed as if it were the will of God he should 
 die then. 'Adieu! Adieu! my kind and true friend,' said he, 'twice 
 under God's dispensation your heroism has saved me from the 
 Indian tomahawk. To-day, God calls me ! I am ready. Adieu.' 
 
 " Madame de la Parade, momentarily crushed by this har- 
 rowing scene, suddenly felt herself endowed with a supernatural 
 fortitude, and, seizing her sick husband in her arms she carried 
 him out, deposited him on the grass, and then, physically and 
 mentally exhausted fell insensible by his side. 
 
 " The evening was c«lm and the fire smouldered slowly on 
 the house-top. Soon a shower which had been threatening, 
 broke, and in a measure put out the fire whose reflection had 
 attracted the tenantry who came to the rescue." 
 
 The heroine of Verch^res expired at Ste.-Anne, on the 
 7th August, 1737. 
 
 Have these remarkable careers no lessons ? In Madame de 
 Champlain, we have a lady of noble birth, youth and beauty ; a 
 life pure and gentle, and kindliness combined to such a degree 
 as to make the possessor appear " more than human " to those 
 among whom fate had cast her. 
 
126 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 Madame de la Tour exhibits a sterner, more Spartan 
 spirit, ready at all times to confront war contumely, adversity 
 in its direst form ; a model of sweet, womanly devotion to her 
 husband and of self-sacrifice to duty. 
 
 In Mile de Verch^res, you have to admire the warm blood 
 of youth blending with the cool courage of maturer years ; the 
 masculine daring of the sterner portion of humanity pulsating 
 through a heart of fourteen summers, and gathering strength 
 with the weight of years. 
 
 Allow me to close my remarks with the sentiment 
 expressed in my opening : May Providence, in its clemency, 
 continue to send us more of those true, tender and brave 
 spirits, beacons from on high, to light up the rugged path of 
 erring, mortal man ! 
 
 Works on Canadian History consulted : — 
 
 Histoire de la Colonie Franqaise en Canada. — Faili.oU, Vol. I, 
 pp. 17, 185, 252. 
 
 Cours d' Histoire du Canada. — Ferland, Vol. I, p. 234. 
 
 First Conquest of Canada, — KiRKE, p. 69. 
 
 Relations des Jisuites. 
 
 Chroniques des Ursulines de Meaux. — ^JOURNAL DE QUEBEC, 1854. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce, I2y 
 
 History of Nova 5i-tf//Vi.— Beamish Murdoch. 
 
 History of Acadia.—]. Cavenay. 
 
 Histoire des Grandes Families Fran^aises du Canada. — DANIEL. 
 
 Histoire du Gi«rtrf<?.— Charlevoix, Vol. Ill, pp. 124, 125. 
 
 Histoire du Canada.— B\BAVV> pire. 
 
 Pantheon Canadien. — BlBAUDyV««^, p. 295. 
 
 Histoire de I'Amirique Septentrionale. — B\QUEV!LLE DE LA 
 POTHERNE. 
 
 Mimoires et Lettres de famille. — Hon. Judge Geo. Baby. 
 
 
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 LITERATURE IN CANADA. 
 
 GEO. STEWART, Jr., 
 D. C. i., F. R. G. S., F. R. S. C. 
 
 Read before the Canadian Club 
 of New York, 
 
 EING deeply sensible of the honor 
 which the Canadian Club has paid 
 me this evening, in asking me to be 
 its guest, I beg of you to accept in 
 return my heart-felt thanks. I thank 
 you also for the very flattering invi- 
 tation which has been given me to 
 address you on a subject, in which all 
 Canadians must, I am sure, take a 
 warm and appreciative interest. To have my name inscribed 
 on your list of guests, is an honor which I need not assure 
 you, I value most highly. The Canadian Club of New York, 
 
I JO New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 is an institution of which we Canadians feel justly proud, 
 because we know that it is a credit to our countrymen 
 in every way, that it is continually extending and broadening 
 its influence and importance, and that its roll of mem- 
 bership represents all that is best in the political, social and 
 commercial activity of Canada's sons in the great American 
 metropolis. But admirable as its character for hospitality 
 unquestionably is, the Club is more than a means for supplying 
 a place of pleasant resort for resident and visiting Canadians 
 in New York. It is an educator, in a certain sense, and the 
 present series of literary and social entertainments, will do 
 much to stimulate Canadian sentiment, patriotism and aspira- 
 tion. The pleasure of these meetings too, is materially 
 heightened by the happy manner in which your Committee 
 considers the claims of that element in our population which 
 is always fair and gentle, and to whose refining influences 
 the sterner sex owes so much. With such sharers of your 
 exile from your native land, as I see before me to-night, 
 radiant and charming as they all are, I am forced to the 
 conclusion that your self-imposed banishment cannot be so 
 very hard to bear after all. You do right, Mr. President, in 
 opening your splendid rooms to the ladies on occasions like 
 the present one, and it is an example which I think ought to 
 be followed, and no doubt will be, by other clubs. 
 
 But, you have asked me to address you a few words on 
 the subject of literature in Canada. As you are aware, ladies 
 and gentlemen, Canadian authorship is still in its infancy. The 
 plough has proved a mightier engine than the pen, and author- 
 ship has been followed feebly and precariously by men and 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. iji 
 
 women, who have never lost heart in their work, but 
 whose labors have been rewarded in too many instances, I 
 fear, by those soft words, which, however sweet to the ear, 
 fail entirely to butter our parsnips. No one has been able, 
 in Canada, to make the writing of books his sole means 
 of living. We have had to write our books under our breath, 
 as it may be said, and the marvel is that we have been able to 
 produce, under such depressing circumstances, so many works 
 of even respectable merit. The Canadian author is either a 
 professional or a business man, and his literary work 
 must be done, almost as an accomplishment, during the leisure 
 moments which may be snatched from the exacting occupa- 
 tions of real life. Of course, authorship prosecuted under such 
 disadvantages, must suffer, but notwithstanding many draw- 
 backs, the mental output of the Dominion is not inconsiderable. 
 At the recent Indian and Colonial Exhibition, in London, no 
 fewer than 3,000 volumes, all by native authors, were shown in 
 the library of the Canadian section, and this exhibit, as you 
 know, by no means exhausts the list of books actually written 
 by Canadians, during a century of time. The collection repre- 
 sented Canadian authorship in every department of its literature, 
 science, history and poetry being especially large and note- 
 worthy, while the other branches were not neglected. 
 
 Territorially, our country is extensive, and our literary 
 sons and daughters are to be encountered, now, from British 
 Columbia to Cape Breton, doing work which is good, and some 
 of it destined to stand. Frechette, the laureate of the 
 French Academy, not long ago, said, " Be Canadians and the 
 future is yours." " That which strikes us most in your poems," 
 
IJ2 New Papers on Canadian History , 
 
 said one of the Forty Immortals to the poet, " is that the 
 modern style, the Parisian style of your verses is united to 
 something strange, so particular and singular it seems an 
 exotic, disengaged from the entire work." This perfume of 
 originality which this author discovered was at that time 
 unknown to Frechette. What was it ? It was the secret of 
 their nationality, the certificate of their origin, their Canadian 
 stamp. And it is important never to allow this character to 
 disappear. There is much in this. Our country is full of 
 history, full of character, full of something to be met with 
 nowhere else in the world. A mine of literary wealth is to be 
 had in every section of the dominion, and it only awaits the 
 hand of the craftsman. Bret Harte opened up a new phase of 
 American character as he discovered it in wild California. Miss 
 Murfree found the Tennessee mountains rich in incident and 
 strong in episodes of an intensely dramatic color, and Mr. 
 Cable developed in a brilliant and picturesque way life and 
 movement among the Creoles of the South. Have we no 
 Canadian authors among us, who can do as much for us? 
 Lesp^rance, it is true, has dealt with one period of our history, 
 in a captivating way. Kirby has told the story of " The Golden 
 Dog " with fine and alert sympathies. Miss Macfarlane's " Chil- 
 dren of the Earth " depends on Nova Scotia for its scenic 
 effects. Marmette has presented, with some power, half a 
 dozen romances of the French regime, while Frechette has 
 dramatized the story of Papineau's rebellion. 
 
 But Canada is full of incident and romance, and the poet and 
 novelist have fruitful themes enough on which to build many a 
 fanciful poem and story. In history, we have much good writ- 
 
Ari, Science, Literature, and Commerce. ijj 
 
 ing, and I trust you will permit me to say, that I think our young 
 historians would do well not to attempt to do too much. 
 I would advise them to deal with periods rather than to write 
 complete histories of the whole country. Mr. John Charles 
 Dent has been most successful on two occasions, giving us the 
 history of old Canada, from the Union of 1841 to the present 
 time, and following up his labors with the " Story of the Upper 
 Canadian Rebellion." Mr. Edmund Collins has written of 
 Canada under Lord Lome's administration, and in the Life 
 and Times of Sir John A. Macdonald he has discussed, with 
 considerable independence, Canada's political and economical 
 progress during a burning period of our history. The Abb6s 
 Casgrain and Faillon, Judge Gray, Mr. Globensky, Mr. Tur- 
 cotte, Mr. George E. Fenety and Mr. de Gasp^ have also dealt 
 with epochs, and so have Messrs, David, Carrier, Bryce and 
 Adam. 
 
 In works relating to parliamentary procedure and prac- 
 tice, we have the notable contributions of Alpheus Todd, 
 John George Bourinot and Joseph Doutre. And in books of 
 purely antiquarian character, we have the investigations of 
 Scadding, Hawkins, Lemoine and Lawrence, while our annals, 
 from day to day, have found an industrious exponent in Mr. 
 Henry J. Morgan. Our larger historians are chiefly Ferland, 
 Faillon, Garneau, Withrow, Campbell, Suite, Beamish Murdoch 
 and McMullen. In biography we have the names of Fennings 
 Taylor, Alexander MacKenzie, Charles Lindsey, P. B. Casgrain 
 and William Rattray. In poetry we have a good showing, but 
 I need scarcely name more than Reade, Roberts, Mair, Murray, 
 Heavysege, Miss Machar, Mrs. Harrison (" Seranus ") among 
 
ij^ New Papers on Canadian History ^ 
 
 the English ; and Cr^mazie, Frechette, Le May, Legendre and 
 Routhier among the French. The list would not be complete 
 were I to omit a few of our essayists and writers on special 
 topics, such as Col. G. T. Denison, whose history of Cavalry 
 won the great Russian prize, Principal Grant, Chauveau, 
 Le Sueur, Samuel Dawson, Oxley, Jack, Griffin, Ellis, Faucher 
 de St. Maurice, Harper and George Murray. To studies on 
 political economy and finance we have contributed no promi- 
 nent names as writers of treatises on those subjects, but George 
 Hague and the late Charles F. Smithers of Montreal have 
 presented the banking side of the argument, in sound, practical 
 papers of great value. In almost every department of scientific 
 investigation and thought we have an array of men of whom 
 any country might be proud, some of them having a fame 
 which is world-wide. Briefly, I may mention a few of these, 
 such as the Dawsons, father and son, Drs. Wilson, Hunt, 
 Hamel, Selwyn, Bell, Lafiamme, Lawson, MacGregor, Bailey, 
 and Messrs. Sandford Fleming, Matthews, Murdoch, Carpmael, 
 Johnson, Hoffman, Bayne and Macfarlane. Of course, this 
 list, by no means, includes all. 
 
 Thf education of the French Canadian is much more 
 literary than scientific. His taste for letters is cultivated at 
 quite an early age, and oratory, belles-lettres and the classics 
 form by far the stronger part of his mental outfit on leaving 
 college. Higher thought and scientific research have few 
 charms for him which he cannot withstand, and he turns, with 
 passion almost, to poetry, romance, light philosophy and 
 history. He is an insatiable reader, but his taste is circum- 
 scribed and narrowed, and following the bent of his inclinations. 
 
Arty Science, Literature, and Commerce. ij§ 
 
 he eschews all the troublesome paradoxes of literature, avoids 
 speculative authors, and reads with delight and appreciation 
 the books which furnish him with the most amusement. He 
 seeks recreation in his reading matter, and, sympathizing with 
 Emerson, though he scarcely knows a line of that author, he 
 makes it a point to read only the books which please him the 
 best. He likes clever verses and a good novel, and as the 
 printing-press of France furnishes exemplars of these in 
 abundance, he is never put to straits for supplies. Naturally 
 enough, when the French Canadian attempts authorship, he 
 writes poetry, romances, chroniqucs and history. The latter he 
 does very well, and exhibits industry and skill in the arrange- 
 ment of his materials and the grouping of his facts. His work 
 rarely fails in artistic merit, and its strength lies in the easy 
 flow and elegance of its diction, and the spirit in which the 
 author approaches his ubject. Quebec's list of poets is a long 
 one. Almost every y-educated young man can, at will, 
 
 produce a copy of well-turned verse, but fortunately all do not 
 exercise their power, nor do those who print poems in the 
 newspapers always make volumes of their lays afterwards. 
 Strange to say, Quebec is singularly badly-off for female poets. 
 I know of but one or two ladies who have courted the muses 
 and printed their verses. We must not forget, however, that 
 a poem is often emphasized in the tying of a ribbon, in the 
 arrangement of the hair, and in the fashioning of a bow, and it 
 would be unfair to describe Quebec's young women as unpoeti- 
 cal merely because they have not seen fit to put their 
 thoughts into song. There are many male poets in the 
 province, but it will be unnecessary to concern ourselves, at 
 
ij6 New Papers on Canadian History ^ 
 
 this time, with more* than half a dozen of the better-known 
 ones. These are Crdmazie, Frechette, Le May, Garneau, 
 Routhier and Suite, each distinct from the other, in style, 
 touch and motive. Joseph Octave Cr^mazie deserves, perhaps, 
 the special title of national poet of French Canada, but Louis 
 Honors Frechette, whose versatility and fancy rise to great 
 heights, is not far below him. There are few prominent 
 novelists, as I have said, of either French or English origin. 
 The name of James de Mille, a New-Brunswicker, stands out 
 prominently, but his fiction is little tinctured with the Cana- 
 dian flavor. Among the French, we have only Chauveau, 
 Marmette, Bourassa and Le May. 
 
 Literature in Canada, owes much to the various literary 
 and historial societies, which exist in nearly all the chief 
 towns of the Dominion. The parent of them all is the 
 old Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, which was 
 founded in 1824, by the Earl of Dalhousie, then Governor- 
 General. This institution owns many rare manuscripts and 
 printed books, relating to the early history of the country, and 
 every year its treasures are explored and investigated by 
 historians and enquirers from all parts of the Continent. The 
 Society has published some valuable memoirs, transactions 
 and manuscripts in French and in English, and these are held 
 in high repute by scholars everywhere. In Montreal, Toronto, 
 Halifax, St. John, N. B., and Winnipeg, similar societies enjoy 
 a flourishing and useful existence. Four years ago, the 
 Marquis of Lome, founded the Royal Society of Canada. The 
 membership was limited to eighty men, and the objects of the 
 society may be thus described : firstly, to encourage studies and 
 
Ari, Science, Literature, and Commerce. ijj 
 
 investijjations in literature and science ; secondly, to publish 
 transactions containing the minutes of proceedings at meetings, 
 records of the work performed, original papers and memoirs of 
 merit, and such other documents as might be deemed worthy 
 of publication ; thirdly, to offer prizes or other inducements for 
 valuable papers on subjects relating to Canada, and to aid 
 researches already begun and carried so far as to render their 
 ultimate value probable ; fourthly, to assist in the collection of 
 specimens, with a view to the formation of a Canadian Museum 
 of Archives, Ethnology, Archaeology and Natural History. 
 The society is divided into four sections; i. — French Litera- 
 ture, with history, archaeology and allied subjects ; 2. — 
 English Literature with history, archaeology and allied 
 subjects ; 3. — Mathematical, chemical and physical sciences ; 
 4. — Geological and biological sciences. The sections meet 
 separately for the reading and discussion of papers, or other 
 business, during the annual session of the society, which has so 
 far assembled at Ottawa in the month of May. These 
 meetings have been most successful, in point of attendance 
 and work actually performed, and the usefulness of the society 
 has been greatly extended by its catholicity and liberality 
 towards kindred institutions, almost every one of which, in 
 Canada, has been invited annually to send delegates to the 
 Royal. These representatives have the privilege of taking part 
 in all general or sectional meetings for reading and discussing 
 papers. They may also communicate a statement of original 
 work done, and papers published during the year by their own 
 societies, and may report on any matters which the Royal 
 Society may usefully aid in publication or otherwise. The 
 
ij8 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 Dominion Government aids the Royal Society by an annual 
 grant of $5,000, which is set aside for the publication of the 
 transactions and proceedings. Thus far, four large volumes 
 have been published, and a glance at their contents affords 
 convincing testimony of the value of the work which the 
 society is doing. Its weak point, doubtless, rests in the literary 
 sections. But even those departments may be made valuable and 
 eminently useful in time. In archaeology, history and ethnology 
 the field is wide, and it is satisfactory to note that the two first 
 sections are already devoting their energies to their special line 
 of work with vigor and zeal. In one branch of study, in particu- 
 lar, that of ethnology, the Royal Society has an important duty 
 to perform. The Indian population is fast disappearing. In a 
 few years, the characteristics of the red races will be wholly 
 lost. It is necessary to preserve these, while the tribes remain, 
 and this work is being done by the second section of the Royal 
 Society, and it is a work which possesses a value that cannot 
 be over estimated. Of course, in historical research, and in 
 archaeological investigation, the extent of the society's labors 
 is practically unlimited. Royal societies, with similar objects 
 in view, exist in various quarters of the globe. Canada surely, 
 is old enough and advanced enough to have one also. 
 
 In a paper such as this, some reference should be made to 
 the really admirable Department of Archives, which is main- 
 tained by the Dominion Government at Ottawa. It is under 
 the charge of that competent and zealous officer, Mr. Douglas 
 Brymner, whose tastes and training well fit him for the duties 
 of his office. He has really created the department and made 
 it one of the most efficient in the public service of Canada. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. ijg 
 
 Fifteen years ago the historical records of Canada had scarcely 
 an abiding place. We had no regular system by which letters, 
 pamphlets, printed books and documents and manuscripts 
 relating to the commercial, literary and political activity of the 
 country could be preserved, and rendered accessible to the 
 student. Thousands of valuable papers were in imminent 
 danger of being lost ; many undoubtedly did perish. In 
 1 87 1, a number of literary men of Canada, petitioned the 
 legislature to organize a branch of the public service by means 
 of which historical data might be preserved. Parliament 
 promptly acceded to this request, and the Minister of Agri- 
 culture added the Archives branch to his department. Mr. 
 Brymner was placed in charge, and he began his work of 
 collecting absolutely ab ovo, not a single document of any sort 
 being in hand when he commenced. To-day, the shelves of the 
 Department contain upwards of seven thousand volumes of 
 historical papers on every conceivable subject of interest to 
 Canadians. The work of indexing these enormous collections 
 goes on daily, and fresh matter is constantly being added, Mr. 
 Brymner's aim being to make the Archives truly national in 
 every respect and as complete as possible. 
 
 Much has been written about the law of copyright. Canada 
 passed a fairly good act in 1875, but as it contravened the 
 Imperial statute, it was not long before the authorities in 
 London declared the act ultra vires, and our publishers have 
 been in a most unhappy frame of mind ever since. In a word, 
 the business of publishing books in Canada is at a pretty low 
 ebb, and publishers find little encouragement in extending 
 their trade. The Canadian author is not so badly off, just now. 
 
1^0 New Papers on Canadian History ^ 
 
 Under the old British act, a very good rule only worked one 
 way. Thus, the English author who copyrighted his book in 
 England was fully protected in every colony flying the British 
 flag. The Canadian or Australian author, however, could only 
 obtain copyright in the colony or province where his book was 
 published. The other day, an amendment was made to the 
 act by the Imperial Parliament, and by its terms, any work 
 published in the Queen's dominions is fully protected ?,!! r"er 
 the vast empire. The various colonial governments were 
 communicated with on the subject, and all but New South 
 Wales replied favorably. That far-off dependency remains to 
 be heard from. Meanwhile, the act was passed, and for the 
 benefit of New South Wales a clause was inserted exempting 
 any colony from the operation of the measure, should it prefer 
 to keep to the old order of things. 
 
 And, just here, is a good place to ask, do Canadians read 
 the productions of their own authors ? What encouragement 
 do they give the writers of Canadian books? It is a fact that 
 Canada cannot support a really first-class magazine. The 
 experiment of magazine publishing has been tried in all the 
 chief cities of the Dominion, but it has failed in every instance, 
 though the trial has been made honestly and at considerable 
 sacrifice on the part of the promoters of the enterprise. Every 
 now and then we hear the question : Why does Car^ada not 
 have a magazine ? The Canadians read magazines, and pay for 
 them. This is true ; but it is also true that they want the best. 
 Their standard is high, and unless the publisher can supply a 
 publication which can compete with the important old world 
 and United States serials, they will not have it, no matter how 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 141 
 
 patriotic they may suppose thc:nselves to be. Of course, the 
 day is corrMtig when Canada will have its great monthly and 
 still greater quarterly, but the time is not yet ripe. In the 
 meantime, the question which presses for solution is, what are 
 we doing, in a helpful way, for our own authors in the 
 Dominion ? Are we encouraging them to write and publish ? 
 We know that men like Dr. Daniel Wilson, Prof. Clark Murray 
 and Mr. Grant Allen, and some others who could be named, 
 never think of publishing their books in Canada. They have 
 something to say, and expression to their views is always given 
 in the largest possible field. They find it to their advantage 
 to publish in England or in the United States. Small editions 
 of their books are sometimes sold to Canadian booksellers, 
 either in sheets, or bound up within cloth covers, but the copies 
 so disposed of, yield scarcely a tithe of the remuneration which 
 reaches the successful author, from the sale of his books in the 
 great markets in which they first see the light. The Canadian 
 author cannot be blamed for making the most of his opportu- 
 nities, in this way. The market in Canada is limited, and, as 
 a general thing, if a Canadian book is published in Canada, little 
 can be realized out of the venture. There are exceptions to 
 every rule of course, and a few Canadian books, written and 
 published in the Dominion, have repaid their authors very 
 well. Mr. Dent's Last Forty Years and his Story of the Upper 
 Canadian Rebellion, Principal Grant's Ocean to Ocean, Mr. 
 Bourinot's book on Parliamentary Practice, Picturesque Canada, 
 Mr. Bengough's amusing Caricature History of Canadian 
 Politics, Mr. Lemoine's historical sketches, and perhaps, 
 half a dozen other books, have yielded handsome returns to 
 
142 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 their authors, but the great majority of our Canadian books 
 have hardly paid the publisher in his outlay for printing and 
 binding. Mr. John Lovell, whose experience in the business 
 of book-publishing has been varied and extensive, used to call 
 the fruits of his enterprise, his " housekeepers." Eventually, 
 thousands of these volumes found their way to the trunk- 
 makers and the auction shops. And the same thing is still 
 going on. Now what can be said on the subject ? We cannot 
 force the public of Canada* to buy and read the works of 
 Canadian writers. Our people are a reading community, and 
 judging from the collection of books which may be seen in 
 most houses, their literary taste is good. It might be said 
 that Canadian books are not bought because the style of their 
 authors is not of the highest excellence, that crudity and not 
 elegance is their chief characteristic, and that in point of topic 
 and treatment they possess little that is calculated to commend 
 them to the book-buyer. But is this true ? 
 
 We often speak of Canadian literature, but let us ask 
 ourselves the question : Have we a literature of our own ? 
 Certainly, we have writers of books; but does the literary work 
 which they perform constitute a literature, in the fullest mean- 
 ing of the term ? Mr. Charles Dudley Warner has voiced the 
 idea that the lack of intellectual activity of the Canadians is 
 due to the fact that they have to put forth so much of their 
 physical energy in an endeavor to keep warm. But Mr. 
 Warner's delicious satire is often extravagant, we know, and 
 we also know that he is never quite so extravagant as when he 
 undertakes to deal with Canadian affairs. Mr. Carter Troop, 
 the other day, discussed Mr. Warner's views, in some sharp 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 143 
 
 paragraphs, in the New York Critic ; but, at the same time, he 
 felt constrained to acknowledge that in Canada there was con- 
 siderable " literary feebleness." The cause of this he ascribes 
 to our " humble political status." " As a colony," he writes, 
 " Canada possesses neither the higher attributes nor the graver 
 responsibilities of national existence ; and where such attri- 
 butes and responsibilities are wanting, national life and feeling, 
 the source and inspiration of all literary achievements, will be 
 equally wanting." Of course, this simply means that the 
 colonial position is fatal to the development of our higher 
 intellectual life and movement, — literary genius in fact, — and 
 that the panacea for our ills in that respect is independence 
 alone. I cannot go as far as that, though I must admit that 
 the idea is suggestive and may be discussed, American letters, 
 we know, during the colonial period, were feel'le and insignifi- 
 cant. After years of independence came a literature, full of 
 promise and character. But has its present robust condition 
 been reached by independence merely? Must C ■\nada pursue a 
 similar course of political advancement, if she would have a 
 literature of marked individuality, color and strength ? I should 
 be sorry to think so. Canada is still young in years, and time will 
 work a change. American literature has grown with the increase 
 in the ranks of the leisure class in the United States, and educa- 
 tion has done the rest. Only a few decades ago, the people of 
 the great Republic, were largely dependent on British and 
 European authors for their intellectual food. Even the serials 
 in the leading magazines of New York, Boston and Philadelphia, 
 v/ere from the pens of English novelists. The literature which 
 we all admire to-day, is really almost of yesterday. Most of 
 
144 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 us can remember when America had hardly more than three 
 or four fiction writers of repute, while half a dozen gentlemen 
 only were writing the ballads and poems of the nation, and of 
 the half-dozen, not more than four were distinctively American 
 in their treatment of scenery and incident. Give Canada a 
 chance. Give her time to have a large leisure class. Give to 
 her literary men and women, the incentive and encourage- 
 ment they need, and Canadian authorship will not lack in 
 individuality and robustness. Much has been done in the 
 way of education. Our wealthy men are endowing colleges, 
 and founding scholarships in the universities. Our schools 
 are practically free ; in some of our provinces, they are 
 entirely free. Perhaps, we are crowding too many men into 
 the professions, but in time^ even this error, if it be an error, 
 will regulate itself. The country is beginning to pay attention 
 to what men of culture and of thought have to say about the 
 various problems of life and of human experience. Our lectures 
 attract larger and more appreciative audiences. The people 
 read more, and they are exercising greater discrimination in 
 their reading than they ever did before, and, from all these 
 signs, I feel that I am safe in predicting that the day of 
 successful Canadian authorship is not far distant, and that we 
 will yet have a literature of which we may feel reasonably 
 proud, and that too, without changing our allegiance or 
 alter.i.g our system of political and national life. 
 
"■ '*i^. 
 
 G^ «..^ <?xr7fx..itf~- 
 
ECHOES FROM OLD ACADIA. 
 
 <i^. 
 
 i Read before the Canadian Club 
 ( of New York. 
 
 Prof. Cf/AS. G. D. ROBERTS, 
 
 Kings College., Windsor, N. S. 
 
 THE LIFTING OF THE CURTAIN. 
 
 ART of the making of our beloved 
 maple-leaf land has been played 
 by the seaward sister province 
 which once together formed Acadia. 
 Walled round with fogs, and rocks 
 and inhospitable seas, Acadia, now 
 divided into New Brunswick and 
 Nova Scotia, is lovely at heart 
 with sunshine and fertility. Her 
 harbors are gateways leading from a region of storm and wild 
 tides into a land of delicious summers, a land of tumbling 
 
1^6 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 streams and blue lakes, of ample meadows deep with grass and 
 flowers drowsing through the long afternoons, of vast forests so 
 thick that their grim shadows know scarcely touch of sun. 
 And one of these well favored Acadian havens lured to itself 
 the__first__settlenient thgt .struck root in thewhole broad 
 country, now called Canada. This was the ha rbor of Port 
 Royal, wherein de Monts set a colony in_j6o5. 
 
 It was seventy years before this that a drama had been 
 opened upon the Acadian stage. On the 30th of June, 1534, 
 it began, when Cartier sighted Cape Escuminac (locally now 
 Skiminac), on the gulf shore of New Brunswick. 
 
 Coming from the bleak, forbidding coasts of Newfound- 
 land, which he deemed to be Cain's portion of the earth, the 
 harshest corner of Acadia appeared to Cartier a Paradise. The 
 wide water in which he found himself was Miramichi Bay. 
 Not discovering the Miramichi itself, whose mouth lay hidden 
 close at hand, behind long ranges of sand pits, chains of islands, 
 and intricate shoals, he landed on the banks of a lesser 
 river, not identified among the thousand that overlace that 
 region with their silver courses. This stream rippled shallow 
 over its gleaming pebbles, and swarmed with trout and salmon. 
 The wide woods about were of pine and cedar, elm and oak, 
 birch, willow, fir, maple and tamarack, and the sailor's hearts 
 rejoiced over such unlimited possibilities of ships. Where the 
 woods gave back a little space, the ground was covered with 
 wild fruits. Great melting strawberries betrayed themselves 
 by their red gleams piercing the matted grass. The bronze- 
 green blackberry thickets were heavy with their yet unripened 
 fruitage, and the wild pea trammelled his footsteps with its 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 14^ 
 
 ropes of purple and pale green. This prodigal land was popu- 
 lous with game. When wild pigeons in innumerable flocks 
 streamed past and darkened the air, the heavens seemed as 
 thick with wings as the sea and streams with the countless 
 salmon passing the shoals. Every sedge-grown marsh was 
 noisy with ducks. Plover and curlew piped clearly about the 
 edges of the pools. And the people possessing this land were 
 friendly and few. 
 
 Bearing northward, Cartier's weather-darkened sails were 
 soon wafting him over the fairest bay his eyes had yet rested 
 upon. Its waters were clear green, and scarce rippled 
 under the steep sun of mid-July. No reefs, no shoals, but 
 here and there a dark green island asleep on the sleepy tide. 
 On either hand a long receding line of lofty shores drawing 
 close together towards the west, and shading gently from indigo 
 to pale violet. So great was the change from the raw winds 
 of the gulf to this sultry sea that Cartier named it Baie 
 des Chaleurs. Here they passed some days very sweetly in 
 indolent exploration, in trading with the hospitable Micmacs, 
 in feasting on seal flesh and salmon. So commercial were the 
 natives of this land that they bartered the clothes they wore 
 for trades and trinkets. Then Cartier sailed on to the north, 
 to discover the St. Lawrence. And the picture of this visit of 
 his to Acadian shores is the mere fleeting revelation of a light- 
 ening in the night, with thicker darkness following after it. 
 
 AT THE ST. CROIX MOUTH. 
 
 After a lapse of nearly three-quarters of a century, Acadian 
 history makes a real beginning at the St. Croix mouth. To 
 
 V V 
 
 <y 
 
/^<? New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 the Sieur de Monts were jjiven letters patent, conferriiifj on 
 him the title of Lieutenent-General of the Territory of Acadi/l, i^ 
 with full power, between the 40th and 46th parallels, to divide 
 and bestow the land as he might see fit ; with power also of 
 monopolizing trade, of making war and peace, and ordinances 
 and law. With him set sail from Havre de Grace, in March 
 1604, Baron de Poutrincourt, and the father of Canada, 
 Champlain. In June the prospective colony, in search of an 
 abiding place, having rejected Port Rossignol and the pastoral 
 valley of Port Royal, having traversed the yellow turbulence 
 of the Bay of Fundy and discovered the rock-bastioned harbor 
 hollowed by the outflow of the St. John, found itself among 
 the myriad islands of Passamaquoddy Bay. Even Clamplain, 
 the faithful chronicler, could keep no count of these islands. 
 A vast sweeping curve of the shore, leagues in extent, clasped 
 the sunny archipelago as a handful of jewels ; and at the apex 
 of the curve a broad river emptied itself quietly, between 
 wooded low-lying lands, watched over by a solitary peak. This 
 now they called the St. Croix, and on a little island within its 
 mouth they resolved to set their colony. The waters round 
 about were alive with fish, the islands in the bay with birds. 
 At the south or seaward end of the island, which was long and 
 narrow, containing about half a score of acres, rose a grassy 
 knoll upon which to set their watch. Save for a stray elm or 
 water-ash, the island bore but grass from brink to brink, and 
 the two or three trees they found they cut down to go to the 
 building of the fort. This was raised at the north end, and 
 around it clustered the dwelling-houses, the storehouse, the 
 chape', and a great baking oven of burnt brick. On the main 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. I4g 
 
 land near by they built a mill, and sowed, though it was now full 
 summer, their rye and barley ; and they laid out garden plots, 
 in loving likeness to the thyme closes and beds of marjorifjl ^-^^''^ 
 which sweetened the air around their Norman houses. Strange 
 in their nostrils were the heavy aromatic odors of the wild 
 parsnip, cloying the mid-day breeze. Strange in their ears w«» A/V^-t 
 the intricate metallic bubblings from the bobolink's throat, the 
 chide of the grackles in the alder and swaying elm-tops. They 
 cut the elm for building and the alder for fagots, and the 
 bobolink moved further off as he saw his loved wild-parsnip 
 heads laid low. So with digging and building the summer 
 passed merrily along. But, by and by, the summer went out in 
 a sudden blaze of scarlet and gold ; it 
 
 " Had glared against the noonday and was not ;" 
 
 and a dispiriting greyness stole across the landscape. When 
 the late October winds began to pipe over the shelterless 
 island, bending the sere, long grasses all one way, and ridden 
 by such a legion of dead leaves that every brook was choked 
 and the still pools hidden from sight, their hearts turned home- 
 ward very longingly. At last the Acadian winter broke upon 
 them, and it caught them unawares. The pleasant river grew 
 dark, of the hue of steel, and chafed past their thresholds with 
 a burden of ice and debris. The cold was such as France had 
 never taught them to endure or to conceive of ; sleet and 
 pitiless winds drove in through the chinks of their rough walls, 
 till they crouched over the meagre fires and grew sorely 
 wretched at heart. No fuel nor water was on the island, and 
 for both they had to face the fury of the weather and the 
 
i^o New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 danger of the sweeping ice-cakes. A band of Indians came 
 to their camp upon the ishind ; and the colonists, not yet 
 acquainted with the friendliness and good faith of these 
 "^ouriquois," were harassed with continual fear and watchings. 
 Champlain's hope and cheerfulness nothing could daunt, and 
 he strove to sustain the flagging spirits about him. But in 
 vain. Then from their despondency and homesickness, from 
 the cold on their bodies ill-inured to it, and from the salt 
 unwholesomeness of their fare, came disease upon them. It 
 was a plague, strange and terrible, for which they could find no 
 remedy. The mouths of those stricken swelled, and their 
 throats, till they were choking. Their teeth dropped out and 
 their limbs, grown horribly enlarged, were altogether useless. 
 So swift was the disease that hardly could the sick be given 
 service, and the dead buried. When spring came, and kindlier 
 skies, there remained alive but forty-fout persons, out of a band 
 of nearly four score ; and these, as soon as strength returned, 
 took ship with the first propitious weather. South as far as Cape 
 Cod they searched the coasts, and found no place quite to 
 their liking. But they had kept in mind the fertile valley and 
 spacious sheltered basin of Port Royal ; and thither they 
 betook themselves, with whatever could be carried away 
 from their sorrowful winter home. The fort and the walls of 
 their dwellings they left standing, and they sowed the island 
 with grain before forsaking it. The deserted walls soon feli^ 
 or were taken away by the Indians ; and the stone and cedar 
 foundations are buried under drift and river silt. The island 
 has moved up stream a little, gnawed off to windward by the 
 tides. But its shape is still unchanged, so that the ancient 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce, i^i 
 
 chronicle describes a familiar spot. The wind beats steadily 
 across it still, the grass bending before it with desolate mono- 
 tony ; and save for the solitary light-keeper, who is there but 
 from sunset to sunrise, the island is as empty of life to this 
 day as when Champlain first dropped anchor in the St. Croix 
 mouth. 
 
 FRENCH GARDENfJ, SABLE ISLAND. 
 
 " A land of sand, and ruin, and gold." 
 
 The question is almost literally correct. Scarce anything 
 but ruin and sand, is the bane of ocean-farers, the *' Isle of 
 Sable." And though there may be indeed but little gold herein, 
 yet there is no lack of costly merchandise washed upon its 
 avaricious shores, and none can tell the riches that lie hid in 
 •' the sands " secretive bosom of Sable Island ! It is a name to 
 conjure with, raising, as it created, more phantoms than any 
 other spot on the Atlantic. It is a name, when the fog is 
 thick and the winds are veering fitfully off the south-east of 
 Nova Scotia, to whiten the lips and cheeks of the hardiest 
 mariner. The island has been given another name : " The 
 charnel house of North America." Nevertheless, this place of 
 horrors has a strange fascination for those who visit it, volun- 
 tarily ! The sepulchere is well whitened. Though full of dead 
 men's bones, the island is kind to its dead. The clean, unresting 
 currents roll them and wash them, the clean sands swathe and 
 cover them away. But one holds one's grave in this island on 
 frail tenure, for the fickle winds and capricious waters love to 
 uncover again even what they have most carefully laid from 
 sight, and will shift one's last couch many times in the course 
 
I §2 New Papers on Canadian History, ; 
 
 of a quarter-century. After every violent gale, when calm has 
 returned with clear nights, may be seen unknown bleached 
 skeletons " revisiting the glimpses of the moon ;" while others, 
 by the self-same wanton gale, have been lapped away again in 
 sandy burial. 
 
 The Isle of Sable is in great part a deposit of the drift of 
 meeting currents. Vast eddies, from the contact of the gulf- 
 stream's edge with two branches of separated polar current, 
 circle about the island, eating away and rebuilding it continually. 
 It is the nucleus of the densest fogs, the vortex of the wildest 
 storms of the North Atlantic. Its shape is roughly that of a 
 crescent, 22 miles long by one in width, and a shallow lake 
 divides it longitudinally. It is moving eastward before the 
 prevailing winds, and rapidly decreasing in size. When f t 
 set down on chart by Pedro Reinel, in 1505, its size was 
 more than as great again as we have it now. On Reinel's 
 chart its name is Santa Cruz. To a sheltered spot in the 
 island, in honor of the earliest dwellers upon it, is given the 
 name of the '* French Gardens." The first settlers on the Isle 
 of Sable became such by no free will of theirs; and this was 
 V v the manner of their coming: In the Spring of 1598, the 
 
 Marquis De la Roche, being made Vice-Roy of Canada and 
 Acadia, set sail for his new dominions with a shipload of 
 convicts for colonists. Approaching the Acadian coasts he 
 conceived, in his prudence, the design of landing his dangerous 
 charge upon the Isle of Sable, till he might go and prepare for 
 them, on the main-land, a place of safety. As the French 
 barque neared the island, and the eyes of those on board, though 
 sharpened by weeks of sea-voyaging, could scarce distinguish. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. i^j 
 
 save by the settling fringes of white surf, the low grey shores 
 from the gray tumult of surrounding sea, De la Roche felt that 
 he might leave here his sorry settlers with a most reasonable 
 confidence that they would await his return. The forty 
 convicts, selected from the chief prisons of France, were landed 
 thro' the uproar of the surf, and the ship made haste away 
 from the perilous shore. But, she came not back again ! 
 De la Roche reached Acadia, chose a site for his settlement., 
 and set out for the island to fetch his expectant colonists. 
 But a great gale swept him back to France and drove him 
 upon the Breton coast, where the Duke de Mercouer, at that 
 time warring against the King, seized him, cast him into 
 prison, and held him close for five years. Meanwhile, those left 
 on the island were delighted enough. They were free, and 
 began to forget the scourge and chain. Beside the unstable 
 hummocks and hills of sand they found a shallow lake of sweet 
 waters, the shores of which were clothed luxuriantly with long 
 grass and lentils, and v^ins of vetch. Here and there were 
 great patches of naked sand, and tracts where the sands had 
 drifted over the grass and smothered it, but for the most part 
 the valley of the lake was like a rolling meadow. No tree or 
 shrub had root in all the island, but the turf where it was 
 richest grew resplendent with wild lilies, and asters and dwarf 
 roses. In some places the grass was thrust aside by the wiry 
 branches of the blackberry, and whole acres were covered by a 
 close mat of cranberry vines. Lurking in any or every portion 
 of the grass-plain were little cup-like hollows, generally filled 
 with clear water. These were formed by eddies of the wind, 
 which kept scooping and sucking away the sand from every 
 
/j-^ New Papers on Canadian History, ' 
 
 raw spot, where the skin-like covering of turf had been removed. 
 The cups would then fill gradually from rains and from infil- 
 tration. Every such pool, like the lake, was alive with ducks 
 and other water-fowl, amongst which the joyous ex-convicts 
 created consternation. There were wild-cattle also, trooping 
 and lowing among the sand-hills, or feeding belly-deep in the 
 rank water-grasses ; while herds of wild-hogs, introduced years 
 before by the Portuguese, disputed the shallow pools with the 
 mallard and teal. The weather for a while kept fine, and the 
 winds comparatively temperate, and the sojourners held a 
 carnival of liberty and indolence. But this was not for long, and 
 as the skies grew harsher their plight grew harder. As the 
 weeks slipped into months they grew first impatient, then 
 solicitous, then despairing. Their provisions fell low and at 
 last the truth was staring them in the face, they were deserted. 
 From the wrecks upon the shore they built themselves at 
 first a rude shelter, which the increasing cold and storms soon 
 drove them to perfect with their most cunning skill. As their 
 stores diminished they looked on greedily and glared at each 
 other with jealous eyes. Soon quarrels broke out with but little 
 provocation, and were settled by the knife with such fatal 
 frequency that the members of the colony shrank apace. There 
 was no discipline, no order, no authority. Every man made 
 his own desire his law, and did his best to enforce it upon his 
 neighbor. As they had been provided with no means of 
 lighting fires, they soon had to live on the raw-flesh of the wild- 
 cattle, and little by little they learned the lesson and began to 
 relish such fare. Little by little, too, as their garments fell to 
 pieces, they replaced them with skins of the seals that swarmed 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 755 
 
 about the beach : and their hut they lined with hides from the 
 cattle they had slaughtered. 
 
 The hut was built in the deepest heart of the island, in the 
 firmest group of sand-hills they could find, for they had speedily 
 learned to dread the winds that scourged that naked land with 
 relentless fur}. They built the walls about with turf and 
 secured them with the heaviest timbers to be had. In the 
 raving December nights, when the bitter cold edged through 
 their thickest walls, they laid aside their feud and animosity 
 and huddled together for the sake of warmth. Terror, too,, 
 drew them closer together, when the hurricane yelled about the 
 sand-hills ; when every one caught outside the hut had to 
 throw himself on his face lest he should be whirled out to sea ; 
 when the darkness fell suddenly while they thought it scarce 
 mid-day ; when the only light was that from the driven spume ; 
 when the whole island quivered under the thunderous waters vol- 
 leyed against it ; and when t^ miles of beach were rent away to 
 form new shoals in the offing. As the months became years their 
 deadly contests ceased, but exposure, and frost, and hunger, 
 and disease kept thinning their ranks. They occupied them- 
 selves in persuing the seal for its skin, the walrus for its ivory. 
 The cattle they killed only to supply their needs ; but the wild 
 swine, grown bloodthirsty from having devoured dead bodies, 
 they hunted down remorselesly as a hateful foe. And so the 
 time dragged on, till they began to say they were nearly five years 
 in this prison. They had gathered a great store of sealskins, 
 ivory and hides, but now only twelve men remained to 
 possess these riches. Their beards had grown to their waist, 
 their skins were like the furs that covered them, their nails 
 
/5^ New Papers on Canadian History y 
 
 were like birds' claws, their eyes gleamed with a v&artoitjf shy 
 ferocity through the long matted tangle of their hair. At last, 
 from out of his prison, De la Roche got word to the King, 
 telling him of their miserable fortune. A ship was at once 
 sent out to rescue them, under the guidance of the pilot 
 Chetodel who had sailed on the former voyage with De la 
 Roche. They saw the ship at anchor outside the shoals and 
 came down upon the beach, waving their arms. As they saw 
 the ship urging to land thro' the breakers, they shouted and 
 ran about like madmen, or ''ast themselves down grovelling in 
 the sand, till their rescuers imagined them half-savage, half 
 wild beast. Taken back to France with their furs and ivory, 
 they were brought before Henry as Ihey had been found, in their 
 shaggy hair, and beards, and tl ^ t coats of skins. The story of 
 their grievous hardships moved the King, and he gave them 
 money, with a full pardon ; Avhereupon two or three of them 
 went back to their island of horrors to collect more furs, and 
 for the rest of their lives devoted themselves to that trade. 
 The site of their hut, and of the sand-plot which they made an 
 effort to till, has years ago been engulfed by the tides, and 
 probably forms an outlying part of what is now called the 
 Northwest bar. But the name, " French Gardens," keeps the 
 story of their suffeiings in remembrance; and the spot that 
 bears the name is, by courtesy, the spot that; gave them refuge. 
 
 THE ORDER OF THE GOOD TIMES. 
 
 ^ ' As an offset to such ? story of desolation, let me turn 
 
 for a moment to the famous " Order of a Good Time." This 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. i^j 
 
 institution, organized by Chainplain at Port Royal, during the 
 winter 1606-1607, has been well celebrated by the merry Max 
 Lescarbot, a moving spirit in the Order. And it has been 
 overlooked, I think, by no historian since. The temple of 
 the Order was Poutrincourt's dark-ceilinged dining-hall, his 
 ample dining-table the shrine of its most sacred mysteries. 
 The initiated members were fifteen, and for guests, when they 
 craved the spice of life, they had the great Micmac 
 chieftain, with such of his warriors and wives as showed them- 
 selves most amenable to civilization. The office of honor and 
 responsibility in the Order was the ancient office of steward, 
 which fell to each member in turn, and wa'- tenable fortunately, 
 only a day at a time. Upon the shoulders of the steward there 
 fell, with the decorated collar of his dignity, the burden of 
 assuaging the appetites of this hungry and hilarious brother- 
 hood. He had at his disposal no lack of stored provisions, 
 bread, dried fruits, etc., brought from France by the previous 
 summer's ship ; but he would cover his office with dis- 
 grace if he failed to add some new delicacy to each new bill of 
 fare. At first the task was not difficult, but as the various kinds 
 of fish became familiar to the palates of the order, as another and 
 yet another species of game was accepted and registered as 
 satisfactory, the honorable steward was soon driven to tax his 
 best wits. But there was never a failure, if we may trust 
 Lescarbot's chronicle. Only, alas, toward spring, the wine ran 
 low, and instead of three quarts to each member, the daily 
 allowance was diminished to one poor pint. Canada's national 
 beverage was not yet brewed, or they might have turned their 
 rye to delightiul account ! When dinner was announced, the 
 
1^8 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 steward in his decorations led the way, bearing the staff and 
 napkin of his ofifice, and all followed in set order and solemn 
 dignity, till the laden table was revealed in the glow of the 
 heaped-up hearth, and the low-ceiling, with its shifting shadows, 
 seemed to draw closer down about the cosy revel. The feast 
 done, and grace said in grateful Latin, the stewa/d rose and 
 pledged his successor in a final magnanimous cup, and then 
 resigned to him his badges and his burden. Theefl^ect of such 
 an institution was to keep hearts and hands cheerful, and to 
 speed the winter finely ; and though some of the colonists died 
 before spring, Lescarbot sets this down to the fact that these were 
 of a sluggish and fretful disposition and not susceptible to the 
 curative powers of mirth. There is another and not unplausible 
 explanation however, which Lescarbot strangely overlooks. 
 Sometime during January the whole Order went on a six miles 
 trip, to see if the corn they had sown in November was 
 growing under the snow ; and there, in the snow and mocking 
 sunshine, they held a picnic-banquet very gayly. This was a 
 new and charming experience ; but the four deaths occurred 
 not many weeks later ! Poor sluggish, fretful souls ! 
 
 THE WIFE OF CHARLES [,A TOUR. 
 
 It is about this woman that chiefly clings the romance of 
 Acadian history. Her, is the name that stands in Acadian an- 
 nals for heroism, fidelity, wifely demotion, ill-fate. Hef*^ is a 
 figure among illustrious women than which there is none bathed 
 in a clearer and more stainless fame. Hef*s is the memory served 
 with most chivalrous worship from the lips of us later Acadians. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 75^ 
 
 On level land, well out of reach of high tides, on the inmost 
 corner of that safe haven which lies at the mouth of the St. 
 John, was built the fortressed home of Charles la Tour. It 
 stood upon the harbor's western shore, over against a small 
 island which ceases to be an island at low water, when the west 
 channel, now called " Buttermilk Channel," for occult reasons 
 has a trick of going dry. It was a strong fort of four bastions, 
 heavily palisaded, and was the outlet for all the rich trade of 
 the St. John;^ River valley and eastern Maine. Within the 
 fort were happiness and plenty, whether the master of the fort 
 remained at home to rule as a kindly despot among his follow- 
 ers, or whether, during his long journeys into the wilderness, 
 he left his wife to divide her time between her children and the 
 government of the colony. The wife upon whose hands, with 
 such confidence, he laid responsibilities so heavy, was a nobly- 
 born and daintily-nurtured woman, who had left for him the 
 luxury of a home in rich Rochelle. Love for their mistress, 
 however, made the colonists easy to rule ; and their time went 
 by not idly, but with peace. There was trading with the Indians 
 continually ; there was the hunting and trapping ; there were 
 the long rows of stake-nets to be emptied of their salmon, and 
 shad, and gaspereaux when the stony-flats east of the fort 
 were daily uncovered by ebb-tide. So the days were filled up 
 pleasantly at the mouth of the St. Johns. But across the fog 
 and turbulence of the bay, in fair Port Royal, was creeping up 
 a storm to mar this brightness. There sat the Sieur Charnisay, 
 dividing with La Tour the Acadian territority and trade, and 
 watching with vindictive envy the prosperity of his rival. 
 
i6o New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 Already his enmity and diligent intrigues at Versailles were 
 beginning to show their effects. 
 
 It was in the early spring of 1643, a dense, raw fog clung 
 over the harbor and the heights. The tide was out ; the flats 
 stretched seaward their long lines of clean grey rock and their 
 beds of olive kelp ; the current of the great river swirled past 
 sullenly with its sheets of whirling foam from the falls ; the 
 men, whose purple hands, numbed with the salt, were empty- 
 ing the ranges of nets, loomed vague and distorted through the 
 mist, and the voices of their comrades, whom the darkness hid, 
 seemed wizard-like uttered from the waters. Suddenly the fog 
 thinned, lifted, faded away into the blue of a sunlit morning f^ 
 its last shreds streaming off reluctantly through the firs and 
 cedars on the cliffs. The fish-gatherers, startled by an alarm- 
 gun from the fort, looked up to find three vessels sailing in under 
 what is now called Partridge Island. Following in the shadow 
 of the same steep, dark-wooded shore, came several small crafts, 
 pinnaces and cat-rigged launches. There was but little time 
 left for taking counsel. All the colony was soon within walls, 
 and the gunners stood to their pieces. Not bringing his ships 
 within range of the fort's heavy metal, Charnisay choose a 
 piece of smooth, red beach to the southward, where the waves 
 lapped softly, and some cakes of ice still lingered in the shal- 
 lows. Here he led ashore his five hundred men to the assault. 
 By the half-dry channel to the left, by the dripping flats in 
 front, by the naked uplands to the right, with shouts and vol- 
 leys of musketry, the invaders stormed in. But La Tour was 
 at home and not caught sleeping. For an hour the assault 
 raged furiously on rampart and palisade and bastion, but the 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. i6i 
 
 short carronades, with lowered muzzles, swept the ditches clear, 
 and the besieged with musket stock and hand-spike beat down 
 every foe that scaled the walls. Charnisay at last broke into 
 an impotent rage, and ordered off his men to the ships ; while 
 the derisive garrison expediated their going with the acrid spur 
 of bullets in their rear. Charnisay then drew a strict blockade 
 about the fort and harbor, and waited for hunger to achieve 
 what his arms could not. 
 
 But La Tour, like the Ithacan chieftain, was no less subtle 
 than brave, and to hold him imprisoned was a feat Charnisay 
 had not yet learned to perform. The Rochelle ship, long 
 expected with supplies and reinforcements, at length appeared 
 off the coast. Instructed bj- timely signals from the fort, she 
 kept well out in the offing ; and toward the close of a murky 
 night a small boat slipped under her stern, and Charles La Tour 
 and his wife were received on board. In shadow of the shores 
 of the harbor and Partridge Island heights, favored by the first 
 of the ebb and a gentle wind off shore, with muffled oars they 
 had crept through the blockade, and were off for help to Boston 
 ere the dawn. The help was got, and all haste made back to 
 the rescue. As Charnisay rested on his decks, dreaming that 
 his foe was pinched with famine, his triumph now surely close 
 at hand, as a most unpleasant revalation came La Tour with 
 five ships and bore down upon him ready for battle. But he 
 had small stomach for the encounter, and standing not upon 
 the order of his going, the whole force took flight for refuge in 
 Port Royal. As he reached Port Royal, La Tour was on his 
 heels chastising him upon his own threshold. The quarrel 
 might well have been ended then and there, to the sparing of 
 
i62 New Papers on Camidian History, 
 
 much misery in the future, but the scruples of his Puritan 
 allies, who were fairly well content with the booty already 
 fallen to their hands — a cargo of rich furs belonging to 
 Charnisay — here stepped in and proclaimed the virtues of 
 mideration. 
 
 These half-measures, as La Tour well knew, could profit 
 his cause but little. Charnisay was not enfeebled by this 
 repulse ; fortified, rather, in his purpose, strengthened with a 
 more inexorable will of revenge. In silence both antagonists 
 braced to renew the struggle. La Tour set himself to repair 
 his defences, while his wife undertook a voyage to France to 
 gather men and supplies and to strengthen the hearts of her 
 husband's friends in his cause. To France also had gone her 
 enemy before her, to plot and scheme at court, to borrow money, 
 and to heap up false accusations against La Tour. After the 
 manner of a mean nature toward whatever most shames it by 
 contrast, Charnisay appeared to hate the wife even more 
 bitterly than the husband, and no sooner learned of her coming 
 than he brought a charge of treason against her, and obtained 
 the King's order for her arrest. But the lady had been 
 watching his every move, and now, as more than once there- 
 after, over-matched him. She made a seasonable departure 
 for England, and from London organized her husband's relief. 
 By the spring of 1644, she had a vessel chartered and set sail ; 
 but the captain consumed the whole summer in trading by the 
 way. It was September when she reached Acadian waters, 
 where Charnisay was on the watch for her, and straightway 
 boarded the ship. She and all her party were hidden in the 
 hold and the ship was represented as a trading-vessel bound for 
 
Aftt Science y Literature, and Commerce. i6j 
 
 Boston blown far out of her course by adverse winds. Beguiled 
 by this possible story Charnisay retired ; the vessel's course 
 was mended for Boston, and the brave wife landed on Bostt)n 
 wharves just too late to see her husband sail away. He, filled 
 with fear at her strange delay, had once more come to Boston 
 for assistance ; but this time on a futile errand, for the Puritans 
 would hazard in his cause naught more costly than their 
 sympathy and good wishes, and he had gone away at last with 
 plenty of smiles upon his lips but with something near despair 
 at his heart. But his wife, her hands now free, lost no more 
 time. Bringing action for the unwarrantable delays she was 
 adjudged two thousand pounds damages, in satisfaction of 
 which she immediately seized the ship's cargo. Meanwhile 
 arrived in the city an ambassador from Port Royal, seeking 
 peace between Charnisay and New England. Hearing of the 
 lady's presence the envoy made great haste with his business, 
 and having persuaded the non-committal Puritans into some- 
 thing like a treaty he departed from the city the same night. 
 His hope was to give warning at Port Royal in time to capture 
 this dangerous adversary before she could get behind the walls. 
 But the servant succeeded no better than his master had done 
 before him. As he came before Charnisay with his tidings, 
 the bravt wife was in the arms of her husband from whom she 
 had been parted during thirteen months of fear. This was in 
 October; and Charnisay now for a time sat quiet with his 
 wrath, which required little nursing to keep warm. Not till 
 the following February did he judge his vengeance ripened to 
 the plucking. His needs had driven La Tour again to Boston. 
 On the news of his going came the grim craft of his enemy, 
 
164 Neiv Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 appearing swiftly in silence like a shark, and took station under 
 the lee of Partridge Island. The winter days jscowtd by-oiv 
 tedious'^ect, under leaden skies for the most part, and through 
 rainy winds and sleet. But on sharp blue mornings the 
 watchers on the ramparts could see flitting whitely across the 
 furthest tides, the cruisers of Charnisay waiting to intercept 
 the longed-for relief. Within the fort, in spite of the wearying 
 suspense, the garrison maintained good heart, scorning to be 
 any less heroic than the dauntless woman at their head. As 
 venison, fish and flour got low, the monotonous strain on their 
 spirits grew more intense, till even attack would have been hailed 
 as a fortunate change. Then came the excitement of finding 
 traitors in their midst, and two friars, spies in conspiracy with 
 Charnisay, were uncloaked with fierce curses and contempt. 
 The garrison was for hanging them forthwith from the battle- 
 ments, but their leader's too compassionate heart forbade it. 
 She contented herself with driving them from the foct, from 
 whose gates they slunk, white with terror and tremulous with 
 malice, like lashed hounds to their master. Their words were 
 exquisite to the ears of Charnisay. They told him of a feeble 
 and dispirited garrison ; of little powder, and that hurt by the 
 wet ; and of his long-craved triumph now within the very 
 grasp of his fingers. The gray spectre of a ship that had so 
 long lurked in the shadow of the dark island, was now .seen to 
 glide from her moorings. She drew silently up the harbor, lay 
 to under the walls, then burst out against the fort with the 
 roar of all her guns. But the sullen walls, so long seemingly 
 dead, from which he had expected scarce a retort, awoke 
 straifjltway to most retaliatory life. Every bastion blazed. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 165 
 
 and Charnisay's spars flew in splinters under tlie storm. The 
 garrison went wild with the delight of battle, as their beautiful 
 leader — for she was beautiful — encouraged them, and moved ' 
 where peril was the thickest. She went from bastion to 
 bastion, and would take no shelter that covered not her 
 followers as well ; her clear eyes seemed everywhere at once, 
 marking with grateful approval the brave loyalty of the least 
 of her men. As her form from time to time appeared to those 
 on shipboard, through the dividing drifts of smoke, the lips of 
 Charni.say set themselves with yet more implacable hatred. 
 The clear stretches of snow at the rear of the fort, the dazzling 
 capes upon shoulders of fir-t^vj and cedar on the uplands, 
 turned swarthv-brown as the smoke-waves volumed over them ; 
 and the tide-eaten ice-fringe was blackened along the shore 
 under the battle. Soon the concentrated fire from the ramparts 
 began to tell heavily upon the vessel's hull, her rigging being 
 already a mass of wreck. When a score of men lay dead upon 
 her decks and everywhere lay the wounded, Charnisay would 
 still acknowledge no repulse. But when it was found that the 
 hold was filling rapidly, with deep curses he turned for flight 
 while flight was possible. But it was barely possible. Igno- 
 miniously beaten by a woman, whom he had attacked when he 
 thought her nearly helpless, he got out his small boats and 
 hawsers and painfully towed his sinking hull out of range. 
 He ran her ashore for repairs upon a strip of sandy beach ; and 
 as soon as she could be kept afloat and steered he put back to 
 Port Royal, balked once more. But he had the whole of 
 France open behind him, while the adversary under whose 
 chastisement he now writhed was so utterly shut off from all 
 
i66 New Papers on Canadian History^ 
 
 resources that the very nights and days fought against her. 
 Her victory even seemed to presage defeat. Her enemy, when 
 he again attacked, would more justly have measured her 
 strength. Her husband could neither break nor elude the fast 
 blockade which Charnisay's deadly vigilarice maintained. And 
 through the lull that followed their success it seemed to the 
 waiting handful in the fort that the end of their grim play drew 
 swiftly near. , 
 
 With the first of April weather, the climax came. One 
 still night, when the sentry could hear the far-off rush of the 
 falls, could hear the weird honking of the wild-gtese, streaming 
 northward unseen through the starless night, 'lis ears grew 
 suddenly alert as he caught also a distant rattle of cables, voices 
 of sailors, and the splash of lowering boats. The fort was astir 
 at once ; lights glimmered here and there and were afterward 
 extinguished and all made ready for the struggle that was expect- 
 ed with the dawn. With the dawn it came. The foe had disem- 
 barked in the night, and now made the attack upon the landward 
 and weaker side. Fiercely the stormers advanced to be doggedly 
 and defiantly hurled back ; but with the defenders it was an 
 energy that hoped for nothing. They, as well as their leader, 
 knew that now finally had fate declared against them. F"rom 
 Thursday until Saturday the unflinching woman fronted every 
 charge, and against her indomnitable courage the enemy broke 
 and fled away shattered. Charnisay paused for a breathing spell 
 and the garrison rested heavily. At length a stranger in the 
 fort, an alien coward, turned traitor and, with the enemy's gold 
 warming his pockets, admitted them when it came his turn on 
 guard. Rven then, though to the garrison all was lost, Char- 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commer: \ i6y 
 
 nisay was not yet victorious. Within walls he was met so 
 desperately that a mean fear seized him lest again he should 
 suffer the shame of defeat. He felt the pre-eminence of the 
 woman who faced him, and inwardly quailed before her. He 
 called out for a truce, and offered honorable terms. Seeing 
 that the day was surely his, however this agonized resistance 
 might be dragged on, and longing with her whole heart for the 
 safety of her people, she set her name to the articles of 
 surrender. Then came the supreme hour of the dastard victor's 
 baseness. Even at this day as one tells it a fierce heat pricks 
 in one's veins. When his end was gained, the stronghold in 
 his power, his great rival crush'^d under his heel, then Charnisay 
 mocked the woman he had so hardly vanquished, and tore up 
 the capitulation before her face. The heroic garri.son he took 
 man by man, and hanged them in the open yard of the fort, 
 while their mistress, sinking with horror, was held to watch 
 them with a halter about her neck. The hideous deed finished 
 Charnisay took his captive to Port Royal, where he presented 
 her to his wife with mock reverence, as his deadly foe taken in 
 by him to be cherished. But his taunts or hu malignance to 
 her were nothing ; she had no heart left for any further pang. 
 Within three weeks from the ruin of her husband, the des- 
 truction of her home, the butchery of the loved and loyal 
 followers, the wife of Charles La Tour died, with bitterest foes 
 and stranger;? watching her. 
 
 AN AC.\1)IAN " BUCHK I)E NOKL." 
 
 At this season it is appropriate that I should close with 
 some faint echoes from an old Acadian Christmas. 
 
i68 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 It is December 25th, 1610 Anno Domini, and the tiny 
 colony at Port Royal is five years old. The sun has risen just 
 clear of a range of encircling hills, white with new snow. The 
 whiteness is cut sharply here and there by sturdy fir-trees that 
 have shaken the snow from their overladen boughs and now 
 tower erect in the sparkling air, while their feebler fellows bend 
 to earth under the weight of their snowy capes. Were we . 
 nearer we should find these unimprisoned trees girt about with 
 a tangle of rabbit tracks and the dainty foot-prints of squirrels* 
 the snow beneath the branches spotted with half-gnawed 
 fragments of fir-cones. The level sunshine streams down the 
 valley to the little palisaded fort at whose gate we are standing ; 
 it dazzles over miles of white plain, then out upon the bosom 
 of the land-locked harbor of Port Royal. In the distance and 
 out of our kin, beats the tide-chafed mother of fogs, the Bay 
 of Fundy. The blue and golden surface of the harbor is 
 flecked with ice cakes from the Port Royal river, which is 
 soughing in its channel close beside us. The tide is out, and the 
 stream's bed is choked with ice-cakes, huddled thick together ; 
 but along high water-mark the ice is laid in order, like mighty 
 armor-plates of cryst-l, soiled at the edges and weather-eaten. 
 The sobbing in mid-channel, the low noises of grinding and 
 crumbling, and the signs of the incoming tide, lifting the ice. 
 At the head of yonder little island the floes have shouldered one 
 over another above tide-level, and with their clear facets have 
 built up a mighty cluster of prisms. The snow that has 
 wrapped up everything, climbing the palisades of the fort, 
 hiding the ditch, curving over the low eaves of our poor half- 
 dozen cabins, is trodden well down before the door of the forge 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. i6g 
 
 and strewn with great fragrant yellow chips. The forge fire is 
 out to-day, black as the store of charcoal heaped behind the 
 anvil, and firewood in liberal lengths is piled up higher than 
 the eaves. As we mark each detail in this e*** live spot in the 
 expanse of gleaming desolation, and note how the smoke from 
 fort and cabin curls dusky orange against the hard blue sky, a 
 restless-looking, dark-faced man, in deerskin tunic and creased 
 voluminous boots comes out of the fort and plies the axe with 
 vigor upon a huge trunk of dry pine. At the sound of the 
 axe-strokes an Indian cur appears stealthily, and sits down in 
 front of the chopper to observe his work. As the chips fly 
 thick and fast the dog moves to a safer distance. Then a cabin 
 door opens, and the inviting roar of a fire streams out into the 
 frost. The chopper hesitates, leaves the log unsevered, enters 
 and shuts the door behind him ; while, stealthily as it came, 
 glides away the Indian cur. 
 
 This is the quiet of Christmas morning at Port Royal, twrr 
 4Hm4fe4-and seventy-six years ago. No clamoring of bells, no 
 laughing shrill voices, no idly hurried crowds as in their own 
 dear Picardie and Normandie. Jean de Biencourt, Baron Pou- 
 trincourt, has with him twenty-three persons in this little lonely 
 colony. No need of work or haste this Christmas morning ; 
 and their work is, for this day at least, done. They have drawn 
 ill the yule log, with abundance of cut firewood ; and though 
 they have by no means too much venison in store, they have 
 worn themselves out in the hunt and need not take it up again 
 till the morrow. So they idle about, and 
 
 " Dream of fatherland, 
 
 Of chikl and wife,"- 
 
lyo New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 till it shall be time to feather in the chief room of the fort ancf 
 eat their poor Christmas dinner. They are depending almost 
 wholly now upon such fish as they can catch through the ice^ 
 and on the game they capture for themselves or buy from the 
 friendly Micmacs near at hand. Their grain, corn, barley and 
 a little wheat is all but gone ; the longed-for vessel from P^rance 
 still delays; and it is doutful if tiiey can succeed in staving off 
 absolute famine. But for this one day at least, they will not 
 stint themselves, though moose-meat and fish become sorely 
 monotonous to their palates. 
 
 The night before they had lighted the yule log with brave 
 cheerfulness and good fellowship, had welcomed the feast with 
 firing of guns, and had initiated the convert Membertoy< with 
 his bravesyinto the blessed mysteries of the season. Father 
 Fleshe had summoned them in toward midnight, and mass had 
 been celebrated with single-hearted fervor indeed ; but ah ! with 
 what a difference from the services even then, as they knew, 
 being offered up in lighted aisles and chancels far away. They 
 had thought of the sea of upturned faces, rapt and moveless, 
 as the shepherd-priests came forward reverently and the curtain 
 was drawn back to show the Virgin and the Child. Again in 
 their ears rang the soaring flawless treble of the hidden boy,, 
 singing as an angel, the Gloria in lixcclsis. Again, as they 
 chanted with closed eyes, they heard the full responses, the 
 clanging of swung censors; they saw the ranks of surpliced 
 priests and singers bow together ; and the aromatic breath of 
 incense stole into their nostrils. But it was only a handful of 
 exiled and weary men, singing at midnight in a rude half- 
 lighted room ; outside their walls the limitless Acadian wilder- 
 
Ari, Science, Litej'ature, and Commerce. iji 
 
 ness, and a thousand miles of wild seas between themselves 
 and home. Then, for some, as the}- turned to their blankets, 
 what aching of heart to see no little shoes set out in prime 
 order before the fire-place, expectant of toys and sweetmeats 
 from Ji'sus Bntnbin ! And for all of them, the coming festival 
 could be but a season of longing and of looking back. This 
 was their Christmas eve ! v 
 
 To-day, as the hours wear on, the stories they have been 
 telling come to an end ; the pine-trunk by the forge-door has 
 been more than once attacked spasmodically, till it bears no 
 remote^ resemblance to its former self; antl the savors of 
 venison and fish, and of hot cakes of broken wheat, attract 
 attention. The fire in the chief room blazes higher and higher. 
 Snow-shoes hang on the walls, or stand in the corners in a 
 confusion of muskets, and hand-nets and long ashen paddles. 
 Over the windows are moose-hides tanned with the hair on, 
 heavy black bear-skins, and furs of lynx and loup-ccrvicr, out of 
 which, as a faint gust stirs them, gleam polished claws and 
 white snarling teeth. The warriors invited to the feast squat 
 at one side on their deer-skins, and the sober revel begins. 
 The courses are few and little varied, but the dinner is by no 
 means one of herbs. Yet is it a feast where love is, and the 
 red guests pledge to their entertainers unending fealty ; a 
 pledge destined never to be broken. Then follow^ stories, and 
 encounters of wit, and remembrances, and toasts ; speeches 
 are n»ade, prophetic of a new and mighty nation to spring from 
 the heroic effort of their own small band ; and A la Claire 
 Fontaine is sung, with other loved old songs. As night falls, a 
 wind roars in from the sea, full of drift and of the sounds of 
 
iy2 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 crashing ice, and lashes wildly roof and palisade. Some 
 paddles and snow-shoes fall to the floor with loud clatter. 
 Then the fire on the wide hearth blazes up redder than ever, 
 hissing and sparkling fitfully ; the company draw closer to the 
 bla; c, shutting off the light from the further draughty corners ; 
 dark faces glow and moist eyes gleam as they watch the flame 
 intently, fallen into silence; and our picture fades out into the 
 dimness of three centuries ago. 
 
 In conclusion, a brief glance at the modern Acadian 
 Christmas! In Madawaska County, New Brunswick, leagues 
 inland from the beatin^j of sea-winds, s^ fertile banks of 
 the St. John and Green River, the Madawaska, Quisibi0, and 
 oth-;r lovely streams, thvj Acadian now builds snugly his wide- 
 eaved cottage, setting an orchard about it, amid fields of flax 
 and buckwheat, and painting his broad barn-doors and the 
 vane of his inevitable windmill of the crudest ochreish red. At 
 Christmas the snow has fallen all around him to the depth of 
 five or six feet, his fences and boundaries are obliterated, his 
 roofs scarce rise above the encompassing levels. Indoors the 
 fire lights up his shelves of blue and white crockery. There is 
 no chilly plaster to be seen. The ceiling is of wood darkened 
 with years and smoke. The one partition, dividing his abode 
 into living-room and sleeping-room, is of wood, polished by the 
 rubbing of hands and shoulders. The massive square bed ; 
 the square cradle that rocks with dreadful thud, loud enough 
 to keep a baby wakeful a whole life-time ; the square table ; 
 the spinning-wheel that could not well be square — all are of 
 the same broWiS, solid, shining wood. On Christmas eve there 
 are the guns and shooting, the drive in the pung, half filled 
 
Ar^, Science, Literature, and Commerce. lyj 
 
 with quilts and straw, to meet at the little chapel miles away ; 
 and on Christmas day the fiddle reigns supreme. Neighbors 
 flock in, and moccassined feet dance indefatigably, morn and 
 noon and night. Huge slices of sweet bread, such has been 
 made for this feast out of plain dough kneaded up with 
 molasses and spotted with dried blue-berries, and washed down 
 with a wholesome beer made from spruce boughs and juniper 
 berries. Sometimes the " national beverage" plays a modest 
 part. Not seldom, as it grows late, the dancing palls, and the 
 singing. Then, as of old, all gather round the fire , and if, as 
 often happens, a modern cooking-stove has supplanted the 
 open hearth, they provide themselves with large raw potatoes, 
 from which, with their clasp-knives, they shave thin slices 
 artistically. The next point is important ; they spit on these 
 slices, and then fry them to a turn on the hot black covers ; 
 and the sizzling and aroma fill the air. If the hearth still 
 holds sway, each arms himself with a slim green sapling, 
 whereon he toasts red herrings for the damsel of his heart, 
 who sits beside him. The children of the house, meanwhile, 
 from under parti-colored coverlets, stare through the open 
 doorway with unwinking eyes, too early exiled from the circle, 
 but solaced with peppermints and delicacies which the Good 
 Angel, acquainted with the corner grocery, has brought them 
 in their sleep the night before. So the day, and the night, 
 draw to a close. And if the mood of the party has been a 
 merry one, the cocks, perchance, are crowing under the snow- 
 muffled sheds, the last stars fading out on the biting, grey-blue 
 sky of dawn, as the guests race away in a confusion of jangling 
 bells, and straw, and snorting of the ponies. 
 
^^X^<^f 
 
COMMHRCIAL UNION HETWKKN CANADA 
 AND rilE UNITHD S FA PES. 
 
 //.';/. A'. /irr//A'iroA'77/, .1/. r. 
 
 k A'l-di/ hi/oir thi- Canadian Ciul> 
 
 \ 
 
 <»/"AV«' Yoik. 
 
 ' \' heartiest thanks first for the honor 
 of addressinjj \ou this evening. 
 
 It is niy purpose to discuss the 
 merits of full and complete reciprocity 
 of traile and commerce — commercial 
 union, if you please — between the 
 United States and the Dominion of 
 Canada. 
 
 Import and export duties are levied fort two purposes. , 
 First — To collect revenue to defray the expenses and to 
 pay the debts of the government. 
 
iy6 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 Second — To encourage, foster, and protect domestic 
 industry. 
 
 The protective system, as it is called, has for its object to 
 do away with the inequalities which obtain between competi- 
 tors in this country and those of the old world who are 
 engaged in the same industrial fields. 
 
 Protection was not intended as an agency for the mere 
 increase of profits ; consequently the question which should be 
 considered by Congress is not simply that of the magnitude of 
 profits resulting from manufactures established under its wings, 
 but the question is whether we should be able, without the 
 protective duty levied on articles of commerce produced in the 
 old world, to engage successfully in manufactures at all. The 
 question is whether the perfected plans of the older countries, 
 the rare skill of its workmen, resulting from the accumulated 
 experience of years, together with the abundance of cheap 
 labor, does not enable European manufacturers to lay down 
 goods at our doors cheaper than we could possibly produce 
 them ; and whether money invested in a shop, mill or factory, 
 in view of such^ competition, is not an absolute loss. 
 
 This does not apply with so much force to the agricul- 
 turist who an compete with the world in the growth of agri- 
 cultural products. The protective tarifT naturally raises the 
 price of all the articles upon which a duty is imposed, and the 
 cost of most of the articles the farmer uses, except those he 
 produces himself, is thereby enhanced. The farmer found a 
 compensation under the protective system in the fact that, 
 under the development of our industries, great cities and towns 
 grew up, and markets for the products of the farms were thereby 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. lyy 
 
 created. What the farmer lost through the increased cost of 
 the articles he purchased, he more than made up through the 
 increased amount he received for the supplies he was enabled 
 to sell to those employed in the industries which owed their 
 existence to the protective system. But, as a tub to the agri- 
 cultural whale, a tariff was levied also upon farm produce. 
 
 The European manufacturer and merchant cannot dispose 
 of a plow, a trace-chain, a knife or a hoe upon our market 
 without paying a large tax to our government for the privilege. 
 Nor can the foreign merchant sell us a yard of cloth or silk, or 
 a quinine pill, until he has paid the duty levied by Congress. 
 Of course this is all paid at last by the consumer, who finds a 
 compensation for the alleged burden in the prosperity of his 
 country, brought about in the manner I have mentioned. The 
 tariff is a law arbitrarily enacted by Congress — there is but one 
 party to its formation. It is a system with which the nation 
 resorting to it has alone to do. 
 
 It should and does ostensibly deal with unequal conditions 
 in the field of competition, its mission should be that of equal- 
 izing them. It follows logically, and as a common-sense 
 proposition, that when the conditions are equal, so-called 
 protection is disguised robbery, legalized filching from one 
 citizen to enrich another citizen. 
 
 Reciprocity of trade involves an agreement between two 
 nations, according to the terms of which, trade and commerce 
 are to be carried on between the people of the two contract- 
 ing nations. 
 
 The proposition in the instance which concerns us, the 
 merits of which I shall discuss, is that of a full and complete 
 
iy8 New Papers on Canadian History, v 
 
 reciprocal trade and commerce between the United States and 
 Canada. By its terms, for all purposes of trade, barter and 
 exchange, the two countries shall be as one country. There 
 being no necessary connection or relation between the political 
 institutions of a country and its trade and commerce, the 
 arrangement has nothing to do with government matters or 
 political conditions. By this arrangement we seek to remove 
 all the custom-houses along our Canadian frontier, to withdraw 
 the line of pickets that keep watch and ward on both sides 
 along 3,000 miles of our northern boundary, in order that, on 
 the one hand, the American farmer shall not sell to his neigh- 
 bor across the line some early potatoes or early corn without 
 first going to the custom-house and paying a large part of the 
 value of the produce for the privilege ; while compelling, on 
 the other hand, the Canadian to submit to the same extortion 
 before he can sell to his friend who supplied him with the 
 early corn and potatoes a later variety of the same articles. 
 We propose — as the inhabitants of what should be considered, 
 for all trade purposes, a common country, being in race, 
 religion, ancestry and tradition one people, and differing only in 
 our political institutions — to throw down the barriers that now 
 block every highway of business prosperity and progress, and 
 open all the courses and channels of trade between the Gulf 
 of Mexico and the northern boundary of the Dominion of 
 Canada. We propose that the farmer, the manufacturer anil 
 the merchant shall, unhampered and unrestricted, seek markets 
 in every part of this vast field of development, and thereby 
 settle at once, and in a manner worthy of our race and civiliza- 
 tion, the petty squabbles about the fisheries now more than a 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. lyo 
 
 century old. He who appeals to the protective system between 
 competitors in Canada and in the United States, asks for 
 monopoly not equality. He seeks an unjust advantage, not 
 an equal opportunity. :v 
 
 Both Americans and Canadians may invoke the protective 
 system against the whole world, but the system has no proper 
 place between Canadians and Americans, unless authorized 
 extortion in the interest of monopolists should be the proper 
 aim of legislative effort. !>;::.' 
 
 There is not a condition, there is not a worthy interest 
 involved in the proposition that does not cry out against the 
 present system and in favor of the fullest reciprocal trade. ' 
 
 Careful investigation will disclose that the growth of our 
 industries is in a large measure the result of our system of patent 
 laws, which has funded and multiplied industries almost beyond 
 computation. It is well to understand which are the actual 
 sources of our prosperity. I have not time to discuss at length 
 this factor of the problem ; therefore 1 shall proceed with the 
 main question, the nature of which I have endeavored to 
 explain. 
 
 The adoption of the proposed system would involve an 
 assimilation of tariff rates and internal revenue taxes, and pos- 
 sibly an arrangement for pooling receipts from customs, and a 
 division on some equitable basis — all f)f which, as it has been 
 fully demonstrated, present no serious difficulty or embarrass- 
 ing problem. 
 
 The details of the arrangement I do not propose now to 
 discuss. It is enough to remark that once the policy being 
 decided upon, its execution will be an easy matter. 
 
i8o .-.N'ew Papers on Canadian History. \ 
 
 The times and the conditions into which both countries 
 are placed force this question upon public attention. 
 
 It is said that unsettled public questions have no pity for 
 the repose of nations. The truth of that saying is fitly illus- 
 trated by the disturbing influence of the unsettled fisheries 
 question between the United States and Canada. It stands, 
 and it has remained since the treaty of Paris, a constant and 
 threatening menace to the peace and repose of both nations. 
 It has been a barrier to trade and commerce between the two 
 countries. It relates to but a single industry, and efforts have 
 been repeatedly made to settle it without reference to interests 
 with which, in the future of things, it is inseparably inter- 
 twined. The question is not a new one, nor does it now for 
 the first time force itself forward and challenge the thoughtful 
 consideration of both nations. It relates to the rights and 
 obligations of the fishermen of the two countries to catch fish 
 in certain localities and to sell it in certain markets. Relat- 
 ing solely to the privileges of a few thousand fishermen engaged 
 in a single avocation, it draws into the vortex of the contro- 
 versy, nevertheless, all other trade and commercial interests 
 between the two nations. Canada and the United States are 
 contiguous. They both formed a part of the Dominion of 
 Great Britain. The colonists of the United States of to-day 
 bore their share of the burdens and endured hardships and 
 fought to establish the sovereignty of the British flag in what 
 now constitutes the Dominion of Canada. The history of the 
 Dominion, so far as her political relation to the mother country 
 is concerned, is much the same as that of the United States. 
 In that respect, the experience of Canada is about the same as 
 
Art, Science^ Literattire, and Commerce. i8i 
 
 ours; the only difference being that England, under the influ- 
 ence of a riper and more enlightened civilization, inspired by 
 broader statesmanship, in which the sword played a less con- 
 spicuous part than formerly — accorded to Canada prompt 
 redress for her grievances, recognizing the necessities of the 
 situation and the inexorable logic of the time. The careful 
 student of history will discover that the demands of the Cana- 
 dian provinces, upon the mother country, for larger powers and 
 wider jurisdiction in the management of their affairs, were of a 
 nature and extent which outstripped the original demands of 
 the American colonists. While entertaining and cherishing 
 respect and affection for the mother country, Canada, in the 
 school of experience, learned of her needs ; and, in a manner 
 which suggests something more than fiimnei^s, pttitirned for 
 relief which was granted sooner or later. The restrictions and 
 the burdens imposed upon the trade, commerce and the manu- 
 factures of the colonies by the mother country were intoler- 
 able. No people fit to be free, and being at all worthy of their 
 English ancestry, could submit to them. However, Canadians 
 did not submit. Whether themselves and the world in general 
 have been the gainers on that account, future events will 
 .show. 
 
 It is exceedingly interesting to note how like suppliants 
 the colonists approached the mother country and sued for relief 
 against laws confessedly oppressive and whose administration 
 was intolerable. Observe the manner in which our cousins on 
 the North stood and demanded what experience had taught 
 them proper as belonging to a free and enlightened people in 
 the matter of self-government. Long ago, Flngland decided 
 
i82 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 that free-trade was best for her interests; but ".Jot until she 
 became, under a different system, the workshop of the world 
 and mistress of the seas. 
 
 So far as the colonists themselves were concerned, her 
 restrictions upon the trade of her American colonies had little 
 of the flavor of free-trade about them. 
 
 Virginia was required to ship her tobacco to England in 
 English vessels solely. England interposed her authority to 
 paralyze every manufacturing industry in the country. Such 
 a condition of things could not last, and we were finally com- 
 pelled to set up for ourselves, but not until we had helped to 
 establish the sovereignty of the British flag over the country 
 north of us. In 1763 England sent to Canada her first Gov- 
 ernor-General. In the latter part of the eighteenth century 
 the legislative bodies of Canada had but little power; but dur- 
 ing the last fifty years the Provinces were not slow to demand 
 such enlargement of the powers of their home governments as 
 were required by the people. England acceded, though not 
 always with good grace, to the point that the destiny of 
 Canada, by common consent, is to-day practically confided to 
 Canadians. If Canada's past belongs to England, her future 
 is her own. The growth of the country in substantial inde- 
 pendence and through the management of her own affairs has in 
 no wise disturbed her filial regard for the mother country. When 
 I say the mother country, I mean the people of England, not 
 the English government. I make this distinction because there 
 is a broad difference between an affectionate regard for the 
 people of a nation and an unquestionable loyalty to the gov- 
 ernmental policy which that nation may see fit to adopt. I 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. i8j 
 
 was devotedly attached to my father : I loved and honored 
 him. I might not have felt great enthusiasm for his disciplin- 
 ary ideas about household matters after I had acquired a home 
 and a family of my own. Canadians have the best of reasons 
 to cherish the deepest and sincerest affection for their English 
 ancestors. But neither involve the surrender of independence 
 of character and action which are inseparable from worthy 
 manhood, a quality which is bound to assert itself, not only 
 in those things that concern the individual, but also in affairs 
 of the State. v^ 
 
 I am addressing Canadians whose loyalty cannot be 
 doubted. If I refer to the history of the course pursued by 
 the United States and Canada towards the mother country, it 
 is only to show that what has been sought in the past as well 
 as in the future is the freedom, prosperity and happiness of 
 the citizens of each nation ; in fact they have been treading 
 the same paths in order to attain a similar end. Canada 
 remains loyal to England because the latter has granted her 
 those rights and privileges, a denial of which to the colonists 
 of the Republic drove them, into emulating the example of , 
 their English ancestors, namely, suing for them or fighting for 
 them if need be. 
 
 The controversy about the fisheries is a quarrel between 
 ourselves. It is for us to settle and to adjust that controversy 
 in consonance with enlightened principles and a fair regard for 
 the rights, duties, obligations and interests of both nations. 
 Hitherto a settlement has been impossible because negotia- 
 tions were carried on from the English stand-point of the 
 economic principle which should govern trade and commerce 
 
184 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 between the directly interested parties. Under such circum- 
 stances, a permanent and lasting solution of the question was 
 tantamount to impossibility, and had to remain so as long as 
 English interests, as contradistinguished from those of Canada, 
 were to be first considered. No full and final adjustment can 
 ever be reached on the matter, except through negotiations 
 between those immediately interested and who are to 
 be affected by them, and these are the provinces of Canada 
 and the United States. The adjustment must not be based 
 upon the idea or theory that the fishing interests are to be 
 segregated and treated as if they stood apart and alone, free 
 and disassociated from other interests, industries and avoca- 
 tions. Any settlement that should have for basis anything in 
 view except that of securing the greatest good to the greatest 
 number, would be partial and unjust, and would be a false 
 premise. 
 
 The fisheries imbroglio had its growth in the following 
 manner : Prior to the American Revolution the inhabitants of 
 the English dependencies in America enjoyed in common the 
 fishing grounds in the neighborhood of Nova Scotia, New- 
 foundland, and in the bays and gulfs in those localities. The 
 treaty of 1783, at the termination of the war of the Revolu- 
 tion, defined in a vague manner the rights and privileges of 
 the people of the United States to the fisheries. Innumerable 
 controversies were constantly growing out of alleged trespas.ses 
 by one or the other party, and armed cruisers were kept in 
 those waters to protect the rights of either parties. 
 
 The treaty of Ghent, which was signed at the end of the 
 war of 1 8 14 (December, 18 14), is silent on the subject of the 
 
Art, Science, Literaticre, and Commerce. 185 
 
 fisheries. Subsequently, England showed a disposition to 
 treat the omission as a surrender by the United States of their 
 positive rights to the fishing privileges theretofore enjoyed by 
 Americans. England's interpretation of the omission was not 
 allowed by the United States, so the dispute went on and 
 threatened, from time to time, to culminate in war. In 1X51 
 the relations of the two countries were strained to the last 
 degree, 1 mean the relations between England and the United 
 States — Canada was merely considered then as the cause of 
 the quarrel rather than a party to it. In fact, Canada was the 
 little boy whose big brother had borrowed the quarrel. 
 Observing statesmen on this continent viewed the question in 
 its true and logical aspect, and the United States and Canada 
 maintained that the controversy involved something beyond 
 the interest of the respective parties in the fisheries. In their 
 estimation the question embraced the trade and commerce 
 between Canada and the United States, and they maintained 
 that the only possible and lasting adjustment was one which 
 would place the trade between the two countries on a reci- 
 procal footing. But this could only be effected by a treaty 
 with England. Such favor did reciprocity of trade find in this 
 country that in 1848 the House of Representatives passed a 
 bill enacting its establishment. John Quincy Adams was a 
 member of that House ; so were Robert C. Winthrop and 
 Abraham Lincoln. The attitude of the Whigs toward recip- 
 rocity may be inferred from the fact that the party had a 
 majority of ten in the House which passed this bill, whilst the 
 Senate was Democratic. However, the bill failed to become a 
 law because it came too late before the adjournment of the 
 
iS6 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 Senate, for that body to give it proper consideration. This 
 happened under the administration of Fillmore, of which 
 Daniel Webster was Secretary of State, and Wm. H. Seward 
 Senator for the State of New York. ■ v- ;. ,. ; -; . 
 
 In closing his speech on the subject of the fisheries, Mr. 
 Seward said : 
 
 " What the colonies require is some modification of com- 
 mercial relations which may affect the revenue. That is a sub- 
 ject proper to be acted upon by Congress. Let us no longer 
 excite ourselves and agitate the country with unavailing 
 debates, but let us address ourselves to the relief of the fisher- 
 men and the improvement of our commerce. There is only 
 one way that Congress can act, and that is by reciprocal legis- 
 lation with the British Parliament or the British colonies." 
 
 And he further asks whether some reciprocal legislation 
 cannot be adopted to adjust these difficulties and at the same 
 time consistently enlarge the rights of our fishermen with the 
 various other interests of the United States. 
 
 The wisdom of those who adopted that view has been 
 attested by time and experience. Partial reciprocity came in 
 1854, and only failed in its mission because it was partial, 
 unequal, and in a measure unjust. It is believed that Canada, 
 had the advantage in that arrangement. However, the treaty 
 which secured a partial reciprocity proved the adequacy of 
 the remedy if fully and properly applied. 
 
 In 1874 President Grant, in furtherance of this policy^ 
 negotiated a treaty establishing in part substantially what is 
 now proposed. The treaty, which was negotiated by President 
 Grant and Secretary Fish on the one hand, and Sir Edward 
 
Art, Science, Literature , and Commerce. i8j 
 
 Thornion and the Hon. George Brown, Commissioners for the 
 Provinces and Great Britain on the other hand, contained the 
 following propositions, 1 quote from a report semi-ofTicially 
 submitted by Mr. Brown to the Canadian Senate: 
 
 "The draft treaty embraces ten propositions: i. The 
 concession to the United States of our fisheries for twenty-one 
 years, and the abandonment of the Washington treaty arbitra- 
 tion. 2. The admission into both countries, duty free, of cer- 
 tain natural products therein named. 3. The admission, duty 
 free, of certain manufactured articles therein named. 4. The 
 enlargement of our Welland and St. Lawrence canals. 5. The 
 construction of the Caughnawaga and Whitehall canals. 
 6. The free navigation of the great inland lakes and of the St. 
 Lawrence River. 7. The concession to each other, on equal 
 terms, of the use of the Canadian, New York and Michigan 
 canals. 8. The reciprocal admission of ve.ssels built in one 
 of the countries to all the advantages of registry in the other. 
 
 9. The formation of a joint commission to secure the efficient 
 lighting of the great inland waters common to both countries. 
 
 10. The formation of a joint commission to promote the pro- 
 tection and propagation of fish on the great inland waters 
 common to both countries." 
 
 The proposed Caughnawaga canal was intended to connect 
 the St. Lawrence river at Montreal with the northern end of 
 Lake Champlain. The Whitehall canal was intended to connect 
 the Hudson river at Troy with Lake Champlain at Whitehall. 
 By referring to the list of articles covered by this treaty, 
 it will be seen that it is free from one of the objections con- 
 tained in the reciprocity treaty of 1854, as it was proposed to 
 
iS8 New Pape7's on Canadian History, 
 
 admit into the Canadian n ^.rkets the products of our factories, 
 which were excluded by the treaty of 1854. The list covered 
 by the treaty is as follows : Agncu'* ural implements, of all 
 kinds; axles, of all kinds; boots an hoes, of leather; boot 
 and shoemaking machines ; buffalo ro dressed and trimmed ; 
 cotton grain bags ; cotton denims ; cc ^u jeans, unbleached ; 
 cotton drillings, unbleached; cotton plaids; cotton ticking; 
 cottonacks, unbleached ; cabinet ware or furniture, or parts 
 thereof ; carriages, carts, wagons and other wheeled vehicles or 
 sleighs, or parts thereof ; fire-engines, or parts thereof ; felt 
 covering for boilers ; gutta-percha belting and tubing; iron — 
 bar, hoop, pig, puddled, rod, sheet or scrap ; iron nails, spikes, 
 bolts, tacks, braids, or springs, iron-castings ; India-rubber belt- 
 ing and tubing ; locomotives for railways, or parts thereof ; 
 lead, sheet or pig ; leather, sole or upper ; leather, harness or 
 saddlery ; mill or factory or steamboat fixed engines and 
 machines. Or parts thereof ; manufactures of marble, stone, 
 slate, or granite ; manufactures of wood solely, or of wood 
 nailed, bound, hinged, or locked with metal materials ; mangles, 
 washing machines, wringing machines, drying machines, or parts 
 thereof ; printing paper for newspapers ; paper-making machines, 
 or parts thereof; printing type, presses and folders, paper cut- 
 ters, ruling machines, page-numbering machines, and stereo- 
 typing and electrotyping apparatus, or parts thereof ; refriger- 
 ators, or parts thereof; railroad cars, carriages and trucks, or 
 parts thereof ; satinets of wool and cotton ; steam-engines, or 
 parts thereof ; steel, wrought or cast, and steel-plates and rails ; 
 tin tubes and piping ; tweeds, of wool solely ; water-wheel 
 machines and apparatus, or parts thereof. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. iS^ 
 
 It will be observed that the proposed treaty embraced 
 those articles which are in daily use among the people, and 
 such as are needed in leading industries. It aimed specially to 
 help those branches of industry in which the citizens of both 
 countries were alike engaged in, and to exempt those articles in 
 which considerable traffic was likely to take place. 
 
 While commenting upon the merit of this treaty, a leading 
 statesman of Canada, the Hon. George Brown, and as already 
 stated one of the Commissioners for Great Britain, said : 
 
 " The first, second and seventh propositions go naturally 
 together, and they need no comment. They embrace simply 
 the conditions of the old treaty of 1854, which operated so 
 favorably for us, and so much more favorably for the United 
 States. I will leave it for the present and return to it again. 
 
 " The fourth proposition — for the enlargement of our exist- 
 ing canals — is one eminently for the advantage of the United 
 States, and involves a very large expenditure on our part. It 
 is impossible to estimate the enormous annual gains that must 
 result to the farmers of the Western States, when vessels of 
 1,000 and 1,200 tons shall be able to load in the upper lake 
 ports and sail direct to Liverpool — free from transhipment 
 expenses, brokers' commissions, way-harbor dues, and ocean 
 port-charges, and return direct to the prairies with hardy 
 emigrants and cargoes of European merchandise. Canada, no 
 doubt, would have her share of benefit from all this — but it 
 could not be compared for a moment with that of the great 
 Northwestern and some of the Middle States. 
 
 " The fifth proposition — for the construction of the Caugh- 
 nawaga canal— would be also an immense boon to the United 
 
igo New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 States. It would open up to the dense manufacturing popu- 
 lation of New England, ""^r the first time, a direct water com- 
 munication of their own with the great West ; it would enable 
 them to load ships of i,ooo tons at their Lake Champlain ports 
 with merchandise for the prairie States, and bring them back 
 freighted with farm produce ; and when the Whitehall canal 
 should be enlarged to Troy, and the improvements of the 
 upper Hudson completed to deep water, where in the wide 
 world could be found so grand a system of internal water 
 navigations that, stretching as it then would, in one continuous 
 ship channel from New York on the Atlantic to the west end 
 of Lake Superior, possibly ere long to the eastern base of the 
 Rocky Mountains. Canada, too, would have her share of profit 
 in ail this. Her great lumber interests on the Ottawa and its 
 branches would find full advantage from it, and the enterpris- 
 ing farmers of the midland and eastern counties of Ontario 
 would have the New England market, with its three and a 
 half millions of manufacturing population, open to their traffic. 
 " The si.xth proposition is the concession to each other of 
 the inland coasting-trade, and nothing could be done more 
 sensible or more profitable to both parties. Our season of 
 navigation on the lakes is short the pressure for vessels in 
 particular trades at special times is very great on both sides of 
 the lakes, and freights advance to unreasonable rates. Cheap 
 transportation is a foremost question in this Western industrial 
 world, and what can be conceived more absurd than to see, as 
 is often seen, large quantities of produce lying unshipped for 
 want of vessels, because foreign bottoms cannot take freight 
 from one port to another in the same country? What the 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. igi 
 
 United States could fear from the competition of our limited 
 marine with the 5,576 vessels of all kinds and an aggregate 
 tonnage of 788,000 tons, it is difficult to imagine. 
 
 " The eighth proposition — for the reciprocal admission of 
 vessels built in either country to registry in the other — is gen- 
 erally regarded as highly advantageous to this country, and no 
 doubt such is the fact. But I confess 1 cannot see why it 
 ought not to be regarded as infinitely more advantageous to 
 the United States. During the civil war the merchant vessels 
 of the Republic were sold in large numbers to foreign owners, 
 and acquired foreign registers, and notwithstanding that ship- 
 building had almost disappeared from the United States in 
 consequence of an extreme protectionist policy, the law abso- 
 lutely forbade their being brought back or vessels of foreign 
 build being purchased in their stead. The consequence is that, 
 at this moment, nearly the entire passenger traffic of the 
 Atlantic is in the hands of foreigners — a vast portion of the 
 freight of merchandise from and to foreign countries is also in 
 the hands of foreigners — and only two months ago we had the 
 .startling statement made officially by Mr. Bristow, the very 
 able Secretary of the United States Treasury, that no less a 
 sum than $100,000,000 is paid annually by the people of the 
 United States to foreign ship-owners for freights and fares. 
 Now, a large portion of these ships, which the people of the 
 United States require so urgently, can be as well built in 
 St. John and Halifax and Quebec, and at less cost than in any 
 other country. Why, then, deprive the American citizens of 
 the privilege of buying them from us and sailing them as their 
 own ? We are told that American shipbuilding is reviving ; 
 
1^2 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 but were it to revive w.th all the rapidity the most sanguine 
 could desire, it could not keep pace with the wear and tear 
 of the present reduced marine and the annually increasing 
 demands, much less begin to supply the vacuum created since 
 the war. 
 
 " The ninth and tenth proposals are for the appointment 
 of joint commissions for the care of the light-houses and the 
 fisheries of the inland waters common to both countries ; but 
 as to these there is no difference of opinion, and no doubt of 
 the great mutual advantage that might flow from the proposed 
 concerted action in regard to them." 
 
 This treaty did not fail by reason of its not finding favor 
 with the Senate. It was laid before that body only on the 
 17th of June, 1874, and so near adjournment that there was 
 not time for its consideration. 
 
 The propositions show how broad and sweeping the con- 
 templated changes would have been. Had the treaty been 
 consummated it would have been one of the most brilliant 
 achievements of President Grant's administration, as it would 
 have removed the last barrier which intercepts the natural 
 and healthful flow of trade between Canada and the United 
 States. In course of time, the advantages of such reciprocal 
 relations would have become so manifest that not a vestige of 
 our system of custom-houses and tolls — system which has 
 nothing to commend it — would have remained to tell of the 
 strained relations which had formerly existed between England 
 and the United States. 
 
 During the last days of the Forty-ninth Congress, I intro- 
 duced a bill which provided for securing full, complete and 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. igj 
 
 unrestricted trade and commerce between the sixty millions of 
 people of the United States and the five millions of Canadians, 
 who are not only our kinsmen, but our nearest neighbors — 
 in fact, to all intents and purposes, of our very household. 
 Though somewhat crude, the bill clearly shows the way to 
 attain the object in view. 
 
 It is suggested that there is some doubt as to how this 
 proposition would be received by the American people. First, 
 let me tell you that it is not a party question, and that it has 
 been received with general favor by the leading journals of the 
 land. It is a proposition above the level of mere partisan 
 expediency, and it appeals to a higher motive and nobler 
 ambition. It is a question of public policy affecting the people 
 of both sections, and will be so considered by our people. It 
 involves, of course, a revision of our tariff, and this may suggest 
 a party aspect ; on that score it may be opposed by those who 
 are reaping large benefits from industry which are specially 
 and extravagantly protected. However, it does not involve 
 the abandonment of either free-trade or protective theories. 
 Whether it is made a party question or not, the party lines 
 cannot be drawn closely when the question is presented for 
 action. There are times in the United States — even when 
 party feeling runs high — when the whippers-in, detailed for the 
 service, are incapable of either muzzling their partisans or 
 absolutely control their votes. I have every reason to believe 
 that the policy adopted by our government in the matter of 
 establishing reciprocity with Canada will appeal to the inde- 
 pendence of our law-makers, and that caucuses, which have 
 
ig^ New Papers on Canadian History ^ 
 
 especial reference to mere party advantage, will not be allowed 
 to control adversely the action of Congress. 
 
 In discussing this question we have to bear in mind the 
 relative physical conditions of the two countries. The territory 
 of Canada is interlocked with our own. The rivers and lakes 
 which are our common highways of traflfic and trade cross the 
 boundary lines. Canadian public highways are also ours. There- 
 fore, the relation of our territory to that of Canada, the 
 location of our rivers, the natural facilities of both for con- 
 ducting exchanges, all suggest and plead for unhampered 
 reciprocal trade. The resources of Canada in material wealth, 
 her supply of the materials indispensable to our people, ar 
 boundless. On the other hand, we have an exhaustless supply 
 of those things which are prominently indispensable to the 
 comfort and enjoyment of our Canadian neighbors. Hence 
 the advantages to be derived from free commercial intercourse. 
 We are not dealing with a people across the ocean, but with 
 our neighbors and kinsmen. 
 
 It is not my purpose to read statistics. Statistics are dry, 
 and unless studied with care they are apt to mislead. If 
 figures do not lie they may be made to prevaricate most 
 abominably. It is chiefly with the philosophy of the situation 
 I purpose to deal to-night. 
 
 It is from the stand-point of dollars and cents that I 
 propose to study the situation. First, let me ask you who are 
 the parties to the controversy ? with whose interests are we 
 dealing? 
 
 If we leave out of the question the matter of revenue 
 for the support of the government, I insist that unless it be 
 
Ari, Science, Literature, and Commerce, i^^ 
 
 •the mission of both governments to sacrifice the interests of 
 the many for enriching the few, the present system which 
 compels our Canadian neighbors to pay a high duty on fifty 
 millions of dollars worth of goods a year for the privilege of 
 supplying to the citizens of the United States articles indis- 
 pensable to their comfort and prosperity, and which on the 
 other hand compels the citizens of the United States to pay a 
 like sum into the public treasury of Canada for the privilege 
 of doing like service for Canadians living across an imaginary 
 line, I say the system is absolutely defenceless, inexcusable. 
 It is not sufficient to show, even if it was a fact, that certain 
 industries prosper under such a system. It must be shown that 
 the systeni promotes the general good. In other words, to be 
 equitable, the prosperity resulting from any governmental 
 system must give equal opportunities to every citizen. The 
 system if at all defensible, is solely so on account of needed 
 revenue. 
 
 To illustrate the character of the trade between the United 
 States and Canada, I have procured a statement of the imports 
 from Canada and the exports to the Dominion since the year 
 1850 to 1878 inclusive, covering the period of partial recipro- 
 city inaugurated in 1854, and which ended in 1866. Of her 
 products, Canada sold to the United States in round numbers, 
 during that period, $70O,cxx),ooo worth — lumber or timber head- 
 ing the list. During the same period we exported to Canada 
 $848,000,000 worth of our goods. I should be glad to learn 
 how either Canadian or Yankee prospered by reason of the 
 immense tax levied upon the goods so exported or imported. 
 I should be glad to learn of the blessings derived through 
 
ig6 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 paying for duties one-third of the value of the goods so 
 exchanged? How our people were benefitted? Those who 
 used these goods in this country or Canada, paid for them 
 a price largely in excess of their value, because they were 
 produced on one or the other side of an imaginary line 
 which marks the frontier between the United States and 
 Canada. Certainly that in this instance protection is inap- 
 plicable and detrimental. 
 
 I am a protectionist. We are largely indebted to that 
 system for the marvelous development of our industrial arts. 
 One article in my political confession of faith favors the 
 protection of infant industries, so that they may acquire suffi- 
 cient strength to enable them to stand independently in the 
 field of competition. But that article of faith, mark you, only 
 refers to infant i.idustries, and not to full-grown industries 
 capable of maintaining themselves against all competitors. To 
 protect industries without reference to condition is to create 
 monopolies, the over-weening influence of which would be 
 more dangerous to liberty than the crown of a queen. 
 
 My countrymen would deserve contempt if they sought 
 protection against Canadian competition, and — with all due 
 respect for the worthy gentlemen who met at Toronto to speak 
 about the manufactures of Canada— I have as little consider- 
 ation for the Canadians who pretend that their countrymen are 
 lacking the ability, the enterprise, the resources necessary to 
 hold their own against the United States in any field of indus- 
 trial effort. In my judgment, protection between the United 
 States and Canada means no more and no less than the taking of 
 money from the pocket of one citizen and of putting it into 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 79/ 
 
 the pocket of another, the latter belonging to the protected 
 and favored class. 
 
 As stated in my opening remarks, protection, as I under- 
 stand it, relates to and deals with unequal conditions, and has 
 no other just mission than to equalize those conditions. It is 
 not intended to harden the lot of the many in order that the 
 few should rejoice in prosperity. To protect one class of 
 citizens against another class, in any field of effort where the 
 conditions are identical, is wholly defenceless. In my opinion, 
 nothing is easier than to defend the protective system of the 
 United States againrt competition from the old world. It 
 would certainly be difficult to explain a similar system between 
 the Eastern and Western or the Northern and Southern sections 
 of the United States, and such a system is equally indefensible 
 when applied between Canada and the United States. 
 
 I refer to this matter at this time because my position on 
 the question of a commercial union is in perfect harmony with 
 my convictions upon the subject of protection, inasmuch 
 as I am a protectionist of a somewhat ultra school. I contend, 
 and the matter is too clear to need argumentation, that there 
 is as little reason, abstractedly, to restrict or in any wise hamper 
 the trade between the United States and Canada as there 
 would be in imposing similar restrictions and burthens upon 
 trade between the inhabitants of Ohio and those of Illinois and 
 Iowa. I have already stated that a protective tariff must 
 have for its sole object the equalization of abnormal conditions. 
 If it be true that prosperity comes simply through a protective 
 tariff, without reference to general conditions, and that we 
 become rich and prosperous by levying duties upon all we buy, 
 
ig8 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 provided it is produced elsewhere, while being fenced by the 
 same operation out of every market to which we should sell, 
 then why should not each State in this Union become speedily 
 rich and prosperous by simply erecting a tariff fence as between 
 itself and the other States of the Union? It is true the 
 Constitution forbids this, but I am discussing the abstract 
 proposition. As a measure, if it is justifiable in the case of 
 Canada, because it insures prosperity to its people adopting it, 
 v'^y la !*: not equally admissible between the various States? 
 They might become prosperous by adopting that system against 
 sister States, and since prosperity is one oi the high-roads to 
 happiness, have we not found out the royai road to prosperity 
 and happiness by taxing ourselves and recognizing the right of 
 our neighbors to tax us also ? What has been heretofore 
 considered a burden, would become at once a help and support ! 
 The principle applied to Quebec and Ontario and the other 
 Provinces would make them speedily prosperous. It is what 
 Mr. Wiman described as the process of taxing one'? self rich. 
 Unless it can be shown that there is something in the 
 situation and condition of Canada which makes the case 
 exceptional, and takes it out of the comparison I have drawn, 
 the system we have pursued against our neighbors, and they 
 against us, is as indefensible as it would be for Pennsylvania 
 to seek the prosperity of all her people by a protective tariff 
 against Illinois — Illinois being more largely an agricultural 
 State than Pennsylvania ; or, to put the case more strongly, as 
 indefensible as it would be for Illinois to establish a tariff for 
 the benefit of her citizens against Connecticut and Massachu- 
 setts, the latter being manufacturing States while the former is 
 
■ : Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. igg 
 
 largely agricultural. Careful students are aware that the laws 
 of compensation are immutable. Trade and commerce seek 
 natural channels : manufactures ultimately will, other things 
 being equal, locate nearest the base of raw supplies, otherwise 
 it would involve the shipping of material a thousand miles to be 
 first manufactured and then the reshipment of the finished pro- 
 duct over the same line to find a market. ; ' 
 
 In so far as the citizens of the United States are concerned, 
 what are the objections to commercial union ? I hear and know 
 of none except some of a local character. It may not be amiss 
 here to call attention to the fact that one of the leading states- 
 men of the day, one who has filled possibly a larger place in 
 the public mind than almost any other man of our day — I 
 allude to James G. Blaine — has advocated, and most ably, a 
 commercial union between the United States and the South 
 American States. His proposition met with general favor, and 
 was not considered as a mere party question. If great advant- 
 ages are to be derived from a commercial union with South 
 American States, how much greater and important are the 
 advantages to be gained from intimate trade relations with 
 those upon our immediate border and to whom we are allied 
 by ties stronger than those which relate merely to commerce, 
 and with whom our trade, although they number but five 
 millions, is larger than that of the forty-five millions lying 
 south of us and with whom a commercial union is proposed. 
 I will submit a statement which indicates how much more 
 valuable Canada is to the United States as a market than all 
 the realms lying south of the Rio Grande, including Mexico 
 and the Souih American States. 
 
200 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 During the year 1885 the United States sold to all the 
 Central and South American States but $27,000,000 in round 
 numbers, and to all countries south of the Rio Grande, an 
 aggregate of $64,000,000. To the 45,000,000 of people in the 
 south we sold $64,000,000, while to the 5.000,000 of Canadians 
 we sold over $50,000,000. 
 
 If our hampered and restricted trade with 5,000,000 
 Canadians now reaches over $50,000,000, what will be its 
 extent when the blockade is removed, and when our neighbors 
 shall number 25,000,000 of people? 
 
 Do American manufacturers fear competition ? Certainly 
 not. Do American manufacturers and merchants desire the 
 Canadian market with its great possibilities? Certainly they 
 do. Does the American farmer fear the competition of the 
 Canadian farmer? The proposition is simply absurd. No 
 possible conflict of interest on those scores. On the contrary, 
 experience abundantly proves that unrestricted and direct 
 exchange between the sources of supply in either country would 
 give a new impetus to every branch of trade and industry and 
 result in a great era of prosperity to both nations. In this 
 connection it may be well to note that we are accustomed to 
 explain to the agriculturist, and to all those interested in the 
 tilling of the soil, that their prosperity has been brought around 
 by the protective system which made markets for their grain 
 and other products. In a great measure this is indisputable. But 
 if we examine the statistics which furnish us with the range of 
 prices for farm products during the last sixty years, we find 
 that, whatever may have happened to other branches of industry 
 the prices for farm products have not substantially advanced. 
 
Art, Science, Lilerahire, and Commerce. 201 
 
 To prove the correctness of my assertion I will read to you 
 a list of the prices which obtained at various times during a 
 period of sixty years. 
 
 I quote New York prices and take them from the Trade 
 Reports: For instance, in 1825 the price of flour in New York 
 ranged from $3.50 to $4.25 a barrel. At the close of the 
 following five years, that is in 1830, from $4.75 to $6 a barrel. 
 In 1835, from $5-37 to $7.87 ; and in 1840, from $4.62 to $6.50; 
 and in 1845, from $4.31 to $7; in 1850, from $4.93 to $6.25 ; 
 in i860, from $4.25 to $5.25 ; in 1870, from $4.50 to $6.05; in 
 1880, from $3-75 to $5,7^ ; in 1885, from $2.90 to $3.70, and 
 in 1886, from $2.65 to $3.50. 
 
 If we turn our attention to the article of fish, with its 
 flavor of actuality, v.'e find that the price of mackerel in 1825 
 was from $5 to $5.75 per barrel In 1835, it was from $6 to 
 $8.25; in 1845, from $11.50 to ;||)I4; in 1855, from $18 to $22 ; 
 in 1865, from $15 to $25 ; in 1875, trom $7 to $24; in 1885. 
 from $14 to $24; and in i886, from $15 to $29. Compared to 
 the farming industry, it is difficult to see how the fishing 
 industry has suffered. The range of prices has been decidedly 
 in favor of the fisherman. 
 
 Let us consider the article of beef, niess beef. The range 
 of prices by the barrel has been abou^ the same. In 1825, from 
 $8 to |io; in 1835, from $8 to $13.1:0. In 1845 it was lower — 
 from $5.50 to $9.75 ; in 1855, from $8.25 to $14 ; in F865, which 
 was during the war, it ranged from $9 to $14; in 1875, from 
 $8 to $10; in 1885, from $ic to $)6; and in 1886, from $5 to 
 $12. The range of price in hams has varied buc little. 
 
 Corn has ranged about the same for the last sixty years. 
 
M0M,_ New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 All these figures relate to the New York market. The opening 
 of the great commercial channels — railroads and canals — has 
 resulted in equalizing prices, so that to-day it is no longer 
 profitable to burn corn in the great West. 
 
 In wheat the range of prices has not been any more 
 favorable to the farmer. The price ranging from 75 cents $1.06 
 in 1825 ; from 83 to 9514 cents in 1886. 
 
 Mess pork ranged from $12 to % 14.75 in 1825 ; from $9 
 to $14.50 in 1885, and $10 to $12.50 in 1886. 
 
 In the meantime, farmers and producers generally have 
 had to face a large increase in the rates of wages. True, on the 
 other hand, that the facilities for farming have also greatly 
 increased, so much so that to-day one man can double or triple 
 the task that he could accomplish formerly ; thus reducing to a 
 minimum the apparent increase in wages. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that certain climateric conditions 
 affecting the farmer may come to pass which no system or le- 
 gislation can control — the rain and the sunshine — his crop de- 
 pends upvon the earlier or the latter rains. Nor can any system 
 of law regulate the yield of land in case of a drouth or a super- 
 abundance of rain ; not so with the manufacturer, because the 
 products of the factory can be controlled , the output limited 
 and the prices determined. The competitors of the American 
 farmer for the European market are not to be found in Cana- 
 da, but in India and Russia. During the past year Canada pro- 
 duced only about seven per cent, of the wheat grown on the 
 North American continent. 
 
 The change will affect undoubtedly some special interests ; 
 but I do not believe that the fishing interest will be seriously 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 20 j 
 
 crippled ; nor can I concede that the fishing fleet which 
 suppHes the army or the militia of the sea will suffer from 
 a fair competition between the Canadians and the New Eng- 
 land fishermen. If, under such conditions and with fair compe- 
 tition, we cannot hold our own on sea and land, the fault must 
 be attributed to conditions which are not to be righted by the 
 levy of a tax increasing the price of every codfish-ball and every 
 mackerel which is placed upon our table. 
 
 So far as the timber interest is concerned it has no proper 
 place in our system of protection, the object of which is to 
 build up industries. But, unfortunately for the timber industry 
 of this country, the more it is protected, the more it is cherished, 
 the more speedily it dies, and we are and have been taxing 
 ourselves upon every shingle we use and every beam that we 
 require to construct a dwelling, not to make strong an industry 
 that will flourish and grow, and furnish a more ample yield, 
 but simply to pay a bonus to certain individuals who have 
 prospered beyond measure, and without any corresponding 
 benefit to the great mass of the people of this country upon 
 whom the tribute is levied. 
 
 The Canadian forests are almost limitless. Their timber is 
 rotting and going to waste, while the citizens of the United 
 States are paying ..;normous prices for a supply to construct 
 houses and make shingles to cover their heads, and thousands 
 of mechanics are idle for want of the material — lumber — to 
 enable them to prosecute their calling. Idle men on both sides 
 of the line is the direct and necessary result of our absurd sys- 
 tem. It is not only absurd, but an outrage upon our people, 
 when one or two industries are permitted , nay, authorized for 
 
204 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 their own benefit, to tax every other vocation, trade and callin<j^ 
 in this country, and thus impose needless burthens. The time 
 has come when both burdens and blessings should be more 
 equitably distributed, and what is proposed here is a step in 
 that very direction. 
 
 Now, with your indulgence, I will consider for a moment 
 the objections raised by our friends across the line to the con- 
 summation of full and complete reciprocity. First, they object 
 to it by saying that such a system would be destructive to the ma- 
 nufacturing interests of Canada. Se- 1, that it would be trea- 
 son against the mother country ; that it is, in fact, the essence 
 of disloyalty, and that its ultimate result would be annexation 
 to and absorption b)' the United States. Lastly, it is urged 
 that the mercantile interests of Canada would suffer, and that 
 drummers from New York and Boston would absolutely destroy 
 the trade of Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Hamilton and the 
 other leading cities of the Dominion : that the revenues of 
 Canada would be lost. 
 
 I notice, Mr. Chairman, that a le;?ding journal of Toronto 
 remarks that you and I were born twenty-five years too late 
 for all purposes of reciprocity and commercial union between 
 Canada and the United States ; and in the same article it is sug- 
 gested that a quarter of a century ago this matter might have 
 been favorably considered, but now it cannot be. Attention is 
 called in this connection to the fact that there must be borne 
 in mind " the expenditure of the past twenty years in railroad 
 construction, in acquiring territory, and in various ways having 
 in view inter-provincial trade and the development of Canadian 
 national sentiment through closer inter-provincial commercia 
 
Ari, Science, Littrature, and Commerce. 20^ 
 
 relations, the purpose being to do away with unnatural barriers, 
 and allow each Province to cultivate the trade adjacent to it." 
 The argument submitted by the learned editor defeats itself. 
 The only purpose of improving the railroad system of either 
 country, and of improving the water-ways, is to enable the produ- 
 cers to reach the markets 01 ♦.iSe world. If they serve any other 
 proper purpose it is difficult to understand what it is. 
 
 It is also suggested, as a part of ti:e criticism of the policy 
 of reciprocity, that the system and efforts before referred to — 
 improved agencies for commercial intercourse— were made to 
 do away with the unnatural barriers between the Provinces 
 and to cultivate the trade adjacent to them. This is pertinent, 
 and suggests that all barriers that block the natural highways 
 of trade and commerce should be removed. It suggests also 
 that it is natural and proper to cultivate trade which is near at 
 hand rather than seek distant markets, especially when better 
 ones lay at our very doors. This is precisely the object for 
 which patriots on both sides of the line, in Canada and the 
 United States, are struggling. 
 
 The point made in the same article, that drummers from 
 New York and Boston would destroy the mercantile business 
 of Canada, is hardly worth considering. The argument has 
 been met and answered a hundred times, and the experience 
 of every-day life absolutely shows how fallacious it is. If the 
 objections mentioned were well taken, it must follow that there 
 would not be a healthful mercantile business carried on in any 
 of the cities of the great West. Certainly New York and Boston 
 would have no advantages over Canadian cities that they do 
 not have over the towns and cities of the great West. To 
 
2o6 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 pretend that the rival competition of New York and Boston 
 would destoy the mercantile interests of Canada is tantamount 
 to asserting that the merchants of Canada and Canadian enter- 
 prise belong to a former century, and to a people who do not 
 possess the aggressive energy and merit to compete with all 
 comers in an even field of business venture. 
 
 It will be remembered, in this connection, that there was 
 at one time, among men representing important eastern 
 interests, much opposition to the enlargement of the facilities 
 for transportation along the line of our northern frontier, 
 whether by our Canadian friends or our own people ; it being 
 urged that it would open up a line of travel, a commercial 
 highway if you please, which would cripple the middle and 
 southern lines of trade and commerce. Time has demonstrated 
 the absolute falsity of this pretension Men have only to 
 rightly consider the elements entering into the solution of 
 these various problems to discover that the law of compensation 
 operates everywhere. 
 
 It is urged by certain honorable gentlemen in Canada, and 
 by some in this country, as an objection to the measure, that 
 the move in the direction of commercial union seeks ultimately, 
 and has, in fact, for its prime object, the annexation of Canada 
 to the United States. Do gentlemen believe that annexation 
 would follow commercial union? If so, upon what do they 
 base their conclusion .'* Does Canadian prosperity involve 
 annexation to the United States? Does Canadian prosperity 
 involve disloyalty to the British crown ? If so, why? Is there 
 anything in the relations of Canada to the mother country 
 which suggests that prosperity can only come to Canadians by 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2oy 
 
 severing their connection with the English government ? It 
 would seem that gentlemen who insist that prosperity means 
 annexation must conclude that annexation is indispensable to 
 Canadian prosperity and happiness. I do not agree with them. 
 Canadians are satisfied with their form of government, and 
 there is no desire on this side to change it, nor yet to have 
 them adopt any one phase of our own. We can work out our 
 destinies side by side. That in many respects, we must and 
 will have one common destiny, I have no doubt. We are 
 one people to all intents and purposes, so far as Christian 
 civilization and the end it seeks is concerned ; and, so far as 
 the things to be attained by the growth and extension of that 
 civilization require a common purpose and a common effort, 
 we will, whatever the respective forms of government under 
 which we live, be one people. Commercial union is in no wise 
 inseparable from annexation. One does not involve the other, 
 unless the fact that such a union banishes all possibility of 
 attrition between the two countries and puts the seal to a bond 
 of perpetual peace between them, can be construed as evidence 
 of a desire for annexation. 
 
 I may here call the attention of the honorable members of 
 this Club to a few facts bearing upon the history of Canada and 
 her relations to Great Britain. I have already alluded to it. 
 Gentlemen, of course, are aware that the tie which binds us to 
 Canada has little to do with commerce — nor do I speak now of 
 political relations proper, but of those relations that grow out of 
 kinship, similar language and similar religion — all of which have 
 little relationship to commercial intercourse. If Canada finds 
 no closer tie between her people and those from whom they are 
 
2o8 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 descended than that which is born of trade and commerce, it is 
 a matter of little consequence how soon those ties are severed. 
 The history of Canada and of the United States, so far as 
 England is concerned, is identical. The record of the history 
 of Canada during the last half century discloses the fact that 
 her complaints against the mother country have been similar in 
 character to those which compelled the American colonies to 
 petition for redress of grievances. Canada complained of the 
 navigation laws so far as they were applied to her. Those laws 
 were modified or absolutely changed. She insisted that it was 
 her right to have her internal policy regulated by represen- 
 tatives chosen by the people who were to be affected by that 
 policy. That privilege was also conceded. She demanded, 
 furthermore, the right to collect and disburse her revenue 
 according to her own ideas of internal economy. That also was 
 conceded her. She asked, in effect, that she should be 
 sovereign, within her borders, upon all matters pertaining to 
 the civil administration. That too was conceded, and these 
 just concessions — barring the mere matter of kinship, the ties 
 of common ancestry, of a common religion if you please, and 
 of those ties which naturally grow from similar institutions, 
 and, as I believe, from a common destiny — have above all 
 else preserved to this day, among Canadians, the spirit of 
 perfect loyalty toward Great Britain. 
 
 The fear that Canada will be absorbed by the United 
 States, or *hat she will lose her independence and dignity as a 
 sovereign nation, is absurd in itself. Whether she shall stand 
 among the nations of the earth, great, rich and independent, 
 will depend upon the character of her people and the manner 
 
Ari, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 20g 
 
 in which she utilizes her vast resources. Her mineral wealth 
 invites the most desirable immigration. Her vast forests are 
 only awaiting for hardy pioneers of enterprising spirits to pursue 
 the vasious avocations dependent upon a supply of timber 
 The same is true of her other resources. 
 
 I observe also that it is asserted by some writers in the 
 Canadian press that an arrangement, such as the one contem- 
 plated, would be in the nature of an alliance offensive and 
 defensive with the United States as against Great Britain. 
 This is so far from being the case that the assertion must be 
 regarded as an appeal to prejudices rather than an appeal to 
 the intelligent judgment of our Canadian friends. 
 
 It is not for the mere advantage which is to be computed 
 by dollars and cents that, as an American citizen, I urge full 
 reciprocity with Canada. It is to secure, not a bond of 
 political union, but a bond which will keep the English- 
 speaking race one people now and for all times to come, and 
 enable it to fulfill its mission by developing the highest and 
 best form of civilization the world has ever known. 
 
 The resolution adopted by the gentlemen who met in 
 Toronto, asserts : " That unrestricted reciprocity in manufat 
 tured goods would be a serious blow at the commercial 
 integrity of the Dominion, and would result disastrously tc 
 their manufacturing and farming industries and other financial 
 and commercial interests." The farmers, at least, had spoken 
 for themselves, and their resolution was certainly the out- 
 growth of intelligent investigation and a just appreciation o' 
 what was essential to create prosperous conditions. I doubt 
 whether the honorable gentlemen who adopted that resolution 
 
2IO New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 represent the sentiments of a very large portion of those among 
 the people of Canada who, in the last resort, are to bear the 
 burthens of what is dubbed the N. P., in other words the 
 National Policy of Protection. 
 
 Did it ever occur to our manufacturing friends in Toronto 
 that the resources at their command, which are almost illimi- 
 table, must attract in their midst that activity and energy which, 
 after all, makes a country great and prosperous? That such 
 would be the final result all history abundantly attests. Possibly, 
 Mr. Chairman, if reciprocity had obtained twenty-five years 
 ago, we would not have be honored by your presence and mas- 
 terly entreprise in New York. In fact, this Club might not 
 have been in existence. The energy which you have put forth 
 here would have found such profitable employment on the 
 other side of the line that you would not have come among 
 us ; but your friendship for us, and ours for you, would not 
 have been a whit lessened by the fact of the prosperity which 
 waited upon each country. 
 
 Whatever may be said to the contrary, I take it from the 
 discussions in the English Parliament that England will not 
 feel greatly disturbed over a commercial union between Canada 
 and the United States. Able discussions in that body, as to the 
 effect of protective tariffs, indicate that it is the opinion of 
 English statesmen that whatever advantage may accrue to the 
 protected country, if any, no disavantage will result to England. 
 Such is the statement made by Mr. Chamberlain, and his state- 
 ment is supported by figures, cited in his speech of August 12, 
 1881, in reply to an Address from the throne which urged 
 retaliatory measures against nations exacting high duties on 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 211 
 
 goods imported from England. I have here the speech of Mr. 
 Chamberlain, and have been interested in observing how 
 thoroughly his conclusions are sustained by the statistics he 
 cites. I regret that I have not time to read portions of it. 
 
 I think careful investigation will demonstrate that indus- 
 tries which in Canada should need protection against European 
 competition would; in the United States, require an equal 
 protection ; and that a protective system which in its operation 
 would be of benefit to Canada would be equally beneficial to 
 the United States, and vice versa. Duties would, of course, 
 in a large proportion, be levied according to the amount of 
 revenue necessary, the protection in a large mesure would be 
 merely incidental. 
 
 It is suggested by certain gentlemen, and I speak of this 
 because I am addressing Canadians, that the proper thing 
 would be a reciprocal arrangement between England and 
 Canada through which the former should discriminate against the 
 farm produce of other countries. This would be a very remark- 
 able proceeding indeed, as it would add to the price of food 
 on every laborer's table in England in order to obtain a market 
 for the output of British factories. Outside of the indefen- 
 sibility of such a scheme, it is unlikely that England would 
 consent to tax the bread and potatoes and the meat of her 
 workmen merely to attain the possible advantage of a new 
 market in which to sell the products of her shops. 
 
 So far as the agricultural interests of this country and 
 Canada are concerned, it must be conceded that they are not 
 susceptible to secure a hearing with the same ease as the 
 manufacturers, the merchants and financiers who are more 
 
212 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 immediately connected with trade and commerce. The 
 cities are centres of political influence, and also centres of trade 
 and financial power ; therefore, those interests, that are the 
 competitors of agriculture, not only have more ready access to 
 the public ear, but they have morever the sympathies of those 
 who command the most ready means for controlling the 
 current of public thought. » 
 
 I would call the attention of the speakers at the late 
 manufacturers' convention at Toronto, and the editors who 
 echo the sentiments that have been expressed there, that the 
 prosperity they would secure to Canada by defeating any 
 attempt at reciprocity, unless it be one-sided, would be a pros- 
 perity of such a character that it could not be shared in 
 generally by the mass of the people on either side of the line. 
 
 The time has come when the burthens and blessings incident 
 to national development and healthful growth must, as nearly 
 as possible, be shared equally by all ; and I think we may 
 rejoice in the fact that the farmers, artisans and producers in 
 Canada and the United States will no longer, without rebuke, 
 permit those who alone profit by a protective system which 
 does not deal with and correct unequal conditions, to assume 
 to represent and speak for all who have a right to be heard 
 upon the subject. 
 
 It is impossible to see how any Canadian or American 
 interest could suffer by the establishment of an active and 
 healthful trade between the two nations. It is equally difficult 
 to see how a growing tide, swelling every artery of commerce, 
 reaching from every part of Canada to the markets of the 
 United States, and from every part of the producing sections 
 
Art, Science, Literature , and Commerce. 21 j 
 
 of the Ui.ited States to Canada, and meeting the demands of 
 the people, could injure any business interest fit to survive. 
 To my mind at least, such an assertion is absurd, and I greatly 
 doubt if it has its origin in a patriotic love of country. There 
 is about it a savor, if not a positive suggestion, of selfish 
 interest. 
 
 I note what is said touching the destructive influence that 
 free international commerce would have upon the fisheries and 
 some other industries. It is asserted with great force, and 
 seemingly the assertion is sustained by statistics, that free 
 fisheries mean the absolute destruction of American fishing 
 interests. 
 
 In reply, I have to state that if the American fisherman, 
 when placed upon equal terms, is unable to compete with 
 the fisherman of Canada, it does not prove the former's 
 inferiority in any respect, nor his inability to accomplish what 
 the Canadian, under similar circumstances, can accomplish. 
 It only proves that there is something wrong in our policy or 
 in some part of our governmental machinery ; it proves that 
 oppression in that business drives from its arena Yankee com- 
 petition hopeless and crushed, and that the remedy must be 
 sought in some other direction, as it assuredly cannot be 
 found in driving such competition from our midst by oppressive 
 legislation. 
 
 If we are unable to hold our own in the field of open, 
 free and equal competition, we had better improve our stock. 
 I am for America and American institutions and interests, first, 
 last and all the time, but that point is not at stake here. The 
 question is how shall we build up every American interest 
 
214 iVi?z£/ Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 worth cherishing, and how shall we avoid to build up one 
 interest at the expense of the other, since we are aware that 
 otherwise our industrial growth would be neither healthful or 
 permanent ? 
 
 If any industry in the United States cannot survive the 
 competition of our immediate neighbors, only divided from them 
 as we are by an imaginary line, the cause for such failure 
 on our part must be sought in some unwise feature of our 
 governmental policy, and not in the superior merit of our 
 competitors in that industry or enterprise. Unless I am in 
 this respect convicted of error, I am unwilling to admit 
 inequality on our part with any nation in the world competing 
 with us under circumstances substantially the same, and I 
 would be ashamed of the Canadian who would not make a 
 similar assertion concerning his countrymen. 
 
 I have already commented upon the proposition which 
 pretends that it is the mission of the government to provide 
 such artificial conditions that it shall be as profitable to culti- 
 vate the impoverished soil of New England as it is that of 
 the rich valleys of the Mohawk, or of the Scioto and the 
 Wabash. 
 
 In that respect I have only to say that the moment the 
 government will make such an attempt, I will earnestly favor 
 revolution. In this country we are not wanting in soil suffi- 
 ciently rich to feed the world, and those sections which 
 are not fit for profitable cultivation can be either abandoned, 
 enriched by private enterprise, or used for other purposes than 
 farming. 
 
 Our transportation facilities are sufficient to feed those 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 21^ 
 
 localities where the manufacturing industries are located. The 
 law of compensation applies. If New England finds farming 
 unprofitable, she can find profitable employment in various 
 kinds of manufacturing. Her people, if not producers of 
 corn and wheat, are nevertheless producers of plows, hoes, 
 trace-chains, and thousands of other necessary articles. The 
 genius of her sons has brought them riches, in fact, they are 
 the bankers of the United States, and eastern thrift has been 
 so great that the capitalists of that section hold mortgages on 
 a large percentage of the farms in the West. I trust that if the 
 time has not yet come, that it is not far distant, when the govern- 
 ment will be engaged in some other mission than that of 
 multiplying blessings for the few through an inequitable dis- 
 tribution of the public burthens. 
 
 This question should be considered by every board of 
 trade, every chamber of commerce, every agricultural associa- 
 tion, every society composed of manufacturers and producers 
 generally. 
 
 Congress has and will have no oflficiai judgment upon it. 
 The boards and associations I have mentioned must do the 
 legislating — Congress is only a sounding-board, a cave of echoes, 
 an assemblage of unpatented graphophones, repeating what is 
 talked into them by the people. 
 
 Congress is engaged for the most part in formulating into 
 law the popular will, and by no means do I think the term 
 " popular will " to be synonymous with intelligent public judg- 
 ment. As individuals, Congressmen have intelligent convic- 
 tions ; they are capable, conscientious men ; but it is not their 
 province to attempt to form or direct the public mind. Their 
 
2i6 New Papers on Canadian History. 
 
 mission is to respond to the public will. A Congressman's duty- 
 is to agree with his constituents — this is the essence of his 
 political life —and it is not at all likely that he will consciously 
 commit political suicide. 
 
 It nai^urally follows that you are to determine for your- 
 selves an-i the country whether the immense volume of our 
 trade sh:ili! be dammed up and rolled back upon ourselves, 
 and whether a system which smacks of a primitive period and 
 a ruder and less advanced civilization, shall continue to dwarf 
 our enterprise and retard our development. 
 
*^ ■ , -hf' 
 
OO'JOOOOOOOO OOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 
 
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 onoooc>c>ocooccoooocoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOOoooocoooooy 
 
 THE MINERAL RESOURCES OF CANADA. 
 
 JOHN Mc DOUG A LI.. 
 
 ( Read before the Canadian Club 
 ( of New York. 
 
 HOSE who are familiar with this 
 subject know its vastness, and how 
 impossible it will be to do it justice 
 in the limited time at our disposal. 
 We can only skim over it, and the 
 references made to it will necessarily 
 be imperfect. We can only give a 
 passing glance at some of the prin- 
 cipal minerals, and to present them 
 in such a way as will impress you with the fact that Canada 
 has the possession of untold wealth in them, and only waiting 
 for the means for their development. 
 
2i8 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 The Laurentian range of rocks on the Atlantic coast, and 
 running inland through the Provinces of New Brunswick, 
 Quebec and Ontario, are of the oldest known formation, and 
 they contain almost all the known minerals. On the Pacific coast 
 and throughout British Columbia and a portion of the North- 
 west Territories, the rocks are similar to those of Nevada and 
 Colorado. That immense territory presents to capitalists and 
 miners a field for their enterprise, acknowledged to be, without 
 any exception, the finest in the world ; and no country is 
 endowed with such magnificent waterways ; these, in addition to 
 our canals, and over I2,(XX) miles of railways, give easy access 
 to nearly every part of the country, from the Atlantic to the 
 Pacific. Mining in Canada has been carried on only to a 
 limited extent thus far ; lately, however, a great interest has 
 been made manifest by the formation of new companies with 
 large capital. We are satisfied, from what we know of existing 
 companies, to predict good dividends for all investments made 
 for the development of mines. 
 
 I will touch on different minerals in alphabetical order, 
 and will begin by drawing your attention first to — 
 
 APATITE. 
 
 Apatite is known in commerce as " Phosphates." It is 
 generally of a greenish color and of a crystaline formation, and is 
 found in great abundance in the Provinces of Ontario and 
 Quebec. Apatite is used for the mannfacture of phosphoric 
 acid and phosphorus, and enters largely into the composition 
 of certain porcelains. It is, besides, very extensively used as a 
 
Ariy Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2ig 
 
 fertilizer of the soil. Phosphates are among the minerals most 
 essential to vegetation, and are removed from the earth in large 
 quantities by growing crops. To render it fit for agricultural 
 purposes, it is converted into a soluble salt, which is known as 
 superphosphate of lime. 
 
 The apatites of Canada are the purest met with, analysis 
 of cargoes running as high as 37 to 39 per cent, of phosphoric 
 acid, equivalent to from 80 to 86 per cent, phosphate of lime ; 
 the percentage shown is higher than that of any other countiy. 
 The mines in the valley of the Ottawa River have become 
 famous, and are extensively worked. This industry ranks now 
 as a most important and profitable one. The output for the 
 year 1885 was about 24,000 tons. 
 
 ASBESTOS. 
 
 Asbestos is the commercial name of a variety of the horn- 
 blende family of minerals, of which the chemical composition 
 is chiefly silica, magnesia, alumina and ferrous oxide. It is a 
 fibrous mineral, noted for its power to resist fire and acids. 
 
 Other uses to which it is put are fire-proof cements and 
 putty, for joints, and in the manufacture of fire and acid-proof 
 lumps, blocks and bricks. The ordinary gas fire is familiar to 
 every one, and it will suffice to point out that asbestos enters 
 largely into the composition of the artificial fuel upon which 
 the success of the fire in a great measure depends. This mi- 
 neral presents a very wide field for the inventive genius to open 
 up a new process to dress it, so that it can be woven into fa- 
 brics of every kind as easily as with cotton and wool, as well 
 
220 New Papers on Canadian History^ 
 
 as for many other purposes for which it might be made suita- 
 ble. It is largely mined in the eastern townships of the Pro- 
 vince of Quebec. 
 
 ANTIMONY. 
 
 Antimony is mined in the Province of New Brunswick. 
 The Surveyor-General of that Province reported some years 
 ago, that the mining companies there should be able to 
 produce antimony at such a low rate, and in such quantities, 
 as would place the Province among the great antimony- 
 producing countries of the wold. Its analysis varies from 
 6i to 69 per cent. It occurs also in the Province of Quebec, 
 Megantic County, both in the native state and as sulphurate. 
 
 BARYTES. 
 
 Barytes, or heavy spar of fine quality, is found in very 
 great abundance in the Provinces of Ontario, Quebec and 
 Nova Scotia. Very Utile has been done yet in mining this 
 material except in Nova Scotia. 
 
 BITUMINOUS SHALES. 
 
 Extensive work? were operated in Nova Scotia for the 
 manufacture of oils from shale, but had to be abandoned in 
 consequence of the heavy import duties imposed by the 
 Un,ited States. The yield was about 60 gallons of oil from 
 1 ton ; they were also capable of yielding 7,500 cubic feet of 
 gas per ton. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 221 
 
 COAL. 
 
 The coal area of Canada is very extensive — an approxi- 
 mate estimate places it at 97,000 square miles. The Provinces 
 of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and British Columbia, and 
 the Northwest Territories, yield bituminous coal of excellent 
 quality for steam, coking, and for gas. Anthracite coal is 
 found in British Columbia and in the Northwest Territories, 
 The consumption of coal in Canada is about 5,000,000 tons 
 per annum, of which our mines supply only 3,000,000 tons, 
 the balance of 2,000,000 is imported. 
 
 A strange mineral, named albertite, was discovered at the 
 Albert Mine, about the year 1850. It was regarded by some 
 as a true coal, and by others as a variety of jet, and by others 
 again, as related to asphaltum, because it resembles it in 
 appearance, being very black, brittle, and lustrous, and desti- 
 tute of structure. It differs from asphaltum in fusibility, 
 and in its relation to solvents ; it differs also from true coal in 
 being of one quality throughout, and contains no trace of 
 vegetable tissues ; its mode of occurrence is that of a vein, and 
 not that of a true bed. The mineral has been exported to the 
 United States for the manufacture of oils and of gas ; it is 
 capable of yielding 100 gallons of crude oil per ton, and of 
 14,500 cubic feet of gas, of superior illuminating power, per ton. 
 
 COPPER. 
 
 Copper is stated to constitute one of the most important 
 of the mineral treasures of the Dominion, and is said to 
 
222 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 be as widely distributed in nature as iron. It is found 
 over vast tracts of country in Ontario, in the eastern town- 
 ships of Quebec, in Nova Scotia, and British Columbia ; traces 
 of it are met with in New Brunswick. The richest producing 
 section is along the northern shore of Lake Superior, where it 
 frequently occurs in the form of native copper, in large masses. 
 The next in importance are the deposits of the eastern town- 
 ships, in Quebec. The copper ore here is similar in its structure 
 and occurrence to those of Norway and Sweden, and is met 
 with chiefly as a sulphurate in great abundance. The Geolo- 
 gical Survey Report of 1866 enumerated the extraordinary 
 number of 557 locations in the eastern townships. Companies 
 were formed and mines were opened. Operations have been 
 suspended by some, and others are working with varied results. 
 Mining operations, of a somewhat extensive character, are in 
 progress at Sydney, Cape Breton, where an assay made yielded 
 34 oz. of silver, 1-5 oz. of gold, and 20 >^ per cent, of copper, 
 per ton of ore. 
 
 GOLD. 
 
 Gold is found in all the Provinces, except Prince Edward 
 Island and New Brunswick. Gold mining is one of the princi- 
 pal sources of wealth of the Provinces of Nova Scotia and Bri- 
 tish Columbia. The gold fields of Nova Scotia are esti- 
 mated to cover an area of from 6,000 to 7,000 square miles ; 
 they contain bands of gold-bearing rocks, with veins or leads 
 varying in thickness from a fraction of an inch to several feet. 
 Quartz mining has been carried on successfully, and gold, to 
 the amount of $8,000,000, has been taken out in this Province, 
 
Ari, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 22j 
 
 from the year 1859 up to and including 1885. All the gold 
 produced in British Columbia has been from placer mines, 
 which are worked along the banks and beds of the rivers and 
 creeks at low water. The main auriferous belt runs from south 
 east to northwest ; the principal localities are Kootenay, Big 
 Bend, Cariboo, Omineca and Cassiar, where at present there is 
 considerable excitement in gold mining; they have yielded, 
 during the above mentioned period of time, about $50,000,000 ; 
 this should indicate that gold in immense quantities must 
 exist up in the mountains ; there are, however, differences 
 of opinion about this. Several companies have lately been 
 formed, with large capital, to carry on the business of quartz 
 mining on an extensive scale. We learn from the latest 
 reports that the prospects of success are not only sure, but 
 exceedingly bright. 
 
 f GRAPHITE. 
 
 Graphite is sometimes called plumbago or black-lead. 
 These are misnomers, arising from the erroneous idea that 
 lead '^nters into its composition. Graphite is recognized as a 
 native form of carbon. Geologists are at variance concerning 
 its probable origin. There are two distinct varieties : one is 
 fine-grained and the other is foliated. Graphitiferous rocks of 
 the Laurentian system are widely spread throughout Canada. 
 The graphite of these rocks usually occurs in beds and seams, 
 varying in thickness from a few inches to three feet. The 
 analysis of the Canadian product is almost identical with that 
 of Ceylon (the finest in the world). Its freeness from lime 
 makes it very valuable for making crucibles. Canada contains 
 
224 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 an almost inexhaustible quantity, scattered throughout the 
 Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and 
 Ontario. Very little has been done yet in working the mines. 
 
 ' ' GYPSUM. 
 
 The Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and 
 Ontario, and the Northwest Territories, yield gypsum of a 
 very fine quality, particularly Nova Scotia, where it is found 
 in connection with the lower carboniferous limestones. There 
 are two kinds, white and blue, the former being best adapted 
 for making plaster of Paris, and the latter for making land 
 plaster for agricultural purposes. Considerable quantities are 
 shipped to the United States, besides what is required for 
 home consumption. 87,644 tons were exported from Nova 
 Scotia to the United States in 1885, and an average of about 
 5,000 tons are shipped annually from the Grand River district, 
 in Ontario, to the western part of the State of New York. 
 
 IRON. 
 
 Iron in unlimited quantities is found in all the Provinces 
 and Territories of the Dominion; the country is pre-eminently 
 rich in the ores of iron of every kind, and of the highest grade, 
 equaling the Swedish and Russian in quality, and they are 
 adapted for every purpose that iron and steel are used for. 
 Nova Scotia is the richest in iron ores, and they are in close 
 proximity to almost unlimited quantities of coal. New 
 Brunswick has extensive deposits of iron ores in Carlton 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 225 
 
 County, and boj[^ ores in Queens, Sunbury, Restigonche, and 
 Northumberland counties. In the Province of Quebec, near 
 the City of Ottawa, there is a hill of iron which has been esti- 
 mated to contain i cx),ooo,ocxD tons. The Haycock Mine is 
 situated eight miles north-east of the city, and it has been 
 estimated that it could yield an output of 100 tons of ore per 
 day for 150 years, without being exhausted. Very valuable 
 deposits of iron and bog ores are found in many other parts of 
 the Province. The Province of Ontario has enormous deposits 
 of iron ores of a superior quality ; many rich beds have been 
 found in Manitoba and in the Northwest Territories. British 
 Columbia is exceedingly rich in iron ores; many of the deposits 
 are found along the coast and islands, lying side by side with 
 bituminous coal of good quality. 
 
 There is no other metal of so much importance to the 
 material progress and prosperity of any country as iron, and 
 when we consider the enormous amount we are importing, viz.: 
 an average of $20,000,000 per annum since Confederation, 
 making an aggregate for 20 years of $400,000,000, it is high 
 time for us not only to consider, but to commence to make all 
 the iron and steel goods we need. We possess 12,000 miles of 
 railways and are increasing our mileage from year to year ; these 
 railroads would in themselves consume in large quantities, in 
 addition to our requirements in other directions. Then, con- 
 sider the bearing the iron industrj' would have on other 
 industries, which would come into existence in connection 
 with it ; the benefits from it directly or indirectly would be 
 incalculable. There are quite a number of chartered companies 
 organized to work mines and to manufacture iron and steel 
 
226 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 who are waiting their opportunity to commence operations. 
 A syndicate of wealthy and iniluential Americans, being satis- 
 fied that the Iron deposits of Canada are the richest in the 
 world, and that they can be worked to advantage, have recently 
 organized themselves into a company with a capital of 
 $ I o,ocx),ooo, for the purpose of working iron mines in Canada. 
 We wish them every success, and sincerely hope that they will 
 be well rewarded ; their movement in this direction may give 
 courage for the investment of many millions more by others 
 for the same and kindred purposes. The development of our 
 coal and iron industries will do more to enrich our country 
 than anything else we know of could do. 
 
 V , LEAD. 
 
 Galena or sulphite of lead is found in varying quantities 
 in all the Provinces except Prince Edward Island. The coun- 
 ties of Frontenac and Hastings, in the Province of Ontario, are 
 especially designated as a lead mining region, and the Fron- 
 tenac Lead Mining Company is prepared now to carry on 
 extensive operations north of Kingston. Lead mining, so far, 
 has not been carried on to any extent, but it is expected to 
 become one of considerable importance in the near future, as 
 the facilities for transportation, which was the principal draw- 
 back in the past, have been very much improved by the building 
 of railroads adjacent to many of the deposits. The uses of 
 lead are so varied , and used in such large quantities in 
 connection with the industrials arts, that the opening up and 
 working of the mines would make this another very important 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Coninifrce. 22j 
 
 industry of our country. It is only lately that it has become 
 known that the Kootenay Country, in British Columbia, is 
 enormously rich in lead ores, the ore showing as much as 
 i5^oz. of silver to the ton. It cannot be mined to pay until 
 a railway is built into that country to give them an outlet. I 
 understand that a charter has been obtained for one, and that 
 it will soon be built. When that is done, we may hear of 
 results from there equaling if not surpassing those of Leadville 
 and the Black Hills country. ' r ■ 
 
 ,;:.- MANGANESK. •■ ---■■;/'■.* V ,a ■:;.;:',.'.>;:;.,- \, 
 
 The ores of manganese are found in all the Provinces 
 except in British Columbia, and are mined to a considerable 
 extent in Nova Scotia and in New Brunswick ; their value is 
 estimated on the percentage of binoxide which they contain. 
 They are used extensively in manufacturing bleaching pow- 
 ders and flint glass, and as a siccative in paints, oils and 
 varnishes. 
 
 MICA. 
 
 Mica is one of the characteristic minerals of the Lauren- 
 tian rocks. In these rocks are found the white , brown and 
 black varieties, of which the former is the most valuable. Work- 
 able deposits of the white mica are found from Labrador on 
 the east, to Lake of the Woods on the west, whilst the Ottawa 
 Valley is a huge storehouse of mica, in which the black predo- 
 minates. Its use has been principally for lanterns and stoves 
 on account of its transparency. 
 
228 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 PETROLEUM. 
 
 ■ - This mineral product is also known as kerosene and coal 
 oil. It has been noticed in all the Provinces except in Prince 
 Edward Island. Its origin has been a subjet of much specula- 
 tion among geologists, and is still an unsettled question, the 
 prevalent and most widely accepted notion is, that it is due to 
 a very slow decomposition of organic remains, animal or vege- 
 table, or both combined. The only area of production at pres- 
 ent lies between Lake Erie and Lake Huron. The petroleum 
 bearing region is overlaid with continuous beds of sand and 
 clay, which sometimes hold the oil rising from the underlying 
 limestones of the corniforous formation, which neems to be its 
 true source. 
 
 Our petroleum oil industries employ a capital of 
 $10,000,000; the production of the wells is about 6,000,000 
 barrels of crude oil per annum, which is manufactured into all 
 kinds of illuminating and lubricating oils and greases, benzine^ 
 vaseline, paraflfine wax, etc., etc. 
 
 There is considerable excitement existing at present in the 
 neighborhood of Montreal, in consequence of the discovery of 
 natural gas at Longue Pointe. A joint stock company has been 
 formed for the purpose of prospecting in that neighborhood ; 
 they are at work now, and have drilled to a depth of 1,300 feet ; 
 the average daily progress is from ten to fifteen feet. The rapi- 
 dity of the work, of course, depends upon the character of the 
 resistance offered in boring down through the earth ; they ex- 
 pect to find the gas at a depth of about 2,000 feet. There is 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 22g 
 
 an almost intolerable smell of gas coming from the shaft which 
 they are sinking. 
 
 SALT. 
 
 This very important substance is found in the Provinces 
 of Nova Scotia, Ontano, British Columbia, and in the North- 
 west Territories, but it is only prepared for commerce in 
 Ontario. 
 
 It was first discovered at Goderich, by parties who were 
 boring for petroleum, the boring resulted in the discovery of a 
 bed of rock salt 30 feet thick at a depth of 964 feet ; the 
 boring was continued at a depth of 1,010 feet, when hard rock 
 was met with. A pure saturated brine was obtained at this 
 depth. 
 
 The principal wells are at Goderich, Clinton, Seaforth and 
 Kincardine. The brine is of great strength, and of remarkable 
 purity. American chemists, who have examined Canadian 
 salt, unhesitatingly declare that it is of finer quality than that 
 obtained from the great American salt area of New York 
 State. Some distance up the Slave River in the Northwest 
 Territories, a number of brine springs are found scattered over 
 a '.vide plain, and large accumulations of salt are deposited 
 around them. It is said that these accumulations are of 
 unknown depth and extent, and it is supposed that there are 
 vast deposits underneath the surface. Another salt region is 
 reported to be at about half way between Great Slave and 
 Great Bear Lakes, which takes about half a day to cross. 
 
2 JO New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 ■'•-•v":.:'''^::-' '-'■■■',;■'•'■: silver. 
 
 The ores of silver are found in all the Provinces, except 
 in Prince Edward Island. There are, however, no workings to 
 speak of, except; those carried on along the northern shore of 
 Lake Superior, including the famous Silver Islet Mine; the 
 latter was originally a rock whose greatest diameter was 75 
 feet, and its greatest height above the lake was eight feet ; it 
 is situated about half a mile from the main-land. The vein 
 was discovered in 1868, and was worked by the Montreal Min- 
 ing Company for two years ; they disposed of it, and 107,000 
 acres of mineral lands, to an American Company. Since then, 
 the mine has been steadily worked, and extends now to a depth 
 of over 550 feet below the level of the lake : it is yielding a re- 
 munerative return, and it is estimated that over $3,000,000 
 worth of Silver has been taken out of it since it was opened. 
 The most remarkable discoveries of silver ore on record were 
 made last March, in the Thunder Bay District, near Port 
 Arthur. Mr. Roland, C. E., reported that the Beaver Mine 
 has sliown, by actual measurement, upwards of $750,000 worth 
 of solid silver in sight, and that another bonanza has been 
 struck at Silver Mountain, containing solid black silver in im- 
 mense quantities. Such rich exposures of silver ores are un- 
 precedented. 
 
 All the lead ores of the Province of Quebec contain silver 
 yielding from I >^ oz. to 65 oz. to the ton ; and all the lead 
 ores found in Nova Scotia yield from 3 oz. to 100 oz. to 
 the ton. 
 
 British Columbia seems from latest reports to be develop- 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2ji 
 
 ing in minerals of every kind, and some of its showings indi- 
 cate that it is going to excel in silver, and some of the assays 
 made have shown as high as $600 to the ton of ore. The sil- 
 ver ores on Kootenay Lake, and on the Upper Columbia Ri- 
 ver, are very plentiful. There is every indication to lead to the 
 belief that very rich silver mines will be opened there as soon 
 as the means of transportation are completed. . , 
 
 As time will not permit us to enter into the particulars of 
 all the minerals, I will merely say that we have in addition to 
 those already meiitioned, arsenic, bismuth, cobalt, lignite, mo- 
 lybdenum, nickel, pyrites, lithographic stone, oxides of iron of 
 every kind, suitable for paint, materials for building, flagging, 
 paving and slating; stone suitable for grindstones and millstones, 
 marbles of various qualities, white, black, brown, gray-mottled, 
 variegated, spotted and green ; white quartz and silicious sand- 
 stone, for making glass ; soapstone, emery, infusorial earths, 
 and precious stones. The early French settitTs sent home con- 
 siderable quantities of the latter, and one vl v handsome ame- 
 thyst was divided into two and placed in tht crown of one of 
 the French kings. The precious stones are agates, amethysts, 
 jasper, garnets, topaz, bloodstone and opal. 
 
 I have thus skimmed over an extensive area in minerals, 
 but have scarcely touched on any points relating to them, ex- 
 cept those that were necessary to impress you with the richness 
 of their quality, the vastness of the deposits, and the wealth 
 which they contain. Canada has unbounded resources in all 
 kinds of minerals. 
 
 Let me call your attention for a moment before closing to 
 a mechanical device called "The Cyclone Pulverizer," a machine 
 
2J2 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 which is destined to play a most important part in the reduc- 
 tion of minerals, which require to be either pulverized or fiber- 
 ized ; it can do either at much less cost, and to better advantage 
 in every way, than any other machine yet invented, and espe- 
 cially is this the case in the reduction of gold quartz, mica, 
 plumbago and phosphates, and in fiberizing asbestos. It has 
 stood the severest tests on all kinds of materials which required 
 to be pulverized or fiberized. A test was recently made on 
 phosphates which contained a large percentage of mica, render- 
 ing it almost valueless for exportation. The mica was separa- 
 ted from the phosphates without any difficulty in the process 
 of pulverization, and its analysis, which was only 30 per cent, 
 phosphoric acid, equivalent to (^ per cent, phosphate of lime, 
 was raised to 34 >^ per cent, phosphoric acid, equivalent to 75 >^ 
 per cent, phosphate of lime. It 's needless to say that such a 
 showing will be of very great value to phosphate miners. 
 Statements as interesting can be made in reference to tests 
 made with it on other materials as well as on minerals. 
 
^ ^-A-/T^a^ 
 
AN ARTIST'S EXPERIENCE IN THE 
 CANADIAN ROCKIES. 
 
 JOHN A. FRASER, R. C. A. 
 
 \" 
 
 Read before the Canadian Club 
 of New York. 
 
 HAT I am very much pleased and 
 gratified to meet this briUiant gather- 
 ing of the members of the Ckib 
 and their friends, no one can doubt. 
 I assure you, moreover, that it is 
 very pleasant to recognize so many 
 known and loved faces for " Auld 
 Lang-Syne." 
 
 Most of you are aware that all 
 the pictures here exhibited were painted on the spot. I mean 
 
 
 -mifr^i 
 
 '4 
 
 i 
 
 ^■^ 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 ^b 
 
 H 
 
 1 
 
 M 
 
-34 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 by that that they were begun and finished, as far as you see 
 them, out of doors and in view of the subjects or objects 
 depicted, j Referring here to his magnificent collection of paint- 
 ings then on exhibitiou\ 
 
 And although, condescendingly judging from the results 
 attained, it may seem to you to have been rather easy of accom- 
 plishment — -and you will be surprised when told that like many 
 another undertaking such as bridging the East River and 
 d'Sgi^g ^ canal through the Isthmus of Suez, it was after 
 all not so easy as it seems. 
 
 I may tell you that five artists, all " good and true men," 
 were at work at the same time in these Canadian Rocky Moun- 
 tains. I know one whose eyes wandered confusedly for 
 many days, and whose hands hung helplessly in the presence 
 of those peaks over which the clouds, with their ever-changing 
 lights and shades, travelled ceaselessly. For many days, I say, 
 wondering what to do and where to begin. 
 
 Some had brought mighty canvases which were eventually 
 covered with nothing, while others were covered with a good 
 deal too much. Some, when a subject impressed them as 
 worthy of their brush, would commence it, but almost at the 
 outset the effect would change, and the attempt would be 
 abandoned for something else, which, oftener than otherwise, 
 would result in the same uniform failure. 
 
 But there was one among us who, indeed, was a grand 
 example of patient persistence. Although thi; smoke of eight 
 hundred miles of forest fires completely hid f''om view every 
 object more than fifty yards distant, it made nc difference to 
 him. He had begun his pictures under happier auspices and 
 
Ari, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2j§ 
 
 he faithfully repaired, day in and day out, to his chosen grounds, 
 and " fired away." 
 
 That is one way of painting on the spot and from nature. 
 Yes, quite a long way from her too ! 
 
 I am no political economist, therefore I do not propose to 
 tire you with anything about the exhaustless capabilities for 
 development of this new country. I don't know anything 
 about such matters ; however, I have a sort of stupid theory, 
 unprofessional you know, that the valley and delta of the 
 Fraser River are alone capable of supporting a population 
 as large as that of Great Britain. 
 
 I can only tell you in a disconnected way some of the 
 things that impressed me as an artist. 
 
 I left Montreal on the 8th of June fully equipped to 
 carry on my " plan of campaign. " I had an abundance of 
 painting material, almost enough to paint the Rocky Moun- 
 tains from base to summit. I took a great deal with me because 
 I knew I could not replenish my stock there. But I 
 brought some of it back, and I have reason to believe that 
 it would have been better if I hadn't used so much. You 
 haven't seen all I did, you know. 
 
 I will spare you some of the details about the trip from 
 Owen Sound to Port Arthur. We made it in one of the 
 Company's splendid steamers plying acros:'. the inland ocean 
 called Lake Superior. Soon after leaving .Sault St. Marie we 
 were for hours enveloped in fogs which alternated with 
 rains ; consequently, the scenery could not impress me, only 
 when we came suddenly in sight of immense lumps of 
 majestic ugliness called Thunder Cape and its compeer Pie 
 
2j6 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 Island. I say lumps of majestic ugliness, for althoufifh nothing 
 else but enormous basaltic spurs, they are majestic and 
 imposing notwithstanding, as they rise from the waste of 
 waters like lions coucliants. At Port Arthur, with the words 
 " All aboard ! " the fun began. 
 
 We commenced to size up and sort our company, and 
 choose our companions. 
 
 There was naturally a predominance of the Scotch Ontario 
 element : — the man with the shrewd, rather suspicious gray eyes, 
 not very grey, for he could not afford to let too much out ; 
 eyes well set back under the square brow, the strong lines indi- 
 cative of thrift, perseverance and strong settled " releegious 
 opeenions "; the hard, stern mouth, and the fine well-pronounced 
 freckles on the sole-leather skin, all of which characteristics 
 proved him the honest farmer going West to "better his 
 condeetion and tae mak muckle or mair for the wife and weans." 
 
 These thrifty Scotchmen kept pretty much to themselves, 
 they did not " give themselves away. ' 
 
 Of course, the joyous, buoyant drummer was there in force, 
 as he is everywhere, and I was greatly struck with the bound- 
 less wealth of the great Northwest, because most of those gen- 
 tlemen represented houses interested in the manufacture of 
 receptacles for the said wealth — their business in life being to sell 
 safes ; and, as they were very numerous, the inference that money 
 was plenty in the Northwest was a fair one at that distance, 
 although I must confess my disappointment on reaching 
 Winnipeg, in not observing any more profuse prodigality 
 there than in New York or Boston. 
 
 Of course, the people I have described, though charming 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2jj 
 
 in their way, did not attract me very powerfully. But I soon 
 found pleasant traveling companions in a gentleman and his 
 wife from Baltimore ; a Scotch gentleman from Glasgow, a right 
 good fellow of a fine type, alert, intelligent and genial, though he 
 did have the misfortune to be a "Laird," and a distinguished 
 clergyman, also from Glasgow, who, twenty-five years ago, had 
 been sent out as a missionary amongst the miners of Cariboo. 
 He had built a church in Victoria, but had left it eighteen years 
 since, and was returning to see old friends and scenes. All these 
 people were like myself, making their first trip through to the 
 Pacific. 
 
 And here, though she may never know of it, I must record 
 the thankfulness of myself and friends to the brave and 
 gentle lady of our party. 1 have not words to express my esti- 
 mation of the uniform and unvarying kindliness, patience and 
 sweet temper which she showed during the eight days of that 
 journey, which was made in all sorts of cars known to men who 
 deal in rolling stock — in box-cars, flat-cars, cabooses and cars 
 of every description, except, of course, horse-cars ; sometimes 
 with no better sleeping accommodations than a cushion and a 
 blanket. Our fare was not as varied as our transportation; some- 
 times we sat at table-d'hote, in canvas hotels whose flamboyant 
 signs bore such inscriptions as The Windsor, The Continental, 
 The Brunswick, Grand Pacific, etc., where the menu consisted 
 always of leather beefsteak well-covered with bad butter, boiled 
 potatoes of the description known as " waxy," followed by pie, 
 the whole washed down with boiled tea, and this without inter- 
 mission. 
 
 Through the dust and heat, and clouds of bloodthirsty 
 
2j8 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 mosquitoes when passing through the dry belt. Yes, through 
 all the discomforts incidental to that first trip of three thousand 
 miles, and up to the day that we left her in the fine hotel at Vic- 
 toria, she was the same gentle, good and exceedingly beautiful 
 lady. The love of those two people too was wonderful, inas- 
 much as they had been three years married. 
 
 You all know more about Winnipeg than I do, but here 
 I want to acknowledge the royal manner in which Mr. Bedson, 
 Mr. Scarth and the Manitoba Club entertained us. 
 
 We went with Mr. Bedson to see his herds of buffaloes at 
 Stony Mountain and joined in the exciting chase — in a buggy. 
 The hunt did not impress me as being as dangerous as it was 
 uncomfortable, for three of us occupied but one seat. From 
 Winnipeg our journey for eight hundred miles was quite 
 uninteresting to me. The country, from my point of view, 
 is wanting in the elements of the picturesque. When I say 
 this I know that I am treading on delicate ground, for many 
 of my brother artists hold that there is nothing so unpaint- 
 able as those subjects which, until recently, have been consid- 
 ered the richest in the pictorial element, and which are also 
 considered as such by many whose names have at least the 
 respectability of time and permanence. 
 
 But I am not sure that those among my brothers of the 
 brush who have learnt to look at our glorious American 
 scenery through the spectacles of France and Holland, might 
 not find these eight hundred miles of prairies, coulees, and cut 
 hills deeply interesting. 
 
 It was at Calgary, the lovely little town on the beautiful 
 Bow River, that early on a summer's morning we got a first sight 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2j<^ 
 
 of the Rockies, fully one hundred and fifty miles away. The sky 
 was clear overhead, and in the far distant horizon lay these 
 mountains. Clouds they appeared to the untrained vision, and, 
 indeed, as the eye gradually became able to distinguish and 
 separate the forms, the poet's words, 
 
 " The clouds like rocks and the rocks like clouds," 
 
 was acknowledged as the best po.csible description. 
 
 From Calgary to the surrnit of the Rockies, on the 
 eastern slope, is a panorama such as cannot be described in 
 any way, either by pen or brush. For about one hundred miles it 
 is constant, ever-growing and increasing in astonishment and sur- 
 prise at its beauty and splendor. From the entrance of the Gap 
 at Canmore, and up, up, ever up, past peak after peak, glaciers 
 innumerable, over madly-roaring boiling torrents, toying with 
 and playfully flinging here and there on their snowy crests, trees, 
 some of them large enough to build a barn. Still up and up, un- 
 til seven thousand feet above the sea level your train crawls 
 past the base of Mount Stephen, its peak piercing the clouds a 
 mile still higher up, and with head swimming and eyes and 
 neck aching and your heart thumping against your ribs, you 
 cry, enough ! and prepare for the descent of the Kicking 
 Horse Pass — and — dinner. 
 
 This pass of the Kicking Horse is, I am told, the steepest 
 railway grade in the world, being four and a half feet in the 
 hundred for about nine miles. I don't know whether this is 
 so or not, but I do know that I was compelled to travel on foot 
 and alone, weighted down with my painting materials and a 
 heavy gun for some weeks, sometimes as much as ten or twelve 
 
2^0 New Papers 071 Canadian History, . ; ^ 
 
 miles a day, and in all sorts of weather, and doing my work 
 
 besides. ':■■:.:::'■■ '-'\-- - ;.; "',;■■'•■;/:;;;> ;■■■•■■-: ;> ,\ 
 
 Through the valley of the Kicking Horse, past the peaks 
 of Lanchvill, a word or name which I am proud to say that I 
 can pronounce properly, thanks to the persistent and continuous 
 schooling of my friend " the Laird." It is a Gaelic word, and 
 signifies the end of the valley. So, all's well that ends well ! 
 
 Through this valley, amidst such magnificence of form 
 and colors, on we go, till we begin to realize that one can 
 have too much of a good thing. Presently, we commence to 
 climb again, and the Rogers Pass, at the summit of the Selkirks, 
 is reached. Here it was that my pride was hurt, that ! 
 realized how very little I knew. 
 
 We were heartily tired ; in fact, we had reached lie 
 ultimate point of disgust at the regularity of the simple bill of 
 fare. 
 
 Beefsteak is a popular and wholesome article of food ; but 
 beefsteak three times a day for many days, you can easily see 
 must become monotonous. 
 
 We all grumbled, but a member of our party went off in 
 search of variety. That town, up in the Alpine snows, was a 
 curious and interesting sight. You tramped it from the cars 
 over a path cut through many feet of snow, the remains of an 
 avalanche which had some weeks before buried carr, shanties, 
 tracks and everything else from sight. Subsequently I learnt 
 that later on, in the summer, when the snows at this level 
 were ail melted, several freight cars were found still covered 
 with snow in a little ravine sheltered from the sun. 
 
 Well ! the seeker passed the g^and hotels — few of which 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 241 
 
 exceeded twelve by twenty feet, and always constructed of tent 
 cloth — till he saw an immense sign bearing the words *' General 
 Store." To the " General Store," which seemed completely 
 hidden by the sign and a splendid specimen of Celtic manhood, 
 the seeker hied, and addressed the large Celt thus : " Good 
 Mr. Cap't, havn't you got a red herring and a nice loaf of 
 
 bread, and some fair butter that a fel " Here the seeker 
 
 lost his self-possession, and his buoyancy received a rude shock, 
 for the grand Celt, looking down with superb contempt, said 
 in that rich, beautiful accent that some of us know and love: 
 "A red herrin', at the top o' the roakies ! Weel, weel, hadn't 
 ye betther gang till the north pole and speer for plums." 
 
 I saw much of this grand Scotch-Canadian element, and 
 wherever I met it, whether in the lumber shanties on the 
 Columbia or F'raser, on the ranches in the dry belt, or in the 
 warehouses, counting-rooms, or government offices on the Pacific 
 Road, it was always the same as it is in this great country, where 
 the Scotchman and the Scotch-Canadian man count among its 
 best citizens, self-respecting, courageous, never blustering, 
 honest and just, shrewd and faithful, cautious and kind, and 
 always intelligent representatives. That was the sort of Scotch- 
 man I met wherever I went from Montreal to Vancouver's 
 Island. • 
 
 That is the kind of men who conceived and planned and 
 built this great railroad. I am thankful that I have some 
 Scotch blood in my veins, it may enable me to do something 
 some day. 
 
 Oh, if my friend Eagan had only had a Scotch name ! 
 
 I found the Pacific coast moist. It rained every day, and I 
 
242 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 was told it was unusual ; but when I looked at the purple and 
 white bells of the fox-gloves growing on stalks six and seven 
 feet high'; at the gigantic bushes of the bonnie yellow broom ; 
 at the gowans at my feet ; at the long ropes of moss festoon- 
 ing the mighty Douglas firs, and also at the rich mosses in 
 the woods, three and four feet deep, I could not help thinking 
 of my frequent experience as an angler. It has often occurred to 
 me — has it not to any of you ? — that upon arriving at a spot 
 celebrated for its " immense strings," to be informed that this is 
 not a very good time, last month was the right time, and about 
 the middle of next month will be a good time. In fact, it has 
 frequently happened that any time is better than the present. 
 You can draw your own inferences, but fish ! 
 
 If the climate of the coast is damp, a very different 
 story must be told of the country about one hundred miles 
 east. Inland, along the valley of the Fraser, beginning at 
 Lytton, where the dry belt commences, rain never falls. Still, 
 by means of irrigation, using the melting snows from the 
 mountains, it is a wonderfully fertile land. 
 
 I saw much that was beautiful in this part of the country, 
 of a beauty that was new and strange, — golden brown hillsides 
 and flat table-lands, benches so-called, and blue skies ; but, owing 
 to the fact that several hundreds of miles of forests were ablaze, 
 the thick smoke prevented me doing much with my pencil. 
 I remained there for some weeks and heard a great deal about 
 the valuable gold washing, and mining, and cattle raising, and 
 other industries peculiar to the region. Nobody there seems 
 to think of doing manual labor but the despised and hated 
 Chinaman, and he is there in strength ; a patient, well-behaved, 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 24J 
 
 industrious, cleanly, sober laborer — and a very bad cook. That 
 country could never have been developed without him. 
 
 I was much amused at a sign that I saw in Kamloops, 
 which is about the driest part of the dry belt, the words were 
 very suggestive : "Week Lung, labor done here." 
 
 I have said nothing yet about the salmon, which annually, 
 millions upon millions, crowd and crush up the Fraser in 
 their blind instinct to deposit their eggs. They know no 
 obstacles, they never feed at this period, they only press on 
 up the big river and out of it into the smaller tributaries. 
 
 When I reached Victoria, I wandered through the town 
 with the minister, and we saw in a shop about a dozen very 
 handsome salmon, the first we had seen. 
 
 I asked the price of the largest fish, that would weigh about 
 thirty-five pounds. Of course, I meant the price per pound, as 
 I would in an eastern market, and on being told four bits, 
 fifty cents, thought it high, and said so. The fishmonger said 
 he knew it was high, 'but the salmon had not yet begun to 
 run ; in a few days such fish would sell for two bits each. From 
 which I gathered that fifty cents was the price of the fish in 
 question — head, tail and all. 
 
 You all remember with pain the dreadful accident on the 
 Brooklyn Bridge and its cause. You know that, in the pro- 
 cession, one or two people missed their footing descending the 
 steps. Those behind them, in their impatience, pressed on, and 
 the confusion increased. Those still further behind got anxious 
 to know the cause of the delay, and pressed on. This was re- 
 peated still further back, and you know as a result that several 
 poor creatures were killed, crushed and crowded even past re- 
 
2^^ New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 cognition. Well, I am going to tell you the fish story. I have 
 told it before, and my auditors as a rule have made no com- 
 ment, but they have taken their hats, and departed rather 
 more abruptly than politely. 
 
 I crossed a river walking upon salmon. Do you understand 
 my reference to the Brooklyn Bridge catastrophe ? 
 
 The advance guard of fish had become blocked in some 
 way, and with just the same amount of senselessness — but what 
 better could you expect of a poor fish — had choked the stream. 
 They were all dead, and were jammed there in millions, for 
 weeks, in many parts of the Fraser, which is a mighty turbulent 
 muddy stream, fed by melting snows, and draining a vast area 
 of forest land, one could not throw a pebble into the river with- 
 out hitting a salmon ; the water was literally full of them. 
 
 I stopped, when making the studies on the lower Fraser, 
 with an Ontario family, who were not fish eaters ; but I induced 
 them to get some for me. and I enjoyed for several days some 
 fine sturgeon. 
 
 I used to see these fish, weighing from two to sixteen 
 hundred pounds, leaping many feet in the bright sunlight, clear 
 of the river, in sport or in quest of prey. One evening, my 
 host took me to see the sturgeon portions of which I had been 
 eating, and much to my amazement I found it tethered, so *o 
 speak, by means of a stout rope to a wharf, the whole of one 
 side had been cut away. He had begun to carve upon the 
 other side, and the fish was alive and apparently doing very 
 well. He couldn't have been happy, though ? 
 
 While talking of fish, I was surprised at the presence of 
 only a few trout in the glacier streams, and can only account 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 24^ 
 
 for it by supposing that during the winter anchor-ice must 
 freeze most of them. It cannot be that the water is normally 
 too cold, as has been suggested, else why do we find any. 
 
 Referring again to the Scotchmen : at Donald, we, that is 
 Minister " Laird " and myself, came across a philosopher. You 
 will say that the heart of the Rockies is the last place in the 
 world to find such a being, but there he was keeping a trackman's 
 boarding-house. He had come from Cape Breton, and had early 
 in life married a lass from Prince Edward Island. By a freak of 
 fortune he had become heir to a large and valuable estate in 
 Scotland. But, after having taken the necessary steps to secure 
 it, he still hesitated at going to the old land to take possession. 
 " Ye see," he said, " it will be a gude thing for the bairns, for 
 they can be properly educated and take their proper poseetion 
 becomingly ; but for me, I've lived this rough life so long that 
 the gran folks wad just laugh at me. Wull ye no hae a 
 glass ?" 
 
 Oh ! that was a merry night we passed as his guests, 
 Minister " Laird " and I. There was a violin virtuoso from 
 the Shanty who supplied music for a very hearty reel, in which 
 the " Laird " joined. A pawky lad from Cape Breton sang 
 several songs in the Gaelic tongue, and an auld man with long 
 gray hair took off his bonnet, and bowing to the Minister, sang 
 in a voice to which tremulosity added sweetness, that gem of 
 Burns', "The Banks and Braes o' Bonny Doon." He warbled 
 the old love-song, sitting half in the gloom, the light of a 
 common old-fashioned candle illuminating his beautiful silver 
 locks like ar aureole, while the night-wind sighed far up in the 
 great pines and the mighty river roared in muffled tones. 
 
2^6 
 
 New Papers on Canadian History. 
 
 God knows where the old man's memory travelled to, but 
 we all felt the meaning of the song as we never felt it before. 
 And we were the better for it. 
 
 Then, after singing "Auld Lang-Syne," the meeting came 
 to a close, just the same as this paper does ! 
 
 0/'\''¥Doi/.^/ke, 
 

 
CANADA FIRST. 
 
 REV. GEORGE GRANT, D. D., 
 Principal Queen's University. 
 
 Rem/ before the Canadian Club 
 of New Yotk. 
 
 HAT is meant by the phrase " Canada 
 First?" It means that Canada — though 
 still nominally and officially in the col- 
 onial position — is really a nation, and 
 therefore that its interests and honor 
 must be regarded by all true Canadians 
 as first or supreme. 
 
 In 1867, the Act of Confederation 
 • constituted the Maritime Provinces 
 
 and the old Upper Canada and Lower Canada into the new 
 Dominion. Immediately thereafter societies sprung into exist- 
 ence in different centres that took the name of " Canada First." 
 These societies did not last long. I do not know of one that is in 
 
2^8 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 existence at the present time. Their fate too has been held up as 
 a proof that there is no national sentiment in Canada, and that 
 Canada is not a nation. Is such a fact sufficient proof, or 
 even the slightest proof of any such thing ? Certainly not. It is 
 only a proof that a club or society, if it is to exist, must have 
 some definite object to accomplish. Any one may at any 
 time be called upon to testify his affection or his loyalty or 
 adherence to a creed, but here testifying becomes monotonous, 
 and men will not meet regularly merely to cry " Yea, yea," or 
 *' Nay, nay." There are no Scotland First or Wales First or 
 Flngland First societies. In Ireland, there are societies enough to 
 accomplish national work of some kind or another, but I have 
 not heard of even Ireland First societies. The weakness inherent 
 to political organizations that have no definite work to do is 
 seen in the difficulty that has been found in forming and 
 maintaining in existence branches of the Imperial F'ederation 
 League. I am a member of that League, but it is evident 
 that it will soon vanish into thin air, unless some scheme of 
 commercial or political union is agreed upon, for the carrying of 
 which its members may work. 
 
 Is there, then, a common national sentiment in Canada, 
 independent of the vigorous Provincial contingent that we find 
 in each Province ? Is there a common life that binds these 
 Provinces and Territories together ? We have a political unity, 
 but, does that represent any underlying sentiment ? I believe 
 that it does, though the national pulse is weak and is ail but 
 overpowered by the currents of Provincial interests, which fac- 
 tion uses in the most unscrupulous way, and by the cross cur- 
 rents of racial and religious prejudices, too often sedulously 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 24g 
 
 fostered for selfish purposes. This common life is made up of 
 three elements: North-American, French and British. The at- 
 mosphere, the soil, the climate, and all th'' physical conditions 
 under which a people lives, determine to a great extent its char- 
 acter and place in history. All these are North-American, and 
 very far North at that. In the centre of the Dominion is the 
 Province of Quebec, French to the core, French in language 
 and in heart ; nourishing, too, the sentiments, songs, laws and 
 institutions of the 17th rather than of the 19th century. Then, 
 Canada, as a whole, has inherited from Britain, not merely what 
 the United States have inherited, — language, literature, laws, 
 blood, religion and the fundamental principles of civil and re- 
 ligious liberty, that are at the basis of modern States, but also 
 continuity of national life. That means a great deal. It in- 
 cludes the same traditions, the same political and constitutional 
 forms; the same history, sentiments and affections; a common 
 flag, a common allegiance, and a common citizenship. These 
 things make up a great deal of our life. Every one knows how 
 much the flag represents. And this Jubilee year will demon- 
 strate the extent of the loyalty that all citizens feel towards 
 the head of the whole Empire. We have undertaken to build 
 up on this continent a Franco-British-North-American state, 
 believing that these three elements can be fused into a common 
 life ; the experiment is being tried. Should there be success, 
 Canada may be the link that shall unite the great mother and 
 her greatest daughter, the United States of America. What 
 prospect is there of the experiment succeeding ? What proofs 
 are there that the three elements are fusing or will fuse into a 
 common Canadian national sentiment? 
 
2^o New Papers on Canadtatt History, 
 
 The formation of the Canadian Confederation showed that 
 the people of the different Provinces had the national instinct. 
 Autonomous Provinces are not willing to give up any portion 
 of their power, even to constitute a nation. Any one will 
 admit that, who knows the reluctancy of the thirteen colonies 
 to surreaider to the central authority the smallest portion of 
 their independence. And, in our case, the geographical diffi- 
 culties in the way of union seemed well nigh insuperable. To 
 begin with, the Intercolonial Railroad had to be built along 
 the St. Lawrence, involving a detour of two or three hundred 
 otherwise unnecessary miles. Commerce demanded that the 
 connection between Montreal and the maritime Provinces 
 should be across the State of Maine, and the road by that 
 direct line is now being built. So, too, commerce demanded 
 that the connection between Montreal and the Northwest shore 
 be by the Sault St. Marie and along the south of Lake Superior. 
 And commerce made no demand for a railway across the Sel- 
 kirks to the Pacific. But in all those cases, political necessities 
 predominated, and the people have consented willingly to the 
 enormous cost of building the Intercolonial and the Canadian 
 Pacific railways as political roads. All that is now required to 
 make the Dominion perfectly independent, by land and water, 
 so far as means of communication from one part of the Domi- 
 nion to another is concerned, is a canal on the Canadian side 
 of Sault St. Marie ; and its construction has been determined 
 upon. The cost will not b** excessive. There nature is on 
 our side. If there was to be only one canal, it is quite clear to 
 the most careless observer that it should be on the Canadian 
 shore. The adoption of the National Policy, or the protection 
 
Arty Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2^1 
 
 of our own manufactures against all other countries, Britain 
 included, was a distinct declaration of commercial indepen- 
 dence, that has been reaffirmed again and again by the people 
 of Canada. The outburst of patriotic feeling, when the re- 
 cent rebellion broke out in the Northwest, was still more sig- 
 nificant. Though the French Canadians identified the cause 
 of the rebels with their own nationality, or rather with the up- 
 holding of French influence in the Territories, regiments of 
 Quebec militia marched to put the rebellion down. And pa- 
 triotic feeling was not deeper in Ontario than it was in Nova 
 Scotia, where various causes had combined to make Confede- 
 ration unpopular. For twenty years, the Canadians have con- 
 tinued their resolute effort to accomplish complete national, 
 political, commercial uiid national unity, in spite of the geo- 
 graphical and other difficulties in the way, that might well have 
 appalled them. The present calm determination to protect our 
 fisheries, and to waive no jot of our rights, although all our 
 interests and feelings lie in the direction of unfettered commer- 
 cial intercourse, and the preservation of friendly feelings with 
 the United States, is another proof that we have become one 
 people. The fisheries along the maritime shores do not directly 
 concern Ontario ; but the feeling there against surrender to 
 anything like encroachment is as decided as in Nova Scotia. 
 The symptoms of restlessness, on account of our position being 
 merely colonial, and the discussion of plans, whereby we may 
 emerge into a position of recognized nationality and stable 
 political equilibrium, also shows that we are nearingthat point 
 in our history when we must assume the full responsibilities 
 of nationhood, or abandon the experiment altogether. 
 
2^2 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 I have said that there is such a thing as Canadian national 
 sentiment, but the fact that the question can be asked, whether 
 there is or not, proves how weak that sentiment must be. No 
 one would ask such a question with regard to the United States 
 or the smallest of European kingdoms or republics. Outsiders 
 may think that it would be better for Belgium to be incorpora- 
 ted with France, or for Holland to cast in its lot with Germany; 
 but in each case national sentiment is too unmistakable to 
 make such a fate likely. Canada covers half a continent, and 
 her great neighbor is certainly not as unscrupulous or as mili- 
 tary a power as France or Germany. Yet, it would be inac- 
 curate to say that she occupies as distinct and unanimous a po- 
 sition with regard to her future as Belgium or Holland. The 
 fact must be admitted that Canadian patriotic sentiment is 
 weak. Why is it so ? Simply because we have had to do so 
 little for the common weal. Our national sentiment has never 
 been put to the test. Not once have we been called upon to 
 choose between the nation and all that as individuals we hold 
 dear. We have not been tried in the furnace, and the dross of 
 selfishness is in us. Few of us have had to suffer, few of our 
 children have had to die for the nation. 
 
 Far otherwise has it been with the United States. The 
 thirteen colonies had to fight for their freedom to begin with. 
 Rather than submit to infringement on their political liberty, 
 they ventured to stand up against the disciplined soldiers of the 
 mother country. It was a great resolve. It was a great thing 
 to do. They succeeded, and so proved their right to be a 
 nation. It has been said that they nearly failed. It has been 
 proved over and over again that they would have failed, had 
 
Artt Science, Literature, and Commerce, 2^j 
 
 it not b.en for this, that, or the other accident. The geese 
 cackled, the ass brayed or the dog barked. But the mere 
 cackling ot geese never amounts to much. Depend upon it, 
 there must be Roman hearts somewhere near, as well as geese, 
 if anything is to be done. Even if the thirteen colonies had 
 failed, failure could have been only temporary in the case of 
 such a people. It has been said that Washington was not a 
 perfect character, that his officers were jealous, his men intract- 
 able and mutinous, and Congress selfish and incompetent. But, 
 supposing all these charges true, what has been proved ? Simply 
 that the hero is not a hero to his valet, and that an heroic 
 epoch under mundane conditions is not wholly celestial. But, 
 at a little distance, the picture is seen to better advantage. 
 The mountain side is rough to the man who is climbing it, but 
 to him who looks at it from a distant point of vantage, it is soft 
 as velvet. It is seen under a haze, or rosy or purple light. 
 So the events of the Revolutionary war became glorified to 
 the generations following. They saw them through a golden 
 haze, which concealed everything mean and petty. These 
 events constituted an inexhaustible reservoir, from which the 
 nation drank for nearly a century. Incidents of all kinds, love 
 stories, tales of intrigue and danger, of desperate but successful 
 valor were woven round every battle-field. The Revolu- 
 tionary struggle made a deplorable schism in the English- 
 speaking race, but at the same time it made a nation, and it 
 taught the mother country a lesson that she has never forgotten. 
 Nearly a century afterwards, just when people were becoming 
 slightly tired of Fourth of July fire-cracker celebrations, a still 
 greater thing was given to the American people to do. They were 
 
2^4 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 forced to choose between the life of the nation and an organized 
 slave-power that boasted that the sources of national wealth 
 were in its hands. They had to grapple with and strangle slavery 
 or let the nation be cleft in twain. The choice was a hard 
 one, but they chose well. It involved an expenditure so 
 immense that no calculation of it can be made, but the invest- 
 ment was wise. There is no nation on earth so shrewd as 
 regards all manners of investments as the American, and never 
 did it make an investment so profitable. Literature and art, 
 morals and religion, song, music, poetry and eloquence, all have 
 flowed from it and will continue to flow from it for generations. 
 These things are more precious than gold or anything that gold 
 can buy. They are life. Sentiment and the almighty dollar 
 came into conflict, and fortunately for the American people 
 sentiment proved the mightier. No wonder that Abraham Lin- 
 coln's name has eclipsed that of George Washington. Who now 
 dreams of dwelling on the petty skirmishes of the Revolutionary 
 war? Every American citizen is now a better and richer man, 
 because he shares in a grander national life. He feels its 
 pulsations in his own veins, and he knows that his children 
 and children's children will share in an inheritance beyond all 
 price and that can never be taken from them. 
 
 Now, what has Canada done to show that she values na- 
 tional existence and national honor more than anything else ? 
 I have already gone over the record, and it must be admitted 
 that more could not have been expected in the circumstances, 
 and that there is promise and potency in it not unworthy of the 
 stock from which we have sprung. We have no right to expect 
 from man or nation more than the duty of the hour, and on 
 
Ari, Science, Literature, and Commerce. ^55 
 
 the whole, Canada has not been unfaithful to that. Fortu- 
 nately, or unfortunately, according to the point of view, we are 
 not likely to be called upon to pass through the valley of tears 
 and blood in order to obtain the crown of complete national 
 freedom. On the one hand, it is perfectly clear that Great 
 Britain will not repeat the mistake of the last century. In every 
 conceivable way she has declared that our destiny is in our own 
 hands. She gets nothing from us, yet she holds herself pledged 
 to defend us, if necessary, against all comers and at all hazards. 
 In making every commercial treaty, she gives us the option 
 whether we shall be included in it or not. She facilitates our 
 attempts to negotiate treaties for ourselves. She never discri- 
 minates against us or anybody else. Never, in the history of 
 the world, has a mother country been so generous. We have 
 imposed heavy duties upon her manufactures, utterly rejecting 
 the doctrine of free trade, which to her is commercially the 
 truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, that 19th 
 century gospel, of which she considers herself the apostle to 
 stiff-necked nations and colonies ; yet, she has uttered no word 
 of oflficial remonstrance. I believe that we may discriminate 
 against her manufactures; may declare ourselves politically in- 
 dependent, or openly annex ourselves to the United States, 
 without one shot being fired by her in protest. On the other 
 hand, the United States are certain not to repeat the mistake of 
 18 1 2-1 5. The armies that entered Canada then, to give us free- 
 dom, found the whole population determined not to be free ; 
 at any rate not to accept the gift on that line. There is no 
 more likelihood of Canada attacking the United States than 
 there is of a boy attacking a full-grown man. And we are 
 
2^6 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 quite sure that the man has no intention of trying to murder 
 the boy. 
 
 We are able to distinguish the bluster of individuals 
 from the strong will of a great nation. We believe that, if a 
 political party brought on a war of aggression against Canada, 
 it would simply be performing the happy despatch for itself. 
 We may protect our fisheries, and build canals and railroads 
 where we like. The Gloucester fishermen may get angry and 
 Billingsgate fisheries, and newspapers may solemnly warn the 
 country that Canada is constructing forts, summoning gunboats 
 from the vasty deep, and calling out her militia ! Congress 
 may pass retaliatory acts, and the President may even see it to 
 be his duty to decree non-intercourse. But there will be no 
 war. 
 
 The United States believe that they have enough on 
 their hands already. A still larger number are convinced that 
 the general well-being and the grand old cause will be served by 
 there being two English-speaking States on this continent 
 working out the problems of liberty under different forms. No 
 doubt, many would like to see one flag from the gulf of Mexico 
 to the Pole, but they know well that it would be better to wait 
 for generations for such a consummation than to try to bring it 
 about by force, or at the expense or the honor of either con- 
 tracting party. 
 
 It appears, therefore, that our future will not be precipi- 
 tated or determined for us from without. We must settle it for 
 ourselves. And we are taking matters so coolly, that some 
 think we have little interest in it, and are satisfied to drift 
 or to remain indefinitely in the merely colonial position. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2^j 
 
 Charles Roberts, our most promising poet, represents 
 Canada as standing among the nations 
 
 " Unheeded, unadored, unhymned 
 With unanointed brow." 
 
 and he asks reproachfully: 
 
 " How long the ignoble sloth, how long 
 The trust in greatness not thine own. " 
 
 There is certainly nothing of the heroic in our national atti- 
 tude. In his indignation, Roberts ranks us "with babes and 
 slaves," and he seems to me to speak something like sober truth. 
 A baby, when attacked, runs to its mother's apron-strings, and 
 though the fault may be wholly its own, the responsibility is 
 principally the mother's. When our newspapers hear of non- 
 intercourse bills, they assure their readers that there is no dan- 
 ger ; that Canada is bound up with the British Empire, and 
 that the United States cannot discriminate between parts of an 
 Empire, one and indivisible. When there is talk of the possibi- 
 lity of war, they hint of the havoc that British men-of-war 
 could work on the undefended wealthy cities that lie along the 
 Atlantic and Pacific coasts. But, let there be a proposal of 
 Federation for the defence of common interests, and the same 
 papers adopt a different strain. They point out that Britain 
 needs her fleet for her own protection and the maintenance of 
 her commercial supremacy, and that it is Utopian — that is a 
 favorite word — to expect that we should contribute towards 
 making it efficient. Is not Roberts right ? Is not that the 
 baby's attitude? So, New Foundland is indignant at present with 
 the mother country, because she was not ready to quarrel with 
 
2^S New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 I'lancc for her sake. Mut not so very lonj,' ago, the same an- 
 cient colony paid no more attention to the strongly accentuated 
 Imperial poUcy in favor of the confederation of all the British 
 American colonies, than if that had been the policy of Russia, 
 or a selfish scheme of the mother country that the children 
 should consider only from the point of view of their own im- 
 mediate interests. There has been too much of the baby atti- 
 tude. We know what the mind of a slave is. He would like 
 liberty, if it meant idleness coupled with the good things of 
 Kgypt. But I'^gypt to hiin is better than the desert, without 
 food and water. To be stuffed with pork and beans, and to lie 
 in bed or swing on a gate all day long, with nothing to pay 
 and no master or no winter to come, is bliss unalloyed. When 
 I read editorials reminding Canadians of the advantages of 
 their present position — the protection of the mother country, 
 no matter where they go or what they do, and not a cent to 
 pay — I am reminded of Sambo's ideal of Paradise. Alas, if 
 they only knew it; they are paying a price far greater than 
 their fair share should be, according to any principle of com- 
 putation ! 
 
 If this is a true picture of our present position, is it any 
 wonder that national sentiment is weak ? What have we '.o 
 be proud of? The wars of Champlain and Frontenac with tie 
 Iroquois ; the raids into New York and Maine ; the campaigns 
 of 1 812-15 have re-ceded into the dim distance as completely as 
 the wars of New England with the Indian Sachems, or the strug- 
 gles of Virginia with the French for the Ohio. We Canadians 
 have not been idle. We have subdued the forest ; have built 
 schools, colleges, churches, cities ; and, as sons of those hardy 
 
A7'i, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2^g 
 
 Norsemen, whose home was on the deep, have made ourselves the 
 fifth maritime nation in the world. We own {^reat ocean-going 
 steam fleets, and have constructed canals and railroads as won- 
 derful as any to be found on the planet. All this work, done 
 most of it from " pure unvexed instinct of duty, " is good. 
 The man who has spent a lifetime clearing a hundred acres of 
 solid brush on the wooded hillsides of Cape Breton, or along 
 the shores of Krie or Huron, is of the same kin as the northern 
 farmer wlio " stubb'd the Thornaby wa.ste." From such an in- 
 dustrious, duty-doing stock, heroes are apt to spring. Rut the 
 heroes must come, or we shall have rnly a community of bea- 
 vers, not a nation. " We have something to be proud of," re- 
 marked a venerable gentleman to me not many years ago, " we 
 have the best oarsman in the world, and my .son owns a cow 
 that gives thirty quarts of milk a day, and he has refu.sed ten 
 thousand dollars for her. " Very good. We have not a word 
 against Hanlan or the cow. But we cannot live on them. 
 
 What must be done ? We must rise higher than the cow. 
 We must make up our minds with regard to the future. 
 Drifting is unworthy of grown men. Drifting means unbelief 
 in ourselves, and abandonment to chance or to the momentary 
 exigencies of party leaders. It means almost certain disaster. 
 We must become a nation in reality, with all the respon- 
 sibilities and privileges of nationhood. There are only three 
 directions that can be taken, and the mind of the people has 
 not yet laid hold of the question, with the determination to settle 
 it, which is the right direction. We have before us : First, a 
 closer political and commercial union with the mother colonies, 
 and the rest of the Empire. This has been called Imperial 
 
26o New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 Federation, but it might also be termed Imperial Union or even 
 Alliance. It would be satisfied in the meantime with a 
 recognition of the right of the great self-governing colonies 
 to be consulted on peace, war and treaties, and with an inter- 
 Imperial tariff of discriminatory duties against all the rest of 
 the world, as a means of raising a common Imperial revenue. 
 Secondly, the proposal, made in whispers, of an independent 
 Canadian Republic, formed with the consent of the mother 
 country ; and. Thirdly, the suggestion that the best way out 
 of our debt and difficulties with the French-Canadians as well 
 as with secessionism in Nova Scotia, and disallowance in the 
 Northwest, would be by annexation to the United States. 
 So far, the people have not seriously considered what should 
 be done, or whether anything needs to be done, much less have 
 they crystallized into parties on the subject. Consequently, 
 not one of the three possible forms that we may assume has 
 many representatives openly connected with it, although the 
 conviction is deepening that any one of them would be better 
 than the continuance of our present position for an indefinitely 
 prolonged period. 
 
 Now, I am not going to argue for or against any of these 
 possible issues. We are likely to evolve peacefully, in my 
 opinion, into one or another. As long as revolution is avoided, 
 the movements of nations are regular and in accordance with 
 antecedent causes — prophet is he who can see into those 
 antecedent causes so clearly that he can predict the outcome. I 
 do not pretend to have this prophetic gift. The question is 
 too complicated and too big for me. Notwithstanding all 
 the light that has been vouchsafed to us by men who speak 
 
Art, Science, /literature, and Commerce. 261 
 
 with somewhat of prophetic authority on the subject, the people 
 still crave for more light. Any one of the changes, it is felt, 
 will involve a great leap in the dark. Therefore, the man who 
 attempts to argue for one or another should be a wise man ; 
 one who has meditated upon the subject in all its phases and 
 who is not :>wayed by any selfish views ; who combines a 
 mastery of details with insight into principles ; who is sensible 
 of the gravity of the issues that are involved and who has 
 estimated the cost for Canada of the position he takes ; above 
 all, who is too conversant with the difificulties connected with 
 any solution to think that an epigram will settle it. or to insult 
 by any kind of misrepresentations or rich name those who 
 cannot see eye-to-eye with him. 
 
 All that I propose to do, in the conclusion of this paper, 
 is to mention the stand-point from which I submit that we 
 should argue the subject, and to consider briefly the recently 
 proposed closer commercial relations between Canada and the 
 United States. 
 
 I. Our stand-point should be that indicated in the title of 
 this paper, of '* Canada First." This means the settled convic- 
 tion that Canada is not merely a string of Provinces, fortuitously 
 strung together, but a single nationality ; young, but with a life 
 of its own ; a colony in name, but with a national spirit, which 
 though weak, is growing stronger daily ; a country with a future 
 and worthy of the loyalty of its sons. It means in the next 
 place the settled conviction that the honor of Canada must 
 always be maintained, no matter what the cost, and that 
 Canadian interests are of first importance. Any man who is 
 animated by these convictions is a true Canadian, no matter 
 
262 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 what his views may be as to the political form that the 
 Dominion is ultimately to assume. 
 
 It may be asked : How can Canada have at the same time 
 the position of a nation and a colony ? I answer that a country 
 no more than an individual attains to complete self-realization 
 at once; but, until it does so, it is allowed a place amonjifthe 
 nations only by courtesy. As I have already hinted, the War 
 of Independence was made much more difficult than it other- 
 wise would have been, from the fact that each of the thirteen 
 colonies thought itself supreme and the Union secondary. 
 Even that war for bare life did not teach the lesson that a real 
 Union was necessary to constitute a great State. It took some 
 years of deadlocks before the present constitution was adopted. 
 We can see how weak the bond that held the States together 
 was felt to be — for a long time— ^even after that, we see it in the 
 action of State Legislatures in i<Si2-i 5, justifying Great Britain 
 and Canada, threatening secession and refusing quotas of troops; 
 from subsequent attempts at nullification North and South ; 
 from political compromises and conflicts at various times ; and, 
 at last, from the great war of Secession, when thousands of men 
 like Lee and Jackson, who cared nothing for slavery, fought for 
 it rather than fight against their own native State. It took 
 nearly a century for the great Republic to realize itself, to under- 
 stand that its life was a sacred thing, and that whosoever or 
 whatsoever stood in the way or interfered with its legitimate 
 development must be swept out of the way. It accomplished 
 the necessary task. Consequently its present proud position. 
 It stands out before the world a power so mighty that we can 
 hardly conceive of a force, internal or external, great enough to 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 26j 
 
 threaten it. Well, Canada stands now about where the United 
 States stood a century ago. The circumstances are different, 
 for though history repeats itself, it does not do so slavishly. 
 We have had a different historical development. We have 
 more radical racial diversities. We have a less genial climate, 
 and larger breadths of land of which nothing can be made. But, 
 we are near where the Republic stood a century ago. Canada 
 is in its infancy and must expect infantile troubles. It must 
 go through the hard experience of measles, teething, calf-fears 
 and calf-love ; must be expected to spend its pocket-money 
 foolishly, suffer from explosions of temper, get slights that are 
 hard to bear and abrasions of the skin that will make it think 
 life not worth living. But, it is a big healthy child, comes of 
 a good stock, has an enormously large farm, which is somewhat 
 in need of fencing and cultivation, and I think it may be 
 depended on to pull through. It is growing up under stern 
 conditions, and, as a Scotch-Canadian, taught in his youth to 
 revere Solomon and to believe therefore in the efficacy of the 
 rod and the yoke for children, I am inclined to think that it is 
 none the worse for that. The climate is most trying to tramps. 
 Geography and treaties have united to make its material unifi- 
 cation difficult. Much of its property is not worth stealing; 
 but all the more will it hold on with grim tenacity to all that 
 is worth anything. 
 
 But, no matter what may be said in its disparagement, it 
 is a wide and goodly land, with manifold beauties of its own, 
 with boundless resources, that are only beginning to be devel- 
 oped, and with room and verge for Empire. Each Province 
 has attractions for its children. One would need to live in it 
 
264 New Papers on Canadian History^ 
 
 to understand how strong these attractions are. Only when 
 you live among the country people, do they reveal themselves. 
 Strangers or tourists are not likely to have the faintest concep- 
 tion of their deepest feelings. Thus a man who lives in his 
 study, or in a select coterie, or always in a city, may — no mat- 
 ter how great his ability — utterly misconceive the spirit of a 
 Province or nation and the vigor of its life. It has been my lot 
 to live for a time in almost every one of our Provinces, and to 
 cross the whole dominion, again and again, from ocean to 
 ocean, by steamer or canoe, by rail and buck-board, on horse- 
 back and on foot, and I have found, in the remotest settle- 
 ments, a remarkable acquaintance with public questions and 
 much soundness of judgment and feeling with regard to them ; 
 a high average purity of individual and family life, and a steady 
 growth of national sentiment. I have sat with the blackened 
 toilers in the coal mines of Pictou and Cape Breton, the dark- 
 ness made visible by the little lamps hanging from their sooty 
 foreheads ; have worshipped with pious Highlanders in log-huts, 
 in fertile glens and on hillsides, where the forest gives place 
 slowly to the plough, and preached to assembled thousands, 
 seated on grassy hillocks and prostrate trees ; have fished and 
 sailed with the hardy mariners, who find "every harbor, from 
 Sable to Causeau, a home ; " have ridden under the willows of 
 Evangeline's country, and gazed from north and south moun- 
 tain on a sea of app'e-blossoms ; have talked with gold miners, 
 fishermen, farmers, merchants, students, and have learned to 
 respect my fellow-countrymen and to sympathize with their 
 Provincial life, and to see that it was not antagonistic but in- 
 tended to be the handmaid to a true national life. Go there, 
 
Ari, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 26^ 
 
 not altoj^ether in the spirit of "Baddeck, and that sort of thing." 
 Pass from Annapolis Royal into the Bay of Fundy, and then 
 canoe up the rivers, shaded by the great trees of New Brunswick. 
 Live a while with the habitants of Quebec, admire their indus- 
 try, frugaUty and courtesy ; hear their carols and songs, that 
 blend the forgotten music of Normandy and Brittany with the 
 music of Canadian woods ; music and song, as well as language 
 and religion, rooting in them devotion to " Our Language, our 
 Laws, our Institutions." Live in historic Quebec, and experience 
 the hospitality of Montreal. Pass through the Province of 
 Ontario, itself possessing the resources of a kingdom. Sail on 
 lakes great enough to be called .seas, along rugged Laurentian 
 coasts, or take the new Northwest passage by land, that the Ca- 
 nadian Pacific has opened up from the upper Ottawa, through 
 a thousand miles once declared impracticable for railways, and 
 now yielding treasures of wood, and copper and silver, till you 
 come to that great prairie ocean, that sea of green and gold in 
 this month of May, who.se billows extend for nigh another thou- 
 sand miles to the Rocky Mountains, out of which great Provin- 
 ces like Minnesota and Dakota will be carved in the immediate 
 future. And when you have reached the Pacific, and look back 
 over all the panorama that unrolls it.self before your mental 
 vision, you will not doubt that the country is destined to have 
 a future. You will thank God that you belong to a generation 
 to whom the duty has been assigned of laying its foundations ; 
 and knowing that the solidity of any construction is in propor- 
 tion to the faith, the virtue and the self-sacrifice that has been 
 wrought into the foundation, you will pray that you for one 
 may not be found wanting. 
 
266 Xew Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 This is our country, and this is a period in its history, the 
 importance of which cannot be exaggerated. All of us, 
 whether living at home or abroad, owe a duty to it, which we' 
 shall be base if we neglect. Confederation wasaco.stly mistake, if 
 we had not faith in its future ; a mistake that has cost hundreds 
 of millions of dollars. But, so far as I know, the people do not 
 think that any mistake was made. Every d^y, their national 
 spirit is rising. We shall yet be proud of our country. In the 
 meantime, let us all be united in heart, though we may not 
 agree as to the best means of stimulating the purest patriotism. 
 We may dispute whether a closer union with that wonderful 
 Kmpire-of which we are a part -or separation, and the flying of 
 a new flag, would be the better way. But one thing is clear; 
 the question to be asked and satisfactorily answered, must be: 
 What will be for the interest of the people of Canada ? That 
 includes, not merely their commercial interest, but the enrich- 
 ment, purifying and uplifting of the national life. We cannot 
 benefit the Empire by impoverishing ourselves. We cannot 
 benefit humanity by doing wrong to our country. 
 
 The question of unrestricted commercial intercourse be- 
 tween the United States and Canada has been discussed at one 
 or two meetings of this Club. It would not become me to take 
 It up at this stage, save to say, that it too must be considered 
 from the " Canada First" point of view. I am mclined to think 
 that Canadians will say little about it until they have the 
 terms of the proposed measure before them. The advantages 
 of unrestricted access to our natural market are undoubted. 
 Indeed, it seems to me simply impossible to doubt that the 
 advantages would be equally great on both sides. We have 
 
Ariy Science, Literature, and Commerce. 26y 
 
 always had the satisfaction of feeling that the fault has not been 
 ours that the intercourse has been restricted. We have never 
 terminated reciprocity treaties, though we have proved that we 
 could get along without them. There is, besides, a standing 
 offer on our statute book that has never been taken advantage 
 of for the lowering of duties all round. 
 
 In the meantime, I trust that the liberal offer which Great 
 Britain, with the consent of Canada, has made for a temporary 
 adjustment of the fishery imbroglio will be accepted at once. 
 Then, those possible complications that, under the present state 
 of things, may arise at any moment, owing to the unauthorized 
 action of individuals, will be averted, and the whole subject of 
 our gelations can be discussed calmly. No righteous man or 
 woman in Britain, Canada or the United States, wishes any so- 
 lution that is not fair and honorable. In this Jubilee year of 
 our Queen, in a time when the power of the bonds that bind 
 together the members of the English-speaking race is being 
 felt all round the world, as it never was felt before, it would be 
 an irretrievable calamity, a sin that posterity would never 
 pardon, should there be a quarrel over fish. 
 
'%. Si!:; 
 
 ISJ 
 
thp: advantages of commercial 
 
 union to canada and the 
 
 united states. 
 
 KA'ASTUS irJMAX. 
 
 i .In iTtf(//rs.t (/r/i7ifn't/ at a irception to 
 \ IJeut.-Ciov. Robinson of Ontario. 
 
 HE question of Coinmercial Union 
 between Canada and the United 
 States is an exceedingly simple one. 
 At the present moment, both coun- 
 tries have a iiigh tariff, and a staff 
 of custom-house officials along the 
 border to enforce it. It is now pro- 
 posed that there should be no tariff 
 whatever between the United States and Canada, that there 
 should be no custom-houses, and that the barriers that 
 have hitherto prevented the freest intercourse between the 
 two countries should be completely abolished. The propo- 
 
2J0 New Papers on Canadian History,'* 
 
 sition, while exceedingly simple in its statement, is freighted 
 with consequences of the greatest import to both countries. 
 It is of rare occurrence in the history of communities, for men 
 to assemble and discuss a question of such magnitude as 
 that of Commercial Union. It is difficult to conceive of a 
 topic of deeper interest, or of wider range, than that which 
 purports to change the economic relations of two countries 
 so vast as the United States and Canada. Recalling great 
 events in history, their importance is measured by the conse- 
 quences that have resulted from them. The Crusades, the 
 Reformation, the English Revolution, the withdrawal of the 
 American Colonies, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic 
 wars, all stand out in bold relief, because of the momentous 
 consequences to mankind that resulted from them. 
 
 The American Revolution is probably, of all others, 
 the event that has had the most direct and most important 
 influence upon the English-speaking race. 
 
 In this New World, productive forces have worked out 
 consequences which are almost beyond human computation. 
 It seems as if, in the unfolding of the Providence of God, the 
 discovery and development of America was the one thing 
 needed to fulfill the destiny of His creature, man ; for, without 
 this discovery, mankind would never have reached his present 
 material, intellectual and moral progress. 
 
 The growth of the forces that contribute to the world's 
 freedom, to the easy sustentation of life, to the advancement 
 of education and religion, has been immeasurably enhanced by 
 the settlement of the English-speaking race on this continent. 
 
 It is not necessary to discuss whether this great develop- 
 
Art, Science, Liieralure, and Commerce. 2yi 
 
 ment would have taken place had the allegiance of the Ameri- 
 can Colonies been maintained with (}reat Britain. Whatever 
 opinion may be entertained on that point, the fact remains 
 that up to this period, the United States have not only demon- 
 strated the power of a {government of the people, by the 
 people, and for the people, but they have shown a degree of 
 material progress far surpassing that of any other nation. 
 Notwithstanding many and most serious drawbacks — of a 
 struggle for self-preservation unparalleled in history — the pro- 
 gress of the United States in all that makes a nation great, 
 rich, powerful and influential, challenges the admiration of the 
 whole world. 
 
 Not alone does it challenge the admiration of the whole 
 world, but it attracts emigration on a scale that has never 
 yet been witnessed. This very year, people and their wealth 
 are pouring into American ports. Skilled labor and inventors 
 seek these shores, where Providence, in a most lavish manner, 
 has endowed the land for the benefit of mankind. 
 
 The question of commercial union between Canada and 
 the United States is of the utmost importance to the people of 
 Canada, and they should rise to an adequate comprehension of 
 its magnitude. It is not a matter of present politics, nor does 
 it affect the principle of protection or of free-trade. It does 
 not alone embrace the present condition of the whole countrj-, 
 but its future, and that of our children's children. Com- 
 mercial union should not be approached in a dogmatic manner, 
 or in a selfish and niggardly spirit. Conclusions should be 
 reached only after careful consideration. To decide upon a ques- 
 tion such as that of the enlargement of the international relations 
 
2^2 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 with a country so vast as the United States, is akin to a decision 
 on the question of predestination, refjardin^r which, as you well 
 remember, Charles Lamb remarked: "That there was a ^ood 
 deal to be said on both sides." 
 
 While the world at larjrc watches the pro^rrcss of the 
 United States with admiration, there is a general disposition to 
 attribute their marvellous growth to the form of the government. 
 While duly appreciating the natural advantages which the 
 American Republic possesses for the working out of the 
 problem of self-government on the grandest scale, the general 
 disposition tends to attribute its material development to the 
 genius of its people— because of their self-reliance, energy and 
 hopefulness, qualities not necessarily resulting from a republi- 
 can form of government. How much this has had to do with 
 it will be found by a comparison with Canada, which, in the 
 same period, under the wise and liberal rule of a monarchy, 
 has also made substantial progress. 
 
 The United States, however, have one advantage over 
 Canada, not of a political character, but which, if it could be 
 secured by Canada, would insures her success beyond any ques- 
 tion. This advantage consists in unrestricted commercial 
 intercourse between the various States. The absence of custom- 
 houses between them has done more to make the United 
 States a great and prosperous nation than did the republican 
 form of government. The arteries of commerce, in a greater 
 degree than all else, have served to hold the people together, 
 enriching them with the products and resources of each other. 
 With a different policy, a policy of isolation of the several 
 States, there would have been no progress in the United 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2yj 
 
 States such as the world has witnessed. Many of the States 
 arc poor and sterile, some are sandy deserts, while others can 
 produce but one or two {jreat staples. Yet, by a commercial 
 union with each other, they have all developed material 
 prosperity. Mankind in no quarter of the jjlobe has greater cause 
 to rejoice tnan the inhabitants of the poorest State in the great 
 constellation of commonwealths. They rejoice in the fact 
 that their commercial condition is so shaped as to enable them 
 to participate, without let or hinderance, in the prosperity of the 
 more favored States. Through the free interchange of the rich 
 products of a vast continent, they all reap a benefit, and 
 share in each other's prosperity. 
 
 With these facts before us, let us now consider what Canada 
 has gained from her isolation from the rest of the continent. 
 Under a different form of government, with a distinctive 
 nationality, a commercial condition has prevailed between 
 Canada and the United States, diametrically opposite to that 
 which has obtained between the various States. Upon the 
 whole, commercially speaking, the results have not been 
 satisfactory to Canada. True she has made some progress ; but 
 this is in great part due to the frugality and energy of her 
 people. It is true that her prosperity has been, at times, 
 apparently as great as that of the neighboring States, but it is 
 equally true that her progress has been spasmodic, and that 
 her public debt, her provincial and municipal obligations, and, 
 above all, the private indebtedness of. her producers, have 
 assumed alarming proportions. Of recent years an artificial 
 prosperity has been imparted by means of increased taxation, 
 followed by large expenditures for railway improvements 
 
2"^^ New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 that have developed vast regions of country. These outlays 
 have mainly been well directed ; they have, beyond doubt, 
 brought within easy access stretches of territory hitherto so 
 isolated as to be valueless. This apparent increase of the 
 wealth of Canada, during the last ten years, from the doubling of 
 railway facilities, is probably greater than that of any one State 
 in the Union, but the price at which the investment is carried 
 by the people of Canada may well be closely watched. If 
 she can, by an enlarged market, higher prices, carry this 
 investment without taxing too seriously the debt-paying 
 power of her people, then these large public and private 
 outlays will bear profitable fruit. But if the heavy load of 
 debt and taxation, now weighing upon Canada, is to be borne 
 in the face of declining prices, of a restricted market, and by 
 an embarrassed agricultural community, it would have been 
 better had such investments never been made. 
 
 Large investments in public works and railway improve- 
 ments are justified only by proportionate increase in trade. 
 No one thing would so much contribute to the increa.se of traffic 
 as a complete interchange of products between the two coun- 
 tries. The building of the Canadian Pacific Railway is one of the 
 greatest achievements of modern times, following as it does 
 the constant extension of the Grand Trunk system. These 
 two great arteries, with numerous other railways, give Canada 
 means of communication of the greatest magnitude and import- 
 ance, within her own territory, as well as with the United 
 States. 
 
 The wonderful system of waterways with which nature 
 has blessed the Dominion, has been made .still more 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2y^ 
 
 available by the expenditures of vast sums in order to 
 connect them one with another. To-day, the Canadian 
 farmer is paying the interest on these investments. No greater 
 benefit could befall the Canadian tax payer than the stimulation 
 of a trade which would thoroughly utilize these means of com- 
 munication. A complete interchange of commodities betw een 
 the United States and Canada, would more than anything else, 
 contribute to that object. Any development within the 
 Dominion itself would also stimulate traffic and increase railway 
 tonnage. These advantages would certainly be largely enhanced 
 by the removal of the barriers which now prevent Canadian com- 
 modities from reaching the United States markets. No one long- 
 ing for the creation of a market could have planned one better 
 suited for Canada than that of the neighboring Republic. 
 
 A long residence in New York and a daily contact with 
 
 the people of the American nation, have imbued me with the 
 
 belief that no others are so well prepared to become consumers 
 
 of Canadian products. The country is rich beyond comparison : 
 
 incomes have reached a point far above those of any other 
 
 people in the world. There are more individuals in New York 
 
 who have $10,000 a year, or $200 a week, to spend on their living 
 
 than in any other city of the world. More are rolling in 
 
 wealth in the cities of the East and the West than had ever 
 
 been thought possible. American consumers are in a better 
 
 financial condition and are more liberal in their expenditures 
 
 than those of any other country. They want the best products 
 
 of the soil, and no region is better calculated to furnish these 
 
 than the Province of Ontario. 
 
2'/6 New Papers on Catiadian History, 
 
 The discussion of commercial union has been the occasion 
 for a great display of cheap patriotism. Patriotism, as I under- 
 stand it, consists in the love of one's country for the furtherance 
 of its best and dearest interests. True patriotism should not 
 obstinately stand in the way of the country's best interests. 
 Love of British institutions, of British connection, cannot be 
 imperilled by a greater development of Canadian resources. 
 No sentimental consideration should stand in the way of a 
 policy which v/ould benefit Canada. 
 
 It has been said that in order to arrive at unrestricted 
 
 reciprocity with the United States, discrimination would have 
 
 to be enforced against English goods, and that commercial 
 
 union is but a step to annexation. These two objections 
 
 are the two strongest arguments brought against the policy 
 
 of freedom of trade on the North American continent. 
 
 But when we think of the vast interests at stake, and how 
 
 great, to the Dominion, the benefits that the measure would 
 
 bring forth, the interests of the few manufacturers in Great 
 
 Britain, likely to be affected by the measure, are as a drop in 
 
 the bucket. It would well repay Canada to guarantee the profit 
 
 which every exporter of British goods will ever make for the 
 
 remainder of his life, rather than that there should be any 
 
 impediment to a union, comercially speaking, between the two 
 
 great countries of this continent. How many people do you 
 
 suppose would be affected were Canada to admit American 
 
 manufactures free, and still impose a duty on English goods? 
 
 They certainly would not exceed a thousand in number. It is 
 
 doubtful whether there are five hundred establishments in the 
 
 whole of Great Britain that have a large interest in the expor- 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 277 
 
 tation of their wares to Canada. From a close acquaintance with 
 numerous English manufacturers, I believe that they would 
 hail with delight any movement by which the Canadians 
 would be benefitted. Better still, if it should happen that 
 commercial union would so operate as to determine a reduction 
 in the United States tariff— a very likely hypothesis— this alone 
 would offset tenfold the disadvantages that Canada's discrimi- 
 nation against English goods might entail. In other words, the 
 demand for British goods throughout the continent— if a 
 lowering of the tariff of the two countries was to take place- 
 would be far greater than under the existing hij^-hly protective 
 policy which prevails against the goods of all nations, both 
 in Canada and the United States. 
 
 All great changes are apt to inflict some wrong in a few 
 isolated cases; but progress cannot be retarded by such 
 consideration. A great railway often plays havoc with the 
 symmetry of a farm, cutting it diagonally in two sometimes. 
 The enforcement of a universal law affects many an interest, but 
 that which achieves the greatest good to the greatest number is 
 the standard by which all these matters should be regulated. 
 Commercial union with the United States would confer the 
 greatest amount of good upon the greatest number, therefore, 
 it is difficult to consider with any seriousness the objections 
 urged against it. 
 
 It is impossible to embody within a time-limited address 
 all that ought or could be said upon this vast question. If a war 
 were necessary to secure the great benefits that will be derived 
 
2j8 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 from commercial union, such a war would be justifiable. Has not 
 England many a time spent millions of treasure and sacrificed 
 thousands of lives for the accomplishment of an object far less 
 important than would be complete freedom of trade on this 
 continent ? As to the advantages to be derived by the United 
 States from commercial union it has been said that they would 
 be far greater, from a financial point of view, than those which 
 were secured by forcing the Southern States to remain in the 
 Union ; which, as we all know, was accomplished only through 
 a vast expenditure of blood and treasure. 
 
 It has just dawned upon the minds of thinking people in 
 the United States, that Canada was geographically a larger 
 country than their own ; and possessed the potentialities of a 
 growth quite as complete as that of their own. It would 
 redound to the benefit of the United States to aid these by 
 every legitimate means. In a certain sense, Canada is a treasure- 
 hou.se from which can be drawn the commodities the United 
 States need most, and which can be made in the highest 
 degree contributory to her progress. If, as Grip in its last 
 cartoon suggests, the genius of the age could sweep away the 
 long line of custom-houses between the two countries, and, so 
 far as trade is concerned, merge them into one, who can calculate 
 the progress that would follow from such a change ? With a great 
 ready market, Canada would, within ten years, produce five 
 times as much as she now yields. If her fields and farms were 
 worked to their highest productive capacity; if her fisheries 
 and her forests were made to yield the proportion to the 
 commerce of the continent which their value bears to the 
 total wealth of the world ; if her mines, the giant power that is 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 2yg 
 
 now asleep, awoke to the wealth-producing force which they 
 possess ; and if her manufacturers could shake off the fears 
 which now encompass them, and meet the incoming tide of 
 prosperity and seek the advantages of larger markets, what 
 better prospects need one desire for Canada ? Selling five or ten 
 times more to the United States than she now does, Ameri- 
 can merchants in turn would enlarge their trade with the 
 Dominion. 
 
 Of course, it will be ojected that if the Yankee manufac- 
 turer and merchant are let free into Canada they will crowd out 
 the Canadian manufacturer and merchant. Well, all that need 
 be said in reply is : that if the Canadians cannot hold their own 
 when all the conditions are equal, they don't deserve the name 
 of Canadians. It is the first time in the history of that country 
 that such a disparaging assertion has been made. If the pluck 
 and spirit which conquered Canada has deserted it, it is time vvc 
 should introduce some new blood in the country. 
 
 The talk that any class of Canadians cannot hold their own 
 against any other people on the face of the earth finds no echo 
 in the minds of our fellow-countrymen who have already found 
 a home in the United States. They experience no difficulty in 
 holding their own, side by side, with the Yankees. As mechanics, 
 skilled laborers, railroad men, or as occupants of positions of 
 trust and responsibility, we find everywhere the native born 
 Canadian. Always respected, always self-respecting, sometimes 
 somewhat assertive, always self-reliant and abundantly able 
 to hold his own in a fair field. Have we ever realized the 
 enormous number of Canadains who have already sought the 
 benefits of commercial union with the United States. It i.s 
 
28o New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 doubtful if, in the history of any country— especially a young 
 country— so large a proportion of the total population has, 
 in so short a time, sought a home outside of it. The census 
 shows the enormous increase of the Canadian element in the 
 American Republic : 
 
 Census of i860— Canadians in United States, 249,970 
 Census of 1870— " " " " 493,464 
 Census of 1880 — " " " " 7 '7, '57 
 Census of 1885— ( estimated ) 950,000 
 
 It appears that to this date, fully one million of Canadians 
 have taken up their abode in the United States A million out 
 of a population of five millions ! What a tremendous proportion 
 this is for a country which is making the most desperate efforts 
 to attract immigration within her borders ! Surely there is 
 something wrong in all this, especially when we recall the enor- 
 mous expenditures made, the heavy burdens imposed, to find 
 the most promising portion of the population seeking a home 
 and a future elsewhere. If commercial union did accomplish 
 nothing better than to keep our young men at home, that 
 of itself would be a great advantage. 
 
 Not a mother but dreads the day when her boy, her 
 precious boy, will look with longing eyes across the border. 
 What is the future on the farm for the little blue-eyed baby 
 that looks up into its mother's face ? If the little one is a boy 
 he M'ill at best inherit his father's fate. The mother knows how 
 hard the father has had to work to earn a livelihood ; she also 
 knows what frugality must be practiced to enable them to leave 
 the boy any patrimony. And the dear mother knows that 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. 281 
 
 while such a struggle for existence impends, theattractionsacross 
 the border are forever tempting her beloved son from her side. 
 
 Hut, if the little one in her lap is a girl ; if the clear blue eyes 
 look inquiringly into the mother's anxious face, what fate does 
 she read there? If her brothers and half the boys of the 
 neighborhood are leaving the country, how hopeless is her life 
 likely to be? The opportunities for a useful womanhood are 
 lessened. The sweet love that brightens life may never 
 come to her. The delicious odors of the new-mown hay, of 
 the sweet-scented clover, of the forest flowers, may never be 
 issociated with that most joyous part of life, when love and 
 betrothal throws a halo over all the world. The budding 
 womanhood will wait in vain for the companionship that 
 should complete her life's joys. 
 
 With that far-seeing vision which is innate to a mother's 
 love, she cannot but take a deep interest in any measure calcu- 
 lated to keep her boys at home, in any measure that would 
 secure the happiness and the future of the daughters of this 
 promising land. 
 
 No greater calamity can happen to a community than the 
 loss of its young men. The statesmanship that makes Canada 
 less attractive to them than the neighboring country is 
 a failure, no matter how brilliant it may be in other respects. 
 Nothing would so much tend to keep young Canadians at home 
 than unrestricted reciprocity with the United States. 
 
 Free American markets for Canadian products would bring 
 such a reward that contentment and prosperity would inevit- 
 ably follow. 
 
Tjfe ClufHouje^ 
 
O the enterprise and patriotism of the 
 Canadians resident in New York 
 belonjj the credit for havinjj estab- 
 lished a Club which to-day proud- 
 ly rears its head among the great 
 metropolitan social institutions, and 
 whose fame has extended through- 
 out the broad Dominion of Canada. 
 It has become, under wise and 
 liberal management, a great national institution for the further- 
 ance of a more complete knowledge of the afTairs of the 
 Dominion and for the encouragement of her art, literature 
 and commerce. It has knit together, in ties of closer friendship, 
 the many Canadians who have found their home in the great 
 metropolis of the United States. It has become the rendez- 
 
2S4 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 vous of those of our countrymen who visit New York. It is 
 the neutral ground whereon prominent statesmen of all shades 
 of political complexion have discussed Canada's great future. 
 The Club was founded April 30th, 1885, and its first home 
 was at No. 3 North Washington Square. It was formally 
 opened on Dominion Day, upon which occasion its worthy 
 President delivered a memorable speech from which I beg 
 leave to make some extracts : 
 
 " When it was first suggested that a club, distinctively Ca- 
 nadian, should be formed in New York, there were some 
 who felt that the attempt might not be attended with 
 complete success, and that the objects which could be 
 accomplished were both vague and un^-^-^iin. It was thought— 
 inasmuch as there existed no organization of a similar 
 kind in this city— that a combination of interests peculiarly 
 Canadian would be a vain attempt. There was no Texas or 
 Missouri Club, no Ohio or Pennsylvania Society; and, except 
 the New England Society, which only dined together once 
 a year, there was no organization distinctively geographical 
 and having for its sole object the interests of residents 
 in New York from any special section. Nevertheless, 
 finding that there were about six thousand Canadians 
 in New York, and that a very large proportion of these 
 were almost unknown to each other, it was decided that a 
 club which would bring them together, could not be but 
 productive of most beneficial results, and that a mission of 
 practical usefulness might be worked out of the idea, that 
 would be helpful to all coming within its influence. 
 
Art, Science, Literature, arid Commerce. 28 § 
 
 "Accordingly, a meeting of the Canadian residents in New 
 York was called at the Hotel Brunswick. The attendance 
 was surprisingly large, and representative in character. The 
 first and subsequent meetings indicated an earnestness and 
 enthusiasm which was a revelation to those who had origin- 
 ated the idea. 
 
 " It is clear to all who are familiar with the position of 
 Canadians in this city, that they are ivorkcrs. They come 
 here with the avowed purpose of making a fortune, and of 
 becoming useful residents of the great city that so heartily 
 welcomes them. 
 * ^t ■};• v^ * -x- # # 4^ 
 
 " This organization has for its purpose the promotion of our 
 common interests, the improvement of our social relations, the 
 cultivation of a more intimate acquaintance with each other ; in 
 short, it is called to guide and direct those who hereafter may 
 join us, in the pursuit of a career of usefulness. 
 
 " I would commit a great injustice, did I fail to recognize 
 the hearty spirit of good-will with which, in this country, 
 all efforts for efificient service are welcomed. The treat- 
 ment of Canadians by Americans, so far as my observation 
 extends, has been characterized by the greatest possible 
 liberality and appreciation. The success of Canadians in the 
 United States is the best evidence of it. Another indication 
 of this prevailing sentiment is to be found in the words of 
 encouragement which have been uttered by the press and lead- 
 ing men with whom we have come in contact. 
 
 " It is to be hoped that the Canadian Club will foster 
 intimate intercourse between former residents of Canada and 
 
286 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 visiting Canadians as it will furnish an effective means of 
 making them better acquainted with each other. 
 
 " It will unquestionably bring together men who would 
 otherwise have proceeded in their respective paths without 
 benefitting from an experience which is to be derived only by 
 a closer acquaintance. Suggestions and ideas, which would 
 otherwise have lain dormant, will be given shape and life. 
 The formation of committees, whose special duties shall be to 
 publish facts of material interest upon all matters of import- 
 ance to Canada, together with a library of reference, will 
 result in diffusing reliable information for the benefit of 
 journalists in this country, l^ublic men, members of Congress, 
 or others who desire to intelligently discuss subjects relating 
 to Canada, will find our Club the fountain-head of informa- 
 tion. 
 # * * » * * « # * 
 
 "The walls of this beautiful room, should be devoted, 
 during the autumn months, to an exhibition of the works of 
 Canadian artists. If Canadian art could but have a chance to 
 impress itself favorably upon the wealthy picture buyers of this 
 city, and the names of Canadian artists could be made as 
 familiar in New York as they are in Toronto, Montreal and 
 Ottawa, the Club would have achieved a purpose of the noblest 
 and most beneficial kind. 
 
 " The pleasure which such an exhibition of Canadian art 
 would afford Canadians, the gratification which the artists 
 would experience in being thoroughly appreciated by their 
 fellow countrymen in a foreign city, besides its refining influence 
 ought to make the attempt worthy of the effort. There are 
 
Art, Science, Literature, and Commerce. j8j 
 
 other exhibitions of Canadian artistic skill which the Chib mi^ht 
 well encourage. They might take the form of collections from 
 the Societies of Decorative Art, of woman's work, which, in 
 Toronto and Montreal, have of late years been so successful. 
 
 y\^l^(epton/^oofn. 
 
 Embroidery, fancy work, sketches, and all those delightful 
 conceits of woman's leisure and woman's love, would exemplify 
 the refinement, skill and taste of Canadian women. 
 
 "With time, still larger conceptions of the duties of 
 
288 New Papers on Canadian History, 
 
 the Club, will suggest themselves. It is sufficient for me 
 to say with what pleasurable anticipation we may look 
 to an enjoyment of each other's society, and to the conviction 
 that the usefulness of our lives, the completeness and faithful- 
 ness of our services, and the growth within us of all that is 
 manly and best, will be promoted by such an association. 
 Mutual forbearance, hearty appreciation, and a better knowl- 
 edge of each other, may confidently be expected to result 
 from the formation of the Canadian Club." 
 
 How fully the plans for the Club's usefulness, so well out- 
 lined by the President, have been realized, this book in part 
 bears testimony. 
 
 The present home of the Canadian Club is at 12 East 29th 
 Street. 
 
 The house is one of the few ornate buildings in this part 
 of New York. Remodelled for the Saint Nicholas Club, 
 which occupied it for the several years previous to its 
 removal to Fifth Avenue, it was then leased to the Canadian 
 Club for a term of years, and was completely overhauled and 
 refurnished. 
 
 The Canadian Club has a membership of four hundred, 
 which is steadily increasing. Its aims have been high, and 
 probably, outside of the Lotos, no other club has given so 
 brilliant a series of literary entertainments. Many distinguished 
 American and Canadian men of letters and science have read 
 papers from its rostrum. Its art exhibitions have been 
 encouraged by the contributions of almost all prominent 
 American and Canadian artists. 
 
CANADIAN CLUB. 
 
 Officers, 1887. 
 
 PRESIDENT • 
 
 ERASTUS WIMAN. 
 
 vice-presidents ; 
 Sir Roderick W. Cameron. 
 
 John Paton, 
 
 Geo. M. Fairchili), Jr. 
 
 Thos. W. (Iriffith, 
 Thos. H. Allen, M. D. 
 
 secre tary a nd trea surer . 
 Jackson Wallace. 
 
 102 Broadway, N. Y. 
 
 a ssrs ta n t secre tarv ; 
 Frederick G. Gillespie. 
 
 board of trustees: 
 Thos. W. Griffith, ' John W. Lovell, 
 
 Frank Ferguson, M. D. H. Holton Wood, 
 
 Stillman F. Kneeland. 
 
 HOUSE COMMITTEE; 
 
 Jackson Wallace, Chairman, 
 Thomas W. Griffith, 
 Frank Ferguson, M. D. 
 Thomson Willing, 
 John R. Steven, 
 Wm. J. Wei.don, 
 
 (iEO. E. Duggan, Secretary, 
 R. B. Cummings, M. I). 
 Wm. J. Palmer, 
 Franklin C. Fry, M. 1). 
 James McNider, 
 James S. Dumaresq, 
 
 Charles Walker. 
 
 membership committee: 
 
 W. Allaire 'ammw, Chairman, ; Eugene M. Cole, Secretary. 
 W. H. WiLFORD, |- F. L. R. Secord, 
 
 Charles G. S. Reed, I James McNider, 
 
 Charles Walker. 
 
Art, Science, Literattirc, and C\ 
 
 o » inter ce. 
 
 28g 
 
 The Club is a great boon to Canadians visiting New York, 
 and that they thoroughly enjoy and appreciate its benefits 
 the large non-resident membership roll attests. 
 
 G. M. r^AIRCHILD. Jr. 
 
 M 
 
 |^ rt\i; (lab 
 
 n&llwiy