^^J IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) ^ < <;' V#.>^ :^- 1.0 I.I 1.25 ■ 50 ■^" !!f ui ^ «» 140 III! 2.0 2.5 2.2 1.8 1.4 III 1.6 V] <^ /} % ^9. y /^ ;V d '^ iV :\ \ % o^ 'n. V* CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images in the reproduction are checked below. E Coloured covers/ Couvertures de couleur L'lnstitut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Certains difauts susceptibles de nuire d la qualitd de la reproduction sont not^s ci-dessous. 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L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grice i la g6n6rosit6 de l'6tablissement prAteur suivant : Bibliothdque nationale du Canada Maps or plates too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper Inft hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour 6tre reproduites en un seul clich6 sont fiimdes & partir de I'angle sup6rieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 s ^ i:. PATRIOTIC SPEECH :^ BY Dr. W. GEORGE BEERS In reply to the toast of PROFESSIONAL ANNEXATION BEFOnB TUB DENTAL SOCIETIES OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK AT SYRACUSE, N.Y., ON OCTOBER 25, 1888 PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG MEN'S ASSOCIAirON " OP ST. ANDREWS CHURCH OF MONTREAL. >c. jMH^HRi I F'c s^'C V. * ? ■ M^uVU A^^>^<-<^^ .1 ^Lv-^ ^A/^ «!,. U Jl., I ,'J ." ■■-» X"^ PATRIOTIC SPEECH BY BY DR. W. GKOROK BBERS. At the banquet of the 5th, 6th, Tth and 8th Districts Dental Societies of the State of New York, held in Syracuse recently, when 250 members from all parts of the State attended, including many ladies, several judges and clergymen, Drs. Willmott, Csesar, Eoberts and Snelgrove, of Toronto, and Dr. Beers, of Montreal, were present. In reply to the strangely worded toast, " Professional Annexation," Dr. Beers spoke as follows ; — Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, — I must confesH to a good deal of embarrassment in replying to a toast which is intended to be both professional and politi- cal, but I have been specially asked to do so by the Chairman, and if I should offend anyone, as I must say exactly what I think, I can only offer to settle on the spot by inviting you, as the boys say, to " Come out in the alley ! " I have neither the presumption nor the vanity to imagine that I am able to do justice to the personal and professional courtesies which Doctor Jonathan has always bestowed upon his Canadian friends, as well as to the magnificent ignorance — sometimes ill-nature — which Senator Jonathan has recently lavished upon his Canadian foes. But I can assure you that not even the professional liars who supply the New York Herald with Canadian news, or the wily politicians who eat forked light- ning for breakfast and dynamite for dinner ; not even the in- sane malice of men who hate Canada, as they may hate Cyprus, because it belongs to Britain ; not even this can lessen the admiration Canadians have for the many noble and gener- 2 OUR traitH of chanicler which belong to their American cousins. 1 um sure I speak, too, for my brethren fj'om ioyui Toronto, when I Hay that we have too often been under deep profos- wional obligations to the kind nature of the cousin we Htill, from custom, call " brother," not to know, that, however we diflFer politically, you RESPECT OUR NATIONAL CONVICTIONS as you wish your own respected ; and that as you choose to hit at us hard, you have enough of English fail* play to take a drubbing back, and to allow the possibility of Canadians lov- ing and defending the fame and good name of the Dominion, quite as much as you love and defend that of your Eepublic. No one more than loyal Americans would denpise the poltroon who carries his patriotism in his pocket : the disloyalty of the political parasite who would make patriotism a house of cards, and dollars the chief end of a people ; intriguers who hiss out secession or annexation when they fail to get their political crimes or crotchets enshrined ; men whose hunger for notoriety and power is a fever of their existence. I am sure that you could Jiave nothing but contempt for any free people who measure their allegiance purely by commercial standards, and who, fearing to face the difficulties which meet every nation, turn peddlers instead of protectors of their national birthright. Just as you had and have your croakers and cowards, we have ours, but, Mr. Chairman, Canada is not for sale ! There have been prophets like Goldwin Smith since the days of Elizabeth who have predicted England's decline within their time, but all the colonial greatness of England has been developed since the time of Elizabeth. We have, as you have, bitter partisans in the press and in politics, who delight to foul their own nest, who revel in the rain that destroys the cr ops, and who sin- cerely believe they can change the climate if they could change the Government. We have a few of those wiseacres of society who assume to possess a monopoly of foresight, und who, like Caius Caligula, think the world would have been better made could they have been consulted. But these peo- ple no more represent the convictions of Canadians than O'Donovan Eossa or your tire-eating politicians and papers le- present those of true Americans. I have no desire to hurt anybody's feolingw horo, but I hope T may bo allowetl to say Hotnething to removo the infutuution too prevulont in the States that CANADA FAVORS ANNEXATION. Wore WO to jud<^o you as you ji'dj^o us — by the vaporing of the croakers, whut vahie could we put upon your union, and would we not feel like agreeing with Rostjitor Johnson, who in his "Short History of the Wur of Secession," just published in Boston, thinks he sees in certain national circuniBtances the threatening elements of a second civil war ? For years be- fore the last civil war you had fire-eaters whose arrogance and vanity knew no bounds ; who were advised by the Canadian press to study the elements of discord in the South instead of hankering for new ones in the North. It was jnst the same when yeais before that, Geoi'gia and Carolina appealed to ai-ms and deliod the general Government. Surely two threatened disruptions and one terrible civil wur in the history of a cen- tury should be enough. But last fourth of July I was near enough the " Re-union of the North and South " on the battle- field of Gettysburg, to see the ex-Confederates wearing the starred and burred badge, with the inscription upon it. That was the flag of treason and rebellion in 1861, and it is the flag of treason and rebellion in 1888. 1 read the protests of General Wagner, General Gobin and the Quartermaster- General of the Grand Army of the Republic uguinst the gush and glorificution of rebels because they had been rebels. I heard one oflicer boast that Southern privateers hud destroyed $400,000,000 of your property, and had driven a quarter of a million tons of your shipping to make transfer to the British flag. I heard another gloat over the fact that they had nearly captured Philadel^^hia. 1 heard scores declare that they had not been beaten il u starved. Reflecting upon all this, and hearing at this very hour the discordant echoes from that quarter, it strikes me that if Senators like Mr. Blaine are sin- cere in their eff'usive professions of patriotism, they could find a good deal to monopolize their genius down there in Dixie without meddling in the politics or the future of Canada. Canada minds its own business, and does not worry itself over yours, though you have coddled and dry-nursed her enemies, and when Hhe was at peace with you, allowed a horde of your citizens to invade her. Frankly, 1 may way that while I be- lieve Canada HAS BEEN A FAIR NEIOHBOR, too often she had not found her couwin one. If for once in the Treaty of Watihington, remembering Maine, Oregon and San Juan, Hhe did not let your diplomat iHtn got the better of her, she felt that «hc had given you at least a i-easonable quid pro quo. During the civil war we allowed your armed troops to cross from Detroit to Niagara on Canadian territory on the Great Western railway; but during the Red River rebellion of 186{>, your Government refused leave to one of our vessels to go up the Sault Ste. Marie canal, and arms and ammuni- tion were transhipped at considerable delay. When the St. Albans raiders, unknown to us, entered your territory from Canada, your Government was asked for its bill of damages and it was paid. When the Alabama claims bill was present- ed, it was paid so well that, years after every possible claim was settled, your (lovernment retains a large balance which should have been refunded to Britain ! What about the damages done to Canada in Canada by your citizens during the Fenian raids, most of them wearing the uniform of branches of your national troops ? Not a cent has been paid. You expected Canada to know that a few quiet and strag- gling Southerners intended to raid St. Albans ; you thought that England should have known that a solitary ci'uizer in- tended leaving one of her ports to prey upon your commerce. But what a splendid display of recii)rocal consistency, that thousands of armed men should openly muster and drill in your chief cities for months ; openly occupy your border towns and villages, and attempt to invade us, and your Gov- ernment comparatively oblivious ! In the face of these facts, it is not easy to swallow the statements, or believe in the honesty of public men who talk of the exactions and encroach- ments of a people of 6,000,000 upon a people of 60,000,000. CANADA CANNOT BE COERCED or forced into union with such example of political hypocrisy. There was a time, twenty years ago, when we were discon- nected provinces; when Canada proper contained only 3'70,488 square miles ; when we had few railways ; when Htagnation seemed to mark uh ; when we had no winter outlol of our own to the sea; when our great North-Wost was a great unknown. Even then annexation was unpopular. There had not been enough accomplisl ,>d then by Canadian statos- mon to make their rivals envious, and your own statesmen did not dream that we could build a railway to connect the Mari- time and the older provinces, or that with a])opulationof only 6,000,000, we would dare to span the continent with another, a work not accomplished by the Statej until they had 50,000,000. But can you be deceived into the belief that con- federated Canada is now ** foi' sale," when since Confederation twenty years ago, our revenue or consolidated fund has im- mensely increased ; when our shipping and its tonnage has more than doubled — young Canada standing fifth on the list of nations; having more vessels than old France, Spain, Italy or Russia ; when the assets of our chai'tered banks, the value of our imports, the extent of our exports tell a story of our marvellous progress ; when, instead of about 2,000 miles of railway in 1867, we liave now over 14,000, giving us a greater length of mileage than any other part of the Empire, except- ing the United Kingdom and India; when the Canadian Pacific railway has established a line of steamers between Vancouver and Hong Kong and .lapan, and our great Cana- dian line has become of Imperial impoitance; when we have developed our inexhaustible fisheries, thanks to your abroga- tion of the Reciprocity Treaty, so that we have 75,000 hardy men sailing our vessels and otherwise engaged in the business, and for 1887 we value those fisheries at $20,000,000 ! Can you wonder that annexation, as a serious subject, has received its doom, and that in spite of the intoxication of senatorial con- ceit on the one side, and the croaking of malcontents and political tramps on the other, Canada is loyal to the Mother Country, from whose stout old loins both of us sprang ? Con- federated Canada, respected Canada, loyal Canada, progressive Canada is a personal and political insult to the sore-head parties who opposed Confederation, and who would welcome ANNEXATION TO TURKEY OR RUSSIA were we neighbors, or rejoice even at annihilation rather than ■ m 9 live the agonizing life of seeing their prospects and predic- tions destroyed. There weie millions of your own citizens ghid to do their worst to dismember your union; there were thousands who gave their lives to wreck the Eepublic that their own State interests might be promoted. Yet when a few obscure cranks in Canada declare in favor of annexation, you think they speak the sentiment of a sober people who do not find it necessary to indulge in the spectacular or the rhetorical that you may see and hear the truth. You choose to ignore the treason of many a Southern newspaper to-day as you did twenty-five years ago and you exalt as gospel the partisans of the Canadian press, who are incapable of telling the truth. Personally and professionally, I am sure any dentist who visits you forgets he is not an American, and I am sure we try trj to make Americans coming to Canada forget they are not Canadians. You have big and hospitable hearts that were in- tended for hospitality and not for quan-el. Personally and even commercially we can find so many points of common agreement that we should overlook the few where wo must agree to ditl'er. Politically, I realize I am a foieigner here the moment I cross the line. 1 am at home when I land at liiverpool, at Oilasgow, at Dublin, at Bermuda, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, New Guinea, Jamaica, Bar- badoes or Trinidad. Politically i have a share in, and am proud of, the glorious old flag which waves over New Zealand, Australia, Gibi'altar, Malta, Hong Kong, West Africa, Ceylon, St. Helena, Natal, British Hondui-as, Dominica, the Bahamas, Gi-enada, Barbadoes, India. England is an old and apt master in annexation. Since she lost the thirteen colonies here, She has annexed colonies far greater in area and population, of far more value to her than if they were joined to her three king- doms, while Spain, Portugal, Holland and France have lost theirs and there is little oi nothing left for any other nation to annex. 1 need no other political passport to the rights of a British subject, and the citizen of a great realm, comprising 65 territories and islands, than my Canadian birthright. I do not measure my national boundary from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but from the Pacific to the Caribbean Sea. f UNDER THE REIGN OF VICTORIA no Canadian need be ashamed to belong to an Empire which embraces a fifth of the habitable globe, and to know that his own Dominion forms nearly a half of the whole ; an Empire five times as large as that which was under Darius ; four times the size of that under ancient Rome ; sixteen times greater than France ; forty times greater than United Germany ; three times larger than the United States, Australia alone nearly as big as the States ; India nearly a million and a quarter of square miles ; Canada, 600,000 square miles larger than the States, without Alaska ; and 18,000 square miles larger with it ! An Empire nearly 9,000.000 of square miles, with a population of 310,000,000. Sharers in such a realm ; heirs to such vast and varied privileges, " Canadians are not for sale." Political annexation must then remain a bug-a-boo for disappointed politicians on our side to play with, and a bubble for certain Senators on this side to blow to decoy their innocent fanatics at home. But there is an annexation we favor, that of brotherly friendship and political good-will. You have 54,000,000 the start of us. Are you the Goliath, afraid of Canada as a political David ? Canada has been a good neighbor. When Lincoln and Garfield died, the Domin- ion was in mourning. Whenever any of your men-of-war come into our ports, the citizens rejoice, and give their men the hospitalities of the cities. There are constant reciprocity treaties being made every day in the year between us at the altar of Hymen. At many of our banquets the toast of the President follows that to the Queen. At most of our public gatherings your flag entwines ours. Prom most of our pulpits prayers are offered for your ruler as well as for ours. That is the sort of alliance that we do more than you do to promote. We want, too, fair commercial reciprocity, but we shall not take commercial union for it, or bend our necks or our knees for either. Whatever betides, we can both be loyal to our own political convictions, we can both be fair, even to our own national and natural prejudices, and while Canadians may neighborly pray " God bless the Republic," may you not in as friendly a spirit reciprocate with " God Save the Queen."