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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 I i i-t IIAUGUEAL ADDEBSS PELIVERED BY SIR RICHARD CARTWRICHT, HONORARY PRESIDENT, TO THE iounj fibcrai Ollub, of ^rafovth, ®tit., ON THE 27tb OCTOBER, 1886 SPorunto : ^p^ , HUNTER, ROSE & CO., PRINTERS. ■2<'lJ^-ic=> Uol/r^ pr. all irf pr< Ir ins SOI life du an; as sa} the on fee ad( I i est ani era mo not mo are ow it I Yo yoi or Cal cro; )sW^ SPEECH OF SIR RICHARD CARTWRIGHT, :dt the Inaugural of the Young Liberal Club of Sea- forth, on 27th of October, 1886. Sm Richard Cartwright, on rising to respond to the address presented to him, was received with enthusiastic cheering. After alluding to his length of service, he said :— Since I received the invitation to address you, I have thought a good deal of the prospects and future of Young Liberalism, and, if, in the remarks I may make, I should chance to say some things that at first sight may seem startling, and some things that may at first even oflfend some of you, all I can say is this, that during my whole political life, though there have been occasions when I have felt it my duty to hold my tongue and say nothing, I have never yet said anything which I did not mean. I speak to-night as a man, and not as a politician. My words bind nobody but myself alone, and I say to you as Themistocles said to the War Council of the Greeks: "Strike, but hear me." Wait until you have heard the reasons I have to advance, and I am not without hope that on this, as on other occasions, full consideration will bring us to feel as one as to the future of our party and the course to be adopted to promote the best interest of Canada. Mr. Chairman, I am heartily glad the young men of Seaforth have decided to establish this Club. Man is a social, gregarious, and clubable animal, and there is no doubt that the present is eminently an era of associations. You will hardly find any single important movement, social, moral, or political', in which the members do not find it necessary at an early day in the history of that movement to unite themselves together in some such shape as you are adopting. Every trade, every important profession, has its own council in some shape or form. Every great movement finds it necessary to form itself into AN ASSOCIATION OR CLUB. You know very well, all through this country, go where you like, you can hardly move without striking a Temperance Association' or a Licensed Victuallers' Association, or an Orange Lodge, or Catholic League, or a Knights of Labour Association; and if you cross the water, I believe the most important factor in the 4 campaign wliicli dethroned Mr. Gladstone from his position as Prime Minister of England was really the Primrose League, a very notable instance of the enormous power the ladies can exercise when they put forth their strength ; in fact, it is notori- ous that the lady canvassers of the Primrose League were more audacious and more ingenious in their electioneering devices (not to say their electioneering fibs), than all the men put together. (Laughter). Don't be above learning from the enemy. This is a new departure; profit by it. Get the ladies on your side at the very earliest moment, if you wish to win. Apart from this, you find in England that the two contending parties depend for organization and guidance to a very great extent upon the great political clubs, the Carlton and the Reform Clubs. Coming again to Canada, you know that during the election of 1878 the United Empire Club did a very considerable deal of service to Sir John Macdonald and a very considerable deal of mischief to us. And I hope to be able to inform you at a later day that in the campaign of 1886 or 1887, whichever it may chance to be, the recently organized Reform Club will do equally good service to the Reform cause throughout the country. (Great applause). Therefore I say that I am exceedingly glad, indeed, to see Young Liberal Clubs and what are called mock parliaments, though I rather object to that title, springing up from one end of the country to the other. Now, sir, I think it is very important, indeed, that young men, of whatever political persuasion they may be, should meet together, and that they should discuss the great questions presented to the people for consideration, and that they should endeavour to form an intelligent judgment on these matters while yet their feelings are fresh and their minds are not so much occupied and filled with the ordinary cares of business that they are unable to give the necessary attention which all men must give to political matters if they wish to form an honest and fair judgment about them. Moreover, our opponents have alleged that we Liberals or Reformers were 1 I AN UNSOCIABLE RACE OF BEINGS. With respect to the leaders, there may have been a grain of truth in that assertion. It is possible that grave statesmen, who see clearly the dangers and difficulties which beset the future of this country, may sometimes be a little more serious than is quite desirable for political leaders to be. It is difficult for any states- man who really appreciates the position of Canada at this present time to avoid being serious. It may be easy enough for ancient moun- tebanks to be gay, men whose creed is let us eat and drink — (but particularly let us drink) — for to-mormw we die, or has the Greek text has it, " for to-morrow we pass into nothingness." (Loud applause and laughter.) And peradventure— though it is not for me to pry into the future — it might be the best thing for " Old To-morrow " if he could pass into nothingness. (Applause.) Sir^ you have heard that Nero fiddled while Rome was burning. I do not mean to say that Sir John Macdonald fiddled, but I do mean to say that to my own certain knowledge, when the Fenian raiders menaced our frontiers he was very considerably fuddled. (Cheers.) And, indeed, a year ago, when his own culpable mismanagement and corruption had got the North- West in a blaze, Sir John could find no better amusement than the introduction of the famous or, rather I should say, infamous — Franchise Bill by which he de- signed to make himself a Parliamentary dictator, to deal with our whole representative system as he saw tit, and to gerrymander the whole electorate of the Dominion just as in 1882, four years ago, he had gerrymandered Centre Huron out of existence, and 54 other constituencies out of all fair and reasonable proportion. (Loud applause.) Now, I have always felt that the gallant young volun- teers who came to the rescue of the State in 1885, deserved well of their country ; I have always contended that they freed Canada from a great danger, which, perhaps, hardly any of us sufliciently appreciated at the time. They protected the lives and liberties of our scattered settlers from the onset of a savage foe, and they did well ! But permit me to say that, v/hile I believe our young men did their duty nobly, I believe the old members of the Re- form party, like my friend Mr M. C. Cameron here, also had A DUTY TO PERFORM, quite as difficult and almost as perilous to health and life, when they fought for their and your political lives and liberties all through the long session of 1885 against the tricks, and treasons, and stratagems, and wiles, and ambuscades of a worse and bif^-' ger Indian than Big Bear, or Poundmaker, or Piapot, or Strike- him-on-the-back, or Stab-him-under-the-tifth-rib, or any other of those distinguished savages whom the Superintendent-General of Indian AflTairs designed to make the arbiters of the fate of at least a dozen constituencies in the Province of Ontario. (Loud and prolonged applause.) And, moreover, I must say this, so far as my own personal tastes and inclinations are concerned I would far rather have marched along with my son and his brave young comrades to the banks of the Saskatchewan than have helped to lead the third brigade of the Reform army into action through one hundred tedious days and one hundred still more tedious nights in the Parliament at Ottawa. Now, gentlemen, the Presi- dent of the Club said, and I believe it is the intention, that this Club is to devote itself to two objects, the one political, and the other social. I think that is a matter of great importance. It is very desirable that all the Young Liberals, not merely of Seaforth, but of all the other parts of the Dominion, should ask themselves wliy they are Liberals ? Let them ask themselves : Are we Lib- erals by accident of l)irth, because we have had the good fortune to be born in Liberal fanulies, and to be biought up suiTouuded by tlie influence of Liberal traditions, or are we Liberals because, having thought over the matter to the best of the powers God has given us, M^e believe that in the progress and success of the Liberal party lies the best guarantee for the progress and success of Canada? (Ajiplause.) But in order that you may do that profitably, you • must ask yourselves, my young friends, what Liberalism means. It is not precisely the same thing as Reform. As I understand the matter, Liberalism means the desire for tieedom in the widest possible sense, all the freedom that men can exercise with due re- spect for the rights of others. (Cheers.) Liberalism means the desire and determination to maintain the right of free inquir}^ and free action, and hence it is that prima facie, as I might al- most say, by the law of their existence, ALL TRUE LIBERALS are, of necessity, foes of restraint ; they are, of necessity, foes of monopolies, which can hardly exist without injustice to some class or other in the community ; they are, of necessity, foes to privileged classes who are permitted to live under a different law from that which governs the rest of their fellow-subjects ; they are necessarily foes of centralization ; also they are, of necessity, foes of corruption or any other means of interfering with the free- dom of action of the Canadian citizen. (Cheers.) I recollect, a good many years ago, having to pass through the city of New York at the time of a great Presidential election contest, on going out on the street — it was before the abolition of slavery — being struck by a banner displayed on that occasion, 1 think in the iu- terest of Col, Fremont, bearing the then motto of the Republican party : '' Free Soil, Free Trade, Free Speech, Free Men." If you want a terse and comprehensive platform I would recommend you, on the whole, to adopt something like that. (Cheers.) If you are true Liberals you have faith in human jn-ogress— that is, you believe that, on the whole, the human race is bound to grow better as the world advances, and that the Maker of the human race intends that it sliould so do. (Loud applause). I grant that looking round upon Canada to-day it requires a good deal of faith to believe that hopeiul principle, but I have faith and I have hope, and I believe that after all said and done, an uprising is likely to al, and the -nce. It is f Seaforth, themselves re we Lib- od fortune iUiTouuded Is because, !rs God has :he Liberal of Canada? itably, you ism means, inderstand the widest ith due re- means the ee inquiry, [ might al- ity, foes of e to some Ity, foes to Yerent law ects ; they ' necessity, h the free- ■ecollect, a ;y of New i, on going !ry — being in the in- lepublican ." If you Bcommend rs.) If you •lat is, you d to grow -he human grant that isd of faith liave hope, s likely to take place (of which the formation of just such olubs as yours is one most hopeful symptom) whicii will purg. and purify our politics from the stains which have rested uf)on them so long. Now, Sir, I come to a subject of some little difficulty, but one on which I may say I am, from circumstances, rather peculiarly fitted to speak. I want to say a few words to you on the proper rela- tions which should subsist between Liberals and Conservatives. I want you to unn\y about one-third and they have two- thirds of the members from Ontario in the Dominion House. Second— At, the same election in Quebec four rural Quebec con- stituencies, with a total ])opuIation of 153,000, sent four members to Ottawa, and twelve other rural constituencies, with a total population of 140,000, sent twelve members. (Apjilause.) This needs reconsidei-ation and redress. Next, the time has come for very serious dsju.ssion of the great problem of the right distribu- tion of proHts and wages, and of the true relation between LABOUR AND CAPITAL, and you cannot too soon begin to inform yourselves on that point. Then follows the very important question of the social and political rights of women. You probably are not quite as well up in this subject as you will be— when you get m -rried— (applause) —but you will hear more about it then, if I am not greatly mis- taken— (laughter)— and will find that it opens a very extended field for discussion. Then the time is coming fast -vhen you may have to consider the relation which Canada is to bear to the rest of the British Empire. (Applause.) Many projects aie in the air as to which I will only say this, that I am well convinced of one thing, that our present arrangement is one of an essentially tem- porary character and cannot last, at least withouc very serious modifications. Behind this comes another and larger question— the relation of Canada to all English-speaking communities, and Uie possibility or desirability of a closer alliance between them. You know my opinion on this matter, inherited, I may fairly say, in part, from my United Empire Loyalist ancestors. I do behevo that it would be not only for our interest, but for the true interest of liberty and civilization all over the world, if the scattered branches, of the Anglo-Saxon family, but chiefly Canada, Australasia, Great Britain, and the United State's, could see their way to associate themselves in a firm, close, and friendly alliance, which should make war among those kindred peoples humanly speaking, impossible any more. I cherish no idle vision of unitiiiff 11 them under one form of government, nor do I desire it. What I do dream of (if you like to describe my aspirations thus) is a genuine friendly alliance, not in the least for purposes of warlike aggression on weaker States, but simply to ensure peace and goodwill among themselves. More might follow in good time, but I will not pursue the subject any further. I know there are many obstacles in the way, but I know, too, that some of the most serious of them are in a fair way to be remedied ; and, even if the difficulties be great, the prize is great also. Our system of education, its needs, and (possibly) its short-comings, is a theme you may very well discuss, and, indeed, on that head I will hav^^ something to say myself, very shortly. So also you will do well to consider our system of taxation, not only on its own account, but with an especial reference to its bearing on the problem of THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH. Lastly, I recommend to you a very careful consideration of the knotty problem, how far the State is justified in interfering with the freedom of action of the individual. This is a point on°which Liberals and Reformers may not impossibly be found to differ con- siderably. Their ends are the same, but there is room for an honest difference of opinion as to the best means to attain them. As Liberals you are bound to be cautious in respecting right of private judgment, and cautious to avoid crushing out°individu- aiity, and as Reformers, while you are bound to remedy abuses, you will do well to remember that thoio are cases known to all physi- cians where the reanedy is sometimes worse than the disease. I might add largel v to this list, but I pause here. Discussion of these questions will Uxidoubtsdly bring up others, and I may add that if you come to have clear and distinct ideas on these eight sub- ject ., you will, I think, have found the keys to a great many others of more or less practical importance. And now I have to direct your attention to a grave and delicate subject. You will all, I think, agree that it is the clear function and duty of Liberalism to encourage individuality and independenca of thought. ^ This is the very essence of true Liberalism, and for this doctrine in all ages many good men have suffered, many have been martyrs. But it is a necessary consequence, which all of you may not have perceived, that this doctrine may involve collision with THE WILL OF THE MAJORITY. Here I perceive two directly opposite dangers. One is the danger of servile submission to the will of a majority simply because" it is a majority, and the other is the equally great danger of rebel- 12 lion and insubordination. Now, majorities are not infallible, as we Ctv'^adian Liberals have had very good reason to know. I am no believer in the divine right of majorities to do evil any more than in the divine right of kings. T recognize the fact that a tyrant may have many heads as well as one, and I wholly repudi- ate the damnable heresy (cheers) . " That we are a bigger nation, And so our rights are bigger," in all its shapes. Yet, withal, 1 am bound to say that I also be- lieve that the calm, deliberate decision — perhaps I should say rather the natural, unperverted instinct — of the majority is very much oftenest right, and I need not say that it is always entitled to high respect, and that you must think often and pause long before you make up your mind to disregard it. Still, even that may be sometimes wrong, and there is no doubt that the hasty decision of the majority is very often wrong. Sir, there is a sense in which it is quite true that " Vox populi est vox Dei." There is also a sense in which " Vox diaholi" may become " Vox populi," as, for instance, where artful demagogues and crafty wire-pullers have persuaded a people that it is for their interest to double and treble their taxes, and to fine themselves all round, that thereby they may enrich a few millionaires. There is no positive rule. Even the Spiritualists will tell you that they cannot always dis- criminate between good spirits and bad. You must try the spir- its to see what nature they are of. Now, sometimes it may be your clear duty as Liberals to oppose the popular will. This needs moral backbone, and it is here the great value of such a Club as yours may come in. It is very hard, nay, it is all but im- possible for one man to brace himself uj) to oppose, single-handed, an evil which everyone else supports. But if HE FINDS A SINGLE FPJEND who thinks as he does, it strengthens him wonderfully, and they two can make a good fight back to back. If, besides, he finds enough men A"ho think alike to form a club, and constitute a ral- lying square, against which hostile forces may charge in vain — why, sir, all history is full of the great things that have been done by a determined few, who knew their own minds and were not afraid to die. I speak under a sense of grave responsibility, and I speak now of extreme cases only, yet none the less do I tell you deliberately that cases may arise in which it may become the clear dutj^ of free men to suffer and to die, and it may be to fight to the death, sooner than permit their rights to be trampled on. 13 Our civilization, it seems to me, runs t. risk of making us too effeminate. It admits the right of passive resistance, but it shud- ders overmuch at any man advocating the right (and sometimes the duty) of armed resistance to grievous wrong. Sir, I believe that war is a very terrible thing. I believe, as the Duke of Wel- lington once said, that the saddest thing on earth is a great vic- tory — except a ^reat defeat — and I know well that civil war is a hundred-fold more horrible than foreign war. I know that not only must the wrong be extreme, and one that cannot be re- dressed by any other means, but that it is criminal to rebel unless there is a fair chance of success, which I take to be the true mean- ing of the lines, Treason doth ne'er succeed, and what's the reason ? When it succeeds it is no longer treason. But I know, also, that there have been cases (there was one great instance very recently on this continent) when wise men, and good men, and kind-hearted men have insisted that it was not only a right but a duty to plunge into civil war ; and I know, too, that in many cases but for dread of this the world would run the risk of FALLING A PREY TO KNAVES entrenched behind legal forms and constitutional subtleties, and I was right glad to hear the ablest jurist in Canada, if not in North America (need I say I refer to Edward Blake ?) — (loud ai)plause) express his views on this matter in the following very explicit fashion : " God forbid that we Canadians should forget for a moment that the corner-stone of our liberty is the sacred right of resistance. Some, through their blind zeal, forget this. They forget that the sacred right of resistance was exemplified in the events which preceded the Great Charter and is embodied in that instrument itself ; they forget that the pious and immortal memory of Wil- liam is the memory of an intruder who rose to the throne through the people's resistance to their king ; they forget that the battle of the Boyne was the triumph of tlie insurgents over the mon- archy ; they forget that the glorious revolution was the consecra- tion of the right to resist, and that the present settlement of the British Crown is the visible embodiment of that right. Let me read you just a passage on that point, to show that I am not ex- treme in those views. Take Brougham's Political Philosophy : — " " The national resistance was not only in point of historical fact the cause of the revolutionary settlement ; it was the main foundation of that settle- ment. The structure of the Government was made to rest upon tiie people's right of resistance, as upon its corner-stone, and it is of incalculable impor- 14 tance that this never should be lost sight of ; but it is of equal importance that wo should bear in mind how essential to the preservation of the constitution, thus established and secured, this principle of resistance is ; how necessary both for the <,'overnors and the governed it ever must be to regard this recourse to that f 'tremity as always possible— an extremity, no doubt, and to be cautiously embraced as such, but still an extremity within the people's reach, a protection to which they can and will resort as often as their rulers make such a recourse necessary for self-defence." It is a hard thing to say, but it might (in extreme cases) become your duty to die, as did the Spartans at Thermopylfe,and to say TO A TYRANNICAL MAJORITY, "Well, then, so be it, but over our dead bodies first." (Loud applause). It is a grim duty for a man to take his life (and the lives of others) in his hand, and I can give you but this one consolation. Few and rare are the cases in which a resolute minority^ have really made up their minds to die sooner than yield their just rights, in which the majority have not thought better of it, and offered terms of honourable capitulation. You may ask me for illustrations. 1 will give you two. One of a case in which had the outrage been pushed only a little further, it would have justified, if not actually demanded, armed resistance ; and another of a case which has not occurred, but which might conceivably occur, in which there could' be no doubt whatever, it would be your bounden duty to appeal to arms. Sir, the Act' of Parliament passed in 1882, by which one-sixth of all the Re- formers of Ontario were virtually disfranchised, may well serve as an illustration of the first case, and it is quite conceivable, had that outrage been pushed to an extreme limit, that armed re- sistance (if all other means failed), might have been justified, and might even have been called for. For the other case, let us suppose that this present Parliament (and it is bad enough, though not bold ( ugh for anything), should pass an Act declaring th*at it would not dissolve, but would prolong its existence for a further term of five or ten years, and that this Act became techincally and legally the l«"r of the land, would you submit without armed resistance to such an outrage as that? If you did, you would approve yourselves COWARDS AND SLAVES, and would deserve to be treated as such. (Great cheers.) Of course I am aware that the British North America Act stands in the way of any such manoeuvre, and perhaps it is just as well it does, but it will answer for an illustration, the more so as the Act itself, if it were passed, would be, morally speaking, very little 15 1 importance ation of the esistauce is ; r must be to xtremity, no fcmity within :t as often as sme cases) opy]fe,and t." (Loud Fe (and the t this one a resohite )oner than )t thought tion. You One of a ! further, it resistance ; lich might hatever, it the Act of 11 the Re- well serve vable, had armed re- tified, and ise, let us jh, though aring that nee for a 3t became 3U submit ? If you eers.) Of stands in as well it IS the Act very little worse than the attempt fraudulently to jcontrol the whole elector- ate through the original Franchise Bill of 1885, had it passed in the form it was originally introduced. Therefore, I tell you that occasion may arise on which it may become your duty to resist unjust laws to the death if need be. There are times and places in which it may be a man's duty to be silent on such points — and there are times and places at which it may be his duty to speak out. (Applause). I do the latter now, because I think that the people of Canada, as a rule, are apt to be far too patient with wrong-doing ; — partly from a law-abidxng disposition, which is a fault on the right side certainly ; partly from too great easiness of tempers, and very largely perhaps because, if dissatisfied with the state of things here, escape to another country is too easy. Still, I grant it is your duty to exhaust all other means first, only as Emerson has it, let us remember that in the last resort " the rifle must guard the ballot-box." For myself, I hope two things : — First, that the day may never arise when you may be called on for such extreme proof of your devotion to liberty ; but, secondly, that if such necessity should occur, you will show yourselves no dastards, but true descendants of those true Englishmen who have never flinched from resistance to tyranny, no matter by whom, or in what name soever, such tyranny was attempted. (Loud applause). Strong medicine this, perhaps some of you will say Yes, it is strong medicine, ami like all good medicine and good doctrine too, it has a savour of life or of death. Such medicines are for physicians and not for quacks to handle, and it is most true that these are medicines of which a wrong dose at the wrong time or even in wrong proportions may mean death, though the right dose at the right time may bring life to the patient. But I am not hore to-night altogether to prophesy smooth things, and 1 hold it my duty to take this opportunity to caU your attention to certain GRAVE NATIONAL FAULTS in the Canadian character, which I would have you guard against in yourselves and endeavour to amend in others. And here let me say this one word : — Whatever else I may be, I am Canadian to the very end of my fii\ger-tips, as the French have it. In Canada I was born, in Canada I have lived, and in Canada I hope to die, and I hope my children and my children's children may do so, too. (Cheers.) I prefer Canada to all other countries by instinct and by choice, and I have given my proofs. Twice over, once in early life and once in later years, I have had offers made to me, holding out hope of high advancement and prospects of greater wealth by far than I ever expect to attain here, and twice over I have de- 16 clined to entertain any proposals which involved protracted and perhaps permanent absence from my native country. (Loud cheering.) If, therefore, I take on myself to speak to you of cer- tain national faults, which I hope you will join in striving to cor- rect, understand that I am in my right, and only speak as a Cana- dian fairly may who desires to see his countrymen free them- selves from errors which gravely prejudice their future prospects as a nation, and who speaks with that object in view, and not in any paltry or Pharisaical spirit of fault-finding. Now, one of these faults is that Canadians as a rule are far TOO TOLERANT OF FRAUD AND FALSEHOOD, both in public and in private life. Understand well. I have nothing but praise for the true, genial, catholic tolerance which respects all honest differences of opinion, which refuses to make a fuss about trifles, and which recognizes fully that there is no accounting for tastes, and that, as the old English saw has it, " what is one man's meat (and, perhaps, what is one man's drink) may be .-another man's poison," and that you need not quarrel about it, either But, as human affairs go, you need more than this ; you need, besides, to have, deep down, well under control, but ready in case of emergency, an honest, wholesome capacity for a stern and righteous indignation with evil-doers, and I tell you that it is not only your right but your duty to despise, and if you can, to punish all cheats, thieves and liars, wheresoever you may find them, but trebly so if they have crept into high places. Sir, it seems to me that we are apt to be guilty of two very mean things. No doubt the same thing occurs more or less everywhere, but it does appear to me that there has very rarely been any country in which so much honour has been paid to successful scoundrelism in high position as is paid in Canada to- day. No doubt there are exceptional cases, but the fact remains. The standard of political morality and the character of public men in Canada is infinitely below that which prevails in England or in the United States, or any English-speaking communit}'- I know of. Reformers are in part themselves to blame for this, and it is very much to their discredit that many of them, after denouncing certain leading opponents as grossly and personally cor- rupt,and as guilty of infamous falsehood, have afterwards dealt with these men as if they stood on the same level as themselves. Such is not my creed, nor my practice either. I say, if you must sympathize with scoundrels, sympathize with those who are placed where they can do the least, rather than with those who are placed where they can do the most harm to society. (Applause.) Of the two I had much rather see you "hail fellow, well met," with i..-m:i Mixs^m4SkU£^iiill^ai^ ■■ 17 men whom you know to have lied and robbed their way into the Dominion Penitentiary, than with men who have lied and robbed their way into the Dominion Privy Council ; — though I don't recommend the association in either case. (Applause and laughter.) This is one of our faults, and the other is of kin to it, though it is one in regard to which we are no worse, per- haps not quite so bad, as our neighbours, and one which is com- mon, I know, to all English nations. This is the time-honoured WORSHIP OF THE GOLDEN CALF. There is a great disposition among us to envy, and almost to wor- ship, any man who has got together a big pile of money, no matter how, and to think in our secret hearts that the greatest man after all is the man who has the most dollars. Well, money is a very potent thing, and I don't deny that you will find among the ranks of the millionaires, both in Canada and elsewhere, many very able and fine fellows, men of very great ability, who owe their wealth to their energy and enterprise, and in fair degree do de- serve respect and admiration. But you will find also many who are not one whit better than successful robbers, and I have known many of both, and have found society, outwartUy, at least, make very little diffierence in the reception it accorded to either. Of all idolatries the worship of mere wealth is the most debasing and enervating. (Applause.) It is worse than the worship of rank or of power, and it seems to be on the increase. You can hardly take up a newspaper, in the United States more particularly, without noticing that an ever-increasing space is devoted to de- tails of the costly follies and extravagancies or lavish outlay of rich men, or computations of the amounts they are sever- ally supposed to be worth. All this involves a most debasing vulgarism of speech and thought which finds an apt expression in the now very common statement that, on such and such an oc- casion, " so many millions of dollars sat down to dinner." Why, sir, but the other day I saw it stated that five hundred million dollars (each one, I suppose, revolving on its own separate axis) were present at a certain wedding breakfast in the city of New York. Set your faces, my young friends, against this baseness. Honour a man for what he is, not for what he has, or never dare to call yourselves true Liberals again. (Cheers.) Why, if your real ideal be but to scrape money together anyhow, and your true hero the man who has amassed the biggest pile of dollars by fair means or foul, all I can say to you is that, judged by that stand- ard, Alexander Mackenzie is an utter fool — Edward Blake is an utter fool — I am an utter fool, for we have had in our time the con- trol of hundreds of millions of the people's monev, and vet not only 18 has not one cent ever stuck to our hands, but it is the simple fact, to my own certain knowledge, that each one of us left office poorer by thousands of dollars than he entered it, or than he would have been if he had never accepted it, and the same is true, 1 believe, of every one of Mr, Mackenzie's other colleagues. (Loud ap- plause.) Gentlemen, if you do not like this way of doing public business and if you want other models—" smart" men, who under- stand how to make politics pay, you have not far to seek. You will find them ready to your hand in great plenty among the Langevins, and the Popes, and the Chapleaus, and the Tom Whites, and the Rykerts, and the Boultbees, and the Beatys, and the Hickeys, and all the rest of the horde of creeping things that buzz, and crawl, and sting round the portals of Ottawa, ready to play pander and parasite to any man who has grasped the reins of power, and who is willing to gorge their greed with timber leases, and coal areas, and " testimonials," and railway grants, and permits to plunder the lands and minerals of the territory form- ally awarded to Ontario. (Loud applause.) Now, I certainly do not wish to deter you from taking part in ]3olitics. I have no sort of sympathy with the cowardice which keeps some men out of the ring, and still less with the mock pre- tence of superior purity which would let all sorts of infamies go unpunished, because, forsooth, active politics are too rough and coarse and unpleasant for THOSE DAINTY GENTRY to meddle with. On the contrary, I am emphatically of opinion that It IS the plain and clear duty of every man who can do so to take his fair share of political work, and that it is just as much his duty, and (rightly understood) just as high a duty to devote a reasonable proportion of his time and means to the service of his country in this way , as to give of his time and means in sup- port of the particular religious body to which he belongs. Politics, Mr. Chairman, if honourably practised, is one of the noblest vocations, just as, and for the same reason as, it is rightly held, one of the vilest of trades, if originally engaged in or subse- quently carried on for the purpose of making money- That is the true meaning of Dr. Johnson's famous saying that " patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." What the good doctor (who was a genuine patriot himself, according to his lights) really m^ant is that patriotism is so high and sacred a thing that the false profes- sion of patriotic motives from a sordid desire of gain, marks the man who does that thing as an unutterable rascal, and I am very much of Dr. Johnson's opinion, especially in the case of those who are commonly known as " professional " politicians. Now, it is '1 19 imple fact, ?ico poorer i^ould have I believe, (Loud ap- ing public 'ho under- 3ek. You imong the m Whites, 's, and the tiings that I, ready to [ the reins ith timber rants, and iory form- ig part in lice which mock pre- ■ infamies rough and )f opinion a do so to t as much to devote service of ,ns in sup- s. ne of the is rightly or subse- ^hat is the liotism is (who was " mifant is Ise profes- iiarks the 1 am very those who 'fow. it is right that those of you who may turn out to have the gift of leading and influencing your fellow-men should use it, and should cultivate it, and this Club of yours is intended to be a means to that end. Moreover, good and true men are very much wanted in Canadian politics, and I certainly have no right lo repulse any man who feels called to come and help us. But at the same tim I would have you know what you are doing. Count the cost be- fore you devote yourselves to a purely political life. You will have to encounter much loss, much labour, and to undei'go much self-sacrifice, and may seem to accomplish but little after all. Sir, there are many uncertainties in politics. But there is one fixed fact. No honest man ever yet took office poor and left it rich — (cheers) — though the converse is not equally true, for, in all countries, many honourable men have entered office rich and left it poor — on all sides of politics. Sir, your Walpoles may leave office better off than when they entered the public service, but your Pitts,aye — and let us be just to departed adversaries, who had their faults, but who had a mind above filthy lucre) your Pitts and your Cartiers had to be buried at the public expense becaus they had scarce left money enough in their coffers to defray the charge of a decent funeral. (Loud applause.) You will do me wrong if you think I mean to speak of one party alone. I would have you honour all worthy opponents. Next to a worthy friend, HONOUR A WORTHY FOE. There are Abdiels everywhere — except, perhaps, on the present Treasury benches — and I would caution you to be slow to believe charges against public men. Also, I Would say to the gentlemen of the press, that they need to be very cautious in preferring charges, if for no other reason than this, that to prefer false charges, or charges based on insufficient evidence, is of all ways the best way to provide knaves with a strong shield of defence against true charges. But if the guilt of a public man be clear beyond doubt, established by unanswerable evidence, and by his own confession, then pardon to such an one is treason to the State — (cheers) — and the party which for party purposes condones the guilt of a leader proved clearly guilty of falsehood and corrui)tion, commits a crime against society, almost exactly analogous to that which King Arthur describes when he says to his penitent Queen : " 1 hold that man the worst of public foes, Who, either for his own or children's sake, To save his blood from scandal, lets his wife Whom he knows false, abide and rule his house. • ■ . . . . , , Better the king's waste hearth and aching heart, Than thou reseated in thy place of light, The mockery of thy people and th \"bane." m 20 You must learn to mark your sense of rascality by sternly with- holding from men guilty of mean and corrupt acts, those marks of honourable courtesy which you will always, I trust, be ready to show to worthy opponents. No fear but rogues can be made to feel. I can testify to that, for I practice what I preach, and mean to. (Loud applause). Gentlemen, I am neither a purist nor a Puritan. I recognize the fact that politics are war, and many things are lawful, or at least excusable in war, which have to be sharply dealt with in time of peace. Neither do I pretend to be righteous over much. The labourer is worthy of his hire, and it is good, sound, practical economy to pay public men in high posts liberally and wi^ll ; also, I believe, that men who have worked hard and faithfully for their party, deserve all that their [)arty can honourably give them. But such men do not work for hire, but for love, as a general rule. I am bound to tell you, also, that there is a brighter side to the medal. We politicians certainly do see a great deal of the baser side of human nature, but we see a great deal of the nobler side also, and I think all men who know politics will bear me out in saying that there is MUCH GOLD AMID THE MUD. I have been often surprised at the great sacrifices many men will continually make for their party, and these, commonly, ask noth- ing. Many, it is true, are perfect children of the horse leech, and here it is the case, very often, that the worst get the most. In politics, as in war, it is not the men who lead the forlorn hope, but the contractors who tarry by the baggage, who make most money out of it. (Cheers.) You may ask why do I say this to you. For two very excellent reasons : 1. You propose to be poli- ticians ? Then it is right you should knosv what political life means. 2. You young men are generally the salt of the party. (Hear, hear.) You have your faults, no doubt. You art apt to be rash. Unreasonable, sometimes. To expect too much in too short a time, and to decline to realize the fact that there are always two, and often a great many more, sides to every question. But you are also, for the most part, honest, unselfish, and patriotic, and we of the older generation are apt to lose enthusiasm as we advance in years. Some of us grow schemers, and some cynics. Some get worn out. All are more or less disillusioned, and need to be spur- red on occasionally. Let me give you one warning. If you hope to achieve anything really great, you will need patience an a dis- cipline, and method and organization. There is no contradiction here. Debate and discuss as freely as you like, but when time for action comes, close your ranks, choose your leader, and obey him faithfully. It is said to be a crying fault of the Liberal party that iii 21 bernly with- 3se marks of be ready to be made to h, and mean jurist nor a , and many I have to be etend to be hire, and it I high posts ave worked their {)arty rk for hire, u, also, that 3ertainly do lut we see a who know ly men will ^, ask noth- e leech, and ! most. In )rlorn hope, make most say this to to be poli- alitical life the party, rt apt to be n too short ilways two, But you tic, and we ve advance Some get to be spur- f you hope ce ana dis- ntradiction en time for i obey him party that it is always splitting up into sections. Our enemies count on this, trade on this, and they are trying to do it now and here in Canada to-day. You will have to be on your guard, and remember, THE BATTLEFIED IS NOT THE PLACE for polemical discussions. Moreover, society is a slow entity. It has great vis inertm, and is always stubborn about moving. Then the powers of evil are very strong, much stronger than you may suspect, and they are generally very well combined. We of the nineteenth century don't like to believe that retrogression is possible, but you wilfdo well to ponder on the weighty remarks of Mr. J. S. Mill on this point in his " Representative Govern- ment," a book which I very specially recommend to your careful perusal, as also Mr. Bagehot's two books on similar subjects. I have only time to give you a mere fragment, but you should study the whole context carefully. Mr. Mills says: — " We ought not to forget that there is an incessant and ever-flowing current of human affairs towards the worse, consisting of all the tollie8--all the vices — all the negligences, indolences and supinenesses of mankind, which is only controlled and kept from sweeping all before it by the exertions which some persons constantly, and others by fits and starts, put forth in the direction of good and worthy objects. It gives a very insuificient idea of the importance of the strivings which take place to improve and elevate human life and nature, to suppose that their chief value consists in the amount of actual improvement realized by their means, and that the consequence of their cessation would be merely that we should remain as we are. A very small diminution of those exertions would not only put a stop to improve- ment, but would turn the general tendency of things towards deterioration, which, once begun, would proceed with increasing rapidity, and become more and more difficult to check, until it reached a state often seen in history, and in which many large portions of mankind now grovel ; when hardly anything short of superhuman power seems suflicient to turn the tide and give a fresh commencement to the upward movement." And indeed this contains the very root idea of such clubs as yours. Then I must also point out to you that there are serious difficulties in the position of Canada itself with ' POLITICAL DIFFICULTIES We have to contend consequent upon our singular semi-dependent position as a small State between two very great ones, with both of which we have very close relations ; with geographical difficulties caused by the great stretches of barren wilderness interposed between the three great divisions of our territory — which have often caused me to wish we lived rather in three islands, with the sea as a means of connection and communication ; with national or race difficulties, 22 arising from the circumstances <.f our early settlement, and iastlv with economical dilticulties. partly natural and partly of our own inaking hut none the less real notwithstanding. As yet we are Imt in the chrysalis state, bettei- able to crawl than to Hy and altogether more caterpillar than l.titterfiy. What we need and we need it very hadly, is more public spirit— a larger share oV the true instinct of patriotism— and to become thoroughly imprerr- nated with the feelings which inspired that well-known passage in Sir Walter Scott— " *' Breiithes there a man with soul so dead VVho never to himself hath said, This is my dwn—niy imtive land / If suf'; there be, go mark him well, For him n j minstrel numbers swell : High though his title, proud his name, Boundless his wealth as wish can claim, The wretch concentred all in self, Living shall forfeit fair renown, And doubly dying shall go down- Down to the dust from which he sprung- Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung. ' That is the temper which has made Scotland great ; that is the temper which alone can make any country really great, and that IS the temper which we must one and all try to cultivate and toster among our people if we ever expect to make Canada a great countr3'. So I say, be Canadians above all, and before all, what- ever else you are. (Applause.) It may well be that there are some among you whom I address to-night who m.y be destined to climb high, to whom it may be given to see clearly what we see only through a glass darkly, and who may come to enter into and possess the land we are only permitted to gaze upon from afar. To such I can only say that I hope they will cherish an honourable ambition. Such an ambition is perhaps THE BEST SAFEGUARD AGAINST POLITICAL CORUITPTION, almost as good in its way as an honourable love is to defend you against vulgar proHigacy, and how great a defence that \h you may earn from Tennyson's splendid description ..f its oti- cts in elevating the character, especially in youth and early manhood, where he bids you — " To speak no slander— no, nor listen to it, To lead nweet lives in purest chastity, To love one maiden only— cleave to her, And worship her by years of noble deeds Until you win her. For, indeed I know Of no more subtle m tster under Heaven Aa, 28 Than is the maiden passion for a maid. Not only to subdue the base in man, • Bat teaoh high thuuxhts, and amiable words, And courtliness — and the desire of fame And love of truth — and all that makes a man." Tl)ese are not only very noble words, but they are also pro- foundly true — true, physiologically, and true psychologically as well. They are words every young Canadian man and every young Canadian woman would do well to learn by heart ; and to study and ponder over. They breathe the very essence of chival- ry and Christianity, so far as the relation of the sexes are con- cerned ; and they appeal to one of the loftiest instincts we have inherited from our Teutonic forefathers ; that inborn and remark- able reverence and esteem for woman which Tacitus noted ISO;) years ago as one of the qualities most to be admired in nations of the Germanic race ; and as one of those virtues which have their reward in this life as well as in that which is to come, or as he puts it, " Sera Venus ideoque pubertas inexhausta." And I would say to my yovig friends, that as I wish them all j)Ossible success in life, so I can find no two better wishes for their welfare than these : First, that you should eni,ertain an honourable ambition to succeed (honourably) in whatever walk in life you may select, and that you may prosper in your amljition. And secoIldl3^ that you may each and every one of you form an honourable attach- ment in good time, and may prosper in your love likewise. (Loud applause.) And now, gentlemen, for A FEW PRACTICAL HINTS. You mean, I take it, to propagandise ! Then you will need to train yourselves. You must be ready to give a reason for the faith which is in you. You must be prepared to preach and to teach, and to do that effectively and to good purpose you must first of all teach and inform yourselves. To this end you must read and study, and criticise and think over what you read. You will require a library containing some of the standard works on history and political economy, and on social science generally. It need not be large, but it should be well selected. If I can be of any service in assisting you in tlie selection I will be very glad to confer with you, but 1 would advise you, on the whole, to ap- ply for information on these matters to Mr. Goldwin Smith, than whom you can get no more competent adviser on literary ques- tions in North America, or probably in Europe. For the rest, you spoke just now, Mr. President, of the desire of the members to make use of their club for social as well as political objects. I am entirely in accord with you there too. There is great truth 24 in the old maxim, " All work and no play makes Jack p dull boy ;" but what is not perhaps sufficiently insisted upon is, that if Jack be a lad of any spirit, all work and no play is very apt to make him entirely dissatisfied -vith his position, and very much inclined to make a bad use of iiis holiday when he does get one. (Loud applause.) Sir, I tell you that rational amusement is a necessity, rather than a luxury. More than that, a fair share of it is the very best possible defence against profligacy. Now, this cardinal fact has got to be recognised and provided for in any complete scheme of education. Much depends upon it. Much more than any one would suspect at first sight. In Canada, I am glad to say we are making a very good beginning in our scheme of national education. We are justly proud of what has been done, but we must remember that, after all, it is but a beginning. Much has been done. Much remains to be done, and in other ways. Education is a very big word. It is doubtful if the pro- cess should ever stop in a rightly constituted human being till he or she is at rest in their grave, and not a few good and wise men have thought that the true explanation of many of the difficulties that perplex and oppress us in considering the scheme of the uni- verse is to be found in the fact that our life here is only a train- ing-school for a higher and better state of existence. Be that as it may, I know that TRAINING A FEW FACULTIES is not enough — and that over-training some to the practical ex- clusion of others is distinctly bad. Sir, if there is any one thing more than another which the study of the classics ought to teach us it is this. True education develops all the faculties, mental, physical and social as well. The old Greeks (and no race of human beings have surpassed, if, indeed, any have equalled them, in the high and harmonious development of the human mind and body) always taught that every man should not only learn "philosophy" (i.e., should train his mind with care), but that he must also complete his physical education in the gymnasium, and in athletic contests (for success in wliich men were held in high honour), and likewise that the perfect man must be " musical " in the large sense, by which they meant that he must carefully cultivate his social faculties as well. Now, I would have you recognize these natural wants boldly, and make due provision for them. Let viens sana in cor- pore sano be your motto, and recognize the great fact that a per- fectly healthy mind in a perfectly healthy body is one of the great- est blessings, as it is also, unhappily, one of the rarest gifts which can fall to the lot of any man. Don't be ashamed to avow that Jack p dull pon is, that very apt to [ very much loes get one. 3ement is a air share of Now, this [ for in any 1 it. Much mada, I am our scheme ,t has been 1, beginning, nd in other if the pro- aeing till he d wise men J difficulties of the uni- nly a train- Be that as ractical ex- l one thing ht to teach ies, mental, J surpassed, larmonious aught that hould train lis physical (for success ise that the , by which al faculties ural wants ina in cor- that a per- F the great- ;^ifts which avow that 25 you like to be amused. As Dr. Martin Luther puts it in the famous song which bears his name : — " Who loves not woman, dance and song, He is a fool hie whole life long." I believe there is a trifling difference in my version, but it conveys Dr. Luther's real meaning anyway as well as the original. Now, her'i I must interpose a caution. Don't mistake or misunderstand me. I have no sympathy with idlers. Canada is a bad place for them, whether they are rich or poor. (Loud applause.) I hold firmly to the good old doctrine, " Learn and labour truly to get your own living," even if I don't insist on the latter part of the clause, " to be content in the station you happen to be placed in," at least in the sense of dissuading you from trying to rise higher if you can do so honestly. To maintain yourselves honestly is your first duty, no doubt ; but that done, you have a right (and it is in ontj sense your duty to yourselves) to go in for A FAIR SHARE OF HONEST AMUSEMENT. Sir, I spoke a little while ago of two errors which I conceive to have attained to the magnitude of national faults. This other, the incapacity to amuse ourselves, or the neglect to provide proper opportunities for amusement, appears, in some (quarters, to ap- proach to a national want. Perhaps our inaptitude is inherited ? I partly think it is. Centuries ago Froissart observed of the Eng- lish " that they took their pleasure sadly after the custom of their nation," and our French friends arc always twitting us that we John Bulls know how to make money, but (sacrebleu) we don't know how to spend it or enjoy ourselves. I have heard a good many of my country friends complain of the double exodus which they say is going on in Canada, from the farm to the city, and from the city to the United States, and hint broadly that too much educaiion was the cause. Now, my view is that the real cause is not too much education, but too little. We are educat- ing our people enough to create a craving for a wider and larger life than Canada, in farm or city, at present affords, and we are not educating them quite perfectly enough to enable them to sat- isfy 'those natural cravings at home. (Applause.) Then there is another side to it. Our temperance friends just now are en- gaged in a sort of crusade, having for its object to make the people of Canada a sober and temperate people. The object is a noble one. I commend their zeal, but to their zeal let them add knowledge also. It may be that their object will be better at- tained by a flank movement than by an attack in front. They 26 say that if they succeed the people of Canada will save an un- told number of millions of dollars every year. No doubt they will save a great deal ; so my advice is, out of all these millions- we are to save, let us devote a fair proportion to providino- rational and legitimate amusements for all, but especially for the'youncrer members of society. Recognize the fact that men need amuse- ment, excitement and society, and that MORE THAN HALF THE DESIRE FOR DRINK arises from the fact that in a bad and coarse way it gratifies these natural and (in one sense) reasonable instincts, — nor are there any greater foes to the tavern and worse places still than the gym- nasium, and the glee club, and the debating room. (Applause.) And so I add to the list of my suggestions of proper subjects of discussion this other. How best to organize and provide for a fair share of rational amusement. True,~it will cost money. I don't deny it. But it is wonderful how easy and how cheap it is to provide a great deal of amusement by a little forethought and united action where there are a good many of you. I dare say the cost of a cigar a day or a drink a day (only you are in a Scott Act county, and of course there are no drinks here) (laugh- ter)— would provide the annual cost of keeping up a good gym- nasium and half a dozen kindred amusements besides. And here let me put in one word to my elder hearers. They may say that this will cost too much money. I will admit it will cost money. But mark this. There is a danger in holding young folk too tightly, and many and many a father has found, to his loss and grief, that the cost of one day's profligate dissipation outweighs the cost of a month's, aye, or a year's outlay for purposes of honest recreation (Loud applause.) Again I say it is your own fault if you choose to pervert my meaning. I am a sworn foe to extrav uoance. But wise outlay is really true economy. Now, as to the charges made against me. I am accused of wishing to make Canada a cheap country to live in. Sir, I admit that charge. (Hear, hear.) I do want to make Canada a cheap country to live in, in the sense that I wish to see Canada a country in which an honest man's daily earnings can purchase enough to enable himself and his family to live in comfort and decency. But I want something more. I want to see Canada a pleasant country to live in (a'pplause) a country which men will be loathe "to leave and glad to come back to. I would like to see Canadians justify THE NOBLE PANEGYRIC pronounced upon Canada by Mr. David Wells, whicii T have quoted more than once before, and which I will not hesitate to •^■uC 27 save an un-^ doubt they :8e millions ing rational :he younger eed amuse- atifies these e there any I the gym- (Applause.) subjects of e for a fair y. I don't ap it is to lought and I dare say u are in a i) — (laugh- good gyni- And here ly that this mey. But ightly, and! ii', that the cost of a recreation, rou choose mce. But irges made I a cheap ear.) I do sense that an's daily i family to ^ more. I pplause) — d to come h T have lesitate to quote again to you to-night, seeing that it contains the testimony of an eminent man to certain lacts which every true Canadian, young or old, must always peruse with pleasure and with pride. Mr. Wells speaks thus : — "North of Lakes Erie and Ontario, and (f the River St. Lawrence, and east of Lake Huron, south of the 45th parallel of latitude, and included mainly in the present Dominion of Canada, there is as fair a country as exists on the American continent — nearly as large in area as New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio combined, and equal, if nut superior, as a whole, to those States, in agricultural capability. It is the natural habitat on this con- tinent of the combing-wool sheep. It is the land where grows the finest barley, which the brewing interest of the United States must have if it ever expects to rival Great Britain in its annual export of eleven millions sterling of malt products. It raises and grazes the finest of cattle, with qualities specially desirable to make good the deterioration of stock in other sections, and its climatic conditions, created by an almost encirclement of the great lakes, especially fit it to grow men. Such a country is one of the greatest gifts of Providence to the human race ; better than bonanzas of silver or rivers whose sands run gold." (Loud and prolonged applause.) Sir, for my part, 1 do not think the people who possess such a country need much artificial protection, but let that pass. Mr. Chairman, it may be that I want too many things. I want to see Canada a cheap country ; I want to see Canada a pleasant country to live in ; I want to see my countrymen use their great advan- tages to develop themselves into the finest men, and my country- women into the fairest w men, not only in North America, but in the whole world. (Great cheering.) If we cannot have quantity, let us make up for it in quality, and so I would like to see every young Canadian not only able to do a good day's work, but also able to think and speak and act for himself, ABLE TO SHOOT AND TO SWIM, and to ride, and to enjoy camp life in the open air. (Renewed cheers.) At home equally on the farm or in the workshojjs ; in the library and the debating room ; in the gymnasium and in the glee club — and in my lady's parlour. (Applause.) Briefiy, I would have my young Canadian countrymen so train and educate themselves as to grow into men worthy of inhabiting the land Mr. Wells so eloquently describes ; and my young Canadian countrywomen so train and educate themselves as to fit them- selves to be helpmates and guardian and household angels for such men, and yet^ withal, continue to be true women still — ' " Creatures not too bright and good For human nature's daily food ; But perfect women, nobly planned, To waiu, locjuifort, t%) command." *1 28 (Applause.) Young gentlemen, and young ladies, too, I wish you well ; from the very bottom of my heart I wish you well ; but I have to say to you thai you have both of you much to do and much to learn before you attain to such a standard as I have- indicated. , Now, I am very well aware that in saying this I am ex- posing myself very freely to hostile criticism. Men of small hearts and smaller intelligence will always be ready to cry down any project which aims at large improvements in human life as Utopian and impracticable. Others of a better class who know the diffi- culties which beset such schemes will be apt to pronounce this a " devout imagination," as Murray said to John Knox when the great reformer proposed to wrest the Church lands from the grasp of the greedy Scottish nobles for the purpose of educating and civilizing the Scottish people, and carrying out the real object of the original donors. To such I say. Pause and consider. We are living in a period of transition. Forces are at work around us and in society of which we do not as yet half realize the real force. Within these last fifty years we have advanced by leaps and bounds in all matters pertaining to mechanical science. We have done more in that direction in the last half century than had been effected in the preceding two thousand years, or twice two thousand. We have actually and LITERALLY REALIZED THE WILDEST FANCIES of our poets. We have almost annihilated time and space. We can go in six days a distance which would have required many months of painful travel a few years ago. We can literally put a (telegraphic) girdle round the earth in forty minutes. News of the result of a famous boat race which took place in London at three in the afternoon was once known in New York before ten o'clock in the morning of the same day. The telegraph, you see, came up with Time and passed him on the ocean. Nay, it is scientifically possible (and it may, one of these days, become an accomplished fact) that I, speaking in this very hall as I do now, might at the self-same moment of time make my words heard by a liundred other Young Liberal Clubs sitting in a hundred different places hundreds of miles apart throughout the Dominion, as, in- deed, I probably will in a sense through the press. Sir, I believe it is true that in some departments of industry one man, with the aid of machinery, can do the work which a thousand men would fail to do without, and it is computed by Mr. J. S. Mill that to-day three hours' intelligent labour on the part of each adult would pro- vide the whole population of most civilized countries with all the necessaries and most of the comforts of life. It is true Mr. Mill adds this — the saddest of all possible reflections — that, not- withstanding, it is doubtful if, so far, ail these wonderful inven- ■'-..>i. ?<^jf*J.^>-'J°«. W« j » .aH| f : .1 'T 29 I wish you tv^ell ; but I 1 to do and as I havfr is I am ex- mall hearts down any as Utopian iv the diffi- ance this a : when the a the grasp eating and real object jr. We are d us and in e. Within unds in all •ne more in effected in and. We pace. We ired many rally put a News of London at before ten b, you see, Nay, it is become an I do now, i heard by d different ion, as, in- , I believe I, with the len would bat to-day v^ould pro- 1 with all 3 true Mr. -that, not- ful inven- tions have lightened the toil of one single human being ; but I speak of what might be, not of what is. Why, my friends, at this moment what is the complaint witli which the whole industrial world is ringing ? Surely an extraordinary one, for the complaint is that everywhere men are producing too much and too fast ; that prices are too low and things are too cheap, and, in a sense, there is some truth in it. And yet it is equally too true, unhappily, that dl the world over at this hour, especially in all great cities^ there are multitudes of men, women, and little children DRAGGING OUT EXISTENCE, fed with an insufficient quantity of unwholesome food, and lodg- ing in dens in which you would be ashamed to kennel a dog. Think of this — while there is time. Reflect on it and remember that the end is not yet. Rather we are at the beginning. Each new invention and discovery but paves the way for more. Every- where there are two new and tremendous forces now at work,, gathering power all the time in a greatly increasing ratio. We have already attained such mastery over the forces of nature as no previous generation even dreamt of, and we are educating (more or less) great bodies of men in all civilized countries to an extent heretofore unknown — and arming them also with supreme politi- cal powers. Here is your problem : — How to use these new powers and forces, and combine them for the general good ? All over the world to-day a great movement towards aqualization is taking place in all directions — save one. Everywhere prices, hours of labour, wages, and cost of production, tend (often very rapidly) to equalize themselves. Only the distribution of profits remains unequal, and the vast accumulation cf immense and ut- terly disproportionate fortunes, in the hands of a few individuals^ forms the one startling exception to the general rule. This must be seen to. It is no part of my policy, nor can it ever consist with the policy of true Liberals, to see Canada become the habi- tation of A FEW SCORE MILLIONAIRES and a few millions of half -pauperized dependents. That way madness lies. That way lie Jacqueries, and French Revolutions, and Nihilistic conspiracies, and Cummunist uprisings. (Applause.) But THERE IS A BETTER WAY, and thay way lies, I believe, in the higher education and more perfect development (in all ways, mental, physical and social) of each individual man and woman. I, for my part, agree with Mr George Combe, that as a rule the great majority of human beings are employed, or employ themselves, in vvays very far below their 30 natui'al capacity, and in that fact lies both i-eproach for the pre- sent and much encouragement for the future. Now, what I say is feasible, if only you have faith to believe it is. It can be done, and it has been done, in many individual cases at any rate, and I decline to believe that the high individual development which in past ages was attained by many a heathen Greek, aye, and by many a pagan Norseman, even, may not be attained in far greater numbers, and on a far larger scale, by Canadian Christians, espe- cially if they be of the muscular description. (Applause.) I admit it will cost something. What good thing was ever yet got which did not cost thought, and time, and labour, which is money ? Now, it is always best you should, for the most psn't, help your- selves, but still a little assistance at starting maj'' not be amiss. It was the custom of our Indian predecessors, whenever an orator wished to impress a matter deeply on the minds of his audience, that he presented their representative in council with a belt of wampum. I have got no wampum left, I am aorry to say. Among my juvenile indiscretions, the one I have always regretted most (save, perhaps, having once in my green youth supported Sir John Macdonald) — was this, that very long ago, before I had any idea of their historical or antiquarian value, I feloniously abstracted and divided among my schoolfellows certain strings of wampum given to ray grandfather, Richard Cartwright, by his ancient friend and battle comrade, Joseph Brant,Tyendinaga — (cheers) — in memory of many a hot encounter, in which the two had braved Yankee bullets side by side. The offence was great, and the retri- bution, when I was found out, was swift and great also, almost severe enough to have appeased the grim shade of the departed Indian hero, but the upshot is I have no more wampum, but IF A CHEQUE WILL DO AS WELL, Mr. President, the cheque is very heartily at your service. (Tre- mendous applause.) And now, my young friends, in conclusion, I have but a few words to say. I have digressed a little to dwell on the social possibilities of your club, but recollect that at this especial moment your main duties are political, and that you are first of all a political association, who have enrolled yourselves as volunteers in the good cause of freedom and liberty. Sir, there is work enough ahead just now for all Canadian Lib- erals, young or old. We have fallen on very evil days. I do not deny that there has been some considei'able material progress in Canada in the last few years, however much I may repudiate the impudent falsehood that such progress is due to the policy of doubling or trebling your debt and your taxes. It is impossible but that a good deal of progress should be made in any given term of years in a country such as oui's, inhabited b}' a fairly in- A 31 for the pre- , what I say can be done, r rate, and I mt which in lye, and by 1 far greater stians, espe- pplause.) I ^ver yet got h is money ? i, help your- ^e amiss. It jr an orator lis audience, ith a belt of say. Among fretted most ted Sir John ad any idea Y abstracted )f wampum his ancient (cheers) — in had braved id the retri- also, almost he departed im, but vice. (Tre- L conclusion, ttle to dwell that at this ihat you are ourselves as -nadian Lib- days. I do ial progress .y repudiate ;he policy of s impossible 1 any given a fairly in- telligent people. But I think that that progress will be found on examination to be far less than it should have been and to be in many ways one-sided and partial, and very often that sort of pro- gress (?) in which what is one man's, gain is another man's loss. What, unhappily, there is no doubt at all about is that in that interval there has been a tremendous moral and political back- sliding in Canada. (Applause.) The people ci Canada saw fit in 1878, and again in 1882, to institute a serie'j of very remarkable experiments. In defiance of reason, and experience, and Scripture, and common sense, they concluded that it was possible for a popu- lar majority to WASH CERTAIN POLITICAL ETHIOPIANS WHITE. (I,aughter.) They undertook to make the leopard change his spots, and to grow grapes from thorns and figs from thistles, and honest men out of the heroes of the first Canadian Pacific scandal with results such as might have been expected. (Applause.) Sir, it is not for us to set bounds to the powers of Omnipotence. It is narrated of an eminent Scotch divine that after having partaken of a dish of excellent strawberries he piously expre&.sed his con- viction, " That, doubtless. Providence, if it chose, could create a better berry, but that, also, Providence had never seen fit to do so." Gentlemen, I am of the opinion of this worthy divine. I also believe that Providence, if he saw fit, could wash those poli- tical black-a-moors white ; but also I know that Providence has not done so, and it is my private opinion that it never will. (Cheers.) Now the moral to be drawn whenever Providence does not see fit to interfere in human afl^airs — and it is obvious that in- terference from some quarter is very desirable— is that Providence has decided that it is for your good that you should be taught to help yourselves ; and this is just what I want you to do. In al- most all cases the issue depends largely on the younger population. The old don't change easily, and in the ordinary course of nature there are now an immense number of young men, who did not vote in 1878 nor in 1882, about to vote for the first time. Then, whatever else it has done, the Franchise Bill (in the shape in which we finally compelled Sir John to pass it) has added greatly to the number of young men who have votes. So you see how much depends on you. Mr. Blake, or I myself, or other Eeform leaders, may, perhaps, point the way,— we may even lead the van— but it is for you to secure the victory. Now, some of you have been asking for a "cry." You want some watchword to rally under. Well, sir, as Irish stock is up in the political market, and as I am half an Irishman myself in right of iny mother, and as the better half of me is Irish in right of my wife— which makes three-quar- ters any way— I will give you a watchword.. Charge and charge all along t!'-e line to the war-crv of ry » .4*,' 82 CANADA GO BRAQH 1 " !*. ill Ml 1 1 And let us show to all and sundry that Canadians can fight as valiantly to that cheering sound as ever did the son of Erin past or present from the days when " Malachi wore the collar of gold" to the time of Charles Stuart Parnell. (Cheers.) Specially do I exhort those of you who like myself are native-born Canadians with the right to wear the maple leaf in your bonnets — an em- blem I trust we may all live to see as truly and as widely honoured as rose or thistle or shamrock either. Sir, two years ago, address- ing the young men of Lower Canada at Montreal, I called for volunteers, and well and nobly (whether in response to my appeal or not matters nothing) has the call been responded to. Now again I call for volunteers. Our Canadian Armageddon is at hand. Nay, already the vanguards of the two armies have joined battle and you may hear the cheers of .«^Ur comrades who have torn down the black flag in Quebec and are now chasing the pirate horde to its last stronghold in Ottawa. (Cheers.) Help us to purge and purify and regenerate Canadian public life. Help us to extricate Canada from the slough of corruption into which she has been plunged. Help us to exorcise the evil spirits which have held possession of her and maltreated her and plundered her inheritance since 1878, and if it should so happen that when you have exorcised them, some of them (as of old) should enter in and take possession of the herd of swine who have been feed- ing at the public trough at Ottawa, and should impel them to jumj) over the Parliament Cliff or plunge down a steep place into the Chaudiere, why, gentlemen, Canada can very well afford to spare the evil spirits— and the pigs too. (Great cheering and laughter.) THE FORMAL INAUGURATION. Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen : — By virtue of ray office, I hereby declare the Young Liberal Club of Seaforth duly opened and inaugurated. May it wax and flourish. May it grow and blos- som into a liberalizing and civilizing and humanizing influence, not only for the South Riding, but for all the ridings of Huron— and not only for Huron, but for all the adjacent ri 'ings and counties far and near. And when next I have the pleasure of meeting you, may I be able to congratulate you on having helped in the good work— on having aided to cleanse the shield of Canada from the foul stains which now dishonour and disfigure it, and on hav- ing cleared away some at least of the obstacles which now block our path and prevent us from taking that place in the common- wealth of nations, which our natural advantages should enable us to do— a place worthy of ourselves and of the great races from which we severally derive our descent. (Loud and prolonged ap- plause.) o r '^"ffm J^tea 'r can fight as of Erin past liar of gold"' pecially do I I Canadians lets — an em- jly honoured igo, address - I called for o my appeal 3d to. Now II is at hand, oined battle o have torn J the pirate Help us to 'e. Help us which she )irits which 1 plundered 1 that when hould enter e been feed- pel them to p place into 3II aflford to leering and ray office, I luly opened )w and blos- ifluence, not luron — and nd counties of meeting ;lped in the anada from .nd on hav- now block e common- d enable us races from jlonged ap-