SPEECH
BY TITK
HON. EDWARD BLAKE
(M.P. FOR THE SOUTH FTDING OF BRUCE)
AT AURORA.
Delivered October ?,r(f. 1RT4, on the occasion of a Meeting of the
Reform Party of North York.
MONTREAL :
PENNY, WILSON & CO., PUBH8HER8 * GENERAL .fOB PRINTERS, ST. JAMES STREET.
1874.
SPEECH AT AURORA
BY MrE
HON. EDWARD BLAKE
{M. P. for (he Honlh Iii<linfj of Bruce. )
Moil. EowAun liLAKK, Oil rising, was received with heiirty
and proloiiired applause. II«> said —
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Oentlemen, — You will allow
me to add my (jongratulat'ions to those of the previous
speakers upon the happy circumstances under which you are
to-day assembled, and to express my own feeling- of rejoicing
that the Krst occasion upon which 1 have been permitted to
address the electors of this historic ridinj^, should be that ol
the celebration of an event not unimportant in your own
annals or in those of Canada at large — the victory which has
brought back to the stan<hii(l around which it had rallied
so many years the united liil)eral party of this riding. \
rt^collect the ])olitical history of this constituency for a good
many years. Up to the year 1871, when we made our
calculations as to the probable results of a general election,
there was never any doubt or hesitation as to what might be
the verdict of North York, but from 1*<71 to the late election
all this was <'haniied, and I am very glad indeed, that a
riding which had in the pas^t played the part North York
has played, should have by a very decisive majority restored
its fair name and fame, aiul brought itself once more into
good standing amongst the Liberal constituencies of Canada.
( '4 )
(O.corHj My friend, Mr, Movvut, who has spoken, has
j^iven you a very interesting account of the finances, and a
terse hut clear statement of the u;eneral course ui' le«j;;islation
of the Province since the accession to offica of the liiberal
party. I do not propose to touch upon those topics at all.
I desire simply to say, (hat having been lor the last tv o
years an observer, though not so close j'n observer as
before, of the course, administrative and legislative, of the
Provincial Clovernment — without pretendintr to be able to
form an accurate judgment as to all the petty details in
respect of which my friends have been accusinl, being
obliged, in fact, to confess to you frankly that I have never
had the time to enter into the calculations necessary to come
to a conclusion whether or not they paid too much for the
fence around the Parliament Buildings— (laughter and ap-
plause) — yet, speaking of larger matters, which are lit to
occupy the altention of an intelligent people, the general
course of administration and legislation has b^:'en such as to
commend itself to my poor judument, and in my belief to
entitle that Government to the confidence, the respect, the
affection, and the continued support of the people of this
Province. (Cheers.) With reference to the questions which
are Hkely to come before the country at no distant time, some
of these, as my friend Mr. Dymond remarked to you, are in
such a position that they may not, to the public advantage,
be at this instant discussed. There is, for example, a ques-
tion which is of extreme importance to the people of this
country. 1 refer to the negociation for a Reciprocity Treaty
now pending. (Hear, hear.) Without, in the slightest
degree, presuming to set up my judgment against that of
those who have thought it to the public advantage to discuss
the draft Treaty at this time, I confess I never have been able
to agree rx that view, and for this reason: — Vou are aware
that the question, whether this draft shall be agreed to or
( r, )
rpjfcte<l. JH t(j bo (liscu«se<l mid diMposfd of by the Senate of
the United Stiites next Dec«!fnb«'r, and it seems to me that
every arirnmcnt that may be used just now in Canada in
favour of tliat Treiity, by those who do favour it. is an ar^-u-
ment calculated more or less to daiuiii^e the chances of its
approval by the ^Senate, who will, I lancy, look at it from the
exactly opposite point of view. On the other hand, with
reJerence to those Canadians whose opinion is aoainst the
Treaty, all the arguments they use, all the meetiiiiis they con.
vene, all the resolutions they pass, seem to me to be so many
invihdions to th«; Hfuate of the United States to pass the
Treaty, and take that step at any rate towards the consum-
mation which tiicy are deprecatini^- all the time.
(Hear, hear.) I'herei'ore it appears to me inexpedient
for either side to discuss it now% but I quite agree
that it is a question which will, at the proper time, demand
at the hands of the representatives of the people the iuUest
consideration and the most exhaustive discussion. I think
the general principles upon which our judgment is to be
formed are not far to seek. We shall have to consider, in
case we be given the opportunity of passing upon the ques-
tion, whether the document is one whi6h will, as a whole,
without doing gross injustice to any important interest, tend
to the general advantage of this country. We are to take,
not indeed an undistinguishing, but at the same time a broad
view of that question, and we are to decide it freely for our-
selves. 1 entirely demurred to the line of action taken out-
iside and in Parliament with reference to the Treaty of
Washington. 1 insisted that Parliament ought to be perfectly
free, since the quesiion was remitted to it, to determine
whether the acceptance or the rejection of its terms was in
the interest of the country. What I said then I now repeat,
and I am sure it will be found when Parliament does meet,
should this question be brought before us, that the large
f
( « )
triajority which Miistiiiiis tht^ Govornmont will be disposed to
(h'ai with it. upon that )r,mn only. I rc.a;wX, under these cir-
cuinKtuiKies, that at a recent HRHemhlas^e ol the Liberal-
Conservative party, so-called, of this Province, a pjjrty plat-
Ibrm was enunciated, a party iin(! taken with relerence to
this Treaty, and it suri>rised me not a Httle to see that while
their Press earnestly denounced the supposition that it was to
be made a party measure on the Ministerial side, they should
have been first in solemn conv«'ntion assenibled, to take a
party line on the other. Those who have preceded me have
referred at some len*rth to the actions ol" the pnst. I desire to
say something of the present and the future, ilhistrated, it
may be, by the reference to the past ; and I turn to another
question of very j^reat practical importance — the present
position of the Pacific Railway matter. You will liave ob-
served that when the (jovernment, of which I was then a
member, undertook to deal wath that question, their policy
was enunciated in distinct terms to thj electors before the
late appeal, and that policy was most unequivocally ap-
proved, first at the polls and subsequently in Parliament.
(Hear, hear.) I see that a deputation has been sent to
England ; that ihe people of British Columbia — no, not the
people of British Columbia, for I do not believe they, as a
body, sympathize with these extreme views — that the Gov-
ernment of British Columbia has sent a deputation to Eng-
land, urging that some measure should be taken to Ibrce the
Government and people of this country to do more than has
been proposed with reference to that Railway. We (last
session) took the unpleasant step of very largely increasing
the rate of ypur taxation, in order to provide funds towards
the fulfilment, so far as practicable, of this and other obliga-
tions imposed on you by the late Grovernment. Every man
among us is now paying one-sixth more taxes than before in
order to this end. Parliament has agreed that the work shall
t
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!»<• (loiif jiiMt lis liwt lis it rjiii Im'()(»ii»' without lurthor hurclpii-
iiiy Miepcopln otthiH roiuitry, iiiid I In-liev*' that the step thu«
tak»'ii iH a v«'ry lotiif step on th»« part of the poople ol' this
couiilrv in re<l»'inption of the pledi*;*' i^iven to British ('oluni-
hia. At the period vvlien teririH were proposed to British
Columbia, which her rulers did not see lit to accept, I had
ceased to be a member of the Canadian GoverMment. Those
terms, in my oj)inion, went to the extreme verge, and de-
monstrated the existance of an earnest desire to do everytljinf/
which could be — with any show of reason — demanded, i«nd 1
should very much re<^ret if any attempt were made to entangle
the country further, or arrange for the commencement and prose-
cution of the work more rapidly than is involved by the terms
so offered, and the large provision which we made by the increase
of taxation last session. We are called ivpon to commence the
work imme liately. I do not know that I car point out to you
more strikingly the rashness — the insanity of the bargain thrust
upon you by your late rulers, than by telling you that the aban-
doned line of the Fraser — abandoned early because it was thought
by the engineers to be so expensive and difficult as to be imprac-
ticable — has been returned to, as affording the prospect of a bet-
ter line than those upon the exploration of which sut-h large sums
have been expended. And this is the state of things long after
the railway should, under the bargain, have been begun. We
arc asked to begin at once, though we cannot yet find a route,
and while a mistake in the choice may involve an extra expendi-
ture not only of m iny millions in the first cost, but of annual
millions more in the running of the road. (Hear, hear.^ Untill
these surveys are thoroughly completed, and until we have found
the least impracticable route through that inhospitable country,
that "sea of mountains," it is folly to talk of commencing the work
of construction. Speaking conjecturally, I am of opinion that the
British Columbia section of the railw^ay, even if it turns out to
be practicable as an engineering work, will involve an enormous
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pxprnrlitiiro, fipproximnflnf,' to $'M],()l)i),i)(H), and after its com
pletion Avill involve an onortnoufl arimial i•]^»r^^(• on tlio rovrnurs
of the country for its rnnnin<j; cxpcnscfl; and I doubt niucli if thtit
section can be kept (jpen after it is built. I think the chief
advantage the British Columbians will derive from the enterprise
will consist in the circulation of money and the profits of mercan-
tile operations attendant on the construction, and that Canada
will be a frightful loser by the affair. Now, even under these
circumstances, the fact that the population of British Columbia id
only some 10,000 altogether, representing, perhaps, not so many
householders as the audience I now see before me, ought not to
disentitle tl)em to say — "You shall fulfil your bargain or release
us from our bonds." It is their right to take such a course, if
they think fit, but I deny that this is any reason why we should
plunge this country into ruin by the attempt. I have some reason
to believe that these people are sufficiently sensible and reasonable
to recognize and act on the truth of the matter, imless, indeed,
they are sustained by agitators in this country, who are willing,
for the sake of creating an embarrassment to the Government, to
excite false and delusive hopes among them. The temper of
Parliament you may judge from the fact that during last session
an amendment was moved by one of the British Columbia mem-
bers insisting upon an early prosecution of the work in that Pro-
vince, but he was sustained by five members only — two or three
from his own Province, and a couple of those whom my friend
Mr. Mowat delights to call Ontario Tories. (Laughter.) If
under all the circumstances the Columbians were to say — "You
must go on and finish this railway according to the terms or take
the alternative of releasing us from the Confederation," I would
— take the alternative ! (Cheers.) I believe that is the view of
the people of this country, and it may as well be plainly stated,
because such a plain statement, is the very thing which will pre-
\'ent the British Columbians from making such extravagant dc-
mards. If these 2,000 men understand that the people of Canada
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arc prepared, in preference to the compliance with tlieir
riiinous demands, to let tlietn go, and to leave them to build the
Columbia section with their 10,000 people, their tone will be
more modcmte, and we shall hear no talk about secession. The
principal person indeed who has spoken of it hitherto is Sir John
A. Macdonald, who almost invited it in his election speech dur-ng
the late contest. They won't secede; they know better. Should
they leave the Confederation, the Confederation would survive,
and they would lose their money. [Laughter.] With regard to
those sections of the railway which involve the communication
between our interior ^eaboard and the great North-west, the
utmost diligence is being used to put them under contract. ] go
heart and soul for the construction of these lines as rapidly as the
resources of the country will permit, in conjunction with an ex-
tensive scheme of immigration and colonization. The work of
construction in itself will afford yary great facilities for the rapid
colonization of those territories; the annual cash expenditure in
labour will produce attractions enabling us to a considerable
extent to people the land. The interejits of Canada at large point
very promptly to a speedy settlement of that country. In my
own humble belief the future of Canada as a distinct State, the
representative ol British power on this continent, largely depends
upon our success in colonizing that region, and what is equally
important, and perhaps more difllicult, on our success in retaining
its symp3thies, its trade, its commerce afterwards. Fertile as is
the soil, great as are the resources, glorious as are the prospects
with reference to production, it is certain that the distance from*
the great markets of the world of the inland portions of that
country will form one great difficulty to be overcome. You have
read of the war which is going on between the farmers and the
railways in the Western States, the attempt which is being made
to cut down freights by legislation. But 1 do not find that those
railways are getting very rich. The fact is the war is a war
against distance; it is a war against time and space ; and that is
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the war the farmers of the North-west will have to encounter.
We ought to help as far as possible the "successful prosecution of
that war, and to that end we must do what was so mucli ridiculed
during the late campaign — we must imftiove the water communi-
cations of the North-west; you can carry by water for one-fifth of
the cost by rail, and you may be able to carry at a profit it" you
can get water communication when it would not pay you to grow
wheat to be shipped by rail. [Hear, hear.] This is the more im-
portant because new sources of supply are opening now to England,
and it is likely that the price of breadstuiFs will rather fall than
rise. 1 look on the success of our enterprises in the settle-
ment of the North-west as practically dependent upon the
improvement of the water ways. Of course, tbere must
be railways at once to connect the sheets of water, and
eventually a through line ; but I am coiilident that a
bushel of wheat will never go to England over an all-rail
route Irom the Saskatchewan to the seaboard, because it would
never pay to send it. We must take it in Ihe speediest and
cheapest way to the head of Lake Superior, where our splen-
did St. Lawrence route commences ; and we must use every
effort to avert the threatened danger of a diversion to the
States of the trade relations of that country. Let me turn to
another question which has been adverted to on several
occasions, as one looming in the not very distant future. I
refer to the relations of Canada to the Empire. Upon this
topic I took, three or four years ago, an opportunity of speak-
ing, and ventured to suirgest that an effort should be made to
reorganize the Empire upon a Federal basis. 1 repeat what
I then said, that the time may be at hand when the i)eople of
Canada shall be calh^d on to discniss the (piestion Matters
cannot drilt much longer as they have drilled hitherto. 'Ihe
Treaty of Was'hiiigton produced a very prolouiid impression
throughout Ihis country. It produced a feeling that at no
distant period \ho people of Canada would desire that they
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should have some greater share of control than they now have
in the management oi foreign affairs ; that our Government
should not present the anomaly which it now presents — a
Government the freest, perhaps the most democratic in the
world with reference to local and domestic matters, in which
you rule yourselves as iuUy as any people in the world, while
ill your foreign affairs, your r«dations with other countries,
whether peaceful or w^arlike, commercial, hnancial, or other-
wise, you may have no more voice than the people of Japan.
This, hf»wever, is a state of things of which you have no right
to complain, because so long as you do not choose to undertake
the resj)onsi])ilities and burdens which attach to some share
oj' control hi these affairs, you cannot fairly claim the rights
and privileges of free-born Britons in such matters. But how
long is this talk in the newspapins and elsewhere — this talk
which I lind in very high places, of the desirability, aye, of
the necessity of fostering a national spirit among the people
of Canada, to be mere talk ? It is impossible to foster a nation-
al spirit unless you have mitiomd interests to attend to, or
among people who do not choose to undertake the responsi-
bilities and to devote themselves to the duties to which
national attributes belong We have been invited by Mr.
Gladstone and other English statesmen — notably by Mr.
Gladstone, in the House of Commons, very shortly before his
Government fell, to come lorward, Mr. Gladstone, speaking
as Piime MinistjM" of England, expressed the hope he cherished
that the Colonies would some day come lorward, and express
their readiness and desire to accept their lull share in the
privileges and in the responsibilities of Britons, it is for us
to determine — not now, not this year, not perhaps during this
Parliamentary term, but yet at no distant day — v. hat our line
shall be. For my own part I believe that while it was not
unnatural, not unreasonable, pending that process of develop-
ment which has been going on in our new and sparsely
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settled country, that we should have been quite willing — we
so few in numbers, so busied in our local concerns, so enjfuired in
subduing the earth and settling up the country — to leave the cares
and privileges to which I have referred in the hands of the parent
State; the time will come when that national spiiit, which has
been spoken of, will be truly felt amongst us, when we shall
realize that we are four millions of Britons who are not free, when
we shall be ready to take up that freedom, and to ask what the
late Prime Minister of England assured us we should not be
denied — our share of national rights. To-morrow, by the policy
of England, in which you have no voice or control, this country
might be plunged into all .,he horrors of a war. It is but the
other day that, without your knowledge or consent, the navigation
of the St. Lawrence was ceded forever to the United States. That
is a state of tilings of which you may have no right to complain,
as long as you choose to say, " We prefer to avoid the cares, the
expenses and charges, and we are unequal in point of ability to
discharge the duties which appertain to us as free-born Britons;"
but while you say this, you may not yet assume the lofty air, or
speak in the high-pitched tones which belong to a people wholly
free. The future A Canada, I believe, depends very largely upon
tlie cultivation of a national spirit. We are engaged in a very
difhcult task — the task of welding together seven Provinces,
which have been accustomed to regard themselves as isolated from
each other, which are full of petty jealojisies, their Provincial
(juestions. their local interests. How are we to accomplish our
work ? How are we to effect a real union between these Prov-
inces? Can we do it by giving a sop now to one, now to another,
after the manner of the late Government? By giving British
Columbia the extravagant terms which have been referred to; by
giving New Brunswick ^150,000 a year for an export duty which
cannot bo made out as worth more than ^65,000 a year ? Do you
hope to create or to preserve harmony and good feeling upon such
a false and sordid and mercenary basis as tliat? Not so I That
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clay, I hope, is done forever, and we must find some other and
truer ground for Union than that by which the late Government
sought to buy love and purchase peace. We must find some
common ground on which to unite, some common aspiration to be
shared, and I think it can be found alone in the cultivation of that
national spirit to which I have referred. (Cheers.) I observe
that those who say a word on this subject are generally struck at
by the cry that they are practically advocating annexation. I
believe that the feeling in the neighbouring Republic has mater-
ially changed on this subject, and that the rotions which were
widely spread there some years ago, and the desires to possess, as
one Republic, under one Government, the whole of this conti-
nent, from north to south, h?,ve died away. A better and a wiser
spirit, I believe, now prevails — largely due, perhaps, to the strug-
gles which are unhappily occurring in that country. The attempt
to reorganize the South has been going on for some years, and
owing, I think, to a very great error in judgment as to the way
in which it should be effected, it has been largely a failure.
There is great difliculty, and there are frequent disorders in the
Soutii. Then tliere are the conflicts of interest between the
Eastern and Western States, very great conflicts and heartburn-
ings. Then there are the alarming difficulties and complications
arising from tlie inordinate political power which has been
grasped by great corporations. And I think that the best
anil wisest minds in the United States have settled down
to the conviction that the management of the United States,
with its piesent territory is just as difficult a task as their
best men cau accomplish, and that it would not be wise to
add to their existing complications and difficulties by any
such unwieldy accession or unmanageable increase as this
great domain, the larger half of the whole continent, would
be. 1 think that among those circles in the United States
wliich are to be looked to as influencing the future, there is a
great modification of view on this point, and there would be,
• ■( 14 )
even were we disposed, as I hope we shall never be dis-
posed, to offer to join them, a great reluctance to take us.
But i believe we have & I'uture of our own here. My
opinion coincides with those to which I have been referring
in the United States. I believe that that country is even
larger than it ought to be in order to be well governed, and
that an extension of its territory would be very unfortunate
in the interests of civilization. " Cribbed, cabined and con-
fined " as we ourselves are to the South, by the unfortunate
acts of English diplomatists in the past, giving up to the
United States territory which, if we had it to-day, would
make our future absolutely assured, but still retaining as we
do the great North- West, 1 believe we can show^ that there is
room and verge enough in North America for the mainte-
nance of two distinct governments, and that there is nothing
to be said in favour, but, on the contrary, everythtng to be
said against Ihe notion of annexation. These are the mate-
rial reasons, independent altogether of the very strong and
justly adverse feeling arising from our affection for and our
association with England, and the well settled conviction
which I believe exists among the people of this country that
a Constitutional Monarchy is preferable to a RepuV>lican
Government. The Monarchical Government of England is
a truer application of real Republican principles than that of
the United States, and 1 have no het^itation in savinir that the
Government of Canada is far in advance, in the appliciUion
of real Hepublican principles, of the Government of either
England or the United States. (Cheers.) But, with the
very great advantages which we enjoy over that portion of
our fellow-subjects living in England, by reason of our
having come into a new country, having settled it for our"
selves, and adapted our institutions to modern notions, by
reason of our not being cumbered by ihe constitution of a
legislative chamber on the hereditary principle, by reason of
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our not being cumbered with an aristocracy, or with the
uniortunate principle oi' primogeniture and the aggregation
of the land in very few hands, by reason of our not being
cumbered with the diflicultios which must always exist
where a community is composed of classes differing from
one another in worldly circumstances so widely as the
classes in England differ, where you can go into one street of
the city of London and find the extreme of wealth, and a
mile or two away the very extreme of poverty ; living, as
we do, in a country where these difficulties do not exist,
where we early freed ourselves from the incubus of a State
Church, where we early provided for the educational needs of
our people, under these happy circumstances, with these
great privileges, there are corresponding responsibilities.
Much remains to be done even here before we
can say that the ideal of true popular Government has been
reached; and some mistakes have been made, in my poor judg-
ment, in the course already taken. I do not believe it is
consistent with the true notion of popular Government that we
should have a Senate selected by the Administration of the day,
and holding their seats for life. [Cheers.] I am not of those
who would be disposed to abolish the Senate at this time. The
Senate was supposed by tho.«e who framed the Constitution of the
United States — to which we are bound to bok as the framers of
our Constitution lookt'd — to be the representative of the various
States as States^, in which, being as States equal and co-ordinate
sovereignties, they had, however unequal in their population and
wealth, equal representation. That was the notion upon which,
in the framing of that Constitution and in the frari.ing of ours,, a
Senate was introduced. I am not prepared at this time to take
the step of dispensing with the Senate. I desire to see a' Senate
selected upon truly popular principles, and in a way consistent
with popular government, and I am inclined to believe that a
Senate to selected would be a useful and influential body, and
1 /
( 16 )
might perhaps accomplish an important object by removing from
the House of Commons the notion that the delegation in that body
from each Province is to act as an isolated band in defence of
Provincial rights and in assertion of Provincial interests. Is it
consistent with the notion that the Senators should represent tbe
several Provinces that they should be selected by one Govern-
ment? We know that under cur form of Government the
Governor General has no controlling voice in the selection of
these gentlemen, that the Cabinet recommend A or B to him, and
he appoints him, or if he does not, his Ministers go out of office.
The practical result is that the Ministry of the day name the
Senators. They name thenitfor life. They may possibly be very
good and efficient men when they are placed in the Senate. But
even so, they may become, as, I suppose, most of us will become
some day, utterly effete, utterly incapable of discharging the duty
for which they were selected, but so long as they can drag
their weary limbs to Parliament once every second session, so
long as they can he supported there, as I have seen them
supported to the halls of Parliament to save their position, and
sit for an hour so as to register their names, they hold their seats
as Senators, and are supposed to represent the special interests of
the Province for which they were selected. That is one evil,
supposing the selections to have been such as ought to have been
made in the first instance, but we all know they have not been
such as a rule, if the members of the Senate are to be the
guardians of the interests of tjie Provinces, it is the provincial
mind which should be referred to as to their appointment, and my
own opinion is that the Senate, besides being very largely reduced
in number, should bo composed of men selected either imme-
diately or mediately by the Provinces from which they come.
I believe in the mediate mode of selection; I think that the
selection by the Legislature of the Province, and the appoint-
ment for moderate terms, not going out all together, but at
different periods, would be a system under which that body
^
>
( n ) . ;:
would obtain an importance and a value hardly dreamed of
under the present system. You want that body not to change as
rapidly as the popular body, not to be composed exactly of the
same class of men, but to change from time to tinie. You do
not want a set of old gentlemen there with notions of the time
when they were appointed perhaps, but which have not advanced
with the age, to be dreaming in the Senate, blocking improve-
ments in legislation as far as they dare, and only conceding them
under an extreme pressure of public opinion. (Hear, hear.)
You want a body to which it would be an honor to send any of
the principal men of a Province, Mnd wliich would have an
importance which the United States Senate once had, and,
though the lustre has perhaps diminished, still to some extent
retains. (Cheers.) I think, also, that something may still be
done towards securing freedom and purity of election.
I am amongst those members of the Liberal party who are
prepared to express their very great regret at the disclosures which
have recently taken place in the Election Courts. From the
earliest moment of my entrance into public life, I have taken a
very earnest part in the effort to bring about freedom and purity
of elec;tion. In these struggles I did not say that my friends of
the Liberal party had never resorted to improper means for securing
their elections — I said that you must not expect a different result
when you enacted sham laws, professing to prohibit bribery and
corruption, while you refused to provide proper means of enforcing
those laws. I said that as long as it was seen that there was no
means of carrying out these laws, the situation was worse than if
there were no law, and both parties would go on disregarding the
law, until it ended in the retirement of honest men as candidates
for public life, and in the retirement from any participation in pol-
itics of those citizens whose notions of propriety, morality, and re-
spect for the laws prohibited them from using such unlawful means.
We were resisted both in the Local and Federal Legislatures as
£. J
( 18 )
long as resistance was feasible, but, fortunately for tlie Piovince,
we were able to obtain a stringent law in Ontario before the
elections of 1871, and the result was that those elections were
infinitely purer than before. Though some of the elections were
avoided for illegal practices, the sums spent were not large, the
corruption was by no means widespread, and the election may be
said to have been comparative fair. We were unable to get the
law in the Dominion for the election of 1872. The country in
that contest was flooded with money and I suppose it was the
most corrupt election which ever took place in Canada. But
public opinion was so strong on the subject that the Governmfent
which had refused to pass the law brought it in during the next
session, and that law was in force when the elections ot 1874
took place. I rejoice that it was so, and I repeat what I have
said before, that I would not as a member of the Government
have taken the responsibility of concurring in the dissolution
of 1874, if that law had not been on the Statute Book.
The result of the elections, as you are aware, was ii very extra-
ordinary victory of the Liberal party. A number of petitions
have been presented, some on each side, and it has been
found that no single election which has been brought before
the judges was conducted properly according to the law.
Although no candidate has been found guilty of any impro
priety, it has been found that many men belonging to the
Liberal party, and promin^it in the electoral districts, so far
forgot what was due to their country and to their party as to
be engaged in the disposition of funds in an illegal manner.
My own opinion, founded upon my knowledge of what took
place in some cases, upon what has come out befoie the
judges, and upon the fact that, though it was competent to
each of the petitioners to ask not only that the seat should
be voided but that the other candidate should be seated, if
his hands were clean, none of them have dared to do so — is
( 19 )
that there was an equivelent or a larger amount of illegal ex-
penditure on the other side. I have no doubt that if these
gentleme X who are prosecuting those petitions with such
energy — and I rejoice to see that energy displayed — had dared
to say not merely — "You have been guilty of corruption,"
but ''our candidate has not, and he can, therefore, take, and
asks, the seat," they would have done so, because it is general-
ly conceded that the verdict of the people on the new elec-
tions will be, as a rule, in favour of the unseated member ;
and these people, understanding that perfectly well, would
be very glad t;o have their candidate seated by the decision of
the judges rather than undergo a new election to receive an-
other adverse verdict. I do not believe th(i result of the elec-
tions has been materially affected by the expenditure, but
there is no doubt of the gross impropriety of the acts disclosed ;
and the only excuse for it that I can see is, that these gentle-
men could not have fully realized that we had got the boon we
had been struggling for, but thought the old corrupt course
would be followed by the other side, and that whosoever won
by any means would keep the seat In that case the results of
these trials will have disabused the people of this country of
any such idea. They will have found that we of the Liberal
party who represented you in Parliament were not so re-
creant to our trust as to make an appeal to the country with-
out a law which would be effective, and that we have got a
law which will enable the people to conduct elections purely,
and to punish those who are guilty of corruption. 1 have a
good hope that what has taken place will produce a beneficial
effect upon the men of both parties in the elections for the
Local Legislature, and that we may then see an election
even purer than that of 1871. I need not, I suppose, repeat
to the people ef this Riding the exhortation which I have ad-
dressed to other Ridings — the exhortation addressed to the
1*"
r
i
country generally by the Government through the address of
Mr. Mackenzie before the late general election. I would point
out to you that even a good law by which effective machinery
is provided is almost useless unless the popular sense and feel-
ing be committed to the support of it, and that the main force
and efficiency of any such law is dependent upon the mind, the
will, and the determination of the people to sustain the law
and frown down those who transgress it. I hope the Liberal
party of this Province will take that course 1 believe they
will. I have a firm confidence that now, both sides having
learned that there is a means by which corruption can be dis-
covered, and that the discovery of that corruption practised
by those who have acted with the concurrence of the candi-
date will destroy the illusory victory which has been
gained, the axe has been laid at the root of the
tree, and we shall have fair elections for the time to come.
There is another improvement on the Statute Book of which
we have not received the advantage yet. I mean the ballot.
But I think that still further improvements might be achieved.
I think every one will agree with me that one of the great diffi-
culties in securing freedom of election in the past has been the
reluctance of voters to go to the polls, the difficulty that was
made about it, the compliment it was supposed to involve, and
the attempt — too successful in many cases — to extort money as
team-hire for going, when the voter ought to have been proud
and happy to drive or wallg, and if he had a team, while his
neighbor had none, to take his neighbor as well, so as to strike
his blow for the good cause, (Cheers.) I believe it is under
the guise of hiring teams that bribery has to the greatest extent
permeated the body of the electors. I believe that another
system of bribery which has gained ground of late years is that
of payirg voters to abstain from voting. That is the system
wliich is most likely to be resorted to under the ballot, for this
reason ; If you buy a man to stay at home, you can always tell
l
( 21 ) y
whether he has kept his baiifaln or not ; but if" you buy him j^
to vote for you, you cannot tell whether he has, because he may
have voted against you. I am strongly impressed with the idea
that soine provision whereby voters should no longer Imagine
that they were to be invited, allured, complimented, attracted to
the poll, theii teams paid for, themselves solicited to go, would be
a proper provision. Who are we who vote ? Is it a right only
that we exercise, or a trust? We are but a very small proportion,
perhaps not more than an eighth of the population, male and
female, men, women and children. Is it in our own interests or
for our own rights only that we vote ? Are our own fates alone
affected by our votes ? Not so. The whole population of the .
country, our wives, our sisters^ and our children, those male
adults who have no votes, — all these are affected by it. There-
fore it is a trust — a sacred trust — which the voter holds in the
exercise of the franchise. True, it is a right, because the voter,
in common with the rest of the community, is affected by the
laws which are passed ; but he is bound to vote in the interests of
the whole community ; and therefore I do not see why the
Legislature sho.uld not point out to him that it is his duty, if he
chooses to allow himself to remain on the register, to exercise the
trust which he has undertaken. I would not go against any man's
conscience. There may be some men, even in this country, of a
peculiar persuasion, who hold it wrong to vote, but a provision
permitting any man, upon his own application to the County
Judge on the revision of the . rolls, to be disfranchised,
would get rid of any difficulties on the score of conscience-
But if a man chooses that his name shall be retained on the
list amongst the electoral body — which is itself a representa-
tive body, for these tens of thousands represent the hundreds
of thousands for whom they vote and in efTect legislate —
then let him be told that it is his duty to exercise the fran-
chise. I would not force him to vote for a particular person.
He may say, " I do not like either of the men." A man may
( 22 )
be so crotchetty and difficult to please that he cannot make a
choice between the candidates. We cannot help that ; our
ballot is secret ; but let the voter, at all events, go to the booth
and deposit his ballot. Whether it be a spoilt ballot or a
blank ballot we shall not know, but I think it is likely
that every man who goes to the booth will deposit an
effective ballot. I think those who remain on the roll
should be compelled by law to deposit their ballots, and
that a law establishin,^ some penalty lor the breach
of this provision, unless they excuse themciielves by proof
of illness or absence from the constituency, would be a
good law, and as far as this branch of the subject is con-
cerned, would tend largely to increase the virtue of our pre.
sent electoral system. Besides a moderate penalty to be sued
for, I would be disposed to add a provision that the man who
had iailed to vote at an election, whether general or special,
and who within 30 days did not t'yle a solemn declaration ex-
cusing himself upon one ground or the other, should not be
entered upon the roll of voters again at any period until after
the next general election, so that he should not be counted
amongst the trustees of the popular right, for a certain period
at any rate. (Cheers.) You know how difficult it is to get
men to vote at a special election. Men are busy in their fields
or about their affairs, and they forget, I am sorry to say ,' how
very few hours in the year they, as self-gov^ernors, devote to
the discharge of that highest and noblest privilege — the privi-
lege of self-government. Let them understand, if at an elec-
tion they prefer their business, their pleasure, or their occupa-
tions to the exercise of the franchise, that until after the next
general election at any rate, they who have been proved to be
unfaithful guardians, and have shown their little regard for
the rights and privileges they hold, shall have no further con-
cern or part in these matters, and shall leave to the faithful
trustees the control which is theirs by right. (Hear, hear.)
\
It may be said, " You are proposing a law which will bring
forward a number ol persons who do not care about politics,
and whom it is better not to have at the polls," bat it- is my
object to prevent their beiniv brought forward by improper
means. A great many of them are brought forward now.
The corrupt man says, "I cannot go, I cannot aflbrd the time."
He does it to get a few dollars. The indifferent men — and
there are many of them of a highly respectable class — should
be ma,d3 to see that it is part of their duty to vote. Once
they understand that it is their duty to take p>art in elections,
I believe they are moral enough and conscientious enough to
take that part, and I believe it will be taken gene-
rally for the good of the country. I am sure you
W'ill agree with me that a proposal which is calculated to poll
out the popular vote to the utmost extent is a proposal in
the intej'est of real popular (rovernment. There is much
more likely to be a true expression of the people's feelings in
that than in any othe- way. I do not intend to detain you
with any remarks upon the general abstract question of the
iranchise. My own opinions on that subject I may perhaps
give some other day. I may say that however little the pre-
sent character of our franchise answers the theoretical
views and principles of some, there is no doubt that as a
practical measure, in its actual working it does give the vote
to such a large proportion of the people of this Province that
the popular vote fully polled and rightly counted would be a
laii'ly accurate exposition of the popular opinion ; but I
believe that even without attempting radical changes, with-
out attempting to lay down a principle for the franchise
more satisfactory than that which now prevails, there may
be some practical reforms in the present system. I shall
limit myself to two. You are aware that the general fran-
chise is based upon the ownership or tenancy or occupation
of real property of certain values. Now, it is deeply to be
( 24 )
regretted, on many grounds, that the rural communities of
this l^rovince dc. not determine, once lor all, to do away with
the false and injurious system ot under-assessing property
which prevails amongst them. (Cheers.) 1 have said in
the Legislature, and I repeat here, that it is a disgrace to the
people of Ontario that we should find the vast mass ol our
property deliberately under-assessed Ibrty, perhaps fifty, per
cent, by officers sworn to assess it up to its lull value — (hear,
hear) — and this witfi the concurrence of those whom you
place in power. It is done, in fact, because your councillors
sanction it, and sometimes even so instruct the assessors It
is generally a miserable, short lighted attempt to procure a
favorable equahzation of the county rate. A township
thinks if its property is under-assessed no other township
will get an advantage over it, and so you have a system
which is dishonest, which is a fraud on the face of it, and
which, apart from its moral degradation, is injurious to the
interests of the Province, because it keeps back from the know'
ledge of the people of England and of the world what our
property is really worth. You tell them it is worth so many
millions when tEe yalue might be truly doubled. It is inju-
rious because such a system, artiticial as it is, renuers nuich
more difficult a fair and equitable adjustment. In my city
we are taxed very heavily, and we have found that thi^ true
course is to assess the property up to its full value, as that is
the way in which every man is most likely to pay his fair
share. But when you establish a fictitious basis, theie are
immense facilities for fraud and enormous difficulties in the
way of a fair adjustment. More, it gives opportunities to
partizan assessors which they could not have under a pioper
system, because if you bring down the assesment fifty per
cent , you may bring it down to the margin of the qualifica-
tion, while if you have a fair valuation there would not be a
man who would not be entitled to vote on any cottage or plot
?
% ( 25 )
of lind on which he lives. But when you under-assess you
give the opportunity for fraud. I have seen a column of lots
assessed at ^190, and another column assessed at ;g210.
What did that mean? Why, we all know that it meant
simply that the ^190 men were all of one stripe of politics
and the ,$'210 men of the other stripe. (Cheers and laughter.)
The thing would have been quite out of the question if you
had determined to make your assessors assess justly and rightly.
There is no use in passing laws if the people will not sup-
port them. You have the law, but so long as you instruct or
wink at your assessor in doing this, or do not dismiss him for
doing it, so long the law will be violated. (Hear, hear.) I
mentioned in the Legislative Assembly my feeling of humili-
ation at this state of things, my hope that it would be
amended, and my view that if so there would be no ground
on that score for a change in the franchise. But in the class
of householders it might be well to get rid at once of all that
difficulty by prescribing that the simple occupation as a
householder should give the vote. This is, in fact, a very
old franchise in England, and can do no harm but
would do some good here. Then there is anotJipr thing. There
is a custom in this country, which cannot, I think, be too highly
commended — tliere is a custom among those farmers who have
raised a family of retaiuing one or two of their sons on the farm.
They live there with the expectation that when the inevitable day
arrives, the faithful son who has done his duty by his parent, has
soothed iiis declining years, has worked for him as he was worked
for in the days when he was a child and helpless, and his father
was strong, will inherit the farm. That is a state of things which
is highly desirable and should be pcrpcfuated. That degree of
mutual confidence, that pleasant continuance of the family life
after the son has attained to manhood, is a matter of great im-
portance to the moral standing an<l virtue of the people at large.
It is my opinion, that such adult sons would nuxke as good a class
( 26 ) f
of voters as you can find in the country. (Hear, hear.) I be-
lieve some of them leave the farms and discontinue that state of
things, because they desire to wear that badge of manhood — the
franchise. I do not see why they sliould not wear that badge. I
do not sec why they should be penalized — educated as they arc
under our school system, and showing themselves to be alive to
one of the highest duties of citizenship — by being excluded from
the privilege. It would, I think, be well, when dealing with a
system of representation which is not theoretically correct, a sys-
' tem which you cannot logically defend, but which you say works
practically, to extend the franchise and give the right to vote to
every adult son who is living on the farm of his father. (Cheers.)
You know that such votes have been obtained in the past by a
process which I regret. By an evasion of the law, fathers have
placed their sons on the roll, and they have obtained votes by a
side wind. That is unfortunate, because it is against the law, and
because such a vote is not held freely; but, to a great extent, at
the pleasure of the father. I do not care that a man should have
the right to vote if I, or some one else, may tell him how he must
vote. Give these itien the right, and their votes will, especially
under the ballot, be as free and as Ufieful to the community as any
others in the country. Before passing from this subject, I desire
to speak of one of the truest tests of the right to the franchise — I
mean the educational test. There is no doubt that our future
will be largely affected by the course we take with regard to the
extension ot education throughout the land. I agree with many
of the remarks of Mr. Mowat on that subject. I com-
mend heartily the public spirit which has led the people
of this country to expend such large sums on educa-
tion; but my information leads me to believe that the
people have not done all that they ought to have done. It is
not only expenditure which is needed, but it is equally im-
portant to take care that when you have the schools, you send
your children to them tor a proper portion of the year. Then
^ ( 27 )
you cannot get good work without reasonable pay. You
have improved considerably the rate of pay of your teachers
in the last few years. Three or four years ago, after investi-
gating that subject, 1 spoke to my own constituents upon it,
aiid I say now again, that if you want to make all this ex-
penditure effectual, it is a prime duty to consider how much is
required in order to obtain a good teacher, and to pay that sum
whatever it may be. Without that the whole system is in-
effective. The teacher is the key. To what purpose do you
build brick school-houses, elect trustees, and send your child-
rt^n to school, unless you have an efficient teacher to instruct
them ? And you cannot get good teachers at the present
rate of pay, increased though it is. Another point is this.
In old and well-settled counties, where the farms are cleared
and the men have become wealthy, where there is no reason,
no necessity for the children being kept at home, how is it
that the average period of attendance is so short ? In some
parts the shortness of the average attendance is positively
alarming. I exhort my fellow-countrymen to see to these
thiuffs. You have established free schools and vou have re-
solved to tax everyone to maintain them. We are all inter-
ested then in this matter, and it is to the general and wide
diffusion of instruction and education that we must largely
look for the great future that we expect. But, sir, with such
a hope for the future before us, I believe we might effect im-
mense improvements upon the present system of popular re-
presentation. For my own part, I have been for some time
dissatisfied with our present mode of popular representation,
as furnishing no fair indication of the opinions of the country.
I do not think a system under which a majority in one con-
stituency elects a member, the minority being hopeless, help-
less, without any representation of its own at all, is a good
system. I have been collecting some statistics on this subject,
and it is extraordinary to what extent the popular voice, as
#.
( 28 ) ^
shown in the popular vote, differs from the expression of that
voice in the Legislature. In the State of Maryland you find
an election lately in which parties were so divided that two-
thirds of the people polled on the one side and one-third on
the other. The result of the election was that the Republi-
cans, who polled two-thirds elected every member, and the
Democrats, who polled one-third, did not elect a single man.
That was not a fair or reasonable result. In the State of
Maine something of the same kind happened. The Demo-
crats had polled one-third of the votes, but only elected 43 out
of 247 members. Coming nearer home, for perhaps our Tory
friends will object to my taking illustrations from accross the
line, in Nova Scotia, in the year 1867, there was a bitterly-
fought contest on the question of Union or anti-Union. The
result was that only Mr. Tupper was returned from the whole
Province, and that by a very narrow majority, as a represent-
ative of the Union sentiment. I have analyzed the statistics
of that election, and I find that the real strength exhibited p.t
the polls, would have given, as nearly as I can estimate, seven
to the Union side ii;istead of one, and.only twelve to the anti-
Uni'jnists instead of 18. Take Nova Scotia again in 1874.
The returns gave 19 to the Government, one Independent,
and one Oppo^itio.i — Mr. Tupper again. I will give him the
Independent man into the bargain, because I think he be-
longs to that quarter. (Laughter.) The popular vote on
that occasion w^ould, as nearly as I can judge, have
given 8 out of the 21 to that side instead of 2,
and but 13 to the Government instead of 19. Our principle
of Government is that the majority must decide. Upon
what is it founded ? Well, you cannot give a reasoi: except
this, that it is necessary. It is the only way in which Govern-
ment can be carried on at all. But if the minority must, on this
ground of necessity, bow to the voice of tlic majority, the
majority is all the more bound to see that the minority has ita
1
fc ( 29 ) .
fair share of representation — its fair weight in the councils of
the country. The majority must recollect that it may become
the minority one day, and that then it would like to have its
tair share in those councils, and such disparities as these are not
likely to induce a leeling of cheerful submission on the part of
the minority. In Ontario, in the election of 1867 — I cannot, of
course, be precisely accurate in these matters, because there were
some acclamation returns, and there are other difficulties in
making an exact calculation — but tiiere were eighty-two members
to be returned. The whole popular vote would have resulted in
a slight majority for the Liberal party over the Government, but,
discarding fractions, the result would give forty-one members to
each. The Government, however, carried forty-nine seats to
thirty-three, and so the Liberal party did not obtain its fair
share in the Government of the country. A turn of 408 votes
would have taken seventeen seats from the Government and
given them to the Liberal party. We say we have representa-
tion by population, but we have not representation by population
unless the population has a representation in the Legislature
equivalent to its strength at the polls. In the late election of
1874, the popular voice, although very strongly in favor of the
Government, was by no means so decided as the returns showed.
And besides this, 178 votes turned the other way would have
chauiied eight seats, making a difference of sixteen on a division.
Little more than double that number would have changed six-
teen seats, or thirty-two on a divisiin, and this in a Province
where over 200,000 votes would, if all the elections were con-
tested, have been polled. My own opinion is, that it is not
houses, and stocks, and farms that are re])reseiited, but human
beings, with immortal souls — these are the true subjects of repre-
sentation, the sharers in, the owners of, political power; and I
think a scheme ought to be devised, as a scheme has been devised,
to give them a fairer representation. In Eni^land, in constitu-
encies which return three or four members, a cumbrous mode has
been adopted called the "restrictive vote," which I do not recom-
mend, by which each man votes for one less than the whole
( 30 )
i
number to be elected. That gives some representation to each
side. In the School Board electionp, which have caused the
greatest possible interest arid excitement, and have resulted in
London in the return of" an Educational Parliament which may
vie with the Parliament of the Empire in ability in proportion to
its numbers, the cumulative system has been with great advantage
adopted. By this, the voter, having as many votes as there are
members, may give the whole of his votes to one candidate or
divide them as he pleases. That system has been also adopted
with the most benelicial results in the State of Illinois, where the
returns, under the amended Constitution of 1870, liave been
within one of the actual popu'ar voice. I say the system of
representation under which we now live is inadequate to the
purposes of the age. The complicated interests of society,
the various views entertained by various sections of people,
the enormous divergencies and the minor shades of diver-
gency which exist, the hict that you cannot accurately or
reasonably approximate the real strength of popular opinion
as evinced at the polls by the return of membeis to Parlia-
ment. These considerations are sufficient to condemn the
existing system and send us on search for a better. That
better can. I believe, be found ; ami if it be reserved lor this Pro-
vince or this Dominion to set the example of finding it, a great
benefit will have been conferred by us on the cause of" freedom
throughout the world. 1 believe Mr. Hare's system or some
modification of it — a system by which each voter may vote for any
one he pleases, and give his vote, should it not be required for his
first choice, to second, third or fourth candidates, in the order of
his preference- —would result in the return by unanimous constitu-
encies of men having the confidence of those constituencies, and
of just so many men on each side as the strength of that side at
the polls would justify. What is my position to-day? I have a
very large constituency. I represent a constituency in which
many more votes were polled against me than sufficed to return
Mr. I'ymond. Within nine of two thousand votes were polled
against me. Can I say 1 represent those people ? I do not. I
do not represent their views. They thought 1 was wrong ; they
wished to defeat me; thay wished to condone the Pacific Scandal
and to support the late Government. I am bound to consider
their individual wants, but i cannot say 1 represent their views.
How are they represented? Some will say that people a long way
off elected, say, Mr. Cameron, of Cardwell, or Mr. Farrow, of
North Huron, to represent them. That is a very peculiar mode
of representation, by which the unrepresented minorities of adverse
( 31 )
views in different constituencies are, in effect, told that they are
to be content because there are others in Hke evil pliajht. Look
at home. Turn to tliis Metropolitan district. Take, if you
please, the old County of York, including Toronto, Ontario and
Peel You have there nine districts, and you have nine members
all on one side, and not a single one on the other. The return at
the polls gave five to four. The popular vote gave you five and
your adversaries four, and upon a proper system of representation,
that would have been the proportion of the members. We shall
have to settle before long the question of the Parlian . ^'ntary sys-
tem of the future. As the late Prince Consort said some
years ago. Parliamentary systems are on their trial. When we
provide a plan by which every man shall be represented, by
which each side of opinion shall be represented, in proportion
to its strength, we shall have avoided the difficulties which
result from the artificial divisions which w^e make, and which
render the expression of opinion by the returns so essentially
different from that shown at the polls. There is not time now
to give you even a fair summary of the reasons for this re-
form, f must bring- my speech to a close. I know, Sir,
that I have made a rather disturbing speech, but I am not
afraid of that. As far as I can Judge, not much good can be
done without disturbing something or somebody, and if that
is the only objection to be made to the sentiments I have
uttered, 1 am quite ready to meet it. I may be said also to
have made an imprudent speech — at least it mio-ht be said if
1 were one of those who aspire to lead their fellow-country-
men as Ministers. It is the lunction of Ministers — we know
it, and I do not quarrel with it — to say nothhig that can be
caught hold of — (laughter) — nothing in advance of the popu-
lar opinion of the day, to watch the current of that opinion,
and when it has gathered strength to crystalize it into Acts of
Parliament. That is the function of a l^iberal Minister. The
function of a Tory Minister is to wait till he is absolutely
forced to swallow his own opinions. (Laughter.) My hon.
friend Mr. Mowat will, 1 doubt not, by your suffrages, enjoy
a long time in which to perform his high duty, but it may
be permitted to one who prefers to be a private in the ad-
vanced guard of the army of freedom to a commanding place
in the main body— (loud cheers'/ — to run the risk of promul-
gating what may be called a political heresy to-day, but may
perhaps become a political creed to-morrow. (Cheers.) I am
sure that whatever may be your disposition as to the opinions'
1 have advanced, and however disinchned you may be to
'*
( 32 )
■^
^cept my proposals, you will rectdve them with toleration
and liberahty. I believe that ieeliiii? which is strongly ex-
istent in the ranks of our opponents, oi' intolerance ol any
difference of opinion, that determination without argument
to write and speak down the man who advances anything
new^ as revolutionary and unsafe, is not shared by the Liberal
party. I believe you realize the value m the interests of true
liberty of a free utterance before his fellow-countrymen ot
the distinctive opinions held by a public man. (Cheers.) I
am quite sure you sympathize with the eulogy which the
poet-iaureate of England conferred upon the old land, and
you desire that his words ol" praise should be properly appli-
pable to the new, when in immortal verse he sung : —
r You ask me, why, tho' ill at ease.
Within this region I subsist,
Whose spirits talter in the mist,
An<l languish for tlie purple seas ?
It is the land that freemen till,
That sober-suited Freedom chose,
The land, where girt with friends or foes
A man may speak the thing he will.
A' land of settled government,
A land of just and old renown,
Where Freedom broadens slowly down
From precedent to precedent.
Where faction seldom gathers head,
But by degrees to fulness wrought,
The strength of some difiFusive thought
Hath time and space to work and spread.
Should banded unions persecute
Opinion, and induce a time
When single thought is civil crime.
And individual freedom mute.
The' Power shall make from land to land
Tlie name of Britain trebly great —
Tho' every channel of the Stote
. Should almost choke with golden sand — •
Yet waft me from the harbour mouth,
^ Wild wind ! I seek a warmer sky.
And 1 will see before I die
The palms and temples of the South.
Uk-it^ .,