IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT 3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 liillM 1112.5 It lio 112.0 118 U 11111.6 p> <^>J 7] "cM 'c-l (? / .^.^^> ^^^ CIHIVI/ICMH Microfiche CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images in the reproduction are checked below. Coloured covers/ Couvertures de couleur L'Institut a microfilm^ le meiileur exempiaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Certains d6fauts susceptibles de nuire d la quality de la reproduction sont notds ci-dessous. D Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Tl P< o1 fil Tl C( 01 ai: n Coloured maps/ Cartes gdographiques en couleur D Coloured plates/ Planches en couleur Tl fil in □ Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages ddcolordes, tachetdes ou piqudes Tight binding (may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin)/ Reliure serrd (peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intdrieure) D D Show vhrough/ Transparence Pages damaged/ Pages endommagdes M in uf b< fc D Additional comments/ Commentaires suppldmentaires Bibliographic Notes / Notes bibliographiques D D D D □ Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Bound with other material/ Reli6 avec d'autres documents Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Plates missing/ Des planches manquent Additional comments/ Commentaires ^uppldmentaires D D D Pagination incorrect/ Erreurs de pagination Pages missing/ Des pages manquent Maps missing/ Des cartes g^ographiques manquent The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Les images suivantes ont 6td reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettetd de I'exemplaire i\\m6. et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol ^*> (meaning CONTINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaltra sur la der- nidre image de cheque microifiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ♦> signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". The original copy was borrowed from, and filmed with, the kind consent of the following institution: Library of the Public Archives of Canada Maps or plates too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The fcllowing diagrrms illustrate the method: L'exemplaire filmd fut reproduit grSce d la gdndrositd de i'dtablissement prdtaur suivant : La bibliothdque des Archives pubilques du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un saul cliche sont film6es d partir de Tangle sup6rieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 c4tn. ^(^^^^^^ h\\^m\\\ Jfrkrafioii. WELDING THE LINKS OF UNION. DAVID A. AN SELL, nil OKI-. 1(11. ^^\.oi-)|rcal: jora^ch ol' nil-; n-tpcriQl {'caerahon LcaauG in CGinodo. TUESDAY. 23rd NOVEMBER. 1886. -.4i-^'#; ; I 'J '<; Welding the Links of Union. " VIS UNITA FORTIOR." At a meeting of the Montreal Branch of the Imperial Federation League in Canada, held on Tuesday, November 25th, 1886, at which Mr. Henry Lyman, Chairman, presided, the following paper was read ])y ]Mr. D. A. Ansell : Mr. Chairman, President and Gentlemen : I propose, as briefly as may be compatible with the dignity and importance of the subject, to call your attention, this evening, to ;i few features of the noble work in which we have the honor to be engaged, — that of agitating the question of a closer degree of union between the various colonies and dependencies, and their mother country, Great Britain. I purpose dealing with a great national question, which, judging from liuman reckoning of time, is yet in the incipient stages of it.^ existence. Applying the test of inq)ortance over all other present topics of discussion, the subject of Imperial Federation takes lui- doubted precedence. It imperatively demands, too, an cnvly scttli- ment. To ensure peace, it is necessary to be prej^ared fm- war. Is (4reat Britain, or are her numerous colonies prepared just now to resist any possible combination which might be formed again^^t them 1 We will hope so, and, meantime, consin talked for, fought for and died for, in the four tjuarters of the globe. The United Empire Loyalists, during the American Revolution, sacrificed all personal interests for love of their Mother Country. Englishmen fought lii'.e tigers in 18.')7 to preserve India to the Crown. A majority of the English House of Commons has lately contended successfully in the endeavor to retain Ireland under the control of the Imperial Government. But the aspect of the old idea of integrity has undergone a change : " Tempora mutantar, d nos mutamur in Hits." (Times change and we change with them. ) It is no longer a question of blood-and-iron bands, with war for an alternative, but of how to weave the silken cords of fri uidship and ex[)ediency, which may bind indis.solubly together, for Avcal or woe, the component part^ 'if tlmt (iominion on wliich tlie sun never sets. Hitherto, cUbrt has gone out to retain single jiosse-ssions ; now the wmld wakes uj) to the ([uostion, what to do to cement the whole for commercial benetit and mutual defence in the event of war. While no definite policy has yet been shaped by the advocates of Imperial Federation, a flood of suggestions have poured in as a result of the agitation ; it is to be hoped that these may be sifted down, and some practical line of work formulated. Xot a few of the ideas ventilated are Utopian to a Iraighable degree. Some of them are based upon narrow-minded despotic principles, having emanated from those who have not yet emancipated themselves from the errors of their grandfathers. They forget that their schemes will lack the most important element, the adherence of serviceable subjects of a very limited monarchy. Some others of these projects lose what little force they might otherwise have by their authors soaring too high into the IW gentle and Brgoncy,— J is fooling lin oxpres- pursuing a <1 indicate urers, that ztu quo, is !, or nega- lon talked )be. The sacrificed iglislimen rown, A ;ontcnded rol of the integrity ir for an ship and or woe, ver sets, now the diolo for ocates of •■ a resnlt 3wn, and lie ideas hem are ied from errors of ihe most r limited •ce they nto the realms of eloquence, bordering on absurdity. Of such is Mr, A. B. Walker, LL.B., of New Brunswick, who modestly says : — " It will crown Greater Britain the mistress of the whole earth. It will make her mandate the political decalogue of every foreign power. * * * By its ath.ption, (Imperial Federation,) we will make our nation the immortal judgment seat of the whole earth, and the arbiter of all mankind." After that, I should say that there is only one step further, and that is for the eminent barrister-at-law from the Mari- time Provinces to suggest some feasible plan for dethroning the Almighty, and relegating Ilis power to the Crown of England. No doubt if England were buried in the depths of the sea to-morrow, it would be said of her, as of Sir Christopher Wren, on his single slab in the Crypt of St. Paul's : Si mormmentum qnaris, circuvispice." But, n(ivertheless, the ]\Iotlier Country herself is far too wise and self-respecting to nominate herself the arbitress of the destinies of this planet or of any other world. Let us see what further plans are put forward for study : Mr. William Bonsfield, who, as an M.A., ought to be able to follow th<' spirit of the age he lives in, proposes an Imperial Parliament, which will be absolutely superior over every portion of Her Majesty's dominions, and is to exercise the right of veto even over purely Colonial alfairs. These gentlemen calculate on an amount of ultra- loyalty, — orangeism one may say,— which happily exists in quit*' insuthcient i)roportions for the accomplishment of their romantic plans. The extremes of thought, Ik vever, range from those of the Bons- field and Walker schools, to those who scorn and repel the idea of closer union with a monarchy in these days of democratic tendencies. Many writers rank the cost (iuestion as the most difficult feature of the problem. Thus, Ilenric ]5. :\Iurray, a high home authority, doubts whether in an important national crisis " personal and pocket interests would not raidc superior, in each voter's estimate, to th<' future of the British Empire." I ])eg emphatically to deny the asper- sion on either British or Colonial character. Writing in favor of a more united British Empire, it becomes as necessary to touch incidentally on the proposed independence of the Dominion of Canada, and also on the subject of the possibility of annexation to the United States. I shall raise a protest against what I conceive to be the injudicious waiting policy of those who are con- iluctiiig the Imperial Federation movement ; and shall also have a Avord or two to say as to the ways and means of carrying ont some measure of reform that maj he worthy of the Anglo-Saxon race. Let us now take a look into the cam)i of tlie enemy, for Federation is vehemently opposed by a small hut active minority of influential men, with the advantage of having been born and nurtured on oui' soil. The want of character thus exhibited, to my mind, removes all grounds for anxiety as to the annexationists or advocates of independ- ence. Canada is free from the grievances which would entitle her to make such a revolutionary movement, as the people of the Thirteen Colonies were justified in doing at the close of the last century. The revolutionists had long been neglected, or treated with supercilious contempt by a misguided Government, and a King whose perceptions were limited. Canadians have long been honored ; London is ever ready to show a proper appreciation of the tah'uts of our leading statesmen. Before the American Revolution, obnoxious laws, and the most offensive of all laws, those relating to taxation, were wafted over 3,000 miles of ocean, to be indignantly spurned by an honest [teople. "Westminster leaves Canada and her laws alone. On what ground then can the annexation party base their appeal, outside conti- guity and " manifest destiny " 1 And as to the independents, I am impelled to the deliberate conviction that the great majority of them are merely getting in the wedge for annexation, the opinion being based upon tlie fact that those who have not the soul to stick to their Mother Country, which has never oppressed them, have not the spirit to really desire an autonomy of their own. Washington and his com- [latriots had the knowledge of previous oppression ; and there was a sinci'viiy in their conduct, and an absence of selHsh considerations whicli I much fear arc foreign to the gentlemen of whom I speak. Not all arc insincere; 1 gladly make this slight reservation; but the greater part, for the sake of some fancied personal benefit to be ilerived, would sacrifice not cndy the hopes of the future, but the associations and meuKn'ies of the past. We can iiow rejoice in all the l)ast glnries of our Mother Country, — lier triumphs and successes ; we can sympathize with her in all the trials she has gone through,— - we (;an anticipate, with hearts that beat witli hers, a bright and bril- liant future of honor, renown and prosperity, and can entwine our hopes and our lives around the embodiment of a United Britain. And these butterfly reformers, — agitators of the liour — ask us to resign all, — the jiast, the present, find tlie future, to an untried idea ! When the question of Home Rule for Ireland is settled, the field will be open for Imperial Federation to step to the front ; and I may be allowed to anticipate, that Ireland, with the burden of misery removed, and strong in its newly acquired responsibilities and powers, will then prove a giant link in the cliain of ]^)ritish Union. The time for action is 7iow, — not twenty years hence. The popu- lation of the Colonies will soon exceed that of the United Kingdom, and circumstances will have entirely changed. " There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." Is England the slave of fatalism, that she thus delays to protect herself from real, though now unseen dangers 1 Is she wrapped in dreams of destiny, sitting with folded hands for the coming of her fate 1 It came with relentless certainty to Greece. It came to Rome slowly, but with the sureness of extermination. England knows she is passing through some crisis in her history, the \ipspringing of social (questions, staring her in the face for an answer, cannot be ignored, and it is high time to cast about for some protection against the worst of probabilities. They say when the Czar of Russia thinks his life not worth living, luider the imcomfortablo circumstances which contiriually surround him, he talks war to his people, to divert their thoughts from bombs and bullets made iov his own especial benefit. Can Im})erial Federation divert the present gloomy out- look, — and if so, what does Imperial Federation mean, and what shall it be 1 Let us cast aside all tein[)tation to personal or sellish considerations, and try to think what it oiujltt to be. The subject is not an easy one, but principles of justice and right are good guides in facing the problem. What shall we aim at '? A gentleman of high tinancial standing in this city, recently gave such a masterly, compre- hensive lecture upon the suliject in general, that we regretted he di