IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^o fe ...;^' c^'. ..*'/% xp '■^' ^ //y, ^^ t<'/ Vx 1.0 I.I 1.25 't'lIM III2.5 li^ IIIM IIM 1^ 1.4 2.2 2.0 1.6 ^^^ (meaning "CON- TINUED "), or the symbol V (meaning "END "). whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those 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 following diagrams illustrate the method: Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimde sont film^s en commen9ant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmds en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole —^- signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre fiim6s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour §tre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche k droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndiessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 CANADA NATIONAL LIBRARY BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE /):;^„SJt^ m<^'U l^-^^yi^' ^^- /'^^i^- CANADA AND AMERICAN AGGRESSION. THli United States has always been an agfgressive power. Its patriot- ism has been fed upon strife with Britain, its ambition has been stirred by the idea of one day possessing;- the whole continent. The inexorable law of its existence seems to have been the absorption of new terri- tory, or at any rate the desire to obtain it. The great Republic coveted Florida and promptly seized it ; coveted Louisiana and purchased it ! coveted Texas and stole it ; and then picked a quarrel with Mexico which ended in the acquisition of California. Had it not been for British power it would have ob- tained Canada long ago; as it was, the Republic got the fair valley of the Ohio, a great stretch of Canadian territory on the .'acific, and the State of Maine on the .Atlantic. This ambitious desire for the expansion of territory was founded on two prin- ciples — a sort of national, inherent earth- hunger, and a jealous hatred of Great Britain. Yet the Mother Country by its defeat of French power upon this con- tinent and its Influence in holding the Indians in check, really enabled the Thirteen Colonies to hold their own, after independence had been finally grant- ed them. A great PVench Canada would havebeenfar more dangerous to theirearly struggles after autonomy and a united existence, than were the peaceful and conciliatory British Provinces. But this was never though! of by them and from the time when Washington, through the medium of .Arnold's invading army, ad- dressed the loyal people of these Colonies down to the present day, the ambition of Sumner seems to have been the aspira- tion of the .American nation; the Stars and Strips floating from the Gulf of Mexico to the North Pole. " We re- joice," said General Washington upon the occasion referred to, "that our ene- mies have been deceived with regard to you ; they have persuaded themselves they have even dared to say — that the Canadians were not capable of distin- guishing between the blessings of liberty and the wretchedness of slavery. By such artifices they hoped to bind you to their views, but they have been deceived. * * * Come then, my brethren, unite with us in an indis.soluble union ! let us run together to the same goal." And this has been the actuating spirit of their warfare, military, commercial or politi- cal, so far as Canada is concerned, from the days of Washington to the regim^ of Harrison. In 1812, the smouldering ashes of hos- tility originating in the war of the revo- lution again broke into active flame. Great Britain was still engaged in that life and death struggle with Napoleon in which the liberties of Europe, and it may be, of the world were bound up. The right of search claimed by Britain was more or less necessary to her in the con- test going on, but was of course off"ensive in the last degree to the sensitive Ameri- can Republic. Occasion was speedilv found for action. .An attempt to over- haul the U. S. frigate "Chesapeake" re- sulted in a conflict and its capture by the British ship " Leopard." The act was at once disavowed and repaation ofi"ered. But i*^ was useless, and a proclamation was immediately issued excluding from all United States ports His Britannic Majesty's ships, while admitting those of France. England's difficulty had become America's opportunity, and from that time forth, as Sir .Archi- bald .Alison, the historian, says: "The object was to wrest from Great Bri- tain the Canadas, and, in conjunction with Napoleon, extinguish its maritime and colonial Empire." Then followed the .American destruction of the "Little Bell," sloop of war, under utterly inde- fensible circumstances, and the subsequent declaration of war on June i8th, 1812. And Sir Isaac Brock, writing six years before this date, describes the .Americans as " being employed in drilling and form- ing their militia and openly declaring their intention of invading the Province the instant that war is determined on." Two years later he sta'. s that Jefferson and his party, though anxious to do so, dare not declare war, " and therefore en- deavour to attain their objects by every provocation. .A few weeks ago the Gar- rison of Niagara fired upon seven mer- TJIK DOM/A/ON JLLUSTRAJIJ) .\rONTJIlY. chant boats and actually captured them." No reparation appears to have e\er been made for this hi^j^h-handed act. But war had linall)' bri>ln the Canadian shore. Many I'nited Slates citizens publicly espoused the insurgent cause and lent the rebels e\ery possible assistance, luil'st- ment went on steadily and without con- cealment, whilst a "score of American rascaldom," encamped at Grand Island, further up the river, and tired at Canadian farmers as they proceeded with their labours. .As Mr. Dent says, in his "Last Thirty Vear.s," there can be no doubt that the State of \ew \'ork winked at these things and that the sympathies of the .American people were almost to a man in fa\our i^i the rebels. .A cannon u as taken from the State artillery to \a\ y Island on the pretext, given to the .American officer in command, that it was wanted to slioot wild ducks. Matters were brought to a crisis by the .American branch o^ the in- surgent force obtaining a BulValo steam- boat called the "Caroline,' which was used to bring men and 'iipplies to the Island. .\ number of" .Americans gave a bond to the owner, indemnifying him in case of capture, and the Collector of Cus- toms at Buffalo knowingly licensed the vessel for the use to which it was to be put. This was too n .ich for loyal men in L'pper Canada, and protests having been useless. Colonel McXab, k-^'i Hamilton, at last sent an expedition, under Captain Drew, to seize the vessel. The act was promptly performed, the ship set on fire and sent over the Falls. Shortly after- wards the rebels dispersed, though the Alex. McLeod case, growing out of this seizure, almost brought the two nations to the verge of war some years later. .As in the recent case of the Italian massacre in New Orleans, the I'nited States Govern- ment tried to get out of its responsibility for these infringements o'i international amity by the ready subterfuge that it could not control a state oi the I'nion in such matters. But 1842 witnessed a far more dis- graceful aggression upon Canadian rights. Deception, not threats, was the weapon employed, and it certainly answered the purpose well. For many years the true location of the boundary line between New Brunswick and the State of Maine CANADA AND AMERICAN AGGRESSION. 69c) Ire dis- 1 rights. kveapon jred the Ihe true between Maine had been a matter >^i srrave dispute. My the Treaty of Paris, in 17S3, it had been left uncertain, or, at least, the .American Government made that chiim, and tlie friction had licon so violent at times upon the border-land between the State and the Province as 'o almost lead to blows. I<"inally, in 1842, the situation became strained to such ;i degree as to render some settlement absolutely essential. 'l"he British Ciovernment sent out lA>rd Ashburton, a well-intentioned, but rather weak man, who seems to have been as thoroughly overcome by Americui ex- pressions of love and friendship as the U. S. Senate was a decade later by Lord Klgin's champagne. Besides this, th'i physical force, profound air of conviction, and diplomatic astuteness of Daniel Webster, to say nothing of his unscrupulousness, were sutVicient to make the result dangerous to the State represeiited by such a man as Lord Ashburton. And, unfortunately, the country chiefly interested was Canada. By the treaty, as tinally settled, seven- twelfths of the territory in dispute was ceded to the Lhiited Stales ; live-twelfths was awarded to dreat Britain. And this beautiful piece of diplomacy was so ar- ranged that Mr. Webster and the great Republic kindly accepted about 5,000 square miles less than was claimed by the people of Maine, the relinquished tract being largely a sterile waste. Lord Ashburton thus gave up to .American greed a territory neuriy equal to the com- bined areas of Massachusetts and (li^in- neticut a fertile and well timbered dis- trict, which includes the fruitful valley o^ the Aroostook And upon what ba.^is was the arrangement made ^ Tliis came out later, and stands as greatly to .Ameri- can discredit and disgrace as does recent- ly proposed retaliatory legislation or the laughable Chilian war on paper. While on a visit to Paris during the earlier stages of the discussion, Mr. Jared Sparks, the .American historian, dis- covered an original letter of Benjainin l<"ranklin, written to Count de X'orgennes, regarding a map of North America, upon which the Covmt wished the then newly arranged boundary line of the United States and the British Prmincos to he marked. The letter read as follows : "I linvi' ilic honour of retiirnin? heifwilh the map your Kxcellencv sent me vesti'rellinj^ of commodities in Canada. Not a whisper do you ever hear from thtm abn\it their biiyiiij; and sellinjj with the Maritime Provinces; not a word about their enormous carrying trade for all the provinces whiih they monopolize : not a word of the large sums ilrawn from us for our vast tratfic over their railways and canals ; and not a whisper as to their iunuense profits from fishing in our waters secured to ihem by the treaty." No ; the simple motive was to punish and coerce Canada. In the words of Mr. Derby,Commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department, when, a short time after- wards Canada was trying to obtain a re- newal of the treaty : "This is the Alter- native Treat with the Provincials or annex the Provinces." The latter was decided upon, but has not \et been ac- complished. Thus we were prepared by the efforts of the L'nited States to destroy our exist- ence as British Colonies for the supremt? struggle which was to finally mould the scattered provinces into a imited nation, tiood did come out of evil in this case, and our country was really "hammered on the anvil of the fates " until formed into the Dominion of Canada ; although its British connection undoubtedly saved it from the civil wars and external con- flicts to which most young nations are subject in their early days. VVe have had them, it is true, but not in the same dreadful degree and not with the same danger of conquest and extinction. Am- erican aggression has really subserved a useful purpose in our history. It has welded us closely together when danger existed of complete separation and at a time when squabbles and dead-locks threatened to submerge our whole consti- tutional system, it created Confederation. But with the union of our Provinces, the growth of our commerce, the develop- ment of a great railway and steamship system, the elaboration of our fi.scal re- gulations and protection of our national interests, American dislike changed into jealousy, and (he ambition to annex "the Provinces " has in latter days assumed the form of a desire to at least get pos- session of our fisheries and cripple our railway;;. Kor a time after Confederation, the Treaty of Washington seemed to set- tle outstanding claims and disputes. By its terms, the reference of the San Juan question to arbitration, settled, as usual, against Canada, a most knotty point, which had been, since 1846, a cause of trouble, dissension and constant contro- \ersy. The Halifax Commission, as al- ready mentioned, valued our fisheries, and, after a time, payment was made. Coming down a decide or so to 1883, we find the necessary two years notice gi\en to our Ciovernment of the intention of the United States to abrogate the fishery clauses of the Washington Treaty, by which our fish were admitted free in exchange for fishing privileges on our coasts. .\ number of smaller attempts to coerce or coax Canada into closer re- lations at the expense of the Kmpire fol- lowed. The West Indies were asked in 1 888 to accept a treaty discriminating CANADA AND AMERICAN AGGRESSION. 701 1883, notice Mition the reaty, ree in our cmpts er re- ro fol- ked in Kiting against Canada and the Mother Country, but it was very properly vetoed. The year previous informal iic^fotiations had been entered into for the annexation of the islands to the I'nited Slates, but they had to be abandoned. About the same time commenced (lie Commercial L^nion movement enj^ineered in Canada with a similar object in view. Senator .Sherman announced that in ten years the Dominion would be annexed to the Republic, and Messrs. Hutterworth, Hitt, Wiman, Cioldwin Smith and oliiers took up the propaganda. In 1885 the Riel rebellion occurred. Great sympathy was expressed for the leader at>d the rebels generally in the United States and as in the previous lime of trouble during the Fort Ciarry rebellion of 1871, our troops were refused per.Tiission to travel on American rail- roads. But the great and ollicially indefensible act of this period was the abrogation after due notice of that portion of the Wash- ington Treaty which effected the lishing relations of the two countries. No par- ticular reason was assigned, but when the Dominion (iovernment properly con- cluded that abrogation on one side meant the same thing on the other and promptly proceeded to fall back upon the treaty of 1818, which still held good, for the pro- tection of our fisheries against poachers and poaching, great was the outcry. A temporary modus vi\endi was granted the Americans, and after much war-like talk, the Kagle concluded that something must be done and a treaty was negotiated but promptly repudiated by the Senate. Then President Cleveland rose in his wrath and as he could not touch the Senate decided to hit at Canada and issued the famous Retaliation message of 1888. Its utter injustice was manifested by the President's own statement that : " I fully l)elii'vi' ihi.' tre.ily ji\>t irjccled liy the Senate was well suited to the cxigoncy, .and thai its provisions were adt'(|uati- for our security in tVif future from vexatious incidents and for the promotion of friendly neif^hhourhood and intimacy without sacriticinj; in the least our national pride or di^'nily."' Nothing much was done, it is true, but the willingness was apparent. As Mr. James G. Blaine said about this time, " Is it the design of the President to make the fishing question odious by embarrass- ing commercial relations along 3,000 miles ot frontier and to inflict upon American communities a needless, a vexatious and a perilous condition of trade ?" To strike, or talk of striking, at our bonding trade has, indeed, long been a favourite subJLvt with the Americans, and perhaps the only thing that prevents it is the injury which would be done them as well as ourselves. Perhaps it might be even greater in their case. But President Cleveland was defeated on seeking re- election, and in 1888 Mr. Harrison came into oflice. Wm. McKinley, Jr., then tried his hand at improving the Ainerican tariff. 'Canada was not forgotten. Indeed she occupied quite a prominent place in the new bill. The interests of the farmer must be pro- tected from Canadian competition, so a duty was placed upon eggs, the produc- tion of which certainly could not be materially affected thereby, and upon barley. The latter product was one which could only have been taxed from a prin- ciple of actual hostility. Canadian barley is infinitely superior to American, and is a necessity to the brewers, who, indeed, complained bitterly about the increased duty. But it was useless. The adminis- tration at Washington had been ap- parently informed, no doubt, by Mr. l'>,istus Wiman and others that now was the time to turn the screw, and upon this occasion at least it would be successful. The Canadian farmer wa > in a position of temporary dissatisfaction, and a little fur- ther restriction upon his exports to the States would assuredly make him vote for a policy which all American politicians believed to mean annexation. Mr. Wiman's statement that "a prolonged dose of McKinle) isir will bring CanaJn into commercial union" was generally be- lieved, and duties were consequently in- creased or newly imposed upon a large number of Canadian products. Incident- ally of course, the new tariff was also made to bear heavily against Great Britain. But in the Dominion, the only result apparent was an increase in our trade in 1890 and 1892 of something like $25,000,000, and a profound conviction, growing daily deeper, that we can get on perfectly well without the L'nited States along the whole line ot commerce and politics. It is not necessary to do more than re- fer briefly to the latest development of American aggressive resentment. In acquiring Alaska, the Republic now as- serts that it obtained rights from Russia in the open waters of Behring Sea which it had successfully protested against Rus- sia using when that power possessed Alaska. And, while claiming that Great 702 THE DOMINION ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY. Britain had no rijjht on the Athmtic coast to restrict roreif,'n vessels from fishing within the three mile limit, the United States claimed tiie right to con- trol the waters upon the Pacific coast off its own territories for hundreds of miles. Our fishing craft and sealers, which latter were and are still termed " poachers " throughout the American press, were rudely seized and their property taken from them. For two years this trouble has been progressing, and if Lord Salis- bury had not put his foot down with de- termination and demanded a settlement by arbitration, we should be on the verge of war once again, as indeed it seems was the case at one period of the present negotiations. It is doubtful if the treaty, when concluded, would have been ac- cepted by the Senate if the British Pre- mier had not plainly said that otherwise the modus vivendi would not be renewed and Canadian rights would be amply pro- tected. This hint was sufficient, coupled with the announcement that "a section of the navy is moving northward," or the il/orw///^ Pav/'.v statement that " Eng- land cannot neglect the interests of Can- ada." The American press in general, in par- ticular the N. \. Sun and N. V. Recorder, with all their amusing remarks made be- fore Lord Salisbury finally spoke in a way which reminds one of the hand of iron 'neath the glove of velvet, could not conceal the injustice of American claims without the silliest braggadocio. Said the latter sheet : No wonder the patience of t)iir Governiiient is ex- hausted Hut the (ioverriiuent has spoken, piid its voice to-day is like the shot at Lexin^jton, heanl all all around the world. Away hack in the Madison •Administration there may he found an historical par- allel in many ways to the jiresent situation. Many similar comments were made. And now to sum up the conclusions of this article ; I. From Washington down to Harri- son, American policy has been ruled by hostility to England. 2. This hostility has been vented upon Canada, until jealousy i.^'i our progress and fear of the establi. imient oi a great separate power on this continent, trans- formed the vicarious enmity into one with a direct application. 3. Annexation would solve these fears* for the future and give the United States our markets, government, railways and fisheries. Hence their present policy. 4. .\mple proof of these assertions will be found in the Revolutionary war ; the struggle of 1H12; the rebellions of 1837 and 1H85 ; the Fenian raids ; the abroga- tion of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1H54-66 ; the refusal to renew it in any way honour- able and fair to Canada ; the .\shburtor» Treaty: the San Juan troubles; the partial abrogation of the Washington Treaty ; the Atlantic fisheries ; the Mc- Kinley Hill ; the Hehring Sea seizures ; and the steady utterances of the stales- men and press of the .American Re- public. Canada wants only to be on good terms with its great neighbor, fe.ls only the highest sentiment of friendship for it and admiration for the patriotism so often shown in its history, but we have been treated with such consistent bitterness and marked evidences of a desire for our national absorption, that Canadians have, I think, finally determined to look else- where for better relations and to no more trouble the great republic with requests for reciprocal friendship. We look to Great Britain now and to closer British union, and, to the few annexationists with- in our territory and the plotters without, can respond in the noble words put by Charles Mair into the mouth of Sir Isaac Brock : " Ve men of Canada, subjects witli me of thai Im- perial jwwer, Whose liherties are marching round the earth. Our death may huild into our country's life, .And failing this "twere better still to die Than live the breathing; spoils of infamy. " j. C.\sri;i.i. HiM'KiNs. X ;5S>^-