CAlIfORNlA/ 
 
ENGLAND, CANADA 
 
 AND THE 
 
 GREAT WAR 
 
 BY 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel L.-G. DESJARDINS 
 
 Ex-member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec 
 and of the House of Commons of Canada. 
 
 QUEBEC 
 Chronicle Print. 
 
 October 1st, 1918 
 

 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2008 with funding from 
 
 Microsoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/englandcanadagreOOdesjrich 
 
7)52 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Even since the issue, last year, of my book :— 
 "UAngleterre, Le Canada et la Grande Guerre" — 
 "England, Canada and the Great War'' — a second 
 edition of which I had to publish, a few weeks 
 later, to meet the pressing demand of numerous 
 readers — I have been repeatedly asked by influen- 
 tial citizens to publish an English edition of my 
 work. 
 
 A delegate from Quebec to the National Unity 
 — or Win-the-War — Convention, in Montreal, I 
 had the pleasure of meeting a great many of the 
 delegates from Toronto and all over the Dominion. 
 Many of them insisted upon the publication of an 
 English edition. 
 
 Having written that book for the express and 
 patriotic purpose of proving the justice of the 
 cause of the Allies in the Great War, and refuting 
 Mr. Bourassa's false and dangerous theories, I 
 realized that the citizens of Quebec, Montreal, 
 Ottawa and Toronto, who strongly advised an 
 English edition to be circulated in all the Prov- 
 inces, appreciated the good it could make. 
 
 731 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 I consider it is my imperious duty to dedicate 
 to my English speaking countrymen this volume 
 containing all the substance matter of my French 
 book, and the defense a truly loyal French 
 Canadian has made of the sacred cause of Civiliza- 
 tion and Liberty for the triumph of which the 
 glorious Allied Nations have been so heroically 
 fighting for the last four eventful years. 
 
 As I say, in the Introduction to -this work, I 
 first intended to write only an English resume of 
 my French book. But once at work writing down, 
 the questions to consider were so important, and 
 the replies to the Nationalist leader's inconceiv- 
 able theories so numerous, that I had to double 
 and more the pages I had thought would be suffi- 
 cient for my purpose. I realized that many points, 
 to be fully explained, required more comments and 
 argumentation that I had at first supposed 
 necessary. 
 
 Moreover, since writing my French book, most 
 important events have taken place. To have the 
 present English volume up to date, I had to con- 
 sider recent history in its very latest developments, 
 and reply to the Nationalist leader's last errors, 
 which by no means were not the least. When once 
 
PREFACE. v 
 
 a man has run off the path of reason and sound 
 public sense, he is sure to rush to most dangerous 
 extremes, unless he has the moral courage to 
 acknowledge that he was sadly mistaken. 
 
 I trust that the English speaking readers of 
 this book, will not, for a single moment, suppose 
 that I am actuated by the least ill-feeling against 
 Mr. Bourassa personally, in the severe bust just 
 denunciation it was my plain duty to make of his 
 deplorable Nationalist campaign. 
 
 For many years past, I have ever been delight- 
 ed in welcoming promising young men to the re- 
 sponsibilities of public life. I remember with a 
 mixed feeling of pleasure and regret the occasion 
 I first heard Mr. Bourassa, then a youth, address- 
 ing a very large public meeting held on the nomin- 
 tion day of the candidates to a pending bye-election 
 for the House of Commons of Canada : Pleasure at 
 the recollection of what I considered a fairly suc- 
 cessful beginning of a political career ; deep regret 
 at the failure to justify the hopes of his compatriots 
 and his friends through an uncontrollable ambi- 
 tion always sure to deter, even the best gifted, 
 from the safe line of duty, well understood, and 
 firmly, but modestly, performed. 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 Passion, aspiring and unbridled, is always a 
 dangerous counsellor. Mr. Bourassa could have 
 had a useful political life, if he had realized that 
 public good cannot be well served by constant ap- 
 peals to race prejudices, and by persevering efforts 
 to achieve success by stirring up fanaticism. 
 
 The result of the unpatriotic course he has 
 followed, against the advice of his best friends, has 
 been to sow in our great and happy Dominion the 
 seed of discord, of hatred, of racial conflicts. 
 
 Unfortunately, for the country, for his French 
 Canadian compatriots, and for himself, he was de- 
 luded to the point of believing that the war would 
 be his grand opportunity. 
 
 Instead of using his influence to promote the 
 national unity so essential under the trying cir- 
 cumstances with which Canada and the whole 
 British Empire was suddenly confronted, he ex- 
 erted himself to the utmost to prevail on his 
 French Canadian countrymen to assume a decisive 
 hostile stand to the noble cause which Britain had 
 to fight for, in order to avenge the crime of the 
 violation of Belgium's territory, to protect France 
 from German cruel invasion, and to prevent Auto- 
 cratic power from enslaving Humanity. 
 
PREFACE. vii 
 
 Such a misconception of a truly loyal man's 
 part was most detrimental to the good of Canada's 
 future, to the destinies of the French Canadians, 
 and to the political standing of the publicist who 
 was its willing victim. 
 
 And to-day he finds himself in this position 
 that he has no other choice but that of pursuing, at 
 all hazards, his unwholsesome campaign against 
 all things British, or, boldly retracing his steps, to 
 go back on all he has said and written to support 
 inadmissible views, vain ideas, and passionate 
 prejudices. 
 
 The latter course would certainly be the best 
 to follow in the interest of his country, of his 
 French Canadian countrymen, and of his useful- 
 ness as a public man. But, however much to be re- 
 gretted, he seems utterly unable to overcome the 
 prejudices which have taken such deep root in his 
 heart and mind. 
 
 Prejudice, constantly cultured, soon develops 
 into blind fanaticism, closing the intellect to the 
 light of sound logic, to the call of duty, to the clear 
 comprehension of what is best to do to promote 
 the public good. 
 
 However seriously guilty he may be, the public 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 man, so swayed by a fanatical passion, is sure not 
 to rally to the defense of the superior interests of 
 his countrymen when they are threatened by a 
 great misfortune. 
 
 I cannot help deploring that after giving good 
 hopes of a life patriotically devoted to the increas- 
 ing welfare of Canada, by doing his share in pro- 
 moting the best feelings among his countrymen of 
 all races, classes and creeds, one of my kin, really 
 gifted to play a much better part, has been so sadly 
 mistaken as to exhaust his activities in forcing his 
 way to the leadership of a group of malcontents 
 unable to overcome their racial antipathies and 
 listen to reason, even when their country and the 
 Empire to which they have sworn allegiance are 
 destructively menaced. 
 
 He has nobody else to blame but himself for 
 the failure of his political career, due to his mis- 
 guided efforts in thwarting the happiness and 
 prosperity which our great Dominion would cer- 
 tainly derive from the persevering union of all the 
 citizens enjoying the blessings of her free British 
 institutions, to work out her brilliant destinies by 
 their intelligent labours, their hearted patrioism 
 in peace times, and with their undaunted courage 
 and their self-sacrificing devotion in war days. 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 After a somewhat prolonged spectacular dis- 
 play in the House of Commons, as member for the 
 electoral division of Labelle, he felt instinctively 
 that he had exhausted what he considered his use- 
 fulness, and was doomed to a dismal failure. He 
 retired from the Dominion political arena, to try 
 his luck in the Legislative Assembly of the Prov- 
 ince of Quebec. No wiser a man by experience, he 
 challenged the Leader of the parliamentary major- 
 ity to a truly duellist struggle on the floor of the 
 House. He thrusted at his opponent with the vig- 
 our of a combatant certain to conquer. All those 
 who witnessed this encounter, must remember how 
 completely overbearing confidence, proudly assert- 
 ed, was overcome by calm and superior argumenta- 
 tive power, sound and clear political sense. True 
 parliamentary eloquence easily brought to reason 
 pedantic and bombastic oratory. The first throw 
 — le debut — went decidedly against the Nationalist 
 leader. A beaten fighter from this very first day, 
 he met with as complete a failure in the provincial 
 political arena as he had done in the federal one. 
 Wisely indeed, he retired from parliamentary 
 life, after realizing that debating power cannot be 
 acquired by demagogic speaking. 
 
x PREFACE. 
 
 The Nationalist leader next limited his efforts 
 to the tribune, to the public platform. All remem- 
 ber the time when he was periodically calling 
 great popular meetings held in Le Monument 
 National, Montreal, where he preached his Na- 
 tionalist gospel with vehement talking. This new 
 experiment could not last. It soon subsided. And 
 the Nationalist leader is since addicted to pam- 
 phleteering of the worst kind as I will show in 
 this book. 
 
 Deeply moved by the dangers of a most mis- 
 chievous campaign, I considered it my bounded 
 duty to do my utmost efforts to prove how utterly 
 wrong were the views which those pursuing it with 
 passionate energy wanted to prevail, and to show 
 the sad consequences it was sure to produce. 
 
 Having first addressed myself to my French 
 Canadian compatriots to persuade them how much 
 detrimental to their best future the Nationalist 
 campaign was sure to be, I am to-day laying the 
 case before my English speaking countrymen, at 
 the urgent request of many of them, in order to 
 fully acquaint them with the refutation I have 
 made, to the best of my ability, of Mr. Bourassa's 
 erroneous theories and wild charges against Eng- 
 
PREFACE. xi 
 
 land and all those who patriotically support our 
 mother country in the great struggle she has had 
 to wage after doing all she possibly could to main- 
 tain the peace of the world. 
 
 I ardently desire that the reading of the fol- 
 lowing pages, will contribute to the restoration of 
 harmony and good will, for a while endangered by 
 the Nationalist campaign, in our wide Dominion, 
 to whose happiness, prosperity and grandeur we, 
 of both English and French origins, must devote 
 our best energies and all the resources of our 
 unwavering patriotism. 
 
 L. G. DESJAKDINS. 
 
 Quebec, October 1st, 1918. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 — Introduction 1 
 
 I — Who are the Guilty Parties? ... 25 
 II — The Persistent Efforts of England 
 
 in Favour of Peace 29 
 
 III — The Call to Duty in Canada ... 40 
 
 IV — Eecruiting by Voluntary Service . . 46 
 
 V — Intervention of Nationalism ... 49 
 
 VI — What Do We Owe England? ... 51 
 
 VII — Canada is not a Sovereign State . . 55 
 
 VIII — German Illusions 67 
 
 IX — The Nationalist Error 68 
 
 X — Had Canada the Right to Help Eng- 
 land? 71 
 
 XI — The Duty of Canada 74 
 
 XII — The Soudanese and the South Afri- 
 can Wars 77 
 
 XIII — British and German Aspirations 
 
 Compared .87 
 
 Sub-title — Construction and Supply . 93 
 
 " — Transport 97 
 
 " — The Air Service 98 
 
 " — The Financial Effort of 
 
 Great Britain .... 100 
 " — Achievements of Dominion, 
 Colonial and Indian 
 
 Troops 101 
 
xir CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 XIV — The Veritable Aims of the Allies . 104 
 Sub-title — The Only Possible Peace 
 
 " Conditions Ill 
 
 XV — Just and Unjust Wars 116 
 
 Sub-title — A "Nationalist" Illogical 
 
 Charge against England 125 
 " — Other "Nationalist" Er- 
 roneous Assertions . . 128 
 " — Incredirle "Nationalist" 
 
 Notions 131 
 
 " — Canadian Financial Oper- 
 ations in United 'States 134 
 XVI — "Nationalist" Views Condensed . . 139 
 XVII — Loyal Principles Propounded . . . 143 
 Sub-title — U njust " Nationalist " 
 Grievances against Eng- 
 land 150 
 
 XVIII — Imperialism . . 164 
 
 XIX — American Imperialism 177 
 
 XX — British Imperialism . 189 
 
 XXI— The Situations of 1865 and 1900-14 
 
 Compared ........ 194 
 
 XXII — British Imperialism Naturally 
 
 Pacifist 198 
 
 XXIII — British Imperialism and Political 
 
 Liberty 207 
 
 XXIV — Imperial Federation and Bourassism 216 
 Sub-title — Constitutional Develop- 
 ment of India .... 227 
 
CONTENTS. xv 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 XXVII — The Future Constitutional Be- 
 
 LATIONS OF THE EMPIRE . . . 231 
 
 Sub-title — No Taxation Without 
 
 [Representation . . . 235 
 " — Colonial Eepresentation 236 
 " — The Far Off Future . . 247 
 " —A Machiavelian Propo- 
 sition 251 
 
 " — A Treasonable Proposal 259 
 XXVIII — Outrages are No Eeasons . . . 267 
 XXIX — How Mr. Bourassa Paid His Com- 
 pliments to the Canadian 
 
 Army 277 
 
 XXX — Eash Denunciation of Public 
 
 Men 288 
 
 XXXI — Mr. Bourassa's Dangerous Pacif- 
 ism 302 
 
 XXXII — A Most Eeprehensible Abuse of 
 Sacred Appeals to the Bel- 
 ligerent Nations 307 
 
 XXXIII — A Case For True Statesman- 
 ship 321 
 
 XXXIV — After-the-War Military Problem 324 
 XXXV — The Intervention of the United 
 
 States in the War .... 334 
 
 XXXVI— The Allies— Eussia — Japan . . 348 
 
 XXXVII— The Last Peace Proposals ... 357 
 
XVI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 XXXVIII — Necessary Peace Conditions . . 372 
 
 XXXIX— Conclusion ........ 383 
 
 Appendix — A 411 
 
 Appendix — B . . . 421 
 
latglanfc, (Eana&a nnb tiff (irpat liar 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Canada, as one of the most important 
 component parts of the British Empire, is going 
 through the crucial ordeal of the great crisis which 
 will determine her destinies jointly with those of 
 the whole world. Instantly put under the strain, 
 four years ago, by the outrageous challenge of 
 Germany to human civilization with the criminal 
 purpose of universal domination, she was fully 
 equal to her unbounden duty. Conscious of her 
 sacred rights, she at once realized that the con- 
 stitutional liberties which she enjoyed in the freest 
 Empire of all times, could not be more patriotical- 
 ly exercised than for the defence of the sacred 
 cause which united in a gigantic effort England, 
 France and Russia, soon to receive the support of 
 Italy. By an almost unanimous and enthusiastic 
 decision she rallied to the flag around which all 
 
2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the Dependencies of the Empire gathered from the 
 five continents. Never a more inspiring array of 
 loyal subjects, owing allegiance to a Sovereingty, 
 was witnessed in the wide world. 
 
 Through the trying days of four full years of 
 the greatest war which ever saddened the life of 
 the human race, Canada has nobly, gloriously, 
 done her duty. Several hundred thousands of her 
 devoted sons have rushed to the front to fight 
 the battle of Liberty, of Right, of Civilization. 
 Thousands of them have heroically given their 
 lives for the triumph of the cause which, if finally 
 triumphant, will brighten with freedom, pros- 
 perity, human happiness and undying glory, the 
 destinies of many generations. 
 
 The struggle is not over. The battle is not 
 yet won. Victory is in sight but unfortunately 
 still so far distant, that it is still calling forth the 
 undaunted exertions of all those who have pledgeid 
 their faith to rescue the world from the miel 
 thraldom of German militarism. 
 
 Two years ago, ait the critical period which 
 culminated in the undecided military operations 
 which, though rendered illustrious by the glorious 
 defence of Verdun, made it plain to the Allies that 
 success would only be the reward of a much more 
 prolonged effort of untold sacrifices, I undertook 
 
mmRODUOTLON. 3 
 
 to write the book entitled in French: "L' Angle- 
 terre, le Canada et la Grande Guerre" 
 
 Several of the most influential and widely cir- 
 culated News-papers of Montreal, Toronto and 
 Quebec, have kindly published highly appreciative 
 Beviews of the French Edition of my book, con- 
 cluding with the request of the publication of an 
 English Edition, which, they affirmed, would be 
 conducive to the public good. I have received 
 many letters and verbal demands to the same 
 purpose. 
 
 It is my duty to answer to a call daily becom- 
 ing more pressing. 
 
 I now offer to the English reading public a 
 condensed edition of my work, with the title 
 "England, Canada and the Great War" I con- 
 cluded not to issue a complete English Edition of 
 the French volume. Instead of translating my 
 book, I considered it more advisable to write an 
 English synopsis of its contents . Undertaking 
 such a work, I realized more than ever how im- 
 portant it is for the Citizens of Canada to be able 
 to speak and write the languages of the two great 
 races of the Dominion. Knowing well my own de- 
 ficiency in this regard, I hoped, however, to write 
 the following pages with enough clearness to have 
 my views well understood, trusting to the kind- 
 
4 EOTKODUOTION. 
 
 ness of my readers to excuse the inadequacy of my 
 command of English. 
 
 A few words explaining the reasons that 
 prompted me to write the French book will, I am 
 <x)nfident, be kindly appreciated by my readers. 
 A close observer of the daily impressions which the 
 events developed by the war were creating in 
 Canada, I felt more and more deeply grieved at the 
 persistent and unpatriotic efforts of the leaders 
 of the Nationalist school of the Province of Que- 
 bec, and their henchmen, to sway my French- 
 Canadian countrymen from the clear path of duty. 
 I undertook earnestly to do my best to stem the 
 threatening wave of disloyal sentiment's and racial 
 conflict they were stirring up throughout the land. 
 "England, Canada and the Great War" was the 
 result of the very careful study of the numerous 
 questions therein considered and of the patriotic 
 impulse which led me to publish it. 
 
 I dedicated the volume to my French-Cana- 
 dian countrymen by a letter from which I trans- 
 late the following: 
 
 "It would surely be vain to conceal how seri- 
 ous was the situation imposed upon our country 
 by the sudden outbreak, in August, 1914, of the 
 greatest war of all times. It was dominated by 
 the supreme fact that Canada was a component 
 
INTRODUCTION. 6 
 
 part of one of the most powerful Empires whose 
 destinies were to be determined, for good or 
 ill, for many long years, by the terrible conflict 
 suddenly opened, but, for a prolonged period, pre- 
 pared by those who dreamt of conquering the 
 world." 
 
 "Great Britain, our Sovereign Metropolis, had 
 done her utmost to protect Humanity against the 
 misfortunes which endangered her future, for the 
 maintenance of peace. She had failed in her noble 
 efforts. At the very moment When, against all 
 the most critical appearances, she was still hope- 
 ful, she had, all of a sudden, to face the terrible 
 alternative, either to submit to national dishonour 
 by complying with the violation of solemn treaties 
 Which bound her as much as Germany, or to unite 
 with France and Russia to avenge Justice 
 outrageously violated, sworn international Faith, 
 Civilization perilously threatened. 
 
 "Could she hesitate for one single moment?" 
 "Our Mother Country has done that which 
 her most imperious duty commanded her to do. 
 She accepted the challenge of Germany with the 
 patriotic determination inspired by the most 
 sacred cause. All the loyal subjects of the British 
 Crown have applauded her decision to rush to the 
 defence of invaded Belgium and France, to reclaim 
 
6 UNITIRODUOTION. 
 
 their national honour and her own, and to protect 
 her Empire against the German armies." 
 
 "With the most inspiring unanimity and 
 admirable courage, all the British Colonies have 
 rallied around the flag of their Sovereign Metropo- 
 lis to share the glory of the triumph of Eight and 
 Justice. At the very front rank, Canada has 
 nobly done her duty. Her decision was most 
 spontaneous and decisive. She was not detered by 
 fallacious subtilties, deducted from pretended 
 conventions, out of age and opportunity, to hinder 
 her laudable and patriotic course. Throughout the 
 length and breadth of her vast territory, all minds 
 shared the same view, all hearts were united and 
 bekting with the same powerful sentiment." 
 
 "The decision of Canada to participate in 
 the present war was taken by the constitution- 
 al government of the country, sanctioned by 
 Parliament, approved by public opinion, glorified 
 by the hundreds of thousands of brave volunteers 
 who courageously answered the call of duty." 
 
 "Views with which I cannot concur have been 
 expressed and given full publicity. They challenge 
 discussion. It is my undoubted right to criticize 
 them." 
 
 "Since the beginning of the present war, Mr. 
 Henri Bourassa, in addition to the daily publicity 
 
INTRODUC-TOON. 7 
 
 of his journal "Le Devoir", has developed, in two 
 principal pamphlets, the theories of his "National- 
 ism". They are respectively entitled : "Que devons- 
 nous a VAngleterre?" "What de we owe England?" 
 and: "Hier, Aujourd'hui, Demain" "Yesterday, 
 To-day, To-morrow". 
 
 "In earnestly searching out the real causes of 
 the war, the responsibilities of the belligerent 
 nations, their respective aspirations, the duty 
 imposed by the irresistable course of events upon 
 the British Empire and consequently upon Canada, 
 I was incessantly called upon to consider the 
 very strange propositions contained in those 
 pamphlets." 
 
 "It was with great surprise that I read, for 
 instance, as the heading of one of the chapters, the 
 utterly false proposition that: "The Autonomous 
 Colonies are Sovereign States." 
 
 "And these most extraordinary affirmations 
 that the King of England has not the right to 
 declare the State of war for Canada, without the 
 assent of the Canadian Cabinet; that Canada could 
 have participated in the present war as a Nation. 
 
 "It is my bounden duty to affirm that almost 
 all the propositions contained in the two above 
 mentioned pamphlets are wrong according to 
 international law and to constitutional law, 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 erroneous in their historical bearings, contrary to 
 th£ true teachings of the past." 
 
 "Mr. Bourassa persistingly trying to convince 
 his readers that the precedents of the Soudanese 
 and the South-African wars have forced the 
 British Colonies to participate in the present one, I 
 considered it my duty to make, in two separate 
 chapters, a special study of those military cam- 
 paigns which, in both cases, were so felicitously 
 terminated for all parties concerned. 
 
 "I cannot close this letter without expressing 
 my profound regret that Mr. Bourassa has thought 
 proper to use most injurious language adding 
 outrage to the falsity of his opinions. At page 121 
 of his pamphlet : "Yesterday, To-day, To-morrow", 
 any one can read, no doubt with astonishment, 
 that Mr. Bourassa charges our countrymen of the 
 British races with being ignorant, assuming, arro- 
 gant, dominating and rotten with mercantilism" 
 
 ^Such ridiculous and insulting words to the 
 address of our countrymen of the three British 
 races are surely not calculated to increase Cana- 
 dian harmony." 
 
 "This book, written for the express purpose 
 of assisting you to form for yourselves a sound 
 opinion about the terrible events so rapidly 
 developing, was inspired by my loyalty to the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 Empire whose faithful subject I glory to be, by my 
 devotion to Canada and to my countrymen, by the 
 affectionate recollection of France I will cherish 
 to my last day. 
 
 "During the last fifty years, either as a pri- 
 vate or as an officer of the Canadian Militia — my 
 service as such having lasted more than forty years 
 --as a member of the Legislative Assembly of the 
 Province of Quebec, and as a member of the House 
 of Commons of Canada, I have often taken the oath 
 of allegiance to the Sovereign of Great Britain. 
 From my early youth, I had learned that under 
 the aegis of the British Crown, the citizen of the 
 Empire could be true to his oath, and enjoy the 
 precious liberty of expressing his opinion. But I 
 had also soon realized that during the lifetime of 
 a Sovereign State, days of peril might occur. I 
 had easily come to the conclusion that in those try- 
 ing moments the loyal duty could be very happily 
 reconciled with the most sincere love of political 
 liberty. 
 
 "In defending with the most sincere convic- 
 tion the sacred cause of the Allies, I am doing my 
 duty as a free subject of the British Empire, as a 
 citizen of Canada and of the Province of Quebec, 
 as a son of France, as a devoted servant of Justice 
 and Eight. I am true to my oath." 
 
10 rOTROBUCTION. 
 
 I desire to call the special attention of my 
 readers to the complete sense of the last para- 
 graph just quoted. I most decidedly wish its mean- 
 ing to be fully understood by all, as I intended to 
 convey it to my French Canadian compatriots. I 
 have never concurred in the subtle distinction so 
 often made between the several notions entertained 
 by many respecting their duty towards the Empire 
 and Canada separately. Having witnessed, for 
 the last fifty years, the admirable evolution and 
 natural growth of the British constitutional 
 system over a fourth of the globe, developing into 
 the freest Empire that ever existed, my mind was 
 more and more impressed with the conviction that 
 loyalty to the Sovereignty presiding over such a 
 magnificent national heritage could not be of two 
 different kinds. A free British subject, whether 
 living in the United Kingdom, or in any one of the 
 Dependencies of the Crown, cannot be at once loyal 
 to the Empire at large and disloyal to any of its 
 component parts ; or, vice versa, loyal to the par- 
 ticular section of the State where he is living and 
 at the same disloyal to the Empire. Su^h a false 
 conception of the duties of loyalty, if it could be 
 spread successfully throughout the Empire, would 
 undoubtedly lead to its rapid dissolution and com- 
 plete destruction. Genuine loyalty cannot agree 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 with exclusive and rampant sectionalism, with 
 local, racial or religious prejudices and fanaticism. 
 
 The few lines of the preceding closing para- 
 graph of my letter dedicating the French edition 
 of my book as aforesaid, express my own concep- 
 tion of the true loyalty of a faithful subject of the 
 British Sovereignty, who has the clear vision of the 
 meaning of his oath of allegiance. In consequence, 
 first, I affirm my duty as a subject of the 
 British Empire; second, as a citizen of Canada; 
 third, as a citizen of my own Province of Quebec. 
 And then, taking a wider range of the duty of any 
 man towards his ancestors lineage, I declare that 
 undfcr the cruel circumstances of the case, I also 
 consider it is my duty to defend France against 
 her deadly enemy. Further enlarging the vision 
 of duty to its fullest extent, I say that I am bound 
 to defend the cause of the Allies by proving that I 
 am a loyal servant of Justice and Right. 
 
 Surely I could not emphasize in terms more 
 pregnant my loyalty to the cause of the British 
 Empire, of France, and their Allies, of Liberty and 
 Civilization. I confidently hope they will persuade 
 my readers that this book was written with the 
 most sincere and patriotic desire to help rallying 
 my French Canadian compatriots to the defence 
 of the British, French and Canadian flags, 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 which must together emerge triumphant from the 
 gigantic fight against the most threatening wave 
 of barbarism the world has ever had to contend 
 with at the cost of so great and heroic sacrifices. 
 
 When the first French edition of this book 
 was issued, in January of last year, matters re- 
 specting the prosecution of the war had not yet 
 required the serious consideration by Parliament 
 and the country of the question of conscription to 
 maintain to their proper efficiency the Canadian 
 divisions on the firing line. Consequently, I was 
 not then called upon to consider that most im- 
 portant subject. When I had to decide about pub- 
 lishing a second French edition — the first being 
 entirely exhausted — I at first thought of adding 
 to my work a few chapters respecting the most 
 notable events developed by the gigantic struggle 
 shaking the world to its very basic foundation. 
 Foremost amongst them were the Russian sudden 
 Revolution, the solemn entrance of the United 
 States into the great fight, the imperious necessity 
 of the military effort of the Allies far beyond (that 
 which had been foreseen, in order to achieve the 
 final victory which will be the only adequate re- 
 ward of their undaunted determination not to 
 sheathe the sword before Germany will agree to 
 restore peace upon the only possible conditions 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 which will efficiently protect humanity from any 
 other attempt at brutal universal domination. The 
 question of conscription in Canada was the natu- 
 ral outcome of the progress of the deadly conflict 
 between Civilization and barbarism, constitutional 
 Freedom and despotism, democratic institutions 
 and autocracy. 
 
 I soon realized that I could not properly do 
 justice to such grave subjects in a few pages added 
 to my first book. After mature consideration, I 
 considered it was my duty to undertake to write a 
 second volume. I have so informed the public 
 in the Advertisement which preface the second 
 French edition of the first. This second volume 
 I will soon issue, also intending to publish an 
 English synopsis of it, if that of the first volume 
 meets the kind appreciation I hope of my English 
 speaking countrymen. 
 
 However, pending the publication of the sec- 
 ond volume, I think it is my duty to express now 
 my views, in a summary way, on that much dis- 
 cussed question of obligatory military service. 
 Let me preface by saying that they are not new, 
 having originated in my mind more than thirty 
 years ago. The military necessities of tlhe pres- 
 ent war have, of course, given them more precision 
 and clearness. 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Deeply conscious of the sacred duty of all 
 truly loyal British subjects through the present 
 prolonged world crisis for the life or death of 
 human Liberty, I had to consider conscription 
 from the double stand-point of a free citizen of 
 Canada and of my military experience acquired 
 in the course of a service of over forty years. 
 
 Most strongly and convincingly opposed to 
 the militarism of the atrocious German type — the 
 curse of Humanity — I have always believed — and 
 do still more and more believe — imbued, I hope, 
 with the true sense and principles of democratic 
 institutions, that the greatest boon that could be 
 granted the world would be that the admirable 
 Christian law of peace and good- will amongst men 
 would prevail for all times, and save the nations 
 from the cruel obligation of keeping themselves 
 constantly fully armed at the great cost of the best 
 years of manhood, and of their accumulated treas- 
 ures. But unfortunately it has not yet been the 
 good luck of man to reach the goal of this most 
 noble ambition. Instead of a steady advance in 
 the right direction, he has, for the last fifty years, 
 experienced a most dangerous set back by the pre- 
 dominating influence of German militarism, de- 
 veloped and mastered by the most autocratic 
 power to the point of threatening the liberties of 
 the whole world. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 Need I say that, as a purely philosophical 
 question of principle, I most sincerely deplore that 
 the political state of the world has been and is 
 such that national safety cannot be, in too many 
 cases, properly assured without the law of the 
 land calling upon the manhood of a country to 
 make the sacrifice of part of the best years of 
 enthusiastic youth, and requiring from the nation, 
 as a collective body, the expenditure, to an 
 untold amount, for the purposes of defence, of the 
 accumulated savings of hard work and intelligent 
 thrift. 
 
 Fortunately, the two continents of America, 
 so abundantly blessed by Providence, had, until 
 the present war, been able to pursue their pros- 
 perous and dignified course free from the entangle- 
 ments of European Militarism. 
 
 Even England, in all the majesty of her Im- 
 perial power, her flag gloriously waving over so 
 many millions of free men, protected as she was 
 by the waves which she ruled with grandeur and 
 grace, had succeeded in avoiding the curse of 
 continental conscriptionism. 
 
 Between permanent conscription, despotically 
 imposed upon a nation under autocratic rule, and 
 temporary military compulsion freely accepted by 
 a noble people for the very purpose of saving 
 
16 • INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Humanity from military absolutism, there is, 
 every one must admit, a wide difference. I have 
 been, I am, and will be, to my last day, the uncom- 
 promising opponent of autocratic conscription, 
 which I consider as a permanent crime against 
 Christian Civilization, and the ready instrument 
 of barbarous domination. To temporary compul- 
 sion I can agree, as a matter of patriotic and na- 
 tional duty, if the circumstances of the case are 
 sudh that without its timely use, my country which 
 has the first and undoubted right to my most 
 patriotic devotion, at the cost of all I may own and 
 even of my life, for her defence, would fall the 
 prey to despotism which would bleed her to death 
 to sway the world. 
 
 Such is the ordeal through which Canada, the 
 British Empire, in fact much the greater part of 
 the universe, are passing with torrents of blood 
 shed to rescue Mankind from the domination of 
 German militarism. 
 
 If Germany could have her course free; if she 
 could reach the goal of her criminal ambition, 
 nearly the whole world would be, for many long 
 years, in the throes of the most abominable con- 
 scriptionism. 
 
 If after the enthusiasm of voluntary military 
 service has exhausted itself from the very success- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 ful result of its patriotic effort, is it not a duty for 
 all loyal citizens to accept temporary compulsion, 
 to save their country from the horrors of defeat at 
 the hands of the most cruel enemy which has ever 
 shamed the light of the sun since it shines over the 
 Human race blessed with Christian principles and 
 moral teachings. 
 
 To the present generation of young men, 
 strong, healthy, brave, let us say : be worthy of the 
 times you live in, be equal to the great task im- 
 posed upon you, accepting with patriotism the 
 sacrifices you are called upon to make, never for- 
 getting that temporary compulsion for you means 
 freedom from permanent conscription for your 
 children and children's children in years to come. 
 
 It is from the very height of such lofty con- 
 siderations that I have made up my mind about 
 this much vexed question which will, we must all 
 earnestly hope, be more and more well understood 
 and eventually settled to the everlasting good of 
 the country once for all delivered from the exas- 
 perating menace of German despotism. 
 
 I must reserve for the second volume of this 
 work, the fuller expression of my views of what 
 should be the military system to be maintained in 
 Canada, after the very wide experience we will 
 have derived from the present great war. All I 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 will add now is that ever since the early eighties of 
 the last century, after many years of voluntary 
 service in the Canadian Militia, I had fully real- 
 ized that it is no more possible to make a real sol- 
 dier by a few days yearly training, for three years, 
 than you can make a competent lawyer of a young 
 man studying law for a fortnight in the course of 
 three consecutive years. 
 
 'Since the federal Union of the Provinces we 
 had spent much more than a hundred million of 
 dollars for the training of our militia, with the 
 appalling result that when came the day of getting 
 ready for the fray, we had not two thousand men 
 to send at once to the firing line. The first thirty 
 thousands of the brave men who enthusiastically 
 volunteered to go to the front had to be trained, 
 at Valcartier and in England, several months be- 
 fore being sent to face the enemy whose waves of 
 permanent divisions of armed men had overrun, 
 like a torrent, Belgium and northern France. Of 
 course, our boys fought and died like heroes, but 
 nevertheless we at last learned, at our great cost, 
 that soldiers no more than lawyers, doctors, 
 merchants, transportation managers, bankers, 
 business men of all callings, farmers, sailors, etc., 
 can be qualified in a day. 
 
 When the time shall come to consider what 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 will be the requirements of our military organiza- 
 tion, after this terrible struggle is over, I hope 
 none will forget that war is a great science, an 
 awful and very difficult art, so that we shall not 
 deceive ourselves any longer by the illusion that 
 an army can be drawn from the earth in twenty 
 four hours. 
 
 Our most efficient military commander can- 
 not entertain the foolish delusion of Pompey, so 
 crushingly beaten by Caesar, at Pharsalia, that he 
 can raise legions by striking the ground with his 
 foot. 
 
 If our future national circumstances turn out 
 to be such, after the restoration of peace, that we 
 will not be called upon to make heavy sacrifices for 
 defence — let Providence so bless our dear country 
 — it will then be much more rational to save our 
 money than to squander it on a military system 
 which cannot produce military efficiency. 
 
 The future can be trusted to settle favourably 
 its own difficulties. For us of the present genera- 
 tion, we have to attend to the imperative and sac- 
 red duty of the hour. Let no one shirk his respon- 
 sibilities, waver in the heavy task, falter before the 
 sacrifices to be patriotically and heroically accept- 
 ed. To deserve the everlasting gratitude of future 
 generations, we must secure to them the blessings 
 
20 TNITEiODiUCTIiON. 
 
 of permanent peace in a renovated world freed 
 from the tyranny of autocratic despotism. 
 
 Surely, I will be permitted to say that, under- 
 taking to write England, Canada and the Great 
 War, I fully realized my bounden duty to study all 
 the questions Raised by the terrible struggle, un- 
 reservedly, absolutely, outside of all party con- 
 siderations, of all racial prejudices. A party man, 
 in the only true and patriotic sense of the word, 
 during the twenty-five years of my active political 
 life, as a journalist and a member of the Quebec 
 Legislature and of the Parliament of Canada, it 
 became my lot in the official position which I was 
 asked to accept and which I loyally filled, to 
 all intents and purposes, for many years, to train 
 my mind more and more to judge public questions 
 solely from the point of view of the public good. 
 I do not mmn to say that partyism, well under- 
 stood and patriotically practiced, is not productive 
 of good to a country blessed with free institutions. 
 But certainly in the course of a progressive, intel- 
 ligent and eventful national life, enobled by Free- 
 dom happily enjoyed, times occur when it behooves 
 every one to rise superior to all other considera- 
 tions, however important they may be, to serve the 
 only one worthy of all sacrifices : the salvation of 
 the country. Never was this principle so true, so 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 imperative, than on the day when the world was so 
 audaciously challenged by Germany to the deadly 
 conflict still raging with undiminished fury. 
 
 That most important question of military 
 obligatory service, brought up by the pressure of 
 the imperious necessities of military operations, 
 lengthening and intensifying to unforeseen pro- 
 portions, was for many weeks considered by 
 Parliament. Surely, no one for a single moment 
 entertained the idea that, however desirable and 
 imperative it was for the representatives of the 
 people to be of only one mind so far as the prosecu- 
 tion of Canada's share in the war was concerned, 
 constant unanimity of opinion was possible re- 
 specting the various measures to be adopted to 
 that end. Parliament sitting in the performance 
 of its constitutional functions, with all its un- 
 doubted privileges, could not be expected not to 
 exercise its right to debate all the matters con- 
 stitutionally proposed for its concurrence and 
 approval. I must certainly and wisely refrain from 
 any comment whatsoever upon the lengthy discus- 
 sion of the Military Service Act in both Houses in 
 Ottawa. Having received the Koyal Assent, the 
 Bill is now the law of the land. All will patri- 
 otically rejoice to see that without waving their 
 right to pronounce upon the deeds and the views 
 
22 INITEODUCTHON. 
 
 of those who are responsible to them, the free citi- 
 zens of Canada will cheerfully accept the new sac- 
 rifices imposed by the obligation of carrying the 
 war to a successful issue, praying to God to bless 
 their patriotic efforts, and even with the true 
 Christian spirit, to forgive guilty Germany if she 
 will only repent for her crimes, and agree to repair 
 a reasonable part of the immense damages she has 
 wrought upon trodden and martyred nations. 
 
 I hope, — and most ardently wish — that all my 
 readers will agree with me that next to the neces- 
 sity of winning the war — and, may I say, even as of 
 almost equal importance for the future grandeur 
 of our beloved country — range that of promoting 
 by all lawful means harmony and good will 
 amongst all our countrymen, whatever may be 
 their racial origin, their religious faith, their par- 
 ticular aspirations not conflicting with their de- 
 votion to Canada as a whole, nor with thdir loyalty 
 to the British Empire, whose greatness and pres- 
 tige they want to firmly help to uphold with the 
 inspiring confidence that more and more they will 
 be the unconquerable bulwark of Freedom, Justice, 
 Civilization and Eight. 
 
 After having so fully expressed my profound 
 conviction of what I consider to be my sacred duty 
 •as a loyal British subject, I feel sure I will be al- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 23 
 
 lowed to ask my English-speaking countrymen not 
 to judge my French compatriots by the sayings 
 and deeds of persons, too well gifted and too prone 
 to injure their future and that of the whole country 
 itself, but utterly disqualified and impotent to do 
 them any good. 
 
 Need I affirm that my French Canadian com- 
 patriots are loyal at heart, a liberty loving and 
 peaceful people, law-abiding citizens, fairly mind- 
 ed, intelligent, hard working, industrious. They 
 have done, they are doing, and will do, their fair 
 share for the progress and the future greatness of 
 our wide and mighty Dominion. To all those who 
 desire to appreciate their course in all fairness 
 and Christian Justice, I will say: do not fail to 
 take into account that like all other national 
 groups they are liable, in overtrying circum- 
 stances, to be in a certain measure wrongly in- 
 fluenced by deficiencies of leadership, but depend 
 that they cannot be, for any length of time, carried 
 away by unscrupulous players on their feelings. 
 Some of them were deceived by persistent efforts 
 to persuade them that England was, as much as 
 Germany, guilty of having precipitated the great 
 war which has been the curse of almost the whole 
 world for the last four years. The accumulated 
 remembrance of their staunch loyalty and patriot- 
 
24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ism during more than a century and a half will do 
 much to favour the harmonious relations of all 
 Canadians of good will who, I have no doubt, com- 
 prise millions of well wishers of the glorious 
 destiny of our country. 
 
 May I be allowed to conclude by saying that 
 my most earnest desire is to do all in my power, 
 in the rank and file of the great army of free men, 
 to reach the goal which ought to be the most per- 
 severing and patriotic ambition of loyal Canadians 
 of all origins and creeds. 
 
 And I repeat, wishing my words to be re- 
 echoed throughout the length and breadth of the 
 land I so heartily cherish : — I have always been, 
 I am and will ever be, to my last breath, true to my 
 oath of allegiance to my Sovereign and to my 
 country. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 Who Are The Guilty Parties? 
 
 Any one sincerely wishing to arrive at a sound 
 opinion on the great war raging for the last four 
 years, must necessarily make a serious study of 
 the causes which led to the terrific struggle so 
 horribly straining the energies of the civilized 
 world to escape tyrannical domination. The case 
 having been so fully discussed, and the responsi- 
 bilities of the assailant belligerents so completely 
 proved, I surely need not show at length that the 
 German Emperor, his military party, the group of 
 the German population called Junkers, are to the 
 highest degree, the guilty parties of all the woful 
 wrongs imposed upon Mankind and of the blood- 
 shed unprecedented in all the ages. 
 
 The German Empire had for many years de- 
 cided that it would not alone attempt to dominate 
 the world. It wanted a partner to share the 
 responsibility of the crime it was ready to commit 
 at the first favourable opportunity, but a docile 
 partner which she could direct at will, command 
 with imperious orders, and crush without mercy 
 at the first move of resistance. That plying tool 
 was found in the complicity of Austria-Hungary, 
 for years under the sway of Berlin diplomacy. 
 
26 ENGHLAINSD, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 ]STo sane man, if he is sincere, if he is honest, 
 can now, for a single moment, hesitate to proclaim 
 that between Germany and Austria-Hungary, and 
 the group of nations henceforth bearing the glori- 
 ous name of The Allies, Eight and Justice are on 
 the side of England, of France, of the United 
 States, of Belgium, of Italy, of Canada. 
 
 Where is the man with a sound mind, with a 
 strong heart, beating with the noble impulses of 
 righteousness, with a soul dignified by lofty as- 
 pirations, who ignores to-day that for fifty years 
 previous to the declaration of war, in August 1914, 
 Germany had been perfecting her military organi- 
 zation for a grand effort at universal domination? 
 
 All my life a close student of History, I was 
 much impressed by the constant Policy of England 
 to maintain Peace during the last century. When 
 the World emerged from the great wars of the 
 Napoleonic Era, she firmly took her stand in favour 
 of peaceful relations between the nations, trusting 
 more and more for the future prosperity of them 
 all to the advantages to be derived from the per- 
 manency of friendly intercourse, from the ever 
 increasing development of international trade, 
 prompted by the freest possible exchanges of the 
 products of all the countries blessed by Providence 
 with large and varied resources. Her statesmen, 
 so many of them truly worthy of this name, how- 
 ever divided they may have been with regard to 
 questions of domestic government and internal re- 
 forms, were most united about the course to be 
 
WHO AWE THE OUIIJTY RAiR/ELESt 27 
 
 followed respecting foreign relations. Perhaps 
 more than all others haying a say in the manage- 
 ment of the world's affairs at large, they fully 
 realized that no nation could prosper and success- 
 fully work out her destinies by systematically 
 trying to injure her neighbours. No independent 
 country can become wealthier, happier, and great- 
 er, by spreading ruin and devastation around her 
 frontiers. 
 
 The most convincing evidence that England 
 was constantly favourable to the maintenance of 
 peace amongst the great Powers of the World, for 
 the last hundred years, is found in her permanent 
 determination not to be drawn into the vortex of 
 European continental militarism, so powerfully 
 developed by Prussianism. She could have organ- 
 ized a standing army of millions of men. She 
 would not. True, during the few years which pre- 
 ceded the present hurricane, some of the most emi- 
 nent of England's military officers, notably, fore- 
 most amongst them, Lord Roberts, seeing, with 
 their eyes wide open, the aggravated dangers ac- 
 cumulating on the darkening horizon, Avarned 
 their countrymen about the threatening waves 
 which menaced the future of the world. But 
 British public opinion, as a whole, would not 
 depart from her almost traditional policy of 
 "non-intervention". For nearly a century, Great 
 Britain maintained her "splendid isolation", trust- 
 ing to the sound sense which should always govern 
 the world to protect Mankind against the horrors 
 
28 ENOIiAND, CANADA AND THIE WAR. 
 
 of a general war. Never was this great national 
 policy better exemplified than during the long and 
 glorious reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. 
 For more than fifty years, she graced one of the 
 most illustrious Thrones that ever presided over 
 the destinies of a great Empire, with sovereign 
 dignity, with womanly virtues, with motherly de- 
 votion, with patriotic respect of the constitutional 
 liberties of her free subjects. When she departed 
 for a better world, she was succeeded by the great 
 King and Emperor — Edward VII. — who, during 
 the few years of his memorable reign, proved him- 
 self so much the friendly supporter of harmony 
 and good will amongst the nations that he de- 
 served to be called "The King of the Peace of 
 the World." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Persistent Efforts of England in Favour of 
 
 Peace. 
 
 In 1891, Lord Salisbury, then Prime Minister 
 of England, witnessing the constant progress of 
 Prussian militarism on land and sea, and fully 
 conscious of the misfortunes it was preparing for 
 Humanity, ordered an official statement to be 
 made of the extravagant cost of the European 
 military organization, and sent it confidentially to 
 the German Kaiser, who took no notice of it. 
 
 In 1896, Lord Salisbury lays before the Czar 
 of Russia all the information he has obtained on 
 the question of militarism in Europe. On the 
 28th of August, 1898, the Emperor of Russia ad- 
 dressed to the world his celebrated Manifesto in 
 favour of peace. It urged, first, the necessity of a 
 truly permanent peace; second, the limitation of 
 military preparation which, in its ever increasing 
 development, was causing the economic ruin of the 
 nations. 
 
 The conferences of The Hague in favour of an 
 international agreement for the maintenance of 
 peace were the direct result of the initiative of the 
 British Prime Minister, who foresaw the frightful 
 consequences for Humanity of the enormous de- 
 velopment of militarism by the German Empire. 
 
30 BNGdjAINiD, CANADA AND .TSEDE WAR. 
 
 All the great Powers of Europe and. America, 
 together with the secondary states, at once hearti- 
 ly concurred with the proposition of the Czar of 
 Kussia. Unfortunately, there were two sad excep- 
 tions to the consent to consider the salutary pur- 
 pose so anxiously desired by those who valued as 
 they should all the benefits the world would have 
 derived from an international system assuring 
 permanent peace. Germany and Austria, the lat- 
 ter already for years dominated by the former, 
 opposed the patriotic move of the Emperor of 
 Kussia, suggested to him by Great Britain. They 
 agreed to be represented at the Conferences for the 
 only object of thwarting the efforts in favour of a 
 satisfactory enactment of new rules of Inter- 
 national Law to henceforth protect the world 
 against a general conflagration, and to free the 
 nations from the crushing burdens of a militarism 
 daily developing more extravagant. 
 
 Ministerial changes in Great Britain in no 
 way altered this part of the foreign policy of the 
 Mother Country. In 1905, Mr. Campbell Banner- 
 man became Prime Minister of England. He was 
 well known to be an ardent pacifist. Deprecating 
 the mad increase of unchecked militarism, he said, 
 in his ministerial program : — 
 
 "A policy of huge armaments keeps alive and 
 stimulates and feeds the belief that force is the 
 best, if not the only, solution of international 
 differences." 
 
 On the 8th of March, 1906, Lord Haldane, then 
 
ENGIiAiND IN FAVOUR OF PEiAjCE. 31 
 
 Minister of War, declared in the British House of 
 Commons : — 
 
 "1 wish we were near the time when the 
 nations would consider together the reduction of 
 
 armaments Only by united action can we 
 
 get rid of the burden which is pressing so heavily 
 on all civilized nations" 
 
 The second Conference of The Hague which 
 took place in July and October, 1907, was then 
 being organized. Russia was again its official pro- 
 moter. Well aware of the uncomprising stand of 
 Germany on the question of reduced armaments, 
 she had not included that matter in the program 
 she had decided to lay before the Conference. The 
 British Government did all they could to have it 
 placed on the orders to be taken into consideration. 
 A member of the Labor Party, Mr. Vivian, moved 
 in the House of Commons, that the Conference of 
 the Hague be called upon to discuss that most im- 
 portant subject. His motion was unanimously and 
 enthusiastically carried. 
 
 Informing the House that the Cabinet heartily 
 approved the Resolution, Sir Edward Grey, Sec- 
 retary for Foreign Affairs, said : — 
 
 U I do not believe that at any time has the 
 conscious public opinion in the various countries 
 of Europe set more strongly in the direction of 
 peace than at the present time, and yet the burden 
 of military and naval expenditure goes on increas- 
 ing. No greater service could it (the Hague Con- 
 ference) do, than to make the conditions of peace 
 
32 EiNG<DAND, CANADA AND ITOEHEi WAE. 
 
 less expensive than they are at the present time. 
 . . . It is said we are waiting upon foreign nations 
 in order to reduce our expenditure. As a matter 
 of fact, we are all waiting on each other. Some 
 day or other somebody must take the first step. . . 
 I do, on behalf of the Government, not only accept, 
 but welcome such a resolution as this as a whole- 
 some and beneficial expression of opinion" 
 
 In July, 1906, a most important meeting of 
 the Inter-Parliamentary Union took place in Lon- 
 don. Twenty- three countries, enjoying the privi- 
 leges, in various proportions, of free institutions, 
 were represented at this memorable Congress of 
 Nations. In the course of his remarkable opening 
 speech of the first sitting, Mr. Campbell-Banner- 
 man, Prime Minister, said : — 
 
 "Urge your Governments, in the name of hu- 
 manity, to go into The Hague Conference as we 
 ourselves hope to go, pledged to diminished charges 
 in respect of armaments." 
 
 A motion embodying the views so earnestly 
 pressed by the British Government was unani- 
 mously carried. 
 
 On the fifth of March, 1907, only four months 
 before the opening of the Second Hague Con- 
 ference, Mr. Campbell-Bannerman, affirming the 
 bounden duty of England to propose the restric- 
 tion of armiaments, said, in the British House of 
 Commons : — 
 
 "Holding the opinion that there is a great 
 movement of feeling among thinking people in all 
 
ENGLAND IN FAVOUR OP PEACE. 33 
 
 the nations of the world, in favor of some restraint 
 on the enormous expenditure involved in the pres- 
 ent system so long as it exists We have de- 
 sired and still desire to place ourselves in the very 
 front rank of those who think that the warlike 
 attitude of powers, as displayed by the excessive 
 growth of armaments is a curse to Europe, and the 
 sooner it is checked, in however moderate a degree, 
 the better" 
 
 Unfortunately, German hostility to reduced 
 armaments prevented any good result from the 
 second Hague Conference in the way of checking 
 extravagant and ruinous military organization. 
 There was sad disappointment in all the reason- 
 able world and specially in England at this de- 
 plorable outcome. Mr. Oampbell-Bannerman ex- 
 pressed it as follows: — 
 
 "We had hoped that some great advance might 
 be made towards a common consent to arrest the 
 wasteful and growing competition in naval a*>d 
 military armaments. We were disappointed" 
 
 Unshaken in her determination to do her ut- 
 most to protect Civilization against the threaten- 
 ing arid ever increasing dangers of German mili- 
 tarism, England persisted with the most laudable 
 perseverance in her noble efforts to that much de- 
 sired end. But all her pleadings, however con- 
 vincing, were vain. Germany was obdurate. 
 Finally, on the 30th of March, 1911, speaking in 
 the Keichstag, the German Imperial Chancellor 
 threw off the mask, and positively declared that 
 
34 ENGLAND, OANAGDA [AND ITHB WAR. 
 
 the question of reduced armaments admitted of no 
 possible solution "as long as men were men and 
 States were States," 
 
 A more brutal declaration could hardly have 
 been made. It was a cynical challenge to the 
 World. Times were maturing and Germany was 
 anxiously waiting for the opportunity to strike the 
 blow which would stagger Humanity. 
 
 Through all the great crisis of July and Au- 
 gust, 1914, directly consequent upon the odious 
 crime of Sarajevo, England exhausted all her ef- 
 forts to maintain peace, but unfortunately without 
 avail. 
 
 Knowing very well how much England sin- 
 cerely wished the maintenance of peace, the Ger- 
 man Government was to the last moment under 
 the delusion that it could succeed in having Great 
 Britain to remain neutral in a general European 
 war. They were not ashamed to presume they 
 could bribe England. Without blushing they made 
 to the British Government the infamous proposi- 
 tion contained in the following despatch from Sir 
 E. Gosehen, the British Ambassador at Berlin, 
 to Sir Edward Grey, the Secretary of State for 
 Foreign Affairs: — 
 
 Sir E. Gosehen to Sir Edward Grey (Received July 29). 
 
 Berlin, July 29, 1914. 
 (Telegraphic.) 
 
 I was asked to call upon the Chancellor to-night. His 
 His Excellency had just returned from Potsdam. 
 
 He said that should Austria foe attacked -by Russia a Euro- 
 pean conflagration might, he feared, become inevitable, owing to 
 
ENGLAND IN FAVOUR OF PEACE. 35 
 
 'Germany's obligation as Austria's ally, in spite of his continued 
 efforts to maintain peace. He then proceeded to make the follow- 
 ing strong bid for British neutrality. He said that it was clear, so 
 far as he Was able to judge the main principle which governed 
 British policy, that Great Britain would never stand by and allow 
 France to be crushed in any conflict there might be. That, however, 
 was not the object at which Germany aimed. Provided that neu- 
 trality of Great Britain was certain, every assurance would be 
 given to the British Government that the Imperial Government 
 aimed at no territorial acquisitions at the expense of France should 
 they prove victorious in any war that might ensue. 
 
 I questioned his Excellency aibout the French colonies, and 
 he said he was unaible to give a similar undertaking in that re- 
 spect. As regards Holland, however, his Excellency said that, so 
 long as Germany's adversaries respected the integrity and neu- 
 trality of the Netherlands, Germany was ready to give His 
 Majesty's Government an assurance that she would do likewise. 
 It depended upon the action of France what operations Germany 
 might be forced to enter upon in Belgium, tout when the war was 
 over, Belgian integrity would be respected if she had not sided 
 against Germany. 
 
 His Excellency ended by saying that ever since he had 
 been Chancellor the object of his policy had been, as you were 
 aware, to bring about an understanding with England; he trusted 
 that these assurances might form the basis of that understanding 
 which he so much desired. He had in mind a general neutrality 
 agreement between England and Germany, though it was of 
 course at the present moment too early to discuss details, and an 
 assurance of British neutrality in the conflict which present crisis 
 might possibly produce, would enable him to look forward to 
 realisation of his desire. 
 
 In reply to his Excellency's inquiry "how I thought his re- 
 quest would appeal to you, I said that I did not think it probable 
 that at this stage of events you would care to bind yourself to any 
 course of action and that I was of opinion that you would desire 
 to retain full liberty. 
 
 Our conversation upon this subject having come to an en«d, 
 I communicated the contents of your telegram of to-day to his 
 Excellency, who expressed his best thanks to you. 
 
 To the foregoing outrageous proposition, the 
 Government of Great Britain gave the proud and 
 
36 ENGLAND, ClANADA AND ITiHEi WA(R. 
 
 noble reply which follows, for all times to be re- 
 corded in diplomatic annals to the eternal honour 
 and glory of the Ministers who incurred the re- 
 sponsibility of, and of the distinguished diplomat 
 who drafted, that memorable document : — 
 
 Sir Edward Grey to Sir E. Goschen. 
 
 (Telegraphic.) 
 
 Foreign Office, July 30, 1914. 
 Your telegram of 29th July. 
 
 His Majestyt's Government cannot for a. moment entertain 
 the Chancellor's proposal that they should (bind themselves to 
 neutrality on such terms. 
 
 What he asks us in effect is to engage to stand by while 
 French colonies are taken and France is beaten so long as Ger- 
 many does not take French territory as distinct from the colonies. 
 
 From the material point of view such a proposal is unac- 
 ceptable, for France, without further territory in Europe being 
 taken from her, could foe so crushed as to lose her position as a 
 Great Power, and become subordinate to German policy. 
 
 Altogether, apart from that, it would be a disgrace for us 
 to make this bargain with Germany at the expense of France, a 
 disgrace from which the good name of this country would never 
 recover. 
 
 The Chancellor also in effect asks us to bargain away what- 
 ever obligation or interest wz have as regards the neutrality of 
 Belgium. We could not entertain that bargain either. 
 
 Having said so much, it is unnecessary to examine whether 
 the prospect of a future general neutrality agreement between 
 England and Germany offered positive advantages sufficient to 
 compensate us for tying our hands now. We must preserve our 
 full freedom to act as circumstances may seem to us to require. in 
 any such unfavourable and regrettable development of the present 
 crisis as the Chancellor contemplates. 
 
 You should speak to the Chancellor in the above sense, and 
 add most earnestly that the only way of maintaining the good re- 
 lations 'between England and Germany is that they should continue 
 to work together to preserve the peace of Europe; if we succeed in 
 this abject, the mutual relations of Germany and England will, I 
 (believe, ibe ipso facto improved and strengthened. For that object 
 His Majesty's Government will work in that way with all sincerity 
 and good- will. 
 
ENGLAND IN FAVOUR OF PEAOEi 37 
 
 And I will say this: if the peace of Europe can be preserved, 
 and the present crisis safely passed, my own endeavour will be to 
 promote some arrangement to which Germany will be a party, 
 by which she could be assured that no aggressive or hostile policy 
 would »be pursued against her or her allies by France, Russia, and 
 ourselves, jointly or separately. I have desired this and worked 
 for it, as far as I could, through the last Balkan crisis, and, Ger- 
 many having a corresponding object, our relations sensibly im- 
 proved. The idea has hitherto been to Utopian to form the sub- 
 ject of definite proposals, but if this present crisis, so much more 
 acute than any that Europe has gone through for generations, be 
 safely passed, I am hopeful that the relief and reaction which will 
 follow may make possible some more definite rapprochement be- 
 tween the Powers than has been possible hitherto. 
 
 The British Government could not take a more 
 dignified stand and express their indignation at the 
 infamous proposal in stronger and more noble 
 terms. 
 
 Let us now read the indignant protest of Mr. 
 Asquith, the British Prime Minister, against the 
 outrageous German proposition, addressed to the 
 House of Commons, where it raised a storm of ap- 
 plause, proclaiming to the World the dogged de- 
 termination of England to wage war rather than 
 agree to the dishonourable German proposal : — 
 
 What does that amount to? Let me just ask the House. 
 I do so, not with the object of inflaming passion, certainly not 
 with the object of exciting feeling against Germany, but I do so to 
 vindicate and make clear the position of the British Government 
 in this matter. What did that proposal amount to? In the first 
 place, it meant this: That behind the back oi France — they were 
 not made a party to these communications — we should have given, 
 if we had assented to that, a free license to Germany to annex, in 
 the event of a successful war, the whole of the extra European 
 dominions and possessions of France. What did it mean as re- 
 gards Belgium? When she addressed, as she has addressed in 
 the last few days, her moving appeal to us to fulfil our solemn 
 
38 ENCHUAJND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 guarantee of her neutrality, "What reply should we have given? 
 What reply should we have given to that Belgian appeal? We 
 should have been obliged to say that without her knowledge we 
 had bartered away to the Power (threatening her our obligation 
 to keep our plighted word. The House has read, and the country 
 ihas read, of course, in the last few (hours, the most pathetic appeal 
 addressed by the King of Belgium, and I do not envy the man 
 who can read that appeal with an unmoved heart. Belgians are 
 fighting and losing their lives. What would have been the posi- 
 tion of Great Britain to-day in the face of that spectacle if we had 
 assented to this infamous proposal? Yes, and what are we to get 
 an return for the betrayal of our friends and the dishonour of our 
 obligations? What are we -to get in return? A promise — nothing 
 more; a promise as to what Germany would do in certain eventu- 
 alities; a promise, be it observed — I am sorry to say it, but it must 
 be put upon record — given by a Power which was at that very 
 moment announcing its intention to violate its own treaty, and 
 inviting us to do the same. I can only say, if we had dallied or 
 temporized, we, as a Government, should have covered ourselves 
 with dishonour, and we should have betrayed the interests of this 
 country, of which we are trustees. 
 
 After quoting and eulogizing the telegraphic 
 despatch of Sir Edward Grey to Sir E. Goschen, 
 dated July 30, 1914, Mr. Asquith proceeded as 
 follows : — 
 
 That document, in my opinion, states clearly, in temperate 
 and convincing language, the attitude of this 'Government. *Can 
 any one who reads it fail to appreciate the tone of obvious sincerity 
 and earnestness which underlies it; can any one honestly doubt 
 that the Government of this country in spite of great provocation 
 — and I regard the proposals made to us as proposals which we 
 might have thrown aside without consideration and almost without 
 answer — can any one doubt that in spite of great provocation the 
 right hon. gentleman, who had already earned the title — and no 
 one ever more deserved it — of Peace Maker of Europe, persisted 
 to the very last moment of the last hour in that beneficent but 
 unhappily frustrated purpese. I am entitled to say, and I do so 
 on behalf of this country — I speak not for a party, I speak for the 
 country as a whole — that we made every effort any Government 
 could possibly make for peace. But this war has been forced upon 
 
ENGLAND IN FAVOUR OP PEACE. 39 
 
 us. What is it we are fighting for? Every one knows, and no one 
 knows ibetter than the Government the terrible incalculable suffer- 
 ing, economic, social, personal and political, which war, and es- 
 pecially a war between the Great Powers of the world must entail. 
 There is no man amongst us sitting upon this bench in these try- 
 ing days — more trying perhaps than any body of statesmen for a 
 hundred years have had to pass through, there is not a man 
 amongst us who has not, during the whole of that time, had clearly 
 before his vision the almost unequalled suffering which war, even 
 in just cause, must bring about, not only to the peoples who are 
 for the moment living in this country and in the other countries 
 of the world, but to posterity and to the whole prospects of 
 European civilization. Every step we took with that vision before 
 our eyes, and with a sense of responsibility which it is impossible 
 to describe. Unhappily, if in spite of all our efforts to keep the 
 peace, and with that full and overpowering consciousness of the 
 result, if the issue be decided in favour of war, we have, neverthe- 
 less, thought it to be the duty as well as the interest of this country 
 to go to war, the House may he well assured it was because we 
 (believe, and I am certain the Cotmtryi will believe, we are un- 
 sheathing our sword in a just cause. 
 
 Iif I am asked what we are fighting for I reply in two 
 sentences. In the first place to fulfil a solemn international obli- 
 gation, an obligation which, if it had 'been entered into between 
 private persons in the ordinary concerns of life, would have been 
 regarded as an obligation not only of law but of honour, which no 
 self-respecting man could possibly have repudiated. I say, second- 
 ly, we are fighting to vindicate the principle which, in these days 
 when force, material force, sometimes seems to be the dominant 
 influence and factor in the development of mankind, we are fight- 
 ing to vindicate the principle that small nationalities are not to be 
 crushed, in defiance of international good faith, by the military 
 will of a strong and overmastering Power. I do not believe any 
 nation ever entered into a great controversy — and this is one of the 
 greatest history will ever know — with a clearer conscience and 
 stronger conviction that it is fighting, not for aggression, not for 
 the maintenance even of its own seLfish interest, but that it is fight- 
 ing in defence of principles, the maintenance of which is vital to 
 the civilisation of the world. With a full conviction, not only oi 
 the wisdom and justice, but of the obligations which lay upon us 
 to challenge this great issue, we are entering into the struggle. 
 
40 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THIB WAiR, 
 
 The German Government refusing to order 
 their army to retire from the Belgian territory it 
 had violated, at midnight, 4th to 5th August, 1914, 
 the whole British Empire was at war with the 
 whole German Empire. 
 
 Surely, there is not the slightest necessity to 
 argue any more that in the terrific war raging for 
 the last four years, Justice and Eight are on the 
 side of England and her Allies. No war was 
 ever more just, waged with equal honour for the 
 triumph of Liberty and Civilzation, for the pro- 
 tection of Humanity against the onslaught of 
 barbarism developed to the cruelty of the darkest 
 ages of History. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 The Call To Duty In Canada. 
 
 Every one knows how the news of the State of 
 War between the British and German Empires 
 were received in our great Canadian Dominion, 
 after the days of anxious waiting which culminat- 
 ed in the rallying of England to the defence of the 
 cause of Freedom and Civilization. When the 
 call for duty was sounded in the Capital of the 
 British Empire, it rolled over the mighty Atlantic, 
 spreading over the length and breadth of Canada, 
 being re-echoed with force in our Province of 
 Quebec. 
 
 At once called to prepare for the emergency, 
 •the Canadian Parliament met and unanimously 
 decided that the Dominion would, of her own free 
 will and patriotic decision, participate in the 
 Great War. The course of events in Canada, for 
 the last four years, is well known by all. It is 
 recent history. 
 
 My special object in condensing in this book 
 the defence which I considered it my duty to make 
 of the just and sacred cause of the British Empire, 
 and her Allies, in the great war still raging with 
 undiminished fury, being to show how I did, to the 
 best of my ability, try to persuade my French 
 
42 ENOLAMD, CANAlDiA AND THE WAR. 
 
 Canadian Countrymen where was the true path of 
 duty, and how false and disloyal were the unscru- 
 pulous theories of "Nationalism", I must first re- 
 view the successive movements of public opinion 
 in the Province of Quebec. 
 
 In the preceding sentence, I have intently af- 
 firmed that the cause of the Allies was that of the 
 whole British Empire. Surely, it should not be 
 necessary to say so, as no truly loyal British sub- 
 ject would for a moment hesitate to come to that 
 patriotic conclusion. Still, however incredible it 
 is, the duty of the British colonies to rally to the 
 flag to defend the Empire and participate in the 
 deadly struggle between Civilization and barbar- 
 ism, was challenged by the leaders of the "Nation- 
 alist school" in the Province of Quebec. Of course, 
 that school never represented more than a small 
 minority of thought and numbers. But, sad to ad- 
 mit, a fanatical minority, in days of trying 'sacri- 
 fices, can do a great deal of injury to a people by 
 inflaming national and religious prejudices. We, 
 French Canadians, have had much to suffer from 
 the unpatriotic efforts of a few to bring our coun- 
 trymen to take an erroneous view of the situation. 
 
 At the opening of the war, the general 
 opinion in the Province of Quebec was without 
 doubt strongly in favor of Canada's participation 
 in the struggle. Any student of the working of our 
 constitutional system know how the strength of 
 public opinion is ascertained, outside of a general 
 election, in all cases, and more specially with re- 
 
THE CALL TO DUTY. 43 
 
 gard to measures of paramount importance when 
 the country has to deal with a national emergency. 
 
 The Parliament of Canada is the authorized 
 representative of the Country. Called in a special 
 session, at the very outbreak of the hostilities, they 
 voted unanimously that it was our duty to par- 
 ticipate in the war. All the representatives of the 
 Province of Quebec heartily joined with those of 
 all the other Provinces to vote this unanimous 
 decision. 
 
 In the light of events ever since, who can 
 now reasonably pretend that the patriotic decision 
 of the Parliament of Canada was not entirely, 
 even enthusiastically, approved by the Canadian 
 people? The press, even in the Province of Quebec, 
 with only one exception of any consequence, was 
 unanimous in its approval of the action of 
 Parliament. 
 
 The heads of our Church, the Archbishops and 
 Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Provinces of Quebec, 
 Montreal and Ottawa, in their very important 
 Pastoral Letter on the duties of the Catholics in 
 the present war, positively said : — 
 
 "We must acknowledge it — (nous ne saurions 
 nous le dissimuler — ): that conflict, one of the 
 most terrific the world has yet seen, cannot but 
 have its repercussion in our country. England is 
 engaged into it, and who does not see that the fate 
 of all the component parts of the Empire is bound 
 with the fate of her arms. She relies upon our sup- 
 .port, and that support, we are happy to say, has 
 
44 EiNGKUAMD, GAN1AXXA. AND THE WAlR. 
 
 been generously offered to her both in men and 
 money" 
 
 No* representative of public opinion, of any 
 weight, outside of Parliament, professional men, 
 leaders of finance, commerce and industry, in the 
 Province of Quebec, raised a wotfd of disapproval 
 at the Parliamentary call to arms. 
 
 Not one meeting was called, not one resolu- 
 tion was moved, to oppose the decision of the 
 Canadian Parliament. 
 
 Not one petition was addressed to the two 
 Houses in Ottawa against Canada's participation 
 in the war. 
 
 Every one in the Province of Quebec knew 
 that participating in the war would entail heavy 
 financial sacrifices, and that the taxation of the 
 country would have to be largely increased to 
 meet the new obligations we had freely decided to 
 incur for the salvation of the Empire and of 
 Civilization. 
 
 The Government of the day proposed the 
 financial measures they considered necessary to 
 raise the public revenue which the circumstances 
 required. Those measures were unanimously 
 approved by Parliament. The taxpayers of the 
 country, those of the Province of Quebec like all 
 the others, willingly and patriotically accepted 
 and paid without complaint the new taxes into the 
 public treasury. During more than the three first 
 years of the war, I visited a good part of the Prov- 
 ince of Quebec, and addressed several large public 
 
THE CALL TO DUTY. 45 
 
 meetings. Everywhere my attention was forcibly 
 struck by the prompt willingness of my French 
 Canadian countrymen to bear their share of the 
 financial sacrifices Canada was called upon to 
 make for the triumph of the cause of the Allies. 
 
CHAPTEK IV. 
 Kecruiting By Voluntary Service. 
 
 ]STo stronger evidence could be given of the de- 
 termination of the country as a whole, and over 
 all its component parts, to support Great Britain 
 and her Allies to final success, than the truly won- 
 derful record of the voluntary enlistment of more 
 than four hundred thousand men, of all walks in 
 life, to rush to the front. 
 
 Kecruiting in the Province of Quebec indeed 
 started very well. Several thousands of French 
 Canadian youth rallied to the colors. I hope and 
 trust that, sooner or later, it will be possible to 
 make a more satisfactory statistical record of the 
 number of French Canadians who enlisted. I am 
 fully convinced that the total is somewhat much 
 larger than the figures usually quoted. It would 
 surely be conducive to a better understanding of 
 the -case, if such statistical information was care- 
 fully prepared and made public. It is easily con- 
 ceivable that the pressure of the work of maintain- 
 ing the splendid Canadian army renders it per- 
 haps difficult to attend actually to the details of 
 that compilation. So we can afford to wait for the 
 redress of figures which may constitute a wrong to 
 the. race second in numbers but equal to any in 
 patriotism in Canada. 
 
■RECRUITING BY VOLUNTARY SE(RVICE. 47 
 
 Pending my remarks upon certain causes 
 which have contributed to check recruiting 
 amongst the French element in the Province of 
 Quebec, I consider it important to mention those 
 which were easy to ascertain and comprehend. 
 
 It is a well known fact that early marriages 
 are a rule in the Province of Quebec much more 
 than in the other Provinces of the Dominion. As 
 a natural consequence, the available number of 
 young unmarried men for recruiting purposes was 
 proportionately less. I myself have known par- 
 ishes in our Province where half a dozen of un- 
 married young men from twenty years of age and 
 upwards could not be found. 
 
 It was easily to foresee that a comparison 
 would be made between the number of Oanadian- 
 born volunteers in the English-speaking Provinces 
 and that from the Province of Quebec. The de- 
 gree of enthusiasm for enlistment in the other 
 Provinces between the foreign born and the Cana- 
 dian born has also been noticed. It has generally 
 been admitted that most naturally the young men 
 recently arrived in Canada were more strongly ap- 
 pealed to by all the sacred ties still binding them 
 to their mother land. When generations have, for 
 more than a century, enjoyed all the blessings of 
 peace and lived far away from the turmoil of war- 
 like preparations and military conflicts, is it to be 
 much wondered at that the entire population is not 
 at once permeated with the feeling of the dangers 
 ahead, and do not rise rapidly to the full sense of 
 the duty she is suddenly called upon to perform. 
 
48 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR,. 
 
 My daily personal intercourse with hundreds 
 of my French Canadian compatriots allowed me to 
 realize that many of them, even amongst the lead- 
 ing classes, were over-confident that the Allies re- 
 presenting at the beginning the united effort of 
 England, France and Eussia, soon to be reinforced 
 by Italy, breaking away from the Central Powers, 
 would certainly be equal to the task of being vic- 
 torious over German militarism. Kepeatedly, be- 
 fore public meetings and in very numerous private 
 conversations, I urgently implored my hearers not 
 to be so deluded, doing my best to convince them 
 that it would be a fatal error to shut our eyes from 
 the truth, that the military power of Central 
 Europe, comprising the two great Empires of 
 Germany and Austria, Bulgaria, with the help of 
 Asiastic Turkey, and the undisguised support of 
 baneful teutonic influences and intrigues at the 
 courts of Petrograd and Athens, was gigantic, and 
 that the terrible conflict would surely develop into 
 a struggle for life and death between human free- 
 dom and barbarism. 
 
 This feeling of over-confidence was passing 
 away, when it became evident that to triumph over 
 the modern huns and their associates was no easy 
 task ; that the goal of freeing humanity from the 
 threatening universal domination would require 
 the most determined effort of the nations who had 
 heroically undertaken to reach it. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Intervention of Nationalism. 
 
 The great struggle being waged with increased 
 intensity, it was daily becoming more and more 
 evident that the Allied nations were bound to 
 muster all their courage, perseverance and re- 
 sources to successfully fight their determined foe. 
 It was just at the thick of this critical situation, 
 calling forth the devotion and patriotism of all, 
 that the "Nationalist" campaign of false theories 
 and principles was launched with renewed activity 
 in the Province of Quebec. 
 
 Mr. Henri Bourassa, ex-member of Labelle in 
 the House of Commons, was, and still is, the re- 
 cognized leader of the "Nationalist School" in our 
 Province, and wherever it finds adherents. His 
 personal organ, "Le Devoir," is daily expounding 
 the doctrines of that School. 
 
 In October, 1915, Mr. Bourassa issued a pam- 
 phlet of over four hundred pages entitled: — 
 "What do we owe England" — in French: — "Que 
 devons-nous a VAngleterre?" 
 
 In the long overdrawn and farfetched argu- 
 mentation of this volume, the author's effort is to 
 try and prove that Canada owes nothing to Eng- 
 land, that all those who favour the Canadian par- 
 
50 ENGLAND, 'CANADA AND THE WAK. . 
 
 ticipation in the war are "revolutionists," that we 
 are unduly paying a large tribute to the Empire. 
 
 In 1916, Mr. Bourassa supplemented his first 
 book with a second pamphlet, entitled : — "Yester- 
 day, To-day, To-morrow" in French: — "Hier, Au- 
 jourdliui, Demain" in which he amplified the 
 views expressed in the preceding volume. 
 
 I undertook to read Mr. Bourassa's works, 
 and I must say that I was astonished at what I 
 found therein. I felt very strongly that his er- 
 roneous views — without questioning their sinceri- 
 ty — were bound to pervert the opinion of my 
 French compatriots, to enflame their prejudices, 
 and to do a great deal of harm in promoting the 
 ever dangerous conflict of race fanaticism. Over 
 forty years of experience of public life had taught 
 me how easy it is to introduce a prejudice in a 
 man's mind, but how difficult it is to destroy it 
 when once it has taken root. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 What Do We Owe England ? 
 
 To this question raised by Mr. Bourassa, and 
 argued at length by himself in the negative, I 
 answered by a chapter of my book: — "L'Angle- 
 terre, le Canada et la Grand Guerre" — "England, 
 Canada and the Great War" 
 
 Great Britain, ever since she came to the con- 
 clusion that the days of the old colonial policy 
 were passed, and agreed that we should freely 
 govern ourselves, with ministerial responsibility, 
 within the powers set forth in our constitutional 
 charter, has scrupulously respected our political 
 liberty. We have administered our own affairs at 
 our own free will. The Imperial Government 
 never attempted to interfere with the development 
 of our federal politics. They would surely have de- 
 clined such interference, if it had been asked for. 
 
 As long as we form part of the British Em- 
 pire, it is evident that we owe to England that 
 loyalty which every colony owes to her mother- 
 country. Granted by the Sovereign Power ruling 
 Canada the freest institutions, having the best of 
 reasons to be fully satisfied with our relations 
 with Great Britain, we are in duty bound to be 
 loyal to her flag. We must be true to our alle- 
 giance. 
 
52 ENGtfJAiND, CANAjDA AND THE WAR. 
 
 We have freely decided to incur the sacrifices 
 we are making for the war. We have so decided 
 because we considered it of the greatest import- 
 ance, for the future of Humanity, that the German 
 ambition for universal domination be foiled; that 
 the British Empire be maintained; that France 
 should continue a first class Power, as expressed 
 by Mr. Asquith ; that before all, and above all, the 
 eternal principles of Eight, Justice and Civiliza- 
 tion, shall not be trampled upon by the terrific as- 
 sault of teutonic barbarism. Moreover, we are 
 also in duty bound to judge with fairness Eng- 
 land's part in the great society of nations, and, 
 especially, that she plays in the great events of the 
 present crisis. Beyond doubt, a truly loyal Cana- 
 dian must refrain from poisoning foreign opinion 
 and that of his fellow British subjects against 
 Great Britain in attributing her course to selfish 
 interests, wilfully taking no account of her broad 
 and admirable foreign policy, ever inspired by the 
 steady desire to maintain peace. 
 
 In the first mentioned work, Mr. Bourassa 
 lays great stress on the fact that for nearly a cen- 
 tury and a half, previous to the South African 
 War, Canada did not participate in the wars of 
 the Empire. Ha extensively quotes from the docu- 
 ments and the discussions between Canada's re- 
 presentatives and the Imperial Government, re- 
 specting the defence of our country, and that of 
 the Empire herself. He concludes by pretending 
 that the result of all these negotiations and con- 
 
WHAT DO WB OWE ENGiLANIM 53 
 
 ventions was the agreement that Canada would 
 have only to attend to her own defence, and that 
 Great Britain was always obliged to protect us 
 against all outside attacks. From these preten- 
 sions he draws the startling conclusion that all 
 those who do not stand by the conventions he did 
 his best to emphasize are doing revolutionary 
 work. 
 
 The answer to such extravagent notions is 
 rather plain and easy. There was not the slight- 
 est necessity for the Nationalist leader to multiply 
 lengthy quotations to prove what mere common 
 sense settles at first thought : — 
 
 First : — That any country, whether it be inde- 
 pendent or a colony, must defend itself when at- 
 tacked by an enemy. 
 
 Second: — That a Sovereign State is bound to 
 defend all the territory under its authority and 
 covered by its flag. 
 
 But all this has nothing whatever to do with 
 the very different question of Canada's participa- 
 tion, outside her own territory, in a war in which 
 Great Britain is engaged, which participation 
 Canada has freely, deliberately approved and or- 
 dered. Such was the case in 1914. : The" Parliament 
 and the people of Canada' at once realised tMt 
 in the gigantic conflict into which Germany had 
 drawn all the Great Powers of Europe, our future 
 destiny as much as that of England herself was at 
 stake. Without the slightest hesitation, unasked 
 and unsolicited by the Mother Country, we de- 
 
54 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 cided that we were in duty bound to do our share 
 to defend the great Empire of which we are a very 
 important component part, and to help saying the 
 world from tyrannical domination. 
 
 Much too often giving to words a meaning 
 which they positively cannot convey, Mr. Bourassa 
 argued at length to prove that the agreements, 
 conventions, and understandings arrived at be- 
 tween the Imperial and Canadian Governments, at 
 different dates, were a solemn treaty. 
 
 How false and untenable such a pretention is, 
 surely need no lengthy argument. International 
 Law knows no treaties but those made between 
 Sovereign 'States. It is most absurd to pretend 
 that a Sovereign State can make a treaty between 
 herself and its own colony. Where is the man with 
 the slightest notion of Constitutional Government 
 who would pretend, for instance, that the British 
 North American Act is a treaty between Great 
 Britain and Canada. It is an Act passed by the 
 Legislative authority of the Sovereign State to 
 which we belong, enacting the conditions under 
 which Canada would enjoy the rights and privi- 
 leges of constitutional self-government, participat- 
 ing in the exercise of Sovereignty within the limits 
 of the powers enumerated in the Act creating the 
 Dominion. It was precisely because we knew we 
 were acting within the limits of those powers, that 
 we decided to join with England and her Allies in 
 the great war. 
 
CHAPTEK VII. 
 Canada Is Not A Sovereign State. 
 
 As long as Canada will remain under the flag 
 of Great Britain — and for one I hope it will yet be 
 for many long years, — it is evident that it will not 
 be a "Sovereign State" in the full sense of the 
 word. 
 
 One can hardly believe that the Nationalist 
 leader, at page 17 of his pamphlet — "Hier, Au- 
 jourd'hui, Demain" — "Yesterday, To-day, To-mor- 
 row" opens a chapter with the title : "Les Colonies 
 autonomes sont des Etats Souverains." — "The au- 
 tonomous colonies are Sovereign States" 
 
 Mr. Bourassa was evidently led to the grievous 
 error contained in the preceding title by a com- 
 plete misapprehension of the true meaning of the 
 word "autonomous" He took "autonomy" for 
 "Sovereignty" being under the delusion that the 
 two are synonimous. 
 
 Any student of History knows, or ought to 
 know, that after the war which culminated in the 
 independence of the United States, England adopt- 
 ed an entirely new colonial policy. She was the 
 first Sovereign Power, and has ever since remain 
 ed the only one, to realize that the old system was 
 doomed to failure, that it was worn out. Her lead 
 
66 KNGJJAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 ing statesmen, who always ranked amongst the 
 most eminent the world over, were more and more 
 convinced that the only safe colonial policy was 
 that which would grant "self -government" to the 
 colonies, trained to its harmonious working, for 
 their interior management. The true meaning of 
 this new policy was that several of the colonies 
 were, by acts of the Imperial Parliament, called to 
 the exercise of a share of the Sovereignty, well de- 
 fined in their respective constitutional charters. 
 Canada was one of the first British colonies to en- 
 joy the advantages of such a large part of the 
 Sovereign rights. 
 
 Such "autonomous colonies" as Canada, Aus- 
 tralia, New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland, 
 have been, and are to the present day, do no 1 trans- 
 form them into "Sovereign States" enjoying full 
 "Sovereign powers." They are not "Independent 
 States" in the full sense of the word. 
 
 That Canada is not a Sovereign State is prov- 
 ed beyond doubt by the very fact that she could not 
 amend or change her constitutional charter by her 
 own power and without a new Imperial law. If 
 the Nationalist leader's pretention was sound, any 
 member of the House of Commons, or of the Sen- 
 ate, in Ottawa, could propose a bill to repeal the 
 British North America Act, 1867, and to replace it 
 by another constitutional charter. The very sup- 
 position is absurd. Can it be imagined that His 
 Excellency the Governor-General could be advised 
 by his responsible Ministers to sanction, in the 
 
NOT iA ISOVEREIIGN STATE. 57 
 
 name of His Majesty the Sovereign of Great 
 Britain, a bill repealing an Act of the Imperial 
 Parliament? Still it is exactly what Mr. Bouras- 
 sa's theory amounts to. 
 
 Our constitutional charter does not only pro- 
 vide what is called our Federal, — or National — 
 autonomy, but also the Provincial autonomy. The 
 powers of both are well defined in the Imperial 
 Act. The Provinces of the Dominion, also exer- 
 cise that share of the Sovereign rights delegated to 
 them by the Imperial Parliament. Would the Na- 
 tionalist leader draw the extravagant conclusion 
 that the territory of any one of the Provinces can- 
 not be declared in the "State of War" with a For- 
 eign Power, by His Majesty the King, without the 
 assent of the Ministers of that Province? Still 
 that absurd proposition would not be more so than 
 that affirming the necessity of the assent of the 
 Canadian Cabinet, to a declaration of War in- 
 volving Canada in an Imperial struggle. 
 
 The Sovereign right of declaring war to, and 
 of making peace, with another independent State, 
 is vested in the King of Great Britain, acting upon 
 the advice of his responsible Ministers in the 
 United Kingdom. To the Imperial Parliament 
 belongs the constitutional authority to deal with 
 the Imperial Foreign Affairs. 
 
 It is plain that when Great Britain is at War 
 with another Sovereign State the whole territory 
 of the British Empire is in the "State of War" 
 with that Nation. 
 
58 ENGLAND, CANAJDA AND THE WAR. 
 
 It is inconceivable that Mr. Bourassa has 
 seriously pretended that Canada was not at war 
 with the German Empire the very moment the 
 British Empire was so in consequence of the 
 violation by Germany of Belgian neutrality. One 
 can hardly believe that he has propounded the 
 fallacious constitutional doctrine that His Majesty 
 "the King of England hath not the right to declare 
 Canada in the State of War without the assent of 
 the Canadian Cabinet" 
 
 Where and when has the Nationalist leader 
 discovered that the Canadian Ministers have the 
 right to advise His Majesty upon all the questions 
 pertaining to the Imperial Foreign Affairs? Any 
 one conversant with the constitutional status of 
 Canada, knows that the Canadian Ministers have 
 the right to advise the representative of the Sover- 
 eign only upon matters as denned by the British 
 North America Act, 1867, and its amendments. 
 
 I was indeed very much surprised at the at- 
 tempt of Mr. Bourassa to use the authority of Sir 
 Erskine May in support of his erroneous preten- 
 sion that the autonomous colonies of Great Britain 
 were Sovereign States. 
 
 To all the students of the Constitutional His- 
 tory of England, Sir Erskine May is a very well 
 known and appreciated writer. I have read his 
 works several times over for many years. I was 
 certain that he had never written anything to jus- 
 tify the Nationalist leader in quoting him as he 
 did. 
 
NOT Aj (SOVEREIGN STATE. 59 
 
 Here follows the paragraph of May's Consti- 
 tutional History quoted by Mr. Bourassa in sup- 
 port of his own views : — 
 
 Parliament has recently pronounced it to be just that the 
 Colonies which enjoy self-government, should undertake the re- 
 sponsibility and cost of their own military defence. To carry this 
 •policy into effect must be the work of time. But whenever it 
 may be effected, the last material bond of connection with the 
 Colonies will have been severed, and colonial states, acknowledging 
 the honorary sovereignty of England, and fully armed for self- 
 defence, as well against herself as others, will have grown out of 
 the dependencies of the British Empire. 
 
 I must say that I am absolutely unable to de- 
 tect one single word in the above quotation to au- 
 thorize Mr. Bourassa to affirm that Sir Erskine 
 May was of opinion that "the autonomous colonies 
 were Sovereign States." The true meaning of the 
 above extract is surely very plain. What does it 
 say? It declares, what was a fact, that the Brit- 
 ish Parliament has recently pronounced it to be 
 just that the Colonies which enjoy self government 
 should undertake the responsibility and cost of 
 their own military defence. 
 
 Would the British Parliamnet have deemed 
 it necessary to express such an opinion, if the Col- 
 onies had, then, been Sovereign States, conse- 
 quently obliged, in duty bound, to defend them- 
 selves alone against any possible enemy. Surely 
 not, for the obvious reason that Great Britain 
 would have had no more responsibility for the 
 defence of territories no longer covered by her flag 
 and under her Sovereignty. 
 
60 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 The very fact that the British Parliament 
 thought proper, under the then circumstances, to 
 say that the Colonies enjoying self-government 
 should undertake to defend themselves, is the con- 
 vincing proof that they were not Sovereign States. 
 
 The following sentence of May's quotation 
 says : — To carry this policy into effect must be the 
 work of time. 
 
 It is clear that the policy requiring the work 
 of time to be carried into effect was not actually 
 existent at the time Sir Erskine May was writing. 
 
 The extract quoted by Mr. Bourassa con- 
 cludes by declaring that when such a policy has 
 been finally adopted, the Colonies will have deve- 
 loped into Colonial States having grown out of 
 the dependencies of the British Empire. 
 
 Evidently, when the Dominions of Canada, 
 Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, will have 
 grown out of the dependencies of the British Em- 
 pire, they will no longer be Colonies of Great 
 Britain. But when will that very important event 
 take place? Surely, Sir Erskine May could not 
 foresee. Even to-day Mr. Bourassa cannot say 
 more than any one else. Pending th^t unforeseen 
 outcome, the Dominions will remain parts of the 
 British. Empire under her Sovereignty,. 
 
 The above quotation was taken by Mr. Bour : 
 assa frpm the edition of Sir Erskine May's ^Con- 
 stitutional History" published in 1912., But they 
 were first edited by the author in 1863. When has 
 the Imperial Parliament adopted the above men- 
 
NOT lAl SOVEIWI'GN STATE. 61 
 
 tioned "Resolution"? It was voted in 1862 — the 
 4th of March — more than fifty-six years ago. 
 Quoted as it has been by Mr. Bourassa, it appears 
 to have been only very recently adopted. The fact 
 that it is more than half a century old, and was 
 carried before the Federal Union of the Provinces, 
 is a convincing proof that it has no bearing what- 
 ever upon the conditions of Canada's present 
 colonial status. By the aforesaid "Resolution," the 
 British House of Commons was only expressing the 
 opinion that the time had come for the Colonies to 
 undertake the responsibility and the cost of their 
 defence. The "Kesolution" does not say that Great 
 Britain would no longer be called, in the exercise 
 of the rights and duties of her Sovereignty, to de- 
 fend her Colonial Empire. 
 
 By what reasoning can a mere expression of 
 opinion by the English House of Commons be in- 
 terpreted as at once transforming the Colonies 
 into independent Sovereign States? 
 
 Any one somewhat conversant with the poli- 
 tical events that led to the Federal Union of the 
 Provinces knows that in applying to the British 
 Parliament for the new Constitutional Charter, 
 the Legislature of United Canada had a twofold 
 object : — first, the settlement of the constitutional 
 difficulties then pending between Upper and 
 Lower Canada; secondly, a broader development 
 of Canada and also of the British Empire. Such 
 was the purpose of the coalition government form- 
 ed in 1864. All the members of that Cabinet were 
 
62 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 strongly in favour of the maintenance of Canada's 
 union with Great Britain. I have heard them ex- 
 pounding their views on what the future of Canada 
 ought to be. I am positive that neither Sir John 
 A. Macdonald, Sir Georges Cartier, the honorable 
 Georges Brown, nor any of their colleagues, of 
 both political parties, ever said a word which 
 could be construed as expressing the opinion that 
 the proposed Federal Union would make of 
 Canada an independent Sovereign State. It is 
 incredible that Mr. Bourassa should have so 
 erroneously understood their real views so as 
 to pretend that they favoured Confederation for 
 that very purpose. 
 
 As a proof of his pretension, he quoted the 
 following words of Sir John A. Macdonald, in the 
 Legislative Assembly of old United Canada : — 
 
 "With us the Sovereign, or, in this country 
 " the representative of the Sovereign, can act only 
 " on the advice of His Ministers, those Ministers 
 " being responsible to the people through Parlia- 
 " ment" 
 
 Mr. Bourassa used the foregoing sentence in 
 support of his contention that the King of England 
 could not declare war without the assent of the 
 Canadian Cabinet. It is impossible to understand 
 how such a notion can be seriously held and ex- 
 pressed. His Maesty cannot ask nor accept such 
 an advice, if it was tendered, for the very reason 
 that the Canadian Cabinet has not the constitu- 
 tional right to advise the King respecting the in- 
 ternational relations of the Empire. And why? 
 
\( )T lAi ISOVERJEION STATE. 63 
 
 Precisely because the Canadian Ministers would 
 not be responsible for their advice to the Imperial 
 Parliament and to the electorate of the United 
 Kingdom. 
 
 The true meaning of the above quoted sen- 
 tence of Sir John A. Macdonald is very plain. 
 Ministerial responsibility was the fundamental 
 principle of the old Constitution, as it is of the 
 Federal Charter. Sir John A. Macdonald was per- 
 fectly right in affirming that "in Canada, as in 
 England, the Sovereign could act only on the ad- 
 vice of His Ministers" that is to say on the advice 
 of His responsible Ministers within the constitu- 
 tional powers of our Parliament on all matters 
 respecting which they had the constitutional right 
 to advise His Majesty. 
 
 Sir John A. Macdonald never said— he could 
 not possibly say — that as Prime Minister of 
 Canada, under the new Constitution, he would have 
 the right to advise the Sovereign on all matters 
 within the exclusive constitutional jurisdiction of 
 the Imperial Parliament, for instance respecting 
 the exercise of the Koyal prerogative of declaring 
 war against, or of making peace with, a foreign 
 independent State. He has never propounded 
 such an utterly false constitutional doctrine. 
 
 Mr. Bourassa went still further. He quoted 
 the following sentence from Sir John A. Mac- 
 donald : — "We stand with regard to the people of 
 Canada precisely in the same position as the 
 House of Commons in England stands with regard 
 to the people of England." 
 
64 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 I was indeed most astonished to read Mr. 
 Bourassa's inference from those words that Sir 
 John A. Macdonald had affirmed the absolute 
 equality of powers of the Imperial and the Cana- 
 dian Parliaments. 
 
 If the opinion expressed by Sir John A. Mac- 
 donald could be so interpreted, he would have af- 
 firmed — what was radically wrong — that under 
 the new Constitution, the Canadian Parliament 
 would have, concurrently with the Imperial Par- 
 liament, absolutely the same powers. What did 
 that mean? It meant that the Canadian Parlia- 
 ment, just as the Imperial Parliament, would have 
 the right to edict laws establishing Home Kule in 
 Ireland, regulating the government of India and 
 the Crown Colonies, granting constitutional char- 
 ters for the good government of the Australian and 
 South African Dominions, &c, &c. 
 
 Surely it is not necessary to argue at any 
 length to prove that Sir John A. Macdonald never 
 for a moment entertained such an opinion. What 
 he really said, in the above quoted words, was that 
 within their constitutional jurisdiction, within the 
 limits of their respective powers, the two Parlia- 
 ments stood in the same position, respectively, 
 with regard to the people of England and to the 
 people of Canada. It was equivalent to saying 
 — what was positively true — that the British 
 Ministers and the British Parliament were re- 
 sponsible to the people of England, and that the 
 Canadian Ministers and the Canadian Parliament 
 
NOT (A ^OVERJEirGN 'STATE. 65 
 
 were responsible to the people of Canada, — both 
 of them within the limits of their respective 
 constitutional powers. 
 
 If the Canadian Legislature had enjoyed all 
 the constitutional powers of the British Parlia- 
 ment, she would not have been obliged to pass ad- 
 dresses asking the latter to enact a new charter 
 creating the Federal Union of the Provinces. She 
 could have repealed her then existing constitution 
 and enacted the new one by her own authority. 
 But that she could not do. She could not repeal the 
 old, nor enact the new charter. 
 
 But the most extraordinary is that Mr. 
 Bourassa went so far as to declare that Canada 
 should have participated in the present war only 
 as a "Nation" meaning, of course, as an inde- 
 pendent Sovereign State. 
 
 On reading such a preposterous proposition, 
 at once it strikes one's mind most forcibly that 
 if Canada had really had the power to intervene 
 in the world's struggle as a "Nation," she would 
 have had the equal right to the Choice of three 
 alternatives. 
 
 First : — Declare war against Germany and in 
 favor of the Allies. 
 
 Second: — Remain neutral. 
 
 Third: — Declare war against Great Britain 
 and fight for Germany. For it is obvious that all 
 the Sovereign States — and Canada like them all if 
 she had been one of them — had the Sovereign Rigid 
 to fight for or against Great Britain, or to remain 
 
66 ENGLAND, CANADA AND TIEE WAR. 
 
 neutral. Of course, I am merely explaining in its 
 entirety the Bight of a Sovereign State. I surely do 
 not mean to say that Canada, had she really been 
 such a State, would in any way have been justifi- 
 able in joining with Germany in her dastardly 
 attempt to crush Civilization in the barbarous 
 'throes of her domination. 
 
 What would His Excellency the Governor- 
 General have answered his Prime Minister advis- 
 ing him to declare war against England, he who 
 represents His Majesty at Ottawa? Would he not 
 have told him at once that- the Canadian Prime 
 Minister had no right whatever to give him such 
 an advice; that Canada, being a British Colony, 
 could not declare war against her Sovereign State ; 
 that for the Canadian people to take up arms 
 against England would be treasonable revolt? 
 
 It is absolutely incredible that a public man, 
 aspiring to the leadership of his countrymen, can 
 have been so completely lost to the sense of the 
 Canadian constitutional situation as to boldly at- 
 tempt to pervert their mind with such fallacious 
 notions. He might as well pretend that the State 
 of New York, for instance, has the Sovereign Eight 
 to declare war against the Government of the 
 United States. 
 
 I, for one, cannot help wondering that any one 
 can seriously think that a colony, always pretend- 
 ing to remain loyally so, can wage war against her 
 Sovereign State. I feel sure that all sensible men 
 do share my views on that point. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 German Illusions. 
 
 When Germany threw the gauntlet to the 
 Powers of the "Entente," she labored under the 
 delusion that the war would most surely break 
 down the British Empire. She was determined to 
 do her utmost to that end. But she utterly failed 
 in her criminal efforts. 
 
 Strongly bound by ties of affection and con- 
 stitutional freedom, the great autonomous Do- 
 minions and Colonies at once rallied with courage 
 and patriotism to the defence of the Empire, of 
 Justice, of Right and Civilization. India, — that 
 great Indian Empire — to the utter disappoint- 
 ment of Germany, has stood admirably by Great 
 Britain ever since the outbreak of the War, by her 
 noble contributions of man-power and her munifi- 
 cent generosity of very large sums of money, in 
 one instance amounting to $500,000,000. 
 
 The Crown Colonies have also done their 
 share of duty with great devotion. 
 
 The admirable result which for the last four 
 years has been shining bright and glorious all over 
 the world, is that, contrary to teutonic expecta- 
 tions, the war, far from breaking asunder the 
 British Empire, has wonderfully solidified her 
 mighty edifice, by an intensity of loyalty to her 
 free institutions, to her glorious flag, which the 
 enjoyment of the blessings of peace would not have 
 proved so easily possible. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Nationalist Error. 
 
 The leaders of our Nationalist School have 
 for years strenuously laboured to pervert the mind 
 of our French-Canadian compatriots by the false 
 pretensions that we were, in some mysterious way, 
 coerced to participate in the European War. Even 
 previous to the days of the South African conflict, 
 they boldly took the stand that Canada should, on 
 no account, and under no circumstances whatever, 
 participate in what they called the Wars of the 
 Empire — les guerres de VEmipre. Canada, they 
 affirmed, had only to defend her own territory if 
 attacked. 
 
 Fully appreciating how insidious and danger- 
 ous such theories were, I endeavoured to show, as 
 forcibly as I could, that there had been no attempt 
 by Eng ! and at coercion of this Dominion to help 
 her in the struggle against Germany. Of course, 
 as previously explained, Great Britain being at 
 war with the German Empire, the whole British 
 Empire was at war. But no one in England ever 
 intended to propose to force the colonies to engage 
 actively into the fight. The Imperial Parliament 
 would certainly not have taken into consideration 
 any such proposition. 
 
THE NATIONALIST ERROR. 69 
 
 But is it not plain and beyond discussion that 
 we, ourselves, had the undoubted right to inter- 
 vene in the war to the extent that we would con- 
 sider it our bounden duty to do so. 
 
 Evidently we could not remain neutral in the 
 great conflict. At the very moment that Great 
 Britain was at war with Germany, Canada, a 
 British Colony, was part and parcel of the belliger- 
 ent Sovereign State, the British Empire. By an 
 incredible misconception, the Nationalist leaders 
 confounded neutrality with non-participation in 
 the war, if we had so decided. 
 
 To be, or not to be, neutral, was not within our 
 constitutional rights. If Germany, either by land 
 or by sea, had attacked our territory, as she had 
 the undoubted belligerent right to do, would it 
 have availed us an iota to implore her mercy 
 by affirming that we were neutral? Could we 
 have pretended that she was violating neutral 
 territory? 
 
 No one with the least notion of International 
 Law would for a moment hesitate to give the true 
 answers to those questions. 
 
 But the very different question to participate, 
 or not, in the war, was for us alone to decide ac- 
 cording to our constitutional charter. We have 
 freely, deliberately, decided to do our share in the 
 great war. We continue and persevere in our noble 
 task, freely and deliberately. 
 
 It is admitted by all that under the actual 
 constitutional organization of the Empire, the 
 
70 ENGIiAND, CANADA AND 'THE WAR. 
 
 Imperial Parliament could not require the auto- 
 nomous colonies to participate in tlie war. But no 
 one can assuredly deny to tliat Parliament the 
 right, in the case of an imminent peril, to formulate 
 the desire that the autonomous colonies would help 
 Great Britain to conjure the threatened calamity. 
 
 But, in the present case, the Imperial Parlia- 
 ment has not even been under the necessity of ex- 
 prssing such a legitimate wish, for the obvious 
 reason that the colonies at once took their patriotic 
 stand in favor of the cause of England and her 
 Allies. If the colonies had not so decided, of their 
 own free will, it is most likely that the Imperial 
 Parliament would not have expressed the wish for 
 the 'assistance of the Dominions overseas. 
 
 The hearty support granted by the colonies to 
 Great Britain, to develop its full value, had to be 
 spontaneous, enthusiastic. Such it was, such it is, 
 and such it will be to the last day of the conflict 
 which victorious conclusion we are so strongly 
 determined to achieve. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 Had Canada The Right To Help England? 
 
 Not satisfied to do the best it could to per- 
 suade our French-Canadian countrymen that they 
 had been coerced into the war by England, our 
 "Nationalist School" extensively used the argu- 
 ment that Canada had not the right to intervene 
 into the European struggle. I refuted this erro- 
 neous pretension by the following propositions, the 
 very essence of our constitutional rights and liber- 
 ties: — 
 
 1. — The Canadian Cabinet had the undoubted 
 constitutional right to advise His Excellency the 
 Governor-General to approve the measures to be 
 taken to give effect to their decision to participate 
 in the war, decision and measures for which they 
 were responsible to the Canadian Parliament and 
 to the Canadian Electorate. 
 
 2. — The Canadian Parliament had the un- 
 doubted constitutional right to approve or dis- 
 approve the decision and the measures of the 
 Cabinet. Parliament approved that decision and 
 those measures, acting within their constitutional 
 right. 
 
 3. — Even at the time I was writing, it could 
 evidently be affirmed that the Canadian Electorate 
 
72 ENGLAND, CANADA AND !THE WAR. 
 
 had approved the stand taken by both the Cana- 
 dian Cabinet and the Canadian Parliament ac- 
 cording to well known and denned constitutional 
 usages. 
 
 Was it not proved beyond reasonable contro- 
 versy, that the Canadian people heartily approved 
 the decision of their Parliament to help in the 
 great war. 
 
 Let me summarize the evidence as follows : — 
 
 1. — The war policy of the Cabinet, at the 
 special session called in August, 1914, for that 
 very purpose, was unanimously approved by 
 Parliament, no Senator and no Member of the 
 House of Commons moving to censure the respon- 
 sible ministers for their decision to have Canada 
 to participate in the war. The two great political 
 parties have solemnly sanctioned that decision. 
 
 2. — Public opinion was also very strongly 
 proved by the almost unanimity of the public press 
 patriotically supporting the stand taken by Par- 
 liament. The exceptions were so few, that, as 
 usual ,they contributed to emphasize the soundness 
 of the general rule. 
 
 3. — During the three years following the deci- 
 sion of the Canadian Parliament, a great number 
 of large public meetings were held throughout 
 Canada, and addressed by many leading and in- 
 fluential citizens all approving the action of Par- 
 liament. The meetings enthusiastically concurred 
 in the powerful endorsation of the war policy of 
 the speakers. 
 
 In a few public gatherings some disapproval 
 
THE RIGHT TO HEDP ENGLAND. 73 
 
 was expressed, but not one meeting would go to 
 the length of passing "Kesolutions" censuring the 
 Cabinet and the Parliament of Canada, or declar- 
 ing that our Dominion should not have interfered 
 into the war. 
 
 4. — Not one petition against the Canadian 
 intervention into the war was addressed to Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 5. — Leading Clergymen, of all denominations ; 
 leaders of political associations almost of all 
 shades of opinion; financial, industrial, commer- 
 cial leaders, all of them approved the patriotic 
 interference of Canada into the war. 
 
 6. — The evident general approval of the un- 
 animous decision, taken in 1916, to extend the 
 Parliamentary term. 
 
 7- — The wonderful success of the public loans 
 raised for war purposes. 
 
 8. — The enlightened and generous patriotism 
 with which the country has accepted and paid war 
 taxation. 
 
 9. — But, above all, the voluntary recruiting of 
 four hundred thousand men of all social conditions 
 who have rallied to the flag of the Empire for the 
 defence of her existence and for the triumph of 
 Civilization and Justice. 
 
 I, therefore, drew the undeniable conclusion 
 that, contrary to the "Nationalist" pretension, 
 Canada was participating in the war in the most 
 regular constitutional way, without even the sha- 
 dow of a breach of our Canadian autonomy, of our 
 constitutional rights and liberties. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 The Duty of Canada. 
 
 Having affirmed that Canada had no right to 
 interfere in the war, the "Nationalist" leaders at 
 once concluded that she was not in duty bound to do 
 so. That most discreditable inference was, of 
 course, the natural sequence of the wrong prin- 
 ciple aforesaid. They further drew the conclu- 
 sion that it was no part of the duty of Canadians 
 to join the Colors to help winning the war. 
 
 It was in flat contradiction of those erroneous 
 notions that I positively declared, in my letter de- 
 dicating my book to my French Canadian com- 
 patriots, that "in defending with the most sincere 
 " conviction the sacred cause of the Allies, I am 
 " doing my duty as a free subject of the British 
 "Empire, as a citizen of Canada and of the Prov- 
 " ince of Quebec, as a son of France, as a devoted 
 " servant of Justice and Right" 
 
 Very narrow minded indeed is the man who 
 has no higher conception of his duty than the one 
 limiting him to the observance of positive and nega- 
 tive laws enacted by the legitimate authority to 
 protect society and every one of its members. 
 
 When England, together with the other lead- 
 ing nations, was brutally challenged by Germany, 
 
THE DUTY OF CANADA. 76 
 
 and threatened in her very national existence, it is 
 beyond comprehension that Canada, and all the 
 British colonial possessions overseas, could so mis- 
 take their bounden duty as to refuse rushing to 
 help the Mother Country in such a trying occur- 
 ence. Moreover, have we not, merely as men, duties 
 to perform to protect Civilization against the dead- 
 ly attack of barbarism, to have Justice and Right 
 triumphant in international relations. 
 
 It is a matter of deep wonder to me that any 
 one oould have been so blind as not to perceive that 
 in joining with Great Britain to defend the cause 
 of the A] lies, we were surely defending our own 
 territory, our own soil, our own homes. How in- 
 credible was the "Nationalist" contention that we 
 should have waited for the actual German attack 
 of our land before mustering our resources of re- 
 sistance. Who could not see, at a glance, that if 
 Germany had, as it fully expected, easily tri- 
 umphed over the combined forces of France, Eng- 
 land and Russia, it would have been sheer madness 
 to attempt resisting the victorious onslaught of a 
 few hundred thousands of her veteran soldiers, 
 whose valour would have been doubled by the en- 
 thusiasm of their European conquest. 
 
 After mature consideration of the possible re- 
 sults of the disastrous defeat of the combined 
 efforts of the Allies, both on land and sea, the con- 
 clusion was forced upon my mind that Germany, 
 ferociously elated by such a wonderful success, 
 would no doubt have exacted from England the 
 
76 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 cession of Canada to her Empire. So that with- 
 out even firing a gun against our territory, our 
 wide Dominion would have been instantly trans- 
 ferred from the British to the German Sovereignty. 
 I shuddered at such a vision, and still more deeply 
 realized how much we, Canadians, were all in duty 
 bound to help the Allies in crushing Prussian 
 militarism. 
 
CHAPTEK XII. 
 The Soudanese and South African Wars. 
 
 In the two previously mentioned pamphlet*, 
 Mr. Bourassa argued at length to prove that Can- 
 ada had been led to intervene in the great Euro- 
 pean war as a consequence of her intervention in 
 the South African War. It is well known through- 
 out the Dominion that the South African conflict 
 was the occasion chosen by the "Nationalist" 
 leader to proclaim his doctrine that the autono- 
 mous colonies should have nothing to do with the 
 wars of the Empire — les guerres de i/empire. He 
 then strongly opposed Canadian support of Great 
 Britain in her struggle in South Africa. 
 
 In one of his pamphlets, Mr. Bourassa affirm- 
 ed that the Government of Sir John A. Macdonald 
 had, in 1884, refused the request of the Imperial 
 Government to interfere in its favour in the Sou- 
 danese war. Well aware of the events of this 
 struggle, I positively knew that the "Nationalist" 
 leader's assertion was not borne out by the facts, 
 and was historically false. I considered it my 
 duty, in a special chapter, to explain fully the cir- 
 cumstances of the case to my French Canadian 
 countrymen. 
 
78 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 It should be well remembered that England 
 was brought into the Soudanese conflict on ac- 
 count of her relations with Egypt, which she had 
 delivered from the Turkish yoke. 
 
 Mr. Bourassa prefaced his above mentioned 
 affirmation by recalling the fact that it was in con- 
 sideration of the Soudanese difficulties that "for 
 the first time in the history of the Colonial 
 Empire of Great Britain, offers of armed support 
 were made by the autonomous colonies." 
 
 Is it not evident that if — as was true — such 
 offers were made spontaneously by the Colonies, it 
 cannot be pretended that the prof erred armed sup- 
 port was asked by England. If England did not 
 solicit such support, it is plain that Sir John A. 
 Macdonald and his Cabinet could not refuse what 
 was never applied for. 
 
 What are the true historical facts? 
 
 In November 1884, General Laurie, who has 
 represented one of the electoral divisions of Nova 
 Scotia at Ottawa, who has also held a seat in the 
 British House of Commons, took the initiative to 
 propose to raise a Canadian regiment for the cam- 
 paign in the Soudan. In the regular official way, 
 General Laurie's offer was addressed to the Sec- 
 retary of State for the Colonies, Lord Derby. The 
 Imperial Government declined the offer. 
 
 On the 7th of February, 1885, on hearing the 
 news of the disaster of Khartoum, which caused 
 great excitement in England, and naturally creat- 
 ed a strong public feeling to avenge the outrage, 
 
SOUDANIEiSE AND SOUTH AFRICAN WARS. 79 
 
 General Laurie, always enthusiastic, tendered 
 anew his services. He was not the only Canadian 
 officer wishing to go and fight the cruel Soudan- 
 eses. A member of the Canadian Parliament, 
 Colonel Williams, commanding the 46th volunteer 
 battalion of Durham-East, also desired to take part 
 in the African campaign with his regiment. On 
 the 9th of February, 1885, he tendered his proposi- 
 tion to Sir Charles Tupper, then High Commis- 
 sioner in London, who sent it to the Colonial Office. 
 
 On the 10th of February, His Excellency the 
 Governor General, Lord Lansdowne, cabled to the 
 Colonial Secretary that the offers of military 
 service were very numerous. This spontaneous 
 movement, so rapidly spreading, was the fore- 
 runner of those of 1899 and 1914. Thirty years 
 ago, and long before, there were brave men in 
 Canada. There always have been and ever will 
 be. 
 
 These news were no doubt very encouraging 
 for the Imperial authorities. 
 
 Lord Derby, thanking Lord Lansdowne, beg- 
 ged him to say "Whether they (the offers of ser- 
 vice) are sanctioned and recommended by the 
 Dominion Government." 
 
 On the 12th of February, Lord Lansdowne 
 answered Lord Derby that the Dominion Govern- 
 ment was ready to approve recruiting in Canada 
 for service in Egypt or elsewhere, provided that 
 the men would be enlisted under the authority of 
 the Imperial Army Discipline Act, and the expense 
 paid by the Imperial Treasury. 
 
80 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 It consequently follows from the above des- 
 patches that the Soudanese campaign offered to 
 many officers of our volunteer Militia the long 
 wished for opportunity to freely tender their ser- 
 vices to the Imperial Government; that the Brit- 
 ish authorities never applied to the Canadian Gov- 
 ernment, then presided by Sir John A. Macdonald, 
 for armed support in Soudanese Africa ; that, on 
 being officially informed of the offers of service 
 received by His Excellency the Governor General, 
 the Colonial Secretary, before accepting or declin- 
 ing them, enquired if the Canadian Government 
 sanctioned and recommended them ; that the Gov- 
 ernor General answered him in the affirmative, 
 the recruiting to be made according to the Im- 
 perial Military Act at the expense of the Imperial 
 exchequer. 
 
 On the 16th of February, the War Minister, 
 then the Marquis of Hartington, informed the 
 Colonial Secretary that he had come to the conclu- 
 sion to decline with thanks the offers of service 
 from Canada, for the reason that it would have 
 taken too long a time to recruit and organize the 
 regiments offered by General Laurie and Colonel 
 Williams. 
 
 Was I not right, when I refuted Mr. Bouras- 
 sa's assertion, in saying that if a refusal was then 
 given, it was by the British Government who had 
 received the freely tendered services, and not by 
 the Canadian Government, to whom no demand of 
 armed support had been made by Great Britain? 
 
• SOUDANESE AND .SOUTH AFRICAN WAR/S. 81 
 
 If it is indeed very astonishing that Mr. 
 Bourassa should have taken the responsibility to 
 affirm that the Government of Sir John A. Mac- 
 donald had refused to help Great Britain in the 
 Soudanese campaign, it is easy to understand his 
 object in so doing. His purpose was to convince 
 his French Canadian readers that the political 
 leaders at the head of the Government, in 1899 and 
 1914, together with the Canadian Parliament, had, 
 in a revolutionary way, reversed the traditional 
 policy of Canada of non-intervention in the "wars 
 of the Empire" — les guerres de Vempire. And to 
 achieve his end, so detrimental to the best interests 
 of the Dominion, he did not hesitate to draw an 
 absolutely erroneous conclusion from undeniable 
 historical facts. 
 
 The "Nationalist" leader was very anxious to 
 charge the chieftains of the two great political 
 parties with an equal responsibility for what he 
 terms a "Kevolution" in our relations with the 
 Mother Country. With this object constantly in 
 view, he pretended that the intervention of Can- 
 ada in the South African War created the prece- 
 dent which brought about the Dominion participa- 
 tion in the European war, in 1914. In order to stir 
 up to the utmost the prejudices of the French 
 Canadians, he boldly qualified the South African 
 conflict as an infamous crime on the part of 
 England. 
 
 Unfortunately, the true history of the diffi- 
 culties which culminated in the Boer War of 1899, 
 
82 ENGLAND, CANADA AND 'THE WAR. 
 
 was at the time little known throughout Canada, 
 and oven less particularly in the Province of Que- 
 bec. At the outbreak of the struggle, wishing to 
 form a sound opinion of the causes of which it was 
 the direct outcome, I made an exhaustive study of 
 the South African question, beginning at the very 
 inceptive of the Dutch settlement dating as far 
 back as 1652, the year during which the Dutch 
 East India Company occupied Table Bay. Six 
 years later, in 1658, French Huguenots reached 
 South Africa, joining with the Dutch Reformists, 
 who rather energetically did all they could to as- 
 similate them. Still later on, besides some few 
 German immigrants, a third group of Europeans 
 settled on the African coast. They were English- 
 men. 
 
 All the Europeans, on landing in South Af- 
 rica, few in numbers, had at once to contend with 
 the black race numbering many millions. The 
 history of the long struggle between European 
 civilization, represented by the English and Dutch 
 immigrants, and African barbarity, is indeed very 
 interesting. Carefully read and studied in all its 
 bearings, it strongly impressed upon my mind the 
 conviction that had it not been for the timely 
 armed protection they often solicited and received 
 from England, the Dutch Boers would certainly 
 have been annihilated by the tribes of the black 
 race. They could not hope to successfully resist 
 the onslaughts to which they were repeatedly sub- 
 mitted. They were saved from utter destruction 
 
SOUDAN1EJSE AND SOUTH AFRICAN WARS. 83 
 
 by the strong arm of Great Britain, occupying an 
 important strategical position by her Cape Col- 
 ony. The British Government had favoured the 
 settlement of the sons of England in South Africa, 
 for the purpose of assuring, by a powerful naval 
 station, the freedom of communication with the 
 great regions soon to develop into her vast Indian 
 Empire. 
 
 How, and under what circumstances, was 
 British Sovereignty established in South Africa? 
 I considered this question the most important to 
 ascertain, in order to judge fairly the history of 
 the last century in those regions. It was settled 
 by the Peace Congress of Vienna, in 1815. All the 
 European nations represented at that congress, 
 have sanctioned British Sovereignty in South 
 Africa upon the condition of the payment by Eng- 
 land to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, of which 
 Holland was then a part, of the sum of $30,000,000. 
 Consequently the Sovereign Rights of Great Brit- 
 ain in South Africa were henceforth undeniable. 
 
 In my French book, I somewhat extensively 
 summarized the development of the British and 
 Dutch groups of settlers in South Africa. It is 
 well known that the Boers are of Dutch origin. 
 That a rivalry did develop between the two nation- 
 al elements, is not to be wondered at by any one 
 having some knowledge of the history of the world. 
 
 I do not consider it necessary to go at any 
 length in relating the vicissitudes of the conflict 
 between the aspirations of the Boer element and 
 
84 ENGLAND, CANADA AM) THE WAR. 
 
 the undoubted rights of British suzerainty. As a 
 rule they are sufficiently well known by my 
 English readers. 
 
 But I wish to emphasize the two undeniable 
 tfacts: first, that throughout this protracted con- 
 test, England did perseveringly try to favour South 
 Africa with the largest possible measure of poli- 
 tical liberty. Second, that the crisis was finally 
 brought about by the persistent determination of 
 the Government of Pretoria to refuse justice to 
 the Uitlanders and to the British capitalists who, 
 at the urgent request of President Kruger, had 
 invested many millions in the development of the 
 very valuable mines recently discovered in the 
 Transvaal territory. 
 
 Though England had agreed to the establish- 
 ment of the two Republics of the Transvaal and 
 Orange, she had maintained her suzerainty on 
 those territories, which suzerainty the Govern- 
 ment of Petroria had again recognized by the 
 Convention of 1884. 
 
 The most convincing proof that England did 
 not intend any unfair design against the South 
 African Republics, is the fact that she did not pre- 
 pare to resist the armed attack of the Government 
 of Pretoria which could be easily foreseen by the 
 intense organization they were evidently making 
 to impose Boer supremacy in South Africa. 
 
 In his very unjust appreciation of the policy 
 of Great Britain in South Africa, Mr. Bourassa 
 kept no account whatever of the very important 
 
SOTJDAN/EISE AND SOUTH AFRICAN WARS. 86 
 
 fact that war was declared against England by 
 the South African Republic. How could Great 
 Britain have been guilty of a hideous crime in not 
 bowing to the dictate of President Kruger and his 
 Government, as the "Nationalist" leader said, is 
 beyond comprehension. 
 
 England was absolutely within her right in 
 accepting the challenge of the Government of Pre- 
 toria, and fighting to maintain her flag and her 
 Sovereignty in South Africa. 
 
 Fortunately, the South African War, char- 
 acterized by deeds of heroism on both sides, has 
 had the most satisfactory conclusion. It is to be 
 hoped that for many long years the future of that 
 great country is settled with all the blessings that 
 political liberty and free institutions will surely 
 confer on that important part of the British Em- 
 pire. The Boers themselves have fully recognized 
 that their own national development cannot be 
 better guaranteed and safeguarded than by the 
 powerful Sovereignty pledged to their protection, 
 on the only condition of their loyal allegiance to 
 the flag waving on the fair land where they can 
 multiply in peace, prosperity and happiness. The 
 enthusiasm and the admirable courage with which 
 they have rallied to the support of Great Britain 
 and her Allies in the present war, is the best evi- 
 dence how much they appreciate the advantages 
 of their new conditions in the great South African 
 Dominion destined to such a grand future. 
 
 I most sincerely deplore the persistent efforts 
 of the "Nationalist" leader to pervert more and 
 
86 ENGLAND, OANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 more the mind of my French Canadian country- 
 men by his so very unfair appreciation of the 
 nature of the South African conflict. It was with 
 the hope of counteracting them that I introduced a 
 special chapter in my French edition explaining, 
 as fully as I could, though in a condensed form, 
 the South African question. 
 
 The assertion that the participation of Can- 
 ada in the present European war was the sequence 
 of the precedent of our intervention in the South 
 African struggle, is also most injustinable and un- 
 tenable. Had Canada taken no part whatever in 
 the South African War, it would not have made 
 the least difference with regard to the decision of 
 the Canadian people to support Great Britain and 
 the Allies in their gigantic effort to put an end to 
 Prussian terrorism. The assertion which I most 
 emphatically contradict could have no other object 
 but to prejudice the public mind against Canadian 
 intervention in any of the wars of the Empire — 
 les guerres de Fernpire. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 British and German Aspirations Compared. 
 
 In the attempt to justify his opposition to the 
 Canadian armed support of the Allies' cause, Mr. 
 Bourassa repeatedly asserted that Great Britain 
 was as much as Germany aspiring to rule the 
 whole world. He pretends that there is no differ- 
 ence between Anglo-Saxonism and Germanism. 
 
 How unjust and dangerous is such a doctrine 
 is evident to any fair minded man. It was no 
 doubt calculated to prejudice the French Cana- 
 dians against Great Britain, by telling them that 
 the sacrifices they were called upon to make were 
 imposed upon them only to favour the British de- 
 termination to reach the goal of her ambition : — 
 universal domination. 
 
 I strongly repudiated such assertions and 
 vindicated England's course and policy. 
 
 To accuse Great Britain to aspire to universal 
 domination is a most unwarranted charge, contra- 
 dicted by the whole history of the last century dur- 
 ing which she was the most determined supporter 
 of peace. 
 
 Though one of the great Powers of the world, 
 England never undertook to organize a large 
 standing army. How could she aspire to the 
 
88 ENGLAND, CANADA AND iTHE WAR. 
 
 world's domination without a complete military 
 organization comprising many millions of men, is 
 what I am unable to understand. 
 
 Mr. Bourassa's argument to prove his asser- 
 tion is based on the efforts of England to maintain 
 and develop her naval forces so as to guarantee 
 her supremacy on the high seas of the world. How 
 he failed to realize that Great Britain, on account 
 of her insular position, close to the European con- 
 tinent, is by nature itself bound, of sheer necessity, 
 to protect herself by the strength of her military 
 naval power, is beyond comprehension. Suprema- 
 cy on the seas is for the Mother Country a mere 
 question of national existence, — to be or not to be. 
 But supremacy on the seas cannot, and will never, 
 permit England to attain anything like universal 
 domination. And why? For the obvious reason 
 that Great Britain is not, and never can become, a 
 continental Power, in the exact sense of the word. 
 
 I explained, conclusively, I believe, that the 
 case would be very different if Germany succeed- 
 ed in her efforts to supplant England's supremacy 
 on the seas. When the Berlin Government under- 
 took to build a huge military fleet, Germany was 
 the greatest continental military Power. What 
 were her expectations when she adopted that 
 threatening naval policy? The Berlin authorities 
 were very confident that when they would decide 
 to bring on the great war for which they had been 
 strenuously preparing for half a century, they 
 would in a few months have continental Europe at 
 
AlSPIRAlTIONlS OOMPlAiRiED. 89 
 
 their feet and under their sway. Triumphant over 
 Europe they would have at once dominated Asia 
 and a great part of Africa. The next surest way 
 for the German Empire to reach universal domina- 
 tion was to break England's power on the seas. 
 What is impossible for England to accomplish, on 
 account of her insular position, Germany, being a 
 continental Empire, could achieve if she became 
 mistress of the seas. 
 
 The present war is the proof evident that the 
 mighty power of England on the seas has been the 
 salvation of her national existence and, almost 
 equally, that of France and Italy. It kept the 
 oceans open for the trade of all the Allied and neu- 
 tral nations. He is willingly blind, intellectually, 
 the man who does not see that deprived of the 
 matchless protection of her naval forces, Great 
 Britain could be starved and subdued in a few 
 months by an enemy ruling the waves against her. 
 
 Is it possible to suppose that any man aspir- 
 ing to help moulding the public opinion of his 
 countrymen, ignores that with the relatively small 
 extent of the territory it can devote to agricultural 
 production, Great Britain can never feed her 
 actual population of over forty-five millions, most 
 likely to reach sixty millions in the not very dis- 
 tant future. Consequently how unjust, how extra- 
 vagant, is it to accuse England of any aspiration 
 to dominate the world by means of the sacrifices 
 she is absolutely bound to make for the only sake 
 of her self-defence, her self-protection. 
 
90 ENGIiAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 If lie does not know, I will no doubt cordially 
 oblige the "Nationalist" leader by informing him 
 that Great Britain, usually importing food pro- 
 ducts to the amount of seven to eight hundred 
 millions of dollars, for many years past, required 
 as much as a billion dollars worth of them in the 
 war year of 1915. It is so easy to foresee that the 
 continual increase of the population of the United 
 Kingdom, by the new large developments which 
 will surely follow the war in all industrial, com- 
 mercial and financial pursuits, will cause a rela- 
 tive increase in the importations of food products 
 likely to reach, and even exceed before long, an av- 
 erage total annual value of a billion and a quarter 
 dollars. 
 
 None of the European continental Powers has 
 the same imperious reasons as England to take the 
 proper means to guarantee her control of the seas. 
 How is it then that Germany is the only Power to 
 object to England's policy, if it is not for the ulti- 
 mate object to attain universal domination by the 
 overthrow of Great Britain's ascendency on the 
 wide oceans, which would permit her to realize 
 her long cherished aim by the combined powerful 
 effort of her gigantic military forces both on land 
 and sea. 
 
 With regard to England's naval supremacy, 
 the "Nationalist" leader is also committed to other 
 opinions which I strongly contradicted. He en- 
 tirely forgets that beyond the sea coast limits, well 
 defined by International Law, no Sovereign rights 
 
ASPIRATIONS COMPARED. 91 
 
 can be claimed on the high seas. The navigation 
 of the ocean is free to all nations by nature itself. 
 Has any Government ever entertained the foolish 
 idea that the broad Atlantic could, for instance, 
 be divided into so many parts as the European, 
 Asiatic, or American continents, over which sev- 
 eral States could exercise Sovereign powers? No 
 Chinese Wall can be built on the seas. 
 
 My own view of the case, which I believe to be 
 the correct one, is that England's naval supremacy 
 means nothing more nor less than the police of the 
 seas, and the protection of the flags of all the Na- 
 tions navigating them, besides being, of course and 
 necessarily, the guarantee of her National exist- 
 ence. 
 
 Blind also, intellectually, is the British sub- 
 ject not sufficiently inspired by the true sense of 
 the duties of Loyalty, who does not understand 
 that once Great Britain's maritime power would 
 be crushed and the United Kingdom either con- 
 quered or obliged to an humiliating peace w r hich 
 would ruin all her future prospects, the Colonial 
 Empire would equally be at the mercy of the vic- 
 torious enemy of the Mother Country. 
 
 With the most earnest conviction, I have tried, 
 to the best of my ability, to persuade my French- 
 Canadian compatriots of the inevitable dangers 
 ahead if the false views which were so persistingly 
 impressed upon their minds were ever to prevail, 
 and the aim they undoubtedly favour to be realized. 
 
92 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 Another arguemnt widely used by our "Na- 
 tionalist" School to influence the opinion of the 
 French Canadians against Canada's participation 
 in the war, was that Great Britain herself was not 
 doing what she ought to win the victory. I have 
 personally heard this false objection repeated by 
 many — unconsciously of course — who were influ- 
 enced in so saying by the "Nationalist" press. 
 
 No more unfair charge could have been made 
 against England. I could not help being indignant 
 at reading it, knowing as I did, by daily acquired 
 information what an immense effort the United 
 Kingdom had been making, from the very begin- 
 ning of the hostilities, to play its powerful part in 
 the great war into which it had nobly decided to 
 enter to avenge its honour, to defend the Empire 
 and the whole world against German barbarous 
 militarism. 
 
 I have already commented on the immense 
 service guaranteed to the Allied nations by the 
 British fleet. To illustrate the wonderful and ad- 
 mirable military effort of Great Britain, I will 
 quote some very important figures from the mo«t 
 interesting Report of the British War Cabinet, for 
 the year 1917, presented to Parliament by Com- 
 mand of His Majesty. 
 
 Under the title "Construction and Supply", 
 the Report says: — 
 
 During the past year the Naval Service has undergone con- 
 tinual expansion in order to enable it to meet every demand made 
 upon it, not only in the seas surrounding these islands, but in the 
 
CONSTRUCTION AND SUPPLY. 93 
 
 Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Arctic Ocean, 
 the Pacific, and the Atlantic, where it has co-operated with the 
 Naval forces of the Allies. The displacement tonnage of the 
 Royal Navy in 1914 was 2,400,000 tons. To-day it has increased 
 by 75 per cent — (making a total of 4,200,000 tons — ). The ships and 
 vessels of all kinds employed in the Naval Service in September, 
 1914, after the whole of the mobilisation had been completed, had 
 a tonnage of just over 4 million; now the figure is well over 6 
 million. Transports, fleet attendants and overseas oilers and 
 similar auxiliary vessels at the outbreak of war numbered 23; the 
 Admiralty to-day control nearly 700 such craft. The strength of 
 the personnel, which was 145,000, has been increased to 420,000. 
 
 From these brief particulars regarding the ships and their 
 manning, an estimate can be formed of the expansions that have 
 been made in the auxiliary services, such as guns, torpedoes, muni- 
 tions, and stores of all kinds, anti-submarine apparatus, mines, &c, 
 and some idea is gained of the demands that have been made upon 
 the great army of workers on shore, the men in the Royal dock- 
 yardis and arsenals, in the shipyards, the engine shops, and the 
 factories, without whose help the Fleet could not be maintained as 
 a fighting force. 
 
 As regards warsihip and auxiliary ship construction, the out- 
 put during the last 12 months has been between three and four 
 times the average annual output for the few years preceding the 
 war. 
 
 The Admiralty now control all the dry docks in the country, 
 . . . — 250 merchant ships are being repaired each week, either 
 in dry dock or afloat. 
 
 Since the beginning of the war, 31,470 British war vessels 
 have been placed in dock or on the slips ( — as many as 225 being 
 repaired in one week — ). . . . These figures do not include 
 repair work carried out to the vessels of our Allies 
 
 The Transport Service is of the highest im- 
 portance in carrying on the war. What has been 
 the achievement of England on that score? Under 
 the title: — "Transportation" the War Cabinet 
 Keport proves its immensity as follows : — 
 
 The record of what has been done by the transport services 
 for the Armies of the Allies shows a stupendous amount of work 
 accomplished, which constitutes one of the brilliant achievements 
 
94 ENGLAND,. (CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 of the war. There had been transported overseas up till the end 
 ©f August, 1917, the last date for which complete statistics are 
 available — some: — 13 million 'human beings — combatants, wounded, 
 medical personnel, refugees, prisoners, &c; 2 million horses and 
 mules; r /2 million vehicles; 25 million tons of explosive and sup* 
 plies for the armies; . . 51 million tons of coal and oil fuel for 
 the use of our Fleets, our Armies, and to meet the needs of our 
 Allies. 
 
 The operations of the seas are on such a large scale that 
 it is difficult to realize all that is involved in sea transportation; for 
 example, over 7,000 personnel are transported, and more than 
 30,000 tons of stores and supplies have to (be imported daily into 
 France for the maintenance of our own army. About 567 steamers, 
 of approximately 1^4 million tons, are continually employed in the 
 service of carrying troops and stores to the Armies in France and 
 to the forces in various theatres of war in the East. 
 
 We all know that the Berlin Government ex- 
 pected that the submarine campaign would result 
 in an early final victory for the Central Empires. 
 Herr von Bethmann Hollweg, then the Imperial 
 Chancellor, said: — "The Blockade must succeed 
 within a limited number of weeks, within which 
 America cannot effectively participate in the 
 operations" 
 
 How he was mistaken, and extravagant were 
 his expectations, events have proved. This sen- 
 tence is also proof ' evident that he realized how 
 effective the United States effort would become, if 
 the submarine campaign did not succeed within a 
 few weeks. 
 
 The iniquitous submarine campaign, re- 
 opened early in the year 1917, "added materially 
 to the responsibilities of the Navy. To meet this 
 new and serious menace drastic steps had to be 
 taken to supplement those adopted in the previous 
 December and January" 
 
CONSTRUCTION AND SUPPLY. 95 
 
 The Report adds: — 
 
 A large numlber of new destroyers have Ibeen built and at 
 the same time auxiliary patrol services have been expanded enor- 
 mously so as 'to deal with the nefarious submarine and minelaying 
 methods of the enemy. Before the outbreak of the war there were 
 under 20 vessels employed as minesweepers and on auxiliary patrol 
 duties. To-day the number of craft used for these purposes at 
 home and abroad is about 3,400, and is consantly increasing. 
 
 A new feature of the means adopted for the protection of 
 trade against submarines has been a return to the convoy system 
 as practised in bygone wars It has been markedly effective in 
 reducing the losses. During the last few months over 90 per cent 
 of all vessels sailing in all the Atlantic trades were convoyed. . . 
 
 The Royal Naval Air Service at the outbreak of war possess- 
 ed a personnel of under 800; at the present moment the numbers 
 approach 46,000 and are continually increasing . . . Mention 
 must also be made of the great value of the air services in com- 
 bating the submarine menace round our coasts. . . . Illus- 
 trating their extent it may (be stated that in one week the aircraft 
 patrol round the British coasts alone flies 30.000 miles. 
 
 The general result of the German attack, therefore, though 
 serious enough, is far from unprecedented. In the two yiears after 
 Trafalgar, when our command of the sea was unquestioned, we 
 still lost 1,045 merchant ships by- 'capture, and in the whole period 
 from 1794 to 1875 we lost over 10,000 merchant ships. 
 
 Nor should we lose sight of the very heavy losses sustained 
 by the enemy in the present war. At the commencement of hos- 
 tilities, Germany had 915 merchant ships abroad, of which only 
 158 got home safely; the remainder within a few days were 
 cleared from the oceans, either captured or driven to shelter in 
 neutral ports. In the aggregate the German Mercantile Marine 
 consisted of over 5 million tons of shipping; at the present time 
 nearly half of this has been sunk or captured by ourselves or our 
 Allies, while the bulk of the rest is lying useless in harbour. 
 
 Let me now refer to the military effort of 
 Great Britain. Under the title : — "Strength of the 
 Army" &c, the War Cabinet Keport gives the 
 following most inspiring figures. 
 
96 ENGffiiAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 The effort which the British nations have made under the 
 one item of "Provision of Men for the Armed Forces of the 
 Crown" amounts to not less than 7,500,000 men, and of these 60.4 
 per cent 'have been contributed by* England, 8.3 per cent by 
 Scotland, 3.7 per cent by Wales, 2.3 per cent by Ireland, 12 per cent 
 iby the Dominions and the Colonies, while the remainder, 13.3 per 
 cent, composed of native •fighting troops, labour corps, carriers, 
 &c, represent the splendid contribution made by India and. our 
 various African and other Dependencies. 
 
 Royal Artillery. — The personnel of the Royal Artillery in- 
 creased 17.6 per cent, (between August, 1916, and August, 1917. 
 
 In the first nine months of 1917 the supply of modern anti- 
 aircraft guns in the field increased 44 per cent, that of field guns 
 17 per cent., of field-howitzers 26 per cent., of heavy guns 40 per 
 cent.,, of medium howitzers 104 per cent., of heavy howitzers 16 per 
 cent., and of heavy-guns on railway mountings 100 per cent.; these 
 
 last have an increased range of albout 3*5 per cent 
 
 We have also supplied large numbers of heavy guns and trench 
 mortars to our Allies in different theatres of war. 
 
 The Medical Service has continued to expand with the 
 growth of the Army and its strength is now largely in excess of 
 our whole original Expeditionary Force. . . . More than 
 17,000 wome'n are employed as nurses and over 28,000 others are 
 
 engaged in military hospitals on various form of work 
 
 Hospitals in the United Kingdom now numiber more than 2,000 
 
 The health of the troops in the United Kingdom is actually 
 better than the peace rate; the same is the case in France, exclud- 
 ing admissions to hospital by reason of wounds. 
 
 The above quoted figures prove that out of a 
 total of 7,500,000 men for the Armed Forces of the 
 British Crown, Great Britain — the United King- 
 dom — had contributed, at the end of last year, 5,- 
 625,000, out of which number the shore of England 
 and Wales amounted to 4,800,000. The British 
 Colonial Empire's contribution had been 1,875,000. 
 
TRANSPORT. 97 
 
 At the date of the current year — August, 1918 
 — I am writing, I can safely calculate that the 
 number of men for the Armed Forces of the Brit- 
 ish Crown — using the words of the Official Report 
 above quoted — has reached, at least, the grand and 
 magnificent total of 8,000,000. The percentage of 
 respective contributions of the United Kingdom 
 and the Colonial Empire no doubt remaining the 
 same, the relative number of each of them is, — 
 for the United Kingdom 6,000,000; for the Col- 
 onies 2,000,000. 
 
 I consider the War Cabinet Report of 1917 so 
 interesting, so encouraging, that my readers will, 
 I am confident, kindly bear with me in a few more 
 very important quotations, the full Report itself 
 having had only a very limited circulation in 
 Canada. 
 
 Transport. 
 
 In addition to the prodigious Naval effort of 
 England, both military and mercantile, previously 
 illustrated, Great Britain has most powerfully 
 contributed to the fighting operations on land by 
 an immense improvement in transportation 
 facilities by railway construction in all British 
 theatres of war. 
 
 The Report says : — 
 
 In all these theatres railways have come to play a more 
 and more important part. In France a vast light railway system 
 has been created, involving the supply during the present year of 
 
98 ENGLAND, CANADA AND TCHE WAR. 
 
 approximately 1,700 miles of track and the whole of the equipe- 
 ment. . . . Exclusive of these light railway systems, the total 
 amount of permanent railway track supplied complete to all 
 theatres of war is about 3,000 miles. In Egypt the railway cross- 
 ing the desert from the Suez Canal has now reached and passed 
 'Gaza. In Mesopotamia the rapid and successful movements of our 
 troops have only been made possible by the construction of a 
 whole series of lines since the beginning of 1917. The development 
 of road-building has been on a similar scale, and the shipments of 
 material, equipment and stores for these two purposes during the 
 last nine months have averaged 200,000 tons a month. Much 
 la)bour has also been spent in the organisation of an Overland 
 Ivine of Communication through France and Italy to the Mediter- 
 ranean in order to save shipping. This line was opened for per- 
 sonnel traffic in June, 1917, and for goods traffic early in August. 
 
 In France the conveyance of supplies of all kinds to our 
 armies along the French rivers and canals is performed by a large 
 fleet of tugs, barges, and self-propelled barges. The fleet thus 
 employed in France consists of over 700 vessels, and the tonnage 
 carried toy it averages over 50,000 tons per week. 
 
 The Air Service. 
 
 In a recital indicating generally what steps 
 have been taken in matters of administration and 
 control, the Keport says : — 
 
 From the point of view of defence, the new arm presented 
 problems pregnant with at least equal importance. The proud and 
 ancient inviolability of these islands was being challenged in a 
 new and startling fashion, and the seriousness of the problem was 
 added to by the fact that the geographical position of the capital 
 of the Empire rendered it particularly inviting to attack from the 
 air. 
 
 Kespecting the supply of Aircraft, the Eeport 
 says that: — 
 
 In endeavoring to describe the measures taken to meet the 
 aircraft needs of the Navy and Army, the writer is at once con- 
 
THE AIR SERVICE. 99 
 
 fronted by the fact that the information desired by the country is 
 precisely the information desired by the enemy. What the coun- 
 try wants to know is what has been the expansion in our Air 
 Services; whether we have met and are meeting all the demands 
 of the Navy and of the Army, both for replacement of obsolete 
 machines by the most modern types, and for the increase of our 
 ifighting strength in the air; what proportion of the national re- 
 sources in men, material and factories is being devoted to aviation; 
 what the expansion is likely to foe in tfhe future. These are pre- 
 cisely the facts which we should like to know with regard to the 
 •German air service, and for that reason it would be inadmissible 
 for us to supply Germany with corresponding information about 
 ourselves by publishing a statement on the subject. 
 
 It can be said that the expansion of our Air Services is 
 keeping pace generally with the growing needs of the Navy and 
 the Army. 
 
 In Chapter VIII, under the heading: — "The 
 Ministry of Munitions in 1917" the following is 
 read : — 
 
 The number of persons engaged in the production of muni- 
 tions in October, 1917, was 2,022,000 men and 704,000 women, as 
 compared witlh 1,921,000 men and 535,000 women in January. 
 They have thus been increased during the past six months at the 
 rate of 11,000 men and 19,000 women per month. These numbers 
 include those employed in Government and in private establish- 
 ments, in the principal munition industries, chemical and ex- 
 plosive trades, engineering and munition plants, furnaces and 
 foundries, in shipbuilding and in mining other than coal-mining. 
 The total represents approximately two-thirds of the total labour 
 occupied on Government work in industry. 
 
 The preceding official statistics prove most 
 conclusively that actually, and ever since the be- 
 ginning of the third year of the war, more than 
 twelve millions of men and women — more than 
 the fourth of the total population of the United 
 Kingdom — have been either in the Armed Forces 
 of the British Crown — Navy and Army — or in the 
 
100 ENGLAND, CANADA AND 1THE WAR. 
 
 shipbuilding yards, in munitions factories, in 
 transportation on land and sea, in the Medical 
 Service, in the Air Service, &c, employed for the 
 success of the cause of the Allies. 
 
 The Financial Effort of Great Britain. 
 
 The gigantic military effort of Great Britain, 
 in all the branches of its wonderfully developed 
 organization, as above illustrated, was only ren- 
 dered possible by a corresponding financial con- 
 tribution. 
 
 During the financial year preceding the 
 outbreak of the war, the total expenditure of the 
 Government of Great Britain was $987,464,845. 
 The hostilities have imposed upon the United 
 Kingdom vast expenditures. "For that period — 
 again quoting the War Cabinet Keport — from the 
 1st April, 1917, to the 1st December, 1917," the 
 total Exchequer issues for expenditure (including 
 Consolidated Fund Service and Supply Services) 
 were £1,799,223,000,— ($8,796,115,000) represent- 
 ing a daily average for that period of £7,344,000 
 ($36,720,000)." 
 
 At this rate of expenditure, the total for the 
 year equals at least $13,500,000,000. But the fin- 
 ancial charges entailed by the war being constant- 
 ly on the increase, they can be calculated at a daily 
 average of no less than $40,000,000 until the close 
 of the conflict. 
 
 England has not only incurred very heavy 
 financial obligations, met both by an enormously 
 
GOUjONOiAIL 'AICHIEVEMEINTO. 101 
 
 increased taxation and the issue of large National 
 loans, to pay the cost of her own war expenditure, 
 but she has also generously helped her friends 
 whose financial resources were not so abundant as 
 her own. To the 1st December, 1917, she had made 
 advances to the Allies amounting to no less than 
 $5,930,000,000. In addition to this large amount, 
 •the advances she had made to the Dominions for 
 the same period summed up $875,000,000. 
 
 Achievements of Dominion, Colonial and Indian 
 
 Troops. 
 
 Under the above title, the War Cabinet Ke- 
 port concludes a general review of the past year's 
 effort by paying high tribute to the value of the 
 services rendered by the whole British Colonial 
 Empire, in the following elogious terms: — 
 
 In the above sketch of military operations during the past 
 year, it has not been possible to distinguish between the particular 
 services rendered by the various nations and nationalities otf the 
 Empire. But it must not be forgotten that during the war the 
 forces of the Crown have become welded into a true Imperial 
 army, representative of every part of the world-wide British 
 'Commonwealth, and a brief note may be included as to the special 
 services of the various overseas forces. 
 
 The share of the Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, South 
 African and Newfoundland contingents in the successes of the 1917 
 campaign are well known. The capture of Vimy Ridge in April, 
 the prolonged and bitter fighting around 'Lens during the whole 
 summer and autumn, and the capture of Passchendaele were car- 
 ried out by the Canadian Corps, which has thus proved itself as 
 excellent in offensive as its splendid defence of Ypres in 1915 had 
 shown it to be in defensive fighting. The New Zealand and Aus- 
 tralian contingents have corresponding achievements to their cre- 
 dit in their share of the battle of Messines and in the long sus- 
 tained and bitterly contested fights in the Ypres salient from July 
 
102 ENGLAND, CANADA AND 'THE WAR. 
 
 to November. The South African brigade sustained the brilliant 
 reputation which it won last year at Delville Wood by the de- 
 voted services it rendered on the battlefields of Arras and Ypres. 
 Finally, the Newfoundland Regiment took a glorious and costly 
 part in the same two battles. The troops of all the Dominions 
 have shown themselves throughout the campaign of 1917 to have 
 maintained the historic standards of the British Army and have 
 been worthy rivals of the United Kingdom troops in every military 
 effort and achievement. 
 
 This testimony to the services rendered by the Dominions 
 would not be complete without some reference to the part played 
 by South Africa in German East Africa, where her troops have 
 borne, under the brilliant leadership of General Van Deventer, a 
 conspicuous share in a peculiarly arduous campaign. 
 
 The smaller Colonies and Protectorates have naturally been 
 unable to play so great and conspicuous a part in the World War, 
 but in their own spheres they have contributed their full share to 
 the military effort of the Empire. Labour and fighting troops 
 were freely drawn upon for the Mesopotamian and East African 
 theatres. West Africa, British East Africa, Uganda, Nyasaland 
 and Rhodesia have all sent contingents to fight in Cerman East 
 Africa. 16,000 men from the West Indies have been sent across 
 the Atlantic; and labour corps from the Eastern Colonies have 
 been sent to the Mesopotamian and East African fronts, and, de- 
 spite unfavourable conditions, to the Western theatre. A large 
 number of individuals from overseas possessions, such as the 
 Malay States and Hong Kong, have also joined the Imperial 
 forces. 
 
 Finally, India's contribution, both in man-power, material 
 and money, has steadily increased throughout the year. India has 
 taken a very important share in the victorious campaign in Meso- 
 potamia. The great majority of the troops in this theatre of war 
 are Indian. They have fully sustained the 'high reputation of the 
 Indian Army for gallantry and endurance. India has been respon- 
 sible for much of the supply, medical and transportation system 
 by water and on land. Indian forces have also rendered con- 
 spicuous service in France, Egypt and East Africa. The question 
 of the supply of officers, especially medical officers, has been 
 solved; commissions have been granted to Indians, and a voluntary 
 Indian Defence Force is now being organised and trained. Spe- 
 cial mention should be made of the loyal and effective assistance 
 of the Indian ruling princes and chiefs, from the smallest to the 
 greatest. 
 
COLONIAL .ACHIEVEMENTS. 106 
 
 The Indian Government has moreover gener- 
 ously contributed $500,000,000 towards the cost of 
 the war. 
 
 The foregoing quotations of official figures, of 
 facts undeniable, of achievements really most ex- 
 traordinary, constitute the unanswerable refuta- 
 tion, complete and crushing, of the Nationalist 
 charge that England, while not doing her own 
 duty with regard to the war, was using undue in- 
 fluence to coerce the British Colonies to participate 
 in the conflict far beyond the fair proportionate 
 effort to be expected on their part ; that an illegiti- 
 mate pressure of Great Britain's Government on 
 her Colonies was being practised, as insidiously 
 alleged, to promote her Imperialist ambition of 
 the World's ascendency. 
 
 Unfortunately, those false and most unjust 
 notions had taken deeper root in many minds, even 
 in some who should have been much above such an 
 unfair misconception, than was at first supposed. 
 Hence the imJportance of setting the matter right, 
 and the necessity of proving that England's war 
 achievements, in every branch of the Military 
 Service, were far exceeding what had, at first, 
 been expected of her, and was ever considered pos- 
 sible. British pluck and manliness were equal to 
 the direst emergency that ever called them forth. 
 Patriotism, courage, determination, perseverance, 
 rising superior to any increased difficulties, have 
 truly worked miracles of manly efforts and self- 
 sacrifices inspired by the noble cause which 
 brought Great Britain in the World's straggle. 
 
CHAPTEB XIV. 
 
 The Veritable Aims of The Allies. 
 
 After doing their utmost to persuade the 
 French Canadians that the Allies, more especially 
 England and Bussia, were equally responsible for 
 the war, together with Germany and Austria, our 
 "Nationalist" leaders moreover asserted that they 
 were hostile to a just and lasting peace on account 
 of their unfair claims. In support of their pre- 
 tension, they repeatedly affirmed that the Allies 
 were pledged to the complete destruction of the 
 German Empire. No more unfounded charge could 
 he made against the Nations suddenly challenged 
 to a gigantic struggle for life or death. 
 
 It was very important to protect my French 
 Canadian countrymen against views which, if not 
 proved to be absolutely wrong, were calculated to 
 bias their mind against the Allies. With this 
 patriotic object strongly impressed upon my mind, 
 I fully explained what were the veritable aims 
 of Great Britain, France, Kussia and Italy, in 
 fighting their deadly enemy. When I issued my 
 French book, the United States had not then 
 entered the contest. Their declaration of war 
 against Germany, in the spring of 1917, after the 
 outrage of the sinking of the Lusitania, and the 
 
THE AIMS OF TH© AMjIES. 106 
 
 numerous criminal provocations of the submarine 
 campaign, clearly emphasized, once more, what 
 the Allies had been strenuously struggling for 
 from the outbreak of the hostilities. They had 
 taken up the gauntlet savagely thrown to them, 
 declaring to the world that they would battle to 
 the last to put an end to German militarism, al- 
 ways threatening general peace, to protect the 
 small nations, notahly Belgium and Servia, 
 against the ouslaught of mighty and tyrannical 
 conquerors, to save Humanity, Civilization and 
 Freedom from the crushing ascendency of auto- 
 cratic rule. The great American Republic rallied 
 with them to the defence of this most sacred cause. 
 Need I refer to the numerous and eloquent mes- 
 sages of President Wilson, to the writings of the 
 American press, and to the declarations of all the 
 leading public men of the United States, in both 
 Houses of Congress, or before public meetings, in 
 support of the contention which was proved be- 
 yond controversy for all fair minded men. 
 
 Mr. Bourassa, whether from sheer miscon- 
 ception, or blindly carried away by incomprehen- 
 sible German sympathies, having their root in his 
 prejudiced hostility to England, couM see no dif- 
 ference between a war policy aiming at putting an 
 end to Prussian militarism, and one having for its 
 object the dismemberment of the German Empire. 
 Nor could he conceive that fighting for human lib- 
 erty was a nobler purpose than struggling for au- 
 tocratic tyranny. Though ever posing as the cham- 
 
106 ENGDAND, CANADA AND THE WAR, 
 
 pion of the small nationalities, he would not utter 
 a word of sympathy for martyred Belgium, bar- 
 barbously conquered Servia, oppressed Poland, 
 since the beginning of the war. 
 
 The great conflict once begun under so terrific 
 conditions, every one somewhat posted with the 
 immense resources of the belligerents, their re- 
 spective warlike spirit and enduring qualities, 
 could easily foresee that, unfortunately, it was 
 most likely to last for several years, the contend- 
 ing parties being so far apart in their respective 
 aspirations. Elated beyond all reason by her tri- 
 umph over France, in 1870, which had for its first 
 very important result the final creation of the 
 German Empire, proclaimed to the world from 
 Versailles, — the bleeding heart of her vanquished 
 foe, — the new great Power, dominating Central 
 Europe, lost no time in setting all its energies to 
 the task of perfecting the most gigantic military 
 organization ever seen. To all clear sighted men, 
 Germany could not be supposed to accept the 
 heavy sacrifices required for such an end with the 
 sole purpose of maintaining peace. Further con- 
 quests were evidently her inspiring aim. 
 
 Who can forget how Humanity was staggered, 
 by the rapidity of the onslaught of the Teutonic 
 hordes let loose against nations whose greatest 
 wish was to keep the peace of the world? In a 
 sudden rush, the waves of the torrent overran 
 Belgium and Northern France dashing direct 
 towards Paris. 
 
THE AIMS OF THE ALLIES. 107 
 
 The wonderful plan of campaign, so scientific- 
 ally conceived and matured, could then be under- 
 stood as it was boldly and powerfully developed. 
 The Berlin military staff, knowing that France 
 was not sufficiently prepared for the struggle, that 
 England, if forced to intervene in honour bound, 
 by the criminal violation of Belgium's neutrality, 
 would require a couple of years to organize an 
 army of millions of men, decided to strike the first 
 blow with such an overpowering strength as to 
 conquer Belgium in a victorious run and crush 
 France out of the fight. A couple of months were 
 to be sufficient to that most coveted end. Mean- 
 time Austria was to face and resist the Kussian 
 attack, to allow Germany the necessary time to 
 settle victoriously the western part of the cam- 
 paign, so cleverly planned and successfully carried 
 out, before transferring her glorious legions to the 
 Eastern theatre of the war. Russia was not sup- 
 posed to be able to properly organize her armies in 
 less than many months, when it could no longer 
 expect to triumph over the enthusiastic Huns. 
 
 In the depressing darkness of those anxious 
 days, the great Marne victory came like the bril- 
 liant sun piercing the heavy clouds, pledging final 
 success as the reward of the persevering courage 
 and heroism to be long displayed to deserve it. 
 Germany's first dream of conquering universal 
 domination by military operations even over- 
 shadowing those of the illustrious Napoleonic 
 Era, and of Caesar's marvellously laid deep foun- 
 
108 ENGLAND, 'CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 dations of Roman grandeur, was shattered to 
 pieces. 
 
 Before the Teutonic armies could be reorgan- 
 ized for another great offensive, England's forces 
 and those of her Colonies would be in a position 
 to ^nter the struggle; France's resources would be 
 brought to bear with all their strength; Italy 
 would break away from the Central Empires and 
 heartily join the Allies. 
 
 Then the conflict turned to that weary trench 
 fighting which to the sadness of its trials added 
 new evidence of the inevitable lengthening of the 
 war. No wonder that the longing for peace was 
 intensified under the pressure of conditions be- 
 coming more and more trying. Without doubt all 
 true friends of human prosperity and happiness, 
 in their limited possible worldly measure, were fer- 
 vently praying to God in favour of the restoration 
 of harmony between the warring Nations. But 
 they saw with undeniable clearness that there 
 were two essential — sine qua non— conditions to 
 the peace of the future. To be of any value it must 
 be Just and Durable. If it could become perman- 
 ent, much more the better. 
 
 Unfortunately, outside the legions of the true 
 friends of an honourable peace, there were found, 
 in the Allied countries, faint hearted men getting 
 tired of the worries and sacrifices consequent upon 
 the prolonged struggle. The moment they began 
 to show their hands, was the signal for the Ultra 
 Revolutionists of Russia, finally organized into 
 
THE AIMB OF THE ALLIES. 109 
 
 the disastrous bolshevikism, far the paid traitors 
 of France, for the disloyal elements of the British 
 Empire, to rally around them to set in motion, 
 with accrued force, a current of opinion clamouring 
 for peace almost at any price. To quiet this un- 
 patriotic longing of the disheartened, the political 
 leaders of the Allies publicly explained their war 
 aims, positively affirming that their objective was 
 that Just and Durable peace to which alone they 
 could and would agree. 
 
 Canada had also her pacifist element. So far 
 as the French Canadians were concerned, it was, 
 though small in numbers, almost entirely recruited 
 in the ranks of the supporters of "Nationalism" 
 I feel I must explain that our "Nationalism" as it 
 has been repeatedly propounded, does not in the 
 least represent the sound views of the very large 
 majority of my French Canadian countrymen. 
 
 As was to be expected, Mr. Bourassa was 
 again the outspoken organ of our French Cana- 
 dian pacifists. He laid great stress on what he 
 gave out as a fact : that if peace negotiations were 
 not at once entered upon and brought to a success- 
 ful conclusion, it was on account of the Allies un- 
 reasonable claims, pointing especially to England's 
 determination not to surrender her supremacy on 
 the high seas, to develop more and more what he 
 termed her imperialism for the purpose of domin- 
 ating the world economically. 
 
 In my French work, I strongly took issue with 
 the views of our pacifists as expressed by their 
 
110 ENGLAND, 'CANADA AM) THE WAR. 
 
 leader and their press. Addressing my French. 
 Canadian countrymen on the bounden duties of all 
 loyal British subjects, it was my ardent purpose 
 to tell them the plain truth. Writing, as I did, in 
 1916, 1 was then, as I had been from the very begin- 
 ning, firmly convinced that the conflict would be of 
 long duration, that it was very wrong — even crim- 
 inal if disloyally inspired — for any one to delude 
 them by vain hopes, or deceive them by false 
 charges. 
 
 Having some knowledge of military strategy 
 and tactics, I saw with the clear light of noon day 
 that, despite the gigantic efforts put forth by the 
 Allies, and the admirable heroism of their armies 
 — our Canadian force brilliantly playing its part 
 — final victory would be attained only by indomit- 
 able perseverance, both of the millions of fighting 
 men and of the whole Allied nations backing them 
 to the last with their moral and material support. 
 That profound conviction of mine I was very 
 anxious to strongly impress on the minds of my 
 French-Canadian readers, imploring them not to 
 be carried away by the "Nationalist" erroneous 
 pretentions that peace could easily be obtained, if 
 the Allies would only agree to negotiate. I told 
 them plainly, what was absolutely true, that the 
 war aims of Germany were so well known and in- 
 admissible that there was not the least shadow of 
 hope that peace negotiations could lead to a rea- 
 sonable understanding realizing the two imperi- 
 ous conditions of Justice and durability in a set- 
 
PBAOB CONDITIONS. Ill 
 
 tlement to which all the Allies were in honour 
 pledged. I explained to them that it was no use 
 whatever to be deluded by expectations, however 
 tempting they might appear, because under the 
 then conditions of the military situation — time 
 and events have since brought no favourable 
 change but quite the reverse — there was not the 
 slightest chance of an opening for a successful 
 consideration of the questions to be debated and 
 settled before the complete cessation of the conflict. 
 There was only one conclusion to be drawn from 
 the circumstances of the case, and, however sad to 
 acknowledge, it was that the fight must be carried 
 on to a final victorious issue, any weakening of 
 determination and purpose being sure to bring 
 about humiliating defeat. 
 
 The Only Possible Peace Conditions. 
 
 Whenever representatives of the belligerents 
 shall meet to negotiate for peace, there will of 
 course be many questions of first class importance 
 to consider and discuss. But the one which must 
 overshadow any other and of necessity carry the 
 day, is that peace must be restored under con- 
 ditions that will, if not forever, at least for many 
 long years, protect Humanity and Civilization 
 against a recurrence of such a calamity as am- 
 bitious and cruel Germany has criminally imposed 
 upon the world. I urged my French Canadian 
 readers to consider seriously how peace due to a 
 
112 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 compromise, accepted out of sheer discourage- 
 ment, would soon develop into a still more trying 
 ordeal than the one Canada had willingly and de- 
 liberately undertaken to fight out with the Allies. 
 I forcibly explained to them that if the present 
 war did not result in an international agreement 
 to put an end to the extravagant and ruinous 
 militarism which, under Prussian terrorism, was 
 proving to be the curse of almost the whole uni- 
 verse, all the sacrifices of so many millions of 
 lives, heroically given, of untold sufferings, of so 
 much treasures, would have been made in vain if 
 Germany was allowed to continue a permanent 
 menace to general tranquillity. 
 
 It was a wonder to me than any one could fail 
 to understand that an armed peace would be only 
 a truce during which militarism would be spread- 
 ing with increased vigour and strength. It was 
 evident — and still daily becoming more and more 
 so — that Germany would only consent to it with 
 the determination to renew, on a still much larger 
 scale, her military organization with the purpose 
 of a more gigantic effort at universal domination. 
 
 Then was it not plain that labouring under the 
 inevitable necessity of such an international situ- 
 ation, the Allied nations, — the British Empire as 
 much as France, the United States and Italy — 
 would by force be obliged to make the sacrifices 
 required to maintain their military systems in 
 such a state of efficiency as to be always ready to 
 face their ambitious foe with good prospects of 
 
PBAOB CONDITION'S. 11:; 
 
 success. Such being the undeniable case, I affirm? 
 ed — I am sure with the best of reasons — that 
 Great Britain could not return to her ante-war 
 policy of the enlistment of only a small standi li- 
 ter ri tor ial army, trusting as formerly to her 
 Naval strength for her defence and the safe main- 
 tenance of her prestige and power. Like all the 
 continental nations, England would have to incur 
 the very heavy cost of keeping* millions of men 
 always fully armed. 
 
 I firmly told my French Canadian country- 
 men that it was no use deluding themselves with 
 the "Nationalist" notion that peace being restored 
 under the above mentioned circumstances, the 
 British Colonies would not be called upon to share, 
 with England, the burdens of the extensive mili- 
 tary preparations necessitated for their own 
 safety as well as for that of Great Britain and the 
 whole Empire. The very reasons which had 
 prompted Canada and all her sister Dominions 
 to intervene in the present war, would surely in- 
 duce them to cooperate with the Mother Country 
 to maintain a highly and costly state of military 
 preparedness in order to be ever ready for any 
 critical emergency. 
 
 Could it be believed that after the sad ex- 
 perience of the actual conflict, the Allied nations 
 — Great Britain perhaps more than any other — 
 would blindly once again run the risk of being 
 caught napping and deceived by an unscrupulous 
 and hypocritical enemy, unsufficiently prepared 
 
114 ENGLAND, CANADA AND (THE WAR, 
 
 to at once rise in their might to fight for their very 
 national existence and the safety of Mankind 
 against tyrannical absolutism. If such abomin- 
 able pages of History as those that for the last 
 four years are written with the blood of millions 
 of heroes defending Human Freedom were, by 
 fear of new sacrifices, allowed to be repeated, 
 shame would be on the supposed civilized world 
 having fallen so low as to bow to the dictates of 
 barbarism. Let all truly hearted men hope and 
 pray that no such dark days shall again be the 
 fearful lot of Humanity. Let them all resolve 
 that if the world can at last emerge free from the 
 present hurricane, they will not permit, out of 
 weakness and despondency, the sweeping waves of 
 teutonism to submerge Civilization and destroy 
 the monuments of the work of centuries of the 
 Christian Art. 
 
 After showing the dark side of the picture, 
 and what would be the fearful consequences of a 
 German victory, or of an armed peace pending the 
 renewal, with still much increased vigour and re- 
 sources, of the conflict only suspended, I explained 
 to my French Canadian readers the great advan- 
 tages to be derived by all, Germany included, from 
 the restoration of peace carrying with it the un- 
 told benefits to be derived from the cessation of 
 extravagant military organization, yearly de- 
 stroying the capital created by hard work and the 
 saving of the millions of the working populations. 
 If an international agreement could be arrived at 
 
PEAdE CONDITIONS. 116 
 
 by which militarism would l>e reduced to the re- 
 quirements of the maintenance of interior order 
 and the safeguarding of conventional peace 
 amongst the Powers, then many long years of 
 material prosperity, in all its diversity of bene- 
 ficial development, would surely follow. Canada, 
 like the other British Colonies, would not have to 
 incur any very large expenditure for military pur- 
 poses, devoting all her energies to the intelligent 
 building of the grand future which her immense 
 territorial resources w r ould certainly make, not 
 only possible, but sure. 
 
 How much could material development be 
 conducive to intellectual, moral and religious pro- 
 gress, if the Nations of the Earth would only sin- 
 cerely and permanently abide by the Divine teach- 
 ings of Christianity 
 
 Considering all the conditions of the military 
 situation, at the end of the summer of 1916, I 
 clearly perceived the imperious necessity of the 
 Allies — Canada as well as all her associates — to 
 fight to a finish. That duty I did my best to im- 
 press on the minds of the French Canadians, 
 Events have since developed in many ways, but 
 they all tend to strengthen the conviction that ul- 
 timate victory will only be the price of unshaken 
 perseverance, of undaunted courage, of more 
 patriotic sacrifices. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 Just And Unjust Wars. 
 
 In one of his pamphlets Mr. Bourassa favoured 
 his readers with his views on the justice and in- 
 justice of war. He affirmed that a Government 
 •could rightly declare war only for the three 
 following objects: — 
 
 1. — For the defence of their own country. 
 
 2. — To fulfill the obligations to which they are 
 in honour bound towards other nations. 
 
 3. — To defend a weak nation unjustly at- 
 tacked. 
 
 I have no hesitation to acknowledge the 
 'soundness of those principles, as theoretically laid 
 down. I took the "Nationalist" leader at his own 
 word, wondering more than ever how he could 
 refuse to admit the justice of the cause of the 
 Allies. 
 
 Looking at the case from the British stand- 
 point, was it not clear as the brightest shining of 
 the sun that England had gone to war against 
 Germany for the three reasons assigned by Mr. 
 Bourassa as those which alone can justify a 
 Government entering a military struggle. 
 
 Great Britain was by solemn treaties in hon- 
 our bound to the defence of Belgium whose terri- 
 
JUST AND UNJUST WARS. 117 
 
 tory had been violated by Germany, the other 
 party to those treaties which she threw to the 
 winds contemptuously calling them "scraps of 
 paper" 
 
 Even outside of all treaty obligations, it was 
 England's duty, according to the third principle 
 enunciated by Mr. Bourassa as authorizing a just 
 declaration of war, to rush to the defense of Bel- 
 gium, a "weak nation" most dastardly attacked by 
 the then strongest military Power on, earth. 
 
 The British Government, being responsible 
 for the safety of the British Empire, would have 
 been recreant to their most sacred duty, had they 
 failed to see that if the German armies were freely 
 alowed to overrun Belgium, to crush France and 
 vanquish Russia, Great Britain and her Colonies, 
 unprepared for any effective resistance as they 
 would have been, had they remained the passive 
 onlookers of the teutonic conquest of continental 
 Europe, would have been the easy prey of the bar- 
 barous conquerors. Consequently, in accepting 
 the bold challenge of the Berlin Government, that 
 of England also did their duty for the defence of 
 Great Britain and the British Empire. 
 
 But the whole British Empire being at war 
 with Germany for the three above enumerated 
 causes combined, were the free autonomous Col- 
 onies of England not also in duty bound to help 
 her in vindicating her honour and theirs, and to 
 do their utmost to support the Mother Country in 
 her efforts to oblige the Berlin Authorities to re- 
 
118 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 spect their treaty obligations! Were they not 
 also in duty bound to participate with England in 
 the defence of invaded weak, but heroic, Belgium ! 
 Were they not in duty bound to at once organize 
 for their own defence, sending their heroic sons 
 to fight their enemy on the soil of France, instead 
 of waiting the direct attack upon their own 
 territories ! 
 
 The British Parliament dealing exclusively 
 with the Foreign Affairs of the Empire, the inter- 
 national treaties which they ratify are binding on 
 the whole Empire. If such a treaty is violated by 
 the other party or parties who signed it, violently 
 obliging England to stand by her obligations, are 
 not the Colonies also bound to uphold the Mother 
 land in the vindication of her treaty rights ! 
 
 Looking at the same question, in the full 
 light of the sound principles of the justice of any 
 Avar, from the German standpoint, what are the 
 only true conclusions to be drawn? To satisfy 
 Austria's unjust demands and maintain peace, 
 Servia had, in 1914, at the urgent request of 
 England, France and Russia, gone as far as any 
 independent nation could go without dishonour. 
 Not only backed, but no doubt inspired, by the 
 Berlin Government, Austria would not consent to 
 reduce by an iota her unfair pretentions against 
 Servia. 
 
 It was plainly a case of a great Power un- 
 justly threatening a weak nation. Consequently, 
 according to the "Nationalist" leader's principle, 
 
JtJOT AiND UNJUST WARS. 110 
 
 Russia was right and doing her duty in interven- 
 ing to protect the menaced weak State. Instead of 
 hypocritically resenting Russia's intervention in 
 favour of Servia, it was equally Germany's duty to 
 join with her to save this weak nation from Aus- 
 trian unjust challenge. Had it done so, Austria 
 would certainly have refrained from exacting from 
 Servia concessions to which she could not agree 
 without sacrificing her independent "Sovereignty. 
 The Vienna Authorities backing down from their 
 unjust stand, there would have been no war. And 
 Germany, together with Russia, would have de- 
 served the gratitude of the world for their timely 
 intervention, prompted by a clear sense of their 
 duty and a sound conception of their international 
 right. 
 
 It is well known how the very opposite took 
 place. Russia, to be ready for the emergency of 
 the declaration of war by Austria against Servia, 
 ordered the mobilization of that part of her army 
 bordering on the Austrian frontier, answering to 
 the Berlin request for explanations that she had no 
 inimical intention whatever against the German 
 Empire, that her only object was to protect weak 
 Servia against Austria's most unjust attack. The 
 Kaiser's government replied by requesting Russia 
 to cancel her order for the mobilization of part of 
 her army. And in the very thick of this diploma- 
 tic exchange of despatches, whilst England and 
 France were sparing no effort, by day and night, 
 to maintain peace and protect Mankind from the 
 
120 ENGLAND, CANADA AND .THE WAR. 
 
 threatening calamity, Germany suddenly threw 
 the gauntlet and declared war against Russia.. 
 
 Forseeing clearly that France was conse- 
 quently in honour bound to support Russia, in ac- 
 cordance with her international obligations to- 
 wards that great Eastern Power— in strict con- 
 formity with the second principle enunciated by 
 Mr. Bourassa and previously quoted — , Germany 
 took the initative of a second unjust declaration 
 of war, and this one against France. 
 
 The military operations against France being 
 very difficult, and certainly to be very costly in a 
 fearful loss of man-power, before the strongly for- 
 tified French frontier could be successfully over- 
 run, Germany, after a most shameful attempt to 
 bribe England into neutrality, decided to take the 
 easy route and ordered her army to invade Bel- 
 gium's neutral territory, in violation of her solemn 
 treaty obligations. That treacherous act filled 
 the cup of teutonic infamy, and brought Great 
 Britain, and the whole British Empire, into the 
 conflict. 
 
 So Germany w r as guilty of the most outrage- 
 ous violation of the three sound principles laid 
 down by the "Nationalist" leader qualifying a just 
 war against an iniquitous one, whilst England and 
 France won the admiration of the world by their 
 noble determination to stand by them at all cost. 
 
 Still Mr. Bourassa, by an incomprehensible 
 perversion of mind in judging the application of 
 his own loudly proclaimed principles, has not to 
 
JUST A'ND UNJUST WARS. M 
 
 this day uttered one word openly condemning Ger- 
 many's war policy and eulogizinz that of England 
 and France. On the contrary, he has tried to per- 
 suade his readers that both groups of belligerents 
 were equally responsible for the war, more es- 
 pecially giving vent to his, at the least, very 
 strange hostility to England and scarcely dis- 
 simulating his teutonic evident sympathies. He 
 never positively expressed his disapproval of Aus- 
 tria's unjust attack against Servia, but condemn- 
 ed Kussia for her intervention to protect that 
 weak country, concluding that the Petrograd Gov- 
 ernment was the real guilty party which had 
 thrown the world into the vortex of the most dead- 
 ly conflict of all times. 
 
 One of the most damaging and unfair argu- 
 ments of Mr. Bourassa was that in intervening 
 in the struggle, England was not actuated by a 
 real sentiment of justice, honour and duty, but was 
 merely using France as a shield for her own sel- 
 fish protection. And when he deliberately ex- 
 pressed such astounding views, he knew, or ought 
 to have known, that by her so commendable de- 
 cision to avenge outraged weak Belgium, Great 
 Britain had at once, by her command of the seas, 
 guaranteed France against the superior strength 
 of the German fleet, kept widely opened the great 
 commercial avenues of oceanic trade, the closing 
 of which by the combined sea power of the Cen- 
 tral Empires, would have infallibly caused the 
 crushing defeat of France by cutting off all the 
 
122 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 supplies she absolutely required to meet the terri- 
 ble onslaught of her cruel enemy. He knew, or 
 ought to have known, that the navigation of the 
 seas being closed to her rivals by Germany, Rus- 
 sia would have been very easily put out of the 
 fight, her only available ocean ports, Vladivostock 
 and Arkhangel, through which supplies of many 
 kinds, especially munitions, could reach her east- 
 ern coast, at once becoming of no service to her. 
 
 He knew, or ought to have known, that if 
 Great Britain had remained neutral, Japan, Italy, 
 Portugal, would not have declared war against 
 either Germany or Austria. 
 
 As such consequences of British neutrality 
 were as sure as the daily rising of the sun, was I 
 not right when I drew the conclusion that if a 
 shield there was, it was rather that of Great Bri- 
 tain covering France, all her allies and even the 
 neutral nations, with the protection of her mighty 
 sea power. With such a conviction, the soundness 
 of which I felt sure, I told my French Canadian 
 countrymen that, for one, I would, to my last day, 
 be heartily grateful to England to have saved 
 France from the crushing defeat which once more 
 would have been her lot, had she been left alone 
 to fight the Central Empires. Heroic, without 
 doubt France would have been. But with deficient 
 supplies, with much curtailed resources, with no 
 helpful friends, heroism alone, however admirable 
 and prolonged, was sure to be of no avail against 
 un unmatched materially organized power, used to 
 
JUST AND UNJUST WARS. 123 
 
 its most efficiency by the severest military discip- 
 line, by national fanaticism worked to fury, and 
 by soldierly enthusiasm carried to wildness. 
 
 In a single handed struggle with Germany, in 
 1914, France would have been in a far worse posi- 
 tion than in 1870. The extraordinary development 
 of the new German Empire — the outcome of the 
 great war so disastrous to France — in popu- 
 lation, in commerce, in manufacturing industry, in 
 financial resources, in military organization, made 
 her fighting power still more disproportionate. 
 To her wonderful territorial army, she added her 
 recently built military fleet, then much superior, 
 in the number of vessels carrying thousands and 
 thousands of skilled seamen, to the French one. 
 Moreover Austria, with another fifty millions of 
 people, Bulgaria and Tureky, with more than 
 thirty millions, were backing Germany, whilst, in 
 1870, France had only Prussia to contend with. 
 
 All those facts staring him like any one else, 
 how could Mr. Bourassa reasonably charge Great 
 Britain with using France merely as a tool for her 
 own safety. Under the circumstances of the case, 
 such a preposterous assertion is beyond human 
 comprehension. I, for one, cannot understand 
 how he failed to see that, had England been actu- 
 ated by the selfish and unworthy motives to which 
 he ascribes her intervention in the war, she could 
 have then, and at least for several years, wrought 
 from Germany almost all the concessions she 
 would have wished for. Oould it not, by an al- 
 
124 ENGLAND, CANADA AND iT'BE WAR. 
 
 liance with tlie Central Empires, have attained 
 the goal of that dominating ambition which the 
 "Nationalist" leader asserts to be her most 
 cherished aim. 
 
 But such a dishonourable policy England 
 would not consider for a single moment. She in- 
 dignantly refused Germany's outrageous propos- 
 als, stood by her treaty obligations, and resolutely 
 tihrew all the immense resources of her power in 
 the conflict which, at the very beginning, develop- 
 ed into a struggle for life and death between 
 human freedom and absolutist tyranny. 
 
 I am sure, and I do not hesitate to vouch for 
 them, all the truly loyal French-Canadians — they 
 are almost unanimously so — are like myself pro- 
 foundly grateful to Great Britain for her noble 
 decision to rush to the defense of Belgium and 
 France in their hour of need. Comparing what 
 took place with what might have been, moved by 
 all the ties of affection that will ever bind them 
 to the great and illustrious nation from which they 
 sprung, they fully appreciate the inestimable value 
 of the support given by their second mother- 
 country to that of their national origin. They ar- 
 dently pray that both of them will emerge victori- 
 ous from the great conflict to remain, for the good 
 of Mankind, indissolubly united in peace as they 
 are in war. 
 
IOjOGIOAI, ( 1 1 A ftGffi AGAINST (ENGLAND. 126 
 
 A Nationalist Illogical Charge Against 
 England. 
 
 Our Nationalists, after charging England 
 with using France merely as a shield against 
 Germany, have been illogical to the point of re- 
 proaching her for not having intervened in favour 
 of her close neighbour, in 1870. It is most likely 
 that, had she done so, they would have pretended 
 that she would have been actuated by the same 
 selfish sentiment that prompted her, for the only 
 sake of her own protection, to enter into the 
 present conflict. 
 
 How is it that Mr. Bourassa, so fond of 
 charging England with ambitious views of con- 
 stant self-agrandizenient, of worldly domination, 
 can suddenly turn about and accuse her of having 
 shamefully sacrificed France, in 1870, to the over- 
 powering German blow? 
 
 The circumstances of the two cases — 1870 and 
 1914 — were very different. The conflict of 1870 
 had, apparently at least, a dynastic cause. The 
 House of Hohenzollern had been intriguing to have 
 a Prussian prince of her own elevated to the 
 'Spanish Throne. The Imperial Government of 
 Napoleon III strongly objected to such a policy. 
 The diplomatic correspondence which ensued did 
 not settle the difficulty. France declared war 
 against Prussia. Many years later it was (lis 
 covered that by a falsified diplomatic despatch, 
 Bismark had succeeded in his satanic design to 
 
126 ENGLAND, 'CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 bring the government of Napoleon III to attack 
 Prussia, thus shamefully throwing upon France 
 the responsibility of the war. 
 
 In 1870, England was at peace with all the 
 European Powers, as she had ever been since 1815, 
 with the only exception of the Crimean War. 
 During the diplomatic correspondence that led to 
 the hostilities, what reason would have justified 
 England to break her neutrality? What would 
 the present critics of her course have said if she 
 had sided with Prussia? Would they have pre- 
 tended that she would have used Prussia as a 
 shield against France? 
 
 I personally remember very well the tragic 
 events of the terrible year, 1870. The crushing 
 military power of Prussia as proved by the trium- 
 phant march of her victorious armies, was a revel- 
 ation for all, for France still more than for others. 
 True Prussia had beaten Austria in the short cam- 
 paign ended at Sadowa. The Prussia France was 
 then fighting was not the giant Empire against 
 which she is battling with such heroism for the 
 last four years. France was at the time the lead- 
 ing continental Power. The general opinion was, 
 when war was suddenly declared, that France 
 would easily triumph over her enemy. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that, in 1870, England 
 was even less ready than in 1914 to engage in a 
 continental conflict. Her standing army was not 
 large, and then partly garrisoned in the colonies. 
 Some of her best regiments were stationed in 
 
ILLOGICAL CHARGE AGAINST ENGDAIND. 127 
 
 Canada. She could have been a really import;! nt 
 ally of France only as a strong support of an- 
 other continental power joining with her against 
 Prussia, for instance Eussia or Austria, or both of 
 them. 
 
 If England had been able to send 500,000 men 
 in a few days to the very heart of France, inces- 
 santly followed by another half million, it is al- 
 most certain that the Prussian army would not 
 have entered Paris. But England had not that 
 million of trained men. It would have taken at 
 least a year to organize such a large army. 
 
 I will speak my mind openly. After Sedan, 
 any attempt at saving France by force would have 
 been vain and useless. Even Eussia and Austria 
 were unprepared for such a task. Their interven- 
 tion, coming too late, would most likely have given 
 Prussia a chance to win a much greater victory. 
 France out of the struggle, Prussia would then 
 have had the opportunity to achieve, as early as 
 1870, what she has ever since prepared for, and 
 tried to accomplish by the war she has brought on 
 in 1914. 
 
 What then becomes of the "Nationalist" pre- 
 tention that Great Britain has ever been aiming 
 at dominating the world, w T hen it is so easy to 
 understand that without a very large territorial 
 army, which she persistingly refused to organize, 
 she was unabled to take an important part in any 
 continental war. The days were passed, after the 
 extraordinary development of Prussian militar- 
 
128 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 ism, when she could brilliantly hold jher own on the 
 continent with a small standing army backed by 
 generous subsidies to the European powers. The 
 present war is surely proof evident of it, since 
 England, instead of the two hundred thousand men 
 she was expected to send oyer to France, as her 
 man-power contribution, has had to raise a total 
 army, with all the auxiliary services, of 6,000,000 
 officers and men, exclusive of the 2,000,000 con- 
 tributed by the whole British Colonial Empire. 
 
 The Nationalists accusing England to have 
 abandoned France to her sad fate, in 1870, was 
 only another instance of their campaign to arouse 
 the feelings of the French Canadians against 
 Great Britain. 
 
 Other "Nationalist" Erroneous Assertions. 
 
 Mr. Bourassa has had his own peculiar way 
 of explaining the real determining cause of the 
 war. Some inen are — by nature it is to be sup- 
 posed — always disposed to judge great historical 
 events from considerations inspired by the lowest 
 sentiments of the human heart. In the "Nation- 
 alist" leader's view, the great war was brought 
 about by the treacherous alliance of British and 
 German capitalists speculating together, in actual 
 partnership or otherwise, in the production of war 
 material: canons, rifles, munitions, war ship- 
 building, &c. 
 
NATIONALIST lERROMEiOUS ASSE I { T I o N 8. 129 
 
 In my humble opinion, such views are lower- 
 ing to a very vulgar and lamentably repulsive 
 cause — if it could be true— events of immense sig- 
 nificance, the result, on the one side, of criminal 
 aspirations which, however guilty they may be, 
 have not yet been degraded to the profound depth 
 of abjection they suppose; on the other, by the 
 most noble sentiments which can inspire nations 
 to make the greatest sacrifices to avenge outraged 
 Justice and Eight. 
 
 Autocratic German ambition, such as it has 
 proved to be, is bad enough. Still the cause of the 
 war, such as asserted by Mr. Bourassa, would have 
 been far worse. National aspirations, however 
 wrongly diverted from their legitimate conception, 
 will never be as contemptible as the nasty greed of 
 individual speculators treacherously sucking the 
 very life blood of their countrymen for the sake of 
 squeezing millions of dollars at the cost of their 
 country's honour and future. 
 
 Unfortunately, illegitimate "profiteering" has 
 taken place in the course of every war. Of course 
 it must be severely condemned and firmly prevent- 
 ed, to the utmost, by governmental authority 
 strongly supported by public opinion which 
 must, however, be cautious not to be unduly in- 
 fluenced and carried away by the wild charges of 
 some who denounce others with so much apparent 
 indignation for the only reason that they them- 
 selves are not succeeding as they would like to do 
 in their speculative attempts. 
 
130 ENGLAND, CANADA AND TB3S WAR. 
 
 Illegitimate "profiteering" is one of the de- 
 plorable effects of a war ; it is never its real cause. 
 
 What are the true causes, humanly speaking, 
 of the cataclysm so violently shaking the world? 
 They were of two kinds. The first was the dis- 
 ordered ambition of a nation having reached, by 
 prodigious efforts, such a power that she fatally 
 determined to dominate everywhere, militarily 
 and politically. To this first cause was added that 
 of secular race rivalry. 
 
 The two causes of the first kind — which can 
 properly be called offensive, were followed by the 
 noble one of the resistance to oppression, of the 
 defence of the honour of threatened nations, of the 
 energetic determination to avenge violated inter- 
 national treaties, and to save the civilized world 
 from a new barbarous invasion. 
 
 If the Allies had humbly bowed to the odious 
 German claims, there would have been no war. 
 
 Consequently, the two evident causes of the 
 war are, on the one hand, German ambition to 
 universal domination; on the other, the absolute 
 necessity on the part of the Allies to prevent by 
 all possible means the success of such a tyrannical 
 enterprise. 
 
 However much guilty they have been in bring- 
 ing on the most terrible war of all times, it is still 
 injurious for the Berlin Government to suppose 
 that in assuming this weighty responsibility, they 
 were playing the part of an unconscious instru- 
 ment of the most diabolical thirst of money making 
 by shameless "profiteers." 
 
INCREDIBLE NATIONAiMOT NOTION'S. 131 
 
 But such a charge is absolutely inexplicable 
 when one accuses France, England and Belgium 
 to be, in their admirable and heroic campaign for 
 the world's deliverance and freedom, the pliant 
 tools of contemptible speculators in the produc- 
 tion of war materials. 
 
 Governments and nations are, as a rule, far 
 from having dropped to such a low state of incur- 
 able corruption. For many of them, there yet 
 exists bright summits, shining with the clear light 
 of Justice, Eight and Honour, which in those 
 times of sufferings and burning tears, are the 
 pledge of better days and the promise of the 
 world's resurrection. 
 
 Incredible "Nationalist" Notions. 
 
 Can it be possibly believed that the "Nation- 
 alist" leader has asserted that when the British 
 capitalists and bankers invested the savings en- 
 trusted to their safe keeping, they were principally 
 actuated by the desire to create in Canada a fin- 
 ancial influence which would, in due course, assist 
 with force in dragging, the Dominion to participate 
 in the Imperial wars against her better judgment? 
 Yet, so he has positively written and developed the 
 wild argument. 
 
 Any man, with the slightest business experi- 
 ence, knows that, in all cases, would-be borrowers 
 go where money is to be lent. I have not yet 
 learned that one of them ever went to the North 
 
132 ENGLAND, CANADA AND 1THDE WAR. 
 
 Pole in search of millions for railway building 
 and all kinds of industrial and commercial enter- 
 prises. Daring explorers who ventured thither, 
 facing so many risks, were stimulated by a laud- 
 able thirst of fame and the desire of scientific pro- 
 gress. They did not imagine, for a moment, that 
 they were likely to discover, in these far away 
 regions, great financial markets amply provided 
 with millions of accumulated capital waiting for 
 safe and profitable investments. 
 
 Canada, a young country, as large as all 
 Europe in territorial extent, with wonderful un- 
 developed resources of the agricultural soil, of the 
 mines, of immense forests, of mighty rivers, of 
 large and breezy lakes, could not progress with- 
 out labour and capital. The large natural increase 
 of the population, supplemented by immigration, 
 was sure to supply the labour. Capital, to the 
 amount of hundreds of millions, could not be pro- 
 vided by the only savings of our people. Immi- 
 gration of capital was even more pressingly re- 
 quired than that of men. The Governments of 
 Canada, federal and provincial, city corporations, 
 railway companies, industrial concerns, wanting 
 money, all went where it could be found. It hap- 
 pened that London, the capital of the British Em- 
 pire, was by far the largest financial market of the 
 world. No wonder then that instead of going to 
 Lapland, Canadian borrowers crowded in London, 
 where they met with those of nearly all the nations 
 of the world, gathering in the same city for the 
 same purpose. 
 
INCREDIBLE NATIONAMST NOTIONS. 133 
 
 Two incontrovertible economical truisms are, 
 without the shadow of a doubt, the following : — 
 
 1st. That a would-be borrower wishes to get 
 the money he wants in the easiest way at the low- 
 est interest charge; 
 
 2. That a wise lender wishes to secure for 
 his money the safest investment carrying the high- 
 est possible rate of interest; the rate of interest 
 being however subordinated, in his mind, to the 
 safety of the investment. 
 
 Such were the sound economical considera- 
 tions which settled for the Canadian borrowers of 
 all sorts, and the British investors, the conditions 
 of all the loans made on Canadian account. 
 
 Any one merely hinting to the British saving 
 public that the money invested in Canada was sent 
 over to our shores for the object of creating a fin- 
 ancial influence which would force the Dominion 
 into costly wars, could not have adopted a more 
 unwise course to destroy the best chances of the 
 success of a loan. Canadian credit was of first 
 class order, because the British investors knew our 
 grand possibilities ; because they were aware that 
 Canada had always been a safe debtor, honouring 
 with clock regularity her interest charges and the 
 payment of maturing loans ; because also, and in a 
 very large measure, they realized that we were not 
 in the same position of so many nations of the Old 
 World, exposed to frequent warring necessities 
 likely to exhaust our means and to jeopardize our 
 bright prospects. 
 
134 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 Confidence being the sound basis of good cre- 
 dit, we got all the money we wanted for all the 
 purposes of our national economical development, 
 the true interest of Canada and of Great Britain 
 being equally well served by the financial inter- 
 course between the wealthy mother-country and 
 her progressive colony. 
 
 Canadian Financial Operations in the United 
 
 States. 
 
 Our "Nationalists," so eager to discourage 
 Canadian effort in the war, and, with this object, 
 always prone to magnify German warlike achieve- 
 ments and the difficulties confronting the Allies, 
 were rather nervous at the increasing prospects of 
 the United States joining the Entente Nations. 
 Their leader seized every opportunity to argue 
 that they would be mistaken in doing so. During 
 the weary months when the President of the 
 neighbouring Eepublic was prudently feeling his 
 way before taking the bold stand which he has 
 ever since so brilliantly and bravely upheld, the 
 "Nationalists", through successive ups and downs 
 in their expectations, could scarcely help hiding 
 their desire that the United States would not in- 
 tervene in the struggle. Those of us who had not 
 been moved by the horrors of the Belgian invasion, 
 by the murder of so many innocent victims of 
 teutonic savageness, by the brutal killing of Edith 
 Cavell, by the Armenian massacres, by the wanton 
 
FINANCIAL OPERATIONS IN U. S. A 135 
 
 destruction of admirable works of Art, could not 
 be expected to thrill at the barbarous sinking of 
 the Lusitania, sending to the bottom of the ocean 
 hundreds of American citizens of the neutral Am- 
 erican Northern Kepublic. They were anxious that 
 the Washington Government should condone the 
 outrageous offence and all the subsequent ones per- 
 petrated by the German submarines against our 
 neighbours. How much they were dismayed at 
 the sudden close of Mr. Wilson's apparent hesita- 
 tion, and at the proud declaration of war from 
 Washington to Berlin. Though lejoicing at it, 
 they did not consider that the Eussian bolsheviki's 
 collapse could compensate for the additional mili- 
 tary and financial resources the Allies were sure to 
 derive from the United States participation in the 
 war. 
 
 Canada having to borrow many million's to 
 sustain her warlike effort, and the British money 
 market being closed to further outside invest- 
 ments, had two sources left for her successful fin- 
 ancial operations : her own market and that of the 
 United States. The Washington Authorities had 
 generously decided to help financially the Euro- 
 pean Allies in pressing need of money. The Ot- 
 tawa Government, before making a grand appeal 
 to the Canadian public, applied to Washington for 
 a loan. Mr. Wilson's cabinet, however much they 
 would have liked to meet the wishes of the Cana- 
 dian Government, had to answer that, having such 
 a large war expenditure to incur, and such big 
 
136 ENGLAND, CANADA AND (THE WAR. 
 
 sums to collect to assist their less wealthy Euro- 
 pean associates in the struggle, they could not see 
 their way to grant Canada's demand. 
 
 Acknowledging the value of the reasons given 
 for not complying with their request, the Canadian 
 Ministers then applied to Washington for the per- 
 mission to negotiate a loan in the open American 
 market. This was readily granted. 
 
 It was, of course, well understood that going 
 in the open market, Canada, to secure the required 
 sum of money, would have to pay the then current 
 rate of interest increasing, as usual, in proportion 
 to the increased pressure of the demand of funds. 
 
 It is utterly incredible — but still it is true — 
 that Mr. Bourassa did denounce in his newspaper 
 Le Devoir, the Ottawa Cabinet's action in borrow- 
 ing money from the American saving public. In 
 severe terms he blamed the Washington Author- 
 ities for not having lent millions to Canada at the 
 low rate of interest they had agreed to accept from 
 France and Italy. He asserted that this refusal 
 on their part was a testimony of ill-will against 
 the Dominion. And in the most violent terms he 
 charged all those who favoured Canadian borrow- 
 ings in the American market with being traitors 
 selling their country to the United States. 
 
 It is hard to say whether the charge is not 
 more ridiculous than contemptible. It is the re- 
 petition, in an aggravated form of absurdity, of 
 the argument accusing the British investing cap- 
 italists to have had for their only object in lending 
 
FINANCIAL OPERATIONS IN U. S. A. 137 
 
 us their money to help coercing Canada into the 
 Imperial wars. 
 
 Was Mr. Bourassa ignorant of the fact that 
 the building of the magnificent railway system of 
 the United States, that their great industrial de- 
 velopment, were due to the billions of British 
 capital which for the last eighty years have 
 flowed, in rolling waves, towards the shores of the 
 Republic, invading, in the most peaceful and 
 friendly way, her large territory, and drawing 
 from its immense resources the greatest immeasur- 
 able accumulation of wealth ever created by the 
 labour of man. I am not aware that any American 
 writer ever ran the risk of being crushed by ridi- 
 cule in accusing all the United States borrowers 
 in the English market, governmental and others, 
 of the hideous crime of selling their country to 
 Great Britain. It would have been sheer madness 
 to say so in the broad light of the marvellous eco- 
 nomical progress of our neighbours. They knew 
 very well that the billions of dollars invested by 
 the British saving public for the development of 
 their territorial riches, were producing returns 
 much larger than the rate of interest paid to their 
 British creditors. 
 
 No one in the United States ever apprehended, 
 for a single moment, that because the Republic had 
 borrowed enormous sums from Great Britain, she 
 was likely to lose her State independence through 
 the financial influence of the holders of her secur- 
 ities of all sorts. 
 
138 ENGLAND, CANADA AND ITHE WAR. 
 
 Such "Nationalist" notions, as above exposed 
 and contradicted, can only create very wrong and 
 deplorable conclusions in the public mind, were 
 they allowed to follow their course without 
 challenge and without the refutation proving their 
 complete absurdity. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Nationalist Views Condensed. 
 
 After refuting at length the "Nationalist" 
 theories, I thought proper to condense them in a 
 concrete proposition, and challenge their propa- 
 gandist to call a public meeting in any city, town, 
 or locality, in the Dominion, — Montreal for in- 
 stance — and to find a dozen of citizens of standing 
 in the community, to consent to move and second 
 a "Resolution" embodying their doctrines. 
 
 This condensed proposition, I translate as 
 follows : — 
 
 "Whereas England has unjustly declared war 
 "against Germany; 
 
 "Whereas Great Britain has done nothing to 
 "mjaintain the peace of the world ; 
 
 "Considering that His Majesty King George 
 "V. had not the right to declare the state of tear 
 "for Canada without the assent of the Canadian 
 "Cabinet; 
 
 "Considering that Canada, as an autonomous 
 "colony, is a Sovereign State; 
 
 "Considering that British Sovereignty over 
 "Canada is only a fiction; 
 
 "Considering that Canada, interfering in the 
 "present w r ar, should have done so as a Nation; 
 
140 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 "Whereas Canada should only have fought on 
 "her own account, like Belgium, Servia, Italy or 
 ''Bulgaria. 
 
 "Whereas the maintenance of a compact Brit- 
 "ish Empire is the most permanent provocation 
 "against the peace of the world; 
 
 "Considering that the supremacy of England 
 "on the seas is unjust ; 
 
 "Considering that Great Britain's aspiration, 
 "for a long time past, has been universal domina- 
 tion by means of her military naval power ; 
 
 "Whereas England is unfair against France 
 "in using her as a shield against German invasion ; 
 
 "Considering that England is exercising by 
 "all possible means a strong pressure upon the 
 "Colonies for her only benefit ; 
 
 "Considering that all the social leaders have 
 "united to demoralize the conscience of the people, 
 "to poison their mind, to set their vigilance at 
 "sleep, and to represent to them as a national duty 
 "what would formerly have been considered as a 
 "betrayal of national interests; 
 
 "Considering that England is trying to crush 
 "Germany, being afraid of her colonial ewpansion 
 "and her maritime and commercial competition; 
 
 "Whereas our compatriots of the British 
 "races have many faults ; that they are ignorant, 
 "assuming, arrogant, overbearing and rotten with 
 "mercantilism; 
 
 "Considering that they have acquired many 
 "of the worst vices of the Yankees; 
 
NATIONALIST VIEWS CONDENSED. 141 
 
 "Considering that Canada should never par- 
 ticipate, outside of her own territory, in the wars 
 "of the British Empire ; 
 
 "Considering that the Canadian Cabinet and 
 "Parliament are criminally guilty of having or- 
 "dered the organization of a Canadian army to go 
 "and fight against Germany on the French terri- 
 tory, and in authorizing the payment of the cost 
 "of this military expedition ; 
 
 "Be it "Resolved", that this meeting ener- 
 getically protest against the declaration of war 
 "against Germany by His Majesty King George V, 
 "without the assent of the Canadian Cabinet, to 
 "defend Belgium's territory invaded by Germany 
 "violating solemn treaties ; 
 
 "That this meeting is of opinion that, for the 
 "purpose of favouring the restoration of peace as 
 "soon as possible, England should notify all the 
 "Powers that she abdicates for ever her supremacy 
 "on the seas, which supremacy Germany could 
 "hereafter safely evercise ; 
 
 "That this meeting being absolutely convinced 
 "that the maintenance of a compact British Em- 
 "pire is the most permanent provocation against 
 "the peace of the world, is strongly of opinion that 
 "Great Britain should, in order to quiet the fears 
 "of the Nations friendly to peace and opposed to 
 "militarism, like pacifist Germany, dissolve her 
 "Empire, at once acknowledging the immediate 
 "independence of India and of all her autonomous 
 "Colonies ; 
 
142 ENGLAND, CANADA AND ITHE WAR. 
 
 "That this meeting's formal opinion is that 
 "the Canadian Parliament's imperious duty is to 
 "order without delay the dissolution of the British 
 "bond of connection, which would he a public ~bene- 
 "fit, and to proclaim the immediate independence 
 "of Canada; 
 
 "That copy of the present "Resolution" be ad- 
 dressed to His Excellency the Governor General, 
 "to the Members of the Federal Cabinet, to the 
 "Senators and to the Members of the House of 
 "Commons." 
 
 The italics in the above draft "Resolution" 
 and "Preamble" are quoted from Mr. Bourassa's 
 writings. 
 
 The "Preamble" and "Resolution" emphasize, 
 in their true and complete meaning, the "National- 
 ist" doctrines perseveringly propounded for years 
 past to poison French Canadian mentally. That 
 such teachings can only produce disloyal feelings, 
 stir up national prejudices and hatred of the 
 Mother Country, and be most detrimental to the 
 best interests of the Province of Quebec, of the 
 Dominion of Canada, and of the British Empire as 
 a whole, every one must admit with sadness. 
 
 My challenge, which is still maintained, has 
 not been taken up yet. All may rest assure that it 
 will never be. The most ardent "Nationalist" 
 knows that no responsible citizens would move the 
 adoption of such views. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Loyal Principles Propounded. 
 
 To the foregoing "Nationalist" proposition, I 
 opposed one condensing, in a concrete form, the 
 views and principles of the truly loyal Canadian 
 citizens. I also translate it as follows : — 
 
 "Whereas, since 1870, the German Empire had 
 "been a permanent menace against the peace of the 
 "world by her threatening military policy; 
 
 "Whereas England, throughout the same 
 "period, and more especially during the twenty 
 "years previous to 1914, had done her utmost ef- 
 forts to maintain peace ; 
 
 "Considering that Great Britain had, in many 
 "ways, solicited Germany to agree to the limita- 
 tion of armaments, especially of the building of 
 "war vessels; 
 
 "Considering that she had persisted in her at- 
 tempts with the German Government to save the 
 "nations from the ruinous system of excessive 
 "armaments, in spite of the latter's refusal to 
 "accede to her demands ; 
 
 "Considering that though in honor bound, 
 "like England, by three solemn treaties, to respect 
 "Belgium's neutrality, the German Government 
 "have, in August 1914, ordered their army to vio- 
 
144 ENGLAND, CANADA AND ITHE WAR. 
 
 "late Belgian territory in order to more easily 
 "invade France to which, they had declared war ; 
 
 "Whereas Great Britain, in honour bound, 
 "could not permit the crushing of Belgium by the 
 "German Empire; 
 
 "Considering, moreover, that Germany, after 
 "mutilating and destroying Belgium, by the de- 
 privation of her independence, after triumphing 
 "over France which she would have once again dis- 
 membered, would have undertaken to beat Eng- 
 land to deprive her of sea supremacy, in order to 
 "obtain, by this last conquest, her domination over 
 "Europe and almost all the world; 
 
 "Considering that the defeat of England might 
 "very likely have resulted in the cession of Canada 
 "to Germany; 
 
 "'Considering that the world at large is great- 
 "ly interested in the maintenance of England and 
 "France as iirst class Powers on account of their 
 "services in favour of Human Civilization and 
 "Liberty; 
 
 "Considering that the German armies have 
 "accompanied their military operations with un- 
 sold barbarous acts, by the murder of priests, of 
 "peaceful citizens, of wounded soldiers, of relig- 
 ious women, of mothers, of previously criminally 
 "outraged young girls, of old men, of young 
 Children, with the destruction by fire and other- 
 wise of Cathedrals, Churches, — monuments of 
 "the Christian Art, — of libraries — sanctuaries of 
 "Science — of historical monuments, the legitimate 
 "glory and pride of Human Genius ; 
 
QJOYAJj iPHENCIPUES PROPOU.NTDED. 145 
 
 "Whereas the German Government is guilty 
 "of the murder of thousands of persons, men, 
 "women and children, by the sinking of merchant 
 "vessels — the Lusitania, for instance — by its sub- 
 "marine ships, without giving the notices required 
 "by International Law ; 
 
 "Whereas from the very beginning of the war, 
 "the Allied Nations, England, France and Russia, 
 "have jointly agreed, in honour bound, to require, 
 "as the essential peace condition, the cessation by 
 "all the belligerent Powers of the crushing and 
 "ruinous militarism prevailing before the opening 
 "of the hostilities, by the fault of Germany's ob- 
 "stination to constantly strengthen her military 
 "organization both on land and sea ; 
 
 "Considering that England and her Allies are 
 "struggling for the most venerable and sacred 
 "cause: — outraged Justice" — ; that, being a Brit- 
 ish Colony, Canada is justly engaged in the pres- 
 (( ent cruel and deplorable conflict, for the defence 
 "of the Right and the true Liberty of Nations; that 
 "our Canadian soldiers are valiantly fighting witJt 
 "those of England, France and Belgium for the 
 "great cause of sovereign importance — the protec- 
 tion of the world threatened by Germanism ; 
 
 "Considering that England, to which the pol- 
 itical life of Canada is bound, and France, to 
 '^which the French Canadians owe their national 
 "existence, have to fight for sacred interests in a 
 "war of endurance requiring the incessant renewal 
 "of all the energies of the most ardent patriotism, 
 
146 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 "the victims of which, falling on the field of honour 
 "have the merit of giving their lives for Justice" ; 
 
 "Considering that, though wishing the restor- 
 ation of peace as soon as possible, and earnestly 
 "praying Divine Providence to favour the world 
 "with the blessings of peace, more and more ur- 
 gently needed after this assault of abominable 
 "barbarism against Christian Civilization lasting 
 "for the last four years, the Allies are absolutely 
 "unable to terminate the war by giving their con- 
 sent to conditions which would not protect 
 "Humanity against the direst consequences of the 
 "militarism fastened by the German Empire on 
 "the Nations so anxious to bring it to an end ; 
 
 "Be it "Kesolved":— 
 
 "That this meeting approves of the free and 
 "patriotic decision of the Federal Parliament to 
 "have Canada to participate in the so very Just 
 "War which England, France, Belgium, the United 
 "States and Italy are fighting against the German 
 "and Austrian Empires, allied in an effort to 
 "dominate the world; 
 
 "That this meeting's strong opinion is that, on 
 "account of the terrible crisis menacing the British 
 "Empire and Civilization, it was the bounden duty 
 "of Canada to intervene in the war for the safety 
 "of the Mother Country and her own, for the sal- 
 tation of Liberty and of the sacred cause of out- 
 "raged Justice; 
 
 "That this meeting desires to express her -ad- 
 miration and profound gratitude for the braves 
 
LOYML PBUNOKPIUES PROPOUNDED. 147 
 
 "who enlist in the grand army which the Canadian 
 "Parliament has ordered to be organized for the 
 "defence of the cause of the Allies, which is also 
 "that of the civilized world; 
 
 "That this meeting also concur in the opinion 
 "that Canada is in duty bound to continue to par- 
 ticipate in the present war until the final victory 
 "of the Allies, which will guarantee to the world 
 "a lasting peace and put an end to German militar- 
 ism which has been the direct cause of so mudi 
 "dire misfortunes for Humanity." 
 
 The italics of the above draft "Resolution" 
 are quoted from the writings and speeches of 
 leaders of French Canadian Roman Catholics. 
 
 There was no need of calling meetings to 
 adopt the preceding "Resolution" with its well de- 
 fined preamble. It had been approved, in all its 
 bearings, at the outset of the hostilities by the un- 
 animous decision of the Canadian Parliament, by 
 the almost unanimous consent of public opinion, 
 by the religious, social, commercial, industrial and 
 financial leaders of the country. It had been so 
 approved by the four hundred thousand brave 
 Canadians who rallied to the Colours ; by the sub- 
 scribers, by thousands, to the national war loans. 
 
 Since writing the above draft "Resolution", 
 its full substance has been almost unanimously 
 approved by the Canadian people in general elec- 
 tions, the two contending political parties entirely 
 agreeing so far as the Justice of the cause of the 
 Allies was concerned, differing only as to the best 
 means for Canada to adopt to achieve final victory. 
 
148 ENGLAND, CANADA AND ITHE WAR. 
 
 Without entering into any considerations re- 
 specting the divergence of the views of the leaders 
 of political thought, in the still recent electoral 
 campaign, — from which it is more advisable for 
 me to abstain in the interest of the cause I am de- 
 fending — I may be allowed to remark that only a 
 small remnant of the "Nationalist" element dared 
 to reaffirm his hostility to Canada's intervention 
 in the conflict and to avow his opinion that the 
 country had done enough. 
 
 What did those irreconcilable "Nationalists" 
 — so few in numbers as the event ultimately proved 
 — meant by their assertion that Canada had done 
 enough for the war? According to its litter al word- 
 ing, it must have signified that no more sacrifices 
 should have been incurred for the triumph of the 
 Allied cause. If it was so, the conclusion to be 
 drawn from such sayings was that, to put an end 
 to any further Canadian contributions, orders 
 should be given to bring back the Canadian Army 
 from Europe, and to send home all the forces still 
 on Canadian soil. It is plain that even if the new 
 Canadian Parliament had decided not to increase 
 our contribution of man-power, in order to main- 
 tain the efficiency of the Canadian divisions at the 
 front, large sacrifices would have had to be made 
 to keep on the theatre of war the forces which were 
 still in the field. 
 
 To refuse to participate in the war would have 
 been deserting the flag at the hour of danger, and 
 a total misconception of our plain duty. 
 
LOYAL iPRI'NGIHJES PROPOUNDED. 149 
 
 Giving up the fight, once engaged in the 
 struggle, before triumphant victory, or irremedi- 
 able defeat, in the very thick of the battle (so 
 heroically carried on by the Allies, would have 
 been sheer cowardice — bolchevikism of the worst 
 kind. 
 
 Whether they meant it or not, those few 
 "Nationalists" dared not openly propose the recall 
 of our troops. The solitary "Nationalist" candi- 
 date who had the nerve to face the electorate was 
 defeated by a very large majority. 
 
 No better proof of the weakness of the hold of 
 the doctrines of "Nationalism," on sound public 
 opinion, is required than the decision of its most 
 outspoken advocate and leader, Mr. Bourassa, to 
 refrain from being a candidate in any constituen- 
 cy, and to advise all his supposed friends to do 
 likewise. No one was deceived, with regard to this 
 decision, by the reasons, or rather excuses, given 
 to explain it. 
 
 Evidently, if the "Nationalist" group and their 
 leader had been confident of the support of the 
 large number of electors whose opinion they pre- 
 tended to represent, they would certainly not have 
 lost the chance to show their strength, and the op- 
 portunity to elect many candidates of their persua- 
 sion to enter Parliament free from any party 
 allegiance but that of their own element. But any 
 one somewhat posted with the currents of public 
 opinion in the Province of Quebec, knew very well 
 that if pure "Nationalist" candidates had been 
 
160 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 nominated in all the constituencies of the Prov- 
 ince, running between the regular party nominees, 
 — ministerial and opposition — the average number 
 of ballots cast for them would scarcely have 
 reached ten per cent, of the French Canadian 
 votes, less than two per cent of the whole Canadian 
 electorate. 
 
 It was moreover highly probable that, had they 
 tried the game, they would not have even succeed- 
 ed, in two-thirds of the constituencies, in inducing 
 citizens of sufficient standing to accept their nom- 
 ination and their political program. Once en- 
 gaged in such, a hopeless electoral contest, they 
 would have had either to humbly retire from the 
 field, or to await the doomed day by nominating 
 men of no weight whatever. Both alternatives 
 would have led them to an equally disastrous 
 defeat. 
 
 Unjust "Nationalist" Grievances Against 
 England. 
 
 At the end of the very first page of Mr. 
 Bourassa's pamphlet, entitled: — What do we 
 owe England?— in French: — Que devons-nous a 
 l'Angleterre?, — The following lines are found: — 
 (Translation.) 
 
 British Imperialism, in its concrete and practical form, can 
 t>e defined in ten words: the active participation by the Colonies in 
 the wars of England. It is almost precisely the definition I gave 
 of it as early as the days of the African war. It is exact. 'Con- 
 sidered from a larger point of view, from its profound causes and 
 
UNJUST GRIEVANCES AOAINST ENGLAND. Iff] 
 
 far reaching consequences, British Imperialism calls for a more 
 ample definition. Its object is to have Great Britain dominate the 
 world by means of the organization and concentration of all the 
 Military Forces of the Empire — both Sea and Land Forces — ; it 
 means the gradual annihilation, or at least the enslaving of all 
 the divers nationalities constituting the British Empire, in order 
 to bring about the World's supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon race, 
 of her thoughts, of her language, of her political conceptions, of 
 her commerce and her wealth. Its object is to crush all competi- 
 tions, all internal and external oppositions. It is the German 
 Ideal; it is the Roman Ideal. It is the Imperialism of all countries, 
 at all times, enlarged to the limits of the monstrous pretensions 
 of Pan-Anglo-(Saxonism. 
 
 All the propositions of the above quotation 
 do not bear, for one single instant, the light of 
 historical research, of reason, even of common 
 sense. 
 
 I challenge Mr. Bourassa, and any one else, 
 to read the speeches and the writings of all those 
 who have studied the great question of the future 
 of the British Empire, and to detect therein one 
 single word to justify the assertion that the or- 
 ganization and concentration of all the Military 
 Forces of the Empire have for their object to help 
 England to dominate the world. 
 
 I have already abundantly proved that 
 England never aspired to dominate the world. I 
 answered Mr. Bourassa's unfounded propositions 
 as follows: — 
 
 1 — I will surely be allowed to say that for 
 nearly the last fifty years, I have done my best 
 efforts to keep myself well informed with the 
 opinions expressed by the most authorized polit- 
 ical men of the Mother Country — of all parties — 
 
152 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 by the most renowned publicists, by the most dis- 
 tinguished writers of the great English press. I 
 have yet to read one sentence leading me to sup- 
 pose that the mind of any one of them was haunt- 
 ed by the foolish hope of Great Britain's domina- 
 tion of the world. Many of them have spoken and 
 written to persuade their countrymen of the grow- 
 ing urgency to consider the most effective meas- 
 ures to be adopted to defend the Empire, in view 
 of the efforts of other nations — notably Germany 
 — to strengthen their military organizations. No 
 one advised them to incur the most heavy sacrifices 
 in order to dominate the world. They had too 
 much political sense to believe that such a ridcul- 
 ous scheme could ever be carried out. 
 
 2 — What the "Nationalist" leader calls Brit- 
 ish Imperialism never had for its objective the 
 gradual suppression, or at least the enslaving 
 of the divers nationalities constituting the British 
 Empire. 
 
 Such an assertion is nothing less than a 
 stroke of the imagination which recent history ut- 
 terly refutes, proving, as it does, the very reverse, 
 as follows: — 
 
 A — The creation, by Imperial Charters, of the 
 great autonomous federal Canadian, Australian, 
 South African Dominions. 
 
 B — The federal system adopted for the Do- 
 minion of Canada purposely for the protection of 
 the French Canadians whose special interests are 
 entrusted to the Legislature of the Province of 
 Quebec. 
 
UNJUST GRIEVANCES AGAINST ENGLAND. 163 
 
 C — The South African Union Charter is the 
 guarantee of the Boers' control of the future of 
 that vast stretch of country, by means of the two 
 fundamental principles of the British constitu- 
 tional system : — government by the majority com- 
 bined with ministerial responsibility. 
 
 No Empire in the world grants as large a 
 measure of freedom as the British Empire does, 
 to the various national groups living under the 
 protection of her flag. 
 
 3 — British Imperialism, contrary to Mr. 
 Bourassa's assertion, was never deluded by the 
 mid dream of a world wide supremacy of the 
 Anglo-Saxon race, of her thoughts, of her language, 
 of her political conceptions, of her commerce and 
 her wealth. 
 
 Surely, I have yet to learn that Great Britain 
 has dreamt, and is dreaming, to impose by Force 
 her "mentality," her language, her political institu- 
 tions to China, to Japan, to Kussia, to France, to 
 all the South American Kepublics, to Italy, to 
 Spain, to Germany, to Austria-Hungary, to Tur- 
 key, &c, which, considered as a whole, represent, 
 any one must admit, a pretty large part of the 
 universe. 
 
 4 — Mr. Bourassa's assertion that England 
 aspires to dominate the world, economically, com- 
 mercially, is most positively contradicted by the 
 history of the last eighty years. Who does not 
 know — and I cannot for a moment suppose that 
 Mr. Bourassa ignores it — that, nearly a centaury 
 
154 ENGLANlD, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 ago, Great Britain, finally rallied in favour of a 
 Free JTrade Policy, has opened her market free to 
 the products of all the nations of the world. Is 
 that not a rather strange way of aspiring to 
 an economical domination! And whilst all the 
 countries of the earth, the British colonies as well 
 as foreign nations, can freely sell their goods in 
 the British market, they protect their own markets 
 'by high customs duties — in some cases almost pro- 
 hibitive — against British goods. 
 
 National commercial statistics are opened to 
 the "Nationalist" leader's perusal as to any one 
 else. If he had referred to them, he would have 
 learned that the Foreign Trade of Great Britain, 
 in 1913, the year preceding the outbreak of the 
 war, amounted to $7,017,775,335; exports were 
 valued at $3,174,101,630; imports totalized $3,843,- 
 673,695, exceeding the exports by the large amount 
 of $669,572,065. 
 
 By looking at the figures, Mr. Bourassa would 
 only have had to call upon his common sense to 
 draw the conclusion that England was certainly 
 not moving along an easy road to the commercial 
 domination of the world by maintaining a policy 
 resulting in an import trade larger, by an annual 
 average of nearly twenty per cent, than her 
 exportations. 
 
 Before the war, Germany, by rapid strides, 
 had succeeded in attaining the second rank 
 amongst the great trading nations, coming next 
 after Great Britain. In the same year — 1913 — her 
 
UNJUST GRIEVANCES AGAINST ENGLAND. 165 
 
 Foreign Trade totalized $5,351,500,000, divided as 
 f olio ws :— Imports $2,801,675,000; exports $2,549,- 
 825,000. 
 
 The really wonderful industrial and commer- 
 cial expansion of Germany, during the last forty 
 years previous to the war, offered another oppor- 
 tunity to Mr. Bourassa to show his spite against 
 Great Britain. He would have been sorry not to 
 make the best of it. Calling into play his fertile 
 imagination, he unhesitatingly charged England 
 with deep rooted jealousy of Germany's trade 
 success and the guilty intent to crush it out of 
 existence. 
 
 To this absurd assertion — not using the word 
 offensively, being always determined to be courte- 
 ous in any discussion I engage — I answered by 
 quoting the figures of the reciprocal relative ex- 
 ternal British and German trade. In 1913, Great 
 Britain sold to Germany goods to the amount of 
 $203,385,150, and bought German products for a 
 total value of $402,055,285. Great Britain's ex- 
 ports to Germany were then only about fifty per 
 cent of her imports from the same market. It is 
 indeed difficult to detect in such trade relations 
 between two nations any sign of the intent, on the 
 part of the country buying from the other double 
 the value of her sales to her, to dominate her 
 people commercially. 
 
 Any one knowing all the circumstances and 
 the causes that imposed upon Great Britain Htie 
 duty of taking part in the European struggle, can- 
 
156 ENG!LAN)D, CANADA AND THE WAR, 
 
 not help being shocked at Mr. Bourassa's accusa- 
 tion that England has incidentally been brought 
 into the conflict only through the frantic desire of 
 her business men to use it to crush the commercial 
 competition of Germany. No serious men could 
 have entertained such strange notions. And the 
 "Nationalist" leader certainly charged the politic- 
 al leaders and the business community of England 
 with sheer madness. 
 
 With all right minded men, the world over, 
 I have long ago reached the 'sound conclusion that 
 universal economical domination is only a chimer- 
 ical idea absolutely outside of all possible realiza- 
 tion. England does not indulge in any such ex- 
 travagant dream, being too well aware how vain 
 it would be. 
 
 May I ask my readers — and Mr. Bourassa has 
 been one of them, — to join with me in a short gen- 
 eral review of the economical progress of the 
 world, in its broadest lines, rising, for this pur- 
 pose, as should be done in all cases, superior to all 
 national and local prejudices. A grand natural 
 scenery is always better appreciated from the 
 mountain top. Equally so, questions of universal 
 import must be considered from the heights of the 
 noblest principles inspiring the Christian desire 
 to promote the general good of Mankind. Con- 
 sidered from this elevated standpoint, very short- 
 sighted indeed is the man who fails to see that 
 
 THE ECONOMICAL PROGRESS OF THE WORLD, AGRICULT- 
 URALLY, INDUSTRIALLY, COMMERCIALLY, IS BOUND UP 
 
UNJUST GRIEVANCES AiOAINST ENGLAND. 157 
 
 with intelligent, energetic and persevering 
 Labour ; that it is the outcome of the improve- 
 ments OF ALL THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION, TO THE 
 CONSTANT INCREASED PERFECTION OF THE AGRICULT- 
 URAL AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS, TO THE ENLARGEMENT OF 
 THE RESOURCES OF CAPITAL, ACCUMULATED BY JUDI- 
 CIOUS savings. It is bound with the improvement 
 of means of transportation by land and sea; 
 with the much enlarged facilities of the ex- 
 change of all kinds of products ; with the superior 
 management, — the result of a much wider experi- 
 ence — of all the institutions distributing credit; 
 with the energetic development of all the resources 
 which generous Providence has profusedly pro- 
 vided the earth for the good of Humanity. 
 It is more than useless to expect economical pro- 
 gress from disastrous armed conflicts which, in the 
 course of a few years, nay, only a few months, 
 destroy the accumulated wealth of many years of 
 incessant labour. 
 
 War is productive of untold material losses. 
 As a general rule, it cannot make the nations of 
 the world richer. Many successive generations 
 have for a long time to bear the crushing burden 
 which they inherit from guilty ambitious Kulers 
 as the only result of their thirst of vain glory. 
 Materially, a nation may profit by an unjust war, 
 resulting in the defeat of a weaker rival, but the 
 riches thus acquired by the one, either by terri- 
 torial acquisitions, or by the payment to her of 
 war contributions and indemnities, or both, from 
 
158 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 the other, are merely transferred from the van- 
 quished to the victor. The great society of na- 
 tions, instead of gaining anything by it, is only 
 losing, as a whole, the total amount of the financial 
 cost of the military operations, of the squander- 
 ing of hard earned savings, of diminished labour 
 and production, of the waste of productive capital, 
 of the loss of so many long days which could have 
 been so much better employed. But most deplor- 
 able is the loss entailed by the warring nations, 
 and the universe at large, by the sacrifice of the 
 younger generations, of early youth and of strong- 
 ly developed manhood, for the success of tyrannical 
 and criminal purposes. 
 
 There can be but one justification — and it is a 
 noble, a glorious one — of the sacrifice of so many 
 valuable lives and so much material wealth: the 
 sacredness, the sanctity of the cause for which a 
 nation, or a group of peoples, take up arms against 
 an enemy, or enemies, only intent on crushing 
 weaker rival, or rivals, by all the illegitimate 
 means at his, or their comand, for self-agrandize- 
 ment, for unjust domination. Such is the present 
 war : sacred and just on the Allied side ; abomin- 
 able, brutal, barbarous on the German side, en- 
 hanced in its guilt by the ferocious Turks and the 
 shameful submission of the enslaved Austrians 
 to the overpowering will of their teutonic masters. 
 It will not have cost too much if it has the result 
 of freeing Mankind from the horrors of Grerman 
 militarism, assuring to the world a long reign of 
 justice and moral grandeur. 
 
UNJUST GRIEVANCES AGAINST ENGLAND. 159 
 
 England can rightly claim a very large part 
 of the merit accruing to all those who have con- 
 tributed to the immense material progress of the 
 world during the last century. She has actively 
 and most intelligently worked for it by her vigor- 
 ous industrial and commercial development, by the 
 very numerous billions of dollars she has contri- 
 buted, all over the world, to railway building and 
 oceanic navigation. She has contributed to it by 
 her extraordinary amount of savings Avhich allow- 
 ed her to supply the capital required for so many 
 varied enterprises over all the continents. She has 
 played the very important part of universal bank- 
 er, distributing her immense treasures to foster 
 production of all kinds everywhere. She has most 
 largely contributed to the economic phenomenon 
 of the gradual diminution of the universal rate of 
 interest. 
 
 If, according to Mr. Bourassa's strange no- 
 tion, all this is to be considered as equivalent to 
 economical domination, the more the whole world 
 will enjoy it the better, more prosperous it will be, 
 and future generations will have so much more 
 cause for rejoicing at its increased development, 
 and to be grateful to England for it. 
 
 The witnesses who, for the last sixty years, 
 have lived with their eyes opened, preferring the 
 full shining light of the bright days of universal 
 economical development to the darkness obscuring 
 fanatical minds only intent on stirring up local, 
 sectional and national prejudices, and miserable 
 
160 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 petty ambitions, have rejoiced at the greatly va- 
 ried advantages Humanity has derived from the 
 gifts of Providence favouring her with the great 
 scientific discoveries which have worked, are still, 
 and will for all times, work wonders for her ma- 
 terial prosperity. The regular tendency of those 
 natural forces recently applied to production is an 
 increased movement towards the unification of the 
 industrial, commercial and financial interests of 
 the world. The vital energies of all peoples have 
 more or less been stimulated by the same causes, 
 operating everywhere, reaching until lately un- 
 known and undeveloped regions. Engineering 
 genius, broadened by the new scientific resources 
 at its command, has triumphed over all difficulties. 
 Etie gigantic locomotive, drawing palatial passen- 
 ger coaches, and sometimes as much as a hundred 
 heavily loaded freight cars, run by thousands and 
 thousands daily through luxurious prairies. They 
 cross giant rivers, ascend with alertness the high- 
 est mountains, or rush through tunnels which the 
 skill and hard work of man has pierced through 
 them, backed by the financial power of millions of 
 money. Automobilism covers the whole universe, 
 multiplying intercourse and human relations, and 
 making possible, in a few days of marvellous 
 organization, a glorious military victory like that 
 almost miracously carried at the Marne. 
 
 Giant steamers, of fifty to sixty thousand tons 
 — of a hundred thousand in the near future — ply, 
 day and night, over the high seas. In mid-ocean 
 
UNJUST GRIEVANCES "AGAINST ENGLAND. 161 
 
 they scatter human thoughts through the air to 
 very distant points. They carry within their large 
 skulls immense quantities of the most varied 
 products. 
 
 Means of transportation have become so 
 numerous, so improved, so rapid, that the surplus 
 agricultural production of the most fertile regions 
 do reach, in a few short days, the countries which, 
 on account of their numerous industrial and com- 
 mercial population, have to import a large quan- 
 tity of food products. The equilibrium between 
 production and consumption becomes yearly more 
 easily obtainable. Famine by the inequality of 
 agricultural production is very much less to be ap- 
 prehended. Millions of human beings are no long- 
 er, as hitherto, threatened to die by starvation at 
 the same time that more favoured regions had a 
 surplus of food products which they could not use, 
 sell, or export. 
 
 Without a most powerful capitalization of 
 savings — totaling, in some oases, billions of dol- 
 lars — without the marvellous development of the 
 great transportation industry by land and sea, 
 could the Canadian and American western grain 
 crops be delivered, within a few days' time, with 
 an astonishing rapidity and at very small cost, 
 on all the markets where they are absolutely 
 required for daily consumption. 
 
 Every country on earth is multiplying her ef- 
 forts to develop her manufacturing interests by 
 an active and intelligent use of the raw materials 
 
162 ENGLAN1D, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 with which her territory has been favoured by 
 Nature. 
 
 To this intense economical development of the 
 world, all the peoples are contributing their shares 
 in various proportions, of course: — In Europe, 
 Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Austria, 
 Italy, Belgium, &c; in the two Americas, the 
 United States, Canada — Canada with the sure 
 prospects of such a grand future — the Argentine 
 Republic, Brazil, &e. ; in Asia, Japan, China, and 
 the so very large Asiatic regions of Russia; in 
 Africa, the British colonies, Egypt, Algeria, &c. ; 
 aud Australia, so recently opened to the glories of 
 Christian Civilization, blooming in the Pacific 
 ocean washing her shores, fertilizing her lands 
 nearer to its refreshing breeze. 
 
 Who does not see that all this development 
 tends naturally to the economical unity of the 
 world. If Humanity is ever effectively delivered 
 from the dangers of wars like the one actually 
 desolating her so cruelly, she will have to be grate- 
 ful for this great boon to the unification, on a larger 
 scale, of the general interests of all the nations re- 
 quiring permanent peace for their regular and 
 harmonious growth. 
 
 To the wonderful material prospecity achiev- 
 ed as above explained, England has contributed 
 her legitimate share, without trying to dominate 
 economically the universe which derived all the 
 great advantages which her business genius has so 
 largely developed. 
 
UNJUST GRIEVANCES AGAINST ENGUAND. 163 
 
 It must not be supposed that I lose sight of 
 the inconveniences which material prosperity may 
 entail. One of them is the tendency to bend the 
 national aspirations to materialism. This can be 
 counteracted by the national will to applj mate- 
 rial development to the more important intellectu- 
 al, moral and religious progress of the people at 
 large. 
 
 Any nation aspiring to dominate the world by 
 brute force or by the power of wealth, would be 
 guilty of attempting an achievement just as vain 
 as it would be criminal in its conception. 
 
 Any nation is within her undoubted right and 
 duty in aspiring to the legitimate influence of her 
 material progress, of her intellectual culture, of 
 her moral development, of her religious increased 
 perfection. Happy indeed would be the future of 
 Humanity if all the Nations and their Rulers 
 understood well, and did their best efforts to prac- 
 tice Christian precepts in the true spirit of their 
 Divine teaching. 
 
CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 Imperialism. 
 
 Mr. Bourassa is apparently so frightened by 
 what he calls Imperialism that the horrible phan- 
 tom being always present to his imagination, he 
 shiidders at it in day time, and wildly dreams of 
 it at night. Judging by what he has said and 
 written, he seems to have worried a great deal, for 
 many years past, about the dire misfortunes which, 
 he believed, were more and more threatening the 
 future of the world by the strong movement of im- 
 perialist views he detected everywhere. It is the 
 great hobby which saddens his life, the terrible 
 bugbear with which he is ever trying to arose the 
 feelings of his French Canadian countrymen 
 against England. 
 
 The deceased British statesman, called Joseph 
 Chamberlain, by his efforts to promote the unity of 
 the Empire, inspired Mr. Bourassa with a pro- 
 found fear which he wanted his compatriots to 
 share by all the means at his command : — public 
 speeches, newspaper editorials, pamphlets. He 
 charged him with the responsibility of the infam- 
 ous crime he brought England to commit in ac- 
 cepting the challenge of President Kruger and the 
 then South African Bepublic, and fighting for the 
 
IMPERIALISM. 166 
 
 defence of her Sovereign rights in South Africa. 
 According to the Nationalist leader, a vigorous 
 impulse was given by the South African war to 
 the political evolution which he termed British 
 Imperialism. Nothing was further from the true 
 meaning of this important event. 
 
 In refuting Mr. Bourassa's assertion, I show- 
 ed that the South African war was not the out- 
 growth of Imperialist ideas, and that it has in no 
 way resulted in a dangerous advance of the kind 
 of Imperialism which so much frightens him and 
 all those who experience his baneful influence. 
 
 As I have previously proved, the South 
 African campaign was imposed upon England by 
 the then aspiration of a section only of Boer opin- 
 ion, led by the unscrupulous and haughty President 
 Kruger, imprudently relying on the support of the 
 German Kaiser who had hastened to congratulate 
 him for his success in the Jameson Kaid. It re- 
 sulted not in favor of Imperialism of the type so 
 violently denounced by Mr. Bourassa, but in a 
 most beneficent expansion of Political Freedom by 
 the granting of the free British institutions to the 
 new great South African overseas Dominion. It 
 is only the other day that ex-Premier Asquith, on 
 the occasion of a great public function, has de- 
 clared that Premier Botha, the former most prom- 
 inent Boer General, was now one of the strongest 
 pillars of the British Empire. 
 
 It being so important to set the opinion of the 
 French Canadians right respecting that question 
 
166 ENGUDANID, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 of Imperialism, so much discussed of Tate, and by 
 many with so little political sense and historical 
 knowledge, I would not rest satisfied with a refuta- 
 tion of the special Bourassist appreciation of the 
 causes and results of the South African conflict. 
 I summarized, in a condensed review, the divers 
 phases of the political movement which can pro- 
 perly be called Imperialism, tracing its origin as 
 far back as the organization of the first great 
 political Powers known to History: the Persian, 
 the Egyptian, the Greek Empires, &c. More than 
 ever before, Imperialism was triumphant during 
 the long Roman domination of almost all the then 
 known world. Every student of History is im- 
 pressed by the grandeur of the part played by the 
 Roman Empire in the world's drama. Constantine 
 •struck the first blow at Roman Imperialism — 
 unwillingly we can rest assure — in laying the 
 foundations of Constantinople, and dividing the 
 Roman Empire into the Western and Eastern Em- 
 pires. At last, after repeated invasions, the North- 
 ern barbarians succeeded in smashing the Roman 
 Colossus. 
 
 After many long years during which Euro- 
 pean political society passed through the incessant 
 turmoil of rival ambitions, Charlemagne sets up 
 anew the Western Empire, being coronated Em- 
 peror in Rome. Ever since, amidst multiplied ups 
 and downs, Imperialism has swayed to and fro by 
 the successive edification and overthrow of the 
 Holy Roman Empire, the short lived Napoleonic 
 
I UFER1ALUSM. 167 
 
 European domination, the recently organized 
 North German Empire. 
 
 So far as Imperialism is concerned, all those 
 great historical facts considered, how best can it 
 be defined? Is it not evident that from the very 
 birth of political societies for the government of 
 Mankind, a double current of political thoughts 
 and aspirations has been concurrently at work, 
 with alternate successes and retrocessions: one 
 tending towards large political organizations, un- 
 iting a variety of ethnical groups ; the other oper- 
 ating the reverse way to bring about their dissolu- 
 tion in favour of multiplied small sovereignties. 
 Each of the two opposing political systems has had 
 its ebb and flow tides ; the waves of the one, in their 
 flowing days, washing the shores of the other until 
 they had to recede before the pressure caused by 
 the exhaustion of their own strength and the in- 
 creased resistance of internal opposition. 
 
 Viewed from this elevated standpoint, Im- 
 perialism is not new under the sun. It is as an- 
 cient as the world itself. Mr. Bourassa has been 
 uselessly spending his energy in breaking his head 
 against a movement which is in the very nature of 
 things, developing the same way under the same 
 favourable conditions and circumstances. 
 
 Are the days we live so fraught with the dan- 
 gers of Imperialism as to justify the fears of the 
 alarmist? The answer would be in the affirmative, 
 the question being considered from the point of 
 view of Germany's autocratic Imperialism, if the 
 
168 ENGHDANID, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 free nations of the world had not joined in a holy 
 union to put an end to its extravagant and tyran- 
 nical ambition. But how is it that Mr. Bourassa, 
 the heaven-born anti-imperialist, so frightened at 
 the supposed progress of British Imperialism, is 
 so lenient towards Teutonic Imperialism? How 
 is it that from the very first days of the gigantic 
 struggle calling for the most heroic efforts of 
 the human race to emerge safe and free from the 
 furious waves powerfully set in motion by the most 
 daring absolutism that ever existed, he has not 
 thought proper to chastise as it deserved the worst 
 kind of Imperialism that he could, or any one else, 
 imagined? 
 
 Taking for granted that the present econo- 
 mical conditions of the universe, likely to inten- 
 sify, are working for great political organisations, 
 from the causes previously explained, any intelli- 
 gent observer could not fail to see that for the last 
 century four great imperialist evolutions have 
 been concurrently — or rather simultaneously — 
 developing themselves; they were the British, 
 the Teutonic, the Russian, the Republican in the 
 United States. Let no one be astonished at seeing 
 the two words Imperialism and Republicanism 
 coupled together. In their true sense, they are 
 easily conciliated. 
 
 The Roman Republic, by the grandeur of its 
 part, was Imperialist as much as the Empire to 
 which she gave birth. Caesar, without the imperial 
 crown was Emperor as much as August. He was 
 
IMPERIAIillSM. 169 
 
 more so by his genius, and by the eminent posi- 
 tion he had acquired by one of the most brilliant 
 •careers in History. 
 
 Bonaparte, General and First Consul, in the 
 closing days of the first French Republic, was 
 Emperor as much as he became on the day of his 
 •Coronation, at Paris, by the Sovereign Pontiff. 
 
 Imperialism being a great historical fact 
 through all the ages, and most certainly destined 
 to further developments, is it to be judged favour- 
 ably or alarmingly? 
 
 No doubt the problem is of the greatest pos- 
 sible political importance. The question can, I 
 consider, be at the outset simplified as follows : — 
 Would the prosperity, the freedom, the happiness 
 of the world be better served by great political 
 Powers, or by the multiplication of small sover- 
 eignties? It is just as well, and even better, to 
 admit at once that a unique, a dogmatic, answer 
 cannot be given to that question. Independent 
 nations, sovereign societies, are not created at will 
 I)y men, merely according to their fancy, to their 
 variable and very often undefined wishes. History 
 teaches that they are the outgrowth of various cir- 
 cumstances, of many divergent causes, — the most 
 important, the one inscrutable, being always the 
 action of Divine Providence directing the destinies 
 of peoples as well as those of every human being. 
 Different causes produce, of course, different re- 
 sults. Large and small political communities can 
 surely be productive of much good for their popula- 
 
170 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 tions. ' Much depends upon the intelligence, the 
 wisdom, the devotion, the patriotism of the rulers 
 and the governed. They can also do much harm. 
 Unfortunately, the readers of past events have too 
 much reason to deplore that both large and small 
 political organizations have been equally guilty of 
 maladministration, of ambitious cupidity of their 
 neighbours' possessions, of unjust wars. As an un- 
 controvertible example, can I not point to the 
 present German Empire, whose origin dates back 
 to the days of the very small Prussia of two cen- 
 turies ago, fighting her way up to her actual great- 
 ness by successive, unfair, and often criminal 
 aggressions. 
 
 After reading much of the history of past ages, 
 I have not been able to come to the conclusion — 
 and the more I read, the less inclined I am to do 
 so — that the days when England, France, Central 
 Europe, Italy, &c, were subdivided into numerous 
 small political organizations, almost always war- 
 ring, were preferable to ours, even darkened and 
 saddened as they are by the present trials and 
 sufferings. 
 
 If, on the other hand, the causes which at all 
 times have tended to the creation of large political 
 sovereignties are gradually acquiring an increased 
 momentum of strength and activity, from the 
 changed conditions brought about by the great 
 scientific discoveries so wonderfully developing the 
 commercial relations of the nations, is it not more 
 advisable to study the true nature of the evolution 
 
IMPERIALISM. 171 
 
 and the good it can produce, rather than to shiver 
 at the supposed prospects of an Imperialist cata- 
 clysm so certainly to be averted if public opinion is 
 sound and Rulers wise. Crying on the shores of 
 the St. Lawrence, against the advance of the roll- 
 ing waves, would not prevent the tide from run- 
 ning up. The mad man who would try it, and per- 
 sist in remaining on the spot, displaying his in- 
 dignant and extravagant protest, would surely be 
 submerged and drowned. 
 
 Political developments, like many others,, obey 
 natural laws which no true statesman can ignore 
 nor overlook. Because the limits of a political 
 organization are extended, does it necessarily fol- 
 low that only deplorable consequences can be 
 expected from their enlargement? Surely not. 
 One might as well pretend that unity, cohesion, 
 strength, grandeur, are only productive of baneful 
 results. Is it not a certainty that they can be 
 equally beneficial or harmful, according to the in- 
 tellectual and moral qualities of those who are 
 called upon to apply them to the best interests of 
 those they govern. 
 
 German Imperialism, for instance, was not 
 per se sl public misfortune. It became such because 
 instead of using its instrumentality for the gen- 
 eral good of the world as well as that of Germany, 
 it was applied to a barbarous and criminal pur- 
 pose to satisfy unjust and senseless aspirations. 
 
 In the same years, all the resources of 
 British Imperialism, — so abhorrent to Mr. Bou- 
 
172 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 rassa and his Nationalist adepts who view with, 
 such meekness the Teutonic type — have been 
 brought into play for the freedom of the world and 
 the protection of the small nationalities — notably 
 Belgium. 
 
 Bulgaria was a small State. Was it on this 
 account less ambitious and troublesome for its 
 neighbours? Any one conversant with the recent 
 Balkan history knows that Bulgaria has from the 
 start aspired to dominate the Balkan 'States. 
 When the Berlin Government struck the hour 
 which was to throw not only Europe, but three- 
 fourths of the universe into the worst horrors of 
 war, has Bulgaria rallied to the defence of her 
 weak neighbour, Servia? Has she proved any 
 sympathy for treacherously crushed Belgium? 
 
 I emphatically declare that I would oppose 
 Imperialism with all my might, if I thought that 
 it is by nature a necessary producer of absolutism, 
 of autocratic tyranny. But, the British precedent 
 considered through all its beneficial developments, 
 I must recognize that true Imperialism is not in- 
 compatible with the just and wise exercise of pol- 
 itical liberty, with respectful protection of the 
 rights and conditions of the divers national 
 elements under its aegis. 
 
 I pray to remain to my last day a faithful 
 friend of the political liberties of the people. 
 Knowing, as I do, how hard it is to apply them to 
 the government of nations — great or small — I am 
 not bewildered by vain illusions. But I cannot 
 
IMKEKIAIjIISM. 173 
 
 conceive — and never will — that the justice of the 
 real principles of Political Liberty is to be denied 
 on account of the difficulties of their satisfactory 
 working, certainly obtainable when applied in con- 
 formity with the dictates of moral laws owing all 
 their power to their Divine origin. 
 
 The best political institutions which can work 
 out such great advantages for the populations 
 enjoying them, are too often diverted from their 
 beneficient course by the vicious passions of those 
 who are charged with, and responsible for, their 
 administration. It would be most illogical to draw 
 the inference that good institutions become bad by 
 their guilty management. 
 
 Free and autocratic governments are essen- 
 tially different in their natural structure. Though 
 liable to mismanagement by unscrupulous politi- 
 cians, free institutions can, under ordinary favour- 
 able conditions, be trusted to be productive of 
 much good for the peoples living under their pro- 
 tection. Autocracy — the whole human history 
 proves it — by nature engenders absolutism. 
 Crowned or revolutionary despots as a rule are 
 not imbued with the patriotism nor purified by the 
 virtues required for the good government of a 
 country. Kaiserism, Terrorism and Bolshevikism 
 are equally despicable and unfit to contribute to 
 the sound progress which liberty, practiced by 
 sensible and wise men, can develop. 
 
 Eeverting to the Nationalist bugbear, whieh 
 does not in the least move me to despair of Can- 
 
174 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 ada's future, I consider that Imperialism, sensibly 
 appreciated, is of two kinds : Autocratic Imperial- 
 ism ; Democratic Imperialism : — Absolutism is the 
 foundation stone of the former ; Political Liberty 
 that of the latter. I am energetically opposed to 
 the first. I sincerely believe that the second can 
 do a great deal for the prosperity of the countries 
 where it has regularly and justifiably been devel- 
 oped according to the natural laws of its growth. 
 Autocratic Imperialism, in contemporaneous 
 history, is almost exclusively typified by its 
 Teutonic production. A general review of the 
 world shows that for the last century, and more, 
 with one sad exception, all the nations have been 
 moving along the path leading to a greater free- 
 dom of their institutions. Even Japan and China 
 have joined in the race. Eussia had deliberately 
 done so. Much was expected from her first efforts, 
 and much would certainly have been reaped in due 
 course had not the calamitous war still raging at 
 first opened an opportunity for the reactionary 
 Eussian element, strongly influenced by German 
 intrigues, spies and money, to check, through the 
 Petrograd Court, the forward movement of Eus- 
 sian political liberty, and to impede, for Germany's 
 sake, the success of the Eussian military opera- 
 tions. Under those circumstances — as was also to 
 be expected — the advancing wave of the aspira- 
 tions of the great Eussian people for more political 
 freedom, was bound either to recede before the 
 autocratic outburst, or to rush impetuously against 
 
IMPERIAMSM. 175 
 
 the wall Germany was to her best helping to raise 
 against it. The latter prevision happened, history 
 once more repeating itself. 
 
 Even barbarous Turkey, in recent years, had 
 been somewhat shakened by a sudden desire to 
 remove some of her secular shackles. The young 
 Turks movement might have had some desirable 
 results had the Ottoman Empire, as every national 
 and political considerations should have induced 
 her to do, sided with France and England. 
 
 Germany is actually the only country in the 
 world where Autocratic Imperialism has been 
 flourishing during the last century. We all know 
 the extent and the grievousness of the calamity it 
 has wrought on the universe. 
 
 During the same last century, Democratic 
 Imperialism — using the term in its broadest and 
 most reasonable meaning — has had two distinct 
 beneficial developments : — the Monarchical Demo- 
 cratic Imperialism*, and the Eepublican Demo- 
 cratic Imperialism. 
 
 The Monarchical Democratic or free Imperial- 
 ism — it is scarcely necessary for me to say — is 
 that of Great Britain. 
 i The Eepublican Democratic or free Imperial- 
 
 ism is that of the United States of America, of the 
 Argentine Republic, of Brazil. 
 
 Happily the two great and glorious countries 
 which are favoured with the advantages of the 
 Democratic type of Imperialism are united in a 
 grand and noble effort to destroy the German 
 
176 ENODAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 Autocratic Imperialism in chastisement of its 
 criminal aspirations to universal domination. 
 
 The two types of Democratic or free Imperial- 
 ism — the Monarchical and the Republican — can be 
 better illustrated by a comparative short historical 
 study of their development in Great Britain and 
 her colonies, and in the United States. I summar- 
 ize it as follows, beginning by the last mentioned, 
 as it requires a shorter exposition. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 American Imperialism. 
 
 The still recent and wonderful growth of the 
 two American continents, in population and 
 wealth, is almost an incredible marvel. It is none 
 the least politically. 
 
 The two Americas, by the extent of their areas, 
 the vastness of their productive lands, the length 
 and largeness of their mighty Rivers, the broad- 
 ness of their Lakes, the grandeur of their scenery, 
 seem to be most adapted to great developments of 
 many kinds. It is difficult to think of small con- 
 ceptions originating in the New World, which the 
 genius of Columbus discovered and the combined 
 genius of all the great races of the Old are united 
 in developing. 
 
 Let me first put the question: — when the 
 leading European nations undertook to colonize 
 the new Continents, were they not, consciously or 
 not, throwing the Imperialist seed in a fertile land 
 where it was sure to take foot and blossom? Spain, 
 France, and, last, England were certainly not 
 obeying the dictates of our "Nationalist school" 
 when they brought under their Sovereign author- 
 ity such vast stretches of American territory. 
 
 That -Christian Civilization was to be extended 
 
178 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE -"WlAiR. 
 
 to the new great Hemisphere, goes without saying. 
 That the riches, then unknown, of the New World, 
 were to be extracted from the land so full of them, 
 was one of the duties of the discoverers, all will 
 admit. The European Governments in extending 
 their Sovereignties to America unfortunately 
 adopted the mistaken Colonial Policy then still too 
 much prevalent. Their error was to stick to the 
 wrong conception that a colony was important 
 only in the measure that it could be favourable to 
 the interests of the Metropolis. History proves 
 that this colonial system is bound to lead to unfair 
 treatment of the colonies. Absolutism, then dom- 
 inant in Europe, could not be expected to show any 
 tender leniency towards the Colonials who were 
 above all to work for the wealth and glory of the 
 Metropolis. Spain proved to be the worst pro- 
 moter of that Kegime. Her failure has been most 
 complete. She has had to withdraw her flag from 
 the very large part of America over which it might 
 have been kept waving, if sounder and more just 
 political notions had prevailed in the narrowed 
 minds of her Kulers. 
 
 England, treading along the wrong path of 
 Colonial oppression, but in a much less proportion, 
 had to face a like result in the revolt of her Am- 
 erican Colonies. Fortunately for her, for America 
 and the world at large, the event widely opened her 
 eyes. In acknowledging the independence of the 
 young Republic of the United States, she was des- 
 tined to be proud of her offspring in witnessing the 
 
AMERICAN IMFEMADIBM. 179 
 
 astonishing development of the child to whom she 
 had given birth. Could she have then foreseen 
 that the day would come when at the hour of her 
 dire trial, the daughter who threw off her mother- 
 ly authority, too stringently exercised, would 
 rush to her support for the defence of the very 
 principles of Political Liberty for which she, the 
 child, had fought for her independence, how soon 
 would England have forgotten the sufferings of the 
 parting and blessed Providence for them ! 
 
 The American Revolution, successfully carried 
 out, was the occasion for England to revolutionize 
 her Colonial Policy. She was the first nation — 
 and I am sorry to say she has remained alone — 
 to understand with great clearness that the old 
 Colonial Kegime, fraught with such disastrous 
 consequences, must be done away with and re- 
 placed by the new one which called the colonies to 
 the enjoyment, to the largest possible extent, of 
 the free institutions of the Mother Land. 
 
 Like every new born child, whose laborious 
 birth was critical, the American Republic ex- 
 perienced great difficulties the very moment she 
 commenced to breathe freely. So true it is always 
 that national development, like personal success, 
 cannot be achieved without struggle. 
 
 The United States offer the example of the 
 best development of the Imperialist evolution in 
 the world. It dates as far back as the proclama- 
 tion of the Independence of the Republic. When 
 she was admitted into the international society of 
 
180 JEINQLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 Sovereign States, she had at first to settle her 
 political organization. The framing of a constitu- 
 tional charter proved to be a very arduous task, 
 at times almost desperate. 
 
 Three sets of divergent opinions were fighting 
 at close range during the protracted and solemn 
 deliberations which at last reached a happy 
 conclusion. Thirteen American British Colonies 
 had coalesced to wring their Independence from 
 England. The goal once attained, a first group of 
 opinion was favoured by the supporters of the 
 dissolution of the temporary union organized to 
 secure the Independence of the whole, but to 
 revert, they said, if successful, to their previous 
 separate status. Had this view prevailed, at the 
 very start North America would have been cum- 
 bered with thirteen Sovereign States. Many were 
 alarmed at the creation of so many small Re- 
 publics. More reasonable persons suggested to 
 organize three or four of them, instead of thirteen, 
 meeting as much as possible the wants natural to 
 geographical conditions. It was no douht an im- 
 provement on the first mentioned scheme. It met 
 with the hearty support of devoted adepts. 
 
 It is much to be hoped that they will forever 
 receive from the successive generations of their 
 countrymen the reward of the gratitude they de- 
 serve, the true statesmen who, at this important 
 juncture, stepped on the scene and bravely took 
 their stand in favour of the maintenance of the 
 Union which had conquered Independence, and of 
 
AMERIOAN IMFEKJAL/ISM. 181 
 
 the establishment of only one great Kepublic. The 
 celebrated Hamilton was their trusted leader. They 
 knew they were undertaking an herculean task. 
 At that time, the population of the thirteen orig- 
 inal States, scarcely four millions in number, was 
 scattered over a vast territory, and located, for 
 the most part, on the lands near the Atlantic 
 coasts, two thousand miles in length, from North 
 to South. Transportation was in a very primitive 
 stage. Many years had yet to run before the 
 whistle of the locomotive, powerful and struggling, 
 would be echoed by the solitude of immense forests. 
 No one foresaw that, in less than a century, the 
 overflowing tide of European immigration would 
 roll its waves so powerfully as to cross the whole 
 continent and the Eocky Mountains to reach the 
 coast of the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 With such conditions, so unfavourable to the 
 aspirations of only one new Independent State, 
 moulding together political groups so far apart, 
 interests apparently so hostile, the local point of 
 view, local prejudices, were sure to dominate. 
 They inspired the strong current of opinion in 
 favour of the dissolution of the temporary Union, 
 and the organization of every one of the old 
 provinces into a separate Sovereign State. 
 
 How, under such circumstances, the friends 
 of a unique National American Union succeeded 
 in the marvellous achievement of carrying their 
 point by a prodigy of persuasive demonstration, 
 will foverer be a wonder for the student of the 
 
182 (ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 Republic's history. Few in numbers when they 
 boldly threw their challenge, they encountered the 
 shock of local fanaticism heightened by their offen- 
 sive. Everything seemed to predict their utter 
 failure. If ever Founders of States have proved 
 the heroism of their convictions, the American 
 Federalists have most gloriously done so. Un- 
 doubtedly, the force of the argument was with 
 them. But what can logic, reason, good sense, too 
 often do against inveterate prejudices? Were 
 they, in this particular instance, destined to be 
 powerless? 
 
 The Federalists — such is their historical 
 name — were not to be disheartened by the formi- 
 able obstacles thrown in their way. An Imperialist 
 inspiration was certainly the basic foundation of 
 their demonstration finally triumphant. They 
 told their countrymen that if they were to erect 
 thirteen small Republics upon the burning ruins 
 of the first Union to which they owed their Inde- 
 pendence, they would prepare a very sad future 
 for their children and children's children. Euro- 
 pean immigration was setting in, slowly but 
 surely. They predicted that the World, this time, 
 would witness, not a barbarous invasion like that 
 which overthrew the Roman Empire, but one which 
 the Old World would overflow to the New Con- 
 tinents. This surplus European population would 
 bring over to America Christian Civilization, the 
 training of hard work, large hopes, courage, ex- 
 perience in many ways, persevering energy, which 
 
AMERICAN IMPERIALISM. 183 
 
 would transform the boundless regions which 
 could become their national heritage — until then 
 the domain of the wandering Indian — into one of 
 the greatest and wealthiest countries on earth. 
 Would they commit the irreparable error to de- 
 stroy the certainty of such a magnificent National 
 Destiny, by creating thirteen separate govern- 
 ments, with the sure result of renewing in 
 America, by such race groupings, the atrocious 
 military conflicts which, for centuries, have flooded 
 the European soil with human blood. 
 
 Hamilton and some of his most distinguished 
 friends published that work, entitled: "The 
 Federalist", which will ever live as one of the 
 broadest and most elevated productions of Politic- 
 al Intelligence. To all, and especially to the 
 "Nationalist" theorists, I strongly recommend the 
 reading of that book, a monument of the genius of 
 great statesmen. 
 
 In short, after a lengthy discussion character- 
 ized by their brilliant eloquence and their argu- 
 mentative strength, the supporters of the Federal 
 Union of the thirteen States, under one Sovereign- 
 ty, carried the day. They had well deserved their 
 glorious triumph. The Republic of the United 
 States of North America was founded under the 
 aegis of the free constitutional Charter which has 
 done so much for her prosperity and her grandeur. 
 
 Such was the initial move of the evolution of 
 American Imperialism. Those amongst us who 
 desire to learn more about its developments have 
 
184 (ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE W\*M. 
 
 only to look oyer the boundary line. The thirteen 
 original States, federally united, have increased 
 to number forty-four, with three more territories 
 gradually developing into Statehood. 
 
 The actual population of the Eepublic is al- 
 ready much over a hundred million, living in un- 
 rivalled prosperity and contentment on a territori- 
 al area of more than three millions and a half 
 square miles, larger than all the European Con- 
 tinent. The sun of the present century will set 
 upon a people of more than 250,000,000, with a 
 splendid situation in a world to the destinies of 
 which they will contribute in many admirable 
 ways, if they are only true to the Christian prin- 
 ciples which alone can assure Civilization and 
 Progress. 
 
 If the term Imperialism truly means what 
 the word implies, — Sovereignty being exercised 
 over a large population and a vast territory, this 
 political evolution, so decried by some, has most 
 undoubtedly achieved a great success amongst our 
 neighbours to the South. 
 
 In all sincerity, may I not ask every unpre- 
 judiced mind: — has not the whole World every 
 reason to be much elated at witnessing the 
 beneficent results of the triumph of the American 
 Federalists? Evidently, it has been Imperial in 
 its nature, in its proportions. It is so in its pro- 
 mises for the future greatness of the Eepublic. It 
 has maintained, with only one exception, peace and 
 harmony during nearly a century and a half, 
 
AMERICAN IMPERIALISM. 186 
 
 between the descendants of the European nation- 
 alities who have trusted their future welfare to 
 the Sovereignty of the United States. Instead of 
 wasting their energies in endless conflicts, such as 
 numerous small States would have infallibly oc- 
 casioned, thanks to the unity of the Sovereign 
 Power binding into an admirable whole territories 
 larger than Europe, they have learned to consider 
 themselves as citizens of the same free country, as 
 the free subjects of the same governmental author- 
 ity. The temporary rupture of the Union, caused 
 by the war of Secession, was but a vain reactionary 
 action against the powerful current driving the 
 Kepublic towards her grand future. 
 
 It is most unlikely — I can say impossible 
 without the slightest hesitation — that the United 
 Sates, after taking such a grand and glorious part 
 in the present war, will abandon the broad and 
 felicitous policy by which they have grown to be 
 one of the greatest independent nations of the 
 world, to drop so low as to adopt the blinding 
 notions of a narrow, sectional, prejudiced and fan- 
 atical "Nationalism", such as the type which would 
 ruin the future of our own Dominion, if ever it WW 
 allowed to prevail. They know too well, by the 
 happiest experience, that the only true "National- 
 ism" is that which by the united effort of the in- 
 telligence, the culture, the strength, the patriotism 
 of citizens of divers races has wrought for them 
 their present admirable national status so full 
 of the brightest promises. When peace shall have 
 
136 (ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WIAE. 
 
 been restored, the great and mighty American 
 Republic will be one of the leading Powers on 
 earth, owing her unrivalled prosperity in a very 
 large measure to her appreciation of the wonderful 
 results obtainable by the union of all her subjects, 
 of whatever racial origins, working with the same 
 heart and devotion for the grandeur of their 
 common country. 
 
 I am not unduly enthusiastic, I am only speak- 
 ing the plain truth, when I affirm that the Repub- 
 lican Imperialism of the United States has been 
 most beneficent, having guaranteed to Mankind the 
 inestimable boon of laying deep and strong in a 
 virgin soil, providentially gifted with the most 
 varied, the most abundant, the richest resources, 
 the destinies of a great Sovereign Nation compris- 
 ing numerous ethnical groups. This liberal, pro- 
 gressive, peaceful, harmonious Imperialism, it is 
 a duty to approve wishing it to achieve new tri- 
 umjps for the general good of Humanity. 
 
 Republican Imperialism is also making its 
 way — contaminating it, our "Nationalists" would 
 say — in Southern America. This large and splen- 
 did half of the New World has been for too many 
 years the theatre of civil troubles which appeared 
 endless. A great change for the better has taken 
 place since the beginning of the concentration 
 movement which has united almost the entire 
 Southern American Continent into eight Sover- 
 eign States, two of which with really Imperial 
 proportions. 
 
AMERICAN IMPEKJAUISM. 187 
 
 The Brazilian Kepublic has a territorial area 
 of 3,218,991 square miles, with a population of 
 more than 24,000,000 increasing at the average 
 rate of six or seven hundred thousand a year. 
 With the great natural resources at her command, 
 she will certainly develop into one great Power. 
 The day is not so far distant when it will have a 
 population exceeding fifty millions living in 
 comfort on a soil of luxurious wealth. 
 
 The Argentine Kepu'blic has a territory of 1,- 
 153,119 square miles in extent. Her population is 
 over 8,000,000, having doubled during the last 
 twenty years. At this rate of a yearly increase of 
 five per cent, it is easily foreseen what large total 
 it will reach in a few years. It is wealthy, doing 
 the best with her splendid resources, already 
 contributing extensively to feed the population of 
 Europe. 
 
 The other Southern American Kepublics — the 
 Bolivian, the Chilian, the Columbian, the Peru- 
 vian, the Venezuelian — have all territorial areas 
 double in extent of those of the Great Powers of 
 Western and Central Europe. 
 
 In Southern America, like everywhere else, 
 the rising tide is not running in favour of a multi- 
 plicity of small Sovereignties, always in a warring 
 frame of mind. Since her political reorganization, 
 South America, as a whole, has enjoyed the ad- 
 vantages of peace and of a large material progress. 
 
 In reality the same political phonomenon is 
 to be found in the five continents forming the 
 
188 (ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WlAiR. 
 
 whole earthly globe. Let the "Nationalists" call 
 it Imperialism if they like, I cannot help conclud- 
 ing that it is the outgrowth of natural causes 
 operating in the sense of larger political units, 
 giving to the Nations getting so constituted, pres- 
 tige, power, grandeur, favouring public order 
 and, in many instances, the development of free 
 institutions. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 British Imperialism. 
 
 Let me now consider the wonderful develop- 
 ment of What I have called Monarchical Demo- 
 cratic or free Imperialism. It has so far been 
 exclusively of British growth. It is the typical 
 form of Imperialism which has been honoured with 
 the most violent, the most unjust, denunciations of 
 our "Nationalists". 
 
 How did it deserve such an hysterical repro- 
 bation? Such is the question to which I shall now 
 endeavour to give a decisive negative answer. 
 
 I have previously once said that British Im- 
 perialism, like American Imperialism, has Politic- 
 al Liberty as its foundation stone. I think this 
 can easily be proven. 
 
 Any close observer of political events, will 
 agree with me, I am confident, that Imperialism is 
 also "offensive" and "defensive" in its expansion. 
 The meaning if these two terms is clear. 
 
 For the last fifty years, "Offensive" Imperi- 
 alism has been the German despotic Imperialism. 
 The present war — its criminal work — is the con- 
 vincing evidence in support of the charge. 
 
 I have, I believe, proved to the satisfaction of 
 every fair minded man, that during the same last 
 
190 (ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WIAR. 
 
 fifty years England's constant efforts have been to 
 maintain peace. Consequently, I am authorized 
 to draw the conclusion that British Imperialism 
 was not intended to be, and has not been 
 "Offensive". 
 
 The Imperialist effort offensively, aggres- 
 sively and violently tending to the continuous 
 and unmeasured expansion of a Sovereign Power, 
 with the objective of universal domination by all 
 possible means, however unjust, immoral and 
 savage they may be, is a most guilty effort deserv- 
 ing the severest condemnation. Such is the Ger- 
 man autocratic Imperialism. 
 
 On the contrary, the defensive Imperialist 
 effort, having for its only object the protection of 
 an Empire, the maintenance of her standing in the 
 society of nations, and of peace so essential to the 
 general prosperity of the world, is meritorious, 
 beneficient and laudable. Such has been the 
 British Monarchical democratic Imperialism. 
 
 It is from this elevated standpoint that 
 I will consider the negotiations which, for the last 
 few years, have taken place between the Metropolis 
 and her autonomous Colonies, respecting Imperial 
 defence. While admitting the right of all the free 
 citizens of Canada to appreciate them, and enter- 
 taining a real respect for the sincerity of opinions 
 which I cannot conscientiously share, I cannot 
 help considering that many amongst us have fallen 
 into a serious error in judging the nature of these 
 negotiations. 
 
BRITISH IMPERIALISM. 191 
 
 Is it truly, as has been asserted, in obedience 
 to a powerful wave of "Offensive Imperialism" 
 that Great Britain has of late convene representa- 
 tives of her free Colonies to meet, in London, to 
 confer about the best means to adopt for the 
 general security of the whole British Empire? 
 
 Is it, as also asserted, with the unworthy 
 design to entrap the Colonies that their self- 
 appointed delegates have been called in secret 
 conclaves where the political leaders of England 
 would, by unfair and foul means, prevail upon 
 them to agree to unjust sacrifices on the part of 
 the peoples they represented? 
 
 I am absolutely unable to share such errone- 
 ous views. I must admit with all candor that I 
 have not yet been brought to the conclusion that 
 British Statesmen are all contaminated with 
 "Machiavelism". A free country like the United 
 Kingdom is not a land where such deplorable 
 principles are likely to blossom. 
 
 What are then the extraordinary events which 
 have recently taken place to justify the assertion 
 of the "Nationalist" leader that, in the course of 
 the last few years, a complete Kevolution has 
 been wrought in the relations of the autonomous 
 Colonies with their Metropolis? Of such a Kevolu- 
 tion, cunningly promoted to bring the colonies 
 against their will to participate in the Imperial 
 wars — les guerres de Vempire — I do not perceive 
 the smallest shadow of traces. 
 
 As everybody else, living with their eyes not 
 
192 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAIR. 
 
 closed to the light of day, I clearly saw, principal- 
 ly during the last twenty years, that important 
 developments were taking place under the sun; 
 that European equilibrium upon the maintenance 
 of which universal peace so much depended, was 
 rapidly breaking asunder; that the German Em-, 
 pire was more and more unmasking her guilty 
 ambition to dominate an enslaved universe ; that, 
 to reach that goal, she was organizing an army 
 formidable by its millions of warriors, their supe- 
 rior training, their ironed discipline and their un- 
 rivalled armament. I knew that the sadly famous 
 Kaiser Wilhelm II. was determined, at all cost, to 
 increase the power of his Empire by the. addition 
 of a military fleet in such proportions as to be able, 
 in a successful naval battle, to conquer the supre- 
 macy of the seas. 
 
 Under such circumstances, was it to be sup- 
 posed that the Statesmen responsible for the gov- 
 ernment of Great Britain would be so careless and 
 so blind as not to see the dark spots crowding on 
 the horizon! 
 
 The problem of Imperial defence was then 
 once more raised, not by a mere caprice of vain 
 glory on the part of England, but by the inevitable 
 outcome of the initiative of would-be opponents, 
 if not actually declared enemies. 'The overseas 
 colonies being more and more likely to be attacked, 
 in a general conflict, was it surprising that the 
 British Government was induced to confer with 
 them for their common defence under the new 
 
BRITISH IMPERIALISM. 193 
 
 conditions which were surely not of their own 
 metropolitan or colonial creation. 
 
 All the representatives of Great Britain, of 
 Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, at 
 the London conferences, took part in those solemn 
 deliberations with the full sense of their respon- 
 sibility. None of them was so mistaken as to 
 consider the question, of paramount importance, 
 of the defensive organization of the Empire, as 
 futile, merely to be used by the astuteness of some 
 and the guilty complicity of others, joining toge- 
 ther to sacrifice the future of their common coun- 
 try. The odious imputation, the shameless charge, 
 were equally unjust and calumnious for the Brit- 
 ish ministers and the colonial public men who, in 
 their turn, went to London to deliberate on sub- 
 jects so vitally interesting all the component parts 
 of the Empire. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 The Situations of 1865 and 1900-14 Compared. 
 
 Our "Nationalist" opponents of all colonial 
 partUcpation in the Imperial wars, affirm tliat 
 Canada should have abided with the convention 
 of 1865. Are they not aware that, since that year, 
 a great deal of water has run along the rivers ; that 
 the world, although perhaps not wiser, has at least 
 grown half a century older ; that so many ancient 
 conditions have radically changed; that nations, 
 like individuals, to he progressive, cannot go on 
 marking time on the same small hardened spot? 
 
 Any man sincerely desirous to form for him- 
 self an enlightened opinion on the question of 
 Imperial defence, must first admit that two na- 
 tional and general situations, totally different, 
 create widely different duties. 
 
 Let us compare for a moment, 1865 and 1900- 
 14 — yesterday and to-day — as the "Nationalist" 
 leader says. 
 
 Fifty years ago, the German Empire was non- 
 existent. Nothing pointed to the early birth of 
 this terrible child destined to grow so rapidly to 
 such colossal proportions. 
 
 The French Empire was the leading continent- 
 al Power ; Great Britain, then as now, the leading 
 naval Power, both military and mercantile. 
 
1865 AND 1900-14 COMPARED. 196 
 
 Those two nations, without a formal alliance, 
 had been united ever since the days when Lord 
 Palnterston favoured the advent of Napoleon III. 
 
 The Union of England and France was doing 
 much to maintain the peace of the world. 
 
 The United States were just emerging from 
 the trials of their great Civil War. They had to 
 solve the very difficult problem of their national 
 reconstruction. Their population did not exceed 
 thirty-five millions. 
 
 How different was the situation of 1900-14 ! 
 
 The German Empire had become formidable 
 with her population of 68,000,000, her soldiers 
 numbering more than 7,000,000, with 1,000,000 of 
 men permanently under arms, ever ready for an 
 offensive. campaign, with her fleet much enlarged 
 yearly at the cost of enormous financial sacrifices ; 
 allied to Austria-Hungary, with her population of 
 50,000,000, to Italy, with her 36,000.000 — then 
 (being one of the Triple Alliance — supported by 
 Turkey and Bulgaria, — in all a combined strength 
 of 150,000,00 bodies and souls ; with the Germans 
 exalted to the utmost by persistent appeals to their 
 feelings and to their ambitious dreams. 
 
 The American Republic grown to the rank of a 
 first class Power, with a population of 100,000,000 
 and a magnificent military fleet. 
 
 Was it even sensible to pretend that such al- 
 tered worldly conditions did not make the revi- 
 sion of the understanding arrived at in 1865 an 
 imperious necessity. 
 
196 ENGLAND, 'CANADA AND THE WA1R. 
 
 They are living in an imaginary world those 
 of us who assert that Canada could remain a Brit- 
 ish Colony under a permanent agreement — never 
 to be amended — by which the Mother Country 
 would be bound to defend her, at all costs and all 
 hazards, whenever and by whomsoever attacked, 
 Canada in the meantime refusing, whatever the 
 perils of England might be, to spend a dollar and 
 to send one man for her defence. There could be 
 but one issue to the consideration of such proposi- 
 tions : the dissolution of the British Empire. I 
 regret to say that Mr. Bourassa has audaciously 
 declared that such has been the objective of his 
 oppositionist campaign to the Canadian participa- 
 tion in Imperial wars. 
 
 If Canada, through its constitutional organ, 
 the Ottawa Parliament, had signified to England, 
 in 1914, that she would not take the least part in 
 the war imposed upon her by Germany, nor do any- 
 thing to help her Allies, France and Belgium, 
 could she, without blushing with shame, have 
 claimed the protection of the British flag, if her 
 territory had been attacked. 
 
 Would not England have been fully justified 
 in taking the initiative to break the bond which 
 could henceforth but be disastrous to her, our 
 shameless attitude towards her, at the hour of her 
 peril, being most favourable to her mortal enemy. 
 
 Have I not every sound reason to conclude that 
 Canadian participation in the present war was in 
 no way whatever the outcome of an Imperialist 
 
1865 AND 1900-14 COMPARED. 197 
 
 attempt to drag her, against her will, in the conflict 
 into which she so nobly hastened to enter with the 
 determination to fight to the last, and to deserve 
 her fair share of the glory which will be but one of 
 the rewards that will accrue to all those who will 
 have united together to save Liberty and Civiliza- 
 tion from the German barbarous onslaught. 
 
CHAPTEK XXII. 
 
 British Imperialism Naturally Pacifist. 
 
 i 
 According to its "Nationalist" opponents, 
 
 British Imperialism has always been of a conquer- 
 ing nature, like that of the Koman type and those 
 of ancient history. 
 
 This opinion is formally contradicted by a 
 long succession of undeniable historical facts. Un- 
 doubtedly the splendid structure of the British 
 Empire was not erected without armed support. 
 The creation, without an army organization, of a 
 Sovereign State comprising a fourth of the Globe, 
 which components parts, themselves of colossal 
 proportions, situated in all the continents, separ- 
 ated by the immensity of the seas, would have been 
 more than marvellous. 
 
 I will not pretend that always and every- 
 where the expansion of British Sovereignty has 
 taken place according to the dictates of strict jus- 
 tice. Still I do not hesitate to say that, on the 
 'whole, it has developed under conditions which 
 were never the outcome of a mere conquering 
 ambition. 
 
 With much reason, English citizens are proud 
 of the fact that their Empire is the result of a 
 natural growth. When the call to arms had to 
 be made, it was oftener for defensive wars. 
 
BRITISH IiMiREiRiBAILflSiM— PACUFISM. 199 
 
 Tlie British Empire, outside the United King- 
 dom, comprise, for the most important part, Can- 
 ada, Australia, the South African Dominion, and 
 India. It is easy to explain, in a few lines, under 
 what general circumstances those immense regions 
 were brought under the British flag. I shall, of 
 course, begin this short historical review by the 
 acquisition of Canada by England. 
 
 The great event of the discovery of the New 
 World, at the end of the fifteenth century, tempted 
 the western European nations to acquire vast col- 
 onies in the new continent. Spain, France, Por- 
 tugal, Holland, were the first in the field. If the 
 craving for large colonies in the new Hemisphere 
 was of Imperialist inspiration, England does not 
 appear to have been one of the first Powers infest- 
 ed with the disease so dreaded by our "National- 
 ists". She was rather late to catch it. Hollanders 
 settled in New York before the British. 
 
 As all ought to know, Spain took hold of the 
 whole of Southern America. France displayed her 
 flag on the larger part of Northern America, com- 
 manding the St. Lawrence and Mississippi Rivers, 
 and the Great Lakes. Those immense regions, ex- 
 tending from the cold north to flowery Louisiana, 
 were called New France. Later on, that part of 
 North America bordering on the Atlantic, from 
 Maine to Virginia, became British, and was sub- 
 divided into thirteen provinces, or separate col- 
 onies. For such a dominating Imperialist, as some 
 pretend she has ever been, it must be admitted 
 
200 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WIA1R. 
 
 that England was rather in a modest frame of 
 mind with regard to her colonial enterprises. The 
 British Government itself was slow in moving 
 towards the Imperialist goal which was stirring 
 up Spain and France to a much greater activity. 
 The first British emigrants were Puritans looking 
 for that religious liberty, under a new shining sun, 
 which was denied to them by their native land in 
 those days when fanaticism was unfortunately too 
 much triumphant in many countries. 
 
 As it was inevitable, the European Colonies 
 in America, all satellites of their metropolis, fell 
 victims to the political rivalries of the nations 
 who settled them. Not satisfied with fighting in 
 Europe, those Powers also decided to gratify the 
 New World with a specimen of what they could do 
 on the battlefields. The Seven Years War did not 
 originate in America, as it was the outcome of 
 secular European international difficulties. 
 
 If the European nations, in taking possession 
 of America, were making a conquest, it was that of 
 the white race over the yellow one of the New 
 World. 'Spain and France, in raising their flags 
 over four-fifths of the American continent, were 
 surely strengthening Imperialism. Will our "Na- 
 tionalists" accuse them of having unduly saved the 
 New World from the secular Indian barbarism? 
 
 More especially, Spanish Imperialism in Am- 
 erica was most despotic. By a very false political 
 conception, Spain undertook a great settlement 
 work in America with the sole object of bleeding 
 
BRITISH IM'FEKIAJLISM— PA'OUFISM. 201 
 
 her colonies to her only profit. It failed disas- 
 trously as it deserved to. It is because she per- 
 severed in her fatal error that, in 1898, she was 
 forced out of Cuba. The last stone of her im- 
 mense colonial edifice was cast away. 
 
 England shared Spain's error, but much less 
 heavily. Like Spain, she reaped what she had 
 sowed. The thirteen British American colonies 
 revolted and conquered their Independence. Alone 
 French Canada remained loyal to England. 
 
 If the French Canadians had sided with the 
 British Colonies to the South in the contest for 
 their Independence, the Canada of those days 
 would certainly have been included in the Amer- 
 ican Republic when England was forced, by the 
 fate of war, to acknowledge the new Sovereign 
 nation. Her offspring then violently broke away 
 from the parental home, but has recently hastened 
 to her defence, at the hour of danger, only remem- 
 bering the first happy years of her childhood. 
 
 Following the loyal advice of their spiritual 
 leaders, and of their most trusted civil chieftains, 
 the French Canadians remained true to England, 
 refusing to desert her, thus maintaining her Sover- 
 eign rights over the Northern half of the Continent 
 destined, a century later, to develop into the pres- 
 ent Dominion, enjoying the free institutions of the 
 Mother Country. 
 
 As previously stated, the American Revolu- 
 tion brought for ever to an end British absolutism 
 in the new continent. Henceforth, liberty and au- 
 
202 ENOI/AND, CANADA AND THE WAR, 
 
 tonomy were to be the two foundation stones of a 
 new colonial Policy which, far from disrupting the 
 Empire as the autocratic one had done, was to 
 cement its union so strongly as to make possible 
 the gigantic military effort she has displayed for 
 more than the last four years. 
 
 The Treaty of Paris brought the Seven Years 
 War to a close. Once more the peace of the world 
 was temporarily restored. By the Treaty of Paris, 
 Canada was ceded to England, our "Nationalists" 
 say. If so, how can they pretend that the exten- 
 sion of British Sovereignty over the regions which 
 have become the great autonomous Dominion of 
 Canada was an undue manifestation of British 
 conquering Imperialism? 
 
 An intelligent and impartial student of the 
 early settlements of the two continents of Amierica 
 can only draw the conclusion that the New World 
 has not been the theatre of the operations of Brit- 
 ish Imperialism. Its first real attempt was tried — 
 with much laudable success — in 1867, by the fed- 
 eral union of the Canadian provinces, decreed by 
 the Sovereign legislative power of the Parliament 
 of Great Britain, at our own request and in ac- 
 cordance with our own freely expressed wishes. 
 
 Australia is the second autonomous colony of 
 England in extent and importance. It comprises 
 nearly all the territory of the Oceanic continent, 
 so called from the geographical position, in the 
 Pacific Ocean, of the Islands forming it. New 
 Zealand is the second group of these Islands. It 
 
BRITISH IMPERJDAMSM-^PAOIIFISIM. 208 
 
 is another autonomous British colony, called, since 
 1907 "The Dominion of New Zealand". 
 
 Those two Dominions have a combined terri- 
 torial area of more than 3,000,000 square miles — 
 almost as large as the whole of Europe — with a 
 population of six millions rapidly increasing. 
 Their two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, 
 each having a population of 700,000, are great 
 commercial centres. 
 
 If British Imperialism has had anything to 
 do with the bringing of Australia and New Zealand 
 under British Sovereignty, it must be admitted 
 by all fair minded men that it has worked its way 
 in the most pacific manner. Deservedly renowned 
 British explorers— Cook, Vancouver, and others — 
 discovered and took possession of the Oceanic con- 
 tinent in the name of their Sovereign. Welcomed 
 by the aboriginal tribes, they raised the British 
 flag over the fair land of such a promising future 
 in the latter end of the eighteenth century — Cook 
 in 1770. It has ever since been graciously waving, 
 by the sweet breeze of the Pacific, over one of the 
 happiest peoples on earth, enjoying the blessings of 
 interior peace and all the advantages of the poli- 
 tical liberties conferred upon these great colonies, 
 more than half a century ago. As a matter of fact, 
 England has organized her Australasian posses- 
 sions into free autonomous colonies iat the very 
 dawn of their political life, dating from the middle 
 of the last century, when they began that splendid 
 progressive advance developing more and more 
 every year. 
 
204 lENOIiAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 Is it not evident, beyond the shadow of a 
 doubt, that the settlement of the Australasian 
 colonies by England, so satisfactory and so prom- 
 ising, has not been brought about by the illegiti- 
 mate ambition of an unmeasured Sovereign 
 agrandizement by a guilty sort of Imperialism. 
 
 The establishment of British Sovereignty in 
 the Indian country, immense in extent, wealth and 
 population, is one of the greatest events of the 
 historical development of the British Empire. 
 
 I shall not say that all that took place in the 
 government of India deserves a blind approval. 
 That British authority was much too long left in 
 the control of a company was a misfortune. Under 
 such a regime abuses were sure to develop and in- 
 crease. They did and were energetically de- 
 nounced — more especially on that day when 
 Sheridan rose to such an eloquence, in the House 
 of Lords, that a motion of adjournment had to be 
 carried, to allow the peers to recover the free con- 
 trol of their minds before rendering judgment in 
 the case brought before their tribunal, impeaching 
 Warren Hastings. 
 
 The rule of the Indian Company was abolish- 
 ed, in 1858, by The Government of India Act. 
 
 In 1876, the illustrious Disraeli — Lord Bea- 
 consfield — took the statesmanlike decision of add- 
 ing a new prestige to the British Crown and to the 
 Sovereign wearing it. He had Parliament to adopt 
 the Royal Titles Act, by which Her Majesty Queen 
 Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. 
 
BRITISH IiMPERItAJLISM— PACIFISM. 206 
 
 Such, in due course, and without any trouble, 
 was accomplished that great political evolution 
 which substituted, for populations numbering 
 more than three hundred millions of human beings, 
 an Imperial system in place of the deplorable gov- 
 ernment by a company. For the last sixty years, 
 the new regime has given peace, order and pros- 
 perity to India. 
 
 A French publicist wrote as follows : — 
 
 After troubles of nine centuries duration, India has recover- 
 ed peace under the tutelage of England, the best colonizer of the 
 peoples of Europe. England has rendered an evident service to 
 India. She has f reed her from the intestine wars tearing her since 
 her historical origin; she has given iher a police and an administra- 
 tive system. 
 
 Nations, like individuals, are not perfect. To 
 judge equitably, impartially, the government by a 
 Metropolis of the regions under her Sovereignty, 
 one must not only be scandalized at her failings, 
 but must take the broader view of her whole history 
 in appreciating its final good and commendable 
 results. So judging the government of India by 
 England, every impartial mind must conclude that, 
 on the whole — and more especially for the last 
 sixty years — it has been beneficient. It promises 
 to be still more so, as a consequence of the admir- 
 able share India is taking in the present war. 
 
 Egypt and the Soudan have a territorial area 
 of 1,335,000 square miles, with a population of 
 15,000,000. I pride to be one of those who con- 
 gratulate Great Britain to have freed the ancient 
 and glorious Egyptian country from Turkish tyr- 
 
206 JEXNGLAND, CANADA AND THE WIAIR. 
 
 anny. A proclamation, dated the 18th. of Decem- 
 ber, 1914, has finally placed Egypt under Eng- 
 land's protectorate with the agreement of France. 
 
 In the chapters respecting the Soudanese and 
 South African wars, I have shown how satisfacto- 
 ry has been the rule of Great Britain in those 
 African countries. 
 
 It being ever true that the earth was Provi- 
 dentially created for men to live in the legitimate 
 enjoyment of the blessings of peace multiplied by 
 the fruits of their labours, the Egyptians and the 
 Soudaneses have every reason to congratulate 
 themselves for their liberation from the Turkish 
 barbarous yoke, and for the protection they receive 
 from one of the most civilizing nations, 
 
 I sincerelv believe that this short review of the 
 respective situation of five of the principal com- 
 ponent parts of the British Empire, is sufficient 
 to form the honest conviction that if England has 
 practised Imperialism, she has done so for the 
 real benefit of the peoples living under the aegis of 
 her Sovereignty, the most favourable to colonial 
 political liberty. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 British Imperialism and Political Liberty. 
 
 British history, for the last century and more, 
 proves that Imperialism is not naturally incom- 
 patible with Polical Liberty, nor with the respect 
 due the national aspirations of divers ethnical 
 groups. The unity and the consolidation of the 
 Empire made their greatest strides since the close 
 of the war which resulted in the independence of 
 the neighbouring Republic. As previously ex- 
 plained, they were the outcome of the very wise 
 and statesmanlike change of colonial policy then 
 adopted by England. The days were to come when 
 they would be put to the severest test and would 
 prove more than equal to its greatest strain. 
 Those are the days which the British Empire 
 is living through, with brilliancy and heroism, 
 amidst the dazzling lightning and the roaring 
 thunder of an unprecedented military conflict, 
 with every prospect of surviving its sufferings and 
 sacrifices with a still stronger political structure. 
 
 The same evolution by which Great Britain 
 was to reach the summit of Political Liberty by 
 the final triumph of the new constitutional prin- 
 ciple of ministerial responsibility, was spreading 
 to her far overseas Colonies. Canada, Australia, 
 
208 ENGLAND, CANADA AMD THE WIAR. 
 
 New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland were 
 successively granted constitutional charters based 
 on the same principles as those of the institutions 
 of the United Kingdom. 
 
 As I have already said, Imperialism becomes 
 dangerous and deserves the severest condemna- 
 tion, only where and when it is the instrument of 
 autocratic absolutism. It causes me no alarm 
 whatever when it is developed under free institu- 
 tions, guaranteed and protected by ministerial 
 responsibility. 
 
 Whatever said to the contrary, by prejudiced 
 and designing writers, imbued with the extra- 
 vagant notions of a narrow and fanatical "Nation- 
 alism", Canada, the most important of the autono- 
 mous Colonies of the British Empire, is freer than 
 ever. Like all the other nations, she suffers 
 from disastrous events shaking the whole worldly 
 edifice, but she is none the less the absolute mis- 
 tress of the initiative of whatever efforts she con- 
 siders her duty to make under those trying circum- 
 stances. England has imposed nothing upon 
 Canada, has asked nothing from Canada, since the 
 beginning of the war. She has, of course, accept- 
 ed, with much pleasure and gratitude, the help we 
 have freely offered and given her. Let our "Na- 
 tionalists", in their inspired unfairness, say, if 
 they like, that Canada, like all the Allies defen- 
 sively fighting, was forced in the conflict by the 
 imperious necessity of the situation created by 
 those who expected to reach the goal of their am- 
 
mFERLAJLISM AND POLITICAL LI'RBEJTY. 200 
 
 bition. But they have no right to charge Great 
 Britain to have coerced the Dominion, against her 
 will, to join in the struggle which the British 
 Government had done their utmost to prevent. 
 
 If it was not giving to this work too wide a 
 range, I would like to undertake an historical 
 sketch of all the good the British constitutional 
 system has produced in the United Kingdom and 
 in the Colonies. I shall quote only a few of the 
 most important examples. 
 
 In my opinion, the one development in Eng- 
 land's history, since the close of the eighteenth 
 century, most interesting to the French Canadians, 
 is certainly that which resulted in the emanci- 
 pation of the Roman Catholics of the United 
 Kingdom. 
 
 To persuade my French Canadian countrymen 
 of the good to be wrought by the patriotic use of 
 the British institutions, I explained to them that at 
 the beginning of the last century, the Roman Cath- 
 olics of the United Kingdom enjoyed no political 
 rights. They were neither electors, nor eligible to 
 the House of Commons. They asked that justice 
 be done to them. True statesmen, high and fair 
 minded, admitted the justice of their claims and 
 supported them. The ensuing political contest 
 lasted more than twenty years. 
 
 To obtain the proposed clange in the long 
 standing laws of the realm from an exclusively 
 Protestant electorate, was indeed a great task 
 to accomplish. The public men supporting the 
 
210 ElNGUAND, 'CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 Roman Catholics claims were courageous and elo- 
 quent. They carried the day. Have not the true 
 friends of political freedom every reason to con- 
 gratulate themselves that a great measure of jus- 
 tice granting political rights to Koman Catholics 
 was voted by an Electorate and a Parliament 
 exclusively Protestant. 
 
 King George IV, through fear that his Boyal 
 prerogative might be impaired by the change, was 
 hostile to it. He was persuaded to agree to the 
 measure by Sir Robert Peel, the life long oppon- 
 ent of Roman Catholic emancipation. Whatever 
 were the religious convictions and feelings of 'Sir 
 Robert Peel, he was a statesman of a high class. 
 As all the leading public men of England, he had a 
 broad conception of the duties of the chief adviser 
 of the Crown, and of the true spirit of the British 
 constitution. The voice of the nation having 
 spoken in no uncertain sounds, the national will 
 must be followed. He plainly said so to His 
 Majesty who yielded. Then, in a most admirable 
 speech, he — -Sir Bobert Peel — moved himself the 
 passing of the bill granting justice to the Roman 
 Catholics, carried it through the two Houses of 
 Parliament and had it sanctioned by the King. 
 
 A great act of national justice always [re- 
 ceives its due reward. The Roman Catholics have 
 been faithful and loyal subjects. George IV and 
 his successors have lived to see many evident 
 proofs of their loyal devotion, more especially 
 since the opening of the present war. 
 
IMPERIALISM AND POLITX0A1L -LIBERTY. 211 
 
 The final success of the free discussion of the 
 question of granting to the Roman Catholics of 
 the United Kingdom all the rights enjoyed by the 
 British subjects of all the other religious denomin- 
 ations, carried in spite of difficulties not easily 
 overcome, is certainly one of the greatest and most 
 honorable triumphs that Political Liberty has 
 ever obtained. I was often deeply moved at read- 
 ing the historic account of that most interesting 
 debate in Parliament, on the public platform and 
 in the press. More and more, the conviction was 
 firmly impressed on my mind and soul that a great 
 people accomplishing a grand act of justice gives 
 a most salutary example to posterity deserving 
 the admiration and gratitude of all generations to 
 come. 
 
 I was only appreciating with justice and fair- 
 ness the part played by England in Canada, in tell- 
 ing my French Canadian countrymen that they en- 
 joyed the political rights of British subjects many 
 years before the same privileges and justice was 
 granted to the Roman Catholics of the United 
 Kingdom. That miuch in answer to the charge of 
 our fanatical extremists that England and her 
 Government always wanted to oppress the French 
 Canadians on account of their religious faith. 
 
 Without going back to the eventful days of 
 Magna Charta and of the Bill of Rights, both em- 
 bodying the fundamental constitutional principles 
 which were finally bound to overcome the last 
 pretentions of absolutism of yore, I considered a 
 
212 .ENGffiiAND, (CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 short review, in broad lines, of the work performed 
 ■by the British. Electorate and the Imperial Parlia- 
 ment, during the last century, would help in des- 
 troying in the minds of my French readers the 
 prejudices forced upon them by "Nationalist" 
 writers. That great work is principally illustrat- 
 ed by eight important measures of general interest. 
 
 I have just mentioned that most honourable 
 one emancipating the Roman Catholics of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 Shortly after, it was followed by that abolish- 
 ing the Corn Laws after a protracted and very 
 interesting discussion. That important measure 
 was also carried on the proposition of the same 
 Sir Bobert Peel, for a long time its determined 
 opponent. The manufacturing population, increas- 
 ing so rapidly, would soon have been starved by 
 the continuously augmenting cost of bread. Sir 
 Bobert Peel foresaw the fearful consequences sure 
 to ensue, if no relief was granted to millions 
 threatened with hunger. He was, as I have al- 
 ready said, too much of a statesman to hesitate in 
 doing his duty. He gave up his own opinion and 
 advised his Sovereign to do away with the Corn 
 Laws, the repeal of which he had Parliament to 
 vote. 
 
 With the advent of Queen Victoria, ministerial 
 responsibility for all the acts of the Sovereign 
 became definitely the fundamental principle of 
 the British constitution. 
 
IMPEiRIAjLISM AND POMTIOAL LIBERTY. 213 
 
 Complete ministerial responsibility, once fully 
 recognized in Great Britain, was without delay 
 granted to all the British colonies having repre- 
 sentative institutions. 
 
 The abolition of slavery all over the British 
 Empire is, every one must admit, a political de- 
 velopment of first magnitude, one doing the great- 
 est possible honour to the great nation having first 
 taken the glorious initiative of granting to the 
 black race the justice ordered by Christianity. 
 It is undoubtedly a very valuable reform to the 
 credit of England. 
 
 The Imperial Parliament realized that the 
 constitutional regime of the United Kingdom 
 could not bear all the fruits to be expected from 
 it with an electorate restricted to privileged 
 classes. To support such a splendid edifice, ad- 
 mirable in structure and strength, a larger basic 
 foundation, more solid, laid deep in the national 
 soil, was required. After a long political struggle, 
 freedom was once more triumphant in the Mother- 
 land. The first great Keform Bill of 1832 was the 
 starting point of successive legislative enactments, 
 enlarging the franchise, calling to the exercise of 
 political rights various classes of the people, bring- 
 ing up the British electorate to the glorious stand- 
 ard of being one of the freest, the most enlightened, 
 and most independent in the world. The crowning 
 measure of this extensive political reform has 
 been the Bill of 1917 providing for the addition of 
 some 8,000,000 voters to the roll, including about 
 6,000,000 women. 
 
214 ENGLAND, 'CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 The rotten boroughs of old were abolished 
 and replaced by a much better redistribution of 
 electoral divisions. 
 
 Dating from 1867, great autonomous federal 
 colonies, with full Sovereign rights in the adminis- 
 tration of all their interior affairs, have been 
 created by Imperial charters. The Canadian, 
 Australian, South African, and New Zealand 
 Dominions, of a total territorial area exceeding 
 7,000,000 square miles, with a total population of 
 over 25,000,000, nearly 20,000,000 of which belong 
 to the white race, have commenced their new pol- 
 itical career with all the 'confidence and the hopes 
 inspired by their free institutions. 
 
 Finally, the Imperial Parliament passed a 
 law granting Home Eule to Ireland. Unfortunate- 
 ly, the war, so disastrous in many ways, prevented 
 the immediate carrying out of the will of Parlia- 
 ment, certainly representative of that of the 
 nation. But this vezed question must at last be 
 settled once for all. It is to be hoped that the day 
 is not far distant when it will be removed from the 
 political arena by a solution satisfactory to Ire- 
 land, to England and to the whole Empire. 
 
 Besides all those very important measures of 
 political reform, the British Parliament has 
 passed many laws of urgent social improvement. 
 
 The crowning act of the Imperial Parliament 
 has been its determined attitude for the mainten- 
 ance of peace through a long series of years. 
 
IMPEiRIAiLIS*M AND POLITICAIj DIKERJTY. 215 
 
 If all the above enumeration of measures of 
 widespread influence for the general good is to be 
 called Imperialism, I say without hesitation that 
 it is an Imperialism worth favouring. The world 
 will never have too much of it. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Imperial Federation and "Bourassism". 
 
 The leader of our "Nationalists," always 
 f rightened, apparently at least, with tlie supposed 
 dangers of further Imperialist encroachments de- 
 trimental to the best interests of the British auto- 
 nomous Colonies, seems alarmed at the prospects 
 to follow the close of the hostilities. Consequently, 
 it has been a part of his campaign to bring the 
 French Canadians to share his fears for their 
 future. 
 
 Not in the least worried by such apprehen- 
 sions, it was also my duty to try and persuade my 
 French Canadian compatriots not to be unduly 
 disturbed by the sayings of a publicist magniflying 
 the errors of his excited imagination. 
 
 That there will be after-the-war problems to 
 consider, is most likely. What will they be? It is 
 very difficult to foresee just now with sufficient 
 definiteness. So much will depend upon the gen- 
 eral conditions of the restoration of peace. How- 
 ever, broad lines have, for the last four years, been 
 outlined with fair clearness permitting a general 
 view of what is likely to happen. 
 
 Let us for a moment examine the traces of the 
 initial phases of the constitutional developments 
 
IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 217 
 
 likely to be the outcome of the joint effort of the 
 whole Empire to win the war. 
 
 The second chapter of the Keport of the War 
 Cabinet for the year 1917 — already quoted some- 
 what extensively — deals with the new aspect of 
 Imperial Affairs more especially the consequence 
 of the war. The opening paragraph partly reads 
 as follows: — 
 
 The outstanding event of the year in the sphere of Imperial 
 Affairs has been the inauguration of the Imperial War Cabinet. 
 This has been the direct outcome of the manner in which all parts 
 of the Empire had thrown themselves into the war during the 
 preceding years. Impalpable as was the bond which bound this 
 great group of peoples together, there was never any doubt about 
 their loyalty to the Commonwealth to which they belonged and to 
 the cause to which it was committed by the declaration of war. 
 Without counting the cost to themselves, they, offered their men 
 and their treasure in defence of freedom and public right. From 
 the largest and most prosperous Dominion to the smallest island 
 'the individual and national effort has been one of continuous and 
 unreserved generosity. 
 
 After mentioning that during 1917 "great 
 progress has been made in the organisation both 
 of the man-power and other resources of the Em- 
 pire for the prosecution of the war," and that "the 
 British Army is now a truly Imperial Army, con- 
 taining units from almost every part of the 
 Empire," the Eeport says : — 
 
 The real development, however, of 1917 has been in the 
 political sphere, and it has been the result of the intense activity 
 of all parts of the Empire in prosecuting the war since August, 
 1914. 
 
 It had been felt for some time that, in view of the ever- 
 increasing part played by the Dominions in the war, it was neces- 
 sary that their Governments should not only be informed as fully 
 
218 'ENGLAND, I0AN'AJ>A AND THE WAR. 
 
 as was possible of the situation, but that, as far as was practicable, 
 they should participate, on a basis of complete equality, in the 
 deliberations which determined the main outlines of Imperial 
 policy. 
 
 Accordingly, a Special War Conference was 
 convene to meet in London, where for practical 
 convenience it was divided into two parts: one, 
 "known as the Imperial War Cabinet, which con- 
 sisted of the Oversea Representatives and the 
 members of the British War Cabinet sitting 
 together as an Imperial War Cabinet for delibera- 
 tion about the conduct of the war and for the 
 discussion of the larger issues of Imperial policy 
 ■connected with the war." The other "was the 
 Imperial War Conference, presided over by the 
 Secretary of State for the Colonies, which consist- 
 ed of the Oversea Representatives and a number 
 of other ministers, which discussed non-war 
 problems connected with the war but of lesser 
 importance." 
 
 On the 17th May, 1917, the British Prime 
 Minister, giving "to the House of Commons a short 
 appreciation of the work of the Imperial War 
 Cabinet," said in part : — 
 
 I ought to add that the institution in its present form is 
 extremely elastic. It grew, not 'by design, but out of the necessities 
 of the war. The essence of it is that the responsible heads of the 
 Governments of the Empire, with those Ministers who are 
 specially entrusted with the conduct of Imperial Policy should meet 
 together at regular intervals to confer about foreign policy and 
 matters connected therewith, and come to decisions in regard to 
 them which, subject to the control of their own Parliaments, they 
 Will then generally execute. By this means they will be able to 
 obtain full information about all aspects of Imperial affairs, and 
 
IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 219 
 
 to determine by consultation together the policy of the Empire in 
 its most vital aspects, without infringing in any» degree the auto- 
 nomy which its parts at present enjoy. To what constitutional 
 developments this may lead we did not attempt to settle. The 
 whole question of perfecting the mechanism of "continuous con- 
 sultation" about Imperial and foreign affairs between the "auto- 
 nomous nations of an Imperial Commonwealth" will be reserved 
 •for the consideration of that special Conference which will be 
 summoned as soon as possible after the war to readjust the con- 
 stitutional relations of the Empire. We felt, however, that the 
 experiment of consulting an Imperial Cabinet in which India was 
 represented had been so fruitful in better understanding and in 
 unity of purpose and action that it ought to be perpetuated, and 
 we believe that this proposal will commend itself to the judgment 
 of all the nations of the Empire. 
 
 The preceding are words of political wisdom, 
 worthy of the best form of British statesmanship. 
 Were they the dawn of a new era, dissipating the 
 clouds accumulated by the trials of a long period 
 of military conflict, and showing in a future, more 
 or less distant, the rising constitutional fabric of 
 a still greater Imperial Commonwealth, not so 
 much in size, than in unity, in freedom and 
 strength? Time will tell. But can we not at once 
 note with confidence that the fundamental princi- 
 ple upheld by all the leading British public men is 
 that, whatever constitutional developments may 
 be in store for us all, they will not be allowed to 
 infringe "in any degree the autonomy" presently 
 enjoyed by the Oversea Dominions. 
 
 The Imperial War Conference held in Lon- 
 don, last year, passed the following very important 
 "Resolution" dealing with the future constitution- 
 al organisation of the Empire : — 
 
220 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 "The Imperial War Conference are of opinion that the re- 
 adjustment of the constitutional relations of the component parts 
 of the Empire is too important and intricate a subject to be dealt 
 with during the war, and that it should form the subject of a 
 special Imperial Conference to be summoned as soon as possible 
 after the cessation of hostilities. 
 
 "They deem it their duty; however, to place on record their 
 view that any such readjustment, while thoroughly preserving all 
 existing powers of self-government and complete control of do- 
 mestic affairs, should be based on a full recognition of the 
 Dominions as autonomous nations of an Imperial Commonwealth, 
 and of India as an important portion of the same, should recognise 
 the right of the Dominions and India to an adequate voice in 
 foreign policy and in foreign relations, and should provide effective 
 arrangements for continuous consultation in all important matters 
 of common Imperial concern and for such necessary concerted 
 action, founded on consultation, as the several Governments may 
 determine. 
 
 We can await without the slightest alarm the 
 holding of the proposed "special Imperial Con- 
 ference to be summoned as soon as possible after 
 the cessation of the hostilities." The fundamental 
 principles upon which "the readjustment" if any 
 one is made, "of the constitutional relations of the 
 component parts of the Empire" are to rest, are 
 well defined in the above "Resolution" : — through 
 preservation of "all existing powers of self-govern- 
 ment and complete control of domestic affairs; — 
 full recognition of the Dominions as autonomous 
 nations of an Imperial Commonwealth, and of 
 India as an important portion of the same; — the 
 admission of "the right of the Dominions and India 
 to an adequate voice in foreign policy and in 
 foreign relations" 
 
 Upon that large and strong basis, I, for one, 
 
IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 221 
 
 am ready to wait with patience and confidence the 
 result of the deliberations of the future special 
 Imperial Conference. With regard to the pro- 
 posed Conference, I cannot see any reason for any- 
 one to indulge in the "Nationalist" hysterical fears 
 of an oppressive Imperialism devouring, as the old 
 mythological god — Saturn — his own children. 
 
 As I have said, the work of the special Im- 
 perial Conference will be rendered more or less 
 easy by the conditions of the future peace. I pray, 
 with all the fervour of my soul, that the war shall 
 not end by a hasty compromise — as wished for by 
 our blind, if not really disloyal, pacifists — by 
 which the world would be doomed to another dis- 
 aster far worse than the one it is straining every 
 nerve to overcome, and that after years of the most 
 costly warlike preparations. Such a peace would 
 be the saddest possible conclusion of the present 
 conflict, and much worse than the sacrifices yet to 
 be borne by the prosecution of the war to a finish. 
 We must all implore Providence to save Humanity 
 from such a cataclysm. 
 
 A special Imperial Conference meeting under 
 such disheartening circumstances would indeed 
 have a most difficult task to accomplish. It was 
 evidently an act of wisdom on the part of the Im- 
 perial War Conference of last year to express the 
 opinion that the special Imperial Conference 
 should be summoned only after the cessation of 
 hostilities. 
 
 When peace shall have been restored with the 
 
222 lENGLAND, (CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 only conditions winch can be satisfactory to the 
 Allies and to tlie world at large, a special Imperial 
 Conference will be in order, having for its object 
 to consider the readjustment of the constitutional 
 relations of the component parts of the Empire, in 
 conformity with the requirements of the new situ- 
 ation which will have grown out of the necessities 
 of the war. However important the task, the 
 tranquility of the world being, let us hope, assured 
 for many long years, there will be no reason for the 
 Conference to proceed hastily to any insufficiently 
 matured conclusion. The representative public 
 men who will meet in London from all over the 
 Empire will not forget, we may rest confident, that 
 the safest way to a good working readjustment 
 will be, as it has always been in the past, that 
 which will follow the straight line of natural 
 growth. Dry cut resolutions, imprudently adopt- 
 ed, and pressed upon unwilling populations would 
 have ninety-nine chances out of a hundred to be 
 more injurious than profitable. 
 
 Every sensible man must acknowledge that 
 the war has in an extraordinary manner hastened 
 the rapidity of the advance towards the turning 
 point in the Constitutional organization of the 
 British Empire. The day is near at hand when 
 the problem will have to be faced with courage and 
 broadness of mind. Very blind indeed, and far 
 behind the times, is he who does not realize that 
 to be, or not to be, for the Empire, is confined to 
 two clear words: consolidation or dissolution. 
 
IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 223 
 
 The tide has either to ebb or flow, the wave to ad- 
 vance or recede. The edifice must be strengthened 
 or left to decay. Like any living being, a political 
 society, be it great or small, after its birth, more 
 or less laborious, grows to a prosperous and 
 healthy old age, or crumbles down prematurely. 
 Very much depends, for either course, on the wis- 
 dom or extravagance of the way of passing through 
 life. Unmeasured ambitions, wild expectations, 
 are too often, alike for the individual and the na- 
 tion, the surest road to a lamentable ruin. Wis- 
 dom, the outcome of sound moral principles, and 
 wide experience, is, on the other hand, the safest 
 guarantee of longevity, of bright old days full of 
 contentment, honour, prestige and true grandeur. 
 
 Grave will be the responsibility of those who 
 will meet in solemn conclave to lay down the foun- 
 dations of the future British Imperial Common- 
 wealth. No less serious will be the responsibility 
 of the populations, scattered over the five contin- 
 ents, who will be called upon to pronounce, freely 
 and finally, upon the propositions which will be 
 submitted to their approval or disavowal. Conse- 
 quently undue haste would be more than ill- 
 advised. 
 
 For instance, the paramount question to be 
 considered by the new Imperial Conference will 
 most likely be that of the future military organiza- 
 tion of the Empire. Is it not evident that this 
 problem will be much more easily settled if the 
 Allied nations succeed in carrying the point they 
 
224 CENGtDAND, CANADA AND THE WAR 
 
 have the most at heart ;— The reduction of perman- 
 ent armaments as the safest protection against 
 any new outburst of savage militarism flooding 
 the earth of God with human blood. If this sine 
 qua non condition is the top article of the future 
 peace treaty, the great Powers having agreed, in 
 honour bound, to maintain the world's tranquillity 
 and order, will all be afforded the blessings of a 
 long rest from the ruinous military expenditures 
 too long imposed upon -them by the mad run of 
 Germany to conquer universal domination. The 
 British Empire, as a whole, will, as much as any 
 other nation, enjoy the full benefits of such a 
 favourable situation. She will, like her Allies, 
 return to the pursuits of peace, with millions of 
 veteran soldiers who, for the next ten years at 
 least, would, in large numbers, certainly join the 
 Colours once more, if need be, to defend their coun^ 
 try in a new just war. Then, under such circum- 
 stances, why should the peoples of the whole Em- 
 pire be immediately called upon to incur more 
 expenses for military purposes than absolutely 
 necessary for the maintenance of interior order r 
 and to meet any sudden and unforeseen emergency* 
 The liquidation of the obligations necessarily 
 accumulated during the war will be the first duty 
 of all the Allied nations. The task will no doubt 
 be very large, most onerous. Still I trust that it 
 will not be beyond their resources of natural 
 wealth, of capital and labour, of courageous 
 savings. 
 
IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 225 
 
 As the "Kesolution" adopted by the Imperial 
 War Conference says, "the readjustment of the 
 constitutional relations of the component parts of 
 the Empire is too important and intricate a sub- 
 ject to be dealt with during the war." When 
 taken up after the war — even if just as soon as 
 possible — it will be none the less important and 
 intricate. Such a subject should not be dealt 
 with without matured consideration and given a 
 hasty solution. If the peace treaty satisfactorily 
 settles the world's situation for a long future of 
 general tranquillity which will certainly bless all 
 the nations with many years of unprecedented 
 prosperity, plenty of time will be afforded to deli- 
 berate wisely upon the paramount question of the 
 building of a "new and greater Imperial Common- 
 wealth." Our frenzied "Nationalists" can quiet 
 their nerves. The imperialist wild bear will not 
 be growling at the door. Because we are all likely 
 to be called upon to consider how best to promote 
 the unity and the future prosperity of the Empire, 
 we will have no reason to fear that we shall be, 
 from one day to the other, forcibly thrown into 
 perilous adventures by the Machiavelic machi- 
 nations of out and out Imperialist enthusiasts. 
 
 I have already said that it is becoming more 
 and more evident that to be, or not to be, the 
 British Empire must either consolidate or dis- 
 solve. I must not be understood to mean that 
 with the restoration of peace under the happy 
 conditions all the Allies are fighting for, the Em- 
 
226 (ENGLAND, OANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 pire, as she will emerge from the tornado, could 
 not, as a whole, resume, for more or less time, her 
 prosperous existence of ante-w&Y days. What will 
 be best to do, it is too early to foresee. Then it is 
 better to wait for the issue of the war, trusting 
 that all the truly loyal British subjects will then 
 join together to pronounce upon whatever ques- 
 tions of imperial concern will claim their urgent 
 consideration. 
 
 But there is a certainty that can be at once 
 positively affirmed. All the peoples living and 
 developing under the aegis of the British flag are 
 determined that the British Empire is to be. 
 Whenever a special Imperial Conference sits in 
 London, all the representatives of the many com- 
 ponent parts of the British Commonwealth will 
 meet in the great Capital surely to deliberate over 
 the most practical means to consolidate the 
 Empire. We may all depend that no one will 
 propose to destroy it. 
 
 How best to consolidate the Empire, such will 
 be the important question. To be sure, the future 
 special Conference will not likely be wanting in 
 propositions from many outside would-be consti- 
 tutional framers. Schemes may be numerous, 
 some worth considering, others useless if not mis- 
 chievous. No reason to feel uneasy and to worry 
 about them. We can confidently hope that British 
 statesmanship will be equal to the new task it will 
 be called upon to perform. Our Canadian public 
 men will have much to gain by closer intercourse 
 
IMPERIAL FEDERATION. 227 
 
 with their Imperial colleagues, and by judging 
 great questions from a higher standpoint. 
 
 Let there be no mistake about it: the true 
 secret of the most effective consolidation of the 
 Empire was discovered by the British statesmen 
 the day when they realized that henceforth, free 
 institutions and the largest possible measure of 
 colonial autonomy were the only sure means to 
 solidify the structure of the British Common- 
 wealth. Such is the opinion of the Imperial War 
 Conference outlining in their previously quoted 
 "Kesolution" what must be the fundamental basis 
 of any future "readjustment of the constitu- 
 tional RELATIONS OF THE COMPONENT PARTS OF THE 
 
 Empire." 
 
 ) 
 
 Constitutional Development of India. 
 
 As a preliminary to the prospective readjust- 
 ment of the political status of the Empire, it is 
 worth noting the advance of India towards politic- 
 al autonomy. It was made manifest by the 
 significant step of inviting India to the delibera- 
 tions of the Imperial War Cabinet, and by the 
 "Kesolution" adopted by the Imperial War Confer- 
 ence that India must be fully represented at all 
 future Imperial Conferences. 
 
 Kespecting India, the Eeport of the War 
 Cabinet, for the year 1917, says : — 
 
228 \ENGDAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 It was clear, however, that this recognition of the new 
 status of India in the Empire would necessarily ibe followed by- 
 substantial progress towards internal self-government. According- 
 ly, on August 20th, the following important declaration of His 
 Majesty's Government on this subject was made in the House of 
 Commons by the Secretary of State for India: — 
 
 "The policy of His Majesty's Government, with which the 
 "Government of India are in complete accord, is that of the in- 
 creasing association of Indians in every branch of the administra- 
 tion and the gradual development of self-governing institutions 
 "with a view to the progressive realization of responsible govern- 
 "ment in India as an integral part of the British Empire. They 
 "have decided that substantial steps in this direction should be 
 "taken as soon as possible, and that it is of the highest importance, 
 "as a preliminary to considering what these steps should be, that 
 "there should be a free and informal exchange of opinion between 
 "those in authority at home and in India. His Majesty's Govern- 
 ment have accordingly decided, with His Majesty's approval, 
 "that I should accept the Viceroy's invitation to proceed to India 
 "to discuss these matters with the Viceroy and the Government olf 
 "India, to consider with the Viceroy the views of local Govern- 
 "ments, and to receive with him the suggestions of representative 
 "bodies and others. I would add that progress in this policy can 
 "only be achieved by successive stages. The British Government 
 "and the Government of India on whom the responsibility lies for 
 "the welfare and advancement of the Indian peoples, must be the 
 "judges of the time and measure of each advance, and they must 
 "be guided by the co-operation received from those upon whom 
 "new opportunities of service will thus be conferred and by the 
 "extent to which it is found that confidence can be reposed in their 
 "sense of responsibility. Ample opportunity will be afforded for 
 "public discussion of the proposals, which will be submitted in due 
 "course to Parliament." 
 
 In accordance with this declaration, the Secretary of State 
 left for India in October, and has since been in consultation with 
 the Government of India and deputations representative of all 
 interests and parties in India in regard to the advances which 
 should be made in Indian constitutional development in the imme- 
 diate future. No reports as to the results of these discussions had 
 been made public by the end of the year. 
 
 Another important decision relating to India was that 
 whereby the Government abandoned the rule which confines the 
 granting of commissions in the Indian army to officers of British 
 
iBNDTAN CONSTITUTIONAiL ©E'VE«IX>PCVIENT. 229 
 
 extraction. A number of Indian officers, who have served with 
 distinction in the war, have already received commissions. 
 
 Who, only twenty years ago, would have be- 
 lieved that the day was so near at hand when t^is 
 Asiatic vast and populous country, called India, 
 would be most earnestly considering, through 
 numerous representatives, in consultation with the 
 British Government, the proper steps to be taken 
 "for the gradual development of self-governing 
 institutions with a view to the progressive 
 realization of responsible government in india 
 as an integral part of the british empire." in 
 every way, it is a most extraordinary political 
 evolution. If it reaches the admirable conclusion 
 aimed at — for which success every true friend of 
 Political Liberty will fervently pray — it will have 
 realized one of the greatest constitutional achieve- 
 ments of modern times. 
 
 Behold just now how safely and wisely this 
 Indian evolution is proceeding under the experi- 
 enced direction of British statesmanship. It is 
 "to be achieved by successive stages", declares the 
 Secretary of State for India, speaking in the name 
 of the whole British responsible Cabinet. Such 
 have been accomplished all the constitutional de- 
 velopments which have wrought so much perfec- 
 tion for British free institutions. 
 
 True progress, in every form, is never revolu- 
 tionary. And why? For the very reason that in- 
 stead of fighting for destruction by brute force, 
 it aims at perfecting by regular advances in the 
 
230 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 right direction, by successive improvements which 
 experience justifies, which reason, intelligence and 
 wisdom approve, which political sense recom- 
 mends, which sound moral principles authorize 
 and sanction. 
 
 A country favoured with the free British con- 
 stitutional regime is not the land where bolshevik- 
 ism of any grade or stamp, can flourish and bear 
 fruits of desolation and shame. 
 
 The wonderful Indian country, for so many 
 centuries tortured by intestine troubles, at last 
 rescued by England from that barbarous situation, 
 given a reorganized administration able to main- 
 tain interior peace, favoured by British business 
 experience and capital with material progress in 
 many ways, specially in transportation facilities, 
 may soon see — let us hope — the dawn of the glori- 
 ous days of a large measure of political freedom 
 and responsible government. 
 
 Far away indeed from the perilous Imperial- 
 ism abhored by our much depressed "Nationalists" 
 is India safely moving. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 The Future Constitutional Relations of the 
 
 Empire. 
 
 Though very difficult to say what they will be, 
 I thought proper, for the better information of my 
 French Canadian readers, to consider some of the 
 suggestions which of late years have been repeat- 
 edly made. 
 
 Mr. Bourassa, in his recent pamphlets, re- 
 viewing the situation from his wrong and pre- 
 judiced standpoint, has decidedly come out in 
 favour of Canadian Independence. The least that 
 can be said is that the time was very badly chosen 
 to raise the question. To select the moment when 
 the Motherland was engaged in a fight for life or 
 death, to propose to run away from the assailed 
 home where we had lived many happy years, was 
 certainly not an inspiration of loyal devotion and 
 gratitude. I am glad to say that the wild proposi- 
 tion met with no countenance on the part of our 
 French Canadian compatriots. 
 
 To the point raised in England, some years 
 ago, that it was not to be supposed that the British 
 Empire was destined to exist forever, one of the 
 leading British statesmen of the day, then a mem- 
 ber of the Cabinet, answered that, though it was 
 
232 ENOLAND,, CANADA AND ITHE W1AR. 
 
 likely to be true that tlie British Commonwealth 
 would not be eternal, like many other great politic- 
 al socities of times gone by, it was surely not the 
 particular duty of a British minister to do his 
 best to hasten the day of the final downfall of the 
 country he was sworn to maintain. The rejoinder 
 was no doubt peremptory. It can very properly 
 be used in answer to Mr. Bourassa's plea for the 
 independence of Canada. 
 
 However, the question having been so unwise- 
 ly raised, to say the least, for the obvious purpose 
 of disheartening the French Canadians from their 
 present situation and raising in their minds ex- 
 travagant hopes of a change for the better, I 
 believed it advisable to tell them not to be carried 
 away by dreams of a too far distant possible 
 realization. 
 
 In all frankness, I must say that I have never 
 taken any stock in the suggestion made from time 
 to time, for the last fifty years, in favour of Cana- 
 dian Independence. It always seemed to me that 
 our destinies were not moving along that way. In 
 my opinion, which nothing has happened to alter, 
 the steady growth of the consolidation of the Em- 
 pire was yearly working against the assumption 
 of the prospective independence of the Dominion. 
 
 But even supposing that the course of events 
 would change and put an end to British connec- 
 tion, could we pride ourselves with having at last, 
 though in a very peaceful way, achieved our 
 national independence? I am more and more 
 
IMPERIAL FUTURE OEtMyATIONlS. 233 
 
 strongly impressed by the paramount considera- 
 tion that, nominally independent, Canada would 
 be very little so in reality. Situated as she would 
 be, she could not help being under the protectorate 
 of the United States. I have always thought so. 
 I think it more firmly than ever, when I see loom- 
 ing larger every day on the American political 
 horizon the fact that the neighbouring Republic 
 will come out of the present war with flying 
 Colours, taking rank as one of the most powerful 
 nations on earth. 
 
 Be that as it may, there is every certainty 
 that the question of Canadian Independence is 
 not within the range of practical politics. Mr. 
 Bourassa's proposition is doomed to the failure it 
 deserves. 
 
 Consequently, it is much better to try and 
 foresee what the future political conditions of 
 Canada are more likely to be after the close of the 
 hostilities. And this must be done with the only 
 purpose of wisely, and patriotically, — in the larger 
 sense of the word — contributing our due share to 
 the sound and solid framing of the changes, if any, 
 which the best interests of the Empire, generally, 
 and of all her component parts, in particular, may 
 require. 
 
 We have not, and I most earnestly hope and 
 pray that we shall not have, to consider what new 
 political conditions would be as the consequence 
 of the defeat of the Allies, or even as necessitated 
 by a peace treaty due to a compromise. We must 
 
234 ENQOANKX, CAJSTAI>A AND THE W1AK. 
 
 only look ahead for the encouraging days to follow 
 the victory won by the united efforts and heroism 
 of the nations who have rallied to put an end to 
 Prussian militarism. 
 
 One certainty is daily becoming more evident. 
 All loyal British subjects will applaud the trium- 
 phant close of the war with the desire to do their 
 best to maintain and consolidate the Empire they 
 will have saved from destruction at the cost of so 
 much sacrifices of heroic lives and resources. 
 
 ]STo Taxation Without Kepresentation. 
 
 The great objection raised by Mr. Bourassa 
 against the participation of Canada in the wars of 
 the Empire is that the Dominion is not represented 
 in the Parliament to which the British ministers, 
 advising the Sovereign on all matters of foreign 
 relations, are responsible. He draws the conclu- 
 sion that the Colonies are called upon to pay for 
 the war expenditures of Great Britain in violation 
 of the constitutional principle: — no taxation 
 without representation. The principle is no 
 doubt true. But it is altogether wrong to pretend 
 that so far it has been violated to coerce the Do- 
 minion to participate in the wars which England 
 has been obliged to wage. Our "Nationalists" 
 would be right in their opposition if the Imperial 
 Parliament had attempted to pass laws compelling 
 the autonomous Colonies to contribute men and 
 money to a conflict. Had they claimed the right to 
 
TAXATION AND RE PRESENTATION. 235 
 
 raise revenues in Canada by an Imperial statute, 
 we would certainly have been entitled to affirm 
 that not being represented in the British House of 
 Commons, we could not be taxed in any way for 
 any Imperial purpose — war or others. 
 
 Nothing of the kind has ever been done, ever 
 been attempted, even ever been hinted at. 
 
 The argument falls entirely to the ground, 
 shattered to pieces, from the fact that Canada has 
 only participated in the wars of the Empire of her 
 own free will, in the full enjoyment of her consti- 
 tutional rights. Whatever sums of money the 
 Dominion has to pay for the conflicts into which 
 we have freely and deliberately decided to inter- 
 vene, are perceived by the Canadian treasury in 
 virtue of laws passed by our federal Parliament 
 upon the advice of our responsible Cabinet. 
 
 Last year, the people of Canada were called 
 upon to elect new members of our House of Com- 
 mons. The citizens of the Dominion had the un- 
 doubted constitutional right to pass condemnation 
 on the ministers and on the members of Parlia- 
 ment who had voted for the participation in the 
 war with men and money. They could have elected 
 a new House of Commons to discontinue such 
 participation and recall our army from Europe. 
 But had they not the equally undoubted right to 
 do what they have done by such a solemn expres- 
 sion of a decided and matured opinion : — approve 
 and order to fight until victory is won? 
 
 In accepting with deep gratitude the noble and 
 
236 ENGLAND CANADA AND THE WtAfR. 
 
 patriotic support we, Canadians, were giving her 
 in the most terrible crisis of her Sovereign exist- 
 ence, was England in any may violating any of our 
 cherished constitutional privileges? No sensible, 
 no reasonable, no unprejudiced man can so pre- 
 tend. The case being such as it is, there is not 
 the shadow of common sense in the assertion that 
 Canada is taxed without representation for Im- 
 perial war purposes. 
 
 Colonial Eepresentation. 
 
 If the question of Colonial representation is 
 raised at the special Imperial Conference to be 
 held as soon as possible after the war, Mr. Bouras- 
 sa and his friends will not be welcomed to cry if it 
 is settled very differently from their wishes, after 
 their unwise clamour for an excursion into the 
 unknown. 
 
 The question of the readjustment of the con- 
 stitutional relations of the component parts of 
 the Empire, when duly brought up, will very likely 
 take a wide range, so far at least as consideration 
 goes. What will be the conclusions arrived at, 
 nobody knows. 
 
 Pending that time, any one is allowed to ex- 
 press his own views. I thought proper to explain 
 mine in my book dedicated to the French Cana- 
 dians. I now summarize them as follows : — 
 
 Would it be advisable to have the Colonies re- 
 presented in the present Imperial Parliament? 
 
COLONIAJL REPRESENTATION. 237 
 
 After full consideration of the question, I must say 
 that I have finally dismissed it from my mind as 
 utterly impracticable. Can it be supposed for a 
 moment that the electors of Great Britain would 
 agree to have the Dominions overseas and India 
 represented in their House of Commons, to parti- 
 cipate in the government of the United Kingdom 
 for all purposes? With representation in the pres- 
 ent British House of Commons, would the Colonies 
 be also represented in the British Cabinet, to ad- 
 vise the Crown on all matters respecting the good 
 government of England? 
 
 Would the Colonies be represented according 
 to their population in the British House of Com- 
 mons? If they were, India alone would have a 
 number of representatives live times larger than 
 all the other parts of the Empire. 
 
 Is it within the range of possibility that the 
 people of Great Britain would consent to colonial 
 representatives interfering, even controlling the 
 management of their internal affairs, whilst they 
 would have no say whatever in the internal gov- 
 ernment of the Colonies? 
 
 Would the colonial ministers in the British 
 Cabinet be constitutionally responsible to the peo- 
 ple of the United Kingdom without holding their 
 mandate from them? 
 
 Such a system would be so absurd, so radical- 
 ly impossible, that it is not necessary to argue to 
 prove that it would not work for one single year. 
 
 In my opinion, Colonial representation would 
 
838 ENGIiANB, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 be practicable only with, the creation of a new 
 truly Imperial Parliament, the present British 
 Parliament to continue to exist but with constitu- 
 tional powers reduced to the management of the 
 internal affairs of the United Kingdom. If such 
 is the scheme of the "Nationalists/' then they are 
 converts to that Imperial Federation which they 
 have vehemently denounced for years, and to the 
 largest measure possible of that Imperialism 
 which has been cursed with their worst maledic- 
 tions. 
 
 If ever complete Imperial Federation becomes 
 an accomplished fact, how will it be organized? 
 Will the new Imperial Parliament consist of one 
 Sovereign, one House of Lords — or Senate — one 
 House of Commons? 
 
 Would the Sovereign be King or Emperor? 
 I, for one, would prefer the word Emperor. He 
 might be titled His Majesty the Emperor of the 
 British Commonwealth and the King of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 With Imperial Federation — a regime of com- 
 plete Imperial autonomy — the word "colonies" 
 would no longer apply. Would Canada, Australia, 
 South Africa, India, New Zealand be called King- 
 doms, like Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Wurtem- 
 berg, of the German Empire? 
 
 Evidently, the constitutional powers of the 
 new Parliament would be limited to external re- 
 lations, to strictly Imperial affairs. 
 
 The new constitutional organization of the 
 
COLONIAL REPEESIENTATION. 239 
 
 British Empire would combine Imperial, National 
 and Provincial autonomy, each operating within 
 the well defined limits of their respective privileges 
 and attributions. 
 
 Under such a regime, there would be three 
 sorts of responsible Cabinets : The Imperial Cab- 
 inet responsible to the whole Imperial electorate ; 
 the National Cabinets of the component Kingdoms 
 of the British Empire responsible to the electorate 
 of each one of those Kingdoms respectively; the 
 Provincial Cabinets responsible to the electors of 
 each province respectively. 
 
 The Royal — or rather Imperial — Prerogative 
 to declare war and to make peace would be exer- 
 cised upon the responsibility of the Imperial 
 Cabinet. 
 
 To the new Imperial Parliament would un- 
 doubtedly be given the right and the duty to pro- 
 vide for Imperial defense. They would have to 
 organize an Imperial army and an Imperial navy 
 for the protection of the whole Empire. 
 
 The whole of the reorganized Empire would 
 have to pay the whole of the expenditures required 
 for Imperial purposes, defense and others, on land 
 and sea, out of revenues raised by laws of the 
 Imperial Parliament. 
 
 Under the new Imperial constitutional regime, 
 would the Imperial Parliament be given the au- 
 thority to regulate Imperial trade and commerce, 
 the Imperial postal service, &c? 
 
 Would the new Parliament have the exclusive 
 
240 ENGUANB, iQANADiA AND iTKE WAR. 
 
 right to approve commercial treaties sanctioned by 
 His Majesty the Emperor, upon the advice of his 
 responsible Imperial Cabinet, without reference 
 whatever to the National Parliaments of the 
 component Kingdoms? 
 
 How easily is it ascertained that numerous 
 questions of paramount importance are at once 
 brought to one's mind the moment the vast prob- 
 lem of a new and greater Imperial Commonwealth 
 is considered. Shortsighted and inexperienced 
 are the politicians and the publicists who imagine 
 that it could be given a satisfactory solution after 
 hasty and insufficient deliberations. It is very 
 reassuring to know that the matter necessarily 
 being suggested for consideration at the Imperial 
 War Conference, last year, it was immediately 
 decided, by a "Besolution," adopted on the proposi- 
 tion of the Canadian Prime Minister, "that the 
 
 READJUSTMENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS 
 OF THE COMPONENT PARTS OF THE EMPIRE IS TOO IM- 
 PORTANT AND INTRICATE A SUBJECT TO BE DEALT WITH 
 DURING THE WAR." 
 
 What would be the real meaning of such a 
 radical change? It is worth while to enquire at 
 once. 
 
 The British Empire would no longer com- 
 prise a Metropolis holding autonomous Colonies 
 and Crown Colonies, but would be organized in a 
 new Sovereign State with an Imperial Parliament 
 to which all the component parts — or Kingdoms — 
 would send representatives. 
 
COLONIAL REPRESENTATION. 241 
 
 Indeed it would be a grand, a magnificent, 
 political edifice. But to find shelter under it, 
 Canada would have to renounce her right to decide 
 alone, and freely, to participate, or not, in the 
 wars of the Empire, to determine alone what her 
 military organization should be, to raise ourselves, 
 without the intervention of a superior Parliament, 
 the revenue which we consider proper to apply to 
 Imperial purposes. 
 
 I, for one, do not foresee that such an import- 
 ant constitutional change, if ever it is made, will 
 be suddenly brought about, in the dark, as the 
 result of the machinations of a most mischevious 
 Imperialism inspiring our "Nationalists" with 
 shivering terror. It is positively sure that no one 
 holding a responsible political position, or having 
 a responsible standing in the British political 
 world, will ever be mad enough to propose, sug- 
 gest, or even hint, to build a new Imperial struc- 
 ture without the solid foundation of the deliberate 
 consent of all the Colonies, of all the would-be 
 component parts of such a vast Commonwealth. 
 
 How many years of serious discussion, of 
 earnest consideration, did it not take to bring 
 about the creation of the Canadian, Australian 
 and South African Dominions. It cannot be rea- 
 sonably imagined that the creation of the new and 
 greater Imperial Commonwealth will be a much 
 easier task to accomplish with the necessary 
 conditions of successful durability. 
 
 I also thought proper in my French book to 
 
242 ENGLAND, (CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 write a few lines on the important question res- 
 pecting the mode of ascertaining the deliberate 
 consent of the Colonies to any intended readjust- 
 ment of the constitutional relations of the com- 
 ponent parts of the Empire, specially if it was pro- 
 posed to rear a new and larger political fabric. I 
 did so because of late it has been frequently sug- 
 gested to use the plebiscit or the referendum as the 
 most opportune way to consult public opinion. 
 
 I must say that, without going to the length 
 of denying that a public consultation may, in a 
 particular case, be advantageously made by way of 
 a plebiscit or referendum, I am not a strong be- 
 liever in the efficiency of either proposition, and 
 why? Because I cannot help considering them as 
 more or less contrary to the solid constitutional 
 principle of ministerial responsibility which they 
 would gradually undermine if frequently appealed 
 to. 
 
 I feel specially adverse to the plebiscit, be- 
 cause History proves that, by nature, it engenders 
 despotism, caesarism. Contemporary history offers 
 two striking examples never to be forgotten. 
 
 Napoleon the First, whose power was the legi- 
 timate result of his wonderful genius and of his 
 eminent services to France, wanted his dynasty to 
 rest on the plebiscitary foundation. Millions of 
 votes — almost the unanimity of French public 
 opinion — answered enthusiastically to his call. 
 He was not such a man as to refuse the chance 
 offered him to exercise a supreme power so mani- 
 
COLONrMj REPRESENTATION. 243 
 
 festly tendered to him. All know that lie very 
 soon unbridled his devouring ambition and ruled 
 France with all the might of an absolutism 
 strengthened by the glories of military campaigns 
 truly marvellous. To any attempt at freedom of 
 criticism, he could reply that his Imperial power 
 — mightily supported by his commanding genius 
 — was strongly entrenched on the unanimity of 
 opinion of the French nation expressed by the 
 result of the plebiscit. 
 
 Napoleon III, favoured by the immortal pres- 
 tige of his glorious uncle, but far behind him in 
 genius, though intellectually well gifted, as he 
 proved it during his Presidential term of the sec- 
 ond French Kepublic and during the first years he 
 occupied the Imperial Throne of France, used the 
 plebiscit to have his famous coup d'Etat of the 
 second day of December 1851, prepared with con- 
 summate skill and carried out with great energy, 
 ratified by the nation by an overwhelming major- 
 ity of several millions of votes. He lost no time 
 in drawing the final result of this first great suc- 
 cess and in reaching the term of his ambition. 
 The tide of popular enthusiasm was all flowing his 
 way, carrying him to the Throne elevated for his 
 uncle who had lost it after the hurricane which 
 exhausted its strength at Waterloo. On the second 
 of December of the following year — 1852 — the 
 second French Empire was proclaimed to the in- 
 ternational world. Following the example and 
 the precedent of the first Bonaparte, Napoleon III 
 
244 ENGLAND, CANADA AND 'THE W1A1R. 
 
 also decided to use the plebiscit to legitimate his 
 Imperial power. He triumphantly carried the 
 day by some seven millions of votes — almost the 
 unanimous voice of the French people. 
 
 Thus, in less than half a century, after having 
 twice tried the Republican system of government, 
 and, in both cases, having overdone by deplorable 
 excesses the experiment of Political Liberty — more 
 specially during the years of terrorism of the first 
 Republic — France, by a regular reaction, went 
 back to the other extreme, and reestablished 
 arbitrary power not, in the two instances, upon 
 the principle of the Divine Right of the ancient 
 Monarchy, but on that of the Sovereignty of the 
 people, as expressed by the certain will of the 
 whole nation. But absolutism, whether the out- 
 come of Divine Right or of popular sovereignty, 
 is always the same and steadily works against the 
 true principles of Political Liberty. 
 
 It is a great mistake to suppose that absolut- 
 ism is possible only under monarchical institutions. 
 The terrorist republican epoch, in France, from 
 1792 to 1795, was absolutism of the worst kind, 
 really with a vengeance. As much can be said of 
 the present political situation in Russia, which 
 has substituted revolutionary absolutism to that 
 of the decayed Imperial regime, suddenly brought 
 to a tragic end by the pressure of events too strong 
 for its crumbling fabric, shaken to its foundation 
 by a most unwise reactionary movement which 
 only precipitated its downfall, instead of averting 
 
COLONIAJL iREIPRESENTATION. 245 
 
 it, as extravagantly expected by the Pertograd 
 Court, which betrayed Russia in favour of Ger- 
 many, md unconsciously opened the road which 
 led the weak and unfortunate Czar to his lament- 
 able fate. 
 
 In my humble opinion, plebiscitary caesar- 
 ism is not compatible with a system of ministerial 
 responsibility for all the official acts of the 
 Sovereign. 
 
 The frequent use of the plebiscit would cer- 
 tainly tend to diminish in the mind of political 
 leaders the true sense of their responsibility. It 
 would too often offer an easy way out of an ack- 
 ward position without the consequence of having 
 to give up power. 
 
 If I understand right the real meaning of the 
 two words: plebiscit and referendum, the first 
 would be used to try and ascertain how public 
 opinion stands upon any given question of public 
 policy, of proposed public legislation : the second 
 would be employed for the ratification by the elec- 
 torate of a law passed by Parliament. I have less 
 objection to the second system which, in reality, is 
 an appeal from Parliament to the Electorate. But 
 to the well practised, the adverse vote of a majority 
 of the electors should have the same result as a 
 vote of the majority of the House of Commons re- 
 jecting an important public measure upon the 
 carrying of which the Cabinet has ventured their 
 existence. 
 
246 ENGMiAN)D, OANADiA AND TOEEB "W1AB. 
 
 Without the immediate resignation of the 
 ministers meeting with a reverse in a referendum, 
 I consider that ministerial responsibility would 
 soon become a farce destructive of constitutional 
 government. The defeat of a Cabinet in a referen- 
 dum would be equivalent to one in general elec- 
 tions and should bear out the same consequence. 
 
 Surely, no one having some clear notions of 
 what ministerial responsibility means, will pre- 
 tend for a moment that a Cabinet who, on being 
 defeated in the House of Commons, advises the 
 Sovereign — or his representative in Canada — to 
 dissolve Parliament for an appeal to the people, 
 could remain in power if the Electorate approved 
 of the hostile stand taken by the House of 
 Commons. 
 
 I can see no difference whatever in the 
 meaning of an hostile referendum vote and that 
 following a regular constitutional appeal from an 
 adverse majority of the popular House of repre- 
 sentatives. In both cases, the downfall of the 
 defeated ministers should be the result. 
 
 From the above comments, I draw the sound 
 conclusion, I firmly believe, that any important 
 readjustment of the constitutional relations of the 
 Colonies with Great Britain, should be first rati- 
 fied by the actual Parliaments of the Dominions 
 and subsequently by the electors of those Domin- 
 ions. But I am also strongly of opinion that the 
 ratification by the electorate should be taken upon 
 the ministerial responsibility of the Cabinet who 
 
THE FAiR OFF FUTURE. 247 
 
 would have advised the Sovereign and asked 
 Parliament to approve the proposed readjustment. 
 It would be the safest way to have the Cabinet to 
 consider the question very seriously before running 
 the risk of a popular defeat which would have to 
 be followed by their resignation. 
 
 Another most important reason to quiet the 
 fears of our "alarmists" at an impending wave of 
 flooding Imperialism, is that any radical change 
 in the constitutional relations of England with her 
 Colonies for the unity and consolidation of the 
 Empire, should be adopted by the Parliaments and 
 ^he Electorates of all the Colonies to be affected by 
 the new conditions. 
 
 Consequently, from every standpoint the 
 Dominions and the Empire herself are guaranteed 
 against the dangers of rashness in changing the 
 present status of the great British Commonwealth. 
 
 The Far Off Future. 
 
 Though it may be of little use, and perhaps 
 perplexing, to look too far ahead to try and foresee 
 what the distant future has in store for the gener- 
 ations to come, still a simple call to common sense 
 tells one that the political destinies of any Com- 
 monwealth are, in a long course of time, largely 
 and necessarily shaped by the increases in popula- 
 tion and wealth, irrespective of the actual more 
 or less harmonious working of present and imme- 
 diately prospective constitutional institutions. 
 
248 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WlAR,. 
 
 Broadly speaking, was it to be supposed, for 
 instance, that the two wide continents of America 
 would have, when peopled by hundreds of millions, 
 continued in a condition of valla-sage to the Euro- 
 pean continent, though owing their discovery and 
 early settlements to European genius and enter- 
 prise? No doubt the growing national families of 
 the ]STew World would have liked a much longer 
 stay under the roofs where they were born, had 
 they received better and kinder treatment from 
 their fatherly States. But at best the hour of 
 separation would only have come later, postponed 
 as it would have been by the bonds of enduring 
 affection made more lasting by mutual good rela- 
 tions. Do we not see, almost daily, desolated 
 homes often the sad result of senseless misunder- 
 standings, or of guilty outbursts of intemperate 
 passions? Yet, family home life, even when blessed 
 by the inspiring smile of a lovely wife, the sweet 
 voice of a devoted mother, the manly and Christian 
 example of a good father, the affectionate senti- 
 ments of well bred children, is far too short under 
 the most favourable circumstances. And why? 
 Because it has to follow the Divine decree ordering 
 separation for the building of new homes, to keep 
 Humanity advancing towards the final conclusion 
 of her earthly existence. 
 
 Had the American colonies been favoured by 
 the constitutional liberties the Dominion of Can- 
 ada enjoys, they would not have revolted and 
 British connection would have endured many years 
 
THE FAR OFF FUTURE. 249 
 
 longer. Still, one cannot conclude that those Brit- 
 ish provinces, realizing the marvellous develop- 
 ment all can witness, would have for ever agreed 
 to be satisfied with their colonial status. When 
 they would have grown taller and bigger than the 
 mother-country, most likely Great Britain herself 
 would have taken the initiative of a friendly separ- 
 ation followed by a close alliance which would have 
 perpetuated the familial bond actually so happily 
 restored. 
 
 As prophesied by Sir Erskine May, more than 
 half a century ago, in speaking of the probable 
 future of the then British colonies, the American 
 Republic would have grown out of the dependencies 
 of the British Empire. 
 
 And to-day, when the United States are doing 
 such a gigantic effort, conjointly with the whole 
 British Empire, to save Humanity from German 
 cruel domination, England, to use the very words 
 of the distinguished writer and historian just 
 cited, "may well be prouder of the vigorous 
 freedom of her prosperous son than of a hun- 
 dred provinces subject to the iron rule of 
 British pro-consuls." 
 
 The possibilities of the material development 
 of the Dominions of Canada, Australia, New 
 Zealand and South Africa — without counting 
 India and the lesser colonies — on account of their 
 immense natural resources, are such as to justify- 
 very great hopes for their future. The time will 
 come when they will number together a much 
 
250 ENGLAND, 'CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 larger population than the United Kingdom. Will 
 the British Empire, as foreseen by one of the 
 greatest political minds Canada has produced, 
 declared by his chief and worthy opponent the 
 equal to the celebrated William Pitt, then develop 
 into a grand Commonwealth of nations. 
 
 If so, as wrote Sir Erskine May, England 
 "will reflect, with exultation, that her dominion 
 ceased, not in oppression and bloodshed but in the 
 expansive energies of freedom, and the hereditary 
 capacity of her manly offspring for the privileges 
 of self-government." 
 
 Several generations will certainly rise and 
 disappear before such an important question, 
 looming far off in the future, is likely to be — if 
 ever — raised requiring a practical solution. But 
 foreseeing such a distant possibility, it is still 
 more our bounden duty to be true to our present 
 and prospective obligations for many years to 
 come, as foreshadowed by the actual course of 
 events shaping themselves in the sense of the con- 
 solidation of ihe Empire which may never be really 
 dissolved even by the separation of her manly 
 offspring. Family bonds, strengthened by deep 
 affection, are not broken because the faithful boy r 
 grown up a healthy and strong man, leaves to go 
 under his own blessed roof, taking with him to his 
 last day the cherished recollections of the happy 
 days he has passed in the equally blessed parental 
 home. 
 
A MA'CmiAVELIAN PROPOSITION. 251 
 
 One of our most ardent desires must be that 
 our successive generations of children be so well 
 trained to the intelligent and patriotic use of 
 Political Liberty, as to accumulate, in due course 
 of time, an admirable heritage of sound principles 
 of self-government enriched by the honourable ex- 
 amples of our faithful loyalty to the Mother land 
 never grudged to her, but given with overflowing 
 measure, not only as a matter of duty, but also as 
 a reward from grateful subjects for the regard and 
 respect always paid to their constitutional rights 
 and privileges. 
 
 If such is ever the natural outcome of our 
 political achievements, the vast Empire reared 
 with such a great success would truly survive 
 separation, being merely transformed into a splen- 
 did galaxy of independent States still bound 
 together by the strong ties created by centuries of 
 reciprocal devetedness. It would constitute a real 
 league of nations working in concert and with 
 grandeur for the peace and the prosperity of the 
 whole world. 
 
 A Machiavelian Proposition. 
 
 On reading Mr. Bourassa's pamphlet entitl- 
 ed: — Yesterday, To-day, To-morrow, I discovered 
 what I have qualified a Machiavelian proposition. 
 What Machiavelism means is well known. It ex- 
 presses the views of that most corrupt and 
 contemptible politician and publicist, called 
 Machiavel, born at Florence, in 1649. 
 
252 ENGiLANID, CANADA AND THE WAU. 
 
 At page 140 of the above mentioned pamphlet, 
 Mr. Bourassa wrote : — 
 
 "I WILL SPEAK MY MIND OPENLY je VOUS Uvre 
 
 toute ma pensee — :if in default of Independence, 
 I claim Imperial representation, it is because it 
 
 WOULD WEAKEN THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION OF 
 
 England, — V armature de guerre de VAngleterre — 
 
 PRECIPITATE THE DISSOLUTION OF HER EMPIRE, 
 HASTEN THE DAY OF DELIVERANCE, FOR US AND FOR 
 THE WHOLE WORLD." 
 
 Such are the loyal sentiments expressed by 
 the "Nationalist" leader. He clamours for the Im- 
 perial representation of the Colonies, for the 
 solemnly avowed object to use the privilege for the 
 destruction of the Empire. To achieve this end he 
 declares that the military power of England must 
 first be weakened. 
 
 No wonder then that he started his "National- 
 ist" campaign by fighting with all his might the 
 two successive proposals of contribution to the 
 great military naval fleet of Great Britain. 
 
 No wonder that he opposed Canada's inter- 
 vention in favour of England in the South African 
 war. 
 
 No wonder that from the outbreak of the 
 hostilities, in 1914, until the day when he was shut 
 up by the Order-in-Council censuring all disloyal 
 speaking and writing detrimental to the winning 
 of the war, he has tried to move heaven and earth 
 to prevent Canada's participation in the conflict. 
 
 He tells his countrymen that if he has become 
 
A MACHMVEiLiIAN PROPOSITION. 253 
 
 a convert to Imperial representation — in other 
 words, Imperial Federation — it is because he con- 
 siders it would be the best way of ruining the Em- 
 pire and of delivering, not only Canada, but the 
 whole world from British domination. 
 
 For fear that the French Canadians, whom he 
 especially wished to influence, would not be very 
 easily caught in the disloyal trap, he tries hard to 
 prevail upon them by the following reasons : — 
 
 "If we are not sufficiently clear-sighted and 
 energetic to work for this salutary object by the 
 most constitutional, the most British, means at 
 our disposal, others, happily, will do it for us. 
 
 "The English-Canadians, the Australians, the 
 New Zealanders persistingly claim representation 
 in the government of the Empire. When the war 
 is over, their claims will be reaffirmed with in- 
 creased ampleness and energy. The Indians (les 
 Hindous) themselves will do the same. Shall we 
 remain alone to rot stupidly (croupir beatement) 
 in colonial abjection." 
 
 Without the slightest doubt, there are many 
 English-Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, 
 South Africans, Indians, in favour of Colonial Im- 
 perial representation. The number is increasing 
 and likely to increase. But Mr. Bourassa is abso- 
 lutely, I might as well say, absurdly, mistaken, if 
 he really believes that they do so for his own pur- 
 pose of destroying the British Empire. They want 
 the very reverse : their object is to consolidate the 
 Empire, not to dissolve her. They will not accept 
 
254 EN€HLAM>, CANADA AND 'THE WIA1R. 
 
 as a very flattering compliment Mr. Bourassa's 
 charge that their desire to strengthen the British 
 Commonwealth proves that they prefer to continue 
 stupidly rotting in colonial abjection rather than 
 work for their deliverance from British domina- 
 tion. 
 
 But what in the world has brought the "Na- 
 tionalist" leader to the conclusion that the surest 
 way to save Canada from the peril of Imperialism 
 was to secure Imperial representation for the 
 treasonable purpose, on entering the fort, to pull 
 down the flag and destroy the whole Empire? To 
 frighten his French Canadian compatriots with 
 terror at the slightest move in favour of an in- 
 creased Imperialism, he waves before them, with 
 wild gesticulation, any and every extravagant 
 writings he lays his hand on preaching a ridiculous 
 expansion of Imperialist aspirations. He is per- 
 haps the only man in Canada who has read a most 
 absurd work which he pretends to have been writ- 
 ten by a General named Lea, and from which, in 
 horror stricken, he summarized a few unbelievable 
 views. 
 
 Mr. Bourassa said that General Lea, gifted 
 with an astonishing foresight, predicted all that 
 was happening in Europe and in the world. The 
 General, again affirms Mr. Bourassa, has proved 
 in a striking way that if England wishes to main- 
 tain her Empire and to continue exercising her 
 domination over the world she must make the sac- 
 rifice of her political liberties and of those of her 
 
A MACHDAVELIAN PROPOSITION. 255 
 
 4Jolonies, abolish the Parliamentary and Repre- 
 sentative Governments and resolutely adopt the 
 ironed regime of the Romans of old, of the Germans 
 of the present day. 
 
 Once so brilliantly inspired, General Lea 
 went on in a splendid manner. He added, says Mr. 
 Bourassa, that England must transform her Em- 
 pire into a vast armed camp, must keep in her own 
 hands all the powers of command, must subdue 
 all the non-British races to the supremacy of the 
 Anglo-Saxons united together by the unique 
 thought of dominating the world by brutal force. 
 
 These views — so says Mr. Bourassa — are to 
 be found in a book entitled: "The Day of the 
 Saxon." If they have been really expressed with 
 the full sense given to them by Mr. Boura^sa's 
 translation into French, I cannot say less than 
 that they are most absurd, most extravagant. The 
 Nationalist leader would have proved himself a 
 much more sensible, a wiser man, if, laughing at 
 such senseles notions, he had refrained from 
 quoting those lines for the purpose of telling the 
 French-Canadians that like all non-British races 
 on earth they were doomed to be devoured — flesh 
 and bones — by the voracious Anglo-Saxons bent on 
 swallowing humanity. And to save them from 
 such a cruel fate, he implores them to clamour for 
 Imperial representation with the criminal intent 
 of betraying their trust, and to use the honourable 
 privilege they would be granted to ruin the Empire 
 they would swear to maintain and defend. 
 
256 ENGLAND, CANADA AND TBOE ~W\A1R. 
 
 So far as the political program of General Lea 
 is concerned, we have not yet learned that its bene- 
 volent author was doing much in the war to carry 
 it out. If I had the honour to meet the General, 
 being presented, I presume, by Mr. Bourassa, I 
 would ask him, first, when and where he has dis- 
 covered that England was dominating the world. 
 
 I know that there exists a great England 
 holding a large situation on earth. Her Empire 
 extends to almost a fourth of the globe. Her Sov- 
 ereignty reigns over nearly four hundred million 
 of human beings; a truly beneficient Sovereignty, 
 because it rules according to the wishes, to the 
 opinions of its subjects, managing their own affairs 
 in virtue of the freest political institutions in the 
 whole world. 
 
 I know of no England dominating, or even 
 aspiring to dominate, the world. Such an England 
 only exists in the heated imagination of that Gen- 
 eral Lea and in the minds of all those, like the 
 Nationalist leader, who are, or feign to be, tor- 
 tured by the bugbear of military Imperialism of 
 the old Roman ironed type. 
 
 As long as three-fourths of the earth will re- 
 main independent of the British Empire, under 
 numerous sovereignties, England's pretended do- 
 mination of the world will ever only be an extra- 
 vagant dream. 
 
 Wishing England to continue her domination 
 of the world, General Lea, no doubt to please Mr. 
 Bourassa, was bound to suggest the means to do 
 so. Let us analyze them. 
 
A MAOH'M'VEUAN PROPOSITION. 257 
 
 1. — England must make the sacrifice of her 
 political liberties and of those of her Colonies. 
 
 2. — She must abolish parliamentary and re- 
 presentative governments. 
 
 It is beyond conception that Mr. Bourassa 
 should have for one minute seriously considered 
 such absurd notions. 
 
 I would enjoy attending large public meetings 
 in Great Britain, where General Lea would pro- 
 pose to British free men the sacrifice of all their 
 political liberties, to witness the rather warm 
 reception he would be favoured with. I am sure 
 he would have to rush out of the halls much faster 
 than he would have walked in. 
 
 Where is the sane man who really believes 
 that, dreaming of a domination of the world by 
 brute force, British free men would consent to do 
 away with their Parliamentary system to trans- 
 form the whole of the Empire into an armed camp? 
 Such a proposition was sheer madness, a most 
 foolish talk, unworthy of the slightest attention 
 from sensible people. Mr. Bourassa was very 
 wrong in giving it publicity, and very unwise, to 
 say the least, in using it to frighten his French- 
 Canadian compatriots by blandishing before their 
 eyes that ridiculous specimen of the phantom of 
 Imperialism. 
 
 Is it to be supposed for one single instant 
 that the British people, so rightly proud of their 
 political liberties, and of their representative 
 government, which after centuries of efforts and 
 
258 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE W1AE. 
 
 trials they have successfully brought to such per- 
 fection, basing its future permanency on the solid 
 rock of ministerial responsibility, would consent 
 to sacrifice them for the sake of a vain, a ridiculous, 
 an odious and impracticable scheme to dominate 
 the world by brute force? 
 
 It is ten times worse than madness to believe 
 that the British people who have torn away from 
 the British soil the last root of absolutism, would, 
 for any earthly reason, renounce their most legiti- 
 mate conquests, to rebuild, on the burning ruins of 
 their most sacred rights, an ironed political 
 regime of the old Roman or present German type ! 
 Is it to be believed that they would agree to re- 
 place, on the glorious Throne which they protect 
 with all the might of their loyal affection, their 
 present constitutional Sovereign by a new Nero 
 or another Wilhelm II? 
 
 If it is with the purpose of preventing such a 
 dire calamity that the Nationalist leader became 
 a convert to Imperial Federation, he is absolutely 
 loosing his time and his energy in promoting such 
 a regime. If ever Imperial Federation becomes a 
 fact, we can all rest perfectly assured that the new 
 Imperial Parliament will not vote their own 
 destruction to be replaced by an autocratic and 
 tyrannical government. 
 
 I hope that Mr. Bourassa is the only believer, 
 all over Canada, in the assertion of General Lea 
 that England's aspirations is to dominate the 
 world by brute force. It is a most injurious, I 
 
A TREASONABLE PROPOSAL. 256 
 
 can say, calumnious, charge. All know, or should 
 know, that England was the first nation to com- 
 pletely abolish slavery over all her Empire ; that 
 has granted, in the largest possible measure, 
 Political Liberty to all her Colonies ; that guaran- 
 tees to all races the same rights and privileges, 
 never interfering in colonial internal management. 
 He is wilfully guilty of a calumnious charge the 
 man who accuses the British race to aspire to 
 dominate the world by an ironed regime, when he 
 should know that Great Britain ran the risk of a 
 crushing defeat, in refusing to organize a stand- 
 ing army of several millions of trained officers and 
 men. 
 
 A Treasonable Proposal. 
 
 The Nationalist leader wants the French- 
 Canadians to support his scheme in order to work 
 for the salutary object of demolishing the British 
 Empire by the so very constitutional means of Im- 
 perial Federation. How he has failed to realize 
 the infamous kind of suggestion he was making 
 will always be a wonder to all those reading it. 
 
 If, sooner or later, Great Britain and her 
 Colonies are politically organized as an Imperial 
 Federation, the Province of Quebec will have sev- 
 eral French-Canadian representatives in the new 
 Greater Imperial Parliament. The Nationalist 
 leader wants those French-Canadian Members to 
 go to London pledged to destroy the Empire to 
 
260 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE m&. 
 
 which, they will have to swear allegiance and fealty 
 before crossing the threshold of the House of 
 Commons and taking their seats. Does he not un- 
 derstand that any French-Canadian doing what he 
 wishes and recommends would deliberately per- 
 jure himself. Does he not comprehend that he 
 was paying a rather poor compliment to his Brit- 
 ish countrymen from Canada, Australia, New 
 Zealand and India, when he affirmed, without the 
 shadow of truth, that they would elect to the Im- 
 perial Parliament members holding the mandate 
 from them to work for the dissolution of the 
 Empire? 
 
 I notice, with surprise, that in the enumera- 
 tion he has drawn of the future destroyers of the 
 future federated British Empire, he has not con- 
 vened his friends, the Boers, to his holy task. Does 
 he not consider them as farsighted and energetic 
 as the others he has pompously mentioned with 
 such childish illusion. Or, has he not, unconscious- 
 ly, paid them the high compliment to suppose that 
 they would be unable to accomplish the treason- 
 able act which, with confidence, and even certainty, 
 he expects from the others. Our countrymen, the 
 Boers of South Africa, have, by a large majority, 
 become so loyal to the Crown, to the Empire, — and 
 they have so gloriously proved it since the out- 
 break of the war — that it is manifestly evident 
 that they are very well satisfied with their present 
 position, that they have dispelled from their minds 
 all bitter recollections of the struggle which, a few 
 
A TREASONABLE PROPOSAL. 261 
 
 years ago, finally brought them within the Empire 
 they are doing such a noble effort to maintain and 
 save from the German tyrannical grasp. 
 
 The following views, recently expressed, in 
 London, by Mr. Burton, Minister of Railways and 
 Harbours in the Government of South Africa, a 
 leading public man of the far away sister Domin- 
 ion, is refreshing reading after Mr. Bourassa's 
 outrageous outburst above quoted. He said : — 
 
 "One of the motives which prompted South 
 African support of the British cause was the fact, 
 which appealed not only to the English-speaking 
 population, but moved the Dutch population — the 
 fact that the British cause had embraced all the 
 progressive peoples of the world. It was not 
 Britain's wealth, or influence, or power that ap- 
 pealed to them; it was the priceless privilege of 
 the maintenance of our constitutional liberties. 
 He could illustrate their attitude by a single in- 
 cident which had come within his own experience 
 in connection with a Transvaaler, born and bred, 
 whom he had questioned as to his future in the 
 military service in which he was an officer. The 
 officer replied that he had been through the Ger- 
 man South-West African campaign, that he teas 
 going through the German East African campaign, 
 and when that teas done he intended making for 
 Flanders. He added: "I mean that as a man I 
 could not act otherwise in view of the treatment 
 dealt out to us by Great Britain. If she had not 
 done what she did for us I should not have stirred 
 hand or foot/' 
 
262 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 ]STo one need be surprised that the South 
 African Dominion is suffering a little from the 
 "Nationalist" fever, a disease infesting many 
 countries, in various degrees, and with time cured 
 by the safe remedy of the sound common sense of 
 the people. We know too much about it ourselves, 
 after nearly eighty years of free responsible gov- 
 ernment, to wonder at the fact that a small minor- 
 ity of the Dutch South Africans — from the Boer 
 element — is not yet fully reconciled with their lot 
 under the British Crown. They apparently dream 
 of Republicanism, in sullen recollection of a recent 
 past which only some of the present generation 
 still regret, but which the next will strive to cher- 
 ish only as the stepping stone to their actual status 
 so full of good promises for their future.. The few 
 South Africans suffering from this virus are al- 
 most exclusively recruited amongst the popula- 
 ions of the late Republics of South Africa. The 
 people of the provinces of Natal and Cape Colony, 
 with a long experience of British rule, have no 
 faith in the "republican nationalism" desired by 
 some, which does not in the least appeal to their 
 good sense and their sound political foresight. 
 Mr. Burton believes "that the instigators of the 
 movement are looking for votes more then for 
 anything else." 
 
 Mr. Burton, moreover, truly said: — 
 "It was part of the history of all countries 
 that what was called "Nationalism" made a power- 
 ful appeal to the finer classes of young men. It 
 
A TREASONABLE PROPOSAL. &6Q 
 
 was an admirable sentiment, but tvhat was com- 
 plained of in South Africa was that the sentiment 
 was expended upon a wrong conception of "nation- 
 alism" and tvhat nationhood should be. In South 
 Africa it was restricted, it was sectional, and prac- 
 ically racial. The energy and activity displayed 
 were being spent upon a mistaken cause." 
 
 Every word of this quotation applies with 
 still greater force to the "nationalism" of the 
 Province of Quebec. 
 
 Mr. Burton goes on saying : — 
 
 "It was the cause of South Africa first — as it 
 should be — but it was more than that. It was 
 South Africa first, last, and all the time, and South 
 Africa alone. He and those who were associated 
 with him could not accept that view. It would 
 mean ruinous chaos in South Africa. They had 
 obligations to Great Britain. It was not merely 
 that they had received, recognition from the begin- 
 ning that their Constitutional cause was just. It 
 was not merely that Great Britain in its rela- 
 tion with South Africa had been actuated by that 
 beneficent influence which the British system of 
 liberty effected under the sway of its flag throug- 
 out the world, but it was that the people of the 
 Union realised the true inward significance of the 
 struggle in which the Empire was engaged. They 
 knew that the world's freedom was at stake, and 
 with it their own. The people in South Africa had 
 long ago awakened to this great fact, and they 
 were realizing it more and more as the war xcnit 
 
264 ENGLAND, CANADA AND 'THE WIAIR. 
 
 on. When he had spoken of putting "South Africa 
 first" as the motto of a party he wished it to be un- 
 derstood that he and the people of South Africa 
 generally accepted it, as every nation was bound to 
 accept it. But they also realized that their future 
 as a nation and their freedom as a nation were at 
 stake, and that their interests were bound up with 
 those of the British Empire. 
 
 "It was because they realized that fact that 
 the Government of the Union had in these troubl- 
 ous times nailed its flag to the mast. It teas the 
 honourable course, the right course, and they had 
 stuck to it through good report and ill report, and 
 through much trial and sacrifice. His last mes- 
 sage as representative of the Union Government 
 was: Upon that attitude of the Union Government 
 they might depend to the very last. They might be 
 forced — he did not see any present prospect of it — 
 to abandon office, but so long as they were in office 
 they would adhere absolutely in the letter and in 
 the spirit to the undertaking they had given and 
 would continue in the path they had followed 
 hitherto." 
 
 Sensible, truly political and patriotic, noble 
 words, indeed. Are they not the complete expres- 
 sion of the powerful wave of enthusiasm which 
 spread throughout the length and breath of the 
 whole British Dominions overseas, when, after 
 exhausting to the last drop her efforts to main- 
 tain peace, Great Britain, in honour bound, threw 
 her gallant sword in the balance in which the 
 
A TREASONABLE PROPOSAL. 265 
 
 destinies of the world were to be weighed during 
 the frightful years of the most terrific thundering 
 storm ever witnessed by man? 
 
 How weighty those words are is evident. 
 They are still more so by the fact that they posi- 
 tively and firmly express the views and sentiments 
 of the two most trusted and illustrious leaders of 
 the Boers, who, both of them, took a very promin- 
 ent part in the South African war, as generals 
 commanding the forces of the South African Re- 
 publics : General Botha and General Smuts. 
 
 General Botha is, and has been for several 
 years, the Prime Minister of the South African 
 Dominion. General Smuts is minister of Defence 
 in General Botha's Cabinet. He is the represent- 
 ative of the Government of the Union of South 
 Africa in the Imperial War Cabinet. In June, 
 1917, he was, moreover, "invited to attend the 
 meetings of the British War Cabinet during his 
 stay in the Britsh Isles." 
 
 Both General Botha and General Smuts have 
 often spoken about the present relations of their 
 great Dominion with England. The press of the 
 whole British Empire has published their speeches, 
 most favourably commented by that of the Allied 
 nations. In every case, they were brilliant with 
 true and staunch loyalty, worthy of the real states- 
 men the speakers are, in every sense fully up to 
 what could be expected from the illustrious mili- 
 tary and political leaders of a valiant race de- 
 serving the respect of all by her heroism of the 
 past and her loyalty of present days. 
 
266 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAE. 
 
 If ever Mr. Bourassa, as I hope lie will, reads 
 the above quoted lines, I am sure he will find 
 therein every reason to be satisfied with his deci- 
 sion not to call upon the South Africans to join 
 with him and those he has summoned, in the un- 
 worthy task of bringing on Imperial Federation 
 for the very treasonable purpose of destroying 
 the British Empire. For once, his judgment did 
 not fail him. 
 
 Nobody knows if representatives from the 
 whole present colonial Dominions and India will 
 ever sit, in London, as members of a new Imperial 
 Parliament. It is most unlikely, at all events, 
 that any one, merely to please Mr. Bourassa, will 
 help building such a political structure with the 
 criminal and treasonable purpose of throwing it 
 at once to the ground with a tremendous crash. 
 But we can all safely join in the affirmation that 
 in the event of such a great historical fact being 
 accomplished as that of a federated British Com- 
 monwealth, the representatives of the Colonies 
 overseas will meet in the Imperial Capital to do 
 their duty with loyalty and honour. I have no 
 hesitation whatever to pledge my word that the 
 French Canadian representatives in London would 
 be amongst the most loyal to their Sovereign and 
 to the Empire, the most true to their oath. 
 
 I solemnly protest against the injurious im- 
 putation the Nationalist leader has addressed to 
 my French Canadian compatriots in charging 
 them with the desire to rot stupidly in colonial 
 
A TREASON ABLE PROPOSAL. 267 
 
 abjection. Let us repulse the unfounded accusa- 
 tion from an elevated standpoint. I feel the ut- 
 most contempt for all kinds of narrow prejudices, 
 of blind fanaticism. Nations, like individuals, all 
 pursue Providential destinies in this human world. 
 There is no more abjection in the colonial status 
 than in any other. Canada is a British colony by 
 the decree of Providence. Every nation — like 
 every individual — has duties to perform in any 
 situation she may occupy in the course of historic- 
 al events. Abjection is not the result of the 
 faithful discharge of duty, however trying the cir- 
 cumstances may be. It would be in its violation 
 with the guilty intent to betray. 
 
 A hundred times better it is to remain a colony 
 as long as the Supreme Euler of the world will so 
 order, than to attempt to break through by the 
 dark plot of an infamous conspiration. 
 
 Let our destinies follow their natural develop- 
 ment, striving to the best of our ability and patri- 
 otism to have them to achieve the happy condi- 
 tions which we enjoy. Any man aspiring to a 
 legitimate influence on the mind of our com- 
 patriots, must encourage them, by words and 
 deeds, to faithfully accomplish their daily task in 
 showing them the advantages of their position. 
 Inconveniences are the outgrowth of any political 
 standing. In the true Christian spirit, trials are 
 everywhere to be met with. Sacrifice, when neces- 
 sary, ennoibles national as well, and as much, as 
 individual life. 
 
208 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE W1AE. 
 
 It is very wrong on the part of any one to 
 trouble the mind of our compatriots in purposely 
 exhibiting to their view discouraging pictures of 
 the difficulties of their situation. Their national 
 existence is not, never will, never can be, exclusive- 
 ly rosy. Be it as it may, who can pretend, in good 
 faith, that there exists, on the surface of the globe, 
 a population, all things considered, happier than 
 our own. Our race freely grows on a fertile and 
 blessed soil which she cultivates with her vigorous 
 and intelligent daily toils, which she waters from 
 the sweat of her brow, to which she clings by all 
 the affections of her heart, by the noblest aspira- 
 tions of her soul. On week days, proudly working 
 on her domains ; on Sundays, kneeling before the 
 Altars of her Church, fervently thanking Him for 
 past graces and gifts, she prays to the Supreme 
 Giver of all earthly goods to continue to favour 
 her with peace, with order, in the legitimate en- 
 joyment of her liberties, together with the moral, 
 intellectual and material progress she is striving 
 to deserve. 
 
 Guilty is the man who tortures them with 
 chimerical aspirations, who advises them to con- 
 spire against the legitimate authority which she 
 must, and will, respect in spite of the seductions 
 attempted to have her to fail in her duty. 
 
CHAPTEK XXVIII. 
 
 Outrages Are No Reasons. 
 
 The failings of human nature, the differences 
 of temper, of the qualities and defects of heart and 
 soul, are such that harmony and good-will amongst 
 men in private life are too often difficult to secure. 
 The Divine precept, so frequently broken, should, 
 however, always rule the relations between man 
 and man. It should, with still more constant ap- 
 plication, rule the relations between different 
 races Providentially called to live together on the 
 same soil, under the same Sovereign authority, 
 enjoying the same institutions, the same liberties, 
 protected by the same flag. That the house divid- 
 ed against itself is sure to fall is true of the nation 
 as well as of the home. National and family hap- 
 piness and prosperity are alike dependent on the 
 feelings of reaL brotherhood which prevail in both. 
 Any good hearted man appreciates how much 
 kindness of speech, courtesy of dealings, cordiality 
 of manners, contribute to reciprocal good-fellow- 
 ship, brotherly in the home, inspiring in the daily 
 intercourse of citizens, patriotic in the nation at 
 large. The more a Sovereign State is inhabited 
 by numerous ethnical groups, like the British Em- 
 pire and the American Republic, the more import- 
 
270 . ENGILANID, CANADA AND THE WAE. 
 
 ant it is that the freedom of expressing one's 
 opinion on all matters of public interest should 
 be used with fairness, with respect for those hold- 
 ing different views, with due regard for the feel- 
 ings which are the natural outcome of racial de- 
 velopments, of cherished recollections, of legiti- 
 mate hopes. 
 
 Such are the principles, I am most happy to 
 say, that I have admired and try to practice in the 
 exercise of my rights as a citizen of the Province 
 where I saw the light of day, of Canada where I 
 have 'lived and hope to live all my years, of the 
 British Empire whose loyal subject I have been 
 and am determined to remain to my last moment. 
 
 How then could I have helped being shocked 
 when I came to read the following lines I trans- 
 late as follows from page 121 of Mr. Bourassa's 
 pamphlet : — "Yesterday, To-day, To-morrow" : — 
 
 "Were the French Canadians to persist in 
 their obstination to rot in colonialism and to con- 
 sider that it is for them the happiest and the most 
 glorious condition of existence, the English Cana- 
 dians would force them out of it. Our country- 
 men of the British races have grave defeats: they 
 are ignorant, pretentious, arrogant, short- 
 sighted, domineering. They are, more than our- 
 selves, rotten with mercantilism. They seem to 
 have lost some of the best qualities of the English 
 people, to have developed their faults and acquire 
 many of the vices natural to the worst category 
 of Yankees. But they have not, like us, totally. 
 
OUTRAGES ARE NO REASONS. 271 
 
 .ABDICATED the PROUD CHARACTER and the PRIMORDI- 
 
 ous rights of the British peoples. When the war 
 is over, they will claim, like the Australians, the 
 New Zealanders, and the Indians (les Hindous), 
 a readjustment of the powers of government " 
 
 Thus, in a few lines the Nationalist leader, in 
 appealing to his disordered imagination, has suc- 
 ceeded in slapping, in one single stroke, with 
 dynamical outrages, the faces of the English- 
 speaking Canadians of the three great British 
 races, of our neighbours, the Yankees, and of his 
 own compatriots, the French-Canadians. How 
 could he expect that such vitriolic language would 
 promote, in the Dominion, that harmony of feelings 
 never before so essential as at the very time he 
 was writing that injurious paragraph of his work, 
 surely not intended to help winning the war so 
 full of the greatest consequences, for good or ill, 
 for the World, the British Empire, Canada, and 
 our own Province of Quebec. 
 
 So far, Mr. Bourassa, having gone back on 
 the admiration he was wont to profess for Eng- 
 land, in his early youth, had reserved all his as- 
 saults for the English people. But the heart of 
 man, once under the sway of an unlimited and 
 unsatisfied ambition, is bound to drop to the low- 
 est depths of the extremist's aberration. In the 
 above quotation, he fires his battery of Kruppic 
 dimensions — loaded with poisonous invectives, at 
 
 the THREE GREAT BRITISH RACES, ENGLISH, SCOTCH 
 
 and Irish, living in Canada. 
 
272 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WjAK. 
 
 Had his charge been intended for the English 
 race alone, he would have been very particular in 
 so saying. But, let there be no mistake about it, 
 he deliberately wrote our countrymen of the Brit- 
 ish races. Wanting, I suppose, to prove his im- 
 partiality, he remembered that the United King- 
 dom is peopled by three illustrious races repre- 
 sented all over the globe by many millions of 
 worthy sons, everywhere to be found hard at work 
 for the intelligent development of the resources of 
 the countries they live in and are rearing their 
 children. More than four millions of them are 
 Canadians by birth or born in Great Britain. 
 Many more numerous they are in the United States 
 where they form the solid stock upon which the 
 future of the Kepublic is firmly grounded. 
 
 With the same thrust, Mr. Bourassa strikes 
 at the Yankees who, we may hope, have not trem- 
 bled too much at the blow. He charges them with 
 having infested his poor countrymen of the British 
 races with many of the vices natural to the worst 
 category of "Yankeeism." Kind, cordial, courte- 
 ous, indeed he was in such a mood of tender sym- 
 pathies for the Canadian British races and their 
 contagious •cousins the Yankees of the most cor- 
 rupted class ! 
 
 However, the finest flower of the whole 
 bouquet — the rose par excellence — is the one he 
 has gallantly presented to his French-Canadian 
 compatriots. He tells them with the sweetest 
 tones of his charming voice that they are pleased 
 
OUTRAGES ARE NO REASONS. 273 
 
 and happy to rot in "colonialism" But, evidently 
 wishing to speak to them a few encouraging words, 
 he mildly reminds them that they are less rotten 
 with "mercantilism" than their countrymen of the 
 British races. 
 
 A man can be suffering less than his more 
 sickly brother without, for all that, being in very 
 good health. It is a poor consolation for the 
 French Canadians to hear from the Nationalist 
 leader that they are less infested with the mer- 
 cantile virus than their brothers of the British 
 races. 
 
 All those who have followed with some at- 
 tention Mr. Bourassa's course for the last twenty 
 years, know that he is an equilibrist of the first 
 class. Having favoured the French Canadians 
 with the flattering compliment as above, he turns 
 about and lashes them with the sweeping slap that, 
 contrary to the stand the Canadians of the British 
 races cling to with an obstination which he deigns 
 to approve, they, the degenerated French Cana- 
 dians whom he pities so much, "have totally abdi- 
 cated their proud character of old and the primor- 
 dial rights of British subjects. 
 
 So, in Mr. Bourassa's opinion, his French 
 Canadian compatriots are infested to a high de- 
 gree both with the colonialist and mercantile cor- 
 ruptions. Hence, his fear that they are threatened 
 with a premature national death if they do not at 
 once listen to his brotherly warnings. 
 
 I have already answered the Nationalist 
 
274 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WA(R. 
 
 leader's charge that the French Canadians are 
 stupidly rotting in "colonial abjection." The same 
 reasons refute his assumption that "colonialism" 
 is an abject status for a people. 
 
 A people, a race, who would enjoy living under 
 the German autocratic colonial rule — for which 
 the Nationalist leader has so little dislike — would 
 indeed prove some disposition to rot stupidly in 
 abjection. But the divers peoples, the different 
 races, who appreciate all the beneficent advantages 
 of the present British colonial rule, are of very 
 superior stock. They know, from the clearest con- 
 ception, that Monarchical democratic institutions 
 are as much different from Imperial autocratic 
 tyranny, as true broad patriotism is far above 
 narrow and fanatical "Nationalism." 
 
 I have only to say a few words about the 
 "rottenness of mercantilism" against which, ac- 
 cording to Mr. Bourassa, the French Canadian 
 are not sufficiently protected. 
 
 Going back to my recollections of the last 
 sixty years, if there is a complaint which through 
 all my life I have heard almost daily, with deep 
 regret, it is that the French Canadians were not 
 striving with sufficient energy and perseverance 
 to achieve a better and larger position in the busi- 
 ness world. Their leaders, religious, political and 
 civil, to induce them to increased 'exertions, have 
 always pointed to the example given them by their 
 'countrymen of the British races: by the clear 
 headed and far-seeing English business man, the 
 
OUTRAGES ARE NO REASONS. 275 
 
 sturdy and hard working Scotch, the enterprising 
 and witty Irish. Thank God, I have well enough 
 understood my duty to do my humble but patriotic 
 ishare to favour this progressive movement. Never, 
 in so wisely advising the French Canadians, any 
 one supposed for a minute that he was leading 
 them to the infested pond of mercantile corruption. 
 The change wished by all was becoming more ur- 
 gent. All were looking for the best means to 
 carry it out. Our leaders, having at their head, 
 by right and merit, our religious chiefs under the 
 authority of a prince of our Church, his Emmince 
 the Cardinal- Archbishop of Quebec, took the in- 
 itiative with an ever increasing interest in the 
 success they considered so important. 
 
 The establishment of a permanent school of 
 high commercial education and of several tech- 
 nical schools was most favourably approved. Pol- 
 itical economy is even, in a certain measure, taught 
 in several of our classical colleges for secondary 
 education. The necessity for our young men of 
 knowing the English language, to succeed in com- 
 mercial, industrial and financial pursuits in Can- 
 ada and in the neighbouring Republic, is more and 
 more generally admitted. The French Canadians, 
 fully enjoying the undoubted right to do so, aspire 
 to achieve an advantageous and honourable posi- 
 tion in commerce, in industry, in finance, in trans- 
 portation, in mine working. The more we realize 
 this goal of our legitimate ambition, the more we 
 are also intensifying our efforts to promote agri- 
 
276 ENOLANID, CANADA AND 'THE WAR, 
 
 cultural progress and the improvement of our 
 country roads. 
 
 If, in all the branches of our national activity, 
 we obtain the success we hope for, one single man 
 alone amongst us shudders at the idea that the 
 French Canadians will blindly destroy their race 
 with a mortal dose of the cursed "mercantilism" 
 so dishonourable to the British races. 
 
 And Mr. Bourassa, instead of heartily joining 
 with all the leaders of his race— ^Cardinal, Arch- 
 bishops, Bishops, priests, statesmen, political 
 men, judges, professional men, merchants, manu- 
 facturers, financiers, — to favour, as much as pos- 
 sible, the commercial and technical training of his 
 compatriots, sneers at such efforts which, in his 
 candid opinion, are only plunging them in the ir- 
 remediable depths of "mercantile corruption" ! 
 
 Are not such abominable teachings a curse to 
 all those of the race to which they are addressed 
 with an unsurpassed cynicism? 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 How Mr. Bourassa Paid His Compliments To 
 The Canadian Army. 
 
 With a most admirable unanimity — nemine 
 contradicente, as Parliamentary procedure says — 
 the Canadian Parliament decided at once, at the 
 very outbreak of the hostilities, to organize a great 
 army to go and defend the Empire of which the 
 Dominion is an important component part, and 
 Civilization in peril from the Teutonic crushing 
 wave of barbarism, let loose over Belgium and 
 France. In the most evidently constitutional 
 ways, the Canadian people, as a whole, as they 
 had the right and the bounden duty to do, approv- 
 ed the decision of Parliament. 
 
 When Mr. Bourassa issued the pamphlets re- 
 ferred to, some four hundred thousands volunteers 
 had already enlisted. A large number of them — 
 over one hundred and sixty thousands had reached 
 the western front — some the eastern — where they 
 fought valiantly, heroically, on French soil, 
 against the German hordes. Thousands of them 
 had fallen on the field of honour, resting with im- 
 perishable glory, for them and for us all, in that 
 ancestral land which we, and ever will, cherish. 
 
 More than one hundred and twenty-five thou- 
 
278 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WIAE. 
 
 sands were on British soil, being trained for the 
 military operations of the following spring. 
 
 The rest of the army, in numerous thousands, 
 was still with us, getting organized for the noble 
 task, and waiting to cross over the Atlantic to go 
 on the field of battle. 
 
 The Canadian army had in every way merited 
 the respect and the admiration of all their country- 
 men who were very happy to so testify. 
 
 However, in this admirable concert of praise 
 and grateful congratulations, a very discordant 
 note was one day heard resounding from the lowest 
 inspiration of the human heart vibrating with 
 feelings of shameful contempt. It is found at 
 page 105 of the pamphlet previously quoted, 
 and reads as follows in its naked outrageous 
 languages — 
 
 "In Canada, a militarism is being forged un~ 
 paralleled in any civilized country , a depraved and 
 undisciplined soldiery, an armed scoundrelism, 
 without faith nor laic, as refractory to the call of 
 individual honour as to the authority of its parad- 
 ing or patronage officers." 
 
 For all the treasures of the world, I would not 
 agree to bear before my countrymen the responsi- 
 bility of such injurious words addressed to the 
 Canadian army whose valour is doing so much for 
 our national honour. 
 
 In one single masterly stroke of his poisoned 
 pen the Nationalist leader decrees that the Cana- 
 dian army is far below the worst type of German 
 
MR. ; BOURAlSlSA TO THE CANADIAN ARMY .279 
 
 and Turkish soldiery, that no other civilized coun- 
 try is cursed with such a degraded, undisciplined, 
 dishonoured militarism. 
 
 For God's sake, whence and where has such 
 an outrageous outburst originated? From what 
 dark corner has the electric current been poured 
 out with such infernal fury? 
 
 I shall not pretend that all our volunteers, 
 from first to last, had reached the saintly state of 
 soul of their inexorable judge. As a rule poor 
 mortals do not jump, by a single effort, up to that 
 degree of Christian perfection shining with the 
 great virtues of humility, charity, justice — by 
 words and deeds. We must not suppose that many 
 of our heroic volunteers had deserved, like their 
 trusted friend and admirer, Mr. Bourassa, to be 
 canonized during their life time. That some of 
 them, whose past was perhaps not a very strong 
 recommendation, have enlisted with the laudible 
 purpose to rehabilitate themselves in their own 
 self-estimation and in that of their countrymen, it 
 is very likely. Far from blaming them for so doing, 
 we must congratulate them and encourage them to 
 persevere in the glorious task which will entitle 
 them to the everlasting gratitude of their country. 
 Such has been the case in the armies of all nations 
 for many centuries past. 
 
 Fortunately, far better and much more author- 
 ized judges of the devotion, courage and patriotism 
 of the volunteers of the great Canadian army, as 
 well as of the cause for the triumph of which they 
 
280 ENGLAND', CANADA AND THE WAIB. 
 
 have offered, and in so many cases, given their 
 lives, were easily found. They wrote and spoke 
 with no uncertain voice. 
 
 In a letter approving the publication of a very 
 interesting pamphlet, entitled: — "War controver- 
 sy betiveen Catholics" — "La controverse de guerre 
 entre Catholiques," — His Eminence Cardinal 
 Begin, Archbishop of Quebec, said: — 
 
 "Attentively read, as it deserves to be, this 
 work will help to understand and to love to the 
 limit of devotion, (jusqu'au devouement) the 
 beauty and the sovereign importance of the great 
 cause — the protection of the world threatened by 
 Germanism — for which our soldiers are so valiant- 
 ly fighting together with those of England, France 
 and Belgium. 
 
 "I pray God to bless those brave warriors and 
 to grant peace to the Christian world by the re- 
 establishment of Justice and Right." 
 
 What an encouraging contrast! On the one 
 hand, a publicist, with the fury of its resounding 
 organs, so widely used, vowing to eternal damna- 
 tion, the armed, scoundrelism which Canada is 
 forging, with conditions inferior to Teutonic and 
 Turkish barbarism, considering that it has reach- 
 ed the lowest depth of "a degradation unparalleled 
 in any civilized country." 
 
 On the other, the Head of the Catholic Church 
 in Canada, Cardinal Begin, blessing in the name of 
 God Almighty our brave warriors who fight so 
 valiantly with those of England, France and Bel- 
 
MR. BOURAJ&SAi TO THE CANADIAN ARMY 281 
 
 gium, because they love with true devotion the 
 beauty and the sovereign importance of the great 
 cause to the triumph of which they sacrifice their 
 lives — the protection of the world threatened by 
 Germanism. 
 
 On Thursday, October 26, 1916, Archbishop 
 Bruchesi, of Montreal, present at a funeral serv- 
 ice, in Notre-Dame Church, attended by many 
 thousand's, for the glorious victims of the sacred 
 duty of defending the cause of the Allies, eloquent- 
 ly said in part: — 
 
 "They (our heroes) had voluntarily enlisted. 
 Two years ago, they organized their Battalion, the 
 glorious 22nd. They enlisted, conscious that they 
 were defending the most just of all causes, that of 
 Civilization, of Right, of Humanity. They enlist- 
 ed with the conviction that they would serve the 
 interests of their country, for, when oversea, they 
 knew that they were defending Canada. They were 
 young and strong; one could not see them without 
 admiration. 
 
 "They have made their country's name and 
 their own grand. They have for all times immor- 
 talized themselves in History, and, by them, Can- 
 ada has been immortalized. 
 
 "The war is not over; it goes on horribly, 
 but our hearts are hopeful. It is impossible that 
 they should triumph the men who, during forty 
 years, have prepared for the greatest war and 
 who, during ttvo years, have torn the world 
 asunder and flooded the earth with blood. Im- 
 
282 ENGiLAxNID, CANADA AND THE W1AB, 
 
 possible that they should triumph the men who 
 have declared this war without a right to avenge, 
 without a grievance to redress, without being men- 
 aced in any way. Impossible that they should tri- 
 umph those who have torn, like a scrap of paper, a 
 pact upon which the nations relied, having faith in 
 the pledged word. Impossible that they should 
 triumph those who have invaded the territory of 
 valiant Belgium, whose only fault was: to remain 
 true to her honour. They shall not triumph 
 those who, on account of their military service, 
 have made this war a carnage and a butchery with- 
 out precedent in History. I believe in God of all 
 Justice. Humanity wanted a suffering which pur- 
 ifier, but when mothers shall have wept long 
 enough, God will have His Divine word heard. 
 
 "When this great work is accomplished, and 
 when we shall sing the Te Deum of thanksgiving, 
 we will be able to say that Canada, that all the 
 Provinces of Canada, that our Province of Quebec, 
 have deserved their share of glory." 
 
 On Tuesday, November 28, 1916, at a funeral 
 service in the Quebec Basilica, addressing the large 
 audience rallied to pray for the dead heroes, Kev- 
 erend Mr. Camille Koy, one of the most distin- 
 guished professors of the Quebec Seminary, said 
 in part : — 
 
 "They went, our officers and soldiers, to serve 
 a great cause. Several reasons, perhaps inter- 
 mingled in their conscience, have inspired their 
 courageous decision . 
 
MR. R0URA9S>A TO THE CANADIAN ARMY 2S3 
 
 "But dominating, penetrating them all, puri- 
 fying ivhat in them was too personal and restrict- 
 ed, was the thought that in doing all this they were 
 going to fight with heroic brothers and employ 
 their strength to defend what is most venerable on 
 earth: outraged justice. 
 
 "Perhaps they ignored historical secrets and 
 diplomatic complications, but they knew the war 
 brutally declared, the treaties torn away, Belgium 
 violated, and agonizing, France mutilated and in- 
 vaded, England, herself, chased over the moving 
 frontier of her oceans invaded; they knew the de- 
 stroyed homes, the profanated Cathedrals, the 
 brutally murdered old men, women and children, 
 and the flood of barbarians rushing in tumultuous 
 waves over the fields of the sweetest country. 
 They knew that, over there, two nations to whom 
 we are attached by our political, or by our nation- 
 al, life, wanted the support of their sons far away, 
 that they had to battle for sacred interests in a war 
 requiring an endurance commanding an incessant 
 renewal of our energies; and then, without halting 
 to consider if they were obliged to it by laws, they 
 have answered the most pressing call of their 
 souls, and have freely made the devoted sacrifice." 
 
 What other edifying contrast between the ap- 
 preciation of the part played by the Canadian 
 army by three intellects, one overpowered by an 
 inexplicable hostile passion, the two others, in- 
 spired by the noblest sentiments, rising to the sub- 
 lime conception of the great sacrifice accepted by 
 
284 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 our brave volunteers, which they express by elo- 
 quent words who moved the hearts and brought 
 abundant and warm tears to the eyes of those who 
 heard or read them. 
 
 Where one only sees depraved beings more 
 contemptible than all those which any other 
 country could produce or forge, the two others, so 
 much superior in every way, admire, the first, 
 
 THOSE WHO WENT TO DEFEND THE MOST JUST OF ALL 
 CAUSES, THAT OF CIVILIZATION, OF KlGHT, OF HU- 
 MANITY ; the second, the supernatural beauty of 
 
 SACRIFICE THAT THEIR BROTHERS IN ARMS HAVE 
 MADE OF THEIR LIVES TO THE JUSTICE OF GOD. 
 
 The pamphleteer cruelly attacks those who, 
 to-morrow, will face with unfaltering courage the 
 guns of the enemy to defend Civilization and 
 avenge the martyrs of barbarity. 
 
 The sacred orator blesses the mortal remains 
 of our sons who have fallen on the neld of honour, 
 on the soil of France, where our forefathers were 
 born and bred, with the fervent prayer of their 
 grateful country that knows they died heroically 
 "for a great cause" to defend what is most 
 venerable on earth : "outraged justice." 
 
 The following pages from a very eloquent 
 Pastoral Letter by Bishop Emard, of the diocese 
 of Yalleyfield, will, I ani sure, be read with most 
 respectful interest by all. They are as follows : — 
 
 "Dear Brethren, we certainly have the right, and we even 
 consider that it is for us all, citizens of Canada, loyal subjects of 
 England, a duty to demand from 'God the success of the arms of 
 
MR. BOURAJSSAi iTO THE CANADIAN ARMY 285 
 
 our Mother-country and of her Allies in the present war. If we 
 are not called upon, as a matter of faith, to pass judgment on the 
 true causes of the war, and to divide the responsibilities respecting 
 the calamity which covers Europe with blood, we are surely allow- 
 ed to think and to say that all the circumstances actually known 
 sufficiently prove that right is on the side of the peoples who have 
 checked the invasion, and discouraged the overflowing of the 
 enemy from his territory, in order that the sentiment of justice 
 'may serve to support the devotion of our soldiers, in this great 
 •conflict, called the struggle of Civilization against barbarism. 
 
 "The Churoh of Christ, always the same by her doctrine, has 
 been marvellously constituted by the Divine Wisdom, to adapt her 
 externally everywhere and always, to the infinitely varied circum- 
 stances consequent on the diversity of peoples, of governments, 
 of social relations. She has never ceased to practice, by Her 
 Pastors and her faithful children, the great lesson given by Christ: 
 "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God 
 the things that are God's," and to claim with the Apostle all the 
 •rights as well as accept all the duties of citizens and subjects." 
 
 After recalling that from the day Divine 
 Providence, in Her mysterious designs, allowed 
 Canada to pass from the French to the English 
 Sovereignty, the Church, by Her Bishops, has de- 
 clared that, henceforth, it was the duty of the 
 French Canadians to transfer to the British 
 Crown, without reserve, the cordial allegiance 
 which the King of France had hitherto received 
 from them, and that since then until the present 
 days, the Canadian Episcopate has remained true 
 to his course, Bishop Emard proceeds as follows : — 
 
 "We are then, very dear Brethren, in perfect communion of 
 sentiments, action and language, with our venerable predecessors 
 of the Canadian Episcopate, in asking you to-day to address to 
 Heaven fervent prayers for the complete and final success of Eng- 
 land and her Allies in the frightful war which is covering the earth 
 with such unheard of horrors." 
 
 The Clergy, never forgetting Peter's word respecting the 
 
286 ENOLANID, CANADA AND THE WIAJR. 
 
 submission all are in duty bound to practice towards Kings as 
 well as towards all those holding civil power, was always faithful 
 in obeying the Episcopal directions never ceasing to deserve the 
 eulogium which the Bishops expressed to the Pope in their favour. 
 
 "The French-Canadian people, so taught by words and ex- 
 amples, have given in all our history the admirable spectacle of a 
 constant fidelity whiclh circumstances more than once rendered 
 highly 'meritorious. Such are the true religious and national tra- 
 ditions of our country. They have in our own days, as in the past, 
 found the exact expression suggested by the situation. 
 
 "On the other hand, it appears to us a well established 
 fact, and the most serious minds so proclaim everywhere, that the 
 British Empire, together with France, martyred Belgium and 
 their Allies are actually struggling for the defence of the peoples' 
 Rights and true Liberty. (Card. Begin). Therefore, very dear 
 Brethren, it must be acknowledged that Canada, herself threatened 
 'by the possibilities of a war fought with conditions heretofore 
 unknown, has acted both wisely and loyally in giving, in a manner 
 as generous as it was spontaneous, all the support in her power to 
 the mother-country, England. 
 
 "The Catholics, and especially those of French origin, have 
 not remained behind in this manifestation of true patriotism. If it 
 was well to make a comparison between the other groups, from the 
 standpoint of the free and generous participation of all to the 
 European war, it would be necessary, in the respective figures 
 obtainable, to take into account several elements which are perhaps 
 not sufficiently considered. 
 
 "But this is not the real question. It is sufficient to show 
 and to note for historical authenticity that, with the encouragement 
 and the blessings of their Pastors, and true to their constant tradi- 
 tion, the Canadian Catholics, as a whole, have, in this frightful 
 conflict proved the perfect loyalty which is the sound expression of 
 true patriotism, and which is blessed 'by the Church and by God. 
 
 "Thousands and thousands of our young men, for a large 
 number of them at the cost of particular and most painful sacri- 
 fices, and in many cases, without being able to give to their race 
 the benefit of their chivalrous devotion, have gone, oversea, to fight 
 and die for the cause which was proved to them noble and urgent. 
 
 "Moreover, all over the country, the courage of our soldiers 
 was echoed and answered by many active and important works 
 characterized by charitable solidarity, and this universal co-opera- 
 tive and sympathetic movement must be supported by the senti- 
 ments of faith and piety. 
 
MR. BOURASSA TO THE CANADIAN ARMY 287 
 
 "Since we are, at all costs, engaged in a disastrous war, the 
 causes of which we have not to discuss and judge, but the conse- 
 quences of which will necessarily reach our country, and since our 
 Canadian soldiers are battling under the British flag, with the clear 
 conscience 6f an honourable duty loyally and freely accepted, it is 
 just, it is legitimate that our prayers do accompany them on the 
 very fields of ibattles to support their courage, and that these pray- 
 ers ascend to Heaven to implore victory for our armies." 
 
 Evidently the venerable Bishop of Valleyfield 
 is far from believing, like the publicist whose 
 errors we must all deplore, that in organizing a 
 powerful army "to go overseas to fight and die for 
 the noble and urgent cause so proved to them" the 
 Canadian Parliament "were forging for us a mili- 
 tarism without parallel in any other civilized 
 country, a depraved and undisciplined soldiery, an 
 armed scoundrelism, without faith nor law" 
 
 The blessings of the Head of the Canadian 
 Church and those of the whole Episcopate have 
 consolatel our brave volunteers for the outrages 
 thrust at them, and have inspired them w r ith the 
 great Christian courage to forgive their author. 
 The only revenge they have taken against their 
 accuser has been to defend himself and his own 
 against the barbarous Germans. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Rash Denunciation of Public Men 
 
 A long experience of public life, whether by- 
 daily observation, begun in my early youth, when 
 the Union of the Provinces was finally discussed, 
 carried and established, or, subsequently, during 
 many years of active political life as a journalist 
 and member of the Quebec and Ottawa representa- 
 tive Houses, has taught me to judge the actions of 
 responsible men, whether ministerialists or oppo- 
 sitionists, with great fairness and respectful re- 
 gard. At all times the government of a large pro- 
 gressive country peopled by several races, of 
 different religious creeds, fc a difficult problem. 
 It should not be necessary to say that in days of 
 warlike rrisis, of previously unknown proportions, 
 like the present one, the task becomes almost 
 superhuman. Anyone taking into serious consid- 
 eration the very trying ordeal through which, for 
 instance, the rulers of Great Britain and France 
 have been, and are still passing, since early in 
 1914, cannot help being indulgent for those who 
 have the weighty and often crushing burden of the 
 cares of State. Let so much be said without in 
 the least contesting the right of free men to their 
 own opinion about what is best to be done. But it 
 
RASH DENUNCIATION OF PUBDIO MEN. 289 
 
 was never more opportune to remember that the 
 honourable privilege of constitutional criticism 
 must have for its only superior object the good of 
 the country by improved methods. 
 
 We have reason to congratulate ourselves that 
 this sound view has widely prevailed rallying al- 
 most as units great nations, — our own one of them 
 — previously much divided in political thoughts 
 and aspirations, for the noble and patriotic pur- 
 pose of winning a disastrous war they were forced 
 to wage, in spite of their most determined efforts 
 to prevent it. 
 
 Public men, nations rulers, like all others are 
 human and liable to fail or to be found wanting. 
 Unconscious inefficiency, however desirable to re- 
 move, cannot be fairly classed on the same footing 
 as guilty failures. The first may, more or less, 
 injure the bright prospects of a country; the sec- 
 ond stains her honour which an exemplary punish- 
 ment can alone redeem. 
 
 But it is said with much truth that there are 
 always exceptions to a general rule. That of the 
 human heart to be fallible in public life, as well 
 as in other callings, has met with only one solitary 
 exception in Canada : the saintly Nationalist lead- 
 er who will never have his equal, "nature having 
 destroyed the mould when she cast him." 
 
 Considering the outrageous language he 
 thrusted at the Canadians of the three British 
 races and at our heroic volunteers, it is not to be 
 supposed that he was so tender-hearted as to spare 
 
290 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WIAE. 
 
 the public men, not only of Canada, but of all the 
 Allied Nations. 
 
 When he affirmed that the real and only cause 
 of the war had been, and was still, the voracious 
 greed of capitalist speculators, especially of the 
 two leading belligerents, Great Britain and Ger- 
 many, united together to profit to the tune of 
 hundreds of millions out of the production of war- 
 ship building and materials of all sorts, was he not 
 charging all the statesmen and leading politicians 
 of all the peoples at war, of having bowed either 
 consciously to the dictates of traitors to their coun- 
 tries, or of having been stupidly blind to the guilty 
 manipulations of financial banditti? 
 
 It would take many pages only to make a 
 summary of the injurious words he has addressed 
 to the Canadian public men of all shades of opin- 
 ion — with the only exception of the Nationalist — 
 on account of the support they have given, in one 
 way or another, to the Dominion's participation in 
 the war. He qualified as a Revolution the policy 
 by which we willingly decided to take part in the 
 wars of the Empire whenever we came to the con- 
 clusion that England w r as fighting for a just cause. 
 
 On the 23rd of April, 1917, he wrote as 
 follows : — 
 
 "Very often we have shown the evident revolu- 
 tionary character of the Canadian intervention in 
 the European conflict" 
 
 After repeating his absolutely absurd preten- 
 tion, according to the sound principles of Constitu- 
 
RASH DENUNCIATION OF (PUBLIC MEN. 291 
 
 tional Law, that Canada could have intervened in 
 the war as a ik nation" he found fault wth all and 
 every one because "we are fighting to defend the 
 Empire." He went on and said with his natural 
 sweetness of language : — 
 
 "The politicians of the two parties and the 
 whole servile and mercenary press have applied 
 
 themselves to this revolutionary work 
 
 For a long time past the party leaders are the 
 tools of British Imperialism and of British high 
 finance." 
 
 And not satisfied with having thus slashed 
 all the party leaders, all the chiefs of the State, 
 he turns round, in an access of passionate in- 
 dignation, and charges not only all the leading 
 social classes, but even the Bishops, the worthy 
 leaders of the Church, as the accomplices of the 
 Imperialist revolution. He thrusts the terrible 
 blow as follows : — 
 
 "But what the war has produced of entirely 
 new and most disconcerting, is the moral support 
 and complicity which the "Imperialist revolu- 
 tion" has found in all the leading social classes. 
 Bishops, financiers, publicists and professionals 
 went into the movement with a unity, an ardour, a 
 zeal which reveal the effective strength of the 
 laborious propaganda of which Lord Grey has been 
 the most powerful worker prior to the tear." 
 
 So that there should be no mistake about its 
 true meaning, he favoured his readers with a very 
 clear explanation indeed of what, in his opinion, 
 
292 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAE. 
 
 has transformed our meritorious and loyal inter- 
 vention in the war into a guilty revolutionary 
 movement. He wrote as follows: — 
 
 "But what the Imperialists wanted, and what 
 they have succeeded in obtaining, ivas to bind 
 Canada to the fate of England, in the name of the 
 principle of Imperial solidarity and — as we shall 
 see in a moment — to the cause of 'universal 
 
 DEMOCRACY." 
 
 Thus, in the Nationalist leader's opinion, it 
 is a great crime to help England and her 
 Allies to win a war the loss of which would most 
 likely have destroyed the British Empire, involv- 
 ing our own ruin in the downfall of the mighty 
 political edifice to he replaced, in the glorious 
 shelter it gives to human freedom, by the trium- 
 phant German autocratic rule and its universal 
 domination. It is, to say the least, an extravagant 
 notion to pretend that the war has afforded the 
 Imperialists the opportunity — eagerly seized — 
 "to tie Canada," hand and foot, "to the fate of 
 England" 
 
 If I am not mistaken — and I am positively 
 sure I am right in so saying — Canada was bound 
 to the fate of England the very day when — by 
 Providential decree, in that instance as well as 
 with regard to everything earthly — she passed 
 under British Sovereignty. The worthy leaders of 
 our Church so considered — and have since unani- 
 mously considered — at once taking the sound 
 Christian stand that the French Canadians were, 
 
RASH DENUNCIATION OF PUBLIC MEN. 293 
 
 in duty bound, to accept their new political status 
 in good faith, and to loyally support their new- 
 mother country whenever circumstances would 
 require their devoted help, whilst revering the old 
 as every child must do, if he is blessed with a good 
 heart, when separated by unforeseen events from 
 the home of his happy youth. 
 
 I must acknowledge that with some of our 
 French Canadians of the first class and standing, 
 the word "Democracy" savours with soreness. 
 Well read in all that pertains to the great epoch 
 of the first French tremendous Revolution, they 
 abhor, with much reason, the extravagant and 
 false principles of the bolshevikism of those days, 
 which culminated in the frightful period of the 
 "terrorism" which, for three long years and more, 
 kept its strong knee on France's throat, her fair 
 soil flooded with the innocent blood of her children. 
 They are apt to be laid to the confusion that de- 
 mocratic government is in almost every case, if 
 not always, synonymous of revolutionary institu- 
 tions, in as much as it cannot, they believe and say, 
 be otherwise than destructive of the principle of 
 "Authority," certainly as essential as that of 
 "Liberty," both as the necessary fundamental 
 basis of all good governments. 
 
 Knowing this, the Nationalist leader, who has 
 evidently abjured his liberalism of former days, 
 which he was wont to parade in such resound rag 
 sentences, multiplies his efforts to capture the sup- 
 port of the few members of our most venerable 
 
294 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAU. 
 
 Olergy whom he supposes labouring under the 
 aforesaid delusion. He would not lose the chance 
 of trading on their feelings and sincere conviction, 
 in boldly declaring that his good friends, the 
 cursed Imperialists, had managed to drag the 
 Dominion through the mire of the European war 
 by blandishing before the eyes of the Canadian 
 people, so enamoured of their constitutional 
 liberties, the supposed dangerous spectre of 
 "universal democracy" 
 
 If, in reality, democratic government could 
 not help being either the "French revolutionary 
 terrorism," of 1792-95, — which even frightened 
 such a staunch friend of Political Liberty as Burke 
 — or the Eussian criminal bolshevikism of our own 
 trying days, we would be forced, in dire sadness, 
 to despair of the world's future, as Humanity 
 would be forever doomed to ebb and flow between 
 the sanguinary "absolutism" either of "autocratic" 
 or "terrorist" tyrants. 
 
 Happily, we can, in all sincerity, affirm that 
 such is not the case. Is it not sufficient, as a most 
 reassuring proof, to point at the wonderful 
 achievements of free institutions, first, under the 
 monarchical democratic system of Great Britain 
 and her autonomous Dominions; second, under 
 the republican regime of the United States. 
 
 After many long years of earnest study and 
 serious thinking, I cannot draw the very depress- 
 ing conclusion that the two basic principles of 
 sound government — Authority and Liberty — can- 
 
RASH DENUNCIATION OF PUBLIC MEN. 295 
 
 not be brought to work harmoniously together for 
 the happiness and prosperity of nations, as far as 
 they can be achieved in this world of sufferings and 
 sacrifices. Such a conclusion would also be con- 
 trary to true Christian teachings, the Almighty 
 having created man a free being with a responsible 
 and immortal soul. 
 
 Nations who, forgetful of the obligations of 
 moral laws, indulge in guilty abuse of their liber- 
 ties, are, sooner or later, as individuals doing 
 alike, sure to meet with the due Providential 
 punishment they have deserved. But, also like 
 individuals, they can redeem themselves in repent- 
 ing for their past errors, due to uncontrolled pas- 
 sions, and by resolutely and "freely" returning to 
 the path of their sacred duty. 
 
 The Nationalist leader also deplores, as one 
 of their guilty achievements, the fact that the 
 "war had ended all equivocate and consummated 
 the complete alliance of the two parties," to 
 favour, as he asserts, of course, the enterprises of 
 the dreaded Imperialism. 
 
 True to the kind appreciation he has pledged 
 himself to make of the inspiring dark motives 
 actuating the conduct of public men, he sweetly 
 added : — 
 
 "The truce arrived at in 1914 could not, it 
 is true, resist the thirst for power. "Blues" and 
 "Reds" have recommenced tearing themselves 
 about patronage, places, planturous contracts and 
 "boodle." But tvith regard to the substantial 
 
296 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 question itself, and to the Imperialist revolution 
 brought on and sanctioned by the war, they have 
 remained in accord" 
 
 It could not strike such a prejudiced mind as 
 that of the Nationalist leader, that political chief- 
 tains, and their respective supporters, could con- 
 scienciously unite to save their country, their 
 Empire and the world from an impending terrible 
 disaster, and yet freely and conscienciously differ 
 as to the best means to achieve the sacred object 
 to the success of which they have pledged, and they 
 continue to make, their best and most patriotic 
 efforts. 
 
 The public men, and even the private citizens, 
 who, not believing that he speaks and writes with 
 Divine inspiration, dare to differ from the Nation- 
 alist leader, cannot, in his opinion, do so unless 
 influenced by unworthy corrupt motives. And he 
 further draws the awful conclusion a that it is his 
 duty to note the ever increasing revolutionary 
 character that the European war, as a whole, is 
 assuming on the side of the Allies" 
 
 To support this last and absolutely unfounded 
 charge, he positively asserts that the joint policy 
 of the statesmen, politicians and journalists, has 
 much less for its object to liberate oppressed na- 
 tions like Belgium, Servia, Ireland, Poland and 
 Finland, from a foreign yoke, than to overthrow 
 in all the countries, allies or enemies, the mon- 
 archical form of government" 
 
 And then follows a most virulent diatribe by 
 
RASH DENUNCIATION OF PUBLIC MEN. 297 
 
 which he points, in support of his wild conclusion 
 aforesaid, to the Russian revolution, charging "the 
 officious and reptile press of the Allied countries 
 to have joined in spreading the legend that it had 
 been precipitated by German intrigues at the 
 Court of the Czar, and to have accused the ill-fated 
 Emperor to have been the spy and the accomplice 
 of the enemies of his country." 
 
 At this hour of the day, in the turmoil of 
 flashing events perhaps never before equalled in 
 suddenness, pregnant with such alarming, or com- 
 forting, prospective consequences, it is much too 
 early to attempt passing a reliable judgment on the 
 true causes which produced the Moscovite revolu- 
 tion so soon and so dastardly developed into crim- 
 inal "bolshevikism." The question must be left 
 for History to settle when peace is restored and 
 the sources of truth are wide opened to the im- 
 partial investigations of high class historians. 
 
 However, enough is known to prove that Mr. 
 Bourassa's charge is altogether unfounded. Any- 
 one conversant with Russian history for the two 
 last centuries, is aware that German influences 
 and intrigues have always played a great part in 
 the Capital of that fallen Empire. From the very 
 beginning of the war, it became evident that they 
 were actively at work at the Petrograd Court, 
 thwarting the Emperor's efforts and those of his 
 advisers, military and civil, he could trust, to be 
 true to the cause he had sworn to defend with 
 France and England. 
 
298 ENGLAND,, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 The Nationalist leader, I hope, is the only man 
 still to wonder at this, after all that has been dis- 
 covered proving what Germany has tried to bribe 
 the political leaders and the press of the Allies, 
 with too much success in France, England and the 
 United States. 
 
 Russia has been for too many years the favour- 
 ite soil where Germany was sowing her corrupt 
 intrigues, to let any sensible man suppose that she 
 would kindly withdraw from the preferred field 
 of her infamous operations, at the very time she 
 was exerting herself with such energy, and at the 
 cost of so many millions, to extend her vast spy 
 system almost all over the earth, — Canada in- 
 cluded — debauching consciences right and left. 
 
 Is it unfair to say, for instance, after the 
 event as it developed, that Roumania was pre- 
 maturely brought into the war in consequence of 
 the dark German machinations at Petrograd, with 
 the evident understanding that the military opera- 
 tions, both on the Teutonic and Moscovite sides, 
 were to be so conducted as to rush poor Roumania 
 into a most disastrous defeat, in order to feed the 
 Central Empires with the products of the fertile 
 Roumanian soil? 
 
 No representative man of any consequence has 
 pretended that the unfortunate Czar was himself 
 a party to that treason of the Allied cause. He 
 has likely been the victim of his own weakness in 
 not using what was left to him of his personal 
 autocratic power to silence the sympathies of the 
 
RASH DENUNCIATION OF PUBLIC MEN. 299 
 
 friends of Germany at his Imperial Court, and 
 even in his most intimate circle, rather than ex- 
 hausting it in a supreme, but doomed, attempt at 
 checking the rising tide of popular aspirations 
 sure, as always, to overflow to frightful excesses, 
 if unwisely compressed. 
 
 Almost daily witnessing the successive mis- 
 carriages of so many of the Russian military oper- 
 ations, too often by the failure of the ammunitions, 
 supplied to such a large extent by the Allies, to 
 reach the Russian soldiers, or by other inexplica- 
 ble causes, it is not surprising that the people at 
 large became suspicious of their government which 
 they soon believed to be under German tutorage. 
 
 The rapid, almost sudden, overthrow of the 
 Russian autocratic Empire can be accepted as evi- 
 dence that the movement in favour of a change 
 which would more efficiently conduct Russia's 
 share of the conflict, was widespread. The goal it 
 aimed at, once reached, and Russia proclaimed a 
 Republic, with a regular de facto government un- 
 der the leadership of abler men, whose patriotism 
 was proved by their words, but more surely by 
 their deeds, France, England, Italy and the United 
 States cannot be reasonably reproached with hav- 
 ing unduly opened diplomatic relations with the 
 new Moscovite authorities. 
 
 Unfortunately, once successful in her in- 
 trigues at the Petrograd Court, soon to fall under 
 the weight of popular exasperation, Germany tried 
 her hand in a triumphant, but shameful, way with 
 
300 ENGLAND^ CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 the fiery sanguinary and treasonable element al- 
 ways to be found operating in the darkest corners 
 for their own criminal purposes. The calamitous 
 outcome has been "bolchevikism" betraying their 
 country in the light of day, without blushing, 
 without hiding their faces in eternal shame, and 
 signing, with their hands stained with the blood of 
 their own kin, the infamous treaty of Brest- 
 Litovsk dismembering poor Russia, scattering to 
 the winds her fond hopes of a grand future at the 
 very dawn of the better days promised by a free 
 constitution, and plunging her in the throes of 
 German autocratic domination. 
 
 With regard to the Nationalist leader's 
 rash denunciation of public men, I have only a 
 few more words to say. My personal recollections 
 going back to the early sixties of the last century, 
 for several years free from all party affiliations, 
 unbiassed by any sympathies or prejudices, I con- 
 sider it my duty to say that, on the whole, Cana- 
 dian public life, as well as British public life, is 
 honourable and entitled to the respect of public 
 opinion. Out of hundreds and thousands of poli- 
 ticians, both in the Motherland and in our own 
 Dominion, there may have been failings. It would 
 be useless, even pernicious, to point at them. The 
 revulsion of public feeling towards the fallen for 
 cause, and the severe judgment of misdeeds by the 
 impartial historian, has been the deserved punish- 
 ment of the few who have prevaricated. I prefer 
 by far to take my lofty inspiration from the galaxy 
 
RASH DENUNCIATION OF PUBLIC MEN. 301 
 
 of faithful public servants who, from all parties, 
 and from various standpoints, have given the 
 fruits of their intelligence, of their learning, of 
 their hard work — and in many cases — of their 
 private wealth, for the good of their country. In 
 the course of the last fifty-five years, I have known 
 hundreds of our public men who lived through, 
 and came out of, a long political life getting poorer 
 every day without being disheartened and retiring 
 from the public service to which they were devoted 
 to the last. Need I point, as examples, to the cases 
 of several men who, departed for a better world, 
 Parliament, irrespective of all party considera- 
 tions, united to a man to vote a yearly allowance 
 of a few hundred dollars to save their surviving 
 widows and children from actual want and 
 destitution ! 
 
 Just as well as the Canadians of the three 
 British races, and the gallant volunteers of our 
 heroic army, Canadian and British public men 
 can rest assured that from the high position they 
 occupy in the world's estimation, they are far 
 above the fanatical aspersions of the Nationalist 
 leader blinded by the wild suggestions of an inex- 
 haustible thirst of rash condemnation. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 Mr. Bourassa's Dangerous Pacifism. 
 
 Two historical truths, undeniable, bright as 
 the shining light of the finest summer day, which 
 have triumphantly challenged the innumerable 
 falsehoods to the contrary constantly circulated by 
 Germany, even prior to the outbreak of the 
 hostilities, are: — 
 
 First, that all the countries united under the 
 title — the Allies, have been energetically in favour 
 
 Of MAINTAINING THE PEACE OF THE WORLD, when it 
 
 became evident, for all sensible people, that Ger- 
 many was eagerly watching her opportunity to 
 -strike the blow she had prepared for the previous 
 forty years on such a gigantic scale. 
 
 Second, that, once engaged in the conflict 
 against their deliberate will, and in spite of their 
 noble efforts to prevent the war which they clearly 
 foresaw would be most calamitous, they have al- 
 ways remained the staunch supporters of the 
 restoration of peace upon the two sine qua non 
 conditions of Justice and durability. 
 
 To achieve these two objectives, they have 
 been fighting for now more than four years, at 
 tremendous cost of men and treasures, and they 
 are determined to fight until victorious. 
 
DANGEROUS PACIFISM. 303 
 
 They would all lay down their arms to- 
 morrow, if the results so important for the future 
 of Humanity could be secured with certainty. 
 
 Like all great causes, Peace with Justice and 
 Durability has had its true and its false friends. 
 
 The true friends of Peace were those who 
 realized from the very beginning of the frightful 
 struggle that it was perfectly useless to expect it, 
 if the disastrous Prussian Militarism was to be 
 maintained and allowed to continue threatening 
 Civilization. 
 
 The true friends of Peace were those who 
 pledged their honour not to sheathe the sword 
 they had been forced to draw before Germany 
 would acknowledge that she had no right to vio- 
 late solemn treaties, and would agree to redeem 
 the crime she had committed in invading the neu- 
 tral territory of Belgium which she trampled 
 under her ironed heels and crucified. 
 
 The true friends of Peace were those who 
 determined to bring Germany to renounce the 
 abominable principles she has professed, training 
 the mind of her peoples to believe and proclaim 
 that Might is Eight and the only sound basis of 
 International Law. 
 
 The true friends of Peace were those who, 
 however anxious they were to have it restored as 
 soon as possible — fervently praying the Almighty 
 to that purpose — , knowing what are the principles 
 of International Law recognized by all truly civ- 
 ilized nations, could not forgive Germany, unless 
 
304 ENGOjANJD,, CANADA AND THE W1AE. 
 
 she sincerely repented, the barbarism she dis- 
 played in her murderous submarine campaign, and 
 practised in Belgium, Northern France and in 
 every piece of belligerent territory her armies 
 occupied. 
 
 The true friends of Peace were those who 
 clearly understood that to meet the two essential 
 conditions of Justice and Durability, it was 
 practically impossible to secure it by a com- 
 promise which could not, by any means, protect 
 the world against further German attempts at 
 universal military domination. 
 
 The false friends of Peace were those who 
 said and wrote, in sheer defiance of truth, that the 
 Allies, more especially England and Russia, were 
 as much responsible for the war as Germany 
 herself. 
 
 The false friends of Peace were those who 
 falsely alleged that the Allies were preventing it 
 by their repeated declarations that their principal 
 war aim was to destroy, not only the German Em- 
 pire, but also the German race, thus wilfully and 
 maliciously pretending that to battle for the aboli- 
 tion of Teutonic militarism, weighing so heavily 
 on all the nations, was equal, in guilty knowledge, 
 to fighting for an enemy's race destruction. 
 
 The false friends of Peace were those who 
 were ready to sanction, at any time, a compromise 
 between heroic and criminal war aims, which 
 would leave future generations to the tender mer- 
 cies of a Sovereign Power straining every nerve to 
 
DANGEROUS PACIFISM. 306 
 
 dominate the world by the foulest means ever 
 devised. 
 
 The false friends of Peace were those whose 
 daily effort was to dishearten their countrymen 
 from the noble and patriotic task they had bravely 
 undertaken with the strong will to accomplish it 
 at all costs, knowing, as they did, that it was a 
 question of life or death for human Civilization. 
 
 "Defeatists," as they are called, to mean the 
 shameless supporters of Peace negotiations to be 
 opened by the Allies acknowledging their defeat 
 and the victory of Germany, there were, and there 
 are, in all the "Allied" belligerent nations. No 
 one need be too much surprised at the hideous fact. 
 In all countries, at all times, under the direst cir- 
 cumstances, when it is most important, in very 
 distressing hours, that all be of one mind, of one 
 heart, to save the nation's existence, are to be 
 found heartless, low minded, cowardly beings, 
 ready to betray their countrymen rather than 
 stand the strain of their due share of sacrifices, or, 
 which is still far worse, for corrupt motives, to 
 deliver them over to the enemy. 
 
 "Defeatists" we have had, we have yet, in 
 Canada, in the Province of Quebec. Most happily, 
 they are few and far between. 
 
 Imbued with the false notions he has so ten- 
 aciously ventilated respecting Canada's participa- 
 tion in the war, it is no wonder that the Nationalist 
 leader was sure to be found at the head of the 
 small group of pacifists, at almost any cost, mus- 
 
306 ENG/LAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 tered amongst the French Canadians. A sower of 
 prejudices, he was bound to watch with eagerness 
 the growing crop of ill-feelings he was fostering. 
 
 Those of us who oppose all, and any, participa- 
 tion by the Dominion in the wars of the Empire, 
 be they even so just, so honourable, so necessary, 
 under Mr. Bourassa's deplorable leadership, were 
 naturally supporters of any kind of "pacifism." 
 
 I will not classify the Nationalist leader and 
 his dupes as "defeatists" who were ready to ac- 
 cept peace as the consequence of defeat. The real 
 "pacifists" so far as it is possible to ascertain 
 their views, unable, consciously or not, to see any 
 difference in the respective responsibilities of the 
 belligerents in opening the war, consider that they 
 are equally guilty in not closing it. 
 
 Most happily, such a disordered opinion is 
 shared only by a small minority. It can be posi- 
 tively affirmed that public opinion, the world over, 
 outside the Central Empires and their swayed 
 allies, is almost unanimous that Germany, 
 through her military party and the junkers ele- 
 ment, is responsible for the dire calamity she has 
 brought on Humanity. The question of the resto- 
 ration of "Peace" must be viewed from this start- 
 ing point — the only true one. 
 
 The standpoints of the true and the false 
 friends of Peace being so far apart, the conclu- 
 sions they draw are naturally widely different. 
 
CHAPTEK XXXII. 
 
 A Most Keprehensible Abuse of Sacred Appeals 
 To The Belligerent Nations. 
 
 I cannot qualify in milder words the use Mr. 
 Bourassa has made of the solemn appeals His 
 Holiness the Pope of Home has, at different dates, 
 addressed to the belligerent nations in favour of 
 the restoration of peace. I bear to the Head of 
 the Church I am so happy to belong such a pro- 
 found respect and devotion that I will scrupulous- 
 ly absitain from any comment of the Sovereign 
 Pontiff's writings and addresses. I have read 
 them several times over with the greatest atten- 
 tion and veneration, so sure I was that, emanating 
 from the highest spiritual Authority in the world, 
 they were exclusively inspired by the ardent desire 
 to promote a recurrence to good- will amongst men, 
 in obedience to the Divine precept. 
 
 Having to reproach the Nationalist leader 
 with having abused of the weighty words of His 
 Holiness, to support his own misconceptions of 
 duty as a loyal British subject and a Christian 
 publicist, I will refrain with great care from writ- 
 ing a sentence which might be construed as the 
 shadow of an attempt to do the same. 
 
308 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 I will take from Mr. Bourassa's own com- 
 ments of the Sovereign Pontiff's appeals, the >two 
 conclusions upon which he lays great stress, and 
 which clearly summarize the convictions of His 
 Holiness Pope Benedict XV. 
 
 Praying with all the powers of His heart and 
 isoul for the orderly fulture of the world, the 
 Sovereign Pontiff implored, in the most touching 
 terms, the belligerent nations to agree to a "Just 
 and Durable Peace." 
 
 As it was certain, even if He had nolt said so 
 with such pathetic expressions, His Holiness drew 
 the saddest possible picture of the untold mis- 
 fortunes war, carried on in such vast propor- 
 tions, was inflicting upon the peoples waging the 
 struggle. 
 
 I will only quote the few following words from 
 the first letter of His Holiness, dated July 28, 
 1915:— 
 
 "It cannot be said that the immense conflict 
 cannot be terminated without armed violence" 
 
 No one can take exception to this truism, 
 authoritatively expressed under circumstances 
 greatly adding to its importance and to its solemn 
 enouncement. It is just as true to-day as it was, 
 —-and has been ever since,— when the whole world 
 was passing through the crucial ordeal of the days 
 during which England and France were almost im- 
 ploring Germany not to plunge the earth into the 
 horrors of the war she was determined to bring on. 
 
 The questions at stake could then have been 
 
ABUSE! OF APPEALS FOR PEACE. 309 
 
 easily settled without "armed violence/' if the 
 Imperial Government of Berlin had listened to the 
 pressing demand of Great Britain in favour of the 
 maintenance of peace. 
 
 It is scarcely believable that the Nationalist 
 leader has abused of those weighty words to the 
 point of attempting to persuade the French- 
 Canadians that the Allies, even more than the 
 Kulers of the Central Empires, have refused to 
 listen to the prayers of the Pope. In January last, 
 he published a new pamphlet, entitled "The Pope, 
 Arbiter of Peace/' in which he reproduced from 
 "Le Devoir" his numerous articles, from August 
 1914, on the intervention of the Sovereign Pontiff 
 in favour of the cessation of the hostilities, and on 
 the current events of the times. 
 
 The oft-repeated diatribes of Mr. Bourassa 
 against England were bound to be once more edit- 
 ed in the above pamphlet. Their author, in a true 
 fatherly way, not willing to allow them to die 
 under the contempt they deserve, would not lose 
 the chance to have them to survive in tackling them 
 with his comments on His Holiness' letters. 
 
 This pamphlet, the worthy sequel of its pre- 
 decessors which, for the good of Mr. Bourassa's 
 compatriots, should never have seen the light of 
 day, would call for many more refutable quota- 
 tions than I can undertake to make in this work. 
 A few will suffice to show the deplorable purport 
 of the whole book. 
 
310 ENGLAND, 0ANADA 'AND THE iWAK. 
 
 In his letter dated, July 28, 1915, the Pope 
 wrote: — 
 
 "In presence of Divine Providence, we conjure 
 the belligerent nations, to henceforth put an end to 
 the horrible carnage which, for a year, dishonours 
 Europe" 
 
 Positively informed about the horrible crimes 
 committed by command of the German military 
 authorities in Belgium, and Northern France, and 
 by the ferocious Turks in Armenia, well might His 
 Holiness say that Europe was being dishonoured 
 by such barbarous deeds. If the military operations 
 had been conducted by the nations of the Alliance 
 in conformity with the principles of International 
 Law, most likely the Pope wtould not have used the 
 same language. For, however much to be regretted 
 are the sufferings inseperable from a military con- 
 flict carried on with the utmost regards for the 
 fair claims of human feelings and justice, it could 
 not have been pretended that such a war was a 
 dishonour for the belligerents on both sides, espe- 
 cially when fighting with an equally sincere con- 
 viction that they are defending a just cause. 
 
 Eeferring to recent history, none asserted, for 
 instance, that the Kusso- Japanese war was a dis- 
 honour to Europe and Asia. It was fought out 
 honourably on both sides. Peace was restored 
 without leaving bitter and burning recollections in 
 the minds of either peoples. And when Germany 
 dishonoured herself and stained Humanity with 
 blushing shame, both Eussia and Japan joined 
 together to avenge Civilization. 
 
A'BUlSlE OF APPEALS FOR PEACE. 311 
 
 Let us now see how Mr. Bourassa distorted 
 the words ©f the Pope so as to use them for his own 
 purpose of misrepresenting the true stand of the 
 Allies, and more especially of England. 
 
 The first sentence of his article dated, August 
 3, 1915, to be found at page 11 of the pamphlet, 
 under the title: "The Pope's Appeal," reads 
 thus : — 
 
 "The anniversary of the hurling of the san- 
 guinary fury which makes of Europe the shame of 
 Humanity has inspired the Rulers of peoples with 
 resounding words/ 
 
 And after eulogizing the Pope's intervention, 
 he adds : — "that men will not hear his voice, drunk 
 as they are with pride, revenge and blood" 
 
 This may be cunningly worded, but it should 
 deceive nobody. 
 
 One cannot help being indignant at the con- 
 temptible attempt to place the AHies on the some 
 footing as the Central Empires with regard to the 
 responsibility in hurling the sanguinary fury in 
 19 U. 
 
 The plain, incontrovertible, truth is that the 
 outbreak of the war was a shame, not for Human- 
 ity, the victim of Teutonic treachery, but for Ger- 
 many herself; whilst the sacred union of Belgium, 
 France, England and their allies to resist the 
 barbarous onslaught hurled at them all, was an 
 honour for Civilization and the promise of an 
 heroic redemption. 
 
 At page 12 of the pamphlet, he closes the first 
 
312 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 paragraph with the following words : — "since the 
 fatal days when peoples supposed to he Christian 
 hurled themselves at one another in a foolish rage 
 of destruction, of revenge and hatred" In French, 
 it reads thus: — depuis le jour fatal ou les pen- 
 pies soi-disant Chretiens se sont rues les uns contre 
 les autres, dans une rage folle de destruction, de 
 vengeance et de haine" 
 
 Bead as a whole, with the full meaning they 
 were intended to convey, those words constitute a 
 daring falsehood. Historical events of the highest 
 importance cannot be construed at will. There are 
 facts so positively true, and known to he such, that 
 they should preclude any possibility of deceit. 
 
 It is absolutely false that, on a fatal day of 
 mid-summer, 1914, peoples hurled themselves at 
 one another,. What really took place, in the glar- 
 ing light of day, was that Germany, fully pre- 
 pared for the fray, hurled herself at weak Belgium, 
 throwing to the waste basket the scraps of the 
 solemn treaties by which she was in honour bound 
 to respect Belgian neutrality. She had first opened 
 the disastrous game by hurling her vassal, Aus- 
 tria, at weak Servia. 
 
 Bushing her innumerable victorious armies 
 over Belgian trodden soil, she hurled herself at 
 France with the ultimate design to hurl herself 
 at England. 
 
 That in so doing, Germany was raging with 
 a foolish thirst of destruction, of revenge and 
 hatred, is certainly true. But Mr. Bourassa's guilt 
 
A'BUISfEi OF APPEAiDS FOR PEACE. 918 
 
 is in his assertion that the victims of Germany's 
 sanguinary fury were actuated by the same crim- 
 inal motives in heroically defending their homes, 
 their wives, their children, their all, against the 
 barbarians once more bursting out of Central 
 Europe, this time bent on overthrowing human 
 freedom. 
 
 Is the respectable citizen who bravely defends 
 himself against the ruffian who hurls himself at 
 his throat, to be compared with his murderous 
 assailant? 
 
 But England was not alone in hurling herself 
 at Germany, as Mr. Bourassa so cordially says. 
 Without a word, even a sign, by the only momen- 
 tum of her furious outburst of foolish destruction, 
 she was followed by the whole of her Em!pire. How 
 much we, Canadians, were, for instance, deluded, 
 the Nationalist leader is kind enough to tell us in 
 Ms ever sweet language. 
 
 When the Parliament of Ottawa unanimously 
 decided that it was the diity of the British 
 dominion of Canada to participate in the war; 
 when Canadian public opinion throughout the 
 length and breadth of the land, almost unanimous- 
 ly approved of this loyal and patriotic decision, 
 we, poor unfortunate Canadians, thought that we 
 were heartily and nobly joining with the mother- 
 country to avenge "outraged Justice," to rush to 
 the rescue of violated Belgium, of Prance, once 
 more threatened with agony under the brutal 
 Teutonic ironed heels, of the whole world — Mr. 
 
314 ENG'LAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 Bouras'sa's commanding personality included — 
 menaced with the huns^ domination. 
 
 How sadly mistaken we were, Mr. Bourassa 
 tells us. According to this infallible judge of the 
 righteousness or criminality of historical events, 
 we were labouring under a paroxysm of passion — 
 of a rage of foolish destruction, of vengeance and 
 hatred. 
 
 Once overpowered by this vituperative mood 
 of calumnious accusations, the Nationalist leader 
 slashes England, as follows, — page 18 — : — 
 
 "England has violently destroyed more na- 
 tional rights than all the other European countries 
 united together. By force or deceit, she has swal- 
 lowed up a fourth of the earthly globe; "by conquest, 
 and more especially by corruption and the pur- 
 chase of consciences, she has subjucated more 
 peoples than there were, in the whole human 
 history, ever brought under the same sceptre." 
 
 Thus, in Mr. Bourassa's impartial estimation, 
 the depredations and slaughters of the hordes com- 
 manded by Attila, the savagery of the Turks of old 
 and present days, the crimes of Germany in this 
 great war, are only insignificant trifles compared 
 with the horrors of British history. Shame on 
 such outrageous misrepresentation of historical 
 truth. 
 
 Mr. Bourassa accuses England to have by 
 force or deceit swallowed up a fourth of the earthly 
 globe. Considering the happy and flourishing 
 condition of the vast British Empire, the National- 
 
A'BUSE OF ABPBAIDS FOR PEACE. 315 
 
 1st leader, as every once else, must admit that 
 England is endowed with great digestive powers, 
 as she does not show the least sign that she suffers 
 from national dyspepsia from having swallowed 
 up a fourth of the universe. Her national diges- 
 tion is evidently sound and healthy, for instead of 
 weakening and decaying, she grows every day in 
 strength, in stature, in freedom, in prestige, and, 
 above all, in wisdom. 
 
 The Nationalist leader has thought proper to 
 express his formal hatred of militarism. One 
 would naturally suppose that, in so doing, he 
 should have pointed at the worst kind of militar- 
 ism ever devised — the German type of our own 
 days. Let no one be mistaken about it. At page 
 58 of his pamphlet, Mr. Bourassa bursts out as 
 follows in the top paragraph : — 
 
 "As a matter of fact, of all hinds of militarism, 
 of all the instruments of brutal domination, the 
 naval supremacy of England is the most redoubt- 
 able, the most execrable for the whole world; for it 
 rules over all the continents, hindering the free 
 relations of all the peoples." 
 
 Was I really deluded when I felt sure that in 
 peaceful times, British naval supremacy on the 
 seas was not interfering in the least with the 
 freest commercial intercourse of all the nations, 
 whose mercantile ships can, by British laws, enter 
 freely into all the ports of Great Britain?. Mr. 
 Bourassa's assertion to the contrary, I shall not, 
 by the least shadow, alter my opinion which is 
 positively sound. 
 
316 ENQLANOD, 'CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 From the above last quotation, I have the 
 right 'to infer that Mr. Bourassa is very sorry that, 
 in war times like those we have seen since July 
 1914, British naval supremacy is sufficiently para- 
 mount to protect the United Kingdom from starva- 
 tion, «to keep the coasts of France opened to the 
 mercantile ships of the Allies and of all the neu- 
 tral nations, to "rule the waves" against both the 
 German military and mercantile fleets, chased 
 away from the oceans by the British guns thunder- 
 ing at the Teutonic pirates on land and sea. If he 
 is, he can be sure that he is alone to cry and weep 
 ait a fact which rejoices all the true and loyal 
 friends of freedom and justice. 
 
 Mr. Bourassa cherishes a wish that will 
 certainly not be granted. He will not be happy 
 unless England agrees to give up her naval supre- 
 macy to please Germany. Let him rest quietly on 
 his two ears ; the dawn of such a calamitous day is 
 yet very far distant. 
 
 At the end of page 12, Mr. Bourassa asserts 
 that the Germans proclaim their right to "Ger- 
 manize" Europe and the world, and that the 
 English imperiously affirm their right to maintain 
 their Imperial power over the seas and to oppose 
 "Anglo-Saxonism" to "pan-Germanism." — . 
 
 I have already refuted the Nationalist leader's 
 pretention, and informed him that England, no 
 more 'than any other country, has no "Sovereign 
 rights" on the seas outside the coastal limits as 
 prescribed by International Law. He appears 
 
A-BOaEi CKP ARPEAiLS FOR PEACE. 317 
 
 totally unable to understand the simple truth that 
 Great Britain's sea supremacy is nothing more nor 
 less than the superiority of her naval strength 
 created, at an immense cost, out of sheer necessity, 
 to protect the United Kingdom from the domina- 
 tion of a great continental power. 
 
 Does he not know that, in the days prior to 
 England's creation of her mighty fleet, she has 
 been easily conquered by invaders? Is he aware 
 of the great British historical fact called the 
 Norman Conquest? Has he never heard that be- 
 fore starting on his triumphant march across 
 Europe, culminating at Austerlitz, the great 
 Napoleon had planned an invasion of England, 
 with every prospects of success, if he had not been 
 deterred from carrying it out by the continental 
 coalition which, calling into play the resources of 
 his mighty genius, he so victoriously crushed and 
 dispersed? Has he never read anything about 
 panic stricken England until she was relieved from 
 the dangers of the projected invasion? 
 
 Does he not realize that, unless they were 
 madmen, no British ministers will ever consent to 
 renounce their "undoubted right" to be ever ready 
 for any emergency, to save their country from en- 
 slavement by would-be dashing invaders? It is the 
 height of political nonsense to supposs that respon- 
 sible public men ever could be so blind, or so re- 
 creant to their most sacred duty, as to follow the 
 wild course recommended by extravagantly pre- 
 judiced "Nationalists." 
 
318 EN9L&M), €ANADA AND TiBDE WAR. 
 
 The man who would throw away his weapons 
 of defense would have nothing else to do but to 
 kneel down and implore the tender mercy of his 
 criminal agressor. Truly loyal subjects of the 
 Empire cannot clamour to bring England down to 
 such an humiliating position. They know too well 
 that if ever matters came to so disastrous a pass, 
 Great Britain could easily be starved into irre- 
 mediable submission with the consequent and im- 
 mediate destruction of the whole fabric of the 
 Empire. A Nationalist, yawning for such an end, 
 may suggest the best way to reach it. But no 
 loyal man, sincerely wishing the maintenance of 
 the great British Commonwealth, will ever do so. 
 
 No wonder that he who came out openly in 
 favour of Imperial Federation for the express 
 purpose of ruining the Empire, endeavours to 
 achieve his most cherished object in first destroy- 
 ing British naval supremacy on the seas. Imperial 
 Federation would then no longer be necessary for 
 the consummation of his longing wishes. 
 
 Freedom of the seas and British naval supre- 
 macy are not antagonistic by any means, as I have 
 previously well explained. It is an unanswerable 
 proposition — a truism — to say that supremacy on 
 the ocean will always exist, held by one nation or 
 another. The Power commanding the superior 
 naval fleet will for ever be supreme on the seas. It 
 is mere common sense to say so. Mr. Bourassa 
 would vainly work his wind-mill for centuries with- 
 out changing this eternal rule of sound sense. 
 
ABDStE OF APlFEAUS FOR PEACE. 319 
 
 If, by whichever cause, England was to lose 
 her sea supremacy, it would at once, as a matter 
 of course, pass on to the next superior naval Power. 
 
 In a subsequent chapter on the af ter-the-war 
 military problem, I shall explain the way or ways, 
 by which, in my opinion, the question of the free- 
 dom of the seas, so much misunderstood, could be 
 settled to the satisfaction of all concerned. 
 
 With regard to the supposed conflict of "anglo- 
 saxonism" and "pangermanism" I will merely say 
 that it is only another sample of Mr. Bourassa's 
 wily dreams. 
 
 As I have already said, this last pamphlet of 
 the Nationalist leader is, for a large part of it, but 
 the repetition of his diatribes so often hurled at 
 England. I will close this chapter by quoting 
 from page 57, the following paragraph which sum- 
 marizes, in a striking way, the charges Mr. 
 Bourassa is so fond to hurl at the mother-country. 
 It reads thus : — 
 
 " What has allowed England to bring Portugal 
 into vassalage? to dominate Spain and keep Gib- 
 raltar, Spanish land? to deprive Greece of the 
 Ionians and Cyprus Islands? to steal Malta? to 
 foment Revolution in the Kingdom of Naples and 
 the Papal States? to run, during thirty years, the 
 foreign policy of Italy and to throw her in Aus- 
 tria's execrated' arms? to take possession of Suez 
 and to make her own thing of it? to chase France 
 from the Upper Nile, and subsequently from the 
 whole of Egypt, to intervene in the Berlin treaty to 
 
320 ENOLAND, OANiA)DA AND 'TGHDE WAR. 
 
 deprive Russia of the profits; of her victory, to gal- 
 vanize dying Turkey, to delay for thirty years the, 
 revival of the Balkan States and to make of Ger- 
 many the main spring of continental Europe! In 
 a word, what has permitted England to rule the 
 roost in Europe and to accumulate the frightful 
 storm let loose in 1914? Who? What? if it is not 
 the "naval domination" of England ever since the 
 destruction of the French and Spanish fleets at 
 Trafalgar" 
 
 It would be most difficult to condense more 
 erroneous historical appreciations and political 
 absurdities in so few lines. 
 
 Many will be quite surprised to learn, from 
 Mr. Bourassa's resounding trumpet, that England 
 had been for many years gathering 'the storm 
 which broke out in 1914. So far all fairminded 
 men were convinced that this rascally work had 
 been done by Germany, in spite of England's ex- 
 hortations to reduce military armaments. 
 
 In all sincerity, I am unable to understand 
 how Mr. Bourassa can expect to successfully give 
 the lie to such incontrovertible truths as the guilt 
 of Germany in preparing the war she finally 
 brought on more than four yars ago, and as the 
 unceasing determination of England to maintain 
 peace. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 A Case For True Statesmanship. 
 
 Whatever the true and the false friends of 
 Peace may hope and say, it is perfectly useless to 
 close our eyes to the glaring fact that its restora- 
 tion can only be the result of military effort com- 
 bined with the highest practical statesmanship. 
 After all what has happened, and the oft-repeated 
 declaration of the Rulers of the belligerent 
 nations, it would be a complete loss of a very valu- 
 able time to indulge any longer in the expression 
 of views all acknowledge in principle, but which 
 no one, however well disposed he may be, is actual- 
 ly able to traduce in practical form. 
 
 When writing my French book, in the fall of 
 1916, reviewing the situation as it had so far 
 developed, I said : — 
 
 "All are most anxious for peace. However it is infinitely 
 better to look at matters such as they are. It is evident that the 
 military situation does not offer the least hope that the war can 
 be immediately brought to an end. Successes have been achieved 
 on both sides. But nothing decisive has yet happened. The armies 
 are facing one another in defiant attitude. The belligerent nations, 
 on both sides, have yet, and for a long time, great resources in 
 man-power and money." 
 
 "If Germany, which should first give up the fight in ac- 
 knowledging her crime, is obdurate to final exhaustion, how can it 
 be possilbUy expected that the AHie> who were forced to fight, 
 will submit to the humiliation and shame of soliciting from their 
 
322 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 cruel enemy a peace the conditions of which, they know, would be 
 utterly unacceptable. Consequently they must with an indomitable 
 courage and an invincible perseverance go on struggling to solve, 
 for a long time, the redoubtable problem to which they are pledged, 
 in honour bound, to give the only settlement which can reassure 
 the world." 
 
 I am still and absolutely of the same opinion. 
 The present military situation has certainly much 
 improved in favour of the Allies since 1916. 
 However, looking at the question, first, from the 
 standpoint of the developing military operations, 
 there is no actual, and there will not be for many 
 months yet — more or less — practical possibility of 
 a satisfactory peace settlement. 
 
 Secondly, looking at the question from the 
 standpoint of true statesmanship, it is very easy 
 to draw the inexorable conclusion that, again, 
 there is not actually the least chance of an imme- 
 diate restoration of peace. 
 
 Statesmen, responsible, not only for the 
 future of their respective countries, but, actually, 
 for that of 'the whole world, are not to be supposed 
 liable to be carried away by a hasty desire to put 
 an end to the war and to their own arduous task 
 in carrying it to the only possible solution: — 
 
 A JUST AND DURABLE PEACE. 
 
 A broad and certain fact, staring every one, 
 is that the Berlin Government will not accept the 
 only settlement to which the Allies can possibly 
 agree as long as her armies occupy French and 
 Belgian territories. If Mr. Bourassa and his 
 "pacifists" friends — or dupes — have really enter- 
 
WRIM STA/EElSMANlSH'IP. 323 
 
 tained a faint hope to the contrary, they were 
 utterly mistaken. 
 
 Present military events, however proportion- 
 ately enlarged by the increased resources, in man- 
 power and money, of the belligerents, are not 
 without many appropriate precedents. History is 
 always repeating itself. Great Powers having 
 risked their all in a drawn battle, do not give in as 
 long as they can stand the strain, considering the 
 importance of the interests they have at stake. 
 
 For the same reason above stated, but re- 
 versed, the Allies will not negotiate for peace 
 before they have thrown the German armies out 
 of French and Belgian soil, and repulsed them over 
 Teutonic territory. I do not mean to say that 
 peace must necessarily be proclaimed either from 
 Berlin or from Paris. But it will only be signed 
 as the inevitable result of a final triumphant 
 march on the way either to Berlin or to Paris. 
 There is no possible escape from the alternative. 
 In such matters, there is no halfway station. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 After-the-War Military Problem. 
 
 Two of the most important propositions of 
 His Holiness the Pope more especially deserve 
 earnest consideration. They are indeed supported 
 by the Allies who are purposely fighting for their 
 adoption. 
 
 In his note of the first of August, 1917, ad- 
 dressed to the Rulers of the belligerent nations, 
 the Pope says in part: — 
 
 "At first, the fundamental point must be 
 to substitute the moral force of rlght to the 
 material force of arms." 
 
 No truer proposition could be enounced. If 
 Germany had put this principle into practice, she 
 never would have violated Belgian territory. 
 
 When England protested against the proposed 
 invasion of Belgium, she did so in obedience to the 
 sacred principle enunciated by the Sovereign 
 Pontiff. She strongly insisted to the last minute 
 that the moral force of solemn treaties should 
 prevail upon the material force of arms. 
 
 In a letter dated October 7, 1917, His Emin- 
 ence Cardinal Gasparri, Secretary of State to His 
 Holiness, addressing the Archbishop of Lens, 
 wrote as follows respecting conscription : — 
 
AFTER-THE-WAR PROBLEM. 326 
 
 "The Holy See, in his Appeal of the first of August, did not 
 consider, out of deference for the leaders of the belligerent peoples, 
 that he should mention it, preferring to leave to themselves the 
 •care of determining it, but for him, the only practical system and, 
 moreover, easy to apply with some good will on both sides, would 
 be the following: to suppress, with one accord between civilized 
 nations, military obligatory service; to constitute an arbitration 
 tribunal, as already said in the Pontifical Appeal, to settle inter- 
 national questions; finally, to prevent infractions, to establish uni- 
 versal "boycottage" against any nation attempting to reestablish 
 military obligatory service, on refusing either to lap an inter- 
 national question before the arbitration tribunal, or to abide by its 
 decision." 
 
 Cardinal Gasparri then points to the ante- war 
 British and American systems of military "volun- 
 tarism", in the following terms : — 
 
 "As a matter of fact, omitting other considerations, the re- 
 cent example of England and America testifies in favour of the 
 adoption of this system. England and America had, in effect, 
 voluntary service, and, to take an efficient part in the present war, 
 they were obliged to adopt conscription. It proves that voluntary 
 service well supplies the necessary contingent to maintain public 
 order (and is public order not maintained in England and America 
 just as well, if not better, than in the other nations?) but it does 
 not supply the enormous armies required for modern warfare. 
 Consequently in suppressing, with one accord between civilized 
 nations, obligatory service to replace it by voluntary service, dis- 
 armament with all the happy consequences above indicated would 
 ibe automatically obtained without any perturbation of public 
 order." 
 
 "For the last century, conscription has been the true cause 
 of calamities which have afflicted society: to reach a simultaneous 
 and reciprocal suppression will be the true remedy. In fact, once 
 suppressed, conscription could be reestablished only by a law; and 
 for such a law, even with the present constitution of the Central 
 Empires, Parliamentary approbation would be required (which ap- 
 probation would be most improbable for many reasons and above 
 all on account of the sad experience of the present war) : in this 
 way, what is so much desired, for the maintenance of agreements, 
 would be obtained: the peoples guarantee. If, on the other hand, 
 
326 ENGHLAMD, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 the right to make peace or war was given to the people by way of 
 referendum, or at least to Parliament, peace (between nations would 
 ibe assured, as much at least as it is possible in this world." 
 
 It should be very gratifying indeed to all the 
 loyal subjects of the British Empire to ascertain, 
 from 'the declarations of Cardinal Gasparri, that 
 the Pope is in so complete accord with England on 
 this the most important question to be settled by 
 the future peace treaty. 
 
 As proved in one of the first chapters of this 
 work, the Government of Great Britain, supported 
 in this course by almost the unanimous opinion of 
 the peoples of the United Kingdom, was the first 
 to suggest the holding of the Hague conferences 
 to consider the best means to adopt to favour the 
 world with the blessings of permanent peace. 
 Their own view, which they forcibly expressed, 
 was that the surest way to reach that much desired 
 result was to limit the military armaments, both 
 on land and sea. For more than twenty years 
 previous to the war, they pressed, and even im- 
 plored, for the adoption of their program. 
 
 I have also proved how obdurate Germany 
 was in resisting England's propositions, and her 
 successful intrigues to thwart Great Britain's 
 efforts to have them adopted and put into practice. 
 
 England's policy has not changed. On the 
 contrary, it is more than ever favourable to the 
 limitation, and even to the complete abolition, of 
 armaments, if one or the other can be achieved. 
 It is the principal war aim of Great Britain, only 
 
AiFTER-THE-WAR PROBMLM. 327 
 
 coming next after her determination to avenge 
 Belgium. 
 
 The future peace of the world could no doubt 
 be well guaranteed by a large measure of dis- 
 armament. But it would certainly be much more 
 so, if complete abolition could be obtained by an 
 international agreement binding on all nations, 
 with, of course, the allowance of the necessary 
 forces required for the maintenance of interior 
 public order. 
 
 The whole world can safely depend on the 
 strenuous support of England for either the 
 limitation or the abolition of armaments when- 
 ever the question is seriously taken up for 
 consideration. 
 
 Evidently the problem will be difficult to 
 solve. However, it should not be beyond the 
 resources of statesmanship which, assuredly, ought 
 to rise superior to all prejudiced aspirations after 
 the terrible ordeal Humanity will have experienced 
 during the present war. 
 
 The maintenance of internal public order, and 
 permanent preparedness for foreign wars, are two 
 very different questions to examine. The first can 
 safely be left to the care of every nation sure to 
 attend to it if willing to maintain her authority. 
 The second has a much wider scope and will tax 
 the ability of statesmanship to the utmost limit. 
 
 Will the great civilized nations decide, when 
 the war is over, to completely abolish conscription 
 fto return to voluntary military service within a 
 
328 ENGILAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 very limited organization, thus doing away by a 
 bold and single stroke with a system which, for 
 more than a hundred years, has been the curse of 
 continental Europe? 
 
 Or will they, at least as an initial attempt, 
 come to the conclusion to only limit armaments, 
 maintaining compulsory service for the reduced 
 strength of the armies? 
 
 If armaments are either abolished, or merely 
 reduced, will they be so on sea as well as on land? 
 I would answer at once : — of course, they should. 
 
 Looking at the question from the British 
 stand-point — and I can also say from that of the 
 United States — it should be easily solved. 
 
 Public opinion in Great Britain and all over 
 the British Empire, as well as in the United 
 States, has always been against conscription in 
 peace times, until the present war. 
 
 Not exactly foreseeing the full extent of the 
 effort she would be called upon to make, England 
 entered into the conflict determined to meet the 
 requirements of her military situation out of the 
 resources of voluntary enlistment. Canada, join- 
 ing in the struggle, did the same. Both have done 
 wonderfully well during the three first years of 
 the prolonged war. 
 
 I can, without the slightest hesitation, posi- 
 tively assert that public opinion, in the whole 
 British Empire, and, not only in the United States, 
 but in the whole of the two American continents, 
 is, as a matter of principle, as much hostile to com- 
 
AFTER-T'HE-WAR PROBLEM. 329 
 
 pulsory military service as it was before the pres- 
 ent war, and would exult at its complete abolition 
 as one of the happiest results of the gigantic 
 contest still going on. 
 
 It is to be deplored, but still it is a fact, that 
 great questions of public interest too often cannot 
 be settled solely in conformity with the principles 
 they imply. 
 
 If Great Britain, if the United States, if 
 Canada, could consider the question of conscrip- 
 tion exclusively from their own stand-point, they 
 would most surely decide at once, and with great 
 enthusiasm, to abolish the obligatory military 
 service they have adopted only as a last resort 
 under the stress of imperious necessity. 
 
 Moreover, I have no hesitation to express my 
 own opinion that whatever will be the military 
 system of continental Europe after the war, the 
 British Empire and the United States will certain- 
 ly not be cursed with permanent conscription. 
 They are both so happily situated that, in peace 
 times, they cannot be called upon to go very 
 extensively into the costly preparedness which the 
 European continental nations will have again to 
 submit themselves to, if they are not wise enough 
 to put an end forever to the barbarous militarism 
 they have too long endured for fear of Teutonic 
 domination. 
 
 Under the worst European situation, England, 
 with a territorial army of a million of men ready 
 to be called to the Colours, or actually flying them, 
 
330 ENGILAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 backed by her mighty fleet maintained to its high- 
 est state of efficiency, could always face any conti- 
 nental enemy. And such an army of a ready 
 million of well trained officers and men, voluntary 
 service would easily produce. 
 
 If future conditions would require it, Canada 
 herself could do her share to prepare for any 
 emergency by reverting to voluntary enlistment, 
 but in improving the service so as to produce more 
 immediate efficiency. 
 
 Very apparently, the United States will come 
 out of the present conflict with flying Colours and 
 will dispense with compulsory service under any 
 circumstances in the peace days to follow. 
 
 What then will the continental powers do? 
 Blessed they will be, if they make up their mind 
 to do away, once for all, with a system which has 
 crushed the peoples so unmercifully. 
 
 To speak in all frankness, I believe it would 
 be almost vain, however much desirable it is, to 
 indulge in fond hopes of the complete abolition of 
 militarism on the European continent. The canker 
 is too deep in the flesh and blood of nations to be 
 extirpated as if by magic. Such a reversal of 
 conditions grown to extravagant proportions, dur- 
 ing more than a century, will not likely be accom- 
 plished at the first stroke. Let us all hope that, at 
 least, a good start will be made by a large limita- 
 tion of armaments which may, with time, lead to 
 the final achievement for which the whole world 
 would be forever grateful to the Almighty. 
 
AFTEJR-THE-WAR PROBLEM. 331 
 
 I have positively stated that extravagant 
 militarism should be discontinued on sea as well 
 as on land. Such has been the policy of England 
 for many years past. I have proved it by the 
 diplomatic correspondance between Great Britain 
 and Germany, and the solemn declarations of all 
 the leading British statesmen for the last quarter 
 of a century. How persistingly England has im- 
 plored Germany to agree with her in stopping that 
 ruinous race in the building of war vessels, we 
 have seen. 
 
 So, the assent, nay more, the determination of 
 England to adhere to her old and noble policy, is a 
 foregone conclusion. 
 
 The closing sentence of the last quoted para- 
 graph of Cardinal Gasparri's letter expresses the 
 opinion that "the right to make peace or war 
 should be given to the people by way of referendum, 
 or at least to Parliament" 
 
 The system preconized by the Eminent 
 Cardinal has been in existence in England for a 
 number of years ; ever since the day when complete 
 ministerial responsibility was adopted as the 
 fundamental principle of the British constitution. 
 That system was carried to the letter by Great 
 Britain with regard to her intervention in the 
 present war. 
 
 The right to declare war and to make peace is 
 one of the most important prerogatives of the 
 British Crown. This prerogative of the Crown, 
 like all the others, is held in trust by the Sovereign 
 
332 ENGHLAND, OANiADA 'AND THE WAR. 
 
 for the benefit of the people and exercised by Him 
 
 ONLY UPON THE ADVICE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF HIS 
 MINISTERS. 
 
 In conformity with this great British (con- 
 stitutional principle, what happened in London, in 
 August, 1914? The then Prime Minister, Mr. 
 Asquith, in his own name and in those of his 
 colleagues, advised His Majesty King George V. 
 to declare war against Germany because she had 
 invaded Belgian territory in violation of the 
 treaties by which these two countries were, in hon- 
 our bound, to protect Belgium's neutrality. They 
 were constitutionally responsible to the Imperial 
 Parliament and to the people of the United 
 Kingdom for their advice to their Sovereign. 
 
 In his admirable statement to the British 
 House of Commons, Sir Edward Grey, Secretary 
 of State for Foreign Affairs, said: — 
 
 "I have assured the House — and the Prime 
 Minister has assured the House more than once — 
 that if any crisis such as this arose, we should 
 come before the House of Commons and be able to 
 say to the House that it was free to decide what 
 the British attitude should be, that we would have 
 no secret engagement which we should spring upon 
 the House, and tell the House that, because we had 
 entered into that engagement, there was an obliga- 
 tion of honour upon the country" 
 
 The British House of Commons, had they 
 considered it to be their duty, had the right to dis- 
 approve the foreign policy of the Cabinet and to 
 
AF1 ER THE-WAR PROBLEM. 333 
 
 censure the ministers for the advice they had given, 
 or had decided to give, to the Sovereign. On the 
 other hand, the House of Commons had the right 
 to approve the stand taken by the Government. 
 They did so unanimously, and were most admir- 
 ably supported by the people. 
 
 I must say that I consider it would be very 
 difficult, if not absolutely impracticable, to have 
 questions of war or peace dealt with by way of 
 "Referendum." Crisis suddenly created lead al- 
 most instantly to declarations of war. But this 
 outcome could hardly be so rapidly produced that 
 Parliament could not be called to deal with the 
 emergency. 
 
 How could France have been able to oppose 
 the crushing German invasion, in 1914, if her 
 Government and her representative Houses had 
 been obliged to wait for the result of ^Referen- 
 dum" whether she would fight or kneel down? 
 
 But the whole world — outside the Central 
 Empires and their Allies — witnessed with un- 
 bounded delight the spontaneous and unanimous 
 decision of the heroic French nation to fight to the 
 last. She threw herself with the most admirable 
 courage against the invading waves of Teutonic 
 barbarism, and succeeded by the great and 
 glorious Marne victory in forcing them to ebb, thus 
 giving England and the other Allies the time 
 necessary to organize and train their armies which, 
 by their united efforts will save Civilization from 
 destruction and the world from the threatened 
 German domination. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 The Intervention of the United States in the 
 
 War. 
 
 The hostilities, once opened as the direct con- 
 sequence of Germany's obduracy, many of the most 
 influential leaders of public opinion in the United 
 States foresaw that the conflict taking such a wide 
 range, the great American Republic was most 
 likely to be, sooner or later, involved in the 
 European struggle. They were of two classes. 
 Those out of office, holding for the time no official 
 position, were, of course, not bound to the same 
 careful discretion in judging the daily develop- 
 ments of the military operations, and their far 
 reaching consequences, as those who were at the 
 helm of State. 
 
 In appreciating the course followed by the 
 United States since the war commenced, it must 
 never be forgotten that if an autocratic Empire, 
 trampled upon by a domineering military party, 
 can be thrown in a minute into a great conflict, a 
 Republic like that of our powerful neighbours 
 cannot be dragooned into any hasty action. In a 
 free country, under a responsible government, 
 public opinion is the basis of the success of any 
 important official decision. 
 
TERE UNITED STATES IN THE WAR. 335 
 
 The political men and the numerous publicists 
 who incessantly called the attention of our neigh- 
 bours to what was going on in Europe and on the 
 seas, have rendered a great service in moulding 
 public opinion for the grand duty the Kepublic 
 would eventually be obliged to accomplish. 
 
 Having ourselves decided to participate in the 
 war at once after its outbreak, and deeply engaged 
 in the task, we, Canadians, felt somewhat uneasy 
 about the apparent determination of our neigh- 
 bours to stand aside, and let the European Powers 
 settle the ugly question. As a rule, we were all 
 wishing to see the United States joining with the 
 Allies in the fray. 
 
 Once again, we had some black sheeps with us. 
 Whilst all the loyal Canadians were anxiously 
 waiting for the day when they would applaud the 
 American Republic's declaration of war against 
 Germany, our Nationalists were getting more 
 nervous at the increasing signs of the growth of 
 public opinion amongst our neighbours against the 
 criminal German cause and the crimes by which 
 the Teutons were supporting it. Their leader, Mr. 
 Bourassa, was doing his best to persuade the 
 Americans that they had much better to remain 
 out of the struggle. He expected he would succeed, 
 as he had done in the Province of Quebec, in in- 
 fluencing , by his erroneous theories, many of the 
 French Canadian element in the United States. 
 
 The wish being always father to. the thought, 
 Mr. Bourassa easily came to the conclusion that 
 
336 ENGJLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 Mr. Wilson, the president of the United States, 
 was decidedly opposed to any intervention of the 
 Kepublic in the war, and would prevent it at all 
 hazards. How prodigal he was of his eulogiums, 
 of his advices, to the American "pacifists," with 
 the President as their leader, to know one has only 
 to read his newspaper "Le Devoir." 
 
 How disappointed, how crest-fallen, he was 
 when he discovered how much mistaken he had 
 been! 
 
 When Mr. Wilson, who had long been waiting 
 for the right hour to strike the blow at the Teutonic 
 autocratic attempt at domination, rising grandly 
 to the rank of a great statesman, supported by 
 the splendid strength of the public opinion he 
 had wisely and skilfully rallied in favour of the 
 decision he had taken, was a sad day for our 
 Nationalists and their heart-broken leader. Blind, 
 prejudiced, as they were, meekly pandering to 
 pan-Grermanism which they considered as the 
 best antidote to the Anglo-Saxonism they abhor, 
 they could not understand that the Lusitania 
 horror, the slaughtering of hundreds of American 
 citizens in violation of all the principles of 
 International Law, the crimes of the Teutonic 
 submarine campaign more than justified the 
 intervention of the United States in the war. 
 
 What our neighbours have done since they 
 have joined with the Allies, what they are doing 
 and promise to do, is worthy of all admiration. 
 Like the British Empire, like France, the United 
 
THE UNBTED STATES IN THE WAR. 337 
 
 States have given the inspiring example of a most 
 enlightened patriotism, of a splendid unity of 
 purpose, of a boundless confidence in the triumph 
 of the cause of Justice and Eight. 
 
 Such a grand spectacle of true national unity- 
 offered a striking contrast with the sad exhibition 
 of the narrow Nationalism Canada has had to 
 endure without, however, hindering to any appre- 
 ciable extent our loyal and patriotic effort to help 
 winning the war. 
 
 Mr. Bourassa, who had been out of his natural 
 vituperative tune in complimenting Mr. Wilson on 
 his supposed peace proclivities, was sure to turn 
 his guns against the President of the Republic the 
 moment he boldly and energetically took his stand 
 against German barbarism as exhibited since the 
 beginning of the war. Mr. Wilson had especially 
 protested against such outrages as were perpetrat- 
 ed on the seas by Teutonic orders. He had repeat- 
 edly warned the Berlin Government what the 
 inevitable consequences of such proceedings would 
 be, and going to the full length of what friendly 
 relations between two Sovereign States could per- 
 mit, had demanded that an end be put to a kind of 
 warfare most formally condemned by Internation- 
 al Law, contrary to all justice, to all human 
 notions of civilization. 
 
 When the cup of German iniquities overflowed 
 with new crimes, American reprobation was also 
 raised to the high water mark. Indignation was 
 at the height of its exasperation. Public opinion 
 
338 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 had rapidly rallied and ripened at the horrible 
 sight of so many American citizens, women ana 
 children, murdered in mid-ocean, their dead bodies 
 floating over the waves, and their souls from above 
 crying for vengeance. 
 
 Then the President, Congress, statesmen, pol- 
 iticians, publicists, loyal Americans numbering 
 almost a hundred million, all of one mind, of one 
 heart, pledged their national honour to avenge the 
 foul deeds of Teutonic barbarity, and 'to do their 
 mighty share in rescueing Freedom and Civiliza- 
 tion from the threatening sanguinary cataclysm 
 which was cruelly saddening our times and darken- 
 ing the prospects of our children. 
 
 How powerfully, how grandly, how admirably 
 they have kept their word, all know. The laws 
 necessary to prosecute the war with the utmost 
 vigour were unanimously passed by Congress. The 
 organization of the man-power of our neighbours 
 has been made on a grand scale. The calls to the 
 financial resources of 'the Eepublic have been 
 patriotically answered by the people who poured 
 out billions and billions of their hard earned and 
 prudently saved money to support the national 
 cause so closely identified with that of the Allies. 
 Besides spending innumerable millions for their 
 own gigantic military effort, the United States are 
 lending billions of dollars to their associates in the 
 great struggle to curb down German autocratic 
 criminal ambition. 
 
 The universe, as a whole, gratefully applaud- 
 
TILE UNITED iSUATEiS IN THE WAR. 339 
 
 ed the magnificent effort of the leading nation of 
 the New- World in defending the old continents of 
 Europe, Asia and Africa against the new invasion 
 of the Huns. 
 
 The only shadow to this ennobling picture is 
 that which our Nationalists, from this side of the 
 boundary line, try to breathe on it,. expecting that 
 their treacherous whisper will find some echo 
 amongst the French Canadian and the German 
 elements of the Republic. 
 
 The following lines are a sample of the kind 
 words Mr. Bourassa has addressed to Mr. Wilson 
 — the warrior — not the pacifist. On August 30, 
 1917, respecting the answer of the President of the 
 United States to the Pope's appeal in favour of 
 peace, he wrote in a gentle mood : — 
 
 "Truth and falsehood, sincerity and deceit, 
 logic and sophism are sporting with gracefulness 
 in this singularly astonishing document. One would 
 imagine that the President, persuaded that the 
 European Governments are playing an immense 
 game of "poker" having the life of the peoples at 
 stake, wanted to go further and to prove to them 
 that at such a game the great American democracy 
 is their master. Perhaps did he believe that the 
 "bluff" outbidding would succeed in tearing to 
 pieces the mask of falsehoods, of ambiquities and 
 hypocrisy, by which the national Rulers are blind- 
 ing the peoples in order to lead them more readily 
 to be slaughtered" 
 
 On perusing such outrageous writing, one 
 cannot help being convinced that Mr. Bourassa 
 
340 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 considers all the distinguished and most patriotic 
 political leaders who, for the last four years, have 
 guided with so much talent and devotion France, 
 the British Empire, and their Allies through the 
 unprecedented crisis they have had to face, are a 
 criminal gang of murderers. 
 
 So, in Mr. Bourassa's kind opinion, when Mr. 
 Wilson and all the members of the two Houses 
 of Congress, with a most admirable unanimity of 
 thought and aspirations, called upon the American 
 nation to avenge their countrymen, countrywomen 
 and children, murdered on the broad sea, they 
 were criminally joining with European Bulers 
 in a game of "bluff", going further than all of them 
 in order to tear to pieces the falsehoods and hypo- 
 crisy they were using to blind their peoples to the 
 facile acceptance of the slaughtering process. A 
 very strange way, indeed, of unmasking others' 
 hypocrisy by being more hypocritical than them 
 all. 
 
 The next day, in a second article on the same 
 subject, the Nationalist leader said : — 
 
 "Since the outbreak of the war, more especial- 
 ly since the exhausted peoples have commenced te 
 ask themselves what will be the result of this 
 frightful slaughter, the supporters of war to the 
 utmost have tried hard to create the legend that 
 Germany tvants to impose her political, military 
 and economical domination over the whole uni- 
 verse. To this first falsehood, they add another 
 one, still more complete: the only way to assure 
 
TUB UNHTED STIATES IK THE WAR. 341 
 
 peace, they say, is to democratize Germany, 
 Austria and all the nations of the Globe" 
 
 Two falsehoods no doubt there are, but they 
 are not asserted by those who affirm Germany's as- 
 piration at universal domination, and who believe 
 that if true free democratic institutions were to 
 replace autocratic rule in many countries, peace 
 could be much more easily maintained. They are 
 circulated by those who deny that such are the two 
 cases. 
 
 Whose fault is it if the almost universal opin- 
 ion, outside the Central Empires and their few 
 allies, is that Teutonic ambition, for many years 
 past, has been to dominate the world? 
 
 Whose fault is it if, for the last forty years, 
 autocratic rule has once more proved to be the 
 curse of the nations which it governs, and of the 
 peoples it subjugates? 
 
 Has not Germany only herself to blame? If 
 she had respected the eternal principles of Divine 
 Morals ; if she had been contented of her lot and 
 mindful of the rights of other nations ; if she had 
 been guided by the true law that Eight is above 
 Might; if she had followed the ever glorious path 
 of Justice, she would not be presently under the 
 ban of the civilized world rising in a mighty effort 
 to crush her threatening tyranny out of existence. 
 
 So much the w r orse for her, if she falls a virt im 
 to her insane ambitious dreams and to the atro- 
 cious crimes they have inspired her to commit. In 
 her calamity, the Nationalists' sympathies will 
 
342 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 avail her very little, as they will everywhere meet 
 with the contempt they fully deserve. 
 
 At page 116, in a virulent charge, Mr. Bourassa 
 says that Mr. Wilson though a passionate and 
 obstinate pedantic of democracy, is as much of an 
 autocrat as William of Prussia. 
 
 Blinded by his fanatical antipathies towards 
 every one and every thing, directly or indirectly, 
 favouring England, the Nationalist leader fails to 
 see any difference between the man who blasphem- 
 ously claims by Divine Bight the power to hurl his 
 whole Empire at the throat of staggering Human- 
 ity, to satisfy his frenzied lust of domination, 
 denying to his subjects any say whatever in the 
 matter, and the responsible chief of State who, 
 holding his temporary functions from the ex- 
 pressed will of the people who trusted him, calls 
 upon that same nation to avenge the murder of a 
 large number of her citizens, of her women and 
 children, and the barbarous crimes committed in 
 violation of her Sovereign Bights. 
 
 If Mr. Bourassa is conscious of the enormity 
 of the stand he has taken, and of the views he has 
 expressed, he is indeed much to be blamed ; if he is 
 not, he is greatly to be pitied. 
 
 A page 109 of his pamphlet — entitled : — "The 
 Pope, arbiter of peace" Mr. Bourassa has written 
 the following monstrous proposition, after having 
 said that peace must be restored "without vic- 
 tory" : — 
 
 "The more the results of the war are null, for 
 
TIfE UNKTED STATES IN THE WAR. 343 
 
 both sides, the more chances there are for the 
 peoples, astounded at the frightful uselessness of 
 those monstrous slaughters, to protect themselves 
 against a new fit of furious folly. To become 
 odious to men, war must be barren." 
 
 So Mr. Bourassa has emphatically proclaimed 
 that the war must be barren of any practical re- 
 sults, that the extraordinary sacrifices of lives, of 
 resources of wealth, must be without reward of 
 any kind ; that the world must return to the ante- 
 war conditions. And this, he asserts, would be 
 the best means of preventing a renewal of the 
 monstrous slaughters which have been the out- 
 come of Germany's horrible attempt at dominating 
 an enslaved Humanity. 
 
 In all sincerity, it is very difficult to suppose 
 that the exponent of such outrageously abominable 
 views is conscious of what he says. 
 
 A red hot "pacifist," Mr. Bourassa clamoured 
 as best he could for "peace without victory," 
 claiming that it was the only kind of peace thai 
 could be "just and durable." The time was when 
 he pretended — surely without any show of reason 
 — that such was the sort of peace Mr. Wilson 
 wanted and suggested. 
 
 Even as far back as December 31, 1915, Mr. 
 Bourassa, no doubt desirous of giving full vent to 
 his new year's wishes to all, had written : — 
 
 "In spite of the lies, of the impudent "bluff," 
 of the sanguinary appeals and of the false prom- 
 ises of victory of the partisans of war to excess, in 
 
344 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 all the warring countries, popular good sense 
 commences to discern truth. ..•».... 
 The more victory (the issue) tvill be materially 
 null and sterile for all the nations at war, the more 
 chances there tvill be that peace will be lasting and 
 that the peoples will be convinced that war is not 
 only an abominable crime but an incommensurable 
 folly/' 
 
 Evidently it had already become a hobby on 
 the brain of the Nationalist leader. He dogmatic- 
 ally proclaims that war between peoples — not the 
 wars formerly fought by mercenary armies, — is a 
 crime, — abominable, — 'and a folly, — incommensur- 
 able. 
 
 True it is on the part of a State tramping upon 
 all the principles of Justice and of International 
 Law to gratify her guilty ambition. 
 
 But honourable, glorious, is war on the part 
 of peoples rising in their patriotic might to resist 
 a sanguinary enemy, to defend their countries, 
 their homes, their mothers, their wives and their 
 children from oppression, to stem the conquering 
 efforts of barbarous invaders. 
 
 No doubt it was a crime on the part of Ger- 
 many to break her pledged honour by solemn 
 treaties, and to violate Belgium's territory. 
 
 No doubt it was a crime for Germany — and 
 one abominable — to overrun Belgium, spreading 
 everywhere desolation, devastation, incendiarism, 
 murder. 
 
 But can it be said that the admirable and 
 
THE UNITED STATES IN THE WAR. ty 
 
 heroic resistance Belgium has opposed to her 
 tyrannical invaders was a dastardly crime? 
 
 No doubt it was a crime — and one most 
 abominable — for Germany to order the sinking of 
 the Lusitania and hundreds of merchant ships, 
 without the warning required by the Law of 
 Nations, murdering by hundreds non-combatants, 
 children, women, and old men. 
 
 But can any one be justified in asserting that, 
 after exhausting, for the redress of such abomin- 
 able wrongs, all the resources of diplomacy, the 
 United States were committing a crime when they 
 accepted the criminal teutonic challenge and de- 
 cided to join with the British Empire, with France, 
 Italy and their Allies, to rescue human Freedom 
 and Civilization from the impending destruction? 
 
 It is an aberration of mind — incommensurable 
 in depth — for a publicist, or any one else, to be so 
 blinded by prejudices, so lost to all sense of justice, 
 as to place on the same footing, on the same level, 
 the assailant and he who defends his all, the 
 murderer and the victim. 
 
 I positively affirm that I am not actuated by 
 the least ill-will or ill-feeling against the National- 
 ist leader, in judging his course and his views as I 
 do. Thank God, I know enough of the teachings 
 of Christianity to w r ish good to all men. But I 
 •cannot help being deeply sorry and deploring that 
 one of my French Canadian compatriots is buried 
 in such mental darkness as to be unable to perceive 
 the difference — incommensurable — there is in the 
 
346 ENGIbAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 present war between the hideous Teutonic guilt, 
 and 'the commendable and meritorious defence by 
 the Allied nations of the most sacred cause on 
 earth : — outraged Justice. 
 
 And with all sincerity, I express the profound 
 wish that during the prolonged recess the timely 
 war measure adopted to censure and prevent all 
 utterances detrimental to the best Canadian effort 
 in the conflict, the Nationalist leader has the pleas- 
 ure to enjoy, he will reconsider the whole situation 
 and his opinions — too much widely circulated. Is 
 it yet possible to hope that, at last, he will see the 
 dawn which, will lead him to the full light with 
 which the great and noble cause of his country and 
 of the worTd is shining? 
 
 It is no surprise that such opinions utterly 
 failed to have any echo amongst the liberty loving 
 people of the neighbouring Eepublic. They died 
 their merited shameful death before crossing over 
 the boundary line, buried deep under the heap of 
 the profound feelings of reprobation they provoked. 
 
 The Nationalist leader even missed the mark 
 where he felt sure his shot would strike. We can 
 rest assured that the large majority of the United 
 States Germans, by birth or origin, would not 
 change the responsible President of their new 
 country for the autocrat Kaiser from whose abso- 
 lutist power so many of them fled to breathe freely 
 in the new land of promse it was their happy lot 
 to enter. 
 
 Mr. Bourassa met with a complete failure in 
 
THfEl UN'FTED STIATES IN THE WAR. 347 
 
 Ms expectation to arouse the feelings of his com- 
 patriots over the frontier against the intervention 
 of the Republic in the war. 
 
 It has been a profound satisfaction for us, 
 French Canadians, to learn that from the very- 
 moment war was declared by the Republic against 
 Germany, the French Canadian element in the 
 United States has been to the forefront of the most 
 loyal of our friendly neighbours in fighting the 
 common enemy. 
 
 The French Canadians of the United States, 
 either by birth or origin, have wisely turned a deaf 
 ear to the Nationalist leader's seductive but pre- 
 judiced theories, to the wild charges he was wont 
 to level at all the national rulers of the Allies, and, 
 as a final attempt, at those of the American 
 Republic. They have rallied to their Colours with 
 enthusiastic patriotism. 
 
 They have nobly done their duty. They are 
 doing it, and will continue to do so to the last : to 
 the final victory for which they are fighting with 
 the patriotic desire to share in the glory of the 
 triumph of their country. 
 
CHAPTEK XXXVI. 
 The Allies — Kussia — Japan. 
 
 Since its outbreak the great war has, and, be- 
 fore it is over, will have, played havoc in many 
 ways in the wide world. Criminal aspirations 
 have been quashed, extravagant hopes shattered, 
 an ancient throne overthrown almost without a 
 £lash, an autocrat sovereign murdered, another 
 forced to abdicate and go into exile. 
 
 In the open airs, on land, over the waves, 
 under sea, the fighting demon has been most active- 
 ly at work, ordering one of the belligerent, eager to 
 obey, to spare no one, young, weak or old. Death 
 has been dropped from the skies on sleeping non- 
 combatants, assassinating right and left. On the 
 soil Providentially provided with the resources ne- 
 cessary to human life, homes have been ruined, 
 their so far happy owners brutally murdered. On 
 the ocean the treacherous and barbarous sub- 
 mariner, operating in the broad light of the day, or 
 in the darkness of the night, has sent, without re- 
 morse, to the fathomless bottom, thousands and 
 thousands of innocent victims, children, women, 
 old men, wounded soldiers spared on land but 
 drowned at sea. 
 
 Viewed from the height of a much nobler stand- 
 
THE ADLIES-^RUSSIA— JAPAN. 349 
 
 point, the war has developed a superior degree of 
 heroism perhaps never equalled. Belgians, Ser- 
 bians, Poles, Armenians have endured, and are 
 still suffering, their prolonged martyrdom with a 
 fortitude deserving the greatest admiration. 
 
 The nations united to withstand the torrent 
 of German cruel and depraved ambition are writ- 
 ing, with the purest of their blood, pages of history 
 which, for all times to come, will offer to posterity 
 unrivalled examples of the sound and unswerving 
 patriotism which has elevated them all to the in- 
 domitable determination to bear patiently, per- 
 severingly, all the sacrifices, in lives courageously 
 given, in resources profusedly spent, in taxation 
 willingly accepted and paid, in works of all kinds 
 cheerfully performed, which the salvation of 
 human Liberty and Civilization shall require. 
 
 The collapse of the ancient and hitherto 
 mighty Empire of Russia will undoubtedly be one 
 of the most startling events of the "Great War." 
 For the present, I shall not comment, on the causes 
 of this momentous episode, incidental to the won- 
 derful drama being played on the worldly stage, 
 more than I have done in a previous chapter. 
 Still the important change it has made in the re- 
 spective situation of the belligerents, with the pro- 
 spective consequences likely to follow, one way or 
 the other, calls for some timely consideration. 
 
 Evidently, the downfall, first, of the Imperial 
 regime, second, of the de facto Republican govern- 
 ment by which it was replaced, throwing the great 
 
350 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 Eastern ally of Great Britain, France and Italy 
 under the tyrannical sway of the "bolchevikis" ter- 
 rorists, most considerably altered the relative 
 strength of the fighting* power of the belligerents. 
 Very detrimental to the Allies, it was largely 
 favourable to the Central Empires. The "Triple 
 Entente" as first constituted, was much weakened 
 by the desertion of one of the great partners in the 
 heavy task they had undertaken, whilst the "Triple 
 Alliance" was strengthened in a relative propor- 
 tion, at least for the time being and the very near 
 future. 
 
 Evidence, incontrovertible, is coming to light, 
 proving what had been soundly presumed, that 
 "bolchevikism" was not merely the result, as in 
 other instances, of the violence of sanguinary 
 revolutionists overpowering a regular progressive 
 movement of political freedom and reform, but that 
 it has been the outcome of German intrigue easily 
 succeeding in corrupting into shameless treason 
 the "bolchevikis" leaders. 
 
 As a Sovereign State, as an independent na- 
 tion, Russia was, in honour bound, pledged not to 
 consent to a separate peace, and to make peace 
 with Germany only with conditions to which all 
 the Allies would agree. Acceptance of, and con- 
 currence in, all peace agreements, were the essen- 
 tial clause of the pledge Great Britain, France and 
 Russia had reciprocally taken in going to war with 
 the Central Empires. With this sacred pledge 
 Italy concurred fully on joining the Allies. 
 
THE ALMES— RUSSIA— JAPAN. 351 
 
 To that solemn pledge, the American Republic 
 has emphatically assented when she threw her 
 weighty sword in the balance against blood stained 
 and murderous Germany. 
 
 The "bolchevikis' " treacherous government 
 repudiated the solemn engagement of their coun- 
 try, threw her honour to the winds, sold her dear- 
 est national interests by the infamous Brest- 
 Litovsk treaty. Betrayed Russia was out of the 
 war, leaving her Allies to their fate. 
 
 From a military point of view, the conse- 
 quences were easily foreseen. Freed from the 
 danger of further attacks on the eastern front, 
 both Germany and Austria could send their east- 
 ern armies, the first, on the western front in 
 France, the second, on the Italian front. Germany, 
 only requiring a sufficient force to keep down 
 trodden Russia under the yoke treacherously 
 fastened on her neck by the traitors who had 
 ignominiously sold their country to her enemy, and 
 anxious to profit to the utmost by her success in 
 coercing the Russians to agree to dishonourable 
 peace conditions, hurried more than a million men 
 over to the western front. Austria did likewise, 
 sending a large force with the hope of smashing the 
 Italians out of the fight. 
 
 Those were no doubt very anxious days. All 
 remember how the Italian army lost in a very short 
 time all the ground they had so stubbornly 
 conquered. 
 
 Germany made formidable preparations to 
 strike, in the very early spring of the present year, 
 
352 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 a decisive blow by which she fully expected to 
 reach and take Paris. We shall never forget the 
 feverish hours we lived when came the successive 
 reports of the crushing advance of the Teutonic 
 hordes so close to the illustrious capital of France. 
 
 For a while, it seemed to be — and really it 
 was — a renewal of the first terrific invasion of 
 northern France, in 1914. Fortunately, it was 
 Providentially decreed that the second onslaught 
 was to meet with a second Marne disaster. The 
 Huns were forced to retire after a tremendous loss 
 of men and war materials, the allied armies, bril- 
 liantly led and fighting heroically, redeeming all 
 the lost territory and, at the moment I am writing,, 
 moving steadily towards the German frontier. 
 
 The great good luck of the Allies, treasonably 
 sacrificed by the Russian bolchevikis terrorist gov- 
 ernment, was the solemn entry of the United States 
 into the European conflict. 
 
 Preparing for the grand effort which she con- 
 fidently expected would be final, Germany rashly 
 decided to resume her barbarous submarine cam- 
 paign, positively determined to criminally violate 
 all the principles of International Law regulating 
 warfare on the seas. That outrageous decision 
 was her fatal doom. 
 
 Its direct result was to bring the American 
 Republic into the war. And then the whole world 
 was called upon to witness, with unbounded de- 
 light, the very impressive spectacle of millions of 
 fighting free men being successfully transported 
 over the sea, and landed on the French soil, to join. 
 
THE ALDIB&— RUSSIAN-JAPAN. 363 
 
 the grand army which, for the last four years, had 
 been resisting the full might of the autocratic 
 forces. 
 
 However difficult it is to foretell what the 
 political developments of the present deplorable 
 Russian situation will be, still it is not illusory to 
 believe that, history once more repeating itself, the 
 present sanguinary Russian regime will hasten its 
 well deserved ignominious downfall by the very 
 brutal excesses it multiplies in its delirious tyr- 
 anny. There are two many elements of the im- 
 mense population of Russia favourable to an 
 orderly and sensible government, to suppose that 
 they will long fail to gather their strength in order 
 to redeem their country's honour, and to remove 
 from power the traitors who are the shame of their 
 fair land. When the infallible reaction sets in, 
 it will increase the more in momentum that it will 
 have been longer repressed by foul means. 
 
 The most important point of the present 
 Russian situation to consider is that of the best 
 initiative the Allies could, and ought to, take re- 
 specting the military question. 
 
 Many are of opinion that it would be possible, 
 for the Allies, to help Russia out of the present 
 difficulties by an armed support. Such views have 
 been more especially expressed in the United 
 States. Could they, or can they be carried out? 
 I must say that in a large measure I share the 
 opinion of those who would give an affirmative 
 answer to the question. 
 
354 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 It is well known that the matter has been 
 most seriously considered by the Allies, and a 
 favourable solution seems on the way of a 
 satisfactory realization. 
 
 To the armed intervention of the Allies in 
 Kussia, following closely upon the infamous Brest- 
 Litovsk peace traty, there was a very serious 
 obstacle of German creation. 
 
 It was evident, at the very start, that if inter- 
 vention there was to be, the one Ally to play the 
 most important part in the great undertaking 
 would be Japan. 
 
 The British statesmen who, several years ago, 
 brought about the treaty of alliance between Great 
 Britain and Japan have deserved much from the 
 Empire and from the world generally. Surely 
 they had a clear insight of the future. True to her 
 treaty obligations Japan at once sided with Great 
 Britain in the war. All those who have closely 
 followed the trend of events since the outbreak of 
 the hostilities, know how much Japan has done to 
 assist in chasing the German military and mer- 
 cantile fleets from the high seas, more especially 
 from the Pacific ocean. Canada owes her a debt of 
 gratitude for the protection she has afforded our 
 western British Columbia coast from the raids of 
 German war ships. 
 
 Foreseeing that the proximity of Japan to 
 eastern Kussia was an inducement for the Allies to 
 decide upon an armed intervention which, starting 
 from Siberia, might roll westward over the 
 broad lands leading back to the European eastern 
 
THE AMjIES-^RUSSIAh^JAPAN. 366 
 
 war front, Germany lost no time in trying to poi- 
 son Kussian public opinion against the Japanese. 
 Her numerous representatives and agents told the 
 Eussians that if they allowed Japan to send her 
 army on Kussian territory, they would be doomed 
 to fall under Japanese sway. They recalled the 
 still recent Eusso-Japanese war, amplifying the 
 supposed aims of Japan so as to stir up the nation- 
 al feelings of the Russians. Such a cry, assiduous- 
 ly and widely spread, was no doubt a dangerous 
 one. 
 
 Under those circumstances, Japan wisely de- 
 cided to remain in the expectation of further devel- 
 opements before moving. She took the safe stand 
 that she would intervene only upon the request of 
 the Eussians themselves, pledging her word of 
 honour that her only purpose would be to free 
 Eussia from German domination, and that she 
 would withdraw from Eussian territory as soon as 
 complete Eussian independence would have been 
 restored and the treacherous Teutonic aims foiled. 
 
 Evidences are increasing in number and im- 
 portance that the Huns' propaganda in Eussia 
 against Japan is being successfully counteracted 
 by the good sense of the people, realizing how much 
 their vital national interests have been trampled 
 upon by Germany in imposing her peace conditions 
 on their country betrayed by the bolchevikis rulers. 
 
 An armed Allied force has been sent to, and 
 has been, for some weeks, operating, in Siberia so 
 far with commendable results. 
 
356 ENGIL^AND, .CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 For one, I have most at heart an expectation 
 which I would be most happy to see realized. It 
 seems to me that there ought to be a chance, nay 
 more, a possibility, for the Allies to organize, 
 between this day and next spring, a strongly sup- 
 ported intervention in Russia. In that event, 
 Japan of course, would take the lead. She could 
 rapidly send to help the Russians to resume their 
 part in the war against Germany at least a million 
 of men ; two millions if they were needed. As a 
 guarantee of Japan's good faith, the Allies, more 
 especially the United States, could send over 
 contingents to Siberia. 
 
 There is no doubt whatever that so supported, 
 the revulsion of Russian public feeling, once set in 
 motion, would soon overwhelm the bolchevikis. 
 A sensible and patriotic government, once at the 
 helm of the state, could easily and rapidly reor- 
 ganize a powerful army out of the numerous avail- 
 able millions. The financial aspect of the question 
 would certainly be the most difficult for Russia to 
 meet, after the exhaustive strain she has had to 
 bear. But however great their moneyed effort, 
 the United States could yet do a great deal to help 
 Russia financially. 
 
 Will the hopes of so many be realized, and will 
 Russia, resuming her place of honour in the glor- 
 ious ranks of the Allies, be found battling once 
 more with them when together they will finally 
 crush the German tyrannical militarism? God 
 only knows, and time will tell. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 The Last Peace Proposals. 
 
 I was writing the last pages of this work when 
 the surprising news was flashed over the cable that 
 Austria-Hungary had taken the initiative of sug- 
 gesting peace discussion, which proposition she 
 had communicated to all the belligerents, to the 
 neutral governments and even to the Holy See. 
 Without delay the rumour proved to be true. The 
 very next day the full text of Austria's communica- 
 tion was published all over the world. 
 
 I have read it with great care and, I confess, 
 with profound amazement. 
 
 From several stand-points, this document is 
 astonishing and weighty : astonishing as it reveals 
 more than ever before the astuteness of the in- 
 spiration which dictated it; weighty because it 
 derives its importance from one of the most seri- 
 ous situation of the world's affairs ever recorded 
 in History. 
 
 It is difficult to suppose that the Austrian 
 Government really expected that their move would 
 be considered as the outcome of their own initia- 
 tive.. Not the hand, but the sword — the dominat- 
 ing sword — behind the Throne is clearly visible. 
 
 The carefully drafted document, issued from 
 
35S EN-GfLiAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 Vienna, was evidently dictated from Berlin. It is 
 stamped with the Teutonic seal. 
 
 After the experience of the last four years — 
 I can safely say of the last half century as well — 
 over credulous is he who believes that, swayed as 
 she has been by her overpowering northern neigh- 
 hour, Austria would have dared to address such a 
 proposition to the Allies if she had not been asked 
 by Germany to do so. 
 
 It is rather amusing to read the news cabled 
 from Amsterdam, Holland, on the 20th of Septem- 
 ber, that an official communication issued in 
 Berlin said that the German Ambassador in 
 Vienna that day presented Germany's reply to the 
 recent Austro-Hungarian peace note. The purport 
 of the note was that Germany agreed to partici- 
 pate in the proposed exchange of views. This is 
 indeed high class cynicism. 
 
 The document would certainly call for some- 
 what lengthy and strong comments, but they can 
 be dispensed with after the curt, sharp and decisive 
 reply it has elicited from those it was intended to 
 seduce and deceive. 
 
 President Wilson was the first to answer a 
 positive, a formidable NO, which, thundered out 
 from Washington, was echoed with equal force in 
 London, Paris and Kome. So that the astute at- 
 tempt to deter the Allies from the glorious course 
 they were forced to adopt by Germany, and by 
 Austria herself, was doomed to failure, and bound 
 to meet with the contempt it deserved. 
 
THE LAST PEACE PROPOSALS. 860 
 
 But a few remarks expressing the retort that 
 strikes one's mind on reading the Austrian com- 
 munication, are in order and had better be made. 
 The whole stress of the document is that peace 
 should be restored as soon as possible on account 
 of the sacrifices and sufferings war nowadays en- 
 tail, and in conformity with the unanimous wishes 
 of the peoples engaged in the conflict. 
 
 Did Austria ever suppose that, when she ad- 
 dresed that sadly famous and outrageous ultima- 
 tum to Servia, dated the 23rd of July, 1914, which 
 she well knew would bring about the cataclysm 
 she now feigns to deplore — and which Germany 
 and herself were longing for — the war w r ould be 
 only a child's play, a game of golf, or something of 
 the kind? Was Austria at that time cherishing 
 the kind feelings of the German Kronprinz 
 who, on being asked by an American lady ; in a 
 social event, at Berlin, why he was so desirous of 
 seeing a great war, replied that "it was only for 
 the fun of the thing?" 
 
 That war, w r hen once declared, would have 
 terrible consequences, would cost millions of dear 
 lives, would cripple many more millions for the 
 rest of their earthly days, would cost innumerable 
 millions — even billions — of hard earned money, 
 would destroy an immense amount of accumulated 
 wealth, would delay for years the onw r ard march of 
 Humanity towards more and more prosperous 
 destinies, was not only long foreseen before it 
 broke out, but was positively known to be pregnant 
 with all such disasters. 
 
360 ENGHiAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 But what was not foreseen, not known, nor 
 imagined as at all possible, after nearly twenty 
 centuries of Christianity, was that, war being on, 
 Germany, the Power responsible for it, guilty of 
 the crime of having let loose the frightful hurri- 
 cane, would multiply the horrors inseparable from 
 military operations, with unconceivable barbarous 
 acts condemned by all international, moral and 
 Divine laws. 
 
 It was not foreseen, nor supposed possible, 
 that heroism would be challenged by murder, that 
 the glorious defenders of their country's rights 
 would have to fight against sanguinary savages 
 obeying the barbarian orders of a modern Attila. 
 
 It was not fcfeseen that hundreds of children, 
 women, old men, wounded soldiers, would be as- 
 sassinated on the open sea and sent to their eternal 
 watery graves. 
 
 So far as the horrors of regular warfare were 
 concerned, they were, as I have just said, very well 
 known. And was it not on account of this knowl- 
 edge that Great Britain and France had exhausted 
 all their efforts in favour of the maintenance of 
 peace? 
 
 Was it not out of this knowledge that England 
 had, for more than twenty years, implored the 
 Berlin Government to agree at least to partial 
 disarmament, to discontinue, or, at the least, to 
 reduce war ship building operations? 
 
 When Austria, bowing herself down to the 
 ground under the German tyrannical lash, un- 
 
THE (LAST PEACE PROPOSALS. 361 
 
 justly and cruelly declared war against weak 
 Servia, she knew what the horrors of the conflict 
 could not fail to be. How is it that at that 
 time she was not moved by the sympathetic 
 feelings expressed in her recent appeal for peace 
 negotiations? 
 
 How is it that Austria, and her inspiring 
 angel, Germany, are getting so nervous about the 
 misfortunes of war, just at the time when they 
 are forced to admit that 'they are utterly unable 
 to realize the aims for which they brought on the 
 frightful struggle? 
 
 How is it that those who could order with 
 clear conscience and fiendish delight the violation 
 of Belgium guaranteed neutrality, the sinking of 
 the Lusitania and so many other ships carrying 
 non-combatants, children, women and old men, the 
 murder of so many innocent victims, the Belgian 
 deportations, the destruction of the monuments of 
 art — the work of human genius — are suddenly 
 moved to pity just as they see the hand writing on 
 the wall warning them that their days of foul 
 enjoyments are at end? 
 
 How is it that the voice who dictated the fol- 
 lowing sentence was not silenced and choked by 
 the abominable lie it contains? How is it that the 
 hand that wrote it was not instantly dried up at 
 the impudent falsehood it expresses? 
 
 Austria's official communication says in 
 part : — 
 
 "The Central Powers leave it in no doubt that 
 
362 ENGIDAND, 'CANADA AND THE WAE. 
 
 they are only waging a war of defence for the 
 integrity and the security of their territories." 
 
 But why is it that the Central Empires 
 are now only waging a defensive war, if it is not 
 because after having opened the game with the 
 certainty of crushing their opponents by the tre- 
 mendous power of their formidable military or- 
 ganization, they are getting beaten and over- 
 powered by the unrivalled heroism called forth by 
 their criminal attempt at destroying weak nations 
 and enslaving Humanity? 
 
 The Austrian and German Governments wil- 
 fully forget that the important point is not to 
 consider who are the belligerents that are now 
 forced by the fortune of arms to wage a defensive 
 struggle. It is to ascertain who started the con- 
 flict of an offensive war. 
 
 To that question, the voice of the truly civil- 
 ized world has answered with no uncertain sound. 
 It was given, and ever since most energetically 
 emphasized, the very day the first Austrian shot 
 was fired at Belgrad, the first thundering German 
 gun and the first German soldier ordered to cross 
 over the Belgian frontier. 
 
 The Austrian tentative peace document pre- 
 tends "that all peoples, on whatever side they may 
 be fighting, long for a speedy end to the bloody 
 struggle" 
 
 This is so evidently true that the writer of the 
 communication might very properly have dispensed 
 with asserting it. 
 
THE LAST PBA€E PROPOSALS. 363 
 
 But have the Austrian and the German Gov- 
 ernments forgotten that the peoples were equally 
 longing for the maintenance of peace during the 
 many years of intense war preparation prior to the 
 outbreak of the hostilities in 1914? 
 
 If they are not yet aware of it, the Central 
 Empires must be taught that the Allied nations 
 have another longing 'than that for peace, to which 
 they have given precedence and for which they will 
 continue to fight strenuously until it is fully grat- 
 ified. They long for an honourable, a just and 
 lasting peace. They long to see once more the old 
 landmarks of Civilization and Political Liberty 
 emerging safe and radiant from the waves of 
 Teutonic Barbarism. They long, and most earn- 
 estly, for peace restored under such conditions as 
 will put an end to extravagant, ruinous and auto- 
 cratic militarism, which will henceforth relieve 
 the peoples from the drastic obligation of main- 
 taining, at a cost more and more crushing, an ever 
 increasing military organization for fear of being 
 suddenly subjugated by an ambitious foe bent on 
 dominating the world. 
 
 Using the very words of the most admirable 
 speech addressed by President Wilson to the 
 United States Congress, on the 11th of February 
 last, the Allied Nations long for a peace which 
 will provide "that peoples and provinces are no 
 longer to be bartered about from sovereignty to 
 sovereignty as if they were mere chattels and 
 pawns in a game, e<ven the great game note for ever 
 
364 EN<3ttiAND, -CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 discredited of the balance of power; but that every 
 territorial settlement involved in this war must be 
 made in the interest and for the benefit of the 
 populations concerned and not as a part of any 
 mere adjustment or compromise of claims amongst 
 rival states." 
 
 The Allied peoples are longing for a peace by 
 which "all well defined national aspirations shall 
 be acorded the utmost satisfaction that can be ac- 
 corded them without introducing new or perpetu- 
 ating old elements of discord, and antagonism 
 that would be likely in time to break the peace of 
 Europe and consequently of the world" 
 
 The pacifists of the Allied nations who have, 
 like the Nationalist leader and his henchmen in 
 the Province of Quebec, clamoured for peace by 
 compromise, must have had a few hours of delight- 
 ful enjoyment after reading Austria's communica- 
 tion. It is evidently the echo of their oft repeated 
 views and has been carefully drafted to stir them 
 to further exertions in favour of -a settlement 
 which will gratify their ill disguised Teutonic 
 sympathies. 
 
 Austria's document is a plea intented to be 
 strong for peace by negotiations irrespective of the 
 war situation and its prcVbable result. 
 
 This is the kind of peace dear to the heart of 
 the Nationalist leader and his friends. The news- 
 paper "he Devoir" is their daily organ in 
 Montreal. A Sunday paper called "Le National- 
 iste" is the weekly edition of the daily organ. 
 
THE LAS.T PEAjCE PROPOSALS. 365 
 
 By what mysterious inspiration was "Le 
 Nationaliste" able to forestall the publication of 
 the Austrian peace document by an article in its 
 issue of Sunday, the 13th of August, which sum- 
 marizes the leading reasons given by the Govern- 
 ment of Vienna to induce the Allied Governments 
 to agree "to a confidential and unbinding discus- 
 sion" of the conditions of peace, at a neutral 
 meeting place?" 
 
 Since the official publication of the document, 
 our Nationalists, who had been subdued by the 
 Order-in-Oouncil tightening the censure of disloyal 
 writings and speaking, and reduced to the neces- 
 sity of merely whispering their fond hopes of an 
 early peace which would relieve the Central Em- 
 pires, Turkey and Bulgaria from the deserved 
 chastisement of their crimes, are getting again 
 more outspoken in the expression of their views 
 and of their Teutonic proclivities. The street 
 corner propaganda is being resumed with more 
 discreet vigour than formerly when loud talk was 
 considered safe. New efforts, better guarded 
 against a compromising responsibility, to instil the 
 virus in the body politic, are tried over again. 
 They creep in a few newspapers well known for 
 their hardly disguised hostility to the cause of the 
 Allies and to the participation of Canada to its 
 defence.All this under the hypocritical cover of a 
 longing for the restoration of peace and the cessa- 
 tion of the sacrifices the country is still making 
 for the victory for which all loyal British subjects 
 are praying and doing their best to secure. 
 
366 ENOLANJ), CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 Germany has prudently — cowardly is the more 
 proper word — remained (behind, satisfied, for the 
 time being, to play the part of prompter to her 
 vassal, Austria. But, however desirous of remain- 
 ing free to repudiate publicly, if considered more 
 advisable, Austria's move, she could not help 
 showing her hand. She betrayed herself by the 
 peace offer she has had the outrageous audacity to 
 make to Belgium she has barbarously crucified. 
 
 And what are the terms of this astonishing 
 proposal? I will mention only two of them. 
 
 First : "That Belgium shall remain neutral 
 
 UNTIL THE END OF THE WAR." 
 
 That Germany should have decided to address 
 such a demand to Belgium is truly inconceivable. 
 Has she forgotten the days when Belgium was 
 neutral, and determined to remain so, under the 
 joint protection of England, France and Germany, 
 bound by solemn treaty to uphold Belgian inde- 
 pendence? Does she not realize that if Belgium 
 has not been neutral up to this day, she has been 
 the cause of it in tearing to pieces the scrap of 
 paper which should have been the sacred shield of 
 the nation she criminally martyred? After hav- 
 ing violated Belgium's frontier, overrun her terri- 
 tory, destroyed her happy homes, murdered Tby 
 thousands her children, her women, her mothers, 
 her old men, ransomed her to the tune of hundreds 
 of millions, without granting her liberty, shattered 
 her monuments of arts, she has the impudence to 
 ask her to betray those who hastened to her defence, 
 
THE LAST PEACE PROPOSALS. 367 
 
 and who are pledged to require the restoration of 
 her complete independence with due reparation as 
 one of the essential conditions of peace. A more 
 brazen outrage cannot be imagined. It is on a par 
 with that addressed to England whose neutrality 
 Germany wanted to secure at the cost of her honour 
 in betraying France. 
 
 fflWhat was the true object of Germany in mak- 
 ing such a proposition? Was it not to protect 
 herself against the increasing likelihood that the 
 Allied army would soon be able to enter on Ger- 
 man soil by passing through Belgium. But in that 
 event, so much to be hoped for, there would be that 
 difference that whilst Germany invaded Belgium 
 in sheer violation of her solemn treaty obligations, 
 France, England and the United States would 
 honour themselves in turning the guilty invaders 
 out of the soil they have sullied by their hideous 
 presence and their horrible savageness. 
 
 The second German peace proposition to Bel- 
 gium reads as folows: — "That Belgium shall use 
 her good offices to secure the return of the German 
 colonies." 
 
 And such a request is made by the Power that, 
 in spite of the treaties it was in honour bound to 
 respect, ordered the German army to conquer 
 Belgium in a dastardly rush, in order to reach 
 France at once and crush her out of the conflict 
 before she could be helped by Great Britain and 
 her Colonies! Incredible indeed! 
 
 Germany and Austria knew very well that 
 their proposals would be indignantly and con- 
 
368 ENGHLAND, <GANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 temptuously rejected. But they had a twofold 
 object in making them. First, they wanted to stir 
 up their own peoples to further efforts in carrying 
 on the struggle by throwing upon the Allies the 
 apparent responsibility of refusing even a confiden- 
 tial and unbinding discussion of the question of 
 the restoration of peace. 
 
 Second, they were anxious to make a strong 
 bid for the support of the pacifists of the Allied 
 countries. 
 
 How much will they succeed in galvanizing 
 the enthusiasm of their peoples for another grand 
 effort, remains to be seen. 
 
 So far as their attempt to move our pacifists 
 to exert themselves in favour of a peace by com- 
 promise, it has alre/ady met with a complete fail- 
 ure. Our Nationalist pacifists are getting so few 
 and so far between, that they will most likely once 
 more disappear and give up the street propaganda. 
 
 On completing the reading of the official com- 
 munication of Austria, President Wilson at once 
 gave his reply, authorizing the Secretary of State 
 to issue the following statement, dated the 16th of 
 September and published broadcast on the next 
 day:— 
 
 "1 am authorized by the President to state 
 that the following will be the reply of this Govern- 
 ment to the Austro-Hungarian note proposing an 
 unofficial conference of belligerents : 
 
 " 'The Government of the United States feels 
 that there is only one reply which it can make to 
 
THE LAST PEACE PROPOSALS. 369 
 
 the suggestion of the Imperial Austro-Hungarian 
 Government. It has repeatedly and with entire 
 candor stated the terms upon which the United 
 States would consider peace and can and will en- 
 tertain no proposal for a conference upon a matter 
 concerning which it has made its position and 
 purpose so plain/" 
 
 On the eleventh day of February, 1918, Presi- 
 dent Wilson, instead of addressing as usual a 
 message to the two Houses, went personally to 
 meet the Senate and the House of Representatives, 
 in Congress assembled, and, in a most admirable 
 speech, replied to the then recent peace utterances 
 of Count von Hertling, the German Chancellor, 
 and Count Czernin, the Austro-Hungarian Foreign 
 Minister, fully explaining the only principles by 
 which the Government of the United States would 
 be guided when peace negotiations do take place. 
 This most important statement is published as an 
 appendix to this book. It is worthy of the great 
 statesman who made it, and deserves the most 
 attentive reading on account of the lofty views and 
 noble principles it expresses, of the large issues it 
 involves and of the ardent patriotism it inspires. 
 
 The prime ministers of Great Britain and 
 France have signified their entire assent to the en- 
 ergetic stand taken by President Wilson in the 
 above quoted reply to Austria's peace communica- 
 tion. 
 
 The whole British Empire, France, the United 
 States and Italy are a unit in refusing to consider 
 for a moment Austria's cynical peace proposals. 
 
370 ENGILAND, CANADA AND THE WAft. 
 
 Belgium, from the cross of martyrdom to 
 which the Huns' barbarity has nailed her, has 
 summoned all her wonderful courage, in her long 
 and cruel agony, to repudiate with scorn the in- 
 famous German proposition to betray those who 
 are pledged to be her saviours. 
 
 Consequently, the peace offensive, so cleverly 
 planned by Germany and opened by her contempt- 
 ible Austrian satellite, has met with as dismal a 
 failure as the military offensive launched on the 
 twenty-first day of March last, with such superior 
 numerical forces, and unbounded confidence that 
 this gigantic effort would at last smash the Allies' 
 resistance. 
 
 Just as the Teutonic hordes are hurled back 
 by the matchless strategy of the Chief Commander 
 of the Allied armies and their incomparable hero- 
 ism, the Austrian peace offensive communication 
 is returned to their authors a miserable "scrap of 
 paper". 
 
 And the grand and noble fight will go on until 
 Germany is brought to her knees and forced to 
 recognzie that "the resources of Civilization are 
 
 NOT YET EXHAUSTED." 
 
 The modern Huns are doomed to a very sad 
 awakening from thier dream of universal domina- 
 tion. 
 
 Germany has challenged the world to a deadly 
 struggle. She must bear the consequences, however 
 say they may be. Four years ago, anticipating a 
 crushing victory, she exulted over the early fall of 
 
THE LA1ST PEACE PROPOSALS. 371 
 
 her enemies, madly certain that in a few weeks 
 they would kneel down crying for mercy. She 
 trusted her all to the fortunes of war. They will 
 at last go against her. She would have been 
 cruelly triumphant. Will she be cowardly in 
 defeat? 
 
 Austria has blindly served Germany's crimin- 
 al ambition. She must abide by the result of her 
 blindness. 
 
 Both carried away by passion, they forgot that 
 there would be a terrible reckoning day for their 
 atrocious crime. It is near at hand, and they can- 
 not avoid being called to a severe account for their 
 foul deeds. 
 
 Kaiser Wilhelm II will soon find out that 
 Divine Justice is very different from what he fond- 
 ly believed. lie will receive the proper answer to 
 his blasphemous appeals to the Almighty to bless 
 with success his guilty ambition to dominate the 
 world. He will learn that from above the inno- 
 cent victims whom he has mercilessly sacrificed to 
 his lust of autocratic power, have cried for ven- 
 geance and have been heard. He bears the guilt 
 of blood and sacrilegious war. He shall receive 
 his deserts in due time. 
 
CHAPTEE XXXVIII. 
 Necessary Peace Conditions. 
 
 It can be positively affirmed that, taking no 
 account whatever of the treasonable views of the 
 defeatists, and no more of the disloyal opinions of 
 the pacifists — because they only deserve absolute 
 contempt and reprobation — the peoples called the 
 Allies have been long ago, are now, and will re- 
 main to the last, unanimous on the essential Peace 
 Conditions without which all the sacrifices they 
 have made and are making would be a total 
 irreparable loss. 
 
 It has been proclaimed with the highest au- 
 thority, and universally approved, that henceforth 
 Peace must be just and durable. Such it should 
 always have been. 
 
 The principle is no doubt very easily enun- 
 ciated. It is applauded by all and every where, 
 even by Germany and Austria. The great, the in- 
 superable, difficulty is to agree upon such condi- 
 tions as will permanently, and to the complete 
 
 SATISFACTION OF ALL CONCERNED, bleSS the WOrld 
 
 with the maintenance of a truly just and durable 
 
 PEACE. 
 
 It is better to admit at once that the very 
 moment the question is considered, the presently 
 
NECESSARY PEAOE CONDITDONS. 373 
 
 contending belligerents are as far apart as the two 
 poles of the earthly globe. 
 
 It is extremely easy to prove it. 
 
 No on now ignores — or at least should fail to 
 realize — what kind of peace would be accepted by 
 Germany as just and durable. 
 
 To be satisfied with a settlement of peace, 
 Germany would require the sanction by her op- 
 ponents of her right to maintain, develop and 
 strengthen her militarism so threatening to the 
 universe. 
 
 At the time she war exulting over the great 
 and crushing victory which she was sure to have 
 within her powerful grasp, in debating with her 
 vanquished enemies, the conditions of peace, Grer- 
 many, elated as she would certainly have been by 
 her triumph, would have positively claimed the 
 annexation of Belgium and of all the northern part 
 of France by right of conquest. She would not 
 have been less exacting than she was, in 1870, 
 when in the face of indignant but powerless Eu- 
 rope, she stripped France of her two fine and 
 wealthy provinces, Alsace and Lorraine. 
 
 She would have claimed the right «to super- 
 sede England as mistress of the seas, — German 
 supremacy replacing the British and henceforth 
 ruling the waves. 
 
 She would have claimed the annexation of 
 Kussian Poland, and that of Servia to Austria. 
 
 She would have claimed the recognition of her 
 imperial paramount power over the Balkans, 
 
374 ENGLAND, 'CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 which she would have united under the direct 
 sway of her ally and vassal, Bulgaria. 
 
 Victorious over all continental Europe and 
 equally over Great Britain, she would most likely 
 have claimed the cession to her of the great Brit- 
 ish autonomous Colonies for the purpose of pour- 
 ing over to Canada, Australia and South Africa 
 her increasingly overflowing population. And to 
 better achieve that most coveted result, she would 
 have destroyed at once the free institutions they 
 enjoy under the British Crown to replace them by 
 her autocratic rule. 
 
 In one of his illogical pamphlets, abounding 
 in extravagant views, the Nationalist leader has 
 denied with scorn that Germany had ever intended 
 to acquire Canada by force of arms. He support- 
 ed his assertion by the declaration made to the 
 contrary by a German Minister. But he failed to 
 explain that this German public man said so only 
 when the Berlin Government had fully realized 
 that they could not succeed in breaking asunder 
 the mighty British Empire. The Teutonic declara- 
 tion was hypocritical, intended to deceive, and to 
 supply our Nationalist "pacifists" with what 
 would seem a plausible argument to cover their 
 sympathies for the gentle cause of the tender 
 hearted Huns. It is very easy to disclaim any 
 aspiration to possess what one is sure never to get. 
 
 Triumphant Germany would have bargained 
 very hard to lay her powerful hand on the great 
 Indian Empire. 
 
NECESSARY PEACE CONDITIONS. 375 
 
 She would have dismembered Kussia, as she 
 has effectively done — at least temporarily — by the 
 infamous Brest-Litovsk treaty. 
 
 She would have strongly supported Austria 
 in destroying for ever Italy's legitimate aspira- 
 tions to round off her national territory by the 
 annexation of that part of Austria's possessions 
 called The Trentino, which is hers by nature. 
 
 Following the precedent she had laid down, in 
 1870, after her triumph over France, Germany 
 would undoubtedly have exacted from her fallen 
 enemies, billions and billions of dollars as 
 indemnities of war. 
 
 And Germany, with such a peace treaty im- 
 posed to her despairing enemies with her sanguin- 
 ary sword at their throat ready to murder them— 
 as she did at Brest-Litovsk — would have swayed 
 the world with her universal domination. 
 
 But I hear — I must say without being the 
 least frightened — the thundering clamour of the 
 Nationalist leader crying that Germany does not 
 NOW claim such peace conditions as above 
 enumerated. 
 
 Very true, and why? 
 
 Only because she is no longer able to exact 
 and impose them! 
 
 In 1914, Germany being victorious over all 
 Europe, England included, after a four months 
 overpowering campaign, as she expected, would 
 certainly not have been satisfied with less than the 
 conditions just specified. They were the goal for 
 
376 ENGiliAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 which she had been strenuously preparing for 
 fifty years, her success, in 1870, being the pre- 
 liminary opening of her conquests. 
 
 To bring Germany to renounce — temporarily 
 — to her fond hopes of domination, it has required 
 the heroic efforts and the untold sacrifices, in men 
 and money, which Great Britain, her Colonial Em- 
 pire, France, Italy, Belgium, Japan, betrayed Kus- 
 sia, and, last but not least, the United States, 
 have made during more than the last four years 
 and which they are pledged to make until a 
 successful issue. 
 
 The kind of peace as above would have been 
 what can be very properly called — Germany's 
 "offensive peace." In Germany's opinion this 
 would have been the just and durable peace dear to 
 her so kind heart. 
 
 But having failed to carry the tremendous 
 victory for which she had so powerfully prepared, 
 Germany would NOW likely agree to negotiate 
 what can be as properly called a "defensive 
 peace." 
 
 By "defensive peace", I mean Germany ne- 
 gotiating NOW with her opponents with the deter- 
 mination to repulse, as much as possible, their 
 just claims, to prevent them to the utmost limit to 
 reap the legitimate fruits of their admirable 
 endeavours, to thwart the realization of their 
 noble aspirations to protect the world hereafter 
 against her guilty and barbarous militarism. 
 
 Germany — I mean, of course, the Teutonic Im- 
 
NECESSARY PEACE CONDITIONS. 377 
 
 perial Government — has yet given no sign of a 
 change of mind on the vital points at stake in the 
 consideration of the restoration of peace. If the 
 fortune of arms was once more to favour her 
 armies, her blood stainted Colours, she would, to- 
 morrow, be as mercilessly exacting as she would 
 have been, in 1914, had she triumphantly entered 
 Paris inside of two months after her challenge to 
 the civilized world. 
 
 Germany is surely not a convert to sound 
 Christian principles. She will not repent for her 
 crimes. She does not feel the tortures of remorse 
 at her foul deeds. She would certainly be a re- 
 'lapser, in the near future, if the Allies, unwisely 
 heeding the clamour of the "pacifists", imprudent- 
 ly gratified her ACTUAL wish for a peace 
 compromise. 
 
 And before long Humanity would be forced to 
 go again, in much aggravated conditions, over the 
 way of the cross she has been threading along for 
 nearly five years, steeped to the knees in the blood 
 of millions of her heroic sons, with a reorganized 
 Germany this time straining all the Huns' accu- 
 mulated power to lead Civilization to her Calvary. 
 
 With God's grace, that shall not be. Five 
 years of martyrdom have deserved and will receive 
 Justice. 
 
 After having explained what Germany, from 
 her stand-point, considers a Just and Durable 
 Peace, let us see what such a peace means from 
 the Allies' stand-point. 
 
378 ENOIiAND, CANADA AND THE WAR 
 
 Every free man has a right to his own opin- 
 ion. However, lie must never forget that Liberty 
 of opinion does not mean — never meant — absence 
 of knowledge, ignorance of the basic principles of 
 political society. 
 
 I do not hesitate to expound what the real 
 conditions of the coming peace MUST BE to make 
 it JUST AND DUKABLE. 
 
 Let the inveterate opponents of Political 
 Liberty say what they please, it is undeniable that 
 the present war has rapidly developed into a dead- 
 ly conflict between Autocratic Power and Political 
 Freedom. 
 
 Consequently a peace patched up to uphold 
 Autocracy and destroy free institutions could not 
 be Just and Durable. 
 
 Under the dominating circumstances of the 
 present struggle, to bring it to a satisfactory con- 
 clusion, peace, to be Just and Durable, must be 
 restored with all the necessary guarantees that 
 Political Liberty will hereafter be safe against 
 the foul attempts of military despotism. 
 
 This sine qua non condition is general in its 
 nature and equally interests all the contending 
 Allied nations. 
 
 Let us now consider the peace conditions 
 which, though of general importance so far as they 
 are NECESSAKY for its permanency, are essen- 
 tial from the particular stand-point of each one of 
 the Allies separately. 
 
 I shall begin the review by considering the 
 particular case of Great Britain. 
 
NECESSARY PEACE CONDITIONS. 379 
 
 To be Just and Durable for the British Em- 
 pire, the future peace treaty must not be so drafted 
 as to supersede British sea supremacy by that of 
 Germany. 
 
 The question of what is to be done with the 
 great German African Colonies, conquered by the 
 South African Dominion army, is next in import- 
 ance to England's sea supremacy, from the British 
 Empire stand-point. 
 
 Germany, very far from foreseeing what was 
 to happen, deliberately opened that question when 
 she precipitated the present conflict by coercing 
 Austria to crush weak Servia, herself challenging 
 Kussia and France, and thundering at Belgium 
 in violation of her most sacred treaty obligations. 
 
 Great Britain, as in honour bound, standing 
 by Belgium, was forced to tight with Germany. 
 The great autonomous Colonies nobly rallying to 
 her support, the South African Dominion, Boers 
 and British admirably united for the purpose, 
 undertook for her share to conquer the German 
 African Colonies. She has grandly succeeded. 
 
 If, as we all hope, the Allies are finally vic- 
 torious, would it be just to relinquish Great 
 Britain's right over the German African Colonies, 
 more especially if the South African Dominion is 
 strongly opposed — as there is no doubt she will be 
 — to their retrocession? 
 
 And what about Belgium and France? No 
 peace treaty could be called Just nor could be 
 Durable, which would not completely restore Bel- 
 
380 ENGIDAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 gium's independence ; which would not oblige 
 Germany to indemnify Belgium for the damages 
 wrought upon her, more especially those which 
 were inflicted to the Belgian weak but heroic 
 nation out of sheer barbarous destruction. 
 
 To France, the northern part of her presently 
 occupied territory, together with Alsace and Lor- 
 raine, must be restored. 
 
 The Germans are loudly crying that in exact- 
 ing the restoration to France of the provinces of 
 Alsace and Lorraine, the Allies would be partly 
 dismembering the German Empire. 
 
 Quite so, and why not? Does the victim of 
 the highway man lose the right to claim his pro- 
 perty from the ruffian who has stolen it by brutal 
 force? 
 
 In 1870, under the circumstances all know, 
 Prussia imposed upon France the cession of 
 Alsace and Lorraine, rounding off the territory of 
 the new German Empire. 
 
 France naturally smarted under the cruelty 
 of the condition which she could not help accept- 
 ing. For many years she cherished the hope that 
 the lost provinces would ultimately return to the 
 parental home. 
 
 But it is well known how time is an efficient 
 cure of many ills. France's yearning for the res- 
 toration of Alsace and Lorraine had gradually 
 subsided. The general opinion was spreading that 
 the Alsace-Lorraine matter was more and more 
 becoming a finally settled question. 
 
NEOBS0A1RY FiEACE CONDITIONS. 3S1 
 
 Before the war, no Power, European or Am- 
 erican, would have countenanced France in any 
 attempt to break peace to run her chance of re- 
 conquering Alsace and Lorraine. France knew it 
 perfectly well and at last bowed to her fate. 
 
 Wlio has reopened the closed question of 
 Alsace and Lorraine? Is it not Germany herself? 
 
 Great Britain, Russia, the United States and 
 Italy, who would not have supported France in an 
 offensive war with the objective of getting back 
 her lost provinces, are now a most determined 
 unit in favour of the restoration of Alsace and 
 Lorraine to France as a result of the defensive 
 war Germany forced her to wage. 
 
 That would be Justice pure and simple : the 
 peace treaty must do it. 
 
 Germany having run the risk of reopening the 
 Alsace-Lorraine acute question, the Allies must 
 close it anew but this time against the Huns. 
 
 Germany must also pay for the devastation 
 she has savagely spread in France. 
 
 I stand firm for a final settlement of the 
 Austro-Italian too long pending question by giv- 
 ing to Italy the Trentino territory to which she has 
 an evident national claim supported by the best of 
 geographical conditions. 
 
 Servia's independence must be once more 
 secured, and Poland should be resuscitated. 
 
 The United States part in the war is truly a 
 grand, a noble one. They have no particular ter- 
 ritorial interest to serve. Their only object is the 
 
382 ENGHLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 general public good. They will be the benefactors 
 of Humanity in claiming for their Allies the above 
 enunciated conditions without which no just and 
 durable peace can be expected nor obtained. 
 
 It is most important to caution the public 
 against the insidious clamours of our "pacifists", 
 trying again to deceive the people by asserting that 
 Germany is ready to negotiate for peace on fair 
 terms. 
 
 The Huns will acquiesce only to such peace 
 terms as they will be forced to. 
 
 The Allies are better to be guided in conse- 
 quence in their unfaltering determination to 
 realize a Just and Durable peace by a Glorious 
 Victory. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 I 
 
 My ardent desire to speak the plain truth and 
 
 only the truth, is just as strong to-day as it was 
 when, in concluding my French work, I summar- 
 ized the situation such as it was at the end of the 
 year 1916, to show the hard duty incumbent on all 
 the Allies, Canada included. It has been perhaps 
 still more intensified by the outrageous efforts of 
 those amongst us whose sole object has been, since 
 the outbreak of the hostilities, to discourage our 
 people from the herculean task they had bravely 
 undertaken. 
 
 Two years have since elapsed — years full of 
 great events, and of untiring heroism on the part 
 of the glorious defenders of Justice and Eight — 
 and I do not see the slightest reason to modify the 
 conclusions I then arrived at as a matter of strict 
 duty. Unworthy of public confidence is the man 
 who, pandering to the supposed prejudices of his 
 countrymen, refrains out of weakness, or of more 
 guilty considerations, to tell them what they are 
 bound to do for their own country, for their Em- 
 pire, for the world, in the supreme crisis of our 
 time. 
 
384 ENG/LAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 True every one is longing for the restoration of 
 peace. But few are those who, even before being 
 tired of the war, were ready to curb their heads 
 under the German yoke, are now praying for a 
 compromise between the Allies and their enemies. 
 There are some left, it is sad to admit. Every- 
 where they are chased by the indignant public 
 opinion daily growing more determined that mil- 
 lions of heroes shall not have given their lives in 
 vain, that millions of others, wounded on the fields 
 of battles, shall not, until the last of them is gone 
 for ever, be the betrayed victims of Teutonic 
 dastardly ambition. 
 
 True, peace is sorely wanted, and would be 
 welcomed by the thanksgivings to the Almighty of 
 grateful peoples, who have borne with undaunted 
 courage such untold and admirable sacrifices to 
 uphold their Eights and their Honour. But it can- 
 not be sued for by the nations whom Germany 
 wanted to enslave by the might of her crushing 
 militarism operating under the dictates of a new 
 code of International Law of her own barbarous 
 creation. 
 
 Thank God, the flowing tide of unlimited 
 Teutonic ambition let loose over the world, more 
 than four years ago, has met with inaccessible sum- 
 mits where love of Justice, respect of Eight, devo- 
 
CONCLUSION. 385 
 
 tion to human Civilization, obedience to Christian 
 Law, heroism of sacrifices, were so deeply en- 
 trenched, that they could not be reached and con- 
 quered. From this commanding altitude, they 
 not only continue to defy the tyrants bent on dom- 
 inating the universe, but they are mightily smash- 
 ing their power. 
 
 From the overshadowing point of view which 
 cannot be forgotten, or wilfully abandoned, 
 nothing has changed since the German Empire, in 
 her delirious aspirations, challenged the world to 
 the almost superhuman conflict by which she felt 
 certain to succeed in realizing her fond dream of 
 universal domination. 
 
 At the outbreak of the war, ever since, to-day, 
 to-morrow, there were, there are and there will be 
 but three alternatives to the restoration of 
 peace : — 
 
 1. — A victorious German peace imposed on 
 beaten and cowed belligerents: the peace of the 
 "defeatists" 
 
 2. — A peace by compromise, patched up by 
 disheartened "pacifists" lured by cunningness, 
 winning where force would have failed to succeed, 
 to agree to conditions pregnant with all the hor- 
 rors of a new and still greater struggle in the 
 near future. 
 
386 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 3. — A peace the result of the indomitable 
 courage and perseverance of all the nations who 
 have joined together to put an end to Germany's 
 ambition to rule the world, and to destroy the 
 instrument created for that iniquitous purpose: 
 Prussian militarism. 
 
 There could be a fourth alternative to peace, 
 but it would be possible only by a miracle which, 
 we can grant without hesitation, the world has 
 perhaps not yet deserved. 
 
 It would be peace restored by the sudden con- 
 version of Germany's to the practice of sound 
 Christian principles, acknowledging how guilty 
 she has been, repenting for her crimes, agreeing 
 to atone for them as much as possible, and taking 
 the unconditional pledge to henceforth behave like 
 a civilized nation. 
 
 All must admit that there is not the slightest 
 hope of such a move from a nation whose auto- 
 cratic Kaiser, answering, in February last, an ad- 
 dress presented to him by the burgomaster of 
 Hamburg, thundered out, in his usual blasting 
 manner, that the neighbouring peoples, to enjoy 
 the sweetness of Germany's friendship, "must 
 
 FIRST RECOGNIZE THE VICTORY OF GERMAN ARMS." 
 
 As an inducement to the Allies to bow to his 
 wishes, he pointed to Germany's achievement in 
 
OONODU'SION. 387 
 
 Russia, where a beaten enemy, "perceiving no 
 reason for fighting longer," clasped hands with the 
 generous Huns. The world has since learned with 
 appalling horror with what tender mercy the bar- 
 barous Teutons reciprocated the grasping of hands 
 of defeated Russia, tendered to them by the 
 "bolshevikis" traitors. 
 
 The Allies had then to select one of the three 
 above mentioned alternatives. 
 
 They have made their choice and they will 
 stick close to it until it is achieved by the victory 
 of their arms. 
 
 Knowing as they do that the future of their 
 peoples, and that of the whole world, are at stake, 
 they will not waver in their heroic determination 
 to free Humanity from Germany's cruel yoke. 
 
 Viewed from the commanding height it re- 
 quires to be worthily appreciated, the joint mili- 
 tary effort of the Allies offers a truly grand spec- 
 tacle, daily enlarging and getting more gloriously 
 magnificent. 
 
 All the Allies — every one of them — are doing 
 their duty and their respective share in the great 
 crisis they are pledged to bring to a triumphant 
 conclusion. 
 
 Belgium and Servia were the first to be mar- 
 tyred, but the hour of their resurrection is getting 
 nearer every day. 
 
388 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 France, the British Empire, the United States, 
 Italy, have done and are doing wonders. There 
 can, there must be no question of appraising their 
 respective merit with the intention of giving more 
 credit either to the one or to the other. With the 
 greatest possible sincerity, I affirm my humble, but 
 positive, opinion that each one of the Allies has 
 done and is doing, with overflowing measure, all 
 that courage could and can earnestly perform, all 
 that patriotism and the noblest national virtues 
 can inspire. 
 
 France has been heroic to the highest limit. 
 
 The British Empire — Great Britain and her 
 Colonies — has been grand in her unswerving deter- 
 mination to fight to a finish. 
 
 The great American Republic is putting forth 
 a wonderful exhibition of pluck, of strength, of 
 boldness, of inexhaustible resources. 
 
 Italy has stood nobly with her new friends 
 ever since she broke away from the Triple Alli- 
 ance, to escape the dishonour of remaining on good 
 terms with the Central Empires in the shameful 
 depth of their ignominious course. She has brave- 
 ly gone through days of disaster which she has 
 heroically redeemed. 
 
 All the Allies, bound together by the most 
 admirable unity of purpose, only rivalling in the 
 
CONCLUSION. 389 
 
 might of their respective patriotic effort, having 
 nobly "chosen their course upon principle," can 
 never turn back. They must move steadily forward 
 until victorious. They are indomitable in their 
 decision not to live, under any circumstances, "in 
 a world governed by intrigue and force" 
 
 Echoing the wise and inspiring words ad- 
 dressed by President Wilson to Congress, on the 
 eleventh of February last, we can affirm that the 
 "desire of enlightened men everywhere is for a new 
 international order under which reason, justice 
 and the common interests of mankind shall pre- 
 vail. Without that new order the world tvill be 
 without peace, and human life will lack tolerable 
 conditions of existence and development/ 
 
 A most encouraging achievement was realized, 
 a few months ago, emphasizing to the utmost thg 
 unity of purpose of the Allies. Every one of them 
 have millions of men under arms and at the front. 
 It is easily conceived how tremendous is the task 
 of properly directing the military operations of 
 such immense armies, unprecedented in the whole 
 human history. Most patriotically putting aside 
 all national susceptibilities, the statesmen govern 
 ing the Allied nations acknowledged the necessity 
 of supporting unity of purpose by unity of military 
 command. Their decision was heartily approved 
 and applauded by all and every where. 
 
390 ENGIDAND, 'CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 It is important to note the great difference 
 between the standing of the two groups of belli- 
 gerents with regard to the leadership of the 
 armies. Whilst the Powers dominated by Ger- 
 many, and fighting with her, are coerced to endure 
 the Teutonic military supremacy of command, 
 those warring on the side of France have all most 
 cordially agreed to the appointment of a Com- 
 mander-in-Chief out of the profound conviction 
 that unity of command was more and more becom- 
 ing a necessity for the successful prosecution of 
 the war. 
 
 Since this most urgent decision has been taken, 
 events have surely proved its wisdom and useful- 
 ness. Evidently, the same as unity of purpose, to 
 bear all its fruits, must be wrought out by states- 
 manship of a high order, unity of military com- 
 mand, to produce its natural advantages, must be 
 exercised with superiority of leadership. 
 
 Great statesmen, in 'a free country, are suc- 
 cessful in the management of State affairs, just as 
 much as they inspire an increasing confidence in 
 their political genius, developed by a wide experi- 
 ence, honesty of purpose, a constant patriotic 
 devotion to the public weal. 
 
 Great military leaders can do wonders when 
 their achievements are such as to create unbound- 
 
CONCLUSION. 391 
 
 ed reliance on their ability. Superiority of com- 
 mand, proved by victories won in very difficult 
 circumstances, is always sure to be rewarded by 
 an enlightened enthusiasm permeating the whole 
 rank and file of an army, and trebling the strength 
 and heroism of every combatant. 
 
 Added to the widespread renewal of confidence 
 produced by the timely decision of the Allies to 
 rely on unity of military command, is the reassur- 
 ing evidence that the Oommander-in-Chief to whom 
 has been imposed the grand task of leading the 
 unified armies to a final and glorious triumph, is 
 trusted by all, soldiers and others alike. 
 
 The cause for which the Allied nations are 
 fighting with so much tenacity and courage being 
 that of the salvation of Civilization, threatened by 
 a wave of barbarism equal at least to, if not sur- 
 passing, any to which Humanity has so far sur- 
 vived, all must admire the wonderful spectacle 
 offered by those millions and millions of men, 
 under arms, from so many different countries, 
 united, under one command, into a military or- 
 ganization which can most properly be called the 
 
 GRAND ARMY OF HUMAN FREEDOM. 
 
 It has been said by one who has presided over 
 the destinies of the American Kepublic, as the chief 
 of State, that peace must be dictated from Berlin. 
 
392 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 Can we really hope to behold the dawn of such a 
 glorious day? It is hardly to be supposed that 
 Germany would wait this last extremity to realize 
 that she must abandon for ever her dream of 
 universal domination, relieve the world from the 
 enervating menace of her military terrorism, and 
 redeem her past diabolical course by the repentant 
 determination to join with her former enemies to 
 deserve for Mankind long years of perpetual peace 
 with all the Providential blessings of order, 
 freedom, truly intellectual, moral and material 
 progress. 
 
 When the Kaiser ordered his hordes to violate 
 Belgium's territory, to overrun France in order to 
 crush her out of existence as a military and politic- 
 al Power, preparatory to their triumphant march 
 to St. Petersburgh, in his wild ambition, which he 
 made blasphemous by pretending that it was 
 divinely inspired, he felt sure that his really won- 
 derful army, which he believed was, and would 
 remain, matchless, would in a few weeks enter 
 Paris. 
 
 What a reverse of fortune, what a downfall 
 from extravagant expectations, would be a return 
 of the tide which, after flowing to the very gates 
 of Paris, spreading devastation and crimes all over 
 the fair lands it submerged, would ebb, broken and 
 
CONCLUSION. 393 
 
 powerless, to Berlin, bringing the haughty tyrant 
 to his knees before his victors ! 
 
 If such a day of deliverance is Providentially 
 granted the world, having deserved it by an in- 
 domitable courage in resisting oppression, history 
 would again repeat itself but with a different 
 result. The French "tricolore" would once more 
 enter proud Berlin, but this time it would not be 
 alone to be hoisted over the conquered capital of 
 the modern Huns, scarcely less savage than their 
 forefathers. It would be entwined with the "Union 
 Jack" of Great Britain and Ireland, the "Stars 
 and Stripes" of the United States, the Colours 
 of Italy, and, I add with an inexpressible 
 feeling of loyal and national pride, with the 
 Dominion Colours so brilliantly glorified by the 
 heroism of our Canadian soldiers who have proved 
 themselves the equals of the bravest through the 
 protracted but ever glorious campaign, unfolded 
 with those of Australia and South Africa into the 
 glorious flag of the British Empire. 
 
 When after the glorious battle of Iena, the 
 great Napoleon, who could have ruined for ever 
 the rising Prussian monarchy, entered Berlin at 
 the head of his victorious legions, the new Caesar, 
 then already the victim of his unlimited ambition, 
 represented, though issued from a powerful popu 
 lar movement, triumphant absolutism. 
 
394 ENGLAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 In our days, on entering Berlin, as the final 
 act of this wonderful drama, the entwined Colours 
 of the Allies would symbolize Human Freedom, 
 delivering Germany herself and the whole w^rld 
 from autocratic rule. 
 
 Such a memorable event taking place, and 
 rank with the most remarkable in the world's 
 history, the great satisfaction of all those who 
 would have contributed to its achievement, would 
 be that the joint Colours of the Allies would not be 
 raised over Germany's capital to crush the de- 
 feated nation under despotic caesarism, but to de- 
 liver her from autocratic tyrannical rule. Waving 
 with dignity over the great Empire they would 
 have freed from the thraldom of absolutist mili- 
 tarism, they could be welcomed as the promise of 
 the renewal, for her as well as for her victorious 
 rivals, of the reign of Justice, of Christian pre- 
 cepts, of Eight, Order and Peace, of honest and 
 productive Labour, of science applied to works 
 creative of human happiness instead of diverting 
 the marvellous resources of the great modern dis- 
 coveries to criminal uses for the calamitous mis- 
 fortune of the peoples. 
 
 I will close this work with tihe expression of 
 two of the wishes I have most at heart, cherishing 
 the confident hope that they will be realized. 
 
 England, France and the United States, 
 
OONOLUSION. 395 
 
 fighting as they do for the triumph of such a sacred 
 cause, should emerge indissolubly united from the 
 great struggle they have pledged themselves to 
 carry to a successful issue. I cannot conceive that 
 so many millions of their heroic defenders will 
 have given their lives only for a temporary 
 achievement, soon to be forgotten. They will be 
 gone for ever. Their sacrifices will be eternal. 
 They must bear permanent fruits. United in death, 
 buried together in the soil of France flooded with 
 their blood, from their glorious graves they will 
 implore their surviving countrymen to remain 
 shoulder to shoulder in peace as they are in war. 
 Their holocaust should be the holy seed from 
 which loyal amity ought to grow ever stronger 
 between the future generations of their country- 
 men who could not testify in a more eloquent and 
 noble way their everlasting gratitude for the 
 glorious heritage of permanent freedom they will 
 have derived from their heroism. 
 
 A most enthusiastic daily witness of the im- 
 mortal deeds of the millions of our brothers, sons 
 and friends, fighting with such splendid courage 
 in the land of my forefathers for our common 
 cause, how often have I, for the last four years, 
 ardently vowed to God from the very bottom of 
 my heart, deeply moved by the reports of their 
 noble achievements, that those who will rest for 
 
396 ENGHDAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 ever in the ground over which they fell heroically, 
 may enjoy from above the inspiring spectacle of 
 the union for the permanent triumph of Liberty 
 and Christian Civilization, of the great nations 
 for whose grand future they gave their lives ! 
 
 I also most earnestly hope that the more for- 
 tunate of our defenders who will return either safe 
 from the fields of battle, or proudly bearing the 
 glorious wounds which will have cripled their 
 bodies, but not their hearts, will enjoy from the 
 sanctuary of their homes, made comfortable by 
 their grateful compatriots, the profound satisfac- 
 tion to see the holy union cemented on the thunder- 
 ing firing line perpetuated for the lasting prosper- 
 ity and happiness of Mankind. 
 
 The last shadow of the recollections of the 
 feuds of past ages between England and France 
 should be forever sunk in patriotic oblivion, buried 
 deep beneath the glory both valorous nations will 
 have jointly reaped in their mighty efforts to rescue 
 the world from the frightful wave of barbarism 
 which they will have forced to recede. 
 
 All the well wishers of peaceful and happy 
 days for future generations are very much gratified 
 at knowing that in joining with the Allies in the 
 mighty struggle they were carrying with such un- 
 daunted courage, the great American Kepublic 
 was also inspired by a feeling of gratitude for 
 
OONOLU'SION. 397 
 
 France in remembrance of what she has done to 
 help her to achieve her independence. Let us be- 
 hold anew the inscrutable designs of Providence. 
 Nearly a century and a half has elapsed since 
 France, England and her American Colonies 
 seemed to be for all times irreconcilable opponents. 
 What a change in Destiny ! Years have rolled by. 
 New and unforeseen conditions have been devel- 
 oped the world over. Gradually two great cur- 
 rents of thoughts and aspirations have been 
 flowing with increased strength preparing a formi- 
 dable clash which was to threaten Civilization with 
 utter destruction. 
 
 Autocratic ambition was for many long years 
 challenging Political Liberty to a deadly conflict. 
 At last from the cloudy sky came the flash of 
 lightning, and the thunderbolt was on the earth 
 shaking it to its depth by the tremendous shock. 
 
 Germany, having fired the wonderful auto- 
 cratic shot, fully expected that her rivals would be 
 thunderstruck beyond possibility of resurrection. 
 But to her great dismay, the friends of Political 
 Liberty the world over rallied as one man to its 
 defence. And Germany trembled at seeing Eng- 
 land burying for ever all ill-feelings against 
 France, her ancient foe, rushing to her support 
 with millions of her brave sons, after having drawn 
 
398 ENOUAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 around her ally the protecting chain of her match- 
 less fleet. 
 
 Another very discomforting surprise was in 
 store for the cruel Huns. The American Republic, 
 grateful to France for past services, was also 
 moved by renovated feelings of affection for the 
 mother-country from whom she had parted without 
 disowning her. Determined to be at the fore- 
 front of the battle for the triumph of human Free- 
 dom — after unsuccessfully exhausting every means 
 of bringing Germany to her senses — she clasped 
 hands with England and France and valiantly 
 rallied to their sides to share the merit and the 
 glory of saving Political Liberty from the terrible 
 Teutonic onslaught. 
 
 In my humble but sincere and profound opin- 
 ion, the present spectacle offered to the world's 
 admiration by the sacred and mighty union of the 
 British Empire, France and the United States, 
 every patriotic home of theirs thrilling with un- 
 diminished enthusiasm for the success of their 
 heroic efforts, is a truly grand one inspiring un- 
 bounded faith in the future of Humanity. Let no 
 one forget for a moment that the present war, 
 certainly national so far as the existence of each 
 one of the Allied States is concerned, is, above all 
 preeminently a world's conflict which favourable 
 
CONCLUSION. 899 
 
 issue deeply concerns the destinies of all the 
 peoples of the earthly globe. 
 
 The whole question is whether autocratic 
 tyranny will henceforth rule the world, or if 
 Humanity will yet enjoy the blessings of Liberty, 
 of free institutions ! 
 
 In all hearts must abide the supreme desire 
 that when peace is restored with all and the only 
 conditions to which they can agree, the British 
 Empire, France and the American Kepublic will 
 forever remain united to promote the prosperity 
 and the welfare of all the nations of the earth, 
 large, middle-sized or small. The duty of those of 
 Imperialist proportions will be as hitherto per- 
 formed by England and the United States in their 
 democratic way, to protect the independence of the 
 small States, never aspiring to any territorial ac- 
 quisitions but those accruing to them with the full 
 and free consent of the new populations asking 
 the protection of their aegis and the advantages 
 of their union. 
 
 When I consider the grand and magnificent 
 part the three above named leading nations can 
 play for the happy future of Humanity, by working 
 hand in hand, and shoulder to shoulder, for gen- 
 eral peace, order and prosperity, my heart is full 
 with the ardent desire to witness them accepting 
 that glorious task with the stern determination to 
 
400 ENGJOAND, CANADA AND THE WAR. 
 
 accomplish, it to its better end. In spite of the 
 vicissitudes and the failings of their past, they 
 have done a great deal for the general good. They 
 can do still more in the future. Like everyman 
 bearing with fortitude the trials of life with the 
 worthy design of profiting by the experience thus 
 acquired to elevate himself to a higher conception 
 of his duty, the British Empire, France and the 
 United States will undoubtedly emerge from be- 
 hind the dark clouds of the present days with 
 aspirations ennobled by the sacrifices they tare 
 making, purified by the sufferings and the holo- 
 caust of so many of their own, with a stronger will 
 to help working out the world's destiny by main- 
 taining permanent peace and good-will amongst 
 men. If they pursue that dignified course of high 
 ideals they will fully deserve the admiration and 
 the gratitude of all those who will benefit by their 
 examples, and reap the abundant fruits of their 
 devoted and enlightened leadership. 
 
 It is one of the blessings of true Political 
 Liberty, when duly understood and intelligently 
 practised, to produce a class of politicians and 
 statesmen of wide experience, of commanding 
 character, of high culture, of great attainments, 
 with a superior training in the management of 
 public affairs, who are readily acknowledged as 
 national leaders by the people who confidently 
 
CONCLUSION, 401 
 
 trust them, reserving, of course, their constitu- 
 tional right to call new men to office whenever 
 they consider in the public interest to do so. Those 
 trusted leaders do not claim, as the German auto- 
 cratic Kaiser, the power, by Divine Right, to do 
 anything they please, asserting that in every 
 imaginable case they do the will of the Almighty. 
 
 When charged with the Government of their 
 country, they understand very well that their duty 
 is to manage the national affairs under their 
 responsibility, first, to the Divine Ruler, as any 
 other man in any other calling ; secondly, to those 
 who, having required their services, have the con- 
 stitutional right to call them to account for their 
 stewardship. 
 
 Just as confidence is the basis of sound nation- 
 al credit, trust, on the part of the people, and re- 
 sponsibility, on that of the national leaders, are 
 the two cornerstones of free institutions. 
 
 Great Britain, — and her great autonomous 
 Colonies also — for many long years past, have 
 been most fortunate in the choice of the national 
 leaders whom they have successively entrusted 
 with the affairs of State. 
 
 In that momentous occurrence, more than four 
 years ago, when the whole question whether Great 
 Britain would go to war, or not, was laid before 
 tffe Imperial Parliament supported by the strong- 
 
402 ENGIiAND, OANAiDA AND THE WAR. 
 
 est possible reasons in favour of the decision to 
 accept the challenge of Germany, and fight with the 
 firm determination not to sheathe the sword be- 
 fore victory was won, no British public man would 
 have dared, like the German Emperor, to claim, by 
 Divine Authority, the right to violate the solemn 
 treaties the provisions of which his country was 
 in honour and duty bound to carry out to the very 
 letter. 
 
 The commanding parts national leaders play 
 in a free country, in consequence of the public con- 
 fidence they inspire and enjoy, can have their 
 counterparts in the great society of nations. 
 
 Whatever shall be the final settlement of all 
 the difficult matters brought up for solution by 
 the war, it is certain that the management of the 
 world's affairs will be well served by the legiti- 
 mate influence of great nations whose leadership 
 will be beneficial just in proportion as it is itself 
 directed by the true principles of political Free- 
 dom, and an uncompromising respect of the rights 
 of weaker nations always entitled to the fairest 
 dealings on the part of their stronger associates 
 in the great commonwealth of Sovereign States. 
 
 There cannot be the slightest doubt that the 
 British Empire, France and the United States, 
 until Providentially ordered otherwise, will here- 
 after be the three leading nations of the world. 
 
OONflLUSION. 408 
 
 Their union maintained sacred in peace, as it is 
 in war, will be the safest guarantee that the daya 
 of autocratic domination have ended. Henceforth 
 the tide of political Freedom will flow with in- 
 creased rapidity and strength. The only danger 
 ahead, against which it is always wise to provide 
 with due care and foresight, is that which would 
 be the result of abuse and wild expectations always 
 sure to react in favour of absolutist principles. 
 Political Liberty and Order, Governmental Au- 
 thority and Freedom, both, well directed, must 
 work hand in hand for the national welfare. 
 
 The British Empire, France and the American 
 Kepublic are free countries. More and better than 
 an^ others they should and must, by example and 
 friendly advice, lead the peoples in the successful 
 practice of self-government. 
 
 Considering more especially the part the 
 British Empire will be called upon to play in the 
 reorganized world, freed from autocratic terror- 
 ism, we must not lose sight of the much larger 
 place England's great autonomous Colonies will 
 occupy in the broadened English Commonwealth. 
 We, Canadians, together with our brethren from 
 Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, will 
 have done our glorious share to win the war. We 
 shall have to perform with equal devotion the new 
 duty of sharing the British Empire's task in grad- 
 
404 ENGLAND, OANAjDA AND THE WAR. 
 
 ually elevating the nations to an enlightened 
 practice of Political Liberty. 
 
 Evidently to do so with the succes this noble 
 cause will deserve, we must first strive to utilize 
 our admirable free institutions to the best advan- 
 tage, for ourselves, for our own future, and for 
 the grand destinies of our Empire. 
 
 As an instrument of good government our 
 constitutional charter is almost perfect, as much 
 so as any thing worldly can be. Let us never for- 
 get that the best weapon for self-protection may 
 become useless, or even dangerous for us, if not 
 handled with the required intelligence, justice and 
 skill. We would lose all claims to contribute 
 guiding others in the enjoyment of free institu- 
 tions if we, ourselves, were mistaken in the proper 
 working of our own constitution from a miscon- 
 ception of its litteral wording or of its largeness 
 of spirit. We must never challenge the truth that 
 "spirit giveth life." 
 
 More than ever the supreme difficulties of 
 governing numerous racial groups, issued from 
 ancient stocks so long divided by endless feuds, 
 — the result of the many sudden changes of terri- 
 torial limits to be wrought by the restoration of 
 p^ace — will be very hard to settle satisfactorily. 
 The task will require the constant effort of states- 
 manship of a high order. 
 
CONCLUSION. 405 
 
 Many of those who will hereafter be trained 
 to self-government will look to us for their guid- 
 ance. We must give them the inspiring example 
 of fair play, of justice for all, of unity of purpose 
 and aspirations in the diversity of ethnical 
 offsprings. 
 
 Need I say that the most urgent duty of all 
 fair minded Canadians is, and will ever be, to 
 heartily join together, to bless our dear country 
 with concord, good feeling, harmony and kindly 
 dispositions to grant an overflowing measure of 
 justice to all our countrymen of all origins and 
 creeds. 
 
 Writing this book with the express purpose 
 of explaining and strongly disapproving the de- 
 plorable efforts of a few to deter my French 
 Canadian compatriots from doing their bounden 
 duty through the dire crisis we are all undergoing, 
 I will close these pages by calling anew upon my 
 English speaking countrymen not to judge them 
 by the sayings and deeds of persons who can at 
 times somewhat stir up dangerous prejudices, but 
 who are utterly incompetent to lead them as they 
 should and deserve to be. Silenced at last by a 
 patriotic measure to censure any disloyal expres- 
 sion of sentiments, matters have easily resumed 
 their regular and honourable course. All loyal 
 citizens, throughout the length and breadth of the 
 
406 ENGIiAND, OANAIDA AND THE WAR. 
 
 land, have, I am sure, much, re joked at the loyalty 
 with which the French Canadians, of all classes, 
 religious, social, commercial, industrial, financial, 
 agricultural, have united to obey a statute of mili- 
 tary service to which many of them did not agree, 
 as long as they had the constitutional right to dif- 
 fer from the opinion of the large majority of our 
 people, but to the successful operation of which! 
 they rallied the moment it was the law of the land. 
 The worthy leaders of our Church strongly 
 recommended obedience to the decision of the 
 constituted authority, firmly condemned any 
 guilty attempt at disturbing public order, and 
 ordered all the members of their flocks to f ervously 
 pray the Almighty for PEACE WITH VIDTOKY 
 FOE THE ALLIES. 
 
 Our "pacifists at all hazards" once more 
 silenced, this time by the very religious leaders 
 under whose aegis they had shamefully tried to 
 shield themselves, the patriotic impulse was moved 
 to most commendafble action. Without waiting for 
 the call of the law, hundreds of young men from 
 the better classes, from the universities and other 
 educational institutions, well educated, voluntarily 
 enlisted and rallied to the Colours. At least as 
 much as in the other provinces, the class of our 
 young manhood called by law heartily responded, 
 all the real leaders of public opinion uniting to 
 give the only advice loyal men could express. 
 
CONCLUSION. 407 
 
 For one, I was most happy to ascertain how 
 favourably western public feeling was impressed 
 by the new turn of thoughts and events in the 
 Province of Quebec. The reaction of sentiments 
 operating both ways, — in Ontario, the western 
 Provinces and Quebec-r-augurs well for the final 
 abatement of the excitement which for a time 
 menaced our fair Dominion with regrettaible racial 
 strifes so much to be deprecated. 
 
 It can be positively affirmed that the whole 
 people of Canada, east to west, north to south, 
 are now more than ever a unit in their patriotic 
 determination to fight the war to its final victor- 
 ious issue. To this end the two millions of French 
 British subjects in Canada, in perfect communion 
 of thoughts and aspirations with the two millions 
 of the neighbouring Republic's subjects of French 
 Canadian origin, are loyally doing, and will con- 
 tinue to do, their share. Their representatives at 
 the front are gloriously fighting the common 
 enemy. Their valour and their achievements dur- 
 ing the Allies' offensive so masterly planned and 
 carried out by the Commander-in-Chief, Foch, 
 have been worthy of their victories at Ypres, Vimy, 
 Courcelette, Passchandaele. Many have, during 
 the last three months, given their lives for the 
 cause they defend. Many more have been wounded 
 and are anxiously waiting their cure, when possi- 
 
408 ENGLAND, C>ANA!DA AND THE WAR. 
 
 ble, to return to the field of honour. Daily reports 
 from the front tell of their enthusiasm, of their 
 bravery, of their heroism ! 
 
 The French Canadians — I have no hesitation 
 whatever in vouching for it — will continue to bear 
 stoically with the sacrifices of so many kinds the 
 conflict imposes upon them. Though smarting, 
 as all others, under the burden, yet they cheerfully 
 pay the heavy taxes required from the country to 
 meet our national obligations the outcome of the 
 war. 
 
 S'o all is for the best under the strenuous 
 present conditions of our national existence. 
 
 In closing, I pray leave to reiterate, from 
 the Introduction to this work, the following 
 lines expressing my most sincere and profound 
 conviction : — 
 
 I hope, — and most ardently wish — that all my 
 readers will agree with me that next to the neces- 
 sity of winning the war — and may I say, even as 
 of almost equal importance for the future grandeur 
 of our beloved country — range that of promoting 
 by all lawful means harmony and good will 
 amongst all our countrymen, whatever may be 
 their racial origin, their religious faith, their 
 particular aspirations not conflicting with their 
 devotion to Canada as a whole, nor with their loy- 
 alty to the British Empire, whose grandeur and 
 
CONCLUSION. 409 
 
 prestige they want to firmly help to uphold with 
 the inspiring confidence that more and more they 
 will be the unconquerable bulwark of Freedom, 
 Justice, Civilization and Eight. 
 
 May I be allowed to conclude by saying that 
 my most earnest desire is to do all in my power, in 
 the rank and file of the great army of free men, to 
 reach the goal which ought to be the most per- 
 severing and patriotic ambition of loyal Canadians 
 of all origins and creeds. 
 
 And I repeat, wishing my words to be reechoed 
 throughout the length and breadth of the land I so 
 hearitly cherish: — I have always been, I am and 
 will ever be, to my last breath, true to my oath of 
 allegiance to my Sovereign and to my country. 
 
APPENDIX— A. 
 
 PEESIDENT WILSON'S SPEECH 
 
 To The United States Congress — 11th Day of 
 February, 1918. 
 
 On the above mentioned date, Mr. Wilson, the 
 President of the great American Republic, deliv- 
 ered the following speech to the Congress, in 
 Washington. This noble and statesmanlike utter- 
 ance met with the unanimous and enthusiastic 
 approval of the members of both Houses, and was 
 highly applauded, not only in the United States, 
 but over all the truly civilized world. It reads 
 thus : — 
 
 "On the eighth of January, I had the honor of 
 addressing you on the objects of the war as our people 
 conceive them. The Prime Minister of Great Britain 
 had spoken in similar terms on the fifth of January. To 
 these addresses the German Chancellor replied on the 
 24th and Count Czernin for Austria on the same day. 
 It is gratifying to have our desire so promptly realized 
 that flftl exchanges of view on this great matter should be 
 made in the hearing of all the world. 
 
 "Count Czernin's reply, which is directed chiefly to 
 
4H2 APPENDIX—A. 
 
 my own address, on the eighth of January, is uttered in 
 a very friendly tone. 
 
 "He finds in my statement a sufficiently encouraging 
 apiproach to the views of his own government to justify 
 him in believing that it furnishes a basis for a more de- 
 tailed discussion of purposes by the two governments. 
 He is represented to have intimated that the views he 
 was expressing had been communicated to me beforehand 
 and that I was aware of them at the time he was uttering 
 tihem ; but in this I am sure he was misunderstood. I had 
 received no intimation of what he intended to say. There 
 was, of course, no reason why he should communicate 
 privately with me. I am quite content to foe one of his 
 public audiences. 
 
 "Count von Herttling's reply is, I may say, very 
 vague and very confusing. It is full of equivocal phrases 
 and leads, it is not clear where. But it is certainly in a 
 very different tone from that of Count Czernin and ap- 
 parently of an opposite purpose. It confirms, I am sorry 
 to say, rather than removes, the unfortunate impression 
 made by what we ha'd learned of the conferences at Brest- 
 litovsk. His discussion and acceptance of our general 
 principles leads him to no practical conclusions. He re- 
 fuses to apply them to the substantiate items which must 
 constitute the body of any final settlement. He is jealous 
 of international action and of international council. He 
 accepts, he says, the principle of public diplomacy, but he 
 appears to insist that it be confined at any rate in this 
 case, to generalities and that the several particular ques- 
 tions of territory and sovereignty, the several questions 
 upon whose settlement must depend the acceptance of 
 
APPENDIX— A. 413 
 
 peace by the twenty-three states now engaged in the war, 
 must be discussed and settled, not in general council but 
 severally by the nations most immediately concerned by 
 interest of neighbourhood. He agrees that the seas should 
 be free, but looks askance at any limitation to that free- 
 dom by international action in the interest of the common 
 order. He would, without reserve, be glad to see eco- 
 nomic barriers removed between nation and nation, for 
 that could in no way impede the ambitions of the military 
 party with whom ; he seems constrained to keep on terms. 
 Neither does he raise objection to a limitation of arma- 
 ments. That matter will 'be settled otf itself, he thinks, 
 by the economic conditions which must follow the war. 
 But the German colonies, he demands, must be returned 
 without debate. He will discuss with no one but the re- 
 presentatives of Russia what disposition shall be made of 
 tine peoples and the lands of the Baltic provinces; with no 
 one but the Government of France the "conditions" under 
 which French territory shall be evacuated and only with 
 Austria what shall be done with Poland. In the determina- 
 tion of all questions affecting the Balkan states he defers, 
 as I understand him, to Austria and Turkey and with re- 
 gard to the agreements to be entered into concerning the 
 non-Turkish peoples of the present Ottoman Empire, to 
 the Turkish authorities themselves. After a settlement all 
 around effected in this fashion, by individual barter and 
 concession, he would have no objection, if I correctly in- 
 terpret his statement, to a league of nations which would 
 undertake to hold the balance of power steady against 
 external disturbance. 
 
 u It must be evident to everyone who understands 
 
414 APPENDIX— A. 
 
 what this war has wrought in the opinion and temper of 
 the world that no general peace, no peace worth the in- 
 finite sacrifices of these years of tragical suffering, can 
 possibly be arrived at in any such fashion. The method 
 the German Chancellor proposes is the method of the 
 Congress of Vienna. We cannot and will not return to 
 that. What is at stake now is the peace of the world. 
 What we are striving for is a new international order 
 based upon broad and universal principles of right and 
 justice — no mere peace of shreds and patches. Is it pos- 
 sible that Count von Herding does not see that, does not 
 grasp it, is in fact living in his thought in a world dead 
 and gone? Has he utterly forgotten the Reichstag re- 
 solutions of the 19th of July, or does he deliberately 
 ignore them? They spoke of the conditions of a general 
 peace, not of national aggrandizement or of arrange- 
 ments between state and state. The peace of the world 
 depends upon just settlement of each of the several prob- 
 lems to Which I adverted in my recent address to Con- 
 gress. I, of course, do not mean that the peace of the 
 world depends upon the acceptance of any particular set 
 of suggestions as to the way in which those problems are 
 to be dealt with. I mean only that those problems, each 
 and all, affect the whole world; that unless they are dealt 
 with in a spirit of unselfish and unbiassed justice, with a 
 view to the wishes, the natural connections, the racial 
 aspirations, the security and peace of mind of the peoples 
 involved, no permanent peace will have been attained. 
 They cannot be discussed separately or in corners. 'None 
 of them constitutes a private or separate interest from 
 which the opinion of the world may be shut out. What- 
 
APPENDIX— A. 416 
 
 ever affects the peace affects mankind, and nothing 
 settled by military force, if settled wrong, is settled at all. 
 It will presently have to be re-opened. 
 
 "Is Count von Herding not aware that he is speak- 
 ing in the court of mankind, that all the awakened nations 
 of the world now sit in judgment on what every public 
 man, of whatever nation, may say on the issues of a con- 
 flict which has spread to every region of the world? The 
 Reichstag resolutions of July 19 themselves frankly ac- 
 cepted the decisions of that court. There shall he no 
 annexations, no contributions, no punitive damages. 
 Peoples are not to be handed about from one sovereignty 
 to another by an international conference or an under- 
 standing between rivals and antagonists. National as- 
 pirations must be respected; peoples may now be dominat- 
 ed and governed only by their own consent. ^elf- 
 determination, " is not a mere phrase. It is an imperative 
 principle of action, Which statesmen will henceforth 
 ignore at their peril. We cannot have general peace for 
 the asking, or by the mere arrangements of a peace cort- 
 ference. It cannot be pieeed together out of individual 
 underdtandings between powerful states. All the parties 
 to this war must join in the settlement of every issue any- 
 where involved in it because what we are seeking is a 
 peace that we can all unite to guarantee and maintain 
 whether it be right and fair, an act of justice, rather than 
 a bargain between sovereigns. 
 
 "The United States has no desire to interfere in 
 European affairs or to act as arbiter in European terri- 
 torial disputes. We would disdain to take advantage of 
 any internal weakness or disorder to impose her own will 
 
416 APPENDIX— A. 
 
 upon another people. She is quite ready to be shown 
 that the settlements she has suggested are not the best or 
 the most enduring. They are only her own provisional 
 sketch of principles, and of the way in which they should 
 be applied. But she entered this war because she was 
 made a partner, whether she would or not, in the suffer- 
 ings and indignities inflicted by the military m'asters of 
 Germany, against the peace and security of mankind; and 
 the conditions off peace will touch her as nearly as they 
 will touch any other nation to which is entrusted a leading 
 part in the maintenance of civilization. She cannot see 
 her way to peace until the causes of this war are removed, 
 its renewal rendered, as nearly as may be, impossible. 
 
 "This war had its roots in the disregard of the 
 rights of small nations and of nationalities whi'ch lacked 
 the union and the force to make good their claim to de- 
 termine their own allegiances and their own forms of 
 political life. Covenants must now be entered into which 
 will render such things impossible for the 'future; and 
 those covenants must be 'backed by the united force of all 
 the nations that love justice and are willing to maintain it 
 at any cost. If territorial settlements and the political 
 relations of great populations which have not the organ- 
 ized power to resist are to be determined by the contracts 
 of the powerful governments which consider themselves 
 most directly affected, as Count von Hertling proposes, 
 why may not economic questions also? It has come about 
 in the altered world in which we now find ourselves that 
 justice and the rights of peoples affect the whole field of 
 international dealing as much as access to raw materials 
 and fair and equal conditions of trade. Count von Hert- 
 
APPENDIX— A. 417 
 
 ling wants the essential basis of commercial and industrial 
 life to be safeguarded by common agreement and guar- 
 antee, but he cannot expect that to be conceded him if the 
 other matters to be determined by the articles of peace 
 are not handled in the same way as it was in the final 
 accounting. He cannot ask the benefit of common agree- 
 ment in the one field without according it in the other. 
 I take it for granted that he sees that separate and selfish 
 compacts with regard to trade and the essential materials 
 of manufacture would afford no foundation for peace. 
 Neither, he may rest assured, will separate and selfish 
 compacts with regard to the provinces and peoples. 
 
 Count Czernin seems to see the fundamental ele- 
 ments of peace with dear eyes and does not seek to ob- 
 scure them. He sees that an independent Poland, made 
 up of all the indisputably Polish peoples who lie con- 
 tiguous to one another, is a matter of European concern 
 and must of course be conceded; that Belgium must be 
 evacuated and restored, no matter what sacrifices and 
 concessions that may involve; and that national aspira- 
 tions must be satisfied, even within his own empire, in the 
 common interest of Europe and mankind. If he is silent 
 about questions which touch the interest and purpose of 
 his Allies more nearly than they touch those of Austria 
 only, it must, of course, be because he feels constrained, 
 I suppose, to defer to Germany and Turkey in the cir- 
 cumstances. Seeing and conceding, as he does, the essen- 
 tial principles involved and the necessity of candidly 
 applying them, he naturally feels that Austria can respond 
 to the purpose of peace as expressed by the United States 
 with less embarrassment than could Germany. He would 
 
m APPKNBIX— A. 
 
 probably 'have gone much farther had it not been for 
 the embarrassments of Austria's alliance and of her 
 dependence upon Germany. 
 
 "After all the test of whether it is possible for 
 either Government to go any further in this comparison 
 of views is simple and obvious. The principles to be 
 applied are: 
 
 "First, that each part of the final settlement must 
 'be -based on the essential justice of the particular case, 
 and upon such adjustments as are most likely to bring a 
 peace that will be permanent. 
 
 "Second, that peoples and provinces are not to be 
 bartered about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if they 
 were mere chattels and pawns in a game, even the great 
 game, now for ever discredited, of the balance of power; 
 but that, 
 
 "Every territorial settlement involved in this war 
 must be made in the interest and for the benefit of the 
 populations concerned and not as a part of any nrere 
 adjustment of compromise of claims amongst rival states; 
 and, 
 
 "Fourth, that all well defined national aspirations 
 shall be accorded the utmost satisfaction that can be ac- 
 corded them without introducing new or perpetuating old 
 elements of discord, and antagonism that would be likely 
 in time to break the peace of Europe and consequently 
 of the world. 
 
 "A general peace entered upon such foundations can 
 be discussed. Until such a peace can be secured we have 
 no choice but to go on. So far as we can judge, these 
 principles that we regard as fundamental are already 
 
APPENDIX— A. 419 
 
 everywhere accepted as imperative except among the 
 spokesmen of the military and annexationist party in 
 Germany. If they have anywhere else been rejected, the 
 objectors have not been sufficiently numerous or influential 
 to make their voices audible The tragic circumstances is 
 that this one party in Germany is apparently willing and 
 able to send millions of men to their death to prevent 
 what all the world now sees to be just. 
 
 "I would not be a true spokesman of the people of 
 the United States if I did not say once more that we en- 
 tered this war upon no small occasion, and that we can 
 never turn back from a course chosen upon principle. 
 Our resources are in part mobilized now, and we shall 
 not pause until they are mobilized in their entirety. Our 
 armies are rapidly going to the fighting front, and will 
 go more rapidly. Our whole strength will be put into 
 this state of emancipation — emancipation from the threat 
 and attempted mastery of selfish groups of autocratic 
 rulers — whatever the difficulties and present partial de- 
 lays. We are indomitable in our power of independent 
 action, and can in no circumstances consent to live in a 
 world governed by intrigue and force. We believe that 
 our own desire for a new international order under which 
 reason and justice and the common interests of mankind 
 shall prevail, is the desire of enlightened men everywhere. 
 Without that new order the world will be without peace, 
 and human life will lack tolerable conditions of exist- 
 ence and development. Having set our hand to the task 
 of achieving it, we shall not turn back. 
 
 "I hope that it is not necessary forme to add that no 
 word of what I have said is intended as a threat. That 
 
420 APPENDIX— A. 
 
 is not the temper of our people. I have spoken thus only 
 that the whole world may know the true spirit of America 
 — that men everywhere may know that our passion for 
 justice and for self-government is no mere passion of 
 words, but a passion which, once set in act, must be sat- 
 isfied. The power of the United States is a menace to 
 no nation or people. It will be never used in aggression 
 or for the aggrandizement o'f any selfish interest of our 
 own. It springs out of freedom and is for the service 
 of freedom." 
 
APPENDIX— B. 
 
 Text of United States Eeply to Austria. 
 
 On the 18th of September, 1918, the Secretary 
 of State made public the official text of the letter 
 he sent, to Mr. W. A. F. Ekengren, the Swedish 
 Minister, in charge of Austro-Hungarian affairs, 
 conveying President Wilson's rejection of the 
 Austrian peace proposals. It reads as follows : — 
 
 "Sir, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt 
 of your note, dated September 16, communicating to me 
 a note from the Imperial Government of Austria- 
 Hungary, containing a proposal to the Government of 
 all the belligerent States to send delegates to a confidential 
 and unbinding discussion on the basic principles for the 
 conclusion of peace. Furthermore, it is proposed that 
 the delegates would be charged to make known to one 
 another the conception of their Governments regarding 
 these principles, and to receive analogous communications, 
 as well as to request and give frank and candid explana- 
 tions on all those points which need to be precisely 
 defined. 
 
 "In reply, I beg to say that the substance of your 
 communication has been submitted to the President, who 
 now directs me to inform you that the Government of 
 the United States feels that there is only one reply which 
 
422 APPENDIX— B. 
 
 5t can make to the suggestion of the Imperial Austro- 
 Hungarian Government. It has repeatedly, and with 
 entire candor, stated the terms upon which the United 
 States would consider peace, and can and will entertain 
 no proposal for a conference upon the matter concerning 
 which it has made its position and purpose so plain. 
 
 "Accept, sir, the renewed assurances o<f my highest 
 consideration. 
 
 "(Signed), ROBERT LANSING, 
 
 "Secretary of State/' 
 
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