IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) fe // .^ 1.0 !|i^ IM II i ■- 111^ 1.8 11.25 ■ 1.4 1.6 <% V] ^. \^ V ^^ rv ^ F ^ « :\ \ ;\ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. I I V- Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images in the reproduction are checked below. L'Institut a microfilmd le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Certains ddfauts susceptibles de nuire d la qualitd de la reproduction sont not6s ci-dessous. 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The original copy was borrowed from, and filmed with, the icind consent of the following institution: Library of the Public Archives of Canada Maps or plates too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Un des symboles sulvants apparaftra sur la der- nidre image de cheque microfiche, selon ie cas: le symbole — ► signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce d la g6n6ro8lt6 de I'dtablissement prAteur suivant : La bibliothique des Archives publiques du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reprodultes en un seul clich6 sont fllmdes ji partir de i'angle supdrieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre ia mdthode : f ! 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Late WILLIAM A. FOSTER, Q.C. From a paint iiiij hi/ Wm. Citts, Ksi^, the prnjvrft/ oj th< Nntioiml C/iih. '.'f. fe \ ^ / ■IHPHB"HH55^!u- -• CANADA FlRsn\. d^ M^movixl OF THE LATE WILLIAM A. FOSTER, Q.c. With imivotuxciion BY GOLDWIK SMITH, D.C.L. kmAt HUNTER, ROSE & CO 1890. M P A N Y. ^^■•■■■P"*! yi hi! Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hnndrtd and ninety, ^>' HUNTER, Rose & COMPANY, at the Depart- ment of Agriculture. PRINTED AND ROI.Wn BY HIKTHR, U<»SE a: CO., TORONTO. ici-. I?!? ^dSS^^. PEEFATORY XOTE. -^>4<^ HORTLY after the death of William A. Foster the design was entertained of issuing, as a me- morial of hira, one or two of his literary pro- ductions for distribution among a few friends, t^f}> together with some extracts from the obituary :■'-:?. notices which had appeared in the Canadian Press. Mr. Foster's'writings were on a variety of topics, though dealing chiefly with the national movement, known as " Canada First," of which, it may be said, he was himself a part. In 1875, when the movement, from various causes, began to wane, Mr. Foster devoted himself almost ex- clusively to his profession and wrote hardly anything for publication. Since then, some of those associated with him in the Canada First organization desired ihat its literature should be gathered and published ; and, after his death, the expression of this desire was renewed, coupled with the wish to have some memorial of him whom thev had known and loved, and who had been so largely identified with the patriotic movement. In res- ponse to these requests, the little volume which now appears^ has been published. In departing from the 0!i- giiial design, of issuing a volume only for a limited circle of private readers, the apology must be the importunity of friends. But the issue of the volume may not be amiss if it tends to keep green the memory of one who was r,i "."■.■'.™n/.f;p>,v ."fr;iftv .v"',- IV PllEFATCiRY NOTE. nut iinwoitl)y the i-e^jaid and affection l)ostowed upon liim, and if it serve to perpetuate the feeling which in- spired "Canada First," namely, ardent patriotism and loyal devotion to the highest interests of the country. The opportunity is here taken of recording a grateful sense of the kindness of many friends, who have shown an intereiit in the work and furthered its publication. Among those to whom the w^riter is specially indebted are J^rofessor Goldwin Smith, Mr. Henry J. Morgan, and Mr. G. Mercer Adam. To, Mr. Goldwin Smith a special debt is due, for readi- ly complying with the request to enr'ch the volume with an intioduction. His characteristic kindness is greatly appreciated. An honoured friend of Mr. Foster, he has given to the publication a value which the reader will, doubtless, highly esteem. To the Directors of the National Club, and to Mr. Wm. Cutts, of the Ontario Society of Artists, hearty thanks are tendered for permission to reproduce in this volume the very excellent portrait painted by Mr. Cutts for the Clul'. M. B. F. Toronto, Oct., 1890. INTRODUCTION. HE lonpj train of mourners which on the 3rd ^^^ of November, I.S88, attended the body of Wil- liam Alexander Foster to the tomb, w is foUow- L^?,^' ^"^ "°^ ^^^y ^^^ funeral of a man of brii^ht ^^ intellect, high professional promise, winning char- "^ acter, and many friends, but of one who had represented an idea and been the animating spirit of a movement. The idea, for the time at least, died with him : the movement, if it did not end its march, halted at his grave. It must be owned that even before his death the light of the idea had been growing pale and the pace of the movement had become slow. The union of the North American Colonies by Con- federation, the appeals of the authors of Confederation to the patriotism and self-reliance of the people, the glorious pictures which were then drawn of the greatness and re- sources of the country, could not fail to awaken strong emotions and kindle high hopes in the breasts of Cana- dians, especially in those of the young. It happened also that just then a generation of native Canadians, or men who had immigrated in childhood, were growing up to manhood and aspired to till the high places of public life, of the professions, and of commerce, theretofore held il INTRODUCTION, by men from the Old C-ouritry, who were at this time pas- sing otf the scene. The witlidrawal of British troops had also helped to bring .socially to the front- young na- tives who had been thrown into the backgi-ound by tlie social ascendancy of the British otHcer. \V. A. Foster had graduated in law at Toronto University, had studied in tlie office of Mr. (now Sir Adam,) Wilson, and had writ- ten for the press, not only political and commercial, but comic, for he had a kin^lly vein of humour. He had a share, with Mr. Hugh Scott, in founding our great com- mercial paper, The Monetary Times. Mr. Charles Lindsey, than whom there could be no better judge, thought very highly of his promise as a journalist. One of his com- rades in journalism, was Adam Clarke Tyner, his obituary article on whom is here reprinted. The fire of national aspiration and ^-atriotism l)urned. in Foster. In .1806 he sent two papers on Confederation to the We8hnini:)ter Review. In the same year he paid a visit to England, where, thanks to 3 friendship of Mr. W. F. Rae, the writer, he conversed witli Mr. Robert Lowe (now Lord Sherbrooke), George Eliot, and the poet Browning. In 1871 he produced the memorable pamphlet "Canada First," which leads the series of his productions in this volume. Some things in that pamphlet, when we now read it in cold blood, may seem to belong to the heyday of Confederation and of youth. But its effect at the time was great. It embodied a prevailing sentiment, gave shape to a floating idea, and called into existence tlie group of sympathizing spirits known by the collective INTRODUCTION. 3 name of " Canada P'irst." Tho aim of Cana'la First was never very clearly defined. Some of the {j;ro\ip, borne on by the tide of tlie time, aspired more or less consciously, more or less openly, to an independent nationality. Others aspired to a nationality which they deemed possible without independence, and desired only to complete the mt-asure of Canadian self-government, make the interest of Canada paramount in our policy, and fill all offices with men who, whether natives ur not, were thoroughly Canadian in spirit. Some, perhaps, as the programme presently to be (quoted indicates, had partly IT) view commercial legislation on the line since designated as the National Policy. To some probably Canada First was rather a vague sentiment than a distinct opinion or idea. All however united in striving to cultivate Cana dian patriotism, to raise C^^anada above the rank of a mere dependency, and to give her the first place in Canadian hearts. To attempt to give anything like a list of " Canada First " men might be unsafe. The nominations for the Council and Officers of the Asfcociation, which in time became its centre (January Gth, 1874), were Messrs. W. H. Rowland, W. A. Foster, VVm. Canniff, M.D , Hugh Scott, R. W. F]lliott, J. M. Trout, Jos. E. Macdougall, Wm. Badenach, W. G. McWilliams, C. E. English, James Michie, G. M. Rae, Nicol Kingsmill, Hugh Blain, Jos. A, Donovan, W. B. McMurrich, J. K. Macdonald, T.C. Scoble, Richard Grahame, Fred. Fenton, G. W. Badgerow, C. W. R. Big- gar, W. H. Frast r, J. G. Ridout, James R. Roaf, Thomas 4 INTUODl'CTION. Walmsloy, W. K. Cornell, \V. G. Mutton, (J. W. l)edriek> Hon, J. Crickniore, William H<'ssin, J. Ritchie, jr., R. («. Trotti'i-, A. S. Irving, A. Ho well, R. H. Gray, and A. M. Rosebnigl), M.J). In connection with these names should certainly ho mentioned, as having more or less sympa- thized witli the movement, Dr. Schultz, now Lieutenant- Governor of Manitoha, the kte Chief Justice Moss, 1))'. W. T. O'Reilly, late Inspector of Prisons and Asylums, Mr. HeTiry James Morgan, of the Secretary of State; Depart- ment, Mr, Robert Grant Hjiliburton, the scientist and man of letters, Mr. George R. Kingsmill, journalist, Mr. Charles Mair, the poet, Mr. James H. Morris, Q.C, Mr. Frank McKelcan, Q.C, Mr. James H. Coyne, and Mr. William Norris. Perhaps the most prominent figure of the group, Foster's temperament leaduig him u.sually to remain in the background, was tliat of Mr. W. PI. Howland, who may be regarded as the chief founder both of the Canadian National Association and the National Club. But as to the whole number it must be repeated that they were not members of an organized party in politics with de- fined aims, but partakers in a general sentiment. We cannot preteiid to state the extent to which each of them sympathised with the movement, or with any part or ob- ject of it, at the time, much less to state the extent to which they have retained such feelings since. The eyes of all Canada First men were turned with hope to Mr. Edward Blakt native Canadian, whose star was then rising in all its brightness above the political horizon, and after Mr. Blake to Mr. Thomas Moss, who having gradu- INlftODUCTION. ated with brllliunt honours at Toronto University, was rapidly mounting to eminence at the Bar. The circle greatly clierished the memory of the martyred Thomas D'Arcy McGee, as that of a Canadian patriot who had conceived high hopes for the country, and given them eloquent expression.* Canada First did not ally itself to either of the politi- cal parties. Its avowed aim was to put the country above th(.>m both, as Foster's article, " Party versus Prin- ciples," included among these remains, will show. When, in the autumn of 1873, Mr. Moss became a candidate for the representation of West Toronto in the Dominion Par liaraent, as he had the nomination of the Liberal party, Canada First could not join his organization, but as he wao its man it gave him a hearty support and held a meeting in his favour. " In the outlying Provinces," said Foster at that meeting, " old party lines have been de- stroyed and they care nothing tor the questions which have divided us in the older Provinces, but if the Can- adian National party can give thesn a national senti- ment, there will then be somethinij of a bond of union between them and us in the future." He repudiated nativism, saying that what we wanted was that every immigrant should become a Canadian as on the other * It is right to say with regard to this and the preceding paragraph, th . the writer of this notice had not settled in Canada when the movement commem-ed or when "Canada First" was published. Nor was he in the country when the Canadian National Association was formed or when The Nation newspaper was brought out. He therefore speaks, in part at least, not from personal knowledge, but from the best information which he can obtain. 6 INTRODUCTION. side of the line every immigrant became an American. He concluded by moving: "That it is the duty of all Canadians, M'bether such by birth or adoption to recog- nize the pressing necessity for the cultivation of a na- tional sentiment which will unite the people of the various Provinces more closely in the bonds of citizen- ship, promote a mutual confidence whose conmion source of affection will prompt acts of toleration and bonds of respect, and prove the best safeguard of our Dominion against absorption on the one hand or disunion on the other. That an organization which will draw the line between Canadians loyal to their soil and those who place their citizenship in a subordinate or secondary position, affords the surest means of cementing a confederation and securing political action in the interests of the whole Dominion." The Conservative Press called the meeting a Grit intrigue, and denounced all who were connected witli it. Mr. Moss was triumphantly elected, and the hopes of Canada First rose. In October, 1874, Mr. Edward Blake made his famous Aurora speech which, somewhat enigmatic though it was, all the world interpreted as the proclamation of a new departure in the direction of Independence. That we were " four millions of Britons who were not free" was the keynote of this memorable deliverance, and those words were everywhere repeated though with widely dif- ferent emotions. By Canada First the speech was hailed with delight. By the old leaders of the Liberal party, whose Liberalism had ended with the attainment of re- '# INTRODUCTION. 7 sponsible fj;overnment, it was reoivedwith consternation and disgust, as an alarming outbreak of free thought in the party camp. Their journal suspended the report of the speech, while an editorial was being prepared to neutralize its evil effect, and from that day never ceased to denounce Canada First and to shoot arrows which were we" understood to be intended for Mr. Blake, though they might be ostensibly levelled against some safer tar- get. Mr. Blake, however, pursued his course, and under his auspices The Liberal was set up at Toronto as an independent rival of The Globe. Both the old political parties frowned on Canada First, though it was only the natural response to the appeals made by their leaders to Canadian patriotism for the purpose of carrying Con- federation. But the Old School Libei'als, or to use their familiar name, the Grits, and their organ were always its bitterest enemies. It was their camp which it chiefly menaced with mutiny, and their party strategy which it most threatened to mar. This will explain some passages in Foster's addresses. • In the same year (1874), the Canadian National Associ- ation, comprising those who took the more active part in the movement, was formed. The list of its prominent members has already been given. It issued an address to the people of Canada, which will be found among the papers of this volume. The address is signed by Mr. Wm. H. Howland, as Chairman, and Mr. W. G. McWilliams, as Secretary ; but it is believed Foster had a large share in its composition. It is headed " Canada First." It w. 8 INTRODUCTION. V.^ vindicates the movement against the interpretations of those who identify it with Annexation, Independence* or Know-nothingism, and explains that the aim is broad patriotism, with national unity and a full measure of self- government. It denounces the narrow spirit of party and the prostration of independent thought beneath the chariot-wheels of mere dictators, that is, the dictator of The Globe. At a dinner given by the Hamilton Branch to the Toronto Branch, Foster made a speech, the keynote of which was that " the time had arrived for Canadians to sa}'' that they had a country, and that the bearing of the sentimental upon the actual might be more important than was supposed." He went over at the same time the several planks in the Canadian National Association Platf 3rm : — 1. British Connection, Consolidation of the Empire — and in the meantime a voice in treaties affecting Canada. 2. Closer trade relations with the British West India Islands, with a view to ultimate political connection. 3. Income Franchise. 4. The Ballot, with the addition of compulsory voting. 5. A Scheme for the Representation of Minorities. C^ Encouragement of Immigration, and Free Homesteads in the Public Domain. 7. The imposition of duties for Revenue, so adjusted as to *~ afford every possible encouragement to Native Industry. 8. An Improved Militia System, under command of trained Dominion Officers. INTRODUCTION. , 9. No Propert}^ Qualifications in Members of the House of Commons. ,,_i^). The Reorganization of the Senate. .11. Pure and Economic Administration of Public Affairs. It was before the Canadian National Association that Foster delivered, in 1875, the address here reprir.ted. In that address he went beyond the first article of the plat- form and avowed, though without breach of constitution- al loyalty, the real aspirations of the more pronounced and ardent members of the circle. "We no more advo- cate Indej)endence than we advocate the Day of Judg- ment. There are those among us who think just as Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Lowe, Mr. Brown, Sir Alexander Gait, Mr. Blake and others, think, that the relations of Canada to the Empire are proper subjects for discussion ; that some day or other separation may or must come, and tliat now is the time at least to begin to prepare for it. England has been trying for years to make us stand upon our feet. The troops have been withdrawn. We are allowed to legislate as we please and there is great dislike of inter- fering with our action. It would rather take us aback if at some early day we were made to strike out for our- selves without any preparation for the event. What must come is either a Federation of the Empire or Inde- pendence." Such avowals of course drew volleys of vituperation from the regular part}^ organs on both sides. " Canada First" was denounced l annexationism," " Republicanism," " treason" and " Communism," the orthodox Liberal organ as usual leading the chorus. 10 INTRODUCTION. " Canada First" was no more annexationist than * ,vtis Communist. Its leading idea was a nationality too stiotig in its unity to be absorbed by the United States. On the subject of the Fenian Raids and the questions con- nected with tl em, Foster, as a journalist, had written in an ardently patriotic strain. He wrote in an equa,ily ardent strain about Kiel's first rebellion in the North- West and the murder of Thomas Scott. The Nation, a weekly journal, was brought out in 1874', by a group of Canada First men, among whom Fostei' probably was the most active. Mr. W. H. How- and also took a leading part. Mr. Charles Lindsey lent the young journal from the first the powerful aid of his pen. So did Mr. W. J. Rattray, one of our best and most thoughtful writers, and a great friend of Foster, who was destined to a too short career.* Its aim was, in ac- cordance with the title, to be thoroughly national and independent of party, and of all interests opposed to the broadest patriotism. It also sought to give the country a literary paper, and one which should treat general ques- tions in a more comprehensive way and more satisfac- torily than they could be treated by the party pvcss. The Nation ran for two years, and considering the limited character of the constituency to which such a journal could appeal in a country like ours, with success. Its circulation was larger in proportion to the area than that of its prototype in the United States. At the end of two years, its two principal wiiters were * The writer of this notice contributed, but at a later stage. i jssffl;'^*- INTRODUCTION. 11 obliged to leav^e it ; they could not be replaced and The JS'ation was withdrawn. A constant fire had been kept up against it hy enemies, who in their eagerness to de- stroy it and crush its contributors, broke through the laws of Press warfare ; but few, it is believed, thought that by its character and tone, it had disgraced Canada First. The National Club, founded at Toronto in 1874, was another offspring of the move men L in which Foster took an active interest. Its name was an antithesis to those of party clubs, and it was destined to unite under the same roof all true Canadians and to afford tliem a place for perfectly free intercourse and discussion, in a social way, about the concerns and interests of their common country. In 1875, however, the movement received a h avy blow. The man to whom it looked as its leader, Mr. Edward Blake, joined the Liberal Ministry, the head of which was Mr. Alexander Mackenzie, but the real master of which was Mr. George Brown, the proprietor of Tlie Olobe, the bitterest enemy of " Canada First." The Liberal was at the same time withdrawn. From the consequences of this catastrophe the central action of the movement did not recover, though the sentiment survived elsewhere. Mr. Moss soon afterwards quitted Parliament for the Bench, of which he had become one of the greatest orna- ments when he was snatched away by a too early death. Foster devoted himself to his profession. He had made for himself a happy home, by his marriage in 1877 with 12 INTRODUCTION. Margaret, the daughter of Ex-Mayor Bowes. He was rising rapidly at the Bar and had been made a Q.C., when overwork, in connection with the Central Bank Liqui- dation, broke down his health and hurried him to the grave. In years his life was short ; in interest and sig- nificance it was long. His bright and winning expression has been well pre- served in the portrait of him by Mr. W. Cutts, a won- derful work considering that it was executed from a photograph after the death of the subject. High aspiration followed by disinterested effort works into and elevates the character of a nation as it works into and elevates the character of a man. That is the epitaph which must be written on the tomb of many a generous movement. That is the epitaph which, if there is no revival in store, will be written on the tomb of Canada First. A Voyage down the St. Lawrence in a Haft, which con- cludes the series, shows Foster's literary gifts as well as the geniality and mirthfulness, which made his company always a delight and his departure a heavy loss to a large circle of friends. CANADA FIRST.* -O- HREE hundred and thirty-seven years ago f^ Jacques Caitier erected the cross at Gasp^, and, amid the triumphal shout of his hardy mariners, flung to the breeze the Fleur-de-lis of Old France. Since then what a land of adven- ture and romance has this been ! We may have no native ballad for the nursery, or home-born epic for the study ; no tourney feats to rhapsodise over, or mock heroics to emblazon on our escutcheon ; we may have no prismatic fables to illumine and adorn the preface of our existence, or curious myths to obscure and soften the sharp outline of our early history ; yet woven into the tapestry of our past, are whole volumes of touching poetry and great tomes of glowing prose tiiat rival fiction in eagerness of in- cident, and in marvellous climax put fable to the blush. We need not ransack foreign romance for valorous deeds, nor are we compelled to go abroad for sad tales of priva- tion and suffering. The most chivalrous we can match ; the most tried we can parallel. Each stage of this coun- try's progress recounts to us, in all the simplicity of un- premeditated record, sacrifices endured, hardships encoun- tered and brave deeds done, not amid the applause of an interested and anxious world, nor yet amid the pomp •Reprinted frora a brochure, published at Toronto in the year 1871, en- titled " Canada First ; or, Our New Nationality." An Address by W. A Foster, Esq., Barrister at Law, J;^«Jtui3jxuii^».bu^MJ1, not only thwarted every attempt at their subjugation by the much more densely populated c»»ionies to the south, but with a little stingily rendered assistance from the parent country, held their own against repeated attack l)y land and sea. Mournful is the hist(Hy of those days. There were no ambulance trains then, no Christian charities to assuage the horrors of battle, and little skill to alleviate its sufferings. Mercy was a word imknown, for the civilij^ed had become apt pupils of the savage. Need I rehearse in your ears the terrible punish- ment inflicted on the sin)ple-rainded, inoffensive Acadians who " dwelt in the love of God and of man," — " their dwellings open as day and the hearts of the owners," — when hundreds of families were torn apart, wife from husband, child from parent, and "the freighted vessels departed, Bearing a nation, with all its household gods, into exile, Exile without an end, and without an example in story ; " discharging their living cargoes at intervals along the coast from Boston to Carolina, and flinging like outcasts /fe IIOT'J™ 16 CANADA FIRST. I' I ii! among a ])('0{)le !ili'}n in race and langnai^e, those honie- leHS, houseless, hroken-liearted wanderers. O ! it was a cruel act without })alliation, au inhuman vengeance with- out excuse ! * Wlio has not read of Evangeline, her heart filled with inexpressible sweetness, pursuing through the slow-revolving years the phantom of her love, and losing the celestial brightness of her girlhood in " the unsatis- fied longing, and the dull, deep pain and constant anguish of patience;" or of Gabriel, "weary with waiting, un- happy and restless, seeking in the western wilds, oblivion ■of self and of sorrow ;" or of the dying Marguerite, of -whom the sweet- voiced Wi\ittier has sung : ** Done was the work of her hands, she had eaten her bitter bread ; The world of the alien people lay behind her, dim and dead, But her soul wont back to its child-time ; she saw the sun o'ertlow With gold the Basin of Minas, and set over Gaspereau ; She saw the face of her mother, she heard the song she sang, And far off, faintly, slowly, the bell for vespers rang." But pathetic incident must give ])lace before the march of historical event. It was not until wearied out by in- cessant attack, deserted by parent land, and overborne by superior numbers, that the French-Canadian laid down his arms and exchanged his allegiance. In the spring of 1758, 30,000 British combatants were ready to march on Canada, not merely raw militiamen, but regu- lar troops as well, led by officers trained on European battle-fields, armed with artillery and siege requisites, and supported by an active and daring fleet. The Can- adians knew their danger and prepared to meet it. An inquest of the inhabitants was held, and the male popu- * Foster had not read Parknian, Adams, Archibald, and Kingsford. CANADA FIRST. 17 lation of the colony between the aj^es of sixteen and sixty was found to be but lo.OOO. Aid was implored iToni France, but instead of munitions of wai" and recruits, the devoted colonists were vuuclisafed otticial despatches reeommendint,^ them to dispute every inch of territory, foot to foot with the British and to sustain the hont)ur of the French arms to tlie utmost. "Not only would addi- tional troops be a means of aggrnvatiuL,'" tlie evils of the dearth which has too long attiicteil the colony," — wrote the French Minister — " but the chances are great that if sent thither, they would be capturent to reflect upon. Were we disposed to vaunt our- selves, we might come down to more modern times, and ask : Was there a display of timidity in the Trent affan-? Did Canadians hold back when the sanctity of our common flag was violated ? Were reasons for neutrality in the impending struggle searched out with eagerness ? Or did our people sigh over their little hoards of money — the fruit of years of hard work — or look with fainting heart at the scarce-born evidences of substantial progress- tliat surrounded them ? Like the everlasting fire on the altar, loyalty gave forth a steady light, its flame never brighter or more pure than in the hour of national peril. Think yoi' now, that Canada has no claim to rank with those lands where adventure has had play and romance has bad a home, or that the heroic devotion which dis- tinguished its inhabitants, of French and British origin,, is less worthy of a place in story than the most cherished traditions of the Old World. But our past is characterised by something more than romantic attachment to a flag, or chivalrous devotion to v.if!ea^ftAnp«i iswj>>*^ rca j^r^tv.^ts^ ^?ia^UAn^!nift»ji:&«j(MB^^i)kirMj)!R.'aJ rrtX. JUi^fio.T.U.'^. ■: M ' 22 CANADA FIRST. t v^W \i I i an idea. SenLimont did not blunt the edge of industry, nor suffering give excuse for idleness. Every breathing spell of war gave the husbandman opportunity. The sword and musket were exchanged for the plough and bickle ; and a fruitful soil, feeling the warm glow of peace, yielded a grateful leturn. The forest echoed the line: of the axe and the crash of timber. Amid the soli- tariness of the backwoods the sturdy settler was hewing out a home for himself and his family, with hunger and cold kept merely at arm's length. Between him and his nearest neighbour, miles of dark forest intervened. The traveller or trader picked his way across tangled brush- wood and fallen timber, or tramped wearily over " ^mck- less wilderness of snow, finding few finger-posf y the road-side to point out the direction he wished to take. All kinds of field-work were done by hand, for there were very few oxen and still fewer horses. In 178!>, the mails icft Upper Canada for England about twice a year, so that ejHstolary eftort was not much taxed. For years the only road from Lower Canaila was by the St. Law- rence, the rapids being ascended by canoes and bateaux in ten or twelve days, until the flat bottomed Durham boats, steered with a ten-foot pole and pushed along by two men on each side, came into use. We can read in the York Gazette, of April 29th, 1815. that the Lieut.-Gover- nor, Sir George Murray, Kt., arrived at York from Bur- lington, in a birch canoe. But none of us need go far to learn all about the hardships of the early settlers, for witnesses are still among us who passed through the ordeal. Now we can atibrd to look back with some degree of complacency, for industry has produced aV>un- J CANADA FIRST. 23 (lant fruit, and we are reaping in joy a harvest sown in tears and trouble. As farm after farm was rescued from native wildness, schemes of internal improvement, first viewed as shadowy impossibilities, grew into reality, while the bounteous yield of a virgin soil sent D'^jw life into every artery of trade. Land was gradually freed from the tight-locking folds of rapacious hydras, and the barnacles that fattened on the offices of state were torn from the vitals of the country. What has been the result ? In 1812, the population of Canada was 280,000 ; to-day Canada has over four millions of people. In IcSOG, the value of the exports from the whole of the Provinces was S028,000 ; last year our exports were over seventy- three millions, and our imports over seventy-four millions of dollar?,. In 1815, the first steamboat was built on Lake Ontario; to-day Canada is the third maritime power in the world, with six million tons entered in- wards, and five million tons entered outwards, engaged in carrying on our trade. In 1851, Canada had but fifty- tive miles of railway ; to-day there are three thousand miles in operati n, several h.mdreds of miles under con- struction, and a scheme on foot to build 2,.500 miles more that will present a route between England and Japan^ 1,100 miles shorter than bv New York and San Fran- cisco, and give us a continuous line of four thousand miles across the continent. We possess a system of canals the most complete in the world, that cost us twenty millions of dollars, — so com))lete indeed that President Grant looks upon it as part of the St. Lawrence naviga- tion. The aggregate of our banking capital is over thir- ty-six millions of dollars, and the savings of our people r'llllMlillltiMMyailMCniilMi. n r ---i mii^ ■■■■■■»^«*i itt^iT.'MAlti. ^.1 '%, 24 CANADA FIRST. -' represented by deposits in our monetary in^^titutions, amount to about sixty-four millions. We have coal in Nova Scotia, on the Atlantic ; coal at the Saskatchewan, in the heart of the continent ; and coal at Vancouver's Island, on the Pacitic. We have mineral wealth as various as our needs, and, in extent, boundless. We have, at our doors, exhaiistless fisheries, the richest in the world, fmnishing an annual yield esti- mated at twenty million dollars to the various countries engaged in them, and giving us a nursery for adventur- ous and hardy seamen. Our agricultural product is im- mense, and capable of indetiuite expansion ; and our forests are the envy of the world. We have, or will have shortly, 70,000 sailors, and now have at least 700,000 men between the ages of 20 and GO available for defen- sive uurposes. As for territory, we have more than half the continent, and elbow-room for a population of 40,000,000. Religious freedom exists here in its most perf v.ct form, and our elaborate system of common schools, colleges and imiversities gives an equal opportunity to all to achieve distinction. We have political institutions combining the greatest freedom with the most perfect restraint upon riot, recognizing the rights of the people without begetting distrust or disrespect for lawful authority : neither ignoring the poor nor bringing terror to the rich ; giving voice to property without drowning the tones of labour; allowing complete self-government by means of a graduated jurisdiction and, through a well- understood and easily -enforced system of responsibility, admitting of reform without revolution, government without despotism. Our Dominion Legislature will com- I I 4 *'■ ■f ■I « CANADA FIRST. z^y 4 s i % I pare favourably with any deliberative body in the world. Accident may have brought to the surface of politics a good many who float by reason of the cork-like lightness of their brains ; but, on the whole, our public men are as able as those ot other countries. Our politicians have certainly carried party strife to the extreme, but it is an axiom that the smaller the [tit, the more fiercely do the rats fight. The world would be rather a stupid place if all men thought and acted alike. The charms of novelty and varictv are too attractive, even to the idlest and most listless, to render an unbroken harmony either pleasant to the eye or grateful to the ear. Diversities of temper, of understanding, of interest, are necessaiy to stimulate our love of existence; our impulses, offensive and defensive, serving as a pieservative from mental paralysis, as a preventive as regards public langour and impotence, and as a safeguard against the enervating influences of a drearv, monotonous dulness. The old Norse mythology, with its Thor iiammers and Thor ham- merings, appeals to us, — for we are a Northern people, — as the true out-crop of human nature, more manly, more real, than the weak marrow-bones superstition of an elfeminate South. For the purposes of 8,ttrition, the bigoted dotard, the reckless empiric, and the .-^hallow babbler are useful in their a iv, as are al«o the wise, the cautious, and the prudent. To produce the fine flour, we must have a nether as well as an upper mill-stone. We cannot construct politicians, nor manufacture i)olitical parties impromptu, for there is always an inert mass, incapable of sudden emotion, subject merely to that oscil- lation which gives victory or defeat. One might as well S6 CANADA FIRST. 'M try to form a political party f'-om persons of a peculiar physiognomy, as to fit men into sets of political principles. They must como totjether naturally or not at all, for men cannot be sized in principles, as if at company drill. Let the worst come, however ; we know that ])olitical parties have their beginnint there is soma excuse for us; if we hope for the future, we have, at least, some justification. I'hanks to Dr. Ryerson, our school children have now the means of acquiring a knowledge of Canadian geography without first searching through every State in the American Union to find the country tliey live in, and can now learn something of Canadian history w^ithout first pump- ing dry the reservoir of Yankee buncombe. Thus far, my object has been to indicate our advance- ment as a country and as a people, but it may be well to consider whether individual effort has kept pace, in individual results, with combined action and joint pro- gress; whether the unit has distinguished itself when 28 CANADA FIRST. !! ' I ' !,' P 111 isolated from the mass ;' whether t])e mind has grown inert by reason of the need to supply njere bodily wants; whether chopping and digi,Mn;^' have blunted sensibilities, and kept in the background the more refined ambitions of the soul ; whether our soil is more fertile than our brains ; whether scholarshij) and talent find in Canada a congenial home. It may be bold for mere colonists, mere backwoodsmen, to venture on dangerous comparisons ; but let us hazard results. There are Canadian names known to the world, outside our boundaries, on which renown has fallen, and we are entitled, at least, to claim whatever credit is our due. Thanks to the industry of Mr. Morgan, we have not far to go for information. Sir William Logan is one of the great geologisio of the day ; Sir Duncan Gibb is among the foremost in medical science. In Art, distinction has been attained by Canad- ians, one of whom flourished in Russia; Gilbert S. Newton became famous for colour, and was made a Royal Academican in London ; Falardeau, a poor Quebec boy, won celebrity in Italy. Among ourselves there are names we delight to honour — Paul Kane, Plamondon, Bourassa, Berthon, Hamel, and Legare — all gifted artists. We claim Sir Samuel Cunard, the father of steam navigation on the Atlantic ; Sir Hugh Allan, the largest ship-owner in the world ; and Sir Edward Belcher, the first surveying oflicer of the day. Scholarship and pro- found thought have not suffered from our practical life. Archa3oiogical lore finds a master-spirit in Dr. McCaul, of our national University, who is pronounced by the Satnrday Review to be a better scholar than any of the antiquaries who have taken to the elucidation of CANADA FIRST. 80 Britaniio-Koiimn inscriptions. Dr. Wilson not only- casts new light upon the aiThaH)Ioj;y and pre-historic annals of Scotland, but dives into the ethnology and antiquities of America, with a zeal and success which evoke the Jiduiiration of those skilled in such subjects. From the Ottawa region, Mr. Todd sends forth the most useful and complete text-book that has evei- appeared, on the practical operation of the British Constitution. John Foster Kirk, of New Brunswick, has, according to the highest critics, entitled himself to take rank with those accomplished historians, Prescott and Motley, by the pi'oduction of his history of Charles the Bold. We can boast, too, of hunjourists, novelists, and tale-writens, who have distinguished themselves. Judge Haliburton, of Nova Scotia, has won fame through the sayings and doings of Sam Slick. Besides him, we claim Major Richardson, the author of " Wacousta ;" Professor de Mille, of New Brunswick, who wrote " The Dodge Family ;" Mr. Jenkins, the author of " Ginx's Baby ;" De Boucherville, Bourassa, and Lajoie, who have, in their writings, evidenced all the sparkle and dash of the true Frenchman; Mrs. Fleming, of New Brunswick, known to American literature as Cousin May Carleton ; Rossana Leprohen ; Louisa Murray, who contributes to Once a Week, and Mrs. Moodie, who has given us a vivid picture of old-time hardships, in her " Roughing it in the Bush." Our historians are Garneau, Christie, Murdock, MaoMullen, Lindsey, and Canniif. In Charles Heavysege, the author of " Saul," and " Jepthah's Daughter," we have a dramatic poet of great imagination and feeling, whose productions were received witli con- 80 CANADA FIRST. siderable wonder by foreign critics. One of the great Quarterlies, tlie North Brifiah, said : " This work is un- doubtedly one of the most remarkable written out of Great Britain." "This copy," the critic goes on to remark, "was given to the writer of the present article by Mr. Nathaniel Hawthorne, to whose recommendation of this, to him and to us, unknown Canadian poet, our readers, and English literature generally, are beholden for their first introduction to a most curious work." Charles Sangster chants, in no unworthy strains, the beauties and sublimities of our great waters. Of him Dr. O. W. Holmes wrote, " His verse adds new interest to the woods and streams .amidst which he sings, and embellishes the charms of the maidens he celebrates." The soul-stirring lyrics of Alexander McLachlan combine manly thought with apt and terse expression; and those of us who have been fortunate enough to have familiar- ized ourselves with them, need not a Sir Archibald Alison to tell us that the author is one truly inspired with the genius of poetry. Isidore Ascher has sung tenderly and sweetly of household gods, in his " V'ojces irom the Hearth ;" and Charles Mair, the Canadian Keats, tempts us with delicious melody away to the sunny hills of his own " Dreamland." * However, we do not make pretence to having achieved, as a people", great renown in literature, " The Family Physician," and " Every Man his own Lawyer," are still purchased with avidity, while the poem or the essay lies on the bookseller's shelf, accumulating dust and respectability ; though, in this * Those who desire to acquaint themselves with the best efforts of our sonK writers will find the Rev. E. H. Dewart'a collection very useful. 'T CANADA FiaST. 01 -ii : our particular, we are perhaps no worse ol! than our neigh- bours. We have done well, everything considered, and our cousins across the lines have little room to bmg over us, as there are not a dozen names in their literature that can be placed in the front rank among the poets, historians, and novelists of to-day. In the annals of war, Canadians have acluoved dis- tinction for skill and vahmr. The old French times give to us the names of r)'Iberville, of Montreal, who was re- puted the most skilful naval otlicer in the service of France, and of DeLery, of Quebec, one of its first military engineers. Need we call the roll of those Canadians who have done battle lor Britain ? Major-General Dunn campaigned in Kgypt, Italy and Spain ; Major-General Beckwith fought at the Nile and at Waterloo ; Adn^iral Sir Provo Wallis captured the Chesapeake ; Admiral Watt figured in a hundred engagements ; Admiral Sir George Westphal was wounded on board the Victory at Trafalgar; Sir Thos. Wiltshire served in India and in the Peninsular war; Captain McNab of Toronto, was on Picton'a stafl' at Waterloo ; Sir Richard England led the 3rd division at Inkerman ; Sir Fen wick Williams won fame at Kars, and Sir John Inglis at Lucknow ; Col. Dunn, of Toronto, was selected, as the bravest of the im- mortal Six Hundred, to receive tlie Victoria Cross ; Read of Perth, though a surgeon, won the same reward of val- our for daring feats in the Indian mutiny. Side by side with the soldier of the motherland, the Canadian fought witl 3qual devotion, and fell with equal honour. The hot sun of India looks down upon the graves of Monti- zambert, Evans, Joly, Sewell, and Vaughan ; in the 9% CANADA FIRST. r f Crimea Parker fell with his face to the foe ; and on the rainj)art^ of the Redan died Welsford, with the blooin of youtli glowing' on his cheek, and all a boy's enthusiasm fresh at his heart. We liavo still another record of competition and suc- cess which is worthy of reference. The great British Universities have not been left untried by Canadians. Hincks, of Toronto, Redpath, of Montreal, Vidal, of Sar- nia, proved that it is possible for our young men to compete successfully with the best. At the Staff College, at Sandhurst, Ridout, of Toronto, headed the list of can- didates from all l[ ultimately going home to enjoy them. While this continues it is impossible that we should have truly national statesmen or chiefs of commerce and industry thoroughly identified with our interests, present and future, and capable of the patri- otic munificence which, it must be owned, nobly distinguishes the wealthy men of the United States. Canadian men will seek to leave their names in the IJritish peerage, not in the statute book of Canada ; Canadian mer- chants, instead of sjtending their wealth in the acijuisition of the renown which belongs to the founders and benefactors of great national institutione, will hoard it as a means of founding a family, and they will transfer it and themselves as hpeedily as jMJSsible to the on'y country where a family can bo securely founded. We prize as highly as it is possible to prize it, the con- tinuance of an aflFection«te connection between Canada and the mother 40 CANADA FIRST. 1^^ 13 thews of our nationality are to be strengtliened. Peri- wiofs and Gold-sticks have had tlieir dav, and it is not well for us to atteinjit to set up the munniiied idols of a buried past as objects of woi'vship, or graft on our simple Canadian maple the gaudy outgrowth of a luxuriant tro- pical vegetation. Here, every man is the son of his own works, and we need no antique code of etiquette nor the musty rules of the Heralds' office to tell us whom or what to honour. We know not what the future raav have in store for us. Let the event be what it may, it is our bounden duty to prepare for it like sensible men conscious of obligation to humanity. The problem of self-government is being worked out anew with fresh data, and we must do our ouiitry ; but the connection must be so regulated as not to preveiit Canada f GUI becoming a nation. "What we nay with regard to the State in Canada, may be said with regard to the Church also. We have sometimes heard complaints that the merits of Colonial clergymen are not recognized l)y promotion in the Eng- lish Church ; but we cannot sympathi/.e with these compla,ints, because it appears to us that such promotion, however gratifying in some resi)ect8, would c(mfirm Colonial Churchmen in a misapprehen.sion of their position. Let the Chni'ch in Canada keep the most grateful recollecti(m of her (.rigin, and cherisli her Bjiiritual connection with the Cluirch of the motiier country; but she must remeuibfir that she is herself the Church, not of England, but of Canada, and that fihe will have to draw her life from the .soil in which she i.s planted, and to adapt herself to the ciroimstanceH and exigencies of her actual positioji. Our laity are apt to fancy that they are still members of a Church established and endowed by the State, and to refuse to contri- bute fur the sujiport of the clergy to anything like the extent which the voluntary system requires. Perhaps the clergy, on their part, sometimes do a little to keep up this illusion. Both clergy and laity, however, must get rid of it, if the Church is to prosper in this country. The Canadian laity have to support a Canadian clergy under the voluntary system , the clergy have to gain the confidence of the Canadian laity under the same system, and to found the Chmch on the free allegiance of the Canadian people. " ,^'. ■;■* '^^wr^■ ■■im ■ijk . [ CANADA FIRST, 41 part in the solution. There are as})erities of race, of creed, of interest to be allayed, and a composite people to be lendered homof^enous. Away down in Lunenburg', Nova Scotia, there is the old Teutonic stock, just as it exists in the count}^ of Waterloo in Ontario ; there are the descendants of the Pennsylvania Dutchmen in Lin- coln, and of the New York Dutchmen around the Bay ot Quinte ; Highland Scotch clustering together in Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton, just as they do in (Jlen- garry or Bruce ; and the old Norman and Breton stocks in the Province of Quebec. In the interior of tl e conti- nent there are French and Scotch half-breeds, with their Indian blood and Indian habits. Then again, across on the Pacific coast there is a motley collection of English, Irish, Scotch and Canadian, with all their varied peculi- arities. But the task of fusing and blending these vari- ous elements is much less ditlicult than it seems. Swit- zerland has carried its constitution safely through three- Euro}>ean revolutions, yet, of its two-and-adialf millions,, one-and-two-thirds speak German, one-half million French, and the remainder Italian and other tongues. No; — the ditficultv is not in the multitude of ditierences. real or fancied, that exists, but rather in finding some common basis of agreement strong enough to counteract disintegrating tendencies. Where are we to look for such a basis ? In a work, lately published, an Englishman who paid us a visit, remarks that " to the Canadian it is of small concern what you think of his country. He has little of patriotic pride in it himself. Whatever pride of country a Canadian has, its object, for the most part, is outside of Canada." And the writer, from whom we are 42 CANADA FIRST. quoting, goes on to assert that " whatever may bo alleged to the contrary, the belief in the possibility of a separate future for Canada ia steadily lessening among Canad- ians." Is this true'' True or not, there is certainly some ground to justify a casual visitor in such a conclusion. We have too many among us who are ever ready to wor- ship a foreign Baal, to the neglect of their own tutelary gods. There are too many Cassandras in our midst ; too many who whimper over our supposed weakness and exaggerate others' supposed strength But there are those who do not despair of the State ; who are neither weak-kneed nor faint of heart ; who know that strength comes from within. There is a name I would fain ap- proach with Vjetitting reverence, for it casts athwart memory the shadow of all those qualities that man ad- mires in man. It tells of one in whom the generous enthusiasm of youth was but mellowed by the experience of cultured manhood ; of one who lavished the warm love of an Irish heart on the land of his birth, yet gave a loyal and true affection to the land of his adoption ; who strove with all the power of genius to convert the stagnant pool of politics into a stream of living water ; who dared to be national in the face of provincial seltishness, and impar- tially liberal in the teeth of sectarian strife ; who from Halifax to Sandwich sowed broadcast the seeds of a higher national life, and with persuasive eloquence drew us closer together as a people, pointing out to each what was good in the other, wreathing our sympathies and blending our hopes ; — yes ! one who breathed into our New Dominion the spirit of a proud self-reliance, and first taught Canadians to respect themselves. Was it a CANADA FIRST. 43 wonder that a cry of agony ran^^ throughout the land when murder, foul and most unnatural, drank the life- blood of Thoraas D'Arcy McGee ( There arc times when the sluggisli pulse is (|uirkened into activity ; when the heart throbs with sympathy the most intense ; when all that is human within us asserts unwonted supremacy. The sense of a loss shared in by each, of a danger encountered by all, brings before us with startling vividness how much we have in common, »V(/t;/i a time if imw when the flower of our youth went forth to re]>el a wanton and unprovoked invasion. While tears sprang to the eyes of many fond fathers and lovincf mothers, affection itself was stren^thencid by the strain to which it became subject, and hallowed by the shrine of its self-immolation. Such a time if was when the lifeless bodies of those who fell in the conflict were brought home. Though a load of grief pressed on every heart, we felt proud that the post of danger had not been left to strangers ; that bone of o\ir bone and flesh of our flesh had been the first to meet the foe ; that our own breasts had been bared to the storm. Such a ti'ine it wa» when the assassin's hand struck down the gifted, the genial, the patriotic McGee. Our country reeled with the blow. Such a time if was when the news of the butcher}'- of young Scott at Fort Garry fell upon our ears, thrilling every nerve, and crowding the hot blood into our hearts. Humble though his position was — yet he was a Canadian ; his mental gifts may have been few — yet he died for us. " Spectef, inqvAl, patriam ; in con- spf'ctu legum liherfatisqiie moriatur. Non tu hoc loco Gavium non iinitm hominem, nescio quern, civem Ho- a 4,4 CANADA FIRST. f r 1:^ I . maiKtm, xfid communem iibertafis el clvit(ifi8 caumm in ilium cruciatara et arucem egisfi." Let calumny do its worst — it shall not be said that tlie great statestnan with brilliant talents and higli place shall receive more abun- dant honour in his death than the })Oor friendless youth, who, away from kindred and home, cast all the fl,ttiactions of life behind, an'Mig forward we know not where! groping for we know not what ! only too glad to live on sufferance ! fully satisfied so long as we are permitted to garner the weekly wage of toil ! Do Oaiiadians lack in love of country ? Search them out where you will — and there is hardly a nook on the continent left un visited by their adventurous steps — and you find that change of scene has neither obliterated nor tarnished the memories which ever cling to the land of one's birth. Should dan- "^r threaten, we know tliat the thoughts of many a wan- r would turn towards his Northern home, and we ...xiow, too, that no intervening distance, no fetter of self- interest, would keep from our side, in the hour of trial, the loyal and true sons of our comr^on country. Let but our statesmen do their duty, with the con- sciousness that all the elements which constitute great- ness are now awaiting a closer combination : that all the requirements of a higher national life are here available for use; that nations do not spring Minerva-like into ex- •m% CANADA FIRST. m istence ; tiiat streiiL^th and weaknesH aro relative torms, a few not being necessarily weak because tliey are few, nor a multitude necessarily strong because they are many; that hesitating, doubting,foaring,whlning()ver sup|)Osed or even actual w»jakness, and conjuring up possible dangers, is not the true way to strengthen the foundations of our Dominion, or to give confidence in its continuance. Let each of us liave faith in the rest, and cultivate a broad feelinction in the capital of Ontario, with the watchword 'Canada First,' which is simply a declaration of patriotism."' — Canadian Monthly and National JieHew. *' Now, why should not this principle of nationality be applied iu Canada ? There is more necessity for ic here, at present, than anywhere else we know of. It would unite the factions now tear- ing themselves and the country to pieces, strengthen the weak bonds which hold the Dominion together, elevate our statesman- ship, give our young men something v^orth fighting for, and people the country with a stream of immigration, now flowing into the United States. It is said that encouraging this national spirit is the surest way of hastening annexation to the IJnited Stytes, but we say that nationality is the only sute preventive to anntxation.'" — Canadian Nationalid. " Patriotism and loyalty are distinct, though they may at the same time be agreeing sentiments. The one is devotion to one's country; the other devotion to one's sovereignty; but there ia no^ need whatever for them to conflict with each other. The English- man, while truly loyal to his Sovereign, gives his love of country to England. The Scotchman and the Irishman while giving thei: 1) ifS lU 50 CANADA FIRST. full allegiance to their Queen, give the lirat place In their affections to Scotland and Ireland. Why should Wv in Op.nada be difierent ? What reason exists why when Englishmen, Irishmen and Scotch- men giv^e their whole hearts to their respective countries, we in Canada should not place our own land first, and so act and speak as though we felt proud — as we have a right to be — of the name of Canadian. We have a country in which any people might i-lory, we have a future that is dazzling in its promise ; all we need is a sentiment which shall break down all provincial and sectional dis- tinctions, which shall make us feel not as Ontarions or Quebecers, Nova Scotians or New lirunswickers, but as Canadians —proud of our country as a whole." — Hamilton Times. "And this is the feelint^ we want more of in our Dominion — a feeling of Canadianism, Are wv^ to be forever jabbering about our i'eppective merits as Englishmon, Scotchn:eu, Welshmen, French and Germans ; as Irish Catholic and Irish Orangeman i We have heard a great deal too much of this stuff talked. It is time that all classes of otir population, whether born here or elsewhere, what- ever their creed or country, should consider themselves, above all, Canadians. It is from this standpoint that we bid God-speed to those who, in Toronto or elsewhere, are endeavouring to foster in our midst a national Canadian spirit." — Loxdon Advertiser. " You want a principle to guard your young men, and thus only your frontier. When I can hear your young men say as proudly our federation, or our country, or our kingdom, as the young men of other countries do speaking of their own, I shall have less appre- hension for the result of whf\tever trials the future may have in store for i\a."— Thomas D'Arcij McGeM. " They who hoped for a great future for this country, and who hoped to see its population largely increased, and knew that it had in it all the elements of becoming a great country, thought it ne- cessary, in order to weld it together, that not only should they procure a teeming population, but that they should, most (ontma.. ously, decpea Ihc interest of those who are alreadif here. Those who had settled here should join together in the earnest effort to wipe i i CANADIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION. n out provincial diatinctiona and internal dissensions. We musi possess these elements of union if this is to be the country which we hope it is to be." — Hun. Ed. Blake, M F. "It is Caiiada before any party ; the country before any fac- tion."— T/io.s. Moss, MP. •' There has been that in the history of Canada which rendered it absolutely necessary that all patriotic men, no matter of what creed or nationality, should band together for the purpose of check- ing the spread of that political fanaticism which has injured us so much in the past." — Hon. M. C. Cameron. The signs of the tinier cannot be ignored, and whatever the future may have in store for us as a people, it is our duty to prepare for it like sensible men, conscious of the power which lies in massed strength, knowing our obli- gations and feeling their full weight, so much the more by reason of self-imposed burdens of territory. The P]i]npire is quite cijual to the duty of self-care ; its interests will be l>est served by our doing, or trying to do, the best possible for ourselves, and the whole be best strengthened by giving strength to its weakest or sup- posed weakest part. Free government is a matter of compact, and, as such, involves reciprocal responsibilities which result in "virtual agreements, even as between he Imperial and Colonial Oovernments, respecting atfja-irs mutually affecting tliem. ' If the power of veto implies nmtual assent, and such agreements or a.ssent admit of jirior discussion, surely it is not improper for each of the contracting parties to urge its rights to its fullest extent no matter what the compromise result may be. Tn fact it is its duty so to do, and being such, when Canadian interests are made the subject of stipulation, it is natural 52 CANADA FIllST. ii' and proper for Canada to give its best endeavours to ad- vance them and secure justice. In the internal aliairs there is no snflicient reason why the interests ot" Cana- dians should not be regarded when the interests of Canada arc intertwined with thoni. For instance, in the manage- ment of our militia, the ambitic>n and spirit of our volun- teers have been thwarted and well-nigh destroyed by a pernicious sj'stem which prevails of sacrijicing the volun- teer to the arr)iy offi,cer, no matter what the superiority of qualification in the former over the latter may be. The consequence is seen in the rapid decay of our volunteer regiments. It has been alleged that we desire to create antagon- ism between native born Canadians and Canadians by adoption. The contrary is the fact. Our earnest desire is to do away with all invidious distinctions of national- ity, creed, locality or class, and to unite the people of the Dominion, as Canadians, through atiectiou for and pride in Canada, their home. A serious impediment to our progress towar(is unity has been, and, unfortunately, still is, the hostility of creed toivardfi creed, nationality to\vards nationality, class towards class, section towards section, which faction for its own selfish temporary pur- poses, provokes, and political sharpers systematically use. That hostility puts deep cutting weaptons into the hands of the unscrupulous, and, though it may seem but to affect the unit, it has influenced the aggregate and tainted leg- islation. . It has been contended by some that our organization is but the advance-guard of Clear- Gritism ; by others that it is the Conservative party under a new name. Notwith- 1 * A 4 I CANADIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 53 ■-1 'i I « .standinf*" the certificates of cliai'acter which some critics, with all the gravity of foitune-tellers, will thrust upon us in spite of protest, we form a new and distinct politi- cal organization for |)romoting, by a joint endeavour, the national interest upon a particular principle on wliich we are at^ieed. Owing to the relation Canada bears to the mother land^ as a self-governing country, and !0 recipro- cal obligations and responsibilities which that relation creates and implies, we consider it essential to our present, and still more so to our future, as a country, that the na- tional heart be stirred, and the ennobling sentiments of which home and country is the source, be utilized to in- fuse into all the members of the Confederation the spirit of unity, vigour, self-reliance, and self-respect, as well as to give bent and impress to political action. Principles should form the basis of party cohesion ; not the memories of the past. A slavish clinging to the skirts of despotic individuals, with whom self is the all- in-all, should not be mistaken or substituted for manly support. Party, as a legislative instrument, should not be fastened to the chariot wheels of mere dictators, how- ever able or troublesome, or made to serve as a yoke, under which all freedom of thought, independence of judgment and honesty of conviction must humbly and submissively pass, else except the penalty of black letter and ostracism. Public interests should not be subordi- nated to merely local or sectarian demands ; nor pov/er attained and held at the expense of honour and right. A spirit of calmness and judicial investigation should be brought to bear upon the discu.ssion of public measures and the framing of laws, not that of subservient advocacy or dogged opposition. Honourable livalry and the can- .IpfiwiT-rT" 54 CANADA FIRST. ;i'' i ' '-'{ (lid application of the rules of truth and justice .should displace that virulence, slander and uncharitableness which characterize the bitter and ungenerous warfare of the two leading political parties in the press, on the hust- mg. W. H. HOWLAND, Chairinan, pro tern. W. G. McWILLIAMS, - Secretary, pro tern. I 1 ADDRESS TO THE CANADIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, Delivered at Toronto, Fehnuiry, 1875. ^v:\l J J '^1^ the latter part of the year 1878 wo met to ™ give public expression to our political views. y) This was not done rashly or without a careful A"^ '^^ weio[hin^^ com[)aratively few in number, and the leading 5^ journals made merry ; we were not professional politicians, and the wirepullers and ward-])oliticians covered us with ridicule. We were pei-secuted by both Scribes and Pharisees, Some members of one of the old political factions jironounced us to be disguised Grits ; by some of the other factions we were with equal con- fidence and equal vebeinence set down as rank Tories Each side showered epithets characteristic of its armoury, such epithets indeed as bear the same relation to the lan- guage of courtesy as the rude stone tomahawk does to the [)aniascened blade. The journalists and wire- pullers of each side sought by an extravagant and dis- torted statement of our objects to prejudice public opinion against the movement, just as Demetrius the silversmith, and those whose living depended on the worship of Diana, m .'■-a i,H ADDRESS TO THH excited eominotion at Flphesns against the new doctrines of St. Paid. Tiiey felt tlieir ftaft to bo in danger. 'J'here were those among us who had acted with one of the ohl poHticai ])arties; there were those who had been ch)sely identified with the other ; and there were also those who had theretofore taken no active part in ()olitica. We had found, on consultation, that we were tired of the continual changes rung over extinct issues, and after a little mutual concession, disc )vered that a common ground existed on which all could unite. The conclusion arrived at was embodied in the following resolution : — "That it is the duty of all Canadians, whether such by birth or adoption, to recognize the pressing necessity for the cultivation of a Canadian national sentiment, which will unite the people of the various Provinces more close- ly in the bonds of citizenship, promote a mutual confi- dence, whose coumion source of affection will prompt acts of toleration and words of respect, and prove the best safeguard for our Dominion against absolution on the one hand and disunion on the other." The publishing of this was consiersonal animosity and frown down philosophical speculation. But the newspapers, with all their power, have had to give way, and are now engaged in the laudable task of fortifying their minds with facts relative to the much despised abstractions, and furbishing up arguments for or against the much ridiculed incongruities. That journals have exercised and do still exercise great intluence over the people of this country is un- questionable ; but growing intelligence not only demands that appeals to evil passions be exchanged for ap{)eals to reason, that abuse give way before argument, but has . 1:; CG ADDRESS TO THE ■I ? already begotten a competition which is fraught with great good. The fact that The Liberal can establish itself alongside three daily newspapers in a city of 60,- 000 people, demonstrates that there is a craving for a new state of things in our periodical literature. If that journal makes the mistake of supposing that mere organs are wanted here, such mistake will jn'ove fatal. Its suc- cess will depend on the character for boldness and inde- pendence it must earn. In October last, Mr. Blake — one gifted with the power of analysis beyond tliose of any of our public men, a great lawyer and an accomplished speaker, a Saul among our statesmen, a Samson among our politicians, an Achilles among our debatei-s, and last, though not least, a man in whose honour all believe, in whose integrity none lack faith — spoke out his mind at Aurora, to the consternation, as may be injagined, of his congregation of convention-mongers, wirepullers and local politicians. Horror took possession of their souls. Here was a man daring to think for himself. What would the party say ? Here was a man daring to utter heresy, " We must find some common ground on which to unite, some common aspiration to be shared, and 1 think it can be alone found in the cultivation of a national spirit." In fact, in the words of the Glohe, tickling the ears of the groundlings! Here was a man daring to criticise the critics by explod- injx the notion that the cultivation of that sentiment in- volved the practical advocacy of Annexation ! Here was a a man daring tosay "the time will come when that national spirit will be truly felt amongst us, when we shall realize that we are four millions of people who are not free, CANALIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 67 when we shall be ready to take up that freedom and to ask our share of national rights ! " Here was a man ad- vocating a reconstruction of the Senate, compulsory vot- ing, and a scheme for the representation of minorities ! What would the Globe, the Alpha and Omega of the Grit party, say to all that ? No wonder the nervous trembled and held their breath. When these principles were enunciated by us. the Globe had said that they were cal- culated to inspire sensible men with wonder, if not with ridicule and contempt. What was then said of us all know. However, the Globe attacked Mr, Blake with a joomerang, doubtless because it was impolitic to deal him direct blows. It shot at him around corners. Our- selves and Mr, Goldwin Smith, who was .absent from Canada when our Association and the National Club were formed, came in for a good share of its attentions. But its tone was changed. It took off the mask of Momus. The light and airy style was abandoned for the heavy tragic, and the " innocent absurdity" of yesterday, yclept the Canada First Party, became with it a forniidable con- spiracy, contemplating " action at once aggressive and dangerous," Et jam piima 7U>vo spargehat lumine terras Tithuni crocenm linqtiens Aurora cubile. During the session before last of the Ontario Legisla- ture, the principle of compulsory voting was brought be- fore that body, at the instance of Mr. Bethune, and dur- ing the last session it came up for discussion. The speech of Mr, Bethune, who, you will remember, has had large experience in election matters, was one that com- C8 ADDRESS TO THE nianded nrii versa 1 approbation and convinced many wlio had been skeptical. 1 am not called upon here to re- capitulate luB arguments, but when you Hnd such men as Mr Bethune, Mr. S. C. Wood, Mr. Deroche, and last, though not least, our patronising Rip V'^an Winkle, Mi'- M. C Cameron, giving in his adhesion to it, you may re- call with complacency the explosion of laughter with which it was greeted when we first ventur^'d to assume its advocacy as a practical reform. Had Mr. Bethune pressed for a vote in the House, the princi])le of com- pulsory voting would have been adopted then and there. The converts to the principle, outside the House, may, since the last elections, be numbered by thousands, and we may now look forward to the early placing on the Statute i3ook of Ontario of a law compelling voters to fulfil their trust. In the Dominion Legislature, resolu- tions affirming the principle were introduced last session and will doubtless be again brought forward during the current one. When we announced, as part of our programme, a scheme for the representation of minorities, one leading journal treated it with the loftiest scorn as being im- practicable and useless, but when we recollected that the proposition to give minorities an equal representation was being advocated in France and Germany, in ISevv South W^ales and Victoria, that a scheme having that obje'ct in view was in actual operation in Denuuirk, in England, in Illinois, and in Pennsylvania, we took courage. When we read Mr. J. S. Mill's opinion that Hare's plan " has the almost unparalleled merit of carrying out a great principle of government in a manner approaching to ■q ■i CANADIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 68 ideal perfection as regards the s|)eeial object in view " we grew bolder; and when we looked into the political statistics of our country, noted the peculiarities of our position as regards creeds, commeicial interests and nationalities, we became convinced that a change in our plan of representation was a jialpable necessity. The expediencies which obtain in our politics have been of late years a fruitful source of demoralization to our re})rc- sentatives. They have had t) be all things to all men, and offensive in word or act to none. Selected for avail- ability, i.e., having done nothing that could be taken hold of by opponents, or, on account of pure sycophancy, they are plunged into an election contest with the advice ring- ing in their ears, " Take care, don't commit yourself." In their speeches they keep themselves tight hauled and sail close to the wind. In fact, the model politician, ac- cording to party, is a man as full of tricks as a fox, c[uick in prevarication anil schooled never to put his head so far into a hole as not to be able to slip it out at a moment's notice. Such an exemplar produces general slipperiness, oiliness, and hypocrisy. Honest earnestness goes to the wall and outspoken conviction ensures defeat. The rep- resentation of minorities would, we think, check all that. Take the case of the late alliance between the Catholics and the Clear Grits. The Catholics wished for represen- tation and some of the astute wirepullers among the Grits arranged an alliance. If you support Mr. Croaks we will support Mr. O'Donohoe, was said. Kac-h doubted the other, and the result was as might have been antici- pated. Now, had the Catholics a system under which they could have elected a man of their choice without i ! 70 ADDRESS TO THE going iinJer obligations to others, and had candidates been put forward for the Grits to vote for without the incubus of an enforced alliance? Jf the result would not have answered expectations, it would at least have prevented a deal of post mortem recrimination atid dis- like. J do not mean to say that it would be well to have Catholic representatives or Protestant representatives merely as such ; but if creed will not be content without a representation in Parliament, let it elect its candidate fairly if it can, without forcing a j)erson to vote in favour of a per.«on he dislikes, or against those whom he prefers. There is a variety of plans before us to select from ; the Cumulative Vote, which entitles every elector to a number of votes equal to the number of members to be chosen, and gives him the right to cast all his votes for one candidate or distribute them among the candi- dates as he thinks tit. As if Toronto were one constituency, returning three members (instead of, as it is, three con- stituencies with three members), and each elector had three votes. Under this cumulative plan he might give three votes to one candidate, or one vote to each of the three. This plan obtains in Illinois. The restricted vote would with Toronto returning three members, limit each elector to two votes, so that a minority of two-fifths of the constituency would return one member. The Hare plan is far more elaborate. It would throw the whole country into one constituency, divided into a cer- tain number of quotas, entitled to a representative. As if the whole number of voters was 30,000, and the number of members to be elected thirty, each thouj^and voters would have a representative. Under it a voter in CANADIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 71 Toronto could cast liis vote for a candidate in Halifax or Montreal, or any other pljice, and vice versa. Under Mr. Hare's plan each candidate for the representation of any constituency could sfud hi.s name to an officer, called the Registrar (Jcnei-al, wlio would publish the names of all the candidates. The mode of voting is tliat eacii ballot may cont.iin the names of moie than one person as the elector choMses. Each candidate has counted in his favour the numlier necessary to make up his quota, and the remain- ing voting jtapers in which the name of such carnfidat^ appears at the head of the list are appropriated to those who are the voter's second choice. For instance, an elector votes for A lii'st, 13 second, third, &C. In ciuse A has received more than enough votes to elect him, the remaindei' is carried to the credit of B, who benefits by that excess as well as hy the direct votes in his favour. The sum and substance of the plan is: A votes for B, C, and D. If A has enough to elect him, B reaps the overplus ; and if 0, then D's turn comes. The advan- tages gained from the method of voting under this plan are claimed to be, that it protects the minority from the tyranny of the majority, and minority and majority alike from the tyianny of party chiefs ; permits the utmost freedom of individual action ; gives every representative a constituency who are unanimous in his support ; make> it for the interest of every party to put forward its best men, and makes it worth while for good men to come forward as candidates, and affords intelligence free choice. Of all countries, Canada and the United States stand most in need of minority representation, owing to the extent to whicli log-rolling, gerrymandering, canvassing, It ADDRtSS TO THE i and wirepulling are carried on, not to speak of tlie vinilietivenes8 of j>arty spirit. Mr. Blake's views on the subject were expressed as follows : — " I believe we might effect immense improvements upon the present system of popular repiesentation. For ray own part, I have been for some time dissatitied with our present mode of popular representation, as furnisliing no fair indication of the opinions of the country. 1 do not think a system under which a majority in one consti- tuency elects a member, the minority being hopeless, helpless, without any representation at all of its own, is a good system. 1 have been collecting some statistics on this subject, and it is extraordinary to what extent the popular voice, as shown in the popular vote, differs from the expression of that voice in the Legislature. In Nova Sco- tia, in the year 1867, there was a bitterly-fought contest on the question of Union or anti-Union. The result was that only Mr, Tupper was returned from the whole Pro- vince, and that by a very narrow majority, as a re[)re- sentative of the Union sentiment, I have analyzed the statistics of tliat election, and 1 tind that the real strength exhibited at the polls would have given, as nearly as I can estimate, seven to the Union side instead of one, and only twelve to the anti-Unionists instead of eighteen. Take Nova Scotia again in li374. The returns gave nine- teen to the Government, one Independent, and one Op- position. The popular vote on that occasion would, as nearly as I can judge, have given eight out of twenty-one to that side instead of two, and but thirteen to the Gov- ernment instead of nineteen. Our principle of govern- ment is that the majority must decide. Upon what is it CANADIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION. n fomuled ? Well, you cannot give a reason except this, that it iw necessary. It is the only way in which govern- ment can he carried on at all. But if the minority must, on this ground of necessity, how to the voice of the ma- jority, the majority is all the more bound to see that the minority has its fair share of representation, its fair weight in the councils of the country. The majority must recollec^ that it may become the minority one dav>- and that then it would like to have its fair share in those councils, and such dis[»arities as the.se are not likely to in- duce a feeling of cheerful submission on the part of the minority of Ontario, in the elections of 1S()7. 1 cannot, of course, l>e precisely accurate in these matters, because there were some acclaination returns, and there are other difficulties in making an exact calculation — but there were eiirhty-two membeis to be returned. The whole popular vote would have resulted in a slight majority for the Li'^eral party over the Government, but, discarding fractions, the result would give forty-one members to each. The Government, however, carried forty-nine seats to thiity-three, and so the Liberal party did not obtain its fair share in the government of the country. A turn of 408 votes would have taken seventeen seats from the Government and given them to the Liberal party. In the late election of 1874, the popular voice, although very strongly in favour of the Government, was by no means so decided as the returns showed. And besides this, 178 votes turned the other way would have changed eight seats, making a difference of sixteen on a division. Little more than double that number would have changed sixteen seats, or thirty-two on a division, and this in a 74 ADDRKSS TO THK Province wlune over -()(>,0(J0 votes would, if all the elec- tions were '.-ontested, have been pulled. I represent a constituency in which many more votes were polled against nie than sufliced to return Mr. Dyniond. Within nine of 2,()()() votes wore polled a^^ainst me. Can J say I represent tliosc people ? I do not. I do not represent their views. They thought T was wrong, they wished to defeat me, they wished to condone the Pticific Scan- dal and to Hupj)ort the late (iovernnient. I am bound to consider their in i- However, wo kiKiw oui' tim(! liaeless guerilla \^arfare in its graveclothes. Its oppo- nents, strong in nuiiibers, conscious of swaying the in j- enco of two governments, went to the polls with the con- fi^'ence which being " in " gives as against th<,se who are " out." But though Itarty could tight its way to the poll- ing booth, the ap<;rture \u the ballot-box was rather small (;anaf»ian national association. 77 for itH for^cMJ proportions. Ami tlioiif^lj (iiit aiul (Jonsei- vativo £nay claim tliiw victiny or that defeat as tli«) lesnlt of party conllict, ono may safely aver that porsojuil tjuai- ificatioiis ami local inlluofices, alto^ulhor apart from poli- tics, had much to (io with the result. f think I liave made it plain that our movement has not been unattendiid witli some <^0(jd eH'ects, and that we have no reason to feel ashamed of the pro^^ress niade hy the firinciploH we coalesced upon. That movement was at the outset, as has been well .said by a, recent leviewer, "an intell(!ctual movement." "It was," he <^()(;s on to say, "the revolt of (;ducated and thonj^ditful men against the inanity, and worse than inanity, of what was ofl'ered to tliem as political (bscussion. It was a dire<;t pro- duct, in some measure, of that hi^lh.;r culture which the universities and collej^eH of our land aie steadily pro- mooinjg'." It was not devised for the mere sake of agita- tion, an be p% CANADIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 79 done to convince the obtuse and the suspicious (owing to the misrepresentation of vvhicli our motives have been the subject) that when we say Canada Fii-st we don't mean Canadians first. We are not such fools as to suppose that a Canadian is better than anybody else, or is entit- led as such to a pieference over anybody else. We have no longing for a schedule of disabilities. But at the same time many of us thini< a Canadian is no worse than other people, and we would have all who have made Canada their home, feel or try to feel that there is no dis- grace attached to the name Canadian, and that to be known as such, either here or abroad, involves no social 01- jiolitical obsti'uction. The great lesson to be learned after all is, as D'Arcy McGee tauglit, to learn to respect ourselves, to have a modest but firm confidence in our own strength, and an equally certain hope in our future. Some sa}^ such expressions point to annexation. If we, and most of '• i, happen to be sons of the soil, — are annexationists, who are the loyal men ? Our idea has always been that it is only by deepening faith in Canada, our home and country, that we as a people can hope to exist separate and distinct. De Tocqueville, in his book on America, said the United States had no neighV»ours. An English writer, a short time ago, stated that " Whatever pride of country a C'anadian has, its object for the most part is outside of Cxnada, and the belief in the possibility of a separate future for Canada is steadily lessening among Canadians." I am sure that this is untrue, but I ^m e([ually sure that there is some ground to justify a casual visitor in .such a statement. We have transplanted fron> Ireland a feud which seems 80 ADDKKSS TO TJIH to have crossed tlic Atlaritic only foi- the puiposc; of s(>curin<:,' greater iVeedoin of actiorj, without h^aviri^ hc- hiiid a shred of its iiiali;L,niity aueiiden('e. I third< I earuiot an. 'i'his, however, is a state of things of which you have no right to conij)lain, because so long as you do not choose to undertake the responsitjilities and burdens which attach to some share of control in these affairs, you cannot fully claim the rights and privileges of free-born Britons in such matters, liut liow long is this talk in the newsj)af)ers and elsewhere, this talk whicli 1 find in * (1 :.U 82 ADDRESS TO THE i. I very hit^li places, of the desirability, ay, of the necessity of fostering a national spirit among the people of Canada to be mere talk ? It is impossible to foster a national spirit unless you have national interests to attend to, or among people who do not choose to undertake the le- sponsibilities and to devote themselves to the duties to which national attributes belong. It is for us to deter- mine — not now, not this year, not perhaps during this Parliamentary terra, but, yet, at no distant day — wliat our line shall l)e. For my part, I l^elieve that while it was not unnatural, not unreasonable, })ending that pro- cess of development which has been going on in our new and sparsely-settled country, that we should have been (piite willing — we so few in numbers, so busied in our local concerns, so engaged in subduing the earth and settling up the country — to leave the cares and privileges to which I have referred in the hands of the parent State ; the time will come when that national spirit which has been spoken of will be truly felt among us, when we shall realize that we are, four omlUons of Bri- tons tvho (fjyi not free, when we shall be ready to take up that freedom and to ask what the late Prime Minister of England assured us we should not be denied — our share of national rights." So that after all the hysterics into which the super- heated loyalists were thrown, we think that their frantic outcries over the safety of the Empire were but "windy suspirations of forced breath." We think that the Em- pire is quite strong enough to take care of itself . and that what English statesmen desire ua to do is to strengthen ourselves in every possible way. They would be better t Ti|ftt.^ir:r^i(f,(|iiwnH*..,j,H^^p- iiii^i^. I ifi^. ^ T^n CANADIAN NAriOhAI. AKSO* lATlON. ^r, i pleasea V»v our exLibiting s-ign;-, of cigou;; and IJle than it' we were t».) send rcaniM of platiiad^ij-i to the foot of the throne, ur wake tlie echoe;^ with xnuuthiii^' loyalty. l>'.A.rcy McGee we\i saiov eminent there is so little intlependence of mind and i>3iU irebdom of discussion on the part of public men and joiirrutiisus as to suake one feel a degiee of shame. Opivjion baits tiruidi} and cowers at its own shadow. We st^,nd ^zieat- l}' iri nt'ed of statesmen with backbcme— men wlio will take positions and not fear to tell us so — nun wh-. viii think for themselves, jutige for themselves, and act in accord&Dce with their own conviction, neither diisen into the r\it of casuistry by concealed enmity, nor into deviou- ways by open defiance. For taking an open and Jiianl}^ .'tand, Mr. (.)oldwin Smith (partly on our acciMuit and parti}- on hi.s own; has been made a target for all the arrows left in the quivers of partisan journalists. How- ever, they must needs furnish themselves with a fresli supply, hus I fancy the target has had the best of ii. Notwitlj -standing ail that has been said of Mr. Brown, J, am fonvid to respect him for his manliness, arui it is but justice ti» hini to confess that when he foinis an oruniort he is Ji'.t ai'raid to let it bo known. If he does force its adoptiv.n upon otlif-nrs, whether they consider it right or '■ i ;>5- i 3 lit 84 ADDRESS TO THK wroii^^ I don't blame him for tlie foice so much as I de- jjpise the otlior.s for tlieir weakness. This weakness and timidity converts every great (luestion into an "open question," and every serious ditficulty into a juggle. U is the cause of ingenious wliereases in resohitions and of long preand)les, whicli pave the way intricately and slyly to compromise results. The Kiel amnesty case illustrates my meaning. The idea of one faction feeling bound by the action of another, or of one government being com- mitted to a course because its predecessor had made a move which it condemned, draws too largely upon the credulity of those who know what faction is in this country, to obtain implicit credence. That idea is only equalled by the romance in which tlie melodramatic patriotism of M. Riel and his friends was shrouded, when credit was given to that very commonplace and coward- ly hero for tendering his sword in defence of Manitoba against the Fenians. Why, if there is any person whom an Irish Catholic dislikes thoroughly it is a French (yatholic, and vice versa, for evidence of which ask any Irish Catholic who has resided in Montreal or Quebec- If Riel had any reason for the action he took at the time of the raid, it was care fo/- his own safety and that of his half-breed companions. But it is not difficult to invent excuses. They are as indigenous in politics as the thistle is in our fields, and the barn-yards of Grit and Tory are bursting with them. While on the Riel subject I may be pardoned for saying that in ray opinion the murder of Scott and the amnesty granted to those guilty of putting him to death will stand Ibrever as ibul blots on our national escutcheon. Had Scott been killed in ■■m. CANADIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 85 action, or in hot bloorobation for a system which seeks to weakori the tie between Canada and Eny:lanjmph {Toronto), Anrj. 2^th, 1S61 ;P^T may now be regarded as quite a natural \jj((j' thinoth hollow and hypocritical. Party has been the curse of Canada. It has placed in the hands of one or two men whips which they have not hesitated to use to the scarification of the country. It stayed our progress ; it made us the laugh- ing stock of our neighbours ; it ruined our credit abroad, and destroyed our faith in ourselves ; it demoralized our statesmen and corrupted our people ; it wasted valuable time in idle discussions about general principles, when we should have devoted all our energies to developing our resources ; and it finally brought our government to a standstill. Why was the scheme of Confederation accept- ed with such unanimity ? Was it not because it afforded a prospect of relief from that sickening political squab- bling which party spirit had carried to the greatest extreme and opened up a new arena in which statesmanship might win prizes worth contending for ? All our repre- sentatives united in supporting it. George Brown and Sir John Macdonald rivalled each other in prognosticat- ing the best results in this respect. A government is in por/er which embraces the ablest men of both the old parties. In declared opposition to it are Mr. Howe and the disunionists of Nova Scotia, the Rouges of Quel)ec, and Mr. Brown and Mr. O'Donohoe, Mr. Halley and Mr. Edgar of Ontario. Mr. Howe opposes it because it brought about Confederation, the Rouges be- cause they wished to get into power ; Mr. Brown becavse he deserted hi.s colleagues and has all the hatred of a deserter ; Mr. O'Donohoe because he wants to be made manager where he is now a meie copyist and clerk ; Mr. Halley because he was not bou;.]fht of: ; and Mr. Edgar N^lii t mmmum 90 PARTY versus PRINCIPLE. because Mr. Brown tells him to do so. The arguments supplied by the Globe to the Ontario Opposition are that coalitions are bad, and some members of the government objectionable. Mr. John Macdonald ( who was termed a born fool by Mr. Brown ) says that he abhors coalitions, but none save a fool would have the effrontery to assert that coalitions are unjustifiable under all circumstances and bad in themselves. O.eat English statesmen, such as Lords Sidmouth, Grenville, Aberdeen, Palmerston, Sir Wm. Molesworth, Sir James Grahaui, Mr. Gladstone, and Sidney Herbert were members of coalition, governments. Ml'. Lincoln did not hesitate to take into his cabinet meuibers of the Democratic party. In our own country such men as the late Mr. Baldwin have frequently ex- pressed an opinion favourable to coalitions where great objects were to be attained. When opposition is offered to the Government merely because it is a coalition, then we say the o})position is hypocrital, more especially so in the case of Mr. Brown, who was a membei- of it himself. The argument that it is desirable to restore party lines has been disposed of. Air. Brown is estopped by his own words from urging it, and our experience as a country is directly opposed to it. If Mr. Brown wishes to have a party, and there are persons willing to tie themselves to his coat-tails, he is at liberty to make one. But he must not be allowed to steal the livery of Reform for the pur- pose of concealing the wolfish forms of those who accept his yoke. Mr. Brown ratted. He stole away from the Reform paity and then tried to coax them after him. But his efforts have been unsuccessful. If there is such a thing as a Reform party, Mr. Howlard, Mr. Macdougall, PARTY versus PHINCIPLE. 91 and Mr. J. S. Macdonald are its leaders. They stuck to the ship. We attach very little importance to the stories retailed in the Globe from day to day about the transactions of a former time. The very same articles were all published by Mr. Brown before he asked Sir John Macdonald to form a coalition and obtained permission to enter a cabinet along wit' Cartier, Gait, and other corruptionists, swindlers and thieves. No one would be surprised if Mr. Brown tried the same game again under some delusive plea. The coalition have net yet announced their policy, so there is nothing to oppose. The only issue we see before the electors is whether the Confederation scheme shall be consummated, or Mr. Howe, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Lanctot be allowed to delay it. The machinery of Confederation must be made to work, and none so fit to set it going as the engineers under whose superintendence it was devis- ed. Is Mr. Howe a man to be trusted with the work ? He went to England and denounced us as a disloyal and mercenary, factious and poverty-stricken people. He sneered at our efforts to lift ourselves from obscurity, abused our public men, and held us up to the derision of the mother country. He satirized our backwoods man- ners, and cast mean reflections upon the refinment of our wives and daughters. Though a colonist himself, he out- raged every instinct of humanity in an endeavour to gain pre-eminence through the belittling of his kindred, his countrymen, his home, Is he the colleague whom Mr. Brown wishes to h..ve ? Is he the man we of this pro- vince desire as our ruler ? 92 PARTY versus PRINCIPLE. And now, when in spite of discouragements, in s})ite of obstacles seemingly insuperable, in spite of internal self- ishness and external menace, we have got so far in the Cfood work of union, we ar«j asked to halt, to fight the old battles over again, to disregard the wants of the country, to overlook ])racLical legislation, and commence a sense- less wrangling over party politics. In the past we have had too much politics; in the future we want more work. / Talk may !)e good, but work, is better. Let the elector who is trying to see clearly what his duty is, ponder over what we have said, and we are convinced that un- less he is fi :j)?re party hack, he will come to the conclus- ion that country should be placed before party, that good measures for developing our agricultural, manufacturing, and mineral resources are to be preferred to all the speeches of disappointed politicians, and that the future of our country demands united and energetic action at this juncture of affairs. /.-^' THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY.* HE probable fate of the British North Ameri- can colonies has, for many years, afforded wide scope for speculation. Both in this country and in America the chances have been weighed as passing events otter themselves for analysis. It has been regai-ded. from various points of view; the result being, conclusions as widely different as such topics of discussion usually lead to. Argument resting on a speculative basis is always un- steady, and kaleidoscopic glances at the present yield very unsatisfactory data Irom which to decipher the future. Hence it is that America and American affairs have so frequently belied prophecy. The conjectures evoked by the dealings between England and her North American colonies have in many instances proved erron- eous, and we are not now so liable to be led astray by the oracular utterances of nervousness and timidity. We were assured that Canada was incapable ot self-con- trol, bjt we find that political strife carried to the ex- treme >as not been able to weaken the springs of gov- ernment, or to disregard the promptings of patriotism. Petty recriminations and jealousies, which formerly found vent in the Colonial Office, have been smothered where theirorigin could be soonest detected and their object most * From the Westminster Review, April, 1865. \ ; 94 THE CANADIAN CONFKDKUACV. easily frustrated. The consequence of tran.sferrinjr re- fjp<'nHibility from the shoulders of the Imperial Govern- rnerit to those of the colonists themselves, is that the sluifts of temper no longer spend their force on au im- perial target, while a spirit of loyalty and affection has taken the place of an ungracious allegiance. It has also been asserted that the democratic tendencies of these American colonies would have th^ effect of weakeninor if not terminating the relations , between them and tha mother country ; that the grant of freedom from imperi- al dictation naturally handed over to republicanism the keys of a British stronghold. Neither has this proved true, although the anticipation harmonizes well with the expressed wishes of the United States. So long ago as 1775, when delegates from the American States assem- bled in convention at Philadelphia to agree upon the terms of an union, they evidently accepted as a foregone conclusion the immediate entrance of Canada, at least, into the federal compact **or Section XI. of their Art- icles of Agreement provided that " Canada, acceding to the confederation and joining in the measures of the United States, shall be admitted into and be entitled to the advantages of the Union." Every inducement to re- volt was held out to all the British provinces ; but neither open temptation nor secret intrigue was sufficient- ly powerful to allure them from their allegiance. Lower Canada was appealed to in terms that recognized its pe- culiar position as regards race, language, religion and laws, and included a guarantee for their security and permanence. But the French inhabitants, besides h?i.ving the recollection of past wrongs to prompt a rejection, were moved by a deep-rooted antipathy to republican- THK CANADIAN CON FKDE RACY. 95 ism to meet with disdain overtures thus insidiously made to them. In after years the em})loyment of force had as little effect in changing the determination of these stubborn colonists to remain a portion of the empire ; and the several provinces not only fought nobly against the common enemy, but even sent assistance to the more sorely pressed. Notwithstanding this, it has been an article of political faith with American statesmen and politicians thpt the " mamfest destiny" of their republic would, in its own good time, lead to the absorption of some, if not all, of the adjacent British provinces. To embrace these is their traditionary policy, having in its list of founders and supporters such names as Washing- ton, Franklin, Monroe, and Seward. Mr. Seward's views pointed to a peaceable rather th;in a forcible annexation ; and both in England and in British America the idea has been entertained that Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, but more especially the first-named, must sooner or later cast in their lot with the powerful nation at their side, impelled by sheer force of political attraction. Nor is this theory incapable of support, though formerly the reasons in its favour were much more numerous than they now are. A glance at the position occupied by Canada a lev years ago will be found to justify in some degree the Montreal annexation movement of 1849. It was a dependency shut in from the seaboard for five months of the year, at an enormous distance from the imperial me- tropolis ; separated from those of kindred sympathies, and acknowledging a like allegiance, by an almost un- traversable tract of country ; exposed to attack at every point along a frontier of a thousand miles ; gazing at the .^ST 96 THE CANADIAfJ CONFEDKRACY. prosperity of a nation which lield out every inducement to unite with it; without manufactures, coal or capital, yet witnessing a stream of British wealth pouring into the lap of its rival ; thinly populated, and outbid in at- tracting emigration ; with the hope of union between it- self and the other British colonies uncertain, although having all the elements of prosperity ready to be com- bined, but suffering them, from various causes, to lie un- improved and unprofitable. Taking every circumstance into consideration, it cannot be denied that the prospects of a long continued existence of such a dependency as a separate and distinct political organism were dim and dubious. The maritime provinces had not such influences to contend against ; but the temptations brought to bear upon Canada, and her successful resistance to them, na- turally beget su;prise at the nature of the causes to which she owed her preservation from a loss of identity in the nation at her side. It is unnecessary, however, for pre- sent purposes to do more than notice the fact, as it serves to show the bent of her inclination. Changed times have suggested new fields for debate, and prophecy has been driven to seek out new channels. A rapid advance in material prosperity has brought with it con^siderationa left out in previous forecasts ; while, on the other hand, the Araerican Republic presents to its admirers fewer attractions than formerly. The effect is seen in the al- most total obliteration of annexation sentiment in the colonies, and in the strength and encouragement afforded to those in England who looked forward to the establish- ment of a British nationality in America that would not only rival the great republic, but would prove a faithful THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. 97 ally to the mother land. When we yielded to these col- onies the right of self-government, we gave up the right to dictate, v/hethcr we reserved the privilege of guiding ■or not. This abandonment of control carried with it, said some, the last link in the chain that bound our British American colonies to the empire ; but this hasty assertion has been thus far falsified. Confident in their capacity for self-government, we committed their for- tunes to their own keeping, as a faithful guardian un- burdens himself of his trust on the attainment of major- ity by his ward. Had we conceived that this transfer involved a mere change of masters, we should have hesi- tated to sacrifice our interests to those of a foreign power. But faith in their future was no less strciig with our statesmen than it was in the colonists them- selves. That self-reliance, that innate vigor, which de- fied misfortune and begets self-confidence, is a character- istic of our race, and, when grafted in other lands, repro- duces its inherent qualities with the characteristics of the parent stock. We had confidence in our kindred and in the virtue ot our institutions ; and a colonial policy based upon this has proved successful, and in its success its wisdom. A complex relationship has been begotten, but the machinery has worked tolerably well. The evi- dences of stability exhibited by these self-governed col- onies, the variety of resources at their command, and the vast progress they have made in utilizing the advantages placed by nature within their reach, have not been lost sight of by that school of politicians which regards the relations between us and the states dependent but in name as presenting some unsatisfactory features. Nor Q 98 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACT. Ill has the change in circuin.stances been passed over lieed- lessly by the colonists tl)em.selves. They, too, have begun to reflect on the chances of the future. Everlasting youth is denied to nations as well as to individiials, and impulses from within combine with influences from with- out to iirge a consideration of the best means for ensur- ing a lusty manliood. It is with no little pride, there- fore, that we see them enter upon the discussion of a subject of such vital importance as a confederation among themselves with calmness and deliberation indicat- ing a knowledge cf the responsibility devolving upon tliem, and a determination to probe to the bottom the secret of national greatness. It is a complete vindication of our modern policy in permitting them to think and act for themselves. It is of importance, theretore, to know what they propose to do, the basis of the contemplated changes, and their efl'ect. To arrive at a proper under- standing, it is necessary to go back a little in their history. It must not be supposed that the scheme of confedera- tion is the offspring of fear. Its origin can be traced much further back than the civil war in the United States, however much a shock so terrible may have con- tributed to its maturity ; nor can colonial emancipators, should their anticipations be realized, lay claim to its in- ception, however entitled to the credit of supplying a reason for its adoption. It is stated that as early as 1810 a union of all the British American provinces was suggested by one of the colonists, Mr. Uniacke, of Nova Scotia, and at various times afterwards the attention of the imperial authorities THE CANADIAN OONFKDKRACY. 99 was directed to the subject by loading colonial politicians, Chief-Justice Sewell, of Quebec, in 1814 laid before the late Duke of Kent a comprehensive plan, which met with the approval of His Royal Hi(,'hness. In lo27, re- solutions were introduced into the Lej;islative Assembly of Upper Canada, directed more especially' to a union of the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada ; but proposing, as an alternative, "what would be more politic, wise, and generally advantageous, — viz., a union of the whole four provinces of North America under a vice- royalty, with a facsimile of that great and glorious fabric — the best monument of human wisdom — the British Constitution." Lord Durham, in his report on the afiairs of BiitiKh North America (1839), discusses the subject at consider- able length, anticipating nearly all the arguments that can now be urged in its favour. In 185'*-, resolutions were brought forward in the Nova Scotia Legislature which indicated a strong desire to promote a closer con- nexion of the different provinces ; and in 1857 the subject was pressed upon Mr. Labouchere, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, by delegates from that pro- vince ; but he felt disposed to leave it to the colonists themselves to take action in the matter. In 1858, the Canadian Government announced as part of their policy that the expediency of a federal union of the British North- American })rovinces would be anxiously consider- ed, and that ommunications would be entered into with the other provinces and the Imperial Government to secure adhesion to the project. In accordance with this announcement, delegates were sent from Canada, and the 100 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. sanction of the Imperial Government was asked to the scheme ; but the hesitation exhibited by the other provinces rendered the effort thus made fruitless. In 18Cl,the government of Nova Scotia made the next move, and in 1863 both Houses of the Nova Scotia Legislature passed unanimously resolutions authc Izing the a]>pointment of delegates to confer upon that subject with delegates from the other maritime provinces. Similar resolutions were adopted in the Parliaments of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. A meeting of delegates was accordingly called to sit at Charlotte Town, Prince Edward Island, in September of 1864. Meanwhile, events in Canada were rapidly tending to render some change in its political condition an absolute necessity. One government after another was forced to confess itself unable to control Parliament ; and resigna- tion followed resignation, and election succeeded election, with no other effect than to increase the em- barrassment. The result was that sectional majorities, firmly united, impeded legislation, and assailed each other with every weapon that strong sectional differences place at the disposal of political factions. Lower Canad- ian representati 'es imited to resist the demands of their compeers from i e Upper Province, and Upper Cana We have not the returns necessary to found an accur- ate statement of the aggregate value of these fisheries, *VVe regret to be unable to obtain in time for publication in this article the statement of the value of fish, etc., exported from Prince Edward Island. THE CANADIAN CONFKDERACY. Ill but competent autliorities have suggested iI0,O0O,0l)(> dollars as falling short of the actual yield. Possessing 5,()()() miles of sea-coast, the British North American provinces when consolidated into one power would possess not onl}' all the materials necessary for constructing and e(|uipping ships of war, but also band» of skilful nnd hardy seameri wherewith to man a power- ful fleet. Already thelv united commercial marine show.'* an amount of torinago that would entitle a Confederacy such as is proposed to take high rank as a maritime power. The f'dlowi ng table shows the tonnago required for the accommodation of trade : — Nova Scotia (ISC'i) . . . New Brunawick .... Princo Edward Island IHCil) Newfoundland (IHBl) . . . Canada (1863) Inwards. Outwards. Total. 712,939. . 719,915. . 1 .132,9.54 059,208 . . 727,722 . 1,386,980 79,580.. 87,518.. 107,098 G9(i,703 . . 695,58^'. . 1,392,345 4,580,010. 4,460,327 . .9,040,337 0,728,550 6,li91,004 13,419,614 The tonnage employed by Canada on the inland lakes i» stated to be 0,907,000 1 ons.but this includes many coasting vessels, between whose arrival and dejjarture a very short interval elapses, so that a very great deduction must be made to express correctly the actual tonnage. But the sea-going tonnage of Canada amounts to 2,133,000 tons. The opportunities for commerce are such as to indicate the natural increase of the colonial marine. The facili- ties for ship-buildmg turn the attention of a large num- ber not only to the supply of the home demand, but also to competition in foreign markets for the sale of vessels. 1 ) 112 THE CANADIAN CONFEDKKACY. I/" In 1832 the tonna^'e of vesaola built in British America amounted to only 33,770 tons ; in 1803 the number of vessels built was 645, with a capacity of 219,763 tons,* and representinfj an export value '^.000,000 dollars. The number of sailors and fishermei .. these colonies, as shown by the last census returns, i.i 60,256. The total population of the united colonies cannot be said to indicate great strength, considering the vast region over which it is spread ; it must, however, be regarded as a respectable nuclei^s of a nationality which the varied resources of the country will in time fill up and extend by attracting immigration. In tive years Nova Scotia has doiibled her population, while Canada has increased from 1,147,349 in 1842 to 2,507,657 in 1861 ; Upper Canada presenting the most rapid increase, as in 1842 her population numbered 486,055, and in 1861, 1,396,001. The population of the six provinces is rep- resented by the census of 1861 to be thus distributed : — Upper Canada, 1,396,091; Lower Canada, 1,111.566; Nova Scotia, 330,857 ; New Brunswick, 252,047; New- foundland (1863), 124,288; Prince Edward Island, 80,857 : total, 3,295,706. Adding to this the increase from every source since 1801, and the numbers necessar- ily omitted, the whole population may be assumed to bo nearly 4,000,000 of souls. If we place this aggregate in comparison with the population of European countries ranking as substantial powers — for instance, Portugal, 3.570,000 ; Holland, 3,500,000 ; Dem^.ark. 2.480,000 ; Greece, 1,150,000 — we are enablod to form a pretty fair •Speech of Finance Minister of Canada, February 7th, 1865. THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. 118 idea of the position a British confederacy may ere long hold among the nations of the earth. The following tabulated statement shows the fighting material available for defensive purposes : — Upper Canada, from . 20 to 30 . . 30 to 40 . . 40 to 50 . . 128,740 84,178 69, GOO 50 to 60 . . 36.377- -308,955 LoiVwr Canada, from ■ . 20 to 30 . . 30 to 40 . , 40 to 50 . . 93,302 69,507 42,628 60 to 60 .. 30,129- -225,620 Nova Scotia, from . . 20 to (50 . . — - 67,367 New Brunswick, from • . 21 to 40 . . 40 to 60 . . 33,574 10,739 50 to 60 . . 7,312- - 61,625 Newfoundland, from . 20 to 60 . . — - 26,532 Prince Edward Island from 20 to 45 . . 11,144 m 46 to 60 . . . 20 to 60 . . 3,676- - 14,819 Total males fro 693,918 The ebb and flow of the tide of population in a new country such as America presents curious results. While the population is being augmented from without, local- ities and sections of country suffer from the constant drain made upon them by the attractions of older or more invi *ng parts of the continent. The young Canadian or Nova Scotian, seduced by the prospects of an enlarged scope for ambition or the hope of acquiring a fortune more rcpidly than he could do at home, deserts his native land to push his way into the adjoining States or the ex- H 114 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. u trerae west of the continent. Even the French Cana- dians, noted for their attachment to their native soil, be- come restive, and are found bold enough to seek new homes among a people whom they have been taught to regard as hostile to all they hold sacred. The number of British colonists now residing in the United States is very great. It is said that there are 20,000 Canadians alone in the Federal army. What has contributed to this self-expatriation has undoubtedly been the want of inter- course between colonies which ofier every inducement to industry. Instead of an interchange of floating popula- tion, the current has gone in a foreign direction, and thousands of young men have not only been lost to the colonies, but have gone to the building up of their rivals. As districts now scarcely rescued from native wildness become more closely settled, and intervening tracts that serve as so many barriers to communication are pierced by advancing civilization, communities now almost strangers to each other will feel the uniting influences of trade, and present to the colonial youth a greater diver- sity of pursuits than the limited means and distracted energies of each province have been able to open up. Notwithstanding the disadvantages incident to divided \)unsels and sectional legislation, the provinces have ad- »ranced very rapidly in material wealth. Small markets have stunted their manufactures, but their great staples have enabled them to grasp and retain a fast hold on in- ternational trade. Their exports and imports already exceed those of the United States in 1851. The returns of 1863 are presented in one view in the following table : — THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. 115 Canada .... New Brunswick . Nova Scotia . . . Priu"-© Edward Island Newfoundland . . InnportFi. $45,0«4,493 7,764,824 10,201,391 1,428,028 6,242,720 Exports. ^41,831,532 8,904,784 8,420,908 1,627,540 0,002,312 Total. $87,796,025 16,729,608 18,622,359 3,055,568 11,245,032 ^0,601,456 166,847,136 $137,448,592 While this trade in the^'aggregate is large, the part of it strictly intercolonial bears but a small proportion to that carried on with foreign countries. In 1863 the total im- ports by the St. Lawrence from the British North Amer- ican colonies to Canada amounted to $568,806, and the exports of Canada to the other colonies to $992,738, This low state of intercolonial trade is attributable to the hostile tariffs put in force by each province, amounting in effect to the exclusion of each other's products. Free trade between them will no doubt remedy the evil to a great extent. In the three years preceding the Recipro- city Treaty, the exports of the United States to these provinces were $48,216,518, and the imports $22,588,577. During the ten years in which the treaty has been in operation, from 1854 to 1863, the expansion has been unexampled, showing an aggregate o2 exports to the value of $256,350,931, and of imports to the value of $200,399,786.* It is very natural for the colonists to argue that if reciprocity between them and the United States lent such an impetus to tra"r!Wl" THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. 117 ported to his colleagues the result of his examination. He said : — ** If a complete customs uuion could be formed between the pro- vinces under which they could interchange, without restriction, all goods the \ roduce and manufacture of whatever country, it would have a beneficial effect. But as, to carry such a union conveniently into effect, greater uniformity in the tariffs of the colonies must be secured, which would be almost impracticable under their present condition, the undersigned contents himself with recommending that, in answer to the despatch of the Nova Scotia Government, a proposal be made for the reciprocal free admission of all articles the growth, produce, and manufacture of Nova Scotia ind any other province becoming a party to the agreement that may be founded on this proposal." The delegates from the provinces of Canada, No v'a Scotia and New Brunswick, who met to consider the subject, came to the conclusion that the free interchange of goods and uniformity of tariff were indispensable consequences of the construction of the intercolonial railway, and that the diminution of the revenues of the respective pro- vinces, from varipus causes, did not warrant the adoption of measures to carry the principle into effect. The necessity for a line of railway between Canada and the Lower Provinces has been apparent for years past, and the project has occupied the attention of the imperial as well as the colonial authorities. The trade of Canada is dependent, in a great degree, upon the temper and feel- ings of the United States. For five months in the year exit by the St Lawience is completely cut off, and dur- ing this period Portland is the Cana»Jian seaport. Should the Portland section of the Grand Trunk Railway be closed at any time, all communication with Europe must HHl: h:'l iiii 118 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. be carried on by the overland route to Halifax, and Canada would be forced to resort to the old system of importation by way of the St. Lawrence during the season ■of open navigation. The repeal of the Reciprocity Treaty and the abolition of the bonding system will compel Canada to find other outlets than those now available, and .will force her to seek relief from a virtual blockade by connecting herself with the other colonies. For de- fensive purposes the road may also be of advantage, in enabling masses of troops to pass rapidly from province to province. However, as matters now stand, it is the only possible way of forestalling the consequences of com- plete isolation. The importance of the undertaking has never been questioned. Lord Durham, in the report to which we have already referred, said — " The completion of any satisfactory com- munication between Halifax and Quebec would in fact produce relations between those provinces that would render a general union absolutely necessary." In 1843 the Imperial Government caused a survey to be made with reference to a military road, and in 1S48 Major Robinson and Captain Henderson reported as to the fit- ness for rail purposes of the proposed route. In a cor- respondence between Lord Elgin and Earl Grey in 1848, the former insisted strongly on the advantages likely to accrue from the construction of the line ; among others, that it would " tend to unite the provinces to one another and to the mother country, and to inspire them with that consciousness of their own strength and of the value of the connexion with Great Britain, which is their best security against aggression." The Legislatures of Canada, THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. 119 New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia passed acts for the promotion of the undertaking. In 1851, Lord Derby, in the House of Lords, expressed himself in favour of the construction of the line; and in 1852 Sir John Pakington, in a despatch to Lord Elgin, gave expression to the views of the Imperial Government, declaring their intention to fulfil the just expectations held out by their predecessors* In a despatch from the Duke of Newcastle, dated April 12, 1862, a proposal was made, couched in the following terms : — '* Anxious, however, to promote as far as they can the import- ant object of completing the great line of railway communication on British ground between the Atlantic and the westernmost parts of Canada, and to assist the provinces in a scheme which would so materially promote their interests, her Majesty's Government are willing to offer to the Provincial Governments an imperial guaran- tee of interest towards enabling them to raise by public loan, if they should desire it, at a moderate rate, the requisite funds for constructiug the railway. . . . The nature and extent of such guarantee must be determined by the particulars of any scheme which the Provincial Governments may be disposed to found on the present proposal, and on the kind of security they would offer." In September, 1862, delegates duly appointed by the provinces met at Quebec to consider the proposal, and a memorandum of agreement was drawn up. Owing to a subsequent dissatisfaction with some of the conditions precedent proposed by the Imperial Government, the effort proved abortive. The objections to the construc- tion of the line have been the probable immediate loss connected with it as a commercial speculation, owing to the insufficiency of paying freights, the difficulty of keep- 120 THE CANADIAN CONFEDEllACY. ing it in running order in winter, and its uselessness for military purposes, owing to its proximit\ to the frontier. In its favour the argument rests on a national, military, and commercial basis ; that it furnishes the surest means of bringing about a confederation, that it will enable troops to be moved rapidly across British territory, and facilitate the concentration of masses of men, and that it will counterbalance to a certain extent the pressure of the United States on Canada by affording another method by which the foreign mails can be carried, and access to the seaboard obtained for Canadian products and manufactures ; besides effecting a saving of time in the transmission of European and American correspondence. The length of railway to be built is estimated at 350 miles ;* this, however, may be under the mark. When this line is constructed there will be a complete railway connection from Halifax on the Atlantic to the shores of Lake Huron. Thus far the energies of the different provinces have been directed to schemes of internal improvement, pro- moting facility of internal communication, and every effort has been put forth to secure the vast trade of the West, whose natural channel is the St. Lawrence. Costly though the struggle has proved, yet it is not fruitless. Every mile of railway has paid for itself tenfold in open- ing up the countiy and increasing the value of property, and the magnificent canal system has overcome the natural obstacles by which navigation was impeded and commerce forced into other and foreign channels. The * Despatch of Duke of Newcastle, April 12tb, 1862. THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. 121 benefits conferred will not be confined to one province^ but must be shared with all to a greater or less extent, from their very nature. To sustain and extend the pub- lic works already in existence, and to call others into being that will act as feeders to tliera, can only be done efficiently, where the aim is a common prosperity, by unity of action and a clubbing of resources It will be found that the Canadian Confederacy will set out with a respectable income. Its financial standing may be judged of from the following statement of liabilities, revenue, and expenditures : — 1863. Debt. Receiptfl. Payments. Canada ^7,263,995. .fl4,382,508. .«l4,909,18iJ New Brunswick 5 778,000. . 894,836. . 884,613 Nova Scotia (about; 5,000,000. . I,185,0'i9. . 1 ,072,274 Newfoundland 946,000 . . 4 8^ ,000 . . 479,420 Prince Edward Island. . . . 240,673. . 197,384. . 171,718 $79,228,668 $17,140,357 $17,517,207 Summing up the resources of the provinces about to assume the attitude of a distinct power, we find that they possess every element that enters into the formation ot a nationality which will, if properly guided, stand the test of time. We are thus enabled to see at a glance the magnitude of the interests to be dealt with by the delegates ap- pointed to the Quebec Conference, and we can imagine the difficulties that presented themselves at every step in their negotiations, while striving to reconcile the pre- judices of localities hitherto having complete control over their own affairs. The necessity for securing differ- '.^ '1 5 122 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. ent ra^es against mutual aggression, and protecting reli- gious views from an intolerance already busy in sowing seeds of discord, involved problems not easy of solution. Had there been any inclination to trifle with the main object of their meeting, or a disposition to throw obstacles in the way of its attainment, the result of the convention would have extinguished all hope of a British American confederation for years to come, as well as suggested grave doubts as to the future peace and welfare of colonies so situated as the British North-American colonies {.>.rc. But great responsibilities outweighed nar- row-minded views, and mutual concession enabled the delegates to lay down a substantial basis for a consoli- dated government. The scheme is outlined with prudent forethought, and in detail evinces the care of practical statesmanship. As a whole^it is acceptable, taking it for granted that it is the best that could be arrived at. Its authors tell us that they were anxious to follow, as far as circumstances would permit, the model of the British Constitution. How far circumstances controlled their desires, an examination of the prominent features of the resolutions embodying their conclusions will show. The principle of federation, which forms the basis of the whole scheme, presents the widest departure from the model they were professedly anxious to follow. The Con- federacy is not, at first at least, to assume the character of an independent government. The executive authority, the shape and title of which are undefined, is to be vested in the Queen. We are thus to have a confederation of colonies, with the Queen at their head. Whether its chief executive oflicer is to be known as Governor-Gene ral> THE CANADIAN CONFEDEHACT. 123 or is to have the title and rank of Viceroy, are points apparently reserved for the determination of Parliament. All that the representatives of the several provinces undertook to determine was that the chief executive officer should be nominated by the Crown. It is of the very highest importance to the provinces that this office should be ma-fle one worthy the ambition of a statesman. The governors of Canada have necessarily, for the most part, been nien of little or no mark at home. It would be very difficult to induce a rising statesman to abandon the prospects which a successful career in the House of Commons opens to him for any attractions that the Governor-Generalship of Canada, as heretofore constituted, has had to offer. At the time of the union of the two Canadas, Lord Sydenham debated in his own mind whether he should make the salary of the governor six or eight thousand pounds sterling, but the former sum was determined upon. In the near neighbourhood of the American Republic, where the chief executive officer is confined to a salary of 25,000 dollars per annum, it may easily be conceived that many of the colonists regarded the salary of their Governor- General as very extravagant ; and even as late as 1849, the Legislative Assembly of Canada, in a spasmodic tit of economy, expressed the opinion that a saving in this item ought then to have been effected. As a natural consequence of this rate of remuneration, excessive as it may have seemed to a portion of the colonists, Canada has found it necessary to be content with, on the whole, an inferior order of men for governors. The two most striking exceptions have been those of Lord Sydenham and Lord Elgin. Nor is 124 THE CANADIAN CONFEDEUACY. this the worst. It has happened more than once that the poverty rather than the will of the person selected for this post has induced him to accept the appointment ; and the necessity for nursing the dilapidated fortunes of those functionaries has sometimes gone far to bring the representative of the Crown into discredit with the people. It is apparently to be left to our Parliament to tix the salary of the executive head of the confederation, and it is essential that, without being extravagant, it should be such as will attract men with some pretension to states- manship. The complexity inherent in all federations will be in- creased by the fact of this federation being one of colonies. Above their government, and vested with supreme sovereignty, is the authority of Parliament and the Queen ; below that will be the lieutenant-governors of the pro- vinces, deriving their appointment and receiving their pay from the federal executive. Under this tertiary authority^ in Canada at least, there prevails an elaborate and an ex- pensive, because extravagant, gradation of municipalities, beginning with the villages and ending with the aggrega- tion of townships which form the municipality. A system of government so intricate, combining the imperial, the federative, the local, aid the municipal elements, will, from its very nature, be exceedingly complex, and must be something like proportionately expensive. But there is no choice in the matter. Federation forms the only possible principle upon which Britis.i America can now be united. Lower Canada — of which a large majority of the population is of French extraction — being sensitively tenacious of its national distinctions, with the peculiar THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. 125 customs and rights growing out of them, could not, from its dread of nbsorption, ho induced to assent to any closer form of union. Whether some of the other provinces might not have refused to surrender the privileges of local legislation may also be a question ; for even now objections are made by the opponents of federation that the scheme exacts too great a surrender of local rights. The relations between the Government and the chief executive officer of the confederacy will apparently differ in no respect from those which are at present subsisting between the Colonial Office and the government of any colony having representative institutions. The colonists advance with excessive timidity to whatever has the ap- pearance of ultimate independence, and they seem to be wholly unconscious that they are framing a confederation which is to form a stepping-stone to this final end. It is not that four millions ot people might not desire inde- pendence, if circumstances assured them of being able to maintain it. But the thoughtful colonist^ aroused by the gigantic war which is going on in the neighbouring re- public, finds it necessary to look carefully to his position on the American continent. The overshadowing pre- dominance of a single state is the question which that war appears to him to be about to decide ; for if the North can succeed in binding once more the broken fragments of the old Union, he fears an attempt to apply to the whole of Northern America the modern and ex- aggerated reading of the Monroe doctrine. For British America there is, therefore, no absolute independence. She must lean somewhere for support, and her inclina- tions, if not her interests, lead her to prefer a species of 12G TUB CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. dependence upon the mother country, which shall bo something more, though perliaps not much more, than n national alliance. An ardent j ►artisan of the perfect federative principle might find in the proposed constitution reason to object that it is not being dealt fairly by ; that under the guise of federation there lurks a manifest desire and persistent determination to establish a form of government that will in effect partake of nearly all the characteristics of a legislative union. The theory of the United States* constitution is, that the general government can exercise such poTvers only as nre specially delegated to it by the separate states. The Quebec convention has attempted to reverse this principle by investing the confederate legislatui3 with powers over "all matters of a general character lot specially and exclusively reserved for the local governments and legislatures." Thus the residuum of unappropriated powers, whatever it may be, goes to strengthen the influence of the central government. Of the same cliaracter is the right of the federal government to appoint the local governors during pleasure. Nor will the circumstance of these functionaries being irremovable for five years, except for cause, be much, if any, check upon the centralizing tendency ; for it is not to be sup- posed that the federal government would want the ingenuity to have a decent pretext for the removal of an obnoxious governor. In addition to this, the general government is to have a veto on the acts of the local governments. It is impossible to mistake the direction in which these provisions point, and they are calculated to raise the question whether there exists the most per- THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. 127 feet confonnity and good faith botweon tho semblance and essence of tho yielding to loc ^ interests in the name of federation. Any attempt of this nature at overreaching would be very likely, b}' creating dissatis- faction, to recoil upon the masked advocates of centraliza- tion, who, in the initiatory stages, doubtless flattered themselves that they were stealing a march on tho opposing principle. Tho two Federative Chambers are to be respectively called tiie Legislative Council and the House of Commons. In the formation of the Legislative Council is another and perliaps more excusable compromise of the federal principle. It is a peculiarity of the United States' con- stitution that every State, great or small, is equally rep- resented in the Senate. In this way the federative equality of all the States is maintained. The six provinces which are at first to form the British American Confederation are to be represented in the Legislative Council, not in their individual characters but in three several groups, of which the Canadas are to form one each, and the Maritime Pj'ovinces, exclusive of New- foundland, a third. It may be perfectly just that neither Newfoundland nor Prince Edward Island should be allowed to stand on an equal footing with the great province of Uppei Canada in the Legislative Council, but the disallowance of this right, nevertheless, negatives the idea of that equality which seorns to belong to a per- fect form of federation. Twenty-four is the common number by which these three divisions are to be represented in the Legislative Council. A subdivision has been made for the Maritime 128 THE CANADIAN (JONFEDERACY. Provinces, under which Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are each to have ten councillors, and Prince Edward Island four. Newfoundland, which was not officially represented at the Convention, is to be allowed to enter the union with four members. The scheme embraces prospectively the entrance into the union of the North- west territory, British Columbia, and Vancouver Island, just as the articles of confederation of the thirteen colonies made provision for the admission of Canada into the United States league. These distant colonies are not parties to the scheme, and it is only stipulated that they may be admitted in the future on such conditions as the (Colonial Parliament may prescribe and the Imperial Parliament sanction. Practical men could hardly talk seriously about an extension, at the present time, of the proposed union from Newfoundland to Vancouver, Between Canada and British Columbia an unsettled wilderness, across which runs the great wall of the Rocky Mountains, intervenes. Without something like continuous settlements, anr*, at any rate, without other facilities for travel than those which at present exist, so extended an union is out of the quastion. The promises of colonization made in the name of the Hudson Bay Company v/hen it changed its proprietary, seems to have been already recalled. Add to this the disputed ownership of territory between the Company and Canada ; the acknowledged want of means on the part of the proposed Confederacy to open up this country to civilization, and the hesitation of England to move in the matter, and it will be impossible to fix any probable time at which the extension of the new confederation of THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACy. 129 British America to the Pacific will be practicable. Another obstacle may be created by such action on the part of a much-neglected colony known a.s the Red River Settlement as will result in its annexation to the United Gtates. Much discontent exists among the settlers there as to their present relations with their sister colonies and the empire ; and their proximity to the American border, with its pushing and hardy settlers, should obtain from them that consideration which the future, if not the present, renders advisable. The mode of appointing the legislative councils sug- gested some difficulties. Of the five existing colonies three had adhered to the principle of Crown nomination ; the other two, Canada and Prince Edward Island, had resorted to the principle of popular election. The delegates decided not to sanction the election by a pop- ular vote of both Houses of the Confederate Legislature, though some among them advocated the carrying the elective principle to this extreme. It was thought that if both chambers were made elective, it would be impos- sible long to restrain the Legislative Council to those limits within which it has hitherto been confined ; that it would demand the right to alter money bills ; and that as its popular credentials would be just as strong as those of the other house, the demand could not long be resisted. Besides, it was feared that some of the over- grown electoral divisions would claim a representation more nearly in accordance with their population, and that as the principle of representation according to population was to be made the basis of the House of Commons, it might be impossible to check an encroach- I 130 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. ment which would destroy every semblance of federal equality in the Legislative Council. Some strange con- ditions have been attached to the selection by the Crown of legislative councillors. Far from leaving the Crown unfettered in its choice, the delegates thought it essential to prevent the appointment of any one of immature yeara to the dignified post of senator, and they decided that no one under thirty years of age should be capable of receiving this mark of distinction. To the qualifica- tion of age they thought tit to add one of property, which was placed at $4,000 over all incumbrances, in real estate. An exception, however, was made in the case of Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, where the property might be either real or personal. Another restriction on the part of the Crown, is the limiting of the number of the councillors to eighty-two. The reason for determining upon a fixed number was, that it would ensure to each province a certain proportional representation, which would be otherwise impossible. Mr. Cardwell, in a despatch to the Governor- General of Canada, has objected to this fixity of numbers, on the ground that it may bring the legislative machinery to a stand-still. There is no indication, however, that the local legislatures, in adopting the scheme, will comply with his suggestions to alter the provision. The Legis- lative Council is to be composed, in the first instance, of persons selected from the existing local councils— a mode of selection possibly intended to influence those bodies in their action on the proposed scheme. Even the elected councillors, in the provinces where the elective principle has been adopted, will for the most part be well enough THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. 131 contented with a change which relieves them from the cost and trouble of elections and the direct supervision of constituents. Strangely enough, every one of the twenty -four councillors for Lower Canada is to be held to represent a particular electoral division, in which he must either reside himself or possess the property form- ing his qualification. This anomalous provision was introduced for the purpose of ensuring the English minority in that province a fair proportion of representa- tives in this chamber. The introduction of anything like hn aristocratic element into the Legislative Council will be out of the question. In framing the Constitu- tional Act of 1791 for Canada, Pitt proposed to establish an hereditary chamber ; but though the provision con- tinuet'. in force till within a f « w years, it was never acted on in a single instance. A French traveller remark- ed long ago that the atmosphere of America seemed charged with democratic ideas of liberty. Their influence is not confined to the great American republic, and any attempt to improvise an aristocratic order must prove abortive. It is one of the disadvantages under which a new country lies that has not a sufticient number of men of leisure, education, and property to fill the various legislative and executive positions. The quality of the Council is likely to be somewhat better for being selected by tie Crown in the manner proposed, than it would be if elected under a suffrage so low as prevails at present. A trial of the two plans in Canada goes to show this, though perhaps not in any very striking degree. There is a contrast in the manners and habits wm 132 THE CANADIAN CONFJtDfcRACY. I » i of the two chambers in Canada. The Assembly is fre- quently violent and hasty ; the Legislative Council is calm, dignified, but as a rule exceedingly facile, passing in an hour a measure over which the other House would wrangle for a month. The dignified indolence and quiet haste of the Legislative Council are due to the remnant of the non-elective membership, which, in spite of every new popular accession, has always sufficed to fix the character of the chamber. These qualities, perhaps, in some modified degree, will be transmitted by the pro- posed succession to the Legislative Council of the new confederation. The Confederate House of Commons is to be based on the sole element of population, as determined every decade by the official census. A readjustment of the representation will take place every ten years, but no reduction is to be made in the number of members returned by any section till its population shall have de- creased five per cent, relatively to the whole population of the union. The word section, as here used, is of obscure and uncertain meaning, and is capable of various interpretations. If a constituency be meant, or any number of constituencies, or a province, it would be better to say so. To Lower Canada are to be per- manently assigned 65 members, and each successive readjustment is to be made up upon this standard. In the first instance, it is proposed that the House of Com- mons shall contain 194 membeu, of whom Upper Canada is to send 82, Lower Canada 65, Nova Scotia 1.9, New Brunswick 15, Newfoundland 8, and Prince Edward Island 5. The number may at any time hereafter be in- THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. 133 creased by the general legislature. The term for which the House is to be elected is five years — subject, of course, to be dissolved sooner if necessary. This is a longer term by one year than that for which any of the local legislatures are now elected. The extension of the parliamentary term will offer men who have neither time nor money to throw away in frequcmt elections in widely- spread constituencies, stronger inducements to enter public life than formerly. All laws relating to the qualification or disqualification of members, or of voters, now in force in the various provinces, are to remain un- disturbed till the general legislature can supersede them by the adoption of some uniform plan. A federative system necessarily involves something in the shape of a written constitution. It is required to define many of the powers which are respectively to be vested in the general and in the local legislatures; and to do this with such precision as to prevent any doubts afterwards arising is one of the main difficulties in the formation of such a constitution. Thirty -seven subjects of legislation are expressly named in connection with the general legislature, and eighteen only in connection with the local legislatures. The enumeration does not profess to be complete in either case, and a general clause is added comprehending all other subjects of a general or private nature, as the case may be. In some cases, in- cluding fisheries, agricilture, and immigration, a concur- rent power of legislation is given. But it is evident that the power of the general government in respect of immi- gration will be very much restricted. The best way to attract immigrants is to offer them free grants of land. 134 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. By the terms of union the several provinces will retain the public lands ; so that, with the exception of the Crown Lands of Newfoundland, which it is proposed to purchase at a figure disproportionate to their value, the general government will have no land to grant. It seems to have been regarded as impossible to make any arrange- ment by which the public lands of the various provinces should become vested in the general government ; but surely this ought not to have been a more difficult achievement than the adjustment of so many public debts of difterent relative amounts. Whether any effort was made to place the public lands under the general government does not appear, but it seems to have been accepted as impossible from the outset. The idea of numerical representation was adopted from the practice of the North American republic, as also that of decennial readjustment. The former found favour with Lord Durham when the union of the two Canadas was proposed; but the Imperial Government shrank from the possible consequences of then giving power to the French-Canadian majority. It is easy now to say that a blunder was committed ; but it is very doubtful whether those who thus contend would, if the problem of 1840 had to be decided anew, have the boldness to carry that opinion into practice. The history of the agi- tation for numerical representation in Canada shows that it has all along been treated as a question of immediate interest rather than of principle. The Upper Canadians who strove for its adoption did not do so on the ground of its abstract merits, for they were unanimous in repu- diating it so long as its operation would have told against ll**.«J«JlliJlUnUUUEB THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. 135 them. This was brought to the test by a motion made by the Hon. L. J. Papineau, in 1849, for basing the rep- resentation exclusively on population. At that time Lower Canada had, or was supposed to have, the advan- tage in point of population, and every Upper Canadian voted against the motion. It was not till after the cen- sus of 1851 showed that the numerical balance was slightly in their favour, with a constant tendency to in- crease, that the demand for " representation according to population " began to be active in Upper Canada. It was advocated as a means of giving a local predominance to Upper Canada in the Legislative Assembly, to which her superior and increasing numbers seemed to give her some sort of title. But the circumstances under which the principle is now woven into the confederation scheme may, and probably will, deprive it of any such efiect. The predominance of numbers under the proposed union will be against Upper Canada if she should excite the jealousy of Lower Canada and the Maritime Provinces, as they may unite together and turn against her that very weapon which she has regarded as the best means of her own defence, if not of aggression also. The sys- tem of grouping is well calculated to impress the Mari- time Provinces with an idea of an identity of interest, and may possess within it the germ of future sectional strife. The deprivation of federal equality may in this way be productive of more mischief than it w^onld had the provinces been permitted naturally to develop their federal individuality. We have thought it necessary to comment on those features only of the scheme of union which possess general l! 13C THE CANADIAN CONFEDEHACY. if interest ; there remain minor points which are merely local in their nature, but which have undoubtedly occa- sioned to the delegates some trouble in their elucidation. It is yet to be decided whether the scheme in its fulness shall be put into operation. There was much boldness and much danger in the resolution taken by some of the governments to carry the measure without any direct re- ference to the people — this kind of union, though often mooted, being, in «. parliamentary sense, new. In Can- ada the Government felt strong enough to carry the measure without making any direct appeal to the con- stituencies, as the favour with which it had been received by all political parties and the absence of a strong oppo- sition rendered it unnecessary. In New Brunswick the Government was not so sure of its ground, and a general election seemed to afford the best chance of success. Un- happily, the result of a general election has been the re- turn of members avowedly hostile to confederation. A general election is avoided in Nova Scotia, and though the scheme of confederation is not a government measure, it is introduced into the Legislature under the paternity of their official delegates, who are thought to have suffi- cient authority with their own parties to ensure its adop- tion. Newfoundland, it is supposed, will accord her sanction to the measure, but in Prince Edward Island there is a likelihood of considerable opposition. The ob- jections urged to the federative movement in the various colonies are for the most part of a sectional character. But there are others of more importance. It is contend- ed that the inherent weakness of federations, as shown both in Europe and America in ancient and modern THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. 137 times, gives little hope of the long-continued existence of such an one as is now contemplated. But it must be considered that this federation will not be one of sover- eign and independent States. The general Govermeut as well as the local Legislatures will derive their authority not from a league or compact, but from the great foun- tain-head of powei', tl Trnperial Parliament ; and the chief executive control »vill be such as to counteract decen- tralizing tendencies. It is also feared that confederation will hasten the time when the colonies shall be separated from the mother country. Any action of this nature must proceed from the colonies themselves, as it is neither the in- terest nor desire of England to terminate prematurely % connexion, at least at present, to the welfare of an import- ant portion of the empire. The growth of a lusty power on their border may perhaps lead the United States to re- gard it with greater jealousy than they would disunited provinces ; hence it is said that there is danger to be ap- prehended on this score. Granting this to be the case, no one can fail to see that the individual and isolated colonies are prizes, which, if not as tempting, would at least be more easily acquired by the United States than a compact Confederacy. It is not pretended that the Confederation, with its widely-extended frontier, at many points difficult or incapable of defence, can at once stand alone. What England should do for them, and what the colonies ought to do in their own defence, are questions much debated. The ideas of the colonists are not very ambitious on the point of military expenditure, for they set out with the notion that a million of dollars a year is all they can afford. This sum will i •> I I (f 188 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY. doubtless expand with their resources, or under the pres- sure of necessity. At present the colonists are firm in their determination to preserve their connexion with the mother country, and it is scarcely probable that the United States will drag into their Union an unwilling population on their northern boundary. They would be virtually placing their Republic between two fires. As it is, they will have trouble enotigh with the Southern States for a long time to come. Although there are many obstacles in the way to the formation of the pro- posed Confederacy, yet when, as in the present case, these are clearly perceived and calmly weighed, they cease to be hindrances which need excite apprehension. With the men of education, intellect, experience and position among the colonists nearly unanimous in support of the proposed scheme, with the Home Government cordially assenting to it, and prepared heartilj'^ to co-op- erate in giving it the force of law, with Parliament almost pledged beforehand to regard it with especial favour, there is no rashness in concluding that the establishment of a great British power on the American continent has ceased to be the glorious vision^of a remote future, and will soon be numbered among the most splendid achieve- ments of the present generation. THE CANADIAN CONFEUEKATION AM) THE RECIPROCITY TREATY.' HATEVER differences of opinion there may bo as to the advantages resultinjx from the connexion between England and her North American provinces, and as to which side receives the greater share, it will be generally f'W^ admitted that there are disadvantages likewise at- tending it, and that the provinces, while participat- ing in the former, are not at all exempt from the latter ; beside being in hourly expectation of adding to their experience on the less favourable side of the account. As part of the empire, the provinces have their peculiar trials. The Fenian conspiracy, which has made itself felt in Ireland, has caused considerable uneasiness to them. Whatever the real intentions of those money -lov- ing patriots may be, they have not hesitated to declare at public meetings throughout the United States that they purpose to conquer Canada, if not the other pro- vinces too, and make it the base of operations against England ; to seize on its shipjnng, and send forth from * From The Wtitminster Iteview, October, 1866. in Mi 140 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERATION its ports privateers to prey on English commerce. Their numerical strength must be very great ; undoubtedly they have funds at their disposal ; and the object they are presumed to have in view enlists many sympathizers amonsr all classes in the States. Officers holdinjx com- missions from the United States government are active members of the organization, and many native Americans in high official position contribute to its resources with- out con'^ealment. But British Americans have troubles to contend with other than those arising from threatened Fenian attacks. The treaty of commorce which has regu- lated trade between the United States pnd the provinces for ten years past has terminated, pursuant to notice given by the former, and a new era in colonial history has been entered upon. Since this treaty, known as the Recipro- city Treaty, took etiect, the trade between the two coun- tries increased threefold ; so that if it can be shown that such increase was occasioned by the treaty and is de- pendent upon it, it becomes a serious question to the colonists as well as to the empire, what shall be the con- sequence of forcing a trade amounting to $08,000,000 into new channels ; and that, too, independently of the politi- cal troubles that may arise over fishery rights placed in abeyance rather than settled by the arrangement then euiered into. For some time before the existence of the treaty, the trade of the provinces was steadily growing in impor- tance, though clogged with all the drawbacks incident, to the infancy of a country having no capital, little popula- tion, and the most primitive means of communication. The sturdy backwoodsman was hewing out a home for i AND THE RECIPROCITY TREATY. 141 himsolf and his family, witli cold and hunger hold merely at arm's length. Between him and his nearest neigh', ^ar miles of deep forest intervened. The traveller or trader picked his way across tangled brushwood and fallen tim- ber, and found few tinger-poats by the road side to point out the direction in which h" wished to go. The poli- tician had his attention fully taken up with providing for the wants of the hour; in investigating and settling local disputes. The foundations of government were being laid. Those political contests, which have so hap- pily ended in the full enjoyment of constitutional liberty and executive responsibility, were then at their height. But as farm after farm was rescued from the woods, and municipal inatitution.s took shape, the consideration of local matters widened into deliberation for the general welfare Schemes of internal improvement, formerly viewed as shadowy impossibilities, grew into realities, while bounteous harvests sent new life through every artery of trade. Scarcely had the impulse been felt, when English policy, impelled by Free Trade principles, well-nigh swept away every hope that had been inspired by glimpses of a dav«rnin lene Islands, for the, purpose of drying their nets and curing their a«h." Article 11. extended to British subjects the same rights of fishing on the eastern coasts and shores of the United States north of the 36th parallel of north latitude. This privilege has been of no benefit to the provinces, having been rarely used. In Article III. certain articles are enumerated, the growth and produce of the British colonies and of the United States, which are admitted free of duty, viz. : grain, flour, animals, meats, cotton, wool, seeds, vegetables, fruits, fish, poultry, eggs, hides, furs, skins, stone, marble, slate, butter, cheese, tallow, lard, horns, manures, ores of metals, coal, pitch, tar. turpentine, ashes, timber, lumber, firewood, plants, shrubs, trees, pelts, wool, fish-oil, rice, broom-corn, bark, gypsum, burr or grindstones, dyestufFs, flax, hemp, tow, tobacco unmanufactured, and rags. Article IV, allowed the right to United States citizens to navigate the St. Lawrence and the canals in Canada. A similar right as to the navigation of Lake Michigan was secured to British sub- jects. It was further agreed " that no export or other duty shall be levied on lumber or timber of any kind cut on that portion of the American territory in the State of Maine, watered by the river St. John and its tributaries, and floated down that river to the sea, when the same is shipped to the United States from the province of New Brunswick." The extensive market unclosed by this treaty turned the tide of colonial trade to the United States, and the relieving eftect was instanta^^eous. Since then the flow AND THE RECIPROCtTY TREATY. 145 has been steady, increasing in volume year after year. The total trade under the treaty for the ten years of its continuance is estimated at $307,800,922, made up of exports to the United States of $174,865,727, and of im- ports $132,041,195. It maybe taken for granted that the profits of this interchange were not monopolized by the provinces, as every year has brought with it an in- creased trade, and while they exported for the most part products of the soil, the States sent them manufactures and foreign goods mainly. The Western States suffer to a greater extent than even Western Canada, from their distance from the seaboard. The producing capacity of hheir vast territory is far in advance of the means of transportation. The canals and railroads of the inter- mediate states are totally inadequate to relieve the burst- ing granaries of an area which is widening year by year. The West needs additional outlets for its products, and the most natural highway by which foreign markets may be reached at the cheapest rate of transport is through the St. Lawrence. Prior to the introduction of railways, Canada saw the necessity for improving the navigation of that river for its own purposes, and, at a great expense, completed a system of canals amongst the most magnificent in the world. By the treaty, the right to use these canals was granted to American vessels, and the Western grain depots, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Detroit, were permitted to enter into direct trade with Europe. While the West had its rights thus enlarged, the special interests of the North-Eastern States were partakers also of liberal concessions. By the convention of 1818, the United States government had renounced J 146 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERATION the liberty to take, dry, or cure fish, on or within three marine leaguCvS of anj'^ of the coasts, bays, creeks or harbours of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and certain districts of Newfound- land and Labrador. The colonists construed this to mean three marine leagues measured from headland to headland, not from the coast line, and were supported in this construction by the British Government. The United States fishermen contended, however, for the right to fish in any of the many bays which indent the shores, so long as they kept three leagues from the shore. Drawing the line from headland to headland de- prived them of a share in the most profitable fisheries. It was not always that this imaginary sea line was respected by the adventurous mariners who frequented these waters and the manv detentions and confiscations which resulted were productive of much bad feeling. Armed cruisers, both imperial and colonial, kept a strict look-out for delinquents, and the colonial authorities were not tard} in the infliction of penalties for trespass upon their rights. Had this state of things continued much longer, it would undoubtedly have led to serious international complications. But the treaty swept away all dif.abilities, and the fishing vessels of Maine and Massach\isetts again swarmed in British waters and pur- sued their calling undisturbed. The value of fish taken by them in the fisheries of the Gulf and in Canadian waters increased from $280,800 in 1854, to $1,265,700 in 1856. Their mackerel fishery increased from 250 vessels manned by 2750 men, and securing a catch worth $850,- 000 in the two years prior to the treaty, to GOO vessels. AND THE HECIPROCITy TREATY. UT employing 9,000 men and securing $4,567,500 within the two years subsequent. The Maritime Provinces were not well pleased to see their monopoly of a lucrative employ- ment taken away, and very naturally grumbled at being forced to compete with daring and energetic intruders ho had previously taken their chances outside their preserves ; the more so, as the United States fishermen were backed up by bounties to the extent of four dollars per ton, while those of the provinces had no such assist- ance. Although the treaty was not applicable to the fisheries of Upper Canada, the vessels and fishermen of the United States were admitted to the waters and shores of Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, and Superior ; and in 1865 took .$157,504 worth of fish therefrom, while not a single Canadian vessel entered United States waters for the purpose of fishing, as the Canadian lake fisheries are by far the best, In looking back at the general results of tlie treaty, it will be seen, therefore, that it caused a vast expansion of a mutually profitable trade ; it opened to the Eastern States a field for employ- ment exhaustless in riches and imlimited in extent ; it granted the privilege of using six canals which Canadian industry had been taxed to build ; and brought into closer commercial relations two peoples, though living side by side, yet up to the time of the arrangement, knowing little of, and caring less for, each other. While it is acknowledged that the relief it brought with it was opportune and suited to the circumstances, it is not by any means admitted that the prosperit}'' of the provinces will be seriously affected by its abrogation. At the time it went into operation, colonial trade was embarrassed 148 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERATION but witli the recovery from a temporary disturbance came a new era. The Crimean war enhanced greatly the prices of Canadian products, and thus contributed to the readjustment of business. The subsequent building of railways involved an expenditure within Canada alone of $120,000,000, 80 that more than one cause brought about the reaction, and more than one cause tended to its continuance. Before determining, therefore, that the commercial future of British America is at the mercy of the legislation of the United States, it would be well to compare the present with the past as regards the intenial, as well as the external advancement of these colonies. In 1851 Canada had no railways in operation ; ihe ten years between 1850 and 1860 witnesscvl the construction of 2098 miles ; Nov^a Scotia and New Brunswick have built over 300 miles also. Five years ago there were only two coal mines being worked in Nova Scotia ; now there are thirty. In 1850, only 95,000 tons of coal were raised; in 1865, the yield increased to 653,854 tons. The gold product of 1865 was twenty-five per cent over that of preceding years, the amount taken out in that year being equal to $460,000; the imports have risen from $8,448,042 in 1862, to $U,381,662 in 1865 ; while there were exported $7,000,000 worth of her own pro- ductions — more in proportion than Canada ever sent out in one year. And this enterprising province now has 3,898 vessels of a registered worth of $13,347,500 engaged in trade. The revenue of New Brunswick in 1850 was $416,348; but in 1860 it had doubled. In one year $175,000 bad been expended in building roads. The AND THE RECIPROCIiy TREATV. 149 other provinces have advanced materially, every year ex- hibiting an increase of exports and imports. Newfound- land with its 130,000 people, of whom 30,000 are hardy sailors er "^jloyed in the fisherieSy has a revenue higher in proportion to the population than any of the British North American provinces. To make the contrast plainer it will be better to take the testimony of two witnesses who cannot be charged with bias. Lord Durham in his report to the British Government on the state of the British North American provinces, said — "By describing one side of the frontier and reversing the pic- ture, the other would be described. On the American side all is activity and bustle. * * -* But it is not in the difference be- tween the large towns on ihe two -idco that we shall find the best evidences of our inferiority. That painful but most undeniable truth is most manifest in the country districts through which the line of national separation passes for a distance of a thousand miles. There, on the side of both the Canadas and also of New Bruns- wick and Nova Scotia, a widely scattered population, poor and ap- parently unenterprising, though hardy and inJustrious, separated from each other by tracts of intervening forests, without towns or markets, almost without roads, living in mean houses, drawing little more than a rude subsistence from ill-cultivated land, and seemingly incapable of improving their condition, present the most instructive contrast to their enterprising and thrifty neighbours on the American side." Keeping this fact in view, let us contemplate the change, as related in Mr. Derby's Report on the Recipro- city Treaty made to the Secretary of the United States Treasury, that has occurred since. "From 1851 to 1861 the population of Canada has increased more rapidly than the population of the Union. * * * * Xhe ^Ij 150 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERATION rate of increase in all the provinces was nearly equal to that of the Union. * * * In the fifteen years from 1851 to 18G5, the whole exp'irts and imports of Canada rose from ^5,000,000 to $87,000,000. Her revenue rose also from 83,500,000 to $10,500- 000. Between 1851 and 1865, her improved laud increased from 7,307, -'SO acres to 10,855,844, or 49 per cent.: the value of the same from $263,510,000 to $406,075,780. The wheat crop, which exceeds that of Illinois and each of our States, rose from 15,756,- 493 bushela to 27,274,779, or 73 per cent. The oat crop, larger than that, of New York, the leading State of our Union, rose from 20,369,247 bushels to 38,772,170, or 9J per cent. During the same period the value of the lumber rose from an average of $7 to $10 per M.; and in the interval between 1851 and 1863, her exports of lumber rose from $"),085,638, of which but 23 per cent, reached the United States, to a total of $12,264,178. * * * * From 1851 to ]8j1 she has increased her miles of railway from twelve to nineteen hundred miles ; she has increased her wheat and oat crops, her wool, the value of her forests and wealth, tiiore than we have, although she is naturally inferior in climate, soil and posi- tion.'' But while the unwearying industry and praiseworthy self-reliance of the British provinces have borne fruit in a prosperity wonderful, compared even with the world's wonder, that of the United States, they have awakened " envy — the vice of republics." Those struggling and much-despLsed colonists have emerged from their mountains of snow and masses of ice ; from being objects of pity have attained to the lofty position ot rivals. Canada has been striving fairly to make her canals and railways attract the trade of the West. In so doing she has undermined the iiionoDoly enjoyed by the canalling and forwarding interests of Buffalo and New York, and from this source came the first complaint against the Reci[)rocity Treaty. The outcry was that Canada was AND THE RECIPROCITY TREATY. 161 making " fruitless but persistent efforts to direct the trade of the Western States from the natural channels it had already formed." The aggrieved interests were power- ful and active. The advocates of protection duties seized the opportunity to swell the chorus that the Sates had the worst of the bargain, until at length the combination of forces has succeeded in bringing to an end an agree- ment which has done so much for commerce, and substi- tuted therefor a system of duties based on the exploded fallacies of protection. No complaint was urged against the Maritime Provinces ; Canada has been the alleged transgressor. But the charges against Canada were coupled with objections which, according to the pro- tectionist theories, proved the impolicy of reciprocity. Prior to the treaty, the exports from the States to Canada exceeded the imports thence, but in 1860 this was re- versed, and since that time the balance of trade has been against the States. The exports to that province fell from $20,883,241 in 1S5G, to $12,842,596 in 1862, though they again rose in 1864 to $19,589,055. This decline in exports is attributed to several cau.ses. It is alleged that heavy duties were imposed by Canada upon many of the articles the States had to sell ; that discriminating tolls and duties were laid upon their merchants and forwarders ; that the method of levying duties on merchandize of foreign origin has been for the avowed purpose of check- ing the trade of New York and Boston ; and that the whole policy of Canada is avowedly restrictive and ad- verse to the interests of the United States. On the other hand the Canadians allege that the increase of these duties was not for the purpose of discriminating against Hi ]52 THE CANADIAN OONFEDKllATION I the States, but was imposed by financial ner'essities, as British manufacturers were subjected to the same burdens ; that if they have raised their tariff, they have not reached anything hke the height of the United States tariH", which latter lias mounted fully twenty-five per cent, over that of 1854- ; that the metliod of levying duties on foreign mer- chandize is precisely similar to that of the United States as regards goods generally ; and that the policy of Canada has been liberal and calculated rather to attract than to force trade. The progress of the discussion has brought out three classes of opponents to the treaty in the States. Those whose interests were directly injiu-ed by it, and who conlendthat Canada has violated its spirit ; those who look- ed upon it in the light of apolitical failure, separating more widely ratlier than bringing together the two countries, and who urge that its continuance is necessary to the ex- istence of the provinces, at the same time viewing its abrogation as a sort of chastisement for the colonial aversion to annexation ; and those, generally, who advo- cate a system of high protective duties. With faint hope of overcoming such an union of opposing forces, but anxious to give evidence of their desire to establish inter- national trade on a satisfactory basis, the provinces sent Commissioners to Washington to negotiate for the con- tinuance of the Treaty. In connexion with Sir Frederick Bruce, the British Minister, the Commissioners laid the subject of their mission before the United States Govern- ment, Mr. McGulloch, the able Secretary of the Treasury, without any inclination to interfere with the freedom of trade, felt called upon to consider first the requirements of the revenue, but it was intimated that while a con- AND THE llECIPROCITY TREA'IT. 153 I'" tinuance of the tieaty was out of tlie quoHtion, some ar- rangement might be made by legialation that would prove equitable. The (Commissioners appeared before the (Con- gressional Coirunittee of Ways and Means, and after a lengthy discussion found that the demands of the Com- mittee were so extravagant, according to provincial ideas, that it would be useless to negotiate further. While acknowledging the advantage of the treaty, the Com- missioners would not admit its necessity to the j)r()vince8; and regarding the subordination of colonial legislation, in the matter of excise duties, to that of the United States, as too great a sacrifice for a very uncertain benefit, returned home to announce the failure of their mission. The firm stand taken in resistance to dicta- torial arrogance, was fully approved of by the people of the pruvi ces, and with an unanimity which must have astonished those in the United States who fancied they had got their neighbours " on the hip." From Lake Huron to the Atlantic, the result was accepted with calm- ness, if not with satisfaction, and the local press went earnestly to work to prepare the merchant, the farmer, and the mechanic for a new order of things. The wisdom of confederation became apparent to those who before had looked upon that scheme with coldness ; and the pro- vinces now feel they are no longer isolated settlements, but vigorous communities having interests in common which make the prosperity of one the prosperity of all. They know more of each other now, and the instincts of a common nationality urge them to provide against a common danger. Times have changed since they appear- ed first at Washington to f olicit reciprocity in trade. m 154 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERATION Hi Then they were weak and poor ; now they are vigorous and well to do. Tlion they wore insignificant and spirit- less ; now they feel that their country has a splendid destiny, and they are ready to lay a bold hand on the commerce of more than one continent. But let us look more closely at the principal branches of the colonial trade likel}'^ to be affected by the infliction of vexatious duties on the pai*t of the United States. At the time the treaty was made the United States tariff on the articles mentioned in the treaty was on animals, butter, pork, fish, eggs, pelts, wheat, flour, barley, oats, rye and corn, vegetables, fruits, lumber and timber, 20 per cent. ; wool, clover and coal, .SO })er cent. Subse- quently the rates were raised on coal, tobacco and wool. The Committee on Ways and Means, on the expiration of the treaty, proposed to increase the duties as follows : salmon, S2; mackerel, $1; herrings, 60 cents; all other pickel fish, $1 per barrel ; coal, 50 cents per ton ; timber, one-half cent per cubic foot, to $2 per 1,000 feet, according to variety ; lumber, one-quarter cent per cubic foot to $2 per 100 feet, according to variety ; animals, 20 per cent. ; barley, 10 cents per bushel ; beef, 1 cent per pound ; corn, 10 cents per bushel ; wheat, 20 cents per bushel, &c. But the House of Representatives rejected the report of the Committee on the ground that the proposed increase was not high enough to afford protection to home indus- tiy. With this object, therefore, a scale of duties was in- sisted upon, which satisfied the advocates of " protective policy ; " — Lumber, three-quarter cent per cubic foot to $3 per 1,000 feet; stone, 35 per cent.; animals, 30 per ■cent. ; barley, 25 cents per bushel ; wool, 10 to 25 cents AND THE RECIPROCITY TREATY. 155 per pound, kc. ; but the latest advices are to the effect that no Act has yet been passed on the subject. The sta^jleH of the provinces are grain, broadstuffs, hunber, wool, coal and tish. Ah to the grain trade, Canada will be a loser. The treaty gave to her a home market, in which no large risks were run, and in which money was turned over very rapidly. But this branch of trade has curious features. In 1803 Canada imported from the States 5,338,095 bushels of wheat, and exported thither only 3,850,000 bushels, while its export to foreign coun- tries was 8,900,304 bushels. A great deal of the wheat imported was exported as flour. Now, the Maritime Provinces in 1803 imported from the States 3,012,232 bushels, nearly the amount sent by Canada to the States. Nova Scotia alone, in 1865, received 2,520,819 dollars worth of flour from the States for home consumption ; so that if an intercolonial trade, hitherto neglected, can be built up, the loss of the United States market will be to a great extent repaired. Canada has the advantage, likewise, of having her flour 800 miles nearer to the low- er ports than the United States, if the latter relied on the Western product. It is expected that a great deal of Canadian wheat will find its way across the lines, as its superior quality makes it acceptable to the wealthier classes. It should be considered that, owing to the rav- ages of the midge and the weevil, the Canadian farmer has been compelled to depend less on his wheat crop, and repeated losses have driven him to devote more atten- tion to the breeding of cattle and the raising of the more hardy cereals, such as barley. Of barley and rye Canada sold to the States $4,500,000 worth in one year, and im- 156 THE CANADIAN JONP^EDERATION jiorted from thence $900,000 worth, while Indian corn was imported to tlie value of about a million. The Can- adian barley is far superior to tliat ])roduced in the States, and it remains to be seen whether a duty of 25 cents per bushel will keep it out, as it costs about 40 cents a bushel to transport it from the Mississippi to Burttlo, the point of competition. It is probable that the additional tax will be paid by the brewers of New York and Philadelphia. A =5 a set-off to any loss in the grain trade, there will be the profit accruing to Canada from becoming its own carrier. Instead of sending wheat and Hour to New York and to Portland, to be dis- tributed thence to Europe and the lower provinces, it will go in Canadian bottoms by the St. Lawrence route. The lumber trade possesses within itself the guarantee of continuance. The principal export is to Great Britain. In 1865 Canada exported products of the forest to the value of $14,283,207, of which $8,996,355 went to Great Britain, and $5,008,746 to the United States. Nova Scotia in lh62 exported $611,725, and New Brunswick $2,810,- 188, the latter province sending most of her lumber to for- eign parts. The exhaustion of the supply of lumber in the States must render them in time dependent on the yield of the Canadian forests. It is estimated that there is, in this province alone, 287,000 square miles of pine forest and valuable wood on which to draw The Western States, with their wide treeless prairies, cannot much longer have their wants supplied by the lumber of Michi- gan, nor can the Middle and Eastern States remain at the mercy of the Maine lumbermen, and must, despite of a high duty, purchase where the article is to be got. The TjnW-TJiW AND THE RECIPROCITY TREATY. 157 manufacture of wool in the United States consumed lo2,()00,0()0 of pounds in 18G4, nearly half of which was imported. Of the amount imported in 186'), Canada supplied $1,351,722 worth. In 1860, $15,000,000 of worsteds were imported bj'- the States, principally from England. The Canadian wool has been found equal .to the best English lustre wool, and far superior to any that can be pi'oduced in the States. So" they must purchase somewhere, as the home supply is wholly inadequate to the demand, both in respect to quantity and quality. The wool going in free under the treat}'^ has been of groat assistance to their manufacturei's, and its partial exclu- sion, if it can be excluded at all, will force tht; Canadians to manufacture and send woollen goods into the States. The Canadian woollen manufacturers are rapidly increas- ing, and New York merchants found it prolitable last year to import woollens from Montreal, and that, too, after paying high duties, and suffering from exchange being against them. The Nova Scotians know that their bituminous coal can be laid down in the Atlantic cities at a price much lower than it can be brought from the United States coal districts, and a duty of $2 a ton will not exclude what can stand a $3 duty. The gas works and factories of the Eastern States require this descrip- tion of coal to heat their furnaces, so that an additional tax will only render their manufacturers less able to com- pete with those of foreigners, without being prohibitory, and will brinir into the harbours of Nova Scotia the At- lantic steamers that have been wont to coal at Boston and New York. The duties imposed on fish cannot injure the Maritime Provinces to a great extent. Tho exclusion li 158 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERATION of United States fishermen from a valuable fishing ground will go far to reconcile them to the loss of the treaty, as they can find a ready sale in foreign courhnes for all the fish they can catch. They rel}'- upon the enterprise of their own people to extend sales in the direction of the West Indies, Mexico, and South America. Last year Nova Scotia exported vo foreign countries over $3,000,000 worth of fish ; and the trade of New Brunswick with the United States in this article is now nearly equalled by its trade with the West In'ies. Newfoundland has its greatest source of wealth in the fisheries, but its total ex- ports to the States amounted only to S238,<^45, while it imported thence $1,728,085 worth of articles, w^hich could nearly all be advantageously supplied from Canada. To counteract the policy of the United States, the provinces have sent out commissioners to the West Indies and to Brazil, seeking to substitute new markets for that from which it seems to be determined to exclude them ; and so far the prospects are encouraging. In addition to this, they contemplate a readjustment of their tariffs so as to make their country the ciieapest to live in, and the most attractive to foreign labour and foreign capital. No retaliatory measures are threatened. The disposition is to throw off every shackle that fet- tered trade. It is thought, therefore, and with good rea- son, that the disturbance of colonial trade will be but temporary. Even taking it for granted that a high pro- tective tariff will be efficacious in sealing up the United States against the staples of the provinces, the colonists can look confidently to the establishment of an intercolo- nial trade, and a direct foreign trade, which shall make t AND THE RECIPROCITY TREATY. 159 up for all that they have lost, and relieve them from the embarrassments of a supposed dependency.* The political consecjuences of the abrogation of the Re- ciprocity Treaty are worthy of serious consideration. No doubt the adoption of the treaty by the United States was owing in a great degree to their expectation that a reciprocal interchange of products would cause such a mingling of interests as to lead the British provinces to regard their prosperity as inextricably bound up with the fate of the great Republic. It is now seen that the de- sired effect has not been produced. On the contrary, the two countries are as distinct as ever, and we are not sur- prised to read in what may be considered a State pax)er, a paragraph devoted to the question, " Can the provinces be coerced into annexation ? " Mr. Derby is certainly plain-spoken. " There are," he remarks, " gentlemen of intelligence, and possibly some statesmen, who think it will be politic to allow the treaty to expire without any efforts or arrangements for renewal, who predict that in such case the provinces v ill range themselves under our banner, and seek admission into the Union." Canada, with its 1,000 miles of frontier, would be a valuable ac- quisition to them now, when they are attempting to wall themselves in by the imposition of protective duties. Canada and the lower provinces may become the distri- * The Maritime rrovinces will take Canadian flour, and will send in re- turn coal and fish, without needing the United States merchants to act i\M middlemen. Instead of sending provincial lumber, grain and fish to New York, to be thence exported by United States shippers to Brazil, Cuba the West Indies, Hayti, Australia, Peru, and Africa, the colon- ist will henceforth have a greater share of the profits of the pre ducts of his own coimtry. y 160 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERATION buting depot for foreign goods over the whole Continent. If Canada went into tlie Union, the other provinces, and the vast Red River territory, could not long resist thQ pressure. And were Biitain to lose her foot-hold in Ame- rica, a non-intercourse policy, such as that advocated in the United States Senate by Senator Chandler, extend- ing from the Rio Granrity of them view the existing connexion as mutually beneficial and worthy of preservation. They have a dislike to absorption in the American Republic ; and the circumstances in which they are placed, as well as the recollection of what they have endured to pre- serve their allegiance, naturally prompt them to look across the ocean for some recognition of their steadiness of purpose. They find very little satisfaction in the dictatorial utterances, and still less in the scoldings that come from this side of the water. It is not unfair for them to ask that those who assume to lead public opin- ion in the mother country should av. id misstating facts, whether intentionally or through ignorance, and guard against becoming uncharitable when they should be quiet. Lack of correct information can no longer be pleaded as an excuse for departure from truth, as the means of sup- plying it are available. Such books as that of Mr. Russell, the Times' correspondent, on " Canada, its Defences, Con- dition, and Resources," are well calculated to dispel those illusions which have led so many Englishmen to lavish their compliments on the United States and their satire on the British American provinces. Comparisons have been made to the prejudice of these colonies, and forci- ble lectures are still read to them on their want of energy, their mercenary spirit, their hysterical lip-loyalty, and thair inclination to sponge on the imperial exchequer ; the weak places in their armour are gloated over and pointed out to the world ; and ready writers exercise themselves wonderfully to prove that the provinces are \K''lA^'lli-:.tiJ-JI',^tMbKU-NlA.WM^>LtJi^iX'Ji\i-4^^ AND TiJE R?:CIPUOCITY TREATY. 163 wholly incapable of defence. It is not difficult to ridi- cule hearty expressions of attachment, nor does it re- quire great cleverness to fling oft' the words lip-loyalty. Those who so glibly utter the reproach forget what it is they are striking at. The citizen of the United States has a flag cf his own, and a nationality of his own, but the provincialist has ever had to look abroad for his. British policy isolated the colonies to prevent their absorption in the Republic, and in so doing stunted the growth of a native national sentiment. The American revolution drove into the Royal ])rovinc3s those who had wished to preserve their allegi. ce to Britain, and the exiles carried with them the recollection of injuries sus- tained and losses endured for a cause which they, foolish- ly or wisely, deemed worthy of the sacrifice. They gave up houses, lands, kindred, and the associations of youth, and exchanged comfort and ease for the dangers and hardships of an inhospitable wilderness. The chivalrous sense of honour which rendered them exiles was imparted to their children. Loyalty to Britain became to them a synonym for connexion with the mother-land and non- adherence to the Republic. When Englishmen, therefore, undertake to cast reflection on a loyalty that has so fre- quently proved itself a reality, they should first consider what the British American means when he makes boast of his " loyalty." Now that British America has become prosperous and united, and the traditions of the past are gradually losing their hold on the imaginations of a new generation, that sentiment which so long found an outlet in declamation over the glories of the mother-land, will draw a more natural nourishment from native sources. 1G4 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERATION It remains to be seen what shall take its place, and whether the doling out of so much gratitude for so much benefit received will be more acceptable to English cri- tics than the hereditary romantic attachment which allow- ed no danger, no loss, no neglect to sully its purity. Notwithstanding the assertion that Canada is incapable of defence, the very same persons who give it currency are among the first to charge the colonists with an un- willingness to sink in fortifications the money they need to open up roads and deepen their canals. Although the provinces have more men in training in proportion to their population than England, and that too in a country where the duty of a volunteer partakes little of the na- ture of play, they are sneered at for not preparing to defend themselves. What is the fact? Military school.^ have been established in the provinces under the super- intendence of ofiicers of the regular army, and last fall Colonel McDougall inspected in camp, at Montreal, 2,000 graduates who formed, according to his acknowledg- ment, as fine battalions, both in respect to physique and drill, as he, with all his experience, had ever seen. Throughout all the provinces the volunteers are regular- ly drilled by sergeants of the regular army in the pay of the colonists. But it may be asked. Can the fighting material be furnished ? It is not necessary to call the roll of British Americans who have done battle for Bri- tain in all partvS of the world, to point to Williams of Kars, or Inglis of Lucknow, or young Dunn, who bore off the Victoria Cross from the bravest of the immortal " six hundred," or young Reade, who, though a surgeon, won the same token of he jism at Delhi, or the many others r AND THE RECIPROCITV TREATY. 165 who have died under the Red Cross, Look back to the time when Maine called out her militia to settle the boundary question by force, and New Brunswick and Novr Scotia sprang to arms with but a regiment or two of British troops to assist them in rolling back the tide of invasion. In 1812, did any of the provinces quail ? or did those 1.000 raw French-Canadian militia under De Salaberry, when they defeated 7,000 United States infantry at Chateauguay, show themselves deticient in bravery ? At the time of the Trent affair, was there a display of timidity ? At two o'clock in the morning of the eighth of March, ] 860, a call was made by telegraph from the Canadian capital for 10,000 men to line the frontier, as an attack by American Fenians was appre- hended ; bj'' night that number of thoroughly-equipped and well-drilled volunteers were at their respective head- quarters. Stores and factories were emptied and farm houses deserted, and Canada, from Sarnia to Quebec, wore the appearance of a vast military encampment. Were double the number required, they could have been had on the same notice. And this is the Canada that has been so often scolded for not showing, according to the notions of British writers and British speakers, a willingness to de- fend itself ! It has been said that the provinces are mercenary and disposed to siiirk taxation, but it is evident that the im- position of high taxes would be a deadly blow to their future prospects. They wish not only to retain their own population, but to be able to offer inducements to emigrants ; and now that the United States have been compelled to submit to an oppressive load, there is hope IC(3 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERATION that the tide of emigration will turn in favour of the provinces. Their best defence, after all, is population. VVith an increase in the number of inhabitants will arise an increase of wants, and capital will follow in the train. The RepuV)licans are determined, if they cannot totally exclude British manufactures, to make British capital in- vested in the States pay a share of their war debt. Massachusetts has imposed a tax of four per cent, upon the receipts for premiums of all foreign insurance com- panies doing business in that State. The State of New York passed an Act whereby her foreign bondholders would be compelled to take their interest in United States currency when one dollar in gold was worth two dollars and a half in currency. The Supreme Court of this State has lately decided, under the Legal Tender Act, that a promise to pay in gold or silver dollars is ful- filled by a payment in " greenbacks " without the dis- count. British capital has been lavished on the United States. It has built their railways and canals, and sus- tained their different State Governments ; while, strange to say, American capital has sought investment in the British provinces. The collieries of Nova Scotia, the gold mines of Nova Scotia and Canada, the copper mines of Canada, Upper and Lower, and the Upper Canadian oil wells are all for the most part in operation through capital invested in them by citizens of the United States. It is the best policy, therefore, for Canada to keep down taxation, and Canadian statesmen are wise in their gen- eration in paying little heed to those who would urge them into spending their strength for nought. But the cavils and scoffs, though based on fallacies, of those who have taken on themselves to lecture the prov- AND THK RECIPKOCITY TllEAlT. 167 inces for alleged shortcomings, are productive of injuri- ous consequences. A young country is particularly sensitive to outside criticism, and the fact of being a de- pendent, although but in name, does not blunt the edge of liarshly-worded rebuke. Even the United States smarted under the attacks of a foreign press, so that tlie British American may be excused if he displays some- what of a similar weakness. It is easy to laugh at him when with pardonable vanity he examines English opin- ion for somo word of encouragement, some tribute to his industry and his endurance. The boy who leaves the home of his childhood in search of fortune looks forward with eagerness to the day when he can return laden with the fruits of his labour; and, when he has secured the reward of industry, exhibits it nowhere with so much pride as at the old homestead. The emigrant in the backwoods feels a strange pleasure in writing " Viome," as he continues through life to call the land of his birth, the history of his struggles and his success. It may be a mere sentiment, utterly ridiculous in the eyes of the philosophic economis^ but it is human nature. It is not difficult, therefore, to imagine the feelings of the British American as he thinks of his precarious position in the American continent ; of the power of the Repub- lic that well nigh overshadows his country with its greatness ; of the strong inducements held out to ambi- tion across the lines ; of the mingling of interests that makes him a participator in the misfortunes of his repub- lican neighbours, if not an equal sharer in their prosper- ity ; and then reads in the columns of acknowledged organs of public opinion what they say in England of 168 THE CANADIAN CONFEDERATION. himself arnl his home. Far away from the motlierland, three thousand miles across the sea and a thousand miles inland, the Canadian tries to sift from the metropolitan ])ress the real sentiments of the English people ; and, with- in sight of the Stars and Stripes, peruses British journals and British reviews (not those of the United States) in which threats, ridicule, unfair comparisons, and even con- temptuous disdain mark the passages that boar on his case. He may well ask, What is the object of such a mode of at- tack ? Were British America convinced that Britain de- sired an immediate separation, objection from abroad would be silenced, however impolitic the step miglit be considered. But British America wants time. It is not ready to stand alone, as that system of colonial rule which divided the provinces and discouraged intercom- munication, has produced etleets which cannot be got over at once. Besides, the locking in of Canada from the sea by Lord Ashburton, which, according to Mr. Russell, " weakened Canada at its weakest point, and conferred most signal advantages on the only enemy it had to fear," and further, " bit into the substance of the provinces, and at the same time cut the vein of com- munication with the sea for five long winter months," must, for some time at least, prove a tremendous disad- vantage. But it is quite possible that a premature dis- solution of the connexion may be forced on, and it is within the bounds of probabilit}'^ that the separation may be associated with bitter feelings; that wounded pride and rejected affection may smother tiie recollections of former benefits and sympathy. No British American wishes that it should be so ; surely no patriotic English- man desires it. DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT.* HOLIDAY cruise on a timber raft does not, at the mere mention of it, suggest fii-st tlioughts of a very favourable character. It ^I'V^ would not probably move the " old salt " to W^ enthusiasm, or rouse the spirit of diUetanii S'i^ yachtsmen. But a little reflection by a staid lands- man not given to nautical exploit save in the mildest forms ; not gifted with a levelness of head sufficient to warrant the climbing of masts, or physical control adequate to the exigencies of a rolling sea ; will convince him, at least, that there are some peculiar features, some characteristic attractions connected with such a mode of seeking diversion, which reconmieud it as worthy of consideration. Travel by raft has no tourists, no guide- books, no flaming advertisements to laud, or even to in- dicate the advantages it possesses over the usual modes of transit ; so it must of necessity look for patronage to those who are fond of meditation, are not in a hurrv and are content with occasional spells of excitemeuL, The ordinary summer tourist, who does the St. Lawrence and other fashionable routes in a steamboat, and fancies that * From the Canadian Monthh/, October, 1871. ^ 170 DOWN THK ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. the chief end of man has been attained, tho cup of pleasure has heon drained to the dregs, and enjoyment penetrated to the kernel, will welcome with gratitude the information that there is a world of novelty yet un- con<[uered, and a means of slacking a thirst for sensation yet untapped. But this ordinary tourist must not give way to extravagant ecstasy at the announcement ; the charms of raft travel are for the few, not the many ; and, as has been hinted, the capacity to discover and appre- ciate them is limited by conditions of an oneious char- acter. However, there arc palpable advantages in favour of the raft tourist over those enjoyed homeopath ically by the steamboat passenger. Fashion does not sit enthroned on a raft ; its behests are there ignored, and the needs of the occasion alone control. Hence little luggage is required, and the freedom from encumbrance which this secures signitics Ji^Ltness of heart, the natural consecpience of exemption f^om the importunities of zealous hotel-porters, and energetic hackmen, as well as a total immunity from the agony which accompanies the crashing and smashing of one's best and perhaps only trunk. The raftsman on his voyage does not have his temper tried l)y the impertinence of waiters, which, apart from its moral worth, is a boom only appreciable to its full extent by the steamboat piussenger desirous of culti- vating a relish for his victuals. He is not compelled to appease his appetite at the expense of his manners by being compelled to fight his way to his meals under penalty of languishing in semi-starvation until ohe third table is rung up. He is not driven tr dcdde between dyspepsia-producing beefsteak and a variety of dry DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. 171 delicacies which give the table of a steamboat a unique, a too familiar, a never-to-bo-forgotten appearance; or to strain the axis of hi.s mind in the endeavour to decide fairly between the merits of the tea and the coffee, or to arrive at a definite conclusion respecting their similarities and differences. He is not moverl to bitter envy by witnessing nice distinctions drawn between those who shall get state-rooms and tliose whose fate it is to bo ac- commodated v/ith spaces under the piano or on the din- ing table ; nor is his Vjachelorhood, if so it be, put to open shame by a curt negation of its claims to attention until everyVjody else is told otf. IIo is not kept awake at night by the giggling of girls, nor put to sleep in the day-time by their incessant chatter. No 1 the raftsman is his own waiter. He takes his meals when prompted to eat by a natural hunger which does not come and go at the sound of the dinner-bell ; his place at table is anywhere and everywhere he chooses to sit; his diet is simple,— pork, hard-tack, bread, potatoes, tea undisguised by chalk- milk and untoned by sanded sugar, and game, sometimes, such as the hen-houses along the shore deliver into his piratical grip ; his sleeping apartment is a shanty of pine boards specially built for airiness, and capable of coming down at a moment's notice ; his bed, consisting of two military blankets and a valise pillow, is always ready made; his tub is the river, ever at hand ; his " constitu- tional "is on wood pavement, ever free from dust. He has abundant leisure to viv.vv the scenery ; he can read, wiite, talk and walk, or "jleep, just as he pleases, and in fine, is as nearly his own master as he can well be. The sense of complete freedom expands his chest, and no un- 172 DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE Oil A RAFT. trammelled son of the desert can experience more com- plete buoyancy of spirit than does the shaggy unkept tourist who drinks in the fresh morning air as he saunters up and down a lOO-foot log in the middle of the river, or, extended at full length, basks in the sunshine listening to the plash of the waves as they gently lave the sides of his raft. So that a comparison between the two modes of travel shows a(.lvantages on the side of the seemingly less enjoyable, which in their aisthetie, dietetic, social and moral character, go to mellow the hard feeling incident to first thought on the subject of raft naviga- tion. Were it dtsirable to depress the scale too much in favour of the raftsman's view, it would be open to his sympathizers to throw in the continuous opportunity for fishing which the steady movement of the raft furnishes, — but some unoccupied ground must be left to the imagination. The raft is quite safe so long as its constitutent logs keep together. Should it resolve itself, or be resolved into its elements in deep water, danger is to be apj)re- hended, for every one cannot walk on, or even keep astride of, a log in the water. Blondin and Blondinists could perha[.:i ; but unaccustomed raftsmen find it rather slippery work. Any one who is perfect at paddling a tub could hold his own on a log; but the tendency to roll is a source of such danger to the isolated squatter on square tim})er, as to justify a casual observer in mis- trusting its efficiency as a life-preserver. Walking on a detached log means not a succession of steady steps, but a movement akin to what one understands by St. Vitus' dance. The raft proper is composed of what are techni- DOWN THE ST, LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. 173 cally called drams, each of which is a complete raft in itself ; in fact a raft is a number of drams chained or roped together. The timber intended to be rafted down to (Quebec is taken from the booms, say in Toronto bay, and built up in drams. Huge sticks of pine, ash, elm, or oak, are laid side by side to the width of about fifty- two feet, and to the length of about two hundred and fifty feet, with a space of two feet between the ends of the logs, so as to give them room to play in a rough sea ; these are bound to traverses, or cross-pieces, laid every three feet, by withes of young ironwood, oak or hickory trees rendered pliable by a twisting machine. The bot- tom being thus laid, it is loaded in tiers until the dram draws from three-and-a-half to six feet of water, accord- ing to the quantity or weight of timber. A shanty is built of pine boards on the middle of the dram, and the dram thus honoured is called the Cabin Dram ; the cook's house adjoins the shanty, and in it are stored barrels of pork, biscuit and bread. Around the bow, stern and sides of the dram, rullocks are constrn.ctf»rl at an eleva tion of three feet, and oar;- thirty -six feet long and about fifty pounds weight are provided. It takes fifteen men a month to build one of tliese drams. For going through the canals, the drams are built about twenty -four by one- hundred and twenty, and in a less secure manner than those intended to take the chances of the rapids. It is said to be as cheap to take a raft tlirough the canals as down the river, and the more valuable timber, such as oak and pine, goes by the former route, as the risk of loss is of course much diiuinished. One wonders why all the timber does not go through the canals, when the 174 DOWN TIIK ST. LAWIIEKCE ON A HAFT. dangers of the rapids are taken into consideration, and it is remembered that no insurance companies extend their a32:is over the timber man. If a dram sticks on a shoal, or is run on the beach, it takes a deal of pulling and hauling to get it oif again, the cost oftentimes being from two to five hundred dollars. Wh63n everything is ready, the drams are lashed together, two and two, and a tugboat steams off" with them down Lake Ontario, and thence alon;:; the river St. Lawrence to Prescott. The distance l)etween Toronto and Kingston was accomplished in eighty-five hours, and the captain of the Edsall felicitated himself on the speed and strength of his tug, ' lit ex])ressed regret when lie recollected that his vessel w paid according to the time occupied, that is, about $200 a day. Eighty-five hours between Toronto and Kingston (one-hundred-and-sixty-five miles), is a good long time to an " amateur casual," on a raft though to a timber man it represents a short raft passage between the points named. Three days of sunshine, three days of gossip with the men, three days devoid of stirring incident, save a slight blow which set the timber creaking in a manner sufficiently startling to give a good idea of what a storm could do if it only chose. To a timber raft badly put together, a storm on the lake means "scatteration" in its most destructive sense, and a log hunt for a month afterwards. But our parallelogram went quietly and smoothly onward. The men slept and ate, and ate and slept during the day, and sat up all nifjht telling stories, singing songs and dancing. All nationalities were represented, but the French and Kng- lish-speaking Canadians especially vied with each other DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. 175 in tales of adventure and the recital of personal experience. There was Antoine, who had laid the axe to the roots of great trees in Western Canada and in Michi- gan, and was now on his way to his domicile of nativity. His had been a life of hard labour, speckled with oases of romance, and seemed nothing loath to ))ass it in panoramic review for the entertainment of his fellows ; but his forte was, like a true sentimentalist, music. He sang, with an air of resolution, the songs of French Canada, and when incited to melody showed a wonder- ful skill in giving his voice the tremolo much affected by popular singers, thus realizing Charles Lamb's descrip- tion of the piping of the gentle giantess. " The shake which most singers reserve fov the close or cadence, by some unaccountable flexibility or treinulousness of pipe she carrieth quite thro' the com))Osition, so that her time to a common air keeps double motion — like the earth running the primary circuit of the tune, and still revolv- ing on its own axis." His favourite air, and indeed that of all, was the canoe lefrain, En roulant ina 'hovU, the chorus of which was rendered with great spirit, its accompaniment being a violent working of the arms, in- tended to represent paddling. The words of this song extend over thirteen verses, so a few will suffice as specimens : — Derrier' chez nous, ya-t-un 6 tang, Ea roulant ma boule (chorus), Troia boaux canards e'en vont baignaut Ilouli, roulant, ma boule roulant,, Eq roulant ma boule roulant {chorus) Ea roulant ma boule. 176 DO^\N THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. Trois beaux canards s'en vont baignant Eu roulant maboule, Le fils du roi a'en va chaasant, Rouli, roulant, ma boule roulant, En roulant, etc. Le fils du roi s'en va chaasant En roulant ma boule, Avec son grand fusil d'argent, Ronli, roulant, ma boule roulant, En roulant, etc. Then there was Pierre, who was making his yearly pilgrimage to his home, or rather his wife's home — for poor Pierre had been blessed with a shrew, and like the simple-minded fellow he is, took to the woods every fall, worked hard ail winter chopping, and about midsummer found himself again rafting towards the consumer of his wages. His matrimonial felicity was not ])erfect, as a week under the roof of his little white-washed cottage seemed to render him equal to another year's absence, another year's endurance of cold and shanty hardship, another year's experience on pork diet. Hugh, the cook, had his budget of songs of the "Mother Darling" class, as well as of the dramatic, which -were made to tell by the addition of fanciful bits of clog dances, while his border tales were of the most incredible kind, fearful robberies of fowl, and dreadful legends as to the eating capacity of the winter shanty men. The foreman of the raft was a mine of statistics, and full of interesting details as to the lumber trade, which he prefaced with a characteristic song, descriptive of the raftsman's life — DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFF. 177 Voici I'hivor arrivfe ; Les rivieres aont geMes ; C'est le temps d'aller au bois Manger du lard et des pois. Dane les chantiera noua hivernerons I Dans les chantiera noua hivernerons ! Paiiv' voyageur que t'aa d'la misere ! Souvent tu couches par terre, A la pluie, au mauvais temps A la rigeur de tons lea temps. Quand tu arrive A Quebec, Souvent tu fais un gros bee Tu vas trouver ton bourgeois. Qu'est lit, aaaia au comptoi'. Je voudraia etre paye Pour le temps que j'ai donn6. Quand I'bourgeois est en banq'route, II t' renvoi manger des croiites. Quand tu retourn' chez ton pere, Ausai pour revoir ta m^re ; Le bonhomme est a la porte, La bonne femme fait la gargotte. Ah ! bonjour done, mon cher enfant ! Koua apport'-tu ben d'l' argent ? Que r diable emport' lea chantiera ! Jamais d' ma vie j'y r'tournerai ! In his less musical moments the foreman becomes communicative, and is nothing loath to tell respecting his operations in the woods, his hauling the logs to water, his draining lakes to gorge the shallow streams and rivers down which they float the logs, and to give, L .1 178 DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. with datof and items, all the minor details which go to make up his business life. His information is varied, and he appreciates at its true value the great forest. From him we learn such facts as the following : Canada possesses almost every variety of ornamental wood, and at great International Exhibitions displays not less than ?iixty-four varieties of timber. The great variety of kinds, ,jid the abundance in quantity of our forest woods, is the reason that the greater number of them have no intrinsic value here. Oak, pine, walnut, maple, elm, tamarack, and cedar, are our chief exports. Last year the total exported produce of our forests reached $28,580,81(1 in value, the largest quantity being of white pine. Next in value come Agricultural Products, and after them Animals and their produce. At the late lumberers' convention at Ottawa, Mr. Little stated that the forests of the United States and Canada, taken together, will not aflford a supply of white pine for more than twelve or fifteen years at the utmost, at the present rate of consumption. Such a statement Ciirries with it a significance which those who look into the future would do well to ponder over. The exhaustion of Canadian forests means the loss of our chief source of export. But the rapid consumption going on signifies to the lumber- man that every year his work will be further and further back from civilization, and that his hardships, if not his wages, will steadily increase. The hours went very slowly in doing Lake Onhario^s, 180 miles, but the leisure thus afforded to familiarize oneself with the men, and to admire the sticks of timber, the excellencies of which were repeatedly pointed out DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. 179 was, as may bo seen, somewhat improved. Once through the lake and past Kingston, it might be supposed that the scener)' of the Thousand Islands would dispel the langour which had at times manifested itself in all. Though willing to answer when questioned, the rafts- man, like the Indian, is never garrulous. Gazing at the waves as they ripple by with sunshine pillowed on their tiny crests, or lazily watching the shore where the doz- ing hills nodded a seeming recognition with their cloud night-caps, he yielded him to the soporific spirit of the scene, and became silent, dreamy, and sometimes even sleepy. Nepenthe has been found. Even the Thousand Islands, with their luxuriantly tinted foliage, their over- hanging branches, and dainty bowers, their myriad forms of substance and shadow, their winding passages, their delightful change of landscape, their seventy miles of lingering sweetness — all, all failed to dispel torpor or awaken into activity the ratiocinative faculties. We gazed and enjoyed und gazed and dozed. The solitude, the stillness, the exquisite beauty of the scene, the balminess of the atmosphere, intoxicated like sweet incense, and stole away all sense of life ; dreamland w^ith its figments and pigments was ours, and f >r many a mo- ment, a set of beings happy and contented as ever roam- ed the Elysian fields, were the somnambulists of our raft. Our sleep was not dull, heavy, abject uncon- sciousness, but rather delicate, soft, quiescence — rest to the body, holiday to the mind. The griefs and dis- appointments of the past clothed themselves in wedding garments and danced like dervishes vis-A-via to the joy- ous possibilities of the future. In truth, the Thousand I 180 DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. (. I Islands were to us the Thousand-and-one Nights of oriental fiction. But thig somniferous delirium was too painfully delicious to last, and, like over)' thing mundane, came to an end. At Prescott we wore restored to the consciousness of life's realities by the departure of the steam tug, and beneath the shadow of the famous old wind-mill which had witnessed some of the pranks of '37, the drams shook off the coils that had so long united them, and each made ready to do for itself in its down- ward course. Pilots came on board, huge oars were shipped, men were hired in quantities, fifteen or sixteen to a dram, and after a few strokes from the long oars, which looked amazingly like monstrous antenna'., our raft was in the current moving along with a speed startling in its contrast to the former creeping motion. The rapids now began to be referred to with respect, and even the current, as it swept our parallelogram around islands, through narrow channels, shaving shoals and rocks that looked uninvitingly near, became a subject of conciliatory compliment. Steady work at the oars had taken the place of indolence, and the men shout to each other in French, Indian and English ; brisk repartee and stentorian laughter indicate rising spirits ; and the timid tourist, partaking of the general excitement, leaps from log to log for the purpose of reassuring himself as to their adhesive qualities, and recalls the lines of Sangster: " All peacefully glidin^;, The waters dividing, The indolent bateau moved slowly along. The rowers light-hearted, From sorrow long parted, Beguiled the dull moments with laughter and song. DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. 181 ' Hurrah for the rapid ! that merrily, merrily Gambolr and leaps in its tortuous way ; Soon we will enter it, cheerily, cheerily, Pleased with its freshness and wet with its spray.' " More swiftly careering, The wild rapid nearinjf, They dash down the stream like a terrified steed ; The surges delight them, No terrors afright them. Their voices keep pace with the «iuickeuing speed : ' Hurrah for the rapid ! that merrily, merrily Shivers its arrows against us in play ; Now we have entered it, cheerily, cheerily, Our spirits as light aa its feathery spray.' *' Fast downward they're dashing, Each fearless eye flashing, Though danger awaits them on every side ; Yon rock — see it foaming — They strike- they are drowning ! But downward they speed with the merciless tide : No voice cheers the rapid, that angrily, angrily Shivers their bark in its maddening play, Gaily they battled it— heedlessly, recklessly, Mingling their lives with its treacherous spray ! " The river has a glazed appearance ; its very oiliness indi- cates something wrong under the surface; the revolving eddies in their corkscrew movements predicate trouble ahead; and the accelerated speed of the raft forewarns one of danger that lurks not far in the distance. We are beginning to go down hill very swiftly. No wonder. From Lake Erie to Montreal, 367 miles, the descent i« 564 feet. Vessels coming up through the seven canals constructed to avoid these St. Lawrence rapids ascend IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^^ ■•<¥• // {./ :/. ^cV f/. 1.0 I.I 11.25 1^128 |2.5 |5o ■^" RI^K 2.0 us JA IIIIII.6 V] y iV -^^ :\ \ ^^ ^X^\ '^^ i ^% ^rf- :<•. i ■■ 182 DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. ilM 116 miles of river in actual horizontal distance, overcom- ing a fall of 225 feet above the level of the tide water, and this in a river said to discharge 4,300,000 tons of fresh water annually into the ocean. So there is good reason for our raft making good time onwards — it is going down the first pair of stairs. But the white caps of the Galops have little temper for us as we plough through, for the tumble of this rapid is less fierce than we, in our innocent excitement, anticipated. Not a stick is displaced, and confidence in the buoyancy and strength of our platform rises several degrees. Grown bolder by slight experience, we express loudly our desire to encoun- ter the famous Long Sault, the most magnificent of all the rapids, and whose dangers were, in the olden time, es- pecially dreaded. Says Mr. Boulton, in his topographical description of Upper Canada (1824) : " Boats may pass near shore, but where misfortune has driven either a boat or a raft into the very strong part of the current, it hath seldom happened that a life has been saved. A melancholy instance of the danger of this occurred in the late French war, when several boats and their crews were entirely lost." But enquiries of an historical nature were cut short abruptly, after reaching smooth water again, by the appearance of a canoe which angled towards the raft for a while, and finally succeeded in coming alongside. Its passengers were two Indians, a white- haired old gentleman, evidently papa, and a fair-faced girl, evidently papa's daughter. The transfer of this new and unexpected freight to the ca-bin-dram was a work of short duration, and thence an explanation of the angelic visit was soon promulgated, to the efiect that daughter DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. 183 ■ if I': had long cherished an " intense, eager, and insatiable longing " to " shoot the rapids," and that papa had in- sured his life, and given reluctant consent on one condi- tion, viz. : that he should accompany her. She carried a dainty satchel containing wine-biscuits for nibbling pur- poses, and papa, like a sensible man, displayed anxiety respecting the movements of substantial hampers, which the keen-scented cook followed about with radiant coun- tenance. The new arrivals occasioned much excitement. The Indians at the oars betrayed no sign, save that their black eyes flashed for an instant. The French grimaced at each other. The English slapped their knees violently but said nothing. The surprise was too much for vocal expression. Never had such a thing been dreamed of in raftmen's annals as the shooting of the Long Sault by a young lady. She was not very strong looking, but she had delicate features, long wavy hair which fluttered gaily in the breeze, a petite figure, and eyes full of sunshine and sweetness. It seemed to grow on us that she was neither merry nor giddy ; her demf>anour rather bespoke characteristics such as thoughtfulress and kind- ness. When she seated herself on a coil of hawser, and quietly took to her " tatting," to the discomfiture of some on board who would have been glad to furnish her with lull statistics relative to the dimensions of the canals, and to point out to her the peculiar excellencies of the various sticks of timber, the oarsmen looked very knowing and sarcastic. Some persons transferred their valuable infor- mation and services to papa, who showed his appreciation of several hours' run of learned conversation by breaking out in the middle of a table of condensed mathematics, 184 DOWN THE ST. LAWBENCE ON A BAFT. with an allusion to his hampers. The allusion was caught up with alacrity, and a motion toward the victuals had a seconder in everybody not engaged at the oars. The con- trast betveen hard-tack and f*ponge-cake is great ! The gulf between fat pork and chicken is vast ! A land appe- tite and a water appetite are totally different things ! Aqua vitte and aqua fortis have nothing in common. The little lady was somewhat sly, for no sooner were po- tations ended than she demanded a song. Each looked at the other ; one had a cold ; another had left his music at home ; but silence was cut short by the irrepressible Antoine, who looked tenderly at the maiden, then fero- ciously at his companions, and sang out to a delicious minor air : Isabeau se prom^ne Du long de son jardiu, Du long de son jardin Sur le bord de I'ile, Du long de son jardin ; Sur le bord de I'eau, Sur le bord du vaiaseau. Elle fit une rencontre De trente matelots, De trente matelots. Sur le bord de I'ile, etc. Le plus jeune des trente 11 se mit h chanter, etc. — La chanson que tu ohantes Je voudrais la savoir, etc. — Embarque dans ma barque, Je te la cL.»nterai, etc. Quand elle fut dans la barque, Elle se mit k pleurer, etc. \ DOWN THE ST, LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. 185 t a i- ,e Ik. i\ n. u- jd ic )le •0- us — Qu'avez-vous done la belle, Qu'avf z-vous A pleurer ? etc. Je pleure mon anneau d'or Dana lean il est tombe, etc. Ne pleurez point la belle, Je voua le plongerai, etc, De la troisifemo plonge. Le galant s'est noy^, Le galant s'est noy^. Sur le borde de Tile, Le galant s'est noye Sur le bord de I'eau, Sur le bord du vaisseau. This melancholy story was quickly ousted from mem- ory by other and more lively airs, so that the impromptu pic-nic was a great success. The little lady looked pleas- ed, and laughed right merrily when her experiments on hard-tack resulted in a vain endeavour to indent it with her pearly molars and incisors. An offer to file her teeth to the requisite sharpness was declined with a profusion of thanks which abashed the offerer as completely as if he had been smothered in rosebuds. Further enjoyment of the festive occasion is cut short by the announcement that the rapids are near. The pilots take their position, and in a few moments the drams, one after another, spring forward with fearful velocity, and plunge violently into the breakers of the Long Sault. The waves leap to the encounter as if they would dash themselves over the rest- less timber, but exhausted by their own fierceness, tumble headlong in masses of white foam. The dram stops, a convulsive throb gives motion seemingly to every fibre of 186 DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. the timbe- — but it is for an instant. The pilot shouts ; the men strike their oars deep in the water, and the dram, like an expert surf -diver that it is, takes a header through the loftiest breaker ; the bow oarsmen drop on their knees and cling to the traverses. For a few seconds they are lost to sight in tempests of spray, while an undulat- ing spasm seizes the dram and runs through its entire length, causing every portion in turn to heave and toss like a wounded serpent, and straining every withe to its utmost tension. But the stoppage is momentary. Again the all-powerful current clutches the dram, and, rendered more fierce by impediment, dragp us onward, down nar- row passages between rocks, over precipices of water, past threateiiiiig shoals, cutting the crest from pyramids of surge, and riding victor-like upon clouds of sparkling spray until, wearied with triumph, we lose all conscious- ness of the hydra-headed dangers lurking on every side, and give fancy and imagination free rein to revel in the sights of grandeur and beauty which flit before our eyes like an enchanted panorama. It is hard to say who of the non-raftsmen exhibited the most equal courage during the passage, but, though she had sat by herself in the middle of the dram, had looked very pale, trembling very much, and let slip a few tears when the last white cap was left astern, the little lady was pronounced by unanimous vote to be a true rafts- man ; and several sun-burnt, big-shouldered fellows car- ried a large stick of timber near to where she sat (which they shortly brought back again), to secure the opportu- nity of whispering to her, '' You are a trump, miss." At any rate when sl.ie again asked for a song, big Barreau, DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. 187 who had slain his thousands of trees, and rafted innumer- able drams down the rapids, for the first time volunteered a song. He commenced : "Nous avona aaut^ le Long Saulfc, Nous I'avons saut^ toi?t d'un morceau. Ah ! que I'hiver est long ! Dans les chantiers notis hivemerons, Dans les chantiers nous hivernerons !" but fell back, blushing violently, after racking his mem- ory in vain for the words of the second verse. When the drams were moored in safety at Smart's Bay (opposite Cornwall), that Friday night, an oar was laid between the dram and the shore as a sort of "gang-plank." It is scarcely necessary to say that those who wished to go ashore dry had to do some nice feats of balancing. The little lady and her papa were taking leave of us. Papa performed on that oar like an elephant on a ti^ht rope, and would in all probability have got wet had he not beat a hasty retreat. At these demonstrations of papa's the little lady laughed very undutifully and de- clared her intention of " going first." The words were scarcely uttered before there was a splash heard, and the little lady was carried ashore, like a child, in the brawny arms of a six-foot raftsman who found no difiiculty in walking through four feet of water, even with her as a load. She doubtless was a little startled, but the gallant fellow meant well, and his act was a farewell tribute to her pluck. Before eleven o'clock next morning the drams were lashed together ; then set out for Coteau with a steam- tugat their head. The procession moved solemnly through 188 DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. Lake St. F'rancis, the monotony being broken only by passing steamboats, propellers or grain barges, whose passengers eyed us with an interest which was tiattering. Perhaps some of them regarded us as on our way to de- struction, and shed pitying tears. We certainly grieved for their captivity, though we too were " cribbed, cabined and confined." It is not pleasant sometimes to be an ob- ject of interest ; but on a raft one learns to endure with patience even a stare through a field-glass. When we were glared at by lady passengers on the ateamboats, even the most sunburnt of us showed a heightened colour. By this time constant exposure had blackened some com- plexions, and given to others a scarlet hue whose brilli- ancy almost answered the purpose of flint and steel at night. Bardolph's nose was not a circumstance to noses on board. More than one person might have had applied to him, with appropriateness, Falstaff's apostrophe to his famous swash-buckler: "Thou art the Knight of the Burn- ing Lamp." But as all were more or less sun-painted — com- plexion veils being out of the question — there was little comparison of hues. Like ladies at a ball or an opera, we by common consent tabooed the subject. At seven in the evening our destination was reached, and, as the French raftsmen whose assistance was required for the next rapids would not run them on Sunday, we spent that day in the village. At five next morning we found the raft fairly alive with men. There were ten drams, and each dram took about seventeen additional hands and a pilot to work through, at a cost of about $2.50 per man, and .S6.00 to the pilot. According as the drams were unfast- ened they moved off, the big sweeps making not unpieas- •9m DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. 189 ant music as they struck the water in steady unison. Tha bell of the village church rang out a parting blessing. The men crossed themselves and knelt for a few moments to pray for a f^&fe, journey ; and the women and children on shore waived adieux to their fathers, husbands, broth- ers, and lovers— for certainly it seemed that we had carried away the entire male population of the pleasantly situated but exceedingly quiet village. The Coteau and the (Cedars (about nine miles apart) were taken at the rate of twelve miles an hour, with the loss of a few sticks of timber, which were driven out of the bottom of the dram as it bounded over a huge boulder, and plunged its bow too deep into the water. One unlucky dram im- mediately behind us, had entered the rapid sideways, and being caught in an eddy, whirled and twirled its huge length around until its helpless gyrations almost dizzied those w^ho watched it. Tired vith its plaything, the current at last shot it high and dry on shore at a safe but puzzling spot, where its crew had to work at the un- satisfactory task of re-rafting. Five miles further on, the Cascades were encountered, with the well-known Split Rock guarding the entrance like a granite Cerberus. The dangers of the rapids are lost sight of by a tourist on a steamboat ; to appreciate them one must, as it were, mingle in the fray, feel on his cheek the foam cast up by the seething waters around him, have his ears filled with their din, and his eyes startled by the rock apparitions which emerge and disappaar in an instant, like porpoises at play. The He des Cascades lies a short distance from the Pointe des Cascades and, with two or three other smaller islands, breaks the current of the river at its en- 190 DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE OX A It AFT. trance into Lake St. Louis. Here the drama shoot into the whirl of waters produced by a sudden declivity in the river, whose bed is obstructed by rocks in some places, and scooped into cavities in others. The bow oarsmen receive the first shower-bath with resolution, but on the approach of a dense mass of upreared water, rush to the middle of the dram to avoid the onset. Too late ! they are knocked down like ten-pins, and left (luckily for them) sprawling in all directions on the sticks of timber, to which they cling with the tenacity of barnacles. Though rocking like a cradle our good ship rises and plunges forward with desperate energy and equal strength, and gains headway again in the cur- rent. A feeling of awe comes over one, gazing thus upon the contest. The descending waters are precipitated with great velocity between the islands, repelled with seemingly air equal force by the rocks and hollows under- neath, then thrown up in spherical figures high above the surface, and driven back once more upon the current. Through this tempest the pilot guides his unwieldy charge, skimming shoals which seemingly block all en- trance, and, by a skilful and swift iv. ,n, grazing reefs which are apparently unavoidable at our headlong ppeed. Once more we are through in safety, and in Lake St. Louis have a little leisure to t^ink of absent friends. Soon they come along one after another, but " not the six hundred ;" instead of nine, only seven put in an appear- ance, and we hear with selfish complacency that one is aground and the other " absent without leave," no one knows why. But as the rule is every one for himself, we proceed on our way towards Nuu's Island, having first DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. 191 disembarked the Coteau oarsmen. A steam-tug awaited our arrival at the foot of the rapids and took us in tow. While going through the lake we learned that the Beau- harnois canal,, 11^ miles long, built to avoid these three rapids, has a rise of lockage of 82^ feet. Six o'clock in the evening found us at anchor near Chateauguay. The last rapid was to be run on the morrow, and, the night being before us, a little relaxation was indulged in. Visitors from the shore came aboard in canoes, and we were soon on speaking terms with the civilized descend- ants of the Caughnawaga Indians. Theirs was not a visit of ceremony ; they meant business. The Lachino could not be run without their assistance. The foreman of the raft gave audience to the most Indian-looking of the visitors, and . iter a brief pow-wow, we learned that a selection of pilots and oarsmen had been made. Each pilot has his gang ci men who accompany him on every voyage down, and by arrangement with him the.r ser- vices are seouied. The wages given are $2^ per man, $8 or $10 apiece to the pilot and sub-pilots. These wages are earned only when the drams are moored in safety at Montreal ; when a dram is wrecked no one gets paid ; when put on a shoal, the crew work away until it is taken off, no matter how many days, and receive no fur- ther pay than if the usual time were consumed. So "no success, no pay " is the rule of the river adopted to secure one precaution and skill in pilotage. There is no hig- gling over wages. Custom has laid down a tariff, and none expect more or will take less than the usuaJ fees. In a very short time, therefore, everything is arranged, and the Indians depart as silently as they came, with '•' m f i| 192 r>OWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. strict orders to be on board at three o'clock next morn- ing. The raftsmen huddle together in the sluinties, the fires are stirred up, and cards, dancincr, jokes, -stories, and songs find their place in the programme of the night. The tourists are told that the most dangerous rapid, the Lachino, has yet to be run, and are plied with tales of hair-breadth escapes from drowning ; of drams that had broken from tlioir mooring at night in a gale, and had shot the rapids without pilotage ; of drams tliat had struck rocks in such a manner as to cause the sticks of timber to bounce up high in the air ; of drams that had been sucked into eddies and had bathed their crews in six or seven feet of water; of drams that had gone to pieces, and whose unleashed logs had jammed and pounded every one on board into unrecognizable pulp — in fact all the rafting horrors of years are renewed for the especial benefit of the laymen whose foi'tune it is to be present at the night's recital. Bat no terror was equal to the ridicule which woul J have been ours had we gone ashore on the eve of the tvent which was to cap the climax of the voyage ; or to tne contempt which would have ren- dered our names immortally luminous in raftsman's story had we yielded to the promptings of an unbiassed discre- tion ; so, looking as cheerful as possible, we stowed away a more than liberal allowance of hard-tack, potatoes and tea, and contributed a fair share of the heroic to the night's entertainment. Martyrs to rashness, we could not help endeavouring to recall the particulars of our life policies, so spent a moment or two in wondering whether the suicide clause applied to rapids. But the 1st Clown in Hamlet, act V., sc. 1, reassured us : " If the DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. 198 man go to this water and drown himself, it is will-he, nill-he, he goes ; mark you that ? but if the water come to him, and drown him, he drowns not himself: Argal, he that is not guilty of his own death, shortens not his own life." This train of thought was consoling, and to the surprise of many, one of us without invitation or pressure announced himself as a volunteer songster. His song was " The night before Larry was stretched." It was too lugubrious, so another broke in with — '* Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre, Mironton, mironton, mirontaiue ; Malbrough s'er va-t-en guerre, Ne Bait quand reviendra." This was too suggestive; but the unexpected display of temerity, as may be supposed, raised the tone of the meeting, and a refrain, thrilling, though scarcely intellig- ible, followed; — ** C'6tait un vieux sauvage, Tout noir, tout barbouill*^, Ouick' ka 1 Avec sa vieille couverte, Et son sac h tabac, Quick' ka ! Ah ! ah ! tenaouich' tenaga Tenaouich' tenaga, oinck' ka ! " The neighbourhood being full of legend, it was to be expected that a little prompting would draw out some story-teller. An attempt was only too successful. Jean Baptiste (it is as thick here as Jones or Brown elsewhere) remembered, at great length, that his grandfather had rescued from the Lachine a young Indian warrior and an I if r ' / 194 DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. Indian maid, the course of whose love had been as ob- structed as the channel through the rapid. The lovers had walked into the river, one frosty morning, hand in hand, intending to drown in each others' arms, but the aforesaid grandfather being lynx-eyed and an early riser, discovered them before they had got far into the stream, and brought them out by raising his gun to his shoulder, and threatening to riddle them with buck-shot. They re- turned sad]y to the shore. The warrior shot himself next day, but the maiden, grieved to the heart at his folly, lived on for many years which she improved by becom- ing an expert hand at a raft oar, and earning large wages in the rapid. The romance has never been done into verse, so ballad writers may, with impunity, make use of the melancholy particulars. What confirms one's belief in the truthfulness of the story is the fact that a few years ago, when men were scarce hereabouts, women's rights so far as work was concerned being recognized, squaws were hired to assist at the oars, two of them being considered equal to one man. The love story had the effect of turning the channel of song from the heroic to the sentimental, and the young man Henri trolled out kutily : '* Vive la Canadienne, "V ole, moa coeur vole, Vive la Canadienne, Et ses jolis yeux doux, Et sea jolis yoox doux, tous doux, Et ses jolis yeux doux. *' Nous la menons anx nocea, Vole, mon caiur vole, Nous 1". menons aux noces, Dans tous ses beaux atours." ■ I DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A T^AFT. 195 This was too much for the cook, who deckred that il the entertainment was to last all night, supper might be indulged in with recklessness. His remarks were loudly cheered, and by way of response he brought in supper in his arms, that is to say, he dived into the hard-\,ack bar- rel, and cast upon the table large supplies of biscuit rigid enough to make any teeth, save those of a raftsman, water. False teeth would never serve a useful purpose on a raft. But hard-tack goes very fairly, if well-soaked, and the eater has in its favour the prejudice acquired by long abstinence from anything else. It economises time also, which is of some importance on board a raft, as it obviates the conventional objection to a person going about with his meals in his pocket. By way of dessert the cook treated us to some raspberries and raw onions, which he had received from a squaw the day before, in exchange for grease. After this prosaic interruption ot the feast of reason, which had characterized the night, it was deemed best for all to go to sleep. Ten minutes after the advice had been given all hands were snoring. At three in the morning the Indians came on board, ac- cording to orders, and by six everything had been got ready, and the drams cleared for the run. Twenty-six men rowed on each. The sun was shining out gloriously ; not a breath of wind stirred the surface of the river. The oars swung in their holders with a uniform thud. The men pulled, of course, standing up, and as they were on the lowest tifer or bottom of the dram, they moved con- stantly in five or six inches of water. However, damp feet are not a cause of anxiety to a raftsman. Between Lac bine and Caughnawaga the breadth of the St. Law- 19t3 DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A RAFT. WM. rence narrows to about half a mile, A.s we pass the churches on either shore, the men drop on their knees and say their prayers — some for a moment or two, others for a longer time. There is little or no noise save the splash of oars, and there is much less profanity than ia usually heard. ' Don't swear till we get through the Lachine," says one rebukingly to an irate companion. The roar of the rapid is now heard. The pace is getting faster and faster every instant. The drams stretch out in line of battle, and the pilot's voice is more frequently heard shouting his orders : " En haut," meaning row away at the bow ; " a derrit^re," at the stern. Now, the bow oars are alone at work; now, the men at the stern make their oars bend with a will ; now all, at bow, stern and sides, pull with their utmost strength. Everything depends on how and where we enter the rapids, and as the pilot mops his brow with his red handkerchief, we know that the time has come for all his presence of mind, all his skill. A few feet to the wrong side may suffice to cause him the loss of his pay, and ourselvejj the lo.ss of our lives. From Caughnawaga to the lower extremity of the rapid, a distance of nearly four miles, there is a gradual shelving descent of the rocky bed of the river. The stream in passing down acquires an irresistible im- petus, and towards the lower part runs with a velocity of eighteen miles an hour, until it is separated by some islands below into several channels. Into this ravine we glide with tremendous rapidity, and take the first pitch like a cork, all hands seeking a dry spot in the middle of the dram, until a heavy wave strikes and passes over. Straight onward the dram speeds, the men giving their DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE ON A KAFT. 197 whole strength to their oars to keep it in the proper course. Now a corner is to be turned, and the violence of the waters is such that the men in the bow can with difficulty retain their places. There is a very Babel of voices. The pilot, notwithstanding his Indian blood, springs to and fro on the timber, and shouts excitedly to the men in a mixture of Indian and French, and the sturdy fellows yell encouragement to each other, with savage appreciation of the danger. Wave after wave gathers itself in a mass and tumbles on us as if seeking to conquer by sheer weight of water ; wave after wave dashes itself to fragments against our sturdy side. The shanty leaps into the air ; over goes the stove ; down come the stove-pipes ; the withes can almost be heard to shriek with the agony of extreme tension, and the sticks of timber move restlessly in their faithful clutch. The excitement culminates in a roar of triumph, as the drams swing round the point of danger and cleave the waves with a hissing sound which tells how fearful is the speed. The men again leap to their oars. In a moment or two we have passed through a stretch of comparative calm ; shot over a rocky ledge on the crests of billows so much engaged in smashing each other as to be careless of the use to which they were put by us ; and gone head- long down the third pitch. The dram emerges splutter- ing, and shakes its high sides like a Newfoundland dog. The men are agaii "t their posts, dripping but joyful, and the pilot stands qu*. Jy mopping huge patches of perspir- ation from his face. " A pretty rough passage, pilot," one ventures to observe. " The best I have had, Sir ; you brought luck with you." The Victoria Bridge was now .. c ■ m 198 DOWN THE ST. LAWRENGF- N A BAFT. ! . * t*l in sight, and after passing underneath one of its spans, we were, about two o'clcck, brought to anchor near Mon- treal, Some of the drams which came out of the rapid too far to the south, found themselves carried by the cur- rent on shoals, where thev were forced to lie until towed off by steamboats. A good many sticks of timber were floating about, which men in canoes rescued and delivered up on payment of fifty cents a stick for salvage. These men are called " Le gang quarante," or the Forty Thieves, as their honesty in returning lost timber is question- able. Next day the raft started for Quebec in charge of a steam-tug. As the three days' voyage down Was some- what monotonous, and as the reader is by this time fami- liar with, if not tired of, life on a raft, it will suffice to add that for generosity, profanity, recklessness, industry, kindness, courage, endurance and simple mindedness, juingled in an olla podrida of manhood, no class will com- pare with the stalwart, swarthy fellows who annually take our timber to the sea. T B' THE LATE ADAM CLARKE TYNER [Mr. Foster in the Daily Tdpgraph.] -♦-♦-»- m ; E have a duty to perform, as well to the dead as to the living, and we halt, even amid the excitement and agitation of a crisis of ^^"^Mi affairs, to lay our chaplet on the bier of one who, gifted beyond his felloivs, won an envi- able place in public esteem. The announcement made yesterday that Adam Clarke Tyner had yielded up his young life brought a pang to many a heart and, though the event was not unexpected, the shock was none the less painful. We scarcely know how to dis- charge our duty aright. His name, wherever spoken, carries with it its own eulogy, for none knew him who did not yield a willing homage to his ability, none en- joyed his friendship who did not cherish it as a boon, precious and pure. No panegyric of ours can add to the memory of our departed friend and associate. But his genial presence, his flashing wit, his goodness of heart, his lavish gene- rosity, his tenderness, his modesty, all come back to us with a vividness of recollection that shows only too clearly the magnitude of our loss, and makes us painfully consci- ous how strong was his hold on our affection. The feli- cities of his life renew themselves in all their exquisite 200 THE LATE ADAM CLARKE TTNER. minuteness, and we hesitate to give voice to the many thoughts that seek expression in the language of fiiend- ship. Few v/ere so gifted as he who has passed from our midst, few had a brighter future, and none bore well-won honours with more meekness. Pretence was foreign to his nature ; his heart was too large for meanness. Many of our readers will recollect his reading of the " May Queen," and as they pay the last sad tribute to departed worth, they can easily recall his pathetic tones, telling of one who had gone — *♦ Where the wicked cease from troubling. And the weary are at rest." IN MEMORIAM. TRIBUTES CALLED FORTH BY MR. FOSTEirS DEATH. THE LATE WILLIAM ALEXANDER FOSTER, Q.C BY MR. G. MERCER ADAM, TORONTO. [From The Week, Nov. 8tb. 1888.] , HERE are few heroes in our Pantheon," i.s an observation made by the subject of this brief sketch, in his ringing, national t^ddress on " Canada First," delivered now almost twenty years ago. " Where every man does his duty," ^g> adds Mr. Foster, " heroes are not wanted and are not missed." At the grave of one who eminently though unostentatiously did his duty, and who in doing it so well sadly shortened his active, useful life, these wise, sane words, if recalled at all, must have come home with im- presidve force to the hearts of all who knew him who uttered them. The age is too commonplace and the pur- suits of the time are too unromantic for heroes. Yet if we cannot call him a hero who honestly and earnestly does his duty and lives a truo, honourable and unselfish life. ^ :}i; 202 THE LATE WiLLIAM ALEXANDER FOSTER, Q.C. the few, at least, to whom such a one is known feel how allied well-performed duty is to heroism, and how great is the wrench when they have to part with one whose brief life was distinguished by those qualities. The memory preserved in the public heart of the best that ever lived, we know, is comparatively short; but short as it is, it can- not with truth be said that a good and useful life counts for little, or that, by its contemporaries at least, such a life will not be missed. After one is gone, the perspective of the passing years is often cruel to individual memory. That the memory of Mr. Foster, with the recollection of his fine professional career and high personal qualities, will be kept longer green than is the meed of thousands, we do not say. But this we say, that before the influence and impress of his character have faded, and before regard for him as a friend has died out from the hearts of those who knew and loved him. Time will have taken hence most of those who were Lis contemporaries. It would be foolish to claim for Mr. Foster a position far above the average of his fellows. As a professional man he had many and uncommon gifts. He was shrewd and clear-sighted in counsel and apt and skilful in the management of cases in court. He was moreover, an in- defatigable, though not always a ready, worker. He was painstaking in all that he undertook, straightforward in his dealings, courteous to all with whom he came in con- tact, and possessed a largeness of soul and a geniality of disposition that endeared him to thousands. That he spared himself in nothing, his devotion to business, and the strain he suffered himself to endure before his weakened frame and shattered nervous system broke under the load, suflBciently ^attest. ¥l THK LATE WlLLIAit ALEXANDER FOSIER, Q.C. 203 It was in his early Jays, however, and as an aspirant for literary and politic." rather than for legal and foren- sic fame, that the writer of this knew him best. When we first met, he had graduated at his Alma Mater, and, like many of ins young associates, not a few of whom, alas ! have preceded him to the tomb, ho had qualified himself to follow law as a profession. Notwithstanding this fact we found him ranch drawn to literature, for the pursuit of which he had marked gifts, and, like some of hi'; colleg ec^n temporaries, had a stron^.' mental bias. Pol- itically, the times were favourable for a young man of ardent temperament as well as of acknowledged ability to make his mark in literature. Compelled to seek a way out of the party deadlock of the time, the country had just committed itself to the experiment of Confederation. A new and higher iiatioc.al life opened '•^efore the people. Many of the political leaders were journalistic athletes, and some of them at least — like Cartier, Howe and Mc- Gee — were in sympathy with literature. Under the in- intiuence of these — especially of the ill-fated McQee — litera/y enterprise, for a time at any rate, felt the glow of national inspiration and the quickening of a new birth. Of those to feel the effect of the new awakening, young Foster, as the most fervent, was the first. Besides his overflowing patriotism, he had added to his natural gifts facility in literary composition, and had already publish- ed an article in the London Westminster on " Canadian Nationality." This he followed by his lecture on " Canada First," an eloquent and inspiring resum^ of Canadian achievement. Others catching his enthusiasm, " Canada First" soon became a rallying cry to the youth of the bud- ii l|! 204 THE LAT£ WILLIAM ALEXANDER FOSTER, Q.C. ding nation, and the next step was the organi;^ation of a party with the rousing watchword on its banners. Space here forbids us from following tlie fortunes of this nation- alist party. Its vicissitudes, however, are well known ; and though it accomplished little in practical politics — partly because of journalistic and party jealousy, and part- ly because the people had had enough of the political ail- ments of the time — it awakened youthful desire for intel- lectual freedom and for an increased measure of political independence. In this good work it was fortunate in winning the advocacy of an able and brilliant pen, till then new to the country, which, heedless of abuse and ob- loquy, was trenchantlj' wielded in the cause which the young patriots had at heart. With amazing public in- gratitude and inconsistency this writer, forgetful of what he has all along done for the best interests of Canada, is to-day called disloyal, and accused of burrowing beneath the feet of the nation. The trouble with this charge is that the nation is still but a colony and has never yet got upon its feet. Not the least of the valuable results of the " Canada First " movement were the founding and the maintenance for a while, of The Nation and The Cana- dian Monthly, and the erection in Toronto of the Nation- al Club. But the movement into which Mr. Foster and his friends Enthusiastically threw themselves was, as we know, short-lived. Canadian patriotism was fatally handicapped by Party, and Party neither looked then, nor does it look now, to higher ends than its own ignoble interests. Since that period, the fibre of Canadian nationality has, we fear relaxed instead of hardened, and the aspirations bom of TEE LATE WILLIAM ALEXANDER FOSTER, Q.C. 205 the time have, in the main, vauished into thin air. For this Mr. Foster was in no way responsible, for, with the ardour and persistence of youth, he clung to the move- ment until he and his allies were accused of tilting at windmillsandof "dreaming dreams." Though loth to accept discomfiture, Mr. Foster could not fail, however, to realize facts, and he now turned aside to take up his professioni In law he found, if not the pursuit on which his heart was set, that which pecuniarily was more to his interest. Wi th the exception of occasional contrbutions to journalism, literature he now and forever forsook. In this, from a worldly point of view, he no doubt did wisely ; though had he followed letters as a means of livelihood and prac- tised it where it is recognized and rewarded as a profes- sion, he would have won, we feel sure, both fortune and fame. To these allurements, and to everything earthly, his eyes and ears, alas ! are now dull. The familiar figure of our friend is to us now but a memory. It is a memory, however, that we would fain cherish, for, as with all who knew his worth, we esteemed him and gave him our heart. At his grave, where his remains were paid the honours due to a beloved friend, his fellow-townsmen took leave not only of a good citizen but of a true patriot. m\ 206 MR. FOSTERS CAREER REVIEWED. MR FOSTER'S CAREER REVIEWED. I#ll^^ BY MR. HENRY J. MORGAN, OTTAWA. ^ [From the Ottawa Citiztn^ Nov. 6th, 1888.] Another professional man has fallen a victim to over- work, in the person of the eminent barrister whose name heads this article, an.^'.^M^'«»'«)[:h< IN MEMORY- OF WILLIAM A. FOSTER. And said : «* Throw sickly thoughts aside- Let's build on native fields our fame ; Nor seek to blend our patriot pride With alien worth, or cden shame ! *' Nor trust the falterers who despond— The doubting spirits which divine No stable future save beyond Their long, imaginary line ! " But mark, by fate's strong finger traced Our country's rise ; see time unfold, In our own land, a nation based On manly deeds, not lust for gold. " Its bourne, the home of generous life, Of ample freedom, slowly won, Of modest maid and faithful wife, Of simple love 'twixt sire and son. " Nor lessened would the duty be To rally, then, around the throne j A filial nation, strong and free Great Britain's child to manhood grown ! " But lift the curtain which deceives, The veil that intercepts the sight, The drapery dependence weaves To screen us from the nobler light. " First feel throughout the throbbing land A nation's pulee, a nation's pride ; The independent life— then stand Erect, unbound, at Britain's side ! " And many a year has fled and now The tongua which voiced the thought k stilled ; The veil yet hangs o'er many a brow. The glorious dream is unfulfilled. 2n 212 TRIBUTES FROM THE TORONTO PRESS. Yet ocean unto ocean cries ! For U8 their mighty tides go forth. We front the sun, behind us lies The mystery of the unconfjuered North ! And ardent Aspiration peers Beyond the clouds, beyond the night, Beyond the faltering, paltering years, And there beholds the breaking light ! For though the thoughtful mind has passed From mortal ken, the generous hand — The seed they sowed has sprung at last, And grows and blossoms through the land. And time will realise the dream, The light yet spread o'er land and wave ; And Honour, in that hour supreme. Will hang his wreath o'er Foster's grave. TRIBUTES FROM THE TORONTO PRESS. The Mail (Nov. 2, 1888). It will be learned with profound regret that Mr. W. A. Foster, the widely known lawyer, is dead. * * * Early in life he manifested a fancy for literary pur- suits, and the gifts which promised for him an entirely successful career. There is little doubt that had he adopted literature exclusively he would have made as high a reputation for himself as he enjoyed in the legal profession. * * » TRIBUTES FROM THE TORONTO PRESS. 218 Those who knew Mr. Foster personally, and were therefore acquainted with his many good qualities and virtues, will feel sincerely sorry to hear of his death. Those who knew him only by reputation will recognize the fact that an exceedingly able man had passed away. He was entirely devoted to his profession, and followed it with even too great an ardour. The interests of his clients were ever sacred to him, and his duties to men were always fully and faithfully performed. r. W. # # pur- tirely ,d he le as legal The Mail (Nov. 5th, 1888). Around a newly excavated grave in the Necropolis there gathered on Saturday a sorrowful circle of Toronto's most worthy citizens, to commit to their last rest- ing-place the mortal remains of one who was almost uni- versally loved and respected. As the sound of falling sand indicated tliat Wm. A. Foster was being entombed in the bosom of Mother Earth, many eyes wet with tears told how hard had been the severance of mutual ties of friendship. The funeral of the late Mr. Foster was espe- cially solemn and impressive. To many he had been endeared by his amiable and unpretentious life. To others nis self-sacrificing devotion to duty had been a source of respect and admiration. To all with whom he came in contact he was a friend. Among those who attended the last services were leading jurists of Ontario, distinguished members of the bar, clergymen of several denominations, and business men of high standing. The gathering was alike a tribute of respect for the deceased and an expression of sympathy for the bereaved family .•..■wf,,vj .;ri;.-i,ir---jS";-vSi,','s>'rn>'^r. '■ ■■^ 214 TRIBUTES FROM THK TOEO .'TO PRKSS. ^^-Mt'M The time appointed for the funeral was thre(3 o'clock. As the hour approached, the friends of the deceased, began to assemble to pay the last tribute of lespect to his memory. The house could not contain them, and one by one, after a last look at the calm features of the de- ceased, they gathered in groups outside on the lawn and discussed the deceased's merits and extolled his virtues. Upon no other occasion could such a gathering of men, leaders on the bench, at the bar, in literature, art, reli- gion and science in this Dominion be brought together, an expressive tribute to the sterling qualities of him who lay so cold and still in an inner loora. * * * * The funeral services were conducted by the Rev. Cover- dale Watson, pastor of the Central Methodist Church, assisted by the Rev. Drs. Dewart, Johnston, and Potts. The pall-bearers were all intimate friends of the de- ceased, some of them associates in the Canada First movement. They were : The Hon. Mr. Justice Osier, the Hon. Mr. Justice Falconbridge, Mr. Wm. H. Rowland, Lieut. -Col. Geo. T. Denison, Mr. C. W. Bunting, Mr. Hugh Scott, Mr. Charles Moss, Q C, and Mr. John Ross Robertson. The Globe (NoV. 2nd, 1888). In his profession, Mr. Foster has long been regarded as one of the most painstaking members of the Bar. He was always thorough in preparing his case, taking home his work and sitting up till long after midnight prepar- ing his brief. In giving his opinion on any technical point, he devoted such earnest thought to the subiect as TRIBUTES FROM THE TOItONTO PRESS. 215 to secure from his brethren their entire confidence in his decision. * * * Mr. Foster was one of the brightest of the band of clever and enthusiastic young men who conducted the " Canada First " agitation between fifteen and twentv years ago. * * * In the early days of his legal career, Mr. Foster gave considerable attention to newspaper and magazine writing, and in this department showed marked pro- jQciency. * * * The Empire (Nov. 3. 1888). The news of the death of W. A. Foster, Q. C, was the chief topic of conversation yesterday in ail circles, and never was more genuine regaid expressed than was to be heard on every hand. At Osgoode Hall, and in the law- yers' offices es{)ecially, the great abilities and the many good qualities of the deceased were the theme. * * ♦ Sorrow was depicted on the countenances of Judge Mc- Dougall and the lawyers who attended the County Court yesterday. They mourned the sudden taking off of their worthy friend, W. A. Foster, Q. C, who died on Thursday night. Judge McDougall spoke feelingly of the loss which the profession had sustained in the death of Mr. Foster, who had been a prominent and respected mem- ber of the Bar, and a man who stood high in the estima- tion of all who knew him. The World (Nov. 2nd, 18b8). During the whole course of his legal practice he was noted for his devotion to his profession, and to the in- 216 TRIBUTES FROM THE TORONTO PRESS. terests of his clients. At the time of hl.s death he was one of the most prominent counsel at the Ontario Bar. While yet a student he developed a fine literary tasto. * * * Hu was the author of the article entitled " Canada First," which gave that name a prominence and influence lasting up to the present time. The deceased gentleman was one of the founders and sole editor of the Monetary Times during its early days. He might, had he attended to it exclusively, have achieved as greut a success in literature as in law. » ♦ * y{ih genial disposition and great talents endeared him to all who knew him either in hib professional or social capacity. # # # He had a wonderful grasp of the facts of each case, and in the course of his duties he subjected witnesses to some of the keenest cross-examinations which have taken place in Osgoode Hall. In his longer addresses to the court, whether in stating the case of the bank or analysing and replying to the speeches of counsel on the other side, he occasionally rose tO- flights of forensic eloquence. But he was a straight and fair hitter, and no blows were dealt " below the belt." On the eve of the long vacation, Mas ter Hodgins paid a high tribute to the zeal, ability and fair mindedness of the decea.sed counsel. The other counsel, whose name is legion, applauded this sentiment an^l per- sonally paid deserved encomiums to Mr. Foster. * * In his lamented death the legal fraternity of Toronto is bereft of one who was universally liked for his sterling qualities of head and heart, who was a true friend, a genial companion, and who sought to elevate his profession and his numerous co-workers. TRIBUTES FROM THE TORONTO PRESS. 217 The World (Nov. 5, 1888). Seldom of recent years has any citizen had such an honored funera) as that of Mr. W. A. Foster, Q.C., on Saturday afternoon. Universally respected by the citi- zens generally, beloved by those who lament his sterlinj^ worth, a man with " troops of friends " and never an enemy, all classes of society were present to pay their tribute to his memory. The Pench, the Bar, the legal societies, the ministers of all denominations. City Fathers, distinguished professors, and a legicn of friends and neighbours took their last fond look of the well-known features so calm in death. Toronto Daily News (Nov. 2, 1888). It is with deep regret that The News chronicles the death of Mr. W. A. Foster, Q.C, as worthy a man and as able a lawyer as it has been its good fortune to know. Clever in Iris profession, high in the esteem of those who knew him, and loved and respected by all who were acquainted with the high qualities of his mind, he leaves a gap in professional and social lanks which will not easily be filled. Perhaps the most amiable trait of his generous character was his loyalty to Canada and things Canadian, which was a principle with him, striven for, warmly advocated and deeply revered. But being of a retiring disposition, and indifferent to the honours or at- tractions of being in the lead, he held himself aloof from the wrangle of party politics, and only ventured into 218 TRIBUTES FROM THE TORONTO PRESS. N I ^ Hfil'Jtmi:: them when tliey bore upon the .suhjoct which he had deeply at heart, Canadian nationality. » ♦ * The Telegriwi (Nov. 2, 1888). "A GOOD CANADIAN GONE." The untimely death of W. A, Fo.ster, Q.C., is a loss to the country, the city, and above all, to his bereaved friends and family. To his country, because he loved it. He was a Cana- dian. With the eye of a patriot, ho was among the first to see the rock ahead of this Dominion. His voice and pen warned his countrymen against those enemies of national life — the strife of parties and the bitterness between provinces that are still corroding the soul of Canada. Toronto loses in him one who was emphatically a good citizen. A retiring disposition and the demands of his profession kept Mr. Foster from prominently identifying himself with movements calculated to advance its mater- ial interests. Tn their success he ever had the keenest interest, and many workers for the good of his native city found in him a friend. But the sorrow falls most heavily upon the hearts of those who knew him best. To the many he was known as an honest, able, fearless lawyer. To the few he was the friend whcse friendsh^'^j v.!:riged not with the years. They mourn for the modest, genial, kindly man who has so soon gone home. And sympathy for the household in mourning speaks in the sorrow of all who knew William A. Foster. !#ffi!iSff?3?#i*'*Ws*^^ TRIBUTES FROM THE TORONTO PRESS. 219 The Christian Oiuirdian (Nov. 7tli, 1888). The sudden death of W. A. Foster, Q.C., the well-known barrister and literary writer of this city, caused deep sorrow to a wide circle of strongly attached friends. * * Mr. Foster was a man of remarkable gifts as a writer and thinker. Had not his time been occupied with professional work he might have won distinction in literature. He was an amiable friend, and an affection- ate husband and father. He leaves a sorrowing wife and two children to mourn hi.s unexpected death. His funeral was largely attended by the clergy, and the bench and bar of the city, Mrs. Foster and the bereaved family have our deep sympathy in their great sorrow. Monetary Times (Nov. 2, 1888). A valuable life ended last night, when William A. Fos- ter, Q.C., LL.B,, passed away, valuable not only for what he had done, but for the possibilities of good v.ork which lay before him. He was a true Canadian, a charming writer, a very able lawyer, and it is sad in many respects that he has been taken away in the very prime of his usefulness, for he was only 48 years of age. Years ago, with Thomas Moss, Wm. Rattray, A. C. Tyner, who are all dead, and a group of others who are still living, Mr. Foster did much to promote the growth of a distinctly Canadian feeling. His eloquent pamphlet, " Canada First," betrays a glow of patriotism, a pride of race, which could scarcely be believed to exist by those who later only knew the quiet, laborious lawyer. The deceased gentleman held for some years the important position of Canadian correspondent of the London Times, If 220 TRIBUTES PUOM THE TORONTO PRESS. and filled it well. He was one of the founders of The Monetary Times, and was its first editor. Recognizing as ho did the necessity for a journal that would, while avoiding the ticridness and bias of ordinary political writing, devote honest criticism to commercial and poli- tical affairs, he established an independence of tone which it has been the aim of his successors to maintain. Toronto Saturday Night (Nov. 10, 1888). It was fitting that fiowers should have covered the grave of that kindly gentleman and able lawyer, W. A. Foster. Beneath his easy and careless exterior were the impulses of a poet, the merriment of a humorist, the warmth of a generous and hospitable friend. Loyal alike to his clients and companions, no one spoke ill of him, and he never spoke ill of others. Malice and jealousy had no part in his noble nature, and all of us who knew him are saddened by the thought that we will see him no more. As a citizen, he was honest and patriotic ; as a lawyer, he was always great and growing in fame ; as a husband, he well deserved the love that will not forget him ; as a son, his devotion had an exalted beauty, which perhaps best marks the tenderness and purity of his nature. As a litterateur he would have achieved emi- nence, and when he turned his attention to law Canadian letters suffered a lasting loss. The sorrowing friends who followed him to his grave brought flowers which softened by their loveliness the awfulness of death, and their per- fume was a fitting emblem of the sweet memory — which will live, at least, as long as this generation lasts — of the lovable man we shall meet in oflSce and street no more. 'im: TRIBUTES FROM THE TORONTO PRESS. 221 Canadian Methodist Magazine (December, 1888). It is with the profoundest feelings of personal loss that we record the death of our early companion and life-long friend, the late W. A. Foster, Q C. By his death his pro- fession loses a distinguished ornament and society a use- ful member; but to those who enjoyed his personal friendship the loss is one which cannot be expressed in words. He not only commanded the'r admiration for his intellectual abilities, but he was also endeared by his amiable qualities. We may not aiiow tho public utter- anco of our personal sorrow, which is of too tender and sacred a character for record here. TT I ■ Iff i 'f TT INDEX. •-♦-• Prefatory Note ^^^!^ m Introduction, by Mr. Goldwin Smith j Canada First : An Address. Address of the Canadian National Association 43 Address to the Canadian National Association 57 Party versus Principle. [DaUy Telegraph] g^ The Canadian Confederacy. [ Westmimier Review] 93 The Canadian Confederation and the Reciprocity Trcc^ty. [ Wm- minster Review] . -^ Down the St. Lawrence on a Raft. [Canadian Monthly] 169 The Late Adam Clarke Tyne-. [DaUy Telegraph, Oct. 25th, 1867] 199 In Mbmoriam : Tributes called forth by Mr. Foster's death : Mr. G. Mercer Adam, in The Week 20I Mr. Henry J. Morgan, in the Ottawa Citizen 2O6 Mr. Charles Mair's Poem, in The Week 2IO The Mail ' 212 The Globe 214 The Empire The World *■' 216 The Daily News Evening Telegram _ Christian Guardian Monetary Times Saturday Night ^^ Methodist Magazine 2qi