UC-NRLF B 2 7Tb ll'=\ illll II THE FUTURE OF CANADA CANADIANISM OR IMPERIALISM By JOHN BOYD Author of " The Life and Times of Sir George Etienne Cartier ". " Fifty Years of Confederation ". MONTREAL LIBRAIRIE BEAUCHEMIN LIMITED 79 St. James Street, 79 1919 THE FUTURE OF CANADA CANADIANISM OR IMPERIALISM By JOHN BOYD Author of '* The Life and Times of Sir George Etienne Cartier ". " Fifty Years of Confederation ". MONTREAL LIBRAIRIE BEAUCHEMIN LIMITED 79 St. James Street, 79 1919 THE WORKS OF JOHN BOYD The liifc and Times of Sir George Etienne Cartier, Bart. — A Political History of Canada from 1814 to 1873 — In Commemoration of the centenary of Sir George Cartier's birth — First English edition, i814 — The Macmillan Co, of Canada, Ltd, Toronto. — The Macmillan Company, New York, Boston, Chicago, etc, Macmillan & Co., Limited, London, Bombay, Calcutta, Melbourne. — (Out of .Print), The Life and Times of Sir George Etienne Cartier, Bart*' Bonne Entente edition in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Canadian Confederation — The Macmillan Co of Canada Ltd- Toronto, 1917. Sir Georges Etienne Cartier, Sa Vie et Son Temps — Histoire Poli- tique du Canada de 1814 a 1873 — Librairie Beauchemin, Limitee, Montreal, 1918 — French edition of the Life And Times of Sir George Etienne Cartier. Canadian Nationalism — An address 1911 — (Out of Print) The Death of Dollard and other Canadian historical ballads 1911 . The Fathers of Confederation — An address — 1917 — (Out of Print). Sir JLomer Gouin, K. C. M. G. — An appreciation of the career and character of the Prime Minister of Quebec — The Librairie Beauchemin , Limited — 1918. The Future ot Canada — Canadianism or Imperialism, a study of the relations of Canada to the Mother country and the future status of the Dominion, Montreal, 1918 The Greatness of Quebec — An address, 1918. IN PREPARATION *• Fifty Years of Confederation " — a review of Canada's political and constitutional development during the past fifty years with special refe- rence to the question of the Dominion's relations to Great Britain and other portions of the Empire. .^ The Province of Quebec. " The Habitant '^ — A Sketch of the true type of the French Canadian. THE LIBRAIRIE BEAUCHEMIN, LIMITED 79 St. James St., — MONTREAL. t-]CO^ The following address delivered before the Montreal Reform Club is published in response to a very general request. The publication v^ould have taken place sooner had the circumstances been propitious but as the question of Canada's futur^e status is again engaging attention the view^s expressed are as pertinent now as when they were uttered. The demand that the complete autonomy of the Dominion shall always be respected will undoubtedly meet with wide acceptance throughout the Dominion. At a time when a certain school of Imperialists seem determin- ed to supersede the national ideals formulated by the Fathers of Confederation it is well that those ideals should be explained and emphasized as they are in the address on The Future of Canada. John Boyd. 826 *' When we become a NATION of eight or nine millions of inhabitants our alliance will be worthy of being sought by the great nations of the earth ". John A. Macdonald "Confederation will transform the British North American Provinces into a new power which will give its people the rank of a NATIONS George Etienne Cartier " We must ever retain the entire, complete and independent management of our own affairs '*. Charles Tupper " The Canadian Confederation is not on trial. It is stable and will last. There may be a cloud, and there may be reverses but the light of freedom is always there and will prevail in the end. There is room for all in this country. One way in which to keep our country on its high level is to make a firm resolution that it shall be CANADA FIRST, CANADA LAST AND CANADA ALL THE TIME ". Wilfrid Laurier " I believe in the Canadian Confederation — I am proud of the name of Canadian, proud of my country — Canada. — We should work ceaselessly and without faltering for the development and maintenance of the Canadian Confederation **. Lomer Gouin. Let others in their emblems see The signs of pomp and glory, The Maple I,eaf our emblem be — Canadians All ! The past is theirs, the future ours And great shall be its story, Most puissant be this people's powers Canadians All ! The future calls to greater fame To our fair land redounding, One land for brethren one in name — Canadians All ! FOREWORD (From Le Canada of Monday, May 6th, 1918) " The War and Canada's Future " was the subject of a remarkable address delivered by Mr. John Boyd on Saturday before the Montreal Reform Club of which Mr Boyd was the guest. Mr. Boyd is no stranger to the public ; everybody knows that he is a Canadian before all and that he has always been the champion of justice for the French Canadian race. It was, therefore, appro- priate that he should be designed to deal with such an important subject as the future of Canada, and everyone knows that has was sincere when he declared " Canada First, Last and Always". There was a large attendance, including a number of ladies. Mr. J. C. Davis, President of the Club presided. Mr. Boyd's speech was vibrant of patriotism. Its dominant note was Canadianism as opposed to Jingoism or Imperialism. Let Canadians, said the speaker, be ever faithful to the national ideals formulated and enunciated by the founders of the Domion and let them oppose to the utmost anything that would tend to impair those ideals. The words, recently uttered by Sir Wilfrid Laurier,— "CANADA FIRST, CANADA LAST AND CANADA ALL THE TIME " should ever be the inspir- ing device of all true Canadians. 8 FOREWORD The duty of Canadians, when the question of Can- adas future status came to be considered, Mr. Boyd declared, would be to oppose the designs of the ultra- Imperialists for the establisment of an Imperial Parlia- ment, an Imperial Cabinet, or anything of the kind, as all such schemes might interfere with the absolute auto- nomy that the Dominion should always possess. There was but one ideal that could unite all Canadians, that was the development of a Canadian nationhood ; in other words to the Imperialistic cult must be opposed the cult of Canadianism. Mr. Boyd was loudly applauded when he foretold the great destiny before the Dominion if Canadian would only be true to the national ideals. In closing Mr. Boyd urged all Canadians to be guided by the memorable words Sir Lomer Gouin, Prime Minister of Quebec ''to work ce2iselessly and without faltering for the development and maintenance of the Canadian Confederation ''. THE FUTURE OF CANADA CANADIANISM AND IMPERIALISM. (An address delivered by John Boyd before the Montreal Reform Club on Saturday, May 4th, 1918.) Mr. Chahrman, Ladiks and GentIvEmkn : — It is hardly necessary for me to say how deeply I ap- preciate, not only the high honor, but the very great privi- lege of being enabled to be here to-day to address such a gathering. The honor is all the higher, the privilege is all the greater because I realize that T am addressing a gathering of those, who are all interested in the triumph of Canadianism aud Liberalism in this country. It is especially gratifying to see so many ladies hon- oring us with their presence. Women are at last, we are proud to know, coming into their own and rightly so, for they have earned their title to recognition by a self-sacri- fice, a devotion, a disinterestedness and a nobility that are beyond any words of praise that I could offer. You, Gentlemen, belong to an organization which bears a great and a glorious name. It is a name coevel with time itself, for from the very dawn of recorded his- tory there have been abuses in the world but never has there been a period when there have not been found reformers, to oppose and to combat those abuses. From that far distant day when the Patriarch Abraham went down from Urr of the Chaldees into the land of Judea and became the founder of that great nation from which was to flow the mighty tide of our spiritual, intellectual and esthetic life, down to our own stirring and momentous times, what, indeed, has the whole course of history been but a struggle between Progress and Reaction, between 10 THE FUTURE OF CANADA Liberalism and Conservatism, between Reform and Ab- use? And what a galaxy of dazzling names, both of an- cient and of modern times, is there not inscribed upon the banners of Reform — Moses, David, Samuel, the Macca- bees, the Gracci, Cincinnatus, Solon, Socrates, Plato, Aris- totle, Bacon, Newton, Galileo, Descartes, Pasteur, Lafa^ yette, Sydney, Russell, Plampden, Milton, Pitt, Chatham, Burke, Fox, Gladstone, Bright, Cobden, Wilberforce, Washington, Lincoln and may I not also now add Wood- row Wilson, these are but a few of those who have render- er forever illustrious the struggle for human progress and human freedom. Nor is our own history, as you know, without its great names. There will at once come to your minds the na- mes of Papineau, LaFontaine, Baldwin, Morin, WilHam Lyon Mackenzie, John A. Macdonald, George Etienne Cartier and in our Own times of that great champion of Canadian democracy and political 'freedom — Wilfrid Laurier. It is of the work of those men, of the principles for which they fought and struggled, of the national ideals which they formulated, and of the absolute necessity of ever maintaining those ideals that I intend speaking to you to-day. And let me say that it is extremely pleasing to see so many young Liberals present. It is they, whom I would lil^e to especially address. I do not need to speak to Sena- tor Dandurand, to Hon. Mr. Racine, to Hon. Walter Mit- chell, to Hon. J. L. Decarie and the other veterans, many of them my seniors, who have honored us with there pre- sence and who are conversant, far more than I am, with the questions which shall be treated. It is upon the young men — the hope of the future — that I would impress the lessons of our history and the inestimable importance of always being true, both in their thoughts and actions, to the national ideals formulated and enunciated by the founders of our great Dominion. At the outset, Mr. Chairman, I would ask the privi- lege, of making an explanation and at the same time of THE FUTURE OF CANADA 11 craving an indulgence for a departure from what, I under- stand, is the ordinary procedure on an occasion Hke this. You will all readily realize, I feel sure, that the questions, which are to be considered are so complicated, the issues involved so momentous and the historical references ne- cessarily so numerous, that it would be impossible to treat the subject in the cursory manner of an after-dinner speech. I have, therefore, taken the liberty of committing my views to writing so that neither too much may be said or anything of importance omitted as might be the case in an im0'oinptii effort. My remarks must, therefore, be regarded rather in the nature of an address than of an after-dinner speech, such as the many brilliant ones to which yau have listened in this club. I trust, such as it is,, it will prove not altogether unineresting or uninstructive.. We are meeting to-day, as you are all aware, under the shadow of appalling conditions, the most appalling con- ditions, in fact, that the world has ever witnessed. When millions of heroic men are at death's grips, when the fate of human freedom is hanging in the balance, when our very civilization is endangered, it may at first sight seem almost presumptions to even discuss questions, which un- der ordinary conditions would be regarded as of the most vital importance. But, let it be understood, that all the views that I shall express are based on the assumption that the cause for which Great Britain, Canada, France, the United States and all the other Allies are fighting in the titanic conflict that is now raging, shall be, as I am sure wx are all convinced it will be; victorious. In the event of Germany triumphing and being in a position to force its will on the world the fate of Canada would then, in- deed, be problematical, and there would be a far greater danger to our national ideals and our national entity to face than could possibly be presented under any other con- ditions. But I cannot conceive, none of you, I am sure, can conceive of such an eventuality as the triumph of Ger- many over the forces of nearly all the free democratic nations of the world. When, therefore, the war is over, when the Allies are victorious, when the cursed system of 12 THE FUTURE OF CANADA Prussianism and militarism is overcome, there will be many things to settle and one of the most vital and momen- tous will, undoubtedly, be the future status of our Domi- nion. It is with that problem that I shall endeavor to deal to-day. To the objection that the present is no time to discuss such questions, the answer may be made in the words of one of the most distinguished writers of British Imperialism, the author, in fact, of the Imperialistic plan for the future governance of the Empire, who well says " for those who survive this conflict and must face the problems that it will bring to a head no time is too early to ask ourselves what self government means; not other- wise can these problems find their solution." What we shall consider to-day are simply possible contingencies, that may arise after the war is over, and when the Empire, with the cause for which is so justly fighting triumphant, shall emerge from the conflict with, its power undiminish- ed, its prestige unimpaired and its honor unsullied. ' The opinions which I shall express are, of course, only my personal views based on a rather close study of history and made on my sole responsibility and though you may not agree with all of them I am sure that being, as you are all, liberals and therefore believers in freedom of speech and liberty of thought, you are ready to give them a hear- ing. We are living in troublous times and you are all aware that one must be rather careful what he says or prints especially since the recent Order-in-Council adopted by the Unionist Government at Ottawa. Being a law abiding citizen I shall of course respect the law, whatever my pergonal opinions may be, and therefore all discussion of the causes or the conduct of the war will be avoided by me until the war is over and Kaiserisin and autocracy crushed. Lex dura, sed lex. But as far as the war itself is concerned I would like to say just this : — Canada has been in the war since the very beginning and it will be in the war till the last gun is fired. The Dominion is at one, with all the free democratic nations of the earth, with Great Britain with France, with THE FUTURE OF CANADA 13 Italy, with the United States. The ultimate aim of all is the same — the triumph of justice and of right. The object is not to crush or dominate over the German people, on the contrary the Allies are fighting just as much and just as truly for the salvation of the Germans themselves as for the salvation of the rest of the world. German Imperial- ism, Junkerism and militarism, voila Vennemi, those are the enemies, which must be overcome, cost what it may. Germany, it has been well said, has shamed the soul of hu- manity and that is why the world demands and will obtain a just expiation, no matter how long it may take. The cursed system, which ravaged Belgium, crucified little Servia, and overrun Roumania, which has laid waste a great portion of the fair land of France — glorious Fran- ce, the torchbearer of civilization! — which has invaded and threatened Italy with destruction, which has tricked and deluded Russia and which is now endeavoring to strike at the heart of Britain preparatory to reckoning with America, must be humbled to the dust. In the ti- tanic struggle for justice, freedom and democracy in which nearly all the free nations of the world are to-day engaged Canada which has made unprecedented sacrifices and voluntarily and willingly given of its best and dearest will continue to the end to do its part as nobly as it has in the past. Whatever differences there may have been as to measures ; there has never been any difference as to the end to be achieved. Those who acknowledge the leader- ship of Sir Wilfrid Laurier have been, and still are, as an- xious as any others to help in the success of the Allies and, I need not tell this gathering, that there has been no stronger or more eloquent champion of the Allied cause than Sir Wilfrid Laurier himself. And now v/hen after nearly four years of warfare the German methods and aims stand exposed in all their brutality and infamy to the gaze of a horrified world, what Canadian, with red blood in his veins, does not glory in the fact that his country entered the war at the very outset and that to-day thousands of gallant Canadians, after displaying their valor on many a bloody and historic battlefield. 14 THE FUTURE OF CANADA are fighting -unflinchingly with the heroic troops of Haig and Foch to stem the tide of German autocracy and to save civilization and freedom. And what Canadians have done is but an augury of what they shall do. True to the dead, faithful to the living, we shall carry on until the gaol is achieved. We hail with the greatest gratification the fact that our neighbors and kinsmen, the people of the United States are now ranged on the side of the Allies and that their gallant sons are at this moment engaged in the mighty struggle for freedom. But is it not something to be proud of that over three years before the great Ameri- can Republic took this action, its younger and less puissant neighbor, had entered the lists against the Goliath of Au- tocracy and that what it has since done has aroused the admiration of the whole civilized world? The heroism dis- played by Canadians, both English-speaking and French- speaking, shows that they are worthy of the stocks from which they spring. At Ypres, at St. Julien, at Courcelette and Vimy Ridge when pitted against the most redoubtable of the Kaiser's forces Canadians showed that they knew how to fight, to conquer and to die. Many of them have made the supreme sacrifice but in loosing their lives for such a cause they won undying glory and their names will for ever be held in reverence by a grateful country and an appreciative world. Canada threfore must and shall be true' not only to its immortal dead, but to its heroic living, its gallant sons at the front. If for no other reason, and there are other important reasons such as the vital principles of freedom and democracy, if for no other reason I say than for the sake of her own future Canada must carry on till the end, for if we did not do so we would be unworthy to demand recognition as a nation from the family of the world's great nations. Canadians will fight till the end for the sake of their own country as well as for the prest- ige of the Empire, in alliance with which the Dominion is, and the cause of liberty, justice and democracy. Kaiser- ism must and shall be crushed, not only in Germany, but everywhere. And now let us approach the questions which form THE FUTURE OF CANADA 15 the subject matter of my address — The Future of Canada. CANADA S POLITICAL FREEDOM. A glance at the history of Canada will demonstrate the complexity of the problems we are about to consider. Unlike other countries, which are homogeliuous in their population, Canada and its problems must always be regarded from a dual ethnological viewpoint. Its dis- coverers, its pioneers, its colonizers, its apostles of Christ- ianity and civilisation were, as you know, French, and as a result of their efforts and the efforts of their descend- ants there has been woven into the web of our national life those distinctive French traits, which cannot now be eradicated, however much some people may wish it, with- out the destruction of the whole fabric. The fate of war decided that after a period of over two centuries of glorious history the rule of France on the North American continent should cease and that Canada should pass under the British flag. The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, whilst it was hailed at the time and has ever since been almost exclusively regarded as a Bri- tish victory, had a far deeper and more important signi- ficance than that. It, in reality, marked the seed of a new nationality in which men of both British and French ancestry were to be eventually unit'cd in a partner- ship for the achievement of a common aim — the estab- lishment and upbuilding of a great Canadian Common- wealth or nation on the northern part of the American continent. It, as you know, took many years of incessant political struggle and strife before this was fully recog- nized and the great lines of Canadian nationality marked out. You are all of course aware of the history of that struggle, which eventually resulted in Canadians achiev- ing their political freedom and as a subsequent develop- ment their national autonomy. It has been, and still is, the custom of many writers as well as of numerous speakers in their post-prandial orations to dilate upon the 16 THE FUTURE OP CANADA debt which they claim Canadians are under to Great Bri- tain for the liberties we in Canada now enjoy. The fact is, as is fully shown by history, that Canada's political freedom and the liberties Canadians now possess were achieved neither through the liberality, justice or spirit of fair play of British statesmanship, but through the pa- triotism labors and struggles, of such great Canadian statesmen and reformers as the two Papineaus, William Lyon Mackenzie, LaFontaine, Morin, Baldwin and others in face of the bitter and persistent opposition of the lead- ing Imperial statesmen of the period. In fact every step that was made towards national autonomy on the part of Canada was at first stubbornly resisted by British states- men. Even the present Premier ' of the Dominion Sir Robert Borden, ardent Imperialist though he is, has pub- licly declared that in all important instances the claim to self government when first made by Canada was resisted by British statesmen and only conceded in the last resort. The achievement of responsible government and the political freedom of Canadians, through the efforts of those two great Canadians LaFontaine and Baldwin, na- turally foreshadowed the dissolution of the union of the two Canadas which had been effected in 1841 as the re- sult of Lord Durham's famous report. That Union, though it had been marked by many important reforms and decided material expansion and prosperity, was at best but a political makeshift. The great questions which had occupied men's minds having been removed from the parliamentary arena, political life degenerated into a mere selfish struggle of parties for power. Not one of these parties was numerically strong enough to dominate the situation and as a result petty squabbles took the place of statesmanlike action. Something was needed to inspire new life into the body politic, to replace the spirit of sec- tionalism by a true national outlook. That something was found in the idea of a great Confederation uniting all the scattered and divided provinces of British North America into a mighty commonwealth with complete na- tional autonomy. It was a magnificent idea and the re- sults were to be of supreme importance. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 17 THF BASIS OF CONFEDERATION. The federation of the British North American pro- vinces in 1867, as has been truly observed, may be shown by time to have been one of the most important events of modern world history. Not only did it mark the begin- ning of a new power on the North American continent but it set an example, which was to be followed later by the great political consolidations of Australia and South Afri- ca. For Canadians its supreme importance was, of course, that it marked the real beginnig of the national status of their country. Confederation was no accident. As the Prime Minister of Quebec, Sir Lomer Gouin, in the masterly defence of Confederation which he made in his great speech on the Francoeur motion, truly remarked, Confederation was not the result of caprice or an act of frivolity but the result of a necessity.* Confederation in fact, was an evolution, an evolution towards greater power' and increased self government. No more isolated and scattered communities, no more disunited provinces but a union of all under one great federation of sister provinces, each self governing but all united in matters of common interest under a constitution similar in principle to the British constitution. Fortunate, indeed, was it for Canada and the other British North American colonies, that at this critical junc- ture they possessed men of the broadest views and the sanest statesmanship who laid the structure of Confede- ration upon sound and sure foundations from which we shall depart only at our peril. What ,let us now briefly enquire, were the real aims underlying the vast design of the Fathers of the Canadian Confederation? That their ruling idea was that the new Dominion should always en- joy the most complete ajitonomy and that it should ultima- tely attain the status of a nation in the full meaning of * Sir Lomer Gouin, Speech on the Francoeur motion in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec, January 28th, 1918. Complete English text with Fore- word for English-speaking Canadians, issued in handsome booklet form by the LIBRAIKIE BEAUCHEMIN, Montreal. 18 THE FUTURE OF CANADA that word there cannot be the slightest doubt. The Con- federation debates and the Confederation Papers clearly show that Macdonald, Car tier, Brown, Gait, Tupper, McGee, in fact, all the founders of the Dominion were at one in maintaining as the very basis of Confederation absolute autonomy for the Dominion with the ultimate idea of Canada attaining complete national status, in friendly alliance of course with Great Britain and other countries. The very inauguration of the new Dominion on July 1st, 1867, was significantly hailed by the then Governor- General, Lord Monck, as the beginning of — A NEW NATIONALTY. The representative of the Crown, of course, but voiced the sentiments of his responsible min- isters, sentiments which had been freely expressed during all the negotiations leading up to Confederation. John A Macdonald, for instance, never hesitated to express his opinion that the framers of Confederation were creating a NEW NATIONALITY, in fact founding a 'great NA- TION whose alliance would ultimately be worthy of being sought by the great nations of the earth. What more explicit could there be than Macdonald's solemn de- claration during the Confederation debate " Our progress during the next quarter of a century will he vastly great- er. And when by means of this rapid increase we become a NATION of eight or nine millions of inhabitants our alliance will be worthy of being sought by the great na- tions of the earth. It will become year by year less a case of dependence on our part and of over ruling protec- tion on the part of the Mother Country and more a case of Healthy AND CORDIAL ALLIANCE.'' To John A. Macdonald, with his remarkable presci- ence, it was clear, as has been well said, that Canadians would not always be content to be colonials, and he fully realized that the establishment of Confederation must eventually entail a higher status for the people of the Do- minion. The status that Macdonald intended for the new confederation was that of a '' Kingdom " which was sim- THE FUTURE OF CANADA 19 ply another term for '' a nation " under British suzerain- ty. ' In *f act the actual title that Macdonald designed for the new Confederation was not " The Dominion of Can- ada," but '' The Kingdom of Canada." The new nation was to enjoy the rank of a kingdom, the control of the Co- lonial Office was to cease, the head of the Executive was to be J:he King in person or his representative, and while the nominal authority of the Imperial Parliament was to remain Canada was to be a self-governing nation with an Excutive of its own, under the suzerainty of Great Bri- tain. To that extent alone Canada was to remain in con- nection with the British Empire, an entirely different matter to being part of the Empire. When, however, the final steps took place in London, Macdonald's idea, much to his disgiist, was vetoed by the Imperial authorit- ies, the title Dominion was substituted for that of King- dom and other changes made in the final draft of the meas- ure constituting Confederation.* The sentiments expressed by Macdonald were re- echoed by his great French Canadian colleague, George Etienne Cartier, "' Confederation will transform the Bri- tish North American Provinces into a new power which will give to its people the rank of a Nation. The creation of this nation will open to us an era of national progress " said Cartier. Not only from the utterances af Macdo- nald and Cartier but from the declarations of all the lead- ing Fathers of Confederation there can be no room for doubt of the national status they intended for the Domi- nion. * Macdonald's disgust with the Imperial authorities was expresssed in a letter written by him to Lord Knutsford, in 1889, in the course of which he said, " Agreat opportunity was lost vn 1867, when the Dominion was formed, This remarkable event in the history of the Empire passed almost without notice. The Union was treated by them ( the Imperial authorities) as if the B. IST. A. Act were a private Bill, uniting two or three English parishes." Macdoneld's sarcasm at the expense of the British statesmen is delicious. It is interesting to note that the name Kingdom was changed to that of Domi- nion at the instance of Lord Derby, the then Foreign Minister, who feared that such a name might wound the tender " sensibilities of the Yankees " to use Macdonald's own words. 20 THE FUTURE OF CANADA The efforts of Canadian statesmen during the years immediately following the creation of the Dominion were, as you know, mainly devoted to the consolidation of Con- federation and the strengthening of the nationl fabric. Not only were the successive steps in that direction made on strictly national lines but the tariff policy introduced by Macdonald and under which the industrial and general prosperity of the Dominion were assured was established on the same basis, as its very name implied. The Nation- al Policy was, in fact, as one of Macdonald's biographers has well said, " the crystalization of the rising national sentiment of the Dominion." So much in fact was this the case that to the objection raised in certain quarters that the National Policy would jeopardize British connec- tion some of Macdonald's leading newspaper organs went so far as to declare " So much the worse for British con- nection ". In the establishment and consolidation of the Domi- nion, in the tariff policy and in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway to which Macdonald frequently referred as Canada's greatest national achievement, the steadfast aim of Canadian statesmen was to strength- en the NATIONAL STATUS of the Dominion. But most important and significant from the viewpoint of the vital problem w^e are now considering is the basis upon which Canada's military policy was established. The ba- sic principles of that policy approved at Confederation it must be remembered embodied a recognition of the prin- ciples which had been enunciated from the very beginning of British rule in the North American colonies and of the understandings reached at various times with the Imperial authoritfes previous to the establishment of the Dominion. It is of the utmost importance that we should have a clear understanding of those principles and agreements in order that we may estimate later developments in their true light. Briefly, Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, the records show that the respective obligations of the Mother coun- try and the colony as regards the military burden were THE FUTURE OF CANADA 21 clearly defined. The Imperial authorities, as represen- tative of the sovereignty of the Empire, were bound to afford full protection to the colony against external ag- gression whilst the sole obligation of the colony was to attend to the defence of its own territory. Of this, as an historical fact, there can be absolutely no question, in- deed, this principle was expressly recognized in all Cana- dian legislation up to the time of Confederation. Cana- dian statesmen of the time, Liberal as well as Conserva- tive, in all their utterances made it perfectly clear that while they were prepared to abide by the arrangements made they did not propose that Canada should undertake any nczv obligations. Such was the situation precedent to the Confederation negotiations. The federation of the British North American colonies was in itself a defensive measure. The leading colonial statesmen realized that whilst the position of the seperate colonies was precarious in the extreme their defensive position would be greatly strengthened by union, in fact that prompt and decisive action to bring about such a union was absolutely neces- sary if Canada's political entity was to be maintained and the absorption of the country by the United States averted. The question of defence was one of the main articles of the -Confederation negotiations and when, following the adoption by the Parliament of United Canada of the Con- federation project Macdonald, Cartier, Brown and Gait went to Engfland to confer with the Imperial authorities the subject engaged the particular and earnest attention of the representatives of the two governments. As the result of a series of conferences between the Canadian de- legates and a committee of the Imperial Cabinet, of which Gladstone was a member, a basis of agreement was reach- ed. By that agreement the British Government expressly undertook the naval defence of the Dominion, the Cana- dian delegates on their part agreeing that the Dominian should look after the land defence of its own territory. The Imperial troops were to be withdrawn and the sole obligation of the Canadian government and people was the defence of Canadian territory. It was upon that 22 THE FUTURE OF CANADA explicit basis and understanding that the federation of all the provinces was accomplished. It was also in ac- cordance with that understanding that George Etienne Cartier's famous Militia Act of 1868, the basis of our whole military organization was framed. The recognized Canadian policy, promulgated by Cartier and other Cana- dian statesmen at the time was to provide a purely defen- sive force, in other words the safety of the national struc- ture was to be assured by a real national policy or system of defence, without the slightest idea of fostering a spirit of militarism, involving an enormous national expendi- ture. In other words the strengthening of the Dominion and its adequate defence were the sole objects in view. Never did it enter the mind of any of the Canadian states- men of the time that Canadian troops should be employed in wars outside of Canadian territory or for any other purpose than the defence of the Dominion. Such an idea would, in fact, have been regarded by the f ramers of Con- federation as a direct and clear violation of the agreement reached with the Imperial authorities by which, as we have seen, the British Government undertook to look after the naval defence of the Dominion against external ag- gression" on condition that the Dominion would attend to the defence of its own terriotory. This understanding as w^e shall later see, was invariably maintained by the great Canadian statesmen who played a leading part in the founding of the Dominion. It will thus be seen, from what I have said, that the basic princples of Confederation in brief compass were : — British connection, coincident only with the com- plete autonomy of the Dominion. Autonomous status of the Dominion with the idea of Canada having the complete entire and independent management of its own affairs, and ultimately full na- tional status in friendly alliance at the same time with Great Britain and other nations. Naval defence of the Dominion against external aggression to be provided by Great Britain. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 23 Defence of the territory of the Dominion the sole military obligation resting upon Canadians. Canadian troops to be employed exclusivtiy for the defence of the Dominion against external aggression or the main- tainance of internal order. And finally — the perfect equality of all races under the Constitution and respect for the rights of all minorities. How radically the principles governing the relations of the Dominion and the Mother Country have been de- parted from, especially within recent years as the result of what has become known as the Imperialistic movement will now briefly demand our consideration. THE IMPERIALISTIC PROPOGANDA. Our first feeling when we regard the success that has attended the Imperialistic movement must be one of uns- tinted admiration of the vision which inspired it and the genius that directed it. Utterly opposed though we may be to its objects, we cannot but acknowledge the unbound- ed zeal, the signal ability and the marked devotion dis- played by its promoters and adherents. Admitting no hindrances, acknowledging no obstacles, ever true to their great though impracticable ideal, they gradually overcame all opposition until they succeeded in completely revolu- tionizing the principles which formerly directed the states- manship of the greatest of the overseas dominions. All the more remarkable is their success when we take into account the apathetic, if not hostile feeling formerly shown by many of the leading Imperial statesmen in re- gard to the overseas possessions of the Empire. In the heyday of the Manchester School — the influence of which was, as you know, for many years predominant in British politics — the colonies as they were termed — not sister- nations as they are now rather grandiloquently styled — were regarded as burdens rather than as aids in the sche- me of Empire. " These wretched colonies will all be in- 24 THE FUTURE OF CANADA dependent in a few years and are a millstone around our necks/' wrote Benjamin Disraeli, the future Earl of Bea- consfield to Lord Malmesbury in 1852. " I do not object in the least to that separation " (the separation of Canada from Great Britain). I believe it would be better for us and better for her '' declared the great John Bright in the British Commons in 1865. The Canadian Confederation had only been established a few months when Sir John Young, the future Lord Lisgar, on his arrival in Canada to assume the office of Governor-General astounded a distinguished Canadian audience by a declaration, which was rightly interpreted as an invitation to the new Domi- nion to cut loose from Great Britain and to declare its in- dependence. '' At the present moment " said the repre- sentative of the British Crown " Canada is virtually inde- pendent. It has its destinies in its own hands and its statesmen and people are recognized as competent to judge of their interests and as to what course to pursue to pro- mote those interests. England looks to them for her guid- ance, whatever her decision may be, either to continue the present association or in due time and in the maturity of their growth to exchange it for some other form of alli- ance." Remarkable words indeed to fall from the lips of the Queen's representative ! But they simply expressed what a great many others in Great Britain thought at the time. Such a leading organ of British opinion as the Lon- don Times, which in our day under the direction of that arch-Jingo and Imperialist, Lord Northcliffe, is such an ardent supporter of Imperialism and centralization was at the time of which we speak far from flattering to Colon- ials or so assiduous in seeking the cooperation and support of the Dominion and the other overseas possessions. On the contrary in a rather notable utterance the Times went so far as to urge the colonies to take up — we give its exact words—" THE FREEDOM OF THEIR MANHOOD." The utterance of prominent British statesmen and the de- claration of the great organ of British public opinion, which I have quoted, simply serve to illustrate the tendency of British opinion at that time in regard to the colonies. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 25 Nor were the illustrations given of a unique or isolated character, on the contrary they expressed the general feel- ings and sentiments not only of British statesmen and leaders of thought but of the great mass of the British people. When such was the prevailing feeling it will be realized what an uphill struggle the Imperialists had to wage at the outset and their immense success under the circumstances is therefore all the more remarkable. Never was the power of the written word more strik- ingly shown than in the events which lead up to the incep- tion of the Imperialistic movement. The seed which was to have such an abundaht harvest was sown by some of the greatest writers of the English language. Froude in his '' Oceana '', Seeley in his " Expansion of Britain " and Charles Dilke in his ''Greater Britain", which was pub- lished in the very year that witnessed the establishment of the Canadian Confederation awakened the people of Great Britain to the greatness and extent of the Empire and to the vast potentialities possessed by the colonies which had been treated with such marked interference. The idea of a great Pan-Britannic Confederation, of a world wide Imperial structure, became with many people a cult, and that cult eventually found practical expression in the foundation in 1884 of the Imperial Federation League whose programme included the political military and eco- nomic reorganization of the Empire. Its immediate aim was a political federation under which the various colo- nies would have a part in the direction of the general in- terests of the Empire with the obligation of sharing in the military burden. Contingent to this was the establishment of a custom union or zollverein the object of which was not only to promote an exchange of products between the different portions of the Empire but also to provide the necessary revenue for Imperial purposes such as the maintenance of the Imperial Army and Navy. The latter portion of the League's programme received the warm support of sev- eral leading colonial statesmen including Sir Charles Tup- per, who strongly advocated preferential trade within the 26 THE FUTURE OF CANADA Empire. But when the leading- spirits of the League forced to the front that portion of the programme dealing with political federation with its necessary compliment of colonial contributions to the general defence of the Em- pire, marked opposition was aroused. Sir Charles Tupper himself was one of the first to express disappro- bation of the idea, and in a series of articles pub- lished in the Nineteenth Century in 1891 and 1892 the veteran Canadian statesmen forcibly opposed the proposal that the Colonies should contribute to the general defence of the Empire. He returned to the attack in a notable speech which he delivered at Winnipeg on September 21st, 1893, in which with his accustomed vigor he maintained that Canada was not, as had been implied, a burden to the Empire but that on the contrary by the establishment of its great transportation system, by the peopling of its vast territory and the growth of its agricultural production, it furnished to the military defence of the Empire a much more efficacious contribution than would be a fleet or ar- my placed at the service of the Mother Country. As the re- sult of the- antagonism aroused by the proposal the pro- moters of the Imperialistic movement changed their tac- tics. The advantages of the Colonies sharing in the Im- perial sovereignty and the benefits likely to result from a custom's union were the features the more strongly pres- sed. But just as the proposal that the colonies should con- tribute to the general military defence of the Empire had aroused the opposition of leading- colonial statsmen the proposal that the overscans dominions should share in the Imperial prerogative aroused the antagonism of Imperial statesmen it being held then as it was held at a later date that '' that authority cannot be shared ". In face of the general hostility that its projects encountered the Imperial Federation League finally ceased to exist at least under that name and what was known as the British Empire League was formed to continue the propoganda which it did in a more diplomatic and effective manner. Under its initiative and with the cooperation of the Colonial De- fence Committee, which was formed at a larger stage, the movement was to make marked headway. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 27 The establishment of the British Empire League, the formation of the Colonial Defence Committee, the celebra- tion of Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1887, ^^^ inauguration of the Colonial Conferences and the active propaganda carried on by leading newspapers and prominent publicists during the period covered by those events were in due tyjie to have their effect. The opportunity which the Imperial- ists had been awaiting came with the outbreak of the South African war in 1901. The movement by this time had been well advanced and all that was required was a leader with the necessary vigor and boldness to direct it. Such a leader was found in the person of Joseph Cham- berlain. A man of commanding ability and great force of character Chamberlain united to the devices of the poli- tician the genius and vision of the statesman. With great- er penetration than any previous Imperial statesman he perceived the vast potentialities of the great overseas do- minions and the immense aid that they might afford to the Mother Country, to that weary Titan strugging under the burden of Empire, as he described Great Britain. Whilst he lived Chamberlain was the moving spirit of the Imper- ialistic movement and so mightily did he impress his domi- nant personality upon it and such a momentum did he give it that after his disappearance it thrived with greater strength than ever and attained a success which even its masterful leader probably never anticipated. From a very early period it had been the dream of the Imperialists to secure the recognition of the principle that colonial troops should participate in all wars of the Em- pire and thus lessen the military burden of Great Britain. No such idea had been contemplated by Imperial states- men prior to Confederation, the principle on the contrary being fully recognized that the sole obligation of the colo- nies was to look after their own territorial defence. Even during the Crimean war when Great Britain and France were fighting side by side as allies against Russia, it was never even suggested that Canada should send troops to participate in the struggle. Naturally the descendents 28 THE FUTURE OF CANADA in Canada of the two great nations then united in a com- mon cause watched with the most intense interest the pro- gress of the conflict and hailed with unbounded enthu- siasm the victory of Great Britain and France over the Muscovite hordes. But that was all. Never did British or Colonial statesmen of the period expect the people of the overseas dominions to do anything more than to look after the defence of their own countries. That as we have seen was again determined as Canada's sole obliga- tion when the Dominion was founded and it was upon that basis that Confederation was established. When in 1870 the Imperial authorities first sought to have Canada depart from the established policy George Etienne Cartier, who was then Minister of Militia and Defence promptly put a veto on the proposal. When fif- teen years later at the time of the Soudan expedition the attempt was renewed John A. Macdonald turned a deaf ear to all hints and suggestions that Canada should con- tribute troops to participate in a conflict outside the terri- tory of the Dominion. Whilst perfectly willing that Can- adians should enlist if they wished to for service in the British army at the expense of the Imperial Exchequer Macdonald, who certainly could never be charged with dis- loyalty, absolutely refused to place the Canadian militia at the disposal of the Imperial Government or to allow the Militia Act to be utilized for the enlistment of troops for Imperial service at the expense of the taxpayers of the Dominion. As he had, himself, been a party to the nego- tiations, the great Canadian statesman was perfectly well aware of the mutual obligations that had been assumed by the Imperial authorities and the Canadian Government at the time of Confederation and he absolutely refused to countenance the slightest departure from them. At the time of the South African war, as you all know, the Canadian Government in response to a wide- spread demand, consented to send Canadian troops to par- ticipate in the conflict, but the precaution was taken by Sir Wilfrid Laurier to provide the famous " no precedent *' clause. Sir Wilfrid Laurier at that time made his atti- THE FUTURE OF CANADA 29 tude perfectly clear. He emphatically declared, as you will remember, that in acting as they did neither he nor his government had the slightest intention of changing the constitutional relations existing between the Dominion and the Mother country, " If we are to be bound to take part in all the wars of Great Britain " remarked Sir Wil- frid Laurier to Mr. Bourassa " I entirely share the opi- nions of my honorable friend, that is to say, that support- ing the burdens of war we must also share in the powers and responsabilities ''. Surely nothing could have been clearer than that. But despite the '' no precedent " clause and the clear and emphatic declarations of Sir Wilfrid Laurier explaining the real attitude and intentions of the Canadian Government, the ultra-Imperialists cunningly made the sending of the troops a pretext for still further- ing their ambitious designs. Mr. Chamberlain, the high priest of Imperialism, even went so far as to attach to the sending of the Canadian troops a meaning that was never intended by the Canadian Government and which had been distinctly repudiated by Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Cana- da's action he hailed to quote his exact words " as an ex- pression of that growing feeling of the unity and solida- rity of the Empire zvhich has marked the relations of the Mother country with the colonies during recent years.'' Under Chamberlain's guidance and inspiration the Imperialists thereafter continued their efforts with great- er persistency than ever, principally making use of the ma- chinery of the Imperial Conferences to impose their aims on the overseas dominions and gradually to accomplish what was nothing short of a revolution in the relations of the Dominion to the mother counry as far at least as the question of military and naval defence was concerned. The beginning of these conferences which were at first known as the Colonial Conferences but which were later termed the Imperial Conferences dates back to the year 1887 when taking advantage of the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession the Imperial government then under the premiership of Lord Salisbury, a most ardent Imperialist, decided to assemble 30 THE FUTURE OF CANADA the representatives of all the overseas dominions in Lon- don. These conferences were held at intervals from 1887 until a comparatively recent date. The time at my disposal will not permit me to go into the detailed history of those conferences deeply interesting and illuminating as it is. Suffice it is to say that the Imperial statesmen and repre- sentatives with steady perseverance pursued their aims un- til they were crowned with success. Their main objective was made perfectly clear at the very first conference — the overseas dominions were to contribute to the general military and naval- defence of the Empire, but they were not to expect any share in the direction of the Empire's affairs '' that authority could not be shared.'' This objec- tive was kept in view until its triumph was virtually sec- ured. But that triumph was not won without stubborn opposition. The successive Canadian representatives op- posed the movement from beginning to end. At the very first Conference, Sir Alexander Campbell, one of the Can- adian representatives took advantage of the occasion to remind the Imperial authorities that the British Govern- ment had agreed to undertake the naval defence of the Dominion, the Canadian government on its part under- taking the land defence of the Dominion and that it was upon that basis and understanding that Confederation was established. ^ The Canadian representatives did not therefore re- gard themselves as under any obligation to make any con- tribution for Imperial defence. The strongest possible objection was taken at subsequent conferences by Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who persistently on more than one occa- sion upheld Canada's national interests, and objected most strenuously to any idea of interfering with the auto- nomy of the Dominion by placing the burden of military and naval defence upon it without its having any real voice in the direction of the Empire's affairs. But all his oppo- sition was without avail and the culminating point of the Imperial Conferences was reached in 191 1, when despite Sir Wilfrid Laurier's efforts on behalf of Canada's inter- ests the acquiescense of a majority of the Colonial repre- THE FUTURE OF CANADA 31 sentatives in the general military and naval defence of the Empire was secured. That the Imperialists had achieved the chief end for which they had been striving for for years was shown by the resolutions adopted in secret ses- sion by the Committee of Imperial Defence by which it was explicitly stipulated that as regards the navy the fleet of a dominion would in time of war form an integral part of the British fleet and as such be under the sole authority of the British Admiralty during the whole duraion of the war and that as far as military preparations were concern- ed each portion of the Empire was to make preparations by a method which would permit it to take part in the gen- eral defence of the Empire. It has now been shown in outline how the exponents of the Imperialistic school achieved their chief aims. The efforts of Canadian statesmen, as we have seen, from a very early period of our history until within comparatively recent times, were devoted as far as regards military orga- nization and defence to the maintenance of as large a measure of autonomy as had been secured in the purely political sphere, that the Imperial authorities for many years generally acceded to this attitude on the part of the Canadian representatives and never even dreamed of de- manding from Canada any military assistance beyond the defence of its own territory. But with the advent of Joseph Chamberlain to a fore- most position in the councils of the Empire the ultra-Im- perialists under the inspiration of that aggressive Impe rialist steadily pursued the plan of substituting for the tra- ditional policy followed up to that date of a policy which had as its chief aim the participation of Canada and the other overseas dominions in all the wars undertaken by Great Britain and in the general defence of the Empire, To this policy the Canadian as well as some of the other colonial representatives at first offered strong opposition but gradually the support of a sufficient number was sec- ured to assure the triumph of the Imperialistic plans. Whilst steadily turning a deaf ear to any idea of the over- seas dominions being given a voice in the direction of for- eign policy or the vital issues of war or peace, the Imper- 2 32 THE FUTURE OF CANADA ialists held persistenly to their main objective until they carried the day. Their triumph, it must be conceded, was won by an astuteness and diplomatic finesse which must excite our admiration even though the results of their efforts meets with our entire disapprobation The co- operation of Canada and the other overseas dominions in all the wars of Great Britain as well as in the military and naval defence of the Empire, a policy in direct contraven- tion of the traditional policy of Canadian statemanship and in violation of the solemn and clearly defined under- standings reached between the Canadian and Imperial authorities at the time of Confederation, was assured. The promoters of the. Imperialistic movement in Great Britain had won a decisive triumph, their policy was com- pletely in the ascendant. Nor was the campaign confined to the work of the British Imperialists. In the Dominion itself the protoga- nists of the Imperialistic cult were alert and active. Un- der the inspiration of Earl Grey especially, with the active cooperation of some of the leading newspapers in the country the campaign of education was assiduously carried on and so powerful were the influences that were brought to play that the ideas at first entertained by a comparatively small section of the population were made to appear as the views of the whole Canadian people. All possible means, social, political, and financial, were em- ployed to further the cause. Titles and decorations were lavishly used to gain influential recruits whilst those who had the temerity to oppose the movement were either de- nounced, ostracized or frowned upon as disloyal and re- creant to British institutions. Fortunately for the inter- ests of the Dominion there have always been and there still are sturdy champions of the national ideals who have re- fused to succumb to the Imperialistic mania but who have consistently and unflinchingly upheld the national ideals formulated by the founders of the Dominion. It is such men, the supporters of true liberalism and Canadianism who constitute the surest bulwark of our national autono- my and independence against the specious but dangerous schemes of the ultra Imperialists. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 33 THE CURRENT OF CANADIANISM. Having outlined the work and achievements of the Imperialistic school, let us briefly consider the counter cur- rent of what may be designated as Canadianism or nation- alism. By the term nationalism must, of course, be un- derstood Canadian nationalism, that is to say nationalism in its broadest sense and not in any sense of provincialism or sectionalism, with which the term is sometimes con- founded. For that reason the term Canadianism may be preferred to nationalism by some. But call it Canadianism or nationalism as you will, mere words of themselves are of little importance; it is what they denote that signifies. Real liberalism, true Canadianism and Canadian nation- alism are to me synonymous terms. From much that has been said and written the im- pression would be gained that Canadianism or nationalism in Canada is something of recent growth. Historically nothing could be further from the truth. Canadianism or nationalism as a matter of fact antedates even the est- ablishment of the Dominion itself. When Lord Durham in his famous report laid down the principle that the gov- ernment of the two Canadas should be according to the express will of the people and when that principle was rec- ognized by the Imperial authorities Canadianism or nationalism may be said to have had its beginning. Dur- ham's declaration was, in fact, the first recognition of nationalism in the direction of Canadian affairs and ever since then it has never failed to have its ardent supporters and advocates. It was for Canadianism or nationalism that the two Papineaus, LaFontaine, Morin and Baldwin contended in the great struggle for the political freedom of Canadians. The heirs of their patriotic labors were Macdonald, Cartier, Brown, Gait and the other great Fa- thers of Confederation who carried the principle to a fur- ther development in the establishment of Confederation. The tide of Canadianism or nationalism began to flow strongly in the last years of the Union and it continued to flow with increasing strength until it swept sectionalism 34 THE FUTURE OF CANADA and provincialism into the broad stream of a truly national life under Confederation. The federation of the British North American colonies itself was a recognition of Cana- dianism or nationalism for it was with the increase of na- tional sentiment that there came the desire for territorial expansion and for the union of all the provinces and the great Dominion was the result. I have already shown how at the time of Confede- ration the national ideal was held before Canadians by Macdonald, Cartier, Brown, Gait, Tupper and the other leading founders of the Dominion. And despite the per- sistent efforts of the protagonists of the Imperialistic cult and their apparent success — at least let us sincerely hope* that it is more apparent than real — the principle of Cana- dianism or nationalism has never been completely lost sight of by Canadian statesmen of all schools of politics. In the early days of Confederation Macdonald and Cartier, the two leading statesmen of the period never failed to sup- port and advocate the national idea. Though a Scotch- man by birth no stronger Canadian or more ardent cham- pion of Canadian rights and interests ever lived than John A. Macdonald, and he invariably had an able and zealous supporter in the gfeat French Canadian Father of Confe- deration George Etienne Cartier who was a Canadian of the Canadians. The path of these two great men was be- set with many difficulties and more than once did Cana- dian interests come in conflict with Imperial exigencies. But whenever they did Macdonald and Cartier were never found wanting in upholding the interests of Canada and .in standing unflinchingly for the complete autonomy of the Dominion. The subordinate position of the Dominion at this early period of our national life and the sacrifice of Canadian interests to Imperial exigencies aroused leading Cana- dians to energetic protest. Alexander Tilloch Gait, who was one of the first, if not the first, of Canadian statesman to propose the Confederation of the British North Ameri- can colonies went so far as to openly advocate the com- THE FUTURE OF CANADA 35 plete independence of Canada, holding that the colonial status was a detriment and that the sooner the Dominion assumed the full status of a nation the better it would be. But Gait's proposal at that time was regarded as revolu- tionary and found few adherents even amongst those who chafed at Imperial interference. In the early days of Confederation Canadianism or Canadian nationalism found further expression in the founding of what was known as the CANADA FIRST party. The young men of Toronto who in 1870, organ- ized the Canada First movement were all staunch and ardent Canadians. Their actual proposels, as has been truly said by the historian of the movement, were of less importance than the stimulus which they gave to the na- tional aspirations, their call to Canada to depend not on British or American partonage in commerce or in politics but on herself.Canadian individuality vigourously worked out on lines not unconnected with British connection was the keynote of their policy, It was at this period, too, that Edward Blake well described as the greatest in- tellect of the Liberal party shocked the political dry bones by his famous Aurora discourse in which he urged the creation of a stronger national spirit on the part of Canadians. National spirit declared the great Liberal statesman would be lacking until national res- ponsibilities were assumed. The Canadian people he described as " four millions of Britons who are not free.'' By the policy of Great Britain in which Canadians had no voice or control, he pointed out, the Dominion might be plunged into the horrors of war. But Canadians could not complain of these things, added Blake, unless they were prepared to assume the full responsibilities of citi- zenship within the Empire. Blake's proposal, however, was not for the assumption by the Dominion of full natio- nal status but of representation in the Imperial Parlia- ment. The Canada First movement also had the zealous sup- port and encouragement of Goldwin Smith, distinguished alike as a scholar and writer, and for many years a keen 36 THE FUTURE OF CANADA critic of Canadian affairs. But Goldwin Smith's ideals could in no sense be regarded as truly national. He, it has been well said, had reached the conclusion that the greatest work of the English race was the creation of the United States and as an Englishman and as a Liberal he sought to hasten the operation of what he termed '' mani- fest destiny " by becoming the apostle of the political union of the United States and Canada. Such a union followed by harmonious cooperation betwen the England of Eu- rope and the England of Aperica was his conception of the summuni bonnum. Goldwin Smith's predictions though scoffed at, at the time as disloyal and anti-British have to at least some extent materialized as current events show and were the illustrious scholar living to-day he would, no doubt, have his revenge upon his critics. But though a sincere lover of his adopted country and de- sirous of its welfare as part of a greater whole Goldwin Smith can never be said to have represented the true na- tional ideal. He was a continentalist rather than a nationalist. While the Canada First party, as a party did not play an important role in Canadian politics, and while the name and the organization finally disappeared the force and spirit behind the movement, as has been truly remarked, remained and exercised a powerful influence upon Cana- dian politics for many years. THE OPPOSITION TO IMPERIALISM. As a result of the strong national sentiment existing in Canada, the Imperialists met with opposition from the very outset of their propaganda. I have shown how George Etiehne Car tier, as early as 1870, successfully op- posed what was evidently intended as the opening wedge of Imperialistic effort by flatly refusing to agree to any departure from the recognized agreement effected between the Imperial and Canadian authorities how a similar at- titude was taken in 1885 by John A. Macdonald, when he refused to officially sanction the participation of Cana- THE FUTURE OF CANADA 37 dian troops in the Soudan campaign. The pretension of the militant wing of the Imperialistic party that Can- ada and the other overseas dominions wer under an obli- gation to participate in the general defence of the Em- pire was not only opposed but ridiculed by leading Cana- dian statesmen during the period that intervened between the Soudan expedition and the South African war. No stronger exposition of Canadian nationalism was ever made than that which was contained in Sir Charles Tup- per's Winnipeg speech of 1893. The great Nova Scotian spoke with full knowledge of all the facts and circums- tances as having been one of the principal f ramers of Con- federation he was fully aware of the principles upon which the establishment of the Dominion was based. Not only did he stand by those principles but he most strenu- ously opposed the idea of any change whatever in the cons- titutional relations* of Canada to the Mother country that w^ould. have the effect of interfering with the Dominion's autonomy in the slightest degree. His words though ut- tered nearly a quarter of a century ago convey a much needed warning to Canadians of to-day. " / am perfect- ly satisfied " said Sir Charles Tupper on that "occasion " that a more unwise, a more injudicious, thing could not possibly occur to Canada than to change her constitution in any radical respect whatever. We have a constitution that has stood the test of more han a quarter of a century and that I woidd not be willing for any representation in the Imperial Parliament or anything else to change in any material respect, . . We must ever retain the entire, com- plete and inaependent management of our own affairs/' The sane national principles enunciated by the great Nova Scotion were later on warmly endorsed and on more than one occasion ably and eloquently supported by that other great Canadian statesman, Sir Wilfrid Laurier. As early as 1891, in his famous Boston speech Laurier upheld Canadian ideals and unequivocally condemned the ultra- Imperialistic aims " Canada " said the Liberal leader on that occasion " is still a colony and it is the destiny of colo- nies to become independent nations? That is a problem 38 THE FUTURE OF CANADA which at present does not engage the attention of the Can- adian people. The sole tie which, at present, binds Canada to the Mother country is one of free will. But even that dependence will not always endure. Canada and Great Britain already have interests very different and a day will necessarily come when Canada and Great Britain must separate. When the hour of separation sounds may it be peaceful, harmonious and amicable as when a son leaves his father's house to become the head of a new fa- mily." When the interests of Canada and the interests of Great Britain conflicted and he had to choose between the two he would have no hesitation, added Sir Wilfrid, in standing for the interests of his native land. To any idea of an Imperial Federation the Liberal leader declared himself to be emphatically opposed." " There are people in the Dominion " he remarked, '^ who say that an Imper- ial Federation, that is to say, a federation between Eng- land and her colonies would be the best alternative for Canada. As far as the Monroe doctrine is applicable to Canada, I am in favor of the Monroe doctrine. I do not wish the interference of Europe in our affairs, and it would be suicide on the part of Canada to participate in a federation that would oblige her to take part in all wars, which Great Britain, as the result of its position, is con- stantly obliged to undertake in all parts of the world." * Of course, as Sir Wilfrid Laurier remarked the independence of Canada was a problem that did not then engage the attention of the Canadian people. But mar- vellous changes, as you all know, have taken place since 1 89 1, and the problem of Canada's future status is a much more live one now than it was then. It is of course need- less to add that in 1891, neither Sir Wilfrid Laurier nor anyone else could foresee the likelihood of a world war and the consequent developments that such a war would bring about. In subsequent years Sir Wilfrid Laurier was * Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Speech at Boston banquet, 1891. It was the speak- er's privilege to accompany Sir Wilfrid Laurier to Boston on that occasion and to hear the inspiring address which he delivered to the large and distin- guished gathering in the Vendome Hotel, presided over by Mr. Armand La- londe. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 39 firm in his advocacy of Canadian autonomy. In 1901, as Prime Minister of the Dominion he impressed upon Chamberlain that the existing relations between Canada and the Mother country were entirely satisfactory and that no general plan of military defence was applicable to all. From that time forward as he still is to-day, Sir Wlifrid Laurier was unremitting in his defence of Cana- dian national ideals and in his championship of absolute autonomy for the Dominion. On the floor of the Cana- dian Parliament and at every one of the Imperial Confer- ences, which he attended, he boldly asserted Canadian ideals and strongly opposed the centralizing tendencies of the Imperialistic school. '* At Imperial Conferences " to quote the words of another, " Sir Wilfrid maintained himself splendidly, and Canada has not yet sufficiently recognized the great merit of his defence against Cham berlain Imperialism."* The Laurier naval policy, as we were reminded by Mr. D. D. Mackenzie, M.P., in the inspiring address which we had the pleasure of hearipg here last Saturday, was designed on strictly national lines, in keeping with the na- tional status intended for the Dominion. What a mag- nificent thing it would have been — and had the Lau- rier policy been carried out we should undoubtedly have seen it — had Canada had a warship of its own, built in its own shipyards, manned by its own sons and under its own control, similar to the warships of Australia, to play a part along with the heroic British tars, in the exploit at Ze- brugge or to stand on guard in the North Sea with the in- vincible British fleet, to which the whole world to-day owes so much. At the Conference of 191 1, when Sir Joseph Ward, Premier of New-Zealand, proposed the creation of an Im- perial Parliament, Sir Wilfrid Laurier successfully oppo- sed the proposal on the sound constitutional ground that such a body would interfere with one of the most cherish- ed and precious powers of the Canadian Parliament — the * John S. Ewart, " Imperial Projects," p, 308. 40 THE FUTURE OF CANADA power of taxation. And at the close of that Conference in discussing the question of the approval of the proposed rules of warfare between Great Britain and any of the other great powers Sir Wilfrid took the unequivocal atti- tude that Canada did not wish to be consulted in such di- plomatic negotiations of the British Government as being consulted implied giving advice and giving advice implied the responsibility of going to war to give effect to any ad- vice so given. The Dominion, the Canadian Premier em- phasized, must always reserve to itself the fullest liberty of action. On each and every occasion, in fact, Sir Wilfrid Laurier has stood for the maintenance of Cana- dian ideals and the safeguarding of the Dominion's auto- nomy. His policy in short is a policy of Candianism as opposed to ultra-Imperalism and he has put the seal to that policy by his recent notable declaration — " CANADA FIRST, CANADA LAST AND CANADA ALL THE •TIME." You are, of course, all aware of the views upheld by Mr. Henri Bourassa and by Mr. F. D. Monk, whose con- tention in brief was that the Dominion was under no obli- gation whatever to bear any part of the military or naval burden for the defence of the whole empire, its sole obliga- tion in their view being the defence of Canadian territory. Mr. Bourassa, as you know, strongly opposed the sending of Canadian troops to South Africa even under the " no prepedent '' proviso, maintaining that the very sending of the troops would be construed by the Imperialists as a precedent. " The precedent," said Mr. Bourassa, " is the fait accompli — the accomplished fact." And upon that question he took issue with the Liberal leader and their paths, as you know, thenceforth diverged. Mr. Monk who had considerable standing as a constitutional authority maintained that as a result of the work of the Imperialists Canada was being gradually reduced to the status of a de- pendency and that it was only a question of time when its very autonomy would be endangered. What the Imper- ialists were aiming at, he contended, was to have Canada and the other overseas dominions assume all these respon- THE FUTURE OF CANADA 41 sibilities without enjoying the privileges of representation and he significantly added that Anglo-Saxons would ne- ver willingly accept that responsibility or bend their heads to what was an infraction of the ancient rights of British subjects established in England centuries ago. Even Mr. Borden, as you perhaps recall was at that time sufficiently imbued with Canadianism to declare that the existing position zvas intolerable to Canadians and both he and one who was to become a leading member of his administration, Mr. Doherty, emphatically declared that Canada must have a real voice to the direction of the Empire's affairs. What little hope there was of the Do- minion being given such a voice was clearly shown not long afterwards when Colonial Secretary Harcourt in his famous message to the heads of the overseas dominions emphatically declared that foreign policy must ever re- main the sole prerogative of the British Cabinet subject to the support of the British Parliament. I have, I think, sufficiently shown that the national ideals and principles formulated by the founders of the Dominion or what I have designated by the general term Canadianism or nationalism have at various times been warmly endorsed and strongly supported by Canadian pu- blic men of all shades of politics, not only by Macdonald, Cartier and Tupper who were parties to the understanding reached with the Imperial authorities but by Laurier, by Monk, by Bourassa and even by Borden himself. The ac- tions of some of those who gave expresion to their belief in Canadianism have, it may be true, not always been con- sistent with their utterances but that fact does not alter the fundamental soundness of the principles they enuncia- ted and defended, and which will have to be maintained if Canada's national entity is to be preserved and perpe- tuated in preference to the designs of the Imperialistic school, if in other words the Canadian ideal is not to be superseded by the Imperialistic ideal. Let us now briefly consider what the Imperialistic ideal is. 42 THE FUTURE OF CANADA THE IMPERIALISTIC PLAN. The great difficulty that the Imperialists had former- ly to contend with was the objection of indefiniteness in all their proposals for Imperial unity. The Imperial fede- ration idea — the idea that the permanent organization of the Empire might be found in the existing Imperial Par- liament in which the different overseas dominions would be represented both in the House of Commons and the House of Lords was, for a number of years, strongly urged as the solution of the problem. But it was event- ually realized that that idea was both visionary and im- practicable. No attempt, as a matter of fact, was ever made by its promoters, to reduce their proposals to a defi- nite and concrete form and the idea was finally abandoned. Until quite recently nothing was offered in its place. But now we have a definite plan before us, a plan which is con- fidently offered as a solution of the whole Imperial and Colonial problem. That plan is outlined in a very inter- esting work, that appeared not long ago under the title of " The Problem of the Commonwealth,'' the author of which, Mr. Lionel Curtis, is one of the leading protoga- nists of the Imperialistic cult. What is the plan which has received the endorsation of the leading supporters of the Imperialistic movement? Stated within the briefest possible compass, it is for the establishment of an Imperial Parliament and the creation of a war budget for the whole British Empire or, as it is termed, the British Common- wealth, that budget to be determined by the new Parlia- ment in which all the overseas dominions as well as the United Kingdom would be represented. It is proposed that an Imperial or Empire convention shall be held after the war at which all the Dominions shall be represented when the details of the proposed federation will be decided upon. The main objections to this plan we shall consider presently. THE FUTUR^ OF CANADA 43 CANADA AND THE WAR. The Imperialistic plan to govern the future relations of Canada and the other overseas dominions with the Mo- ther Country having been indicated we now come to con- sider the possible contingencies that may arise in the fu- ture. Those contingencies, it seems to me, have beerk brought immeasurably nearer by the events of the past three years and once the war is over it may not be long be- fore Canadians will be forced to face the issue. In the latter part of 19 14 the Dominion of Canada, as you know, was ^t peace with all the world and was steadily pursuing the path of national progress and development when in the month of August 19 14, the war clouds burst over Europe. What let us enquire was Canada^s bounden duty under the circumstances? Had the Dominion been a sovereign state, enjoying full nationl status it is prob- able that it would have waited, as its great neighbor, the United States did, for a direct causus belli before entering the war. But the Dominion is not a sovereign state but a part of the British Empire, and for that reason its posi- tion was entirely different. It may be true, in fact it is true, that in a stricly constitutional sense Canada was under no obligation, whatever, to participate in the con- flict ; it may be true that, as the author of the Imperial- istic plan himself frankly admits, the Dominion would have had a perfect right to declare its neutrality and to have confined itself to the defence of its own territory against any attempt to violate it. But there were other vital and important considerations that justified a depart- ure from ordinary rules and the participation of the Do- minion in the war. The ties — social, ethnical, economic and intellectual — that bind Canada to both Great Bri- tain and France are of the closest and most intimate character. The Dominion, as a result, was vitally in- terested in the maintenance and power of the two great European nations from which the two principal ele- ments of our population have sprung. It was, in fact, in 44 THE FUTURE OF CANADA the interest of the Dominion itself that the power and prestige of Great Britain and France should not be des- troyed or diminished and even solely upon consideration of the Dominion's own interests its participation in the great war was defensible. In other words, Canada was perfectly justified, under the circumstances, in partici- pating in the war in consideration of its own interests and its future status if for no other reason. It was also generally realized that the conflict was of such a character that precedents could not be too strictly or literally regarded. In fact, at the outset of hosti- lities all parties in Canada, including those, who were inclined to take the strictest view of Canada's .military obligations under ordinary conditions, were at one in justifying the Dominion's participation in the con- flict. Even Mr. Henri Bourassa, as you know, at that time emphatically declared his belief that as a nation, as a human community, Canada could not remain indifferent to the European conflict but that bound to England and to France by a thousand ties — ethnical, social, intellec- tual and economic, the Dominion had a vital interest in the conservation of England and of France and in the mainte- nance of their prestige, their power and their world in- fluence.* Whatever subsequent criticism there may have been by Mr. Bourassa of men or measures, a matter with which we have here nothing to do, there can be no ques- tion of the fact that at the outset of hostilities Mr. Bou- fassa held that Canada was justified in participating in the war. Canada's action too, it must be emphasized, was pu- rely voluntary. The action taken by the Dominion Gov- ernment at the beginning of August 1914 was unanimous- ly approved by the representatives of the Canadian people, summoned to meet in extraordinary session. It was the supreme body of the nation — the Parliament of the Do- minion — which approved emergency war measures and authorized the sending of military contingents over seas, * Le Devoir. September ^th, IQ14. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 45 as well as voting a special war appropration, in other words, deciding upon the Dominion's active participation as a belligerent, against the Central Powers.** In exercis- ing this prerogative the Dominion whilst not in the strict sense of the term a nation clearly exercised the powers and prerogatives of a nation, a fact which, in itself, must be of supreme importance in connection with subsequent deve- lopments. It is, of course, unnecessary to dwell upon what Can- ada has done in the war. That a country, with a popula- tion of only seven million people, has done what it has done, is universally acknowledged to be little short of mar- vellous. Of course in doing this we have heavily and un- avoidably mortgaged our future and the period of read- justment that will necessarily follow the war will demand the utmost wisdom, prudence and patriotism. But so great are the Dominion's potentialities, so vast are its re- sources, that Canadians, after the war is over, will still be able to face the future with confidence if only a sane and sound policy of statesmanship is followed. * * * What chiefly concerns us in this study is the question of the future relations of the Dominion to the Mother Country. It has been shown how representative Cana- dian statesmen have been at one in declaring that the Do- minion must have a voice and a real voice in the direction of the Empire's affairs. Have the actions of these men been in accordance with their utterances ?Sir Robert Bor- den, you remember, went to London last year and for a period was a member of what was known as the Imperial War Cabinet. But surely it cannot be claimed that Sir Robert Borden's presence in London as a member of that body gave the Dominion a real voice in the direction of the Empire's affairs. Such a pretension would be altogether illusory. * See " Proclamations, Orders-In-Council and Documents Re- lative to the European War," issued under the direction of Hon. Louis Coderre. Secretary of State of the Dominion at the time of the outbreak of war and issued by the Kiner's Printer, Ottawa, iQiq. 46 THE FUTURE OF CANADA A great flourish was made in some Canadian news- papers at the time regarding the '* Imperial War Cabinet/' But as John S. Ewart has pointed out the invention of the phrase *' Imperial War Cabinet " was misleading. There never can be an " Imperial Cabinet " as Mr. Ewart re- marks until there is an Imperial Parliament. Sir Robert Borden was no more a member of the British Cabinet because he attended some of its sittings than was Mr. Balfour a member of the Canadian Cabinet because he was present at some of its deliberations.* The attendance of Sir Robert Borden at the Imprial War Cabinet did not give and could not give the Dominon any real voice in the direction of the Empire's affairs. The results of the Lon- don conferences were in fact more sentimental than prac- tical. There was, of course, tht customary desultory dis- cussion; the usual eulogies and compliments regarding the action of the overseas dominions were indulged in but the only result of the gathering was a series of academic resolutions which, however, possessed "considerable signi- ficance in connection with the problem of the future re- lations of the Dominion and the Mother Country, indicat- ing, as they did, that the ultra-Imperialists had made the occasion one to further advance the triumph of their plan for the establishment of a permanent military and naval federation of the Empire with an Imperial Parliament sitting in London as the governing body. Even more important and significant were the declarations of the Canadian Premier in a public address which he deliv- ered towards the close of the conferences. '' Very few peo- ple in these islands and very few people in the Dominions beyond the seas" said Sir Robert Borden " reaHze the re- volutionary cha.ngQs that are taking place in the govern- ment of the Empire even within the past few weeks." The Canadian Premier according to the cabled report of his ad- dress then outlined the changes occurring in the adminis- tration of the affairs of the Empire. Now he said there is a league of independent nations each responsible to the same * John S. Ewart " Imperial Projects." THE FUTURE OF CANADA 47 Crown. The British Parliament in the future zvould pay principal attention to matters peculiar to the British Isles as the Canadian Parliament does to matters Canadian or the Ontario Legislature does to matters having to do with that province. Yet all these governments would he res- ponsible to the same Crown zvJiile the great Imperial Par- liament will deal with the affairs of the whole Empire.''"^ Might it not reasonably be asked what authority had Sir Robert Borden or anybody else to bind the future of the Dominion in such a manner? The significant feature, however, is that the Canadian Premier apparently com- mitted himself to the general design of the ultra-Imperial- ists, which has already been outlined. That the design which inspired those who took part in the London confer- ences is the same design contemplated in the Imperialistic plan already outlined is clearly shown by the resolutions which following the lead of the author of the Imperialistic plan suggests that what is termed "a readjustment of the constitutional relations of the component parts of the Empire shall be discussed in detail at a special Empire conference or convention to be held immediately after the war. Following upon the resolution came the decla- ration of the Canadian Premier. The similarity between the two developments is too striking to be accidental, it simply shows that the ultra-Imperialists were completely in the ascendant. Though differing entirely from Sir Robert Borden's policy and course in regard to the relations of the Domi- nion to the Mother Country and the rest of the Empire as well as the future status of Canada it is my desire to be * Sir Robert Borden, Address to convalescent Canadian officers at the Perkins Bull Hospital, London, Hay 2nd, 1917, as reported in Canadian Asso- ciated Press cable published in Canadian newspapers of May 3rd, 1917. The views which Sir Robert Borden subsequently expressed in the Can- adian Parliament did not tally with the above declaration. Speaking in the Canadian Commons on May 18th, 1917, the Canadian Premier said: "There have been proposals put forward for an Imperial Parliament, which should have taxing powers for certain purposes over all the Overseas Dominions as well as over the United Kingdom. As far as I am concerned and I think the other members of the Conference concurred in this view, I think that proposal neither feasible nor wise. I venture to think that the Overseas Dominions of the Empire have done more for the common cause that we all have at heart in this war, than could have been accomplished by any Imperial Parliament possessing the powers to which I have alluded." 48 THE FUTURE OF CANADA perfectly fair ,to the Canadian Premier. Let us therefore hear from his own lips what Sir Robert Borden has to say in regard to this momentous question : — '' At the very last meeting of the Imperial War Ca- binet (April 27th, 1 91 7)" — I quote the exact words of the Canadian Premier — " a definite offer was made to the Overseas Dominions that this experiment (of the Imper- ial War Cabinet) should develop into a usage and into a convention; fhat annually at least, and if necessity should arise, oftner, there should assemble in London an Imperial War Cabinet, which should deal with matters of common concern to the Empire as distinguished from those which chiefly concern the United Kingdom or any of the Over- seas Dominions or India. '' It is perfectly obvious that a proposal of that kind cannot be carried out with a large Cabinet to which Great Britain may revert ofter the war is over. It is idle to spe- culate as to whether the present system of a very small number of men in the Cabinet will continue ; I should think it likely that it should not continue. Therefore, the future of this proposal will be a Cabinet of Governments rather than of Ministers; a Cabinet in which the Government of the United Kingdom, the Governments of the Overseas Dominions and the Government and people of India will be represented. I have no doubt whatever, having regard to the view which is entertained by the present Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Mr. Lloyd George) and his colleagues, the proposal will carry with it much of advantage to the Overseas Dominions. I say that for this reason: it is not proposed that the Government of the United Kingdom in foreign affairs shall act first and consult us afterwards. "The principle has been definitely and finally laid down that in these matters the Overseas Dominions shall be consulted before the Empire is committed to any pro- posal of foreign policy which might involve the issues of peace or war. " The language in which the Prime Minister of Great Britain conveyed that proposal to the Ministers from the Overseas Dominions made that abundantly clear. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 49 " So that as I understand the proposal — and I think I understand it correctly — it is that the British Cabinet shall continue' to discharge its functions in respect to all matters relating to the United Kingdom, but that there shall be in addition to that an Imperial Cabinet, in which not only the United Kingdom, but all the Overseas Domi- nions shall be represented by their Governments. '' The representatives of the United Kingdom, v^ill consist of the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary, the Secretary of State ipr India, the Cecretary of State for the Colonies, very probably the Secretaty of State for War, and the First Lord of the Admiralty. "The representatives of the Overseas Dominions shall be their Prime Ministers, or if the Prime Minister is •unable to attend, some Minister of first rank must act in his place, who, for the time being, shall possess the author- ity and exercise the functions of the Prime Minister for that purpose. '' It is idle to have an Imperial Cabinet unless those who assemble around the council board are possessed of the authority for the time being to carry out the proposals which may be agreed to. It may be said in criticism of this proposal that what the Prime -Minister one of the Overseas Dominions might agree to there, he could not afterwards carry out, because the assent of Parliament would not be given. That criticism, however, is equally applicable to any policy that a Government might bring down; therefore it does not seem to me to constitute any grave objection to the proposal which has been outlined by Mr. Lloyd George. " We all know that the question of the future consti tutional relations of the Empire have been a matter of much discussion in Parliament, in the Press and by cons- titutional writers and others. We also know that men who have given thoughtful and careful study to the subject have been much perplexed at what those future relations might be. '^ We have on the one hand self-government enjoyed by each of the Overseas Dominions; we have that auto- 50 THE FUTURE OF CANADA nomy of which they are rightly jealous. We have, on the other hand, the necessity of consultation and co-operation ; and how to reconcile the aspirations of the Overseas Do- minions on the one side or on the other, to bring about unity and concentration of purpose in great matters of public concern and at the same time to safeguard the rights of self-government which the Overseas Dominions at present enjoy, has been a matter involved in a great deal of difficulty and complexity. It seems to me that many of the^dif ficulties are likely to be cleared away by the proposal of Mr. Lloyd George. I do not pretend to prophesy that that will be the ultimate form in which the consultation and co-operation will be brought about. It would be idle to pass any conjecture on that subject ;so many prophecies have failed of fulfilment in this regard that one is naturally unwilling to commit himself to any prophecy on the subject. But this at least may be said of Mr. Lloyd George's proposal: it does not sacrifice in the slightest degree the autonomy or the pozver of self-government which is proposed by every one of the Overseas Dominions. " The Ministers from overseas go there as the heads of their Governments. They are responsible to their own Parliaments. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom goes there responsible to his own Parliament. They go there as the representatives of independant governments, each of them responsible to independent Parliaments. They meet there for the purpose of consultation, co-opera- tion and united action, but that action can be taken only with the sanction and authority of he representatives of the various nations of the Empire assembled in their own Parliament. " Therefore, there is no sacrifice of any existing power of self-government. There is on the other hand, the opportunity for consultation, co-operation and united action, which I venture to think will prove of great advan- tage to the empire as a whole f'^ * Sir Robert Borden, Speech in the Canadian House of Commons, May 18th, 1917; "The War And The Future" by Sir Robert Borden, speeches of the Canadian Premier compiled by Percy Hurd and published by Hodder and Stoughton, Chapter XIX. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 51 Sir Robert Borden speaking not in England, where, he referred to the revolutionary changes that were taking place in the government of the Empire but in the Canadian House of Commons, where his declarations that I have just quoted were made, was careful, it will be noted, to maintain that the proposed change zvoidd not sacrifice in the slightest degree the autonomy or the power of self- government possessed by every one of the Overseas Domi- nions. So far so good. But let us see — and this is of the most vital importance — how the proposal, as out- lined by the Canadian Premier, is regarded ])y the Im- perialists. It has as a matter of fact, been accepted by them as, what they term a '' valuable advance," that is to say, that it is regarded by them as simply a step to the full realization of their design — a political, military and naval federation or consolidation of all the countries now cons- tituting the empire and the creation of a war budget for the whole Empire, that budget to be determined by an Im- perial Parliament in which all the Overseas Dominions as well as the United Kingdom would be represented. That this is the case is clearly and conclusively shown by the comments of their official organ the Round Table which says: " Valuable and far reaching as these steps are it is no use pretending that they will, in themselves solve the fundamental Imperial problem. The Imperial system for conducting Imperial affairs will still leave in existence the essential weaknesses of the existing order. In the first place it cannot give the Dominions more than a consulta- tive voice in Imperial and foreign policy. It cannot give them real partnership in control. So long as the Empire remains a state it must speak and act, in its international relations, with one voice and through one authority. For the present that authority must continue to be the Govern- ment of the United Kingdom, a government which is sub- ject to the control of the British Parliament alone. What- ever, therefore, may be decided by the Prime Ministers of the Empire sitting in the Imperial Cabinet together it will 52 THE FUTURE OF CANADA be the will of the British Parliament which will finally determine the attitude of the Foreign Secretary and the King's ambassadors abroad. The British Ministers in the Imperial Cabinet will only be able to agree to policies to which they believe they can secure the support of the Hou- se of Commons, and that House will have no means of as- certaining directly the views and interests of any othei* part of the Commonwealth than the British Isles. The sys- tem proposed will greatly increase the influence of the Overseas nations in foreign policy and that influence is bound to affect profoundly the policy recommended by the British Ministers to their Parliament. But it will in the last resort still be the British Parliament which will decide. In essentials the existing order will remain unchanged for, as George Washington said, '' influence is not govern- ment." " The second weakness which the new system will leave unremedied is not less important. The Ministers who will be responsible for framing and carrying out the policy of the Commonwealth will not be representative of, nor responsible to^ the people of the Commonwealth : they will be representative of, and responsible to, separate nations within it. Imperial policy will be determined either as the result of an agreement between a number of different nations, or through the acquiescence by the rest in the decisions of the ''predominant partner" among them; it will not be settled by the concensus of opinion among the self-governing citizens of the Commonwealth acting or voting as a whole. The security of the Common- wealth, therefore, and its power for good in the world, will be increasingly dependent upon unanimity among a num- ber of different Governments and Parliaments scattered all over the world. The inability of one of the nations to accept a policy agreed upon by the rest, or its refusal to carry out its share of the executive action necessary to give effect to an agreed policy, may produce paralysis of Imperial action — an event which, as the weeks immedia- tely preceding the war prove, might be disastrous especial- THE FUTURE OF CANADA 53 ly as the nations of the Commonwealth grow more equal in strength and influence and assume more equal shares of responsibility for the execution of Imperial policy. And when such disagreement does arise, as is at least probable between nations so widely separated and so diverse in tem- perament and interest, there will be no method whereby the judgment of the citizens of the Commonwealth, as a whole or an assembly representative of and responsible to them all, can be ascertained, in order to settle what the pol- icy of the Commonwealth should be to which its govern- metns should conform ! "* Whilst we may disagree in toto with the ultra-Impe- rialistic aims we must admire the logic of their reasoning, Some of the main weaknessess in the scheme of an Impe- rial Cabinet have been clearly demonstrated by the Round Table editor. Looking at the proposal solely from a Can- adian viewpoint there is the very strong and very obvious objection that was alluded to by Sir Robert Borden, viz. that what the Canadian Premier, whoever he may be, might agree to in such a body he might not afterwards be able to carry out because the assent of the Dominion Par- liament to which the proposed Imperial Cabinet would in no way be responsible would not be forthcoming. This fact alone serves to demonstrate the anomalous character of the whole scheme. In other words the creation of a Cabinet necessarily involves the establishment of a Par- liament to which such a Cabinet would be responsible and it is this fact that the ultra-Imperialists clearly perceive. They are agreeable to accepting the Imperial Cabinet be- cause they know that it can only be a step to the full reali- zation of their design — the establishment of an Imperial Parliament. They at least take the only logical position that the British Empire, to again quote the words of the editor of the Round Table "must in the long run either disssolve into an alliance of independent sovereign states, each thinking first and foremost of itself or become a com- monwealth of nations " under a Parliament " representa- * See The Round Table, June 1917, — "The New Developments in the Constitution of the Empire ? ." " III. A Valuable Advance ", pp. 452-459. 54 THE FUTURE OF CANADA tive of .them all responsible to them all and able to make laws binding on them all within the constitutional sphere which includes their common affairs." That is perfectly logical. No middle course between these two courses would seem to be practicable and it will be for Canadians in the future to decide which course will be most in their interests and more in conformity with the absolute auto- nomy of the Dominion. As far as my views are concern- ed there can be but one wise course, that is to leave well enough alone and respectfully but firmly decline to have anything whatever to do with Imperial Cabinets, Imperial Parliaments or anything else of the kind the tendency of which would be to interfere with the Dominion's autonomy and Canada's absolute powers* of self-government. Cana- dians only need and only want one Parliament — the Canadian Parliament.* But the trouble is that the ultra-Imperialists are not likely to agree to this. We may on the contrary take it for granted that, as soon as the war is over, the Imperial- ists will press the issue. Canadians, who believe in the maintenance of the Dominion's autonomy and national entity, will therefore have to be prepared to meet that issue. We will thus be brought face to face with the dif- ferent alternatives. THE FOUR ALTERNATIVES. There are but four possible courses before the Do- minion : — I. The Pre-Status-Quo. — Development of Cana- dian Nationality in connection with the Empire on the * Since the delivery of this address a special cable from London under date of May 10th, published in the Montreal Star, referring to the attitude of General Hertzog, leader of the Opposition in the South African Parliament and chief of the South African Nationalists quotes a striking declaration made by him. " We South Africans " said General Hertzog " only want one Parliament — a South African Parliament." The rather curious similarity — quite accidental of course — between General Hertzog's declaration and my remark, will be noted. It is, as a matter of fact, the only possible attitude for those who believe in the maintenance of the national ideals of each and every one of the Overseas Dominions. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 55 principles and understandings formulated and effected by the founders of the Dominion. II. Imperial Consolidation. — The plan for which the Imperialists are persistently striving with consumate ability and singleness of purpose, that is a political, mili- tary and naval federation or consolidation of all the coun- tries now composing the Empire with governing powers centralized in an Imperial Parliament sitting in London, as the metropolis of the Empire. III. Annexation of Canada to the United States : — The union of the Dominion with the great American Re- public or as it is, in brief, generally designated — Annexa- tion. IV. Independence. — The full and complete inde- pendence of the Dominion, which would then, as a sover- eign state, possess a national status of its own under which Canadians would absolutely have " the entire, com- plete and independent management of their own affairs." Let us for a few moments examine those alternatives fairly and dispassionately and see what would be the ad- vantages and disadvantages that each would offer. I THE PRE-STATUS QUO. By this as has been stated is meant the development of Canadian nationality in connection with the Empire on the principles and understandings formulated and effected by the founders of the Dominion. It implies that we should return to a strict observance of the national ideals and principles enunciated and upheld by the Fathers of Confederation, that respectfully but firmly declining to have anything to do with Imperial Parliaments, Imperial Councils or anything of the kind we shall strictly main- tain the '' entire complete and independent management of our own affairs,'' work for the restoration of our economic life, protect and safeguard our national domain, develop ourvast recources,and upbuildour country, in other words, continue to develop Canadian nationality in connection 56 THE FUTURE OF CANADA with the Empire, in line with the poHcy I have indicated, until the time shall be ripe for the realization of the great destiny which would appear to be the logical outcome of our development. As far as my personal views may count' for anything, my preference, I may say, is for such a pol- icy, if it be possible, that is to say, that I believe that we should for the present continue the development of Cana- dian nationality in connection with the Empire, strictly and only however, as I have said, on the principles and understandings enunciated and effected at the time of Confederation. The development of Canadian nationality in connection with the Empire, if I understand it rightly, is the policy of Sir Wilfrid Laurier and of those who ac- knowledge his leadership as well as the policy of sane Bri- tish liberalism, as expressed by Mr. Asquith, a policy which is in such strict contrast to the policy of the Jingo- istic or ultra-Imperialistic school. '' Whether in this United Kingdom or in any one of the great communities, which you represent " said Mr. Asquith at the Imperial Conference of 191 1 " we each of us, and we each of us in- tend to remain, masters in our own household. That is here at home and throughout the Dominions, the life blood of our policy. It is the articulus stantis aut cadentis Im- perii. It is none the less true that we are, and intend to remain, units indeed, but units of a greater tinity. And it is the primary object and governing purpose of these pe- riodical Conferences that we may take free counsel toge- ther in the matters which concern us all." Note the full force and significance of Mr. Asquith's words that we may take free counsel together. How different is that ex- pression from the fetters with which the ultra-Imperialists would now bind us. The Asquith policy is too vague, as they put it to suit the ultra-Imperialists. Under the conditions that I have just outlined the Dominion would retain the full freedom it now possesses. As has been observed, although theoretically at war when the United Kingdom is at war, Canada has, under present arrangements, a certain measure of freedom : she may de- clare her neutrality or she may limit her participation to the defence of her own territory. Under the arrange- / THE FUTURE OF CANADA 57 ments proposed by the ultra-Imperialists the Dominion would be deprived of even that measure of freedom.* Such a course as outlined would seem to be the one most in accordance with our national ideals and the future interests of the Dominion if it be possible. But will such a course now be possible, and if it be possible, is it to be expected that the promoters and supporters of Imperialism will be content to remain quiescent and allow such a policy to be followed ? It may, in the first place, be questioned whether, in view of the radical departure that has been made from the principles formulated by the Fathers of Confederation, and especially in view of the developments of recent years, such a policy will be possible and, even if it be possible, we may be assured that the Imperialists will certainly not desist from their efforts when their aims seem to them so near accomplishment. Flushed by their triumphs, it may, on the contrary, be expected that they will, as soon as the war is over, show greater activity than ever. The re- solutions adopted at the last Imperial Conference, prac- tically endorsing the proposal made by the author of the Imperialistic plan for the summoning of an Imperial or Empire convention as soon as the war is over to consider '' a readjustment of the constitutional relations of the component parts of the Empire/' clearly indicate that the stage has been set and that the .ultra-Imperialists will do everything in their power, as of course they have a perfect right to do, to realize their aspirations. II.— IMPERIAL COXSOLIDATIOX. That is to say the Imperialistic plan. What are the main objections to the ambitious scheme proposed by the author of " The Problem of the Commonwealth " for the realization of Imperial unioh, a scheme that has the en- dorsation of the leading Imperialists and their active and efficient organization? * " Imperial Projects, the Republic of Canada," by John S. Ewart, p. 299, Mr. Ewart's extremely able and illuminating work should be read by all Can- adians. 58 THE FUTURE OF CANADA Leaving aside for the moment the vital question whe- ther such a plan would ever be found to be permanently workable, which we altogether doubt, it may be said at the outset that the scheme of taxation as outlined affords the most serious ground for opposition. That scheme is, in fact, open to the very objection which Sir Wilfrid Laurier took to Sir Joseph Ward's proposals at the Imperial Con- ference of 191 1, when the Canadian Premier opposed the idea of an Imperial body as proposed by the New- Zealand Premier on the ground that such a body would violate one of the most important and precious powers of the colonial parliaments — the power of taxation. The most extreme Imperialist would be forced to admit that the control of taxation and expenditure is a most vital if not the most vital part of self government and that any diminution of the power of the Canadian Parliament over taxation would by so much diminish Canadian rights and liberties. No room for doubt as to the arbitrary charac- ter of the proposals is left by their author. Under the proposed plan volutary action would be replaced by com- pulsory action. By the will of the proposed new Imper- ial Parliament Canada would be compelled to contribute to the Imperial treasury and the individual taxpayer of the Dominion would be obliged to pay and in case of refusal he would be sued and his, property seized. The argument for this is that the proposed taxation must be legally bind- ing so that an investor lending money to the Empire would be certain that the money necessary to pay principal and interest would be forthcoming. The amount determined upon by the new Parliament or its board of assessors or experts would be exacted from each dominion which would be allowed to raise the money as it deemed best, either by customs and excise duties from which the bulk of Canadian revenue is at present obtained, or by income taxes, land taxation or succession duties. But however the money might be raised it would have to be paid. There would be no room for doubt on that point. " No financial system is sound," says the author of the Imperialistic plan, " which does not enable a government to collect the reve- -THE FUTURE OF CANADA 59 nue to which it is entitled from the taxpayers themselves in the last resort.. The Imperial Government must, there- fore, have the right to distrain on the goods of the indivi- dual taxpayer in the last resort." To do this the Imperial Government would be entitled to appeal to the supreme court of the Empire. That court would be empowered to transfer the control of the Dominion customs or of any other revenue department to the Imperial Govern- ment and therefore to collect those revenues from the taxpayers themselves." Further — '' if the Dominion Government shall find the means of avoiding a remedy so drastic the court shall in the last resort be able to declare the Imperial Parliament authorized to raise the necessary revenues from the taxpayers of the defaulting dominion by Imperial statute and to take whatever steps shall be ne- cessary." The author of the plan is quite frank and can- did in stating that the dominion government would have no option but to pay. '' Passive resistance nothing avails " he adds *' the financial system outlined above is designed to leave no room for passive resistance on the part of do- minion governments." Canadians should at least be grateful to the designer of the Imperialistic plan for his perfect candor, even though he places the issue rather bluntly before us when he says that only by surrendering a portion of our rights to determine taxation and in no other way can British sub- jects in the dominions share in the control of foreign af- fairs, that in order to do this we must either forego the exclusive right to taxation or else forego our status as citizens of the Empire. All that need be said in that con- nection is that we do not believe that any Canadians worthy of the name will ever acquiesce in the surrender by their Parliament of any portion of its right over the power of taxation and that the proposal that such a sur- render should be made will in itself undoubtedly appear to the great mass of Canadians as a fatal flaw in the whole scheme. Nor is that the only objection. The author himself acknowledges that no practical reformer hopes for a scheme of^ taxation that would be perfectly just and '' that 60 THE FUTURE OF CANADA any system of taxation is dangerous in direct proportion to its injustice." Does not the scheme he proposes involve the very danger to which its author refers ? Certainly as far as Canada is concerned it would appear to contain a very serious element of injustice. In apportioning the burden of defence for instance, the author of the Imperial- istic scheme utterly fails to take into account the peculiar risks that each runs. No thought is given to the condi- tions that confront Canada from its peculiar geographical position and the obligations and responsibilities that re- sult from those conditions. The author also forgets what Canada has done not only for its own advantage but also for the advantage of the Empire, such for instance as by the building of the Intercolonial Railway, the construction of the Canadian Pacific and the execution of other great works — what prompted Sir Charles Tupper to declare that Canada was spending annually £10,000,000 for ser- vices of the most vital importance not only to the Domi- nion but to Great Britain. In common fairness and jus- tice should not this have been considered in apportioning the military burden of Canada under such an arrangement as proposed by the author of the Imperialistic plan ? Why, under the conditions we have mentioned, should Canada's contribution be increased as it is proposed to do nearly three times while the contribution of the United Kingdom is reduced by £12,000,000, and each of the other domin- ions with the single exception of New-Zealand is to pay less than it formerly did? Is that not on its face a suffi- cient injustice to make the proposed plan of taxation dan- gerous ? It is notable that in considering the vital problem of the relations of the various portions of the Empire to the Mother country the author of the Imperialistic plan does not include as partners in his scheme of imperial unity the great dependencies such as India. All that he does say is that the people of the dominions cannot share in the con- trol of foreign affairs with those in the British Isles un- less they are ready to share also in the task of governing the great dependencies. India and the other dependencies are not to be considered as partners in the great Imperial THE FUTURE OF CANADA 61 union which is proposed. Can any sincere Imperialist imagine that the people of India after all that they have done in the great war will be content to acquiesce in such an arrangement, that if there is to be an Imperial union under an Imperial Parliament representative of the whole Empire, those who are now strenuously demanding home rule for India will agree to their country being excluded from the proposed parnership? Certainly the Nationalist school, if we may judge from the declarations of its res- ponsible leaders, will not agree to anything of the kind. On the whole the scheme proposed by the author of the Imperialistic plan, whilst academically very interest- ing, suggests an arrangement which, we believe, would be found in practice cumbersome, unwieldy and unworkable. It has been said that it is the easiest thing in the world for- a thinker in the quiet of his study to draft a constitu- tion but that it is an altogether different matter to make that constitution work. History demonstrates the truth of the statement. Sieyes for instance, in the days of the French Revolution had a ready made constitution for al- most every day of the year but they were all found to be impracticable and useless in face of the stern exigencies and peculiar conditions of the times. The defects of the scheme proposed now by the author of the Imperialistic plan simply go to prove the almost insurmountable diffi- culties in the way of providing any scheme for an organic union of countries of such different geographical posi- tions, divergent interests and complex problems as the var- ious portions of the British Empire. The proposed union would, in fact, involve the gravest? risks for all parties con- cerned. It would spell not union but disruption, it would bring not concord but strife. More than that it would fetter and bind Canada's destiny for all time to come. For who can doubt that once such as an arrangement was en- tered into it would be impossible to break it by the simple desire or wish of any one of the contracting parties. Were Canada or any of the other partners to decide that it would be in its best interests to retire from the parnership would not the old issue of secession again be raised and 62 THE FUTURE OF CANADA the whole power of the organic union be used against the seceding partner to force it to remain in the union ? And if the new Imperial government would have the power that it is proposed to give it to enforce taxation on the taxpayers of all portions of the Empire would not the whole force of the army and navy of the proposed Com- monwealth be employed to keep any one of the partners who proposed to secede in the Union? Will it not there- fore be infinitely better and safer for Canadians instead of accepting any such fetters to retain the full measure of freedom they now possess to decide upon their own fu- ture? Serious as are the objections we have emphasized there remains to be noted the greatest objection of all — the one which in our view is sufficient to invalidate the whole scheme. It is this. The proposed arrangement would mean the substitution for the national ideal of an entirely foreign ideal besides which the national ideal would inevitably wither and die. We very much doubt whether the great mass of Canadians will be wiUing to re- linquish the national ideal for any other ideal, however splendid it may be. The scriptural saying about serving two masters is as applicable to peoples as to individuals. The powers which it is proposed to confer upon the sug- gested Imperial Parliament would by so much lessen the powers and prerogatives of our own Parliament. Our alle- giance to our own institutions cannot be thus shared. We must be either Canadians or Imperialists. For true Cana- dians there can be but one choice. We must be loyal to the national ideal. As my personal views on this question may not be re- garded by some as conclusive I may be permitted to quote the opinion of one whose view they will doubtless admit is entitled to carry weight. It is the view of one of Great Britain's most eminent jurists — Sir Frederick Pollock. That great constitutional authority, who started out by being a strong advocate of an Imperial Council, after travelling all over the Empire went back to England and there expressed th^ opinion that repre- THE FUTURE OF CANADA G3 sentation of the Dominion in the Imperial Parliament or Government or in any Council that would have to do with the control of the foreign policy of the Empire was impracticable and visionary. Such an opinion is surely conclusive enough. Apart from the Imperialistic plan for the establish- ment of a world-wide consolidation of all portions of the Empire under an Imperial Parliament, sitting in London, there is the proposal, approved at the Imperial gathering in London last year, for the creation of what is to be known as the Imperial Cabinet, a plan that is open to a similar objection, that it would tend to interfere with the absolute autonomy of the Dominion, and which would, as I have shown, be accepted by the ultra-Imperialists as only a stepping stone to the full realization of their designs. Such an Imperial Cabinet would be, as I have pointed out utterly illogical, without the establishment of an Imperial Parliament to which it would be responsible. Then there is what Ewart has called " the Milner Me- thod." Lord Milner, as you all know, is to-day one of the greatest figures of the Empire, a leading member of the British Government and a man of most dominant per- sonality. He is an Imperialist of the Imperialists. But apparently he takes little stock in such devices for the con- solidation of the Empire as Imperial Parliaments or Im- perial Councils. He believes in what he calls "" the prac- tice of cooperation " rather than in '[ new institutions/' The Milner method, as Ewart points out, is in its essence, ever and ever tighter — a little tighter at a time — to " draw the bonds of Empire/' This, perhaps, is the plan that we will have to be most careful of or in process of time we may find that, without hardly knowing it, we have relinquished the substance for the shadow, and eventually realize that we are fettered by '' bonds of Empire," as Milner means them from which it may be impossible to extricate ourselves. The most practical way to avoid this danger would seem to be, as I have pointed out, to stand firmly by the principles and ideals of the founders of the Dominion. 64 THE FUTURE OF CANADA III. — ANNEXATION TO THE STATES. The union of the Dominion with the great sister- hood of States constituting the American Republic is an alternative the possibility of which may not be as remote as some people imagine. Very strong forces are working in that direction. In the first place geogra- phical considerations would seem to bear out the preten- sion that it is the inevitable destiny of the Dominion to form an integral part of the great Republic to the south. It was that feature that impressed Goldwin Smith and formed the basis for many of his arguments in favor of what he termed continental union. The material and commercial interests of certain portions of the Dominion, owing to their geopraphical situation, are undoubtedly more in common with certain portions of the United Sta- tes than with other portions of Canada. Geographically the Maritime provinces, for instance, are much more closely allied to the New England States than they ever can possibly be to western Canada, and British Columbia is closer to the Pacific States than to the Maritime Pro- vinces. It is extremely difficult, as a great historian has pointed out, to fight against geography. The Dominion, too, it cannot be denied, has, especially within recent years, been considerably Americanized and the process is yearly becoming accentuated. Thousands upon thousands of American settlers are pouring into the Canadian West and occupying its fertile plains, millions of American cap- ital are being invested in Canadian enterprises, our lands, our mines, our fisheries and our timber limits are passing to a large extent into the hands of Americans. The Do- minion, has also become to a large extent a debtor of the United States from which it has been obliged to borrow large s'ums of money with the prospect of having to bor- row much more in the future. In addition to this, it is undeniable that a distinctively American spirit is per- meating our national life, and that its spread is being en- couraged and developed by such means as the moving pic- tures and through other mediums. It is, of course, not THE FUTURE OF CANADA 65 only natural but inevitable that a vast country, with such an immense population as that of the United States, should exercise an attractive force upon a weaker neighbor. But immense in some respects as might be the bene- fits to Canada of a union with the great American Repub- lic there would be one disadvantage which we believe would render a political arrangement of that kind objec- tionable to the great mass of Canadians. The objection is that such a union would be destructive of the work of the Fathers of Confederation, and of the national ideals which they cherished and formulated. Canada's national identity would in fact be obliterated. We might be the Canadian states of the great American Republic but there would }io longer be a Dominion of Canada. The founders of the Dominion certainly did not establish Confederation with any idea of such a destiny for the Dominion. They had a far more patriotic purpose and a much grander des- tiny in view. Canada was to be a nation, in the closest alliance if you wnll with the United States but for ever, re- taining its own national status and the entire complete and independent managemei^ of its own affairs. That brings us to the third alternative. IV. — INDEPENDENCE OF CANADA. The full entire and complete independence of the Do- minion as one of the sovereign nations of the world. It cannot be denied that not only was that the des- tiny looked forward to by some at least of the Fathers of the Canadian Confederation, but that the logical result of the establishment of the Dominion itself, the securing of almost complete autonomy by Canada and the develop- ments of recent years, is in the process of time — no one of course can say when, — full and complete independence. The Dominion enjoying all the privileges of self govern- ment and fully armed for self defence as well against her- self as others, as such a high constitutional authority as Erskine May pointed out, practically became a distinct nation over which the King exercises only an honorary 66 THE FUTURE OF CANADA sovereignty. But we are not yet an independent state in- cluded and recognized in the great sisterhool of nations, We of course pride ourselves on being a nation but as a matter of strict fact we are nothing of the kind, and we cannot be as long as there is any outside authority over us however slight and nominal it may be. A very eminent Canadian statesman, a member of the Unionist Government at Ottawa, Hon. N. W. Rowell, who for some years has been attempting the impossible feat of combining Imperialism and Canadianism, of mak- ing these two diametrically opposed ideas " go together,'* in a recent debate in the Canadian Parliament, made the declaration that, from being dependent colonies of the Crown, the overseas dominions, including Canada, had grown to be self governing nations. The Order-In-Coun- cil placing a ban on titles meant, said Mr. Rowell, that Canada had now reached the full status of a nation, and he also hailed the establishment of the Canadian mission at Washington, acting entirely, as he said, with the United States Government, as another indication of Canada's national status. Nobody should know better than Mr. Rowell the speciousness of such arguments. These de- velopments may, indeed, be steps in the direction of Can- ada's full national status but they certainly do not mean its realization. Surely Mr. Rowell would not have us believe that the Canadian representative at Washington will rank with the diplomatic representatives of the world's powers at the American capital. He -will,, no doubt, be very useful in a consultative capacity but it will of course be the British Ambassador, the representative of the Crown, of which Canada in a legal sense is but a '' posses- sion beyond the seas " who will deal in the last resort with the Washington authorities on all matters affecting the Dominion , as well as all portions of the Empire of which Canada is a part. Strictly speaking, the Dominion, it may again be emphasized is not a nation and cannot be a nation as long as there is is any outside authority over it, however slight and nominal that authority may be. As has been pointed out by an eminent Canadian jurist, practically THE FUTURE OF CANADA 67 Canada is independent, theoretically and legally she is but a colony.* A completely independent country is one which not only can do as it likes but can act without the super- vision or assent of any other country. Canada, falls short of perfect independence, of nationhood. Her constitu- tion is a British statute, and when we want some amend- ment of the Constitution we have to ask the British Par- liament to be kind enough to amend its statute as was done not long ago, as you all know, when an extension of the parliamentary term was obtained. All that, as the same au- thority remarks, is humiliating enough but it is in the in- ternational sphere that the inferiority of Canada's posi- tion is even more marked. Whilst scores of the trumpery little states of the world are nations the great Dominion of Canada populated by the stock of the two greatest peo- ples in the world remains only a British possession (mark the word), a colony, another word inferring inferiority, or at best a dominion beyond the seas. As a result at in- ternational councils Canada has not and cannot, as long as her present status is maintained, have a seat ; she can only take her place amongst the other nations as a real nation. At the famous Peace Conference of 1907, for instance, Argentina, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Chili, Columbia, Cuba, Do- minica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Hayti, Luxemberg, Monte- negro, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Persia, Rou- mania, Salvador, Siam, Uruguay and Venezuela, some with slightly more but most with much less population than Canada were represented. The Dominion, with a population of over seven million souls, was nominally in- cluded in the phrase " His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom, of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Possessions Beyond the Seas/' But in reality Canada had no more to do with the proceedings than had the inha- bitants of the planet Mars. Is such a condition of infe- riority tolerable? Will Canadians, sprung from the stock they, are, always be content to occupy such a positio^i ? We may be permitted to doubt it. John S. Ewart, Address before Montreal Canadian Club. Feb. 5th 1912. 68 THE FUTURE OF CANADA It is now admitted by all in a position to speak author- itatively that the present relations of the Dominion to the Mother Country cannot always continue as they are. Even some of the greatest of British statesmen and leaders of thought admit as much. The present Prime Minister of the Dominion Sir Robert Borden, himself, voiced that view when in addres- sing the Winnipeg Canadian Club as recently as December 19 14, he said, '' There are some within sound of my voice who will see the Overseas Dominions surpass in wealth and population the British Islands ; there are children play- ing in your streets who may see Canada alone attain that eminence. Thus it is impossible to believe that the exist- ing status, so far as it concerns the control of foreign pol- icy and extra-Imperial relations, can remain as it is to- day." In talcing the action that they did in the great world conflict, as the author of the Imperialistic plan frankly admits, Canada and the other overseas domi- nions radically changed their relations. Before the out- break of the war, as that authority observes, the common defence had nowhere been recognized as a first charge on the public resources except in the British Isles and this fact is inseparably connected with another — responsibi- lity for the issues of peace and war has nowhere been as- sumed, except by the people of the United Kingdom. Whenever peace returns, adds the author of the Imperial- istic plan, the first of these conditions, that is to say the contribution by Canada and the other ovrseas dominions to the common defence can scarcely be revived and cannot in any case be maintained. The financial relations which existed between these countries before the war, he adds, will be out of the question. Facts will have made them im- possible and the moment this comes to be recognized it will be seen that the financial relations of the elder and younger communities cannot be revised without also revi- sing their political relations. The anomalous position of Canada as well as of the other overseas dominions under existing conditions is emphasized by the same authority. THE FUTURE OF CANADA ' 69 In matters of peace and war for instance — the first, greatest and most comprehensive of all public interests, as he well observes. South Africans are subject, in fact as well as in law, to a government which exists not in Pre- toria nor in Capetown, but in London and so it is with Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It is in London arid not in Ottawa, Melbourne or Wellington that their ulti- mate destiny is made or marred. They may manage their own domestic affairs, regulate their commerce, create for- ces by land and sea and do anything they please short of attempting to handle for themselves the ultimate issue of national life and death. These issues the moment they are raised must be left to a government in which they have no more real voice than the people of India, of Egypt or Fiji; so far as the first ,last and greatest of all national interests is concerned, they are not self governing domi- nions, they arc simply dependencies. As the author of the Imperialistic plan well observes no thinking man can face the conclusion and still believe that communities like Canada and Australia can long continue to accept such an undignified and subordinate position. The Dominion of Canada by its action in the great war practically assumed the powers and prerogatives of an independent nation. Bound by no constitution, bound by no rule or law, equity or obligation, as a prominent Canadian public man who is generally credited with hav- ing a good deal to do with th*e formation of the present Unionist Government at Ottawa has well said, Canada de- cided as a nation to make war. We have levied an army, we have sent the greatest army to Great Britain that ever crossed the Atlantic to take part in the battles of Great Britain. We have placed ourselves in opposition to great world powers, we have trained and equipped an army greater than the combined forces of Wellington and Napo- leon at the battle of Waterloo. Therefore Canada must now stand as a nation. It will no longer do for the Domi- nion to play the part of a minor : it will no longer do for Canadians to say that they are not fully and absolutely able to transact their own business. We shall not be 70 THE FUTURE OF CANADA allowed to do this any longer by the nations of the world. We shall not be allowed to put ourselves in the position of a minor, on the contrary the nations will say " if you can levy armies to make war you can attend to your own bu- siness, and we will not be referred to the head of the Em- pire, we want you to answer our questions directly."^ The Dominion having assumed the powers and prerogatives of an independent nation will it not have to assume the natio- al status and responsibility of a sovereign state f Of course, the difficulties in the way of an indepen- dent Canada cannot be overlooked. There is no doubt that if to-morrow the Dominion wished to declare its inde- pendence and become a republic it could do so. But are we yet strong enough to stand as a nation? Situated as we are alongside of a mighty nation with a population of over one hundred millions, and with a vast army as the United States will have after the war, Canada with its scanty population barely equal to the total of the most populous state in the Union might seem powerless and in- significant. The Dominion, of course, could not hope to stand alone against the aggression of the only power from which any aggression could come — the United States. But is^there anything to lend color to any idea that such an aggression would be even contem- plated or that it would ever be countenanced by enlighten- ed sentiment in the American Republic? On the contrary is it not more likely that Canada would be welcomed by the people of the United States into the sisterhood of free de- mocratic nations and that in friendly alliance with the States the position of the Dominion would be impregnable and its progress, prosperity and development increased ? With the great prospective wealth and vast natural resour- ces of the country, the future of the Dominion would seem assured and the sectional divisions and discords, which now tend to national disruption would be re- placed by a real national outlook which would act as a binding influence on all sections of the population. The * Hon. Clifford Sifton. Address before Montreal Canadian Club. Jan. 25tli 1915. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 71 tide of immigration, which history shows always seeks an independent nation in preference to a colony or a depe- dency, however attractive it may otherwise be, would be directed to the new nation with immense benefit. ' In fact had the Dominion when it was established assumed the full status of an independent nation as was suggsted at the time by leading British statesmen as well as by such a powerful organ of public opinion as the London Times who can gainsay that great as have been the expansion and development of the past fifty years the population, wealth and prosperity of Canada would be even far great- er than they are whilst in addition it would have held no insignificant place amongst the nations instead of occupy- ing the inferior position of a mere colony. As a result of full national status who with an open mind ran doubt that our development would be immensely augmented, our wealth vastly increased and our position so improved that we might expect to be within a comparatively few years a people of many millions, a second great nation on the northern part of the American continent joined in the closest bonds of amity, fellowship and good will with the older and mightier Republic to the south. Is not such a destiny when the opportune time for it comes the most practicable of all the alternatives ? Is it not a more logic- al development from our position as a self governing country than any of the other possible alternatives?* It would no doubt be preferred by many were we allowed to continue our development until the time was fully oppor- tune for such a change. But the march of events and the world upheaval may precipitate matters and if the Imper- ialists continue their efforts, and try to fasten upon Cana- dians a scheme which will be destructive of their autono- my and even of their national entity we may be forced whether we will or not to ultimately choose the path of our destiny. The course of events will certainly not allow us to re- 72 THE FUTURE OF CANADA main impassive. The crisis that will possibly come after the war is over may force us to action. That such a crisis in the affair's of the Empire is coming is foretold by keen students of the world's history. '' Whatever else may happen," says an eminent historian, ''the war must necessarily bring a crisis in the history of the British Empire.* On a vastly greater scale the situation of 1763 is being reproduced. Now as then the Empire will emerge from a war for existence in which mother and daughters alike have shared and the pressure of the war will have brought to light deficiencies in the system of the Empire. Now as then the most patent of these deficien- cies will be the fact that generous as the self govern- ing powers of the great dominions have been, they still 'have limits and the invariable tendency of self government to work towards its own fulfillment will once more show itself." In other words he implies that what may happen is that the Dominion may be forced to assume the full status of an independent nation; that it is within the pos- sibilities that history will again repeat itself that the re- sults of the present conflict will be ultimately similar to those which followed the struggle of 1765, and that as that struggle eventuated in the birth of the United States the present conflict may be followed sooner or later by the establishment of a great, free and democratic Canadian nation. No one of course thinks of predicting when this will happen; it is simply mentioned as the most probable and logical outcome of our future development. A VISION OF THE FUTURE. Such then are the alternatives to the Imperialistic plan that will present themselves to Canadians when they are called upon to consider the problem after war is over and the organization of the Empire which is now only an academic question will likely become a live issue. The plan of the Imperialists I believe, has been fairly and impartial- ly outlined. Nor can we gainsay the grandeur of the idea. Prof. Ramsay Muir. "The Expansion of Europe," 1917. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 73 the magnificence of the conception. They tell us of an Im- perial union, of a great British Confederation, of an Em- pire covering the whole world with a Parliament sitting in London, representative, not only of the United King- dom, but of all the great overseas dominions and legis- lating for over four hundred million souls. It is a splen- did dream but I am convinced that it can never be more than a dream. From my earliest years I, too, have been a dreamer of dreams and in those dreams I have beheld a glorious destiny for my native land, a destiny which is not only glorious but, I believe, practicable. As in a vision I see the Canadian Confederation, having attained the cen- tenary of its existence, a great sovereign state with a flag and a national status of its own, its vast territory extend- ing from ocean to ocean, peopled by many millions, men of all races and from all climes, holding to a common na- tional ideal and that Canadian nation bound in a lasting alliance of amity and good will, not only with Great Bri- tain, France and the United States, but with all the free democratic nations of the earth. Is that not a destiny worth living for and worth striving for ?* Of course the independence of Canada is no new idea. It has at various times been upheld by leading Canadians. The development of the Dominion into a great nation in the full meaning of that term, was, as we have seen, the ideal cherished by some at least at the very inception of Confederation. Macdonald's ideal was a free, autono- mous kingdom or nation, in cordial and friendly alliance, as he put it, with Great Britain and other portions of the Empire ,as well as with other nations and that great states- man was too true and staunch a Canadian to have ever been willing to subordinate the interests of Canada by making the Dominion part of a vast scheme of centraliza- tion, which would deprive the country of a large part of its autonomy. * Unless that destiny is realized the danger it seems to me is that the force of circumstances may eventually force the Dominion into a union with the United States. 74 THE FUTURE OF CANADA John A. Macdonald's most striking characteristic in fact was his strong Canadianism. Well did he deserve the striking eulogy of Sir John Thompson — '' Sir John's love of Canada and his desire to serve her must be put far in front of all his characteristics. His daily thought might be expressed in Webster's words : '' Let our object be our country, our whole country and nothing but our country," nothing but our country," in the sense that Canada was to be first of all in every consideration of public policy or per- sonal action. His true and deep Canadianism was the pillar of fire by night,' to the hundreds of thousands whom he led as no man could have lead by a mere party banner." Cannot the same be said to-day with equal truth of the man who must be regarded as Macdonald's great successor and whose Canadianism is as strong and ardent as Mac- donald's was — Sir Wilfrid Laurier ? We may also be sure that Macdonald's great French Canadian colleague, George Etienne Cartier who had such a large share in the founding of the Dominion would have been equally insistent on the maintenance of Canadian autonomy. Alexander Tilloch Gait, another of the Fa- thers of Confederation, as we have seen, boldly advocated the complete independence of the Dominion on the ground that the colonial status was a detriment to its interests. The retention by Canada of its full, entire and complete independence was supported by Charles Tupper, though that great statesman believed that this could be done with Canada, as an autonomous state within the Empire. Edward Blake pointed out that Canadians were not in reality free but he thought that our independence could be assured by having representation in the Imperial Parlia- ment, an idea which he lived to realize was altogether im- practicable. Wilfrid Laurier long ago pointed out that the ultimate and logical destiny of all colonies was to be- come independent. The inspiration of the famous Can- ada's First movement which was a force in Canadian politics for some time was the ultimate independence of the Dominion though the idea was not made part of its formal programme or directly advocated. From time to THE FUTURE OF CANADA 75 time indeed, independence has been urged by leading Can- adian public men as well as by eminent Canadian publi- cist and leaders of thought. Nor would it follow that with the Dominion an inde- pendent nation its relations with Great Britain and the other portions of the Empire, would be any the less close and friendly than they are at present. The son when he goes forth from the parental homestead to become the head of a family of his own does not forget the old folks, unless he be unfilial and an ingrate, and as French Cana- dians though essentially Canadian never forget that French blood flows in their veins so English-speaking Canadians would never forget that they are sprung from British stock and that they had attained to the full statue of nationhood under British institutions. Whilst Cana- dian freedom would be completed the ties of sentiment would be as strong as ever and the danger of a violent and unfriendly rupture, far less than they might be under other conditions. "The climax and highest achievement of Canadian sympathy with the " British brethren," as John S. Ewart has well said, " has been written in the blood of thousands of her citizens. When the fearful effusion shall cease Canada will once more revert to her rights. Her claim to international rank will be asserted and admitted. But sympathy with " our brethren " will not cease nor will it suffer diminution. The British Empire, as the best of all Empires, will continue to exercise beneficial guardian- ship over many millions of the less advanced races and the millions of those who under her flag heve reached their political manhood will be accorded that political liberty which is the indisputable right of such a community as Canada."* Of one thing ultra-Imperialists may be certain. Ca- nadians will never agree to the slightest interference with the Dominion's absolute autonomy; they will never con- sent to occupy an inferior status, especially after all that * John S. Ewart. — " Canada's Relation to the War." — Canadian Maga- zine, April, 1918. 76 THE FUTURE OF CANADA they have done in helping to make the world safe for de- mocracy. Were they to do so they would be unworthy the stock from which they spring. They would be un- worthy of those who stood with Stephen Langton at Runnymade and wrung the greater charter from King John or of those who at a later date forced the Bill of Rights from the reluctant Charles. More than that. They would be untrue to their own great dead. They would be recreant to the splendid heritage bequeathed to them by Papineau, LaFontaine, Morin, Baldwin, Macdonald, Cartier, Brown, McGee, Gait and Tupper. We shall not be false to our great past. // the Dominion is to exercise the pozvers and prerogatives of a nation it must likewise have the status of a nation. But here let me add this : — '' We are Canadians and we intend to always remain Canadians, first and foremost, proud of our native land and of its great history, attached to our institutions and jealous of our rights, our interests and our autonomy. But whilst we are Canadians and whilst such are our sentiments we all of us, French-speak- ing and English-speaking also rejoice in the power, the prestige and the greatness of the British Empire, we are proud and we shall always be prcmd to be in alliance with that great Empire, because we realize that it is, as it has been so well described by the lamented Prof. Cramb, the greatest monument ever devised by man to justice, toler- ance, liberality, freedom and true democracy. And is it not a nobler and more inspiring Imperialism than the institutional Imperialism of the ultra-Imperialistic school that that great thinker and historical authority outlined in its aims and scope to be ''to diffuse within its bounds that high tolerance in religion which has marked the Em- pire from the foundation, that reverence yet boldness be- fore the mysteriousness of life and death characteristic of our great poets and thinkers, that love of free institutions, that pursuit of ever higher justice and a larger freedom which rightly or wrongly is associated with the temper and character of the race." " That " as the lamented aoithor of " The Origin and Destiny of Imperial Britain " eloquently added " that is THE FUTURE OF CANADA 77 the conception of, Empire which persists through the changing fortunes of parties and the rise and fall or Ca- binets. It outlives the generations. Like an immortal energy it links age to age. This undying spirit is the true Britain for which men strive and suffer in every zone and in every era, which silently controls their actions and shapes their character, like an immortal fate. It is this which gives hope in hopeless times imparting its immortal vigor to the statesman in his Cabinet and to the soldier in the field. " Great Britain's renown, her glory, it is this, undying, imperishable in the strictest sense of that word. For if in some cataclysm of nature the British Islands and all that they embrace were overhelmed and sunk in sea oblivion, if to-morrow's sun rose upon a Britainless world, still this spirit and this purpose would fare on, entouched amid the wreck." PREVAILING RACIAL DISCORD. The present position of the Dominion would appear to be one of flux. The close of the first fifty years of Con- federation finds our path beset by many obstacles and dan- gers of a more or less menacing character threatening our national structure. I wish here to refer to one of those dangers ; to me it seems the most menacing of all, that is the racial cleavage that is now, unfortunately, so marked. The fact cannot be blinked that never since the establishment of the Dominion have racial illfeel- ings and sectional discord been as pronounced as they are at present. Why is this the case ? I have not the slightest hesitation in asserting that existing con- ditions must be ascribed, in large measure, to that ultra-Imperialistic spirit that has been so assiduously fostered within recent years.* The French Cana- * Mr. Louis Athanase David, M.P.P. for Terrebonne, speaking in the Quebec Legislative Assembly on the Francceur motion well said " These violations of our constitution, this direction given our politics, varying from that indicated by its institutions, come from outside causes which have gradually influenced our English-Canadian politicians who accepted as a possibility a pan-British- ism, which places the interests of the Empire above those of Canada and is ready, to attain its goal, to sacrifice Canada's economic future. " This imper- ialism introduced into our country the ferment of discord, and from this arise the problems that face us to-day, problems admirably oalculated to divide the races that inhabit it and the provinces that compose it." 78 THE FUTURE OF CANADA dians it would seem have been signaled out by a section of ultra-Imperialism as the special target for attack. Nor is this to be wondered at for the French-Canadians, as the most essentially Canadian of all Canadians, consti- tute the strongest obstacle to the complete triumph of the Imperialistic cult. The Imperialistic dreams, as a matter of fa-ct, leave the French Canadians absolutely cold^and in- different. Nor is this surprising. To men of Anglo-Saxon blood it is only natural that the idea of a world wide Em- pire, with a Parliament legislating in London, should ap- peal as a great and glorious vision, even though they may regard it, as a vast number of them certainly do, as altoge- ther illusory and impracticable. But how in the name of common sense can it be expected that such an ideal will equally appeal to a people of Franco-Latin mentality, like the French Canadians? Is it not the height of folly to ex- pect anything of the kind ? The French Canadian has never been lacking, he is not lacking to-day, in his duty of loyal- ty to the British Crown. But, having no voice or say in the shaping of Imperial policy, or in the direction of the Empire's affairs he, in the past, has been logical enough to refuse to admit any right on the part of the Imperial authorities to call upon him to support such a policy the wide world over. As a distinguished French Canadian Liberal, whom I am pleased to see with us to-day — Sena- tor Dandurand, has well observed, '' the French-Canadian is willing to bear all the burdens of the defence of his own country and to fight unflinchingly for the maintenance of British authority in this country but he declines to supply Great Britain with men and money for the expansion of her commercial interests and her Empire the world over. He has, especially resisted with all his might the recogni- tion of the principle that he can, on each and every occa- sion that presents itself, be called upon for a blood contri- bution, except for the defence of his owai territory, his one and only country.* Of course the present war is ad- * See a mast able and illuminating article written by Hon. Raoul Dandu- rand, the distinguished Canadian Liberal and, Senator of the Dominion under the title of the French Canadians and the War in which tho writer fully and clearly explains the French Canadian attitude in the present war. The article should be read by all Canadians. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 79 mitted to be an exception. Not only has it been generally recognized, even by the great mass of French Cana- dians, that the conflict in which Canada with Great Britain, France, the United States and their allies is now engaged is a just war entered upon for a just cause and that must be prosecuted to a conclusion that will assure the attainment of the purpose for which it was entered upon, but it is recognized that in that outcome of the conflict Canada itself is vitally concerned. That is the reason why thousands upon thousands of gallant young French Canadians voluntarily joined the colors and went overseas, fought heroically and in many instances made the supreme sacrifice. So when we consider that de- spite the traditional views of the French Canadians in re- gard to the military obligations of Canada, that despite the additional fact that the French Canadians, as a peo- ple, are by nature and training pacifists, that the military spirit in fact has been entirely foreign to the mass of the people of Quebec, attached for hundreds of years to the soil of Canada, knowing and careing for no other country, with their whole thought and devotion in fact concentra- ted on their land, what the French Canadians have done and done voluntarily would seem to be quite credit- able to them. Even as regards Conscription, though that measure was undoubtedly obnoxious to the people of Que- bec, once it became law and had apparently received the endorsation of the electorate, the French Canadians as a law-abiding people bowed to that decision, are obeying the law to-day, will show themselves law-abiding as they have always been, and will continue to do their share in the war to the end. You all know what the Province of Quebec has done in the w^ar and how it is now responding to the increased calls; you are all aware that the Government of the Pro- vince, on the initiative of the Prime Minister, Sir Lomer Gouin, has shown its sympathy with the cause of the Al- lies in a very practicable and tangible manner. You all know, too, how thousands of gallant young French Cana- dians voluntarily joined the colors, how many of them 80 THE FUTURE OF CANADA have shed their blood and laid down their lives, how in par- ticular the heroism displayed by the famous 22nd Bat- talino, composed exclusively of French Canadians, has furnished one of the most glorious and memorable chap- ters in the whole history of the war. Despite all this it would seem that some people have just made the wonderful discovery that the French Cana- dians are loyal and prepared to do their duty. These peo- ple are certainly to be congratulated on the increase in their knowledge but if they knew anything of Canadian history they- would know^ that long before either they or their forebears were known to Canada the French Cana- dians had displayed their loyalty as well as their bravery in no uncertain way. They would know that as long ago as 1778 when the great George Washington and his French ally the Baron D'Estaing, issued their famous pro- clamation to the inhabitants of Quebec and endeavored to seduce them from their allegiance to the British Crown, in other words to have them become disloyal, the French Ca- nadians, with their leaders the seignors and the Roman Catholic clergy at their head, were loyal enough to spurn the tempting offers that had been made to them; that it was these same French Canadians who took up arms to fight against the revolting or disloyal American colonies of Great Britain, peopled by Anglo-Saxon stock, and to maintain British supremacy and that it can be as truly said to-day as it was fifty years ago by George Etienne Cartier in his Confederation speech, that if the offers of Washington and D'Estaing had been accepted by the French Canadians there would not to-day be a vestige of British power on the American continent. A few years later it w^as another French Canadian by the name of De- Salaberry, who at the head of his heroic followers, large- ly French Canadians, drove back the invading Americans at Chateauguay and saved Canada to the British Crown, thus again displaying the loyalty, bravery and fidelity of the French Canadian race. It is, therefore, rather late in the day to " discover " that the French Canadians are loyal and ready to do their duty. We will, at least, credit those THE FUTURE OF CANADA 81 who have made the discovery with having good intentions, even if their knowledge of history is extremely defective. Their discovery after all is only on a par with that other wonderful discovery made by some that in the present w orld conflict " France has found her soul," whereas, as a matter of fact, everyone, who knows anything of history, knows that the soul of France to-day is what it has always been throughout the centuries, whenever danger or disas- ter threatened — heroic, invincible, imperishable and tri- umphant. ^ And the French Canadians are true to the spirit and traditions of their ancestors for, as that distin- guished French Canadian, Edouard Montpetit, has so well said in his striking and eloquent tribute to the habitant — the true type of the French Canadian — they possess some- thing that some others have lost — the pride of race ; some- thing that no wealth or fortune can ressuscitate — a dis- tinctive life. The fact that from its very outset the Imperialistic movement has met with the opposition of the French Ca- nadians, whose regard and devotion, as I have said, are centred upon Canada is something that can never be for- gotten nor forgiven by some ultra-Imperialists and finding that the people of Quebec refuse to bow the knee to the God of Imprialism they have apparently made up their minds to do their best to counteract such an obstacle. Hen- ce the people of Quebec have been held up to the scorn and contumely of the world and attacked, misrepresented and maligned in certain quarters. As a result racial discord and national disunion are to-day rampant in Canada de- spite all the efforts of Macdonald and Cartier and the other great Fathers of Confederation to promote national unity and the subsequent efforts of Wilfrid Laurier and others to cement the bonds between the two great races in the Dominion.* It has even been contemplated in some quarters to isolate or ostracize the historic Prov- * There is something almost pathetic in the recent declaration of Sir Wilfrid Laurier made in his 77th year: — "/ am an old man noio hut through my ministry I always endeavored to keep Canada together and make it a united people ". — Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Speech at Irish concert, Ottawa, March 14th, 1918. 82 THE FUTURE OF CANADA ince of Quebec. But the Province of Quebec, which was made the pivotal province of Confederation by the found- ers of the Dominion, and which, as Lord Shaughnessy has so well and truly said, is the surest bulwark of Confedera- tion cannot be isolated and ostracized. It must and will play its part with the rest of the Dominion.* The conditions to which I have alluded are indeed re- grettable and must excite the concern of every sincere pa- triot. Is there no remedy, is there no ideal upon which all Canadians, no matter what their racial origin may be, can unite after the war has been brought to a successful close and victory has perched upon the Allied arms? It seems to me that there is but one remedy. There is one ideal that we can all cultivate, that of the upbuilding of a Can- idian nationhood. That is an ideal that may well engage all our efforts and energies. We have, it has been well observed, an immense country to people, we must expect after the war a heterogeneous immigration and to endow the new population with a Canadian soul it will be neces- sary to fix its every thought upon the future of its new country — the great Dominion. In short, to the Imperial- istic cult, we must oppose the cult of Canadianism. By that means alone can we attain the mighty destiny intend- ed for us by the founders of the Dominion. Some years ago I heard that great French Canadian, Honore Mercier, addressing a large gathering of his com- patriots utter those memorable words '^ Cessons nos luttes fratricides, unissons-nous." With a broader significence and a more extended meaning may it not be said to-day to all Canadians " Let us cease our fratricidal strife, let us unite.'' Yes, let us all unite as Canadians to face the vital problems that will soon confront us and to safeguard the interests of our common country. We shall best do so by a staunch Canadianism. * Lord Shaughnessy, it is gratifying to note, not only in this instance but on many other occasions throughout the war has shown his ardent Cana- dianism by his wise counsels for the safeguarding of our national interests. He has in fact furnished a splendid example of patriotism and public spirit. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 83 There are other perils of a more or less menacing cha- racter to which time will not now permit me to even refer. But despite all perils there is no need of despair. The heart of the nation is still sound. The national virtues are not to be judged by excrescences. The sturdy settlers who are making our western plains centres of thriving communi- ties, the busy workers who man our industries and create the national wealth, the honest husbandmen of Ontario and the Maritime Provinces and the thrifty and God fear- ing habitant of Quebec, who season after season tills the soil, rears a large family and calmly pursues his path heedless of the passing storms and uncontaminated by the materialistic spirit of the age, the hosts of good women who are a potent force for righteousness and high ideals throughout the land and the thousands of heroic Cana- dians who, after the war is over, and Prussianism and militarism crushed, will return to Canada, inspired, we trust with the true spirit of democracy — these are the people on whom the hopes of democracy in Canada must rest. From them must come the renaissance of our na- tional ideals, the revival of true Canadianism. CAXADIANISM AND IMPERIALISM. To-day two different currents of opinion, two distinct schools of thought, are striving for the mastery in Canada — the school of Canadianism and the Imperialistic school. The ideal of the one is a vast consolidation and centraliza- tion of the various units now composing the British Em- pire under an Imperial Parliament in London; the ideal of the other is the most absolute autonomy for the Domin- nion, the entire, complete and independent management of our own affffairs forever under the sole authority of the Canadian Parliament. By some it is pretended that the two ideas may go together.* But such a claim is * " The President Mr. W. M. Birks said that in Toronto the Canadian Club had split and that now they had a Canadian Club and an Empire Club there. I hope our club is big enough to be both Canadian and Imperial " said Mr. Birks " Surely the two go together " — Montreal Gazette Report of Montreal Canadian Club meeting, April 16th 1918. 84 THE FUTURE OF CANADA Utterly illogical. We cannot possibly have consolidation and centralization without endangering our national au- tonomy and for that reason in a strict sense it is impossi- ble to be both Canadian and Imperialist. We will in time have to chose between the one or the other. The forces arrayed on the ultra-Imperialistic side are indeed formidable, comprising as they do many of the large financial and capitalistic interests, the press to a large extent, many of our leading public men and a large number of the leaders of thought in Canada. The famous Round Table Association is alert and active, having its branches in every corner of the Dominon as well as in all portions of the Empire. The heads, of our great universi- ties and colleges with the notable exception of Laval Uni- versity—all honor to it — have been amongst the most ac- tive protaganists of the Imperialistic cult and have done their utmost to inculcate Imperialism into the rising gene- ration, instead of pure, unadulterated Canadianism. Some of those at the head of our great universities, have well earned their Imperial titles by their work for Imperialism. The platforms of Canadian Clubs, which one would ima- gine, should be devoted to the advocacy of a staunch Can- adianism, are too often utilized for the spread of Jingoistic doctrine, which are at utter variance with our national ideals. Some of those who express such views are quite frank and candid as to the destiny they intend for the Do- minion. For instance, in a recent address before the Mont- real Canadian Club, one of the most zealous protaganists of the Imperialistic cult whom we have amongst us '' dis- agreed with the views of Gen. Sniuts as to future progress in Imperial development with a general interchange of views and occasional meetings of the Imperial Conference as too vague ! " If real progress were to be made," added the speaker " it must be by some form of Imperial Federa- tion in which the unity of the whole Empire would be pro- perly expressed. When the war was concluded he con- sidered an Empire Cabinet must be formed in which all the Dominions should be represented and have real power to aid and advise in matters affecting Imperial matters THE FUTURE OF CANADA 85 and foreign relations which had to do with peace and war in which the Dominions would have to take partf"^ That is exactly the first step to the realization of the Imperialis- tic design and the objections there are to it I have already outlined. Many of the promoters and adherents of the Imper- ialistic design are undoubtedly perfectly sincere men, who believe that what they advocate would be in the best inter- ests of Canada as well as of the whole Empire. But much of the current Imperialism is spurious and artificial. It is, if I may venture to paraphrase the very expressive term of Hon. Charles Murphy a '' commerciaized " Imperialism utilized to promote the personal interests of its adherents. Numerous sycophants and toadies, too, cultivate the cult in order to promote their foolish social ambitions, a class which is more ridiculous than dangerous. The Imperialists, as a body, are active, persistent and unremitting in their campaign. They are employing every possible means to accomplish their designs and they have the cooperation of some of the most powerful forces in British political life. Lord NorthclifTe, who is to-day ac- knowledged to be the dominating personality in British politics, who makes and unmakes governments in a day, with the London Times and the other newspapers that he controls, is working with all his might for the accomplish- ment of the Imperialistic design. Certain self-expatriated Canadians under influence of what has been well designated in the London atmosphere* are doing all they can to help on the movement. We may, with reason, wonder at a condition of things that would permit such men who could force themselves to the front only in times like these to exercise so great an influence, but we cannot hide our eyes to the fact that that influence is a most potent one. Our press and our literature as a result in being flooded with the products of Imperialism. We have been fed on a diet of Kipling and other Jingoistic writers, until we are almost satieted. Imperialism * Mr. John Williamson — Address before the Canadian Club of Montreal on "Nationality and Empire" — Montreal Gazette report, April 16th, 1918. 86 THE FUTURE OF CANADA has, in fact, become with some people a vritable mania and it is these Jingoes or ultra-Imperialists who are, the great- est menace, not only to tlie Dominion but to the stability of the Empire. With such forces arrayed on the side of Imperialism it indeed behooves Canadians who believe in the mainte- nance of our national ideals to be ever on the alert. We must strengthen and consolidate the forces of Canadian- ism which are by no means powerless or insignificant even when compared with the seeming strength of the Imperial- istic school. We may, I believe, confidently count on the rising generation of Canadian youth, despite the atterfipts that are being made to turn them to Imperialism, to stand for the national ideals and to assert the privileges of their splendid heritage. From the strong and virile west, teeming with life and hope, may we not look for the deve- lopment of a staunch and steadfast Canadianism. The French-Canadians, rooted as they are to the soil, with all their thought and devotion centred on their native land, will ever constitute one of the surest bulwarks of Cana- dianism. The French Canadians are in fact, as I have repeatedly said, themo^^ essentially Canadian of all Can- dians. That is a fact which cannot too often be empha- sized. Their whole spirit is Canadian. Their literature, which is by no means insignificant, either in volume or in quality, is distinctively Canadian. The works of Cremazie of Frechette and of their other great writers are dn ter- roir, of the soil. Their ideal is wholly a Canadian ideal. Their eyes and their aspirations are directed to Ca- nada and to no other land. That is one of the reasons why as an ardent Canadian myself I have always had such an admiration for the French Canadians. What we as a people need most to-day is more expres- sion for our Canadianism, greater emphasis on our na- * Ewart has pointed out the dangers of the London atmosphere, social, political, etc., and how many Canadians have succumbed to it to the detri- ment of their own country's interests. How can it be expected that that in- fluence would not be a most potent one in connection with the proposed Im- perial Council or Imperial Parliament and that it would work to the advan- tage of the Dominion ? THE FUTURE OF CANADA 87 tional ideals, less worshipping of the false god of Imper- ialism, fuller pride in our own country and all that it re- presents.* To that end we should, each and everyone of us dedicate ourselves in the future in order to offset the extremes of Imperialism. Let us be inspired by the spirit of Garneau, the great French Canadian historian, who taught his countrymen to be proud of their own country and its glorious history, to be first, last and all the time — Canadians. And why all this mania for Imperialism. History, it has been remarked by a great historian, is a catalogue of dreams ; the dream of Empire is nearly the oldest one and its star is very fickle. And after all may it not be ques- tioned whether Imperialism has not been more of a curse than a blessing to mankind? The greatest war in the world's history, the terrible conflict that is now being waged, is undoubtedly due, in large measure, to the Im- perialistic ambitions of the German Kaiser and his Jun- ker associates and the war must go on until those ambi- tions are destroyed and the world made safe for demo- cracy. Nor is the present awful conflict the only thing that insensate Imperialistic ambition has to answer for as history shows. Such Imperialism has not even hesitated to strike at the very roots of popular liberties and that is why to-day all the free nations of the world are arrayed against Ger- many. German Imperialism indeed has a fearful debt of blood and outrage to answer for. Its work is the crime of all the centuries and a just God will assuredly in His own good time avenge the iniquity. May all of us take a warning from what Imperialism in this instance has * By its series of Livres Canadiens and many other notable works by Ca- nadian authors the Librairie Beauchemin, the great French Canadian pu- blishing house, is doing a splendid and patriotic work in promoting and en- couraging Canadian literature. To any one who will visit the extensive pre- mises of this house in Montreal and inspect the works published by it their volume and quality will undoubtedly be a revelation. The St.-Jean-Baptiste Association, the national society of the French- Canadians, is also doing fine work by its annual literary competitions to pro- mote the production of works on purely Canadian subjects. 88 THE FUTURE OF CANADA wrought and guard against falling into the snares of Jin- goism ! Imperial splendor, world-wide power, far-flung domi- nion, imposing grandeur and gorgeous pomp with their natural sequence, that world dominance, which Germany is striving to-day to attain through blood and ruin, what are they all after all in comparison with the freedom of all peoples and the recognition of the eternal principles of truth, honor, righteousness and liberty ! Even as the poet of British Jingoism has so strikingly sung : — " The tumult and the shoutings die ; The captains and the kings depart ; Far-called the navies melt away ; On dune and headland sinks the fire ; Lo, all our pomp of yesterday Is one with Nineveh and Tyre." For the welfare of the Dominion we may be thankful that we have had men in Canada who have refused to give way to ultra-Imperialism or Jingoism, but who on the contrary have always stood up for the maintenance of our national ideals. What a noble lesson has been fur- nished in this respect by Sir Wilfrid Laurier. His is an example that should for ever be an inspiration to true Ca- nadians. WHAT CANADIANISM MEANS Perhaps at this stage I may be pardoned a brief per- sonal reference. In an address, which I had the honor to deliver before a great audience in the Monument National in 191 1 I used the expresion which was somewhat widely quoted at the time — '' I am a Canadian Nationalist." And explaining what I meant and what I did not mean by Canadian Nationalism I said : *' // Nationalism means a campaign for the dominance of any particular race or creed in the Dominion to the detriment of other races and creeds, if Nationalism means an appeal to racial, reli- THE FUTURE OF CANADA 89 gions or sectional prejudice of any kind, if nationalism means exclusive privileges for any section, if national- ism means the inculcation and support of any narrow or illiberal ideas, then I do not believe that such a nationaism coidd ever be countenanced in Canada, nay more, I do not believe that any party or any set of men zvith such a plat- form and proccding on such lines could ever hope to be- come an important factor in the life of this free Domi- nion. Such a nationalism zvould be a menace to our free institutions and a cause of alarm to all men of good will, desiring the welfare of all parts of our Dominion, But if nationalism means the search for a common ground for all Canadians, whatever their origin, the development of all Canadian forces, mental, moral and material, if nation- alism means the union of all Canadians, whether French- speaking or English-speaking for the unbuilding of our common country and the development of its vast resour- ces, if natinalism means the fullest freedom for all races and for all creeds, with respect for the guaranteed rights of minorities, if nationalism means that we should jeal- ously guard the autonomy won for us by the struggles of our forefathers and the maintenance of the nationl ideals formidated by the founders of the Dominion, if national- ism means pride in the name of Canadian, the greatness of our country and the glorious destiny that awaits it, if nationalism, I say, means all these then I am a Canadian Nationalist and I glory in it/' Gentlemen, I wish to-day to reiterate that statement, to repeat that declaration. I am still, in fact more than ever, a Canadian Nationlist, in the sense which I enuncia- ted on that occasion. In other words, I am a believer in that Candianism, the principles and policy of which I have endeavored to review to-day. What has transpired in the intervening years has only strengthened me in my convic- tions and confirmed me in my faith. And it is because I believe that cunadianism and liberalism in Canada to-day are one and the same thing; it is because I believe that Sir Wilfrid Laurier stands for Canadianism. for the maintenance of our national ideals, that he in that is the 90 THE FUTURE OF CANADA true successor of Macdonald, Cartier, T«upper and the other great Fathers of Confederation, that though I have not always seen eye to eye with that great man and though preserving my freedom of thought and Hberty of action, as I ahvays hope to do, I am now with you, doing my share as a humble private in the ranks to help to speed the day when liberalism or Canadianism shall prevail. THE WAR AND DEMOCRACY. What we have been considering of course applies mostly to the future but a future which, so rapid is now the march of events, may be much nearer than we anti- cipate. The world, as we know, is to-day witnessing the crumbling of old systems, the crash of decayed social structures and the sweeping into the dust bin of ancient ideals. The holocaust of blood and destruction which has been sweeping over Europe for nearly four years must impress the thinker as surely something more than the insensate struggle of two mighty hosts. If it were only that it would be lamentable indeed. It is a clash of ideals. On the whole, as has been well observed, despite the losses and sacrifices, the despair and sorrow, war as it proves its own futility, military speaking, is heralding the dawn of a new conception and statement of life, founded on common principles. The conflict has long ceased to be a question of nation versus nation, it has ceased to be a struggle between groups of powers, it has grown in its epic tragedy into the affirmation of civilization at war to perpetuate and insure its own identity of truth and appli- cation. It is a wonderful thing seen from the viewpoint of the thinker. All over Europe the last elements of feu- dalism are falling to the ground. A new Europe is ari- sing, a place that will be made fine by strong men imbued with the spirit of the new age. Yet, as dispassionate ob- servers see, such a condition cannot be unless Europe wins THE FUTURE OF CANADA 91 in equal proportions and here is the hope and meaning of the war. To talk of knockouts, as some superficial people are wont to do, is levity. The true objective is an Euro- pean whole, not an European disparity or discord ; it is thus a point of correction. When that is reached the work of destruction will be done, the rest will be a creation. That is the new thing the war will give us — a common creat- iveness. The future therefore can be faced with quiet confidence. What remains to do is full of hope for assu- redly it can only be accomplished through reason. Then the democracies of Europe can hail Democracy and cry '' The people perish that they may live.'' May it not be, therefore as some are even now fore- telling, that the world is on the verge of a great awaken- ing, that nightmares of empire and racial conflicts, are throwing forth our clumsy cosmognies and isms of various kinds, that in time we will tread the earth a really free people, that we shall in fact discover the means of trans- mutting jealousies, lewdnesses and mean passions and develop a wiser, a stronger and a better race. A great many people, it is too true, take but a super- ficial view of the present confiict which in the future will undoubtedly be regarded as the greatest epoch of all his- tory. Far more vital than all the surface indications to which many people attach such importance is what is be- eath the current. For, as has been well observed, the war is the latest and greatest phase of the eternal battle between two forms of human government — the form ty- pified by the Hohenzollern, and the form typified by Abra- ham Lincoln. The issue has arisen this time in its most abstract and universal form; it has polarized himianity, and if the world is to continue free there must be but one outcome. The war is the fight for the soul of man " as a distin- guished American writer has well said " The aim of Ger- many is to subdue man's spirit, that of the Allies to pre- serve it. Events are in a mill race. No one can stop them — not the Kaiser — not Junkerdom. It is a course of things like the French Revolution, one of those rapids of history, 92 THE FUTURE OF CANADA which no one truly understands or controls. The leaders are figureheads. They are carried on the current, wave their arms and disappear. Something is being threshed out underneath, some thing which perhaps we should not wish to arrest if we had power to omderstand all. The crash is indeed so tremendous that it destroys all our ap- paratus of thought. We cannot grasp the situation or size it up,intellectually. We must walk the waves or we drown. The war is in the air we breathe and is changing us all, day by day, into a new kind of men and women ; and though the oxidization be as slow as that which turns a dead tree in the forest into moss, we may be sure that it progresses unceasingly and is a part of the everlasting pro- cess of nature. Every day reveals to each of us some new and deeper aspect of the war. Faith and virtue are the issue. The struggle is to preserve them aud keep them alive in the world."* Something of the radical change that will result from the mighty conflict now in progress has been strikingly re- viewed by President Wilson in a recent address " Every sign of these days of war and revolutionary change when economic and social forces are being released upon the world whose effect no political seer dare venture to conjec- ture " says the President " bids us search our hearts through and through and make them ready for the birth of a new day, a day we hope and believe of greater oppor- tunity and greater prosperity for the average mass of struggling men and women, and of greater safety and op- portunity for children. The old party slogans have lost their significance and will mean nothing to the voter of the future, for the war is certain to change the mind of Euro- pe as well as the mind of America. '^ Men everywhere are searching democratic princi- ples to their hearts in order to determine their soundness, their sincerity, their adaptability to the real needs of their life, and every man with any vision must see that the real test of justice and right action is presently to come as it John Jay Chapman in The North American Review for May 1918. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 93 never came before. The men in the trenches, who have been freed from the economic serfdom to which some of them have been accustomed, will, it is likely, return to their homes with a new view and a new impatience of all mere political phrases, and will demand real thinking and sin- cere action. '' The days of political and economic reconstruction which are ahead of us, no man can now definitely assess; but we know this, that every program must be shot through and through with utter disinterestedness, that no party must try to serve itself, but every party must try to serve humanity, and that the task is a very practical one, by this question, and this question only : Is it just, is it for the benefit of the average man, without influence or privilege; does it embody in real fact the highest conception of social justice and of right dealing, without respect of person or class or particular interest ? This is a high test. It can be met only by those who have genuine sympathy with the mass of men and real insight into their needs and oppor- toinities and a purpose which is purged alike of selfish and of partisan intention. The party which rises to this test will receive the support of the people, because it deserves it." Let me also quote the striking words uttered by Sam- uel Gompers in the notable speech which he recently deliv- ered before the Canadian Parliament, words that seem to me to be especially timely and appropriate. '' After all out of this strug8:"le the old conditions will never enter our lives again," said the great labor leader. '' We must dis- miss from our minds the thought that after the war is over we shall return to pre-war conditions and jog along some how. Through this war there are going to be new con- cepts of duty, responsibility and service. Service? There was a question propounded thousands of years ago which this crusade will answer: '' Am I my brother's keeper?" The events and the sacrifice and the developments of this great struggle will answer that question in the affirmative. '' Either we will have to help to bear our brother's burden, or he will be crushed under the load. It is a ques- I 94 THE FUTURE OF CANADA tion of new concepts of human right, human welfare and social justice. With the sacrifices that our men are mak- ing, with the new ideas and ideals that are quickkening in our minds, with the faster pulsations of our hearts and our beings, there is coming a new, a better and a nobler time. We are waiting for that time and for those ideals, that hu- man brotherhood, that higher conception of duty devolv- ing upon us, to all and from all the world over. " Sacrifice counts as nothing as against all that is at stake as the outcome of this universal conflagration. There can be but one ending of it all. The human race will become supreme to the mere thought of the mind. Right, justice, consideration, opportunity for develop- ment, and for the attainment of the highest of which the human mind can conceive, will prevail and bring geace and contentment to the whole human race." Of course the war, appalling as the sacrifice is, must proceed to a finish and Canada as I said at the begiuy ning will continue to play its part nobly in it to the end as it has done in the past. As has been well remarked no peace for a war shaken world is now likely or, in fact pos- sible, until there is a revolution in Germany sufficiently extensive to shift the centre of political power from Junker to people. In other words the dominant mind of Germany must be a mind with different ideals or there can be no rea- sonable assurance of peace. How many more lives must be sacrificed, what military reverses or disappointments may be necessary, before the German people take an ef- fectual share in their government, no one can of course say. But, in view of what has happened meantime, it now appears, even more cl'early than when President Wil- son first said it, that the real objective of the war is simply a government in Germany which can be trusted. That will mean peace. Nothing else will.* The titanic struggle that is now, in progress has been well described as " the great movement of the common man." The men who in the past have carried the hard, Saturday Evening Post. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 95 unpleasant burdens of the world have learned, in this war, their power over the world. . They have learned from Russia that the most strongly intrenched government can- not stand against them; they have learned from England that Labor can dictate to Cabinets; in Canada as well as in the great neighboring Republic they have, in three short years, made a generation of progress. And what lover of the race, as has been well asked, can fail to find satisfac- tion in such a movement? Of course, it will not be all plain sailing and neither from the new order, any more than from the old, will perfection come. The great dan- ger to be avoided will be that of excess. But who can doubt that from the new conditions, that will follow the great war, there shall arise what Tennyson with the vision of a seer foretold '' the brotherhood of man, the federa- tion of the world," in other words, a truer and a nobler in- ternationalism. The biggest factor in European politics to day, recent advices tell us, is the socialists who are now influencing the whole course of the war and who intend and are deter- mined to play a big part in making peace. There is, in fact, not a single European belligerent which, to day, has not its socialist problem or to put it more accurately whose socialism is not its greatest problem. In at least four countries, — Russia, Germany, France and Italy the socialists have precipitated an acute political crisis while in the other countries the passivity of the socialists must be interpreted as a sign of weakness or somnolism. The word socialism, of course, must be understood in a broad sense and be allowed to cover all factions which, for one reason or another, have swung to the left until now the whole tendency of Europe is in that direction. The term must include, for the present moment in the world's his- tory, the regular socialists, laborites and all other factions, which are filled with dissatisfaction and unrest and are anxiously looking forward to peace, in order that they may demand what they think they are entitled to. There is now no longer any real attempt made to fight the move- ment but all efforts are being directed towards keeping it 4 96 THE FUTURE OF CANADA in bounds. One result of the struggle is a new alignment of parties. The moderates of yesterday now find them- selves by the force of events conservatives though they have not moved a hair's breadth. Other moderates have thrown away all their old conservatism and have joined the ranks of the left. The hope of the future, it is clearly seen by wise political observers, must be a new and sane liberalism — a liberalism, which, whilst working for the real interests of the masses and the supremacy of demo- cracy, will not degenerate into dangerous extremes which could only have the effect of bringing about a reaction, that would be most detrimental to the people's cause. We in Canada need not think that we shall escape where every other nation is affected. Keen students in other lands have awakened to the fact that one of the greatest needs of the new age is the renaissance of politics, their rescue from the degeneration into which they had fallen previous to the war and from the depths into which they have been plunged during the war and the elevation of political life to a new dignity and seriousness as an im- portant channel for the expression of the national will. A readjustment of political parties in Great Britain is al- ready regarded as inevitable. What will be the Tory party of the future will, it is predicted, become the rallying point for those who believe primarily in a strong and powerful Empire, in a large army and navy with conscription and with an economic war with the Central Powers after the present military conflict is over. To the support of such a programme some of those who have hitherto been re- garded as Liberals are expected to give their adhesion. But most significant is the foreshadowing of the rise of a real liberal democratic or people's party with a three fold policy — international, imperial and domestic. In the sphere of foreign affairs such a party will stand for the promotion of peace, rather than for preparation for war. Not that in the present imperfect state of society it would be unarmed before the world; on the contrary it would be ready at all times to uphold international right, if need be by forc-e of arms. But the emphasis of its foreign policy THE FUTURE OF CANADA 97 will be laid on the growth of internationalism and not up- on the perpetuation of militarism and sectionalism. It will, in other words, be based on a philosophy of responsi- bility and not on a philosophy of power. And what, per- haps, is of most interest to us, by such a democratic or true liberal party the Empire would be regarded as a commonwealth of nations in a free union and more weight would be given by it to the growth and mainte- nance of its spiritual union that to its growth as a world power. How radically, in this respect at least, such a policy differs from the present designs of the predomin- ant Imperialistic school whose ruling conception of the Empire is its position as a world power, will readily be seen. In the forefront of the new party's domestic policy will be education which will be regarded as of supreme im-> portance and as a first charge upon the national revenue on the ground that education is the prime essential for the realization of democracy. Industry will be conceived of by such a party as a public service existing to serve public needs and it will therefore work for the extinction of the profiteer and for the realization of an industrial democra- cy, a more equalized national standard of life by the taxa- tion of the rich and the upliftment of the masses by means, of further education, a better social environment, higher pay, greater leisure, and increased responsibility for the control of industry. In short, the policy of the new liber- alism will be to remove the shackles which now fetter all but the few so as to enable the masses to enter into the full life of the community, which would thus finally become a real democracy and a true liberalism.* THE NEW LIBERALISM IN CANADA. It is something of the kind that we may expect to happen in Canada. Already the signs are apparent of a new alignment of parties. We talked in the old days of Liberals and Conservatives but to many people these had become little more than names. The great Liberal-Con- servative party, the party of Macdonald and Cartier, has * London Spectator. 98 THE FUTURE OF CANADA now virtually ceased to exist. What remains of it has reverted to the reactionary tendencies of the days of Allan Macnab, when as you know, the moderate or Liberal-Con- servatives under Macnab's young and brilliant lieutenant, John A. Macdonald and the moderate Reformers of Low- er Canada under Morin and Cartier revolted against the illiberal and reactionary policy then dominant und united to form that great party, which under Macdonald and Cartier and other distinguished leaders rendered such signal service to the country and ever stood for justice, toleration and the supremacy of national principles. The historic party, that once boasted the leadership of such men as Macdonald, Cartier and Tupper is now as you all know but the shadow of its former self. In the flux of the times the great and historic Liberal party, the party of those illustrious reformers Papineau, LaFontaine, Mo- rin and Baldwin the party of Mackenzie and Blake and Wilfrid Laurier, has also undergone a transformation. Was not the great trouble with the Liberal party in recent years that there were too many reactionaries in its ranks, real Tories masquerading as Liberals, men who were either serving their own interests or the interests of their masters rather than the interests of the people, who were more closely allied with special privilege than with demo- cracy and true liberalism ? The recent purging process has to a large extent rid the party of this element and co- ming events will undoubtedly complete the reformation until we have a pure, undefiled liberalism with which all the democratic forces in the nation and especially that^ force which will be the great power of the future — the labor element — can cooperate. As the result of those transformations similar elements of both of the old parties have found their proper habitat and their natural alliances. When the war is over, when Kaiserism is crushed, when the safety of the state, which must now, of course, be the paramount consideration, is assured, there will be other developments and sooner or later and more likely sooner than later will Liberalism, Canadianism and Reform be found at death THE FUTURE OF CANADA 99 grips with Toryism. Imperialism and Reaction. Then we shall witness the rise of a new Liberalism or rather of an old liberalism inspired by the splendid example of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, rejuvenated, the q^reat role of which will be to strive for the triumph of true democratic principles, for real Canadianism, against the machinations of Imper- ialism, for the interest of the masses, and for the fullest political freedom consistent with the public welfare and safety. The liberal or democratic spirit is already beginning to assert itself in Canada. A striking indication of this is furnished by the commendable movement for the abolition of titles and distinctions, in the Dominion. The conferring of decorations and titles has become in Canada, as in Great Britain, nothing short of a public scandal. With none of the historic associations that to some extent palliate such conditions in the old country a set of Cana- dians are apeing the British aristocracy and attempting to create in the Dominion the social and class divisions that prevail in Great Britain. In a few cases those who have received titles have shed lustre upon them but in many cases the distinctions have been cheapened by being con- ferred upon wealthy parvenues, Imperialistic boomsters, and sycophantic toadies, who have either been able to con- tribute large sums to political campaign funds or to ad- vance the social financial or political interests of those who had the distinctions conferred. It is not necessary for me to particularize, you all know to whom I refer. Why some of these men were ever considered worthy of a title or a distinction of any kind, is a mystery and will likely always remain a mystery. In certain instances ti- tles have even been conferred despite protests from the Canadian authorities who were politely told to mind their own business. 100 THE FUTURE OF CANADA Titles and distinctions, which are, of course, entirely foreign to our democratic institutions are supposed to emanate from the fount of all honor — the Crown. But as we all know they, in reality, emanate from the poli- tical party that happens to be in power at the time. Through this and other means a sham aristocracy has been created in Canada with its ramifications throughout the country and with this condition Canadian democracy will have to reckon in the future as one of the chief dan- gers to our democratic institutions. And the movement against tinsel distinctions is but one of the numerous signs of the times. The tide of democracy is rising in Canada, as elsewhere, and it will continue to rise. Of course by democracy I mean a real democracy and npt a sham or spurious democracy. For after all what is democracy? Words are cheap and the word democracy is one of the cheapest as it is used by many speakers and writers. Too often, in fact, the cry of democracy is made the instrument of the brilliant charlatan or the shallow demagogue. To be justified democracy must be regarded in its true meaning as the abolition of privilege, equal op- portunity for all and the utilization of ability. '' Unless dertiocracy achieves these things it is not democracy and no matter how progressive its methods, how apparently democratic its machinery, it may as well be an oligarchy, a kakistocracy or a tyranny." We moist be careful after the war is over, that things shall not be done in the name of democracy that are at utter variance with the true principles of democracy. Above all we will have to beware of the form of Prussian- ism, masquerading in the guise of efficiency. There are those, in fact, who are so enamored of German methods that they would apparently be quite prepared to see them generally adopted on the ground that they make — so they claim — for greater efficiency, That is the spirit we must beware of when the war is over, the spirit that would crush all individualism and enthrone a hugh bureaucratic system under whichthe individual would become merely a pawn, as he is to-day in Germany. Let ois, once the war is over. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 101 be quided by the wise words of Sir Wilfrid Lattrier and take care that having fought for the freedom of the world, having crushed out Kaiserism we shall not countenance it, in any form in our own midst. There was one utterance that I heard fall from the lips of Samuel Gompers in the Monument National the other night that particularly impressed me. It was this: '' Having fought for freedom and democracy abroad we do not propose to lose them at home." These are words which, it seems to me, should be kept in mind for future guidance by every Canadian as well as every American. I speak not of the present, Gentlemen. In the stress and strain of war times, when the safety of the state must be the paramount consideration, things may be permitted which would not be and should not be tolerated for one moment under normal conditions. Let us, when the time comes, see that they are not. It has been well observed that there is now a very large number of people, who are not afraid, as formerly, of the implication of democracy but who are prepared to accept it fully as a basis for political action. But on the other hand there are those who, though they pay lip ser- vice to democracy, are in point of fact the defenders of privilege, vested interests, social distinctions and auto- cracy. Sooner or later the two doctrines must come to grips. The time is near ripe. Reconstruction, if it means anything at all means the democratization of our national community. But we may rest assured that democracy will not be reached in a fit of absent mindedness or through the mere clash of interests, nor will it emerge as the result of some mysterious unconscious evolution; it will be real- ized ultimately only by those to whom democracy has be- come a living faith, consciously striving to realize it through common action upon a common policy. That, Gentlemen, is the splendid mission in which you, in which in fact all true patriotic Canadians are called upon to cooperate. The great historic Canadian Liberal party must go forth conquering and to conquer for democracy. As there will be a new age there must be a 102 THE FUTURE OF CANADA new liberalism. The Liberal party of Canada in the fu- ture must be true to its name and true to the memories of those great Reformers who made its past illustrious. It must in other words take on new life or perish, there can be no middle course, for it the Liberal party failed to res- pond to the mission, a new party would undoubtedly arise that would meet the new aspirations of the Canadian peo- ple. But I do not believe, I cannot believe that the Liberal party of Canada, will be so false to its name, so false to the great traditions of its past, so false to the memories of such men as Papineau, LaFontaine, Morin and Bald- win and many others whose work has made all Canadians their debtors. With the new liberalism or democracy in the ascendant as it will eventually be great reforms — those reforms in the interests of the people long waiting the favorable opportunity — will be inaugurated in this country and finally no doubt after a hard and bitter strug- gle against the formidable forces of special privilege — achieved. The new liberalism in its day of triumph must and will stand for the real welfare of the people and not for special privileges for the few, it will stand for the su- premacy of democracy and above all it must stand for the maintenance of the national ideals and principles formu- lated and enunciated by the founders of the Dominion. Whatever else may change those ideals and principles must remain unchanged and immutable for they are the bed rock of our national life, the sheet anchor of Canadian democracy. Let us ever, my friends, keep in view the noble device of the great leader, Sir Wilfrid Laurier — CANADA FIRST, CANADA LAST AND CANADA ALL THE TIME. Let us unceasingly strive to make -of the Domi- nion what its founders intended it should be — a united Canada, ever retainig the entire, complete and indepen- dent management of its own affairs, a country in which men of all races and all creeds shall work harmoniously together for the common welfare ; let us trample upon dis- cord, disunion and division and let us, in the memorable and patriotic words of the Prime Minister of Quebec, Sir THE FUTURE OF CANADA 103 Lomer Gouin, work ceaselessly and without faltering for the development and maintenance of the Canadian Confe- deration. And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I feel that I have kept you sufficiently long, if not altogether too long. Even so it has been only possible, for me to treat the subject in its principal aspects. Those who are specially interested in this momentous question will find it more exhaustively treated in a work which I have just completed and which I hope to have published as soon as the war is over under the title of ''Fifty Years Of Confederation.'^ In that work the whole constitutional development of the past fifty years and the great events of that period as far as they affect the relations of Canada and the Mother Coun- try will be found dealt with in detail.* On the present occasion I have endeavored simply to outline the leading ideals upon which our great Dominion was founded, to point out to you the danger to Canadian autonomy that is contained in the ultra-Imperialistic de- signs and to emphasize the importance of Canadians, once the war is brought to a victorious close, standing firmly in support of their national ideals and the complete auto- nomy of the Dominion. This momentous problem, as well as other vital pro- blems, will undoubtedly come to the front when the war is over and their solution will demand the united energies and patriotism of all Canadians. And when the future is anned what a glorious vista does it not open up, of struggle and combat, of achievement and triumph! When that vista, indeed, is contemplated, one who has reached the meridian of life but whose vision is ever forward set, would wish that he were, like many of those here to-day are, in the full vigor, strength, fire, energy and enthusiasm of his young manhood, that not only might he strike a blow or two, as he hopes to do, for the cause of liberalism and Canadianism, but that he might also reasonably hope * As that work will necessarily deal with war questions as well, it ia deemed only right by the author to defer its publication until the war is won. In the present address only constitutional aspects are considered. 104 THE FUTURE OF CANADA and expect to live to see the day when, it may be only after long years of bitter struggle and combat, the victory shall have been won and those great reforms achieved. And if such a one may, in conclusion, be permitted, from his read- ing of history, to offer a word of cheer to those young and ardent spirits upon whom the triumph of Canadianism and the future welfare of our beloved country must lar- gely depend it would be this : — " Let your glance be ever forward and never backward. Never think of the past, as some so sadly do, as '' the good old days " Never, as an American writer* has admonished his countrymen, let that banaful sign be fastened on you, let no one ever con- vince you that the world does not progress. For we live, as President Wilson has well said, in a tiijie that calls for '' forward- looking men/' men who, looking through the eyes of faith and confidence, can see the coming of the " good old days " just over the next hill-top-straight ahead. Never be the mental slave of any party, of any man or any set of men. Do your own thinking. Under a democratic form of government the party system has its advantages but neither the leaders nor the directing spirits of a party are invariably right. Remember always that principles are more important than men, ever, therefore, retain your freedom of thought and your liberty of action and let your conscience be your sole guide as to how you shall act. But never lose faith in Providense or in human- ity or ever doubt that through storm and revolution G od_ still works to make a world more just and decent for tlf|||^ great body of his people. Never believe that individual ef- fort, however humble, is ever unvailing. John Hampden was only an individual, a simple country squire, but he kindled the fires of freedom and started a conflagration that lit a tyrannical king to the scaffold and illuminated one of the greatest political upheavals in British history. But think not that your path will be smooth or triumph easily won. On the contrary, all history shows that the path of the reformer is ever rough and rugged and that * Bruce Barton In Every Week. The writings of this well known Amer- ican writer are always most inspiring. THE FUTURE OF CANADA 105 victory is only achieved after long, hard and persistent ef- fort. But in the heat and fury of the fray, when black clouds gather on the horizon, and the way seems darkest, when your arms relax, when in your tired hands the ban- ner droops, and over your wearied spirits, perchance, the thought may come whether after all the struggle be worth the while or victory possible, then I would ask you to call to mind the words of the English poet, himself a fighter for reform and progress, who, falling in the fray in the flower of his young manhood, never doubted that right would vanquish wrong, that jusitce would conquer injus- tice, that reform would triumph over abuse and who with his dying breath gave to reformers of all time this mes- sage:— Say not, the struggle nought availeth, The labour and the wounds are vain, The enemy faints not, nor faileth, And as things have been they remain. If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars ; It may be, in you smoke concealed, Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers, And, but for you, possess the field. For while the tired waves, vainly breaking. Seem here no painful inch to gain, Far back, through creeks and inlets making Comes silent, flooding in, the main. And not by eastern windows only, When daylight comes, comes in the light. In front, the sun climbs slow, how slowly, But wevStward, look, the land is bright. * For the full history of the founding of the Dominion and a detailed exposition of the principles and ideals formulated and enunciated by the Fathers of Confederation see "The Life And Times Of Sir George Etienne Cartier", Chapters IX-XV. — The Macmillan Co of Canada, Toronto, and The Librairie Beauchemin, Montreal. * Since the delivery of this address the question of Canada's relations to the Mother Country has been incidentally raised in the Canadian Commons and in this connection the following extract from Le Canada of May 28th 1918, is of considerable interest: — 106 ^^ THE FUTURE OF CANADA " The House voted a sum of $2,000 for the expense of an expert to repre- sent Canada on the Bureau of Mineral Resources in London. Mr Lapointe (Kamouraska) remarked thas this Bureau had been created following recom- mendations made by the last Imperial Conference. " Other resolutions of the Conference " said Mr Lapointe " were in my humble judgment far from com- mendable. I fear that some people, some groups, or some organizations are simply taking advantag of the war to promote their interests and their am- bitions to the detriment of the common welfare or to prepare a condition from which they will seek to derive an advantage after the war. There is a ten- dency to consider the resources of Canada as belonging to England. Our re- sources are national assets and should be considered as such." "At this point Hon. Rodolphe Lemieux spoke. He regretted that the Prime Minister was not in his seat as he had desired to ask him what atti- tude he intended to take at the Imperial Conference. Mr Borden had promised to give to the House and to the Canadian people an outline of the declarations he intended to make concerning Canada. It was the duty of the Canadian delegates to pronounce themselves on certain features of the war policy and even of the policy to be followed after the war by the Mother country. It was known that England wished to develop its naval and military policy and this would necessitate considerable sums of money. I believe, said Mr Lemieux, that they should be authorized by the government of the coimtry to take an attitude. " We are proud to be part of the British Empire " added the member for Maisonneuve, " hut a large number of Canadians, with me, cannot see vnthout a feeling of fear the agitation of the Bound Table clubs and others who devote all their time to the preparation of new Imperial constitutions." "We are strongly of opinion that our representatives should cooperate to the utmost with the Imperial authorities in the carrying on of the war but it is our duty to warn them against an vnfatu>ation that would make them lose sight of the interests of Canada."