The New Empire, etc

Front matter

TLbc Hew Empire HOWL AND By the KIN G, A PROCLAMATION. GEORGE R. I ■ lrfaJn.l|-MIIH I ' W,im»k, ,»0- Rad Cor&Jtraa. ttamnft ad «- Aal -beta. Won ft.'™., aw, ail Omfam a rHtiff OurH.nl Star ad Affrrfabe* rf da Cwda* • Jhk Atuafcliki - .to--., ftcvrrd a Ow Owi b» tkt la* Drfiiri Trt*j d mi hm> rf da (Man »J Srfdkn rf Ow Arafat, mi a tnmi tbr bar. W< ds bmb. -| I if mi mVKlH fn, I if ta /aw tbt Ttab Oat rf Ann Ut , ad tea. Unat, iha bnM> Ow Gmrnn W OrU T>-« New Crftaan. ad ail ahrt Ow C~*nwi of Our ftnrd pmum SBWwWWgTlKiffit si Out »■■ Sutr.1i. s n» tl Oui Ki.gibia. a rf Qu> CeUo » Vii o* ibt Ceniata a Nnt «Ww, a fnaf, -..Sou. ha a Knad. a futh Roftatnl Often a lar-- fc<rr4 ■ <SBQlfir90flCa "» »*ad rMaktm, at aH biirim i,*rJ, rf a* ata leada mi Aduat Aar* daru ana tike lat W«, wJ n fc*>i Prrra.

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Fa. drfta& ad Carai f-d Arra-T. rtar* SaWtor. a SoTOatt, Ta ajdal Aott-T. IWT NaCatula OaVrr, 1 .„ ■BtQWHIDB Ga-aaatas, tStrd ad cdbrf bt tke Na. d •«*-. W **»». *V find., barfnd Aim -T. rmj Fc»«t Ma, Fdrr Aero. •waftwaaBlftr Ma" MHj r; —tit md band ad baadtd a idaii > ta We cw kkn« adaroi taj rsar* cht Crrenan ad Caajai a Ckaf tt m Oa surf CaaWn rkan b. . Lat d,.., <w ttaHtal 4 Ua Rmr .hnaa. .ta U. 1. Ja » .k !»,» W r •> heb «"*«-) Ofcrrj^ oft>-J r^r^fa* R**.a ferad a. fc-d Ourj^ a Wa >»a J, ■O. UkZ ash /Ida, fna .baat da tad La. cJ™ .,« R-r- * Laaaa aJ tkr i^k. Ckaaa. ta da Ttaa a* i-UMa rf I/-M ad *>*« a ta lat Wa, ad ah. »a1 avtadr. a^ _ «.., « Fan brTDrata rf Nad> Laitad.. pair. aa. Mm tlajk Lad. -ack i«fc ,Sr K..m .k« rapt. rtpctir. Gorcnaa ta bb Gtam ibtaWra a>« tEr taJ K..rr ii 1m-, In (bo* -ark UO Mt da Sa , ad da tuaj ibt Naib Aal rherta - ■ aB ad maak. ad Hi i nil a Ow tattrll ad tk* Sttant* o/ Oa Cuban, ika tie Caa «lita Jwa Cadwi. wd 'kt Coat ui tbr Clfb ut Si Ltmmj n Cn *.,?..«, ad fna tbtax fatal Naa a Tnta> or Mas, akb vlaa W. a* cuaathd, ad "be bn akt Oa IVaata-, ktaabl tmdba da bia«k -I dn Raa U Umim, b* tk.

Introduction

. The Author's justification for inflicting another book upon an overburdened world will not be found in any novel researches into the sources of history ; nor in any absolute originality in the views that he endeavors to state, regarding the place of Canada among the English nations, the Constitution and future of the Empire, or the interests of the whole English-speaking world. The very contrary is the only merit he can claim for this little work. He believes that he is merely giving expression to thoughts that are in many minds, if not on many lips. He will have reason to be well satisfied if it shall prove that he has succeeded in giving, even in a rude and incomplete manner, a tangible sum mary of the more or less floating convictions that pre vail among his countrymen. Some portion of the views here embodied were first sketched in the columns of the Toronto " Week," and the Author was as much encouraged as surprised by the expressions of concurrence which reached him privately from many Canadian public men.

While this work was passing through the Press he has had the advantage of hearing some of its ground touched upon, VI in public addresses, by so learned an authority on constitutional law as Dr. Bourinot, and by so esteemed an exponent of Canadian thought as the Rev. Principal Grant. It was with very great satisfaction that he found that some parts of his line of thought, when they appeared, would almost repeat what he then heard. Some of his views may be found in disagreement with those maintained by the party of earnest and patriotic gentlemen who form the Imperial Federation League. The services of that Association, in awakening and organizing a sentiment of Imperial loyalty, should never be forgotten. In the principles laid down in a published address of one of the most eminent among their number in Canada, the founder and president of the Ottawa branch of the League, the Author has some warrant for believing that whatever differences may be found between his views and those of that body are not on any radical points of principle.

They are in respect of means, rather than of substantial ends. The Author would regret, even more deeply, the estab lishment of any irreconcilable difference between his opinions and those of one who deservedly bears the pre-eminent name in Canadian literature. The youth of Canada of the present generation, it is to be hoped, will never forget the debt of gratitude it owes to that distinguished scholar, and philosophical Historian, who has devoted the ripest years of his Introduction. VII thoughtful life to the service of Canada. Nothing could be more unjust or more inappropriate than the reproach cast at Mr. Goldwin Smith, in answer to some of his recent utterances, that he is " not a Canadian." I am unable to understand how the title of Canadian can be denied to a British subject, a twenty years' resident of Canada ; one who has constantly shown a sincere interest in the young life and for the well-being of the Country he has made his chosen home.

However severe his criticisms, or gloomy his forecasts, he has been one of the influences that have helped to build up a character, and hence to ensure a future, for the people of Canada. The record of his work is the con verse of that of our most successful practical politician, Sir John Macdonald. The latter has always been just sufficiently in advance of public opinion to be its standard bearer. He has been almost invariably successful in carrying out a policy which has been approved by the country ; but often it has been by means which have been questionable, and of perilous tendency as regards the character of the people. On the other hand, if Mr. Goldwin Smith has rarely carried the people with him, in any specific course he has advocated, yet men are still walking in the daylight of higher motive that he laboured (in the beginning almost single-handedj to scatter upon the gloomy surface of party morality.

Nevertheless, there is a difference between an observer like Mr. Goldwin Smith and the natives of the country. Without assent, if without disrespect, they listen while he prophecies, and almost recommends, the extinc tion of their separate nationality. His is the cool, ob servant attitude of an historical scholar — never far from that of a foreigner. Apprehending, with a philosophical eye, all the geographical, climatic and racial difficulties of the situation, he does not take sufficient account of a certain unknown quantity, which often illogically defeats the best-reasoned predictions. The human Will, which makes and unmakes the fortunes of men, also interferes with the courses of Nations. " Impregnable fortresses" have been taken. Every day, "inaccessible" regions are being penetrated.

Had events always observed the rules of probability, upon which a future is denied to Canada, Hannibal could never have crossed the Alps, England could not have defeated the Armada, Wolfe would not have mastered Quebec, nor Clive have founded the British Empire in India. There is a force — the people's autochthonous pride and faith in their own country — which often has overcome, and may overcome again, very great impediments of geography and situation. The obstacles that beset a country are not abso lute, but relative ; the only real measure of them is the spirit of the inhabitants. Canadians are shewing no readiness to surrender to invincible Fate ; and they protest against conclusions, which imply that the Future Introduction. IX will find them (as the Past has not), a helpless body, passively shepherded by circumstances, without any directing energy of their own.

The widely different prediction of an early native writer seems the more likely to be fulfilled. "The St. Lawrence," wrote Bouchette in 1832, " presents to our mind the trunk of a tree that has no necessary affinity with the United States, and seems destined to bear different fruit. It is the prop of a new nation, the avenue to an independent Empire ; the great highway of a rival, not a dependency."* One may hold these views without any quarrel with that exalted, ideal patriotism, which Mr. Goldwin Smith is known to entertain. He finds a country wherever men of English race have made a home, and planted their institutions. The author differs not with those aims, but as to the means of promoting them. He believes in minimizing the effect of our International divisions, rather than in abolishing them.

These pages will be found to have been written under the conviction that Nations will be better, (as men in society are better,) by learning to recognize, to respect, and even to prize the individuality of their neighbors. Would it be wise of Freedom, while the course before her is yet so ill charted, to intrust so many of her treasures to one vessel ? The present year appears to be an extremely appro priate moment for reviewing the position which Canada, 'Bouchette's North America, vol. ii., p. 245. X (and with her the other great self-governing Colonies,) have already attained in the Empire, with which they are united. In 1891 falls the Hundredth Anniversary of the foundation of the Province of Upper Canada, the first English Colony created after the separation of those now forming the United States.

Thus we may be said to stand at the close of the first century, not only of the history of modern Canada, but of the history of the New Empire. Our modern Empire is — as compared with that which came to an end in 1783 — a new Empire ; new not only in the Provinces it contains, but in the hopes and aims of its populations, in the nature of its various Govern ments, and particularly in the noble, though unwritten, Constitution, which already unites them into one organized whole. The Author is fully conscious of the imper fections of the pages in which he has sought to set forth these conclusions. Would, indeed, that the treatment had been worthy of so inspiring a theme ! One passage, on the treatment of the Loyalists, and its lasting effect upon American Government and Society, may seem to some to set forth harsh and overstrained conclusions.

Let our Author shelter him self from this charge, (which he certainly has not in tentionally deserved,) by quoting from a recent work by a very distinguished and liberal-minded American thinker, which he has only lately had the pleasure and advantage of reading. The emigration of Loyalists, that writer Introduction. XI estimates, amounted to 100,000 persons, or nearly three per cent, of the population.* "The refugees of 1784," writes Professor Fiske, " were for the most part peaceful and unoffending families, above the average in education and refinement. To the general interests of the country the loss of such people was in every way damaging. The immediate political detriment wrought at the time was, perhaps, the least important." Mr. Kingsford's last volume of his History of Canada has come in time to prevent this book perpetuating a hitherto current error.

Mr. Kingsford's very indepen dent and painstaking work throws grave doubt on the supposed emigration of Canadians after the Conquest, referred to in the above passage of the first chapter of this book. As the reference was made for the purpose of illustration only, and forms no part of the main argument, the Author did not feel justified in delaying the appearance of the book (then far advanced in the printer's hands) for the purpose of examining the original materials, so thoroughly explored by Mr. Kings ford. Justice, however, to the reader requires that reference should be made to the new light, thrown by a careful student of our history, on this long accepted tradition. It may be remarked that the position of India in the Empire is hardly touched in these pages. This is, in part, because the Author's subject is more properly the -The Critical Period of American History, p. 130. historical and constitutional relations of the English nations, as such, towards each other : an ample subject in itself.

Moreover, in writing upon the latter subject he may plead the justification of local familiarity with many of the problems he touches upon. He has no such justification for attempting to treat of the very different and immensely more complicated problems of India. Happily, Thought in India is as free as it is in Canada : and we may confidently expect that its many native scholars, and its able English Colony, will not fail to cast sufficient light before the ad vancing steps of that important constituent of the Empire. He, certainly, would be a foolish Alchemist who would try to amalgamate that motley population, its races and religions — with their traditions of conquest and their divisions of caste — by the magic of the ballot. Freedom of speech, freedom of the Press, the right of petition, and open courts — no people can possess these, as the natives of India do, without being substantially a free people.

Grievances that can at all times be made known are sure to be redressed in the end. With the hybrid populations of India, with differing customs of law and property, the function of the actual Govern ment approaches so nearly to a judicial character that it is possible that the methods of judicial appointment may be a more appropriate mode of constituting its Governing Council, than the elective machinery, Introduction. XIII which the homogeneous English race has worked out for itself. So long as England can continue the line of able, liberal and single-minded men who have filled the offices of Governor-General and Lieutenant-Gover nors of India, since the administration passed to the Crown, so long is the Government of India likely to continue to secure necessary justice, and all reasonable progress, constitutional and material, that the interests of its subjects clearly demand.

When the balance is being struck, of the good and evil that has resulted from the English acquisition of India, let the fact that it has given an opportunity of upholding the high tradition of English statesmanship at its best, be carried to the favourable side. The honour of the English race is exalted by the record of the Administrators of India : by that glorious suc cession, which has included Bentinck and Dalhousie, Canning and Lawrence, Dufferin and Lansdowne. They have been the irreproachable trustees of an Empire — the Antonines of modern history. The present volume forms the second instalment of what has grown into a kind of series. It has been necessary to make reference more than once to the chapter on " Industrial Parliaments," contained in a first paper — (the anonymous brochure, called "The Irish Problem, as Viewed by a Citizen of the Empire.") This work may be followed (if life and leisure permit) by a final paper on " Our Future : its Prospects and its Duties," in which the Author will dwell upon what appear to him to be the common interests of the English Nations.

The author desires to express his acknowledgments to the Editor of the " Northwestern Miller," to whose friendly encouragement the commencement of the whole series is due. The original Proclamation of 1763, of which a fac simile appears, was kindly lent for that purpose by Mr. James Bain, our erudite City Librarian. THE AUTHOR. Toronto, 1891. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. The Fall Of The Old Empire

Introductory : Estrangement of the English Nations — Maintained by Ignorance — Continuity of their History, notwithstanding the American Revolution — The Development of the Modern Empire — Connected with the former Movement — Sketch of the American Revolution — Causes of the Failure of the British Arms — The Failure not a Misfortune — The Fate of the Loyalists — The American Revolution partly a Social Revolution — Causes of the Continuance of American Ill-will— Lasting Influences of the Social Revolution — Party Despotism in the English Nations — The Cure of the Evil — (Note on the use of the term American. ) . . 9

Chapter II. The Treaty Of Partition And Its Ful- Filment

How Separation was viewed by Chatham and Shelburne — Modern light upon the character of the Treaty, its true Spirit and Motives— The disposition of the West and the Fisheries the main issues of the Negotiation — Weakness of the American case — Treachery of their Allies — Their Overtures to Great Britain — The West to have continued part of Canada— French Motives — Speculations on the Result had the Overtures been Accepted — Why the Overtures were Declined— The Character of Lord Shelburne — The American Negotiators — Lord Shelburne's Motives for Conceding the American Demand — The promise of Free Trade the real ground for the cession of the West and the grant of the Fisheries — The connection between Reciprocity and the Fisheries — Postponement of the Trade Clauses — The Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 a part fulfilment of the original Agreement — Review of the subsequent Relations of the two Countries — Canada's Action — The Question of the Canals — Defective Fulfilment of the Treaty of 1783 in the Past — How to carry its Intentions to Completion — An International Supreme Court — Contemplated by Lord Shel burne — Important difference between an Inter national Supreme Court and International Arbitra tion — Institution and Procedure of the Court — Its Influence upon the reform of Internal Govern ment I -22 Contents. XVII

Chapter III. The Constitution Of The New Empire

Washington's Views — Progress of the English Constitution since 1774 — Corresponding change in the Constitution of the Empire — Meaning of the term "The Empire" — A People of Many Nations — Federation without Centralization — Crown and People — Distribution of Legislative Powers — Future of Foreign Relations — Treaties — Inter-Imperial Trade — The Imperial Governors — Present Inconsistencies — How they are likely to be removed — Zollverein Schemes — Why not practicable — Central Representative Council not necessary — Adaptation of our Constitution to the true aims and objects of the Modern Empire — Military Security of the Empire without Great Armaments — — Institutions essentially necessary to a Federal Union — The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council — Its Future as a Federal Court — Epochs in the Progress of the Modern Constitution — Canada's Portion in the Work — Pitt and the Constitution of 1 791 — 1837 — Responsible Government — Robert Baldwin — Edward Blake — Sir John Macdonald — Confederation — The Canadian Pacific Railway — The Treaty of Washington — Its Effect upon the Progress of the Imperial Constitution — Political Corruption —Its Causes and Origins — Mutual Interests of the Empire and the Republic — Reforms by Joint Action — Compulsory Voting — Civil Service Reform— International Supreme Court — Industrial Conferences for Deliberation on Trade Questions — Precedents in English History

Chapter IV. Our Centenary Year

The Basis of our Citizenship — How our status depends on ourselves — Relation of Canada to the United States— Ruinous Effects of Hesitation— The Benefits of Decision — Canada's Unique Position — Canadian Character and Patriotism — Political Aspects of the English Nations — Canada's Portion in them — Difficulties of the Past — The Constitution of 1791 — First Parliament of Upper Canada — Our Centenary Year coincident with Australian Federation — A Suitable Celebration — Declaration of Unity — Amendment of the Royal Title — Confirmation of the Federal basis — Attitude of the United States towards a Consolidated Empire — Means of promoting Unity — International Conferences — Future Ems of America — Unity of Popular Interests — The Railway Question — Political Independence, with Commercial Fraternization — Hopes of the Future 494

Chapter V. The Crisis Of The Empire

The Newfoundland Question — How influenced by the example of American policy — Influence of Protectionism upon European Nations — The Imperial Union based on the principle of Liberalism, as Contents. XIX On against Mediævalism — Reasons for Newfoundland joining the Canadian Union — The diplomatic weakness of the Empire before Europe — Uncer tain attitude of the Colonies at this moment — Moral and material arguments in favour of promptly joining in a Declaration of Unity. . . . 554