CANADA AND SECESSION
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR]
Sta,—The reaction of your Canadian correspondent, Mr. Snowdon, to my remark that neutrality in war-time was a "polite way of saying secession" comes as no surprise to me. May I even say that it is welcome?
When he says that in the course of a long life he has never encountered a secessionist between Halifax and Victoria, I can Only reply that I met some on a recent journey and that they hailed both -from .Eastern and Western Canada. But no doubt conscious secessionists are, fortunately, a small and select company. What I wanted to bring out in the sentence to which Mr. Snowdon takes exception is what is implied in
the policy of war-time neutrality, a policy which is much more commonly advocated than secession. War-time neu- trality, if it means anything, means continuance in sharing in the advantages of the Commonwealth connexion when all is going well, whilst renouncing its disadvantages in time of stress. Is this a course of action which commends itself to the moral sense of Canadians?
The right to neutrality is another matter. That springs from Dominion status, as defined in the Statute of Westminster, and, so far as I know, is not contested in Great Britain. It is one of the attributes of independence in foreign affairs. It is the war to which Canadians would freely put that right which is in question. Is not this an issue which Canadian public opinion would do well to face?—Yours &c.,
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