CANADA AND MB. CHAMBERLAIN'S SCHEME.
(TO TIM EDITOR Or THE "SPECT&TOR."3
SIE,—In a country where there are practically no leaders of public thought, where the ablest business men steer widely clear of politics, and where the Press devotee its columns almost entirely to matters of local interest, it must always be difficult to sound the popular pulse successfully, or ascertain
the real opinion of the masses upon any of the larger ques- tions of the day. Selfishness is a natural instinct of all young
peoples, and it is perhaps not to be wondered at that the question of the prosperity of the Dominion should loom large in the public eye, while that of the Empire is relegated to a position of merely secondary importance. "Canada for the Canadians !" has long been a popular cry among a section of the population, which views with distrust any attempt on the part of England to control, or even advise, the internal policy of the Dominion, and is jealous at the least suspicion of interference on the part of the Home Government. It is therefore natural that many Canadians should incline at first sight to regard Mr. Chamberlain's tariff proposals from the one point of view only—namely, that which presents a clear picture of the advantages which would appear to accrue to the Colonies as a result of the grant of a further preference from England—but that when the other side of the picture is put before them, and they are questioned as to their readiness to make some return in kind to the Mother-country, there should be a general expression of feeling to the effect that Canada has already ceded enough, and that any further re- mission of duties in favour of English imports would be detrimental to the prosperity of Canadian manufactures especially, and to the industries generally of the Dominion. Many of the more far-seeing Westerners are doubtless looking forward hopefully, to a time not far distant, when Canadian grainfields and Canadian fruit orchards shall be able to supply the wants of a whole Empire ; but the agricultural population of Canada in the main is well content with the present con- dition of things. There is a sufficient English demand, and good prices at home are available for all the produce that can be exported for many years to come; and as long as the trade of England is in a prosperous condition there will always be si satisfactory market there for Canadian farmers. There exists, too, in certain quarters a natural fear that any altera- tion in the fiscal policy of Great Britain, which should possibly affect the prosperity. of the home trade, might react upon the agriculturists of Canada, and render their present good market and the high prices they now obtain for their goods
more difficult to secure. •
; No one who has studied Canadian politics and followed the trend of popular thought throughout the Dominion can fail to be struck bythe present unsatisfactory condition of public feeling toward things British. That the population of Canada is loyal goes without saying ; but there seems to be a growing tendency among Canadians to regard the Old Country with sentiments less of affection than of half-kindly, half-contemptuous tolerance. The Englishman has long been the legitimate butt for American humour, and it is hardly possible to take up a Canadian newspaper without finding some "out" at the antiquity of British institutions, England's old-fashioned business methods, her out-of-date arma- ment, &c. It is, for instance, astonialing to note the prevalence of the idea that the British Army consists of an inadequate collection of underfed, overdrilled "Brodricks," officered by " scions of an effete aristocracy," who worship discipline at the expense of efficiency; while it is certainly the popular idea that it was only owing to the arrival in South Africa of the "bright-eyed Canadian boys " that the late war was effectually brought to a successful issue. Canada, one may say, considers herself, with all the egoism and cocksureness of extreme youth, ready and able to give a lesson on any possible subject to the Mother-country.
The reason for a great deal of this feeling of Colonial superiority lies in the fact that the reading public of Canada obtains all its European news from American sources. There is no direct system of cable communication between Great Britain and the Associated Press of Canada, and consequently every item of interest which reaches the Canadian newspapers does so by means of the unsatisfactory channel of a United States news agency. Only news which is calculated to be acceptable to the American Press is considered worth the cost of cabling across the Atlantic, and thus the Canadian journals miss much Imperial news which would be of interest to British subjects ; and, above all, they lose the sense of the proportionate value of news, so that the account of an accident to an -American jockey in England will be given a place on the front page of a periodical, while a report of a debate on the Education Bill in the English House of Commons is relegated to the obscurity of the advertisement sheets, and the same amount of space is accorded to Mr. Carnegie's speeches RR to those of Mr. Chamber- lain. It is also probable that the Associated Press of the United States is not always actuated by such friendly feelings towards England as some persons would have us believe, and the reliability of their English news suffers proportionately.
It is therefore not to be wondered at that the lower classes of Canada, seeing Great Britain through American glasses, should not conceive a very high opinion of the Mother-country, about whom they are taught so little in their schools. While we have a leading English journal writing of British Columbia as though it were still a separate Colony and not an integral portion of the Dominion; while Canada is invariably represented in the English illustrated Press as a region of perpetual snow, and the typical Canadian as a wild cowboy ; while, in fact, ignorance of the history and geography of the Dominion is not confined to the Colonial Office alone, but is widespread throughout Great Britain, it is hardly surprising that Canada should cease to take any over- whelming interest in the policy of the much misunderstanding Mother-country, and devote herself exclusively to the advancement of her own national prosperity. The better-educated Canadians deeply deplore this lack of sympathy, and it is generally agreed that unless some step is taken, and taken soon, to create a better feeling for, and a deeper responsibility in, the welfare of the Old Country, Canada is destined to drift gradually away from her both in sentiment and interest.
But if the tie which binds Canada to Great Britain be formed of anything more tangible than sentiment, anything dependent for its existence upon a reciprocal tariff system, such a tie is worthless and must inevitably gall. No feeling of loyalty based upon the foundation of a Commercial understanding will with. stand the continual friction of petty business squabbles; and the kind of relations between Mother-country and Colonies which are trade relations pure and simple must sooner or later develop into some such relationship as that which it seems the doubtful privilege of the immemorial mother-in-law of farce and comic journal to inspire.
The spirit of patriotism cannot be stimulated by any trade arrangement, and although it would be a grave mistake to assume that there is any strong feeling for reciprocity between Canada and the United States ; though, in fact, the Canadian annexationists are almost all by this time dead or in private asylums, it would be suicidal for Canada to adopt any policy which should hamper her in dealing with possibly advantageous offers from her near neighbour across the border.
Canada has refused to contribute one penny towards the cost of the Imperial Navy, urging as an excuse that taxation without representation is contrary to Anglo-Saxon principles. What promise of further preference was given by the Canadian repre- sentatives at the Colonial Conference is at present unknown, but it is doubtful whether any such promise will receive the assent of the majority of Canadians. Canada already gives a preference to Great Britain over foreign countries in the supply of articles which it is at present impossible to manufacture in the Dominion, but this is all that she is prepared to offer. And if she on her side has asked for preference in return, it is for one on the im- portation into England of Canadian food-stuffs. Is Great Britain prepared to pay this tax as a price for a purely problematical increase of Canadian patriotism?
[Our correspondent's letter, based on intimate knowledge, forms a valuable pendant to the article on "The Australian Attitude" which appeared in the Times of last Monday week, and was commented on in our last issue. In Canada, as in Australia, attachment to the Mother-country is likely to suffer under a system involving perpetual bargaining.—En. Spectator.]
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