CANADA'S- OPPORTUNITY.
TWO interesting speeches delivered in London by prominent Canadians suggest no little speculation as to the future of Canada. At the present time Canada is very much in evidence. Her commercial policy has undergone a great change, which has been discussed both -in America and Europe, while her gold discoveries are the talk of the world. People have all at once, as it were, made the discovery that a vigorous nation -is arising amid -the snows of the North which may produce a great effect -on the world. Canada had for so long been almost -stationary and rather somnolent that men had well- -nigh forgotten her existence, or, if they did remember it, -associated with it so little of interest that they scarcely 'cared to discuss the subject. The Mother-country had \bestowed a Constitution on her daughter, and then had occasionally glanced languidly at her domestic housekeeping, feeling, relief that she, was settled in life, but caring apparentljaiittle for her. But, all at -once, this indifference -has given way to a feeling of deep interest. A great railway was built across .Canada, which opened up vast stretches of fertile land and magnificent scenery. It was plain that Canada was to be one of the great granaries of the world and the playground of America, combining the varied beauties of -Scotland, Switzerland, and Norway. The Constitution of 1867 was also seen to work well, and the people were manifestly unusually contented, the institutions proving flexible as well as strong. The one drawback was the very slow growth of population, though even this had its advantages when contrasted with the rush which so rapidly filled up the United States. Canadian products came more and more into the market, and it was more and more obvious that the mineral as well as the agricultural resources of the country were immense and varied. While the United States began to be identified with the power of organised wealth, Canada revealed a snore truly democratic simplicity and equality. As soon as the regime of Protection was overthrown, and a genuinely progressive policy pursued, the eyes of the world were fixed on this previously neglected country, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier, when he arrived in Europe, found himself the object of regard, not only in England but over the Continent generally. Canada had, so to speak, found her soul, and the world has recognised the discovery. A new and decidedly brilliant constellation has appeared in the political firmament.
As to the future of this great country, in whose progress we are so deeply interested, prediction, save in a general way, would be absurd. We can all see that Canada has vast potential wealth, and we find it difficult not to believe that she must have a great and splendid future. She has net, of course, the marvellous resources of her Southern neighbour, for much of her territory is barren, and will remain so unless unforeseen changes take place in the climate of the earth. Her winter cold is intense, but it is also invigorating to the strong and healthy. She has every means of satisfying the reasonable demands of a great and expanding population. Her progress, if slow, is at least sure, and she is exempt from many of the peculiar difficulties which beset the United States. The soil of Canada has never known the curse of slavery, there are not within her borders millions of blacks to perplex her states- men, nor has she yet bred a slum population like that of New York and Chicago. What poverty she has had to contend with was largely due to the Protectionist policy she has now abandoned. Sharing the world's civilisation, she shares, of course, the world's problems, but they assume with her a less exigent form than in most other lands. Her cities are better governed than those of the Union, and if she has to put up with the class of professional politicians, at any rate they have not the power for mischief enjoyed by those of the United States. She is exempt from the turmoil of a Presidential Election, as she is free from the waves of passionate excitement which every now and then inundate the great Republic. Surely here are peculiarly happy conditions for the production of a great nation which shall give to the world an object-lesson in ordered liberty, real self- government, freedom sustained by law, and law dictated by the spirit of freedom.
The question has been argued whether the discovery of America was a benefit to the world, and many thoughtful men are probably of opinion that a clear, unhesitating affirmative can scarcely be given to that question. Looking at the awful story of Spanish conquest, at the English slave-trade, at the corrupt, sleepy republics of South America, at the lack of any genuine progress or freedom over these vast areas, one would be inclined to say that the discovery of America was a, misfortune for the world. But when a great English-speaking Republic, freed from the tyrannies and old evil customs of an elder world, started on its career, men hoped for a new and better day to dawn for the race, and were prepared with Bishop Berkeley to say that "Time's noblest offspring was the last." Yet there ialittle doubt that the United States have disappointed men. It may be that too much was expected, that allowance was not made for the inherent difficulty of the problem of a free common- wealth ; but it is certainly mortifying to find, after more than a century has passed away, corruption and Mammon enthroned, and the very principles on which the Republic is based trampled under foot. It is not pleasant to see millionaires dictating their terms to subservient legislative bodies, and the whole policy of a great nation arranged expressly to coin wealth for a privileged and protected few. This is assuredly not the democracy to whose advent hopeful dreamers were looking forward a hundred years ago. The United States have scarcely succeeded in gaining the deep respect of the world, and have certainly not secured its affectionate regard. We cannot look with veneration or love on a nascent oligarchy of oil, sugar, lumber, and coal magnates, who pull the wires and make the political puppets dance to their sinister piping. We do not ignore the millions of honest citizens who hate this state of things ; but their apt.....rent inability to overthrow it does not increase our belief in the political forms of the Republic. One would be inclined to say that the United States had the very greatest chance ever offered by Providence to mankind, and that up to the present the opportunity has not been embraced. We know that the American nation is still in the making, that it is not a definitely finished product like France or England, that the building is scarcely more than half completed, and that the scaffolding is still up, and we make allowance for the fact. But we cannot also help seeing that bad material is being used, that dishonest workmanship is too palpable, that something dangerously approaching disaster is being courted. We do not like the present aspect, and we feel apprehension as to the future. We feel that the Sibylline Books may be closed before a worthy choice is made.
Now, under these circumstances, has not Canada a great chance to show the world what she can do ? We confess she has one very great difficultY in the fact that there are two Canadas, inhabited respectively by two races speaking different languages and holding different forms of religion. But the principles of liberty have been so honestly applied that this difficulty ought to be surmounted. There is no reason why Judah should vex Ephraim or Ephraim should injure Judah. Each is free to live his own life, as free as any people can possibly be in this world. Quebec is devoted to the ancient faith of Rome, Toronto is loyal to Geneva and the Westminster Confession, but neither interferes with the complete liberty of the other. Another difficulty which has puzzled observers is the very slow increase in population and its peculiar distribution in longitudinal sections far removed from each other. There are more people in Greater New York than in all English- speaking Canada, and it cannot be denied that this fact is a stumbling-block in the way of Canadian progress. But a freer commercial policy may partly counteract this un- fortunate deficiency ; and as the United States, which took the start in absorbing the surplus population of Europe, begin to fill up, Canada may, and probably will, have her turn. We do not suppose that she is likely to have a very vast population, nor does she need it ; of more importance is it that she should have a sound and healthy population, and this she is likely to have, because she has laid a good. foundation. Her French population is very con- servative, very slow both in action and thought, but it is industrious, and honest with the honesty of an antique world before Trusts and "combines ". were known. Her English=speaking citizens are largely of Scottish blood, and they have the powerful character, the admirable public and social virtues which are associated with Scotland all the world over. They are mainly "grave livers," to quote Wordsworth's phrase about the Scottish people, and though their limitations are obvious enough, yet the granite substructure of character is of the kind that endures, that is respected, that sustains the force, the weight, the comprehensive grandeur of the common- wealth.
Canada, with such a population, with her excellent Con- stitution, with her genuine love of liberty and her freedom from the burden of a vicious or pauperised class, has now entered on a career of commercial liberty which must have the effect of greatly developing her resources. As the United States are.lairning their back on the light, Canada faces the dawn, midi we trust and believe that the result will be as happy for the Dominion as restriction will be unfortunate fqr the United States. Canada can provide an object-lesson in the superiority of liberty to restraint which must tell in all British Colonies, and which, in pro- cess of time, will make an impression on the United States, though we confess we fear a bad quarter of an hour awaits the Republic before the shackles of the Trusts can be thrown off. The work for industrial free- dom which the Union should have undertaken now rests on the Dominion, a work analogous to that which the Mother-land has tried to do in the Old World. Who will not wish well to the hardy, virile Northern com- munity, the newer Scotland of the American Continent, with its clear, untainted blood, and. its thin, pure, -ingling atmosphere, the home of labour, of equality, of the manly virtues ? Canada has, indeed, a very great opportunity,, a chance of building something more closely approaching to a great model State than perhaps any other country in the world. If her character is equal to her fortune, she should enjoy a great and noble future.
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