CANADA. NV HEN a statesman whose reputation has been made in
hard debate and the turmoil of party warfare leaves his work behind him for a moment and allows some generous emotion to colour his words, we listen more readily than to any professional rhetorician. In Mr. Chamberlain's speech at the dinner on Monday to cele- brate Dominion Day there was this charm of contrast with his other work, an oratory and a passion which we remember in his Rectorial address on " Patriotism " and some few other speeches, but which is studiously kept out of the routine of his life. In truth, the subject was great enough to inspire a man of far less imagination and historic sense than the Colonial Secretary. The filial feel- ing of the Colonies in the mar has been made a truism of politics, readily admitted by every party ; and it requires a conscious effort to realise what exactly is meant by this phrase of journalists. Our first feeling, when we learned the temper of our cousins oversee, was delight and sur- prise ; now we are beginning to take it for granted, and it is well to be reminded by Mr. Chamberlain's eloquent words of the true magnitude of this loyalty. The Colonies, thank heaven ! have ceased to be meaningless terms for most Englishmen. We see them as already nations, mature and self-conscious for all their youth, following their own ideals and civilisations, but inseparably linked to us by blood and tradition. At home in England we can have no sense of geographical possession. We are a great nation, but our land is a mere incident in our power. But in the Colonies wide ambitions are joined literally and directly with wide territories • there is room to move and breathe and expand ; and they can see, growing up in their sight, the palpable evidence of their power. He must be a dull man indeed whose spirit is not fired by the consideration of the oldest, most populous, and most mature of our Colonies. To ourselves Canada has always seemed something apart from the others, with more of the old European culture, more long-descended, more Northern, and so in some ways more akin to ourselves. The stock of her population was drawn from our best. The hardy, thrifty settler who went out to clear the forest is a universe away from the treasure-hunter and the speculator. In her French population she has a curious, interesting, and difficult class, who so far have been made to live harmoniously within her borders. Bands of Scottish emigrants, from the '45 to the present day, have gone west to Manitoba and Assiniboia, and founded new Badenochs and Lochabers in a country which has much of the character of their own. As General Ian Hamilton said at the same dinner, the Gardens and the Royal Canadians who fought side by side at Paardeberg were nearly connected,—first-cousins if net half-brothers. She has never been made the reservoir for the surplusage of other nations, the wandering alien has not seriously troubled her, and her settlers have been picked men of our own blood. Canada has a land, too, of immense extent and endless variety. Surely in ne country in the world is there so great a choice of scene, from the apple-orchards of Nova Scotia, the populous cities of the St. Lawrence, and the ice-fields of Labrador to the prairies of the North-West and the calions of the Pacific. All, or nearly all, is well watered, and no part is without some form of agricultural wealth. Her climate is temperate, in few places inimical to life and labour, and well suited to a strong and healthy race. It is a platitude that the nature of a country and climate has a great share in forming the character of a people. Te men whose root stock is Saxon, or at least Northern, some vigour in the elements and the landscape is necessary for the mainten- ance of true moral and physical manhood. Canada is essentially a country of the larger air, where men can still face the old. primeval forces of Nature and be braced into vigour, and withal so beautiful that it can readily inspire that romantic patriotism which is one of the most price- less assets of a people. The tall men in the Canadian continaents, with their curious brightness of eye, which comes from looking over vast prospects of country, wore more than Volunteers or Manitoban stock-riders. They were to the observant man the visible sign of a masculine and unwearied nation.
" We look to you," said Mr. Chamberlain, "the young nations, the heirs of the future, to appreciate our position, to approve our policy, to give us your help, to enable us to meet the taunts of our enemies with the cheers of our children." There is but one attitude which Britain can adopt to these " sons of her household." Long ago, before we understood the true theory of English colonisa- tion, we talked of " dependencies " and "plantations," and tried to force young countries into the strait-clothes of imported constitutional forms. We were nervous about anything which might impair their close relationship with ourselves, not seeing that a perpetual state of pupilage is not the best mode to secure a child's well- being or affection. In those days we regarded the Colonies from our point of view ; now, when our eyes are open, we can look at them from their own. Much false rhetoric and foolish sentiment have been expended on this newly discovered Colonial kinship, but no inanities can quite obscure the real grandeur of the conception at the back of all the drums and cheering. Our Colonial policy is simple ; we do not wish to impose any scheme of federation, any ready-made links of connection ; we wish only to see each Colony prosper, for in the furtherance of its prosperity we see the surest promise of union. The wise father whO seeks the well-being of his child does not ask him to remain always at home, or to follow the same profession, or to imitate bim slavishly in dress and con- duct. He desires the child to make his way in the world, and he helps him to this end, knowing that thus far closer ties of affection will be established than if he had coerced him into his own ways. When Canadian Federation was first proposed, it was currently supposed that this new freedom would mean the loosening of the old bonds. It meant really the opposite, for no bonds are so weak as the artificially imposed, and none so strong as those naturally and spontaneously created by an independent people. Hence, much as we desire to see the Colonies sharing directly with us the consideration and execution of Imperial measures, we would wait patiently till of their own accord they make the offer. The bonds must be self-made, the sacrifices undertaken of their own free will. The vital interest for us is the success of these young nations, for in them the whole ideal of British policy is on its trial. Complete local freedom, combined with a ready loyalty to the Empire,—if this ideal is realised it will be the greatest of our contributions to the political history of the world.
We are glad to notice that in Canada there is a strong feeling in favour of the recognition of certain definite Imperial responsibilities. We would be glad to see a strong Canadian Reserve for defensive purposes, a Canadian Navy to protect her shores, and Canadian representatives, in Sir Wilfrid Laurier's words, " called to our counsels." Such a result would be the logical consequence of her growing prosperity and her sense of status as a nation. It would add to her own prestige, and at the same time it would lighten to some extent the ' burden upon Britain. It would mean an increased com- munity of interest between the young country and the old, and it would add to the security of both. Some time —we hope the day is far distant—Canada may be called on to protect her southern frontier against the United States, or her Pacific sea-board against Russia. Her wealth is growing, her interests may soon conflict seriously with those of other Powers, and her share in any scheme of Imperial defence may become a very vital one. If she offers her help in the work of empire, we believe that while in the present our hands will be strengthened, in the future she herself will be abundantly repaid.
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