Is this great work, the Canadian Pacific Railway, to be left as a
monument, at once, of Canada's loyalty and foresight, and of Canada's
betrayal: or is it to be made the new land-route to our Eastern and
Australian Empire? If it is to be shunted, then the explorations of the
last three hundred years have been in vain. The dreams of some of the
greatest statesmen of past times are reduced to dreams, and nothing
more. The strength given by this glorious self-contained route, from
the old country to all the new countries, is wasted. On the other hand,
if those who now govern inherit the great traditions of the past; if
they believe in Empire; if they are statesmen - then, a line of Military
Posts, of strength and magnitude, beginning at Halifax on the Atlantic,
and ending at the Pacific, will give power to the Dominion, and,
wherever the red-coat appears, confidence in the old brave country will
be restored.
Then the soldier, his arms and our armaments, will have their
periodical passages backwards and forwards through the Dominion. Mails
for the East, for Australia, and beyond, will pass that way; and the
subject of every part of the Empire will, as he passes, feel that he is
treading the sacred soil of real liberty and progress.
Which is it to be?
Some years ago, Sir John A. Macdonald said, "I hope to live to see the
day - and if I do not, that my son may be spared, to see Canada the
right arm of England.
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