- We Will Be At The Mercy Of Our Neighbours;
And, Victorious Or Otherwise, They Will Be Eminently A Military People,
And with all their apparent indifference about annexing this country,
and all the friendly feelings that may be talked, they
Will have the
power to strike when they please; and this is precisely the kernel and
the only touch-point of the whole question. No nation ever had the
power of conquest that did not use it, or abuse it, at the very first
favourable opportunity. All that is said of the magnanimity and
forbearance of mighty nations can be explained on the principle of
sheer inexpediency, as the world knows. The whole face of Europe has
been changed, and the dynasties of many hundred years have been swept
away within our own time, on the principle of might alone - the oldest,
the strongest, and, as some would have it, the most sacred of all
titles. The thirteen original States of America, with all their
professions of self-denial, have been all the time, by money, power,
and by war, and by negociation, extending their frontier until they
more than quadrupled their territory within sixty years; and believe it
who may, are they now of their own accord to come to a full stop? No;
as long as they have the power, they must go on onward: for it is the
very nature of power to grip whatever is within its reach. It is not
their hostile feelings, therefore, but it is their power, and only
their power, I dread; and I now state it as my solemn conviction, that
it becomes the duty of every British subject in these Provinces to
control that power, not by the insane policy of attacking or weakening
them, but by strengthening ourselves - rising, with the whole power of
Britain at our back, to their level, and so be prepared for any
emergency. There is no sensible or unprejudiced man in the community
who does not see that vigorous and timely preparation is the only
possible means of saving us from the horrors of a war such as the world
has never seen. To be fully prepared is the only practical argument
that can have weight with a powerful enemy, and make him pause
beforehand and count the cost. And as the sort of preparation I speak
of is utterly hopeless without the union of the Provinces, so at a
moment when public opinion is being formed on this vital point, as one
deeply concerned, I feel it a duty to declare myself unequivocally in
favour of Confederation as cheaply and as honourably as possible - but
Confederation at all hazards and at all reasonable sacrifices.
"'After the most mature consideration, and all the arguments I have
heard on both sides for the last month, these are my inmost convictions
on the necessity and merits of a measure which alone, under Providence,
can secure to us social order and peace, and rational liberty, and all
the blessings we now enjoy, under the mildest Government and the
hallowed institutions of the freest and happiest country in the world.'
"These are the words of a statesman - of a mitred statesman - one of that
order of mighty men, powerful in their generation, whose statesmanly
gifts have been cast in the strong mould of theological discipline -
such men as were Ximenes and Wolsey, Laud and Knox. The next motive for
Union to which I shall refer is, that it will strengthen rather than
weaken the connection with the Empire, so essential to these rising
Provinces. Those who may be called, if there are any such, the anti-
Unionists, allege, that this scheme now submitted will bring separation
in its train. How, pray? By making these countries more important, will
you make them less desirable as connections to England? By making their
trade more valuable, will you make her more anxious to get rid of it?
By reducing their Federal tariff, will you lessen their interest for
England? By making them stronger for each other's aid, will you make
her less willing to discharge a lighter than a greater responsibility?
But if the thing did not answer itself, England has answered that she
'cordially approves' of our plan of Union, - and she has always been
accounted a pretty good judge of her own Imperial interests. She does
not consider our union inimical to those interests. Instead of looking
upon it with a dark and discouraging frown, she cheers us on by her
most cordial approval, and bids us a hearty 'God speed' in the new path
we have chosen to enter. But I put it on provincial grounds as well.
When Canada proposed to move, in 1859, Newfoundland alone responded;
when Nova Scotia moved, in 1860, New Brunswick alone agreed to go with
her; at all events, Canada did not then concur. Of late years the
language of the Colonial Office, of Mr. Labouchere, of Sir Bulwer
Lytton, and of the lamented Duke of Newcastle, was substantially:
'Agree among yourselves, gentlemen, and we will not stand in the way.'
Ah! there was the rub - 'Agree among yourselves!' Easier said than done,
with five Colonies so long estranged, and whose former negotiations had
generally ended in bitter controversies. Up to the last year there was
no conjunction of circumstances favourable to bringing about this
union, and probably if we suffer this opportunity to be wasted we shall
never see again such another conjunction as will enable us to agree,
even so far, among ourselves. By a most fortunate concurrence of
circumstances - by what I presume to call, speaking of events of this
magnitude, a providential concurrence of circumstances - the Government
of Canada was so modified last spring as to enable it to deal
fearlessly with this subject, at the very moment when the coast
Colonies, despairing of a Canadian union, were arranging a conference
of their own for a union of their own. Our Government embraced among
its members from the western section the leaders of the former Ministry
and former Opposition from that section.
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