Delphi Complete Works of Stephen Leacock, page 712
All this interchange of population one might think would have to lead to amalgamation, to the ‘annexation’ of Canada by the United States, or of the United States by Canada. ‘Annexation’ indeed used to be the bogey of our Canadian politics, the turnip on a stick with a candle in its mouth, used to frighten the electors. It is a dead topic now.
Annexation made its last appearance in 1911, a period that begins to seem like ancient history now, all peace and sunshine and such a thing as a ‘World War’ just a fanciful dream of the imagination. Elections in days like those had none of the grim reality of life and death struggle in which we live now. They were made up of 50 per cent business and 50 per cent humbug. You had, of course, to start an ‘issue,’ and if there was none in sight in a clear sky you had to make one, as an Alberta rain-maker makes rain. So this time the Liberals said to the Conservatives ‘How about annexation?’ — and the Conservatives said, ‘First rate, which side do you want?’ — because both sides had had each. It was like the way in which the ‘scholars’ in the little red school house used to decide on who should have first innings by throwing a baseball bat and matching hands on it. So the Liberals took Annexation and lost out on it.
Looking back on it now after nearly forty years it all seems coloured with the evening light of retrospect. Nor were there any great angers over it at the time. One of the great arguments of the platform was to quote a letter of good Mr. Taft, the President, in which he had spoken of our becoming an ‘Annex’ of the republic. He probably meant it as a compliment, just as one speaks with pride of the expansion of an hotel. But naturally for us ‘Taft’s letter’ became the target of heroic denunciation. They used to carry it round, copies of it, to election meetings and have it on the speaker’s table, beside the water jug, as Exhibit No. 2 — right after the telegrams from all the distinguished people who would not be at the meeting — a little touch that lends class to a political gathering. It’s not who’s there, that counts, it’s who’s not.
Years after they gave a big dinner to Mr. Taft at the University Club in Montreal, when he had long finished being President and was up here as an ‘arbitrator’ to decide whether the Grand Trunk Railway was worth nothing or less than nothing. In introducing Mr. Taft the Chairman read out from bygone newspapers those old denunciations of Mr. Taft and added ‘Look at him! The man has the face of a Mephistopheles!’ And Mr. Taft, smothered with laughter, admitted that he had.
But if anyone wants to understand our relations with one another better than history can tell or statistics teach, let him go and stand anywhere along the Niagara-Buffalo frontier at holiday time — July 4th or July 1st, either one — they’re all one to us. Here are the Stars and Stripes and the Union Jacks all mixed up together and the tourists pouring back and forward over the International Bridge; immigration men trying in vain to sort them out: Niagara mingling its American and Canadian waters and its honeymoon couples... or go to the Detroit-Windsor frontier and move back and forward with the flood of commuters, of Americans sampling ale in Windsor and Canadians sampling lager in Detroit.. or come here to Montreal and meet the Dartmouth boys playing hockey against McGill... or if that sounds too cold, come to Lake Memphremagog in July and go out bass fishing and hook up the International Boundary itself.
But all of such fraternization is only all the more fraternal because we know that we are satisfied on each side of the line to keep our political systems different. Annexation in the old bygone sense has vanished out of the picture. And in the other sense of a union of friendship that needs neither constitution nor compacts, we have it now and mean to keep it.
It is on this basis that we can build for the peace and safety of the world. There is no question here of a formal federation or a written compact. These things can defeat their own end. They indicate as much what will not be done, as what will. They invite a grudging dispensation of assistance, a measured allotment of goodwill. But goodwill cannot be measured and allotted; and without it a federation is just a chain, weak as its weakest link, and an axis a weather-cock, turning with every wind.
The world needs a standard to which all honest men may rally, a barrier to shelter the weak against iniquity. As the keystones of such an arch, the government of free men that arose in Saxon England, and became in America government by the people and for the people, will have fulfilled its final purpose.
Canada: The Foundations of Its Future
CONTENTS
Canada: The Foundations of Its Future
AUTHOR’S FOREWORD
CHAPTER I. THE EMPTY CONTINENT
CHAPTER II. THE COLONIAL ERA. 1534-1713
CHAPTER III. BRITISH AMERICA AND FRENCH CANADA. 1713-1763
CHAPTER IV. THE FOUNDATION OF BRITISH CANADA. 1763-1815
CHAPTER V. THE MIDDLE PERIOD:. SHIPS, COLONIES, COMMERCE — 1815-1867
CHAPTER VI. THE NEW DOMINION STRUGGLING INTO LIFE. 1867-1878
CHAPTER VII. BETTER TIMES. 1879-1896
CHAPTER VIII. THE OPENING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY — 1896-1914
CHAPTER IX. CANADA AS A NATION
CHAPTER X. CANADA AS A FUTURE WORLD POWER
Canada: The Foundations of Its Future
THE HISTORY OF Canada is the sum total of the biographies of all its citizens. In its unfolding, all have a share; from its narrative, all derive that pride which comes of participation. Written in national terms, it is yet, in so far as every Canadian is concerned, a deeply personal record; for here, fashioned into a composite picture are the activities, in peace and war, of industry and commerce, of labour and capital, of the great and the humble. Other departments of letters may perhaps have a special appeal; history belongs to all. The House of Seagram, it is true, is not a publishing house. That under its imprimatur is issued Professor Leacock’s inspiring history of our country is the result, both of an appreciation of the extreme timeliness of the subject, and of a consciousness of the wider civic interests of industry. For Canadian business, it seems to us, is not merely availing itself of a privilege, but is also fulfilling a duty, when it lifts its eyes from the narrow confines of its ‘powers’ as described in its charters, to regard the wider panorama of that country to the history of which it contributes its record of achievement. The horizon of industry, surely, does not terminate at the boundary-line of its plants; it has a broader horizon, a farther view, and that view embraces the entire Dominion. There is no doubt but that the most important document among the records of any commercial enterprise is its balance-sheet. That document, of course, owes its importance not to the facts and figures it contains, but to the people, the human effort and striving, represented by its mathematical symbols. For a business is constituted, to paraphrase a well-known dictum, ‘of people, for people, and by people’. We feel that Appendix A to each and every business balance-sheet, an appendix unwritten yet undeniably there, is the general history of the Dominion, itself a projection in deeds of the personality of all its citizens. That, in fact, is the larger balance-sheet, without which all others are meaningless, purposeless, motion without progress! It was with this motivation, that, as our country stood engaged in battle for the defence of its most precious ideals, this volume was conceived, planned and prepared. We felt that it ought to be done, and done now; and that no one could do it better than Professor Leacock. Certainly it is meet and fitting at this time of struggle, as with might and main we strive to preserve our Canadian way of life against the onslaught of a ruthless foe, that we cast a backward glance upon our history to find those ideals and aspirations which made that way of life, and to realize anew the solid and enduring principles for which we have taken up arms. Certainly it is well, as we measure our resources in man-power and in armament, that we take into account the true strength of our national character, which achieved so much in the past and which to-day is the mightiest weapon in our arsenal. Such a survey, surely, would intensify our sense of privilege in our Canadian citizenship, and hearten us in all the changing circumstances of war. For the inspiration of the men and women of the past who with valour, faith and self-denial brought our Dominion thus far in its journey, is, in itself, in the hour of destiny, an army with banners. Let the chronicles be taken down again, therefore, and the tale be re-told, from its early beginning until this very day, and let not the occasion when yesterday we defeated the same foe who now shows his fangs again, be forgotten. It is an heroic saga, this of our Dominion, told in Professor Leacock’s brilliant and inimitable style, and it is a story full of the profoundest moral implications. Here, for centuries, lay the vast expanse of Canada, stretching, in the words of the Psalmist and of our national motto, from sea unto sea, rich in natural resources, enjoying a climate which was vigour calling unto vigour and waiting for man, bearing in his hand the conjuror’s rod of civilization to turn that untouched domain of yesterday into the flourishing Dominion of to-day. Here, indeed, was God-given bounty, but none to benefit therefrom. But not forever. From the British Isles and from Old France they came, followed later by many of the peoples of Europe — men of Norway, Denmark, Holland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Greece — Canadian kin of our present allies — and other ethnic groups too, who crossed the sea to build a new life in a free Canada — many peoples, from near and from far, each of a different historic past, all of a single Canadian future. The perils of the sea are braved; a path is blazed through the wilderness; a way is blasted through the mountains. Land is about to become a country! The makers of Canada are upon the scene! Adopting criteria which were in themselves to be a triple standard in the land, they follow the lofty traditions of their origin, they apply the genius of their craftsmanship, with integrity of purpose they strive ever onward, and they build — Canada. Labour and capital make their respective contributions to the common weal, and statesmanship conceives confederation, and gives birth to national unity. Our railway-builders view the trackless wilderness, and endow the vast land with a vertebral column of steel. Banking, industry and commerce begin to flourish. The prairie is made to give forth the gold of its wheat; and men descend into the bowels of the earth to wrest from their hiding-place the treasures, sealed so long. Cities arise, with their towering structures, and harbours are builded whence men may go down to the sea in ships. The forests are felled; the mills are in motion, supplying their products to a free and untrammelled press. Places of worship, and places of learning dot the land. Where yesterday there was only the forest primeval and the whispering pine and the hemlock, there is to-day the multifarious activity of a great country. It is no magic fiat which achieves this: it is the people of Canada who have made and are making Canada. The coureur de bois; the merchant-adventurer; the explorer; the colonist; the homesteader; all who came early, wrestled with Nature, and won — these are the precursors who made our country. Without them, Canada would be still a beautiful but uninhabited Xanadu, “of caverns measureless to man.” The splendid history which Professor Leacock has written is a just tribute to those intrepid and inspired pioneers. But while we pay tribute to the forerunners of Canadian history — the pioneers who left their heritage to this generation — we cannot but realize that this generation itself is chosen by opportunity, and bound by duty, to constitute the pioneers for the generations yet to come. For pioneering is not a static thing, done and accomplished. To us, too, is given the occasion so to fashion, and build, and defend our way of life, that our children and our children’s children may look back upon the men of this age as the pioneers of the twentieth century. The opportunities which lie open to Canadians inflame the imagination. Certainly the future decades of this century, which in the words of the late Sir Wilfrid Laurier “belong to Canada,” will see Canadians zealously dedicating themselves to the further development of the boundless resources of our country, and will see, too, those resources flowing to the farthest corners of the world — a Canadian contribution to the welfare of humanity. At this moment Canada is already playing its high role. The position which our Dominion occupies within the Empire — a position, born of our common loyalty to the Crown, and now emphasized by our comradeship in arms — places our country proudly among those which are to-day the bulwark of world civilization. Nor can we leave unmentioned the part which Canada is playing and will continue to play as intermediary between the two greatest forces for good that exist in the world to-day. Because of our geographic location upon this continent, and our spiritual location within the Empire, we are destined — as we, indeed, have already seized that destiny — to bring closer together the best of the Old World and the New. Nature itself seems to have intended us as the intellectual corridor between England and the United States, already bound one to the other by common ideals, a common culture, and a common peril. In the handclasp which to-day symbolizes British-American relations, the respective forearms may well extend over an ocean and a continent, but it is through Canada that the firm grip of friendship meets. They are high objectives which the future holds for Canada. To encompass them the vision of the early pioneers must be with us still, for where there is no vision, the people perish. It is the vision of a free Canada, a united Canada, a mighty Dominion. To-day as we come to grips with the barbarian foe, not only of the Empire, but of all mankind, we shall find in these the pages of our history the signposts which shall serve us, not only during the struggle, but also after the inevitable victory. Here are enshrined the ideals of liberty and democracy upon which our way of life is based, and here in the activity of our people, are manifested the various groups of different origins and separate creeds, working together in harmonious unison, each making its own contribution to the completed achievement which is the Canadian mosaic. Here, too, the firm resolve of all to follow the one increasing purpose of progress, and to develop still further the untold possibilities of our country, a blessing to ourselves and a boon to all mankind; and here above all, glowing upon every page, is courage, courage to defend our rich heritage, and maintain what is dearest of all, our freedom and our principles. These, indeed, are “the foundations of our future”!
AUTHOR’S FOREWORD
I AM VERY glad to have my name associated with the preparation of this volume. While it is being written and prepared, our country and our Empire are passing through the shadow and storm of war. But this dark hour is illuminated by the white light of human courage; the bitterness of this suffering is alleviated by the inspiration of patriotism; and this dark cloud carries a silver lining that foretells the coming dawn.
It is at the present hour that a book such as this is meant to be may well come forth. The strength and unity of our Empire, which is proving its salvation in our present crisis, rests upon its past. We have built on this bedrock of human freedom. This structure still shall last when those erected on the dead sands of despotism shall be washed away by the rising tide.
We can best learn to value this heritage of freedom by reflecting on its history. We can best appreciate the present in the light of the past, and in the same light we can realize the measure of our duty and obligation towards the future.
Here then is the story of the making of Canada. The aim of the narrative is to show the foundations of our present national life. The large canvas of our Canadian history carries a wonderful wealth of light and colour, in the romance of exploration and adventure. In its foreground are the waving banners that mark the alternating fortunes of war. But set within all this is the real picture, the deeper colours and the quiet shades that reflect the life of a people, the silent growth of a nation.
Our country carries upon its surface the traces of over three hundred years of settlement. It has already its antiquities, its mouldering stones, its sites and shrines, its venerable buildings falling to decay. It has already in places its “long, long ago.” With this are the annals of three centuries of history unrivalled in its varied and picturesque interest. But we realize on reflection that the vastly greater part of our country, as regards civilized settlement and occupation, is a thing of yesterday. Here are great cities that within living memory were solitary prairie, crowded harbours where but half a century ago the sea rolled in unheard, unheeded.
This very novelty is an inspiration. This very lack of history is the foundation of history itself. We can begin at the beginning. We can mark the site of the earliest cabin, the grave of the first settler. Those short and simple annals of the lowly, too humble for narration in our older world, overlooked in the majesty of royal records and titled genealogies, can be the basis of our Canadian story.
It is in this light, this fading light if you will, that those of us now grown old view our Canadian history. For much of English-Canada our own memories and our own recollection of those before us carry it all. While we have time we should set it down so that for those who come after the record shall endure with its proper surrounding and setting.
If it may be said with becoming modesty, I myself can claim a certain qualification as such a witness. I was a child of six when my father came, sixty-five years ago, to settle in the Lake Simcoe district, thirty miles from the nearest railway. We lived in an isolation not known to-day even in the Arctic. The nearest village was four miles away, over rough roads and through cedar swamps. Newspapers we never saw. No one came and went. There was nowhere to come and go. And the stillness of the winter nights was as silent as eternity. So I am qualified to speak of settlement.
This part of Canada was never settled till the new migration from the old country, after the great war with France, supplemented the earlier opening of Upper Canada by the American Loyalists. Till after 1815 it was one vast stretch of unbroken forest, dense cedar and close-packed tamarack and the tall hemlocks and pines that overtopped it. The earliest grants of land were to retired officers and men, mustered out after the war. I can myself remember some of these oldest settlers who had first come to settle in the woods around the Lake, and, among them, old men who had been rebel and loyalist in the rebellion of 1837 and carried still something of its angers, fading out with age.
