Chapter V: Part 5

In former times for trading purposes the unit of value was the beaver skin. The price of everything was calculated at so many skins, and they were the sole medium of exchange. In return for the skins the Indians received pieces of stick prepared in a special manner, each representing a beaver skin, and with these they were able to purchase anything they wanted at the Company's stores. Later on, about 1825, the Company established a paper currency. The highest note was for £1, the next for 5s., and the lowest for 1s. They were known as "Hudson's Bay Blankets," and no fears were ever entertained as to the soundness of the bank. It has been urged against the Hudson's Bay Company that it obstructed the development of the great North-West. On the contrary, it was engaged for two centuries in important pioneer work. Any corporation of the kind with exclusive privileges and rights was bound to make enemies; but no single province of Canada could have undertaken the administration or development of the country before confederation, and neither men nor money were available locally to permit of its blossoming out separately as a Colony or as a series of provinces. Whatever may have been the faults of the Company, history will record that its work was for the advantage of the Empire. The Company explored this vast territory, prepared the way for settlement and colonisation, fulfilled an important rôle in the history of Canada, and had not a little to do with the consolidation of the Dominion, and with the development the western country has witnessed in the last thirty years.

48. RED RIVER REBELLION (1870): ARRIVAL OF THE ENGLISH TROOPS.

=Source.=--_The Story of a Soldier's Life_, by Field-Marshal Viscount Wolseley. Constable, 1903.

We had looked forward to at least a pretty little field day when our line of skirmishers should enclose Fort Garry and its rebel garrison as in a net. But by early dawn next morning the whole country far and near was a sea of deep and clinging mud. There was then nothing approaching a road in the whole territory, so I had to forgo all pomp and circumstance of war in my final advance and had once more to take to our boats and the dreary oar. We were all wet through, very cold and extremely cross and hungry. A cup of hot tea and a biscuit swallowed quickly for breakfast, and all were again at the oar by 6 a.m., August 24, 1870. The rain poured "in buckets" upon us, and at places the country was under water....

I landed at Point Douglas, only two miles from Fort Garry by road, but six by the river, which there makes a wide bend. A few carts were seized, into which tools and ammunition were transferred, and to two of which the trails of our two small field-pieces were fastened and thus dragged along. The messengers I had sent the previous night into the village round Fort Garry met me here with the assurance that Riel and his gang were still there awaiting anxiously the arrival of Bishop Taché, who was hourly expected. It was confidently asserted that he meant to fight. He had just distributed ammunition--stolen from the Hudson Bay Company's stores--amongst his followers, had had the fort guns loaded, and had closed the gates. I subsequently learned that he and his henchman, a common fellow named Donoghue, had started from Fort Garry during the night to find out where I was and what I was about. But the very heavy rain they encountered was too much for them, and, being afraid of capture by our outposts in the dark, they had gone back to the fort as wise as they had left it.

Our march, though short, was very trying from the heavy rain and the deep mud we had to plough through. But, as all the people we met assured the men we should have a fight, these small and disagreeable drawbacks were ignored.

Fort Garry stands upon the left bank of the Red River, where the Assiniboine falls into it. The fort itself is a high stone-walled square enclosure, with a large circular tower at each of its four corners. The village of Winnipeg--mostly of wooden houses--was nearly half a mile to the north of the fort, and south of it, at about a couple of hundred yards distance, was a boat bridge over the Assiniboine. My object, therefore, was by circling round west of the Fort to obtain possession of that bridge, or at least to command it with my fire. I should then have Riel and company in the right angle inclosed between the two rivers. Our skirmishers in their advance captured a few of Riel's so-called councillors, who were bolting in buggies and other means of conveyance.

As I watched the muzzles of the fort guns, I confess that I hoped each moment to see a flash and to hear a round shot rush by me. I knew they had no shells, and that they did not know how to use them if they had had any. But in the rain, and in the thick atmosphere when the rain ceased for a little, it was difficult to see, even through our glasses, if there were men at the guns or not. I sent a few officers who had obtained ponies round the fort to see what was going on in rear of it. They soon returned with the news that Riel had bolted, and that the fort gates were open. It was a sad disappointment to all ranks.... But, though we did not catch the fellow, we had successfully carried out the task that was given us....

We dragged out some of the guns in Fort Garry, upon which Riel had relied so much, and with them fired a Royal Salute when the Union Jack was run up the flagstaff. From it had hung for months before the rebel flag that had been worked by the nuns of the convent attached to Bishop Taché's cathedral, and presented by them to Riel.

49. ENTERING THE ROCKIES IN 1872.

=Source.=--_Ocean to Ocean_, 1873: the diary kept by the Rev. George M. Grant, Secretary to the Expedition through Canada of Sandford Fleming, Engineer-in-Chief of the Canadian Pacific and Inter-colonial Railways.

September 11th. Away this morning at 6.15 a.m., and halted at 1 p.m., after crossing the Rivière de Violon or Fiddle river, when fairly inside the first range. It was a grand morning for mountain scenery. For the first three hours the trail continued at some distance east from the valley of the Athabasca, among wooded hills, now ascending, now descending, but on the whole with an upward slope, across creeks where the ground was invariably boggy, over fallen timber, where infinite patience was required on the part of horse and man. Suddenly it opened out on a lakelet, and right in front a semi-circle of five glorious mountains appeared.... For half a mile down from their summits, no tree, shrub, or plant covered the nakedness of the three that the old trappers had thought worthy of names, and a clothing of vegetation would have marred their massive grandeur. The first three were so near and towered up so bold that their full forms, even to the long shadows on them, were reflected clearly in the lakelet, next to the rushes and spruce of its own shores.... The road now descended rapidly from the summit of the wooded hill that we had so slowly gained, to the valley of the Athabasca. As it wound from point to point among the tall dark green spruces, and over rose bushes and vetches, the soft blue of the mountains gleamed through everywhere; and, when the woods parted, the mighty column of Roche à Perdrix towered above our heads, scuds of clouds kissing its snowy summit.... We were entering the magnificent Jasper portals of the Rocky Mountains by a quiet path winding between groves of trees and rich lawns like an English gentleman's park.

... Soon the Rivière de Violon was heard brawling round the base of Roche à Perdrix and rushing on like a true mountain torrent to the Athabasca. We stopped to drink to the Queen out of its clear ice-cold waters, and halted for dinner in a grove on the other side of it, thoroughly excited and awed by the grand forms that had begirt our path for the last three hours. We could now sympathise with the daft enthusiast, who returned home after years of absence, and when asked what he had as an equivalent for so much lost time--answered only "I have seen the Rocky Mountains." ...

There was a delay of three hours at dinner because the horses, as if allured by the genii of the mountains, had wandered more than a mile up the valley, but at four o'clock all was in order again and the march resumed in the same direction. A wooded hill that threw itself out between Roches à Perdrix and à Myette had first to be rounded. This hill narrowed the valley, and forced the trail near the river. When fairly round it, Roche à Myette came full into view, and the trail now led along its base....

As we passed this old warder of the valley, the sun was setting behind Roche Suette. A warm south-west wind as it came in contact with the snowy summit formed heavy clouds, that threw long black shadows, and threatened rain; but the wind carried them past to empty their buckets on the woods and prairies.

It was time to camp, but where? The Chief, Beaupré, and Brown rode ahead to see if the river was fordable. The rest followed, going down to the bank and crossing to an island formed by a slew of the river, to avoid a steep rock, the trail along which was fit only for chamois or bighorn. Here we were soon joined by the three who had ridden ahead, and who brought back word that the Athabasca looked ugly, but was still subsiding, and might be fordable in the morning. It was decided to camp on the spot, and send the horses back a mile for feed. The resources of the island would not admit of our light cotton sheet being stretched as an overhead shelter, so we selected the lee side of a dwarf aspen thicket, and spread our blankets on the gravel, a good fire being made in front to cook our supper and keep our feet warm through the night. Some of us sat up late, watching the play of the moonlight on the black clouds that drifted about her troubled face, as she hung over Roche Jacques; and then we stretched ourselves out to sleep on our rough but truly enviable couch, rejoicing in the open sky for a canopy and in the circle of great mountains that formed the walls of our indescribably magnificent bed chamber. It had been a day long to be remembered.

50. THE DESTINY OF CANADA (1873).

=Source.=--_Ocean to Ocean._ (Cf. 49.)

From the sea-pastures and coal-fields of Nova Scotia and the forests of New Brunswick, almost from historic Louisbourg up the St. Lawrence to historic Quebec; through the great province of Ontario, and on lakes that are really seas; by copper and silver mines so rich as to recall stories of the Arabian Nights, though only the rim of the land has been explored; on the chain of lakes, where the Ojibbeway is at home in his canoe, to the great plains, where the Cree is equally at home on his horse; through the prairie Province of Manitoba, and rolling meadows and park-like country, equally fertile, out of which a dozen Manitobas shall be carved in the next quarter of a century; along the banks of

A full-fed river winding slow
By herds upon an endless plain,

full-fed from the exhaustless glaciers of the Rocky Mountains, and watering "the great lone land"; over illimitable coal measures and deep woods; on to the mountains, which open their gates, more widely than to our wealthier neighbours, to lead us to the Pacific; down deep gorges filled with mighty timber, and rivers whose ancient deposits are gold beds, sands like those of Pactolus and channels choked with fish; on to the many harbours of mainland and island, that look right across to the old Eastern Thule "with its rosy pearls and golden-roofed palaces," and open their arms to welcome the swarming millions of Cathay; over all this we had travelled, and it was all our own.

Where's the coward that would not dare
To fight for such a land?

Thank God, we have a country. It is not our poverty of land or sea, of wood or mine, that shall ever urge us to be traitors. But the destiny of a country depends not on its material resources. It depends on the character of its people. Here, too, is full ground for confidence. We in everything "are sprung of earth's first blood, have titles manifold." We come of a race that never counted the number of its foes, nor the number of its friends, when freedom, loyalty or God was concerned.

Two courses are possible, though it is almost an insult to say there are two, for the one requires us to be false to our traditions and history, to our future and to ourselves. A third course has been hinted at; but only dreamers or emasculated intellects would seriously propose "Independence" to four millions of people, face to face with thirty-eight millions. Some one may have even a fourth to propose. The Abbé Sieyès had a cabinet filled with pigeon-holes, in each of which was a cut-and-dried Constitution for France. _Doctrinaires_ fancy that at any time they can say "Go to, let us make a Constitution," and that they can fit it on a nation as readily as new coats on their backs. There never was a profounder mistake. A nation grows, and its Constitution must grow with it. The nation cannot be pulled up by the roots, cannot be dissociated from its past, without danger to its highest interests. Loyalty is essential to the fulfilment of a distinctive mission--essential to its true glory. Only one course, therefore, is possible for us, consistent with the self-respect that alone gains the respect of others; to seek, in the consolidation of the Empire, a common Imperial citizenship, with common responsibilities and a common inheritance.

51. TARIFF REFORM IN CANADA IN 1876.

=Source.=--A Speech by Sir John A. Macdonald, quoted in the _Life_, by G. R. Parkin, in "The Makers of Canada" series.

We are in favour of a tariff that will incidentally give protection to our manufacturers; that will develop our manufacturing industries. We believe that that can be done, and, if done, it will give a home market to our farmers. The farmers will be satisfied when they know that large bodies of operatives are working in the mills and manufactories in every village and town in the country. They know that every man of them is a consumer, and that he must have pork and flour, beef and all that the farmers raise, and they know that, instead of being obliged to send their grain to a foreign and uncertain market, they will have a market at their own door. And the careful housewife, every farmer's wife, will know that everything that is produced under her care--the poultry, the eggs, the butter and the garden stuff--will find a ready and profitable market in the neighbouring town and village.

No country is great with only one industry. Agriculture is our most important, but it cannot be our only staple. All men are not fit to be farmers; there are men with mechanical and manufacturing genius who desire to become operatives or manufacturers of some kind, and we must have means to employ them; and when there is a large body of successful and prosperous manufacturers, the farmer will have a home market for his produce, and the manufacturer a home market for his goods, and we shall have nothing to fear. And therefore I have been urging upon my friends that we must lay aside all old party quarrels about old party doings. Those old matters are matters before the flood, which have gone by and are settled for ever, many of them settled by governments of which I was a member. Why should parties divide on these old quarrels? Let us divide on questions affecting the present and future interests of the country.

The question of the day is that of the protection of our farmers from the unfair competition of foreign produce, and the protection of our manufacturers. I am in favour of reciprocal free trade if it can be obtained; but, so long as the policy of the United States closes the markets to our products, we should have a policy of our own as well, and consult only our own interests. That subject wisely and vigorously dealt with, you will see confidence restored, the present depression dispelled, and the country prosperous and contented.

52. PRAIRIE GREYHOUNDS.

POEM BY E. PAULINE JOHNSON.

The Canadian Pacific Railway was completed in November, 1885.

(1) _C.P.R. Westbound_.

I swing to the sunset land,
The world of prairie, the world of plain,
The world of promise and hope and gain,
The world of gold and the world of grain,
And the world of the willing hand.

I carry the brave and bold,
The one who works for the nation's bread,
The one whose past is a thing that's dead,
The one who battles and beats ahead,
And the one who goes for gold.

I swing to the land to be:
I am the power that laid its floors,
I am the guide to its western stores,
I am the key to its golden doors,
That open alone to me.

(2) _C.P.R. Eastbound._

I swing to the land of morn,
The grey old east with its grey old seas,
The land of leisure, the land of ease,
The land of flowers and fruits and trees,
And the place where we were born.

Freighted with wealth I come,--
Food and fortune; and fellow that went
Far out west on adventure bent,
With well-worn pick and a folded tent,
Is bringing his bullion home.

I never will be renowned
As my twin that swings to the western marts,
For I am she of the humbler parts;
But I am the joy of the waiting hearts,
For I am the homeward-bound!

53. LAURIER'S TRIBUTE TO MACDONALD (1891).

=Source.=--Sir Wilfred Laurier's Speech in the Canadian House of Commons on the death of Sir John Macdonald: Canadian Hansard, 8th June, 1891, quoted in part in J. S. Willison's _Sir Wilfred Laurier and the Liberal Party_; and in part also in G. R. Parkin's _Sir John A. Macdonald_.

The place of Sir John Macdonald in this country was so large and so absorbing that it is almost impossible to conceive that the political life of this country, the fate of this country, can continue without him.... I think it can be asserted that, for the supreme art of governing men, Sir John Macdonald was gifted as few men in any land or in any age were gifted--gifted with the highest of all qualities, qualities which would have made him famous wherever exercised, and which would have shone all the more conspicuously the larger the theatre. The fact that he could congregate together elements the most heterogeneous and blend them into one compact party, and to the end of his life keep them steadily under his hand, is perhaps altogether unprecedented. The fact that during all those years he retained unimpaired not only the confidence, but the devotion--the ardent devotion--and affection of his party, is evidence that, besides those higher qualities of statesmanship to which we were daily witnesses, he was also endowed with those inner, subtle, undefinable graces of soul which win and keep the hearts of men....

He was fond of power and he never made any secret of it. Many times we have heard him avow it on the floor of this Parliament, and his ambition in this respect was gratified as perhaps no other man's ambition ever was. In my judgment even the career of William Pitt can hardly compare with that of Sir John Macdonald in this respect; for although William Pitt, moving in a higher sphere, had to deal with problems greater than our problems, yet I doubt if in the intricate management of a party William Pitt had to contend with difficulties equal to those that Sir John Macdonald had to contend with.

As to his statesmanship, it is written in the history of Canada. It may be said without any exaggeration whatever, that the life of Sir John Macdonald, from the date he entered Parliament, is the history of Canada: for he was connected and associated with all the events, all the facts which brought Canada from the position it then occupied--the position of two small provinces, having nothing in common but their common allegiance, united by a bond of paper, and united by nothing else--to the present state of development which Canada has reached. Although my political views compel me to say that, in my judgment, his actions were not always the best that could have been taken in the interest of Canada, although my conscience compels me to say that of late he has imputed to his opponents motives which I must say in my heart he has misconceived, yet I am only too glad here to sink these differences, and to remember only the great services he has performed for our country--to remember that his actions always displayed great originality of view, unbounded fertility of resource, a high level of intellectual conception, and, above all, a far-reaching vision beyond the event of the day, and still higher, permeating the whole, a broad patriotism--a devotion to Canada's welfare, Canada's advancement, and Canada's glory.

54. THE CANADIAN TROOPS IN THE BOER WAR (1900).

=Source.=--Speech by Sir Wilfred Laurier in the Canadian House of Commons, 13th March, 1900; quoted in J. S. Willison's _Sir Wilfred Laurier and the Liberal Party_.

We were not forced by England, we were not forced by Mr. Chamberlain or by Downing Street, to do what we did, and I cannot conceive what my honourable friend meant when he said that the future of this country was not to be pledged by this Government. When and where did we pledge the future of this country? We acted in the full independence of our sovereign power. What we did we did of our own free will, but I am not to answer for the consequences or for what will take place in the future. My honourable friend says that the consequence is that we will be called on to take part in other wars. I have only this to answer to my honourable friend, that, if it should be the will of the people of Canada at any future stage to take part in any war of England, the people of Canada will have to have their way. Let me say to my honourable friend further, the maxim which he has advocated this afternoon, and which he took from the despatch of Lord Grey to Lord Elgin, "It must be remembered that the government of the British Colonies in North America cannot be carried on in opposition to the will of the people," was the language in 1847, it holds good in 1900, and will be the language used so long as we have free parliamentary institutions in Canada. But I have no hesitation in saying to my honourable friend that if, as a consequence of our action to-day, the doctrine were to be admitted that Canada should take part in all the wars of Great Britain and contribute to the military expenditure of the Empire, I will agree with him that we should revise the conditions of things existing between us and Great Britain. If we were to be compelled to take part in all the wars of Britain, I have no hesitation in saying that I agree with my honourable friend that, sharing the burden, we should also share the responsibility. Under that condition of things, which does not exist, we should have the right to say to Great Britain "If you want us to help you, you must call us to your councils; if you want us to take part in wars, let us share not only the burdens, but the responsibilities as well." But there is no occasion to say that to-day....

... We were not compelled to do what we did, but if we chose to be generous, to do a little more than we were bound to do, where is a man living who would find fault with us for that action? He dreads the consequences of this action in sending out a military contingent to South Africa. Let me tell him from the bottom of my heart that my heart is full of the hopes I entertain of the beneficial results which will accrue from that action.... When the telegraph brought us the news that such was the good impression made by our volunteers that the Commander-in-Chief had placed them in the post of honour, in the first rank, to share the danger with that famous corps, the Gordon Highlanders; when we heard that they had justified fully the confidence placed in them, that they had charged like veterans, that their conduct was heroic and had won for them the encomiums of the Commander-in-Chief and the unstinted admiration of their comrades, who had faced death upon a hundred battlefields in all parts of the world, is there a man whose bosom did not swell with pride, that noblest of all pride, that pride of pure patriotism, the pride of the consciousness of our rising strength, the pride of the consciousness that on that day it had been revealed to the world that a new power had arisen in the West?

Nor is that all. The work of union and harmony between the chief races of this country is not yet complete. We know by the unfortunate occurrences that took place only last week that there is much to do in that way. But there is no bond of union so strong as the bond created by common dangers faced in common. To-day there are men in South Africa representing the two branches of the Canadian family fighting side by side for the honour of Canada. Already some of them have fallen, giving to the country the last full measure of devotion. Their remains have been laid in the same grave, there to remain to the end of time in that last fraternal embrace. Can we not hope, I ask my honourable friend himself, that in that grave shall be buried the last vestiges of our former antagonism? If such shall be the result, if we can indulge that hope, if we can believe that in that grave shall be buried contentions, the sending of the contingents would be the greatest service ever rendered Canada since Confederation.

55. PIONEERS OF THE RAILWAY (1910).

=Source.=--_The Making of a Great Canadian Railway_, by Frederick A. Talbot. London, 1912. (The story of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.)

The swamp occasioned many anxious nights, and much burning of midnight oil. At places it appeared to be bottomless. The ballast locomotive would haul train after train-load of spoil excavated from the ballast-pit, and push it cautiously along to the end of the dump, where the trucks would be discharged. The rubble would rush down the declivity, and as it came into contact with the surface of the morass there would be a wicked squelch. Then the bog would open, and slowly, but surely and silently, the discharged mass would disappear into the viscous mass until the last vestige had slipped from sight, and the slime had rolled over the spot, concealing all evidences of the few hundred tons of material emptied on to the spot but a few minutes before. The engineer would sound the bog anxiously for signs of the bottom. Yes, he could feel it all right--10, 15, perhaps 20 feet below the surface. The trains would continue to rattle up and down with heavily laden trucks, and send the contents crashing pell-mell into the swamp below. Ten train-loads of gravel, rock, and what not would disappear from sight, and the engineer would probe the treacherous sponge once more. But the soundings did not vary a foot. Where had the dump gone? The ballast had sunk simply to the bottom of the bog, and had spread itself out on all sides, finding its own level like water. The bed of the morass was as broken as the hill-side near by, and was intersected in all directions by ruts and gullies. Until these holes were filled, there could be no possible hope of the embankment appearing above the surface of the bog....

While the upper stretches of New Ontario and Quebec were occasioning the engineers many anxious moments, owing to the eccentricities of the muskeg and swamp, the graders advancing eastwards from Winnipeg were in close grips with rock, which offered a most stubborn resistance....

For hour after hour, day after day, month after month, nothing was heard but the chink-chink of drills and the devastating roar of explosive with its splitting and disintegrating work. Advance was exceedingly slow, some of the blasts requiring as much as six weeks or more to prepare, and then only breaking up sufficient of the granite mass to permit of an advance of about 200 feet....

It was on work of this nature where the greatest number of accidents occurred, the majority of which might have been avoided had the men engaged in the operations displayed but ordinary care.... Dynamite was responsible for more deaths on this undertaking than any other accident--the collapse of the Quebec Bridge notwithstanding--and sickness combined....

The slush on the lakes was one of the greatest obstacles which those in the field were doomed to face. From the bank it looks safe enough, but to venture upon its surface is to court certain death. Why? It is very simple to explain. The lakes freeze up under the advance of winter, but before the encrustation has assumed a sufficient thickness there is a heavy fall of snow. Under the weight of the white, fleecy mantle the ice slowly and steadily sinks below the level of the water, which, pouring over the mirror-like armour, saturates the snow. Under successive falls of snow the ice sinks lower and lower, and the slush assumes a greater and greater thickness, until at last it measures from 4 or 6 to 10 feet in depth. What is more, it persistently refuses to freeze. The appearance of its smooth surface tempts the daring to advance. It withstands his weight until he has ventured a fair distance from the shore; then, without the slightest warning, suddenly it opens up, drawing the unwary into its icy depths, where he is soon suffocated. One cannot escape from its embrace, no matter how great the struggle, and, when the end is reached, the slush gathers over one, giving no inkling of the ghastly secret beneath....

The greatest summer peril was from bush fires, which rage with terrific fury and are of frequent occurrence throughout New Ontario, the spruce, jack-pine and other indigenous resinous trees providing excellent fuel for the flames. The danger from this terror of the forest was not so much in regard to human life, as to the destruction of precious provisions hauled in and cached for the succeeding winter, the loss of which might have jeopardised the welfare of a whole survey party. Once this devastating fiend secures a firm grip it roars viciously. The forest through which it sweeps with incredible speed becomes a fiendish furnace, which either has to burn itself out, or to suffer extinction by a tropical downpour of rain.

56. CANADIAN NAVAL POLICY (1912).

=Source.=--_The Times_ Special Supplement, 31st December, 1912--a Review of the Year 1912.

Mr. Borden's main proposal was that a sum of £7,000,000 should be voted at once for the construction of three armoured ships of the latest and strongest type. These ships were to be built in England and placed at the disposal of the Admiralty, subject to recall at a later period should the permanent naval policy of the Dominion require it. To show their origin they were to bear Canadian names, and they were to be additional to the programme of construction already laid down for next year's Navy Estimates by the First Lord of the Admiralty. In order, meanwhile, that naval shipbuilding should make a start in Canada, yards were to be established for the construction of certain cruisers and auxiliary craft which the Admiralty engaged to order from the Dominion. A very important step towards closer consultation in matters of policy was, moreover, announced in the appointment of a Canadian Minister to the Committee of Defence. This Minister was to have the right of being present at all meetings of the Committee, which would thus be brought much more closely in touch with the Dominion Cabinet. In the course of his speech, Mr. Borden also read out an extremely lucid and well-worded Memorandum on the growth of foreign navies, with which he had been supplied at his own especial request by the Admiralty.

The main effect of the Memorandum was to show the increasing concentration in home waters demanded of the British Navy by the swift expansion of the German Fleet and the consequent reduction of Imperial naval strength in all outlying seas. The statement was an eloquent corollary to a suggestion thrown out by Mr. Churchill on May 16 at a banquet of the Shipwrights' Company. The First Lord then urged that, while Great Britain made herself responsible for the security of the Empire in the central European theatre, the Dominions might combine to patrol the outer seas. This argument was strongly developed by Mr. Borden in the course of his speech; and, though it has not been repeated by Mr. Churchill, it is likely to exercise a very important influence on the development of opinion on the naval question in the Dominions. Mr. Borden's proposals were received with enthusiasm in this country; but Liberal critics showed a tendency to question the constitutional propriety of the addition to the Committee of Defence, and to complain of the cost of manning and maintaining ships which were to be strictly additional to those already demanded by the Admiralty. The latter line of complaint, though never at all widely urged, received some reinforcement from Sir Wilfred Laurier's speech a week later. The Leader of the Opposition supported, as we have already said, the vote of £7,000,000; but he moved an amendment to the Bill proposing that this sum should be devoted to the construction of a Canadian Navy, to be manned and maintained entirely by the Dominion. It was added that the ships proposed should be built in the Dominion and should form two separate fleet-units, one on the Atlantic and one on the Pacific Coast. Sir Wilfred Laurier also took occasion to reiterate a view formerly expressed that Dominion ships should not take part in any Imperial war except upon a vote of the Canadian Parliament....

It would, however, be leaving the most significant part of the event untold not to record the profound impression which it has created throughout the Empire. The gift of the Malay States had already roused a strong wave of Imperial sentiment when Mr. Borden delivered his speech. It is no exaggeration to say that the Canadian initiative was hailed with fervid enthusiasm everywhere. Opinions differed in regard to the details of control, but there was only one voice regarding the main proposal of three first-class ships. Great attention was, moreover, given to the announcement that a Canadian Minister should in future be regularly summoned to the Committee of Defence, and the opinion was freely expressed that in the proposal lay the germ of a much closer future union in foreign policy and defence.

57. CANADIAN STREAMS.

By CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS.

O rivers rolling to the sea
From lands that bear the maple tree,
How swell your voices with the strain
Of loyalty and liberty!

A holy music heard in vain
By coward heart and sordid brain,
To whom this strenuous being seems
Naught but a greedy race for gain.

O unsung streams--not splendid themes
You lack to fire your patriot dreams!
Annals of glory gild your waves,
Hope freights your tides, Canadian streams!

St. Lawrence, whose wide water laves
The shores that ne'er have nourished slaves!
Swift Richelieu of lilied fame!
Niagara of glorious graves!

Thy rapids, Ottawa, proclaim
Where Daulac and his heroes came!
Thy tides, St. John, declare La Tour,
And, later, many a loyal name!

Thou inland stream, whose vales, secure
From storm, Tecumseh's death made poor!
And thou, small water, red with war,
'Twixt Beaubassin and Beauséjour!

Dread Saguenay, where eagles soar,
What voice shall from the bastioned shore
The tale of Roberval reveal
Or his mysterious fate deplore?

Annapolis, do thy floods yet feel
Faint memories of Champlain's keel,
Thy pulses yet the deed repeat
Of Poutrincourt and D'Iberville.

And thou far tide, whose plains now beat
With march of myriad westering feet,
Saskatchewan, whose virgin sod
So late Canadian blood made sweet?

Your bulwark hills, your valleys broad,
Streams where De Salaberry trod,
Where Wolfe achieved, where Brock was slain,
Their voices are the voice of God!

O sacred waters! not in vain,
Across Canadian height and plain,
Ye sound us in triumphant tone
The summons of your high refrain.

NOTES

LORD DUFFERIN (Frederick Blackwood), 1826-92: Governor-General
of Canada, 1872-8.

JACQUES CARTIER, 1491-1557: explored the St. Lawrence, 1535-42.

COUNT DE MONTS, 1560-1611: a Huguenot gentleman of the French
Court, had a patent for the colonisation of Acadia (Nova
Scotia) from 1603 to 1607.

SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN, 1567-1635: interested in Canada, 1603-35:
founded Quebec, 1608.

THOMAS JAMES, 1593-1635: a Bristol man.

LUKE FOX, 1586-1635: sailed from London.

SIEUR DE MAISONNEUVE: founder of Montreal and Governor there
for 22 years: died in 1676.

CHARLES DE MONTMAGNY: Governor of Canada, 1636-48, was opposed
to the settlement of Montreal.

COUNT DE FRONTENAC, 1620-98: Governor of Canada, 1672-82 and
1689-98. The strongest Governor during the French period.

FRANCIS PARKMAN, 1823-93: the most picturesque of American
historians: accurate as well as graphic.

MADELAINE VERCHÈRES: born 1678, married a second time in 1722,
date of death unknown.

LOUIS-HECTOR DE CALLIÈRES, 1646-1703: came to Canada as
Governor of Montreal in 1684: Governor-General at Quebec, 1699.

GILLES HOCQUART: Intendant of New France, 1731-48: an energetic
and able official.

SIEUR DE LA VÉRENDRYE, 1685-1749: explored to the west of
Canada, 1731-8. His sons are said to have sighted the Rockies
in 1742.

MAJOR CHARLES LAWRENCE administered the government of Nova
Scotia from 1753, became officially Governor in 1756: died in
1760.

HORACE WALPOLE, 1717-97: son of Sir Robert Walpole: wrote
several books, but is most famous for his letters. Most of
the letters here quoted were written to Sir Horace Mann, the
British envoy at Florence.

HENRY SEYMOUR CONWAY, 1721-95: was a soldier and statesman, who
had been much criticised for his failure in an expedition to
Rochfort in 1757.

LORD HOLDERNESS (Robert D'Arcy), 1718-78: Secretary of State,
1751-61.

JAMES WOLFE, 1727-59: military commander of the Quebec
expedition of 1759. On his death, George Townshend,
1724-1807, succeeded to the command at Quebec. He returned to
England and left the defence to James Murray, 1719-94. The
commander-in-chief in N. America was Jeffrey Amherst, 1717-97.
The Admiral at Quebec was Sir Charles Saunders, 1713-75.

MARQUIS DE MONTCALM, 1712-59: French General in North America,
1756-9.

SAMUEL HEARNE, 1745-92: made the first inland explorations
undertaken by the Hudson Bay Company, 1770-5.

SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, 1755-1820: explored the Mackenzie
river, 1789, and crossed the Rockies to the Pacific in 1793.
Captain George Vancouver, R.N., 1758-98, was exploring the
coast at the same time.

LOUIS RODRIGUE MASSON, 1833-1903: a member of the Canadian
Senate and Lieut.-Governor of Quebec, collected and published
narratives by a number of traders in the service of the
North-West Company.

GEORGE HERIOT, 1766-1844: born in Jersey, became
Postmaster-General of Canada: was second in command at the
battle of Chateauguay in the War of 1812.

SIMON FRASER, 1776-1862: explored the Fraser river in 1808:
declined knighthood in 1811: died poor near Montreal.

JAMES FITZGIBBON, 1780-1863: born in Ireland: won the battle
of Beaver Dam, 1813: helped to put down the rebellion in Upper
Canada, 1837: returned to England later.

SIR PHINEAS RIALL, 1775-1850: commanded at the battle of
Chippawa: Governor of Grenada, 1816: knighted, 1833.

SIR GORDON DRUMMOND, 1771-1854: born at Quebec: fought as
colonel against the French in Egypt, 1801: won the battle of
Lundy's Lane, 1814: administrator of Lower Canada, 1815-6.

LORD SELKIRK (Thomas Douglas), 1771-1820: planted a colony
in Prince Edward Island in 1803: his colonists on the Red
River, 1815-6, twice driven out by the North-West Company, but
restored in 1817.

ROBERT SEMPLE, 1766-1816: born at Boston: travelled widely:
became Governor of the Hudson Bay Company's territories in 1815.

CUTHBERT GRANT, the leader of the attacking party, was a
Scottish half-breed.

JOHN GALT, 1779-1839: best known as a Scots novelist: visited
Canada in the interests of the Canada Company in 1824 and
1826-9.

THOMAS CHANDLER HALIBURTON, 1796-1865: a Nova Scotian: Judge of
the Supreme Court there: in _Sam Slick_ posed as a Connecticut
clockmaker pointing out the foibles and want of initiative of
the Nova Scotians: founded the American school of humour: later
came to England, and was a Member of Parliament, 1859-65.

LORD DURHAM (John George Lambton), 1792-1840: radical member of
Parliament: helped to prepare the Reform Bill: son-in-law of
Earl Grey, who carried the Bill: ambassador to Russia, Prussia,
and Austria: sent as Special Commissioner to Canada after the
rebellion of 1837: his Report is a "State paper on colonial
affairs which will live to all time" (Sir Charles Lucas).

JOSEPH HOWE, 1804-73: a distinguished Nova Scotian statesman,
who led the movement for responsible government in his native
province: became Lieut.-Governor of N.S., 1873.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL, 1792-1878: son of the sixth Duke of Bedford:
whig statesman: Home Secretary, 1835: Colonial Secretary, 1839:
Prime Minister, 1846: Foreign Secretary, 1852: Lord President
of the Council, 1854: Colonial Secretary, 1855: Foreign
Secretary, 1859: Prime Minister, 1865. The most important
period in his career is probably that of his ministry from 1846
to 1852.

SIR GEORGE SIMPSON, 1792-1860: Governor of the Hudson Bay
Company's territories, 1821-60: crossed North America, 1828:
made "overland" journey round the world, 1841-2.

JOHN ROBERT GODLEY, 1814-61: much interested in colonisation:
helped to found the Church of England Colony of Canterbury in
New Zealand, 1850: later became Under Secretary at War.

LORD ELGIN (James Bruce), 1811-63: Governor of Jamaica, 1842:
Governor-General of Canada, 1847-54: carried out Lord Durham's
plan of responsible government--he was Durham's son-in-law:
envoy to China, 1857-8 and 1860-1: Viceroy of India, 1862-3.

SIR GEORGE GREY (1799-1882), who was Colonial Secretary,
1854-5, and several times Home Secretary, was a nephew of the
Earl Grey who carried the Reform Act. He must not be confused
with the more famous Sir George Grey (1812-98), who was
Governor of South Australia, of New Zealand, and of Cape Colony.

SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD, 1815-91: born at Kingston, Ontario:
leader of his (Conservative) party, 1856-91: led the federation
movement, and became the first Prime Minister of the Dominion:
politically responsible for the construction of the Canadian
Pacific Railway: Prime Minister, 1878-91.

GEORGE BROWN, 1818-80: founder and editor of the Toronto
_Globe_: leader of the radical party, but formed a coalition
with Macdonald in order to carry Confederation, resigning as
soon as success was assured.

CHRISTOPHER DUNKIN, 1811-81: born in London, England: went to
Canada, 1836: he was at first an opponent, but later a strong
supporter, of Confederation: passed the Canada Temperance Act:
became a Judge of the Supreme Court of Quebec.

LORD STRATHCONA (Donald Smith), born in 1820 in Elginshire:
entered the service of the Hudson Bay Co. in 1838: Governor of
its territories, 1868: on the rebellion at the Red River in
1870, he succeeded in maintaining peace until the arrival of
troops under Lord Wolseley: financially responsible for the
making of the Canadian Pacific Railway: Governor of the Hudson
Bay Co. in London, 1889: raised to the peerage, 1897.

GARNET, LORD WOLSELEY, 1833-1913: Commander-in-Chief of the
British Army, 1895-1900: served in the Crimea and in India and
China: commanded in Ashanti and Egypt as well as in the Red
River expedition.

GEORGE MONRO GRANT, 1835-1902: Principal of Queen's University,
Kingston, 1877: President of the Imperial Federation League,
Ontario, 1889.

MISS E. PAULINE JOHNSON, "Tekahionwake," the descendant of
Indian chiefs, who were the loyal allies of the British, has
published several volumes of Canadian poetry.

SIR WILFRED LAURIER, born 1841, in Quebec: leader of the
Liberal party, 1887: Prime Minister, 1896-1911.

ROBERT LAIRD BORDEN, born 1854, in Nova Scotia: leader of the
Conservative party, 1901: Prime Minister, 1911.

CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS, Canadian poet, historian and novelist,
born in New Brunswick, 1860: has been a Professor in Nova
Scotia and an editor in New York.

GLASGOW: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Written by Mlle. de Verchères at the request of Governor de Beauharnois.

[2] Cf. Extract 14, pp. 28-30

[3] Mackenzie found his situation to be on an arm of "Vancouver's Cascade Canal," part of what is now Burke Channel, about 52° 20′ N. lat.

[4] Representative institutions without responsible government.

[5] Colonial Secretary in the early part of 1839.

* * * * * *

Transcriber's note:

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.

Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. For example:
reunion, re-union; any one, anyone; casque; inconveniency; embogged;
burthen; lenity.

Pg 33, 'an oble' replaced by 'a noble'.

Pg 44, 'he witholds' replaced by 'he withholds'.