Part 8 (1/2)

In 1837 a young girl of eighteen had come to the British throne Many had wished her well, but few had dreans, she would prove an essential factor in a great in The extraordinary length of that reign, her homely virtues, and her statesmanlike prudence had made her Queen indeed in all her vast do-point for all her people

The year 1897 n, her Diamond Jubilee, which the whole E fashi+on

The priland early in June, accoe across the Atlantic It can be i both the land from {177} which he had imbibed his political ideals and the land from which his ancestors had come to New France more than two centuries before But his interest and his reat tasks to perform The most immediate purpose was to secure the denunciation or revision of the Belgian and German treaties He was to sit in the third Colonial Conference which had been su colonies were to be represented There it would be his ues from overseas the new i shape in Canada To the general public he desired to make better known the vast opportunities Canada had to offer both for the venturing settler and for the trader who stayed at home Perhaps less purposed, but, as it proved, no less successful, was a desire to bring together iance and the land of his ancestry

Fro froust, the Canadian prieeous state ceremonies, public dinners and country-house week-ends He {178} nified bearing and courtly address, the subtle note of distinction thatproof which he gave, as the French-Canadian ruler of the greatest of the colonies, of the wisdom, the imperial secret, which Britain alone of nations had learned--made him beyond question the lion of the hour The world, and not least Britain herself, realized onder, in the pageant of the Jubilee cerereat and how united the Empire was; and, at this moment, when all eyes were focussed upon London, the prime minister of Canada seemed to embody the new spirit and the new relationshi+p The press rang with Canada's praises 'For the first time in land and the English are regarding the Dominion with affectionate enthusias died and the Captains and the Kings departed, Sir Wilfrid Laurier[1] had a proud accounting to give his people

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The Belgian and Ger-block in the path of closer imperial trade relations, were at last denounced The definite, concrete offer of the Canadian preference proved effective, for it was given freely, in no huckstering spirit, with no demand for any equivalent or that Britain should reverse her whole fiscal system for the benefit of a small fraction of her trade

The Colonial Conference was an important incident of the Jubilee year

Mr Chamberlain, the new colonial secretary, made the chief address and laid before the ested the desirability of setting up an Imperial Council, withstill greater' But, as only the priave any syestion was not pressed He spoke in laudatory terms of the contribution of the Australasian colonies towards the British navy, and invited the other colonies to make similar offers As to trade relations, the colonial ministers decided to consider whether they could follow Canada's example of a free preference No definite step by Great Britain towards _zollverein_ or protection and preference was suggested Fruitful {180} discussion took place on Asiatic ie All these discussions, though without immediate results, served to outline the problems which were to face the Colonial Conference in the future--after the Boer War had given a new turn and a new insistence to these problems It was not until then, and not until Australia spoke with one voice rather than with six, that the Colonial Conference was to come into its own as an established body for inter-imperial discussion

Outside the Conference there was much discussion of iue and rhetorical, but it showed clearly the new-born interest which was stirring wide circles in the United Kingdom As yet Imperial Federation was the only scheme for closer union which had been at all clearly forh it had been discredited by the failure of its advocates to find and agree upon any feasible plan, its phraseology still held the field Sir Wilfrid himself so passage in his first speech at Liverpool he pictured Macaulay's New Zealander coaze upon the ruins of St Paul's but to knock for {181} admission upon the doors of Westminster Yet even these earlier speeches forecast the newer conception of the Empire as a partnershi+p of equal states 'A colony,' he described Canada, 'yet a nation--words never before in the history of the world associated together' Making a dramatic contrast between the rebellion and discontent which n in Canada, and the willing and unquestioned allegiance which marked it now, he showed that the secret lay in the ever-wider freedoranted

From London Sir Wilfrid passed to Paris It was before the days of the _entente cordiale_ In Egypt, in Soudan, in Siam, in Newfoundland, the interests of Britain and those of France were clashi+ng, and there wasrivalry and inevitable war The reports which had reached Paris of the strong expressions, uttered by a son of New France, of attachment and loyalty to the Empire and the Queen had made still more bitter the memories of the 'few acres of snow' lost in 1763

There was much wonder as to what Laurier would say on French soil His e there was the saotten the {182} France of their ancestors: they cherished its h this city, beautiful above all cities, I have noted uponthe proud device that the arh Europe--Liberty, Equality, Fraternity Very well: all that there is of worth in that device, we possess to-day in Canada We have liberty absolute, coe, for all the institutions which our ancestors brought froe If, on beco subjects of the British Croe have been able to keep our ancient rights and even acquire new ones, upon the other hand we have undertaken obligations which, descended as we are fronize in full and hold ourselves in honour bound to proclaim May I be permitted to make a personal reference? I am told that here in France there are people surprised at the attachland and which I do not conceal Here that is called _loyalis, I do not like that newly coined expression, _loyalisood old French word _loyaute_) And certainly, if there is one thing that the story {183} of France has taught ard as an attribute of the French race, it is loyalty, it is the heart's o applied to hi the inspiration of his life:

Fidele au double sang qu'ont verse dans ma veine, Mon pere vieux soldat, ma mere vendeenne

That double fidelity to ideas and aspirations, quite distinct, is our glory in Canada We are faithful to the great nation which gave us life, and we are faithful to the great nation which has given us liberty!'

A little later to a brilliant gathering he uttered a prophetic wish: 'It les between France and England have lost nothing of their bitterness, but as for us, Canadians of whatever origin, the days we hold glorious are the days when the colours of France and of England, the tricolor and the cross of St George, waved together in triuhts of Inkere; other alliances are made, but may it be permitted to a son of France who is at the salorious days with a regret which will {184} perhaps find an echo in every generousfollowed these words Echo, indeed, they have found in these later days of new battlefields, of a nobler cause and of bravery no less than of old

At last this close-pressed summer was over, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier returned to a country that for a brief time knew no party Every Canadian felt that his country stood higher than before in the world's regard, and the welcolyCanada's hour at last was come

In 1899 the outbreak of the ith the Boer republics gave occasion for a new step in Canada's national and i the British preference Canada hadthe line of trade Now, by sharing for the first time in an imperial war overseas, the Do the line of closer union for defence

The conflict in South Africa had been brewing for years Over and above the racial antagonism between Boer and Briton there was the strife unavoidable between a pri host The Transvaal burgher feared that, if the newcos that he cherished would be swamped The Outlander was equally determined to have the do the archy that surrounded Paul Kruger at Pretoria; ith the Anglo-Ger in control of a subsidized press; ith Rhodes and Ja of a solid British South Africa and fanatical Doppers drea of the day when the last _rooinek_ would be shi+pped fro ration

Even so, the warthe Boers of a more reasonable party under Joubert and Botha But, whatever er's obstinacy and Joseph Chamberlain's firer issued his ulti that Great Britain should withdraw her troops from the Transvaal frontier and submit the dispute to arbitration, the die was cast

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What of Canada? She had never before taken part in war beyond the American continent Yet no sooner was the ultimatum launched than offers of service froan to pour into Ottawa, and press and public to deent should be sent It was a startling change from the day when Sir John Macdonald had declined to take any step towards equipping a Canadian contingent for the Soudan It was not because Canada was deeply convinced that in the Boer War Britain's cause was yptian War The vast majority, indeed, believed that the cause was just, that Britain was fighting to free a population suffering under intolerable tyranny When neutral opinion the world over condeed in its defence that the colonies believed in its justice True; not because, in Canada, at least, there was at the outset any real knowledge of the tangled issue, but simply because of the reputation which British statesmen had acquired in the past for probity and fairness Nor was it that Canada believed the Empire's existence to be at stake Many a ti to {187} Britain's aid if ever she should be in serious straits But few, if any, in Canada believed this to be such an occasion In the phrase of a fervent Canadian i used to crush a hazel-nut Faith in the greatness of Britain's naval and , and, even more than in Britain, public opinion in Canada anticipated a 'pro would be all over before our men arrived It was just another of Britain's 'little wars'

The real source of the demand that Canada should now take a part lay in the new-born imperial and national consciousness The crisis served to precipitate the e in the Canadian mind The Jubilee festivities and the British preference had increased irowth, national pride was getting the better of colonial dependence A curious element in this pride was the sense of rivalry with the United States, which had just won lory in a little ith Spain All these sentiorous newspaper appeal, led to the wish to {188} do soible to show that the day of passive loyalty was over and the day of responsible partnershi+p had begun

Sir Wilfrid Laurier was faced with a difficult problem He had not expected war 'I had hoped to the last,' he said later, 'that there would be no warthat the Uitlanders would get their rights froer's Government, not by the use of force but simply by the means of reason applied to the case' Noas suddenly called upon to decide one of the most momentous issues that had ever confronted the Canadian people He had to decide it in the lish-speaking provinces Equally he had to take into account the lukewarmness or hostility of Quebec The lish-speaking fellow-citizens had stood ten or twenty years before They were passively loyal, content to be a protected colony The instinctive sympathies of lish Outlanders in the Transvaal We hts on this aspect of the problem from his oords, addressed to an audience in Toronto:

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Blood is thicker than water, and the issue in as it appealed to you Still we are British subjects, and claihts of British subjects, and we assume all the responsibilities this entails There are h, to blame us and to say that I should have rushed on and taken no precautions to guide public opinion inthe country I told you a o that I would not sith the current, that I would endeavour to guide the current, and on this occasion I tried to do so