16 



TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTELY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



dealings with Canada is true ; but litigiousness is 

 not piracy ; and, as we have already said, the real 

 object- of their irritation has not been Canada, 

 but England. The Monroe doctrine was held by 

 Canning as well as by Monroe ; and, irrespectively 

 of any desire of aggrandizement, the intrusion of 

 an American power here would probably give as 

 much umbrage to England as the intrusion of the 

 English power in their own continent gives to the 

 people of the United States. That the Ameri- 

 cans would feel pride in behaving generously 

 toward a weaker state, will appear credible only 

 to those who have seen enough of them to know 

 that, though supposed to care for nothing but the 

 dollar, they have in reality a good deal of pride. 



As an independent nation, Canada would, of 

 course, be at liberty to negotiate freely for the 

 removal of the customs-line between herself and 

 the United States, and for her admission to all 

 the commercial advantages of her own continent 

 At present not only is she trammeled by imperi- 

 al considerations, but it can hardly be expected 

 that the American Government will place itself on 

 a lower international level than that of England 

 by treating with a dependency as a nation, espe- 

 cially as there are constant intimations that the 

 dependency is retained and is being nursed up 

 with the view of making it a rival power to the 

 United States, and thus introducing into the con- 

 tinent the germs of future jealousy, and possibly 

 of war. 



That Canada can ever be made a rival power 

 to the United States — that, if she is only kept 

 long enough in a state of dependence, there will 

 be an indefinite increase of her population and 

 her strength — seems to be little better than a 

 rhetorical fancy. The barrier of slavery being 

 removed, the set of population is likely to be, not 

 toward the frozen north, where the winter, be- 

 sides suspending labor and business, eats up the 

 produce of the summer in the cost of fuel, but 

 toward those countries in which warmth is pro- 

 vided by the sun, and work may be carried on 

 during the whole year. The notion that the north 

 is the natural seat of empire seems to have no 

 more solid foundation. It is apparently a loose 

 generalization from the success of the northern 

 tribes which conquered the Roman Empire. It is 

 forgotten that those northern warriors had not 

 only been hardened by exposure to the full sever- 

 ity of the northern climate, but picked by the 

 most rigorous process of natural selection. Stove- 

 heat is not less enervating than the heat of the 

 sun. But a nation Canada, so far as we can see, 

 might have been, had the attempt been vigorous- 



ly made at the propitious moment, when, owing 

 to the effects of the civil war in the United States, 

 the balance of prosperity was decidedly in her 

 favor, when her financial condition appeared im- 

 mensely superior to that of her neighbor, and 

 when the spirit of her people had been stirred by 

 confederation. That opportunity wa-s allowed to 

 pass, and, in all probability, it will never re- 

 turn. 



A movement in favor of nationality there was 

 — one which had a twofold claim to sympathy, 

 because it was also a movement against faction 

 and corruption, and which/ though it has failed, 

 has left honorable traces on public life. But it 

 was not strong enough to make head against the 

 influences which have their centre in the little 

 court of Ottawa, and the attacks of the lower 

 class of politicians, who assailed it with the ut- 

 most ferocity, seeing clearly that the success of 

 the higher impulse would not suit their game. 

 Moreover, the French province interposed be- 

 tween the British provinces of the east and west, 

 is a complete non-conductor, and prevents any 

 pulsation from running through the whole body. 

 It must further be owned that, in industrial com- 

 munities, the economical motives are stronger 

 than the political, and that the movement in fa- 

 vor of Canadian nationality had only political 

 motives on its side. Perhaps the appearance of 

 a great man might after all have turned the 

 scale ; but dependencies seldom produce great 

 men. 



Had the movement in favor of nationality 

 succeeded, the first step would have been a legis- 

 lative union, which would in time have quelled 

 sectionalism, and made up for the deficiency of 

 material size and force by moral solidity and 

 unity of spirit. Canada, as was said before, is 

 hardly a proper subject for federal government, 

 which requires a more numerous group of states 

 and greater equality between them. Confederation 

 as it exists, we repeat, has done little more than 

 develop the bad side of democratic government. 

 A project is now on foot for a legislative union 

 between Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince 

 Edward's Island ; but this will only make mat- 

 ters worse by reducing the number of important 

 states to three (Manitoba and British Columbia 

 being in the merest infancy), two of which will 

 be always combining against the third. That 

 there would have been opposition to a legislative 

 union of the whole of Canada on the part of Que- 

 bec is more than probable ; but Quebec, if she 

 had been handled with determination, would most 

 likely have given way. 



