THE POLITICAL DESTINY OF CANADA. 



225 



means and the responsibilities by which the colo- 

 nies should have been defended, and by which, 

 if necessary, this country should call for aid from 

 the colonies themselves. It ought further to 

 have been accompanied by the institution of 

 some representative council in the metropolis, 

 which would have brought the colonies into con- 

 stant and continuous relations with the Home 

 Government." 



The foregoing passage is quoted, apparently 

 with approbation, by Sir Julius Vogel, and as 

 affording evidence of the superiority of Conser- 

 vative over Liberal statesmanship. It will be 

 observed that Mr. Disraeli did not even suggest 

 the propriety or expediency of reconsidering the 

 subsisting relations between the colonies and the 

 empire. He merely indicated what he himself 

 would have desired to effect at the period of the 

 concession of self-government. In my judgment 

 his suggestions would have been wholly imprac- 

 ticable. Canada never would have been satisfied 

 with a tariff framed for her by the Imperial Par- 

 liament. Nor, having reference to the fact that 

 her tariff is imposed for Canadian purposes alone, 

 would there have been any object in attempting 

 to have a uniform, or, as it is termed, an impe- 

 rial tariff. The crown lands are infinitely better 

 managed by the local than they formerly were 

 by the imperial authorities ; and, considering 

 that free grants are cheerfully given to all bona- 

 fide settlers, the people of England could not 

 have greater benefit from them than they have. 

 A military code would be simply a machine for 

 fomenting quarrels between the colony and the 

 parent state, and as to the representative council 

 I should be curious to learn what relations with 

 the Home Government it would have to main- 

 tain. It must be obvious that the best medium 

 of communication between the Secretary of State 

 and the Colonial Government is the Governor. 

 Indeed, on the assumption that our existing in- 

 stitutions are to be maintained, the idea of such 

 a council is manifestly preposterous, while, under 

 such a system as has been suggested by Sir 

 Julius Vogel, it would be altogether inadequate. 

 Sir Julius Vogel has caught the idea from Mr. 

 Disraeli's speech, but has overlooked the cir- 

 cumstances under which the suggestion was 

 made. If our tariff, our lands, and our militia, 

 were all to be managed for us in Downing Street, 

 a representative council would be a necessary 

 part of the machinery ; but it is not probable 

 that a single Canadian statesman would entertain, 

 even for a moment, the propositions which Mr. 

 Disraeli did not make, but which he regretted 



87 



had not been made when self-government was 

 conceded. 



I should be sorry to think that the later ut- 

 terance of the Earl of Beaconsfield at a lord- 

 mayor's banquet in 1875 is correctly interpreted 

 by Sir Julius Vogel as being favorable to any 

 scheme of imperial confederation. When I com- 

 pare the speech of 1875 with that of 1872, I can 

 only conclude that Lord Beaconsfield was him- 

 self convinced that he had suggested what was 

 impracticable, and that it was not expedient to 

 attempt any definition of his colonial policy. In 

 1875 his lordship declared that he had nothing 

 to add to his previously-expressed views " that 

 we should develop and consolidate our colonial 

 empire ; that we should assimilate not only their 

 interests, but their sympathies, to the mother- 

 country ; and that we believe they would prove 

 ultimately not a source of weakness and embar- 

 rassment, but of strength and splendor to the 

 empire." The very laudable objects which Lord 

 Beaconsfield desires to attain would most assur- 

 edly not have been accomplished by the means 

 which he suggested in 1872, and to which I have 

 already adverted. 



The consolidation of the colonial empire is 

 rather a vague expression and very different from 

 " consolidating the empire," which is the expres- 

 sion used by Sir Julius Vogel, who tells Lord 

 Carnarvon that " he stands alone in the charac- 

 ter of his work, that no one before him by peace- 

 ful means has ever succeeded in consolidating 

 such vast territories as those of Canada and 

 South Africa," and urges his lordship to perse- 

 vere in the larger task of consolidating the em- 

 pire. Sir Julius Vogel has evidently a great deal 

 to learn on the subject of Canadian confedera- 

 tion, if he imagines that the work was accom- 

 plished or even materially promoted by Lord 

 Carnarvon. To Canadians who have been accus- 

 tomed for years to the controversies between the 

 leaders of the rival political parties as to which 

 is entitled to the credit of carrying confederation, 

 it is a little amusing to learn that the measure 

 was really accomplished by Lord Carnarvon. 



It must not be imagined that in the remarks 

 I am about to offer on this subject I have any 

 intention of disparaging the services of Lord 

 Carnarvon, who, in my opinion, has superintend- 

 ed his important department with an ability 

 unsurpassed by any of his predecessors. His 

 lordship, however, could not have brought about 

 by any means at his disposal such a measure as 

 Canadian confederation, and Sir Julius Vogel's 

 remarks are calculated to mislead his English 



