182 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



At the union of England and Scotland in 1707, the population of the lat.ter 

 country was but one million and fifty thousand ; her shipping not fifty 

 thousand tons ; her revenue only £110,694. These fadts are curious, for witli 

 such apparently straitened resources Scotland had maintained her national 

 Imdependence for ages ; often flghittng great baùtU^ and passing through fiery 

 trials. Where, sir, is my friend the Financial Secretary ? He wants some- 

 thing to lend dignity to the dull figurets which he pores over day by day. Let 

 me assure him ahait he need not fear to contrast hiis revenue of £12."), 000 with 

 that of Scotland at the union. As late as 1766 the shipping of Scotland meas- 

 ured but :i2,818 tons, but a Ixifle over what it was a century ^before, while ours 

 has Increased enormously in ithe same period of time. 



Historical events, wihlch genius illustrates, dazzle us, as stag-e plays do, 

 so that we rarely count the strength of the company, or measure the propor- 

 tions of the scene. The Royalist army at Marston Moor mustered but twenty 

 thousand men, and yet the Crown of England hung upon the issue. The Scots 

 at Dunbar had but an equal number. Tlixee such armies could be furniLshed 

 by Nova Scotia alone. I am often amused at the flippant manner in which 

 our old airms are spoken of ; but at Nasfby King Charles had only " twelve 

 cannons," and they were not much better than those which are used for firing 

 salutes at our mud fortresses in Guysborougih and Lunenburgh. Whj% ait the 

 battle of Cressy there were but thirty thousand Englishmen— about one-half 

 of the militia of Nova Scotia. At Poictiers there were but twelve thousand, 

 fewer men than our friends from Cape Breton could muster without drawing 

 a man from the main. Man for man, tiheoi we have in North America force 

 enough to fight over again all tihe great battles that «mblazon our naitdonal 

 history ; that is. If the blood of the sires has descended (to their soais, and 

 if the mercurial atmosphere at the noxtth, which ought to lend it vivacity, does 

 not render it sluggiLsDi and inert. 



Tou will be amus'ed to find thialt Frederick the Great had only two and 

 a half millions of people to deveQop his schemes of conquest, and to defy a 

 world In anns. So that nolbody ought to be surprised if two and a hailf 

 millLons of British subjects, accustomed to the forms and siecurities of freedom, 

 physically as enduring, and intellectually as intelligent should at least ask for 

 Ihio same political staltus as the Cockneys of London or the weavers of Man- 

 dheeter. 



But it sometimes is ©aid hy politicdams for party purposes, that all the 

 world Is advajicing faster ithan we are. Is it so ? Take Halifax for example. 

 It numl>effs 25,000 inhabitants. How many ciHies in the whole United States are 

 larger ? Only twenty-onje. Montréal has 60,000 people ; there are only eight 

 cities in the repuVjlic more populous. 



Let us now, sir, turn to another aspect of tllie question. If we have got 

 the resources, the trade_ 'the territory, the men and the cities to begin with, 

 have we not get tihe freedom ? Look to your old monarchies or recent i^epub- 

 Ucs and see if amy of tham have exhibited any more of the love of liberty, or 

 tihe capacity for securing its ijraotical enjoyment than we have. The very 

 tone of thivs debate procialms Nova SeOtiia a free ooumitry, and whatever we 

 may lack, we have the fi^nst best gift of God to man ; freedom of thought, 

 of speech and of public discussion. The people of this country select every 

 puWic officer, from one end of It to the othier, eibher diTecitly or by their 

 reprcsentaitlvcs, with one single exception. The Lieutenant-Governor alone 

 is appointed by the Imperial Government ; we have more power over those 

 who manage our affairs than they have in England, where the Peers are 

 permanent— tihe Crown hereditary. Our people, In their town meetings, do 

 their local business ; this Legislature forms the administration and sustains 

 it. We are as free as any i)eople in Europe. Asia or Africa ; and as for 

 America, I believe the principles of tihe British constitution secure a sounder 



