^boubisot] canada DURING THE VICTORIAN ERA 37 



XVI. 



Only a few -words in conclusion. Looking at the history of the 

 Canadian dependenc}' for sixty years, one can see in all the phases of its 

 political development there has ever run " an increasing purjDose." The 

 statesmen of England and her colonies have, perhaps, builded better than 

 they knew. The destiny that shapes our ends, " rough-hew them how 

 we will," has been carrying the empire in a direction beyond the ken and 

 conception of probably the most sanguine and practical minds. When 

 we consider that the union of the two Canadas was followed in about a 

 quarter of a century by the federation of all the provinces, and that this 

 great measure has been also supplemented, after a lapse of thirty years, 

 by a conference of delegates fi^om the most distant colonial possessions, we 

 may Avell believe that the thoughts of men are indeed widened throughout 

 England and her dependencies " by the process of the suns," and that 

 ]iowerful current of human thought and progress which is everywhere 

 making itself felt is carrying forward the Empire, not into an unknown 

 sea of doubt and peril, where it may split into many fragments, but into 

 a haven where it may rest in the tranquil waters of peace and security. 



As long as the respective members of the Federation observe faith- 

 fullj^ the principles on which it necessarily rests — perfect equality among 

 all its sections, a due consideration for local rights, a deep Imperial as 

 well as Canadian sentiment whenever the interests of the whole Federa- 

 tion is at stake — the people of this Dominion need not fear failure in their 

 efforts to accomplish the great work in which they have been so long 

 engaged. Full of that contidence that the history of the past should give 

 them, and of that energy and courage which are their natural heritage, 

 and which have ah-eady achieved the most satisfactory results in the face 

 of difficulties which, sixty years ago, would have seemed insurmountable ; 

 stimulated by their close neighbourhood to a nation with whom they 

 have alwaj's shown a desire to cultivate such relations as are compatible 

 with their dignity, their security, and their self-interest as a separate 

 and distinct communitj' ; adhering closely to those principles of govern- 

 ment which are best calculated to give moral as well as political strength ; 



policy of the present Canadian ministry, is not merely another step in that evolution 

 of events which have placed Canada in the position of a semi-independent power in 

 the course of thirty years ; but, judged by the spirit that has animated both Can- 

 adian and En^lisli statesmen in bringing it about, it is a part of that movement 

 which seems irresistibly forcing the parent state and her greatest dependency to a 

 closer alliance, commercial and defensive, that will make the empire impregnable. 

 It is a forerunner, many Canadians hope, of a scheme of imperial federation which 

 not long since seemed chimerical to those who cannot look beyond the interests of 

 mere sections of the empire. Mr. Chamberlain has certainly not disappointed his 

 friends who have always believed that he would make his position of administrator 

 of colonial affairs a position of value to the empire at large. 



