XLII THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



represented in the Parliament of the United Kingdom; "the Imperial 

 nation" for the British peoples at large, and "the Canadian nation" 

 for that part of it municipally organized in Canada: — a word used in 

 such a jumble of significations requires definition for any particular 

 context. When therefore I say "Confederation made us a nation," 

 what is meant by the word is, a people brought together as a working 

 political organism within a certain territory. This by no means im- 

 plies a sovereign state: Canada's nationhood is still a statehood in 

 the United States of Britain, and perhaps sooner than we expect may, 

 as part of the British Commonwealth, be combined with a different 

 and larger quality still, of membership in the Federation of the World. 

 Our ultimate nationality is humanity. I confess to have long had a 

 hope of a larger Union between the British Empire, France and the 

 United States. Anyway, Confederation lifted us out of the pettiness 

 of provincialism. It brought us a territory larger than Europe to 

 work in, and a wondrous ideal of what that new Europe might become 

 for our seers to sing of. 



Thus arose the Confederation School of Canadian poets. Why 

 the prose writers lagged behind is another story. The compact and 

 spirited message of lyric verse is doubtless the main secret of its 

 influence in an age averse to long compositions and diluted thought. 

 As the first anthologist of the Confederation poets, I had the privilege 

 of intimate acquaintance with the principal men and women of the 

 school and preserve their letters as valued treasures. Among 

 them were John Reade, (now the delightful Dean of the guild), 

 Archibald Lampman, Charles George Douglas Roberts, Bliss Carman, 

 Charles Mair, Ffederick George Scott, Hunter Duvar, William 

 Wilfred Campbell, Dr. William Henry Drummond, Duncan Campbell 

 Scott, John E. Logan, George Murray, George Martin, William 

 McLennan, "Seranus," Ethelwyn Wetherald, Agnes Maule Machar, 

 Pauline Johnson and Isabella Valancy Crawford. These appeared 

 practically together like a flight of songbirds from the South in April, 

 wafted in by some mighty wind of the spirit. The birthdates of 

 most of them are within a few years of each other, not far from 1860. 

 Roberts had the greatest promise. The new and spontaneous patriotic 

 outburst of his 



"O Child of Nations, giant-limbed 

 Who stand'st among the nations now" 



evoked an immediate emotional response throughout the Dominion: 



"But thou, my Country, dream not thou. 



Wake and behold how night is done!^ 

 How on thy breast and o'er thy brow. 



Bursts the uprising sun! " 



