APPENDIX A LI 
(d) Religious divisions.—Nor is this national unity in any way 
inconsistent with religious differences, unless these be fierce, unreason- 
able and unchristian. Liberty of conscience, within the limits of 
national safety, is the right of every Canadian. The right to worship 
God, unmolested and uncontrolled, is our British heritage. 
At the same time experience proves that, to be a strong people, 
religion must be an element of the national life. General Wallace in 
his Mexican story “The Fair God,” shows how the discouraged Aztecs 
had no cohesion and no courage to face the Spanish invader Cortez, 
until religious fervor—though a false and bloody belief it was—was 
kindled to give inspiration. A nation of atheists cannot continue to be 
a great nation. True, some tell us that there may be different religious 
ideals adapted to different casts of mind. Whether this be so or not 
there must be protection by the state of religious rights. 
It is generally recognized that the voluntary determination of the 
different religious bodies of eastern Canada to follow those of their own 
faith with the means of religious worship, in the Canadian west, has 
been one of the strongest bonds of union between east and west. In 
the rush of population westward in the United States the immigration 
exceeded the efforts of the churches to follow it, and anarchy, violence, 
and uncontrolled vice brought shame on that nation. It has not been 
so in western Canada. The great churches of Canada, on the best of 
terms with one another, have kept up with the foremost advance of 
settlement, even to the British Columbian valleys and the miners’ 
camps of the Yukon. In western Canada the men of every church who 
are true to the spirit of their office, who are self-sacrificing and broad- 
minded, have the respect of the whole community and have co-operated 
in charities, education, public morals, and in national and patriotic 
movements—all tending to a Canadian unity. 
(e) Education.—But the great national unifier is the Public School 
and the College. Here we are on debatable ground. It is perfectly 
easy for anyone to see the difference of ideal, according as we give 
greater importance to education by the church, the guardian of religion, 
or to the state, as requiring for its welfare an intelligent electorate. 
We are dealing at present, however, not with the system, but looking 
at education as the agency for building up an united and powerful state. 
All the provinces of western Canada have looked at education—and 
this includes provincially-provided or church-provided schools—as a 
most important agency in unifying our people. The one fact that the 
English language is taught in our schools of every class is a proof of this. 
A visit paid by His Excellency, Earl Grey, a few months ago, to the 
Winnipeg schools, which are famous for their efficiency, was a surprise 
to him. There are probably more than 4,000 children of foreigners, 
