CONFEDERATION. ANNEXATION. 179 



balky at the hills." I must, however, state that this inci- 

 dent happened when the railroad was quite in its infancy. 



Confederation was no doubt desirable, but I question 

 whether it is desirable to employ smart Yankee tricks 

 even for the attainment of a good object. The maritime 

 provinces had to sacrifice a great deal when they cast in 

 their lot with Canada. Ultimately it will be all the 

 better for them no doubt, but provinces as well as indi- 

 viduals are apt to think of the present and of the im- 

 mediate future rather than of the more distant day. Had 

 they been asked to make this sacrifice in the interests 

 of the British Empire, their loyalty would not have per- 

 mitted them to refuse, and they would never have re- 

 gretted their voluntary act. Trickery, however, always 

 leaves behind it a certain soreness in the breasts of those 

 who have been its victims. 



And it is quite possible that at no very distant day 

 those people who feel aggrieved at having been confe- 

 derated against their will may turn the same weapon 

 against their own government, and endeavour to " rail- 

 way " the Dominion into annexation. The stronge&t 

 argument that can be brought home to the million is 

 the argument of I. s. d. The necessaries of life in Canada 

 are as cheap as in almost any other part of the world, and 

 the taxes are as light. In the States taxes are very 

 heavy and the expenses of living almost intolerable. If 

 by preposterous and extravagant, or by fraudulent railway 

 schemes the public debt of Canada, the interest on which 

 is something like $1.50 per head of the population, be 

 even brought up to the burden of the public debt of the 

 United States, viz. $12 per head of its population, then 



