i8o THROUGH THREEFOLD TENSION 



There was added a comparison of the depend 

 ence and subordination of the Canadians in the 

 existing conditions with the proud equality they 

 would enjoy as citizens of the United States. 

 The honors and emoluments of the British Em 

 pire were denied them as colonials, while all the 

 distinctions of the American Republic would be 

 within their reach. 



The movement of which this document was 

 the pronunciamento was in Canada to a great 

 extent an episode of provincial party politics. 

 Support for it was drawn almost entirely from 

 two sources, the Tories and the ultra-demo 

 cratic element of the French Liberals. Such an 

 alliance had no possibility of permanence or of 

 effectiveness. What the one party had most 

 at heart in the proposed union with the United 

 States was wholly abhorrent to the other. The 

 inner repugnance of the two elements was kept 

 in abeyance at first, and for some months agita 

 tion through associations and public meetings 

 was active and to the government disquieting. 

 Though the annexationists invariably declared 

 that the peaceful consent of Great Britain was 

 an absolute prerequisite to the realization of 

 their purpose, Lord Elgin, on the advice of his 

 ministry, took pains to discourage the agita- 



