CANADA, DOMINION OF. 



105 



and men. The active militia numbered 30,050 

 men, with 3,730 horses, and the Government ex- 

 penditure in 1897-'9S was $1,081,013. Gen. Hut- 

 ton, as commander of the militia, during the 

 year made strenuous efforts to improve the spir- 

 its, the training, and the drill of the force. The 

 annual drill throughout the country was the most 

 successful ever held. The general's annual re- 

 port to the Government was a widely discussed 

 and most important document. In it he says: 



" The existing condition of the military forces 

 of the Dominion can only be characterized as 

 unsatisfactory in the extreme. The troops them- 

 selves generally are endowed with a profound 

 patriotism, gifted with an excellent physique, and 

 infused with that zeal and aptitude for military 

 service which is an historical attribute of the 

 Canadian people. The Canadian militia consists 

 of a number of small units of cavalry, artillery, 

 and infantry, of varying strength and of a vary- 

 ing condition of discipline and efficiency. Valu- 

 able as such a force may be in the fighting quali- 

 ties of its personnel, it is useless for military pur- 

 poses in the absence of a trained general staff, 

 in the absence of administrative departments, and 

 in the absence of an adequate supply of those 

 stores of arms, ammunition, and equipment which 

 are indispensable to the maintenance of an armed 

 force intended for military operations. The mili- 

 tia force of Canada is not, under the existing 

 system, an army in its true sense; it is but a 

 collection of military units without cohesion, 

 without staff, and without the military depart- 

 ments by which an army is moved, fed, or min- 

 istered to in sickness. There are no officers of 

 the Canadian militia who have received training 

 in the higher functions and responsibilities of 

 the general staff of an army. I need hardly 

 remark that it is the staff which constitutes the 

 brains and motive power of an army. There are 

 no military administration departments at pres- 

 ent in existence. With the exception of blankets 

 and tents, there are not sufficient stores to en- 

 able a military force of any size .to be placed 

 in the field. A reserve of arms and ammunition 

 is required, based upon a recognized scale. There 

 are no stores of reserve clothing. I am not in a 

 position to report fully upon the standard of 

 military proficiency attained by the whole of the 

 troops under my command. The fact, however, 

 that the training of rural battalions has in the 

 past been spasmodic and uncertain renders the 

 efficiency generally of the whole of the militia 

 an undetermined factor of defense. Until the 

 training of the rural troops is an annual fixture 

 it would be folly to suppose that the militia of 

 Canada as a whole can attain any satisfactory 

 standard of militaiy knowledge, or be reckoned 

 upon as a solid and dependable military force. It 

 may be assumed that two factors govern the 

 future organization and administration of a 

 Canadian army, as follows: (a) The defense of 

 Canadian soil; (6) the power to participate in 

 the defense of the British Empire. It was justly 

 claimed for Canada that she is now a nation. 

 In establishing this claim it must equally be ac- 

 cepted that with her birth as a nation are in- 

 disputably born the responsibilities of self-de- 

 fense. The defense of its own territory is the 

 primary duty of a state. As a most important 

 element in the defense of Canada, I can not but 

 impress the necessity of the naval defense of 

 Lakes Erie and Ontario. The militia act of 

 1880 contemplated the formation of a naval mili- 

 tia brigade, and I strongly recommend that steps 

 should be taken with that intention. Training 

 ships with an instructional staff might be ob- 



tained from the Admiralty. I feel sure that the 

 formation of such a force would be productive 

 of most valuable results, not only as a strong 

 and most important element of defense, but as 

 a means of educating the seafaring population 

 and of improving the shipping interests of the 

 inland waters of Canada. For the power to par- 

 ticipate in the defense of the British Empire it 

 will be obvious that the field troops above alluded 

 to could be made quickly and readily available. 

 Active operations could thus be undertaken con- 

 jointly with other British troops in whatever 

 part of the empire it might be the desire of 

 Canada to employ them. 



" Under the existing circumstances consider- 

 able increase to the present strength of the militia 

 force is inadvisable, but I wish most strongly 

 to urge that a complete though gradual change 

 should be effected in the organization and ad- 

 ministration of the whole force, so as to con- 

 form to the requirements of the principles which 

 I have ventured to submit. This change can be 

 effected with comparatively small increase to the 

 yearly budget. It will be of interest to note that 

 the Canadian people, who have a frontier of 

 3,200 miles contiguous to a foreign state, pay 

 less per head of its population toward the defense 

 of its own soil than any other country in the 

 world. It has been estimated that, exclusive of 

 capital expenditure upon guns, stores, etc., an 

 expenditure of $1,050,000, or 33 cents per head 

 of the population, w r ould be sufficient for the re- 

 quirements of the force proposed during the next 

 financial year. This will be an increase of $130,- 

 000 upon the estimates of 1897-'98. A compari- 

 son of the military expenditure with that of other 

 self-governing colonies of the empire will make 

 it apparent that the annual outlay of $2,000,000 

 upon her defenses will be the lowest expenditure 

 to expect of the Dominion in the near future, 

 with its vast resources, its increasing wealth, 

 and its ever-widening responsibilities. The crea- 

 tion of a militia army upon the lines indicated 

 will transform existing militia units into a mili- 

 tary force which shall in some degree, at least, 

 be worthy of the Canadian nation, and be equal 

 to maintaining the rights and liberties of the 

 Canadian people. It will be in its true sense a 

 national army, and will as such be able not 

 only to keep inviolate the integrity of Canadian 

 soil, but it will be capable of contributing to 

 the military defense of the British Empire in a 

 manner and with a power which will place Can- 

 ada in a position of unparalleled dignity and in- 

 fluence among all the possessions of the Crown." 



Canada and South Africa. The pivotal point 

 of Canadian history in 1899 was the sympathy 

 shown to fellow-subjects in South Africa, the 

 wave of imperial sentiment which swept over 

 the country, and the sending of the Canadian 

 contingent. On July 30 the following resolution 

 was passed unanimously by the House of Com- 

 mons on motion of the Premier, seconded by 

 Mr. G. E. Foster, and approved by a letter from 

 Sir C. Tupper: 



" That this House has viewed with regret the 

 complications which have arisen in the Trans- 

 vaal Republic, of which her Majesty is suzerain, 

 from the refusal to accord to her Majesty's sub- 

 jects now settled in that region an adequate 

 participation in its government. 



" That this House has learned with still greater 

 regret that the condition of things there existing 

 has resulted in intolerable oppression, and has 

 produced great and dangerous excitement among 

 several classes of her Majesty's subjects in her 

 South African possessions. 



