Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



491 



THE TESTING TIME. 



The Nationalist movement, headed by Mr. Bourassa, 

 is only dangerous in that it perpetuates the racial and 

 religious differences and animosities which were 

 beginning to die out. The testing time for the new 

 combination, Nationalist and Conservative, will come 

 when the plans already prepared by Liberal statesmen 

 and approved by the .\dmiraUy for a Canadian fleet 

 under Canadian control will have to be adopted or 

 IX)stponed. 



Canada's refusal of reciprocity with the United 

 States will not lead to a rupture with the United 

 States, or to any permanent misunderstanding amongst 

 the English-speaking peoples. The Canadian resent- 

 ments are readily understood by intelligent Americans. 

 Canada has nothing to lose and everything to gain by 

 strengthening the ties that bind Britain and the United 

 States as friends and allies. Secretary of State Kno.x 

 said, " The strength of America to-day is the strength 

 of the United States and the strength of Canada plus 

 Britain." President 'I'aft said, " The Pacific is a very 

 much simpler and safer situation because two tlags 

 and not one, representing English-speaking civilisation, 

 float on its shores." Canada, Mr. Macdonald con- 

 cludes, will not lose prestige on the American 

 continent. There is too much in common and too 

 much in prospect for these two nations to feel a twinge 

 of estrangement. 



MR. BORDEN AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 



I.N the Amirican jKiVuw cJ Rctu-ics for November 

 Mr. Robert L. Borden, in the course of an interview 

 on October i6ih, defined for the A'tT/rtt' (i/" TJeivViiv 

 the attitude of his administration towards the United 

 States : — 



In 1879 Can.ida placed upon her statute book a standing oficr 

 of reciprocity, which remained open to the United Stales for 

 eighteen years, or until 1897, when it was repeated liy the 

 government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. The I'niled Stales always 

 declined to entertain this standing offer and we never <iucslioned 

 their perfect and absolute light to take that course. In the 

 meantime Canada h.id entered upon a policy which involved the 

 development of her natural resonrces, the growth of herinduiirics, 

 and the preservation of her home market. Eight years ago I 

 declared in the House of Commons that a factory in Canada 

 was worth as much to our Empire as a factory in Yorkshire. 

 Our fiscal autonomy, involving the complete control of our tariff, 

 had been finally completed and secured in 1879, and it will 

 never be relinquished. The reciprocity compact proposed liy 

 the late government would have interfered with Canada's com- 

 plete control of its own fiscal system, and in many important 

 respects it would have constituted a reversal of the policy which 

 this country has pursued for many years. Moreover, the inter- 

 locking of our tariff wiili thai of any other country is undesirable 

 from the slat'.di>oint of our fiscal autonomy. It should not be 

 forgotten tli.it similar arrangements made between the iJiilish 

 Colonics in .South .\frica have proved unsatisfactory and irritaling, 

 lid in the end they ha<l to be abandonctl. During the re-elec- 

 .ons the opinion prevailed in Cana>la that in the interest ol 

 friendly relations it would be fat Ijctlcr that each country should 

 \k abwlutely free to frame and modify its own tariff in » hat it 

 onccived to be the best interests of its people. We also con- 

 I'Jer that a tariff which must l>e .accepteil or rejected as a whole 

 .itid which cannot Ix: amende<J in any respect to meet the most 

 obvious injustice, is an undemocratic and undesirable form of 



[Spokesttiafi J\iiti'i'. 



" Good-bye, Mr. Laurier. Goo J morning, Mr. Borden ! " 



legislation ; and we believe that experience has proved this 

 beyond question. 



Thus, the recent decision of the Canadian people was not in 

 any respect induced by any spirit of unfriendliness to the United 

 States. 



Canada is an autonomous nation within the British Empire, 

 and is closely and inseparably united to that empire by ties of 

 kinship, of sentiment, and of fealty, by historic association arid 

 tradition, by the character of its institutions and by the free will 

 of its people. Uy the tight ties of kinship, by constant social 

 and commercial intercourse, by proximity, and by mutual re- 

 spect and good will this country is closely associated with the 

 United States. Canada's voice and influence should always be 

 for harmony and not discord between our empire and the great 

 republic; and I believe that she will always be a bond of bind- 

 ing friendship between them. I trust that the anniversary of 

 one hundred years of peace will be cemented in the two countries 

 with a deep and solemn sense of national responsibility aiid that 

 each will accomplish its destiny under the splendid inspiration 

 of enduring and increasing friendship and good wi.I. 



THE AMERICAN SENATE AND ARBITRATION. 



Ln the October Fciidii the editor draws attention 

 to the spectacle of the President of the United 

 States negotiating treaties which he is powerless to 

 ratify. He says : — 



It is not loo late to learn from the experience of other 

 countries and to revise a Constitution which in its inception 

 showed a distinct and memorable improvement upon the 

 monarchist insliiulions of the time, but which is now too rigid 

 and cumbersome for effective action in the foremost Republic 

 in the world. 



The action of the Senate with regard to the arbitration 

 agreements is incomprehensible and inexcusable. It is a 

 blunder and a crime. It is difficult to believe that the reasons 

 ostensibly given were intended to l>e taken seriously. The 

 greatest forward movement for a hundred years w.as almost 

 accomplished. It has lx;en arrested by the nation which claims 

 to be the pioneer in all progress ; or rather, not by the nation, 

 but by those who misrepresent the nation. 



The mid-October number of the Nouvtlk Revue 

 publishes a French condensed version in two acts, 

 by .Mario Prax, of Byron's biblical drama " Cain." 

 Written in i8ji, this " .Mystery,"' as it is entitled, was 

 inscribed to Sir Waller .Scott, the obliged friend and 

 faithful servant of the author. 



