360 



77/6' Proi/rcss of the New Ihiniition, 



Marcli 



f : 



i! 



11 



their wisdom is [)r<)VO(l by the fact 

 that loading minds in tlio United 

 States arc already prepared to 

 move in the ^^a^1e direction. With 

 a Deinoeratic majority in (Jongress, 

 there is now reason to hope that 

 the ('ivd Servi'.'C of the I iiited 

 States will ere long he placed on a 

 substantial basis, and cea.-ic to be 

 used as a mere machine foi* serving 

 the pnr{)0ses of unKcnipnlous dema- 

 gogues and tricksters. There are 

 also signs that the evils of the sys- 

 tem of an elective judiciary are 

 becoming (|uite ap{)arent to the 

 majority of intelligent citizens in 

 tlie older States, and that it must, 

 sooner or later, disappear with 

 otlier creations of unbridled de- 

 itiocracy. Thinkers, too, are found 

 to urge the necessity of having in 

 the Legislature some resjionsible 

 bodv to control and perfect leoisla- 

 tion, as well as to give explanations 

 on public affairs; and it may be, 

 the time is not far distant when 

 Congress will agree to provide a 

 constitutional amendment which 

 will give the President's advisers 

 a seat in either House. In the 

 meantime, Canadr can be held 

 out in all these respects as an ex- 

 ample to her powerful democratic 

 neighi)our. 



And here the question will prob- 

 ably be asked — Is there at present 

 a tendency towards annexation 

 among any class of Canadians? In 

 the days, now liappily long past, 

 when the Canadian provinces wore 

 poor striigijling communities iso- 

 lated from each other, not a few of 

 the people were disposed to con- 

 trast their poverty and illiberal 

 system of government with the 

 prosperity and political freedom of 

 the American States, and some 

 men of ability and influence be- 

 lieved tliat the time was apjiroach- 

 ing for forming a closer connection 

 with their more progressive neigh- 

 bours. The Union of 1840 was 

 the turning-point in the political 



history of Canaiia. The liealthy 

 development of all sources of pros- 

 periiy brought content and hope 

 to the people, and created that 

 Tuitional j)ride which is tiie most 

 effective influence against the pro- 

 gress of an annexation sentiment. 

 Then, a (juarier of a century later, 

 came the confederation of the 

 provinces to destroy effectually any 

 feeling that may have existed in 

 favoi' f a {)olitical union with the 

 Statt The people, year by year, 

 have hoen their territory extended 

 until Cana<la has assumed the pro- 

 portions of an empire, and now 

 their aspirations take a higher 

 direction than absor[)tion in the 

 ranks of the American common- 

 wealths. 



l>ut in order to understand the 

 sentiments of the great mass of 

 the Canadians on a subject concern- 

 ing which some misapprehension 

 exists in the parent State, we need 

 only consider the character of the 

 ruling classes in Canada. There 

 are now, within her borders, nearly 

 four millions of native-born Cana- 

 dians, of whom over a million speak 

 the French language. The French 

 Canadians have always, for the 

 most part, licld decidedly monar- 

 chical and Conservative opinions. 

 A large proportion of tlic early 

 settlers came from that section 

 where devotion to the king was a 

 powerful sentiment when all the 

 rest of France was mad with re- 

 publicanism. Removed from the 

 revolutionary influences of the dark 

 days of France, living under the 

 benign rule of England for over a 

 century, the Frencli Canadians have 

 never ceased to cherish a deep at- 

 tachiuent to monarchy, and even 

 now their sympathies are with the 

 Legitimists of the parent State. 

 They are remarkable for their de- 

 votion to their Church, and are 

 largely directed in all their affairs, 

 temporal and spiritual, by the 

 priesthood. During the war of 



I 





