An Eminent Scholar Advocates the Union of Canada and the United States.
CANADA’S “grand old man” is Professor Goldwin Smith. With all his
opinions Canadians do not agree, but they are united in their
admiration for his qualities as a man and a scholar. A mention of his
name brings an expression of liking and pride to the face of every
intelligent resident of the Dominion. A mention of his well-known
belief that Canada and the United States will eventually be one brings
a smile which well expresses the average Canadian’s feeling that their
leading philosopher’s idea of the union of the great commonwealths is
too abstract and remote to arouse alarm in the patriotic breast.
In spite of this difference of opinion the people of the Dominion
highly appreciate Professor Smith’s notable attainments as a student
and a writer. They realize that from his vantage point of long
residence in both England and the United States, as well as in Canada,
and from his careful and enlightened study of the problems of these
countries, his outlook is perhaps broader than that of any other man
in Canada. Professor Smith, now in his eighty-first year, lives in
an ideal way in his Toronto residence, The Grange. It was here that I
called on him.
The Scotch lodgekeeper and his wife, in their quaint little home at
the gate, were quite in keeping with the air of dignified calm which
enfolds The Grange. The house, standing well back in the grounds, is
representative of the best architecture of a century ago. It suggests
reminiscence and contemplation. It has the mellow atmosphere of the
past. When approaching it along the gravel walk you feel that you have
left behind the hurly burly of everyday life; that this is a most
fitting abode for one who stands apart from the crowd to watch the
currents of life flow by.
As the house is, so is the man. Tall, slender and a trifle bent in
figure, with a thin ascetic face, Professor Smith impressed me as a man
who contemplates calmly and critically, but with a very kindly eye, as
from high ground, the agitations and excitements of the times. I made a
remark to him as to the quietude of his surroundings.
“Yes, I am very fond of the old place,” he replied, his eyes kindling
with interest. “I am proud of it. You have noticed that all of the
woodwork is black walnut, which was the prevailing mode in interior
decorations in the early part of the nineteenth century. I have
permitted nothing to be changed. I am fond of old things, perhaps,
because I am old myself.”
“Your activities make it rather difficult to believe that statement,” I
said.
“Well, I have always tried to retain a youthful spirit,” answered
Professor Smith, with the engaging smile which is characteristic of
him, “and I have been able to keep a fair amount of physical vigor by
means of plenty of exercise and regularity in my mode of living. I have
always been very fond of walking, and have done a great deal of it.
While I am not as industrious in this respect as I used to be, I make
a point of driving out in my carriage every afternoon. I rarely let
anything interfere with this, because it has a tendency to give me new
vitality both in spirit and body.”
“While your house is old, Professor Smith,” I remarked, “this country
in which you live, Canada, is young.”
“Yes, we have not progressed as rapidly as the United States; we are
yet, in many respects, a people of beginnings. Canadians look forward
to the future with very optimistic spirit. We see possibilities of
great industrial and agricultural development.”
“The average Canadian does not look as far into the future as you do
yourself.”
“No, perhaps not,” smilingly replied Professor Smith. “I believe that
the great majority of our people are not at all in sympathy with my
opinion that Canada will eventually become a part of the United States.
I have, however, long held this belief. It has been my idea for many
years that the whole continent of North America should be, and will be
eventually, given up to republican institutions. It has been said of me
that I left Great Britain in order to be able to live in the republican
atmosphere of the New World. While this is not altogether true, I am
wonderfully interested in the great experiment of a government by the
people which is now being tried by the United States.
“I think the experiment will prove a success, and that in the end
all of the commonwealths on this side of the Atlantic will come
sufficiently under the influence of this form of government to embrace
it. The Old World powers are by degrees losing their dependencies in
the New World. I long ago said, for example, that Spain’s hold upon
Cuba was becoming weaker and weaker, and would sooner or later become
altogether relaxed. I believe that this is likewise true of Great
Britain in her relationship with Canada. A wide ocean divides the
mother country from her great colony in North America, while merely an
artificial boundary line divides us from the powerful republic to the
South.
“The bond between Canada and the United States is gradually becoming
closer in spite of the little intervening frictions which from time
to time arise. I am aware that many Canadians express an antipathy
for the United States, but this amounts to little more than talk.
Young Canadians have been for many years seeking opportunities in the
United States, and at the present time many thousands of agriculturists
from the Western States are annually migrating into our Northwest to
take advantage there of the productivity of the virgin soil. Numerous
American capitalists are investing their money on our side of the line,
and thus the commercial connection is constantly becoming closer.
“As a matter of fact, there is in some particulars more intimate
union between Canada and the United States than between some of our
own provinces. I have often said to my friends that the beginning of
wisdom in regard to Canada is the realization of the fact that the
natural avenues of traffic and communication lie north and south rather
than east and west. We must remember that between various parts of
the Dominion nature has set up very formidable barriers, great lakes,
high mountains, and wide expanses of uncultivated territory. We must
not forget, furthermore, that there are two distinct races in Canada,
different in religion, sympathies and general characteristics. Thus
it will be seen that without compactness in territory and without a
homogeneous spirit among the people, Canada is not a united country.
She needs the United States and, by the same token, the United States
needs Canada. While I don’t expect to see it in my own time, I feel
justified in prophesying that the passing years of the twentieth
century will bring an equal union between our country and the States.
Together they will rise to greater heights of power, influence and
civilization than any nation has yet attained.
“I like to see Canadians go to the United States and I like to see
young Americans come to Canada. A young man should always have courage
to seek the fields which seem to be most promising for him. I am
inclined to think that a changed environment is a stimulus to his
energy and ambition. A knowledge of the different sections certainly
gives him a broader outlook and adds materially to his equipment for
the battle of life.”