"NATIONALIST" VIEWS CONDENSED.
After refuting at length the "Nationalist" theories, I thought proper to
condense them in a concrete proposition, and challenge their
propagandist to call a public meeting in any city, town, or locality, in
the Dominion,--Montreal for instance--and to find a dozen of citizens of
standing in the community, to consent to move and second a
"_Resolution_" embodying their doctrines.
This condensed proposition, I translate as follows:--
"Whereas England has unjustly declared war against Germany;
"Whereas Great Britain has done nothing to maintain the peace of the
world;
"Considering that His Majesty King George V. _had not the right to
declare the state of war for Canada without the assent of the Canadian
Cabinet_;
"Considering that Canada, as an autonomous colony, _is a Sovereign
State_;
"Considering that British Sovereignty over Canada _is only a fiction_;
"Considering that Canada, interfering in the present war, _should have
done so as a Nation_;
"Whereas Canada should only have fought on her own account, like
_Belgium, Servia, Italy or Bulgaria_.
"Whereas _the maintenance of a compact British Empire is the most
permanent provocation against the peace of the world_;
"Considering that the supremacy of England on the seas is unjust;
"Considering that Great Britain's aspiration, for a long time past, has
been universal domination by means of her military naval power;
"Whereas England is unfair against France in using her as a shield
against German invasion;
"Considering that England is exercising by all possible means a strong
pressure upon the Colonies for her only benefit;
"Considering _that all the social leaders have united to demoralize the
conscience of the people, to poison their mind, to set their vigilance
at sleep, and to represent to them as a national duty what would
formerly have been considered as a betrayal of national interests_;
"Considering _that England is trying to crush Germany, being afraid of
her colonial expansion and her maritime and commercial competition_;
"Whereas our compatriots of the British races have many faults; _that
they are ignorant, assuming, arrogant, overbearing and rotten with
mercantilism_;
"Considering that they have acquired _many of the worst vices of the
Yankees_;
"Considering that Canada should never participate, outside of her own
territory, in the wars of the British Empire;
"Considering that the Canadian Cabinet and Parliament are criminally
guilty of having ordered the organization of a Canadian army to go and
fight against Germany on the French territory, and in authorizing the
payment of the cost of this military expedition;
"Be it "Resolved", that this meeting energetically protest against the
declaration of war against Germany by His Majesty King George V,
_without the assent of the Canadian Cabinet_, to defend Belgium's
territory invaded by Germany violating solemn treaties;
"That this meeting is of opinion that, for the purpose of favouring the
restoration of peace as soon as possible, England should notify all the
Powers that she abdicates for ever her supremacy on the seas, which
supremacy Germany could hereafter safely exercise;
"That this meeting being absolutely convinced that _the maintenance of a
compact British Empire is the most permanent provocation against the
peace of the world_, is strongly of opinion that Great Britain should,
in order to quiet the fears of the Nations friendly to peace and opposed
to militarism, like pacifist Germany, dissolve her Empire, at once
acknowledging the immediate independence of India and of all her
autonomous Colonies;
"That this meeting's formal opinion is that the Canadian Parliament's
imperious duty is to order without delay the dissolution of the British
bond of connection, _which would be a public benefit_, and to proclaim
the immediate independence of Canada;
"That a copy of the present "Resolution" be addressed to His Excellency
the Governor General, to the Members of the Federal Cabinet, to the
Senators and to the Members of the House of Commons."
The italics in the above draft "Resolution" and "Preamble" are quoted
from Mr. Bourassa's writings.
The "Preamble" and "Resolution" emphasize, in their true and complete
meaning, the "Nationalist" doctrines perseveringly propounded for years
past to poison French Canadian mentally. That such teachings can only
produce disloyal feelings, stir up national prejudices and hatred of the
Mother Country, and be most detrimental to the best interests of the
Province of Quebec, of the Dominion of Canada, and of the British Empire
as a whole, every one must admit with sadness.
My challenge, which is still maintained, has not been taken up yet. All
may rest assured that it will never be. The most ardent "Nationalist"
knows that no responsible citizens would move the adoption of such
views.