CANADIAN NATIONALISM
It will be remembered that after the victory won by the Reformers in
1848, there was an outbreak of radical sentiment, represented by the
Clear Grits in Upper Canada and by the Rouges in Lower Canada. It may
be more than a coincidence that there was a similar stirring of the
blood in Ontario and in Quebec after the Liberal victory of 1874. The
founding of the _Liberal_ and of the _Nation_, of the National Club
and of the Canada First Association, Mr. Blake's speech at Aurora, and
Mr. Goldwin Smith's utterances combined to mark this period as one of
extraordinary intellectual activity. Orthodox Liberalism was
disquieted by these movements. It had won a great, and as was then
believed, a permanent victory over Macdonald and all that he
represented, and it had no sympathy with a disturbing force likely to
break up party lines, and to lead young men into new and unknown
paths.
The platform of Canada First was not in itself revolutionary. It
embraced, (1) British connection; (2) closer trade relations with the
British West India Islands, with a view to ultimate political
connection; (3) an income franchise; (4) the ballot, with the
addition of compulsory voting; (5) a scheme for the representation of
minorities; (6) encouragement of immigration and free homesteads in
the public domain; (7) the imposition of duties for revenue so
adjusted as to afford every possible encouragement to native industry;
(8) an improved militia system under command of trained Dominion
officers; (9) no property qualifications in members of the House of
Commons; (10) reorganization of the senate; (11) pure and economic
administration of public affairs. This programme was severely
criticized by the _Globe_. Some of the articles, such as purity and
economy, were scornfully treated as commonplaces of politics. "Yea,
and who knoweth not such things as these." The framers of the platform
were rebuked for their presumption in setting themselves above the old
parties, and were advised to "tarry in Jericho until their beards be
grown."
But the letter of the programme did not evince the spirit of Canada
First, which was more clearly set forth in the prospectus of the
_Nation_. There it was said that the one thing needful was the
cultivation of a national spirit. The country required the stimulus of
patriotism. Old prejudices of English, Scottish, Irish and German
people were crystallized. Canadians must assert their nationality,
their position as members of a nation. These and other declarations
were analyzed by the _Globe_, and the heralds of the new gospel were
pressed for a plainer avowal of their intentions. Throughout the
editorial utterances of the _Globe_ there was shown a growing
suspicion that the ulterior aim of the Canada First movement was to
bring about the independence of Canada. The quarrel came to a head
when Mr. Goldwin Smith was elected president of the National Club. The
_Globe_, in its issue of October 27th, 1874, brought its heaviest
artillery to bear on the members of the Canada First party. It accused
them of lack of courage and frankness. When brought to book as to
their principles, it said, they repudiated everything. They repudiated
nativism; they repudiated independence; they abhorred the very idea of
annexation. The movement was without meaning when judged by these
repudiations, but was very significant and involved grave practical
issues when judged by the practices of its members. They had talked
loudly and foolishly of emancipation from political thraldom, as if
the present connection of Canada with Great Britain were a yoke and a
burden too heavy and too galling to be borne. They had adopted the
plank of British connection by a majority of only four. They had
chosen as their standard-bearer, their prophet and their president,
one whose chief claim to prominence lay in the persistency with which
he had advocated the breaking up of the British empire. Mr. Goldwin
Smith had come into a peaceful community to do his best for the
furtherance of a cause which meant simply revolution. The advocacy of
independence, said the _Globe_, could not be treated as an academic
question. It touched every Canadian in his dearest and most important
relations. It jeopardized his material, social and religious
interests. Canada was not a mere dead limb of the British tree, ready
to fall of its own weight. The union was real, and the branch was a
living one. Great Britain, it was true, would not fight to hold Canada
against her will, but if the great mass of Canadians believed in
British connection, those who wished to break the bond must be ready
to take their lives in their hands. The very proposal to cut loose
from Britain would be only the beginning of trouble. In any case what
was sought was revolution, and those who preached it ought to
contemplate all the possibilities of such a course. They might be the
fathers and founders of a new nationality, but they might also be
simply mischief-makers, whose insignificance and powerlessness were
their sole protection, who were not important enough for "either a
traitor's trial or a traitor's doom."
Mr. Goldwin Smith's reply to this attack was that he was an advocate,
not of revolution but of evolution. "Gradual emancipation," he said,
"means nothing more than the gradual concession by the mother country
to the colonies of powers of self-government; this process has already
been carried far. Should it be carried further and ultimately
consummated, as I frankly avow my belief it must, the mode of
proceeding will be the same that it has always been. Each step will
be an Act of parliament passed with the assent of the Crown. As to the
filial tie between England and Canada, I hope it will endure forever."
Mr. Goldwin Smith's views were held by some other members of the
Canada First party. Another and a larger section were Imperialists,
who believed that Canada should assert herself by demanding a larger
share of self-government within the empire, and by demanding the
privileges and responsibilities of citizens of the empire. The bond
that united the Imperialists and the advocates of independence was
national spirit. This was what the _Globe_ failed to perceive, or at
least to recognize fully. Its article of October 27th is powerful and
logical, strong in sarcasm and invective. It displays every purely
intellectual quality necessary for the treatment of the subject, but
lacks the insight that comes from imagination and sympathy. The
declarations of those whose motto was "Canada first," could fairly be
criticized as vague, but this vagueness was the result, not of
cowardice or insincerity, but of the inherent difficulty of putting
the spirit of the movement into words. A youth whose heart is stirred
by all the aspirations of coming manhood, "yearning for the large
excitement that the coming years would yield," might have the same
hesitation in writing down his yearnings and aspirations on a sheet of
paper, and might be as unwisely snubbed by his elders.
The greatest intellect of the Liberal party felt the impulse. At
Aurora Edward Blake startled the more cautious members of the party by
advocating the federation of the empire, the reorganization of the
senate, compulsory voting, extension of the franchise and
representation of minorities. His real theme was national spirit.
National spirit would be lacking until we undertook national
responsibilities. He described the Canadian people as "four millions
of Britons who are not free." By the policy of England, in which we
had no voice or control, Canada might be plunged into the horrors of
war. Recently, without our consent, the navigation of the St. Lawrence
had been ceded forever to the United States. We could not complain of
these things unless we were prepared to assume the full
responsibilities of citizenship within the empire. The young men of
Canada heard these words with a thrill of enthusiasm, but the note was
not struck again. The movement apparently ceased, and politics
apparently flowed back into their old channels. But while the name,
the organization and the organs of Canada First in the press
disappeared, the force and spirit remained, and exercised a powerful
influence upon Canadian politics for many years.
There can be little doubt that the Liberal party was injured by the
uncompromising hostility which was shown to the movement of 1874.
Young men, enthusiasts, bold and original thinkers, began to look
upon Liberalism as a creed harsh, dry, tyrannical, unprogressive and
hostile to new ideas. When the independent lodgment afforded by Canada
First disappeared, many of them drifted over to the Conservative
party, whose leader was shrewd enough to perceive the strength of the
spirit of nationalism, and to give it what countenance he could.
Protection triumphed at the polls in 1878, not merely by the use of
economic arguments, but because it was heralded as the "National
Policy" and hailed as a declaration of the commercial independence of
Canada. A few years later the legislation for the building of the
Canadian Pacific Railway, bold to the point of rashness, as it seemed,
and unwise and improvident in some of its provisions, was heartily
approved by the country, because it was regarded as a measure of
national growth and expansion. The strength of the Conservative party
from 1878 to 1891 was largely due to its adoption of the vital
principle and spirit of Canada First.
The _Globe's_ attacks upon the Canada First party also had the effect
of fixing in the public mind a picture of George Brown as a dictator
and a relentless wielder of the party whip, a picture contrasting
strangely with those suggested by his early career. He had fought for
responsible government, for freedom from clerical dictation; he had
been one of the boldest of rebels against party discipline; he had
carelessly thrown away a great party advantage in order to promote
confederation; he had been the steady opponent of slavery. In 1874
the Liberals were in power both at Ottawa and at Toronto, and Mr.
Brown may not have been free from the party man's delusion that when
his party is in power all is well, and agitation for change is
mischievous. Canada First threatened to change the formation of
political parties, and seemed to him to threaten a change in the
relations of Canada to the empire. But these explanations do not alter
the fact that his attitude caused the Liberal party to lose touch with
a movement characterized by intellectual keenness and generosity of
sentiment, representing a real though ill-defined national impulse,
and destined to leave its mark upon the history of the country.