The purpose of this story is to form some impression of salient facts
and tendencies in Canadian life, and to show its strength, and through
its strength, its weakness. So I planned before the gods ruled for war,
and the soldiers began to write history with the sword which, despite
Lytton, is proved infinitely mightier than the pen.
However, here is the book, and I hope the reader will not be sorry to
meet again old friends. Elsie has—though she does not intend it—a
serious purpose.
The English have never truly understood the Colonial.
In May of last year (1914) a writer in the _Times_ said that he had
lived in Canada for a number of years, and was satisfied that Canada was
becoming Americanized, because the Canadian talked with an American
accent. It was possible that what he saw and regarded with alarm is what
I have here drawn in gentle satire. Society is our bane; and a new
society is certain to be, in many respects, intolerable. The craze for,
and hunt after, society is not limited to any country; it is a
world-wide weakness. The Snob is—as Thackeray showed us—ubiquitous.
As to my references to the Spread-Eagle citizens of the United States, I
have had access to two books, _The Loyalists of Massachusetts_, by John
H. Stark, Boston, published by himself, and _The True History of the
American Revolution_, by Sydney George Fisher, (Lippincott). These are
remarkable books; and a knowledge of the contents of either would go far
to enable an Englishman to measure the Canadian’s attitude towards the
United States. The story these books tell parallels that set forth in
the press, as shown by the onslaught of German hordes into Belgium. The
outstanding difference is that whereas the Germans cry “Kultur” the
Yankees yelled “Liberty.” The Archives of the United States tell of
30,000 cases of outrage against the Loyalists which, I fancy, is a
greater number than can be laid at the door of the Huns.
The books mentioned are significant of a popular move. That this move
should have originated in the “Land of the Free” is remarkable. That
popular appreciation should have been held from the Canadian so long is
deplorable. That recognition has been withheld from Canadians is shown
by the after-dinner speech made a few years ago at New York, by a noble
Lord. The gentleman I refer to is reported to have said in effect: “The
Revolutionists would have been unworthy of their ancestors had they not
taken up arms.” The implied inference is that the Loyalists were
unworthy of their ancestors.
I do not claim the right to speak for any one but myself, but as all my
ancestors were in America before the Revolution, few have a better
claim. Canada is peopled by a sound stock, somewhat lacking in
philosophy. It is an important asset to civilization and, as has been
proved in Flanders, an heroic constituent of the British Empire. But our
people need a truer appreciation of proper values; when they have this,
they will be second to none among the peoples of the world. But at
present we do not lack that virtue which finds reward within itself.
The reader is asked to believe that this book was designed and largely
written before August, 1914.