Produced by David T. Jones, Al Haines, Ron Tolkien & the
online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at
http://www.pgdpcanada.net
THE
STRUGGLE FOR IMPERIAL UNITY
[Illustration: logo]
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO
ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.
TORONTO
[Illustration: Colonel George T. Denison]
THE STRUGGLE FOR
IMPERIAL UNITY
RECOLLECTIONS & EXPERIENCES
BY
COLONEL GEORGE T. DENISON
_President of the British Empire League in Canada
Author of
"Modern Cavalry," "A History of Cavalry," "Soldiering in Canada," &c._
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD., TORONTO
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, NEW YORK
1909
RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED,
BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND
BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
PREFACE
Some fifteen years ago the late Dr. James Bain, Librarian of the
Toronto Public Library, urged me to write my reminiscences. He knew
that, as one of the founders of the Canada First party, as Chairman of
the Organising Committee of the Imperial Federation League in Canada,
then President of it, and after its reorganisation, under the name
of the British Empire League in Canada, still President, I had much
private information, in connection with the struggle for Imperial
Unity, that would be of interest to the public. He was therefore
continually urging me to put down my recollections in order that they
should be preserved.
I put the matter off until the year 1899, when I was retired from the
command of my regiment on reaching the age limit. I then wrote my
military recollections under the title _Soldiering in Canada_. This was
so well received by the Press and by the public that, being still urged
to prepare my political reminiscences, I began some years ago to write
them, and soon had them finished. In the early part of 1908 Dr. Bain
read the manuscript, and then asked me not to delay, as I had intended,
but to publish at once. Shortly before his death last spring, he again
expressed this wish. I have consulted several of my friends, and in
view of their advice now publish this book.
I have not attempted to write a history of the Imperial Unity movement,
but only my personal recollections of the work which I have been doing
in connection with it for so many years. I still feel, as I did when I
was writing my military recollections, that I should follow the view
laid down by the critic who said that reminiscences should be written
just in the style in which a man would relate them to an old friend
while smoking a pipe in front of a fire. I have tried to write the
following pages in that spirit, and if the personal pronoun appears too
often, it will be because, being recollections of work done, it can
hardly be avoided.
GEORGE T. DENISON.
HEYDON VILLA, TORONTO,
_January, 1909_.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
CONDITION OF AFFAIRS IN CANADA BEFORE CONFEDERATION 7
CHAPTER II
CANADA FIRST PARTY AND HUDSON'S BAY TERRITORY 10
CHAPTER III
THE RED RIVER REBELLION 17
CHAPTER IV
THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION 33
CHAPTER V
NATIONAL SENTIMENT 49
CHAPTER VI
ABORTIVE POLITICAL MOVEMENT 56
CHAPTER VII
THE INDEPENDENCE FLURRY 62
CHAPTER VIII
THE O'BRIEN EPISODE 69
CHAPTER IX
THE IMPERIAL FEDERATION LEAGUE 77
CHAPTER X
COMMERCIAL UNION 81
CHAPTER XI
IMPERIAL FEDERATION LEAGUE IN CANADA 85
CHAPTER XII
COMMERCIAL UNION A TREASONABLE CONSPIRACY 98
CHAPTER XIII
THE YEARS 1888 AND 1889, WORK OF THE IMPERIAL FEDERATION LEAGUE 117
CHAPTER XIV
THE YEAR 1890 130
CHAPTER XV
VISIT TO ENGLAND, 1890 138
CHAPTER XVI
THE GREAT ELECTION OF 1891 155
CHAPTER XVII
CONTEST WITH GOLDWIN SMITH 168
CHAPTER XVIII
DISSOLUTION OF THE IMPERIAL FEDERATION LEAGUE IN ENGLAND 194
CHAPTER XIX
ORGANISATION OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE LEAGUE 206
CHAPTER XX
MISSION TO ENGLAND, 1897 225
CHAPTER XXI
THE WEST INDIAN PREFERENCE 242
CHAPTER XXII
1899: ESTABLISHMENT OF EMPIRE DAY 248
CHAPTER XXIII
THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR 258
CHAPTER XXIV
1900: BRITISH EMPIRE LEAGUE BANQUET IN LONDON 271
CHAPTER XXV
WORK IN CANADA IN 1901 285
CHAPTER XXVI
MISSION TO ENGLAND IN 1902 291
CHAPTER XXVII
CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. CHAMBERLAIN 338
CHAPTER XXVIII
CONGRESS OF CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE OF THE EMPIRE, 1906 356
APPENDIX _A_
SPEECH IN REPLY TO SIR C. DILKE 371
APPENDIX _B_
LECTURE ON "NATIONAL SPIRIT" 377
INDEX 405
COLONEL GEORGE T. DENISON _Frontispiece_
FACSIMILE LETTERS _facing p._ 114
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER
A UNITED EMPIRE
The idea of a great United British Empire seems to have originated on
the North American Continent. When Canada was conquered and the power
of France disappeared from North America, Great Britain then possessed
the thirteen States or Colonies, as well as the Provinces of Quebec and
Nova Scotia.
The thirteen colonies had increased in population and wealth, and the
British statesmen burdened with the heavy expenses of the French wars,
which had been waged mainly for the protection of the American States,
felt it only just that these Colonies should contribute something
towards defraying the cost incurred in defending them. This raised the
whole question of taxation without representation, and for ten years
the discussion was waged vigorously between the Mother Country and the
Colonists.
A large number of the Colonists felt the justice of the claim of the
Mother Country for some assistance, but foresaw the danger of violent
and arbitrary action in enforcing taxation without the taxed having
any voice in the matter. These men, the Loyalists, were afterwards
known by the name United Empire Loyalists, because they advocated and
struggled for the organisation of a consolidated Empire banded together
for the common interest. Thomas Hutchinson, the last loyalist Governor
of Massachusetts, and one of the ablest of the loyalist leaders,
believed in the magnificent dream of a great Empire, to be realised by
the process of natural and legal development, in full peace and amity
with the Motherland, in short, by evolution.
Joseph Galloway, who shared with Thomas Hutchinson the supreme place
among the American statesmen opposed to the Revolution, worked
incessantly in the cause of a United Empire, and has been characterised
as "The giant corypheus of the pamphleteers." He was a member of the
first continental Congress and introduced into that body, on the 28th
September, 1774, his famous "Plan of a proposed union between Great
Britain and the Colonies."
In introducing this plan Galloway made some most interesting remarks,
which bear their lesson through all the years to the present day. He
said:
I am as much a friend of liberty as exists. We want the aid and
assistance and protection of the arm of our Mother Country. Protection
and allegiance are reciprocal duties. Can we lay claim to the money
and protection of Great Britain upon any principles of honour and
conscience? Can we wish to become aliens to the Mother State? We must
come upon terms with Great Britain. Is it not necessary that the trade
of the Empire should be regulated by some power or other? Can the
Empire hold together without it? No. Who shall regulate it?
Galloway's scheme was very nearly adopted. In the final trial it
was lost by a vote of only six colonies to five. This rejection led
Galloway to decline an election to the second Congress, and to appeal
to the higher tribunal of public opinion. The Loyalists followed this
lead, and the struggle went on for seven years, between those who
fought for separation and independence and those who fought for the
unity of the Empire.
The Revolution succeeded through the mismanagement of the British
forces by the general in command, followed by the intervention of three
great European nations, who were able to secure temporary command of
the sea.
The United Empire Loyalists were driven out of the old colonies, and
many found new homes in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Canada; some
also went to England and the West Indies, carrying with them the
cherished ideas of maintaining their allegiance to their Sovereign, of
preserving their heritage as British subjects, and still endeavouring
to realise the dream of a United British Empire.
For this cause they had made great sacrifices, and, despoiled of
all their possessions, had been driven into exile, in what was then
a wilderness. Men do not make such extraordinary sacrifices except
under the influence of some overpowering sentiment, and in their case
the moving sentiment was the Unity of the Empire. The greater the
hardships they encountered, the greater the privations and sufferings
they endured for the cause, the dearer it grew to their hearts, for men
value those things most that have been obtained at the highest cost.
In the war of 1812-'14 the intense spirit of loyalty in the old exiles
and their sons caused the Canadian Provinces to be retained under
the British flag, and when afterwards, in 1837, rebellion broke out,
fomented by strangers and new settlers, the United Empire Loyalist
element put it down with a promptitude and vigour that forms one of
the brightest pages in our history. In Nova Scotia the agitation for
responsible government was headed by Joseph Howe, a son of one of the
exiled Loyalists. Suggestions of rebellion to him were impossible
of consideration, and he held his province true to the Empire, and
succeeded by peaceful and loyal measures in securing all he wanted.
Then Great Britain repealed her corn laws instead of amending them, and
introduced free trade instead of rearranging and reducing her tariff.
She deprived Canada of a small advantage which her products up to that
time enjoyed in the British markets, and which was rapidly assisting in
the development of what was then a poor and weak colony. This act was a
severe blow to Canada, because it meant that Great Britain had embarked
on the unwise and dangerous policy of treating foreign and even hostile
countries as favourably as her own peoples and her own possessions.
This caused a great deal of dissatisfaction in some quarters, and in
the year 1849 some hundreds of the leading business men in Montreal
signed a manifesto advocating annexation to the United States. This
aroused strong opposition among the United Empire Loyalist element in
Upper Canada; the feeling soon manifested itself in a way which proved
that no pecuniary losses could shake the deep-seated loyalty of the
Canadian people. The annexation movement withered at once.
Seeing how severely the action of the Mother Country had borne upon
Canada, Lord Elgin, then Governor-General of Canada, was instructed
to endeavour to arrange for a reciprocity treaty with the United
States, or in other words to ask a foreign country to give Canada trade
advantages which would recompense her for what Great Britain had taken
away from her. The United States Government, either influenced by the
blandishments of Lord Elgin, or by a politic desire of turning Canada's
trade in their own direction, and making her dependent for her business
and the prosperity of her people upon a treaty which the United States
would have the power of terminating in twelve years, consented to make
the treaty.
It was concluded in 1854, and for twelve years during a most critical
period, when railways and railway systems were beginning to be
established, the great bulk of the trade of Canada was diverted to
the United States, the lines of transportation naturally developed
mainly from north to south, and the foreign handling of our products
was left very much to the United States. The Crimean war broke out in
1854 and lasted till 1856, raising the price of farm produce two-fold,
and adding largely to the prosperity of the Canadian people. The large
railway expenditure during the same period also aided to produce an
era of inflation, while during the last five years of the existence of
the treaty the Civil War in the United States created an extraordinary
demand, at war prices, for almost everything the Canadian people had
to sell. The result was that, from reasons quite disconnected from the
reciprocity treaty, during a great part of its existence the Canadian
people enjoyed a most remarkable development and prosperity.
The United States Government, although the treaty is said to have been
of more real value to them than to Canada, at the earliest possible
moment gave the two years' notice to abrogate it, and they did so
evidently in the hope that the financial distress and loss that its
discontinuance would bring upon the people of Canada would create at
once a demand for annexation. In a sense they were right; talk in
favour of annexation was soon heard from a few, but the old sentiment
of loyalty to the Empire was too strong, and the people turned to the
idea of the confederation of the Provinces and the opening up of trade
with the West Indies and other countries. The Confederation of Canada
was the result, and the Dominion was established on the 1st of July,
1867.
My object in writing the following pages is to describe more
particularly from my own recollection, and my own knowledge of the
facts, the movement in favour of the Unity of the Empire which has been
going on during the last forty years.
CHAPTER I
CONDITION OF AFFAIRS IN CANADA BEFORE CONFEDERATION
The extraordinary change that has taken place in Canada, in every way,
in the last fifty years cannot be appreciated except by those who are
old enough to remember the condition of affairs about the middle of
last century. The ideas, sentiments, aspirations, and hopes of the
people have since then been revolutionised. At that time the North
American Provinces were poor, sparsely settled, scattered communities,
with no large towns, no wealthy classes, without a literature, with
scarcely any manufactures, and with a population almost entirely
composed of struggling farmers and the few traders depending upon them.
The population was less than 3,500,000. The total exports and imports
in 1868 were $131,027,532. The small Provincial Governments found their
duties confined to narrow local limits. All the important questions
were entirely in the hands of the Home Government. The defence was
paid for by them. British troops occupied all the important points,
and foreign affairs were left without question entirely in the hands
of the British statesmen. The Provinces had no power whatever in
diplomacy, and were interested only in a few disputes with the United
States in reference to boundary difficulties, which were generally
settled without consultation with the Colonial Governments, and with
very little thought for the interests or the future needs of the little
British communities scattered about in North America.
The settlements were comparatively so recent that men called themselves
either English, Irish, or Scotch, according to the nationality of their
parents or grandparents. The national societies, St. George's, St.
Andrew's and St. Patrick's, may have helped to continue this feeling,
so that in reference to the various Provinces there was not, and could
not be, any national spirit. Another cause that led to the absence of
national spirit or self-confidence was that Great Britain not only held
the power of peace and war in her own hands, but, as a consequence,
took upon herself the responsibility for the defence of the Provinces.
British troops, as has been said, garrisoned all the important points,
and all the expenses were borne by the Imperial Government. Canada had
no militia except upon paper, no arms, no uniforms, no military stores
or equipment of any kind. She depended solely upon the Mother Country;
even the Post Office System was a branch of the English Post Office
Service. One can readily imagine the lack of local national spirit.
Of course the loyalty to the Mother Country and the Sovereign and the
Empire was always strong, but it was not closely allied to the spirit
of nationality as attached to the soil.
When the Crimean war broke out, the British troops were required for
it, and Canada was called upon to raise a militia force for her own
needs. This she did. Ten thousand men were organised, armed, uniformed,
and equipped at her expense. They were called the Active Militia, and
were drilled ten days in each year. The assumption of responsibility
had an effect upon the country, and when the Trent difficulty arose the
force was increased by the spontaneous action of the people to about
thirty-eight thousand men. Four years later the Fenian raids took place
upon our frontier, and were repulsed, largely by the efforts of the
Canadian Militia. All this appealed to the imagination of our youth,
and as confederation was proclaimed the following year the ground was
fallow for sowing seeds of a national spirit.
The effect of confederation on the Canadians was very remarkable. The
small Provinces were all merged into a great Dominion. The Provincial
idea was gone. Canada was now a country with immense resources and
great possibilities. The idea of expansion had seized upon the people,
and at once steps were taken looking to the absorption of the Hudson's
Bay Territory and union with British Columbia.
With this came visions of a great and powerful country stretching from
ocean to ocean, and destined to be one of the dominant powers of the
world.