CANADA FIRST PARTY AND HUDSON BAY TERRITORY
It was at the period when these conditions existed that business took
me to Ottawa from the 15th April until the 20th May, 1868. Wm. A.
Foster of Toronto, a barrister, afterwards a leading Queen's Counsel,
was there at the same time, and through our friend, Henry J. Morgan,
we were introduced to Charles Mair, of Lanark, Ontario, and Robert
J. Haliburton, of Halifax, eldest son of the celebrated author of
"Sam Slick." We were five young men of about twenty-eight years of
age, except Haliburton, who was four or five years older. We very
soon became warm friends, and spent most of our evenings together
in Morgan's quarters. We must have been congenial spirits, for our
friendship has been close and firm all our lives. Foster and Haliburton
have passed away, but their work lives.
The seed they sowed has sprung at last,
And grows and blossoms through the land.[1]
Those meetings were the origin of the "Canada First" party. Nothing
could show more clearly the hold that confederation had taken of
the imagination of young Canadians than the fact that, night after
night, five young men should give up their time and their thoughts to
discussing the higher interests of their country, and it ended in our
making a solemn pledge to each other that we would do all we could to
advance the interests of our native land; that we would put our country
first, before all personal, or political, or party considerations; that
we would change our party affiliations as often as the true interests
of Canada required it. Some years afterwards we adopted, as I will
explain, the name "Canada First," meaning that the true interest of
Canada was to be first in our minds on every occasion. Forty years have
elapsed and I feel that every one of the five held true to the promise
we then made to each other.
One point that we discussed constantly was the necessity, now that we
had a great country, of encouraging in every possible way the growth
of a strong national spirit. Ontario knew little of Nova Scotia or New
Brunswick and they knew little of us. The name Canadian was at first
bitterly objected to by the Nova Scotians, while the New Brunswickers
were indifferent. This was natural, for old Canada had been an almost
unknown Province to the men who lived by the sea, and whose trade
relations had been mainly with the United States, the West Indies, and
foreign countries.
It was apparent that until there should grow, not only a feeling of
unity, but also a national pride and devotion to Canada as a Dominion,
no real progress could be made towards building up a strong and
powerful community. We therefore considered it to be our first duty
to work in that direction and do everything possible to encourage
national sentiment. History had taught us that every nation that
had become great, and had exercised an important influence upon the
world, had invariably been noted for a strong patriotic spirit, and
we believed in the sentiment of putting the country above all other
considerations--the same feeling that existed in Rome
When none was for a party
When all were for the State.
This idea we were to preach in season and out of season whenever
opportunity offered. The next point that attracted our attention
was the necessity of securing for the new Dominion the Hudson's Bay
Territory and the adhesion of British Columbia. At this time the
Maritime Provinces were not keenly interested in either of these
projects, while the province of Quebec was secretly opposed to the
acquisition of the Territory, fearing that it would cost money to
acquire and govern it, but principally because many of the French
Canadians dreaded the growing strength in the Dominion of English
speaking people, and the consequent relative diminution of their
proportionate influence on the administration of affairs. The Hudson's
Bay Company were also dissatisfied at the prospect of the loss of the
great monopoly they had enjoyed for nearly two hundred years. They
continued the policy they had early adopted, of doing all possible
to create the belief that the territory was a barren, inhospitable,
frozen region, unfit for habitation, and only suitable to form a
great preserve for fur-bearing animals. This general belief as to the
uselessness of the country, and its remoteness and inaccessibility,
which prevented any full information being gained as to its real
capabilities, also had the effect of making many people doubtful as to
its value and careless as to its acquisition. As an illustration of
the ignorance and false impressions of the value of the country, it is
interesting to recall that when, in 1857, an agitation was set on foot
looking to the absorption of the North-West Territories, very strong
opposition came from a large portion of the Canadian Press. Some wrote
simply in the interests of the Hudson's Bay Company. Some wrote what
they really believed to be true. Now that Manitoba No. 1 hard wheat has
a fame all over the world, as the best and most valuable wheat that is
grown, it is interesting to read the opinion of the Montreal Transcript
in 1857 that the climate of the North-West "is altogether unfavourable
to the growth of grain" and that the summer is so short as to make it
difficult to "mature even a small potato or a cabbage."
The Government, under the far-seeing leadership of Sir John Macdonald,
were negotiating in 1868 for the purchase of the Hudson's Bay Company's
rights, and they sent Sir George Cartier and the Hon. Wm. Macdougall
to England to carry on the negotiations. Mr. Macdougall was a man of
great force of character, an able debater and a keen Canadian. We knew
he would do all that man could do to secure the territory for Canada,
and as far as the arrangements in the old country were concerned he was
successful.
In anticipation of the incorporation of the territory in the Dominion,
and partly to assist the Red River Settlement by giving employment to
the people, the Canadian Government sent up some officials and began
building a road from Fort Garry, now Winnipeg, to the north-west
angle of the Lake of the Woods. This was in the autumn of 1868. Mr.
Macdougall appointed Charles Mair to the position of paymaster of this
party, and at once we saw the opportunity of doing some good work
towards helping on the acquisition of the territory. We felt that
the country was misunderstood, and it was arranged, through the Hon.
George Brown, the proprietor and editor of the Toronto _Globe_, who
had for many years been strongly in favour of securing the North-West,
that Mair was to write letters to the _Globe_ on every available
opportunity, giving a true account of the capabilities of the territory
as to the soil, products, climate, and suitability for settlement.
Mair soon formed a most favourable opinion, and became convinced that a
populous agricultural community could be maintained, and that in time
to come a large and productive addition would be made to the farming
resources of Canada. He pictured the country in glowing terms, and
practically preached that a crusade of Ontario men should move out and
open up and cultivate its magnificent prairies. His letters attracted a
great deal of attention, and were copied very extensively in the Press
of Upper Canada and the Maritime Provinces. They were filled with the
Canadian national spirit, and had a great effect in awakening the minds
of the people to the importance of the acquisition of the country.
Reports of his letters got back to Fort Garry, and caused much hostile
feeling in the minds of the Hudson's Bay officials, and the French
half-breeds and their clergy. The feeling on one occasion almost led to
actual violence.
Six years before this, in 1862, John C. Schultz (afterwards Sir John
Schultz, K.C.M.G., Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba) had arrived in Fort
Garry. He was then a young doctor only twenty-two years of age. He
at once engaged in the practice of his profession, as well as in the
business of buying and selling furs, and trading with the Indians and
inhabitants. He was born at Amherstburg, and had grown up and been
educated in the country where Brock and Tecumseh had performed their
greatest exploit in defence of Canada. He was a loyal and patriotic
Canadian. He had been persecuted by Hudson's Bay officials. Once he
was put in prison by them, but was soon taken out by a mob of the
inhabitants. Mair soon became attached to Schultz. They were about the
same age, and possessed in common a keen love for the land of their
birth. Mair told him of the work of our little party, and he expressed
his sympathy and desire to assist. In March, 1869, Schultz came down
to Montreal on business, and when passing through Toronto brought me
a letter of introduction from Mair, who had written to me once or
twice before, speaking in the highest terms of Schultz, and predicting
(truthfully) that in the future he would be the leading man in the
North-West, and he advised that he should be enrolled in our little
organisation. Haliburton happened to be in Toronto at the time and I
introduced Schultz to him and to W. A. Foster, and we warmly welcomed
him into our ranks. He was the sixth member. Soon afterwards we began
quietly making recruits, considering very carefully each name as
suggested.
Schultz went back to Fort Garry. The negotiations for the acquisition
of the Hudson's Bay Territory were brought to a successful termination,
and it was arranged that it should be taken over on the 1st December,
1869. Mr. Macdougall was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the
Territory, and with a small staff of officials he started for Fort
Garry.
During this time Haliburton had been lecturing in Ontario and Quebec
on the question of "interprovincial trade," showing that it should be
strongly encouraged, and would be a most efficient means for creating
a feeling of unity among the various provinces. He also delivered a
very able lecture on "The Men of the North," showing their power and
influence on history, and pointing out that the Canadians would be the
"Northmen of the New World," and in this way he endeavoured to arouse
the pride of Canadians in their country, and to create a feeling of
confidence in its future. This was all in the line of our common desire
to foster a national spirit, which formerly, in the Canadian sense, had
not existed.