IMPERIAL FEDERATION LEAGUE IN CANADA
The progress the Commercial Union movement was making, and the great
danger arising from it, led my brother and me to discuss it with a
number of loyal men, and on all sides the opinion seemed to be that
active steps should be taken at once to work against it. The principal
active workers at first were officers of my regiment and a few other
personal friends, and small meetings were held in my brother's office
to discuss the matter, and it was decided that the best policy was to
advocate a Commercial Union of the British Empire as the alternative
to the proposition of a Commercial Union with the United States, and
that a scheme of Imperial Federation based upon a Commercial Union of
the various parts of the Empire would be the best method of advocating
our views. By advocating Imperial Federation it enabled us to appeal
to the old dream of the United Empire Loyalists of the Revolution. It
gave the opportunity of appealing to our history, to the sacrifices of
our fathers, to all the traditions of race, and the ties of blood and
kindred, to the sacrifices and the victories of the war of 1812, and to
the national spirit of our people, to preserve our status as a part of
the British Empire. G. R. R. Cockburn, J. M. Clark, D'Alton McCarthy,
John Beverley Robinson, Wm. Hamilton Merritt, Lt.-Colonel Fred C.
Denison, Casimir Dickson, Commander Law, John T. Small, D. R. Wilkie,
John A. Worrell, Henry Wickham, and James L. Hughes were the moving
spirits in organising the Toronto Branch of the Imperial Federation
League, and it was accomplished during the last two or three months of
1887 and the beginning of 1888.
In October, 1887, Erastus Wiman sent a circular to the Members of the
House of Commons, asking them for their views upon his scheme. Lt.-Col.
F. C. Denison sent the following reply, and forwarded a copy to the
newspapers:
TORONTO, 12_th Oct._, 1887.
SIR,
I have received your circular of Sept. 17th sent to me as a member of
the House of Commons, enclosing a copy of a speech delivered by you on
Commercial Union and asking an opinion upon it.
I must tell you that I am utterly opposed to it, as in my mind
Commercial Union simply means annexation, a result to be deplored by
every true Canadian, and unlikely to happen without the shedding of
a lot of Canadian blood. We are now, despite what the advocates of
Commercial Union say, a happy, prosperous, and contented people. I am
positive no pecuniary advantage would accrue to Canada from Commercial
Union, but even granting all that you say as to the increased
prosperity it would bring to us, I would still be opposed to it. We do
not in Canada place so high a value upon the "Almighty Dollar" as do
the Yankees, and we hope always to be Canadians. Why should we sever
our connection with the Mother Country, which has in the past done so
much for us, for the sake of throwing in our lot with a people who
produce more bank thieves and embezzlers than any other country in the
world; who care so little for the sanctity of the marriage tie that
one hundred divorces a day have been granted in one city? To do so
would be national suicide. No pecuniary advantage can ever outweigh
our national life, or our national honour. The appeals made in favour
of Commercial Union are all addressed to the pocket, but I have
confidence in my fellow countrymen that they will place our national
honour and our independence above all pecuniary considerations. A
man worthy of the name will not sell his own honour, or his wife's
or his daughter's, for money. Such a proposal could not for a moment
be considered from a financial standpoint, and no people worthy of
the name would ever sacrifice their national honour for material
advantages. There is no sentiment that produces such sacrifices as
national sentiment, and you gentlemen who advocate Commercial Union,
argue as if my countrymen would sell everything dear to them for
money. You entirely misunderstand our people.
Believe me,
Yours truly,
FRED C. DENISON.
ERASTUS WIMAN, ESQ.,
_New York, U.S.A._
The late Mrs. S. A. Curzon paraphrased this letter in the following
lines, which appeared in the Toronto _World_ of the 18th October, 1887:
Well spoken, Denison! a heart beats there
Loyal to more than selfish minds can grasp;
Not gold our nation's wealth, or lavish ease,
Nor sordid aim her rod of destiny.
No! Canada hath ends beyond a life
Fed by loose license, luxury, and pelf.
She hath inherited through noble sires
Of ancient blood, and lineage straight and clean,
Great riches. A renown unequalled yet;
A liberty hard won on many a field;
A country wide and large, and fair and full;
A loyalty as self-denying as a vow;
An honour high as heaven and pure as light;
A heroism that bleeds, but blenches not;
An industry of muscle true as steel;
A self-restraint that binds a world in bonds;
An honesty contented with its own.
Shall she sell these for gold? "What can gold give
Better than she hath?--a nation's life
A nation's liberty, a nation's self-respect."
Brave words--my Denison--brave words and true!
Take thou this tribute from a patriot heart.
As thee our legislators ever be;
Men whose whole aim is for the nation's weal
And for safekeeping of her name intact.
On the 30th December, 1887, the Toronto Board of Trade gave a banquet
in honour of the Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain. It was a very large
and influential gathering. I then fired my first public shot against
Commercial Union. Colonel Otter was put down to respond to the toast
of the Army, Navy, and Active Militia, but the Chairman in proposing
the toast, added my name also, without having given me any intimation
whatever that I would be called upon to speak. I quote the report which
appeared in the _World_ the next morning of my three minutes' speech:
As belonging to the active militia of the country, I am very glad
to be here to-night to do honour to so distinguished a statesman as
the Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, because that gentleman, above all
gentlemen in the Empire, has shown that he places the interests of a
United Empire above all others (applause). There is no part of the
British Empire where these words, "United Empire," convey a greater
meaning to the hearts of the people than to the people of Canada
(applause), and I am certain there is no part of the whole Empire
where the Rt. Hon. Mr. Chamberlain is more heartily appreciated than
in Toronto, the capital of the Province of Ontario--a Province
which owes its origin to the desire on the part of men who, like Mr.
Chamberlain, desired a United Empire, and made great sacrifices for
it. There is a subject upon which I wish to say a word or two before
I sit down, and that is Commercial Union. And in the presence of Mr.
Chamberlain I wish to say that the active militia of this country
have all been sworn to be faithful, and bear true allegiance to her
Majesty, and they intend that Canada shall not be laid at the feet of
any foreign country (great applause). I am a Canadian, born in this
city, and I hope to live and die a Canadian, to live and die in a
country where our people will govern their own affairs, where we will
be able to establish our own tariff, and where it will not be fixed
and established to suit a foreign people against our Mother Country.
I can assure Mr. Chamberlain that when I speak in behalf of the
volunteers of the country in this way, I am also voicing the feeling
of all the fighting men in this country.
My remarks were received with great applause, and created somewhat of
a sensation, for it appeared that there had been an understanding that
the subject of Commercial Union was not to be referred to, and all the
speakers had been warned except myself. I have had a suspicion since
that I was called upon suddenly in the belief that I would speak out
plainly.
The Toronto _World_ commenting on the dinner said:
The main result of Mr. Chamberlain's visit to Toronto and the speeches
made at the dinner on Friday night must be a heavy blow and a great
discouragement to the Commercial Unionists. On Friday afternoon it
was stated to the reporters, on good authority, we believe, that the
management of the Board of Trade had arranged to exclude the much
disputed question of Commercial Union from among the subjects of the
speeches. . . . But as Burns wrote--
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Gang aft agley.
Colonel Denison's remarks so heavily charged with the electricity of
British connection, "brought down the house," and after that all other
subjects were lame and uninteresting to the company in comparison.
Our distinguished visitor soon made it evident that he thought it the
question of the day. . . .
The event on Friday night, we repeat, must prove the worst blow that
the Commercial Unionists have got since they forced their "fad" before
the public. After this we fancy there will be a stampede among them to
get out from a most unpleasant and ridiculous position.
As early as October, 1887, the late Thomas Macfarlane, one of the
ablest and most active members of the Imperial Federation League, wrote
to the journal of the League in England a strong article pointing
out that Commercial Union would mean annexation, and advocating a
uniform rate of duty on all foreign imports in every country of the
Empire over and above the ordinary tariff in force then. This was Mr.
Hoffmeyer's suggestion at the Colonial Conference of 1884, one made
mainly as a commercial measure which would encourage trade and give a
tie of interest to the various parts of the Empire. Mr. Macfarlane had
supported this view from the first.
During November and December, 1887, the matter was being considered,
and on the 22nd December a preliminary meeting was held in Shaftesbury
Hall, and after speeches by D'Alton McCarthy, G. R. R. Cockburn and
others, resolutions were passed in favour of forming a Toronto branch,
and a number gave in their names for membership. Mr. McNeill's
magnificent speech at Paris on the 19th January, 1888, was a most
eloquent appeal in favour of Imperial Federation, and was printed
and widely circulated in Ontario. He argued strongly in favour of
discriminating tariffs around the Empire.
On the 1st February the Toronto branch was formally organised, with the
Hon. John Beverley Robinson as President, George R. R. Cockburn, M.P.,
John M. Clark and Col. George T. Denison as Vice-Presidents, and Wm.
Hamilton Merritt as Secretary.
It was then arranged that the Annual General Meeting of the Imperial
Federation League in Canada should be held on the afternoon of the 24th
March, 1888, for the transaction of business, and that in the evening
there should be a large public meeting to inaugurate the Toronto
branch, and to bring it prominently before the public.
It will be remembered that with those who took the most active part in
the organisation of the Toronto branch the moving idea was to agitate
for a commercial union of the Empire. There was nothing in the original
constitution of the Imperial Federation League that would justify such
a policy being advocated. It was therefore necessary to amend or alter
the constitution to that extent. Consequently, at the Annual General
Meeting our Secretary, Wm. Hamilton Merritt, moved, and D. R. Wilkie
seconded, the following resolution:
That the Imperial Federation League in Canada make it one of the
objects of their organisation to advocate a trade policy between Great
Britain and her Colonies by means of which a discrimination in the
exchange of natural and manufactured products will be made in favour
of one another, and against foreign nations; and that our friends in
Parliament are hereby called upon to move in support of the policy of
this resolution at the earliest possible moment.
This was unanimously carried. In the evening the public meeting was
held at the Association Hall, which was crowded to its limit. Mr.
Cockburn was in the chair. I moved the first resolution, which was as
follows:
Resolved, that this meeting hails with pleasure the establishment of a
branch of the Imperial Federation League in this city, and confidently
hopes that through its instrumentality the objects of the League may
be advanced, and the ties which bind Canada to the Motherland be
strengthened and maintained.
In moving this resolution I outlined my reasons for advocating the
cause, and pointed out the necessity of doing something to counteract
the scheme of Commercial Union with the United States, calling on
the patriotic sons of Canada in that crisis in the affairs of the
country "to rally round the old flag and frustrate the evil designs of
traitors." I stated that the Commercial Union movement was designed
by traitors, that I wished "to be fair to those who believed that
the movement would not destroy the national life and sentiment of
Canada," but adhered to the position that the movement originated in
treason. "There was no use mincing words in the matter. Commercial
Union could only be carried out by severing the ties which bound the
Canadian people to the Motherland. Not only that, but it aimed at the
destruction of the national life of the country, by subjecting the
people to the power and dictation of a foreign country." The report in
the _Empire_ went on to say:
He desired to draw the attention of the audience to a few facts in the
history of the continent. Canada was a country with a comparatively
small population, but an immense territory, rich in every department
of mine and forest, lying alongside a country of immense population
and great resources. If that country was not an aggressive country
the difficulty would be minimised. He held, however, that it was an
aggressive and grasping country. They wanted Florida, and they took
it; Louisiana and Alaska they annexed; California and Mexico they
conquered; and Texas they stole. They wanted half of the State of
Maine that belonged to Canada, and they swindled the Canadian people
out of it by means of a false map. The war between the North and
South was as much for tariff as slavery. It was only after three
years that the North decided to emancipate the slaves. They conquered
the South and put them under their feet. He asked them to remember
their treatment of the Canadian people in dealing with the question
of Imperial Federation. In 1775 they attempted to conquer Canada, and
again in 1812, but they were beaten ignominiously both times. They
left no stone unturned in 1812 to conquer Canada, and gave it up as a
hopeless task after a three years' effort. The population of Ontario
at that time was only 100,000, as against their ten millions. They
fomented discord which led to the Fenian Raid in 1866. Those benighted
warriors came armed with United States muskets. They had never evinced
a friendly feeling towards Canada. They sent the British Minister
home during the Crimean War when they thought England had her hands
full. . . . They gave a reciprocity treaty to Canada a few years ago,
and allowed it to remain in force long enough to open up a volume of
trade between the two countries, and then they suddenly cut it off in
the hope that it would produce annexation. The Commercial Union fad
had its birth in treason, he reiterated, and was designed in the hope
of inducing the people of Canada to believe in the fallacy that, by
tying themselves hand and foot to a foreign and hostile Power, they
would get richer by it. They wanted to make Canadians believe that an
extended market would benefit them. Their real desire, however, was
to make Canada a slaughter market for their goods, and by crippling
Canadian industries eventually drive the people of the Dominion into
such a condition that they would be glad to accept annexation as an
alternative of absolute ruin. They had conquered and stolen States
in the South, and now they desired to betray Canada in the North.
The scheme of Imperial Federation was designed to build up Canada
and her industries, and absolutely to demolish the delusive theory
propounded by the authors of that nefarious scheme Commercial Union.
Unrestricted Reciprocity and Commercial Union were one and the same.
The prime object of Imperial Federation was to complete an arrangement
with the Mother Country, whereby our goods would be admitted free
with a discriminating tariff against the importations of all foreign
Powers. Such an arrangement he believed would not only benefit the
agricultural community, but also the whole population of the Dominion.
It would consolidate the Empire, and give the Canadian people greater
influence amongst the nations of the world.
Mr. J. M. Clark seconded the resolution in an eloquent speech and it
was carried. Mr. Alex McNeill moved the next resolution. He said he
had felt a great deal of doubt coming down from Ottawa that day, but
when he was face to face with such a glorious meeting all his doubts
passed away like mists before the light of the sun. The news of that
meeting would be tidings of great joy all over the Empire, for it would
proclaim in trumpet tones that the great British City of Toronto was
up and doing in the glorious work of Imperial Federation.
Mr. R. C. Weldon, M.P., from Nova Scotia, made an eloquent speech.
The meeting was most enthusiastic and spirited. At its conclusion Mr.
D'Alton McCarthy invited about fifteen or twenty of the Committee and
speakers to his house to supper. I remember walking over with Mr. R. C.
Weldon, whose speech had been very warmly received. He was very much
astonished at the enthusiasm and vigour of the audience. He told me he
had never seen such a meeting before, and asked how I could account for
it. I replied, "Toronto is the most loyal and imperialistic city in
the Empire." It was partly founded, as was St. John, N.B., by United
Empire Loyalists, but the difference was that loyalty had come more
closely home to Toronto, that since its foundation every generation of
the Toronto people had seen the dead bodies of citizens who had died
fighting for the cause of the Empire or the Sovereign carried through
her streets for burial; that the battle of York had been fought in 1813
within the present limits of the city, the skirmish at Gallows Hill
three miles north of the city in 1837; that Toronto men had fought at
Detroit, Queenston Heights, and other fields in 1813-14, and at Navy
Island in 1837, also in 1866 at Fort Erie; that Toronto men were the
first sent from the older Provinces to the North-West Rebellion, and
that all this had kept the flame of loyalty brightly burning on her
altars.
Four days after this meeting, on the 28th March, 1888, Mr. D'Alton
McCarthy, President of the League in Canada, placed on the order paper
at Ottawa the following important notice of motion:
That it would be in the best interests of the Dominion that such
changes should be sought for in the trade relations between the United
Kingdom and Canada as would give to Canada advantages in the markets
of the Mother Country not allowed to foreign States, Canada being
willing for such privileges to discriminate in her markets in favour
of Great Britain and Ireland, due regard being had to the policy
adopted in 1879 for the purpose of fostering the various interests and
industries of the Dominion, and to the financial necessities of the
Dominion.
This was the beginning of the great scheme of preferential tariffs
around the Empire, which has since attracted so much attention
throughout the British possessions. Mr. McCarthy's resolution did
not carry at that time; it was not intended that it should. It was
adjourned after some discussion. It was a new idea in Canadian
politics, and the members had not had time to study the question in all
its bearings.
The _Imperial Federation Journal_, representing the League in England,
was not favourable to the action of the Canadian branch, and advised
the Canadians to approach the other Colonies, and not disturb the
Mother Country with the proposal. Within five years this cause of
difference had, I believe, much to do with the disruption of the League
in Great Britain.
Mr. McNeill's reference to the importance of Toronto's accession to the
cause was well founded, for after that meeting the movement went on
with increased impetus, and subsequent events proved the far-reaching
effect upon the affairs of the Empire.
During the next three years a most vigorous campaign was carried on
in Ontario. Toronto became the headquarters of the League, a large
branch was kept up, and efforts were made to educate the public mind
and organise branches of the League in other places. An organising
committee was appointed, of which I was elected chairman. The movement,
which had been started in Montreal three years before, had languished,
and it was not until the Commercial Union movement alarmed the people
and proved the necessity for prompt action that the cause of Imperial
Federation became a strong and effective influence upon the public
opinion of Canada.