RESULTS OF THE B. A. LEAGUE.
The very brief summary which I have been able to give in the preceding
chapter, may suffice to show, as I have desired to do, that no lack of
progressiveness, no lack of patriotism, no lack of energy on great
public occasions, is justly chargeable against Canadian Tories. I could
produce page after page of extracts, in proof that the objects of the
League were jeered at and condemned by the Reform press, led by the
_Globe_ newspaper. But in that instance stance Mr. George Brown was
deserted by his own party. I spoke at the time with numbers of Reformers
who entirely sympathized with us; and it was not long before we had our
triumph, which was in the year 1864, when the Hon. George Brown and the
Hon. John A. Macdonald clasped hands together, for the purpose of
forming an administration expressly pledged to effect the union of the
five Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
and Prince Edward Island.
In the importance of the object, the number and intelligence of the
actors, and, above all, in the determined earnestness of every man
concerned, the meetings of the British American League may well claim
to rank with those famous gatherings of the people, which have marked
great eras in the world's progress both in ancient and modern times. In
spite of every effort to dwarf its importance, and even to ignore its
existence, the British American League fulfilled its mission.
By the action of the League, was Canada lifted into a front rank amongst
progressive peoples.
By the action of the League, the day was hastened, when our rivers, our
lakes, our canals, our railroads, shall constitute the great highway
from Europe to Eastern Asia and Australasia.
By the action of the League, a forward step was taken towards that great
future of the British race, which is destined to include in its
heaven-directed mission, the whole world--east, west, north and south!