Canada, Sir John George Bourinot [best time to read books .TXT] 📗

Je voudrais que la rose Would that each rose were growing
Fut encore au rosier. Still on the rose-tree gay.

Je voudrais que la rose Would that each rose were growing
Fut encore au rosier, Still on the rose-tree gay,
Et que le rosier meme And that the fated rose-tree
Fut dans la mer jete. Deep in the ocean lay.
Lui ya longtemps que je t'aime, I 've loved thee long and dearly,
Jamais je ne t'oublierai. I 'll love thee, sweet, for aye.

_A la Claire Fontaine_ has been claimed for Franche-Comte, Brittany, and Normandy, but the best authorities have come to the conclusion, from a comparison of the different versions, that it is Norman. In _Malbrouck s'en va-t-en-guerre_, we have a song which was sung in the time of the _Grand Monarque_. Of its popularity with the French Canadians, we have an example in General Strange's reply to the 65th, a French Canadian regiment, during the second Northwest rebellion. One morning, after weeks of tedious and toilsome marching, just as the men were about to fall in, the General {454} overhead the remark--"Ah! when will we get home?" "Ah, mes garcons," laughed the General--


"Malbrouck s'en va-t-en guerre
Mais quand reviendra-t-il?"

"Malbrouck has gone a-fighting,
But when will he return?"


and with their characteristic light-heartedness the men caught up the famous old air and the march was resumed without a murmur.

These _chansons populaires_ of French Canada afford some evidence of the tenacity with which the people cling to the customs, traditions, and associations of the land of their origin. Indeed, a love for Old France lies still deep in the hearts of the people, and both young and old study her best literature, and find their greatest pride in her recognition of their poets and writers. But while there exists among the more influential and cultured class a sentimental attachment to Old France, there is a still deeper feeling, strengthened by the political freedom and material progress of the past forty years, that the connection with the British Empire gives the best guaranty for the preservation of their liberties and rights. This feeling has found frequent expression in the forcible utterances of Sir Wilfrid, the late Premier of the Dominion. No doubt the influence of the Roman Catholic priesthood has had much to do with perpetuating the connexion with England. They feel that it is {455} not by a connexion with France or the United States that their religious and civil institutions can be best conserved.

All classes now agree as to the necessity of preserving the federal system in its entirety, since it ensures better than any other system of government the rights and interests of the French Canadian population in all those matters most deeply affecting a people speaking a language, professing a religion, and retaining certain institutions different from those of the majority of the people of the Dominion.

No French Canadian writer or politician of weight in the country now urges so impossible or suicidal a scheme as the foundation of an independent French nationality on the banks of the St. Lawrence. The history of the fifty years that have elapsed since the dark days of Canada, when Papineau wished to establish a "Nation Canadienne," goes to show that the governing classes of the English and French nationalities have ceased to feel towards each other that intense spirit of jealousy which was likely at one time to develop itself into a dangerous hatred. The spirit of conciliation and justice, which has happily influenced the action of leading English and French Canadian statesmen in the administration of public affairs, has been so far successful in repressing the spirit of passion and demagogism which has exhibited itself at certain political crises, and in bringing the two nationalities into harmony with each other. As long as the same wise counsels continue to prevail in Canada that {456} have heretofore governed her, and carried her successfully through critical periods, the integrity of the confederation is assured, and the two races will ever work harmoniously together, united by the ties of a common interest,--always the strongest bond of union--and a common allegiance to the Empire to whose fostering care they already owe so much.



[1] The illustration represents the ancient church which was built in 1658, but was taken down a few years ago on account of its dangerous condition, and rebuilt on the old site near the basilica, in exactly the original form with the same materials.

[2] _Songs of Old Canada_. Translated by W. McLennan.



XXX


RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF CANADA.

In the ordinary course of events this history of the Dominion should have closed with an account of the old French Province of Quebec, its people, their characteristics and their progress. But so much has happened in the second decade of the twentieth century that the impress of France is slowly being obliterated by a Canadianism which is peculiar to itself. Of course this does not mean that the French language is disappearing or that all the customs of the old regime are giving way to new. But _autres temps, autres moeurs_. For this the Great War has been largely responsible. Previous to it, the average French Canadian had been too prone to dwell on the ties which bound him to La Belle France. But a part in the world-conflict convinced him that in the hundred and fifty years he had been disassociated from the country of his birthright, he had worked out his destiny along lines essentially Canadian. This view is likewise affecting and influencing the standpoint of those who have settled in the Great Northwest. The result is a stronger feeling of Canadian nationality in that association {458} of nations which we are pleased to term the British Empire.

After the tragic death of Sir John Thompson in 1892 Canada struggled along politically under several Conservative Premiers which undoubtedly prepared the way for Sir Wilfrid Laurier's great victory four years afterwards. Then, surrounded by the men who had been so many years in opposition with him, he evolved those practical principles of Liberalism which kept his party firmly in power until he advocated free trade in 1911. Since that time both Liberals and Conservatives have come to the conclusion that a protective policy is the one best suited for Canada's growing needs and future prospects. It is interesting to recall, however, that in the dying days of Conservative rule, Nicholas Flood Davin, a prominent member on the Government benches, introduced a Bill for Woman's Suffrage, a reform which was not realised in the Dominion until 1917. As for Quebec it has adhered steadily to manhood franchise, although there is a decided possibility that women will receive the vote in 1922. Some three years afterwards, or, to be exact, September 29, 1898, a Prohibition plebiscite was carried in Canada, but it was fully twenty years before it was put into effect by the various provinces, always with the same exception--that of Quebec, It will therefore be seen that in some respects the old province of Lower Canada does not adopt innovations lightly, or, at least, until they have been first tried and found to be worthy of some measure of support.

When the outbreak of the Boers startled Canada and roused in her the dormant desire to respond {460} to the call of the Motherland, it was Sir Wilfrid Laurier who took up the challenge of non-intervention or neutrality.

We acted in the full independence of our sovereign power. What we did we did of our own free will. . . . If it should be the will of the people of Canada at any future stage to take part in any war of England, the people of Canada will have to have their way. . . . The work of union and harmony between the chief races of this country is not yet complete. . . . But there is no bond of union so strong as the bond created by common dangers faced in common.[1]

What a prophecy. How well was it realised fourteen years afterwards. But at the time the Canadians, believing that war would not pass their way again, erected monuments in all the leading cities to commemorate their losses, little thinking that the courage and traditions achieved would be perpetuated at the second battle of Ypres, Vimy Ridge, and the Somme.

The general election of 1900 sustained Sir Wilfrid, and from that time until 1911 he gave to his country a vision and a courage worthy of the great statesman who had preceded him in the premiership during many years. Possibly the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York the following year also opened up new vistas to him of the Empire upon which the sun never sets. At any rate life flowed on evenly enough for him and the Canadian people until there came one of those imperial acts of negotiation which sorely, perhaps unwarrantably, tried the loyalty and patience of everyone in the Dominion, irrespective of race, party, or creed. As a result of it {461} any future Dominion Government would be very brave indeed if it agreed to an arbitration affecting common Canadian and American interests where the negotiators were not of themselves. However, if the Alaska Boundary Award 1903 gave the United States command of the ports leading to the Klondike it also gave to the Canadians a very clear lead as to what they should do when treaties affecting their own interests came up for consideration. Happily both Motherland and Dominion now see eye to eye in this regard, and no greater evidence of the solidarity resulting can be seen than in the signing of the recent Treaty of Versailles by the Overseas delegates.

Deep as was the chagrin at the time, internal expansion and growing wants diverted the attention of most of the settlers to the new problem being worked out in the West. Immigrants were pouring in ceaselessly. A charter for a Grand Trunk Pacific Railway had just been given by the Dominion House. Everyone was ambitious. All these reasons created a desire upon the part of the people for full provincial organisation instead of the territorial system which could not possibly satisfy the demands of a virile Northwest. The Autonomy Bills of Saskatchewan and Alberta were soon presented by the Dominion Government, and on September 1, 1905 two provinces were formally constituted from the old territories.

There were many in the Eastern Provinces who viewed these evidences of expansion not without certain misgivings. Most of the newly arrived settlers were intelligent Americans of considerable {462} means. They had brought their household furniture, agricultural implements, and herds of horses and cattle with them. All this, however, was desirable and praiseworthy. But what worried the older settlers of the west and particularly the residents in