Imperialism

Mr. President, Ladies-Daughters of the Empire, Gentlemen of the Empire Club, and of the Press Club,

I have long desired to be able to accept the invitation which, a good while ago, was tendered to me by three of your clubs. It is a very great pleasure to find myself among you this evening. I feel a little odd at the prospect of having to address three separate groups of loyal Canadians, but my stock of loyalty and imperialism is sufficient to hold out. (Applause.)

I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that I should not be far wrong in saying that the object of the Empire Club; the Daughters of the Empire, and your other organizations is two-fold-in the first place, constitutional union for all parts of the Empire; and in the second place, to claim for yourselves in Canada a share in the duties, honours, and responsibilities which citizenship in the Empire involves. (Hear! hear!)

I think that these clubs are of very great value in calling you from the subjects which occasionally cause differences of opinion among you as Canadian citizens, to those common objects of importance which we all hold with equal zeal. I have always thought that one of the best features of the Canadian and Empire Clubs, is that it enables you to come, in personal contact with those differences that occasionally divide men in domestic politics-and after all they are only differences of opinion--and this is the best way of maintaining the interests, which we all hold in common.

Now I have these two ideas to present, ladies and gentlemen: the importance of prolonging and strengthening the bonds and ties which hold the different parts of the, Empire together; and the importance of your desire to show that you are willing to take your part-your share in the duties and responsibilities of the Empire. I cannot forbear to say here, that I had the pleasure, some thirty years ago in England, of being associated with your Governor-General, Lord Grey, as one of the founders of the Imperial Federation League. We realized there were great difficulties in the way of strengthening the legal ties and uniting the different parts of the Empire; but we fought in England from principle (I ought to say "Britain"). (Hear hear!) There were people in England who said you were not interested; but, in spite of the difficulties and discouragements, in;883 I thought we saw the dawning of a better day, and we know today that the colonies are just as zealous as England herself to keep, maintain, and strengthen the connection.

Well now, how should we try to accomplish this closer unity--you here in Canada, those in New Zealand and at the Cape-you all desire the same thing? First, I think, in order to fullfil these aspirations, we should know one another better. Every part of the Empire should have a fuller knowledge of the other parts. This is a truth easier task since the advent of steam navigation, and I hope very much that what we have done now in the way of direct lines from the United Kingdom to Canada is only the beginning of what will prove a greater service and a more rapid service than we have now. I hope the same with regard to TransPacific lines, in order that traffic between your western shores and our neighbours to the south, in Australia and New Zealand shall be accelerated. Much might also be done in the way of improved telegraphic communication.

But here, I may say a special word to the representatives of the press, 'representatives of the Press Club. Their' part in this work is to make each portion of the Empire know the rest-a very important part, in fact, it is perhaps the most important part. Much depends upon them to give quick, accurate, and full intelligence to each one of the component portions as to what is being done in the others. Of course we know the object of the press is to tell the truth-that is their great object; that is their boast-but like other objects of devotion, it is attained sometimes more perfectly, sometimes less perfectly. (Laughter.) Sometimes truth wears the sober gray livery of reason, sometimes there is a danger of it being tinged by the vivid colours of imagination; but I am sure it will always do its best when endeavouring to serve the cause of Imperial Unity; and I would appeal to the gentlemen of the press who are present, that they should feel a very important part of their duty is to have accurate and comprehensive intelligence laid before the people of Canada of what is passing in Canada and the United Kingdom, and also in the other great Dominions; and I think that that intelligence ought to be not only fully accurate but also, above all things, to be impartial. It is of the utmost importance, gentlemen, that you should, here in Canada,-and I say the same for us in Great Britain--that we should have the most perfectly unbiassed account of what passes in each of our countries.

It would be a great misfortune if the domestic politics of Great Britain were in any way involved in the domestic politics of Canada, (Hear! hear!) and conversely it would be most unfortunate for the domestic affairs of Canada to become intermingled with the domestic politics of the Mother country. We shall get on far better by treating one another as concrete wholes. We want to think of you as one united people, and we want you to think of us in the same manner. Our attitude toward you is a desire to serve you, and I believe you feel the same toward us. You do not wish us to interfere in any way with your little domestic differences, and I think that is the best for both parties concerned.

It is impossible, unless you live in a country, to properly understand its polities. I find, for myself, since I left England two or three years ago, having) only paid two short visits there since, that I would not venture now to give an official opinion on English politics. Even the best newspaper accounts do not enable one to tinder--stand it in the same way as if one were on the spot. I do say this, that newspaper accounts are of the utmost importance; and it is of the greatest importance 'that they should be impartial in order that we may be able to realize when we hear of any event occurring in the Mother country, what are the causes and feelings that actuated each party. I hope that you will not feel that we are wanting in patriotism in the Old Country because some of our views are different. And therefore, I hope that we shall have impartial accounts of what passes here, and that you shall have impartial accounts of what passes there, and in that way, our good opinion of one another will be best maintained.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, besides trying to know one another, I think that we want to consider loyalty, and this is one of the objects of your club. What are the principles that have made the Empire, and what are the principles for which, and by which, the Empire stands? We have had an extraordinary career of conquests and territorial extension. Our "far-flung battle line," has advanced in every continent, and advanced far more rapidly than we expected. But I confess it is not that which fills me with pride and satisfaction. That is not .one of the things we ought most to admire; it is more to have made something of a small country than to be the possessor of enormous wastes of desert or snow. (Applause.) Think of the everlasting fame of such small places as Athens, and France, and Italy-think of England herself in the days of Elizabeth, the days of the Armada, the time of Shakespeare-it was only a little country of some thirty-four million people. It is not size that makes greatness; it is the men and what the men do, and above all, it is the principles by which those men have been actuated, by which they endeavour to carry out their duty.

Now what has our Empire stood for? First of all for freedom, constitutional freedom. (Applause.) Freedom has been the birthright of the British people' since the earliest centuries, and for that we have stood-both religious and civil freedom. We have stood for equal private rights, and equal citizenship.

Now that is one of the best things that Great Britain has ever stood for, and something we have just cause to be proud of her for. Even with conquered countries like India, where the people were far behind ours in knowledge and education, and were far removed from us in their thoughts and feelings, we have always affirmed that principle of equal civil rights, and the benefits of British Law have been available for every British subject. It is open to any one of His Majesty's subjects to sit in the British House of Commons. I hope I am right in. saying that I think the same would be true here in Canada, should a native of India for instance come and live in Canada; as long as he is a citizen of the country he would not be debarred from becoming a member of parliament, and he would have the same protection to life arid property that is accorded British citizens whereever the British flag floats. (Applause.) We give that not only to men of our own race and blood, but to the other nations-.a thing no other conquering people has ever done. We have also, in the name of freedom, extended the privilege of self-government wherever it is at all possible--where the people wish it and where their experience and intelligence warrant it. We gave that in the early days to the thirteen colonies of North America, but unfortunately we did not give it in sufficiently ample measure or they would have maintained their connection with the Mother country to this day. But though they unfortunately separated from the Mother country, the lesson was not lost upon us. At that time we appeared to have lost our hold upon the outer world, because Canada, which was a very minor place then, was the only part we possessed. We did not lose heart, but set out to foster new colonies and give them self-government. It was a difficult task, but we did not shrink from our principles-we carried them out in the early days, and last century we set the coping-stone upon them in the British North America Act of 1867. (Applause.) Yes, and only four years ago we gave a crowning example, as a way of healing the dispute with the Boers, by granting self-government to two Republics in South Africa which were lately at war with us; and by this vv e believe we did much toward the unity of the British Empire. (Applause.)

Well, ladies and gentlemen, these are the principles upon which the Empire has been built, and there has never been any part of the Empire which wanted do break away from this unity and start for itself, with the exception of the thirteen colonies, and there we ourselves were largely to blame. And the same high compliment can be paid to English Governors and leaders--every one of them have been loyal to the crown and the Empire as a whole.

Look back over the last hundred years or two and think of how much has come to us that no one ever ventured to predict should happen. There is a saying attributed to Oliver Cromwell, that "No man ever goes so far as the man who does not know where he is going," which I think was amply illustrated in the career of Oliver Cromwell himself. (Laughter: This is true of us;' we did not set out to establish Dominions all over the world any more than the Romans did whets they warred with the Latins and other tribes around their cities. Providence led us on-Providence and our own energy placed us where we are; and it is a question whether we can make the bonds, in a legal way, any closer or put into definite form the relations between the parts of the Empire, between the self-governing Dominions and the Mother country. It is a question so very large that I would not undertake to enter upon it this evening. Vie have talked about it the last twenty or thirty years in England, and I know that you sometimes talk about it here. I have always thought that it would be a. very desirable thing if we could see our way clear, but it could only be attempted with the most perfect unanimity on the part of the Dominions as well as the Mother country; and I am inclined to think it is rather for the Dominions than, the Mother country to make the proposition. It would not do for the Mother country to press the Dominions into arty closer relations than they themselves ,desire. While these relations now are legally loose, morally they are strong; we know we can rely upon them. If any Dominion in the group of Dominions can show a way to improve the relations and bring the Mother country and the Dominions closer together so that we might combine for various purposes, so that we might have more unity in legislation for purposes which are common, so that we might utilize one another's resources for defence, I can assure you that it will receive a most sympathetic reception by the Mother country, and I hope we shall be able to make out a basis for some practical constitutional scheme, (Applause) though I think it is rather from the Dominions themselves that these schemes Should proceed. At any rate I am sure of this, there is no use doing anything until the time is ripe, and everybody is prepared to go heartily into it.

Now there is one other question that I would like to say a word to you on. Canada has two ways of serving the Empire; the one which she alone could use is that of developing her internal communications, as she is doing. Canada is the only part of the Empire that rests upon two oceans. You are washed by the Atlantic on the one side, by the Pacific on the other, and by a great Bay and the Arctic on the north. You are linked up from sea to sea with great transcontinental railways, and this is a great service to the Empire. I do not know anything more important than that we should have rapid transportation through a British possession, such as Canada. And when the country becomes more populous, it will be a strength to the Empire; and when the population has reached-as it will, in the lifetime of many here present who are still in middle life-perhaps forty or fifty millions, you will be an immense power in the world. This is of great importance, and if I thought there was any danger threatening the Mother country, I should desire that the building of the transportation lines should be more rapid still, but I do not look upon the position of the Mother country at the present moment as one of danger. I do not believe she was ever stronger or safer than at this present moment; I do not believe she has an enemy in the world. I do know that she as no quarrels on her hands and she is' on better terms with most countries than ever before, therefore it is not in any sense of anxiety for the Mother country that I desire to see Canada develop her internal means of communication, but because of the benefit it will be to all the other parts of the Empire. The Mother country is happy in knowing that she has such strong, vigorous children growing up around her. (Applause.)

The other way of serving the Empire is to develop the districts that lie along the great transcontinental lines. It has been stated that it is a difficult thing to maintain communication across Canada since a considerable part of the distance is through a wilderness, but owing to recent discoveries that have been made in northern Ontario, discoveries of mineral and agricultural areas, we learn, on good authority, that there is a splendid tract of land in that northern part of the country, which, I am told, is about 300 miles long by about fifty to sixty miles wide. Now this is a fact o€. great importance in the making and maintaining of communication across Canada. You are not bound, as was hitherto supposed, to go through miles of uninhabitable wastes separated from the most vital and thickly populated districts. Now you will have a large agricultural population at one end and a large mining population at the other, making practically a habitable area almost the whole way from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Ladies and gentlemen, I turn to another feature in which all self-governing Dominions may share for the good of the Empire, and that is in asserting for themselves, in even a fuller measure, their privilege of entering into the Imperial Service. All Imperial Service, as you know, is just as much open to you here in Canada, for instance, as though you were born in Great Britain, as everything here is open to those of us born in Great Britain. I would like to see Canadians take a greater share in the Diplomatic Service and the Civil Service at home; and I think similarly, a larger number of Canadians should offer themselves as candidates for Parliament in the old land; and get seats there. It would work out advantageously all round, for you can readily see, that the English, Irish, and Scotch members in the House would have a far more intelligent grasp of Canadian affairs when a member from Canada rose in his seat and spoke from knowledge received at first hand. We have four or five members from Canada in the British House of Commons now, and I hope to see their numbers increasing.

There is one important branch of the Imperial Service in which I want to enlist your interest by suggesting that a greater number of Canadians should enter the Indian and Colonial Service, also, that you should all take a lively interest in what goes on in the Crown Colonies--above all, in India. India belongs just as much to you as it does to Great Britain. India was conquered by the British sword-much of it before there was a Canada, and the rest of it when Canada was small comparatively; but your ancestors who were then in England, Ireland, or Scotland, did most of the conquering, therefore you are entitled, by your hereditary rights as well as by your partnership in all that is Imperial, to take an equal interest in anything connected with India.

There was nothing very remarkable about the British conquering India, because, after all, it was a conquest achieved by a civilized people, with civilized weapons, with civilized strategy, and by men of eminent ability, such as our Duke of Wellington. It was a conquest achieved by these men over a comparatively backward race, but what I am proud of is the way in which India has been ruled. At the very outset, in the days of Clive and immediately following, in the days of Hastings, we did not act in an altogether disinterested manner in India, but from the end of the last century, and partly during the nineteenth century we have set ourselves to govern Indian in a way which it may safely be said, no conquered people have been governed before. (Applause.) We have governed India for the sake of her people; we have governed it partly out of a desire which every intelligent, capable man would wish, who wants to see things well done. We sent a great many able men to India with natural English instincts, civilized men, who wanted to do things the way a capable and efficient Government would desire. These men were imbued with the English ideals of justice and equality. They wanted to extend the full rights of citizenship to the natives of India; to protect them from unjust taxation; to improve the state to which the evil habits of the patives had brought them; to have cruelty discontinued; to establish good order; to police the country properly; to see that every one had the same kind of protection and security, as far as possible, that we have at home: and that has been achieved in an extraordinary degree, and an Englishman may now travel alone with perfect safety in almost every part of India. I remember on one occasion starting upon a journey in India with two or three native servants and going by a road which ran for three days' journey along the edge of an independent state among the Himalayas. When I asked whether I should go on, my friend smiled, and said: "If you are known as an Englishman, you have ample protection whereever you go iii India." (Applause.)

There never was a great and populous country which has not been the prey to disorder, anarchy, robbery--there never was such a country brought to such a condition of order and security as India has now. (Applause.) That there is occasionally some disaffection and trouble of some form cannot be denied; but I think that we may feel this, that if we continue-as I am sure we shall,-to give some proof of our desire to do right, and to protect and help the people, we shall have the great mass of the people with us.

I think all the sensible people in India know that, if by any possibility we were compelled to leave India, the result would be disorder, robbery, murder, anarchy, and destruction from one end of the country to the other. That is what existed before we came, and that is what would exist if we left. It is to the interests of the people of India and all others who live there, that we stay there arid do as we are doing; and I hope that there will be no differences of opinion anywhere, in any part of the Empire, about our maintaining the government and rule which we owe to the people of India for their own sakes more than for ourselves. That is the principle under which we have always acted. We feel that to be the only position we can take, and cannot help but discharge that duty. By preserving that spirit we shall, I feel, have the sentiment of India with us, and that more and more as knowledge and education spreads among' them, they will recognize that never have they had anything like the peace and prosperity we have given them, and that the best they can wish is that we may continue to give it to them. (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to feel the same kind of interest in India and in the excellence of our rule there that we in Great Britain feel, and I hope that more and more Canadians will enter the Indian Service, and that you will take the same sort of interest in India, which we in Great Britain take in it. If I were to ask what some historian a century hence would say had been the achievements of Great Britain and the Empire in the world, I think it would be this: that we have been a great exploring people, that we have been a people who by settlement and commerce have spread civilization, and the first people who ever laid down the principle of ruling for the sake of those who were ruled. We ask all you self-governing Dominions, we ask you in Canada the greatest of the self-governing Dominions-who are likely in the years to come to be far greater than even you are now, we ask you to join us and help us in this task,--one of the greatest tasks that God ever laid upon a nation. Let us all rise together to the height of that responsibility. (Loud applause.)