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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2014
“If we introduce overmuch idealism into explaining the formation of either of the North American polities, the record of mankind is against us. So is our own history. The thirteen colonies came together not primarily because of the joy in making a great free American community, but because disintegration stared them in the face and men of substance saw in union salvation for their fortunes. It is no reflection on British North Americans that they too made their union under duresse.”
The establishment of a wider Canadian union had been discussed for a number of decades before Confederation but the motivation in a common allegiance to Great Britain and in intermittent flashes of national sentiment had proven wholly inadequate to overcome the obstacles of provincial particularism and cultural differences, of paucity of communication and contact among the colonies, and of the contrasting economic orientation of central Canada and the Maritime region. In the years immediately prior to Confederation these divisive elements were finally outweighed by the mounting pressures of political dead-lock, economic uncertainty, and fear and jealousy of the United States. The leaders of the Confederation movement variously gave expression to these pressures. National sentiment was still a distinctly secondary factor, however, and only a few of the leaders betrayed in their speeches evidence of a broad vision of Canadian nationhood.
1 Lower, A. R. M., Colony to Nation (Toronto, 1946), 309.Google Scholar
2 Cf. Wallace, W. S., “The Growth of Canadian National Feeling,” Canadian Historical Review, I, no. 2, 06, 1920, 143–50Google Scholar, and Scott, F. R., “Political Nationalism and Confederation,” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, VIII, no. 3, 08, 1942, 386 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3 The group comprised William A. Foster, Robert J. Haliburton, George T. Denison, Henry J. Morgan, and Charles Mair. Although they displayed the occupational diversity of law, journalism, government service, the military, and the arts, all ultimately established reputations in the field of writing. All except Haliburton were natives of Ontario.
4 A good, though biased, outline of Canada First activities is contained in ColonelDenison, George T., The Struggle for Imperial Unity (Toronto, 1909), passim.Google Scholar
5 Charles Mair was employed by the one sent out in the fall of 1868 and the Canada First group arranged for the publication in the Montreal Gazette of articles by him on the West.
6 For a detailed history of the rebellion see Stanley, G. F. G., The Birth of Western Canada (Toronto, 1936), 243–407.Google Scholar
7 John C. Shultz, a medical doctor who had moved to the West from Ontario in the 1860's, was the Canada Firsters' earliest recruit.
8 Telegraph (Toronto), 04 8, 1870.Google Scholar Foster's article carried the fiery banner, “The Messengers of the Murderer—are they to be received?”
9 Creighton, D. G., Dominion of the North (Boston, 1944), 316.Google Scholar
10 The Canada First group was instrumental in securing the arrest of the emissaries on a charge of murder when they arrived in Ottawa. The case was dismissed for lack of evidence and the emissaries then proceeded to see the Prime Minister. Denison, Struggle for Imperial Unity, 31–2.
11 Ibid., 56–7.
12 An article by William Foster, first published in 1871, provides the most concise summary of these beliefs. Canada First: A Memorial of the late William Foster, Q.C. (Toronto, 1890)Google Scholar contains this article and a number of other Canada First articles and speeches.
13 For a more detailed analysis of the Treaty of Washington settlement and its impact see McInnis, E., Canada: A Political and Social History (Toronto, 1947), 316–22.Google Scholar
14 Colonel Denison himself implied that he would have opposed the decision to form a party. Struggle for Imperial Unity, 56–8.
15 See ibid., 59.
16 The only available list of those who, aside from the five founders, were closely associated with the Canada First party at various times contains twenty-four names. See Willison, J. S., Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal Party (Toronto, 1903), I, 171, 202.Google Scholar The twenty-four were almost exclusively lawyers, doctors, and business-men in Toronto and Hamilton.
17 Quoted in Denison, Struggle for Imperial Unity, 60.
18 Quoted in Wallace, W. S., ed., “Edward Blake's Aurora Speech, 1874,” Canadian Historical Review, II, no. 3, 09, 1921, 256.Google Scholar
19 Ibid., 255.
20 The Canadian National Association Manifesto of January, 1874, had declared Canada First's intention of establishing a club “which will combine the social, literary and political elements, similar in plan to the English Reform or Carleton Clubs.” Canada First, 56. The National Club was the result.
21 For a verbatim report see the Nation (Toronto), 10 15, 1874.Google Scholar
22 The newspaper itself claimed to be independent of all parties (see ibid., Oct. 22, 1874), but it was commonly regarded as the official spokesman for Canada First.
23 Printed in Canada First, 57–86.
24 Ibid., 82.
25 Ibid., 80.
26 Ibid., 81.
27 This transformation is traced in Underhill, F. H., “The Conception of a National Interest,” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, I, no. 3, 08, 1935, 396–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
28 Nation, Feb. 4, 1876.
29 Mail (Toronto), 12 6, 1873.Google Scholar
30 Globe (Toronto), 01 9, 1874.Google Scholar The political background of those who were closely associated with Canada First indicates that the analysis of the Conservative paper was closer to the facts.
31 Ibid., Dec. 16, 1873.
32 Mail, Dec. 6 and 8, 1873. These Conservative tactics were illustrated in an advertisement for their West Toronto candidate which read: “The British Empire—Canada and Connection—Premature Independence is Annexation—Vote against Moss—Down with Disloyalty— Resist Government Intimidation—Vote for Bickford and the British Constitution—Rally against Treason—God Save the Queen.” Ibid., Dec. 15, 1873.
33 Globe, Jan. 9, 1874; Mail, Jan. 12, 1874.
34 Nation, Sept. 17, 1874.
35 The Mail scornfully referred to the “beardless boys” of Canada First while the Globe fulminated against “sucking politicians.” See Ewart, J. S., The Kingdom of Canada (Toronto, 1908), 77.Google Scholar
36 Denison, , Struggle for Imperial Unity, 60–1.Google Scholar
37 “The pride which the Liberals of Ontario took in Mr. Moss was probably quite equal to that which the Liberals of Quebec had in Mr. Laurier.” Willison, , Sir Wilfrid Laurier, I, 143.Google Scholar
38 Oct. 6, 1874.
39 Ibid.
40 Oct. 7, 1874.
41 That the two speeches were given within the space of a week was, to the Conservative press, more than coincidence. Although it offered no direct evidence for its contention, the Mail claimed that Blake, originally planning to present his views at the opening of the National Club, had backed down under pressure from Mackenzie and Brown and that the Aurora meeting had given him the first opportunity thereafter. Mail, Oct. 10, 1874.
42 Globe, Oct. 19, 1874.
43 Mail, Dec. 11, 1874.
44 A National Club, established in the Maritimes in April, 1874, was the only evidence of Canada First activity outside Ontario, and the platform commitment to “Free Homesteads in the Public Domain” was the only direct recognition of an agrarian interest.
45 Nation, Sept. 17, 1874.
46 Denison, , Struggle for Imperial Unity, 56.Google Scholar
47 Quoted in the Nation, Oct. 15, 1874.
48 Denison estimated an audience of this size at the protest meeting following the escape of Mair and Schultz during the Red River Rebellion. Denison, , Struggle for Imperial Unity, 25–6.Google Scholar
49 Canada First, 25–6.
50 See Graham, W. R., “Liberal Nationalism in the Eighteen-Seventies,” Canadian Historical Association, Report of the Annual Meeting, 1946, 104—11.Google Scholar
51 Lewis, J., George Brown, Makers of Canada Series, vol. XIX, ed. Grant, W. L. (Toronto, 1907), 241.Google Scholar The charge of undue conservatism was denied in the Globe, Nov. 4, 1874.
52 Quoted in McArthur, P., Sir Wilfrid Laurier (Toronto, 1919), 93.Google Scholar
