The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-09-20
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
"'y gr,a, Cnrrent TOpics-COmpiled Every
nm for the Evening Telegraph.
CANADIAN INDEPENDENCE.


From the N Y World.
Some days ago the WoTd published para
o,ranh upon the politics of our northern neigh
Rors. which has now called forth letter in
the same strain from gentleman with special
means of knowing Wnat CANADIAN wants ana
wishes really are.
This topic is particularly timely just now,
since some lewd Canadian fellows of the baser
sort have been avowing themselves in favor
of annexation to the United States, and hold
inc meetings in furtherance of that design.
Tt 2s certain that men who hold such opinions
are of no apprecable Importance in Canadian
councils Neither their numbers nor their
characters are such that we can prudently
build any expectations whatever upon their
proceedings. Even if men of standing among
their fellows should join them, as none such
have Joined them yet, the effect of such an
accession would not be to raise the project,
but to lower the recruits in popular regard.
Annexation is the least popular of all the many
modes by which the Canadians propose to rid
themselves of the unhappinesses of their pre-
sent lot. IL is impossible that it should be
brought about for some years to come by the
consent of the people chiefly concerned. And
il would be very unwise in us to make any
attempt to bring it about before that consent
can be obtained.
The reciprocal attachment of Great Britain
and her American dependencies is, 1t is true
altogether matter of sentiment. Inc me
phrases about q common language ana
common stock, which we are sure to hear
when q party of Americans and party OF
Enplishmen dine together tickle the Canadian
ear with far more potency than that where
with they smite the American tympanum.
The reason is that they are much truer in
Canada than here. The dialect of Montreal
is much nearer the pure Attic of the Seven
Dals than is the speech of people in New
York And the Canadian blood, except the
4. Larkn
yinces-an infusion which is merely local and
Inv no means leavens the whole Canadian
lump-is much more homogeneous and much
more British than our own. An English
man who lands in New York feels himself
stranger. He is among set of people who
not only do not think with him or sympathlze
with him, but who neither look like him, dress
like him. nor talk like him. But as soon as
he has crossed the border he finds himself
among a set of beings precisely after his own
heart, accent, and trousers They have not
been transplanted long enough to have any
trace of the soil or the climate to which they
have been brought, and in the continual ar
rivals of British military and civic officers
they are furnished with patterns to which it is
the aim of their existence to conform them
selves. The main difference between them is
that the Kanuck is apt SO to better his in
struction that he becomes an exaggerated
Englishman, and that, as the colonist is said
to have been detected at Athens by the purity
of his accent, Canadian in London might be
picked out by his superlative and unap
proachable cockneyism.
All this is doubtless very soothing to the
souls of both Britons and Canadians. But
in this age, attractions of sentiment cannot
in the long run, prevail over repugnances OF
interest. Great Britain spends large sun
upon the colonies yearly and gets no apprecl
able return for it, except the barren glory o.
Il NJ. n.Nfn NIIa
grumbles in Parliament; and these .grumbles
though first emitted merely for the sake o
grumbling become real grievances in tn
course of time. On the other hand, the colo
nists chafe under the restrictions, trivial a
they comparatively are, to which the hom
Government still subjects them, and unde
the fact that the quarrels which arise among
themselves must be settled by an arbiter il
Downing street. None of these questions Cal
be SO settled as not to leave grudge on on
side or the other. These reciprocal irrita
tions are slowly, but surely ripening toward
an open rupture
And, even in purely sentimental view o
the case, the position of our neighbors is no
one of unalloyed bliss. The rising genera
tion of Canadians have an uncomfortabl
sense that they are not citizens of a country
but only inhabitants of colony. And the
seem to think that that colony is old enoug
now to sever the umbilical cord whic
stretches over the Atlantic, and to make a
effort, at least, to get on alone. In the pre-
sent unsettled state of their provinces, the
have no public careers open to them, for the
country has no clear political future. III
more adventurous of them emigrate to th
States for the arena which is denied them
home, but which would be open to them thel
If Canada were once a nation.
But, with all these patriotic and intelligib
aspirations for independence, there is nor
for annexation. And nothing can obstru
the attainment of Canadian independent
more than threats or lures of American a
nexation. We have already at the Sout
one diseontented and depressed population
whom the reckless legislation of our radio
rulers has made to feel that they are not eli
Zens, but aliens. Let us not think of makiI
another at the North If the Canadians wis
after they have attained independence,
become members of the Union, the quest
of annexation will be in order. 1t is not
order now. And any attempt to moot it "
only bind the Canadian closer to the motl
country, from whom the course of ever
would soon detaeh them, and make
mother country more reluctant than ever
let them go.
c,TYHIcEurc CITNRJIRCT