, 1890-11-08
NORTH AMERICAN POLITICS AND THE
CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY.
(Spectator 18th Oct.)

The Englishman who can find time aud
energy to divert his gazB from home topics,
will be- amply rewarded BY the variety aud
piouancv of the contemporary problems
which are on their road towards solution
in the various quarters Of our globa. WniIe
ancient Asia slumbers under the SceptreS Of
Empires Chinese, Ottoman, Russian, and
English, a dormant volcano, which some
time may inundAte with it's countless
streams of life Australasia and America as
we'll as Europe; while secret Africa, from
the mysterious SOudan to Cape Agulhas,
reveals its inmOSt reCeSseS to the curiosity
and enterprise of hunters aud traders, and
confirms the v~eraCity of earliest history
the peoples who inhabit the Continent of
North America seem on The very threshold
0f new c0uQueStS and greatness. For,
within a few brief years the successful
completion Of a 9 great commercial enterprise
has not only secured a route for
across the Dominion of Canada, from the
shores of Nova Scotia to those Of British
Columbia, but has made plain to all
men hat there are possibilities in the inn
minent future which will 90 far to falsity
many hitherto seemingly sound political
judgments. And the present moment, when
the Tariff Bill of Mr.. Mckinley is an accom-
Dlished fact, is a very fitting moment in
which 20 insist on the nature and import
anOe of the crisis.
Until a quito recent period, the com non
opinion about Canadian opinion, it may be
remarked, largely Influenced by the interest
cd motives of the inhabitants of the United
States-has been OF an adverse aud depre-
eiatorv sort. Englishnen of the Older
generation have scarcely yet learnt to think
of the Dominion as other than it was at the
time Of the Trent incident,-a cOngerieS
Of iIl-knit provinces, without any effective
organisation rich enough in forests and
nastures, = paradise of sport, but devoid of
The mineral wealth and the luXuriant pos
,jnrjty which characterize Its mighty neigh
bour. Even when the Dominion ceased to
mean the maritime provinces with Quebec
and Ontario; even when the Red River
ExpeditiOn had acquainted the world which
reads newspapers with the sEad0wy name
of Manitoba even when the locomotive
actually traversed the leagues of prairie
which lie beyond Winnipeg, had climbed
the Rockies and SelkirkS, and steamed
along the peaceful reaches OF Vancouver
Harbeur-even then English people failed
TO grasp what it all meant. For the lessons
of the past are hard to untearn,-the pOllti-
clan clings to his knowledge that Quebec is
the happy hunting grouhd ol the jesuit
that the Fenians have had their eye on
Canada; and that Mr.: Goodwin Smith has
sat for years at Toronto, all insistent Jonah.
forptelling quarterly the coming day of an
paxatien: while the fnancier has a keen
nee. OF the D1miniOu'S monetary
straits; and It's comparative barrenness as
y field for investments. The dazzling adj
vance, moreover, of the United States since
The close ofthe War of Secession has further
prevented a true Judgment of Canada'S
real progress.
But whatever may rave been the slow
ness of the English to see the significance
Of the new development, it is very certain
hat neither New York nor San Francisco
we're as slow. While Canada remained q
comparatively obscure country, engaged
in the lumber trade, competingln the grain
market with difficulty against the farmers