The morning call., 1891-07-21
A RAY OF CoMnIoN SENSE.

The reply of Erastus Wiman. a Canadian
though a resident of New York-to a COM
mttee which solicited from him q subscrip-
ton for a monument 10 the late Sir John
Macdonald, is a neat piece of sarcasm, based
upon common sense. Mr.. Wiman says:
There is no monument needed 10 perpetuate
the memory of Sir John so long as the great bar
rier exists which his national policy created be-
tween the EngliSh-speaking people OF the CONT
nent, for so long will lie be remembered by the
people OF both countries. So far as trade and
commerce are concerned, tile existence of pros.
perIty In Canada, occupying one-half the CONT
nenI, is more dependent upon free access TO the
other half than upon all other circumstances
combined; yet the chief result of the policy of
The departed statesman has been tie creation of
a wall over which many Of The commonest neces-
stiles of life can only be exchanged by paying a
tribute to either government, often beyond the
cost OF production. Sixty millions OF dollars ex-
pended in Canadian canals, with less than sixty
craft TO navigate them. and depending upon
United States tonnage for maintenance, even in
The face OF discrimination against American
craft, is an Indication OF the policy pursued.
EYrn The greatest achievement during Sir Johns
life, the Canadian Pacific Railway, while It is
the most comprehensive transportation agency
in the world, could not earn profit to pay for
ITS axiegrease unless it had free to traffic
in the United States, which, strange to say, 1t Is
sought TO deny to all other interests. That these
monuments TO Sir John will be OF an end urng
character is as certain as the permanence of the
great national debt which this policy has ere.
AIRED.
Mr.. Wiman truthfully epitomzes in few
words the policy Of the Canadian Conserya-
tives. Readers of THE CALL do not re-
quire to be informed that the cornerstone
of that policy was to keep Canada and the
United States apart and separate to ex-
clude from Canada the products of this
country and to provide the Dominion with
| lines of communication east and west which
should reach Europe and Asia without
crossing the United States. Its aim was to
| foster national antipathy between the two
peoples. 1t was bottomed upon the idea that
| Canadians should sacrifice their own inter
ests in order to maintain the British con-
| nection, and that every project which tended
! to draw them closer to the great republic
| south of them should be frowned down Thus
| fr was, as Mr.. Wiman says, that sixty mill
| ions were spent on canals which were in
| tended to emancipate Canada from de-
pendence ON American lines Of transporta-
ton, and which are nevertheless dependent
| on American patronage for support; and
| that Two hundred millions, more or less,
we're spent on the Canadian Pacific Rail-
| traffic off American lines, but which now
could not pay its working expenses but for
| the business it gets from this country. The
| policy was so firmly adhered to that, at one
| time, the history OF the United States was
| tabooed in Canadian schools, though the
| scholars were drilled into the chronicle of
| the Tudors and the Stuarts and the Han
overian Kings in England.
| AS Mr. Wiman well says, these achieve
mentS are Sir Johns best monument.
They will endure as long as the mischief he
| did is remembered. He will figure in his
| tory as man who used his powers to de-
! feat the operation of natural laws and the
| development of wholesome tendencies. If
| he had never been born the relations be-
| tween Canada and the United States might
| have been closer than they are, and the
| traveller crossing the border might not have
been so often struck with the contrast be-
| tween American prosperity and Canadian
stagnation. IL he had gone back to his
native country in his youth the Province of
| Quebec might have been as Furnishing as
the State of New York and Western On
| tario as populous as Michigan. For it often
| happens that it rests with one man to shape
the opinions of people. Philip III by his
| single efforts destroyed Spanish prosperity
| and inflicted blow on the peninsula from
which 1t has never recovered. Sir John
Macdonald rendered similar service to the
| province which he made his home.
1t will take msny years to undo the bad
work he has done. In time, OF course, Cana
| dams will learn that their natural affinity is
with the country with which their territory
is cotermlnous and not with nation on the
other side Of the Atlantic. Between them
aud the American people there is COM
Dunity Of interest and feeling which must
tell sooner or later. An educated, intelli-
| gent Canadian is much more OF an American
| than of an Englishman. In spite of the in
fiuence of foreign chief magistrate and
foreign titles, he cannot help feeling that
he, too, is an American, ami that to him ia
his heart of hearts there is strangeness in
| things European. 1t was The purpose of
| Sir John Macdonald to prevent the growth
| of this feeling and to maintain an artificial
loyalty to foreign power. That he sue
] ceeded in doing so for 80 long period is
monument enough