The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-10-09
INDEPENDENT CANADA.
The Dominion's Trend Is in That
Direction.

How do Canadians regard England?
When the butler of TheophrastuS Such
| was asked the cause of the tides ne re-
piled: Some says one thing, and some
says another. but if l was to give my
opinion it 'ud be different" Mr.. Cham
berlain has been telling Englanders to
rely on the expressions of prominent
Canadians resident in London Tnose
expressions are merrily read by many
in Canada, who understand, as Amer1-
cans do of compatriotS abroad, that
each constitutes himself a diplomatiss
of the school which holds that dIDio-
matists are sent abroad to tell Iaradid-
dies for the good of their country. Are
prominent and nice EnglanderS resi-
dent in Boston. New York or Chicago
taken as examples of English opinion,
when they talk for publication? Any
English who happen to read this COM
munication will know what is meant.
Decency and courtesy require .uitiand-
ers-at least in a powerful country thar
can't be raided-to say aloud only what
is pleasing to the circumjacent.
If the testimony-for publication-of
prominent Canadians resident IN Lon
don were to be taken without a grain
of salt this dominion contains about SIX
million people, including Indians, ali
competing for the loyalty prize; all
praying for the king morning, noon and
night, with their faces turned TO the
Mecca of Windsor castle; all blessing
Mr. Chamberlain as the one true
prophet; all eager to give J. B. a prere~-
ence in trade over everybody else, In
Guiding themselves. 1t is magnificent,
and it may be peace, but when one goes
pOking round in Canada for such loyal
lists he sees no more of them than
Thoreau could of the horse and the
hawk and the hound that were ever
elusive. Is there then no loyalty To
England in Canada? There is. I'M
mensities of it. On the whole honest,
sane. trustworthy. 1t is generally of the
same quality as the loyalty that the
EngliShman who never was out of Kent
feels toward the Canadian at Calgary,
or the Australian at Bendigo. 1t says
in it's heart two things-'Thou art my
brother" and Thou shalt want ere l
want Aye. and a third: Thou shalt
be backed my me against anybody else
Whenever I feel like it," This is =
satisfactory three-fold political cord for
bearded men, though Canadians tenn
porarily exceeding Sentimentalit1es in
London may think it heartlessly de-
scribed.
Mark Twain the Wise once remarked
on the foolishness of protesting
thorough knowledge of the american
mind There are many millions of it,
he said in effect. Nobody can know It
or guess what it will do in strange cir
cumstances. Which of US who went
into shattered Petersburg or flaming
Richmond in April, 1866, could have con-
ceived of the American northern mind
as passively watching the slow revival
of negro slavery? Circumstances change
and nations are reformed by them. If
there can be no accurate diagnosis of
the mind of the comparatively homo
geneouS republic how postulate anything
of the sentiment of heterogeneous Cana
da? There are two main races and two
main creeds here; 80 other races and 140
other creeds. The units are scattered
over half a continent: they all have
votes: they are all Canadians alike. and
all alike to be reckoned within estimat-