and of United Canada herself, had not illustrated the value of Union as they have within the last generation.

To-day all is more clear, and the principle involved has been recently still more forcibly put in these words: "If Canada is to be abandoned, we might just as well abandon England. If we care for the Empire, the one is as essential and important to us as the other."1 It has become increasingly evident that, with Canada in the hands of a hostile Power, the interests of Great Britain must most materially suffer.

The policy of a generation or two ago, which in effect said to Canada and other Colonies, "Go or stay it makes no difference to us," had this good effect-that it forced forward local defence; but in other respects it was a mistaken policy, and did not embody either the truth, or the views of the greater minds of England.

One can better realize the influence which the Canadian Dominion may possibly have upon the future destinies of the Empire from the fact that it has been estimated that her population, at the present rate of its increase, would, before the close of this century, number 100,000,000—i.e., more than double what is now that of the United Kingdom.2 Moreover, her resources in mineral

1 "The Defence Problem from the Imperial Standpoint," by Mr. L. S. Amery, editor of "The Times" History of the War in South Africa, National Defence Magazine, May, 1909, pp. 717, 718.

2 Speech of Lord Strathcona, Canadian High Commissioner in London, at Winnipeg, August, 1909. The number of immigrants to Canada in the years 1909-10 was about 209,000, of whom some 104,000 came from the United States, 45,000 from the Continent of Europe, and 60,000 from the British Isles.

and agricultural wealth are being developed to a degree heretofore unprecedented.

If, on the other hand, we turn to the importance to Canada of British connection, and to the probable future of Canada, how could that future be either so secure or so brilliant beyond the pale of Empire as within it?

Lord Milner has thus depicted what that position is now, and may become, as one of the partner nations of the Empire :1

"I have said that Canada is not unique in being a great country, but she is unique in being one of a group of countries which have a strong foothold in every corner of the world. That group only needs to hold together and to be properly organized in order to command, with a comparatively small cost to its individual members, all the credit and all the respect, and therefore all the power and all the security, which credit and respect alone can give a nation among the nations of the world.

"Without any loss of individuality, without any excessive strain upon her resources, it is within her power to enjoy all the glory and all the benefits of that great position, not only on this continent, but throughout the world. Canada would be greater, far greater, as a member-perhaps in time the leading member of that group of powerful, though pacific, nations than she ever could be in isolation."

Canada also, if within the Empire, possesses a position as a sea-power which she cannot hold if outside of it. This has been recently alluded to

1 Imperial Unity, by Viscount Milner (1909).

by Captain Phillimore, R.N., in his expressed view that she seemed some day destined to form the "body of that huge octopus, British Sea-Power."1

Placed between the Atlantic and Pacific as naval partner, not only with Great Britain, but also with Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, she may become this, and-to use the words of Lord Milner-even be "the leading member of the group," but necessarily not in isolation.

If outside the British Empire, what, from her geographical position, must seemingly be Canada's future? Apparently, either to be protected by, allied with, or absorbed by, the United States, or to become what is termed an "independent " nation.

The last alternative is the only one which we need dwell on here. "Protection" (whether through the Monroe Doctrine or in any other shape) or "absorption" represent at present the aspirations of no portion of Canada, and are never likely to do so, unless a mistaken commercial policy changes in time the current of existing feeling.

But "independence" is an ideal of another character, and, within due limits, admirable so long as the substance, and not the shadow only, of it is grasped.

The growth of a self-reliant, independent feeling, in either men or nations, is not to be discouraged to any advantage if they are to become great, and in this sense it is not to be regretted that Canada

1 Prize Essay by Captain R. T. Phillimore, M.V.O., R.N., Journal of the Royal United Service Institution, August, 1909.

should control her own forces, and retain, as she has done (with the complete assent of the MotherCountry) the power to decide, according to circumstances, whether her navy and army are to be employed or not employed beyond her own borders. Her history shows that she will stand by the Empire; and the fact that it is left to her voluntary decision as to the extent to which Canadian forces are to be used, except for Canadian defence and in a Canadian quarrel, at all events removes all ground for an assertion-which has been at times made—that within the Empire she cannot be truly independent, because she is liable to have to fight for a cause of which she may disapprove.

In the present position of Canada within the Empire there is already, in fact as well as theory, complete and real "independence." Voluntary partnership is not dependence; the free preference by a free people for a Constitutional Monarchy, instead of any other form of government, is not dependence; sharing in common with others the expense of an Imperial policeman-in other words, of her naval and military defence though an excellent business bargain, is not dependence.

More complete freedom could not be found in any "alliance" as compared with the "partnership of Empire, for alliances in all cases invoke mutual obligations and mutual ties. When made with a nation under another flag, they are never based upon the principle of giving something for nothing; and it may be added that occasionally, though they may be on the whole a source of strength, one of the parties to them has to pay heavily for them.

It is well to remember that the position, wealth, and resources of Canada, although the latter are as yet but partially developed, are such that they may possibly be coveted by other Great Powers less fortunately dowered; and that, were she not in possession of such sea and land forces as would rally around her if within the Empire, her safety from invasion must rest more or less upon the forbearance of rivals - an insecure foundation. "Communities which want, and cannot have except by force, will take by force, unless they are restrained by force."1

The more the close connection between Great Britain and Canada is considered, the more it will appear that, from the standpoint of each nation, neither can, in its material interests alone, afford to separate from the other.

Before the late Conference was convened Canada had not consented to move in the direction of monetary contributions towards naval defence, or proposed the formation of a Canadian fleet; but it must be conceded that she has within the last fifty years most effectively contributed to Imperial defence generally by the construction of railways from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, which give British troops a shorter line to the East (to which we shall later on allude); by the cutting of canals and deepening of water communication between the sea and the great lakes; by attention to her local land forces, which have

1 Mahan, Interest of America in Sea-Power, p. 253. See Gates of our Empire, by T. Miller Maguire (1910).