Canada and the StatesWatkin, E. W. (Edward William), Sir
History
Canada and the States
Watkin, E. W. (Edward William), Sir
Canada -- Description and travel; Canada -- History; United States -- Description and travel
that ligature of land between Baie Verte and Cumberland Basin, and the
fate of the one must follow the fate of the other. Prince Edward Island
is only a little bit broken off by the Northumberland Strait from those
two bigger brethren, and Upper and Lower Canada are essential to each
other's prosperity.
"If the honest and misguided would but reflect for a moment the risks
they run by defeating, or even delaying this measure, I am sure they
would, even yet, retract. If we reject it now, is there any human
probability that we shall ever see again so propitious a set of
circumstances to bring about the same results? How they came about we
all know. The strange and fortunate events that have occurred in
Canada; the extraordinary concessions made by the leaders of the
Governments below--Dr. Tupper, the Nova Scotian Premier, for instance,
admitting to his confidence, and bringing with him here as his co-
representatives, the Hon. Messrs. Archibald and McCully, two of his
most determined political opponent--can we ever expect, if we reject
this scheme, that the same or similar things will occur again to favour
it? Can we expect to see the leader of the Upper Canadian Conservative
party and the leader of the Upper Canadian Liberals sitting side by
side again, if this project fails to work out, in a spirit of mutual
compromise and concession, the problem of our constitutional
difficulties? No, Sir, it is too much to expect. Miracles would cease
to be miracles if they were events of every-day occurrence; the very
nature of wonders requires that they should be rare; and this is a
miraculous and wonderful circumstance, that men at the head of the
Governments in five separate Provinces, and men at the head of the
parties opposing them, all agreed at the same time to sink party
differences for the good of all, and did not shrink, at the risk of
having their motives misunderstood, from associating together for the
purpose of bringing about this result. I have asked, Sir, what risks do
we run if we reject this measure? We run the risk of being swallowed up
by the spirit of universal democracy that prevails in the United
States. Their usual and favourite motto is--
"'No pent-up Utica contracts our powers,
But the whole boundless continent is ours.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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