“Nova Scotia and New Brunswick had thousands of vessels upon the sea, scattered all over the world. Canada had her thousand miles of frontier unprotected. Had war come, we knew that our money losses would have been fearful, and the scenes upon our sea-coasts and our frontiers, sternly painted as they must occur, without any stretch of the imagination, might well bid the ‘boldest hold his breath for a time.’ But, did a single man in all those noble provinces falter? No! Every man, ay, every woman accepted the necessity, and prepared for war. “Again it was a question of honour, and not of interest. In a week we could have arranged, by negociation, for peace with the United States, and have kept out of the quarrel. But who thought of such a thing? Your homesteads were safe; ours in peril. A British--not a colonial ship--had been boarded: but what then? The old flag that had floated over our fathers’ heads, and droops over their graves, had been insulted; and our British blood was stirred--without our ever thinking of our pockets. The spirit and unanimity of the provinces, no less than the fine troops and war material shipped from this country, worked like a charm at Washington. President Lincoln, like Governor Fairfield, saw clearly that he was to be confronted not only by the finest soldiers in the world, but by a united and high-spirited population. The effect was sedative; the captives were given up. And the provincials--as is their habit, when there is no danger to confront--returned to their peaceful avocations.” It may be necessary to make some allowance for the tinge of colonial patriotism in this passage, but after all the Hon. J. Howe is a transplanted Englishman. He speaks with the voice of some millions of people, and we must listen to it, or be prepared for a good deal of lukewarmness or “disloyalty.” I have avoided any reference to the disputes which broke out into rebellion in 1837, because no useful end would be gained by an account of an unfortunate schism which was produced by want of judgment on the part of the Government at home, and by the extreme fanaticism of a party in the province. But the fanaticism has in no small degree been justified by what has since taken place. When “rebels” are pardoned, it may be a proof that the government which pardons is strong and generous. When “rebels” are not only restored to civic rights, but are invested with office, it is almost a demonstration that the government which permits them to exercise important functions under it, was in error in the contest which drove these men to resistance. The rebellion in Canada had, however, nothing to do with the great question we are now discussing. We are approaching the larger subject, which is opened by the consideration of the arguments which are used by Imperialists and Colonists in their controversy respecting the magnitude and relation of the empire and the colony in war.