England, Canada and the Great WarDesjardins, L. G. (Louis Georges)
History
England, Canada and the Great War
Desjardins, L. G. (Louis Georges)
Great Britain -- Colonies -- Canada; Imperialism; World War, 1914-1918; World War, 1914-1918 -- Canada
These views--so says Mr. Bourassa--are to be found in a book entitled:
"_The Day of the Saxon_." If they have been really expressed with the
full sense given to them by Mr. Bourassa's translation into French, I
cannot say less than that they are most absurd, most extravagant. The
Nationalist leader would have proved himself a much more sensible, a
wiser man, if, laughing at such senseless notions, he had refrained from
quoting those lines for the purpose of telling the French-Canadians that
like all non-British races on earth they were doomed to be
devoured--flesh and bones--by the voracious Anglo-Saxons bent on
swallowing humanity. And to save them from such a cruel fate, he
implores them to clamour for Imperial representation with the criminal
intent of betraying their trust, and to use the honourable privilege
they would be granted to ruin the Empire they would swear to maintain
and defend. So far as the political program of General Lea is
concerned, we have not yet learned that its benevolent author was doing
much in the war to carry it out. If I had the honour to meet the
General, being presented, I presume, by Mr. Bourassa, I would ask him,
first, when and where he has discovered that England was _dominating the
world_.
I know that there exists a great England holding a large situation on
earth. Her Empire extends to almost a fourth of the globe. Her
Sovereignty reigns over nearly four hundred million of human beings; a
truly beneficient Sovereignty, because it rules according to the wishes,
to the opinions of its subjects, managing their own affairs in virtue of
the freest political institutions in the whole world.
I know of no England dominating, or even aspiring to dominate, the
world. Such an England only exists in the heated imagination of that
General Lea and in the minds of all those, like the Nationalist leader,
who are, or feign to be, tortured by the bugbear of military Imperialism
of the old Roman ironed type.
As long as three-fourths of the earth will remain independent of the
British Empire, under numerous sovereignties, England's pretended
domination of the world will ever only be an extravagant dream.
Wishing England _to continue her domination of the world_, General Lea,
no doubt to please Mr. Bourassa, was bound to suggest the means to do
so. Let us analyze them.
1.--England _must make the sacrifice of her political liberties and of
those of her Colonies_.
2.--She _must abolish parliamentary and representative governments_.
It is beyond conception that Mr. Bourassa should have for one minute
seriously considered such absurd notions.
I would enjoy attending large public meetings in Great Britain, where
General Lea would propose to British free men the sacrifice of all their
political liberties, to witness the rather warm reception he would be
favoured with. I am sure he would have to rush out of the halls much
faster than he would have walked in.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account