The Great Lone Land: A Narrative of Travel and Adventure in the North-West of AmericaButler, William Francis, Sir
History
The Great Lone Land: A Narrative of Travel and Adventure in the North-West of America
Butler, William Francis, Sir
Northwest, Canadian -- Description and travel
colonial minister through the particular whig, or tory spectacles of his
party, subject to violent and radical alterations of policy because of
some party vote in a Legislative Assembly 3000 miles from your nearest
coast-line, your own politicians, for years, too timid to grasp the
limits of your possible future, parties every where in your provinces,
and of every kind, except a national party; no breadth, no depth, no
earnest striving to make you great amongst the nations, each one for
himself and no-one for the country; men fighting for a sect, for a
province, for a nationality, but no one for the nation; and all this
while, close alongside, your great rival grew with giant's growth,
looking far into the future before him, cutting his cloth with
perspective ideas of what his limbs would attain to in after-time,'
digging his canals and grading, his railroads, with one eye on the
Atlantic and the other on the Pacific, spreading himself, monopolizing,
annexing, outmanoeuvring and flanking those colonial bodies who sat in
solemn state in Downing Street and wrote windy proclamations and
despatches anent boundary-lines, of which they knew next to nothing.
Macaulay laughs at poor Newcastle for his childish delight in finding out
that Cape Breton was an island, but I strongly suspect there were other
and later Newcastles whose geographical knowledge of matters American
were not a whit superior. Poor Canada! they muddled you out of Maine,
and the open harbour of Portland, out of Rouse's Point, and the command
of Lake Champlain, out of many a fair mile far away by the Rocky
Mountains. It little matters whether it was the treaty of 1783, or 1818,
or '21, or '48, or '71, the worst of every bargain, at all times, fell to
you.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account