Sir, Another Cry Raised By
The Anti-Unionists Below Is, That They Would Have To Fight For The
Defence Of Canada - A Very Specious Argument.
What, Sir, three millions
and one million unite, and the one million do the fighting for all!
In
proportion to their numbers no doubt these valiant gentlemen will have
to fight, if fighting is to be done, but not one man or one shilling
more than Canada, pro rata, will they have to risk or spend. On
the contrary, the greater community, if she should not happen to be
first attacked, would be obliged to fight for them, and in doing so, I
do not hesitate to say, on far better authority than my own, that the
man who fights for the valley and harbour of St. John, or even for
Halifax, fights for Canada. I will suppose another not impossible case.
I will suppose a hostile American army, on a fishery or any other war,
finding it easier and cheaper to seize the Lower Colonies by land than
by sea, by a march from a convenient rendezvous on Lake Champlain,
through Lower Canada, into the upper part of New Brunswick, and so
downward to the sea - a march like Sherman's march from Knoxville to
Savannah. While we obstructed such a march by every means in our power,
from the Richelieu to Riviere du Loup, whose battles would we be
fighting then? Why, the seaports aimed at, for our common subjugation.
But the truth is, all these selfish views and arguments are remarkably
short-sighted, unworthy of the subject, and unworthy even of those who
use them. In a commercial, in a military, in every point of view, we
are all, rightly considered, dependent on each other. Newfoundland
dominates the Gulf, and none of us can afford to be separated from her.
Lord Chatham said he would as soon abandon Plymouth as Newfoundland to
a foreign power, and he is thought to have understood how to govern
men. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are Siamese twins, held together by
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.
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