Indeed, It Is
Difficult, In 1886, To Realise The Heat, Or To Estimate The Danger, Of
The Discussion Of This
Question; and more than one "Grit" politician,
whom I could name, would be startled if we reminded him of his
Opinion
in 1861, - that the question would be "settled by a civil war" if it
"could not be settled peaceably," but that "settled it must be - and
soon."
The cure for this dangerous disease was to provide, for all, a bigger
country - a country large enough to breed large ideas. There is a career
open in the boundless resources of a varied land for every reasonable
ambition, and the young men of Canada, which possesses an excellent
educational machinery, may now look forward to as noble, if not more
noble, an inheritance than their Republican neighbours - an inheritance
where there is room for 100,000,000 of people to live in freedom,
comfort, and happiness. While progress will have its periodical checks,
and periodical inflations, there is no reason to doubt that before the
next century ends the "Dominion," if still part of the Empire, will - in
numbers - outstrip the present population of the British Islands.
Now, in 1886, all this past antagonism of "Rep. by Pop." is forgotten.
Past and gone. A vast country, rapidly augmenting in population and
wealth, free from any serious sectional controversy, free, especially,
from any idea of separation, bound together under one governing
authority, with one tariff and one system of general taxation, has
exhibited a capacity for united action, and for self-government and
mutual defence, admirable to behold.
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