THE FUTURE OF CANADA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5180, 29 October 1877, Page 3

THE FUTURE OF CANADA.

(By Joseph Hatton, in “Tinsley’s Magazine.”) Canada has a longer memory for things that immediately concern her welfare, and her pub ■ lie men are continually talking of the future of the Dominion. Some are firm in their belief that the welfare of Canada will only be maintained by remaining an integral portion of the British Empire ; but the shrewdest and most thoughtful of colonists pee their country’s reward in perfect freedom, or annexation to the United States. Still at the bottom of all thought and speculation as to the future there is a strong layer of old English sentiment. Outside the ■ province of Quebec the great pioneers of Canada, the English and the Scotch, look across the broad waters of the Atlantic and think of homo. They feel proud of the flag which is not only to them a national symbol, but a link between the far-off settlement and the churchyard where their forefathers sleep beyond the sea. Year by year, however, this impulse of patriotism is being transferred to the adopted laud; and unless the natural association and influence of her great neighbor sucks her up like a sponge, absorbs her as the larger flood absorbs the smaller, Canada must ere long govern herself entirely under her own flag, stimulated by the music of her own hymn, and made strong by those dangers and sacrifices which belong to the common growth of great and independent nations. There is something almost pathetic in Toronto’s recent offer to England of a battery of artillery for service in the Bast, should we unfortunately find it necessary to engage in the war which is now exciting the ambition of certain European nations and agitating the whole world. If Europe were true to the faith that is in her, she would put down the barbarism of Russia and Turkey with a high hand. But each Power has its own game to play, and it is convenient for the chief aggressor to operate under the sacred name of Christianity, the first principles of which it outrages and

blasphemes. Canada thinks,, she sees much trouble ahead for England, and she offers to the mother country her money,and her blood.’ America has sufficient -on her hands just now in the management of her'already vast and growing population. Her ambition finds its outlook in the West. She never coveted Canada; and she would care less than ever at this moment to have such an additional responsibility thrust upon her as the great British colony would be. It is sufficient for the Government of Washington to consolidate the Union ; to weld together the factions of North and South ; to work out the great problem of .races which she has tried to solve bn the field and in the Senate j and to bring into social, political, and commercial harmony the varied and contrary forces of that grand Eepublic which is a glory and an honor to the English-speaking people of the world. Now is the time for Canada to emulate the example of America, warned by her mistakes, encouraged by her wisdom; or to lay in the foundations of her new life on the model of our English constitution, which combines republican freedom with monarchical strength and dignity. Let the Dominion take a king from the English princes, and join the great family of nations. .