Laurier: A Study in Canadian Politics | Page 9

have to take its place among
the nations of the earth. ... I want my country's independence to be
reached through the normal and regular progress of all the elements of
its populations toward the realization of a common aspiration."
Looking forward to the issues about which it would be necessary for
him to have policies, it is not probable that he put the question of
imperial relationships very high. Certainly he had no idea that it would
be in dealing with this matter that he would reveal his qualities at their
highest and lay the surest foundation for his fame.
In 1890 Laurier, as we have seen, believed the Canadian future was to
be that of colonialism for an indefinite period and then independence.
In 1911, the year he left office, in a letter to a friend he said: "We are
making for a harbor which was not the harbor I foresaw twenty-five
years ago, but it is a good harbor. It will not be the end. Exactly what
the course will be I cannot tell, but I think I know the general bearing
and I am content." The change in view indicated by these words is thus
expounded by Professor Skelton: "The conception of Canada's status
which Sir Wilfrid developed in his later years of office was that of a
nation within the empire." But between the two quoted declarations
there lay twenty-one years of time, fifteen years of prime ministership
and the experiences derived from attendance at four imperial
conferences in succession--another record set by Laurier not likely ever
to be repeated.
THE IMPERIALIST DRIVE
Laurier's imperial policies were forged in the fire. He took to London
upon the occasion of each conference a fairly just appreciation of what
was politically achievable and what was not, and there he was put to
the test of refusing to be stampeded into practicable courses. Professor

Skelton records two enlightening conversations with Laurier dealing
with the difficulties in which the colonial representatives in attendance
at these gatherings found themselves. Said Sir Wilfrid:
"One felt the incessant and unrelenting organization of an imperialist
campaign. We were looked upon, not so much as individual men, but
abstractly as colonial statesmen, to be impressed and hobbled. The
Englishman is as businesslike in his politics, particularly his external
politics, as in business, even if he covers his purposefulness with an air
of polite indifference. Once convinced that the colonies were worth
keeping, he bent to the work of drawing them closer within the orbit of
London with marvelous skill and persistence. In this campaign, which
no one could appreciate until he had been in the thick of it, social
pressure is the subtlest and most effective force. In 1897 and 1902 it
was Mr. Chamberlain's personal insistence that was strongest, but in
1907 and after, society pressure was the chief force. It is hard to stand
up against the flattery of a gracious duchess. Weak men's heads are
turned in an evening, and there are few who can resist long. We were
dined and wined by royalty and aristocracy and plutocracy and always
the talk was of empire, empire, empire. I said to Deakin in 1907 that
this was one reason why we could not have a parliament or council in
London; we can talk cabinet to cabinet, but cannot send Canadians or
Australians as permanent residents to London, to debate and act on
their own discretion."
Still more enlightening is this observation:
"Sir Joseph Ward was given prominence in 1911 through the
exigencies of imperialist politics. At each imperial conference some
colonial leader was put forward by the imperialists to champion their
cause. In 1897 it was obvious that they looked to me to act the
bell-wether, but I fear they were disappointed. In 1902 it was Seddon;
in 1907, Deakin; in 1911, Ward. He had not Deakin's ability or
Seddon's force. His London friends stuffed him for his conference
speeches; he came each day with a carefully typewritten speech, but
when once off that, he was at sea."
What was the intention of this "unrelenting imperialist campaign"? It
took many forms, wore many disguises, but in its secret purposes it was
unchangeable and unwearying. It was a conscious, determined attempt
to recover what Disraeli lamented that Great Britain had thrown away.

Twenty years after Disraeli had referred to the colonies as "wretched
millstones hung about our neck," he changed his mind and in 1872 he
made an address as to the proper relations between the Mother Land
and the colonies which is the very corner-stone of imperialistic doctrine.
His declaration was in these words:
"Self-government, in my opinion, when it was conceded, ought to have
been conceded as part of a great policy of imperial consolidation. It
ought to have been accompanied by an