The Dominion in 1983 | Page 6

with Sir --- ---, as Premier, was in power
at Ottawa. Sir --- and his government were, however, in great straits,
owing to the prevailing depression throughout the Dominion, for the
hard times were seized upon by the opponents of the government as a
means whereby to thwart and distract the ministers, and stir up
discontent among the people. The States were pointed to by the
Reformers as the only country in the world where security and
prosperity co-existed. British connection was held up to scorn as a tie
whose supposed advantages had proved worthless. A less able or a less

determined ministry would have collapsed under the strain. The winter
of 1886-7 was very severe, and discontent began to be noisy and
aggressive. To make matters worse, a Fenian organization was going
on in the States with the avowed object of invading Canada in the
coming Spring. The heads of the movement were well-known
politicians of a low order, having considerable funds at their command,
and much influence in certain quarters. Their emissaries were known to
be working all over Canada, freely distributing American gold and
holding secret meetings. The position of affairs was one of increasing
gravity owing to the connivance of the American authorities and the
powerlessness of the Home Government. So matters progressed until
the spring of 1887, when the situation became one of extreme tension.
The Conservatives were taunted with having ruined the country
financially and with pursuing a "Jingo" policy certain to end in
bloodshed. Reformers "stumped" the country, calling on their excited
audiences to march to Ottawa and compel the Premier and his
infatuated followers to resign. Annexation was openly advocated as the
only sensible way to be relieved from the overwhelming surrounding
difficulties.
A ray of hope to buoy up the sorely-tried loyalists appeared, when
Canadians who had been domiciled in all parts of the States returned to
defend their native land on hearing of the great danger she was
undoubtedly in. Having lived many years under the shadow of the Stars
and Stripes, they knew well enough all that it amounted to; the glamour
of accumulated successes had not turned their heads for they had had
opportunities of observing the sinister influences at work in American
affairs, beneath the attractive exterior. Quebec rallied to a man, and the
latent military strength of the province was developed under efficient
leaders to a formidable degree. Invaders would have met with a warm
reception in this quarter. Manitoba and the whole North-west were up
and ready, prepared to fight, more to preserve their own independence,
however, than the integrity of the Dominion, as there was then
considerable difference in sentiment between the North-west and the
Eastern Provinces. The Manitobans, too, though the Irish element had
become very strong, did not intend to succumb to Fenian raiders,
however well organized and backed up. The weakest points were the
Maritime Provinces, Ontario and British Columbia; not that the feeling

in British Columbia was not loyal to the Dominion, but that some
30,000 rowdies who had assembled and organized in San Francisco
were preparing for a descent upon her poorly fortified ports. Now was
the turning point in the destinies of the country. If the ministers at
Ottawa had not stood firmly to their guns, all our subsequent career,
instead of being the golden century of magnificent progress and peace
that it has been, would have been linked with all the turbulence and the
alternate advance and retrogression of the States.
A general election for the Dominion had been timed to take place in the
beginning of June, and the day was looked forward to by all the noisy
demagogues of Ontario as the day when the blood-thirsty Tories were
to be hurled from power by the people in righteous wrath, and the
country saved from the horrors of war. According to these garrulous
parties, Ontario, the wealthiest and most populous Province of the
seven, was to welcome the invaders, bidding them enter Canadian
territory in the name of the people, and plant the Stars and Stripes
wherever they halted. Bloodshed would thus be avoided, and everyone
would soon come round to the new order of things and take to it
naturally. Quebec might perhaps object, "but what did a few handfuls
of Frenchmen matter anyway."
On the day before the election, one party was full of boisterous,
bragging insolence; the other, still steadfast, firmly clinging to what
seemed a forlorn hope. Before the ending of another day all was
changed--a complete transformation scene had taken place.
When the morning journals on the election day appeared, their news
from the United States was such a terrible chapter of accidents as has
rarely fallen to the lot of journals to publish in one day. The President
had been shot at