g central government and its carefully
guarded provincial rights, at last won the day. Years of doubt and
trial there were, but in due course the Nova Scotian came to regard
himself as a Canadian and the British Columbian ceased to feel that a
man from the East was a foreigner. The provinces have steadily
developed a community of interest. They meet cordially in periodical
conferences to discuss the rights and claims possessed in common, and
if serious, even menacing, questions are not dealt with as they should
be, the failure will be traced to faulty statesmanship and not to lack
of unity.

{189}

To preserve the Imperial tie was the third and greatest object of the
Fathers. They realized that many dangers threatened it--some tangible
and visible, others hidden and beyond the ken of man. It may not be
denied that the barque of the new nationality was launched into an
unknown sea. The course might conceivably lead straight to complete
independence, and honest minds, like Galt's, were held in thrall by
this view. Could monarchy in any shape be re-vitalized on the
continent where the Great Republic sat entrenched? What sinister ideas
would not the word Imperialism convey to the practical men of the
western world? These fears the Fathers met with resolute faith and the
seeing eye. They believed that inherent in the beneficent rule of
Queen Victoria there was a constitutional sovereignty which would
appeal irresistibly to a young democracy; that unwavering fidelity to
the crown could be reconciled with the fullest extension of
self-government; and that the British Empire when organized on this
basis would hold its daughter states beyond the seas with bonds that
would not break.

And so it has proved. Of all the achievements of the Fathers this is
the most splendid {190} and enduring. The Empire came to mean, not the
survival of antiquated ideas, but the blessings of a well-ordered
civilization. And when in 1914 the Great War shook the world,
Canadians, having found that the sway of Britain brought them peace,
honour, and contentment, were proud to die for the Empire. To debate
the future of Canada was long the staple subject for abstract
discussion, but the march of events has carried us past the stage of
idle imaginings. A knowledge of the laws by which Divine Providence
controls the destinies of nations has thus far eluded the subtlest
intellect, and it may be impossible for any man, however gifted, to