shman myself; that was, the Englishman as we knew him in Western
Canada. We had had specimens of "Algy boys," of "de Veres" and "Montmorency
lads." These, we soon found out, were not the English true to type. They
were ne'er-do-wells, remittance men, sent out of the way to the farthest
point of the map.

In England we were treated with wonderful hospitality. I began to change my
opinion, but not wholly until I reached France. There I met Tommy
Atkins--the soldier and the gentleman. There is no cleaner, cooler, better
sport on the fighting line than Mr. Atkins. Occasionally when the Irish are
in a brilliant charge, when the Scotch punish the enemy with a bit of
dogged fighting, it is reported. When the Canadians do a forward sprint the
world rings with it. When the English advance and advance again and hold
position and hold yet more positions, there is not a whisper of it--not a
word.

I have no English blood in my veins, but I believe in fairness, I believe
firmly that all the other nations of the empire put together have not done
so much as have the English Tommies by themselves.

There has come about a complete change in the Canadian mind in its attitude
to the English. If, before this war, there was ever a possibility of our
breaking away from the empire, that possibility is now dead--dead and
buried beyond recall.

This statement is not made at random. It is a considered sentence. At the
Convention of the Great War Veterans' Association of Canada, the
organization of the men returned from the world war, I was a delegate from
my home town of Edmonton, Alberta. The first resolution at our first
session was in effect--To propagate the good feeling between the dominions
of the empire and between them and the Motherland; to continue the loyalty
and devotion which have prompted us to fight for the old Union Jack.

After all, the voice of the men who have fought and bled for their country
is the voice of the people.

Every criticism leveled at England or any other Ally from this side of the
Atlantic is to throw a German stink-bomb for the Kaiser.

Feuds remembered are thoughts which are futile. The England of to-day is
not the England of 1812. It is not possible to blame the man of to-day for
the work of his great-grandfather. Read history and find out the
nationality of the George who ruled in England in those far distant days.
He was a German, spoke German, and could not read a word of the language of
the country