t-sighted statesmen
of the time delighted to look only on the bright side of things,
and to them the very exuberance of the prosperity seemed to condone,
if not to justify, the nefarious practices which obtained in high
places. No wonder that among our Canadians, hardly 5,000,000 all
told, there were some who were weak enough to be dazzled at the
wealth and success of their brilliant go-ahead neighbours, more than
50,000,000 strong. Among those who lost heart in Canada, it began
to be a settled conviction that it was "the destiny of Canada to be
absorbed in the States."

This was the state of things in 1885. Conservative statesmen pointed
to the general progress of our country, to unprecedented immigration
from Europe, increased agricultural products and manufactures, and
to many other convincing proofs of solid advancement. But facts
were of no avail in dealing with Reformers habitually, and on
principle despondent. The sanguine buoyancy and plucky hopefulness
indispensable to true statesmanship did not animate them to any
extent. Unhappily events over which no statesman could then have
control overtook Canada, while as yet things bounded along gaily
in the States, and the sons of despair seemed to have some ground
for their pusillanimity. The harvest of 1885 was deficient, and
agriculture was in consequence depressed: a slight panic in the
Spring was succeeded by a great one in the Fall. Heavy failures
followed. A feeling of uneasiness was caused at the same time by
great social and political changes which were going on in the
mother country, and were threatening to assume the proportions of
a revolution. The unparalleled prosperity of the States caused the
Americans--never backward in blowing their own trumpet--to assume
an attitude of overweening confidence in themselves, and to brag
offensively of what they considered to be their duty to mankind,
namely, to convert all the world--by force if necessary--to
republican principles. Such was the commencement of the great crisis
in the history of the young Canadian nation--a crisis through which,
if our sturdy forefathers had not pulled successfully, would have
led to our gradual obliteration as a nation. All honor then to the
great men to whom, under Providence, our preservation is due!

In 1886 commenced the reign of terror in Europe, that terrible
period of mingled war and revolution, during which thrones were
hurled down and dynasties swept away like chaff in a ga