e young men of
Canada heard these words with a thrill of enthusiasm, but the note was
not struck again. The movement apparently ceased, and politics
apparently flowed back into their old channels. But while the name,
the organization and the organs of Canada First in the press
disappeared, the force and spirit remained, and exercised a powerful
influence upon Canadian politics for many years.

There can be little doubt that the Liberal party was injured by the
uncompromising hostility which was shown to the movement of 1874.
Young men, enthusiasts, bold and original thinkers, began to look
upon Liberalism as a creed harsh, dry, tyrannical, unprogressive and
hostile to new ideas. When the independent lodgment afforded by Canada
First disappeared, many of them drifted over to the Conservative
party, whose leader was shrewd enough to perceive the strength of the
spirit of nationalism, and to give it what countenance he could.
Protection triumphed at the polls in 1878, not merely by the use of
economic arguments, but because it was heralded as the "National
Policy" and hailed as a declaration of the commercial independence of
Canada. A few years later the legislation for the building of the
Canadian Pacific Railway, bold to the point of rashness, as it seemed,
and unwise and improvident in some of its provisions, was heartily
approved by the country, because it was regarded as a measure of
national growth and expansion. The strength of the Conservative party
from 1878 to 1891 was largely due to its adoption of the vital
principle and spirit of Canada First.

The _Globe's_ attacks upon the Canada First party also had the effect
of fixing in the public mind a picture of George Brown as a dictator
and a relentless wielder of the party whip, a picture contrasting
strangely with those suggested by his early career. He had fought for
responsible government, for freedom from clerical dictation; he had
been one of the boldest of rebels against party discipline; he had
carelessly thrown away a great party advantage in order to promote
confederation; he had been the steady opponent of slavery. In 1874
the Liberals were in power both at Ottawa and at Toronto, and Mr.
Brown may not have been free from the party man's delusion that when
his party is in power all is well, and agitation for change is
mischievous. Canada First threatened to change the formation of
political parties, and seemed to him to threaten a change in the
relation