till a scout galloped back and Once on the flat they were racing for blood, the red coats of the pursuers making the scene curiously like a fox-hunt. But the quarry had a long start, and were over the river and galloping up the farther bank before the leaders had reached the water's edge. By that time their load was lightened, as they had been seen throwing cans into the stream as fast as they could get rid of them during their transit. plied, nothing loth, but he returned The detachment with the prisoners to Fort Macleod, having been in the saddle for twenty-four hours, with the exception of one hour at Fort Whoop-up, and having covered nearly a hundred miles. The depot and headquarters of the Mounted Police are situated at about two or three miles from Regina, on the banks of the Wascona (which, being interpreted, means "Pile-ofBones Creek"). Their official duties cover an area of over two and a half millions of square miles-about two-thirds the size of Europe; and, railroads being scarce in this country, most of their travelling has to be done on horseback, or in winter with dog-trains. It was found that the Ontario horses took too long to acclimatise, and that the native broncho, crossed and much improved with thoroughbred stock, The police didn't trouble was far better adapted to the about looking for a ford,—each country both in endurance and man rode straight into the river hardiness. They are tough and where he first reached it, and wiry, averaging about fifteen the whole troop were swimming hands, with short backs and like a pack of otter- hounds. sound legs and feet. Lord They scrambled up the bank Lorne's escort of about fifty on the far side, and the cart mounted men travelled 1229 stopped, the drivers throwing miles in thirty-five days, an up their hands. It was neces- average of over thirty-five miles sary, however, to secure a pièce per diem. Owing to the large de conviction, and, by the amount of transport, they had, colonel's orders, a sergeant speaking generally, two horses picked up a can which had to a man, and not one single been washed ashore. "Open horse was incapacitated from it, and taste it," said his chief; work by sore back or shoulders. "we've got to prove that it's His Excellency, prior to taking whisky." The sergeant com- his departure from Ford Shaw, "You have been subjected to the most severe criticism during the long march on which you have accompanied me, for I have on my personal staff experienced officers of the three branches of the service-cavalry, artillery, and infantry-and they have one and all expressed themselves astonished and delighted at the manner in which you have performed your ardu ous duties, and at your great efficiency. Your work is not only that of military men, but you are called upon to perform the important and responsible duties which devolve upon you in civil capacities,―your officers in their capacity of magistrates, and other duties they are called upon to perform, even that of diplomacy." Of the services rendered by the North-West Mounted Police during the construction of that gigantic undertaking, the Canadian Pacific Railway, Sir William Van Horne wrote in the following terms: "DEAR COLONEL IRVINE, Our work of construction for the year 1882 has just closed, and I cannot permit the occasion to pass without acknowledging the obligations of the Company to the North-West Mounted Police, whose zeal and industry in preventing traffic in liquor and preserving order along the line under construction have contributed so much to the successful prosecution of the work. Indeed without the assistance of the officers and men of the splendid force under your command, it would have been impossible to accomplish as much as we did. On no great work within my knowledge, where so many men have been employed, has such perfect order prevailed. "On behalf of the Company and all their officers, I wish to return thanks, and to acknowledge particularly our obligations to yourself and The number of men employed on the Canadian Pacific Railway during construction was over 30,000. If the history of the Mounted Police is ever written it should be of be of thrilling interest; but enough—perhaps more than enough-has been said in this article to show that we have here in Canada a force which, properly used, should render invaluable assistance towards the defence of the empire. I have another word to say. The "Recessional" is a great poem. At the moment it was written it put into burning words. the idea that was growing half defined in the minds of most Englishmen, that the power of Great Britain had reached its climax, and that henceforward our empire might begin to decay. To these men I would say, Come out to the Colonies; fill your lungs with the wild free air of a new country; look around and see your blood-brothers living close to Nature herself, facing the difficulties and fighting the foes that beset a young nation. Remember that they are round you and with you, east and west and north and south. Then you will feel and know that the coming century is only seeing the birth of a new empire greater than we have yet known. Come out here, for here will feel it in the air. you Č. HANBURY-WILLIAMS. DISRAELI AND THE COLONIES. NOTHING is more striking in modern parliamentary life than its growing disregard of the past. Great issues are mooted by men who either ignore or are ignorant of their historical origin. Young members discuss weighty problems in the light of native omniscience. The ancestry of events is neglected. Development is relegated to the few students whose lucubrations moulder in classical dust. The fact that statesmanship is able to look forward, because it has already looked back, is either flouted or forgotten. Public interest is gradually being withdrawn from the debates of the Commons, just because they are daily, less and less, in touch with national life, whose very changes are organic. The genius which treats facts with imagination has been replaced by the opportunism which invests phantoms with solemnity. The causes of this degeneration we shall not here attempt to explain. That degeneration it is must be patent to any one who reflects how the national growth depends upon traditional continuity, and is rooted in the soil of institutions. There has been recently a great burst of colonial feeling. Community of blood, of language, and of institutions have riveted the daughters to the mother country. It is an auspicious moment, and Mr Chamberlain prepared for and utilised it. But of that statesmanship he was not the founder. Curious ly enough, the great statesman, whose isolated words have been so often twisted and perverted, to whom completely opposite proclivities have been misattributed, on whose lips have been placed, by those who ought to have known (and perhaps did know) better, the deliverances of others—this statesman, with that consistence and persistence peculiar to him, was the first in this century to press on his countrymen that for a united nation inhabiting an island the concert and union of her Colonies also are of the first importance. It will be of interest to recall some of his utterances in this regard. As early as 1848, when Lord Palmerston was dictating a constitution to Narvaez, Disraeli, true to the principle of Bolingbroke that interference with foreign Powers was to be deprecated unless British interests were endangered, yet held that our welfare as a great colonial Power was so intimately connected with European politics that emergencies might arise where non-interference would menace alike safety and prestige. In July 1856, in reviewing the labours of the session, he pronounced the following remarkable criticism on the objectors to the expansion and progress of America : "I cannot forget that the United States, though independent, are still in some sense colonies, and are influenced by colonial tendencies; and when they come in contact with large portions of territory scarcely populated, or at the most sparsely occupied, by an indolent and unintelligent race of men, it is impossible and you yourselves find it impossible to resist the tendency to expansion: and expansion in that sense is not injurious to England, for it contributes to the wealth of this country (let us say this in a whisper, lest it cross the Atlantic) more than it diminishes the power of the United States." It was under a Government of which Disraeli was a leading member that in 1852 a constitution was framed for New Zealand, and in the summer of 1858 the colony of British Columbia established. It was not more than a few months afterwards that disturbances arose, and it is characteristic of the ' 'Times' newspaper that its review of the year 1859 finds in these developments only the incubus of ubiquitous colonies and commerce. In this regard the name of the then Sir E. Bulwer Lytton should assuredly be commemorated. He treated colonial questions during his brief period of secretaryship with firmness, insight, and adroitness. Nor should it be forgotten that between him and Disraeli was a link of kindred imagination, as well as long-standing friendship. Years before they had together contributed to 'The New Monthly Magazine.' Both were men of striking originality, unmitigated by a public school education; and it is amusing to note that the fantastic strain, which was censured (and often when he was quoting from our classics) as "un-English" in the one, was only criticised as extravagant in the other. Both were students of Bolingbroke. They had each the faculty of regarding history as a whole, and of not perverting their vision of progress by the petty rancours-political or ecclesiastical of the moment. Such an instinct is invaluable in attaching new settlements to the nest of their nurture. But it was in 1872, in his great speech on Conservative principles at the Crystal Palace, that Disraeli first definitely propounded a colonial policy which the present Government would do well to ponder : "Gentlemen," said Mr Disraeli, "there is another and second great object of the Tory party. If the first is to maintain the institutions of the country, the second is, in my opinion, to uphold the empire of England. If you look to the history of this country since the advent of Liberalism-forty years ago-you will find that there has been no effort so continuous, so subtle, supported by so much energy, and carried on with so much ability and acumen, as the attempts of of the empire of England. And of Liberalism to effect the disintegration success. all its efforts, this is the one which has been the nearest to Statesmen of the highest character, writers of the most distinguished ability, the most organised and efficient means, have been employed in this endeavour. It has been proved to all of us that we have lost money by our Colonies. It has been shown monstration, that there never was a with precise, with mathematical, dejewel in the crown of England that was so truly costly as the possession How often has it been of India. suggested that we should at once cubus! Well, that result was nearly emancipate ourselves from this inaccomplished when these subtle views were adopted by the country, under the plausible plea of granting selfgovernment to the Colonies. I confess that I myself thought that the tie was broken. Not that I, for one, object to self-government. I cannot conceive how our distant Colonies can have their affairs administered except by self-government. But selfgovernment, in my opinion, when it was conceded, ought to have been conceded as part of a great policy of imperial consolidation. It ought to have been accompanied by an imperial tariff, by securities for the people of England for the enjoyment of the unappropriated lands which belonged to the sovereign as their trustee, and by a military code which should have precisely defined the means and the responsibilities by which the Colonies should be defended, and by which, if necessary, this country should call for aid from the Colonies themselves. It ought further to have been accompanied by the institution of some representative council in the metropolis, which would have brought the Colonies into constant and continuous relations with the Home Government. All this, however, was omitted because those who advised that policy -and I believe their convictions were sincere-looked upon the Colonies of England, looked even upon our connection with India, as a burden upon this country, viewing everything in a financial aspect, and totally passing by those moral and political considerations which make nations great, and by the influence of which alone men are distinguished from animals." Here we have a definite, a far - seeing, and a foreseeing policy. There is not one point of the scheme which will not shortly have to be seriously considered by the councils of the nation. It is, moreover, a Conservative policy. Long before, Bolingbroke, whom Disraeli had so minutely studied, -that Bolingbroke who first among English statesmen had pointed to the significance of Gibraltar, and had foretold England's mission as a "Mediterranean Power," had described the then scanty Colonies as "so many home farms." With what courage and sagacity did Disraeli receive and hand on the torch! None can now doubt the sagacity, and if any doubt the courage they have only to peruse the vaticinations of that financial Cassandra, the late Mr John Bright, who, during the manufactured reaction against "imperialism” of 1879, unconsciously justified Lord Beaconsfield's predictions After of seven years before. cataloguing, like an auctioneer, the "annexations of Lord Beaconsfield's Administration, he thus proceeded :— "All this adds to your burdens. Just listen to this: they add to the burdens, not of the empire, but of 33,000,000 of people who inhabit Great Britain and Ireland. We take the burden and pay the charge. This policy may lend a seeming glory to the Crown, and may give scope for patronage and promotion, and pay a pension to a limited and favoured class. But to you, the people, it brings expenditure of blood and of treasure, increased debts and taxes, and adds risk of war in every part of the globe." 1 This point is admirably urged by Mr Ewald in his 'Life and Times of Lord Beaconsfield.' |