750 American manufacturers have moved up to Canada in the last ten years, and fully as many more will be apt to follow if we fail in this our present opportunity to stop the leak by agreeing to the Reciprocity Treaty.' Hastings, Warkworth and Campbellford were visited on the 25th. At Napanee on Aug. 26th Mr. Borden made an extended Imperial reference:

99

The Prime Minister by his speeches on the Naval question and by his recent utterances at the Imperial Conference maintains the position that Canada can be neutral when the rest of the Empire is involved in war. So long as Canada is part of the British Empire this country cannot be at peace when the rest of the Empire is at war. Our ships would be liable to attack on the high seas; our coasts would be subject to raid and invasion. The Prime Minister declares that Canada may be neutral when Britain is attacked. He must then equally maintain that Britain may be neutral when Canada is attacked. Such a conception involves the dismemberment of the Empire. This policy is entirely in accord with his proposal to surrender control of our fiscal independence to the United States.

On the 28th the Opposition Leader completed his Ontario tour by speaking at Smith's Falls and Brockville. At the latter place he referred to the riches of New Ontario. If returned to power the Conservative party would see that this section of the Province "receives its just and full share of attention and that its wonderful natural advantages are brought to the attention of the world in an effective manner and by efficient methods." On the 29th a great meeting was addressed by Mr. Borden at Montreal. Mr. A. J. Hodgson presided and other speakers were L. T. Marechal, K.C., C. H. Cahan, K.C., J. G. H. Bergeron, G. F. Johnston and C. J. Doherty, K.c. In his speech the Conservative Leader said that there were only three arguments adduced by the Premier in favour of the Agreement: " (1) We wanted Reciprocity in 1866. Perhaps, but this is 1911. Last century was the century of the United States. This is Canada's century. ( (2) Every statesman has striven for it constantly and earnestly. If that is true then Sir Wilfrid Laurier is no statesman because he himself has said that the best way to live in peace with our neighbours is to be independent of them. (3) We would have a market of 90,000,000 people. But these people export farm products to the extent of hundreds of millions. They are our competitors. Anyone who really believes that the farmer will get more for his produce while the consumer pays less is in need of a keeper."

One other sentence of this speech must be quoted: "Sir Wilfrid Laurier charges that we have called into question the loyalty of the Canadian people. We have never doubted the loyalty of the Canadian people. It is because we never had a doubt of their loyalty that we insisted that they be given a chance to vote upon this question." Following this came a quick tour of the Eastern Townships-Bedford and Granby on the 30th, Richmond and Sherbrooke on the 31st, Waterville, Cookshire, Scotstown and

Megantic on Sept. 1st. R. H. Pope, H. B. Ames, P. E. LeBlanc and L. T. Marechal were other speakers. At Cookshire Mr. Borden said that Sir W. Laurier had a splendid majority in the United States but that his majority in Canada was doubtful. The Maritime Provinces were the next scene of battle. Meanwhile, on Aug. 31, the Conservative Leader issued an Address to his old-time constituents in Halifax supporting railway extension through the eastern part of Nova Scotia as a part of the Intercolonial; promising Federal aid, if returned to power, for a system of permanent Provincial highways; pledging an extension to boat fishermen of the free medical aid and attendance now afforded to those employed on Canadian vessels in deep sea fishing. As to Halifax itself he said: "This Port should become the real terminus of one or more of the great railway systems. It will be my

aim and policy to accomplish this result." St. Andrew and St. Stephens, N.B., were visited on Sept. 2nd and Gagetown on the 4th (Labour Day) where Mr. Borden made this declaration:

Canada owes the United States two great debts of gratitude— (1) because they abrogated the Elgin Treaty and (2) because of the McKinley Bill. They drove us to find ourselves and we have made ourselves independent of the United States in trade as well as in political affairs. Now, the Liberals propose by this Agreement to reverse our whole history and surrender the independence we have won by the labour and sacrifice of forty years."

St. John accorded the Conservative Leader a great reception on the 5th with a procession, illuminations, crowded streets and two big meetings. In the matter of public expenditures Mr. Borden made a concise statement here. "I want to say that the Conservative Party believes in a liberal expenditure of the revenues of the Dominion for the development of our country, but we believe that every dollar ought to be expended in the interest of the people, and further that for every dollar expended the people ought to receive a dollar's value in return, and that no part of the public money ought to be used to advance the interests of any political party or to enrich any camp followers or hangers-on." Amongst the objects of proper expenditure were the national ports of Canada, and the party would not, if returned to power, curtail or restrict existing and authorized expenditures upon public works. In this address, also, Mr. Borden frankly admitted having obstructed the Agreement in Parliament. "We would have been untrue to our duty if we had not obstructed." Dr. J. W. Daniel, the Conservative candidate, dealt with the fate of Cuba as nominally free but as practically a dependency of the United States, and described Canada as now "the football of American politics."

Mr. Borden was at Sussex and Moncton, N.B., on Sept. 6th and at Summerside, P.E.I., on the 7th. Here he told the Islanders, as to the vital local question, that "it was the duty of the Gov

ernment to ascertain by a survey whether a Tunnel is reasonably feasible and possible. When that is ascertained any Government must be guided by the conditions at the basis of Confederation. If the Tunnel is reasonably feasible it should be built. If it is not, you should have the best means of transportation that can be given you." Mr. Premier Hazen of New Brunswick was with the Opposition Leader on this Island visit. They were at Charlottetown on the 8th and from this place Mr. Borden sent a telegram to G. W. Fowler as follows: "Am convinced that interest of Intercolonial Railway demands acquisition of Branch line railways as feeders and we proposed to acquire them on reasonable terms if returned to power." Thence Mr. Borden crossed again to the Mainland and was at New Glasgow, N.S., on the 9th and at Sydney Mines on the 11th. Here one of the banners of welcome read" Canada for the Canadians; the British Empire our Safeguard." Upon a certain phase of the Navy question Mr. Borden made a comment for the benefit of this centre: The Government at the present time is holding out to half a dozen cities the expectation of contracts for the construction of Canadian cruisers. In St. John, the Minister of Public Works whispers that they are to be constructed there. Mr. Lemieux quietly assures Quebec that the shipyards will be there. Mr. Templeman gives the same bland assurance at Victoria. The same tale is repeated at Halifax and Sydney." Naturally, also, he laid stress upon the Manufacturingprotective policy of his party. "Our policy should be to develop our natural resources and to convert them into finished commodities by the labour of our own people and to establish such conditions in this country as will insure a generous living wage to Canadian workmen. That result cannot be accomplished unless our industries are placed on a firm basis. The aim and tendency of this treaty is to place them on an exceedingly insecure and unstable basis."

Halifax was reached on Sept. 12th, and here, in his own constituency, Mr. Borden was given a rousing welcome. With him on the platform was Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper, who received a most cordial reception in this temporary return to politics and declared that, practically, the Liberal proposals were those of 1891, in fighting which Sir John Macdonald had gone to his grave. Mr. Borden referred to the Premier's "mill-race" statement and said: "You may watch the products of the West flowing eastwards to Canadian seaports; you may compare this flood of trade and commerce to a mighty river. Tap that river by channels running south at a hundred different points between the Rocky Mountains and Halifax, and how much of the rich stream of production and commerce will reach Halifax and St. John under these conditions?" He went on to claim that the Agreement would lose

the Canadian fishermen their home market which consumed 16 millions out of a production of 30 millions, would place the industry under the control of the United States Trust and would compel the removal of the bounties now granted by the Dominion Govern

ment.

Two meetings were addressed in Dartmouth on the 13th. Liverpool was the scene of rival demonstrations on Sept. 14th—one for Mr. Borden and the other for the Minister of Finance. The Liberals had sought a joint meeting here but local Conservatives had refused. To Mr. Fielding the Opposition Leader, on reaching the town, sent an invitation to meet him at Halifax in joint debate on Sept. 19th but this, also, was declined. Following this meeting were others at Kentville, Hantsport and Windsor and the Maritime tour closed on Monday the 18th at Musquodoboit, N.S. Returning thence to Halifax, where he spent the time preceding Election Day, on the 21st, Mr. Borden sent a despatch to the people of St. John stating (19th Sept.) that "the defeat of the Laurier Government will not retard, hinder or prevent in any way the construction of terminal facilities at St. John, or the equipment and development of that port as one of the Atlantic national ports of Canada." From here, also, he issued a final "Message to the People of Canada." He described the issue as the most momentous ever submitted to the electorate of Canada, the campaign as having been most encouraging, "the outlook full of hope." He reviewed the arguments which appeared to prove that this Agreement would, in the end, mean a commercial and fiscal union of Canada and the States, destroy the hope of Reciprocity within the Empire, indicate clearly the foresight of President Taft in his declarations and speeches, dissipate the abounding resources and heritage of Canada, increase threefold the power of the United States over Canada's destiny, and thus prevent any abrogation of the compact by Canadians:

Above all do not forget that the momentous choice which you must make is for all time. If the tariffs of the two countries are interlocked by this treaty be assured that the stronger party always carries the key. I believe that we are in truth standing to-day at the parting of the ways. This compact, made in secret and without mandate, points indeed to a new path. We must decide whether the spirit of Canadianism or of Continentalism shall prevail on the northern half of this continent. Today Canada is the mistress of her destiny. She commands both the Atlantic and the Pacific; she holds the highway of the world. Outside of the United Kingdom she is the most important unit of the whole British system which extends beyond every sea and throughout every continent and governs no less than one-fifth of the entire human race. With Canada's youthful vitality, her rapidly-increasing population, her marvelous material resources, her spirit of hopefulness and energy, she can place herself within a comparatively brief period in the highest position within this mighty Empire. This is the path from which we are to depart.

I do not believe that the spirit of the Canadian people will sanction such departure. The response that I have met in every Province fills me with the profoundest gratitude and the liveliest hope as to the result.

The same spirit animates Canada to-day as that which inspired the men who founded this Confederation. That spirit is one of faith in our country, our institutions, and ourselves. It is inspired by imperishable memories of a past full of splendid achievements; it is crowned by the highest and most confident hope of a future, the splendour of which we can only dimly realize. It dwells equally in the sons of British pioneers and loyalists and of Canadians of French descent to whose ancestors we owe a deep debt of gratitude for the loyal valour which preserved Canada to the British Crown. The sons of these valiant defenders of our soil profoundly realize that Britain's flag secures for them to-day rights and privileges which they justly hold most dear, but which will be endangered by the entangling alliance created by this compact.

This question is above all parties and above all individuals.

I appeal to Liberals as to Conservatives and I speak to them not as a party leader, but as a Canadian citizen, whose hopes are bound up with the hopes of this country. To all who are proud of her past, to all who hope for her future, I make an earnest and sincere appeal to rise above all party ties, to take heed of the higher considerations, and to determine their course with a sense of the enduring results of their decision. I entreat them not to swerve from the straight path that leads to the making of a great nation; I beg them to cast a soberly considered and serious vote for the preservation of our heritage, for the maintenance of our commercial and political freedom, for the permanence of Canada as an autonomous nation within the British Empire.

and the Que

Both political parties were uncertain as to the Mr. Bourassa influence which Mr. Bourassa and his followers bec National- might wield in the Elections; they were for a long ist Position time uncertain of the Reciprocity opinions of the Nationalist leader and his Conservative or Liberal followers. This independent organization had in 1910 won the sensational bye-election in Arthabasca for the Commons; it had lost the St. John's bye-election for the Provincial Legislature. Mr.. Bourassa early in 1911 was in Europe and visited Rome, as did the Hon. Mr. Lemieux of the Dominion Government, and rumours were rife as to intervention by the Vatican in the curious medley of religious, racial, and political interests which were beginning to find divergent expression in Quebec. Le Devoir, the Nationalist organ, was striving to set the heather on fire against the Government's Naval scheme; Mr. F. D. Monk, K.C., M.P., who had not supported Mr. Borden's naval policy, was stumping Quebec with Mr. Bourassa and his allies against the Laurier Government. Into these complications Reciprocity was thrown as an element which eventually compelled Conservative opposition and seemed for a time to equally compel Nationalist support as being a check to Chamberlain's Preferential trade and to Imperialism. Elsewhere in Canada the question of what Nationalism meant, and what its leaders wanted, was largely discussed but with little clear knowledge of the conditions. In a general sense Mr. Bourassa was quoted by Mr. John Boyd-a capable Montreal observer and writer-in the Canadian Magazine of January as follows:

The Nationalist movement is what I call a search for a common ground for all Canadians and that common ground, I believe, can be found only in looking to the development of all our Canadian forces,