Document Information
Date: 1867-05-03
By: Perth Courier
Citation: “Withdrawing the Troops”, Perth Courier (3 May, 1867)
Other formats: TBA
WITHDRAWING THE TROOPS.
Whilst some of the journals of this country are endeavoring to convince their readers that Confederation will strengthen the bonds of union between Canada and Great Britain, the London Times thus admonishes them of the folly and falsehood of their position and arguments. “If by enabling Canada to make this railway the Mother Country is to be held to have now fulfilled all its duties and to be henceforth entirely at liberty to consult its own interests, we cordially approve its decision. The first and most important of our duties will then be the speedy withdrawal of all British troops from the North American Continent. To keep a force of 12,000 or 14,000 men scattered along such a line of frontier, and to affect by their presence to defend it against a people of thirty-five millions, is an absurdity which must be obvious to every one, whether soldier or civilian. As long as these troops are shut up during half the year in an almost inaccessible Province, and exposed at all times to an invasion, which their very presence tempts, the American Government has so many hostages, as it were, for British good behaviour. Let it be understood that the guarantee of the Canada Railway Loan carries with it the responsibility of self-defence to be undertaken by the Confederation, and that it is the intention of the Queen’s Government to withdraw at no distant time all British troops from the American Continent. If that be so, the guarantee may be cheerfully paid if ever it should be called for; and if the two measures of the present Session enable us to escape the burdens which the Canadian garrisons inflict on this country, there will be no reason to regret them, even though they comprise the encouragement of an unremunerative enterprise by means of a principle condemned by sound finance.” This result. of provincial union which the Times so plainly points out as one of the immediate consequences of Confederation, has been foretold from the first by the most able and independent members of the Press in Canada; but is none the less unwelcome from that circumstance, which after all was one that required no extraordinary penetration to foresee. But now that the practical evil comes, the misfortune falls upon the country with the force of an unforeseen calamity, and even those who brought it about are forced to acknowledge that their pet project is not an unmitigated blessing. Mr. Galt tries to face the matter at once, and in a speech delivered at Montreal the other day attempts a solution of the political difficulty which the withdrawal of the troops places the Unionists in, by advocating the independence of the New Dominion. The ex-Finance Minister does this with the full conviction in his own mind, that any so-called independence which may be attempted here must ultimately end in the annexation of these Provinces to the United States. Independence in our position is nonsense, and Mr. Galt fully recognizes the fact and discloses his own weakness and that of his brother Unionists by the uncertain tone and wavering style of his speech. The temper of modern times is entirely against the independence of small States, and everybody knows well enough that the disposition of our American neighbors is strongly opposed to the formation of any separate governments on this Continent.— The Monroe doctrine is a living reality with them in this respect—that they will not permit the establishment of an independent State on any part of their frontier; and though foolish persons in and out of the Press may bluster out their indignation, the Statesmen of Great Britain recognize the modern principle, established by military power, of the right of large countries to overawe their smaller neighbors and coerce them into annexation. The whole world recognizes the forced annexation of the small German States to Prussia; and if the United States sent an army over here the week after the withdrawal of the British troops and annexed us, the world would recognize their right to do so just the same. We have no Divine Right to the special favors of Providence in the matter of government, and having an unfavorable geographical position must be prepared to put up with its consequences, whatever these may be. In the opinion of nearly every man, woman and child in the United States, these consequences involve our absorbtion into the American union: in that of Mr. Galt they merely amount to “in dependence,” but in that of those who have the control of our destiny for the time being, they are left to be determined by the circumstances involved in our new political position. What this will ultimately bring forth is foreshadowed in the language now quoted from the Times, and often previously pointed out in these columns. Confederation means annexation, and though some people affect to feel surprise that so unpleasant a consequence should flow from such a cause, it was all along patent to those who took the trouble to study the question. We cannot pretend to deny the advocates of Union as much penetration as their opponents; it is therefore apparent that some of them went into Confederation with the deliberate intention of handing the Provinces over to the United States. The Montreal Gazette, which all along has been one of the most thoroughgoing unionists, [apparently?] [terrified?] at [what?] its advocacy has been instrumental in bringing about, raises its hands and cries out to the Americans to spare us. “Surely you’re not going to gobble us up, good Yankees?” is now the burden of its song, after having previously done everything in its power to make the gobbling process a labor of love to the much-abused Yankees, as well as assisting to throw us in their way by contributing to the success of Confederation. It is quite apparent that England has made up her mind to cut us off; we are a source of danger and expense to the Empire, and its rulers prefer even the probable contingency of annexation to the United States to the continuance of our connexion with them any longer. A proper feeling of self-respect obliges us to accede to the wishes of the Imperial government without attempting to seek favors which it is not prepared to grant, and when the troops are withdrawn we must try to face the embarrassments of our situation with dignity and overcome them with honor if possible.