England, Canada and the Great War Part 5

"_With us the Sovereign, or, in this country the representative of the Sovereign, can act only on the advice of His Ministers, those Ministers being responsible to the people through Parliament._"

Mr. Boura.s.sa used the foregoing sentence in support of his contention that the King of England could not declare war without the a.s.sent of the Canadian Cabinet. It is impossible to understand how such a notion can be seriously held and expressed. His Majesty cannot ask nor accept such an advice, if it was tendered, for the very reason that the Canadian Cabinet has not the const.i.tutional right to advise the King respecting the international relations of the Empire. And why? Precisely because the Canadian Ministers would not be responsible for their advice to the Imperial Parliament and to the electorate of the United Kingdom.

The true meaning of the above quoted sentence of Sir John A. Macdonald is very plain. Ministerial responsibility was the fundamental principle of the old Const.i.tution, as it is of the Federal Charter. Sir John A.

Macdonald was perfectly right in affirming that "_in Canada, as in England, the Sovereign could act only on the advice of His Ministers,"

that is to say on the advice of His responsible Ministers within the const.i.tutional powers of our Parliament on all matters respecting which they had the const.i.tutional right to advise His Majesty_.

Sir John A. Macdonald never said--he could not possibly say--that as Prime Minister of Canada, under the new Const.i.tution, he would have the right to advise the Sovereign on all matters within the exclusive const.i.tutional jurisdiction of the Imperial Parliament, for instance respecting the exercise of the Royal prerogative of declaring war against, or of making peace with, a foreign independent State. He has never propounded such an utterly false const.i.tutional doctrine.

Mr. Boura.s.sa went still further. He quoted the following sentence from Sir John A. Macdonald:--"_We stand with regard to the people of Canada precisely in the same position as the House of Commons in England stands with regard to the people of England_."

I was indeed most astonished to read Mr. Boura.s.sa's inference from those words that Sir John A. Macdonald _had affirmed the absolute equality of powers of the Imperial and the Canadian Parliaments_.

If the opinion expressed by Sir John A. Macdonald could be so interpreted, he would have affirmed--what was radically wrong--that under the new Const.i.tution, the Canadian Parliament would have, _concurrently with the Imperial Parliament_, absolutely the same powers.

What did that mean? It meant that the Canadian Parliament, just as the Imperial Parliament, would have the right to edict laws establis.h.i.+ng Home Rule in Ireland, regulating the government of India and the Crown Colonies, granting const.i.tutional charters for the good government of the Australian and South African Dominions, &c., &c.

Surely it is not necessary to argue at any length to prove that Sir John A. Macdonald never for a moment entertained such an opinion. What he really said, in the above quoted words, was that within their const.i.tutional jurisdiction, within the limits of their respective powers, the two Parliaments stood in the same position, _respectively_, with regard to the people of England and to the people of Canada. It was equivalent to saying--what was positively true--that the British Ministers and the British Parliament were responsible to the people of England, and that the Canadian Ministers and the Canadian Parliament were responsible to the people of Canada,--both of them within the limits of their respective const.i.tutional powers.

If the Canadian Legislature had enjoyed all the const.i.tutional powers of the British Parliament, she would not have been obliged to pa.s.s addresses asking the latter to enact a new charter creating the Federal Union of the Provinces. She could have repealed her then existing const.i.tution and enacted the new one by her own authority. But that she could not do. She could not repeal the old, nor enact the new charter.

But the most extraordinary is that Mr. Boura.s.sa went so far as to declare that Canada should have partic.i.p.ated in the present war only as a "_Nation_," meaning, of course, as an independent Sovereign State.

On reading such a preposterous proposition, at once it strikes one's mind most forcibly that if Canada had really had the power to intervene in the world's struggle as a "Nation," she would have had the equal right to the choice of three alternatives.

First:--Declare war against Germany and in favor of the Allies.

Second:--Remain neutral.

Third:--Declare war against Great Britain and fight for Germany.

For it is obvious that all the Sovereign States--and Canada like them all if she had been one of them--had the Sovereign Right to fight for or against Great Britain, or to remain neutral. Of course, I am merely explaining in its entirety the Right of a Sovereign State. I surely do not mean to say that Canada, had she really been such a State, would in any way have been justifiable in joining with Germany in her dastardly attempt to crush Civilization in the barbarous throes of her domination.

What would His Excellency the Governor-General have answered his Prime Minister advising him to declare war against England, he who represents His Majesty at Ottawa? Would he not have told him at once that the Canadian Prime Minister had no right whatever to give him such an advice; that Canada, being a British Colony, could not declare war against her Sovereign State; that for the Canadian people to take up arms against England would be treasonable revolt?

It is absolutely incredible that a public man, aspiring to the leaders.h.i.+p of his countrymen, can have been so completely lost to the sense of the Canadian const.i.tutional situation as to boldly attempt to pervert their mind with such fallacious notions. He might as well pretend that the State of New York, for instance, has the Sovereign Right to declare war against the Government of the United States.

I, for one, cannot help wondering that any one can seriously think that a colony, always pretending to remain loyally so, can wage war against her Sovereign State. I feel sure that all sensible men do share my views on that point.

CHAPTER VIII.

GERMAN ILLUSIONS.

When Germany threw the gauntlet to the Powers of the "Entente," she labored under the delusion that the war would most surely break down the British Empire. She was determined to do her utmost to that end. But she utterly failed in her criminal efforts.

Strongly bound by ties of affection and const.i.tutional freedom, the great autonomous Dominions and Colonies at once rallied with courage and patriotism to the defence of the Empire, of Justice, of Right and Civilization. India,--that great Indian Empire--to the utter disappointment of Germany, has stood admirably by Great Britain ever since the outbreak of the War, by her n.o.ble contributions of man-power and her munificent generosity of very large sums of money, in one instance amounting to $500,000,000.

The Crown Colonies have also done their share of duty with great devotion.

The admirable result which for the last four years has been s.h.i.+ning bright and glorious all over the world, is that, contrary to teutonic expectations, the war, far from breaking asunder the British Empire, has wonderfully solidified her mighty edifice, by an intensity of loyalty to her free inst.i.tutions, to her glorious flag, which the enjoyment of the blessings of peace would not have proved so easily possible.

CHAPTER IX.

THE NATIONALIST ERROR.

The leaders of our Nationalist School have for years strenuously laboured to pervert the mind of our French-Canadian compatriots by the false pretensions that we were, in some mysterious way, coerced to partic.i.p.ate in the European War. Even previous to the days of the South African conflict, they boldly took the stand that Canada should, on no account, and under no circ.u.mstances whatever, partic.i.p.ate in what they called the Wars of the Empire--_les guerres de l'Empire_. Canada, they affirmed, had only to defend her own territory if attacked.

Fully appreciating how insidious and dangerous such theories were, I endeavoured to show, as forcibly as I could, that there had been no attempt by England at coercion of this Dominion to help her in the struggle against Germany. Of course, as previously explained, Great Britain being at war with the German Empire, the whole British Empire was at war. But no one in England ever intended to propose to force the colonies to engage actively into the fight. The Imperial Parliament would certainly not have taken into consideration any such proposition.

But is it not plain and beyond discussion that we, _ourselves_, had the undoubted right to intervene in the war to the extent that we would consider it our bounden duty to do so?

Evidently we could not remain neutral in the great conflict. At the very moment that Great Britain was at war with Germany, Canada, a British Colony, was part and parcel of the belligerent Sovereign State, the British Empire. By an incredible misconception, the Nationalist leaders confounded _neutrality_ with _non-partic.i.p.ation_ in the war, if we had so decided.

To be, or not to be, neutral, was not within our const.i.tutional rights.

If Germany, either by land or by sea, had attacked our territory, as she had the undoubted belligerent right to do, would it have availed us an iota to implore her mercy by affirming that we were neutral? Could we have pretended that she was violating neutral territory?

No one with the least notion of International Law would for a moment hesitate to give the true answers to those questions.

But the very different question to partic.i.p.ate, or not, in the war, was for us alone to decide according to our const.i.tutional charter. We have freely, deliberately, decided to do our share in the great war. We continue and persevere in our n.o.ble task, freely and deliberately.

It is admitted by all that under the actual const.i.tutional organization of the Empire, the Imperial Parliament could not require the autonomous colonies to partic.i.p.ate in the war. But no one can a.s.suredly deny to that Parliament the right, in the case of an imminent peril, to formulate the desire that the autonomous colonies would help Great Britain to conjure the threatened calamity.

But, in the present case, the Imperial Parliament has not even been under the necessity of expressing such a legitimate wish, for the obvious reason that the colonies at once took their patriotic stand in favor of the cause of England and her Allies. If the colonies had not so decided, of their own free will, it is most likely that the Imperial Parliament would not have expressed the wish for the a.s.sistance of the Dominions overseas.

The hearty support granted by the colonies to Great Britain, to develop its full value, had to be spontaneous, enthusiastic. Such it was, such it is, and such it will be to the last day of the conflict which victorious conclusion we are so strongly determined to achieve.

CHAPTER X.

HAD CANADA THE RIGHT TO HELP ENGLAND?

Not satisfied to do the best it could to persuade our French-Canadian countrymen that they had been coerced into the war by England, our "Nationalist School" extensively used the argument that Canada had not the right to intervene into the European struggle. I refuted this erroneous pretension by the following propositions, the very essence of our const.i.tutional rights and liberties:--

1.--The Canadian Cabinet had the undoubted const.i.tutional right to advise His Excellency the Governor-General to approve the measures to be taken to give effect to their decision to partic.i.p.ate in the war, decision and measures for which they were responsible to the Canadian Parliament and to the Canadian Electorate.

2.--The Canadian Parliament had the undoubted const.i.tutional right to approve or disapprove the decision and the measures of the Cabinet.

Parliament approved that decision and those measures, acting within their const.i.tutional right.

3.--Even at the time I was writing, it could evidently be affirmed that the Canadian Electorate had approved the stand taken by both the Canadian Cabinet and the Canadian Parliament according to well known and defined const.i.tutional usages.