British Commons. Both the houses in Canada--that, namely, of the
Representatives, or Lower Houses and of the Legislative Council, or
Upper House--are now elective, and are filled without direct
influence from the Crown. The power of self-government is as
thoroughly developed as perhaps may be possible in a colony. But,
after all, it is a dependent form of government, and as such may
perhaps not conduce to so thorough a development of the resources
of the country as might be achieve under a ruling power of its own,
to which the welfare of Canada itself would be the chief if not the
only object.

I beg that it may not be considered from this that I would propose
to Canada to set up for itself at once and declare itself
independent. In the first place I do not wish to throw over
Canada; and in the next place I do not wish to throw over England.
If such a separation shall ever take place, I trust that it may be
caused, not by Canadian violence, but by British generosity. Such
a separation, however, never can be good till Canada herself shall
wish it. That she does not wish it yet, is certain. If Canada
ever should wish it, and should ever press for the accomplishment
of such a wish, she must do so in connection with Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick. If at any future time there be formed such a
separate political power, it must include the whole of British
North America.

In the mean time, I return to my assertion, that in entering Canada
from the States one clearly comes from a richer to a poorer
country. When I have said so, I have heard no Canadian absolutely
deny it; though in refraining from denying it, they have usually
expressed a general conviction, that in settling himself for life
it is better for a man to set up his staff in Canada than in the
States. "I do not know that we are richer," a Canadian says, "but
on the whole we are doing better and are happier." Now, I regard
the golden rules against the love of gold, the "aurum irrepertum et
sic melius situm," and the rest of it, as very excellent when
applied to individuals. Such teaching has not much effect,
perhaps, in inducing men to abstain from wealth; but such effect as
it may have will be good. Men and women do, I suppose, learn to be
happier when they learn to disregard riches. But such a doctrine
is absolutely false as regards a nation. National wealth produces
education and progress, and through them produces plenty of food,
good morals, and all else that is good. It produces luxury also,
and certain evils attendant on luxury. But I think it may be
clearly shown, and that it is universally acknowledged, that
national wealth produces individual well-being. If this be so, the
argument of my friend the Canadian is naught.

To the feeling of a refined gentleman, or of a lady whose eye loves
to rest always on the beautiful, an agricultural population that
touches its hat, eats plain victuals, and goes to church, is more
picturesque and delightful than the thronged crowd of a great city,
by which a lady and gentleman is hustled without remorse, which
never touches its hat, and perhaps also never goes to church. And
as we are always tempted to approve of that which we like, and to
think that that which is good to us is good altogether, we--the
refined gentlemen and ladies of England I mean--are very apt to
prefer the hat touchers to those who are not hat touchers. In
doing so we intend, and wish, and strive to be philanthropical. We
argue to ourselves that the dear excellent lower classes receive an
immense amount of consoling happiness from that ceremony of hat
touching, and quite pity those who, unfortunately for themselves,
know nothing about it. I would ask any such lady or gentleman
whether he or she does not feel a certain amount of commiseration
for the rudeness of the town-bred artisan who walks about with his
hands in his pockets as though he recognized a superior in no one?

But that which is good and pleasant to us is often not good and
pleasant altogether. Every man's chief object is himself; and the
philanthropist should endeavor to regard this question, not from
his own point of view, but from that which would be taken by the
individuals for whose happiness he is anxious. The honest, happy
rustic makes a very pretty picture; and I hope that honest rustics
are happy. But the man who earns two shillings a day in the
country would always prefer to earn five in the town. The man who
finds himself bound to touch his hat to the squire would be glad to
dispense with that ceremony, if circumstances would permit. A
crowd of greasy-coated town artisans, with grimy hands and pale
faces, is not in itself delectable; but each of that crowd has
probably more of the goods of life than any rural laborer. He
thinks more, reads more, feels more, sees more, hears more, learns
more, and lives more. It is through great cities that the
civilization of the world has progressed, and the charms of life
been advanced. Man in his rudest state begins in the country, and
in his most finished state may retire there. But the battle of the
world has to be fought in the cities; and the country that shows
the greatest city population is ever the one that is going most
ahead in the world's history.

If this be so, I say that the argument of my Canadian friend was
naught. It may be that he does not desire crowded cities, with
dirty, independent artisans; that to view small farmers, living
sparingly, but with content, on the sweat of their brows, are surer
signs of a country's prosperity than hives of men and smoking
chimneys. He has probably all the upper classes of England with
him in so thinking, and as far as I know the upper classes of all
Europe. But the crowds themselves, the thick masses of which are
composed those populations which we count by millions, are against
him. Up in those regions which are watered by the great lakes--
Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario--and by the St.
Lawrence, the country is divided between Canada and the States.


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