11. The Motor Industry and the War 12. The Economic Position of the Allied Powers 13. War-Zones, Blockade, Contraband, and Right of Search 1. Greek Poetry in English Verse 3. The Trustees' Report on the National Gallery 4. Iñes de Castro and Pedro of Portugal 5. French Idealism and the War 7. The Treatment of Enemy Aliens 8. Charles Fox and the American Revolution THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. No. 446.-JANUARY, 1916. Art. 1.-WHY CANADA IS AT WAR. SOME articles by well-informed writers have appeared in various magazines during the past year on the part Canada is taking in the present war. The purpose of this paper is not to duplicate what has already been written, but rather to deal with a phase of the subject which has received little or no consideration, namely, Why does Canada participate in the war? What is the psychological cause of her sacrificing her money and her men so lavishly in a war which at first sight is only indirectly hers? British citizens in all parts of the Empire need not be told that Canada took this step of her own free will, in conference with, but under no pressure from, the naval and military authorities in Great Britain. Canada is not part of an imperial military machine, such as we see exemplified in the German system, but a British colony taking her place in the Empire under the triple principle of 'self-government, self-development, and self-defence.' One of the rights of self-government bestowed upon the Canadian people by the Mother-Country is the control of its own military forces. While the command-in-chief is vested in the King, the Dominion Parliament at Ottawa holds the reins of control. If, then, Canadians help to keep the trenches in the battle-fields of Flanders, it is because the Dominion herself voluntarily sends her men thither. And-as the Canadian militia cannot be compelled to serve outside the Dominion-if Canada's sons are giving their lives for Belgium, France, and Britain, it is because they volunteered for that service. Because Vol. 225.—No, 446, B we are not bound but free, because we are not blindly driven by the caprices of a military caste, but because as British citizens we enjoy British freedom,' which confers upon us the privilege of holding most of our destinies in our own hands-for these reasons, among others, we Canadians respond by saying that this is not only Britain's war but our own. We cannot, in the second place, point to a bellicose spirit among the Canadian people which needed only an occasion to be kindled into flame. The Canadians have always been a peaceful people, assuming as their highest task the developing of their great natural resources, and setting up as their highest ideal the attainment of nationhood through a policy of peace with the MotherCountry, their neighbour to the south, and the whole world. Canada's part in the American Revolution, in the War of 1812-14, in the Rebellion of 1837-38, in the North-West Rebellions, and in the South African War, was in each instance only a ripple on the surface of her national life compared with what she is attempting in the present struggle; and in no case was it sufficient to put the military stamp on her people. When the war broke out in Aug. 1914, she had a navy of two small discarded British vessels to guard two oceans, and a land force of about 5000 regulars to guard a frontier of 3000 miles. Of compulsory military service for her citizens she knew nothing. Even her militia of some 40,000 men, trained for about a fortnight each summer, was, from a military point of view, a picnic affair, so that Lord Dundonald spoke the bitter truth when he said that Canada was in no position to defend herself even against a small invading force. With no war knocking at her gates for a hundred years, with a neighbour to the south who was also devoted to the arts of peace, with a growing bond of union among all the English-speaking peoples, and finally, with the feeling of security afforded by the protection of the army and navy of Great Britain, Canada developed her farms, mines, forests, and fisheries, with no dread of war and no desire for its glory. Her 'place in the sun' was to be achieved by peace alone. Nor, in the third place, can we point to any racehatred or commercial rivalry between Germany and Canada, as even a remote cause of Canada's part in the |