John, or even for
Halifax, fights for Canada. I will suppose another not impossible case.
I will suppose a hostile American army, on a fishery or any other war,
finding it easier and cheaper to seize the Lower Colonies by land than
by sea, by a march from a convenient rendezvous on Lake Champlain,
through Lower Canada, into the upper part of New Brunswick, and so
downward to the sea--a march like Sherman's march from Knoxville to
Savannah. While we obstructed such a march by every means in our power,
from the Richelieu to Riviere du Loup, whose battles would we be
fighting then? Why, the seaports aimed at, for our common subjugation.
But the truth is, all these selfish views and arguments are remarkably
short-sighted, unworthy of the subject, and unworthy even of those who
use them. In a commercial, in a military, in every point of view, we
are all, rightly considered, dependent on each other. Newfoundland
dominates the Gulf, and none of us can afford to be separated from her.
Lord Chatham said he would as soon abandon Plymouth as Newfoundland to
a foreign power, and he is thought to have understood how to govern
men. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are Siamese twins, held together by
that ligature of land between Baie Verte and Cumberland Basin, and the
fate of the one must follow the fate of the other.
Pages:
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346