TOTAL PER DAY …………….. $49,950,000
Chapter XX.
CANADA’S PART IN THE WORLD WAR
New Relations Toward the Empire—Military Preparations—The Great Camp at Valcartier—The Canadian Expeditionary Force—Political Effect of Canada’s Action on Future of the Dominion
The sailing of the First Canadian Contingent on October 2, 1914, for England, en route to the theater of war, marked a noteworthy epoch in Canadian history. For the first time the Dominion took her place, not as a British colony, but as a component part of the British Empire. This position was established by the voluntary offer of expeditionary troops to be raised, equipped, and paid by Canada for the defense of the British empire.
For many years a movement had been on foot to bring about this attitude on the part of the Dominion by His Majesty’s government.
No such action was taken by the Dominion in the South African War, though a Canadian regiment was raised for the guarding of Halifax so that the regiment of British soldiers doing garrison duty there might be released for service at the front, and all other troops who left Canada went simply as volunteers to join the British army, though raised by the Dominion government.
When the situation in South Africa reached a critical stage and there were fears of German interference on behalf of the Boers it became clear that the British government strongly desired a helping hand from Canada for political reasons. It seemed a good time to show a solid front and a united Empire. Later, on October 3d, there came a request for 500 men from the British Colonial Secretary. No immediate action was taken on this, but on October 13th, the government passed an Order-in-Council for the raising of 1,000 volunteers and providing for their equipment and transportation. But these men were really British volunteers, not Canadian troops, as once at the front they became British soldiers under British pay. This contingent was known as a “Special Service Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry,” and did not belong in any sense to the organized troops of the Dominion, either regular or militia, although they approached more nearly to that status than in any previous case of assistance given by the Dominion to the Empire.
In the Indian Mutiny in 1857 a regiment was raised in Canada by the British government known as the 100th Prince of Wales Royal Canadian Regiment” and in the Empire’s other wars, such as the Crimean and the Soudanese, there were always Canadian volunteers in the British forces.
MILITARY PREPARATIONS
The declaration of war by Great Britain on Germany made on the night of August 4, 1914, found the people of the Dominion not wholly unprepared for the situation. For some time ways of helping the mother country had been the chief topic both in government circles and among the people at large. This is best instanced by the following telegram sent by His Royal Highness, the governor-General, to the Secretary of State for the colonies, Rt. Hon. Lewis Harcourt.