And then, as his listeners were expecting him to announce himself as heartily in favor of the pending bill, he suddenly changed the whole aspect of the debate by asking: "But what has Canada ever done for England, that we should make these enormous expenditures of money, and risk a war with such a powerful nation as the United States, merely for her benefit? Has she ever contributed a penny to the Imperial treasury? Never! Has she even paid the expenses of troops and vessels sent out by the Imperial Government to protect her interests? Never! Has she admitted the products of the Mother Country to her ports free of duty; or, failing in that, has she ever made any discrimination, however small, in favor of our products, as against those of the United States, or any other country? Never! She taxes our products, and while claiming our protection whenever she gets into difficulty, utterly refuses to contribute anything to our treasury. I fail, Sir, to see anything like reciprocity here. To use a homely American comparison, 'It is like the handle of a jug—all on one side.' If Imperial protection is worth having, it is worth paying for; and if Canada or any other outlying portion of this great British Empire, is not willing to contribute its share of taxation to the Imperial treasury, I am distinctly and decidedly in favor of having Imperial protection withdrawn."
At this point of his lordship's address, the interruptions were so numerous and persistent, that he was obliged to suspend his remarks for a few moments. After a semblance of order had been restored, the Premier arose and begged the privilege of asking his Lordship one question.
"Do I understand his Lordship to say that he is in favor of our permitting the United States to overrun and annex Canada, without lifting a hand or firing a gun in her behalf?"
As soon as the applause which greeted this question had subsided, Lord Churchill said he "thanked his Lordship for having put the question to him in that categorical manner, because it enabled him to be equally specific and explicit in his reply."
He then went on, and in a most impassioned manner attacked the United States as a great, overgrown, bullying and conceited nation. He traced our wonderful growth and material prosperity, and characterized it as a standing menace to every monarchical Government in the world. Then suddenly changing his tone, he called attention to our absolutely helpless condition to resist the attacks of a well equipped fleet of modern vessels of war; and waving in the air over his head a copy of the New York Herald of some date in 1887, he exclaimed:
"Here are the figures which prove that property amounting in value to $10,000,000,000 or £2,000,000,000 sterling is absolutely defenseless, and open to attack by any power which possesses one or more modern vessels of war."
And then he continued as follows:
"His Lordship asks me what I would do. I will tell him. I would equip one, two or three powerful fleets, and send them to bombard the principal seaboard cities of the United States. I would give these arrogant and conceited Americans their choice between bombardment and ransom, and I would take good care that the ransom should be a good liberal one. I should be inclined to put the figure at, say £400,000,000 to £500,000,000 sterling. The Americans are wealthy, and could well afford to pay it."
"But," interrupted the Premier, "what would become of Canada?"
"Oh! Let the United States have Canada; and much good may she do them! I cannot see where she has ever done us much. What I would propose in brief, is a "forced sale" of Canada to the United States; but it will be a novelty in forced sales, in that the sale will be forced by the seller upon the buyer."