She was well aware that the tie which binds Canada to her is so slight that it might easily be broken, and realizing the danger of the situation, she determined to throw aside her old foreign policy, and adopt new measures to bind her colonies more closely to her.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who is a statesman of a very high order, had foreseen what England's answer would be, and last winter prepared the way for the breaking of the German and Belgian treaties.
He engineered a tariff law, offering about twelve per cent reduction the first year, and twenty-five per cent thereafter, of tariff dues to all countries admitting Canadian goods on certain favorable terms.
It was thoroughly understood at the time that England was the only country which could benefit by such an arrangement. England, as you know, believes in free trade, and has now but twenty articles subject to tariff; the most important of these are beer, wine, spirits, tobacco, tea, coffee, and soap.
With such a very small list of dutiable imports you can readily see how easy it is for England to be the country which gives the best terms to Canadian goods.
When this Canadian tariff was first made the other nations smiled at it as a meaningless piece of legislation, but as they thought over it they saw its true meaning, and at once denounced it as an attempt to make England false to her agreement with Germany and Belgium.
England saw the force of this herself, and did not attempt to take advantage of the reduced rates of the Canadian tariff.
This did not disconcert Sir Wilfrid Laurier in the least. He had put the new law through for a certain purpose, and he was willing to wait patiently until he could secure the desired end.
His opportunity came at the Conference.
After the Colonial Secretary had answered the premiers that he thought it better to wait a while before federating, the Canadian Prime Minister made a very earnest speech.