Besides, in the back of Canada’s collective head—­as it were—­in a sort of unspoken consciousness was the almost religious conviction that the Dominion had contributed her share toward Imperial defense in her transportation system.  Had she not granted fifty-five million acres of land for the different transcontinentals and spent far over a billion in loans and subsidies and guarantees?  Value that land at ten dollars an acre.  That was tantamount to an expenditure of two hundred dollars per capita for a transportation system of use to the empire in Imperial defense.  Seventy trainloads of Hindu troops were rushed across Canada in cars with drawn blinds and transported to Europe before the enemy knew such a movement was contemplated.  Should Turkey ever cut off Suez, Canada and Panama would be England’s route to India.  In addition, Canada considers herself the granary of the empire.  Should Suez ever cut off the path to India and Australia, what colony could feed England but Canada?

You will note that Canada’s thought concerned the empire, not herself.  The reason for the navy bills proposed by both parties has been Imperial defense.  That Canada might some day be compelled to fight for her own existence—­and fight to the death for it—­never dawned on her legislators; and their unconsciousness of national peril is the profoundest testimony to the pacific intentions of the United States that could be given.  It seems almost treason at this era of world war to call Canada’s attention to the fact that the greatest danger is not to Imperial defense.  It is to Canada’s national defense.  Uncle Sam has been Canada’s big brother, but what if when the danger came, his arms were tied in a conflict of his own?  Whatever comes to menace the United States will menace the safety of Canada; and with swift cruisers, Europe and Asia are nearer Canada to-day than Halifax is near Vancouver.  Either city could be attacked by foreign powers before military aid could be transported across the width of Canada.  We are nearer Europe to-day than the North was near the South in the Civil War.  It takes a shorter time to transport troops across Atlantic or Pacific than it formerly took to send a Minnesota regiment to Maryland.  Including Quebec, Montreal, old Port Royal, Annapolis, Louisburg and the forts on Hudson Bay, Canada’s chief strongholds of defense have been taken and retaken seven times by European enemies in one hundred and sixty years—­between 1629 and 1789.  Day was when Quebec fortifications cost so much that the King of France wanted to know if they were laid in gold.  Before the fall of Quebec in 1759, Louisburg—­a forgotten fortress of Cape Breton—­was considered one of France’s strongholds.  Have Canadians forgotten the frightful wreck of the British fleet in the St. Lawrence in 1711 under Sir Havender Walker; or the defeat of the admiralty ships manned by the Hudson’s Bay fur-traders up off Port Nelson in 1697 by Lemoyne d’ Iberville?