TOO MUCH PARTYISM.
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THERE is one lesson to be drawn from the deplorable condition of things in the North-West, and one which
the Canadian people will do well to lay to heart: much if not all of the trouble has been caused by too much
politics. Of late years the spirit of rancour and bitterness existing between the two political parties in this
country has so grown and increased that the real object for which all governments exist has been completely
lost sight of, hidden under a rank mass of party politics. Instead of the Government being called into existence
for the good of the country, it seems to be accepted on all hands, as a political maxim of the first order, that the
country exists for the benefit of the Government of the day. When any question comes forward, party
supporters are perfectly satisfied and think that the proper functions of governing have been fulfilled if by a
clever sleight of hand, or a dexterous throwing of dust, the Government retains its hold over the people. Are
provincial rights threatened and attacked: what matters it, so long as the members stick by their “chief” and
the plain sense of the matter can be smothered in long-drawn wordy arguments in the courts of law? Is the
country staggering under heavy debt and taxation, while trade is stagnant and population idle: what matters it,
if only the party will keep together, and the people can be persuaded that high taxation is the root of all
wealth? Are settlers denied their legitimate rights and their claims persistently ignored: who cares, if these
settlers are not voters, and return no member to “the House”? Let them clamour: the “party” cannot be
affected. And so the miserable game goes on. The Opposition newspapers bark at every mouse as though it
were a wolf, and can bark no louder when the wolf appears: while the Government organ throws mud at all who
speak a word or present a complaint against the Government, regardless of the equities of the case, and careful
only to support the men it is paid to back. Amid all this din of mere party strife, it is impossible to hear the
right or wrong of any question; all sense is drowned in the clatter of political organs and the jabber of party
men. If some local or personal grievance is brought before the notice of the Government, it is exaggerated by
the Opposition organs so as to appear a national affair of the very highest importance; charges of corruption,
lying and fraud are hurled broadcast at the Government, in the hope of gaining a point in the political game,
while the Government organs, true to the principle that their party can do no wrong, repel the attack with such
scathing epithets as “Grit,” “sorehead” and the like, and triumphantly score a victory, and proclaim another
master-stroke of statesmanship when the purely partisan majority in the House votes down a motion for
papers or further enquiry. To arrive at the truth seems a matter of perfect indifference. And the saddest fact of
all is, that the people of Canada back up and hound on their politicians in this sort of warfare: the nation
divides itself into two camps, and the battle rages fiercely and continuously: each outbids the other in violence
of language, and the object of each seems to be attained in the achievement of some petty party victory,
regardless of right or justice. The vulgar spectacle might be passed by in silence with contempt and disgust
by non-combatants if it were not that such a state of things results in serious and lasting consequences to the
country.
At any time during the last two or three years there might have been apparent to a dispassionate
observer a mass of smouldering discontent in the North-West sufficient to call for the attention of the
Government and the patient consideration of those properly empowered to quench it. If one-half of the
grievances set forth in newspapers and formulated by settlers at their meetings be substantial, there have been
enough in the North-West to call for redress and amendment long ere this. But how has this discontent been
treated by party organs that, unfortunately, have so much influence in the ruling of this country? On the one
hand, in its initial stages it has been exaggerated to such proportions as to be incredible; while on the other, it
has been represented and sneered at as the mere vapouring of a few discontented “Grits.” As no votes were
to be captured the politicians paid little heed and allowed things to take their course. And in due course, the
patience of the settlers becoming exhausted, the period of quiet waiting and hoping ends, and the hitherto
law-abiding citizens appear with rifles in their hands. Then all is bustle and activity. The country so long
neglected now becomes the very focus of departmental zeal. Troops are despatched with utmost speed to the
scene of disturbance; merchants, lawyers, bankers, artisans, clerks and students are snatched from their work,
and sent soldiering on the plains of the North-West; a Royal Commission is appointed to inquire into
complaints, and Half-breeds are informed by telegraph that in a few days their musty claims will be looked at
and a satisfactory settlement made. Party politicians stand aghast to find that there are in the community men
so regardless of their rules of the game that they prefer actual fighting to the continual shelving of petitions
and grievances, and consider their homes of greater importance than “the party.”
The lesson distinctly taught by this is perhaps the most dangerous that any nation can learn. The
immediate inference drawn by persons smarting under the effects of official neglect and misrule is that the
quickest and surest means of securing attention and reform is by a resort to violence. Once let a people
experience that rebellion is more effectual in redressing wrongs than submission, and there are not many steps
in the argument before the conclusion is reached that all submission to authority is bad and hurtful. It is the
highest function of a statesman so to control men that they feel no galling bonds of restraint; so to meet all
legitimate requests that they are granted without pressure on the one hand or a display of weakness
on the other; and so to resist all improper demands that a vast majority will recognize the rectitude of his
course of action. Unfortunately there has been but little statesmanship exhibited in the governing of the
North-West.
It seems to be a law of nations that there can be no attainment of national wisdom without blood. It
will be well for Canada if this North-West rebellion will impress upon her the necessity for honest and faithful
dealing in governing; the necessity for more earnestness and less humbug, for more doing and less empty
talking. If the zeal and energy which has been expended in contemptible little party fights had been devoted to
the proper governing of the country, there would be to-day no discontent to allay in the North-West, and no
rebellion to suppress.
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