R. MATTHEW
BRAY
'Fighting
Ally'.'
TheEnglish-Canadian
Patriotic
Response
totheGreatWar
WRITINGTO SIR WILFRIDLAURIERin mid-November •9•6 John M.
Godfrey, a Toronto lawyer and activistin a wide range of civilian
recruitingorganizations,
observedthat 'whata differenceit wouldhave
madein thiswar if we [Canada]had foughtasa nationand an ally. In
the first placewe shouldhavebeenbound to put our whole strength
intothewar.Fightingasan allytherecouldbeno suchthingasa limited
liability.
'• Godfrey's
lamentmadelittle impression
on the veteran
Liberalleader,but it did summarizesuccinctly
the patrioticviewpoint
of a growingnumber of urban, professional,middle-classEnglish
Canadianswho were becomingincreasinglydissatisfiedwith their
country's
contribution
to the GreatWar? Yet at theoutbreakof the
conflictin August•9•4 mostof thosesameCanadianshad been perfectlycontentwith the ancillaryrole assumedby Canada,just asthey
hadenthusiastically
endorsedthevoluntaryprincipleon whichthe war
effort wasorganized.In the interveningtwo years,however,events
had servedto render in their eyesboth that role and that type of war
effortinadequate.To understandtheseradicallyalteredperspectives
it
is necessary
to trace the evolutionof the English-Canadian
patriotic
The preparationof thispaperhasbeenassisted
byCanadaCouncilresearchfunds
administered
byLaurentianUniversity.
Specialthanksmustalsobegivento Professor
CraigBrownandMr HenryBordenfor theirpermission
toconsulttheBorden
diaries.
Godfreyto Laurier,17Nov. 19a6, LaurierPapers,PublicArchivesof Canada[•,.•c],
• 93817-•, 1 [hereafter
The useof theterm'middleclass'
isanimpressionistic
one,basedonvariables
suchas
occupation,
income,andeducational
status.It includespersonsengagedin business,
industry,manufacturing,
finance,andcommerce,
atboththeownership
andmanageriallevels,
aswellasthosein professions
suchaslaw,medicine,
engineering,
education,andjournalism.
Canadian
HistoricalReview,
•.xI, •, 198o
o0o8-3755/80/06oo-o
a41$oI .•,5/o¸Universityof TorontoPress
142 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
response
to the Great War by focussing
on itsvariousjournalisticand
organizational
manifestations
in the periodfrom 1914to 1917.
Like peoplethe world over,mostCanadianswere takenverymuch
bysurprisebythe eventsof July-Augustx914, but thoughthe country
wasneither psychologically
nor materiallywell prepared for it, the
decisionof the federal governmentto commitCanadato war, symbolized in the mobilizationof the CanadianExpeditionaryForce,was
welcomed
withanunforeseeable
degreeof unanimity?
Evenpredictable sourcesof oppositionsuch as Henri Bourassa,editor of the
influentialMontreal daily, Le Devoir,and chief antagonistover the
previousdecadeto greaterCanadiancollaboration
in imperialaffairs,
did notmaterialize
immediately.
4 Yet thoughCanadians
mayhave
beenrelativelyunited aboutthe necessity
for their country'sinvolvementin the conflict,they differed overthe reasonsfor participation.
CastellHopkinssuggested
in the Canadian
AnnualReview,•9•4, that
amongstthe partisanpress- and thereforepossiblyamongstitsreaders - there was a critical divergenceof opinion, that Conservative
newspapers
interpretedCanada'to be fightingfor the Empire, and
incidentally,for Britishidealsof peaceandliberty,'whileLiberaljournalsportrayedher as'fightingfor thelibertiesandpeaceof theworld,
andincidentally,for the BritishEmpire of whichthe Dominionwasa
part? A carefulsurveyof the Canadian
dailypressindicates
that
Hopkinsmadethe mistakeof assuming
that Torontowasrepresentativeof therestof Canada,for whilethatcity'ssixmajornewspapers
did
divideroughlyalongthe lineshe drew,thiswasnotthe caseelsewhere
in thecountry.
6 Outsidethe Ontariocapital,in fact,onlythe Grain
Growers'
Guide
andtheManitoba.Free
Press,
bothpublished
in Winnipeg,
expressed
the nationalistic
viewpointhe foundprincipallyin the Globe
ofToronto.
7Otherwise
theCanadian
press
tookthemorecoloniallyminded positionthat Canada was both legally and morally at war
3 Asfar ascanbedetermined,no majorCanadiandailynewspaperdissentedfrom this
decision,
whilea wholerangeof groupsandorganizations
liketheAssociation
of
CanadianClubsapplaudedit. SeeR.M. Bray,'The CanadianPatrioticResponse
to
theGreatWar' (unpublished
vii •)dissertation,
York University,• 976), • 4- • 7.
4 See,for example,LeDevoir,editorialbyHenri Bourassa,
'Le DevoirNational,'8 Sept.
•9 •4, whichtentatively
endorsedCanadianentranceintothewar.Similarly,even
thoughthe • 9 • 4 annualmeetingof the TradesandLaborCongress
of Canada
reiterateditscondemnation
of capitalistic
wars,it addedtheriderthatthepresent
conflictwasnotof GreatBritain'schoosing.
5 CastellHopkins,Canadian
AnnualReview,•9 •4 (Toronto • 9 • 5), x42-3
6 Forthereactionof theConservative
pressin Torontoseethefollowingeditorials:
Toronto
WorM,4 Aug. •9•4; Toronto
Mail andEmpire,• Aug. •9 •4; Toronto
News,6 Aug.
• 9 • 4; Toronto
Telegram,
5 Aug. • 9 • 4. The viewsof theLiberaljournalsweretobe
foundin editorialsin the Globe,• 2 Aug. • 9 • 4, andthe Toronto
Star,4 Aug. • 9 • 4.
7 GrainGrowers'Guide,
editorial,• 2 Aug. •9•4; Manitoba
FreePress,
8 Aug. •9•4
ENGLISH-CANADIAN
PATRIOTIC
RESPONSE
143
because
of her placein the Britishempire;on thisissuetherewaslittle
difference between Liberal and Conservativenewspapers,between
Frenchand Englishjournals,or betweenthe pressin western,central,
andeastern
Canada?Andif a lackof evidence
to thecontrarymaybe
usedas a measure,what was true of the presswas equally true of
EnglishCanadiansgenerally.Few and far betweenwere thoseindividualswho arguedthat it wasCanada'sobligationasa nationin her
ownright to sharein the defenceof the principlesand libertiesfor
whichtheallieswerefighting?
An accurateassessment
of what motivatedEnglishCanadiansto
endorsetheircountry'swar effort isvital,because
morethananything
else,perhaps,that factor shapedtheir expectationsaboutthe nature
andextentof the Canadiancontribution.Solongasit wasbelievedthat
the rationalefor Canada'sparticipationwasthe colonialtie to Great
Britain, it was also assumed that her role in the conflict would be a
subordinate,
subsidiary
one.The Canadiangovernment,for example,
wasnot expectedto play any significantpart in the organizationand
directionof the Alliedwar effort, notevenwith respectto the mobilization of the CanadianExpeditionaryForce;that wasleft entirely in
Britishhands.Asthe Toronto
Mail andEmpire
explainedin mid-October
• 9 •4 vis-h-vis
the recruitmentof the secondCanadiancontingent:'For
all practicalpurposes
the wishesof the BritishWar Officegovernthe
raisingof Canadiancontingents.
The DominionDepartmentof Militia
istheexecutive
whichcarriesintoeffectthedesignof organizationthat
the British authoritiessuggest.Until the War Office indicatesthe
composition
of the desiredcontingentthe Canadianauthoritiesare
8 Newspapers
expressing
thiseditorialviewpointincludedReginaLeader,
• Aug. • 9 • 4;
EdmontonBulletin,
4 Aug. •9•4; MontrealStar,
3• July •9•4; Ottawa
Journal,• Aug.
•9•4; Saint
JohnTelegraph,
• Aug. •9•4; Winnipeg
Tribune,• Aug. •9•4; Winnipeg
Telegram,
• Aug. •9•4; HalifaxHerald,• Aug. •9•4; HalifaxChronicle,
• Aug. •9•4;
London
Advertiser,
• Aug. • 9•4; London
FreePress,
5 Aug. •9 •4; Victoria
Times,
4 Aug.
•9•4; Brockville
Rec•order,
4 Aug.•9 •4; Hamilton
Herald,5 Aug.• 9• 4; Hamilton
Times,
3
Aug.•9•4; Hamilton
Spectator,
4 Aug. •9•4; Weekly
Sun(Toronto),5 Aug. •9•4; Saint
JohnGlobe,
4Aug. •9•4; MontrealGazette,
5 Aug. •9•4; CalgaryHerald,5 Aug. •9•4;
FinancialPost
(Toronto),• 5 Aug. • 9 • 4; Charlottetown
Examiner,
8 Aug. • 9 • 4; Saskatoon
Star,5 Aug. • 9 • 4; Orange
Sentinel
(Toronto),6 Aug. • 9 • 4; Canadian
Baptist
(Toronto),
6 Aug.•9•4; Canadian
Churchman
(Toronto),6 Aug. •9 •4; L'Ev•nement
(Quebec),
3•
July•9 •4; LaPresse
(Montreal),3 Aug. • 9 •4; LaPatrie(Montreal),6 Aug. • 9 • 4; Le
Droit(Ottawa),5 Aug. • 9 • 4; L'Evang•line
(Moncton),26Aug. • 9 • 4; Guelph
Herald,• 7
Aug.• 9 •4; MontrealMail,
3 Aug. • 9 • 4; Vancouver
News-Advertiser,
7 Aug. • 9 • 4;
Quebec
Chronicle,
5 Aug. • 9 • 4.
9 Oneof thoserareexceptions
wasfree-lance
journalistArthurHawkes,whoadvocatedthecreationof a Canadian
Patriotic
Leaguetoacquaint
Canadians
withwhat
wasat stakefor themin the war.Seethe Globe
article,'Mr. HawkesSuggests
Patriotic
League,'•4Aug. •9•4 ß
144 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
heldbackin theircallfor recruits.
© In voicingthispointof viewthe
Mail and Empirewas very much representativeof other Canadian
newspapers
during the first monthsof the war; with but a few exceptions,Canadawasnot perceivedto be an 'ally' in the sensethat Great
Britain,France,and Russiawere allies,but rather waslookedupon as
an adjunctto Great Britain whoseplacein the war, asin the empire,
wouldbe secondary
to thatof the mothercountry.
• WhileCanada
woulddo her 'duty'to the utmostof her ability,that duty wasclearly
thoughtto be circumscribed
by the constraintsof her colonialstatus.
Herein lay the basisof later complaintsabout the 'limited liability'
mentalitythat prevailedat the outsetof the war.
Expectations
aboutthe auxiliarynature of the Canadianwar effort
were reinforcedby the popular belief that the conflictwould be of
extremelyshortduration.As the ministerof finance,ThomasWhite,
laterrecalled,at the outbreakof war few peoplein Ottawathoughtthat
it wouldlastlongerthana year.12Newspaper
articles
likethatin the
SaintJohn Telegraphheadlined 'ShortestWar On Record Saysu.s.
MilitaryExpert'tendedto confirmthe widely-heldconvictionthat the
armiesof the Triple Ententewould easilyrout their Austro-German
foe.•3Suchoptimistic
thoughmyopicpredictions
buttressed
theview
that Canada'srole would indeed be a minor one; given the country's
lackof militarypreparedness,
the mobilizationof an effectNeoverseas
forcewouldtake severalmonths,by whichtime, presumably,the end
wouldbe in sight.
If one of the chief assumptions
aboutthe Canadianwar effort was
that it would be ancillaryto that of Great Britain, anotherwasthat it
would be totally voluntary in nature. On the military side no one
seriously
suggested
duringthe firstmonthsof hostilities
thata selective
draft might be the mostequitablemeansof enrollingthe Canadian
ExpeditionaryForce;as the Globeof Toronto so self-righteously
declared:'Canadawantsno unwilling defenders.Coercionis wrong- in
Torontoasin Berlin.'
14Of course,
therewerealsopractical
reasons
for
dismissing
out of hand the conscription
option,the mostobviousof
which was that Canadians, or at least residents of Canada, had re-
spondedin huge numbersto the call for volunteersissuedby the
ministerof militia,SamHughes,in the secondweekof August1914.
Toronto
Mail andEmpire,editorial,'The SecondContingent,'16Oct. 1914
Forexamples,seethe editorialscitedin note8 above.
SirThomasWhite,TheStoryofCanada's
WarFinance
(Montreal1921), 13--14
Saint
JohnTelegraph,
article,'Shortest
WarOn RecordSaysu.s.MilitaryExpert,'5
Aug. •914
Globe,
editorialnote, lo Nov. 1914
Hughesevenbraggedthatit wasnecessary
todampenCanadianpatrioticenthusiasm
because
toomanymenwerevolunteering.
SeeHughesto Borden,1o Sept.1914,
BordenPapers,PAC,12469[hereafterBP].
ENGLISH-CANADIAN
PATRIOTIC
RESPONSE
145
Then, too, it wasnot clearthat compulsorymilitary servicecouldbe
legallyimplemented.As Sir RobertBordenhimselfinformedthe Halifax CanadianClub on 18 December 19141'under the lawsof Canada,
our citizensmaybe calledout to defendour ownterritority,but cannot
be requiredto go beyondthe seasexceptfor the defenceof Canada
itself. There has not been, there will not be compulsion or
conscription.
'•6SolongasCanadawasassisting
in thedefence
of the
empireandnot fightingprimarilyon her ownbehalf,the prime minister wassaying,conscription
wouldnot - indeed,couldnot - be introducedby hisConservative
government.
Other aspectsof the Canadianwar effort were alsoexpectedto be
carried out voluntarilyby the Canadian people. It was predictable,
perhaps,that the makingof field comforts- scarves,socks,handkerchiefs,and the like - would becomea nationalpastimeamong the
women
ofCanada.
17It wasevenpredictable
thata greatdealof public
energywould go into collectingmoniesfor organizationssuchas the
CanadianRed Cross,the Young Men'sChristianAssociation,
and the
Belgianand SerbianRelief funds, all of which soughtto relievethe
suffering
of bothcombattants
andcivilians
discomfitted
bythewar.iS
More surprisingwastheextentto whichprivategroupsalsoundertook
responsibilities
that might properly have been left to governmental
authorities.A prime examplewasthe CanadianPatrioticFund. Designed,accordingto itsAct of Incorporation,'to providea fund for the
assistance,
in the caseof need, of the wives,childrenand dependent
relativesof officersand men, residentsof Canada,who, during the
presentwar, maybe on activeservicewith the navaland militaryforces
of the BritishEmpire and Great Britain'sallies,'the fund offered the
firstopportunityfor Canadians,and particularlymiddle-class
English
Canadians,
todemonstrate
thestrength
oftheirpatriotic
fervor.19And
demonstrateit they did; the nationalexecutiveof the fund read like a
Who'sWho of Canadian society,headed as it was by the governor
general, VIRVIthe Duke of Connaught, and the nine lieutenantgovernorsof the provinces,while in citiesand townsall acrossCanada
affiliatedbrancheswere established
by the localbusiness
and professional •lites. 2ø
• 6 AddressbySirRobertBordento theHalifaxCanadianClub, • 8 Dec.• 9 • 4, sv,3467•
• 7 Fora detailedaccountof theseactivities
seeCastellHopkins,CanadaatWar(Toronto
•9•9), •46-67.
•8 Ibid.
• 9 Citedin PhillipH. Morris,ed., TheCanadian
Patriotic
Fund(Torontond), • o
•o In The Canadian Patriotic Fund Morris lists all the local affiliates and their executives. A
goodexampleof themiddle-class
dominationof thosebranches
wasthecaseof
Hamiltonwheretheexecutive
consisted
of SirJohnHendrieashonorarypresident,
CyrusA. Birge,president
of theMercantileTrustCompanyof Canada,aspresident,
GeorgeC. Coppley,presidentof Coppley,NoyesandRandallLtd., asvice-president,
146 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
Interestingly,there wasverylittle populardiscussion
of the ideathat
the supportof the soldiers'dependents,like that of the men themselves,
oughtto be bornebythe federalgovernmentsoasto ensurethat
the financialburden would be sharedequallyby all Canadians.In the
pressonlythe CalgaryHeraldand the Edmonton
Bulletin,the one Conservativeand the other Liberal,put forwardthis argument,and even
theywere lessconcernedaboutthe matter of principlethan desirous
that the aid not havethe appearance
of charity.
2• Otherwise,
the
voluntaryapproachwasacceptedwithoutquestion.Evidentlythe same
amalgamof sentimentsthat necessitated
Canada'smilitary commitment be met without resorting to conscriptionalso required the
financingof the PatrioticFund by meansof voluntarysubscriptions.
Genuinepatriotism,it wasthought,mustspringspontaneously
from
the hearts of individual
Canadians.
Over the courseof the next two yearsall of the major premises
underlyingthe English-Canadian
patrioticoutlook- the brevityof the
war, the ancillary nature of the Canadian role, the efficacyof the
voluntarysystem- wereto be challenged.The firstto be testedwasthe
beliefthat the conflictwouldbe concludedsuccessfully
within a few
months.Indeed, evenin the autumn of •9•4 it becameapparentthat
thishopewasnot soundlybased,andconsequently
the adequacyof the
Canadiancontributionalsocameto be questioned.The 25,ooo-man
CanadianExpeditionaryForce, for example, which had seemedin
earlyAugustto be sucha generousexpressionof Canadiansolidarity
with the empire,had comeby Octoberto be the subjectof a gooddeal
of complaint,bothin representations
to theofficeof the primeminister
andin thepress,
LiberalandConservative?
Bordenhimselfadmitted
privatelyto the acting Canadianhigh commissionerin London, Sir
GeorgePerley,that hisgovernment's
decisionto enrola secondcontingent had been made 'urgently necessary'by the weight of public
21
RobertHobson,presidentof the SteelCompanyof Canada,aschairmanof the
financecommittee,J.P.
Bell,generalmanagerof the Bankof Hamilton,ashonorary
treasurer,andNormanSlater,presidentof SlaterandBarnardLtd, ashonorary
secretary.
Ibid. 22o
Calgary
Herald,editorialnote,7 Sept.• 9 • 4; Edmonton
Bulletin,editorialnote,22Aug.
•9•4
BordenwaspetitionedbysuchindividualsasMayorT.R. Deaconof Winnipegand
theManitobaministerof education,GeorgeColdwell,to augmentthec•g.See
Deaconto Borden,27 Aug. • 9 • 4, B•',• o42 • 5, andColdwellto Borden,8 Oct. • 9 • 4,
B•',•o4264-6. Newspapers
whicheditoriallydid likewiseincludedMontrealStar,• •
Sept.• 9 •4; Charlottetown
Examiner,
• •,Sept.• 9 • 4; Ottawa
Journal,• o Sept.• 9 • 4;
Hamilton
Herald,• 9 Sept.• 9 • 4; MontrealGazette,
23Sept.19• 4; London
FreePress,
•,3
Sept.•9•4; VancouverNews-Advertiser,
5 Oct. •9•4; Winnipeg
Tribune,
26 Sept.•9•4;
London
Advertiser,
5 Oct. • 9 • 4; HalifaxChronicle,
•,Oct. • 9 • 4.
ENGLISH-CANADIAN
PATRIOTIC
RESPONSE
147
opinion?Eventhisfailedtosilence
thosewho,liketheMontreal
Star,
believedthat 'it ought not, in reality,to be a questionof a first and a
secondcontingentat all - it ought to be a questionof an unending
chainof contingents,drawn steadilyfrom the bosomof our loyal and
patriotic
people...,24Thoughsuchcriticswerepartiallyappeased
by
the announcementin mid-Octoberof a new policywherebya minimum of 3o,ooo(raisedin Novemberto 5o,ooo)men wouldbe kept in
continuous
trainingwithin Canada,newspapers
like the FinancialPost,
the Toronto
Star,the Halifax Chronicle,
the ManitobaFreePress,and the
VictoriaTimescontinuedto expressthe fear that the Canadian war
effortwasnotbeingpressed
withsufficient
foresight
orvigour?
5
Throughoutthe winter of • 9 •4- • 5 the English-Canadian
pressalso
turneditsattentionto thequalityof the CanadianExpeditionaryForce,
twoaspects
of whichwerefound to bedisturbing.One wasthe factthat
most•volunteers
residedin citiesand towns,meaning that the rural
areasof Canadawere under-representedin the overseascontingents.
Though thisdid not worry everyone- Saturday
Nighttook the position
thattheurbanunemployedshouldbeenlistedbeforethe workingfarm
population- it did raiseobjections
from thoselike the Globeof Toronto
whomaintainedthatthemilitaryburdenshouldfall equallyon all parts
ofthecountry?
6A muchmoreserious
problem
withthecomposition
of the c•.• wasthe relativelysmall percentageof recruitswho were
actuallynative-bornCanadians.Publicawareness
of thisanomalyin the
so-called'Canadian'war effort wasparticularlyheightenedin February •9•5 whenthe MontrealStarbeganto publisha dailyRoll of Honor
listingthe names,placesof residence,and placesof birth of volunteers
in the Montrealarea, whichillustratedquite graphicallythe extent to
whichthemen in the forcehad beenborn in the United Kingdomand
thenemigrated
toCanada
inlaterlife?7
Concernaboutthesefaultsin the make-upof the CanadianExpeditionary Force was especiallygreat in southern Ontario, or more
specifically
in Toronto, and led to the establishment
of the first formal
civilianassociation
designedto providean organizationalframework
for all facetsof the Canadianpatrioticresponseto the war, including
Bordento Perley,7 Oct. •9•4, BP,•o4249
MontrealStar,editorial,'A SecondContingent,'7 Oct. • 9 • 4
Thisconcernwastobefoundin thefollowingeditorials:FinancialPost,
• 7 Oct. • 9 •4;
Toronto
Star,• 7 Oct. • 9 • 4; HalifaxChronicle,
• 9 Oct. • 9 •4; Manitoba
FreePress,
• 3 Oct.
•9•4; VictoriaTimes,•7 Oct. •9•4 .
Saturday
Night(Toronto),editorial,'TheFrontPage,'6 Feb.• 9• 5; Globe,
editorial,
'CallTo YoungCanada,'23Jan. • 9 • 5
TheseHonorRolls,whichbecamea regularfeaturein theMontreal
Starcommencing
on22February• 9• 5,werewidelycommented
uponbythepressin otherpartsof
Canada.
148 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
thesystematic
recruitmentof volunteersfor overseas
service.Founded
in March 1915 under the patronageof Lt-Gov.John S. Hendrie of
Ontario,the CentralOntariobranchof the Speakers'PatrioticLeague
wasthejoint brainchildof N.F. Davidson,a lawyer and Conservative
party organizerfrom Toronto, and H.B. Ames,the Conservativeup
for St Antoine in Quebecand honorary secretaryof the Canadian
Patriotic
Fund.e Davidson
originallyproposed
the formation
of a
centralizedspeakers'
bureauin earlyFebruarybecause,
in hiswords,'it
isabsolutely
true thatin manypartsof thecountrydistricts[of Ontario]
theyhavenotyetcometorealizethatweareatWar.© Ameswelcomed
the idea becauseit had been his experiencetoo that 'thosecounties
whichhavegivenfewestmen were alsoweak sofar ascontributionsto
the PatrioticFundwereconcerned.
© Togetherthe twomenpersuadedHendrie to conveneon 2 March a meetingof Torontoprofessional and businessmen, at which time the decision was made to create
a civilianleague,underthe chairmanshipof JudgeC.A. Mastenof the
SupremeCourt of Ontario, with the objectives:'To educatepublic
opinionthroughoutthecountryasto the pressingneedsof the Empire
for menand money;to co-ordinateand stimulateall the variousactivitiesworkingto this end, and to augmentthe variouspatrioticfunds
without
however
establishing
anyfundof itsown.'3•Ameshopedthat
eventuallythere would be sevensuch branchesof a semi-national
Speakers'Patriotic League, one for each of the military divisionsin
eastern
Canada,
butthisplanneverfullymaterialized.
32Onlyin KingstonandMontreal,headquarters
for MilitaryDivisions
#3 and#4, were
otheraffiliatessetup, and that in Montrealdid not survivebeyondthe
fallof 1915.33Thosein TorontoandKingston,
in contrast,
served
as
centralclearing-houses
for all patrioticand civilianrecruitingactivities
intheirrespective
areas
fortheduration
ofthewar.34
Paradoxically,the attempt to bring someorder to the voluntary
Canadianwar effort by establishingthe Speakers'PatrioticLeague
cameat a timewhenthe materialand militarydemandsbeingmadeof
28 Bray,'The CanadianPatrioticResponse,'
68-75
29 Davidsonto Ames,9 Feb.1915,Be,1o8444-5
3ø Speakers'Patriotic
League,
CentralOntario
Branch,
ReportOftheExecutive
Committee
covering
operations
fromthedateoforganization
toMay3 • st,• 9 • 6 (Torontond),5
31 Ibid.
32 Amesto Borden, 26 Feb. 1915,BP,108480--1
33 The Montrealbranchof theSpeaker's
PatrioticLeaguegavewayto theCitizens'
RecruitingAssociation
of Montrealon 17September1915because,
according
toone
of itsexecutive,J.S.
Brierley,it failedto measureup to the demandsmadeof it.
Montreal
Gazette,
article,'LeadingCitizensTo Aid Recruiting,'18Sept.• 915
34 Speakers'
Patriotic
League,
CentralOntarioBranch,FinaIReportoftheExecutive
Committee,
January,•9•9 (np,nd), 16
ENGLISH-CANADIAN
PATRIOTIC
RESPONSE
149
Canada were relativelylight. During the first quarter of •9•5 the
CanadianExpeditionaryForcewasdeployed,when at all, in a secondarysectorof the war theatre,sothatlosses
werefew and replacement
figureslow.•5 The British War Office had still not requestedfurther
military assistance
from Canada,and regular enlistmentwas going
aheadat a rate whichthe federalauthoritiesclaimedwasbeyondtheir
capacities
ofsupply?EventheCanadian
Patriotic
Fundwasprospering;accordingto itsexecutivesecretary,PhillipMorris,'duringthefirst
five monthsof •9•5 ... each monthly period showedan excessof
income over expenditure.'•7 Late in April, however, all that was
changedby the full-scaleengagement
of the CanadianExpeditionary
Forcein the costlyand tragicdefenceof the Ypressalient.
For Canadaoneof the mostimportantconsequences
of the German
springoffensivewasthe mid-May decisionof the BritishWar Office
that'nonumberswhichtheDominionGovernmentarewillingandable
to providewith arms and ammunitionwould be too great for His
Majesty's
Government
to acceptwithdeepgratitude.
'•8 No longer
could Prime Minister Borden respondto thosecalling for a more
aggressive
Canadianwar effort with the declarationthat his administration'sactionswerestrictlycontrolledby the British.In effect,for the
first time since the outbreak of war ten months earlier, the Canadian
contribution- military and otherwise- becamea functionnot of a
needabstractlyperceivedby the imperialauthorities,but of the country'sownresources
and of itswillingnessto committhem to the cause.
Equallyassignificant,the senseof direct,personallossengendered
by the horrendousCanadiancasualties
at StJulien and Langemarck,
FestubertandGivenchyduringthespringandsummerof • 9 • 5 altered
the focusof the English-Canadianpatriotic perspective.As Castell
Hopkinsnoted,up to that time 'it wasdifficult [for Canadians]... to
understandthat the War waswhat the speakerscalled'our war' ... to
realizethat Canadawas no longer an insignificant,dependent,unknowncolony,but a Britishnationwith a nation'sresponsibilities
and
wealth..?9Thenewimmediacy
ofthewarhadtheeffectofdiminishingthatdifficulty.With regardto the press,for example,in contrastto
•9•4 when only a few journals like the Globeof Toronto and the
ManitobaFreePresshad treatedthe conflictas a genuinelyCanadian
one,in thecourseof • 9 • 5 a numberof otherLiberalpaperssuchasthe
35 JohnSwettenham,
ToSeize
theVictory
(Toronto•965), 77-8
36 Bordento NormanRuse,secretary,ReginaCanadianClub,7June •9•5, BP,3 •556-7
37 Morris, TheCanadianPatrioticFund,2 •
38 Actinghighcommissioner
toprimeminister,•'9May • 9 • 5, Documents
onCanadian
ExternalRelations,
• (Ottawa •967), Document• •'5, 73-4
39 CastellHopkins,Canadian
AnnualReview,
•9 •5 (Toronto • 9 • 6), •,• 6
150 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
SaintJohnTelegraph,
the HamiltonTimes,the Edmonton
Bulletin,the
MontrealHerald, and the LondonAdvertiser,as well as several Conserva-
tive organs including the Montreal Star, the OttawaJournal, the
WinnipegTelegram,and SaturdayNight adopted that nationalistic
stance.4ø.
Other indicesof the English-Canadian
patrioticviewpointalsosuggestedthat duringthe summerof • 9 • 5 a Canadianization
processwas
beginningto takeplacewith respectto the war. That thismusthappen,
certainly,wasthe implicationof the nationalsurveycommissioned
by
Sir GeorgeFoster,the actingprime ministerduring Borden'svisitto
Great Britain. Foster,who waspersonallyconvincedthat 'Canadais
slowlyrecruiting- but unarousedto the necessities
and something
unusualmustbe done,'arrangedvia the CanadianPressAssociation
to
havethree Toronto advertisingagenciescanvassthe countryto find
outwhatwaswrongwithrecruiting
andthento suggest
remedies.
4•
The conclusions
of the three firms, McConnelland FergusonLtd, J.J.
GibbonsLtd, and A. McKim Ltd were enlightening,becauseall were
agreedthatthe majorfactorsdiscouraging
enlistmentwerea 'lackof a
sufficiently
deeprealizationof Canada'sinterestand stakein the war,'
and a 'disbelief in an unfavourable outcome of the war. '42 Foster's
determinationto resolvethisdifficultyand to bring homethe realityof
thewartoCanadians
bymeansof a nation-wide
newspalger
recruiting
campaignwas,however,thwartedby none other than the ministerof
militiahimselfwho refusedto admit that suchpropagandawaseither
necessary
or effective; as Hughes awkwardlybut expressivelyexplainedto Borden in mid-September,'recruitsmust come from in-
spiration
fromwithin.
'43
A popularmanifestationof English-Canadianpatrioticfervor also
occasioned
by the dramaticallyheightenedimport of the Great War
wasthe machine-guncampaigninitiated in July •9•5 . Begun in responseto rumoursthat the CanadianExpeditionaryForcelaggedfar
behind the enemy in terms of automatic weaponry, this campaign
caughtthe publicimaginationparticularlyafter the actingministerof
militia, SenatorJ.A. Lougheed,assureda TorontoMail and Empire
intervieweron •9 July that the federal governmentwelcomedall
voluntarydonationsof money to be usedfor the acquisitionof addi4ø Sucha nationalistic
perspective
wasexpressed
in thefollowingeditorials:Saint
John
Telegraph,
2July•9•5; HamiltonTimes,•2July •9•5; EdmontonBulletin,
•4 Oct. •9 • 5;
MontrealHerald,
4 Aug. • 9 • 5; LondonAdvertiser,
2 Dec. • 9 • 5; MontrealStar,28 Aug.
•9•5; Ottawa
Journal,29 Oct. •9•5; Winnipeg
Telegram,
•8 Oct. •9•5; Saturday
Night,
28 Aug. •9•5 .
4 • FosterDiary,•'^c,3July • 9 • 5
42 J.M. McConnellto Foster,27July • 9 • 5, B•',• 08650-•, andJ.J.Gibbonsto Foster,27
July •9•5, B•',•o8645- 9
43 Hughesto Borden,24 Sept.•9•5, •,, •o87o4
ENGLISH-CANADIAN
PATRIOTIC
RESPONSE
151
tionalmachine-guns.
44Fromoneend of Canadato the other,individuals,privategroups,and evenlowerlevelsof governmenttook up
the cause, so that within a few weeks over a million dollars had been
voluntarily
subscribed
for thatpurpose.
45Thoughuponhisreturnto
Canadain SeptemberSir RobertBordenmovedquicklyto put a halt to
this campaignon the groundsthat, as a matter of principle, 'the
Treasuryought properly to bear all the costof equippingand maintainingour forcesin thefield,'thewholeepisodedid providea valuable
measureof the ever-growingconcernof EnglishCanadiansfrom all
regions
ofthecountry
aboutCanada's
placein thewar.46
Illustrativeof the intensifiedEnglish-Canadianpatrioticspirit, too,
wasthe proliferationof civilianrecruitingassociations
modelledon the
Speakers'PatrioticLeaguebut more narrowlyconfinedto a specific
geographical
area- city,town,county- throughoutCanadain the last
half of •9•5 and the first quarter of •9•6. The rationalefor this
developmentwas later explained by S.F. Washington,a Hamilton
lawyer,whoarguedthat:'The RecruitingLeaguesof thisProvinceand
throughoutthe Dominionwere formed becausethe men required to
furnish OverseasBattalionswere not coming, as we thought, fast
enough.The first callwaspromptlyrespondedto by the bestand the
bravest,the men who sawtheir duty without RecruitingLeaguesor
recruitingspeeches.The first •oo,ooocame easily.We found other
menwerenotcoming.
'47Whathadhappened
wasthatthefederal
governmenthad respondedto Great Britain's requestfor further
militaryassistance
by augmentingthe total complementof the Canadian ExpeditionaryForceto •5o,oooin June •9•5; but that decision
hadcomeat the verytimeof yearwhen,because
of expandedseasonal
employmentopportunities,the task of recruiting had becomemore
difficult.
4sThe resulting
- andentirelyunforeseen
- convergence
of
increaseddemandsand diminishingreturns raisedthe prospectthat
Canadawasin dangerof renegingon itsmanpowercommitmentto the
war effort. The civilian recruiting organizationswere designedto
ensure that this did not occur.
Fear that the Canadianpatrioticzeal wasbeginningto falter was
mostprevalentamongthe localmilitary authorities,and it wasthey
who took the initiativeand appealedfor the collectiveassistance
of
prominentciviliansin their areas.Typical wasthe caseof Hamilton
which prided itself on having establishedthe first civic recruiting
44 Hopkins,Canadian
AnnualReview,•9•5, 2o8
45 Ibid., 2 • •
46 Citedin theMontrealGazette,
article,'SirRobertGreetedat SaintJohn,'2oOct. • 9 • 5
47 Canada
andNationalService
(Torontond), 7
48 J.L.Granatstein
andJ.M.Hitsman,Broken
Promises:
A History
ofConscription
inCanada
(Toronto •977), 34
152 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
leaguein all of Canada at the beginningof July. Accordingto a
pamphletpublishedbythat RecruitingLeague,'in thesummerof • 915
... the flow of recruitsbeganto showsignsof sluggishness,
and the
Militia
authorities
became
concerned.
The
idea
of
civilian
co-
operation,with a viewto rousingpublicinterestin the stateof the war
and Canada'sobligations,originatedin the fertile brain of Col. S.C.
Mewburn.
'49The Department
of NationalDefencerecords
indicate
that Mewburn's example was followed by local military officials -
usually
divisional
cocs- in otherpartsof Canadaaswell.5øButwhile
theserecruitingassociations
were organizedat the behestof the militaryestablishment,
oncein existence
theydrewtheir strength,bothin
termsof personneland enthusiasm,from the business
and professional middleclassof EnglishCanada.
Certainlythere wasno doubt that the civilianrecruitingmovement
wasessentially
an English-speaking
one. Theoretically,for example,
there were both English- and French-speakingbranchesof the
Citizens'RecruitingAssociation
of Montreal established
in September
•9•5, but in factthe latterwasineffectual?
• Onlyin QuebecCity,
wherein January 19• 6 l'Association
Civilede Recrutementwassetup,
wasthere anythingcomparableto the elaborateorganizationalstructurescreatedin placeslike Halifax, SaintJohn, Fredericton,Ottawa,
Toronto,Hamilton,London,Winnipeg,Regina,Vancouver,and Victoria; and nowherein the provinceof Quebecwere there the many
town and municipal leagues that came into being in the other
provinces?
Justasassuredly,
the civilianrecruitingorganizations
49 TheRecruiting
League
ofHamilton(Hamiltonnd), 3
5ø See,for example,actingAdjutant-GeneralW.E. Hodginsto Goc6th Division,Halifax, 27 Sept.•9 •5, Recordsof the Departmentof NationalDefence,•'Ac,I•Q• 25-•-6.
5• Major-GeneralG.W. Wilsonto SirEdwardKemp,3 May •9•7, KempPapers,•'Ac,
Wilson,Gocof MilitaryDistrict#4 basedin Montreal,reportedthattheFrenchspeaking
wingof theassociation
hadbeenunableevento raiseminimalrecruiting
expenses
andthereforehadbeeninactive.
52 Accounts
of the formationof thesevariousrecruitingleaguesmaybefoundin the
followingarticles:HalifaxChronicle,
'NovaScotiaRecruitingAssociation,'
4 Oct. •9 • 5;
SaintJohnTelegraph,
'RecruitingCallComesTo This Province,'3 • Aug. •9 • 5; Saint
JohnTelegraph,
'Streamof RecruitsGivenEncouragement,'• 7 Sept.• 9 • 5; Ottawa
Journal,'WardCampaignInauguratedTo GetMoreRecruitsFor •o7thBattalion,'3
May •9•6; Toronto
Mail andEmpire,'Citizens'LeagueIs NowOrganized,'5 Aug. •9•5;
TheRecruiting
League
ofHamilton,3; London
Advertiser,
'CitizensTo Help Recruiting
Officers,'• 7 Aug. • 9 • 5; Winnipeg
Tribune,'LeagueIs Formedfor Recruiting,'• • Feb.
•9 • 6; ReginaLeader,'Citizens'RecruitingLeagueTo Be FormedHere Next Friday,'•
March• 9 • 6; Vancouver
News-Advertiser,
'RecruitingLeagueFormedByMeeting;'• 6
May • 9 • 6; VictoriaTimes,
'CivilianCommitteeWill Aid Recruiting,'24July • 9 • 6;
Quebec
Chronicle,
'RecruitingAssociation
Is FormedByCitizens,'28Jan.•9•6. An
analysis
of thespreadof thecivilianrecruitingmovementacross
Canadaistobefound
in Bray,'The CanadianPatrioticResponse,'
98- • •9.
ENGLISH-CANADIAN
PATRIOTIC
RESPONSE
153
weredominatedby middle-class
Canadians.Very muchrepresentative
in thisrespectwasthe WinnipegCitizens'RecruitingLeague,founded
in February•9 •6, whichgrew out of a preliminarycommitteeof one
hundred drawn from the local Board of Trade, the Universityof
Manitoba,thecreditassociations,
the manufacturers,
doctors,lawyers,
judges,the Grain Exchange,the Canadian Club, and the military
authorities?
Thesame
class
ofcitizens,
andin many
cases
thesame
individuals, who had filled the ranks of the Canadian Patriotic Fund
Association
at the outsetof the war manned the civilianrecruiting
leagueswhen,by the summerof •9•5, their patrioticnecessity
had
becomeevident?
The spreadof the civilianrecruitingmovementacrossCanadaduring the lasthalf of •9•5 markeda newstagein the English-Canadian
patrioticresponseto the Great War. Long gone were the confident
expectations
of a quickand easyalliedvictory;recedinginto the past,
too,wasthebeliefthat Canadaneedplayonlya subordinate,
ancillary
rolein the conflict.Perhapsthe mostarticulatespokesmanfor the new
patrioticviewpointthat was beginningto emerge was the Edmonton
Bulletinwhich,on •4 October •9•5, calledupon the Borden administrationtobeabsolutely
clearasto whetherCanadawasmerelyassisting
GreatBritain or wasfightingon her own behalf; the difference,it
maintained,wascrucialbecause'Whicheverof thesetwoviewsprevails
at Ottawadetermineswhichamountof energyit is proper for us to
exert.If wearemerelylendinga handin ordertosaveour kinsmenand
friendsin GreatBritainfrom theunpleasantness
of whathashappened
toBelgium,our contributionhasundoubtedlybeena strikingtestimonialto our neighborliness
and our loyaltyto kith and kin. But if we are
fighting,asthe peopleof Great Britain are fighting,to preserveour
nationallibertiesand our individuallivesand rights,the caseis somewhat different. On that understandingwe are required to put
ourselves
into the conflictas thoughwe were fightingto protectour
homes
andcountryandallthatwehavetolose.
'55If theconflict
were
reallya Canadianone,theBulletinwasarguing,nothinglessthana total
wareffort shouldbe expectedof the country.
Aseventsof thenextyearanda halfwoulddemonstrate,
theconcept
53 Winnipeg
Tribune,
article,'LeagueIs FormedFor Recruiting,'• • Feb.• 9 • 6
54 In thecaseof theTorontoandYork CountyPatrioticAssociation,
for example,at
leasthalfof theexecutive
members
wereactivein somecapacity
in theCentral
Ontariobranchof theSpeakers'
PatrioticLeagueand/ortheTorontoCitizens'RecruitingLeague.In smallercommunities
theoverlapbetweenthetwowasoftenmuch
greater.In BrantfordthePeelCountyWar Auxiliaryservedbothasa branchof the
CanadianPatrioticFundAssociation
andasa recruitingagency.
55 EdmontonBulletin,
editorialnote,• 4 Oct. • 9 • 5
154 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
of a totalCanadianwar effort wouldseverelychallengeandultimately
triumph over another of the basic tenets of the original EnglishCanadianpatrioticoutlook- the inviolabilityof the voluntarysystem.
In somerespects,in fact, the inadequaciesof that approachwere
becomingapparentasearlyasthe winterof • 9 • 5- • 6, thoughtobesure
at that time there was still no real concern that it could not be relied
upon to furnish a sufficientnumber of recruits,not evenwhen, on •
January•9•6, Prime MinisterBorden suddenlyraisedthe totalCana-
dianmilitarycommittment
to thewarto halfa millionmen? In the
opinion of a growing number of English-Canadianbusinessmen,
rather,theproblemwasthatthevoluntarysystemwasnotselective,
and
that consequently
the militaryand industrialmanpowerneedsof the
country
werebeginning
toconflict?In Parliament,
inthepress,
andin
representations
to Bordenthe mostfrequentlyadvancedsolutionwas
for the federalgovernmentto take a surveyof all adult,maleCanadiansin orderto determinewhowereemployedin industriesessential
to a healthy war economy,and who could be spared for military
service?
Theassumption
ofmanyofthose
pressing
forsuch
anational
registrationwasthat the voluntarysystemwouldonlyhaveto be temporarilysetaside,that oncethe censushad beencompletedit would
simplybe a matterof appealingdirectlyto the patrioticconsciences
of
56 Bray,'The CanadianPatrioticResponse,'• 53
57 In thefirstquarterof • 9 • 6 Bordenreceiveda seriesof lettersfrombusiness
menall
across
Canadacomplaining
aboutthedislocation
causedbyrecruiting.Forexample
seethefollowing:G.W. Stocktonto Borden,26Jan. •9•6, B•',•o8845-7;J.W. Flavelle
to Borden,• 7 Feb. • 9 • 6, B•',• o8925-7; Frank Stanfieldto Borden,25 Feb. • 9 • 6, •',
•o8952;LloydHarristo Borden,29 Feb.• 9 • 6, •', • o8956-7; D.H. McDougallto
Mark Workman,• o March • 9 • 6, •', • o8983;H. Bertramto Borden,5 April • 9 • 6, •',
•o9o63.The mostcontroversial
speechon thisissuewasmadebyLord Shaughnessy,
whoinformedthe MontrealBoardof Trade on 9 March that Canadacouldnot
possibly
supplythehalfmillionvolunteersthatBordenhadpromised.SeetheOttawa
Citizen,article,'ThinksCanadaCannotRaiseHalf Million,' • o March • 9 • 6.
58 The callfor a nationalregistrationof manpowerwasnota partisanone,asnewspapersof bothpoliticalpersuasions
articulatedit. Someof thesewere:MontrealHerald,
23 Nov. • 9 • 5; Canadian
Courier,
Editorialreprintedin theHamiltonTimes,• 6 Dec.
•9 • 5; ReginaLeader,29 Dec. •9 • 5; IndustrialCanada,Jan.• 9•6; Toronto
Star,6Jan.
•9•6; Winnipeg
Tribune,
6Jan.•9•5; Victoria
Times,
5Jan.•9•6; OttawaFree
Press,• 3
Jan. • 9 • 6; Toronto
News,26Jan. • 9 • 6; Stratford
Herald,editorialreprintedin the
ReginaLeader,7 Feb.•9•6; Toronto
MailandEmpire,9 Feb.•9 • 6; Ottawa
Journal,• 5
Feb.•9•6; HamiltonHerald,23 Feb.•9•6; LondonAdvertiser,
•3 March •9•6; Kingston
WhigandBrantfordExpositor,
editorialsreprintedin theLondon
Advertiser,
• 4 March
•9•6; MontrealGazette,
•5 March•9•6; GrainGrowers'Guide,
22 March•9•6; Quebec
Chronicle,
2• March • 9 • 6; Simcoe
Reformer,
editorialreprintedin the Toronto
Star,28
March• 9 • 6; HalifaxChronicle,
29 March • 9 • 6; FinancialPost,
editorialreprintedin
theReginaLeader,29 March • 9 • 6. For otherexamplesof thisdemandseetheundated
memorandum
entitled'Suggestions
ReceivedFromCorrespondents,'
B•,,•o89o2.
ENGLISH-CANADIAN
PATRIOTIC
RESPONSE
155
thosewhohadbeendeclaredeligiblefor overseas
duty,andtherebythe
ranks of the ½•.Fwould be filled without seriousdisruption to the
domestic scene.
For activists
in the civilianrecruitingmovement,the situationwas
not nearly so straight-forward.Startingin December•9•5 citizens'
recruitingassociations
in manyEnglish-Canadian
citiessuchasHamilton, Toronto, London, SaintJohn, Berlin, and Winnipeg had taken
surveys
of themanpowerresources
in their owncommunities,but their
effortshadnotyieldedmuchin thewayof resultsri
øIn largemeasure
thiswasbecausethe returnsof their censuses
were fragmentary,a fact
that mostcertainlyunderlinedthe necessity
for a compulsory,nationwide registration.Yet at the sametime, their experiencesalso suggestedthatby itselfsucha nationalinventoryof manpowerwouldnot
beof muchvalue.Evenon thebasisof the incompleteinformationtheir
enquirieselicited they were able to discover,at least to their own
satisfaction,
the namesof someindividualswhocouldreadilybe freed
for militaryservice,and had made direct, personalappealsto them.
Toooften,thoseappeals
hadbeenignoredri
øForthosefrustrated
in
thismannerthe onlylogicalanswerwasto couplenationalregistration
withtheapplication
of compulsory
militaryservice.
Taking the lead in the demandfor the twin policiesof registration
and conscriptionwasthe Hamilton RecruitingLeague which, on 7
March •9•6, adoptedthe followingresolution:
To theRightHon. Sir RobertLaird Borden,P.C.,C.C.M.C.,K.C.,L.D.,Premierof
the Dominionof Canada.The Memorialof the Hamilton RecruitingLeague
Respectfully
Sheweth:
That the Dominionof Canadaisengagedin a war involvingthe veryexistence
of Britishinstitutions
- a war that callsfor the mostrigid economyof men and
means- a warthatcanbesuccessfully
concludedbythefullestutilizationof our
resources.
That under the presentvoluntarysystemthere is great wasteof the Nation's
resources.
59 Details
ofthosesurveys
maybefoundin thefollowing
sources:
TheRecruitingLeague
ofHamilton,
7-8; Toronto
World,
article,
'TakingCensus
ofMenofAgeforService,'
15
Dec.1915;London
Advertiser,
article,'Personal
Canvass
To SecureRecruits
for London'sOwn,'5Jan.1916;Saint
JohnTelegraph,
article,'MilitaryCensus
To BeTakenIn
St.John,'28Dec.19x5; Toronto
MailandEmpire,
article,'BerlinCampaign,'
31Jan.
x916;Winnipeg
Telegram,
article,'ExemptMarriedMenIn Present
Recruiting
Plan,'3
March 19•6.
6o Thiscomplaint
wasregistered
byrecruitingleagues
in suchplaces
asHamilton,
Toronto,andSaintJohn.SeetheHamilton
Times,
article,'AmendTheActTo GetFull
Census
Returns,'
8Jan.1916,andtheSaint
JohnTelegraph,
article,'TurningRecruitingOverTo MilitaryAuthorities,'
16March1916.
156 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
Therefore your Memorialistspray that a Commissionbe appointedfor the
purposeof:
Taking a censusof all men in the Dominion from eighteenyearsof age and
upward,specifyingthosemarried and unmarried.
Classifying
the men accordingto their occupations
or their fitnessor preference for certain kinds of work.
Classifying
the industrieswith a viewto the restrictionor the ultimateelimination of such as are non-essentialto the welfare of the country or are not
economic factors.
It beingunderstoodthat the foregoingis urged with a viewto the immediate
applicationof somejust and comprehensive
systemof draft, wherebythe men
necessary
to completethe CanadianExpeditionaryForcesmay be readily
secured.61
That thismemorialwasnot simplythe whimof a single,isolatedgroup
of Hamiltonianswasshownin the factthat by the timeof itspresentation to Prime MinisterBorden on • 4 April • 9 • 6 it had been formally
endorsed
by nearlysixtyother recruitingassociations
includingboth
the Easternand Central Ontario branchesof the Speakers'Patriotic
League,aswell asby a number of civicBoardsof Trade, municipal
councils,
andmassmeetings.
62Thoughmostof thatsupportcame
from Ontario,the presenceof delegatesfrom Winnipeg,Halifax, and
SaintJohn in Ottawa on that secondFriday in April demonstrated
there wassomeenthusiasmfor registrationand conscriptionin the
otherprovincesaswell.
By hisown admission,Borden'sresponseto the variousarguments
put forward on behalf of the memorial - the voluntarysystemwas
6 • Quotedin CanadaandNationalService,
4
6• RecruitingLeagueswhichendorsedthe substance
of theHamiltonMemorSalincludedthoseof Stratford,PerthCounty,Bothwell,Wingham,Windsor,EssexCounty,Berlin,Clinton,Waterloo,Gait,SaultSteMarie,Woodstock,
OxfordCounty,
Strathroy,Leamington,Toronto, MilitaryDivision#•, PortHope, Renfrew,Coilingwood,Brockville,StCatharines,KentCounty,Cobalt,WentworthCounty,Trenton,
Penetanguishene,
LincolnCounty,Bowmanville,
GreyCounty,HalfimandCounty,
Peterborough,
NorfolkCounty,Burlington,Chatham,Cayuga,Cobourg,WestFlamboro,Georgetown,
Goderich,Grimsby,NewHamburg,ParrySound,StThomas,
Walkerton,North York, Saskatoon,
Winnipeg,Brandon,SaintJohn,NewBrunswick,andNovaScotia.Of otherorganizationsto do likewise,the mostnotablewere
thelegislative
assembly
of NewBrunswick,
theGrandOrangeLodgeof OntarioWest
(Hamilton),ajoint meetingof the Liberaland Conservative
associations
of North
Perth, the Windsor and Berlin Boards of Trade, the Stratford Ministerial Association,
themunicipalcouncils
of StMary's,Listowel,Stratford,andMilverton,and mass
meetings
of citizensin Hamilton,London,andSaskatoon.
SeeBray,'The Canadian
PatrioticResponse,'
• 65-7 o.
ENGLISH-CANADIAN
PATRIOTIC
RESPONSE
157
scored for being wasteful, inefficient, indiscriminate, expensive,
unbusinesslike,
un-British, and inadequate - was cautious and
diplomatic?He beganandendedhisbriefremarksby praisingthe
workof the civilianrecruitingleagues,but devotedmostof his time to
arguingthat because,in his view,the paceof recruitingwasalready
morethansatisfactory,
it wouldbe inadvisableto introducecontroversial and bureaucraticallydifficult measuressuch as those being
proposed.
a4Forsomeof thedelegates
likeJohnGodfrey,however,
the
government'spositionwas more candidly explained by Sir George
Fosterwith whom they later met privatelyon Friday afternoon.'Sir
George,'Godfreyrecalled,'laidparticularemphasis
on thefactthat the
government
coulddo nothingon accountof theattitudeof Quebec.He
led us to believe that from
their information
serious trouble
would
result if drastic measures were taken. 'aS
In viewof PrimeMinisterBorden'sreluctanceto acceptthe meritsof
thecasepresseduponhim by the Hamiltonmemorialists
it wasdecided
to createan association
whosepurposewouldbe to mobilizeCanadian
publicopinion behind the policiesof registrationand conscription.
Accordingly,the representatives
of the variousrecruitingleaguesmet
at the ChateauLaurier on the eveningof •4 April and established
the
CanadianNationalServiceLeague,withChiefJusticeT.G. Mathersof
the Manitoba Court of King's Bench as honorary president,John
Godfreyaspresident,and A.H. Abbottof the Universityof Toronto as
secretary.
aaThisexecutive
movedquicklyto fulfil itsmandate,publishingin early May a pamphletentitled CanadaandNationalService
whichoutlinedthe detailsof the Hamilton memorialand its presentationto Borden,and thencallinga publicmeetingat the NationalClub
in Toronto to considerother meansof popularizingthe goalsof the
C•SL.
a7Thedecision
thenmadetoholda serious
ofmass
publicrallies,
beginningwith one in MasseyHall later in May, wasinvalidatedby a
directive from the federal Department of the Interior urging the
Canadianpressnot to report popular agitationfor conscriptionbecausesuchstorieswereadverselyaffectingtheflowof immigrantsfrom
theUnitedStates.
asJustifiably
alarmedbythischallenge
to theraison
63 Bordendiary,vt,c, •4 April •9•6 [hereafterBD].A transcriptof the presentationof
theHamiltonmemorialisincludedin CanadaandNationalService,
59.
64 CanadaandNationalService,58- 9
65 JohnM. Godfrey.'The Historyof theBonneEntenteincludingA Narrativeof the
Eventsleadingup thereto,'unpublished
manuscriptin theGodfreyPapers,v.•c,5
66 Canada andNational Service,5
67 Godfrey,'The Historyof theBonneEntente,'5
68 Ibid.
158 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
d'etre
of the NationalServiceLeague,Godfreyand severalof hisassociatesjourneyedto Ottawaon •o May to discussthe matterwith Borden
onceagain.To their dismay,theylearnedthat the prime ministerwas
generallysympatheticto the controversialdirective, although he
claimed not to have been consulted about its release; furthermore, he
remainedadamantlyopposedto conscriptionon the groundsthat it
wasunnecessary,
that it wouldbe unenforceablesolongasthe United
Statesremained neutral, and that it would cause serious difficulties in
Quebec?AsGodfrey
latercommented,
'these
reasons
weresocogent
thatthe delegationhad to acceptSir Robert'sview,with the resultthat
the National ServiceLeaguelaunchedwith suchenthusiasma few
weeks
beforewasleftstranded
withnothingtodo.©
Undoubtedlycontraryto what Borden had hoped,the decisionof
the CanadianNational ServiceLeagueto cancel,at leastfor the time
being,itscampaignin supportof registrationand conscription
did not
removethosetopicsfrom the realm of publicdiscussion,
becausethe
factorchieflyresponsiblefor givingrise to their demand- the clash
betweenthe domesticand military manpowerneedsof the countryincreasingly
occupiedEnglish-Canadian
attentionduring the summer
of •9 • 6. Individualcivilianrecruitingbodieslike the CentralOntario
branchof the Speakers'PatrioticLeaguesimplyignoredthe official
forbearanceof the ½•si•and worked to keep thoseissuesbefore the
publiceye.
7• Similarly,
in theEnglish-Canadian
press,manyof the
samenewspapers
that had extolledthe virtuesof a nationalregistration
schemeat the beginningof the yearcontinuedto pressurethe Borden
government
totakeaction.
72Mostimportantly,
amultiplicity
ofgroups
and associations
that had previouslyremainedsilenton thesematters
beganto makethemselves
heard.At the annualsummerconferences
of the Anglican,Presbyterian,Methodist,and CongregationalUnion
churches,
resolutions
callingfor registrationand/orconscription
were
JohnM. Godfrey,'WasOutstanding
Figurein GreatWar - Recruiting- Conscription
- Repatriation,'TheIroquois
PostandMathildaAdvocate,
Lt.Col.LorneWinfield
Mulloy,
D.C.M.,B.A.,MemorialSupplement
(Iroquois• 932), 2
Ibid.
At itsannualmeetinginJune• 9 • 6 theCentralOntariobranchof theSpeakers'
PatrioticLeaguepassed
yetanotherresolutioncallingfor registration
andconscription.Seethe Speakers'PatrioticLeague,
FinalReport,•o. Other civilianrecruiting
leagues
followedsuit;an examplewasthatof SaintJohnwhichthreatenedto disband
unless
oneor theotherof thosepolicies
wasadopted.SeetheSaintJohnTelegraph,
article,'Something
NeededTo StirRecruitingIn LoyalistCity,'•,• June• 9 • 6.
Seenote58 above.Other newspapers
to takeup thecryfor a nationalregistration
includedthe Toronto
World,•'oMay • 9 • 6, theEdmonton
Bulletin,•,June• 9 • 6, and
Saturday
Night,•oJune • 9 • 6.
ENGLISH-CANADIAN
PATRIOTIC
RESPONSE
159
passed
withbarelya murmurof opposition.
73Organizations
suchas
local branches of the National
Council
of Women
and affiliates
of the
Women'sEmergencyCorps- an association
established
earlier in the
yearto facilitatethe substitutionof womenfor men in the workplace
and therebyfree the latter for military service- sponsoredmass
meetingsin Toronto, Hamilton, Calgary, Edmonton,London, and
Montreal,all of which endorsedthe taking of a national manpower
census.
TM
Sotoodida number
ofbusiness
andgovernmental
organizations, the most notable of which were the Canadian Manufacturers'
Association,
the Union of Saskatchewan
Municipalities,
and the Ontar-
iolegislature's
Organization
of Resources
Committee.
75Throughout
June, July, and August x9x6, finally, public meetingsof the local
militaryauthoritiesin Toronto, Edmonton,London,and Montrealall
came to the conclusionthat the half million men promised by Sir
RobertBordencouldonlybeefficientlyrecruitedby meansof a nation-
alregistration.
76
The growingcrescendo
of supportin EnglishCanadafor somesort
of legislative
actionby the federalauthoritiesto rationalizethe allocation of Canada'slimited manpowerresourceswasreinforcedby the
privateappealsmade to Prime Minister Borden and his colleagues.
The ministerof finance,Sir ThomasWhite, wasmostimpressedby the
argumentof Ontario businessmen
that they were suffering by comparisonto their Quebeccompetitorsbecausethe former provincewas
beingdenudedof skilledlabourwhilethelatterwasnot,a situationthat
73 The Anglicansynods
of theDioceses
of QuebecCityandWinnipeg,theGeneral
Assembly
of thePresbyterian
Churchin Canada,andtheMethodistconferences
of
TorontoandWinnipegcalledfor registration;
the MethodistConferenceof PeterboroughandthePresbyterian
Ministers'Association
of Montrealdemandedconscription;
andtheannualmeetingof theCongregational
Unionof Canada,the
AnglicanClericusClubof Edmonton,andtheAnglicansynods
of thedioceses
of
Toronto,Huron,andRupert'sLandaswellasof theprovinceof Ontarioallresolved
for both.SeeBray,'The CanadianPatrioticResponse,'
• 82.
74 Reportsof thesemeetingsareto befoundin thefollowingsources:
Toronto
Star,
article,'Womenof TorontoDemandA NationalRegistration,'• 3June • 9 •6;
HamiltonTimes,
editorial,'Womenof HamiltonWant Registration,'27June • 9 • 6; Mrs
EthelDavidson,
secretary,
massmeetingof Calgarywomen,to Borden,• • July • 9 • 6,
BP,• •63o9;Edmonton
Bulletin,
article,'Edmonton
WomenAskRegistration
ForAll
MenOf MilitaryAge,'6July• 9 • 6; London
Advertiser,
article,'Registration
Favoured
byEmergency
Corps,'4 Aug.• 9 x6;Montrea!
Herald,article,'WomenWouldBeIn
Favourof Registration,'
• 3 Sept.• 9 • 6.
75 TorontoMailandEmpire,
article,'Registration
Is Advocated,'•5June •9•6; W.F. Heal,
secretary,
Unionof Saskatchewan
Municipalities,
to Borden,7July x9x6,Be,• •63o4;
MontrealGazette,
article,'Toronto FeelsEnlistmentDrain,' • 3July • 9 • 6
76 Bray,'TheCanadianPatrioticResponse,'
• 84- 5
160 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
couldonlyberectified
byregistration
and/orconscription.
77Although
Sir Sam Hughescontinuedto dismisssuchfearsas groundless,and
althoughBordenhimselfwasconvincedthat 'reg [istratio]nmeansin
end conscriptionand that might mean civil war in Quebec,'by the
middleof Junethe prime ministerhad finallydecidedthat something
would have to be done? The eventual outcome of that decision was
the establishment
of what came to be known
as the National
Service
Boardin mid-August• 9 •6, althoughit wasnot until the secondweek
ofOctober
thattheboardactually
gotdowntowork.79
The publicreceptionaccordedto the NationalServiceBoard was
mixed. In the English-Canadianpresseven newspapersof the Conservativepersuasion
were not overlyenthusiastic,
althoughmostdid
breathea grateful sigh of relief that actionof somesort wasbeing
taken,whilethosewith Liberalleaningseitherreservedjudgmentor
were highly criticalof the fact that the national censusto be taken
under the board's auspiceswas to be voluntary rather than
compulsory.
soForactivists
in theCanadian
NationalService
League
suchasJohnGodfreyand Lt-Col.LorneW. Mulloy,theblindedveteran of the Boer war and lecturerin military historyat RoyalMilitary
College,the decisionnot to makethe registrationcompulsoryfor all
Canadianswastotally incomprehensible
and condemnedthe whole
schemeto inevitable failure. s!
Partof theexplanationfor the uneasiness
aboutthe NationalService
Boardwasthatby the autumnof •9 •6 the voluntarysystemof recruitment was comingunder attack for a new and much more urgent
reason.By that time the Canadian ExpeditionaryForce had been
expandedto four completedivisions,with a fifth in the planning
stages?Yet the firsttwoyearsof the war haddemonstrated
that
wastage
onthelinewasextremelyhigh- perhapsashighas25 per cent
- whichmeantthata CanadianCorpsconsisting
of fivedivisions
would
requireabout25,ooo
menpermonthasreinforcements
alone?Sucha
77 Whiteto Borden,9June 1916,BP,11616o
78 By, 15June 1916
79 Granatstein
and Hitsman,Broken
Promises,
43-7
8o Examples
of theConservative
pressreactionaretobefoundin theOttawa
Journal,
editorial,'A WiseMove,'16Aug. 1916,in the Toronto
Mail andEmpire,editorial,'New
RecruitingMethods,'17Aug. 1916,andin theHalifaxHerald,editorial,'Canada's
NewRecruitingMethods,'93Aug. 1916.The morepessimistic
Liberalviewpointwas
tobeseenin theHamiltonTimes,
editorial,'MilitaryRegistration,'
19Aug. 1916,and
theSaint
JohnTelegraph,
editorial,'Registration
In Canada,'19Aug.1916.
81 JohnGodfreytoBorden,18Aug. 1916,•P, 34695-6; Lt-Col.LorneW. Mulloyto
Borden, 18Aug. 1916,•P, 34699-4
82 G.W.L.Nicholson,
TheCanadian
Expeditionary
Force,
•9•4-•9•9 (Ottawa1969),918
83 D.J.Hunden,'ManpowerMobilizationin theFirstWorldWar'(unpublished
M^
dissertation,
Universityof Toronto,1959),67
ENGLISH-CANADIAN
PATRIOTIC
RESPONSE
161
rateof replacementmayhaveseemedfeasibleat the beginningof • 9 • 6
when,asin March, a record 35,ooovolunteerscameforward, but by
Octoberwhenthe correspondingfigure was6ooo,expectationsof this
kindcouldnolongerberealistically
maintained.
84If thisprogression
wereto continue,the voluntarysystemwouldbe hard pressedevento
supplyreinforcementsfor the four divisionsalready in the field. In
lightof thesecircumstances
it wasnot surprisingthat when,during the
winterof •9•6 - •7, themonthlygapbetweenmilitarylosses
and enlistmentfigurescontinuedto widenat an alarmingrate- thedifferencein
February•9•7 wasover •5,oooalthoughit averagedaroundthe 5ooo
mark - a veryintenseand widespreadmovementdevelopedthroughout EnglishCanada for the adoption of some form of compulsory
military
service?
Ashadoftenbeenthecasethroughouttheprevioustwoyears,in the
forefront of thisnew (or for the civilianrecruiters,renewed)expression of the English-Canadian
patrioticoutlookwasthe press.Generally
there were two optionsproposedby thosenewspaperswhich had
becomeconvinced
thatthevoluntarysystemhadrun itscourse,bothof
whichwere spawnedby the continueduncertaintyas to whetherthe
existingMilitia Act permittedthe conscriptionof Canadiansfor overseasmilitaryservice.The one, supportedby the Toronto
Worldand at
leasta dozenother English-Canadian
daily papers,wasfor the Militia
Acttobeappliedfor homedefence
only? Thismorelimitedformof
compulsion
wasthoughtto haveseveraladvantages;
not onlywouldit
facilitatein an authoritativemanner the rationalallocationof manpower, but it wouldalsoimmediatelyreleasefor overseasduty the 5o,ooo
volunteerswho were being retained in Canada as a home defence
force;and, in addition,there wasthe hope that the conscriptedtroops,
oncetheyhadexperiencedmilitarylife, couldbe persuadedtojoin the
Canadian
Expeditionary
Force?
The otheralternativecounselledby the English-Canadian
presswas
for the Bordenadministrationto enactnew legislationprovidingfor
84 Thesestatistics
werecitedin the Toronto
Mail andEmpire,editorial,'The Recruiting
Decline,'11Nov. 19• 6, andcorrespond
closely
to thosegivenbyNicholsonin The
CanadianExpeditionary
Force,218.
85 CastellHopkins,Canadian
AnnualReview,
•9 • 7 (Toronto • 918), 3o7
86 Toronto
World,editorial,'Usefulor Ornamental,'• 6 Dec.• 916.Other newspapers
to
followthe World's
editorialexamplewereGlobe,24Jan. 19• 7; Toronto
Mail andEmpire,
3oJan.1917;HamiltonHerald,25Jan. •917; HamiltonTimes,25Jan. 1917;Brandon
Sun,9 Feb.19• 7; ReginaLeader,14Feb.1917;Quebec
Chronicle,
• 7 Feb.1917;Toronto
Star,15March1917;SaintJohnTelegraph,
16March 1917;Ottawa
Journal,2oMarch
• 917;Edmonton
Journal,Calgary
Herald,andHalifaxHerald,citedthe Ottawa
Journal,
2oMarch 1917
87 Seenewspapers
listedin note86 above.
162 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
conscription
for overseasservice.Chronologically,
this proposalhad
first been put forward by both Liberal newspaperslike the Regina
Leaderand the LondonAdvertiser
and Conservative
journals like the
Toronto
Telegram
and the OttawaJournal,but during the firstquarterof
• 9 • 7 it hadtakensecondplaceto theideaof applyingthe MilitiaActfor
homedefence?Bymid-April•9•7,however,
several
newfactors
had
arisento bring it into favouronceagain.Chief amongthesewerethe
dismalfailureof the government's
planto recruitvoluntarilya special
CanadianDefenceForce,the nationalpride in the CanadianExpeditionaryForceengenderedby the widelyreportedbattlehonourswon
atVimyRidgeon 9 April, andtheadoptionof conscription
bythelatest
entrant into the Great War, the United States? Well before Prime
MinisterBorden's• 8 Mayannouncement
of hisgovernment's
decision
to introducecompulsorymilitary service,these developmentshad
promptedat leastthirty English-Canadian
papersto concludethat
sucha course
of actionwasunavoidable.
9øConsidering
thatanother
dozennewspapers
werealsodemandingthe applicationof the Militia
Act,it isclearthat by the beginningof May • 9 • 7 the English-Canadian
presshad finallybeen forcedto disavowthe voluntarysystemof recruitment.
Disillusionment
with that systemin EnglishCanadawasbyno means
restrictedto the press.During the winter of •9•6-•7 a plethoraof
organizations
andclubsalsospeakingfor the English-Canadian
patrioticmentalitybeganto espouse
conscription.
Mostof the civilianrecruiting leagueshad alreadypubliclydeclaredthemselves
on the issue,so
therewaslittle more they coulddo, althoughat leastone, the Greater
VancouverRecruitingLeague,chosein January • 9 • 7 to reconstitute
itselfintothe 'War and NationalServiceLeague,'with the objectiveto
'advocate
and do all in its powerto securethe immediateintroduction
of compulsory
militaryservice
...'9•Butwhiletherecruiting
associa88 ReginaLeader,editorial,'The RecruitingProblem,'• 6 Oct. • 9 • 6; London
Advertiser,
editorial,'A VoteOn Conscription,'
3 • Oct.• 9 • 6; Toronto
Telegram,
editorial,'ConscriptionIs The OnlyCureFor SlowRecruiting,'• 8 Aug. • 9 • 6; Ottawa
Journal,
editorial,'The RealDemocracy,'• 5 Dec.• 9 • 6
89 Granatstein
andHitsman,Broken
Promises,
5o-3
9ø Additionalpaperstocallfor conscription
for overseas
militaryserviceincluded
Toronto
News,• Nov. • 9 • 6; SaintJohnGlobe,
4 Dec. • 9 • 6; TorontoWorld,27 Dec. • 9 • 6;
Industrial
Canada,
Jan. • 9 • 7; Vancouver
News-Advertiser,
5Jan. • 9 • 7; Edmonton
Bulletin,5Jan. • 9 • 7;JournalofCommerce
(Montreal),citedby the OttawaJournal-Press,
9
Jan. • 9 • 7; St.Catharines
Standard,• 8Jan. • 9 • 7; Winnipeg
Telegram,
7 March • 9 • 7;
Canadian
Churchman,
26 April • 9 • 7; Brandon
Sun,3ø April • 9 • 7; London
FreePress,
•
May • 9 • 7; Victoria
Colonist,
6 May • 9 • 7; Windsor
Record,
citedbythe London
FreePress,
7 May •9•7; Toronto
Mail andEmpire,8 May •9•7; Toronto
Star,8 May •9•7; Montreal
Gazette,
• o May • 9 • 7; VictoriaTimes,• o May • 9 • 7; Brockville
Recorder,
• o May • 9 • 7.
9 • VancouverNews-Advertiser,
article,'LeagueForWar andNationalService,'•5Jan.
•9•7
ENGLISH-CANADIAN
PATRIOTIC
RESPONSE
163
tionsplayeda relativelyminor rolein the growingpopulardemandfor
compulsion,either for home defenceor for overseasmilitary service,
othergroups- Boardsof Trade, municipalcouncils,churchorganizations, women's clubs, fraternal orders, veterans' associations, local
militaryestablishments
- were correspondingly
much more vocalin
pressing
those
options
onthefederalgovernment.
92
The outcry for compulsorymilitary servicethat overtookEnglish
Canadaduring the winter of • 9 • 6- • 7 wasonly one measureof public
dissatisfaction
with the voluntarywar effort to which the Borden administrationwassoresolutelyadhering.Another, equallyimportant,
wasthe emergenceof a popularmovementto replacethat administrationbya 'national,''winthe war'government.Though therewereboth
partisanandpoliticalconsiderations
thatgaveriseto thisproposal- for
example,the determinationof someEnglish-CanadianLiberalsto get
rid of what they thought to be a highly incompetentConservative
administration
withouthandingthe reinsof powerover to their own
party,whoseleadershiptheyno longertrusted,and the desireof some
politicians,Liberal and Conservative,to avoid what they deemed a
needless
and potentiallydivisivewartimeelection- a factor of some
significance
aswellwasthe patrioticbeliefthat partisanship
itselfwas
responsible
for theflagging
Canadian
wareffort? Essentially
it was
fearedthat partyratherthan nationalconcernsweredeterminingthe
actions,and inactions,of Borden and his colleagues,and that this
situationwould not be greatly altered by putting Laurier and the
Liberalparty in their stead.As the Toronto
Starexplained,what the
country desperatelyneeded was 'a patriotic War Ministry, non-
partizanandefficient,preparedto unitethe wholepeopleand centre
all the nation'senergieson the winningof the war and the handling
9• The lengthylistincludedthe Boardsof Trade of Montreal,Kitchener,Halifax,
Ottawa,Orillia,andChatham;municipalcouncilsof StCatharines,PortArthur,
Simcoe,Welland,Thoraid, Walkerville,Chatham,Goderich,North Bay,London,
Guelph,Stratford,Parkhill,andToronto;religiousbodiessuchastheMontreal,
Chatham,andWestminister
Presbyteries
of thePresbyterian
Churchin Canada,the
Clerical Patriotic Associationof Toronto, the Chatham Methodist church, the Mon-
trealMethodistMinisterialAssociation,
andtheAnglicanSynodof theDiocese
of
Fredericton;women'sorganizations
suchasthe Women'sCanadianClubsof Montreal,FortWilliam,Winnipeg,Hamilton,and Belleville,the NationalCouncilof
Women,andthe Montrealbranchof thatassociation;
andothermiscellaneous
groups
astheArmyandNavyVeteransof Canada,theCanadianMilitaryInstitute,theGreat
War Veterans'Association
(OntarioSection),the GrandOrangeLodgesof British
Columbia, Toronto, Alberta, and New Brunswick, the national executive of the
IndependentOrderof theDaughtersof theEmpire,andtheannualconvention
of
theManitobaAgriculturalSocieties.
Bray,'The CanadianPatrioticResponse,'
33o-9
93 Thesefactorsare discussed
in depthinJohnEnglish,TheDeclineofPolitics:
The
Conservatives
andthePartySystem,
•9o•-•92o (Toronto • 977), • 36-6ø, andin MargaretPrang,N.W. Rowell:OntarioNationalist
(Toronto • 975), • 74-• • o.
164 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
with courageof those problemswhich a party Governmentto-day
trembles and fears to touch. '94 That this demand should have been
articulatedpreciselyat the time when public supportfor conscription
wasgrowingthroughoutEnglishCanadawasnot merelycoincidental.
Solongasthe recruitmentof the CanadianExpeditionaryForcehad
remainedvoluntaryand therefore in a senseextra-governmentalin
nature,the factthat there wasa party governmentin Ottawawasnot of
muchconcern;but when the voluntaryapproachbeganto fail and it
wasrealizedthat only the federal administrationpossessed
the moral
and legal authority to enforce compulsorymilitary service,then a
debateaboutthe suitabilityof a partisangovernmentbecameinevitable.
Behind the nationalgovernmentidea, too, wasthe belief that the
war wasa truly Canadianone that couldonly be won by the resolute
marshallingof the country'sentireresources.In the wordsof JohnW.
Dafoe, editor of the Manitoba Free Press:
The view,amplyjustifiedbyevents,thatdisasterwouldbeescaped
bya narrow
marginthroughunlimitedsacrificeby the nations,waswidelyand passionately
held in Canada;and to thosewho held it, it seemedin •9•7 that the time was
near at hand when the brave talk about the last man and the last dollar would
have to be made good. It was from them that the demand for a national
government
and for measures
that wouldput the lastreserves
of the country
intothefurnacecame.Thesewerethe peoplewhobelievedthatCanadawasin
thewarasa principal;thatwehadnotgoneintothewarto obligeor toassist
any
othernation;and that the countrycouldnot setany limitsto itsexertionsthat
fellshortof thetotalityof itspowers.
95
In additionto the FreePress,
supportfor the nationalgovernmentplan
wasforthcomingfrom a numberof other Liberalnewspapers,
including the Toronto
Star,from severalindependentjournalslike the Grain
Growers'
Guide,and from a few Conservativepaperslike the Toronto
World,the HamiltonHerald,and the Vancouver
News-Advertiser.
96From
94 Toronto
Star,editorial,'A NationalGovernment:CanIt Be Had In Canada?'24 Nov.
1916
95 JohnW. Dafoe, CliffordSiftoninRelationtohisTimes(Toronto 1931),405-6
96 Manitoba
FreePress,
editorial,'ChangedViews,'29 Nov. 19• 6; Toronto
Star,editorial,
'NationalGovernment,'27 Dec. 1916;GrainGrowers'
Guide,editorial,'The National
ServiceCampaign,'27Dec.19• 7; Toronto
World,editorial,'A NationalGovernment
For Canada,'9 Dec. 19• 7; VancouverNews-Advertiser,
editorial,'What Is A National
Government?'
25 Feb.19• 7. Other Liberalnewspapers
to supporteditoriallythe
nationalgovernment
ideawereOttawa
FreePress,
4 Dec.1916;London
Advertiser,
7
Dec.19• 6; ReginaLeader,4 Dec. 1916;SaintJohnTelegraph,
13Dec. 19• 6; Hamilton
ENGLISH-CANADIAN
PATRIOTIC
RESPONSE
165
an organizationalperspective,only in Winnipegwasthere an outburst
of enthusiasm
for the proposal,whichwaslikelyattributableto the fact
thattwoof thecity's
threedailynewspapers
wereboosting
it.97Yetthe
absenceof petitionsand resolutionsapprovingthe schemeelsewhere
in EnglishCanadadid not necessarily
mean that it wasunpopular,
because
duringthe sameperiodthatit wasbeingdiscussed
by the press,
Ontarioactivists
in the civilianrecruitingmovementwereableto stirup
a gooddealof publicsupportfor yet anotherpatrioticcampaignthat
wasdesignedto lead to the sameend.
The suggestionthat a national 'Win the War' conventionmight
serveas 'the bestmeansof unifying, organizingand expressingthe
intensepatriotismwhichundoubtedlyexistsall over Canada'wasfirst
seriously
discussed
at a meetingof aboutforty professionaland businessmenat the NationalClubin Toronto on 9 February• 9 • 7, but the
genesis
of theideawasto befoundin PrimeMinisterBorden'sscuttling
of the Canadian
NationalServiceLeaguein May •9•6.98Though
Bordenhadciteda varietyof reasonswhythec•sI• shoulddrop itsplan
to popularizeregistrationandconscription,
theonethathadseemedto
leaguepresident,John Godfrey,to be uppermostin the prime minister'smind wasfear of the French-Canadianreactionto thosepolicies.
Accordingly,in mid-June,Godfrey had undertakento channelthe
unusedpatrioticresourcesof the c•sI• into a projectto senda delegation of Ontario businessmen
on a goodwill tour of Quebec.Privately
hishopewasthat 'asa resultof thisvisitwe [will] ... be ableto form in
Quebecbranchesof the NationalServiceLeague.It is then proposed
that from thesebranchorganizationsa large and representativedeputationof FrenchCanadiansgo to Ottawaand askthe governmentfor
Times,
29Dec.•9•6; Winnipeg
Tribune,9Jan. •9•7; HalifaxChronicle,
25Jan. 1917;
Fictoria
Times,
23 Feb.• 9 • 7. Other independentjournalsto do likewisewerethe
Christian
Guardian,editorialcitedin the Toronto
World,9 Dec. • 9 • 7, and the Financial
Post,• 7 Feb.• 9 • 7. AdditionalConservative
papersto embracethe proposalwerethe
Hamilton
Herald,22Jan. 19• 7, theMontrealMail,editorialcitedin the Globe,3oJan.
• 9 • 7, andthe OttawaCitizen,• 6 May • 9 • 7.
97 Organizational
supportfor a nationalgovernment
wasforthcomingfrom theWinnipegPresbytery
of thePresbyterian
Churchin Canada,theannual(• 9 • 7) conventionof theManitobaGrainGrowers'Association,
the Winnipeglocalof the National
Councilof Women,theWinnipegMinisterialAssociation,
theWinnipegCanadian
Club,theWinnipegRotaryClub,theWinnipegBoardof Trade, andtheBrandon
CanadianClub.Outsideof Manitobaonlythe annual( 1917)conventionof the Baptist
Unionof WesternCanada,the CalgaryCanadianClub,the VictoriaReturnedSoldiers'Association,the Vancouver Board of Trade, the British Columbia Methodist
Conference,andthe Toronto CanadianClubfollowedsuit.SeeBray,'The Canadian
PatrioticResponse,'
431-4.
98 CircularlettersignedbyJohnM. Godfreydescribing
thedeliberations
of themeeting
at theNationalClubin Toronto on 9 Feb. 19• 7, dated • 6 Feb. 19• 7, B•,,91928
166 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
national registrationand compulsoryselectionwhich will include
Quebec.
'99In fact,nothing
ofthesorteventuated
fromwhatcametobe
knownasthe'BonneEntente'exchanges
of October•.9•6 andJanuary
•9•7 between the Ontario and Quebec businesscommunities,and
consequently
Godfrey and his associates
turned to the Win the War
proposal.•øø
Though it wasto suffer from manyof the samemisunderstandings
that plaguedthe BonneEntenteexchanges,
from the viewpointof its
English-Canadian
organizerstheWin theWar movementembodiedall
of the measuresnecessaryto remedy the ills of the Canadianwar
effort.•0•Godfrey
himself,
forexample,
wasconvinced
thattheconferencewouldcall for the formationof a nationalgovernment,but he
recognizedthat this could not be publicizedbeforehandbecause,for
politicalreasons,'it would handicap such a conventionto have a
NationalGovernment
programme
outlinedin advance.
'•ø2JohnW.
Dafoe, who threw the editorial support of the ManitobaFreePress
behindboth,alsoassociated
the twocampaigns
whenhe wroteprivately thatthe proposedcongress
'wasreallya partof theNationalGovern-
mentmovement
andis expected
to bringit to a head.
'•ø3Similarly,
althoughhere againthere wasa reluctanceon the part of its Englishspeakingproponentsto say so publicly,the Win the War idea was
closelytied to the demand for compulsorymilitary servicethat was
spreadingthroughoutEnglishCanada.While Godfreyclaimedto have
deviseda compulsorynationalregistrationschemethat wouldobviate
theneedfor outrightconscription,
mostof hisfellowWin theWarriors
remainedfirmly on the compulsionbandwagon,thoughfew were as
forthright as Frank Fetherstonhaugh,a Conservativelawyer from
Toronto, who declared that the whole objectivewas to 'make our
French Canadian fellow Citizens appreciate the necessityof
Conscription.
'•ø4
By the time that the approximately3oo English-Canadian
Win the
99 GodfreytoT.G. Mathersof Winnipeg,xAug. x9 x6, GodfreyPapers
•oo For a recent accountof the Bonne Entente seeBrian Cameron, 'The Bonne Entente
Movement,• 9 • 6- • 9 • 7,'J0urnalofCanadian
Studies,
xm, 2, summer• 978,42-55.
Unfortunately,
thisarticleissomewhat
hazywithrespect
totheoriginof theBonne
Entente,andconsequently
it underestimates
theimportance
of theideafor the
English-Canadian
patrioticmovement.
•o• SeeR.M. Bray,'A Conflictof Nationalisms:
The Win theWar andNationalUnity
Convention,
• 9 • 7,'tobepublished
in a forthcoming
issueof theJournalofCanadian
Studies.
• o2 Godfreyto Laurier, 2 Feb. • 9 • 7, LP,• 947 • 6--20
•O3 DafoetoSirCliffordSifton,27 Feb.• 9 • 7, DafoePapers,University
of Manitoba
Library.
• o4 FrankFetherstonhaugh
toBorden,• 5 May • 9 • 7, BP,• • 6994- 5. SeealsoBray,'The
CanadianPatrioticResponse,'
279-8o.
ENGLISH-CANADIAN
PATRIOTIC
RESPONSE
167
War delegateshadjoined an equalnumberof their French-speaking
confreresin Montreal on 23 May, the whole exercisehad been renderedredundantbyother,moremomentousdevelopments.
The need
to proclaimthe virtuesof conscription,
for example,had beenconsiderablylessenedby Prime MinisterBorden'sannouncementof that
policya fewdaysbefore.Shortly,too,the Win theWarriors'otherchief
objective
- the formationof a nationalgovernment- seemedaboutto
cometo fruition whenrumoursbeganto circulatepubliclyof Borden's
coalitionoffer to the leader of the official opposition,Sir Wilfrid
Laurier. •ø5
Yet as a measureof the matured English-Canadianpatrioticresponseto the GreatWar, the Win the War idea waswithoutparallel.
For asLa Presse
of Montrealcorrectlyperceived,the English-Canadian
Win the Warriors were 'animUsseulementpar la pensEe... que cette
guerreestnotreguerreet que le travailde la victoireestnotre tJche';
and becausetheybelievedit wasCanada'swar, they refusedto accept
anythinglessthan a totalwar effort which,theyhad concluded,could
onlybe providedby a nationalgovernmentfearlesslyimplementinga
fair andequitable
system
of compulsory
militaryservice.
1ø6Consequently,when Laurier rejectedBorden'scoalitionoverturesearly in
June and announcedhis oppositionto the proposedMilitary Service
Act, Win the War associationssuch as those in Ontario and the four
westernprovincesweregalvanizedinto actiononceagain,reaffirming
their faith in a 'non-partyGovernment'and resolving'to opposethe
electionof anycandidatewho doesnot publiclyagreeto supportevery
measure
calculated
tobring
thefullstrength
ofthecountry,
inmen,
money
andresources
intoeffective
useforwinning
thewar... 107
That
determinationinteractedwith, and wasreinforcedby, a similarresolutionon the part of the English-Canadian
press,and togetherthesetwo
depositories
of the English-Canadian
patriotic perspectiveworked
throughoutthe summerof • 9 • 7 to assistPrime MinisterBordenin his
quest
fora 'Union'administration.
1øa
Andsoit wasthatinthegeneral
•o5 English,TheDecline
ofPolitics,
• 29-35
•o6 LaPresse,
article,'L'Enthousiasme
De La "Victoire,"' •o March • 9 • 7
•o7 Thisresolution
waspassed
bya meetingof theOntariobranchof theWin theWar
Leagueheldin Torontoon •4June.SeeGlobe,
article,'Win-The-WarPartyIn
ElectionArena,' • 5June • 9 • 7. Thesesentiments
werereaffirmedbythe mass(8oo
delegates)
OntarioWin theWar Conventionwhichmetin Torontoon 2 August,and
wereendorsed
toobylocalWin theWarassociations
in suchmajorwesterncitiesas
Winnipeg,Regina,Calgary,Edmonton,Vancouver,andVictoria,aswellasbya
seriesof smallertownsandvillages.SeeBray,'The CanadianPatrioticResponse,'
464-84.
•o8 Whenit became
apparentattheendof MaythatPrimeMinisterBordenwasin
deadlyearnestin seeking
a coalitionwiththeconscriptionist
Liberals,partisan
Conservative
newspapers
suchastheMontrealStar,the Toronto
Mail andEmpire,
168 THE
CANADIAN
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
electionof December• 9 • 7 English-Canadian
patriotshelpedto return
to powera governmentwhichthey believedwascreatedin their own
imageand dedicated,like themselves,
to ensuringthat Canadawould
fight'asa nationand an ally.'
L'Ev•nement,
andthe Toronto
Telegram
suddenlydiscovered
thevirtuesof thenational governmentidea.For the English-Canadian
pressin Ontarioa similarturningpointcamewiththedecisionof theOntarioLiberalmembersof parliamentand
nominated
candidates
on •oJuly tocontinuesupportingtheLaurierpositiononthe
MilitaryServiceAct.Asa resultof thatdecision
twenty-one
OntarioLiberalnewspaperssupporteda resolutionfor thecreationof a non-partisan
wargovernment.
OtherLiberalnewspapers
outsideof Ontariosoonfollowedthisexample,sothatby
thetimeof the formationof Borden'sUnion governmenton • • Octoberonlytwo
majorCanadiandailynewspapers,
theLondon
Advertiser
andtheEdmonton
Bulletin,
opposed
thedevelopment.
SeeBray,'The CanadianPatrioticResponse,'
448-97 .