The Backbone of the Empire

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 150, 21 March 1925, Page 13

The Backbone of the Empire

“Let Us Maintain the British Stock”

“I feel wholly untouched by the lurid accounts drawn by the official controversialists about the alarming things that will happen when the world is too full. I see no signa of that happening at present. There are vast areas capable of supporting large populations almost unoccupied ; and at any rate Nature is quite capable of taking care of herself. The real problem is whether the nations that survive will be the superior or inferior races. That is the important thing for the future of the human race. Probably all the setbacks in civilisation which have occurred have been through the gradual dying out of the superior races like the Greek and Romdn. I venture to believe that the English race, judging by its history and its performances, is one of the superior races of the world.”—Bishop of Gloucester.

Ct <S an Englishman lam concerned with the English race and the well-being of the British Empire, and so far as I can judge J the failure of the English race and Empire would be a grave y disaster,” writes the Bishop of Gloucester, who has beeu in both Canada and Australia, in a letter to the Times, His letter should be read in conjunction with two other articles in this issue—the one by “Lens” on “Stupendous Greatness of these Italians,” and the other on the relations of France and Germany—on pages 100 and 114.

"Nor, again, do the official apologists with their statistics really touch the point," adds the Bishop. “Great stress is laid on the fact that in Canada, while the British population has increased from 54 per cent, to 55 per cent, of the population, the French has decreased from 28 to 27 per cent. The significance of these figures is naively pointed out by the Toronto Globe, which says: ‘The French-Canadian proportion of the population, owing to a higher birth-rate, might increase if the streams of British and United States immigration dried up in future, but there is every probability that they will grow, while the French-Canadians are recruited only from the cradle.’

"This exactly expresses the position. In spite of a very considerable immigration in the last ten years, the English population has barely held its own. Unless the new immigrants are more fertile than the older British population, as soon as ever immigration .ceases, the same process will speedily take place in the rest of Canada as has done in Quebec.

“Let me give some facts extracted from the Maple Leaf showing what has taken place and what is taking place.

" ‘Robert Sellar, in his valuable monograph, “The Tragedy of Quebec,” tells us that when he first went to Huntingdon the county, save for one municipality, was as solidly English-speaking in population as any county in Ontario, but that he has witnessed the decline of the original people to the point ot being in a minority. . . . The transformation has been going on with startling rapidity during the past fifteen years. In 1891 there were eleven English-speaking counties in the Province ot Quebec. Now Englishspeaking people are in a minority in every one. "Nor is the problem confined to Quebec.

“In old Glengarry, known to fame, the majority of the population is French-speaking. Father Le Bel, speaking at the Parle Francais Congress in Quebec in June last, is reported in the Press as having stated that there are now 250,000 French-speaking people in Ontario, and that there are over 50,000 children taught in French in the bilingual and the purely French schools of the province. Mr. Frank Yeigh, the well-known publicist, informs us that they have the preponderant vote in 15 counties. Father Le Bel claims that in 22 their vote is the decisive factor. Mr. Yeigh estimates that by the end of this centuiy they will number six millions in Ontario. Here in these beautiful muskoka groves—if■ the present tendencies remain unchecked—before two generations shall have passed, French, save on the lips of tourists, will be the only language heard. I “Or in the maritime provinces.

“In New Brunswick the French population now numbers 90,000, or more than one-fourth of the population. In Prince Edward Island, while the total imputation decreased by nine and a-half thousand, the l*rench people increased by over four thousand.

“Then farther West, in Manitoba, it is stated:—

“The Ukrainians are by far the most important non-Anglo-Saxon group, and have largely settled in colonies. . . . The stream of immigration, when it reaches our shores, breaks up and flows off to the various colonies where the immigrants have friends or relatives. This is hastening a process which goes on from natural increase which is very great among them and which is making these communities more and more solidly Ukrainian and is also increasing their area as the British and other settlers on the edge of the colony move away.

“I hear of districts also in Saskatchewan where the French population are controlling the schools and driving awaj the English. So long as immigration continues this may be counteracted, but if the race fails at home, where is the immigration to come from ? “I need not speak further about South Africa, as the facts were clearly put forward by your own correspondent some two or three months ago in the Times, As regards Australia, the official apologist has entirely misunderstood my statement, which was, I think, quite clear. Unless the British population increases sufficiently it will not be able to populate, and, therefore, ultimately to own the land that it now possesses. THE AUSTRALIAN PROBLEM “Everyone who has been in the country knows quite well what the Australian problem is A continent is held and inhabited by a population of something over 5,000,000 people—that is to say, a population smaller than that of Belgium. Of these 5,000,000 persons more than 1,500,000 live in two cities. Until recently the Government, largely under the influence of Labour, has discouraged immigration. There were only 40,000 immigrants between 1901 and 1911. The number has, I am glad to find, increased considerably lately: it was 200,000 between 1911 and 1921. A considerable section of the population were quite notoriously refusing to increase, the population adequately when I was in Australia in 1914*. Things may be better since. Meanwhile, not far off are the densely-populated countries of China and Japan. In 1914, when the Chinese Consul made a tour through the country, he remarked: ‘I saw more trees than men. The Almighty gave Australia to the Australians, and thev could not use it, so He took it away from them and gave it to the English. If the English do not use it, He will doubtless take it away from them.’

“As regards the Home Country, I have been severely rebuked for drawing attention to the failure of the families of better stock. There are many families in this country who for generations have provided statesmen, soldiers, clergy, and scholars, whose work and labours have been indispensable for the country’s well-being. There is great danger of many of these families dying out. The war made havoc with them, and the modern legislation which taxes them heavily for the sake of the less fit sections of society is completing the work. They are not wealthy; they have never sought wealth; they have devoted abilities which might have been employed for their own profit largely to’ the services of their country.

“It is suggested that by the extension of education the defect will be made up. This is a complete delusion. There are a certain number of children in every class of society who are fit for a higher education, and every effort should be made to select them and to encourage them, but the modern idea that education can transform the children of inferior stock is mistaken. There is not at the present time a sufficient number of able and educated men for home service, and there is a great demand for such persons overseas. If we send to Canada or Australia 100,000 immigrants, it is not right that they should all be of the working classes, or that we should expect those countries, where civilisation is still only partially organised, to take the whole burden of their education.

“There is always a tendency under the influence of education and luxury for the fertility of the human race to decrease. This is intensified at the present time bv unwise legislation, which intensifies the natural tendency, and by the modern teaching of birth-control, which leads to a restriction of the birth-rate in those who are most fitted to survive. I see no reasons for doubting that, unless the present tendencies sire corrected, the result will be disastrous to the English race and the English Empire. The correction may perhaps come best by a recognition of our Christian duty, of care for the well-being of the race, as well as for that of society,” concludes the Bishop of Gloucester.