The Grand Old Man of the Empire.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 22, 29 November 1911, Page 2

The Grand Old Man of the Empire.

•L, ORD S TRA THCONA.

By

W.T. STEAD.

IT is not on record that Lord Strathcona has ever made a joke. Nor has he yet lived to be a hundred. But there is every probability that he will do one of these things, and he may- even do the other. Which I mean as "the one” and whieh “the other” I decline to say. With these trifling exceptions, Lord Strathcona has most of the distinctions that can fall to the lot of a British subject. The spectacle of solid, steady, continuous success,— of Pelion upon Ossa of success-—is, as a rule, uninspiring. And Lord Strathcona has succeeded so overwhelmingly that at first hearing it is incongruous to’ associate romance with him. Yet when one reads that the High Commissioner of Canada;was about to resign his.post, one eould not help feeling that a chapter in one of the most interesting of modern politico-commercial romances was closing to the world. For a romance it has been, in a way, from the time that

Donald Smith, a lad of 18, embarked in 1838, on the first steamship to cross the Atlantic, until the day when, as Lord Strathcona, he accepted the post of High Commissioner for Canada in London. His early life as a clerk in the Hudson’s Bay Company, on the St. Lawrence River, was singularly monotonous, and would have daunted a less strong-minded man. But, as it was afterwards proved, that experience in the wilderness gave him the self-reliance and judgment which may- perhaps be singled out as his chief characteristics. Tn the life of many a statesman his political career seems more or less marked out from the beginning. In Lord Strathcona’s case this was not so. His life may be said to have been divided into three parts. His youth, as a clerk in the Hudson’s Bay Company-, was spent among Indians in the dreary frozen wilderness; his manhood, jn promoting railway- companies and building up a nation; and his old age as astattesman and an Imperial force. Every period has been interesting, and every period has called forth the same characteristics — patience, perseverance, and blind devotion to duty. In the first years of Lord Strathcona’s life in . Canada there was no Dominion, nor were the provinces united. Neither the French Canadians nor the English-speaking people in Upper Canada w-ere friendly towards England. The revenues of the country were small, there were no railways across the continent, and the Hudson’s Jlay Company was in the hands of trappers and traders. In 1838 Donald Smith entered this region. For ten years he remained in the St. Lawrence ports.

doing the work of an ordinary clerk, with intervals of boating, fishing and shooting. But in some respects he differed from the ordinary clerk. While his companions in the office were what they called “skylarking.’’ Smith would get out his sheets of notepaper and “enter into spiritual intercourse with home.” "To this,” says Mr. Beekies Willson in his interesting book, “Lord Strathcona,” "there can be no doubt that Lord Strath, eona owes his facility of composition and his unusually ordered habits of mind.” In 1848 Donald Smith went to Labrador as an administrator of the Hudson’s Bay Company. IRON BANDS OF UNITY. For a long time the idea of uniting the Eastern Provinces of Canada with the West had filled Mr. Smith’s mind. To become a nation Canada, must have railways, and with that end in view, after becoming member for Winnipeg ia the Provincial Assembly-, he used all his ingenuity and energy. In 1871 ha was elected to the Dominion House as

member for Selkirk, by the almost unanimous vote of the community-. As a result of hard and steady work for the good of his constituents, his district rapidly- gained a name for sobriety andl order. One of his first steps was to abolish the liquor traffic among the Indians. For some time the Hudson’s Bay Company had been accused of being at the bottom of all the trade in drink. To stop this, Mr. Smith had a law passed by the Council forbidding any intoxicating drink to pass the boundary. Even officers were not exempt from the law, and a small quantity of wine, which was brought out for a factory was actually sent back to England’.' When Governor Archibald, in October, 1870, appointed Mr. Smith to the North-West Council, he had this prohibitory law carried out in the name of Canada. This Act is still known as the Smith Act. The next great undertaking of this tireless worker was the building of tins Canadian Pacific Railway-. Money was wanting, and nothing but sheer pluck and energy could have pulled it’through. The expenses were enormous, and both Mr. Smith and his colleague, Mr Stephen, were obliged to pledge theii- private fortune in order that the work could go on. In Montreal to-day there are many- stories in circulation of the meetings whieh used to beheld at which the Board of Directors sat with blank faces, discussing ways and means. At one of these meetings Mr. Smith is alleged to have said: “It’s clear we want money. Well, we can’t raise it amongst ourselves. I-et us come back to-morrow and report progress.”

When tha Board met the next day each member reported failure until it came to Mr. Smith's’turn, fl’ve raised another million: it will carry us on for a bit. When it is epent we will raise Some more.” And so the work went on. On November 7th, 1885; live and a half years before its time, the railway was finished, and people began to realise how much one man had done by pluck, energy, and determination. Not only did Mr. Smith advocate immigration, but from the first he was in favour of granting land to the newcomers. In ISHtf, after the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Mr Smith received a knighthood of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. But he needed not a title to make himself known. As his riches increased. so did his philanthropy. One of his gifts,’ which Montreal will never forget, was the erection of a free hospital. When the building ■wait erected, lie, with the assistance of his cousin, now Lord -Mount-Stephen, gave £1(10,000 towards its endowment, 'there is no finer site for a hospital anywhere* Overlooking the v-ity and the valley of St. Lawrence, it seems a fitting monument to the patience and perseverance of the man who built it. 'towards, the cause of education Loi.l Strathcona has stretched a liberal hand. Ono of his most popular bequests was to the Royal Victoria College for Women. It is called “Donalda,” a “feminised” form of the donor's Christian name. As illustrating the reserve which has always characterised the man, it is told of him that when his hospital was ,I'ujished the committee wished to open it with pomp and ceremony. “No, no,” said Sir Donald, “open the doors when the building is ready, and let the pa-

tients come in.” •• • - In 1889 came the highest honour of all in his commercial life—-his appointment as Governor to the Hudsons Bay Company. He had gone through every stage, from clerk to Governor, of the company’s business, and -proved himself faithful in al). Further honours were in store for him. At the age of seventy-seven he wa.s offered, and accepted, the post. of High < 'ommissioner for the Dominion, and the same year he became a Peer of the Realm, In’ the latter part.of August, 1897. he was gazetted Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal of Glencoe, 'Argyllshire, and Montreal, Canada. In this limited space it is difficult to do anything but sketch briefly the further career of this indefatigable man. But no one can forget his splendid fight when the Bill for the legalization in the United Kingdom of marriages with the sisters of deceased wives contracted in tlm colonies came before the Lords. Then, too, his intrepid energy caused him to send out a mounted toop of 000 men to South Africa when the Boer War broke out, needless to say at his own cost. One of the speeches made by Lord Strathcona, when he was chosen to succeed the Karl of Aberdeen as Lord Rector of Aberdeen University, is worth preserving: "We have.” lie said, “glanced at some of the milestones along the road which has led to the cross-roads we are now facing, and the question before us is, which" of them must be taken? Shall it be the one which points to the maintenance of the existing order of things, or the other which -will lead to closer unity' for Imperial purposes, for commercial purposes, and for defence? There seems to be a general feeling in favour of the latter, which will assure the different parts of the Empire full liberty of self-government, while giving •them a voice in Imperial policy, the desire for which is becoming stronger every year. There are some who think that the solution of the problem is to be found in the representation of Canada and the Colonies in ths Imperial Parliament. 1 am not one of those who share

that view, at any rate until a truly Imperial Parliament to deal with Imperial affairs can be established. That some Way must l>e found of meeting the aspirations of the Colonies does not admit of doubt. I have made some reference to Hie question of an Imperial Parliament. That may be the ultimate solution, or it may' not. But in the meantime the constitution of an Imperial Connell in conjunction with the Colonial Office, consisting of representatives of the Imperial Government, and of Canada and the Colonies, has bcen'mentioneil

as a preliminary step, even if the Council were only consultative at the commencement,” In private life Lord Strathcona is a considerate husband and a devoted father. Hjs wife, whom he married when he was a factor in the Hudson's Bay Company, was a daughter of Richard Hardisty, a trader in the came company. They have no son. but a daughter, the ■wife of Dr. Robert J. B. Howard, upon whose son the peerage will descend. . “In Lord Strathcona’s bearing there is control and a sort of lofty prudence expressed by the intrepid look in his eyes. He carries with him the atmosphere that surrounds all men who have dwelt long in solitudes. His favourite attitude when he converses is a strong folding of the arms and a downward, pondering look. His hair is now snowyvhite; his skin is fresh, and about him there is a pleasant vigour that is wonderful for his years"—this is from a personal description by one who has known •him, and we may take leave of Lord Strathcona with it, and with the reflection that so long as Britain produces Wardens of the Marches of this typehalf Samuel Smiles, half Cecil Rhodes — all will be well with her.