The Canadian Dreadnoughts.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 13, 1912:
    The intelligent correspondents of the London press in Canada have been telling Englishmen that Canada would supply several dreadnoughts for the imperial navy. This week upon the arrival of several Canadian Ministers in London to talk the matter over, Englishmen fawned upon the colonials, whom they used to patronize. It was a case of love's labor lost. Now comes from London Premier Borden's own declaration of naval policy in practically the words he has used before, and which have been reproduced in The Times. Canada, says its Premier, does not propose to be an adjunct of the Empire, and pay the bills for battleships for others to use at will. Canada does not shirk its responsibility for the Empire's defense, but it wants to be consulted about what the Empire's defense requires, and the manner in which the defense shall be conducted.
    In the words of Premier Borden on Wednesday, addressing an official audience shortly before starting to dine and sleep at the invitation of the King, the question of Canada's contribution to the Imperial Navy "raises in concrete form the question of the future constitution and organization of our Empire."
    The meekness and modesty of this adjunct of the Empire are amazing. The colony is to set the foreign policy of the Empire, just as it already has proposed to arrange the finances of the United Kingdom. The Canadian Government and his Majesty's loyal Opposition are agreed in asking the hungry islanders to tax their food in order that Canadians may sell dear to their brothers and sisters. England has already rejected both propositions more than once, both through their officials and through the popular votes. Yet Canada does not hesitate to repeat the proposal. Truly these are the Canadian dreadnoughts.
    For England to surrender these points would be hardly less humiliating than to surrender to an alien enemy. The colony which pays no tribute does not hesitate to demand tribute, and it must be denied or the Empire is endangered from within. If this is conceded to Canada it must be conceded to all the other colonies, and the foreign policy of England becomes hopeless. Already between a dozen and a score of imperial commercial treaties have been modified to agree with the legislation of Canada, which clashed with the favored-nation principle. Now Canada is asking that England shall adopt protection, and soon Australia will be asking that England shall abandon its Asiatic ally, whose immigration is so offensive. The United States is a Nation because it is able to present a united front to the world on all exterior questions, despite some friction. It remains to be seen whether the Empire is really such, and the multiplication of causes of interior dissension hardly strengthens the links which bind the discordant elements. Canadian loyalty is as difficult for observers to understand as it was for Gladstone to understand how the Federal principle could be worked so as to enable Ireland to be both inside and outside the union. British history is making fast these days, and Canada is helping hard.