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The duties of this office, as set forth in the
Constitution, are as follows:
1. To act as the resident agent of the Dominion in
the United Kingdom and in that capacity to execute such powers and perform
such duties as may from time to time be conferred upon or be assigned to
him by the Governor-General-in-Council.
2. To take charge of and supervise the Emigration
officers and agencies in the United Kingdom under the Minister of
Agriculture.
3. To carry out such instructions as he may from
time to time receive from the Governor-General respecting the commercial,
financial and general interests of the Dominion in the United Kingdom or
elsewhere. The salary to be $10,000 per annum.
Such is the formal statement of the duties attaching
to this position. But that is simply the frame work. The value of the
office depends upon the kind of man who is chosen to fill it. To this
position Sir Donald Smith was appointed during the brief regime of Sir
Charles Tupper. When Sir Wilfrid Laurier succeeded as Premier the
appointment was continued, as it was desirable that the office should be
independent of party polities. Up to the time of his death Sir Donald was
the Canadian High Commissioner and there could not have been a better. For
the remarkable thing about him was the intense personal interest he
manifested in the discharge of his duties. He was an ardent lover of the
Old Country and a devoted supporter of the imperial ideal, but even that
was made subordinate to his affection for Canada. In all matters
pertaining to the Dominion he spared no pains to advance her interests.
Perhaps no man living was more optimistic in regard to the future of the
land in which he had spent his life. And he was able to do far more than
the ordinary man because of his experience, which had extended over,
practically, the whole period of the Dominion's existence. He was
intimately acquainted with all the leaders in all departments of Canadian
life. He knew by actual personal observation the needs of the new country
and, more than that, he had that quality of statesmanship which enabled
him to devise the methods and work out the channels of development. At the
same time he was persona grata to the people of the Old Land. His high
office in the Hudson Bay Company brought him into contact with the public
men of Great Britain, while his record in financial matters gave him a
reputation in the world of business and money. His enormous wealth made it
possible for him to sustain his position, not only with dignity, but with
a large and generous expenditure—so that in the social world, which in the
Old Country counts for so much, he was able to meet all demands and his
entertainments and hospitality were on a lavish scale. It has been well
said of him that: "It is not exceeding the bonds of simple exactitude to
say that Lord Strathcona has proved, merely from a commercial and
manufacturing standpoint, the most valuable High Commissioner Canada has
ever had. His reports are marvels of conciseness and plain, practical,
common sense. None of his predecessors were able to bring to a task the
trained judgment and ripened experience of Lord Strathcona, or to command
that attention in commercial circles to which his financial eminence
entitles him." Another writer says: "Splendid as have been his
benefaction, their demand on our gratitude has been eclipsed by the
personal devotion by Lord Strathcona of his time, his talents, his
influence, his social prestige, to whatever gave promise of fostering the
development, the prosperity, and the well-being of Canada and Canadians."
From the very beginning he was a pronounced success. He entered upon his
duties with such enthusiasm, gave to them such indefatigable industry,
threw himself, so to speak, with such energy and zeal into his new work,
that he raised it from a comparatively Iow place to the highest post in
the gift of the Dominion Government.
During this period Lord Aberdeen's term of office as
Governor-General of Canada came to a close. There were those who would
have liked to see a Canadian occupy the vacant position and had no
hesitation in nominating Sir Donald Smith to the office. It was felt that
the home Government in this way could recognize in a conspicuous fashion
the importance of this rapidly growing Canadian colony. But Lord
Strathcona himself strenuously opposed the movement. He refused to permit
his name to be suggested as a candidate for the high office. It is a
remarkable thing that, while as a lad, one of the motives impelling him to
leave his native country, had been the desire to go to a land where there
would be no "Lairds" to rule over the people, yet he returned to it with a
devotion to the aristocratic idea which was insistent. He was an
Imperialist of the Imperialists and would countenance nothing that might
seem to lessen the prestige of the Imperial Parliament. He was opposed to
the appointment of any Canadian. Such is the power of sentiment. He had
spent the greater part of his life far away from anything connected with
the upper classes. He had been identified with a great Company which paid
respect only to merit, so that he had risen from the lowest grade to the
position of Governor. But when he stepped out of that sphere into the
realm of politics he could not break with the traditions of his ancestry,
and held fast to the idea of the respect due to the upper classes. The
Governor-General, as representing the monarch, should be chosen from those
who were members of the highest ranks. In 1897 Sir Donald became a peer of
the realm and was to be known henceforth as Lord Strathcona. His full
title was Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal of Glencoe, Argyleshire and
Montreal, Canada. The Herald's College produced a new coat-of-arms which
was very interesting as suggesting the romantic career of the new Baron.
The following is a technical description: Arms—gules on a fesse argent
between a demi-lion rampant in chief or and a canoe of the host with four
men paddling proper. In the bow a flag of the second, flowing to the
dexter, inserted with the letters N.W. Sable in base. A hammer surmounted
by a nail in saltire of the last. Crest on a mount vert, a beaver eating
into a maple tree proper. Then follows the motto, "Perseverance." Credit
must be given to the designer of this striking heraldry device, which is
really a brief record of the life of Strathcona. Here we see the sable and
beaver typifying the Hudson Bay Co.; the paddlers in the canoe represent
the mode of travel on the great water ways of the new world in the early
days; X. W. stands for North-West, the scene of his adventurous career;
the hammer and nail signify the completion of the Canadian Pacific road,
the new peer having with his own hand driven the last spike. |
