With this position understood,
he was prepared to take you up on any point of comparison
between the status and privileges of a subject and a
citizen--the political MORALE of a monarchy and a
republic--the advantage of life on this and the other
side of the line. There was nothing he liked better to
expatiate upon, with that valuable proof of his own
sincerity always at hand for reference and illustration.
His ideal was life in a practical, go-ahead, self-governing
colony, far enough from England actually to be disabused
of her inherited anachronisms and make your own tariff,
near enough politically to keep your securities up by
virtue of her protection. He was extremely satisfied with
his own country; one saw in his talk the phenomenon of
patriotism in double bloom, flower within flower. I have
mentioned his side whiskers: he preserved that facial
decoration of the Prince Consort; and the large steel
engraving that represents Queen Victoria in a flowing
habit and the Prince in a double-breasted frock coat and
a stock, on horseback, hung over the mantelpiece in his
drawing-room. If the outer patriotism was a little vague,
the inner had vigour enough. Canada was a great place.
Mr Milburn had been born in the country, and had never
"gone over" to England; Canada was good enough for him.
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