Page:The Life and Times of Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt.djvu/373

CANADA AND THE MOTHER COUNTRY fought against Frenchman and Indian on their own borders, and even took the offensive, as in the famous expedition against Louisburg. But, as the critics of the sixties forget, they were well able to assume that task, since in the middle of the eighteenth century they outnumbered their French neighbors ten to one, and they were quite willing to do so, since they enjoyed even greater independence than the colonies of the Second Empire had secured a full century later. It was one thing to suggest that a colony should defend itself when it outnumbered its nearby foes ten to one, and quite another when its forces were only as one to twenty.

In the new Empire which rose from the ashes of the old, the United Kingdom undertook a greater share of the burden of defence. Not only were the new colonies relatively weaker, but such an attitude was part and parcel of the general policy of paternalism and supervision which marked this period. Naval defence was wholly in the care of the United Kingdom, save for the small Provincial Marine which existed in Canada in the early days and for the Nova Scotia privateers which did good service in 1812. British regulars were stationed in every colony, and formed the backbone of their land defence. These forces were supplemented by local militia varying widely in numbers and efficiency.

Scarcely had the trade monopoly been abandoned when loud demands were raised in England for reducing military expenditure in the colonies. Sir William Molesworth, one of the small group of Radicals who had steadfastly supported the colonial demand for self-government, took the lead in the new movement, and pressed it vigorously on the attention of the House of Commons each year from 1848 onward. He urged the folly of spending £4,000,000 a year to secure the colonial trade of some £9,000,000, especially now when the United Kingdom had no advantage over the foreigner in colonial markets. It was 335