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MEMORIES AND ADVENTURES
Mountain packer, a man of the standing of Fred Stephens or
the Otto Brothers, the traveller can rely upon a square deal
and the companionship of one whom he will fi nd to be a most
excellent comrade. There is no shooting in the park – it is
a preserve for all wild animals – but there is excellent fi shing, and everywhere there are the most wonderful excursions,
where you sleep at night under the stars upon the balsamic
fi r branches which the packer gathers for your couch. I could
not imagine an experience which would be more likely to give
a freshet of vitality when the stream runs thin. For a week we
lived the life of simplicity and nature.
The park is not as full of wild creatures as it will be after a few years of preservation. The Indians who lived in this
part rounded up everything that they could before moving to
their reservation. But even now, the bear lumbers through the
brushwood, the eagle soars above the lake, the timber wolf still
skulks in the night, and the deer graze in the valleys. Above,
near the snow-line, the wild goat is not uncommon, while at
a lower altitude are found the mountain sheep. On the last
day of our visit the rare cinnamon bear exposed his yellow
coat upon a clearing within a few hundred yards of the village.
I saw his clumsy good-humoured head looking at me from
over a dead trunk, and I thanked the kindly Canadian law
which has given him a place of sanctuary. What a bloodthirsty
baboon man must appear to the lower animals! If any superhuman demon treated us exactly as we treat the pheasants, we
should begin to reconsider our views as to what is sport.
The porcupine is another creature which abounded in the
woods. I did not see any, but a friend described an encounter
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ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
between one and his dog. The creature’s quills are detachable
when he wishes to be nasty, and at the end of the fi ght it was
not easy to say which was the dog and which the porcupine.
Life in Jasper interested me as an experience of the fi rst
stage of a raw Canadian town. It will certainly grow into a considerable place, but at that time, bar Colonel Rogers’ house
and the station, there were only log-huts and small wooden
dwellings. Christianity was apostolic in its simplicity and in
its freedom from strife – though one has to go back remarkably early in apostolic times to fi nd those characteristics. Two
churches were being built, the pastor in each case acting also
as head mason and carpenter. One, the corner-stone of which
I had the honour of laying, was to be used in turn by several
Nonconformist bodies, To the ceremony came the Anglican
parson, grimy from his labours on the opposition building,
and prayed for the well-being of his rival. The whole function,
with its simplicity and earnestness, carried out by a group of
ill-clad men standing bareheaded in a drizzle of rain, seemed
to me to have in it the essence of religion. As I ventured to
remark to them, Kikuyu and Jasper can give some lessons to
London.
We made a day’s excursion by rail to the Tête Jaune Cache,
which is across t he British Columbian border and marks the
watershed between East and West. Here we saw the Fraser, already a formidable river, rushing down to the Pacifi c. At the
head of the pass stands the village of the railway workers, exactly like one of the mining townships of Bret Harte, save that
the bad man is never allowed to be too bad. There is a worse
man in a red serge coat and a Stetson hat, who is told off by the
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MEMORIES AND ADVENTURES
State to look after him, and does his duty in such fashion that
the most fi re-eating desperado from across the border falls
into the line of law. But apart from the gunman, this village
presented exactly the same queer cabins, strange signs, and
gambling-rooms which the great American master has made
so familiar to us.
And now we were homeward bound! Back through Edmonton, back through Winnipeg, back through that young
giant, Fort William – but not back across the Great Lakes. Instead of that transit we took train, by the courtesy of the Canadian Pacifi c, round the northern shore of Superior, a beautiful
wooded desolate country, which, without minerals, offers little
prospect for the future. Some 200 miles north of it, the Grand
Trunk, that enterprising pioneer of empire, has opened up
another line which extends for a thousand miles, and should
develop a new corn and lumber district. Canada is like an expanding fl ower; wherever you look you see some fresh petal
unrolling.
We spent three days at Algonquin Park. This place is within easy distance of Montreal or Ottawa, and should become
a resort of British fi shermen and lovers of nature. After all, it
is little more than a week from London, and many a river in
Finland takes nearly as long to reach. There is good hotel accommodation, and out of the thousand odd lakes in this enormous natural preserve one can fi nd all sorts of fi shing, though
the best is naturally the most remote. I had no particular luck
myself, but my wife caught an eight-pound trout, which Mr.
Bartlett, the courteous superintendent of the park, mounted,
so as to confound all doubters. Deer abound in the park, and
393
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
the black bear is not uncommon, while wolves can often be
heard howling in the night-time.
What will be the destiny of Canada? Some people talk as
if it were in doubt. Personally, I have none upon the point.
Canada will remain exactly as she is for two more generations.
At the end of that time there must be reconsideration of the
subject, especially on the part of Great Britain, who will fi nd
herself with a child as large as herself under the same roof.
I see no argument for the union of Canada with the United
States. There is excellent feeling between the two countries,
but they could no more join at this period of their history than
a great oak could combine with a well-rooted pine to make
one tree. The roots of each are far too deep. It is impossible.
Then there is the alternative of Canada becoming an independent nation. That is not so impossible as a union with
the States, but it is in the last degree improbable. Why should
Canada wish her independence? She has it now in every essential. But her fi rst need is the capital and the population
which will develop her enormous territory and resources. This
capital she now receives from the Mother-Country to the extent in 1914 of 73 per cent., the United States fi nding 14 per
cent., and Canada herself the remaining 13. Her dependence
upon the Mother-Country for emigrants, though not so great
as her fi nancial dependence, is still the greatest from any single source. Besides all this, she has the vast insurance policy,
which is called the British Navy, presented to her for nothing – though honour demands some premium from her in
the future – and she has the British diplomatic service for her
use unpaid. Altogether, looking at it from the material side,
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MEMORIES AND ADVENTURES
Canada’s interests lie deeply in the present arrangement. But
there is a higher and more unselfi sh view which works even
more strongly in the same direction. Many of the most representative Canadians are descendants of those United Empire
Loyalists who in 1782 gave up everything and emigrated from
the United States in order to remain under the fl ag. Their
imperialism is as warm or warmer than our own. And everywhere there is a consciousness of the glory of the empire, its
magnifi cent future, and the wonderful possibilities of these
great nations all growing up under the same fl ag with the
same language and destinies. This sentiment joins with material advantages, and will prevent Canada from having any
aspiration towards independence.
Yes, it will remain exactly as it is for the remainder of this
century. At the end of that time her population and resources
will probably considerably exceed those of the Mother Land,
and problems will arise which our children’s children may
have some diffi culty in solving. As to the French-Canadian, he
will always be a conservative force – let him call himself what
he will. His occasional weakness for fl ying the French fl ag is
not to be resented, but is rather a pathetic and sentimental
tribute to a lost cause, like that which adorns every year the
pedestal of Charles at Whitehall.
I had some presentiment of coming trouble during the
time we were in Canada, though I never imagined that we
were so close to the edge of a world-war. One incident which
struck me forcibly was the arrival at Vancouver of a ship full
of Sikhs who demanded to be admitted to Canada. This demand was resisted on account of the immigration laws. The
395
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
whole incident seemed to me to be so grotesque – for why
should sun-loving Hindoos force themselves upon Canada –
that I was convinced some larger purpose lay behind it. That
purpose was, as we can now see, to promote discord among the
races under the British fl ag. There can be no doubt that it was
German money that chartered that ship.
I had several opportunities of addressing large and infl uential Canadian audiences, and I never failed to insist upon
the sound state of the home population. The Canadians judge
us too often by our ne’er-do-weels and remittance men, who
are the sample Englishmen who come before them. In defence
even of these samples it should be stated that they bulked
very large in the fi rst Canadian Division. I told the Canadians of our magnifi cent Boy Scout movement, and also of the
movement of old soldiers to form a national guard. “A country where both the old and the young can start new, unselfish, patriotic movements is a live country,” I said, “and if we
are tested we will prove just as good as ever our fathers were.”
I did not dream how near the test would be, how hard it would
press, or how gloriously it would be met.
And now I turn to the war, the physical climax of my life as
it must be of the life of every living man and woman. Each was
caught as a separate chip and swept into that fearsome whirlpool, where we all gyrated for four years, some sinking for ever,
some washed up all twisted and bent, and all of us showing in
our souls and bodies some mark of the terrible forces which
had controlled us so long. I will show presently how the war
reacted upon me, and also if one may speak without presumption, how in a minute way I in turn reacted upon the war.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE EVE OF WAR
The Prologue of Armageddon – The ‘Prince Henry’ Race –
Bernhardi – “England and the Next War” – “Danger” – General Sir H. Wilson – The Channel Tunnel – Naval Defects –
Rubber Collars – Mines – Willie Redmond.
FOR a long time I never seriously believed in the German
menace. Frequently I found myself alone, in a company of educated Englishmen, in my opinion that it was non-existent – or
at worst greatly exaggerated. This conclusion was formed on
two grounds. The fi rst was, that I knew it to be impossible that
we could attack Germany save in the face of monstrous provocation. By the conditions of our government, even if those in
high places desired to do such a thing, it was utterly impracticable, for a foreign war could not be successfully carried on by
Great Britain unless the overwhelming majority of the people
approved of it. Our foreign, like our home, politics are governed S by the vote of the proletariat. It would be impossible
to wage an aggressive war against any Power if the public were
not convinced of its justice and necessity. For this reason we
could not attack Germany. On the other hand, it seemed to be
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ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
equally unthinkable that Germany should attack us. One failed
to see what she could possibly hope to gain by such a proceeding. She had enemies already upon her eastern and western
frontiers, and it was surely unlikely that she would go out of
her way to pick a quarrel with the powerful British Empire.
If she made war and lost it, her commerce would be set back
and her rising colonial empire destroyed. If she won it, it was
diffi cult to see where she could hope for the spoils. We could
not give her greater facilities for trade than she had already.
We could not give her habitable white colonies, for she would
fi nd it impossible to take possession of them in the face of the
opposition of the inhabitants. An indemnity she could never
force from us. Some coaling stations and possibly some tropical colonies, of which latter she already possessed abundance,
were the most that she could hope for. Would such a prize as
that be worth the risk attending such a war? To me it seemed
that there could be only one answer to such a question.
I am still of the same opinion. But unhappily the affairs of
nations are not always regulated by reason, and occasionally
a country may be affl icted by a madness which sets all calculations at defi ance. Then, again, I had looked upon the matter too much as between Great Britain and Germany. I had
not suffi ciently considered the chance of our being drawn in
against our will in order to safeguard Belgium, or in order to
stop the annihilation of France. It was so perfectly clear that
Britain by her treaty obligations, and by all that is human
and honourable, would fi ght if Belgium were invaded, that
one could not conceive Germany taking such a step with any
other expectation. And yet what we could not conceive is ex-
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MEMORIES AND ADVENTURES
actly what happened, for it is clear that the delusions as to
our degeneration in character had really persuaded the Germans that the big cowardly fellow would stand by with folded
arms and see his little friend knocked about by the bully. The
whole idea showed an extraordinary ignorance of the British
psychology, but absurd as it was, it was none the less the determining infl uence at the critical moment of the world’s history. The infl uence of the lie is one of the strangest problems
of life – that which is not continually infl uences that which
is. Within one generation imagination and misrepresentation
have destroyed the Boer republics and Imperial Germany.
One of my most remarkable pre-war experiences, which
infl uenced my mind deeply, was my participation in the amateur motor race called the Prince Henry Competition. It was
rather a reliability test than a race, for the car had to go some
150 miles a day on an average at its own pace, but marks were
taken off for all involuntary stoppages, breakdowns, accidents,
etc. Each owner had to drive his own car, and I had entered
my little 16 horse-power landaulette. There were about forty
British cars and fi fty German, so that the procession was a very
considerable one. Starting from Homburg, the watering-place,
our route ran through North Germany, then by steamer to
Southampton, up to Edinburgh and back to London by devious ways.
The competition had been planned in Germany, and there
can be no doubt in looking back that a political purpose underlay it. The idea was to create a false entente by means of
sport, which would react upon the very serious political development in the wind, namely, the occupation of Agadir on the
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ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
south-west coast of Morocco, which occurred on our second
day out. As Prince Henry, who organized and took part in the
competition, was also head of the German Navy, it is of course
obvious that he knew that the Panther was going to Agadir,
and that there was a direct connection between the two events,
in each of which he was a leading actor. It was a clumsy bit of
stage management and could not possibly have been effective.
The peculiarity of the tour was that each car had an offi cer
of the army or navy of the other nation as a passenger, to check
the marks. Thus my wife and I had the’ enforced company for
nearly three weeks of Count Carmer, Rittmeister of Breslau
Cuirassiers, who began by being stiff and inhuman, but speedily thawed and became a very good fellow. The arrangements
were very peculiar. Some British paper – the “Mail” if I remember right – had stated that the Competition was really a device
to pass a number of German offi cers through Great Britain in
order to spy out the land. I think there may have been some
truth in this, as our good Count when we reached London
went off to a hotel down in the East End, which seemed a curious thing for a wealthy Junker to do. This criticism seems to
have annoyed the Kaiser, and he said – or so it was reported –
that none but junior offi cers should go as observers. I should
think that ours was the senior of the lot, and the others were
mostly captains and lieutenants. On the other hand, the British Government, out of compliment to Prince Henry, had appointed the very best men available as observers. If there had
been a sudden crisis over Agadir, and Germany had impounded us all, it would have been a national disaster and would
have made a difference in a European war. Speaking from an
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