means, and the revenue will be expended in England. Positions of honor and emolument will be monopolized by the selfish English...” We hear...the very same arguments

made use of now...."

As Scots, McLeod said, and as Islanders, his listeners and their fellow countrymen needed national ties. Caledonian Club members attached themselves to Scotland as the land of their ancestors, but “the genuine love of country that distinguishes their forefathers becomes weaker every generation.” He remarked that this increasing sense of dislocation was not peculiar to Scots but, rather, known by all transplanted Britons. As English, Irish, and Scottish leave their motherlands, in what country are they to plant their allegiance? “No people,” he said, “was ever great without a love of country.” He expounded upon the necessity of national association:

Colonists have arrived at that embarrassing stage of progress in which they are at a loss whether they shall appear divorced as patriotic Englishmen, Irishmen and Scotchmen, or united in a common devotion to the land they inhabit. They have all reason to be proud of the land of their forefathers, yet they have no voice in its Legislation or Government. They control, it is true, the country they now inhabit, but that country is not recognized as a power among the family of nations. Hence, on the score of patriotism, colonists are between two minds —— the consequence is that they have not a very strong at- tachment for any country. The progress of events will probably very soon solve the doubt. The inhabitants of British North America [will] soon be able to point to one Commonwealth, to which they need not be ashamed to devote individual allegiance. . . . ‘ 5

These were solemn, but stirring words for this jovial, but patriotic group. McLeod and the other speakers struck a responsive chord that night. Their unanimous enthusiasm for Confederation seemed to suggest the Caledonian Club’s stand on the issue, at least at that time. It was an

issue that would be raised at successive meetings between this date and 1873.”

With the successful completion of all club programs for this first year, a pinnacle of development was reached for Scottish associations on Prince Edward Island. The outline had been drawn, the framework

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