The exact moment in time The Mace appeared has been lost in antiquity. Eight hundred years ago, it was carried to the battlefields, to serve England’s Richard I against Philip II of France, as a weapon and symbol of power.
By the time it surfaced in the British Parliament in the 14th century, the spikes had been replaced by jewels and the Royal Coat of Arms crowned the top of its shaft; the Mace had become the symbol of the Monarch’s authority. As the Parliament grew in stature, the Mace became its symbol as well; by the 18th century, it fully represented both the Monarchy and the authority of Parliament. The Mace survived to modern times; in Britain and Canada, governments could only be in session if the Mace was present; protocols were precise.
At the turn of the 20th century, there had been two hundred years of relative peace between Canada and the United States. Canada was a little larger than its neighbour to the south, but in terms of economic and human numbers, it was a far different story. Canada had thirty million people, the U.S. – three hundred million. The economic output of Canada was one trillion, the output of the U.S. was over twelve trillion. The citizens of America were dispersed across their nation; the citizens of Canada lived on a narrow band stretched just above the U.S. border.
More simply, Canada was a nation larger than America, with the population and economic strength of southern California, that lived on a ribbon of land 100 miles wide and 4800 miles long. And above this ribbon? The largest areas of concentrated resources in the world.
Many people, on both sides of the border, encouraged the consolidation of the two countries. Economic barriers would be removed: Canada would benefit through unrestricted trade with the giant in the south, America would benefit by gaining access to the vast resources it needed to feed its growing population.
Some Canadians, however, wanted Canada to stay free of the melting pot; to remain as separate and unique as possible. By the turn of the century, however, the bindings had been pulled tight, until all that remained was the name on the masthead, and The Mace.
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