article on "The Monroe Doctrine," published in 1896, Mr. Roosevelt wrote
as follows:

"No English colony now stands on a footing of genuine equality with
the parent State. As long as the Canadian remains a colonist, he
remains in a position which is distinctly inferior to that of his
cousins, both in England and in the United States. The Englishman
at bottom looks down on the Canadian, as he does on any one who
admits his inferiority, and quite properly too. The American, on
the other hand, with equal propriety, regards the Canadian with the
good-natured condescension always felt by the freeman for the man
who is not free. A funny instance of the English attitude towards
Canada was shown after Lord Dunraven's inglorious fiasco last
September, when the Canadian yachtsman Rose challenged for the
America Cup. The English journals repudiated him on the express
ground that a Canadian was not an Englishman, and not entitled to
the privileges of an Englishman. In their comments, many of them
showed a dislike for Americans which almost rose to hatred. The
feeling they displayed for Canadians was not one of dislike. It was
one of contempt."

There are several contestable points in this statement, and I quote it,
though it is but three years old, as a historical rather than a
contemporary utterance. At the same time it expresses an almost
universal American point of view, and indicates errors to be corrected,
dangers to be avoided. It is absurd, of course, that the American should
look down upon the Canadian as a "man who is not free"; but every shadow
of an excuse for such an attitude ought to be removed, and the citizen
of the British Empire ought to have as clearly defined a status as the
citizen of the American Republic.