Canadian National Spirit

From In The Days Of The Canada Company:

Germans, Highlanders, French, English and Irish soon fused and became Canadian.

Probably the war of 1812-15 is in good part the explanation of this; not merely because gallant resistance to successive waves of invasion had awakened a national spirit, but also because the high prices then paid for produce of every kind had stimulated industry as far into the backwoods as population had extended. Men who knew nothing of the horrors of the war, and who had no dread of its penetrating to their remote hamlets or dealings, rejoiced to get three dollars a bushel for wheat.