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 Table of Contents
Preface

Chapter 1: Getting Started with Power Automate Desktop

Chapter 2: Using Power Automate Desktop and Creating Our First Flow

Chapter 3: Editing and Debugging UI Flows

Chapter 4: Basic Structure Elements and Flow Control

Chapter 5: Variables, UI Elements, and Images

Chapter 6: Actions for UI Automation

Chapter 7: Automate Your Desktop and Workstation

Chapter 8: Automating Standard Business Applications

Chapter 9: Leveraging Cloud Services and Power Platform

Chapter 10: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence

Chapter 11: Working with APIs and Services

Chapter 12: PAD Enterprise Best Practices

Index

Other Books You May Enjoy

Preface
We’re all familiar with the situation, in both our private and professional
lives, where we have to perform repetitive and boring IT tasks. Microsoft
provides Power Automate Desktop, a free tool that can be used to solve
both small and large automation scenarios.

In this book, you’ll learn everything you need to automate repetitive and
monotonous processes with Power Automate Desktop to free up more time
for more important things. The book provides insights into the history of the
program and its current role in the Microsoft Power Platform. It then
explains the concept of user interface automation and how locally installed
programs or processes as well as a web browser can be implemented with
Power Automate Desktop.

As you progress, you’ll learn about the complete feature set of Power
Automate Desktop through numerous examples, from basic concepts, such
as variables, conditions, and branching, to capabilities with the local
desktop, such as file and folder management, to connecting to databases,
mainframe computers, and SAP automation.

The final chapters also cover the topic of artificial intelligence and how it
can be incorporated into processes, as well as how Power Automate
Desktop can be used in large enterprises, where additional topics, such as
governance, compliance, scaling, and security, play a role.
Who this book is for
No special IT knowledge is assumed for this book, so an ambitious and
process-interested Windows user will be able to find their way around very
well, since all the necessary concepts are explained. For the connection of
more complex systems, such as SAP, mainframe, or web services, the basic
functionality is explained. For their implementation, knowledge in these
areas is required.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Getting Started with Power Automate Desktop, introduces you
to the concept of Power Automate Desktop with a first example flow.

Chapter 2, Using Power Automate Desktop and Creating First Flow, covers
installing Power Automate Desktop and creating a first flow by using the
built-in recorder.

Chapter 3, Editing and Debugging UI Flows, explains the different parts of

the application and the fundamental concept of editing and debugging UI
flows.

Chapter 4, Basic Structure Elements and Flow Control, introduces using

conditionals and loops in UI flows, as well as error handling.

Chapter 5, Variables, UI Elements, and Images, describes what variables

are and how they can be used in UI flows, and presents the basic structures
for UI automation.

Chapter 6, Actions for UI Automation, continues with the concept

introduced in the previous chapter and explains the possibilities of using it
to design a process.

Chapter 7, Automate Your Desktop and Workstation, shows how to

automate Windows operating systems and services as well as computer
peripherals such as the mouse and keyboard.

Chapter 8, Automating Standard Business Applications, represents how

Microsoft Office, SAP, and mainframe applications can be automated.

Chapter 9, Leveraging Cloud Services and Power Platform, introduces the

concept of Power Automate and desktop flows and how to incorporate IaaS
offerings from Microsoft and AWS.

Chapter 10, Leveraging Artificial Intelligence, explains the different

capabilities and vendors of AI and how they can be incorporated into UI
flows.

Chapter 11, Working with APIs and Services, shows how Power Automate
Desktop can also work with different APIs and web services to design an
automation process.

Chapter 12, PAD Enterprise Best Practices, explains how Power Automate
Desktop can function as part of a larger automation project and what
aspects need to be considered.

To get the most out of this book

To work with the content in this book, all that is required is Windows
operating system version 10 or 11 and the latest installation of Power
Automate Desktop. The installation is described in Chapter 2. It also
automates various applications, such as a browser (Edge, Chrome, or
Firefox), Microsoft Office, and others that may need to be installed.

Some chapters focus on specific applications to be automated, such as SAP

or mainframe applications. For this purpose, development or trial licenses
were used, the purchase and installation of which are described in the
respective chapters.

If you are using the digital version of this book, we advise you to type
the code yourself or access the code from the book’s GitHub repository
(a link is available in the next section). Doing so will help you avoid any
potential errors related to the copying and pasting of code.

Download the example code files

You can download the example code files for this book from GitHub at
https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Democratizing-RPA-with-Power-
Automate-Desktop. If there’s an update to the code, it will be updated in the
GitHub repository.
We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos
available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/. Check them out!

Download the color images

We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots and
diagrams used in this book. You can download it here:
https://packt.link/nUffQ.

Conventions used
There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

Code in text: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder
names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input,
and Twitter handles. Here is an example: “To identify the current file, this
gets renamed work-in-progress.docx.”

A block of code is set as follows:

{
'Brand': 'BMW',
'Color': 'blue',
'year of manufacture': '2020',
'type of vehicle': 'SUV'
}

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block,

the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

{
'Brand': 'BMW',
'Color': 'blue',
'year of manufacture': '2020',
'type of vehicle': 'SUV'
}
Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see
onscreen. For instance, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in bold.
Here is an example: “Click on the dropdown for the All available entry and
change this to Only the first.”

Tips or important notes

Appear like this.

Get in touch
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Getting Started with Power
Automate Desktop
Power Automate Desktop (PAD) is based on principle known as robotic
process automation (RPA). In this chapter, we will look at the essential
concepts of PAD and explore the fundamentals that Microsoft leveraged to
create the product. In addition, we will look at how the product fits into the
ecosystem of Power Platform and what possibilities exist with it.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

What is PAD and what can it do?

How it all started – robotic process automation
Microsoft Power Platform at a glance
UI flows demystified and their role in Power Platform
A first example of the incredible potential of PAD and Power Platform

By the end of this chapter, you will have a thorough understanding of the
concept of RPA and how PAD fits into the Microsoft automation strategy.
The first example will show you the potential of PAD and provide a taste of
what you will learn in this book.

What is PAD and what can it do?

To best understand the functionality of PAD, we will go through a few
examples in the following subsections where PAD is ideally used.

Example 1 – automatic response letter

processing
Imagine you are part of an organizing team at your child’s school and an
event is to be organized at the school.

Someone in the organization team has already created a form letter in which
all the parents of the students are contacted and in which the parents should
indicate by ticking whether they agree with the participation of their child.
All these cover letters now come back as Word documents and contain the
student’s names, as well as a ticked box for acceptance or rejection in each
case.

You should now generate an Excel list to create an overview of the

acceptances and rejections. To do this, you would have to open each Word
document and see which student it is and which box was ticked. This whole
process is depicted in the following diagram:

Figure 1.1 – How to generate a report out of email attachments

Depending on the number of students and the information that would need
to be looked up, this is a tedious and lengthy task. As you can see from the
preceding diagram, this process can be quite boring and time-consuming.
On top of that, we would also need to repeat this every day until we reach
the reporting deadline.

PAD could help in this situation. It is possible to create a flow that checks
all emails belonging to a specific topic and saves the Word document into a
specific folder. Another flow can examine all files or documents in that
folder, extract the relevant information, and transfer it into an Excel
spreadsheet. You would need to create this flow once and it would do the
rest of the job automatically.

It would even be possible to make use of optical character recognition

(OCR) if the letters come back as printed output.

Example 2 – integration of a legacy

application
Even today, there are still a high number of legacy applications that were
created specifically for certain use cases and can’t be modernized for a
variety of reasons. These reasons include a lack of budget, outdated
technology, and a lack of resources, competencies, and time.

The employees are virtually forced to work with this application and very
often, such applications cannot access the data or processes
programmatically via an application programming interface (API) or any
other compatible interface.

But what happens when such an application must be integrated into a larger
context? For example, there could be a sales platform in which orders and
invoices are recorded. However, this data must then also flow into the
legacy application to keep the database consistent. Or perhaps, a unique
customer number is generated in the legacy application that must be used
elsewhere (see Chapter 7 for an example).
In any case, there must be a way to address this legacy application and
integrate it into a larger context – and this is where PAD comes in.

With PAD, we can remotely control any desktop application, record a

sequence that is always the same, and then run it again. With PAD, we can
also execute this flow remotely or from an external event (the job is entered
online in a system), read out the calculation or input results, and play them
back as values in the workflow.

This means that an application that cannot be called from the outside and
can only be operated manually can nevertheless be automated and
integrated. It also implies that in system landscapes, where many
applications are involved in a process but have no technical connection,
PAD can be used to design a coherent flow and exchange data between
these applications.

With its almost 400 actions (at the time of writing; the number of available
actions is constantly growing), PAD can cover all user scenarios, beginning
with web and desktop applications to databases, files, and folders to email
and scripting integration. The following diagram illustrates the capabilities
of PAD in terms of connections:

Figure 1.2 – PAD capabilities

Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
but claimed the right to answer many inaccuracies. I received from
the editor the following letter:
11, Old Square, Lincoln’s Inn, W.C.,
8th March, 1895.

Dear Sir,
I am afraid I cannot find a place for your article on Canada.
But I do not think that you need fear misconstruction. We know
Mr. Goldwin Smith as a man of great ability and cultivation, but he is
not taken as a representative of the bulk of Canadian opinion.
Believe me,
Yours faithfully,
Percy Wm. Bunting.

With this letter came my manuscript returned to me by same

mail. I replied as follows:
Heydon Villa, Toronto,
23rd March, 1895.

Dear Sir,
Many thanks for sending me word so promptly about my article
and for returning the manuscript which has safely arrived.
I am glad to find that you do not take Goldwin Smith as a
representative of the bulk of Canadian opinion, and can only express
the regret of Canadians generally that his distorted and incorrect
views about our country are so widely circulated in England. This is
the more unfortunate when the bulk of Canadian opinion is refused
a hearing.
Yours, etc.
 I then sent the manuscript back to England to my friend Dr.
George R. Parkin, and asked him to get it published in some
magazine. After considerable delay, he succeeded in getting it in the
Westminster Review for September, 1895. It was received very well
in Canada, many notices and copious extracts being printed in many
of our papers. The Week published the whole article in pamphlet
form as a supplement.
In the following January, the Press Association having invited Mr.
Goldwin Smith to their annual banquet to respond with the Hon. G.
W. Ross to the toast “Canada,” some objection was raised by Mr.
Castell Hopkins to his being endorsed to that extent. Mr. Hopkins
was attacked for this in the Globe. I replied in his defence in the
following letter, which explains why we of the Imperialist party
followed Goldwin Smith so persistently and endeavoured to weaken
his influence. It was not from ill-feeling but from an instinct of self-
preservation as to our country:
Sir,
I have read an article in your issue of this morning, in reference
to Mr. Goldwin Smith being asked to respond to the toast of
“Canada” at the coming Press Association dinner, and censuring Mr.
Hopkins for objecting to such a course.
You say Mr. Hopkins’s pursuit of Mr. Smith has become ridiculous,
and you refer to the St. George’s Society incident. As one who was
present and took part in that affair, I may say that the feeling was
that the fact of Mr. Smith being a member of the society gave him a
recognition as an Englishman that he was not entitled to, in view of
his hostility to the best interests of the empire. . . .
Your editorial admits that Mr. Goldwin Smith “is a sincere
advocate of political union.” If so, he is a traitor to our constitution
and our country. This political-union idea is no new or merely
polemic discussion. It was advocated in 1775, and was crushed out
by the strength of the Canadian people. It was advocated again in
1812, and again it brought war and bloodshed and misery upon our
people, and by the lavish expenditure of Canadian lives our country
and institutions were preserved. Again in 1837 it was advocated, and
again produced bloodshed, and once more Canadian lives were lost
in preventing it. Mr. Goldwin Smith knows this, or ought to, and he is
the most potent element to-day in preparing the Yankee mind to
take up the question of annexation. A belief in the States that we
were favourable to annexation would do more than any possible
cause to bring on an attempt to secure annexation by force. This
belief led to the attempts in 1775 and 1812.
In view of this, Goldwin Smith’s conduct is treason of the worst
kind. Such persistent hostility to the national life in any other country
would not be tolerated for an instant. In Russia, under like
circumstances, Goldwin Smith would long since have been consigned
to the mines of Siberia. In Germany or Austria he would have been
imprisoned. In France he would have been consigned to the same
convict settlement as the traitor Dreyfus; while in the United States
he would long since have been lynched. In the British Empire alone
would he be safe—for he has found here in Canada the freest
constitution, and the most tolerant and law-abiding people on earth,
and these British institutions, under whose protection he is working
against us, our people are determined to uphold at all hazards.
I would not object to Mr. Smith appearing at any public function
but that I feel it gives aid to him in misrepresenting and injuring our
country. In 1812 we had just such men in Willcocks, Mallory, and
Marcle, members of the House of Assembly, whose intrigues did
much to bring war upon us. These men, as soon as the war broke
out, went over to the enemy and fought against us, and Willcocks
was killed in action fighting against Canada. Goldwin Smith will not
follow his prototypes so far. On the first sign of danger he will
escape, and settling in some comfortable retreat, probably among
the orange groves on the Riviera, or perhaps in a villa on one of the
Italian lakes, he will watch the struggle from afar, while “the
overwhelming majority” of the opponents of political union in this
country, or in other words the Canadian people, would be engaged
in a fearful struggle in the defence of their native land and all that
they hold dear. Those who know Mr. Smith best will readily imagine
the sardonic smile with which he would read of our losses in action,
of our difficulties, and the untold miseries that war always brings
upon a people.
I ask the Press Association if it is fair to their fellow-Canadians to
allow our bitterest and most dangerous enemy to speak on behalf of
our country? Is it fair to ask a loyal man like the Hon. G. W. Ross,
who believes in Canada, to be coupled with a traitor?
Among the other methods of arousing the patriotic feeling of our
people was the erection of monuments on our great battlefields in
memory of the victories gained in the struggle to preserve the
freedom of our country in 1812-’14.
The Lundy’s Lane Historical Society, one of the patriotic
organisations which sprang up over the Province, had started a
movement for erecting a monument on the field of Lundy’s Lane
where the last important and the most hotly contested battle of the
war took place in July, 1814. They had collected a number of
subscriptions but not sufficient for the purpose, when Goldwin Smith
offered through the late Oliver A. Howland to supply the balance
required, provided that he might write the inscription so as to
include both armies in the commemoration on equal terms. This
offer was promptly declined by the Society, which had no desire to
honour invaders who had made a most unprovoked attack upon a
sparse people, who had nothing whatever to do with the assumed
cause of the quarrel.
Shortly after, the Canadian Government took the matter in hand,
and provided the balance required for the Lundy’s Lane Monument,
and the full amounts required for monuments on the fields of
Chateauguay and Chrysler’s Farm.
The Lundy’s Lane Monument was finished and ready to be
unveiled on the anniversary of the battle, the 25th July, 1895, and
the Secretary of State, the Hon. W. H. Montague, had promised to
unveil it and deliver an address. The day before Dr. Montague
telegraphed to me that he could not go, and asked me to go on
behalf of the Government and unveil the monument. I agreed, and
he telegraphed to the President of the Society that I was coming.
About two thousand people were assembled. It will be remembered
that Mr. Goldwin Smith had commented severely upon the proposal
to put up a monument at Lundy’s Lane, in his lecture on “Jingoism”
delivered in 1891. He said, “Only let it be like that monument at
Quebec, a sign at once of gratitude and of reconciliation, not of the
meanness of unslaked hatred.” I replied to this in my lecture on
“National Spirit” shortly after, and said that the Professor,
“considering how he is always treating a country that has used him
far better than he ever deserved, should be a first-class authority on
the meanness of unslaked and unfounded hatred.”
At the time of the unveiling of the monument, when speaking in
the presence of the officers and members of the Lundy’s Lane
Historical Society, I naturally felt it to be my duty to compliment
them upon their work, to congratulate them on the success of their
efforts, and to defend them from the only hostile criticism that I
knew of being directed against them. I spoke as follows in
concluding my address, as appears in the newspaper report:
It was well, the speaker said, that they should commemorate the
crowning victory, which meant that he could that day wear the
maple leaf, could be a Canadian. He was aware of one peripatetic
philosopher who had said that the noble gentlemen of Lundy’s Lane
Historical Society, in putting up a monument to Canadians alone,
were doing nothing but displaying the signs of an unslaked hatred.
He would say that to show themselves afraid to honour the memory
of their forefathers would be to make an exhibition of contemptible
cowardice. Lieut.-Colonel Denison then argued that every great
nation which has ever existed has shown itself ready to acknowledge
the deeds of those who had fought for it, and he cited Assyria,
Egypt, Greece, and Rome in ancient history, and Switzerland in
modern times, in proof of this assertion. The erection of such
monuments, he said, taught the youth of the land to venerate the
memory of the past, and encouraged that sentiment of nationality
which was throbbing now so strongly in Canada. (Applause.) The
past ten years have witnessed a great improvement in that respect,
he said. The flag can be seen flying everywhere, the maple leaf is
worn, and Canadian poets celebrate in verse the finest passages of
our history. The speaker concluded by expressing the thanks of all to
the Government for deciding to erect monuments to commemorate
Canadian battlefields. He was glad that the first had been erected on
this sacred frontier; that at Chrysler’s Farm would mark the spot of a
great victory, and he was glad for the thought of sympathy with their
French-Canadian brothers which had led to the commemoration of
the brilliant victory of Chateauguay, where, against the greatest odds
of the war, 500 French-Canadians had defeated 5,000 Americans.

Where France’s sons on British soil

Fought for their English king.

They should never forget that they owed a sacred duty to the
men who fought and died for the independence of their country.
(Applause.)
The Historical Society objected strenuously to a proposed
inscription for the monument, and stopped its being engraved, and
asked me to urge upon the Government to put something different.
This was done, and I was asked by the Minister to draft one. It was
accepted, and now stands upon the monument as follows:
Erected by the Canadian Parliament in honour of the victory
gained by the British and Canadian forces on this field on the 25th
July, 1814, and in grateful remembrance of the brave men who died
on that day fighting for the unity of the Empire.
1895
My speech was printed in the Toronto papers at some length, and
some of Mr. Smith’s friends censured me for having defended the
Lundy’s Lane Society from his attacks. A week or two later I was
amused at receiving a visit from the Rev. Canon Bull, the President
of the Lundy’s Lane Society, who came across the Lake to see me, to
lay before me a matter which had come before the Society, and of
which after discussion they felt I should be made aware.
I have mentioned above Mr. Goldwin Smith’s offer made through
Mr. Howland to subscribe for the monument provided he could write
the inscription. This offer and its refusal the Society had kept strictly
private, so that I was quite ignorant of it, and made my address in
entire innocence of any knowledge in reference to it. Mr. Smith
apparently jumped to the conclusion that I had been told of this
offer, and that my comments had been caused by it. He wrote to Mr.
Howland and asked him to put the matter right, and enclosed him a
draft of a memo, which he wished Mr. Howland to send to the
Society. Mr. Howland very innocently sent Mr. Smith’s letter, his draft
memo., and his own comments to the President of the Society, Rev.
Mr. Bull. As soon as the correspondence was read, my old friend Mr.
Wm. Kirby, author of Le Chien d’Or, said, “Col. Denison knew
nothing of that offer, but Mr. Smith did make an attack in his lecture
on ‘Jingoism,’ and Col. Denison had answered him in his lecture on
‘National Spirit’ which was published in the Empire in 1891, and his
remarks on that point at the unveiling were on the same lines.” The
Society refused to act on Mr. Howland’s and Mr. Smith’s suggestion,
but decided that Canon Bull should come over to Toronto and lay the
whole matter before me. I thanked Canon Bull and asked him to
thank the Society, and the next day wrote to him, and asked him if I
might have a copy of the letters. He wrote to me promptly, saying I
might as well have the originals and enclosed them. I have them
now.
While Mr. Goldwin Smith was working so earnestly against the
interests of the Empire, and while many were leaning towards
Commercial Union, and some even ready to go farther and favour
annexation, Mr. (afterwards Sir) Oliver Mowat, then Premier of
Ontario, saw the danger of the way in which matters were drifting. I
often discussed the subject with him, and knew that he was a
thorough loyalist, and a true Canadian and Imperialist. He often
spoke despondingly to me as to what the ultimate outcome might
be, for, of course, the majority of the men who at the time favoured
Commercial Union were among his supporters, and he would
therefore hear more from that side than I would. In spite of his
uneasiness, however, he was staunchly loyal. Mr. Biggar, his
biographer, relates that just before the Inter-Provincial Conference in
October, 1887, an active Liberal politician, referring to his opposition
to Commercial Union, said to Mr. Mowat in the drawing-room of his
house on St. George Street, “If you take that position, sir, you won’t
have four per cent. of the party with you.” To which the reply came
with unusual warmth and sharpness, “I cannot help it, if I haven’t
one per cent. I won’t support a policy that will allow the Americans
to have any—even the smallest—voice in the making of our laws.”
On the evening of the 18th February, 1891, in the election then
coming on, Mr. Mowat spoke at a meeting in the Horticultural
Pavilion, Toronto, and again his strong loyalty spoke out. He said
among other things, “For myself I am a true Briton. I love the old
land dearly. I am glad that I was born a British subject; a British
subject I have lived for three score years and something more. I
hope to live and die a British subject. I trust and hope that my
children and my grand-children who have also been born British
subjects will live their lives as British subjects, and as British subjects
die.” Sir Oliver Mowat’s clear and outspoken loyalty prevented the
Liberals from being defeated in Ontario by a very much greater
majority than they were.
During the summer of 1891, however, the annexation movement
assumed a still more active form. Mr. Goldwin Smith was doing his
utmost to stir up the feeling. Solomon White, who had been a
Conservative, and was a member of the Ontario Legislature, induced
a public meeting in Windsor, where he lived, to pass a resolution in
favour of annexation. Encouraged by this, Mr. White arranged for a
meeting in Woodstock in Mr. Mowat’s own constituency of South
Oxford, in the hope of carrying a resolution there to the same effect.
While there was a feeling to treat the meeting with contempt, Mr.
Mowat with keener political insight saw that such a course would be
dangerous, not only to the country but to the Liberal party as well,
and he wrote a letter on the 23rd November, 1891, to Dr. McKay,
M.P.P., who represented the other riding of the county of Oxford in
the House of Assembly. He wrote:
With reference to our conversation this morning, I desire to
reiterate my strong opinion that it would not be good policy for the
friends of British connection and the old flag to stay away from Mr.
Solomon White’s meeting at Woodstock to-morrow. By doing so and
not voting at the meeting they would enable annexationists to carry
a resolution in favour of their views, and to trumpet it throughout
the Dominion and elsewhere as the sentiment of the community as a
whole. If in the loyal town of Woodstock, thriving beyond most if not
all the other towns of Ontario, the capital of the banner county of
Canadian Liberalism, formerly represented by that great champion of
both British connection and Liberal principles, the Hon. George
Brown, and noted heretofore for its fidelity at once to the old flag
and to the Liberal views, if in such a place a resolution were carried
at a public meeting to which all had been invited, no subsequent
explanation as to the thinness of the attendance or as to the
contemptuous absence of opponents would, outside of Oxford, have
any weight.
There are in most counties a few annexationists—in some
counties more than in others; but the aggregate number in the
Dominion I am sure is very small as compared with the aggregate
population. The great majority of our people, I believe and trust, are
not prepared to hand over this great Dominion to a foreign nation
for any present commercial consideration which may be proposed.
We love our Sovereign, and we are proud of our status as British
subjects. The Imperial authorities have refused nothing in the way of
self-government which our representatives have asked for. Our
complaints are against parliaments and governments which acquired
their power from our own people. To the United States and its
people we are all most friendly. We recognise the advantages which
would go to both them and us from extended trade relations, and
we are willing to go as far in that direction as shall not involve, now
or in the future, political union; but there Canadians of every party
have hitherto drawn the line.
The meeting passed by twelve to one the following resolution:
That the people of Oxford of all parties are deeply attached to
their beloved Sovereign, the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland; that
they proudly recognise the whole British Empire as their country, and
rejoice that Canada is part of that Empire; that Canadians have the
most friendly feelings toward the people of the United States, and
desire the extension of their trade relations with them; that while
differing among themselves as to the extent of the reciprocity to be
desired or agreed to, we repudiate any suggestion that in order to
accomplish this object Canadians should change their allegiance or
consent to the surrender of the Dominion to any foreign Power by
annexation, political union, or otherwise.
Sir Oliver Mowat’s biographer states that Sir Oliver had
determined in case a pro-annexation resolution should be carried at
this meeting, to resign his seat for North Oxford, and appeal again
to the constituency on the straight issue of British Connection v.
Annexation.
The morning Sir Oliver’s letter appeared in the papers and we
knew what had happened at Woodstock, I went up to his house and
congratulated him warmly, and thanked him earnestly for his wise
and patriotic action. I knew that as the leader of the Liberal party in
Ontario he had delivered a death-blow to the annexation movement.
I told him so. I said to him, “You had control of the switch and you
have turned it so that the party will be turned towards loyalty and
away from annexation. And when the future historian writes the
history of our country, he will not understand his business if he does
not point out clearly the far-reaching effect of your action in this
matter.”
Sir Oliver seemed to think that I overrated the matter, but he told
me that he had sent his secretary, Mr. Bastedo, to Woodstock to see
his leading supporters, and to do what he could to help Dr. McKay to
secure control of the meeting. Many years have elapsed, and I still
hold the opinion I expressed to Sir Oliver that morning, and I feel
that Canada should never forget what she owes to Sir Oliver Mowat,
and that his name should always be cherished in the memories of
our people.
This was followed on the 12th December, 1891, by an open letter
to the Hon. A. Mackenzie which was published as a sort of manifesto
to the Liberal party, in which he made an exhaustive argument along
the same lines.
In the early part of 1892 Mr. Elgin Myers, County Attorney of
Dufferin, was writing and speaking openly and strongly in favour of
annexation, and on being remonstrated with by the Government,
said he had the right of free speech, and would persist. Sir Oliver
dismissed him from office. This was another strong lesson, and was
heartily approved by the people generally. About the same time and
for the same cause E. A. Macdonald was dismissed by the Dominion
Government from the Militia, in which he held the rank of Lieutenant
in the 12th York Rangers.
On the 16th July, 1892, about two months after Elgin Myers’
dismissal, a great meeting of loyal Canadians was held at Niagara-
on-the-Lake, the first capital of the Province, to celebrate the one
hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the Province of Upper
Canada by Lt.-Governor Simcoe, who issued his first proclamation on
July 16th, 1792, at Kingston.
The Lt.-Governor, Sir George Kirkpatrick, made the first speech,
and gave a historical sketch of the history of the Province. Sir Oliver
Mowat followed him, and made a very loyal and effective speech.
He commenced by saying:
At this great gathering of Reformers and Conservatives in which
both are equally active, I may be permitted to express at the outset
a hope that there will be no attempt in any quarter to make party
capital out of this historic event, or out of anything which may be
said or left unsaid either in my own case or that of any other of the
speakers. . . . As the Dominion grows in population and wealth,
changes are inevitable and must be faced. What are they to be?
Some of you hope for Imperial Federation. Failing that, what then?
Shall we give away our great country to the United States as some—
I hope not many—are saying just now? (Cries of “Never.”) Or when
the time comes for some important change, shall we go for the only
other alternative, the creation of Canada into an independent
nation? I believe that the great mass of our people would prefer
independence to political union with any other people. And so would
I. As a Canadian I am not willing that Canada should cease to be.
Fellow Canadians, are you? (Cries of “No.”) I am not willing that
Canada should commit national suicide. Are you? (Cries of “No.”) I
am not willing that Canada should be absorbed into the United
States. Are you? (Cries of “No.”) I am not willing that both our British
connection and our hope of a Canadian nationality shall be for ever
destroyed. (Cheers.) Annexation necessarily means all that. It
means, too, the abolition of all that is to us preferable in Canadian
character and institutions as contrasted with what in these respects
our neighbours prefer. . . . But I don’t want to belong to them. I
don’t want to give up my allegiance on their account or for any
advantage they may offer. . . . I cannot bring myself to forget the
hatred which so many of our neighbours cherish towards the nation
we love and to which we are proud to belong. I cannot forget the
influence which that hatred exerts in their public affairs. I don’t want
to belong to a nation in which both political parties have for party
purposes to vie with one another in exhibiting this hatred. I don’t
want to belong to a nation in which a suspicion that a politician has
a friendly feeling towards the great nation which gave him birth is
enough to ensure his defeat at the polls. . . . No, I do not want
annexation. I prefer the ills I suffer to the ills that annexation would
involve. I love my nation, the nation of our fathers, and shall not
willingly join any nation which hates her. I love Canada, and I want
to perform my part, whatever it may be, in maintaining her
existence as a distinct political or national organisation. I believe this
to be on the whole and in the long run the best thing for Canadians
and the best thing for the whole American continent. I hope that
when another century has been added to the age of Canada, it may
still be Canada, and that its second century shall, like its first, be
celebrated by Canadians unabsorbed, numerous, prosperous,
powerful, and at peace. For myself I should prefer to die in that
hope than to die President of the United States. (Cheers and
applause.)
Sir Oliver’s biographer, C. R. W. Biggar, says of this speech:
Quoted and discussed by almost every newspaper in Canada
from Halifax to Vancouver, and also by the leading journals of Britain
and the United States, Sir Oliver Mowat’s speech at the Niagara
Centennial Celebration sounded the death-knell of the annexation
movement in Ontario.
While Sir Oliver was speaking I was sitting close behind him, next
to Mr. Wm. Kirby, who was a staunch loyalist and keen Imperialist.
He was delighted and whispered to me, “Mr. Mowat has stolen your
thunder,” and again, “He is making your speech.” I replied, “Yes,
there will not be any need for me to say much now.” And when I
was called upon to speak after him I made a speech strongly
supporting him but very brief, feeling, as I did, that he had done all
that was necessary in that line.
He was always impressed with the feeling of hostility in the
United States. As I had been speaking upon that subject for years in
unmistakable language, and was often abused for my outspoken
comments, I was delighted on one occasion some years before at a
Board of Trade banquet in the Horticultural Pavilion, Toronto, to hear
him say positively “that the United States was a hostile nation.”
Afterwards in the cloak room I congratulated him warmly upon his
speech, and thanked him for speaking so plainly about the hostility
of the United States. Sir John A. Macdonald was standing by, and he
turned playfully towards Mr. Mowat, and, shaking him by the
shoulders, said, “Yes, Denison, did he not do well, the little tyrant?”
This was in reference to the opposition papers having sometimes
called him “the little tyrant.” Mr. Mowat seemed highly amused, and I
was much impressed by the evident kindly, almost affectionate,
personal feeling between the two rival statesmen.
The decided position taken by Mr. Mowat certainly had an
immense influence upon the Liberal party, and in this he was ably
seconded by the Hon. G. W. Ross, who on many occasions sounded
a clear note in favour of British connection and Imperial
consolidation.
 CHAPTER XVIII

DISSOLUTION OF THE IMPERIAL FEDERATION

LEAGUE IN ENGLAND

On the 30th January, 1891, Sir Leonard Tilley, of New Brunswick,

was appointed President of the League in Canada in place of D’Alton
McCarthy, mainly through the instrumentality of Principal Grant, who
was of the opinion that the course taken by Mr. McCarthy in
opposition to the Jesuit Estates Act and his movement in favour of
Equal Rights were so unsatisfactory to the French Canadians that the
prospect of the League obtaining their support would be hopeless
while he remained President. Sir Leonard Tilley was one of the
Fathers of Confederation, and at the time Lieutenant-Governor of
New Brunswick.
A meeting of the Council of the League in Canada was held on
the 18th September, 1891, Sir Leonard Tilley, President, in the chair,
when after careful discussion they passed a resolution asking the
League in England to help the Canadian Government to secure the
denunciation of the German and Belgian treaties, and a second one
urging once more the importance of a preferential trade
arrangement between the Mother Country and the Colonies.
On the 30th of the same month, both Houses of the Canadian
Parliament passed unanimously an address to the Imperial
Government, asking them to denounce the German and Belgian
treaties which prevented preferential trade arrangements between
the various parts of the British Empire.
The Seventh Annual General Meeting of the League in Canada
was held in the Tower Room, House of Commons, Ottawa, on the
1st March, 1892, Mr. Alexander McNeill in the chair. A still further
advance in the policy of the Canadian League was made in a
resolution moved by Lt.-Col. W. Hamilton Merritt and carried as
follows:
That in the event of preferential inter Imperial trade relations
being adopted in the British Empire, it is the opinion of this League
that Canada will be found ready and willing to bear her share in a
just and reasonable proportion of Imperial responsibilities.
On the 28th April, 1892, Mr. McNeill moved in the House of
Commons:
That if and when the Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland
admits Canadian products to the markets of the United Kingdom
upon more favourable terms than it accords to the products of
foreign countries, the Parliament of Canada will be prepared to
accord corresponding advantages by a substantial reduction in the
duties it imposes upon British manufactured goods.
This was carried by ninety-eight votes to sixty-four.
All this was very gratifying to our League, and proved to us that
the campaign we had been waging in Canada for nearly five years
had convinced the majority of the people of the soundness of our
policy. We had our Parliament with us both on the question of the
German and Belgian treaties and preferential tariffs. In Great Britain,
however, our progress had been slow; with the exception of Sir
Howard Vincent no prominent British politician had accepted the
principle of preferential tariffs. Lord Salisbury had spoken tentatively
at the Guildhall on the 9th November, 1890, and at Hastings on the
18th May, 1892, but he was, while in a sense favourable, very
cautious in his remarks, as he felt public opinion in Great Britain was
quite averse to any such policy on account of their obstinate
adherence to the principle of Free Trade.
The majority of the Imperial Federation League in England were
not at all favourable to the views of the Canadian League, and the
Journal of the League showed its bias in all its articles on the
subject, while Lord Knutsford on behalf of the Imperial Government
in his dispatch on the 2nd April, 1892, in answer to the joint address
of the Canadian Houses of Parliament declared, that for reasons
given, “Her Majesty’s Government have felt themselves unable to
advise Her Majesty to comply with the prayer of the address which
you have transmitted for submission to Her Majesty.”
The Eighth Annual General Meeting of the League in Canada was
held in Montreal on the 13th February, 1893, Mr. Alexander McNeill,
Vice-President, in the chair, and a resolution was carried, asking the
Government to request the Imperial Government to summon an
Imperial Conference. Sir Leonard Tilley wrote to the meeting asking
to be relieved of the duties of President, and advising the election of
Mr. Alexander McNeill in his place. In my absence, through Mr.
McNeill’s efforts, I was elected President of the League. I accepted
the position, and on examination of its affairs I found that from a
business point of view it was in a very bad condition. The work of
the Secretary was behindhand, the League was without funds and
considerably in debt. I soon succeeded in placing it in a much better
position. A large amount of arrears of fees was collected, and with
the assistance of Mr. Herbert Mason and the late C. J. Campbell we
soon secured subscriptions from a number of friends of the cause,
whose names I feel should be recorded as they aided the movement
for many years. The list of subscribers was as follows: George T.
Denison, J. Herbert Mason, George Gooderham, A. R. Creelman,
John T. Small, A. B. Lee, D’Alton McCarthy, Sir Sandford Fleming, Sir
Frank Smith, Alfred Gooderham, T. G. Blackstock, D. R. Wilkie,
Larratt W. Smith, E. B. Osler, A. M. Cosby, George R. R. Cockburn,
Hugh Blain, Albert E. Gooderham, W. G. Gooderham, and W. H.
Beatty. The debts were paid, and a balance on hand and the future
expenses for some years secured. A new secretary was appointed,
and everything was in good working order.
I had barely succeeded in this when I received from the secretary
of the League in England a communication marked “Strictly private
and confidential,” informing me that there was a proposal to dissolve
the League, and close its business.
I was much astonished and alarmed at this information, and
much embarrassed by the strict secrecy imposed on me, but a day
or two afterwards I found by the cable dispatches in the Toronto
papers that the matter had come before the Council in England and
that the motion had been adjourned for six months. I concluded that
the six months’ hoist meant the end of it. So I preserved the strict
request for secrecy which had been made to me. I had before
written privately in reply to the Secretary, Mr. A. H. Loring, protesting
against the proposition to dissolve the League. And I happened to
mention that I personally would feel inclined to keep up the
struggle. I thought the postponement had settled the matter, but as
Mr. John T. Small, the Hon. Treasurer, was going to England that
summer, and as he was a member of the Executive Committee of
the League in England and entitled to know what was being done, I
urged him very particularly to go to the head office in London, and
inquire carefully as what was going on. When he returned he told
me that he had twice tried to see Mr. Loring but failed, that he had
asked for his address, which the clerk said he could not give him as
he was away on his holidays, and Mr. Small was assured by the clerk
that there was nothing going on, and that there was no information
that he knew of to give him.
All this lulled me into a feeling of security. Suddenly on 25th
November, 1893, the news came by cable to the Press that on the
previous day a meeting had been held in London, and that the
League had been dissolved. The meeting was called by a circular
dated 17th November, so that there was no possibility for the
Canadian members of the Council in England to have attended, even
if notices had been sent to them, which was not done.
 In the Journal for the 1st December, 1893 (the last issue of that
publication), it is stated that discussion had been taking place in the
meetings of the Executive Committee during the previous six
months, to decide upon the course of action to be adopted by the
League in the immediate future; and it shows that a special
committee had been appointed to consider the matter. The report of
this committee was signed by the Rt. Hon. Edward Stanhope, M.P.,
President, Lord Brassey, Sir John Colomb, R. Munro-Ferguson, M.P.,
H. O. Arnold-Forster, M.P., S. Vaughan Morgan, the Lord Reay, and J.
G. Rhodes. This committee reported “a recommendation, that the
operations of the League should be brought to a close.”
“This report was discussed at several meetings of the Executive
Committee, and alternative proposals were carefully considered
during the autumn,” and on the 24th November, 1893, the report
was adopted by a vote of 18 to 17, Mr. Loring saying he had been
assured that the Canadian League would continue as heretofore.
In spite of all these discussions mentioned, Mr. Small was
assured there was nothing going on, and the Canadian League were
kept in ignorance of the movement until it was accomplished.
This dissolution of the League at a council meeting to which none
of the thirty-five Canadian members representing the Canadian
Branch were either invited or notified, caused a considerable feeling
of dissatisfaction among our members, and was a severe and
disheartening blow to all friends of the cause in Canada, the
concealment and secrecy of the whole movement being very
unsatisfactory to everyone.
I called a meeting of our Executive Committee at once for the
27th November when the matter was considered. A resolution was
moved and unanimously carried that the Secretary should notify the
Secretary of the Imperial Federation League to stop the paper at the
end of this year, and if the journal should be continued that they
should communicate direct with the Canadian subscribers.
 The following resolution was also, after careful consideration,
carried unanimously:
Moved by G. R. R. Cockburn, Esq., M.P., seconded by H. J.
Wickham:
1. That the Executive Committee having had brought to its notice
telegrams from England published during the past week in the daily
papers stating that the Council of the League in England
contemplated carrying resolutions tending towards its dissolution,
would ask (as it conceives it has the right to do) to be advised at
once of any steps proposed to be taken in that direction.
2. The Canadian Branch of the League was formed at a meeting
held in Montreal on the 9th May, 1885. At that meeting the
resolutions passed at the Conference held in London on the 29th
July, 1884, and at the inaugural meeting of the League held on the
18th November, 1884, were accepted, and a resolution was then
carried forming a Canadian Branch of the League, to be called the
Imperial Federation League in Canada.
3. Among the resolutions of the League in England so accepted
were the following:—
(1) That the object of the League be to secure by federation the
permanent unity of the Empire.
(2) That British subjects throughout the Empire be invited to
become members and to form and organise branches of the League
which may place their representatives on the general committee.
4. Canada then was, and is to-day, face to face with momentous
questions involving its whole political future. The Earl of Rosebery
then and until recently President of the League, in a speech at
Edinburgh on the 31st October, 1888, quoted from a speech
delivered in the American Senate by Senator Sherman these words:
“I am anxious to bring about a public policy that will make more
intimate our relations with the Dominion of Canada. Anything that
will tend to the union of Canada with the United States will meet
with my most hearty support. I want Canada to be part of the
United States. Within ten years from this time (and I ask your
particular attention to this), within ten years from this time the
Dominion of Canada will, in my judgment, be represented either in
the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain, or in the Congress of the
United States.” Such language he thought worthy of attention, and
then Lord Rosebery went on to say: “My plan is this: to endeavour
so to influence public opinion at home and in the Colonies that there
shall come an imperious demand from the people of this country,
both at home and abroad, that this federation should be brought
about.”
5. To bring about a solution of the questions above indicated on
the lines laid down by Lord Rosebery has been, since the formation
of the Canadian Branch and up to this time, its constant and anxious
care, and many of its members have, at great personal sacrifice,
devoted themselves to securing the permanent unity of the Empire,
with Canada as an integral part.
6. Much work has been done, but much more remains to be
done. The most enthusiastic of our members would be unable to say
that the objects of the League have been accomplished, or that the
question above referred to especially affecting Canada has as yet
been solved.
7. The dissolution of the League in England would therefore be
nothing less than the desertion of the Canadian Branch at a critical
period in its history, and would further appear necessarily to involve
the destruction of the Leagues branches both in Canada and
elsewhere. To those at least who are unfriendly to our aims, it will
seem that the great cause, of which this branch may without
exaggeration be said to be the representative in Canada, has
received a heavy blow indeed at the hands of its friends.
8. Under these circumstances the Council of the League in
England will, this committee is convinced, appreciate the necessity
and propriety of consulting the Canadian Branch of the League, and
of duly notifying the members resident in Canada, of the Executive
Committee and of the Council of the League in England, before
taking any such step as that above referred to, a step to which this
committee has seen the first and only reference in the public Press.
Not long afterwards we learned that a small faction, principally
those who had managed to destroy the League, had formed a new
organisation, had taken over the office, appropriated the records,
lists of members, subscription list, &c., and adopted the same trade
mark or title cover used for pamphlets. They also assumed the name
“Imperial Federation (Defence) Committee,” and began circulating
literature, pamphlets, fly-sheets, &c., all pointing out the
shortcomings of the Colonies, and demanding cash contributions to
the Army and Navy. This was done in a spirit that aroused a good
deal of hostile feeling in Canada, and did much more harm than
good to the cause they seemed to advocate. Had they desired to
destroy the movement in Canada, they could not have taken more
effective steps to secure that result.
This intrigue has been the most puzzling circumstance connected
with the history of the Imperial Federation movement. I have never
been able, even after the most careful inquiry, to reach with
confidence the real cause of such peculiar conduct. At one time I
thought that as Lord Rosebery had become Premier the existence of
the League might have become embarrassing to him, and that he
had been in favour of doing away with it, but Dr. Parkin assured me
that this could not be, as Lord Rosebery referred to the question
some years after when Dr. Parkin was his guest at Mentmore, and
asked him why the League was dissolved, and Lord Rosebery said
that he regretted its dissolution very much and could never
understand it.
My own impression, although it is, of course, not capable of
proof, has always been that a few free traders on the committee
were alarmed at the progress the Canadian members were making
in spreading views in favour of preferential tariffs, and in reference
to which Sir Charles Tupper had been rather aggressive.