When Max scampered onto its shores in 1910, his pockets already laden with cash, his abilities fine-tuned, it was still one of the great powers in the world. It was still the greatest empire, at its twilight to be sure, but nevertheless, secure in itself and in all things British. Tolstoy says in War and Peace that the assumption was “What was British was proper and right.” A queen had sat on the throne for sixty years and had defined an age, its men and women travelled the globe, and its military still controlled a good part of it. Max Aitken came from one small part of that globe, but his allegiance in so many respects was to Britain, and, in fact, he was a British citizen. It is strange nowadays to think that a boy growing up in Newcastle, New Brunswick, could suddenly find himself running for the British House of Commons. Ion Benn the British Unionist (Tory) said he was the one to get Max his seat, because he had seen his potential while on a visit to Montreal. It is not really true that he “got Max his seat”—however, he did help him in many ways.
