the United States. The great cause of delay in the building of railways is the scarcity of labour; but with the demand. will in time follow the supply.

national

But it is not right that a history of British Canada, how- New ever imperfect, should close with the statement of mere type. material development. Man does not live by bread alone, and the more important question must ever be-What kind of national type are these great material advantages bringing into life? To no single country have perhaps upon the whole more talents been given. From none, then, can more be reasonably required. Starting as a stronghold of some of the best features of old French life in a new continent, maintaining that respect for God and for the family which are. the corner-stones of national permanence, French Canada was conquered, though not absorbed, by a race which could claim parallel virtues. By the side of the French Canadian, the Scottish element in Upper Canada and Nova Scotia presents features of a no less persistent type. How great has been that influence is well shown by the number of Canadian statesmen who have been of Scottish origin. Sir John Macdonald, George Brown, Alexander Mackenzie are the most conspicuous names in a list which would run to great length.

In Canada nature is so far reluctant that her gifts cannot be obtained without effort, and the difficulties in the way make men rise to the occasion, without exposing them to the danger of useless sacrifice. The existence of different provinces and different districts of the same province has prevented the agglomeration of population in large centres, one of the most disquieting features of modern civilization. As we meet it in England, the new national type which is arising is in some ways a blend of the American and the British types. That American civilization has invaded, and will increasingly invade, Canada cannot be denied, and the national character has already much of the quickness, the

absence of mauvaise honte, the adaptability, which we think of as peculiarly American. Still, the fundamental qualities of the Canadians revert to British and French ancestors, and there is no broadly marked distinction in their case, as in the United States, between the nervous dyspeptic business man of the eastern cities and the hardy western farmer.

In spite of our boasted civilization and Christianity, behaviour in war is still, perhaps, the ultimate test of the virtue of nations; and tried by that standard the experience of the South African War would seem to show that the Canadian would not be wanting. What the political future may be we cannot tell, but though the wonderful growth of this already great nation must bring in its train new political problems for Canada and for the Empire to solve, it may safely be said that the prospects of the maintenance of the British connexion are far brighter than they were forty years ago, when the Dominion first came into being. The Imperial Conference held at Ottawa in 1894 struck a new note in Canadian public life which must grow in volume; and the establishment of an imperial penny postal system is a powerful missionary of the British connexion. Meanwhile, under the scheme founded by Mr. Rhodes, many of the leading Canadian public men will carry with them throughout life traditions and beliefs learned at Oxford.

To those brought up under old traditions the chief danger threatening Canada would seem to arise from its own too great prosperity. The Greek and the Jew agreed that it was an ominous sign for a man when all things went smooth to him. The idea that those whom God loveth He chasteneth, and that only from the furnaces of trial and affliction can come out the wrought-iron of chosen men and peoples, has sunk deep into our convictions, and finds apparent justification in the facts of history. Perhaps the true moral may be the same as in the case of the rich man of the Gospel. Prosperity no more than riches is a bar to the attainment of the highest;

it only makes that attainment more difficult and more a matter of wonder. The ring of Polycrates, which will not return upon the hands of those sacrificing it, is the cultivation on a large scale of the kindly charities of social life, which were easier in darker days to the choice spirits among those who were linked by common misery or by common wrong.

AUTHORITIES

On the North-West rebellion, see Willison, op. cit. vol. i, chapter xvi, and Soldiering in Canada, by G. T. Denison. Toronto 1901.

Mr. Laurier's speech on the occasion of Sir John Macdonald's death is set out in Pope, op. cit. vol. ii, appendix xxx.

On Sir Wilfrid Laurier's relations with the Roman Catholic Church, see the very interesting chapters in Willison, op. cit.

On the material development, apart from newspapers, &c., use has been made of New Canada and the New Canadians. By Howard Angus Kennedy. London, 1907.

There is a valuable report to the Board of Trade on the North-West of Canada, drawn up in 1904 by James Mavor, Professor of Political Economy in the University of Toronto.

See also Problems of Greater Britain by Sir Charles W. Dilke, 2nd ed. 1890, vol. i, part 1; Canada in the Twentieth Century, by A. G. Bradley, 1906; and Le Canada, les deux races, par André Siegfried, Paris, 1906 (an English translation of which was published in 1907).

Gosford, Earl of

1820-1828

1828-1830

1830-1835

1835-1838

Colborne, John, Sir (Acting) Feb. 1838-May 1838, and Nov. 1838

Thomson, Charles Poulett (afterwards Lord Sydenham)

Oct. 1839

May 1838-Nov. 1838

Cathcart, Earl of

Elgin, Earl of .

1846-1847

1847-1854

Head, Edmund, Sir

Monck, Lord .

1854-1861

1861-1867

LEADING DATES IN CANADIAN HISTORY SUBSEQUENT TO BRITISH CONQUEST.

1763 Proclamation of October 7.

1774 Quebec Act

1775-6 Invasion of Canada by Americans. Siege of Quebec.

1783 Treaty of Versailles.

1784 United Empire loyalists settle in Nova Scotia and Upper Canada.

1784 New Brunswick carved out of Nova Scotia.

1791 Constitutional Act.

1794 Jay's Treaty.

1796 Restoration of Western Posts.

1806 First French newspaper.

1812 War with United States; battle of Queenston.

1813 Battles of Lake Erie, Chateauguay and Chrystler's Farm.

1814 Battle of Lundy's Lane.

1814 Treaty of Ghent.

1818 Acceptance by British Government of undertaking by Lower Canadian Assembly to provide full payment of supplies.

1825 Opening of Lachine Canal.

1828 House of Commons Committee on Canada.

1829 Opening of Welland Canal.

1830 Foundation of Upper Canada College, Toronto.

1832 Opening of Rideau Canal.