federal or state ticket has led to gross corruption and abuse by the political machine and its professional politicians.

The trial by judges of all cases of bribery and corruption in municipal as well as legislative elections-a system not yet adopted by the States, and necessarily questionable when so many judges are elective.

No doubt there are difficulties constantly occurring in the working of the Canadian federal constitution, arising from conflicts of jurisdiction between the Dominion and the provinces, despite the careful enumeration of powers in the fundamental law or British North America Act of 1867; but these doubts are gradually being removed by the wise practice which places the interpretation of all written legal instruments in the courts. Questions of gravity have also been raised with respect to separate schools in the province of Manitoba and the Territories, to which the sections of the Union Act protecting such schools in Ontario and Quebec do not directly apply; but here also the wisdom and learning of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of England and of the Canadian judiciary are to a large extent nullifying the contentions of politicians and bringing about a solution of difficulties which, in a country divided between Protestants and Roman Catholics, might cause serious complications if not settled on sound principles of law which all can accept.

One of the most encouraging results of this political system has been not merely the material developement of the country, but the creation of that national sentiment which must lie at the basis of any political structure, if it is to withstand the storm of passion and faction which from time to time will beat against its walls. The government of an immense country like Canada is surrounded with many difficulties which an Englishman or an American not thoroughly conversant with its history and condition can hardly realise. The great extent of territory and the diverse interests of the populations that inhabit it from the Atlantic to the Pacific shores require that there should be much wisdom and patience used in the exercise of the large responsibility which these circumstances throw upon the Government. If we look at the map, we see lying on the Atlantic seaboard three provinces whose industries are chiefly maritime, and whose propinquity to the United States naturally gives great importance to the commercial arrangement that may exist with that country. These provinces are separated by many hundreds of miles from the populous,

prolific province of Ontario, and all commercial intercourse must be by means of circuitous railroads, or by the long and expensive navigation of the St. Lawrence. To encourage inter-provincial trade under these circumstances, and make the people see that their true interests should not lie in dependence upon the United States, or on any single country, but on opening up new avenues of commerce wherever practicable, has been the natural policy of the Government ever since 1867. The result has been, on the whole, moderately successful, considering that the fight has been not merely against geographical obstacles, but also against the antagonism exhibited by American politicians, until the Wilson Bill, which now places many Canadian products on a more favourable footing than has been the case since the repeal of the reciprocity treaty of 1854. The firmness with which the Government has adhered to the rights it possesses in the fisheries, and the liberality with which it has promoted maritime interests by the construction of railways and other public works necessary to the material developement of the country, have succeeded in restraining the clamour that was raised for some years in the maritime provinces against the operation of the Union. The situation has still its difficulties; but there is every reason to believe that the national sentiment is largely predominant, and that the mass of the people clearly see that by strengthening the confederation they are assuring their true happiness and prosperity in the end, and that to weaken or destroy it by the withdrawal of any single province would mean the destruction of British interests on the continent and the annexation of Canada eventually to the United States. Then, leaving that branch of the subject, if we look at the distinct national elements that exist throughout Canada, we have further evidence of the difficulties with which a Government has to contend in striving to achieve the unity and security of this widely extended confederation. When the Canadian provinces were united, in 1840, the French Canadians were restive and uncertain of their future. The Act of Union was considered by many of them as an attempt to make them subservient to British influences. The elimination of their language from legislative records was to them a great grievance, because it was, in their opinion, clear evidence of the spirit which lay at the basis of the Union. As a matter of fact, however, the Union Act was a measure which from the very outset gave Lower Canada a political

superiority in the government of the whole country. The representation of the two provinces was equal in the assembly, but the greater unity that distinguished the French Canadians in all matters that might affect their political power or their provincial interests naturally enabled them to dominate the English parties, divided among themselves on so many political issues. The French language was soon restored to its old place, and step by step all the principles that the popular party of Lower Canada had been fighting for previous to 1840 were granted even an elective legislative council-under the new régime. The consequence was that French Canada eventually recognised its power, and its people forgot their old grievances and were ready to sustain the union into which they had entered with doubt and apprehension. It was the English-speaking people of the West that now raised a clamour against French domination,' when the representation granted in 1840 did not do justice to the increase of population in Upper Canada, where, since that year, the progress had been more rapid than in the French section. The consequence was that the two provinces, united in law, were practically divided on the floor of parliament, and government at last became almost impossible from the division of parties and the controlling influence of French Canada, always determined to yield nothing to the cry from the upper province that would destroy the equality of representation. The solution of these difficulties, arising, it will be seen, from national antagonism, was found in a federal union, under which Lower Canada obtained supreme control over the provincial matters in which she has an immediate interest, and at the same time has been able to exercise great influence in national affairs by means of her large representation in the Dominion parliament. The results of the political changes which have occurred since the days of Lord Durham have been very different from what he hoped would be the case when he wrote his famous Report, throughout which there is a strong desire to diminish French Canadian influence and gradually absorb the French Canadian nationality in the English-speaking people. In Lord Durham's opinion, the first and steady purpose of the British Government should be to establish 'an English population, with English laws and language, in this province, and to trust its government to none but a decidedly English legislature." As a matter of fact, Lord Durham entirely underrated the national instincts of

the French Canadian population and the tenacity with which they cling to their national life. 'Le Canadien,' a newspaper established in French Canadian interests in the early days of this century, struck the keynote of French Canadian aspiration when it adopted as its motto, Notre 6 langue, notre foi, et nos institutions.' Under the favourable conditions of the federal system Quebec has become essentially a French Canadian province, in which the English are actually in a very small majority, though it is one distinguished always by its great intelligence and superior enterprise. In the province of Ontario the French race has recently controlled the election of more than one county which heretofore had been English in its representation. The very 'national policy,' under which an artificial stimulus has been given to manufactures, has created industries in which the French Canadians can find some employment, instead of migrating to the mills of Holyoke, Manchester, and Lowell. At the same rate of progress, and under an equally favourable condition of things, five millions of French-speaking people will inhabit the Dominion in four or five decades. In the nature of things they must always exercise a powerful influence on the future destiny of the young confederation. It is therefore all-important to understand their actual sentiment with respect to the Union. At times, when they believe their nationality is in danger or an injustice has been done to one of their race, they become aggressive, but, happily for the peace and unity of the country, the conservative instincts of the leading - classes ultimately prevail over the passion and impulsiveness of the masses.

While reason and common sense have the mastery in French Canada, all classes can hardly fail to see that the institutions which they value so highly can only be preserved by such a system of government as they now possess under the protecting influence of the Imperial state, and were they to-morrow to find themselves in the ranks of the federal republic, their position would, in all probability, become eventually, like that of their compatriots in Louisiana, interesting from the point of view of the antiquary and the student of human life, but insignificant from a political or national aspect. No French Canadian writer or politician of weight in the country now urges so impossible or suicidal a scheme as the foundation of an independent French nationality on the banks of the St. Lawrence. Mr. Laurier, the brilliant leader of the Opposition in Parliament, only

voiced the sentiments of his compatriots, Conservative as well as Liberal, when he said, in the presence of a large English audience in the city of Toronto:

'If there are any amongst my fellow-countrymen who have ever dreamed of closing themselves into a sinall community of Frenchmen on the banks of the St. Lawrence, I am not one of them. It would be an act of black ingratitude if, after we have sought from England the privileges and rights of British subjects, we were now to reject the responsibilities of such subjects; if, having sought the protection of Britain to grow strong, we were, when strong enough, to attempt to stab the friendly hand, and refuse to cast in our lot with those who are fellow-countrymen of ours, and whose birthright we claim as our inheritance. When confederation was established it was not intended that it should be based upon the humiliation of any one race: that any one should give up its characteristics; but it was expected that though every nationality might retain its individuality, yet that all would be actuated by one aspiration and would endeavour to form one nation.'

At times when the French Canadians press their national prejudices to extremes, a spirit of antagonism is at once evoked between them and the English classes, but the unfortunate state of things that existed before 1837 no longer shows itself with its original intensity, and whatever jealousies or rivalries break out now and then above the surface are sooner or later carried away by the current of sound public opinion, anxious for the harmony of all classes and creeds, and only solicitous for the safe working of the Union. A certain rivalry will always exist between the two nationalities, but as long as moderate and conciliatory counsels prevail, it will be, let us hope, the rivalry of peoples animated by the same patriotic impulses, and engaged in the same great work of building up a new nation on this continent. At all events a great deal has been gained since 1837 in the direction of creating a friendly and harmonious feeling between distinct races who at one time in their history seemed on the point of engaging in an internecine conflict like that which convulsed the North and South for years.

Every one who is at all conversant with Canadian political history for the past half-century will recognise the fact that Canada owes much to men like Sir Louis Lafontaine, who successfully inaugurated responsible government after the union of 1841, and did a great deal to allay sectional jealousies and antagonisms. It was Sir George Cartier who carried the province of Quebec with little or no friction into the federal union. In the biography of Sir John Macdonald, which is now before us, full justice is done to the broad