HISTORY

discovery. about a.d. 1000 leif ericsson, a norseman, led an expedition from greenland to the shores probably of what is now canada, but the first effective contact of europeans with canada was not until the end of the 15th century. john cabot (q.v.), sailing from bristol, reached the shores of canada in 1497. soon after fishermen from europe began to go in considerable numbers to the newfoundland banks, and in time to the coasts of the mainland of america. in 1534 a french expedition under jacques cartier, a seaman of st malo, sent out by francis i., entered the gulf of st lawrence. in the following year cartier sailed up the river as far as the lachine rapids, to the spot where montreal now stands. during the next sixty years the fisheries and the fur trade received some attention, but no colonization was undertaken. french colony. at the beginning of the 17th century we find the first great name in canadian history. samuel de champlain (q.v.), who had seen service under henry iv. of france, was employed in the interests of successive fur-trading monopolies and sailed up the st lawrence in 1603. in the next year he was on the bay of fundy and had a share in founding the first permanent french colony in north america--that of port royal, now annapolis, nova scotia. in 1608 he began the settlement which was named quebec. from 1608 to his death in 1635 champlain worked unceasingly to develop canada as a colony, to promote the fur trade and to explore the interior. he passed southward from the st lawrence to the beautiful lake which still bears his name and also westward, up the st lawrence and the ottawa, in the dim hope of reaching the shores of china. he reached lake huron and lake ontario, but not the great lakes stretching still farther west. the era was that of the thirty years' war (1618-48), and during that great upheaval england was sometimes fighting france. already, in 1613, the english from virginia had almost completely wiped out the french settlement at port royal, and when in 1629 a small english fleet appeared at quebec, champlain was forced to surrender. but in 1632 canada was restored to france by the treaty of st germain-en-laye. just at this time was formed under the aegis of cardinal richelieu the "company of new france," known popularly as "the company of one hundred associates." with 120 members it was granted the whole st lawrence valley; for fifteen years from 1629 it was to have a complete monopoly of trade; and products from its territory were to enter france free of duty. in return the company was to take to new france 300 colonists a year; only french catholics might go; and for each settlement the company was to provide three priests. until 1663 this company controlled new france. it was an era of missionary zeal in the roman catholic church, and canada became the favourite mission. the society of jesus was only one of several orders--franciscans (recollets), sulpicians, ursulines, &c.--who worked in new france. the jesuits have attracted chief attention, not merely on account of their superior zeal and numbers, but also because of the tragic fate of some of their missionaries in canada. in the voluminous _relations_ of their doings the story has been preserved. among the huron indians, whose settlements bordered on the lake of that name, they secured a great influence. but there was relentless war between the hurons and the iroquois occupying the southern shore of lake ontario, and when in 1649 the iroquois ruined and almost completely destroyed the hurons, the jesuit missionaries also fell victims to the conquerors' rage. missionaries to the iroquois themselves met with a similar fate and the missions failed. commercial life also languished. the company planned by richelieu was not a success. it did little to colonize new france, and in 1660, after more than thirty years of its monopoly, there were not more than 2000 french in the whole country. in 1663 the charter of the company was revoked. no longer was a trading company to discharge the duties of a sovereign. new france now became a royal province, with governor, intendant, &c., on the model of the provinces of france. in 1664 a new "company of the west indies" (_compagnie des indes occidentales_) was organized to control french trade and colonization not only in canada but also in west africa, south america and the west indies. at first it promised well. in 1665 some 2000 emigrants were sent to canada; the european population was soon doubled, and louis xiv. began to take a personal interest in the colony. but once more, in contrast with english experience, the great trading company proved a failure in french hands as a colonizing agent, and in 1674 its charter was summarily revoked by louis xiv. henceforth in name, if not in fact, monopoly is ended in canada. by this time french explorers were pressing forward to unravel the mystery of the interior. by 1659 two frenchmen, radisson and groseillers, had penetrated beyond the great lakes to the prairies of the far west; they were probably the first europeans to see the mississippi. by 1666 a french mission was established on the shores of lake superior, and in 1673 joliet and marquette, explorers from canada, reached and for some distance descended the mississippi. five years later cavelier de la salle was making his toilsome way westward from quebec to discover the true character of the great river and to perform the feat, perilous in view of the probable hostility of the natives, of descending it to the sea. in 1682 he accomplished his task, took possession of the valley of the mississippi in the name of louis xiv. and called it louisiana. thus from canada as her basis was france reaching out to grasp a continent. there was a keen rivalry between church and state for dominance in this new empire. in 1659 arrived at quebec a young prelate of noble birth, francois xavier de laval-montmorency, who had come to rule the church in canada. an ascetic, who practised the whole cycle of medieval austerities, he was determined that canada should be ruled by the church, and he desired for new france a puritanism as strict as that of new england. his especial zeal was directed towards the welfare of the indians. these people showed, to their own ruin, a reckless liking for the brandy of the white man. laval insisted that the traders should not supply brandy to the natives. he declared excommunicate any one who did so and for a time he triumphed. more than once he drove from canada governors who tried to thwart him. in 1663 he was actually invited to choose a governor after his own mind and did so, but with no cessation of the old disputes. in 1672 louis de buade, comte de frontenac (q.v.), was named governor of new france, and in him the church found her match. yet not at once; for, after a bitter struggle, he was recalled in 1682. but canada needed him. he knew how to control the ferocious iroquois, who had cut off france from access to lake ontario; to check them he had built a fort where now stands the city of kingston. with frontenac gone, these savages almost strangled the colony. on a stormy august night in 1689 1500 iroquois burst in on the village of lachine near montreal, butchered 200 of its people, and carried off more than 100 to be tortured to death at their leisure. then the strong man frontenac was recalled to face the crisis. struggles with england. it was a critical era. james ii. had fallen in england, and william iii. was organizing europe against french aggression. france's plan for a great empire in america was now taking shape and there, as in europe, a deadly struggle with england was inevitable. frontenac planned attacks upon new england and encouraged a ruthless border warfare that involved many horrors. him, in return, the english attacked. sir william phips sailed from boston in 1690, conquered acadia, now nova scotia, and then hazarded the greater task of leading a fleet up the st lawrence against quebec. on the 16th of october 1690 thirty-four english ships, some of them only fishing craft, appeared in its basin and demanded the surrender of the town. when frontenac answered defiantly, phips attacked the place; but he was repulsed and in the end sailed away unsuccessful. each side had now begun to see that the vital point was control of the interior, which time was to prove the most extensive fertile area in the world. la salle's expedition had aroused the french to the importance of the mississippi, and they soon had a bold plan to occupy it, to close in from the rear on the english on the atlantic coast, seize their colonies and even deport the colonists. the plan was audacious, for the english in america outnumbered the french by twenty to one. but their colonies were democracies, disunited because each was pursuing its own special interests, while the french were united under despotic leadership. frontenac attacked the iroquois mercilessly in 1696 and forced these proud savages to sue for peace. but in the next year was made the treaty of ryswick, which brought a pause in the conflict, and in 1698 frontenac died. after frontenac the iroquois, though still hostile to france, are formidable no more, and the struggle for the continent is frankly between the english and the french. the peace of ryswick proved but a truce, and when in 1701, on the death of the exiled james ii., louis xiv. flouted the claims of william iii. to the throne of england by proclaiming as king james's son, renewed war was inevitable. in europe it saw the brilliant victories of marlborough; in america it was less decisive, but france lost heavily. though the english, led by sir hovenden walker, made in 1711 an effort to take quebec which proved abortive, they seized nova scotia; and when the treaty of utrecht was made in 1713, france admitted defeat in america by yielding to britain her claims to hudson bay, newfoundland and nova scotia. but she still held the shores of the st lawrence, and she retained, too, the island of cape breton to command its mouth. there she built speedily the fortress of louisbourg, and prepared once more to challenge british supremacy in america. with a sound instinct that looked to future greatness, france still aimed, more and more, at the control of the interior of the continent. the danger from the iroquois on lake ontario had long cut her off from the most direct access to the west, and from the occupation of the ohio valley leading to the mississippi, but now free from this savage scourge she could go where she would. in 1701 she founded detroit, commanding the route from lake erie to lake huron. her missionaries and leaders were already at sault ste marie commanding the approach to lake superior, and at michilimackinac commanding that to lake michigan. they had also penetrated to what is now the canadian west, and it was a french canadian, la verendrye, who, by the route leading past the point where now stands the city of winnipeg, pressed on into the far west until in 1743, first recorded of white men, he came in sight of the rocky mountains. in the south of the continent france also crowned la salle's work by founding early in the 18th century new orleans at the mouth of the mississippi. it was a far cry from new orleans to quebec. if france could link them by a chain of settlements and shut in the english to their narrow strip of atlantic seaboard there was good promise that north america would be hers. the project was far-reaching, but france could do little to make it effective. louis xv. allowed her navy to decline and her people showed little inclination for emigration to the colonies. in 1744, when the war of the austrian succession broke out, the new england colonies planned and in 1745 effected the capture of louisbourg, the stronghold of france in cape breton island, which menaced their commerce. but to their disgust, when the peace of aix-la-chapelle was made in 1748, this conquest was handed back to france. she continued her work of building a line of forts on the great lakes--on the river niagara, on the ohio, on the mississippi; and the english colonies, with the enemy thus in their rear, grew ever more restive. in 1753 virginia warned the french on the ohio that they were encroaching on british territory. the next year, in circumstances curiously like those which were repeated when the french expedition under marchand menaced britain in egypt by seeking to establish a post on the upper nile, george washington, a young virginian officer, was sent to drive the french from their fort duquesne on the ohio river, where now stands pittsburgh. the result was sharp fighting between english and french in a time of nominal peace. in 1755 the british took the stern step of deporting the acadian french from nova scotia. though this province had been ceded to great britain in 1713 many of the acadians had refused to accept british sovereignty. in 1749 the british founded halifax, began to colonize nova scotia, and, with war imminent, deemed it prudent to disperse the acadians, chiefly along the atlantic seaboard (see nova scotia: _history_). in 1756 the seven years' war definitely began. france had no resources to cope with those of britain in america, and the british command of the sea proved decisive. on the 13th of september 1759 wolfe won his great victory before quebec, which involved the fall of that place, and a year later at montreal the french army in canada surrendered. by the peace of paris, 1763, the whole of new france was finally ceded to great britain. english possesion. with only about 60,000 french in canada at the time of the conquest it might have seemed as if this population would soon be absorbed by the incoming british. some thought that, under a protestant sovereign, the canadian catholics would be rapidly converted to protestantism. but the french type proved stubbornly persistent and to this day dominates the older canada. the first english settlers in the conquered country were chiefly petty traders, not of a character to lead in social or public affairs. the result was that the government of the time co-operated rather with the leaders among the french. after peace was concluded in 1763, canada was governed under the authority of a royal proclamation, but sooner or later a constitution specially adapted to the needs of the country was inevitable. in 1774 this was provided by the quebec act passed by the imperial parliament. under this act the western territory which france had claimed, extending as far as the mississippi and south to the ohio, was included with canada in what was called the province of quebec. this vast territory was to be governed despotically from quebec; the roman catholic church was given its old privileges in canada; and the french civil law was established permanently side by side with the english criminal law. the act linked the land-owning class in canada and the church by ties of self-interest to the british cause. the _habitant_, placed again under their authority, had less reason to be content. in 1775 began the american revolution. its leaders tried to make the revolt continental, and invaded canada, hoping that the french would join them. they took montreal and besieged quebec during the winter of 1775-1776; but the prudent leadership of sir guy carleton, afterwards lord dorchester, saved quebec and in 1776 the revolutionary army withdrew unsuccessful from canada. since that time any prospect of canada's union to the united states has been very remote. but the american revolution profoundly influenced the life of canada. the country became the refuge of thousands of american loyalists who would not desert great britain. to nova scotia, to what are now new brunswick (q.v.) and ontario (q.v.) they fled in numbers not easily estimated, but probably reaching about 40,000. until this time the present new brunswick and ontario had contained few european settlers; now they developed, largely under the influence of the loyalists of the revolution. this meant that the american type of colonial life would be reproduced in canada; but it meant also bitter hostility on the part of these colonists to the united states, which refused in any way to compensate the loyalists for their confiscated property. great britain did something; the loyalists received liberal grants of land and cash compensation amounting to nearly l4,000,000. a prevailingly french type of government was now no longer adequate in canada, and in 1791 was passed by the british parliament the constitutional act, separating canada at the ottawa river into two parts, each with its own government; lower canada, chiefly french, retaining the old system of laws, with representative institutions now added, and upper canada, on the purely british model. (for the history of lower and upper canada, now quebec and ontario, the separate articles must be consulted.) each province had special problems; the french in lower canada aimed at securing political power for their own race, while in upper canada there was no race problem, and the great struggle was for independence of official control and in all essential matters for government by the people. it may be doubted whether at this time it would have been safe to give these small communities complete self-government. but this a clamorous radical element demanded insistently, and the issue was the chief one in canada for half a century. but before this issue matured war broke out between great britain and the united states in 1812 from causes due chiefly to napoleon's continental policy. the war seemed to furnish a renewed opportunity to annex canada to the american union, and canada became the chief theatre of conflict. the struggle was most vigorous on the niagara frontier. but in the end the american invasion failed and the treaty made at ghent in 1814 left the previous status unaltered. lord durham. in 1837 a few french canadians in lower canada, led by louis joseph papineau (q.v.), took up arms with the wild idea of establishing a french republic on the st lawrence. in the same year william lyon mackenzie (q.v.) led a similar armed revolt in upper canada against the domination of the ruling officialdom called, with little reason, the "family compact." happening, as these revolts did, just at the time of queen victoria's accession, they attracted wide attention, and in 1838 the earl of durham (q.v.) was sent to govern canada and report on the affairs of british north america. clothed as he was with large powers, he undertook in the interests of leniency and reconciliation to banish, without trial, some leaders of the rebellion in lower canada. for this reason he was censured at home and he promptly resigned, after spending only five months in the country. but his _report_, published in the following year, is a masterly survey of the situation and included recommendations that profoundly influenced the later history of canada. he recommended the union of the two canadian provinces at once, the ultimate union of all british north america and the granting to this large state of full self-government. the french element he thought a menace to canada's future, and partly for this reason he desired all the provinces to unite so that the british element should be dominant. to carry out lord durham's policy the british government passed in 1840 an act of union joining upper and lower canada, and sent out as governor charles poulett thompson, who was made baron sydenham and toronto in the single parliament each province was equally represented. by this time there was more than a million people in canada, and the country was becoming important. lord sydenham died in 1841 before his work was completed, and he left canada still in a troubled condition. the french were suspicious of the union, aimed avowedly at checking their influence, and the complete self-government for which the "reformers" in english-speaking canada had clamoured was not yet conceded by the colonial office. but rapidly it became obvious that the provinces united had become too important to be held in leading strings. the issue was finally settled in 1849 when the earl of elgin was governor and the canadian legislature, sitting at montreal, passed by a large majority the rebellion losses bill, compensating citizens, some of them french, in lower canada, for losses incurred at the hands of the loyal party during the rebellion a decade earlier. the cry was easily raised by the conservative minority that this was to vote reward for rebellion. they appealed to london for intervention. the mob in montreal burned the parliament buildings and stoned lord elgin himself because he gave the royal assent to the bill. he did so in the face of this fierce opposition, on the ground that, in canadian domestic affairs, the canadian parliament must be supreme. the union of the two provinces did not work well. each was jealous of the other and deadlocks frequently occurred. commercially, after 1849, canada was prosperous. in 1854 lord elgin negotiated a reciprocity treaty with the united states which gave canadian natural products free entrance to the american market. the outbreak of the civil war in the united states in 1861 increased the demand for such products, and canada enjoyed an extensive trade with her neighbour. but, owing largely to the unfriendly attitude of great britain to the northern side during the war, the united states cancelled the treaty, when its first term of ten years ended in 1865, and it has never been renewed. under the party system in canada cabinets changed as often as, until recently, they did in france, and the union of the two provinces did not give political stability. the french and english were sufficiently equal in strength to make the task of government well nigh impossible. in 1864 came the opportunity for change, when new brunswick, nova scotia and prince edward island were considering a federal union. canada suggested a wider plan to include herself and, in october 1864, a conference was held at quebec. the conference outlined a plan of federation which subsequently, with slight modifications, passed the imperial parliament as "the british north america act," and on the 1st of july 1867, the dominion of canada came into existence. it was born during the era of the american civil war, and was planned to correct defects which time had revealed in the american federation. the provinces in canada were conceded less power than have the states in the american union; the federal government retaining the residuum of power not conceded. (g. m. w.) canada since federation. when federation was accomplished in 1867 the dominion of canada comprised only the four provinces of ontario, quebec, new brunswick and nova scotia. lord monck was appointed the first governor-general, and at his request the hon. john alexander macdonald undertook the formation of an administration. a coalition cabinet was formed, including the foremost liberals and conservatives drawn from the different provinces. under a proclamation issued from windsor castle by queen victoria on the 22nd of may the new constitution came into effect on the 1st of july. this birthday of the dominion has been fixed by statute as a public holiday, and is annually observed under the name of "dominion day." seventy-two senators--half conservatives and half liberals--were appointed, and lieutenant-governors were named for the four provinces. the prime minister was created a k.c.b., and minor honours were conferred on other ministers in recognition of their services in bringing about the union. nova scotia question. the first general election for the dominion house of commons was held during the month of august, and except in the province of nova scotia was favourable to the administration, which entered upon its parliamentary work with a majority of thirty-two. the first session of parliament was opened on the 8th of november, but adjourned on the 21st of december till the 12th of march 1868, chiefly on account of the fact that members of the dominion parliament were allowed, in ontario and quebec, to hold seats in the local legislatures, so that it was difficult for the different bodies to be in session simultaneously. it was not till 1873 that an act was passed making members of the local legislatures ineligible for seats in the house of commons. immediately after the completion of federation a serious agitation for repeal of the union arose in nova scotia, which had been brought into the federal system by a vote of the existing legislature, without any direct preliminary appeal to the people. headed by joseph howe (q.v.), the advocates of repeal swept the province at the dominion election. out of 19 members then elected 18 were pledged to repeal, dr tupper, the minister responsible for carrying the act of union, alone among the supporters of federation securing a seat. the local assembly, in which 36 out of 38 members were committed to repeal, passed an address to her majesty praying her not to "reduce this free, happy and hitherto self-governed province to the degraded condition of a servile dependency of canada," and sent howe with a delegation to london to lay the petition at the foot of the throne. howe enlisted the support of john bright and other members of parliament, but the imperial government was firm, and the duke of buckingham, as colonial secretary, soon informed the governor-general in a despatch that consent could not be given for the withdrawal of nova scotia from the dominion. meanwhile howe, convinced of the impossibility of effecting separation, and fearing disloyal tendencies which had manifested themselves in some of its advocates, entered into negotiations with dr tupper in london, and later with the dominion government, for better financial terms than those originally arranged for nova scotia in the federal system. the estimated amount of provincial debt assumed by the general government was increased by $1,186,756, and a special annual subsidy of $82,698 was granted for a period of ten years. these terms having been agreed to, howe, as a pledge of his approval and support, accepted a seat as secretary of state in the dominion cabinet. by taking this course he sacrificed much of his remarkable popularity in his native province, but confirmed the work of consolidating the dominion. it was many years before the bitterness of feeling aroused by the repeal agitation entirely subsided in nova scotia. a gloom was cast over the first parliament of the dominion by the assassination in 1868 of one of the most brilliant figures in the politics of the time, d'arcy mcgee (q.v.) his murderer, a fenian acting under the instructions of the secret society to which he belonged, was discovered, and executed in 1869. the reorganization of the various departments of state, in view of the wider interests with which they had to deal, occupied much of the attention of the first parliament of the dominion. in 1867 the postal rates were reduced and unified. in 1868 a militia system for the whole dominion was organized, the tariff altered and systematized, and a civil service act passed. the banking system of the country was put on a sound footing by a series of acts culminating in 1871, and in the same year a uniform system of decimal currency was established for the whole dominion. while the new machinery of state was thus being put in operation other large questions presented themselves. inter-colonial railway. the construction of the inter-colonial railway as a connecting link between the provinces on the seaboard and those along the st lawrence and the great lakes was a part of the federation compact, a clause of the british north america act providing that it should be begun within six months after the date of union. the guarantee of the imperial government made easy the provision of the necessary capital, but as this was coupled with a voice in the decision of the route, it complicated the latter question, about which a keen contest arose. the most direct and therefore commercially most promising line of construction passed near the boundary of the united states. recent friction with that country made this route objected to by the imperial and many canadian authorities. ultimately the longer, more expensive, but more isolated route along the shores of the gulf of st lawrence was adopted. the work was taken in hand at once, and pressed steadily forward to completion. it has since been supplemented by other lines built for more distinctly commercial ends. though not for many years a financial success, the inter-colonial railway, which was opened in 1876, has in a marked way fulfilled its object by binding together socially and industrially widely separated portions of the dominion. hudson's bay company territories. within a month of the meeting of the first parliament of the dominion a question of vast importance to the future of the country was brought forward by the hon. w. mcdougall in a series of resolutions which were adopted, and on which was based an address to the queen praying that majesty would unite rupert's land and the north-west territories to canada. a delegation consisting of sir g.e. cartier and the hon. w. mcdougall was in 1868 sent to england to negotiate with the hudson's bay company (q.v.) for the extinction of its claims, and to arrange with the imperial government for the transfer of the territory. after prolonged discussions the company agreed to surrender to the crown, in consideration of a payment of l300,000, the rights and interests in the north-west guaranteed by its charter, with the exception of a reservation of one-twentieth part of the fertile belt, and 45,000 acres of land adjacent to the trading posts of the company. for the purposes of this agreement the "fertile belt" was to be bounded as follows:--"on the south by the u.s. boundary, on the west by the rocky mountains, on the north by the northern branch of the saskatchewan river, on the east by lake winnipeg, the lake of the woods, and the waters connecting them." an act authorizing the change of control was passed by the imperial parliament in july 1868; the arrangement made with the hudson's bay company was accepted by the canadian parliament in june 1869; and the deed of surrender from the hudson's bay company to her majesty is dated november 19th, 1869. in anticipation of the formal transfer to the dominion an act was passed by the canadian parliament in the same month providing for the temporary government of rupert's land and the north-west territories. on the 28th of september the hon. w. mcdougall was appointed the first governor, and left at once to assume control on the 1st of december, when it had been understood that the formal change of possession would take place. red river rebellion. meanwhile a serious condition of affairs was developing in the red river settlement, the most considerable centre of population in the newly acquired territory. the half-breeds regarded with suspicion a transfer of control concerning which they had not been consulted. they resented the presence of the canadian surveyors sent to lay out roads and townships, and the tactless way in which some of these did their work increased the suspicion that long-established rights to the soil would not be respected. a population largely roman catholic in creed, and partly french in origin and language, feared that an influx of new settlers would overthrow cherished traditions. some were afraid of increased taxation. a group of immigrants from the united states fomented disturbance in the hope that it would lead to annexation. louis riel, a fanatical half-breed, placed himself at the head of the movement. his followers established what they called a "provisional government" of which he was chosen president, and when the newly appointed governor reached the boundary line he was prevented from entering the territory. several of the white settlers who resisted this rebellious movement were arrested and kept in confinement. one of these, a young man named thomas scott, having treated riel with defiance, was court-martialled for treason to the provisional government, condemned, and on the 4th of march 1870, shot in cold blood under the walls of fort garry. this crime aroused intense excitement throughout the country, and the orange body, particularly, to which scott belonged, demanded the immediate punishment of his murderer and the suppression of the rebellion. an armed force, composed partly of british regulars and partly of canadian volunteers, was made ready and placed under the command of colonel garnet wolseley, afterwards lord wolseley. as a military force could not pass through the united states, the expedition was compelled to take the route up lake superior, and from the head of that lake through 500 m. of unbroken and difficult wilderness. in august 1870, the force reached fort garry, to find the rebels scattered and their leader, riel, a fugitive in the neighbouring states. meanwhile, during the progress of the expedition, an act had been passed creating manitoba a province, with full powers of self-government, and the arrival of the military was closely followed by that of the first governor, mr (later sir) adams g. archibald, who succeeded in organizing the administration on a satisfactory basis. fort garry became winnipeg, and there were soon indications that it was destined to be a great city, and the commercial doorway to the vast prairies that lay beyond. meanwhile, till adequate means of transportation were provided, it was seen that city and prairie alike must wait for any large inflow of population. new provinces. provision was made in the british north america act to receive new provinces into the dominion. manitoba was the first to be constituted; in 1871 british columbia, which had hitherto held aloof, determined, under the persuasion of a sympathetic governor, mr (later sir) antony musgrave, to throw in its lot with the dominion. popular feeling in british columbia itself was not strongly in favour of union, and the terms under which the new province was to be received were the subject of much negotiation with the provincial authorities, and were keenly debated in parliament before the bill in which they were embodied was finally carried. the clause on which there was the widest divergence of opinion was one providing that a trans-continental railway, connecting the pacific province with the eastern part of the dominion, should be begun within two, and completed within ten years. to a province which at the time contained a population of only 36,000, and but half of this white, the inducement thus held out was immense. the opposition in parliament claimed that the contract was one impossible for the dominion to fulfil. the government of sir john macdonald felt, however, that the future of the dominion depended upon linking together the atlantic and the pacific, and in view of the vast unoccupied spaces lying between the great lakes and the rocky mountains, open to immigration from the united states, their audacity in undertaking the work was doubtless justified. the construction of the canadian pacific railway, thus inaugurated, became for several years the chief subject of political contention between opposing parties. anticipating the order of chronology slightly, it may be mentioned here that in 1873 prince edward island (q.v.), which had in 1865 decisively rejected proposals of the quebec conference and had in the following year repeated its rejection of federation by a resolution of the legislature affirming that no terms canada could offer would be acceptable, now decided to throw in its lot with the dominion. the island had become involved in heavy railway expenditure, and financial necessities led the electors to take a broader view of the question. in the end the federal government assumed the railway debt, arrangements were made for extinguishing certain proprietary rights which had long been a source of discontent, and on the 1st of july 1873 the dominion was rounded off by the accession of the new province. finally in 1878, in order to remove all doubts about unoccupied territory, an imperial order in council was passed in response to an address of the canadian parliament, annexing to the dominion all british possessions in north america, except newfoundland. that small colony, which had been represented at the quebec conference, also rejected the proposals of 1865, and, in spite of various efforts to arrange satisfactory terms, has steadily held aloof, and so has proved the only obstacle to the complete political unification of british north america. [illustration: canada] difficulties with the united states. a signal proof was soon furnished of the new standing in the empire which federation had given to the canadian provinces. a heritage of differences and difficulties had been left to be settled between england, canada and the american union as the result of the civil war. in retaliation for the supposed sympathy of canadians with the south in this struggle the victorious north took steps to abrogate in 1866 the reciprocity treaty of 1854, which had conferred such great advantages on both countries. it followed that the citizens of the united states lost the right which they had received under the treaty to share in the fisheries of canada. american fishermen, however, showed so little inclination to give up what they had enjoyed so long, that it was found necessary to take vigorous steps to protect canadian fishing rights, and frequent causes of friction consequently arose. during the progress of the civil war american feeling had been greatly exasperated by the losses inflicted on commerce by the cruiser "alabama," which, it was claimed, was allowed to leave a british port in, violation of international law. on the other hand, canadian feeling had been equally exasperated by the fenian raids, organized on american soil, which had cost canada much expenditure of money and some loss of life. in, addition to these causes of difference there was an unsettled boundary dispute in british columbia, and questions about the navigation of rivers common to the united states and canada. in 1869 the government of canada sent a deputation to england to press upon the imperial government the necessity of asserting canada's position in regard to the fisheries, and the desirability of settling other questions in dispute with the republic. the outcome of this application was the appointment of a commission to consider and if possible settle outstanding differences between the three countries. the prime minister of the dominion, sir john macdonald, was asked to act as one of the imperial commissioners in carrying on these negotiations. this was the first time that a colonist had been called upon to assist in the settlement of international disputes. the commission assembled at the american capital in february 1871, and after discussions extending over several weeks signed what is known as the treaty of washington. by the terms of this treaty the "alabama" claims and the san juan boundary were referred to arbitration; the free navigation of the st lawrence was granted to the united states in return for the free use of lake michigan and certain alaskan rivers; and it was settled that a further commission should decide the excess of value of the canadian fisheries thrown open to the united states over and above the reciprocal concessions made to canada. much to the annoyance of the people of the dominion the claims for the fenian raids were withdrawn at the request of the british government, which undertook, to make good to canada any losses she had suffered. to some of these terms the representative of canada made a strenuous opposition, and in finally signing the treaty stated that he did so chiefly for imperial interests, although in these he believed canadian interests to be involved. the clauses relating to the fisheries and the san juan boundary were reserved for the approval of the canadian parliament, which, in spite of much violent opposition, ratified them by a large majority. under the "alabama" arbitration great britain paid to the united states damages to the amount of $15,500,000, while the german emperor decided the san juan boundary in favour of the united states. the fishery commission, on the other hand, which sat in halifax, awarded canada $5,500,000 as the excess value of its fisheries for twelve years, and after much hesitation this sum was paid by the united states into the canadian treasury. an imperial guarantee of a loan for the construction of railways was the only compensation canada received for the fenian raids. canadian pacific railway question. the second general election for the dominion took place in 1872. it was marked by the complete defeat of the anti-unionist party in nova scotia, only one member of which secured his election, thus exactly reversing the vote of 1867. while sir john macdonald's administration was supported in nova scotia, it was weakened in ontario on account of the clemency shown to riel, and in quebec by the refusal to grant a general amnesty to all who had taken part in the rebellion. two important members of the cabinet, sir g. cartier and sir f. hincks, were defeated. opposition to the washington treaty and dread of the bold railway policy of the government also contributed to weaken its position. but a graver blow, ending in the complete overthrow of the administration, was soon to fall as the result of the election. in 1872 two companies had been formed and received charters to build the canadian pacific railway. sir hugh allan of montreal was at the head of the one, and the hon. david macpherson of toronto was president of the other. the government endeavoured to bring about an amalgamation of these rival companies, believing that the united energies and financial ability of the whole country were required for so vast an undertaking. while negotiations to this end were still proceeding the election of 1872 came on with the result already mentioned. soon after the meeting of parliament, a liberal member of the house, mr l.s. huntingdon, formally charged certain members of the cabinet with having received large sums of money, for use in the election, from sir hugh allan, on condition, as it was claimed, that the canadian pacific contract should be given to the new company, of which he became the head on the failure of the plan for amalgamation. these charges were investigated by a royal commission, which was appointed after it had been decided that the parliamentary committee named for that purpose could not legally take evidence under oath. parliament met in october 1873, to receive the report of the commission. while members of the government were exonerated by the report from the charge of personal corruption, the payment of large sums of money by sir hugh allan was fully established, and public feeling on the matter was so strong that sir j. macdonald, while asserting his own innocence, felt compelled to resign without waiting for the vote, of parliament. lord dufferin, who had succeeded lord lisgar as governor-general in 1872, at once sent for the leader of the opposition, mr alexander mackenzie (q.v.), who succeeded in forming a liberal administration which, on appealing to the constituencies, was supported by an overwhelming majority, and held power for the five following years. on the accession to power of the liberal party, a new policy was adopted for the construction of the trans-continental railway. it was proposed to lessen the cost of construction by utilizing the water stretches along the route, while, on the ground that the contract made was impossible of fulfilment, the period of completion was postponed indefinitely. meanwhile the surveys and construction were carried forward not by a company, but as a government work. under this arrangement british columbia became exceedingly restive, holding the dominion to the engagement by which it had been induced to enter the union. a representative of the government, mr (later sir james) edgar, sent out to conciliate the province by some new agreement, failed to accomplish his object, and all the influence of the governor-general, lord dufferin, who paid a visit at this time to the pacific coast, was required to quiet the public excitement, which had shown itself in a resolution passed by the legislature for separation from the dominion unless the terms of union were fulfilled. economic "national policy." meanwhile a policy destined to affect profoundly the future of the dominion had, along with that of the construction of the canadian pacific railway, become a subject of burning political discussion and party division. during the period of mr mackenzie's administration a profound business depression affected the whole continent of america. the dominion revenue showed a series of deficits for several years in succession. the factories of the united states, unduly developed by an extreme system of protection, sought in canada a slaughter market for their surplus products, to the detriment or destruction of canadian industries. meanwhile the republic, which had for many years drained canada of hundreds of thousands of artisans to work its factories, steadily declined to consider any suggestion for improving trade relations between the two countries. in these circumstances sir j. macdonald brought forward a proposal to adopt what was called a "national policy," or, in other words, a system of protection for canadian industries. mr mackenzie and his chief followers, whose inclinations were towards free trade, pinned their political fortunes to the maintenance of a tariff for revenue only. after some years of fierce discussion in parliament and throughout the country the question was brought to an issue in 1878, when, with a large majority of followers pledged to carry out protection, sir john macdonald was restored to power. the new system was laid before parliament in 1879 by the finance minister, sir leonard tilley; and the tariff then agreed upon, although it received considerable modification from time to time, remained, under both conservative and liberal administrations, the basis of canadian finance, and, as canadians generally believed, the bulwark of their industry. it had almost immediately the effect of lessening the exodus of artisans to the united states, and of improving the revenue and so restoring the national credit. completion of the canadian pacific railway. in october 1878 lord dufferin's term of office expired, and his place as governor-general was taken by the marquess of lorne, whose welcome to the dominion was accentuated by the fact that he was the son-in-law of the queen, and that his viceroyalty was shared by the princess louise. the election of 1878 marked the beginning of a long period of conservative rule--the premiership of sir j. macdonald continuing from that time without a break until his death in 1891, while his party remained in power till 1896. this long-continued conservative supremacy was apparently due to the policy of bold and rapid development which it had adopted, and which appealed to a young and ambitious country more strongly than the more cautious proposals of the liberal leaders. as soon as the government had redeemed its pledge to establish a system of protection a vigorous railway policy was inaugurated. a contract was made with a new company to complete the canadian pacific railway within ten years, on condition of receiving a grant of $25,000,000 and 25,000,000 acres of land, together with those parts of the line already finished under government direction. after fierce debate in parliament these terms were ratified in the session of 1881. the financial difficulties encountered by the company in carrying out their gigantic task were very great, and in 1884 they were compelled to obtain from the dominion government a loan of $20,000,000 secured on the company's property. this loan was repaid by 1887. meanwhile the work was carried forward with so much energy that, five years before the stipulated period of completion, on the 7th of november 1886, the last spike was driven by mr donald a. smith (lord strathcona), whose fortune had been largely pledged to the undertaking, along with those of other prominent canadian business men, especially mr george stephen (lord mountstephen), mr duncan mcintyre, and mr r.b. angus. under the energetic management of mr (later sir) w.c. van home, who was appointed president of the company in 1888, the new railway soon became the most prominent feature in the development of the country; lines of steamships were established on the great lakes and the pacific; a stream of immigration began to flow into the prairie region; and the increasing prosperity of the railway had a poverful influence in improving the public credit. riel's rebellion. even before the canadian pacific railway was fully completed, it proved of great service in a national emergency which suddenly arose in the north-west. with the organization of manitoba and the opening of improved communication immigrants began to move rapidly westward, and government surveyors were soon busy laying off lands in the saskatchewan valley. the numbers of the half-breed settlers of this district had been increased by the migration of many of those who had taken part in the first uprising at fort garry. influenced by somewhat similar motives, fearing from the advance of civilization the destruction of the buffalo, on which they chiefly depended for food, with some real grievances and others imaginary, the discontented population sent for riel, who had been living, since his flight from fort garry, in the united states. he returned to put himself at the head of a second rebellion. at first he seemed inclined to act with moderation and on lines of constitutional agitation, but soon, carried away by fanaticism, ambition and vanity, he turned to armed organization against the government. to half-breed rebellion was added the imminent danger of an indian uprising, to which riel looked for support. the authorities at ottawa were at first careless or sceptical in regard to the danger, the reality of which was only brought home to them when a body of mounted police, advancing to regain a small post at duck lake, of which the rebels had taken possession, was attacked and twelve of their number killed. volunteers and militia were at once called out in all the old provinces of canada, and were quickly conveyed by the newly constructed line of railway to the neighbourhood of the point of disturbance. major-general middleton, of the imperial army, who was then in command of the canadian militia, led the expedition. several minor engagements with half-breeds or indians preceded the final struggle at batoche, where gabriel dumont, riel's military lieutenant, had skilfully entrenched his forces. after a cautious advance the eagerness of the troops finally overcame the hesitation of the commander in exposing his men, the rifle pits were carried with a rush, and the rebellion crushed at a single stroke. dumont succeeded in escaping across the united states boundary; riel was captured, imprisoned, and in due course tried for treason. this second rebellion carried on under his leadership had lasted about three months, had cost the country many valuable lives, and in money about five millions of dollars. clear as was his guilt, riel's trial, condemnation and execution on the 16th of november 1885, provoked a violent political storm which at one time threatened to overthrow the conservative government. the balance of power between parties in parliament was held by the province of quebec, and there racial and religious feeling evoked no slight sympathy for riel. but while a section of quebec was eager to secure the rebel's pardon, ontario was equally bent on the execution of justice, so that in the final vote on the question in parliament the defection of french conservatives was compensated for by the support of ontario liberals. in the end 25 out of 53 french members voted in justification of kiel's punishment. with him were executed several indian chiefs who had been concerned in a massacre of whites. painful as were the circumstances connected with this rebellion, it is certain that the united action of the different provinces in suppressing it tended to consolidate canadian sentiment, and the short military campaign had the effect of fixing public attention upon the immense fertile territory then being opened up. macdonald's fiscal policy. the general election of 1882 turned chiefly upon endorsement of the national policy of protection; in that of 1887 the electoral test was again applied to the same issue, while sir john macdonald also asked for approval of the government's action in exacting from riel the full penalty of his guilt. on both issues the conservative policy was upheld by the electors, and macdonald was continued in power with a large parliamentary majority. from the election of 1887 the riel agitation ceased to seriously influence politics, but the fiscal controversy continued under new forms. between 1887 and 1891 a vigorous agitation was kept up under liberal auspices in favour of closer trade relations with the united states, at first under the name of commercial union and later under that of unrestricted reciprocity. the object in both cases was to break down tariff barriers between the united states and canada, even though that should be at the expense of discrimination against great britain. the conservative party took the position that commercial union, involving as it would a common protective tariff against all other countries, including the motherland, would inevitably lead to political unification with the united states. the question after long and vehement discussion was brought to a final issue in the election of 1891, and sir john macdonald's government was again sustained. from that time protection became the settled policy of the country. on their accession to power in 1896 it was adopted by the liberals, who joined to it a preference for the products of the mother country. under the protective policy thus repeatedly confirmed, canada gradually became more independent of the american market than in earlier times, and enjoyed great commercial prosperity. soon after the election of 1891 sir john macdonald (q.v.) died, after an active political career of more than forty years. under his direction the great lines of policy which have governed the development of canada as a confederated state within the empire were inaugurated and carried forward with great success, so that his name has become indissolubly connected with the history of the dominion at its most critical stage. macdonald's successors. during the years which succeeded the death of sir john macdonald a succession of losses weakened the position of the conservative party which had held power so long. the hon. j.c.c. abbott, leader of the party in the senate, became prime minister on macdonald's death in 1891, but in 1892 was compelled by ill-health to resign, and in 1893 he died. his successor, sir john thompson, after a successful leadership of about two years, died suddenly of heart disease at windsor castle, immediately after being sworn of the imperial privy council. charges of corruption in the administration of the department of public works, which led to the expulsion of one member of parliament, involved also the resignation from the cabinet of sir hector langevin, leader of the french conservatives, against whom carelessness at least in administration had been established. the brief premiership of sir mackenzie bowell, between 1894 and 1896, was marked by much dissension in the conservative ranks, ending finally in a reconstruction of the government in 1896 under sir charles tupper. breaks had been made in the liberal ranks also by the death in 1892 of the hon. alexander mackenzie and the withdrawal of the hon. edward blake from canadian politics to accept a seat in the british parliament as a member of the home rule party. but the appeal made to the electors in 1896 resulted in a decisive victory for the liberal party, and marked the beginning of a long period of liberal rule. laurier. sir wilfrid laurier (q.v.) became prime minister, and strengthened the cabinet which he formed by drawing into it from provincial politics the premiers of ontario, new brunswick and nova scotia. the administration thus established underwent many changes, but after winning three general elections it was still in power in 1909. the period of sir wilfrid laurier's rule was one of striking progress in material growth, and a marked development of national feeling. while the federation of the provinces favoured the growth of a strong sentiment of canadian individuality, the result of unification had been to strengthen decidedly the ties that bind the country to the empire. this was as true under liberal as under conservative auspices--as canadians understood the meaning of these party names. the outbreak of the south african war in 1899 furnished an occasion for a practical display of canadian loyalty to imperial interests. three contingents of troops were despatched to the seat of war and took an active part in the events which finally secured the triumph of the british arms. these forces were supplemented by a regiment of canadian horse raised and equipped at the sole expense of lord strathcona, the high commissioner of the dominion in london. the same spirit was illustrated in other ways. in bringing about a system of penny postage throughout the empire; in forwarding the construction of the pacific cable to secure close and safe imperial telegraphic connexion; in creating rapid and efficient lines of steamship communication with the motherland and all the colonies; in granting tariff preference to british goods and in striving for preferential treatment of inter-imperial trade; in assuming responsibility for imperial defence at the two important stations of halifax and esquimalt,--canada, under the guidance of sir wilfrid laurier and his party, took a leading part and showed a truly national spirit. canadian expansion. the opening years of the 20th century were marked by a prolonged period of great prosperity. a steady stream of emigrants from europe and the united states, sometimes rising in number to 300,000 in a single year, began to occupy the vast western prairies. so considerable was the growth of this section of the dominion that in 1905 it was found necessary to form two new provinces, alberta and saskatchewan, from the north-west territories, the area of each being 275,000 sq. m. each province has a lieutenant-governor and a single legislative chamber, with a representation of four members in the senate and five in the house of commons of the dominion parliament. the control of the public lands is retained by the general government on the ground that it has been responsible for the development of the country by railway construction and emigration. with the rapid increase of population, production in canada also greatly increased; exports, imports and revenue constantly expanded, and capital, finding abundant and profitable employment, began to flow freely into the country for further industrial development. new and great railway undertakings were a marked feature of this period. the canadian pacific system was extended until it included 12,000 m. of line. the canadian northern railway, already constructed from the great lakes westward to the neighbourhood of the rockies, and with water and rail connexions reaching eastward to quebec, began to transform itself into a complete transcontinental system, with an extension to the hudson bay. that this line owed its inception and construction chiefly to the joint enterprise of two private individuals, messrs mackenzie and mann, was a striking proof of the industrial capacities of the country. to a still more ambitious line, the grand trunk pacific, extending from the atlantic to the pacific, aiming at extensive steamship connexion on both oceans, and closely associated with the grand trunk system of ontario and quebec, the government of canada gave liberal support as a national undertaking. the eastern section of 1875 m., extending from winnipeg to moncton, where connexion is secured with the winter ports of halifax and st john, was, under the act of incorporation, to be built by the government, and then leased for fifty years, under certain conditions, to the grand trunk pacific company. the western portion, of 1480 m., from winnipeg to the pacific, was to be built, owned and operated by the company itself, the government guaranteeing bonds to the extent of 75% of the whole cost of construction. the discovery of large deposits of nickel at sudbury; of extremely rich gold mines on the head-waters of the yukon, in a region previously considered well-nigh worthless for human habitation; of extensive areas of gold, copper and silver ores in the mountain regions of british columbia; of immense coal deposits in the crow's nest pass of the same province and on the prairies; of veins of silver and cobalt of extraordinary richness in northern ontario--all deeply affected the industrial condition of the country and illustrated the vastness of its undeveloped resources. the use of wood-pulp in the manufacture of paper gave a greatly enhanced value to many millions of acres of northern forest country. the application of electricity to purposes of manufacture and transportation made the waterfalls and rapids in which the country abounds the source of an almost unlimited supply of energy capable of easy distribution for industrial purposes over wide areas. relations with the united states. since confederation a series of attempts has been made with varying degrees of success to settle the questions in dispute between the dominion and the united states, naturally arising from the fact that they divide between them the control of nearly the whole of a large continent and its adjoining waters. considering the vastness of the interests involved, there is much cause for satisfaction in the fact that these differences have been settled by peaceful arbitrament rather than by that recourse to force which has so often marked the delimitation of rights and territory on other continents the washington treaty of 1871 has already been referred to. its clauses dealing with the fisheries and trade lasted for fourteen years, and were then abrogated by the action of the united states. various proposals on the part of canada for a renewal of the reciprocity were not entertained. after 1885 canada was therefore compelled to fall back upon the treaty of 1818 as the guarantee of her fishing rights. it became necessary to enforce the terms of that convention, under which the fishermen of the united states could not pursue their avocations within the three miles' limit, tranship cargoes of fish in canadian ports, or enter them except for shelter, water, wood or repairs. on account of infractions of the treaty many vessels were seized and some were condemned. in 1887 a special commission was appointed to deal with the question. on this commission mr joseph chamberlain, sir sackville west and sir charles tupper represented british and canadian interests; secretary t.f. bayard, mr w. le b. putnam and mr james b. angell acted for the united states. the commission succeeded in agreeing to the terms of a treaty, which was recommended to congress by president cleveland as supplying "a satisfactory, practical and final adjustment, upon a basis honourable and just to both parties, of the difficult and vexed questions to which it relates." this agreement, known as the chamberlain-bayard treaty, was rejected by the senate, and as a consequence it became necessary to carry on the fisheries under a _modus vivendi_ renewed annually. in 1886 a difference about international rights on the high seas arose on the pacific coast in connexion with the seal fisheries of bering sea. in that year several schooners, fitted out in british columbia for the capture of seals in the north pacific, were seized by a united states cutter at a distance of 60 m. from the nearest land, the officers were imprisoned and fined, and the vessels themselves subjected to forfeiture. the british government at once protested against this infraction of international right, and through long and troublesome negotiations firmly upheld canada's claims in the matter. the dispute was finally referred to a court of arbitration, on which sir john thompson, premier of the dominion, sat as one of the british arbitrators. it was decided that the united states had no jurisdiction in the bering sea beyond the three miles' limit, but the court also made regulations to prevent the wholesale slaughter of fur-bearing seals. the sum of $463,454 was finally awarded as compensation to the canadian sealers who had been unlawfully seized and punished. this sum was paid by the united states in 1898. as the result of communications during 1897 between sir wilfrid laurier and secretary sherman, the governments of great britain and the united states agreed to the appointment of a joint high commission, with a view of settling all outstanding differences between the united states and canada. the commission, which included three members of the canadian cabinet and a representative of newfoundland, and of which lord herschell was appointed chairman, met at quebec on the 23rd of august 1898. the sessions continued in quebec at intervals until the 10th of october, when the commission adjourned to meet in washington on the 1st of november, where the discussions were renewed for some weeks. mr nelson dingley, an american member of the commission, died during the month of january, as did the chairman, lord herschell, in march, as the result of an accident, soon after the close of the sittings of the commission. the alaskan boundary, the atlantic and inland fisheries, the alien labour law, the bonding privilege, the seal fishery in the bering sea and reciprocity of trade in certain products were among the subjects considered by the commission. on several of these points much progress was made towards a settlement, but a divergence of opinion as to the methods by which the alaskan boundary should be determined put an end for the time to the negotiations. in 1903 an agreement was reached by which the question of this boundary, which depended on the interpretation put upon the treaty of 1825 between russia and england, should be submitted to a commission consisting of "six impartial jurists of repute," three british and three american. the british commissioners appointed were: lord alverstone, lord chief justice of england; sir louis jette, k.c., of quebec; and a.b. aylesworth, k.c., of toronto. on the american side were appointed: the hon. henry c. lodge, senator for massachusetts; the hon. elihu root, secretary of war for the united states government; and senator george turner. canadians could not be persuaded that the american members fulfilled the condition of being "impartial jurists," and protest was made, but, though the imperial government also expressed surprise, no change in the appointments was effected. the commission met in london, and announced its decision in october. this was distinctly unfavourable to canada's claims, since it excluded canadians from all ocean inlets as far south as the portland channel, and in that channel gave to canada only two of the four islands claimed. a statement made by the canadian commissioners, who refused to sign the report, of an unexplained change of opinion on the part of lord alverstone, produced a widespread impression for a time that his decision in favour of american claims was diplomatic rather than judicial. later canadian opinion, however, came to regard the decision of the commission as a reasonable compromise. the irritation caused by the decision gradually subsided, but at the moment it led to strong expressions on the part of sir wilfrid laurier and others in favour of securing for canada a fuller power of making her own treaties. while the power of making treaties must rest ultimately in the hands that can enforce them, the tendency to give the colonies chiefly interested a larger voice in international arrangements had become inevitable. the mission of a canadian cabinet minister, the hon. r. lemieux, to japan in 1907, to settle canadian difficulties with that country, illustrated the change of diplomatic system in progress. education. under the british north american act the control of education was reserved for the provincial governments, with a stipulation that all rights enjoyed by denominational schools at the time of confederation should be respected. provincial control has caused some diversity of management; the interpretation of the denominational agreement has led to acute differences of opinion which have invaded the field of politics. in all the provinces elementary, and in some cases secondary, education is free, the funds for its support being derived from local taxation and from government grants. the highly organized school system of ontario is directed by a minister of education, who is a member of the provincial cabinet. the other provinces have boards of education, and superintendents who act under the direction of the provincial legislatures. in quebec the roman catholic schools, which constitute the majority, are chiefly controlled by the local clergy of that church. the protestant schools are managed by a separate board. in ontario as well as in quebec separate schools are allowed to roman catholics. in nova scotia, new brunswick, prince edward island, manitoba and british columbia the public schools are strictly undenominational. this position was only established in new brunswick and manitoba after violent political struggles, and frequent appeals to the highest courts of the empire for decisions on questions of federal or provincial jurisdiction. the right of having separate schools has been extended to the newly constituted provinces of alberta and saskatchewan. secondary education is provided for by high schools and collegiate institutes in all towns and cities, and by large residential institutions at various centres, conducted on the principle of the english public schools. the largest of these is upper canada college at toronto. each province has a number of normal and model schools for the training of teachers. for higher education there are also abundant facilities. m'gill university at montreal has been enlarged and splendidly endowed by the munificence of a few private individuals, toronto university by the provincial legislature of ontario; queen's university at kingston largely by the support of its own graduates and friends. university work in the maritime provinces, instead of being concentrated, as it might well be, in one powerful institution, is distributed among five small, but within their range efficient universities. the agricultural college at guelph and the experimental farms maintained by the federal government give excellent training and scientific assistance to farmers. sir william macdonald in 1908 built and endowed, at an expenditure of at least l700,000, an agricultural college and normal school at st anne's, near montreal. while the older universities have increased greatly in influence and efficiency, the following new foundations have been made since confederation:--university of manitoba, winnipeg, 1877; presbyterian college, winnipeg, 1870; methodist college, winnipeg, 1888; wesleyan college, montreal, 1873; presbyterian college, montreal, 1868; school of practical science, toronto, 1877; royal military college, kingston, 1875; m'master university, toronto, 1888. all the larger universities have schools of medicine in affiliation, and have the power of conferring medical degrees. since 1877 canadian degrees have been recognized by the medical council of great britain. indian tribes. in her treatment of the aboriginal inhabitants of the country (numbering 93,318 in 1901) canada has met with conspicuous success. since the advance of civilization and indiscriminate slaughter have deprived them of the bison, so long their natural means of subsistence, the north-west tribes have been maintained chiefly at the expense of the country. as a result of the great care now used in watching over them there has been a small but steady increase in their numbers. industrial and boarding schools, established in several of the provinces, by separating the children from the degrading influences of their home life, have proved more effectual than day schools for training them in the habits and ideas of a higher civilization. (see indians, north american.) constitution. the constitution of the dominion embodies the first attempt made to adapt british principles and methods of government to a federal system. the chief executive authority is vested in the sovereign, as is the supreme command of the military and naval forces. the governor-general represents, and fulfils the functions of, the crown, which appoints him. he holds office for five years, and his powers are strictly limited, as in the case of the sovereign, all executive acts being done on the advice of his cabinet, the members of which hold office only so long as they retain the confidence of the people as expressed by their representatives in parliament. the governor-general has, however, the independent right to withhold his assent to any bill which he considers in conflict with imperial interests. the following governors-general have represented the crown since the federation of the provinces, with the year of their appointment: viscount monck, 1867; sir john young (afterwards baron lisgar), 1868; the earl of dufferin, 1872; the marquess of lome (afterwards duke of argyll), 1878; the marquess of lansdowne, 1883; lord stanley of preston (afterwards earl of derby), 1888; the earl of aberdeen, 1893; the earl of minto, 1898; earl grey, 1904. the upper house, or senate, is composed of members who hold office for life and are nominated by the governor-general in council. it originally consisted of 72 members, 24 from quebec, 24 from ontario, and 24 from the maritime provinces, but this number has been from time to time slightly increased as new provinces have been added. the house of commons consists of representatives elected directly by the people. the number of members, originally 196, is subject to change after each decennial census. the basis adopted in the british north america act is that quebec shall always have 65 representatives, and each of the other provinces such a number as will give the same proportion of members to its population as the number 65 bears to the population of quebec at each census. in 1908 the number of members was 218. members of the senate and of the house of commons receive an annual indemnity of $2500, with a travelling allowance. legislation brought forward in 1906 introduced an innovation in assigning a salary of $7000 to the recognized leader of the opposition, and pensions amounting to half their official income to ex-cabinet ministers who have occupied their posts for five consecutive years. this pension clause has since been repealed. one principal object of the framers of the canadian constitution was to establish a strong central government. an opposite plan was therefore adopted to that employed in the system of the united states, where the federal government enjoys only the powers granted to it by the sovereign states. the british north america act assigns to the different provinces, as to the central parliament, their spheres of control, but all residuary powers are given to the general government. within these limitations the provincial assemblies have a wide range of legislative power. in nova scotia and quebec the bicameral system of an upper and lower house is retained; in the other provinces legislation is left to a single representative assembly. for purely local matters municipal institutions are organized to cover counties and townships, cities and towns, all based on an exceedingly democratic franchise. the creation of a supreme court engaged the attention of sir john macdonald in the early years after federation, but was only finally accomplished in 1876, during the premiership of alexander mackenzie. this court is presided over by a chief justice, with five puisne judges, and has appellate civil and criminal jurisdiction for the dominion. by an act passed in 1891 the government has power to refer to the supreme court any important question of law affecting the public interest. the right of appeal from the supreme court, thus constituted, to the judicial committee of the privy council marks, in questions judicial, canada's place as a part of the british empire. the appointment, first made in 1897, of the chief justice of canada, along with the chief justices of cape colony and south australia, as colonial members of the judicial committee still further established the position of that body as the final court of appeal for the british people. the grave questions of respective jurisdiction which have from time to time arisen between the federal and provincial governments have for the most part been settled by appeal to one or both of these judicial bodies. some of these questions have played a considerable part in canadian politics, but are of too complicated a nature to be dealt with in the present brief sketch. they have generally consisted in the assertion of provincial rights against federal authority. the decision of the courts has always been accepted as authoritative and final. an excellent bibliography of canadian history will be found in the volume _literature of american history_, published by the american library association. the annual _review of historical publications relating to canada_, published by the university of toronto, gives a critical survey of the works on canadian topics appearing from year to year. (g. r. p.) literature 1. _english-canadian literature_ is marked by the weaknesses as well as the merits of colonial life. the struggle for existence, the conquering of the wilderness, has left scant room for broad culture or scholarship, and the very fact that canada is a colony, however free to control her own affairs, has stood in the way of the creation of anything like a national literature. and yet, while canada's intellectual product is essentially an offshoot of the parent literature of england, it is not entirely devoid of originality, either in manner or matter. there is in much of it a spirit of freedom and youthful vigour characteristic of the country. it is marked by the wholesomeness of canadian life and canadian ideals, and the optimism of a land of limitless potentialities. the first few decades of the period of british rule were lean years indeed so far as native literature is concerned. this period of unrest gave birth to little beyond a flood of political pamphlets, of no present value save as material for the historian. we may perhaps except the able though thoroughly partisan writings of sir john beverley robinson and bishop strachan on the one side, and robert fleming gourlay and william lyon mackenzie on the other. in the far west, however, a little group of adventurous fur-traders, of whom sir alexander mackenzie, david thompson, alexander henry and daniel williams harmon may be taken as conspicuous types, were unfolding the vast expanse of the future dominion. they were men of action, not of words, and had no thought of literary fame, but their absorbingly interesting journals are none the less an essential part of the literature of the country. barring the work of francis parkman, who was not a canadian, no history of the first rank has yet been written in or of canada. canadian historians have not merely lacked so far the genius for really great historical work, but they have lacked the point of view; they have stood too close to their subject to get the true perspective. at the same time they have brought together invaluable material for the great historian of the future. robert christie's _history of lower canada_ (1848-1854) was the first serious attempt to deal with the period of british rule. william kingsford's (1819-1898) ambitious work, in ten volumes, comes down like christie's to the union of 1841, but goes back to the very beginnings of canadian history. in the main it is impartial and accurate, but the style is heavy and sometimes slovenly. j.c. dent's (1841-1888) _last forty years_ (1880) is practically a continuation of kingsford. dent also wrote an interesting though one-sided account of the rebellion of 1837. histories of the maritime provinces have been written by thomas chandler haliburton, beamish murdoch and james hannay. haliburton's is much the best of the three. the brief but stirring history of western canada has been told by alexander begg (1840-1898); and george bryce (b. 1844) and beckles willson (b. 1869) have written the story of the hudson's bay company. much scholarship and research have been devoted to local and special historical subjects, a notable example of which is arthur doughty's exhaustive work on the siege of quebec. j. mcmullen (b. 1820), charles roberts (b. 1860) and sir john bourinot (1837-1902) have written brief and popular histories, covering the whole field of canadian history more or less adequately. alpheus todd's (1821-1884) _parliamentary government in england_ (1867-1869) and _parliamentary government in the british colonies_ (1880) are standard works, as is also bourinot's _parliamentary procedure and practice_ (1884). biography has been devoted mainly to political subjects. the best of these are joseph pope's _memoirs of sir john macdonald_ (1894), w.d. le sueur's _frontenac_ (1906), sir john bourinot's _lord elgin_ (1905), jean mcilwraith's _sir frederick haldimand_ (1904), d.c. scott's _john graves simcoe_ (1905), a.d. de celles' _papineau and cartier_ (1904), charles lindsey's _william lyon mackenzie_ (1862), j.w. longley's _joseph howe_ (1905) and j.s. willison's _sir wilfrid laurier_ (1903). in _belles lettres_ very little has been accomplished, unless we may count goldwin smith (q.v.) as a canadian. as a scholar, a thinker, and a master of pure english he has exerted a marked influence upon canadian literature and canadian life. while mediocrity is the prevailing characteristic of most of what passes for poetry in canada, a few writers have risen to a higher level. the conditions of canadian life have not been favourable to the birth of great poets, but within the limits of their song such men as archibald lampman (1861-1891), william wilfred campbell (b. 1861), charles roberts, bliss carman (b. 1861) and george frederick cameron have written lines that are well worth remembering. lampman's poetry is the most finished and musical. he fell short of being a truly great poet, inasmuch as great poetry must, which his does not, touch life at many points, but his verses are marked by the qualities that belonged to the man--sincerity, purity, seriousness. campbell's poetry, in spite of a certain lack of compression, is full of dramatic vigour: roberts has put some of his best work into sonnets and short lyrics, while carman has been very successful with the ballad, the untrammelled swing and sweep of which he has finely caught; the simplicity and severity of cameron's style won the commendation of even so exacting a critic as matthew arnold. one remarkable drama--charles heavysege's (1816-1876) _saul_ (1857)--belongs to canadian literature. though unequal in execution, it contains passages of exceptional beauty and power. the sweetness and maturity of isabella valency crawford's (1851-1887) verse are also very worthy of remembrance. the _habitant_ poems of dr w.h. drummond (1854-1907) stand in a class by themselves, between english and french canadian literature, presenting the simple life of the _habitant_ with unique humour and picturesqueness. the first distinctively canadian novel was john richardson's (1796-1852) _wacousta_ (1832), a stirring tale of the war of 1812. richardson afterwards wrote half a dozen other romances, dealing chiefly with incidents in canadian history. susanna moodie (1803-1885) and katharine parr traill (1802-1899), sisters of agnes strickland, contributed novels and tales to one of the earliest and best of canadian magazines, the _literary garland_ (1838-1847). _the golden dog_, william kirby's (1817-1906) fascinating romance of old quebec, appeared in 1877, in a pirated edition. twenty years later the first authorized edition was published. james de mille (1833-1880) was the author of some thirty novels, the best of which is _helena's household_ (1868), a story of rome in the 1st century. _the dodge club_ (1869), a humorous book of travel, appeared, curiously enough, a few months before _innocents abroad_. de mille's posthumous novel, _a strange manuscript found in a copper cylinder_ (1888), describes a singular race whose cardinal doctrine is that poverty is honourable and wealth the reverse. sir gilbert parker (b. 1862) stands first among contemporary canadian novelists. he has made admirable use in many of his novels of the inexhaustible stores of romantic and dramatic material that lie buried in forgotten pages of canadian history. of later canadian novelists mention may be made of sara jeannette duncan (mrs everard cotes, b. 1862), ralph connor (charles w. gordon, b. 1866), agnes c. laut (b. 1872), w.a. fraser (b. 1859) and ernest thompson seton (b. 1860). thomas chandler haliburton (q.v.) stands in a class by himself. in many respects his is the most striking figure in canadian literature. he is best known as a humorist, and as a humorist he ranks with the creators of "my uncle toby" and "pickwick." but there is more than humour in haliburton's books. he lacked, in fact, but one thing to make him a great novelist: he had no conception of how to construct a plot. but he knew human nature, and knew it intimately in all its phases; he could construct a character and endow it with life; his people talk naturally and to the point; and many of his descriptive passages are admirable. those who read haliburton's books only for the sake of the humour will miss much of their value. his inimitable _clockmaker_ (1837), as well as the later books, _the old judge_ (1849), _the attache_ (1843), _wise saws and modern instances_ (1853) and _nature and human nature_ (1855), are mirrors of colonial life and character. for general treatment of english-canadian literature, reference may be made to sir john bourinot's _intellectual development of the canadian people_ (1881); g. mercer adam's _outline history of canadian literature_ (1887); "native thought and literature," in j.e. collins's _life of sir john a. macdonald_ (1883); "canadian literature," by j.m. oxley, in the _encyclopaedia americana_, vol. ix. (1904); a. macmurchy's _handbook of canadian literature_ (1906); and articles by j. castell hopkins, john reade, a.b. de mille and thomas o'hagan, in vol. v. of _canada: an encyclopaedia of the country_ (1898-1900); also to henry j. morgan's _bibliotheca canadensis_ (1867) and _canadian men and women of the time_ (1898); w.d. lighthall, _songs of the great dominion_; theodore rand's _treasury of canadian verse_ (1900); c.c. james's _bibliography of canadian verse_ (1898); l.e. horning's and l.j. burpee's _bibliography of canadian fiction_ (1904); s.e. dawson's _prose writers of canada_ (1901); "canadian poetry," by j.a. cooper, in _the national_, 29, p. 364; "recent canadian fiction," by l.j. burpee, in _the forum_, august 1899. for individual authors, see haliburton's _a centenary chaplet_ (1897), with a bibliography; "haliburton," by f. blake crofton, in _canada: an encyclopaedia of the country_; c.h. farnham's _life of francis parkman_ and h.d. sedgwick's _francis parkman_ (1901); and articles on "parkman," by e.l. godkin, in _the nation_, 71, p. 441; by justin winsor in _the atlantic_, 73, p. 660; by w.d. howells, _the atlantic_, 34, p. 602; by john fiske, _the atlantic_, 73, p. 664; by j.b. gilder in _the critic_, 23, p. 322; "goldwin smith as a critic," by h. spencer, _contemp. review_, 41, p. 519; "goldwin smith's historical works," by c.e. norton, _north american review_, 99, p. 523; "poetry of charles heavysege," by bayard taylor, _atlantic_, 16, p. 412; "charles heavysege," by l.j. burpee, in _trans. royal society of canada_, 1901; "archibald lampman," by w.d. howells, _literature_ (n.y.), 4, p. 217; "archibald lampman," by l.j. burpee, in _north american notes and queries_ (quebec), august and september 1900; "poetry of bliss carman," by j.p. mowbray, _critic_, 41, p. 308; "isabella valency crawford," in _poet-lore_ (boston), xiii. no. 4; _roberts and the influences of his time_ (1906), by james cappon; "william wilfred campbell," _sewanee review_, october 1900; "kingsford's history of canada," by g.m. wrong, _n.a. review_, i p. 550; "books of gilbert parker," by c.a. pratt, _critic_, 33, p. 271. (l. j. b.) 2. _french-canadian literature_ at the opening of the 20th century might be described as entirely the work of two generations, and it was separated from the old regime by three more generations whose racial sentiment only found expression in the traditional songs and tales which their forefathers of the 17th century had brought over from the _mere patrie_. folk-lore has always been the most essentially french of all imaginative influences in canadian life; and the songs are the quintessence of the lore. not that the folk-songs have no local variants. indian words, like _moccasin_ and _toboggan_, are often introduced. french forms are freely turned into pure canadianisms, like _cageux_, raftsman, _boucane_, brushwood smoke, _portage_, &c. new characters, which appeal more directly to the local audience, sometimes supplant old ones, like the _quatre vieux sauvages_ who have ousted the time-honoured _quatre-z-officiers_ from the canadian version of _malbrouk_. there are even a few entire songs of transatlantic origin. but all these variants together are mere stray curios among the crowding souvenirs of the old home over sea. no other bridge can rival _le pont d'avignon_. "_ici_" in _c'est le ban vin qui danse ici_ can be nowhere else but in old france--_le ban vin_ alone proves this. and the canadian folk-singer, though in a land of myriad springs, still goes _a la claire fontaine_ of his ancestral fancy; while the lullabies his mother sang him, like the love-songs with which he serenades his _blonde_, were nearly all sung throughout the normandy of _le grand monarque_. the _habitant_ was separated from old-world changes two centuries ago by difference of place and circumstances, while he has hitherto been safeguarded from many new-world changes by the segregative influences of race, religion, language and custom; and so his folk-lore still remains the intimate _alter et idem_ of what it was in the days of the great pioneers. it is no longer a living spirit among the people at large; but in secluded villages and "back concessions" one can still hear some charming melodies as old and pure as the verses to which they are sung, and even a few quaint survivals of gregorian tunes. the best collection, more particularly from the musical point of view, is _les chansons populaires du canada_, started by ernest gagnon (1st ed. 1865). race-patriotism is the distinguishing characteristic of french-canadian literature, which is so deeply rooted in national politics that l.j. papineau, the most insistent demagogue of 1837, must certainly be named among the founders, for the sake of speeches which came before written works both in point of time and popular esteem. only 360 volumes had been published during 80 years, when, in 1845, the first famous book appeared--francois xavier garneau's (1809-1866) _histoire du canada_. it had immense success in canada, was favourably noticed in france, and has influenced all succeeding men of letters. unfortunately, the imperfect data on which it is based, and the too exclusively patriotic spirit in which it is written, prevent it from being an authoritative history: the author himself declares "_vous verrez si la defaite de nos ancetres ne vaut pas toutes las victoires_." but it is of far-reaching importance as the first great literary stimulus to racial self-respect. "_le canada francais avait perdu ses ictlres de noblesse; garneau les lui a rendues_." f.x. garneau is also remembered for his poems, and he was followed by his son alfred garneau (1836-1904). a. gerin-lajoie was a mere lad when the exile of some compatriots inspired _le canadien errant_, which immediately became a universal folk-song. many years later he wrote discriminatingly about those _dix ans au canada_ (1888) that saw the establishment of responsible government. but his fame rests on _jean rivard_ (1874), the prose bucolic of the _habitant_. the hero, left at the head of a fatherless family of twelve when nearly through college, turns from the glut of graduates swarming round the prospects of professional city-bred careers, steadfastly wrests a home from the wilderness, helps his brothers and sisters, marries a _habitante_ fit for the wife of a pioneer, brings up a large family, and founds a settlement which grows into several parishes and finally becomes the centre of the electoral district of "rivardville," which returns him to parliament. these simple and earnest _scenes de la vie reelle_ are an appealing revelation of that eternal secret of the soil which every people wishing to have a country of its own must early lay to heart; and _jean rivard, le defricheur_, will always remain the eponym of the new _colons_ of the 19th century. philippe de gaspe's historical novel, _les anciens canadiens_ (1863), is the complement of garneau and gerin-lajoie. everything about the author's life helped him to write this book. born in 1784, and brought up among reminiscent eye-witnesses of the old regime, he was an eager listener, with a wonderful memory and whole-hearted pride in the glories of his race and family, a kindly _seigneur_, who loved and was loved by all his _censitaires_, a keen observer of many changing systems, down to the final confederation of 1867, and a man who had felt both extremes of fortune (_memoires_, 1866). the story rambles rather far from its well-worn plot. but these very digressions give the book its intimate and abiding charm; for they keep the reader in close personal touch with every side of canadian life, with songs and tales and homely forms of speech, with the best features of seigniorial times and the strong guidance of an ardent church, with _voyageurs, coureurs de bois_, indians, soldiers, sailors and all the strenuous adventurers of a wild, new, giant world. the poet of this little band of authors was octave cremazie, a quebec bookseller, who failed in business and spent his last years as a penniless exile in france. he is usually rather too derivative, he lacks the saving grace of style, and even his best canadian poems hardly rise above fervent occasional verse. yet he became a national poet, because he was the first to celebrate occasions of deeply felt popular emotion in acceptable rhyme, and he will always remain one because each occasion touched some lasting aspiration of his race. he sings what garneau recounts--the love of mother country, mother church and canada. the _guerre de crimee, guerre d'ltalie_, even _castel-fidardo_, are duly chronicled. an ode on _mgr. de montmorency-laval_, first bishop of quebec, brings him nearer to his proper themes, which are found in full perfection in the _chant du vieux soldat canadien_, composed in 1856 to honour the first french man-of-war that visited british quebec, and _le drapeau de carillon_ (1858), a centennial paean for montcalm's canadians at ticonderoga. much of the mature work of this first generation, and of the juvenilia of the second, appeared in _les soirees canadiennes_ and _le foyer canadien_, founded in 1862 and 1863 respectively. the abbe ferland was an enthusiastic editor and historian, and etienne parent should be remembered as the first canadian philosopher. at confederation many eager followers began to take up the work which the founders were laying down. the abbe casgrain devoted a life-time to making the french-canadians appear as the chosen people of new-world history; but, though an able advocate, he spoilt a really good case by trying to prove too much. his _pelerinage au pays d'evangeline_ (1888) is a splendid defence of the unfortunate acadians; and all his books attract the reader by their charm of style and personality. but his _montcalm et levis_ (1891) and other works on the conquest, are all warped by a strong bias against both wolfe and montcalm, and in favour of vandreuil, the canadian-born governor; while they show an inadequate grasp of military problems, and practically ignore the vast determining factor of sea-power altogether. benjamin sulte's comprehensive _histoire des canadiens-francais_ (1882) is a well-written, many-sided work. thomas chapais' monographs are as firmly grounded as they are finely expressed; his _jean talon_ (1904) is of prime importance; and his _montcalm_ (1901) is the generous _amende honorable_ paid by french-canadian literature to a much misrepresented, but admirably wrought, career. a. gerin-lajoie's cry of "back to the land" was successfully adapted to modern developments in _le saguenay_ (1896) and _l'outaouais superieur_ (1889) by arthur buies, who showed what immense inland breadths of country lay open to suitable "jean rivards" from the older settlements along the st lawrence. in oratory, which most french-canadians admire beyond all other forms of verbal art, sir wilfrid laurier has greatly surpassed l.j. papineau, by dealing with more complex questions, taking a higher point of view, and expressing himself with a much apter flexibility of style. among later poets may be mentioned pierre chauveau (1820-1890), louis fiset, (b. 1827), and adolphe poisson (b. 1849). louis frechette (1830-1908) has, however, long been the only poet with a reputation outside of canada. in 1879 _les fleurs boreales_ won the prix monthyon from the french academy. in 1887 _la legende d'un peuple_ became the acknowledged epic of a race. he occasionally nods; is rather strident in the patriotic vein; and too often answers the untoward call of rhetoric when his subject is about to soar into the heights of poetry. but a rich vocabulary, a mastery of verse-forms quite beyond the range of cremazie, real originality of conception, individual distinction of style, deep insight into the soul of his people, and, still more, the glow of warm-blooded life pulsing through the whole poem, all combine to give him the greatest place at home and an important one in the world at large. _les vengeances_ (1875), by leon pamphile le may, and _les aspirations_ (1904), by w. chapman, worthily represent the older and younger contemporaries. dr neree beauchemin keeps within somewhat narrow limits in _les floraisons matutinales_ (1897); but within them he shows true poetic genius, a fine sense of rhythm, rhyme and verbal melody, a _curiosa felicitas_ of epithet and phrase, and so sure an eye for local colour that a stranger could choose no better guide to the imaginative life of canada. a canadian drama hardly exists; among its best works are the pleasantly epigrammatic plays of f.g. marchand. novels are not yet much in vogue; though madame conan's _l'oublie_ (1902) has been crowned by the academy; while dr choquette's _les ribaud_ (1898) is a good dramatic story, and his _claude paysan_ (1899) is an admirably simple idyllic tale of the hopeless love of a soil-bound _habitant_, told with intense natural feeling and fine artistic reserve. chief-justice routhier, a most accomplished occasional writer, is very french-canadian when arraigning _les grands drames_ of the classics (1889) before his ecclesiastical court and finding them guilty of paganism. the best bibliographies are phileas gagnon's _essai de bibliographie canadienne_ (1895), and dr n.e. dionne's list of publications from the earliest times in the _transactions of the royal society of canada_ for 1905. (w. wo.) footnotes: [1] the census is taken every ten years, save in these three provinces, where it is taken every five. their population in 1906 was:--manitoba, 360,000; saskatchewan, 257,000; alberta, 184,000. [2] the areas assigned to prince edward island, nova scotia, new brunswick and british columbia are exclusive of the territorial seas, that to quebec is exclusive of the gulf of st lawrence (though including the islands lying within it), and that to ontario is exclusive of the canadian portion of the great lakes. about 500,000 sq. m. belong to the arctic region and 125,755 sq. m. are water. [3] in canada a city must have over 10,000 inhabitants, a town over 2000. [4] the date of foundation is given in brackets. canal (from lat. _canalis_, "channel" and "kennel" being doublets of the word), an artificial water course used for the drainage of low lands, for irrigation (q.v.), or more especially for the purpose of navigation by boats, barges or ships. probably the first canals were made for irrigation, but in very early times they came also to be used for navigation, as in assyria and egypt. the romans constructed various works of the kind, and charlemagne projected a system of waterways connecting the main and the rhine with the danube, while in china the grand canal, joining the pei-ho and yang-tse-kiang and constructed in the 13th century, formed an important artery of commerce, serving also for irrigation. but although it appears from marco polo that inclines were used on the grand canal, these early waterways suffered in general from the defect that no method being known of conveniently transferring boats from one level to another they were only practicable between points that lay on nearly the same level; and inland navigation could not become generally useful and applicable until this defect had been remedied by the employment of locks. great doubts exist as to the person, and even the nation, that first introduced locks. some writers attribute their invention to the dutch, holding that nearly a century earlier than in italy locks were used in holland where canals are very numerous, owing to the favourable physical conditions. on the other hand, the contrivance has been claimed for engineers of the italian school, and it is said that two brothers domenico of viterbo constructed a lock-chamber enclosed by a pair of gates in 1481, and that in 1487 leonardo da vinci completed six locks uniting the canals of milan. be that as it may, however, the introduction of locks in the 14th or 15th century gave a new character to inland navigation and laid the basis of its successful extension. the languedoc canal (canal du midi) may be regarded as the pioneer of the canals of modern europe. joining the bay of biscay and the mediterranean it is 148 m. long and rises 620 ft. above sea-level with 119 locks, its depth being about 6-1/2 ft. it was designed by baron paul riquet de bonrepos (1604-1680) and was finished in 1681. with it and the still earlier briare canal (1605-1642) france began that policy of canal construction which has provided her with over 3000 m. of canals, in addition to over 4600 m. of navigable rivers. in russia peter the great undertook the construction of a system of canals about the beginning of the 18th century, and in sweden a canal with locks, connecting eskilstuna with lake malar, was finished in 1606. in england the oldest artificial canal is the foss dyke, a relic of the roman occupation. it extends from lincoln to the river trent near torksey (11 m.), and formed a continuation of the caer dyke, also of roman origin but now filled up, which ran from lincoln to peterborough (40 m.). camden in his _britannia_ says that the foss dyke was deepened and to some extent rendered navigable in 1121. little, however, was done in making canals in great britain until the middle of the 18th century, though before that date some progress had been made in rendering some of the larger rivers navigable. in 1759 the duke of bridgewater obtained powers to construct a canal between manchester and his collieries at worsley, and this work, of which james brindley was the engineer, and which was opened for traffic in 1761, was followed by a period of great activity in canal construction, which, however, came to an end with the introduction of railways. according to evidence given before the royal commission on canals in 1906 the total mileage of existing canals in the united kingdom was 3901. in the united states the first canal was made in 1792-1796 at south hadley, massachusetts, and the canal-system, though its expansion was checked by the growth of railways, has attained a length of 4200 m., most of the mileage being in new york, ohio, and pennsylvania. the splendid inland navigation system of canada mainly consists of natural lakes and rivers, and the artificial waterways are largely "lateral" canals, cut in order to enable vessels to avoid rapids in the rivers. (see the articles on the various countries for accounts of the canal-systems they possess.) the canals that were made in the early days of canal-construction were mostly of the class known as _barge_ or _boat canals_, and owing to their limited depth and breadth were only available for vessels of small size. but with the growth of commerce the advantage was seen of cutting canals of such dimensions as to enable them to accommodate sea-going ships. such _ship-canals_, which from an engineering point of view chiefly differ from barge-canals in the magnitude of the works they involve, have mostly been constructed either to shorten the voyage between two seas by cutting through an intervening isthmus, or to convert important inland places into seaports. an early example of the first class is afforded by the caledonian canal (q.v.), while among later ones may be mentioned the suez canal (q.v.), the kaiser wilhelm, nord-ostsee or kiel canal, connecting brunsbuttel at the mouth of the elbe with kiel (q.v.) on the baltic, and the various canals that have been proposed across the isthmus that joins north and south america (see panama canal). examples of the second class are the manchester ship canal and the canal that runs from zeebrugge on the north sea to bruges (q.v.). _construction._--in laying out a line of canal the engineer is more restricted than in forming the route of a road or a railway. since water runs downhill, gradients are inadmissible, and the canal must either be made on one uniform level or must be adapted to the general rise or fall of the country through which it passes by being constructed in a series of level reaches at varying heights above a chosen datum line, each closed by a lock or some equivalent device to enable vessels to be transferred from one to another. to avoid unduly heavy earthwork, the reaches must closely follow the bases of hills and the windings of valleys, but from time to time it will become necessary to cross a sudden depression by the aid of an embankment or aqueduct, while a piece of rising ground or a hill may involve a cutting or a tunnel. brindley took the bridgewater canal over the irwell at barton by means of an aqueduct of three stone arches, the centre one having a span of 63 ft., and t. telford arranged that the ellesmere canal should cross the dee valley at pont-y-cysyllte partly by embankment and partly by aqueduct. the embankment was continued till it was 75 ft. above the ground, when it was succeeded by an aqueduct, 1000 ft. long and 127 ft. above the river, consisting of a cast iron trough supported on iron arches with stone piers. occasionally when a navigable stream has to be crossed, a swing viaduct is necessary to allow shipping to pass. the first was that built by sir e. leader williams to replace brindley's aqueduct at barton, which was only high enough to give room for barges (see manchester ship canal). one of the earliest canal tunnels was made in 1766-1777 by brindley at harecastle on the trent and mersey canal; it is 2880 yds. long, 12 ft. high and 9 ft. wide, and has no tow-path, the boats being propelled by men lying on their backs and pushing with their feet against the tunnel walls ("leggers"). a second tunnel, parallel to this but 16 ft. high and 14 ft. wide, with a tow-path, was finished by telford in 1827. standedge tunnel, on the huddersfield canal, is over 3 m. long, and is also worked by leggers. dimensions. the dimensions of a canal, apart from considerations of water-supply, are regulated by the size of the vessels which are to be used on it. according to j.m. rankine, the depth of water and sectional area of waterway should be such as not to cause any material increase of the resistance to the motion of the boats beyond what would be encountered in open water, and he gives the following rules as fulfilling these conditions:-- least breadth of bottom = 2 x greatest breadth of boat. least depth of water = 1-1/2 ft. + greatest draught of boat. least area of waterway = 6 x greatest midship section of boat. the ordinary inland canal is commonly from 25 to 30 ft. wide at the bottom, which is flat, and from 40 to 50 ft. at the water level, with a depth of 4 or 5 ft., the angle of slope of the sides varying with the nature of the soil. to retain the water in porous ground, and especially on embankments, a strong watertight lining of puddle or tempered clay must be provided on the bed and sides of the channel. puddle is made of clay which has been finely chopped up with narrow spades, water being supplied until it is in a semi-plastic state. it is used in thin layers, each of which is worked so as to be firmly united with the lower stratum. the full thickness varies from 2 to 3 ft. to prevent the erosion of the sides at the water-line by the wash from the boats, it may be necessary to pitch them with stones or face them with brushwood. in some of the old canals the slopes have been cut away and vertical walls built to retain the towing-paths, with the result of adding materially to the sectional area of the waterway. water supply. a canal cannot be properly worked without a supply of water calculated to last over the driest season of the year. if there be no natural lake available in the district for storage and supply, or if the engineer cannot draw upon some stream of sufficient size, he must form artificial reservoirs in suitable situations, and the conditions which must be attended to in selecting the positions of these and in constructing them are the same as those for drinking-water supply, except that the purity of the water is not a matter of moment. they must be situated at such an elevation that the water from them may flow to the summit-level of the canal, and if the expense of pumping is to be avoided, they must command a sufficient catchment area to supply the loss of water from the canal by evaporation from the surface, percolation through the bed, and lockage. if the supply be inadequate, the draught of the boats plying on the canal may have to be reduced in a dry season, and the consequent decrease in the size of their cargoes will both lessen the carrying capacity of the canal and increase the working expenses in relation to the tonnage handled. again, since the consumption of water in lockage increases both with the size of the locks and the frequency with which they are used, the difficulty of finding a sufficient water supply may put a limit to the density of traffic possible on a canal or may prohibit its locks from being enlarged so as to accommodate boats of the size necessary for the economical handling of the traffic under modern conditions. it may be pointed out that the up consumes more water than the down traffic. an ascending boat on entering a lock displaces a volume of water equal to its submerged capacity. the water so displaced flows into the lower reach of the canal, and as the boat passes through the lock is replaced by water flowing from the upper reach. a descending boat in the same way displaces a volume of water equal to its submerged capacity, but in this case the water flows back into the higher reach where it is retained when the gates are closed. waste-weirs and stop-gates. an essential adjunct to a canal is a sufficient number of waste-weirs to discharge surplus water accumulating during floods, which, if not provided with an exit, may overflow the tow-path, and cause a breach in the banks, stoppage of the traffic, and damage to adjoining lands. the number and positions of these waste-weirs must depend on the nature of the country through which the canal passes. wherever the canal crosses a stream a waste-weir should be formed in the aqueduct; but independently of this the engineer must consider at what points large influxes of water may be apprehended, and must at such places form not only waste-weirs of sufficient size to carry off the surplus, but also artificial courses for its discharge into the nearest streams. these waste-weirs are placed at the top water-level of the canal, so that when a flood occurs the water flows over them and thus relieves the banks. stop-gates are necessary at short intervals of a few miles for the purpose of dividing the canal into isolated reaches, so that in the event of a breach the gates may be shut, and the discharge of water confined to the small reach intercepted between two of them, instead of extending throughout the whole line of canal. in broad canals these stop-gates may be formed like the gates of locks, two pairs of gates being made to shut in opposite directions. in small works they may be made of thick planks slipped into grooves formed at the narrow points of the canal under road bridges, or at contractions made at intermediate points to receive them. self-acting stop-gates have been tried, but have not proved trustworthy. when repairs have to be made stop-gates allow of the water being run off by "off-lets" from a short reach, and afterwards restored with but little interruption of the traffic. these off-lets are pipes placed at the level of the bottom of the canal and provided with valves which can be opened when required. they are generally formed at aqueducts or bridges crossing rivers, where the contents of the canal between the stop-gates can be run off into the stream. locks. locks are chambers, constructed of wood, brickwork, masonry or concrete, and provided with gates at each end, by the aid of which vessels are transferred from one reach of the canal to another. to enable a boat to ascend, the upper gates and the sluices which command the flow of water from the upper reach are closed. the sluices at the lower end of the lock are then opened, and when the level of the water in the lock has fallen to that of the lower reach, the boat passes in to the lock. the lower gates and sluices being then closed, the upper sluices are opened, and when the water rising in the lock has floated the boat up the level of the upper reach the upper gates are opened and it passes out. for a descending boat the procedure is reversed. the sluices by which the lock is filled or emptied are carried through the walls in large locks, or consist of openings in the gates in small ones. the gates are generally of oak, fitting into recesses of the walls when open, and closing against sills in the lock bottom when shut. in small narrow locks single gates only are necessary; in large locks pairs of gates are required, fitting together at the head or "mitre-post" when closed. the vertical timber at the end of the gate is known as the "heel-post," and at its foot is a casting that admits an iron pivot which is fixed in the lock bottom, and on which the gate turns. iron straps round the head of the heel-post are let into the lock-coping to support the gate. the gates are opened and closed by balance beams projecting over the lock side, by gearing or in cases where they are very large and heavy by the direct action of a hydraulic ram. in order to economize water canal locks are made only a few inches wider than the vessels they have to accommodate. the english canal boat is about 70 or 75 ft. long and 7 or 8 ft. in beam; canal barges are the same length but 14 or 15 ft. in width, so that locks which will hold one of them will admit two of the narrower canal boats side by side. in general canal locks are just long enough to accommodate the longest vessels using the navigation. in some cases, however, provision is made for admitting a train of barges; such long locks have sometimes intermediate gates by which the effective length is reduced when a single vessel is passing. the lift of canal locks, that is, the difference between the level of adjoining reaches, is in general about 8 or 10 ft., but sometimes is as little as 1-1/2 ft. on the canal du centre (belgium) there are locks with a lift of 17 ft., and on the st denis canal near la villette basins in paris there is one with a lift of 32-1/2 ft. in cases where a considerable difference of level has to be surmounted the locks are placed close together in a series or "flight," so that the lower gates of one serve also as the upper gates of the next below. to save water, expecially where the lift is considerable, side ponds are sometimes employed; they are reservoirs into which a portion of the water in a lock-chamber is run, instead of being discharged into the lower reach, and is afterwards used for partially filling the chamber again. double locks, that is, two locks placed side by side and communicating by a passage which can be opened or closed at will, also tend to save water, since each serves as a side pond to the other. the same advantage is gained with double flights of locks, and time also is saved since vessels can pass up and down simultaneously. inclines. a still greater economy of water can be effected by the use of inclined planes or vertical lifts in place of locks. in china rude inclines appear to have been used at an early date, vessels being carried down a sloping plane of stonework by the aid of a flush of water or hauled up it by capstans. on the bude canal (england) this plan was adopted in an improved form, the small flat-bottomed boats employed being fitted with wheels to facilitate their course over the inclines. another variant, often adopted as an adjunct to locks where many small pleasure boats have to be dealt with, is to fit the incline itself with rollers, upon which the boats travel. in some cases the boats are conveyed on a wheeled trolley or cradle running on rails; this plan was adopted on the morris canal, built in 1825-1831, in the case of 23 inclines having gradients of about 1 in 10, the rise of each varying from 44 to 100 ft. between the ourcq canal and the marne, near meaux, the difference of level is about 40 ft., and barges weighing about 70 tons are taken from the one to the other on a wheeled cradle weighing 35 tons by a wire rope over an incline nearly 500 yards long. but heavy barges are apt to be strained by being supported on cradles in this way, and to avoid this objection they are sometimes drawn up the inclines floating in a tank or caisson filled with water and running on wheels. this arrangement was utilized about 1840 on the chard canal (england), and 10 years later it was adapted at blackhill on the monkland canal (scotland) to replace a double flight of locks, in consequence of the traffic having been interrupted by insufficiency of water. there the height to be overcome was 96 ft. two pairs of rails, of 7 ft. gauge, were laid down on a gradient of 1 in 10, and on these ran two carriages having wrought iron, water-tight caissons with lifting gates at each end, in which the barges floated partially but not wholly supported by water. the carriages, with the barge and water, weighed about 80 tons each, and were arranged to counterbalance each other, one going up as the other was going down. the power required was provided by two high pressure steam engines of 25 h.p., driving two large drums round which was coiled, in opposite directions, the 2-inch wire rope that hauled the caissons. an incline constructed on the union canal at foxton (england) to replace 10 locks giving a total rise of 75 ft., accommodates barges of 70 tons, or two canal boats of 33 tons. it is in some respects like the monkland canal incline, but the movable caissons work on four pairs of rails on an incline of 1 in 14, broadside on, and the boats are entirely waterborne. steam power is employed, with an hydraulic accumulator which enables hydraulic power to be used in keeping the caisson in position at the top of the incline while the boats are being moved in or out, a water-tight joint being maintained with the final portion of the canal during the operation. the gates in the caisson and canal are also worked by hydraulic power. the incline is capable of passing 200 canal boats in 12 hours, and the whole plant is worked by three men. lifts. vertical lifts can only be used instead of locks with advantage at places where the difference in level occurs in a short length of canal, since otherwise long embankments or aqueducts would be necessary to obtain sites for their construction. an early example was built in 1809 at tardebigge on the worcester and birmingham canal. it consisted of a timber caisson, weighing 64 tons when full of water, counterpoised by heavy weights carried on timber platforms. the lift of 12 ft. was effected in about three minutes by two men working winches. seven lifts, erected on the grand western canal between wellington and tiverton about 1835, consisted of two chambers with a masonry pier between them. in each chamber there worked a timber caisson, suspended at either end of a chain hung over large pulleys above. as one caisson descended the other rose, and the apparatus was worked by putting about a ton more water in the descending caisson than in the ascending one. at anderton a lift was erected in 1875 to connect the weaver navigation with the trent and mersey canal, which at that point is 50 ft. higher than the river. the lift is a double one, and can deal with barges up to 100 tons. the change is made while the vessels are floating in 5 ft. of water contained in a wrought iron caisson, 75 ft. long and 15-1/2 ft. wide. an hydraulic ram 3 ft. in diameter supports each caisson, the bottom of which is strengthened so as to transfer the weight to the side girders. the descending caisson falls owing to being filled with 6 in. greater depth of water than the ascending one, the weight on the rams (240 tons) being otherwise constant, since the barge displaces its own weight of water; an hydraulic accumulator is used to overcome the loss of weight in the descending caisson when it begins to be immersed in the lower level of the river. the two presses in which the rams work are connected by a 5-in. pipe, so that the descent of one caisson effects the raising of the other. a similar lift, completed in 1888 at fontinettes on the neuffosse canal in france, can accommodate vessels of 250 tons, a total weight of 785 tons being lifted 43 ft.; and a still larger example on the canal du centre at la louviere in belgium has a rise of 50 ft., with caissons that will admit vessels up to 400 tons, the total weight lifted amounting to over 1000 tons. this lift, with three others of the same character, overcomes the rise of 217 ft., which occurs in this canal in the course of 4-1/3 m. animal power. _haulage._--the horse or mule walking along a tow-path and drawing or "tracking" a boat or barge by means of a towing rope, still remains the typical method of conducting traffic on the smaller canals; on ship-canals vessels proceed under their own steam or are aided by tugs. horse traction is very slow. the maximum speed on a narrow canal is about 3-1/2 m. an hour, and the average speed, which, of course, depends largely on the number of locks to be passed through, very much less. it has been calculated that in england on the average one horse hauls one narrow canal boat about 2 m. an hour loaded or 3 m. empty, or two narrow canal boats 1-1/2 m. loaded and 2-1/2 m. empty. efforts have accordingly been made not only to quicken the rate of transit, but also to move heavier loads, thus increasing the carrying capacity of the waterways. but at speeds exceeding about 3-1/2 m. an hour the "wash" of the boat begins to cause erosion of the banks, and thus necessitates the employment of special protective measures, such as building side walls of masonry or concrete. for a canal of given depth there is a particular speed at which a boat can be hauled with a smaller expenditure of energy than at a higher or a lower speed, this maximum being the speed of free propagation of the primary wave raised by the motion of the boat (see wave). about 1830 when, in the absence of railways, canals could still aspire to act as carriers of passengers, advantage was taken of this fact on the glasgow and ardrossan canal, and subsequently on some others, to run fast passenger boats, made lightly of wrought iron and measuring 60 ft. in length by about 6 ft. in breadth. provided with two horses they started at a low speed behind the wave, and then on a given signal were jerked on the top of the wave, when their speed was maintained at 7 or 8 m. an hour, the depth of the canal being 3 or 4 ft. this method, however, is obviously inapplicable to heavy barges, and in their case improved conditions of transport had to be sought in other directions. mechanical power. steam towage was first employed on the forth and clyde canal in 1802, when a tug-boat fitted with steam engines by w. symington drew two barges for a distance of 19-1/2 m. in 6 hours in the teeth of a strong headwind. as a result of this successful experiment it was proposed to employ steam tugs on the bridgewater canal; but the project fell through owing to the death of the duke of bridgewater, and the directors of the forth and clyde canal also decided against this method because they feared damage to the banks. steam tugs are only practicable on navigations on which there are either no locks or they are large enough to admit the tug and its train of barges simultaneously; otherwise the advantages are more than counterbalanced by the delays at locks. on the bridgewater canal, which has an average width of 50 ft. with a depth of 5-1/2 ft., is provided with vertical stone walls in place of sloping banks, and has no locks for its entire length of 40 m. except at runcorn, where it joins the mersey, tugs of 50 i.h.p., with a draught of 4 ft., tow four barges, each weighing 60 tons, at a rate of nearly 3 m. an hour. on the aire and calder navigation, where the locks have a minimum length of 215 ft., a large coal traffic is carried in trains of boat-compartments on a system designed by w.h. bartholomew. the boats are nearly square in shape, except the leading one which has an ordinary bow; they are coupled together by knuckle-joints fitted into hollow stern-posts, so that they can move both laterally and vertically, and a wire rope in tension on each side enables the train to be steered. no boat crews are required, the crew of the steamer regulating the train. if the number of boats does not exceed 11 they can be pushed, but beyond that number they are towed. each compartment carries 35 tons, and the total weight in a train varies from 700 to 900 tons. on the arrival of a train at goole the boats are detached and are taken over submerged cradles under hydraulic hoists which lift the boat with the cradle sufficiently high to enable it to be turned over and discharge the whole cargo at once into a shoot and thence into sea-going steamers. another method of utilizing steam-power, which was also first tried on the forth and clyde canal by symington in 1789, is to provide each vessel with a separate steam engine, and many barges are now running fitted in this way. experiments have also been made with internal combustion engines in place of steam engines. in some cases, chiefly on rivers having a strong current, recourse has been had to a submerged chain passed round a drum on a tug: this drum is rotated by steam power and thus the tug is hauled up against the current. to obviate the inconvenience of passing several turns of the chain round the drum in order to get sufficient grip, the plan was introduced on the seine and oise in 1893 of passing the chain round a pulley which could be magnetized at will, the necessary adhesion being thus obtained by the magnetic attraction exercised on the iron chain; and it was also adopted about the same time in combination with electrical haulage on a small portion of the bourgogne canal, electricity being employed to drive the motor that worked the pulley. small locomotives running on rails along the towpath were tried on the shropshire union canal, where they were abandoned on account of practical difficulties in working, and also on certain canals in france and germany, where, however, the financial results were not satisfactory. on portions of the teltow canal, joining the havel and the spree, electrical tractors run on rails along both banks, taking their power from an overhead wire; they attain a speed of 2-1/2 m. an hour when hauling two 600-ton barges. the electrical supply is also utilized for working the lock gates and for various other purposes along the route of the canal. in the mont-de-rilly tunnel, at the summit level of the aisne-marne canal, a system of cable-traction was established in 1894, the boats being taken through by being attached to an endless travelling wire rope supported by pulleys on the towpath. when railways were being carried out in england some canal companies were alarmed for their future, and sold their canals to the railway companies, who in 1906 owned 1138 m. of canals out of a total length in the united kingdom of 3901 m. as some of these canals are links in the chain of internal water communication complaints have frequently arisen on the question of through traffic and tolls. the great improvements carried out in america and on the continent of europe by state aid enable manufacturers to get the raw material they use and goods they export to and from their ports at much cheaper rates than those charged on british canals. the association of chambers of commerce and other bodies having taken up the matter, a royal commission was appointed in 1906 to report on the canals and water-ways of the kingdom, with a view to considering how they could be more profitably used for national purposes. its report was published in december 1909. authorities.--l.f. vernon-harcourt, _rivers and canals_ (2nd ed., 1896); chapman, _canal navigation_; firisi, _on canals_; r. fulton, _canal navigation_; tatham, _economy of inland navigation_; valancy, _treatise on inland navigation_; d. stevenson, _canal and river engineering_; john phillips, _history of inland navigation_; j. priestley, _history of navigable rivers, canals, &c. in great britain_ (1831); t. telford, _life_ (1838); john smeaton, _reports_ (1837); _reports of the international congresses on interior navigation_; _report and evidence of the royal commission on canals_ (_great britain_), 1906-9. (e. l. w.)