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[1885 A.D.]

the adventurer. Suddenly Canada was convulsed by the news, telegraphed from within a few miles of the scene, that an attack had been made on the mounted police and Prince Albert volunteers at Duck Lake, on the 26th of March, 1885, and that the troops had been defeated with loss of life.

The excitement through all Canada was intense. The insurgents were intrenched at a point two hundred miles from the Canadian Pacific Railway, and there were unmistakable signs of restlessness among all the Indian tribes, for messengers to them had been sent in all directions by Riel, who had formed another provisional government. The 90th battalion, from Winnipeg, and a volunteer field battery were despatched to the scene of action, and from different parts of Canada in a few days some five or six thousand of the volunteer militia were on their

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way to the scene of the rebellion.

The first skirmish took place at Fish Creek on the Saskatchewan, where the French half-breeds held a strong position among the ravines with their skilfully arranged rifle-pits. After

loss of life they were compelled to retire. In another portion of the country farther up the Saskatchewan, the Queen's Own, of Toronto, attacked an intrenched camp of Cree Indians under Chief Poundmaker, and inflicted severe loss. The defeated half-breeds, with a number of Sioux Indians as allies, after the fight of Fish Creek, fell back to their stronghold at Batoche; but here, after several days'

SIR JOHN ALEXANDER MACDONALD (1815-1891)

skirmishing, and further loss of life, the position was taken on the 12th of May, 1885, after which the rebel chief was captured a few miles from the field. Taken to Regina, tried by civil process, and found guilty, on the 16th of November, 1885, Louis Riel, on the scaffold, expiated the crime of leading two rebellions and the country was again at peace.b

AFTER CONFEDERATION

The governor-generalship of Canada became on confederation one of the greatest official appointments in the gift of the crown. It is agreed that the statesmen who have filled the post have been uniformly successful in holding evenly the balance between political parties, and Canadians are satisfied with the method of appointing the official head of the state. Canada's political history is interesting, as showing the gradual development of a policy strictly Canadian, and yet not divergent from that of the empire. The liberal conservative party which gathered round Sir John A. Macdonald, the first premier, represented a practical school of statesmen. Drawn from the ranks of

[1896-1908 A.D.] both parties, they adopted a system of compromise in political matters, and made the early and speedy development of the country the main object of their policy. Opposed to them were the reform party, who took as their watchword financial retrenchment, and therefore opposed the government in its railway policy and other schemes of rapid development. On the overthrow of the Macdonald ministry in 1873, a reform government was formed under the Hon. Alex. Mackenzie. Committed by their parliamentary record to a policy of economy, the reformers soon aroused discontent by their neglect of the Canadian Pacific Railway project. As consistent believers in free trade too, they seemed powerless in the face of the financial difficulties that then beset Canada and threatened the ruin of her manufactures. This led to their defeat in 1878. The conservative party, on returning to power, adopted a highly protective tariff as a defence against American trade encroachment, and this has so far proved itself favourable to the commercial well-being of the country that it has been continued to the present day. On the death of Sir John A. Macdonald in 1891, Sir John Abbott became premier, but resigned through ill-health in the following year, and was succeeded by Sir John Thompson, who died at Windsor Castle in 1894, while attending to be sworn in as a member of her majesty's privy council. Sir Mackenzie Bowell then became premier, and held the office until 1896, when he gave way to Sir Charles Tupper. In the elections of the same year, under the able leadership of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the reformers, who had been in opposition since 1878, won a signal victory, which they repeated in 1900 and again in 1904. The reform administration has been marked by various measures tending to unite Canada more closely with the empire-such as the adoption of imperial penny postage; the denunciation of the German and Belgian treaties, with the subsequent preferential treatment accorded to British goods; the carrying out of plans previously made for cable connection between Canada and Australia; and the contribution of men for the South African war. On the other hand, the abandonment by the British government of the Canadian claims in the Alaskan boundary dispute aroused a storm of indignation in the dominion; and Sir Wilfrid Laurier went so far as to suggest that Canada should be given the right to conduct her own diplomatic negotiations. A notable feature of Canadian history in recent years has been a great flood of immigration, in large measure from the United States, into the northwest. In 1905 Alberta and Saskatchewan were erected into provinces. At present the Grand Trunk company, with the assistance of the government, is constructing a new transcontinental railway, which will greatly facilitate the settlement of this region.a

The general election of 1906 resulted in a great victory for the liberals, but this success coincided with their defeat in Ontario, where they had been in power for thirty years. In the session of parliament beginning in November, 1906, a new tariff bill was passed providing for three different rates on imports: (1) on imports from Great Britain, (2) on imports from other countries that do not have reciprocity agreements with Canada, and (3) on imports from countries that have such agreements. The establishment of a permanent commission to deal with difficulties arising between railways and shippers, the appointment of an insurance commission, and the development of the federal department of labour are among the other important political events of the time. In September, 1907, serious riots broke out in Vancouver against the Chinese and Japanese. A demonstration was also made against the landing of 900 Hindus, who were reported to be of a superior class and well supplied with funds."

[1497-1890 A.D.]

NEWFOUNDLAND

The discovery of John Cabot in 1497 of the island of Newfoundland, which thereby became the most ancient of all Great Britain's colonial possessions, has already been mentioned. Likewise we have touched upon the early attempts at colonisation of Sir Humphrey Gilbert (1583) and others. By the year 1650, a century and a half after its discovery, the entire population of Newfoundland was under two thousand, distributed along the southern shore in fifteen small settlements. This scant population was swelled in the summer time by several thousand fishermen, who made the island a temporary dwelling place while they salted and dried their season's catch. Hence the foreign fish-traders and shipowners discouraged permanent settlement in order 'to maintain a monopoly of the fisheries and to retain the shore and coves for their exclusive use. To retard permanent settlement the British government was led to make stringent laws prohibiting settlement within six miles of the shore and forbidding fishermen to remain over winter or to build or repair a house without special licence. The rivalry of the French fishermen was another element which retarded the prosperity of the island. During the long period of the French and English wars the constant hostility of the French harassed the few English settlers and rendered life and property insecure. The Peace of Utrecht (1713) which gave to France the right of catching and drying fish on the western and northern shores, known henceforth as the French Shore did not terminate the quarrel by any means, for although the sovereignty was confirmed to England the practical effect was to exclude settlers from the most habitable part of the island. It was only after a prolonged contest of over two centuries that the Newfoundland settlers obtained the repeal of the last of the restrictive laws.

Meanwhile, despite these adverse conditions, the colony grew. In 1728, in the face of the objection of the "adventurers," the appointment of a governor was secured, Captain Henry Osborne being sent on in that year with a commission to organise a civil government for the island. This marked a new era in the history of the colony, and by 1763 its permanent population had increased to eight thousand. In 1765 Labrador was attached to the Newfoundland jurisdiction. During the Napoleonic wars the French were swept from the seas, and the colonial merchants and fishermen reaped the whole advantage of the fisheries. The value of fish trebled, wages rose, and in 1814 no less than seven thousand immigrants settled in the colony, the population of which had by that time increased to over eighty thousand. In 1832 a new constitution embodying the principle of representative government was adopted, and in 1855 the system of responsible ministries was inaugurated.

În 1884 Newfoundland gained a new importance in international politics from the revival of the ancient dispute in regard to the French Shore. In 1884 and again in 1885 conventions arranged between the British and French governments were rejected by the Newfoundland legislature, which in 1886 went further and passed an act cutting off the supply of fish bait to French fishermen. This measure was rather tardily approved by Lord Salisbury, a year and a half later, and at once the French foreign secretary, M. de Freycinet, retaliated by ordering the seizure and confiscation of the implements and stock of all foreign fishermen found upon the French Shore. The order was subsequently made to apply to the Newfoundland lobster factories, although the treaty originally dealt only with the question of the cod fisheries. In 1890 a modus vivendi was agreed upon by which existing lobster factories, both French and British, were to be left undisturbed until a final settlement

[1904-1908 A.D.}

could be arranged. The Newfoundland legislature was finally prevailed upon, by the promise that the imperial government would attempt to negotiate a new treaty, to incorporate the stipulations of the modus vivendi in an act which was passed annually thereafter up to 1904, each passage being accompanied with a protest. At length by the terms of an agreement signed April 7th, 1904, by M. Delcassé on the part of France and Lord Lansdowne on the part of England, France gave up her pretensions to exclusive fishing rights on the French shore in return for an indemnity to be settled by arbitration, and a recognition of her rights in Morocco.

A question of supreme importance in Newfoundland's domestic politics. has been the so-called Reid Contract. A Montreal contractor of the name of R. G. Reid secured, in 1893, despite bitter opposition, a contract for the construction of a trans-insular railroad. The contract provided that the contractor should operate the road, and a telegraph system which he agreed to build, for a period of ten years, in return for a grant in fee-simple of 5,000 acres of land for each mile of road constructed amounting, if the railroad was fifty miles in length, to 2,500,000 acres. The railroad, completed in 1897, had a mileage of over six hundred miles. In 1898 Mr. Reid made a new contract with the Winter ministry by which in consideration of a further grant of 2,500,000 acres he undertook to pay into the colonial treasury the sum of $1,000,000 and to operate both the railway and telegraph systems free of charge for fifty years, with the provision that at the end of that period both should become his property. In the face of the declarations of the opponents of the measure that it practically meant the sale of the colony to Mr. Reid, the ministry secured the assent of the legislature and the approval of the imperial government. The action of the British government led to the resignation of the governor, Sir Herbert Murray, who disapproved of the measure, and eventually (1900) to the overthrow of the ministry of Sir James Winter and the formation of a liberal ministry by Sir Robert Bond who had led the opposition to the "contract." The proposal of Mr. Reid to convert his property into a limited liability company led the way to a readjustment of the terms of the new contract of 1898. The new agreement provided for the immediate transfer of the telegraph system to the company, for a more equitable arrangement of the land grants, and gave the colony the option of taking back the railroad system after fifty years by the paying back to the contractor of the sum of $1,000,000 and interest, and a further sum for betterments.

Legislation directed at American fishermen caused considerable friction during 1905 and 1906. In October of the latter year a modus vivendi arranged for one year between the United States and Great Britain on the subject aroused much dissatisfaction in the island. In August, 1907, the modus vivendi was renewed in a modified form and an agreement was reached to submit the questions at issue to the arbitration of The Hague.a

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THE BULL OF POPE ADRIAN IV EMPOWERING HENRY II TO CONQUER IRELAND (1155 a.d.)

BISHOP ADRIAN, servant of the servants of God, sends to his dearest son in Christ, the illustrious king of the English, greeting and apostolic benediction. Laudably and profitably enough thy magnificence thinks of extending thy glorious name on earth, and of heaping up rewards of eternal felicity in Heaven, inasmuch as, like a good catholic prince, thou dost endeavour to enlarge the bounds of the church, to declare the truth of the Christian faith to ignorant and barbarous nations, and to extirpate the plants of evil from the field of the Lord. And, in order the better to perform this, thou dost ask the advice and favour of the apostolic see. In which work, the more lofty the counsel and the better the guidance by which thou dost proceed, so much more do we trust that, by God's help, thou wilt progress favourably in the same; for that reason that those things which have taken their rise from ardour of faith and love of religion are accustomed always to come to a good end and termination.

There is indeed no doubt, as thy Highness doth also acknowledge, that Ireland and all other islands, which Christ the Sun of Righteousness has illumined, and which have received the doctrines of the Christian faith, belong to the jurisdiction of St. Peter and of the holy Roman Church. Wherefore, so much the more willingly do we grant to them that the right faith and the seed grateful to God may be planted in them, the more we perceive, by examining more strictly our conscience, that this will be required of us.

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