line of railway spanned the continent from the Straits of Canso to the Gulf of Geor gia, as a result of the new energy and national spirit developed by the union. Population flowed slowly yet steadily into the territories, and there is now a cordon of cities, towns, and villages stretching from Port Arthur at the head of Lake Superior to Vancouver, that city of marvellous growth on the Pacific coast. more than ten miles wide at the mouth, but certain bays, including the Bay of Chaleurs, were expressly excepted in the interest of Canada from the operation of this provision. The United States did not attempt to acquire the right to fish in the inshore fishing-grounds of Canada that is within three miles of the coasts but these fisheries were to be left for the exclusive use of the Canadian fishermen. More satisfactory arrangements were As a sequence of the acquisition of made for vessels obliged to resort to the British Columbia, Canada has been comCanadian ports in distress, and a provision | pelled to take an active part in the conwas made for allowing American fishing sideration of a question of some gravity vessels to obtain supplies and other privi- that has arisen between England and the leges in the harbors of the Dominion United States, in consequence of a cruiser whenever Congress allowed the fish of of the latter country having forcibly seized, that country to enter free into the market and carried into a port of Alaska, certain of the United States. President Cleve- Canadian vessels engaged in the seal fish. land in his message submitting the treaty eries of the great body of sea known in to the Senate, acknowledged that it "sup- these times as Behring Sea. A perusal of plied a satisfactory, practical, and final the blue-book containing the correspondadjustment, upon a basis honorable and ence on the subject between London, Otjust to both parties, of the difficult and tawa, and Washington, shows that from vexed question to which it relates." The the beginning to the end of this controRepublican party, however, at that impor- versy the imperial government has contant juncture-just before a presidential sulted with the government of Canada on election - had a majority in the Senate, every point material to the issue. As an and the result was the failure in that body English statesman determined to maintain of a measure, which, although by no the interests of all sections of the empire, means too favorable to Canadian interests, Lord Salisbury has paid every respect to was framed in a spirit of judicious states- the opinions and statements of the Cana manship, and, if agreed to, would have dian ministry in relation to a matter which settled for all time, in all probability, ques- deeply affects Canada, and has pursued a tions which have too long been sources of course throughout the negotiations which irritation to the two countries. has done much to strengthen the relations between the parent State and the dependency. Without going fully into this vexed question, we shall simply state the principal arguments advanced by the imperial and Canadian authorities in maintaining their case. While these events were taking place the Dominion of Canada was extending its limits across the continent, developing a great railway system, and making steady strides in the path of national progress. The vast region which extends from the head of Lake Superior to the Rocky Mountains, and from the Lake of the Woods and the forty-ninth degree of north latitude to Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean, the home of the Indian and the fur-trader for centuries, whose capabilities for settlement had been studiously concealed from the world by a great fur monopoly, was added to the territory of the Dominion, and the new province of Manitoba was established with a complete system of local government. Prince Edward Island, a rich spot in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, came into the union, and the Dominion was extended as far as the Pacific Ocean by the admission of British Columbia. Two noble islands, with great fisheries and coal mines, Cape Breton and Vancouver, now guarded the Atlantic and Pacific shores of the Dominion. A great VOL. LXXIV. 3836 LIVING AGE. 1. That certain Canadian schooners, fitted out in British Columbia, and peace. ably and lawfully engaged in the capture of seals in the northern Pacific Ocean, adjacent to Vancouver Island, Queen Charlotte Islands, and Alaska—a portion of the territory of the United States acquired in 1867 from Russia - were seized in the open sea, out of sight of land, by a United States cutter, although being at the time at a distance of more than sixty miles from the nearest land. These vessels were taken into a port of Alaska, where they were subjected to forfeiture, and the masters and mates fined and imprisoned. 2. That the facts of these seizures showed the English and Canadian govern. ments that the authorities of the United States appeared to lay claim to the sole sovereignty of that part of Behring Sea lying east of the westerly boundary of Alaska, as defined in the first article of the treaty between the United States and Russia in 1867, by which Alaska was ceded to the United States, and which includes a stretch of sea extending in its widest part some six hundred or seven hundred miles easterly from the mainland | of Alaska. 3. That these proceedings were in direct violation of established principles of the law of nations, as urged in former times by the United States. 4. That the United States, through their secretary of state, Hon. John Quincy Adams, emphatically resisted in 1822 a claim made by a Russian ukase to sovereignty for one hundred miles distant from the coasts and islands belonging to Russia in the Pacific Ocean, north of the fifty-first degree of latitude. That Russia subsequently relinquished her indefensible position and agreed to a convention, first with the United States, and subsequently with England, recognizing the rights of navigation and fishing by those nations in any part of the Behring Sea within limits allowed by the law of nations. 7. That the British government bas always claimed the freedom of navigation and fishing in the waters of the Behring Sea outside of the usual territorial marine league from the coast; that it is clearly impossible to admit that “a public right to fish or pursue any other lawful occupation on the high seas can be considered to be abandoned by a nation from the mere fact that for a certain number of years it has not suited the subjects of that nation to exercise it; " and it must be remembered that British Columbia has come into existence as a colony, and her seal industry has become important only within a very recent period. 8. That the Canadian government, in their desire to maintain as friendly relations as possible with the United States, have stated to the imperial government their readiness to consider any international arrangement for the proper preser vation of the seal; but before such an enquiry is agreed to they expect that the question raised by the seizures of the Canadian vessels shall be settled according to the law of nations, and that the claim of indemnity now in the hands of her Majesty's government shall be fully settled. 9. That her Majesty's government are quite ready to agree that the whole question of the legality of the seizures in the Behring Sea, and the issues dependent thereon, shall be referred to an impartial arbitration. 5. That the municipal legislation of the United States, under which the Canadian vessels were seized and condemned and their masters and mates fined and imprisoned, in an Alaskan court, could have no operation whatever against vessels in Behring Sea, which is not in the territorial waters of the United States; that any claim to exclusive jurisdiction on such From this summary it will be seen that seas is opposed to international law, and no the issues raised by the English and Canasuch right can be acquired by prescription. dian governments are very clear — that 6. That the Canadian vessels captured the seizures of Canadian vessels were in the Behring Sea were not engaged in illegal-that the United States have no any proceeding contra bonos mores, as special or exclusive rights in this open urged by Mr. Blaine, inasmuch as such a sea under any recognized principle of inrule is only admissible in the case of pi-ternational law. The whole tenor of Mr. racy or in pursuance of a special international agreement. All jurists of note have acknowledged this principle, and President Tyler, in a message to Congress in 1843, pressed the point that with the single exception of piracy "no nation has in the time of peace any authority to detain the ships of another upon the high seas on any pretext whatever outside the territorial jurisdiction." That discreditable traffic, the slave-trade, might well be considered contra bonos mores, but the government of the United States would not consent to any English ship visiting and.searching a suspected ship floating their flag, and yet the capture of seals is now a more serious affair than human slavery in the estimation of the Washington secretary of state. Blaine's last despatches has been in the direction of the indefensible ground, that the Behring Sea and its fisheries occupy an altogether exceptional position among the seas and fisheries of the world, but no authority of note, American or European, has supported his argument; and it is impossible to explain how the secretary of state could raise the issue of an offence against good morals, when it could have no application to the fisheries in question, and could in any case have no value or force except by international agreement-an agreement which would only bind the parties who might make it. If the United States have any exclusive rights beyond those based on intelligible and generally admitted principles of reason and the law 12 75 ment of nations, let them be explained and set- The Canadian government, with the approval of the imperial authorities, has given additional evidence of its desire to settle this vexed question with as little delay as possible by taking the necessary steps for bringing the whole subject of the legality of the seizures of Canadian vessels on the high sea before the Supreme Court, the highest tribunal in the United States. That court has already consented to consider a petition for a writ of prohibition to prevent the district court of Alaska from proceeding to carry out its decree of forfeiture in the case of the schooner Sayward, libelled for unlawfully taking seals in the Behring Sea. The case comes up in April, and it is hoped that the great tribunal, to which the Canadians so confidently appeal, will be able to go into the whole question at issue. If so, it will be a triumph of law over uncertain and crooked diplomacy. spect to the value of Canada as a home for industrious people, retarded her material and political development. Isolated provinces, without common aspirations or national aims, had no influence over imperial councils in matters which were arranged by English diplomatists solely; whilst the federal republic, a union of free, selfgoverning states, had always in view the promotion of their national strength and territorial aggrandizement. England, Spain, France, Mexico, and Russia, in turn, contributed their share to her ambi. tion; and more than once, when discontent reigned and hope was absent, the ability of Canada to hold her own on this continent, in the opinion of not a few, seemed to be steadily on the decline. But self-government in all matters of local concern changed the gloomy outlook to one of brightness and hope, and a spirit of self-reliance developed itself among statesmen and people, until confederation united all the provinces in a union which alone could enable them to resist the ambition of their restless neighbor. Fortyfour States in 1890, with a population of over sixty-two millions of souls, against a population of four millions in 1790; with a total commerce of exports and imports to the value of $1,400,000,000, against $43,000,000 in 1790; with a national revenue of more than $300,000,000, against $41,000,000 in 1790, now represent the federal union, once composed of thirteen States, the basis of the nation's greatness. Despite all the powerful influences that have fought against Canada, she has held her own in America. In 1890 a populaThe part that Canada has taken in this tion of five millions against one million in matter is in itself an illustration of her 1840, with a total trade of $230,000,000 importance in imperial councils and of the against $25,000,000 in 1840, and with a vastness of her territorial domain which national revenue of nearly $40,000,000 now stretches from the Atlantic to the against $700,000 in 1840, inhabit a domin. Pacific. One hundred and thirty years ion of seven regularly organized provinces ago the term "Canada represented an and of an immense territory, now in course ill-defined region of country watered by of development, stretching from Manitoba the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, in- and Ontario to the foothills of the Rocky habited by a few thousand Frenchmen Mountains, and northerly to a great region living chiefly on the banks of the St. Law-watered by the Peace, Athabasca, Slave, rence and its tributaries. English-speaking people then came into the country and settled in the maritime provinces, on the St. Lawrence, and on the lakes; representative institutions were established, commerce was developed, and by 1792, five provinces, governed in the English way, were established from Cape Breton to the western limits of Ontario. For many years the indifference of English statesmen, and the ignorance which until relatively recent times prevailed with re and MacKenzie rivers, and possessing a climate and soil, according to recent explorations, capable of supporting millions. This Dominion embraces an area of three millions five hundred and nineteen thousand square miles, including its water surface, or very little less than the area of the United States with Alaska, or a region with a width of three thousand five hundred miles from east to west, and one thousand four hundred miles from north to south. Its climate and resources are those of the northern, middle, and western states. No dangerous question like slavery exists to complicate the political and social conditions of the union; and although there is a large and increasing French Canadian element in the Dominion-the heritage of the old French régime in America- its history so far should not create fear as to the future except in the minds of sectarian and sectional pessimists who are too often raising gloomy phantoms of their own imaginings. While this element naturally clings to its national language and special institutions, yet it has, under the influence of a complete system of local self-government, taken as active and earnest a part as the English element in establishing and strengthening the confederation. The expansion of the African race in the Southern States is a question of the future for the federal republic which its statesmen will find much more difficult than any that Canadian statesmen have to solve on account of the existence of a French nationality who possess the lively intelligence of their race, exercise all the privileges of self-government, and, above all things, must comprehend that their true interests lie in a prosperous Canadian confederation, and not in union with a country where they would eventually lose their national identity. The federal union gives expansion to the national energies of the whole Dominion, and at the same time should afford every security to the local interests of each member of the federal compact. In all matters of Dominion concern, Canada is a free agent. While the queen is still the head of the executive authority, and can alone initiate treaties with foreign nations that being an act of complete sovereignty and appeals are still open to her Privy Council from Canadian courts within certain limitations it is an admitted principle that so far as Canada has been granted legislative rights and privileges by the imperial Parliament rights and privileges set forth explicitly in the British North America Act of 1867she is practically sovereign in the exercise of all those powers as long as they do not conflict with treaty obligations of the parent State or with imperial legislation directly applicable to her with her own consent. It is true that the queen in council can veto acts of the Canadian Parliament, but that supreme power is only exercised under the conditions just stated, and can no more be constitutionally used in the case of ordinary Canadian statutes affecting the Dominion solely, than can the sovereign to-morrow veto the acts of the imperial Parliament — a prerogative of the crown still existent, but not exercised in England since the days of Queen Anne, and now inconsistent with modern rules of Parliamentary gov. ernment. In a limited sense there is al ready a loose system of federation between England and her dependencies. The central government of England, as the guardian of the welfare of the whole empire, co-operates with the several governments of her colonial dependencies, and by com. mon consultation and arrangement endeavors to come to such a determination as will be to the advantage of all the interests at stake. In other words, the conditions of the relations between England and Canada are such as to ensure unity of policy as long as each government considers the interests of England and the dependency as identical, and keeps ever in view the obligations, welfare, and unity of the empire at large. Full consultation in all negotiations affecting Canada, representation in every arbitration and commission that may be the result of such negotiations, are the principles which have been admitted by England of late years in acknowledgment of the develop. ment of Canada and of her present position in the empire, and any departure now from so sound a doctrine would be a serious injury to the imperial connection and an insult to the ability of Canadians to take a part in the great councils of the world. Canada then is no longer a mere province, in the old colonial sense of the term, but a Dominion possessing many of the attributes of a self-governing nation. Her past history is not that of a selfish people, but of one ever ready to make concessions for the sake of maintaining the most friendly relations between England and the United States. Every treaty that has been made with the United States has been more or less at the expense of some Canadian interest, but Canadians have yielded to the force of circumstances, and to reasons of national comity and good neighborhood. Canada has been always ready to agree to any fair measure of reciprocal trade with her neighbors, but this paper has shown that all her efforts in that direction have been fruitless for years. The two political parties since 1867, the year of confederation, have been avowedly in favor of reciprocity, and the dif ferences of opinion that have grown up between them since 1879, when the present government adopted a so-called na tional policy or system of protection, have | must come when from no other cause than With the minor party issues that have complicated this important contest for the political supremacy in Canada, we have nothing to do in this historical review of events affecting the relations of Canada and the United States. We have confined ourselves to a brief statement of the nature of the vital issue which has been directly submitted to the people of the Dominion. The result of the contest, after some weeks of heated controversy and England can assuredly teach her dependencies nothing in this respect has been, so far as we can judge from the data before us, to give Sir John Macdonald's ministry a majority over the whole Dominion of above thirty in a House of two hundred and fifteen members, against an average majority of fifty in the last Parliament. The expression of public opinion in Canada appears to be decidedly in favor of some fair measure of trade with the United States, but the problem is whether the dominant party in that country under ex a moderate treaty on the basis of that of 1854, with such changes as will meet the later condition of things. As already indicated, while the present government favors restricted reciprocity, they are pledged to maintain the general principles of the national policy, and to agree to no measure that will discriminate against the parent State. The gravity of the political situation for some time to come must be intensified by the fact that, while the party of unrestricted reciprocity has been de feated in the Dominion as a whole, it has developed strength in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, where the total representation of one hundred and fifty-seven |