CANADA - SINCE CONFEDERATION technically "squatters" for they had no patents and no surveys had been made. When at length Canadian surveyors came to lay out their fields on a uniform plan, disregarding the divisions which they had established, the half breeds protested and demanded that they should be granted patents for their lands as they stood. At Ottawa their protests were filed but remained unheeded. The official mind was aghast at the prospect of land grants not based upon the usual survey; the half breeds could get nothing done and they grew ever more restless at the supposed menace to their rights. Disinterested observers sent to Ottawa warnings of a probable rising but official supineness was invincible, and the result of neglect and delay was that in March 1885 the despairing half breeds attacked a body of police, killed 12 out of 40 engaged, and defied the authority of Canada. Since it was not unlikely that they would be joined by the Indian tribes the outbreak was serious. The half breed leader was the same Louis With Riel the French Canadians had ties of law-abiding citizens were shot down. If he was The Government's course in regard to Riel With this attitude on their part occasions of strife were not likely to be wanting. In 1890 the Manitoba Government passed an Act establishing a non-sectarian system of education. Owing to the peculiar conditions of older Canada the Protestant minority in the Province of Quebec had secured the constitutional right to devote the taxes paid by them for education in support of their own schools. In Ontario the Roman Catholic minority possessed a similar privilege. For some time Manitoba had followed the example of Ontario, but, impressed the legislature passed the Act of 1890 which deby the obvious advantages of a uniform system, prived Roman Catholics of former privileges. At once a vehement agitation broke out. The Federal Government possesses, within certain limits, the right of disallowing statutes enacted in the provinces and urgent demand was made upon the Government of Sir John Macdonald to disallow the Manitoba School Bill. This, on the ground that Manitoba was acting within its constitutional rights, the Government refused to do. Appeal was then made to the courts to determine the authority of the respective Governments in the matter and the case was finally carried to the Privy Council in London, which decided that the Federal Government possessed the right of Extraordinary pressure was then brought to intervention in regard to the Manitoba schools. bear upon the Federal Government. The hierarchy of the Province of Quebec took up the question with much heat, while the Protestant Province of Ontario was also aroused in support of the opposite side. In 1891, when Sir John Macdonald died, his successors were left with the legacy of the Manitoba School Question. CANADA-SINCE CONFEDERATION The agitation dragged on for five or six years. Retreat from their position the Manitoba Government would not, and finally, in 1896, the Federal Government endeavored to put through Parliament a Remedial Bill for restoring to the Roman Catholics of Manitoba the privileges which had been taken away. It was this question that brought the downfall of the Conservative party so long dominant in Canada, a process accelerated by evidence adduced in 1891 of a share by responsible leaders in the Province of Quebec in the misuse of public funds. In 1896 Sir Charles Tupper (q.v.) became Prime Minister and in a general election appealed to the country to do justice to the minority in Manitoba. On this question many of his Conservative allies broke away from him and he fought a stern but losing contest. The Liberals too were in a difficult position. When Sir John Macdonald's old rival, Mr. Alexander MacKenzie retired from the leadership of the party in 1880 he was succeeded by Mr. Edward Blake, who, in turn, proved unable to overthrow the Conservative chieftain. In 1887 Mr. Blake retired and was succeeded by Mr., afterwards Sir Wilfrid, Laurier. In personal charm and tact the new leader was not unlike his formidable rival, and he had, besides, remarkable gifts as an orator. French Canadian by birth and also a Roman Catholic, it was not easy for him to lead the Liberal party, which was committed unreservedly against interfering in Manitoba. In Mr. Laurier's own Province of Quebec the hierarchy were still unanimous in demanding intervention to re-establish the Roman Catholic schools. The election of 1896, fought chiefly on this issue, resulted in a conspicuous Liberal triumph and it was in Quebec that Mr. Laurier found his most striking support. Either the issue in regard to Manitoba had been obscured or the "habitant" wished to assert his right to pass judgment for himself in political matters independent of the views of the hierarchy. At any rate Mr. Laurier became prime minister of Canada. The Manitoba Government made some minor concessions and the matter passed out of view, but an important warning against interfering with the authority of the Province had been given to the Federal Government. The Liberal party had long championed the cause of freer trade and declared itself the enemy of Protection; it was therefore committed to some modification of the existing Protective system. But, once in power, it found that, since important industries had grown up under the tariff, this could not be changed in any radical manner without ruin to those concerned. While doing something to reduce Protection the Government took a further remarkable step. The year 1897 saw the completion of 60 years under Queen Victoria's sovereignty, and there was a general desire to draw more closely together the different sections of the empire, and thus to assert British unity. In pursuit of this idea Mr. Laurier's government announced that a preference of 25 per cent (later increased to 333 per cent) would henceforth be allowed to countries whose tariff gave a favorable opening to Canadian products. Since Britain alone gave such treatment the preference was confined to her, though other countries might share in it on the terms laid down. Both in England and in Canada the Preferential Tariff aroused great enthusiasm and no doubt it aided in bringing to a head Mr. Chamberlain's scheme, announced a few years later, for a Preferential Tariff_in_the mother country for colonial products. See CANADA - BRITISH PREFERENTIAL TARIFF. In 1898 the Liberal Government had a renewed opportunity to proclaim its devotion to British connection. When war broke out in South Africa and soon proved more serious than had been thought possible, Canada promptly volunteered to send military contingents in reinforcement of the British troops. The contingents saw some service and a good many Canadian soldiers lost their lives. Naturally the French Canadian showed less enthusiasm for what was in large degree a racial war than did the British element. Only a few French Canadians served in the contingents, and some voices protested against Canada's participating in British wars. But the overwhelming opinion of the country supported the rally to Britain's aid; when the Government appealed to the country in 1900 it gained an easy victory, partly upon this issue. was A little earlier the discovery of gold in remarkable quantities in the Yukon Territory, arousing as it did world-wide interest, naturally attracted attention to a part of Canada hitherto thought of little value. The possession by the United States of the adjacent coast of Alaska (q.v.) through which lay the best route to the new gold country, seriously impaired the value to Canada of the territory. The boundary between Alaska and Canada had long been the subject of dispute, the Canadians contending that since, under the terms of the determining treaty, the line should run from headland to headland, the land at the head of the inlets which furnished the most ready access to the Yukon were in reality British territory. Canada's cause prejudiced by the fact that (though not without occasional protest) she had acquiesced in the American contention that the boundary line followed the sinuosities of the shore. A disputed boundary is always dangerous. Besides this question there were other matters requiring settlement between the United States and Canada, and at last, in 1898, a Joint High Commission, including prominent representatives of both the American and British side, was appointed and sat for some weeks at Quebec and then at Washington. In addition to the Alaska Boundary the Commission was, if possible, to agree upon a settlement of the differences in regard to the seal fishery in Behring Sea and the Atlantic fisheries; and besides minor matters was to consider the general trade relations between the two countries. Points of variance proving too great, the Commission effected nothing but in the end the two Governments agreed that six jurists of repute, three to represent each side should be appointed with authority finally to settle the Alaska Boundary. In the end a majority of the commissioners gave, in 1903, a decision favorable to the claims of the United States. Lord Alverstone, the British commissioner who supported the American contentions, was severely censured in Canada for an attitude that seemed more diplomatic than judicial, but in spite of a passing irritation there was general satisfaction that a troublesome issue had at last been settled. See ALASKAN BOUNDARY COMMISSION. If the recent history of Canada has not been dramatic it shows none the less a record of great progress. For a long time the population of the CANADA - THE CANADIAN WEST are country increased very slowly. While successive decennial censuses in the United States usually showed increases of about 25 per cent in the population, the increases in Canada were hardly 10 per cent. In recent years, however, an improvement is apparent. Population is increasing rapidly. While formerly there was extensive emigration from Canada to the United States there is now a considerable movement from the United States to Canada and a good occupying the many American farmers wheat lands of the West. (See CANADA THE CANADIAN WEST.) So SETTLEMENT OF striking is this Western development that in 1904, further to open up the western country, a second trans-continental line of railway, the Grand Trunk Pacific, was begun, and a third line, the Canada Northern, will probably be completed before many years. These railways will traverse regions far north of Canada's southern frontier, and by extending northward the cultivated area will help to remove from Canada the old reproach that she is "length without breadth." Canada now has confidence in herself to which she was long a stranger. The troublesome domestic issues which played the chief part in her history since Confederation are pretty well solved; the old racial cries are not often heard, and when uttered they usually bring political disaster to those raising them. See CANRELATIONS TO - CONFEDERATION; CANADA ADA GEORGE M. WRONG, GREAT BRITAIN. Professor of History, University of Toronto. name 9. Canada - The Canadian West. It is doubtful if a British sovereign ever made a more munificent grant to a company of his subjects than did Charles II., in the year 1670, to "The Governor and Company of Adventurers of Engarea land trading into Hudson Bay." The sweeping terms of the royal charter defined an stretching from Hudson Bay to the Rocky which was given the Mountains, to of Rupert's Land, in honor of the king's cousin, Prince Rupert, the company's first governor. In spite of the hostility of the French Canadian government and the competition of rival traders, the Hudson's Bay Company succeeded in holding this territory down to the date of its cession to Canada two centuries later. Although a century had elapsed since Sir Francis Drake had sighted the snowy peaks of the Pacific coast, and half a century since the ill-fated Henry Hudson had discovered the bay which became at once his grave and the monument of his achievement, yet the history of the Canadian West may be said to date from the founding of the Hudson's Bay Company. See CANADA - THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY. a The presence of the English company upon the shores of Hudson Bay was from the outset serious menace to French Canadian influence in the Northwest. The newcomers were drawing off the trade of the northern tribes. English and French were face to face in a struggle for commercial supremacy in the West, and their rivalry was bound sooner or later to break into The Hudson's Bay Company a clash of arms. had strengthened its position by the establishment of four trading-posts: one upon the west shore near the Nelson, and the other three, Forts Albany, Hayes, and Rupert, on the south arm of the bay. In the spring of 1686 the progress of trade was rudely interrupted. Chevalier de a company of 80 adventurous In 1697 Pierre le Moyne D'Iberville, who had Meanwhile French Canadian traders were extending their trade beyond Lake Superior. With these there was ever present the desire to find La Mer de l'Ouest, which they thought could not be far distant. The ambition to discover this "Western Sea" possessed the mind of Pierre mander of a little post on Lake Nepigon. It Gaultier de Varennes de la Vérendrye, the comwas late in August 1731 that Vérendrye and his over the height of land to the waters flowing party passed over Le Grand Portage leading Maurepas (Winnipeg) River had been reached toward Lake Winnipeg. The mouth of the when troubles began to crowd upon the unfortunate explorer. The merchants who were to forward supplies failed to do so; his nephew his company, including his eldest son, were died; and, as a climax to his misfortunes, 21 of was not until six years later that Vérendrye butchered by a band of murderous Sioux. It again turned his face westward. The course of his travels was marked by a series of tradingwere Fort La Reine, near the site of the present posts built at successive stages. Among these town of Portage la Prairie, and Fort Rouge, whose name still clings to a suburb of the city of Winnipeg. During the last century of the French régime the Hudson's Bay Company had held its own throughout the dangers of war and the competition of trade. Its forts had fallen into the hands of De Troyes or D'Iberville, but had been restored by the Treaty of Utrecht (q.v.). Though the dangers of war were past, the rivalry spite the long overland journey, the latter peneof the Canadian traders had still to be met. Detrated to the neighborhood of Hudson Bay, attracting the Indians with showy trinkets, and too often with brandy. The majority of the natives, however, were not easily drawn away from the old company's forts. Every spring the canoes making their way to Lake Winnipeg, the rivers and lakes were dotted with fur-laden meeting place of the hundreds of natives who journeyed annually to Hudson Bay. As many as 500 canoes in a year made the long and toilsome journey to York Factory. Here they ex-. changed their dearly-earned furs for coats, blankets, kettles, and tobacco, or for necessities of the hunt, such as guns, powder, powder-horns, shot, hatchets, and knives. CANADA-THE CANADIAN WEST The conquest of Canada by Great Britain brought about an immediate and complete change in the fur trade. With the passing of the French régime, monopoly and licenses disappeared. The officers of the French company withdrew from the country rather than live under the British flag. The coureurs de bois, suddenly cast adrift, lacked the capital necessary to continue the fur trade. New employers, however, were soon at hand. The old route from the East, up the Ottawa and across Lake Superior to Grand Portage, had scarcely forgotten the passing of the French traders when it was traversed afresh by British merchants from Montreal. Alexander Henry, Thomas Curry, James Finlay, and the Frobisher brothers were the hardy forerunners of a new race of traders, whose enterprise and daring soon carried them into the Saskatchewan and Athabasca districts. In order to compete the more successfully with their long-established rivals, the newcomers, who at first traded individually, decided upon union, a decision which led to the founding in 1783 of the Northwest Company. Under the stimulus of competition the operations of both companies quickly extended northward to Lake Athabasca and westward to the foot-hills of the Rockies. The necessity of enlarging the field of trade gave a remarkable impulse to exploration. In penetrating the unknown lands, north and west, the pioneer traders rendered invaluable service to their country. The honor of leading the way into the northland belongs to Samuel Hearne, a servant of the Hudson's Bay Company. Setting out from Prince of Wales Fort, Hearne succeeded, after two failures, in reaching the Coppermine River. He was the first white man to arrive at the Arctic shores from the interior. The men of the Northwest Company were not slow to follow the example of their rivals. No name holds a prouder place in the annals of American travel than that of Alexander Mackenzie. Fort Chipeywan, situated upon the shores of Lake Athabasca, the trade centre of the north, was the starting point of his two great journeys. The "Western Sea, the elusive goal of Vérendrye's travels, was the object of Mackenzie's quest. His first journey, made in 1789, terminated at the Arctic Ocean. Choosing a more westerly stream for his second attempt, Mackenzie ascended the Peace River to its source in the Rockies, crossed the height of land, and, after descending the Fraser River a short distance, struck out across country for the sea. The successful issue of the journey was proclaimed by the following words inscribed upon the face of a rock overlooking the waters of the Pacific: "Alexander Mackenzie from Canada by land, the twenty-second of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three." Two other Nor'westers, Simon Fraser and David Thompson, also made their way to the Pacific Ocean, the former in 1808 by the river which bears his name, the latter in 1811 by the Columbia. While British explorers were forcing a way across the continent, British seamen were making good their country's claim to the Pacific coast. In 1778 Captain Cook touched at Nootka, on Vancouver Island. At this centre of trade Captain John Meares 10 years later established a settlement, which unfortunately was soon destroyed by the Spaniards. In 1792 Captain George Vancouver, being sent out to inquire into the action of the Spaniards, forced the latter to withdraw from the scene of their outrage. As the result of arbitration Great Britain received the entire coast line. Down to the close of the 17th century the ruling interest of the West centred in the fur trade. Lord Selkirk it was who first conceived the idea of planting a settlement at the heart of the continent. From the Hudson's Bay Company he secured a grant of 110,000 square miles in the valley of the Red River, a district henceforth called Assiniboia. Settlers were hurried out from Scotland, and in 1812 a small company, 70 in number, made its way inland from York Factory. The newcomers were looked upon as intruders by the Nor'westers, who suspected that Lord Selkirk, being a shareholder in the Hudson's Bay Company, had planted his colony to interfere with the trade of the Canadian company. The early years brought trying experiences to the settlers. So great was the scarcity of food that the governor, Miles Macdonell, issued a proclamation to the effect that "no provisions, flesh, fish, grain, or vegetables were to be taken out of the lands of the settlement for a year." This action brought the hostility of the Nor'westers to the point of violence. Some of the colonists were bribed to desert, the remainder were driven out by a band of Métis, or half-breeds. Almost immediately, however, the refugees returned, reinforced by another company of immigrants. With the new arrivals came Robert Semple as governor. Meanwhile Lord Selkirk had arrived in Canada. Hearing at Montreal of the misfortunes of his colonists, he had engaged the services of 100 discharged soldiers and set out for the West. While he was yet on the way, stirring events were happening in the Red River Valley. The Nor'westers, angered by the destruction of their fort on the Red, bestirred themselves to destroy the settlement. A strong band of half-breeds was gathered at Portage la Prairie, under the leadership of Cuthbert Grant. Upon 19 June 1816 Governor Semple was informed that a body of horsemen was approaching over the prairie. Taking a small force, he marched out to inquire the purpose of the intruders. This move precipitated a skirmish at a spot now marked by the Seven Oaks monument. When the firing ceased Semple and 21 of his followers lay dead or mortally wounded. By this disaster the settlers were forced to again leave their homes. The news of Seven Oaks was the signal for great rejoicing at Fort William, the headquarters of the Northwest Company. The joy of the Norwesters, however, was rudely dispelled by the sudden arrival of Lord Selkirk. The latter, acting in the capacity of magistrate, arrested several of the leading partners, and sent them down to York, Upper Canada. In the following spring he pushed on to the Red River, where he promptly restored the ejected colonists to their farms, settled his soldiers about Fort Douglas, and made a treaty with the Indians. When the news of the tragic death of Semple and his men reached England, the Imperial government at once interfered. Both parties to the quarrel were ordered to give up all posts and property seized. The death of Lord Selkirk in the year 1820, though to be regretted, CANADA-THE CANADIAN WEST was beneficial to the West, removing as it did the last obstacle in the way of a union of the fur companies. After the union, which took place in 1821, the management of the company's affairs rested with an official known as the governor of Rupert's Land, assisted by a council of chief factors and traders. A strong man was needed for the governorship, and such an one was found in the person of a young Scotchman named George Simpson, who ably guided the fortunes of the company during the next 40 years. To the enterprise of the Hudson's Bay Company, in no small measure, Great Britain owes her control of the Pacific coast. From the north Russia, from the south the United States, were pressing rival claims which threatened to shut out Great Britain entirely from the sea. Under Simpson's aggressive administration the country between the Rockies and the Pacific was occupied. A fleet of six armed vessels protected the company's coast trade, of which Fort Vancouver was the centre. Meanwhile the Selkirk settlement, clustering about the historic walls of Fort Garry, was winning its way to prosperity. The hardships of pioneer life in the East were here repeated. Spade and hoe, sickle and cradle, flail and quern, all told of the day of small things. A series of disasters, in the form of grasshoppers and floods, failed to shake the courage of the sturdy settlers. The growth of the colony made necessary a change of government. The people complained that the members of the council of Assiniboia were paid servants of the company, and did not, therefore, represent the popular will. Discontent was a sign of progress, a sign that the settlement was growing beyond the control of a fur company. The steadily growing importance of the Pacific country made it imperative to determine the boundary line between American and British territory in the West. The 49th parallel was the accepted line as far as the Rockies, and it was agreed that for the time being the country beyond the mountains should be "free and open to both nations. In 1846 the Oregon treaty continued the boundary line along the 49th parallel to the channel separating Vancouver Island from the mainland. The line to follow this channel southwesterly to the Pacific Ocean. For several years the ownership of the Island of San Juan was in dispute. The question was finally referred for settlement to the emperor of Germany, who gave his award in favor of the United States. was To maintain order among the lawless miners whom the discovery of gold had drawn to the Pacific coast, a separate government was established on the mainland. New Westminster, on the Fraser River, became the capital. This arrangement, however, proved unsatisfactory; and at times there was talk of annexing Vancouver Island to the United States. Fortunately a strong British sentiment prevailed, which led to the reunion, in 1866, of the island and the mainland, to form the province of British Columbia. Victoria was chosen as capital. The British North America Act made provision for the admission to confederation at any time of British Columbia, Rupert's Land, and the Northwest Territories The first Do Vol. 3-33 minion parliament petitioned the British government to hand over to Canada Rupert's Land and the Northwest. It was claimed that the rule of a fur company did not tend to the general development of the country, and, moreover, that the extension of the Dominion westward would be a safeguard against any aggression on the part of the United States. The Hudson's Bay Company finally surrendered to Canada its control of Rupert's Land and its monopoly of trade. The company, in return, received the sum of £300,000, one-twentieth of all land thereafter surveyed for settlement, and also retained its posts and trading privileges. At the time of confederation (q.v.), the only occupants of the land beyond Lake Superior were roving bands of Indians, a few scattered traders, and 12,000 settlers in the valley of the Red River. Ten thousand of these 12,000 were half-breeds, Scotch and French. Into this community, without warning, flocked Canadian surveyors to lay out roads and townships. The country had been handed over to Canada and the interests of the natives were to be sacrificed. Such was the thought of the half-breed element. The storm centre was the French half breed party, the Métis, led by Louis Riel (see RIEL REBELLION). There was no one in the colony to restrain the latter's madness. Fort Garry was seized and a "provisional government" established. There was every prospect, however, of a bloodless settlement of the situation, when suddenly Riel, in a moment of recklessness, ordered the execution of a young Ontario immigrant named Thomas Scott. The news of this brutal murder raised a storm of indignation in the East. In a remarkably short time a volunteer force under the command of Col. Garnet Wolseley, reached Fort Garry, only to find that the instigators of the rebellion had fled across the American border. Out of the strife of rebellion arose a new province. Even while Wolseley's force was on its way up from the East, the Manitoba Act passed the Canadian Parliament. Manitoba was admitted into Confederation as a full-fledged province. The claims of the half-breeds were fully met by a generous land grant. Many of Wolseley's men remained in the new province to share in its making. The little settlement about Fort Garry was soon transformed into the populous city of Winnipeg. Manitoba drew her first governor from the far East, in the person of a distinguished Nova Scotian, Adams G. Archibald. A year later the westward expansion of confederation was continued. British Columbia became part of the Dominion, subject to a very important condition, namely, that a transcontinental railroad should be begun within two years and completed within ten years from the date of union. In 1872, therefore, Sir John A. Macdonald introduced the question in Parliament. The great enterprise was well under way when the ministry, charged with corruption, was forced to resign. Alexander Mackenzie, who succeeded Sir John, proposed to construct the road gradually, as the finances of the country allowed. This delay put a severe strain upon British Columbia's loyalty to the Dominion. The Macdonald government, turning to power in 1878, immediately took up again the railway question. Construction was re |