than the elected representatives of the people.

It is an immense stride from these tropical isles whose dusky populations rest content with easy poverty in a land of perpetual summer to the extreme climate and hardy people of Canada; and in fact the two regions have nothing in common but the crown of Britain, and are separated by the greatest nation in America, perhaps in the world, the United States. England has, it is true, one link between the tropics and her northern realm, the naval station in the Bermuda Islands, which lie in the Gulf Stream, six hundred miles off Cape Hatteras, and are connected by cable with Halifax.

What is now British America bore the picturesque names of Nouvelle France and Acadie in the seventeenth century; so that but for Wolfe's famous capture of Quebec in 1759 the United States might have had a French America to the north as they have a Spanish one to the south.

A quarter of a century ago British America consisted of a few scattered provinces and the vast territory of Rupert's Land, supposed to be an Arctic waste fit only for the Indian trappers and hardy voyageurs of the Hudson Bay Company. In 1867, however, Upper and Lower Canada* joined hands with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to form the Dominion of Canada. Prince Edward Island on the east and British Columbia on the west soon joined the others, and a new province was formed (Man-i-to-bä') bringing up the number to seven. By purchase of the rights of the Hudson Bay Company all America north of the United States, with the exception of Alaska, belonged to the Dominion; and at present Newfoundland alone remains outside of the confederation.

Canada united, began to feel herself a nation, to explore her domain, to extend her enterprises, to build railroads and push settlements into the wilderness. What once seemed "a few acres of snow" to the monarch who lost it, has become an empire larger than the great republic to the south, reaching from the latitude of Rome to that of the North Cape, and covering the parallels of all the most prosperous nations of Europe. As to climate, though Labrador is frigid from the Arctic current washing its coasts, grapes

bloom in January at Vancouver, for the Japan Current is to Western America what the Gulf Stream is to France and England. Canada has no more Arctic territory than Europe, and little more than the United States in Alaska.

A country that surpasses the rest of the world in its area of fertile wheat land, in its enormous pine forests, in its fisheries, inland and marine; a country with no end of wellsheltered harbors on both oceans, with thousands of miles of lake and river navigation in the interior, and a merchant marine already standing fifth, if not fourth, in the list of nations; a country with the only valuable coal deposits to be found on the eastern and western shores of America, and nearly a hundred thousand square miles of coal-field underlying its prairies; with excellent iron ores in every province, with gold and silver and copper in large amounts, and the largest known deposits of nickel ore,-such a country as this must have a future.

It is no wonder that Canada has bridged her immense distances by 13,000 miles of railway, has joined her great lakes with the ocean by ship canals and created lines of steamers in the Pacific as well as the Atlantic, giving the shortest routes between her ports and the rest of the world, and providing the outlets needed by a great nation.

Wisely or unwisely a "national policy" has been inaugurated, placing heavy duties on foreign manufactures in the hope of raising up home industries, a policy largely successful, though possibly at too serious a cost; and now, with something of a young man's exuberance and haste to possess and enjoy, Canada looks into the future, eagerly, hopefully, but not quite certain of its destiny.

ture. Paleozoic

rocks spread around its margin in the eastern provinces and stretch northwest toward the Arctic Ocean; west of them lies a broad triangle of coal-bearing Mesozoic+ beds; and still farther west, a confusion of ancient and more recent strata along the mountainous Pacific coast.

A traveler coming from Europe may enter Canada at either of the rival winter ports, Halifax in Nova Scotia or St. John's in New Brunswick, and visit first the three maritime provinces, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, the smallest of the Dominion, but enchanting to the lover of picturesque sea-coasts, rushing salmon rivers, and forest covered hills. They are peopled by a a sturdy, handsome race of fishermen, sailors, miners, and farmers.

Thence by steamer the broad Gulf of St. Lawrence may be reached, passing by the way New Foundland, which though a selfgoverning colony almost as large as the state of New York, has only 200,000 people winning a scanty subsistence from the seal and codfisheries along their own and the Labrador shores, and especially on the famous Banks to the southeast.

Steaming up the noble river with its mountainous shores Quebec meets the view, the most foreign and striking city in North America with its quaint architecture, steep, crooked streets and towering citadel. Few of its 65,000 people speak any thing but French, and though third in size, it is the least progressive city in the Dominion. Ocean steamers pass it by to end their voyage a thousand miles from the Atlantic, at Montreal, the commercial capital of Canada, a city of 230,000 people, the majority French, though the great business houses which make it one of the wealthiest and most prosperous cities of its size on the continent are English. The province of Quebec contains a million and a half souls, chiefly descended from the 60,000 French who were allowed to retain their customs, privileges, and civil law after the fall of Quebec, and now form a frugal, prolific but unenterprising race, the most devoted Roman Catholics in the world.

East of Montreal, but within the province of Ontario is Ottawa, the natural center of the northern lumber trade and the political

[Pa-le-o-zō'ic.] Greek palaios, ancient, zoe, life. See "Walks and Talks in the Geological Field," in the course of Required Readings, page 67.

†[Mes-o zō'ic.] Greek mesos, middle, and zoe, life.

capital of the country. Toronto, a rapidly growing place of 170,000 population on the north shore of Lake Ontario, contains important educational institutions and a powerful press, giving it the intellectual lead in the country. The province of Ontario contains 2,000,000 inhabitants and is the most favored part of the Dominion in resources and climate, the great lakes to the south soft ening the winters and providing highways for trade.

A voyage on those inland seas and twentyfour hours by rail bring one out of the forest region to the bustling prairie capital, Winnipeg in Manitoba, beyond which extend half a million square miles of grassy sea, rich with the silt of vanished lakes, a region of bright but cold winters and warm summers, somewhat troubled with summer frosts, but producing large crops of the best hard wheat in the world. As the Rockies are approached in Alberta the warm Chinook* winds from the Pacific temper the winter, so that cattle on the ranches + feed at large the whole year round. Northward from the prairies stretches a little known land of great lakes and rivers, one of them, the Mackenzie, longer than any river of the Old World.

It is a startling leap from the flowery prairies to British Columbia, a land of glacierladen mountains, of swift rivers up which the salmon run, of magnificent coniferous forests, of gold mines, and of coal. From its seaports, Victoria and Vancouver, the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, sail ships and steamers down the coast to San Francisco and across the Pacific to far off Australia and Japan.

Canada, vast as it is, contained in 1881 but 4,324,000 people, and is now estimated to have a population of 5,000,000, among whom are representatives of almost all European nations as well as Chinese and Africans. About a quarter are French, 300,000 German, and the great majority of the remainder British in origin; while the United States has contributed less than 80,000 for the hundreds of thousands of Canadians it has received.

There are a few thousand Esquimaux in Labrador and the far north; and 108,000 Indians, many of whom are settled as farmers and more or less civilized. Canada has had no Indian wars, though French half-breeds have twice made trouble on the prairies.

In religion, Protestants of various denominations far outnumber Catholics, except in the province of Quebec ; and in regard to education free public schools are scattered everywhere, leading up to high schools and universities in the larger centers, so that illiteracy is almost unknown among native Canadians, and the average of intelligence outside of the French province is high.

The central government of the federated provinces making up the Dominion, consists of a Governor-General, a Senate, and a House of Commons; the latter, which is elected by a very wide but not universal suffrage, is the real source of authority; for the Senate, whose members are appointed for life by the ministry in power, rarely throws out a bill passed by the Commons; and the Governor, appointed by the Queen, is guided by his ministers like a constitutional monarch and has no veto. The premier,* who is the head of the party having a majority in the House, and his ministers, chosen from the same party, are the actual rulers of the country and guide the deliberations of parliament. An adverse vote dethrones them, however, and if they are defeated in a general election, the reins of power fall into the hands of the opposition leader and his friends.

The Conservative party, which under the shrewd leadership of Sir John Macdonald, has been in power almost ever since the confederation of the provinces, favors protection and centralization; while the Reformers, who are in opposition, advocate provincial rights and free trade or commercial union with the United States. The ministry, under the sanction of parliament, control the collection and disbursement of the revenues, appoint judges (who are not elective in Canada),

*[Pre'mi-er or prem'yer.] The French word for first, chief, principal. The title of the first minister of state, the prime minister. "This title of the British Premier, or

Prime Minister, now one of the highest dignity, was at first a nickname given in pure mockery,-the statesman to whom it was applied being Sir Robert Walpole, as will be seen by the following words spoken by him in the House of Commons in 1742: 'Having invested me with a kind of mock dignity, and styled me a Prime Minister, they (the opposition) impute to me an unpardonable abuse of the chimerical authority which they only created and conferred.'"-Richard Grant White.

dispose of the small military force,* and manage the affairs of the country as a whole. The provincial legislatures deal with local matters, such as education and the disposal of public lands; but their acts, if ultra vires,† may be vetoed by the Dominion government.

In the regulation of the tariff and all internal affairs Canada is an independent country, the suzerainty of Britain being shown however by the right of appeal from Canadian courts to the Queen's Privy Council, by the appointment of the Governor-General, and by the want of the treaty-making power; though in the latter respect England has of late done her utmost to further the wishes of Canadians, consulting the Dominion government in all matters affecting their interests.

The immense extent and scattered population of the Dominion have demanded heavy expenditures on railways and canals, resulting in a public debt of about $250,000,000; but at present the outlay is more than met by the revenues, which are derived from excise and import duties, the latter much lower than those of the United States, though intended to be protective. In 1889 the imports amounted to $115,000,000 and the exports to $89,000,000, chiefly produce of the farm, the forest, and the fisheries. Nine-tenths of this commerce was with Great Britain and the United States, the latter having the larger share.

Canadians are loyal to the generous Mother Country, but yet cannot help asking themselves what is to be their future; for they believe that a country so healthful and rich in resources, must steadily fill up with the overflow

the crowded regions of

northern Europe and in time become a great nation. The only serious danger threatening them is to be found in the alien race, language, and religion of French Canada.

When Canada's numbers increase, will she still remain part of the glorious British Empire; or will she add her provinces as fresh states to the United States; or will she work out her destiny as an independent nation? What lies in the future no man can tell ; but why should there not be a universal English-speaking federation, the most populous, progressive, and enlightened power in existence, whose energy and moral force should impose peace upon the world and bring war to an end forever?

*The volunteers number 37,000 of which 1,000 form small permanent garrisons in a few fortresses. The only British troops are connected with the naval station at Ha'ifax.-A. P. C.

+ Ultra vires. Latin expression for beyond their power.

I

N the earlier stages of society piracy is regarded as an entirely reputable calling. When Mentor and Telemachus, in the Odyssey, arrive at Pylus, old Nestor asks them, "Strangers, who are ye? Whence sail ye over the wet ways? On some trading enterprise, or at adventure do ye rove, even as pirates, over the brine?" With Nestor's renown for courtesy, we may be sure that the suggestion of piracy carried with it no injurious imputation upon the character of his guests. With our Saxon and Angle forefathers, piracy was a matter of course; "every one of them is an arch-pirate," says Sidonius Apollinaris. From the time when these freebooters* landed in England, that land has never been without courageous seamen, and hardly any generation has lacked distinction in the annals of naval warfare or maritime adventure. But maritime adventure was, in all those ages, marked by some traits hardly distinguishable from those of what would now be called piracy.

The piratical impulse was in the English blood, and must have a large place among the causes which led to the brilliant increase of maritime adventure under Elizabeth. Another cause was the series of wonderful geographical discoveries which had almost at one stroke doubled the extent of the known world, and had filled the European mind with ardent desire for the mental and material appropriation of the vast and marvelous regions thus thrown open to human enterprise. Much credit, too, must be given to the earnest and intelligent effort of Henry VIII. to build up a powerful navy for the protection of his island, much to the appreciative, if niggardly, patronage of the Queen herself, much to the enterprise of great merchants and the enthusiasm of learned geographical students like Richard Hakluyt [hak'loot]. Still another cause was the pressure of population upon the means of sub*Seekers after plunder; pillagers. "The word freebooter is not purely of English formation, but is rather an imitation from a Dutch word meaning pirate. The

Dutch boete becomes boot, in English, meaning, advan

tage, profit, gain."

sistence in England itself. Many younger sons, with scanty expectations in the way of inheritance, were glad to turn to the career of maritime adventure; many landless or unemployed men were glad to enlist with them and follow the sea. As Spain and the other Catholic powers grew more and more formidable to Elizabeth, the loyal devotion of her subjects joined with these various motives to incite them to attacks upon Spain and her possessions. During most of her reign there was no open war with Spain. On the contrary, there was nominal friendship. But the privateering captains were not slow to perceive that the Queen and her Council had no objection to their expeditions, provided they did not so openly violate the law of nations as to create great embarrassments for the government.

The voyages of the Elizabethan seamen extended to almost every part of the world. In the last days of Edward VI. Sir Hugh Willoughby had perished in the northern ice, and Richard Chancelor had made his way through the White Sea to the country and the court of the czar of Muscovy. Elizabethans followed in their wake. Under Frobisher and Davis they explored Meta Incognita and Greenland and Hudson's Straits. With good Sir Humphrey Gilbert they attempted the planting of Newfoundland; with Lane and White they went out to Raleigh's colony of Roanoke. They followed the Portuguese and the Dutch to the East Indies, and with James Lancaster's wonderful voyages began the English trade with Java and Sumatra and Malacca. They went with Hawkins in the Solomon or the Jesus of Lubeck to gather slaves upon the African coast, or lay off Flores and Corvo to intercept the annual silver-fleets that brought to the king of Spain the wealth of Mexico and Peru, or burned his ships in the harbor of Cadiz. But most famous of all were the adventures that marked their freebooting expeditions to the Spanish Main, and if we attempt to follow the fortunes of a typical sea-rover of that day, we will suppose that he

directs his adventurous voyages to the New World, lured on by fabulous tales of El Dorado or by knowledge of the more substantial wealth which the Spaniards had derived from their abundant provinces.

Most likely our rover is a West-country man. No counties furnished so large a number of the famous Elizabethan seamen

as Devon and Cornwall. Their rocky coast, indented with numerous inlets, was as sure to lead men to skill in navigation as that of Norway or Greece, or that of Brittany opposite. An imaginative temperament and an adventurous spirit were natural accompaniments of their partly Celtic blood. A numerous and public-spirited gentry furnished leaders; and the wide Atlantic lay temptingly before their doors. Rich merchants of Barnstaple or Exeter provided the rover with money to fit out his vessel; or perhaps the town-corporation itself took a share in the enterprise. There lies before me a bit from the account-books of old Plymouth :

More to hym [the Receiver] xxvjli. [i. e., £26] for money disbursed by hym this yere to Sr Francis Drake knyght for the townes adventure wth hym in this viage.

When the adventurer weighed anchor, we may be sure the town fathers sped him on his way with generous feasting and encouragement; when he returned, he was hailed with salutes of artillery at the town's expense, as the same accounts show:

Item pd for iiijli [4] of powder spente at the cominge in of Sr Fraunces Drake, iiij3 vid [i. e. 4s. 6d.].

Or perhaps the adventurer set sail from London, dropping down the Thames amid the acclamations of the crowd, loudly saluting the Queen and court as he passed Greenwich, and cheered by a message from her, thanking the adventurer and bidding the sailors be diligent and faithful servants to their masters. At Gravesend he was perhaps feasted by his friends, as Stephen Burrough was by "the good old gentleman, Master [Sebastian] Cabot, accompanied with divers gentlemen and gentlewomen," when he set out in the Searchthrift for Nova Zembla and the White Sea. The picture is a pleasing one:

Burrough says Master Cabot gave to the poor most liberal alms, wishing them to pray for the good fortune and prosperous success of the Search

The ship in which our adventurer sailed, would seem to us a small one in which to face the storms of the Atlantic. Frobisher's largest vessel was of two hundred tons, and he made his first voyage to the northern straits in two little barks of twenty-five tons. The largest of the vessels in which Gilbert went to Newfoundland was one of one hundred and twenty tons; the Squirrel, in which he was lost on the return voyage, was of only ten. Of the ships in which Sir Richard Grenville took Raleigh's colony to Virginia, the largest were of one hundred and forty tons. The Golden Hind, in which Drake sailed around the world, was of only one hundred tons. As ships were then constructed, this means that that famous vessel was hardly more than fifty feet long!

been made familiar to Americans by many The construction of ships of that time has pictures of the Mayflower. They had lofty poops and forecastles, but were low amidfitted with square sails. Broad and stout, ships. Their two or three masts were mostly they were built for strength more than for speed; yet the experience of the fight against the Armada and of many other battles showed that they were much faster than the huge, unwieldy Spanish galleons. The outfit of the vessel was almost altogether obtained at the port from which she sailed. Plain and sailor-like appointments were usually all that could be afforded. But the Elizabethan captain shared his queen's taste for luxury and magnificence, and occasionally gratified it even on shipboard, especially if he had already made some successful voyages. So, we are told, it was with Sir Francis Drake's outfit for his voyage around the world.

If the voyage were toward the West Indies or the Spanish Main, the ships frequently would put in at the Azores for water and fresh provisions, or at some other of the island groups of the eastern Atlantic. Even though their errand of depredation on Span