5. Canada has not seen much war since the days of Wolfe, though she has not been left wholly at peace. During the great French war a dispute arose between Britain and the United States, which foolishly led to a half-hearted war between the two nations, and to the invasion of Canada by American troops. After three campaigns, in which the British and French Canadians fought side by side, the war ended without the loss of an inch of their territory. The only result was, to create a feeling of mutual sympathy and respect between the two races that shared Canada between them.
6. However, as time went on, and new emigrants came pouring in, the Canadian form of government, which had well served its purpose for some years, began to encumber the young limbs of a nation so rapidly growing. The fact is, time always works changes, and nations pass through stages—childhood, youth, and manhood—as well as individuals. Thus constant changes are required in the machinery of government to keep pace with the changing circumstances and varying wants of a people. In the year that Queen Victoria came to the throne (1837), all Canada was discontented, and the lower province on the eve of rebellion, which actually broke out a little later. The rebels, however, were easily put down, and the leaders were soon either in prison or exile.
7. The Home Government in this crisis acted wisely and promptly. They sent over Lord Durham with the olive branch of peace, and directed him to ascertain the cause of the rebellion, and to find out remedies. He reported that the root of the whole mischief was to be found in the Constitution under which the people were governed. The Canadians elected men to form an "Assembly," like our House of Commons, and though these men were free to express the wishes of the people, they had no power to make the ministers and officials of the Government give effect to them. They were expected to vote funds for the public service, but they could not call the ministers to account if they misspent the money.
8. At Lord Durham's suggestion all this was changed. The governor-general was henceforth to employ as his ministers such men as had the confidence of the "Assembly," and the ministers were to be responsible to that House for the advice they gave the governor-general, and for the way in which the public revenue was spent. The first Canadian Parliament, under the new regulations, met in 1841, and from this year we date the self-government of the British colonies.
9. What was done now for Canada became in due time the rule for the other colonies in which men of our race have chiefly settled. All in turn, as they became capable of self-government, were entrusted with the power to mark out their own course, and to manage their own affairs in their own way. By this system of government full play is given to local opinions and feelings, the laws are framed by the colonists themselves, through their representatives, and the public affairs of the whole colony are managed by ministers who have obtained the confidence and esteem of its inhabitants. Moreover, the same system of self-government in respect to local affairs is usually extended to every town and district in the colony. Thus the principle of self-government is brought home to the door of each colonist, whenever circumstances admit. This is the secret of England's success in keeping her world-wide empire peaceful and contented, under the protection of one flag, and in allegiance to one sovereign.
(Canada).
1. The new era that smiled on Canada with the grant of self-government, in 1841, was marked by a rapid growth of the population. So great was the number of emigrants who came flocking into the country that in the next quarter-century the population nearly trebled itself. Canada at that time, it must be remembered, was but a shred of the vast expanse that reddens the map of North America to-day. The settled part included the two provinces now called Quebec and Ontario, the three provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, and the island of Newfoundland. The whole of the remainder—known as the great "North-West"—was, until 1870, the happy hunting-ground of the "Hudson Bay Company."
2. It is true that the Company did not, as did that great hunter, William the Conqueror, turn a peopled country into an uninhabited wilderness, but they took good care that the vast wilderness in their possession should not become a country inhabited by white men. Their whole territory was nothing but a vast game preserve from which all settlers were warned off. The red man was looked upon with favour, for he was as the game-keeper who trapped the fur-bearing animals and brought their skins to exchange for their masters' goods. Dotted over the Company's wide domains stood the log or stone forts where the furs were collected, and where lived one of the Company's factors—usually a Scotsman—to trade with the Indians. Around the fort no village was allowed to spring up. Some idea may be formed of the solitary life led by the factor, when we are told that the postman only visited him once a year.
3. The Company made enormous profits, for the goods they supplied to the Indians cost a mere trifle compared with the value of the furs they received in exchange. For a long time the nation, at home, was kept in the dark, not only as to the profits of the fur trade, but as to the real nature of the country from which the fur was obtained. The people, in fact, supposed that the fur country was an irreclaimable wilderness in which no white settlers could possibly make a living. At length it became known that in the great "North-West" there were immense prairies (over which roamed herds of buffalo) that would yield, if cultivated, rich crops of the finest wheat. When this discovery was made the country was thrown open to settlers (1870), and the province of Manitoba soon became the granary of Canada.