The geographical and geological portions of the article Canada (Vol. 5, p. 142) must be carefully read in order that the significance of the historical account of the country may be fully grasped; and the same is true of those parts of the article which deal with agriculture and with the commerce of which the first developments were associated with early exploration. There is ample and authoritative information on all these subjects in the article, which is equivalent in length to 85 pages of this Guide. The sections and their contributors are: Geography, by Prof. A. P. Coleman, Toronto University; Population, Commerce, etc., by Prof. W. L. Grant, Queens University, Kingston; Agriculture, by E. H. Godfrey, editor of Census and Statistics Office, Department of Agriculture, Ottawa; History—to the Federation by G. M. Wrong, University of Toronto, and after the Federation by G. R. Parkin, author of Imperial Federation and Life of Sir John Macdonald, etc., and Literature—English-Canadian, by L. J. Burpee, author of The Search for the Western Sea, and French-Canadian by William Wood, author of The Fight for Canada.
Exploration and Settlement
On the early history of Canada the student should compare what is given in this Guide on the early history of America in general and especially the following articles: Leif Ericsson (Vol. 16, p. 396); Vinland (Vol. 28, p. 98), by Prof. Julius Emil Olson, University of Wisconsin; John Cabot (Vol. 4, p. 921); and Jacques Cartier (Vol. 5, p. 433), both by H. P. Biggar, author of The Voyages of the Cabots to Greenland; Samuel de Champlain (Vol. 5, p. 830), by N. E. Dionne, librarian of the Legislature of the Province of Quebec and biographer of Champlain; Jacques Marquette (Vol. 17, p. 752); Sieur de la Salle (Vol. 16, p. 230), by Charles C. Whinery, assistant-editor Encyclopaedia Britannica; Frontenac (Vol. 11, p. 249), by A. G. Doughty, Dominion archivist of Canada; Louisburg; Detroit; Sault Ste. Marie; Mackinac Island; Pittsburg; Nova Scotia, History; Seven Years’ War (Vol. 24, especially page 722); Quebec; Montcalm and Wolfe.
The War Periods
The close of the Seven Years’ War saw New France ceded to Great Britain. On English rule down to Canadian Federation, the student should consult the following articles: Quebec Act; James Murray; American War of Independence—and particularly the articles on Montgomery and Arnold, leaders in the nearly successful attempt of the Americans to capture Canada, and that on the 1st Baron Dorchester, the British defender of Quebec; John Graves Simcoe; Loyalists—and the articles New Brunswick and Ontario, both regions largely influenced by the settlement there of these Loyalists; American War of 1812—and especially the articles Isaac Brock, by Prof. W. L. Grant, Queens University, Kingston; Erie, Oliver H. Perry, Sackett’s Harbor, Tecumseh, Lake Champlain (Vol. 5, p. 830); Fort Niagara (Vol. 19, p. 634); John Strachan; Papineau and W. L. Mackenzie for the two revolts of 1837; Lord Durham; Lord Sydenham; Robert Baldwin and Sir Louis Lafontaine, heads of the first Liberal administrations; Earl Elgin (Vol. 9, p. 268); Sir A. A. Dorion; John Sandfield Macdonald, “the Ishmael of Parliament”; Sir John Beverley Robinson, head of the Tory “Family Compact”; and, for Irish-American outrages on the Canadian border, the article Fenians.
Federation and Since
On the period since federation (1867), see the article Federal Government (Vol. 10, p. 233) for a general description of this form of administration; the articles Nova Scotia, Alfred Gilpin Jones and Joseph Howe, for local opposition to federation; Sir Charles Tupper, who alone in the delegation from Nova Scotia favoured federation; Thomas D’Arcy McGee (by A. G. Doughty), a prominent opponent of Fenianism who was assassinated by a Fenian; the articles Hudson’s Bay Company and Sir G. E. Cartier, by Prof. W. L. Grant, Queens University, Kingston, for the extinction of the Hudson’s Bay Company claims and the transfer of its territories to the government; Louis Riel for the Red River Rebellion; Prince Edward Island for its entrance into the Dominion; George Brown, a prominent advocate of federation, by Prof. Grant; George Monro Grant, author of Ocean to Ocean; Sir John Macdonald, by G. R. Parkin, author of Imperial Federation, and biographer of Macdonald; Sir Francis Hincks and Sir Alexander Galt, financiers; Sir Hugh Allan and Sir David Macpherson, for the Canadian Pacific Railway question; Lord Dufferin; Alexander Mackenzie, head of a Liberal government from 1873 to 1878 when Sir John Macdonald returned to power on a platform calling for protection of Canadian industries; George Taylor Denison, founder of the “Canada First” party; Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, Macdonald’s minister of finance, who was principally responsible for the tariff of 1879; Sir Louis Henry Davies, Liberal politician and jurist; Lord Strathcona, by Prof. W. L. Grant, Baron Mountstephen, Sir William C. Van Horne and Sir Sandford Fleming for the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway; Louis Riel for the Second Riel Rebellion; Sir John Thompson; George Eulas Foster; Sir H. G. Joly de Lotbinière; Honoré Mercier, the French leader of Quebec; S. N. Parent; Sir Mackenzie Bowell, premier in 1894–1896; his successor, Sir Charles Tupper; Edward Blake, a Liberal leader who in 1892 left Canadian politics to take a seat in the British House of Commons; Sir Oliver Mowat, Blake’s successor as premier of Ontario; George William Ross; Sir Daniel Wilson, educational reformer, by Professor Grant; Sir Wilfrid Laurier (by J. S. Willison, author of Sir W. Laurier and the Liberal Party: A Political History), the great Liberal leader of the last decade, and Laurier’s ministers of finance, Sir Richard John Cartwright and W. S. Fielding, and his minister of militia Sir Frederick William Borden; Sir William Mulock; and Robert L. Borden, long leader of the Conservative opposition and premier in 1911.
CHAPTER XLV
ENGLISH, SCOTCH AND IRISH HISTORY
The British Empire
The student of English history in the Britannica may well begin with the summary view in the article British Empire (Vol. 4, p. 606), equivalent to 30 pages of this Guide, by Lady Lugard, wife of the British explorer and colonial administrator, Sir Frederick Lugard, herself an authority on colonial subjects and well-known as colonial editor of the Times of London. On pp. 608–610 there is a chronological list of the acquisitions of the Empire, and nothing will surprise the reader more than the comparative recentness of the movement by which two small islands have expanded into an empire covering nearly one-fourth of the earth’s land surface. Except for the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, and “the nominal possession of Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1583, all the territorial acquisitions of the Empire have been made in the 17th and subsequent centuries.” On each of the localities mentioned in this imposing list the reader will find a separate article in its proper alphabetical place in the Encyclopaedia Britannica dealing with geography, government and history. Here it will be possible only to call attention to articles on the more important branches of the subject.