Lord Dufferin has been unable to pacify the quarrel between
the Dominion of Canada and British Columbia. The Canadians, it will be remembered, refused to carry out their agreement to finish the Canadian Pacific Railway, alleging pecuniary inability. British Columbia thereupon threatened secession, but after a fierce quarrel agreed to accept a compromise proposed by Lord Carnarvon. The Province was to waive its larger demand, and the Dominion was to construct the Esqui- mault and Nanaimo Railway in Vancouver's Island. The Cana- dian Senate, however, refused to pass the Act, and Mr. Mackenzie, declaring the plan impracticable, offered the province a quarter of a million in compensation. This was rejected, and the British Columbiana have now informed Lord Dufferin that they demand either the fulfilment of the contract or liberty to secede. Secession would mean the gradual breaking-up of the Dominion whenever a province was not quite contented ; but there are no means of compelling Canada to adhere to its bar- gains, except incessant remonstrance from the Colonial Office.
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