THE GREAT DOMINION.*
THERE have certainly been some very strange crises in Canadian history, crises which are beginning to stand out in their true relation to contemporary events. There was the crisis, for instance, which followed the conclusion of the War of Independence. Lord Shelburne actually proposed to Franklin the cession of Canada and Nova Scotia. How monstrous it seems now ! The British public never quite realized it, for we were then fighting pretty nearly everybody, or, at the best, resting for the moment on our weapons. No wonder, then, at our poor King, writing in a tone of despair— could posterity pardon him for not leaving more than the wreck of an empire ! It was a grave blunder to leave an ignorant man, practically unaided, to contend with men of the calibre of Franklin, John Adams, and Jay. Then there was the throwing away of Oregon, because—so the story runs—the Oregon salmon would not rise to a fly !—not true, by the way, for they rise, just as other salmon do, at the proper time. It looks like the indifference of a multimillionaire if he should happen to lose his purse. Mr. Griffith has, it will be seen, a very large subject. Sometimes we could wish that he had given a little more space to this or that part of it, as, for instance, to the passing of the monopoly of the great Hudson Bay Company, with the story of the great immigration that followed, so peculiarly British and, to judge from results, so successful. Then we might have had the features of the country examined in greater detail; but, after all, we must remember that there was much to say and small space to say it in. On two important questions of the day we have some eminently sensible and broad-minded utterances. These are the French Canadian sentiment and the pacific invasion by American farmers. The French Canadian, Mr. Griffith allows, has no Imperial sentiment; be loves his country, but the country is French Canada. As to the well-to-do farmer who is crossing the line, he is strictly minding his own business ; • The DAninion of Canada. By W. L. Griffith. London : Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons. [7s. 6d. net.l he does not concern himself any more than does the habitant with high politics. Yet he has ideas which will come to the surface when the emergency arises. On one subject we should certainly like to hear more—this is the forest question. The timber is valuable, and it has an important bearing on climate ; it is a valuable factor in the promotion of a steady water supply. Greece is an example of what damage has been done by the denudation of the land; on the other hand, the climate of the Punjaub has been beneficially affected by the planting of trees. Mr. Griffith always deals ably with his subject; if his book has now and then something of a piecemeal look it is scarcely his fault.
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