reply to it; and in the depression of trade caused by the comparative failure of the local lumber business, the French are buying up lands and houses as fast as they are vacated by the English merchants; so that while, as I have said, the French-Canadian population increases, the English diminishes in almost equal proportion. The farms are of course in French hands, and worked on the French system of subdivision among all the children, so that the holdings are getting smaller and smaller, and the poor people live in great poverty, and are unable to supply the dressings and manure which might make the land pay. The soil is not rich in this province, and has long been exhausted by the system of farming which prevails; but only when it is absolutely impossible any longer to obtain even a meagre livelihood will the family break up and migrate to the towns, to seek employment there. It is much to be wished that large colonies of these people could be induced to move to the North-West Territories, where virgin soil is waiting to be broken up, and will produce abundant crops with hardly any outlay. They are not a progressive race, clinging as they do to the ancient implements and customs of two centuries ago, when their forefathers settled in New France; but they are quiet and lawabiding, and extremely religious, and the huge churches, crammed on Sunday with a devout congregation of both men and women, are a sight to see. Much power is in the hands of the Roman Catholic clergy, but there is little or no actual disloyalty to the British Government, although there is plenty of ill-feeling between the English and French sections in the cities, and scarcely any social intercourse. It is hard to see what the final development will be; the friction is considerable, and, though not much talked of in the newspapers, may lead some day to unpleasant consequences.

The Fishery question is at the present time a subject of international consideration, but I am bound to say that both in Canada and in the United States we did not hear it discussed very freely. No doubt it absorbs attention more completely in the Halifax district than in the province of Quebec, but in the States people were inclined to make light of the whole dispute, implying that the interests involved were not so large as the newspapers represented.

The one point which was largely discussed at Washington was the fact of Mr. Chamberlain's appointment as English Commissioner, and the unfavourable manner in which his name was received was a very curious commentary on the sort of influence exercised by the Irish in the United States. Because Mr. Chamberlain had renounced Mr. Gladstone's leadership, and had been recently in Ireland, making strong speeches against the Nationalist party and the Irish Americans, therefore he was considered an unsuitable person to settle a difficulty between England and the States, although the subject under discussion had nothing whatever to do with the Irish question. But, putting aside Mr. Chamberlain's personality, it was also remarked that the

moment was not a favourable one, from the American point of view, for the Commission to meet at all, inasmuch as Mr. Cleveland's administration had only another year to run, and it was unlikely that the Government would expose itself to the risk of effecting an arrangement which would almost inevitably be unpopular, and would not be sanctioned by Congress. The proposal had been made, it was said, by a member of the Cabinet who had hitherto been a dead failure, and who was playing his last card in the hopes of trumping his adversaries' hand during his last year of office, but there was no chance that the attempt would succeed.

There is one other subject which is attracting a good deal of attention just now, and is being well aired by the press, and that is the question of commercial union between Canada and the United States. Its advocates, among whom Professor Goldwin Smith is perhaps the best known in England, assert that such a measure would bring vast relief to Canadian trade, and would stave off for a considerable time the inevitable day when the Dominion must become part and parcel of the United States. I hope the measure will become law,' a lady said to us, because my husband won't let me smuggle my clothes in from the States, and then I should get them duty-free.' The promoters of the idea understand perfectly that if it ever becomes popular it must be through its appeal to the pockets of the producers of exports and the consumers of imports; and therefore they 'tour around' (to use a Yankee phrase) explaining the pecuniary advantages of their pet scheme both in town and country. But its opponents are influential and numerous. Some of them treat it with silent contempt, others are roused to fury at the mention of it; but all agree that it would be but the first step to annexation. 'Can you make a treaty,' they say, 'on equal terms between Canada's five million inhabitants on one side and the sixty millions of the States on the other?' It seems indeed that the United States themselves are in no hurry for any such arrangement. They rather despise Canada, even if they are a little jealous that England should still possess such vast tracts in the New World; and they prefer to wait till she has become richer and more populated and is herself anxious to throw off the Imperial yoke.

The immigration to the North-West, though increasing, is not nearly so large as Canadian patriots desire to see. Working men, even without capital, but accustomed to horses and agriculture, are the best settlers. Wages are high; there is plenty of work to be got all through the summer months; and a man arriving at Winnipeg, able and willing to work, may borrow money to buy a cart and team (which cost about $250), will receive a grant of 160 acres free, on condition of occupying and farming it, and in two or three years will have repaid his debt, built himself a wooden house on his farm, and have enough in the soil to support himself for the next year. The

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people we don't want out here,' said one man to us, 'are the young English gentlemen fresh from college, who don't understand the sort of life they have to lead. They get disgusted and go home, and take a bad report of the country. We want labouring men who don't mind roughing it.'

If some Government emigration could be set on foot in England, I believe the Canadians would glady give assistance. Even whole families from large towns would be admitted, for they say that if the old people are no good the children will grow up in the country and become valuable settlers.

The further west one goes, the scarcer and dearer labour becomes; and on the Pacific coast servants would be almost unattainable were it not for the presence of the useful, but much-abused Chinaman, with his clean white apron, melancholy eyes, and smooth pigtail wound tidily round his head. In Victoria, Vancouver Island, the pretty capital of British Columbia, he is often the only servant in the house; and where he has but a master and mistress to attend on, he is cook, laundry-maid, house and parlour maid, all in one, and is well worth his wages of $25 a month.

In California the laws against Chinese immigration are very severe-indeed, no Celestial is allowed to land at all unless he can produce a certificate, stating that he has previously been living in the country and has only been on a temporary visit to China. These certificates are very carefully and circumstantially made out, but they are often sold by one Chinaman to another, and it is very difficult to prove anything against any of them, for they hang closely together and have no objection to taking any number of false oaths to support each other's testimony and save a friend from punishment. The Chinese quarter of San Francisco is a very peculiar sight at night. Its houses, or rather rookeries, are divided by dark and narrow courts and alleys, reeking with unsavoury odours and honeycombed with filthy opium dens, where the men lie on hard bunks or benches and stupefy themselves with their favourite drug. It is illegal to import opium at all, yet the smoking goes on with no attempt at concealment.

But law in California is not like law anywhere else. It is chiefly made to be laughed at, or at most to cause the expenditure of a little money in bribery. Life is still in a very unsettled condition: murders and divorces are matters of everyday occurrence, and a man who is one day a popular member of society is the next day thrown into prison for stealing a few hundred dollars out of a bank. Religion, under any form, is at a discount, and moral restraints can hardly be said to exist at all. But this is a transition stage, and by degrees, as educated persons from the Eastern States fill up the West, the standard of culture and morals will rise.

In fact, the East and West of America are at present like two

different nations. In the West, manners are still rough and uncultivated, while in the East they are softened down to an almost European standard; and settlers in the West often look eastward with the sort of affectionate home-sickness felt in Canada for the old country.' Many men consent to pass a few years on the Pacific coast in hopes of returning with a fortune, to spend and enjoy it on the shores of the Atlantic.

It is impossible, without travelling across the whole width of the country, to realise the vast variety and extent of resources which the United States possess. Every sort of climate, of soil, of occupation, is there. Farming, ranching, mining, and above all speculating in any and every form, invite the adventurous settler; and the Western States and Territories offer of course more inducements than the thickly settled districts to the bolder spirits who desire to make their fortunes quickly. There are not many great fortunes, however, which are made by straightforward means, as honest Americans tell you themselves. In large business transactions sharp practice is almost universal; and a gigantic fortune can be lost even more quickly than it is made. The owners of more than one palatial dwelling at San Francisco have reason to regret their temerity in trying to 'corner' all the American wheat—having forgotten to take into sufficient consideration the supplies obtainable from Canada and India.

The contrast between San Francisco and Salt Lake City is very curious. Two days only of railway travelling across the Sierra Nevada Mountains and a desert alkaline plain divide them, but the difference is as marked as if the journey occupied two years. The Mormons are undergoing just now what can only be called severe persecution at the hands of the United States authorities; yet, save for their one peculiar and objectionable tenet, a more simple, moral, hard-working, law-abiding set of people does not exist in the world. Their faith in their strange religion is deep and sincere, but can hardly be called fanatical, since they desire to live at peace with all men, and bear no ill-will towards those who disagree with them. Hitherto they have borne the unceasing prosecutions and imprisonments with really marvellous courage and patience; but if once their wives are also attacked and thrown into prison, it is doubtful how long their passive calmness would endure. Possibly some sort of compromise may eventually be arranged, by which Utah may be raised from a Territory to the much-coveted position of a State, on condition that a clause in the Constitution shall provide that polygamy be treated as a misdemeanour, and that those convicted of it be liable to certain specified punishments. Such a solution appears to be the most desirable way out of the difficulties, and would, I believe, be welcomed by the Mormons themselves. But that the American press, almost without exception, eggs on the authorities

to further violence is I think a strong proof that material rather than moral interests are at stake, for the love of plunder is to the masses a stronger incentive than the love of purity. It must not be forgotten that the Mormons found Utah a desert, and have made it habitable and fruitful. So that there is a tempting bait held out to the cupidity of many unscrupulous' Gentiles,' who would gladly see the present possessors turned out in order that they themselves may reap where others have sown.

Politics in the States are still almost entirely in the hands of men who make a profession and often their fortune out of them; although there are signs of a slight improvement among the rising generation in the East.

Intelligent Americans smile and tell you that their system certainly does not bring to the front the best and ablest men, but that somehow it works, and the country gets along. The millionaire who is president of some important railway company, controls larger interests, wields greater power, and exercises wider influence than the President of the United States himself.

There is a good deal of corruption, direct and indirect, with regard to elections, and Americans have not yet made the heroic efforts to abolish bribery which appear to have been so far successful with us in England. Every citizen of the United States must pay a poll-tax of two dollars before his name is placed on the register; he is not obliged pay the tax, but unless he does so, he is not allowed to vote; and he has been known to take his two dollars' from one candidate and vote immediately afterwards for his opponent! This poll-tax is the only property qualification' in America.

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The Irish vote is very powerful, and the Irish seem to have a natural aptitude for professional politics; they absorb a great many official-especially municipal-appointments, much to the disgust of the native American, with whom the children of Erin are anything but popular.

I have already referred to one illustration of the power exercised by the Irish over public opinion with reference to the Fishery Commission, and we came across another instance of it during our stay in Boston. A member of an old Bostonian family-one of those who pride themselves on their descent from English Puritan ancestors-was showing us the well-known Faneuil Hall, a memorial of the successful struggle for independence carried on by the New England States. The English residents in Boston asked to be allowed the use of this Hall for their celebration of the Queen's Jubilee last summer, and permission would have been gladly given by the old Bostonians; but Boston, like New York and many other cities, rejoices at the present time in an Irish Mayor and Town Council, and these gentlemen were far too patriotic to accede without a severe struggle to the Englishmen's request, which was, however, eventually granted.