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worthless to the serious student. At the same time he does not pretend to have done more than scratch the surface of many a vital problem. Each of the separate subjects, for instance, enumerated in the chapter on the Distribution of Legislative Power opens a long vista of legal decisions: these the author has been compelled to avoid.

As for the historical chapters in Part I., the author believes that a study of the development of Union in Canada and Australia is particularly necessary in South Africa at this moment, and he knows by experience how difficult it is to obtain a clear account of that development. In the case of the United States there is no such difficulty. In this connection the author wishes to acknowledge his debt to Messrs. Quick and Garran. Chapter II. of Part I. is based almost entirely upon their historical introduction to the Annotated Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth. That invaluable work has been throughout of the greatest assistance to the author, who would like to pay a sincere tribute of admiration to the ability and research of its joint authors.

No attempt has been made to discuss or illustrate the working of the Australian Constitution: the material for such an attempt has not yet been published in a collected form, and lack of time has made it impossible for the author to undertake the necessary research.

Finally, the author may perhaps be allowed to say that he has scrupulously tried to avoid any expression of personal opinion while deliberately preferring to rely in almost every case on quotation; and to plead in extenuation of both obvious defects and latent errors that it has been necessary to bring out this book in a very short time and under the stress of a great pressure of other work.

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS.

UNION IN CANADA, AUSTRALIA AND GERMANY.

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FRAME-WORK OF UNION

THE CREATION OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA.

The year 1763 saw in the Peace of Paris the treaty which con-
firmed the victory of Great Britain over France in North America.
On the roth October, 1864-just over a century later-there met at
Quebec that convention of delegates from Upper and Lower Canada,
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfound-
land, whose work was the creation of the Dominion of Canada.
Successful as was the work of that Convention-rapid as was the
accomplishment of the task of creating the Dominion-that success
and that rapidity can be accounted for only by some description of
the development of the States of Canada during the preceding
century. The Dominion Constitution is not the mushroom growth
of a night its roots go deep into the history of the land: it is in
every way a native, long matured and sturdy growth.

"Canada in 1863.

B

The Early
Settlers.

The Quebec
Act, 1477..

Nova Scotia.

"Three Rivers, situated at the mouth of the St. Maurice, 76 miles above Quebec, was a small town dwarfed politically and socially by Quebec on the one side and Montreal on the other. Iron mines in the neighbourhood gave it a measure of importance; and it was the stopping-place for travellers journeying between its bigger rivals. Montreal, after its childhood of awful trial, had greatly prospered. Its population had risen to about nine thousand. The fur trade of the mysterious North-West, developed by a succession of daring and tireless wood-rangers, had poured its wealth into the lap of the city of Maisonneuve. . . . . The city was enclosed by a stone wall and a shallow ditch, once useful as a defence against the Indians, but no protection in the face of serious assault. At the lower end of the city, covering the landing-place, rose a high earth-work crowned with cannon. The real defences of Montreal were the citadel of Quebec and the forts on Lake Champlain."

The immediate result of the Peace of 1763 was a great influx of English settlers. To them the promise was made that as soon as quiet was secured, representative government on the lines of that given to the English Colonies south of the St. Lawrence would be granted. They received liberal grants of land upon the easy conditions of allegiance to the English Crown and obedience to the laws, and with the contingency of payment of a small "quitrent" to the Government after a period of ten years. As far as criminal matters and civil contracts went, the law of England was substituted for that of France. Rights of property, however, were still governed by French law, with all its encumbrances of seignorial rights, secret mortgage and the provision of a "dower " to, and the "partnership" of married women. The executive government was entrusted to a Governor and a Council.

In 1774-the critical year of the relations between Great Britain and her Colonies in the South-the year, in fact, in which the "Continental Congress" of those Colonies met at Philadelphia and formulated those grievances which led to the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775-was passed the first great legislative enactment of the history of Canada. The Quebec Act extended the limits of the Province of Quebec southward to the Ohio and westward to the Mississippi. In defiance of the promises made to the English settlers, the Parliament of Great Britain refused representative government and confirmed the rule of the Governor and Council. In opposition to what the English settlers regarded as their true interest, the Quebec Act also restored French civil law and declared the Roman Catholic religion to be the established religion of the country.

The history of Nova Scotia or, to call it by its French name, Acadie, had been widely different from that of the Province of Quebec. First settled by a colony from Scotland in 1614, under a charter granted by James I., it had soon become part of the general field of conflict between the English and French in North America. But as far as Nova Scotia was concerned, that conflict ended in 1748 when, under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the whole of Acadie was ceded to England. The extent of territory comprised in this cession was almost wholly undefined; but the English took immediate steps to strengthen their hold at least on the part nearest to the sea-board. Thus in 1749 the great fortified place of Halifax was built, and when the French inhabitants-though apparently

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