America Act of 1867, but even to repeal the provisions of that imperial statute, in whole or in part.

But while the sovereign of Great Britain, acting with the advice of the privy council and of the great legislative council of the realm, is legally the paramount authority in Canada as in all other portions of the Empire, his prerogatives are practically restrained within certain well understood limits, so far as concerns those countries to which have been extended legislative institutions and a very liberal system of local selfgovernment. It is now a recognized maxim of parliamentary law that it is unconstitutional for the imperial Parliament to legislate for the domestic affairs of a colony which has a legislature of its own. In any review of the legislative acts of the Dominion, the Government of England has for many years past fully recognized those principles of self-government which form the basis of the political freedom of Canada. No act of the Parliament of the Dominion can now be disallowed unless it is in direct conflict with imperial treaties to which the pledge of England has been solemnly given, or with a statute of the imperial legislature which applies directly to the dependency.

The general rule is that no act of the imperial Parliament binds the colonies unless an intention so to bind them appears either by express words or necessary implication. The imperial Parliament may legislate in matters immediately affecting Canada; but it is understood that it does so, as a rule, only in response to addresses of her people through their own Parliament, in order to give validity to the acts of the latter in cases where the British North America Act of 1867 is silent or has to be supplemented by additional imperial legislation.

That act itself was not a voluntary effort of imperial authority, but owes its origin to the solemn expression of the desire of the several legislatures of the provinces, as shown by addresses to the Crown asking for an extension of their political privileges. Within the defined territorial limits of those powers which have been granted by the imperial Parliament to the Dominion and the provinces, each legislative authority can exercise powers as plenary and ample as those of the imperial Parliament itself acting within the sphere of its extended legislative authority. Between the parent State and its Canadian dependency there is even now a loose system of federation under which each governmental authority exercises certain administrative and legislative functions within its own constitutional limits, while the central authority controls all the members of the federation so as to give that measure of unity and strength without which the Empire could not keep together.

and interests of the Canadian people, who, as citizens of the Empire, are entitled to as much weight as if they lived in the British Isles. Not only is Canada consulted, but her right to be represented adequately on every commission or arbitration affecting her special interests has been fully admitted of late years, in acknowledgment of her remarkable political development, and in accordance with the steady growth of a dominant imperial sentiment in the parent state.'

In the administration of Canadian affairs, the Governor-General is advised by a responsible council, representing the majority of the House of Commons - the elective body of Parliament. As in England, the Canadian cabinet, or ministry, is practically a committee of the dominant party in Parliament, and is governed by the rules, conventions, and usages of parliamentary government which have grown up gradually in the parent State. Whenever it is necessary to form a ministry in Canada, its members are summoned by the Governor-General to the privy council of Canada another illustration of the desire of the Canadians to imitate the old institutions of England and to copy her time-honored procedure.

It would be a great mistake to suppose that the Governor-General is a mere roi fainéant, and a mere ornamental portion of our political system, to be set to work and kept in motion by his council. Lord Elgin, the ablest of constitutional governors, has left it on record that in Jamaica, where there was no responsible government, he had not "half the power he had in Canada, “with a constitutional and changing cabinet." This influence, however, was "wholly moral, an influence of suasion, sympathy, and moderation, which softens the temper while it elevates the aims of local politics." If the Governor-General is a man of parliamentary experience and constitutional knowledge, possessing tact and judgment, and imbued with the true spirit of his high vocation — and these high functionaries have been notably so since the commencement of Confederation - he can sensibly influence, in the way Lord Elgin points out, the course of administration and benefit the country at critical periods of its history.

Standing above all party, having the unity of the Empire at heart, a Governor-General can at times soothe the public mind, and give additional confidence to the country, when it is threatened with some national calamity, or there is distrust abroad as to the future. As an imperial officer he has large responsibilities of which the general public have naturally no very clear idea. And if it were possible to obtain access to the confidential and secret despatches which seldom see the light in the colonial

1 See my article in THE FORUM for May, 1898, on "Canada's Relations with the United States and her Influence in Imperial Councils.”

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office certainly not in the life-time of the men who wrote them would be seen how much, for half a century past, the colonial department has gained by having had in British North America men no longer acting under the influence of personal feeling through being made personally responsible for the conduct of public affairs, but actuated simply by a desire to benefit the country over which they preside, and to bring Canadian interests into union with those of the Empire itself.

The Parliament of Canada consists of the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. In the formation of the upper house, three geographical groups were arranged in the first instance - Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime Provinces- and each group received a representation of twenty-four members. More recently other provinces have been admitted into the Dominion without reference to this arrangement; and now seventy-eight senators altogether may sit in Parliament. The remarkably long tenure of power enjoyed by the Conservative party-twentyfive years from 1867-enabled it, in the course of time, to fill the house with a very large numerical majority of its own friends.

upper

This fact, taken in connection with certain elements of weakness inherent in a chamber which is not elected by the people, and which has none of the ancient privileges or prestige of a House of Lords long associated with the names of great statesmen and the memorable events of English history, has created an agitation among the Liberal party for radical changes in its constitution which would bring it, in their opinion, more in harmony with the people's representatives in the popular branch of the general legislature. While some extremists would abolish the chamber, Sir Wilfrid Laurier and other prominent Liberals recognize its necessity in our parliamentary system.

The House of Commons, the great governing body of the Dominion, has been made, so far as circumstances will permit, a copy of the English house. Its members are not required to have a property qualification; and they are elected by the votes of the electors of the several provinces, where, in a majority of cases, universal suffrage, under limitations of citizenship and residence, prevails.

In each province there is a lieutenant-governor, appointed by the Dominion Government for five years, an executive council, and a legislature consisting of one house only, except in Nova Scotia and Quebec, where a legislative council appointed by the Crown still continues. The principles of responsible government exist in all the provinces, and practically in the Northwest Territory.

In the enumeration of the legislative powers respectively given to

the Dominion and provincial legislatures, an effort was made to avoid the conflicts of jurisdiction that have so frequently arisen between the National and State Governments of the United States. In the first place, we have a recapitulation of those general or national powers that properly belong to the central authority, such as customs and excise duties, regulation of trade and commerce, militia and defence, post-office, banking and coinage, railways and public works "for the general advantage," navigation and shipping, naturalization and aliens, fisheries, weights and measures, marriage and divorce, penitentiaries, criminal law, census and statistics. On the other hand, the provinces have retained control over municipal institutions, public lands, local works and undertakings, incorporation of companies with provincial objects, property and civil rights, administration of justice, and generally "all matters of a merely local and private nature in the province." The residuary power of legislation rests with the general Parliament of Canada.

In 1875, the Parliament of Canada established a supreme court, or general court of appeal, for Canada, the highest function of which is to decide questions as to the respective legislative powers of the Dominion and provincial parliaments which are referred to it, in due process of law, by the subordinate courts of the provinces. The decisions of this court are already doing much to solve difficulties which impede the successful operation of the constitution. As a rule, cases come before the supreme court on appeal from the lower courts; but the law regulating its powers provides that the Governor-General in council may refer to this court any matter on which a question of constitutional jurisdiction has been raised. But the supreme court of Canada is not necessarily the court of last resort. The people have an inherent right, as subjects of the King, to appeal to the judicial committee of the privy council of the United Kingdom.

But it is not only by means of the courts that a check is imposed upon hasty or unconstitutional legislation. The constitution provides that the Governor-General may veto or reserve any bill passed by the two houses of Parliament when it conflicts with imperial interests or imperial legislation. It is now understood that the reserve power of disallowance which His Majesty's Government possesses under the law is sufficient to meet all possible cases. The sovereign power is never exercised except in the case of an act clearly in conflict with an imperial statute or in violation of a treaty affecting a foreign nation. The Dominion Government also supervises all the provincial legislation, and has, in a few cases, disallowed provincial acts. This power is exercised very carefully, and is regarded with intense jealousy by the provincial governments, which have

more than once attempted to set it at defiance. In practice it is found the wisest course to leave to the courts the decision in cases where doubt exists as to the constitutional authority or jurisdiction.

The organized districts of the Northwest Assiniboia, Alberta, Athabaska, and Saskatchewan-are governed by a lieutenant-governor, appointed by the Government of Canada, and aided by a council chosen by himself from an assembly elected by the people under a very liberal franchise. These territories have also representatives in the two houses of the Parliament of Canada. The Yukon territory, in the far Northwest, where rich discoveries of gold have attracted a large number of people within the last two years, is placed under a provisional government, composed of a commissioner and a council, partly elected by the people and partly appointed by the Dominion Government, and acting under instructions. given from time to time by the same authority or by the Minister of the Interior. The public service enjoys all the advantages that arise from permanency of tenure and appointment by the Crown. On the whole, it has been creditable to the country and remarkably free from political influences.

The criminal law of England has prevailed in all the provinces since it was formally introduced by the Quebec Act of 1774; but the civil law of the French régime has continued to be the legal system in French Canada since that act took effect, and has now obtained a hold in that province which insures its permanence as an institution closely allied with the dearest rights of the people. Its principles and maxims have been carefully collected and enacted in a code which is based on the famous Code Napoleon. In the other provinces and territories, the common law of England forms the basis of jurisprudence on which a large body of Canadian statutory law has been built in the course of time.

At the present time, all the provinces, with the exception of Prince Edward Island, have an excellent municipal system, which enables every defined district, large or small, to carry on efficiently all those public improvements essential to the comfort, convenience, and general necessities of the different communities that make up the province at large. Even in the territories of the Northwest, every proper facility is given to the people in a populous district or town to organize a system equal to all their local requirements.

Every Englishman will consider it an interesting and encouraging fact that the Canadian people, despite their neighborhood to a prosperous federal commonwealth, should not have shown any disposition, even in the most gloomy periods of their history, to mould their institutions directly