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port of the Macdonald government last March. Sir John knew that the farmers of Ontario and Quebec were waking to the fact that they were being made the puppets of the wealthy subsidized corporations which upheld the government, and it was this which induced him to dangle before the farmer's eyes the alluring bait of reciprocity in natura! products with the United States; but in Ontario, which had always sent a strong conservative contingent to the Dominion House, it was too late. The gospel of the real free trade party had sunk too deep into the minds of the community; and be sides this, there was a strong feeling of resentment against the government for having ratified the acts of incorporation and endowment of the Jesuit Society in 1888. In Quebec, Sir John depended upon the Church to force her sons to vote, as usual, for the conservative party (although there is a strong feeling in French Canada for free trade), in return for favors received by the Church from the government—notably, the recent passage of the Jesuits Estates Bill. But, for once, politics took precedence of "spiritual pains and penalties," and the vigorous campaign inaugurated in Quebec by the Hon. Wilfred Laurier, the leader of the Liberal party, resulted in a strong liberal representation being sent to Ottawa,—contrary to all expectations—and to the surprise even of the liberal party itself.

This does not mean that the habitants are opposed to the Jesuit domination, or that Mr. Laurier himself is an opponent of the Church. It simply means that the question of free trade with the United States has sunk every other question into insignificance, and even the well-drilled political troops of the Church in Quebec are not always to be depended upon to vote against their material commercial in tcrests. Ontario and Quebec both sunk their prejudices—the one, its anti-Jesuit sentiment; the other, its anti-English feeling—and united for free trade and less government.

The issue was a momentous one, and although the continental free trade party does not now occupy the treasury benches, it has, nevertheless, secured a victory. Sir John, for the first time for many years, felt his hold loosening, and anticipated a possible defeat. He, in despair, resorted to the old stupid but effective cry of the "old flag" and "Britons never shall be slaves." Sir Charles Tapper, the High Commissioner for Canada, specially visited Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to arouse the anti-American feeling, which is the especial pride of the United Loyalists, whose ancestors settled there after the close of the Revolutionary War. The Maritime Provinces have, perhaps, more to gain from a free admission to the American market than any of the other provinces of the Dominion; for since the abrogation of the old reciprocity treaty in 1864 they have been completely isolated from the rest of the Dominion, in spite of a political railroad built especially to conciliate them, and cut off from the market which formerly made them rich and prosperous, they have steadily declined in importance, until they are now on the verge of commercial atrophy. It was an opportune moment to play upon their anti-American proclivities—a sentiment which has always been carefully nurtured by the conservative organs—for the people are still smarting under the effects of the McKinley Bill, which seemed to spell complete extinction of their already impoverished trade. Besides, there was behind all this exhibition of patriotic devotion to Great Britain a promise of something a great deal more tangible—extended trade relations with the United States, upon whose cordiality, however much the "Blue Noses" may affect to despise them, the Maritime Provinces depend for an existence—an existence which has been rather precarious during the conservative administration. Sir John Macdonald knows too well that commercial union, or unrestricted reciprocity, alone, is an impossibility—that is, such a union as the mas of the people in Canada desire to-day; not a repetition of the old reciprocity treaty, which neither country could now accept—and he has no intention of promoting any legislation which would necessarily involve important changes and modifications in the procedure and constitution of the government. He is well aware also that the present administration at