DOMINION OF CANADA. 



269 



period being 30; of private or local acts, 28. 

 A uniform currency for the several provinces 

 was established by chap. 4 ; by other enact- 

 ments the criminal law, as laid down in old stat- 

 utes of Canada, before confederation, v> as ex- 

 tended to the new Province of Manitoba, and 

 the militia law made to apply to this and the 

 other recently-incorporated Province of British 

 Columbia. The independence of Parliament 

 was provided for by an act which says that " the 

 holding of any office, commission, or employ- 

 ment, permanent or temporary, at the nomi- 

 nation of the crown, to which any salary or 

 other emolument is attached, disqualifies a per- 

 son from being elected to or sitting in the 

 House of Commons." A law affording facili- 

 ties to aliens for becoming " duly naturalized " 

 was also passed. 



A measure, " to render permissive the use of 

 the metric or of the decimal system of weights 

 and measures," was introduced by the Min- 

 ister of Inland Revenue and became law. This 

 system is already allowed in Great Britain ; 

 and it is stated that it goes into operation in 

 Prussia this year (1872). It is apprehended 

 that its adoption, either in England or Canada, 

 will not be immediate. In addition to the dif- 

 ficulty of accustoming a population to any 

 change of standard, there is in this case a 

 strange and a not very euphonious nomen- 

 clature. It has been recommended, as the best 

 means of meeting this difficulty, that the 

 system be taught in all schools receiving pub- 

 lic aid, so that its superiority, being impressed 

 upon the minds of the youth of one genera- 

 tion, would lead to its adoption by the next. 



An attempt was made early in the session 

 to force upon the Dominion Cabinet the settle- 

 ment of the question of debt referred to at 

 some length in our article of last year be- 

 tween the governments of Ontario and Quebec. 

 Several resolutions to this effect were success- 

 fully opposed by ministers and their sup- 

 porters in the House, the former indicating it 

 to be their opinion that a joint reference of 

 the case to the Judicial Committee of her 

 Majesty's Privy Council would be the proper 

 course. 



Preliminary steps in this direction have 

 been taken, and it is not improbable that a 

 decision from the tribunal referred to will be 

 obtained. But it is doubtful whether more 

 can be secured by such a movement than a 

 certain or uncertain extent of delay. In all 

 likelihood, the question will be finally dis- 

 posed of in Canada, and from a political point 

 of view. 



The Treaty of Washington is regarded as an 

 historic event in Canada fraught, possibly, 

 with momentous consequences. Articles 18 to 

 25 are regarded by many, probably a large 

 party, as an utter abandonment of the fisheries, 

 and the sovereignty of the St. Lawrence; and 

 this view as well as the feeling that the 

 whole policy of the treaty on the part of Eng- 

 land was peace at any price with the United 



States is much strengthened by the admis- 

 sion of the London Times (9th of June last) 

 thus expressed : 



" Little ingenuity would be required to rep- 

 resent this (the surrender of the fisheries) as a 

 sacrifice of small communities to the conven- 

 ience of powerful States. There was certainly 

 no intention on the part of the commissioners 

 of this country to make any portion of our 

 empire a scape-goat for the peace of the 

 whole. But it was never disguised that some- 

 thing the maritime Provinces hitherto have 

 possessed had been bartered away by the 

 treaty." 



Sir John A. Macdonald, the Prime-Minister 

 of Canada, having acted as one of the British 

 commissioners at Washington, will have a 

 delicate duty to perform in the forthcoming 

 session of the Parliament at Ottawa, in defin- 

 ing his peculiar position in this important 

 business and in establishing, as he will be 

 called upon to do, that neither the material 

 interests nor the amour propre of his country 

 were disregarded in these memorable negotia- 

 tions. 



The opening of the "European and North 

 American Eailway," on the 18th of October 

 last, was an occasion of much interest. This 

 work is the joint enterprise of the British 

 maritime Provinces and of the State of Maine ; 

 and is not only calculated to increase profit- 

 able business intercourse between their re- 

 spective populations, but places St. John, N. 

 B., in direct railway communication with 

 Montreal by the Portland branch of the Grand 

 Trunk. President Grant and the Governor- 

 General of Canada, Lord Lisgar, fittingly took 

 part in the ceremonies of this international 

 "opening," and exchanged words, kindly and 

 polished, of fraternal greeting. 



The death-roll of Canada for the past year 

 presents to view a name long and most 

 honorably associated with her history, Louis 

 JOSEPH PAPINEATT. On September 23d, at 

 the venerable age of eighty-five years, this il- 

 lustrious patriot peacefully breathed his last 

 at his beautiful residence known as Monto- 

 bello, in his own seigniory of Petite Nation, 

 on the left or north bank of the river Ottawa. 

 Among the many incidents related which 

 mark the high character of M. Papineau, the 

 following deserves a lasting place in history : 

 A conciliatory policy, deemed necessary by 

 Sir George Prevost to secure the fealty of the 

 French Canadians during the War of 1812, 

 and continued by his immediate successors, 

 allayed political asperities that had nearly 

 driven these Canadians to be the rebellious 

 spirits that Sir James Craig represented them 

 to be, and they proved sturdy defenders of the 

 British flag. Among those enrolled was M. 

 Papineau, as a captain of militia. It is re- 

 lated of him that, when conducting a portion 

 of Hull's army prisoners from Lachine, a regi- 

 mental band of the regulars struck up " Yan- 

 kee Doodle," to shame the unfortunates, on 



