YANKEE SMARTNESS. 47 



of the earth ; your taxes are low, your food is cheap, you 

 have all the advantages of self-government without the 

 curse of a presidential election every four years, your 

 laws are good, your judges are above bribery, you have no 

 army or navy to maintain, if you want protection from an 

 enemy all you have to do is to telegraph for it across the 

 Atlantic." 



Yankee smartness is proverbial. Smart tricks, as a 

 rule, do not tend to make neighbours good friends. As 

 with individuals, so with states. I will give one instance 

 of this " smartness." By the treaty of Washington, Cana- 

 dian fish were admitted free into American markets. 

 Salmon, lobster?, and other sorts of fish are made up for 

 market in hermetically sealed tin cases. The Yankees, 

 though obliged by the letter of the treaty to take the 

 duty off the fish, transferred it to the tin cans, and so, no 

 doubt to their satisfaction, drove a four-horse team through 

 the spirit of the treaty. Canadians revolt from this un- 

 gentlemanly treatment, and each one of these " smart " 

 or " shabby " tricks, call them which you will, strengthens 

 the bonds which unite Canada to old England. 



There is a small and insignificant anti-British party in 

 Ontario who are probably working for annexation. A 

 certain Oxford professor, whose own country became too 

 hot for him, and who then tried America, where he was 

 not appreciated, finally honoured Ontario with his pre- 

 sence. This gentleman nourishes an implacable animosity 

 against England and everything English. Being an able 

 man, he manages to attract to him every man and every- 

 thing hostile to the old country. He finds little difficulty 

 in picking holes in the colonial policy of the empire, and 



