THE GROWTH OF CANADA 297 



the commercial-unionists, while Sir John Mac- 

 donald, leading the Conservatives, in his last 

 campaign, gladly seized the opportunity to 

 appeal once more to the sentiment of loyalty 

 to Great Britain. The elections of 1891 gave 

 him a final victory, and showed with quite 

 adequate clearness that the Canadian people 

 preferred to follow their feelings in the British 

 Empire rather than their interests in the Amer 

 ican Republic. 



No great access of hostile feeling in the United 

 States toward the Canadians was manifest as 

 a result of this preference. It was regarded by 

 many Americans as a natural and properly 

 spirited response to the McKinley tariff of the 

 preceding year. This law administered almost 

 fatal blows to certain important Canadian indus 

 tries, and it was accompanied by the rejection, 

 so peremptory as to be almost insulting, of 

 overtures from Canada looking to the renewal 

 of reciprocity as in 1854. The McKinley Act 

 in fact proclaimed a tariff war a entrance be 

 tween the two neighbors, and the Canadian 

 election of 1891 signified a readiness for the 

 struggle. In the United States, however, there 

 was halting and indecision. The elections of 

 1892 brought the Democrats again into power, 



