The Canadian Parliament has virtually accepted the Treaty of Washington,
after an admirable speech In its favour by the Premier, Sir John Macdonald. He argued that, as the maritime provinces accepted the fishery clauses with pleasure, they could not be injurious to the Dominion ; that no sovereignty over the St. Lawrence had been surrendered ; and that Canada had been injured only in the surrender of the claim to compensation for the Fenian raids. Compensation had been given for this in the guarantee for the Pacific Railroad, an enterprise sure to be far more profitable to Canada than any claim against the United States. Moreover, everkif Canada had sacrificed somewhat, the mother country had n1ap great sacrifices also, and those principally for the sake of Canza, which was England's weakest point, she her-
self being impregnable. "If we were to drive a hard bargain as a portion of the Empire, and would not join in the sacrifice which England made for us and for the sake of peace, we should be unworthy of the position which we hope to attain as the right arm of England's power. This Treaty rendered war with the United States almost an impossibility, as any question could be treated as the Alabama question, and settled by arbitration." How many allies has England who will hold language like that ? It is worth while to have colonies, if only for the pleasure of watching the statesmen whom their Parliaments breed, men with the English moderation and the English nerve, but free by their position from the English parochial habit of thought.
