After the painting by Robert Harris.

WILLIAM SMITH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _facing page_ 4
From a portrait in the Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.

SIR ALEXANDER T. GALT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 16
From a photograph by Topley.

GEORGE BROWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 32
From a photograph in the possession of Mrs Freeland
Barbour, Edinburgh.

SIR GEORGE CARTIER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 42
From a painting in the Chateau de Ramezay.

SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 80
From the painting by A. Dickson Patterson.

SIR CHARLES TUPPER, BART. . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 116
From a photograph by Elliott and Fry, London.

ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACHE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 166
From a photograph lent by Rev. L. Messier, St Boniface.

AN ELECTION CAMPAIGN--GEORGE BROWN ADDRESSING AN AUDIENCE
OF FARMERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 180
From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys.

{1}

CHAPTER I

THE DAWN OF THE MOVEMENT

The sources of the Canadian Dominion must be sought in the period
immediately following the American Revolution. In 1783 the Treaty of
Paris granted independence to the Thirteen Colonies. Their vast
territories, rich resources, and hardy population were lost to the
British crown. From the ruins of the Empire, so it seemed for the
moment, the young Republic rose. The issue of the struggle gave no
indication that British power in America could ever be revived; and
King George mournfully hoped that posterity would not lay at his door
'the downfall of this once respectable empire.'

But, disastrous as the war had proved, there still remained the
fragments of the once mighty domain. If the treaty of peace had shorn
the Empire of the Thirteen Colonies and the great region south of the
Lakes, it had left unimpaired the provinces to the east and {2}
north--Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Canada--while still farther north
and west an unexplored continent in itself, stretching to the Pacific
Ocean, was either held in the tight grip of the Hudson's Bay Company or
was shortly to be won by its intrepid rival, the North-West Company of
Montreal. There were not lacking men of prescience and courage who
looked beyond the misfortunes of the hour, and who saw in the dominions
still vested in the crown an opportuni