pect to separate or denominational schools
are protected by the constitution. The common law of England prevails
in all the provinces except in French Canada, where the civil law still
exists. The criminal law of England obtains throughout the Dominion.
The central government appoints all the judges, who are irremovable
except for cause. Although the constitution places in the central
government the {429} residue of all powers, not expressly given to the
provincial authorities, conflicts of jurisdiction are constantly
arising between the general and local governments. Such questions,
however, are being gradually settled by the decisions of the
courts--the chief security of a written constitution--although at times
the rivalry of parties and the antagonisms of distinct nationalities
and creeds tend to give special importance to certain educational and
other matters which arise in the operation of the constitution. All
these are perils inseparable from a federal constitution governing two
distinct races.

The relations of Canada with the United States have been increasingly
close and cordial as years have gone on. Many old standing causes of
friction have been removed; and in other cases, such as the fisheries
dispute, and the extremely high duties levied on Canadian goods in the
Dingley Tariff, there has been no recent aggravation of the irritation.
In 1894 an end was made to the dispute over the right of America to
exclude other nations from taking the seals of the Aleutian Islands
outside the three-mile limit. Canadian vessels had been seized and
confiscated by America, and a state of high tension existed, which was
relieved by a reference of the dispute to arbitration. This time the
award was in favour of Canada. The exclusive right of pelagic sealing
was denied to the United States, and damages amounting to $464,000 were
awarded to the Canadian fishermen.

The year 1896 is memorable, not only for the general election which
brought Sir Wilfrid Laurier {430} into power, and for the beginning of
an uplift in trade which lasted until October, 1907, but also for the
discovery of gold in the Yukon and in Alaska. The great rush of
adventurers induced by these discoveries continued for the next two
years, and Dawson city grew up with mushroom haste as the metropolis of
this Arctic region. Gold discoveries in both Canadian and American
territory brought to a crisis the long-pending dispute over the
international