of nations which we are pleased to term the British
Empire.

[Illustration: Silver mines at Cobalt, Ontario.]

After the tragic death of Sir John Thompson in 1892 Canada struggled
along politically under several Conservative Premiers which undoubtedly
prepared the way for Sir Wilfrid Laurier's great victory four years
afterwards. Then, surrounded by the men who had been so many years in
opposition with him, he evolved those practical principles of
Liberalism which kept his party firmly in power until he advocated free
trade in 1911. Since that time both Liberals and Conservatives have
come to the conclusion that a protective policy is the one best suited
for Canada's growing needs and future prospects. It is interesting to
recall, however, that in the dying days of Conservative rule, Nicholas
Flood Davin, a prominent member on the Government benches, introduced a
Bill for Woman's Suffrage, a reform which was not realised in the
Dominion until 1917. As for Quebec it has adhered steadily to manhood
franchise, although there is a decided possibility that women will
receive the vote in 1922. Some three years afterwards, or, to be
exact, September 29, 1898, a Prohibition plebiscite was carried in
Canada, but it was fully twenty years before it was put into effect by
the various provinces, always with the same exception--that of Quebec,
It will therefore be seen that in some respects the old province of
Lower Canada does not adopt innovations lightly, or, at least, until
they have been first tried and found to be worthy of some measure of
support.

When the outbreak of the Boers startled Canada and roused in her the
dormant desire to respond {460} to the call of the Motherland, it was
Sir Wilfrid Laurier who took up the challenge of non-intervention or
neutrality.

We acted in the full independence of our sovereign power. What we did
we did of our own free will. . . . If it should be the will of the
people of Canada at any future stage to take part in any war of
England, the people of Canada will have to have their way. . . . The
work of union and harmony between the chief races of this country is
not yet complete. . . . But there is no bond of union so strong as the
bond created by common dangers faced in common.[1]

What a prophecy. How well was it realised fourteen years afterwards.
But at the time the Canadians, believing that war would not pass their
way again, erected monuments in all the leading ci