until May, 1873, when he was appointed lieutenant-governor of
Nova Scotia. The worries of a long life of political struggles, and
especially the fatigue and exposure of the last election in Hants, had
impaired his health and made it absolutely necessary that he should
retire from active politics. Only a month after his appointment, the
printer, poet and politician died in the famous old government house,
admittance to which had been denied him in the stormy days when he
fought Lord Falkland. It was a fit ending, assuredly, to the life of the
statesman, who, with eloquent pen and voice, in the days when his
opinions were even offensive to governors and social leaders, ever urged
the right of his countrymen to a full measure of self-government.

Canada and all other parts of the British empire were deeply shocked on
an April day of 1868 by the tragic announcement of the assassination of
the brilliant Irishman, Thomas D'Arcy McGee on his return late at night
from his parliamentary duties. He had never been forgiven by the Irish
enemies of England for his strenuous efforts in Canada to atone for the
indiscretion of his thoughtless youth. His remains were buried with all
the honours that the state could give him, and proper provision was made
for the members of his family by that parliament of which he had been
one of the most notable figures. The murderer, Thomas Whelan, a member
of the secret society that had ordered his death, was executed at
Ottawa on the 11th February, 1869.

SECTION 2.--Extension of the Dominion from the Atlantic to the Pacific
Ocean. 1869-1873.

The government and parliament, to whom were entrusted the destinies of
the federation of four provinces, had a great work to accomplish in the
way of perfecting and extending the Dominion, which was necessarily
incomplete whilst its western territorial limits were confined to the
boundaries of Ontario, and the provinces of British Columbia on the
Pacific coast and of Prince Edward Island in the Gulf of the St.
Lawrence remained in a position of isolation. The provisions of the
British North America Act of 1867 provided in general terms for the
addition of the immense territories which extend from the head of Lake
Superior in a north-westerly direction as far as the Rocky Mountains.
Three great basins divide these territories; Hudson Bay Basin, with
probably a drainage of 2,250,000 square miles; the Winnipeg sub-basin
tributary to the former, with nearly 40