ork.

Of course, in the methods of party government we can see in Canada at
times an attempt to follow the example of the United States, and to
introduce the party machine with its professional politicians and all
those influences that have degraded politics since the days of Jackson
and Van Buren. Happily, so far, the people of Canada have shown
themselves fully capable of removing those blots that show themselves
from time to time on the body politic. Justice has soon seized those men
who have betrayed their trust in the administration of public affairs.
Although Canadians may, according to their political proclivities, find
fault with some methods of governments and be carried away at times by
political passion beyond the bounds of reason, it is encouraging to find
that all are ready to admit the high character of the judiciary for
learning, integrity and incorruptibility. The records of Canada do not
present a single instance of the successful impeachment or removal of a
judge for improper conduct on the bench since the days of responsible
government; and the three or four petitions laid before parliament, in
the course of a quarter of a century, asking for an investigation into
vague charges against some judges, have never required a judgment of the
house. Canadians have built wisely when, in the formation of their
constitution, they followed the English plan of retaining an intimate
and invaluable connection between the executive and legislative
departments, and of keeping the judiciary practically independent of the
other authorities of government. Not only the life and prosperity of the
people, but the satisfactory working of the whole system of federal
government rests more or less on the discretion and integrity of the
judges. Canadians are satisfied that the peace and security of the whole
Dominion do not more depend on the ability and patriotism of statesmen
in the legislative halls than on that principle of the constitution,
which places the judiciary in an exalted position among all the other
departments of government, and makes law as far as possible the arbiter
of their constitutional conflicts. All political systems are very
imperfect at the best; legislatures are constantly subject to currents
of popular prejudice and passion; statesmanship is too often weak and
fluctuating, incapable of appreciating the true tendency of events, and
too ready to yield to the force of present circumstances or dictates of