es. Ontario alone, in 1899, raised five
millions and a half of dollars for the support of its public school
system; and of this amount the people directly contributed ninety-one
per cent, in the shape of taxes. On the other hand, the libraries of
Canada are not numerous; and it is only in Ontario that there is a law
providing for the establishment of such institutions by a vote of the
taxpayers in the municipalities. In this province there are at least
420 libraries, of which the majority are connected with mechanics'
institutes, and are made public by statute. The weakness of the public
school system--especially in Ontario--is the constant effort to teach a
child a little of everything, and to make him a mere machine. The
consequences are superficiality--a veneer of knowledge--and the loss of
individuality.

CHAPTER X.

CANADA'S RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES AND HER INFLUENCE IN IMPERIAL
COUNCILS (1783--1900).

I have deemed it most convenient to reserve for the conclusion of this
history a short review of the relations that have existed for more than
a century between the provinces of the Dominion and the United States,
whose diplomacy and legislation have had, and must always have, a
considerable influence on the material and social conditions of the
people of Canada.--an influence only subordinate to that exercised by
the imperial state. I shall show that during the years when there was no
confederation of Canada--when there were to the north and north-east of
the United States only a number of isolated provinces, having few common
sympathies or interests except their attachment to the crown and
empire--the United States had too often its own way in controversial
questions affecting the colonies which arose between England and the
ambitious federal republic. On the other hand, with the territorial
expansion of the provinces under one Dominion, with their political
development, which has assumed even national attributes, with the steady
growth of an imperial sentiment in the parent state, the old condition
of things that too often made the provinces the shuttlecock of skilful
American diplomacy has passed away. The statesmen of the Canadian
federation are now consulted, and exercise almost as much influence as
if they were members of the imperial councils in London.

I shall naturally commence this review with a reference to the treaty of
1783, which acknowledged the independence of the United States,