an
additional guarantee for the union of the two races and the security of
British interests on the continent of America.

SECTION 4.--Political and social conditions of Canada under
confederation.

At the present time, a population of probably five million four hundred
thousand souls inhabit a Dominion of seven regularly organised
provinces, and of an immense fertile territory stretching from Manitoba
to British Columbia. This Dominion embraces an area of 3,519,000 square
miles, including its water surface, or very little less than the area of
the United States with Alaska, and measures 3500 miles from east to
west; and 1400 miles from north to south.

No country in the world gives more conclusive evidences of substantial
development and prosperity than the Dominion under the beneficial
influences of federal union and the progressive measures of governments
for many years. The total trade of the country has grown from over
$131,000,000 in the first year of confederation to over $321,000,000 in
1899, while the national revenue has risen during the same period from
$14,000,000 to $47,000,000, and will probably be $50,000,000 in 1900.
The railways, whose expansion so closely depends on the material
conditions of the whole country, stretch for 17,250 miles compared with
2278 miles in 1868; while the remarkable system of canals, which extend
from the great lakes to Montreal, has been enlarged so as to give
admirable facilities for the growing trade of the west. The natural
resources of the country are inexhaustible, from the fisheries of Nova
Scotia to the wheat-fields of the north-west, from the coal-mines of
Cape Breton to the gold deposits of the dreary country through which the
Yukon and its tributaries flow.

No dangerous questions like slavery, or the expansion of the African
race in the southern states, exist to complicate the political and
social conditions of the confederation, and, although there is a large
and increasing French Canadian element in the Dominion, its history so
far need not create fear as to the future, except perhaps in the minds
of gloomy pessimists. While this element naturally clings to its
national language and institutions, yet, under the influence of a
complete system of local self-government, it has always taken as active
and earnest a part as the English element in establishing and
strengthening the confederation. It has steadily grown in strength and
prosperity under the generous