per and Lower Canada were changed respectively to
Ontario and Quebec. The first Dominion Parliament met in the autumn
of the same year, and lost no time in passing an Act to construct
an Inter-Colonial Railway affording proper means of communication
between the maritime and central provinces.

In 1869 the Hudson Bay territory was acquired from the Company which
held it, and after the Red River Insurrection, headed by a half-breed,
Louis Riel, had been successfully crushed by the Wolseley Expedition,
the territory was made part of the Federation. In 1871 British
Columbia became part of the Dominion, on condition that a railway
was constructed within the following ten years which should extend
from the Pacific to the Rocky Mountains and connect with the existing
railway system.

The great Canadian Pacific Railway was completed in 1885, opening
out the West to all-comers.

The rise and growth of the Imperialistic spirit has been greatly
influenced by the literature on the subject, which dated its
commencement from Professor Seeley's _Expansion of England_ in 1883.
This was followed by an immense number of works by various writers,
the chief of whom, Rudyard Kipling, has popularized the conception
of Imperialism and extended its meaning:

Never was isle so little, never was sea so lone,
But over the scud and the palm-trees an English flag was flown.

The Empire was not, however, to be consolidated without war and
bloodshed, for relations with the two Boer Republics, the Transvaal
and the Orange River, became more and more strained as years went
on. The last years of the Queen's life were destined to be saddened
by the outbreak of war in South Africa.

The facts which led to the outbreak were briefly these, though it
is but fair to state that there are, even now, various theories
current as to the causes. The discovery and opening up of the gold
mines of the Transvaal had brought a stream of adventurous emigrants
into the country, and it was these 'Outlanders' of whom the Dutch
were suspicious. The Transvaal Government refused to admit them to
equal political rights with the Dutch inhabitants. It was certain,
however, that the Outlanders would never submit to be dependent on
the policy of President Kruger, although the Dutch declared that they
had only accepted the suzerainty of Great Britain under compulsion.

Negotiations between the two Governments led to nothing, as neither
side would give way, and at la