when the Irish espoused the cause of the fallen Stuarts.

9. Hugging the shores of Louth, we reach the seaport of Dundalk, at the head of its bay, whence turning eastward to Greenore, the headland between Dundalk and Carlingford Bays, we find a steamer awaiting our arrival, and take our leave of the Green Isle.

CHAPTER XIX.

BRITISH NORTH AMERICA.

Introduction.

1. Having now gained some knowledge of our mother country, or, as our German cousins say, the fatherland, we are to visit other lands in which are settled swarms thrown off from the parent hive. Such restless rovers have the inhabitants of the British Isles ever been, that little less than a sixth part of all the habitable land on the globe, and about one fourth of all mankind, are now under British rule.

2. Wonderful as that sounds, it is not all. For what but a swarm from this busy hive of ours is that thriving country which holds its own among the foremost empires, the United States of America? a nation that already far outnumbers the people of the mother country, and bids fair to go on growing in power and wealth for centuries yet to come.

3. The great land which we are to visit first, the Dominion of Canada, lies north of the United States. Its southern boundary is formed entirely by three States, its eastern by the Atlantic Ocean and Labrador, its western by the Pacific, its northern by the Arctic Ocean and the territory of Alaska, which belongs to the United States. The area of this vast country,

little less than that of Europe, exceeds 3,400,000 square miles. Its inhabitants at present are only about 4,500,000; that is, about as many as are crowded together in London.

interest to us, spare for every because it lies We have learnt

4. This country is of the utmost not only because it has room and to inhabitant of the British Isles, but within a few days' sail of our ports. that our own soil is insufficient to supply the bodily wants of our toiling millions; that only by our natural advantages, chiefly of coal and iron, and our skill in making therewith for other nations tools, clothing, and sundry utensils, are we able to buy food, to purchase the fruits of the earth, where they are raised in excess of the wants of the people.

5. We know that other nations are now producing these things for themselves, so as to have them at less cost than they have long had to pay us, that many other people vie with us in making wares wherewith to buy the fruits of far off lands. Thus a time may come, when we shall no longer be foremost in distant markets, a time when we shall be undersold by our rivals and unable to sell our goods at a profit, and therewith to buy food for ourselves; when for lack of buyers we shall cease to make things.

6. When that time comes, we shall have to "shut up our shop." The rich will then take their money to other lands, the workers, having no longer any work to do here, any means of earning bread, will have to take their labour where it will fetch its worth, and enable them to live in peace and plenty. Even as it is, tens of thousands are quitting our shores every year for some land where there is less of a scramble after the bare means of living. Every year, it may be, will more have to quit their homes and seek a living elsewhere.

7. Now, we most of us like the ways of living and talking in which we have been brought up from childhood. So, then, if we have to quit our native

land, and if we have any choice, most of us will prefer to seek a new home where we can live under our own laws and customs, amid people who speak our own tongue, and where life will therefore not be wholly strange. Thanks to the enterprise of our fathers, there are now many parts of the earth where, if the worst befall us, we may hope to start afresh. Of these the nearest and the largest is the Dominion of Canada. Because it is our nearest, it is sometimes

called the Home Colony.

CHAPTER XX.

THE DOMINION OF CANADA.

Government and History.

1. The government of this vast country is modelled after that of Great Britain. The Sovereign is represented by a Governor-General, who is appointed by the British Government, but paid by the Canadians. Instead of our House of Lords there is a Senate, whose members are appointed for life by the GovernorGeneral. "Parliament" is completed, as in England, by a House of Commons elected by the people for five years. The Governor-General is advised by a Cabinet of thirteen ministers, who are guided in their advice by what they believe to be the feeling of the nation as represented in the House.

2. There are eight provinces in the DominionNova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, once called Lower Canada; Ontario, formerly styled Upper Canada; Manitoba, North-West Territories, and British Columbia. Each of these has its own local government to manage its own district affairs, its own courts of justice, and its own system of free schools of all grades.

3. There was a time when it seemed likely that this great country might some day cease to be subject