representative institutions. We have followed briefly the struggles and disorders which resulted in the attainment of responsible government, without full comprehension of the conventions and principles upon which its successful operation depended. Afterward came the difficult years in which the lessons of responsible government were learned by experience. Differences of race, language, temperament, and ideal created groups which made stable government impracticable, and strengthened the influences that led to Confederation. But during all this period Canada became more and more endowed with the attributes of complete self-government, until, in 1867, the four original Provinces fronting the Atlantic and reaching toward the Pacific stood before the world as a united Dominion. Already there was the germ of a national spirit, and Canada slowly awakened to the greatness of her destiny.

SECOND LECTURE

CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT FROM CONFEDERATION TO THE WORLD WAR1

T IS not my purpose nor is there occasion to dwell at any length upon the provisions of the British North America Act. In the preamble it is recited that Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick had expressed their desire to be federally united into one Dominion under the Crown, "with a Constitution similar in principle to that of the United Kingdom." This would seem to set at rest any question as to executive responsibility, but, in more than one instance, the Colonial Office proved that its vision was still obscured by old traditions.

The provisions of any constitutional Act are necessarily of so general a character that judicial interpretation is required. Thus no inconsiderable influence upon our Constitution has been exercised by the body of judicial decisions which has grown up in the examination and construction of its provisions by the Courts. Like all written constitutions it has been subject to development through usage and convention. Lord Bryce has pointed out the considerable effect of such influence in the United States: "The American Constitution

has changed, is changing, and by the law of its existence must continue to change in its substance and practical working, even when its words remain the same. "Time and habit", said Washington, "are at least as necessary to fix the true character of Governments as of other human institutions": and while "habit fixes some things, time remoulds others." 2

In considering constitutional relations between Canada and other parts of the Empire, we observe that the British North America Act sets forth with no little particularity the distribution, between the Dominion and the Provincial Governments, of sovereign powers in domestic affairs. Such powers in their entirety seem to be limited only by the reservation of disallowance to the British Government, and by previous unrepealed enactments of the British Parliament applicable to the Dominions. As no formal attempt was made to define the constitutional relations between the British and Canadian Governments, those relations were free to develop by the same slow and sure steps which had built up the system of government now obtaining in the United Kingdom. Unfettered by a written constitution in the ordinary acceptation of the term, that system has been moulded and is controlled by custom and convention to a remarkable extent. In the words of Lord Bryce, "the always changing Constitution becomes interpenetrated by custom." Anson puts it in much the same way:

"If in our Constitution we find that law and custom diverge, we must note first what is the law, and then how it has been overgrown by custom." Lowell employs another happy phrase: "The conventions are superimposed upon the law, and modify political relations without in the least affecting legal ones." 5 ."5 In an interesting contribution to the history and study of relations between the nations of the British Commonwealth, Mr. H. Duncan Hall points out the vast scope of changes that may be effected through new conventions of the Constitution."

In tracing constitutional development, it is useful to consider it in relation to the executive, the legislative, and the international functions of the instruments of government. This arrangement of the subject, if not strictly logical, will be found convenient. But before entering upon this phase it is important to examine the advance in methods of consultation and co-operation between the Governments of the British Commonwealth.

Twenty years after the Union the first Colonial Conference was held in 1887. The intention to hold it was referred to in the Queen's speech on the prorogation of Parliament. It was purely consultative; and, while many questions of common concern were discussed, probably the main purpose of the British Government was to find some method of

more effective co-operation in defence. At that time there was no conception of relations with the Colonies other than as subordinates, and apparenty there was no suggestion that they were to be consulted or even informed as to foreign relations. The representatives of Canada were not members of the Canadian Government, and the Conference was not between Governments as such.

The Conference of 1894 was summoned by the Canadian Government, and was held at Ottawa. Its genesis was the proposal for a conference between Canada and Australia respecting cable communication, but it developed into a gathering at which not only the Australian Colonies, but New Zealand and the Cape of Good Hope were represented. Lord Jersey held a watching brief on behalf of the British Government. Sir Mackenzie Bowell, Canadian Minister of Trade and Commerce, was appointed President.

The third Conference was held in London in 1897, on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Only Prime Ministers had been summoned to the Jubilee, and, consequently, only Prime Ministers attended the Conference. The opinion was expressed that periodical conferences between representatives of the Dominions and of the United Kingdom were desirable, and a resolution to that effect was passed.

The fourth Conference was held in 1902, on the occasion of King Edward's Coronation; subjects