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the necessity of conventions for the election of candidates has kept a party alive after it has ceased to represent any principles whatever. The modern American party without a principle is like a centipede without a head, which continues to march until destroyed by some external force"(x). And on this point it is worth noting that Canadians probably owe the fact that they are not dominated by the political machine to anything like the same extent as their neighbours very largely to this that their chief magistrate being appointed by the Crown, they escape the necessity of periodical presidential elections.

But it may be said, if the evils which have developed themselves in the Constitution of the United States are so great, the Constitution will doubtless be amended. The requirements of Art. 5 of the Constitution, however, under which alone any amendment can be made, are such that it is apparent, as Mr. Woodrow Wilson says, that "no impulse short of the impulse of self-preservation, no force less than the force of revolution, can nowadays be expected to move the cumbrous machinery of formal amendment of the Constitution of the United States"’(y). And so long as a people, of energetic political talents and a keen instinct for progressive development, "adhere to the forms of a written Constitution, so long as the machinery of Government supplied by it is the only machinery which the legal and moral sense of such a people permits it to use, its political development must be in many directions narrowly restricted because of an insuperable lack of open or adequate channels" (z). And as to responsible government, I may mention that in one of his Essays on Government, Mr. Lowell shews conclusively that a responsible ministry cannot be engrafted into American institutions without entirely changing their nature and destroying their most treasured features.

"The fact is," wrote Lord Elgin, the Governor-General of Canada, to Lord Grey in 1850, "the American system is our old

(x) Government and Parties in Continental Europe, Vol. 2, pp. 320-1. (y) Congressional Government, p. 242.

(z) Ibid., p. 312.

colonial system with, in certain cases, the principle of public election substituted for that of nomination by the Crown. Mr. Filmore stands to his Congress very much in the same relation in which I stood to my Assembly in Jamaica. There is the same absence of effective responsibility in the conduct of legislation, the same want of concurrent action between the parts of the political machine" (a). And referring to his experiences in respect to the negotiations for reciprocity at Washington the session before, he says: "There was no Government to deal with. The interests of the union as a whole and distinct from local and sectional interests, had no organ in the representative body; it was all a question of canvassing this member of Congress or the other. It is easy to perceive that under such a system, jobbing must become, not the exception, but the rule. Now I feel very strongly, that when a people have been thoroughly accustomed to the working of such a parliamentary system as ours, they will never consent to revert to this clumsy, irresponsible mechanism. Whether we shall be able to carry on the war here long enough to allow the practice of constitutional government and the habits of mind which it engenders to take root in these Provinces, may be doubtful" (b).

No one can dispute that the practice of constitutional government and the habits of mind which it engenders have taken permanent root in Canada notwithstanding Lord Elgin's forebodings. But many things have happened since the days of Lord Elgin. Provincialism disappeared in the conception of a Canadian nationality in a federated Dominion. And how weighty the influence of the Dominion has come to be in the councils of the Empire may be read in Sir John Bourinot's article in a recent number of the Forum, where a justly deserved tribute is paid to Lord Salisbury for his conduct in matters where the interests of Canada have been deeply concerned (c). But more than that, the dream of Lord Brougham in 1803

(a) Walrond's Letters and Journals of Lord Elgin, pp. 120-1.
(b) Ibid.

(c) Canada's Relations with the United States and Her Influence in Imperial Councils, Forum, May, 1898.

-for it could have been called nothing else at that time-has been undeniably realized. In his work on the Colonial Policy of the European Powers, published in that year, he wrote: "May we presume to hope that the colonial story of Great Britain will exhibit to future statesmen, a useful picture of advantages which may fairly be expected from just views of provincial government; that it will hold out the prospects of certain success to the enlightened and generous policy which shall consider the parts of an Empire, however situated, as members of the same political body; that it will display the possibility of retaining the distant provinces in the relations not of subordination, but of union, even after having become more worthy of bearing the same name in their progress in wealth, in arts and in arms; and teach every nation of Europe, which is happy enough to possess such settlements, how amply their nurturing care must finally by recompensed, even in a political view, by the efforts of their mature age."

A. H. F. LEFROY.

REPORTS AND NOTES OF CASES.

Dominion of Canada.

EXCHEQUER COURT.

Burbidge, J.]

THE KING V. CONNOR.

[Jan. 26. Subrogation-Partnership debt-Rights of one partner paying

same.

Under the principles of the common law as it obtains in England and in Ontario a partner who pays a partnership debt cannot be subrogated to the rights of the creditor against his copartner. (The law as applied in similar cases by the Courts of Quebec and of the United States discussed.)

Chrysler, K.C., and Bethune, for plaintiff. Aylesworth, K.C., Stockton, K.C., Gormully, K.C., Hogg, K.C., Murphy, J. F. Orde and A. Beament, for defendants.

Burbidge, J.]

THE KING v. Dodge.

[March 29.

Expropriation-Rifle range-Compensation-Witnesses led into error in their valuation-Report of Referee-Appeal from -Smaller assessment on appeal.

Where the witnesses, on whose evidence the referee seemed to rely, were in the opinion of the judge led into the error of applying to a large number of acres (in this case 623) a value which appeared to represent the value of a portion of the property, but not the whole, the amount of compensation recommended by the referee was reduced.

2. Where average values are applied to ascertain the value per acre of land taken by the Government, such average values should be applied with great care and moderation.

McIlreith, for plaintiff. Roscoe, K.C., for defendants.

Province of Ontario.

COURT OF APPEAL.

Full Court.]

THE KING v. WALTON.

[Feb. 23.

Criminal law-Summoning grand jurors and petit jurors-Constitution of Courts - Procedure - Ontario Legislature Dominion Parliament.

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A Provincial Legislature has power to determine the number of grand jurors to serve at Courts of oyer and terminer and general sessions this being a matter relating to the constitution of the Courts, but the selection and summoning of jurors relate to procedure in criminal matters in respect of which the Dominion Parliament alone has power to legislate. The Dominion Parliament can exercise its power by adopting the provincial law and has done so by section 662 of the Criminal Code. The Queen v. Cox (1898) 31 N.S.R. 311; 2 Can. C.C. 207, approved.

Cartwright, K.C., Depty. Atty.-Genl., for Crown. J. B. McKenzie, for prisoner.

Full Court.]

[June 16.

BECK MANUFACTURING Co. v. ONTARIO LUMBER Co. Rivers and Streams Act-Constructions and improvementsFloating logs-Payment of tolls-Fixing of tolls-Condition precedent to action.

The Rivers and Streams Act, R.S.O. 1897, c. 142, confers exclusive jurisdiction to fix the tolls chargeable for the use of construction and improvements made in rivers and streams for the purpose of making them navigable for saw-logs upon the different tribunals mentioned in section 13; and renders it incumbent on any person seeking payment in the nature of tolls for such use, to produce as the condition precedent to recovery, an order or judgment of one of such tribunals fixing them.

Per OSLER and GARROW, JJ.A.-It is not necessary that the tolls should be so fixed before the logs are floated, but until they have been fixed no action can be maintained.

Per GARROW, J.A.- (1) The Act merely gives the local judge or stipendiary magistrate the power to fix the proper rate of

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