100 CANADA AND THE EMPIRE.

CHAPTER V.
WHAT BRITAIN MIGHT DO.

WE have now roughly described the country
with which we have to deal. It is a country in
which an Imperial preference has been tried before.
We were told that so long ago as the 17th century,
a suggestion for preferential trade was made to the
Commandant at Quebec by the French Government.
 The suggestion was contained in correspondence
 which redounded in expressions of
desire to bind Canada more closely to France. It
was tried again—this time by Great Britain—at a
time when there was far less danger of conflicting
interests, and when the Canadian constitution was
less independent than to-day. But even then
on the one hand the inevitable friction, the
smuggling and quarrelling made many glad that
it was given up, and on the other so violent was
the disappointment of the rest that it almost
led to annexation by the United States.
It is a country essentially loyal to the Imperial
idea, and the Imperial idea as Canada understands
it means autonomy political and fiscal under the
Union Jack. By the Imperial tie Canada understands
 a bond which asks nothing, which compels
nothing, but for which the Canadian is free to fight