70 CANADA AND THE EMPIRE.

much land was available for homesteading in the
old country.”
For the rest, loyal as Canada is, there is a
dangerous contempt for English methods, which
makes one think that the more Canada is left
alone to govern herself the more loyal she will be.
The Canadians do not understand our diplomacy.
Alaska as an isolated instance is unimportant,
but Alaska, after the other incidents mentioned in
the preceding chapter, is serious. And it is not
only the result, but the methods that led up to it
to which exception was taken. Whatever the
wisdom of the Alaska decision, its method was
bad. The Canadian representatives came away
with a firm belief that both in the preliminary
negotiations and at the hearing of the case sufficient
 consideration had not been paid to Canada,
and the matter had been settled over her head,
whilst at the hearing itself the British representative
 appeared to forget that he was merely one of
three Imperial representatives and assumed the
position of arbiter, and that once again the United
States had triumphed through Britain's craven
fear. If the decision was wise, and they had been
properly consulted, they would have acquiesced.
If the decision was not wise, it should not have
been given. More on this subject will, of course,
be heard, but no preferential treatment will remove
a growing belief that they cannot rely on the
Mother Country to back them in their differences
with foreign Powers. The Canadians have grown