How false and untenable such a pretention is, surely needs no lengthy argument. International Law knows no treaties but those made between Sovereign States. It is most absurd to pretend that a Sovereign State can make a treaty between herself and its own colony. Where is the man with the slightest notion of Constitutional Government who would pretend, for instance, that the British North American Act is a treaty between Great Britain and Canada. It is an Act passed by the Legislative authority of the Sovereign State to which we belong, enacting the conditions under which Canada would enjoy the rights and privileges of constitutional self-government, participating in the exercise of Sovereignty within the limits of the powers enumerated in the Act creating the Dominion. It was precisely because we knew we were acting within the limits of those powers, that we decided to join with England and her Allies in the great war. CHAPTER VII. CANADA IS NOT A SOVEREIGN STATE. As long as Canada will remain under the flag of Great Britain--and for one I hope it will yet be for many long years,--it is evident that it will not be a "_Sovereign State_" in the full sense of the word. One can hardly believe that the Nationalist leader, at page 17 of his pamphlet--"_Hier, Aujourd'hui, Demain_"--"_Yesterday, To-day, To-morrow_," opens a chapter with the title: "_Les Colonies autonomes sont des Etats Souverains._"--"_The autonomous colonies are Sovereign States._" Mr. Bourassa was evidently led to the grievous error contained in the preceding title by a complete misapprehension of the true meaning of the word "_autonomous_." He took "_autonomy_" for "_Sovereignty_," being under the delusion that the two are synonymous. Any student of History knows, or ought to know, that after the war which culminated in the independence of the United States, England adopted an entirely new colonial policy. She was the first Sovereign Power, and has ever since remained the only one, to realize that the old system was doomed to failure, that it was worn out. Her leading statesmen, who always ranked amongst the most eminent the world over, were more and more convinced that the only safe colonial policy was that which would grant "_self-government_" to the colonies, trained to its harmonious working, for their interior management. The true meaning of this new policy was that several of the colonies were, by acts of the Imperial Parliament, called to the exercise of a share of the Sovereignty, well defined in their respective constitutional charters. Canada was one of the first British colonies to enjoy the advantages of such a large part of the Sovereign rights. Such "_autonomous colonies_" as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland, have been, and are to the present day, do not transform them into "_Sovereign States_," enjoying full "Sovereign powers." They are not "_Independent States_" in the full sense of the word.