"When the Liberal party for the first time for eighteen years found itself in power at Ottawa, Mr. Laurier at once opened negotiations with Manitoba. The result was a settlement which, although it might work well in particular districts, could not be accepted as satisfactory by the Catholic authorities. It arranged that where in towns and cities the average attendance of Catholic children was forty or upwards, and in villages and rural districts the average attendance of such children was twenty-five or upwards, one Catholic teacher should be employed. There were various other provisions, but that was the central concession. … Leo the Thirteenth, recognising the difficulties which beset Mr. Laurier's path, mindful, perhaps, also that it is not always easy immediately to resume friendly conference with those who have just done their best to defeat you, has sent to Canada an Apostolic Commissioner." _J. G. Snead Cox, Mr. Laurier and Manitoba (Nineteenth Century, April, 1897)._ CANADA: A. D. 1895. Northern territories formed into provisional districts. "The unorganized and unnamed portion of the Dominion this year was set apart into provisional districts. The territory east of Hudson's Bay, having the province of Quebec on the south and the Atlantic on the east, was to be hereafter known as Ungava. The territory embraced in the islands of the Arctic Sea was to be known as Franklin, the Mackenzie River region as Mackenzie, and the Pacific coast territory lying north of British Columbia and west of Mackenzie as Yukon. The extent of Ungava and Franklin was undefined. Mackenzie would cover 538,600 square miles, and Yukon 225,000 square miles, in addition to 143,500 square miles added to Athabasca and 470,000 to Keewatin. The total area of the Dominion was estimated at 3,456,383 square miles." _The Annual Register, 1895, page 391._ CANADA: A. D. 1895. Negotiations with Newfoundland. Negotiations for the entrance of Newfoundland into the federation of the Dominion of Canada proved ineffectual and were abandoned in May. The island province refused the terms proposed. CANADA: A. D. 1896 (June-July). Liberal triumph in Parliamentary elections. Formation of Ministry by Sir Wilfred Laurier.