The object of this study is to examine the development of the relations between the people of Canada and those of the United States, and to see whether their tendency has been towards unity or divergence. In such an investigation authorities have a very difi'erent value from that they would possess in tracing a definite line of historical research. Many documents that would be indispensable primary sources in other fields are here of little service. The study must be largely a matter of sidelights — oi unconscious revelation. Mere gossip becomes often more illuminating than a formal official statement, and a careless newspaper paragraph, an advertisement, or the notebook of a ?ying tourist may illustrate some point on which blue books are silent. Hence the seemingly desultory character of the cita.