Because of old associations, natural affinities, and our shared status as secondary mainly English-speaking countries somewhat in the shadow of American contiguity and influence, Canada retains a greater interest in what happens in the United Kingdom than in most foreign countries. It has been distressing to see the violence in Britain this summer. In part Canadians may feel that if violence is more frequent and extensive in England than it has been it may come here next. We have long prided ourselves on our peaceable nature compared to American society although that is practically an inevitable distinction given the revolutionary origins of the United States, the admired tradition of taking up arms against oppressive behaviour, and the legacy of slavery that lingers yet in that country despite its Herculean effort, unique in world history, to raise up a formerly forcibly subjugated minority to a position of absolute equality with the majority that formerly owned the minority as property-human chattels.