LIFE ANL> TIMES 
 
 Of 
 
 '' THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD, 
 
 K.C.B., UC.L., &c. 
 PREMIER OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 
 
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LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 or 
 
 THE lUGIIT IIONOURABLE 
 
 SllUOHNA.MACDOMLD, 
 
 K.C.li., D.C'.L., Ac, 
 
 niEMIER OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 -•♦♦- 
 
 ]^ canvass of the country has been made for opinions to put 
 -^ ' in this book. We have approached our subject in cold 
 blood, banishing sympathy from our heart; neither have wo 
 experienced the slightest tinge of remorse for the pain that we 
 must have frequently occasioned through these pages. The 
 historian or the surgeon with a soft heart is not of much bene- 
 fit to his race. This book may seem to have taken a party trend. 
 Perhaps it has. But the trend was with the Reformer till 
 he turned Tory, and then with the Conservative who had 
 turned Liberal. We most unhesitatingly give our preference 
 to the Conservatives now because of their more vigorous and 
 liberal policy ; though we should have for that political body 
 a vastly increased admiration, did it accept Mr. Blake's doc- 
 trine concerning treaty-making, and commit itself to an ex- 
 tinction of that legislati\ e scare-crow, the Senate. This volume 
 has been written hastily, so that several clerical errors have 
 crept in ; but the opinion of the book must be taken exactly 
 as it is found on the page. Let us here express our gratitude 
 to Mr. G. Mercer Adam for information, guidance and numer- 
 ous hints while at our work, and for his revision of the sheets 
 as they went through the press ; but this assistance, it is proper 
 
viii PREFACE. • 
 
 to say, was purely of <a literary nature, and he is in no way 
 responsible for the opinions in the book. Mr. Adam, with the 
 modesty which is only ecpialled by his courtesy and merit, de- 
 sired, in consequence of his connection with the sheets, that 
 no mention should be made of him, save casually, in our 
 chapter upon Canadian literature ; but we have not allowed 
 this to interfere with a sense of duty. We fire under obligations 
 to Mr. J. Watson, of the legislative library, for attention and 
 courtesy while making research among the very limited collec- 
 tion of documents in that institution. 
 
 Wo have no apology whatever to offer for the book. It must 
 now fight its own way. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Toronto, 24 th May, 1883. ' • . 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 l-AOK 
 
 I'arentiige of Sir Ji)hn A. Macdonald — His Boyhood and School Days — Choice 
 of a Profession — Defence of Slioultz- -His liaw Office— "Nest of States- 
 iiiun"— Incidents and characteristics of his Early Life— The battle at Wind- 
 mill Point ■ • - - - • - - - • 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Political Upheavals— ('auses leading to Political Discontent in Canada— Glance 
 at Development of Popular Freedom in England—The Family Compact- 
 Struggle between Liberalism and Toryism- The llebellion in Lower Canada 
 —Gallows Hill — Canadian Goverpors — Sir Francis Bom' Head — Lord.s 
 Durham— Sydenham— Bagot— Metcalfe. • • ,, . 32 
 
 CHAPTER III. /^ 
 
 Growth of Maedonald's Pojmlarity — " If I were only (irepared now I should 
 try for the Ijegislature" — " Yes, yonder on that Sitonny sky, I .see my star 
 of Destiny" — Political Tumult— Metcalfe plays the Hindoo — Macdonald 
 elected to the Kingston Council -( 'ailed out to oi^pose Manahan — Address- 
 ing Violent Mobs— Sketch of the Time. 50 
 
 CHAPTER IV, 
 
 From the Hustings to the House— Macdonald's Early Toryism -The Character 
 of his Opponent— Blood and Whiskey flow at tlie Election— The Fountain 
 of Honour a tainted Well, the Mirror of Justice a Mirage — Mr. Macdonald's 
 First Appearance in the liegislature —Historical Sketch of the Time. - 02 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Draughts from Tory Fountains— Macdonald's First Si)eech in the House, and 
 its EflFeot— Persona. Sketches— His Appearance and Address— Supports 
 the Law of Primogeniture —But for this Law Pitt and Fox would have 
 been "mere countiy squires"— Apparent inconsistencies— Explanation — 
 "A man is not born wise"— Zig-zag early careers of Disraeli and Gladbtone 
 — Metcalfe's Conscience begins to sting him— Cancer drags him to the 
 Grave — Macaulay's Epitaph— Franklin sails away to his Doom in the 
 North. 
 
 72 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 / PAOB 
 
 The liights of '44 -William Henry Draper— Kobert Baklwln —Louis Hypolite 
 liftfontaine— Sir Allan MacNab— Dominick Daly— Robert IJaklwin Sulli- 
 Tan— Mon. D. B. Viger— John Samlfield Macdonaltl. - • » ^ 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Last Days of Toryisir.-The Tractarian Movement at Oxford — Keble and 
 Newman— The llepeal Movement in Ireland— The Great O'Connell — RiHe 
 and (Collapse of his Movement— The Giant O'Connell totters and falls— 
 The Irish Famine — Immif^ration to Canada — The Oregon-boundary Dis- 
 pute— Macdonald's Star Climbing— He "can afford to wait" — Toryism's 
 Last Api)eal — Lord Pjlgin — Macdonald enters the Cabinet. ... <»<» 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Ruling in Storm— Sketch of Rebellion Losses Measure— L. provokes a Tory 
 Howl— The Storm Bursts — Mob rises and burns Parliament Buildings — 
 Divers Figures seen through the Storm — Sketch of the Troubles — Jf)hn A. 
 Macdonald seen through the Tumult—" The British North American 
 lieague" — " Children of the Sun" — Parliament removeil from Montreal. - 114 
 
 CHAPTER IX. , 
 
 Fall of the "Great Ministry" — Causes producing the Catastrophe -Mac- 
 donald seen through the Situation— The Pope Gerrymanders England — 
 Canadian Echo of British Rage — George Brown attemjits to overthrow the 
 Papacy — He Fails — Brown and Gavazzi and the Gluhe—WiWmm Ijyon 
 Mackenzie— Sketch of — Defeats George Brown— Figure of John A. Mac- 
 donald at these Sessions— The Ministry Tumbles — " The Weed had slain 
 Balder" — The Hincks-Morin Ministry. 135 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Proposal for Secularizing the Clergy Reserves -History of Reserves— History 
 of Feudal Tenure in Lower Canada— Agitation for Abolition of Tenure — 
 Francis Hincks -Augustin Norbert Morin— John Macdonald become-* c<.n- 
 troversial— Character of George Brown's first Speech in Legislature - 
 General Sketch of the Period, l.W 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Birth of Jjiberal-Conservatism— England declares War against Russia— Con- 
 clusion of Reciprocity Treaty — Hincks-Morin Ministry becomes Honey- 
 combed—Mr. John A. Macdonald's Part in the Strife- " Steeped to the 
 very lips in Infamy"— The " Bond of Common Plunder"— John Sandfield 
 Macdonald's Revenge on Mr. Hincks— George Brown coquets with Con- 
 servatives—He is ignored and flies into violent hostility— MacNab-Morin 
 Ministry — Mr. John A. Macdonald becomes Attomey-General-West— 
 Exit Lord Elgin — Dies in the Himalayas. 161 
 
CONTENTS. si 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PAOB 
 
 Sir E<lmuncl W. Head— Taclu' succeeds Morin -Denominational Sch )ols— Paw- 
 sage between George Itrown and Hon, John A. Macdonald— Tilt between 
 Mr. John A. Macdonald and Col. Rankin—The Conservatives dr p Sir 
 Allan MacNab— Hon. John A. Macdonald succeeds the Knight— Close of 
 the Crimean War— General Historic Record of the Time. ... IS.'i 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. . 
 
 The Double Shuffle —Brown's " Vaulting Ambition overleaps itself, and falls 
 on t'other side" — Mr. John A. Macdonald's part through the transaction — 
 Discretion matched against Impetuosity going Blindfold— Protection to 
 Home Industries —Death of Robert Baldwin— General Events. - - 202 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Transition— ITie Dark Hour preceding the Dawn— Causes at work producing 
 desire for CJonfederation- Embroilment of Upper with Lower Canada 
 anent Rei)resentation by Population— Bitter Party Strife, and the chief 
 Actors — Mr. John A. Macdonald seen through the Tumult —Instability of 
 Ministers — " The Fatal Balance of Parties" — Condition of Things in Nova 
 Scotia and New Brunswick— Secession of Southern States —General His- 
 toric Outline— Domestic Incidents. 224 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Fruits of the American Civil War — Seizure of the Southern Commissioners — 
 Southern Refugees raid American Territory from Canadian Frontier- 
 Privateering— Cruise of the Alahnnin and her Confreres— Public feeling in 
 Canad.*— The Fenian Raid— General Historic Incidents— Domestic Events 257 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Coalition— Oil and Water Unite— Canadian Delegates at the Charlotte- 
 town Conference —The Quebec Scheme— Canadian Delegates in England- 
 History of the Confederation Movement from Deadlock to Union- Hon. 
 .Tohn A. Macdonald's Part through the M ivemant— Domestic an! Foreign 
 Events. 277 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Prominent Members of the First Dominion Cabinet— (Jeorge E. Cartier— A. 
 T. Gait— H. L. Langevin— S. L. Tilley— Peter Mitchell— W. P. Howland 
 — Alexander Campbell. 321 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 The New Regime— Two Reformers Read out of the Ranks— M. Cauchon's 
 " Rank" offence— Sketches of Thomas D'Arcy McGee ; his assassination. 338> 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The Red River Rebellion- Causes of the Outbreak— Col. Dennis and the Sur- 
 veyors— Hon. Wm. McDougall on the Scene- -The Brutal Murder of Scott 
 
xu CONTENTS. 
 
 i-Aoa 
 — The Uishop doakinif the Murderer — Governor Aruhilwld'o Foul * 'oni- 
 
 jiuct. - 3')3 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 WiUuh'iiwal of British Soldiers — The Wrestle between Tupper and Howe - 
 Sketch of Tupiwr— The Reciprocity Treaty— Sir Jolin among the Cotnmis- 
 iniHsioners ; his Defence- J. H. Cameron's Defence of Sir Tohn — Tlie New 
 IJruuHwick School Hill ; and John ( 'ostigan- -Sketch of Lord Dufferiu — A 
 Bomb flung on the Floor of the Houwe of Commons. 3(55 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 The Pacific Railway— Companies formed for Construction of the Road -Sir 
 HuKh Allan and the Government— The General l^lections— Tlie Scandw. ; 
 hist'iry of Kanie — Sir John and the Country throu^di the Storm. - - iMj6 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Sir John Resigns— The Mackenzie Goveriunent-Glance at the new Premier as 
 a Leader — A Murderer in Town — British (Columbia in Ferment Mr. Mac- 
 kenzie's Stru,:,'gle for Dominion Rights —Stagnation in Trade— Proposal of 
 a National Policy -The Political Tornado ; Mackenzie swept from Power ; 
 Sir John Reinstated: the Pacific Scandal Condoned —The New Tariff - 
 Governor Letellier— Recent Developments in New Brunswick — The Pacific 
 Railway Syndicate Sir John again Victorious— Sketch of Hon. A. W. 
 McLelan ; Hon. John Costigan ; Chief Justice Sir W. J. Ritchie ; Hon. 
 Edward Blake. 407 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Thought and Literature of Canada— The Future of Quebec ; Future of the Do- 
 minion— Frencli Canadian Litterateurs— The English-Canadian Writers- 
 Canadian ''Prose and Sung — Sketch of Work of Leading Writers- 
 Canadian Independence. 435 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Summing up of Sir John's Work— The Premier seen on the Hustings : in the 
 House of Commons ; in the Domestic Circle ; his Influence upon Public 
 Life— Lady Macdonald in the Social Sphere — A Retrospect. - - - 499 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 CHIEF SPEECHES DELIVERED BY SIR JOHN SINCE HIS ENTHV INTO PUBLIC LIFE. 511 
 EXl'lACTS FROM LORD DURHAM'S REPORT. i. . 621 
 
LIFE AKD TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE. 
 
 IN the summer of 1820, a vessel neared the coast of Canada, 
 and among the many anxious eyes that saw for the first 
 time the blue, hazy hills of the new land wherein they were to 
 try their fortunes, was a small family group, one of which was 
 a bright-eyed little boy of five years old, with a merry face and 
 a wealth of dark curly hair. That were a prophet with a keen 
 insight, indeed, into the great, dark future who could foretell 
 that the child who clung to his mother's arm and looked glee- 
 fully towards the sho'e was one day to rise to a place of 
 the highest distinction in this strange land and become the 
 most conspicuous figure in her history. At this time the 
 mother country was full of wondrous stories concerning 
 Canada ; how men going thither without a shilling in 
 their pockets gi'ew rich in half a dozen years ; that land 
 pregnant with all the luxurious things of the earth was 
 to be had for the taking, and that much of what was needed 
 sprang spontaneously out of the soil. If the winter's frosts 
 
18 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 nnd snows were mentioned it was but to j,five ar added beauty 
 to the picture; for the listener saw wide blue-glintin<,' lakes 
 and frozen windini^ streams over which tlie skater skiiinned \ 
 and adown the snow-clad slo{)es came gleeful parties with 
 ringing laughter and merry songs, upon their sleds. Above 
 all, there blew over this fresh, fair land the breezo of 
 liberty ; here every man was eciual, and the position of the 
 father was not a ladder by which his son rose to place above 
 worthier men. It was no wonder, then, that the old land 
 where the tyrant Custom had so long oppressed and galled 
 the people, opened her loins and sent out the flow which so 
 rapidly converted our vast wildernesses into thriving agricul- 
 tural districts. 
 
 Among others came Mr. Hugh Macdonald, who could trace 
 his clan backward through nearly six centuries, till the great 
 figure of Donald, in the thirteenth century, looms up as Lord of 
 South Kintyre and the Island of Islay. He, the old annals 
 tell, had been a powerful chief, and was not sparing of his clay- 
 more when he met the foe. But as years began to tame hi.s 
 fire, he repented of his ways and set out for Rome, where, 
 footsore and weary, he besought absolution of the Pope for his 
 transgressions. He returned from Rome a subdued man, and 
 gave much of his wide lands to Holy (Jhurch. He had a 
 son, named Angus, more fierce and strong in the fight than 
 himself, and this son rallied his clan about him, when the Nor- 
 wegians came, to lend assistance to the strangers against the 
 Scottish king. Angus left two sons, one of whom was Alex- 
 ander, a name we trace down through some of the most 
 noted members of the clan, and find borne to-day by the 
 subject of this biography. Alexander was not less bold in war 
 or aggressive in politics than his ancestors, and, as will be re- 
 membered, joined his forces with those of Lord Lorn against 
 Robert Bruce. But the Bruce proved stronger than the united 
 chiefs, and Macdonald was cast into Dundonald Castle, where 
 he died. Angus, the son of Alexander, was the greatest of the 
 
PA It ENTAOE A ND EA HL Y LIFE. 19 
 
 clan of which Scottisli .'.tory, up to thi' time, tells us ; 
 ho had all the military aiiloui- of hi> an"estoi>; w'^h more tact 
 and foresight. Ho was lot less respected than feared by 
 Bruce — am wo can fancy the calihro of nhe man whom 
 Bruco would respect and fear — who gave to liim the 
 lands of Glencoe ; (fated between three and four centuries 
 afterwards, to bo the shambles of so many of his gallant clan) 
 the islands of Mull, Tyree, and many others. The wisdom 
 of these grants to a chief already too powerful, and who 
 bojusted through the legend in his arms a power unlimited 
 " "per mare, per terras^ might have well been doubted. 
 Later on, we find this haughty chief meddling in the affairs 
 of the king, showing "just the edge of his steel" to the 
 sovereign; and then forming an alliance with the house of 
 Stewart, by marrying a daughter of Robert, who became 
 Scotland's next king. The history of this haughty isl.and 
 king and his successors forms exciting reading, and we pause 
 in wonder at the mighty clansmen grappling witli the full 
 strength of the kingdom. Through all the turmoil of the story 
 we see ambition striving at nothing short of a displacement of 
 the sovereign power upon the main land, sometimes working 
 its way through intrigue with the foreign foe, and again send- 
 ing in fierce warriors, clad in tartans, and wielding thirsty 
 claymores, to grapple with the royal enemy in his own strong- 
 holds. 
 
 The student of Highland story has read of the treachery of 
 James the First towards the clan. Despairing of subduing the 
 untamable chiefs, the King sent out a message of peace, with 
 words of good-will, to Alexander the island prince, and asked 
 him to come, as a brother, with his most prominent followers 
 and kinsmen, to Inverness, where he with his nobles would 
 hold a parliament. Earl Macdonald came, and with him his 
 mother, the Countess of Ross, Alexander MacGodfrey, of Gar- 
 moran, and others. The great chief soon found that the King 
 wanted him not for parley ; for the royal soldiers seized him- 
 
20 LIFK OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 self and his inothor, both of wlioin were cast into n dungeon; 
 and put MacCiodfrcy to deatli. This chieftain lias a descend- 
 ant and namesake whom wo know of who wouKl not liave 
 walked open-eyed into the trap of tlie Scottisli King ! Alex- 
 ander, how(!Vcr, was released upon promise of submission, but 
 he had no sooner reached his sea-girt fastness tlian ho buckled 
 on his " wailike gear." He was overwhelmed, and compelled to 
 beseech the royal clemency. It is told that he went to Edinburgh; 
 and on the occasion of a solemn festival celebrated in the Chapel 
 of Holy rood, on Easter Sunday, 142!), that the unfortunate chief, 
 whose ancestors had treated with the Crown on the footing of 
 independent princes, appeared before the assembled Court in 
 his shirt and drawers, and implored on his knees, with a naked 
 sword held by the point in his hand, the forgiveness of the 
 monarch. The King was partly mollified, and sent Macdonald 
 to Tantallon Castle, but later set him free, and conferred upon 
 him all his old dominions. The direct line of the Lords of 
 the Tsles ended with Donald Macdonald, grandson of John 
 Macdonald. This was a powerful chief, and he rallied four 
 thousand men, and a hundred and eighty galleys, in his 
 island dominions. After his death the unity of the family 
 became broken, and its patrimony divided among several sub- 
 families of the original stock. In later generations the Mae- 
 donalds of Garragach and Keppoch became the Clanranald 
 clan, and spelt their name Macdonnell, while the Glengarry 
 Macdonald adopted a similar spelling, taking a new arms, with 
 the motto of the Lord of the Isles — Per mare, per terras. 
 The acknowledged representative of the original Macdonald 
 clan is now the Macdonald of Sieat, though many deny his 
 right to the title, and him Mr. Hugh Macdonald, who came of 
 the same stock, recognised as his chief, as does his son. 
 Sir John Alexander Macdonald, the subject of this book. 
 The legend in the crest of Mr. Hugh Macdonald, as in that 
 of his son, differs not from that of the family progenitor. 
 
I'A /.' h:N TA <; h: a xd fa n i. v lifk. • t| 
 
 the L(»i(l of the Islos, which proudly tells of rlominion throii<,'li 
 land anil sea. . 
 
 Mr. Hugh Maedotmld was horn in tlio parish of Doriioch, 
 Siitherlnndsliire, I mt early in life moved to CJlasgow. He mar- 
 ried Helen Shaw, of Hadenoch, Invtirness-shiro.hy whom he had 
 five children, of which three were hoys, William, John 
 Alexander and Jamos ; anc' two girls, Margaret and Louisa. 
 The birtliplaco of Canada's future statesman, as of the other 
 members of the family, was George Street, Glasgow. William, 
 the oldest of tlie children, diiul in Glasgow ; Janies, tlio younger 
 of the boys, died while a lad in Canada ; Margaret, who married 
 professor Jrunes W^illiamson, of (.Queen's University, Kingston, 
 has been dead for some years ; and Louisa, wlio never married, is 
 still li V ing at Kingston. When the emigration movement began, 
 Mr. Hugli Macdonald and his family, Jolm Alexander being 
 then in his fifth year, took passage for the inviting land of 
 Canada. The early immigrants settled, whenever possible, 
 convenient to the lakes or great rivers, for here the inhabitants 
 clustered together ; little schools sprang up and rude highways 
 connected one village with the other. Mr. Macdonald settled in 
 Kingston, then the most important town in Upper Canada, near 
 the historic fort of De Courcelles and Count Frontenac in suc- 
 cession, and next to Halifax and Quebec, the strongest fortress 
 in British North America. This city ottered many inducements, 
 in the form of excellent schools and churches, besides social ad- 
 vantages not existing in other parts of Upper Canada. After 
 residing here for upwards of four years, the family moved to 
 Quintd Bay, leaving John Alexander, then in his tenth year, 
 at school in Kingston. The lad was placed at the Royal 
 Grammar Schooi, under the tuition of Dr. Wilson, a fellow of 
 Oxford University, and subsequently under that of Mr. George 
 Baxter. 
 
 The most important settlement upon the Bay at this time 
 was Adolphustown, and here Mr. Macdonald took up his 
 abode, leasing a saw, grist and fulling mill at the Lake 
 
tt LIFE OF SJIi JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 of th«» Mountain, aliout a milo tlistant. A<l()l|)hu.st(»wn, 
 tliout^'li only a (jiiit^t villa'^'i now, wlicro the touri.st lovo« 
 to ling r in tin; .sinninor clays, is historic ground, and in the 
 early history of tho province was a centre of much business 
 activity. Here it was that forty yiiai-s before the Hagornians, 
 the Ruttans, and Mncloan-, hcad'sd l)y Capt. Van Alstine in a 
 fleet of sevtsn boats, guarded by the brig //o/w cairying 
 thirty guns, settled after their flight from the New England 
 Colonies. From this township, though only three and a half 
 miles sJiuaro, have gone to the legislatures of (Canada no fewer 
 than eleven representatives, every one a Loyalist. 'J'he history 
 of the early settlers' struggles in the backwoods would be 
 long to tell, and reveal some strange inctmgruities. Not 
 the least of these would bo the recollection of Captain Van 
 Alstine, Dr. ])ougall, and the Macleans in their tight knee- 
 breeches and silver buckles "piling fallow," or dragging home 
 firewood to the shanties. Women reared in the midst of 
 elegance and luxury were soon reduced to the straits of wearing 
 the skins of wild animals for clothing ; and she were a happy 
 maid who could procure a calico dress for her bridal day. 
 Money even among the gentlemen living there was a commodity 
 scarcely ever seen, and many a shabby toiler turned away sor- 
 rowing from the bateau with its load of goods, because he could 
 not buy a shirt or a pair of breeches ; and i.iany a mother 
 sighed as she saw, and could not purchase, a p'ece'of muslin that 
 would make a dress for baby. All these honest hearts have 
 long since ceased to beat ; and he who travels around the lovely 
 shores of Quints Bay in summer sees here and there a group 
 of grassy mounds shaded by cypress trees or the weeping 
 willow, where many of them lie buried. Among the Dutch 
 refugees the custom prevailed of selecting a family burial plot 
 upon the farm, and frequently the spot chosen was that where- 
 on the weary wanderers first rested upon their arrival, or put 
 up their tents. 
 
1 AH KNTAGK AND EARLY LIFE. M 
 
 One of the lovoluiHt HitjiatioriH on tlio l»ay was ho La'ce 
 of t) u Mountain. From tlio snnnnit you hco, ftm' at)j)arcntly 
 «() near that yon niiglih tosH a stone into it, th ■ deai bhio wa- 
 torH of tho inlot. About a milo distant are the rich low-lyin<^ 
 lantis of Adolphustovvn, witl trinj cottaj^'es and waving' fujlds, 
 and to tho right ovt" Ernosttown tho Upper Oap, where tho 
 still waters of tho bay coinniingle with tho boisterous waves 
 of Lake Ontario. It was n these lovely wilds that tlie 
 future Canadian statesman was often seen with a mnnbor 
 of other Uids, during his holidays, a Hshing-rod in his hand, at 
 one of the many streams that flowed into Quintd Bjiy, Imt 
 rnany of which, stripped of uhe forest tliat then clothed their 
 banks, have since run dry. We should have wondered less had 
 the music of the rushing streams, and the inspiration which 
 tho lad miglit have cauglit when the sunnner wind blow in 
 from tho picturesque bay, produced a poet instead of a states- 
 man. 
 
 Tho lot of tho immigrant, even about the time of Mr. Mac- 
 donald's arrival in Canada, as Mrs. Moodio relates in her 
 delightful book, " Roughing it "n the Bush," was by no means 
 80 charming as the trans-atlan;jc pictures showed, with their 
 skaters and sleds in winter, ant nought but plenty and wild 
 flowers in summer; but above all, the hardships were most 
 keen to those who had been bred in easier ways, and who in 
 coming to the wilds of Canada found themselves obliged to 
 adopt rude and hard measures for an existence. Writing of the 
 immigration flow, Mrs. Moodio, who was of gentle birth her- 
 self, and had a highly cultivatf d and observant mind, 
 remarks: "A large number of the immigrants'were officers of the 
 army and navy, with their families — a class perfeetly unfitted 
 by their previous habits and standing in society for contending 
 with the stern realities of emigrant life in the backwoods. A 
 class formed mainly from the younger scions of great families, 
 naturally proud, and not only accustomed to command but to 
 receive implicit obedience from the people under them, are not 
 
34 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 men adapted to tlie hard toil of the woodman's life." The Mac- 
 donald family were among this. better emigrant class, and had to 
 contend with their full share of the privations that fall to the lot 
 of theimmigrant. Like most others,Mr. Hugh Macdonald wasnot 
 enamoured of the new country or its occupations. But having 
 come to make his dwelling in it, he resolved to do the best he 
 could. He was shrewd and intelligent, but lacked much 
 experience in his new employment. It is not strange that his 
 success was doubtful almost from the first, and that eventually 
 he gave the business up, by no means a gainer. From Quintd 
 Bay, in 1830, with his family, he moved to Kingston. Here 
 he leased the Kingston mills, situated a few miles outside of 
 the city, and these he operated for a number of years, simul- 
 taneously carrying on business on Princess street. 
 
 Those who remember young Macdonald in his school-days 
 describe him as having " a very intelligent and pleasing face, 
 strange, fuzzy-] ooking hair, that curled in a dark mass, and a strik- 
 ing nose." From a very early age it seems that his father intend- 
 ed him for the legal profession, remarking to a friend that the 
 province was jet only in its infancy, was rapidly growing, and 
 would soon need a horde of professional men. In preparation 
 for his entry upon legal studies it was that he was sent to the 
 grammar school. In school he displayed a marked talent for 
 mathematics, as did one of the most appalling nhcrr ^ters in 
 history fifty years before at the Military Colle["' of Biieane. 
 For classics he showed no special talent, tho igh in thin study 
 he was up to the average in his class always Theve may have 
 been much omen in his marked talent for Euclid. "The uni- 
 verse," says a great thinker, " is run by reason and mathe- 
 matics;" R.ad Napoleon's generals did not fail to remark, after 
 some of the battles had been won that startled the world, "He 
 hasn't all these mathematics in his head f r nothing." " When 
 visitors came to the school, Mr, Baxter, in showing his classes 
 off to the best advantage, nearly always," says an old gentleman 
 who was a schoolboy then in Kingston, "called on Macdonald 
 
PARENT A GE AND EARLY LIFE. 9fr 
 
 to go to the blackboard and demonstrate the propositions." In 
 those days copybook exercises formed a Nvg^r portion of the 
 school work than they do now. Mr. Baxter frequently ex- 
 hibited the clean kept books of young Macdonald to some 
 careless student for emulation, and as often selected specimens 
 of the neat peiimanship of the boy to put to shame some of the 
 slovenly writers in the class. 
 
 After he had entered his sixt(^enth year, his fither took him 
 away from school and articled him iu the office of Mr. 
 George Mackenzie, where lie ajiplied himself diligently to a 
 study of the law. Mr, Macdoiiaid was of the opinion that the lad 
 might as profitably begin upon his studies at once after leaving 
 ■i<? school as go to college. At the present day a young man 
 who itS not taken a degree at a college or university is con- 
 siderec indifferently qualified for a study of the law. There is 
 a good deal of force in the contention, but not so much as is 
 generally supposed. A degree, it is true, is a very worthy 
 badge, but is not unfrequently a sort of false light — a kind 
 of guinea-stamp put upon a worthless coin. Some writers 
 who know little about Mr. Macdonald's early career, de- 
 scribe hi& breaking off from school in his sixteenth year as 
 fatal to thoroughness. But what Macdonald did really do, 
 admits of a different deduction. He spent six years studying 
 law, instead of three years in college reading Grecian fables in 
 a dead tongue, and puzzling his poor young brain over the in- 
 tegral calculus, and three years at the law. It is hard to under- 
 stand how a wail of Jocasta or a cooing scene between Calypso 
 and Ulyspes could have been a better training or more useful 
 knowledge for the young lawyer than the very law itself, since 
 he already had a knowledge of classics and mastered six books 
 of Euchd. At his studies Macdonald was an exemplary lad . 
 More than once did Mr. Mackenzie speak of " that young 
 Macdonald" as "the most diligent student" he had ever see". 
 
 Before he was quite twenty-one he came up for admission to 
 the bar, and he afterwards used to tell jocularly how he per- 
 
26 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 suaded his father that he was of full age, though he was really 
 some months short of it. He opened an office at Kingston, and at 
 once began to practise his profession. An old resident of the town, 
 who had been a school-mate of his, thus describes the young 
 barrister at this period : " He was an exemplary young 
 man and had the good wishes and respect of everybody. He 
 remained closely at his business ; never went about spreeing or 
 losing his time with the young men of his own age and stand- 
 ing ; did not drive fast horses, but was always to be found at 
 his office, courteous, obliging and prompt." Through his own 
 natural ability and the influence of friends he secured in a short 
 time all the business to which he could give attention. Besides 
 obtaining some of the most important local cases, he becf»,me 
 solicitor for the Commercial Bank, founded by Mr. John S. 
 Cartwright, and also for the Trust and Loan Company ; and on 
 the death of Mr. George Mackenzie, received most of the busi- 
 ness of that old practitioner. 
 
 When he began to practise law there were heard the first 
 mutterings of the storm soon to break over the country: and 
 the year following numbers of disaffected persons in Lower 
 Canada under Papineau, and in Upper Canada ^- ^der William 
 Lyon Mackenzie, rushed blindly to arms. Every county in 
 Canada had its radicals to take up muskets or pitchforks 
 against their political oppressors ; every county, too, had its 
 loyal men so full of zeal for the welfare of the Crown that they 
 would, and often did, sit in grave and awful state hearing evi- 
 dence against men arraigned for saying that Papineau was 
 ^' handsome," o» that Mackenzie was " sturdy." One day, Mr. 
 Augustus Thibodo,now one of the oldest residents of Kingston, 
 was out in the field with his servant-man ploughing. As they 
 stopped at the end of the furrow, Mr. Thibodo said to the man : 
 " Go fetch me that rifle ;' and when the man had brought it 
 from where it stood by the fence, he remarked, " I wonder how 
 far it would kill a man ? " Later in the day he observed inci- 
 dentally, " Papineau is a fine fellow ; I believe he will soon 
 
PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE. 27 
 
 be up here." Through the serving man tlie words reached 
 the ear of Mr. Smith, a zealous magistrate, the next day ; 
 time and circumstances were abolished ; the two observa- 
 tions were put together, and Thibodo was arrested and 
 thrown into prison. There was many a ca.se like this in 
 those days, and John A. Macdonald, though a tory, always felt 
 and expressed deep sympathy for the men who incurred penal- 
 ties by their resistance to oppression ; and many a one who 
 was a marked man in the eyes of loyal zealots came to his 
 office for advice, and received it readily and without pay. 
 " What would you advise me to do ? " said Augustus Thibodo, 
 who was beset by Government spies one day and had received 
 advice which was not satisfactory from several other quarters. 
 " I am held in heavy bonds for appearance and good behaviour, 
 but I cannot escape calumny ? " " It is very hard ; these 
 times are trying, and from my heart I pity you and such 
 as you," said Macdonald, " but my advice is, get away 
 from the city as quickly as you can, and never mind the 
 bondsmen. You are not safe here. When the Habeas Cor- 
 pus is restored come back. That can't be long ; for affairs 
 are now intolerable." v 
 
 He had yet won no important laurel in his profession, but 
 his opportunity was fast approaching. During the autumn of 
 1838 along the American frontier adjacent to Canadian towns, 
 hung an ominous war-cloud. The autumn previous the militia 
 had scattered the gathering on Montgomery's farm under Wil- 
 liam Lyon Mackenzie, and the ill-starred leader and a portion 
 of his broken host had fled for safety into the republic. From 
 these refugees, and their .sympathizers in the republic, sprung 
 up the dark associations all along the border which bore the 
 name of Hunters' Lodges. The secrets of this mysterious 
 gathering no outsider could accurately gather, but the lead- 
 ing motive, an invasion of Canada, was surn\ised by everybody. 
 In the early part of November, 1838, large numbers of the 
 Hunters began to congregate at Ogdensburg, and anxious eyes 
 
28 LIFE OF SIR JOUN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 were turned thither for many days from the Canadian shore. 
 On the 11th of the month a noted Hunter, named S. Von 
 Shoultz, a Pole by birth, put liimself at the head of upwards 
 of two hundred men and crossed over to Prescott. Here he 
 hinded his force, taking position at Windmill Point, beyond 
 the range of Fort Wellington's guns and behind the mill, a 
 building with strong stone walls. Here ' e expected to be 
 joined by large numbers of Canadians and reinforcements from 
 the Lodges. But as the days went by and no reinforcements 
 came, the heart of the Pole began to sink, and he saw that he 
 had fallen into a snare. Retreat he found when too late was 
 impossible, for armed steamers patrolled the outlet from his 
 position ready to sink his boats ; and now nothing remained 
 for him but to bide the bitter issue with his little force. On 
 the thirteenth the enemy under Col. Young, about five hundred 
 in number, came against him and opened a brisk fire of mus- 
 ketry. As the stag fights at bay, with a heroism such as de- 
 spair alone begets, so fought the Pole and his followers under 
 the hail of bullets which sang among them. Two of their 
 officers and eleven men had fallen, a large number were wound- 
 ed and thirty-two taken prisoners. Then the doomed band 
 went further into the death toils, entrenching themselves inside 
 the heavy stone walis of the mill. Here they were safe from 
 musket balls, and here they remained three days longer till the 
 enemy brought artillery from Kingston and began to batter 
 down the sides of the building. Then the luckless host, to the 
 number of about a hundred, surrendered and were taken off" to 
 Kingston by the enraged soldiers. Fifty of the Hunters, it is 
 estimated, were killed, but this is not certain, as a great many 
 of the dead were burned in the building. The Canadians in 
 the two engagements lost two officers and seven men and had 
 a large number wounded. 
 
 Courts -martial were now established at London and Kings- 
 ton, and at the latter city Von Shoultz and his accomplices 
 were tried ^or their crime. For counsel the unfortunate leader 
 
PA II EN T A GK AND EARL Y LIFE. 29 
 
 had the brilliant young banister, Mr. John A. Macdouald. 
 This was a time of intense ( xcitement, and crowds thronged 
 to see the prisoners and he^ir the trials. Every one was 
 struck with the masterly character of young Macdonald's de- 
 fence, and though they knew it lay not in the power of human 
 tongue or brain to save the prisoner, they admired the skill 
 with which he led up his arguments, the tact with which he 
 appealed to the inexorable judges, and above all the soul-felt 
 interest he seemed to have in his client. But as effectually 
 might the wandering winds make appeal to some stern hill, as 
 the young lawyer sue these grim judges for mercy to the dar- 
 ing stranger. There is no doubt Mr. Macdonald felt a deep 
 personal, as well as professional, interest in his client. He 
 had been closeted with the unfortunate man, and learnt his 
 story. Only eight years before the prisoner's own beloved 
 Poland had made a last desperate effort to burst her fetters ; 
 only six years before she — one of the noblest nations on the 
 face of the earth — had been blotted from the map, and fallen 
 into the grasp of the tyrant. At the time the Hunters 
 were planning the invasion of Canada, Shoultz was told 
 that the people here chafed under a yoke more galling than 
 ever Poland wore ; that they only wanted to see among them 
 the glint of friendly steel, when they would arise and over- 
 throw their oppressors. It needed no further fuel to fire 
 the misguided Shoultz with the devoutest zeal. Here was a 
 cause similar to his own Poland's ; and then he remembered 
 that when the American colonies were rising against a like op- 
 pression his illustrious countryman Kosciusko had come over 
 and thrown his fortunes in with the cause of liberty. 
 
 But no power in man's persuasion, as we have seen, could 
 save Shoultz. He was foredoomed to die, and, with nine 
 others, was executed at Fort Henry, Kingston, on Saturday 
 morning, Decembar 8, 1838.* The following letter, written by 
 
 * Mr. Dent and other writers Btate incorrectly that the executions took x^lace 
 late in the year of 1839. 
 
M LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. 2JACD0NALD. 
 
 Shoultz to his friend Warren Green, of Salina, New York, the 
 (lay before his death, shows how he had been duped by Mr. 
 Mackenzie and the others who led him into the enterprise. It 
 shows, too, that he is by no means the ruffian and brigand 
 which our historians flippantly describe him: "When you 
 get this letter I am no more. I have been informed that my 
 execution will take place to-morrow. May God forgive tliose 
 who brought me to this untimely death. I have made up my 
 mind and I forgive them. * * » * I wrote to you in my 
 former letter about my body. If the British Government per- 
 mit it, I wish that it may be delivered to you to be buried on 
 your farm. * * ♦ * My last wish to the Americans is 
 that they may not think of avenging my death. Let no fur- 
 ther blood be shed ! And believe me, from what I have seen, 
 the stories told about the sufferings of the Canadian people 
 were untrue. * * * ♦ i further beg of you to take care 
 of W. Johnson, that he may find an honourable bread. Fare- 
 well, my dear friend ; God bless and protect you ! " 
 
 Neither does he seem to have been a mere " adventurer," 
 for in another letter, published after his execution, it was 
 found that he had left £400 to the widows of the Canadian 
 militiamen killed in the raid. 
 
 But though Shoultz died, young Macdonald at a bound 
 placed himself in one of the highest places as a forensic orator. 
 Then it was that careful listeners saw the first evidence of 
 his wonderful grasp of constitutional questions. When the 
 trial was ended he received warm congratulations from the 
 eloquent Mr. Forsythe and all the members of the local bar, 
 as well as from a host of friends. And in an editorial note 
 appended to an account of the trial, the editor of a Montreal 
 journal said that the defender of the unfortunate general would 
 soon be recognized as one of the first men in the country. 
 
 Shortly after the execution of the invaders, a young man 
 well known in Canada now, Alexander Campbell, then in his 
 eighteeenth year, entered upon the study of law with Mr. John 
 
PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE. 81 
 
 A. Macdonakl, who had opened, in the words of an old resident 
 of Kinj^ston, "one of the most wide-awake and business-like law 
 offices then to be found in Canada." In later years there 
 came to the same office one day a chubby little lad witii large 
 prominent eyes and a methodical walk and manner of speaking 
 stating that he wanted to stud}'^ law. His father had been 
 at one time a soldier, had come from Caithness, and was 
 now engaged in business in Kingston, The firm took the 
 lad; he is to-day the premier of Ontario. There was a 
 home in England which produced so many poets that it 
 was called "the nest of nightingales." With much rea- 
 son might this law office of J. A. Macdonakl be called the 
 nest of statesmen. It is told that there used to be a good deal 
 of chaffing in the office about the handwriting of members of 
 the firm and the students. Macdonald, during his school- 
 days, wrote a hand of striking beauty and form — and to-day 
 he boasts of being the best writer in his cabinet. Mowat 
 wrote " a tidy, conscientious little fist," and in after years Mac- 
 donald would say jocularly that the one strong point he ad 
 mired about Mowat was his handwriting. 
 
 In the midst of the law duties, one day it was told in the 
 office that the seat of government would soon be moved to 
 Kingston. John A. Macdonald took the pen from behind his 
 ear, wheeled his chair around, and in deep thought looked out 
 of the window. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 POLITICAL UPHEAVALS. ^ 
 
 PERHAPS it were well to pause hero and take a back- 
 ward glance at the causes which brought about the 
 troublous times referred to in the foregoing chapter. Half a 
 century before the British Parliament divided the Province of 
 Canada into Canada Upper and Lower, each division corres- 
 ponding with what is to-day Quebec and Ontario. By this 
 partition it was hoped that each pi'ovince would enjoy consti- 
 tutional peace and bound forward in the paths of progress. 
 Burke, indeed, who had been caught and flung back into the 
 most abject toryism by the influence of the French Revolution, 
 saw a golden peace in the future for the Canadas now, and re- 
 garded as guarantees for the abiding principle of the system 
 the restrictions upon popular liberty placed in the Constitution. 
 But many statesmen shook their heads, and Fox predicted that 
 these vaunted safeguards of peace and an abiding constitution 
 would prove the seeds of discord and disruption. And so it 
 proved ; though the evil laid in the marrow of the system did 
 not break out into an active soro for many years afterwards. 
 To each province was given a constitution supposed to reflect 
 the virtues and the liberties of the constitution of the mother 
 land. There was an elective chamber where the sturdy yeo- 
 man and simple habitant clad in their homespun came to legis- 
 late upon their allotted questions. There was an upper 
 chamber, supposed to be a reflex of the House of Lords, the 
 members of which were appointed by the Crown for life. To 
 these were given the prerogative of altering or rejecting bills 
 which came up from the k wer chamber. The councillors 
 
POLITICAL UrUE AVALS. 33 
 
 were men of high aocial standing including even prelates and 
 judges. Then camo the executive; a mimic privy council, 
 composed of men elected hy the viceroy to advise with him 
 on all matters of public administration. The members of this 
 body were drawn from the legislative council, or from the 
 house of assembly, were not obliged to have a seat in the 
 popular branch, and were responsible only to the head of the 
 government. The governor was a mimic king, and in those 
 days had all the ways of a sovereign. " I am accountable to 
 God only for my actions," said Charles the First, when presented 
 with the Petition of Right. " I am accountable to the King 
 only for my actions " said the little Canadian mock-sovereign, 
 when meekly reminded of what was due to the people. 
 
 These were not t!ie days of darkness, neither were they 
 the days of light ; rather both kings and commons lived 
 in a sort of twilight where the liberty of the present seemed 
 to merge in the oppression of the past. Since before the time 
 when the barons wrung from John at Runnymeade, the Charter 
 of their liberties, everyone had talked about the " right of the 
 subject " and the " prerogative of the Crown ;" but none seemed 
 to know where the one began or the other ended. Under the 
 reign of the Prince of Orange, men who remembered the tyr- 
 anny of the profligate Stuarts, thought they lived in the noon- 
 day of constitutional liberty. But it remained yet for George 
 the Third to set up a tyrant who did not rival the author of 
 *' Thorough," only because he lacked ability for anything but 
 profligate intrigues, and the additional and self-sufficient reason 
 that Englishmen having tasted of a liberty unknown in the 
 days of Charles, would not be driven again into abasement by 
 a cleverer tyrant than Straflford. Truly, for tyranny was the 
 spirit of those Georges, willing, but the flesh was weak. " I 
 will die rather than stoop to opposition," said George the Third ; 
 but opposition was better than revolution, and he stooped. Tor 
 years he retained ministers in defiance of the House of C '~'- 
 mons, resisted the entry of good men, of whom Fox was one, 
 
M LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 into tho ('abinet, and niaintainod a s^stoiii of wron^-headoJ 
 personal government that cost the country a hunched inilliouH 
 of pounds, thirteen provinces, and tlio lives of a thousand 
 subjects. 
 
 His son William tho Fourth, though called "Tlu; People's 
 Frieiv ," still dismissed or retained a minister " when he pleased, 
 and because he pleased ;" but with him, wo may well l>elievo, 
 disappeared from the royal closet forever the last vestige of 
 personal government. A flutter, it Is true, went througii tho 
 breasts of the jealous guardians of constitutional liberty not 
 many years ago when the coumions discussed the " Question de 
 jupons ; " when a minister of whom the nation had grown sick, 
 a man who dandled cushions and played with feathers while 
 momentous questions of tho state were hanging, resigrted tho 
 seals and two days later crept back again to power behind 
 the petticoats of the ladies-in-waiting. But if anything were 
 needed to give assurance of constitutional rule, it surely must 
 have appeared, when, with girlish frankness, the young Queen 
 told Peel, " I liked my old ministers very well, and am very 
 sorry to part with them ; but I bow to constitutional usage.'^ 
 It is not written in the constitution where the power of tho 
 sovereign shall begin or end in retaining or dismissing minis- 
 ters ; but he would be a bold ruler indeed who should ever 
 again attempt personal rule in England. Should such an 
 attempt be made, it were not nece^ary to fear for the people. 
 It would be only the worse for that sovereign. 
 
 But while the principles of liberty were growing broader 
 and deeper in England, the people of the colonies were chafing 
 under a yoke as intolerable as that felt in England at any time 
 during the reign of the Stuarts. In the provinces of Canada 
 the long heard cry of discontent had grown deeper and more 
 ominous towards the close of the reign of William the Fourth. 
 Wise men looked into the future then as they look ever, but 
 we wonder that they could not havo foreseen the consequences 
 
VOUTICAL UPHEAVALS, 35 
 
 of .such govonuncnt as was now imposed upon tlio oanadiau 
 pooplo. 
 
 Each province, as wo have seen, had its numic king, and 
 this creature generally rnle<l with the spirit of an autocrat. It 
 mattered little that the man was good when the system hy 
 which he governed was so very bad. There existed at this 
 time in every province a condiination which bore the hateful 
 name of " Family Compact." This comjjact was composed of 
 men who were lories by profession, and who came, by virtue 
 of the preference they had so long held above their fellow 
 colonists, to regard their right to public office as prescriptive. 
 They filled the legislative council, which l)ecanio the tool of 
 the Crown to thwart or strangle any objectionable measure 
 sent up from the chamljer of the people. They filled every 
 office of emolument from the Prime Minister to the sergeant- 
 at-arms ; from the chief justice down to the tip-staff. " Nor 
 did Israel 'scape the infection," for they were found in the 
 church which in turn furnished mitred heads to the council. 
 They looked upon the large bulk of the colonists as inferiors, 
 and viewed with alarm the movement in favour of what 
 was called Popular Rights. Every point gained by the people 
 they regarded as something lost to the Crown ; and when a 
 governor came to the colony they generously surrendered 
 themselves to his pleasure. If he were .some haughty autocrat, 
 who looked upon the colonists as the owner of a plantation in 
 Jamaica regarded his slaves, they seconded his opinions and 
 zealously assisted him to rule as he would. If he happened to 
 be a generous man, and was disposed to listen to the de- 
 mands of the people, they poured poison into his ear, and grad- 
 ually led him to regard the most worthy popular tribunes who 
 asked for reform as dangerous demagogues. It seemed to be 
 the fate of every man who in these days came out to govern us 
 to turn tory the moment he set foot upon our soil. The whigs, 
 w^ho in England set themselves up as the redeemers of our 
 liberty, outdid their opponents when they came to Canada. 
 
88 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD 
 
 When tlio tory canio hero he outdid liiiiiMolf. But tlio toryism 
 which ^Tomul down tlio people of this country for ho njany 
 dark years was not the toryisni that wa.s known in En;dand. 
 Had it Wen, the history of our own titne.s would have formed 
 a more turbident chapter. 
 
 From tills Family Compact the j,'overnor, whether whig or 
 tory, drew a circle of advisees which he called "The Executive;" 
 but he did not feel Idmself bound to Hcek the advice of its 
 members, unless for courtesy, or when beyond his depth. Ihit 
 whtro the council were of the same nii;ul as the governor, re- 
 straints were not nejdful ; and in the executive for many a 
 year the viceroy found a willing tool to aid him in governing 
 accordir"" *"> his conviction or caprice. In Quebec the wheels 
 of government rolled on with an incessant jar whicli threatened 
 a disruption. It was liard for the French to forget that they 
 were a conquered people, even under the most liberal foreign 
 rule ; but the intolerable oppressions of the dominant clique 
 brought or.t all the race prejudices, and, not unnaturally, gave 
 an alarming magnitude, sometimes, to the smallest grievance. 
 But thenj was enough of weighty grievance. The homo 
 government had fostered and kept uj) a British party, a little 
 clique which threw themselves in with the governor and ruled 
 in defiance of the vast majority. The upper cliamber was 
 filled with this clique, and they sat with eagle eyes watching 
 to destroy any measure opposed to their interests coming from 
 the lower chamber. It was a long and fierce wrestle, that, 
 between the two houses, but in every contest the habitant 
 went to the wall. From the ranks of this clique, too, was 
 filled the executive council, puppets of an autocrat governor, 
 and the demoralizers of a man of fair play. Again and again 
 would the house of assembly declare it had no confidence in 
 a minister ; but it was coolly recommended to mind its own 
 affairs, and not to meddle with those which were only the 
 governor's. For nearly half a century the French had worn 
 this galling yoke, and now determined to cast it off. Finding 
 
POLITICAL urn E AVALS. 37 
 
 how hollow a thing to thorn was rosponsiblo govemniont, in 
 18.S2 ihoy suddenly stopped tho supplies. Then came about 
 " the otHcnals' f:in»in(!," and for four yours judges walked tho 
 land in shabby erinino, while "every <lescription of official be- 
 gan to put his corporosity off'." This was a Imrsh kind of 
 revenge, but surely it was not unprovoked. A ptioplo goaded 
 for half a century cannot be much blamed if they, as a last 
 resort, .seize a weapon of resistance lawful and constitutional. 
 We know that son»o of those upon whom tho heavy hand f€ll 
 were not responsible ; but they wore tho servants of an atio- 
 cious system. While t)ij world camo to look full of ruin to 
 tho otHeial, Louis Joseph Papineau, a nuin of honourable char- 
 acter and much energy, ottered a series of ninety-two resolu- 
 tions to the legislature to y)resent to tho imperial parliament. 
 These resolutions contained a formulary of grievances against 
 the homo government and its agents in Lower Canada. Tho 
 counts sot forth, in bricif : " Arbitrary conduct on the part of tho 
 Government; intolerable compo.s'*'on of the legislative council 
 (which, the}' insisted, ought to be eleci >' ) , illegal appropriation 
 of tho public moneys, and violer.t proro;.:i: uoi. of the pro /incial 
 parliament." They pointed out, likewise, that tho French people 
 had been treated with contumely ; that they had boon shut out 
 from office by tho favoured Bi itish ; that their habits, customs 
 and interests wore disregarded, find they now demanded that 
 the doors of office and emolument be thrown open to all — or 
 they would rebel, the resolutions hinted between the lines. 
 
 The little British party, alarmed for their beloved flesh-poi^, 
 sent to the imperial parliament a set of counter resolutions. 
 The Commons pevusod both without much emotion, and sent 
 out Lord Gosford and two commissioners to clear up affairs in 
 the confused colony. Lord Gosford came out with a large stock 
 of that material with which it is said the road to a certain place 
 is paved ; but ho fell into (he hands of the compact, and chose 
 to walk according to tradition rather than to the impulses of 
 right. 
 
88 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MAODONALD. 
 
 Meanwhile, Papineau liad allowed magnificent ^'isicn.s of a 
 future republic along the banks of the St. fiawrence to lure 
 him away from the path of sober, unambifious reform, in which 
 he had earlier trod. He had to deal wiih a people, too, who 
 have more than once in history become the slaves of a blind 
 enthusiasm ; and in those speeches at whicli the monster crowds 
 cheered the loudest could be heard the first breathings of re- 
 bellion. The two commissioners who had come out with Lord 
 Gosford presented their report to the imperial parlir.ment, and 
 the outcome of this was Lord John Russell's Ten Kosolutions. 
 By one provision of these resolutions the Gove; nor wac author- 
 ized to take £142,000 out of the funds in tlie hands of the 
 Receiver-General to pay the arrearages of civil salaries. In 
 vain Lord John was told that his re.si>lutions would drive the 
 people into rebellion, and perhaps into the arms of the Republic ; 
 but that haughty little statesman did not anticipate any trouble 
 from the Republic, and as for the Canadians, they were very 
 lightly taxed, he said, and had really but little to grumble 
 about. 
 
 As had been ■■predicted, the resolutions brought the discontent 
 to a head. It is hard now to believe that Papineau did not 
 really rejoice at the coercive spirit of those measures, for they 
 gave him an ample pictext for soaring oflf towards that new re- 
 public of v'hich he so fondly dreamed. The people became 
 enraged, and from hot reformers changed into flaming patriots. 
 The)' resolved to use no more goods that came through the 
 custom house, and to smuggle rather than pay duties. Monster 
 meetings were held by Papineau, at which the habitants were 
 told to strike now for liberty. Men who knew anything, of mili- 
 tary tactics began to drill large bodies of the inhabitants, while 
 every man provided himself with some weapon that would 
 kill. Then the outbreak came, and the poor habitants, in wild 
 e'^thusiasm, rushed upon the cold bayonets of Lord Gosford. 
 I*) was only the history of political tyranny the world over, 
 again — lashing the people into rebellion by bad laws and worse 
 
POLITICAL UPHEAVALS. 89 
 
 administrators, and driving them back again into allegiance 
 with cruel steel. We are told that the blood of a man who 
 falls by the violence of his fellow will cry to heaven for ven- 
 geance; a heavy account, then, must be that of tho,'f> men by 
 whose oppression these poor habitants were driven away from 
 their humble toil to meet death at the hands of the soldiers. 
 
 The flame having burst forth in Lower Canada, it was soon 
 communicated to the ready material in the upper province. 
 There, too, did the Family Compact furnish an irresponsible 
 executive to an autocrat governor. The people dreamed of 
 constitutional freedom, for the light which now was shining 
 across the Atlantic was dawning here. Great men are usually 
 the offspring of an important crisis; and now a party of superior 
 men, all of high character, and many of good social standing, 
 had grown up ; and they demanded that the government of the 
 province should be taken out of the hands of the favoured, ir- 
 responsible few, and handed over to the majority of the people 
 through responsible ministers. This change would purge 
 away the long train of evils of which the people had so long 
 complained. In those days there was no popular check upon bad 
 administration, or even upon corruption. Many a minister grew 
 rich upon his peculations, because the eye of the puolit :ould not 
 reach him. But some journalists now boldly int:.'iided upon the 
 sacred privacy of the ministry, and revealed to the public many 
 instances of official mismanagement and corruption. Then it 
 was that the history, in which we read of the disgraceful per- 
 secution of Wilkes by a tyrannical sovereign, was repeated in 
 Upper Canada. Then came prominently upon the stage the 
 ill-starred Lyon Mackenzie, a man whose name in his day 
 served to hush the babes of loyal mothers to sleep. We perse- 
 cuted him then in every conceivable way. We sent the most 
 loyal and respectable of our young men to scatter his types 
 and wreck his printing presses. We five times expelled him 
 from the legislature, after he had been five times elected. 
 Finally we drove him into rebellion, and set a price of £1,0()Q 
 
40 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 upon his head. Now, we are about erecting a column to his 
 memory. 
 
 J' was galling enough to see a mimic king come over here 
 to govern us, as if God had made us only to be governed ; but 
 it was unbearable that the political adventurer, besides be- 
 ing an autocrat, should be also a blockhead. To quell the 
 fast-increasing tumult in Upper Canada, the British govern- 
 ment set about to select a man. They found one in a poor 
 commissioner's office in Kent, surrounded with prayers for 
 relief and heroic poems. This v/^as an extraordinary man, and 
 had done things in his day which, in the eyes of the gov- 
 ernment, qualified him well to rule a colony. He had writ- 
 ten several pamphlets, extraordinary for their style, and in- 
 stinct with "fine frenzy." Twice he had dashed across the 
 South American pampas, from Buenos Ayres to the Andes, on 
 the back of a mustang. Upon this man the home govern- 
 ment let the mantle of authority fall, and dispatched him to 
 Upper Canada. He came amongst us with the pomp of an 
 Alexander, and the attitudes of a Garrick. The band of perse- 
 cuted men who had fought sd' long for popular rights be- 
 seeched him to redress their grievances, but after a few dramatic 
 revolutions on his own responsibility', poor Sir Francis Bond 
 Head fell into the fatal circles of the Compact maelstrom. 
 Naturally, with a colony in the incipient throes of revolt, we 
 might have expected the home government to send a man with 
 some fitness, natural or acquired, to govern and make smooth, 
 but at this day we are unable to see what special training in 
 this direction could have been conferred upon an enthusiastic 
 tragedy-reader by galloping about the pampas on a wild pony. 
 It is not necessary to add that the action of the new gov- 
 ernor drove the impatient seekers for reform towards the 
 brink of rebellion. In the house of assembly the Speaker 
 read a letter from Joseph Papineau, urging the Upper Can- 
 ada reformei's in covert terms to rebel, and hinting that, in 
 case of need, republicans would come over and help them. Here 
 
POLITICAL UPHEAVALS. 
 
 was an opportunity for the dramatic governor, and he seized 
 it. " In the name of every militia regiment in Canada," he 
 exclaimed, with a tremendous wave of his arms, as he closed 
 the parliament, " I promulgate, let them come if they dare." 
 There was then nothing for the reformers to expect from Sir 
 Francis. He was threatened with rebellion, but treated the 
 threat with seeming scorn, and sent all the soldiers out of the 
 country. In an evil moment, and without taking counsel of ^ 
 prudence or philosophy, Mackenzie and his followers rushed 
 to arms. Then brother rose against brother, and after a con- 
 flict in which smoke predominated, the government demon- 
 strated its strength, and the cause of the rebels ended in 
 panic* V 
 
 , Lord John Russell could not have heard the news from Can- 
 ada with much astonishment, for he had been told that just 
 those things would happen, and he seemed coolly to court the 
 consequences. In the commons some made light of the rising, 
 and spoke of " a Mr. Mackenzie," concerned in the rebellion. 
 Mr. Hume replying, cited the declarations of Chatham on the 
 Stamp Act, instancing them as the sayings of " a Mr. Pitt." 
 They had queer opinions in England then about colonies, and 
 equally odd notions about how they should be governed. 
 Some stc^esmen claimed that the executive should have the 
 Gonlidenc«i of the house of assembly, but Lord John Russell 
 and otbfcr whigs held that to make the executive responsible 
 to the popular brancli would bo to reduce the governor to a 
 cipher, end to virtually proclaim the independence of the colo- 
 nies. 
 
 In this emergency Lord Durham was sent out to Canada 
 with extraordinary powers. He proclaimed his Ordinances 
 from Quebec, but had scarcely begun to carry ont his pro- 
 
 • All n-.r hiatoriea make the inexcusable blunder of stating that a large nu-!iber 
 of perei ns were killed and wounded at this battle ; even Mr. Lindsey, son-iu law 
 of Mr. Mackenzie, rejieats the fiction in his book many j'eare after the battle. To 
 the Toronio World the public are indebted for ferreting out the blunder, 
 
42 LIFE OF SIR JO UN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 gramme when many voices began to clamour for his recall. 
 Undoubtedly there was a disposition to judge Lord Durham 
 in England on the scantiest evidence. His emotional nature 
 was not unknown to the public. Men had not forgotten how 
 often he had terrified his father-in-law, Earl Grey, and ap- 
 })alled the council bj his outbursts at their cabinet meetings. 
 They had heard him '. i the House of Lords describe the speech 
 of the Bishop of Exeter, against the Reform Bill, as " coarse 
 and virulent invective, malignant and false insinuation, the 
 grossest perversion of historical facts, decked out with all the 
 choicest flowers of pami)hleteering slang." They did not be- 
 lieve that a man with a head so hot was fitted to grapple with 
 such a problem a,s was now presented in Canada. But every 
 day added fresh rumours to those already current in England. 
 The famous Ordinances of the Earl seemed to astound every- 
 body. They were sweeping measures, to say the least, and in 
 England were regarded as revolutionary. An amnesty was 
 granted to all political offenders, Papineau, Mackenzie and the 
 other leaders, excepted. These were banished to Bermuda, 
 from which they were not to return under pain of death. The 
 colonists were cordially invited to aid in organizing a libe- 
 ral and enduring plan of government ; and, attended by his 
 suite, the High Commissioner made a progress through the 
 country with all the pomp and splendour of an Eastern king. 
 But Lord Durham was not allowed to put his Ordinances to a 
 trial. His course was assailed in England by a storm of hostile 
 criticism ; it was shown that in nearly every important respect 
 he had transcended his constitutional powers ; that he coald 
 not transport to Bermuda, for the reason that he had no author- 
 ity over that island, and that he had no power to order that 
 any one breaking his exile and returning to Canada shon.ld 
 suffer death. One of the most fierce of his critics was Lord 
 Brougham, but the whole cause of his bitterness was not the 
 Quebec Ordinances. Five years before, at a dinner given ]>y 
 Earl Grey, ho had imprudently provoked Lord Durham and 
 
POLITICAL urn K AVALS. 43 
 
 called down upon \\\n liead a torrent of wrath. The govern- 
 ment, who first stood like a weak man in a strong current 
 feebly facing the stream, supported tlieir Commissioner for a 
 time, then faltered and gave way. In an American newspai)er 
 the Earl read for the first time that the goverinnent had for- 
 saken liim ; and he tendered his resignation. The resignation 
 and the disallowance of his Ordinances crossed each other on 
 the Atlantic, and a few days later the proud and great Lord 
 Durham learnt tluit he was a disgr.'ced man. With constitu- 
 tional impulsiveness he issued a proclamation which was sim- 
 ply the justification tliat a lofty spirit, too noble and too sensi- 
 tive for the rude shocks of party strife, sought before the 
 country he had so earnestly striven to serve. Humiliated 
 })eyond the length that a mean mind can imagine, he returned 
 to England, his proud spirit broken. 
 
 It has been said that he went beyond his constitutional 
 powers ; but surely he did not do so unknowingly. No better 
 justification of his conduct can be given than is afforded in 
 his own words, when he asks with just scorn : " What are the 
 constitutional principles remaining in force when the whole 
 constitution is suspended ? What principle of the British 
 Constitution holds good in a coun\;ry where the people's money 
 is taken from them without the people's consent ; where rep- 
 resentative government is annihilated; where martial law 
 has been the law of the land, and where trial by jury exists 
 only to defeat the ends of justice, and to provoke the righteous 
 scorn and indignation of the community." But it remained 
 for posterity to do justice to Lord Durham. While he lay 
 gasping away his last breath by the sea shore at Cowes, cartie 
 the tidings, but all too late, that even his bitterest foes bore 
 tribute to the wisdom and broad statesmanship in his Renort. 
 This was the document that first set forth the scheme by which 
 our struggling provinces afterwards became united in one con- 
 federation ; which traced the causes of colonial discontent, and 
 pointed out the cure. Toward the close of July, 1840, the earl 
 
44 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 breathed his last. Two days before he died he said : " I would 
 fain hope that I have not lived altogether in vain. Whatever 
 the tories may say, the Canadians will one day do justice 
 to my memory." They have done justice to his memory ; and 
 one of the foremost names in their affections and their history 
 is that of the great, the high-minded John George Lambton, 
 first Earl of Durham. 
 
 The Government were not satisfied, it appears, with what 
 they had done for Upper Canada in sending over Sir Francis 
 B. Head, but on his being recalled, endeavoured to do better, 
 and sent out Sir George Arthur. He was deemed to posses* 
 the very acme of governing powers, for he had already ruled 
 two colonies. He governed 20,000 negroes and several whitea 
 in Honduras, and when selected for Canada had just returned 
 covered with glory from Van Diemen's Land. This latter was 
 a colon}' to which, about thirty years before, the home 
 government had begun to send the most violent and aban- 
 doned characters. Armed with the experiences of Honduras 
 and Tasmania, Governor Arthur began to rule Upper Can- 
 ada. It took a great deal to fill up his bill of duty. In tu- 
 mult he stamped every rebellion splutter out with the heel of 
 a Claverhouse ; in peace he was busy with the halter. It nigh 
 drove him mad when a reformer approached him to state a 
 grievance, or ask a mercy for the misguided men who had 
 fallen into his hands. Reform, he said, had been too long the 
 cloak of treason — therefore he would talk only of stern justice 
 now. And the governor chose a bloody justice. He hanged 
 Lount and Matthews in Toronto, to the horror even of many 
 tories. It is due, however, to the governor's memory to say, 
 that he was not entirely guilty of the blood of these men ; as 
 it is understood that the deed was strongly recommended by 
 the officials of the Family Compact. We know not to what 
 extent the goverru/r would have used the rope, had not Lord 
 Glenelg aroused himself from his languor to stay the fell work 
 of the hangman. 
 
POLITICAL urns AVALS. 40 
 
 In Lower Canada, affairs were in cliaos. The constitution 
 had been suspended, and the affairs of the colony were being 
 administered by a special council. The British population, 
 who now found themselves more than ever estranged from 
 the French, prayed for union with Upper Canada, for freedom 
 from French laws and French dominion ; and beseeched all the 
 legislatures of British North America to assist them in attain- 
 ing these things. The French inhabitants had felt the yoke 
 of a few British sit so heavily upon them that they regarded 
 with horror a proposal which they believed would utterly 
 absorb them into the English system, with its uncongenial 
 customs and political oppressions. 
 
 In 1839, Sir John Colbome went home, and the British 
 Government, finding that the most unsuitable men did not 
 ma^e the best governors, selected a plain merchant, Mr. Charles 
 Poulett Thompson, who was known to have a clear, cool head, 
 much suavity and tact, and an enormous capacity for business. 
 The great drawback to him was that he possessed no title, an 
 inferiority keenly deplored by the tories ; but the government, 
 though partial to titled men themselves, overcame their sci aples 
 and sent him out. His first duty was to act on r suggestion 
 made by Lord Durham, whom the tories had s] iidored and 
 the whigs deserted. That duty was to unite Uppei o nd Lower 
 Canada. 
 
 The new governor-general promptly convened the special 
 council of Lower Canada, and obtained its assent to a draft 
 bill providing for the Union. It was known that the French, 
 who comprised the great bulk of the population, were hostile 
 to the scheme, and they were not consulted. The measure was 
 foreshadowed in the Speech opening the legislature of Upper 
 Canada. Subsequently, a message was sent down to the assem- 
 bly, embodying, among other matters, the chief points of the 
 proposed Union Bill. This message gave some hope to the 
 reform politicians, but one of its most important statements 
 was a lie. " So far," said the governor-general, " as the feeling 
 
46 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 of the inhabitants of Lower Canada can be obtained the meas- 
 ure of re-union meets with approbation." The governor very 
 well know that nothing could be more hateful to the bulk of 
 the inhabitants than this same measure ; and for this very 
 reason ho had refused to consult them. The Bill was intro- 
 duced in due course and was opposed by the Family Compact. 
 But the governor-general was in earnest, and what was better, 
 he was master of the situation. They might pass the bill or 
 submit to worse. So they ate their leek with all the grace 
 they could command. 
 
 In July, the next year, a measure was introduced into the 
 imperial parliament and passed with slight amendments. The 
 Union Bill provided that there should be one legislative 
 council and one assembly. Each province had equal represen- 
 tation in both branches. The legislative council consisted of 
 twenty members, who held their seats for life ; the Assembly 
 consisted of eighty-four members, who were to be elected 
 every four years. The executive council was to consist of 
 eight members, and any of those who had a seat in the assem- 
 bly had to go back for re-election on taking office. A perma- 
 nent civil list of £75,000 was established, but the control of 
 the revenues was vested in the assembly. In 1841 the Act 
 went into ftirce by proclamation. To the reformers the race 
 was not yet, though the tone of Lord John Russell's despatches 
 had favoured responsible government. 
 
 Mr. Thompson had all the qualities of an excellent ruler, but 
 he needed moi-e light. Our historians, we believe, have quite 
 overrated him. It is hard to doubt that, had he been spared 
 to the limit of his term, the crisis which came under Metcalfe 
 would have come under him. Though the first ministry after 
 the Union was a coalition, he stubbornly refused to admit 
 deserving French-Canadians to a share in the government, 
 and though the reformers were in a majority in the house, 
 only one of their number, Mr. Robert Baldwin, was called to 
 the executive. And the governor's subsequent refusal to do 
 
POLITICAL UrnEAVALS. 4!J 
 
 justice to the reform party forced Mr. Baldwin out of the 
 govei'nment and into opposition. 
 
 On the death of Mr. Thompson, who, while dying, learnt 
 that he had been created Baron Sydenham of Toronto, Sir 
 Charles Bagot was appointed to the governorship. Now, Sir 
 Charles was sent out by a tory government, and was a tory 
 himself. The reformers turned blue when they heard of his 
 appointment, and believed that the evil days of the Heads and 
 the Arthurs had come again. But the tory proved himself more 
 liberal than the liberal. Ho was the only governor, Durham 
 excepted, who roally understood what was due to the colonists 
 under constitutional government. Lord Sydenham would not 
 traffic with pitch lest he might defile himself ; but the old tory 
 understanding that he came to carry on responsible govern- 
 ment, invited leading members of the French party in Lower 
 Canada, and Mr. Baldwin and his followers in Upper Canada, 
 to form a ministry. " The Crusader has turned Turk," gasped 
 the Family in horror, as the "Republicans crowded to the 
 cabinet." 
 
 Towards the close of the year Sir Charles's health began to 
 fail him, and he asked to be recalled. Then Sir Robert Peel 
 cast about him to find a man to send to Canada, and his choice 
 fell upon one whose name afterwards became hateful to all 
 lovers of constitutional liberty. Sir Charles Metcalfe, Peel's 
 baneful choice, had begun life as a writer in the Indian civil 
 service. By the sheer force of his abilities he had scaled the 
 steepy w6,ys of fame, till in 1834 he found himself acting 
 Governor-General of India. Sir Charles was both astute and 
 cunning; and besides these qualities his bravery was with him 
 a point of honour. In his day the military held in contempt 
 the soldierly prowess of civil servants in India, and Mr.Metcalfe,^ 
 hearing that among the rest his intrepidity was called in ques- 
 tion, resolved to aflSrm the valour that was in him. So when 
 the British troops were before Deeg, armed with a walking 
 stick, he headed an attacking party, rushed into the town, and 
 
M LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 retrieved lils reputation. In 1839, he entered the imperial 
 privy council, and shortly afterwards bocaiiie j,'overnor of 
 Jamaica. Hero, it is said, ho won golden opinions, but we are 
 told by his biographer, whoso aim seems to have been to cover 
 him with glory, that during his rule there "some outbreaks 
 occurred, but they were speedily crushed and their instigators 
 punished, some capitally." This was not, it will be frankly 
 admitted, an indifferent training for a man who looked upon 
 refractory reformers as he did upon rebellious negroes. Added 
 to this, during his long contact with the wiles and treachery of 
 oriental craft, ho had grown incurably suspicious, and would 
 trust any man who differed from himself as he would "an adder 
 fanged." He came to Canada, and to his amazement found a 
 system of responsible government which did not need a gov- 
 ernor, and, as some of the advisers of the Crown, men who had 
 given sympathy or aid to rebellion. He was disgusted, too, 
 with the manners of his councillors, who approached him with 
 a brusqueness and familiarity that was revolting to a ruler of 
 nabobs. With the cunning of a Nana Sahib, he sent out his 
 confidential secretary, who wormed out of the ministers over 
 their wine their opinions on the powers of the governor. The 
 truth is, Sir Charles was like a captain who in a storm and 
 amidst the breakers sets himself down for the first time to 
 learn navigation. He knew nothing about the governing of 
 a colony under responsible government: few governors in 
 those days did. It was not the men who had sat in cabinets 
 and saw how people are ruled under constitutional forms, that 
 they sent out, but some one who had ridden mustangs great 
 distances, or coerced Hindoos or negroes with the strong arm 
 of the autocrat. 
 
 When Sir Charles learnt the opinion of ministers about his 
 prerogative, he became incensed. He saw that his prerogative 
 was in danger, and the point of prerogative to him was the 
 point of honour. And how high with him was the point 
 which he regarded the point of honour will appear from his 
 
POLITICAL UrUE AVALS. Hi 
 
 exploit with tho walking stick. Then began the syatein of wily 
 and treacherouH di[)loniacy which l»o had learned in tho East; 
 With utter disregard for constitutional decency, he outraged 
 tho privacy of his cabinet, and took tho opponents of the 
 ministry into his coiifitlence. Day after day ho planned and 
 set snares for his own ministers. A close friend of his, who 
 knew his ways and wrote his biography, thus glories in tho 
 governor's shame: "Ho saw that tho feet of tho council wore 
 on tho wire, and ho skilfully concealed tho gun." Many an 
 appointment was then made that tho ministry knew nothing 
 about till they read it in tho public prints of their opponents. 
 It was galling to bo treated as ciphers by the head of tho 
 government — to feel that the position of adviser was only a 
 mockery ; but it wau unbearable to hear the sneers of opponents 
 who were tho real advisers of tho governor. The ministry 
 resigned, and one wonders how they could have lived down 
 contempt so long. For nine months now there was no ministry 
 save Dominick Daly, tho " perpetual secretary," who as a poli- 
 tician had boon all his li/o at once " everything and nothing." 
 This political merman assisted the Dictator till a provisional 
 ministry was formed, after which, in a whirlwind both parties 
 rushed to tho polls. 
 
 It was at this crisis that Mr. John A. Macdonald, with his 
 judgment much ripened, emerged from his law office, and be- 
 gan the stormy career of a politician. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 FROM THE BAR TO THE HUSTINGS. 
 
 THOSE who enjoyed the confidence of Mr. Macdonald say 
 that after his defence of Shoultz, his aim was to win a 
 still more prominent place in his profession. As wo have 
 already seen, his defence of the Pole gave him more than a local 
 reputation ; it was, as his friends used to say, " a feathor in his 
 cap" of which a veteran member of the bar miglu. ii.ive been 
 proud ; and persons coming to Kingston with difficult teases 
 from di: tant points Ithereafter inquired for "the yrtung lawyer 
 who d :fended the Pole, Von Shoultz." These were thu deya 
 of exclusiveness and snobbery, when it was ah lOst as liii oult 
 to uppmach the august person of a Dodson or a Fo-. • as the 
 Sleepin^'. Beauty overhung with alarum bells and guarded by 
 fiery diagons. There was a population of over half a million, 
 and the immigration tide poured constantly upon us from the 
 mother countries through the summer, but among this influx 
 came few educated persons, and but rarely a member of the 
 learned professions ; so that the doctor anii the lawyer were 
 not in proportion to the population, were much sought after, and 
 hence garrisoned round with importance. But no client, how- 
 ever poor, came out of Mr. Macdonald's office complaining of 
 snobbery ; rather telling of the courteous' and gentlemanly 
 young lawyer, " quick as a flash," who understood his case 
 better than the client himself before he had " half told it." Ii 
 those days, more than at the present time, which produces law- 
 yers and stump orators " not singly but in battalions," when a 
 young man discovered brilliant talents, or the power, by his 
 
 eloquence, to carry his hearers, his friends invariably said, 
 
 50 
 
FROM THE liAIi TO THE HUSTINGS. ft 
 
 " Wo must send him to tlio TIouso." Wo aio told that in many 
 a case which Mr. Macdunald pleaded, even strangerH in the 
 Courts, not knowing tho young lawyer, but observing his 
 grasp of principles, the ease with which he led up all his argu- 
 ments, and the power he had of compiilling juries to take, by 
 sympathy as well ns by reason, his view of the case, wore 
 heard to exclaim, " the House is the place for bira." 
 
 Standing by the ocean as the dark storm-cloiKls gather over 
 it and the tempest breaks, a man with poetry in his soul feels 
 spirit exalted and impelled to sing as nature in no other mood 
 his can move l.im : and so, too, looking upon the political storra- 
 cJouds gather, and darken the sky, if a man have a yearning 
 for Mio ways of public life, it must be quickened as it can be 
 at nu other tinu At the date of which we write the air was 
 full of the sound.! of political strife, and the clouds deepened 
 and grew movr> ominous. We cannot wonder if the situation 
 quickened the desires of the young barrister, or if we heard 
 him say, as he glanced through his office window out upon the 
 political scene, where men wrestled and many won prizes for 
 Avho e abilities he could have no feeling but contempt; 
 
 •' Yes, yonder in that stormy flky 
 I see my star of destiny." 
 
 But it was not known now, nor for some years afterwards, that 
 he looked to a political career. During the elections for the 
 first parliament under the Union the strife was higii and 
 confusion general. One day, sitting among friends in } Is 
 office, Mr. Macdonald daid, " If I were only prepated now I 
 should try for the Legislature," and then added, " but it does 
 no harm to wait." The removal of the theatre of politics to 
 his own city, in 1841, go .'e impulse to his yearnings for poliUcal 
 life ; and thereafter he began to equip himself for the sphere in 
 which he longed to move. But he did not, like too v lany empty 
 young men of our own day, go noising through the country to 
 attract the people's notice ; he did not, indeed, woo the con- 
 
62 ' LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 Btituency at all, but decided to have the constituency woo 
 him. During the time Parliament sat at K ngston he made 
 the acquaintance of leading public men, and long before it wan 
 known that his eye was turned to the ))aths which tliey them- 
 selves were treading, they prized the friendship and respected 
 the opinions of the young barrister, Macdonald. He attended 
 much to the debates of the House, and many a keen and 
 judicious piece in criticism those who sat with him in the gal- 
 lery heard fall from his lips. Though ho devoted umoh time 
 to his profession, and was always to be found in his oflico and 
 ready to take up a case, he was profoundly engaged in j/jti'i^^iar- 
 ing himself for his ideal sphere. While most of those who 
 knew him thought his'ambitions bent towards logal distinc- 
 tions only, he was acquivinr \.i\i knowledge of constitutional, 
 political and parliaiueufiirv history, which so early in hi.s pub- 
 lic career gave weight to his opinions and standing to himself. 
 
 In 1843, in an evil hour, as we have already seen, came over 
 to Canada Sir Charles Metcalfe. The y^bellion clouds had 
 rolled away, and the province set out once more, it was 
 hoped, in the ways of political peace ; but the new governor- 
 general had no sooner begun to make " his growl hoard at the 
 council board" than the political heavens began to grow 
 dark again. Rumours of dissension between the governor and 
 his council began to be whispered abroad, and it was not 
 made a secret that Sir Charles despised and distrusted his 
 council, and had thrown himself into the arms of the Family 
 Compact. We can fancy the feeling among the tribes of ani- 
 mals known as the Seven Sleepers when the genial warmth of 
 spring visits them in their icy abodes : with some such thrill 
 the tories, lying politically dormant, must have received 
 the news that Sir Charles had come t© an open rupture 
 with his "rebel advisers" and now sought the confidence 
 and advice of "loyal men." 
 
 At this time Kingston was not enamored of her late mem- 
 ber, and it was plain that an opportunity was arriving for 
 
FROM THE R Alt TO THE HUSTINGS. 53 
 
 Horue one wholiad the respect nnd good-will of the constituency. 
 Mr. Harrison, the representative then, wus only a make- shift 
 for Mr. iMaruihan, who had, in the words of an old Kingston 
 newftpapf^r, "sold his cOiistitncncy to the enemy for a billet for 
 his son-in-law." Young Macdonald now saw his opportunity 
 coming, and so did his friends, lor tlvcy waited upon him towards 
 the close of the summer of 1843, and invited him to come out 
 for election to the Kingston council. The city had been lately 
 in'-orporated, and the divisions differed from those of the pres- 
 ent, but ^tacdonald stood for that section which now forms 
 the western part of St. Lawrence Ward. An eye-witness of the 
 election, and a friend of Macdonald, says : " The contest was 
 a fierce one. At very tavern you found crowds of persons 
 drunk and figl^ing. Capt. Jackson was the candidate against 
 Macdonald, ai.d hi had all tlio noisy and drunken Irishmen in 
 the town on his side. I w^s passing b}' one of the booths, 
 and I happened to hear a ruffian of a fellow, named Sullivan, 
 plotting with a large crowd of his own description to go in 
 and p"ovent Macdonald from speaking, and 'go through' his 
 supporters. They knov/ me well, and I told them I had my 
 eye upon them. This prevented a great row. I went in, and 
 found everybody inside fairly orderly, for Macdonald had a 
 wondurful way of casting oil on troubled waters." Jackson 
 was overwhelnungly beaten, and a portion of the field, for 
 higher purposes, 'wan- won .0 Macdonald. So in the folio v\ in^- 
 year, after the rupture between Metcalfe and his council had 
 come, and the delegation waiie 1 upon him and told him they 
 now expei^ted him to take the field against Manahan, Mac- 
 donald da not woud>.^r at receiving tj.e call, for he had been 
 long prep. Hug himself for the occasion, and was «"^v ready. 
 Neithc did anybody wond',r when it was told that he had 
 come irco the field, though he had not proclaimed his coming, 
 or talked about it at all, for it was known that there was 
 no one else so capable. 
 
M LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 The country was now fairly out of its head, and perhaps it 
 was not strange. , A ministry having the confidence of a major- 
 ity of the people had quarrelled with the governor-general 
 on constitutional questions of vital importance, and resigned. 
 It was a battle between prerogative and the power of the 
 people. In prerogative the tories saw the stability of orr 
 institutions, and the maintenance of our connection with tlie 
 empire. In the power of the people they saw a democracy 
 that to-day might rush into republicanism and to-mc/row into 
 chaos. In prerogative the reformers saw the mc.sr, hateful 
 engine of political oppression, the evil which had convulsed 
 the province in rebellion and uiood, a something which was 
 nut even a prerogative, but a system by which a large luajor- 
 ity of the people were ruled according to the interests of a 
 favoured and irresponsible few. In the power of the people 
 they saw not a privilege but only a birthright, and went to 
 the polls defending that right. While the story of dissen- 
 sions between the governor and his late ministry was the 
 property of everybody, few seemed to understand the real na- 
 ture of the issue between them. A large portion of the people 
 believed that Mr. Baldwin and his colleagues had been forcing 
 measures upon the governor that would eventually lead to a 
 separation of Canada from +hs mother country, and that it 
 was in resisting these encroachments the discord arose. It was 
 told at public meetings, too, long before the elections, that 
 Messrs. Baldwin, Lafontaine and Hincks were aiming at Sepa- 
 ration ; and all these rumours were susceptible, more or less, of 
 confirmation. The liberal party, while including a vast body 
 of earnest men who aimed only at the establishment of consti- 
 tutional government, comprised all the blatant demagogues 
 and rebels of the time. Men who were. in open hostility to 
 British connection, and who loved anarchy better than order, 
 men who were aforetime American citizens and now longed 
 for annexation, were found upon the reform platforms, each 
 faction proclaiming vehemently itt own set of doctrines. 
 
FROM TUJ': BAR TO THE HUSTINGS. 06 
 
 Few, as we have said, at this time really understood what 
 responsible goverriment was, or what had been the issue be- 
 tween the governor and his ministry. But now, as the elec- 
 tions drew near, those before inclined to moderate reform came 
 to think about it, and remembered that some of the men in the 
 late ministry had come thither out of the rebels* camps. They 
 did not wonder that men who six years before were pitted 
 against the soldiers were pitted now against the governor. 
 And during the many months that the autocrat had ruled with- 
 out a government, ominous muttenngs were heard from large 
 bands of the more impatient and radical reformers. They 
 said anarchy had come again, and professed their readiness to 
 take up arms and once more strike for a republic. All this 
 was remembered now, and was yet to be used with tremendous 
 effect by the governor and his party. The question, therefore, 
 by skilful tory arrangement, came to be, not one between 
 conservatives and reformers, as our histories have it, but be- 
 tween the reform party and the crown, — a party who the 
 tories claimed had furnished rebels to the rebellion, who had 
 threatened of late to rebel again, who alarmed the governor 
 with measures which would be fatal to the constitution, and 
 who from their hustings even now were calling for separation. 
 The Crown, in the person of governor Metcalfe, had been out- 
 raged by the reformers, and all men who loved peace and 
 British rule were asked to rally round the representative of 
 the Queen. 
 
 In a country yet in a crude state of civilization, where the 
 reverential and emotional are the strongest sides to the 
 character of men, we need not wonder how talismanic proved 
 the mention of the Crown. " Next to my God, my king," was 
 the rule of men for over a thousand years, when to touch the 
 hem of the royal garment made the sufferer whole. Aye, and 
 "' More than my God, my king," was jften the maxim too, 
 and it is avowed us by the statesman-prelate gasping his 
 
M LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 last in the Abbey of Leicester, It is hard to hvQvk. the 
 
 bonds which 
 
 " The Queen of Slaves, 
 The hood-winked angel of the blind, and dead, 
 Custom," 
 
 has during a thousand years bound about us. The sword of Alex- 
 ander cannot cut that woof; but when the man stands up, full 
 of that better light which is purging the world, the thrall snaps 
 easily as the flaxen withes that bound Sampson. The blind 
 reverence of the province was aroused at this election ; but Sir 
 Charles and the tories said it was the British Lion that was 
 abroad. We fancy they had the lion in the wrong place. The 
 emotional reverence of the people was abroad blind-fold, and 
 not the lion which cowered in his covert. The British lion is 
 not a cruel monster that lives in the closet of a tyrannical king 
 or an autocrat governor, but he is the noble beast that goes 
 abroad and vindicates the rights and the manhood of the peo- 
 ple. He was heprd at Runnymede, and his roar was louder 
 than the cry of Straflbrd's butchers. 
 
 The fury was not alone the property of the hustings 
 during this campaign, but it blew a hurricane through the 
 prints as well. Every editor dipped his pen in gall ; every 
 column reeked with libel. Those who had no newspapers is- 
 sued handbills, that might have fired the fences upon which 
 they were posted. Had poor Mr. Potts been in Canada, in the 
 midst of this ink-cyclone, he would have sighed for the tame- 
 ness of his Eatonswill Gazette. But there was a class of men 
 who considered the poster too low a medium, and the news- 
 paper not high enough for the formal conveyance of their 
 loyalty or the spread of their radicalism, and these flew to the 
 pamphlet. The most noted of the pamphleteers was Rev. 
 Egerton Ryerson, who did not add anything to his reputation 
 for usefulness or integrity by becoming the abject flatterer and 
 slavish defender of Sir Charles Metcalfe. It is pleasing to note, 
 however, one good feature in this questionable transaction. 
 
FROM THE BAR TO THE EUSTINOS. fit 
 
 Tho governor was grateful, and the following year the doctor 
 was assured the chief superintendency of education for 
 Upper Canada. If in this, though, we find no reparation by 
 the governor for his oppression of the people, we do find in it 
 an excuse for the divine in lending himself to tho autocrat. 
 Self-interest ia the strongest passion among mortals ; and Dr. 
 Ryerson was mortal. His pamphlets are not worth much 
 notice, save for their literary form, !which is good, although 
 Hon. A. Mackenzie says in his "Life of George Brown" that 
 it is not good. This hardly amounts to a contradiction, how- 
 ever, as Mr, Mackenzie is not a judge of literary stylo. The 
 doctor was a fiery and terse writer, and generally made the 
 most of his material, though he had a passion for running into 
 bombast. He was not satisfied with defending his master on 
 one or two points, but led up his defences in battalioas. It 
 was a crushing reply to tho charge of autocracy to be told 
 by the reverend defender that Sir Charles was " not a, fortune 
 seeker, but a fortune spender," and that he was " good to the 
 poor." Nevertheless, in the governor's cause these pamphlets 
 were as strong as armies, for they were spread among the dis- 
 senters, a class outside the charmed circle of the aristocracy, and, 
 -hence, stoutly given to reform. They transfigured the governor 
 from a monster " mounted on an elephant, the despotic ruler of 
 oriental slaves," as the fiery and terse Francis Hincks styled 
 him, into a " benevolent man," whose whole life was " an un- 
 ceasing round of good works." Mr. Sullivan, under the name 
 of " Legion," appeared on the other side with pamphlets which 
 would have been more impressive had they been less flippant. 
 
 About this time, Mr. George Brown, a young Scotchman for 
 some time resident in New York, came over to Canada, can- 
 vassing for a little weekly newspaper called the British 
 Chronicle, belonging to his father, Peter Brown. He went 
 about among the politicians to see if he could get encourage- 
 ment to establish a political newspaper. It would have been 
 natural to him to have allied himself with the tories, as both 
 
«8 LIFE OF SIR JO UN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 lio and his father had been more intensely British and anti- 
 Auierican in Now York than Metcalfe had been in Canada. 
 The tories, however, had plenty of organs, and were never 
 over-anxious to share confidence with adventurers. But young 
 Brown was more lucky among the radicals, and the ultimate 
 outcome was the establishment of a new radical organ, the 
 Globe. This paper was launched on tlie eve of the contest, and 
 at once began the battle with much earnestness. Its style was 
 vigorous Imt extremely uncouth, and would be rather rough 
 reading in the light of our present newspaper culture. This, 
 however, was not a grievous fault then, for not a very large 
 bulk of its readers enjoyed much more literary culture than 
 the editor himself. Its more serious fault was the frequent 
 crude and undigested form of its thought which was the result 
 of a spontaneous outpouring of impatient and indiscreet enthu- 
 siasm. There was no manijeuvering in Mr. Brown's advances ; 
 he attacked always in charges. It was on seeing his impatience 
 and impetuosity, his lack of tact and the inability " to wait for 
 the morrow till the morrow came," that men said, "Another 
 William Lyon Mackenzie has come amongst us." 
 
 Once it is recorded in Holy Writ that in troublous times 
 fierce horsemen were seen riding through the clouds shaking 
 their shields and spears : to those who looked out upon the 
 political sky as the summer of 1844 wore away, and autumn 
 came, the spectacle could have been scarce less full of fore- 
 boding. Chaos virtually had come, for the governor had now 
 unlawfully ruled eight months without a constitutional govern- 
 ment. Mr. Draper had proved the friend and counsellor of the 
 governor all along ; but as August arrived, and yet no progress 
 in forming a ministry had been made, he one day waited upon 
 his excellency and told him he saw grave danger in further 
 delay. Mr. Draper was a tory of a dye almost pre-historic, yet 
 he was a wise man and a patriot. The governor took his sharp 
 and, we may say, imperious advice with wonderful grace for an 
 autocrat, and set himself to work to form a cabinet. Evidently 
 
FROM THE BAR TO THE UUSTINOS. 59 
 
 Mr. Draper had frightenod him, for ho went hastily at his work, 
 as if he fancied a tempest were shortly to break, and he feared 
 being caught in the storm. In a few weeks it was known that 
 a cabinet had been patched up as follows : 
 
 James Smith _ . - . Attorney-General, East 
 Wm. BuAPEii - - - - Attorney-Oeneral, West. 
 
 D. J. Papineau - - - - Com. of Crown Lands. 
 
 William Morris Receiver General. 
 
 M. ViGER - - . . President of the Council- 
 
 Dominick Daly - - - - Provincial Secretary. 
 
 The capture of Mr. Papineau was the most important move 
 the governor had made ; for he was a brother of the notorious 
 agitator and rebel, and his accession to the cabinet fell like a 
 wet blanket upon some of the more radical of the reformers. 
 M. Viger was another French Canadian. He had boon a bo- 
 som friend of Joseph Papineau, had aided in the rebellion, and 
 been imprisoned for his treason. While lying in the gaol ^ tory 
 paper had objected to his being " fattened for the gallows." 
 The same journal with other tory organs now pointed to him 
 with pride as a leading representative Canadian, and an honour 
 and a strength to the government. But after all M. Viger was 
 not a man of much consequence. He had not constancy enough 
 in his character to be much of anything. He was a weak rebel 
 and an indifferent patriot. He was on the market when Met- 
 calfe began to play the despot, and was speedily bought up. 
 His absorption into the new cabinet had no effect upon any- 
 body but himself and those who profited by his salary and 
 honors. 
 
 But those who knew the old man were moved to sorrow ra- 
 ther than to anger at his defection. " I assure you that no oc- 
 currence in my political life," says Robert Baldwin, in a private 
 letter to a gentleman in Kingston, " has ever occasioned me a 
 tenth part of the personal pain than the position which our 
 venerable friend thought proper to assume, has inflicted upon 
 
60 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A, MACDONALD. 
 
 me. ... I honoured him as a patriot, I loved him as a 
 man, and I revered him as a father. ... In fact his course 
 is one of those enigmas that baffle mo quite in every attempt 
 to upravol it, and I can still really designate it by no other 
 term than an hallucination." 
 
 The necessiity of appealing to the country went sorely against 
 the governor's grain, but he was assured that there was no 
 hope for the ministry in the existing house. When he found 
 that a dissolution was inevitable, ho folded his sleeves for the 
 contest, and stooped to artifices and meanness in forwarding tho 
 cause of the tory p.'u-ty to which an average ward politician 
 would hardly descend. He felt however sure of victory. Cir- 
 cumstanc'^..i stronger than tho strength of parties were in his 
 favour ; ho lacked not the aid of friends who were influential 
 and unscrupulous, and had the satisfaction, above all, to know 
 that his opponents were alienating sympathy by their excesses. 
 
 Tho contest came on in November, in a very hurricane of 
 umult. At more than one hustings blood was shed, and mu- 
 tual massacre on a general scale only prevented by bodies of 
 soldiers and special constables. The worst fiend known to man 
 ■was loose in those days during the elections, the demon of 
 whiskey. Near every booth were open houses, where the ex- 
 cited mobs drank intoxicants furnished by the candidates till 
 they became mad. For days before polling, ill-favoured look- 
 ng persons poured into Montreal, some carry in'{ dirks and 
 slung-shots, and others pistols. Regiments of soldiers, aided by 
 hundreds of special constables, were on constant d^xty during 
 the elections in this riotous city, but could not prevect some 
 of the most brutal collisions, and even bloodshed. The suspi- 
 cious strangers with the dirks and pistols did not come into the 
 city for naught ; and in the riots gave many a bloody account 
 of themselves. 
 
 In Kingston the passions of the mob were scarce less brutal, 
 or party feeling less bitter. Recent sittings of the p^%rliament 
 there had called the staid political principles of the people into 
 
FliOM THE BAR TO THE HUSTINGS. 61 
 
 activ.'ty, and now tho crisis which liad come fanned that ac- 
 tivit}' into a fierce flame. Some were extreme radicals, who 
 declared at their gatherings that " the British system ouglit to 
 be pulled out by tho roots," others were uncompromising in 
 their torylsm, and prayed that Metcalfe " might hold fast, and 
 fight the good fight bravely to the end ; " while, perhaps, a 
 party as large as the two extreme ones, took the middle grcund, 
 and was neither so radical as the out-and-out reformer, nor so 
 conservative as the ultra tory. To the moderate conservative 
 party John A Macdonald belonged, though when it was told 
 through tho streets of Kingston that he was coming to oppose 
 Manahan, the extreme tories, as well as members of the great 
 middle party approvetl of the choice, and, with ringing cheers, 
 followed the young Alexander of politics to the hustings. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FROM TIIF HUSTINGS TO THE HOUSE. 
 
 A TORY, however, Mr. Macdonald was, and as a tory he 
 wimt to the polls. But what he professed was not^'that 
 slavish toryism which believed that the nation and the people 
 were made only for the sovereign. Neither did he go to the 
 hustings " talking prerogative, the alpha and ouiega of the 
 compact," but at once came to the political condition of the 
 people. With prerogative, indeed, he did not concern himself 
 at all, unless whore it bore on the constitutional status of the 
 province. These were turbulent times in many parts of Upper 
 and Lower Canada, and for several months preceding the 
 elections monster meetings had been held by the party leaders 
 at various parts of the province. It was not unusual to see 
 proceeding to one of these gatherings, a hundred teams, each 
 carrying a dozen stalwart voters to stirring music, with flags 
 flying, and every man armed with a club. ViDlent collisions 
 often occurred, and the polling places were frequently the 
 scenes of the maddest and most brutal party strife. 
 
 Of a similar character were the crowds that gathered at 
 Kingston before the elections were held, some cheering for Mr. 
 Manahan, others for Mr. Macdonald. Manahan was an Irish- 
 man, and all the bullies of the city were on his side. The 
 number of these was comparatively small, but thoy cculd 
 terrorize over a much larger number of peacably disposed men. 
 But the election had not proceeded far when the repute of 
 Manahan had grown so odious that his followers began to drop 
 away in flocks. The man's past career, the worthlessness of 
 
 his moral character and his mean abilities had much to do with 
 
 62 
 
FROM THE nUSTINOS TO THE HOUSE. 6» 
 
 tliis ; but the chief reason was tho hapj)y addresH, the .skill and 
 tact of tho youn^ lawyer, who opposed him, and who grew from 
 day to day in tho good-will of tho voters. • 
 
 Macdonald addressed several niootings in the open air, meet- 
 ings composed of riotous men, inflamed with whiskey and the 
 worst passions of party. At one of those meetings lie had 
 much difficulty in getting an opportunity to begin his speech, 
 as several adherents of Manahan came there to obstruct him. 
 " Never," says an eye-witness, " did ho loso temper, but good- 
 naturedly waited till there was a lull in tho disturbance." 
 When .silence was restored, ho said he knew most of the elect- 
 ors, and they were all manly foUow.s — too manly, indeed, to 
 refuse another fair play. They were opposed to him, he said, 
 and they had a right to bn, and he would not give nu:ch for 
 them if they would not stand up for their own candidate ; 
 but if they had a right to their opinions — and he would bo 
 glad to listen to them at another time — he had also a right to 
 his. He only wished to present his side of tho case, and if his 
 hearers did not agree with him they might afterwards voto 
 for whom they chose. . ; • 
 
 Here was something more than soothing speech ; liere, in- 
 deed, was the genius of a Mark Antony, that could by the 
 very force of subtle knowledge of character, turn a hostile 
 mob into friends upon tho spot. The stroke told, and at 
 every point which appealed to the manliness and fair play of 
 his opponents — for every man, however mean, respects both 
 these qualities — the crowd cheered again and again, and the 
 cheers did not all come from his own friends. It need hardly 
 be said that during his speech there were no more interrup- 
 tions, and that he had completely conquered his opponents be- 
 sides charming his friends. A very intelligent Irishman, who 
 had just arrived in Canada, called at Macdonald's office the 
 next dnv, and said to a student there that he had heard 
 O'Connell the year before making a speech in Kerry. " The 
 speech last night," he said, " was not as forcible as O'Connell's,. 
 
<J4 LIFE OF Silt JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 but it was just as effoctivo." Mr. Mncdonald's spoechos, how- 
 ever, were far from consisting of sweetness and suavity alono ; 
 lie had a tongue that could suourge, hut it was rarely an unruly 
 fnn;^ue. Mnnahau received more than one castigation heforo 
 that memorable campaign eiided ; but tho ex-ministry and thoir 
 pa'ty came in for the lion's share. We have already Khown 
 that the crisis was one where party feeling was calkd into 
 tionc activity ; that in many places tho active tory became a 
 tirobrand, and tl)o moderate one a zealot — that hosts of re- 
 fonners rallied around the governor, and only tho most pro- 
 nounced of tho party stood by thoir guns. Wo do not wonder 
 at Mr. Macdonald being loud in his cry against the ousted 
 ministry. Ho had been brought up a conservative, and tho 
 young men with whom he first mingled wore of tho same po- 
 litical school. So, indeed, were nearly all, if not all, of his 
 close friends, up to his entry into public life ; and tho first 
 chapter of political history ho road, in equipping liimself 
 for his career, he saw through conservative glasses. It was 
 impossible that ho could have been other than a tory, taking 
 into consideration his birth, early training and associations. 
 In and about Kingston everything was on tho side of conserv- 
 atism ; — the wealth, the influence, in great measure the intel- 
 ligence, tho social standing, and tho prospects. Had Macdon- 
 ald been the son of a whig father, and grown up in Toronto, 
 instead of Kingston, he might have struck a different chord 
 when he came upon his first platform. But to condemn hira 
 for being a 'ory, as circumstances were, would ba to see " an 
 example and a shining light " in the hero in Pinafore, who 
 " might have been a lloosian, a French, or Turk, or Prooaian, 
 or perhaps an Italian," but who " in spite of all temptations to 
 belong to < U er nations," became "an Englishman." Friendly 
 historian!., couii .anting v-pon Mr. Macdonald's entry into pub- 
 lic life, i-pjak of his ton nm, not as a set of irresistible opin- 
 ions, but as if the y : sng politician were troubled with lame 
 bade oi a club foot, f . r they considerately describe it as " his 
 
FROM THE irUSTINOS TO THE HOUSE. 66 
 
 iniisfo'-hine rather than hi.s fault." The fact is, lio ought, like 
 Richanl tin; Tliiid, to have come into the world a liorriMo pro- 
 <ligy, feet first, and bristliiig with teeth, and instead of crying, 
 as most babies do when fii-st stranded upon tins eold and cruel 
 world, begun with a rattling stump speech on Reform. It 
 matters little how John A. Macdonald set out. It is Ids career 
 in the trying path of public life in which wo arc interested. 
 If there he did his duty history will )»e satisfied. 
 
 Macdonalil did not lack material to incite, from his .^tand- 
 V<oint, the most scathing speeches. While we all have sympa- 
 tMes with the struggles of a just cause, v ith tho excesses of 
 that cause we cannot have any sympathy. Some of the most 
 brazen demagogues had gone about the country for two years 
 before the election pluming themselves on their disloyalty and 
 the aid they had given to rebellion. They openly declared 
 that lienceforth the government should consist of men who 
 had been either rebels in act or in open sympathy. Then many 
 close friends of the ex-government had gone ranting al)out the 
 country declaring that the government intended to proclai in Can- 
 ada a republic, and that we had had enough of British connexion. 
 The ex-ministers had to bear the brunt of all this mischievous 
 noise ; indeed, they took no pains to repudiate the wild sayings 
 of their followers. Then, during the closuig session of parlia- 
 ment, it is said that cabinet secrets were the property of every 
 knot of reform loafers who gathered in the bar-rooms of 
 Kingston. It is undoubted that there was a painful lack of 
 ministerial dignity, and that scores of persons of indifferent 
 social standing enjoyed the confid^n:3 of ministers upon coun- 
 cil affairs and government measures past and prospective. It 
 was generaliy believed, too, that *he collision between Metcalfe 
 and the executive was less due t,o a spii-it of constitutional 
 imfairness on the part of the governor than to the factious 
 And intolerable attitude of the council. They were, therefore, 
 to blame that the country had gone nina months without a 
 constitutional government, her peace exposed to the gravest 
 
66 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 dangers. There is no reason why Mr. Macdonald should nave 
 believed differently from the large majority of conservatives, 
 and there was no sham scorn, we may be sure, in his denuncia- 
 tions of the lack of ministerial dignity, and the reproaches 
 which he hurled upon the late government for the disloyalty 
 of themselve;i and their folio p'ers. 
 
 Taverns were open in K ngstcn as elsewhere during the 
 contest, and whiskey and : lood froui cut heads flowed as freely 
 as at Doneybrook t'air- Ic was ir.'possible for two opposing 
 factions to meet without a collision, ni; I the candidate Avho 
 escaped violence or gross insult was a man of more tha-i ordin- 
 ary popularity. It was tlie custom, too, at some of the public 
 halls where meetings were held, fur member,, of the opposing 
 faction to make a sudden rush and extinguish the lights, when 
 the most indescribable confusion ensued, which ended in the 
 b^eak-up of the meotiug. Though this was done during this 
 election at many rn assemblage i^i Kingston, Mr. Macdonald 
 scarcely ever had a noisy inten iption at his gatherings. His- 
 tact and suavity disarmed hos tility, and when he was dealing 
 some of his most effective bU-ws to his opponent, he adminis- 
 tered them with such good natui'e that the listener was remind- 
 ed of the hero in the song, wiio " met with a friend and for 
 love knocked him down." Instead of provokmg hostility his. 
 aim was to disarm it, and this he accompUsiiod while making 
 many a crushiKf^ pcj.nt against hid opponents. Every day the 
 contest lasted ^^"^',13 popularity grow and that of his op- 
 ponent d(v .,? j. iid, at lencfth, a day before the polls closed, 
 the latter rutL*. i out of the .it, 1 m despair, while in the midst 
 of the wildest enthusiasm t.i j^ cloi^t^j Mi. Macdonald was- 
 .arried th^^ough the city on a haii', thi victor by an ovcr- 
 v/htiuung majority of votes. 
 
 There remains little moro f . be toid of the 3tory of poor 
 Manahan. He dropped ou+ of publi-i life i broken man. From 
 stage t.'^ (ago of t^ho 'own roa ij vuin he went; his 
 frienan fcisook him iis ','bu:jb ^ur>>;d him with candle, bell 
 
FROM THE HUSTINGS TO THE HOUSE. 67 
 
 and book, and aftei* he had died from cold and misery, a 
 v.'retched outcast, she refused Christian sepulture to his remains. 
 Perhaps he rested after all, poor fellow, as comfortably in his 
 little unconsecrated plot as in the shadow of the Roman fane. 
 But Manahan was not a good man. His ways were evil, and 
 like his ways his end. 
 
 The country was not proof against a united Compact where 
 all was staked upon the issue ; against public money scattered 
 broadcast to debauch constituencies, and a governor-general 
 in his shirt-sleeves pleading for tbd crown. The result was 
 that the tories were sustained by a majority of three, though 
 the governor-general, in a fit of jubilation, before the returns 
 were all in, wrote a despatch to the colonial secretary. Lord 
 Stanley, setting forth a difFei'ent result. Forty-six for the 
 government, twenty-eight in opposition, and nine afioat, was 
 his representation. Both the governor and the colonial sec- 
 retary held that drift-wood went with the current, and un- 
 officially counted the nine in with the forty-eight. This would 
 show a sweeping victory for Sir Charles, and plead trumpet- 
 tongued in justification of his pre-election course. That de- 
 spatch, however, was false, but it was important. It deceived 
 the home government, and got a peerage for the governor. 
 The session opened with a wrangle over the appointment of a 
 speaker. By a clause of the Union Act, the official use of the 
 French language had been prohibited in the legislature, but 
 with nearly half the members in the house of French origin, 
 it was deemed well by all fair-minded men that the occupant 
 of the chair should know both languages. Two candidates 
 were proposed — Mr. Morin, an ex-Minister, who understov d 
 both language:!, and Sir Allan MacNab, who understood no 
 language but English, and that not very well. The latte'- 
 was chosen by r, majority of three votes, which showed the 
 strength of parties, and the reckless despatches tnat governors- 
 general will sometimes write to the colonial office. 
 
B8 LIFE OF SIR J0Ii:7 A. MAGDONALD. 
 
 The Reform party now held a caucus, at which it was decided 
 that Mr. Lafontaine should introduce resolutions later on in 
 the session, praying the home government to remove the em- 
 bargo put upon the official use of the French language. In 
 those days goverror Metcalfe did not creep about in person to 
 listen at his opponents' doors. He would not be above doing this, 
 however, if the enterpri:se were a convenient one ; but he main- 
 tained instead a pimp or a listener at every window and key- 
 hole w^ben the refoi:mers projected a movement which it was 
 his peculiar interest to tli^^vart. In the proposed resolutions of 
 Mr. Lafontaine he saw danger to the French votes he had pur- 
 cliased. Messrs. Viger and Papineau had been bought in the 
 political shambles, it is true, and could be purchased again, but 
 it would be too much even for them to face the storm of ob- 
 loquy that would follow their support to a government which 
 as a body opposed the resolutions of Mr. Lafontaine. On the 
 other hand, did they and the government as a whole support 
 the resolutions, the French pec ;jle would ask. Can justice come 
 to us only from opposition ? Thu . was there a dilemma, one 
 horn not more inviting than the ; t.her. The governor, there- 
 fore, once again, decided to play the Hindoo. One day, as 
 reform members sat listlessly a': their desks, Mr. Papineau 
 arose and moved a set of resolutions prs.ying for the rela:sation 
 of restrictions upon an official use '. f the French language 
 " Once more has the subtle Indian," whispered Mr. Baldwia to 
 the member who sat beside him, "delved a yard bviow O" r 
 mines." No one was astonished now when tlfC cunning or ; he 
 meanness of the governor camo to the surface. There was 
 only the feeling of mortification that he should hfive been per- 
 mitted to delve below the mines. 
 
 Parliament had no sooner opened than petition"^ " thick as 
 leaves that strew the brooks at Vallambrosa," be,ira"i to pour 
 into the house, some setting forth that one memhtr had ob- 
 tained his seat by the hybrid sin of " bribery and corruption," 
 others that perjured returning officers and partisan magistrates 
 
FROM TEE HUSTINGS TO TEE EOUSE. 69 
 
 had turned majorities into minorities, and sent the defeated 
 candidate of the government to the legislature. Some of the 
 ministerial supporters affected to disbelieve these charges ; 
 others said they were intolerable if trne, but not a few coolly 
 maintained that whether they were true or false was of little 
 consequence. The contest had been between rebellious sub- 
 jects and the authority of the Crown, they said, and in main- 
 taining connection with the glorious mother-land, and subor- 
 dinating our colonial functions to the jurisdiction of the Fans 
 Honoris and Speculum Justitice what their opponents were 
 pleased to call corruption and bribery, they were proud to 
 recogn -e is loyalty and zeal. It is not, perhaps, to be won- 
 dered at ohat when the Fountain of Honour was spoken of, 
 men k )l id cynical, and wondered why a governor drinking 
 from 'h .!. sacred source could do deeds so very dishonourable; 
 and lA- >■ i.he Mirror of Justice should reflect those atrocities 
 s^iiich hi' been so long a scourge upon the country. The fact 
 is but t<.( many regarded the fountain as a tainted well, and 
 ihe msr ^r as a mirage. 
 
 Yet, with all the intriguing of the governor, and tae pur- 
 chaseableness of some members, the government was like a 
 crazy r- .'p hat creaked under the pressure of every squall, 
 and gr.vc promise of going to pieces in the first storm. And 
 the old ship's position was made worse by the helplessness of 
 the crew in the lower house, who seemed to be navigating 
 their way through all the shoals that surrounded them without 
 captain or compass. The captain, Mr. Draper, was in the leg- 
 islative council, and could no more preserve unity and concord 
 among his followers below than a mother could rule a family 
 in the basement while she kept to the attic. It would give 
 much scandal to the conservative of this day who prizes loy- 
 alty to his party as not among the least of the political virtues 
 to walk back fifty years into the ages, and from the gallery 
 of the Canadian assembly see the discords and disloyalty of 
 the conservative party then. No day passed during which 
 
70 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 some prominent reformer did not ask a question which set the 
 hearts of the headless party there palpitating. Sometimes the 
 question was answered parrot fashion, or with that hesitation 
 with which an errand boy repeats over the message of the 
 sender. But the chief reply was that the government was 
 either considering, or would " consider the matter," though the 
 visible government, it came soon to be understood, was 
 only a sort of Mr. Jorkins, and the real government Mr. 
 Draper. Sometimes, indeed, a minister would burst " from 
 vulgar bounds with brave disorder," and answer an un- 
 decided question upon his own responsibility. But woe speed- 
 ily overtook him, for he was snubbed before the house ere 
 he had well settled into his chair, by a brother councillor. If 
 he had any retort in him, a scene generally ensued that scan- 
 dalized the party and set the opposition chuckling. The gov- 
 ernor's spies made notes of all these indiscretions and duly- 
 reported them. When the situation at length became intoler- 
 able it was decided that the head of the Family should come 
 down stairs. In the early part of February, therefore, Mr. 
 Draper published a card soliciting the jufFrages of the people 
 of London, asking them to reiterate their intention now " to 
 support the government of Sir Charles Metcalfe." Fancy Sir 
 John A. Macdonald, at this day, going up to the Forest City 
 and asking the people to reiterate their intention to support 
 " the government of Lord Lome ! " The impartiality of the 
 governor's character, we fear, would scarcely be an offset to 
 the offence. -And having spoken in one breath of the govern- 
 ment of Sir Charles Metcalfe, in the next Mr. Draper uttered 
 this lumbering sentence : " I am determined not to retain 
 office under responsible government under circumstances which 
 would cause a minister of the Crown in Great Britain to re- 
 sign." The Londoners swallowed Mr. Draper, contradictions 
 and all, and the government was saved for the time. 
 
 The faces of several prominent members of the old house 
 were missed from their places in the new. Mr. Francis Hincks 
 
FltOM THE HUSTINGS TO THE HOUSE. 71 
 
 was defeated in Oxford, but instead of playing Othello, he at 
 once turned his great energies and ability to his newspaper, the 
 Pilot, which he had established a few months before in Mon- 
 treal. The Pilot thereafter till the downfall of the Govern- 
 ment was the greatest newspaper power in the land. 
 
 John S. Cartwright, too, an uncompromising Conservative, 
 who probably believed that the rain would refuse to fall and 
 the corn to spring in a reform country, and that east w^ids 
 find every description of bad weather were sent by Providence 
 upon the reformers, was also missing from his place, It is not 
 recorded, however, that the earth ceased spinning, or the sun 
 to shine the day he stepped out of the political sphere. 
 
 The faces of many members destined to play a prominent 
 part in political life were seen there for the first time. Among 
 these were Mr. Ogle R. Gowan, the fiery Orangeman, Joseph 
 Edouard Cauchon, on whose political regis there yet appeared 
 no tarnish, and, above all the rest in ability and promise, the 
 member for Kingston, Mr. John A. Macdonald. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 DRAUGHTS FROM TORY FOUNTAINS. 
 
 THE session, as we have seen, commenced with much wrangle, 
 and all the batteries of the opposition, who possessed the 
 heaviest guns, were opened upon the government. Nearly 
 every member who " could talk " took some part in assault or 
 defence; but Mr. Macdonald sat unmoved at his desk while the 
 fray went on, " looking," says a gentleman who remembers 
 having seen him there, " half careless and half contemptuous. 
 Sometimes in the thick of the mSlde, while Mr. Aylwin acted 
 like a merry-andrew, and Colonel Prince set his Bohemian lance 
 against members indiscriminately, Macdonald was busy in and 
 out of the parliamentary library. I scarce ever remember see- 
 ing him then about the house that he was not searching up 
 some case either then impending or to come up at a later date. 
 He was for a great part of his time, too, buried in a study of 
 political and constitutional history." With Mr. Macdonald we 
 have already seen the faculty to conciliate and harmonize con- 
 tending factions was born, as well as assiduously cultivated; 
 and we may be sure he had no little contempt for a ministry 
 which every day paraded the mutual jealousies and antagon- 
 isms of its membei's before their opponents and the public. 
 This, indeed, was the very reason why he abstained, with not 
 a little silent scorn, from engaging in the debates ; this is why 
 he chose rather to store his mind with knowledge that would 
 endure, while others wrangled •r played the merry-andrew. 
 
 Some, who see a similarity in life and character from the re- 
 semblance of two locks of hair, have employed themselves in 
 
 drawing parallels in these later years between the subject of 
 
 72 
 
DRAUGHTS FROM TORY FOUNTAINS. 73 
 
 this biography and a young politician who had now begun to at- 
 tract attention in another parliament, that one reading the pour- 
 trayab could think of nothing but Martin and " the other 
 Martin " in " The Two Dianas." At the time of which we- 
 write, Mr. Disraeli had published books and got into parlia- 
 ment, but had shone with an uncertain light which so much 
 resembled a will-o'-the-wisp that no man would have cared to 
 follow it. With an overmastering love of Oriental display, to 
 him a suit of clothes was of more moment (han a set of princi- 
 ples, while the particular cut of a myrtle-green vest transcended 
 in importance the shape given to a bill of reform. " Clothes,'* 
 he tells us by the mouth of Endymion, when his race waa 
 nearly run, " do not make the man, but they have a great deal 
 to do with it." But there was in the beginning, and indeed to 
 the end, little resemblance between the two, as we shall see in. 
 the progress of our story. 
 
 The young member who has the affliction of being^ 
 "smart" is generally as great a nuisance as the boy com- 
 ing home from high school, to whom all knowledge is a. , 
 novelty; but Mr. Macdonald was as reserved as the staidest 
 veteran in that whole house. He assumed no airs when ho 
 arose to speak, and never attempted dramtatic or sentimental 
 flights, as did the man to whom he has been likened, in tho 
 outset of his career. He never spoke merely for the purpose 
 of talking, but only when that which he had to say threw 
 more light upon the discussion, added force to an attack, or . 
 strength to the defence. It is nou uninteresting to note that 
 the beginning of his long executive career was his appointment 
 on the 12th of December, 1844, to the standing orders com- 
 mittee. On the 21st of December there was much turmoil in 
 the assembly. During the elections held at Montreal, owing- 
 to the corrupting facilities in the hands of the govern- 
 ment, Hon. Geo. Moflfatt and Mr. 0. S. De Bleury had been 
 returned to the legislature. One Peter Dunn, and others, ac- 
 cordingly drew up a petition setting forth the irregularities. 
 
Ti LIFE OF SIP JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 of the election, and Mr. Ay I win, a reformer, and a gentleman 
 possessing a most flippant and annoying tongue, moved that 
 the election of the two members be declared void. The soli- 
 citor-general, Mr. Sherwood, held that the petition was insuf- 
 ficient, inasmuch as it was not competent to any person, not an 
 elector at the time of the election, to petition against a mem- 
 ber's return, and that t' «> law in Lower Canada required that 
 ten of the persons signing such a petition should take an oath 
 declaring their right to vote under the Act. But this petition 
 omitted to show these vital points, for which reason it was not 
 a valid subject for legislative action. Mr. Aylwin, in a deluge 
 of words, said the government was unnecessarily tied to techni- 
 calities. Mr. Baldwin, the leader of the reformers, said the 
 mere technical question with respect to qualification was en- 
 titled to no weight. The question now was not whether the 
 acts alleged in Dunn's petition were true or false, but whether 
 the legal formalites had been observed which Lower Canada 
 required. " Will any one tell me," quoth Mr. Baldwin, " that 
 if I had only obtained my elective franchise yesterday, I am 
 not interested in the manner in which the town or country 
 "where I reside is represented ? " Then Mr. Baldwin folded his 
 coat and sat down. Up to this time the young Kingston mem- 
 ber had uttered no word in the house save yea or nay. Many 
 members had heard of the clever Kingston lawyer who defend- 
 ed Shoultz, and overwhelmed Manahan, but he had sat there 
 so unobtrusively at his desk that many thought, really, but 
 little about him, regarding him as a quiet, lawyer-like politi- 
 cian, who seemed very industrious — for he was always reading 
 or searching books — and that was all. Now he arose, cool and 
 collected, to put an old member right ; not, indeed, some indif- 
 ferent member, but the renowned Mr. Baldwin, with whom 
 few, save the " know-nothing, fear nothing," members of the 
 government would care to have measured swords. He glanced 
 first at the speaker, then at the leader of the opposition. In 
 " reply to that gentleman's observations he would say that the 
 
DBA UOUTS FROM TOR Y FO UNTA INS. 75 
 
 hon. gentleman was mistaken in supposing thft the law did 
 not require partieS petitioning to bo resident at the place where 
 the elections took place, and that if they afterwards became 
 residents it would be sufficient. The hon. and learned mend)er 
 for Quebec did not adopt that line of argument because he 
 saw that it was an unsoimd one. The whole oi" the argument upon 
 the subject used by Sir William Follett, which had been referred 
 to, was sustained, and it was a principle not only of law, but of 
 conunon sen.se, that parties not residing at the place of election 
 cannot be aggrieved by the return. It could not be contended 
 that they had sustained a wrong, and it would be out of their 
 power to make the affidavit, required by the statute. The first 
 giound of objection was not answered in any way, because the 
 law of Lower Canada on this point was the same as the law of 
 England, and the arguments used must apply with equal force 
 in the one case as in the other. The second ground of objection 
 was equally unanswerable. It was true that the magistrate 
 had taken upon himself to state that the oath which had been 
 taken was according to law, but the house was the only com- 
 petent judge as to whether the oath had been so administered. 
 It seemed to him, therefore, upon these grounds that the peti- 
 tion could not be supported ; and to settle the precedent he 
 would move that the further consideration of the question be 
 deferred until the 11th day of January next." 
 
 A writer who draws an amusing picture of the phoenix-like 
 member for Megantic, Mr. Daly, and a not flattering portrait 
 of Mr. Sherwood, was present in the house when Mr. Macdon- 
 ald made his first speech. He tells us that " when Mr. Mac- 
 donald stood up to reply to the contentions of the opposition, 
 he addressed the house with as much ease as if speaking 
 there were nothing new to him. He had an air of confidence, 
 and was as truly master of his subject as if he had been 
 prime minister. Every eye was upon the young member as 
 he spoke, and as I saw the respectful attention that was paid 
 to him, I felt proud of Kingston." This gives us an idea of the 
 
76 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD: 
 
 manner of Mr, Macdonald on first addressing the house, but 
 the speoch itself tells us a much fuller story. It is not often 
 that the beginner in fence courts conflict with a master of 
 the sword. It is not often that a young politician, standing 
 up for the first time in parliament, courts issue with a veteran, 
 the leader of a great party, and a debate*; against whom none 
 save the reckless would have cared to match himself. But 
 this weight in his opponent was the very incentive that hur- 
 ried Macdonald to the conflict He had sat since the opening 
 of the house silent, often with scorn upon his lips, while 
 a series of little tempests raged about him, till now, he saw an 
 opportunity to worst the greatest opponent on the other side, 
 to end a wrangle, and establish a precedent. It is not to be 
 wondered at that the austere x*eformer glanced darkly from 
 under his brows at this young man whom he had not seen till 
 yesterday, who now stood up coolly rebuking him and expos- 
 ing his errors, as if the ex-minister were the novice, and the 
 novice the vetei*an. But the speaker spoke on indifferently. 
 For days he liad heard the house wrangle about these Mon- 
 treal seats, and now he fplt the time had come when the 
 brawling ought to cease, lie had looked for some member of 
 the government to end the turmoil, but had looked in vain. 
 The spirit of confusion had taken the bit in its teeth, and the 
 government was completely at its mercy. What old heads had 
 failed to do, at laat he did. He made a motion that at once 
 brought the barren strife to an end, and established a prece- 
 dent. His motion ended the disorder, a»id the house set free, 
 proceeded with its work. It is doubted by no one now that 
 both Messrs. De Bleury and Moffatt won their seats through 
 fraud and perjured instruments, but it was not Mr. Macdonald's 
 aim or concern to shield them in their ill-got places. To reach 
 them was made impossible by a fatal informality in Dunn's 
 petitions. His speech was a triumph for higher reasons — a 
 diff'erent speech from the first flight taken by the gaudy young 
 statesman in the British commons. 
 
DRAUGHTS FROM TORY FOUNTAINS. 77 
 
 From this time on to the first of FoUruary, wo moot not liis 
 name again in the mass of verbiage that fiowed from the 
 House. His silence during this period and the following ses- 
 sion has been much commented on, but we have already seen 
 that during a great portion of his time, while the wrangling 
 went on, he sat with bent head at his desk, poring over a book, 
 or was found searching, or making memoranda in the lil)rary. 
 But we suspect he was as deeply engaged in another direction ; 
 that then began the system of personal influence upon political 
 associates which has been such an important factor in the se- 
 cret of his success as a pprty leader. With most men noise is 
 one of the necessary accompaniments of advancement, but with 
 him it was different then as it has been since. He did not 
 gain the attention and admiration of the conservative party 
 by sounding his trumpet ; and later on, when he entered the 
 cabinet, he went in, so to speak, in his stocking-feet. Neither 
 did he accomplish this in the fashion of a Machiavelli, but 
 was sought after upon merits he had manifested without in- 
 trigue or display, and through a system of what we must re- 
 gard as something higher than mere tact, as indeed an ait 
 born in him with his birth, and a phase of only the rarest 
 genius. 
 
 On the first of February, Mr. Roblin introduced a Bill pro- 
 viding for the proper distribution of intestate property in 
 Upper Canada. He set forth that the law of primogeniture 
 was an evil tree to set growing in our country ; and drew a 
 touching picture of an expiring father dying intestate, whose 
 baby son wondered at all the faces gathered about his papa's 
 bed. Would the house believe, Mr. Roblin asked, that the 
 father was less anxious for the welfare of this infant son 
 thrown upon the cold world, than for the oldest son who might 
 have reached the years of manhood ? He therefore believed 
 that what Canada wanted was gavelkind. Such was the law 
 in Kent, and under it the children of the intestate inher- 
 ited in equal proportions. Mr. Baldwin believed that the Bill 
 
78 LIFE OF SIR JOUN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 was very defcctivt', but as the people of ITpper Canada desired 
 it, lie would vote for it. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin luul no sooner sat dorn, than tho provokingly 
 cool young lawyer from Kingston rose .igain ; onor luor i Ictoked 
 at tlu* Speaker, and from the Speaker to tho lead*v of tho 
 op|)osition ; then told " Mr. Speaker " that he " heard with .sur- 
 prise antl regret tho hon. ineniber f )r the fourth ridin<; of 
 York, after deeluring that the system now attempted to be in- 
 trodueed was open to great obj('ctions, state his intentitm to 
 support it. Pl(! had, indeed, always porsuailed himself that tho 
 hon. geTitleman's motto wa.s ' Flat jud'itla ruat ctvlam.' Ho 
 would vote for a measure whieh ho knew to be defective and 
 declared to be a bad one, simply because he had taken it 
 into his head that the people of Upper Canada required it, 
 
 , . . . How did ho know they did re(piire it ? There 
 were but two legal and parliamentary ways of ascertaining 
 what were tho opinions of the people, petitions and i)ublic 
 meetings, and then; had been neither of these in its favoJir. . . . 
 It was folly to raise a monarchical structure upon a republican 
 foundation Tho measure ought not to be intro- 
 duced here for i\v^ very reason that it was adoi)ted in tho 
 
 United States It violated the laws of political 
 
 economy, and was calculated to make the poor poorer ; to 
 make that which was a conifortable farm-house in one genera- 
 tion a cottage in *he second, and a hovel in the third. They 
 had heard that p •. mogeniture was a son of toryism, but surely 
 they would ace j[ I. the dicta of Blackivood's Magazine, a jour- 
 nal not much tr;d to toryism, against tho cutting and carving 
 up. . . . lu was the younger sons of England that had 
 made her great in peace or war. What would have been the 
 younger Pitt and Fox if instead of being sent forth to seek 
 their fortunes, the estates of their fathers had been divided ? 
 They would have been mere country squires. It was fortunate 
 for the Duke of Wellington and for his country that he was 
 left with his sword in his hand, and that sword all he had." 
 
DRA UGIITS FROM TOR Y FO UNTA INS. 19 
 
 Wo do not (jiioto theso extracts in admiiution of nil their 
 (loctrineM, but to sliow how deftly the young politician could 
 turn away the point of an opponent's 'irguiuent.and that oppo- 
 nent in the rij^ht ; and how he had yet to escape from his strong 
 tory shell. How ashanied of him his party would now be to 
 hear him from his placid in the Dominion parliament (kfi;nd 
 what (Jihbon calls the " insolent prerogative of primoj^'eniture." 
 How ashamed of him his party and the country now would bo 
 to hear him oppose a measure here "for the verv reason that it 
 was adoi>ted in the United States." But these opinions, held * 
 for some years later, were as the vapours that hang about the 
 face of the morning, but which are purged away Jis the strength 
 of the day advances. 
 
 We know that Mr. Macdonald's public life has been described 
 as " a series of contradictions," but in what statesman do wo 
 find " ttie morning song and evening song always correspond ?" 
 Mr. Gladstone, the very fountain of liberal virtues and great- 
 ness, for years after his first appearance in public life, bore 
 the nickname of " Pony Peel," and was regarded as an " Ox- 
 ford bigot," before the better light began to dawn upon him. 
 Because his father owned slave plantations in Demerara, ho 
 took ground upon negro emancipation that will not givo 
 a halo to his picture ; he opposed Jewi.^h emancipation, the 
 reform of the Irish Church, the endowment of Maynooth, and 
 several other just and liberal measures. He began his pub- 
 lic career, in short, not only as an obstructive tory, but as a 
 narrow bigot. Yet we sec not even the bitterest tory organ 
 in England describe his career as " a series of contradictions," 
 though it has been far more contradictory than John A. Mac- 
 donald's. Mr. Disraeli, during all the time he was prominently 
 before the public, was regarded at worst, as a sort of fantastic 
 tory, yet strange and contradictory was his beginning. He 
 began as a visionary radical, and formed one of the joints in 
 O'Oonnell's tail , iu his earlier books he evoked a clapping of 
 hands from relormers by his advocacy of free trade ; but won 
 
80 LIFE OF SIB. JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 pa. ty leadership by becoming the champion of protection. In 
 " Lothair " he sneered at the aristocracy, and then knelt l>cfore 
 its shrine. He denounced it as a " Venetian oligarchy," and 
 then described it as comprising " the dignified pillars upon 
 which order and liberty rest." Yet in after yeans when the man- 
 tle of rule descended upon him, even his opponents forgot these 
 things, for they had been done and said when there was nei- 
 ther responfr'ibility nor experience. 
 
 A man is not born wise, but the way to wisdom lies open to 
 every man, and he is furnished with a light to guide him by 
 tliat way, and that light the understanding. If he falter by 
 the way ortui-n into the crooked bye-i)aths, then does he be- 
 come accountable to his fellow men and receive the judgment 
 of history. A man who first sets foot in the bewildering paths 
 of public life is like unto one who has just begun to learn a 
 trade. Experience is his school, and there must be many a i- 
 fective blow dealt, many a wrong ^tt p made before the appren- 
 tice comes out a master of his craft. We have no training 
 schools unfortunately where we can send candidates for public 
 life, but are obliged to accept the unfit and unready, and leave 
 them to learn their trade while they are doing our journeymen 
 work! It is not surprising that the "botches" seen in our 
 egislative halls are so many and the handicraft often so very 
 bad. Neither, unfortunately, is it always the ablest and most 
 suitable students in the political trade that we send at the poli- 
 tical journey-work ; but often men of a low intellectual stamp, 
 who never read a suitable book in their lives, who know noth- 
 ing and really care less about great political questions, and 
 whose passport to public favour is joviality in the bar-room 
 or at the billiard table, and the ability to talk blatant vulgarity 
 on the " stump " at election times. Few of the really worthy 
 men, those who watch the trend of events, who read and think, 
 can be induced to enter into a field so degraded, but retire 
 away to their libraries; though probably, if one of these 
 men did come, he would find himself distanced far in the race 
 
DRAUGHTS FROM TORY FOUNTAINS. 81 
 
 by some demagogue who excelled him in drinking beer, driv- 
 ing fast horses, and "treating" friends in the saloons. We 
 have a legion of reformers in this country, but will some of 
 thorn not come forward and begin to refv^rm here ? As well 
 may they wrangle with the winds as many of the questions 
 against which they have set their lances. If the people, after 
 hearing both sides of a plain question, put with clearness and 
 force, decide to have N. P. or N. C, let them have it It 
 is they alone who are concerned. But the question of the 
 intellectual and moral ca))acity of the candidate for legisle- 
 tive place touches the root of the whole political system. 
 If you elect to represent you a man with a low moral char- 
 acter, depend upon his turning corruptionist if he get the 
 chance; and it is but too often the case, in all parts of 
 our Dominion, that a man who has no moral or social stand- 
 ing, and who has failed at everything else — in commerce, 
 in law, in medicine, and not unfrequently in divinity — turns 
 politician, sells himself to the highest bidder, and ever after- 
 wai'ds makes it the aim of his life to get all of the public 
 funds he can, welcoming the means, whatever their character, 
 to that end. . ; 
 
 Well, Gladstone and Disraeli were not exceptions in being 
 " off with the old love." Peel, who began his career as a tory 
 of the tories, was not struck with the light till two years after 
 Mr. Macdonald had entered public life, and then suddenly an- 
 nounced to the house that he had changed his mind on the 
 whole subject of protection, on the policy that he had advo- 
 cated all his life, and was now converted to a belief in free 
 trade. Yet history relates the change without discredit to his 
 memory, although it came when he was in his fifty-eighth 
 year, the very meridian of his powers. Only a few days ago a 
 noble lord, whose toryism had been pronounced, and who 
 fought side by side with Disraeli in many a pitched battle 
 against Gladstone, entered the great liberal's cabinet as colo- 
 nial secretary. And really the torias whom he deserted had 
 F 
 
82 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 less to say ubout the defection of the (listinguishcd peer than 
 some of our critics about the utterances of a student politi- 
 cian delivered durin*^ a reign of jrjiitical chaos, and in the twi- 
 liglit of opinion. We are noL apologizing for inconsistency 
 liere, but justifying a wliolesonioaiid honest change, of opinion. 
 Iv would be an evil i)rincii)lo thao required a legishitor to 
 Oj)pose tlio adoption of the locomotive because, b(!foro tho 
 in loduction of the steam engine, he had favoured the stago 
 coach. No; Lempora mutantur, at no8 mutamur in illia. 
 For tho remainder of the session, Mr. Macdonald sat uncon- 
 cernedly at his desk, save when he arose to make a motion or 
 introduce a measure. He had not grown less contemptuous 
 for Ins opponents or warmer towards his friends; but sat there 
 waiting, with cool pliilosophy, for that tide to come, which, 
 " taken at the flood leads on to fortune." Once indeed, on tho 
 2()th of February, he was aroused from his indifference by a 
 wrangle which seemed to be interminable. Mr. Aylwin had 
 persisted in interrupting Mr. Mofiatt till he was named from 
 the chair. But beyond the naming, no one on eitlier side 
 seemed to know how to proceed. Sir Allan was nonplussed, 
 ministers looked on bewildered, leading reform members arose 
 only to add to the confusion, while the merry-andrew who had 
 raised the squall, bandied words defiantly with tho house and 
 the chair, seeming to say in effect, " I have been named ; here I 
 am; what are you going to do with me ?" While the house 
 sat puzzled and confounded, there was a movement at a quiet 
 desk, and the cool member for Kingston arose. He looked 
 around the confused house, and from the house to the chair. 
 "The member for Quebec has been named," he said; "he 
 might now explain the cause of his being called to order after 
 which he must withdraw." And he took his seat. The words 
 threw light upon the house but a formality was yet needed. 
 Aylwin still kept the floor, hurled abuse indiscriminately, and 
 defied the chair. Members looked from one to the other, and 
 
VII A .'^ aifTS Fli OM TOR Y FO UNTA INS. 83 
 
 laanyoycH were turnod to tho tl(3sk of £ho mcmhor for King- 
 scon. Again ho arose. " As tho niomV)er for Quoboo chooses 
 to continue in the same strain, 1 move tliat ho withdraw." 
 Tiiis punctured tho liubblo, and Mr. Aylwin apologized. Tho 
 incident goes to sliow tho cool prompitudo of tho young politi- 
 cian, when others who must have understood the formalities, in 
 tho confusion, had forgotten them. 
 
 It was hoped by Sir Charles that the appearance of Mr. 
 Draper in the lower chamber would secure tho harrnou ' of 
 the members, but the tendency was to disruption instead of 
 cohesion. With a loud flourish Mr. Draper had stated in the 
 beginning of the session that the government would stand or 
 fall with the University Bill ; with cynical faces the opposi- 
 tion saw him bring tho measure down ; saw his supporters 
 .shrink away ; saw him eat the leek, withdraw the Bill upon 
 the second reading, do everything, in short, but keep his word 
 and resign. They remembered, too, that only a few weeks 
 before he had told tho people of London that he would not 
 retain office under circumstances that would oblige a British 
 minister to yield up the seals. 
 
 At this date, it appears, the conscience of Sir Charles Met- 
 calfe began to sting him, in proportion as his government 
 lost ground he exerted himself by art and wile to prop it up, 
 till, eventually, as his biographer tells us, he began to fear 
 that he had lowered his honour, and appeared to himself 
 somewhat of a trickster. But, though he had degraded his 
 high office, the homo government considered he had done 
 his duty well, and wrote to him that he had been ennobled. 
 It is not surprising that when an address was moved in 
 the legislature, felicitating him on his honours, many a 
 member said tliat he could not congratulate either Baron 
 Metcalfe or the House of Lords ; and that instead of being 
 honoured with gauds and title he ought to have been re- 
 called and tried for high crimes and misdemeanors. If the 
 
8* LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 denunciation was extravagant, it was certainly not without 
 its excuse. 
 
 Shortly after the prorogation of parliament a destructive 
 fire broke ou*^ in Quebec, consuming 1,G50 dwellings, two 
 churches, a ship-yard and several lumber yards. Neaiiy 
 2,000 persons wei turned penniless and a/lrift upon pubic 
 charity. Assistance ra[)idly poured in from every quarter, ai\d 
 the governor-general, who took active measures in soliciting 
 subscriptions, generously headed the list with 82,000. 
 
 The end of poor Metcalfe's mortal career was drawing close 
 to him now. His old malady, cancer in the face, had broken out 
 afresh, and was dragging him down remorselessly to the grave. 
 They sent out a physician from the colonial office with a 
 sovereign wash* for the disease, but thcpatient was beyond the 
 reach of human skill. During the early winter he crossed the At- 
 lantic to his seat at Basingstoke and died there. It is said that 
 in private life he was kind and courteous, aad good to the poor ; 
 and that many a tear was shed to his memory. His epitaph 
 was written by Macaulay, who makes the marble toll posterity 
 that," In Canada, not yet recovered from the calamities of civil 
 war, he reconciled contending factions to each other and to the 
 mother country," and that " costly monuments in Asiatic and 
 American cities attest the gratitude of the nations he ruled." 
 This, however, only lessens our faith in epitaphs. It proves, 
 too, that Byron was not all astray when he told us in the 
 " English Bards and Scoccli Reviewers," not to 
 
 " Believe a woman or an epitaph, 
 / Or any other thing that's false." 
 
 It was during the spring of this year that the gallant com- 
 mander Sir John Franklin sailed away with high hopes from 
 England to meet his death among the thunders of ice in the 
 dismal North, 'ihereafter it was that many a whaling crew 
 
 • Chloride of Zinc. 
 
DBA UGirrS FROM TOR Y FO UNTAINS. W, 
 
 at ni;,'lit in Northern Lays sang while the tempest howled and 
 icoborgs rumbled the touching song, 
 
 In Bantling Bay while the whale blows, 
 
 The fate of Franklin no one knows ; * ♦ * 
 
 and told, how, often in the wierd light of the aurora bore- 
 jilis the brave commander and two of his compaiiy, clad in 
 white, were seen gliding swiftly by bound for the frozen pole. 
 
 
 I 
 
 ■ I • * 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE LIGHIS OF '44. 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY DRAPER, whose commanding pres- 
 ence and sweet silvery voice would attract anybody 
 who visited the gallery of the legislature, was born in Lon- 
 don, England, in 1801. His father was rector of a High Epis- 
 copal Church there, but the son yearning for adventure left 
 the parsonage when a mere lad and entered as a cadet on board 
 an East Indiaman. Here he had plenty of the adventure that 
 falls to the middy's share, but tiring of the " floating palace," 
 as Marryat describes the East Indiamen of those days, and 
 even the allurement of a tiger hunt in the jungle after the voy- 
 age, the young rover, in his twentieth year, reached Canada, 
 and settled down to the less romantic employment of teaching 
 school in Port Hope. But this new occupation was only a 
 stepping-stone and did not detain him long. He studied law 
 and was called to the bar, taking up his residence in Toronto* 
 or what was then known as Little York. In 1836 Toronto 
 elected him to the legislature of Upper Canada, and the fol- 
 lowing year, at the invitation of Sir Francis Bond Head, he 
 took a seat in the executive without a portfolio. During 
 the battle of smoke at Gallows' Hill he was an aide- 
 de-camp to the governor ; became solicitor-general in 1837, 
 and attorney-general in 1840, succeeding, to the latter office, 
 Hon. Cliristopher A. Hagerman. Mr. Draper was a tory. He 
 staunchly upheld the union of Church and State, but did not 
 consider that any church, save his own, had the right to an offi- 
 cial existence. Dear to him, above every f eatui'e of government, 
 
 86 
 
THE LIGHTS OF 'U. ■ 87 
 
 was the prerogative of the Crown, which he looked upon as a 
 constitutional safeguard, never indeed regarding it as a tyranni- 
 cal engine, even when it kept the majority under its heel 
 and domitted the governing power to the minority. Yet, ac- 
 cording to the light he had upon political liberty, he was a 
 good man, and loved his country well. The fact is, he regarded 
 "popular riglits " as a doctrine so full of evil, that, it would, 
 if granted, undermine our stately systems and plunge the whole 
 governmental fabric into ruin. As all good and thoughtful men 
 to day regard the doctrines of communism, so did he regard 
 the principles of the reformers. During many a year he was 
 a brake upon the great-rolling wheel of progress, but in his 
 obstruction saw only the duty of the patriot. He possessed a 
 graceful form and a commanding presence ; and when he ad- 
 dressed a jury, in his earlier years, or his fellow legislators in 
 later life, so rich and courtly was his eloquence, so sweet and 
 insinuating were the tones of his voice, that he won for him- 
 self the name of " Sweet William." He had a subtle know- 
 ledge of human nature, an inexhaustible fund of tact when 
 beset by difficulties to mollify oppon-^nts, and "make the worse 
 appear the better reason " ; yet he ne\er had a large personal 
 following, and could not hold together the incongruous ele- 
 ments of the cabinets he led. It is not as a politician that he 
 endures in our memory now, but as the justice .of the dignified 
 presence and silvery voice that for thirty years adorned the 
 bench with his high character and great judicial insight. He 
 died on the 3rd of November, 1877, being then in his 77th 
 year, regretted for his lofty character and great abilities. 
 
 Robert Baldwin, the great Reformer, and son of Dr. William 
 Warren Baldwin, of Summer Hill, Cork, Ireland, was born at 
 Toronto in 1804. In 1789 his father and grandfather emigrated 
 to this country and settled in the township of Clarke, Ontario, 
 but removed afterwards to Toronto, where young Dr. Baldwin 
 betook himself to the dual profession of law and medicine, prac- 
 tising both for a time, and the law exclusively in later years. 
 
88 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 with marked success. About six months oefore his death, 
 which occurred ia 1844, he was called to the legislative council 
 of Canada. In 1825 Robert, who was now twenty-one year?,, 
 entered upon the practice of law with his father, and the firm 
 was thereafter known as " Baldwin &; Son." In 1829 a va- 
 cancy occurred in the representation of York, by the resignation 
 of Chief Justice Robinson, and Robert Baldwin was called 
 out by the liberals to oppose the candidate of the Family 
 Compact, Mr. Small. Young Baldwin, like his father, was op- 
 posed to the outrageous system of government which then pre- 
 vailed, and being of a singularly lofty and honourable char- 
 acter, and of marked ability, his entry into the field of politics 
 created much attention. It was a time surely to fire any man 
 who had in him the love of fair play, and could rise above 
 personal or class interests. Of the twelve years from 1824 to 
 1836, the government was in a minority in the popular branch 
 for eight years, a fact which some of the tories declared at 
 the time to be " annoying, but not of much consequence." Mr. 
 Baldwin was elected despite the array of government strength 
 he found in the field ; and on his entry into the house at once 
 began to assail the odiousness of the existing system. In 183G 
 he went to England, and while there sought an interview with 
 the colonial secretary, Lord Glenelg; but that languid gentleman, 
 who reminds one of Frederick Fairlie in the " Woman in White," 
 refused to see him, though he was good enough to intimate 
 that he would attend to communications in writing upon the 
 subject. Mr. Baldwin's efforts availed little then, but the prin- 
 ciples for which he strove were soon to triumph. The report 
 of Lord Durham not long afterwards, which set the tory world 
 aghast, was a powerful auxiliary. In 1840 Mr. Baldwin be- 
 came solicitor-general under Mr. Draper, with the approval of 
 the reform party, and the year following the union was ap- 
 pointed attorney-general for Canada West. This position he 
 retained till the meanness and tyranny of governor Metcalfe 
 forced himself and his party to resign office and make way for 
 
THE LIGHTS OF '44. 89 
 
 a government by the minority. We may as well anticipate 
 the remainder of his career. He remained in opposition till 
 1848, when he again became leader of the government, which 
 position he retained till 1851. At this period he bade farewell 
 to public life, retiring full of honours, and surrounded by af- 
 fluence, to his seat at Spadi.na, Toronto. Here he died on 
 December 9th, 1858. Throngs of people from every surround- 
 ing part streamed in to his funeral, to attest their love and 
 respect for thifi good and noble-minded statesman. 
 
 Robert Baldwin married a sister of the late Hon. Edward 
 Sullivan, who bore him severr.l children. One of these enter- 
 ed the church, and another went to sea, while a daugh- 
 ter married Hon. John Ross. Mr. Baldwin was somewhat 
 above the middle stature, of stout build, and .slightly stooped 
 at the shoulders. As a speaker he was not captivating, but ho 
 was convincing, for every sentence seemed to come from a 
 deep well of conviction ; and though he hesitated as he spoke, 
 and broke and marred his sentences, his aims were so noble 
 and so good that he always received the ])rofound attention 
 and respect of his auditors. In disposition he was mild and 
 affable, but he could not woo popular favour by the smaller 
 arts which, in many men, are the passport to popularity. 
 Yet he was neither cold nor forma'l, and all who came to know 
 hini closely were captivated by the sweet sincerity of his 
 character. "We have seen a private letter that he wrote to a 
 friend in Kingston, who had decided to enter political life, and 
 from it wo gather that he was not enamoured of the public 
 sphere. " I confess," he says, " was I to put public inter- 
 est out of the question, it would be more the part of a private 
 friend to wish that you might be disappointed, for politics are 
 certainly a most thankless and profitless occupation. Do what 
 one will, sacrifice what one may, and his conduct is misrepre- 
 sented and his motives maligned, and the only consolation left 
 is the consciousness of having done one's duty." Well is it with 
 the statesman who, opening his heart, can say that he has done 
 
00 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 his duty. Well has it been with the high-minded, the good 
 Robert Baldwin. 
 
 One of the most remarkable men in appearance and ability 
 in the house was Mr. Louis Hypolite Lafontaine. He was a 
 son of Antoine Menard Lafontaine, who had been a member of 
 the parliament of Lower Canada from 171)G to 1804, and was- 
 born at Boueherville, in October, 1807. He began life as a bar- 
 rister, and applied himself diligently to liis profession, accumu- 
 lating a handsome fortune. Wlien the oppressions of the little 
 Britisli cli(iue became intolerable, he was found among the 
 daring young spirits at whose head was Papineau, who 
 met to discuss ways of throwing ofi' the hateful yoke. Later 
 on he became the rival of Papineau, and put himself at the 
 head of la jeiine France ; " and the priests shook their heads at 
 his orthodoxy." He was on the search for liberty then and 
 often hinted at throwing ofi' the " ecclesiastical fetters " as well 
 as the yoke of the Compact. In 1837 he fled the country from 
 a warrant for high treason, passed over to England, and thence, 
 in some trepidation, silently slipped across the Channel to 
 France. There was no evidence against him, however, and an 
 ironical letter he had written to Mr. Girouard on the absurdity 
 of rebellion was taken literally, and went far towards i*emoving 
 him even from suspicion. His little tour had a wonderful ef- 
 fect upon him, for he came back, not only a good loyalist, but 
 a pious Christian. He went to mass ostentatiously, frequented 
 the sacraments, and muttered his Ave Marias aloud. The priests 
 killed the fatted calf on his return, and he became a pet and a 
 light of Holy Church. In 1842 he reached the goal of his po- 
 litical ambition, by being called to the cabinet as attorney- 
 general East, but the next year, with his colleagues, fell a 
 victim to the snares of the governor-general, and resigned. In 
 1848, when the tory fabric tumbled down, he again came in as 
 attorney general East, which position he retained till 1851. 
 Two years later he was appointed Chief Justice to the Queen's 
 Bench of Lower Canada, and in 1854 was created a baronet of 
 
THE LIGHTS OF 'U. 91 
 
 the United Kingdom. Ho was married twice, first to AdMo, 
 only (laughter of A Berthelot, advocate, of Lower (.*anada, antl 
 Becondly to a widowed hidy of Montreal. Ifo left no issue. 
 
 Mr. Lafunt'iine was a man of a very commanding appearance. 
 He luid a strikingly handsome face and a magnificent forehead 
 ■which was said to resemble strongly that of Napolecm the 
 First. " He was not," says the writer of WaHlnngton Sketches, 
 " an eloquent speaker, liis utterances being thick and guttural, 
 and Ids English, though good in structure, bad in pronunciation." 
 He was a close and very decided reasoner, never losing his 
 temper ; but having formed many of his ideas arbitrarily from 
 books he was tied to theories and dogmatical. He frecjuently 
 showed a passion for the impracticable in poHtics, and was vain 
 of liis knowledore of the British constitution, of which one keen 
 critic at least, said he knew nothing. He was an honourable 
 opponent, but his resentments were as undying as his attach- 
 ments. In liis judicial capacity he excelled, and down to his 
 death added a lustre to the dignity and efficiency of the Bench. 
 
 The Speaker of the Assembly, the Hon. Sir Allan Napier 
 MacNab was born at Niagara, in 1798. While a lad at school 
 the Americans attacked Toronto, and he was " one of a number 
 of boys selected as able to carry a musket."^ The lad then 
 entered the ship of Sir James Yeo, where he was rated as a 
 midshipman, and accompanied the expedition to Sacket's Harbor 
 and other points. Promotion being slow on ship-board, he joined 
 the 100th Regiment in which he saw some service, and subse- 
 quently entered upon the study of law. In 1825 he was called 
 to the bar, and some mouths afterwards began to practice his 
 profession in Hamilton. Up to this period he had been a victim 
 to irapecuniosity, having been " compelled to restrict his peram- 
 bulations within the charmed circles of the blue posts which in 
 these times marked the boundary that must not be passed by a 
 bailed debtor."f 
 
 • Morgan ; " Biographies of Celebrated Canadians." 
 •I- Dent's "Last Forty Years." 
 
p LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 In 1829 he was elected to parliament for Went worth, hav- 
 ing created sympathy for himself among the tories. He was 
 speaker of the last parliament held in Upper Canada, and 
 when the rebellion broke out hastened from Hamilton to 
 Toronto with his men of Gore, and dispersed the deluded band 
 that Mackenzie had gathered about him at Montgomery's 
 tavern. Later in the year, he ordered the cutting out of 
 the Caroline, which was surrendered to Niagara Falls-. 
 "We have already seen that he was chosen by the tories as 
 speaker of the second parliament under the Union. We shall 
 meet his figure again, all important v/ith its gauds of honour, 
 and shall not anticipate his career. He was not of much con- 
 sequence as a politician. He had a good presence and could 
 make a ready speech, but he lacked all the essentials of an or- 
 ator, and the tact that charms one's friends and mollifies his 
 enemies. Though his speech was jagged and often lumbering, 
 he was always drawn up in the order of be tele, ready to level 
 a lance against any opponent, whether he know his mettle or 
 not, or to rush into the most intricate queslion that he knew 
 nothing about. Sir Allan would have been a better man had 
 they not spoiled him with their gauds and knighthood. It is 
 not every man who is equal to the carrying of a ribbon or a 
 star, or a C. M. G. to his name. Sir Allan was not. The mo- 
 ment that the title fell upon him, his usefulness departed ; 
 he seemed to feel that he had been absorbed bv the Crown, 
 and drawn out of the coarser and unholy atmosphere of com- 
 mon life in which he had formerly lived. Henceforth his duty 
 was to guard faithfully the interests of that Crown of which 
 he felt himself a part. Prosperity and honours are often con- 
 vincing tests of a man. They are what fire is to the metals. 
 From the ordeal only the gold issues unchanged. And, ., .; 
 
 Hearts that the world in vain have tried, .'- -, 
 
 And sorrow but more closely tied; 
 • _ That stood the storms when wat'os were rough, 
 
 Yet in a sunny hour, fell oflP, 
 Like ships that have gone down at sea, 
 When heaven was all tranquillity. 
 
THE LIGHTS OF 'U, 93- 
 
 Dominick Daly, the son of Dominick Daly, by the sister of 
 the first Lord Wallscourt, was born in Galway, Ireland, in 1798, 
 and married in his twenty -eighth year the second daughter of 
 Colonel Ralph Gore, of Barrowmount, County Kilkenny. He 
 studied law, was, in due time, called to the bar; but not 
 caring for the legal profession, came out as secretary with 
 governor Burton to Quebec. Shortly after lus arrival he 
 became provincial secretary for Lower Canada; and on the 
 accomplishment of the Union became provincial secretary 
 for Canada, and a member of the board of works, with a seat 
 in the council. He retained the provincial secretaryship till 
 1848, when he was driven out of office by the reformers. He 
 sat in gloomy state three years longer for Megantic, and then 
 betook himself to Engla^id whsre he petitioned the govern- 
 ment for a substantial recognition of his twenty-five years' 
 faithilul service in Canada. In answer to his prayer he was 
 appointed successively to the governorship of Tobago, Prince- 
 Edward Island, and Western Australia, and received a knight- 
 hood. If ever henchman deaerved reward at the hands of the 
 Crown, Dominick Daly did. His idea of political duty was 
 to show unswerving fealty to the Crown, and support every 
 government that came to power. He was a body upon which 
 the political sun never set. When a government, of which he 
 was a member waxed strong, Dominick became full of party 
 sinew and vitality ; but as that party waned and the end 
 drew near, the colour faded out of him; he became a 
 sort of political jelly-fish, and calmly awaited the change of 
 parties, when he developed new affections, a new frame, and 
 fresh marrow and muocle. Like Mejnour of the Rosy Cross,, 
 he saw rulers come and go, and parties wax and wane, and 
 fall to pieces, and rally and grow great again ; but time nor 
 change affected him. In the best of nature he assisted the 
 successor of Burton and his clique to thwart and oppress 
 the French majority ; and he aided Durham in laying the 
 broad foundation of an enduring liberty. He strove with 
 
«4 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 Sydenham to found the basis of an equitable political sys- 
 tem ; and he aided Metcalfe in strangling popular rights. He 
 was courteous and genial in private life, had strong personal 
 friendships, and was a pious adhei'ent of the Catholic faith. He 
 believed that the king could do no wrong, and that the duty 
 of the subject was to obey the sovereign or the vice-regent, 
 unquestioningly, under every circumstance. He would be an 
 odd figure upon the scene now, and even in his day was a 
 curiosity. He was the amarantus of the cabinet, its never- 
 fading flower ; but his enemies used harsher prose, and named 
 him the " Vicar of Bray," His preferments in after days to 
 high place and title, is an eloquent commentary on the wisdom 
 and discrimination of Downing Street. 
 
 Another noted man of this Parliament was Robert Baldwin 
 Sullivan. He v as born in Ireland, but emigrated to Little 
 York when only a lad, and studied law there in the office of 
 his uncle, Doctor Baldwin. While a student ho was appointed 
 legislative librarian, and, we are told, made the most of his 
 opportunity among the political records. He was admitted to 
 the bar about 1825, but not thinking himself qualified for 
 city practice, moved to the county of Middlesex. But his suc- 
 cess in two cases, especially in the libel suit of the demagogue 
 Collins, attracted much attention, and he was invited to remove 
 to Toronto. He accepted the invitation, moving thither in 
 1828. In 1834 he entered public life, opposing William Lyon 
 Mackenzie for the mayoralty of the newly incorporated town 
 of Toronto. Up to this period, his liberalism in politics had not 
 been doubted. But it appears he now became disgusted with 
 Mackenzie and his most zealous supporters, who, whatever their 
 political virtues, were noisy and coarse, and could easily be mis- 
 taken for demagogues. From this date an estrangement grew 
 up between him and the reform party, and when Sir Francis 
 Bond Head offered him a seat in the council, he readily threw 
 himself in with the Compact. He was a member of Sir George 
 Arthur's council, and lent his strength to putting the rebellion 
 
THE LIGHTS CF 'U- 9$ 
 
 down ; was also in the cabinets of Lord Sydenham, Sir Charles 
 Bagot, and Lord Metcalfe. Strangely enough, under the gall- 
 incf rule of the latter, he returned to his first love, retired from 
 office with his colleagues, and afterwards attacked Metcalfe in 
 a number of slashing letters signed " Legion." In the Baldwin- 
 Lafontaine cabinet, under Lord Elgin, he was provincial 
 secretary for a time, and was elevated to the bench in Sep- 
 tember, 18-t8. He died on the 14th April, 1853. 
 
 Mr. Sullivan's public career would not be a good model to 
 hold up to the aspiring politician. He was a brilliant and 
 powerful speaker, but he had no convictions, and upon the very 
 subjects, in discussing which, he lashed himself into the whitest 
 heats, he often felt the least. In every man is born a moral in- 
 stinct which I'eveals the difference between right and wrong, and 
 points out those principles that are the great highways in the 
 moral field ; but not to all men is given that perception in the 
 same degree. In some indeed the duty path is plain as the 
 lines that scar the brow, while to others so vague appears the 
 way that they are ever in doubt, and cross and recross the faint- 
 traced path unconsciously. Mr. Sullivan was one of this latter 
 <;lass. He had warm and generous impulses that came from 
 his soul, but he would tell you after he had made a speech 
 upon some great principle, that thrilled, if not convinced, every 
 one who heard it, that he did not believe a word of what he 
 had said himself, and that with as good or better reason he could 
 have made a superior speech upon the other side. Not un- 
 like Voltaire, when he said to the young infided, " You say I 
 have made it as clear to you as the sun in heaven, that there 
 is no God ? — then it is by no means so clear to myself !" In his 
 day Mr. Sullivan was the meteor of the political sky. 
 
 With M. D. B. Viger, at one time a noble patriot, we need 
 not concern ourselves at any length. He was bom in Lower 
 Canada, studied law, and at an early age took part in the 
 movement for political freedom. In 1834 he proceeded to Eng- 
 land, and laid the grievances of the French people before the 
 
# LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD, 
 
 government ; and in 1837, rose with Papineau into rebellion. 
 He was arrested for treason and thrown into prison; hut on 
 being released was returned again to parliament by a sweep- 
 ing majority. He was also elected to the first parliament un- 
 der the Union, and took his place prominently among the re- 
 formers, Mr. Viger was a mild and venerable man, who no 
 doubt loved his country, but it is hard to resist believing that 
 he was somewhat jealous (as old men nearly always are of 
 young rivals) of the young French leader. He did not forget 
 that this leader, M. Lafontaine, had been once a lad in his 
 office, and from his lips learned his first political lessons. 
 Now the people had forgotten the master and rendered homage 
 only to the student. When the reformers were forced out 
 of the cabinet, Metcalfe, we need not doubt, had his eye upon 
 the venerable patriot, and, master of cunning that he was> 
 poured into the old man's ear a long tale of flattery, telling him 
 that he was the father of the French people, and their rightful 
 leader ; and that therefore it was he wished him to take a seat 
 in the council. Whatever the wily governor said or did not 
 say, the old man walked into the trap, and covered his lustrous 
 age with no little ignominy. He lived to a very old age, and 
 was serene to the parting moment. The account of his last 
 hours is touching reading, and we linger by the bedside to see 
 the glared eyes brighten for a moment, while the dying man 
 utters, with his parting breath, "J'aiTne mon Dieu, et faime 
 mon Pays." 
 
 Looking through the house among the opposition, we see 
 another figure deserving special notice. This was a man of 
 low stature, with a bright eye and an electric movement. 
 John Sandfield Macdonald was born at St. Raphael, in the 
 County of Glengarrj', Upper Canada. His grandfather, a 
 Scottish Highlander and Roman ('atholic, had emigrated 
 thither from Scotlan'l in 1786. There was a good deal of 
 romance in the youthful days of this politician. He left the 
 paternal roof at the age of eleven, we are told, resolved to do 
 
THE LIGHTS OF '44. 97 
 
 for himself in the world. Discovered many miles from home, 
 he was taken back against liis will, but he soon took an oppor- 
 tunity to start off the second time. On this occasion, as he 
 was bargaining with an Indian at Cornwall to paddle him 
 across the river to the United States, the Indian demanding a 
 half a dollar, and the lad having only a quarter, his father 
 came up and again carried him home. He soon broke away a 
 third time, and hired with a store-keeper for three years at a 
 sliding scale of salary, £10 for the first year, £12 10s. for the 
 second year, and £15 for the third year. He removed after 
 two years to a store in Cornwall, but abandoned the position 
 in a few months, and entered upon a study of law with Dr. Urqu- 
 hart of the same town. Th(} following occurrence, it is related, 
 turned him from mercantile pursuits to the law : One day, 
 while out in the streets, ho was pelted with snow-balls by 
 urchins, who, at the same time, contemptuously called him 
 a " counter hopper." It was not for the snow-balls he cared, 
 but he was stung with the thought that the calling he had 
 adopted couid be flung reproachfully in his face.* In June, 
 1840, he was called to the bar, having completed his studies in 
 the office of Mr. Draper. He was first elected to parliament 
 after the Union, in March, 1841, and joined himself with the op- 
 position, though he had no love for Sir Allan MacNab, the leader 
 of that party. Up to this time Mr. Macdonald had loose 
 notions about political principles — by the waj , he always had 
 — but when Metcalfe developed into a political tyrant he 
 joined the ousted ministry ; and it was because political treach- 
 ery was revolting to his mind that we find him now sitting 
 among the opposition benches. Though we shall meet him 
 again, we may as well anticipate some of the events in his 
 career. Although a Roman Catholic, he opposed separate 
 schools ; and his clergy denoimced him from their altars. But 
 he was very dear to the affections of his brother Highlandmen, 
 
 * Morgan: " Biographies of Celebrated Cauadians." 
 
 a 
 
98 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 whom he could address fluently in Gaelic ; and they voted for 
 him despite the dicta of the priests. At the election of 1844<, 
 there were 18,000 inhabitants in his county, Cornwall, and of 
 these nineteen- twentieths were of Scotch descent; while of 
 Macdonalds alone there were not fewer than three thousand 
 two hundred, all of whom spoke Gaelic. Four j'^ears before 
 this date Mr. Macdonald married a lady from Louisiana, the 
 daughter of a United States, senator and owner of a large 
 plantation of negroes. His after career is not uninteresting, 
 and we shall see this nervous man, with the bright eyes, often, 
 before our story closes. 
 
ii^sIL. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE LAST DAYS OF TORYISM. 
 
 WHILE ths struggle for constitutional government was 
 going on in this country, three great questions pro- 
 foundly stirred the rainds of men in the mother land. One of 
 these began thirteen years before within the hallowed walls of 
 Oxford, when the conviction dawned upon the" sweet and saintly 
 Keble," who has been likened to Goethe's star, a soul " without 
 haste and without rest," that the Church of England had wan- 
 dered from the apostolic road into the world's by-ways, and 
 that, while the body grew out into fair proportions and decked 
 itself in purple and fine linen, the soul within it languished to 
 the very gasp of death. And Keble, sore in spirit that his 
 beloved church should see such an evil time, told his sorrows, 
 and gathered around him some of the most sincere and lofty 
 spirits in England. Within the college walls, one evening, as 
 the wind murmured through the classic trees, with Richard 
 Hurrell Iroude, Dr. Pusey,John Henry Newman and others, he 
 inaugurated the movement that first became manifest by the 
 publication of the series of arguments contained in the " Tracts 
 for the Times." Bold and searching were the arguments in 
 these papers, startling, if not audacious, were their doctrines. As 
 tract after tract appeared, the thinking world became profoundly 
 stirred, and the bishops turned uneasily in their chairs. It 
 would have been easy to hush the voice of the skeptic or the 
 unbeliever within the walls of Oxford, and the church, whether 
 papal or episcopal, has never hesitated to enforce silence by 
 authority, while the nerve remained to her arm ; but here the 
 
 99 
 
100 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 bench of bishops was met by the thrilling appeal of some of 
 the most pure and lofty spirits in the realm, men who neither 
 doubted nor disbelieved, who aimed not to pull down the 
 church, but to build her up, to make her better and not 
 worse, and who had disco veiod but too many unpleasant 
 truths which they dragged into the light by the aid of a 
 merciless and all-penetrating logic. So they calmly bowed 
 their heads before the storm, though their mighty fabric rocked, 
 and braved the rack till " No. 90 " came rolling from the press. 
 This was the most famous of the series, was written by New- 
 man, and was the climax to which the whole curr*^nt of the 
 argument had hitherto been tending. The bishops at once 
 took the alarm ; the vice-chancellor and the heads of houses 
 met ; they condemned the tract and censured the writer. The 
 voice you may still by force, but opinion you cannot stifle. 
 Newman had entered upon a vast field of speculation ; and 
 those who saw the trend of his thought, must have known that 
 only one church upon earth for him could be a staying-place. 
 He still taught in the college and in the pulpit, and, in the 
 words of Mr. Gladstone, was " all the while, without ostenta- 
 tion or effort, but by simple excellence continually drawing 
 under-graduates more and more around him." He went to the 
 continent, and wandered through classic cities like a man in a 
 dream. In these wanderings the whole world to him seemed 
 dark, and he, himself, as an infant groping hi>-i way to find a 
 home. It was then his spirit breathed, and he wrote, that 
 sweetest of our English hymns, that, pealed now upon ten 
 thousand organs through all Christendom : 
 
 " Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, 
 Lead Thou me on ; 
 ■ . The night is dark, and I am far from home ; — 
 
 Lead Thou me on." 
 
 He returned to England teaching with all the sweet earnest- 
 ness of his nature; and while he knew not where his haven lay, 
 or whither his footsteps tended, the eyes of observant men saw 
 
THE LAST DAYa OF TORYISM. 101 
 
 that he was travelling fast to Kome. His secession staggered 
 the church of which he had been the most brilliant star ; and 
 twenty-five years afterwards Mr. Disraeli describes his separa 
 tion as having " dealt a blow to the church of England, under 
 which she still reels." While we do not believe that the falling 
 away of any one man could, to this extent, injure a church 
 with a throne and government forming two of its constant 
 bulwarks, we may suppose that the secession was a serious loss. 
 But Newman, in a simple surplice, preaching in a modest epis- 
 copal chapel, was a far greater menace to the episcopacy, than 
 Newman with a cardinal's hat, or thundering out of the chair 
 of Peter. When he went over to Rome the danger was past, 
 and the wildly agitated heart of the established church at- 
 tained its normal, sober beat. 
 
 While the divines saw with trepidation the movement in 
 the theological world, politicians were filled with interest in the 
 struggles of the giant O'Connell for a repeal of the union. 
 They had heard him say, and they knew the tremendous force 
 he would employ to keep his pledge, " The year 1843 is, and 
 shall be, the repeal year." They saw the whole of Ireland 
 rise as a man at his call and stream from the mountains and 
 out of the cities in thousands, headed by their priests, with 
 the regularity of soldiers, to attend his monster open-air meet- 
 ings. The fame of the agitator and his movements were known 
 over the world, and distinguished strangers visited Ireland to 
 hear the man in whose word, and voice, and gesture there was 
 some witching power, potent to move to tears or laughter, to 
 pity or indignation, the tens of thousands of his countrymen 
 who gathered in the fields at his call. When Lord Metcalfe 
 began the play the tyrant in Canada, O'Concell was addressing 
 surging crowds among the hills of Kerry, and appealing to 
 " yonder blue mountains where you and I were cradled " The 
 fame of O'Connell and the hopes of his followers were not un- 
 known in Canada ; and not a little of the zeal in the cause of 
 Metcalfe and the Crown was kindled on the hustings by the 
 
102 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 reminder, from some wily tory, that the air was full of the 
 " spirit of this repeal," that they " wanted separation in Ire- 
 land, and less would not satisfy them in Canada." But the 
 great fal/ric that O'Connell raised was destined to pass away as 
 dissolves \ihe picture in a troubled dream. And almost as sud- 
 den as the fall of the movement, was the fall of its originator. 
 Now we stand spell-bound in the gallery of the commons listen- 
 ing to " the thunder of his eloquence ;" Charles Dickens, while 
 a reporter in the gallery, is so moved by the pathos of one of 
 his speeches that he has to lay his ^/oncil by ; the discerning 
 critic, Lord Jeffrey, r ^gards all other-, .vhom lie hears as " talk- 
 ing schoolboy " comp red with Uie ag'.tator. Yet a litde, yea> 
 in three short years and we see i.iUi i aking his last speech — 
 this giant who so took the fane- of L .>rd Ly tton among his 
 native mountains, that he made hem tbvi , i Lj i^t of a poem — 
 tottering feebly by a table. "His nppc \: ?..,:'■) was of great de- 
 bility, and the tones of his voice ver ve);, ,;till. His words, 
 indeed, reached only tijose who were , >tn"fM,T(,e]y around him, 
 tlie ministers sitting on the other f? .le of the green table, 
 and listening with that interest and re. tjoctful attention which 
 became the occasion. ** * It was a strange and touching 
 spectacle to tho.?e who remembered the form of colossal energy,. 
 and the clear and thrilling tones that had once startled, disturbed 
 and controlled senates. » » * jj^ ^^^ ^ performance in 
 dumb show ; a feeble old man muttering before a table."* He 
 longed now to get away to Rome, to soothe his spirit in the 
 shadow of her wing and there lie down to rest. He hurried 
 away just as the shadows of famine began to gather over 
 his beloved land, struggled to Genoa, on his way to the holy 
 city, and there died. 
 
 The most engrossing movement of the three, perhaps, was 
 that which stirred the whole commercial /Vame of Great 
 Britain — the question of a tax on corn. This movement had 
 
 * Disraeli. 
 
THE LAST DAYS OF TORYISM. 103 
 
 been sec on foot and carried out with a force and a success be- 
 fore unequalled, by those unique and singularly honest and able 
 politicians, Richard Cobden and Johr. Bright. Those were the 
 two gifted men who could, in the words of Kinglake, " go 
 bravely into the midst of angry opponents, show them their 
 fallacies one by one, destroy their favourite theories before their 
 very faces, and triumphantly argne them down." Thii de- 
 scription helps us to understand how a government cho'en to 
 maintain the duty on corn tihould suddenly announce its con- 
 version to the doctrines of f 'ee trade ; and how Sir Robert Peel 
 could stand boldly up in the parliament four years after his 
 ebv^iion to maintain the duty, and fiankly tell the house : " I 
 will not withhold the homage wi ich \h due to the progress of 
 reason and truth by denjing that my opinion on the subj( ct 
 of protection has undergone a change." The sudden revolution 
 in English opinion on ihis quostion created much surprise 
 and some excitement here, but though Peel fell in the moment 
 of victory, and a young rival seized the occasion to raise him- 
 self to eminence, no hand has since succeeded in renewing the 
 life of the corn laws. They are dead, and, we doubt not, will 
 sleep now till the sound of the last trumpet. 
 
 In the autumn of 1845 a period of chilling winds and wet 
 prevailed in Ireland, and the potato crop, the mainstay of 
 the great majority of the wLrking people, began to rot in the 
 ground. The extent of this calamity will be understood when 
 it is learnt that large numbers of the labouring class received 
 no wages, but tilled the fields of the land-owner on the " cot- 
 tier-tenant system" ; that is, giving their labour for the use of a 
 patch of land in which to plant potatoes. Generations, in many 
 districts in Ireland, had grown up and passed away, and never 
 tasted flesh meat, unless fortune sent a rabbit, pei'haps once in 
 the year, through the hedge, when it was stealthily dispatched 
 wjth a pitchfork, conveyed home under the mother's cloak, 
 and eaten in uneasy silence. So when the long-continued, 
 drizzling days set in, am^ the potatoes began to rot in the 
 
104 LIFE OF SIP. JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 ground, a feeling of horror crept over the country. Not a 
 county escaped tho d'^vaatating hand, but the southern and 
 western districts faied the worst, and were soon plunged into 
 all the horrors of famine. Hundreds of persons, wandering 
 aimlessly along the roadside, searching in vain for f< > d, fell down 
 and died. To add to the horror of the famine, ar; epidemic, 
 known as " famine fever," set in, and with this a teniblv- form 
 of dysentery. Between these frightful scourges, and hunger, 
 thousands were carried away; thei»' dead bodies lay in the 
 ditches, and the towa authorities refused any longer to burthen 
 the living with expense in providing coffins for the dead. In 
 the early sta-^es of the mortality coroners held inquosts, and 
 juries often brought in verdicts of wilful murder agninst Lord 
 John Russell or tho lord lieutenant, either of whom, it was 
 believed, could have furnished relief to the starving popula- 
 tion. Crowds of girls and young women, tortured with hun- 
 ger, came from the mountains and the villages, and entering 
 the city, smashed the windows of shops, and committed every 
 possible act of destruction to property, in the hope of being- 
 sent to jail, where they could get food to oat. 
 
 The gloom of this reign of horror was somewhat enlivened 
 by the appearance upon the scene of a fashionable French 
 cook, M. Soyer, who appeared in silver buckles and shininj^ 
 velvet, at the head of a soup kitchen in Dublin under the 
 patronage of the lord lieute. nt. The object of the cook's 
 appearance seemed to be less :o relieve the hunger of the suf- 
 fering th^or -3 than to demonstrate a nice scientific point over 
 whic' ho had long been 1 ooding; namely, that the extent to 
 vlii''!. the ii) habitants of the earth up to that time had eaten 
 was an exce'^y and a folly, and thn.t a strikingly su.itaining 
 f'l'iage jouhi l>e produced out of the thinnest and cheapest 
 articles of food. A character in one of Scott's novels had an old 
 mare upon which he applied the same principle, however, loqg 
 before the day of the dandy French cook. This individual 
 began by lessening the ral ion of hay to his poor old beast from 
 
THE LAST DA TS OF TC R YISM. 
 
 day to day, aiming to bring the daily f'>>d down to one straw ; 
 and he would have been s'lccessful, wt , suppose, had not 
 the " puir naig" died the day before ho irade the final experi- 
 ment. Frightful though this famine was u\ all its conse- 
 quences of death, and riot, and crime, w , caii scarce help regard- 
 ing it as Goldsmith looked upon the French revolution — a 
 "blessing in disguise." From a pop ilation of six millions, 
 overcrowded in sties too filthy even for the brutes, the number 
 of Ireland's inhabitants foil to four millions. If that famine did 
 nothing but let in additional air and sunshine upon these re- 
 maining four millions it '^uroly cannot be called a scouige. But 
 it did better thtia this • it taught the peasant that there are 
 other lands besides his own dreary bogs and sterile itoantain- 
 sides, lands where there- is V^read to be had for honest toil, and 
 where rack-renting and the miseries of an organized pau- 
 perdom is not known. Thereafter, the inhabitants, with a new 
 hope, turned their faces to the setting sv/i, and there saw the 
 laud of their dcliveram x They poured into Canada daring 
 the dark year following f.he famine, 70,000 in the one iseasoii 
 alone. On the Atlantic voyage, hadflleJ together in worse 
 plight t)mn the cattle wc, now sliip'i, Briti.sb maxkt.ts, in j-lH the 
 filth and misery of a load of negroes under a s-aver'3 haltjhes, 
 they sickened of fever an<i dysentery ,uni3 died like sheep. 
 Through the summer long they poured in uporv (xro^se lale, till 
 the fever broke out with redouble I v',oloi.\ce RtAong the filthy 
 and pent-up hovels, and the very air tha^. biev. abo'.t. the island 
 was loathsome, and instinct with death. " Army after army 
 of sick and suffering people," McMullon tells us, " fleeing 
 from famine in their native land to be stri'^ken down by d;^«.th 
 in the \^illey of the St. Lawrence, stopped in rapid succession at 
 Grosse Isle, and then, leaving numbers of their dead behind 
 them, pushed upwards towards the lakes in overcrowded steam- 
 ery to burden the inhabitants of the western towns and villages." 
 The inhabitantf . without regard for race, colour, cr religion, 
 gave all the etssistance in shelter, food and clothing 10 the suf- 
 
106 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 4 
 
 ferers that they could ; but there was a bitter feeling abroad as 
 ships carried in cargoes of Lord Palmerston's tenants to add to 
 the others already living upon public charity. The people could 
 have borne the load of sharing their own scanty store with 
 the sufferers, but it aroused their indignation to think that the 
 British Government should utilize Canada merely to get rid of 
 useless and burdensome subjects. No pen can describe the 
 horrors among the miserable and filthy mns^es that sweltered 
 in their fever and poisonous dirt under the summer sun on 
 Grosse Isle, or the anguish of mothers separated from their 
 babes and children in the wild hurly-burly on board the 
 ships and during debarkation. Scores of children who could 
 not yet lisp their own names were thus thrown upon public 
 charity, and at least one of these, a weakly infant, alone in the 
 fumes of the plague, exposed to die, was taken in by kindly 
 people, and is nov»^ a leading member in one of our Provincial 
 Cabinets. Like the child of Zanoni that smiled through all 
 the tumultuous horrors of the French revolution, we see this 
 infant deserted 'mid the pestilence of the rirer isle, and hear 
 the words, " See ! the orphan smiles. The fatherless are the 
 care of God." 
 
 When Metcalfe left Canada to die, the old dispute about the 
 Oregon boundary took on an alarming face, and our people ex- 
 pected grievous trouble. As early as 1818, an attempt had 
 been made to harmonise the claims of the British and the 
 United States governments to a portion of the territory lying 
 between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific coast, but the 
 negotiations failed, and the disputed regions n ere left to a joint 
 occupation. For many years the debatable land seems to have 
 escaped the attention of both countries, till the fertility of the 
 Pacific slope and the value of some, of tne ports for naval sta- 
 tions came to be known, when the question suddenly assumed 
 a serious prominence. The joint occupation was continued 
 down to 1843, when the president of the United States peremp- 
 torily, if not insolently, called for a prompt settlement of the 
 
THE LAST DAYS OF TORYISM. 107 
 
 question. The Monro doctrine must have been strong in the 
 minds of the quarrelsome party in the United States then, and 
 the call of the president in 1843 does not seem unlike a summon* 
 to the British nation, to show cause why her subjects should not 
 be swept off the continent, and on what grounds at ail they 
 claimed a foothold there. The C^anadians had not learned then 
 as well as they know now, that it takes a good deal of Ameri- 
 can bluster to make one cannoQ shot, and that a noisy presi- 
 dent or a party in warpaint d.os not represent the whole spirit 
 of the republic But the Canadians became alarmed at the 
 noise, nrd looked to their muskets. The British government 
 expet'ed to see the glove thi-own down eveiy moment, and 
 appomted a military governor, who had instructions to put the 
 frontiers in a state of defence, and make the country ready for 
 war. The governor chosen, Earl Cathcart, a brave soldier who 
 had seen fire in Holland and the Peninsula, and had three 
 horses shot under him at Waterloo, was an admirable selection 
 at such a cr' ',is. But the threatening cloud blew away before it 
 broke ; the compromise of Lord Aberdeen, the foreign secretary, 
 was accepted, and the treaty of Oregon made. This provided, 
 among other things, that the dividing line along the disputed ter- 
 ritory should be " the forty -ninth degree of latitude from the 
 Rocky Mountains, west to the middle of the channel, separating 
 Vancouver's Island from the mainland; thence southerly through 
 the middle of the channel, and of Fuca's Straits to the Pacific." 
 By this treaty Vancouver's Island remained to Great Britain, 
 as also the free navigation of the Columbia river. On this 
 basis the question rested for a time, to be disturbed again dur- 
 ing the framing of the treaty of Washington. Shrill war's 
 alarms having now subsided. Earl Cathcart was relieved of his- 
 civil responibilities, and a new governor sent out. 
 
 The da}' the evil genius of the tory government left Canada to- 
 die, the fate of the Family Compact was sealed. Removed from 
 the subtle charming of the gove mors voice, poor old Viger came 
 to see the unlovely place he held, and, smitten with remorse, re- 
 
108 * LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 signed the presidency of the council, and pi-actically disappeared 
 from the political scene for ever. Mr. W. B. Robinson, who had 
 resigned the inypector-generalstiip a year before, became commis- 
 sioner of public works, and Mr. John Hillyard Cameron, one of the 
 most brilliant legal stars in the horizon, then in his thirtieth 
 year, became solicitor-general Instead of Mr. Sherwood, who 
 earned removal by having shown contempt for the government, 
 and hostility to Mr. Draper, Nearly every day brought a change, 
 or the rumour of a change in the cabinet, and the govern- 
 ment seemed not unlike the dying man, who, racked with pain, 
 now takes one end of his couch and now another in the hope 
 of bettering his condition. Weary of the tu-moil of public 
 life, and disgusted with the bitter fruit it brings, Mr. Draper 
 yearned to spend the remainder of his life in the rest and calm 
 of the bench ; but whenever he spoke of moving there was a 
 general rising at the cabinet seats, as if not one, but all, would 
 be the premier, and he was obliged to forego I'etirement till a 
 successor without a rival appeared. 
 
 It was during this time that many eyes were turned to the 
 member lor Kingston, as a rising hope of the declining party, 
 but he seems not to have been anxious to "go on board 
 a ship that was foundering." Yet the impression went abroad 
 and got into the public prints, that the membei for Kingston 
 was about to enter the cabinet. A Toronto paper, violently 
 opposed to the government, but an admirer, evidently, of Mr. 
 Macdonald, heard the rumour, and told its readers rather sadly : 
 " Mr. John A. Macdonald is marked for another victim ; he too 
 vrill speedily be a flightless bird." A Montreal journal, which 
 has not since ceased to support Mr. Macdonald, told its readers 
 something different. " The appointment of Mr. Macdonald," 
 it said, " if confirmed, will, we believe, give universal satisfac- 
 tion. A liberal, able, and clear-headed man, of sound conserv- 
 ative principles, and unpretending demeanour, he will l-e an ac- 
 quisition to any ministry, an J bring energy and business habits 
 into a department of which there have been for many years. 
 
THE LAST DATS OF TORYISM. 109 
 
 under the present, and still more under preceding manage- 
 ments, many complaints." But this was a time when govern- 
 ment was sustained only for plunder, and some of ui.ose- 
 who had worn the harness long in the tory cause — who had 
 voted for the good and the bad, and lent themselves to every 
 scheme of their masters — threatened rebellion if any more 
 " recruits " were taken into office. Macdonald took the dis- 
 appointment with philosophical coolness, told his friends that 
 he did not suppose the world was coming to an end very soon, 
 that he could " afford to wait," and added : " The condition of 
 our party must be worse, before it is better." During the pre- 
 ceding session he had sat, as usual, industriously at his desk ;. 
 but in one discussion which came up he took a part which ia 
 interesting to us now in view of an important act of legis- 
 lation of his later life. 
 
 On the first of May, Mr. Cay ley had a resolution before the- 
 house seeking to regulate a scale of differential duties on im- 
 portations in leather manufactures, which was bitterly oppos- 
 ed by some of the reformers. Among those who warmly de- 
 fended the resolution was Mr. Macdonald, and what he said is 
 interesting, because we have heard that in adopting the " na- 
 tional policy," as in o\ ler matters, he was only " the creature 
 of expediency," and din lot believe the principle of protection 
 to be good. But it will interest, if it will not discomfit, those 
 who say this, to learn that on the 1st day of May, 1846, Mr. 
 Macdonald stood up in his place in the Canadian parliament 
 and told " hon. gentlemen that there was no reason in their 
 opposition to these resolutions ;" that " had they studied the 
 question they must have supported them," that " the measure 
 of the hon. gentleman was really a protective one, and as such 
 deserved unanimous support;" for "it would prevent the 
 trade of Canada from being subject to the competition of Ame- 
 rican artisans, and not among the least to the artisans of Ame- 
 rican penitentiaries." 
 
110 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 And now drew on the last days of toryisra in Canada. Its 
 sun was low in the sky, even when Metcalfe put his dignity 
 by and appealed to party in the name of the Queen. It lay 
 not in the power of man or any combination of men to bring 
 the life back again to its palsied limbs. Toryism is the policy 
 of stagnation, the force that opposes change and progress. It 
 <:annot live where the will of the people is supreme. It was 
 put upo.1 its trial in Canada, in the summer of 1848, and fell, 
 never again to raise its head. We know the term " tory " is 
 still applied to one of our great parties, and that we are told 
 ^' toryism still lives;" but surely our informants are those who 
 are not acquainted with the history of public parties in the 
 past, or who understand the genius of political opinion in the 
 present. But after all, it matters really little what we call our 
 parties now, since there is not necessarily a connection at any 
 time between the name and the nature of any thing. It is not 
 so long ago since a profound and dogmatic thinker would be 
 styled a " duns," because he resombled the over-learned and 
 profound Scotus. Now, that name dunce we apply only to a 
 blockhead — and not more striking has the difference between 
 the Duns of six hundred years ago, and the dunce of now 
 become, than between the tory of 1840, and the tory of 1883. 
 
 In the autumn of 1846, Lord Elgin, the greatest of Canadian 
 governors up to his day, Durham excepted, arrived in Canada. 
 He was a member of the tory school, and the reformers became 
 sore afraid when they heard of his coming; yet they had already 
 learnt how really little there is in a governor's party name. 
 When Sir Francis B. Head came they posted proclamations upon 
 the fences, but before the little boys tore down the placards, 
 they began to learn how sorely they had been deceived. 
 When Metcalfe, " the great liberal," came, they had no letter 
 black enough in their type-cases to print their " Welcomes ; " 
 a day came upon them when ink was not dark enough to paint 
 his character. But when Bagot, ' the tory," came, they hunf^ 
 down their heads in gloom ; and w^ere wearing mourning faces 
 
TUE LAST DATS OF TORYISM. Ill 
 
 when he called their leaders to his cabinet. Lord Elgin was 
 a nobleman in the peerages of Scotland and the United King- 
 dom, and was a Bruce of the illustrious house which had for a 
 member the victor of Bannockburn. In 1842 he had been ap- 
 pointed governor of Jamaica ; and upon the change of govern- 
 ment in England in the summer of ]84G,and the establishment 
 of peaceable relations between the imperial and United States 
 governments, was sent out to Canada. Shortly before departing 
 for his seat of government he married his second wife, Lady- 
 Mary Louisa, the eldest surviving daughter of the late Lord 
 Duiham, but left his bride tc» follow him when the tempestuous 
 sea; on passed. lie arrived here in the early winter, and at 
 once threw his whole energies into the work before him. It 
 was plain to those who watched his movements with an intel- 
 ligent eye that he had studied the political condition of Canada 
 before he passed the Atlantic ; nay, more, he alarmed the apos- 
 tles of the Compact by telling the inhabitants of Montreal : " I 
 shall best maintain the prei'cgative of the Crown by manifest- 
 ing a due regard for the wishes and feelings of the people, and 
 by seeking the advice and asisistance of those who enjoy their 
 confidence." He had studied carefully the doctrines laid down 
 by his riustrious father-in-law and found they were good. He 
 soon masteied the condition of affairs in Canada, and saw, so 
 his biographer* tells us, that in the ruling party " there was no 
 real political life ; only that pale and distorted reflection of it 
 which is apt to exist in a colony before it has learnt to look 
 within itself for the centre of power." He frankly and heartily 
 assisted the effete and unrepresentative body he found in office, 
 but plainly told them that he should as cheerfully and not less 
 heartily assist their opponents. The governor was doubly tied 
 to his duty. Canada had long been looked upon as a stormy 
 sea, studded with breakers, where administrators were as likely 
 to meet with shipwreck as to win laurels ; and he was deter. 
 
 * Walrond. 
 
112 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALV. 
 
 mined to avoid the rocks. Then, as dear to him as his own 
 success was the reputation or' his father-in-law, Lord Durham, 
 which still trembled in the balanct, and must so remain till 
 the principles he laid dov/n had been worked out for weal or 
 woe. He was here to win a reputation for himself in follow- 
 ing out the principles laid down by the father of his absent 
 bride : we may be sure most earnestly did he set himself to his 
 duty. His manly form was seen at several public meetings, 
 exposed to the ilerce winds of our Canadian winters, and he 
 had not appeared upon many platforms before it was learnt 
 that he was the most eloquent speaker in Canada. 
 
 In the spring following his arrival the dying man of the 
 tory cabinet shifted his place once again. Attorney-general 
 Smith resigned, and Hon. Wm. Badgley took his place. '' Your 
 turn has come at last, Macdonald," said Mr. Draper, as he wait- 
 ed on the Kingston member, and told him that the receiver- 
 generalship was at his disposal. Macdonald took the post, and 
 thenceforth the cabinet had the benefit of advice, which, if pos- 
 sessed at an earlier day, might have saved it froin a doom that 
 now no human hand could avert. Once again Mr. Draper 
 yearned to be rid of the turmoil of public life, and the com- 
 panionship of faithless friends, and offered the premiership to 
 John Hillyard Cameron; but staid supporters of the dying 
 ministry said the young lawyer had not yet won his spurs \ 
 and Mr, Sherwood, who now appears to hav^ had a small fol- 
 lowing, threatened to secede. Cameron did not press his claims, 
 if it can be said that he had any claims, and Mr. Sherwood 
 saw the ruling aspiration of his life gratified. In the speech 
 opening the session, the governor announced the relinquish- 
 ment of post-office control by the imperial parliament, and the 
 repeal of differential duties, in favour of British manufacturers. 
 The old hull of the Compact ship, the vessel in which they had 
 sailed so long, and enjoyed the privilege of office with all its 
 spoils, was exposed to a merciless, we may say a murderous, 
 fire from the opposition guns, and though division after divi- 
 
THE LAS": DAYS OF TORYISM. US 
 
 sion showed that the government was In. a sad minor ty in 
 the liouse, ministers said naught about resignatio. '. The sun- 
 set of Mr. Drarer's political life seemed to have given him 
 mystical lore, and the speech he made reviewing his own 
 career, and setting forth his opinion on tl.e duties of ministries, 
 might have been regarded as a valuable death-bed sermon. 
 Like Saul, the scales seemed to have fallen from his eyes of a 
 sudden, and that which he had never seen before, though he 
 must have heard it times without number, was instantlv re- 
 vealed to his vision. He told, in no boastful spirit, that he 
 liad always tried to serve his country to the full extent of his 
 powers, and dwelt with no little feeling — indeed, shed tears as 
 he spoke — n the ingratitude of men at whose hands he had 
 descT-ved better things than conspirac}' and calunmy. He gave 
 no uncertain sound when he came to speak of responsible go/-' 
 ernment. That, he said, was the only method by which the 
 country could be governed justly and well. 
 
 After the close of the session another shuffle was made of 
 seats in the doomed cabinet, and Mr. John Macdonald, whose 
 administrative ability commanded general attention, wp.s ..e- 
 moved from the receiver-generalship to the office of crcwn 
 lands, t'len the most important' department in the public ser- 
 vice, and one that in the past had been most shamefully, if not 
 criminally, mismanaged. Here he established a new and better 
 order of things, reducing confusion and delay to order and 
 promptness, till, during the brief tiiie his place was vouch- 
 safed to him, the report went abror.d that if the government 
 were effete and incompetent they iiad, at least, among them 
 one master business head. 
 
 In December a dissolution was granted, and for the last 
 time the cause of toryism app'^aled for support to the electo- 
 rate of Canada. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 EULINQ TN S.ORM. 
 
 THE reformers entered the contest with cheerful faces, and 
 the tories fought sullenly on the deck of their sinking 
 ship. A change had come over the country since the autumn 
 which saw the governor-general the leading spirit in one side 
 of a party contest. The public is sometimes an impulsive and 
 not too just arbiter between men or questions ; but it is possess- 
 ed of a broad generosity, and is certain to show sympathy 
 eventually, for that one to whom it discovers, on reflection, it 
 has done injustice. And, as Carlyle expresses it, since it is al- 
 ways " revising its opinion," it is certain sooner or later to dis- 
 cover if it has gone wrong. A demagogue may succeed for a 
 time in leading the public into extravagance, or gross error, 
 but sober, second thought, is sure to come and set its judgment 
 right. Percival Stockdale thought the public always wrong, 
 because as often as he gave them his verses, so often did they 
 cast them aside, after a hasty glance ; the author going back to 
 the country comforting himself on " the verdict of posterity." 
 But Percival lives now only among " The Curiosities of Litera- 
 ture." Whenever you see a man who has had an opportunity 
 of stating his case, whatever it maj' be, before the people, and 
 see them withhold their approbation, be assured that the pub- 
 lic is not stupid, or unjust, and that the man is another Perci- 
 val Stockdale. 
 
 By foul means, and through false cries, a verdict had been 
 wrenched from the public against Mr. Baldwin. He bore his 
 defeat with that proud patience which the gods love and me a 
 
 114 
 
RULING IN STORM. 115 
 
 admire ; and now that he came before the peoplo, the same 
 lofty and upright character that they had always known him, 
 his principles unchanged by time, sincere and true, to ask of 
 them, in their sober, second thought, for a verdict again, near- 
 ly all the wholesome sentiment in the country rallied around 
 him. He went to the polls with ringing cries, cries that at the 
 Jate election were called the voice of treason. Once again he told 
 his hearers, who were now in an impartial mood, that " he was 
 not disloj'al, nor were his followers rebels ; but this they con- 
 tended for, nothing more, and nothing less, that what the Queen 
 would not be permitted to do in England, we should not per- 
 mit the governor to do in Canada. Tories had proclaimed 
 from their hustings that responsible government, as sought by 
 the reformers, would be insufficient, and unworthy of Canada ; 
 but he had unbounded faith in its adequacy." And some 
 writer used the apt figure that, as in the unfettered working of 
 the ocean, lay the secret of the purity of its waters, so in the 
 untrammelled operation of colonial government lay the secret 
 of its justice and purity. 
 
 In Lower Canada, the people, the great bulk of whom were 
 reformers, were loudly jubilant and lit bonfires before the 
 opening of the polls, in anticipation of a sweeping victory. 
 The question that most agitated public gatherings there was 
 that of recompense to persons who had suffered losses, either by 
 the rebels or the soldiers, during the uprising of 1837. The re- 
 bellion of 1837-38 had no sooner been put down than resolu- 
 tions were introduced into the legislature of Upper Canada 
 providing for the appointment of commissioners to investigate 
 the claims set forth by certain loyal inhabitants for damages 
 sustained during and by " the late unnatural rebellion." The 
 report of these commissioners was made the basis of further 
 legislation during the following session; while the special 
 council of Lower Canada had provided by ordinance a recom- 
 pense for loyal persons in that province whose property had 
 been injured or destroyed during the collision between Papi- 
 
116 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD, 
 
 ncau's followers and the soldiers. But neither the act of the one 
 legislature, nor the ordinance of the other met the demands of 
 a large number who had sutlered by the rising. There came 
 from every quarter, demanding compensation, men whose pro- 
 perty had been injured or destroyed, not by the rebels, but by 
 the agents of authority. Nor can we wonder at the nature or 
 the number of supplications, when we take into account the 
 loyalty of the soldiers. Their zeal, we are told in the records 
 of this unfortunate time, did not end when thev had left the 
 poor habitant soaking his coarse homespun with his heart's 
 blood on the field where he fell, but they directed their might 
 against pioj)erty in tainted districts, tiring outbuildings and 
 dwellings, slaughtering cattle, and, it is not hai-d to believe, 
 only ceasing, like Alexanders, in sorrow, because there was 
 naught else to conquer. But in the most disaffected districts, 
 there were some whose adherence to authority had been un- 
 flinching, who deplored the uprising, and gave no counteny-nce 
 to the rebels ; and these came forward now asking lecouipense 
 for butchered cattle and demolished dwellings. 
 
 Accordingly, shortly after the union, an act was passed ex- 
 tending compensation for losses sustained at the hands of p< rsons 
 acting on behalf of Her Majesty in " the suppression of the s/ad 
 rebellion, and, for the prevention of further disturbances," but 
 the operation of the act curiously enough was confined to 
 Upper Canada alone. Lower Canada, where the conflict had 
 been the greater and the more bloody, where the trained sol- 
 diery had been let loose, and scores of the innocent with the 
 guilty, felt the weight of the arm of authority, was not admitted 
 within the pale of the recompense law. Therefore it was that 
 in 1845 the assembly passed another address praying Sir Charles 
 Metcalfe for a measure which would " insure to the inhabitants 
 of that part of this province, formerly Lower Canada, indemnity 
 for just losses during the rebellion of 1837 and 1S38." This 
 change of ministerial attitude is curious reading now, but the 
 wheel had gone round since 1 842. Here and there among the 
 
RULINJ} IN STORM. Ut 
 
 remnants of the ancient party was a man who saw the drift of, 
 public opinion, and one of these w.as Mr. Draper. He saw that 
 his party was being every day pushed nearer the brink of the 
 precipice, that French votes and sympathies were on the other 
 side ; and, as drowning men will cUitch at straws, seized upon 
 the faint hope of wining Lower Canadian support by authoris- 
 ing commissioners to enquire inio the " losses sustained by 
 loyal subjects in Lower Canada during the rebellion, and the 
 If/sses arisinff and growing out of lh»; f <aid rebellion." The com- 
 misiioners were instructed to distinguish between rebels and 
 loyal subjects, but they soon found that every claimant on his 
 own showing, had always been unswervingly obedient to the 
 lav;. Men who had fired at soldiers out of flint muskets and 
 hacked at the law officers with scythes, came forward claiming 
 compensation for their losses as the reward of their loyalty. 
 The C(>mmissioners were non-plussed. They wrote on the 11th 
 of Feburary, 184G, to the governor-in-council. Earl Catheart, 
 for instructions as to how they might draw a distinction be- 
 tween the loyal and those who had rebelled. The provincial 
 secretary replied that it was not the intention of his excellency 
 that the commissioners should be guided by " any description 
 of evidence, other than that furnished by the evidence of the 
 courts of law." It was pointed out that the commissioners 
 were not to try cases, but merely to obtain a general estimate 
 of the rebellion losses, and that the particulars of the estimate 
 would form the subject of minute enquiry, subsequently, un- 
 der parliamentary authority. The commissioners presented 
 their report in the same year. This docunient set forth that 
 cotTimissioners were entirelv at the mercy of the claimants 
 vrhere there was no court sentence before them ; and they ex- 
 hibited a list of 2,17G persons who claimed damages amount- 
 ing in the aggregate to £241,965. An opinion was expressed 
 that £100,000 v;^ould cover all meritorious claims, for it had 
 been ascertainaci. that damages for .£25,503 were claimed by 
 persons who had actually been condemned by court-martial for 
 
118 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A, MACDONALD. 
 
 complicity in the rebellion. But the intention of the ministry- 
 was not to close the question of these claims, but to temporize 
 and keep it hanging. The report of the commissioners was, 
 therefore, laid by, Mr. Draper, like Micr.wber, hoping that some- 
 thing would " turn up " by whicii he might be able to repudiate 
 the claims. Hence it was that another act was immediately 
 passed authorizing the payment of £9,986 to Lower (Canada 
 claimants, which sum had been recognised by patliament &.-i 
 due the second session ».fter the union. This £9,986 was not a 
 large amount, Mr. Draper reasoned, but it was a sop to the 
 French party, and a first step, while the k.rger instalment was 
 impending. But the premier outwitted himself. His instal- 
 ment was received with anger and contempt, and the gulf be- 
 tween him and the sup])orthe souglit became wider tliPi- ever. 
 
 From one end of Lower Canada to the other, during the 
 election of 1848, went up the cry demanding full compensiti a} 
 for rebellion losses. The reform candidates came into the field 
 pledging themselves to satisfy all jus*^ claims. Thus it was 
 that Mr. Lafontaine and his party were returned in overwhelm- 
 ing majority. 
 
 In Upper Canada the popular tide likewise sot with the re- 
 formers, though stubborn was the dyiag fight made by their 
 opponents. In Kingston John A. Macdonald, who was unspar- 
 ing in his attacks upon the reformers, and not full of tulogy for 
 his own party, whose tactics and ability he must have despised 
 at heart, was returned in triumph. The legislature met on 
 the 25th of February, and the tories proposed Sir Allan Mac- 
 Nab for the speakership. The vote for the speakership is 
 usually a test of the strength of parties, and in this case it re- 
 vealed that fifty-four of those present were in opposition, and 
 nineteen true to the government. Mr. Morin was then chosen 
 unanimously. Some happy exchanges had heea made at the 
 polls. Not among the least of these was tL re urn of Francis 
 Hincks for Oxford, and the rejection of the coarse ai^d noisy Ogle 
 It. Gowan for Leeds. Among the new faces f eau in the house 
 
 
„__„- RULTNO IN STORM -=— ' |l9 
 
 were thoiis of George Etienne Cartier and Ai. xander Tilloeh 
 Gait, both destined to play high and honourable parts in the 
 history of their country. For tie first tin^e, Williani B. »me 
 Blake, one of the most remarkable r^en of his day. (cok his sent 
 in the house. He was born in 1^-09, at Kiltegan. County of 
 Wicklow, Ireland, where his father was u ci urcli of England 
 rector. He received his education at Trinity vJollege, Dublin, 
 and studied surgery under Sir Phliip Craraptoii. Not c; riiig for 
 surgery, he began a course of theology, v/hich seams also ^jO have 
 been unsuited to him, and he subsequently emigrated to Can- 
 ada, taking up his abode in the back-,* oods. But wilderness 
 life, separated from all the influences of civilization, wns no 
 more fascinating to Mr. Blake and his family than to that class 
 generally whose hardships Mrs. Moodi'o has described with 
 such feeling and vividness, and he moved to Toronto, where he 
 entered the legal profession, becoming in a few j^ears one of its 
 brightest ornaments, and eventually adding lustre to the bench 
 of his adopted i^rovince. 
 
 We shall see that as an orator he had no rival in that parlia- 
 memt, and that his eloquence was not of that icy, passionless 
 kind which comes from the trained intellect — never from the 
 heart— bat was instinct with celtic fire, now rising to a storm 
 of 'dithering scorn and invective, now launching *'orth arrows 
 of piercing sarcasm, and again mellowing do \v;i to uiisurpassed 
 deptho of pathos ao 1 tendei!iefi>!. 
 
 On the day foil vving the vote on the speakership, the go • 
 ernment resigned, and Lord Elgin called on M. Laibntaine to 
 form a cabinet. 4fter a short delay, the new min'".i/ry was 
 announced as follows : — 
 
 FOR CANADA EiST. 
 
 Hon. H. L. Lafontaine - - Attorney-General. 
 „ .1 AS, Leslie - - - Pres. Exec lUive Council. 
 „ II. E. Cahon ~ Speaker of the Legislative Council. 
 
120 ' LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 Hox. E. P. Tache - - Chief Com. of Public Works. 
 „ T. C. Aylwin - - - - Solicitor-General. 
 „ L. M. ViGER - - - - Receiver-General. 
 
 FOR CANADA WEST. 
 
 Hon. Robert Baldwin - _ - Attorney-General. 
 „ R. B. Sullivan - - - Provincial Secretary. 
 ,, Francis Hixcks - - - Inspector- General. •• 
 „ J. H. Price - - - Covi. of Crown Lands. 
 „ Malcolm Cameron Asst. Com. of Public Works. 
 
 The shade of MetcaUe could not have been unmoved when 
 the new cabinet ministers came to draw comparisons between 
 Lord Elgin and another governor-general. Now were they 
 met by a gentleman who could no more stoop to an act of 
 meanness in diplomacy than to a similar offence in private life ; 
 by one whose attitude towards them was that of a kind friend, 
 if not a father ; who knew the weakness inherent in party 
 ministers and the evils by which they are beset. He frankly 
 gave them his confidence and told them he wanted theirs ; and 
 that in all things which tended to a just and intelligent ad- 
 ministration of affairs they should have the best of his assist- 
 ance. Though he would scorn to lend his influence to further 
 the xL i-^vesia of any party, even it were the party of his choice, 
 he sa' )r Lours advising ministers to be firm with their mea- 
 sures, ut n ' h m of the rocks they had to encounter in their 
 way, and ^a mii ag out that they ought to set up high aims 
 and II' be tinned from these by the pressure of any circum- 
 stance, i he tHue was soon to come when bo*;h the ministrv 
 and the l vernor would need all the firmness that comes from 
 a conviction of right doing and from philosoT)hy, 
 
 Oncoming into pow , the new miristrf promptly intro- 
 duced a series of resolute is Jnfo th ass«:t ibly which was fol- 
 lowed by a bill "to provide ioi le x 3tr>aification of parties 
 in Lower Canada, whose property ha . been destroyed in the 
 
RULING IN STORM. * l*f 
 
 years 1837 and 1838." The only reservation made in the al- 
 lowance of claims was in the case of those who had been con- 
 victed of rebellion and cither imprisoned or transported to 
 Bermuda. Five commissioners were appointed to carry out the 
 Act, and a sum of £100,000 was set apart to satisfy all claims. 
 The introduction of the measure was the signal for an ex- 
 plosion. Like the bursting of a long pent-up storm, arose a 
 cry of indignation from the tory members and their press. To 
 many it seemed that the day of doom had dawned upon our 
 monarchy. Two poor gentlemen shed tears over their liquor, 
 when mentioning the name of the Queen. The fact is, this bill 
 was onl}' the climax of a long series of outrages. The loyal 
 Family Compact had been driven from power, and superseded 
 by "radicals, rebels and republicans," a trinity of bad blood, but 
 apt alliteration. The head of the government was a French- 
 man, a former leader of the society La Jeune France ; a man 
 who had been, at one time, an infidel, and at another, a rebel, 
 flying his country from the wrath of the laws. It was no 
 longer deemed dishonourable to have rebelled against the au- 
 thority of the Queen ; nay, more, a bill had been introduced, 
 not only to^ondone the rebellion, but to ind<^' unify the rebels. 
 For of those who rebelled, it was held that not one in ten had 
 been convicted by the laws ; whereas everyone having a stile 
 broken down during the rising, who had not been imprisoned 
 or sent to Bermuda, came forward with claims which the gov- 
 ernment allowed. But the proudest spirit that chafed under 
 this galling ordinance, was the gallant knigl fc of Hamilton. He 
 must have felt with Solomon, as he glanced back upon all the 
 history which he had made, that the brightest trail a man may 
 leave behind him for the admiration of the world, is but a huge 
 vanity. To what purpose now had he marshalled his " gallant 
 men of Gore," levelling the taverns and dwellings of rebellious 
 owners, or on that dark December night, sent his soldiers to 
 seize the "piratical" Caroline, and give her to the cataract of 
 Niagara. Now that a premium ^ xl been put upon rebellion 
 
122 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 he saw a sort of derision in the very spurs upon his heels, for 
 they had been given him in token of his loyalty. He resolved* 
 however, that the outrages should not be sanctioned, without a 
 struggle. He rallied his followers in their lodgings ; he told 
 them the crisis had come, when rebellion was to be stamped a.^ 
 a crime or a virtue. In his loyal ears, we doubt not, as he trod 
 from alley to alley through the darkness on his mission of re- 
 sistance, rang the words of the couplet : - . , 
 
 *• Treason does not prosper ; what's the reason ? 
 Why, when it prospers none dare call it treason." 
 
 But he would " dare call it treason," and, so, girt up his loins 
 for the fight. 
 
 His party, therefore, entered the conflict with a will. The 
 knight led the attack, and his invective was unsparing and in- 
 discriminate. He did not wonder that a premium was put 
 upon rebellion, now that rebels were rewarded for their own up- 
 risings ; for the government itself was a rebel government, and 
 the party by which it was maintained in power was a phalanx 
 of rebels. His lieutenants were scarce less unsparing and fierce 
 in the attack. But the government boldly took up their posi- 
 tion. Mr. Baldwin, attorney-general-west, maintained that it 
 would be disgraceful to enquire whether a man had been a 
 rebel or not after the passage of a general act of indemnity. 
 Mr. Drummond, solicitor-general-east, took ground which placed 
 the matter in the clearest light. The indemnity act had par- 
 doned those concerned in high treason. Technically speaking, 
 then, all who had been attainted stood in the same position as 
 before the rebellion. But the opposition were not in a mood 
 to reason. The two colonels. Prince and Gugy, talked a great 
 deal of fury. The former once again reminded the house that 
 he was " a gentleman " ; the latter made it plain that he was a 
 blusterer. Mr. Sherwood was fierce and often trenchant ; while 
 Sir Allan reiterated that the whole French-Canadian people 
 were traitors and aliens. At this date we are moved neither 
 
RULING IN STORM. 12$ 
 
 to anger nor contempt at reading such utterances as those of 
 the knight's, for it would be wrong to regard them as else than 
 infirmities ; and it is regretable that by such statements the 
 one party should allow itself to be dominated and the other 
 driven to wrath. But through all these volcanic speeches Sir 
 Allan was drifting in the direction of a mighty lash held in a 
 strong arm ; and when the blow descends we find little com- 
 passion for the wrigglings of the tortured knight. It was while 
 Sir Allan had been bestriding the parliament like a Colossus, 
 breathing fire and brimstone against every v>pponent, and fling- 
 ing indiscriminately about him such epithets as " traitor " and 
 "rebel," that Mr. Blake, solicitor-general-v/est, stung beyond 
 endurance, sprang to his feet. " He would remind them that 
 there was not only one kind of rebellion and one description of 
 rebel and traitor. He would tell them there was such a thing 
 as rebellion against the constitution as well as rebellion against 
 the crown. A man could be a traitor to his country's rights- 
 as well as a traitor to the power of the crown." He instanced 
 Philip of Spain and James the Second when there was a struggle 
 between political freedom and royal tyranny. " These royal 
 tyrants found loyal men to do their bidding, not only in the 
 army but on the bench of justice. There was one such loyal 
 servant, he who shone above all the rest, the execrable Judge 
 Jeffries, \?ho sent, among the many other victims before their 
 Maker, the mild, amiable and great Lord Russell. Another 
 victim of these loyal servants was Algernon Sydney, who«e 
 offence was his loyalty to the people's rights and the constitu- 
 tion. He had no sympathy with the spurious loyalty of the 
 hon. gentlemen opposite, which, while it trampled on the peo- 
 ple, was the slave of the court — a loyalty which, from the dawn 
 of the history of the world down to the present day, had lashed 
 .humanity into rebellion. He would not go to ancient history; 
 ^ut he would tell the hon. gentlemen opposite of one great ex- 
 hibition of this loyalty ; on an occasion when the people of a 
 distant Roman province contemplated the perpetration of the 
 
124 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A, MACl'GNALD. 
 
 foulest crime that the page of hi; tory records — a crime from 
 "which Nature in compassion hid her face and strove to draw 
 ^ veil over ; but the heathen Roman lawgiver could not be in- 
 ■duced by perjured witnesses to place the great founder of our 
 religion upon the cross. ' I find no fault in him,' he said. But 
 these provincials, after endeavouring by every other means to 
 •effect their purpose, had recourse to this spurious loyalty — ' If 
 thou lettest this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend.' Mark 
 the loyalty ; could they not see every feature of it ; could they 
 not trace it in this act ; aye, and overcome by that mawkish, 
 «purious loyalty, the heathen Roman governor gave his sanc- 
 tion to a deed whose foul and impure stain eighteen centuries 
 •of national humiliation and suffering have been unable to efface. 
 This spurious, slavish loyalty was not British stuff; this spuri- 
 ous, bullying loyalty never grew in his native land. British 
 loyalty wrung on the field of Runnymede, from the tyrant king, 
 the great charter of English liberty. Aye, the barons of Eng- 
 land, with arms in their hands, demanded and received the 
 great charter of their rights. British loyalty, during a period 
 of three centuries, wrung from tyrant kings thirty different 
 recognitions of that great charter. Aye, and at the glorious 
 ■era of the revolution, when the loyal Jeft'ries was ready, in his 
 extreme loyalty, to hand over England's freedom and rights to 
 the hands of tyrants, the people of England established the 
 constitution which has maintained England till this day, a 
 ^eat, free and powerful nation." 
 
 Again and again did Sir Allan, tortured by the merciless lash, 
 rise in his place, but still the long pent-up strea'm of manly 
 wrath and contempt poured forth. " The expression ' rebel ' " 
 <jon tinned the speaker, " has been applied by the gallant knight 
 opposite, to some gentlemen on this side of the house, but I can 
 tell gentlemen on the other side that their public conduct has 
 proved that they are the rebels to the constitution and their 
 country." It required but one taunt more to bring on the climax 
 — and that taunt came. " And there sit the loyal men," con- 
 
RULING IN STORM. 125 
 
 tinued the avenging member, pointing deliberately at the oppo- 
 sition benches, " there sit the loyal men who shed the blood of 
 the people and trampled on their just rights. There sit the 
 rebels." Choking with rage, feir Allan arose once again and 
 repudiated the epithet rebel as applied to him, and asked Mr. 
 Blake to retract. This the honourable gentleman firmly refused 
 to do, whereupon a sudden uproar arose through the house, 
 which vras followed by a turmoil in the galleries, where spec- 
 tators had joined in the discussion. Several breaches of the 
 peace were committed, and men grappled and struck at each 
 other admidst the terrified screams of ladies. Many of the 
 disturbers were arrested and the galleries cleared, the ladies 
 seeking refuge in the body of the house. For twenty minutes- 
 the chamber was a scene of wild confusion, and remained with 
 closed doors. The sergeant-at-arms was sorely tried to prevent- 
 a collision between Mr. Blake and Sir Allan. 
 
 As the discussion on the bill drew to a close, Mr. John A. Mac- 
 donald, who had all along preserved a stolid silence, rose in his 
 place and told Mr. Speaker that this measure was not going to 
 pass without his protest, and that while his physical strength 
 endured he would ofier it resistance. Mr. Macdonald was one of 
 the few members of the opposition against whom the charge of 
 inconsistency for opposing the bill could not be brought, for when 
 Mr. Draper introduced the bill which was the parent of the pre- 
 sent measure, Mr. Macdonald had not yet entered the ministry, 
 and was only a passive, if not contemptuous, member of the 
 tory side of the house. Now, however, he became active, and 
 if we can believe the newspaper reports, "fierce." He brought 
 in a petition from his constituents, praying that the moneys of 
 the people of Upper Canada be " withheld from the rebels of 
 Lower Canada." He entreated the government to move slowly 
 and carefully with the bill, and when a minister remarked that 
 they were only waiting for him " to get done speaking to pass 
 it," he launched out fiercely against the promoters of the mea- 
 sure, charging them with utter disregard of the sense of the 
 
126 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 country, and v/anton discourtesy to members of the opposition. 
 He affirmed that the country was aroused against them, and 
 that they were drawing down grave dangers, not alone upon 
 their own heads, but upon the peace of the provii ce. He de- 
 precated the surrender of the interests of Upper Canada into 
 the hands of the members of Lower Canada for party purposes, 
 and hurled no few epithets against Mr. Baldwin. But despite 
 this last effort to kill time, and hi? i eading a long roll of the 
 Mackenzie letters through the tedious night, the bill passed tho 
 lower house by a vote of forty -seven to eighteen. The next day, 
 speaking of the debate, the Pilot, the leading ministerial organ, 
 said : " In vain the hopeful ex-commissioner of crown lands, Mr. 
 J A, Macdonald, ranted about wanton and disgraceful lack of 
 courtesy, and thundered at Mr. Baldwin, the charge of having 
 sold Upper Canada to Lower Canada. It was all to no purpose. 
 Three-fourths of the house were buried in r'jfreshing slumbers. 
 * * * He made a last faint effort to prolong the discussion 
 by reading some thirty papers of Mr. Mackenzie's published 
 letters — and then the whole house was silent." 
 
 There only remains the sequel of tory consistency now to be 
 told to complete this chapter of disgrace. The bill had no sooner 
 passed the house than petitions (o ohe governor-general, praying 
 for its disallowance, poured in from every quarter. Lord Elgin 
 recoived petition after petition in his closet, read each one 
 carefully and thoughtfully pondered the whole question over. 
 He plainly saw that the pi^titioners, who were tojies, were en- 
 deavouring to force hinr into conflict with his ministry and to 
 act over again the part of Lord Metcalfe. And the longer the 
 governor pondered the deeper the impression grew that his duty 
 lay in assenting to the bill. His reasons for this conclusion 
 were abundant and irresistible; and since they were so, he 
 argued that it \70uld be unworthy in him to shift upon the 
 shoulders of the sovereign the onus of assent or disallow- 
 ance. In the first place di jsolution appeared tc him unwise 
 and uncalled for, as the ministry had been elected but a 
 
RULING IN iL\^RM. UT 
 
 few months before on writs issued at liie r'quest of their op- 
 ponents. Then the measure was carricl i a the popular branch 
 by a vote of more than two to one ; and an analysis of this vote 
 showed that of the thirty-one representatives from Upper 
 Canada, seventeen voted for the measure and 14 against it ; and 
 of ten members of British origin from Lower Canada six voted 
 for and only four against it. Such logic as this was irresistible, 
 and though the governor saw the dark storm-clouds gathering 
 above his head, he manfully resolved to do the right and give 
 his assent to the bill. 
 
 On the afternoon of April 25th, he drove into town at the 
 call of the ministry, to assent to a customs bill, which in con- 
 sequence of the opening of navigation, it was imperative should 
 go into instant effect. The rumour having gone abroad that 
 assont was to be given to the obnoxious " rebel bill " as it was 
 called, a number of persons opposed to the government, and all 
 of them " gentlemen," packed the galleries of the assembly. 
 Th »y made no stir beyond taking snuff or shaking their cam- 
 bric pocket-kerchiefs till the governor nodded his assent to the 
 rebellion bill, when they arose as one man, and with much 
 pounding of feet went out of the building. His excellency did 
 not heed the interruption, and when his business was ended, 
 followed by his suite, passed out to his carriage. But he had 
 no sooner made his appearance outside tlian the body of loypl- 
 ist gentlemen who had left the building set up a storm ui 
 groans, hisses ftnd oaths. Some of the)n likewise 3eized brick.",, 
 atones or pieces of bottles, while other' took addled «^ggs oi t 
 of their pockets, and with these ^liissiles an attack was begti-i 
 on the governor and his party. The vice-regal carriage got 
 away, how er, before serioi;* injury was done to anybodj'. 
 But this wag. uly a small out' irsf of tory loyalty. Upon the 
 Champ de Ms 3 that evi nine/ gathered a large and turbulent 
 crowd. The iieetiag had been called by placard and Mr. Au- 
 gustus Hew;ud, nephew of the chief justice of Upper Canada, 
 and a society 6sau, was in the chair. This gentleman made an 
 
128 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD, 
 
 inflammatory speech, and • as followed by Mr. Ersdale ; Mr. 
 Ferres, a newspaper editor ; Mr. Mack and Mr. Montgomerie, 
 another journalist, all "gentlemen." The chief subject of the 
 harangue was, " Now is the time for action," while frequently 
 above the din could be heard the cry, " To the parliament build- 
 ings." After the chairman had made the closing remarks he 
 shouted out, " Now boys, three cheers for the Queen ; ihen let 
 us take a walk." The cheers were given and the ,. Jk was 
 taken. Up to the parliament buildings surged he crowd of 
 gentlemen loading the names of Lord Elgin and the ministry 
 with blasphemous and obscene epithets. The w indows were 
 attacked with stones, after which some hundreds of the mob 
 rushed into the building. The assembly was setting in com- 
 mittee when the visitors burst through the doors. The members 
 fled in dismay, some taking refuge in the lobbies, and others be- 
 hind the speaker's chair. Then the rioters pass id on to their 
 work. Some wrecked furniture, others wrer ;hed ohe legs 
 oflf chairs, tables and desks, whi'e some demoli.hed the nan- 
 deliers, lamps and globes. One of the party, in the r.Jdst of 
 theweZeie seated himselfin the speaker's chair and cried oii,, "The 
 French parliament is dissolved." He was hurled from his place 
 and the chair thrown over and wrecked. The mace was torn 
 out of the hands of Mr. Chisholm, the sergeant-at-arm ., and sub- 
 sequently left as a trophy of victory in the room of Sir Allan 
 MacNab at the Donegani hotel. In the midst of tlie riot and 
 destruction there was a cry of " fire." Flames were then found 
 in the balcony ; and almost simultaneously the legislative coun- 
 cil chamber was ablaze. The party left the building which in 
 a few minutes was doomed. There wsis little tim 3 to save any 
 -of the contents, and out of 20,000 volumes not more than 200 
 were saved. A full length portrait of her majesty, which cost 
 £2,000 was rescued, but on being brought out of the building 
 one of the loyalists punched hw stick through the canvas.* 
 
 * This picture now hangs in the Senai 'Jhamber, facing the throne. 
 
RULING IN STORM. 18^ 
 
 Tlio fire compivnios promptly turned out on th 5 first alarm, but 
 on til Mr \Tay to the buildin'j fell into the hand: of the gentlemen 
 eiigas,aMl in the incendiarism, who detained th m till everything 
 had been devoured by the flames. 
 
 Through some misunderstanding the military were not on 
 lian<l, and the mob only left after the most brilliant part of the 
 confljigration was over, flown with victory, and athirst for new 
 contpiest. It was a direful night in Montreal Many a blanched 
 face was seen in the gleam of the contlagiation, and a deep 
 shudder ran through the connnunity at the simultaneous clang- 
 ing of the* bells. While the fires of the burning building shono 
 "n their windows the ministry held a cal)inet aJid decided to 
 meet the following morning in the Bonsjcours Market. 
 
 There are occasions when feelings lie ioo deep for words, and 
 the opening of the next day's session seemed one of these. Mr. 
 iJaldwin, who made a motion, spoke in a low voice, as if under 
 the Influence of some painful spell ; but tlio Aorthy Hamilton 
 knight to whom the mob had brought their choicest spoils was 
 in his primest talking coniiition. It is not worth while to re- 
 cord here what he said, but it is worth stating that Mr. Blake 
 took occasion to make cue last comment upon the quality of 
 the loyalty with wliich the ears of the buuse had been so long as- 
 sailed — "a loyalty " he said, " which oi") day incited a mob to 
 pelt the governor-general, and to d ?. roy the halls of parlia- 
 ment and the public records, and or. 'uhe next day sought to 
 find excuses for anarchy." It is I'ue indeed thai some of the 
 tories had tried to condone tlie outrages; but Mr. John 
 Wilson, Mr. Badglej'" and. other conservatives denounced the 
 pi.'rpetrators with unmeasured indignity. 
 
 Mr, John A. Macdonald 'vas one of those who deplored the 
 ' : eurrences, but he cen.' red the Government for lack of pre- 
 caution when they musu have known that the outrages were 
 contemplated ; and he attributed all the disgraceful proceedings 
 to the bill they had forced upon the people. In the midst of 
 th>: general debate he rose and moved that Kingston be adopted 
 
130 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 henceforth as the seat of govemment, hut his motion was lost 
 by a vote of fifty-one aj^ainst ton. And others as well as Mr. 
 Macdonald censured the fjoverrtment for not having adopted 
 measures of protection against the lawlessness of the rioters. 
 Ministers, in a timid sort of a way, explained the absence of 
 the soldiers, but read now, and in the light of the mob's after 
 deeds, their explanations do not seem satisfactory. It is much 
 to be able to say as we look back upon this turbulent time, 
 that there was no shedding of blood, but we have no reason to 
 congratulate anybody that for nights the mob held possession 
 of a great city without being confronted by an available mili- 
 tary, whether bloodshed would or would not have been the re- 
 suki-i the collision. When the mob will rise, take the bit in 
 tlieir teeth and trample upon the supreme law of peace and or- 
 'ler they challenge the worst consequences, and have no right 
 to complain of whatever may follow. Forbearance is a virtue 
 we know, but past a certain limit it becomes poltroonery. A 
 coward indeed Lord Elgin was called for submitting twice to 
 the indignities of the rioters without employing the military, 
 but taking all the circumstances into account, whatever 
 grounds there might have been for such a charge against the 
 govemment there was none whatever for the charge against 
 the governor. His forbearance was dictated by the highest 
 and most worthy of motives. 
 
 During the day detachments of the mob appeared where the 
 house was in session uttering hoots and groans, and assaulting 
 any member of the govemment party who exposed himself. 
 But when night fell over the city the stragglers came together 
 and began again the work of destruction. The houses of Mr. 
 Hincks and of Mr. Holmes, and the lodgings of Dr. Price and 
 Mr. Baldwin were attacked and the windows demolished with 
 stones. Then the mob turned to the beautiful residence of 
 M. Lafoutaine, but recently purchased, hacking down fruit 
 trees and burning the outbuildings ; then entered the house 
 itself and demolished the furniture and library. Just as the 
 
RULING IN STORM. 131 
 
 torch was being applied to finish the work the cold but t.<rdy 
 fiteel of the soldiers was seen glittering in the moonlight and 
 the mob fell back rvith disappointed howls. Then the j-yal- 
 ists headed off for Dr. Nelson's but were met there again by 
 the bayonets and shrunk back. This too was another night 
 of terror in Montreal, for small detachments of the mob prowled 
 the city through the darkness wreaking their vengeance upon 
 the windows of houses belonging to known supporters of the 
 government. 
 
 In the morning placards addressed to " the friends of peace " 
 were posted around the city calling a meeting at the Champ 
 <le Mars. The chief speakers at this meeting were Hon. 
 Oeorge Moffatt and Colonel Gugy. They counselled order and 
 passed an address to the Queen to call Lord Elgin home. 
 
 On the Saturday following, an address was passed by the 
 house bearing testimony to the justice and impartiality which 
 had characterized his excellency's administration, and express- 
 ing deep sorrow and indignation at the recent outrages. On 
 Monday, his lordship, accompanied by his suite, and escorted 
 by a troop of volunteers, drove in from Monklands to recciive 
 this address. But they had no sooner entered the city than 
 they were assailed with insults and pelted with brickbats and 
 rotten eggs. A stone weighing two pounds crashed through 
 the coach, while a continuous f usilade of eggs and blasphemy 
 was kept up. The address was to be read in " governm«5nt 
 house," a building so called on Notre Dame Street ; and on ar- 
 riving here the governor found his carriage surrounded by a 
 violent mob. A magistrate read the riot act and the soldiers 
 charged, but the mob gave way, cheering for the troops. The 
 >vere anxious that their loyalty should not be misunderstood ! 
 On the address being read and replied to, the governor set out 
 on his return to Monklands, going by Sherbrooke Street in- 
 stead of Notre Dame, by which he had coma The mob were 
 outwitted, and set up a howl of baffled i-age. They imme- 
 diately rallied, however, and, seizing cabs, calecb ;s, and "every- 
 
182 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDOKALD. 
 
 thing th.'ifc would run," started off in pursuit. At Molson's 
 Comer they overtook the vice-regal party, av 1 at once began 
 the attack. The back of the coach was driven in with stones. 
 Col. BruvO, tlie governor's brother, was wounied in the back of 
 the head, and Col. Erniatinger and Capt. Jones received bodily 
 injuries. The governot' himself escaped ludiurt. Th^ party 
 eventually distanced the mob and entered the sheltering gates 
 of Monl- lands. 
 
 Meanwiiile the sjiiit of riot had elsewhere risen its head. 
 In sev(U'al Upper Canada towns where the ultra loyalists were 
 found in strongest force, hooting mobs paraded and smashed 
 the heads and windows of obnoxious persons. In Toronto a 
 number oF gentlemen gathered and lit bonfires v.ath all the 
 zeal of reiiij'ons executioners at Smithfield, and thei-e burnt 
 in effigy Mt syrs. Baldwin, Blake, and Mackenzie, The Iclgings 
 of the latti I-, who had just returned iVom exile, were attacked 
 and buttered, af icr which the rioters wreaked their vengeance 
 lipon the windows of warehouses occupied by Dr. Kolph and 
 George Bro"^' a. Cut this, after all, was o^lv the bad blood of 
 tlx' coiiuuunity. From all parts of (Janada iddresses poured 
 in upon the governor, commending the fear 'ess attitude he had 
 taken in defence of popular rights. Of a'l who prized polit- 
 ical freedom the governor was now the darling. 
 
 But while the masses rejoiced in the better constitutional 
 era wlich Lord Elgin had inaugurated, a British American 
 league, f-epresenting the tory discontent of the time, was 
 formed at Montreal, with branche-: in Kingston, I'oronto and 
 elsewhere. There were many planks in tlie platform of the 
 new association, one of which was a schenie for the union of 
 the British North American provinces. Mr. Alexander Mac- 
 kenzie, in his "Lire of Hon. George Brown," thus drily refers 
 to the organization : " Like King David's famous army at the 
 Cave of Adullam, every one that was in distress, and every one 
 that was in debt, and every one tliat was discontented, gath- 
 ered themselves to the meeting of the league. * * They 
 
i M 
 
 RULING IN STORM, 133 
 
 were dubbed Children of the Sun. * * Tliey advocated ex- 
 tretuc toryism, extreme disloyalty, au'l finally threatened to 
 drive the French into the sea." Towards the end of July, a 
 convention from the league sat at Kingston for several daj's, 
 and one of the speakers there was Mr. John A. Macdonald. 
 Confusion and discord reigned through the gathering. Ogle R. 
 Gowan felt seriously disposed to liave Lord Elgin impeached 
 before ohe house of lords ; some other speaker proposed that 
 Ihe league declare for annexation ; another said independence 
 Avould be better, and each had an instant following. A.mong 
 the many disgusted at the riot of proposals was Mr. John A. 
 Jlacdonald, who, at an early date, separated himself from the 
 babe'. Other leading members followed suit, and the mam- 
 moth Family gathering fell to pieces. A few of the fragments 
 reorganized themselves into <tssociations whose objects were 
 annexation and independence. 
 
 The news of the outrages created a sensation in F-^'rland. Mr. 
 Disraeli declared the time to be " a moment of ho deepest 
 public interest." Mr. Gladstone, who like the whx!.e k.ight at 
 the cross roads had looked at only one side of the shield, and 
 said it was silver as he set his lance In the rest, declared that 
 Lord Elgin should have disallov.^ed the bill ; but Lord John 
 Russell, Sir Robert Peel and othei's defended the action of hi;; 
 excellency, and paid warm tribute to the unflinching manlii^ess 
 and broad statesmanship he had shown. In view however of 
 all that had happened, and while the a^ probation of the British 
 parliament was ringing in his ears, Lord Elgin felt it his duty 
 to signify that his office was at the disposal of the colonial 
 .secretary; but that ofTicial refust 1 to accept the resignation, 
 and took occasion in warm and generous terms to eraiorse the 
 course of his excellency. 
 
 The 30th of May was the day fixed for the prorogation of 
 pa lament, but Lord Elgin did not deem it well to expose 
 himself for the third time to the passions of the m >b without 
 taking means of ample defence ; so the commander of the forces, 
 
134 
 
 ITPE OF SIR JO EN A, MACDONALD. 
 
 Maior jleneral Kowan came down, and the thunder of cannon 
 announced the ckse of the last pariiament ever to sit in Mon- 
 treal, 
 
 The summer sped i vay and autumn came, ' >ut tumult still 
 lived m Montreal. In August the r'ngleaders la the spring 
 ri'..t' ivert.' •i'/irrested and released again on bail, but the mob 
 il:;v to arms, an f' after ni?htfa]j ga bf r^. 1 like Uendsafiund M, 
 L,ii;L;.aincs .iwelliug. The inmates knew the fate in store "^ or 
 them should ilvj fall into the hands of that mob; and after due 
 warning iirod, wounding several cf the rioters. One of the 
 go,ng, Williaij Mason, was shot in the thigh, nnd as he fell his 
 associaf ' filed out, " The biood of a Saxon has been shec' by a, 
 I venchmai." Then, and, as it would seem, when tiie hoMse 
 and its inmates were about beir/g torn to pieces, the r lilitary 
 came and the mob went off, bearing with them the inserisible^ 
 Mas( n who died next morning. 
 
 Since the burning of the parlian- eni buildings, the question 
 of removing the soat >f goverriQ >,;', from Montreal to some 
 other city had u i:. untitrthe gcvf;mcr*s consideration. The 
 protracted and outrageous disposirion o'C thr mob, which ap- 
 peared ready to rise to deeds of destrueJ'on at any moment out 
 of cold blood, now decided his coarse. It was therefore fixed 
 that the remaining two sessions of j >arllaraoni should be held 
 in Toronto, and that henceforth the sittings should bo h»*lf! <it 
 that city and Quebec, at each for four years alternately. Tiius 
 was the parliament driven out of Montreal, and thus was the 
 reputation of the city once again, as but too often since, smirch- 
 ed by the lawlessness of her mobs. 
 
 :^;^^ 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE GREAT MINISTRY FALLS. 
 
 AFTER the wild paroxysm of loyalty had spent itself in 
 storm, many of the tories, who by their speeches had 
 stirred their followers up to the riot point, and afterwards 
 attempted to find excuse for their excesses, began to feel 
 ashamed of the part they had played and to be anxious about 
 the consequences. A conclave was held at which it was de- 
 cided to send Sir Allan MacNab and Mr. Cayley to England to 
 avouch in Downing Street the loyalty of the party who had 
 burnt down the parliament buildings, poked sticks through a 
 picture of the queen, and attacked the representative of the 
 sovereign with addled eggs. No one to this day knows what 
 reception these two got at Downing Street ; but as they have re- 
 mained so reserved upon the subject, it would not be hazardous 
 to say that their silence was probably judicious. Hot upon 
 their heels followed Mr. Francis Hincks, accredited by his 
 government to make known fully the causes of the disgraceful 
 outbreaks. We are not surprised that the colonial office 
 f bout this time took a good deal of our provincial business 
 into its own hands; for if two parties here had a dispute 
 about a jack-knife they ran to Downing Street to have it 
 settled. Why warf it necessary for Sir Allan and Mr. Cayley 
 to hurry ofi to England to apologize to an indifferent official 
 in the colonial office for the riots in Canada ? — and why was 
 it necessary for Mr. Francis Hincks to follow them there ? We 
 complained th«n, and murmur still about Downing Street in- 
 terference ; yet it is we who have taught the officials there how 
 
 135 
 
136 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 to interfere. Even at this day, though we regarJ the authority 
 of the colonial office only a fiction, and lash ourselves into a 
 rage when it becomes a reality, we take sometimes the most 
 trivial cases from our own supreme court and refer them to the 
 judicial committee of the imperial privy councii. The persons 
 who proclaim the loudest that Canadians ougl t to II. supreme 
 in their own affairs, are among the veiy first, when a decision 
 contrary to their views is given in our liighest courts, tu hasten 
 away to the oracle at Downing Street. It eve y dis])uted 
 case, originating in a magistrate's court about the i.iying of a 
 municipal tax or the right of prosecution under a Dominion act, 
 is to be submitted for a decitiion to the wuperior wisdom and 
 higher justice of a coLi^k ve of English law officers, why per- 
 petuate the cost y ;.anokery hero of u. " supreme " court ? 
 
 Mr. Hincks returned fr-^.n Ei)gla:i.d, eiited as a sciioolboy who 
 had received the " well doi ;" of his parents. Dn-ing the autumn 
 the weather-cock in the colonial office tiescribed a revolution, 
 and the jjovernor-oreneral was raised to t!:e neerajie of the 
 United Kingdom for pursuing <i, course the .rccise opposite to 
 ' that for which, five years before, Ijcrd Metcalfe had been en- 
 nobled. Though perhaps title conferred according to this 
 method of discrimination, does not fill our minds with awe 
 for the " belted knight, the duke and earl and a' that," that a 
 king can make, the honour was highly prized at the time by 
 Lord Elgin, and properly prized, for his conduct had been on 
 trial bef(<re the home government. He made an extended 
 tour of the province, and at every place was received with 
 evidence of admiration and gratitude. As he drove through 
 Toronto a party of gentlemen hurled a few eggs and some 
 bottles at him, but they fell short of the mirk. In Kingston 
 a few persons came down to the wharf at which lay the vice- 
 regal steamer, and gave some dismal howls, then slunk away 
 again. This trifling exhibition of tory manners was dictated 
 by fear, however, rather than by hate, for the rumour had got 
 abroad in Montreal that the seat of government was to be re- 
 
THE GREAT MINISTRY FALLS. 137 
 
 moved ; whereupon the instigators of the riots in that city 
 promptly sent out emissaries whose duty it was to see that the 
 governor-general was insulted in any city that was likely to 
 be chosen as the capital. 
 
 In November the seat of government was changed to Tor- 
 onto, and the offices established in the dreary pile along Fnjnt 
 Street, which does duty to the present day. The government 
 met in all its strength, and he were a rash prophet who would 
 predict that it was not impregnable for many years to come. 
 But some shrewd eyes looking through the assemblage of re- 
 formers, saw in this semblance of strength irresistible evidence 
 of weakness. A large majority is to be coveted when parties 
 are divided by some w^U marked line, and each avows a set of 
 well understood opinions ; but the government whose party 
 doctrines are yet only in the formative process, is not to bo 
 enviv.J of the possession. One day a vote was taken in the 
 Ijwei- chamber which divided the house upon party issues ; and 
 as the reformei's stood up in all their appalling strength, John 
 A. Macdonald is credited with having observed to a member 
 Avho sat beside him, " That mighty fabric is soon to go to 
 pieces." His companion replied, " I suppose no government has 
 a perennial lease, but if numbers aud apparent harmony count 
 for aught, I think their prospects are good." " Ah, yes," said 
 Macdonald, " apparent harmony ! But we shall see." 
 
 As has been stated already, the reform party composed not 
 only moderate seekers for reform, but many who desired radical 
 changes, and not a few who thought we ought to fashion our 
 political system after the republican model. The advocates of 
 these innovations pressed their views upon the government, but 
 neither Mr. Baldwin nor Mr. Lafontaine seemed disposed to 
 move any further at once in the direction of reform, and inti- 
 mated that the change desired must come through gradual stages. 
 When the attitude of the leaders became known, a number of 
 the most prominent of the government followers met, laid down 
 a new political platform, and resolved to withdraw themselves 
 
138 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 from the ^ efom party. The chief names in the new combina- 
 tion were David Christie, Dr. John Rolph, James Leslie, and 
 Malcohn Cameron ; and among the concessions they demanded 
 were, abolition of judges' pensions, biennial parliaments, uni- 
 vers.al suffrage, and election of all public officers. The name 
 given to the new party was the " Clear Grits," a term which first 
 appeared in the Globe. The appellation appears to have origi- 
 nated during a conversation between George Brown and Chris- 
 tie, the latter remarking that they wanted in the new move- 
 ment " men who were clear grit." The clear grits had no sooner 
 completed their organization in Upper Canada, than Louis 
 Papineau aroused himself and formed in Lower Canada " Le 
 Parti Mmige" a combination less radical than revolutionary. 
 We can fancy that member to whom John Macdonald had made 
 the prediction turning aghast as he saw the great fabric which 
 he had regarded as indestructible already split into three parts. 
 And we might fancy the astute observer telling him to wonder 
 not, that the " greatest was behind." 
 
 This double defection sot the government reeling ; but many 
 of those who stood fast in their allegiance waited upon minis- 
 ters and informed them that the time had now arrived when 
 they expected a settlement of the long-burning question of the 
 clergy reserves upon a new basis. Mr. Baldwin professed 
 himself hostile to a union of Church and State, but gave little 
 assurance of meeting the wishes of his supporters ; while Mr. 
 Lafontaine did not conceal his hostility to what he called a 
 " disturbance of vested rights." " When sorrows come they 
 come not single spies but in battalions " that luckless govern- 
 ment might have exclaimed. From every quarter evil seemed 
 to come upon them now ; every breeze that blew brought them 
 dark tidings. One of the staunchest ministerial organs hitherto 
 had been the Toronto Globe, but it now assumed such an atti- 
 tude that ministers felt themselves obliged to repudiate responsi- 
 bility for its course. In short, the Globe was endeavouring to 
 wipe popery off" the face of the earth. 
 
THE GREAT MINISTRY FALLS. 139 
 
 In the year 1850, as many a nervous Englishman had cause 
 to remember, the conviction entered the breast of the Holy 
 leather that the Episcopal Communion of England were pre- 
 paring to follow Newman over to Rome. So he set about to 
 pn "cel off the land of protfstant Englishmen into ecclesiastical 
 districts, and created Cardinal Wiseman Archbishop of West- 
 minster. The ordinances declaring the districts were written 
 in Rome after the manner of the time when a sovereign pon- 
 tiff set an English king scourging himself before the tomb of a 
 ' rebellious priest," shut up the churches and absolved subjects. 
 of their allegiance. " Datiim apud Romce sub anulo piacato- 
 ri-,^' wrote the rash papa in the palace of the Peters ; " " Given 
 at Home under the fisherman's ring ! " echoed the people of 
 Eri^^land, some in scorn and many in dismay. They had 
 lesH experience of " paper towns " in England then than 
 has fallen to our share in Canada since the inauguration 
 of the "boom," or they might have regarded the employment 
 of the pope in setting districts off on sheets of vellum, as of no 
 very serious consequence. Yet, alarmed thcusanc's of very 
 valiant Englishmen became, and we have it on excellent 
 authority that the "British Lion " stalked through the land. 
 Lord Truro called forth applause that nigh shook down the 
 building when he quoted, at the Lord Mayor's dinner, the 
 words from the play, " Under my feet I'll stamp thy cc^rdinal's 
 hat in spite of pope or dignities of church ; " and thun- 
 ders of applause were evoked by Kean the tragedian, when in 
 the theatre, he quoted the words from King Jolvr, STo Italian 
 priest shall tithe or toll in our dominion." I.t> good season, 
 however, the tumult died, and when the hurly-barly was done,, 
 it was found that the " country of protestant "^z iglishmen " 
 had sustained no serious damage. 
 
 After Englishmen had become heartily ashannvl .f their ex- 
 hibition of fear, the cardinal, the pope and the laifortunate 
 papacy fell into the hands of a wild protestanM ' aadian. This, 
 person was consumed with the idea that the • . vacy ought to 
 
140 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 be rooted out of this country, and without calculating w he- 
 ther the object was a possible ore, began the crusade in the 
 columns of his newspaper, i\\cGlohe. He published the 
 pronunciamonto of Wiseman, leplying in his editorial columns 
 in language as rough and intemperate as it was intolerant and 
 illogical. Cardinals may be right or they may be wrong, but 
 it is not in writers of George Brown's stamp that they find 
 confuters. Having begun the discussion. Mi'. Brown used 
 every means to lash public feeling into tumult. He pictured 
 the Roman hierarchy in Canada as an odious system that 
 menaced the well-being of our social and political institutions, 
 and the public were informed that it was their duty to resist 
 the common enemy. Tliis indiscreet onslaught upon an un- 
 offending portion of the community was made with as }iiuch 
 noise and fervour as " temperance reformers " to-day employ 
 against the vice of drunkennefjs. But this was the manner of 
 Mr. Brown. He never moved without noise ; and whether it 
 was his entry into the legislature, or that he addressed a 
 meeting in a school-house ; introduced a bill, or presented a 
 medal to a school girl, the fact was annoii^red by a clatter of 
 kettle-drums and a bray of bugles. It has always seem fid to us 
 that the prominence he so suddenly attained, from being a 
 mere adventuring raw youth, to the adviser and hustler of 
 the reform party, was more than Mr. ] irown could stand. He 
 was ambitious, and had a great deal cf honest, worthy ambition 
 too. wo may be sure, but under his brusqueness, which was the 
 j-esult of a lack of refined atmosphere during the formative 
 period of iiis character and manntjrs, he was inordinately vain 
 of his powers and his position Early in the year 18.51 some 
 newspaper writer declared he was seeking the wardenship of the 
 Kingston penitentiary; but he announced, not bluntly but 
 vainly, in his own paper that he was* "seekiri', higher game 
 than that." Yet he had not the t''>resight to see that his 
 senseless and uncharitable crusade against a law-abiding and 
 inoffensive Christian denomination must prove a barrier be- 
 
2 HE GREAT MINIiiTRY FALLS. 141 
 
 tween him and the "higlier game" he sought. And he J id not 
 injure his own piospects alone, but drove the ah-eady shattered 
 government to the alternative of bearing the responsil)ility of 
 the Globes fatally recl^'less course, or repudiating it, and thus 
 alienating its support and following. 
 
 Every age and country has produced its whitevvashei>, and 
 we see in a book lyiflg before us now, Hon. Alexander Mac- 
 kenzie, with a brush in his hand, bedaubing the dark s^ )ts in 
 this poi'tion of George Brown's career. Mr. Mackenzie, who 
 has 'evidently not informed himself about a period of m hich 
 1)0 writes, with some levity admits that harsh things were 
 said in this discussion by Mr. Brcn^n, but adds that " no arti- 
 cle ever ai)peared (in the Globe) which bore the character of 
 intolerance." " Unscrupulous politicians," he says, " of little or 
 no standing ('s public men, for years filled their scrap-books 
 with garbled extracts, torn from their context, and used them 
 as electioneering weapons." Through all this whitewash the 
 merciless types in the Globe itself will tell the facts. We liave 
 made a few "extracts," not " garbled," and not all "torn from 
 their context," and the whitewash v.i nnot hide their intoler- 
 ance. Is it tolerance, whether it be the truth or not, which is 
 not the question we are discussing, to be told that " the ad- 
 vance of education has been the death-knell of popery through- 
 out the worl-I ;" that " its mummeries have failed to stand the 
 test of free in;jtitutions;" that " civil despotism and the papal 
 delusion hani{ together ? " — or will it make the statements less 
 offensive to Roman Catholics to join them with the context ? 
 Will the printing of the context mako it less offensive to say 
 that 'popery binds all men in the most debasing thraldom;" 
 that ' this religion robs man of his noblest privilege, direct 
 communion with God. . . . and debases 1 im to the very level 
 of paganism " ? Or to ask with a note of admiration, " What 
 a frightful weapon of tyranny the confessional is ! " Perhaps 
 we have misunderstood what Mr. Brown's biographer means 
 by intoleri nee. George Brown was never the imperial dictator 
 
142 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 of Canada, lioldi g the life and 1 ^erty of the subject in his 
 hand. It may be g^'ing too far, tli^n, to say he was not intol- 
 erant, because ho did not banish the Roman Catholics out of 
 the COUP try. But the spirit was v/illing if the flesh w i<s weak. 
 
 A pov ci'lul auxiliary of Brown was one Padre Gavazzi, who 
 had broken out of his Roman cage, and was now abroad 
 through (./hristondom breathing fire and smoke against the pa- 
 pacy. His mission, he said — as reported in the newspapers — 
 was " not * .1 protest against Rome ; — it is to destroy, to destroy. 
 It is nof » testantism at all, my dear brethren," said the in- 
 flamed T"m li't> " it is destruction ; the destruction of pope and 
 pop'^r^'. My mission is to destroy, to annihilate in my Italy 
 the pope and popery. T am no protestant. Call me destructor, 
 lor that ' i my name." It is hai'dly too venturesome to say, 
 that, had Mr. Brown not been "settled down" at this time to 
 politics, the laudable purpose of the Italian priest might have 
 lured him away into missionary work. Mr. Brown was a 
 warm admire • ol Gavazzi, for the Globe of June 16th, 1853, de- 
 scribed him as "the distinguished defender of the Protestant 
 faith." It is seldom two such distinguished defenders of any 
 faith get together and some harm does not come of it. It is 
 hardly necessary to add that the papacy withstood the shock 
 of the cleric and the journalist. Indeed, both the editor and 
 the ex-priest are dead, and Rome still lives, or did, at least, 
 *' up to the hour of going to press." It takes more than a 
 great newspaper and a small padre to destroy an institution 
 that may flourish when the traveller from New Zealand stands 
 upon the ruined arch of London Bridge. 
 
 The session of 1850 produced a number of important meas- 
 ures, and the most prominent of these referred to an extension 
 of the canal system, which gave to inland shipping an uninter- 
 rupted course of navigation from lakes Erie and Ontario by 
 the St. Lawrence to the ocean ; the control of post offices and 
 postal revenues by the Canadian government; and a met. sure 
 
THE OB EA T MINISTR Y FA LLS, 143 
 
 for the (stablishinent of free trade between the provinces of 
 British North America. 
 
 Notwithstanding the plenitude of important legislation 
 achieved by the government and the latter's apparent impreg- 
 nableness, it was a house divided against itself, as we have 
 already seen, and soon must fall. Opinion was in a nebulous 
 state among reformci-s, and just as in the formation of our 
 stellar systems — as some scientists believe — masses of insubor- 
 dinate matter become detached from the main bulk and roll 
 away, each forming a sphere in itself ; so the great reform 
 body war. dissevered, one portion becoming rouge, another clear 
 grit, still another independent, the balance remaining true to 
 its original conditions. One might suppose that a party made 
 up of so many independent sovereignties as this would be a 
 helpless mass before the skilful af tack of the enemy ; but the 
 conservative party, which was then in its chrysalis state — 
 between a dead and effete toryism, and the coming conserva- 
 tism — was led by the indiscreet and offensive Sir Allan Mac- 
 Nab, who did not injure his opponents by his bad temper and 
 worse tactics and only disgusted his friends. So coarse and 
 so insolent were his attacks on Mr. Lafontaine, and even on 
 Lord Elgin, that Colonel Gugy, who had been an uncompro- 
 mising tory, arose in his place and disclaimed approval of his 
 leader's couise. He said he had borne the reproach of such 
 leadership too long, and announced his separation from the 
 party. 
 
 Several conpultations were held among the conservatives, 
 and when the government first began to show evidences of 
 division within its ranks, Mr. Macdonald proposed a course of 
 action, but Sir Allan broke so repeatedly beyond the lines 
 which had been laid down, that Macdonald despaired of suc- 
 cess by attack. He summoned philosophy however ; and at a 
 caucus in Toronto, held by his party to adopt " ways and 
 means," after it was decided that no ways or means could be 
 adopted her emarked, " We need not despair ; their sands of life 
 
144 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 nre rajudly running them.selves out; they will die in due time if 
 we but lot them alone." As early as this date there were seve- 
 ral conservatives of the liberal Jjchool who wliispered among 
 themselves that so long as Sir Allan was the leader there was 
 little hope for a vigorous conservati\e party. " MacNab and 
 Sherv/ood were a pair of weights upon Macdonald's wings" 
 a conservative of that day tells us, "and some of our j»arty, T 
 for one, felt that there was no hope till we got a chavrjc, of 
 idea at the head of our party." It is true MacNab had l-cgun 
 to trim his sails to the popular breeze, so far as he could see 
 the direction in which blew that wind, but he belonged to a 
 past century, and was too old and too stubborn to bend to the 
 demands of the time. 
 
 During tho spring of the following yaav, a vr^cancy occurred 
 in the reprcnentation of Haldimand, and a numV)er of candi- 
 dates, among whom were George Brown and William Lyon 
 Mackenzie, offered themselves for the seat. We have already 
 introduced Brown, but have made only slight mention of Mac- 
 kenzie. William Lyon NLackenzie, whose figure seen down 
 the galleries of the past, seems in these latter years to the 
 careless student of Canadian history to be suffused with glory, 
 was born at Dundee, Scotland, about the year 1795. In 1824 
 he established a newspaper at Queenston, LTpper Canada, and 
 at once began a galling attack upon the Family Compact. 
 Though he was possessed of a sturdy, independent spirit, and 
 might under any circumstances have brought himself into col- 
 lision with the powers of the time, in declaring war against the 
 Compact, he had everything to gain and nothing to lose. After 
 a short journalistic career in Queenston, during which his de- 
 cisive and uncompromising way of dealing with offences against 
 freedom and public morality brought him to some notice, he 
 removed to York and began to issue flaming denunciations in 
 the very shadow of the enemy's camp. The oligarchs became 
 enraged at his attacks, and bitfori>' complained before some of 
 the young gentlemen of their own set, like Henry when pro- 
 
THE GREAT MINISTRY FALLS. 145 
 
 voked by Becket, that they had no one to rid thorn of " this 
 fellow's annoyance." The genteel young men consulted about 
 the matter, and one June day in 182G, with canes and kid 
 gloves called at Mackenzie's office ; broke open the doors, bat- 
 tered the face off some of the types, and bore away a 
 (juantity which they threw in the bay. The persecution only 
 made a martyr of the bitter journalist, who thereafter became 
 a sorer thorn than ever in the side of the Family. Two years 
 later the county of York sent him to the assembly, but here he 
 violated privilege by publishing lengthy reports of the legis- 
 lative debates ; and was expelled. But after the expulsion he 
 was again elected, and again expelled; and the farce was con- 
 tinued till he had been four times elected and as often expelled. 
 In 1834 he was chosen for the second riding of York, and took 
 his seat without molestation. Two yeai-s subsequently, parlia- 
 ment was dissolved, and Sir Francis Bond Head and his coun- 
 cil adopted corrupt and unmanly ways to keep their opponents 
 out of the assembly. One of the victims was Mackenzie ; and 
 exasperated beyond all endurance, he turned his thoughts to 
 rebellion. The story of the farce on Gallows Hill has already 
 been told and need not be repeated. Mackenzie fled away 
 through the wintry woods and found an asylum in the re- 
 public for a time, but was afterwards arrested there and thrown 
 into prison. When a pardon was granted to the rebels he 
 made his way back to Canada, and living in the remembrance 
 of the people as a brave man, who with all his indiscretion and 
 impatience, had risked the all he had for popular liberty, he 
 was welcomed to the hustings of Haldimand with vociferous 
 cheers from a thousand lusty throats. But although he seemed 
 to be remembei'od gratefully by some of the people, he was re- 
 ceived coldly enough by Mr. Baldwin and o^-her members of 
 government. The following extract from an unpublished letter, 
 written by him in 1850, to Mr. Aug. Thibodo,of Kingston,will 
 explain his relations to the government, and show also, we 
 believe, why he put himself at the h :ad of a refractory party, 
 
U6 UFE OF Slli JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 after h i entry into the legislature. "Mr, Baldwin and his 
 frieudf' steadily st i'-; to keep mo down here in means anc" 
 infli.Lnce. T .'jiplied for three years assembly wages due — 
 refused. A] nlied for a jear'.. wa-^es;: due on the Welland Canal 
 — refused. Also for the money uh Randal's estate, £.500 — 
 rofuse(V In every possible way tliey liave striven to rrndei- 
 my residence, hero burthensoriie to me. Why is this? Are 
 the reformers of '37 the torie^ of ''0 ? Or does office and the 
 fear of 'Osing It coave. t. manly opj>ositioni,sts into timid and 
 croucliingplr einen ? I's* i tru-'t I'll never be 'led into temp- 
 tation. " Th: ai ti-papac'^ articles of Brown rose before their 
 author in t)j . Ilaldimaiid ol( tie like ^e ghost of Bannuo, 
 and iLcH'keuzie was elected ' a fair .ajov'iy. Brown went 
 rick to h* 3 newspaper to print ruiOro irdiscreet articles, and 
 Mackenzie went to the legislatur>' ^vhere, for the remainder o. 
 his public career, he was at best a na ty ci'itic with a narrow 
 view and lira ted conception of pubnc measures. Another new 
 face was seen at this last session of the third parliament under 
 the union, a man wlio, could he have cast the horoscope, would 
 ha\e se?n, down the years, political degradation — let us not say 
 dishonour — .hether his star showed he deserved that fate or 
 not. Perlia IS it is needless to sa,y that the new member intro- 
 duced to the house was M, Luc Letellier de '^v, .Just. 
 
 Parliamen / met in Toronto in the early spiing. The chief 
 measure of legislation >^ as a bill making- provision for the 
 constructic a of railways to supTiloiAicnt the canal system, and 
 pnn Oanada in a positiou to compet" with the c.irriers of the 
 Ui\ited States, wu jre i-ailroad iMiiidioi'^ had recently tiecome a 
 rria/ ia. A measure in':rod!ie. >l durin<i; tliu session bj' Mr Hincks 
 autr>orized the govurnor-ii -cc Lci! ,■•• take steps in concert 
 wi 1; the governments nf the r ari-'i ve pr.'inees towards the 
 coustniiction of ;;. rad'Au,y from lu.milton to Quebec, to make 
 c >tinect>.>ri theie with another line to run along the St. Law- 
 rence and through New B ;nsv. iok to Nova Scotia, terminating 
 at Halifax. A meeting of delegates was held in Toronto, and 
 
THE GREAT MINISTRY FALLS. " 147 
 
 me.' . nres were adopted towards the construction of the lines. 
 But when the delcojate^ Mr. Hincks from Canada and Mr. 
 Chandler f'om New Br.irswirV, went to England to ask impe- 
 rial aid, thijy "ui ' .isLonished to find tliat Joseph Howe had 
 either beeii guilty of duplicity in leading them to hope that 
 help would be given, or that Earl Grey had deceived Mr. 
 Howe ; for Sir John Pakington infox med theiu that imperial 
 assistance could not be promised. Bat out of these projects 
 t ventuallv grew the Intercolonial and Grand Trunk railways. 
 Another Important measure of the .session was the abolition of 
 the law ot [n-imogeniture, in defence of which Mr. Macdonakl 
 ]ia<l aired his early eloquence ; but he had grown wiser now, 
 and sat with supreme unconcern while the politicians swept 
 the ideal law of hlsyouth off the statute books. ' 
 
 lilacdonald's attitude during the session was not more demon- 
 strative, and less scornful, than it was on his first appear- 
 ance in the house. On July 19th he brought in a bill relating 
 to the medical profession in Upper Canada, introducing it to 
 the House in a few tt^se sentences. The measure met with some 
 opposition, and the chief hostility, though for what reason it 
 is hard to tell, came from the Solicitor-General, John Saadfield 
 Macdonald, The arguments used by this opponent were very 
 paltry, and as some other members took up the same strain, 
 John A. Macdonald at ]a.st became annoyed. "Mr. Spt^aker," 
 he said, " if the Solicitor-General is to be logical and consistent, 
 after he has opposed my bill, in view of what it aims to do-- - 
 and its ^cope and aims are not denied — he ought to introduce a 
 bill to legalize murder." How apt, not to say how crushing, 
 was this thrust must be apparent to those who will now try to 
 conceive of our great body of medical practitioners without ob- 
 ligations, organization, or protection. 
 
 When the simple brother in one of Matthew Arnold's poems 
 plucked the tiny plant to fling at Balder, the gods laughed at 
 his humour, but presently they saw the Father against whom 
 they had hurled their javelins in vain fall, pieicad by the fragile 
 
148 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALV. 
 
 ^veed. The country had seen Mr. Baldvan stand bravely 
 through the clangor of the fire bells, and iu the glare of the 
 burning halls of parliament ; saw him supreme when Sir Al- 
 lan MacNab tried once again to coax abroad the spurious Bri- 
 tish Lion ; now they see him, on a measure brought in by 
 William Lyon Mackenzie to abolish the court of Chancery, 
 stand up and declare that he will resign his place in the 
 government. The weed had slain Balder. The house rejected 
 Mackenzie's measure, but a majority of the Upper Canada mem- 
 bers voted for it; and though Mr. Baldwin was no advocate 
 Jfor " double majorities " he was cut beyond endurance at this 
 rebuke to his ideal court. His lofty spirit could not bend. It 
 was a time of wonders ; for almost immediately afterwards M. 
 Lafontaine arose at his desk and announced his intention of 
 retiring at an early day. "The two masts are overboard," 
 Macdonald remarked in an undertone to Mr. Sht -wood ; " a 
 helpless hulk there is left now! " 
 
 In October, M. Lafontaine withdrew and the other miviisters 
 followed him. Lord Elgin, who was now at his lovely resi- 
 dence, Spencer Wood, upon the cliffs of Sillery, sent for Mr. 
 Hincks to form a government. Perhaps Mr. Hincks could not 
 see through the blank wall of the future; perhaps he did get 
 a glimpse through it, but made up his mind to follow the path 
 he had traced out. At any rate he did not send for George 
 Brown, who was burning to get into ctfice, but made up his 
 ;jovernment as follows : 
 
 FROM CANADA WEST. 
 
 Hon. Francis Hincks Premier and Insp'r-General. 
 
 W.B.Richards Attorney-General West. 
 
 " Malcolm Cameron President of the Council. 
 
 " Dr. John RoLPH Com' r of Crown Lands, 
 
 " James Morris Postm ester- General. 
 
t 
 
 THE GREAT MINISTRY FALLS. ■-— 149 
 
 FROM CANADA EAST. ' 
 
 Hon. a. N. Morin Provincial Secretaiij. 
 
 " L. T. Drummond Attorney-General Ea8t. 
 
 " John Young Com'r of Public Works. 
 
 " R. E. Caron Speaker of Legislative Council. 
 
 " E. P. Tache Receiver-Gen<!ral. 
 
 But there was more than one jealous member when Mr. Hincks 
 made out his programme. Mr. John San Jfiolcl Macdonald, who 
 aimed to be attorney -general, was offered the commissioner- 
 ship of crown lands, but refused, and went away muttering 
 "curses not loud but deep." George Brown, as was his wont, 
 found vent for an angry spirit and disappointed hopes in noise, 
 and foamed more indiscreetly than ever through the Globe. 
 He had little denunciation for the tories — indeed, the tone of 
 his paper was complimentary to John A. Macdonald and many 
 other candidates of the party, — but he was unsparing of the 
 Government, he v/ho had lashed the clear gi-its such a brief 
 time before for their treachery in putting themselves in oppo- 
 sition to the "redeemei's of the country." But this all happened 
 before he got into the legislature, and, more than all, before he 
 was ignored in the making up of Hincks' cabinet. 
 
 Once asain Canada was in the throes of a general election. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 "BURNINQ QUESTIONS. 
 
 THE new government was pledged to the public to provide 
 measures for an elective legislative council, for increased 
 parliamentary representation, the abolition of seigniorial tenure, 
 and the secularization of the clergy reserves. Of all the ques- 
 tions which had agitated the public mind, this latter was the 
 most prominent, the most galling and unjust. Among the other 
 evils planted in the constitutional act of 1791, wex'e the provi- 
 sions for granting a seventh of the crown.lands in the provinces 
 of Canada, for the support of " the Protestant clergy," and the 
 establishment of rectories in every township or parish, " accord- 
 ing to the establishment of the Church of England." In the 
 early history of Upper Canada, the ett'ect of these grants was 
 not felt, but as the population began to spread over the public 
 domain, and it was found that the sanctified hand of the church 
 had £ ggregated her reserves in large blocks, to aid in the spread 
 of the gospel according to hei* way of teaching, a general cry of 
 dissatisfaction was raised. Well might the dissenters have cried 
 with Cassius, " Now is it Rome indeed, and Rome enough." It 
 was Rome without the ceremonies and canonical panoply, but 
 it was Rome monopolized. The heads of other protestant deno- 
 minations met to protest against the injustice. The words " a 
 protestant clergy" excluded the dissenters, whom all imperial 
 statutes ignored ; but the presby tei'ians stood boldly vp and 
 proved that they came within the meaning of the words. The 
 law officers of the Crown, on pondeiing the question said 
 the Presbyterians were correct in their view, and that the 
 
 150 
 
*< BURNING" QUESTIONS. 151 
 
 benefit of the act should extend to " these persons so long as 
 there were any of them in the country." The language of the 
 officers might be taken to refer to i^oose or bears, but it really 
 did point to " the presbyterians." The sturdiest advocate for 
 the maintenance of the reserves was Dr., afterwards Bishop, 
 8trachan, one of the ablest men that has ever appeared in 
 Canada, and an uncompromising champion of the church of his 
 .second love. He resisted the claims of dissenting bodies — " pre- 
 tensions " he called these claims — and hurried away to Eng- 
 land to fortify the colonial office against the importunities of 
 the outraged denominations. In 183G, Sir John Colborne was 
 recalled to England, but before his departure endowed forty- 
 four rectories to the unspeakable amazement a;id indignation 
 of the province. To each such rectory was allotted about three 
 hundred and eighty-six acres of land. The law officers in Eng- 
 land promptly declared the endowment to be invalid, but Dr. 
 Strachan got together a bundle of documents which he packed 
 off to England ; whereupon the oracles reversed their decision. 
 It must certainly have been annoying to officials of the Bi'i- 
 tish Government to be pestered about every little colonial mat- 
 ter, but they brought the trouble upon themselves by arro- 
 gantly, not to say, impertinently, undertaking to deal with 
 matters which rightly belonged to the jurisdiction of the colo- 
 nial legislatures, in framing our constitutional acts. Nor had 
 they grown more wise, perhaps we should say less meddlesome, 
 in 1840. The Union Act provided that no further reservations 
 were to be made — as if the Canadian government were not the 
 best judge whether more reservations ought to be made or not — 
 Avd that, of previous sales of reserves, one-third should go to the 
 presbyteiian body and two-thirds to the church of England ; 
 and that of the future proceeds of sales, one-third should go to 
 the episcopalians, one-sixth to presbyters, and the remainder "for 
 purposes of public worship or religious instruction in Canada." 
 This latter citation was an insinuation in favour of the dissent- 
 ers; for the framers of the act could not be expected to name 
 
Utt . LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACBONALD. 
 
 the Baptists, Wesleyans, Unitarians, et cjietera. But this settle- 
 ment of the question, proposed doubtless by the spiritual peel's, 
 was made without any regard for the census, and at once caused 
 n, ly of anger and dissatisfaction through the country. We 
 know not by what light went the peers when making the ap- 
 piopriation. It is their custom when choosing a bishop, we 
 know, to p'ay to be guided in the choice they are about to make^ 
 and uhen to appoint the person named by the prime min- 
 ister. It is not certain that in apportioning the reserve 
 proceeds among the Canadian religious bodies they gave much 
 time to thought or prayer, simply setting down double as much 
 to the episcopalians, whether they numbered ten or ten thou- 
 sand, as to any other denomination. Four years afterwards, 
 discontent at the settlement had reached such a head that a 
 complete secularization of the reserves was demanded by the 
 reform party. The question was discussed on the hustings 
 and in the legislature with much passion, and Mr. Henry Price, 
 a congregatit^nalist, at his place in the house, described the 
 reserves, with not less justice than force, as " one of the great- 
 est curses that could have been inflicted upon the land." But 
 the tories showed no inclination to disturb the arrangement. 
 On the contrary, to them, like to the framers of the act of 1791, 
 establishment was one of the dearest features of our fjovern- 
 ment. When the reformers came into office in 1848, the 
 champions of secularization were filled with hope ; but as we 
 have seen, Mr. Baldwin, although opposed to the union of 
 church and state, or rather of God and Mammon, had enough 
 of high church prejudice to be content to let the settlement by 
 the union act abide. In Lower Canada tht ,£uestion was never 
 of any consequence, and for this reason M. Lafontaine was op- 
 posed to opening up the matter again. We shall discuss, in its 
 proper place, the influence it had upon parties, how it split 
 governments, begot coalitions, and changed the whole current 
 of our political history. 
 
"BURNING" QUESTIONS. loS 
 
 But if the lower province was not concerned about tlie clergy 
 reserves, it had a grievance scarce less exasperating. In the- 
 seventeenth century the feudal system still existed in France, 
 and was transferred, though not in all its rigoura, to Canada. 
 Large blocks of land were granted by the West India Company 
 to families of the crown, army officers and religious bodies, who- 
 held them en seigneurie. This condition embraced the pay- 
 ment of fealty and homage to the king. On the day set apart 
 for doing homage, came the seigneur, or holder of the granted 
 lands, to the castle of St. Louis in Quebec, and kneeling before 
 the representative of the king, he there, in token of submission, 
 delivered up his sword; which was graciously returned. Nearly 
 all the fertile lands, stretching, for three hundred miles, along- 
 the banks of the St. Lawrence were granted to the seigneurs. 
 The latter enjo3'ed many rights and privileges, but they also 
 had their duties. Within their domains they had jurisdiction 
 over all offences against the laws save treason and murder. 
 When the seigneurie or any portion of it was sold, a fifth of 
 what it brought, called a quint, was paid to the crown. Boing 
 unable to cultivate his extensive grant, the seigneur divided it 
 into lots having a frontage of three acres on the St. Lawrence, 
 extending backward eighty acres. The holders of these lots. 
 which were granted en roture, were called censitaires. Several 
 annoying conditions were imposed upon the censitaire. He 
 was obliged* "to grind his grain at the seigneur's mill, bake his 
 bread in the seigneurs oven, work for him one or more days 
 in the year, and give him one fish in every eleven for the priv- 
 ilege of fishing in the river before his farm." He was also 
 obliged to pay a small yearly rental, to do military service, to 
 open up and repair roads, and build bridges. If he sold his lot 
 he was obliged to hand over lods et ventes, that is, the twelfth 
 part of the receipts, to the seigneur. The holding descended 
 to the censitaires heir, whose relations to the seigneur remain- 
 
 » Francis Parkman : "The Old Regime in Canada." 
 
154 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 <id the same as during the original occupation. Some years 
 after the conquest the censitaircs became restive under the in- 
 creased obligations put upon them by the seigneurs, who, in 
 •consequence of the system of dividing the seigneurie among all 
 members of the family, were driven to sore straits to maintain 
 & living suitable to their rank. At the time reformers in 
 Upper Canada were demanding a secularization of the clergy 
 reserves, the wretched censitaire was praying to be released 
 from the yoke of his master. Accounts are given of the most 
 dishonest and harassing measures adopted towards the ignor- 
 ant habitant, who was not aware that he was being cheated — 
 only knowing that he was being oppressed — by the seigneurs. 
 Some hot-headed Frenchmen, without any instinct of justice, 
 •advocated the total^sweepingaway of seigniorial claims without 
 compensation ; others advocated a joint commutation of what 
 was called the cens et rentes by the state and the censitaires ; 
 and the legislature in 1849 passed an act providing for optional 
 commutation. This measure, however, did not satisfy the 
 habitant, who demanded that the system should be abolished 
 branch and root. .Thus the legislature had upon its hands at 
 the period to which our narrative has readied, two important, 
 or, to use the phrase of the time, two " burning " questions. 
 
 Mr. Francis Hincks, the leader of the government asked to 
 Ijrapple with these questions, was the youngest son of Dr. 
 Hincks, of Breckenborough, Yorkshire, England, and could trace 
 his ancestry far backward, finding a Hincks as alderman of 
 Chester in 1341. Dr. Hincks obtained a fellowship in Trinity 
 College, Dublin, and subsequently became rector of Killyleagh. 
 He was the author of a number of papers on the transactions of 
 the Royal Irish Academy, and on Assyrian, Persian, and Egyp- 
 tian archaeology. Some of his discoveries proved valuable 
 additions to the knowledge of Eastern lore, and chief among 
 these may be mentioned his determination of the value and 
 forms of the Assyrian numerals. After spending some years 
 at college, his son Francis entered a large business house, and 
 
*' BURNING'' QUESTIONS. 155 
 
 .sulisequently sailed as supercargo to the West Indies, visiting 
 Jamaica, Trinidad, Demarara, and Barbadoes. In the hitter 
 city he met a Canadian gentleman with whom he visited Can- 
 ada, for the purpose of studying her commerce. He went back 
 to Ireland, M'ell pleased with the new country, married the 
 «econd daughter of Alexander Stewart, a merchant of Belfast, 
 and soon after returned to Canada, taking up hiy residence in 
 Toronto. He rapidly rose in the estimation of all with whom 
 he came in contact for his great abilities and integrity ; and 
 after the arrival of Lord Durham to Canada, established the 
 Exandney newspaper. As a journalist he was seen to possess 
 abilities of the highest order, and while he fearlessly sifted 
 every question to the bottom, his st3'le of writing always main- 
 tained the due dignity of the press. In 1841 he was "called 
 out " for Oxford, and defeated his opponent hy a majority of 
 thirty-one votes ; and was re-elected on going back to his 
 constituency after having accepted the inspector-genei-alship. 
 Three years later he was defeated by a son-in-law of Admiral 
 Vansittart for the same constituency, but in 1848 was again 
 elected by a majority of three hundred and thirty-five over his 
 old opponent Carroll. Again he entered the government of 
 his first friend in Canada, taking the same office he had held 
 before. In the autumn of 1851, as we have seen, oa the 
 retirement of Robert Baldwin, he was called to form a govern- 
 ment. He is to be an interesting figure for same years to 
 come, and we must not anticipate his career. 
 
 M. Augustin Norbert Morin, his " other half," as the second 
 government head used to be called in those days, was born at 
 St. Michel, district of Quebec, in 1803. He studied law in the 
 office of D. B. Vigor, and was called to the bar at Montreal, in 
 1828. In his twenty -eighth year he was returned to parlia- 
 ment, and was so brilliant as to till his friends with great hopes 
 for his future. He entered the Baldwin-Lafontaine ministry 
 as commissioner of crown lands, in October, 1842, retaining 
 office until December the following year, when, with his col- 
 
156 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 leagues lie was forced out of office by the treachery of the 
 goveinor. In 1848 he was again retui'ned to parliament, and 
 elected to the speakership. On the resignation of M. Lafon- 
 taine, threo years later, Mr. Hinck's choice fell upon him as the 
 only suitable successor to the retiring statesman. Kaye, whoso 
 portraits are not always above suspicion, pays honest tribute 
 to the character of M. Morin. His administrative abilities, he 
 tells us, were of the highest class. He had vast powers of appli- 
 cation, rare conscientiousness, and a noble self-devotion, which 
 in old times would have carried him cheerfully to the stake. 
 His patriotism was of the purest water, and he was utterly 
 without selfishness and guile. And he was of so sensitive a 
 nature and so confiding a disposition, that it was said of him 
 he was as tender-hearted as a woman, and as simple as a child. 
 A prominent figure in the new cabinet, a man who as yet 
 had no clear notion of what his party leanings were, was 
 Etienne P. Tach^, receiver-general. He Avas the descendant of 
 an ancient and distinguished French family, and was born at 
 St. Thomas, Lower Canada, in 1795. When the war broke 
 out in 1812, young Tach^ entered the militia of Lower Canada 
 as an ensign in the 5th battalion, and dashed bravely to the 
 front in defence of his country. After the war had closed, ho 
 studied medicine and achieved much success in his profession. 
 He was elected to the first parliament under the union, and six 
 years later was appointed deputy-adjutant-general, which po- 
 sition he retained for rv/o years, when he entered the Lafon- 
 taine-BaJdwin ministrj^ as commissioner of public works. On 
 the resignation of L. M. Viger the following year, he became 
 receiver-general, and was allotted to the same office on the for- 
 mation of the Hincks' ministry. Henceforth Mr. Tachd began 
 to evince preferences for the conservative party, and was dur- 
 ing his term of office in the reform government a professed 
 admirer of Mr. John A. Macdonald. We shall see that he soon 
 boldly goes to the party whither his sympathies had been 
 
''BURNING" QUESTIONS. 157 
 
 leading him, and stands at the head of a government with the 
 iiieinher whom it was liis wont so warmly to admire. 
 
 The election was held in the early winter, and resulted in a 
 return of all the new ministers. The position of parties was 
 little changed, save indeed that the only member of the once 
 mighty compact who took his place in the now house was Sir 
 Allan MacNab, and he only won his seat by repudiating many 
 of the principles which he had been in the habit of defending 
 with much fury. One of the surprises of the election was the 
 rejection of the honoured ex-leader of the reform party by the 
 electors of North York for a candidate who up to the time 
 had been unknown to the electorate. The fact is that the 
 public mind had beer excited during the summer about the 
 question of secularization, and the suspicion got abroad that 
 Mr. Baldwin looked upon the disturbance of the existing set- 
 tlement with no friendly eye. And so when he appeared at the 
 hustings a throng of his friends waited upon him, and bluntly 
 requested him to pledge himself to support secularization. It 
 is not strange that Robert Baldwin should receive a lequest 
 like this with scorn. He calmly told his supporters that he 
 came before them with no claim upon their regards save what 
 a record of his public career had given him; that he had always 
 acted unfettered by pledges, free to do what he believed was 
 right ; that he would not fetter himself now, and if they sent 
 him to the legislature he would go there free of pledges. They 
 rejected him, and took the unknown. 
 
 John A, Macdonald, whose popularity had flagged not since 
 his first election, was returned again for Kingston, but took 
 his seat not in that listless manner which was his wont, but 
 sat up at his desk, his eye vipon every movement that was 
 made. Mr. John Sandfield Macdonald, who was burning for 
 an opportunity to be avenged on Mr. Hincks, was elected 
 speaker. The Speech made reference to the proposed intro- 
 duction of decimal cun'ency, to railways, the attitude of the 
 imperial government towards secularization of the clergy re- 
 
158 LIFE OF Sin JOflN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 serves, and the expediency of .settling the grievance of seignorial 
 tenure. 
 
 Some life was introduced into the debate on the address by 
 
 George Brown, who made his maidcMi speech — a slashing and 
 
 effective effort, and perhaps as forcible an array of raw material 
 
 as had ever been presented to that parliament. In after years 
 
 Mr. Brown's style of parliamentary speaking improved, but not 
 
 very much. This first speech of his revealed all his strength, 
 
 and not a few of his defects. He had a prodigious capacity for 
 
 ffettinij facts toy-ether, and these he flung with a tremendous 
 
 force in the face of his audience. Only the one ([ualification 
 
 of an orator had he, however, and tlmt was this force, a qnality 
 
 which was perhaps made better by having to it a nervous side. 
 
 It was a homely, blunt speech, strongly made, and that wa.s. 
 
 all. It lacked all the accomplishments and many of the gift* 
 
 which are essential to oratory. It was devoid of imaginatioiu 
 
 of sarcasm, of humour, of Irony, of pathos, of scorn. Wo kno\v 
 
 that facts can be honestly and effectually told without these 
 
 gifts and graces, but we are merely pointing out that it is a 
 
 delusion to suppose that Mr. Brown was an orator. He was a 
 
 man of much honest purpose, of rugged, strong intellect ; so 
 
 rugged PS to give room to the supposition that his muscle may 
 
 have been turned into brain without having undergone any 
 
 particulu" change. The true orator understands human nature, 
 
 the sym;;athies of audiences, and as he speaks keeps his hand 
 
 upon the pulse of his hearers. Mark Anthony subdued and 
 
 turned iato i-^eabius friends upon the spot a mob of turbulent 
 
 Romans, drank with tumult, b}'' appealing to all the better 
 
 instincts ol their humanity. That oration of his, hidden away 
 
 in the play, is, in our poor judgmont, the greatest speech, the 
 
 most effective piece of oratory that lives in any language, 
 
 though he who utters it declares (but in the disclaimer proves 
 
 the contrary), " \ am no orator as Bru us is, but, as you kiiow 
 
 me all, a plai >, blunt man il iit V)vos his friend;^. ' George 
 
 Brown was a 1' cidedly plain, 1 !' it man, but it ii doubtful if 
 
•'JiURMNO" QUESTIONS. 150 
 
 he always loved his friends ; and it" he did he surely had not 
 alvays tact enou^di to tell them so. He plunged straight on, 
 without art or grace, believing it to be his duty to drive instead 
 of to lead. 
 
 Pa['ineau made an erratic attack upon the government, and 
 declared that he wanted annexation and au elective legislative 
 council. Mr, John A. Macdonald, who had informed some of 
 his friends that "at last he was ready for tho fray," adminis- 
 tered a long scourging to the government. Ho affirmed that*^ 
 the ministry had outlived its principles, and thai its only bond 
 of union now was that of office. Frequent meetings of tho 
 conservatives were held at which it was agreed thi\t the party 
 should act in accord with Brown's stalwarts when any blo^r 
 was aimed to overthrow the government. 
 
 During the summer Mr. Hincks had visited England, and 
 while there made every possible eftbrt to induce the imperial 
 government to introduce such legislation as would give the 
 Canadian parliament authority to deal with the question of 
 secularization. Notwithstanding these facts, George Brown 
 charged him with having " sold himself to the enemy," and 
 upon this asseveration grounded his opposition to the govern- 
 ment. The truth is, Mr. Hincks' real offence was that he had 
 ignored Brown in forming his cabinet, and now stood in the 
 path of a man who had told the public with a flourish but a. 
 few months before that he was "aiming for high game." H 
 this is not the true interpretation, then it remains to be 
 explained why Brown had no censure for Messrs. Baldwin and 
 Lafontaine, one of whom, at least, was known to be hostile to- 
 secularization; why he scourged the clear grits in his news- 
 paper for jeopardizing the interests of the party, and saw 
 nothing censurable in the conduct of the government till he 
 found he had not been remembered in the formation of Mi\ 
 Hnicks' cabinet. The interests of the reform party were 
 always dear to Mr. Brown, but not so dear as his own ambi- 
 tion. In the whole course of his public career, he never hesi- 
 
1-60 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALL. 
 
 tated to crush any man who ci ossed his path. If tie 'i iterests 
 ■of his party happened to be identical with the inte s ^ of hia 
 rival, then so much the worse tor the party. . .v is not 
 that he loved his party less, but that he loved Ge<r g Brown 
 more. 
 
 Owing to the prevalence of cholera in Quebec thi legisla- 
 ture was adjourned from No\ ember till I'cbruary. V few days 
 before prorogation, new? reached Canada that i\ Measure rela- 
 ting to secularization had }- -.ssed the imperial parliamer.t. The 
 act authorized the Can; lian legislature to repeal or amond the 
 act of 1840 as wa,'' leemod desirable, but prohibitea interfer- 
 ence with the annual stipends already allowed to clergymen. 
 Evident!}', up to this dat . , the impression had not got out of 
 i\ e heads of some of the law-makers that our legislature here 
 was largely composed of the barbarian element. They could 
 not trust the few clergymen interested in this legislation to 
 ■our hands for justice ! 
 
 During the summer, the celebrated Alessandro Gavazzi, of 
 whom we have already made mention, arrived in Canada for 
 the purpose of destroying the papacy. He lectured in Quebec, 
 but a number of lawless rutiians, defenders of the Catholic 
 faith we suppose they j^tyled themselves, broke up the meeting. 
 Thence Gavazzi passed r. Montreal, and while addressing an 
 audience in Zion Chui'ch ti:ere one evening, a mob of Roman 
 Catholic Irishmen, alsu on the defence of religion, endeavoured 
 to force its way into the building. This was prevented by a 
 force of police outside, but ar; the mob was drawing back, one 
 of them fired a piste- u This rioter was promptly shot down 
 by a protestant. Ihe lecture was hurriedly brou<.ht to a close, 
 but during tlie progreEs of the audience through the street it 
 was assaulted by the mob, ■'/hich was largely composed of 
 murderous and half-drunken navvies. Two women were struck 
 to the ground and trampled over ; and a child of nine years 
 had its arm broken. Mayor ^Vilson now appeared from behind 
 the scenes and ordered the military to fire. The order was 
 
"BURNING" QUESTIONS. =-^— :tftS ' 
 
 obeyed, but the balls went only airioiig the procession whose 
 offence had been that they attenil'Ml Gr/azzi's lecture. Five 
 men dropped dead from the vol'ey, aiiJ a large number were 
 wounded. In the excitement tlie mayor evidently lost his 
 head, though his action in ordering the soldiers to fire seems 
 like an appalling murder. Unfortunately for Mr, Hincka 
 he was on terms of great intimacy with Wilson, who was a 
 Catholic. The government was tardy in investigating the 
 occurrence, and its enemies told it on their trumpets through- 
 out Upper Canada that Mr. Hincks Avas in the hands of the 
 Catholics. The accusation seemed so much like the truth that 
 it contributed in no small degree to the premier's downfall. 
 
 Durincr the session Mr. John A. Macdonald was the most 
 prominent figure in the debates. Upon the bill to increase the 
 number of representatives, he took strong grounds, center ling 
 that the measure was a sacrilegious laying of hands up.n the 
 constitution, without the sanction or desire of the people.* 
 Against the Univei'sity Bill, he took a firm stand, -f but a 
 perusal of his speech shows that his objections are well taken, 
 and that much of his hostility to the measure was due to a 
 conviction that Dr. Rolph was personally interested in the 
 government bill. During the discussion on a measure to res-, 
 train the sale of intoxicating liquors, he took the position that 
 the government could no more legislate a man to be sober than 
 it could to make him religions.^ The law against duelling, ho 
 pointed out did not prevent " meetings," and the practice of the 
 duel existed till the moral force of the community frowned it out 
 of existence. The bill for indemnity to seigneurs he attacked 
 with fierce scorn, not that he believed compensation should not 
 be made for the confiscation of seigneuries, but that as the 
 measure was one of local interest only, the buit hen of indem- 
 nity ought not to be borne by the people of Ui!perCanada.§ "It 
 
 * See Appendix "A." t See Appendix " B." t See Appendix '* C 
 
 § See Appendix " D." 
 
162 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 was as much as saying," he pithily observed, " that Upper 
 C itiada should be bribed with her own money." The premier 
 se^'ixis to have been the chief object of his care during the 
 iessi .11. Scarce a day passed that there was not a passage of 
 arras between the two. One afternoon Mr. Hincks was asked 
 to disth!)\ite copies of the bill creating a bureau of agricul- 
 ture, among members, but curtly refused to do so. Macdonald 
 rose in his place: "Mr. Speaker, the inspector-general, in an- 
 swer to a proper request from this house, says ' we won't.' 
 Si:', it is absolutely hidecent." Mr. Hincks who was rather 
 surprised at seeing Macdonaki show any trace of peevish- 
 ness, arose and said that there was surely nothing indecent 
 in saying, "we won't." "Ah, yes," said Mr. Badgley, "but 
 it is the man;. 3r." " The manner," returned Macdonald, con- 
 temptuously ; " he has no manners." " Why, is it possible ! ' 
 said several members at once, " that Macdonald has lost his 
 temper." " Nonsense," he replied, " I was never cooler in my 
 life." He seenrad to be in his e/ement glancing along the benches 
 of the doomed ministry and taunting its members. From being- 
 silent and lonchalant, he bad become active and provoking. 
 No joint ii, the enemy's harness escaped his eye ; the memo- 
 landum books were thrown aside, and he sat there another 
 Attila. /attorney -general Drummond, in defending the charita- 
 ble soc r,ie : bill, had wandered away from his text, and indulg- 
 ed insoine jubilation at the strength of the government. " Ah, 
 jros ; " Macdonald said, when Drummond sat down, " they had 
 much reason to be joyful about their majority. You have a raa- 
 jciity of cix votes," he went on ; "and you have at least eight 
 ministers. So deduct the votes of these eight gentlemen for 
 themselves, and there is a majority of two against them ! " 
 There was a time, he admitted, when he had some respect for 
 them, " but I have none now. The hon. member for Kent 
 (Georcre Brown), has ungritted you. You are now an unfortu- 
 nate incoherent mass at the mercy of everybody and every- 
 thing.'" We find the Kingston nriember attending a meeting held 
 
BURNING" QUESTIONS. 
 
 liBS 
 
 at Montreal during the summer, by the protestant citizeas, in 
 relation to the Gavazzi riots, and observe in his conduct there 
 the caution that has always been part of his character. He 
 was called upon to speak, but said a few words only, assur- 
 ing the meeting of his sympathy with their object, but declin- 
 ing to say anything further, as '" the matter was to be brought 
 up in parliament." i 
 
 On the eighteenth of June, in this summer, the Glohe winds 
 up a dreary article with the earnest prayer, that " the country 
 may be saved from the darkness of Romanism." Mr. Mackenzie 
 has, however, said in his book that " no article ever appeared 
 in the Glohe, that bore the character of intolerance." 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 BIRTH OF "LIBERAL-CONSERVATISM. 
 
 ""IF Russia should decline to restrict within purely diploma- 
 JL tic limits the discussion in which she has for some time 
 past been engaged with the Sublime Porte, and does not by 
 the return of the messenger, who is the bearer of my present 
 letter, announce her intention of causing the Russian troop* 
 under Prince Gortschakoff to commence their march with a 
 view to recross the Truth, so that the provinces of Moldavia 
 and Walkchia shall be completely evacuated on April 30, next, 
 the British government must consider the refusal or the silence 
 of the cabinet of St. Petersburg as equivalent to a declaration 
 of war, and will take its measures accordingly." Such was- 
 England's uiltimatum to Russia despatched on the 27th April, 
 1854. The messenger was informed by Count Nesselrode, four 
 days after he delivered his errand, that the Emperor did not 
 think it becoming in him to give any reply to the letter. A 
 few days afterwards, a large assemblage of excited persons eon- 
 gi-egated about the Royal Exchange to witness the most inter- 
 esting ceremony known in any country. The sergeant-at- 
 arms, accompanied by several city officers, ascended the steps- 
 of the Exchange, and therefrom read Her Maj<'sty's declaration 
 of war against Russia. Foreign capitals w .icli had so often 
 said with a sneer that " England had joined the peace society 
 and would never be seen in battle any more," stood aghast 
 now listening to the clangor of her arms. But that sentiment 
 sung by our first of Canadian singers, Mr. Roberts, still lived a-s- 
 
 164 
 
BIRTU OF ''LIBERAL-CONSERVATISM." 105 
 
 the swords which had lain idly in their scabbards were buckled 
 on, and the great ships were warped out from their moorings : 
 
 " But let a great wrong crj' to heaven, 
 Let a giant necessity come ; 
 Then as of old she can strike, 
 
 She will strike, and strike home." 
 
 Tl'C Canadian government had been growing weaker day by 
 <1ay, and while the y;r(>at nations grappled with each other in 
 their murderous conflict at the Crimea, a violent newspaper 
 war was beiijg waged throughout our province. It was in 
 vain tiiat the ministry asked to be judged by their works, and 
 pointed out the valuable legislation they had called into ex- 
 istence. During the previous summer the Grand Trunk rail- 
 way had been opened to Portland, the Great Western from 
 Suspension bridge to Windsor, and the Ontario, Simcoe and 
 Huron, now known as the Northern, from Toronto to Barrio. 
 With the- declaration of war the prices for Canadian products 
 reached a fever point, labour was in brisk demand, and com- 
 mercial prosperity at the flood-tide. The fly in iEsop's fable 
 imagined that it was he who raised the dust-cloud, and not 
 unnaturally ministers believed that their policy was in some 
 measure the author of the extraordinary activity in trade ; but 
 it was not. 
 
 For some time past Lord Elgin and his government had been 
 conducting negotiations towards a treaty of reciprocity be- 
 tween Canada and the United States. In May, the governor 
 and Mr. Hincks v/ent to Washington to conclude the terms, 
 but congress was busy with questions of greater moment, and 
 our representatives were lost sight of for some weeks in the 
 bustle. Opponents of the government ridiculed their mission, 
 and prophesied the return of " our diplomats," as they contem- 
 tuously termed them, " with their tails between their leg.s." 
 It created no little surprise among the prophets, and rejoic- 
 ing through the commercial community, to learn that, on the 
 
166 LIFE 01 SIR JOUN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 5th of June, the treaty had been signed by Lord Elgin on be- 
 lialf of Great Britain, and W. L. Marcy, secretary of state for 
 the United States, on behalf of the republic. 
 
 By the provisions of the treaty, citizens of the United States 
 were permitted to take fish of any kind except shell-fish on 
 the sea-coasts and shores, and in the bays, harbours and creeks 
 of British provinces in North America, at any distance from 
 the shore; and to land upon the shores to dry their nets 
 and cure their fish. In return for these privileges British 
 subjects were allowed the same concessions in all the watfrp 
 and upon the land of the eastern sea-coasts and shores of the 
 United States, north of the 36th parallel of north latitude. 
 Grain, flour, breadstufls, animals, meats, poultry, fish, lurabe) , 
 hides, hemp, ores of metals, manufactured tobacco, and some 
 other articles were admitted into each country duty free. 
 The navigation of the St. Lawrence and the Canadian canals 
 was permitted to American citizens on the same conditions as 
 to British subjects ; and the latter were given similar rights 
 on lake Michigan. No export duty was to be levied on any 
 lumber cut in distiicts in Maine, watered by tributaries of 
 the St. John river, and floated down the latter to the bay of 
 Fundy for shipment to the United States. The treaty was 
 not to go into effect till it had i-eceived the sanction of the 
 imper* ..i and provincial parliaments on the one hand, and 
 of the congress of the United States on the other. It was to 
 continue in force ten years from the date of ratification, and 
 one year after either party had signified a desire to terminate 
 it. In Canada the treaty was received with a good deal of 
 favour, but the people of the maritime provinces perused its 
 terms with disappointment and anger. They charged Lord 
 Elgin with hurrying away to Washington without understand- 
 ing what were their most vital interests, 8,nd flippantly sign- 
 ing these away. '^ The objections raised to the treaty were,. 
 
 * Arnher : " A History of Canada." 
 
BIRTH OF '' LIBERAL-CONSERVATISM." 167 
 
 that though the United States had nothing to exchange com- 
 parable in value to the priceless fisheries of British North 
 America, and though their ships were placed on an equality 
 with the ships of Great Britain, they still peremptorily declin- 
 ed to concede the only equivalent they could offer, the admis- 
 sion of colonial vessels to registry in their ports and to their 
 coasting trade. The treaty, it may be added, ran for thirteen 
 years ; and during this time the value of the aggregate of 
 commodities interchanged between the two countries rose from 
 an annual average of i!l4, 230,703, in the eight years previous 
 to tl e treaty, to $50,339,770, in its thirteenth year. 
 
 Parliament was called together on the 13th oi; June, the 
 last day to which convocation could be postponed. It was 
 impossible that the meeting could have been summoned for an 
 earlier date, as the governor and the premier had been detained 
 in Washington till the fifth of the i lonth. But the opposition 
 did not care about impossibilities, and declared that ministers 
 were afraid to meet the house, and had put off the evil day 
 to the utmo.st moment. . • . , ' 
 
 Poiiticnl felling was once again at fever heat in Canada. 
 The opposition press had carried on a flaming crusade against 
 the ministry, charging it with treacaery to the public, and 
 hostility to secularization oi' the reserves and the confiscation 
 of ' .;igneuries. J he Globe, and all the journals that followed 
 ite lead contendcl tl.at it wajt the government's dutj- ?it the 
 impending session to /grapple with these questions; and Mr. 
 Brown wound up a \( vy rampmfc editorial in support of this 
 view by saying thio Mr. Hincks "must seculaiize or go out." 
 What the ministry N- intention was had not transpired; and 
 when the governor sat upon the throne to read the add'Cs-s 
 tiie house listened ii. breathless silence to hear what mea ure^ 
 were promised. But it indicated only tw< ; and n( ither 
 of taese referred to the nisorves or seigniorial t jnure Thr 
 liouse v/as merely nfoinied that a bill would be prepiu-ed t' 
 give effect to the ' v^'ashinf.;' uti Ueaty, and another to regulati 
 
168 LIFE OF SIR JOHN .1. MACDONALD. 
 
 the franchise and amend the election act, passed the preceding 
 session. We are unable to sec at this day what other measures 
 the ministry could have promised in the speech. During the 
 preceding session provision had been made for an increase in 
 the number of pai'liamentary representatives from 84 to 130. 
 Cleaily, then, from the moment parliament had declared for an 
 increase in the number of representatives, the existing legis- 
 lature was not faii'ly representative, and for a body, so de- 
 ficient, to enact legislation affecting the interests of the pub- 
 lie would have been a violation of the principle of respon- 
 sible got^ernment. Mr. Hincks defended the action of the 
 ministry on these giounds, and might huve cited the prece- 
 dent set by the imperial parlianxent, in 1832 after the passage 
 of the reform bill. We are unable to recall any instance 
 worth noting of a departure froui this doctrine in any country 
 under responsible government. It is only a few months ago 
 since Sir John Macdonald dissolved parliament after its fourth 
 session, because the census had shown that its representation 
 was not equitable. History by-and-by, when the party feel- 
 ing of the hour shall have passed away, will not fail to approve 
 his act ; yet had the country rustic who stood aghast at the 
 de*' iciation of Fox by a scurrilous hireling of the court ar- 
 ri\ .A in Canada after Sir John Macdonald had announced this 
 dissolution, he would have asked, as he asked in England, 
 " 'As 'e stole a sheep ? " Even Mr. Edward Blake so far forgot 
 the constitutional usage as to indite an extraordinary epistle 
 to his constituents, in which he told them that the government 
 having been beaten in a fair fight had resorted to " foul play." 
 Now that Mr. Blake's little fit of excitement has blown over, 
 he must bear to be told that it was no more correct to call a 
 desirable and constitutional act " foul play, chan to say that 
 the government,'agalnst whom he issued his manifesto, had 
 been " beaten " in any fight, fair or foul. 
 
 It was plain to the house that the intention of the ministry 
 was to hurry through its messures and end the session speed- 
 
BIR TH OF" LIBERA L CONSER VA TISM. " 1 G9 
 
 ily. But the conservatives, led by Sir Allan MacNab, and in- 
 spired by John A. Macdonald, joined themselves with the clear 
 grits who followed George Brown, and the rouges who were a 
 set of political Mamelukes. The address was stubbornly op- 
 posed inch by inch, and Mr. llincks had the mortification of 
 seeing men who stood fast to their allegiance all along now 
 desert him on the ground that he had been unfaithful to his 
 pledge. The man who goes through public life without some 
 reproach clinging to his name, is as strange a spectacle as the 
 Hebrew children who passed scathless through the fiery fur- 
 nace. Rumour had a good many scandals upon her lips now, 
 and the conduct of ^Mr. Hincks in certain transactions were 
 said to be not above reproach. Ministers were therefore 
 charged with infidelity and corruption ; and the explanations 
 they made were not sufficient before the house or the country. 
 Beyond any comparison their most powerful opponent was 
 Mr. John A. Macdonald. His hostility was not shown to the 
 constitutional ground the government had taken, but to their 
 hesitancy in dealing with the questions which had set the 
 country aflame. He did not take a stand either for or against 
 the secularization of reserves and the abolition of tenure, but 
 contended that the duty of the government was to have said 
 yes or no to the public, and to stand or fall by their action. 
 Apart from the shilly-shallying of the ministry, he formulated 
 against them a number of grave charges of wrong-doing. As 
 he proceeded with his speech he grew warm, and at last lost 
 his temper. It was a strange sight to see him who never be- 
 forf had been stirred by discussion grow white with feeling, 
 and gesticulate wildly with his arms. The government he 
 said was now a reproach to the country. They had the con- 
 tempt not alone of the party by which they had always been 
 opposed, but by their own friends. " It was well known," he 
 continued, " that the system pursued by the present govern- 
 ment had been one of rampant corruption, appealing to tlie 
 most sordid and the basest motives of men * * * * 
 
170 • LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD, 
 
 Even the postmaster-general had said at Perth, in reference to 
 the purchase of government ])roperty by members of the 
 government, that there had been a job perpetrated V)y his col- 
 leagues, with whom he continued to sit. Now, a government 
 should be free from suspicion and feel a stain on their escut- 
 cheon like a wound on their person. Especially should they 
 keep their hands clean of any sp'^culation in the government 
 property.* " All honour, he said, had departed from them, 
 and the only bond by which they were kept together now was 
 "the bond of common plunder." Nor were these short-com- 
 ings either confined to one, or two, or three odious transac- 
 tions ; " they were steeped to the very lips in infamy ; " were 
 " tainted with corruption, collectively and individually, both in 
 their public and private characters." During the delivery of 
 this speech the wildest excitement prevailed in the house, and 
 ministers " shivered at their benches." The attack was all the 
 more effective coming from a man whose balance of temper the 
 house never before had seen destroyed, and at an hour when 
 the staunchest supporters of the ministry were dropping off. 
 Fastidious critics censure Mr. Macdonald's " violent language " 
 in his early career, but our impression is that outbursts like 
 these have not been uncommon in debate among the staidest 
 of parliamerrthrians. The very year before, Mr. Disraeli h^.d 
 suffered his i",emper to get the mastery, wheT\, in <.i, discussion 
 with Mr. Gladstone, he informed Sir Charier^ Wood (Lord 
 Halifax) that petulance was not sarcasm, nor insolence invec- 
 tive ; and said that he " viewed Sir James Graham with regard, 
 but not with respect." Some years before, at a public meet- 
 ing, he denounced O'Connell as " a bloody traitor ;" and the 
 latter retaliated by characterizing Disraeli as the " true heir-at- 
 law to the blasphemous thief that died impenitent upon the 
 cross." 
 
 Among the amendments to the address were two by Messrs. 
 Caiichon and Sicotte — in the drawing of which it is said Mr. 
 
 * See Appendix " E." 
 
niFTH OF "LIBERAL-CONSERVATISM," 171 
 
 Macdonald had a l»and. Mr. Cauchon's amendment expressed 
 regret that the government had not taken steps for the dis- 
 posal of the seigniorial tenure questioi. during tiie session, and 
 Mr. Sicotte's very adroitly added, " or one for the immediate 
 ^settlement of the clergy reserves." Ina.smuch as " .settlement " 
 might mean a confirmation of the status quo, or an agreement 
 to the demands of the clear grits and rouges, these amend- 
 ments were supported by the two latter parties, and by the con- 
 servatives ; and the government found itself beaten by a vote 
 of 42 to 29. The vote being really one of non-confidence, Mr. 
 Hincks prompdy adjourned the house for two days, and the 
 ministry hunied together to discuss a way out of the dilemma- 
 The conservatives and clear grits each held its separate caucus 
 the following day, and at the latter's George Brown was jubilant 
 as he saw the "higher game" now almost within his reach. At the- 
 other meeting was no exultation ; but there sat the cool, shrewd- 
 headed Macdonald, pointing out that now since the crisis had 
 come, their party should move with more prudence and cau- 
 tion than ever. It was clear to him, he said, that no ministry 
 could bo fo'-rned, even after an appeal to the people, without 
 the coalition of some two of the parties. Sir Allan MacNab,. 
 as was his wont, became excited and talked extravagantly, but 
 Macdonald reminded him, that they could " afford now to sit 
 and see them flounder in the net." " There is no way for them 
 out of it," he assured his colleagues. Meanwhile no one outside 
 of those who sat at the ministerial conclave knew what the 
 government would do on Thursday next. When xhe day came 
 the house met at the stated hour, and members, some with 
 anxious, others with ourious, and not a few with giatified 
 faces took their seats at their desks. But the speaker had 
 hardly taken his place when the house was startled by the 
 booming of cannon ; and the conviction flashed upon unin- 
 formed members that the governor was on his way to prorogue 
 parliament. Sir Allan MacNab jumped to his feet and 
 asked the ministry if it was possible that the government had 
 
172 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 (U'cidcd on an iminodiatc prorogation. Mr Moriii said yes, l>y 
 a .siiiijilc incliimtitni of hi.s head. " Then," icpiird the knight 
 trenililing with exc'tcnie if, ' I protest in the name of tlie op- 
 position against our being Lrok n up in this inanner. I declti. e, 
 on behalf of niysell rnd my frieuds, that we are ([uite prepared 
 to make a respectful reply to Ms excellency's speech, that we 
 are ready to pacs n bill b'mging the new franchise act into op- 
 eration, and to grant tl e necessary supplie? for the current 
 year." Sir Allan hfd m- sooner sat down than William Lyon 
 Mackenzie, almost ppoeohless with rage, arose and began 
 an attack upon ihe niiniitry. Aftei pouring out his wi-ath 
 upon the government he asked permission to introc- jce a biU 
 on the clergy reserves; nut. while in.sisting on htwing his mo- 
 tion put the knocking 1 1 bltick-rod was h( ard at the door, 
 and the seigeant-at-avn s ippoared V)efore the bar commu- 
 nicating the fact to A\. Speaker. Thin arose u general con- 
 fusion, a dozen n'onibors enrleavoured to make themselves 
 lieard at once. Soire j lembers could be un>V:rstood through 
 the din to say, tliat bl ick-rod must wait at the door till 
 the house was prepare- 1 io send him liis answer. Mr. Mac- 
 kenzie, who had mainiained hi.', place on tht, tloor the while, 
 now sat down, 2.w '. Mr. Macdonald arose, and began to speak 
 with great vehenio .ce. He declared, that of all the disgrace- 
 ful acts of whicli the govenimjnt ha<l been guilty, ^.his last 
 was the worst. It v» 'is, he aflim ed, an unlawful and indecent 
 use of the power i;i t leir hand* to pisvent the public from 
 investigating theii- corrupt a» dons before the election. While 
 he was yetspeak'ng, Mr. Maokenzie, taking the motion he had 
 written, from hia de.sk, walked with it to the speaker's chair. 
 Mr. Sherwood aro5e to a «iuestion )f cvder. The messenger, 
 he said, had been adniitto'i without ihe consent of the house. 
 Mr. Macdonald, ^vho sti'j remained standing said he stood 
 there to protect the libert" . . of the people of Canada. Here 
 the uproar, in the words of he newspapers of the day, became 
 tremendous ; Macdonald spxjalcing at the top of his voice, but 
 
IIIR TH OF " LIB Eli A I. CONSER VA TISM:* 378 
 
 lieing quite inaudible, and the speaker standing,' up also as if 
 to speak. The sense of the house, liowever, Im^nn to return 
 to it, andtlie " faithful commons" eventually proceeded to the 
 court-house where the legislative council held session and the 
 governor was waiting. 
 
 While reading the incidents of this memorable morning many 
 will ask, But how could a dissolution be declared, since the pass- 
 age of at least one bill through both branches of tlie legislature 
 was necessary to c(mstitute a session? So (jueried, too, the 
 speaker in who.se eye.s now shone the light of triumph as he 
 nervously fingered a slip of [)aper he carried in his hand. Ho 
 had sat in the chair passionless and impaitial .since his election, 
 but there always ))urnt in his breast the desii'e to be revenged 
 on Mr, Hincks for liaving refused to him the attorney -general- 
 ship. As Speaker it was his duty to call attention to any 
 infringement of constitutional usage by the government or the 
 house, and he now saw the time at hand when he could take 
 revenge on the premier. The governor sat on the vice-regal 
 chair awaiting the appearance of the commons, and when tho 
 S[)caker reached the bar put out his hand to the secretary for 
 his speech. But he hesitated and a look of astonishment came 
 over his face, for the Speaker had unfolded the paper with which 
 his fingers had been nervously toying as he walked over to 
 the court house, and in a bold tone in which one could catch the 
 feehngof subdued triumph, read: " May it please your Excel- 
 lency, — It has been the immemorial custom of the Speaker of 
 the commons house of parliament to communicate to the throne 
 the general result of the deliberations of the assembly upon the 
 principal subjects which have employed the attention of parlia- 
 ment during the period of their labours. It is not now part of 
 my duty to address your excellency, inasmuch as there has been 
 no act pa.ssed or judgment of parliament obtained. The passage 
 of an act through its several stages, according to the law or 
 custom of parliament solemnly declared applicable to parliamen- 
 tary proceeeings by a decision of the legislative assembly of 
 
m JJFE or sin JOHN a. macdonaj.d. 
 
 1S41, is liol(i to l)e neces-savy in order to constitute a session of 
 parliament. This we have been unr.ble to accomplish, owing 
 to the coin uand which your excellency has laid upon me to 
 luect 3<)u this day for the purpose of prorogation ; and at the 
 same time 1 feel called upon to i>ssuro your excellency, on the 
 part of her majesty's faithful commons, that it is not from any 
 want of respect to yourself or to the aujj;ust personage whom 
 you represent in these provinces, that uo answer has been 
 returned bv he legislative assembly to your gracious speech 
 from the i\\\\ ..j" 
 
 This addi<'.' > was also read in the Freucli language, and Mr. 
 Fennings Tnyict tells us that as his excellency listened to what 
 he regarded as an act of censure upon his ministers and a 
 reprimand to himself,liis countenaiAce rlisplayed deep displeasure 
 and annoyance. He recovered his calm, cool aspect very soon, 
 lio'Aevcr, and read a brief i-peech announcing an immediate dis- 
 sc 'ution of parliament. 
 
 Political affairs had now readied a puzzling state. There 
 were thr'o parties in the field, the ministerialists, led by Mr. 
 HIncks, che conservatives, by Sir Allan MacNab, and the clear 
 •grits, by George Brown. No one of these parties could Jiope 
 to be 1 eturned in sufficient strength to form a governiiient ; so 
 that to ch>He observers the only way out of ths difficulty was 
 in coalition. The choice of the cons(;rvatives was between 
 joining their forces wit i the Kninistei-ialists, whom they were 
 now savar^ely assailing >xi the hustings and through the news- 
 papers for corruption and incompetency, and the clear grits. To 
 the government no choice presented itself ; they could not seek 
 coalit'i»n with men who had told upon trumpets thatthf >' were 
 ■" steep'Hi to the very lips in infamy," nor could they in « hi; other 
 hand Hu bruit bheniselves to the intolerable tyranny wiiici; Mr. 
 Brown had set up in his newspaper ; so they went to the polls m 
 a .sort of sullen despair. The most jubilant politician at that 
 election was George Brown, for he believed that the hour of 
 office was at hand. He was led away by the delusion that 
 
BIRTH OF ■ J.'"' A , ALCONSEIiVATJSM." 175 
 
 cithr-r ou'- of the l .hor tn > parties in the f\eh\ w mil readily 
 join its torct'H with his uwn ; '-'t he did noi. rov. hi, iself as 
 others saw liiin. At '..h ; very /.irne that he wen p.oout among liis 
 f(jllowers in a storm of ju dilation, ; oiling them tN.i' t their day was 
 coming, both of the parties, eiilier of whom he thought would 
 <oalesce with him on the hint, v ere pondering h'.w they could 
 get into office without making such a compact I'anny 'iqueci^ 
 supposed Nicholas Nickleby smitten of hev ^wcause hetalkci with 
 her over the tea; and she went abroad to announce an "engage- 
 ment," forgetting that it takes two parties to a contract. Much 
 like Fanny S({ueers wis George Brown at this ejection, Ho 
 was doubtful whether Mr. Hincks could be bullied or libelled 
 i-to submission to his will, and so concluded to ally himself with 
 tlie conservatives. To the astonishmerjt of the latter party and 
 everybody else he began to coquet with his ancient enemies 
 privately, and to support them in the Globe. Like Fannj Scjueers, 
 hj did not deem two parties to the engagement liocessary. 
 Because he was willing to form a compact with the ccnserva- 
 tives he believed they were ready to coalesce with hiii,. Mi-. 
 Brown may have been anxious to see a secularization of the re- 
 serves — no doO'u he was — but above all other things he desired 
 to (let iuto power. So ea,ger was he for office, and so little did 
 the hti'^viit? ry evils of toiv ism count compared with the capture 
 of Unsown " hi>»h or game," that he gave warm support in the 
 Globe and on the platform to no less 'conservatives than MacNab, 
 Ma'xloLald and (Jayley, opposing the ministerial candidates. 
 This portion of Mr. Brown's career Mr. Mackenzie finds the most 
 difiii;'ilt of all to whitewash over. But it needs only a few 
 extracts from the biographer s book to show how effectually it 
 resisted his treatment. " That Mr. Brown ever expressed an 
 unqualiiled wish for the success of the tories," he savs on p; ^j 
 i)2, '■ is not only without foundation but so palpably absurd as 
 to require no contradiction." On pa^^e 52, a contradiction comes, 
 and it is made by himself. He .says :" Mr. Brown gave his 
 support in certain cases to candidates of the conservative type 
 
176 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 on the ground that there was nothing to be hoped from the 
 ministry." We have made the italics in the last quoted passage. 
 It would not have accorded with the opinions so strongly put 
 forward by Mr. Mackenzie, to have it stated that Mr. Brown 
 supported such conservatives as Macdonald, MaoNab andCayley, 
 so by a suggeMio falsi tlie Avriter trie« to leave the impression 
 that support was given only to some indifferent politicians *,vho 
 really might, — and this was a generous admission on the part of 
 the writer : — be regarded of the " conservative type." Keep still 
 in mind who were the " candidates of the conservative type," 
 and then turn to the next page of Mr. Mackenzie's book : " The 
 new government was savagely assailed by the Globe. No one 
 could expect that a government in which the names of J. A. 
 Macdonald, Six Allan MacNab and Mr. Cay ley appeared, could 
 be other than hostile to the determined demands of the Upper 
 Canadian people ! " We are not dealing with Mr. Mackenzie as 
 an historical writer now : that is out of the question ; but we 
 are merely showing how unskilled he is, after all his attempts, 
 in the'use of whitewash. Were we to show the value of his 
 statements as an impartial historian, we would merely quote 
 from the page preceding that containing the extract just given : 
 " Mr. Hin ks was entitled to the discredit of forming a new 
 combination with the tories." In view of Mr. Brown's attempt 
 and failure to form "a new combination with the tories," the 
 discredit of having succeeded in doing so fell to Francis Hincks ? 
 That is it we suppose. Mr. Mackenzie also forgets that Mr. 
 Hincks waived his personal claims, and that Pobert Baldwin 
 wrote from his quiet retreat at Spadina strongly endorsing 
 Uie coalition and the course of Mr. Hincks. 
 
 Parliament was summoned for the 5 th of September. For 
 days before the opening intense excitement in political circles 
 prevailed at the capital ; and several caucuses were held, some 
 by each party alone, and others by the conservatives and clear 
 grits together. The plan agreed on by the latter was, that both 
 should unite to defeat the government. For the speakership 
 
niRTII OF "liberal-conservatism:' 177 
 
 there were three can lidates, Geoige E. Cartier, put forward by 
 the ministry; John Sandiiekl Maedonald, by the clear grits, and 
 Mr. Sicotte, by the Lower Canada opposition. "When the gover- 
 nor-general had withdrawn, after saluting the new parliament, 
 tlie clerk of the assembly took the chair. The three candidates 
 were then named, and after some hot discussion on the merits 
 and claims of each, the clerk put the question. Shall Mr. Cartier 
 be speaker ? In reply, G2 said nay, and 59 yea. Mr. Sicotte 
 was proposed next, when the clerk told the yeas to rise ; but 
 only a comparative few stood up. It was plain to the house 
 that the speakership was to fall to John Sandfield Maedonald. 
 But there sat on a ministerial bench a member who, with all his 
 fire and feeling knew how to be cool, and he resolved that the 
 man who had read the rebuke to the government at the close of 
 the last parliament should not grace the Speaker's chair. The 
 clerk counted Mr. Sicotte 's supporters, and was about to call 
 for the nays, when Mr. Hincks, with flashing eye, sprang to 
 his feet. " Put me with the yeas," he said, and immediately 
 the entii'e body of his followers also stood up. Mr. Sicotte 
 was declared elected. When the buzz was over, Mr. Maedonald, 
 the defeated candidate, half hissed a " thank you " across the 
 house to the premier, and the latter answered him with an 
 ironical bow. 
 
 The vote showed that the ministry did not possess the con- 
 fidence of the house, yet, Mr. Hincks argued, as the vote had 
 not been taken on a question of non-confidence, he need not 
 Tesign till some other sign had been made. On the following 
 day the governor-general came down and delivered his speech 
 from the throne. Several important measures were promised, 
 but nothing that ink and pen could put on paper would have 
 .saved the ministry. The latter now saw that there was noth- 
 ing to be gained by postponing the evil day, and on Friday, 
 the 8th instant, resigned. From the mass of political timber 
 now afloat, the governor-general set about to select some one 
 to form a ministry, and his choice fell upon Sir Allan MacNab. 
 
178 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 But John A. Macdonald's was the head that planned the course 
 to bo pursued. Mr, Brown and one or two of his lieutenants 
 •were almost bursting with anxiety for several hours a/ter it 
 was learnt that the governor had called upon MacNab, ex- 
 pecting to be " waited on " and invited to enter the cabinet. 
 But Mr. Brown was soon to find, like Fanny Squeers, that be- 
 tween himself and the conservatives there was no "engage- 
 ment." A caucus of MacNab's party was held, at which John 
 A. Macdonald was the most prominent figure. He pointed out 
 that the sentiments of the old tory party had been now out- 
 grown by the province, and that the true course was the 
 medium line between effete toryisra and the doctrine of the 
 radicals. Alliance, he said, with the clear gi-its — which num- 
 bered about forty strong — was not to be dreamt of. Their 
 policy was one of impetuosity and indiscretion, and their 
 leader would tyrannize with his newspaper if he could not 
 rule in the cabinet. With the liberal party, which had become 
 detached from the extravagant members of the reform side, ho 
 said, the conservatives could, without any sacrifice of princi- 
 ple, and with much pi'ofit to the country, unite. The secular- 
 ization of the clergy reserves, and the abolition of seigniorial 
 tenure were questions, he added, upon which the country had 
 expressed itself unmistakably; and it was the duty of the 
 government to give effect to the popular wish. 
 
 While the discussions went on, and messages passed between 
 Sir Allan and some of the ex-ministers, Mr. Brown's excite- 
 ment had grown to a very high pitch, and every one who ap- 
 proached him, he fancied, brought a letter from MacNab. At 
 last, to his utter consternation, he learnt that the conservatives 
 were in communication with some of the ox-ministera, and 
 later on, that a government had been formed, as followr; 
 
 FOR CANADA WEST. 
 
 Hon. Sir Allan MacNab, President of Council and Minister 
 
 of Agriculture, 
 
niRTn OF ''LIBERAL-CONSERVATISM." ir9 
 
 Hon. John A. Macdonald - - - Attorney- General 
 
 " Wm. Cayley _ - - - Inspector-General. 
 
 " Robert Spence - - - - Postmaster-General. 
 
 " John Ross _ - - Speaker Legislative Council. 
 
 for CANADA EAST. 
 
 Hon. a. N. Morin - - Commissioner of Cro^un Lands. 
 " L. T. Drummond _ . - Attorney-General. 
 
 " P. J. 0. Chaveau - - - Provincial Secretary. 
 " E. P. Tache - _ - - Receiver-General. 
 " J. Chabot - - Commissioner of Public Works. 
 
 This was the famous MacNab-Morin government, the first 
 liberal-conservative ministrv formed in Canada, the combina- 
 tion in which were fused the staid and respectable liberal senti- 
 mont of the province, and the liberalized and broadened form 
 of conservative opinion. With this coalition disappeared from 
 the stage the historic reform party^ the apostate reformers or 
 grits, only remaining. Strictly speaking we have no "reformers" 
 now ; and those who call themselves such are the doscendauts 
 of the bathed grits who set up a cry of rage when liberal and 
 conservative sank a few imaginary differences, and blended into 
 a party liberal enough to keep abreast of public opinion and 
 conservative enough not to run into excess. 
 
 Meanwhile George Brown's excitement had passed away, and 
 as we have it on the authority of Mr. Mackenzie that he was 
 now anxious to see the reserves secularized, it is natural to 
 srppose that he held his peace till he learnt what the policy of 
 the new goveniment was. But he did no such thing. In the 
 words of Mr. Mackenzie himsel*', " the new ministry was sav- 
 agely assailed by the Globe." After parliament had met Mr. Mac- 
 donald promptly introduced a measure dealing with the clergy 
 reserves. This act abolished all distinctions between religious 
 denominations by providing that the proceeds arising from all 
 land-sales, after the deduction of expenses, be handed over 
 
180 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 to the municipalities in proportion to population, the amount 
 to be applicable for ordinary municipal purposes. Another 
 bill was introduced abolishing feudal rights and duties in Lower 
 Canada, and allowing compensation to seigneui's in cas<.s where 
 vested rights had grown up under the tenure. Since the object 
 of George Brown, according to the Glohe and Mr. Mackenzie, 
 was to have a settlement of the clergy reserves made, and 
 since it was because of alleged dilatoriness on Mr. Hincks' part 
 in settling this question that Mr. Brown seceded from the 
 ministerialists, his support to a government which swept state- 
 churchism away ought to follow as a matter of course. But it did 
 not. On the contrary, the new ministry was still " savagely 
 assailed by the Glohe." It was not, after all, state-churchism 
 so much that Mr. Brown cared about, though Mr. Mackenzie 
 does not tell us so, but his failure to capture the " higher game." 
 There was some astonishment among the fossil tories at the 
 stand taken by the new ministry ; and John Hillyard Cameron, 
 John W. Gamble and Edmund Turner were utterly scandalized 
 and withdrew their august support. Some of the newspapers 
 of the conservative side expressed regret, and others wonder. 
 The Belleville Intelligencer said : " Who would have fancied 
 that the knight of Dundurn and the Hon. Mr. Cayley would 
 ever have surrendered their principles on the clergy reserve 
 question. That the Hon. John A. Macdonald should have done 
 so, does not astonish us, because we have long known his views 
 upon this question, and that they had undergone considerable 
 change, so far as its settlement would tend to allay the un- 
 natural excitement which has so long agitated the country. 
 Well, these men are to compose the ministry, with the French 
 members, who were part and parcel of the Hincks' administra- 
 tion. So that the changes are confined to the upper part of the 
 province, exclusively." 
 
 In the legislature the new ministry were subjected to some 
 scathing criticism, and some of those who had not learnt to 
 appreciate the force of the Duke of Wellington's maxim, that 
 
niRTII OF "LIBERAL-CONSERVATISM." 181 
 
 "the Queen's government must go on," loaded conservative 
 ministers with reproach for sitting in the same cabinet with 
 men whom they had »o lately denounced, Mr. Macdonald, of 
 Glengarry, said, iunong other things, in a very long and windy 
 speech : " W ell, the house met after an adjournment of a year, 
 and amendments to the address hostile to the administration 
 were ,'i(li)pted. Charges of a very serious nature were bi-ought 
 against the administration. The honourable member for King- 
 ston (Mf. Macdonald), who had now gone over to the othor side, 
 and was io be the administration leader, stood up in his place 
 in this house and declared that the administration then in 
 powti were 'steeped in infamy to their very lips,' and that they 
 were ' tp inted with corruption collectively and individually, 
 both in their public and private characters.' And yet within 
 three months after, they found the gentleman who made use of 
 that language, almo it unparalleled in the annals of parliament, 
 amalgamating with the administration which he had thus de- 
 nounced ! Could anything have happened which would have 
 taken the people more by surprise ? " 
 
 The Globe in a calm mood made an estimate of the new min- 
 istry, and said of Mr. John A. Macdonald : "Then we have 
 Mr. attorney -general Macdonald, the only man of any working 
 (qualities in the government, the only one v/ho can make a set 
 speech in the house, the man who must be the leader in the 
 assembly. Has Mr. Macdonald ever shown any tendency to 
 reform principles ? Was he not one of the meet active mem- 
 bers of the Metcalfe cabinet, the opponent of resp>insible 
 government ? Is he not known to hold the highest coi/.erva- 
 tive views ? " 
 
 This was the same " Mr. MacdonaM " whom the '"'u/je had 
 supported when it saw hopes of a coalition wi'h the tories. It 
 is needless also to say, that the inference we ought to draw 
 from this statement, namely, that Mr. Macdonald was one of 
 Metcalfe's ministers, is, like many othe.' things published 
 
182 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 and spoken by Mr. Brown, incorrect. Mr. Macdonald did not 
 enter the cabinet till after Metcalfe had left the country. 
 
 In December, Lord Elgin, who had lived to see the system 
 of government advocated by his father-in-law in his masterly 
 report* tried and proved successful, sailed for England. His 
 after career was worthy of the man who so ably and fearlessly 
 performed his duty in Canada in a time of perplexity and 
 turmoil. After performing important services in China and 
 Japan, and sitting for a time in Palmerston's cabinet as post- 
 master-general, he was appointed to the vice-royalty of India. 
 While making a progress through the north- western provinces, 
 he was attacked with serious disease of the heart, and died 
 under the shadow of the Himalayas, where, at his request, 
 and in a spot selected by Lady Elgin, his remains were laid. 
 His successor to the governorship of Canada was Sir Edmund 
 Walker Head. 
 
 •For extracts from Lord Durham's Report, see Appendix (M). 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 TACIIE-MACDONALD. 
 
 SIR EDMUND W. HEAD, was born, in 1805, near Maid- 
 stone, Kent, England. He came of a distinguished and very 
 ancient family which had for an ancestor Richard Head, baro- 
 net, in 1670. Edmund was educated at Oriel college, Oxford, 
 where he took a first-class in classics, subsequently obtaining 
 & fellowship in Mereton. Here he was appointed university 
 examiner, and examined Lord Elgin, whom he was afterwards 
 to succeed as governor-general of Canada, for a Mereton fellow- 
 ship. An article of his published by the Foreign Quarterly 
 Review, brought him to the notice of the marquis of Lands- 
 downe — who had the honour of " bringing out" Macauley under 
 almost similar circumstances — and this nobleman prevailed 
 upon him to study ecclesiastical law. He found, however, that 
 theology was not his proper vocation, and, like his giddy-headed 
 kinsman Sir Francis, entered a poor-law office as assista'it-com- 
 missioner. In this department he acquitted himself with such 
 excellent discrimination and high ability, that on a change of 
 ministry, though the in-coming party were not of his school of 
 politics, he was appointed chief-commissioner. The poor-law, 
 however, grew into bad odour, though the condtict of the com- 
 missioner was beyond reproach, and the ministry was obliged 
 to reconstruct it. It was felt by the government that a man of 
 Sir Edmund's ability and high character ought to have employ- 
 ment; and in 1848 they appoixited him to the governorship 
 of New Brunswick, This position he retained till 1854, when 
 he was appointed governor- general of Canada. As will bo 
 
 183 
 
184 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 seen by the record' of Sir Ediniind's Canadian administration, 
 he was a man of a discerning mind and wide experience, who 
 could not be coaxed or driven from the path of duty. Aljove- 
 all his sense of honour was so keen that no consideration could 
 laing him to follow any course that was not in keeping with 
 the dignity and impartiality of the position he held. We shall 
 see him, as we proceed, in tiying places, and hear him loaded 
 with reproach for doing his duty. But the snake may crawl 
 npon the s[)otless stone and cover it with slime, still the purit3'' 
 of the marble will outlive the defilement. Through all the 
 slander and malignant abuse heaped upon Sir Francis during 
 the years immediately to follow, the character of the man 
 a.ssailed stands forth to-day untarnished by an}' improper act 
 during his administration. 
 
 The health of Mr. Morin now began to fail him and he longed 
 to be out of the hurly-burly of political life and get upon 
 the bench, a haven where all harassed statesmen believe " the 
 wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest." Mr. 
 Morin's resignation disturbed the Lower Canada portion of the 
 cabinet. Col. Tachd took the place of the retiring leader, Mr. 
 Drummond retained his old post, Francis Lemieux became com- 
 missioner of public works, Mr. Gauchon assumed charge of the 
 department of croM'n lands, and, a man destined to play a 
 prominent part in our history, George Etienne Cartier, wa* 
 chosen provincial secretary. For some time past it appears Mr. 
 Macdonald had strongly admired Mr. Cartier, while the latter 
 was drawn with an irresistible force towards ihe attorney-gen- 
 eral-west. It w^as then began that friendship, unique in the 
 history of Canadian public men, between these two distinguished 
 statesmen; a friendship that survived throuj^di the trial and the 
 battle, but which, at least on the side of ono, was shattered when 
 both stood in the noonday of their fame, and after their great- 
 est victories had been won. :. :v.vi:;:;; r; >: • • : •■}■ 
 
 Parliament met in February following in Quebec. In fancy 
 then could be heard through Canada the ringing of sabres and the 
 
TACIIE-MACDONALD. 18& 
 
 booming of cannon in tho Crimea, and every noise increased the 
 beat of the heightened public pulse. It was announced, too, that 
 Great Britain would need every available soldier, and that a 
 portion of the troops was to be withdrawn from Canada. The 
 instinct of self-defence at once arose and found expression in 
 the government's militia bill. This mciisure can only be justified 
 in the li<rht of a time when t'le air was full of the sounds of war. 
 It provided for the formation of two great militia bodies, one to 
 be cidled the sedentary, the other the active. The former was 
 to include all the male inhabitants of the province betwtien the 
 ages of eighteen and sixty ; the latter all those under foi ty 
 years. They were to muster once a year for drill ; and t!ic 
 cheeks of those who drew the bill flushed as they thought what 
 a force this would be to hurl against an invader. Not unre;)soii- 
 ably the opposition inveighed against the measure, charging 
 the ministry with endeavouring to establish a standing army 
 which they described as one of the greatest curses of a free 
 country. The bill passed, however, and remained in force for 
 about eight years. It may be called the parent of our present 
 militia system. The government were fiercely opposed by the 
 clear grits, and notably by George Brown and his lieutenants,. 
 William Lyon Mackenzie and John Sandfield Macdonald. Mr. 
 Hincks rendered loyal support to his party, a lesson which 
 some of the grit statesmen who have been so ready in their 
 books to criticise the career of that gentleman would do well to 
 bear in mind. Mr. Hincks had been superseded not more by 
 conservatives than by his own party, but this did not prevent 
 his cordial support of the coalition. It is not a hundred years 
 ago since a certain party in Canada charged their leader, as we 
 suppose they had a perfect right to do, whereupon a personal 
 hostility grew up between the discarded and the newly chosen 
 head ; and they have since been barely able to maintain decent 
 appearances. If the writers of some of our Canadian books 
 would try to follow Mr. Hincks' example during the time under 
 discussion, instead of criticising where there is nothing to cen- 
 
186 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 sure, they would appear themselves, when their careers are 
 over, brighter figures to succeeding book-writers. After the 
 session closed Mr. Hincks went to England, and while there 
 was appointed to the governorship of Barbadoes and the Wind- 
 ward Islands. 
 
 During the summer the question of denominational schoou: 
 v/as discussed on the platform and through the press with a 
 great deal of vehemence. Mr. Brown rode the protestant horse 
 with much flourish through the country. The greater portion 
 of Upper Canada was in favour of non-sectarian schools, while 
 the people of the lower province would not hear of " banishing 
 God from the class-rooms," and insisted on separate control. 
 The government decided on maintaining the existing s^-stem ; 
 and their opponents said they were bondsmen to Rome. While 
 every other question, after a too long bruiting, lost its potency 
 to stir the multitude up to tumult, the pope and Rome never 
 once failed in its object. The mention of Rome was, at the 
 time of which we are writing, to demagogues of George Brown's 
 stripe — and George Brown, however many Stirling qualities he 
 may have possessed, was the arch type of a demajT^ogue — what 
 ■dynamite is now to the Russian nihilist and a v\'ing of the Irish 
 agitators. 
 
 Parliament opened at Toronto in Felruavy. During the 
 debate on the address Mr. Brown made a slasliing assault upon 
 the government, charging ministers wth infidelity to pledges, 
 antl disregard for the will of the people. On the night of Tues- 
 day the 2Gth of February, some ministerialists remarked that 
 the criticism of Mr. Brown might be correct and proper, but 
 they doubted the judiciousness of such censorship by one who 
 had coquetted with conservatives and supported their leaders 
 at the late election, with a view to forming a coalition with 
 their forces. John A. Macdonald, upon whom Mr. Brown had 
 showered some indiscreet speech, sat at his desk smiling, and 
 when an opportunity occurred arose to add his testimony to 
 the remarks of the preceding speakers. In a half playful, yefc„ 
 
TACIIE-MACDONALD. 187 
 
 half bitter way, he called attention to the difference between 
 George Brown hopeful and George Brown disappointed. But 
 notwithstanding that Mr. Brown had at first supported the re- 
 formers and then deserted them; and that he ridiculed the clear 
 grits for forsaking their party, and afterwards became the leader 
 of the clear grits himself; and though he tried to ally himself 
 with the conservatives, and savagely attacked the reformers for 
 succeeding where he had failed ; yea, though he had, as we have 
 already stated, supported MacNab, Macdonald and Cayley 
 before the election, and ferociously assailed them after the elec- 
 tion, because they would not coalesce with him, and after they 
 had abolished state churchism — the thing for which ho said he 
 had been chiefly contending — notwithstanding, we say, all this, 
 of all the sins in the political calendar the most hateful in his 
 eyes was inconsistency. He rof.e trembling with excitement, and 
 poured out a stream of invective on the government, taunting 
 them with corruption, incompetency and dishonour ; and with 
 infidelity to their pledges and the people's trust. Once again 
 temper got the better of the cool attorney-general west. He 
 was observed to tremble and grow white at his seat, while Mr. 
 Brown went on ; and as the latter gentleman took his seat like 
 a subsided volcano, Mr. Macdonald jumpe:! up. It was some 
 time before he could articulate distinctly, but when his voice 
 grew clear and his nerves steady, there was no eflfort needed 
 to catch his meaning. He accused Mr. Brown of having, while 
 acting as secretary to a commission appointed some years be- 
 fore to investigate abuses said to exist in the management of 
 the provincial penitentiary at Kingston, falsified testimony, 
 suborned convict witnesses, and obtained the pardon of mur- 
 derers in order to induce them to give fa^e evidence. Such 
 appalling charges coming from a n.inister of the government 
 bewildered several members of the house, but others remem- 
 bered that Mr. Macdonald had made similar charges years 
 before, and believed that he had strong warrant for reiterating 
 them now. In making these charges Mr. Macdonald is open to 
 
188 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 t 
 
 censure, not indeed for having, as Mr. Mackenzie meanly alleges 
 in his book, preferred them knowing the same to be false, and 
 under the belief that a certain document which alone could 
 exonerate Mr. Brown, had been burnt at the Montreal fire; but- 
 in allowing an opponent to provoke him into gravely making 
 charges that had been substantiated only by rumour. From 
 all that can be gathered he did not assert the wrong-doing as 
 having come within his personal knowledge, but repeated the 
 charges in language of burning passion, and in the words 
 employed by the lips of rumour. After Mr. Macdonald had 
 taken his seat, Mr. Brown arose shivering with rage. He re- 
 pelled the charge in fierce words, said he had taken down the 
 attorney -general's statements, and would hold him responsible 
 for them. The house was too much excited to proceed with 
 other work, and the scene in the legislature was the topic for 
 knots of persons in the street after adjournment. On the 
 following day, Mr. Brown moved for a committee of enquiry 
 and during the discussion Mr. Macdonald expressed his regret 
 at the occurrence of the previous day, but maintained that he 
 had strong reasons then, and still, for believing that the chai-ges 
 he had preferred against the honourable member for Lambton 
 ^vere not without foundation ; though, he repeated, he had not 
 spoken from personal knowledge. The committee brought in 
 a report which neither convicted nor exonerated Mr. Brown, 
 and the house passed a motion setting forth that : "Attorney- 
 general Macdonald appears to have acted under a firm convic- 
 tion of the truth of the charges made against Mr. Brown, and 
 to have been justified in doing so by all the evidence within his 
 reach." Mr. Mackenzie displays a great deal of malice in writing 
 about this event, and endeavours to show that not only Mr. 
 Brown's followers, but leading members of the government, 
 reprobated the conduct 01 Mr. Macdonald. " It was remark- 
 able " he says, "thdt one of Mr. Macdonald's colleagues, attorney- 
 general Drummond, was candid enough to declare that there was 
 no evidence criminating Mr. Brown. Sir Allan MacNab and 
 
TACIIE-MACDONALD. 189 
 
 other conservatives took similar ground and boldly stated their 
 views." The truth of the matter is, both Sir Allan MacNab 
 and Mr. Drummond were at this time hostile to Mr. Macdonald, 
 and would lose no ])lausible opportunity to discredit him before 
 the house. Sir Allan knew that the desire of all the cabinet 
 members, save one or two, was to see Macdonald occupy the 
 premier's seat ; while Mr. Drummord had ambitions of his own, 
 but saw that Macdonald was preferred before himself. Some 
 time afterwards, when MacNab was forced out, and Col. Tach^i 
 called in his place, the question of leadership in the assembly 
 arose between Macdonald and Drummond, and because the 
 former was chosen the latter withdrew from the cabinet in high 
 dudgeon. 
 
 Another of Mr. Macdonald's quarrels during this session is 
 worth recording. On a motion regarding the seat of govern- 
 ment, Col. Rankin, who possessed an exasperating tongue, seemed 
 <lisposed to create some tumult. About this time, stories of 
 dissentions in the OAbinet were on everybody's lip, and it was 
 well understood that the government was sick of Sir Allan, 
 and trying to be rid of him. As Col. Rankin proceeded with 
 his speech it was evident that he was inspired by public rumour, 
 and endeavouring to make his remarks as offensive as possible. 
 He could not understand the course the government had pur- 
 sued in the seat of government matter, he said. " If there was 
 any point on which they ought to agree, he thought this ought 
 to be one, and their not being able to take any decided course 
 showed that they were unfit to hold office any longer. He was 
 well aware that the tone of the remarks h'^ was now making 
 was not consistent with the manner in which ne had spoken of 
 the ministry on some former occasions, but it would be remem- 
 bered that he had always maintained an independent position, 
 and had never allowed himself to be described as a follower of 
 the government j and though he had supported some of their 
 measures, he never regarded them as men of a high order of 
 talent : while anything of a complimentary nature which he 
 
190 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. IIACDONALD. 
 
 had said about them was well known to have been said in irony. 
 He would still support such measures as he approved of regard- 
 less of the quarter whence they emanated. In looking at the 
 conduct of the government lately, he could not help thinking 
 of a certain exhibition in Trafalgar Square, called the ' happy 
 family,' which consisted of a collection of animals naturally 
 the most hostile to each other, but which had been taught to 
 appear before the public as the most harmonious in the world. 
 But one could not help feeling that when the public eye was 
 off them they would indulge in scratches and bites ; and he 
 thought the ministry were somewhat in the same position ; for 
 notwithstanding their professions of perfect harmony, no great 
 question came up on which they had not some difference of 
 opinion ; and he had no doubt that in private, like the happy 
 family, they indulged in some of those contests of which the 
 house sometimes saw the symptums." He was proceeding with 
 some general reflecti(>:is in the sf me tone, on the conduct of 
 ministers, when he was called to order by the speaker. He then 
 said that a more fitting opportunity would probably occur before 
 long, to discuss the merits (»f the ministry, and of that he would 
 not fail to avail himself. He then moved that Toronto is a 
 most desirable place at which to establish the permanent seat 
 of government in Canada. 
 
 When Col. Rankin ceased, Mr. John A, Madonald arose. He 
 ridiculed the remarks of the colonel who, he said, had been des- 
 cribing happy families and like exhibitions, with such wit and 
 gusto as would hml people to imagine that he must have been 
 a showman himself ; but he had not said anything of various 
 other exhibiions that had been seen in London, such as Ojib- 
 beway ladiaus." He confessed, also, that he had gone so far as 
 to compliinent ih^ government ; but that had only been done in 
 irony, ii,a'} probably the motion he had just made was in irony 
 too. He could not believe, however, that the hon. member wafi 
 quite so bad as he had represented himself to be, and he thought 
 that the remark must have been an after-thought, for the hon. 
 
TACHE-MACDONALD. 191 
 
 gentleman could never have been so insincere as to have voted 
 on many occasions with the majority of the house contrary to his 
 own convictions. Those and other remarks which the newspaper 
 reporters did not catch exasperated the colonel, and on attorney- 
 general Macdonald taking his seat the former arose again and 
 said he understood the attorney-general-west to allude to the 
 exhibition of Ojibbeway Indians ; but that was a respectable 
 affair compared with the exhibition of ravenous animals to 
 which he had compared the ministry ; for it was well known 
 that they were all plotting and counter-plotting against each 
 other. He had previously believed the ministry to be possessed 
 of the 'eelings of men of honour, but he found that there was 
 among that ministry one person whom he could never regard 
 with any feeling but that of unmitigated contempt. He never 
 could regard with any other feeling any person who was guilty 
 of a violation of truth. There v.'as a person in the ministry 
 whose conduct he could not describe in any language that 
 would not be unparliamentary. The individual to whom he 
 alluded was the attorney-general- west. 
 
 When the speaker had proceeded thus far an uproar arose 
 through the chamber, and the cries of order ! order ! alone 
 were distinguished above the din. In the midst of the tumult 
 the clock struck six and the house arose, while the personal 
 friends of the belligerent members surrounded each to prevent 
 a collision. After the speaker taking his place at nearly eight 
 o'clock, he rose and said he thought it to be his duty to call the 
 attention of the house to the possibility of a collision taking 
 place between the two hon. members who were engaged in 
 controversy when he left the chair ; and he thought, in order 
 to prevent anything unpleasant taking place, that both gentle- 
 men should be put under the custody of the sergeant-at-arms. 
 
 Mr. Chisholm said, if the language used by the hon. member 
 
 for Essex, before the house adjourned, was to be permitted on 
 
 the floor of that house, collisions would take place frequently, 
 
 -■ and he thought it right to call upon the hon. member offending 
 
102 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 to retract tliosc words ; else they ought to be taken down. 
 Neither of the hon. members was now present, and it became 
 the house to vindicate its own privilege, and to send for the 
 belligerents and place them in the custody of the sergeant-at- 
 nrms. The interval which had elapsed between the adjourn- 
 ment and now , should have led the hon. member for Essex to 
 Tiave retracted. 
 
 Mr. Murney deemed it right for any hon. member in the 
 opposition to state what he pleased, in a political way, to the 
 lion, gentleman on the other side, and to do as the hon. member 
 for Essex (Rankin) had fairly done. How had that hon. mem- 
 ber been met ? Why in a spirit of ridicule, and with th3 deter- 
 mination of insulting him. 
 
 The Speaker said it was not right to increase the pain of the 
 house by such remarks. He himself had not acted very promptly 
 in calling the attorney -general to order when he ^'.ddressed the 
 house, because he thought tliat the hon. gentleman did not go 
 beyond what he (the speaker) thought was parliamentary lan- 
 guage. To prevent further difficulty he must beg of the hon. 
 member for Essex to retract the words he used. 
 
 Mr. Murney thought it to have been the desire of the attornej'- 
 general to insult the hon. member for Essex personally. He 
 had listened with great pain to the speech of the hon. attorn ey - 
 general- west, but he claimed for himself the right to say in that 
 house all he wished with respect to the hon. gentlemen oppo- 
 oite, as to their political acts, and he dared their right to oppose 
 this. 
 
 The Speaker said, if the house were to go on with this con- 
 troversy, more trouble would ensue. He would propose a plan 
 w hich would impute the fault to neither of the hon. gentlemen, 
 namely, that they should both be placed under the custody of 
 the sergeant-at-arms — (hear, hear, and sensation) — when, prob- 
 4ibly, the house would be in a better position to judge of theiv 
 conduct, and it could adjudicate upon it. That would be the 
 better way, without now discussing which was in the right and 
 
TACJIF MACDONALD. 193 
 
 which was in the wrong. Mr. Macdonald came into the house 
 after the discussion had been some time in progress, and very 
 coolly odered advice to the Speaker as to \N'hat he ought to do 
 with respect to the " two hon. gentlemen." Many members 
 sh ok their heads and said that it would not pass away so quietly 
 as this, and believed that the affair would end in a rencontre 
 at ten i)aces. But in the words of Burke, " the age of chivalry 
 had gone ; that of sophisters, economists, aad calculators had 
 succeeded," and Messrs. Rankin and Macdonald fired no shots 
 and had no " meeting." 
 
 It was now generally known that the rumours which Col. 
 Rankin had repeated in the house, in such an offensive manner, 
 were not without some foundation. Members of the cabinet 
 did not try to conceal their desire to be rid of Sir Allan Mac- 
 Nab and to have a " younger and more capable member " of 
 the council in his place. The younger and more capable mem- 
 ber, we need not say, was John A. Macdonald, and though 
 the conspiracy formed for the overthrow of Sir Allan was the 
 spontaneous action of the greater number of ministers, we need 
 not doubt that Mr. Macdonald himself iiad ambition to become 
 the leader. He had sat calmly in the house through several 
 -sessions while the conservative party gradually went to pieces 
 through lack of capable leadership, and seldom made a sign of 
 impatience. He sat unbowed while the reform party towered 
 above their opponents in numbers and prestige ; saw that party 
 pass away like the pageant in the Tempest isle ; saw the conser-^ 
 vatives come again to power, and, now, through inferior leader- 
 ship, show a tendency to a second fall. He met the recalcitrant 
 ministers at one of their " conspiracy gatherings," as Sir Allan 
 passionately described the meetings. He was informed that 
 liis colleagues desired that he should become their leader, that 
 doom awaited the government if Sir Allan remained at its head, 
 and that the duty of the party's well-wishers was now to get 
 lid of the premier. Mr. Macdonald is understood to have placed 
 
 himself in the hands of his colleagues and to promise to assist 
 M 
 
 \ 
 
194 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 in doing whatever they believed to be for the welfare of the 
 government. Sir Allan at this time was a victim to gout, and 
 was frequently unal)le to attend the meetings of council. It 
 came to his ears that the ministry had resolved at a caucus to 
 put Mr. Macdonald in his place, and his anger knew no bounds. 
 When the paroxysm of his disease was over, he reviewed the 
 condition of affairs, and found, with some exultation, that he was 
 master of the situation. He was premier he told his friends^ 
 indeed blurted it out publicly, not by the suffrage of his con- 
 spirator colleagues,but of that of the governor. He even fancied 
 that he might be able to dispense with the cabal altogether, 
 and rally around him other men who would have sufHcient fol- 
 lowing in the house to sustain the ministry. Presently the 
 newspapers began to open fire upon him, telling him that ho 
 was a log in the path of progress, that he had been a good man 
 in his time, but that his day was past ; and urging him not to 
 sully a fairly respectable career by becoming a nuisance at the 
 end of his life. Against such a defection as this the old man 
 was not proof, and he shed bitter tears as he resolved to offer a 
 compromise. It was sufficient humiliation he felt to be forced 
 out of the leadership, but it was intolerable that the man he 
 regarded as the arch conspirator should succeed to his place. 
 He met the ministers and informed them that he had made up 
 his mind to resign; but on the condition that Mr. John Hilly ard 
 Cameron should succeed him. Mr. Cameron was an indifferent 
 figure compared with the gentleman of the cabinet's choice, but 
 he was not at all conscious of inferiority, and pressed himself 
 forward with nnich earnestness. Although the ministry was 
 now in a critical condition and staggered under the assaults of 
 the opposition, its members resolved not to accept Sir Allan's 
 offer. They could afford to wait till a change came, they said, 
 which would not be long. It came sooner than they expected. 
 On the 17th day of October, the previous year, Robert Cor- 
 rigan, a protestant, while attending a cattle show in the parish 
 of St. Sylvestre, Quebec, had been attacked and brutally mur- 
 
TACIIE-MACDONALD. 195 
 
 (lered by a gang of Roman Catholic Irishmen. In tlio following 
 spring seven of the assailants were trietl for the murder in 
 Quebec ; but in spite of the plainest and most overwhelming 
 testimony, they were declared " not guilty." When the verdict 
 became known a cry of indignation was raised through the 
 protestant comumnity of Canada ; and it did not tend to allay 
 the feeling when it was learnt that the jury trying Kelly and 
 his fellow murderers was virtually packed, being composed 
 exclusively of Roman Catholics, and that judge Duval, who 
 presided, was also a Roman Catholic. When any great public 
 wrong has been done, it eventually cries out from the parlia- 
 ment for redress. On Friday, the 7th of March, Mr. John 
 Hill;yard Cameron, who since his rejection by the anti-Mac- 
 Nab ministers was not particular whether he embarrassed the 
 government or not, moved an address to the governor for the 
 production of a copy of judge Duval's charge to the jury. This 
 address the motion affirmed, — and coming from a criminal 
 lawyer of Mr. Cameron's standing, the asseveration startled the 
 house — " contained statements which could hardly have been 
 made by any man who had anything like a fair acquaintance 
 with the manner in which the criminal law ought to be ad- 
 ministered." The government was in a sore plight. They dared 
 not commit themselves to any measure that cast an imputation 
 on judge Duval's character, for the French Canadians made 
 tha judge's cause their own ; while upon the other hand nearly 
 every Upper-Canada member in the assembly demanded that 
 the matter should be sifted to the bottom. On the night of the 
 10th, after three days' stormy debate, the motion was put and 
 carried against the government by a vote of forty-eight to forty. 
 Attorney-general Drummond hurriedly arose and moved an 
 adjournment of the house. 
 
 On the following day ministers asked permission for a further 
 adjournment of two days, and meanwhile endeavoured to bring 
 together their sundered forces. During the term of grace they 
 decided to present the address to the governor, and to subse- 
 
196 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 quently have a friendly memlier move a want of confidence in 
 the ministry. Thougli conservatives as well as reformers would 
 luive the disgraceful miscarriage of justice in Quebec investi- 
 gated at much public sacrifice, they were not willing that the 
 liberal-conservative ministry should give place to clear-gritisra 
 and liewspaper tyranny ; and when the motion of non-confi- 
 dence was put they 3j.otained the government. It is scarcely 
 necessary to add that the governor did not produce judge 
 Duval's address, for the good reason that it was not in his pos- 
 session, and could not even be assumed to exist ; while, if it 
 did exist, he had not the power to compel its production. 
 
 The government, however, was shattered by the adverse vote 
 on the Corrigan matter ; and while yet engaged in healing the 
 breaches, hon. John Ross resigned the speakership of the legis- 
 lative council. This action was dictated by the attitude of the 
 reform members in the cabinet, who pointed out to him that 
 since the secularization of the clergy reserves had been accom- 
 plished the purposes of the coalition no longer existed, and that 
 they were not willing to form a permanent/ concordat with a 
 party at whose head was Sir Allan MacNab. Colonel Tachd 
 took Mr. Koss's place, and Mr. J. C. Morrison, through the 
 influence of Mr. Macdonald, was admitted into the cabinet. 
 At a later day the enemy would say the sweet tongued siren 
 lured Mr. Morrison thither. It was hoped that this accession 
 would restore the equilibrium between the reform and conser- 
 vative elements of the ministry. The step was endorsed by 
 Mr. Morrison's constituents in Niagara, but was regarded by no 
 small portion of his party for years afterwards as a betrayal of 
 trust. The accession, however, added little strength to the 
 cabinet. It had no effect indeed save to discredit the new coun- 
 cillor before his party, and to satisfy a friendship. 
 
 Some days later, Mr. John Sandfield Macdonald, who when 
 a storm was to be raised, was always ready to take the part of 
 Ariel, brought in a motion respecting tlie seat of government, 
 and providing for the abolition of the perambulating system. 
 
TACIIE-MACDONALD. 197 
 
 " Out of evil Providence aometimes brings good," attorney- 
 ('oncral Macdonald said when "John Sandfiold " brought in Iii.s 
 motion. Quebec was then chosen as the permanent capital, and 
 the house was asked to grant a sum of £50,000 to erect legisla- 
 tive buildings there. To this latter proposal George Brown and 
 his grits offered fierce opposition, but the a;nendments they 
 offered were declared out of order by the chair. " Make a 
 direct non-confideuco vote " said attorney-g ineral Macdonald, 
 " if you are debarred by the rules of the house from getting 
 the sense of parliament." He would be a mperficial man who 
 supposed that a fit of generosity to Brown and his followers 
 dictated this advice. The suggestion was adopted, Mr. Holton 
 moving that the course of the ministry on the seat of govern- 
 ment and other important questions disappointed the expecta- 
 tions of a majority of the people. The motion was defeated 
 by a vote of seventy to forty-seven ; but an analysis showed 
 thirty-three Upper Canada members to be among the minority, 
 and only twenty-seven with the majority. For the first time 
 the " double majority " principle was nov/ adopted. It was 
 contended that on a question affecting each division so dis- 
 tinctly as did this, the Upper Canada section of i.he ministry 
 would be faithless to their trust did t ley retain office while 
 supported only by a minority of members from their own part 
 of the province. So the Upper Canada division of the gov- 
 ernment, despite the protestations of Sir ,'klJan, who was "tor- 
 tured at every joint," decided to resign.. 1\ now seemed as 
 if Providence were about to bring good to the government out 
 of the evil. While the albatross hung about the L^ick of the 
 Ancient Mariner, there was naught but woe for iha unfqr- 
 tunate man, but when the disastrous bird dropped off the curse 
 departed. Sir Allan had long been the albatross al )ut the 
 government's neck, and " worked *em woe," but on the iJlst of 
 May he informed the governor-general from the midst of his 
 flannels, that while " not recognising a sectional majority as a 
 sufficient reason for a change of government," no alternative 
 
X98 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACVONALJ). 
 
 but resignation was open to himself and his colleagues from 
 Upper Canada. Thus the albatross dropped off, and the gov- 
 crnnient v/as sa' .\ A daring way to seek liddance of an 
 incubus ; but the inai) who planned it saw his course far before 
 him, and was not mistaken. Men are sometimes masters of 
 their fate Cassius tells Brutus, and Mr. Macdonaldhad steadily 
 climbed the ladder, never failing in his purpose, till, at last, we 
 find him upon the round whitlier he had aspired. We do not 
 l>:i]ieve the superstitious dame who tells us that this one who 
 has attained fame and that one fortune are " lucky;" the fault is 
 nev3r with our stars but with ourselves that we do not succeed ; 
 and that " chance," through which they tell us some gain glory 
 and otliers power, is not chance at all, but "dir >ction which we 
 cannot see." The governor-general called upon colonel Tachd, 
 presi<lent of the legislative council, he bein;.;- the senior mem- 
 ber ^f the government, to lead the ministry, I ut Mr. Macdonald 
 took the reins in the assembly and was virtually the ruling 
 spirit in every department. Mr. Drummond, attorney-general- 
 cast, the gentleman whom Mr. Mackenzie brings m judgment 
 against Macdonald, had ambition to lead in tl e assembly and 
 pressed his claims with much persistency ; but the cabinet was 
 not likoiy to turn from indiscreet impetuo.°ity to respectable 
 n.ediocrity, a^d therefore did not entertain Mr. Drummond's 
 proposals at all. " Well, then, I shall not sit in the cabinet," 
 he said. 'And you may go," they replied. He did go, believ- 
 ing that the fabric would fall when such a pillar as he had 
 withilrawn its support. Mr. Cartier, the late provincial secre- 
 tary, became attorney-genoral-east in the place of Mr Drum- 
 mond ; Mr. Philip Vankoughaet, one of the most thriving 
 lawyers at the bar, and a close personal friend of Mr. John A. 
 Macdonald's, toc\: Sir Allan MacNab's place as president of the 
 council, and Mr. Timothy Lee Terrill succeeded Mr. Cartier as 
 provincial secretary. 
 
 Two days after the resignation Sir Allan was borne into the 
 house, swathed in flann , by two serving men. The rumour 
 
 ,^ 
 
TACHE-MACDONALD. J99 
 
 having gone abroad that the knight's ire against Mr. John A. 
 MacdonalJ was very strong, curiosity was on tip-toe, and 
 members who appreciate "scenes" looked anxiously for the 
 arrival of Mr. Macdonald a.^d his colleagues, in whose absence 
 they did not suppose the explanations proper to the occasion, 
 with the anticipated extra, would be made. But the attorney- 
 general-west and his colleagues judiciously remained away, 
 and Sir Allan, muffled in flannels, and seated in his invalid 
 chair, addressed the house. As his colleagues had chosen to 
 Absent themselves, he did not deem it proper to make the ex- 
 planations he had to offer. The state of his health, he said, had 
 pre veil ed him from discharging bis duty as he would wish, 
 during the session. " I have been a member of this house " he 
 went on, " twenty-six years, and during all that period I have 
 not been so long absent as during this session. I think the 
 people of this country will receive that from a man of my age 
 as sufficient excuse." He would be ready, he rtssured the house, 
 to meet the iiinisw s on the following Monday to make cer- 
 tain becoming- statements, and he would appeal to the people 
 for a verdict on the course he had taken. " If I am supported 
 by their voit'.e," he added with much emotion, " I shall feel that 
 I am right. If condemned, I am ready to retire into private 
 life, — and perhaps I am now fit for little else." There is some- 
 thing touching in the spectacle of an old man bowed with time 
 and pain, telling those gathej'ed around him, so n<^ full of high 
 hoD3s as he once had been, that the autumn f his davs has 
 come, and that lie looks now to the falling of th :: l.af. At such 
 a moment with the grave dimly seen in the background, we can 
 afford to drop the party questions that divide us during our 
 brief sojourn upon the mortal stage and moralize on the in- 
 stability of human things. There was manj a moist eye as 
 this old man, who, with all his defects of character, was frank 
 and generous to a fault, told the assembled members that ho 
 had been thrown aside — let us add in the murderous struggle 
 for the survival of the fittest — by younger .uen, and. that, per- 
 
200 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 haps, he was no longer useful and only fit to die. It is not, how- 
 ever, that we believe a catastrophe had come upon Sir Allan 
 which was not meet and just ; indeed we can allow our tears to 
 flow as Macbeth, the fiend and victim of a morbid ambition, paces 
 the stage and we hear him wail, " I have lived long enough : 
 my way of life has fiillen into the sear and yellow leaf." There 
 was genuine sorrow as Sir Allan bade a long farewell to the 
 men among whom for so many years he had been a prominent 
 figure. But turning aside from the humanity that bids us weep 
 when the tree in the fulness of time falls, and the petal drops 
 that is never to bloom again, we find ourselves in a world 
 where tears and sentiment will not satisfy the demands of duty; 
 where the fittest survives, and justly so, and the incompetent 
 gives way to the capable. 
 
 One of the most important acts of the session was the 
 measure respecting the legislative council. It was provided 
 that councilloi's already appointed should hold their seats for 
 life (it is probable their positions were regarded as vested 
 rights, though should a merchant or a railway "boss" believe 
 his staff" too large he would not allow scruples about " vested 
 rights " to trouble his conscience when discharging such assist- 
 ance as he did not need) ; but that every future member should 
 be elected by the people, and for a term of eight years. The 
 province, for the purposes of the act, was divided into forty- 
 eight electoral divisions ; and the elections were to be held 
 biennially, twelve members to be chosen at each contest. 
 
 Two months before a joyful thrill had run through the civi- 
 lized world as it was learnt that a treaty of peace had been 
 signed at Paris by the powers. With all the fame and victory- 
 trophies of the war, it had an appalling summing up. Not less 
 than twenty thousand Englishmen who went out to meet the 
 enemy, returned no more. About a sixth of these fell in battle 
 or died of their wounds. Cholera and other diseases engendered 
 by a climate against which the British soldier was not proof, ren- 
 dered a grim return of the rest. England and France thought 
 
TACHE-MAvDONALD. 201 
 
 not of the loss of sixty thousand lives, but rang with the fame 
 of the allied armies. Instances of heroism had been shown by 
 British troops that gave the actors a place beside the heroes in 
 ancient legend whose valour had filled the world with wonder 
 for more than two thousand years. Many a Canadian flushed 
 with pride as he heard of the brilliant and successful daring of 
 our troops at Alma ; many a one compared the unflinching 
 bravery of Fenwick Williams at Kars, the noble if fatal courage 
 of the six hundred horsemen who " rode into the valley of 
 death," to the deeds of the Spartan at ThermopylfE, and of 
 Horatius at the Bridge. The treaty of peace was signed on the 
 ?>v)th of March. One of the articles provided as follows : " The 
 Black Sea is neutralized ; its waters and its ports, thrown open 
 to the mercantile marine of every nation, are formally and in 
 perpetuity interdicted to the flag of war either of the powers 
 possessing its coast or any other power." There was an excep- 
 tion by which each power reserved the right of maintaining a 
 force of small armed vessels in the Black Sea to do the duty of 
 a maritime police, and protect the coasts. The navigation of 
 the Danube was thrown open, and the rule was confirmed pro- 
 hibiting ships of war from passing the straits while the Porte 
 was at peace, during which the Sultan undertook to refuse 
 such vessels admission into the Bosph'^rus or the Dardanelles. 
 Such were arpong the most '.mportant stipulations of the treaty 
 Some hopeful statesmen bejieved that the settlement would 
 long endure, and the olive branch flourish perhaps for centuries 
 to come. Lord Aberdeen, who had no heart in the war, pre- 
 dicted that the results would maintain peace in Eastern Eu- 
 rope for " probably twenty-five years." It was not a bad fore- 
 cast. Just twenty-two years later the clangour of arms was^ 
 heard there ag^in. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE DOUBLE SHUFFLE. 
 
 AS immigration poured into Canada in an ever-increasing 
 stream son> ^ public men begai to speculate about a time 
 when population would have spread t the limits of Canada, and 
 the pioneer would venture forth into une vast regions held by 
 the Hudson Bay Company. Some began to dream of a day, not 
 far in the future, when a proud nation would be reared between 
 the republic and the Arctic Ocean ; but there lay as a bar to 
 the realization of the vision the gigantic monopoly by which a 
 private company held vast stretches of British territory in the 
 great, unknown North-west. Several wise newspapers and 
 public speakers ridiculed the ardour shown about "desolate 
 regions of snow and muskeg, inhabited by the fox and praii'ie- 
 w^olf, a few bands of Indians, and a handful of furriers and half- 
 breeds." The territory was said to be a dismal expanse, set 
 apart by providence for wild beasts, composed of sterile 
 wastes, and of such a climate that grain would not grow there ; 
 while its summer, — a season afflicted with frosts — was too short 
 to mature even a small potato or a cabbage. The government, 
 however, were fully alive to the importance of getting possess- 
 ion of the company's territory, and to this end, at the sugges- 
 tion of attorney-general Macdonald, negotiations were opened 
 with the British government and the company; and chief justice 
 Draper went to England to repr^ent the interests of Canada. 
 The house met in February. George Brown and hr^ j,,rits 
 were drawn up in line, refusing to be comforted by any man- 
 ner of legislation emanating from the ministerial mind. In this 
 
 202 
 
THE DOUBLE SHUFFLE. 203 
 
 state of feeling, hostility may be predicated of them to all 
 measures whatsoever not originating on their side of the house, 
 and we need not retail special incidents. One question, how- 
 ever, had grown up of late, a not engrossing question it is true 
 when first discussed, yet like the little cloud, that, in the begin- 
 ning appears upon the horizon, in regulation size, but which 
 gradually spreads across the heavens, breaking in storm &nd 
 wracking thunders. This question had now suffused the public 
 mind and promised a harvest of trouble in the near future to 
 the ministry. Representation by Population was the cry thus 
 agitating the popular breast. It was debated on the hustings, 
 and discussed with much warmth and bitterness through the 
 press. On the 27th of April, George Brown, who revelled in 
 public tumult as the petrel does in the storm, arose at his desk 
 holding a piece of paper in his hands from which he .ead the 
 following motion : " That, in the opinion of this house, the 
 representation of the people in parliament should be based on 
 l)opulation without re^fard to a separating line between Upper 
 and Lower Canada." 
 
 The motion after a hot debate was lost, but the opinion ex- 
 pressed during the discussion taught that the time was drawing 
 near when such a concession could not be refused. Mr. Brown 
 warmly advocated the measure in his newspaper as well as in 
 the house, though he was not the originator of the question, 
 and his impetuosity now was due rather to a desire to embar- 
 rass the government than to a belief that the country had yet 
 suffered anything from the state of its representation. Had 
 he been a member of the coalition, as he aimed to be, or had 
 hitherto given it support, we may be sure he would have been 
 able to maintain silence about " Rep. by Pop." as he was about 
 the clergy reserves till his own interests and those of the gov- 
 ernment diverged. This, perhaps, is as proper a place as any- 
 where else to say that the province was no more indebted, if it 
 was as much, to Mr. Brown for a secularization of the reserves, 
 than to any one of a number of his contemporaries. He con- 
 
204 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 tinued his alliance with a government which he knew was not 
 disposed to settle the question when the time was ripe for its 
 settlement ; when that government reconstructed, and ignored 
 him, he went to the hustings declaring that above all things 
 he wanted secularization, and would form any alliance, or sup- 
 port any candidate, to effect that oVyect ; but when the election 
 Avas done, because his overtures for alliance were rejected, he 
 thwarted in every, possible way the administration which ac- 
 complished the legislation for which he had been crying out, a 
 ministry which at a bound placed itself abi'east of public opi- 
 nion. 
 
 The government spw the danger to its own existence in enter- 
 taining Brown's latest proposition, but attorney-general Mac- 
 donald did not hesitate to inform Col. Tach^ that the time was 
 fast coming when it would be the duty of his Upper Cana- 
 dian colleagues to take up the question of representation. Mr. 
 Macdonald did not believe the interests of the province thus far 
 had suffered anything, or was likely for some time to be pre- 
 judiced bj'^ maintaining +J\e representation scale fixed by the 
 union ; but he was resolved when " the time was ripe " — an 
 expression he was fond of using — to grapple with the question 
 let his party stand or fall. This waiting for the time to ripen 
 the ready critic may deem a vulnerable spot, but it can only 
 be so on the assumption that it is the duty of the statesman to 
 lead public sentiment, instead of to give expression to it in 
 legislation. A fatal mistake surely. We do not send the 
 statesman to the cabinet to do his will, but to do ours : we do 
 not depend upon his talent to devise out of his own conscious- 
 ness legislation which has not appeared to us aa needful ; but 
 to give the right and effectual form to that which we regard as 
 for the general good. Nor do we believe it to bo the function 
 of the newspaper to mould, or to lead, public opinion. There 
 seems to us to be no special need for thinking machinery in a 
 man if the " we " in the editorial column, which may represent 
 a needy law-student or a feather-headed Bohemian, is to think 
 
THE DOUBLE SHUFFLE. 205 
 
 for him on every subject from killing potato-bugs to voting on 
 tlie National Policy. With the spread of the habit of inde- 
 pendent thinking, and the ceaseless activity of the printing 
 press, bringing from the four winds of heaven knowledge of the 
 revelations and products of every day, the reign of dogma has 
 passed. In the middle ages, when a small tallow candle had to 
 shod light for tens of thousands, when the priest thought for 
 the flock on all important matters, cleric and lay, just as one 
 man now grinds grain for another — at such a time as this, we 
 say, when the mind and conscience of the benighted being were 
 always in the pocket of some one else, the dictum of the editorial 
 column would have been a beneficent aid to the race. Now, 
 however, the little editor who became a censor of human action 
 and intelligence because he failed as a schoolmaster or a vet- 
 erinary surgeon, is seen endeavouring to coerce the public 
 with a lead pencil : every day engaged in the experiment 
 of leading the high-spirited horse to the well — seldom indu- 
 cing him to drink. If the statesman have his duty, so we 
 believe has the journalist. That duty is to give the public 
 facts, not to give them inferences ; to keep a record of the 
 births of busy time, not to fill his pages with distortions. 
 Give the people the facts ; trust to their having sufficient 
 ability to come to proper conclusions. If the Hon. Edward 
 Blake gave forty dollars to the Muskoka sufl['erers, and David 
 Mills gave them thirty dollars, depend upon the public conclud- 
 ing that the joint donation reached just seventy dollars. There 
 is no use'in the tory editor saying that the " miserable contri- 
 bution of the two reached a trifle over $20." Give the public 
 the rein, and have no misgivings. If they have an upset they 
 are entitled to it. 
 
 The upper house having thrown out the item providing for 
 the erection of legislative buildings, the question was again in 
 the status quo and attorney-general Macdonald suggested to 
 his colleagues a reference of the matter to the Queen for arbi- 
 tration. The clear grits raised a howl against submitting " a 
 
flOtt LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 ([uestion of purely local concern to the decision of her majesty," 
 * and contended tliat such an act " outraged tlie spirit of respon- 
 sible governmout." Mr. Brown and liis grits evidently knew 
 little of propriety or precedents. We believe the custom of 
 submitting questions, great or small, to disinterested parties for 
 arbitration still survives, and that notable cases are on record, 
 such, for example, as the reference of the dispute about the 
 New Brunswick boundary to the king of the Netherlands, 
 
 The ministry was now, as ministries always are and always 
 will be, held responsible for the reaction in trade caused by 
 lavish expenditure during the period of unwholesome business 
 activity attending the war, and the failure of the crops through- 
 out the country. Some of the ministers began to grow uneasy, 
 but the hand of Macdonald was at the helm, though Mr. Tach(? 
 was the nominal commander, and he steered the ship steadily 
 throuffh the reefs. Late in the autumn of 1857 Mr. Terril le- 
 signed to give his attention to private affairs, and his place was 
 filled by M Jacques Loranger. On the 25th of November 
 Col. Tachd, who had grown tired of the worries of state-craft, 
 also resigned, and the governor-general at once applied to 
 attorney-general Macdonald to form a government. At last 
 he found himself on "fortune's crowning slope," invested with 
 the semblance as well as the substance of power. The Upper 
 Canada members resumed their places; Mr. George Etienne 
 Cartier took the leadership of the Lower Canada section, still 
 retaining the portfolio of attorney -general-east. On the day 
 following Col. Tachd's resignation, the Macdonald-Cartier go v- 
 ernment took the reins. Two days later parliament was dis- 
 solved, and the pai-ties went to the hustings, the clear grits with 
 two shibboleths, " Non-sectarian Schools," and " Representation 
 by Population." The ministry took ground that these ques- 
 tions were not then expedient, and as a result lost in the con- 
 test Messrs. Cayley, Spence and Morrison. But the Lower 
 Canada electors who regarded George Brown as an enemy to 
 their race, institutions and religion — and it is difficult to see 
 
THE DOVBLE SHUFFLE. 207 
 
 how they could have regardtd him in any other light— and who 
 were opposed to non-sectai-ian schools, and somewhat to repre- 
 sentation by population, though not so zealously as some of our 
 historians state, returned an overwhelming body of minister- 
 ialists. 
 
 Among the new members elected to parliament, the most 
 conspicuous were Thomas D'Arcy McGec, Hector Louis Lang- 
 evin, John Rose, William P. I[owland, Oliver Mowat and John 
 Carling. The new parliament assembled in February. The 
 opposition was in a more tumultuous state tliim ever, and this 
 condition was due to the announcement that, on the rect)!nmen- 
 dation of hon, John A. Macdonald and his colleagues. Ottawa, — 
 which in these later years has been styled by Bystander, 
 " an Arctic lumber village " — was chosen as the capital. In this 
 selection the government h.ad evidently defeated their oppon- 
 ents, thovigh the result was not to be seen for some time to 
 como, and ended a perpetual source of discontent, by the aid of 
 geography. Several amendments to the address were moved 
 by the opposition, by which it was seen, that, while the min- 
 istry was supported by a considerable majority of the house, 
 it was in u minority in the Upper Canada section, Mr. Joseph 
 Thibaudeau, member for Portneuf, brought in a motion affirm- 
 ing the principle of double majorities, but it was met by the 
 almost entire force of the ministerialists, who were supported 
 by George Brown, Oliver Mowat and many other grit members. 
 Strange to say among those who supported Thibaudeau's mo- 
 tion was H'^ctor Langevin, the member for Dorchester. We 
 say this is strange in view of the great statesmanship Mr. Lang- 
 evin has always displayed through the brilliant and masterly 
 career which has ever since been his. 
 
 After the ministry had got this troublesome question off its 
 hands, a resolution and several amendments, disapproving of 
 her majesty's choice of Ottawa as a capital, were moved by 
 Messrs. Brown, Thibaudeau, Dunkin, Pichd and others. After 
 an animated discussion, Mr. Piclt^'s amendment, setting forth 
 
90a LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 that, " It is the opinion of this house that the city of Ot- 
 tawa ought not to be the permanent seat of government for 
 ■the province," was carried by a vote of sixty -four to fifty. 
 Before the word " carried " had left the speaker's lips, George 
 Brown's enthusiasm had passed bounds, and he jumped to his 
 feet. The occasion helps us to get the measure of the man. 
 " The house " he said, as soon as the cheering ceased, " can have 
 no doubt that the motion just carried expressed an emphatic 
 disapproval of the government policy ; and in order to prove 
 . that it means just this, I now move an adjournment of the 
 house." The premier arose perfectly cool, and informed mem- 
 bers that ha was glad to accept the challenge of the leader of 
 ithe opposition. " Let the vote on adjournment" he said, with a 
 slightly ironical tone, " test whether or not the ministry possesses 
 the confidence of the house." Mr. Macdonald knew that while 
 
 • a majority in the assembly was opposed to fixing the seat of 
 government at Ottawa, there was by no means a majority 
 
 • disposed to transfer the reins into the hands of George Brown. 
 When the speaker put the motion to adjourn it was clearly 
 ■understood that the fate of the ministry hung on the issue. 
 Macdonald was not mistaken. Sixty-one said "nay," and only 
 fifty " yea." An analysis of the vote, however, showed that a 
 large majority of the Upper Canada section voted with the 
 yeas. After the house adjourned Mr. Macdonald conferred 
 with his colleagues on the situation. " Brown," he said, "has 
 been really doing our work ; and by his indiscreet motion 
 shows what our duty to ourselves now is." It was* then agreed 
 that the government could strike a decisive blow at the oppo- 
 sition by resigning. The motion carried by the grits was 
 equivalent to a censure on her majesty, and the ministry felt 
 that by resigning they would identify themselves with the 
 -cause of their sovereign. Mr. Macdonald never believed that 
 Mr. Brown would have a ghost of a chance to form an endur- 
 ing ministry, though some of his colleagues were timid, and 
 beared that he would soon gather a number of the "loose fish" 
 
THE DOIJHLE SHUFFLE. 209 
 
 tuoimd him. " My inind is perfoctly easy on tho point," said 
 ^lacdonald, " I am absolutely certain that he will not be sus- 
 tained in the house." Now, one wouhl suppose that Mr. Brown, 
 knowing that a majority was opposed to him, would have 
 hesitated before grasping at glory which could only turn to 
 disaster. The apologlta of Mr. Brown tell us that he foresaw 
 his reception in parliament but had faith in the governor 
 granting a dissolution. We believe he expected nothing of 
 the kind. The " higher game " for which he had been so long 
 burning he saw within his grasp, and with tho same indiscreet 
 impetuosity with which he allowed himself to call for a test 
 vote after the passage of Pich^'s resolution, he would now thrust 
 out his hand for the office within his reach. The fact is Mr. 
 Brown was mentally incapable of forecast or restraint where 
 personal interest and ambit:'on were behind urging him on. 
 But let us see what happened. 
 
 The Macdonald-Cartier government resigned, and Sir Ed- 
 mund Head wrote to George Brown : * * " His excellency 
 feels it right to have recourse to you as the most prominent 
 member of the opposition, and he hereby offers you a seat in 
 the council as the leader of a new administration." Mr. Brown 
 was too jubilant to pause long before replying to this note- 
 *' Buy me the captain's commission, mother," said the son in the 
 beleagured city. " The soldiers will be over the wall to-mor- 
 row my son, and your glor}"- will be short-lived." " I don't care 
 mother, I want to be a captain." And George Brown was 
 not concerned that the enemy would to-morrow break over the 
 wall — that he was in a miserable minority in the house. He 
 wanted to be a prime minister, to grasp the " high game," so he 
 wrote : " Mr. Brown has the honour to inform his excellency that 
 he accepts tho duty proposed to him in his excellency's com- 
 munication, and undertakes the formation of a new ministry." 
 Had Macdonald been by when Brown sealed this letter he must 
 have muttered with Antony : 
 
 N 
 
210 LIFE OF Slli JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 ' " Now let it work ; mischief, thou art afoot, 
 
 Take thou what course thou wilt." 
 
 On the following day, Sunday, in the afternoon, an aido-de- 
 canip waited on Mr. Brown and delivered to him a moinoran- 
 duni, which the governor-general desired him to submit to his 
 proposed colleagues. This memorandum stated that his excel- 
 lency gave "no pledge or promise, express or implied, with refer- 
 ence to the dissolving of parliament," a condition for which Mr. 
 Brown strongly pressed the governor at a previous interview, re- 
 ceivinff the same answer. The memorandum went on to show 
 that his excellency was willing to consent to a prorogation with 
 the understanding that parliament should meet again, " say in 
 November or December ; " but an intimation was given timt a 
 prorogation would not be granted till " the bill for the reg- 
 istration of voters, and that containing the prohibition of 
 fraudulent assignments and gifts by traders" had become law. 
 " Besides this," his excellency wrote, " an/ item of supply al*- 
 solutely necessary should be provided for ')y a vote of credit, 
 and the money for the repairs of canals, ^vl ich cannot be post- 
 poned, should be voted. * * If parlia'7;'ent merely adjourns 
 until after the re-election of the members of the government 
 the case is different and the responsibility i- on the house it- 
 self." Mr. Brown, as we have seen, had biioi requested by his 
 excellency to lay the memorandum befo e his proposed col- 
 leagues, but the grit chieftain did nothing of the sort. That 
 was not his way. Being dictator, if he jdeased himself, why 
 need he to trouble about the wishes of his colleagues. So with 
 hot haste he despatched a note on Monday morning informing 
 the governor that he had selected the members of his proposed 
 ministry, and that the latter could not be in a position to discuss 
 any measures or questions of public policy with his excellency till 
 they had "assumed the functions of constitutional advisers 
 of the crown." Partizan writers like Mr. Mackenzie have com- 
 plained of his excellency's lack of courtesy and frankness to 
 Mr. Brown, but the discourtesy and lack of frankness, as the 
 
THE 1) UJiLE SII UFFLE. 211 
 
 extract last made evinces, were hegun Ly Mr. Brown hiniHclf. 
 His refusal to discuss certain (juestions with his excellency at 
 the latter's re(iuest, was not alone discourt* 'ms, ])nt insulting .,o 
 the governor-general. It implied th.vt Sir Edmund either did 
 not know the bounds ami (I'jnities of his position, or that he wa> 
 while putting the latt tier foot, trying to entrap the in- 
 
 coming ministry into hi. ..fidenco for some sinister purpose. 
 Mr. Brown may not have known the duty of one gentleman to- 
 wards another ; but history is bound to take notice of the facts. 
 Mr. Mackenzie, In wevor, describes the churlish discourtesy of 
 Mr. B'own on this occasion in language .somewhat different 
 from ours. He calls it a " dignified rebuke to the governor." 
 About half-past ten in the forenoon of the same day, Mr. 
 Brown waited on his excellency, and submitted the names of 
 his colleagues. The latter were sworn in at noon, and were as 
 follows : — 
 
 FOR CANADA WEST. 
 
 Hon. George Brown - - Premier and Insp. General. 
 
 "■ J. S. Macdonald Attorney-General. 
 
 " Jas. Morris - - - Speaker Legislative Ccvncil. 
 " Oliver Mow at - - _ Provincial Secretary 
 
 " M. H. Foley Podmaf^tzr-General. 
 
 " S. Connor Sol'.citor-General. 
 
 FOR CANADA EAST. 
 
 Hon. a. a. Dorion - - Oommissioner of Crown Lands. 
 
 " L. T. Drummond Attormy -General. 
 
 " J. E. Thibaudeau - . - - Pres. of the Council. 
 " L. H. HoLTON - - Commissioner Public Works. 
 
 " F. Lemieux Receiver-General. 
 
 " C. J. Laberge ------ Solicitor-General. 
 
 Mr. Patrick rose in the house in the afternoon am(Ouncing the 
 names of the new ministers, and likewise stating that he had 
 been instructed to say that it wa« the wish of the government 
 
212 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MJCDOKALD. 
 
 that parlij'inent slioukl be picrof,nied at an early day. Expla- 
 nations as to the policy oi tlie gov. .Timent he hope- 1 to be able to 
 make on the morrow, — but he was indulging iu a false hope, ii 
 he was not, p evouaing, for the new ?abinec was a mass of con- 
 trarietief and there .vas not the shadow of a possibility that the 
 admini.ili"aiion could e^'olve a policy within a day, or a ■"reek, 
 or amentia. Thi^ housi; was not pleased that it should ove 
 been asked U- vote for the new ministry blindfold. A. state- 
 ment of policy ill the most general way would have induced it 
 to extend the ordinav\- courtesies. When Mr, Patrick s>t down, 
 Mr. Bureau lose and moved the isMie of a writ for the election 
 of a member in Mont) ;.al, to rephtce Mr. Dorion, But on the 
 motion being put, Mr. H. L. Langevin moved the following 
 amendr.oent : "That this house, vihile ordering the said writ, 
 must, av vho same time, state that the administration, the for- 
 mation of which has created this vacancy, does not possess the 
 confident i of this house and of the country." This amend- 
 ment wai^ seconded by Ri . -John Beverloy Robinson, son of the 
 chief justice of Upper Canada. A tierce debate began and con- 
 tinued till mi(>nightj when the ministry was dcfeuted by a majo- 
 rity of forty votes. Thus was the fair fruit ■« hich the reckless pre- 
 mier plucked in the morning, turned to oishes in his hand before 
 the boa isig of the midni>;lit bell. Mr. Langevin and f I ose who 
 suppc rted his amendineni have been accused of viok < .t^ parlia- 
 menttiiy courtesy in coidem'ilr^g a ministry withoi?: knowing 
 its policy ; — but because it (iid not disclose its policy was one of 
 the rra^ons why it was hurled from the eminence upon which 
 it had rashly seated itself. We admit much is due to the cus- 
 toms and Courtesies of pailiament, but certainly George Brown 
 and his grits who had worried and thwarted the govcrniueut 
 tyhrough tbo session in every manner but that of courtesy, de- 
 served everything at the hands of the house that couid be done 
 within til 5 letter of the constitution. The very vote showed 
 that the assembly was disposed to rebuke Mr. Brown for his 
 arrogance no le.«s than his ind^ creet haste in rushing into office 
 
 .4. 
 
THE DOUBLE SHUFFLE. 213 
 
 when 1 e knew 1 it, ( pponents had a large majority in the 
 house. But it reveal ^ a trick," say the Mackenzies. " The 
 trap was se! for Mr, Brown.' Wo answer, if Mr. Brown, or 
 any other man who sets hims-elf up as the censor and loader 
 of men, cannot keep out of ti i,ps, it If -", pity that he should not 
 00 into ti.em. Mr. Macdonald hvA th( i-iijht, with the attendant, 
 risks, of resign. ng, as any prin.e min «t3r has at any time, for 
 whatever reason to him se(!r.'<,i jiifiicient but it did notfollowthat 
 Mr. Brown should sacrifice him elf to his own unforeseeing fvnd 
 impetuous ambition. Mr. Macdonald saw he wanted to be in. 
 office, and that the craze for honours had become an over-ma.^- 
 tering mania with the man. He resigned, and let him gr in. 
 The parliament indignantly turned him out again. We pre- 
 sume, without discus.sing obsolete courtesies, the^y had the rigiit 
 to do so. :' ; ' • ; •' 
 
 An analysis of the vote showe«i that the callow ministry 
 had been defeated by a majority of votes in both sections of the 
 province. In the upper hous*^ also a no-confidence resolution 
 was introduced by Mr. Paton, aud after a hot discussion in 
 which Mr. Vankoughnet and Col. Prince assailed the ministry 
 in very able speeches, the motion waf' carried by a vote of two 
 to one. 
 
 On the following day Mr. Brown waited upon his excellency 
 and urge! an immedial-. prorogation with a view to dissolution. 
 Once again the governor told him, as he had done twice before, 
 that hi^ could not, from his present light upon the subjcict, give 
 any hOjjes of a dissolution. It was now the governoi"'s turn to 
 be cautious ; and to guard against misrepresentation he )t quest- 
 ed Mi. Brown to put in v%'riting the grounds upon w? lA he 
 based his request. One can fancy a certain kind of document 
 pr jse ited by a newly-fledged county-councillor to the reeve of 
 his municipality, or a protest made to the chair by a .spinster 
 at a meetin,'.^ held to put down the u.se of tobacco ; but this 
 d('cam.ent sent to Sir Edmund Head by George Brown is uni- 
 que, we venture to say, in constitutional literature. One of 
 
\ 
 
 :>14 LIFE OF SIR JO UN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 its stronfj reasons for askinfj a dissolution was this : " The 
 house they [(he ministry] believe does no possess the confidence 
 of the country ; and the public dissatifci ^j.cfcion has been greatl}"^ 
 increasefl by the numerous and glaring act ^ of corruption and 
 fraud by which many seats were obtfcii?^' ' at Ihe last general 
 election." Not satisfied with this the ci'iiiiei*, gives another 
 reason. As it would be a pity nof> to reproduce it, here H is : 
 " For some years past strong sectional feeliji,;^' nvj arisci i*^* 
 the country, which, especially c'uring the prcjent .isssion, have 
 seriously impeded the carryiny" on of the a<"fjii';istrative and 
 legislative functions of the gov rnment. The !ato admin?.: la- 
 tion made no attempt to meet '/nese difficulties 01 to suggest a 
 remedy for them, and thereby the evil has been greatly aggra- 
 vated. His excellency's present advisers have entered the 
 government with the fixed l stermination to propose constitu- 
 tional measures for the esta Jishmentof that harmony between 
 Upper and Lower Canada y hich is essential to the prosperity 
 of the province. They resveetfully submit that thoy have a 
 right to claim all the support which his excellency can constitu- 
 tionally extend to them ir. he prosecution of this all import- 
 ant object." One might h ^^e supposed that these two reasons 
 were overwhelming, but 1 jB main shot "^^ill remained in the 
 locker, an appeal to the pit/ of the goveriior. It was as fol- 
 lows : " The unprecedented and unparliamentary course pur- 
 sued by the house of assembly —which, immediately after 
 having by their vote compelled the late ministry to retire, pro- 
 ceeded to pass a vote of want of c nfidence in the present 
 administration, without notice, withirt a few hours of their 
 appointment, in their absence from tht house, and before their 
 policy had been announced — affords the most convincing proof 
 that the affairs of the country cannot be f fficiently conducted 
 under the control of the house as now constituted." There is 
 more even than absurdity in this ; there is i laccuracy. It was 
 not true that the assembly had " by their vote compelled the 
 late ministry to retire." The resignation was voluntary ; but 
 
THE DOUBLE SHUFFLE. 215 
 
 we must bs frank enough to admit that it was not done out of 
 deference to any principle or to tl>e sense of (/.io majority of 
 tiie Upper Canada section of the cabinet. It was simply done 
 to hxQ Mr. Brown into a pitfall ; and into the pitfall he went, 
 c} es and mouth wide open. 
 
 However, let us see if Sir Edmund's feelings can be wrought 
 upon like the lady-president of the anti-tobacco club. Before 
 touching the grounds on which the dissolution is urged, his 
 -excellency, among others, gives the following replies : " His 
 excellency is no doubt bound to deal fairly with all political 
 piuties ; but he has a duty to perform to the Queen and the 
 people of Canada paramount to that which he owes to any 
 on J party or to all parties whatsoever. The question for his 
 excellency to decide is not, ' what is advantageous or fair for a 
 parti<!riiar party?' but what upon the who) \ is the most ad- 
 vantageous and fair for the people of the province. The resig- 
 nation of the late government was tendered in consequence of 
 a vot <} of the house which did not assert directly any want of 
 ct'u'uence in them." His excellency then points out that a 
 >v I 11 of confidence in the government had been emphatically 
 voted bv both branches of the legislature, and adds that he is 
 asked to dissolve parliament by a ministry ' who possessc ■ the 
 conti':iorice of neither branch of the legislature." We do rot 
 pretoi d 10 have so subtle a knowledge of constitutional mystery 
 as v.. Mackenzie, but we have no hesitation in saying that we 
 thi' i the simple fact last stated was, alone, sufficient ground 
 ■fja wMf •! to refuse a dissolution. This is how the governor an- 
 £Wt ^u. uhe wail made about the legislature voting the want of 
 c Ml 1^1 lee, an answer all the more effective, because made in re- 
 ply ' i ':'. Iran who boasted of 'oeing the advocate of the supre- 
 ^a -y ,( Oio people vhrough their legislatures, and who had in 
 hn ni :_ Ti .'j.,.(dum virtually appealed to the governor against the 
 ho i J of jatjiauKjnt. " It is not the duty of the governor-gen- 
 -61; 1 to de'id 5 wiethor the action of the two houses on Monday 
 iii^ht wa^ ' ' v/a n)t in accordance with the u.sual courtesy of 
 
210 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 parliament towards an incoming administration. The two 
 houses are the jud'^^es of the propriety of their own proceedings. 
 His excellency has to du with the conclusions at which they 
 arrive, providing only that the forms observed are such as to 
 give legal and constitutional force to their votes." A striking 
 lecture we repeat from a viceroy to a man who had made so 
 much newspaper thunder against the iniquity of governors 
 thwarting, or meddling with, legislatures. Some of the reason* 
 put forward by Sir Edmund against granting a dissolution are 
 as follows : " An election took place only last winter. This fact 
 is not conclusive against a second election now, but the costs 
 and inconvenience of such a proceeding arc so great, that they 
 ought not to be incurred a second time without very strong 
 grounds. 
 
 " The business before parliament is not yet finished. It is 
 perhaps true that very little which is absolutely essential for 
 the country remains to be done. A portion, however, of the 
 estimates, and two bills, at least, of great importance, are still 
 before the legislative assembly, irrespective of the private bus- 
 iness. 
 
 ' " In addition to this, the resolutions respecting the Hudson 
 Bay tenluory have not been considered, and no answer on that 
 subject can be given to the British government. 
 
 "The time of year and state of affairs would make a general 
 election at this moment peculiarly inconvenient and burthen- 
 some, inasmuch as the harvest is now going on in a large por- 
 tion of the country, and the pressure of the late moiiey crisis 
 has not passed away." 
 
 These, however, were reasons outside of those in answer to 
 Brov/n's memorandum. The governor's reply to the points in 
 the ministc) ial paper are worth reproducing. We consider 
 them overwhelming; but Mr, Mackenzie says they were only 
 " carping eniicism." 
 
 " The following considerations are strongly pressed by his 
 excellency's present advisers as reasons why he should author- 
 
THE DOUBLE SHUFFLE. 2ir 
 
 ize an appeal to the people, and thereby retain their service* 
 in the council. " ■ • 
 
 " (1.) The corruption and bribery alleged to have been prac- 
 tised at the last el tion, and the taint which on that account 
 is said to attach to uhe present legislativ^e assembly. 
 
 " (2.) The existence of a bitter sectional feeling between Up- 
 per and Lower Canada, and the ultimate danger to the union as 
 at present constituted, which is likely to ai-ise from such feel- 
 ing. 
 
 " If the first of these points be assumed a^ true, it must be 
 asked what assurance can his excellency have that a new elec- 
 tion, under precisely the same laws, held within six or eight 
 n, )nths of the last, will diflfer in its character from that which 
 then took place ? If the facts are as they are stated to be,, 
 they might be urged as a reason why a general election should 
 be avoided as long as possible ; at any rate until the laws are 
 made more stringent, and the precautions against such evils, 
 shall have been increased by the wisdom of parliament. Until 
 this is done, the speedy recurrence of the opportunity of prac- 
 tising such abuses would be likely to aggravate their character^ 
 and confirm the habit of resorting to them. 
 
 "The second consideration, as to the feeling between Upper 
 and Lower Canada, and the ultimate danger of such feelings to 
 the union, is one of a very gi-ave kind. It would furnish to his 
 excellency the strongest possible motive for a dissolution of 
 parliament, and for the retention of the present government at 
 all hazards, if the two points were only conclusively established, 
 that is to say, if it could be shown that the measures likely 
 to be adopted by Mr. Brown and his colleagues were a specific,, 
 md the only specific for tliese evils, and that the members 
 0^ the present council were the only men to allay the jealousies 
 so unhappily existing. It may be that both these propositions- 
 are true, but, unless they are established to his excellency's 
 '.-omplete satisfaction, the mere existence of the mischief is nob 
 in itself decisive as to the propriety of resorting to a general 
 
218 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 -election at the present moment. The certainty, or at any rate 
 the great probability, of the cure by the course proposed, and 
 by that alone, would require to be also proved. Without this, 
 a great ))resent evil would be voluntarily incurred for the 
 chance of a remote good." In conclusion, his excellency de- 
 clined to grant u dissolution. 
 
 We need not refer to the plea recapitulated under "(1.)" as 
 the governor thoroughly illustrates its absurdity ; but the con- 
 tention of "(2.)," in which dissolution is urged on the ground 
 that " bitter sectional feeling exists between Upper and Lower 
 •Canada," and that George Brown should be given an oppor- 
 tunity to establish peace and unity there, can scarcely be re- 
 garded in a serious light, when we remember that the breach 
 between the two sections was in a great measure the work of 
 Brown himself, and that his great aim through his newspaper 
 and in the legislature seemed to be to create discord between 
 the French and English. And as proof of how strong a sense 
 of his nefarious course rankled in the minds of the French 
 Canadian members, on the non-confidence resolution he received 
 but foUr Lower Canada votes. There was now only one course 
 open to Mr. Brown. He resigned. 
 
 Those who understand the purpose and drift of Mr. Macken- 
 ziQs, book need not be told that the character of Sir Edmund 
 Head, in its pages, appears as black as ink and an unscrupulous 
 malice can make it. Mr. Mackenzie's style is usually clear and 
 incisive — it now and again suggests the filing of a saw — yet it 
 is hard in the pages he devotes to this question to ascertain what 
 lie njeans, other than to say malicious things of Sir Edmund 
 and to cover George Brown with glory — perhaps we ought to 
 say with whitewash. Where page after page reeks with this 
 file-cutting censure of the governor, the reader who does not pre- 
 suppose malice naturally looks for a plain statement of some 
 scandalous and unconstitutional act of the viceroy. But he will 
 rind no such thing. The honour of a chief justice, who in private 
 life could no more stoop to the basjness with which he is 
 
THE DOUBLE SHUFFLE. 219 
 
 charfred, than Mr. Mackenzie could say a generous word for an 
 opponent, or do him justice, is aspersed ; while the conduct of 
 the governor, upon the testimony of irresponsible rumour and 
 clever surmises, is pictuiud to be that of a conspirator, and his 
 whole character sought to be covered with infamy. But we 
 nmst rule out of court even Mr. Mackenzie's unsupported slander 
 and address ourselves to the facts. The governor, he says — 
 and this h one of his strongest grounds — " was bound as a ruler 
 and as an honest man to see that no impediment should be 
 thrown in the way of his new advisers getting fair play in sub- 
 mitting their policy to the countiy through the medium of a 
 new election." The " impediment," which we have italicized, 
 meant the non-confidence vote passed by the house. But what 
 would Mr. Mackenzie have the governor do about this vote ? 
 He tells us it was his excellency's duty " to see that no impedi- 
 ment " should be thrown in the way. Would he have the go- 
 vernor go down like the tyrant Charles, to muzzle the legisla- 
 ture ? If the language does not mean this, it means nothing. 
 His other point, and these are the only two he offers, out- 
 side of the slanders he scatters through his pages, is that the 
 governor .should have granted a dissolution to Brown because 
 he had given the latter " to understand, as plainly as if he had 
 said it in so many words, that whatever he (Mr. Brown) found 
 it necessary to do he should have his support." We suppose the 
 reader is now able to judge of Mr. Mackenzie's tactics. He 
 deliberately ignores the interview held before Brown formed 
 his government, in which the latter was informed by his excel- 
 lency that he was not to count <m a dissolution ; and the distinct 
 statement in the memorandum, before the ministry was sworn 
 in, or the governor had any knowledge of Brown's choice, that 
 " the governor-general gives no pledge or promise express or im- 
 plied, with reference to dissolving parliament ; " and charges 
 Sir Edmund with having deceived Mr. Brown. He shuts his 
 ears to the governor's distinct and repeated words and elicits a 
 contrary language, instead, from his actions. Brown, however* 
 
220 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 understood the governor's language plainly enough, but too 
 elated with the offer of office " rushed to glory" reckless of con- 
 sequences. As a party driver he may have depended on hus 
 power of bullying the governor, though we cannot give him the 
 credit of such forecast. He fared little better than the excited 
 ^on in the beleagured city, who wanted to be a captain. He 
 wore the honours for four days, and then' was out of office, and 
 out of parliament. As to the governor's conduct throughout 
 the affair, no impartial man will say that it was not beyond 
 reproach, while we cannot doubt with Bystander, that " hatred 
 of what might be deemed incendiarism, and a sense of the peril 
 which it was bringing on the country, may very likely havo 
 prejudiced Sir Edmund against Mr. Brown," though this would 
 not, and did not, influence the act of his excellency. 
 
 The governor-general next applied to Mr. Gait, a member of 
 marked abilities and high parliamentary standing, but that 
 gentleman had occupied solitary ground, allying h imself to neither 
 party, and was without a following. He declined the gover- 
 nor's proposal, — something that George Brown would not have 
 done — and recommended to his excellency Mr, George E. Car- 
 tier the late leader of the Lower Canada section of the cabinet. 
 Sir Edmund took the advice, and called Mr. Cartier, who 
 promptly undertook the task of forming a new ministry. The 
 incoming administration was the same as the Macdonald-Car- 
 tier government, the only exception being that Messrs. Cayley 
 and Loranger were left out and Messrs. Gait and Sherwood 
 taken in their places. The Cartier-Macdonald ministry resumed 
 office eight days after the resignation of the Macdonald-Cartier 
 government. Though Mr. Macdonald had changed places, and, 
 as some who did not like the transposition at the time phrased 
 it, " the car had been put before the horse," Macdonald's was 
 the ruling spirit in the cabinet, although Mr. Cartier was one 
 of the ablest men in Canada. Now during the session of 1857, 
 an act relating to the independence of parliament had been 
 passed, and the seventh section provided that, " whenever any 
 
TUE DOUBLE SUV FFLE. 221 
 
 person holding the ofticc of receiver-general, inspector-general, 
 secretary of the province, commissioner of crown lands, attor- 
 ney-general, solicitor-general, commissioner of public works, 
 speaker of the legislative council, president of committees of 
 the executive council, minister of agriculture or postmaster- 
 general, and being at the same time a member of the legislative 
 assembly, or an elected member of the legislative council, shall 
 resifi^n his office, and within one month after his resignation 
 accept any other of the said offices, he shall not thereby vacate 
 his seat in the said assembly or council." A meeting of pro- 
 posed ministers was held after the personnel of the cabinet had 
 been decided upon, and it was then mooted, that, under the sec- 
 tion just quoted, the incoming ministers, by complying with 
 certain legal formalities, need not go back to their constituencies 
 for re-election, but -^iimply take their seats. The technicality 
 of the law was complied with by M. Cartier, on the 6th instant, 
 becoming inspector-general ; Mr. Macdonald, postmaster-gene- 
 ral ; Mr. AUeyn, provincial-secretary ; Mr. Sicotte, commis- 
 sioner of public works ; Mr. Rose, receiver-general ; Mr. Sidney 
 8mith, president of the council and minister of agricultiire. 
 On the following day another change was made and the new 
 ■cabinet stood as follows : — 
 
 FOR CANADA WEST. 
 
 Hon. John A. Macdonald - - - - Attorney-General. 
 " P. M. Vankoughnet - - - Com. Crown Lands. 
 
 " John Ross President of the Council. 
 
 " Sidney Smith Postmaster-General. 
 
 " Geoiiqe Sherwood - - - - Receiver- General. 
 
 FOR CANADA EAST. 
 
 Hon. George E. Cartier - Premier and Attorney General. 
 " A. T. Galt ------- Inspector- General. 
 
 " L. V. Sicotte - - - - Minister Public Works. 
 
 " N. F. Belleau - - Speaker Legislative Covncil. 
 " Charles Alleyn - - - - Provincial Sec .tary. 
 
222 LIFE OF SIR JO UN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that the new ministry evaded the re- 
 sponsibility of going back for election by accepting within a 
 month other oftices than those held at the time of resignation. 
 This was the expedient that has been since known as the 
 " double shuffle." The laws of the land with their technicali- 
 ties, are for cabinet ministers we presume, as well as for shabby 
 clients in inferior courts ; and we are unable to see why a plea 
 which would be respected and in-esistible in a court of justice 
 should be regarded as a disgraceful trick in a council chamber. 
 Once more, technicalities may be the excrescences of law, but 
 if the writer of " The Last Forty Years " sued his friend to re- 
 cover a loaned pair of boots and won the same on a technicality, 
 would he have the moral generosity to say to the defendant, 
 " Here are the boots ; I recovered them by the mere letter of 
 the law, and not according to its spirit." We do not believe he 
 would. But he is shocked as he writes about ministers retaininor 
 their seats by virtue of a technicality, and, after due condemna- 
 tion, utters a sigh, and "dismisses the subject from his pages." If 
 we are not mistaken two cases, almost similar to this, occurred 
 not so very long ago in England. In 1839 Lord Melbourne intro- 
 duced his Jamaica Bill, but being only able to carry it with a 
 majority of five, resigned. The Queen at once sent for Peel, 
 the leader of the refurbished tory party, and invited him to 
 form a ministry ; but as every one remembers the " question of 
 the petticoats " stood in his way — he could not rule with Lady 
 Normanby — and he had to fall back into private membership. 
 Her Majesty at the advice of Lord John Russell called on Mel- 
 bourne again, who, with the rest of the cabinet, resumed their 
 offices, without, if we remember aright, appealing to the people. 
 Another case in point happened in 1873 when the liberal govern- 
 ment suddenly found themselves defeated on their Irish Uni- 
 versity Bill. Mr. Gladstone resigned, and, by his advice, the 
 Queen invited Mr. Disraeli to form a ministry. Mr. Disraeli, 
 who did not resemble George Brown, thought the situation over, 
 and concluded not to try his luck in the commons as consti- 
 
THE DOUJiLE SIIVFFLE. 223 
 
 luted ; whereupon Her Majesty again sent for Mr. Gladstone, 
 who, wath tlie other ministers, ([uietly resumed their places. 
 There was no election, if wo are not mistaken, in this case 
 either ; yet there is nothing on record in England about single 
 or double shuffles. The case here differed somewhat, but not 
 so as to change the constitutional principle involved in the 
 English cases. There was a slight legal barrier in the way 
 in Canada, and it was avoided by taking advantage of tho 
 letter of the law. But we have to repeat that the client who 
 would, in one of our courts, take advantage of a technicality to 
 gain his suit, is ineligible to cast a stone at the actors in the 
 double shuffle, unless it be assumed that politicians have more 
 honour, or ought to have, than other men ; a contention which 
 we deny. 
 
 The new government was supported by a good majority, 
 and during the session passed a number of important meas- 
 ures. Since a quietus had been given to the question of double 
 majorities, a desire for representation by population had taken 
 deep root in Upper Canada. The question of " Protection to 
 Home Industries," as a direct issue, came up for the first time 
 during the session of 1858, being introduced by Mr. Cay ley, 
 though, as we have already seen, it had been discussed before 
 in connection with certain tariff" changes. During this j'ear 
 science accomplished one of its wonders, in connecting Europe 
 and America by the Atlantic cable. During the year, likewise, 
 the 100th regiment was organized, and that highm.inded politi- 
 cian of stainless name, Robert Baldwin, passed to his rest. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 TRANSITION. 
 
 '\i7HILE Canada was struggling for rosponsiblc government, 
 T t reformers were engaged in a similar conflict in the mari- 
 time provinces. There, it is true, the question of races, which lay 
 4it th*- ^'^ttom of most of the tumult in Canada, did not exist ; 
 but botii in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick the will of the 
 people was threatened by the domination of a Family Compact. 
 The chief cause of discontent in New Brunswick waii the con- 
 trol of crown lands and timber by a commissioner responsible 
 only to the imperial government. This ofticial received a hand- 
 some salary, sold the lands according to his caprice, retained 
 fees and perquisites, and defied the house of assembly. During 
 the session of 1832 the latter body presented an address to the 
 governor praying that he would cause to be laid before the 
 Jiouse, annually, a detailed statement of the receipts of the crown 
 lands department. In their 5!eal for the welfare of the province 
 the members went too far, however ; for the governor haugh- 
 tily refused to grant the demand, and left the impression that 
 both himself and the executi\e, especially the commissioner of 
 ■crown lands, regarded the request as an insult. Messrs. Charles 
 Simonds and E. B. Chandler were then deputed to go to Eng- 
 land and press upon the colonial secretary the necessity and 
 justice of hanuing over the crown lands to the control of the 
 legislature. As a result of the mission, Lord t>tanley, the fol- 
 lowing year, proposed terms which satisfied the assembly ; 
 but there was a hidden hand at work, and the irresponsible 
 commissioner went on selling lands at choice terms to friends 
 
 224 
 
TRANSITION. 225 
 
 tniJ wealthy Hpwulators, witliout making the desired return 
 <.)t' receipts, In 1S36 the blood of the house of asscndjly again 
 liogan to riso. An address was presented once more asking . 
 for iletailed accounts of the sales of crown lands and tim- 
 ber, but the governor presented a mere general statement, again 
 battling encjuiry. An address to the king was then passed 
 ])raying for redress, and Messrs. Crane and L. A. Wilmot were 
 <"t'puted to lay it at the foot of the throne. King William ap 
 proved of t)io prayer, and the outcome was that the net amount 
 ')f casual and territorial revenue was placed at the disposal of 
 the assembly, the latter undertaking to provide a permanent 
 civil list of £14,500, annually, for the payment of public offi- 
 ciaJs. The decision of the home government went sorely 
 against the grain of the governor, Sir Archibald Campbell, and 
 he despatched Hon. George F. Street to the colonial office io 
 •endeavour to " undo the mischief." The fact is the governor 
 was sincere in believing that public moneys should not be 
 trusted to legislatures for expenditure ; that they were only safe 
 in the hands of some man like tlie commissioner who was be- 
 yond popular control. The governor was a soldier, and his 
 whole being was pervaded by the military instinct. He re- y^ 
 
 garded the people much as he looked upon the troops under 
 iiis command. The duty of the commander was to give orders ; 
 that of the soldier co obey. What could the troops know of 
 expenditure, ar d the order or economies of campaigns. What 
 did the people or their house of assembly know of how govern- 
 ment should l)e administered or public moneys expended. The 
 truth is Sir A^rihibald was like some extinct animal restored, 
 which had broken loose and wandered out of past ages down 
 into a time when a higher order of creatures moved upon the 
 planet — when the dawn-light of liberty had burst upon the 
 world in all its virgin freshness. 
 
 In the summer of 184(8, as we have seen, toryism made its 
 last appeal to Canada, and then fell never again to raise its 
 head. Its fall was not without an influence on other provinces 
 
LIFE OF Sni JOHN A, MACDoNALD. , 
 
 than Canada. Lord Falkland, the governor of Nova Scotia 
 found a coalition on his arrival in that province in 1840, 
 similar to that astablished the following year in Canada 
 under the union ; but as his ^ /m of office advanced he learned 
 from Metcalfe, the Canadian s( ourge, the plan of making rqi- 
 pointments, and com uitting thu government to certain acts of 
 policy, without the con-'jvit (^f the reform members of his 
 cabinet. The result waf that Joseph Howe, the chief roi'ormer 
 of the administra'ion, and his liberal colleagues, resigned, as 
 Messrs. Baldwin and Lafontaine had done in Canada. After 
 Falkland IipA succeeded i?i distractingth i province, and seveiT I 
 witty, if aot scuirilous, reformers had loaded him with abuse 
 and ridicule Iv pi'ose and rhyme, he was recalled, and Sir John 
 Harvey, the '■ }-jlitical pacificator," reruovod from New found- 
 land, and appointtid in his place. The riiv governor at once 
 tried to construct a. nAinistry out of the tM!\ber of both parties, 
 but Howe was sick of coalitions, and sail that as it was now 
 the eve of a general election he would w ait for " a better' pro- 
 position than that." The election came in 1848. As Howe had 
 foreseen, the Compact were routed, to ise the newspaper phrase 
 of the time, " horse, foot and arUlleiy." They laid down their 
 arms, and Howe's puenoe, if lot patriotism, was rewarded by 
 being called on to form an adnunistration. In the same year 
 the question of reT :'nsible 9;;>vornment was put to a test in 
 New Brunswick. Mr. Charle , ?!;■'. nv, the member for York, 
 framed a resolution -iffii'mitio' that the tern)? of Earl Grey's 
 despatch of ltS47 vM^'e is aj phrable to x'few Bmnswick as to 
 Nova Scotia. Ti 3 lo ^t important point laid dowi; hi this 
 despatch was tlv.^ r»o rv !nistry could hold its place unie s it 
 commanded a inajtrity ot the houae of assembiy. Tiie resolu- 
 tion was debated witi"' i i.uch ferv )ur, and when the mii .stry 
 saw that it was ceioai v^^ b^ oirried, like Richard, they tu'-ied 
 suddenly around and c'ned the insurgents. The surpris ) at 
 this change of attifcu ^vm ut greater, however, than Si\p..i 
 occasioned by ti < jsil to le 1 '"v cabinet, a few days 'h' :r. 
 
 .v^ >' 
 
• : TRANSITION. 227 
 
 of Charle'A i^isher and Lemuel Wilmot. Had these owo gentle- 
 men possessed the patience, or the patriotism, of Joseph Howe, 
 they might have reaped the same rewards with a full measure 
 of honour at no distant day, as the province was prepared, when 
 the opportunity came, to cast aside the remnant of what had 
 been so long a galling yoke. But Fisher and Wilmot were 
 both weak and vain men. The lure of office, even under 
 circumstances that compromised their political honour, was 
 move than they coul:! resist. The next question of importance 
 that stirred the maritime provinces was the scheme of con- 
 federation. 
 
 During the session of the Canadian parliament which met 
 early in 1859, the decision of her majesty in selecting Ottawa 
 as the capital, or rather the compromise, of Upper and Lower 
 Canada, was brought before the house, and ratified after a 
 stormy debate by a majority of five. One of the m:st impor- 
 tant measures of the seasion was the ado ption of a " national 
 policy." Mr. Gait, tha inspector-general, introduce i the reso- 
 lat'on, the most important feature of which v%s an increase 
 of from fifteen to twenty per cent, on non-eruii:erated imports. 
 The duty was so laid on as to give protection to certain 
 classes of Canadian manufactures, and the author of the 
 measure was Mr. Isan-c Buclianan, of HamiUon, who had given 
 life-long attention to trade questions, an i believed that it 
 lay in the power of legislatures to inaVe or mar eommei'ce. 
 In this same .-;essicn ui3 term insoo ior-general was abolished, 
 and " Final ie Minister," which, anior our hadding nationality, 
 has become sv.h an importan name, adopted in its stead. The 
 first minist ir of fi.nance in thi . umtry, the reader will hardly 
 wonder at ^eing told, was Mr, (now Sir'* Alexander Tillooh Gait. 
 The most important measure the sessi' ii 1 " ught fo* ' v^^ tl:c 
 iuMress which both houses passed, pij ying that her n;ajesl/y, 
 accompanied by the prince consort, and such other niembers >i 
 her royal household as she might select would gi*aciously "deign 
 to bo present at the opening," in the following year, of the 
 
228 LIFE OF SIU JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 Viccoi'ia Bridire across the St. Lawrence river at Montreal. 
 Bridffe-buildinfj was not so common in Canada then tr^ it is 
 now, or the house would not have thought of routing out the 
 whole royal family to come over here on the occasion in 
 questiob They sent the speaker of the asseiuHy, Mr. Henry 
 SmitJi, over with the address and ti; receive her roajostys reply. 
 We may as well state here the result. Her majesty <;ould not 
 lea.v? the seat of empire, much as it would have pleased her 
 to he present at the opening of a bridge in Canaoa, but she 
 generously resolved* to send her son, All/crt Edward, then in 
 his nineteenth year, and up to this time having a rood charac- 
 ter — so far as the public knew — to be present at if 3 event. 
 It is trae it was a sacrifice, grt;ater than any readi-i i this book 
 can imagine, for the prince to undertake a journey out to this 
 rough countiy, but so great was the regard for the welfare of 
 the colonies that he shut his eyes to the hardships and came. 
 We shall tell in a parag.?3ph in its proper place all that it is 
 necessary for the reader to know about the visit. Vfter the 
 close of the session, which took place in May, tb*^ offices of 
 government, after a strong protest agaii.st the expense, by a 
 number of Upper Canada members, were removed to Quebec, 
 w'lero they remained till they were finally established at 
 Ottawa, six years hiter. 
 
 During the summer following prorogation the feeling rapidly 
 grew in Upper Canada, that, since tl o abandonment of the 
 double -majority principle, representation by population could 
 alone save the upper province, now making rapid strides for- 
 ward in progress and spread of population, from French dom- 
 ination. During the late autumn a monster reform convention 
 
 * Rev. Charles PecUey, who wrote a " li 'story of Newfoundland," dwells raptur- 
 ously on the "sentiment of reverent tind i>r<vtefui loyalty," shown by the colonists 
 " towards the royal lady who hnd entrusted iier son to the "losjiitality of the distant 
 subjects of her realm " (p. 44'-'). The same excellent hist.jrian regards the visit ni 
 the prince to H*- John's, N. F., as an occuirenceof ifr>iater moment than the laying 
 of the Atlantic cable, which ha 1 been accompL.<hed two years before the date of the 
 royal Tisitation. 
 
TRANSITION. 229 
 
 composed of delegates from all parts of the apper province, was 
 held in Toronto to " consider the relations between Upper and 
 Lower Canada, and the financial and political evils that had 
 resulted therefrom, and to devise constitutional changes fitted 
 to remedy the said abuses and to secure good government for 
 the province." A number of speeches aflamr with denuncia- 
 tion of the government were made, and before the gathering 
 dispersed a " constitutional reform association " was organized 
 to press forward a scheme for a repeal of the union, and tne 
 establishment of two or more local governments, with a joint 
 authority having control of matters common to both sections 
 of the province. A scheme for a confederation of all the British 
 North American colonies was proposed at tno conference, but 
 the general opinion was thrt such a measure Wf s no beset with 
 difficulties that it could not be accomplishec' within several 
 years, if at all, and, that, meanwhile, crying evils in Upper Can- 
 ada demanded an immediate remedy. Some minor reformers 
 snifi'ed upon the breeze a fjsint taint of treason, and opposed 
 the resolations of the convention , while John Sandfield Mac- 
 donald withdrew, expressing his decided disapproval of any 
 measures that aimed to make inroads upon the constitution. 
 In Montreal Messrs. Drummond, McGee, Dorion, and others set 
 on foot a similar mo'i ement, but the ardour of the scheme was 
 clamped by the undying feeling of hostility which existed 
 towards George Brown, who was the hustler of the movement 
 in the upper province. 
 
 An event of the new year, and one fruitful of evil and an- 
 noyance to the goveirmient, was the appointment of Mr. Joseph 
 Curran Morrison to the office of solicitor-general-west, which 
 position he retained from February, 18G0, to March, 18G2, 
 though in the meantime he had no seat in either branch of the 
 legislature. There were men at the time, having the parlia- 
 mentary qutu'fications, e(|ually as capable to fill the office as 
 Mr. Morrison, but the per&onal friendship of Mr. John A. Mac- 
 donald overcame all obstacles, and the censure of the opposi- 
 
230 LIFE OF SIB JOHN A. MAODONALD. 
 
 tion press. We cannot tut admire the man who for the sake 
 of satisfying friendship would brave obloquy, and challenge 
 serious dangers ; but we have not much admiration for the man 
 who would accept favours at such a risk to a chivalrous friend. 
 If Macdonald owed a duty to friendship, so too did Morrison; 
 and the duty of the latter was. ?t to rnter the cabinet, or, 
 having entered it, to have resigned when the enemy began to 
 sound a censure upon their trumpets. 
 
 The next session opened at Quebec, in February The 
 "abundant harvest," such as was the cvstora in the beginning, 
 is now, and ever shall be, was touched upon, and in such a 
 manner that the allusion, like at this day in the documents 
 planned by Mr. Mowat, and by the subject of this biography, 
 read b'ke an insinuation, that, while providence was to bo 
 thanked for the said bountiful harvest, the ministry was also 
 entitled to a share of the credit. The government was sus- 
 tained by majorities obtained from the Lower Canada mem- 
 ber?, and the enemy decared that Macdonald was bound neck 
 and heel to the French. No one in the house more deprecated 
 the necessity of resorting to French-Canadian majorities on all 
 questions which touched the existence of the government than 
 the attorney-general-west, but he believed that a change was 
 coming. The tyranny of George Brown was so galling, that 
 ei I the members of the grit party who had any spirit were 
 looking for other leadership. Several liberals of standing re- 
 fused any longer to follow Brown's lead ; others became dis- 
 gusted and grew lukewarm about the fate of parties. One day 
 while major Thomas Campbell, the member for Rouville, and 
 a liberal of high standing and much ability, was making a 
 speech, he called upon George Brown to " relinijuish the leader- 
 ship of a party with which French-Canadians could never unite 
 so long as he was at its head." The friendship of George 
 Brown had proven to many Lower Canada meii>bers wliat the 
 upas is to him who rests in its shade. Yet ii, was George 
 Br >wii, if our readers remember, who put forward as oiu^ of 
 
TRANSITION. 231 
 
 liis strong grounds for urging a dissolution upon Sir Edmund 
 Heavl, that discord existed between the English and French, 
 and (bat his government had a specific to heal the sores. But 
 althoug J 'fr. Brown saw that his followers were dropping off 
 and lookx.,ig \'.< " another leader, he bent himself vigorously to 
 work. He prepared and moved two resolutions, setting forth 
 that the union was a failure, and that the true remedy lay in 
 the ostablifihment of two or more governments having jurisdic- 
 tion over local affairs, and a s'lpreme joint authority," charged 
 with such matters as aie nee 'ssarily common to both sections 
 of the province." Resolutions were introduced with the ablest 
 speeches, it is said, that Mr. i^rown ever delivered, bat were 
 defeated, one, by a vote of 66 to 27, and the other by 74 to 32. 
 As this was a black-letter year in Canadian annals, the 
 famous 1860, during which a prince of the reigning house, and 
 the heir apparent to the British throne and dominions, was to 
 visit Canada, the legislature prorogued in May, with the under- 
 standing that it was to meet again in the summer to give a 
 suitable welcome to the royal visitor. When the chariot of 
 Zeus was seen in the clouds by the armies hurling their mig t 
 against Troy, a flutter went through warriors who allowed uo 
 emotion before tlie rini;ou8 spear of the foe; for now a " god 
 was coming " Harsh thunder, Uhj, j^rated across the heavens, 
 and the hills shivered at the approach of this great deity. 
 When it was known that the prince of Wales was actually 
 afloat in the Hero bound for Canada, the hearts of colonists 
 began to bouiU, and a feeling of awe came over them like that 
 which passed througli the serried rank; of the Greeks, when 
 Jupiter's wheels weie seen in the thunder-smoke. Some of 
 our people could not convince themselves t lat the visit was a 
 reality and not a myth. Was it possible, th }' mentally asked, 
 that the prince, in actual flesh and blood, the heir of a king- 
 dom, was actually to be in our citi >., to p^^t his foot on our 
 streets, to eat cmr bread and drink our milk iike an ordinary 
 human being. To do justice to 1/he Greeks, hey \uv\ a a excuse 
 
232 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 for their perturbation, for he who filled them with awe was- 
 not some frail, earthly creature like themselves, whose corpse 
 would one day make a banquet for the worms, but a god dis- 
 encumbered of flesh, and framed of spirit and ether, who held 
 the winds and the lightnings in his hands, and who in battle 
 plucl:.ed up the hills by their wooded crowns and hurled them 
 at the foe. There was no similarity in 18G0 between Zeu* 
 and Albert Edward, nor has any appeared since — unless it be 
 in their morals. In July the Hero, bearin^^ the prince and his 
 suite, and followed by a fleet of war vessels, arrived off those 
 grim cliffs of Newfoundland, that rise like coM, haughty Titans 
 out of the never-resting sea. The cormorant, and the guillemot, 
 and the ticklace, and the sea-mew, and all the feathered broods 
 that rear their young on the rocky cliff-shelves in the summer 
 time, twisted themselves upon their terraces as the great pro- 
 cession, bearing the body, passed, but gave no other sign. The 
 convoy sai' sheer for the steep when, suddenly, the adamant 
 cliff opeas, and the ships -iteal in between two plumb rock-walls- 
 that tower several, hundreds of feet into the blue. These rise 
 from the base, clean cut ?s if from the chisels of the gods, and 
 you hear the waters, as daep at thu foot of the cliff as in the- 
 channel's centre, lapping against tho rock as the ships move in. 
 Cannon look down into the vessels' decics from the forts on the 
 hill-tops, and a chain stretches across the narrow water-path — 
 a path so narrow that you listen, as .ach ship passes in, to hear 
 the grim rocks gride her sides. This was a more glorious sight 
 for the prince, if he was able to appreciate it, than all the 
 arches green bushes could make, all the mottoes that commit- 
 tees could devise, all the addresses that mayors and corporations 
 could grind out upon pink-bordered vellum. We are not aware, 
 however, that the great Architect of the universe fashioned th.e 
 St. John's Narrows merely to give a pleasant surprise to the 
 prince of Wales in 18G0. From Newfoundland the young gen- 
 tleman sailed for Halifax, and thence proceeded to St. John and 
 Fredericton, N. B., in all of which cities he was honoured to 
 
TllANSITlON . 233- 
 
 the fullest extent of the ^>eople's ingenuity. From Fredericton 
 the party proceeded to the little, flat .u^adow-province, with 
 the coy motto, " Parva sub ingente " ; and from its capital set 
 out for Canada. At Gasp^, famous lobster- fishing grounds, 
 they were met by the governor-general and the members of 
 his ministry. A gi-and reception took place on the 18th of 
 August at Quebec, and, on the 21st, both branches of the legis- 
 lature presented addresses to his royal highness expressing 
 Aeir loyalty and devotion to the throne and person of his 
 mother. Before the prince came out they created him vice- 
 king of all the British North American colonies, so that he 
 had the power of turning any inhabitant he chose into a knight 
 on coming here. Messrs. N.F. Belleau and Henry Smith, speakers 
 of both houses of parliament, had the dignity of knighthood 
 conferred upon them — and fult more eomforta^ .le for the rest 
 of their lives. On the 25th of the month tlie princ;. accom- 
 jilished the task for which he came over here. He laid the 
 keystone of the arch of Victoria Bridge, ar.d fr ,:, oned the last 
 of a million rivets. Some mothers had babe . iiicted with 
 king's evil, which they were going to carry t:. the prince 
 that he might lay his hand upon and cure them ; but some of 
 the fathei-s and grandmothers said it would be no use, as he 
 was not yet a king ; that only the king or the queen had the 
 " virtue in the hand." A week after the prince had finished 
 Victoria Bridge he laid the foundation stone of the proposed 
 parliament buildings at Ottawa. He did not, we must say tO' 
 his credit, ridicule the day's operations to his guardian when 
 they were both alone in the evening, like a near ancestor of 
 his, who, having perforn^^ed a similar task, said contemptu- 
 ously to some of his suite tliat he was " tired of this ditch dig- 
 ging." The prince then made a progress through the western 
 portion of the province, visiting the chief towns and cities in 
 the route. The populace was gidily with excitement, and each 
 city tried to outdo its neighbour in rearing arche.s and flaunt- 
 ing welcome-legend.s. The Orangemen of Kingstou. Belle>ille> 
 
234 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 and Toronto e> humeri the ceremeuts of the Orange king, and 
 hung them en archea, but, in the latter cit>', the regal party 
 turned their horses' heads and proceeded by another street. 
 The Duke of Newcastle declared that he would lend no coun- 
 tenance to displays of party that were not conducive to the 
 public peace and good-will. The Orangemen took bitter 
 levenge on the duke, for they burnt himself and the governor- 
 general that night on Colborne street. The fuel, however, was 
 ■only effigies. Before sett'ng out for Canada the hospitalities 
 •of the republic were oli'ered the Queen for her son by President 
 Buchanan, should he choose to pay a visit to the United 
 States. After the Canadian visit had ended, the prince and his 
 :suite accepted the president's invitation, and the reception met 
 everywhere in the republic was so cordial that the Duke of 
 Newcastle declared that the visit did more to cement a hearty 
 feeling between the two countries than half a century of dip- 
 lomacy. But the duke was not a seer, and could not forecast 
 some threatening clouds soon to cover the face of the bright 
 sky. The calculation of the diplomatist after all is a science as 
 inexact as that of the weather prophet. 
 
 During the autumn Sir Allan MacNab, like the ghost of 
 Hamlet, appeared again upon the scene, and was elected to the 
 upper house. In 1856 we dropped some tears over the old 
 man as we saw him, swathed in flannel and racked with pain, 
 bidding a long farewell to his companions in the assembly. 
 Shortly after the scene was ended a baronetcy was coiiferred 
 upon the deposed iteader, whereupon he mastered his gout for 
 the nonce, and i,urncd his face toward England, where, near 
 his sovereign, he resolved to spend the remainder of his days. 
 He had not been well settled in England, when, bethinking 
 him of his career and honours, and how dear he must be to the 
 heart of the empire.- he persuaded himself that he could defeat 
 Admiral Pechel, who was a parliamentary candidate for the 
 town of Brighton. But the triumph of the admiral helr.ed the 
 poor baronet somewhat to realize that he had probably over- 
 
TRANSITION. 235 
 
 lated his standing with the empire; and he returned to Can- 
 ada, to be elected, as we have seen, in 1860, to the legislative 
 council. - ' 
 
 The session of 18G1 was interesting to those who had begun 
 to look with alarm upon the ever-increasing strength of the 
 reform party. It is related by those who were intimate friends 
 of Mr, John A. Maedonald, at this time, that he was not less 
 " busy holding his own party together, than keeping his oppo- 
 nents in hot water among themselves." It is not known in 
 what way he succeeded in promoting discord in the ranks of 
 his opponents, but he remarked one day quite early in the ses- 
 sion, while some ministers sat smoking in the council chamber : 
 " John Sandfield is at last in our service ; he is now on Brown's 
 track." It must not be understood that there was any collu- 
 sion between the two Macdonalds, nor is it above question that 
 the attorney -general- west was responsible for some of the dis- 
 cords among the reformers attributed to his " machinations." 
 His readiness in penetrating the situation of his opponents, 
 and his accuracy in forcasting their movements, often led less 
 powerful observers to believe that he had originated the discords 
 he foretold. Notwithstanding the tact and finesse of Mr. Cartier, 
 several of his prominent followers began to break away from 
 restraint, jmd range themselves in opposition. For the past 
 two sessions one man alone maintained the government in 
 power, and that man vvas George Brown. "If anything should 
 happen to Brow;i," Maedonald used frequently to say jocosely, 
 though the joke was pregnant of truth, "the government would 
 be done fo"." The movement to which we have already re- 
 ferred, in the reform ranks, and which John A. Maedonald had 
 predicted, now beca ae apparent to the public. John Sandfield 
 Maedonald and Geor^je Brown could no longer disguise their 
 hostility for each oth<T ; and the public saw that thei-e was a 
 struggle between the two men for the mantle of leadership. 
 But so long as the rivals stood in the same parliament, which 
 ever succeeded, the government had nothing to fear. Yet Mr. 
 
236 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 Cartier changed colour when i\o le,irnt 'hat Messieurs Sicotte 
 and Loraii'xer had forsaken him anil loa'i' led ihjmselves witli 
 John Sandfield Macdonald. M)'. I'ori on, (o wh(»m the friend- 
 ship of CJeorge Brown was as tho up:;s s^iade, was removed 
 from the leadership of the Low»)i ^.'auada oppniition on no other 
 grounds than that he had been ot: '.( rnl.^ of political intimacy 
 with the man who was an enemy '■ to the religion, the institu- 
 tions, and the very existenco of tliO I'Vpiich people." Y«)t Mr. 
 Brown wjinted to heal " sectiorul ditPorences " b( twecM the hwo 
 provinces ; and Alexander AlackcD/ie says Sir Edmund Head 
 was guilty of treachery irs not gi'inf;; Mr. Brown au oppor- 
 t'jnity to do what he intended. A fe\^' weeks before the open- 
 ing of the session, a census had been taken, w'u) oh showed that 
 the population of Upper Canada wtus 300,('0'> in 's.icess of that 
 of Lower Canada, though tw*)i)iy years before at the formation 
 of the union, the population of the lo'/er province exceeded that 
 of the upper by 200,000. Tiie logic oi -hese figures, in the 
 contest for representation ^y populatir:n, wivS irresistible, thoac^h 
 Mr. Cartier resisted the ri)e,i;- ire with a fervour that se laed 
 like ferocity, and vowed tb.u; he would never con.sent to a 
 change which aimed to .sacrifice the intei'asts of his section of 
 the province. Mr Cai'lier has been censiirod for taking this 
 attitude by several vritev^., who viv, .•• the <|U j tion from their 
 own peculiar gn^iind and the preset. :, titt; and one of these 
 tells us in referring to Mr. Oartie ', thai ' on this particular 
 question .... the lawyei anl the sectional ist 
 were sern everywher*^, the statesman ;ii.i<( the Canadian no- 
 where." * The wrioer of this assertlonou (I't to have remem- 
 bered that union was not gr;)ntcd to Lowet ^Janada, but forced 
 upon her ; and tliat by the terms of uniou she was allotted 
 only as many meml>o.rs a^ Upper Canada, though her population 
 exceeded the latter 's by :i(fO,000, at a time, when, to all obser- 
 vers, the possiiyditiea of increase in the upper province were no 
 
 'Dent: " Portrait (tilery." 
 
, ; TRANSITION. 237 
 
 ^Tveatcr than those of the lower. But while i\\u might have 
 served as a justifiable excuse for the ground taken by Lower- 
 C'juiada statesmen in opposing the demand for increased rep- 
 resentation for the upper province, because the population of 
 the latter exceeded that of her partner by 300,000, there was a 
 reason overshadowing this why no alteration should be made, 
 a reason that also absolves Mr. John A. Macdonald and his 
 Upper Canada colleagues from the imputation of disloyalty to 
 their own section by supporting the position of Mr. Cartier. 
 The very virtue of the union consisted in the equality of poli- 
 tical power held by each section of the united province ; where- 
 as, the moment that balance was destroyed, a larger represen- 
 tation given to one portion of the province than to the other, 
 the virtue departed, and one section became bound neck and 
 heel to the will of the greater forever. There were two ways 
 by which justice could be done to one and both : these were 
 union on terms of equality, or separation. There was one other 
 aitcrnative, but it lay far in the ba-ik ground, and that the 
 pi m of giving to each section a parliament to deal with its local 
 afiairs, and the establishment of a supreme legislature, with 
 jurisdiction over such measures as were common to both. But 
 so long as the union was maintained, and the wisdom of the 
 connection under the circumstances no one is blind enough to 
 
 O 
 
 believe, it wjis the duty of Mr. Cartier and of John A. Mac- 
 <lonald, and of every man to whom justice was dearer than any 
 interest, even the interest of their own section, to resist the 
 scheme for the adjustment of representation by population, 
 though the inhabitants of Ontario exceeded those of Quebec 
 by two to one. Yet the people of the upper province whose 
 minds were excited by demagogues, were not in a mood to do 
 justice ; and on the eve of the elections, which took place in the 
 summer, it was evident that the ministry would have ditficulty 
 in breasting the current. Among several other charges brought 
 against the administration on trial before the constituencies, 
 was that of having kept Mr. Joseph Morrison in the council 
 
233 LIFE OF SIR JOjIN A. MACDONALD, 
 
 tlespite the fierce remonstruices of the house, and the bitter, 
 but reasonable, censure of 'le reiorm press. The action of Mr. 
 Macdonald in retaining Mi-. Morrisoi' in the ministry, for wo 
 believe the action to have been hi . passes our understanding, 
 and seems like <-he infai uation that has sometimes led sove- 
 reigns to retain favouril^o ministers against the will of the 
 nation, though, through theiv obstinacy, their thrones have 
 trembled. 
 
 Meanwhile the C(juntry Avas in a gale of excitement anent 
 the " election campaign." Several sta, wart warriors fell in the 
 battle. John Crawforu, a member to " fortune and to famo 
 unknown "* vanquished George Brown in east Toronto ; while 
 the whilom iriendship of tiie defunct grit leader proved fatal to 
 the fortunes of Messieurs Dorion, Thibaudeau and Lemieux in 
 Lower Gi'^iada. Foe the first time when the new parliament 
 met the shar].> matter-of-fact face of Mr, Alexander Mackenzie 
 was S'H-n at one of the desks. The figures of Henri Gusta\ o 
 Joly and Henry Elezear Tascheroau were likewise seen there for 
 the first time. Mackenzie represented Lambton. In 1842, be- 
 ing then in his twentieth year, became fron' I' ^dhshire, Scot- 
 l.'tnd, to Canadf., and settled at Kingston ; but nunoved thence 
 five years later, lo the neighbourhood of Sarnia vv^here he plied 
 the trade of a stont mason, and engaged in large building ope- 
 rations, 't soon became apparent that he wis a man of su- 
 perior ability — though self-made — of untiring industiy, and 
 that he possessed v, character of the highest 1/itegrity. He 
 v/as a pronounced refor.aier from the time of his .settlement in 
 Cfinadti, and seemed to be drawn towards George Brown, who 
 was like himself of humble origin, and a Scotchman, l^or a 
 time Mr. Ma kenzie edited a reform ne ./spaper in Sarnia, and 
 in 1861, when his brother, Mr. Hope F. Mackenzie decided not 
 to again become i. cauvlidate for Lambton, which he lately re- 
 presented, Alexander appeared, and, as we have seen, \\'as suc- 
 cessful. V/o shall find a good deal more to say of Mr. Macken- 
 zie, who is not oui ideal of a statesman — (but who certainly 
 
TRANFdTION. 239 
 
 makivs a bettor statesman than a historian) as our story pro- 
 J,a•;)3^;l'8, and shall not anticipate. 
 
 Tu October Sir Edmund Head set (tut fur 7ingland, his ter.n 
 of administration having (;X[)ired. A AMeckod ambition nevor 
 lacks malevolence towards the rock on which it wnds disaste-. 
 Ic was no wonder then that the Globe pelted the departing' vice- 
 )i .y v^ith every missile at its hand, But through a.) uh( tui 
 moil of party strife, the governor, if we have rp ( tho -■cordsv 
 iiH^'ht, did his duty with resolute arid di *i ipVd ju l<^ment ; 
 uli hough he refused to do an act which was inexpedient, un- 
 timely and improper merely ■ ecauye it w dd forward Cuorge 
 Brown's ambition. There may have been better governors in 
 Canada t iian Sir Edmund Head, but we are unable to di-»cern 
 any onors of judgment in his administration ; or the trace of 
 any act that shows he did not strive to the fullest of his powers 
 to do his duty. Despite the sland'^rs of the Globe, and the 
 biting malice of Alexander Mackenzie, he appears to all ini- 
 pariial readers of Caujdian history as an honest man. Sir 
 Edmund's successor to tiie governorship was Lord Monck, w1k> 
 readied Quebec, in Ociober, 1861. '.rhe new governor, the 
 fourth viscount of Monck, was Dorn hi Templemore, in the 
 Covmty of Tipperary, Irelaud, in 1819. He was a descendant 
 of the Le Moynes, an ancient and honourable Norman family. 
 He was called to the Irish bar and satin the commons for some 
 years as a representative fy the English constituency of Ports- 
 mouth. Under th*^ Palmer. Ion administration he was ap- 
 pointed lord of the '/reasury, and was a respectable, though 
 not a brilliant, figuie in the government. In 1857 he failed to 
 secure reelection, ,md dropped out of public life till his appoint- 
 ment to the ;jvernorship of Canada. The new governor 
 reached ' s a-j a time when there were forebodings, on the Am- 
 erican cont\ient, of the Auightiest civil war that the world has 
 ever seen. The presides tial contest- in the United States dur- 
 ing the preceriing yea aad been attended with public excite- 
 ttent strained to tho highest pitch, and had resulted in the 
 
-240 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDCNALD 
 
 olectiou of Abraha n Lincoln, a noted republican ?,nd an un- 
 compromising ene ny to slavery. l.'he causes of he tiiity be- 
 tween the north ?'.nd south were the questions of slavery an(' 
 of trade. The great bulk of:, lihern wealth consistoc: of larf u 
 plantation-j tillti by negro slaves, who were driven an I 
 whijiped like beast*. Upon thoso plantations gi*ew cotton, tc- 
 •bacco and rice, which the planters sent to the north, or exporte \ 
 to the great markets of Europe. Tho abolitioi of slave y 
 would deprive the plantation owner of the cheap labour of the 
 slaves, while the establishment of a })iOtt;ctive policy woi^ld 
 bring a tax-burthen without any benefit, as the commerce of the 
 South consisted in the products of the plantations, which w<-"e 
 ■exported I'aw, while manufacturing formed but a small fact u- 
 of trade. On the 20th of December, 1861, a iay well remem- 
 bered in American annals, the legislature k/k South Carolina 
 passed an ordinance of secession. The people of this state 
 had for many years maintained that each state in the confed- 
 I'l'acy was sovereign and independent, aid had the right to 
 sepa.'ote itself from the union whenever it chose. Fired b\ the 
 example of Sc uth Carolina ten other states, Mississippi, Ala b; ma, 
 Florida, Georgia, Loaisiana,Texas, Tennessee, North Caroh"i\a, 
 Arkansas, and East,ern Virginia, also seceded, and constituted 
 themselves into a separate republic under the presidenc}'' of Jeff- 
 erson Davis. The population of the union before tho .iccessioa 
 was about 31,00(),0(!0 ; the pojiuiation of the Soutl ern Confed- 
 eracy was 9,0()0,()()i/ of which OjvOOC.OOO were slaves. Within 
 the Southern Corf ideracy was Fort Sumter, a ganison held by 
 Northern troops, i,nd against this the cannon of Charleston 
 liurled its rebellious thunder. Seeing the whole country around 
 him under aostile arms, the commandant laid down his 
 sword. The N(;rth made no delaj^ but sprang to arms to 
 maintain tho integrity of the rep>jblic. The booming of the 
 guns before Fort Sumter must have sounded loud m the cars 
 of Grcit Britain, for a montli a*'t;;r the surrender of the fort a 
 Toyal proclamation w^as issued calling upon British subjects 
 
TRANSITION. 241 
 
 everywhere to maintain a neutrality during the war. The 
 British cabinet had fallem into the common delusion of suppos- 
 ing that one swallow makes a summer ; that the triumph of 
 the Charleston guns m< ant victory and stability for the south- 
 ern confederacy. The proclamation may have only been the 
 faux pas of a stupid minister, though this view is hardly ten- 
 able, but it was regarded by the United States government as 
 a deliberate insult, and a recognition of a cluster of rebellious 
 states as an independent power. President Lincoln called upon 
 every steie true to the union to make ready its quota of arni<'(! 
 men to send into the field ; and proclaimed a blockade of the 
 southerii ports. The war had not progressed very far when it 
 became apparent that the Duke of Newcastle had overestimat- 
 ed the ifnportance of the prince's visit to the United States. 
 The inipr^lal government, in many ways, had unwisely per- 
 mitted the world to see ics hostility to the north and friendship 
 for the south ; while a large portion of the Car^adian public, 
 dutifully, though not less rashly and stupidly, reechoed the 
 sentiraer'c of the mother-land. We presume there is some code 
 of honour among nations as well as men ; but it is hard to see 
 by what code went Great Britain in conniving at the indepen- 
 dence of a body of rebels, and in regarding citizens of a sov- 
 ereign state, in unlawful revolt, as an independent power. If a 
 band of Irishmen, to-morrow, were to fling the lord-lieutenant 
 into the LifTey, pull down the i;ni >n jack, and set up the green 
 flag upon the hill of Tara, En|i,il;.iimen would surely consider 
 that Prussia had outraged the code of national honour, and 
 levelled a gross insult at the British empire, did Frederick 
 William issue a proclamation commanding all his subjects to 
 preserve neutrality during the " war " l>etween England and 
 Ireland. But the United States government had graver grounds 
 for complaint against the British nation : southern privateers, 
 as piratical as partisan, pounced out of British ports, and 
 harassed the merchant shipping of the north. The most noted 
 of these cruisers was the Alabama, of which we shall hear 
 P 
 
242 LIFE 01 SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 again. Notwithstanding, we say, that the prince ci' V/^ales had 
 visited the United States a year before, a feeling of ho-tility 
 was aroused in the north against the British nation for hor in- 
 discreet sympathy with the rebellion. Hot-headed republicans 
 stood for a moment upon their own hotly-fought fields, and 
 turned their eyes towards Canadian territory, muttering that 
 thither lay their duty next ; turned again and faced tho rebel. 
 On the 8th of November, 18G1, the British mail-steamer, Trent, 
 was pursuing her way in the Bahama channel, one morning, with 
 mails and passengers, when an American ship of war, San 
 Jacinto, cannon scowling through her port-holes, bore down, 
 fired a shot across the steamer's bows, and putting out boats 
 swarming with blue jackets, armed to the teeth, took forcible 
 possession of two passengers, Mason and Sliddel, southern com- 
 missionei*s, on their way to England. This act of national piracy 
 was hailed with enthusiasm by the northern states, and Wilkes, 
 the .iiptain of the piratical man-of-war, became the hero of the 
 hour. When the mail steamer reached England and made 
 known the story of the outrage, the government at once de- 
 manded that the commissioners be rendered up, and intimated 
 that a refusal would be regarded as a declaration ol! war. 
 While we are among those who glory in British valour, we ai'e 
 not one of those whose blood comes tingling to their cheek as 
 they read of how promptly the British lion arose to his feet 
 when the captain of the Trent told his story. The northern 
 states were already locked in a struggle with the south, and a 
 small furcign force could give a disastrous turn to tho scale. 
 That was the secret of the promptitude. While British troops 
 were yet upon the ocean, bound for American territoiy. Presi- 
 dent Lincoln quietly surrendered the commissioners, who sailed 
 from Boston to England on the first day of the nevY year. 
 When the Guards and Rifles arrived in St. John, New Bruns- 
 wick, the cloud had blown over, though an inteiise feeling of 
 hostility existed in the northern states towards Canada. In- 
 vasion had been predicted by the timid ones among us, and at 
 
TRANSITION. 243 
 
 onco our volunix3ei-a Ijoked to their arms. Measures for the 
 organization of militi.i companies were put on foot; every Can- 
 adian youth old enough to carry a rifle exhibited an enthusiasm 
 ivv drill. To the impartial reader, now, it seemed as if we were 
 anxious in Canada for a little war, just for exercise or recrea- 
 tion. While we \ ere preparing to resist an invasion, we were 
 nurturing a cause for invasion. While our school boys and 
 their fathers were a.sking for rifles, to defend the homes of 
 their sisters and wives, we were giving harbourage and hospi- 
 tality to southern rebels, who harassed American settlements 
 and the governmeat troops from our border territory. 
 
 The first parliament under Lord "jionck met in March, 1862. 
 In the speech from the throne it was str>^^d that Her Majesty 
 recognised the loyalty of her subjects in their conduct through 
 the Trent embroglio, hut it is not unlikely that self-preserva- 
 tion rather than extreme solicitation about a sovereign two 
 thousand m-'es beyond the reach of American bullets, dictated 
 the attitude of Canadians. Once for ail, let us say, that should 
 an p-nemy, be he ever so insignificant or ever so gi'eat, threaten 
 our hoPiies and our country, we shall be ready to do all that we 
 can to repel him for our own sakes ; and after our selfish duty 
 has beon done, if there is a " man with soul so dead " as to 
 say that it u a^ a " selfish " duty, we shall not consider ourselves 
 er titled to eulogiums for loyalty to a throne and a person that 
 vve were not thinking about when fighting the foe, and which 
 were two thousand miles out of harm's way. 
 
 To satisfy the feeling of uneasiness abroad, the speech recom- 
 mended the reorganization of the Canadian Militia, and attor- 
 ney-general Macdonald set himself to work to frame a bill. He 
 counted on the support of a majority from his own section of 
 the province, and relied on M. Cartier for the rest. Of late he 
 stood higher in the aflTections of Upper Canada, than ever before; 
 for during several years he had been believed, by the larger 
 portion of the people, to have had little regard for the interests 
 of his own section, and to have maintained a league with the 
 
.244 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 French for the sake of office. But previous to the late general 
 election, the conviction came upon a great many of liis harsh 
 judges, that there might be another side to the stories told by 
 the Globe, and its followers ; that he may have been wrongfully 
 accused, and the victim of an unscrupulous and disappointed 
 ambition. And t'"/ deep grew this impression that che traduced 
 attorney -general was invited cordially, nay entreatiJ, to visit 
 their towns and cities. He consented, and made what may be 
 called, without exaggeration, a triumphal tour through Toronto, 
 Hamilton, London, Simcoe, Brantford, Dunnville, St. Thomas, 
 Guelph, St. Catharines, Belleville, and a number of other lesser 
 towns, at each of which he addressed large assemblages. All 
 were captivated by the address of the man, and won over by 
 his defence of himself and the government ; yea, those who had 
 been taught to believe him the ally of the French, and the 
 enemy of his own, cheered him to the echo. Everywhere he 
 was received with cordial and spontaneous welcome, and his 
 tour placed the government in a favourable light before the 
 province. IS or had his uncompromising and manly attitude of 
 resistance to the agitation for representation by population, the 
 effect of lessening him in the esteem of the people of Upper 
 Canada ; rather, it won for him their hearty respect. 
 
 One of the ablest speeches he has ever delivered was made 
 in defence of the Tiiinistry's attitude in resisting the qiiestion 
 of representation by population. We who di-eam of the day when 
 the reproach of colonialism .shall be a thing of the past, and 
 Canada be ranked among the independent nations, read with 
 pleasure an outburst of eloquence touching this fond hope of 
 ours, and firing, while restraining, our ambition. It is impossible 
 not to believe that if the man who uttered the following words 
 wefe not a miuister of the crown, we should have had the hopes 
 without the limitations. Said Mr. Macdonald : " I trust that 
 for ages, for . ver, Canada may remain united with the mother 
 country. But we are fast ceasing to be a dependency, and as- 
 suming the position of an ally of Great Britain. England will 
 
. . TRANSITION. 245 
 
 be the centve, surrounded and sustained by an alliance not only 
 with Canada, but Australia, and all her other possessions ; and 
 there will thus be formed an immense confederation of free- 
 men, the greatest confederacy of civilized and intelligent men 
 that ever has had an existence ^n the face of the globe." To 
 the greatness predicted of our future in this thrilling picture, 
 only, however, can we subscribe ; for we cannot conceive of that 
 " alliance," which means equality, on which the speaker in the 
 fervour of the moment dwells, and the connexion which makes 
 us subject and inferior as being the same thing ; or, of being 
 sister to imperial greatness, when our highest distinction is to 
 be ruled by a subject. 
 
 Early in the session some changes were made in the cabinet. 
 Mr. Ross resigned the presidency of the council, and retired 
 from the government ; Mr. Sherwood assumed the commission- 
 ership of crown lands, and John Carling succeeded him in the 
 receiver- generalship. Mr. John Beverley Robinson, a lawyei- 
 v,'ith a clear and well-balanced head, took the presidency of the 
 council ; and James Paton, whose lucky star w as John A. Mac- 
 (lonald's friendship, became solicitor-general. These new mem- 
 bers of tiie ministry were favourable to representation by popu- 
 lation, but the question was left an open one In the cabinet. 
 Mr. Robinson was re-elected for Toronto West, and Mr. Carling 
 for London, but Mr. Paton who represented the Saugeen divi- 
 sion in the legislative council was rejected by his constituents. 
 He nevertheless retained his portfolio, as Joseph Morrison, who 
 by this time had escaped to the bench, had done before him ; 
 for Mr. Macdonald, in this case, too, was stronger than the con- 
 stitution. 
 
 Brown out of the legislature,, the opposition was no longer a 
 mere butt for reproach, but a dangerous and rapidly -increasing 
 coml'ination. It resisted the address with stubborn pluck, and 
 fought not as had j eon its wont under the tyrannous and indis- 
 creet driversl'ip of George Brown, in detached eddies, but, pow- 
 erfully, as a unit. A vote was taken on a resolution virtually 
 
im- 
 
 245 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. NACDONALD. 
 
 «,ffirming want of confidence, but it was defeated by a majority 
 of 17, and the ministry breathed easy. Nevertheless cair es 
 were at work undermining public confidence in the adrai? ti- 
 tration. On the parliament-buildings question a danger tus 
 discussion arose. It was shown that ^OOvOjOOO, appropriated for 
 the construction of the buildings, had beer,- all expended, besides 
 several large amounts not authorized by parliament, and yet 
 the structure was not half completed. Affairs in the depart- 
 ment of public works, at the head of which was Mr. Rose, were 
 in a scandalous plight, and the minister was charged with 
 incompetency — which was glaring — and corruption. In the 
 letting of contracts, large sums had been lost to the public by 
 dishonest means, or an incompetency that, so far as it related 
 to the country's interests, was as criminal as corruption. Of the 
 two, the dishonest and the incapable minister, we believe the 
 former is the preferable, his competency granted. For a cap.ible 
 minister can be watched into doing the right, be he ever so cor- 
 rupt in intention ; but hope in an incapable minister may be a 
 will-o'-the-wisp to lead to disaster. The ministry, though not 
 responsible, was held accountable for the shortcomings of Mr. 
 Rose, and it soon became known that ''-s tenure of life was 
 maintained by a slim thread. 
 
 While affairs were in this state, Mr. John A. Macdonald in- 
 troduced his Militia bill, a measure that made ample provision 
 to resist invasion, but which would have required an expendi- 
 ture beyond the convenient ability of the province to meet. 
 Mr. Macdonald couid. usually, at a glance, see tho dangers in his 
 course, but on this occasion the future was inexorable. He 
 introduced his bill. It was supported warmly by a considerable 
 majority from the Upper Canada section, but Mr. Cartier's fol- 
 lowers, in the hour of trial, pretending to be alarmed at the 
 burr.hen threatened in the bill, proved faithless, and the measure 
 was rejected by a vote of 61 to 5 k On the following day the 
 goverrtmeut resigned. 
 
....:>■ TRANSITION. ^ ^ . 247 
 
 In the emergency the governor had recourse to John Sand- 
 Meld Macdonald, whose eyes lit up when the aide-de-camp 
 handed him a note from the head of the government ; and on 
 the 24th of May, while cannon was thundering its rejoicings 
 proper to the Queen's natal day, the Macdonald- Sicotte minis 
 try was sworn into office. We give the personnel of the new 
 government, and glancing down the names one is reminded of 
 the " Who ? Who ? " administration in En[,'land whose member- 
 iship so sorely puzzled the Duke of Wellington. There were 
 
 FOR CANADA WEST : 
 
 Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald Premier and Alt- Gen. 
 W. P. Rowland - - Minister of Finance. 
 M. H. Foley - - - - Postmaster-Oeneral. 
 Adam Wilson - - - - Solicitor-General. 
 James Morris ... Receiver-General. 
 W. McDouoall - Commissioner of Crown Lands. 
 
 : ' FOR CANADA EAST : P^ 
 
 Hon. V. SicoTTE - - - - Attorn:.y-General. 
 " A. A. DoRiON - - - Provincial Secrcta^'y. 
 " J. J. C. Abbott - - - Solicitor-General. 
 " T. D'Arcy McGee - President )f the Council. 
 " N. J. Tessier - Commissiomr ^f Public Worls. 
 " Francois Evanturel - Minisfrr of Agriculture. 
 
 Two days later, Mr. Wallbridge announced the ministerial 
 programme in the house of assembly. I'he double-majority 
 principle, so far aa related to purely local questions, was admit- 
 ted, and a measui'e was promised that would provide " a more 
 equitable adjustment of the parliamentary representation." 
 The new government was determined to carry out its every act 
 of policy according to that high standard of purity, efficiency, 
 and proper economy that always guides the actions of incoming 
 administrations. A thorough cleansing was to be given to the 
 
248 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 Augea'i ."tables, a c-jmplete system of "retrenchment," — ti it 
 word vv lich has covered more extravagance since the establish- 
 ment of ii gislatureo than any other expression known to our 
 English tongue — was to be inaugurated ; a moat searching in- 
 vestigation of affairs in that " pent-house of corruption," as one 
 young legislator — who had not yet been afforded an opportunity 
 of soiling his own hands by corrupt transactions — called the 
 Board of Works office, was to be made ; and the government 
 pledged itself to abide by the decision of Her Majesty with re- 
 ference to the seat of government, though the greater portion 
 of the new ministry s timber had signalized themselves particu- 
 larly by opposition to the choice of Ottawa by the sovereign, 
 and had made the question the basis of non-confidence motion* 
 against the late administration. To all who understood that, 
 while the union was maintained, a scheme for representation by 
 population was incompatible with justice to one section or the 
 other of the province, the decision of the new ministry, to allow 
 the question to stand, was learnt without surprise. John A. 
 Macdonald said to his colleagues: "We shall have Brown with 
 us again ; not that he cares so much for Rep. by Pop., but he 
 wants to be at John Sandfield ; " and while he was yet speak- 
 ing, it is related, a copy of the Globe came in, with every battery 
 opened upon the new ministry. After a fierce article had been 
 read aloud, Macdonald asked Cartier : " In what way would 
 Brown have been able to carry off his feelings against John 
 Sandfield had they not providentially repudiated Rep. by Pop ?"^ 
 At the formation of the Brown-Dorion administration, a cold- 
 ness had appeared between John Sandfield and George Brown,, 
 which grev/^ in course of time into active hostility. Both men 
 were ambitious, the former wanting to live himself, but wil- 
 ling that others also should exist ; the latter determined that 
 no one but himself should live, and ready, with the engine wiib 
 which he destroyed character, to crush any one who crossed the 
 path of his ambition. He sorely felt that during the tv/o last 
 sessions of parliament his party had repudiated his leadership 
 
TRANSITION. 240 
 
 and chogen Macdonald in his stead ; now in his rage and disap- 
 pointment he almost forgot that his constituents had likewise 
 lepudiated him, and looked upon the new premier as having 
 usurped a place belonging to himself. John Sandfield solaced 
 liimself by saying, " Let the heathen rage " when he received the 
 first broadside of the Globe's "afflicting thunder;" but it was 
 not a trivial matter for a prime minister to have arrayed against 
 him the most powerful newspaper of his party. Meanwhile the 
 ex-ministers offered no obstruction to the new administration 
 at the polls, or in finishing the programme of legislation. - ' 
 
 The defeat of Mr. John A. Macdonald's militia bill, as he con- 
 jectured himself, was regarded in England as a measure of the 
 practical loyalty of Canadians. The Timea which had, on seve- 
 ral previous occasions, displayed its col'jniphobia, if we may be 
 permitted to coin that word, led off by a rebuke to Canadians, 
 which was ta,ken up by a multitude of the minor newspapers, 
 who declared that we were an assemblage of gi'oedy self-seek- 
 ers, without gratitude or loyalty, or even the instinct, com- 
 mon to the animal, of self-defence. One organ urged the Briti:jh 
 government to " shake off the unprofitable colonies " and leave 
 them to the mercy of the first comer ; another said we brought 
 neither strength nor profit to the empire, and that any loyalty 
 we had was in our breeches' pocket, i^oi'd Palmerston's face 
 turned purple as he told in his place in the commons that Her 
 Majesty's government had done all foi the Canadians in assist- 
 ing them to procure defences that thvy intended to do, and that 
 it now rested with the colonists to do the remainder themselves, 
 or to " disgrace the stock from which they sprang." At a dinner 
 in Montreal, Lord Monck feebly reech f^'l the impen.a] "^citi- 
 nient, preferring to trust the imprt sion.-; of the home niiuistry 
 and an uninformed press to the iaci.. of the case which were 
 plain to every Canadian. Mr. John A. Macdonald's bill was an 
 admirable measure, but the house weighed the cost of the 
 scheme against the danger of invasion, and rejected it. It was^ 
 not true, though Lord Palm.erston and the British press seem to- 
 
250 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 Jiave I ecn diif 3rently informed, that the Canadians were relying 
 *4)on i nperial soldiers to fight for them in the day of trouble : 
 thoiigli they rejected a measure which, whether rightly or 
 vvrongl}', thoy regarded unwarranted by the expediency of the 
 time, tliey never once thought of shirking the defence of their 
 •country and Jiomes should the occasion come. As we have, 
 however, s^een, the loss of the measure was due to the defection 
 •of the French-Can idian members among whom a threat of inva- 
 sion created no serious panic, and who, if the truth could be 
 known, caied very little, since their destiny was that of a con- 
 •quered peop'e, whether their masters were republican English 
 •or monarchical English. But in Mr. Macdonald's measure all 
 the British spidt, all the loyalty to Canadian welfare found ex- 
 jpression, a^ Wci:i shown by the considerable majority from the 
 upper province by which the bill was supported.* There was no 
 invasion ; but this fact was not any more foreknown to those 
 who rejected the attorney-general's means for defence, than it 
 was brought about by disarming resistance at such a critical 
 time. " All's well that ends well," is the maxim of the fatalist, 
 and the prophet ; for the one is the bondsman of the event and , 
 the other foresees it : on occasions where stupidity or reckless- 
 ness fail to provoke disaster, it often becomes triumphant jus- 
 tification. 
 
 The war in the republic was a harvest-time for Canada. The 
 army raised by President Lincoln to subdue the South had bean 
 in a large measure, taken away from the field, and the wo' ii- 
 shop. Canada was overrun by persons from the United States 
 who bought up everything that we had to sell. For our staple 
 articles of food, for cattle, poultry, e^gA and grain they paid al- 
 most fabulous prices. Government agents ran over the country 
 with pockets full of gold purchasing horses for the northern 
 • cavalry ; and many a farmer, tempted by a pouch of shining 
 
 • The bill was supported by a majority of seven of the Upper Canada represen- 
 .tatives. 
 
TRANSITION. 251 
 
 eagles, sold his best team from the plough. Warned by the re- 
 sults of over speculation during the Crimean war, the cotn- 
 iiiunity launched out into no extravagant enterprises, but, with 
 prudence, made the most of their neighbours' misfortune. 
 
 During the summer the gout accomplished its victory over 
 Sir Allaa MacNab, and the gallant knight, loaded with honours 
 which give little joy to a dying man, passed to that bourne 
 whence no traveller returns. His place, as speaker of the legis- 
 lative council, was filled by Mr., now Sir Alexander, Campbell, 
 a popular and clear-headed Kingston lawyer, who, as we have 
 seen, studied law many years previously in the office of Mr. 
 John A. Macdonald, and had tiibsequently been in a legal part- 
 nership with that gentleman. 
 
 Parliament met on the 12th of February. The government* 
 now, to use the phrase of the ex -attorney-general- west, had 
 " lived long enough." Enemies began to arise in every quarter^ 
 and South Oxford had just sent a pest in the person of George 
 Brown. He was full of the accumulated energy of two years, 
 and at once savagely assailed his rival, John Sandfield Mac- 
 donald, for infidelity to the principles of non-sectarian schools, 
 and representation by population. A small but bellicose band 
 of clear grits rallied around their tyrannical chief, and threw 
 themselves in with the liberal-conservatives whenever the lat- 
 ter assaulted the ministry. It will be remembered that the 
 premier took office affirming the double majority principle, yet, 
 when a large majority of the Upper Canada section voted against 
 his school measure, he refused to resign. Early in May, John 
 A. Macdonald informed his party that he had decided to m ;)ve 
 a want of confidence in the ministry. Some prominent liberal- 
 conservati\'es did not approve of the step, but counselled delay 
 till further defection took place in the ministerial side ; but the 
 ex-attorney-general-west assured them r,hat he was certfun of 
 a majority, and pointed out that there was no object in further 
 d. 'ay. Two days later he rose in his place and moved a direct 
 non-confidence motion. John Sandfield':j eyes twinkled ner- 
 
262 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 vously, but he assumed a bold air, and sat upright at his desk. 
 He know his government had received the grave censure of 
 those from whom it ought to have looked for support, but he 
 did not believe that the majority was willing that he should be 
 hurled from power. John Sandfield's glance was quick, and, as 
 far as it went, took an accurate survey of things ; but in this 
 case, as in many others, he argued upon sentiment, while liis 
 more astute rival concluded from fact. The ministry was de- 
 feated by a majority of five votes. The premier hastened to the 
 governor and asked for a prorogation with a view to dissolution, 
 which was granted. The dissoluticm followed immediately, and 
 the election writs were made returnable in July. In Upper 
 Canada, the result of the election showed some important gains 
 to the ministry, but this was balanced by fully as many losses 
 in the lower province. After mu( o shuftling in the cabinet, and 
 ihe total foundering of tlie Lower v.^anada section, on the 12th 
 of August, a new administrrition wxs formed as follows : — 
 
 FOll CANALW EAST. 
 
 Hon. A. A. DoRioy . - - Attorney-General. 
 
 " Isidore Thibaudeau - - Preadt. Council. 
 
 " L. H. HoLTON _ - - Minister of FinoMce. 
 •'" " L. Letellier DE St. Just - Min. of Agriculture. ■ 
 
 , " L. S. HuNTiNGTox - - Solicitor-General. 
 
 " Maurice Laframboise - Cornr. Public Worh. 
 
 FOR CANADA WEST. 
 
 Hon. J. S. M\CDONALD - - Premier and Att-Gen. 
 " W. McDouGALL - - - Com. Crown Lands. 
 " A. .]. Fergussv ;-Blair - Provincial-Secretary. 
 " W. V. Rowland - . - Receiver-General. 
 " Oii/W{. MowAT - - - Postmaster-General. 
 
 it/ was a favourite practice with John Sandfield Macdonald, 
 whenever the ship became unmanageable, to pitch some of his 
 
TRANSITION. . 253 
 
 crew overboard ; but like th,; malignant Schriften in Marryatt's 
 book, they never failed to appear for vengeamie at an unex- 
 pected moment. It was not wise, surely, lo throw over such 
 jnen as Th nas D'Arcy McGee, M. Sicotte, and the late posL- 
 niaster-general, M. H. Foley. Office being more to these poli- 
 ticians, at least at this time, than princip'es, they joined the 
 opposition into whose ranks they were warmly welcomed by 
 John A. Macdonald, and assailed their former chief in unmea- 
 sured lanj:-uage. They charged him with betraying his trust 
 as a leading minister of the crown, find with having descended 
 to act :' of personal mean>i<!ssi and treachery to prop up hi.s party. 
 The premier's eyes glowed like live coals as he hurled back the 
 charge? of baseness and political perndy on the heads of hi.s 
 accusers; and where he received ohly censure .'irom friendly 
 members, he so lashed the critics as to turn them into enemies 
 upon the spot. One of the premier's faults, and a grave failing 
 in a party leader, was, that, under the stress of feeling, he could 
 not kee]) a bridle upon his tongue, should the outburst put hi.s 
 government in jeopardy. The fruitless session came to an end 
 in October. The premier was hopeful, but his opponent and 
 namesake assured him, on the day of prorogation, in the smok- 
 ing-room, that he was " nearing the end of his tether." Towards 
 the close of the year — 1863 — Mr. Albert Norton Richards was 
 appointed to the vacant solicitor -generalship for Upper Canada, 
 and returned for re-election to his constituency, South Leeds. 
 But before the new minister reached the hustings, he learned, 
 to his dismay, that Messrs. John A. Macdonald and Thomas 
 D'Arcy McGee were abrop^d in his constituency. Wliat was 
 worse, the two clever oppositionists shadowed him wherever he 
 appeared, and, whenever they believed he had made a telling 
 point, afterwards addressed the audience, and turned the gov- 
 ernment and its new minister into contempt. The close of the 
 poll revealed that the member who, a few months before, had 
 been returned by 135 votes more than his opponent, was now 
 beaten hy a majority of 75. If, during the summer of 1883, a 
 
264. LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 similar event should occur, we are sure that a certain newsp'^'^er 
 would affirm that Mr. Richards "lost his seat through the co; ip*- 
 ing influences in the hand^ of Sir So]v\ Macdonald;' and that 
 public money " was lavishly and unblusliingly employed." The 
 defeated solicitor-general resigned his office, but John Sandfield, 
 who ignored logic and indications, would not take the hint, but 
 thi'ev; himself upon fate. With au evil star lowering upon the 
 ministry's fortunes, the house met on the 19th of February. 
 Tlie " governor's speech," as it is called, by ;t5j silonce upon any 
 discussion -provoking policy, revealed tlie fears of the govern- 
 ment. The opposition ignored this languid ministerial docu- 
 ment, but made a violent onslaught upon the wretched ministry. 
 It was apparent that, if legislation was the business of the house, 
 it had met in the winter of 1864 to no purpose : up to the 
 21st of March no important work had been done. On that day, 
 disgusted with the ungenerousness of fate, the premier and his 
 ministry resigned. The governor was perplexed, and began to 
 grow apprehensive for the well-being of the constitution, li-o 
 peculiar position of parties produced a hopeless dilemma, ail j, 
 without faith that any member of the legislature could form an 
 administration that would endure. Lord Monck entrusted tiic 
 formation oi a ministry to the ex-provincial-sr-cretary, Mr. For- 
 gusson-Biair. That gentleman's exert ons failed; and Mr. Carticr 
 was next called on and made the ivtttuipt, lAit with a -iniil- r 
 result. His excellency then reque.ited Sir Etienne, fortjio^]}- 
 known as Colonel, Tach^ to address 1 imself to the task; and that, 
 gentleman, who enjoyed the respect nnd good- will of his com- 
 patriots, though anxious to be rid of the turmoil of adminisfcra- 
 tion, in obedieJiCe to the duty he wed his country, consentjc], 
 and at once put himself in comia nicatioo with John A. Mac- 
 donald, who j/udertonk the formal, on of the Upper Canada sec- 
 tion of the cdiirs',. Several days were occupied in niakijig 
 tlie arrang<'f?/onw, and, in view of the fact that the iate ministry 
 had resigneo vhile having a small majority in the house '"o one 
 believtd that any ingcn'.uty or skill could fashion an a- nin; • 
 
TllAN^rnON. 255 
 
 tration that would survive. Tho v.rtue s med to h..ve gone 
 out of the theory of responsil^ogov^ nment, and the device of 
 party appeared powerless to i reduce m^iority and i liuority. On 
 the 30th of the month it -m in ounce J, Iiow; ver, ihat a min- 
 istry had been formed; and f'n rlo seiou I dme a Tachd-Mac- 
 donald government came iiito oxiateui e, and was as follows : — 
 
 FOR CANADA EAST. 
 
 Hon. SfR E. P. Tag he Premier and Receiver-General. 
 " Geo. E. Cartier ~ -• - Attorney-General. 
 " H. L. Langevin - - - - Solicitor-General. 
 " A.T. Galt - ~ - . Min. of Finance. 
 " T. D'Arcy McGee - - Min. of Agriculture. 
 " J. C. Chapais - - Oom'r of Public Works. 
 
 FOR CANADA WEST. 
 
 Hon. John A. Macdonald - - Altorney-General. 
 *' JoHL Simpson - - . Provincial Secretary. 
 " Isaac Buchanan - - President of the Council. 
 ' Alexandsr Campbell - - Com'r Crown Lands. 
 " M. H. Foley - - - Postmaster-General. 
 " James Oockburn - - - Solicitor-General. 
 
 M. Cauchon, in French, and John Hillyard Cameron, in Eng- 
 lish, explained to the houo the policy of the administration, 
 which, in the most imporrant respects was a determination to 
 pay strict attention to tho provincial defences, to organize the 
 militia on an effi^cient basis, to endeavour to maintain and ex- 
 tend the reciprocity treaty and to establish more intimate com- 
 mercial relations with tho maritime provinces. It goes with- 
 out saying that to " d'^partmental reform " and " retrenchment," 
 — but one 'venders, with every incoming partj^ effecting depart- 
 mental reform and retrenching, how anything cotild remain to 
 be reformed, or how *t dollr.r could exist to be retrenc*^ ''cl — 
 iibove all things, tho now government pledged itself, while thfr 
 
■2m LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 ■question of representation by population was allowed to remain 
 open. On the following day the house adjourned to meet again 
 on the 3rd of May. No one who penetrated the situation, and 
 saw that the same causes which, of late, had overthrown minis- 
 tries foi-med from every side, and of every combination, still 
 remained, believed that the new administration could exist. 
 There was only one other chance, and that was existence bj' 
 the sufferance of the opposition ; but John Sandiield Macdonald, 
 though it were to oave the constitution from ruin, was not like- 
 ly to extend mercy to the men who had so rudely throw n him- 
 self from power. Meanwhile, public sentiment was, unconsci- 
 ously and by the force of circumstances, being gradually pre- 
 pared to accomplish an event which was to triumph over turmoil, 
 to set the wheels of government rolling afresh, and to give a 
 new and fuller impulse to our political existence, and a lasting 
 direction to the current of our history. While the greatest 
 •crisis in our Canadian annals was approaching, Herr von Bis- 
 marck, who had hitherto been regarded by the world .as a 
 " fanatical reactionary, a coarse sort of Metternich, a combina- 
 tion of bully and buffoon," suddenly revealed a genius as daring, 
 as crafty, and as competent as Cavour, with a wider field and 
 greater powers for action than the Italian statesman ; at this 
 time, too, came Garibaldi in state to London, whose workshops 
 and stately West-End dwellings sent out their throngs of en- 
 thusiastic artizany, and peers and countesses, to do homage to 
 the soldier of fortune ; at this time it was that England's grand 
 old statesman, in his eightieth year, in the growing morning, re- 
 viewed, as one glances his eye along some panorama, the his- 
 tory of his political administration, made his last great speech 
 l)efore stepping out of the commons and entering the portal 
 which guards the entrance to that realm from which no travel- 
 ler comes back. 
 
CHAPTEll XV. 
 
 FRUITS OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. 
 
 " PICYLLA is passed ; Charybdis appears." The Trent van- 
 U ishes; the Alabama is in sight. On the morning that 
 the San Jacinto brought her prisoners into port, the citizens 
 of the north set up a loud hurrah, and cried lustily for the 
 daring commander, whom they would have borne on a chair 
 through their cities. Some of the cooler heads, however, be- 
 gan to consider the situation, and derived little comfort from 
 their reflections. This valiant deed of the San Jacinto's com- 
 mander, they now saw, was a repetition of the outrage com- 
 mitted by England against the United States in 1807. During 
 the year named, while several Bi'itish men-of-war were lying at 
 anchor in Chesapeake Bay, a number of blu(" -jackets deserted, 
 and enlisted on board the United States frigate, C'fesapeaJce. 
 A few weeks after the occurrence, some British ofti^ ers were 
 on shore in Norfolk, Virginia, and saw^ the deserters parade 
 the streets, protected by the American flag, and under the es- 
 cort of a recruiting oflicer. They at once asked for the sur- 
 render of the men, and their demand was seconded by the 
 British consul ; but the oflicer refused to render them up. No- 
 thing )nore was said at the time, and there was some chuckling 
 on board the American ships of war over the occurrence. The 
 following day> however, a long-boat from the British flag-ship, 
 admiral Berkley, visited each English war-ship in port, leaving a 
 sealed despatch, iilach captain was instructed by the admiral to 
 keep a sharp look-out for the American frigate Chesapealce,when 
 at sea, out of the limits of the United States, and to search the 
 Q 257 
 
258 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 said vessel for the deserted seamen ; and enjoined that, should 
 any American war-ship insist on searching a British vessel 
 for a similar purpose, no resistance should be offered. On the 
 morning of the 22nd of June, His Majesty's ship Leopard^ 
 captain Humphreys, put out to sea, and about fourteen miles- 
 from land met the Chesapeake, commodore Barren. He hailed, 
 and said he had despatches for the commodore from the com- 
 mander-in-chief. The Chesapeake hove to, and was boarded 
 by an officer from the Leopard, who bore Berkley's orders, 
 and a letter fr^m 'fiptain Humphreys expressing the wish 
 that he might be al le to carry out the admiral's order in an 
 amicjvltle manner. The commodore was surprised, but firm. 
 He said he could not tliink of agreeing to the request, that his 
 orders from government forbidding any foreigner to muster his 
 ship's company wer;; most peremptory; that he had no deserters 
 on board, and, finally, that he must refuse, once for all, to allow 
 his ship to be searched. On receiving this answer, the Leopard 
 edged down towards the Chesapeake, captain Humphreys again 
 hailing and statin;.'; that " Conmiodore Barren must be aware 
 that the aiders of the British commander-in-chief must be 
 obeyed." To this the answer giv"n from the American ship 
 was, " I do not understand you ;" whereupon there was a quiet 
 movement, with the regularity of clock-work, on board the 
 frigate, who promptly fired a shot across the bows of the Ches- 
 apeake. After a minute another shot was fired ; then there 
 was a pause of two minutes ; and, the American ship giving no 
 answer, a broadside was poured into her. The Chesapeake 
 stood, like a stripling of fifteen, with folded arms, before a burly 
 bully who has already delivered his insignificant adversary a 
 stunning blow, and did not return the fire. But after a few 
 moments' pause, and in that awful silence when the only sound 
 to be heard was the beating of the sean)en's hearts, commodore 
 Barren hailed, and said he wished to send a boat onboard : bvit 
 the Leopard believing that the Chesapeake was preparing to 
 return the fire, regarded the lequest as only a ruse, and poured 
 
FRUITS OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. 259 
 
 in two more niunlerous broadsides. Barren then .stnick his 
 colours, and two lieutenants with several midshipmen entered 
 his ship to make search for the deserters. They captured, after 
 a three liours' search, four of the delinquents ; two others were 
 identified among the slain, and one jumped overboard, and 
 perished. Six of the Chesapeake's crew were killed, twenty- 
 four were wounded, and c(jmmodore Barren, who acted through- 
 out with the utmost coolness, was wounded from a flying 
 splinter. The search having been accomplished. Barren wrote 
 a note to Humphreys, saying that ho considered the Chesapeake 
 was now the Englishman's prize, and that he was ready to de- 
 liver her up; but the latter replied that he had executed the 
 orders of the commander-in-chief, that he was merely to obtain 
 the deserters, was now to rejoin his squadron, and lamented 
 sincerely the necessity which had compelled him to resort to 
 violent measures. When the Chesapeake reached port, battered 
 and blood-stained, a cry of indignation was raised throughout 
 the union ; the attack by the Leopard was felt to be an out- 
 rage upon the honour of the nation, and an insult that could 
 only be wiped out by war. Promptly President Jetferson is- 
 sued a proclamation requiring all armed vessels bearing com • 
 missions under the government of Great Britain, then within 
 the harbours or waters of the United States, immediately t<^ 
 depart therefrom, and interdicting the entrance of any Britis!; 
 ship armed or mercantile to American ports or waters. The 
 act of the Leopard v/as, disowned by the British governjiiont; 
 captain Humphreys was recalled, and admiral Berkley super- 
 seded; but all this could not atone for (he outrage, hnd five 
 years later the dreary wrangle culminated in a. declaration of 
 war by the United States against Great Britain. 
 
 If then, American statesmen reasonc^d, the outrage perpetra- 
 ted by the Leopard was held to be a casus belli by this coun- 
 try, why should not the act of the San Jacinto be similarly 
 regarded by the Br'tish government now ? President Lincoln 
 promptly made up his mind that the act of captain Wilkes 
 
2G0 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALl). 
 
 could not be sustained, and that the southern commissioners 
 should be given up. " This," said he, " is the very thing* the Bri- 
 tish captains used to do. They claimed the right of searching 
 American ships, and carr3'ing men out of them. That was the 
 cause of the war of 1812. Now, we cannot abandon our prin- 
 ciples. We shall have to give these men up and apologize for 
 what we have done." In answer, thei'efore, to one of Lord 
 John Russell's usually long and sonorous dispatches, demanding 
 the surrender of the commissioners taken from the Trent, Mr. 
 Seward, who also delighted in writing lengthy and pompous 
 state-documents, went on to declare that his government could 
 not find a justification for the ])roceoding of captain Wilkes, 
 and that the only excuse at all that couM be offered for his 
 act was that he was strictly following British precedents. " It 
 will be seen," he added, " that this government cannot deny 
 the justice of the claim presented to us, in this respect, upon 
 its merits. We are asked to do to tlie British nation what we 
 have always insisted all nations ought to do unto us." There- 
 fore, as we have already seen, the prisoners were on the 1st day 
 of January, 1802, "cheerfully liberated." Thus ended the 
 ati'air of the Trent ; and now began the dispute about the 
 Alahavfia. 
 
 On the outbreak of the war between the South and the 
 North, Mr. Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of the Southern 
 ports. English authorities point out that this was a breach of 
 constitutional usage. The law, it is true, on the subject of 
 blockades is plain. A government may proclaim a blockade 
 of the ports of an enemy, but it can only, for the general pur- 
 poses of war, order a closure of its own ports. The declaration 
 of President Lincoln was therefore regarded by foreign govern- 
 ments as a recognition, by the North, of the Southern confed- 
 eracy as a belligerent power ; and upon this ground Lord Pal- 
 merston's ministry sought to defend its imprudent and luisty 
 proclamation. The Northern government might have ordered 
 the closure of its ports, but such a decree would be binding only . 
 
FRUITS OF THE AM Ell IC AN CIVIL WAR. 261 
 
 under municipal law, and every port would be at the mercy of 
 adventurous blockade-runners, who need only escape the har- 
 bour defences, as they could not be dealt with by United states 
 war-vessels beyond American waters. The American govern- 
 ment chose the blockade as the mo.st expedient course, regard- 
 less of the technical standing it would give to the rebellious 
 states ; and it is difficult to understand how the adoption of a 
 new form of war etiquette could change the character of a body 
 of citizens in revolt against the supreme authority of the state. 
 The truth of the matter is that whoever drew up the interna- 
 tional clause relating to blockades, like the framers of many 
 other laws, failed to foresee all the cases that might arise to bo 
 affected by the ordinance. The cases sought to be met were 
 those where v/ar is declared between separate nations, no in- 
 spiration-gleam being shed from the future to show thr-.t a day 
 might come when thirty-one millions of people, scattered over 
 half the New World, would separate into two mighty bodies 
 and rise in a fratricidal war. 
 
 But the attitude of the imperial ministry in issuing its pro- 
 clamation, commanding all British subjects to maintain a neu- 
 trality during the " war " between the United States and her 
 rebellious citizens, was not the only affront at which the repub- 
 licans took offence. Open sympathy was manifested for the 
 South throughout Great l^ritain, and when news of the defeat 
 i)f the raw levies by the discipline of the rebel soldiers at Bull 
 Run reached England, there was much jubilation; and Lord 
 Palmerston so far forgot his dignity and his duty as to make 
 sneering allusions, during a public speech, to the " unfortunate 
 rapid movements " of northern soldiers during that battle. This 
 contemptuous phrase, coming from the head of the British min- 
 istry, embittered public feeling in the republic, towards Eng- 
 land and all that belonged to her. Not many months elapsed 
 before there arose a cause to intens-ify that feeling, and lead 
 Great Britain and the United States to the verge of war. 
 
3G2 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 One June mornln,'^, in 18G1, tlie Savannah, a swift-sailing and 
 audacious little vessel, escaped from Cliarleston, and began to 
 scour the seas in search of northern uicrchant-vesscls. Many 
 a ship deep-laden with merchandise, pursuing her way from 
 j)ort to port, wa?; met by this little scourge, plundorecl, and 
 given to destruction. Fired by the example and the successes 
 of the Savannah, other daring spirits in the South rigged out 
 fleet-sailing vessels, armed them with guns, and took up the 
 privateering trade. Among these were the Sumter, commanded 
 by Captain Semmes, whose exjdoits at a later time made him 
 famous ; the Nashville and the Petrel, the latter skimming, 
 like the bird whence she took her name, over the sea, and 
 sweeping down upon her victim. But these were small vessels 
 of light armament, and took flight the moment a ship of war 
 was sighted b}'^ the sailor in the cross-trees. The first of the 
 privateers that became really formidable was the Oreto, after- 
 wards known as the Florida. She had not been long upon the 
 seas when a shudder went through the northern merchant 
 marine at the mention of her name. She was a swift sailer, 
 and swooped down like an eagle upon her prey. Before she 
 had been three months cruising, she captured fifteen vessels, 
 thirteen of which she burned ; and many a vessel sailing in 
 northern waters or crossin^^ the Atlantic, shuddered as she saw 
 at ni<Tfht a tow^er of flame rising from the sea. 
 
 The Florida was a sturd3^ ship, heavil}' armed, and was not 
 so fleet a sailer as some of her smaller sisters. She was built 
 at Birkenhead, England, nominally for the Italian government ; 
 but the American minister resident at London, learned her 
 destiny, and requested the British govci'nment to prevent her 
 putting to sea. While the cabinet was giving " due consideia- 
 tion " to the request, the Florida passed out the Mersey upon 
 her career. From the time this vessel departed, England was 
 declared by American writers to be the " naval base of the 
 confederacy." 
 
FRUITS OF rilE AMKRWAN CIVIL WAR. 203 
 
 But the most noted of all the pilvjitcers, the vessel which 
 Ijccame the occasion of a new code of laws between nations, 
 and brought the States and Great Britain to the verge of war, 
 the reader need not be told, was tiie -il labama. This craft was 
 built in Birkenhead by the Messrs. Laird, one of the most pro- 
 minent building firms in the country. When on the stocks 
 the vessel was called the " 290," and crowds thronged to the 
 dock -yard to see the. ship destined for some sti-ange mission. 
 Long before she was built, the myster^'- was dissipated : the 
 newspapers declared that she was intended as a southern 
 cnrlser, that she would sweep northern commerce from the seas, 
 and be so armed as to be able to hold her own against even the 
 heaviest ships of war. Mr. Adams, a descendant of a brilliant 
 family, distinguished for their superior statesmanship and high 
 «ense of honour, was then the American representative in Lon- 
 don. Promptly he sat down, on hearing of the character of 
 this new ship, and wrote to Lord John Russell, urging him to 
 institute enquiries into the allegations concerning the proposed 
 mission of the vessel, and maintaining that it was the duty of 
 the Biitish government, on being satisfied that the craft was to 
 be employed as a southern cruiser, to prevent her departure 
 from England. Lord John Russell, in whom more than any 
 other modern English statesman of note, nmch littleness was 
 mingled with not a little greatness, sought to parry Adams' 
 contentions by asking for proof of the allegations offered in 
 one breath, and in the next expressing a doubt whether the 
 government could fly in the face of a domestic law. Mr. Adams 
 again pressed his request. He only desire I that the govern- 
 ment should satisfy itself as to the luissioi; for which "2[)0" 
 was intended. If the mission were ascertained to be that 
 which he had alleged, then he contended, puder the "Foreign 
 Enlistment Act," the vessel ought to be dei;),ined. Lengthy cor- 
 respondence passed between the two ministers, in which Mr. 
 Adams always maintained a calm dignity and an overwhelming 
 logic, while Lord John Russell more than once gave way to 
 
204 LIFE OF SIh' JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 petulance, and sought to defend Ins position by feeble and tri- 
 fling analogies which he att'ected to find in American diplomacy. 
 Meanwhile Mr. Laird went on building the ship, and as the 
 time of her departure approached, Mr. Adams pressed Lord 
 Russell with much earnestness to interpose his authority. At 
 last Lord John was prevailed upon to ask tho Queen's advocate* 
 for advice ; but when the request was made that official was 
 sick, and could not return an answei". At last the answer came, 
 expressing the opinion that the vessel ouglit to bo detained. 
 But while the ministers were waiting for the advocate's reply, 
 " 290 " though unfinished, was made ready for sea, and, under 
 pretence of a trial tiip, sailed down the Mersey to Moelfra Bay 
 where.vthe work remaining was hastily completed. On the 3Lst 
 of Julj', orders came from the British ministry to seize the ves- 
 sel, but on the same day the prospective privateer, amid tho 
 ringing cheers of her crew, sailed aw?y from the coast of Eng- 
 land. Thence she proceeded to Teiceira, one of the Western 
 Islands, where she tarried till the arrival of the Agripinna 
 from London, with her guns and steies, and the Bahama with 
 captain Semmes, late commander of the Sumter, his ofricers^ 
 and crew. On the 24th of August, the privateer was equipped 
 and ready for her career of dehtruction. She was a screw steam 
 sloop of 1,040 tons, built of wood, ;md for speed rather than 
 strength. She was barque-iigged, had a crew of eighty men,, 
 and carried eight 32 -pounders. Wi;en ready for sea, captain 
 Semmes appeared on decl-. in Confedorate uniform, and read his 
 commission to the men. Hencefortli he told them they would 
 know their ship by tho name of the Alabama ; after which ho 
 delivered a speech predicting that their good fortune in escaping 
 from England was an omen of tholr success ranong the shipping^ 
 of the north. Then under pressi: ;e of Hej a and canvas, the 
 saucy privateer steered for the scone iil Iter future labours. On 
 the 5th of Septeoiber, whei. four day^ at sea, she sighted a 
 
 * Sir iFobn HanHnor. 
 
FRUITS OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL U'AR. 2G5. 
 
 Lrigantino under full canvas, bowling along, bound for a north- 
 ern port. " Give him the British bunting," said captain Seinn-is 
 and the Union-Jack was flung out from the main-top. i'l ■ 
 brigantinc tarried till the pompous stranger came up, and was 
 making ready to hail, when a deluge of grape-shot came whist- 
 ling across his bows ; and looking, he saw the stranger Haunt- 
 ing the Southern flag. An hour later, the stately brig was a 
 iiiass of flame through the twilijjht of the autumn sea. For the 
 next eleven days, the Alabama lingered about where she met 
 her first victim, and in that time captured and burnt property 
 the value of which exceeded her own cost. Several fast-sail incj 
 cruisers, heavily armed, put out from Northern ports searching 
 for " the pirate Semmes," but when a speck appeared upon the 
 horizon that the look-out declared to be formidable, the priva- 
 teer altered her course, and skimmed fleetly over the sea, leav- 
 ing her pursuers far behind. A few months later, she hovered 
 along the track of commerce between Aspinwall and New York, 
 and after patient watching, one ntorning, captured the Ariel 
 mail steamer, with ItO marines, a number of United States 
 officers, and about 500 passengers. These the captain of the 
 privateer decided to put on shore at Kingston, Jamaica, but the 
 city was a pent-house of yellow fever. On board his own ship 
 there was not room for their accommodation; so with much re- 
 gret he let the steamer go, taking a bond for a large sum, pay- 
 able when the war v. as ended. Some days later the look-out saw 
 an American gun-boat, which afterwards proved to be the Hat- 
 teras, bearing down. Semmes smiled grimly as he ordered the 
 decks to be cleared for action, and saw the war-ship approach- 
 ing, eager for the fray. It was a short conflict. After a few 
 broadsides the Jfatteras werit down, and the [)rivateer, issuing 
 unscathed from the encounter, pursued her way. The name of 
 the Alabama now became one of terror and hate, and few vessels 
 ventured from their ports while it was known that she was 
 near their track. The Ainerican government equipped a num- 
 ber of heavily -armed and speedy cruisers, which scoured the 
 
200 lifp: of am joii^ a. macdokald. 
 
 «ea8 in search of the marauder; and several narrow escapes 
 told Scnuncs that Northern waters were no lon^^er safe. So ho 
 wet sail for the Cape of Oood Hope, and preyed upon all the 
 Northern merchant vessels (which were not many) that ho 
 met there; but soon finding that the merchant shipping of 
 the enemy was beginning to forsake the seas, he sailed for 
 Europe, and put into Cherbourg to repair his vessel, now much 
 battered, and no longer unrivalled for her speed. Bitter re- 
 })roaches followed the captain of the privateer, and he was 
 burning for an opportunity to distinguish himself by some 
 valorous deed. During liis career he had captured sixty-iivo 
 vessels, and destroyed property valued at over four millions of 
 <lollars; yet his repute was that of a buccaneer that preyed 
 upon defenceless vessels, but who fled on being confronted 
 with a strength equal to his own. The Hatteras, which he 
 had met and sunk with a half-dozen broadsides, was repre- 
 sented as a crazy old hulk not fit to be at sea, and that must 
 have foundered from the concussion of her own guns. But 
 Semmes was a daring and brilliant sailor, who knew not fear, 
 at> he was soon but to prove too plainly. He writhed under 
 the abuse heaped upon him, and was stung by the palpable 
 truth, that, whether he were coward or courageous, his warfare 
 had been upon defenceless commerce, and that however much 
 he may have harassed his foes, no glory waited on his career. 
 While the Alabama lay in Cherbourg, the American war-vessel 
 Kearsage arrived off the coast of France, and, learning where 
 the privateer lay, made several demonstrations in the offing, 
 which the Alahavia regarded as a challenge to battle. Half 
 reckless and half hopeful, Semmes made up his mind to accept 
 the challenge of the haughty man-of-war, and notified the 
 United States consul of his intention. He made ready his ship, 
 and, on a fine Sunday morning, 19th of June, 18G4, steamed out 
 of the harbour, to engage in the murderous conflict. The in- 
 habitants of the city crowded upon every height to witness the 
 battle. To the inexperienced eye the two ships, now quietly 
 
FRVns OF TIIK AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. 2C7 
 
 ncaiing each other, were of ahout equal stron^'th, and even 
 captain Sctnines, though at one time one of tlie nio;st experi- 
 enced officers of tlie Northern naval service, was deceived. He 
 did not know that the ship advancing for the fray was in all 
 respects superior to the Aluhaind. ll was only when it wan 
 all ended he learnt that her armament was supei'ior to his own, 
 lier crew larger, and that she was iron-clad amidshii)s. The hat- 
 tie was hegun without delay, and soon was over. The Kcarnage 
 possessing greater speed than .her- adversary, was able to keep 
 up a di 5tauc;e of about 500 yards, at which range she was little 
 uflecte<i by the Alabama's shot ; while the latter was suffering 
 terribly. The issue w.as decided in less than an hour. Captain 
 Seramcs, finding his vessel sinking, struck his flag; but before 
 the entmy could come to the rescue, the noted privateer went 
 down. Some of the crew were picked up by the Kc'draaije'ti 
 boats, and captain Seinmes and others were rescued by an 
 English yacht, the Deer/tound. There was a deep feeling of 
 relief through the merchant marine of the North when the end 
 Cv the Alabama was known ; and captain Winslow, with supe- 
 V. >r guns and armoured sides, was the lion of the hour. 
 
 Before the destruction of the privateer, there was much 
 viiplomatic turmoil between the British and United States gov- 
 ernments, the latter ho^-ling the former responsible for the 
 damages done by uhe Alabaina. Once again Lord John Russell 
 fancied he had terminated a difh'eulty by becoming peremptory; 
 but his .successor to the colonial office, Lord Stanley — now Lord 
 Derby — frankl}' conceded the grounds taken by Mr. Adams in 
 the discussion with Lord John, to which we have already re- 
 verted. The outcome was renewed negotiations, a good deal 
 of diplomatic fire, which, as is usual in such controversy, was 
 confined to the glow of anthracite coal. The United States 
 declared, that, while the British government had not ordered 
 anr sanctioned England's making war on American commerce, 
 it had permitted the outi-age, and was, now, in honour, and by 
 all the ru^es of national etiquette, bound to make reparation. 
 
2e/-i LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 At length, wlion (iorrcspondence failed to procure satisfaction, 
 ai. aibitration was proposed, wliich consisted of" .(![)i'ese!itative.s 
 of Kn<,dand, tlie United States, the president of the Swiss Con- 
 fedeiation, and the emperor of Iii-a/il. This tribunal met in 
 Cleneva, and on th(i loth of September, bS72, delivered its final 
 award. For the wnmf^'-hoadedness of Lord Russell and the 
 ministry it was decreed that En;^dand should pay a sum of 
 X3,229,IG0 I'Js. 4d. The only regret that one can fe-d on 
 reading this record of retributive justice, is, that the statesnivon, 
 who, hy thfiir obstinate prejudice, instead of the public who 
 were the victims, were not oblige<l to pay the fine. Som-u 
 KnglishuKm, among whom were many of those who clapped 
 their hands and threw .slippui."; laden with rice after the Ala- 
 ham(t, as she slipjtcd down (no Mersey, on her career of pillage, 
 nnittered "curses lot loud but deep" when they were obliged 
 to pay Sl'),O00,0(>() foi their Southei'n sympathy. Se\eral 
 leading Eriglishmen, and Sir /vhixander Cockburn, an emi lit 
 judge — if eminence can afford to 'gnoie such codes as national 
 ot)ligation and national honour — ailirnKid that the Geneva deci- 
 sion was unjust, and advised its I'cpudiation. But the amount 
 was paiil, and tKo British baxpaycjr has ha<l an opportunity to 
 realize how dangerous a possession national sympathy may 
 sometimes be, and to lay to heart this c jstly les.son which Mr. 
 Kitigsley viuglit to have had an opportunity of stating by the 
 mouth of Mrs, Bodoncbyasy )U(lid. 
 
 It luis bticn alntady seen that '^'anada dutifully reflected the 
 Southern sympathy of her motl and aggravated the feeling 
 of hostilit)' against the British ^.upii'o in the republic. Sou- 
 thern refugees were received here with o)>en arms, were some- 
 times publicly feted, and all the while given to understand that 
 they were rcjiarded as the no\)h sufferers in a gloricus cause. 
 During the summer of 18f>4 a body of the refugees decided to 
 turn (Canadian sympathy to account, and, in September, sallied 
 forth from their colonial asjdum and captured and plundered 
 two American vessels plying on Lakes Kv'u', and Ontario. Ela- 
 
FRUITS OF TIIF AMFUICAN CIVll., WAR. 209 
 
 ted by their success, the finijUHtei"H, a few weeks later, lieaded ^ 
 by an ex -Confederate soldicsr named Yoinif,', biarst into St. 
 Alban's, a little town in Veiinont, and situated near the fron- 
 tiei', where th(;y plundered three of the local banks, shot one 
 of the cashieis, bea/ing away to Canada S23'{,()()0 worth of 
 booi:y. The Canadian government now aroused itself and dis- 
 tributed volunteers along our frontier-, to prevent any furtlu.'i- 
 breach of tlie neutrality law. The tlli})usters were arrested at 
 the instance of the United States government, avIio deinanded 
 tlieir extradition. They were tried in Montreal, but discharged 
 hy Judge Coursol, befoi-e wliom they were exananed on a tecli- 
 nical ground. A sum of !?!*(>,()()() was found on tlio raiders 
 when ariested, but on their <]ischarge the money was refunded 
 them. The act fed our prejudice foi- the time, but, in (hie sea- 
 son, we had to repay the amount to the American government. 
 Tlierc is no one wlio will say that tliis did not serve ViS right. 
 
 On the 15th of April, 180'), in theevening, president Abraham 
 Lincoln, wlic had two years before proclaimed the freedont of 
 slaves in the rebel States, while sitting in his box at tlie theati-e, 
 was shot dead by the hand of an assassin. The civilized world 
 .stood aghast at the intelligence of the deed, and (Canada showed 
 a hea'tfelt i-yrapathy for the untimely end of this great fi-iend 
 of liberty. Mej;tings were held in the cities, at which resolu- 
 tions were paH3"d expressing the sorrow of our people; flags 
 floated at half-iiiast, and bells tolled from a hundred steej)les. 
 
 The minds of the timorous were disturbed in (Janada, during 
 the same year^ b'y the lumours, ever on tlie wing, of a contem- 
 plated in\.wion by .some of the turbulcjnt s|)irits who liad been 
 taught the trade of war during the American rebellion. Some- 
 where near Union Square, in New Yf)ik, a band of men known 
 as the "Fenian lirothorhood" met to discuss measures for the 
 liberation of Ireland. The name Fenian had aii historic ring, 
 and fired the hearts of those who longed to see the green flag 
 float again on the Idll ot Tara. The Fenians, it came to be re- 
 membered, were an old-time Irish militia, burly kernB who 
 
270 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONAI.D. 
 
 went in hare arms, and "would {\Ti.n'. death and the devil." 
 \roney and reci'uits poured in to tlie " liead-centre " at New 
 York ; a tliorongli orf^anization was effected, and the Li-other- 
 hood held meetings at which, in j^riiri earnest, they discussed 
 the plan of "liberatinj^ Ireland." Amongst this deluded Iwnd 
 were many noble and patriotic spirits,* whatever unjust and 
 intemperate writers may affiim, and some a<^fain of the most 
 worthless and mischievous adventurers thf.t ever dis<^raced so- 
 ciety, ])ema<ro<(ues wiio had never figured in any more heroic 
 movement than a drunken row in some bar-room in the Sixth 
 Ward, vapoui'ed against "the bloody Saxon," and thrilled the 
 deluded crowds of their fellow Irishmen by recounting the 
 means they would pursue to overthrow ]>riltsh rule, and set 
 "darliii' ould Ireland free agin." Some of the most useless and 
 vicious loafers found in the agitation a goldcm trade, and pushed 
 themselves to the front as leaders. " The contrili itions given 
 by some Irish hack-drivers and servant girls, in the sincere 
 Ijelief tliatthey were helping to man tlie ranks of an Iiish army 
 of indej'endence, enabled some of the self-appointed leadeivs to 
 wear fine clothes and order expensive dinners." The organi- 
 /ati(m gi'ew, and gigaiitic projects were developed. One of these 
 was a conquest of Canada as a first step " befoie takin' Irelan*!." 
 Early in the year i<S(5(i, it was resolved, at a meeting of the 
 biotherhood, t(j celebrate St. Patrick's Day by seizing New 
 Brunswick ; and sure enough when +,hat festival came, with it 
 a[)peaved,on the boundary of the coveted province, a band of 
 Hibernians, armed in grotestuo fashion, and bedecked with 
 shamrocks, looking more like a detachment bound for Doney- 
 brook fair than invaders thir.ity for con<|uest. The visitors 
 were met by Colonel Cole and i\ body of volunteers, and speed- 
 ily took to flight, winding up the day after they had got be- 
 
 * Any virtue that may have t.\istt 1 'n thiH orgftn'/ation in the Iieginning has ionif 
 wince (h-partcfl. The only achiovcnie.ifH <if the aKsDoiation now are ooKl -hloodfd 
 i..iir(lerf ; the laHtrurnentH liy which it Wf>rks terror, the dagger and dyniimite. 
 
FRUITS OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. 271 
 
 yond the roach of Canadian ballots, with a wliisky feast.* On 
 the night of May Sl.st, following,', a bohlor attempt was made. 
 An advance i'uard consistin<r of about 900 of the brotlioi'hood, 
 under the cojuniand of one O'Neil, in the night, crossed Nia- 
 gara river, ami lande<l about a inilc bolow ilio village of Fort 
 Erie. They advanced witli uiucli spirit into the village, where 
 they deirianded lations, and vainly sought the co-operation 
 of the inha])itants. Tlien tliey tore up a piece of the Grand 
 Tiunk railway-track, cut the tclegrapli wires, set fire to some 
 l)ridges, and, in all other ways of destruction, endeavoured to 
 dopoit theiuselves in the manner of invading warriors. During 
 the forenoon of the following day, the American g in-boat 
 
 • In connection w'l^h the Fenian attempt on New Brunswick, Mr. Edward Jack, 
 i]f Fntdcrictim, Xev/ i'.riiiiswick, I'urniHhf'M thi- writer with tlic fullowiiii,' facts: — 
 " Sir A. .1. Siriitli, joinr to the Fenian inviision, iritervicwid Andrew .loliiiHon, pre- 
 sident of theUniti ' States, wlio promised him, that so soon as the Fenians commit- 
 ted an overt act ■ ; would attend to tht-m. Wlieu the inauraudeni niiide their 
 apiKiarance at Kustport, in thi; State of Maine, the United States ^'overniuerit des- 
 jiatched several vessels of war to prevent their inakini,' a dt^monstration on New 
 IJmnswi'.k. Xot far from Kasti)ort mi^jht he seen one of the fleetest war-vi>ssels in 
 the Uiiiced Stat'-i'i service, lyin^' .\c anchor with steam up, while noi far distant ii 
 liritish frigate in ]u-ovineial waters was ready for the fray. 'I'lie Fenians spent their 
 money freely at Eustpo'-t in liipior and ci;<ars, .and did no harm Ix'Vond hurnint,' .a 
 huilr'ingon Indian Island, opposite F.astjjort. A party of the Fenians asceisdcd the 
 Hte. > 'roix t^i '"'alais, wliere some of the )iinMl)er, who put up at the Fronti(.'f hotel, 
 stole all the soap, 'iiid other tilings they coulil Lay tlieir liands on in the rooms, on 
 Iheiv li' iiarture. The arrival of the adventurers at Calais was followed pronjjitly 
 hy that of a hody of (leriiian artillerymen, in the |)ay of the United States. These 
 were intended to he a ehei.'k on the i''euian operations on the American side, 'i'hesa 
 artillery-men used to visit the l'>ritish side, and iiididj,'e so freely in beer, that the 
 provinciiilists, who feared an attack from the Irish myrmidons, placed them in 
 drays and had them (;art<;d across the river to the American siile. Some of the liest 
 people of St. Stejjhen, were so al.'irmed at the ap|)earanoe of the Fenians, that they 
 sent their plate to the Calais hank for safe keeping. From the ipiiet little town of 
 Saiut Andrew's, situated at the mouth of the Ste. Croix, not far fn/m the island 
 where De Moiits and Cliamplain siient their first winter in Ajnerica, tl'.e l'"eiiians 
 could be seen drilling to the numher of a dozen or two. Fort Tipperary, which over- 
 looks the town, was promptly garrisoned, .and the oM honeycomhed guns which the 
 rotten carriages could hardly 8\i|)poit, wen- placed in position He woidd have 
 lieen a hold man who fired them ! In the midst of the tn pidalion a liritish frigate 
 steamed up to Joe's Point, at the noi-thern end of the town, where she (piitdly cast 
 anchor. The commanding officer came ashore, and consoled the injiahitants by 
 telling them not to ear. ' If the Fenians get in here,' ht; said, ' clear away as fast 
 as you cai., for we fcliall shell the city and burn it over the rascals' heads.' " 
 
1272 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A MACDONALD. 
 
 Mlchlfjan began to patrol the river to prevent any bi'oaclies of 
 the neutrality laws ; and shut her eyes whenever a boat with 
 reinforcement or stores for O'Neil happened to be cross! ni,' from 
 •the American shore. Wh'^n news of the invasion, by this rab- 
 ble, reached the public, there was a f^cjneral feeling of indigna- 
 tion. There was some chagrin felt that the military defences 
 of the country were in a disordered condition, but not a momen*' 
 '^^'as lost in taking all possible measm-es to hurl back the in- 
 truders. The regulars in the Hamilton and Toronto districts 
 were at once ordered by Major-General Napier to the Niagara 
 peninsula. Orders were given to call out the volunteers, who 
 ■seemed entliusiastic to enter the fray. Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Dennis mustered six hundred of the Toronto force, which 
 number was, in a large measure, supplied by Major Gillmor, of 
 the Queen's Own. Tliese, with the 13th Battalion, of Hamil- 
 ton, and other volunteer companies, under the connnand of 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Booker, were despatched to Port Colborne 
 'to protect the W elland Canal. Colonel George Peacocke, of tlie 
 IGth regiment, commanded the entire expedition, and accom- 
 panied the regulars to Chippewa, where he was joined by the 
 Oovernor-General's body guard and other forces. Arrived at 
 'Chippewa (Monel Peacocke dispatched (Japtain Akers with in- 
 structions to the officer commanding at Port Colborne to effect 
 a junction of his troops with those of Peacocke's, the following 
 'forenoon, about ten or eleven o'clock, at Stcvensville, a village 
 a short distance to the north-west of Fort Eric. I'eacocke v/as 
 a brave and capable officer, but he was criminally ignorant of 
 the frontier topography, and, under such circimstances, should 
 not have been given (or rather taken) comman<l. Ifad he 
 put himself entirely in the hands of such of his subordinates 
 as were acquainted with the campaign ground, ho might have 
 earned excuse ; but his conduct seems to have been a mixture 
 •of self-reliance and dependence, of confessed ignorance, and 
 •unbending arrogance. He was not able to instruct Akers, who 
 was " as much in the woods " as himself, as to what route of 
 
FRUITS OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, 273 
 
 iriarch the volunteers ought to take, and left Booker to decide 
 
 that for himself. Akers reached Port Colborne, at 2 o'clock in 
 
 the morning, and delivered his orders. Meanwhile information 
 
 had been received at Port Colborne, which, the volunte^^i- officers, 
 
 there, believed, altered the complexion of the whole case, and 
 
 justified a departure from Pe'icocke's plan. It was learnt that 
 
 the Fenian force at Fort Erie was mucli smaller than was at 
 
 first supposed, that the marauders wei'e in a state of wretched 
 
 discipline, had done nought but carouse since landing, and 
 
 could be expelled by the prompt moveuients of a moderate 
 
 force. It wa.. thei'efore agreed that Booker with his troops 
 
 should start by rail in time to reach Fort Erie by eight o'clock 
 
 in the morning, and that Lieutenant-Colonel Dennis and Akers 
 
 should embark with a company of ai-tillery, at Port Colborne, 
 
 and proceed to reconnoitre along Niagara river, returning to 
 
 co-operate with Booker at eight o'clock. If Peacocke should 
 
 agree to this plan, he was informed that he miglit march by 
 
 the river road from Chippewa, making a combined attack with 
 
 Colonel Booker at some point " between Fort Erie and Black 
 
 Creek, cutting off the enemy's retreat by the river — the tug to 
 
 be employed in cruising up and down the river, cutting off any 
 
 boats that might attemi)t to escape, and communicating between 
 
 the forces advancing from Chippewa and from Fort Erie." 
 
 Dennis and Akers did not wait for Peacocke's reply, but started 
 
 at lour o'clock in the morning on the tug Rohh, taking with 
 
 them the Welland Garrison Battery, and a portion of the 
 
 Dunnville Naval Brigade. Shortly after the departure of the 
 
 tug, came a telegram, as might have been expected, from 
 
 Colonel Peacocke, saying he disapproved of the modifications 
 
 proposed and would adhere to his original plan. The question 
 
 was no longer one o'Z expediency but of etiquette, and Bookei- 
 
 resolved to fulfil, as far as possible, the instructions of the 
 
 benighted connnander. So aV)Out an hour after the departure 
 
 of the Rohh he put his men on board the train and proceeded as 
 
 far as Ridgeway, whence the troops left the cars and marched 
 R 
 
274 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 towards Stevensville. That same morning O'Neil had beguiD 
 a movement westward, with the intention of destroying the 
 locks of the Welland Canal, and Colonel Booker, about two 
 miles from Ridgeway, came xvp with the marauders' out-posts. 
 Not expecting such a meeting he held a hurried consulta- 
 tion with Major Gillmor, of the Queen's Own, when an attack- 
 was resolved on, both officers believing Colonel Peacocke and 
 his regulars could not be far away. When the word was- 
 given, the volunteers advanced with much spirit, and fairly 
 turned back, for some distance, the enemy's lines; and on- 
 lookers must have believed, for a time, that the day was to be 
 with these raw levies, composed mostly of clerks and col- 
 legiates. While the brave young volunteers were grappling 
 with O'Neil's Fenians, an orderly came up and put in Booker's 
 hand a message from Colonel Peacocke. A shade passed over 
 the face of the officer as he read the note. It was directed to 
 him at Port Colborne, instructing him to delay his departure 
 from that point two hours beyond the hour previously specified, 
 as Colonel Peacocke could not be ready to start with his regu- 
 lars from Chippewa as early as had been expected. Booker, it 
 has been seen, had really departed an hour before the prescrib- 
 ed time, which would change Peacocke's calculations by three 
 hours ; so that he now saw there was no assistance for 
 the young fellows so far outnumbered by the brawny-armed 
 followers of O'Neil. While the volunteers struggled with 
 the outnumbering enemy, a report reached Booker that a 
 body of Fenian cavalry was advancing, arid was close at hand. 
 At once, and by Booker's orders, Gillmor formed his men in 
 square to receive the onset ; but the report proved to be a ruse. 
 The martffiuvre was a fatal one for the devoted volunteers, who, 
 in consequence, became a conspicuous mark for the Fenians' 
 bullets. When Gillmor saw the error, he at once endeavoured 
 to extend his men, but the fire was so severe that the rear com- 
 panies fell back and could not be reformed ; and the order was 
 given to retire. In a few minutes the volunteers, who, against 
 
FRUITS OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. 2T5 
 
 overwhelming odds, had " fought so well," were in full retreat, 
 O'.Neil'.s wild myrmidons in mad pursuit. Tlie loss of the 
 Canadians was one officer and eight men killed, and six officers 
 and twenty-six men wounded. "What was the loss of the 
 Fenians has not since been known, though it is believed not to 
 have been less than ouri. The campaign so far had been a 
 series of blunders. Aker and Dc ; iis should not have cone 
 upon the reconnoitering tour vvitho d Vaving heard the re|\iy of 
 the commanding officer ; Peacocke, sho 'd, in the first instance, 
 have seen his way clear to be able to sta -tat the hour he fixed 
 for departure before communicatirg the lime to his brother of- 
 ficers ; and secondly, should not hive trusted the fate of the 
 expedition to the chance of an orderly overtaking Booker be- 
 fore leaving Port Colborne ; while it may be that he was the 
 most culpable of all in taking a command for which he was not 
 competent, through ignorance of thi> ground upon which his 
 forces were to operate, or, feeling thi., deficiency, in refusing to 
 take CO' ■ ■ iel of those, wlio, if they kn ^-w less -than himself of 
 tactics, knew more of geography. Wa hope, shoidd it ever be 
 our lot again to see hostile steel in our Dominion, that we shall 
 not be found putting our trust in officers who know nothing 
 about our frontier, and who will learn nothing till the lives of 
 a lumber of our sons shall have been sacrificed to their ignor- 
 aace. These eight brave 3'oung fellows and their officer who 
 fell, and the tarnish of defeat on theii surviving comrades, were 
 a tribuie to ofiicial tti<iuetto — the price we paid to military 
 incapacity 
 
 The renjainder may as well be told. Dennis and Akers 
 landed at the appointed time at Fort Erie, and picked up about 
 sixty stragglers, comprising" Liberators" and camp followers. 
 O'Neil hearing that the regulars were on the march from Chip- 
 pewa, retreated on Fort Erie, reconquering the village ; tind 
 when night fell, silently made his way across the river for the 
 sheltering: American shore. Before he could disembark he was 
 arrested, with his folk-wers, by United States authorities. On 
 
276 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 Sundiiy morning, eager for war, Peacocke and liis troops arrived 
 at Fort Erie, but nought of the enemy remained save the em- 
 bers of their camp fires, and a number of broken whiskey bot- 
 tles. A few stragglers who had been carousing around the 
 neighbourhood while their comrades were embarking, were 
 afterwards captured by the regulars with much alacrity, put on 
 board a tug, taken to Toronto, and lodged in jail. They were 
 subsequently tried under a statute passed during the Cana- 
 dian rebellion. Some were discharged for want of evidence, 
 others were found guilty and sentenced to death, but the pun- 
 ishment was commuted to imprisonment in the penitentiary. 
 
 Several other demonstrations of invasion were made, some 
 weeks later, by the brotherhood. A large body gathered at 
 Ogdensburg, their eyes turned to the Dominion capital, but the 
 massing of troops on the Canadian side, and the patrolling of 
 the St. Lawrence by a British gun-boat, damped their ambition. 
 Another horde gathered opposite Cornwall, but dispersed before 
 the display of a volunteer force. Still another body of the 
 liberators, 1,800 strong, made a dash across the border from St. 
 Alban's, Vermont, but were driven back in hot haste by our 
 troops On reaching Vermont again the ringleaders of the 
 filibusters were arrested for a breach of the neutrality laws, 
 and thrown into prison ; and the president issued a proclama- 
 tion ordering government officials to use every means to re- 
 press further attacks on Canada from American territory. 
 When the excitement was ended, the people of Canada did not 
 forget to pay tribute to the memory of those who fell in resist- 
 ing the invaders. In the Queen's Park, Toronto, a monument 
 wiis raised wdiich tells the story of the brave young hearts who 
 died in defending their homes. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 
 
 THE fat.al balance of parties had at last been readied, and 
 Mr. Maedonald who had always before, in emergency, 
 relied on his brains, now " trusted to luck." He was like a 
 captain who, in the pitchy darkness, and in the midst of the 
 stoirn, turns his face from Ihe compass and allows his barque to 
 take her own way through the unknown sea. The house met 
 on May 3rd, 1804. The new ministry had found sturdy o})po- 
 sition in the constituencies, and Mr. Foley had fallen in the 
 conflict. Some of Mr. John A. Macdonald's colleagues cheered 
 themselves by the hope that John Sandfield would not offer 
 serious resistance to the government ; as, they said, the consti- 
 tution was on its trial, and they could not believe he would 
 sacrifice the institutions of the country to his ambition. The 
 attorney -general-west, however, leaned upon no such reed as 
 this. " If a disruption of the whole fabric," he assured his 
 friends, " is to be the price of John Sandfield's opposition, then 
 woe to the constitution. We showed him no mercv ; at his 
 hands I do not think we now deserve mercy." Meanwhile the 
 ex-premier was brooding over his revenge. Some of his col- 
 leagues assured him that it was now a question between duty 
 to his party and duty to his country ; +hat, to overthrow the 
 new administration 3 night lead to a disruption of the whole 
 governmental system " Did they spare us," retorted John 
 Sandfield with flashiig eye, " when our overthrow was an equal 
 menace to the constitution ? No ; I shall oppose them now as 
 I have never done before ; it is useless to talk to me of for- 
 bearance." 
 
 277 , ,-, 
 
278 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MAC DONALD. 
 
 A few days after the opening of the session a no-confidence 
 motion was introduced, and though the ministry strained ever}' 
 nerve in the conflict, it was sustained by a majority of only two 
 votes. With such a support the government were powerless to 
 effect any important legislation, 3'et, under the circum ;tances, 
 they resolved to maintain tlicir plaoes till actually voted out. 
 Not long were they obliged to wait, r'or the ending came on 
 the 14th of June. It had come to light, that, in 1859, Mr. 
 A. T. Gait, the finance ministor that year in 'Jhe Cartier-Mac- 
 donald government, had advanced a sum of $100,000 fi-om the 
 public funds to redoei;. certain bonds given by vhe city of Mon- 
 treal to the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railway Company. The 
 bonds were subsequonth'' made redeemable by the Grand Trunk 
 which company thus became actually the recipient of the ad- • 
 vance. The loan luid been made quietly in the finance minis- 
 ter's office, and the fact had not transpired, till a member, dis- 
 tended with importance, rose at his desk, and in the low, 
 feigned-sorrowful tones which an honourable member always 
 assumes when digging a grave for his live opponent, announced 
 that he had a painful task to perfoim, but that, nevertheless 
 " imperative duty to the country demanded that it should be 
 done ; " and then exposed the $100,000 transaction. Mr. A. A. 
 Dorion following, moved, in amendment to the motion to go into 
 committee of supply, a resolution censuring the advance of the 
 amount without the knowledge of parliament. The resolution 
 though aimed apparently at Mr. Gait, comprehended a censure 
 of the ministry which it was averred was a mere rehabilitation 
 of tho Cartier-Mucdonald government. This was an unconsti- 
 tutional view, but ministers at once waived the qu3stion of 
 propriety, and assumed for the cabinet the full responsibility 
 of Mr. Gait's act. The latter gentleman was not bowed down, 
 but defended himself in a speech that was everything a mere 
 outpour of plausibilitj^ could possibly be. But, tottering from 
 the moment of its birth, the ministry could not withstand this 
 last vshock. It had to deal not less with the uncompromising 
 
THE D OMINION OF CANADA. 279 
 
 foeman, whose eyes sparkled with the very fire of hostility, 
 llian with over-sensitiv»' consciences. It is not likely that the 
 reader has failed to remark, as well as the writer, that an 
 " honourable " gentleman, who, while his party is on the flood- 
 tide of prosperity, can swallow a camel without a grimace, will 
 strain at a gnat when the same party is found on the ebb-tide, 
 surrounded by reefs and ruin. Perhaps it is only one more of 
 the many wise provisions of the Great Intelligence whose 
 " hand holds the reins of all things," that ruling parties shouM 
 sometimes grow weak, else such men as these would never find 
 an opportunity to reveal that they are possessed of consciences. 
 It would be extremely unwise and unprofitable for a man sud- 
 -d-enly to let virtue get the better of him while his party still 
 held a majority of fifty men ; but the case is reversed when the 
 lionesty-jmpulse can be exhibited while the party ship lies 
 sogg}'' in the water, and goes down with the defection of two 
 or three of the virtue-stricken crew. Messrs. Dunkin and 
 Rankin belonged to this not uncommon class of politicians. 
 They had for years judged the morality of the liberal-con.ser- 
 vative party by the standard of its success — while it was 
 -staunch, their faith in its virtue was strong ; when it grew 
 weak it became a moral Lazarus in their eyes, full of sores, 
 .and not fit to live. They voted with the giits on Mr. Dorion's 
 resolution, and the ministry fell. 
 
 Yet, it may be seen, as our story progresses, that these two 
 men were instruments in facilitating the birth of the greatest 
 event in our political history. The movements of several years 
 past which we iiive endeavoured to pourtray, were the causes, 
 though intfficic^ t, producing the scheme for a union of the 
 provinces; hercoforth we lose .sight of the causes, and watch 
 the manner in m hich was born the confederation itself. 
 
 When the d '!'eat came, ministers were in no wise perturbed : 
 they had expev ed the result for many weeks, and did not re- 
 sign. Two CO I'ses there remained open to them : to attempt a 
 reconstruction or to ask for a dissolution. Neither project at 
 
280 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 first left room to hope that the second condition would be bet- 
 ter than the first, either for the party or the constitution. 
 Within a little more than two years four different government:* 
 had been formed, and jjarty feeling had grown so bitter that 
 the ministry felt there was little hope that the general result 
 could be changed by " trying their fortune in the lottery of a 
 general election." Yet though the virtue had apparently gone 
 out of the expedients of our constitutional system, responsible 
 government was still supreme, and Messrs. Macdonald and 
 Tachd could not continue in oiTce while in a minority in the 
 assembly. The opposition held their breath after the minis- 
 terial defeat, and spake not during the hours that ministers, 
 still holding the reins, deliberated over their position ; but the 
 silence was like that which falls upon wood and dale before 
 the storm breaks. Happily for the public peace, the figure on 
 this occasion held not good. There was no storm after the 
 death-like stillness ; for, after duly considering the situation,. 
 Mr. Macdonald reached the conclusici that of the ways ope a 
 dissolution was the best ; and with this view the minister* 
 waited on the governor-general. His exce'lency, after careful 
 deliberation, granted the request of his advisers. If the writer 
 were one of those who subscribed to predesiinationj he would 
 afhrm here with rigid religious ccmviction, that "there's a 
 divinity that sh ipes our ends, rough-hew them how we will ; " 
 for with such surprise as one feels who sees a thunderbolt 
 flame out of a clear sky, the public saw a figure stalk upon the 
 scene to end the confusion between parties, and assist in the 
 adoption of a new and wholesome course of public policy. We 
 can hardly tear ourselves away from figures, the apparition 
 forces itself so strongly upon our imagination. It was as if 
 the pope had left Rome, appeared suddenly up^n one of our 
 platforms, and begun to read a lecture in favour of the right 
 of private judgment in spiritual things ; as if King John had 
 headed a movement that was seeking for popular liberty. The 
 man who came upon the scene, was no other than George 
 
THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 281 
 
 Brown. We have not laid ourselves open to the charge, so far, 
 of undue admiration for this politician, but have endeavoured, 
 as we shall strive now, to do him simple, naked justice. It- 
 might be open to us, were we disposed merely to censure the 
 public career of Mr. Brown, instead of to endeavour to paint 
 his record, the good and the bad, so far as it is concerned with 
 the main thread of our narrative, just as it is, to say that the 
 course he proposed in the political emergency which had come 
 was not begotten of a well-spring of devotion to the country's 
 interests, and not that he hated John A. Macdonald and his- 
 party less, but that he hated John Sandfield Macdonald more. 
 What he did do, we shall, instead, endeavour to regard as a. 
 bright spot in a career of noisy and unscrupulous amVntion^ 
 and peace-disturbing demagogism. 
 
 On the day after the ministerial defeat Mr. Brown fell into 
 conversation with Messrs. J. H. Pope and Alexander Morris, 
 supporters of the ministry, and members respectively for Comp- 
 ton and South Lanark. He gave it as his opinion that a crisis, 
 had arrived which could not be overcome by an appeal to the 
 people, and that the time was a fitting one to settle " for ever 
 the constitutional difficulties between Upper and Lower Can- 
 ada." He further expressed his willingness to cooperate 
 with the existing or any other ministry that would deal 
 promptly and firmly with the mattei*. The two minis tei'ialists, 
 one of whom had been a staunch advocate of federation, lis- 
 tened to Mr. Brown with a good deal of satisfaction, and before 
 parting from him asked if they might repeat the conversation 
 to the conservative leaders. He readily consented, and the re- 
 sult was that on Friday, the 17th, Messrs. John A. Macdonald 
 and A. T. Gait waited on Mr. Brown at his rooms in th», !:?t. 
 Louis Hotel, stating that they were authorized hy the minis- 
 try to invite the cooperation of the liberal leader, with a view 
 to the settlement of differences existing between Upper and 
 Lower Canada. When this proposal had been made, Mr. Brown 
 replied that nothing but the extreme urgency of the present 
 
282 LIFE OF SIR JOUN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 crisis could justify tins meeting — vi'ith which observation Mr. 
 Macdonald agreed in a tone of bland irony. The grit chief 
 then intimated that " it was quite impossible that he could be 
 a member of any administration at present, and that even had 
 this been otherwise, he would have conceived it highly objec- 
 tionable that parties who had been so lonr^ and so strongly op- 
 posed to each other, as he and some members of the adminis- 
 tration had been, should enter the sani'^ cabinet. He thought 
 the public mind would be shocked by such an arrangement, 
 but he felt very strongly that the present crisis presented an 
 opportunity of dealing with this question that might never oc- 
 cur again. Both political parties had tried in turn to govern 
 the country, but without success ; and repeated elections only 
 arrayed sectional majorities against each other more strongly 
 than before. Another general election at this moment present- 
 ed little hope of a much altered result ; and he believed that 
 both parties were far better prepared than they had ever been 
 before to look the true cause of all ihe difficulties firmly in the 
 face, and endeavour to settle the representation question on an 
 equitable and permanent basis." 
 
 In reply, Mr. Macdonald said he considered it essential that 
 Mr. Brown should be a member of the cabinet, to give gua- 
 rantees to the opposition and the country of the earnestness of 
 the government. To do justice to Mr. Brown, he did not show 
 any hopeless opposition to the proposal that he should enter 
 the ministry, but suggested that all questions of a peraonal na- 
 ture, and the necess^ary guarantees, might be v/aived for the 
 present, " and the discussion conducted with a view of ascer- 
 taining if a satisfactory solution of the sectional difficulty 
 •could be agreed upon." He then requested to know what steps 
 the government proposed towards settling sectional troubles. 
 Promptly, Messrs. Macdonald and Gait informed him that 
 their remedy was " a federal union of all the British North- 
 American provinces " — a project, while not in some details the 
 same as that afterwards adopted, a^l along very dear to Mr. 
 
THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 283 
 
 Macdonald, though he did not approve of the methods recently 
 proposed to carry out the object, and had voted against the plan 
 suggested — " local matters being committed to local bodies, and 
 matters common to all to a general legislature, constituted on 
 the well-understood principles of federal government." With 
 this plan Mr. Brown expressed himself dissatisfied, his desire 
 not being to see a confederation of the provinces, a contin- 
 gency which he regarded as impracticable then and remote, but 
 rather to have accomplished a measure to provide more equit- 
 able parliamentary representation for Upper Canada. As there 
 is an impression among several writei's that Mr. Brown was 
 the parent of confederation, and entered the coalition for the 
 purpose of forwarding the scheme, it may be as well to dispel 
 the illusion. The testimony of Mr. Mackenzie, Mr. Brown's 
 biographer, on this point, is conclusive. After Messrs. Mac- 
 donald and Gait had stated what their remedy was, " Mr. 
 Brown," Mr. Mackenzie tells us, at page 89 of his book, " ob- 
 jected that this was uncertain and remote (the confederation 
 scheme), as there were so many bodies to be consulted ; and 
 stated that the measure acceptable to Upper Canada would be 
 parliamentary reform based on population, without regard to 
 a separating line betv/een Upper and Lower Canada." Messrs. 
 Macdonald and Gait assured Mr. Brown that his proposal in- 
 volved an impossibility, and after some discussion the latter 
 gentleman was persuaded to accept a compromise in the adop- 
 tion of the federal principle for all the p/' )vinces as the larger 
 question, or for Canada alone, witii pro^ ision for the admis- 
 sion of the maritime provinces and the North-West ten-itory. 
 The gi'ound having been thus cleared, Mr Brcwn stated that 
 he was ready to cooperate with the new government. The 
 utmost credit then to which Mr. Brown is entitled is, not that 
 he brought the union into life, but that lie permitted its birth. 
 Quite .* different parent had the scheme. To use Bystanders 
 apt epigram, " The father of confederation was dead-lock." 
 
284 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 On the 30th of the month, business having been hume(i 
 through, parliament was prorogued. On the same day the 
 ministerial announcements were made. George Brown entered 
 the government as president of the council, Oliver Mowat &,a 
 postmaster-general, and Wm.McDougall as provincial-secretary. 
 The ordinary affairs of legislation had little charm new for the 
 coalition ministry, so absorbed were they by the scheme which 
 overshadowed every other question. The tongues of implac- 
 able party f oemen for the time were stilled, the questions that 
 had kept the two sections of the province so long in an atti- 
 tude of hostility towards each other, passed for the time from 
 the public memory, and one and all began to dream over this 
 new nationality that was to be given to them. But as one hears, 
 in the stilly moments before the rush of the storm, the croak- 
 ing note of the raven on the turret or the tree-top, so, in the 
 midst of the expectancy which held the people mute, here and 
 there was heard the voice of a politician croaking some evil 
 prophecy. Messrs. Dorion ^^nd Holton raised their voices and 
 said in effect that we were plucking green fruit, that the union 
 scheme required yet many years to ripen, and predicted a new 
 brood of discord under the expected regime. Mr. Dunkin 
 croaked an unmistakable note of ruin ; solemnly declaring that 
 we would have under "this confederation" a swarm of trou- 
 bles and heart-burnings far more grievous than the discords 
 we aimed to exorcise. A number of the grits who had followed 
 Mr. Brown all along, while approving of the federation princi- 
 ple, declared that he had sold himself to the liberal-conserva- 
 tive party, and, that, what was worse than the sale, he had 
 gone over " too ch.^ap." They pointed out that while the oppo- 
 sition had a majority of two votes in the legislature they were 
 given only three seats ; but it afterwards became clear that 
 Mr. Brown brought all possible pressure to bear for the admis- 
 sion of a greater number of his friends, and that the govern- 
 ment had decided to stop at this point. 
 
THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 285 
 
 The most energetic spirit in the federation movement now 
 was Mr. John A. Macdonald. It was his hand that made 
 smooth many of the rough ways in the negotiations ; and he in- 
 spired his colleagues with the same faith and enthusiasm in the 
 achievement of the union as he felt himself. His interest in 
 the scheme, after the coalition had been accomplished, has been 
 sneered at by some prejudiced and -juperficial writers, while 
 others who affect an anxiety to be friendly, say that he de- 
 serves credit for having bent so readil}'' to the wishes of the 
 legislature and the public. The truth is, from the moment that 
 a federation of the provinces had been first discussed, the scheme 
 had been Mr, Macdonald's fondest dream. Efforts, wrongly 
 made, by politicians who were zealous for the union, he had 
 seen and disapproved ; believing, and affirming his belief, that 
 it was not proper to jeopardize a project of such ovei'shadowing 
 moment, by affixing to it the stigma oi that defeat v/hich 
 was sure to come upon the test oi its popularity, at a time when 
 the public mind was not prepared to comprehend its import- 
 ance. But through all those years that the Upper Canada re- 
 formers cried out for reprosentation by po[)ulation, and charged 
 him with lending himself to the French Canadians for the sake 
 of office, he dreamt of the time, when through some such system 
 as was afterwards adopted, the turmoil would be brought to an 
 end, and that which the majority of the people in his own sec- 
 tion sought be granted, without working injustice to the other 
 portion of the province ; and when the census revealed that 
 there were 300,000 persons more in the upper than in the lower 
 division, he promptly told Mr. Cartier that the day of settle- 
 ment was close at hand. We have seen that while the union 
 was maintained, such settlement never could be representation 
 by population ; that Mr. Macdonald had made some of his most 
 powerful speeches in affirming this position : it is not necessary 
 then to say that the expedient in which he saw a cure was 
 this plan for a confederation. Later on, when, among other 
 delegates, he visited Halifax, he stated that this scheme of 
 
286 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 union had been his ideal dream, and that since he saw a possi- 
 bility of its accomplishment he felt that a higher future had 
 been opened for us, and a field worthy the ambition of the 
 Canadian statesman. Yet not alone in his attitude toward:* 
 this great questl tn, but to many other important political 
 events, the birth of his time, in which he has felt the deep- 
 est interest, has ho been regarded hostile. " He will not con- 
 seat to be hurried," says one writer, " but no one can say that 
 on any given question his finality of to-day may not be his. 
 starting-point at some future time." * The truth is, Mr. Mac- 
 (lonald iiad not pretended to be wiser than his time, or sought 
 to move faster than the people. He showed then, as ever 
 since, that he regards it to be his duty in the governing place, 
 not to create, but to obey public opinion. Many a time when 
 pressed to move this way or that has he assured impulsive col- 
 leagues, " The fruit is green and not fit to pluck," and that the 
 harmless thunder of an unpopular orator, or a newspaper awry^ 
 is not public opinion, any more than one swallow is a summer. 
 He might write in living letters in his political arms as his motto,. 
 Carpe diem. Unlike the unthinking plodder who launches his 
 skiff when the tide sets against him, Mr. (let us say Sir John, for 
 we are anticipating) Macdonald only puts out when the current 
 is with him, and the " furrow follows free." Some men are for 
 ever wrestling with the winds and the tides of public opinion^ 
 because they have not been given the gift to see in what direc- 
 tion the currents flow ; but after they have been driven by the 
 adverse elements, which are stronger than they are, and which 
 have always conquered, and will always overcome whoso is 
 reckless enough to battle witL them, and see their opponents 
 progressing with flowing sail, they sneer and cry, "He has 
 waited for the wind and the" tide. He is only a creature of 
 expedient. We have not regarded the tempest or the waves, 
 but have buffeted them " — and, let us add, had shipwreck. 
 
 * Charles Lindsey, in Dent's " Portrait Gallery. " 
 
THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 287 
 
 " We do not wait till public opinion is in our favour, but set 
 boldly out, wrestle with it," — and let us add for them again, 
 get ashore. This has been Mr. John A. Maedonald's pre-emin- 
 ence: and if standing patiently by, and waiting till public 
 opinion is ready for him to secularize clergy reserves, or con- 
 summate a union of the straggling provinces, is to be a creature 
 of expediency, then such a creature, in the superlative degree, 
 is he. Brown's proposal of a coalition Macdonald saw wa» 
 the favourable turn to the tide which had up to that hour set 
 adversely. Because his efforts for union before would only 
 have been energy wasted, and a defeat-tarnish on the project 
 he had, up to this hour, held aloor ; because his exertions now 
 could be turned to triumph, he not alone joined hands with lh& 
 unionists, but with heart and heal became the leader of the 
 movement, halting not, or flagging not, as we shall see, till his. 
 i'deal victory had been won. 
 
 Let us now, briefly as we may, give the story of the various 
 steps, from the first to the last, of the confederation move- 
 ment. The idea of a federation of the colonies was not a new 
 one, and had been mooted many times before. Indeed so early 
 as the time when the New England colonies separated from the 
 empire, an article was introduced inlio the constitution of the 
 new confederacy authorizing the adriission of Canada to th& 
 union, should the latter seek such alliance. In 1810 an enter- 
 prising colonist put forward the federation scheme, but politi- 
 cal opinion was in a crude state, and nothing more was heard 
 of the proposition till four years later, when chief-justice Se- 
 well, of Quebec, submitted a plan of confederation to the Duke 
 of Kent. The Duke agreed, in a very cordial note, with the 
 suggestions of " my dear Sewell,'' and then pointed out that the 
 chief-justice was mistaken as to the number of legislatures in 
 the British North American possessions. Although the justice 
 had " quite overlooked " one province, he was satisfied that his 
 tcherae was a masterpiece of grasp and detail. In i8i'7 the 
 legislative council of Upper Canada originated resolutions aim- 
 
288 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 ing at a union of the two Canadian provinces, suggesting like- 
 wise a " union of the whole four provinces of North America 
 under a vice-royalty, with a/ac simile of that great and glori- 
 ous fabric, the best monument of human wisdom, the British 
 constitution." This movement exploded in rhetorical thunder, 
 and nothing more was heard of the scheme in public places till 
 Lord Durham had been disgraced, and had presented his report. 
 From that hour the question engrossed, more or less, the public 
 mind, and in 1849 the North American League, a body which 
 bore a somewhat similar relation to the British North American 
 provinces, as those three Tooley-street tailors did to the city of 
 Lon ion, met in Toronto and discussed the question, though the 
 immediate object of the gathering was an application of the 
 federal principle to the two provinces of Canada. In 1854 the 
 legislature of Nova Scotia adopted resolutions recommending a 
 closer union of the British North-American colonies. From 
 this period the imperial government seem to have set their 
 hearts upon a federation of the provinces. Leading statesmen 
 warmly recommended the measure in the house of commons, 
 and the foremost newspapers took up a similar tone. But the 
 plan approved by the Nova Scotia legislature was not for a 
 federation of all the provinces, but a maritime union, compre- 
 hending under one government, Nova Scctiu, New Brunswick 
 and Prince Edward Island. In 1864, the legislatures of these 
 provinces passed resolutions authorizing the appointment of 
 delegates to meet during the autumn, to discuss the project of 
 maritime union. At once it occurred to Mr. Macdonald that 
 the meeting could be turned to account by the government of 
 Canada in promoting the general confederation scheme. The 
 maritime-province delegates were to meet, in September, at 
 Charlottetown, and thither repaired eight members of the 
 Canadian administration. The delegates at this conference 
 were as follows : — 
 
 From Nova Scotia — The Hon, Charles Tupper, M.P.P., pro- 
 vincial secretary; the Hon. Wm. A. Henry, M.P.P., attorney- 
 
THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 
 
 general ; the Hon. Robert Barry Dickie, MiL.C. ; the Hon. 
 Jonathan McCully, M.L.C. ; the Hon. Adams G. Archibald, 
 M.P.P. 
 
 From New Brunswick— The Hon. S. L. Tilley, M.P.P., pro- 
 vincial secretary ; the Hon, John M. Johnston, M.P.P., attor- 
 ney-general ; the Hon. John Hamilton Gray, M.P.P. ; the Hon. 
 Edward B. Chandler, M.L.C. ; the Hon. W. H. Steeves, M.L.C. 
 
 From Canada — The Hon. John A. Macdonald, M.P.P., at- 
 torney-general, UpperCanada ; the Hon. George Brown, M.P.P., 
 prcs'ident of executive council ; the Hon. Alexander T. Gait, 
 M.P.P., minister of finance ; the Hon. George E. Cartier, M.P.P., 
 attorney-general, Lower Canada ; the Hon. Hector L. Lange- 
 vio, M.P.P., solicitor-general of Lower Canada ; the Hon. 
 William McDougall, provincial secretary; the Hon. Thomas 
 D'Arcy McGee, M.P.P., minister of agriculture. 
 
 Prince Edward Island v as represented by the Hon. Col. 
 Gray, M.P.P., president of the executive council ; the Hon. Ed- 
 ward Palmer, M.L.C, attorney-general ; the Hon. W. H. Pope, 
 M.P.P., colonial secretary ; the Hon. George Coles, M.P.P. ; the 
 Hon. A. A. Macdonald, M.L.C. 
 
 The Canadian ministei-s not having been appointed to con- 
 fer respecting legislative union, had no official standing at the 
 Island conference, but they were invited to join in the discus- 
 sion, of which courtesy they vigorously availed themselves. 
 " The Canadians descended upon us," said one of the Islanders 
 afterwards ; " and before they were three days among us we 
 forgot our own scheme and thought only about theirs." No 
 longer did any one speak of maritime union ; all were absorbed 
 by the greater project of a general federation, guaranteeing 
 local and joint control. " This scheme of ours," the attorney- 
 general for Canada West observed to some of his colleagues 
 as they walked home to their hotel after the discussion had 
 been a short time in progress, " like Aaron's serpent, has swal- 
 lowed all uhe rest." The objections that still exist to maritime 
 
 union, existed then ; the iii possibility of fixing the capital in 
 s 
 
290 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 one province witliout provoking- the animosity of the othei's. 
 There was a way by wliich this fatal bar niij^^ht have been set 
 aside, and that tlie adoption oi" the itinerant plan. Whou 
 the free school system was introduced through the provinces, 
 one of the most formidable obstacles to its operation often 
 proved to be the problem, Where is the teacher to board ? 
 and many a disti-ict, rather than see o^o family monopolize 
 the honours of the " master's " beard and lodging would con- 
 demn itself to the privation of having no school at all. But a.s 
 a way was found out of this dilemma by the teacher " board- 
 ing around the deestrict," a possibility of legislative union 
 for our maritime brethren is suggested by the idea that tho 
 government might board around the union, spending say, four 
 years at Fredericton, as many sessions at Halifax, and a like 
 term in Charlottetown. But, putting levity aside, we believe 
 that the day is coming when the three provinces named, and 
 Quebec with them, must unite in a maritime union, if thej', 
 one and all, would not be overshadowed, in the coming years, 
 by the provinces developing with such rapid strides in the 
 west. . . . .. i 
 
 So completely did the general confederation scheme absorb 
 the maritime idea that tho convention closed only to reassem- 
 ble at Quebec again, on a date to be fixed by the goA^ernor- 
 general of Canada. On a bright September morning, full of 
 high hopes of a future great Canadian nation, in which, doubt- 
 less, each member of the convention on board the steamer 
 Victoria as she ploughed along Northumberland Strait, was 
 fashioning out for himself a high place, the party sailed away 
 for Halifax. Here they were received with enthusiastic wel- 
 come, the city being literally en fete during their stay. A 
 sumptuous banquet was prepared in the dining-room of tho 
 Halifax hotel, at which Dr. Tupper, provincial secretary for 
 Nova Scotia, and the second ablest public man in the province, 
 presided. Making due allowance for after-dinner exagger- 
 ation, which is as the bubble on the champagne which gives it 
 
TUE DOMINION OF CANADA. 291 
 
 birtli, these speeches showed a careful mastery of the situation ; 
 many of the predictions made liave aheady been fulfilled, while 
 thf! consummation of others 's assured to us by fair promise. 
 M. Cartier, who was the only member that dijtped into Virgil 
 for allusion and jcw(ds, glanced into the inexorable future and 
 there saw a groat British-American nation with the fair pi'o- 
 vinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick as the arms of the 
 national body to embrace the .vealth which the Atlantic's 
 commerce would bring, with Prince E(lward Island as the 
 regal liead, and for a body the provinces of Canada stretching 
 from the sea in the east to the shadow of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains in the west It was reserved to later years to complete 
 this national giant, when, to extend M. Carticr's figure, British 
 Columbia became the national legs, le<7s that a cynic might say, 
 but that we flhall take the pains here to forestall him, may- 
 some day, us tl )y have lately threatened, walk away from the 
 trunk to a destiny of their own. Mr. John A. Macdouald 
 made a telliug speich.* While he took a hopeful vie\.^ of what 
 the confed .^ration would bring, he nowhere allowed his imagin- 
 ation to Lake flight with his judgment. He calmly, though 
 hopefully, examined the prospect, and declared that the con- 
 summation of the union had been for many years his fondest 
 drea7n. From Halifax the delegates passed over to New 
 Bruaswick, visiting the pretty little capital Fredericton, where 
 a conference was held with Lieutenant-Governor Gordon. St. 
 Joha extended its hospitalities to the "confederates," as the 
 visiiorfv were called, and the delegates departed for their homes, 
 the Canadians above all jubilant over the success that had 
 attended their visitation. Mr. John A. Macdonald, curiously 
 enough, is reported to have said, after the Halifax banquet, to 
 one cf his colleagues, " I admire this Tupper very much ; it 
 seems to me if 3'ou gnt him interested ir any movement, he is 
 not lUiel}'^ to falter, < t to be hindered by small obstacles." Of 
 
 
 *«te Appendix"!'.' 
 
292 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 the Now Brunswick delegates, Mr. Macdonalcl and his col- 
 leaguer- talked much, and he and they seemed taken with Mr. 
 S. L. Tilley, the provincial secretary, for the clear decisiveness 
 of his view, and the sincerity of his manners. There is no 
 reason to yuppose that, during die many years since that 
 political good fortune has thrown Mr. Macdonald in such close 
 contact with those two distinguished maritime-province men, 
 he has changed his mind. 
 
 On ohe 10th of Ocfiober, the day named by the governor- 
 general for the meeting of the conference in Quebec, the dele- 
 gates h id assernbled in that (paint city, looking so antique 
 that it might be regarded as having come to birth at a day 
 as far in the past as saw the origin of those grand old cliffs 
 that sentinel the leisurely flood of the St. Lawrence, which, 
 apparently, is here at pause on its way to the great sea. The 
 number of delegates had been increased by the presence of 
 Hon. (now Sir) Frederick B. T, Carter, speaker of the New- 
 foundland house of assembly, Hon. Ambrose Shea, leader of the 
 opposition in the game chamber, and Sir Etienne P. Tachd, A. 
 Campbell, Oliver Mowat, James Cockburn, and J. C. Chapais, 
 from the Canadian cabinet. The conference was organized 
 by the election of Sir E. P. Tach(? to the chair. The provincial 
 secretaries of the several provinces were appointed honorary 
 secretaries to the conference, and Major Hewitt Bernard was 
 chosen executive secretary. Then tlie doors of the tf tiference- 
 chamber were closed, and the moDientous discussiort went on, 
 without any one raising his voi»^e to say nay. When the con- 
 clave was ended, though no word had gone abroad to the public 
 of what had been done, i- Avas surmised that a plan of federal 
 union had been adopted . i,nd ^vould in due time be submitted 
 to the imperial government A round of hospitalities was in- 
 augurated, and at a sumptuoi:3 dinner, gi'en by the Quebec 
 Board of Trade, some members, under the influence of enthu- 
 siasm and champagne, were sore pressed to retain their porten- 
 tous secrets. Dr. Tupper spoke there, dilati i^', in his own 
 
T'lE DOMINION OF CANADA. 293 
 
 robustious and impassioned way, on the advantages the pro- 
 posed confederation must derive from union with his little 
 peninsular province Hon. S. L. Tilley followed in a speech 
 less forcible, though equally as convincing. He did not come 
 there, he assured his hearers, as a suppliant praying for 
 rtcognitioT* of i pauper province but as the representative 
 of what would y:vove one of the richest and most desirable 
 possessiojw of the confederation. Hon. Mr. Carter, of New- 
 foundland, spcke in his usual terse and telling style some good 
 words for his little colony — the most ancient of them all — 
 stan*' !ng like a solitary virgin out in those cold Atlantic waters, 
 friUjjOd in the summer time with fogs, and buffeted b}' the 
 rude stornis of winter. Mr. Carter was an able expo/ient of 
 his country's uiportance, but he was mistaken when he stated 
 that his broviior Newfoundlanders v/ould account it {! " loss to 
 t i lei': out of the union." Perhaps the very ablewt spefcTi was 
 Ih.at made it the public bariquet in Quebec some •}\i,yu ht^v by 
 the brilliant 'siid level-headed island politiciar., F on. Anbro^o 
 Sh":!a. He ^ j-ured his hearers that in tho ev^?:at of Li'; colony 
 eri-'ering tho anii n compact, theislandeirs ^/c lid not be the 
 only gainers. He dwelt at some length on tho richi?fj of the 
 seas around hip i.siand province, and spoke wiji. ust pride of 
 tho hardy character of the thirty thousand EtnArmn who reaped 
 the harvest from the waters, and of those * /ave fellows who 
 raiiged the j;'o-tields for the seal treasures. It v/as a time when 
 military aspects influenced statesmen. The mightiest civil 
 \var the world had ever known had convulsed the continent, 
 and v/hile the delegates were yet in Qi'tbec, rumours of threat- 
 ened JiTve^iojM v;ere on everybody's iips. Mr, Shea brought 
 forwai-d a teliing military consideration, in recommending his 
 colony to the union, which elicitet' ringing che. rs from the 
 auditors. " In considering a unioi) of the provinces," he said, 
 " it becomes necessary to take into account the position of 
 the proposed confederation v/ith regard to the safety and 
 defence. In this view, the position of Newfoundland becomes 
 
294 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 one of marked significance. Our island, as you know, stretches 
 across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, commanding both passages 
 by which the vast trade of the Gulf region and the St. Law- 
 rence river finds its way to the ocean. Now, were this colony 
 in the hands of a hostile power in war time, the trade of 
 Canada would be hermetically sealed as if perpetual winter 
 reigned here." Mr. Shea, whose flowing and impressive style 
 of oratory at once captivated his hearers, and caused at least 
 one shrewd delegate to say, " He will be an acquisition to the 
 Canadian parliament," was not so sanguine of the reception 
 the union scheme would meet with the colonists ; and frankly 
 stated that the question had not yet been discussed in the 
 Island press, and that himself and Mr. Carter had spoken only 
 for themselves. And it so happened that while the two 
 talented Islanders were in Quebec, a colonial " poet," always 
 burthened with the weight of the people's woes, sat at home 
 brooding much over the union scheme, and finally broke forth 
 into verses, some of the more brilliant of which, as presented 
 some months later on the hustings, were injunctions to the 
 colonists to- - 
 
 " Remimber the day 
 ' That Carter and Shea 
 
 r^ossed the say 
 Z ''81 er away 
 i'ht .igits of Tirr.T, Nova." 
 
 ^''' • ''; i n; de'i.gv'.'^s reached the island they found that 
 rcai ttii. t'labiti-M-t Lad taken the alarm. Several ora- 
 tors • li( .e ' :j3ch rjvealed their relationship to that land 
 wh rici. .\ j.rtain "^ ilnt expelled the frogs and snakes, went 
 jvs jin'.f a. i/unJ th.) coast, denouncing the " shkeemers " who 
 hr-d.- ei in " Ociady tryin' to sell their counthry." The in- 
 habit m' of Irish birth or extraction showed the greatest hos- 
 tility io the scheme, because the demagogues had led them to 
 believe that it would involve all the hardships and wrongs of 
 the union between England and Ireland. It is not strange 
 tb t the more rampant " antis " were the thousands who could 
 
THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 295 
 
 neither read nor write, and who lived huddled away in the 
 little nooks around the coast, fif-jhing for cod in summer, shoot- 
 ing game, and hauling firewood with dogs, in the winter. Ho.v- 
 ever, we are somewhat anticipating, and must tell in the proper 
 place how this cold virgin resented the proposal for political 
 wedlock. 
 
 Before the delegates dispersed, they paid a visit to the capi- 
 tal of this New Dominion, of which, it might be said, they were 
 now wildly dreaming. They set out on their journey by train, 
 accompanied by lady members of their family ; but, 1 ured by 
 the beauty which lights and transfigures our scenery in the 
 autumn, W\Qy took steamer and journeyed by the Ottawa river. 
 Some of the fair passengers declared they had seen grander 
 scenery, but never anything more lovely. They had, walling 
 their own provinces in, mighty cliffs, at whose feet they heard 
 the ocean thunder in storm, and sing songs unspeakably sad 
 ■and sweet in the calm. They had bold, airy mountains of their 
 own, sombre forests and rushing rivers, but never, they said, had 
 they seen anything so lovely as those groups of mellow islands, 
 robed in the autumn's glory, which at every bend of the river 
 were revealed to view. The sun set before the passage of the 
 I'iver was made, and as the soft twilight came stealing over 
 wood and dale, mingling its gloom "with the darkling hues of 
 the h;lls, the scene became enrapturing. The party sat upon 
 the deck till the shadows deepened into night, and the moon 
 climbed over the hills, listening to the murmur of the river 
 shallows, and the hoarse, warning roar of the rapids, one fair 
 lady looking with rapt glance upon the dim hills and shining 
 river flooded in silvery glory, the while gently murmuring, as 
 only a sweet-voiced woman can, who loves nature and sweet 
 verse for its sake, ■ ■■■. • 
 
 Blow, breezes, blow, the stream runs fast, 
 The Rapids are near, and the daylight's past." 
 
 The party was met at the little wilderness-citv by a torch- 
 light procossion, and escorted to Russell's hotel, around which 
 
296 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 an cit^usiastic assemblage had gathered. The pet of the mul- 
 titiiHe was Mr, John A. Macdonald, who was called for lustily 
 by imndreds of voices. After some time he appeared at one of 
 the windows of the hold, thanking the assemblage, in a few 
 iiappy sontente.5. for tlieir welcome, and expressing the hope 
 that at a day lot far di jtant, Ottawa might be the capital city 
 of a great British-American confederation. The citizens were 
 politic enough not to let their visitors depart without seeing the 
 natural beauties which abounded in their neighbourhood- 
 Through the bright, cold November morning, one of Mr. Dick- 
 inson's trim little steamers took the party three miles dow the 
 river, anc" thou turning, ran up, further than ever boat had ^v^iie 
 l<efore, into the boiling cauldron at the foot of Chaudiere Falls. 
 Leaving Ottawa, which had extended her fullest courtesies, 
 the party proceeded westward through the province, receivings 
 cordial veelcome and lavish hospitality at Kingston, Toronto, 
 HaniUton and other cities on the route. The delegates then 
 rei/Ui ed to their respective homes, eager to get before the 
 legislatures, and propose the scheme which had filled then with 
 such high hope. We bid good-bye to our visitors at Quebec, 
 and turn to watch the fate of the union in Canada, 
 
 Before parliament met, Mr. Mowat had grown weary of politi- 
 cal life, and accepted a vice-chancellorship on the judicial Ijench 
 of Upper Canada. It is needless, almost, to tell the reader, 
 that in time the shancellor grew weary of the bench, and en- 
 tered public life again. We must take the liberty of stating- 
 that werejard the exchange of the judicial seat for party place 
 a decensus averni, and an act bearing a close analogy to a 
 bishop leaving the episcopal chair, and turning railway direc- 
 tor. ^ . Mowat's case is not an exception in Ontario, but a 
 plurality of examples only makes the matter worse. The man 
 who is taken from among his fellows, and elevated to the chair 
 of justice, bears, in the public eye, a solemn stamp and seal,, 
 "which removes him from the influences and interests which 
 sway other men. lie is as one who renounces the world's ways. 
 
. TUE DOMINION OF CANADA. 297 
 
 and, entering the sanctuary, devotes himself to the «xcluaive 
 work of religion. He consecrates himself to justice, is regarded 
 in a different light from other men ; is ass'. aed to have no- 
 party prejudices, and to be an unmoved spectator ot the strug- 
 gle between individuals and parties, and all things whatsoever 
 that are begotten of difference of opinion. But when this man, 
 so consecrate to justice, stands up before the public, la5'^s by 
 his sacred robes, and, stepping down from the judgment seat,, 
 enters the world, and plunges into the mire of politics, a shock 
 is given to our honest faith in the sanctity of the bench ; the 
 solemn judge, in ermine and judicial insignia, expounding and 
 pronouncing, does not awe us any longer ; for we dream of a 
 day yet to come when we may find him figuring at some de- 
 grading political intrigue in a city ward, or endeavouring to 
 bribe an archbishop. Mr. W. P. Howland, who was a gentle- 
 man of ability and integrity, became postraaster-general in Mr. 
 Mowat's place. 
 
 Parliament met on the 19th of February, and, in the minis- 
 i-ry's opening speech, which the governor read, the confedera- 
 tion scheme was warmly recommended to the house. The 
 union question absorbed the almost exclusive attention of par- 
 liament. Some of the ablest speeches ever delivered in a 
 Canadian legislature were heard during the session. On the 
 ministerial side, Messrs. (John A.) Macdonald, Brown, Cartier 
 and McGee, supported the question with marked ability, while 
 with scarcely less skill and power Messrs. (John Sandfield) 
 Macdonald, Huntington, Dorion, Holton and Dunkin opposed 
 it. All that careful research and skilful manipulation of fact 
 and figures could urge against the scheme, was put forward 
 with impassioned force by these gentlemen. An eastern writer 
 tells a story of a dervish who had the power in form, face and 
 voice, of personating whomsoever he vrilled. The wizard had 
 a taste for political intrigue, and one day, as grand vizier, 
 learnt momentous soorets from the pasha, and again in the form 
 of some favoured sheik discovered intrigues, whicli, in league 
 
298 LIFE OF SIR JO UN A, MACDONALD. 
 
 with a daring and ambitious accomplice, he turned to his own 
 advantage. He could, indeed, the story goes, take the shape of 
 the loveliest occupant of the harem, and once, in the guise of 
 a beautiful houri, with eyes like night, and heart-entangling 
 hair, made the amorous prince lay bare every wile and secret of 
 his heart. The stoiy, we believe, to be an allegory representing 
 dramatic power. The dramatic quality in the possession o'f a 
 politician is not less dangerous than the metamorphosing power 
 of the dervish, for in a stupid, if not in a vicious, cause, the 
 public may become a victim to horror, vittue and awful in- 
 <lignation counterfeited. It appears that Mr. Dunkin, at the 
 liand of blind, indiscriminate nature, was il;e possessor in some 
 measure of the dramatic instinct. It is hardly worth while to 
 talk so much about his powers, or what he did, or to go to East- 
 ■crn lore for illustration, but nevertheless it may be said that he 
 counterfeited, in a very clever fashion, a vast amount of horror 
 and dread of the confederation scheme. " All that a well-read 
 public man," says Hon. John H. Gray, in his woi'k on " Con- 
 federation," ■' all that a thor-jugh "-i-ophist, a dexterous logician, 
 a timid patriot, or a prophet of evil could array against the 
 project, was brought up and pressed against the scheme." It 
 almost appears from reading Mr. Dunkin's utterances, that he 
 was opposed to the union, for at times he breaks away from his 
 art and becomes as impassioned as Cassandra, who sees the 
 swallow's neat fall from the wall of Troy, while the wooden 
 horse of the Greeks seeks admission at the gates. On Fri- 
 day the loth oV March the discussion had ended, and attorney- 
 ^;eneral Macdoiiald, rising, offered the following motion, " That 
 an humble ad Iress be presented to her Majesty, praying that 
 she may be graciously pleased to cause a measure to be sub- 
 mitted to the i?! jorial parliament for the purpose of uniting 
 the colonies of '.'li.nada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince 
 Edward Island and Newfoundland in one government, with 
 provisions based on certain resolutions, which were adopted at 
 ii conference of delegates from the said colonies, held at che city 
 
THK DOMINION OF CANADA. 299 
 
 of Quebec, on the 10th of October, 1805." This resolution, 
 after some discussion, was carried by a vote of 91 to 33. Of 
 the minority, four were from the upper province, and of the 
 majority fifty-four. The question might not have fared so well 
 in che lower province, but that M. Cartier was an enthusiastic 
 champion of union, and was supported by the priests almost to 
 a man. A motion similar to that carried in the house of com- 
 mons had been introduced in the legislative council by the 
 premier, Sir E, P. Tach(), and carried by a vote of three to one. 
 Parliament prorogued on the 18th of March, and during the 
 month following Messrs. (J. A.) Macdonald, Gait, Brown and 
 Oartier, proceeded to England, to confer with the imperial 
 government, and promote the scheme of confederation. The 
 most active member in forwarding the measure was Mr. Mac- 
 donald, who assured his colleagues that it would be impossible 
 to go back again to the old and troublous order. Up to this 
 point, and for some years later, it may be stated, the attorney- 
 general-west differed from his colleagues as to the details of 
 the confederation plan. He believed that the true system was 
 one parliament having supreme control, and a system of muni- 
 cipal institutions in each province with enlarged functions. To 
 this view his colleagues were determinedly hostile, expressing 
 their preference for provincial legislatures, and a controlling 
 joint authority. " I prefer that system too," argued Mr. Mac- 
 donald, " but what I fear is that it may be found impracticable. 
 I fear there will arise a collision of authority between the pro- 
 vincial legislatures and +he general parliament, which would 
 be an evil worse than that which we seek now to remedy." 
 His colleagues were of the opinion that this danger could be 
 averted by assigning to each parliament, at the outset, its .spe- 
 cial functions, giving it as M. Cartier expressed it, its " chart 
 of jurisdiction," whence no difficulty could arise. History has 
 vindicated the correctness of Mr. Macdonald's surmises, and 
 weighty opinion does now assert that we ouglit to have had the 
 system he advocated then, and that we are too much governed. 
 
800 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 " At present wo have," says the greatest living English writer * 
 " for a population of four millions, eight kings, one central and 
 seven provincial, as many parliaments, and sixty-five nkinisters 
 of the crown ; while England is content with a single king, a 
 single parliament— the members of which are not paid — and a 
 single cabinet, seldom containing so many members as the 
 cabinet at Ottawa. Wo have also judges and chief-justices as 
 the stars of heaven in number." Leading Canadian minds have 
 begun to ponder these figures. Is such a plenitude of government 
 needful they ask themselves ; if not, then why should it abide ? 
 Meanwhile the inhabitants of New Brunswick had taken 
 alarm, and a very gale of opposition to the confederation 
 I movement swept over the province. Before heavy guns are 
 put to the ordeal of battle, they are tested by tremendous 
 charges ; and boilers used for generating steam are subjected 
 to eaormous pressure, to guard against ruinous explosion in 
 the day of trial. When the delegates shut themselves up in 
 their secret chamber at Quebec, a sacred silence was imposed 
 upon each one present till the result of the deliberations 
 should be made known in the proper way through the legisla- 
 tures. There was no means of testing the secret-bearing capa- 
 city of members, else some explosions might have edified the 
 early stages of the proceedings. Nothing in the way of casu- 
 ality occurred, however, during the tour through the western 
 province, though some of the delegates did look the while so 
 important with their cargo of mystery as to remind one of a 
 heavy August cloud, full of lightning and thunder, that may at 
 any moment burst. But when one of the number reached his 
 home in Prince Edward Island, the secret had grown so oppres- 
 sive that he felt it would be impossible for him to contain 
 himself. When the pressure became intolerable, he went, in 
 a sort of reckless despair, and unburthoned to a newspaper 
 editor. Within three hours the terms of the Quebec scheme 
 
 * Prof. Goldwin Smith, in " The ByBtander " for March, 1880. 
 
THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 301 
 
 were flashed from end to end of British North America. The 
 New Bruns wickers took instant alarm. Trifling discrepancies 
 were magnified into frightful proportions. Tlie demagogue 
 cried out against " taxation," and the conservative against a 
 " sacrilegious meddling with the co :stitution." In March, 1865, 
 a general election was held, and so bitter was the feeling against 
 union, that not one of the Quebec delegates was elected. An 
 anti-confederate niinibtry was formed by Hon. (now Sir) A. J. 
 Smith, and George L. Hatheway. The result of the election 
 in New Brunswick told heavily on the fate of the question else- 
 where. The union enthusiasm of Nova ScoMa was instariHy 
 chilled ; the legislature seemed disposed to hold aloof from 
 the general federation plan, and passed resolutions favouring 
 alone a union of the maritime provinces. Prince Edward Is- 
 land suddenly developed a turbulent little temper of her own ; 
 spiritedly refused to have anything to do with confederation, 
 and repudiated the action of her delegates at the Quebec con- 
 ference. Newfoundland took no steps, and the ministry waited 
 till the other provinces had set the example of entering the 
 union before submitting the question to the polls. 
 
 The Canadian delegates, while in England, had several 
 lengthy conferences with the imperial ministers on the proposed 
 constitutional changes, on treaties and legislation, the defences 
 of Canada, the settlement of the north-west territories, the 
 Hudson Bay company's claim, and other subjects. The con- 
 federation scheme having attracted much favourable attention 
 in England, our emissaries were received with marked cordiality 
 by the ministry as well as by the Queen and royal family. 
 Hon. John A. Macdonald pressed upon the home government 
 the expediency of making known to the recalcitrant colonies 
 that the imperial authorities desired to see a union consumma- 
 ted ; for one of the weapons used against the project in Nova 
 Scotia and New Brunswick, was that the aim of the confedera- 
 tion was separation from the empire, and the assumption of 
 independent nationality. Such an intention at that day was 
 
302 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 regarded as a public ofronce. If it is an ofFcneo for tlie son, 
 approaching tlio years and the strength of maidiood, to turn 
 his thoughts to sopaiatlon from the homestead under whoso 
 jurisdiction and slielter he has lived during lils infancy and 
 boyhood, to sketch out a manly and independent career of his 
 own, plan to build his own house, conduct his own business, 
 and carve out his own fortune, then was It an offence for those 
 Canadians, if there were at that time any such, who on the eve 
 of union dreamt of nationality, of a time when C-anada would 
 have passed the years of boyhood, and be brave and strong 
 enough to stand forth among the Independent nations. 
 
 After the despatches of the colonial secretary had reached 
 the provincial government, some of those who had opposed 
 union on the ground of loyalty, now began with much consist- 
 ency to inveigh against the alleged " un^'ue pressure " of the 
 imperial government ; while many declared that "an atrocious 
 system for the coercion of the colonies into the hateful bond " 
 had been inaugurated in the home office. The truth is there 
 was neither pressure nor coercion exercised from the colonial 
 office, since no proceeding could have been more fatal to tho 
 prospects of the confederation. The home ministry had grown 
 to be enthusiastic supporters of the " new-dominion " scheme, 
 and stated their views at much length in their despatches to 
 the colonial governors, whom they wished to give to the proi'^ct 
 every possible proper support at their command ; but that wa'* 
 all. On the one hand Mr. John Macdonald and his colleajjues 
 avouched the loyalty of the provinces to the crown, and de- 
 clared that the colonists would spend their only dollar, and shed 
 the last drop of their blood, in maintaining connexion with the 
 mother-laad. The parent was much moved at these earnest and 
 lavish protestations of the child, and in token of her apprecia- 
 tion and gratitude guaranteed a loan for the construction of an 
 Intercolonial railway ; admitted her obligation to defend the 
 colonies with all the resources at her command ; and consented 
 to strengthen the fortifications at Quebec, and provide arma- 
 
THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 
 
 Tiients. Tlio Quebec schomo was amply and carefully dipcussed, 
 and our colonial nnnisters wore fairly matches for their impe- 
 rial brethren in diplomacy — notably so was Mr. John A. Mac- 
 donald, whose astuteness and statesmanlike views were tho 
 subject of much favouniblo comment. Among other things^ 
 the homo government undertook to ascertain what were the 
 rights of the Hudson Bay company, with a view to the cession 
 of the north-west territory to the Dominion. 
 
 A meeting of the Canadian parliament, to discuss the report 
 of the delegates, was called for the 8th of August. On the 30tli 
 of July, some excitement was caused in political circles by the 
 death of the premier. Sir Etienne P. Tachd, and as the meeting 
 of the legislature was to take place in a few days, it became 
 imperative that his successor should be appointed as speedily 
 as possible. The senior member of the cabinet, and beyond any 
 comparison, its most able and eligible member, was the attor- 
 ney-general-west, and for this gentleman the governor-general 
 promptly sent, requesting him to assume the place of the de- 
 ceased leader. Mr. Macdonald offered no objections, but, on the 
 contrary, believed that he was entitled by reason of his seniority 
 in the cabinet, to the vacant premiership. He waited on 
 George Brown to whom he stated what had passed between 
 himself and Lord Monck, but the grit chieftain refused to con- 
 sent to the arrangement, giving as his reason that the govern- 
 ment hitherto had been a coalition of three political parties, 
 each represented by an active party leader, but all acting under 
 one chief, who had ceased to be moved by strong party feelings 
 or personal ambition. Mr. Macdonald, M. Cartier and himself 
 on the contrary, he maintained, were regarded as party leaders, 
 with party feelings and aspirations ; and to place any one of 
 these in an attitude of superiority over the others, with the ad- 
 vantage of the premiership, would, in the public mind, lessen 
 the security of good faith, and seriously endanger the existence 
 of the covlition. He refused, therefore, to accept Mr. Macdon- 
 ald as premier, and suggested the appointment of some gentle- 
 
•304 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. - 
 
 man of good .standing in the legislative council. The grit 
 leader's motives, the reader can see as, well as ourselves, wero 
 partly patriotic, but above all they w^ero selfish. It was natural 
 that he should be jealous of the ascendancy of Mr. Macdonald, 
 but it would have been more creditable had he frankly said 
 so, instead of trying to hide his real motive behind the thin 
 screen of argument, that Sir Etierne Tachd was a colourless 
 politician, withouf strong party feeling. Mr. Macdonald, very 
 cahaly and oloarl} pointed out, in reply to Mr. Brown's objec- 
 tion, that at the time the coalition was effected, in 1864, Sir 
 Eti* nne Tachv5 held the position of premier, with himself as 
 leader in the lower house, and of tho Upper Canada section of 
 the govemrnent ; that Sir Etienne \^ as not selected at the time 
 of the coalition to the leadership a j a part of the agreement 
 for the coalition, but that he had been previously, as then, the 
 head of the conservative governmenf , and was accepted by all 
 his Lower-Canada colleagues withou : ( \ange. This it will be 
 seen cut away the ground completel}' from under Brown's con- 
 tention ; after which Mr. Macdonald stated that he had not much 
 personal feeling in the matter, and tliat if he had he thought it 
 to be his duty to overcome such feeli:ij; for the sake of carrying 
 •out tl < great scheme, so happily commenced, to a successful 
 issue. He would, therefore, readily stand aside, and waive his 
 pretensions to the premiership ; and then suggested the nar.' a 
 of M. Cartier for the vacancy. Mr. Brown said he could not 
 decide on this proposal without seeing his friends ; and went 
 away to consult Messrs. McDougall and Rowland. The result 
 of the conference was that M. Cartier was not acceptable 
 either, after which Mr. Macdonald informed Mr. Brown that he 
 and M. Cartier had decided on offering the premiership to Sir 
 Narcisse Belleau. To this Brown replied that he was still un- 
 satisfied, that his party would not have chosen Sir Narcisse ; 
 but he added : " Since we are equally with you desirous of pre- 
 venting the scheme for the confederation of British America 
 jeiceiving injury from the appearance of disunion among us, we 
 
Tllh: DOMINION OF CANADA. 306 
 
 shall offer no objection to his appointment." Sir Nnrcisso was 
 thcroforo installed, acceptinj^ the original policy of the coalition 
 ji^^ovornincnt. 
 
 The last session of the Canadian padianient, held in Quebec, 
 was opened on the 8Mi of August. The chief work of the f-^s- 
 sion was a consideration of the report of the delegates to l^^ng- 
 laiul. The goveriunent carried its measures by overwhelming 
 majorities, and there seemed no disposition to tolerate tiie ob- 
 struction of the small baud of opposition. During the session, 
 tho result of the hibours of the coinmission, apitointed in 18.57, 
 to frame a civil code for Lower Canada, was presented to the 
 legislature, and M. Cartier introduced a bill to carry tho same 
 into effect. The late Mr. S. J. Watson, a peculiai'ly vigon^us 
 writer, in referring to the speech delivered by M Cartier on 
 this occasion, remarks: " He spoke with the fteling of a man 
 Avho is conscious that he is placing the crowning stone on an 
 edifice which has cost him years of labour and anxiety to 
 build." The code went into operation on the 1st of August in 
 the following year. The house rose after a six-weelcs session ; 
 and in the autumn the public offices wore removed to tho 
 new capital in the wilderness, some one hundred and twenty 
 miles up the Ottawa river. During the su.imer, for tho sake 
 of convenience, the cabinet meetings were l.eld in Montreal. 
 
 Meanwhile, it was faring ill with George Bro''''n in the 
 cabinet. "The giant of the platform," «ays Bystander, "is 
 apt to shrink into less im[)osing dimensior.s when placed at the 
 •council board and pitted mind to mind against shrewd and able 
 men who are not to be swayed by rhetorical thunder. It was 
 always said that the southern slave-ownsr never w<i,s half so 
 happy at Washington, even in the hour af his political ascen- 
 dancy, as on his own plantation where ha was abso]utely lord 
 fm<\ master of all around him. Mr. Brown's position, it may be 
 easily believed, was more pleasant in the sphere where, instead 
 of finding his supremacy always contested, he. ruled with des- 
 potic sway, and could visit dissent from his opinion with the 
 
30G LIFE OF SIR JOHiS'' A. MACDONALD, 
 
 lash." His position bogan t » .^rovv so intolerable, that the vir- 
 tue which prompted hiui to enter the government, and givohi* 
 pledge to support tlie jninistry till the confederation scheme 
 was beyond danger, began to fti'lo out of him, and he only sought 
 a pretext for resignation. It ujinears, and it is nf>t greatly to 
 be wondered at, that Sir Narcisse Belleau was on:y the figure- 
 head of the adminisiiaiion, and that attorney- goxi^ral Macdon- 
 ald's was the ruling mind. Of Mr. Brown's personal unfriend- 
 liness, we might say bis hatred, towards Mr. Macdonald, we 
 have already heard, as shown in his refusal to ratify the latter 
 gentleman's appointment to the premiership ; and now that his. 
 enemy, despite this protest, was the virtual premier, the mind 
 which inspired, and the hand that shaped the policy of the ad- 
 ministration, was a thorn too stinging for him to bear. One 
 writer says that Mr. Brown should have foreseen all these things- 
 before entering the administration, but as we have already 
 shown, Mr. Brown was frequently, when apparently moving^ 
 according to the dictates of calm calculation, the victim of im- 
 pulse, and always incapable of forecasting probabilities or con- 
 sequences. Duty to some men is as the fixed star that the 
 mariner, sailing over the unknown main, follows with unfalter- 
 ing faith till it leads him to his haven ; but it is clear in the 
 record that with all the robust honesty and sense of right which 
 Jf.r. Brown possessed, this higher, and finer moral duty was not 
 to him a constant star. Strong and clear appeai'ed his duty 
 when he came to ccnservativo ministers and proposed p, coali- 
 tion ; promptly did he follow then what he deemed hit; duty 
 was ; and that, fc,o far, he did honourably, we might say nol>ly, 
 is by nothing so strongly proven as i^ thci protests entered by 
 that school of politicians, to which, ./ his own newspaper, he 
 had given life. But not far did he travel on his way when be 
 lost faith in the virtue of the star, faltered, dropped < ^, t, d 
 covered an Honourable })eginn'U£f with an ignomiriious o'v] ..^ 
 Lot us not anticipate, however, but see exactly what he did. - 
 
THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 307 
 
 The termination of the reciprocity treaty^ as those who have 
 borne the dates in n)ind remember, was now at hand, and the 
 commercial interests of the provinces demanded that the gov- 
 ernment should employ all possible means towards securing 
 renewal. Overtures which had been made, were treated with 
 contempt at Washington, so, at the suggestion of the imperial 
 governn^ent, a " Confederate Council on Commercial Treaties," 
 and comprising representatives from all the British North 
 American provinces, was held during the autumn of 18G5, at 
 Quel.ec. This council, among whose members was Mr. George 
 Bro .vn, recommended that a deputation should be sent to Wash- 
 ington, to endeavour to efTect a renewal. While Mr. Brown 
 was absent from Ottawii on jtibUc business, Mr. How land and 
 Mr. Gait were sent to Wa&hingron to negotiate there with the 
 committee of ways and me^. i« iaasmuch as Mr. Howland had 
 not been a member of the coi tderate council, and Mr. Browi) 
 had, the latter gentlemau rigarded the pieferenco cf the oth*^^- 
 as a perHonal slight, and - s iV-hv.t excuse Tlt wHh lid,wiu^ 
 himself ffcn tho cabinet. It will be seen thnt a very filmy 
 cloud obsoured Mr. Brown's star of duty. A principle that can- 
 not witnstand a personal slight, and one of such a nature as this, 
 is surely not worth the haviru,'. But in view of Mr. Brown's 
 subsequent attitude towards the treaty question, it will be ob- 
 served that Mr. Macdonald acted with his usual discmtion in 
 refusing to send to negotiate t^ treaty a man who ^. as hostile to 
 the very proceedings which it would be his duty to carrj^ ous.. 
 On learning that Howland had beori sent to Washington, Brown 
 at once resigned his -^eat in the ministry, and 'could not 1 , in- 
 duced by any pressure to alter his deci.sior. It ai . nr.- that 
 the affront received was not Mr. Brown's oidy '!,rounu of com 
 plaint against the govornrnenf;. Of the ministerial policy with 
 respect to the Washington treaty, he strongly disapproved. He 
 did not believe that we ought to go to Washington as suitors, but 
 that Washinglor. ought to come to us. In other words he was 
 not willing taa*: Mi^homet should go up to the mountain, but 
 
I 
 308 LIFE OF SIE JOHN A. MACDOXALD. 
 
 contended that the mountain ought to come down to Mahomet. 
 That this excellent view had taken possession of him is clear 
 from the following extract of a speech which he delivered dur- 
 ing the next session of parliament. " I was," he ^aid, " as much 
 in favour of a renewal of reciprocity as any member of this 
 house, but I wanted a fair treaty ; and we should not overlook 
 tie fact while admitting its benefits, that the treaty was at- 
 t ndod with some disadvantages to us. I contend that we 
 mould not hav(} gone to Washington as suitors, for any terms 
 they were pleased to give us. We were satisfied with the treaty, 
 and the American government should have come to us with a 
 proportion since they, not us, desired a, change." Of course 
 Uf body believes that Mr. John A. Macdonald sent delegates to 
 Washington begging for " any terms they were pleased to give 
 us." In a little while Mr. Brown passed from the transition 
 slate, and was pouring red-hot broadsides into the government. 
 His political Idstory ever told of such another man ? No 
 impartial writer hesitates to think if there may be found any 
 excuse for the man's course ; one might almost have ftincied 
 Alexander Mackenzie shrinking with his brush. Says Colonel 
 Gray : " Ei^ bor he (Mr. Brown) ought not to have joined the 
 g( vernme)\t or he ought not to have left it at that time. The 
 p-^ople sustained him in the first ; they condemned him in the 
 k,tter, Thr, reason he gave no one accepted as the real reason 
 and his opponents did not hesitate to say that he left the go- 
 vernmer i because he was not permitted to belts master." One 
 balm OP. y now could have healed the wounds of Mr. Brown, 
 and thiit the loyalty of his reform colleagues. But in the 
 dark lOur these deserted him. Mr. Howland openly disap- 
 proved of his leader's course, and when Mr. McDougall returned 
 to Canada, from which he had been absent on a mission of trade, 
 he endorsed the course of Mr. Howland. It may be said hero 
 that the mission to W^ashington was a failure, and that no 
 further attempt to secure reciprocity was made till several 
 years after confederation. 
 
THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 309 
 
 The last session of the provincial parliament met at Ottawa 
 on the 8th of June. The ministry's speech expressed the hope 
 that the union scheme would soon be un fait accompli, a^d that 
 the next parliament would embrace an assemblage not only of 
 the federate representatives of Canada, but of every colony in 
 British North America. A shiver had run through the public 
 with the tidings of the invasion by O'Neil's ruffians, and on the 
 assembling of the legislature an act suspending the Habeas 
 Corpus for one year was hurriedly passed ; also a measure pro- 
 viding for the protection of Lower Canada against invasion. 
 There was brisk discussion upon som.e of the government 
 measures, but the opposition found themselves in compari- 
 son with their opponents as " that small infantry warred 
 on by cranes ;" and hence, as the session wore on, learned not 
 to offer opposition where nothing was to be gained but a crown 
 of ridicule. A series of resolutions defining uhe constitution of 
 Upper and Lower Canada under the proposed confederation, 
 and which subsequently were, in greati measure, incorporated 
 in the imperial act, were passed, and likewise a tariff pro- 
 vision for the admission of such commodities as boots and 
 shoes, ready-made clothing, saddlery and harness, which had 
 hitherto, by virtue of the act of 1859, paid a duty of twenty- 
 five per cent., at a duty of fifteen per cent. ; while, to stimulate 
 native manufacture, a number of raw materials were put upon 
 the free list. To meet the deficiency which must result in 
 the revenue, an increased impost was placed upon whiskey. 
 Before the house arose a difference, suppressed for some time, 
 between the finance minister, Mr. A. T. Gait, and Mr. H. L. 
 Langevin on the subject of education in Lower Canada camo 
 to a head, and resulted in the resignation of the former gentle- 
 man, who, however, loyally supported the government in its 
 general policy, while feeling obliged to so far differ from it 
 on a particular question. Mr. Rowland took Mr. Gait's port- 
 folio, and Mr. solicitor-general Langevin became postmaster- 
 general in the ]>lace of the new finance minister. 
 
810 LIFE OF SIR JOUN A. MACDONALD. " 
 
 Meanwhile, reason had resumed her sway in New Brunswick 
 and Nova Scotia. In New Brunswick, shortly after the blind 
 goddess had scored her victory, opinion began to revolt against 
 the counsel by which it had hitherto been guided respecting 
 the great question at issue, and which, in its anti-progressive 
 and dark-age press had appealed to the condition of Ireland 
 under union for witness against the wisdom of the confederation 
 scheme. The public in a calm and sensible mood pondered the 
 question over, and remembered among other things the story 
 of the bundle of rods, which when fastened together could not 
 be broken, while each rod, tested singly, proved to be a frail 
 and unresisting thing. But they thought beyond the confines 
 of figure and allegory, and were eager for an opportunity to dis- 
 card the progress-brakes which had assumed the government 
 of the province. In 186G, the legislature of New Brunswick 
 met under exciting circumstances. The province had been 
 threatened with invasion by the Fenians, and, not unnaturally, 
 tlie public mind exaggerated small danger into great propor- 
 tions. There was some reason to suppose, and strong supposi- 
 tion, that the ministry which had assumed power by virtue of 
 opposition to the union, was »ot composed entirely of members 
 deadly foemen to theruflianr tln-eatening the province. Gover- 
 nor Gordon, in the speech 0[)ening the legislature, announced 
 that it \7as the earnest wish of the Queen that the provinces 
 ehjuld iiiiite in one confederacy, and strongly urged the ques- 
 tlo'.i upon the legislature. The Smith-Hatheway admin istra- 
 ti</n was willing to meet the royal wish half way. provided tl 't 
 New Brunswick obtained better terms in the compact than 
 those oftered in the Quebec scheme. But the public were 
 not dispoi.ed to aVlde by the half-way marches of the ministry, 
 or even to tolerat . li 3 existence. The legislative council, strange 
 to say, proved iliac on occasion it may be useful, \>y passing an 
 addre'ffi expressing the desire that the imperial government 
 might unite New Brunswick and the other provinces in a fed- 
 erative vnion. The ministry were obliged to resign, and the 
 
THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 311 
 
 governor called on Mr. (now Sir) Leonard Tilley to form an 
 administration. A dissolution followed, and to the same length 
 which the province A before gone in opposing confederation , 
 it now went in supporting the scheme. This election had a 
 marked influence on the fortunes of confederation in other 
 <][uarters. " The destiny of British North America," indeed, says 
 Mr. Archer, " was decided in New Brunswick." Nova Scotia 
 shook off" her torpor, and appointed delegates to proceed to 
 London, to perfect a measure of union. Meanwhile the little 
 province in the Gulf remained refractory, while her more rugged 
 ^sister out on the edge of the Atlantic was listless, save for the 
 harrowing " poetry " of her fisherrjcian-bards, and the metaphys- 
 ical flux of a Hebrew scholar. The little meadow-province 
 afterwards fell before the wooer, but the " ancient colony " chose 
 perpetual celibacy. Little Tom the sea baby once found in the 
 middle of the Northern Sea a solitary gair-fowl sitting bolt up- 
 right upon the Allalonestone, and singing at morn and eve, 
 singing ever, 
 
 " And 80 the poor dtone was left all alone, ' " ' 
 
 With a fal-lal-la-lady." ./'\::^^:.:':-^y 
 
 She was an ancient dame, having no wings, and despising 
 birds who had ; was supremely content with her isolation, and 
 disgusted with the progress of modern times. It seems to us 
 that Newfoundland has attempted to emulate the gair-fowl, 
 preferring that " the poor stone " should be " left all alone," to 
 •casting in her lot with a young nationab'tj' in the spring- bloom 
 of its strength. For the colonists — we are anticipating by a 
 few years — showed their hostility to union, by some unmis- 
 takable signs. When Hon. Ambrose Shea, who had been 
 the islai \ delegate to Quebec, paid a visit to Placentia, the 
 chief p!ace in his constituency, he was met at the landing by a 
 number of the inhabitants, some bearing pots of hot pitch, and 
 -others bags of feathers with which to bedeck " de shkeemer " 
 who tried to " sell his counthry." The writer just remembers the 
 
312 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 * 
 scene, and never will it leave his memory. In addition to tho 
 
 zealous " antis " with the tar and feathers, were about fifty indi- 
 viduals who sounded melancholy insult to he candidate through 
 these large conchs which the fishermen get upon their " bull- 
 tow " trains in summer, and another band of about thirty, who 
 blew reproaches and derision through cow-horns. They heaped 
 every possible insult upon the visitor, raved up and down tho 
 landings threatening 'his life should he attempt to come on 
 shore, till, at last, pained and disgusted, this man who had been 
 so often their benefactor when famine darkened their homes, who 
 was a statesman of whom any country might have been proud, 
 turned away and never visited the ungi'ateful spot again. Mr. 
 Shea, however, we may add here, did not drop nut of public 
 life, but still, with his brother, the colonial secretary, maintains 
 a leading place in the counsels of his colony, whose interests in 
 him have an able and zealous advocf-te. 
 
 In November, 1866, the Canadian delegation, consisting of 
 Messrs. John A. Macdonald, George E. Cartier, A. T. Gait, W. 
 P. Howland, Wm. McDougall and H. L. Langevin, proceeded 
 to England, where they were to meet the Nova Scotia and 
 New Brunswick delegates, to discuss the confederation plan. 
 The Nova Scotia delegates were Messrs. Tupper, Archibald^ 
 Henry, McGull/ and Ritchie ; those of New Brunswick were 
 Messrs, Tilley, Mitchell, Fisher, Johnson and Robert Duncan 
 Wilmot, the last named gentleman being the present lieu- 
 tenant-governor of the province. The delegates assembled 
 at Westminster palace on the 4th of December, and, by pre- 
 eminence, the chair was given to Hon. John A. Macdonald 
 during the conference. Lord Monck, who had left Canada on 
 a holiday tour, and who was a zealous advocate of union, ren- 
 dered what assistance he could to the delegates and to the im- 
 perial government. The conference sat till the 24th of Decem- 
 ber, after which the assemblage were in a position to proceed 
 with the structure of a constitution. Though some of the ablest 
 men our colonies have ever produced were instrumental in 
 
THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 31S 
 
 framing the new constitutional charter, Mr. Macdonald, it was 
 readily admitted, was the master-head. Many a time during 
 the progress of the negotiations, conflicting interests arose,, 
 which, but for careful handling, might have wrecked the 
 scheme ; and here the matchless tact of the attorney-general 
 of Canada West pre-eminently asserted itself. During the- 
 conference several modifications were made in the Quebec 
 draft. Several concessions were made to the maritime pro- 
 vinces, and a more uniform and equitable feature given to 
 the whole. The Nova Scotia delegates were confronted by the 
 colossal figure of Joseph Howe, who poured out a stream of 
 fiery eloquence againp*^ the confederation ; but those who were- 
 present say that Dr. Tupper turned the great orator's argu- 
 ments back with such force and clearness that the mind of the 
 imperial government never for a moment wavered in concluding 
 what its duty to Nova Scotia was. After the conclusion of 
 the discussion on the general scheme, the conference, in con- 
 junction with the imperial law officers, prepared certain draft 
 bills, which were afterwards fused into a harmonious whole, 
 and submitted to the imperial parliament on the 5th of Feb- 
 ruary following. On the 29th of March the amalgamated bill 
 received the royal assent; and on the 12th of April another 
 imperial act was passed authorizing the commissioners of the- 
 treasury to guarantee interest on a loan not to exceed £3,000,- 
 000 sterling, which sum was to be appropriated to the construc- 
 tion of an Intercolonial railway between Halifax and the St. 
 Lawrence. The union was not considered perfected by the consti- 
 tutional ceremony ; and needed a firmer linking by the bonds of 
 iron. On the 22nd of May a royal proclamation was issued from 
 Windsor Castle, giving effect to " The British North America 
 Act," and appointing the first day of July following as the data 
 on which it should come in force. Briefly, the act provided 
 that the provinces of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Sco- 
 tia should be one Dominion, under the name of Canada. This- 
 Dominion was divided into four provinces, named Ontario, 
 
314 LIFE OF SIR JOlJlT A. XACDONALD. 
 
 <Jiiebec, Now Brunswick ^^x Nova Scotia ; the boundaries of 
 the former two to be the same as those of the old provinces of 
 Upper and Lower Canada ; the boundaries of the two maritime 
 provinces remaining unchanged. The executive authority, and 
 the command of the naval and military forces, were vested in 
 the imperial sovereign, rei)resented by a governor-general or 
 other executive officer for the time being. The city of Ottawa 
 was declared the seat of government during the sovereign's 
 pleasure. The legislative machinery was to consist of a viceroy 
 or his deputy, and a ministerial council, to be styled the Queen's 
 privy council for Canada, the members of which body were to 
 be chosen by the governor-general, and to hold office during 
 his pleasure. The legislative power was vested in a parliament, 
 to consist of the Queen, the senate and the house of commons. 
 It was provided that a pailiament should be held at least once 
 in each year, so that not more than a twelvemonth might elapse 
 between session and session. The ridiculous system of election 
 to the political dead-house was abolished, — though the gigantic 
 thing itself was maintained — and it was provided instead that 
 the senate should consist of seventy-two life members, twenty- 
 four for Ontario, twenty-four for Quebec — an apportionment 
 which, in view of the disparity of population and the outlook 
 of increased inequality, would have been a rank injustice, but 
 that the members so distributed are but the shadows in an in- 
 stitution which in practice is a myth — and twelve for each of 
 the maritime provinces, the members to possess certain pro- 
 perty qualifications, to be appointed by the Crown, and to re- 
 tain their seats for life, unless guilty of gross misbehaviour. 
 Becoming swinishly intoxicated, and while in that state vom- 
 iting over Turkey carpets at vice-regal banquets were not fore- 
 seen in framing the constitution, so that senators offending in 
 that way may retain their seats. Provision was made for in- 
 ■creasing the membership of the body, but the number (as finally 
 arranged) was not to exceed eighty-two, or to reach that limit 
 unless upon the enCry of Newfoundland into the confederation. 
 
THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 315 
 
 The principle of representation by population was established 
 for the house of commons, the basis adopted for the original 
 adjustment being the census of 1861, It was declared, how- 
 ever, that an adjustment should take place eveiy ten years, 
 upon a census of population being obtained. The representa- 
 tion of Quebec was permanently lixed at sixty-five members, 
 while that of each of the other provinces was to bear the same 
 relation to the population thereof that sixty-five should from 
 time to tin e bear to the population of Quebec, The repre- 
 sentation for the whole union was fixed at 181 members : 
 eighty-two for Ontario, sixty-five for Quebec, nineteen for 
 Nova Scotia, and fifteen for New Brunswick. 
 
 The duration of the house of commons was not to exceed 
 five years. Constitutions were likewise given to the four pro- 
 vinces embraced in the union. Each comprised a lieutenant- 
 governor who was to be appointed by the governor-general, 
 paid out of the general treasury, and to hold office for five years ; 
 an executive council which was to be appointed by the lieu- 
 tenant-governor, who had the power of dismissal ; a legislative 
 council to be nominated by the lieutenant-governor and to hold 
 their seats for life* ; and the house of assembly. Such legisla- 
 ture was to have control over local aflfairs, all questions of a cha- 
 racter affecting the dominion at large falling within the juris- 
 diction of the general government. It is hardly necessary to 
 say that the jurisdiction of the federal and the provincial par- 
 liaments in many cases remind one of those colours on the can- 
 vas which meet and to the eye seem to soften and blend, so 
 that it passes the keenest skill to say where the one begins or 
 the other ends ; and that, therefore, it was impossible by the 
 terms of any constitution to so define respective jurisdiction as 
 to avoid collision of authority in the future. One notable case, 
 as our readers will readily remember, has of late years arisen, 
 namely, the question whether the power to pass certain laws 
 
 * Onturio had the gocd sense to dispense with an upper chamber, and her legis- 
 tion has never been the worse in consequence. 
 
31 G LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 regulating the liquor traflic resides in tlie general or the 
 provincial parliaments, the learned and clear-headed chief 
 justice of New Brunswick affirming that the jurisdiction lies 
 in the province, not in the dominion ; the distinguished chief 
 justice of Canada maintaining, on the other hand, that tho 
 authority is not in the province, but in the dominion ; while 
 other eminent jurists contend that the power resides not 
 according to the terms of the act bearing upon such cases, 
 either in the one legislature or the other. Provision was made, 
 likewise, in the British North America Act, for the admission 
 into the confed!T;ition, of any colony thnt had so far refused to 
 be a party to the coniY^act. The i-oyal proclamation announced 
 the names of seventy-two senators, thirty-six of whom wero 
 conservatives and thirty-six reformers ; so that when the date 
 which was to witness tho birth of the Dominion came round, 
 the machinery was in readiness to set in motion. When tho 
 delegates returned from England, Lord Monck, who had been 
 a zeal >us woiker in promoting union, turned his thought to 
 the choice c "an admi.il^aation to be called to the government 
 of the fedeiatod provinces. As to who the leader shoidd be^ 
 he doubted not a moment. Many warm and able advocate* 
 had had the scheme of union among those who sat at tho 
 Westminster Conference, as well as among numbers of others 
 in the parliament and the press ; but above all these towered tho 
 tigure of Hon. John A. Macdonald. We have seen that he dif- 
 fered at the outset from his colleagues as to the form some 
 details of the scheme ought to take; but that a union of the 
 scattered colonies was the only solutiou ij the troubles dis- 
 tracting the provinces, he never doubted. From the moment 
 the coalition was formed, his v.a.^ the head that planned, the 
 hand that shaped, the negotiations. It is not going too far 
 to say, in glancing at his exertions, and the obstacles which 
 were presented at every stage of the proceedings, that had 
 it not been for Mr. John A, Macdoiiald we might not at 
 this day have a confederation, George Br' )wn sought rep- 
 
THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 817 
 
 rcsentation by population, and entertained the proposal of con- 
 federation only as a means to that end ; Lowor Canada was 
 apathetic, and rather interested in resisting Brown's move- 
 ment than anxious to enter a combination which would not 
 increase her prestige. Mr. Macdonald, ajipearing upon the 
 scene at this critical time, thus on the one hand appealed 
 to Mr. 1 rown: You will through federation get represen- 
 tation by population, and, turning to the French party : The 
 time has now come when you must recede from the ground on 
 which I have so hmg sustained you ; you must now choose 
 between a subserviency to a majority in all things, or a mea- 
 sure that will make you supreme in your domestic concerns, 
 and give you the authority to which your number entitles you 
 on questions of national importance. Mr. Mackenzie naturally 
 enough, perhaps, considering our poor fallen nature, is jealous of 
 the position Mr. Macdonald takes after the accomplishment of 
 the union. " Having," says this graceless biographer, " no great 
 work of his own to boast about, he bravely plucks the laurel 
 from the bi ows of the actual combatants, and real victors, and 
 fastens it dxi his own head." Who, pray, Mr. Mackenzie, were 
 the " actual combatants ? " Who were " the real victors ? " 
 We know not and we write from the record, seeking not to 
 put laurels on brows that have not won them. .Surely the 
 question is a question of fact, not one of malice. 
 
 Lord Monck, as we have said, who had watched the course 
 of Mr. Macdonald, who remembered how that statesman had 
 turned the Prince Edward Island conference to account, the 
 attitude he had assumed after the conference, and his position at 
 the Westminster meeting, had no difficulty in concluding that 
 far beyond all others was his place in accomplishing the great 
 event, and that for this reason, a nd by virtue of his first-class 
 abilities as a statesman, to him belonged the honour of leading 
 the first Canadian administration. He wrote a note asking if 
 Mr. Macdonald would corne and see him, and then told the at- 
 torney-general- west whtvt his intentions were. Mr. Macdonald 
 
318 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 uxprosHcd his obli^'ations, ;md hi.s willingness to take any duty 
 that \\\H excellenc}' asHignoil to him. Upon the recommendation 
 of the ])rimc minister, almost entirely, it was that the members of 
 the ministry were chosen. Like the " heretic " who, on receiving 
 baptism and entering the fold oi'i.he Roman church, finds all his 
 past blotted out as if it had never been — ihoughhis sins had been 
 red as scarlet — ai.d begins life denovo, so was the past of party 
 in Canada obliterate i, Mr. Macdonald and Lord Monck arjrued 
 — though of course nci. precisely in our figure — and the new 
 ministry, drawn from every pr )vince, and. all parties, would 
 begin its career without a political stain. With confederation 
 arose new problems, now interests, new aspirations; old ques- 
 tions were brushed off th" stage, and nought remained but 
 hollow names. Lord Monck indeed believed that in the ap- 
 pointment of a compound ministry, a death-blow would be 
 struck ai party ; but Mr. Macdonald assured him that party 
 would survive the discarded institutions, and resist all the ex- 
 pedients that ever entered the brain of man. But while regard- 
 ing this evil of responsible government irrepressible he advised, 
 as we shall see, the formation of a ministry from among all 
 parties in the colonies. " The confederation," he said, latei' on, 
 " is the work of the people of these provinces, irrespective of 
 old-time party opinion. I do not want it to be felt by any 
 section of the country, that they have no representation in the 
 cabinet, and no influence in the government. And as there are 
 now no issues to divide parties, and as all that is required is to 
 have in the government the men who are best adapted to put 
 the new machinery in motion, I desire to ask those to join me 
 who have the confidence of, and represent the majorities in, the 
 various sections, of those who were in favour of the adoption 
 of this system of government and who wish to see it satisfac- 
 torily carried out." In due time the members of the new cabinet 
 were announced, as follows : 
 
 Hon. John A. Macdonald Premier and Min. ofJicstioe. 
 " A. T. Galt ~ - - Minister of Finance. 
 
THE DOMINION OP CANADA. 310 
 
 Hon. Alexander Campdell - - Poatmmter-Geneml. 
 
 " A. J. Ferousson-Blaiu President of the Council. 
 
 " W. P. Rowland - - Min. Inland Revenue. 
 
 " Geoiuje E. Cautier - Min. Mliltiv and Defence. 
 
 " Wm. McDouqall - - Minister rihlic \Vorh». 
 
 " S. L. Tilley - . . . Min. of Customs. 
 
 " Peter Mitchell - Min. Marine and Fisheries. 
 
 " H.L.L ANGEVIN - - Sec. of State for Canada. 
 
 " J. C. Chapais - - - Min. of Agriculture. 
 
 " A. G. Archihald - - Sec. of State for Provinces. 
 
 " Edward Kenny - - . Receiver-General. 
 
 Lord Monck was sworn into office as governor -general of 
 the New Dominion by Chief Justice Draper, after which he 
 announced that Her Majesty had instructed him, through the 
 Colonial Secretary, to confer the order of knighthood upon 
 Hon. John A. Macdonald, and the distinction of Companion- 
 ship of the Bath on Messrs. Tilley, Tupper, Carti^r, Gait, Mc- 
 Dougall and Howland. Messrs. Oartier and Gait refused the 
 favour, and it soon became known that the former gentleman 
 was wounded to the quick that, in granting the higher honour 
 of knighthood, he had been ignored. But what he feit worse 
 than all, with that impulse that rushes .souietimes into the 
 rashest consequences with its eyes shut, was that the man with 
 whom 1 had borne the brunt of so many hardly fought battles- 
 should b aithless to the friendship that had so long bound the 
 two toge\her as " with hoops of steel." He believed, in shorh, 
 that the ;;light was due to Mr. Macdonald's selfish ambition 
 which coveted the crowning honour for itself alone. The truth 
 all the time was, that never lived a loy.iler friend than Hon. 
 John A. Macdonald ; that the knighthood was not obtained at 
 his solicitation or even with his knowledge, but the work of 
 Lord Monck, who conceived the honour to be a fitting one to 
 the first statesman called to lead the government of the new 
 nation. That M. Cartier had borne a noble part in the move- 
 ment for the federation was undoubted, but so had many others 
 
:320 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALJX 
 
 •who v/ore viaitedwifli no Ligher token of imperial rcc^'ard than 
 tbo worthy leader of the Fi'onch Canadians. V7itli the un- 
 H ounded t'livahy of his nature the premier set to v/ork to 
 redeem what, in view of M. Cartiei's feelin<^s, was a diplomatic 
 blunder ; and a year later it was announced that the French 
 l.;'iuler had licen ci'eated a baronet of the United Kingdom, a 
 iiigher dignity than had been conferred npon the prime minis- 
 t(!r himself. M. Cartier was somewhat ipollified, but tht origi- 
 nal hurt rankled in the very marrow, and to use the phrase of 
 one of our writers, the golden bowl once shivered could not be 
 restored again. Such, then, is the history of the confederation 
 inoM^ment — from the beginning to the triumphant ending — 
 wlr'ch, like the river that takes its rise in obscure ground begins 
 its ji^urney with feeble motion, winding on with seeming hesi- 
 tatioa, througli various bends and turns, sometimes entering 
 the dark forest that the thoughtless spectator believes will hide 
 the svrea?ii forever, but emerging again with greater speed and 
 sturdier pi'.rpose, sv/eepmgon, halting never, and flowin;i round 
 the inonnraiii tLat rises to bar its way, till, " at la.-:t the longed- 
 for clash of ","/-aves is heard," and it joins the bioad, bright sea. 
 Though gifbtieing backward, we fin<l that the years have begun 
 to invest e/ents once standing out in .such distinctness, with 
 vague outline and shadows, stil! so long as endures the story 
 •of the creation of tiie Do'-iinion of Canada, one clear form 
 will appear above ali the rest, and that the figure of the Right 
 Hon. Sir John Alexander Macdonald. 
 
CHAFTER XVII. 
 
 TH£ FIRST DOMINION CABINET. 
 
 GEORGE ETliiNNE CARTIER was born at St. Antoine, in 
 the County of Verch^res, on the Gth of September, 18X4. 
 Tradition, perhaps hazarding a guesa, connects him with the 
 great Jacques of the same name, so prominent a figure in 
 the early history of Canada. After finishing bis education in 
 the College of St. Sulpice, Montreal, M. Cartier studied law in 
 the office of M. Edouard Rodier ; and, in 1835, began (practice 
 at Montreal. Two years later the province war in a iarae of 
 rebellion, and like most of his spirited compatriots at the time, 
 the young barrister shouted his vivas for Papineuu and La Li- 
 bert^. He fought with much bravery under Dr. 2-Telson at St. 
 Denis, and when the bloody drama was ended fled to the United 
 States, where he remained till the clouds of revolt at home had 
 rolled away. While still under the ban of the law he returned 
 by stealth to Montreal, and shut himself up in his rooms during 
 the day. In the evening he quietly left his confinement, seek- 
 ing the suburbs for exercise and fresh air, and as he glided 
 along the lonely roads in the gloaming, he often related after- 
 wards, he fancied that mysterious footsteps dogged him, and 
 that every bush concealed an officer. At last, semi-official in- 
 formation reached him that if he conducted himself with dis- 
 cretion, the law would wink at the past. M. Cartier, we may 
 be sure was as patriotic as most of his countrymen, but the 
 phantom of a hangman dangling a halter had haunted his pil- 
 low so long that the patriotism which had once put oa the wings 
 of revolution, was ever afterwards, in his breast, frozen at the 
 
 U 321 
 
322 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. ' ^ 
 
 source. For ten years the young lawyer diligently applied 
 himself to his profession, shrinking from notoriety, but never 
 losing interest in pol'tieal questions ; and all the while yearning- 
 for the political sphere. In 1848, he saw his ambition gratified 
 in being elected for Yercheres, which constituency he repre- 
 sented till 18G1, when he overthrew the rouge Goliath, A. A. 
 Dorion, in Montreal, dealing a blow to Lower Canada gritism 
 from which, it may be said without exaggeration, it has never 
 since recovered. We have seen that, early in 1856, he was 
 chosen provincial-secretary in the MacNab-Tach^ administra- 
 tion, and that four months later he became attorney-general in 
 the Tach^-Macdonald ministry, in the room of Mr. Drummond^ 
 who had gone out of the cabinet in dudgeon, because Mr. Mac- 
 donald, instead of himself, was chosen to the leadership in the 
 assembly. The following year the Macdonald-Cartier govern- 
 ment came into existence, but after a few iiionths the wheel 
 went round, and the Car tier- Macdonald ministry appeared 
 upon the scene. Weighed against even many of his contem- 
 poraries, M. Cartier would be light In the scale, unless we con- 
 found his success with his merit. He had a keen perception of 
 every question, but his view was narrow ; and while he prized 
 the interests of his country, party was to him before patriotism, 
 and self before party. A dark picture you draw us surely, says 
 some one at our elbow, who has seen the French leader upon 
 the wall so long enveloped in a blaze of glory. Yes ; it is a 
 black picture, but we, to whom the tasks falls, however unwor- 
 thy we be, to sum up the work and paint the portrait, must not 
 falter in our duty, though our naked sketch reveal an imper- 
 fect man. M. Cartier had many faults. For some of these he 
 was not responsible, as they were inheritances of his birth. It 
 would be unfair to blame him that his understanding was not 
 broad, and that his judgment frequently was unsound ; or 
 that when he spoke to an audience his voice was harsh and un- 
 sympathetic, and seldom captivated hearts. It is just that we 
 blame him for being selfish, for giving bridle to his temper un- 
 
THE FIRST DOMINION CABINET. 323 
 
 der srxiall provocation, and for holding, not unfrequently, in con- 
 tempt men the latchet of whose shoes he '.<as not worthy to 
 loose. Yet we have seen that he was successful. He had an 
 unbounded anMtion, a profusion of net.-vous force, an unflagging 
 perseverance, c vctivity as restless as tlio winds of heaven ; 
 and, to crown these invincible tools i:i the hands of a man who 
 sets excelsior for his motto, he hud an aggressiveness that 
 pushed aside obstacles and all opposiiig j)retea8ions, and a ca- 
 pacity for organization that always astonished and sometimes 
 bewildered those who are not given to analj'sis, but who are 
 charmed by flash. No political lea<ior could ignore M. Cartier, 
 for he would prefer being matched against half a dozen strong 
 men, to feeling that they had arrayed against them a tireless 
 energy that never slept, never paused, than drilled on, and would 
 work its way through iron walls till it reached its ends. 
 
 Alexander Tilloch Gait, the chief of finance in the new min- 
 istry, the son of John Gait, a writer of some note, and the 
 friend and biogi-apher of Lord Byron ; was born at Chelsea 
 London, on the 6th of September, 1817. Fired by the suc- 
 cesses of his father, he showed an early ta ste for literature, and 
 when in his fourteenth year contributed to Fraser'a Magazine. 
 A writer in the Illustrated London News refers, with much 
 approval, to this early contribution ; but we can only shed 
 compassion backward through the years upon the editor of 
 Eraser's Magazine. It is a sore task enough for a magazine 
 editor to have to read, and reject the tomes of manuscript 
 produced by adults, but it is horror opening her flood-gates 
 upon his head when he is not safe from boys of fourteen. 
 Therefore, we must not be regarded as considering that either 
 the spirit which prompted Mr. Gait to write at fourteen, or the 
 matter he wrote, was good ; we do not approve of the parent 
 who permitted him to write ; neither does the judgment of the 
 editor commend itself to us, who published the lad's effusion. 
 Literature after a short stay with young Gait waved her wing ; 
 and the young man fixed his eye upon some other star. The 
 
324 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALJ). 
 
 Gait farrily emigrated to Canada, in 1824', and when Alexander 
 had attained his sixteenth year, he entered the service of the 
 British American Land Company, in the eastern townships, as 
 a junior clerk. His marked abilities brought him to notice, and 
 his rise through the various st iges of the department was rapid, 
 till he reached the post of commissionership. " During his 
 twelve years management/' says a reliable authority, " the com- 
 pany was changed from one of almost hopeless insolvency, to 
 that of a valuable and remunerative undertaking." Mr. Gait 
 first entered parliament when the country was aflame over the 
 rebellion losses bill, but at this period he seemed to be less use» 
 ful as a politician than as a business man. He endeavoured to 
 distinguish himself as a shining protestant by opposition to 
 catholicity, though the true way for him to prove the superior- 
 ity of his protestantism, was to worship God in his church in a 
 simple earnest spirit, and when he left the temple to do unto 
 others as he would have others do unto him. Uncharitableness 
 and intolerance are not any more true protestantism, than 
 Catholicism is the drunken zeal of those brutal mobs that stood 
 up in defence of the " church," when Gavazzi lectured in Que- 
 bec and Montreal. In the lapse of time, Mr. Gait outgrew weak 
 prejudice, and he was for many years regarded as being " too 
 judicial " for the warped ways of the politician. He was a 
 valuable member when measures were supported or opposed 
 merely for party's sake, and sat as one alone in the house, now 
 warmly supporting a view of the government, and again ap- 
 pearing the most censorious among the opposition. From the 
 first his opinion on all questions of trade and finance commanded 
 the close attention of the house. Upon the collapse of the 
 Brown-Dorion ministry, he was requested to form an adminis- 
 tration, but having practically alienated himself from party, he 
 had no following in the house, and not being possessed of the 
 blind ambition of George Brown, wisely refused to attempt a 
 task which must have ended in failure. We have already noted 
 other events in his career, and shall see him again before we 
 
THE FIRST DOMINION CABINET. 
 
 close. Mr. Gait, though not born in Canada, is a Canadian, 
 and even with his eccentricities is a credit to his country. His 
 political compass as our readers are aware, has frequently taken 
 fits of wide variation ; to intensify the figure a little his opinion 
 has gone round the compass. He has shown decided leanings 
 to the policy of the reformers ; and at times has sounded notes 
 with the true ring of the conservative. This perhaps Mr. Gait 
 himself would call the swinging of the pendulum, denoting a 
 well-balanced non-party man ; but unfoitnnately the time came 
 when the pendulum, reaching one side, remained there. For 
 example, Mr. Gait was a zealous champion of confederation, 
 and we write it down, with a hearty feeling, to his credit. At 
 another period of his life he was something quite difFcT'ont. A 
 band of men gathered together in Canada shortly after the tory 
 mob had burnt the parliament buildings in Montreal, and cir- 
 culated a manifesto recommending " a friendly and peaceful 
 separation from British connexion, and a union upon equitable 
 terms with the great North American confederacy of sovereign 
 states." A number of gentlemen of good standing in Canjida, 
 supported the scheme, and one of these was Mr. A. T. Gait. 
 There would be nothing striking in this historical morsel but 
 that, a few months ago, while trying to restrain her laughter, 
 Canada stood watching the same Mr. A. T. Gait, as Cana- 
 dian high commissioner to England, endeavouring to set flying 
 no less a kite than a scheme for the federation of the empire. 
 The idea, unfortunately fc/ the fame of Mr. Gait, is not original, 
 and even in the way of second-hand is only a half-way measure. 
 For, in Locksley Hall. Tennyson has a much better proposal, 
 as we learn when he sincrs of the time 
 
 o 
 
 " When the war drum throbs no longer, and the battle-flags are furled 
 In the parliament of man, the federation of the world." 
 
 But as the Canadians are not far enough advanced yet to appre- 
 ciate such an admirable scheme as this, Mr. Gait should have 
 brought the project out in a story-book rather than in a prac- 
 
326 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 tjlcal way. Had Jules Verne proposed all those elaborate ideas 
 of his to the French government, he might not have succeeded 
 either, but he wisely instead put them forth in his " Ten Thou- 
 sand Leagues under the Sea," his voyage through the heavens, 
 and other unusual excursions. Should it ever occur to Mr. Gait 
 that his federation plan might be extended so as to take in 
 the moon, we beseech of him not to make the proposal in the 
 formal way either to the British or the Canadian government — 
 as so surely as he does they will not take kindly to the scheme 
 — but simply bring it out in a novel. If we except this one 
 marvellous idea, so far as relates to Mr. Gait's public career, his 
 influence upon political life in Canada has been for the better, 
 and he deserves well of his countrymen. As his mission at the 
 court of St. James has, by his own desire, been brought to a 
 close, and he is again to become a resident of Canada, we only 
 express the wish, that must be general, that the country may 
 for many years to come have the benefit of his experience, pru- 
 dence and great ability in public matters. We beseech of him» 
 from our own feeling, and on behalf of Canadians, however, to 
 purge his mind of this federation phantasm. 
 
 Perhaps one of the most prominent men in the new ministry 
 was M. Hector L. Langevin, secretary of state for Canada, 
 M. Langevin is a son of the late Jean Langevin, who was as- 
 sistant civil secretary under Lords Gosford and Sydenham. 
 He was born in the city of Quebec on the 25th of August, 1826. 
 Educated in the city of his birth he began the study of 
 law in the office of Hon. A. N. Morin, concluding his course 
 with the late Sir George E. Cartier. He was called to the bar 
 in 1850. Early in life M. Langevin gave evidence of the first- 
 rate abilities which were to be employed in the service of his 
 country in later years. In connexion with the practice of his 
 profession he was at various periods the editor of three differ- 
 ent newspapers, of the Melanges lieligieux, and the Journal 
 d! Agriculture f in Montreal ; and of the Oourrier du Canada, in 
 Quebec. He had the desire common to so many aspiring young 
 
THE FIRST DOMINION CABINET. 32T 
 
 men in this country to enter political life, and began his public 
 career in the capacity of mayor of Quebec, to which office he 
 was several times elected. In 1855, he took the first of three 
 prizes for an essay on Canada, written for circulation in Paris, 
 in which paper as in his other contributions he gave promise of 
 jreaching high literary eminence, though, somewhat unfortu- 
 nately for letters, the public charmer, with her siren tongue, 
 won him for her own. He made his first appearance in parlia- 
 ment, the reader remembers, in 1857, when he was elected for 
 Dorchester. Through the many years that followed till death 
 removed M. Cartier from the scenes, M. Langevin acted the part 
 of a loyal, and skilful second, in his party, though the eye of 
 Lower Canada lit not with enthusiasm save when it fell upon 
 the imposing figure of the principal. Yet to us, M. Langevin 
 in the 7'ole of second to M. Cartier, seems like the sun acting 
 satellite to the moon. As a statesman, to M. Cartier we can 
 only accord a second place ; to M. Langevin we give a first. 
 If no tempest come, it is impossible for one to " ride the whirl- 
 wind and direct the storm." Yet, we may from observing the 
 man in the calm judge of his capacity in the hour of tumult. 
 M. Langevin has been described by some critics as a narrow 
 bigot, caring only for the welfare of his own race, and grudging 
 ^nd opposing the progress of his English brethren. We are 
 ^lad to say that these are the accusations of peraons who know 
 not M, Langevin, and who perhaps cared not to know him, 
 since their object was only to blacken. Most assuredly is the 
 French leader loyal to the race whence he has sprung : there 
 has never arisen in his province a man to whom the best 
 interests of French Canadians is more dear, or who in advanc- 
 ing those interests has ever displayed more earnestness, wisdom 
 -and ability. But, above all things, we believe he is a Cana' 
 dian. Indeed, what we want is such public men as M. Lange- 
 vin, to keep our political system from the mire into which it 
 «hows a tendencj"^ to fall. When the Acadians of New Bruns- 
 wick sent a delegation to him reverting to the time that 
 
328 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 their ancestors were expelled from their hpDpy homes in the 
 Basin of Minas and to all the dark years tuat since have fal- 
 len upon the outcast descendant, M. Langevin poiiHed out to 
 them that the past was now a sealed book, that the duty of the 
 Acadian as well as of the French Canadian was not to keep 
 alive the remembrance of these dark hours, but tc feel that one 
 and both, while doing well not to forget the language of their 
 fathers, were above all things Canadians, enjoying equal privi- 
 leges with other nationalities in the provinces. Of this nature 
 has been his advice times without number to the people of his 
 own province, and it is only just to say that, owing to his ex- 
 ertions, a more liberal spirit, a feeling of broader citizenship, 
 has grown up among his people. We do not wish here to be 
 understood as thinking that the province of Quebec has held 
 a monopoly of uncharitableness ; for a large portion of the 
 people of Ontario, through the teaching of a press forced into 
 perfidious work by the needs of party, regard Quebec with a feel- 
 ing at once narrow and unworthy. Unfortunately, the Globe 
 newspaper has been foremost in promoting the bad work of es- 
 trangement, though some do now hope, and we are of the num- 
 ber, that the worst of that great journal's work is done ; that, 
 to use the words of Bystander, " the black flag has been hauled 
 down." Under these circumstances, the duty of Sir Hector 
 Langevin to his province is resistance, but with more than 
 judicious resistance, and a patriotic assertion of his people's, 
 rights, he is not to be charged. M. Langevin's ability as a 
 statesman is, as we have said already, of the highest order. To 
 a comprehensive understanding hf brings a calm and unwarped 
 judgment, while so ready is his grasp, and so accurate his view 
 that he i.as more than once astonished delegations ha\'ing com- 
 plex propositions before government, by his readiness in un- 
 ravelllr^g and making plain the difficult sides of the question. 
 To all who meet him in his public capacity he is painstaking 
 and affable, and in every walk of life comports himself with 
 that courre > which he has acquired from his distinguished an- 
 
THE FIRST DOMINION CAB i NET. 329* 
 
 cestors. In this respect we do wish some of his blustering,, 
 pompous colleagues, who endeavour to supply by ail's what they 
 lack in escutcheon, would try to emulate him. No one has 
 ever yet proved that he is a gentleman, or " of good family "" 
 by the assumption of swagger ; on the contrary, he thereby 
 shows as plainly as if he had it written upon his front, that he 
 is low born, and not a gentleman. Men have control over most 
 of the events in their lives, but they have not the remotest in- 
 fluence upon their own birth ; so that it would be unjust to 
 think the worse of a man in exalted place that he is not high- 
 bom. A large number of our public men have sprung from 
 humble parentage, and these we can readily forgive, when high 
 upon fortune's steep, for endeavouring to appear as gentlemen ; 
 for they must take their wives and their daughters to Ottawa, 
 and go to court, and give and receive calls, and hold a place in 
 social life proper to their rank in the public sphere ; and when 
 such men deport themselves with that grace, courtesy and toler- 
 ance belonging to those who are to the manner born, they de- 
 serve to be ranked among those whose house has never been 
 seen in the bud but always in the tree. But the person whov 
 plebeian born, wraps himself in conceit and vulgar pomp, or in 
 that brusque bonhomie which sits well upon some imperial 
 colonel, and that the parvenu counterfeits only to travesty, is 
 plebeian still ; all the waters of the St. Lawrence will not make 
 him whiter than the " great unwashed " of whom he is, but 
 whom he despises. In 1881, with the approval of those who 
 set no store on gauds or title, save as badges of merit, and of 
 duty, in whatever line, well and faithfully done, her Majesty 
 conferred upon M. Langeviii the order of knighthood, which 
 distinction he now worthily wears. 
 
 One of the most remarkable men in the council, was the- 
 minister of customs, Mr. S. L. Tilley. For many years he had 
 been the foremost politician in New Brunswick, and, in the 
 capacity of leader, exhibited talents of more than a common 
 order. Unfortunately, the profession of politics to the popular 
 
330 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACVONALD. 
 
 liiiikl, when placed in the moral scale, has little specific gravity; 
 iind the person who enters public life is regarded as having 
 taken a step downward. But through all the years that Hon. 
 Leonard Filley had given to public duty, tlie most unscrupu- 
 lous opponent never even sought to put any tarnish upon his 
 «ame. So upright were all his acta, so deep and sincere his 
 moral convictions, so able his administration of affairs, and, 
 withal, so /-oalous was he in the service of his eo.:ritry, tliat his 
 Jiame was a very tower of strength to his party. Once indeed 
 in the hubbub of political strife, the popular mind lost its 
 balance and rejected the favourite, but when reason i( (urned 
 the people lepaired their error, Lnd placed him again in po\ er. 
 He was, as we have seen, a warm i.dvocate of union, and it 
 is not improbable that the confederation might not to this day 
 have comprehended the maritime provinces, but for 1 is firm 
 and decided course at the critical time when New Brunswick 
 was the pivot ground of the scheme. Mr. Tilley brought to the 
 •enlarged sphere of politics at Ottawa, a mind stored with the 
 fruits of observation and experience, a penetrating and well- 
 contained intellect, and an unerring judgment. As minister of 
 customs, he was prompt and decisive, but he displayed such 
 clearness of grasp and excellence of judgment upon every ques- 
 tion of trade or finance which came up, that it was apparent he 
 was capable of much higher work than playing the role of 
 chief custom-house officer. An important occasion was soon to 
 arise when the people of Canada demanded a reorganization of 
 the laws bearing upon trade and commerce ; and in Hon. Leo- 
 nard Tilley was found a man equal to the emergency. We need 
 not here do more than refer to the National Policy , and to the 
 laurels that have fallen to Mr. Tilley's share through the suc- 
 cess of that measure, which is indebted in so great a degree to 
 his finifencial skill and keen insight. Among modern statesmen 
 we need not say the place of Hon. (now Sir) Leonard Tilley is 
 Among the first; and to this qualification he adds the other dis- 
 iinction of being an honest man. There are, perhaps, in the 
 
THE FIRST DOMINION CABINET. 331 
 
 Canadian Parliament more forcible Hpeakers than Sir Leonard 
 Tilley, but there is certainly not one more convincing ; and 
 the way t-o judge of the merit of a speech is by looking at the 
 results. *' The distinguishing characteristic of Sir Leonard Til- 
 ley," says Mr. Nicholas Flood Davin, in his sparkling and capi- 
 tal paper, " Gieat Speeches," in the Canadian Monthly, "is sin- 
 cerity. No man could appear more lost in his subject. This 
 is a great element in persuasiveness. The earnestness is en- 
 hanced by a style of pure Saxon and unaffected simplicity. 
 His ease of expression would at once mark him out in the 
 English house of commons, and the auctoritas with which he 
 speaks, gives him weight and secures a following, He has the 
 rare power of making a budget speech interesting, a power 
 which no chancellor of the exchequer I ever heai'd in the En- 
 glish house of commons had, Mr, Gladstone, of course, always 
 excepted." In listening to Sir Leonard Tilley, we hear a man 
 who makes no statement that has not received thorough exam- 
 ination from every view, no opinion that does not bear the 
 «tamp of deep conviction ; few, if any, propositions that those 
 who follow will be able to disprove. The critic who admires 
 sound and fury would be disappointed in Sir Leonard Tilley, 
 for he would find a man discussing his question with j calm, 
 <.'arnest dignity, never allowing passion to hurry him into ex- 
 travagance, but firmly maintaining himself upon the ground of 
 common sense. Through such simple, irresistible foit'ce, Mr. 
 Cobden, ""'horn Sir Leonard as a statesman and as a speaker 
 strongly resembles, was in his day one of the leading orators 
 in Great Britain, and one of the foremost of her public men. 
 Sir Leonard Tilley's public career is one that some of our 
 young politicians might study with profit. To no principle 
 in private or political life to which he has pledged himself has 
 he ever been known to prove faithless ; and in, at least, one no- 
 table instance the sincerity of his character is shown in strong 
 contrast to what others placed in circumstances similar to his 
 
332 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 own might have done. When ho wa« appointed to the Govern- 
 orship of New Brunswick, no one was ignorant of the fact that 
 he had been, all his life, a devoted, zealous, and uncompromising 
 advocate of total abstinence. Yet they believed that the now 
 Governor would be able to reconcile his conscience to fall in 
 with the immemorial custom of dispensing wine at his hospi- 
 talities ; but during the live years that he occupied the guber- 
 natorial chair, intoxicants were not once found on his sideboar<l 
 or table.* In these days when principle so often gives way to 
 expediency, a practical example of this kind is of the highest 
 moment. Sir Leonard is gracious and affable to all with whom 
 his duty brings him in contact, and it would certainly be taxing 
 to the patience of Job himself to have to listen to, expostulate 
 with, and resist the shoals of delegations that visit Ottawa re- 
 presenting this, that, and the other " interest," and with whom 
 Sir Leonard, by virtue of his position as adjuster of the tariflf* 
 law is brought into contact. Once or twice he has hinted at 
 withdrawal from public life, but his province, and Canada at 
 large, will not willingly let retire from her service, so long as 
 health remains, a son to whom one and both owe .so much, and 
 who has been, since his first appearance on the political 
 scenes down to this hour a credit to the country that has given 
 him birth. A further popularity is added to Sir Leonard in the 
 social sphere, by the grace and charming manners of his accom- 
 plished wife. Lady Tilley. 
 
 A member whose presence would be felt in any cabinet, was 
 Hon. Peter Mitchell, minister of marine and fisheries, who had 
 also been appointed to the senate. Mr. Mitchell had had a pro- 
 minent political career in his native province. New Brunswick. 
 He was a keen-eyed critic and a powerful assailant out of 
 office, and an Armstrong gun in a ministry'. Mr. George Stew- 
 art, jun., in some of his life-like portraits in "Canada under Duf' 
 
 * We may be pardoned for having made this refereuce, seeing that th« " enter- 
 prising journalist," hao preceded us. 
 
TUE FIRST DOMINION CAlilNET. 
 
 ferin " has tins telling bit of description with referonce to Mr. 
 Mitchell. " In popularity ho almost rivalled Sir John himself. 
 Ho was a hard worker, a redoubtable foe and an unforgiving 
 enemy. He was keen in debate, (juick to perceive weakness in 
 an opponent, and ready on the instant to strike him down. He 
 always spoke eloquently and well, llo was bold but did not 
 always show the more subtle element of tact which he un- 
 doubtedly possessed. He was vindi(;tivo and never neglected 
 to pursue an enemy with relentless fury. In executive power 
 lie had few equals. With groat skill he mastered the minutiio 
 of his office, and his department rapidly became one of the most 
 important in the cabinet." Politicians matching themselves 
 agiiinst Mr. Mitchell, had usually come to grief. When a clear- 
 headed man is able to outwit an opponent by calmly ponder- 
 ing thc>. situation over, as the careful chess-player looks many 
 moves into the future of his game, he is not unfre(iuently 
 termed a Inckster; and Mr. Mitchell who had been guilty of 
 no ofFenco nave possessing the ability to delve a yard below 
 the mines of some of those pitted against him, received the 
 sobriquet of " Bismarck." Fc • a brief season many were per- 
 suaded that the clever politician dealt in naught but " trea 
 sons, stratagems and spoils ; ' and they heard without won- 
 der that ai\ invertebrate lieutenant-governor and a guileless 
 ministiy had fallen a* victim to his wiles. As this is not a 
 question of morals, we have only to ?ay that if a ministry can 
 not resist the arts and a governor the blandishments of one 
 man, it were a pity the one sliould not fail and the other be 
 perverted. There is in the record, even taking the distortions 
 of the outwitted ones, little to b.ing a blush to Mr. Mitchell, 
 and less that the historian needs to condemn or excuse. It need 
 hardly be said that the department given to the charge of Mr. 
 Mitchell was at this time the most important in the public ser- 
 vice. With the energy and ability which are ais in such a 
 marked degree, he vigorously set to work to frame laws for the 
 protection of the various fisheries, a task requiring a vast deal 
 
334 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 of consideration, prudence and hkill ; and lie likewise construct- 
 ed a Hystem of regulations, wliicli, with a few ynodification<i 
 only, has existed to the present day. Many of the harbour 
 inipi'ovenients hQ\f\in, the erection of a lar;^e nutsiber of light- 
 houses, and the adoption of a host of other measures in th*; in- 
 terest of the sailor and the fishernmn were likewise the work 
 of his hands. It is not uncomplimentary to succeeding otficers, 
 or even to the present elear-headed and thoroughly ahlo incum- 
 bent to say that since Hon. Peter Mit<jhell loft the d 'paituf'Tifc 
 of marine and fisheries, it h;is not had such another energetic 
 and capable head. Like nvost other distinguished public men, 
 though the pet and pride of their constituents, who .sometimes 
 become the victim of reason run wrong, Mr. Mitchell was 
 once rejected on appealing to his constituents in Northumber- 
 land, New Brunswick, being def<;ated by one of the local millens 
 of that place. His tireless figure ha.s returned again to the 
 commons, however, and he is now, as always, with sleeves rolled 
 up, battling for th<i interests of the constituents who have the 
 good fortune to call him their representative. The countiy is 
 still to hear a good deal from Mr. Mitclioll ; and it would, it 
 will be I'cadily admitted, be a loss to the dominion to have .such 
 a splendid ability out of harness. 
 
 The minister of Inland Revenue, Mr. (now Sir) W. P. How- 
 land, whom we have already seen on several occasions, and 
 whose figui'o is one the reader of Canadian history will not 
 hesitate to admire, was one of the " commercial magnates " of 
 Toronto when he entered public life. He was born in New 
 York State, but removing to Toronto in )tis youth, he never 
 knew sympathy for any other country tban tlie Canada to 
 whom lie has since been as much indebted, as she has been to 
 him. We ha e already seen tluit Mv. liowland entered public 
 life in 18.j7 whon he was elc^itoJ, in tlie reform interest, for 
 the west-riding of York The gcod judgment, caution and 
 foresight which had made hini fovemost among men of busi- 
 ness, sooi* elevated him to the ranks of tlie prominent raendjcrs 
 
THE FIRST DOMINION CAIilNET. 33& 
 
 of the logiMlature, and, as lias been reeorJed already, though ho 
 was never unffiithful to his principles, he had true patriotism 
 enough sometimes to shut his ears to the narrow dictates of 
 party, and lend himself heart and hand to his co mtry. 'J'hat 
 we do not nvorestimate the patriotism of Mr. Howland, is 
 proven, if in n(u',li;n;f else, with ahaadant force by the assaults 
 to which he was fntni time to time subjected by the (Hoht . But 
 Mr. Ifowland's sense of duty was always stronger tlian his 
 <lread of newspapers, and he never hesitated to face the thun- 
 der at the call of his f;ountry's Interests. At a meeting held in 
 Toronto after the formation of the first donjinion ministry. Mi'. 
 Ilowland and Hon. Wm. McDougall, both of whom made an 
 able defence of their course in entering the coalition, were 
 read out of the reform party. At this meeting the grit tyrant 
 was the swaying spirit. A perusal of the speeches shows that 
 both Messrs. Howland and McDougall ably defended them- 
 selves • but they had to reckon ricit alone with a (juestion of 
 right or Wiong, or of duty to party, but with an all-pow».'rful 
 chief buiniiiy with revenge towards the two men who had re- 
 fused to foDov/ him from the coalition cabinet, and an ainbiticm,. 
 that, bki' a higlt -blooded horse, which becomes the more un- 
 mano;/";ible tlie longer it is kept confined, had now passed res- 
 traint., iiud conld not be appeased by anything short of office, 
 and the destruction of all that had cro.ssed its path. Mr. How- 
 land 7 V coived the dicta of excommunication with somewhat of 
 imiifleionoe, ])ut when the time arrived that set hiin free to 
 sho ;v his party preferences, ho hesitated not in returning to his 
 first ;ov;\ In July, 1 808, he was a}»[)ointe(i lieutenant-governor 
 of Ontario ; and in later years received the dignity of knight- 
 hood, an honour, which, ii' a badge of rec(i|i.'nition to merit, he 
 had und<;ubt(!dly won. 
 
 Already have we had occasional glimpses of the postinaster- 
 g'^iotval. We f'r^t ni;3t him as a student in the law office of Mr. 
 John A. Mat-donaid, and aft' rwards, in 1858, as a representa- 
 tive for Kiagstxjn in the legislative ccmeil. Four years after 
 
■■■■■■■• ■■■'■■■■ ■ • ■ V ' ■■..■.,•■.,■• 
 
 .•336 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 this date gout created a place for th'^ talented young lawyer, 
 by carrying off Sir Allan MacNab, speaker of the upper 
 chamber. He became a member of the executive council and 
 <;omniissioner of crown lands in 1864, which position he re- 
 tained till the union, when he became postmaster general. Mr. 
 Campbell entered public life as a liberal-conservative, and has 
 always remained true to his faith. He led the government in 
 the legislative council of old Canada from 1858 until 1867, and 
 in the senate from the latter period till 1873. But in the last- 
 named year the government of the country fell into the hands 
 ■ of Mr. Mackenzie and his party, and Mr. Campbell thereafter, 
 till the return of Sir John A. Macdonald to power, led the op- 
 position in the upper house. Under the resiored Macdonald 
 ministry he has held difFei'ent portfolios, and is at present min- 
 ister of justice and leader of the government in the senate. 
 He was created a knight C. M. G. by her Majesty on the 24th 
 of May, 1879. It is per'aps rather unfortunate for those who 
 are striving for the abolition of the senate, that such men as Sir 
 Alexander Campbell should be found among the membership 
 of that body ; for it defeats the argument that the institution * 
 is entirely useless, since its supporters will readily point to some 
 of its able men, and to the legislation which they have accom- 
 plished. Yet there is a way of looking at the question which 
 proves that this contention is hollow. A certain firm erects 
 a huge bakery in which it employs the best skill and labour 
 that can be obtained, having abundj'nce of fuel and unlimited 
 tiers of ovens ; but not content with the unbounded capacity 
 for work in this esta' lishment, it builds another equally as im- 
 posing and costly, and employs a large staff of heavily-paid 
 workmen. A traveller passing the way stands bewildered 
 before the new pile and asks. Why this grand structure ? and 
 the firm answers him, they now and again bake a loaf in 
 that building. But, still queries the nigh dumbfounded stran- 
 ger, could you not do all your baking in the other establishment? 
 Yes. Then why did you build, and why do you maintain 
 
. THE FIRST DOMINION CABINET. 337 
 
 this sDcond bakery ? That stranger has stood since by the im- 
 posing pile, and received no answer, save that which echo, ever 
 ringing, gives. There are, it is true, other and weightier rea- 
 sons offered for maintaining the " old feudal estate,"* but a 
 very rude attempt at illustrating the same by figure shows 
 that they are as untenable as the fallacy just pointed out. In 
 such an institution a man with the wide understanding and 
 the calm judicial character of Sir Alexander Campbell is as 
 much out of place as would be admiral Drake at sea on a 
 waterlogged barge, without sail or oar. 
 
 * This is "Bystander's" v.^rm for the Upper Housir 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE NEW REGIME. 
 
 BUT now the storm was over and the ship of state which had 
 been tossed by so many tempests, rode safely at her moor- 
 ings. The country looked hopefully into the future for politi- 
 cal peace, and believed that such would be the fruit of this 
 wider brotherhood, knitted together by the bonds of political 
 and commercial interest. But Mr. George Brown and his sore- 
 heads were not happy, and the untamable chief set himself to 
 work, once more, to foment party discord. A few days before 
 Mr. John A. Macdonald's new ministry was announced, a con- 
 vention of reformers was held at Toronto, at which the proposed 
 coalition was denounced in no charitable langua,ge. Messrs. 
 McDougall and Howland happened to be in Toronto at the time 
 of the meeting, and were considerately invited to attend, on the 
 principle of the magistrate who, though quite clear as to the 
 punishment he is about to inflict, genei'ously resolves to hear 
 what the culprit before the bar " has to say for himself." The 
 two reform sinners appeared without much trepidation before 
 the grit tyrant and his satraps. Mr. Howland said a new era 
 was to be inaugurated ; that the past had been wiped out as if it 
 had never existed ; that it was not the duty now of one party, 
 but of all, to lend its support to the governing body under the 
 new regime. Mr. McDougall's defence was still more telling 
 than that of his fellow culprit, and those who watched the ef- 
 fect of the address upon " the meeting," saw that the underlings 
 had begun to look at the coalition in a different light. But as 
 
 we have elsewhere said the question was not one between these 
 
 338 
 
THE NEW REGIME. 339 
 
 two reformers and public duty, or parly duty, but between 
 themselves and a thwa.-ted ambition. They could not hope for 
 mercy, though the satraps had shown unmistakable signs of 
 softening ; and they got none. The ireful and disappointed ty- 
 rant sought not the aid of ruses or obscure phrase to cloak his 
 feelings. He simply read the two contaminated ones out of the 
 party. It may be said that since that day Mr. McDougall, 
 though deserving a better fate, has been a sort of political 
 Ishmael wandering over the land ; though Mr. Howland, in due 
 time — when the period arrived that his secession was not a 
 violation of the original compact — returned to his first love. 
 
 The general election for the house of commons was held dur- 
 ing the summer and early autumn. Quebec and Ontario em- 
 phasized their approval of union and coalition by returning 
 overwhelming majorities of ministerialists ; and George Brown 
 was defeated in South Ontario. Coereioii is a wholesome policy 
 when dealing with the dagger and dynamite, but it is not a 
 happy expedient in Canadian politics ; as George Brown ascer- 
 tained, but, as we might have supposed, without reaping any 
 profit from the lesson. Though the dark-age organs, and the 
 " anti " politicians of New Brunswick had waged bitter war 
 against all who had favoured union, the ministry there carried 
 twelve of the fifteen seats. Nova Scotia had been caught by 
 a counter breeze and driven back from her late position. Dr. 
 Tupper had worsted Joseph Howe before the imperial minis- 
 ters, but the latter had the 'post mortem victory before the 
 province. For once the sturdy doctor found that neither his 
 lungs nor his courage were sufficiert against the stream of 
 burning eloquence that flowed from the " Great Anti." The 
 battle for the confederates was another Flodden, one man 
 only, and he, Dr. Tupper, reaching Ottawa with a tattered flag. 
 Eighteen sturdy antis were sent up from the distant peninsula 
 to the first dominion parliament. Probably Messi-s. Howe and 
 Annand had led the people to think that a majority of anti- 
 unnio men at Ottawa might be able to unseal the fate of the 
 
340 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 province: but, confiding people, they were soon to see that 
 they might as well have sup{)osed them capable of effecting 
 the quartering of the moon. Yet it was a triumph for Joseph 
 Howe, a sort of local treatment for a very sore wound. No 
 one doubts that the great Nova Scotia orator was a sincere 
 pati-iot, but, like some other clever men he possessed in no 
 little degree a sense of self-importance which sometimes 
 dimmed or distorted his vision. The question of confedera- 
 tion to him may have, in the beginning, presented itself as 
 a political problem to be worked out in its bearings on the 
 public weal, but there can be little doubt that when Dr. Tupper 
 assumed the lead and the great orator found himself in the 
 place of second, the question became an argumentum ad homi- 
 oiem. It became, it is hardly unfair to the man's illustrious 
 memory to say, a question not between the good and the bad 
 side of union, but between the champions of confederation and 
 Joseph Howe : like some of those persons w^ho take the field 
 in the interests of a moral question such as temperance, from 
 the dictates of philanthropy and duty, but who, as the work 
 go* on and they meet rebufls, gradually become embittered, 
 hating those whom they oppose and froKi whom they difter,. 
 breathing uncharitableness instead of good-will, losing sight of 
 the original motives and making personal what was at the out- 
 set only a question of love for their fellowmen. 
 
 Meanwhile it was necessary to provide each province with 
 a little government of its own. Hon. P. J. O. Chauveau became 
 premier of Quebec, and, through the friendship of Sir John, 
 Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald secured the leadership in On- 
 tario, and formed a coalition which had a useful career for the 
 four years succeeding. The two premiers were also elected to 
 the federal parliament, as were many other prominent politi- 
 cians from the same parliaments ; but following the example 
 of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, which had passed acts 
 making dual representation impossible, the anomaly was after a 
 time abolished. During the lull between the election and the 
 
TUB NEW REGIME. 341 
 
 meeting of parliament, the chief morsel supplied to gossip was 
 the resignation, by Mr. A. T. Gait, of the portfolio of finance. 
 The true cause of the step was the inharmonious relations 
 which existed between the retiring minister and some of his 
 colleagues, and the diversity between his opinions and theirs on 
 certain public questions. While these relations wore their 
 worst feature, the policy of the finance minister was condemn- 
 ed in unmeasured terms by the opposition press, which declared 
 that Mr. Gait, by his Currency Act, had deliberately favoured 
 the bank of Montreal at the expense of other financial institu- 
 tions, that the unfavourable turn which commerce had taken, 
 and the failure of the Comraercia). Bank was due to his dis- 
 honest and unwise course. Finding little sympathy and 
 support among his colleagues, and a storm of censure from the 
 enemy, Mr. Gait resigned. The necessity of attending to his 
 private affairs, he stated, induced him to take the step. We 
 suppose he had the right to make whatever explanation he 
 pleased. There are some things which are just as well kept 
 from the coarse gaze of the people. The appointment of Hon. 
 J. E. Cauchon to the speakership of the senate was a subject 
 that helped to keep the public from going to sleep. M. Cau- 
 chon was a Frenchman with a bitter tongue, who had said 
 many stinging things, and wounded a battalion of public men 
 in his time ; but he had also written a pamphlet L'union des 
 Provinces de I'Amerique Britanique du Nord, which proved 
 an important factor in moulding opinion favourably to the 
 union, lending the force of his unruly tongue also to the same 
 end ; and Sir John and his French colleagues believed that he 
 was entitled, for these and other reasons, to the promotion 
 mentioned. M. Cauchon pi'oved himself an admirable speaker, 
 bringing ability of a high order, and a becoming dignity, to the 
 chair. 
 
 The new parliament met at Ottawa on the 7th of November. 
 To the Canadian spectator a large nunber of the faces in the 
 commons were new, the entire thirty -four representatives from 
 
342 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 the maritime provinces being strangers. Among the latter 
 were Joseph Howe, one of the greatest orators of his day, a 
 man who could, carry his audience by his passionate eloquence 
 as the sweeping wind sways the trees of the forest, and who, 
 besides a distinguished public career, had made some creditable 
 contributions to the literature of his province, and written some 
 florid poetry, which however will not add many cubits to his 
 stature ; Dr. Tupper, his opponent, and of whom we shall have 
 something to say in another place ; Hon, Albert J. Smith, a 
 competent lawyer with a strong tendency, under provocation, 
 to lose his temper, talk rubbish, and forget his dignity, yet being 
 capable of making a slashing speech at times, and administer- 
 ing a good deal of judicious annoyance to an opponent ; Charles 
 Fisher, who was an awkward but able lawyer, a comparatively 
 mediocre politician when in office, but a very battei-ing-ram , 
 torpedo-boat, and many other things compounded when assail- 
 ing a ministry ; Timothy Warren Anglin, who was to the 
 politics of his time what the stage-coach is in a railway age, 
 and the carrier-pigeon in the days of electricity — a man with a 
 strong and stubborn intellect, capable of a vast grasp, and en- 
 dowed with an extraordinary memory — a forcible but diffuse 
 speaker, who made long excursions in the by-ways of his argu- 
 ment, seldom delivering a speech within bounds suitable to the 
 time of those whose temporal span is fixed at three score and ten, 
 and whose patience is only good. The most important " new 
 face " from Ontario was that of Mi-. Edward Blake, of whom, 
 in another place, we shall have just a word or two to say. 
 
 Hon. James Cockburn was elected to the speakership of the 
 commons. The ministerial speech contained the usual con- 
 gi'atulations and foreshadowed the sessional programme. On 
 the address there was some hot discussion, and when the Demos- 
 thenes from dowii by the sea rose to state why his province 
 was dissatisfied with the compact, every whisper was stilled, 
 every member sat with head thrust forward. Whether it was 
 that expectation had looked for too mucli, oi- that the speaker 
 
' THE NEW REGIME, 913 
 
 failed to attain his usual height, there was no little disappoint- 
 ment, and Dr. Tupper following, fairly riddled the argument of 
 the great orator by pointing out several inconsistencies in his 
 speech, and proving that the union issue had not been fairly 
 presented to the people of Novf, Scotia. The address was car- 
 ried without a division, and Howe sitting at his desk, the em- 
 bodiment of grim dissatisfaction, reminded the on-looker of a 
 volcano at rest, after a violent eruption. The chief business 
 of the new par'iament was an act reducing the rates of postage 
 and organizing the post office savings bank system; and a 
 measure providing for the construction of the Intercolonial 
 Kail way, the route to be determined by the imperial govern- 
 ment in accordance with the terms when obtaining the imperial 
 loan. •' --■."■," ^- '■•■:'■-;■■■;:: • 
 
 An attempt was made to place the telegraph system under 
 government control as had been done in Great Britain, but 
 some of the grits said. Why not at once put the newspapers, 
 and the writing of private letters, and oar ledgers, and our 
 man-servants, and our maid-servants, and our oxen, and our 
 asses, and everything that is ours under the control of the gov- 
 ernment ? and for once, the grits took, probably, a very whole- 
 some and correct view of the matter. It is not the duty of 
 government to take charge of railways, and telegraph lines, 
 and steamers, in order that these may be run and managed 
 properly ; but it is their duty to use the powers in their hands 
 to have them so conducted. If two mail-coach drivers get 
 into the habit of running into each other as they pass on dark 
 nights, breaking the bones of passengers and destroying pro- 
 perty, it is not the duty of government to mount the box and 
 drive the coaches ; but it is their duty to see that one and 
 both carry lights; that each takes his own side of the road ; that 
 in certain places he must not drive at greater speed than may 
 be prescribed ; and that, failing to observe these conditions, he 
 pay a fine or suffer other punishment at the hands of the law. 
 It is not the function of government, let us repeat, to manage 
 
344 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 railways — unless under some exceptional condition — but it is 
 its duty to protect tlie public against railway monopolies by so 
 framing its legislation as to maintain competition and make 
 aggregation and monopoly impossible. The tendency in this 
 age of gigantic public enterprise, like in England under the 
 heptarchy, is for the gi-eater to absorb or swallow the lesser, 
 and half a glance shows us that this centralization is going on 
 in monster corporate affairs, the weaker day by day vanishing 
 from the scene, falling a victim to the coercion or the bribe of 
 the stronger. Watching the Grand Trunk and the Canada Pa- 
 cific railways in this country reminds one of nothing so much 
 as a pair of whales devouring all the smaller fish that come in 
 their way, and halting on occasion, ti-ying to bolt one another. 
 Corporation is rapidly becoming king in Canada as in the re- 
 pulilic, and the duty of our government is to thwart him.* 
 
 Hon. John Rose assumed charge of the department of finance, 
 vacated by Mr. Gait, and applied himself with diligent zeal to 
 the duties of his office. The reform press said he was only 
 a " baby in finance," but censure being the platform of oppo- 
 sition, the statement did not overwhelm the new official , who 
 made a verv efficient and clear-sighted administrator. On the 
 4th of December, Hon. Wm. McDougall moved a series of reso- 
 lutions based on the 14Gtli section of the British North Ame- 
 rica Act providing for the incorporation of Rupert's Land and 
 the North-West territoiy into the Dominion of Canada. After 
 a week's discussion the resolutions were adopted, and an 
 address embodying the same was forwarded to the Queen's 
 government. On the 21st of December, parliament adjourned 
 till the 20th of March, the object of the long interim being to 
 give the local legislatures an opportunity to complete their ses- 
 sions. The close of the year was marked by the death of Mr. 
 Fergusson-Blair, president of tlie legislative council, a man of 
 
 * The writer must not be cousirlered as having any feeling tut detestation for 
 the doctrine of the Socialists, one of whose expounders unfortunately is the fine 
 ability of Mr. Henry George looking sadly awry. 
 
THE NEW REGIME. 846 
 
 moderate views — with preferences for the liberal party — and 
 genuinely devoted to his country's interests. 
 
 During the recess, Howe again led the forlorn hope in Nova 
 Scotia, and in full harness thundered around his little province, 
 declaring that the " tie must be broken." The local legislature 
 met on the 3()th of January, 18G8, and an address was passed 
 praying for the repeal of so much of " the act for the union of 
 Canada and Nova Scotia and New Brunswick as related to 
 Nova Scotia." Four provincial delegates, with Howe at their 
 head, were deputed to lay the address at the foot of the throne, 
 but the ambassadors of disintegration* were confionted at the 
 home office by Dr. Tuppcr, who once again carr'ed away the 
 laurels. When the Dominion parliament met, the opposition 
 censured the government for having sent Dr. Tupper to London, 
 but in a little grew ashamed of this conte'^tion, ant said no more 
 about it. And now, while the commons was in the midst of its 
 duties, an event happened which sent a thrill of horror through 
 the country and brought legislation to a stand-still. One of the 
 ablest members in the house, and perhaps its most brilliant 
 orator, was Thomas D'Arcy McGee. A short sketch of his 
 career u ust be interesting to all so familiar with his name i nd 
 the circumstances of his untimely end. He was bo n of humble 
 parents in the County of Louth, Ireland, in 1825. The ; dvan- 
 tages of higher education, which were open only to the ich 
 man's son, were denied to young McGee ; yet, yo 'ng ^agle t .lat 
 he was, he aimed to soar, and no circumstance co »ld traiAinol 
 the yearning spirit within his breast. He had tlie flashii)"; 
 eloquence of his nation, that gift which no Irishinaa ever 
 acquires by putting pebbles in his mouth or going down by tho 
 shore to declaim above the thunders of the surf ; for the kinci 
 fairy who still lingers about the green springs in the wild 
 valleys, or visits the cabin at night, when the peasant sleeps, 
 gives him this grace for naught ; and he appears upon his first 
 platform an oratoi, though untaught, as the duckling swims 
 who has had no lesson. When young McGee reached his 
 
34G LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 seventeenth year, he turned lils face to the new world, where 
 his ardent fancy painted hiiu a name and high position ; and 
 on reaching Mew York, plunged like a red-hot cannon-shot 
 into journalism. McGee has been described by those who 
 enjoyed nothing in common with him save the Caucasian 
 relationship as being an impulsive liberator of the loud- 
 mouth description, only somewhat brilliant, and ambitious 
 to help the cause of Ireland. Some of this is true as far as 
 it goes, but it does not penetrate beyond the husk of that splen- 
 did but rudderless ability. Mr. McGee was an ardent patriot 
 but his patriotism was ilbt a cause but a consequence, the out- 
 come indeed of a wild poetic sentiment, which delighted in no- 
 thing so much as weaving impossible schemes in impracticable 
 spheres. He was more poet than patriot or politician, yet is 
 his verse third-rate and disorderly as his early career, giving 
 proof that their owner mistook the merchandise of the muse 
 for a sentiment that it was the duty of its possessor to stifle, 
 but which here and there, and manifestly against the author's 
 will, displayed true notes which indicated the " soul of song," 
 like the jets which, bursting up, tell of the subterranean waters. 
 This young man, on the New York press, pouring out brilliant 
 and reckless writing to a class that devoured as they wondered, 
 was like a blood colt, unbroken and full of fire, that some ad- 
 mirer deliberately harnesses into regulation work. It is not 
 necessary to chronicle casualities, for they will be predicated 
 of such a procedure. But young McGee became famous, and 
 after his name had grown familiar through Ireland, he re- 
 turned to his native country, in 1845, and became editor of 
 the Dublin Freeman's Journal. But to this young eagle the 
 Journal was an old coach, too slow for the time and his ambi- 
 tion; and he cast in his lot with Charles Gavan Duffy and 
 several other firebrands, who could see everything and every- 
 where under the sun except before them, and became one of 
 the writers on the Nation. Setting off" mere harmless fire- 
 works soon lost its charm for him ; eventually he was lured 
 
THE NEW REGIME. 34T 
 
 into the Smith O'Brien chimera — and fled from Ireland dis- 
 guised as a priest. Ho had gone up like a rocket and come- 
 down like a burnt stick. Iln then established the Keiv York- 
 Nation, a weekly journal containing, issue after issue, im- 
 prudence and fire ; and with this minister of his mad spirits he 
 succeeded in convulsing the Irish population of New York till 
 Bishop Hughes interfered, and (juietly put his foot on the pub- 
 lication. Out of the ashes of this dead brand arose The Amer- 
 ican Celt, which was established in Boston. About this time, 
 through what means no one can tell, McGee suddenly paused 
 and asked himself : Have I been on the right road ? Have I 
 used the talent I possess in the proper way ? Have I any hope 
 of achieving that for which I aim, by following out the course 
 I have so long pursued ? To all these queries his mind returned, 
 and his career returned, negations. And, struck like Saul with- 
 sudden conviction, he was from that hour a changed man. 
 Henceforth he resolved not alone to pursue a new way, but tO' 
 endeavour to make amends for the past. He removed to Buf- 
 falo, and there for four years issued the Celt, no longer a fiery 
 dragon, but the bearer of messages of peace and good- will. The 
 fame of the editor spread over the continent, and he made 
 several visits to Canada lecturing in the chief towns. At length, 
 in 1857, at the earnest request of a large number of Irish 
 Catholics, he icmoved to Montreal, where he established The 
 New Era, in which, with masterly eloquence, and strong and 
 searching argument, he advocated a federation of the British 
 North American colonies. He had now, once admitted into- 
 political fellowship with British colonists, grown an ardent 
 supporter of imperial institutions ; — and bloodshot eyes in the 
 lodges of the Fenian Brotherhood began to lower ominously 
 upon him. We have already introduced him to the reader on 
 his entry into parliament for Montreal, and pass onto the period 
 of the election after the union. Time and residence among- 
 British colonists had surely wrought strange changes in this- 
 man. He was now an impassioned devotee of the Queen, and 
 
•348 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONAID. 
 
 regarded the invasion of this countiy by (ii3 Fenians with no 
 feeling short of horror. The Irish iri Montreal, in pruportion a.s 
 the man expressed regret for the pa:"it, began to fall oft" from 
 him, and he narrowly escaped defeat at the general election 
 after the union. He was then stricken down by sickness from 
 which he rallied slowly, but eventually took his place in the 
 commons again. He had received many letters making threats 
 upon his life from members of the same bloody brotherhood 
 who are now busy with dynamite ; and tS;e shadow of impend- 
 ing doom fell across his path. He who iiad been once so jovial 
 at the festive board, so lightsome and brilliant in speech, had 
 grown thoughtful and melancholy, and seldom was seen to 
 smile. On the evening of the 6th of April, he delivered one of 
 his most masterly and statesman-like speeches in the coniiaons, 
 counselling the adoption of pacific measures towards Nova 
 Scotia, The house adjoui'ued about two o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, and the members depar'^od f^or their homes. McGee accom- 
 panied by several others, who parted with him at the corner of 
 ;Sparks and Metcalfe streets, proce<;ded towards his own lodg- 
 ing-house on Sparks street. As lie ws ■• engaged inserting his 
 key in the latch, a figure which had b'.'en crouched by the door 
 awaiting his coming rose and fired a pistol. The ball crashed 
 through McGee's brain, and he fell dead across the thveshold. 
 In a few moments a crowd was about tlie spot, but no ti-aee of 
 the assassin could be fo'-nd. When the wires fiash>d the news 
 .abroad, the coun' ry wus psirai v^zod with hon-or. On tiif^ follow- 
 iiig day, ij; a voice inarticulate with emotion and sorrow, Sir 
 John Macdonald rose and moved the adjournment of the house, 
 paying tribute in well chose r. words to the eminent qualities 
 •of the deceased, the los>, the country had sustained, and ex- 
 pressing his sympathy with the "'iTeaved family of the illus- 
 trious dead, A pension of £300 per annum was spontaneously 
 voted to th-^, widow, a;^d provision was made for the education 
 of the ?hildi"en. Large lewardj were offered for the apprehen- 
 sion of the murieror an 1 before hug p. I'oiuan named Whelan 
 
■ THE NEW REGIME. 349- 
 
 WAS arrested tried and found guilty. He was hanged in Ottawa 
 on the 11th of February, 18G9. 
 
 Parliament re -assembled on the 14th cf April, 186S, con- 
 tinuing the sitting till the 22nd of May. The most inijtortant 
 work of the session was the passage of the new customs and 
 militia acts, and a measure to secure the independence -^'f par- 
 liament. This latter act provided that any pe>•f^()rl holding an 
 office of profit or emolument under government is ineligible for 
 a seat in parliament, and any person sitting or\oting under 
 such circumstances was made liable to a line of $'2,000 per day. 
 The act has been the means, to a great cKteni, of keeping the 
 parliament pure, though a few years later it was ascertained 
 that Mr, Timothy Anglin, while actually sitting as speaker of 
 the house of commons, was the recipient of alar;.-'} printing con- 
 tract from government. This, however, is the only disgraceful 
 breach of the act on record. 
 
 In July two lieutenant-governora were appointt u, Hnvi, "W. 
 P. Rowland for Ontario, and Hon. A. L. Wiimot, A'/ho both in 
 politics and jurisprudence had boeii VilViant, bat in nuither 
 profound, for New Brunswick. Meanwhile the feeling of 
 hostility to union in Nova Scotia had not decreased, but rather, 
 owing to the clever writing and address of those irrepressible 
 antis, the Annands and others of equal note, had become so 
 intensified that Sir John Macdonald suggested to his colleagues 
 Ihe propriety of some members of the cabinet attending the 
 conference to be held in Halifax, in August. Accordingly, 
 thither proceeded Sir John and several other members of the 
 government. They reasoned, expostulated, offered to investi- 
 gate any grievance, and as far as possible to remedy the sanie ; 
 but the antis were not to be comforted, and the Canadian 
 delegates returned home, the promi'^r not without the hope 
 however, that the seed had not fallen entirely on stoT^v ground. 
 Still he did not rest content with hope wh' :'h he kn jw very 
 well tells too many flattering tales, but offered to revise the con- 
 ditions of Nova Scotia's connexion with the confederation, and 
 
550 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 invited Joseph Howe to a seat in the ministry. Mr. Howe 
 carefully reviewed the situation, and seeing that his refusal 
 of Sir John's terms would only be the prolongation of a 
 hopeless struggle that could only bring bitter fruit, gave way, 
 and, in Januar}'^ of the new year, 18G9, entered the government 
 as president of the council. At a cabinet meeting the de- 
 tails of the " Better Terms " sought for Nova Scotia were 
 determined : Canada UT)d'"rtook to assume S9,186,756 of the 
 provincial debt instead of 38,000,000 as originally fixed, and 
 to grant an annual subsidy of $82,098 for ton years. 
 
 Lord Monck having taken such an able and zealous part in 
 forwarding confederation, his term of office had been extended 
 two J ears, that the new government might be inaugurated un- 
 der his auspices. The extended period had expired on the 
 14th of November, and the governor, with some emotion, bade 
 farewell to the country in which he had taken so deep an in- 
 terest. For his services in Canada he was created a peer of 
 the United Kingdom with the title of Baron Monck, of Bally- 
 trammon, in the County of Wexford. His successor was Sir 
 John Young, better known to us as Lord Lisgar, the eldest son 
 of an Irish baronet, a conservative in politico and th ?cpiv. 
 sentative of Cavan in the imperial ^^ailiament. He had been 
 governor of the Ionian Islands and of New South Wales, and 
 when he reached Canada was in his sixty-second year. 
 
 The second session of the first parliament of New Canada 
 meton the loth of April. Mr. Howe introduced a series of 
 resolutions embodying the stipulations of the order-in-council ; 
 but Mr. Blake contended that t'le measure was ultra vires, in- 
 asmuch as the intperial parliament having settled the basis 
 of union the Canadian government could not change it. Mr. 
 Mackenzie in a speech less eloquent and powerful than Mr. 
 Blake's, but one charged with facts and dissolving argument, 
 supported the contentions of the latter; but Mr. John Hiilyard 
 OsTn I'on, Dr. Tuppor and others, supported the resolutions 
 with much power and an array of possible and improbable 
 
THE NEW REGIME. ■ 351 
 
 cases that altered,, to the view of the house, the complexion 
 -which had been given to the case by the speeches of Messrs. 
 Blake and Mackenzie. There is nothing in the sphere of poli- 
 tics stronger than eloquence, except numbers ; and Howe's 
 resolutions were carried by a large majority. 
 
 In August, Prince Arthur, one of the Queen's sons, visited 
 Canada, and was received with profuse hospitality. A month 
 or two later in the season Mr. E'sse resigned his portfolio and 
 went to London, England, a a member of the well-known 
 banking firm there. Mr. Francis Hincks having returned to 
 Canada, though not as Mr. Francis, but as Sir Francis, from 
 the government of Barbadoe^ and the Windward Islands, was 
 offered bj' Sir John, and accepted, the vacant portfolio of fin- 
 ance. The country had the fullest confidence in his financial 
 skill, remembering his spit ndid record as inspector- general, 
 and he was rctarned to the .ouce of commons for North Ren- 
 frew. Several other changes were also made in the cabinet, 
 Ml. J. C. Aikens becoi'-.pg secretary of state and registra)- 
 general; Mr. Duxkin, minister of agriculture ; Mr. A(f^.v;:A ' v 
 J:orrif, uii'uster of inland revenue, and Mr. Howe, sccretar'j 
 V."' uta,*-' If- thi , loi"? \co? i^rv. McI>oi!;rpll -"ho • ./■?, are to 
 ^ei, ag.ii'i, v.Tir- 'piiOint-fd g7\ .■.''•.- of th. ^'^orth■V\ c3i t ri- 
 loi'i^K, ''.ad X . :'i<"'~rf g iih ^e<\t in the ministry, proceeded with 
 ills ia,n\ily iv V. Xv -'ajt wilderness, where, blind to the 
 bitter dis,A'^4".5^x<.l tie the future held in store, a reasonable 
 ambition whispcrec in u' ear, a vast range of opportunity 
 would be opened t^ h.s >nirgy and talents, and he would a^ld 
 renown to his name. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THK HALF-BREED. 
 
 riUlE Hudson Bay Company agi-eed to surrender their rights 
 1 in the North- West territory for £300,000, to be paid by 
 the Dominion government; but all the existing rights of the 
 company, with certain reservations, should first revert to the 
 imperial government. The reservations included some 500,000 
 acres of land adjacent to the trading posts of the coinpany, one 
 twentieth of the land in the fertile tract lying to the south of 
 the north branch of the Saskatchewan, with the stipulation 
 that the rights of the Indians and half-breeds should be re- 
 spected. Within a month after the reversion, the territory was 
 to be ceded to the Dominion ; and the Canadian government 
 passed a measure providing for the government of the newly 
 acquired territory. By this act provision was made for the 
 appointment of a lieutenant-governor, and a council to carry 
 on the adminstration, and the rights of the Indians and half- 
 breeds, it was expressly declared, were to be respected ; while 
 all lav/s in force in the territories not clashing with the Btitish 
 North- A.merica act or the terms of admission -^-vere to be held 
 as valid until repealed. ¥ov many years Hon. \Vm. McDougall, 
 on the platform and in the press, had alvocated theacquinition. 
 of this territory, and at a time when most men regarded the 
 distant wilderness as a dreary region of muskeg and eternal 
 frosts, atfording harbourage only to wild beasts, he declared 
 that it would prove a souoe of untold wealth, and could 
 support millions upon millions of people. It was felt now, 
 when the territory was to be added to Canada, that nono 
 
 352 
 
TEE JIALF-BEEED. 863 
 
 other there was so worthy the honour of first governing this 
 extensive terra, incof/nitu as Mr. McDongall, and so on the 
 announcement being made that the company had surrendered 
 the territory to the British government, this gentleman wa.s 
 appointed to the governorship, though the proclamation was 
 not to take effect till the region had passed into the handn of 
 the Dominion. Early in September, therefore, and without 
 waiting till the month had elapsed, Mr. McDougail, with his 
 family, set out from Ottawa on the long and tiresome journey 
 to Fort Garry, the seat of his future government. 
 
 Meanwhile a party of surveyors, under Lieutenant-Coiv^nel 
 Dennis, a gentleman swayed largely by the warlike instinct, 
 had been at Fort Garry and the districts surrounding, laying 
 off lots and townships. The ignorant half-breeds, naturally, 
 looked upon the new-comers, with their taj)es and chains, witli 
 some alarm ; and they soon became seized with the fear that 
 the land which they and their ancestors had hold at the hands 
 of the company, for generations, was now to be wrested from 
 tliem by the government, and that for this very purpose tlie 
 strangers were here measuring off the territory. The inhabit- 
 ants of the country consisted of ^nch-Canadian half-breeJ.s, 
 descendants of the voyageurs ana couieurs des hois who hfui 
 for several generations trapped, and traded for furs, throughout 
 these wild regions. They were all members of the catholic 
 church, servile in their obedience to the priests, but steetwd 
 in ignorance and ready to follow any clever demagogue who 
 could work upon their fear or prejudice. They had been in- 
 formed that Dennis and his surveyors were to visit their terri- 
 tory to seize their ancestral lands, and they promptly and 
 without any show of grace demanded of the strangers, busy 
 with their chains and levels, to know if what they had l»een 
 told was tr'io. For, if it is, they said, we shall resist the aggixi-s- 
 sion, and prevent anybody else from settling upon the territory 
 of which you are about to rob us. One might have supposed 
 that Dennis' staff would explain to tbcfca deluded people that 
 w 
 
354 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 their rights would be respected, and what the object of the 
 survey was ; but they took a different course : they told the 
 poor half-breed that the less he had to say about opposing 
 settlers, and thwarting government the better ; that there was 
 plenty of soldiers in Canada to enforce obedience. To make 
 the matter worse the English inhabitants scattered through 
 the territory, who owed no love to their half barbarous neigh- 
 bours, indulged in much injudicious exultation over the pro- 
 posed change. All the^e causes combined produced pernicious 
 fruit. The half-breeds became mad with excitement, and only 
 waited for some one to lead them to mischief. Not long were 
 the leaders wanted. In hot haste rose John Bruce, LouiS Riel, 
 and Am.brose Lepine ; and with their appearance the country 
 burst into rebellion. Colonel Dennis, who had been on the 
 spot and at first treated the idea of conciliation and explanation 
 with due military contempt, now began to grow alarmed, and 
 wrote to Mr. McDougall that things had taken on an ugly face. 
 Meanwhile the rebels had formed a provisional government 
 with John Bruce at its head ; but the ruling spirit was Louis 
 Riel, a daring, young French-Canadian, wily as a savage, bril- 
 liant and energetic. He appealed to the prejudices and the 
 fear of the half-breeds, and in a few days had four hundred 
 men at his back. 
 
 The new governor, in the meantime, unconscious of what was 
 going on, had been travelling with all possible speed to the 
 seat of government. While on the way from St. Paul, he heard 
 that the half-breeds were in arms ; but undaunted by the intel- 
 ligence he pushed on. At Penibina, however, he was served 
 by a half-breed with a notice from the " National Committee " 
 forbidding him to enter the territory; but still heedless of 
 warnings he proceeded with his councillors to the Hudson 
 Bay Company's post, about two miles beyond the frontier. 
 Here he was apprised by Colonel Dennis of the true state 
 of affairs, and learned that large parties of armed men had 
 been despatched by Riel to various points between Fort Garry 
 
THE HALF-BREED. 355 
 
 and Pembina, to oppose his progress. Not having a suffi- 
 cient force to fight his way to Fort Garry, Mr. McDougatl 
 had no alternative but to call a halt. He wrote a despatch to 
 Ottawa setting forth the state of matters, and also despatched 
 a messenger to Governor McTavish, at the Fort ; but his mes- 
 senger was captured by a party of armed men, and sent back 
 under escort, with the warning not to attempt a similar enter- 
 prise again. Some time after this occurrence a party of four- 
 teen armed horsemen drew up before Mr. McDougalFs halting- 
 place and demanded an interview. They notified the gover- 
 nor that he must leave the territory before nine o'clock on the 
 following day ; but after some expostulation they rode away 
 " considering the matter. " returning, however, on the follow- 
 ing morning, showing a desire to use violence. Mr. McDougall 
 and his party retired promptly across the border, and took up 
 lodgings at the house of a friendly Irishman, in Pembina, where 
 they remained till the return to Ontario. 
 
 Since we have last seen the conspirators, amazing success has 
 waited on their fortunes. Only the few Canadian settlers 
 among them had shown hostility to the rising. The officers of 
 the Hudson Bay Company sat with folded arms when a 
 decisive step would have stamped the rebellion out ; for they 
 no more than the half-breeds relished the prospect of a new 
 regime, having come, from their long possession in these wilds, 
 to regard themselves as the rightful lords and masters of the 
 territory. But the highest authority in the country was the 
 catholic church, one of whose priests, in the field, would have 
 been as powerful as Colonel Dennis and fifty cannon. Un- 
 fortunately the resident bishop, the Right Reverend Alexandre 
 Antoine Tach^, was at the time in Rome, and tho pious priest 
 in charge of the diocese, during the bishop's absence, was too 
 conscientious to interfere in the interests of peace, and to pre- 
 vent bloodshed, though his catechism had told him, — and he 
 might have read it in the scriptures — that " he that resisteth 
 the power resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist 
 
356 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 shall purchase to themselves damnation." The good priest and 
 his ignorant flock, however, were not so much awed by the 
 threat of " damnation " as dazzled by the successes of the im- 
 pulsive and shortsighted Kiel. On the 24th of November 
 the insurgents, under Piel, took possession of Fort Garry, set 
 the authority of Governor McTavish, who was now stricken 
 down with mortal illness, at defiance ; and fell to feasting on 
 the stores of the company. The Canadian settlers having taken 
 the alarm, gathered together to the number of about fifty and 
 took refuge in the house of Dr. Shultz, but the dwelling was 
 besieged ; the inmates were captured, and marched off to Fort 
 Garry where they were put in confinement. 
 - The proclamation appointing Mr. McDougall to the governor- 
 ship of the territory, and annexing the latter to the dominion 
 was not to go into effect till the 1st of December, but for weeks 
 (trevious to that date the intended governor had been perform- 
 ing the functions of a regular niler. In this he was guilty of 
 a grave error, and when tidings of his course reached Ottawa 
 the government felt tlie gravest alarm. But Mr. McDougall 
 was not a solitary'' blunderer upon the scone. When the first 
 day of December arrived he issued a proclamation command- 
 ing the insurgents peacably to disperse to their homes under 
 l^ain of the rigours of the law. He likewise authorized Colonel 
 Dennis to raise a force to put down the insurrection ; and a 
 few days later that worthy soldir^r was found among the lodges, 
 of the Rioux Indians trying to array the chiefs into hostility 
 against the insurgents. Whatever some writer?, who, when 
 passing judgment, were in a quiet room, in the midsL of a 
 peaceful city, may affirm to the contrary, we are unable to see 
 any great lack of judgment in the governor of a territory in re- 
 volt against the supreme authority raising a force to establish 
 order. But it appears that the Canadian government, unwil- 
 ling to accept a province seething with tumult, did not bind 
 itself to the time fixed in its own proclamation, sc that tho 
 ordinances of Mi*. McDougall, who was ignoracit. of what had 
 
THE HALF-BREED. 357 
 
 been done, were invalid ; and he was held responsible ''or the 
 blundei's of the ministry. Meanwhile Colonel Dennis sot him- 
 self to work to raise a force, but Riel and his follower only 
 laughed at the chief of the surveyors, who, disgusted and cha- 
 grined, left the territory ; while Mr. McDougall, findinj^ he had 
 iiiade a false step, for which he wao only in part to blame, iliat 
 public opinion was against him, and that the govi ri/ment had, 
 without understanding his difficulties, and dealing' with deci- 
 f<iori themselves, censured his proceedings, returned disheart- 
 ened and disgusted to Ontario, where he published a series 
 of letters affirming, and with such proof as lent but too much 
 probability to his story, that the Hudson Bay Company and 
 the Roman Catholic clergy of Ee I River had to some ex- 
 tent fomented the rebellion, and that his own late colleague, 
 Hon. Joseph Howe, secretary of state, who had vi.dted the re- 
 gion a short time before was, not f j a small extent, responsible 
 for the uprising. On Mr. McDougail's way home, he met upon 
 the plains three emissaries. Vicar- gen ra) Thibault, Colonel De 
 Salaberry and Donald A, Smith, each bearing, from the Cana- 
 dian government, to the insurgents, a copy of a proclamiation 
 issued by Lord Lisgar, containing, in conclusion, the following 
 paragraph : — " And I do lastly inform you that in case of your 
 immediate and peaceable obedience and dispersion, I shall order 
 that no legal proceedings be taken against any parties implica- 
 ted in these unfortunate breaches of the law." Mr. McDougall 
 pursued his way home, and he w^as not much to be blamed if 
 he offered no prayer for the success of Commissioner Salaberry. 
 The emissaries proceeded on their way, but had no sooner 
 reached Fort Garry than they were pounced upon, and de- 
 prived of their papers without being given an opportunity to 
 offer a word of explanation. Riel's head had failed him in the 
 trying moment of prosperity, and he was now fairly delirious 
 with success. He came to believe himself lord and master of 
 the territory ; ae confiscated property, overthrew every barrier 
 to his will, and banished from the country such as had aroused 
 
358 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 his fear or ire. It is difficult to tell what punishment he had 
 in store for Dr. Shultz and the band of Canadians now locked 
 in the fort ; but one night, three weeks after the incarceration, 
 the doctor made his escape, and rallying a number of settleri 
 around liim demanded the surrender of the prisoners. The 
 sturdy front of Shultz and his followers, and the entreaties of 
 several prominent residents induced Kiel to yield to the re- 
 quest, but he openly stated that he would recapture Shultz,. 
 who might depend upon a sore reckoning. The threatened 
 man silently loft the territory, and remained in Ontario till 
 better days. Upon one other person, too, had the insurgent 
 cast a murderous eye. On the night of the loth of February, 
 there was a rising at the Portage, and about a hundred sturdy 
 settlers, who were loyal to the Canadian government, placed 
 themselves at the disposal of Major Boulton, a Canadian officer 
 of militia. Thit: force marched to Kildonan, where they were 
 joined by three hundred and fifty others, the most of whom 
 were English half-breeds, wretchedly armed, undisciplined, and 
 without food enough for a single meal. The result of such a 
 rising can be readily T)redic'.ed. Major Boulton, a brave offi- 
 cer, though leading for want of better such a helpless assem- 
 blage, was, with forty others captured, thrown into prison, and 
 sentenced by court mariial to be shot. Through the earnest 
 entreaties, however, of Mr. Smith, the Bishop of Rupert's Land, 
 Archdeacon McLean, the Catholic clergy and other influential 
 citizens, he was released ; though it went sorely against the 
 will of Riel to deliver him up. The latter was now dictator 
 and " president " of the " provisional government " formed by 
 the insurgents ; and each day thcat he enjoyed this power he 
 grew more overbearing and dangerous to thosj who resented 
 his will. 
 
 But Kiel's worst offence so far was rebellion, and a high- 
 handed use of his unlawful powers ; he was yet to enact the 
 foulest crime that stains the page of Canadian history. It ap- 
 pears that among the besieged at Dr. Shultz's house was one 
 
THE nALF-BUEED. . 359 
 
 Thomas Rcott, a sturdy and spirited young fellow, who had 
 moved to the territory from Ontario. He did not surrender 
 with the main body of Canadian settlers, but was arrested the 
 same evening and confined in the Fort. Scott was a fiery 
 youth, loyal to the government, but indiscreet enough tomnlie 
 speeches which brought upon his head the wrath of the dicta- 
 tor. There is now no doubt that for Scott Riel had conceived 
 a personal hatred. Twice had he risen in arms against the 
 insurgents, and even under the lock and key of the president 
 made no effort to suppress his turbulent spirit. One morning 
 the story was told that the prisoners had heaped gross in.s lit 
 upon their half-breed guards, that the example had been -iet 
 by Scott, HP. J that the latter's conduct was no longer toleral !o. 
 Whether the story was true or not it servel the bloodt!. iNty 
 purpose >t' ^iiel, who, with '>;v '^di r iu his e} , on the < > eiiin.^ )f 
 the 3id A Mp^-ch, within the walls of the foH, improvise I .n 
 court martial, consisting of the- " council < f seven," to try Sc )it. 
 The crimes for which he waa to be tris.d were resistance to the 
 provisional govemnicnf, and assault upon one of his kcjpei ■. 
 Kiel appeared in tlie character of prosecutor, witness and jn<le<% 
 and refused to allow Scott to be pr ocnt at the trial, or to malce 
 any defence. After a brief consultation, the seven sentenced 
 i\\Q victim to be shot on the following morning at ten o'clock. 
 When news of the unheard-of proceedings, and the barbarous 
 sentence got abroad, there was even in that rebellious fort 
 general excitement, and much sympathy was expressed for the 
 condemned man. Rev. Mr. Young, a Methodist minister, Pere 
 Lostang, Mr. Smith and others, besought with i earful earnest- 
 ness that the sentence might be commuted, but the president 
 was thirsting for Scott's blood, and, with his barbarous ally 
 Lepine, peremptorily refused to listen to any plea for mercy. 
 Poor Scott, as may be supposed, could scarcely realize his posi- 
 tion ; and did not at first believe that the bloody sentence 
 Avould be carried out. But a few minutes past noon on the 
 following day, the executioners, a band of half-breeds, partially 
 
360 LIFE OF SIB JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 intoxicated, came into his cell, and led him out blind-fold 
 thron<^h the chief entrance to the fort to a spot a few yards 
 distant from the wall. "My God, my God," ho could only say, 
 in a trenuilous voice, " this is cold-blooded murder." His cofHn, 
 covered with white cotton, was carried before him, and laid 
 down at the spot planned for execution, where the firing party 
 of six half-breeds under "Adjutant-general" Ambrose Lepine, 
 now drew up. Scott then, his arms pinioned, knelt on tlie 
 gi-ound, said farewell, and fell back pierced by three bullets. 
 The victim it was observed was not dead, and one of the firing 
 party stepping over to where he lay bleeding upon the snow, 
 drew a revolver which he discharged into his head. The body 
 was then thrust into the coffin, and there are those that wit^.- 
 iiessed the bloody deed who assert that the cry of the d3'ing 
 man could be li 'i.'l! after flic lid had I uen fastened down. 
 What was afterwards the fate of the corpse, no one save those 
 engaged in its disposal knows. It was reported that the body 
 had been burned in the fort, but the box, which was alleged 
 to have contained the remains was found to contain naught 
 but stones. The general opinion is that the corpse was thrust 
 "oelow the ice in Red River. 
 
 At the first tidings of the outbreak it occurred to Sir John 
 Macdonald that Bishop Tachd's presence would do more to 
 quell the disturbances than any other means at the disposal 
 of the government. His lordship, however, as we have seen, 
 was at the time in Rome, attending a session of the famous 
 (Ecumenical council, but the ministers considered the case ur- 
 gent enough to invite the bishop to return and use his endm- 
 vours towards restoring peace. The prelate, at it j little sacri- 
 fice, tore himself away from Rome and proceeded to Canada. 
 On arriving at Ottawa, he received special instructions for the 
 guidance of his mission. But unfortunately for the ends of 
 justice, the bishop set out with the mistake of regarding him- 
 self a plenipotentiary with formal powers, whereas his mission 
 was exactly in th-j character of that of Colonel de Salabery, 
 
, i.! TUE llALF-IiREED. 301 
 
 Donald A. Smith, and tlie vicar-goneral. Dr. Tach<5 was 
 chosen because it was but too apparent that some of the priests 
 in his diocese sympathized largely with the rebels, and that the 
 insurgents, almost to a man, were members of his flock. So, 
 as in the dispatching of the three emissaries named, his lord- 
 ship was given a copy of the proclamation, and also some pri- 
 vate letters for his guidance. For example, among other 
 things, Sir John Macdonald wote: "Should the question 
 arise as to the consumption of the stores or goods belonging to 
 the Hudson Bay con)j)any by the insurgents, you are author- 
 ized to inform the leaders that if the company's government is 
 restored, not only will there be a general amnesty grd.afce<' but 
 in cr.se the company should t^h'wi pny^.o'H I : . ufh hn,i":\. ("".lat 
 t!u' C.'anadian government will stanvi between the insurgents 
 and ail harm." His IcnJship had also private conversations 
 with Sir John and Hon. Joseph Howe, and a letter from the 
 governor-general. But no member of the government looked 
 upon the bishop's position as other than that of a peacemaker, 
 bearing assurances from the government on specific points. 
 Had he been a plenipotentiary he would have been given a 
 formal commission with authority to deal, in the name of the 
 government, with all past and possible offences. As a mere 
 informal emissary and ]ieacemaker, the bounds of his author- 
 ity extended no further than the specifications in the letters of 
 the iTiinisters ; and it might even be argued that the private 
 letter of Sir John Macdonald, or of Mr. Howe, or even of Sir 
 John Young, was not a valid authority, and was not so in- 
 tended, and that ministers only wished to have the insurgents 
 made aware of the disposition of the government. That the 
 government did blunder in assuming that the mere uprising of 
 the French Metis and the consumption of the Hudson Bay 
 company's sto'-es were the limit of Kiel's offences, no one can 
 deny ; but this was not a justification, though it was the occa- 
 sion, of the bishop's view of the question. It is not necessary 
 
S«2 LIFE ^F Srn JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 to say that wJien iih Ic tJship set out i'rotn Ottawa, the miia.s- 
 try wa- ignorant of -jr", mmder of Scf^.t. 
 
 On the i)ih of Marc) , hve days aftt;)' the death of Scott, the 
 hishop bearirg hi; ';r' lentials; arrived nt Red River. He pre- 
 sented liis papers, jen.'onstrpted "'.vith '.he rebels, and in the 
 name of th-j goveniniei.l of ' ,'anada made certain promises if 
 they wouJd lay do^^n iLrir arms, r. riong these, was that of a 
 general aniresty to all implicated i. *ho insurrection ; as likc- 
 \\ise to those (;onceniod in the shooti ig of Scott. It is almost 
 iiicred'ilous that the worthy bishop should have so far mis- 
 taken his powers as to inclule in the amnesty, upon his owii 
 responsibility, tbe perpetrators of iliis foul murder ; yet such 
 was liis view, an opinion which lie maintained stoutly to the 
 end. He wrote, stating what he liad done, to the secretary of 
 state, Mr. Howe, but that gentJomaa promptly inform«.d him 
 that the government was i ot in a position to interfero with the 
 free action of her majesty in the exercise of the royal clemency, 
 though he requested \.'l> lordship to pevsevijic in his o-ideavours 
 to bring the population to j»'>ice and orde>'. acknowledging, as 
 was proper and due to the (>!»iati::, the value of his services so 
 far to the cause of peace. T"' or year; afterw.'irds the question of 
 amnesty was a subject of discussion, the government affirming 
 that they had never committed themselves to a pledge of par- 
 don beyond what appearo;' in their published letters. The 
 news of the murder of Scott iiUed the great bulk of the Cana- 
 dian public with horror and indignation, and in a '"'^w days t 
 was learnt with much satisfaction that General Garnet 
 
 Wolseley, who has since distinguished himself iii A.shantee, 
 Egypt and elsewhere, was to be ;^ent to Red River with an 
 ample military force. The news reached Fort Garry, and the 
 murderer Riel and his colleague Lepine lost their bravado and 
 shivered for fear. With the same secrecy of movement that 
 the commander of the troops observed in his sortie upon the 
 forces of Arabi Pasha, he was within riffe shot of Fort Garry 
 ere anyone in the murderer's lair knew of the approach. Riel 
 
THE HALF-BREED. 363. 
 
 and Lepine took instant flight out of harm's way, and with 
 lusty British cheers, and amid the thunder of a royal salute, 
 the Union- Jack was hoisted above the fort. 
 
 Hon. Adams George Archiltald had been, in the meantime, 
 appointed to the governorship of th^ T n ritory, and on the 2nd 
 of November assumed his official functions. In the following 
 May — 1871 — he heard with alarm that a body of Fenians un- 
 der the leadership of one O'Donoghue, who had been an ally of 
 Kiel, threatened an irruption. The governor was alone, sur- 
 rounded by difficulties and unprovided with a defensive force ;. 
 and being cut off by distance fi'om comnmnication with the 
 central authoiities, was thrown upon his own resources. It was 
 an hour of grave peril, and to save the new province from the 
 consequences of a conquest by such a filibuster as O'Donoghue 
 and the Vrnnd of ruffians in his following, Mr. Archibald leagued 
 liimseli with the two murderers Riel and Lepine, who wer& 
 still at large, tliougli warrants were out for their apprehension, 
 to resi-^t the invaders, Promptly these two persons rallied, once 
 again, the subsided ilotis, whom they placed at the disposal of 
 Mr. Archibald. The governor, it appears, had little misgivings 
 in entering into this foul and revolting compact. He reviewed 
 the murderers' troops, accepted their services, promised Lepine 
 and Riel at least temporary immunity from molestation for their 
 crime, shook hands with them, received a letter signed by them, 
 and through his secretary addressed a written reply after the 
 retreat of the brigand O'Donoghue, com])limenting them on the 
 loyalty they had shown and the assistance they had reniiered. 
 Indeed, the governor v/as of the impression thnt Kiel and his 
 followers offered their services in a spirit of genuine loyalty, 
 " though," says Lord Dufferin, in a despatch to the secretary 
 of state, " Sir John Macdonald appears to have had niisgivings^ 
 on ^,his head." The strongest point by the lieutenimt-gover- 
 nor, in justification of this sickening alHance, is made when he 
 says: ' If 1 had driven the French half-breeds into the hands, 
 of the enemy O'Donoghue, they would hive been joined by all 
 
364 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 the population between the Assiniboine and the frontier ; Fort 
 Garry would have passed into the hands of an armed mob, 
 and the English settlers to the north of the Assiniboine woulcj 
 have suffered horrors that it makes me shudder to contemplate. 
 At this period an all-pervading sense of etiquette had taken 
 possession of archbishop * Tachd, who maintained with a zeal 
 worthy of a noble cause, that, by virtue of his commission 
 from the Canadian government, and his declaration of an am- 
 nesty, Riel and Lepine had been placed be3^ond the molestation 
 of the law. It is not necessary to detail incidents of this un- 
 seemly squabble between the bishop and the ministers. The 
 question was submitted to the imperial government, and after 
 much correspondence between Lord Dufferin and the colonial 
 .secretary, the latter left the subject in the hands of the gover- 
 nor-general. Lepine had been captured, and lay in the Winni- 
 peg gaol under sentence of death, but this Lord Dufferin com- 
 muted to two years' imprisonment and a permanent forfeiture 
 of civil rights. This was surely a triumph for murder and the 
 archbishop. Riel, whose punishment would have been the 
 same as Lepine's, escaped the law — because the law shut its 
 ■eyeb — and is now at large among his fellows bearing the stain 
 of his revolting crime. 
 
 * His lordship about this time wan created an archbishop. 
 
CHAPTEil XX. 
 
 THROUGH STOBMS TO THE REEF. 
 
 IT is necessary now to take a few j^acos backward. On the 
 2nd of May, and while the ten-itory was at the feet of tlie 
 insurgents, Sir John Macdonald introduced an act to establisli 
 and provide for the government of the province of Manitoba, 
 as this tumultuous region was to be lienceforth called. Local 
 affairs were placed under the control of a lieutenant-gover- 
 nor, who was aided by an executive council, the legislative 
 machinery to comprise a house of assembly, and an upper 
 chamber. Even in this wilderness province, so remote from 
 the influences of the aristocracy, it was considered necessary to 
 season the constitution with a pinch of feudalism, by creating 
 a house of prairie-lords. The province having no public debt 
 of which the Dominion should have borne a part, interest at 
 five per cent per annum on .S'tT2,090 was guaranteed ; a yearly 
 subsidy of 830,000, and the usual general allowance of 80 cents 
 per head, the population being estimated at 17,000. Ungranted 
 territory was vested in the crown for purposes of the federal 
 government ; and to effect an extinction of the Indian title, 
 1,400,000 acres of land were set apart for the benefio of resident 
 half-breed families. It was provided that the new province 
 should become a partner in the federation on such date as the 
 Queen in council should fix for the admission of Rupert's Land 
 and the North-west territory into the union, .\nother impor- 
 tant measure of this session was the banking act of Sir Francis 
 Hincks, which found instant ard settled favour with banking 
 institutions and the commercial public. Not so successful was 
 
 365 
 
3C6 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 the honourable knight's tariff act, which Lore on its face the 
 semblance of jrotection, but in reality wa? a declaration of 
 commercial war against the United States, with which recipro- 
 city was desirable out impossible. From the first the ministiy 
 seemed to have little heart iii launching this measure. Sir 
 John called it "forcing public opin*oT\*' which was not at that 
 .stage ready for a systeiM of proteotic i, much less a measure 
 that promised the burthens, without i)u-. benefits, of such a 
 policy. Nevertheless, soraetlnng was needed, and Sir Francis 
 came forward with his meaaire wiih the timid-courage of a 
 boy, pole in hand, venturing o t on the first ice of the season. 
 Unfortunately for the ministr , , long })ressure of public busi- 
 ness had told severely on the iiojlti) oi Sir John. He w»s 
 frequently unable to attend parlaraert or cabinet meetings ; 
 and as the session drew to a close he became completely pros- 
 trated. Sir Francis and his colli ."ues battled bravely against 
 the opposition and the defection iu their own ranks, but the 
 nerve had gone for the time from the han'l that could alone 
 make the rough smooth, and bring harraoy out of disorder; 
 and the measure passed after a severe bai 'ing, with a feeble 
 majority. Among the able opposition; •.', tiight be counted 
 Messrs. McDougall and Gait, for though iuey v/ere labelled 
 " Independent," on trying occasions they w^^re found voting 
 with the government. Mr. McDougall rega,r:i. 1 himself, as he 
 certainly was, a victim of the government' 5 .men viable North- 
 west policy, and was not in oppositic;: ia tie pi'ldic interest, 
 but for the sake of revenge ; while Mr. A, T, Ofilr also turned 
 a personal grievance into a ground of public pohc} . 
 
 The Fenians had their hearts set on capturii;.* a, piece of 
 British territory, and when the rebellion broke out ii- the North- 
 west, O'Neil, whose acquaintance we h. u already n);tde, nim- 
 bly reassembled his ragged brigade, and on the -Jth v f May, 
 made a dash across the Missisquoi frontier ; but was driven 
 back, hylter-skelter, by a handful vf Canadian volunteers. Two 
 days later, another band, made heroic with whisikey, swaggered 
 
THROUGH SrOliMS TO THE REEF. 367 
 
 across the bordei' in Huntington county, Imt on being confront- 
 ed by a few of our militiamen took wild ilight again into shel- 
 tering territory. Even here they were not beyond harm, as 
 their leaders were arrested by United States officials, and their 
 arms, whiskey and other possession.? confiscated. lu the early 
 autumn the announcement that the imperial government wa^ 
 about to withdraw the troops, called forth an ear 'est, if a not 
 very manly, protest from several quarters. In reply, we v/ei o 
 informed from the colonial office, that Great Britain felt thai 
 she now ought to be ' ".ieved of the burthen of our efi'nce ; 
 that we had entered upon an era of peace, and that w ,ilc the 
 mother considei'ed herself bound to defend us from forijigi} ag- 
 gression, that she expected us, henceforth, to provide pro^^* •- 
 tion in our domestic affairs. We somewhat pitiably retorted 
 that we had always furnished force to do our police duty, and 
 did not need assistance now for that purpose ; but the colonial 
 office was inexorable, and said that what had been oidered 
 could not be revoked. The forces we .e consequently called 
 home from all the stations save Halifax, whose society, tavern- 
 keepers and immorality are at least the gainers, if no boon 
 is conferred upon the country. The only anomaly in the 
 proceeding was the withdrawal of the troops from Newfound- 
 land, which was then, and is to-day, not in the union. The 
 imperial view was surely not less than rational and politic; 
 though some of those who had talked after the union wiih so 
 much sound about our magnitude and our future, wre among 
 the first to cry out, " don't take away tht; soldiers." To boast 
 of nationality in one breath, and to cry fur protection in ano- 
 ther, is at once impertinent and unm.anly ; and lesembies no- 
 thing so much as a hale young man of twenty-one under the 
 guard anship of a dry nurse. Our duty ?:. to rely upon our- 
 selves T.a the day of troubl >, and we ha.ve spirit, and brain, and 
 patriotism enough in this i oua^ry, were the aii'*nuaLed loadii g 
 string of British cormexion cut to-morrow, to resist all-comer& 
 as effbctually as we could UDUor our present system — which 
 
368 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 dampens national ardo'.r, and undermines self-confidence — 
 aided by imperial soMicrs. The duty to home and kin is 
 a strong incentive, if the duty can always be made to assume 
 that personal form, but patriotism can be only predicated of 
 those who possess a country, not of those who inhabit an in- 
 stalment of territory belonging to somebody else, .ind who hav- 
 ing fought the battle and overwhelmed the foe, are reminded 
 that they are serfs by profuse thanks for the loyalty and cour- 
 age they showed not to themselves, not to the country whose 
 fields they till, and whose seas they sail, but to a foreign ruler 
 whom they have never seen, and who lives beyond a dissever- 
 ing ocean. This opinion is not for those enlightened, loyal 
 Canadians, who think that the sovereign can cure their babies 
 of king's evil ; but for the manly, intelligent young fellow with 
 the light of the age in his eyes, who loves his country, and 
 takes wisdom for his guide ; who believes that all men came 
 into this world equal, as they must leave it equal, that gold, 
 and place, and spurs belong alone to those who in honest strife 
 can win them, that the custom which fixes perpetual authority 
 in any family among the race of men, and declares that all 
 others shall be subject and inferior, is one of the few relics of 
 a barbarous age, a butt for the future historian, and an institu- 
 ticn that he will take to represent the darkness of the century. 
 During the summer an important acquisition to the Do- 
 minion cabinet appears in the appointment of Hon. Charles 
 Tupper, whose robust ability and unfaltering purpose, had all 
 along favourably impressed Sir John, to the presidency of the 
 council, in the room of the Hon. Edward Kenny, who had been 
 appointed to the governorship of Nova Scotia. We have met 
 Dr. Tupper already measuring his strength with Joseph Howe, 
 and seen him return from England twice with the laurels; but 
 thi s was no test of his prowess, since Howe was pitted not alone 
 against his brother Nova Scotian, but against the imperial cabi- - 
 net, which was zealous for union. Where the field was fair and 
 there was no favour, it fared better with the giant, and we 
 
THROUGH STORMS TO THE REEF. 369 
 
 found Dr. Tupper, like Randolph Mui-ray, returning to Ottawa, 
 out of the fight, alone. But of Sir Charles' abilities, we might 
 f^ay of his genius, there can be no question. He began life, we 
 believe, as a medical practitioner ; and while enjoying an ex- 
 cellent prospect of eminent success in that profession, entered 
 politics, in which sphere, by the sheer force of his abilities and 
 the possession of a })ower that literally battered down every 
 obstacle, had succeeded in forcing his way, as we have seen, to 
 one of the most prominent places in his country. But the Dr. 
 Tupper of that day, was not the Sir Charles of our present ac- 
 (juaintance. Never could anybody deny that great energ}^ of 
 character, and almost superhuman force; but for many years 
 after his entry into public life, Dr. Tupper was almost insuf- 
 ferably verbose, and often bombastical. Language literally 
 poured from the man ; but his speeches were not remark- 
 able for the closer and more incisive reasoning which runs 
 through his public utterances now. Time has chastened and 
 disciplined that ardent spirit, reduced the blaze to a sober 
 glow, while not robbing the fire of its heat ; yet without being 
 disposed to unkind criticism, his speeches still — speeches that 
 may always be called verbal tornadoes — on occasion may be 
 described as savage, though in no instance we can remember 
 of has the provocation not been ample. Of the question of 
 dignity, and what is due to his position as a leading minister 
 of the crown, Sir Charles Tupper is the best judge ; though he 
 must bear the writer to challenge the propriety of a member of 
 the Canadian government descending to a personal attack, how- 
 ever well merited, on one who had degraded the press by making 
 a newspaper the vehicle of vulgar spleen. Mr. Nicholas Flood 
 Davin in his paper " Great S{)eeches " in the Canadian Month- 
 ly, from which we have already extracted, has oh is telling de- 
 scription of Sir Charles as an orator. " Sir Charles Tupper's 
 most distinguishing characteristic .... is force. Though he 
 has not the scholarship nor finish of Mr. Gladstone, it is with 
 Mr. Gladstone — were I searching for a comparison — I should 
 
370 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 compare him. Yet they are dissimilar in so many ways that 
 the choice does not .seem liappy. They are aUko however in 
 this: extiT ordinary capacity for work, power of going from 
 place to ilace, and making great speeches with little or no time 
 for rest or study. Different in kind, his command of expres- 
 sion is as ready and effective as Mr. Gladstone's. He has the 
 faculty of growth; the sure mark of a superior mind when 
 found in a man over forty." The same writer goes on to say, 
 and had he omitted saying it, we should not have thought so 
 much of his paper : " I am sure that both he and Mr. Blake 
 speak too long. If they could take off about thii-ty per cent, 
 in time without impairing the texture of thought ; if they could 
 pack closer ; how much more effective both would be. Sir 
 Charles Tupper is not content while a single wall of the (iue- 
 my's defences remains standing." Some of Sir Charles T upper's 
 most important work is too fresh in the mind of the reader to 
 detail it here ; and as the news has gone abroad, while these 
 pages are passing through the press, that this very able states- 
 man, still in the prime of his manhood, though with health 
 somewhat shattered, by a too-long overwrought brain, is about 
 to retire from his present office to fill a jilace of importance in 
 the mother-country, we may be permitted to refuse paying a 
 " long farewell," cherishing the hope that many days may yet 
 remain to him, after his mission in the new sphere is ended, 
 and his health restored, in the pei'formancc of public duty in 
 Canada. 
 
 The Reciprocity Treaty having expired, as we have seen, and 
 the overture s of the Canadian government for renewal having 
 proven fruitless, a state of affairs had arisen which provoked a 
 strong feeling of hostility among our people towards the United 
 States. With the expiry of the treaty, of course, all rights 
 and privileges to both parties lapsed, yet American fishermen 
 continued to fish in our coast-waters within prohibited limits. 
 The Canadian governme.it remonstrated with the \V^ashi)igton 
 authorities, and ihe president of the United States issued a 
 
 
TH ROUGH STORMS TO THE REEF. 371 
 
 proclamation forbidding American citizens to further infringe 
 upon the law. American schooners still appean^d within the 
 three-mile limit around our coast, putting out net and spilliard 
 trains ; and even became so brazen in their disrewri for author- 
 ity, as to engage in taking fish during Sunilay , — for which, in 
 one instance, they paid the penalty by the ifihabitants of a cove 
 in Fortune Bay, Newfoundland, tf'Ung the law in their own 
 hands, destroying the fishing gear of the intruders, and driving 
 the violaters of the sabbath and the civil laws from the shore. 
 The imperial and Canadian goveiuments sent armed vessels 
 along the o asts to prevent this international poaching, and 
 several crafts cuagla in their unlawful work were seized and con- 
 fiscated. Whereupon our American friends grew wrathful, and 
 their hi<;h- pent feeling vented itself in an unstatesmanlike and 
 intemperate message from Presideiu Grant during the autumn. 
 A aun ber of irritating questions had now accumulated be- 
 tween the United States and Great Britain, and early in the 
 year, 1871, it became known that these would be submitted for 
 settlement to a joint commission appointed by both govern- 
 ments. The chief subjects for the adjudication of the commis- 
 sion were the fisheries question, to which we have alluded; the 
 ^^a6amu, claims, the navigation of the St. Lawrence, and of the 
 Canadian canals, and the boundary line between the United 
 States and British Columbia. Owing to some of the hazy defi- 
 nitions in the Oregon treaty, the ownership of the island of 
 San Juan, in the strait of Juan de Fuca, which for the past 
 twelve years had been occupied jolntl}- by British and United 
 States officials, had been open to dispute ; and a settlement of 
 this question was also referred to the comm ssion. On the 
 10th of February, the United States government appointed as 
 its representatives, the Hon. Robert C. Schenck, United States 
 minister to the court of St. James ; the Hon. Hamilton Fish, 
 secretary of state ; the Hon. Samuel Nelson, of the supreme 
 court ; the Hon. George H. Williams, of Oregon, and the Hon. 
 Ebenezer R. Hoar, of Massachusetts. On the sixteenth of the 
 
372 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONAID. 
 
 same month, the imperial government appointed as its five 
 representatives the Earl iJe Gray and Bipon, Sir Edward 
 Thornton, Sii- Stafford Northcote, Sir John Macdonald and 
 Montague Bernard, professor of international lav. in the univer- 
 sity of Oxford. The appointment of a colonist en a commission 
 to conserve imperial interests was an unusual course, but the 
 eminent abilities of Sir John, and the vast Canadian interest* 
 at stake, induced the selection. It is an error, however, to 
 suppose that, in any sense. Sir John was a Dominion represen- 
 tative ; he was merely the interpreter of Canadian interests. 
 On this commis'^ion, as events afterwards showed, our premeir 
 found himself between the devil and the deep sea, between 
 his duty as an imperial representative on the one hand, whose 
 mission was to support any plan that would forward the 
 interests of the empire as a whole, even though such measure 
 should bear harshly upon his own province, and his duty to the 
 interests of the Dominion on the other. The first meeting of 
 the commission was Iield at Washington, on the 27th of Feb- 
 ruary ; and the sittings were continued at irregular intervals 
 till the 8th of May. On this date the Washington treaty was 
 signed, and the commissioners set out for their homes. In 
 brief the treaty — which was ratified by the United States on 
 the 2 tth of May, and by the imperial parliament on the 17th of 
 June — provided for the settlement of \\\e Alabama claims by an 
 arbitration board to meet in Switzerland, and to which refer- 
 ence has already been made ; the San Juan boundary dispute 
 was refexTed for adjudication to the emperor of Germany, who 
 gave the disputed island to the United b^ates; while, with res- 
 pect to the fisheries, our waters were thrown open to the Ame- 
 rican fish ,imen for a period of ten years, the compensation to 
 the Canadian government, in lieu of this privilege, to be decided 
 by a special commission.* It was provided that fish and oil 
 should be admitted into the United States and Canada, from each 
 
 * The commisblon met in Halifax in 1877, and aws; Jed to Canada §5,500,000, 
 which Wivs paid, but with not a little groaning. 
 
THROUGH STORMS TO THE REEF. 373 
 
 country, duty free during a like period ; free navigation of tho 
 St. Lawrence and the Canadian canals was guaranteed to Ameri- 
 can citizens, a similar privilege being accorded to British sub- 
 jects on Lake Michigan. As an offset to the claim tor damages 
 by the Confederate cruisers sailing from British ports, Sir John 
 contended that the Dominion was, in a like measure, entitled to 
 recompense for the ravages of Fenian mai'auders from American 
 territory. Against an attitude which so much as refused to 
 discuss this question, and with the tepid support of his brother 
 commissioners, to whom imperial questions threw all others in 
 the shade, Sir John was powerless ; and, as in some other points, 
 he was obliged to yield. Some of his opponents afterwards 
 maintained that in the face of this opposition it w as his duty to 
 have resigned, but that would have been for the premier to con- 
 fess that he regarded himself as a colonial, and not an imperial 
 representative ; that he had consented to enter the commission 
 tmder false pretences ; for, as we have already stated, it was by 
 the accident of his qualifications and the esteem in which he 
 was held — and in any case only as an interpreter of Canadinn 
 interests — that he was appointed among the repre? untatives ; 
 a,nd had he resigned the imperia . will would nevertheless have 
 been carried out, and perhaps without the dampening pi-esence 
 of another colonist. But that Sir John did do all that was 
 consistent with honour and duty as a representative of impe- 
 rial interest, became abundantly clear, and is, if by no other 
 evidence, amply proven in the fact, that, up to a late periou — if 
 indeed down to this time — he had not been forgiven by imperial 
 statesmen, for what, between themsel /es, they ha'l been pleased 
 to call his "colonialism" on the commission; not a colonialism 
 implying anything beyond v hat they regarded as too much 
 zeal in Canadian interests, whiL;li dashed with those of the em- 
 pire. It is not going too far to assume that, when we hear the 
 i)remier'8 Canadian opponents denounce him for having done 
 too little for Canada. 8 u' hoar imperial earls and knights who 
 \vere with hiro whisper htlnnd the door 'hat he did too much. 
 
374 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 he did his onerous and difficult duty, honourably, conscienti- 
 ously, and well. For a year the treaty was misrepresented 
 throughout the country, and the premier and the ministry were 
 loaded with abuse. The assailants were sorely mortified that 
 they could elicit no official response, a silence maintained at the 
 request of Sir John, who said that it would be time enough to 
 explain when the politic period arrived and in the proper place.^ 
 We shall skip a year to see the issue. In May, 1872, the storm 
 broke, and Sir John was ready. His defence is given us in one 
 of the auiest — perhaps the most effective — speeches of his life. 
 We need not here attempt an outline of this address, which we 
 give in full elsewhere,* or of the telling speeches by Sir Francis 
 Hincks, Hon. Wm. McDougall, Hon. Charles Tupper, Hon. S. 
 L. Tilley, Sir George Cartier, Hon. J. H. Cameron and others. 
 All the speakers, understanding the painfully difficult position 
 Sir John had held, and appreciating the highmindedness and 
 ability with which he conducted himself, came forward in de- 
 fence of their chief. Mr. John Hillyard Cameron said that " be- 
 fore entering into discussion on the various points of the treaty, 
 he might be allowed to say a few words about one upon whom 
 the eyes of all Canada were fixed, in v/hom the country had the 
 deepest interest, and in whom, he ventured to say, the great 
 mass of the people had the mosi, implicit reliance. He refer- 
 red to the gentleman who was entrusted, not only as a nego- 
 tiator but as a representative of the empire, and of Canada, as 
 a part of it ; he whom so many had been accustomed to ad- 
 mire, and whom he (Mr. Cameron) had been permitted to follow, 
 as his leader, for so many years. Probably there was no mem- 
 ber of the house better entitled to speak of that gentleman than 
 he. They had been friends for more than half the term of life 
 allotted to man ; they had been at school together, and had 
 been in the government of Canada in the freshness of their 
 youth, more than a quarter of a century ago ; and from that 
 
 • For the text of the speech in extemo, see appendix G. 
 
THROVGII STORMS TO THE REEF. 375 
 
 year to this, although their positions had leen very different, 
 he had been always his political follower, and had endeavoured 
 to be his faithful friend ; and he believed there were very few 
 among those who had been his friends, and followers during 
 that long period of years who were not his staunch supporters 
 now. There could hardly be a higher compliment paid to any 
 man than that he should have continued to hold the position 
 he had held during the many years past ; and he felt compelled 
 to say this, because heartless attacks had been made upon his 
 character and honour. They all knew, every one of them, and 
 he (Mr. Cameron) recollected well, the time when he first came 
 so prominently before the public. They might have looked 
 through their own party, in and out of politics, and could not 
 have found a single man his superior, and in the opposition 
 party they could not find a raan either his superior or his equal. 
 During all those years he had carried out those measures which 
 he considered were for the country's good. In many he (Mr. 
 Cameron) did not concur, but in many had agreed ; and of all 
 men competent to deal with the affairs of the people, he had 
 always considered that there was no one so competent as he, 
 Sir John Macdonald. He (Mr. Cameron) had seen his skill and 
 ability at all times and under all circumstances, and there was 
 no one among them who had not had an opportunity over and 
 over again of forming a judgment upon them. He would ask 
 them to recollect how, when circumstances had withdrawn him, 
 when debates and discussions were going on, they had felt that 
 the chords were jangled and the instrument out of tune, and 
 when he returned again how his master hand evoked a harmony 
 that no other hand was able to produce. They had all known 
 it. They had seen him in his position there using his talents 
 and great ability for the benefit of the country. Had he turned 
 those talents and that ability to his profession, he would have 
 won both wealth and fame. Whilst other politicians wore mak- 
 ing their fortunes, no one ever felt otherwise than that that man 
 was poor, because he never allowed his political or parliamen- 
 
376 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACVONALD. 
 
 tary influence to be used in order that he might in the slightest 
 degree make pecuniary capital of his position. Did not they all 
 feel that one reason why his honourable friends opposite had 
 raged so furiously against him, had been because of what his 
 hon. friend from Lambton had said the other night that his 
 (Sir John's) path was marked by the graves of dead politicians . 
 He (the member for Lambton) had boasted of the purity of 
 reform principles, and of the stren,o;th and power of reformers ; 
 and yet he had seen their foremost men, one by one — even the 
 great Anak himself — become the willing captives of his bow 
 and spear, and march to their political death under the eye of 
 their conqueror ; while they contended that what their of »po- 
 nents termed " political death " was really political regenera- 
 tion. That was their position ; and their support of his hon. 
 friend had been not merely in reference to his great political 
 ability, but it had been in regard to what he had been to all 
 of them. He had always been generous and easy of access, 
 ever mingling coui'tesy with kindness. No man ever had more 
 devoted friends and followers. He had grappled them to his 
 heart with hoops of steel, and had kept them th*!re. Over and 
 over again he had cai'ried them forward with him to victory, 
 and he believed that now, as ever, his latest and crowning vie 
 tory would be the response which the parliament of Canada 
 would make to the appeal that they should ratify the treaty. 
 His party were indignant that the charge of treasoi; and the 
 name of " Judas " should be used against him. Notwith. stand- 
 ing the taunts and the violence of the opposition — notwith- 
 standing the accusations they made — they would find that, in 
 the opinions not only of a large majority of the members of the 
 house but of an equally large majority of tie people of the 
 country, there was no man under whose banner they would 
 more gladly advance, either to victory or d(;foat, than that of 
 the hon. member who led them." At the conclusion the l.ouso 
 showed its loyalty to Sir John, and its confidence in his ability 
 and integrity by ratifying so much of the treaty as referred to 
 
THROUGH STORMS TO THE REEF. 377 
 
 Canada by a vote of 121 to 55. From Ontario there was a 
 majority of 10; from Quebec, 29 ; from Nova Scotia, 11 ; from 
 New Brunswick, 7 ; from Manitoba, 3, and from British Col- 
 umbia, G. 
 
 It is necessary now to retrace our steps a short way, to take 
 up the thread of our general narrative. Parliament opened on 
 the 15th of February, 1871. Sir Francis was in high spirits ; 
 commerce felt a fuller life in her veins, the outlook was still 
 more cheering, and the ministers had S200,000 to spare after 
 meeting all current expenditure. Several measures of import- 
 ance were introduced during the session, chief among these 
 being acts providing for the assimilation of the currency, the 
 readjustment of the tariiF, for the management of savings 
 banks, and the establishment of a new banking system. It 
 was during this session that the act was introduced provid- 
 ing for the admission of our distant relative, British Columbia, 
 into the united family. The Pacific province was not enthu- 
 siastic for the compact, but like the maiden who marries for 
 money instead of for love, made her union conditional upon the 
 construction of a railroad ; and as marriages contracted with 
 .such motives do not always " turn out well," it is not surpris- 
 ing that before the Pacific spouse had ceased to be a bride, she 
 was in the courts for divorce. The Canadian parliament rose on 
 the 14th of April; and on the 16th of May, an imperial order-in- 
 coimcil was pa.' sed authorising the admis.sion of British Colum- 
 bia into the Canadian federation. The provisions of the British 
 North America Act were extended to the new province; an an- 
 nual subsidy of §35,000 was set apart, and 80 cents granted to 
 ■each head of the population, which then was estimated at 00,000. 
 The most important stipulation in the terms of union with the 
 new province was the obligation on the part of the Dominion 
 to secure the commencement simultaneously, "within two years 
 after the date of the union, of the construction of a railway 
 from the Pacific towards the Rocky Mountains, and from such 
 point as should be selected east of the Rocky Mountains towards 
 
378 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 the Pacific, to connect the seaboard of British Columbia with 
 the railway system of Canada ; and further to secure the com- 
 pletion of such railway within ten years from the date of the 
 union." This line, we need scarce say, is not built yet, though 
 it has had a prodigious catastrophe, resulting in the wreck of a 
 great party, as shall be told further on. The Hon. William 
 Joseph Trutch was appointed lieutenant-governor of the newly 
 acquired province. The prosperity of Ontario was now devel- 
 oping in bounds, and Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald, with the 
 strange daring that had more than once led him upon the rocks, 
 appropriated a large sum of the public funds for railway pur- 
 poses without the consent of the legislature. A storm arose, 
 and the premier could not withstand it. His enemies thundered 
 their censure, and his friends dropped off. He resigned in 
 December, and the governor r-sked Mr. Edward Blake to take 
 his place. One of the first acts of the new provincial govern- 
 ment was the offering of !$5,00() reward for the apprehension of 
 the murderers Riel and Lepine, who, were now living saus i)eur 
 at their homes. Sir George Cartier had made common cause 
 with Monseigneur Tach^ in shielding Riel, who was eventu- 
 ally, but not till he had sought parliamentary honours, induced 
 to leave the country. 
 
 The last session of the first Dominion parliament opened on 
 the 11th of April, 1872. The most important question was the 
 clause of the Washington treaty to which we have reverted, 
 Mr. Blake excelling himself in clever argument, sarcasm, and 
 snecial pleading in his attack upon the measure. A question 
 of much interest was the New Brunswick " School Bill," which 
 had passed the legislature of that province, in May, of the pre- 
 vious year. The New Brunswick Act, in brief, provided for the 
 establishment of free non-sectarian schools, which were to be 
 taken out of the hand of the Jacks-of -all -trades, administered 
 under government supervision, and supported by municipal tax- 
 ation and a grant from the provincial legislature. A wise 
 measure, however, was marred by blemishes affixed by a bigo- 
 
THROVGH STORMS TO THE BEEF. 370 
 
 try that made a triumph of reason an engine of injustice, groa» 
 and contemptible. The question, through the local constituen- 
 cies, became not one between the old and barbarous plan of edu- 
 cation, and the new system, but between protestant and catho- 
 lic. The catholic priesthood became alarmed, and saw the hand 
 of Satan guiding the new movement. The free-school people 
 affected to see something nearly as bad on the other side, the 
 Pope resisting the spread of education and thought. The priest 
 was over fearful, the free-school champion was over zealous. 
 The most with which the former is to be charged is extrava- 
 gant dread, and a profusion of evil prophecy that he came for- 
 ward himself, in time, to falsify ; but against the latter there is. 
 a much less creditable count. They studded the new law with 
 provisions, called by some one " millinery regulations," deliber- 
 ately intended to insult and harass the Roman catholics, while- 
 one politician,* who is now, thanks to the unfortunate system 
 of party which rules everything in this country from the bench 
 to the buck-saw, a judge in New Brunswick, carried his un- 
 manly bigotry so far as to declare on the hustings, that he 
 had no feeling in common with Roman catholics, and did not 
 want their votes. Such a spirit was odious enough in the cam- 
 paign, but it was carried into the bill, and provided that na 
 teacher should wear crosses, badges or garbs pertaining to any 
 exclusive order ; the object being to exclude religious of the 
 Roman church from the work of teaching. It was while the 
 law remained in this intolerable state, that the two prominent 
 Roman catholics from New Brunswick in the Canadian legis- 
 lature sought to have the obnoxious measure set aside. In May, 
 therefore, Mr. Costigan moved a set of resolutions praying for 
 the disallowance of the act, in which he was strongly seconded 
 by Mr. Timothy Anglin. The following session he moved > 
 " that the government should advise his excellency to disallow 
 the acts passed by the New Brunswick legislature," which was- 
 
 * Hon. (now Judge) John J. Fraser. 
 
380 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 •carried ; though the question remained open for several years 
 afterwards. The next year again he moved for " an address to 
 her Majesty praying her to cause an act to be passed amending 
 the British North America Act, 1867, by providing that every 
 religious denomination in New Brunswick shall continue to 
 possess and enjoy all such rights with regard to their schools 
 as they possessed and enjoyed at the time of the passage of the 
 said Act." This resolution was withdrawn, though Mr. Costi- 
 gan was unceasing in his exertions from session to session, till 
 his desires were virtually accomplished bj' the amendments to 
 the New Brunswick act which expunged the obnoxious regula- 
 tions. In the early stages of the agitation, as we have seen. 
 Sir John was in office, and during this time Mr. Costigan had 
 the heartiest support from Mr. Anglin ; but he stood alone in the 
 struggle when the reformers came to power, when Mr. Anglin 
 was elevated to the Chair, and agitation on the measure men- 
 aced his salary and perquisites. The New Brunswick legisla- 
 ture very properly resisted the attempts at Ottawa to set aside 
 legislation which it felt it was competent to enact ; and Hon. 
 {now Judge) William Wedderburn, one of the most powerful 
 ^nd brilliant speakers in Canada, moved a series of resolutions 
 in defence of the law, asserting the exclusive authority of the 
 provincial legislature over the question, and resolving that its 
 jurisdiction or powers should not be impaired or abridged with- 
 out an appeal to the electors at the polls ; a id that without the 
 consent of the local body the imperial parliament or the par- 
 liament of Canada ought not to interfere. Meanwhile the 
 priests had refused to permit Catholic children to be taught in 
 the "godless" institutions, and the parents were burthened 
 with the uouble expense of paying the municipal tax to main- 
 tain the public schools, from which they derived no benefit, and 
 of supporting the separate schools to which no contribution was 
 made from the provincial funds. The bishops and their clergy 
 found themselves obliged by conscience to refuse paying the 
 public school-tax ; but the officer seized a horse and carriage, or 
 
THROUGH STORMS TO THE REEF. 381 
 
 any chattel that he could lay hands upon, and went his way. 
 It is related that the cow of a certain priest was seized five 
 times for the tax, some pious parshioner as often " bidding in " 
 the animal, and thus satisfying the law and the clerical con- 
 science. But this state of affairs could not continue. The 
 catholics began to groan at the double burthen put upon their 
 shoulders. Then the priests had now and again paid a visit tO' 
 the government schools, and found no pictures of Satan hang- 
 ing upon the wall, nor heard any boy say that the name of our 
 first parent was Protoplasm. The legislature, too, had shown 
 a disposition to fair play by purging the school statute of in- 
 sult and intolerance. Still the clergy remained aloof ; but on 
 their behalf leading citizens opened regotiations with the free- 
 school authorities. Through the influence of Mr. (now Senct- 
 tor) Boyd and other prominent citizens in St. John, Bishop 
 Sweeney capitulated, and in Fredericton, the capital, amalga- 
 mation was accomplished through the tireless exertions of Mr. 
 Patrick McPeake, the leading Roman catholic in the city. Now 
 while we have denounced the stain that bigotry put upon the 
 school law as at first established, and admired the manly, able 
 and uncompromising way in which Mr. Costigan battled for 
 justice to his co-religionists, we must not be regarded as hav- 
 ing the remotest sympathy with those who opposed non-secta- 
 rian schools upon 'principle. Ten years ago he who visited a 
 parish school, from which God had not been banished, saw an 
 institution seething with disorder, which was ever pouring a 
 stream of youth upon the country, many of whom were more 
 vulgar and vicious than if they had never seen the inside of 
 the school walls. But it is different now ; and the system of 
 education enjoyed by the people of New Brunswick, would be 
 a boon and a credit to any country. We could wish that of the 
 sj'stem in this noble province we could say as much ; though 
 this is more than we dare to hope so long as it maintains the 
 political taint. ^ -jr- - -— ----r--- ^^--r^ ---^ 
 
382 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 Parliament prorogued on the 14th of June, and eight days 
 afterwards the governor-general bade good bye to Canada. 
 During his administration he had been raised to the peerage 
 of the united kingdom with the title of Baron Lisgar, of Lisgar 
 and Bailieborough, in the county of Cavan. While amongst us 
 he won our good opinion and respect, though he neither flat- 
 tered the people nor courted popularity, doing his duty with a 
 courteous (^uiet dignity that pleased without effort. " His hospi- 
 tality," says Professor Goldwin Smith, " was simply that of an 
 English nobleman; it had no ulterior object, and as an example 
 could do nothing but good." His successor was Frederick Tem- 
 ple Hamilton Blackwood, Earl of Dufferin, eldest son of Captain 
 Price Blackwood, afterwards fourth Baron Dutt'erin and Clan- 
 deboye, in the peerage of Ireland. The new governor was a 
 man of some distinction in diplomacy and literature when he 
 came amongst us. He had been under-secretary of state for 
 war, and in the same capacity at the Indian office. He went 
 to Syria as commissioner of the crown, where he ended the 
 turmoil between the Christians and the natives. " He suc- 
 ceeded," says Mr. Stewart, "in mastering the details of this deli- 
 cate mission; and not only satisfactorily arranged the Turkish 
 troubles, but also compromised matters between the French 
 and the warlike Druses. He gave a constitution to Lebanon, 
 and we have here the first evidence of his ability as a states- 
 man and diplomatist." If by letters in his own right he was 
 not famous, he was distinguished through his ancestry. His 
 mother was the author of " The Irish Emigrant," and other 
 ballads, which, if not showing a deep poetical vein, contained a 
 wealth of feeling, and many passages of tender, melancholy 
 pathos. For an aunt, he had that pretty song-bird, the Hon. 
 Mrs. Caroline Norton, whose sweet verse and bright eyes, scandal 
 said, lured Lord Melbourne so often away from the cares of state. 
 And through this siren he was connected with a name of still 
 greater note, of whom a great poet has said: 
 
 * ' * * * Nature fo'-med but one such man, 
 And broke the die in moulding Sheridan." 
 
THROUGH STORMS TO THE REEF. 383 
 
 Lord DufFerin was educated at Eton and Oxford, and in 1850 
 was created an English baron. He was not long amongst us 
 when it was found that the proverbial gift of his countrymen 
 sat upon his tongue. In making speeches he could outdo our 
 most confirmed orators ; and in this respect his example was 
 not good. If a governor-general could only, by his example, 
 help to curtail the platform trade, he might well feel that his 
 vice-regal mission had not been fruitless, and that he had not 
 been bom in vain. But it is not encouraging in a political 
 country like this, where the tendency is to an epidemic of 
 speech, to have a vi'jeroy appear among u? with this run- 
 ning at the mouth. Pei-haps, but for this never-failing 
 eloquence on every subject from a hot-water tankard to the 
 constitution, it might be said that Earl Dufferin's administra- 
 tion was delightful. He possessed a warm sympathetic heart, 
 and took a genuine interest in the welfare and aspirations of 
 our peopl^ ; and in return, there sprang up among us for him, a 
 deeper and kindlier feeling of regard, than had ever before been 
 entertained for a Canadian governor. Everywhere the viceroy 
 and his great-hearted wife, the countess, went, they stirred the 
 feelings jf all by the genuine and hearty way in which they 
 sympathized with, and entered into the feelings and aspirations 
 of, those they visited. When they departed from our shores a 
 void was left in the hearts of our people that it would be hard 
 to fill. . 
 
 The first parliament of Canada, having lived out the full 
 term of its constitutional life, was dissolved on the loth of July. 
 The elections came o^f through the summer and early autumn, 
 and the government found itself confronted by staunch opposi- 
 tion. The ghost of poor Scott, murdered in the North -West, 
 rose against it ; the Washington treaty " was shaken in the face 
 of the country;" the gigantic railway -building, a duty to which 
 the country had been pledged, was declared by the opposition 
 to be a mad and impossible scheme ; and the reform party in 
 Ontario was made sturdy by the strength of Mr. Blake and the 
 
384 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A, MACDONALD. 
 
 provincial ministry. The government came shattered, though 
 not defeated, out of the contest. Sir Francis Hincks was 
 worsted in South Brant, but Vancouver, British Columbia, 
 offered tht^ worthy kinght her seat, which he accepted. Sir 
 George Cartier was put to flight in Montj-eal east, but was wel- 
 comed to the arms of Provencher, Manitoba. Ontario declared 
 herself hostile chiciiy because the government had failed to 
 punish Scott's murderers ; Quebec refused her usual support 
 because a full amnesty had not been granted. The dignity of 
 the archbishop was at stake — though resting upon an absurdity 
 and a misunderstanding — and that was of more importance 
 than the cruel and wicked shedding of a follow creature's blood. 
 There once was a commandment — but it was under the Jewish 
 dispensation! — though written upon stone by the finger of God, 
 which said, " Thou shalt not kill"; but Sir George Cartier, and 
 his French supporters, and Bishop Tachd, and his priests and the 
 faithful, blotted out that old edict, and put in its stead, " Thou 
 shalt not dishonour the promise of a bishop." Notwithstanding 
 the defections, a count of forces after the contest was ended 
 satisfied Sir John that his government had an ample working 
 majority. In October, the Ontario legislature passed a resolution 
 prohibiting dual representation ; so that Messrs. Blake and Mac- 
 kenzie were compelled to choose betwx'jen the provincial and 
 general parliaments. Naturally, their ambition, patriotism, cu- 
 pidity, and any other quality they may have possessed, found 
 stronger attraction in the wider sphere and larger flesh-pots. 
 Their choice necessitated a reconstruction of the provincial 
 government, and Mr. Blake suggested to the lieutenant-governor 
 that Mr. Mowat ought to be invited to lead the ministry. The 
 lure was too strong for the judge, and he left the bench. What- 
 ever of public immorality there was in this proceeding, Mr. Blake, 
 at all events, was the seducer. From that day to this, Mr. Mowat 
 has held the leadership of the Ontario government, and though 
 his administration has not been brilliant, and is in many impor- 
 tant respects incapable, it has been honest ; if the adjective can 
 
THROUGH STORMS TO THE liEEF. 386 
 
 1)0 appHorl to a system of rule made subservient to the eiuls of 
 party. Towards the closi; of the year M. Joly, leader of the 
 opposition in tlie Quebec legislature, moved for a conunission 
 )f Inquiry into certain charges made against M. Caucbon, the 
 local member for Montmorency, and whom we liave also met 
 in tht Canadian parliament. The incjuiry revealed that this 
 me'ii) er had, while occupying a seat in the local liouse, been a 
 secret contractor with the provincial government in connexion 
 with the Beauport lunatic asylum. To avoid expulsion M. 
 Caucbon resigned ; but the same moral sentiment that had so 
 zealoasl}' shielded murder, now condoned corruption ; and ho 
 was straightway elected again. Early in the following year, 
 several important changes took place in the Canadian ministry, 
 the most prominent of these being the acceptance of the port- 
 folio of finance by the Hon. S. L. Tilley in place of Sir Francis 
 Ilinck.s, who had grown tired of official worry, and longed for 
 the calm of private life. Dr. Tupper succeeded to the office of 
 Mr. Tilley as head of the department of Customs. The new par- 
 liament opened on the 5th of March, 1873. Prince Edward 
 Island had got over her little tiff, had reasoned out the ques- 
 tion of union, grown sorry over her stubbornness, and asked to 
 be admitted into the federation. A measure was promptly pre- 
 l)ared to give effect to the wish, and was forwarded to the im- 
 perial parent, who, of course, held the right of giving the daugh- 
 ter away. The debt of the little island was placed at $4,701,- 
 050 ; and interest at 5 per cent, per annum was to be paid from 
 time to time on the diflference between that sum and the ac- 
 tual amount of the provincial debt. An annual subsid}' of 
 .S30,000 was granted, and the eighty cents for each head of the 
 population which the census of 1871 showed to be 94,021. 
 In the midst of the routine labours of the bouse, one day, a 
 member arose, with face pale, and flung a bomb upon the 
 floor which convulsed the parliament and the country. _____ . 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT AND SIR HUGH ALLAN, 
 
 IT will be remembeied that one of the terms under which 
 British Columbia consented to enter confederation was 
 that the central government should construct, within ten years, 
 a railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Two wealthy com- 
 panies composed of superior business men were formed, the one 
 the Inter- Oceanic, at the head of which was Mr. D. L. Mac- 
 pherson, the other the Canada Pacific, the president of which 
 was Sir Hugh Allan. As the session of 1872 drew near, the air 
 was full of rumours concerning these two organizations, oppo- 
 nents of the government affirming that Sir Hugh Allan was 
 to get the contract, that his company was largely composed of 
 Americans, that the road would be made tributar}'^ to American 
 commerce, that all this was an outrage upon the country, and 
 that the motto should be " Canada for the Canadians." Parlia- 
 ment met and the legislature granted a charter to both compa- 
 nies, authorizing the gOA ernment to enter into contract with 
 either, or with an amalgamation of the two, or, if taey should 
 see fit, to grant a royal charter to a new and distinct company. 
 We need not repeat that to the construction of the railroad the 
 country was by honour and by stipulation bound ; and for this 
 purpose the legislature had agreed to grant 50,000,000 acres of 
 land and !*30,000,000 to any company that would build the 
 line. The project .r--'s not alone one of national importance, 
 but was the most gigantic undertaking up to that time, or 
 since, knowii to Canada. Tho grant made by parliament 
 appeared enovmous and was therefore, tempting to the eye of 
 
 386 
 
THE GOVERNMENT AND SIR HUGH ALLAN. 387 
 
 those who may have had but little conception of the vast 
 task of building a road across the rugged breast of a con- 
 tinent ; so that it beca ^.e the duty of government to give ear 
 only to persons upon whose wisdom, experience and integrity 
 they could rely, and whose commercial standing was such that 
 they would be able to obtain the entree into the money mark- 
 sets of the world for the prosecution of the work. On the 14th 
 of June the session closed. Parliament was dissolved on the 
 ^th of July, and from the 15th of the same month till the 
 l2t]i of October the country was plunged into an election 
 contest. An engrossing topic with the ministry was the rail- 
 way, which it was felt should be begun as early as possible, as 
 skilful engineers hinted that every day of the term allowed 
 would be required to link ocean with ocean. The cry against 
 "' Sir Hugh and his Americans " had waxed louder in the 
 meantime, but Sir John, from the first, expressed himself hos- 
 tile to outside aid in building the line. Sir George Cartier, 
 v/ho frequently examined great questions through the eyes of 
 somebody else, followed the lead of his chief and confirmed his 
 opposition to " Yankees" with an oath. It was Sir John's 
 ilesire now to get the two companies amalgamated, and to this 
 €nd negotiations were opened ; but the ambitions of the two 
 presidents were irreconcilable, Sir Hugh claiming that his inter- 
 ^?sts were of such magnitude that it was proper he should have 
 the presidency, Mr. Macphersr n holding that the question in 
 dispute ought to be settled by tne shareholders. Union having 
 been found impossible, Sir Jo!in announced that the govern- 
 ment would avail itself of the legislation of the past session and 
 endeavour to form a new company. Sir Hugh now dropped his 
 American associates and leagued himself with a number of 
 Canadian gentlemen of high standing, and large means and 
 experience. On this organization the government looked with 
 favour in consideration of the high integrity, the financial abi- 
 lity, and the credit possessed by its members. The leading 
 member was Sir Hugh Allan, the owner of the proud fleet of 
 
388 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 ocean steamers which bears his name, a gentleman of vast 
 energy and enterprise, and possessing advantages, by the extent 
 of his capital and his credit in the European money-market, not 
 held by any other person that offered to undertake the work. 
 The duty of the government was to close the contract at the 
 earliest moment, to treat with those who were best qualified 
 to do the work ; and so, after some consideration, issued the 
 charter, appointing Sir Hugh president. 
 
 Parliament met in due course. Ministers announced that a 
 new and powerful company was now ready to commence the 
 great work, and that all needed was the sanction of the legisla- 
 ture. So gigantic had seemed the task to which the Dominion 
 had committed itself, that the large bulk of the house, now 
 learning that there was a body of responsible men actually 
 ready to go on with the work, regarded the fact as a brilliant 
 triumph for the government. Ministers began to rejoice in the 
 work of their han'^ls, and some of their opponents admitted 
 with grudging grace that, under the circumstances, perhaps as 
 good an agieement had been made as was possible. But then 
 came out of the political sky a whisper that set the heart of 
 opposition bounding, that brought light to its eye. This- 
 " small voice " said : " Doom is hanging over the ministry ; soon 
 the hoYj shall fall." The work of the session went on, the 
 ministers, with buoyant hearts and sunny faces, dreaming of 
 no evil to come. Their opponents made no unusual sign, save,, 
 perhaps, that of late they had appeared less factious and more 
 reserved than usual. Sometimes, imieed, one spectator has re- 
 corded, a prominent reformer would steal an ominous glance 
 across to the treasury benches, and then resume his work in a 
 preoccupied way, as if " there was something in the wind." At 
 last arrived the 2nd day of April. A sort of calm had seemed 
 to have fallen upon the house. Some members were writing at 
 their desks, others lounged in their chairs, or read the news- 
 papers. The treasury benches were full ; the speaker sat in the 
 chair, and pages flitted across the floor with notes. Sir John 
 
THE GOVERNMENT AND SIR HUGH ALLAN. 389 
 
 Macdonald was sitting at his own desk, one leg across the other, 
 and leaning his head against his hand. He gave a " barely 
 perceptible " start — Mr. Lucius Seth Huntington, with pale 
 face, was standing at his place, and had begun to read from 
 a paper the following motion : — 
 
 " That he, the said Lucius Seth Huntington, is crediblj^ in- 
 formed and believes that he can establish by satisfactory evi- 
 dence, that in anticipation of the legislation of last session. Ei 
 to the Pacific Railway, an agreement was made betweei; Sir 
 Hugh Allan, acting for himself, and certain other Canadian 
 promoters, and G. W. McMullen, acting for certain United 
 States capitalists, whereby the latter agreed to furnish all the 
 funds necessary for the construction of the contemplated rail- 
 ivay, and to give the former a certain percentage of interest, in 
 consideration of their interest and position, the scheme agreed 
 upon being ostensibly that of a Canadian company with Sir 
 Hugh Allan at its head, — 
 
 " That the government were aware that these negotiations 
 were pending between the said parties, — 
 
 " That, subsequently, an understanding was come to between 
 the government. Sir Hugh Allan and Air. Abbott, one of the 
 members of the honourable house of commons of Canada, that 
 Sir Hugh Allan, and his friends should advance a large sum of 
 money for the purpose of aiding the elections of ministers and 
 their supporters at the ensuing general election, and that he 
 and his friends should receive the contract for the constiuction 
 of the railway, — 
 
 " That accordingly Sir Hugh Allan did advance a large sum 
 of money for the purpose mentioned, and at the solicitation and 
 under the pressing in stances of the minister, — 
 
 " That part of the moneys expended by Sir Hugh Allan in 
 connection with the obtaining of the act of incorporation and 
 charter were paid to him by the United States capitalists un- 
 <ler the agreement with him, — 
 
390 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 " That a committee of seven members be appointed to enquire 
 into all the circumstances connected with the negotiations for 
 the construction of the Pacific Railway, with the legislation of 
 last session on the subject, and with the granting of the charter 
 to Sir Hugh Allan and others, with power to send for persons, 
 papers and records, and with instructions to report in full the 
 evidence taken before, and all proceedings of, said committee. "^ 
 
 Soraotimts, as he read, he paused and cast his eye about hiri» 
 to note the clleot of his disclosures. Some sat Avith heads, 
 thrust forward, eagerly drinkin ^ every word ; others with a 
 stolid air, and a look of stony in> "fference. Not a few there 
 were with the light of triumph in .^iieir eye ; and some felt, or 
 assumed to feel, the most unbounded horror. But as the mem- 
 ber's eye rested upon one figure, he became abashed, and hi» 
 voice grew timid. This was the pi'ime minister who sat with a 
 face as inscrutable as the Sphynx, betraying no sign of fear or 
 any show of anger. Once Mr. Huntington caught his eye, and 
 saw there the blaze of scorn ; and contempt was upon his lip. 
 Having read his motion he sat down, amid a " silence deep a* 
 death ; and the boldest held his breath for a time." It would 
 have given relief to this agony of silence had the accusing 
 member made any explanation, or spoken any word ; or had 
 any other member of the house asked a question or offered 
 comment. The accuser was not as one who had performei^l 
 some deed of wondrous valour. " He had spoken," says Mr. 
 Stewart, " with some feeling, but it was the feeling of fear. 
 It was as if he had chalked ' No Popery ' on the wall and had 
 then fled." There is now no doubt that when Mr. Huntington 
 made his charges, his authority was vague rumour ; that he had 
 not in his possession, nor had seen, the telegrams and docu- 
 ments which afterwards came to light ; and that his motion was 
 thrown out as a feeler, with the hope of bringing some member 
 of the governmei\t to his feet, and making statements which 
 might serve as a clue to the supposed wrong-doing, or lend 
 colour to the allegations. Every eye was now turned upon the 
 
THE GOVERNMENT AND SIR HUGH ALLAN. 391 
 
 prime minister, but he sat at his debk as if he had been a figure 
 of stone; he uttered no word, and made no sign. The motion 
 was seconded without comment, was put to the house, and, out 
 of that sickening Suillness, came one hundreu and seven " nays," 
 and seventy-six "yeas." A long breath of relief was drawn ; 
 the silence found its tongue, and a continuous buzz-buzz pre- 
 vailed for many minutes. Tlien adjournment. 
 
 A meeting of the cabinet was hastily called, Sir John in- 
 forming his colleagues that the slander must be promptly and 
 boldly met. Next night, we may be sure, there was little 
 sleep for the premier. He was aware that certain transactions 
 between members of the ministry and Sir Hugh Allan were 
 susceptible of being distorted into a form corresponding with 
 the charges made by Mr. Huntington, and that the government 
 would have a serious task to put the case in its true light be- 
 fore the country; but he was resolved to face the slander 
 firmly and challeiige the accusers, knowing that he had less 
 to fear from a thorough exposS than from the insinuations of 
 Mr. Huntington barely seasoned with distorted fact. Looking 
 more wearied and anxious than he had ever appeared in that 
 house before, he took his place the following day and, rising, 
 offered the following resolution, which was carried : — " On mo- 
 tion of the Right Honourable Sir John A, Macdonald, that a 
 select committee of five members (of which committee the 
 mover shall not be one) be appointed by this house to enquire 
 into and report upon the several matters contained and stated 
 in a resolution moved on Wednesday, the 2nd of April, in- 
 stant, by the Hon. Mr. Huntington, member for the county of 
 Sheftbrd, relating to the Canadian Pacific Railway, with power 
 to send for persons, papers and records ; to report from time to 
 time, and to report the evidence from time to time, and, if need 
 be, to sit after the prorogation of Parliament." 
 
 The members named for the committee were Hon. Messrs. 
 Blake, Blanchet, Dorion, Macdonald (Pictou), and Cameron 
 (Cardwell). 
 
392 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 To guard against the admission of unreliable testimony, it 
 was provided that the commission be authorized to examine 
 witnesses upon oath ; but as the committee, as such, had no 
 power to so examine, a measure called the Oaths Bill vas 
 promptly introduced and passed, conferring upon the commis- 
 sioners that authority. In this, however, parliament tran- 
 scended its powers, and the act was disallowed by her majesty 
 on the advice of the laM' officers of the crown. While the fate 
 of the bill was unknown the commission met, and on the 5th 
 of May decided, in view of the absence of Sir George Cart^-^r, 
 and the Hon J. J. C. Abbott, and th j impossibility of the inves- 
 tigation being carried on in a proper manner without oppor- 
 tunity being afforded these gentlemen of being present and 
 hearing the testimony adduced, that it was advisable that the 
 committee adjourn until Wednesday, the 2nd of July, if parlia- 
 ment should be, on such date, in session. According to the 
 customs of Lynch law, nothing is so absurd as the plea that 
 the accused should be present at his own trial to offer his de- 
 fence ; and the opposition grew wroth at the decision to stay 
 proceedings till the impugned members returned and had an 
 opportunity of defending themselves. Some time after this, 
 Sir John waited on the governor-general, and advised adjourn- 
 ment, with a view to meeting and prorogation, on the 13th of 
 August. Lord Dufferin saw that the suggestion was good ; the 
 spring had well advanced, and it was to the interest of mem- 
 bers to be at their homes ; the business of the session had been 
 ended; the presotice of the legislature could not promote the 
 work of the commission which might go on taking the evi- 
 dence ; and he decided to accept the prime minister's advice. 
 Upon this understanding. Sir John proceeded to the house, and , 
 from his place announced in distinct terms, that parliament 
 would be prorogued on the 13th of August, " that the re-assem- 
 bling would bepro/o?'ma, that no business would be done beyond 
 receiving the report of the committee, which could then be 
 printed .with the evidence, and go before the country ; that the 
 
THE GOVERNMENT AND SIR HUGH ALLAN. 393 
 
 members would not be required to return, and that only the 
 Speakers of the two houses would need to bo in their places." 
 All this the house seemed to clearly understand, and no op- 
 position was oftered to the arrangement. Mr. Blake expressed 
 the opinion that the commission might go on taking evidence 
 from the rising of the house til) the meeting of the regular 
 session in February, forgetting that the powers of a parlia- 
 mentary commission expire with prorogation. Mr. Holton 
 said he believed a quorum would be necessary to receive the 
 report ; and muttered between his teeth that he and a quorum 
 would be there. Sir John, in reply, observed that if a quorum 
 were considered necessary, a sufficient number of members for 
 that purpose could be found in the neighbourhood of the cap- 
 ital. On a distinct understanding of the facts as above related, 
 the house was adjourned; after which members returned to 
 their homes, and the opposition abandoned themselves to false- 
 hood and conspiracy. Instead of a quiet meeting with the two 
 speakers, only, present, or a quorum, with the 13th of August 
 appeared the opposition in full strength, intrigue in their 
 hearts, falsehood upon their tongues. And when asked for 
 what purpose they had mustered en masse, they answered : 
 " We didn't understand that the meeting was to be iwo forma; 
 we thought a full attendance was desirable." The intention 
 was — since the ministry, abiding by the terms of adjournment, 
 was at a serious disadvantage in having but a few of its sup- 
 porters at the capital — to overthrow the government by the 
 force of numbers. And, certainly unlike men of honour, they 
 chuckled at the trap into which they believed the govenmient 
 had fallen. 
 
 During the period between adjournment and the 13th of 
 August, the governor-general was making a tour of the mari- 
 time provinces, and filling public halls and school-houses with 
 his infinite eloquence. During that summer recess many strange 
 tidings fell upon the public ear. First came the announcement 
 that the Oaths Bill had been disallowed, and that the work of 
 
394 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 the commission was at a standstill. It ii not to be wondered 
 at that some of the opposition screamed out that this was the 
 doings 01 Sir John ; had God sent a bolt from heaven and smit- 
 ten the five commissioners, their inclinations for the moment 
 would have been to believe that the premier was in some mea- 
 sure responsible for the taking off. On receiving notice of the 
 disallowance, the governor put himself in correspondence with 
 the prime minister. The commission would meet in a few 
 days, and it was desirable that the public mind should be sat- 
 isfied as to the truth or falsity of the heinous charges. Sir 
 John said there was one way that the end sought could be at- 
 tained, and that was by issuing a royal commission to the com- 
 mittee, which cou'd then go on as had been originally arranged, 
 placing the evidence before parliament which might take 
 whatever steps it chose upon receiving the same. This is the 
 only practical way lying open now, wrote the prime minister, 
 to probe the fac; of the case. Lord DufFerin grasped at the 
 suggestion, and actid upv.n it without delay. " No one can 
 doubt," he said, " that for the purpose for which the committee 
 was originally constituted, its conversion into a commission can 
 make no practical difference. As a commission it will take 
 evidence ; and as a committee it will report upon that evidence 
 to the house." Armed with the governor-general's authority^ 
 Sir John wrote to each of the five members stating that, as 
 the oaths' bill had been disallowed, it was his intention to 
 issue to the committee a royal commission. The acceptance 
 of the commission, h^- ;jointed out, would accomplish the object 
 originally in view, and hasten the work. But Messrs. Blake 
 and Dorion, the two reform members, I'efused to act, on the 
 ground that they would be under the control of the accused 
 parties. This view, in a constitutional sense, was undoubtedly 
 correct, though it was subsequently affirmed in the house that 
 the crown, not the ministry, had issued the commission, and 
 had control of the enquiry. But this ground at once becomes 
 untenable when we reflect that the viceroy is bound to take 
 
THE GOVERNMENT AND SIR HUGH ALLAN. 395 
 
 the advice of his council, and that during the sitting of the 
 commission some of the impeached ministers wore the trusty 
 advisers of tlie crown, which refused to consider them guilty, 
 or unworthy of confidence, till their guilt had been proven. 
 This obJL^tion then might well have been regarded as fatal, 
 were the commission possessed of judicial and final powers ; 
 but its functions were only inquisitorial ; it was merely to 
 collect evidence and report to the house, which might accept, 
 reject, or ignore the same, as it saw fit. There was, unfortu- 
 nately, no other way, owing to the imbecile tying up of our 
 powers by the act of the foreign si:ate. by which the matter 
 could be probed ; and under such circumstances the duty of 
 Mr. Blake was to have come out of the clouds and surrendered 
 to the real and the practicable. 
 
 On the 4th of July, certain information contained in the 
 Montreal Herald fell upon the public ear like a clap of thun- 
 der. This information comprised a number of letters and tele- 
 grams sent to one C. M. Smith, of Chicago, a banker, and one 
 Geo. McMullen, of Picton, who seemed at first to be a speculator 
 or the representative of American capitalists, but who subse- 
 quently appeared as an adventurer. In this correspondence the 
 history of Sir Hugh Allan's exertions towards obtaining the 
 railway charter is set forth, the expenses he had incurred in 
 pushing his scheme, — expenses which he declared exceeded 
 3300,000 in gold — and certain relations with Sir John Mac- 
 donald and Sir George Cartier. At once the hostile and the 
 hasty swallowed the statements, and concluded that the enor- 
 mous sum which Sir Hugh alleged he had paid away had gone 
 into the hands of the ministers for corrupting the constituencies 
 at the late elections. On the following day, an aftidavit deal- 
 ing with these charges, made by Sir Hugh, appeared in the 
 Montreal Gazette. It was a wet blanket flung upon the pre- 
 vious day's story, and depressed, sadly enough, the spirits of the 
 opposition. We need not here go into the details of this state- 
 ment. The deponent admitted that there were many inaccu- 
 
396 LIFE OF SIR JOUN A. MAC DON ALL). 
 
 racies in his hastily-written business-letters; hut the statement 
 with which we are concerned, and which .at once vindicated the 
 innocence of ministers of the crimes inferred from the allega- 
 tions in the letters, was as follows. "... In these and similar 
 ways I expended sums of money ajjproacliing in amount those 
 mentioned in the letters, as I conceive I had a perfect right t(^ 
 do ; hut I did not state in those letters, nor is it thefaet, that any 
 'portions of those sums of money were jxtid to the members of 
 the fjovernnient, or ivere received hy them or on their behalf 
 directly or indirectly, as a consideration, in any form, for any 
 advantage tj me in connection vMh the Pacijic railway con- 
 tract." So far then, the accusations against the ministry had 
 fallen to the ground, and Mr. Huntington's allegations were re- 
 garded by a large bulk of the people as reckless slanders. And 
 .so the opinion would have stood had not the blackmailer, Mc- 
 Mullen, come forward with what purported to be a concise and 
 circumstantial statement of the corrupt relations of the gov- 
 c'rnraent with Sir Hugh Allan, in which he put forward in- 
 ferences as Aicts, and assumptions as transactions happening 
 under his own eyes, bringing his disclosures to an end with a 
 number of stolen telegrams, containing requests from Sir Jo'in 
 jMacdonald and Sir George Cartier, to Sir Hugh, for certain 
 sums of money. There v/as no indication as to the objects for 
 which the money was intended, or upon what conditions it had 
 been received ; but once more the hostile and the rash wore 
 assured that it had been obtained from Sir Hugh in considera- 
 tion of the sale of the Pacific railway charter to him and his 
 American friends ; and that Mr. Huntington had alleged the 
 whole truth and nothing but the truth. And we must leave 
 one and both to nurse their charitable opinion till we reach the 
 stage in our narrative for another explanation. - ^, 
 
 The governor-general had reached Prince Edward Island 
 when newspapers containing the McMullen narrative came to 
 hand. He was considerably startled, Mr. Stewart tells us, at 
 leading the correspondence, and at once sent for Messrs. Tilley 
 
THE GOVERNMENT AND SIR HUGH ALLAN. 39T 
 
 and Tupper who were at the time on the Island on official 
 business ; but both these gentlemen assured him that satisfac- 
 tory explanations would be made in due course ; and his lord- 
 ship accepted the declaration as a ''.onfirmation of his hopes. 
 He had before setting out upon his tour provided for pro- 
 rogation on the 13th of August, by commission, but now felt 
 that the case had assumed such a shape as to demand other 
 arrangements. On the morning of the 13th, his excellency 
 was in the capital, and within a few hours after his arrival wa» 
 waited upon by the premier, who, on behalf of the ministry^ 
 tendered the advice that parliament should be prorogued as ori- 
 ginally agreed upon. His lordship went over the grounds put 
 forth by Sir John, and found they were good ; and since he still 
 had confidence in the prime minister and his colleagues, nothiiig^ 
 remained for him but to be guided by their counsel, as he cheer- 
 fully was. He consented to the arrangement, but upon the 
 condition that parliament should meet again as soon as wa.s 
 consistent with the reasonable convenience of members, after 
 say six or eight weeks ; to which proposal Sir John gave his^ 
 hearty consent. In the meantime the opposition, or the " party 
 of punishment," as they were not unwilling to be styled, had 
 resolved on a course of their own. While his excellency was in 
 the maritime provinces, they had adopted the manly and hon- 
 ourable course of endeavouring, by stealth, to prejudice and 
 poison his mind against his ministers. Mr. Huntine'ton who 
 apparently was not in the habit of allowing dignity or a sense 
 of manly pride to stand in the way of his inclinations, collected 
 a number of newspapers, containing the charges against the 
 ministry, which he enclosed and directed to his excellency ; but 
 they were returned to him unopened. On the morning of pro- 
 rogation, the governor learnt that a large body of members of 
 parliament was awaiting an audience ; and he was at no littlo 
 loss to guess what could be their mission. His speculation was 
 soon put at an end by Mr. (now Sir) Richard J. Cartwright, 
 who introduced the delegation, and then presented a memorial 
 
998 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 signed by ninety-two members praying that his excellency 
 might not prorogue parliament until the house of commons had 
 bad an opportunity " of taking such steps as it may deem ne- 
 cessary with reference to this important matter." Of course 
 this request was an assumption that the governor either did 
 not know, or was unwilling to perform, his duty ; but gross 
 though as the impdrtinence was, his excellency answered the 
 delegation with his usual courtesy, refusing promptly and firm- 
 ly, however, to grant their request. This was an utter collapse 
 for the opposition hope. They had nursed their plot through 
 the hot summer, and now that the hour had come when it was 
 to be put to account, the figure of the governor must rise 
 and thwart them. Only thiity-five ministerialists were at the 
 ■capital, but the reformers, as we have seen, were there in force, 
 " an eager, expectant and exultant throng. Their faces showed 
 <letermination, but no mercy ; their actions convinced the min- 
 istry that they would give no quarter. For weeks they had 
 waited for this moment ; and now the hour had arrived," * 
 
 They set up a cry of disappointment and rage ; and their 
 newspapers loaded the governor-general and the prime minister 
 with libel. Among those flying with the storm, regardless of 
 their dignity, was seen the figure of Mr. Edward Blake. He had 
 .sat apart for many weeks feeding his mind on solitary medita- 
 tion, and when he met his brethren ..t Ottawa assured them 
 that he had discovered at least two courses by which parlia- 
 ment could confer the power, upon a committee of its own 
 members, to administer oaths. One of these ways the Earl of 
 Kimberly afterwards stated, " would be beyond the powers of 
 the parliament of the Dominion ; " the other, also, was proved 
 to b3 unconstitutional. Sir John pointing out that Mr. Blake 
 had misread the case occurring during the administration of 
 William Pitt, which he had taken as an analogy. Meanwhile, 
 the opposition party, through the ministrations of its orators 
 
 * George Stewart, Jr, in Canada under the Adminiitration of the Earl of Duffeiin. 
 
TUE GOVERNMENT AND SIR HUGH ALLAN. 399 
 
 and pres-s, continued to sound the charges against the ministry 
 up and down the land. 
 
 Reformers having refused to sit as royal conuuissioners, Sir 
 John suggested to the governor the expediency of issuing a 
 conmiission to three or more judges of the land, whose posi- 
 tion would remove them fi'om the susj)icion of partiality in 
 conducting the enquiry ; and acting on the advice, which he 
 believed to be good, his excellency chose the honourable judges 
 Day, Polette, and Gowan, who promptly began the work as- 
 signed them. It would be too much to expect that any min- 
 isterial arrangement could satisfy the opposition ; and it is 
 hardly to be wondered at that before the new commission 
 met at all it was loaded with slander by the reform press 
 and its members, and characterized as the creature of the 
 prime minister. An atmosphere, more poisonous than that 
 wind which " breathed in the face " of Sennacherib's arniv, 
 now floated over the province : the aroma from a corrupt min- 
 istry, and from tainted ermine. Mi'. Mackenzie, who some- 
 times himself, does not hesitate at exaggeration, at least wh»jn 
 writing political biographies, did not believe that either party 
 would knowingly utter falsehood upon examination, and, there- 
 fore, regarded the terrors of the oath unnecessary ; but even 
 Mr. Blake shuddered, inwardly, as he thought of such men 
 as McMullen coming into the box and testifying upon their 
 " honour." Yet he, no more than any of his brethren, was 
 satisfied with the judges upon the new commission, though it 
 was impossible for him to condescend to the allegation that 
 these gentlemen would falter in their duty, But his choice 
 lay between smirching the honour of the comn>issioners, and 
 accepting their appointment as good, unless, indeed, he was 
 more anxious that formality should be observed, than that the 
 charges against the government should be thoroughly investi- 
 gated. Yes, answers Mr. Blake, that k very well, but what if 
 the ministry tied up the hand? of the judges, and thwarted en- 
 quiry in fatal directions ? And or<r answer is this : The com- 
 
400 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALJ). 
 
 misHion was held in the liglit of day ; seats were proviJed for 
 the reporters; Mr. Huntington was reonested to furnish a list 
 of liis witnessoK, and invited to come forward and (question 
 these as he w(»uld ; advertisements were put in the papers 
 calling upon any persons who knew aught of the case to come 
 forward ; a large array of witnesses for and against the ministry 
 was present; they were submitted to the most searching cross- 
 examination by members of botli political parties, and ques- 
 tions were asked by the reform side, and answers given, which 
 would not have been tolerated in any court of law, without 
 challenge. In what way, then, pray, Mr. Blake, were the hands of 
 the judges tied ? Whence, pray, reformers of lesser dignity, came 
 the taint on the ermine ? But ha<l the judges been base as 
 Jeffreys himself, the terms of the commission were fatal to par- 
 tiality. Lord Dufferin distinctly, at the beginning, traced out 
 the chart by which the judges were to be guided. " Your duly is 
 not judicial, Ijut inquisitorial," were his instructions ; they were 
 not to pronounce, to condemn, or to exculpate, but to collect 
 evidence and report tlie same to the commons without comment : 
 to the commons that might accept or reject that testimony as 
 it chose. And as instructed, so they did. They furnished the 
 evidence without comment, though they stated, as they had 
 the right to do, that anybody who cared to learn their private 
 opinion, might have it. Many sought that opinion ; it was that 
 there ^^'as nothing in the evidence to corroborate the charges 
 preferred by Mr. Huntington. Now it might have been sup- 
 posed tliat in the interests of pure government, the gentleman 
 who made the odious charges against the administration in his 
 place in the house, would have been found among the host of 
 witnesses called ; but he came not — though he furnished the 
 the names of witnesses to the commission. And it might have 
 been supposed that McMullen, who had levied blackmail on Sir 
 Hugh Allan, rifled cabinets, stolen telegrams, and steeped him- 
 self to the lips in dishonour for the sake, also, of pure govern- 
 ment would have come to judgment, but he appeared not ; 
 
TilE GOVERNMENT ^ ,Vi> SIR HUGH ALLAN. 401 
 
 neitlier came the Chicago bankor, C. M. Smith, whom it had 
 l)een alleged Sir Hugh Allan had " fleeced " to buy up the 
 ininiHtiy, and Reduce the constitueneit i. These gentlemen re- 
 mained away, and listened IVomi bcihind the doors to the evi- 
 dence, tossing their caps in glee when any testimony was ad- 
 duced that they l>elieved lent colour to thei-' allegation. But 
 it is sickening work to wade through this record of dishonour, 
 antl we pass on. 
 
 The commission finished its work, and as tli £3rd of Octo- 
 ber drew near, the political combatjints girded oh th u' swords. 
 Sir Hugh Allan returned from England ; but before ' ■ ft meet- 
 ing of the session had resigned the charter. On t' 27th of 
 October the memorable debate began. Mr, MacjkiJisy.'e made, 
 as he always does, a speech that one who hears m likely to re- 
 member. Mr. Mackenzie is a largr deaJcr in facts, which some 
 may call "dry," but which we designat-^. as ' Imrd;" and to 
 these he has the faculty of giving a bias which it i.s frecjuently 
 impossible to detect. His speech against Sir John and the 
 iriinistry was perhaps the ablest, in its way, that he has ever 
 delivered. The argument was strong and was poured out like 
 some stinging, dissolving acid. In amendment to the second 
 paiagraph of the ministerial speech, he moved -. — " And we have 
 to acquaint his excellency that, by their course in reference to 
 the investigation of the charges preferred by Mr. Huntington, 
 in his place in this house, and under the facts disclosed in the 
 (evidence laid before us, his excellency's advisers have merited 
 the severe censure of this house." 
 
 Mr. (now Judge) James Macdonald, of Pictou, followed in a 
 speech of great power, moving as a second amendment : — "And 
 we desire to a^^suro his excellency, that, after consideration of 
 the statements made in the evidence before us, and while wo 
 regret the outlay of money by all political parties at parlia- 
 mentary elections, and desire the most -stringent measures to 
 put an end to the practice, we at the same time beg leave to 
 
402 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 express our continued confidence in his excellency's advisers, 
 and in their administration of public affairs." 
 
 As the debat*^ progressed, the premier sat indifferently at his 
 desk, sometimeo smiling, now with the light of scorn in his 
 eye ; but as the days wore on, and he knew the tempter had 
 been among his followers, and that some had fallen, a shade 
 of anxiety was seen in his face ; never fear. It was not that 
 he regretted the loss of power, but it wrung him to the heart's 
 core that any of his own friends should doubt his honour 
 Yet like a brave man, who in 'he hour of such sore trial, turns 
 to his conscience, the premier bore with calm fortitude a con- 
 demnation which he knew came net from conviction but from 
 interest, ar?d soothed himself with the assurance that time 
 heals all sores, and that the day would come when his coun- 
 try would commute its sentence, and acknowledge the injustice 
 it had done him now. It was now necessary that he should 
 be sacrificed, his honour assoiled, his name smirched, that his 
 opponents might triumph. Woe to the man whose honour is 
 cast in the scale against the interest of a political party, raven- 
 ous for po""^er ! On the sixth day of the debate, and after 
 the commons had expended most hi its oratorical strength. 
 Sir John arose, amidst the deafening lieers of those v/ho hav- 
 ing known him honourable, honest, manly and true, through 
 the dark day, and in the sunshine, believed in him still. The 
 anxiety upon his cheek was replaced for the moment by some- 
 thing like a gleam of hope, as the house rang with the plaudits 
 of his followers ; but the old expression soon returned, though 
 the language seemed trustful, and he seemed as one who ad- 
 dressed a court while standing upon his own funeral pyre. 
 Yet as the reader will see, who poruaes the speech,* there was 
 a manifest hopefulness of tone as point after point in the alle- 
 gations was met and overthrown. We need not refer to the 
 speech in detail, contenting ourselves with a word as to the 
 
 * See appendix I, 
 
THE GO VERNMENT AND SIR HUGH ALLAN. 403 
 
 charge that the government had sold the Pacific railway charter 
 to Sir Hugh Allan, in consideration of certain sums of money 
 to be used in the elections. On this point let us hear 3ir John 
 himself. " The government never gave Sir Hugh Allan any 
 contract that I am aware of. We never gave him a contract in 
 which he had a controlling influence. We formed a committee 
 of thirtc n men, chosen carefully and painfully for the pur- 
 pose of promoting Sir Hugh Allan from having any undue in- 
 fluence. 'Ne provided that no one on the board should hold 
 more than one hundred thousand dollars of the stock, . . . 
 Now, Mr. Speaker, I have only one more thing to say on this 
 point : I put it to your own minds. There were thirteen gen- 
 tlemen, Sir Hugh Allan and others, incorporated by that char- 
 ter. That charter — study it, take it home with you. Is there 
 any single power, privilege or advantage given to Sir Hugh 
 Allan with that contract that has not been given equally to the 
 other twelve ? It is not pretended that any of the other twelve 
 paid money for their positions. You cannot name a man of 
 these thirteen that has got any advantage over the other, ex- 
 cept that Sir Hugh Allan has his name down first on the paper. 
 Can any one believe that the government is guilty of the 
 charges made against them." This needs no amplification at 
 our hands. But let us recall the charge — that Sir Hugh Allan 
 had disbursed over $300,000 in gold in buying his way to the 
 charter. That Sir Hugh spent enormous sums at the early 
 stages of the proceeding we have no doubt; that he paid 
 French lawyers and orators to go through the country, subsi- 
 dized newspapers, and scattered money broadcast where influ- 
 ence was to be secured is almost certain ; but that the govern- 
 ment cared not for this, and was in no wise concerned, is proven 
 by the fact that after all this lavish expenditure Sir John tele- 
 graphed to Sir George Cartier, that Sir Hugh Allan's terms, 
 the terms to ivhich he had been buying his way, could not be 
 granted. The whole scheme came to an end ; Sir Hugh's " pow- 
 der and shot " had been wasted on the air ; and the govern- 
 
401 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 ment formed a new and distinct company of its own. And how- 
 far from serving the interests of Sir Hugh in the new compan}' 
 was Sir John or the ministry, we learn from Mr. Tilley'f* 
 statement, to the effect that when he was seeking for directors 
 for the company from the lower provinces. Sir John's injunc- 
 tion was, " But take care that those you select be no*, men who 
 will fall under the influence of Allan." Every step in the 
 negotiation was made with a view to circumscribing the 
 powers of Sir Hugh, as the governr ?nt knew his ability in 
 manipulation, and the power he held by reason of his influ- 
 ence in the money markets. If Sir Hugh chose to fling away 
 his hundreds of thousands in buying influence through the 
 province of Quebec that was no affair of the government. 
 Money is the greatest power known to man, and those who 
 have it use it to accomplish their ends. It is only a few days- 
 ago since a " railway magnate " passed through our province 
 scattering gold ; and in his progress bought up, it is estimated, 
 over fifty newspapers. But we need not waste time. This much 
 is as clear as day. If the government had been under obliga- 
 tion to Sir Hugh, if they had taken his money in lieu of their 
 su'pj>ort in the railway scheme, he would have been the favour- 
 ed one in the charter ; buc instead of this we find he is one 
 man of thirteen, given the same amount of stock ($100,000), 
 as each of the other thirteen receives, getting no preferences, 
 save the presidency, which he would have obtained from the 
 company itself, and that he is hedged in at every point by 
 government restriction -i. Madness itself could not suppose a 
 bargain or an understanding in light of such facts, unless on 
 the assumption that Sir Hugh Allan was an idiot ; and with 
 Sir Hugh alone, o£ the company, was the government charged 
 with trafficking. One point, only, remains now to be disposed 
 of. To what did the stolen telegrams, in which Sir John and 
 other members of the government ask Sir Hugh Allan for cer- 
 tain sums of money, refer ? Let us hear Sir John. He makes 
 no attempt to deny that money was spent at the election. It 
 
THE GOVERNMENT AND SIR HUGH ALLAN. 405 
 
 was needed, and it was legitimately spent, as money is needed 
 and spent at every election known to man under responsible 
 government. " We were simply subscribing as gentlemen, while 
 they were stealing as burglars," affirms Sir John. He found 
 the Ontario government with its purse and its promises in the 
 field against him, and he had to figlit fire with fire ; but never 
 he says, was a dollar spent corruptly. This local government 
 force was sprung upon him ; he found the enemy strong at 
 every point, and had to meet its strength with like strength. • 
 Sir Hugh Allan came forward and said that if the government 
 had not had sufficient time among their friends to get what 
 money they needed, he could advance them a certain sum. 
 Promptly we may be sure was the offer accepted, with the 
 understanding that friends of the government would do as 
 they have always, whether properly or improperly, been asked 
 to do, make up the amount of the loans, and other expenses. 
 But this did not tie the government to Sir Hugh ; already 
 they had refused his overtures, and ended his hopes of the 
 scheme for which he had disbursed his $300,000 in gold ; in 
 their succeeding relations they treated him as they did his 
 twelve associates. Here then was the feature which the gov- 
 ernment's opponents called " bad : " accepting loans from a 
 contractor in a public work. But we have shown that the 
 act did not influence the course of the government in dealing 
 with the lender in his relation to the contract: hence the 
 charge of impropriety goes to the wall. Perhaps some will 
 suggest " indiscretion " foi' impropriety. We shall not quarrel 
 with whomsoever does so. One more point remains. Was it 
 proper that the government should scatter all this money 
 through the electorate ? Is not that debauching the public 
 mind? It is, we answer without hesitation, but the sin rests 
 on the shoulders of the systeux which prevails in every country 
 under responsible, and party government. Sir John simply 
 did as his neighbours, no more, and nothing worse. At every 
 election there are expenses, some light, and some vast, and 
 
406 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 these have to be borne by ministers and their friends. The 
 spectacle may be pitiable, and it is pitiable, but it is true, 
 and is a part of our system as much as the ballot itself. At 
 the last general election, if the reporter of the Globe, who at- 
 tends to keyholes, is to be believed. Sir John gathered the 
 manufacturers about him, and levied an election tax. Probably 
 he did ; and his reform friends were not behind him. The 
 reformer as well as the tory, has his " fund " at election time, 
 and he does not use it to make the electors purer and more in- 
 dependent. Once, indeed, he did move in this direction, when he 
 levied a large sum to "put down corruption." The only differ- 
 ence between the conservative and his neighbour in this respect 
 is that the latter sometimes goes in debt to bribe and corrupt, 
 as we see by the post-election scandals with which men like 
 Mr. David Blain now and again regale the public nostril. We 
 need not do more than say in conclusion, that every judge of 
 the land, every impartial observer who has studied the story 
 of the connection between the prime-minister and 3ir Hugh, 
 is forced to admit, that, while the accidental relations between 
 the giver and the receiver of the railway charter, assumed, at 
 the first, an aspect strongly suggestive of wrong-doing, that 
 there remains no tittle of evidence, no unprobed source, not 
 even the breathing of a fact to prove that the conduct of Sir 
 John showed aught than fidelity to his public trust, or wa» 
 other than that of a man of honour. This, too, is the verdict 
 of the people who have repented of their rash judgment and 
 taken him back to favour. And it will be the verdict of 
 history. ' 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 " A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA." 
 
 FINDING the struggle a wrestle with the inevitable, Sir 
 John, on the morning of the 5th of November, placed his 
 resignation, and that of the ministry, in the hands of the gover- 
 nor-general. About an hour later, he rose in his place in the 
 house, announcing that the government had resigned, and that 
 his excellency had called upon Mr. Alexander Mackenzie to form 
 a ministry. Then the great cloud of change rolls in, shutting 
 from our sight the figure upon whom our eye so long had rest- 
 ed with pride and admiration ; and a new crew appear upon the 
 deck of the ship of state. Two days after Sir John's resignation, 
 the new premier was able to announce his ministry, which was 
 as follows : 
 
 Hon. Alexander Mackenzie Premier and Min. Puh. Works. 
 " A. A. DORION ... - Minister of Justice. 
 " Albert J. Smith - - Min. Marine and FisJieries. 
 
 Luc Letellier de St. Just 
 Richard J. Cartwright - 
 David Laird 
 
 Isaac Burpee - - - 
 David Christie - 
 Telesphore Fournier - 
 Donald A Macdonald 
 
 - Mill, of Agriculture. 
 
 - Min. of Finance. 
 
 - Min. of the Interior,'* 
 
 Min. of Customs. 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 - Min. Inland Rev 
 
 - Postmaster- General. 
 
 * This department had been recently created in lieu of that of secretary of state 
 for the provinces, which, being at once useless and a travesty on the imperial office, 
 was abolished. 
 
 407 
 
408 LIFE OF SJP. WHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 Hon. Thomas Coffin . - _ - Receiver-General. 
 
 " William Ross - - - Min. Militia and Defence. 
 
 " Edward Blake .... (ivithout portfclio). 
 
 " Richard W, Scott ... {without 'portfolio). 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie was determined on a thorough cleansing of 
 the Augean stables, and asked for a dissolution, which was 
 granted. If the reform newspapers were to be relied upon, a 
 large number of members had bought their way to the legisla- 
 ture with Sir Hugh Allan's money ; and by a new election, 
 candidai'^s would have an opportunity of judicious bribing with 
 purer cash. There was not a superfluity of brotherly love in 
 the cabinet, and Mr. Blake could not hide, or probably did not 
 try to conceal, his scorn for Mr. Mackenzie ; while Sir Richard 
 Cartwright, who looked with no friendly eye on responsible 
 government, was sadly out of his element among radical states- 
 men grown up from the trades. The chilly relations between 
 Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. Blake then, as now, were due to the 
 leadership which passed the latter because he could not bend 
 to negotiation. If Mr. Blake has ever had a political in- 
 trigue, which we do not believe, then surely must it have been 
 different from those of other men. We can imagine this sin- 
 gularly icy statesman threading the long winding-stair of a 
 solitary tower, and, having reached the top which looks out 
 into the star-lit night, carrying on an intrigue with his own 
 half mystical ambition. Never can our imagination picture 
 him courting his colleagues or the people for their preferences ; 
 never of him can anybody say : 
 
 " Off goes his bonnet to an oyster wench ; 
 A brace of draymen bi(^ God-speed him well." 
 
 On the 2nd of July, the old parliament cea.sed to exist, and 
 the two parties went to the polls. The reformers had no 
 rigidly defined policy to propound, their chief mission being to 
 purify the country. They pledged themselves to keep faith 
 with British Columbia, but gave warning that they considered 
 
''A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA." 409 
 
 the construction of the Pacific railway within the time specified 
 impossible, and that they would not bind themselves to that 
 portion of the contract. The other measures in the programme 
 were not of more than ordinary significance, the chief being a 
 readjustment of the franchise, and the taking of votes by bal- 
 lot ; a revision of the militia and insolvent laws ; the qualifica- 
 tion of members for the legislature ; the creation of a Court of 
 Appeal for the Dominion ; the promotion of immigration ; an 
 improvement of the canal system, and the development of un- 
 occupied territory. As well might one standing upon the 
 shore reason with the ocean that has been lashed into fury by 
 the storm, as Sir John implore Canada, disturbed and startled 
 by the alarming scandal which the reformers had ridden up 
 and down the land, to listen to reason, to hear his defence. She 
 stopped her ears, and turned away. The reformers " swept the 
 country," and Mr. Mackenzie, in the new parliament, found a 
 majority of eighty at his back. We differ from Mr. Mackenzie 
 in our view of many public questions, and have no admiration 
 for him as a writer, much less as a biographer painting a por- 
 trait under the coercion of party prejudice, but nevertheless we 
 do not hesitate to say, that his influence upon the political life 
 of Canada has been good ; that he was faithful to his trust, and 
 strove to do his duty. We should like to be able to say that 
 he was a popular administrator ; but we cannot. He was, and 
 is, out of sympathy with the spirit of our time ; and the robust 
 judgment of the young country is against him. Cast-iron 
 theories always hedged him in, and set bounds to his every im- 
 pulse and plan ; at last they grew so narrow as to become his 
 cotiin. A man who follows a doctrine, of course, has no need 
 for brains ; and reminds one of the captain on the lee shore 
 who scorned the advice of his ofiicers, went by the " Navi- 
 gator's Guide," and put his vessel upon the rocks. But it is 
 only ignorance or prejudice that would deny to Mr. Mackenzie 
 a place amongst the foremost statesmen of his time In and 
 out of oifice he has exhibited a tireless industry in -amining 
 
410 LIFE OF SIR KUm A. MACDONALD. 
 
 and mastering every sabjort Txjionging to the public sphere ; 
 and those who have seen his i ir.er life declare he has never 
 lived an idle day. Of his policy of stubborn resistance to the 
 popular will, he certainly was the heir rather than the arbiter, 
 and if he ever desired to be free from the yoke of that power 
 which dominated almost every important action of his admin- 
 istration, his escape from the leading strings was made after 
 his opportunity had been lost, and when he never again could 
 breathe the breath of confidence into the people. In later 
 years his head rolled on the block to propitiate the decrepit 
 policy of his master's making. Nor has the deposed leader 
 any loyalty for the hand that cut off his head ; but repays his 
 lucky rival with a support as frigid as the latter gave to him 
 when he became prime-minister. Too often the community 
 is the measure of the man, the " village Hampden " seldom at 
 taining to the stature of the giant ; and if our col.nial states- 
 men develop smallermindedaess in the political sphere, than 
 British statesmen, the fault is perhaps rather the country's 
 than their own. But this mich If certain; From 184C to 
 1852, Lord John Russell was prime-minisoer of England, with 
 Palmerston as foreign secretary ; but in 18-55, the latter be- 
 came premier, his former leader taking the colonial secretary- 
 ship ; and the most amicable relations existed between the twO' 
 statesmen. In 1835, the Duke of Wellington accepted the 
 foreign secretaryship, under Peel, with cordial loyalty, bending 
 to the wishes of his party ; though the bluff o] 1 statesman was 
 not without the opinion that his prowess in the council was only 
 equalled by his skill in campaigns. British history abounds 
 with similar in.stances, the leader of to-day becoming the subor- 
 dinate of to-morrow, not regarding the change as a personal 
 injury by the fortunate rival, but at^ one of the fortunes of po- 
 litical war. One of Mr. Mackenzie's faults seems to have been 
 a repellent manner which he could no more control than if it 
 had been dyspepsia ; but many a one who had claims upon his^ 
 courtesy came out of his presence vowing revenge. Such slight 
 
"A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA." 411 
 
 faults, however, help sometimes to make up a bill of assassina- 
 tion. But the change of heads, surely, did not make the re- 
 form atmosphere warmer. The p'^Hy lost a leader, whose blood 
 was cold ; and got an iceberg. 
 
 When Mr. Mackenzie assembled his forces at the capital, he 
 soon discovered that office is a boisterous sea, studded with 
 rocks, where shipwreck awaits the helmsman who is given to- 
 napping. The ghost of poor Scott, whom the reformers had 
 conjured at the election, arose in the cabinet, the premier find- 
 ing that the task of conscientious duty was vastly easier out 
 of office than when leading a government. The murderer Riel, 
 for whose apprehension Mr. Blake, with the approbation of Mr.. 
 Mackenzie, had offered a reward of $.5,000, was elected for 
 Provencher, at the general elections, and actually presented 
 himself at Ottawa ; was introduced to the clerk of the house, 
 took the oath, and was enrolled a member of the legislature. 
 During the election of 1873, " the blood of poor Scott " had been 
 the chief reform battle cry ; but a year later Mr. Mackenzie 
 permits the unpunished murderer to come into the capital, 
 brazenl/ stalk through the city for days, and then boldly pre- 
 sent himself to the clerk of the house of commons and sign the 
 members' roll. We have not been able to express any feeling 
 but indignation at the conduct of Sir John Macdonald's govern- 
 ment in shielding Riel from the consequences of his crime ; 
 but indignation has been succeeded by contempt for the action 
 of Mr. Mackenzie in permitting this felon, red-handed, and pre- 
 suming, to present himself before an officer of the legislature, 
 and to swear upon the Holy Scriptures the oath of an unbrand- 
 ed man. On the loth of April, Mr. Mackenzie Bowell, the pre- 
 sent minister of customs, moved for the expulsion of the mur- 
 derer from parliament, which was carried by a vote of 124 to- 
 G8 ; but sixty-eight members did actually vote that this man- 
 slayer should be permitted to retain his seat. Let some histo-^ 
 rian who does not care whether or not he soils his page, put in 
 the pillory the names of this sixty-eight. 
 
412 LIFE OF SIR JO UN A. MACDONALI). 
 
 Among the other difficulties with which the premier found 
 he had to cope was the agitation on the New Brunswick school 
 liill, to which we have referred; and complications arising out 
 ■of the repudiation of the contract to build the Pacific railway 
 within the specified time. The engineers employed upon the 
 surveys alarmed the ministry by pictures of gigantic difficulties, 
 and ten yeara was deemed insufficient to complete the work ; 
 though the reader will conclude that even great engineering 
 <il)stacles disappear in the face of proportionate energy. When 
 British Columbia learnt that we had broken faith, refusing her 
 marriage portion, her aignation knew no bounds ; and to ap- 
 pease the storm of passion in the mountainous colony, Mr. Mac- 
 kei. despatched thither Mr. J. D. Edgar, a gentleman of much 
 ability, and of good addre.ss, to endeavour to pacify, with ex- 
 planation, the excited colonists. Mr. Edgar held several con- 
 ferences with the premier of the colony, Mr. Walkem, but the 
 conduct of that gentleman does not seem to have been either 
 politic or dignified, and the envoy, without having accomplish- 
 •ed anything, though the fault was not his, returned to Ontario. 
 After some diplomatic wrangling, the " Carnarvon terms " were 
 proposed to the Dominion government, which provided for the 
 construction of the railway from Esquimault to Nanaimo with 
 all possible dispatch ; that the surveys on the mainland should 
 be pushed with all possible vigour ; that the waggon road and 
 telegraph line should be immediately constructed ; that a sum 
 of not less than $2,000,000 per annum should be expended on 
 the British Columbia portion of the line, and that the railway 
 ■should be completed and open for traffic from the Pacific sea- 
 board to a point at the western end of Lake Superior, before 
 the 31st of December, 1890. Legislation was introduced to 
 •carry these terms into effect, though it was reserved to a suc- 
 ceeding ministry to remove the road from the statute book to 
 the prairie and the mountain. 
 
 We cannot in the space now remaining to us, follow Mr. 
 Mackenzie through his administration, but must content our- 
 
"A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA." 41$ 
 
 selves ^ylth a ha.sty glance at his most important work. Dur- 
 ing the year 1876, the United States demanded of Great Britain 
 the extradition of certain fugitives from justice, under the- 
 terms of the tenth clause of the Ashburton treaty, but the 
 English government refused to grant the ret^uest, unless upoa 
 the condition that the offenders should not be tried for any 
 offence other than that for which their surrender had been 
 demanded. To this wrong-headed stipulation the United 
 State government would not agree, and the operation of the 
 clause named was for the time suspended. Canadian criminals 
 fled across the boundary, finding protection under the Ameri- 
 can flag, and forgers, murderers and escaped convicts came 
 trooping from the republic into our cities, where they laughed 
 at the laws they had outraged. Such a state of affairs was, of 
 course, intolerable ; the British government with a grace in 
 which there was no dignity receded from its position of stupid 
 obstinacy, and the suspended clause assumed its former virtue. 
 A Canadian extradition act was passed by the Dominion par- 
 liament on the following year, but owing to the existence of 
 the imperial law, it has since remained as lumber on the 
 statute book. In 1874, the general election law providing for 
 vote by ballot, simultaneous elections, and the abolition of 
 property qualification for members was passed ; in 1875, was 
 establi.^hed the Supreme Court of Canada, having civil and 
 criminal jurisdiction throughout the Dominion, and taking away 
 — though only in name — the right of appeal to England, except 
 where imperial interests were involved ; in the same session 
 were passed the Canada temperance, the homestead exemption, 
 the petition of right, the militia, the maritime court, and the 
 public accounts audit acts. By the latter it was provided that 
 the auditor-general should be a detective, his functions being 
 to keep his eyes open for ministei'ial dishonesty ; and his office 
 was put beyond cabinet control. As the assumption of the act 
 was that governments are given to steal, and that auditors are 
 not incorruptible, persons as suspicious as the framers of the 
 
414 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 measure must be in a state of perpetual alarm, lest dishonest 
 ministers may some day league themselves with the temptable 
 auditor for the purpose of plunder. Besides these important 
 measures, it is to the credit of Mr. Mackenzie that he hay left 
 to us, though in leges non scriptce, a wider range of constitu- 
 tional privilege. That respectable fossil in the colonial office, 
 during the early years of Loi'd DufFerin's regime, had through 
 the plural pronoun of the first estate, issued these instructions 
 to the governor-general. " If, in any case, you see sufficient 
 cause to dissent from the opinion of the major part, or the 
 whole of our (sic) privy council for our (sic) Dominion, it shall 
 be competent for you to exercise the powers and authorities 
 vested in you by our commission, and by these our instructions, 
 in opposition to such their opinion." These, of course, are the 
 words of a scribe, and the sentiments of a sovereign, innocent 
 of the trend of modern history, and of the nature of Canadian 
 spirit. Mr. Mackenzie, to his credit let it be said^ challenged 
 this insolent impertinence, opened correspondence with the 
 colonial office, and contended that the governor-general, his 
 council and the parliament of Canada should bear the same re- 
 lation to the people of the Dominion, with regard to all acts of 
 <lomestic policy, as the Queen, her privy council, and ':he im- 
 perial parliament bear to Great Britain. To this firm conten- 
 tion, the home office, after some resistance, with a supercilious 
 shrug, at laat consented. It is difficult to read these des- 
 patches, much less to write about them, and keep one's temper. 
 "We have only this to say : When we are ready for separation, 
 and the day is not far, it is our desire to part from our mother 
 with feelings of good will ; but this will be imposisible if the 
 colonial office is permitted to go on provoking our resentment. 
 An imperial puppet at Ottawa, in the present temper of our 
 people, would be surprised at the suddenness with which Cana- 
 dians would return him to the government whence he came, did 
 he dismiss a ministry in whom the parliament and the people 
 had confidence. Few suppose that the rash attempt will be 
 
"A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA.*' 416 
 
 made ; we are assured even from imperial quarters that T'i'own- 
 ing street has withdrawn her hand j yet the wolf we saw yes- 
 terday may not be dead, and we must not be charged with over 
 timidity, if we show anxiety about our folds. In 1848, we 
 thought we had seen the last of the Downing-street wolf ; but 
 a,s he appeared again in 1873, there is no sufficient guarantee 
 that we are not to have still another visitation. We have no 
 faith, we must confess, in frightening away the wolf; we will 
 bc5 able to rest without fear only when we see him fairly de- 
 stroyed. A good deal has been written by light writers and 
 by heavy writers, concerning the functions of a governor-gen- 
 eral, or his lieutenant, under responbible gnvexTiment; and we 
 have long seen Mr. Alphous Todd, C.B., pickinr;- his feeble way 
 through a waste of constitutional tombs by the light v)f a tal- 
 low dip. Some assert that the duty of tlte governor-general is 
 m>w merely to sign documents ; while others maintain that he 
 is tlie agent of the state that appoints him, and holds in his 
 hand a power greater than the people. With the latter view, 
 we may say, wo are in accord. To talk of the supremacy of 
 the people in a subordinate slate, is to utter a paradox, even 
 though the shadow of foreign domination fell across our coun- 
 try but once in a generation. Practically, (though there is at 
 kast one important exception) we do now govern ourselves ; 
 but we sometimes forget that we do so only by the sufferance 
 of the foreign agent at Ottawa. The type of a perfect legisla- 
 tive and governing system is the municipal institution. The 
 warden (or the reeve as he is sometimes called) is not himself 
 the authority, but the executor of the council's will ; the recep- 
 tacle wherein resides the authority c the assemblage. Author- 
 ity is indivisible, and is resident only in unity; and in the 
 municipal institution is begotten of the council — which is an 
 embodiment of the people's will — and is expressed through 
 the persor presiding. The warden has no power save that 
 which he ( erives from those over whom he presides ; but he is 
 at once the executor and the representative of the will of that 
 

 416 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. ' 
 
 body. This is, then, the true type of government by the people. 
 In the Canadian cabinet, the authority of ministers is resident 
 in, and administered by, the president of the council ; but that 
 authority is paraded before the overshadowing authority of the 
 foreign power, as vested in the agent of the latter, and may be 
 accepted or set aside. In our provincial governments the case 
 is the same in form, though differing greatly in nature, the 
 Canadian ministry filling in a large degree the place of the 
 foreign power with respect to the higher cabinet. Our friends 
 in the republic glory in sounding upon their trumpets that 
 they have government by the people ; but in the veto, which 
 is an assumption that one man is wiser than many millions, 
 there is more than the phantom of a king. The governor-gen- 
 eral then, may be a " wooden horse," but like that of th-3 Greeks 
 before the gates of Troy, he has within him a powe) whereof 
 few of us dream. We have been fortunate in the mild domi- 
 neering of such foreign agents as the DufTerins and the Lornes ; 
 but we may get another Metcalfe before we are all gray, and 
 then we shall probably have — independence. 
 
 In 1877, it became known to Mr. Mackenzie, that the impe- 
 rial government were about appointing, as the Canadian repre- 
 sentative at the Halifax fishery commission, an English diplo- 
 matist. The premier at once offered a firm protest, and main- 
 tained that it would be an outrage if the Dominion were to be 
 without a local representative in view of the magnitude of her 
 interests at stake. The imperial government, however, did not 
 consider that we were entitled to a domestic commissioner, 
 contending, among themselves, that it was an affair of the em- 
 pire — though the interests of Canada alone were at stake. 
 Yielding, however, to the uncompromising attitude of Mr. Mac- 
 kenzie and the ministry, and "to satisfy the colonists," Sir A. 
 T. Gait wap nominated as the Canadian re^jresentative. In ad- 
 dition to the higher grounds of manhood, equality and liberty 
 which make the scheme of Canadian independence so dear to 
 all those who scorn to be " subjects " of a foreign state when 
 
"A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA." 417 
 
 they may be " citizens " of their own, are several questions 
 bearing upon the trade and welfare of our people, by which we 
 suffer from being held in the leading-strings. It is surely more 
 than an imaginary grievance that we are not permitted to make 
 our own commei'cial treaties, but must be content to accept the 
 agreements entered into on our behalf by the foreign gpvern- 
 ment. In a speech of tremendous power, during the session of 
 1882, Mr. Blake contended that the right of making Canadian 
 treaties should be in the Dominion government. Some time 
 afterwards, certain writers in the newspapers declared that Mr. 
 Blake was at heart a staunch friend of Canadian independence; 
 whereupon, at a public gathering in Montreal a few months 
 later, he repudiated his utterances at the late session of parlia- 
 ment, by declaring that we now, practically, had self govern- 
 ment in Canada. Mr. Blake's great speeches, unfortunately, 
 but too often resemble railway trains run^iin^ in different di- 
 rections, eventually meeting in disastrous collision. 
 
 After the defeat of Sir John at the polls, the conservative 
 
 party resembled 
 
 " . . Scattered sedge 
 Afloat, when, with fierce winds Orion armed 
 Hath vexed the Eed Sea coast," . ' 
 
 and were many dreaiy weeks before they had spirit to raise 
 their heads. Two or three members at a caucus, which at last 
 made a desperate effort for life and organization, were of the 
 opinion that Sir John had seen his time and done his work ; 
 but "such counsel only stirred the deep-seated loyalty of the 
 party to the chief who had led them so often to victory, to a 
 new activity. Once again the well-beloved leader sat at the 
 head of his erstwhile scattered vollowers, and began to whisper 
 in their ear the words of hope. He had been studying the poli- 
 tical situation, and saw that decay had laid its hand upon the 
 ruling party. The country had fallen into a state of commer- 
 cial feebleness, and year after year, during the administration 
 of Mr. Mackenzie, saw the situation grow worse. Enterprise 
 
418 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 was without heart, capital shrank timidly away, and confidence 
 had fairly gone out of the country. Each session of parliament 
 showed a large deficiency in receipts in comparison with the 
 expenditure. For some time previous to 1874, the customs 
 duties on unenumerated imports had been 15 per cent., but in 
 the session of the last-named year, to meet the threatened de- 
 ficit, Mr. (now Sir) R. J. Cartwright, minister of finance, intro- 
 duced a measure providing for an increase to iTi per cent. Mr. 
 Cartwright, like all other statesmen, had no hesitation in ad- 
 mitting that taxation was bad ; but he preferred taxation pure 
 and simple, to taxation with a saving clause. His increase fell 
 into the gaping jaws of deficit, which still hungered for more. 
 Year after year the balance was on the wrong side of the book, 
 till at last trade was languishing so low that it would have died 
 had that been possible ; commercial houses and financial insti- 
 tutions which had been regarded firm as the hills came toppling 
 down ; our people were fleeing the country in thousands look- 
 ing for work, while the solicitations of the idle for work, and 
 of the hungry for bread, were heard in every Canadian city. 
 The government cannot manipulate the state as it manages a 
 department ; nevertheless crises do sometimes arise, when a ju- 
 dicious touch of the hand may give a new direction and a life 
 to motionless commercial forces. The people, whether unrea- 
 sonably or not, believed that it lay within the power of legisla- 
 tion to better their condition, and they waited upon Mr. Cart- 
 wright in hundreds, telling their woes and asking his help. 
 But that statesman assured them that in such an emergency as 
 this, and face to face with these problems of trade, that govern- 
 ment was only a fly on the wheel ; and, turning gloomily away, 
 the sufferers heard it whispered abroad that the cure the fin- 
 ance minister had for this deplorable state of things was direct 
 taxation. " Our opportunity has come," said Sir John, to his 
 colleagues, at a caucus held about this time ; " want has over- 
 come the prejudice of a theory, and we will propound a policy 
 that will better this wof ul state of affairs and carry us back to 
 
"A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA." i}^ 
 
 •office." From that day forth the conservative chief began to 
 organize and marshal his forces ; to " get his hand upon the 
 pulse of the country," and to breathe into his followers the 
 same hope and ardour that filled himself. Sir Richard Cart- 
 wright sneered at the " new-fangled doctrines," and his chief 
 losing a momentary restraint upon his vernacular, affirmed in 
 broad Scotch, " that the scheme was the corn laws again with a 
 new face." The question presented to the ministry was one 
 between commercial misery and a favoured theory, " but, in 
 deference to the formula, they chose to be stiff-necked, and 
 kicked complaining industry into the camp of their oppo- 
 nents." * In the house of commons on the 10th of March, 1876, 
 Sir John boldly laid down the " broad national policy " of his 
 party, in a speech of much vigour and point. His contention 
 was that there should be a thorough reorganization of the 
 tariff, which should be constructed in such a manner that it 
 would, while producing sufficient revenue for the current ex- 
 penses of the country, also afford a stimulus and a protection 
 to home industry, entice capital to the country, and keep our 
 own artisans at home at the employment which must arise 
 under the fostering legislation. Once again the cry went 
 abroad, and this time at the dictation of the conservative 
 chief, " Canada for the Canadians ; " and the heralds appeared 
 through the country giving the shibboleth a liberal translation, 
 assuring the clamorous workmen it meant that when they 
 came to the liberal-consw vative ministry for bread, they would 
 not be offered a stone in the form of direct taxation; that 
 henceforth our raw material would not be sent out of the 
 country to give employment to the artisans of foreign cities ; 
 and that no longer would the American " drummer " be found 
 selling his goods upon the thresholds of our crumbling and idle 
 factories. On the 17th of September, 1878, the two part'---" 
 appeared at the polls, Mr. Cartwright and the ministry bou d 
 
 , * Prof. Gold win Smith, in The Bystander. 
 
420 • LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 neck and heel to their idol ; Sir John with the light of hope ii> 
 his eye, and " Canada for the Canadians " upon his lips. The 
 change which he predicted had come. It swept the country 
 in a whirlwind, and the ministry and their god of clay fell in 
 ruin : 
 
 *' Like tha leaves of the forest when summer is green, 
 That host with their banners at sunset were seen ; 
 V Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown, 
 That host on the morrow lay withered and strown." 
 
 Kolls away the cloud again which had hidden for a brief 
 time the hero of our story, and we find him at the head of his 
 cabinet, potent still for vast endeavour and great national en- 
 terprise. Mr. Mackenzie, who must have cursed idols and phan- 
 toms of every kind, did not wait till the assembling of parlia- 
 ment, but, with the demeanor of an honest man, who had tried 
 to do his duty, quietly gave up the ghost. The new cabinet 
 was as follows : 
 
 The Right Hon. Sir John A. MacdonaldP^ imier and Min. 
 
 ■-::^ of Interior. 
 
 Hon. S. L. Tilley - - - - Min. of Finance. 
 
 " Charles TuppER . - - Min. of Pi blic Works. 
 
 " H. L. Langevin - - - - Postmaster-General. 
 
 " J. C. AiKiNS - ^ - - - Secretary of State. 
 
 " J. H. Pope Min. of Agriculture. 
 
 " James Macdonald - - - - Min. of Justice. 
 
 " Mackenzie Bowell - - - Min. of Customs. 
 
 " J.'C. Pope . _ _ Min. Marine and Fisheries. 
 
 " L. F. G. Baby _ - . . Min. Inland Revenue. 
 
 " L. F. R. Masson - - Min. Militia and Defence. 
 
 " John O'Connor - - - - Pres. of Council. 
 
 " R. D. WiLMOT - Speaker of Senate (without portfolio). 
 
 The magnum opwi of the new administration was the Na- 
 tional Policy, which, less for brevity than ridicule, has come to 
 
"A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING -SEA." 421 
 
 he known as the "N.P." The framing of a tariff strikinof at 
 the root of our whole financial and mercantile system, was a 
 task of tremendous importance ; but the difficulties disappeared 
 before the masterly ability and skill of Hon. S. L. Tilley. No- 
 thing was done in haste or blindly ; every commercial " inter- 
 ■est '^ in the country was carefully considered, and its intelligent 
 opponents consulted before the law was put to paper ; and 
 though, as was only to have been expected in any law ever yet 
 framed by the wit of man, for a country possessing more or less 
 a, diversity of interests, its operation bore harshly here and 
 there at f "st, upon the whole it was a triumph for enlightened 
 statesmanship and commerce. The aim of the new tariff was 
 twofold : to stimulate home industry, and to produce a revenue ; 
 and with this end in view, upon all imported goods which we 
 were capable of producing at home, there was levied a heavy 
 specific, and an ad valorem tax ; while upon such articles as 
 we could not manufacture among ourselves, was put a lower 
 duty. The tariff pinched in many places during its early 
 operation, and many cried out against an overtaxed breakfast- 
 table ; but at last complaint had her mouth stopped with 
 home-made sugar. It is not necessary to make predictions 
 when we have at hand an array of facts. The national policy 
 has been four years in operation now. When submitted by 
 Mr. Tilley to the parliament, Mr. Cartwright loaded it with a 
 sneering scorn, and declared that it would neither raise revenue 
 nor stimulate industry ; that, on the contrary, it would throw 
 s, weight upon the shoulders of struggling trade, and make the 
 people more powerless than before to pay the tax. But the 
 result is different. It has raised a revenue, and produced a 
 surplus; and has been coincident with, if it has not in great 
 measure occasioned, the appearance of an era of prosperity be- 
 fore not equalled in Canada. We know that the wevil or the 
 <lrought is stronger than ministries, and that statutes are 
 powerless to make the corn to spring or the sun to shine, but 
 we do not hesitate to record our conviction that Sir John 
 
422 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 Macdonald's ministry came upon the scene at an important 
 time, that its very cry upon the hustings before it put a line 
 upon the statutes roused the spirits of the country, brought 
 public confidence to its feet, and drew capital out of its hiding 
 place. By its legislation it has done, and it is only folly or 
 prejudice that will deny it, an enormous amount of good ; it 
 has brought into our lap millions upon millions of dollars of 
 foreign capital, and added to the gross of our national w^ealth 
 in an amazing degree. The best proof that it has done so is 
 found in the refusal of the people, after its four years' trial, to^ 
 give it up. There are portions of the Dominion, particularly 
 in the maritime provinces, where the people derive no benefit 
 from, and perhaps are to some extent burthened bj', the direct 
 operation of the policy ; but they are amply repaid for this 
 by the fuller throb, from the general prosperity of the country, 
 which they feel in their veins. The outlook at the present is, 
 that, while we may still expect some gi-umbling down by the 
 sea, and hear notes of discontent, mollified by the restraining^ 
 influence o^ the smuggler in the prairie province, the national 
 policy for many a year, if not for a generation that will know 
 us not, is to be an institution of the country. 
 
 During the month that witnessed the re-appearance of Sir 
 John upon the ministerial scene. Lord Dufferin took his de- 
 parture from Canada ; and on November following the present 
 Governor-General, Lord Lome, accompanied by his consort the 
 Princess Louise, arrived in Halifax. The fates which seem to 
 have takea so kindly an interest in Lord Dufferin, anrl de- 
 lighted tO assist him through troublesome places, must iiavo 
 grown afraid for their portegd and kept back the storm which 
 hung ready to break over the vice-rcj^al oflice when Lord 
 Lome reached the capital. In December, 1876, M. Letellier de 
 St. Just, a Dominion Senator, a pronounced, perhaps we ought 
 to say a rash, reformer,* and a member of Mr. Mackenzie's- 
 
 • Merely for courtesy's sake the writer uses'the word " reformer," which is the 
 name of a party absorbed, as we have seen, many years agro into the Liberal-Conser- 
 
"A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA." 423 
 
 ministry, was appointed lieutenant-governor of Quebec. M. Le- 
 tellier was undoubtedly an able man, but he was defiant and 
 haughty ; and it is doubtful if he could look at any question 
 except from the standpoint of party. Unfortunately for him, 
 and worse still for political morality, he carried into the gub- 
 ernatorial chair all his party loves and hates, which he made 
 no effort to hide. The conservatives were led by the premier, 
 M, De Boucherville, in the legislative council, and by M. Angers 
 in the lower chamber. It is useless to deny that M. Letellier 
 came to the administration with an exaggt^rated sense of his 
 functions and powers ; but what was worse still he believed 
 that he had, and he really did have, the countenance of the 
 Mackenzie ministry in his feeling and attitude towards his 
 cabinet, while he was egged on to hostilities by the rash coun- 
 sels of George Brown and many other Upper Canada voformers» 
 as well as by the leading rouges of his own province. Upon 
 the other hand, the Quebec ministry, at the first, received the 
 new governor with contempt, and gave him plainly to under- 
 stand that his inclination or prejudice was of no consequence 
 to them; that he had a certain figurative duty to perforin ; 
 that he was to sign their documents, and, so far as administra- 
 tion was concerned, to think only as they thought. There 
 was soon open war between M. Letellier and his advisers, the 
 former disapproving of several acts of the government's public 
 policy; and after his ministers had several times treated his 
 suggestions with contempt or scorn, he took the leader of the 
 opposition, M. Joly, into his confidence. This state of affairs 
 could not continue, and at last, at the advice of those who 
 had spurred him on to the conflict, the governor dismissed his 
 ministry. His justification for this act he based on three 
 separate grounds : first, that he doubted whether his advisers 
 possessed the confidence of the province ; secondly, because 
 his ministers had introduced measures without laying them 
 
 vative coalition. Historically speaking the two parties now iu Dominion politics 
 are the Liberal-Conservatives and the Grits, 
 
424 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 before him and obtaining his sanction ; and thirdly, that 
 although they had known of his determined hostility to the 
 railway and stamp measures they passed them through, nomi- 
 nally with his consent, although he had never sanctioned them, 
 instead of either abandoning them or resigning his office.* 
 Tlie subject was promptly carried to the Canadian legislature 
 during the session of 1878, wliere it immediately became a 
 party question, and gave rise to a long parliamentary brawl. 
 Sir John Macdonald made a masterly speech in condemnation 
 of the action of M, Letellier, and offered a motion affirming 
 that the dismissal of ihe Quebec ministry was " unwise and 
 subversive of the position accorded to the advisers of the crown 
 since the concession of the principle of responsible government 
 to the British North American colonies." "f This motion was 
 lost by a vote of one hundred and twelve to seventy ; but on 
 the return of Sir John to office, M. Letellier was dismissed. 
 This, then, was the storm in which the new gubernatorial boat 
 put out, Lord Dufferin getting across the Atlantic before it 
 broke. We have not space here to discuss the merits of the 
 question, neither have we the desire to say more than this, 
 that the whole affair was alike disgraceful to the governor and 
 the ministry, is a stain upon our history, and serves to show 
 how unwise it is to drag the little municipal questions of pro- 
 vincial jurisdiction through the grooves of federal parties. But 
 one by one each province is dropping into the maelstrom o^' 
 general politics. New Bruaswick | being the last to cast aside 
 her individuality. 
 
 * Mr. Stewart, in Canada under the Administration of the Earl of Dufferin. Mr. 
 Stewart treats this question at considerable length, and with much vigor and 
 clearness. 
 
 t See Canada Hansard, Session 1878, Vol. II., page 1878. 
 
 + In New Brunswick, by a system of seduction and compromise, a sort of mosaic 
 administration had been perpetuated from confederation down to the present year, 
 when Mr. A. G. Blair appeared upon the scene at the head of a new ministry. 
 Mr. Blair would be an ornament to any legislatr.re, and his chief colleague, Mr. 
 Elder, is a politician who might take rank among our foremost public men. It 
 is the fate of controversy and party questions in small communities to assume 
 
'M WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA," 426 
 
 In 1S79, on the retirement of the former incumbent, Hon, 
 (now Sir) William Johnston Ritcliie, one of the puisne judges 
 of the supreme court of the Dominion, was appointed to the 
 chief justiceship. He was the son of the honourable chief jus- 
 tice Ritchie, of Nova Scotia, and was born at Annapolis, in that 
 province, in 1813. His paternal grandfather came from Scot- 
 land and settled in Nova Scotia some time before the Ameri- 
 can revolution. His mother was Eliza Wildman Johnston, the 
 descendant of a distinguished U. E. loyalist family ; her grand- 
 father being a Scotchman of the Annandalo line. He was educat- 
 ed at Pictou college ; studied law at Halifax with his brotlier, 
 Hon. John William Ritchie, late chief judge in equity for Nova 
 Scotia; was called to the bar of New Brunswick in 1838; 
 practised in the city of St. John from 1836 to 1855, and was 
 cieated a Queen's counsel in 1854;. He sat for the city and 
 county of St. John in the New Brunswick assembly from 184:8 
 
 personal aspects, and to be embued with a bitterness titterly unknown where the 
 field is wider, and the interests greater ; and if we are to believe the newspaper 
 accounts of the late ministerial change in that province, there was a display of 
 private rancour, to say nothing of the violation of the coiirtesies and anieiuties 
 which ought to be known at least to gentlemen — which are well understood in the 
 history of party etitiuette, where they are held to be inviolate— that did little 
 credit to those concerned. For our part we consider a legislature with its king and 
 its house of lords and all the othe^* hollow paraphernalia, for each one of the little 
 maritime provinces, under the confeUi .ati m, un expen.^e and a folly ; yet they may 
 vindicate some right to an existence, if tliey will show less of Ihia petty grabbing 
 for office, and give their attention (we refe) jiartictdarly now to New Brunswck) 
 to the conservation of their forests which are the only source of income they have 
 after the Dominion purchase money. T ley have for many years pursued a 
 suicidal policy with their timber lands ; yet it may not be now too late to mend. 
 The commissioner has come, session after session, to the legislature telling the 
 number of trees that have been destroyed during the year— and the more cut down, 
 the more he glories, boasting of the quantity of revenue he has secured— never 
 having a word of a tree that has been planted, or of one conserved. The system 
 too of selling out large tracts of timbered land is unwise, nay, more, it is monstrous ; 
 and is like unto a man, who, not content with drawing interest, falls upon, and 
 bef;ins to devour, his capital. The lumber lands (they are not, generally, ad- 
 apted for settlement) are all the capital New Brunswick has, and these should be 
 held by the province ; not so much as an acre should be parted with ; for by an 
 ajiplication of the simp'e principles of forestry, and the adoption of careful regula- 
 tions, these tracts would yield, and reyield, vast quantities of timber for an inde- 
 finite number of generations, and thus be a perpetual source of revenue to the 
 province. 
 
4M LIFE OF SIR JOHN A, MACDONALD. 
 
 to 1851 ; in 1854 he entered tlie executive council of Now 
 Brunswick, and the following year was a[)pointed to a puisne 
 judgeship of the supreme court, which position he retained till 
 his accession to the chief justiceship, on the death of justice 
 Parker. In 1875 he was appointed a puisne judge of the Do- 
 minion, and four years later, as we have seen, succeeded to the 
 chief justiceship. He has been twice married, first, in ISto, to 
 Miss Martha Strang, of St. Andrew's, who died in 1847, l>y 
 whom he has a daughter living ; second, to his present win- 
 ning and amiable wife, Grace Vernon, daughter of the late 
 Thomas L. Micholson, Es([., of St. John, New Brunswick, and 
 step-daughter of the late Admiral W. F. W. Owen, R.N., of (Jam- 
 pobello, by whom he has tw(dve children. As a lawyer, Mr, 
 Ritchie was an ornament to the bar, and his various promotions 
 were only the recognition of a rare order of merit. To the judicial 
 seat which he now fills, he has brought an adorning talent, 
 a vast breadth of view, a sober understanding, and a fault- 
 less judgment, that have won universal admiration and respect. 
 It is a mistake to suppose that a lotos-eater's calm surrounds 
 the occupants of our benches ; on the contrary, there is now a 
 kind of judicial war, proper and discreet, going on between the 
 Dominion court and the inferior tribunals. Owing to obscure 
 definition of certain provincial powers upon the one hand, and 
 of federal jurisdiction upon the other, in the British North 
 America Act, there is in this quiet way some conflict of opinion 
 among the judges as to " provincial rights," much as there is 
 among the politicians ; but the trying task of holding the 
 balance evenly between the aggregate of the province, and 
 each province singly, at once calls for the highest taleiii ?,nd 
 the keenest discrimination. And in this important respect, as 
 in all others belonging to his sphere, Sir W. J. Ritchie gives a 
 lustre and a prestige to our highest Canadian seat of justice, r 
 Towards the close of the year 1880, it became known that 
 the government had entered into contract with a powerful 
 syndicate for the construction of the Canadian Pacific railway, 
 
"^ yyjST SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA," 427 
 
 which had for many yearn besn proceeding in a half-hearted 
 and desultoiy fashion. The entire road, from ocean t(j oc( an, 
 it was Hpccititid, was to ho completed within ten years froin the 
 date of the contract, i nd that portion known as the prairie sec- 
 tion, and roughly estimated at 1,000 miles, extending from 
 Manitoba to the Rocky Mountains, was to bee(iuip[)e(l and run- 
 ning within three years. In return for this work, tno syndi- 
 cate was granted a cash subsidy of $25,000,000 and 25,00* ,000- 
 acres of prime land, in alternating sections along the railway 
 route, and was to receive the roads already built under gov- 
 ernment control. During the discussion on the contract in 
 parliament the following session, one or two opponents o. the- 
 ministry turned aside from the legitimate debate to indulge 
 in bitter insinuation with respect to the " Pacific scandal." 
 The prime-minister defended the new contract in a speech of 
 much power, and paused for a moment, as he glanced at the 
 mcuil; ;rs who had sought to sting him. "I will not," he said, 
 " drag into this discussion, as far as I am concerned, and a» 
 far as my remarks are connected with the subject, any refer- 
 once to the political past. Allusions were made to it by thosfr 
 opposed to the government, especially by those who desired 
 to asperse myself; but, sir, there is the record, there is the fruit 
 of the appeal to the country — and I am prime minister of 
 Canada." Well might the prime-minister be excused for hurl- 
 ing the unmanly insinuations back, in a tone of pride, and in 
 these triumphant words. He took occasion, too, to show to 
 what extent the countiy had been the loser by the miscarriage 
 of the Allan contract of 1872. " Nine precious years have been 
 lost since that time which can never be recovered, during the 
 whole of which that road would have been in successful pro- 
 gress of construction ; the men engaged in that scheme, if they 
 could have got the ear of the European capitalists, were strong 
 enough to push the road acrosr the country, and now instead 
 of there being scarcely the foot-print of the white-man outside- 
 the province of Mnnitoba, there would have been hundreds of 
 
428 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. * 
 
 thousands of persons who have gone from mere despair to the 
 United States, in our own north-wes<^ tomtorics. That coun- 
 try, instead of having but a small settlement in the eastern 
 <3nd of it, would have been the happv home of hundreds of 
 thousands — to use the smallest fig . e — of civilized laen, of 
 earnest, active, labouring men, working for themselves and their 
 families, and making that region, much sooner than it will be 
 now, a populous and prosperous country." 
 
 In the summer of 1882, we find the conservative /hief once 
 again before the electorate, asking judgment on the acts of his 
 administration. Nor for all the battles he has fought does he 
 seem the feebler ; but is in the thick of the fray, with the fire 
 of other days in his eyes, still wielding that subtle and irresis- 
 tible fascination over the crowds who have gathered to hear 
 him. A writer who makes pen-portraits moving with life, saw 
 the chief under the glare of the lamps, in the Toronto " amphi- 
 theatre," addressing a large assemblage, and among other 
 touches has given us this portion of picture.* "' Always clear- 
 voiced, always turning, always watching , . . ; he pours out 
 that succession of argument, of wit, of joke and of story, many 
 of them old, of flashes of thought, many of them new and 
 bright, of political reminiscence and political fact, rambling yet 
 not unconnected, and always bearing straight on the point, 
 a,ll of which have, for many a long year past, among Canadian 
 populace or in Canadian legislature, been more powerful than 
 the voice of other living man. I look on him, facing th's way 
 and that, imagining, declaiming, striving, and think of Praed's 
 Sir Nicholas : 
 
 " ' The gallant knight is fighting hard, his steel cap clove in twain, 
 His good buff jerkin crimsoned deep with many a gory stain ; 
 And now he wards a roundhead's pike, and now he hums a stave, 
 And now he quotes a stage-play, and now he fells a knave.' " 
 
 The result of the election is too fresh in the mind of the 
 reader to re-state it here. It is enough to say that the people 
 
 * R. W. PbipiJJ, in the Toronto WmU. 
 
"A WET SSEET AND A FLOWING SEA." 42» 
 
 approved of Sir .Tohn's a/lrainistration, and sent him back to 
 office with a poweiful majority in his following. Previous to 
 dissolution certain changes had been made in the personnel of 
 the cabinet, the mos' important of these being the accession of 
 Hon. A. W. McLelan ■ o the department of marine and fisheries, 
 in the room of Hon. S. C. Pope ; and the assumption by Hon. 
 John Costigan of the purti'olio of inland revenue. It is un- 
 fortunate, but unavoidab] , that it is necessary to take the 
 minister raw from the constituency and put him in charge of 
 a department which is a complicated organization of special 
 knowledge. It follows that an inferior, or even an ordinary 
 ability, in such a position jails complotely into the meshes of 
 the subordinate, from which he is never able to clear himself. 
 An ambition that is above being the pipe whereon the clerk's 
 finger may sound what note it please, will struggle out of the 
 bondage, though it cannot do so immediately, and will over- 
 come the mysteries of the labyrinth bit by bit. Of the impor- 
 tant and intricate office of marine and fisheries, Mr. McLelan 
 had no more special knowledge than he possessed about making 
 boots or clocks, but his energy and his fine ability stood by him 
 in the hour of need. We liave, however, this to say : our popu- 
 lation is rapidly increasing, and our fisheries are speedily dis- 
 appearing. Science has pointed out to us a means by which 
 we may resist the forces of destruction. If the science of fish- 
 breeding by artificial means is not a delusion, and we do not 
 believe it is, then is it entitled to more than a homeopathic 
 application ; and we consider it to be the duty of the minister 
 to take the matter firmly in hand. 
 
 An important addition to the cabinet also, as we have said,, 
 was Mr. John Costigan, the minister of inland revenue. He 
 was born at St. Nicholas in the province of Quebec in 1835, 
 was educated at St. Anne's College, after which he removed to 
 Victoria, New Brunswick, where he was appointed judge of 
 the supreme court of common pleas. He sat for his present 
 seat in the New Brunswick assembly from 18G1 to 18GC when 
 
430 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. • 
 
 he was defeated. He was returned to the house of commons 
 in the general elections of 1872, and has not been defeated 
 since. We have already seen Mr. Costigan through our nar- 
 rative and recorded our admiration of his actions. His ap- 
 pointment to the cabinet was the just recognition of an unfal- 
 tering fidelity to principle and public duty, and of an ability 
 endowed with special qualifications for administration ; an 
 unbiassed judgment, and a calm and sound understanding. 
 "We are inclined to accept the many statements abroad that 
 his hand is already seen in the management of a department 
 which had been, for but too long before his appointment, a 
 marvel of red tape and inefficiency. One thing there is we 
 would wish to say just here and it is this : that we would there 
 had been less stress laid upon Mr. Costigan's appointment as a 
 Roman Catholic Irishman, than as a gentleman whose talent 
 would be a decided gain to any administration. The " Catholic 
 vote," like the " Orange vote," is fast becoming a reproach to 
 Canadian politics, insulting to such Irishmen and Irishmen's 
 sons as do not haunt the shambles at election times, and above 
 all most degrading to religion. It is notorious that the votes 
 of Roman catholics have come to be regarded as political mer- 
 chandize, to be bought and sold; and that this monstrous state 
 of aTairs is due to a vanity in high ecclesiastical places which 
 imagines it is being invested with an importance and a dignity 
 while really degrading itself to a marketable commodity, be- 
 coming the game of lawyers and political adventurers, for 
 whom all these put out their hooks, and of whom they dis- 
 course in their business letters in such a manner that one 
 might fancy the " he " under discussion was a horse, but that 
 here and there " His Grace " appears on the page. While an 
 uncompromising advocate of the rights of his co-religionists, 
 Mr. Costigan's intiucnce has never been in the direction of 
 separation and estrangement — being universally esteemed by 
 his protestant fellow-countrymen — much less towards promot- 
 ing the state of affairs to which we have reverted, and which 
 
"A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA." 431 
 
 must bring the blood surging into the cheek of whomsoever 
 calls himself catholic or Irishman. Mr. Costigan is the type 
 of a tiue man, who conceives a certain line to be his duty, 
 and having set up that star, unfalteringly follows it to the end. 
 Through the storm and the sun -shine he has ever held on his 
 course, wavering not to the right hand nor to the left. 
 
 It would not be well that we should close our historical 
 sketch, such as it has been, without devoting a word to the 
 great party leader whose oratory has made the land pregnant 
 through the campaigns, and who reached his present eminence 
 before the smoke had rolled away from the Waterloo of his 
 party. Mr. Edward Blake we need not introduce at any length 
 to the reader. He is the son of the Hon. William Hume Blake 
 of whom w'^ have spoken in the early part of our book, and 
 who was one of the greatest orators that has ever appeared in 
 a colonial parliament, becoming afterwards a judge whose tal- 
 ents and judicial insight long adorned the bench. Mr. Blake 
 may be said to have come into the political world with a com- 
 pound mill-stone about his neck, a code of party traditions, 
 and a set of private opinions, both diametrically opposed in 
 nature and direction, yet being afraid to disavow the one, or to 
 proclaim the other. Hence, he is to the superficial looker-on 
 the embodiment of a mystery ; while his career is a record of 
 indications gone astray. As in our solar system, where, by the 
 union of the two great forces, — the centripetal by which the 
 earth seeks the sun, and the centrifugal by which it would fly 
 away, — the planet is restrained and accomplishes only a great 
 circle once in the year, so too does the force of inclination drag 
 Mr. Blake one way, and that of party tradition the other, result- 
 ing in political revolutions that give delight to his enemies. 
 We set ourselves to this criticism with no little feeling of re- 
 gret, as there is no writer that ever set pen to paper in this 
 country who has a higher estimate of Mr. Blake's abilities, and 
 his capacity to do good, and to perform great things, than we. 
 But nature let him ofi' her hands wichout backbone, and in 
 
432 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 every important step in his political life, he has hesitated as a 
 man in mortal fear on the brink pf some abyps which he fears 
 is about lo swallow him up, tortured between the pleading- 
 voice of his own opinion and the merciless mandate of expedi- 
 ency. The writer has sometimes seen him in public places, and 
 gloried as he saw him, tear himself away from the party idols, 
 and strike that loftier, nobler note which appeals to that in 
 man above the degraijing interests of faction and of party. 
 At such times he has seemed to us as one alone upon the 
 mountain-top, the clouds around and the world below him, 
 teaching a greater and a purer political gospel ; — but before the 
 morrow we have found him among the throng making gods^ 
 out of the dregs of party clay. This fault is a legitimate 
 subject for the biographical vivisectionist, because its influence 
 is traceable in the practical life of the country; the other 
 great short-coming of Mr. Blake is more his own affair than 
 ours. We need hardly awy that to hii manner it is that we 
 refer. He seems to have in cdted the traditional whig cold- 
 ness ; and it may be said of hit , as it was of Lord John Russell, 
 that it is impossible to be enthasiasiic about him, for if any one 
 were rash enough to be tempt<^d nito momentary admiration, 
 the ebullition might be checked v ,. : i a chilling word, a look or 
 a letter. As a debater who speak entirely from the head Mr. 
 Blake's place is undisputed in Ci,* ida; he is indeed, intellect- 
 ually, as great an orator* a3 GIa<lstone and superior to the 
 
 * Mr. R. W. Phipps, in the Torout > World, in an admirable portrait of Mr. 
 Blake, says, in Bi)eaking of certain oliu i|ualitie8 of that gentleman as an orator ; 
 , . . " Add to this a voice whic!* 9eeait w roach you just as it left the speaker, 
 though far away ; a power, possesstvl ecjuuly it y no other Canadian, of framing and 
 of clearly delivering in long successio;. v ipro,>i; fu sentences, always grammatical, 
 often magnificent, and always in perfection conveying the idea ; add to this a 
 peculiar assuredness of expression and i am t, and you have the leader of the 
 opposition delivering an address." And on ihe attitude of the opposition leader 
 to the national policy, the same writer sayi- : " Tut on the great and living sub- 
 ject of the national policy he is lamentably v^iuk. Ready to destroy the sources 
 of independent strength, to play into the hands ( t' the foreign manufacturers, he 
 can be no leader for the young and ardent spirits of the growing north. As I have 
 before said, he appears unable to appreciate the result of the injury he propose* 
 
"A WET SHEET AXD A FLOWING SEA.'' 433 
 
 English statesman, who wears his " heart upon his sleeve for 
 daws to peck at," in showing cold indifference to petty annoy 
 ance. There is a suspicion that he fondles the idea of Cana- 
 dian independence to his heart, though upon the subject he has 
 been as silent as the tomb. But this matters little now. The 
 tide has ebbed past, never again return to him, and his skiff 
 lies high upon the flats. This glorious scheme is reserved for 
 warmer hearts, and champions loyal enough to the cause they 
 love, to boldly avow their faith. The other day we heard with 
 a thrill that a champion had arisen in the chair which inclina- 
 tion would lead Mr. Blake to fill, with " nationality" for his 
 guiding star; but looking, we saw he was a party slave with 
 chains upon his heels and wrists.* Some newspaper represen- 
 tatives attending the session of 1882, at Ottawa, waited upon 
 Mr. Blake with a modest presentation, which was accompanied 
 by an address. It was gratifying to the delegation to be 
 assured that Mr, Blake recognised the press as rendering a 
 " very great deal of assistance to public men in getting their 
 speeches before the country," Suppose a delegation of those 
 winged postilions that are said to drive the chariots of Phcobus 
 through the ?ether, were to wait upon the leader of the oppo- 
 sition with a sheet of parchment, he would, we may be sure, 
 treat them with the same measured courtesy and scant effu- 
 
 to work. Knowingly, I do not believe lu' would advocate it. But at present 
 give him command of the good ship National Policy, and he summons the master, 
 ' Your shrouds to leeward, master, are duties on coarse goods, prime necessaries 
 and raw material, I see. I do not approve of them. Pii)ij all hands. Cut them 
 away 1 ' 
 
 " ' Why, bless my eyes, cut aw.vy the shrouds to leeward, sir ! ' says the old salt, 
 ' every mast '11 go hy the board ! ' 
 
 " ' Your oi)inion is inaccurate,' returns Mr, Blake. ' You will observe that the 
 pressure of the wind can in no degree affect the safety of the masts, as it comes from 
 the other quarter, and the masts are supported by the shrouds on that side.' 
 
 " ' But blow me tight ! Your honour ! Sir ! ' cries the veteran, the picture of 
 dismay, ' what '11 happen when we tacks ? ' 
 
 " ' You do not,' saj i Mr. Blake, solidly, 'enjjy the confidence of the reform 
 party, and cannot, therefore, understand fiscal navigation. Cut away the 
 shrouds ! '" 
 
 * Mr. W. B. McMurrich, ex mayor of Toronto. 
 BB 
 
434 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 sion. Without exhibiting our imagination at all, we can fancy 
 him saying, • } es ! — thank you gentlemen. You are here 
 from the sua. That orb I recognise to be of considerable im- 
 portance to us in showing light," Mr. Blake entered the field 
 with a sturdy bow and an unerring shaft; his arm was strong 
 and the object blazed like a star. The prize and the day have 
 passed ; the morrow and the might-have-been have come. 
 Edward Blake is opportunity in ruins. 
 
 We have approached the end of our story ; and the ta})er 
 burns low. However our narrative may be received we ha^'e 
 striven to do what we have believed to be our duty, and have 
 written by the light that has been given to us. If in going- 
 through our pages there should be any reader who finds his 
 idols broken, let him be assured that, while our judgment may 
 have been at fault, and an ampler study of the subjects pass- 
 ing in such rapid review along the current of our story might 
 have lent a different colouring to our pictures, what we have 
 put to paper is our deep conviction, and is done with an 
 earnest desire to tell the truth. Actors along the ground over 
 w^hich our labours have led us, have here and there arisen, for 
 whom an antipathy has grown up, as one learns to hate in one 
 short hour, at the theatre, the wicked and detestable Richard ; 
 but while for such our dislike has been hearty, we have striven 
 to giv3 them, grudgingly though we must admit, such credit 
 as has been their due. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THOUGHT AND JJTERATURE. 
 
 HAVING kept our readers for forty years in the desert 
 where politicians play their part, we now gladly enter 
 that fairer land where soft windswhisper to the summer leaves 
 and wild flowers grow. We have only a little space at our 
 disposal, and we do not propose to lumber it up with the good 
 and the bad, like an auctioneer's inventory ; for certain other 
 Canadian writers, from whom we trust wo differ on most things, 
 are exceedingly partial to this habit. Neither can we give a 
 list of all the good, reluctantly though we leave some of these 
 sweet flowers of the wild-wood to blush unseen. Less than 
 fifty years ago, Lord Durham made a study of the social con- 
 dition of our people, concluding that the French-Canadian race 
 must become absorbed by the English population ; and one 
 of the reasons he adduced was that they had no literature. 
 Manv changes have come since Lord Durham wrote that re- 
 port. The province of Quebec has now not alone seats of learn- 
 ing distinguished by their scholars, and their labours, but an 
 array of native littdrateurs that do an honour to our young 
 Dominion. Nay, more, up to a recent period, she has distanced 
 all her English sisters in the field of literature, and notably in 
 the departments of history and belles lettres. In the former 
 she still maintains the supremacy, but by our own Mr. Roberts 
 her poetic crown has been disputed, though her athlete of 
 the muses has borne the laurel away from the Institute of re- 
 gal Paris. It may not be considered out of place to say here, 
 that Jjord Durham was not astray alone in his prediction of a 
 
 blank of letters for our French sister, but in the belief that 
 
 435 
 
4M LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 the French-Canadian would disappear before a sufficient force 
 of statutes. It is only by a gradual process of absorption that 
 the piece of old Franco which lies along the banks of the St. 
 Lawrence, will cease to be. The union of the two pi"ovincea 
 with a preponderance of English power in the legislature, an 
 Durham proposed, could in time have crushed the French na- 
 tionality, except that here and there, in the backwood villages,^ 
 a barbarous yatois, and some antique custom would still be 
 found to linger, as he who travels through the less-civilized 
 districts of Ireland finds the embers of the Celtic tongue glow- 
 ing brightly in a cluster of cabins upon which the light of the 
 age has yet not dawned. But chiefly to geography and con- 
 federation the people of Quebec are indebted for the prospect* 
 of their old-time customs ; and the traveller who, five hundred 
 years from now, visits our great Dominion, will find flourishing 
 on the banks of the St. Lawrence, a quaint civilization, instinct 
 with the blood of youth, yet wearing the semblance of old 
 age ; a social system that will remind him of a creature with 
 the sturdy limbs of a lad, and the hoary head of an aged man. 
 To our young Canada, developing into robust nationhood, it 
 is a cause for fraternal as well as patriotic regret to see among 
 such an important section of our ])eople, opportunity and thrift 
 wedded to an obsolete civilization ; and it would be false deli- 
 cacy for us, much as we admire the devotion of our Quebec 
 fellow-countrymen to the language and customs of their be- 
 loved France, the ability of their scholars and public men, and 
 the frugality and the industry of peasant and artizan, to hide 
 the regretable but palpable fact, that the ordinary French- 
 Canadian citizen is the social inferior of his fellow in the 
 sister provinces. He who passes on the rail-cars from the 
 English to the French territory, is at once sensible of having 
 passed from a superior to an inferior order of civilization ; he 
 sees not the husbandman employing the skill or resource of the 
 age upon his farm, but finds him still a slave to the customs 
 adopted in France a hundred and fifty years ago. The leaven 
 
THOUGHT AND LITERATURE. 4X1 
 
 of modern contrivance through tlie rest of Canada stops, as if 
 confronted by a wall of iron, when it reaches the French-Can- 
 adian province. Like the island of Calypso, — though the com- 
 parison will not stand " on all-fours," of which Mr. Roberts 
 says in his delightful ballad, 
 
 " The loud, black flight of the storm diverges 
 Over a spot in the loud-mouthed main, 
 Where, crowned with summer and sun, emerges 
 An isle unbeaten of wind or rain " — 
 
 stands the province of Quebec in the Dominion of Canada. 
 The invigorating gales of our modern civilization blow over 
 all the rest of the land, but diverge on reaching this quaint 
 })rovince, which is left to the repose of its old-time ways. 
 
 One of the litterateurs of tho French province is P. J. O. 
 Ohauveau, who obtained some eminence in the sphere of letters, 
 less through that merit which finds a warm place in the human 
 heart, than through his prominent jj'lace in the political and 
 social world. He wrote Charles Guerin, a passionless novel 
 devoted to the social customs of the first half of the century. 
 The crudity which its critics took so much to heart, was per- 
 haps its least fault. The book by which M. Cliauveau will be 
 best known is Mouvement Litt(^raire et Intellectuel, though 
 nothing of his that we have seen entitles him to a niche in the 
 temple of fame. 
 
 Among the French- Canadian writers a prominent place be- 
 longs to J. M. Le Moine. This writer has been subjected to 
 some very stupid criticism, on the ground that his style is 
 too circumstantial, but it is in this very respect that Mr. Le 
 Moine's contributions are chiefly valuable; and though the 
 painstaking author does not reach high flights, or make am- 
 bitious pictures, some of his narrative is sweet and interesting ; 
 and his work is certain to live on its own account, and also to 
 furnish food to an army of literary workmen. 
 
 A writer of some note is Monsieur J. C. Tachd who once 
 wrought himself to the pitch of writing that barbarous moral 
 
48t LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 <liarna Trols Ugpiulcs de Mon Pays in wliich he endeavouiod 
 to portray tlie religious and social history of the aborigines. 
 His best book is perhaps his Forestiers et Voyageurs, which, as 
 we may gather from the name, is redolent of the music of tho 
 pines and the delightful romance and incident of the wild-wood. 
 M. Tachd has an unerring aim, and sometimes strikes with an 
 iron hand. His style is pure, clear and vigorous ; and a spirit 
 of poesy breathes through his pages. 
 
 L'Abbd R. H. Casgrain tears himself away from theology to 
 revel in Les L.4gendes Ganadieniies. He loves to write in 
 sonorous phrase, that rings on one's ear like the music of a mel- 
 low bell ; and it is unfortunate that he has not at his command 
 a more inharmonious prose for the conveyance of his murder- 
 tidings. The Abbe's enthusiasm is so strong that it frequently 
 takes him from " the straight and narrow road " ; and his esti- 
 mate of the character of some of the early Indian tribes should 
 not be taken without a respectable modicum of suspicion. 
 
 Prof. Hubert La Rue has written a series of domestic and 
 other sketches, wherein one sees the humble lot of the habitant 
 after the day's toil is ended, and hears the prattle of the little 
 ones gathered about the parent's knees, as if, indeed, the picture 
 was not in the imagination, but that he had stretched himself 
 as the sun went down, before the cottage door, by the waters of 
 the St. Lawrence. 
 
 In his 7Gth year M, Philip Aubert de Gaspd came with 
 stsady step before the world with his marrowy, warm-blooded 
 book Les Anciens Caiiadlens, teeming with legends of tho 
 chivalrous period ; and M. Faucher has delighted a large Cana- 
 dian circle and not a few readers in France, with the charming 
 collection of sweet home-portraits of wood and dale, the fire- 
 side, summer evenings, the field and the garden, and the whole 
 round of rural spots hallowed by time, and so dear to the habi- 
 tants, in A la veilUe, contes et rScits. M. Faucher has a riotous, 
 imagination, and would sometimes seem to have an ambition 
 to be regarded as a sort of Munchausen. 
 
TnOTJ GUT A ND LITER A TV RE. 439 
 
 The story of early Canadian history lias a strong charm for 
 M. Joseph Marmette, who tells in Hffroisme et Trahison the 
 thrilling story of the defence of Fort Vercheres by that modern 
 lioadicea, Mile, de Vercheres, against a band of forty-five In- 
 dians, with no assistance save her two brothers, boys undca" 
 twelve, one servant, two cowardly soldiers, an old man of eighty 
 and some women and children. M. Marmette has evidently 
 gone back through the years and let a keen-eyed imagination 
 enter that fort where this brave young girl with flowing hair 
 and resolute dark eyes fronted the savage foe. This writer 
 has the gift of the picturesque and a hunger for the horrible. 
 
 M. Benjamin Suite has caught the attention of a large and 
 admiring circle of readers ; and among his contributions to 
 literature, Au Coin du feu is perhaps the best. He who 
 loves to escape in the summer-time from the hubbub and 
 glare of the city, and go out into the great woods where the 
 calm majesty of nature reigns, will find a fund of delight in 
 reading Une Chasse tl Vours, and. Le Loup-Garou, the record 
 of one who has not learnt forest ranging out of books. This 
 writer is sometimes able to come away from the grotto and the 
 pine grove, and pencil, with life-like fidelity, an historic scene 
 of the long-buried past of his country. 
 
 To Canadian letters the premature death of Louis P. Tur- 
 cotte was a serious loss. Still, he has left behind him an im- 
 perishable contribution in Le Canada sous V Union. M. Tur- 
 cotte's opinion is that Lord Sydenham, the first governor under 
 the union, was actuated by a narrow view, being imbued in his 
 dealings with the French-Canadians by an anglicising and 
 protestantizing spirit. When writing our own sketch of this 
 governor, we were unable to turn up all the documents w^e 
 should like to have seen ; nevertheless, from w^hat we did see, 
 our conclusion was that Sydenham had a narrow mind, and v/as 
 capable of becoming a Metcalfe in proper season. But it is al- 
 most impossible to believe, yet is it not the less true, that M. Tur- 
 cotte considers that Metcalfe held the balance fairly between all 
 
440 LIFE OF SIR JO UN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 parties. It might seem almost as if a portion of the same poison 
 "vvliich seduced poor old Vigor fmm the path of duty, had in 
 some manner found its way to the car of the hrilliant young 
 historian. 
 
 Abbd Ferland has put literature likewise in his debt, in the 
 production of his very clever Ilido'irc da dmada ; not indeed 
 that we think his book ought to remain " a whole unto itself 
 alone," but that it contains a vast quantity of material which 
 some other builder may be able to turn into a more comely 
 shape. The good abbe has contributed various papers on 
 literary topics, and once in the summer's heat slipped over to 
 Labrador, giving some delightful sketches of that dreary land. 
 
 A neat little volume Literary Sheaves, recently published by 
 P. Bender, sums up the current literary work of the French 
 province in a form that is terse and delightfully readable. 
 
 Of the current and late literature of the English provinces, 
 with three or four exceptions, there is very little to be said. 
 Mr. McMullen has written a history of Canada for which we 
 are unable to speak with any degree of respect; and Mr. Withrow 
 has produced a book also purporting to be a history of Canada, 
 which is, if possible, a still poorer publication than its negative.* 
 Mr. Tuttle's ambition also led him in the historical direction; 
 and he has written a history of Canada in two large volumes. 
 The first volume is a creditable compilation of others' labours, 
 is written with some grace, and here and there may be said to 
 contain passages of much strength ; the second volume speaks 
 with divers tongues, and reminds one of a large crowd of per- 
 sons tied together, somehow, by a rope, each one pulling in a di- 
 rection contrary to his neighbour. It would seem as if each 
 character, figuring since confederation, in this second part, has 
 written all that refers to himself ; while the whole has gone to 
 the public reeking with printer's errors. Dr. Henry H. Miles 
 has written a history of " Canada under tlie French Regime" 
 
 * Withrow 's book is a refurbishment of McMullenV. 
 
TUO UGfiT AND LITER A TUllE. 441 
 
 a conscientious cooipilation, exhibiting a (.'oM-hlooded desire to 
 record facts. StiKleir*} go to this work at) ships go to a wharf 
 for ballast; it 's a ina^N of unimpeachable record. A remarkable 
 book in its way is Mr. Robert Christie's HlHtory of the lata 
 province of Oil i-niiada; in five volumes. It occupies the 
 place in literature •. aa.'. a variety store does in trade ; is a vast 
 aggregation of fac^. bundled together, higgledy-piggledy, a 
 hopeless wilJi/irness of disorder, without even an index to help 
 the explore/ t rouf^h the labyrinth. Dr. Canitf's Bay Qainfe 
 is a valuable -joL-ioivn of raw material, also thrown together at 
 heads and joints, ^ .i, which is nevertheless valuable material 
 for the future workman. The book deals with the struggles of 
 the settlers who first came to the shores of Quintd Bay, and 
 contains some delicious scraps in which you get the perfumu 
 of the cedar, and hear the whirr of the wild duck's wing. A 
 very excellent book is Mr. James Hannay's Hlstonj of Acadia, 
 uhich narrates the story of Acadie during the period of its 
 O-'cupation by the French, and up to the time of its final sur- 
 render to England by the treaty of Paris. Everything that 
 the slop histoi3 is, this book is not, the author accepting little 
 evidence at second hand, but going direct to the original docu- 
 ments, containing the vitals of the story. Mr. Hannay's stylo 
 is limpid, vigorous and chaste ; and here and there, though he 
 modesvly disclaims in his preface any attempt at fine writing, 
 he bursts out into passages of genuine eloquence. There is a 
 passage relating to the drowning of the wicked Charnisay that 
 we cannot forbear quoting. " In 1650 he was drowned in the 
 river of Port Royal. Neither history nor tradition gives us 
 any further particulars of his fate than is contained in these few 
 words. But if It is true, as some say, that a man who goes down 
 to death through the dark waters sees before him in an instan- 
 taneous mental vision a panorama of his whole life, than surely 
 deep anguish must have smitton the soul of the dying Charni- 
 say. * * And above the shadowy forms of those whom he had 
 wronged and murdered, the face of one victim must have im- 
 
442 LIFE OF SIR JO HI' A. MACDONALD. 
 
 pressed him with a deeper remorse than aU the rest, I tt of the 
 heroic, noble and faithful lady La Tour." Mi-, Hannay's vol- 
 ume is one of the books that deserve to live in our literature. 
 
 There have been several histories of Nova Scotia given to the 
 public, and some of them are said to have had not a little merit. 
 Colonel Gray's Confederation, so far as it goes, is a valuable 
 book, but there, is not enough of it. Mr. Nichohv'? Flood Davin, 
 in the literary firmament, is a very bright star; but he needs 
 more discipline than he is ever likely to get. The Irishman 
 in Canada is Mr. Davin's chief literary production, and may 
 be regarded as one of the most brilliant books that has ap- 
 peared in Canada. There is much information of historical 
 value in the volume, and some of the pen-portraits exhibit 
 a marked capacity for character sketching;, though the very 
 brilliancy of Mr. Davin's glance sometimes blurs the object h»' 
 seeks to depict. His style fairly bounds, and there is a contin- 
 uous ripple of mother-wit, telling allusion and sparkling anoc- 
 dote along the page, which seem to chatter with you, and keep 
 you in a si ate of glee as you follow the author in his excur- 
 sions. JMr. Davin ha.^ contributed some searching papers, with 
 this saiiKj glittering quality, to the Canadian Monthly, and the 
 best of tlie number was " Great Speeches," from which, let us 
 hope Sir Charles Tupper and Mr. Blake derived some profit. 
 
 Mr. W, J. Katti'ay is another of the literary guild of which 
 Canada has reason to be proud ; and the work by which we 
 know him best is The Sect in British North America. The 
 book is not complete yet, but the literary |)nblic will not re- 
 quire guaruatees froia Mr. Rattray as to the quality of that 
 portion to come with that already published before them. It 
 is not certain that Mr. Rattray h;vs we Ided himself to the sub- 
 ject with which he is best fitted to deal, though like the rest of 
 us who have literary ambitiori, but who lack a private fortune > 
 he cannot follow his inrlinal ori, h-\\, must address himself to a 
 special market. If S'.iakespeaio to>K his entire set of plays uj> 
 and down Toronto to-morroW; he couM not get a publisher 
 
ThOUQRT ANL IVi 'l.TURl \Vi^ 
 
 to "t tu- ii thp'-i •'' bu if ho inducw'i 'jis stage iT'''n;\i:;t-i v ' wii: 
 a book f'boit ■ ' Mt diodlsts,'' "'• <■> 5 "Tories/' or the " Ej»i.s- 
 Cop:'% ';% ui '; ■?•;:!. )eti, ijI' ■. : ''Id " _,jt ^.n " a gooi cooic- 
 book, there '■ . not a ^' 1 11 ^ ■ i;i i r. Toronto who would not prompt- 
 ly enter with i, iv vjoo artiJ^j - a pnlaieation. The fault we do 
 not lay at the door o^ tLa publibiici's, for they cannot be expect- 
 ed to she , ' a literary ^.liilanthropy at the expense of their poc- 
 kets. Bv.t t shows that there is something; rotten in Denmark. 
 A good h >jk ought to fimi a publisher anywhere ; but, notwith- 
 standing wliat a writer who is not an authority said iiie other 
 day betw ( t. covers, a good hcok will not be published here un- 
 less it ap(,;; o ."ome ^ec'ion of the community ; which will 
 then buy i ' vhe her it i. good or bad. Our own poor effort is 
 case in point. We have taken the most popular subject in 
 Canada, Sir .Tohn Macdonald, and we appeal to a great pubhc 
 party ; so iincial success would be assured to the pub- 
 
 lisherj, though we filled every ]iage with garbage ; while had 
 wo come with a much better hook to IVl r. Rose, or to any other 
 publisher, which appealed to nobody in particular, he or they 
 would have been obliged to send us sorrowing away, with 
 something at least to light our fires. Mr-. Rattray has com- 
 mand of a vigorous style, and he brings a calm and unbiassed 
 thoughtfulness to every subject he discusses. But he is not a 
 pugilist ; if he had a little more of the fighting instinct — for 
 fight we must, now and again, if we expect to get along 
 through this world — we sl;ould like him better. But there he 
 is, the George Arthur wlio never fought, but who had his own 
 hig] ■ sphere as well as Tom Brown who did ; and we take 
 ^Avc m him as a member of the guild, 
 
 A ittle volume lately published in Montreal by Dawson 
 Brov\ers, entitled A Study of Tennyson's Poem, ' The Princei^s' 
 by !\ir. S. E. Dawson, we may say is one of the most meritor- 
 iciii? ">coka ever published in this country. Its tone is cosnu 
 p<lii.an, exhibiting not a trace of provincialism or Philistinism, 
 or V ay of < be stale rehash in which so many of our critics deal. 
 
444 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 It is a piece of pure and polished literary workmanship, subtle 
 •and pointed in its analysis, ardently appreciative, deeply poetic, 
 and altogether masterly. It quite demolishes a score or more 
 of blockhead Quarterly Reviewers and other British worthies 
 who have undertaken to set the " erring steps " of Mr. Tenny- 
 son aright. The little book has been well received in Eng- 
 land, though, as a rule, our Canadian press has been as dumb 
 •as cattle, and has a long article by Ernest Myers devoted to 
 it in the last number of Macmillan's Magazine. 
 
 Mr. Charles Lijidsey has some literary reputation also, but 
 he earned it when writei-s, like clear land and schoolmasters, 
 were scarce. His greatest work is The Life and Times of 
 William Lyon Mackenzie, a book showing much vigour, but 
 reeking with errors, and written on the bias. He sadly de- 
 serves a place, however, in our native literary circle. Di*. 
 Scadding wrote a very gossippy and entertaining book called 
 Toronto of Old, and he has contributed some very valuable 
 papers to Mr. G. Mercer Adam's Canada Educational Monthly. 
 Lieut.-(^olonel Dennison has had some of the sweets of litera- 
 ture without r.ny of the bictt'i. Tie is not in any sense a lite- 
 av'-y aiaii, • « Ms History of Cavalry from the Earliest Times, 
 ici/l' ■■ .-iooni^ for the Fui.i.rc (a fciti*^ \ liich might have been 
 pl :a,. ^ as " 'T'he Yr/-,r. ir.nl futn'*' of cavalry," instead of using 
 th<- prucl. \.ation I'l . a of express !0,\) waa '-• work o" ma:h note 
 i 1 mili-Liy circles. In 1874, tlui Grand Duko Nicholas, of 
 .Russia, offered three prizes for the t. ^ee best works on the his- 
 tory of cavaliy Col. Dennison's es.saj was translated into Rus- 
 sian ; the author visited St. Petersburg, and bore away, above 
 ■aW competitors, the purse of ronoles. Of the many histoies of 
 (Canada written in English, that by Dr. Archer is incompat'ably 
 th3 best, though it is evident that the author, in bringing down 
 his work to the school-house limit, has put it through a vast 
 oi'deal of iii'Ttilation. Dr. Archer has a style in which there is 
 A sir gular sweetness, and that charm that is only coexistent 
 with a deep poetic instinct ; and unlike the most of our other 
 
THOUGHT AND LITERATURE. 445 
 
 English historians he has gone to the fountain for the greater 
 portion of his material. The pity is that Dr. Archer has not 
 written more ; for he might well contribute that which future- 
 generations would not let die. 
 
 The fame of Dr. Alpheus Todd, C.B., rests upon his writing* 
 on constitutional subjects. He has written Parliamentary/ 
 Government in England, and Parliamentary Government in 
 the British Colonies. If the doctors could get the body of Mr. 
 Todd when he dies, they would, we will wager our reputation, 
 find stamped upon his heart the words " British North America 
 Act." Mr. Todd has rendered some valuable assistance, now 
 and then, no doubt, where complex constitutional points have 
 arisen, but the question has come to be with him now, not 
 was this or that right or wrong, for that is of minor conse- 
 quence, but, " What says the British North America Act ? " The 
 king in Mr. Todd's eyes can do no wrong, and the British North 
 America Act must be always right. If an act of parliament, 
 imperial or subordinate, pinch us in any way, the true course 
 is to have the cramping clause substituted by what we desire, 
 instead of seeking consolation by excursions through constitu- 
 tional graveyards. Mr. Todd's work is the mi'iew of literature. 
 
 One of the most assuming of our late historical contributions 
 is The Last Forty Years, by Mr. John Charles Dent. The bouk 
 discusses the chief political events since the union of 1841, in 
 a circumstantial manner, and the writer endeavours to lay the 
 various sides of the question, under treatment, open to the view 
 of the reader, in every case, however, closing the exhibition with 
 his own opinion. The book is valuable cliiefiy because u is a 
 fairly accurate record of the chief events of the time within its 
 purview, faithfully recorded in chronological order. There is 
 not much party bias in the book, though the writer's head " has 
 a cant " towards government ; and as a rule Mr. Dent's bones 
 are man-owless, and his blood is cold. To enthusiasm he does 
 not once rise from the first cover to the last. One might 
 fancy that he was a fish which had lived under the ice in the 
 
44« LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 Arctic Sea all his life, till captured by the publisher to write 
 The Last Forty Years. Mr. Dent has Mr ability, much pru- 
 dence, and a mind and impulse under a state of rigid discip- 
 line. He is cleverer than several Canadian writers whom we 
 know, and inferior to many others that v/e have met. He 
 has not the faintest scintilla of genius ; he nfjver sinks below 
 <;ommon sense, and never rises to superiority. In his whole 
 book there is neither a bad nor a good sentence, save where he 
 describes Mr. W. H. Blake's eyes as assuming " the lurid glare 
 of forked lightning," and compares the sparkling of Gavazzi's 
 orbs to the glint of "royal jewels." He is very pedantic here 
 and there through his book ; and has a way of putting quotation 
 marks around poor phrases of his own coining. He is usually 
 correct in his statements, and has no mercy in that cold heart 
 of his for a brother who makes a slip in recording a date or an 
 incident ; yet there glares out through his own pages, among 
 some other inaccuracies, the statement that the present chief 
 justice (Sir W. J. Ritchie) was one of the confederate delegates 
 to England, and that Mason and Slidell were taken oft" the Trent 
 in " mid-ocean." But Mr. Dent' book is a valuable addition to 
 . our literature ; as is also his ( j,nadian Portrait Gallery, which 
 contains sketches of our leading Canadian public men. 
 
 One of the most delightful books it has been our good for- 
 tune to read, is Roughiiu/ it in the Biish, a vivid story, told by 
 Mrs. Susanna Moodie, of the hardships to be endured by the 
 emigrant who comes from a homv* of refined ease, to grapple 
 with life in the wild-woods of Canada. We have all of us our 
 favourite books — those that, read once, leave a clinging remem- 
 brance J bout the heart that time is unable to efface. So perfect 
 a picture is Mrs. Moodie's book of the struggles, the hopes, the 
 dark days, and the sun-spots of that obscure life that fell to her 
 lot in the forest depths, that its whisperings form a delight- 
 ful music to the memory. The style is limpid as a running 
 brook, picturesque, and abounding with touches that show a 
 keen insight into character, and an accurate observation of 
 
THOUGUT AND LITERATURE. 447 
 
 external things. There is no padding or fustian in the book, 
 and no word is S(iuandered, Mrs, Moodic regarding tlio mission, 
 of language to be to convey thought, not to be put on a useless 
 parade. Here is a description of a whirlwind seen near her 
 vottage, among the stumps, of a sultry summer day : " The ther- 
 mometer, in the shade, ranged from ninety-six to ninety-eight 
 degrees, and I gave over my work and I'etired with the little 
 ones to the coolest part of the house. The young creatures 
 stretched themselves upon the floor, unable to jump about or play; 
 the dog lay panting in the shade; the fowls half buried them- 
 selves in the dust, with open beaks and outstretched wings. . . 
 I took Donald in my arms, and my eldest boy by the hand, and 
 walked with them to the brow of the hill, thinking that the air 
 would be cooler in the shade. In this I was mistaken. The 
 clouds over our heads hung so low, and the heat was so great, 
 that I was soon glad to retrace my steps. The moment I turned 
 round to face the lake I was surprised at the change that had 
 taken place in the appearance of the heavens. The clouds that 
 had before lain so still were now in rapid motion, hurrying 
 and chasing each other round the horizon. It was a strangely 
 <iwf \1 sight. Before I felt a breath of the mighty blast that 
 had already burst on the other side of the lake, branches of 
 trees, leaves and clouds of dust where whirled across the lake, 
 whose waters rose in long, sharp furrows, fringed with foam, 
 as if moved in their depths by some unseen but powerful agent. 
 Panting with terror, I just reached the door of the house as 
 the hurricane swept up the hill, crushing and overturning 
 everything in its course. . . . The hurrying clouds gave to 
 the heavens the appearance of a pointed dome, round which 
 the lightning pla^-^ed in broad ribbons of fire. The roaring 
 of thc! thunder, the rushing of the blast, the impetuous 
 downpouring of the rain and the crash of falling trees were 
 deafening." A picture like this becomes framed in the mind, 
 and years will not dim it. Mrs. Moodie, who also wrote other 
 works of much merit, among which may be mentioned Flora 
 
448 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 Lindsay (\nd Life in the Clearings, is a member of the talented 
 Strickland family, which, out of six sisters, xurnished five 
 distinguished writers. Her sister, Mrs. Traill, has been a va- 
 luable contributor to Canadian literature, her best-known 
 works being the Backwoods of Canada, and Ramhlings in the 
 Canadian Forest ; and her brother, Lieut.-Colonel Strickland, 
 has earned a place in our letters by his work Twenty-seven 
 Years in Canada West, a record of his own experiences in the 
 bush, abounding with numerous realistic touches. Among 
 native authors, a place must be given to Mrs Leprohon, who 
 contributed so many charming tales to the Garland. Mrs. 
 Leprohon has a sweet fancy, and a genuine sympathy in every 
 subject touched by her pen. Ida Beresford is perhaps her 
 most popular work, though the Manor House of De Villerai 
 will longest endure, because of those vivid sketches of the man- 
 ners and customs of the habitants of Lower Canada, which it 
 contains. The praises of Le Ch'ien d'Or, by Wm. Kirby, have 
 been sounded by abler pens than ours ; and we have no desire 
 to detract aught from the fame of this weird story. Mr. Kir- 
 by's imagination is rich, and sometimes can take on as many 
 shapes as Proteus himself, now arraying itself in the fantastic, 
 and again coming in the guise of something so weird as to send 
 a shiver through the blood ; but he is a poor artist. He is like 
 a lady with a rich wardrobe, and an ample store of pearls, who 
 has no taste, and appears in colours and combinations that do 
 literally commit murder before the eyes of all who see her. 
 Some interest was excited in literary circles some years ago, 
 over the clever detection by Mr. G. Mercer Adam, of some petty 
 larceny by two English novelists, from LeChien d'Or. The 
 charge of " picking other people's brains," * was intolerable to 
 the Englishmen, who cabled a denial in very hot language ; but 
 Mr. Adam, with a calm and dignified mercilessness, substantia- 
 ted his allegation, and fairly nailed the two authors, as a pair 
 
 * Thifl is Prof. Goldwin Smith's expression, and is applied to Bishop Wilberforce 
 in the inimitable critique in JS^»<«rie/er. / 
 
TJIOUGnT AND LITERATURE. 449 
 
 of kites, to the wall, an example for future transgressors. The 
 greater part of the Popular History of Ireland, by Thomas 
 D'Arcy McGee was written in C-anada, and may therefore be 
 lanked among our native literature. It would bo impossible 
 for McGee to write an unnieritorious thing in seriousness, and 
 while we have but very little interest in his book, we pay our 
 tribute to its merit, and to the flashes that gleam over its 
 pages. It has been the custom to quote Mr. McGee's poetry, 
 but, as we have seen, while this brilliant Irishman had the poe- 
 tic instinct, he did not know what poetry was, writing only 
 brilliant verse, rather than the heaven-given thing itself. One 
 cannot accomplish one thing, by doing a totally different thing ; 
 that is to say, the writing of an essay on agrici'.lture will not 
 accomplish the digging of a turnip patch. The name of Dr. 
 Grant rings through our literary circles, but this must be rather 
 by virtue of what the distinguished " principal " is capable of 
 doing, rather than by what he has done. His chief contribu- 
 tion to literature, so far, is the book Ocftan to Ocean, which we 
 have road and re-read, not alone witli delight, but with enthu- 
 siasm, for it is redolent of the breath of the mountain, the mys- 
 tery of the wood, and the perfume of wild flowers. It is a sort 
 of pastoral poem, written in prose, containing a wholesome 
 spice of the practical with the exuberant and the spiritual. 
 
 Among our scientific writers of note may be mentioned pro- 
 fessor Dawson, whoSe contributions to geology will be im- 
 perishable ; Sir William Logan, who has laid the same science 
 under deep obligation ; professor Bailey, whoso whole life is 
 a series of scientific research, and who has not confined his 
 splendid talents to the pursuit of geology alone, but to the 
 elucidation of this and its kindred studies in numerous lectures, 
 which, while profound are always delightful, and appreciable 
 even to ordinary understanding ; professor Hind, who loves sci- 
 ence well, and has made many valuable contributions to its 
 literature; and professor Macoun, whose explorations in the 
 north-west, and hip book on that region, published in connec- 
 
450 LIFE OF ISIIi JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 tion with Dr. Grant, have brought his fine abilities into notice. 
 Among our writers on the important subject of forest preserva- 
 tion and rei)roduction, are Mr. Edward Jack, of New Bruns- 
 wick, whose efforts have been useless in endeavouring to press 
 the importance of forestry regulations upon the dull ear of an 
 apathetic government ; and professor Brown, principal of Guolph 
 agricultural college, has rendered valuable assistance in the same 
 direction in Ontario, though Mr. Mowatandhis colleagues are 
 too much occui)ied with the affairs of faction to pay much at- 
 tention to what he has written. Several writers have appeared 
 before the public on religious subjects, but none of their fruits 
 are wedded to our memory now, save the inimitable translation 
 of the book of Job, by Bishop Medley, the metropolitan of Canada. 
 This distinguished divine is the ablest Hebrew scholar in Can- 
 atla, and his translation of the most difficult and most beauti- 
 ful book in the bible is unequalled, in the opinion of competent 
 scholars, by any other translation yet made. The very flavour, 
 and that delightful poetic fervour, running through the religi- 
 ous pathos of the original, seem to have been turned, without 
 diminution or change, into the English equivalent. There is 
 another writer who employs a quaint style, of much charm, as 
 if ho had drunk deep draughts of tho old Saxon wells, who now 
 and again contributes papers on various subjects, trade, litera- 
 ture, and social improvement, to the daily press ; we refer to 
 Mr. R. W. Phipps, whose careful thought on all subjects with 
 which he deals, and felicitous use of imagery fresh from his own 
 mint, give him a literary standing that may well be envied. 
 On the important subject of pisciculture Mr. Samuel Wihnot 
 has contributed much valuable information, and to him and 
 that excellent magazine, Forest and Stream, the only publica- 
 tion that we know of which has a department devoted to fish- 
 culture, the public is under great obligation. 
 . Mr. Charles Rumball, now a resident of Canada, may be 
 ranked among our littdrateurs, though his sketchy and gossipy 
 book, Tlie Pedlar, was printed before he left England. A 
 
THOUGHT Ah'D LITERATURE. 451 
 
 Cunstltutional Histovy of Canada, by the lato Mr. Samuel 
 James Watson is a valuable addition to our constitutional litera- 
 ture ; and ho who reads it must regret that the author was not 
 spared to finish his work. Mr. Watson also wrote some very 
 sweet verse, which this writer should like to see published, as 
 well as the remainder of the histo'y remaining in manuscript. 
 Among those who take a foremost place in our realm of 
 letters, it is not necessary to say, is Mr. George Stewart, Jr.. 
 whose various contributions have so lonjj deliffhted a lartje cir- 
 cle of readers. Literary honours, upon Mr. Stewart, have fallen 
 thick and fast. In 187!), he was elected an associate member 
 of L'Association Litteraire Internationale of Europe, Victor 
 Hugo, president ; and is the only Canadian that enjoys this dis- 
 tinction. The other members of the association from this side 
 of the Atlantic were Longfellow, Emerson, Col. J. W. Higgin- 
 son, Francis Parkman, and Edward King. In 1881 Mr. Stewart 
 was elected a member of the Prince Society of Boston ; and is 
 one of the original twenty members of the English literature 
 section of the Royal Society of Canada, selected by Lord Lome. 
 He was subseciuently elected secretary of that section, which 
 position he now holds. In 1880 he was chosen with Mr. 
 J. M. Le Moine, as a delegate to represent the Literary and 
 Historical Society of Quebec, at the American Academy of 
 Arts and Sciences, held at Boston, Root. C. Winthrop, presi- 
 dent. He is likewise a corresponding meiaber of the New 
 Brunswick Historical Society, and first vice-president of the 
 Literary and Historical Society of Quebec Mr. Stewart's 
 literary career has been one of unceasing activity, crowned with 
 success. In Steiuarfs Quarterly, a magazine with a strong 
 literary sparkle, appeared a number of his earl'e ■ contributions ; 
 later he was editor of Belford's Magazine. \n Toronto ; and 
 about this time wrote those entertaining papers of his, known as 
 "Evenings in the I ibrary." Later still, he been me editor of the 
 Canadian Month \ and during his occupatic . of the editorial 
 <jhair contribute J a number of literary pa pert It was then he 
 
452 lAFE OF SIR JOHN A, MACDONALD. 
 
 * 
 wrote the book Ly which he is best known, Canada Under the 
 
 Admimsf ration of Earl Du(f'eHn, which brought him into in- 
 stant repute. Severing his connection with the Montldy, he took 
 the editorial chair of the Quebec Chronicle, which position he 
 still holds. But journalism during these years have not won 
 the tireless activity of Mr. Stewart away from the pursuit ho- 
 loves. In his lectures on Alcott, Thorcau, Carlyle, Emerson, 
 and Longfellow (which by the way we would like to see boun<l 
 up in one volume) he has made an enduring contribution to 
 literature, by which alone he would be assured the remem- 
 brance of posterity. Mr. Stewart's style thrills with life, and 
 he frequently succeeds in getting his images down while they 
 are at white-heat. The following extract from his tlelightful 
 lecture on Alcott, the " Concord Mystic," selected at j-andon), 
 exhibits the ^'itaiity arid the nervousness of Mr. Stewart's 
 style. It is of Alcott he speaks : "For awhile he supported 
 himself during he summer months by tilling the soil, and in 
 the winter tirar he cho[)ped wood. But whether he planted or 
 reaped in the gars ten, iu jlie tielu, or felled giont trees in 
 the resounding forest, his fancy still turned to tltoughts of high 
 rndeavonr, and his el? ^uerf imagination pictured the airiest 
 A i'^ioiis and tlu, iiosti Jovely of all lovely things. His mind 
 was full of qrich -coming and beauv,iful creations, and li];e 
 Wordsworth, like Bryant, like Thoreaii the friend of his youtli, 
 he listened to the songs which the brooks seemed to sing, tf> 
 the lays which the birds chanted i^ his ear, and to the hymnal 
 sounds and roundelays ■'.vhich eclioo.i from th-e dark recesses of 
 the wild woods he loved so dearly. And again : " He talks on 
 with the ail of one who might l>e inspired — like a poet who 
 cannot restrain the utterance of the fanciful things which 
 strugglt in his mind ; like a romancer who in vain attempts to 
 call back the escaping children of his brain. His tones are like 
 the riOt( s of the sweetest music you ever heard. You find 
 yours<: f going over them softly tc» yourseli". You seem to beat 
 time, i d as one mellow strain, more delightful, perhaps, than 
 
Til OUGHT ANJJ LI TEE A TUR E. 453 
 
 its fellows, floatn through the air, you resign yourself in reck- 
 less abandon to the intoxicating impulses of the moment ; and 
 the calm and graceful soliloquy of the speaker still goes on." 
 Mr. Stewart has now a number of literary irons in the fire. 
 He is preparing two articles for the Encydopcvdia Britannica, 
 one on New Brunswick, the other on Nova Scotia ; has com- 
 pleted a cha))ter of forty pages on Frontenac and his times for 
 Justin Winsor's " History of America," a book to appear in eight 
 volumes and promising to be one of the greatest literary pro- 
 ductions of the ,ige ; and he is collecting material for a history 
 of the rebellion of 1837-.S8, to be published in the spring of 
 1884. In all these subjects there is no doubt that Mr. Stewart 
 will appear at his best, and add more bays to Ms chaplet. 
 
 But of all the names mentioned, none there is more deserving 
 of high and honoured place than that of Mr. G. Mercer Adam, 
 whose figure we have seen so long in the hand -to-hand struggle 
 with Philistinism, full of hope, even when all around him was 
 dark, and cheering the strugglers on. If ever man lived who 
 loved literature for its own sake,— who has thrown time, and 
 energy, and talent, gratuitously into a cause that was kicked 
 and spurned by the coarse heel that was making of letters a 
 gross sort of comuierce, and a political trade, — then such a one 
 i.^ Mr. Adam. He was for several years editor of the Canadian 
 Monthly, and during that time fought the battle nobly, against 
 tremendous odds, always with a word of cheer to those who 
 came to him for advice, or with their literary offerings, always 
 l)rcathing the breath of hope, in his kindly way, into those who 
 had met with a sneer or a cold rebuff in quarters where letters 
 not alone received no welcome, but were regarded with hostility. 
 The Canadian Monthly, as might have been expected, died ; nor 
 could the warm heart or the competent hand of Mr. Adam avert 
 the inevitable. The publishers loyally did their part, but the 
 time came when they saw how useless it was to continue the 
 struggle, and v/ithdrew their hand. No publication like the 
 Monthly can live in Canada, unless it have the generous sympa- 
 
464 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 tliy of the press and the co-opei'ation of the literary brotheihooil 
 of the country. Yvovx the firHt, tlio i\foii(ldy >vas regarded as an 
 enemy by the Globe, whicli lon{j;od to see it out of the way ; and 
 was received with an a])athy, worse still than hostility, by the 
 ^fail, which set down all Canadian literature, just then, as 
 " liog wash ; " though a more enlightened management and a 
 heart with a warm corner for letters, after doom had cast its 
 shadow on the struggling magazine, showed akindly spirit and 
 put out a helping hand. Mr. Adam, however, is not out of har- 
 ness, but is still helping on the good cause. To the Canada 
 Educational Monildy, under his editorial control, go many of 
 tliose who in other days went to the Canadian Monthly with 
 their literary messages. We have said that to many a one with 
 a yearning for a place in letters, and the gifts to shine there, 
 has Mr. Adam lent a kindly hand, and whispered hopes ; what- 
 ever our own poor meiit may be, and whether we are worthy or 
 unworthy to appear in the " community of mind," wo liave to ex- 
 press our sense of undying obligation to J|im for the quickening 
 he has given to the impulse which led us to venture launching 
 our barque on the literary sea ; and for kindly words of encour- 
 agement on first coming to Toronto, a stranger to all, to perse- 
 vere though we had been assured by the managing editor of a 
 great paper in the most contemptuous of tones, that " I'o one 
 could make his salt at literature in Canada." In addition 
 to being the warm-hearted friend of letters, Mr. Adam is a most 
 chaBte and graceful writer himself, and his English might well 
 be regarded aa a model. The Toronto parts of Picturesque Can- 
 ada, it is new known, have been written by him, as we might 
 have judged by the terse grace of the style. Let us quote from 
 one of these parts now lying before us the summing up of his 
 hopes of what the future of our country promises. He has 
 made a review of the past : " But a happier star is now in the 
 ascennant. The ds-ys of colonial pupilage are over; the strifes- 
 of the cradle-time in the province are gone by ; and it is now 
 the era of progress and consolidation, of national growth. 
 
TJIOUGTIT AM) UTEJUTriiE. 465 
 
 aii<l the fo'inntion of national charactn. . . . Education is 
 sprcauintf, and its refining inHuonce in cvei'y when operative. 
 Party and sectarian animosities aie on tJic waiio ; aii<l the in- 
 Ihience of reason in journalisin and politicf* is assc rting itself. 
 Let there be but more patriotic- feeding, a fullef national senti- 
 ment, with a more expressive public spirit, and a better deter- 
 mined civic life, and the metropolis of the jn'ovince will take 
 its proper position amoti;^' the various communities of the Do- 
 minion." 
 
 And then wo come to a name that we write down in the 
 Canadian list •with a thrill of pride. It is no little for us to be 
 able to boast that the brightest living star of literature is ours, 
 is in our midst, one of ourselves, sharing in our hopes and our 
 aspirations, urging us liere, restraining us there, all the while 
 pointing out to us the honourable and the true, and stimulating 
 us by the elevating influence of his own example. The ap- 
 pearance of Professor Goldwin Smith in Canada marked the 
 beginning of a new era in rational aspiration and literary am- 
 bition ; and it also called forth in a certain quarter of our press 
 such an outbreak of ^|V alousy and hate as has never before dis- 
 graced journalism in this country. Professor Goldwin Smith 
 came among us with a great name, with unsurpassed talents ; 
 and no sooner had we heard his voice, than we saw, what we 
 had already surmised, that ho was at once a liberating and an 
 elevating force among us ; that he aimed to break the party 
 fetters that bound the people, and to prepare the way for laying 
 the foundation of something higher, nobler, and more enduring. 
 But while to all who longed for the higher and the bettei' he 
 seemed a deliverer, to others he was an intruder and an enemy ; 
 because they saw in his presence a menace to their monopoly 
 of perverted opinion. It is riot pleasant work now to recall the 
 campaign of malice that the Globe and its accomplices carried 
 on against this high-minded geiitltman. Seldom has a great 
 nt'vspaper, indeed, sunk so low; und those who at the first stood 
 with folded arras while the foul assailants struck, at last grew 
 
4d6 LJPE OF .'III JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 aishamed, auil denounced the course of thei»' orga.i, which th'iy 
 had been led to think could do no wrong with opor and U'l- 
 nieasured censure. Of course it was inipossibl) or the gentle- 
 man aspersed t; > retaliate in kind, though sucii dtJercc as he 
 found compatible with his own senst of hoiu,.,i', juid with the 
 dignity of journalism, was madi, ' with sucli tr^iiendous 
 effect, that those who liad to bep.' c . lauiit v>-':l' hus-: occasion 
 to remember it to their dying dr . ;' at b'-iu'^hout, tie con- 
 test was as bet we n ..rtillery in v o v- n fi u^ and i, rew of 
 assassin sharpshooter; ; in an.lus! , Ii- i^ plea, i.ig to ki owthat 
 if the Glohe is still wed i^d <j f ' le ob : iete trade idols, and is 
 sometimes sec'i with the mop e^^ u'').; mgto resist the tide of 
 public opini (u, thai it lights tw o- '^er with a bludgeon, and 
 that the gei lemdn whom it oii-: . '.:<. an led and reviled, now has 
 its respect nd admiration : the .gh conviction bounden to 
 party necessity cannot always agr ;e with unbiassed pinion. 
 Mr. Smith's pen, immedi" r j!«'' afte;" his arrival, becan)L active in 
 several influent'a! quarte • , itri'ci.igkey notes, and letting floods 
 of light, in the -vriter's . a-iv i.lbd manner, upon topics never 
 before discussed within ;olcni.*M hearing. Every chord touched 
 was vital, and it is no wonder hat this new teacher, inculcating 
 lessons of self-reliance, and pointing out that dependence and 
 inferiority need not be our perpetual portions, unless we willed 
 it so, at once became the leader of our manly-spirited young 
 Men, who wanted a guiding star, and longed for some way for 
 their footstep,"^ besides the 'aditi »nal ruts of party. Several 
 of his contributions api)ea'.v- in the Nation and the Canadian 
 Montlibj, while he maintained, concurrently, his connexion 
 with the leading British aiul American magazines, in which, on 
 occasion in his masterly style, he discussed several Canadian 
 questions. But in the beginning of the year 1880, he estab- 
 lished Tlte Bystander, a monthly iragazine, written entirely by 
 himself, and containing a current review of all leading politi- 
 cal, literary, religious, social and scientific events, foreign and 
 domestic. One of the reasons put forward by the founder for 
 
THOUGHT AND LITERATURE. 467 
 
 the establishment of his magazine was that " an English peri- 
 odical cannot often deal with colonial affairs, and, if it could, 
 its reflections would call alv^ays for a supplement, and some- 
 times foi' an antidote. The political ))ress of Europe is under 
 the special influences of its owr continent; and among these 
 influences at present iire lassitude and disappointment, the 
 legacies of revolution, and the cynical scepticism engendced 
 in all spheres of thought and action l)y the rapid decay of 
 religious belief. It is not well i/hat the unwholesome dew of 
 the European reaction should bo distilled without correction 
 on the fresh character and unblighted hopes of a con^nunity 
 of the now world." Certainly a most wonderful force in the 
 community of opinion was this new magazine. It was im- 
 possible to read its delightful pages from month to month 
 without standing in positive amazement to reflect on the fer- 
 tility ( r the writer's mind; and to note that while all impor- 
 tant current topics were touched, every one was treated with 
 a master liand. There was no circumlocution and roundabout 
 irrelevancies, like an explorer poking his way through a thou- 
 sand miles of unnecessary forest or desert to discover the foun- 
 tain of a river, but the reviewer, at the first glance, seemed to 
 look into the very miirrow of his subject, which he dissected and 
 held up to the gaze of the reader, as if it had cost him but half 
 an effort. We remember to have read no English author, dead 
 or living, whti has exhibited tliis faculty to such a marvellous 
 degree. Wo have so)uetimes read a dissertation from a irreat 
 writer that might, taken as a whole, have comi)ared with one 
 of professor (J uldwin Smith's, though we have not, in the works 
 of any author that we are aware of, since the days of Tacitus 
 hnnself, the faculty, in the same degree, of flinging out upon 
 the page terse sentences, made, we <lo really believe, without 
 eflbrt, pregnant of expression and of subtle suggestion, and 
 forming, at the same time, a living, moving- picture, as possessed 
 '»y professor Goldwin Smith ; but not any one that it lias fallen 
 '0 us to read, has this instinctive iiisight into ever}'^ subject, in 
 
458 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. NACDONALD. 
 
 every dopartniont of thouglit. The drauiatic quality that we 
 soirujtiincs, and not inijjropeily, iriake a siilj)(x;t of worsliip 
 in the man who can send lii.s intelli^a'iice out oi hiin.self, and 
 make it enter into the lieart of that which it seeks to portiay 
 and fashion, from the in.side out, not from the outside in, — that 
 method whieh Carlyle ol)jur<(ated — as a I'ule, only dis|)lays 
 itself in conceiving and painting character; but this indefin- 
 a})le gift professor Ooldwin Smith carries Ijeyond the dramatist's 
 splicsre, and into universal service. Pei'haps we ought to marvel 
 less at the man so i-iehly and so singularly gifte<l, than at the 
 wondrous power wliich is always at his service, that is as some 
 ministering intelligence wluch comes from wc know not where, 
 and not at his calling, and whose name is (jf',ii."s. Genius, 
 whatever that may be, to the very highest degree, and in pro- 
 fusion, lias he. We cannot define genius, hut m'c can show the 
 (iifierencc between it and talent. The per ion who possesses 
 iahiut i.i seldom troubled with " moods " as he writes or reasons ; 
 but, if his mind be thoroughly (lisci[)lined, he is one who can 
 tell exactly, on dtie consideration, what he is capable of saying 
 on any given subject, and the line his thought will take; and 
 turning in his mind the books he has read, he will, by the same 
 ditiught-horse force, be able to conjure up cold illustrations, 
 and as he goes on framing his work, })ick each allusion out of 
 its own pigeon hole, and set it demurely into its allotted place. 
 When the speech is made, or the essay read, the ear of the list- 
 oner may be tingled, his intelligence may be convinced, his 
 literary sympathies may be delighted, but there is a spot which 
 such ammunition never touches — the soul of the man. Let the 
 physiologist not get out his microscope to look at our terms ; 
 W3 have a certain idea of our own as to what " soul " means, 
 and any one who can sympathise with the feelings we have as 
 wo write this, can readily understand us ; and we do not care 
 how many battalions may come out of the dicti'maries against 
 us. But the person v»'ho possesses genius — ar>l let us not 
 startle the reader by telling him that not probably more than 
 
THOUGHT AND lATiaiATURE. 459- 
 
 one in every five niillions of tlie sons of men does po.ssess [jenius 
 — sitting down to write Ids essay, or his critifiue, or to prepare 
 his speecli, is, so far as the higlier (jualities he is to display in 
 relation to his suhjeet are concerned, in the hands of a power 
 whereof lie can predicate r»othing. Just how much he has at 
 his hand he knows, and its jelation to the suhject he well un- 
 derstands ; and he may have, or he may not have, all the (juali- 
 ties possessed by him who has only talent ; ma}' rememl)er 
 illustiative passages in books, and be able to arrange tliese in 
 desirable places; l)ut as his work goes on, the''^ tlafdies out of 
 the abyss that surrounds him — not at his conjuring, neither at 
 his desire — the voice of an intelligence of which he knows no- 
 thing, save that it does come without calling, and datlv into 
 his soul like the lightning out of the womb of night. And for 
 an example of this, wo take the reader to nearly any page of 
 The Byalawhr. Sometimes you read along, charmed with the 
 incisive style, and pei'suaded by its clean-cut, merciless logic ; 
 but, as in all .such work of the brain, it is oidy the brain that 
 is so far ajtpealed to ; but suddenly there gleams acros.s the page 
 a master-stroke that you knew came not to the autlior for the 
 asking: there is genius. Sometimes, and oftenest, this fla.sh 
 shoots across the vision, so to speak, in reading the works of 
 profcssorGoldwinSmith.inthe guise of an e])igramw}iich you are 
 at once a.ssured was not elaborated in that .shape in the writer's 
 mind, but was boin there exactly as you see it. Other writers 
 beat tlieir epigi am out of cold material, and make it under the 
 .same inspiration, that a blacksmith makes a lionseshoo ; but on 
 the page it is in the guise of a corpse, a production as much to 
 be praised as an acrostic, or any other cold-blooded contrivance. 
 Ml'. Smith's epigram never stalks like a chilling phantom, save 
 when that gui.se is deliberately intended for its own ])uri)0se, >)Ut 
 fla.shes a living thing beforeyou.as it was first revealed tohiniself,. 
 and appealing at once to the understanding and the soul. It i» 
 scldo.n that the picture and the epigram go together, but in the 
 writing.s of this gieat author they invariably do, and fre- 
 
4G0 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 quontly, that which is rarer still, the latter includes the former. 
 Ad<l to this every thou<fht in the writer's miad seeiiis to ally 
 itself with some figure, by an aillnity as strong and as inevit- 
 nl)lc as that between the rt.agnet and the iron ; so that a page of 
 Bjjstander is a series of thoughts expressed through pictures, 
 that only flash, bat do not exhaust, their signilicance upon you. 
 Some of Milton's grandest touches have been these vague pic- 
 tures of grim fires, and God seen hurling liis thund<;rs against 
 the rebellious ; and this art Mr. Smith possesses to such a de- 
 gree that he sometimes gives the glim})se of a picture like a 
 gleam suddenly seen through a rift of cloud, disappearing 
 again, but which lingers and haunts the memory and the imagi- 
 nation. Neither is there an English writer, of v/hom we have 
 any knowledge living or dead, who possessefc in so great a de- 
 gree that curloHa felicitas of expression, the aptitude for coin- 
 ing new and telliisg {^hraso that at once reveals itself as a mas- 
 ter-stroke. We have all heard i»f the trade of picking other 
 people's pockets, but we never heard literary theft described 
 as " picking other people's bi'ains," till professor Goldwin Sn\ith 
 charges Bishop Wilberforce with the practice. But this is oiily 
 of a piece with hundreds of other phrases not less apt, such as 
 England " keeping a stopper in the Dardanelles," or tho desciib- 
 ing of slaughter on .e battle-field as " heroic surgery," True 
 humour is one of th tests of genius and that quality which 
 puts error in masqueiade, making to laugh whomsoever looks 
 upon it. Underlying most of Professor Smith's writings is a 
 humour powerful and uri obtrusive, that will not unlikely, in 
 some dissertation on a budget speech, rise to confound and 
 ovei whelm with provoking drollery the subject under the 
 vivisdfctionist's knife. Many writers have confuted the asser- 
 tion that " the British party cabinet is only a committee of 
 the privy council," but none of them, surely, has ever so effec- 
 tually done so as in this piquant aiid overwhelming stroke of 
 humour. " It is a committee of the privy council in the same 
 sense as a shark is a committee of a nefjro whom he swallows." 
 
THOUGHT AND LITERATURE. 4G1 
 
 Or who has ever before seen the effort to combine the Evariffeli- 
 eals witli the AngHcans in this light ? " At one time the Bishop 
 [Wilberforce] strove to com'niio the Evangelicals with the An- 
 glicans in resistance to Rome and Dissent, by superposing upon 
 Anglicanism the evangelical doctrine of conversion; and his 
 soul, supposing it to have accepted this combination, v, ould, if 
 disembodied, have appeared like a man M'ith two coats put on 
 opposite way?." Turning again to some otlv^r page, we come 
 upon a pa.is«ge whose lofty grandeur stirs every chord that has 
 connection with ti o moral nature. See the calm, noble majesty 
 of this passage iiiken from that incomparal de English classic, 
 " The Great Duel of the Seventeenth C'entuvy." Gustavus had 
 fallen bf^fore his hour : " Te Dev.m was sung at Vienna and Ma- 
 drid, and with good reason. For Vienna and Madrid the death 
 of (fustavui was better than any victory. For lunnanity, if 
 the interests of humanity were not those of Vienna and Madrid, 
 it was worse than any defeat. But for Gustavus himself, was 
 it good to die glorious, and stainless, but before bis hour ? 
 Triumph and empire, it is said, might have corrupted the soul 
 which up to that time had been so pure and i/rue. It was 
 perhaps well for him tliat he was saved from temptation. A 
 rleeper morality replies that what was bad for Gustavus' cause 
 and for his kind, could not be good for Gustavus; and that 
 whether he were to stand or fall in the hour of temptation, ho 
 had better have lived his time and done his work. We, with 
 our small philosophy, can make allowance for the greater 
 dangers of the higher sphere ; and shall we arrogate to our- 
 selves a larger judgment and ampler sympathies than we allow 
 to God ? " This, too, is a fair .sample of the sweet, mellow 
 cadence of his style; and he always writes in an English as 
 limpid and pure, to use his own phrase, as " the burn that 
 runs down a heathery hill-side." For some time Bystander 
 was suspended, but it has lately been resumed, though as a 
 (quarterly instead of a monthly. We still could wish to wel- 
 come ;* as often as before ; but since that is impossible, let us 
 
462 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 be thankful that we have its presence still, four times in the 
 year; its influence always. The teaching of professor Goldwin 
 Smith is permeatiiin- the thought of our young country ; and 
 what a boon is not the fruit of this lipe and excellent judgment, 
 at the formative period of our national character, when much 
 of the habit we acquire will prove enduring. The morality of 
 Bystander is robust and wholesome, and a disinfectant of the 
 polluted party air about us. Above all, the unwavering adher- 
 ence to duty, and the high sense of integrity and honour, whicli 
 characterize his course as the expounder of opinion and the 
 leader of our domestic press, is, whether unconsciously to our- 
 selves or not, a constant star that we have now begun to follow, 
 and whose influence, when the gifted writer is no more, will 
 still be there, to lead us on to the higher and the better. 
 
 It is hardly a compliment to our chapter on. literature to in- 
 troduce upon the scene the rank and flic of Canadian journal- 
 ism. The truth is that at the door of the Canadian press rests, 
 in a great measure, the blame of the failure of domestic liter- 
 ary eflbrt. The majority of such of our newspapers as have 
 the greatest control of opinion have regarded native literary 
 ambition either witli scorn cr hostility ; and where one or other 
 of these enviable qualities has not been present, the good and 
 the bad of our home endeavour have met with indirt'orence. 
 If the press continue in this attitude, then must our literary 
 guild take the matter in hand. It is perhp.ps not too much to 
 expect neithot assistance to Canadian talent, nor competent crit- 
 icism, after the reviev/ we read the other day, in the Mail, of 
 Browning's latest volume of verse ; and after being told by one 
 of the barley editors of the Globe in its "Answers to correspon- 
 dents " that "Tennyson has written a great deal of trash." 
 We do not suppose that the really talented editor of the Mail, 
 Mr. Griftin, saw the impertinent and idiotic notice of Browning's 
 volume, or it would not have gone beyond the fire ; yet is it not 
 deplorable that such light store fihould be set on the literary 
 and critical department of a great newspaper like that in ques- 
 
THOUGHT A NJJ LITERA TURE. 463 
 
 tion ? Assaults on authors by the Globe have been usually made 
 with a spade on literary strivers, though under its new man- 
 agement there is room to hope for better things ; and let us say 
 that we do not believe that Mr. Houston, himself a finished 
 ^scholar, and deeply interested in questions of Canadian edu- 
 cation and literature, would pei-init an application of the hoof 
 to Tennyson. It would be ungenerous and unfair, however, not 
 to bear tribute to what the Mall has been to literature under 
 the brilliant editorship of Mr. Griffin, who has not alone high 
 literary attainments of his own, but is one of the band who 
 have striven to create a republic of native letters, taking eveiy 
 opportunity to forward the cause. Yet is the chain of tradition 
 too strong for the desire even of an able and popular editor ; 
 for if he gave rein to his inclination, wo suppose he would 
 soon have in his ears the thunders of an irate directorate. As 
 tor the Globe, if it is net zealous in helping letters now, it is 
 neither hostile nor indifferent; though it Avould need to go 
 long in sackcloth and ashes to atone foi- the past. Under the 
 management of the elder Brown, the journal was only the min- 
 ister of the ambitions and the animosities of its owner, and 
 that owner having no culture himself, had no sympathy for 
 literature and showed it no kindness. Under the late manage- 
 ment, its policy was one of tradition and personal hate ; vvhile 
 litoraiy effort was regarded by it with positive hostility, chiefly 
 V)ecause the editor had no education, nor any instinct of culture 
 save what he might have derived from his exchanges. One 
 newspaper we have, which, without impairing its value to the 
 " politician," or the " farmer," loses no opportunity to lend a 
 helping hand to home talent : we refer to the Qu ^bec Ohronide, 
 under the editorship of Mr. George Stewart, Jr. Since party 
 tirade in the editorial columns is no more literature than the 
 broken string of a violin is a hornpipe, wo ought not to discuss 
 that topic here ; and shall not, save to remark tha*^. party jour- 
 nalism is on the decline, and the star of the independent press 
 in the ascendant. Perhaps that which, in the Mail and Globe, 
 
404 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 disgusts us most, is the slavish loyalt}' to the throne and Brit- 
 ish connexion whicli tliey pour out, whenever the whisper of 
 Canadian manhood is borne to their ears. Yet we do not be- 
 lieve that the editors of these papers care three straws for 
 British connexion ; at least we know the Mail's loyalty has its 
 price, and just what the figure is, for wlien somebody cried out, 
 " The N.P. is bad ; it discriminates against English merchan- 
 dize, and menaces British connexion," that newspaper very 
 promptly replied, " Then so much the worse for British con- 
 nexion." And in the very national policj', as in its name, we 
 unconsciously indicated our views with regard to our obliga- 
 tions to the parent. " National is, at all events," says B>/- 
 stunder, " the adjective corresponding to nation ; and if the 
 treason axe can cut between the adjective and the- substan- 
 tives, its edges must be very keen." Very keen, truly ! It is 
 a hopeful sign foi this cause of our hearts, tliat some journals 
 are springing up amongst us with Canadian independence for 
 their motto, Mr. W. McLean is one of the young men who has 
 cast his energies into the struggle, and his journal, the Toronto 
 World, is a vigorous exponent of the independence view. 
 
 Of our native Canadian litterateurs, beyond any comparison 
 the palm belongs to some of the writers of our song ; yet noth- 
 ing of Canadian effort has received so chilling a reception as our 
 home-made verse. Some coarse-minded writer in the Globe 
 once said that M. Frechette might have a career, but he would 
 not find it on this continent. Every Saturday the Globe and 
 Mall each gives three or four columns of literature, embracing 
 selections frorr. prose authors, interspersed with snatches of 
 foreign song, a large proportion of which has as much wood as 
 spirit in its composition. They use translations sometimes of 
 the most worthless of fugitive French verse ; but never will 
 print a stanza from the incomparably superior verse of Fre- 
 chette, who is living amongst us, and whose song is redolent of 
 our woods and lakes, and of everything Canadian, while suit- 
 able for all seasons ; and though they cram in sonnets and bits 
 
THOUGHT AND LITERATURE. 463 
 
 that have appeared in the corner of some magazine, into the 
 page, never will they use a line ut our own Roberts, of whom 
 no doubt some of them have never heard, but whose song is the 
 equal of Matthew Arnold's, or of Browning's, or of any other 
 of our great English poets' verse, world-wide too, in its sym- 
 pathy, and ample enough in its range even for season or festi- 
 val application. It is our intention now to take a brief review 
 of our Canadian singers and their important songs, in the order 
 of their merit. 
 
 Beyond any comparison, our greatest Canadian poet — we 
 have already ranked him with Matthew Arnold, and Browning 
 — is Mr. Chai'les G. D. Roberts, of Fredericton, New Brunswick. 
 Besides Mr. Roberts' surpassing gift of song, he is one of the 
 most accomplished of our native scholars, and the master of a 
 marrowy delightful prose that is not surpassed by that of any 
 other Canadian writer. He is a graduate of the university of 
 New Brunswick, where he took the classical scholarship in his 
 Freshman year, the alumni gold medal in the junior year, gra- 
 duating, in 1879, with hoaours in mental and moral science, and 
 political economy. The f rst volume of Mr. Roberts' verse, Orion, 
 and Other Poems, Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott & Co., and dedi- 
 cated to his father, Rev. G. Goodridge Roberts, M.A., rector of 
 Fredericton, New Brunswick, appeared in 1880. Of this volume, 
 says a discriminating critic, in a lengthy and almost rapturous 
 review, in the New York Independent : " The author has not 
 i'ushed before the public wjth a great bundle of ail kinds in his 
 hands, but he has given us a little book of choice things, with 
 the indifterent things well weeded out. Orion is a poem which 
 Morris might not disdain, an J which has thi-j advantage over 
 that poet's treatment of classic themes that it is not dependent 
 for its interest on a sensuous imagination. * * * Fine as this 
 is, therti is more as fine in the little book. The ' Ballad of the 
 Poet's Thought ' is an uncommon piece of work, turaing on a 
 deep and subtle thought, whicli nothing not akin to go i *s could 
 
 raise so high above the commonplace form in which \w) are 
 
 ;, DD ' , ' 
 
466 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 familiar with it. Very dittbrent is the ' Ballad to a Kingfisher/ 
 But how simply and easily in these lines a common theme 
 grows into a uni(|ue creation — a thing apart, like itself alone '. " 
 We huve read from time to time a large number of reviews of 
 this voiumo in the English and American press, and one and 
 all have liailed in Mr. lloberts the appearance of a poetic star of 
 the first magnitude : we shall of ourselves now give to such of 
 our readers as have not seen Orion, a glance into some of the 
 incomparable beauties of that volume. First let us take hii^ 
 invocation of the Spirit of Song. Surely a grander roll of 
 music has never come from pen of English poet : 
 
 " White as tli : jes blown across the hollow heaven, 
 
 Fold on 1 )id thy garment wraps thy shining limbs; 
 Deep thy g.ii'/ as morning's llamed thro' vapours riven, 
 
 Bright thino hair as days th^,t up the ether swims. 
 Surely I have seen the mnjeaty and wonder, 
 
 Eeauty, might and spleudoir of the soul of song ; 
 Surely I have felt the spell th.vt lifts asunder 
 
 Soul from body, when lip,; faint and thought is strong ; 
 Surely I have heard 
 The ample sileaoe stirred 
 By intensest music from no throat of bird : — 
 Smitten down before thy feet 
 From the pjtths of heaven sweet, 
 Lowly I await the soag upon my lips conferred," 
 
 Hero we \xuvq all the strengt' , and the richness, and the sen- 
 suous music of Swinburne, — not as one picture is painted after 
 another, but as one strong, grr^nd sou) rosembloi another ; — hero 
 too, we have confessed to us the faith and the humility of 
 genius. If, then, we find at the threshold such a glorious out- 
 burst of song as this, when we get inside we shall not wonder, 
 while we may be astonished, at what may come. The first and 
 longest poem in the collection is Orion, whence the volume 
 takes its name. In the steep -shored Chios, the same island, 
 shattered with earthquake about three years ago, once lived 
 the king (Enopion, who had a daughter of wondrous beauty, 
 named J\"[erope. Orion, ,?, great iiunter, seeing the princess, 
 
THOUGHT AND LITERATURE. 467 
 
 became smitten of her wondrous charms, and demanded her 
 hand of the kin^,' ; but (Knopion, who secretly hated and feared 
 'the son of three gods," refused the request unless upon the 
 condition thp.c the suitor should rid his island of wild beasts. 
 The compact was ratified, and Orion went into the jungle. 
 The poem opens with a description of tlic island ; and at the 
 set of sun (Enopion 
 
 " Stood praying westward; in his outstrotclied hand 
 The tjriding knife, well whetted, clothed with dread," 
 
 preparing for a sacrifice. And then came youths, " chosen of 
 Chios' faii'cst race," bearing the viiitim. But let the reader 
 hear this description of the intended ofi'ering : — 
 
 * * "A tawny wolf, 
 Blood-stained, fast-bound in pliant withes, fed fat 
 On many a bleating spoil of careless folds, 
 Hia red tongue lolling from his fangod jaws, 
 His eyes inflamod, shrinking with terror and hate, 
 Ilia writhen sinews strained convulnively." 
 
 The high-\ater mark is touched in the three last-quoted lines, 
 whiL-h. as a piece of description, wo have never seen excelled 
 in Ensrlish ons;. But while the king offers sacrifice, the hun- 
 ter, who h.vs been among the mountains destroj'ing the wild 
 l)casts, returns ; and here is how Mr. Koberts tells of his com- 
 ing throu;- 1 the golden glow of the sunset, and the mien the 
 comer wears : 
 
 " Meanwhile, from out a neighbouring gorge, which spake 
 Rough torrent thunders through its cloak of pines, 
 Along the shore came one wJto seemed to uxar 
 The grandeur o/ the mountain f''-r a robe, 
 Tke torrent's strength fur girdle, at. d for crotvn, 
 ' The sea's calm, fur dread fury capable. " 
 
 It thrills us, as we make this extract, to think that we have a 
 native Canadian who can write such verses as these — song that 
 would add a lustre to any living English poet. More powerful 
 
468 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 lines than these three given in italics we have never anywhere 
 seen. Yet, in this poem all is of such astonishing merit, that 
 it is with difficulty we can discriminate in making the ex- 
 tracts. The hunter now approaches the king, and tells him 
 tha*". ho has done his best in ridding the island of the beasts 
 that infested it : 
 
 " The inland jungles shall bo vexed no more 
 With muffled roarings through the cloudy night, 
 And heavy solashings in the misty pools. 
 The echo-peopled crags shall howl no more 
 With hungry yelpings 'mid the hoary firs. 
 The breeding ewe in the thicket will not wake 
 With wolves* teeth at her throat, nor drinking bull 
 Bellow in vain beneath the leopard's paw. 
 Your maidens will not fear to quit by night 
 Their cottages, to meet their shepherd lads." 
 
 The king received the tidings with feigned gladness, and filled a 
 cup of sullen wine, in which ho poured a Colchian drug, which 
 he bade the hunter drink in pledge 
 
 " Of those deep draughts for which thou art athirst ; " 
 
 and, depu^^ing, 
 
 * * "he went 
 Up from the shore and in among the vines, 
 Until his mantle gleamed athwart the lanes 
 Of sunset through the far, gray olive-groves." 
 
 The hunter went apart " by the sleepless sea," for the drug 
 had begun to work its spell, " and his eyes were dim and his 
 head heavy ; " 
 
 " He guesped the traitorous cup, and his great heart 
 Was hot, his throat was hot ; but heavier grew 
 His head, and he sank back upon the sand ; 
 Nor saw the light go out across the sea, 
 Nor heard the eagle scream among the crags, 
 Nor stealthy laughter echo np the shore, 
 - ' Nor the slow ripple break about his feet * * * 
 
 The deep-eyed night drew down to comfort him, 
 And lifted her gi'eat lids and mourned for aim." * * * * 
 
THOUGHT AND LITERATURE. 469 
 
 And as ho lay by the shore in the silent night, stealthily out 
 of the fog appeared the king, accompanied by a torch-bearer, 
 and poured a burning poison irto the eyes of the sleepy hun- 
 ter, who knew not his woe till the dawn, when " the maids 
 beloved of Doris," came out of the sea weeping for the " god- 
 begotten " and s'.nging upon their lyres, while " their yellow 
 hair fell round them." The lyrical interlude here is worthy of 
 quotation in full, but we must tear ourselves away if we would 
 have the reader see other phases of this gifted writei-'s song. 
 Following the command of the sea-maids, 
 
 " Then get thee up to the hills and thou shalt behold the morning," 
 
 the hunter rises, and groping his way to where 
 
 * * "a sound 
 Of hammers rise behind a jagged cape," 
 
 one comes forth to meet him, " to be to him for eyes," on the 
 journey to the hills, where the radiance of the morning sun 
 would restore his sight. And when he reached the top, what a 
 picture of surpassing loveliness does not the grand imagination 
 of our author give us : what a scene for the sight of the hun- 
 ter to whose eyes night had clung because of the treacherous 
 
 poison : 
 
 • * " All the morning's majesty 
 And mystery of loveliness lay bare 
 Before him ; all the limitless blue sea 
 Brightening with laughter many a league around, 
 Wind-wrinkled, keel-uncloven, far below ;''... 
 
 and here Eos awaited him. 
 
 '•' Now Deles lay a great way off, and thither 
 They two rejoicing went across the sea." 
 
 And listen to the bridal following that our poet gives them : 
 
 • • " And every being 
 Of beauty or of mirth left his abode 
 Under the populous flood and journeyed with them. 
 
 i: 
 
470 LIFE OF SIE'JOIIN^A. MACDONALD 
 
 Out of their deep green caves the Nereids came 
 Again to do him honour, . . 
 
 With yellow tresses streaming. Triton came 
 And all his goodly company, with shells 
 Pink-whorled and purple, many-formed, and made 
 Tumultous music . . . 
 
 • • "And so they reached 
 Delos and went together hand in hand 
 Up from the water and their company. 
 And the green wood received them out of sight. " 
 
 So ends the poem, not anything like a just idea of the won- 
 drous beauty, richness, grace and strength of which wc have 
 been able to give by these few extracts. We noticed in a 
 friendly and appreciative critique of this poet lately by a Can- 
 adian writer the statement that Mr. Roberts is under the influ- 
 ence of the English lyrical poets. This is not correct. Mr. 
 Roberi }, who shows not the faintest touch of provincialism, 
 writes as a master and not tentatively, and while his thought 
 is in harmony with the modern poetical school, — of Swinburne, 
 Matthew Arnold, Morris, Rossetti, — there is nowhere a trace 
 of imitating the manner of any one of these. Mr. Roberts has 
 a graceful, sustained strength, and a thoroughly classic spirit, 
 aflame with the old Greek religious fire, that no other living- 
 poet surpasses ; he has a wealth of language nnd happy epithet 
 that is unrivalled, and is in lyrical rush and intensity the equal 
 of Swinburne himself, though he never ran,^ into the riotous- 
 ness of passion and phrase, and never mars a line or a thought 
 with a mannerism, as does Swinburno. There is certainly a 
 striking resemblance between Mr. Roberts and the English 
 singers who are masters, and who appeal to the wide world, un- 
 like Cowper who sang only to England. And here comes the 
 op\ ortunity for us to state in opposition to the opinion of a 
 writer for whom we have the deepest lespect, and who is the 
 friend and benefactor of most of our poets and writers, thatCana- 
 pian poetry should be Canadian wholly in matter, manner, and 
 
TUOUGHT AND LITERATURE. 471 
 
 everything else. And why pray should this be so ? The 
 whole world, surely, is as much open to the Canadian singer as 
 to writers in Great Britain or anywhere else. Tom Moore 
 wrote Lallah Rookh, a poem of the East, though an Irishman, 
 and now Edwin Arnold sings of " The Light of Asia." No one 
 blames Englishmen for ranging heaven, and earth, and hell for 
 subjects; and why should wc be re(;[uired lo set a limit to our 
 soaring, to tie our imagination to one country, a country with 
 all its glorious 'dawn of promise, still raw, and unfertilized with 
 the life and death of great names of humanity \ No; we should 
 be sorry to see the transcendent genius of Mr. Roberts cage 
 itself within the bounds even of this ample Dominion ; and 
 though he may find in our wondrous forests, and our rushing 
 rivcis, as he has found, inspiration, and harmony as high as has 
 yet been wakened by human hand, yet if he wish to go beyond, 
 and sing to all quarters of the world a note that posterity will 
 not let die, as he will, for his seems to be the ambition, and his 
 power is supereminent, then shall we gladly let him go, bid- 
 ding him God speed. For whether he win laurels at home, or 
 in other lands, since he is ours, with him we shall share the 
 glory. 
 
 Let us take a stanza or two from "Ariadne." The classical 
 story is familiar to the reader, and in brief runs thus : This love- 
 ly Cretan, who was tlie daughter A Minos, and ardent in her pas- 
 sion, fell in love with Theseus, who had come with the offerings 
 of the Athenians for the Minitaur. But the heart of the beau- 
 tiful stranger was false, and, sickening of his bride, he left her on 
 the lonely shore of Naxos, and pursued his way. It so happened 
 that Bacchus, once having occasion to pass along the solitary 
 strand, saw the maiden as " she lay face downward on the sigh- 
 ing shore ;" and went away smitten of her loveliness, resolving 
 to return again to woo her. The maiden saw not her divine 
 suitor, but still lay cast down where her heartless love had 
 left her, and " clenched the ooze in mute despair." The poem, 
 from which we have taken the two last-made extracts, open^ 
 
472 LIFE OF Sin JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 in the evening, the moon looking " like a ripe pomegranate o'er 
 the sea." Something the maiden hears in the still, silvery air 
 makes her start. Let us hear Mr. Roberts : 
 
 " A many-throated din came echoing 
 
 Over the startled trees confusedly, 
 From th' inmost mountain folds hurled clamoring 
 Alon:^ the level shore to droop its wing : 
 
 She blindly rose and o'er the moon-tracked sea 
 Toward Athens stretched her hands : — ' With shouts they bring 
 
 Their concjuering chieftain home ; ah me ! ah me ! ' " 
 
 And hear too this next not less lovely stanza : 
 
 " But clearer camo the music, zephyr-borne. 
 
 And turned her yearnings from the over-seas. 
 Hurtled unmasked o'er glade and belted bourne, — 
 i)i dinning cymbal, covert-rousing horn. 
 
 Soft waxen-pipe, shrill-shouted Evoes : 
 Then sat she down unheeding and forlorn. 
 Half d;'eaming of old Cretan melodies." 
 Anon 
 
 * ' The thickets rocked ; the ferns were trampled down ; 
 The shells and pebbles splashed into the waves ; . . 
 
 Tor god Bacchus with his " hoofed sylvans, fauns, and satyrs "" 
 had come to woo his love : 
 
 . . ■ " And straightway by the silver waste of brine 
 They laid them gently down with gesture mute. 
 
 The while he twindd his persuasions fine 
 And meshed her grief-clipt spirit with his lute. 
 
 • . . • • « 
 
 And so with silver-linked melodies, 
 
 He wooed her till the moon lay pale and low ; 
 
 And first she lifted up her dreaming eyes 
 
 And dreamed him her old love in fairer guiso ; 
 And then her soul drew outwards, and a glow 
 
 Woko in her blood of pleasure and surprise, 
 To think it was a god that loved her so." 
 
 Hear then this stanza impregnate with that soft, delicate sensu- 
 ousness to be found alone in Keats, and in that poet only at his 
 
THO UGIIT AND LIT ERA TUR E. 47* 
 
 very best, that deep breathing of what mny be called the re- 
 finement of intense passion, toichod with a master hand. The 
 maiden's heart becomes at last captive to the god, and she rose 
 
 and 
 
 " . . Went with him where lonry-dew distils 
 
 Through swimming air in odorous mists and showers, 
 Where music the attentive stillness fills, 
 And every scent and colour drips and spills 
 
 From myriad quivering wings of orchid flowers ; 
 And there they dwelt deep in the folded hills 
 Blissfully hunting down the fleet-shod hours." 
 
 Let us then go away from classic story with our poet into the 
 greenwood, and hear him sing of the maple. We make no 
 apology for quoting in full : 
 
 " Oh, tenderly deepen the woodland glooms, 
 
 And merrily sway the beeches ; 
 Breathe delicately the willow blooms, 
 
 And the pines rehearse new speeches ; 
 The elms top.s high till they brush the sky. 
 
 Pale catkins the yellow birch launches, 
 But the tree I love all the greenwood above. 
 
 Is the maple of sunny branches. 
 
 Let who will sing of the hawthorn in spring, 
 
 Or the late-leaved linden in snmmer ; 
 There's a word may be for the locust tree, 
 
 That delicate, strange new-comer ; 
 But the maple it glows with the tint of the rose 
 
 When pale are the spring-time regions, 
 A nd its toivers of flame from afar proclaim 
 
 The advance of ti nter's legions. 
 
 And a greener shade there never was made 
 
 Than its summer canopy sifted , 
 And ranny a day, as beneath it I lay, 
 
 Has my memory backward drifted 
 To a pleasant lane I may walk not again, 
 
 Leading over a fresh green hill, 
 Where a maple stood just clear of the wood — 
 
 And oh, to be near it still ! " 
 
 We cannot, for our space is growing small, speak the admi- 
 ration here of which we are so full ; and can call attention to 
 
474 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 those four surpassing lines only by italics. A short quotation 
 or two must content us from tlie ode " To Winter," a poem 
 which wo would compare to the Allegro in charming vignette, 
 and tlie rivulet-Kke lyric-flow. The poet has apostrophized 
 winter in a succession of master touches, but, turning, chal- 
 lenges comparison with tlie milder season. Hear these verses : 
 
 " But what magic melodies 
 As ill the bordering realms are throbbing, 
 Hast thou Winter ? — Licjuid sobbing 
 Brooks, and brawling waterfalls, 
 Whose responsive-voiced calls 
 Clothe with harmony the hills, 
 CJurgling meadow-threading rills, 
 Lakelets lispitig, wuveleta lappbuj 
 Round a flock of tr'dd dnclcs napping, 
 And the raptiiroas-nited wooings, 
 And the molten- throated cooings, 
 Of the amorous multitiides 
 Flashing through the dusky woods. 
 When a veering wind hath blown 
 A glare of sudden daylight down i " » 
 
 • • • • 
 
 And tuining again to Winter : 
 
 » 
 
 " Less the silent sunrise sing 
 Like a vibrant silver string, 
 When its prisoned splendours first 
 O'er the crusted snow-t^elds burst. 
 But thy days the silence keep. 
 Save for grosbeak's feeble cheep, 
 Or for snow-birds busy twitter 
 When thy breath is very bitter. 
 
 So my spirit often acheth 
 For the melodies it lacketh 
 'Neath thy sway, or cannot hear 
 For its mortal cloake'dear. 
 And full thirstily it longeth 
 For the beauty that belongeth 
 To the autumn's ripe fulfilling ; — 
 Heaped orchan' baskets spilling 
 
TUOUGUT AND LITERATURE. 475 
 
 'Neath tho laiightor-shaken trees ; 
 Fields of bnckwheat full of bees, 
 Girt with ancient groves of fir 
 Shod with berried juniper ; 
 Beech-nuts mid their russet leaves ; 
 Heavy-headed noddinjj sheaves ; 
 Clumps of luscious blackberries ; 
 i'urple-clustered traceries 
 Of the cottage climbing-vines ; 
 Scarlet-fruited eglantines; 
 Maple forests all aflame 
 When thy sharp-tongued legates came." 
 
 Here the reader is no less sensible that a ina,stcr hand is 
 painting nature, and what is more, making so intensely a Cana- 
 dian picture that he who has ever seen our fields or wilds in Oie 
 autumn or winter, at once i-ecognises the portrait, than he 
 stands to wonder at this very lyrical vuhJi, and the wealth of" 
 phrase that waits ui)on the warm, rich imagination of tho poet. 
 And here also he sees, as in the rest of Mr. Roberts' work, the 
 wrought art the author brings into the service of his verse 
 highly the complete technical mastery, and the firm grip of 
 the subject ; and above all the contained enthusiasm and the 
 well-regulated flow of the thought. 
 
 We are sure the reader will not be tired, but rather delighted, 
 if we make an extract from " Menmon," a poem which tirsu 
 appeared in Scrihner's magazine. A traveller, 
 
 " Weary, forsaken by fair, fickle sleep," 
 
 rises, and as the moon hangs low over the desert, standing 
 before his tent, is startled to hear an image of stone, 
 
 # * ** Prostrate, half on wound 
 With rod, unstable snnd-wreaths," 
 
 utter words of musical anguish^ ilcmnon was the son of 
 Tithonus, and Aurora the goddess of the morning. When he 
 died, the ^Ethiopians or Egyptians over whom he reigned, 
 erected upon the bleak sand a monument to his memory ; and 
 this statue, tradition relates, had the wonderful property of 
 
476 LIFE OF Sin JOHN A. MACDOXALD. 
 
 uttsriiig a melodious sound ovory day at the rise of the sun, 
 ' like that which is heard at the breaking of the string of a harp 
 when it is wound up." And the figtn-e was said to be possessed 
 of all the feeling that belongs to man — to suffer pain, and heat, 
 and cold, and the tortures of the sand-blast. This is the stoiy 
 which Mr. Roberts' fervid imagination seizes and shapes into a 
 thing of Much imperishable beauty. And now 
 
 " Faint streaks quietly creep 
 Up from the east, into the dusky sky ; 
 Aurora's yellow hair, that up the steep 
 Streams to the rear of niyht full breezily." 
 
 This is the mother of the tortured figure coming. Hear the 
 son's plaint : 
 
 " Sweet mother, stay; thy son require th thee! 
 
 All clay the sun, with massive, maddeniny glare. 
 Beats on my weary brow and tortures me. 
 
 All day the pitiless sand-blasta gnaw end wear 
 
 Deen furrows in my lidless eyes and bj.re. 
 All day the palms stand vp and mock at me ; 
 
 And drop cool shades over the dead bones there, 
 And voiceless stones that crave no canopy : 
 O beautiful mother, stay; 'tis thy son prayeth thee. 
 
 Hyenas come and laugh into my eyes ; 
 Tlie weak bats fret me inith their small, shrill cries. 
 And toads and lizards crawl in slimy glee. 
 
 Oh, dewy-lipped mother, stay; thy son desireth thee." 
 
 And this surelj'' may pass for a stanza not excelled in our 
 literature : 
 
 " Soon will for me the many-spangled night 
 
 Rise, and reel round, and tremble toward the verge; 
 Soon will the sacred Ibis her weird flight 
 ■^ Wing from the fens where shore and river merge, 
 
 jv'i With long-drawn sobbings of the reed-choked siin/e. \ 
 The scant-voiced ghosts, in wavering revelry 
 
 ■^-~^— — '-'"- For Thebes' dead glory, gibber a fitful dirge; ,_ — 
 
 Would thou wert here, mother, to bid them flee! 
 
 O beautiful mother, hear; thy chained son calleth thee." — 
 
THOUGHT AND UTEHATURE. 477 
 
 We have made the italics occurring in these extracts ; for again 
 we cannot wait to say what our entliusiaHin suggests, of the 
 verses so marked. At one other of Mr. Rohcrts' poems we can 
 only glance before closing our review, and that " OfT Pelorus,'' 
 which does not appear in the volume before us, but which we 
 find in a number of the Canadian Mont/di/, under Mr. G. 
 Mercer Adam's editorship. This poem is founded on one of the 
 incidents in the wanderings of Ulysses. After the return of the 
 king from the shades, he sojourned on Circe's island ; and when 
 he again set forth, he had to pass by the strait of Scylla and 
 Charybdis, where the sirens sang their luring songs. These 
 were Circe's words of warning to the reckless prince in Pope's 
 mechanical strains : 
 
 ..." Where sirens dwell you plough the seas 
 Their song is death and makes destruction please." 
 
 As for you, said the goddess to the king, I know your love 
 for me will be proof against the witching music of the sirens ; 
 but stuff your rowers' ears with wax, lest the songs might over- 
 come them. See that before you reach the charmed coast, 
 your rowers bind you to the mast. Ulysses then set out, 
 and submitted to the instructions of the goddess. The poem 
 •opens off T*"lorus, the cape named from the pilot of Annibal. 
 The sea is drowsy, the sirens sing, the rowers labour at the oar, 
 the king is bound to the mast : 
 
 'S3 
 
 " Crimson swima the sunset over far Pelorus ; 
 
 Burning crimson tops its frowing crest of pine, 
 Purple sleeps the shore and Hoats the wave before us 
 Eachwhere from the Otarstroke eddying warm like wine." 
 
 Let us read en. Circe's precautions were not ample ; for what 
 the rowers see intoxicate them : 
 
 " Soundless foams the creamy violet wake behind us ; 
 
 We but sec the creaking of the laboured oar ; 
 
 We have stopped our ears — mad were we not to blind us, 
 -— r Lest with eyes grown drunken sail we hence no more." """"" 
 
4T8 LIFE OF SIR JOlfN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 The sirons lived on this enchanted cmst ; and while their 
 Hon^' took captive tlie ear, the hixurioiisness of their aUode 
 intoxicated the eye. How n)ntchle.ssly Mr. Holierts ha.s f^'rasped 
 the .spirit of the legend and \n rought it into a picture niovini>- 
 with life. Hear thi« stanza, and i;ay if even Mr. Robert.s may 
 not be proud oF it : 
 
 " Idly took wo thought for still our eyei betray us.— 
 
 Lo ! tho white limbed mnida with beckoning arms divine, 
 Throhh\n(j bout mm bare, loosed fuiir, soft hands to day us, 
 Throats athrob with sony across the charniiif brine," 
 
 And here also is a matchless .stanza : 
 
 " See tho king he hearke''^:, -hears thoir son^ — strains forward, — 
 As some mountair. snake attends the shepherd's reed ; 
 Now with urgent hands he bids us turn us shori'ward : — 
 Bond the groaning oar now, give the king no heed ! " 
 
 How admirably does not the movement of the first line pic- 
 ture the action of the mountain snake in the second ver.se on 
 hearing the shepherd's pipe, — moving in jtiks. It is the com- 
 munity of thought and feeling among ihe rowers we receive 
 so far. This, after Mr. Roberts' skilful and harmoidous weav- 
 ing, is the song of the luiing charmers on tlie shore. They 
 reach out their " beckoning arms divine," as they sing it — luid 
 imagine such a song floating across that gorgeous summer sea : 
 
 " Much enduring wanderer, honey-tongued come nigher, 
 Wisest ruler, bane of Ilion's lofty walls ; 
 Hear strange wisdom to thine uttermost desire, 
 Whatsoe'rin all the fruitful eart'\ Ijofalls." 
 
 A siren truly might not have been ashamed of such verses. 
 The song be "ilders the poor king, and he struggles to free him- 
 self from the taast. Then the rowers tell us : 
 
 -— << go ^g j.|ng p twain and make hjs bonds securer ;-- "^— 
 
 S uthes .v.M startled sen now from the surging blade, 
 
 —^—— Li'!i;>8 the dark ship for / aa wv v^ith hearts grown surer, — 
 
 • • ■* Eyes Averse and war-vorn face^ made afraid,, 
 
TllOVnilT AND UTFMATVRE. 470 
 
 O'or tho waste ftfid warm roaches drive our prow Hoa-cloaving 
 
 I'ast the luring death, into the folding uighf : - 
 Homo shall hold us yet — and cease our wives froia grieving — 
 
 Safe from st(jrm, and toil, and Hame, and clanj^ing light." 
 
 Surely now it is plain to all who have followed us that a singer 
 has risen in Canada of whom any nation, or M\y literature, 
 might be proud. I^et us with such glorion ^ vo; fo as this hear 
 no more of " hog wash," or bo told again thai, " native litjv- 
 ary fruit is wrapped yet in the future." Space forbade us to 
 show our reader any til in.^ of " A Blue Blossom," the " Kpi.stle to 
 Bliss Carman," the " Ode to Drowsihood," tho latter perha]is 
 containing a subtler and intenser note than any other poem in 
 tho boek,"One Night," "A Ballad of Three Mistresses," "Launco- 
 lot and the Four Queens," " Sappho," " Ballad of the Poet's 
 Thought," and various other delighiiul things. We have been 
 a close student for many years of our mo lern English singers, 
 and wo now say without fijar of refutation that we have in Mr. 
 Roberts a poet who has a note as int(mse, as sweet, as high and 
 as varied as any singer in tho British choir. In strength ho 
 is fully the equal ot Browning ; and in lyrical flow and j)a.ssion, 
 — his fire is not a spluttering blaze, but a sober, intense- 
 glow — he is not surpassed by Swinburne. Sometimes we find 
 that " lyrical cry," that sad sweet note that marks such poems, 
 as " Marguerite " and " The Forsaken Merman " of Matthew 
 Arnold ; while in the curious felicity of expression, such as 
 " gossiping grass " for an expanse of sedges and weeds fretted 
 by tho wind, the " ivlmiovjlwj soft gray wings of marsh owls '' 
 &c., he is not surpassed, if equalled, by any of our modern 
 poets. How Mr. Roberts would adorn one of our university 
 chairs of English literature ! Surely, if his seivicos a\e avail- 
 able, Trinity, which has wakened from her sleep and feels a new 
 life and jr-ipulse in licr veins, and decided to endow a literature 
 chair, might seek hi^ services. He wo'dd, \v. such a place, dra v 
 all the aspiring and better ones among our young men around 
 him; or might not our more comprehensive institution, Un^- 
 
430 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 vevbity College, add to its excellent faculty this adorning star 
 of native talent, this example of Canadian possibility 1 
 
 We may observe that the genius possessed by Mr. Roberts 
 extends to his sister Miss Jane E, G. Roberts, and we judge 
 by contributions of hers we have seen in the Canadian 
 Monthly and the Illustrated Canadian News, verse, though the 
 product of a young lady only sixteen, which is not unwortliy 
 of Jean Ingclow, and equalling Mrs. Ilenians at the lattor's 
 very best. When the next reviewer of our literature takes up 
 the pen. Miss Roberts, we doubt not, will be a poetic star on 
 which the eyes of no small portion of our people will be turned. 
 
 Next in order of meiit as a Canadian poet we take M. Louis 
 Honoi'c Frechette to whom the exclusive doors of the Institute 
 of France were opened, and from which he bore away the lau - 
 rels above all the brilliant writers of the nation for Les Fleurs 
 Boreales, and Lea Oiseaux de Nelge. M. Frechette's writings 
 reveal a depth of poetic instinct, a soaring and exuberant ima- 
 gination ; while he brings to his aid a style so graceful and ar- 
 tistic that his very excellences in this respect are sometimes 
 accounted a fault. It is certainly true that the thought of this 
 brilliant singer is sometimes frivolous, and decked out in quite 
 too gaudy a dress ; but this fault forms but a rare exception to 
 a rule of high excellence. We have chosen La Lihevte as the 
 best representative of M. Frechette's intensity of feeling, his 
 subtle quality, and his gift of luxurious imagery. We give 
 this poem in the original : 
 
 " Enfant naif, j'ai mis ma l^vre avide 
 
 Aux cbupes d'or d'enivrantes amours. 
 Helas ! ma soif n'a trouvd que du vide, 
 
 Et la tristesse a plane sur mes jours. , 
 
 Quand les mondains promiinent k la ronde 
 
 Le tourbillon de leur folle gaiety, 
 Reveur, je songe ^ I'avenir du moade ; 
 
 Je n'ai plus qu'un amour, c'est pour la Libert^ ! 
 
THOUGHT AND LITERATURE. 4Sl 
 
 II. 
 
 " J'ai tout chant(^ ; la jeunesse fri''ole, 
 
 L'amitie sainte, et mes rt-ves aimoo, 
 Les fleurs des champs et la brise qui vole, 
 
 L'etoile blonde et les bois parfumes. 
 Mais le couur change, et notre ume s'emousse 
 
 Au froid contact de 'a realito' ; 
 Et maintenant, comnie les nids de la mousse, 
 
 Je n'ai plus qu'un refrain, c'est pour la Liberte ! 
 
 III. 
 
 " De saints espoirs, ma pauvre time a'inonde, 
 
 Et men regard monte vers le ciel bleu, 
 Quand j'aperoois dans les fastes du monde, 
 
 Comme un e'clair, briller le doigt de Dieu. 
 Mais qyielquefois, incline sur le gouffre 
 
 Oil rhomme rampe Ji rimmortalite, 
 En contemplant I'humanite qui souffre, 
 
 Si je prie, en pleurant, c'est pour la Liberte ! " 
 
 We have been fortunate in finding a masterly translation of 
 this poem in the Quebec Chronicle, by our Eiiglish-Canadian 
 poet, Mr. Roberts, which, besides giving the flavour of the 
 original, is a delightful bit of work in itself. But let the reader 
 compa.re and judge. He will see that while Mr. Roberts does 
 not adhere to a literal rendering, he has melted the French 
 poem down in his brain, and given it to us instinct with a now 
 life exactly like the original. 
 
 " A child, I have set the thirsting of my mouth 
 
 To the gold chalices of loves that craze. 
 Surely, alas! 1 have found therein but drouth, 
 
 Surely has sadness darkened o'er my days. 
 While worldlings chase each other madly round 
 
 Their giddy track of frivolous gayety, 
 Dreamer, my dream earth's utmost longings bound: 
 
 One love alone is mine — my love is Liberty, 
 
 II. 
 
 " I have sung them all: — Youth's lightsomenesa that fleet", 
 Pure friendship, my most fondly cherished dreams, 
 EE 
 
482 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MaCDONALD. 
 
 Wild blossoms and the winds that steal their sweets, 
 Wood-odour?, and the star that whitely gleams. 
 
 But our hearts change; the spirit dulls its edge 
 In the chill contact with reality; — 
 
 These vanished, like the foam bells in the sedj^c: 
 I sing one burden now — my song is Liberty, 
 
 III. 
 
 " I drench my spirit in ecstasy, consoled. 
 
 And my gaze trembler towards the azure arc, 
 When in the wide world-records I behold 
 
 Flame like a meteor God's finger thro' tho dark. 
 But if, at times, bowed over the abyss 
 
 Wherein man crawls toward immortality, 
 Beholding here how sore his suffering is, 
 
 I make my prayer with tears — it is for Liberty. " 
 
 In commenting upon this translation, Mr. Roberts says : " In 
 the above lines, which are a feeble attempt to fix in English 
 verse some fragment of the imperishable beauty of M. Fre- 
 chette's poem. La Liberie, I have been willing in one or two 
 instances to make a sacrifice of verbal fidelity for the sake of 
 a closer approach to the spirit and motive of the original. I 
 have not dreamed of a possibility of doing justice to this poem ; 
 I have merely sought to render a faint copy of its grace and 
 its splendid lyric fervour. In some of M. Frechette's lines, as, 
 
 for instance, 
 
 ' ' — * incline sur le gouffre 
 Oil I'homme rampe A I'immortalit^ ' — 
 
 exist that perfect fitness of expression, that note of calm power, 
 of serious and profound compassion, which may be looked for in 
 the work of the finest genius only. The untranslatable and 
 inimitable quality in verges of Francois Villon — 
 
 ' Ainsi le bi i temps regrettons 
 Entre nouj, pauvres vieilles sottes,' — 
 
 m passages of Keats, and in some of Shakespeare's and of Ro- 
 
 : jciS .sonnets, may be perceived also, here and there, in the 
 
 best of M. Frechette's lyrics ; but it is so subtle a flavour as 
 
THOUGHT AND LITERATURE. 483 
 
 to bear no handling. My hope is that the above paraphrasie 
 may retain sufficient likeness to its original to tempt more 
 English readers to seek aequai stance with M. Frechette's 
 genius at first hand." 
 
 Charles Heavysege, among our native poets, let us see 
 next. His chief work is, "Saul: a drama, in three parts; 
 Boston: Fields, Osgood &: Co., 1869." Saul is the most notable 
 production, in the way of dramatic verse, that Canada has 
 produced, by very long odds, and is ' work of which we may 
 well be proud. It displays a vast range of vigorous thought 
 and imagination, with dramatic insight and originality. The 
 blank verse is strong and flexible, though sometimes harsh and 
 unpolished, and the language Is quaint, striking and suggestive. 
 Some of Malzah's demon songs are wonderful, for the manner 
 in which they hold one, through all their demoniacal grotesque- 
 ness and wildness of fancy. The vocabulary is closel}'^ studied 
 from the Elizabethans. Heavysege also wrote Jephtha's Daugh- 
 ter, a work immeasurably inferior to Saul, and some sonnets, 
 which, while possessing passages of imaginative insight and 
 eloquent utterance, are apt to fall into turgidity and bombast. 
 His genius, if justice is to be done it, must be judged only after 
 careful consideration of his masterpiece, Saul. 
 
 In point of merit a very high place should be given to Mr. 
 Charles Pelham Mulvany, who comes here, too, with other 
 poetic laurels than those won in Canada. Heavysege and Mrs. 
 Maclean who come nearest to him are only a distant second. 
 He is the only one of those two mentioned of whom we may 
 unquestioningly predicate genius; a wild and erratic genius 
 perhaps, but genuine. He is the only one, too, of these who has 
 gained an entree into European poetical society ; because he 
 writes as a master, not tentatively. He is unaffected with the 
 taint of provincialism, the only one of our poets, Koberts ex- 
 cepted, who is. His " Messalina," " In Nero's Gardens," and 
 " Theodora," are dramatic lyrics of wonderful power of penetra- 
 tion, displaying an accurate comprehension of the tone, temper 
 
484 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 and atmosphere of the times in whnh their scenes are laid. 
 Their descriptions have the exact flavour of Imperial Rome, in 
 its earlier and later days, and prove the widest familiarity with 
 post-Augustan Latin literature. But one o" two ox contem- 
 porary poets could have produced them — Browning perhaps, or 
 Dante Rossetti. They combine what are so difficult well to 
 combine — draTnatic force and lijric fire. Air. Mulvany is a 
 lyrical artist. He is capable of an exquisite and unerring 
 note, though this he does not always attain, by any means. He 
 has no rival in Canada as a writer of keen, witty, polished, yet 
 pathetic vers de societe'. He has short fugitive poems with the 
 flavour and grace of Heine, and finely original. Such a lyric 
 as " Some one Comes," proves the master's hand undisputably ; 
 containing as it does deep passion, bitter yearning, music of 
 utterance, and what Matthew Arnold calls " the lyrical cry." 
 Witness these verses : — 
 
 " I am Love, whom years that vanish 
 
 Still shall find the same'" 
 Still ! as when in Southern sunshine 
 
 First the phantom came ? 
 With a fond word, long unspoken — 
 
 A forgotten name ! 
 
 " I am Death, I only offer 
 
 Peace — the long day done. 
 Follow me into the darkness" — 
 
 Welcome ! Friend, lead on — 
 Only spare my dog ; let something 
 
 Grieve when I am gone !" 
 
 Mr. Mulvany is one of the very few poets who can wield 
 successfully the hexameter line. His translations in hexame- 
 ter verse from the Iliad and the ^Eneid are masterly, both for 
 their faithful rendering cf the original and for the beauty and 
 sweetness of the language. He has done but little in sonnet- 
 writing, but that little is of rare value. " Troy Was " may 
 well stand for perfect sonnet ; and that one commencing, " 
 weary current of life's languid tide" is only second to it. Mr. 
 
THOUGHT AND LITERATURE. 485 
 
 Mulvany's Latin verses, by the metrical skill and the fine 
 Latinity displayed, prove not only his broad culture, and his 
 familiarity with that language in its classic purity antl ele- 
 gance, but also his intimate acquaintance with the curious 
 monastic poetry of the middle ages. Some of his poems, how- 
 ever, are not up to the mark in polish. He is capable of 
 exquisite finish, but does not always give it us. Sometimes, 
 too, lie is guilty of very bad rhymes ; and in several of his 
 poems both motive and method undergo a complete revolution 
 before the poem reaches its completion. These are faults of 
 carelessness, and cannot be excused. 
 
 Mrs. Kate Seymour Maclean is equal to Mulvany in original 
 inspiration, perhaps, and also in depth of feeUng, and sensitive- 
 ness to rhythm and music. Her poems possess the singing 
 quality, the haunting lilt, more uniformly than do Mulvany's, 
 but she is not by any means the literary artist that he is. 
 She is far inferior to him in strength and dramatic insight, in 
 accuracy and wealth of culture, and in all technical qualifica- 
 tions. Her work neither calls for nor will bear such close 
 study as Mulvany's. It will always be more popular, but 
 never of one-tenth part the value of his to the poet, the stu- 
 dent, or the man of letters. Her work does not escape the 
 influence of provincialism as wholly as his verse does. But 
 she possesses the singing voice, and the seeing eye ; her poetry 
 is true to nature and the human heart. She has a vast com- 
 mand of pathos ; her feeling is simple, direct and healthy ; 
 and her whole tendency if. sweet and natural. She has also at 
 her command a ringing tr.^mpet note, and some of her verse is 
 markedly sonorous and inspiriting. The " Burial of the Scout" 
 is in all respects a powerful poem, imaginative, touching, and 
 virile in its strength : 
 
 "Along the reody marge of the dim lake 
 
 I hear the gathering horsemen of the North ; 
 The cavalry of night and tempest wake, — 
 Blowing keen bugles as they issue forth 
 To guard hif homeward march in frost and cold, a thousand spear- 
 _„ men bold," 
 
480 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 This poem calls to mind tlmt of Mrs. Homan'.s on the " Land- 
 ing of the Pilgrim Fathers," which it equals for eloquence, 
 while far surpassing it in poetic feeling and roach of imagina- 
 tion. There have been some very beautiful Easter poems writ- 
 ten in America, by Mrs. Thaxter and others, hni Mrs. Maclean's 
 " Marguerite " stands easily at the head of them all. Then 
 wliat a deep utterance is " The Voice of Many Waters," the 
 music and language of which are great: — 
 
 " But I hear thy voice at midiiighi., .-imitiug the awful silence 
 With the 'ong suspiration of the ^mn suppressed ; 
 And all Iho blue lagoons, and all the lid.ening islands 
 Shuddering have heard, and locked thy seen t in their breast ! " 
 
 Mrs. Maclean's volume is entitled The Coming of the Princess, 
 from the initial poem, which is not one of her best, though con- 
 taining some imaginative passages. The general tone of the 
 author seems to savour of half-realized republicanism, which 
 perhaps accounts for some lack of inspiration on this subject 
 which should be of such supreme and engrossing importance tO' 
 every loyal Canadian heart. Mrs. Maclean's admirable little 
 volume is badly disfiguied in spots by hopeless rhymes, and 
 lines that refuse to be scanned. She makes " chrism " rhyme 
 with "arisen," " speed " with " feed3," and has other slips which 
 are hard to account for among so much work that is often 
 artistically and skilfully wrought. 
 
 Mr. John Reade's work will offend the reader's taste even 
 more rarely than it will carry him away with enthusiastic 
 delight. Mr. Reade's muse Is chaste, quiet, discreet, and some- 
 what reserved. Such verse always gives pleasure, but is not 
 likely to compel admirat; Dn. It will always command re- 
 spect ; and at times the reader pauses to admire the scholarly 
 taste exercised in the com] osition of these poems — the wealth 
 of dainty and sweet fancy, a 'id the extent of restrained feeling 
 lying under the serenely di[rufied calm of this language. But 
 occasionally the singing impulse gets its way, and a musical 
 and tender lyric such as " Sing me the songs I love," is the 
 
THO V GH T AND LI TER A T UR E. 487 
 
 result; — a song whose sweet cadence and tender depth ji[rows 
 upon one while it is as <lelightful to the artist as to the lay 
 reader. Or we luve a graceful lil-tle thing, simple, delicate and 
 unstrained, such as " Apollo dropt a seed of song ; " or an out- 
 burst of fluent and luxurious melody (reminding us of some of 
 Moore's best work), in the lines, 
 
 " Thalatta ! Thalatta ! " 
 *' In my ear is the moan of the pines — in my heart is tlie song of the 
 
 sea," — 
 
 * * * * # 
 
 II. 
 
 ■' From the rock where I stand to the sun is a pathway <jf sapphire and 
 gold, 
 
 Like a waif of those Patinian visions that rapt the lone seer of old, — " 
 
 ****** 
 
 III. 
 
 '•' Westward ho ! Far away to the East is a cottage that looks to the 
 
 shore — 
 Though each drop in the sea were a tear, as it was I can see it no more; 
 For th<^ heart of its pride with the flowers of the ' Vale of the Shadow' 
 
 reclines, 
 And — hushed is the song of the sea and hioarse is the moan of its pines. " 
 
 " The Prophecy of Merlin," is a specimen of creditable blank 
 verse, generally fluent and musical, and clear in expression; but 
 its subject is merely laudation of Prince Arthur, which might 
 have been quite as successfully accomplished without all the 
 elaborate preliminaries ; while there is nothing in the poem to 
 leave a lasting impression upon the mind. One simply feels 
 after perusing it, that he has not been offended by awkward or 
 ungrammatical writing, and is content to refrain from a s3eond 
 reading. "Balaam" is a much more n.eritorious poem, con- 
 taining many strong and vividly imagined passages, carefully 
 wrought out, with an effective and rememberable ending. It 
 is a dignified and stately poem. Mr. Reade's work, altogether, 
 is lacking in originality to some degree, has no strong lyric rush, 
 
488 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 fails to impress or move one potently ; but it is earnest, cultured, 
 sweet, clear-cut, contemplative. These (pialities show to beat 
 advantage in the sonnets, of which Mr. Reade has given us 
 several. For general evenness of merit, thoughtfulness, inge- 
 nuity of fancy, and well-balanced expression, these sonnets 
 will stand as Mr. Ileade's best work ; and they entitle him to the 
 po.sition of our leading sonnetteer. One or two others may have 
 reached higher ground than Mr. Reade in an individual sonnet 
 or so, but the uniform high quality of the latter's, leaves his 
 title to superiority unquestioned. 
 
 Miss Agnes M. Machar, is a clever, thoroughly educated, 
 cultured writer, w!io now and again writes thoughtful and 
 suggestive poems in periodicals. Sho has not published in 
 book form, therefore it would not be fair to judge her work 
 conclusively. But to decide from fragments, her work is quite 
 out of sympathy with the modern school, and with modern 
 feeling. She points most of her poems with a moral, which, 
 howevei-, Ib alv/ays well put and forcible. Her verse is medi- 
 tative and pleasing, rather than strikingly individualistic- 
 But she is a thinker, has something to say, and her work will 
 always repay perusal. Some time ago, there appeared in Scrib- 
 ners Magazine, a poem )f hers on the " Whip-poor-will," which 
 revealed a power of lyitc speech and a command of haunting 
 cadences hardly to have been expected from her other work. 
 Miss Machar writes under the nom de -pluine of " Fidelis." 
 
 John Hunter-Duvar is a Prince Edward Island dramatic 
 poet. He has published " The Enamorado," a clever but un- 
 even piece of work founded on a mediieval Spanish tale of chi- 
 valry. Like Hcavysage, Mr. Hunter-Duvar gets his vocabulary 
 largely from Shakespeare. " The Enamorado," necessarily by 
 its subject, and also by reason of the author's manner of treat- 
 ment, is lighter and more airy than " Saul." It displays less 
 dramati, insight and power of analysis, and less rugged 
 strengtij than the latter poem, which is distinctly a greater and 
 more notable work. But Mr. Hunter-Duvar is a finer and 
 
THOUGIir AND LITER ATiltK. 480 
 
 truer poet than Heavysege; liis inind is richer stocked and 
 mellower, his iinagination more sensuous, his colouring warmei', 
 his music more alluring. This drama contains niany brilliant 
 and poetical massages, much sharp dialogue, and a vast deal of 
 wit and flashing fancy. Some of the repartee is admirable. It 
 abounds with puns and quaint conceits, after later Elizabethan 
 fashion, and the personages pelt each other with similes unin- 
 termittingly. This has the flavour of the olden days : 
 
 D^ErcUla. " Is the Queen stirring > " 
 
 Maziui. " Nay, how should 1 know / I am not the king ; 
 
 But an' thou ask vi& I should aay, ' not so I ' 
 
 My lady stirs not lest she shanie the sun ; 
 
 The dew I see, but not her dewr eyes ; 
 
 K > breath but zephyr's brea^^Vi nia'tes balin the air ; 
 
 I only hear the bird's awakening note ; 
 
 And, therefore, I should si.y my lady stirs act." 
 
 The clown in this play is a witty uud discerning fuol, and 
 never oflPends by quitting his absurdity, c en when delivering 
 himself of the wisest matter. To his query : — " Perpeml, — 
 what is a queen ?" 
 
 Sancho replies profoundly — " A queen is — a queen I " 
 
 And thus the clown : 
 
 " A quean with a peacock's tall. One that with the rosy nail of her little fore- 
 finger points you— Fellow ! do thia,— and when 'tis done looks blank beyond and sees 
 you not." 
 
 And acrain — 
 
 'tn" 
 
 Clown :— •" Dids't ever see a pearl, Master Sancho ? " 
 
 Sancho : — "Aye, and an oyster too. Why our Clara is called the pearl of " 
 
 Clown :—" Pur-r-r-r — aroynt the man I Sir, oyster is a creature given us for 
 our good, and pearl be but oyster scab. A pearl doth not walk abroad and wear 
 farthingales. A pearl doth not say to me this blessed Mary morning : ' Knave, 
 thou art foul, avoid me, thou smellest of stables.' 
 
 From all which it may be observed that Messir Clown is very 
 democratic. 
 
 At the close of the drama, when the Clown is in the Church 
 of St. Catherine where the hero, Mizias, the Enamorado, is 
 
400 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACUONALD. 
 
 buried, and where tombs areallabout, Nuguo, the faithful vak't 
 of Mazias, says: — 
 
 " Tri'iul lovpreiitly, jfood "lown. There lien my inaHtor. A l»etter, kindt'r. tuiver, 
 a-o-pla^'ue on't there muHt be oniona in the air." [WeepN.] 
 
 VVheicupoii the Clown renuirks seiitentiously : — 
 
 " In the luidHt of death wu an- in life, luul HhoiiUI be thankful for it." 
 
 Mr. Hunter-Duvar can also write a very exijuisite lyric, full 
 of passion and verve. The pity is that he has not given uh 
 more ol" his song; but let the tbllowing ([notations provi- that 
 he has the true tire. Mazias, standing at his [)rison window, 
 thus bleaks out into verse :-- 
 
 " The arching nky is brijfht, the »cent of flowew 
 Stealii like an inoenHu tliroiiKli ni.v jiriHon bars, 
 Yet feel I \w\ tiie bree/.e, nor know it there 
 .Save for a little Hhudder of the leaven. 
 Anear, still life, but in the middle diHtance 
 Are cattle feeding' underneath tall tree. ; 
 While, like li;,dit feathcrH, in the leafy wcreen 
 Are CI rls of blue that tell of cottage fireH. 
 A brave back-ground of mountains, grand sierras 
 That wear for half the year their hoods of snow 
 hut now are rosy-tipped with purple shadows. 
 The genius of tlie place is satisfying. 
 Yet, somehow, hangs a glo'jni around my heart, 
 A sense of coming ill, -a shifting cloud. 
 Now dark and thick througli which im ray may pierc^^ 
 Now lighteinng till half the stars look througli, - 
 '.fi . ■ They say such feelings come with creejiing chill 
 
 ; When steps are passing o'er your unknown grave. 
 
 Va I banish such slim weakness, Mazias I 
 Even as a lift-nlnfe fettered to the wall 
 '^i'M' . Will shui a HoiHj of freedom, and <tt once 
 
 •*1' - . tlis shackles fall, —lU} luimer walls hold in, 
 
 , W . But he is far away among green fiields 
 
 . ; . i,. ■ ., With those he loved when his seared life ivut young ; 
 
 '* ■ ,So I, who prisoned am with double bond 
 
 (Jf fettered heart that love hath chafed and worn 
 And iron bars between me and the sun, . . , 
 
 Will slip the chain of doleful circumstance 
 
 And bask in the impossible iind gone ' ' - ■-•' 
 
 Of love recjuited for a love bestowed. — - f ; ^ -"-'!: — '^---^ 
 [Singf.] .. : . 
 
 " Fly out, O rosy banner, on the breeze ! 
 
TIlOVdllT AND UTEIiATUliK. 4t»l 
 
 I . C'lmth, limbic, in iv toinpi-iit wild itiul free ! 
 
 King out, () bcilM, above the wuviiig treeH ! 
 Sliino HUH, t'lirtli sinilc, jiml iidd tliy vi)i<!e O Hoa !-- 
 My liuly- liidy Ihvom iiic I " 
 
 This |»lay contains other lyrics even excellinj,' this is beauty 
 and hixuriance. John Hunter-Diivar is a true j)oet and a facile- 
 witted dramatist. His worst fault, perhaps, is an occasional 
 stiffness, caused by an over-abundance of archaic phrase and 
 words; and, more rarely, a slip-shod structure of blank verse. 
 His best dialo^me is in prose. His blank verso is not flexible 
 and varied enoiigh, as a whole, for his thou<,dit; and is, at its 
 best, a monologue of a lofty or contemplative cast. But ho 
 never .swells into bombast or turgid raving. Ho has a delicate 
 feeling for external nature. 
 
 Among the French-Canadian poets, besides M. Frechette, may 
 be mentioned the late M. Octave Crdmazie. The verses of this 
 writer sometimes display grander idea and a stronger lyrical 
 flow than those of the " laureate," but his art is far inferior to 
 that of the latter. His muse, however, is only a colonist, and 
 a mere French-Canadian colonist at that. lie has no sympathy 
 for anything out of liis own latitude and longitude, under which 
 conditions it is almost a marvel that he is not a mere musical 
 wind-spout. He actually does sing notes of genuine sweetness, 
 and instinct witli the true poetic Are, though in the scale against 
 a Roberts, he is as a Lilijjut soldier to the king of Brobdingnag- 
 Neither is he, though some of his confreres seem to think other* 
 wise, the equal of Frechette; but he does sometimes displajt. 
 a loftier imagery, and sing a more bugle-like note than the lat-^ 
 ter. M. LeMay has been expending his soul on a tender string y • 
 which breathes some mellow music betimes, through which you \ 
 frequently catch the undertone of passion. Sentiment on i \. 
 small scale, his little sweet loving, and his ex([uisite polish 
 and gi'ace, keep this poet happy, nc doubt, and delight his 
 friends ; but he will hardly be quoted a thousand years from 
 now. Of M. Suite we have alreadv made mention, as one of 
 oar prose benefactors. In the literary sphere, this author is a.'* 
 
4(»2 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALV. 
 
 jnc\ of-all-tnidos, nil artust ii none. l[o writes some «x- 
 oellunt voim-, but it is mero poOtical raw material, tho author 
 l)cing too iinpulsive and too impiti 'lit to j^'ivc hucU polish as 
 the thouj^ht deserves. Ilis phrase, tlioii^h brilliant, is often 
 uncoutli; and his inia<,'inati in. while rich and daring, is often 
 An errant star that leads, lo man can .say whither. 
 
 The Mimlon of Lore, nnd Other Poemn is the name of a vol- 
 ume recently publisliod by Hunter, Rose & Company, Toronto. 
 The writer uses the pretty tiom de plume " Caris Siina," but 
 we have penetrated tlit disguise, and ttnd^,that the fair author 
 is Miss C. Mountcastle, of Clinton, Ontario. Wo confess tliat 
 we are a good deal interested in this volume, though it is as a 
 gaiden in which there are several unseemly weeds growing side 
 by side with a number of delightful flowers. We do not find 
 Miss Mountcastle devoid of talent, of exceeding cleverness, or 
 <if the possession of a genuine note of song ; but her discrimina- 
 tion is not good, or she never would luive let that thing about 
 the oarsman Hanlan, whether written well or ill, — which would 
 not be here or there, — appear among her verses. It is bad 
 enough that brat-racers and horse-racers are to furnish food 
 to the public through the newspapers, but at all events let 
 us keep them out of our works of literature. Tlie place for the 
 proff,-)si( nal ' .culler" or the racing horse is the pool, and he 
 nevvj- should be brought in the sight of anybody except those 
 who trade in his speed. In some other respects, too, but no- 
 where to the extent mentioned, has the author sinned, in using 
 indifferent matter; — having said all of which, we are over our 
 little fit of temper, and gladly point out two or three of Miss 
 Mountcastle's many sweet and delightful verses. In " The Voice 
 of the Waters " is a wild wealth of imagination, a flowing music, 
 a profusion of epithet, and a boundless command of rhyme. 
 Here are three lovely lines, spoken by Strathallan to his love 
 Eleila: 
 
 ' ' 'Neath the headland, my love, where the white gulls are flocking, 
 My boat on the wave of dark Huron is rocking, 
 And waiting for thee."' 
 
Tiio van r a nd liter a ture. 4i)a 
 
 IUm'c i.s a l)it of clever verse: 
 
 ♦ ♦ " Oh, merciful Heaven, 
 How womon lUtcoivH, 
 
 With thuir diiaplin^ aiul nniiling, and oruel ccxiuetting, 
 Tho wiles of tho enomy, Sattui, abetting ; 
 With a hunrt like ii Htuno in u fiiir gilded setting. 
 O — fool ! to boliuvo 
 
 In the shallow all'oction thi\( womon profess, 
 Or hoed thu soft glanoon or tund r caress I 
 I'm sick of buliovinK in anyiltinK iiunian, 
 And tender and boantiful; 'specially woman." 
 
 In " (jlinipses of Inner Life" occur her liest vor-ses, and here 
 are two which no livinjj; poet might be aslianiod to acknow- 
 ledge : 
 
 " There lingers around thee, my darling, yet, 
 
 The perfume sweet of the mignonette; 
 
 And still, with thu faintest of carmine streak, 
 
 Doth tho wild rose blossom upon thy cheek." 
 
 And what a delightful stanza tliis is : 
 
 " My lore, my darling I my pale,fUi) moon 
 That lights, though distant, my lifo's dark noon, 
 With memory's biit.,htnes8 my sad heart filJ, 
 Sweet jiower of the i>ildwood, be with m,e.itUl." 
 
 We have put these two lii.j in italics, because tliey seem to- 
 us to contain the genuine jk < 
 
 We must close with thos :m o stanzas from " A Retrospec- 
 tion." They arc worthy o Irs. Henians, and are cf^ual to the 
 best verses of that poet : 
 
 " In tho long pat' (^aya of my childhood, 
 I sat at a cottage door ; 
 And saw with a childish rapture 
 The 8unli^j;ht t^lint or. the tloor ; 
 
 And over the hilia and the moadows, , 
 
 " ' And fretted through beech- wood grcve 
 
 Where thrushes and lobins were siiging 
 
 -- ■ ' ' "• •; ' Their wonderful tales of K)ve, 
 
 
494 LIFE OF SIR JO UN A. MACDONALD, 
 
 " And I watched the cumulus cloudlets 
 
 Piled, and like mountains riven, 
 And mvch I marvelled if that nxi.-i thf. road 
 
 That people walked up tii heaven. 
 The ascent for a space seemed easy, 
 
 And then came a step so high, 
 I never could hope to climb up it 
 
 Without I had wings to tly." 
 
 Again we have put in italics those two delightful linos on 
 the last quoted stanza. We should like to see this author less 
 sparing in weeding out the inditi'ereni lines from her poems ; 
 we should like to see hor keep a greater control over the in- 
 strument, to hold in, if that expression may be allowed us, and 
 give more attention to finish, while not permitting any verse to 
 go from her hands that has a weak spot. These are not vital 
 shortcomings, but are essential to her art; and a less rigid dis- 
 cipline is unw<>ftliy of her deeply passionate imagination, and 
 wealth of ver~;o. Miss Mountcastlo is an acquisition to our 
 choir ; she sin^fs a genuine note, but must learn to confine her 
 great abilihes to subjects worthy of her pen. 
 
 The arduous duties of journalism prevent Mr. Martin 
 J. Griffin from devoting his talents more to contributions to 
 endurin;; literature. A daily ntjwspaper is a vast absorbent, 
 sapping out of the most exhaustless mind all its freshness, 
 mellowness, and flavour ; yet the journalist ought not to forget 
 that what he writes from day to day is only an evanescent 
 food, looked at, thrown aside, and seldom remembered again ; 
 while a work of literature, if containing merit, will endure, and 
 instruct, and make better generations yet unborn. This is 
 how, when we are departi.ig; we can 
 
 . . " leave behind us 
 Footprints on the sands of time." 
 
 But Mr. Griffin contributed to the last Christmas number of 
 the Mail a poem addressed to Oliver Wendell Holmes, so 
 
THO U GUT A ND LITER A TURE. 496 
 
 swinging, airy and free, that we give one or two of the 
 stanzas : 
 
 " And so he's taken leave at length 
 
 Of college grave and students antic, 
 To spend his last remaining days 
 
 In writing papers for th' ' Atlantic I ' 
 His last / — his best ! go to ! ye knaves, 
 
 That say our poet's getting oldish, 
 Do ye fiiid weakness in the rvaves 1 
 D^ye think the sun a little coldish." 
 
 There is in this the lilt and swing of Gerald (Jriftin at his 
 best ; while the lines in italics are altogether masterpieces of 
 cleverness. Here is a rominisconce of the buried past; and 
 Mr. Griflin touches the chord with a feeling hand : — 
 
 '* Or friends might re id with eyes half dim 
 
 And hearts with time grown rather mellow, 
 And reading, calJ, ' A health to him. 
 
 He wasn't halt <* baddish fellow I 
 We knew him once — 'twas years ago, 
 
 When we were yonng and flowers were springing ; 
 We saw him daily come and go. 
 
 And heard and praised his simple singing,' 
 
 " ' 'Twas, how the pine woods ivhispered sweet 
 Their secrets to the wanderinj oceaii, 
 And how the surges murmured meet 
 Responses to the deep emotion. ' " 
 
 The music in these lines marked is harp-like and striking, 
 and the sentiment is pleasing. It is not too much to hope 
 that Mr. Griffin will be able to steal away sometimes from the 
 turmoil of journalism, and contribute from the fulness of his 
 fine talents something to our store of native letters. 
 
 In the Gancidian Monthly a number of writers, many of 
 whom deserved encouragement, appeared from time to time. 
 We cannot wait now to refer at length to " Seranus " whom 
 we understand to be Mrs. J. F. Harrison, of Ottawa, who some- 
 
496 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 c 
 
 times wrote fragments instinct with intense passion and a depth 
 of melody. Another valued contributor to the Monthly was 
 Mr. J. G. Bourinot, B.A., clerk of the house of commons, Ottawa. 
 Mr. Bourinot's contributions to literature have been valuable in 
 their way, especially his pamphlet on the intellectual develop- 
 ment of the Canadian people. Mr. Davin lately set his lance 
 against Mr. Bourinot's English, but Mr. Davin's English is not 
 any better than Mr. Bourinot's, however many other charming 
 (jualities it may possess. Mr. W. D. Le Sueur also contri- 
 buted a number of subtle and searching papers to the Monthly 
 for the publication of which the blockhead editor of a religious 
 paper charged the editor, Mr. Adam, with leanings to agnosti- 
 cism. Among our younger writers who show decided promise 
 may be mentioned Mr. Archibald Lampman, B.A., of Toronto ; 
 and Mr. J. A. Ritchie, of Ottawa. We have seen in Our Con- 
 tinenty in the Canadian Monthly and elsewhere verses of there 
 young gentlemen that justify us in predicting brilliant things 
 of their future. Mr. Lampman has an exquisite touch, and has 
 already written some lines of the very highest merit. Mr. 
 Ritchie has awakened from the strings of his instrument, a 
 soft, mellow music, that is large with promise of admirable 
 things. 
 
 In nearly every school-book we find something from Mr. 
 Sangster, which is given as a sample of " good Canadian poetry;" 
 but any of this writer's verse tha b we have read, and we think 
 we have seen it all, was not wor.h a brass farthing. His npine 
 only appears here that he may not be confounded with our 
 Canadian poe^8. 
 
 And now while on this subject let us say that as well may 
 we hope for " roses in December, ice in June," as to look for a 
 literature without a nationality. But in the awakening of 
 that national life for which we yearn, we may count on a 
 creative period in our literature ; for the time when our young 
 nation will ]3ut on the intellectual blossoms o" 'cmance and 
 song. Somt) of those who, while believing that the days of 
 
THOUGHT AND LITERATURE. 497 
 
 subordination and inferiority ought soon to coinc to an end, 
 still shrink timidly back into their shell, when asked to take 
 up the question of our disenthralnient practically, on the 
 ground that our confederation is yet only a tiny thing, that wo 
 would be *as a waif among the nations, forget that at the date 
 of confederation the joint population of our ])rovinces was 
 greater than that of any one, of fJnrtij-aeven J'Jaropean (Sov- 
 ereign States, and that at this day our population exceeds that 
 of either Portugal, Switzerland, Denmark, Saxony, Greece, or 
 Holland, more than doubling that of Dt'nmark, ani more than 
 trebling that of Holland. They have forgotten, too, that the 
 star of empire is moving in our direction ; that we have open 
 doors facing towards the emigrant of all quarters of the globe ; 
 that wo have to the west of us half a continent of wheat land, 
 capahle of sustaining ninety millions of people ; that already 
 railroads have thrown this unrivalled territory, open to the 
 husbandman ; that every ship that crosses the ocear is laden 
 with human freight for our new country ; that our western 
 cities are expanding by strides, an<I that capital, intelligence, 
 and enterprise are coming from all quarters of the civilized 
 world to cast in their lot with us. Neither are we like the 
 Irishman or the Russian unfit to take the supreme government 
 into our own hands ; for a beneficent educational system has 
 been for many years shedding its light among us, that now, the 
 intellectual condition of the mass of our people is far higher 
 than that of England herself, or of any other European state. 
 That a change must soon come in our political status, no one 
 whose opinion is of any value will now deny ; and to the spec- 
 ulating mind one of three courses will be open : Federation 
 with the empire, a scheme which is the birth of a disordered 
 poetic .^agination ; annexation with the United States — a pro- 
 posal for which we have not the remotest sympathy, and which, 
 we believe, would be unwelcome to the people, but which is 
 infinitely preferable to that disordered plagiarism of Mr, Justin 
 
 McCarth}'^ " the plan of a general federation " — and Canadian 
 FF 
 
498 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 Independence. We need not repeat what we have expressed 
 ■so often, that for this latter scheine are we heart and soul ; that 
 no other change will satisfy the manly, yearning spirit of our 
 young Canadians ; and that it is our duty now to bestir our- 
 selves, to organize, and to tire not uor rest till our Colonial- 
 ism shall have become a thing of the past, and our Canada 
 stand robust, and pure, and manly, and intelligent, among the 
 nations of the earth. But we must awake from our sordid 
 ignominy, our cowardly sloth ; unless, indeed, the chains befit 
 us, and we are happy in the bondage. If we be, then liberty 
 is an impertinence upon our lips, and the rights of free-born 
 citizenship a boon of which we are not worthy. If we be, then 
 is it the duty of our press and our public men to stifle the im- 
 pulse of manhood, till, coiling the chain about us, we lie down 
 in our dishonoured rest. 
 
 "Freeman he is not, but slave, 
 
 Who (stands not out on my side ; 
 His own hand hollows his grave, 
 Nor strength is in me to save ^ 
 
 Where strength is none to abide. 
 
 Time shall tread on his name 
 
 That was written for honour of old, 
 Who hath taken a change for fame 
 Dust, and silver, and shame. 
 
 Ashes, and iron, and gold." 
 
 >■■■,. 
 

 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 SIR JOHN AT HOME — LADY MACDONALD. 
 
 rpHE career of a man who figures in high pubHc station is 
 X hke unto the passage of a boat down a stream whose course 
 lies through the rough way and the smooth: now he loiters 
 along through the rolling prairie, again he plunges through 
 M'ikl mountain-chasms, where sometimes the frail toy that car- 
 ries him is swallowed up ; or we see him in the boiling surge, 
 his eye bright-calm, his nerves tense and sure, as with steady 
 arm he steers triumphantly through the danger: yet again, 
 looking, we behold his boat enter some low, misty land through 
 which they say only those men wander who do dark-mysterious 
 things ; but the little barque can tarry not, for it is bounden to 
 the motion of the flood, which is borne on the never-ceasing 
 wheels of time, till at last the passage is made, and, as the sun^ 
 goes down, the voyager reaches the arms of the haven, the 
 wide -spreading, tranquil sea.* We have followed Sir John 
 
 * The following -ire some of the measures of legislation accomplished by the Right 
 Hon. gentleman since entering public life: — The secularization of the clergy re- 
 serves ; the improvement of the criminal laws ; the promotion of public instruc- 
 tion ; the consolidation of the statutes ; the extension of the municipal system ; the 
 leorganization of the militia ; settlement of the seat of Government question ; the 
 establishment of direct steam mail communication with Europe ; the establishment 
 of additional penitentiaries, criminal lunatic asylums and reformatory prisons, and 
 providing for the inspection thereof : the providing for the internal economy of the 
 House of Commons ; the reorganization of the Civil Service on a permament basis ; 
 the construction of the Intercolonial Railway ; the enlargement of the canals ; the 
 enactment of a stringent election law ; the ratification of the Washington Treaty : 
 the confederation of B.N. A. ; the extension and consolidation of the Dominion; 
 the adoption of a National Policy, and a measure for the construction of the Canada 
 Pacific Railway . 
 
 499 
 
600 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 Mactlonald down the .stream, and we believe he has done his 
 (hity. On some trivial occasionn his course may not have re- 
 commended itself to our judgment ; but oven these incidents 
 wo have had the disadvantage of viewing from distant groimd, 
 and might, on a close examination, find that it is we who wore 
 ujistaken. Party being unfortunately the Canadian vehicle of 
 government, our statesmen arc all, more or less, bondsmen to 
 the system ; and even that writer of history who sits down to 
 his task with the desire of discovering shortcomings in the 
 record of Sir John Macdonald will find, when his work is done, 
 that he is able only to make an array of such transgiessions 
 as are sanctioned by party morality, not fewer, neither more 
 heinous, than those to be laid at the threshold of any of his 
 contemporaries, domestic or foreign. But if he set himself to 
 follow the record in cold blood, and to do his duty, he would 
 find that the influence of Sir John Macdonald's career upon the 
 political life of the country, and upon public opinion, has been 
 greater and better, and of a nature that will pi'ove more endur- 
 ing, than that of any other Canadian statesman, whether dead 
 or living. That Sir John is a party ist it would be no use to 
 deny ; but there is no man in this country who more abhors 
 the tyranny of party than he ; and it is only a few days ago 
 "since he declared that the usefulness of that journal was gone 
 which had not an independent intelligence of its own, and 
 which became the mere organ of a doctrine or of a party of 
 men. Sir John has always, and to a far greater extent than 
 %ve could wish, sought to instil a feeling of loyalty among Can- 
 adians to the British empire ; but he has also, more than any 
 other Canadian statesman, taught us the duty of loyalty to 
 ourselves. His doctrine seems to us to have been like this : My 
 great wish is that Canada shall remain an ally of Great Britain, 
 and I desire to see the same sentiment among our people ; hut 
 to our own selves we must he true. We should be loyal to Great 
 Britain ; we must be loyal to Canada. Once, indeed, he char- 
 acterized a scheme of Mr. Blake's, of which we do not disap- 
 
SIR JOHN AT HOME— LADY MACDONALD. 501 
 
 prove, as " veiled treason " — though had it been veiled treason 
 that would not have given it less value — hut this was only 
 ji platform small-arm ; he has taught us the adjective national, 
 and he has given us a national policy. Nay, more than this 
 when he believed that policy to be for Canada's best interests 
 — and his opponents cried out that it would endanger British 
 <ionnection, — a newspaper, voicing his sentiments, replied, "Tlien 
 HO much the worse for British connexion." It is notorious that 
 Sir John is ten times more popular with the young men than 
 either his late or his present rival ; and the explanation of this 
 is : the policy of Canadian loyalty to Canadian interests which 
 he has adopted. Both Messrs. Blake and Mackenzie have shown 
 deep concern in the welfare of their country, but it was a cold- 
 blooded interest, an instinct arising from an intellectual sense 
 of duty, with as much warmth of impulse as a sheriff might 
 feel in whipping a malefactor at the post. In a country like 
 this, too, where the tendency is to carry political malevolence 
 from the platform to the fire-side, the influence of Sir John 
 has been good. He has dealt hard blows to opponents, but he 
 puts no poison upor his blade ; and some of those who have 
 not been able to agree with the public policy of the right hon. 
 gentleman, and who have given him hard thrusts — which have 
 been repaid with " usury thereto " — are his warmest personal 
 friends. Among his own colleagues, his voice is a pervading 
 harmony ; and we have the testimony of those who have sat 
 with him, that sometimes, on his leaving the scene, the instru- 
 iiment has become jangled and o'lt of tune, till his hand has 
 again touched the strings and renewed the concord. The keen- 
 est listener at the keyhole or the windows of Sir John's council 
 chamber hears not the faintest note of discord, though some- 
 times we have seen the door open, and a colleague come out 
 who has never gone in again : the very " taking off" has been 
 •effected not alone with absolute secrecy, but positive harmony. 
 The same great newspaper that has likened Sir John's surpass- 
 ing gift of leadership to the feat of the Hindoo juggler in 
 
502 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 keeping a half-dozon bulls in the air at once.as much comprehends 
 that power of subtle tact by which a miiid understanding 
 human nature rules through that knowledge, as its founder 
 knew of any way to manage a party except to drive it. Sir 
 John's rule has not been a regime of driving and the whip, but 
 one of Ivadiwj and good-will. 
 
 Sir John is scarcely less effective on the platform than \n 
 the council, though he is not a great orator ; ^et his speeches 
 have a strong appealing note, a flavour and a 'onquering sym- 
 pathy only found in a man of marked individuality; but this- 
 subtle quality does not bear handling, and ^ives no evidence of 
 itself in his printed addresses. The passionate outbursts of 
 O'Connell, instinct with the fire of personality, and thosa 
 weirdly fascinating utterances of Shiel, are pa uded upon the 
 page before us like corpses, with no more glow thnn one of the 
 insufferably eloquent, searching, and philosophic*! fluxes of 
 Burke, But the undefinable quality by which tho speaker is 
 able to gauge the intellectual and emotional capacity of his 
 audience, to keep his hand upon its pulse as he speaks, and tO' 
 sway it at his pleasure, Sir John possesses in a degrc;; sujierior 
 to that of any living statesman. Sometimes, by a i'f^n'^iar 
 word or two, you see him levelling distinctions between him- 
 self and the audience, as the clouds scattered when Ariel 
 raised his wand ; you observe that one and all, the farmer, the 
 labourer, the mechanic, feel that they and the prime-minister 
 are assembled thorc on a common mission — the prime-minister 
 only happens to he prime minister, and speaking then ; any one 
 else, also, might have been — the / is lost in the ive ; yet by little 
 stages we observe that the crowd is led to see that the speaker 
 is the man v:ho is doing their work the best. He makes nO' 
 reservations, and never sets up the barrier of ice between the 
 prime-minister and the crowd. Neither does he pose as a per- 
 fect man and an infallible politician, but as Lord Jol.n Russell 
 did in his " Recollections," tells them that in his public course 
 his footsteps here and there have erred, but that he has striven 
 
SIR JOHN AT I/OME—LADY MACDONALD. mw 
 
 to ilo his duty. Sir John has a fund of Innnoroiis anecdote 
 and joko which ho uses in his speeches, and liis liearers look for 
 these flashes even throu«^h his treatment of a Boundary Award 
 or a trade ([uestlon ; but, with one firm step, still with the 
 smile upon his face and the twinkle in his eye, you see him rise 
 to the <,'round of di<,milied seriousness, and you listen to some 
 broad principle laid down in clear, torse language, and argued 
 in a style incisive and logical. Yet we know how diffictdt it is 
 to rise from levity to seriousness, and he who can do so with- 
 out sacrifice of dignity, reveals that which claims a respect too 
 <leep to be shaken by the flashy foibl'.'s of a speech. Sheridan 
 usually carried "pickled puns" in his pocket to the house of 
 commons; but at last he found, to his horror, that he had raised 
 a ghost which he could not put to rest ; — that his audience had 
 refused to consider liim in earnest, even in his most serious 
 and sententious moods. Sydney Smith was often a paragon of 
 cold, penetrating sense and dignity; yet he had got the repu- 
 tation of a humourist, and when he sought to be most serious 
 had the mortification of finding that his hearers wore preparing 
 to laugh, under the impression that he was elaborating a joke. 
 Once while he said grace at a very solemn dinner, a young lady 
 burst out laughing. 
 
 If you enter the house of commons and the premier be there, 
 you will be likely to see him sitting at his desk, one leg crossed 
 over the other, frequently his head resting on his hand. He 
 does not fall into that clammy torpitude as if he were a coiled 
 snake, as did Mr. Disraeli ; neither does he sit there his heart 
 upon his sleeve, and a cloud of daw^s [jecking at it, but with eyes 
 and ears open to see and hear all going on ; never taking even 
 an unkindly thrust to heart, but playfully overwhelming some 
 sententious labourer with a flash of repartee, good-naturedly 
 but decisively and with dignity correcting some garbler of fact, 
 or chatting in open-hearted and jolly friendliness with a knot 
 of his followei-s. Some members like Darby Griffith, have a 
 faculty for asking troublesome, and sometimes even imper- 
 
r»04 LIFE OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 tinont rjuostions. Darliy ono day so ])rovoko(l tliu luinistcis Ity 
 Mcekin*,' for fHcts vvhicli ho liad no ri^^lit to know, that Disiiieli 
 wlio sat then at one of the treasury benches, uncoiled and com- 
 ing toliis feet complimented tlie hon. member on tin; })Ossession 
 of "a luminous intellect; " then sat down. Mr. Gladstone is 
 kept in a perpetual hot l»ath by mendxirs asking (piestions ; 
 and sometimes delivers himself of a proclamation where yes or 
 no would be .sufficient. Sir Jolin's way of dealing with the 
 smell-fun<'us mendjei's is nmch like Disraeli's; if he can irive 
 the information he either simply gives it, or tells them it will 
 be brought down ; or, if ^ , deem tliat they ought not to have 
 it, then without any qualu.s, and with a pregnant brevity tells 
 them so ; even though some of his own valued supporteis be 
 among the enquirers. Never does that matchless tact seem to 
 fail him. There is no use in denying that Mr. Blake is a dan- 
 gerous opponent ; and that Ids view of ([uestions of law and 
 fact are, in the main, almost ceitain to be right ; and this Sir 
 John cheerfully recognises, though taking the record the opinion 
 of the conservative chief has, on matters of precedence, and on 
 constitutional and other questions, been far less often astray 
 than the leader of the opposition. But should Sir John or one of 
 his colleagues or supportei's have a bill or a resolution before 
 the house, and Mr. Blake called attention to any bad feature, 
 or offered a substitution that Sir John believed to be an im- 
 provement, the latter has invariably adopted the suggestion 
 with cheerfulness, and courteously acknowledged its value. In 
 like manner, too, has he given, the benefit of his best thought 
 to the framing of the supreme court act and other measures, 
 while ioiader of the opposition. Sir John seldom makes a long 
 speech, and apart altogether from the magnetism of his ad- 
 dresses, the house, for this reason, would be prej)ared to hear 
 him when he rises. Long speeches have become an intolerable 
 nuisance in the house of commons, especially the outpourings of 
 members who have nothing original to say, but who are merely 
 reiterating the opinions of speakers who have gone before them. 
 
 \ 
 
SlJt JOHN AT IIOMK LADV MACVONALD. r,((r» 
 
 In nil his relations, oithcrwith opponents or (iifferinfjf frionda, 
 Sir John is conciliatory ; hut he never recorles from a position 
 the tenahility of which ho has assured himself. His intellect is 
 clear and rohust, and lie has an eye to detect error in an oppo- 
 nent's )»osition, lurk where it may. His speeches, as a rule, may 
 1)0 re<.,'ardcd as models of clear, pure, ineisiv(i Kn^dish, in which, 
 as we have seen, there is to he found the flash of wit, and an . 
 under current of stron}^ humour ; while sometimes there darts 
 out a keen sting of sarcasm, or a shaft of scorn. His sword fre- 
 (piently cuts deep, Imt it cuts clean ; he is rarely severe, and 
 never shows any malice or coarseness in attack. It has heen 
 sai<l, and truly, "If Sir John make a statement of puhlic policy, 
 then you may know he is etpinl to the occasion." And if the 
 <lifHculty in his way grow into a crisis, then is he, too, able to 
 ri.se and grapple with it at the climax. 
 
 Sir John luis heen twice married, first to his cousin Isabella 
 Clark, in September, 1848, and by whom ho had two children 
 John Alexander, who was born in 1847 and died the following 
 year, ami Hugh John, who was born in Marcli, 18o0, and is still 
 living. His first wife died in 1857. He married again in 
 1807, his present wife, Susan Agnes, daughter of the late Hon. 
 T. J. Bernard, a member of Her Majesty's privy council of 
 the Island of Jamaica. In 1805 he received the degree (hon- 
 orary) of D. C. L., from Oxford University, and is also LL.D. 
 of Queen's University, Kingston, and a 1). C. L., of the Uni- 
 versity of Trinity College, Toronto. In July 1807, he wfis 
 created a K. C. B. (civil) by Her Majesty ; and in 1872, wns 
 created a knight grand cross of the royal order of Isdhcl de 
 Catolica of Spain. In the ^'^me year he was nominated a 
 member of Her Majesty's privy council ; and was sworn a 
 privy councillor, in August, 1879. Sir John's residence is Sta- 
 dacona Hall, Ottawa ; Stadacona Club, Kingston, and the Ri- 
 deau and Yacht Clubs. In private life Sir John has his circle 
 of waim admirers as well as at the public board. He is frank 
 and genial by temperament, kind and courteous in his social 
 
50(1 mn OF SIR joiir a. macdonald. 
 
 relations, "a very prince," says n (listin^ui.shcd ^niost once at 
 liis liotiHc, and a warm adnurcr, "at liis own hoard. " Tlmt 
 witinini,' ^'raco of nianiicr whifli tho.so who do not know hia 
 think lie wt'urs for political pu. [uvscs in puMic lifi-, shines ou 
 still more bri<,ditly in tho domost". and social .sphere ; that it i 
 really impossible lo know Sii .'ohn at tho fireside or tht 
 Ifoard, and not to love him. Th ^ poet is not always ri<^ht, t'cr 
 thus he sings : 
 
 " Ho who aacumlB to iio\intaiii fops shall find 
 Tho loftiest peaks mott wrap ' dotidn and snow ; 
 Ifo who siirpasBCo or subdue;, i vnkind, 
 Mtist look dowi >n the liate c 'i'i3ii ))ul(>w. 
 Though high >iho'i: the nun cj' tjlow 
 
 And fur beneath i le oar'.l vnc' w a.. ' npread, 
 Round him are ii y roti- id ! muly ]. w 
 Convnnillng tomptiti f.'i )■ .1 niii.'od head, 
 And thus n ,vard tho toil to whi ih those sum.jii l. . ." 
 
 Sir Jol;n has reached this country the iM i id that 
 
 a Canadian son may c' -b, bu ' ' does n ' tl s lofty 
 
 peak " wrapt in clouds v J sno , ^ rather wari:ii I ^;' the strong 
 devotion and affection of a band of friends w»i > udmire him 
 no lesd for tho j rare ;i^)iiities which make hi' " i e greatest 
 statesman on the Amc' 'can continent,* than r \ »oso large- 
 .souled and sterling personal qualities which hav m nd men 
 to him as with hoops of steel. When not receiving ''liends at 
 dinner or in some other social way, Sir John is to be found in 
 his little library attending to public business, or reading 
 until very late at night. He reads with great rapidity. The 
 range of his reading is very extensive and varied ; this may 
 be really said to form his only reci'cation. In conversa- 
 tion he is brilliant and entertaining, and as several with 
 whom he exchanges hospitalities ditter from him in poli- 
 tics, his convei'sation on public questions is tolerant, airy, 
 and good-natured. Mr. Goldwin Smith, once replying in 
 The Bystander to the allegation of having learnt some 
 ministerial trick at " Stadacona Hall " tells us that hia 
 
 * It is admitted, even by leading United States joiiruals, that Sir John is the 
 ableHt Htatesman on the continent. 
 
SIR JOHN A T IWMK LAW MA VWNA Tj). Wf 
 
 impiossion is " tliivt there is ii'f much to I • leainf at SUda- 
 coim Hall I uyond thu lesHon ; nj^ht hy tliu exi'mpl<; of a rttntes- 
 iiiuii wlio k^iowH how to la} pt>litia aHiclo in the si)cial hotir 
 an<l is largo-minded enough to bear vitli opiiuui's diMerini; 
 from his own." 
 
 But the erosvn to Sir Johns sf ^ini y 'ccess is -xivnn by tht 
 1)1p.co his very acconiplishctl iUid po|j i . i wit"*- Lt-d ''ucdonuid 
 fills at the capital. (Jf tin' socirty ciiclo Dicfc, '.s .jlie voted 
 pre-en»incnUy, the queen ; vvhoic in every aojoot of social 
 ontorp'" e hIic is the first and the last, and no •,: s ♦he f^vouritt 
 i ihe Iderly and the demure, than of the >oiiP)jf I'ldk. To go 
 to Oil v. I and nwjntion the name of Lady }', I't maid to -my 
 of the young people there, is at onco to brin / forth « i-n- 1 in 
 her praise. Everything, they toll you that i-. to bo "g(i ly. 
 [ja.(\y I^Mcdonald ha.H a hand in, not indeed that t^ho seek^ . 
 take this place or oven cares u r it ; but so kindly is her natnn 
 that sh( is prodigal both of her time and . uorgy to maki-' 
 everything agreeable; whik iv is a fact that nothing seems to 
 go on so luiruioniously or successfully when -ih<i is not at its 
 head and front. Verily, thou she .seems to b*' in the sociid, wh^ t 
 her husband is in the public, sphere. Tn political questions too 
 this gifted It' iy takes no little interest, and her judgment is 
 .said to be scarce less sound tha!i that of Su' .'ohn, who, ii is 
 whispered, is in the habit of con.sulting her w en he is aVout 
 to take soine important political step. And \'hile v.e nave 
 no doubt that, like the wives ol' several di3t'n'i,uisli(:(l Eng- 
 lish statesmen, what rumoui- says of Lady vfactlonf^ld in. 
 this respect is true, yet it is the social sphere i.hat she most 
 adorns, where she is no less warmly admired by ladies .v'hose 
 husbands are politically opposed to Sir John than b. those of 
 his own friends. In domestic life. Lady Ma' i jn.ild is a model 
 woman, lavishing her tenderness upon an invalid daughter, 
 keeping a household that might well bo the en /y of any circle ; 
 attending to Sir John at late sittings o': the hoiso, and, as Mrs. 
 Disraeli used to do, and as Mrs. Gladstjue doea, wrapping up 
 
503 LIFE OF SIR JOHK A. MACDONALD. 
 
 her husband after he lias made a speech, and zealously guarding 
 his health at hor.ie or whle travelling. And to quote the 
 young people again, who will insist on telling their gratitude, 
 «he is ready at tive m nutes warning, no mattei- how fatigued she 
 may ho, to have lun';U for a tired toboggan o.- snow-shoe party, 
 or to accompany gaiherings oi" young folks as chaperon. Add 
 to this her genial and kindly manner, her charity to the scores 
 who will j>ress their wants upon a lady in high station, and 
 especially when they find her heart tender and her purse open. 
 Altogether Lady Macdonald is a worthy mate for her thrice 
 worthy and distinguished husband. 
 
 .\s every labour, whether done in pain or lingered over 
 fondly must sometime end, so too must close this book. The 
 I bird making its first flight may not seem S' > grsjceful on the 
 wing as the accomplished veteran of the aii- — fhough it may ; 
 but no one will chitl i the ambition that prompted it ^o tost 
 its pinions. This is our first book, and we may be reminded ; 
 ■"Ves, we know it is, for we have seen your flight;" and we 
 answer that the work may have been adventurous and perhaps 
 beyond our calling, but, nevertheless, that we are satisfied. 
 And if the conscience of a man upbraid him not, whether it be 
 his trade to write books or to rule empires, he need iiot to fear for 
 the critics who probably can do neither. 
 
 We have now followed Sir John through the wilderni;ss for 
 forty years, have seen him as a little boy with briL'^ht eyes and 
 curly hair looking upon the land now so full with his name, 
 and so onriehed by his work ; and we have see/? him with 
 "shining morning face creeping like a snail unv/illingly to 
 school ;" have wandered with him fishing-rod in hand around 
 the lovely shores of Quintd Bay, and seen him carry away the 
 palm frou) the school-room; and later still, delighted at his 
 talent, we have observed him struggling with all his strength 
 of heart and brain to free from doom a noble but misguided 
 client: and have looked upon him entering the stormy road of 
 politics, and seen him through a long roll of turbulent years 
 
sin JOHN AT II OME—LA DY MACD ONA LI). 509 
 
 till the dawn of a peaceful and higher era glows in the sky, 
 and we hear his voice cheering his followers to prepare for the 
 better order coming ; then, too, this transition past, and the 
 dawn bloomed into the full day, finding him crowned — 
 
 . . " on fortune's slopes, 
 The pillar of the people's hopes, 
 The centre of the state's desire." 
 
 He has come through sunshine and tempestuous weather, has 
 borne the brunt of more than a hundred battles, yet is he still 
 as full of spirit, and as full of hope as when, in i)ublic harness, 
 we saw him first, forty years ago ; still is his arm strong, his 
 blood warm, his glance bright; and should he now care to 
 resign the place he has so worthily won, and so honorably fills, — 
 something however which he is not likely to do, and which his 
 country would mourn to see come to pass-»-ard sit down as 
 some men do by their cottage door as the afternoon advances, 
 glancing back as over some panorama at the record of their 
 lives, well might he feel that to him has come as much of glory 
 as usually falls to the lot of man ; well might a tinge of pride 
 steal to his cheek as he thought of the unbounded and lonfj- 
 continued trust the people have placed in his talents and his 
 honour ; then turning from the past to the present how might 
 he not thrill as he saw the glorious promise given to this young- 
 nation, marrowy, strong-ai'med and ambitious, and the goddess 
 with benign smile from her abundant store shedding down 
 upon the land over which he ruled, peace, prosperity and 
 content. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 THE REPRESENTATION BILL — 18.")3. 
 
 Tins bill gave rise to a warm discussion, Messrs. Hincks, Brown and 
 
 other leading reformers giving it sturdy championship. Mr. John A. 
 
 Macdonald resohitely opposed it for several reasons, one of which was 
 
 that the measure was to remain inoperative for three years, llis views in 
 
 this respect, it will be seen, were the same as those he holds at this day, on 
 
 the virtues of a p.arlianient shown to be unrepresentative of the people. 
 
 Mr. Macdonald said : 
 
 If there is one thing to be avoided, it is meddling with the constitution 
 of the country, which should not be altered till it is evident that the 
 people are suffering from the effect of that constitution as it actually 
 exists. I say that the government have never been called upon to bring 
 forward this measure. The voice of the country has been silent upon it, 
 and why ? Because the people have, under the present system, always 
 been fairly and thoroughly represesited by those whom they sent to parlia- 
 ment. The representatives, for the time being, have always fairly repre- 
 sented the people by whom they were elected, and there never has been 
 any want of sympathy between the people and their representatives. The 
 people have always been fully rei)resented by their eighty-four members. 
 The best evidence of this is that we have no petitions before us in favour 
 of this measure; no one has asked for it. A sacrilegious hand has been 
 placed upon onr constitution. In every question put to the people, clergy 
 reserves, rectories, or what not, the people of Canada have told their 
 representatives what course they wished them to take. Look at all the 
 other great questions of the day that have been put to the people of Can- 
 ada — are not our tables loaded with petitions regarding them ? Where is 
 there a single petition in favour of this measure from Upper Canada or 
 from Lower Canada ? It has been said that this has been made a test 
 question at the elections: but if that is the real state of the case, the peo- 
 ple would have made their intentions known by petitions. The inspector- 
 
514 APPENDIX. 
 
 general introduced a bill which nearly doubled the number of represen- 
 ttitives, and yet he says that the government had no intention of putting 
 it into effect. The only reason that can exist for such a course, is that he 
 sees the people are fairly represented by the members now siting here. 
 There is no reason for his proceeding, but this, which is the only one thai 
 has ever been assigned : that the government can buy up the members and 
 can exercise more influence over them. The hon. the inspector-general 
 has a most winning way of exercising an influence over the members of 
 this house — a way much more potent than is possessed by any hon. mem- 
 ber on this side of the house. When 1 had the honour of a seat in the 
 cabinet, I found hon. members on the other side of the house a most 
 impracticable sot ; but the hon. inspector-general is a much better haiid at 
 that sort of thing. He is carrying this measure just as Lord Castlereagh 
 carried the union iu Ireland. He traps a member here and a member 
 there, just picking up votes whenever he can get them; and yet the strongest 
 reason ever given for this measure was, that it would prevent corruption 
 by the government. I am not afraid of this undue influence of the govern- 
 ment, lecause I believe the people of Upper Canada can take as good care 
 of her interests, even with only eighty-four members, as they could with 
 three times the number. I think also that I could not vote for this mea- 
 sure on account of the injustice of its details. Why, sir, to think that 
 60,000 persons in one place are to have six members, while 60,000 next to 
 them are to have but three members ! — there must be some strong reason 
 for this extraordinary inconsistency. It is evident that the country has been 
 cut and carved in all directions, without any regard to fairness or justice, 
 just to obtain the requisite number of votes to carry the measure. I know 
 that the inspector-general, if left to himself, would have done what is just 
 and right, but he is under the influence of men to whom he dare not say 
 nay. As I had made up my mind to vote against this bill, it is perhaps 
 not fair that I should refer to the details, but there is one great reason 
 why I should vf.te against the measure, and that is that it is not now to 
 go into efTect, Why should we now pass a bill of this import and nature 
 which is not to come into force for three years ? But I tell the inspector- 
 general that he dare not, according to the constitution of the country, 
 carry this idea into efl'ect. He dare not continue the present house one 
 moment after this bill comes into force. You not only declare that 
 there are not a sufficient number of representatives, but you declare by 
 the Franchise Bill that there are a large number of persons in Upper 
 Canada who are not represented, but who ought to be represented ; and 
 yet you Bn-j now, after declaring that their rights exists, that they are not 
 to be granted for three years to come. The inspector-general cannot 
 
APPENDIX. 515 
 
 give this advice to the representative of the Crown, and if he doea he is 
 unworthy of the pluce that he holds. If he gives it, it will not be received. 
 Look at the Reform Bill in England. That was passed by a parliament 
 that had been elected only one year before, and the moment it wus passed 
 Lord John Russell nflirmed that the house could not continue after it had 
 declared that the country was not properly represented. How can we 
 legislate on the clergy reserves until another house is assembled, if this 
 bill pusses ? A great question like this cannot be left to be decided by an 
 accidental majority. Wo can legislate upon no great question after we 
 have ourselves declared that we do not represent the countiy. Do hon. 
 gentlemen opposite mean to say that they will legislate on a question 
 affecting the rights of people yet unborn, with the fag end of a parliament 
 dishonoured by its own confessions of incapacity. I have only one thing 
 more to say, and that is, that I would recommend my hon. friend the 
 attorney-general to look carefully into the Union Act before he consents to 
 allow this bill to pass. 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY BILL — 1853. 
 
 On the 1st of April, Mr. Macdonald inflicted a memorable castigation 
 on Dr. Rolph, whom he charged, and not without good reason, which was 
 plain at the time, and proved afterwards, with having a personal interest 
 in the object sought by the bill. Mr. Macdonald said : 
 
 If there ever was a farce in the world it is this proposed university. 
 You exclude all law, all medicine, ill religion, and what have you left? 
 This bill has been prepared to meet the views of certain gentlemen in 
 Toronto ; it has been prepared to meet the views of the hon. commissioner 
 of crown lands (hear, hear); it has been prepared for that and for nothing 
 else. A great national school is to be destroyed by this bill — a noble 
 endowment for a great national institution is to be broken up ; and the 
 manner in which the inspector-general spoke, shows that he feels this. If 
 we are to have a great national institution in which the qualifications for 
 every profession are to be obtained, a great national school to which all 
 
B16 APFKNDIA. 
 
 the Bubonlinatc colleges are to look up, what will be the use of this uni- 
 versity which is to exclude all practical knowledge. By this scheme wo 
 must go to Osgoodo II.iU for law, to the great institution of tiio commis- 
 sioner of cmwn lands for medicine, and to Dr. Charbonnol, or the Chris- 
 tian Brothers for religion (Hear, hear). This is the way in which the 
 endowment is to be frittered away for no purpose. For no purpose 1 Yes, 
 Mr. Chairman, for a purpose — a very sinister purpose. Why, sir, instead 
 of one great university a national institution, wo are to have a lot of little 
 institutions where people can learn a little Latin and less Greek, and 
 nothing well. Why are we to have this ? For, as I have said, a sinister 
 purpose ; to gratify the selfish ends and the personal feelings of the hon. 
 commissioner of crown lands. 
 
 Hon. Mr. Rolph said that the assertions of the hon. member for King- 
 ston were as unfounded as they were unworthy of that hon. member. Has 
 he descended so low as in his place in parliament to make assertions so 
 low as those he had just uttered ? I ask him what he means by those 
 assertions ] Has he a right to say that 1 stand up here and give my sup- 
 port to measures for my own personal advantage / How can he prostitute 
 his talents and his tongue to such calumny ? Such conduct is unparlia- 
 raeatary, and h would be better for the hon. member to move an amend- 
 ment, establishing a separate medical school with public endowment than 
 to make personal attacks on me. A university teaches nothing — it only 
 confers degrees. 
 
 Mr. Macdonald continued: — I made those assertions because I thought 
 they were true ; and I repeat them, because 1 think they are still true ; 
 and because I think them true I cannot retract them. And I believe 
 that my feeling on this matter is the general feeling of Upper Canada. It 
 is known in Upper Canada, it is known in Toronto, that the commissioner 
 of crown lands has coolly and deliberately sacrificed, to gratify his own 
 personal feelings, a great national institution. I apologise to the house for 
 anything that I have said that may have been unparliamentary ; but I 
 said it because it was true. I shall not repeat again what I have said, 
 because tho hon. gentleman says it is not parliamentary. The hon. gentle- 
 man seems to say that I do not xinderstand what a university is. Why, 
 air, if I know anything about it, I understand that the original meaning 
 of the word university is, a seat of learning >vhere all branches of science 
 are taught. They might remember that there was a time when there were 
 thousands of students at the university of Oxford before a single college 
 was established. Colleges are merely places where the students take 
 shelter. The university system means a great institution where students 
 from all parts of the country come together and study under the profes- 
 
ArrENUlX. 517 
 
 florial Bystom. It is bo in Scutland, it is bo in Ciermany, everywhere in 
 fact except in England. Upon this very question what does the recent 
 report of the university couuuiasion say ? It recommends the doing away 
 with tlio colleges, and restoring to the university the power and discretion 
 of regulating the whole curriculum. I know just as well as the hon. mem- 
 ber the dillorence between a college and a university. This bill proposes 
 to establish what the university commission in England proposes to dises- 
 tablish. This bill proposes to do away with the university and restore 
 the colleges: just the very reverse of what is being done in England. By 
 this bill, law is nothing, medicine is nothing, and religion is a farce. 
 [t leaves nothing but mathematics and classics. Is it not known every- 
 where that the English system is a false one, and tiiat they should return 
 to the German free-scholar system ? Is not the report of the commission 
 that has beenpubliahed, strongly in favour of doing away with the colle- 
 giate system and restoring the university I The hon. gentleman says that 
 my remarks were rash; well, they nuvy have been so, but that depends on 
 whether they were true. Does not the hon. gentleman know that he has 
 been charged by every professional brother in Toronto, with destroying 
 a great medical school to advance hia own selfish purposes. I do not say 
 that the charge is true for that would be unparliamentary; but does he 
 not know that he has been pointed at with the fiugoi ^i scorn for doing 
 80 ] The hon. gentleman may have found that another 3< !. 'd protected 
 by the government interfered with his own. I do n ' mean to disparage 
 the school of the lion, 'gentleman, but I mean [o s -f t.*i)i, that while it 
 tiourished so well under his own immediate patronas<(?, tiir;ro was no reason 
 why the college school should be destroyed ; there was no reason for it at 
 all. It is since that hon. gentleman has not been abK to .-ittend to it 
 that the great evil has been discovered. The hon. gentleman sneers at my 
 remarks about the philosophy of law, but I tell him that law is a science, 
 and the prastice and philosophy of law are the same thing, and must be 
 taught together. Is that doctrine not laid down by Blackstona in every 
 line of his immortal Commentaries. Moral law is a moral science, but 
 civil law is that which protects one man from another, and one man's pro- 
 perty from another. That is law in the sense in which thia bill means, and 
 in that sense the philosophy of law and the practice of the law are the 
 same. I regret that I have been compelled to go into this discussion ; I 
 regret it exceedingly: b«t I thought, and still think, that this bill was 
 prepared solely with the view of doing away with a certain school of medi- 
 cine in Toronto. If I am mistaken, I have done wrong to the commi'- 
 sioner of crown lands and his colleagues; and if it be not as I have stated, 
 I can only say that my error is participated in by every educated man in 
 
51S ArrENDfX. 
 
 ITppor Canada. Tliere is a Btrnnf; feeling in Upper Canada that these 
 great branchos of learning are excluded from the university, not from an** 
 desire for the public good, but from purely personal motives. 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 TEMrKIlANCE BILL— 1853. 
 
 As early as 1851, the advocates of virtue, whelher-ymi-like-it-or-no, 
 induced a certain member to introduce a bill into the Canadian legislature, 
 to restrain the sale of intoxicating licjuors and promote temperance. Mr. 
 John A. Macdonald, who did not believe that legislation ouglit to take 
 the pl;ice of Christian perseverance, and that a man or a wcmRn to got to 
 heaven, cannot be helped there by the law of the land, since heaven la the 
 reward only of those who fight the good fight and ccnqier, and since, if 
 there was no temptation there could be no slrife, and hence no glory and 
 no heaven, opposed the bill in the following speech, which as will bo seen 
 is replete with searching logic, through which there ia an undercurrent of 
 stinging sarcasm. Say the newspapers of the time: 
 
 Hon. J. A. Macdonald ridiculed the remarks of the hon. member for 
 Lincoln, who looked on ardent spirits as a poison; and although he would 
 not have it here for himself, would send it abroad to poison his friends, 
 or else would have it all drunk up in the next eighteen months. This bill 
 struck at the very root of the excise altogether ; and the strangest feature 
 was, that the hon. gentleman «rho had introduced it, and wanted to make 
 it almost a crime to manufacture spirits at all, came down with the budget. 
 Now, the hon. member for Lincoln, a minister responsible for that bud- 
 get, wanted to introduce laws repealing license, except in relation 
 to the duties on distilleries (Hear, hear). How could that hon. gentleman 
 come forward and propose that all excise duties'in Upper Canada should 
 be repealed, except the duty on whiskey ? He preserved those duties 
 where he really advocated their existence, for the most mean purpose, 
 namely, that of augmentation of the revenue ; that appeared palpably 
 from the course which that hon. gentleman had pursued ; but he would 
 
APPENDIX. 519 
 
 aak, (lid he not state, when he introduced hia bill, that the (jucstion waa 
 one far above pecuniary considerations f When the hon. member for 
 Kimcoe said that it waa a rovenno question, the hon. inspector general 
 said that the hon. member ou-^ht to be ashamed of himself to bring for- 
 ward Huch a atalemont ; for that the welfare of the country depended 
 upon the carrying of the bill ; but he. brings forward a measure by which 
 he wishes to wipe away excise duties, and still preserve liis distillery 
 duties; and for what purpose 1 For the sake of about £10,0(K). What is 
 the effect of this measure / To prohibit not only the use of ardent spirits, 
 but the use of any li<|Uors that will intoxicate. Wine was one of those 
 li({Uors [at least hn was lold so and he believed it was], and yet that hon. 
 gentleman according to hia measure wished to make wine cheaper to 
 everybody, so that the man who formerly paid Sa. for a bottle of Medeira, 
 should be enabled to got it now f(rr (51.* Now, he would aak the hon. in- 
 spector-general whether the measure for altering the duties on wine was 
 n(jt for the sake of reducing its price in the market ? Undoubtedly it was. 
 But there was a contradiction — there had been a total desprtion of the 
 great principles of responsible government by the ministry of the day. It 
 was just like those gentlemen, who declared that they never belonged to 
 temperance societies, that the only grounds of justice they brought forward 
 for advocating the measure in the house, wore, that in their little miser- 
 able municipalities, there were a let of men who joined together upon 
 this question. Those hon. gentlemen were therefore willing to sacrifice 
 their own principles for the sake of winning a support of that kind. He 
 held that the policy of the government was bad. The inspector-general 
 covdd no more legislate a man to be sober than to be religioua ; but with 
 all those resolutions of his, he would aay that in order to raiae a man, the 
 influence must proceed from the action of man upon man, and not by the 
 operation of a statute. It is only by the force of public opinion, and by 
 the force of the public mind being directed and laid on as it had been in 
 England, Ireland and the United States, against a particular vice, weak- 
 ness and frenzy, that you can succeed. The moment you trust to the law, 
 that moment your exertions cease. He would take one instance to estab- 
 lish the truth of his assertion. When his hon. and gallant friend, Sir 
 Allan MacNab was a young man, and in His Majeaty'a service, what was 
 the law in relation to duelling? If the one felt his honour injured, or 
 hi iself insulted, he would send a challenge ; the parties went out, and 
 they might shoot one another. But what was the consequences, if one 
 party did shoot the other and left him weltering in his blood, leaving a 
 
 • Tins is evidently a mistake of the reporter. 
 
620 AVl'EMnX. 
 
 family bohind him: wliat Uia the law ducl.iro / It doclurod tliiit tho iiia 
 ■huultl 1)0 haiigod hy tho i.eck until hit whh duad. Did tho oxistunco i t 
 that law pvuvcnt thu crimo of diiulliti^ ? No. tluw was it now? DiioUiiig ib 
 considerod out of date ; the fashion haa ({one out ; intblio opinion haH 
 declared against it. A man now who has had two afr.urs in his life is 
 oonsidurod uo lon<{ur within the jtale of civili/od H( ( oty. The fact of the 
 matter is, that public opinion in strongly a^^ainut sii i \\ ickud contests, and 
 therefore the custom haa almost ceased perforce i\w opinion of society. 
 Head the memoirs of tho last lix yeiT% about the people in Iroland. They 
 had a «luty on spirits which almost r'lde-ed it prohibitory- they could 
 not get it legally, and what was t!io c< 'iseqaenco / I would a:)k whether 
 the bottle of whiskey was nut as before present at thu wakes night after 
 night ? What was the law there ? Win u Faf'tr Matbow weiit there, ho 
 did not go with the Main Liipior Law in Ms har.d ; lie pro trailed upon 
 them by that moral suasion stronger than a!l the logislatiin everd)- 
 vised by hu:n:in brain, an I wrought i ito acts of parlianon.;, and pri- 
 duced a moral revolution whicli all tho King's laws and all Lhe King s 
 troops for tho last hundred of years were uuiUlo to obtain. Why endeav- 
 our to make people feel oppressed, injured, an I irritated by a measure 
 tried for nuinberloas moral piirposoa already, and as often proven futile / 
 I hope this bill will be thrown out, and that the house will not go bo far as 
 to admit that there o\ight to be an abiurd law like this, an oppresnive law 
 like this, and a futile law like this ; for it ha? been proved by every gen- 
 tleman who spoke, even by the advocates of it, that so valueless a law us 
 that could not be allowed lo exist. The hon. member for Kent (who had 
 made, he thoiigli"., the .trongest speech against '<i'\ said that any law intro- 
 dutid at a time when t,lie people were not \ epared for it was a futile 
 law, and he saiu "put i off t' 11 1855." 
 
 Mr. llRowN, — no, the hon. gcntuman was mistaken. Ha said, that for 
 his own nart he would like to have h'^ard from the special committee clear 
 evidence us to the state of the public mind upon tho question, for he con- 
 sidered that ihe bill should not be put into operation until public opinion 
 was clearly in favour of it. ITp was (p'i<^e willing to vote for the bill now 
 with tho proviso that it should oome lato force upon the first of January, 
 1855. 
 
 Mr. Maudonald resumed, in conclusion : Then he saw that the hon. 
 member for Kent was of the same opinion as the hon. member for Lin- 
 coln, to have the stock already in hand drank up first. He thought thut 
 it would be doing a great injury to the commuu'iy to pass this bill; and 
 he should therefore vote against the second readin.vj of it. 
 
APl'ENJJlX. 621 
 
 APPKNDIX D. 
 
 COMI'ENSATION TO SEIONEUUS. 
 
 "Ml". Macduimld at this tiino did not believu that coinponsation ought to 
 be niado to soigueurs out of the funds of I'lipor Canada. Wo give tho 
 roBolutions oliurod by tlio govunnuent, aud tho aniuudiuunts oud the speech 
 of Mr. Macdonuld: 
 
 1. licsolved — That it is expodiont to appropriate for the payniunt of tho 
 indemnity to be awarded to seignioid, and other expenses to be incurred 
 under the bill to detinu seigniorial rights and to facilitate the redemption 
 thereof,a8uni equal to that coming into the consolidated revenue fund of this 
 province from the following Lower Canadian sources of revenue, that is to 
 say: From Qnint, and other diies which are now or hereafter shall become 
 payable to the crown in or upon the seigniories in Lower Canada, of which 
 the crown is the seigne\ir dominant, as well as from all arrears of such dues: 
 From the revenues of the seigniory of Lauzjii, and the proceeds of the sale 
 of any part of the said seigniory which may hereafter be sold, and all arrears 
 of such revenues; JV^m all moneys arising from auction duties and auction- 
 eers' licenses in Lower Canada: From all moneys arising in Lowi;r Canada 
 from licenses to sell spirituous, vinous or fermented liquois bj' retail in 
 places other than places of public entertainment, commonly called shop or 
 store licenses. 
 
 2. Besohed -That it is expedient that tho sums required to pay the said 
 indemnity and expenses, be raised by debentures to be issued under the 
 authority of tho governor-in-council, and chargeable on the consolidated 
 revenue fund; but that separate accounts be kept of the moneys coming 
 into the said consolidated revenue fund from tho several Lower Canadian 
 sources of revenue aforesaid; and that if the sums payable out of the con- 
 solidated revenue fund for the principal and interest of such delientures, 
 shall exceed the amount arising fiom the several sources of revenue men- 
 tioned in the preceding resolution, it will, in the opinion of this liouse, bo 
 expedient to appropriate a sui..i e(j|ual to such excess for some local purpose 
 or purposes in Upper Canada • - ■ ' ■ ,;^ - 
 
 To the first resolution, Mr. Blacdonald moved i i anundmant. "That it 
 is inexpedient and unjust i li.-.^ taxpayers of Canada t . , iropriate any 
 portion of the territorial • evormei of t'i'js province to the payment of the 
 iudr.vnity i,o be awarded t:> . * seigni as of Lower Canada, iiiasmuch as 
 
522 APPENDIX. 
 
 the proposed legislation under the bill as now framed, it of local interest 
 only, and such indemnity should be paid by the parties immediately bene- 
 fited thereby." 
 
 To the second : "That it is inexpedient and unjust to the people of 
 Canada to charge the consolidated revenue fund of the whole province 
 with the payment of any portion of the said indemnity to seigniors, and 
 that such indemnity should be paid by that section of the Province im- 
 mediately benehted ^y the proposed measure." 
 
 And again, in amendment to the same resolution, " That the proposition 
 to pledge the consolidated revenue fund for the payment of the said indem- 
 nity, or any porti(j^ thereof, and thereby to increase the provincial debt and 
 taxation to a.i u^i^nown and unlimited amount, is improper, unprecedented 
 and ilangerous; that it deprives this house of the necessary check over the 
 public oxpemiiture and the public burdens; and that this house will fail 
 in its duty to the people of Canada if it assents to any such proposition." 
 
 In proposing this amendment, he went on to say that it was a most un- 
 precodented course that was now proposed by the government with regard 
 to this matter. Tiiat the legislature of this country, who are the guard- 
 ians of the public purje, should be called on to impose upon the people 
 and their children a burden the amount of which they did not know, was 
 a most objectionable and as well as inconsistent course of procedure. They 
 had no security whatever that the amount they were now called upon to 
 secure for this purpose might not be one hundred thousand pounds, or 
 that it might not be twice as much as that sum. He would ask the in- 
 spector-general if he could find a precedent for the course he now pro- 
 posed. It was true that a vote of credit had been given on one occasion, 
 but that was under extreme circumstances, and for one year only. Again, 
 they had undertaken great public works to advance the material interests 
 of the country, and how could they go on with their undertakings with a 
 burden of this kind upon their resources, the amount of which could not 
 be told, which the government themselves did not knoA', and Avhich they 
 said they could not find out. The hon.'gentleman then went on to allude 
 to the slavery question in England, which he contended was analogous to 
 this. When it was proposed to indemnify the slave-owners for their pro- 
 perty, the government did not ask parliament to pledge the revenues of 
 the country to an unlimited extent, but the secretary ^f the colonies. 
 Lord Stanley, came down with minute and elaborate calculations aa to the 
 value of each slave, and an exact estimate of the sum required. The in- 
 spector-general should have done the same in this case. He should have 
 formed an estimate of the amount required for every seigniory, and then 
 come down with an exact statement of the whole sum that would be re- 
 
APPENDIX. 523 
 
 quired. A finance minister in England would be laughed at if he proposed 
 to tax the peoplo for an unlimited amount; and then what a miserable 
 proposition was this that was laid down in these resolutions. Two-third» 
 of the whole taxation of the country is paid by the people of Upper Can- 
 ada, and here tliey talk of taking a certain amount out of the consolidatecJ 
 fund for the benefit of Lower Canada, and then remunerating Upper Can- 
 ada by paying her a similar sum out of her own resources. The govern- 
 ment have already refused to reduce the custdnn duties on account of the 
 present burden arising from the public works, and yet they ask us to take 
 on ourselves another burden the amount of which they do not know; and 
 as far as the remuneration to Upper Canada is concerned, it just amounts 
 to telling her to tax herself for her own benefit. He thought it very ex- 
 traordinary that the people of Upper Canada and the eastern township* 
 should be taxed to settle the diffdrences between seigniors and censitaires 
 in Lower Canada. It was as much as saying that Upper Canada should 
 be bribed with her own money. The proposition was to be laughed at, 
 and he very much questioned whether even the hon. inspector-general 
 could be serious in proposing that the house should consent to these reso- 
 lutions. What in the world had the people of Upper Canada as a whole 
 to do with this question ? He would ask upon what principle it was that 
 the House could be called upon to vote such resolutions 1 The bill of the 
 attorney-general-east did not propose to do away with the seigniorial ten- 
 ure, but would only have the efiect Oi perpetuating it, which made the 
 proposition to pay indemnity out of the consolidated revenue the more 
 absurd. H the tenure were to bo done away with, some expediency might 
 be urged for these resolutions. 
 
 APPENDIX E. 
 
 " STEEPED TO THE LIPS IN INFAMY." 
 
 During the debate on the address, in 1854, Mr. Macdonald made a 
 scathing attack upon the ministry, and his speech furnishes excerpts, re- 
 presenting some of the most acrid utterances ever delivered by a Canadian 
 public man. It is not necessary to say here that the occasion gave war- 
 rant to the larguage employed. , • 
 
aU APPENDIX. 
 
 Hon. Mr. Macdonakl, say the newspapers, remarked that it was a some- 
 what strange circumstance that Dr.- Rolph had not read with that accuracy 
 which might have been expected of one reading from a printed document. 
 The extracts, it appcaref"», 'lad not been correctly read, and the hon. mem- 
 ber for Kent had happerv. io detect what was of course an unintentional 
 mistake. Mr. Mi'tKloiiild Hiea explained the course he had taken last 
 session when the billb fur increasing the representation and extending the 
 ■elective franchise were bef jre the house. When thor.e bills were intro- 
 duced, he had oppoti ■' tliem on the ground that the present parliament 
 fairly represented lu people, and that at the commencement of its exist- 
 ence it ought noL to p;)^s measures which seemed to invclve the admission 
 that it did not thus fiu rly lopresent the people. The government, how- 
 ever, strenuously m.,intained that they involved no such admission, and 
 that the house, duri7ig the ;yhole period of its existence, retained the 
 right to legislate upon any and every subject. So soon as the represen- 
 tation and franchise bills were read a second time, the solemn declaration 
 vas thereby made, which was quite as obligatory on the conscience of the 
 house as if the bills had then received the royal t ssent, that a large num- 
 ber of individuals wore excluded from the right of voting who ought to be 
 admitted. But they all knew that after this some of the most important 
 subjects of legislation had been brought before the house and were now 
 the law of the land. This very question which they were now discussing 
 was one of these, and night after night and week after week the attorney- 
 general pressed the seignorial bill on the attention of the house. But now 
 they said this house was incompetent to deal with that and similar ques- 
 tions! He (Mr. Macdonald) took up last session a strong position against 
 the passing of the franchise bill, on the ground that it was premature to 
 ask members of the house at once to divest themselves of all their rights 
 fl,nd privileges, but the hon. inspector-general stated over and over again 
 that the passage of the bill involved no such necessity. And the very last 
 Act or the government last session was advising his excellency to give the 
 royal assent to that bill, the first clause of which provided that there 
 should be no alteration in the franchise till the 1st of January, 1855. 
 Could they ha' =) meant then, on the supposition that the present parlia- 
 ment had declared itself incompetent, that there was to be no real legis- 
 lation to meet the wants of the country till the 1st of January, 1855 ? He 
 <(Mr. Macdonald) believed then that this house did represent the feelings 
 ■of the people of Canada, and he has believed so still, and he felt quite 
 ■competent to vote on any and every question that in any way affected the 
 interests of the people of Canada. He must say that he was surprised at 
 the announcement made by the hon. inspector-general at the opening of 
 
APPENDIX. h1» 
 
 the house to-day. It exceeded any flightb of daring 6'. 3r before attempteu , 
 even by that hon. gentleman himself. He might ae well at once, like 
 Cromwfiil, have ordered that bauble [pointing to the mace] to be taken 
 away, as to come down and tell them, forsooth, that they, a free parlia- 
 ment, representing a free people, were only to be allowed to pass two or 
 t'lree measures, which he named. Mr, Macdonald then alluded to the 
 charges of corruption which had been brought against the government. 
 He knew a great many reformers in his part of the country, and they were 
 continually saying to him. Any government, any change, anything to get 
 rid of the rampant corruption going on in this country. It was well known 
 that the system of the present government had been that of a most rampant 
 corruption, and appealing to the most sordid and basest motives of men. 
 In every part of the country their money was for use, and offices were offered 
 in return for influence brought to their aid. Even the postmaster-general 
 had said at Perth, in reference to the purchase of some government pro- 
 perty by members of the government, that there had been a job perpe- 
 trated by his colleagi'es, with whom he continued to sit at the same table 
 — that their conduct in that matter had been such as he could not approve 
 of. Now a government should be free even from suspicion, and should 
 feel a stain on their escutcheon like a wound on their person. Especially 
 should they keep their hands clear of any speculations in government pro- 
 perty. The great Mr. Pitt made it a rule to leave all attacks on his char- 
 acter and imputations on his motives unanswered ; but once he departed 
 from this rule. It was when he was accused, in a public newspaper, of 
 haviny made a purchase in the funds. When this accusation was made, 
 he at once handed the matter to the attorney-general, to bring the party 
 publishing the paper to condign punishment for i.ie foul and unfounded 
 slander. Had the members of our administration been equally sensitive 
 on account of charges far more serious '/ Had they dared, for example, to 
 bring an action against the newspaper which published the report of the 
 speech of their hon. colleague, the Hon. Malcolm Cameron, at Perth ? But 
 he would not any longer speak of Pitt. They had Walpoles in the minis- 
 try, not Pitts ; the government was steeped to the very lips in infamy y 
 they were tainted with corruption, collectively and individually, both in 
 their public and private characters. All honour had gone from them, and 
 all loyalty even to one another ; and the only bond to which they were 
 held together now was the bond of common plunder. It was time that an 
 end should be put to this system of corruption, which was disgracing Can- 
 ada more than any colony which Great Britain had ever had under her 
 w'ng 
 
«26 APPENDIX. 
 
 APl'ENDIX F. 
 
 COLONIAL UNION. 
 
 After the union delegates had ended their visit at Charlottetown, they 
 proce A to Halifax, and at a meeting held in the dining hall of the 
 *' Halifax Hotel," Hon. Dr. Tupper in the chair, Hon. John A. Macdonald, 
 tn rt'ply to the toast, "Colonial Union," rose and said: — 
 
 My friends and colleagues, Messrs. Cartier and Brown, have returned 
 their thai.ks on behalf of the Canadians for the kindness bestowed upo.i 
 us, and J. shall therefore not say one word on that subject, but shall ap- 
 proach the question more immediately before us. I must confess to you, 
 sir, and to you, gentltmen, that I approach it with the deepest emotion. 
 The question of " Colonial Union " is one of such magnitude that it dwarfs 
 «very other question on this portion of the continent. It absorbs every 
 idea as far as I am concerned. For twenty long years 1 have been drag- 
 ging myself through the dreary waste of colonial politics. I thought taere 
 ■was no end, nothing worthy of ambition; but now I see something which 
 is well worthy of all I have suffered in the cause of my little country. This 
 question has now assumed a position that demands and commands the 
 attention of all the colonies of British America. There may be obstruc- 
 ticms, local difficulties may arise, disputes may occur, local jealousies may 
 intervene, but it matters not — the wheel ia now revolving, and we are only 
 the fly on the wheel, we cannot delay it — the union of the colonies of Bri- 
 tish America, under one sovereign, is a fixed fact. (Cheers.) Sir, this 
 meeting in Halifax will be ever remembered in the history ot British 
 America, for here the delegates from the several provinces had the first 
 opportunity of expressing their sentiments. We have been unable to an 
 nounce them before ; but now let me say that we have arrived unanimously 
 at the opinion that the union of the provinces is for the advantage of all, 
 and that the only question that remains to be settled is, whether thj»t 
 union can be arranged with a due regard to sectional and local interestti 
 I have no doubt that such an arrangement can be effected, that every 
 difficulty will be found susceptible of solution, and that the great project 
 will be successfully and happily realized. What were we before this 
 question was brought before the public mind ? Here we were in th<> 
 neighbourhood of a large nation— of one that has developed its mili- 
 tary power in a most marvellous degree — connected by one tie only, 
 
AVPENDIX. 527 
 
 that of common allcgianco. True it was we were states of one sovereign, 
 we all paid allegiance to the great central authority; but as far as ourselves 
 were concerned there was no political coi nection, and we were as wide 
 apart as British America is from Australia. We had only the mere senti- 
 ment of a common allegiance, and we were liable, in case England and the 
 United States were pleased to difter, to be cut of}", one by one, not having 
 any common means of defence. I bel'eve we shall have at length an or- 
 ganization that will enable us to be a nation and protect ourselves as we 
 should. Look at the gallant dafence that is being made by the Southern 
 Republic — at this moment they have not much more than four millions of 
 men — not much exceeding our own numbers — yet what a brave fight they 
 have made, notwithstanding the stern bravery of the New Englander, or the 
 derce dun of the Irishman. (Cheers.) We are now, I say, nearly four mil- 
 lions of inhabitants, and in the next decennial period of taking the census, 
 perhaps we shall have eight millions of people, able to defend their coun- 
 try against all comers. (Cheers.) But we must have one common organ- 
 ization — one political government. It has been said that the United 
 States government is a failure. I don't go so far. On the contrary, I 
 consider it a marvellous exhibition of human wisdom. It was aa perfect 
 as human wisdom could make it, and under it the American States greatly 
 prospered until very recently; but being the work of men it had its defects, 
 and it is for us to take advantage by experience, and endeavour to see if 
 we cannot arrive by careful study at such a plan as will avoid the mistakes 
 of our neighbours. In the tirst place, we know that every individual state 
 was an individual sovereignty — that each had its own army and navy and 
 political organization — and when they formed themselves into a confeder- 
 ation they only gave the central authority certain specific powers, reserv- 
 ing to the individual states all the other rights appertaining to sovereign 
 powers. The dangers that have arisen from this system we will avoid if 
 we can agree upon forming a strong central government — a great central 
 legislature — a constitution for a union which will have all the rights of 
 sovereignty except those that are given to the local governments. Then 
 we shall have taken a great step in advance of the American republic. If 
 we can only attain that object — a vigorous general gavernment — we shall 
 not be New Brunswickers, nor Nova Scotians, nor Canadians, but British 
 Americans, under the sway of the British sovereign. In discussing the 
 question of colonial union, we must consider what is desirable and prac- 
 ticable; we must consult local projudices and aspirations. It is our desire 
 to do BO. I hope that we will be enabled to work out a constitution that 
 will have a strong central government, able to offer a powerful resistance 
 to any foe whatever, and at the same time will preserve for each province 
 
5L'8 ArrENDlX. 
 
 its own identity — and will protect every local ambition ; and if we cannot 
 do this, we shall not be able to carry out the object wo have now in view. 
 In the confi lerce we have had, wo have been nnited as one man — thero 
 was no diflorenco of feeling — no sectional prejudices or selfishness exhib- 
 ited by any one; — wo all approached the subject feeling its importance — 
 feeling that in our hands were the destinies of a nation ; and that great 
 would be our sin and sJiame if any different motives had intervened to 
 prevent us carrying out the noble object of founding a great British mon- 
 archy, in connection with the British empire, and under the British Q leen. 
 (Cheers.) That thero are difficulties in the way would be folly for me to 
 deny; that there are important (luestions to be settled before the project 
 can be consiimmated is obvious; but what great subject that has ever at- 
 tracted the attention of mankind has not been fraught with di'liculties I 
 We would not be worthy of the position in which we have been placeil by 
 the people, if we did not meet and overcome these obstacles. I will not 
 continue to detain you at this late perioi of the evening, but will merely 
 say that we are desirous of a union with the maritime provinces on a fair 
 and equitable basis: that we desire no a'lvantage of any kind, that we be- 
 lieve the object in view will be as much in favour as against these maritfnio 
 colonies. We are reatly to come at once into the most intimate connection 
 with you. This cannot be fully procured, I admit, by political union sim- 
 ply. I don't hesitate to say that with respect to the Intercoloaial railway, 
 it is understood by the people of Canada that it can only be built as a, 
 means of political union for the colonies. It cannot be denied that the 
 railway, as a commercial enterprise, would be of comparatively little com- 
 mercial advantage to the people of Canada. Whilst we have the St. 
 Lawrence in summer, and the American ports in time of peace, we have 
 all that is requisite for our purpDses. We rocognise, however, the fact 
 that peace may not always exist, and that we must have some other means 
 of outlet if we do not wish to be cut off from the ocean for some mcr.ths 
 in the year. We wish to feel greater security — to know that we can have as- 
 sistance readily in the hour of danger. In the case of a union, this railway 
 must be a national work, and Canada will cheerfully contribute to the ut- 
 most extent in order to make that important link without which no poli- 
 tical connection can be complete. What will be the consequence to this 
 city, prosperous as it is, from that communication ? Montreal is at this 
 moment competing with New York for the trade of the great West. Build 
 the road and Halifax will soon become one of the great emporiums of the 
 world. All the great resources of the West will come over the immense 
 railways of Canada to the bosom of your harbour. But there are even 
 greater advantages for us all in view. We will become a great nation, and 
 
AFPENDU. 529 
 
 God forbid that it should be one separate from the united kingdom of 
 Great Britain and Ireland. (Cheers.) There has been a feeling that be- 
 cause the old colonies were lost by the misrule of the British government, 
 «very colony must be lost when it assumes the reins of self-government. 1 
 believe, however, as stated by the gallant admiral,* that England will 
 hold her position in every colony — she will not enforce an unwilling obe- 
 dience by her arms ; but as long as British Americans shall retain that 
 aame allegiance which they feel now, England will spend her last shilling, 
 and spill her best blood like wine in their defence. (Cheers.) In 1813 
 there was an American war because England impngssed American seamen. 
 Canadians had nothing to do with the cause of the quarrel, yet their mil- 
 itia came out bravely and did all they could for the cause of England. 
 Aga'.n, we have had the Oregon question, the Trent difficulty — question 
 after qiiestion in which the colonies had no interest — yet we were ready 
 to shoulder the musket and fight for the honour of the mother country. 
 It has been said that England wishes to throw us oflf. There may be a 
 few doctrinaires who argue for it, but it is not the feeling of the people of 
 England, Their feeling is this — that we have not been true to ourselves, 
 that we have not put ourselves in an attitude of defence, that we have not 
 doro in Canada as the English have done at home. It is a mistake: Can- 
 ada is ready to do her part. She is organizing a militia; she is expending 
 an enormous amount of money for the purpose of doing her best for self- 
 protection. I am happy to know that the militia of Nova Scotia occupies 
 a front rank; I understand by a judicious administration you have formed 
 here a large and efficient volunteer and militia organization. We are fol- 
 lowing your example and are forming an effective body of militia, so that 
 we shall be able to say to England, that if she should send her arms to 
 our resC'ie at a time of peril, she would be assisted by a well disciplined 
 body of men. Everything, gentlemen, is to be gained by union, and 
 everything to be lost by disunion. Everybody admits that union must 
 take place some time. I say now is the time. Here we are now, in a 
 state of peace and prosperity — now we can sit down without any danger 
 threatening us, and consider and frame a scheme advantageous to each of 
 these colonies. If we allow so favourable an opportunity to pass, it may 
 never come again; but I believe we have arrived at such a conclusion in 
 our deliberations that I may state without any breach of confidence — that 
 we all unitedly agree that iuch a measure is a matter of the first necessity, 
 and that only a few (imaginary, I believe) obstacles stand in the way of ita 
 cons-iimmation. I will feel that I shall not have served in public life with- 
 
 * Sir James Hope,vice-admiral on the North American station, and then in Halifax. 
 
 BH 
 
680 AI^PENDIX. 
 
 out a reward, if befdre T enter into private life, I am a subject of a great 
 British American nation, under the government of her majesty, and in 
 connection with the empire of Great Britain and Ireland. (Loud clieers.) 
 
 APl^ENDIX G. 
 
 THE WASHINGTON THEATY. 
 
 The following is the full text of Sir John A, JMacdonald's speech in de- 
 fence of his own and the government's course in relation to the Washing- 
 ton treaty, as taken from the Toronto d&UyMail, and delivered in the Cana- 
 dian commonu, May 3rd, 1872: — 
 
 Mr. Si'KAKER, — 1 move for leave to bring in a bill to carry into effect 
 certain clauses of the treaty negotiated between the United States and 
 Great Britain in 1871. The object of the bill is stated in the title. It is 
 to give validity, so far as Canada is concerned, to the treaty which was 
 framed last year in the manner so well known to the house and country. 
 The bill I proposed to introduce the other day was simply a bill to suspend 
 those clauses of the iishery acts which prevent fishermen of the United 
 States from fishing in the in-shore waters of Canada, such suspension to 
 continue during the existence of the treaty. I confined it to that object 
 at that time, because the question really before this house was whether the 
 fishery articles of the treaty should receive the sanction of Parliament or 
 not. As, hovcever, a desire was expressed on the other side that I should 
 enter into tlus subject fully on asking leave to bring in the bill, Jind as, on 
 examining tha cognate act which has been laid before congress at Wash- 
 ington, 1 find that all the subjects — even those subjects which do not re- 
 quire legislation — have been repeated in that act, in order, one would sup- 
 pose, to make the act of the nature of a contract, and obligatory during 
 the existence of the treaty, so that in good faith it could not be repealed 
 during that lime, I propose to follow the same course. The act I ask 
 leave to bring in, provides in the first clause, for the suspension of the 
 fishery laws of Canada, so far as they prevent citizens of the United States 
 from fishing in our in-shore waters. The bill also provides that during 
 the existence of the treaty, fish and fish oil (except fish of the inland lakes 
 
A I'l'ENDIX. Ml 
 
 nf the United States and of the riverB emptying into those lakes, and tinli 
 prosorvod in oil), being the nroduco of fiwheries of the United Stiit«^H, hIihII 
 1)0 admitted into Ctmada fn i of duty. The third clause pr-ividus for the 
 continuanoo »)f the bi>nding ay. oin during the twoivo yoarH or longer pe- 
 riod provided by the treaty, ii lU tuo fourth clause provides that the right 
 of transhipment contained in the 'Mih clause of the treaty shall, in like 
 manner, be secured to the citizens of the United States during the exist- 
 ence of the treaty. The last clause oi the bill provides that it shall come 
 into effect whenever, upon an ordor-in-councii, a proclamation of the 
 governor-general is issued giving effect to the act. In submitting the bill 
 in this form, I am aware that objection iniL'bt be taken to some of the 
 clauses, on the ground that having relation to the (jiieBtions of trade and 
 money, they sliould bo commenced by resolution adopted in committee of 
 the whole. That abjection does not apply to the whole of the bill — to 
 those clauses which suspend the acti(m of our fishery act. But it would 
 affect, according to the general principle, the clause which provides that 
 there shall be no duty on fish and fish oil, and also the clausps respecting 
 the bonding system and transhipment. I do not, however, anticipate that 
 that objection will be taken, because in presenting the bill in this form I have 
 followed the precedent established in 1854, whtn the measure relating to the 
 reciprocity treaty was introduced in parliament. It was then held that the 
 act, having been introduced as based upon a treaty which was submitted by 
 a message from the crown, became a matter of public and general policy, 
 and ceased to be merely a matter of trade; and although those hon. gen- 
 tlemen who interested themselves ir parliamentary and political matters 
 at that date will remember that the act which was introduced by the at- 
 tornoy-general for Lower Canada in 1854 (Mr. Drumuiond) was simply an 
 act declaring that varicms articles, being the produce of the United States, 
 should, during the existence of the treaty, be received free into Canada, 
 and that the act repealed the tarifi" pro tanto, it was not introduced by 
 resolution, but after the treaty had been submitted and laid on the table, 
 and after a formal n>essage had been brought down by Mr. Morin, the 
 leader of the government in the house, to the effect that the bill was in- 
 troduced with the sanction of the governor-general. I do not, th arofore, 
 anticipate that objection will be taken by any hon. member, and I sup- 
 pose the precedent so solemnly laid down at that time will be held to be 
 binding now. Should objection, however, bd taken, the clauses of the 
 bill respecting the suspension of the fishery act and transhii>ment are sulli- 
 cient to be proceeded with in this manner; the other portions may be 
 printed in italics, and can be brought up as parts of the bill or separately 
 as resolutions, as may be thought best. The journals of the house state 
 
^33 APPENDIX, 
 
 that on tlio 2l8t Soj)!., 1H54, Mr. Cbauveau Biibniittodac'>i.y of tho treaty 
 which was sot out on tho fiico of the journals. On tho saino day Mr. 
 Drununond askod Kiivo to briny in a bill t<> givo offoct U) a curtaia treaty 
 botwuun her majesty and tho United States of Atnorica, and on tlio 'J2nd, 
 on the order of the day for the stcond reading of the bill, Mr. Morin, by 
 coinuiiind, br.iught down a niussagi; from the governor-goniTal, signifying 
 that it was ')/ his excellency's sanction it had boon introduced, whereupon 
 the house proceeded to tho second reading. That bill was simply one de- 
 claring that various articles mcntiijned in the treaty should, during tho 
 •existence of tho treaty, be admitted into this ountry free of duty. Tho 
 house i\ow, Mr. Spi vkor, if they givo leave that this bill shall be intro- 
 duced and read a firs* time, will bo in possession of all those portions of 
 the treaty of Washington that in any way como within tho action of the 
 legislature. Although tho debate upon this subject will, as a matter of 
 ■coirrso, take a wide range, and will properly include all tho subjects con- 
 nected with the treaty in which Canada has any interest, yet it must not 
 be forgotten that the treaty as a whole is in force, with tho particular ex- 
 ceptions I have niontionod, and the decision of this house will, after all, 
 be simply whether the articles of the treaty extending from tho 18th to the 
 125th shall receive the sanction of Parliament, or whether these portion* 
 of the treaty shall be a dead letter. This subject has excited a great deal 
 of interest, as was natural, in Canada over since tho 8th of May, 1871, 
 when the treaty was signed at Washington. It has been largely discussed 
 in the public prints, and oi;)inion8 of various kinds have been expressed 
 upon it — some altogether favourable, some altogether opposed, and niany 
 others of intermediate shades of opinion. And among other parts of the 
 discussion has net been forgotten the personal question — relating to my- 
 self — the position 1 hold and held as a member of this government, and 
 as one of the high commissioners at Washington. Upon that question I 
 shall have to speak by-and-by ; but it is one that has lost much of its in- 
 terest, from the fact that by the introduction of this bill the house and 
 country will see that the policy of the government of which I am a mem- 
 ber is to carry out, or to try to carry out, the treaty which I signed as a 
 plenipotentiary of her majesty. Under the reservation made in tho treaty, 
 this house and the legislature of Prince Edward Island have full power to 
 accept tho fishery articles or reject them. In that matter this house and 
 parliament have full and complete control. (Hear, he:ir.) No matter 
 what may be the consequences of the action of this parliament; no matter 
 what may be the consequences with rospect to future relations between 
 Canada and England, or between Canada and tho United States, or 
 between England and tho United States ; no matter what may be the 
 
AlTEl^DIX. 633 
 
 oonBe([ueuco» as to the uxiHtence of tho proaont govornment of Ciiimilii, 
 it must nut bo forjjutteii thut this houso has full poNV»r to rujoct thi'so 
 claiisos of tho trouty if thuy ploiiao, iind luatitttiiii tho right of Ciiimda 
 to exclude Ainuriuans from our in-shoro tishoriea, ua if the treaty hud 
 never been niadu. (Hear, hear.) Thut reaurvution was fully provided 
 in tho trouty. It waa niado a portion of it — an oasontial portion — and if 
 it hud not boon ao niiidu, thu nunio of tho minister of juatice of Canada 
 would not have boon attached to it )» a plenipotentiary of England. 
 (Hear, hear.) That right has boon reaorvod, and thia parliament has full 
 power to deal with tho whole queation. I will by-and-by apeak more at 
 length as to tho part 1 took in the negotiations, but I feel that that reser- 
 vation having buon made I only performed a duty — a grave and serious 
 duty, but atill my duty — in attaching my signature to the treaty as one of 
 her majesty's ropresontatives and servants. (Hear, hoar.) Now, sir, let 
 me enter into a short retrosjject of the occurrences which transpirt;d some 
 years beforo arrangements wore entered into for negotiating the treaty. 
 The roci[)rocity treaty with the United States existed from 1854 to 18lJG, 
 in which latter year it expired. Grout exertions wore made by the gov- 
 ernment of Canada, and a groat desire was expressed by the parliament 
 and people of Canada for a renewal of that treaty. It was felt to have 
 worked very beneficially for Canada. It was felt to have worked also to 
 the advantage of tho United States, and thoro wivs a desire and a feeling 
 that those growing interests which had been constantly developing and 
 increasing themselves during the existence of the treaty would be greatly 
 aided if it were renewed and continued. I was a member of the guvern- 
 meiit at that time, with some of my hon. f lionds who are still my col- 
 leagues; and wo took every step n\ our power, we spared no effort, we left 
 no stone unturned, in order to gain that object. The house will remem- 
 ber that for the purpose of either effecting a renewal of the treaty, or, if 
 we could not obtain that, of arriving at the same object by means of con- 
 current legislation, my hon. friend, the member for Sherbrooke (Hon. Sir 
 A. T. Gait), at that time tinance minister, and the present lieutenant- 
 governor of Ontario, went to Washington on behalf of the government of 
 Canada. It is a matter of history that all their exertions failed; and after 
 their failure, by general consent — a consent in which I believe the peoplu 
 of Canada were as one man — we came to the conclusion that it would be 
 humiliating to Canada to make any further exertions at Washington, or 
 to do anything more .n the way of pressing for a renewal of that instiii- 
 ment ; and the people of this country with great energy addressed them- 
 celves to find other channels of trade, other means of developing and sus- 
 taining our various industries, in which I am happy to say they have been 
 
634 ArPENnrx. 
 
 ootnplotdly succoHHfiil, (Ifear, hoar.) Imniodiiitoly on the expiration 
 of tho truaty, our right to tho uxoliuivo uno of thu in-nhoro tishorion 
 returned to ub, and it will bu in the runiumhranco of tho house that her 
 niajoaty's ^ovorn.nent doHirod oh not to rofmino that right, at least for a 
 year, to tho oxclusion of American tishurmon, and tliat tho prohibition of 
 Anioricans tishing in those waters should not be put in force either by 
 Canada or tho niaritiuie provinces. All the provinces, I beliovo, declined 
 to accede to tho suggostion, and it was pressed strongly on buhalf of thu 
 late province of Canada that it would bu against our interests if for a mo- 
 ment after tho treaty ceased wo allowed it to be supposed that Aiuerican 
 tishermen had a right to come into otir waters as before; and it was only 
 because of the pressure of her nuijesty's govornrnent, and unr desire to 
 be in accord with tliat governniont, as well uti bocai'se uf our desire tr> 
 cr.rry with ua tho moral support of (ireat liritaui, and the tnatciial aasist- 
 ance of her fleet, that we assented, with great roluc'^^iMiC'^, to the introduction 
 of a system of licenses for one year, at a nominal foe or rate. Tliis was 
 done avowedly by us for the purpose of asserting ^ir right. No greater or 
 stronger mode of assorting a riglitand obtaining t.h; laiknowledgmont of it 
 by those who desired to enter our watera for tho p rposo of fishing could 
 be devised, than by exacting payment for the peinnsaion, and therefore it 
 was that we assonted to the licensing syatoin. (Hoar, hear.) Although 
 in 18G6 that system was commenced, it did not come immediately into 
 force. We had not then fitted out a marine police force, for wo were not 
 altogether without expectation that tho mind of tiio governiuont of tho 
 United States might take a difTeront direction, and that there was a i)ro- 
 bability of negotiations being renewed respecting the revival of the reci- 
 procity treaty; and therefore, although the system was established, it was 
 not rigidly put into force, and no great exertion was made to seize tres- 
 passers who had not taken out licenses. In the first year, however, a great 
 number of licenses were taken out ; but when the foe was increased so as 
 to render it a substantial recognition of our rights, the payments became 
 fewer and fewer, until at last it was found that the vessels which took out 
 licenses were the exception, and that tho great bulk of the fishermen who 
 entered our waters were trespassers. In addition t(i the fact that our 
 tisherioB were invaded, that we were receiving no compensation for the 
 liberty, and that our rights were invaded boldly and aggressively, it was 
 now stated by the American government, or members of the American 
 cabinet, that the renewal of the reciprocity treaty was not only inexpedi- 
 ent but unconstitutional, and that no such renewal could or would bo 
 made. The government of Canad.',, then, in 1870, after conference with 
 the imperial government, and after receiving the promise of the imperial 
 
AVPKNUIX. 635 
 
 govornmont that wo Bh')iil(l havo thu support of thoir floot in the protection 
 of our just rijjhta, a proiniHo whicli wan faithfully carried out, prepared 
 and Htted ont a autlicient force of maritio police voBsels to protect our 
 riKlits, and I am glad to believe that that policy was perfectly succensful. 
 (jreat Krmneas was lined, but at the snine time ^roat discretion. There 
 was no harshness, and no seizures were made of a doubtful character. No 
 desire tr) harass the foreign tlHliermen was evidenced, but on thu contrary, 
 in any case in which there was doubt, the oflicers in command of the aeiz- 
 ing vessels reported to the head of their department, and when the papers 
 were laid before the government, they, in all cases, gave the otlonding 
 parties the benelit of the doubt. Still, as it would be remembered, some 
 of the tishermen made complaints, which complaints, although unjust, 1 
 am sorry to say were in some instances made and supported on oath, of 
 harshness on tlie part of the cruisers, and an attempt was made to agitate 
 the public mind of Canada, and there was at that time a feeling on the part 
 of a large portion of the people of Nova Scotia, which feeling, I am however 
 happy to say, has since disappeared, that the action of Canada was un- 
 friendly. Her majesty's government were of course appealid to by the 
 authorities of the United States on all these subjects, and complaints were 
 bandied from one governmont to the other, and proved a source of great 
 irritation. While this feeling was being raised in the United States, there 
 was, riii the other hand, a feeling among our fishermen that our rights 
 were, to a very great degree, invaded. In order to avoid the possibility 
 of dispute — in order to avoid any appearance of harshness — in order, while 
 wo were supporting our fishery rights, to prevent any case of collision be- 
 tween I'lo imperial government and the United States, or between the 
 Canadian authorities and the United States, we avoided making seizures 
 within the bays, or in any way bringing up the headland (\uestion. This 
 was very unsatisfactory, beciiuse, as it was said by the fishermen, " if we 
 have these rights we should be protected in the exercise of them," and it 
 was therefore well that that question should be settled at once and forever. 
 In addition, however, to the (i[ueation of headlands, a new one had arisen 
 of an exceedingly unpleasant nature. By the wording of the convention 
 of 1818, foreign fishermen were only allowed to enter our waters for the 
 purposes of procuring wood, water and shelter; but they claimed that they 
 had a right, although fishing vessels, to enter our ports for trading pur- 
 poses; and it was alleged by our own fishermen that, under pretence ot" 
 trading, American fishermen were in the habit of invading our fishing 
 grounds and fishing in our waters. The Canadian government thought it 
 therefore well to press, not only by correspondence, but by a delegate, 
 who was a member of the government, upon her njajesty's government, 
 
536 APPENDIX. 
 
 the propriety of ha>;ng that questicn bettled with the United States, and;, 
 conaeqiiently, my h 'end and colleague, the postmaster-general, went to 
 England to deal with that subject. The results of his mission are before 
 parliament. At the same time that ho dealt with the qxiestion 1 have just 
 mentioned, he forced upon the consideration of her majjsty's government 
 the propriety of England makiiAg on our behalf a demand on the United 
 States government fur reparatici? fur the wrungs known as the " Fenian 
 raids." England agreed to piess upon tlie United States both these 
 matters, and to ask that all dispued questions relating to the in-shore 
 fisheries, under the convention of 1818, should be settled in some mode to 
 be agreed upon between the two nations, and also to press upon the United 
 States the wro}ig8 sustained by Canada at the hands uf citizens of the 
 United States who had invaded our country. Before her majesty's gov- 
 ernment had actually, in compliance with iheir promise, made any repre- 
 Bentation on these two subjects to the United States government, England 
 had been engaged on her own behalf in a controversy of a very grave 
 character. The house is aware that what is commonly known as the 
 .4 /((6a7(((( claims' was a subject of dispute between the two countries, in- 
 volving the grave; ^ consequences, and that hitherto the results had been 
 niost unsatisfactory. An attempt had been made to settle the question 
 by what was kno.vn as the Jchnsnn-Clarendon treaty, but that treaty had 
 Deen rejected by th Ui'ited States authorities. So long as this question 
 remained unsettled between the two nations there was no possibility of 
 the old frien<lly relations that had so long existed between them being 
 restored; and England felt that it was of tin; first importance to her that 
 these amicable relations should be restored. It was not only her desire 
 to be in the most friei.dly ^.wisition towards a country which -.vas so closely 
 associated with her by every tie, by common origin, by common interest^ 
 by common language, bui, it was also her interest to have every cloud re- 
 moved between the two nations, because she had reason to fee^ that her 
 position with respect to the other great powers of the world was greatly 
 affected by the knowledge which those other nations had of the p )sition 
 t f atfairs between the United States and herself. The 2)res%e of Great 
 Britain as a great power was affected most seriously by the absence of an 
 {.littide cordiale between the two nations. Two years ago England was, as 
 a matter of course, greatly interested in tl:e great and serious questions 
 which were then convulsing Europe, and was in dan^jer of being drawn by 
 some complication into the hostile relations of some of the conflicting 
 powers; and she felt — and I speak merely what must be obvious to every 
 hon. member in the house — that she cou?d not press or assert her opinion 
 with the same freedom of action so long as she was aware, and so long as 
 
APPENDIX. 6ST 
 
 other nations were aware, that, in case she should be anfortunately placed 
 in a state of hostility with any nation whatever, the Unitad States <:;overn- 
 ment would be forced by the United States people to press, at the very 
 time when she niiyht be enfraged in mortal conflict with another nation^ 
 for a settlement of those A labama claims. Hence, Mr. Speaker, the groat 
 desire of England, in my opinion, that that great question should be set- 
 tled, and hence, also, the intermingling of the particular questions relating 
 to Canada with the larger imperial questions. And, sir, in niy opinion, 
 it was of greater consequence to Canada than to England, at least as great 
 ft consequence, that the Alabama question should be settled. (Cheers.) 
 Sir, England has promised to us, and we have all faith in that promise, 
 that in case of war the whole force of the empire shall be exerted in our 
 defence. (Cheers.) What would have been the position of England, and 
 what would have been the position of Canada, if she had been called upon 
 to use her whole force to defend us when engaged in conflict elsewhere ? 
 Canada would, as a matter of course, in case of war between England and 
 the United States, be the battle ground. We should be the sufferers. 
 Our country would be devastated, our people slaughtered, and our pro- 
 perty destroyed; and, while England would, I believe, under all circum- 
 stances faithfully perform her promise to the utmost (cheers), she wo^ild 
 be greatly impeded in carrying ou*- her desire, if engaged elsewhere. It 
 was therefore as much the interest of this Dominion as of England that 
 the Alabama, and all other questions that in any way threatened the dis- 
 turbance of the peaceful relations between the two countries, should be 
 .i.'ttled and i.djuste.1 ; ami iheroforo, although to a considerable extent J 
 agree vitu the remarks that fell froru the minister of finance when he 
 made his budget speech, that, looking at the subject in a commercial 
 point of view, it might have be(>n better in th- interest of Canada that 
 the Fisiiory and Feiiiaa questions should have bee; • settled free and apart 
 from the imperial question, 1 am pleasec\ aii«.'. I .\'as pkased. that tiie fact 
 of Canada having asked England to make these demaiid.i on tiie United 
 States gave an opportunity for re-open lag the negotiations with respect tO' 
 the Alub'.ima and other matters. It was fortunate that we made that de- 
 mand, for England could not, with due self-respect, have initiated or re- 
 opened the Alabaxia question. She had concluded a treaty in Lciidon 
 with the representative jf the United States, and that treaty, having been 
 rejected by the supreme executive of the United States, England could 
 not herself have reopened negotiations on the subject. And^ therefore, 
 it was fortunate, I say, for the peace of the empire, and for the peace of 
 Canada, that v/e asked England to make these uemands upon the United 
 States, as it aiforded the opportunity of all these questions being made 
 
538 APPENDIX. 
 
 again the subject of negotiation. The correfpondence which is before the 
 house between the secretary of state of the United States and the British 
 ambassador, Sir Edivard Thornton, has shown how that result was arrived 
 at. As the invitation was made by the British ambassador to consider 
 the fishery question, the United States government, I have no doubt, 
 though I do not know it as a matter of fact, by a (luiet and friendly un- 
 derstanding between the two powers, replied, acceding to the request, on 
 condition that the larger and graver matters of dispute were also mad*' 
 matters of negotiiition. Hence it was, sir, that the arrangements were 
 made under which the treaty of Washington was effected. Sir, I have 
 aaid that it was of the greatest consequence to Canada, and to the future 
 peace and prosperity of Canada, that every cloud which threatened the 
 peace of England and the United States should be dispelled. I was struck 
 with an expression that was used to me by a distinguished English states- 
 man, that those powers in Europe who are not so friendly to England 
 heard with dismay that the entente conUale between the two nations was 
 to be renewed (hear, hear); and you have seen mentioned in the public 
 press the active exertions that were made by one power, or by the repre- 
 sentative of one power, for the purpose of preventing that happy result 
 (hear, hear); and although M. Catacazy has been disavowed by the gov- 
 ernment of Russia in the same way as poor Vicovich was on a previous 
 occasion, when he was the organ of Russia in the East, I cannot but feel 
 that he was punished only because his zeal outran his discretion. I can 
 vouch for his active exertions for the purpose of preventing this treaty of 
 ^Vashington receiving the sanction of the senate of the United States. 
 (Hear, hear.) While England was strongly interested in the settlement 
 of these questions, both for herself and for Canada, the United States 
 were also interested, and made overtures in a most friendly spirit. I be- 
 lieve that there was a real desire among the people of the United States to 
 be friendly towards England. I believe that the feeling of irritation which 
 had been caused by the unhappy events of the war, and by the escape of 
 the Alabama, had almost entirely disappeared; and I hope and believe 
 that the people of the United States were then, and are now, strongly in 
 favour of establishing permanently a friendly feeling between the two 
 nations. Then, besides, they had a further interest in settling all matters 
 in dispute ; for so long as the United States and England were not on 
 friendly terms — so long as they were standing s^loof from each other — it 
 affected very considerably the credit of the United States securities in 
 Europe. Not only the funds of the United States as a whole, but the 
 securities of every state of the union, and of all American enterprises 
 eeeking the markets of the world, were injuriously affected by the unsat- 
 
APPENDIX. 539 
 
 iafactory relations between the two countries. They were, therefore, 
 prepared to meet each other in this negotiation. To proceed with the 
 history of the circumstances immeuiately preceding the formation of the 
 joint high commission at Washington, I will state that on the lat of Feb- 
 ruary, 1871, a communication was made to me by his excellency the 
 governor-general, on behalf of her majesty's government, asking me, in 
 «ase there was going to be a joint commission to settle all questions be- 
 tween England and the United States, whether I would act as a member 
 of that commission. I give the date because it has been asked for. The 
 communication was verbal, and foimded upon a telegraphic communication 
 to his excellency, which cannot be presented , and being of a nature which 
 the house can readily understand ought not properly to be laid before this 
 house. This communication was, in the first place, for myself alone. I 
 was not allowed to mention it for tho time to any one else. My reply was 
 that I would be greatly embarrassed by -ny injunction of secrecy as re- 
 gards my colleagues, and that under no circumstances would [ accept the 
 position without their consent. I subsequently received permission to 
 communicate it to thom, and I received their consent to act upon the 
 commission. Before accepting, however, I took occasion, for my own in- 
 forniPtion and satisfaction, to ask, through his excellency, what points of 
 agreement and of difference "xisted between England and Canada with 
 regard to the fisheries. The answer was a very short one by cable, and it 
 was satisfactory to myself. It was extended la the despatch of the IGth 
 February, 1871. It shortly stated that of course it was impossible for 
 her majesty's government to pledge themselves to any foregone conclusion; 
 that it was a matter for negotiation, and it was of course out of the question 
 on the part of either government to give cast-iron instructions to their re- 
 presentatives, because that would do away with every idea of a negotia- 
 tion. The despatch went on to say that her majesty's government con- 
 sidered our right to the in-shoro fisheries beyond dispute; that they also 
 believed that our claims as to the headlands just, but that those claims 
 might properly be a matter of compromise. It went on further to state 
 that her majesty's government believed that, as a matter of strict right, 
 we could exclude the American fishermen entering our ports for purposes 
 of trade and commerce, and that they could only enter our waters, in the 
 language of the treaty, " for wood, water and shelter," but that this, in the 
 opinion of her majesty's government, would be a harsh construction of 
 the treaty, and might properly be a subject for compromise. On reading 
 that despatch I could have no difficulty as a member of the Canadi .n 
 government in accepting the position to which my colleagues assented, of 
 plenipotentiary to Washington, because, as a matter of law, our view of 
 
540 Ari'ENDlX. 
 
 those three points was acknowledged to be correct, and the subject wa» 
 therefore devoid of any enibarrivasnient from the fact of Canadians setting 
 up pretensions which her majesty's government could not support. (Hear 
 hear.) When the proposition was first made to me, I felt considerable* 
 embarrassment and j^reat reluctance to become a member of the coiiimi.s- 
 sion. I pointed out to my cclkaguea that I was to be one o" ?"e; that I 
 was in a position of being overruled continually in our discussions, and 
 that I could not by any possibility bring due weight from my isolated po- 
 sition. 1 felt also that I would not receive fioni those who were politically 
 opposed to me in Canada that support which an officer going abroad on 
 behalf of his coimtiy generally received and liad a right to expect. (Hear, 
 hear.) I knew that I would be made a maik of attack, and this house 
 well knows tliat my anticipations have been verified. I knew that I 
 would not get fair play. (He.-ir, licar.) I knew that the same policy that 
 had been carried out towards me fur years and years would continue, ai d 
 therefoie it was a matter of grave consideration to myself whether to ac- 
 cept the appointment or not. In that position, sir, a sense of duty pre- 
 vailed (cheers), and my colleagues pressed upon me also that I would b& 
 wanting in my duty to my country if I declined the appointment — that if, 
 from a fear of the consequences, from a fear tliat I would sacrifice the po- 
 Bition J held in the opinion of the people of Canada, I shoidd shiik the 
 duty, I would be unworthy of the confidence I had received so long from 
 a large portion of the people of Canada. ^Cheers.) " What," said my 
 colleagues, " would be eaid, if, in consequence of your refusal, Canada 
 was nut represented, and her interest in these matters allowed to go by 
 default ] " England, after having ofiered that position to the first minis- 
 ter, and it having been refused by him, would have been quite at liberty 
 to have proceeded with the commission and the settlement of all these 
 questions withotit Canada being represented on the commission, and those 
 very men who attack me now for having been there, and taken a certain 
 course, would have been just as loud in their complaints and just as bitter 
 in their attacks, because I had neglected the interests of Canada, and re- 
 fused the responsibility of asserting the rights of Canada at Washington. 
 (Cheers.; Sir, knowing, as I said before, what the consequences would be 
 to myself of accepting that office, and foreseeing the attacks that would be 
 made upon me, I addressed a letter to his excellency the governor-genera', 
 informing him of the grave difficulties of my position, and that it was only 
 from a sense of duty that I accepted the position. On proceeding to Wash- 
 ington I found a general desire among the two branches into which the joint 
 high commission divided itself — an equal desire, 1 should say, on the part 
 of the United States commissioners as well as on that of the British com- 
 
APPENDIX. 541 
 
 missionora — that all quest iona in diaputo should be settled so far as the 
 two governments could do so. There was a Bi)ecial desire that there should 
 be a settlement of everything. It was very easy for the comniissionera or 
 the government through their representatives to make a treaty, but in the 
 United States there is a power above and beyond the government : the 
 Senate of the United States, which had to be considered. It was felt that 
 a second rejection of a treaty would be most disastrous for the future of 
 both nations ; that it would be a solemn declaration that there was no 
 peaceable solution of the questions between the two nations. An Ameri- 
 can statesman said to me, " the rejection of the treaty now means war. " 
 Not war to-morrow, or at any given period, but war whenever England 
 happens to be engaced in other troubles and attacked from other sources. 
 (Hear, hear.) You may therefore imagine, Mr. Speaker, and this house 
 tnay well imagine, the solemn considerations pressing upon my mind, as 
 well as upon the minds of my colleagues in Canada, with whom I was in 
 daily communication, if by any unwise course, or from any rigid or pre- 
 conceived opinions, we should risk the destruction forever of all hope of a 
 peaceable solution of the difficulties between these kindred nations. (Hear.) 
 Still, sir, I do not forget that I was their chosen representative. I could 
 not ignore the fact that I was selected as a member of that commission 
 from my acquaintance with Canadian politics. I had continually before 
 me not only the imperial question but the interests of the Dominion of 
 Canada, which I was there sj^ecially to represent; and the difhuulty of my 
 position was that if I gave undue prominence to the interests of Canada, 
 I might justly be held in England to be taking a purely colonial and sel- 
 tish view, regardless of the interests of the empire as a whole, and the 
 interests of Canada as a portion of the empire; and, on the other hand, if 
 I kept my eye aolely on imperial considerations, I might be held as ne- 
 glecting my especial duty towards my country of Canada. It was a diffi- 
 cult pof.ition, as the house will believe, a position that pressed upon me 
 with great weight and severity at the time, and it has not been dimin- 
 ished in any way since I have returned, except by the cordial support of 
 my colleagues, and I believe also of my friends in this house. (Cheers. ) 
 In order to show that I did not for a moment forget that I was there to 
 represent the interests of Canada, I must ask you to look at the despatch 
 of the 16th February, 1871, which reached me at Washington, a few days 
 after I arrived th^re. It will be seen that Lord Kimberley used this ex- 
 pression: "As at present advised, her majesty's government are of opinion 
 that the right of Canada to exclude Americans from fishing in the waters 
 within the limit of three marine miles of the coast is beyond dispute, and 
 can only be ceded for an adequate consideration. Should this considera- 
 
542 APPENDIX. 
 
 tion take the form of a money payment, it appears to her niajosty's govern- 
 ment tliat such an arrangement would be more likely to work well than 
 if any c(mditions were annexed to the exorcise of the privilege uf fishing 
 within the Canadian rvaiers.'' Having read that despatch, and the .sug- 
 gestion that an arrangement might be made on the basis of a money 
 payment, and there being an absence of any statement that such an ar- 
 rangement could only be made with the consent of Canada, I thought it 
 well to communicate with my colleagues at Ottawa; and altht)Ugh we had 
 received again and again assurancds from her maioaty's government that 
 tliose rights would lujt be aU'octed, given away or reded without our con- 
 sent, it was thought advisable, in consequence of tho omission of all refer- 
 ence to the necessity of Canada's assent being obt«ined to any monetary 
 a/rangement, to communicate by cable that Canada considered the Cana- 
 dian fisheries to be her pr(^per^y, and they could not be disposed of witl out 
 her consent. That communication was made by the Canadian government 
 on the 10th of March, and of that government I was so a member; and not 
 only did that communication proceed from the Canadian government to 
 England, giving them fair notice that the Canadian government, of which 
 I was a member, would insist upon the right of dealing with her own 
 fisheries, but I took occasion to press upon the head of the British com- 
 mission at Washington, that my own individual opinion as representing 
 Canada, should be laid before her majesty's government. The answer 
 that came back at onoe by cable was extended in full in the despatch of 
 the 17th IVrarch, 1871, and it was most satisfactory, as it stated that her 
 majesty's government had never any intention of ad\ising hor majesty 
 to part with those fisheries without the consent of Canada. Armed with 
 this, 1 felt that I was relieved of a considerable amount of embarrass- 
 ment. I felt tliat, no matter what arrangements might bo made, no matter 
 wliether I was outvoted by my colleagues on the commis.sion, or what in- 
 structions might be given by her majesty's government, the interests of 
 Canada were safe, because they were in her own hands, and reserved for 
 her own decision. Now, Mr. Speaker, it must not be supposed that this 
 was not a substantial concession on the part of her majesty's government. 
 It is true that Lord Kimberley stated, in his despatcli of the 17th Miu'ch, 
 that, when the reciprocity treaty was concluded, the acts of the Nova 
 Scotia and New Brunswick legislatures relating to the fisheries were sus- 
 pended by acts of those legislatures, and that the fishery rights of Canada 
 were now under the protection of a Canadian act of parliament, the repeal 
 of which would be necessary in case of the cession of those rights to any 
 foreign power. It is true in one sense of the word; but it is also true that 
 if her majesty, in the exercise of her powers, had chosen to make a treaty 
 
APPENDIX. 545 
 
 with the United States, ceding not only those rights, but ceding the very 
 land over which those waters flow, the treaty between England and the 
 United States would have been obligatory and binding, and the United 
 States would have held England to it. No matter how unjust to Canada 
 aftei all her promises, still the treaty woald be a valid and obligatory 
 treaty between England and the United States, and the latter would have 
 the right to enforce its provisions, over-ride any provincial laws or ordi- 
 nances, and take possession of our waters and rights. It vould have been 
 a great wrong, but the consequence would have boon 'he loss practically 
 of our rights forever ; and so it was satisfactory that it should be settled, 
 as it has been settled beyond a doubt, appearing upon the records of the 
 conference at Washington. Now, the recognition of the proprietory right 
 of Canada in our fisheries forms a portion of the state papers of both coun- 
 tries. Now, the rights of Canada to those fisheries are beyond dispute, 
 and it is finally established that England cannot and will not, under any 
 circumstances whatever, cede those fisheries without the consent of Can- 
 ada ; so that, in any future arrangement between Canada and England, 
 or England and the United States, the rights of Canada wiU be re- 
 Bi>ected, as it is conceded beyond dispute that England has not the power 
 to deprive Canada of thorn ; so that we may rest certain that for all time 
 to come England will not, without onr consent, make any cession of those 
 interests . Now, Mr. Speaker, to come to the mode of treating the various 
 subjects which interest Canada more particularly. I will address myself 
 to them in detail; and first, I will consider the question of most importance 
 to us, the one on which we are now specially asked to legislate, that which 
 interests Canada as a whole most particularly, and which interests the 
 maritime provinces especially — I mean the articles of the treaty with re- 
 spect to our fishofy rights. I would, in the first place, say that the pro- 
 tocols which accompany the treaty, and wliich are in the hands of every 
 member, do not give, chronologically, an every day account of the trans- 
 actions of the conference. Although as a general rule, I believe the pro- 
 tocols of such conferences are kept from day to day, it was thought better 
 to depart from the rule on this occasion, and to record only the conclu- 
 sions arrived at. While the protocols substantially contain the result of 
 the negotiations ending in the treaty, they must therefore not be looked 
 upon as chronological dates of the facts and incidents as they occurred. 
 I say BO, because the protocol which relates more especially to the fisheries 
 would lead one to suppose that at the first meeting, and without pre- 
 vious discussion, the British commissioners stated "that they were pre- 
 pared to discuss the question of the fisheries either in detail or generally, 
 3o as either to enter into an dxamiiation of the respective rights of the 
 
514 APPENDIX. 
 
 two countries under the troaty of 1818 and the general law of nations, or 
 to approach at once the settleniunt of the question on a comprehensive 
 basis." Now tlie fa';t is, that it was found by the British commissioners 
 when they arrived at Washington, and had had an opportunity of ascer- 
 taining the feeling that prevailed at that time, not only among the United 
 States commissioners, but among the public men of the United States 
 whom they met there, and from their communicaticju with otlier sources 
 of information, that the feeling was universal that all (piestions should be 
 settled beyond the possibility of dispute in the future; and more e8p«icially 
 that, if by any possibility a solution of the difiiculty respecting the (isher- 
 iea could be arrived at, or a satisfactory arrangement made by which the 
 fishery question could bo placed in abeyance as in 1854, it would bo to 
 the advantage of both nations. It must 'e remembered that the com- 
 mission sat in 1871, and that the exclusion of American fishermen from 
 our waters was enforced and kept up during the whole of 1870, and that 
 great and loud, though I believe unf(junded, complaints had been made 
 that American fishing vessels had been illegally seized, although they had 
 not trespassed upon our waters. Persons interest L:d had been using every 
 effort to arouse and stimulate lie public mind of the United States and 
 the people of the United States again^ Canada and the Canadian author- 
 ities ; and it was felt and expressed that it would be a great bar to the 
 chance of the treaty being accepted by the United States if one of the 
 causes of irritation which had been occurring a few months before should 
 be allowed to remain unsettled. Collisions would occur between .\merican 
 fishermen claiming certain rights and Canadians resisting those claims, 
 that thereby feelings would be aroused, and all the good which might be 
 effected by the treaty would be destroyed by quarrels between man and 
 man engaged on the fishing grounds. This feeling prevailed, and I, as a 
 Canadian, knowing that the people of Canada desired, and had always 
 expressed a wish to enter into, the most cordial reciprocal trade arrange- 
 ments with the United States, so stated to the British commissioners; 
 and they had no hesitation, on being invited to do so, in stating that they 
 would desire by all means to remove every cause of discussion respecting 
 these fisheries, by the restoration of the old reciprocity treaty of 1854. 
 An attempt was made in 1865 by the hon. member for Sherbrooke (Sir A. 
 T. Gait) and Mr. Howland, on behalf of Canada, to renew that treaty, 
 but it failed, because the circumstances of the United States in 18G5 were 
 very different from what, they were in 1854, and it appeared out of the 
 question and impossible for the United States to agree to a treaty Tvith 
 exactly the same provisions, and of exactly the same nature, as that of 
 1854; so that the British commissioners, believing that a treaty s^imilar to 
 
APi'E.WIX. 545 
 
 Ihat of 1854 could not be obtivinod in words and in detail, thoiifjht that it 
 might bo obtiiinod in siiirit, ;ind this view was .stroiii^ly prissod upnn the 
 joint conunission. Tiiis will appear from tlio j)rotocol. It will also ap- 
 pear from the protocol that the United States commissioners stated that 
 u reciprocity treaty was out of the question; that it could not bo accepted 
 without being subuiitted to both branches of congress; that there was not 
 tht sliglitest possibility of congress passing such an act; that the agree- 
 ment by the two govorniuoiits to a treaty including provisions similar in 
 spirit to the treatj' of I8r4 would oidy insure the rejection oi that treaty 
 by the senate; and, therefore, that some other solution must bo found. I 
 believe that the United States CDiuinissioneis were candid and were accu- 
 rate in their view of the situation. I believe that had the treaty contained 
 all the provisions or the essential provisions of the treaty of l8.~)-4, they 
 would have ensured its rejection by the senate. When I speak of the 
 conferences that were held on the fisheries, [ would state for the informa- 
 tion of those members of the house who may be uiiiic(iuaintod with the 
 Uiage in such mutters, that the commissioners did not act at the discussion 
 individually. The conftrence was composed of two units — the British 
 commission and the United States commission. If a question arose in 
 conference on which either of the two parties, the British or American 
 branch, desired to consult together, they retired, and on their return ex- 
 pressed their views as a whole, without reference to the individual opinions 
 of the commissioners. As an individual member of the British commission, 
 and on behalf of Canada, when it was found that we could not obtain a 
 renewal tf the reciprocity treaty, I urged upon my English colleagues tliat 
 the Canadians should be allowed lo retain the exclusive enjoyment of t.io 
 in-shore fisheries, and that means should be used to arrive in some way or 
 other at a settlement of the disputed question in relation to the fisheries, 
 80 to seivle the headland question, and the other one in relating to trading 
 in o.ir ports by American iishermen; and I would have been well satisfied, 
 acting on behalf of the Canadian government, if that course had been 
 adopted by the imperial government ; but her majesty's government felt, 
 and so instructed their commissioners, and it was so felt by the United 
 States commissioners, that the leaving of the chance of collision between 
 the American fishermen and the Canadian authorities a matter of possi- 
 bility, would destroy or greatly prejudice the grtat object of the negotia- 
 tions that were to restore the amicable relations and the friendly feeling 
 between the two nations; and therefore her majesty's government pressed 
 that these questions should be allowed to remain in abeyance, and that 
 some other settlement in the way of compensation to Canada should be 
 formed. The protocol shows, Mr. Speaker, that the United States gov- 
 II 
 
640 AVI'KNDIX. 
 
 ernmont, throu;,'li tlioir coinmiasioners, made a coiisidoralilo advance, or 
 at least aoino advanci', in tho diroctioii of reciprocity, bocaiiHo tlioy ofl'ured 
 to oxuhaiigu for our in-sSoro fiHlierius, in the tirat i)Iacii, tlio rij^ht to fish 
 in their waters, whatever that might he worth; and tlioy Tered to admit 
 Canadian coal, salt, fish, and after 1874, luinbor, free of duty. They 
 offered reciprocity in these articles, On behalf of Canada, tlie T^ritish 
 comniissionora said that they did not co 'aider that that was a fair equiva- 
 lent. (Hear, hear.) It is not necessary that 1 shoidd enter into all the 
 discussions and arguments on that poitit, but it was pointed out by the 
 British commissioners that already a measure had passed one branch of 
 the legislature of the United States, making coal and salt free, and stood 
 ready to bo passed by tlie other branch, the senate. It was believed at 
 that time that tho American congress, for its own purpose and in tho in- 
 terest of American people, was about to tako tlio duty off these articles, 
 and, therefore, the commission could not be fairly considered as in any 
 way granting a compensation, as congroaa was going to take off tho duty 
 whether there was a treaty or not. Then as regards the duty on lumber, 
 which was ofl'ered to be taken otl' after 1874, we pointed out that nearly a 
 third of the ;vhole of the timo for which the treaty was proposed to oxiit 
 would expire before the duty Avould be taken off our lumber. Tho British 
 commissioners tirged that under those circuuistances the offer coiild not 
 be considered a fair one, and that Canada had a fair right to demand 
 compensation over and above these proposed reciprocal arrangements. 
 Now, Mr. Speaker, bef()re that proposition was made, I was in communi- 
 cation with my colleagues in the Canadian government, who were exceed- 
 ingly anxious that the original object should be carried; that, if we could 
 not get reciprocity as it was in 1854, we should be allowed to retain our 
 fisheries, and that tho questions in dispute should be settled ; but her 
 majesty's government taking the strong ground that their acceding to our 
 wishes would be equivalent to an abatidonment of the treaty, the Canadian 
 government reluctantly said that, from a desire to meet her majesty's 
 government's views as much as possible, and not to allow it to be felt in 
 England that from a selfish desire to obtain all we desired, we had frus- 
 trated the efforts of her majesty's r^ivernment to secure peace, we con- 
 sented that this proposition should be made. And, sir, that proposition 
 was made to the United States. Although I do not know it as a matter 
 of certainty, I have reason to believe that if it had not been for the action 
 of this legislature last session, we would now be passing an act for the 
 purpose of ratifying a tre<aty in which coal and salt and lumber from Can- 
 ada would be received into the United States free of duty. (Hear, hear.) 
 I have reason to believe that had it not been for the interposition of this 
 
A VPENDIX. M7 
 
 legi»lftturo — and I Bpoak now of political friends as well aa foos — the terms 
 wliich were ollurod hy the United States would have been the compensa- 
 tion to have been settled by arbitration, and would have constituted a 
 portion of the treaty, instead of as it in now. (Api)lau9e. ) I will toll the 
 huiise why 1 say so. The oiler was lu'ido early by the United States gov- 
 ernnient. The answer made by the Ih-itish coinnussionera was that, under 
 the circumstances, it was not a fair and adocpiatu coMi[)on8ation for the 
 privileges that were asked, ami (he Briti^ih coniiuisHioners, at the sugges- 
 tion of the Canadian government, referred the (pujstion to her majesty's 
 government, whether they ought not, in addition to this ofl'er of the United 
 States, to expect a pecuniary compensation — that pecuniary compensation 
 to bo settled in some way or other. That took place on the 25th of March, 
 1871. On the 25tli of March I think the linal proposition was made by 
 the United States i,'overnment, and on the 22ud March, two days before, 
 the resolution was carried in tliis house, by which the duty was taken off 
 coal and salt and the other articles mentioned. Before that res >lution 
 was carried here, no feeling was expressed a','ainst the taking oil" of the 
 duty on Canadian eoal and salt into the United States,, No one raised 
 any difiiculty about it. 1 am as well satisfied as I can be of a thing which 
 I did not see occur, that the admission of Canadian coal and salt into the 
 United States would have been placed in the treaty if it had not been for 
 the action of this legislature on the 25th of March. (Hear, hear.) Tiiat 
 oiler was made, and it was referred to England. Tiie government stated 
 that they quite agreed in the opinion that, in addition to that offer, there 
 should be compensation in money; and then, on the 17th of April, the 
 American commissioners withdrew their offer — as they had the right to do 
 — altogether. And why did they withdraw the offer altogether ? One of 
 the commissioners in conversation said to me, " 1 am quite surprised to 
 find the opposition that has s^^rung up to the admission of Canadian coal 
 and salt into our market ; I was unprepared for the feeling that is exhib- 
 ited." I know right well what the reason was. The monopolizers, having 
 the control of American coal in Pennsylvania and salt in New York, so 
 long as the treaty would open to them the market in Canada for their 
 products, were quite willing that it should carry, becau.se they would have 
 the advantage of both markets; b\it when the duty was taken off in Cana- 
 da, when you had opened the market to them, when they had the whole 
 control of their own market, and free access to ours, whether for coal or 
 salt, the monopolizers brought down all their energies upon their friends 
 in congress, and through them a pressure on the American government, 
 for the purpose of preventing the admission of Canadian cojI and salt into 
 the American market, and from that I have no doubt arose the withdrawal 
 
648 A IT E MUX. 
 
 by the Aiiiorioan coiiiiniHNiomrs of thoir ( flbr. Wlii'ii my limi. frioiiil from 
 Botliwell (Mr, MiIIh) miiil, hiut BiiHftion, "TluwugueH IIim ('miii(lnin iiutional 
 policy!" ho little wiia awuro of tho coiiHutiuuuoca of thu ruukluss ooiirHu he 
 had takon. (Hoar, hoar, uitcl lauijlitor.) Hon, guntlemuii may latigh, but 
 they will fittd it no liin;,'hing matter. Thu pooplu of Canada, bolli uaat 
 and wuat, will hold to ittrict account t'loou who autod ao unpatriotically in 
 tho matter. (Hi'Hr, hoar.) Undor thoao circvunatancoa, Mr. Speaker, I 
 felt niyaelf powerleaa, and when the American cummiHaionora made their 
 lost oiler, which is now in the treaty, (IFviring reciprocity in tlie haliorios — 
 that Canadiuna ahould ti»h in Amoiican watira, and that Amuricina ahould 
 tish in Canadian waters, and that li^li and tith oil ahould bo reciprocally 
 free, and that if there ahould bo an arbitration it were foun I that the 
 bargain was an unjuat ono iu Canada and that aho did nut recuivo autHcient 
 conipenaation for her tisheriea by that arrangement — I agreed that it ahould 
 bo remitted to 'ler majeaty'a government to say what ahould ho done, as 
 will be aeon by tho laat aentenco of tho protocol: " 'J'ho .lubjoot waa fur- 
 ther diacuaaed in the conferences of April 1.8th and lUth, and the British 
 commiaaiont 8 having referred tho last propoaal to their govornmont, and 
 received inatnictiona to accept the treaty, artidea 18 to 25 vero agreed to 
 at the confeienco on tho 22nd April." Thiia, then, it occurred that these 
 articlea, from 18 to 25, are a portion of tho treaty. One of theae articles 
 reaerves for Canada '.ho right of rejection or adoption, and it ia for this 
 parliament now to say whether, under all tho circumatancos, it shall ratify 
 or reject thein. The papers that have been laid before tho house show 
 what was tho opinion of tho Canadian govornmont. Under tlio present 
 circun\stancc3 of that question, the Canadian government beliovo that it 
 is for tho interest of Canada to accept tho treaty— lo ratify it by legisla. 
 tion. (Hear, hear.) Thoy believe it is for the interest of Canada to ac- 
 cept it ; and they are more inclined to believe it from the fact — which I 
 must say has surprisod me, and surprised my colleagues, and has surprised 
 the country -that tho portion of tho treaty which was supposed to bo most 
 unpopular and most prejudicial to the interesta of tho maritirao provinces, 
 has proved to be the least unpopular. (Hear, hear.) Sir, I could not 
 have anticipated that the Canadian fishermen, who, to a man, were op- 
 posed to tho treaty, as inflicting on them a wrong, would now be recon- 
 ciled to it. 1 could not have anticipated that tho tishermen of the mari- 
 time provinces, who at first expressed hostility, would now, with a few 
 exceptions, be anxious for its adoption. (Hear, hear.) In reviewing 
 these articles of the treaty, I would call the consideration of the house to 
 the fact that their scope and aim have been greatly misrepresented by that 
 portion of the Canadian press which is opposed to the present government. 
 
APPENDrX. M 
 
 It haH bttou allo^'od to be an iKtioiiiiiuou!) nalu of tlui i)r()])orty of Ciiimda, 
 ft biirteriii;^ ftwiiy of tho tortitoriiil li^litH of thin country for inonoy. Sir, 
 tliiit allo^lltioll could not \w tnoru iilturly iinfonmltMl than it in. (Hoar, 
 iii'itr. ) It in no luoru a transfer and Halo of tlut territorial ri^dilH of 
 Canada than waH tho truaty of 1854. Tho vory hatis of this treaty is rooi- 
 (jrocity. (Ilimr, liuar.) To beanro, it does not gu so far and oinbraco so 
 niMiy articles aa tho treaty of l.S')4. I am sorry for it. I foiii,'ht hard 
 that it should bo so; but tho terms of this treaty are terms of reciprocity, 
 ftnd the very tirat clause ou}{ht to be sulHcieiit evidence upon that point, 
 fur it doclaies that CamuUaua shall have the same right to tiah in Ameri- 
 can waters that Americans will have under tho treaty to tish in Canadian 
 waters. True, it may bo aaid that our llHheriea are more valuable than 
 theirs, but that does not afl'ect the principli'. Tiie principle is this — that 
 wo wore trying to make a reciprocity arrangement, and going aa far in tho 
 direction of reciprocity as [jossildo, endeavouring to carry out a reciprocity 
 law, although nut a reciprocity treaty in form. Tho principle is tho same 
 in eacli case, and as regards tho treaty that lias l)een negotiated, it is not 
 conlinod to reciprocity in fiah. It provides that tho [jroducts of tho fish- 
 eries of tho two nations — fish oil as well as fish — shall bo intcrchaugod 
 free. The only symptom of departure from that principle is that if it 
 were found that Cauiida had made a bad bargain and liad not received a fair 
 compensation for what she gave; if it were found that while thoro was re- 
 ciprocity as to tho enjoyment of rights and privileges, there was not true 
 reciprocity in value, provision was made by which tlio dill'eronco in value 
 shoidd be ascertained and paid to this country. (Hear, hoar.) Now, if 
 there is anything ajiproaching to the dishonourable and the degrading in 
 these proposals, \ do not know tho meaning of those terms. (Hoar, hear.) 
 This provision may not be one tliat will Tneot tho acceptance of the coun- 
 try, but T say tliat th ! maun r in which it has been ckaracteri/od was a 
 ■ wilful and deliborato use o*^ language which the parties employing it did 
 not believe at the time to be accurate, and to which thoy resorted for po- 
 litical reasons and in order to create misappndiensions in the country. Sir, 
 there was no humiliation. Canada would not tolerate an act of humilia- 
 tion on the part of its government; ami England would neitlior advise nor 
 permit one of her faithful cohMiies to be degraded and cast luwn. (Cheers.) 
 But it is said that the American fisheries are of no value to I's. They are 
 not very valuable, it is true, bu! still they have a substantial value for us 
 in this way — that the exclusion of Canadian fishermen from the American 
 coast fisheries would have been a great loss t >> the fishing interests of the 
 maritime provinces, and I will tell you why. It is quite true that the 
 mackerel fishery, which ia the most valuable fishery on these coasts, be- 
 
660 APPENDIX. 
 
 loners to Canada, and tha* the m.ackerel of tho American coast is far infe- 
 rior in every respect to ti. ' '" nadian; but it is also true that in American 
 waters, tho menhadden, th > favourite bait to catch the mackerel, is found; 
 and it is so much the favoivite bait, that one tiching (resael having this 
 bait on board will draw awa^ a whole school of mackerel in the very face 
 of vessels having an inferioi >ait. Now, tho vulno of the privilege of en- 
 tering American v/aters for c; celling that bait ia very groat. If (/anadian 
 fishermen were excluded from Auierican vvateii by any combination among 
 American fishermen, or by any act of congress, they would be deprived of 
 getting a single ounce of the bait. Amoric.vu fishi'rn sn might combine 
 for that object, or a law might bo pf ml by congress forbidding the ex- 
 portation of menhadilea ; but by the provision made in the treaty, Cana- 
 dian fishermen are allowed to enter into American waters to procure thii 
 bait, and the conse(iuen;o of that is tli-it no such combination can exist, 
 and Canadians can purchase the bait a .i' ' o able to fish on equal terms 
 with the Americans. (Hear, he<ar.) It 's thus seen, sir, that this reci- 
 procity trer*^^y is not a mere matter of g'r 'tiinent — it is a most vo,iUable 
 privilege, which is not to be neglected, or k^pised, or sneered at. With 
 respect to the language of those articles, aon^Q questions have been raised 
 and placed on the paper, and L have asked t • . hon. gentlemen Avho were 
 about to put them to postpone doing so; and ! ow warn hon, members — 
 and I do it with tho most sincere desire toprot ^cSand vindicate the inter- 
 ests of Canada — if this treaty becomes a treaty, an-' \te ratify the fishery 
 articles, I warn them not to raise questions whic'i othorwiso might not be 
 raised. I think, Mr. Speaker, there is no greatei i; n'ance in which a wise 
 discretion can be used than in not suggesting any doubt. With respect, 
 however, to the question which was put \>y the hon member for the county 
 of Charlotte — and it is a question which might well be put, and which re- 
 quires somo answer — I would state to that hon. gei; Hi'inan, and I think he 
 will be satisfied with the answer, that the treaty of l."^71, in the matter his 
 question refers to, is larger and wider in its provisions in favour of (/aiiada 
 than was the treaty of 1854, and that under tlie treaty of 1854 no ([uestion 
 was raised as to the exact locality of the catch, bat all fish bi'ouglit to the 
 United States market by Canadian vessels were free. I say this advisedly, 
 and I will discuss it with the hon. gentleman whene'^er he may chooaa to 
 give me tho opportunity. The same jiraclice will I have no doubt, be 
 continued under the treaty of 1871, unless the pe \ le of Canada thera- 
 Eelves raise the objection. T'ae warning I have just low expressed I am 
 sure the house will take in tho spiiit in which it is ntended. No hon. 
 member will, of course, be prevented from exercising his own discretion; 
 but I felt it my duty to call the attention of the house to tlie necessity for 
 
A L'PENDIX. 651 
 
 great prudence in not raising needless doubts ai to the terms of the treaty. 
 It will be renienibored that wo have not given all our lisherios away The 
 treaty only applies to the tisheries of the old British Aniericriu provinces; 
 and in order that tlio area should not be widened, it is provided that it 
 shall only apply to the fisheries of Quebec, Nova Soiitia, New lirunswick 
 and Piince Edward Island; so that the treaty does not allow the Ameri- 
 cans to have access to t^^he rac-Hc coast tisheries, nor yet to the inexhaust- 
 ible and priceless fisheries of the Hudson Bay. These are great sources 
 of revenue yet undeveloped, bat after the treaty is ratified they will de- 
 velop rapidly ; at\d in twelve years from now, when the two nations sit 
 down to reconsider the circumstances and readjust the treaty, it will be 
 fo\ind that other and greater wealth will be at the disposal of the Domin- 
 ion. I may bo asked — though I have not seen that the point has excited 
 any observation — why "were not the pn)ducts of the lake fishciios laid open 
 to both nations? and in reply may say that thos'j fisheries were excepted 
 at my instance. The Canadian fisheries on the north shore of the great 
 lakes are most valuable. By a judicious sjstem of preservation and pro- 
 tection we have greatly increased that 8o;.rce of wealtli. It is also known 
 that from a concurrence of circumstances, and from situation, the fisheries 
 on the south slioro are not nearly so valuable as ours; and it therefore ap- 
 peared that if we once allowed tiie American fishermen to have admission 
 to our waters with their various engines of destruction, all the care taken 
 for many years to cultivate that source of wealth would bo disturbed and 
 injured and really prejudiced, and there would be no end of quarrels and 
 dissatisfaction in our narrow watti^, and no reciprocity ; and, therefore, 
 that Canada would be much better off by preserving her own inland fish- 
 eries to herself, and have no right to enter the Ameriaan markets witii the 
 products of those fisheries. This was the reason why the lake fisheries 
 were not included in this arrangement. Now, sir, under the present cir- 
 cumstances of the case, the Canadian government has decided to press 
 upon this liouso the policy of accepting this treaty and ratifying the fish- 
 ery articles. I may be liable to the charge of injuring our own case in 
 discussing the advantages of the arrangements, because every word used 
 by me may bo (pioted and used as evidence against us hereafter. The 
 statement I'.as been so thrown broadcast that the arrangement is a bad one 
 for Canada, that in order to show to this house and the country that it is 
 one that can be accepted, one is obliged to run the risk of his language 
 being used before the commissioners to settle the amount of compensation, 
 as an evidence of the value of the treaty to us. It seems to me that in 
 looking at the treaty in a commercial point of view, and looking at the 
 question whether it is right to accept the articles, we have to consider 
 
662 AVPENDIX. 
 
 mainly tliat interest whicli is most, peculiarly ali'ected. Now, unless I am 
 greatly misiiiforaiod, the fishtry. interests in Nova Hcotia, with one or two 
 exceiitions for local reasons, are altogether in favour of the treaty. (Hear, 
 hear.) Theyareauxious to g ;1 ''rec! ad mission for their tish into the American 
 market, that they wo.ild view with g'eat sorrow any action of this house 
 which would exclude them from that, market, that they look forward with 
 increasing confidence to a large development of iheir trade and of that 
 groat industry; and I say that that being the case — if it be to the ii\terest 
 of the iishermeii and tor the advantage of that branch of national indus- 
 try, Retting aside c other considerations — we ought not wilfully to injure 
 that interest. Why, sir, what is the fact of the case as it stands ? The 
 only market for the Canadian No. 1 mackerel in the world is the United 
 States. That is our only market, and we are practically excluded from it 
 by the present duty. The oorsequence of that duty is that our fishermen 
 are at the mercy of the American fishermen. They are made the hewers 
 of wood and the drawers of water for the Americans. They are obliged 
 to sell their fish at the Americans' own price. The American liohermen 
 purchase their fish at a nominal value, and control the American market. 
 The great profits of the trade are handed over to the American fishermen 
 or American merchants engaged in the trade, and they profit to the loss 
 of our own industry and our own people. Let any one go down the St. 
 Lawrence on a summer trip, as many of us do, and call from the deck of 
 the steamer to a fisherman in his boat, and see for what a nominal price 
 you can secure the whole of his catch; and that is from the absence of a 
 market, and from the fact of the Canadian fishermen being completely 
 under the control of the foi-eigncr. With the duty oflF Canadian fish, the 
 Canadian fisherman may send his hsh at the right time, when he can ob- 
 tain the best price, to the American market, and thus be the means of 
 opening a profitable trade with the ^Tnitrd States in exchange. If, there- 
 fore, it is for the advantage of the maritime provinces, including that 
 portion of Quebec which is also largely interested in the fisheries, that 
 this treaty should be raiiiied, and that this great market should be opened 
 to them, on what ground should we deprive them of this right ? Is it not 
 a selfish argument that the fisheries can bi Ui.nd as a lever in order to gain 
 reciprocity in flour, wheat and other cereals ? Are you to shut our fisher- 
 mei out of this great market, in order that you may coerce the United 
 Statee into giving you an extension of the reciprocal principle ? Why, 
 Mr. S]/ f»ker, if it were a valid argument it would be a selfish one. What 
 would ''■ said by the people of Ontario if the United States had oflfered, 
 for tlioir own purposes, to admit Canadian grains free, and Nova Scotia 
 liad objected, saying: "No, you shall not have that market; you must be 
 
APPENDIX. 553 
 
 deprived of that niarkct forever, unless wo can take in onr fisli also. You 
 must lose all tlmt great advantage uniil wo can get a market for our lisli." 
 Apply the argument in this way, and you will see how selfish it ia. Jiut 
 the argument lias no foundation, no basis of fact, and I will show this 
 house why. In 1854, by a strict and rigid observance of the principle of 
 exclusion, the Aniericau tisheruien were drivt-n out of those waters. At 
 that time the United States were free from debt, and they had a large 
 capital invested in their fisheries. Our fisheries were then in their infancy. 
 They were a " feeble " people, just beginning as fishermen, with little 
 capital and little skill, and their operations were very restricted. I do 
 not speak disparagingly, but in comparison with the fishermen of the 
 United States there was an absence of capital and skill. The United 
 States were free from taxation; they had this capital and skill, and all they 
 wanted was our Canadian waters in which to invest that capital and exer- 
 cise that skill. lUit how is that altered ? Now our fisheries are no lever 
 by which to obtain reciprocity in grain. What do the United States care 
 for our fisheries ? The American tishermen are opposed to the treaty. 
 Those interested in the iisheries are sending petition after petition to the 
 United States government and congress, praying that the treaty may be 
 rejected. They say they do not want to come into our Wcaters. The 
 United States government have gone into this treaty with every desire to 
 settle all possible sources of difliculty. Their fishermen complain that 
 they will suffer by it, but the United States government desire to meet 
 us face to face, hand to hand, heart to heart, to have an amicable settle- 
 ment of disputes. They know that they are not making political friends 
 nor gaining political strength, because interests most affected by the fishery 
 articles are against the treaty ; but they desire that the ill-feelings which 
 arose during the civil war, and from the Alabama case should be forgotten. 
 A feeling of friendship hns grown up between the nations, and it can be 
 no other desire than to foster and encourage that feeling which dictates 
 the agreeing to these particular .irticles. If, then, Canada objects to the 
 treatj', the United States government will simply say : " Well, if you do 
 not like these arrangements, reject them; and the consequence be on your 
 own huad if this friendship st) auspiciously commenced is at any time bro- 
 ken by unhappy collisions in your waters." 
 
 It being six o'clock, Mr. Speaker left the chair. 
 
 AFTEK UECESS. 
 
 Sir John Maodonald resumed his speech as follows: — I am afraid I 
 must apologise to the house for the uninteresting manner in which I have 
 laid the subject before the house so far. I was showing, as well as I could, 
 
nriA APPENDIX. 
 
 my opinion, ami my reasons for that opinion — that under the circum- 
 stances, the treaty, althoiif^li it is not what wo desire, and altlioiigh it is 
 not what I pressed for, ought to be accepted. J shall not pursue that 
 branch of t}>e auliject to proater length, as during the disctission of the 
 measure I have no doubt that 1 shall liavo a<jain an opportunity to re-urge 
 Ihese and further views on the same subject, as they may occur to me, or 
 as they may be elicited. 1 shall, however, call the serious attention of 
 the house, and especially of those members of the house who have given 
 attention to the question in dispute, as regards tlio validity of the several 
 treaties between the United Stat(!8 and England, to the importance of this 
 treaty in this respect, that it pets at rest now and forever the disputed 
 question as to whether the convention of 1818 was not repealed and ob- 
 literated by the treaty of 1854. This question, Mr. Speaker, is one that 
 has occupied the attention of the Ignited States jurists, and has been tho 
 subject (>f serious and elaborate discusf- ions. BVom my point of view, the 
 pretension of the United Statefc is erroneous, but it has been constantly 
 pressed — and we know the pertinacity with which such views are pressed 
 by the United States; we have an example in the case of the navigation of 
 the river St. Lawrence, which, while it was discussed from 1822 to 1828, 
 end was apparently settled then forever between the two nations, was re- 
 vived by the president of the United State?, in his address of 1870, and 
 the difference " etween the point of view as pressed in 1828 by the United 
 States and that presaiid in 1870, was shown by the result of the treaty. 
 
 Mr. Blakk— Hear, hear. 
 
 Sib John 1\Iacdonai,T) — And, sir, it was of great importance, in my 
 point of view, that this question which has beer, so pressed by American 
 jurists, and considering also the pertinacity with which such views are 
 urged, should be set at rest forever. The question has been strongly put 
 in the American, Laio Beview of April, 1871, in <an article understood to 
 have been written by .Judge Pomeroy, a jurist of standing in the United 
 States; and that paper, I believe, expresses the real opinion of the writer, 
 erroneous though I hold it to be — and his candour is shown by this fact, 
 as well as from the known standing of the man — that in one portion of tho 
 article he demolishes the claim of the American fishermen to the right to 
 trade in o\ir waters. He proves in an able argument that the claim of the 
 American iishermeu to enter our harbours for any purpose other than 
 wood, water and shelter, is without foundation. The view taken by that 
 writer and others, and among them by a writer whose name I do not 
 know, but whose papers are very valuable from their ability — they ap- 
 peared in the New York Nation — is this : the treaty of 17S3 was a treaty 
 of p<»ace, a settlement of a boundary; and a division of country between 
 
APPENDIX. 655 
 
 two nations. The United Statoa contended tliat that treaty was in force, 
 anu is liow in force, as it was a treaty rt'speccinj,' the boundary, and was 
 not abrogated or aOected by the war of 1812. Under the treaty of 17H3, 
 HTK^ by the terms of that troaty, the fishermen of tlie United States had 
 the unrestrained right to enter into ail our waters up to our shores, and 
 to every part of Bniish North America. After '815, England contended 
 that that pi I mission was abrogated by the war, ui'' \\rB not renewed by 
 the treaty of peace of 1814. Tlio two natiors wery lius, ..t issue on that 
 very grave poi it, and those who look bacic to tl c !i 'tory of that day will 
 find that the difference on that point threatened a rei/ jwal of the v ir, aud 
 it was only seti'.ed by the compromise kn*. wn as tho convention of 1818, 
 by which the cl.ams of the Americans within thfeo miles of our '?hore8 
 were renounced. The argument is, however, of a nature too technical to 
 be of interest to the house, and requires to be very ccrefnlly studied be- 
 fore it can be understood. I will not, therefore, trouble the house with 
 that argument, but I will read one or two passages to show the gene) .* 
 statement of the case: 
 
 " We shall now inquire whetlKr tlip convention of 1818 is an exi.stiiiij compact, 
 
 and if not, what are tlie rights of American fiKshermen under th^ treaty of peace of 
 
 1783." 
 I 
 
 " Since the exiiiration of the reciprocit " treaty in 18GG, the Britisli gov ernment, 
 both at liomo and in the provinces, ha?, i i its statutes, its official instruc.tious, and 
 its diplomatic correspondence, quietlj assumed that the convention of 1818 is again 
 operative in all its provisions. That the state department at Washington should 
 by its silence have admitted the coridctness if this assumption, which is equally 
 opposed to principle and to authority, ia remaikable. We shall m.iinl.iiu the pro- 
 position that the treaty of peace of 1( S."} is now in full force ; that, all limitations 
 upon its efMciency have been removed; and that it is the only source an I foundation 
 of American fishing rights within the 'iorth-easteni territorial waters, ^n ijursuing 
 the discussion we will show, first, that the renunciatory clauses of the convention of 
 1818 have been removed; and secondly, that article III. of the treaty of 178.'3, thus 
 left free from the restrictions of the subsequent ronijiaot, was not abrogate! by tha 
 war of 1812." 
 
 The writer thus concludes: 
 
 " Article III. of the treaty of 178.'5 is thei efore iu ilio i: icure of an executed grant. 
 It created and conferred at one blow rights of proi>6;ty, ptrect in their nature, and 
 as permanent as tln' dominion over the national soil. Th' at lights ^re IieM Ijy the 
 inhabitants of the United States, and are to le exercised in ■'ritishterritL' ial waters. 
 Unaffected by the war of 1812, they still exist i.i full foici' cvnd vigour, binder the 
 provisions of thi-i treaty, American citizens are now <ji Utled to take . h on such 
 parts of the coastt) <:f Newfoundland as British fishenrien use, anJ also on all the 
 coasts, bays and creeks, of all other his Britannic majesty's dominions iu America, 
 
XioG APri<L\UIX. 
 
 and to dry ti-v] cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, hnrboura and creeks of Nova 
 Scotia, tlio Mii;,'(l:il(/ii i.slauils and Laliradnr. 
 
 " 'I'lif linal conulusion tliim reached id sustained by principle and by authority. We 
 submit that it should be adii|)ted by the government uf the United Stated, aud made 
 the basis of any further negotiations with Great Britain." 
 
 I quote this for the purpose of showing that the pretension was formally 
 set lip and elaborated by jurists of no mean standing or repvitatioa, and 
 therefore it is one of the merits of the treaty that it forever sots the dis- 
 pute at rest. The writers on this subject — the very writerp. oi whom I 
 have spoken admit that under this treaty the claim is gone, because it is a 
 formal admission by the United States government that, under the con- 
 vention of 1818, we had, on the 8th of May, 1871, a proprietary right in 
 these in-shore iiaheriesj and tlus was so admitted, after the (juestion had 
 been raised in the United States, tliat the ratification of the treaty of 
 1854 was equal in its ellect to an abrogation of the convention of 1818. 
 They agree by this treaty to buy their entry into our waters, and this is 
 the strongest possible proof that their argument could be no longer main- 
 tained. Just as the payment of rent by a tenant is the strongest proof of 
 his admission of the I'ight of the landlord, so is the agreement to pay to 
 <?anada a fair sum as an equivalent for the use of our fisheries an acknow- 
 ledgement of the permanent continuance of our right. So much, sir, for 
 the portion of the treaty which affects the fisheries. I alluded, ,a few 
 minutes ago, to the St. Lawrence. The surrender of the free navigation 
 of the river St. Lawrence in its natural state was resisted by England 
 up to 1828. The claim was renewed by the present government of the 
 United States, and asserted in a message by the president of the United 
 States. Her majesty's government, in the instructions sent to her com- 
 missioners, took the power and responsibility in this matter into their 
 own hands. It was a matter which we won.ld not control. Being a 
 matter of boundary between two nations, affecting a river which forms 
 a boundary between the limits of a part of the empire and the limits 
 of the United States, it is solely within the control of her majesty's gov- 
 ernment; and in the instructions to the plenipotentaries, this language was 
 used: " Her majesty's government are now willing to grant the free navi- 
 gation of the St. Lawrence to the citizens of the United States on the same 
 conditions and tolls as are imposed on British subjects." I need not say, 
 «ir, that, as a matter of sentiment, I regretted this; but it was a matter of 
 sentiment only. However, there could be no practical good to Canada in 
 resisting the concession; and there was no possible evil inflicted on Canada 
 by the concession of the privilege of navigating that small piece (if broken 
 water between St. Regis and Montreal. In no way could it affect preju- 
 
APPEND I A'. 557 
 
 dicially the interests of CiinacU, her trade or her commerce. Without the 
 use of our canala the river was useless. Up to Montreal the St. Lawrence 
 is open, not only to the vessels of the United States, but to the vessels of 
 the world. Canada courts tlie trade and ships of the world, and it would 
 be most absurd to suppose that the ports of Quebec and Montreal should 
 be closed to American shipping. No greater evidence short of actual war 
 can bo adduced of unfriendly relations, than the fact of the ports of a country 
 being closed to the cunnuerce of another. It never entered into tlie niinds 
 of any that our ports should be closed to the trade of tlie world iu general, 
 or the United States in particular, no more than it would enter into the 
 minds of the English to close the ports of London or Liverpool — those 
 ports whither the Hags of every nation are invited and welcomed, (Ciieers.) 
 Frem the source of the St. Lawrence to St. Regis the United States arc 
 part owners of the banks of the river, and by a well known principle of 
 intornr.tional law the water flowing between the two banks is common to 
 both; and not only is that a priiiciple of law, but it is a matter of actual 
 treaty. The only questi( n, then, was whether, as the American people 
 had set tlieir hearts upon it, and as it could do no harm to Canada or to 
 England, it would not be well to set this question at rest with the others, 
 and make the concession. This was the line taken by her majesty's gov- 
 ernment, and which they had a right to take ; and when some one writes 
 my biography — if I am ever thought worthy of having such on interesting 
 document propai'ed— and when, as a matter of history, the questions con- 
 nected with thin treaty are upheld, it will be found upon this, as well as 
 upon every other point, I did all I could to protect the rights and claims 
 of the 'Dominion, (Cheers.) Now, sir, with respect to the right itself, I 
 vvuiu { call the ,i*tention of the house to the remarks of a distinguished 
 Engluh jurist upon tlie point. I have read from the work of an Ameri- 
 can jurist, and I will now read some remarks of Mr. Phillimore, a standard 
 English ^ Titer on intcinational law. What I am about to read was writ- 
 ton uTider the idea that Americaub were claiming what would be of prac- 
 tical use to them. Re was not aware that the difliculties of navigaiion 
 were such that the concession would be of no practical use. He writes 
 as follo' i; 
 
 " Grea Putain possesaea the northern shores of the lakes, and of the river 
 in its wh< . > ; xtent to tho t i, and also the southern bank of the river from the 
 latitude k i,y live degree'^' north to its mouth. The United States possessed 
 the south ei ■ shores of the la js, and of the St. Lawrence to the point where 
 their northi 'n boundary toiiv,';'3d the river. These two governments were there- 
 fore placed ^irctty muoh in ibe same attitude towards each other, with respect 
 to the navig vtion of the S^ Ljawrence, as the United States and Spain had 
 
958 AI'J'ENDIX. 
 
 I)eeniu witii lospect to the uavi^utiou of the MisHiasippi, before the acquisitioua 
 of Louibiaim iviul Florida. 
 
 "Tbu argument on the part of the United Statoa was much tlie Haino as that 
 which they had oinpioyod with respect to the navigation of the iMifl»is8ii)pi. 
 They referred to the dispute ahout the opening of the Sehehlt, in 178-4, and 
 contended that, in the ease of that river, tha fact of the banks hn^iijg been the 
 creation of arlijicial labour was a niucli stronger reason than could be said to 
 exist iu the ease of the Mitmissippi for closing the mouths of the sea adjoining 
 the Dutch canals of the Sas and the Swiu, and that this [leculiaiity probably 
 caused the insertion of the stipulation iu the treaty of WeHtphalia; that the case 
 of the St. Lawrence dilTered materially from that of the Scheldt, and fell di- 
 rectly under the principle ot free navigation embodied in the treaty of Vienna 
 respecting the Khine, the Ncckar, tiie Alayne, the .Moselle, the Mouse and the 
 Scheldt. But especially it was urged, and witii a force which it must have 
 been dillicult to i)arry, that the present claim of the United States w ith respect 
 to the navigation of tlie St. Lawrence was precisely of the same nature as that 
 which Great Britain had put forward with respect to the navigation of the 
 Mississippi, when the uouth and lower shores of that river were in the posses- 
 eion of another state, and of which claim Groat Britain bad procured the recog- 
 nition by the treaty of Paris in 1703. 
 
 " The principal argument contained in the reply of Great Britain was, that 
 the liberty of passage by one nation through the dominions of another was, ac- 
 cording to the doctrine of the most eminent writers upon international law, a 
 qualified occasional exception to the paramount rights of property; that it was 
 what these writers called an intpcr/tct and not & jjcr/ect right; that the treaty of 
 Vienna did not sanction this no' ion of a natural right to a free passage over the 
 rivers, but, on the contrary, the inference was that, not being a natural riglit, 
 it required to be established })y a convention; that tlie light of passage once con- 
 ceded, must hold good for otlier purposes besides those of trade in peace — for 
 hostile purposes in time of war ; that the United States could not consistently 
 urge their claim on principle without being prepared to apply that principle by 
 way of reciprocity, in favour of British subjects, to the navigation of the Mis- 
 sissippi and the Hudson, to which access might be had from Canada by land 
 carriage or by the canals of New York and Ohio. 
 
 "The United States replied, that practically the St. Lawrence was a strait, 
 and was subject to the same principle of law; and that as straits are accessory 
 to the seas which they unite, and therefore the right of navigating them is 
 common to all nations, so the St. Lawrence connects with the ocean those great 
 inland lakes, on the shores of which the subjects of the United States and Great 
 Britain both dwell ; and on the same principle, the natural link of the rioer, 
 like the natural link of the strait, must be equally available for the purposes of 
 passage by both. The passage over land, which was always pressing upon the 
 minds of the writers on international law, is intrinsically difTerent from a pas- 
 
AW EN VI X, 659 
 
 sage over water; in the latter iistancc no dotrimont or inconvenionco can bo bus- 
 tainud by the country to which it bolongB. Tlie tra'.'k of a aliip is eflaced as soon 
 as made; the track of an army may leave serious and Innting injury behind. 
 The United Staten would not ' shrink ' from the application of the analojiry with 
 respect to the navij,'ntion of the MissiMsippi, and whenever a connection was 
 efl'cctcd between it and Upper ',,,'iinada, siiiiihir to that existing l)etwoun the 
 United States and the 8t. Lawrence, the same principle should bf> applied. It 
 was, however, to be recollected, that the case of rivers which both rise and 
 diseniboguo theniHclves within the limits of tlm sanio nation is very distinj,'ui8h- 
 able, ujion jirinciplc, from that of rivers which, liavinj,' tlieir sources and navi- 
 gable portions of their streams in states above, discharge themselves within the 
 limits of other states below. 
 
 "Lastly, tlie tact that the free navigation of rivers had boon nia<le a matter 
 of conccnlhm. did not disprove that this navigation was a matter of natural riijht 
 resiored to its proper position by treaty. 
 
 "The result of this controversy has hitherto produced no efTect. Groat 
 Britain has inaintainod her exclusive right. The United States will remain 
 debarred from the use of this groat higliway, and are not permitted to carry 
 over it the produce of the vast and rich territories which border on the lakes 
 above, to the Atlantic ocean. 
 
 "It seems difiicult to deny that Creat Britain may ground her refusal upon 
 strict law ; but it is at least equally difiicult to deny, first, that so doing .she 
 exercises harshly an extreme and harsh law ; secondly, that her conduct with 
 respect to the navigation of the St. Lawrence is in ,,'laring and discreditable in- 
 consistency with her canduct with respect to the navigation of the Mississippi. 
 On the ground that she possessed a small tract or domain in which the Missis- 
 sippi took its rise, she insisted on her right to navigate the entire volume of its 
 waters; on the ground that she possesses both banks of the St. Lawrence where 
 it disembogues itself into the sea, she denies to the Unitcil States the right of 
 navigation, tliough about one-half of the waters of Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron 
 and Superior, and the whole of Lake Michigan, through which the river flows, 
 are the property of tli'i United States. 
 
 " An English writer .ipon international l.tw cannot but express a hope that 
 this summumjus, which in this case approaches to isuiiiina injuria, may be vol- 
 untarily abandoned by his country. Since the late revolution in the South 
 American provinces, by which the dominion of Rosas was ov<.rthrown, there 
 appears to be good reason to hope that the states of Paraguay, Bolivia, Buenos 
 Ayres, and Brazil, will open tli'' river Parena to the navigatio.x of the world." 
 
 On reading a report of a speech of my hon. friend tli'? member for 
 Lambton, oa this subject — a very able and interesting spjech, if he will 
 alio,? me so to characterize it — I find ' \at, in speaking of the navigation 
 of Lake Michigan, he stated that that ' .ke was as r uch a portion of the 
 St. Lawrence as the river itself. I do not know under what principle ray 
 
660 Al'rKNUJX. 
 
 hon. friend nudo that stiitoinunt, but those inhuid seas are seas, as iiuii:h 
 ns tliu lUack seu is a sua iiiid nota river. The luko is eiiclnsedon all sidus 
 by United States territory. No portion of its shores belongs to Canada, 
 and England lias no right \>y intorniitional hiw to chiini it.s navigation. 
 Sir, she never has chiiined it, for if my hun. friend will look into thu 
 matter, he will tind that tliese great lakes have over been treated as in- 
 land seas, and as far as magnitude is concerned, they are worthy of being 
 so treated. Altho igh her majesty's commissioners pressed that the navi- 
 gati<m of Lake Michigan should bo granted as an e(|iiivalent f(.r the navi- 
 gation of Liio St. Lawrence, the argument could not bo based on the same 
 footing, and we did not and could not pretend to have the same grounds. 
 It is, however, of little moment whether Canada has a grant by treaty of 
 the free navigation of lake Michigan or not, for the cities of the shores of 
 that lake woidd never consent to have their ports closed, and there is no 
 fear in the world of our vessels being excluded from those ports. The 
 Western states, and especially those bordering on the great lakes, would 
 resist this to the death ; and I would like to see a congress that would 
 venture to close the ports of Lake Michigan to the shipping of England, or 
 of Canada, or of the world. The small portion of the St. Lawrence which 
 lies between the two points I have mentioned would be of no use, and 
 there would be no advantage to be obtained therefrom as a lever to obtain 
 reciprocity. 
 
 Mr. Mackrnzie— Hear, hoar. 
 
 Sir John Macdonald — My hon. friend says "hear, hear"; but I will 
 tell him that the only lever for the obtaining of reciprocity is the solo 
 control of our canals. So long as we have the control of these canals 
 we are the masters, and can do just as we please. American vessels on 
 the down trip can nm the rapids, if they get a strong Indian to steer them; 
 but they will never come back again unless Canada chooses. (Hear, hear.) 
 The keel drives through these waters, and then the mark disappears for- 
 ever, and that vessel will be forever absent fnmi the place that once knew 
 it, unless by the consent of Canada. Tlierefore, as I pointed out before 
 the recess, as we had no lever in our iisheries to get reciprocity, so we had 
 none in the navigation of the St. Lawrence, in its natural course. The 
 real substantial means to obtain reciprocal trade with the United States 
 is in the canals, and is expressly stated in the treaty; and wli n the treaty, 
 in clause 27, which relates to the canals, uses the wordu: ""'he govern- 
 ment of her Britannic majesty engages to urge upon the government of 
 the Dominion of Canada to secure to the citizens of the L nited States the 
 use of the Welland, St. Lawrence, and other canals, in the dominion, on 
 terms of equality," etc., it contains an admission by the United States — 
 
APPENDIX. 501 
 
 and it is of Bomo advantaj^je to have that adminsion — that the canals are 
 oiir own property, whieli wo can open to the IJnitod Status aa wc ploaso. 
 Tlu) roason why this admisiHion ia important ia tliia : " Article twenty six 
 providea that the iiavii^ation of the river St. Lawrunco, aacending and de- 
 scending from the 45tli ])arallel uf north hititiide, wliere it ceaaea to form 
 the bonndary between the twt) counties, from, to, and into the sea, ahall 
 forever remain froe and open for the pnipnaea of commerce to the citizens 
 of the United Statea, anlgect to any laws and regnlations of (ireat Britain 
 or of the Dominion of Canada not inconsistent with sucli privileges of free 
 navigation." Therefore, lest it mi^^ht be argued that as at the time the 
 treaty was made, it was known that for the purpose of ascent the river 
 could not bo overcome in its natural courdc, the provision granting the 
 right of ascent must bo held to include the navigation of canals through 
 which alone the ascent could be made. And so the next clause providea 
 and Bpecifiea that those canals are specially within the control of Canada 
 and the Canadian government, and prevents any infconce being drawn 
 from the language of the preceding article. I know, air, that there haa 
 been in some of the newapapera a aneer cast \ipon the latter paragraph of 
 that article, which gives the United States th( free use of the St. Law- 
 rence — I refer to that part of the article which gives the Canadians the 
 free navigation of the rivers Yukon, Porcupine iud Stikine. 
 
 Mr. Mackknzie— Hear, hear. 
 
 Sir John Macoonald — My hon. friend gain aays "hear, hoar." I 
 hope that ho will hoar, and perhaps he will bear something he does not 
 know. (Hear, hear.) I may tell my hon. friend that the navigation of 
 the river Yukon is a growing trade, and that the Americans are now send- 
 ing vessels, and are fitting out steamers for the navigation of the Yukon. 
 1 will tell my hon. friend that at this moment United States vessels are 
 going up that river, and are underselling the Hudson Bay people in their 
 own country (hear, hear), and it is a matter of the very greatest import- 
 ance to the western country that the navigation of these rivers should be 
 open to the commerce of British subjects, and that access should be had 
 by means of these rivers; so that there is no necessity at all for the ironi- 
 cal cheer of my hen. friend. Sir, 1 am not unaware that under an old 
 treaty entered into between Russia and England, the former granted to 
 the latter the free navigation of thesie streams, and the free navigation of 
 all the streams in Alaska; but that was a treaty between Russia and Eng- 
 land, and although it may be argued by England that when the United 
 States bought that territory from Russia, it took it with all its obligations, 
 Mr. Speaker, there are two sides to that question. The United States, 1 
 venture to say, would hang an argument upon it; and I can only tell ray 
 JJ 
 
502 APPENDIX. 
 
 hon. friend that the officers of the United States have exercised authority 
 in the way of prohibition or obstruction, and have offered the pretext that 
 the United States now hold that country, and would deal with it as they 
 chose ; and, therefore, aa this was a treaty to settle all old questions and 
 not to raise new ones, it was well that the free navigation of the rivers I 
 ]-.'ive mentioned should be settled at once between England and the United 
 States, as before it had been between England and Russia. Before leav- 
 ing the question of the St. Lawrence, I will make one remark, and will 
 then proceed to another topic ; and that is, that the article in question 
 does not in any way hand over or divide any proprietary rights in the 
 river St. Lawrence, or give any sovereignty over it, or confer any right 
 whatever except that of free navigation. Both banks belong to Canada — 
 the management, the improvement, all belong to Canada. The only stip- 
 ulation made in the treaty is that the United States vessels may use the- 
 St. Lawrence on as free terms as those of Canadian subjects. It is not a. 
 transfer of territorial rights; it is simply a permission to " navigate the 
 river by American vessels, that navigation shall ever remain free and oiien 
 for the purpose of commerce," — and for the purpose of commerce only — 
 " to the citizens of the United States, subject to any taxes and regulations 
 of Great Britain or of the Dominion of Canada, not inconsistent with such 
 privilege of free navijation." Now, Mr. Speaker, I shall allude to one 
 subject included i:i the treaty, which relates to the navigation of our 
 waters, although it was not contemplated in the instructions given to the 
 British commissioners by her majesty's government — in fact, the subject 
 was scarcely known in England — and that is, what is known as the St. 
 Olair flats question. It is known that the waters of the river St. Clair 
 and the waters of lake St. Clair divide the two countries; that the boun- 
 dary line which divides them is provided by treaty; that the treaty of 1842 
 provides that all the channels and passages between the islands lying 
 near the junction of the river St. Clair with the lake shall be equally free 
 to both nations, so that all those channels were made common to both na- 
 tions, and are so now. Canada has made appropriations for the purpose 
 of the improvement of these waters. There were also appropriations made 
 I forget whether by the United States, the state of Michigan, or by pri- 
 vate individuals — ior the purpose of improving these waters, and the 
 United States made a canal through the St. Clair flats. The question 
 then arose whether this canal was within Canadian territory, or within 
 that of the United States. I have no doubt that the engineering oflicer 
 appointed by the United States to choose the site of the canal and to con- 
 struct it, acted in good faith in choosing the site, believing that it was in 
 
APPENDIX. 503 
 
 the United States ; and from all I can learn, subsequent observations 
 proved that to be the case. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie — Hear, hear. 
 
 Sir Joiiv Machonald — My hon. friend says " hear, hear," and I have 
 no doubt ho will fjive us an argument, and an able one too, as he is quite 
 competent to do, to show that under the treaty this canal is in Canada. 
 An argument might be founded in favour of that view from the language 
 of the report of the international commissioners, appointed to determine 
 the boundary between the two countries — that is, if we looked at the lan- 
 guage alone, and combined with that language the evidence of those ac- 
 customed of old to navigate those channels. I admit that an argument 
 might be based on the language of the report, when it speaks of the old 
 ship channel, and that from the evidence and statements that have been 
 made as to the position of that channel, might have left it a matter of 
 doubt whether the canal, or a portion of it, was within the bcmndary of 
 Canada. The commissioners not only made their report, but they added 
 to it a map to which they placed their signatures; and to any one reading 
 the report with the map, and holding the map as a portion of the report, 
 the canal will appear to be entirely in the United States. It might, but 
 for the treaty of Washington, have been unfortunate that it is so, because 
 it might perhaps have impeded the navigation ot the flats by Canadian 
 vessels. But the question is whether, under the old treaty, and the re- 
 port and map made according to its provisions (which report and map 
 form, in fact, a portion of such treaty), the canal is within the United 
 States boundary or not. When the point was raised that the map was 
 inconsistent with the report, her majesty's government — I have no doubt 
 under the advice of her majesty's legal advisers — said tllat it was a point 
 that would not admit of argument, that the two explained and defined the 
 meaning of the language of the report; so that her majesty's government 
 declined to argue a propoeition so unworthy of being urged as that the 
 map was not binding and obligatory upon them. But, sir, "out of the 
 nettle, danger, we pluck the flower safely. " The house will see by look- 
 ing at the clause referred to, that it is a matter of no consequence whether 
 the canal is in tho United Stateo or Canada; because, for all tim.e to come, 
 the canal is to be used by the po(;ple of Canada on equal terms with the 
 people of the United States. In the speech of my hon. friend, to which I 
 have referred, he says the canal is only secured to Canada during the ten 
 j'ears mentioned with reference to the fishery articles of the treat}'. I say 
 it is secured for all time, just as tho navigation of the St. Lawreveo is 
 given for all time. The United States have gone to the expense of build- 
 ing the canal, and now we have the free use of it. If the United States 
 
864 APPENUIX. 
 
 have put on a toll there, wo pay no greater toll than the United States 
 citizens; and it ia of the first and last advantage to the commerce of both 
 nations that the deepening of those channels should he gone on vt ith; and 
 I can tell my hon. friend, moreover, that in this present congress there is 
 a measure to spend a large additional sum of money on this canal out of 
 the revenues of the United States, for that object. So much for the St. 
 Clair Hats. Now, sir, as to some of the advantages to be gained by the 
 treaty. I would call the attention of the house to the 2l)th article, which 
 ensures for the whole time of the existence of the treaty, for twelve years 
 at least, the continuance of " the bonding system." We know how valu- 
 able that has been to ub, how valuable during the winter months when we 
 are deprived of the use of our own seaports in the St. Lawrence. The 
 fact that the American press has occasionally called for the abolition of 
 this system, is a proof of the boon which they consider it to be. They 
 have said, at times, when they thought an unfriendly feeling existed to- 
 wards them in Canada, that if Canadians would be so bumptious, they 
 should be deprived of this system, and allowed to remain cooped up in 
 their frozen country. If the United States ever conceived the folly of in- 
 juring their carrying trade by adopting a hostile policy in that respect — 
 and they have occasionally, as we know, adopted a policy towards us adverse 
 to their commercial interests — they could do so before this treaty was rati- 
 fied. They cannot do so now. For twelve years we have a right to the 
 bonding system from the United States, over all their avenues of trade ; 
 and long before that time expires, I hope we shall have the Canadian 
 Pacific railway reaching to the Pacific ocean, and with the Intercolonial 
 railway reaching to Halifax, we shall have an uninterrupted line from one 
 seaboard to the other. (Cheers.) This, sir, ia one of the substantial ad- 
 vantages that Canada has obtained by the treaty. Then, sir, the 30th article 
 conveys a most valuable privilege to the railways of Canada, that are run- 
 ning from one part of the country to another; and I must take the occa- 
 sion to say that if this has been pressed upon the consideration of the 
 American government and the American commissioners at Washington, 
 much of the merit is due to the hon. member for Lincoln (Mr. Merritt). 
 He it waa who supplied me witli the facts; he it was who called attention 
 to the great wrong to our trade by the act of 1866 ; and, impressed by him 
 with the great importance of the subject, I was enabled to urge the adop- 
 tion of this article, and to have it made a portion of the treaty. Now, air, 
 that this ia ox importance, you can see by reading the Buffalo papers. 
 Some time ago they were crying out that entrance had been made by this 
 wedge which waa to ruin their coasting trade, and that the whole coaating 
 trade oi' the lakea was being handed over to Canada. Under thia clause, 
 
APPENDIX. 505 
 
 if we chooBe tc> accept it, Canadian vosHels can go to Chicago, can take 
 American produce from American ports, and carry it to Wiiidaor or Col- 
 lingwood, or the Welland railway. That same American produce can bo 
 sent in bond from those and other points along our railways, giving the 
 trailic to our vessels by water, and our railways by the land to lake On- 
 tario, and can then be ro-slupped by Canadian vessels to Oswoyo, Ojidens- 
 burg, or Rochester, or other American ports; so that this clause givts us, 
 in some degree, a relaxation of the extreme — almost harsh — excinsive 
 coasting system of the United States. (Hear, hear.) And 1 am quite sure 
 that, in this nge of railways, and when the Votes and Proceedings show- 
 that so many new railway undertakings are about to start, this will 
 prove a substantial improvement on the former state of affairs. There is 
 a provision that, if in the exercise of our discretion we choose to put a 
 differential scale of tolls on any vessels jjasaing through our canals, and if 
 New Brunswick should continue her export duties on lumber passing 
 down the river St. John, the United States may withdraw from this ar- 
 rangement; so that it will be hereafter, if the treaty bo adopted and tl.ii 
 act passed, a matter for the consideration of the government of Canada in 
 the first place, and of the legislature in the next, to determine whether it 
 is expedient for them to take advantage of this boon that is oll'ered to them. 
 As to the expediency of their doing so, I have no doubt; and I have no 
 doubt parliament will eagerly seek to gain and establish those riglita for 
 (jur ships and our railways. (Hoar, hear.) Ihe only other subject of 
 peculiar interest to Canada in connection with tlie treaty — the whole of it 
 of course is interesting to Can.ida as a part of the empire, — but speaking 
 of Canada as such, and of the interest taken in the treaty locally, — the 
 only other subject is the manner of disposing of the San Juan boundary 
 (piestion. That is settled in a way that no ono can object to. 1 do not 
 know whether many hon, membeiu have ever studied that question. It is 
 a most interesting one, and has loiig been a cause of controversy between 
 the twt) countries. I am bound to upli(ild, and I do uphold, tlie British 
 view respecting the channel which forms the boundary, as the correct one. 
 The United States government were, I. believe, as sincerely convinced of 
 the justice of f;heir own case. Both believed they were in the right, both 
 were firmly grounded in that opinion; and such being the -case, there was 
 only one way out of it, and that was to leave it to be settled by impartial ar- 
 bitration. I think the house will admit that no more distinguished arbiter 
 could hava been selected than the emperor of Germany. In the examina- 
 tion and decisit)n of the question he will have the assistance of as able and 
 eminent jurists as any in the world; for there is nowhere a more distin- 
 guished body than the jurists of Germany, who are especially familiar 
 
566 APPENDIX. 
 
 with the principlos and practico of intornational law. Whatever the de- 
 cision may be, wiiuthor fur England or againat it, yon may be Hatisfiod 
 that yuu will gut a moat learned and careful judgment in tlie matter, to 
 which wo must bow, if it ia againat ua, and to which I am sure the United 
 States will bow if it is againat them. (Hear, hoar.) I think, sir, I have 
 now gone through all the articles of interest connected with Canada. I 
 shall now allude to one omisaaion from it, and then I ahall have done, and 
 tliat ia the omiasion of alluaion to the settlement of the Fenian claitus. 
 That Canada was deeply wronged by those outrages, known as the Fenian 
 raids, is indisputable. England has admitted it, and we all feel it. We 
 felt deeply grieved when those raids were committed; and the belief was 
 general^in which, I must say, I ahare — that sudicient vij^ilanco and due 
 diligence were not exercised by the American g* vornment to prevent the 
 organization within their territory of bands of armed men, openly hostile 
 to a peaceful country, and to put an end to incursions by men who carried 
 war over our border, slew our people, and destroyed our property. It 
 was, therefore, proper for us to presa upon England to seek compensation 
 at the hands of the American government for these great wrongs. As a 
 consequence of our position aa a colony, we could only do it through Eng- 
 land; we had no means or authority to do it directly ourselves, and conse- 
 quently we urged our case upon the attention of England, and alio con- 
 sented to open negotiations with the United States upon the subject. In 
 the instructions it is stated that Canada had been invited to send in a 
 statement of her claims to England, and that she had not done so; and I 
 dare say it will be charged — indeed, 1 have seen it stated in some of the 
 newspapers — that it waa an inatanco of Canadian neglect. Now, it ia not 
 an inatuuce of Canadian neglect, but an instance of Canadian caution. 
 (Heal, hear.) Canada had a right to press for the payment of those 
 claims, whatever the amount, for all the money spent to repel those in • 
 cursiona had been taken out of the public treasury of Canada, and had to 
 be raised by the taxation of the country. Not only had they a right to 
 press for that amount, but every individual Canadian who suffered in per- 
 son or property because of those raids, had right to compensation. It 
 was not for Canada, however, to put a limit to those claims, and to state 
 what amount of money would be considered as a satisfactory liquidation 
 of them. It has never been the case when commiaaiona have been ap- 
 pointed for the aettlement of audi claims, to hand in those claims in detail 
 before the sitting of the commission. What Canada pressed for was that 
 the principle should be establiahed, that the demand should be made by 
 England upon the United States, that that demand should be acquiesced 
 in, that the question of damages should be referred tr) a tribunal like that 
 
APPENDIX. 667 
 
 tiuw sitting lit W-ishington fur the invostigiition of claims connected with 
 tho civil war in the South, that time should be given within which tho 
 Canadian govurnmont as a government, and every individual Canadian 
 who suffered by those outrages, sliould have an opportunity of filing their 
 claims, of putting in an account, and of oil'eriiig proof to establish their 
 right to indemnity. The Canadian government carefully avoided, by any 
 statement of their views, the placing of a limit \ipun those claims in ad- 
 vance of examinatiim by such a commission; and I think the house and 
 country will agree that we acted with duo discretion in that respect. 
 (Hear, hear.) Now one of the protocols will show the result of the de- 
 mand for indemnity. The demand was made by the British ocjinmiHsiou- 
 «r8 that this (piestion should be discussed and considered by the commis- 
 sion, but the United States commissioners objected, taking the ground 
 that the consideration of these claims was not included in tho correspon- 
 dence and reference. In doing that, they took the same ground that my 
 hon. friend, the member for Sherbrooko, with his usual acuteness and 
 appreciation of the value of language, took when the matter was discussed 
 in this house before my departure for Washington. Ho said then, that 
 he greatly doubted whether, under tho correspondence which led to the 
 appointment of the high commission, it could be held that the Fenian 
 claims were to be considered; and although my hon. friend, the minister 
 of militia, thought it might fairly be held that those claims were included, 
 I myself could not help feeling the strength of the argument advanced by 
 the hon. member for Sherbrooko, and I staled at the time that I thought 
 there was great weight in the objection which he pointed out. The Amer- 
 ican commissioners, as the event proved, raised that objection, maintaining 
 that the point was not included in the correspondence in which tho sub- 
 jects of deliberation were stated; and when it was proposed to them by 
 the British, the American commissioners declined to ask their government 
 for fresh instructions to enlarge the scope of their duty in that respect. 
 Now, we could not help that. There was the correspondence to speak for 
 itself, and it was a matter of considerable doubt whether these claims 
 were included in it. The British ambassador represented that he had 
 always thought that the correspondence did include them; and he was 
 struck with surprise — perhaps I ought not to say surprise, for that wac 
 not the expression he used, — but he was certainly under the impression 
 that it had been regarded by all parties that they were cov red by the 
 correspondence. Still, let any one read these letters and he will iindit is 
 very doubtful. As it was doubtful, and the objection was raised on that, 
 ground, the British commissioners had no power to compel the American 
 commissioners to determine the doubt in their favour, and force thes^ 
 
6G8 APPENDIX. 
 
 claims upon thoir conRidoration. Thu cuiiaeqiience was that they were 
 (imittud from thu dolibcratioii of tho commiBsion. Whosu fault was thi' ' 
 Certainly not ours. It wis the fault of her majesty's government, m not 
 demanding in clear language, in terms which could not bo misunderstood, 
 that tho invi'stigatiou of thus.) claims should he one of tho matters dealt 
 with by the commission. (Hear, hoar.) It was a great disappointment 
 to my colleagues in (J<inada that the objection was taken, and that all hope 
 of getting redress for the injury done by those Fenian raids was destroyed 
 so far as tho commiHsion at Washington was concerned, in consecjuence of 
 the defective language of the correspondence, and tho defective nature of 
 tho submission to tho commissioners. Now, Kngland was responsible for 
 that error. England had promised to make tho demand, and England hail 
 failed to make it. Not only that, but her majesty's government took the 
 respimsibility of withdrawing tho claims altogether, and Mr. Gladstone 
 fully assumed all tho rosponsibility of this step, and relieved the Canadian 
 government from any share in it, when he stated openly, in tho house of 
 commons, that the imperial government had seen tit to withdraw the claims, 
 but that they had done so with great reluctance and sorrow for tho manner 
 in which Canada had been treated, Canada, therefore, had every right 
 to look to England for that satisfaction which she failed to receive through 
 the inadequacy of tlio corrospondonco to cover the question. England, by 
 taking the responsibility of declining to push the claims, put herself in the 
 position of the United States, and wo had a fair and reasonable right to 
 to look to her to asaunio the responsibility of settling them. She did not 
 decline that responsibility, and the consequence ha? been that, although 
 we failed to obtain redress from the United States for those wrongs, wo 
 have had an opportunity of securing compensation from England which 
 would not have been offered to us if it had not been for tho steps taken 
 by this government. (Hear, hear.) But, sir, we are told that it is a great 
 humiliation for Canada to take this money, or rather this money's worth. 
 Why, it is our due, we are entitled to it, and we must have it from some 
 one. England refused to ask it for us from tho United States, and she 
 accepted all the responsibility which that refusal involved. She was wise 
 in accepting that responsibility. She must lake the consequences, and 
 she is willing to do so. But the Canadian government, on the other hand, 
 wore unwilling that tiie compensation which England thus acknowledged 
 was due to us by her should take a direct pecuniary form. We were un- 
 willing that it should be the payment of a certain amount of money, and 
 there were several strong reasons why we shojjld prefer not to accept ro- 
 I)aration in that shape. In the first place, if a proposal of that kind were 
 made, it would cause a discussion as to the amount to be paid by England, 
 
A VP EN I ax. 06» 
 
 of a jnost luiBOOinly cliuractor. Wo would havo tho spoctaclo of a judge 
 ai)i)oiiited to oxamino the cliiiiu!! in detail, with Canada piL-Haiiig luir cano 
 upon his attention, aud England probably rosiiiting in some caioa, and 
 putting horsulf in an antagonistic poaitiun which Hhoidd not bo allowed to 
 occur botwi'on tho niotbor country and tho colony. It wan, thortifore, in 
 the last degree unadvisablo, that tho relations between Caniidi and tho 
 mother country, which throughout havo boon of ao friendly and pleasant 
 a character, should bo placed in jeopardy in that wiiy; and accordingly a 
 suggestion was made by us which, without causing England to expend a 
 sixpence, or putting tho least additional burden upon her people, would, 
 if acted upon, do us more good, and prove of infmitoly greater advan- 
 tage, than any amount of mere money compensation wo oould reaHonably 
 expect. This was a mode of disposing of the question in the higheat 
 degree satisfactory to both countries, and one which does not in the least 
 compromise our dignity or our 8elf-reHi)ect. (Hoar, hoar.) Tho credit of 
 Canada, thank Ood, is well established. Her good faith is known whoro- 
 ever she has had financial dualings. Her majesty's government can go to 
 the house of commons and ask for authority to guarantee a Canadian loan, 
 with a well grounded assurance that tho people of England will never b© 
 called upon to put their hands in their pockets, or tax themselves one 
 farthing to pay it. (Cheers.) At the same time, the imperial government, 
 by giving us this guarantee, grants us a boon tho value of whioh, in en- 
 abling us to construct the great works of public improvement we havo 
 undertaken, was explained the other day so ably, and in a manner that 1 
 would not attempt to imitate, by my hon. friend, the finance minister. 
 Besides the double advantage to ourselves in getting tho endorsement of 
 England without disadvantage to the English people, there is to be con- 
 sidered the great, the enormous bonetit that accrues to Canada from this, 
 open avowal on the part of England of the interest she takes in the success 
 of our great public enterprises. (Cheers.) No one can say now, whensho 
 is sending out one of her distinguished statesmen to take tho place of the 
 nobleman who now so worthily represents her majesty in the Dominion — 
 no one can say when Er)gland is aiding us, endorsing a loan spreading over 
 80 many years, and which will not be finally extinguished till most of us 
 now hero will have been gathered to our fathers — no one can say, under 
 these circumstances, that she has any idea of separating herself from u» 
 and giving up the colonies. (Cheers.) The solid, substantial advantage 
 of being able to obtain money on better terms than we could on our own 
 credit alone, is not the only benefit this guarantee will confer upon us, 
 for it will put a finish at once to the hopes of all dreamers or speculators 
 who desire or believe in the alienation and separation of the colonies from 
 
570 Ai'l'KNDIX. 
 
 the niothur country. That ia a mure incalculable bunofit than the nioru 
 advantage of England's guarantee of our tinancial stability — great and im- 
 portant lis that iH. ( Loud clixitrs. ) Ay**, but it is said tnat it is a humiliation 
 to muku a bargain of that kind! Why, sir, it was no humiliation in 18(1 to 
 obtain an imperial guanmtuu for tliu loan lU'ccssary to construct the caiiali 
 originally. It wivh not cunsiderud a liiiuiiliation to accept a guarantee for 
 i'l,400,U00 in IMOri, for the i)urp()80 of building fortifications; nor was it a 
 humiliation to obtain i)(,(HN),OOU upon a similar guarantee to construct 
 the Intercolonial railway. Why is it a humiliation, tlieii, in this ciute, to 
 Jicoept the guarantee, when England voluntarily comes forward and accept! 
 the responsibility for withdrawing our claims in respect to the Fenian 
 raids/ It was by no prompting from us that that ri3R])onsibility was as- 
 sumed, tor Mr. (iladstone rose of his own motion in the house of commons, 
 and by accepting the responsibility, admitted that it should take a tangible 
 shape. It did take such a shape, and 1 say a most satisfactory shape, in 
 the guarantee of £'2,500,000 immediately, and we may say of £4,000,000 
 in all, ultimately. (Cheers.) But 1 hear it objected that Canada ought 
 not to have made a bargain at all. She should have aUowud the Fenian 
 claims to go, and dealt with the treaty separately, accepting or rejecting 
 it on its merits. Sir, Canada did not make a bargain of that kind, but she 
 went fairly and openly to her majesty's government, and aaid, " l£ere is a 
 treaty that has been negotiated through your inlluence, and which atlects 
 important commercial interests in this country, it is unpopular in Canada 
 in its commercial aspect, but is urged on us for imperial causes, and for 
 Uie sake of the peace of the empire; but the pecuniary interests of Canada 
 should, in the opinion of the Canadian government, be considered, and 
 the undoubted claim of Canada for compensation for these Fenian outrages 
 has been sot aside. We may well, therefore, call upon you to strengthen 
 our hands by showing tliat you are unwilling to sacritice Canada altogether 
 for imperial purposes solely." Sir, we asked that for Canada, and the 
 response was immediate and gratifying, except that England did not accept 
 the whole of the proposition to gucrantee a loan of £4,000,000. But [ am 
 as certain as I am standing in this house (and I am not speaking without 
 book), that had it not been for the unfortunate cloud that arose between 
 the United States and England, which threatened to interrupt the friendly 
 settlement of all questions between them, but which I am now happy to 
 Bay is passing away, the dithculty would have been removed by England 
 permitting us to add to the £2,500,000 the £1,400,000 which she guaran- 
 teed some years since to be expended on fortifications and other defensive 
 preparations. That money had not been expended, and there would now 
 have been no object in applying it for the construction of works which 
 
API'KNDIX. 671 
 
 Would have buuii » ■tatiiliiiK inonuco to tlio (Jnitud Htatui, and which would 
 have beun altogether out of plauu iinmudiatuly attur ■igtiiug a truaty oi 
 puacu and amity. I do not hvsitato to nay, and I rt'puat, I aiu not spuak* 
 ing without book, that I Ixdiuvo a proposition of that kind would havo 
 bot>n accvptablu to iutr luajuaty'a govurniiient; but when tho cloud anmu, 
 whun thuru was a possibility of this truaty being huld as a nullity, and 
 when thuro was danger of tho relations butwuun tliu two countries return* 
 ing to tho unfortunate position in which they were before, then was not 
 the time for Kngland to ask, or us to propose, to give up tho the idea of 
 fortifying our frontier and defending our territory. 'Ihen was not tho 
 time, either, for the Canadian government to show an unwillingness to 
 spend money uiion those works, or to defend and retain the Doiuinion ai 
 a dependency of the sovereign of England. (Cheers.) I say, therefore, 
 that, while wo are actually receiving a guanmtee of £"ii,50(),0UO, if the re- 
 lations of England and the United States are again brought into harmony, 
 and the lowering cloud which recently sprang up is removed, and removed 
 in such a way as never to appear again, ^hen it may fairly ho thought— it 
 may reasonably be calculated upon — that we will have a guarantee of the 
 full amount of £4, 000, 000, in order to carry out the great improvements 
 we have entered upon. Tho tinancu minister has shown you the advan- 
 tages which will Mow from that arrangement; and it wouldbe presumptiou 
 in me to add a word to what ho hus so well said upon that poinS which is 
 in the highest degree satisfactory to this house, and in the highest degree, 
 also, satisfactory to tho people of this country. (Cheers.) I now move 
 the first reading of this bill, and I shall simply suui up my remarks by 
 saying that, with respect to tho treaty, 1 consider that every portion of it 
 is unobjectionable to tho country, unless the articles connected with the 
 tisheries may be considered objectionable. With respect to those articles, 
 I ask the house fully and calmly to consider the circumstances; and 1 be- 
 lieve, if tlioy fully consider the situation, that they will say it is for the good 
 of Canada that those articles should be rutitied. Reject the treaty, and 
 you do not get reciprocity. Reject the treaty, and you leave the fisher- 
 men of the maritime provinces at the mercy of the Americans. Reject 
 the treaty, and jou will cut the merchants engaged in that trade off from 
 the American market. Reject the treaty, and you will have a large annual 
 expenditure in keeping up a marine police force to protect those tisheries, 
 amounting to about f84,000 per annum. Reject the treaty, and you will 
 have to call upon England to send her fleet, and give you both her moral 
 and physical support, although you will not adopt her policy. Reject the 
 treaty, and you will find that the bad feeling which formerly, and until 
 lately, existed in the United States against England, will be tranafetred 
 
672 AVI'KSUIX. 
 
 ti Caimda; tho Unitml Stilton will Riiy, nnd miy jimtly, " Ilttru, whfti tw(» 
 ((ruiit nulioiia liko Kii({liiii(l luid thu I'liituil NtntoB hiivu ncttlod nil thuir 
 dilliutiltiuH, all thuir (|irirrula, ii|)<>ii a perputuiil baaiii, thuMO hnppy ruaiilU 
 art) tu In) frUHtratuil ami undaiigKnul by the Ciiiiadiun {utoplu, bvcKUHU tht*y 
 hiivu not ({<)i tho vuluu of thiar IIhIi for tin yours. " (Chocri.) It hua bouit 
 ■aid by lliu hoii. Kontloiiiiiii on my luft (Mr. Howu), in hia Mpucch to tho 
 yoiiiiX iik'Ii'm chriHtiiui anNocialion, tb.U Kitglaiid had aacriliciMl tho iiiter- 
 osta uf Canada. If Knglaiid haa sacriliuud thu iiitureatu uf C/uniuia, what 
 aacrilico haa ahu not niadu hurauif in thu cauao of poacu / Haa alio not, for 
 thu Hako of [luaou bulwuun thuMu two (,'ruat nationa, r«>ndurud hoiHolf liablu, 
 luavin^ out all indiruct dniina, to piy niilliona out of hor own truaaiiry t 
 ILiH nliu not niadu all thiu aacriticu, which only KngliHhiiien and Kngliih 
 Htatoaniun can know, for thu aaku of puauo / And for whoHU good iiaa 8.'io 
 niadu it \ Una ahu not inadu it principally for thu «aku of Canada i (Loud 
 clu'urH.) Lot Canada bo aoverod from England -lot Kii>{la:ul not bo rc- 
 Rponsiblo to UHand for iih— and what coidd tho I'nitod Statoado to Kni,'land ( 
 Lot England withdraw horHolf into hor aholl, and what could tho I'nituil 
 Utateu do I England has got thu aupruinacy of thu sua. Sho is improg- 
 nablu in ovory point but ono, ar.d that point ia Canada; and if England 
 dooa call upon uh to inako a tinancial sacrilico — does fnid it for tho good 
 uf tho cni[)iro, that wo, England's tirHt colony, uhmild Hucriticu soniothing 
 — 1 say that wo would bo unworthy of our proud position if wo wore not 
 proparud to do so. (Choo>'s.) I hope to live to see the day, and if I dc» 
 not, that my aon may bo spared to sco Canada tho right arm of England — 
 (cheors)— tj boo Canada a powerful au.viliary to the empire — not, as new, 
 a cause of anxiety and a source of danger; and I think that, if we are 
 worthy to hold that position as the right arm of England, we should not 
 object to a sacriflce of this kind, when so groat an object is attained, and 
 the object is a great and lasting one. It is said that amities between na- 
 tions cannot bo perpetual. 1 say that this treaty, which haa gone through 
 BO many dillicultios and dangers, if it is carried into ellect, removes ahnost 
 all possibility of war. If ever there was an irritating cause of war, it was 
 from the occurrences arising out of the escape of those vessels; and when 
 we see the United States paople and government forget this irritation, 
 fijrget those occurrencos, and submit such a (juestion io arbitration- 
 to the arbitration of a disinterested tribunal, — they have established a 
 principle which can never be forgotten in this world. No future ques 
 tion is ever likely to arise that will cause such great irritation as the es- 
 cape of the Ato.bdina did, an<l if thoy could be got to agree to leave such 
 a matter to the peaceful arbitrament of a friendly power, what future 
 cause of ipiarrel can in the imagination of man occur, that will not bear 
 
AirKMUX. 673 
 
 iho lame pacific aoliitinn that in xMi^ht for in tliiii I I lielii^vo that thin 
 treaty ia an opouh in the history of civilization; tlipi it will aot an vxnnipio 
 t() till) widu world that nniit hu followud; and with tho growth of thiit Kruat 
 AuKlo-Siixon fimiily, and with tho duvulopinunt of that mighty nation to 
 thu aoiith of UN, I httjiovt* that tho printn|)li) of arhitriition will hn advo- 
 catud iind adopted iiit thu go|u principle of th<< nutMLMiiunt of diM'uruncua 
 butweun tho HnKliHli-npoakiii^ pooplea, and that it will liavo a moral in- 
 fluence in tho world; and although it may be opposed to the antecodunta 
 of other nutiona, that gruat nioriil principle which liaAnnw boon oatabliHht'.l 
 among tho Anglo-Saxon family, will a|>n<ad itaolf over all tho civiliHud 
 world. (Chuora. ) It ia not much to Hiiy that it ia a groat advance in tht 
 hiatorj of mankind, and I shoidd bo aorry if it were recorded that it wna 
 stopped for a moment by aaelliah conai<leration of the intoroata of Canada. 
 Had tho ).;<)vernmuiit of ('anada taken tho coiirao wliich waa ipiito open to 
 them, to recommend parliament to reject these article.^, it might have been 
 a matter of aoino intoroHt aa to what my poaition would have been. I am 
 here, at all eveuta, advocating the ratilication uf the treaty; and I may say, 
 notwithstamling the taunts of lion, gentlemen opposite, that althou;jih I 
 wa» clioBeii for the position of commissioner — certainly becauso I was a 
 Canadian, and presumably because I was a member of the Canadian gov- 
 ernment — yet my commissio.T waa givun to me as a British aubject, as it 
 was to Sir Stafford Northcote end other members of the commission. I 
 went to Washington as a plonipc/tentiary, as her majesty's servant, and 
 was bound by her majesty's instructions, and I would have been guilty of 
 dereliction of duty if I had not carried out those instructions. And, sir, 
 when I readily joined, under the circumstances, in every word of that 
 treaty, with the exception of tho fishery articles, and when I succeeded in 
 having inserted in tho treaty a reservation to the govornment and peoj)le 
 of Canada of tho full right to accept or refuse that portion of it, I had no 
 difficulty as to my ccjurse. (Cheers.) I did not hesitate to state that, if 
 that clause had nut been put in, I would have found it necessary to resign 
 my commission. I was perfectly aware, in taking the course I did of 
 signing the treaty, that I sljould be subject to reproach. I wrote to my 
 friends in Canada, from Washington, that well I knew the storm of oblo- 
 quy tliat would meet me on my return; and before even I crossed the 
 border I was complimented with the names of "Judas Iscariot," "Bene- 
 dict Arnold," etc. The whole vocabulary of Billingsgate was opened against 
 me; but here I am, thank God, to-day, with the conviction that what 1 did 
 was for the best interests of Can: da; and after all the benefits I have re 
 calved at the hands of my countijiiien, and after the confidence thai has 
 been accorded me for 30 many years. I would have been unworthy of that 
 
6T4 APPENDIX. 
 
 position and that confiflence if I were not able to nnet reproach f.)P thj 
 sake of my country. I have met that reproach, and I have met it in si- 
 lence. I knew that a premature discussion would only exasperate still 
 more the feelings of those who were arrayed against n e, and of those who 
 think more of their party than of their country. (L'lud cheers.) I do not 
 speak particularly of thehon. gentlemen opposite, but I say that the policy 
 of the opposition is regulated by " a power behind the throne" which dic- 
 tates what that policy must be. (Loud cheers.) No one ever sav/ a patri- 
 otic policy emanate from that source, except on one occasion, and that was 
 when that source was induced by myself to forget party struggles and party 
 feelings for the common good of the country. (Loud cheers.) 1 have not 
 said a word for twelve months; I have kept silence to this day, thinking it 
 better that the subject should be disctissed on its own merits. How eagerly 
 was I watched! If the government should come out in favour of the treaty, 
 then it wus to be taken as being a betrayal of the people of Canada. If 
 the government should come out against the treaty, then the first minister 
 was to be charged with opposing the interests of the empire. Whichever 
 course we might take, they were lying in wait, ready with some mode of 
 attack. But silence is golden, Mr. Speaker, and I kept silence. I believe 
 the sober second thought of this country accords with the sober second 
 thought of the government; and we come down here and ask the people of 
 Canada, through their representatives, to accept this treaty —to accept it 
 with all its imperfections, tc accept it for the sake of peace, and for the 
 sake of the great empire of which we form a part. I now beg leave to 
 introduce the bill, and to state that I have the permission of his excellency 
 to do so. 
 
 The hon. gentleman resumed his seat, amid loud aid continued ap- 
 plause from all parts of the house, at 9; 45, having spol.en for four hours 
 and a quarter. 
 
APP£yDrX. 575 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 THE PACIFIC SCANDAL. 
 
 The following is the speech delivered by Sir John Mncdotj^^Nld, in reply 
 to the allegations concerning the pacific railway charter, in the house of 
 commons, Ottawa, on M'.nday, Nov. 3rJ, 1873. On rising, the lioixour- 
 able gentleman was gretled with hearty cheers : — • 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I had not intended to address you on the two motions now 
 before the house, and the reason why I did not so intend is that I had al- 
 ready given my testitaony on oath, and in that testimony I had endea- 
 voured, notwithstanding the statement of the hon. gentleman who has 
 just taken his seat, to s.tate the whole cvde as far as I knew it, according 
 to the best of my cousijiouco, concealing nothing and revealing everything. 
 Therefore I did not think it well, according to the ordinary rule, that I 
 should attempt in any way to supplement my statement on ofith by my 
 statements not on o.itlL. (Cheers.) However I have been taunted, not in 
 the house certainly, but I have heard it elsewhere and have seen it in the 
 papers that I have been withholding my statements ; that I have been 
 keeping back, and that I dare not meet the house and the country. Sir, 
 I dare meet this bouse and the country. (Cheers.) I know too well what 
 the liouso and the country will do, and what the feeling of the country 
 will be, when they know all the facts. Tliey know many of them now, and 
 those they do not know I shall endeavour presently to enter upon. But 
 now I enter upon the subject which is most interesting to this house — the 
 question v 'lether the govtj-nnient or any members of the government were 
 in any way implirated in the giving or granting of a charter, or of a privi- 
 lege of any kind to men for corrupt motives. I shall allude to one or tw>> 
 subject? which a si •>. l time ago assumed prominence in the opinion of the 
 country, bat wh'ch in the course of the present debate have almost sunk 
 into insignificance. A short time ago, from the 13th August till now, we 
 heard nothing else but the unconstitutionality of the prorogation ; nothing 
 else but that a great wrong had been committed on the privileges of the 
 house. Although I was here for only a few minutes before the iiouse 
 was prorogued, if I remember aright, this chamber rung with charges that 
 the privileges of the house had been invaded. I not only heard the voice 
 of the hon. member for Chateauguay (Mr. Holton), but 1 saw his hand 
 
570 APPENDIX. 
 
 brought down, v/ith tho ponderous strength of the hon. gentleman, on hia 
 desk, when he called " privilege 1" " privilege ! " and all because the re- 
 presentative of the sovereign had exercised a prerogative conferred upon 
 him by law. The hon. gentleman was committing an anachronism. There 
 were days when tho prerogative of the crown and tlie privileges of the peo- 
 ple were in opposition. There were days — but they were days long gone 
 by, and there was no necessity for any attempt to revive them now — days 
 when the prerogative of the crown was brought in opposition to the will of 
 the people, and the representatives of the people ; and then, aa was 
 proper, the will of the people was i)aramount, and when the crown op- 
 posed ic, by prerogative or by excess of prerogative, the head of the sov- 
 ereign rolled on the scaffold. But, Mr. Speaker, those days do not exist 
 now, and I am happy to say that at this moment, in this age, the prero- 
 gative of the crown is a portion of the liberty of the people. (Cheers.) If 
 we wish to preserve our liberties, if we wish to preserve our present con- 
 stitution, if we do not wish again to have a long parliament or a rump 
 parliament, if we do not wish again to have a parliament overriding every 
 other constitutional authority, we shall preserve the prerogative of the 
 crown as being a sacred trust, as being a portion of the liberties of the 
 people. (Cheers.) Centuries ago, as I have said, the iime was when the 
 sovereign could come down with his strong hands and could seize, or at- 
 tempt at all events to seize, a member of parliament for performing his 
 duty in his place. The day was once when the sovereign could come 
 down and could banish and send to the tower, and even as has been knowiii 
 could send to the block, members of parliament for defending the privi- 
 leges of the people. But when the sovereign is no longer a despot, when 
 the sovereign is a constitutional monarch, when the sovereign takes his 
 advice from the people, when the sovereign in his act of prerogative takes 
 his advice from a committee selected from the representatives of the peo. 
 pie and from the other Chamber, which other chamber has its power rest- 
 ing upon the basis of the will of the country and the will of the people, 
 then 1 say there is no danger of the prerogative being used unconstitution- 
 ally ; but the great danger of the country here, as in England, is that the 
 prerogative may not be &trong enough to resist the advancing wave of de- 
 mocracy. (Cheers.) And, sir, when in the undoubted exercise of the pre- 
 rogative of the crown the representative of the sovereign came not to this 
 Chamber but to the proper chamber, and announced his will, as the repre" 
 sentativo of the sovereign, that parliament be prorogued, he committed no 
 breach of the privileges of this house or the other house of parliament, and 
 made wj infringement on the liberties of the people. (Cheers.) It was 
 chrrged that a great breach of the constitution had taken place. True it 
 
APPENDIX. 577 
 
 is that wo hoard in a sort of minor koy frotn tho Glohi; which hatl some cha- 
 racter to lose, that although it was very inoxpodiont, it was no breach of tho 
 constitution. But ovory other paper, I believe, every organ of Hon. gen- 
 tlemen opposite, except the Gloix', stated that there had been a great breach 
 of tho constitution and of tho privileges of the peoi)Io on the floor of par- 
 liament, and they wore countenanced by tho voice and clamour of lion, 
 gentlomen opposite. (Cheers.) We might pardon them, perhaps, because 
 wo have seen cases of a similar kind in England, and therefore I can quite 
 understand it, and I do not much blame them, as showing the momentary 
 feeling of disappointment at the exercise of the royal prerogative, prevent- 
 ing tho extension of tho excitement into debates in a subsecjuont session. 
 In 1820, at the time of Queen Caroline's trial, while the bill was pending, 
 when it was resolved to withdraw tho bill, and when tho motion for the 
 six months' disposal of that measure was carried, there was an outburst 
 when the knock of tho usher of tho black rod was made at the door — an 
 outburst of indignation on tho part of the(iuoon'a friends because they had 
 no opportunity of expressing their feelings against the course which had 
 boon taken. . Parliament, however, was prorogued, notwithstanding the 
 storm of indignation that arose at tho time. On a still later occasion, at 
 tho time of tho refcn-m bill, in 1831, wo can remember how the house was 
 almost in nmtiny, and how that staid gentleman, tho Duko of Richmond, 
 almost declared himself in rebellion against his sovereign. Sir Hobert 
 I'eel, at the very moment the usher of the black rod knocked at the door, was 
 making a most indignant protest against prorogation for the purpose of dis- 
 solution. Therefore when such' staid men and men of such high position 
 could take that course, we can perhaps pardon hon. gentlemen opposite for 
 having betrayed an unseemly warmth on the 13th of August because the 
 prerogative of the crown was exercised as the crown had the right to ex- 
 ercise it. Therefore, it occurs to every hon. gentleman who has consid- 
 ered tho subject well, that the question of constitutionality cannot exist 
 for a moment, and that a question of privilege set up against prerogative 
 is altogether a false cry, an untenable cry, a cry unconstitutional and un- 
 warranted by law. (Cheers.) The prerogative at present is valuable only 
 as one of the liberties of tho people, and it la one of the liberties of the 
 people because it is guided, as I said before, by the advice of ministers 
 responsible to the two houses of parliament, not alone to this chamber. 
 The prerogative is not dangerous. There is no hazard that any one of our 
 liberties, personal or political, will be endangered, so long as the preroga- 
 tive is administered on the advice of a minister having the support and 
 requiring support from the two chambers of parliament. (Cheers. ) The 
 question then comes, whether the present ministers of his excellency the 
 KK 
 
578 Al'PENDIX. 
 
 governor-general wore jnstitiod in rocommondinji; the prorogation on the 
 llJtli clay of Angust. Sir, if they had not given that advice they would 
 have the sovereign to break his word ; they would have advised the sov- 
 ereign to commit a breach of faith against every absent member of parlia- 
 ment. I can say in the presence of this house, in the presence of the 
 country, an<l in the presence of the world, if the world were listening to 
 our rather unimportant affairs, that if ever a pledge, if ever a bargain, if 
 ever an agreement or arrangement was made, it was that the house sliould 
 be prorogued cm the 13th ilay of August. Some of the gentlemen who 
 have spoken, I won't tax my memory as to which of them, have made the 
 constitutional objecticjn that the house never agreed to the prorogation on 
 the 13th of August. Sir, the house had nothing to Jo with it. It is not 
 a matter of agreement between the sovereign and the people ; it is a mat- 
 tei" ■' rerogative. Did any educated man, any man who knows what the 
 consticution in Canada or what the constitution in England is, believe that 
 I, the first minister of the crown, could get up in my place and toll this 
 house that on the 13th of August it would be prorogued, and that on that 
 day there was no real necessity for members being present, because it was 
 to be merely a formal meeting \ that I, a minister of nearly twenty years 
 standing — (hear) —who ought to know by practice, and do know by study, 
 somewhat of the British constitution, should make that announcement un- 
 less 1 had got the authority of my master ; had got the sanction of the 
 crown \ As a matter of course, as his excellency has stated in the answer 
 he made to the gentlemen who waited upon him, I submitted the propo- 
 sition to his excellency and took his pleasure upon it, just as the first min- 
 ister in England would take the pleasure of her majesty as to the day on 
 which prorogation was to take place. I got the sanction of his excellency 
 the governor-general to make that statement, and if I had not got that 
 sanction I do not believe the house would hnve agreed to the long ad- 
 journment. We will look back for one moment to see whether I was right, 
 whether the government was right — in speaking of myself I speak of my- 
 self and my colleagues whether we ought to receive the sanction of the 
 the house in giving that advice. Let us look back to the circumftances of 
 the case. 1 invite the careful attention of the house, and especially the 
 attention of those lion, members who were not members of the parliament 
 of Canada at that time, to the circumstances of the case. In February, I 
 think it was, there was a royal charter given for the purpose of building a 
 Pacific railway, to the Pacific railway company. They went home — 
 their president. Sir Hugh Allan and certain other members of the Board 
 for the purpose of attempting to carry out this charter which had been 
 given to them. The charter had been given to thera according to the 
 
Al'l'ENDIX. 070 
 
 vote of the Parliament of Canada, with the sanction of the p.irliamoi.t of 
 vJai\aua, and evury clausu of it was in accordance with the provisions of 
 the law passed by the parliament of Canada. (Cheers.) These gentlemen 
 liad gone home to England to lay a great scheme, so great a scheme, Mr. 
 Speaker, that some of the hon. gentlemen opposite said that it was going to 
 overtax our resources and destroy our credit, and tlu'.t they could not suc- 
 ceed at all with so small u population in such a young country. They had 
 gone home to England to lay the project before the English world and 
 European capitalists. They were going hon.e to operate, and it depended 
 much on the support they received from this country, from the parliament 
 and press of Canada, whether they could succeed or not. They had gone 
 home in February. Parliament met early in March, I think. The hon. mem- 
 ber for Shetford rose in his place and made his charge against the govern- 
 ment on the 2nd of April. The hon. gentleman may have been, 1 do not say 
 he was not, actuated by principles of fine patriotism in making that charge ; 
 but whether he was so actuated or not, whether his motives were parliamen- 
 tary or unparliamentary, patriotic or unpatriotic, one thing is certain, 
 that the direct aim, the direct object, the point at 'vbich that motion and 
 that statement were directed, was to kill the charter in England. (Cheers.) 
 The weapon was aimed with that ob-ect, not so much with the desire of de- 
 stroying the aduiinistration, not so much with the purpose of casting a re- 
 flection upon the ministry, as with the view of destroying that first on the 
 expectation that the ministry would fall afterwards. That was the aim ; 
 there was no doubt about it, and when the hon. gentleman's motion was 
 defeated, and when I took up the resolution the aim was well intended — 
 the desire of killing was well intended — but it failed in the execution. 
 (Hear, hear.) When I took it up I considered the whole position of events. 
 Sir Hugh Allan and those connected with him went to England in March. 
 Parliament was sitting at the time the hon. gentleman made his motion. 
 1 could not know how long parliament would last, and the chances were 
 that they would return some time before the end of the session. If they 
 did not return then, of cotirse I considered that there could be no examin- 
 ation until they did, but I thought they might return. I declare that I 
 never for a moment supposed that the hon. member, when he made his 
 statement, could be guilty of such great, such palpable, such obvious in- 
 justice, as to press his committee in the absence of Sir Hugh AILin, Mr. 
 Abbott, and Sir George Cartier, when they had no opportunity of defend- 
 ing either themselves or the charter which they had obtained. The house 
 must remember also that the motion made by the hon. gentleman went 
 much farther than my motion. The motion of the hon. member, which 
 he moved on the 2nd of April, was not only to inquire into the facts that 
 
580 APrENDlX. 
 
 he mentioned, tho Htatoments upon which ho ImHod his motion, but to go 
 into tho wholu of the Hubjuct oontiectecl witli tlio chiirtur and tho granting 
 of tho charter to the Pacific railway company. The aim of his motion, I 
 repeat, was to <1eHtroy that chartor. I will read the motion of tho hon. 
 member. Aftor detailing tiie facts, ho moved, " that a committeo of bovoii 
 members bo appointed to ini|uire into all the circiimstancea ctmnocted with 
 tho negotiations for tho C(m8truction of tho Pacilic railway, with tho legis- 
 lation of last session on tho subject, and with tho granting of the charter 
 to 8ir Hugh Allan and others." So that tho aim of tho hon. gentloman in 
 making that motion was not simply to attack thegovornment, not simply that 
 from improper motives or inducements of any kind they had given tho cliar- 
 ter, but was for tho purpose of destroying that chartor and of attacking all 
 tho legislation of tho previous session on which tho chartor was based, [ 
 never f'-r one moment supi^sod that any hon. member would bo guilty of 
 tho groas injustice (jf attemi)ting to attack the wh(ilo of tho legislation of 
 tho previous session and the charter solemnly granted under an act of par- 
 liament, and of attempting to afTect vested interest, on which a million of 
 money had been staked, in the absence of tho persons primarily interested. 
 That moticm wivs made, and was intended to be a vote of want of confi- 
 dence. Was that so '. or was it not so i Will tho hon. gentleman say it 
 was not so? 
 
 Mr. HuisTiNOTON — The motion when made waB intended to express 
 nrecisoly whuL it did express. (Laughter.) 
 
 Sir John MAonoNAiiD — It is said, sir, that if there had been one hon- 
 est man in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah they might have been saved ; 
 and 30 tho Opposition may bo saved in tho same way, for thoy have one 
 honest man in their ranks — the member for South Wentworth — who 
 stated that that motion was intended to bo a vote of want of confidence. 
 Everybody knew that that was its design (hear, hear), and yet at this day, 
 at this late hour, the hon. gentleman (Mr. Huntington) had not the man- 
 liness to get up and say so. (Cheers.) He dare not say it was not a mo- 
 tion of want of confidence. It was meant in that way, and I can prove 
 that it was by my hon. friend the member for South Wentworth. I call 
 him, and I believe him. Ho said it was so. Will the hon. gentleman not 
 believe him ? Although differing from him in politics, I know he would 
 not say what was not true. If I remember rightly, the hon. member for 
 ShefTord said he would make the motion when we went into committee 
 of supply. He gave the necessary notice that ia always given in such 
 cases, and I certainly supposed that he intended to make a general mo- 
 tion on our policy connected with the Canadian Pacific railway. He said 
 he was going to make a motion on that subject, and it was by mere 
 
A ITEM fix. 681 
 
 ftccitlont that when luy friond, tho ininistur of finance, rose to make his 
 l)iulgut spuecli, with yon in tho chair, inatuad of aconunittoe of supply, 
 tho hon. member said he would take another opportunity of making tho 
 ntateniont in oonneo.ion with the Pacitio railway. Had wo gone into 
 <:ommittoo r)f supply tho hon. Kuntlenian would have made, in tho ordi- 
 nary parliamentary way, his motion of want of confidence. Hut he 
 hIiouUI have given notice of his attack, for a more unmanly attack is un- 
 known. What notice had boon given that he was going to make that mo- 
 tion I Triio, the government of the day are unworthy of their position 
 tuiless they are ready to. meet any charges brought agaii^st them. But 
 had we tho most remote information rosptcting that i)ersonal matter ? 
 And even when on tho .second day he announced that he was going to 
 |>ostpono to a future occa.sion further action, ho did not vtmture to give 
 tho slightest intimation to tho men he was going to attack ; the men whose 
 characters he was going to blacken; of what he was going to say ; but he 
 took us by surprise and sought by bringing in documents carefully pre- 
 pared to got a coiuMiittoe on those statements for tho purpose. Certainly 
 it would have been so if tho conunittee had been granted as he proposed, 
 — of killing, as it was designed to kill, as it was bound to kill, tho efiorts 
 of tho Canadian people to get a body of English capitalists, to build the 
 I'acitic railway. (Loud cheering.) T^e could not possibly have supposed 
 that he would have got tho in({uiry through that session, but he supposed 
 if the house had granted the conmiittee on his statement, and it had gone 
 home, telegraphed by cable b)' the associated press, with which some hon. 
 gentlemen opposite seemed to have mysterious connections — (laughter) — 
 it would certainly have been mysterious but it would certainly have 
 allected the construction of tho Canadian Pacific railway, throwing 
 back for years the building of the railway, casting discredit on Canada, 
 iwiiX telling British Columbia what they had told them two years before, 
 that they were not going to get the railway. Mr. Speaker, the hon, 
 gentleman did not speak, in his remarks on tho motion, of facts within 
 his own knowledge, and as the member for Marquette had done in his 
 statements of facts, he only stated that he was credibly informed that 
 the fact existed, and he would be able to prove it, and I venture to say 
 that in the whole range of parliamentary experience in England, and 
 wherever else fair play is known, no man could be expected to have 
 got any other answer than the one he got from the house. If the hon. 
 member had risen in his place and said of his own knowledge that he 
 was personally cognizant of certain facts, then the house might have con- 
 sidered those facts as proved, at all events sufficient for a yrima facie case 
 for inquiry, but the hon. member for SheflFord did not pretend to say bo, 
 
B82 APPENhlX. 
 
 b>it roHO in tho houHJ and said ho wiw crodihly informed (<f certain facts^ 
 and thuruupon askt'd for a cr>niinittuu to try tlio j^ovorninont, and not 
 only Hu, but to try whutlior tliu logiHlation of tho provioua soBaion waa a<u'« 
 nipt oi non corrupt ; whetlier tho meniV)ura of purliamont who had votod 
 for tlio (iovornniont woro ri^ht or wrong, and wliothor that charter, to 
 which groat credit woa attncliud, was fraudulent or valid. And on tho 
 nunco, when tho hon. gentleman mu<le tho proposition, wo resolved to 
 leave it to the houao t<t say whether thoy believed that the facts Imd oc- 
 currod. When the hon. gentlonuvn stated that he was credibly informed 
 that such WHS true, the liouse voted down tho motion. On tho next day 
 I gave notice that 1 would introduce tho rea(dution which I did introduce. 
 1 gave notice of tho resolution, and there is a littl'i history with the reso- 
 I'ltion to which I will uall tho attention o^ the hi ■ -e. It is reported that 
 at a meeting at New Glasgow tue h'^n. meinbov for Lambton stated that 
 that residution which I moved was forced upon mo by my own t'ollowors, 
 and that members on this side of the house luid come to mo to ur>{0 me 
 to introduce that resolution. The hon, gentleman had heard my denial. 
 He heard my speech ; he was in his place when I made that speech, and 
 interrupted mo several times, and I then turned round and asked my 
 friends if any of them had come to mo to force mo by any influence, or 
 language, or anything of the kind, to come down to the house with that 
 motion. I should like to know the names of those eight members, 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie — I am quite satistiod I never mentioned eight names. 
 (Ministerial cries of "How many ? ") I said I was informed, as 1 was^ 
 that it was because of tho pressure his supporters had brought to bear 
 that an inquiry had been asked for next day. 
 
 Hon. Mr. McDonald (Pictou)— I wish to state what did occur at the 
 meeting, and there will, I think, be no difference of opinion between the 
 member for Lambton and myself as to the question of fact. The hon . 
 member during his address stated that tho loader of the government waa 
 compelled by the pressure of his own friends in the house — I don't re- 
 collect that he stated eight members — to bring down the motion for a. 
 committee to the house. I interrupted and said ; '* Why, did you not 
 hear Sir John Macdonald declare that he did not introduce that resolution 
 owing to the pressure of his friends or of any friend ? " The hon. gentle- 
 man replied ; " I did not. I now declare he was pressed by his friends." 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie — The statement made by the hon. member for Pictou 
 is quite correct. I stated I had no recollection of that statement being 
 made, but as the hon. gentleman had said that it was made, I was bound 
 to believe it ; but I was still prepared to say that the information I had 
 •was that the leader of the Government was compelled by the pressure of 
 
Al'VENUIX. 083 
 
 hJH frioiulH to innko that inotiun. T nm Ivmio out in thnt liy whnt tlio 
 iiivinhur for Sliulburiiu statud tho otliur day in tliu lloiuo, 11 j for ono 
 wai uhligud to bring tliat proHSiiro to huar tho nuxt day. (Oppu.iitioii 
 choors.) 1 cannot recollout all tlio othora, but I hoard aimilar nmtturs 
 i.iontioi-ed by aomo othera. 
 
 Sir .loi N Mackonai.I)— 1 have ^ot tho apooch hore, and boforo tlio de- 
 bate chmeH I Hhall ro'or to it, boc-auHO 1 do not liku any niiaappruhunaioii 
 on thuBo luattura. I am aatiatiud thu hoii. ({entlunian aaid ao, aa iio ia ro- 
 portod.and 1 can atato liuro that tho hon. guntlunnm had hia own ropor- 
 tor proaent. Tho hon. guntleman waa roi)ortod to havo aaid :— " I may 
 inform tho hon. gontloman tiijro woro oight of tlio (lovoraniont aiippor- 
 tera who put the acrow on iiim." In othor worda— 
 
 Mr. Mackknzie— I ant perfectly certain 1 did not uae the word 
 acrew. 
 
 Hir John Mac'Donald- Now, I havo occasion to repeat what I atatod 
 then, that no momber of tlio party, and not only no membor of tho party 
 but not one of my own coPoaguoa, Hpoko to mo on theaubjoot until 1 had 
 announced my own dotormination. (Loud choora from MiniHtorial 
 bonchea.) The motion took ua by aurpriao, and wo met it, aa I think we 
 ought to have mot it by voting it down. Next day I came down late and 
 walked into the Council-room at half-paat ono. My coUoaguoa were all ait- 
 ting arotnid. 1 aaid to them, after consideration: " I havo made up my mind 
 that I will move for a Committee," before any ono had a]>oken. I had 
 atated my intention without a single auggestion from any man, that aa tho 
 charge waa of such a nature chat I would move for the appointment of a 
 Committee and bring such motion before Parliantent on the following day. 
 And that is the way that the characters of men are lied aw ly in this coun- 
 try. 1 do not mean to say that the hon. member for Lambton has lied 
 down my character because lie has denied it. What I do mean to say, it 
 has been lied away by tho mistake of a reporter who thought that he was 
 reporting hia words. I havo now got the report here. It ia from tho 
 Halifax Citken. Perhaps tho hon. gentleman I'nowa this paper I Per- 
 haps the hon. member knows that his friend who formerly sat in this 
 House for Halifax is the proprietor of this paper, or that he certainly 
 writes for it. (Hear, hear and cheers.) Here ia the newspaper, and if 
 the hon. gentleman thinks T have made a mistake, and if he thinks I have 
 done him an injustice, perhaps he will be patient with me while 1 real 
 the few sentences: — "Some gentlemen afterwards informed Sir John 
 Macdonald that before they voted with him an inquiry there must be. He 
 -was thus compelled to come down and say that he himself moved an in- 
 (piiry on the following day." 
 
M4 M'l'KS'lUX. 
 
 Mr Macken/.ik— Wliitt ahoiit thu ui^ht tlmt thu hoii. iiumibur Hpnko of. 
 (l<nui{htor.) I rufvr tu wlint thu huii. moiiilHir for Hliulluirnu Ntatud thu 
 othiir iiii^ht. 
 
 Kir .!oiiN MAtiM»vAM)-Di»u» tho hon. rmmihur for Hholbiirne wy tliat 
 ho uvnr ('luiiu to Hpiiuk to iiiu on tlio Hiil>ioct '. 
 
 Mr. Iloss (Victoria) - i may Miiy tliat two or thruu of ua wuiit to nuo tho 
 Miiiiitturs iiuxt day uiul Htatud that itnUmii thuy proiuinud a ootuinittuo 
 (hoiiiat'lvuH that wiin tho \wi voto thoy would ((ut from iin. 
 
 Mr, Ciiriicii — I accopt tlmt atatomoiit. Wo «aw tho hon. Mr. MitchoU 
 on tho following day and naid tho char^^ua woru vury Hurious atl'aira, and 
 that a conunittuu nuist boappointod. 
 
 8ir John MacdonaM) — Thua wu auo anothur uxomplilii^ation of thu old 
 Htory of the throo Itlaok Crowa. (Iiaiij.(litor. ) Tho hon. niomhur atatotl 
 that oi^ht of my foliowcrH and niipporturs camu to mo and naid that 1 
 miiHt movo that Committoo. Tho hon. gontlomon aay that thoy wont to 
 Homo ono olao, and I aay, in tho proaonuu of my colloa^uoa, that 1 myaulf 
 wont down to tho council, and boforu having niut or agrood with any 
 Hiiiglu mondior of tho council, i naid to thoin on going into the council 
 chamber — " (lontlomon, I havo made iiii my mind that on tho firat op- 
 portunity that proaonta itaulf I will niovu for a committoo to ini(uiro into 
 thia matter." (Choora.) I had had no communication with any muiubor 
 of the govornment ; nu communication with any mumbur of tho house ; 
 noconuiiunicatiim with any ono in or out of tho houao, and thuroforo you 
 can undtsratand how guarded tho hon. inoinbor for Lambton ahould bo in 
 giving p\iblicity to other mon'a atl'aira. He may perhapa havo a vacancy 
 in Ilia niomory. There is something, Abercroinbio says, which loads mon 
 not only to forgot certain facta, and to state thinga au facta that never oc- 
 curred. At all events, whether I was waited on by tho eight members or 
 not, I shall produce tho hon. gontloui:in tho report about the eight moni- 
 bers before the night is over. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzik— I don't care about it. 
 
 Sir JouN Mac'donald— I know you don't, I know tho hon gentleman 
 is quite inditforent about the evidence that I can produce. (L'vughter.) 
 At all events I came down to p.irliament and gave my notice of motion. 
 Now I wish the house carefully to consider the circumstances under 
 which I made my motion. I was of course exceedingly anxious that Sir 
 Hugh Allan ahould succeed in his mission to England, and that the Pacitic 
 railway should be proceeded with without delay, I was anxious that no 
 blow should be struck in this house for party or any other purpose tliat 
 could injure the prospects of these mon in England, and yet I did not de- 
 sire that there should be any undue delay in thia inquiry, which affected 
 
Al'l'KMtlX. 
 
 tho honiiiir of hoii. ^ttnttoinon ntul of niyiiulf. N'nw it nniiit l>«t ninnin'- 
 Itiruil Hint my iiintiiiii liiiviii^ \ivvu iiiiiuiimoiiiily iidnptud hy thu liiiiiMit, wiiii 
 not Diily my motion, wim not only my votu, hut wan .lUo tho motion itnd 
 tlie votu of hon. Kontlumun who wuru thon mvmhurHof tliin luirUHnM^nt. I 
 uuiiHidorud atthiit timo thatthn chanoim woruinlinituiiimally nmull that thunu 
 Uontlomon would ho liaok in tiiiui t<> ^oon witli tl;ti iiii|iiiry Ixtfuru thu proro- 
 Kation of piirlianu'Ut ; and what did 1 muvo / I moved " that a nuluct com- 
 luittuo uf ilvo momhurH hu appuintud, of which ('ommittuu tho movor iihttll 
 not Ih) (»no," and huru, Mr. Spoakur, I may purhapM hrin^ in,;H<ry<ar<-ii^At'««, 
 u rumni-k. I movud tliat ruaolntion aa ' thought that I hu'nm <'»u "f tho 
 ai'iMiHud nliould not hu a niomhur of tliat lommittuo, and yt^t tht) hon. 
 momltur for ShittlWrd Htatod in a Hpiiuch rt'contly that if ht lia<l liad his own 
 way ho wouhl havo hoon thu chairman of that connnittuu ; Ihnt hu wouhl 
 hnvo huon chairman and that hu woidd havu ^'nidud thuduUI)orationaof that 
 coiumittuo— hu tliu nccusur. Thu hon. ^'unthiman may think that I may 
 hiivo oommittud Homothin^' liku folly in tluH coiuhc, hut, ut all uvontH, I 
 niovud that "a committou of live mumhurn bu appointed, of which thu movur 
 nliall not ho ono, to inipiiru into and report on tho Hpccial niatturs men- 
 Honod in tlio rusolution of tho hon. mombur for Shullord, with power to 
 m-nd for papurn and rucords, wilh powur to report to the house from time 
 to timo, with powur to rjport their uvidenco to tho house from time tt» 
 timo, an<l if need be Lo nit after tho proroi{ation of parliament.'' 1 
 thuu^'ht that by a more hicky chanco, by a mere fortuitoua circunmtanoo, 
 Sir Flu^h Allan and hia aHsociatoB might i>crhapa raise the money, make 
 tho neco.tsary arrangements and be back in timu before parliament waa pro- 
 rugiiod, and, thi'refore, I put in morely aa an alternative that if noud bu tho 
 committoo co\dd sit after parliament prorogued. I never thought for a single 
 moment, it nover occurred to my mind, tlmt any man having a aenao of jus- 
 tice would enter upon a trial of a matter, in the abaunco of thoac who wore 
 chielly implicated, and perhaps you will say that tho government wereim- 
 plii'ited, but at all events Sir llu.;h Allan and Mr. Abbott wore not only 
 pursonally iujplicated, but their capital, their vested rights, their pledged 
 faith were all interested in this itnpiiry, and I never thought any man 
 would attempt such an etiort of lynch law as to go on in the absence of 
 Sir Hugh Allan, Hon. Mr. Abbott, and Sir Geo. (Jartier ; in tho absence 
 of all the evidence which these gentlemen could give on the subject of 
 these charges. 1 therefore, air, drew up the luotion in the manner 1 havo 
 named, and 1 must confess th<'vt I am somewhat ashamed that my know- 
 ledge of constitutional law should have been at fault ; but 1 was anxious 
 that the government should not lia under the charges for a whole year, 
 and I put that in thj resolution in order that the commission might sit 
 
ftHo Ari'F.sinx. 
 
 from iluy toiliiy iliiriii;^ tho rucimN, iiml if Nir Illicit Allnii, Mr. Alihott 
 iiiitl Hir <>ui)rt(o (.Wliur nrrivoil in thia country tlint thuir uvi loncn nii^^hi 
 \w tukon. This wiia my nhjuot in pliioinK thia clitiiao in thu roaoliition. 
 On conaidurnlion wn found tlint thia houao could not conftir thu |M>wer, 
 und for H vary auliatiuitiul ruMon, hucnuao if thia pikrliiiniiuit could a|>|>oint 
 u coiiiniitt(tt) with {lowtir to ait during thn roccan it could alao ii|i|ioint a 
 conunittvo of the vvhoUi houau to ait during tho rucuaa, and tliua tho proro- 
 t^ntivu of thu Crown to proro^uu wouhl \w iiivndttd, nnd parliitmunt oa a 
 conunittou of tho wholtt might ait indutinitcly. Hut I madu a miatiiko ; it 
 WHN iKX'cptcd hy thu whtdu houNo, nud hon. Kcutlonuui who voted for my 
 rcaolution iiriiaa much roapoimildu for it aa myaclf. Not only waa my pro- 
 poaition corinidunid, hut it wiia w«iighud hy tho hon. muml)«tr for South 
 lirucu. Ko much did th» hon. momhur conaidur it aa amattor of certainty 
 that tho coniiuittflu muat ait durin^^ tho rocoaa that ho uaod thia lantjuago : 
 " With regard to giviny tho committoo powor to ait after tho prorogation, 
 ho t)u)U{ht tho correct courao to purauo would bo to introduce a hill 
 authorizing tho committoo to ait during tho recoHa, nnd hy a roaolution of 
 the houao to take ovidonco under oath." Tho hon. goutloinan aaw that it 
 waa ipiito impoaaihlo for ua to got through the invoatigation during tho 
 Hoaaiun, and I do not aeo in juatico how it waa poaaihiu to got through 
 without theao gentlemen comin.;. li wq I not then proved my case, Mr. 
 'Speaker/ (Oheora.) Have I not proved that this houao aolemidy ro- 
 Holved, as far aa it could roaolvo, that thia ompiiry ahoidd be continued 
 after tho prorogati(m / Now, Mr. Speaker, I ahall not elaborate thia 
 (pieation any further than to w\y that believing na I did, believing an 1 
 do, that it would have boon an injuatico to prosood with thia eni|uiry in 
 the abaonce ol Aw gentlemen whom 1 h.ive namud, the govornment, of 
 which I am a niomber, otlorod the advice to the govomor-general that 
 tho houao should bo prorogued on the 13th of August, it having boon 
 underatood that in tho intermodiato time the committee might sit. That 
 advice was accepted, that waa tho advico 1 brought dawn an<l communi- 
 cated to the Ikjuhu, and that advico was acted upon by thia house and that 
 act this house cannot now recall. (Hear, hear.) This house is responsible 
 for its own acts and ordinances, and when I announced here that tho 
 house would bo i)rorogued on tho 13th of Au;iU8t, this house accepted 
 that propositicm as it should have done. (Chee'-s.) Itut, Sir, I stated to 
 this house for all the purposes of this house that tho aljouritmont should 
 be coneiderod a prorogation. (Cheoro ) That was accepted by this house, 
 and more than that, I brought down a bill to pay every member his 
 salary, on the ground that it was a prorogation, and I say further that any 
 member who i^ot this money and wished for raoro and came back to get it 
 
woa guilty of tnkinK monoy tintUtr falie prrtutiMn*. (('hoora.) Wo kiittw 
 wliiit lii» l>ii|t|i«)iittvl ill tint I'tiitcil H(»ti>i. \Vu know tiiitt tho <iliilf, in 
 ordur to iiuliico itii friutida to coiiio tlioy know of ooiirio tlint riiy frit'iid* 
 from th» i'lioiiio did not uftru for » thoiimuid dolhirH— but thuy t)ioii;{ht 
 that tint hoii, iiiciiibtirit who witru tutnrur Ottnwit would bu iiidiictid to conn* 
 by t\ brilio, imd the Olnhf to thu (ttitrnul diKuriic«< of tluit |iii|i«tr, iiiNiiiiii\ti<d 
 that if lion, iiutiiiburi cainu thuy would k**^ thuir iiioiu<y. (Ohoori.) 1 
 ■hall now iiiakit a fuw ruiiiarki in rcNpuot to the iiiauo of tho royal coin- 
 niiasion. I havtt Hpokitn of tho proro^^atioii. I boliuvo that it wan connti- 
 oonNtitutioniil, I boliovo that it waa wiiu, or whether it wna wiie, 
 or uiiwiHU, it wiia Haiictioiu'd by thin purliiuiioiil, and I know that ]iarlia- 
 niunt cannot, without diiihontiiir, ifvcintt thoir voto ; and I bolifvc 
 I knoY that tho house acoeptod that prorogation on tho (jround that tho 
 Ad/iurnniont was in eti'eot tu be a prorogation, nnd that only the two 
 Speakers should bo in tho houio on the llUh of August, (('hoors.) As 
 regards thu logality of tho royal coiiunlHsion, I bolicvt that I lU'od not spoak 
 ■o long on that subject. Thu motion of thu hon. Member for Laiiibton 
 relieves nio from that necessity. I will i^uuto tho ovidonco of the royal 
 coinmisHion. 
 
 Mr. Ili.AKK-IIoar, hear. 
 
 Sir John Ma< donai.o I hear tho inoiubor for South Hnico say " hoar, 
 hear." Surely ho ought not to touch, taste nor hiu'.<llo thu unclean tiling. 
 (Laughter.) Surely he will not think that any good fruit will o**me from 
 a vilo stnlk. Surely ho won't <|Uote any oviduncu of tho commiflsion if ho 
 believes the evidence of that coniniission to bo illegal. Tho hon. gentle- 
 man is on thu horiiH of a dibMiiina. Either the evidence is legal or illegal. 
 If it is legal, then thu huuse can judge from tho ovidonco, but if it is ille- 
 gal, the house must discard it ; and yet the hon. member for Laiubtun 
 (lUoted this evidence, and every man who spoke on tho opposite side of 
 the house used that evidence ; and it cannot be said, if that uvidenco is 
 to be used against the goveniinont, that it is illegal or unconstitutional. 
 (Cheers.) You have your money, and you take your choice. Either no- 
 cept or discard it, and remain as you were before thisovidunoe was taken. 
 (Cheers.) Now it was alleged in the argument of an hon. gonHeman op- 
 posite, with respect to this committee, that tho governor -genu i had beet> 
 snubbed. I tell the hon. gentleman, and I have the permission of the 
 crown to state it, that in addition to the othcial announcement, there is n 
 formal opinion given by the law oflioers of the crown. — those authorities 
 whose opinion the hon. member for Bothwell looked so scornfully upon, 
 but every one else so much respected — that the course taken by tho gov- 
 
538 APPENDIX. 
 
 crnor-genoral both in rospoct to the prorogation and the issiiancu of thu 
 royal commission, was legal and constitutional. 
 
 Mr. Blake. — Hoar, hear. 
 
 Sir John Macuonald. — Well, Mr. Speaker, I cannot help it if thehon. 
 (gentleman does not agree with the law ofticers of the crown. Hut I have 
 still a further statement to make, and I think I may nuike it in the pre- 
 sence of my hon. friend the finance minister — that the course of the gov- 
 ernor-general in respect to all these transactions had been finally settled 
 and agreed upon by the whole imperial cabinet. (Cheers.) It is said, Mr. 
 {Speaker, with respect to the commission that by constitutional authority 
 the crown cannot know what happens in the house of commons. Well, 
 Mr. Speaker, that is one of the anachronisms which we see in the (quota- 
 tions of the hon. gentlemen opposite. They are two or three centuries 
 behind the times. Did the matter remain with the house alone, or con- 
 c'hulo with the house ? No, the house itself sent information to the gov- 
 ernor-general by the member for Sheti'ord. In consecjuence of the reso- 
 lution passed by the house, the member for Card well introduced a bill for 
 tlie purpose of giving the committee power to administer oaths. We 
 passed that bill through both houses, and it went to the crown, to the first 
 branch of the legislature. Is it to be supposed that when we, the advisers 
 of the crown, the advisers of the governor-general, asked him to come 
 down here contrary to usual practice, contrary to the general universal 
 jjractice, to come down before the end of the session to give his sanction 
 to a measure ; is it to be supposed that when we brought him down for 
 that special purpose we were not charged by the legislature to convey to 
 him why we asked him to give his assent ? Then why, Mr. Speaker, was 
 it to be supposed that the sovereign would give, as a matter of course, his 
 assent to a measure passed by this parliament without a reason. Sir, we 
 gave that reason. The advisers of the crown told the crown what the 
 motion of the member for Sheflford was. They told the crown what the 
 proceedings before the house were, and that the culmination of their pro- 
 ceedings was that the act should be passed. That was the reason why the 
 <;rown came down, that was the reason why the governor-general instead 
 of at the end of the session came down in the middle. He was fully in- 
 formed of the motion of the member for Shetford, and of all the proceed- 
 ings on which the bill was based. But it has been said, sir, that this act 
 •was an obstruction of the action of parliament. Why sir, it was intended 
 for the purpose of aiding parliament, but it was disallowed ; but certainly 
 by no act of mine as has been charged. It was even asserted somewhere 
 that I had, or that the governor-general had, attempted in some way to 
 influence the government in England to disallow the act. Well, sir, the 
 
APPENDIX. 681> 
 
 paper before parlinmont shows with what scorn that statement can pro- 
 perly bo met. No suggestion direct or indirect, wont from the Canadian 
 to the iranorial government v.ith respect to the disallowance or passage of 
 that Pct. (Cheers.) I did not hesitate in my place in parliament to ex- 
 press my opinion that the passage of that act was boyond tho powers of 
 the Canadian pniiiamont. I had formed, I may say, a very strong opinion 
 on the point, but I did noi express ray opinion so strongly to this house 
 as I really felt it, because I knew from the usual generosity of gentlemen 
 opponito that they would at once have said, " Oh, of course, you throw 
 obstacles in tho way because you do not wish the bill to pnoo," and there- 
 fore, while I would have liked to state that we had not the power to pass 
 the act, at tho same timo I placed great confidence in the opinion of the 
 hon. member for Cardwell. I do not know whether tho member for South 
 Bruce expressed any opinion on the point, but if he did not, many other 
 learned members did, and I paid great respect to 'heir opinions. I did 
 nov therefore oppose, as otherwise I would have opposed, the passage of 
 the bill, which I would certainly have done had I not boon personally con- 
 cerned. When it went up to the governor-general, as the papers will 
 show, as I was bound to express my real opinion, I stated my doubt of it» 
 legality, but hoped his excellency would see his way to allow it instead of 
 reserving it for tho signification of her majesty's pleasure, and I gave my 
 advice not only as first minister, but as minister of justice, that the act 
 should be passed. The measure was passed and went home to England 
 and, as the despatches show, the case was fully argued, so far as it could 
 well be argued, and the strong impression of the representative of our 
 sovereign at the time was, that I was wrong in my law, and that the hon. 
 gentlemen who had supported the bill were right, and that tho bill would 
 become law. We know what the result was, and that atter the consulta- 
 tions the bill was disallowed. It has been said by the hon. member for 
 Bothwell, that it is out of the question that we should be governed by the 
 law officers of the crown, but let mo state to this house, Mr. Speaker, that 
 the decision was not the decision merely of the law officers of the cro.vn, 
 but it was the decision of the British government. It was an order of tho 
 privy council, ind there is not an order of the privy council passed in 
 which the lord chancellor is not consulted before a decision is come to. 
 But, sir, whether the commission was legal or not, and we will suppose for 
 a. moment that it was not, though it is a great stretch of supposition, would 
 it not have been well for the hon. member for Shefford to have come be- 
 fore that commission ? Would it not have been well for the hon. member, 
 aa a man really anxious to have justice done ? Would it not have been 
 well for the hon. member if desirous of the triumph of his party, not de- 
 
500 • APPENDIX. 
 
 sirous of the defeat of a ministry, not desirouB of a change of government, 
 but really, truly, anxiously, and, as he said, painfully desirous of having 
 justice done, to have come before the commission and have followed up 
 the investigation from day to Jay ? I think the house will say that the 
 privileges of parliament were not endangered, and that he might safely 
 have prosecuted the matter and have brought the offendera to justice, and 
 that he could have done so without prejudice to his position as a member 
 of parliament. Why then did the hon. gentleman not come ? It did not 
 suit his plans to come. The hon. gentleman's game was (irst to destroy 
 the Pacitic railway company under the charge of .Sir Hugh Allan, and then 
 to destroy the government, and not to have a real inquiry into the con- 
 duct of the administration. Besides, sir, and it is a consideration of some 
 importance to the house, and one that ought to have great force in ^ao 
 country, I myself, and the other members of the government who were in 
 this country, desired to give our explanation under oath. I went there, 
 Mr. Speaker, and you know it was said in the newspapers that the com- 
 mission would be a sham, and there would be no examination at all, and 
 that the members of the government and other witnesses would shelter 
 themselves under the piea that they need not criminate themselves. I 
 •would ask you, sir, and every hon member, whether every member of the 
 government, when called before that commission, did not give full, clear 
 and unreserved statements as regards all the transactions connected with 
 the Pacific railway. (Cheers. ) As I believe that that commission was 
 issued in accordance with the law, because the crown as such had a perfect 
 right to enquire • ""to that matter, so at the same time I believe that in no 
 way was it desigL^d, and in no way did it in any way obstruct the action 
 of parliament. Mr. Speaker, this house is not governed by that commis- 
 sion or the evidence, although the member for Lambton has quoted the 
 evidence, and used it, and made it the basis of his motion. 1 say the 
 house is not in any way bi)und by that commission. It is in no way 
 checked or obstructed or prevented from instituting the most searching 
 examination into the matter. As a matter of fact, I believe that when the 
 member for Shefford made his charges here, there was a notice given in 
 the senate ior an inquiry, and there was no reason in the world why the 
 senate should not have had an inquiry. They might have had a commit- 
 tee, and, as we have often seen it in England, the two branches of the 
 legislature might have had concurrent committees sitting at the same time; 
 and it might happen, as in England, that these committees might come to 
 different conclusions. If a committee had been granted by the senate, 
 would that have been a breach of the privileges of this house "i Certainly 
 not. Well then, sir, if it be not a breach of the privileges of parliament 
 
APPENDIX. 591 
 
 that the second and third branches of the legislature should have concur- 
 rent examinations into a certain chari'c, huw can it be a breach of tlie 
 
 • 
 
 privileges of the second and third chambers for the lirst branch of the 
 legislature to go into the matter. (Cheers.) If the senate can discuss the 
 matter, cannot the sovereign go into it ? Sir, the answer is too obvious to 
 admit of doubt, and it must be remembered the sovereign holds a two-fold 
 position ; that the sovereign is not only the first branch of the legislature, 
 and as such has a right to in([uire into such matters, but is also the head of 
 the executive and is the executive. The crown governs the country ; the 
 crown chooses its own ministers, and this house has uo control, and the 
 senate has no control over the crown in this respect, except in deciding 
 whether they have confidence in the ministers chosen. The crown, in 
 or Jer to be a reality and not a myth, must have the full and sole selection 
 of the individual members to form the government, and it is then for par- 
 liament to say whether that selection is such as will command the confi- 
 dence of parliament as well as enable them to carry on the affairs of the 
 country. If that is constitutional law, and I think it is, what is the conse- 
 quence ? It is that the sovereign has the right to inquire into the con- 
 duct of its own officers. If an offence is committed, the crown has a right 
 to in<|uire into it. If a charge is made the crown has the right to ascertain 
 whether that charge is true. I will suppose the case of a minister charged 
 with a crime amenable to common law. Could not the crown make in- 
 quiry into such a matter ? The proposition is too absurd a thing to need 
 an answer, for we know of many cases where the crown has made such in- 
 quiry. The case that is most applicable in principle to the present one in 
 that of Lord Melville, and I will refer to that because it lays down certain 
 principles to which I would invite the attention of the house. The case is 
 especially applicable because the matter was first discussed in the house of 
 commons ; and it is said here that because the matter was first discussed 
 in the house of commons it should end there, and no other tribunal should 
 deal with it, and no other authority should intervene and prevent the 
 house from concluding its inquiry. But there is no reason in the world 
 why any independent authority should not pursue an independent inquiry, 
 leaving to the house a full, unrestrained and unrestricted right of inquiry. 
 In the case I have mentioned there had been great abuses in connection 
 with the navy contracts m England during the Peninsular war, and there 
 were allegations of enormous frauds, and a pledge was given by Mr. Pitt's 
 government, of which Lord Melville was a member, that so soon as a peace 
 was concluded, an inquiry should be entered into, as it was thought im- 
 possible that in the height of the war a proper inquiry could be made. I 
 grant that it was a different administration that moved for a committee iu 
 
602 , APPENDIX. 
 
 the matter, but the motion wao in consequeuco of tl\o pledge j^iven by Mr. 
 Pitt, but when Lord Sidmouth asked for tlio committee it was opposed in 
 the honso of comm(jn8, on tiie yroinid that the cnnvn coulu prosecute the 
 in(iuiry. The navy board had full authority, and the admiralty had full 
 authority, and it was uryod that the crown as it appointed the judges so 
 it should appoint commissionora to try the particular case. Thero was 
 the responsibility, and this view was argued strongly. As anyone will 
 see who reads ' , the commission was only granted after the go 'ernmont 
 had been i.dked whether thoy had got their commissionora, and after tho 
 house had been informed that the navy board and the government of tho 
 day asked for the commission, and the act to authorize thr administration 
 of oaths was passed because there was no power in the navy board to ad- 
 minister oaths. Tho commission was similar to this in all respects. Oii 
 this the minister was tried, and on this a minister was accpiitted, antl tlio 
 only diffcrenoe between that case and this was that on that case a com- 
 mission was asked for by the government, and in this the commission was 
 issued by the government under the act. 
 
 Mr. Wood. — Whenever there were commissions, special acts wore pass- 
 ed, authorizing these commissions. 
 
 Sir John Macdonalu. — Would the Hon. gentleman tell me of any such 
 commissions ? 
 
 Mr. Wood. — Yes, there was the act of 1843, and the act of St. Albans, 
 and in 1832 a general act was passed relating to such matters. No single 
 case could be found in which a royal commission was appointed to try cor- 
 rupt parties at elections, except under a special act. 
 
 Sir Joiix Macdoxald. — The hon. gentleman cites certain acts relating 
 to corrupt practices, but the hon. gentleman must see that his cases had 
 no reference to this one, because those which he cited referred to corrup- 
 tion in boroughs, and the charge here is general corruption on the part of 
 the government. It had been contended by the hon. member for Bothwell, 
 who spoke at some length, that it was very surprising that the witnesses 
 before tho royal commission did not know anything, that they came <ip 
 one after another, telegraph operators and others, and all stated that they 
 did not know anything about the matter. AVhy were they called ? Tho 
 reason was plain, and the reason was known to the h6n. member. It was 
 because Mr. Huntington handed in the name? ol ihese witnesses to the 
 committee. He handed in my name among »he rest, and it was alleged 
 that there was an arrangsment about this as if tlie government had any 
 control over that commission. The witnesses were called one after ano- 
 ther and in the order shown on the list handed in by the hon. member for 
 Shefford. Early in the session he handed in the list of witnesses, and 
 
APPENDIX. 593 
 
 they were nil cnllod in their sequence. T could not help it if n railway 
 operator or a tologrnph operator was called up and did not know anything 
 about it. His name was there on the list, and in one case it was shown 
 that M. Coursol, whose name was put on the list, mot Mr. Huntington, 
 and when he asked him why it had been done, that hon. gentleman said 
 he did not know. It was the duty of the commissioners to call upon every 
 man that hon. gentleman had placed on the list, whether they knew any- 
 thing or knew nothing, and therefore the charge of the hon. gentleman 
 that they were called up by arrangement was untrue, and it was altogether 
 unworthy of the hon. gentleman. Witnesses were called up iva they came 
 on the list, p.ud as they came on that list they came up to give their evi- 
 dence. With respect to the composition of the commissioK, T have not 
 much to say. It is beneath me to say much. (Cheers.) There u no man 
 in Lower Canada who will not say that Judge Day, by hia legal ac(iuire- 
 menta, was well fitted for the position, and when I tell you that the pre- 
 sent chief justice ;f the superior court, Judge Meredith, has said ti.at the 
 greatest loss that the bench of Lower Canada ever had, was in Judge L)iy. 
 I have said all that can be said. (Cheers.) Judge Day is a man above 
 any charge of political bias. Ho has shown what he was on the bench ; 
 he has shown what he was as a politician ; he has shown in the coditica- 
 tio.i of the laws of Lower Canada what he was as a jurist. The hon. mem- 
 ber for Shefford said that the other two judges were my creatures. He 
 did not venture to attack Justice Day, but he attacked the other two. 
 Now, with respect to Mr. Justice Polette, I may say that I have not seen 
 him, nor have I had any communication with him for seventeen long 
 years. For seventeen long years he had been obliterated out of raemorj'. 
 1 knew him in my early days in parliament as a supporter of the Lafon- 
 taine-Morin coalition. From that time he departed from my vision until 
 he was appointed on that commission. And why, sir, why was he appoint- 
 ed on that commission ? I was resolved in consequence of the insult that 
 had been heaped upon the committee in Montreal, that the commissioners 
 must sit in Ottawa, where they could be protected from such insults, and, 
 therefore, there was no chance of the charge being tried by a Lower Can- 
 ada judge. I was anxious that there should be a Lower Canada judge on 
 the commission. It was suggested by the Globe that no superior court 
 judge ought to sit on the commission, as a cause might arise out of it yet 
 which would have to be tried before them. I endeavoured, therefore, to 
 carry out the suggestion. I thought it was a good one, and took Justice 
 Day, who, as a retired judge, could by no possibility try any case which 
 might arise. He said that he would be only too glad to do so, but as he 
 was on very friendly personal relations with the Hon. Mr. Abbott, per- 
 LL 
 
594 ArrHNDIA'. 
 
 haps it might bo thought not to he proper. Ho, however, oonsented to 
 act. Ho also stutod to ino that at least one French Canadian jndge should 
 ait, as one of my coUoagnos, a French Canadian, was implicated. He 
 thought over all the namns of the judges of Lower Cana'da, and suggested 
 to nie the name of M. Justice Polotte na a man of high standing, a man of 
 groat legal power, as worthy in all respects to take his seat on the com- 
 mission. And it is said Mr. Justice (iowan was a creature of mine. How 
 Mr. Justice Gowan ever came to be considered a creature of mine, I can- 
 not aay. He commenced life as a partner of Mr. Small, and was an ex- 
 treme reformer. He was appointed by Mr. lialdwin on the representation 
 of Mr. Small. I never did him a single favour that I know of. 1 did not 
 appoint him a judge. He was appointed a judge before I was a member 
 of parliament, his appointment being made in 1843, while I became a 
 member of parliament in 1844. I afterwards became accpiainted with 
 Judge Gowan, and I found that he was a ^(ood lawyer. I may also say 
 that I have received great advantage, and that the country has received 
 great benefits from the services of Mr. Justice Gowan. There is but one 
 judge of the superior court in Upper Caaada whom I have not appointed 
 or promoted, and that one judge, I am proud to say, on the best evidence, 
 has declared in the strongest terms that in the evidence produced before 
 the commission there is not one tittle of evidence against me. (Cheers.) 
 It has been said that the commission was a partisan commission ; but sup- 
 posing I had committed any crime under the common law of the land, I 
 must have been tried under a judge who was appointed or promoted by 
 myself ; and I believe that not one single month or day less punishment 
 would have been given to me if I had been tried by any one of these 
 judges whom I have been from my position instrumental in placing on the 
 bench. With respect to the charges brought against the judges, they have 
 assumed various phases. First we are told that the government had acted 
 with these American gentlemen and had given up all the rights of Canada 
 to a foreign corporation. We were told that we are recreant to our posi- 
 tion as Canadians, to our position as members of parliament, and guar- 
 dians of the rights of Canada, and that we had handed over the great 
 Pacific railway to the Americans. When that broke down, the next 
 charge was brought up. Hon. gentlemen opposite said, " We know 
 you did not do that, but you have sold it," and then when that broke 
 down they came to the last charge, and said : ' ' Oh, you are guilty of 
 spending a large sum of money at the elections." There are the three 
 charges, and with your permission I shall deal with them seriatim. It 
 has been attempted to show that the first was not a charge. I would 
 abk the house if it was not so understood in Canada, if it was not so 
 
APPEND IX. 606 
 
 MiultTstood in England, if it had not rung through the country, thiit the 
 govurniuent of Canadii wore ho devoid of duty, ho devoid of patriotisui, 
 that tliuy sold thu oliartur to tliu AinoricatiH \ I must say that wlion this 
 chargo wau lirst made, it roused uie. I had thought that I had thwartud 
 these men in every particular. I had thought tlwit I iiad excluded thoni 
 in every particuhir. I had thought that I liad kept Jay Cooke it Co., and 
 Scott & Co., and every company in any way connected with the Northern 
 Pacific railway out of tlie Canadian J'acitic railway. (Cheers.) Mr. 
 Speaker, if I had not done so ; if I liad gone into that moderate system; if 
 I had allowed the American railway system to go un and be completed, 
 forever shutting out the opportunity for ours; if 1 had played the Ameri- 
 can game; if I had played the game of the hon. gentlemen opposite; if I 
 liad sold the railway; if 1 liad sold the interests of Canada, — I would have 
 gut tlie plaudits of hon. gentlemen opposite, instead of now getting their 
 stabs. (Cheers.) But it is because, from the first to the last, I was a 
 true Canadian; because from the first to thf last I stood by Canada; be- 
 cause from the first to the last, when they attempted to levy blackmail 
 upon me, I put it down with a strong hand, — that is why the attack was 
 made on the government; that is why the attack was made on me. (Loud 
 cheers.) I have no hesitation in saying that this course, taken by the hon, 
 member for Shefford, is governed behind the scones by a foreign element. 
 (Cheers.) I do not charge the hon. gentlemen by whom he is surrounded 
 with being parties to this, but I do say that the course of the hon. mem- 
 ber for Shefford is governed by a foreign element, and I can prove it. 
 ^Cheers.) And if a committee is granted to me, I will show that the hon. 
 gentleman sits here by virtue of alien money and influence; and not only 
 by virtue of alien influences, but alien railway influences. (Cheers.) 1 
 can prove it. I am informed, and verily believe, that I can prove it. 
 {Cheers and laughter.) I have got evidence, and if a committee is given 
 to me X can prove that the hon. gentleman was elected to his seat in this 
 house by a.'ien railway influences; and more than that, I can not only prove 
 that be was elected by alien railway influences, but by alien railway influ- 
 ences not umonnected with the Northern Pacific railway. (Loud cheers.) 
 Now, Mr. Speaker, I have to speak to the specific charges made against 
 the government. Sir, before the last election took place, I knew what I 
 had to face. I had a great, a strong and united opponent. I had showered 
 upon my devoted head all kinds of opposition. I had been one of the high 
 commissioners, and one of the signers of the treaty of Washington. It was 
 said that I had betrayed the country, and the hon. gentlemen had described 
 me in their speeches as a cross between Benedict Arnold and Judas Iscariot. 
 But I met parliament, and by a calm explanation of my course I won the 
 
A ri'ENDIX. 
 
 approvnl of tho hotiRo. Still tlio opposition roRred. 1 know that I nuiat 
 meet with n Htronj; opposition in my nntivo province, from gontloition of 
 tho oppoaito party. That province was the only province in the conntry 
 that was not a gainer by the troaty, except as it was a gainor by tho great 
 gain which, I tliiiik, over-balanced everythinj? — that of a lasting peace be- 
 tween England and the United States. (Cheers.) It gave to our children, 
 and to o\ir children's children, the assurance that we cotdd enjoy our own 
 comfort, that we could enjoyour own firesides, that we could sit under our 
 own fig tree, without the possibility of the war-cloud hanging over us; and 
 if I was guilty of l)eiiig a party to that treaty, I shall bo glad to have it 
 recordeil on my tomV)Btono. (Loud cheers.) We yielded nuich, we gave 
 up many things — I admit that. I told this house that we had yielded 
 much — that we had given up many things. Tint still we see our country 
 prosperous — still we see every interest growing (cheers), and now we know 
 that by no hostile hand, by no unfriendly, warlike invasion, can the future 
 bo destroyed. (Cheers.) Y<jt, sir, I went out and submitted myshoiddor 
 to the smiter. I knew how much it would be held out that we had not 
 got what we ought to have got ; that we had got no reciprocity — that tho 
 wheat of tho Western farmer was not exchanged on equal terms with tho 
 wheat of tho Americans, But I had to meet that, and I met it, Mr. 
 Speaker, like a man. (Cheers.) I had to meet much more. I had not only 
 to be told — as I was told at every place that I went to — that I was a traitor 
 and had sold this country. If Canada is never sold in tho future by a 
 greater traitor than myself, Canada will be a fortunate country. (Loud 
 cheers.) But 1 was told also that I had not only sold Canada to the Yan- 
 kees, but that I had sold Ontario to the other provinces. It was said that 
 I had not only committed a great breach of international law, but had also 
 given them more than their rights. On every question of constitutional law 
 I have had the satisfaction of having the courts — well, not perhaps the 
 courts, but of those men who make the courts — in my favour, and I have 
 never made a constitutional or legal proposition in which I have not had 
 the support of the legal advisers of the crown in England, and in which I 
 have not been right, and the hon. gentlemen opposite have been wrong. 
 But with respect to Nova Scotia^ we are told, not only that my course was 
 unconstitutional, but that we had given to Nova Scotia more than they 
 had a right to have. Perhaps the hon. gentleman opposite would say they 
 never said so. He had been in the habit of saying so. But the fact could 
 be proved, that the hon. gentleman took the two grounds — first, that our 
 action was unconstitutional, and second, that the action was unjust to 
 Ontario. (Cheers. ) Now I would ask you to speak to every member 
 from Upper Canada, and ask if they did not find in every election that 
 
Arr£Nl)LV. 597 
 
 •aiil of tho govornmont of Ciiiiudii, liinl that I, as iiriine niiiiiatur, had 
 giiinttid tu Nuva Hcotia too iiuioh, uiid liiid thuruby iiicruaaud thu taxatitjii 
 of tho puoplti of Ontario I I havu hvl to toll thu puoplo of Ontario, in tho 
 iirat plauo, tliat Nova Scotia only got jiintiou, and in tho Bucond, that tho 
 courso takon wiu purfoctly coiiHtitiitional; aim c<-«n if wo had givun Nova 
 Hcotia a littlo nioru tlian jiisticu, it waa woU worth tliu outhiy. (Chuura.) 
 Wliy, Mr. Spuai<or, what did wu find at tho tinto uf tho union ( Tlio niin- 
 iator of cuatonia waa tiio first nan roturnud to tho houao in tho olootiona, 
 on strictly union principlus. ConHidur tho position wu wuru in huru. Wo 
 wuro with u constitution just trumbling in thu balancu, and yut wo found 
 onu of the most important pruvincuH recalcitrant, throatuning indopondbucu, 
 4ind opposing in every possible way tho carrying out of confederation, under 
 which wo now live and flourish. Was I to deal with tho ({uostiou in a 
 hesitating way i If wu had given to Nova Scotia a little more than her 
 rights, and oven as it were a sop, I say it was a statesmanlike act. But, 
 «ir, there wore no necessities of that kind. Wo did them simple justice; 
 and I will venture to say that any member who will now sit down and road 
 tho discussions and negotiations between Canada and Nova Scotia, wiU feel 
 that we did full and ample justice. I am no friend to doing half justice, 
 but we did them no more than justice. What is the conseiiuonce / W'e 
 800 tho people, irrespective of party; wo see every man in Nova Scotia ad- 
 miring the legislation of parliament introduced by tho government, which 
 has made Nova Scotia a part of the Dominion, instodd of being a separate 
 province, and has converted it into one of thu most ardent friends of con- 
 federation among the whole of the ditforont members of tlie Dominion. 
 (Cheers.) If it shall happen, sir, as it may Iiappen, that I receive a reverse, 
 a condemnation of any particular act of mine, I may still appeal, and I do 
 Appeal, to the members for Nova Scotia, who, when their best interests 
 were assailed, and they were brought perforce, fas aut nefaa, into confoder- 
 Ation, they still got fair treatment, got full justice, at our hands; ai:d I 
 hope to live in the hearts of the Nova Scotians, (Cheers.) While that 
 was satisfactory to me, I Uiink it was not satisfactory to my friends in On- 
 tario. Every man who supported me was attacked at the polls with respect to 
 our action on the Washington treaty, and because it was said we had given too 
 much to help the Nova Scotians. So with British Columbia. Letmereadsome 
 of the resolutions with reference to the Pacific railway and British Colum- 
 bia. Do you suppose, does any man suppose, we could have British Columbia 
 within the Dominion without a railway J There must not only be a union 
 on paper, but a union in fact. T' '^ae hon. members of the opposition, by 
 «very act that they could, in evr / way that they could, opposed the prac- 
 tical union of British Columbia wit j. Canada. (Cheers.) They voted against 
 
fl08 A vrESDj.y. 
 
 it, th:«y anid it wnii innHt nutrnguoiii - thu pliin, tho iiion uf a rnilwny, wn» 
 oiitrai^oous. (Oppoaition cries of " hoar") Thnt ia Ihc liui({iiaKo iiao<l Ity 
 Iton. guntlotnon oppoaito, and I will pnmoiitly quotu turma iiaud. Now Itft 
 US look (it Boiiu) of thu iiiotintia iiiiuId. 'i'hu K*>voriiiiiunt iiiovud a iiiotioii 
 to carry out ii niomiuro which ia now tho law. It wua movud in amondiuont 
 "that thd |>ropoau(l ongnfjimiuiit ruapootin); thi< I'auitlu railway would, in 
 the opinion of thu hoiiao, proan too hoavily on Mio roaonrcoa of Canada to 
 carry out." That motion waa ilnfuatud. (Miniaturial choora.) Tlion it 
 waa niovud, "that in view of tho arranKuinont untvrnd into with Hritiah 
 Coliunhia at thu tiino of confcdoration, and the lar^u oxpunditnrua nt'cua- 
 aary for canal iniprovumenta and othur purpoaua within the Dominion, thi* 
 jioiiBo ia not Juatifiod in impoaing on the peoplu the enoriuoua burden of 
 taxation required to conatruct witlnn ten yuara a railway to tho Pacific, a!i 
 proposed by the roaolution Hubniittod to this houne." (MiniHtorial cheora.) 
 f say I might read you a ^e.-iea of roaolutiona, nil madu by hon. gontlemou 
 oppoaite, and voted for hy them, showing that in their opinion we had been 
 overtaxing tho reaourcoa of the people of Canatla. I am now told by tho 
 hon, gentlemen opposite, that, although they opposed that arrangement 
 with British Columbia, they think they are bound to it now. I am told 
 that they say, "True, we made an arrangement with British Col imibia^ 
 Avhich waa improvident, extravagant and ruinous, and which could never 
 bo carried out. Yet, being made, wo will carry it out." I don't exactly 
 see the logic of that. If it bo niinous, extravagant and impossible, I really 
 don't see liow it can be carried out now. (Cheers.) But, Mr. Speaker, [ 
 don't believe the policy of tho hon. gentlemen opposite is in favtuir of 
 that. (Loud cheers.) I know it is opposed to that. (lienewod cheers, ) 
 I know, if this government goes out of office, and another govornmeut 
 comes into power, if it be composed of hon. gentlemen opposite, that it 
 will oppose our policy in this question. (Ministerial cheers.) Hon. gen- 
 tlemen opposite dare not deny thnt the OUihc newspaper announces and 
 directs their policy. We passed a bill the session before last: we granted 
 a charter for the building of the road, and it was settled and determined 
 that the Pacific railway should be built, and we were to build it on our 
 own territory, and not allow the Yankees to come in and assist in building 
 the road, nor even the friends of tho hon. member for Vancouver. Yet, 
 what was tho announcement of the organ of the hon. gentlemen opposite f 
 After tho legislation of 1872, after we had accepted the arrangement with 
 British Columbia, after we had brought them into the Dominion on tliH 
 pledge of the faith of the government and tho country that there would bo 
 a Pacific railway within ton years, after we had made that promise, with 
 the solemn sanction of the country, what were the remarks of the Olobe, th& 
 
A rPRNi>r.v. B9i> 
 
 Wponent of thit opiniuim of hon. Kuiitlttiiien ('pponitu / Tliu right hoii. goii* 
 tluiiiiin thuti road an uxtraol from an articlo, piibliahod in Lhu Olnhr during 
 lH7:(, wV truin lliu I'ucitio railway Nclunnu wua doolanul to ho tinnnoially 
 riiinnuM, and politically iin|)atrii>tio ; a aohunu) which could only l)o nc- 
 coniplinhod within ton yoara at an outlay which woidd cripple Canadian 
 reiourcuii, and lock up tho moat valiuihio part of our piihlic domain*. Tito 
 right hon. gontloman continiiod:— Now, Mr. Spoakur, you auo what is to 
 happun if (Canada huihU this ('anadian Pacific railway. All ourn)aourco» 
 aru to ho cripplod hy thiH, tho moMt ruiiioua and moat un|>atriotio achumo 
 vvor invuntod, and thia cry 1 had to inuut at tho huatinga. I havo gono 
 on from ono atago to another. I havo shown you how I mot tho ci ioa at 
 tho huitings— that 1 hartorod away Canadian rights in thu Washington 
 treaty; that 1 had granto<t too much to Nova Hcotia; that I liad boon guilty 
 of granting a constitution to a few half-bruoda in tho North-West country, 
 and had given them inlinitoly more than thoy had a right to expect; that, 
 as regiirda liritiah Columbia, I would throw away thu rosourcoa of Canada 
 upon t)io construction of the I'acitic railway, and that I had sold Ontario. 
 (Ironical cheers from the opposition.) Mind you, Ontario considers itself 
 the richest province- and no doubt it is— and that any additional char^^o 
 placed in the public treasury presses unfavourably on them, because they 
 pay more in proportion to their wealth than the other provinces of tho 
 Dominion. 1 know ihoy don't do so, but it has been urged upon them 
 that thoy do tlo so. Then, again, wo had to meet the continued opposition 
 of the local govoinment of Ontario. I will give tho hon. gentlemen proofs 
 n writing, so that they will not bo able to deny the fact — proof that though 
 that loo%l govornMent had pledged itself in the most formal manner to bo 
 neutral in tho conte.st, that thoy, by every act in their power, and by every 
 influence, direct and indirect, that thoy possessed, worked against tho 
 Canadian government. That is the charge, and I can prove it. (Minis- 
 terial clieers.) Wo know that influences of every kind would be used, and 
 were used, which can be proved ; or, as tho hon. member from Shefford 
 would say, " I am credibly informed, and can prove," (laughter) ; and wo 
 believed that the future of Canada much depends upon the continuing in 
 power of a government that has for its one single aim and object tho main- 
 tenance of the connection between Canada and tho British empire, and 
 the promotion of tho development of the Dominion itself. (Cheers.) We 
 havo been met at tho polls with sectional cries. If the opposition conld 
 raise a religions cry, it was done. The Now Brunswick school question 
 was brought up, and they got up tho cry that we had given too much to 
 Nova Scotia, and those cries were made to ring at the polls in Western 
 Canada. Tho cry that we had given too much to British Columbia was 
 
ilOO A VVKKDtX. 
 
 Iiiuiiiiiwrtid into iii n\ « « , t-y ptiWIic inootiiiK in Ihu wuAt, u id I nny diiilinctly, 
 and I ro|H)«t it HKaiii, thnt wu had thu powur, inllnoiicu, and thu witight of 
 tht) (Mitarii) govurnnuMii aifftinat ut, contrary (i> thu diatinct plud^^o that 
 (hat govtinununt wonUi ho iinutrnl. (('Iiuvri.) Wull, »ir, I will Htat't now 
 what iiuuiirrvd with ruapu- ' to tho I'acitio railway. I wiut at Woahin^toti, 
 harturinij my country, on mnnu of thu hon. gont'om'tn nay — (Uiij^htur)— at- 
 tondin({, at uli uvunts, to thu \Viifihin}.ton truaty, whon tho ruaoiutiona wuru 
 oarriiid which happily I a^iy for Cana> i brought Hi'it'.4i Colunihia int«)thu 
 union of tho KritiNh North Anioricai )rovin<!ua. (Chuura.) Tho propo- 
 Hition includud thu I'acilic railway, fo/ itritiri O.jlnmhia would nut havo 
 coniu in,nnlt>aa tho turiua of union had incitidud i railway. Notwithitandin;^ 
 ^ruat oppoaitiun, thu roaolutioua wure c; rrit .! by my Uto honourud and 
 iamunt<>d oollua^uu, but hu only carriod t u :n hj nromiaing tu introducu 
 rf«olutiom< by which tho railway would b«, l.olt, not l.y tho govornuiont 
 directly, but by private capital, iiidud by ^'ovornmont grant t. 1 would 
 not, if 1 had buun huru, have willingly aanuntud t4i that propoaition, but 
 though 1 waa not huru, yot I am loaponMiblo for that not, and I <\v itocupt 
 it ttM porhapH thu bust propmtuoi. o bo had; otiiurwiao, pitU»][W, ll>o union 
 would not havo boi-n •onHummati: I. Tho rosolution* (UirlwoU lunt. tho 
 railway should bo built by a railway company, iiaait<to ' by (^ovornnient 
 grants of land and monoy. J'ho ' >^ii. member for N^ iervillo, howevor, 
 moved a ruaolntion s'jtting lortli Tiat tho house did <t.>*. beliuvo that pri- 
 vatu capital couhl bo obtainud i>'fli'ji'int for tho pur|Hm<« Tho whole of 
 tho resoluticma movod by hoK, ^< <htlemen opposite wum ir ojo for tho pur- 
 pose of dufuating the construotiui^ of tho I'acitio tailwiv/ ; and whun Sir 
 CSeorge Cartier produced hia ros hitionn, and was about to carry them as 
 prepared, ho had to give way to tiie denire of th«^ '"ouso, bui;auH« e v^n tht's.j 
 who usually supportud tho governmont A^oro alar i by tlocry which had 
 been raisud by gentlemen opposite. Thus, if tho ) .icn ol' .he hon. mem- 
 ber for Napierville had boon adoplud, und Canala wab unuhle to get a 
 company to build the rail" ly, the bcri -in with ] British C >l'<;iibia would 
 fall to the ground and bo only waste paper, ,vnd Bri:,ish CoUimMa would 
 sit out shivering in tho cold, forever, without a railway. Tho [lolicy in- 
 dicated by that resolution of the hon. niomlor for Najion/l o iitxs boon 
 carried out ever since. In March, long aX^av tho legisiat'on iiad taken 
 place, by which parliament declared that there should be a K, ';iiic lailw .y 
 built in some way or other, wo find tho Globe urging ita irt«a>(k io still 
 further oppose that scheme; and, sir, wo have had arraigned a ;u\in6^ vii 
 the opposition of those who usually ally thomsolves agains. i.ho (;^vi m- 
 ment, supported by those gentlemen of the opposition many of wh(/m tw.t 
 their election to sectional cries. (Cheers.) Wo havo mot thexr' and it is 
 
Ari'F.SDix. ' m\ 
 
 ■aid iliiit wu havu iiiut them with iiiotiuy. I hvliuvu t)i.it th«i )<uiitlumon 
 ti|i|)it«ito ai^flitt two pouiulii to our oiiu. (OpiioNitton oriuN of " no, no. ') I 
 cimllctiKO thu hun. gontlunion to havu » ouniniittou on thii aiiltjoot. Lut 
 u* havu A coiumitti'o. (MiniHtvriul chuon.) 1 ruiid tlio npuuchof thu hon. 
 nu'nihur for Koiith Itriicu at London, and hu iin;(K**'*^*id tho appotntniunt of 
 u Rtatiitnry conunitttui. In (lod'ii miniu, lut uh havu it ! liut na iiivu a 
 <'(>niuiittuu of thrct , to ){o front county to county, from uonitituunoy to 
 conatituuncy, and lut thum aift thuau mattura to thu bottom, and I tull you 
 on my honour aa a man, that I Ixitiuvu I can provu that thuru aru ntoru 
 who owu thuir uloctiona to monuy on that aidu of thu houHu than on thia. 
 (Loud miniatorini choura. If I hu clialluiiKud, I can (<o into (hitail. I can 
 Mh<>\v,iind I can provu it, that many munihurR owu thuir iduction to monuy, 
 and tu monuy alona. I chiillungu tiiu Hon. gentlumun to agruu to thu ap- 
 (lointment of a comndttou, a atatutory conmiittue, aa auggt'atud by thu 
 hon. mumbor for South liruuu. Lut uh put thu nainuaof thu Judgua of all 
 the provinouB into a ba^, and draw out thruu nam ;n, who Hindi form tho 
 ciimmittuo. ((/'huura.) Aa I atatud in my uvidoncu and 1 hopr my uvi- 
 dunco has boon carufuUy ruad by uvury mumbor of thia houae — rnd I nay 
 here, that I tried to bo aa full and frank aa I could wull bo I ju'd not 
 help it if I waa not aubjuctod to a ri^dd croHH oxaiinnatioii. 1 wu nxou^d- 
 ingly anxioUH that thu hon. mumbur for Shult'ord ahould bo thoto (. croHX- 
 uxamine mu -(chourH) — and I would willingly havu anawurud bin quustiona. 
 I havu little more to aay than 1 Haid then. Hir, thure wt. t ni salo to Hir 
 Hugh Allan of any c<mtract whatuvur. (Olieora.) Conaidur U : one mu- 
 munt, Mr. Si)oaker, how thu caau stood. I'arliamen ml paa«- i tW')aot8, 
 no for Upper Canada and onu for Lowur Canad.', and a ' no ^wo or 
 tiiree aubaidiary acta ruapucting branch lines. Hut wu will lua\ those 
 out of the quuatiun, and will coimidur that thoro woru two acts p.isaod 
 — one for a company having its centre in Montreal, and tho ' ^her 
 in Toronto. Now, sir, althourrh thero were Ontario gontlemun »:on- 
 KCi- ed with lliu Cuoada Pacific company, and although thoro were Quo- 
 hhc gentlemen co.nnected with thu interocuanic company, yut they wore 
 terdly acta promoted by men wi^o havo Ontario and Quebec interests on- 
 ly, and every one saw t!iat they wore essentially sectional, llefore parlia- 
 ment mot, and Ih for" either act w.is passed, tho cry waK got up that the 
 Northern raciti'* ieopl< were de8ir()<is of obtaining the control of our rail- 
 way. At tL'j hrst, Ml Sjjoakor, when tho first interview took place be- 
 tween the government n id these gentlemen, I was ver ^lad to see them. 
 We had passed in 187 i 'heact that British Columbia ahould be a portion of 
 the Dominion, and wo had i.assod a resolution by which we were to build 
 the railway in ten years. It was understood, then, sir, that the whole 
 
C02 s APPENDLY. 
 
 matter should stiind over until the ensuing session, and that in the mean- 
 time the government should go .on with the survey and be ready in 187'-? 
 with the plans. We j;ot through the session of 1872 and we commenced, 
 in order to keep faith with the British Columbians, the survey, and L 
 think they will admit, and everyone must admit, that the greatest energy 
 and the greatest zeal have V)eon exhibited in the survey, and that within two 
 years there has never been so much work so satisfactorily done as in this 
 railway survey by Mr. Sanford Fleming. (Cheers.) The survey was go- 
 ing on, and in midsummer and iu the fall all the members of the govern- 
 ment were scattered looking after their several affairs, taking their little 
 holidays, and God knows the public men of this country have little enough 
 holiday. They were all scattered except Sir Francis Hincks and myself 
 when Mr. Waddington called on me. I had known the gentleman before, 
 and I much respected him. He said to me that there were some Ameri- 
 can gentlemen to see us about the railway. I said to him in my way, 
 " What a fool you were to bring them here. We can do nothing with 
 them." Ho was very much distressed, and said to me. *' But you will 
 not refuse to see them." I said certainly not. The gentlemen then came, 
 and Sir Francis Hincks and I met them, ani we talked pleas-uitly, and I 
 said to them that 1 was glad to see that American capital was lookiug for 
 investment in Canadian enterprises, but that it was aUogether premature 
 as we could not then take any offers or suggestions, or take any action till 
 after we had met parliament. One of them remarked that they had evi- 
 dently been brought on a wild-goose errand, and they then went away. 
 This first brought to my mind very strongly the necessity for looking out 
 for our railway. Parliament had tied down our hands, and the railway 
 could only be built by a company, and there were no other means of car- 
 rying out the pledge with British Columbia, and I therefore immediately 
 addressed myself to the matter. And what did I do ? I spoke to all that 
 I could, as I have no doubt my colleagues did, and endeavoured to arouse 
 Canadians in the enterprise. I went to Toronto and saw Messrs. Mac- 
 pherson, Gzowski, Col. Cumberland, Mr. Howlandand his son, and Good- 
 erham & Worts, and in fact every one, and endeavoured to induce them to 
 enter into the great enterprise. I told them as Sir Francis Hincks told 
 Sir Hugh Allan, that by law there was no other way of building the road 
 but by a company, and that they ought to get up a grand company, get a char- 
 ter and go to England for any capital they needed. As I went to Toronto, 
 Sir Francis Hincks went accidentally to Montreal, and told Sir Hugh about 
 the American gentlemen who had called on us, and the fault I found with 
 my friend Sir Francis, and which I ventured to tell him when he was fv 
 member of the government was, that while merely attempting to stimu- 
 
A r VEND IX. 003' 
 
 late Sir Hugh to go into the work, he had named to him that he had hot- 
 ter put himself in communication with the American capitalists. That 
 was the act of Sir Francis Hincks. That was his concern, and I would 
 not at all object to American capital, or capital from England, or any- 
 where else, but I told Sir Francis on his return that ho had been prema- 
 ture in this, that we ought to have kept to a groat Canadian company be- 
 fore any offer or intimation that Americans might come in was made. 
 Then Sir Hugh, acting on the hint given by Sir Francis, and it was no 
 more than a hint — it was in no way a government action — communicated 
 with the Americans, and we had a visit from a number of Americans with 
 Sir Hugh ; and Mr. Speaker, I being spokesman on both occasions, gave 
 them precisely the same answer that they were premature ; that we were 
 very glad to see them, but we could make no arrangement until parliauient 
 met. 1 said we would be very glad however to hear any proposition , and 
 asked them whether they had any to make. Sir Hugh asked in return 
 whether we were in a position to entertain a proposition ; and on our re- 
 plying in the negative, he rejoined that he then had no proposition to 
 make. And these were all the communications between the Canadian 
 government and these gentlemen. (Cheers. ) This statement cannot be con- 
 troverted, and will not be. In the meantime a sectional jealousy had 
 arisen, instead of, as I hoped, a joint action between the capitalists of 
 Montre,\l and Toronto, and instead of, as I had hoped, there being a rush- 
 and anxiety among our moneyed men in the different parts of Canada to 
 form one great company, for the work required united exertion, there was 
 a jealousy fanned from some quarter, which we know now, and this jeal- 
 ousy prevented the two great bodies of capitalists, who ought to have built 
 the road, from joining, and all our hopes were scattered ; and a feeling 
 arose in Toronto first that if the Montreal interest got the preponderance 
 Toronto trade would get the go-by, and second, that Sir Hugh Allan and 
 the Montreal interest were joined with the Americans. That feeling grew 
 and 1 am not now in a position to state, after reading the evidence and af- 
 ter reading the letters of Sir Hugh Allan and those published by Mr. Me- 
 Mullen, I am not now in a position to state that that jealousy in Toronto 
 was ill founded. I am not in a position to state that they had not some 
 ground of which we knew nothing for believing that the Moatreal party 
 were in communication with the Americans. I am not now in a position 
 to state that the people of Toronto and the Interoceanic had not great 
 cause for suspicion and jealousy, whether that suspicion was well or ill 
 founded ; but before parliiment met, as I have sworn, and as Mr. Abbott 
 has sworn, and as every member of the houne knows, the feeling 
 against the introduction of American capital was so great that by no 
 
*04 APPENDIX. 
 
 (possibility could it be allowed entrance. We felt, Mr. Speaker, and 
 -every member knew it, that it .was necessary that every American ele- 
 ment must be eliminated from the acts, or they could not pass — (cheers) 
 — and I appeal to hon. gentlemen who were then in the house if they 
 do not know, as a matter of fact, that it was unders ' on all sides that 
 the American element was eliminated. I understood it Sv^ ; the government 
 understood it so ; and the house understood it so, and Mr. Abbott, who 
 undertook the management of the bill of the Montreal company through 
 this house, made it a special understanding with Sir Hugh Allan that it 
 should be so before he promoted the bill, and so it was by universal con- 
 sent. I know, Mr. Speaker, that it will be said, and I may as well speak 
 of it now, that Sir Hugh Allan's letters show that he still kept up his con- 
 nection with the Americans. I know it, and I painfully know it, that Sir 
 Hugh Allan behaved badly and acted disingenuously towards the men with 
 whom he was originally connected. I say that when he found that Amer- 
 icans were not to be admitted he ought to have written to them, and in- 
 formed thorn that though he had made a contract with them, still so strong 
 a feeling existed in Canada that he must at once and forever sever his con- 
 nection with them. Instead of doing so, however, he carried on a cor- 
 respondence with them, a private correspondence, which he has c worn no 
 one ulse saw, and which he has sworn that not even his colleagues in the 
 Canada Pacific company knew of, not even Mr. Abbott, his confidential 
 adviser. He says he conducted it as his own personal affair, believing and 
 hoping that in the end the people of Canada would come to a different 
 view, and allow American capital to be used. He has sworn that, and we 
 never knew that he was carrying on communications with the Americans. 
 Mr. Abbott never knew it and the Canada Pacific company have declared 
 that there was no connection between them and the Americans, but I have 
 heard it said, I think, by the member for Chateauguay, is it possible that 
 the government would give a contract to a man who had behaved so disin- 
 genuously, and after this want of ingenuousness had been shown to the 
 Prime Minister, by the exhibition of the correspondence ? Sir, let me 
 say a word to you about that. After the Act passed and we were working 
 with all our might to form a good company and a strong one, long after, Mr. 
 Speaker, as it appears in the correspondence between Sir Hugh Allan and 
 the Americans, Mr. McMullen came to my office in order to levy black- 
 mail. (Cheers.) He did not show me the correspondence, but he flour- 
 ished certain receipts and drafts which Sir Hugh Allan had drawn at New 
 York. There was nothing, however, in that because he had told us ho had 
 ;gone into that association, and we knew that he had communication with 
 the Americans, and there was nothing extraordinary in my seeing that 
 
Al'I'ENDLY. 005 
 
 theso goiitlemen had subscribed a certain sum of money for preliminary 
 expenses, and I have never known a company, railway or otherwise, witli- 
 out preliminary expenses being provided for by the promoters. I told Mr. 
 McMuUen therefore, that it was his matter, and that he must go and see 
 Sir Hugh. I hoard no more about the matter until late in January or 
 February, after wo had formed the company, after a correspondence witli 
 every province of the Dominion, after having tried to excite and having 
 successfully excited the capitalist, of the ditt'orent provinces to subscribe 
 after we had got every thing prepared, after I had drafted the char- 
 *ter and the great seal oj»ly required to be affixed, and just when the 
 charter was about to be launched, and the company to build the road 
 was about to be made a certainty, then Mr. C. M. Smith, Mr. Hurl, 
 burt and Mr. McMullen walked into my office. I do not say that Mr. 
 Smith or Mr. Hurlburt came to levy bkokmail. I do not think they 
 did, for they looked respectable 'gentlemen, and spoke and behaveil as 
 such. They told me Sir Hugh 'xUan had behaved very badly, and they 
 read a good deal of the correspondence which has been published, and [ 
 told them then, " Gentlemen, if your statement is true, Sir Hugh Allan 
 has behaved badly towards you, but the matter is your own, and Sir 
 Hugh is no doubt able to meet you." They spoke of the seizing of his. 
 ships and bringing actions against him both in the United States and Can- 
 ad a, when I repeated to them that they had their own proper remedy, and 
 added that Sir Hugh had not the slightest power to give them the con- 
 tract. (Cheers.) I told them that he ought to have broken off his con- 
 nection with them long ago, and that if he hid kept them in the dark they 
 must take their own remedy against him. Wo vere then asked how could 
 we admit Sir Hugh into the contract. Mr. Speaker, we had already ad- 
 mitted him. The contract was made. Every provin''o had been given its- 
 directors. The charter had been drawn, and only awaited the signature 
 of the governor-general ; and more than all thit, the correspondence, 
 whatever may be said of the conduct of Sir Hugh Allan towards the Amer- 
 icans, proved the existence of hostility between them, and showed that if 
 Sir Hugh were one of the company who received the contract we should 
 keep the Americans out altogether. I had to get that contract let. I had 
 to get a sufficient number of the capitalists of Canada who would take up 
 this subject, and Sir Hugh Allan was the first. He is our greatest capi- 
 talist. He was the first man who went into it, and these gentlemen, Mr. 
 McMullen and the rest, proved to me that Sir Hugh Allan had cut the 
 cord of connection, had nothing to do with the Americans, or with Jay 
 Cooke & Co , and that they were resolved to follow him to the death as they 
 have done. (Hear, hear.) This, then is the narrative, so far, of our con^ 
 
<JOG APPENDIX. 
 
 uectiun with tho Pacific railway. My evidence states that shortly before 
 the elections I went to Toronto, and Sir George Cartier went to Montreal. 
 I do not wish hoa. gentlemen to suppose for one single instant that I would 
 dcHiro to shelter myself or my living colleagues by throwing the blame on 
 my dead colleague. (Cheers.) Whatever Sir George Cartier has done I 
 will assume the responsibility of. (Hoar, hear.) Whatever Sir George 
 Cartier has done I must accept as being the honest expression of an 
 individual minister ; but, sir, I do not admit, and I will not admit. 
 And it is not safe for hon. gentlemen opposite to admit, that any one 
 minister can bind a ministry. (Cheers.) 1 went to Toronto in order to 
 descend to the stern contest that was forced upon me by the course taken 
 by hon. gentlemen opposite, to meet the arguments that were going to be 
 used against me, the sectional questions that were raised against me, the 
 numerous charges which were made against me, and which I had always 
 found operating against me. When I went to Ontario for that purpose, 
 and to meet these charges, it was not for the first time. As long as I 
 have been in parliament I have been charged by hon. genMemen opposite 
 with selling Upper Canada, with sacriiicing the best interests of Upper 
 Canada, with selling myself to French domination and Catholic influences 
 and Lower Canadian interests. I had refuted these charges repeatedly, 
 and had convinced the majority in Upper Canada that I held then as I do 
 now the principle of union between Upper and Lower Canada, and that 
 the only way by which that union could be firmly established was by ig- 
 noring sectional questions and religious dififerences. (Cheers.) These cries 
 are still raised. You will hear i'lem before many days in this house, and 
 you will hear them throixghout the country whenever it pleases hon. gen- 
 tlemen opposite to raise them ; but as my past history has shown, so my 
 future history will prove that whatever party political exigency may be, 
 I have never, and shall never give up the great principle of keeping intact 
 the union of Upper and Lower Canada by a give and take principle, by a 
 reciprocity of feeling and by surrendering our own religious and political 
 prejudices for the sake of union. I went to the West to do what I could 
 during the elections, in fighting the battle of the party and the govern- 
 ment. I had simply said to Sir George Cartier that I should have a very 
 hard fight in Upper Canada, as I had the government of Ontario against 
 me, and I wished him to help me as far as he could. I went to Toronto, 
 and I tried all I could before the elections took place to procure an amal- 
 gamation of the two companies. It was of vital importance, in a party 
 point of view, laying aside the patriotic view, to have a company to build 
 the road, composed of the Montrealers and the Toronto men, so that I 
 could have gone to the country and said, " Here is a great enterprise. We 
 
APPENDIX. 607 
 
 havo formed a great company. We are carrying otit a groat scheme. We 
 are funning a groat country." I H[)ared no pains to procure an amiilgania- 
 tion ; Henator Macpherson, and any one in Toronto connected with the 
 enterprise, will tell you how hard, how earnestly, in season and out of 
 season, I worked to procure that amalgam-ition. I failed. I tnought I 
 had succeeded two or three times. I abandoned ray own constituency ; 
 I might have been elected by acclamation, or at all events by a very large 
 majority, but instead of attending to my election, I went up to Toronto to 
 attempt to bring about an amalgamation between the t.vo companies. 
 Then they got up a story about me, according to the habit of the opposi- 
 tion, that I considered my constituency a pocket borough, and thought I 
 could afford lo pass it by. I thought at one time I had succeeded in pro- 
 curing an amalgamation, and Mr. Abbott came up to Toronto in response 
 to a telegram from mc. We had an interview with Mr. Macpherson, and 
 almost succeeded in coming to an agreement. The only (piestion was 
 whether there should be seven and six or five and four directors from On- 
 tario and Quebec. The arrangement was so near that 1 was satisfied when 
 I left Toronto that the amalgamation was complete. I found, however, 
 that that was not the case, and in the middle of my election, on the 2.5th, 
 I think, of July, I telegraphed to Mr. Macpherson to come down, and he 
 camo down to Kingston and saw me and then I sent that telegram which 
 had been published in the papers, and which was the only arrangement as 
 regards the granting of the charter so far as the government was concern- 
 ed, 80 far as I was concerned. (Hear, hear.) That telegram which was 
 sent on the 26th July was sent by me to Sir Hugh Allan, after seeing Mr. 
 Macpherson, and with the knowledge of Mr. Macpherson. Now what 
 does that say 1 I was obliged reluctantly to give up the hope of having an 
 amalgamation before the elections. These little jealousies, these little 
 personal ambitions and the jostling between seventeen and thirteen mem- 
 bers on the board had come in the way, and I could not carry out the ar- 
 rangement I had hoped to complete. I could not spare the time. 1 was 
 in great danger of losing my election by throwing myself away on this 
 groat Pacific railway. I actually came down to Kingston only on the day 
 of my nomination, trusting to the kindness of my old friends in Kingston, 
 Well, sir, what was the telegram which I sent ? It said : "I have seen 
 Mr. Macpherson," — he was in the room when I wrote it. " I have seen 
 Mr. Macpherson. He has no personal ambition, but he cannot give up 
 the rights of Upper Canada. I authorise y a to state that any influence 
 the government may have in the event of rxialgamation, shall be given to 
 Sir Hugh Allan. The thing must stand over till after the elections. The 
 two gentlemen, Mr. Macpherson and Sir Hugh Allan, will meet in Ottawa 
 
COS Pl'EADIX. 
 
 an! form an fttnalgamation." That wan tho proposition which [made, and 
 just thinl<, sir, what was involved^ think how much I was snubbing;, which 
 is a word which haa boon used by the (lluhe lately, how much I was injur- 
 injj and prejudicing tho interest of my colleague in Montreal, Sir CJeorafe 
 Cartier. Sir Hugh Allan did not care so much for the Pacific railway, 
 and Sir George Cartier did not caro so mtich for Sir Hugh Allan. It was 
 not Sir Hugh Allan or tho Pacific railway that ho cared so much about ; 
 but Sir Hugh Allan had made himself the representative man ctf Lower 
 Canada with respect to the Northern Colonization Koad, tho North Shore 
 Road, and the Ottawa and Toronto Road, so that tho members from 
 Lower Canada would have stood by Sir Hiigh Allan even to tho risk of 
 losing all the elections, becauso thoir Montreal interests would be so much 
 affected if Sir Hugh Allan were not sustained with regard to the Pacific 
 railway. Rut with respect to tho other railways, my hon. friend from Ho- 
 ohelaga and other gentlemen can say that if tliere had been accord between 
 Sir Hugh Allan and tho French members of Lower Canada from the Mon- 
 treal district, there would have been a great peril of tho Lower Canadian 
 members from that district deserting Sir Cieorge Cartier, and supporting 
 Sir Hugh Allan in carrying out the Northern Colonization road. 1 was 
 standing by Sir George Cartier, who was most improperly charged with 
 being so much attached to tho Grand Trunk railway that ao wotild not do 
 justice to the other roads. I will ask my friends from Lower Canada if 
 Sir George Cartier's connection with tho railway had anything to do with 
 the results of tho elections. His prospects were connected with the locil 
 roads alone. In order to prove to you how true a man Sir George Cartier 
 was, how perfectly unselfish he was, I may state that he held back on my 
 account. When ho said, " I wish to be elected on my own merits, and oa 
 my own services, and not on account of the Colonization or any otlier 
 road," (cheers) and when by a word he could have put an end to the cry 
 of interest, he felt that it was a sectional fooling between Upper and Lower 
 Canada, and that if he pronounced in favour of any railway in Lower 
 Canada, he would injure me in Upper Canada, and he sacrificed himself 
 for my sake in Lower Canada, because ho thought that any pronounce- 
 ments in favour of Sir Hugh Allan, might injure me and my friends in 
 the western elections. (Cheers.) I had only one thing to do and that 
 was to return to him the confidence and trust ho had reposed in me. I 
 said, '' Don't mind me. Fight your own battles. You must make your 
 own arrangements with your own friends in respect to the railways," and 
 it was not until he had that communication with nie that he said he 
 would help the Northern Colonization roaJ. It was not because Sir 
 George Cartier had any personal objects to gain, it was not because he 
 
APPENDIX, 009 
 
 wan connected with the Grand Trunk Riiilwiiy, but it was purely from a 
 desire to save nio from any possible dilliculty in I'pper Canada that he 
 hold buck, and I have hero now, when ho is dead, the proud opportunity 
 of stating that even in the last moment he was actuated by no scdlish feel- 
 ing, by no desire to pnjmote his own interests, but that he only thought 
 of his colleague, of his comrade of twenty years. Ho oidy thoui,'ht by ap- 
 pearing to promote a naticmal interest in Lower Canada ho miglit hurt me 
 in Upper Canada, and ho threw away all his chances, all his hopes, every 
 thing like a certainty or a reasonable hope of success, for the purpose of 
 standing by me, and I am proud and happy now to pay this tribute 
 to his memory. (Cheers.) Well, sir, on the 2(!th of July I sent that tele- 
 gram, and that was the only bargain. No man can make a bargain with 
 the government, except by an order in council, or by the action of the 
 first minister, recognised and accepted by his colleagues. Any act of a 
 first minister, until it is disavowed, is considered eijual to a mintite of 
 council, equal to an act of the govermjnent, That telegram of mine of the 
 2Gth of July was an act of the government. My colleagues have nf)t re- 
 pudiated it ; they have accepted it, and it was a fair arrangemont as we 
 could not get the amalgamation. As we could not succeed in going to the 
 country with a perfect scheme for building the Pacific railway, what else 
 was left to us but to keep the amalgamation of these groat capitalists open 
 till after the elections, and then call them together, and the only word of 
 preference for Montreal over Toronto was simply my expression that any 
 inflwence the government might have in case of amalgamation, in the case 
 of the two companies joining and electing a board of directors, would be 
 fairly used in favour of Sir Hugh Allan for the presidency. I think that 
 was due to Sir Hugh Allan, and after all it was no great afi'air. Every- 
 body knows that the president of a company is no more than the junior 
 member of the board of directors. It depends altogether upon the per- 
 sonal weight of the man. We have seen boards where the president 
 governed the board ; others where the president was a mere figure head, 
 and others again where the junior member governed the company. It 
 depends entirely upon the personal figure and authority of the man. Wei), 
 sir, I made that promise, but I wish thn house to remember that at the 
 time of that telegram, in which I simply stated that as we could not form 
 a company before the elections, we would form one afterwards out of tlie 
 two, and would do what we could to make Sir Hugh Allan president. At 
 that time there had been not one single word said about money— (cheers) 
 — and there never was one said, as far as I was concerned, between Sir 
 Hugh Allan and me. (Hear, hear.) I was fighting the battle in Western 
 ■Canada. I was getting subscriptions, as I huve no doubt the hon. mem- 
 MM 
 
610 AVrENDIX. 
 
 bor for Lnmbton was (jotting BubBcriptions, antl if ho cloiiios it I will bo 
 ablo to pruvo it. ((.'houi'H. ) I Mtiitu in my place that 1 will bo ublu ta 
 pruve it. (Cheers.) I was duing what I omilil foi' tho purpose uf gutting 
 nionuy to hulp tho elections, and I waa met, not only by individual oxer* 
 tions, but by tho whole force, power and inflrenco, logitiiuuto and illegiti- 
 niatu of tho Ontario guvernmunt. I have no i-ettitatiun in Haying that in 
 all fxpenditiiro, wo were met by two duUaru to one. (Hear, hear.) 1 
 have read with some amuuentent the attacks that have been made upon 
 the government, because a member of tho f;ovoriunent was a party to this 
 fund. If we had had thu bhuio means ^osHossod by hon. gentlemen oppu- 
 site ; if wo had spies ; if wo had thitiV(m ; if we had men who went to 
 your desk, picked you) iuck, and stole your note books, we would have 
 much stronger eviiienc.) than hon. j;entlemen think they have now. 
 (Cheers.) Wo were lighting an uiu'.on battle. Wo were simply subscrib- 
 ing as gentlemen, v.iiilo they wtro atoaling as burglars. (Cheers.) We 
 may trace it out as a conspiracy throughout. I use tho word c )n8piracy 
 advisedly, and I ''ill use tho word out of tho house as well as in the 
 house. (CheevM.; The hon. mombei' for Shefford said that he had ob- 
 tained certain u.>cunients. He attempted to read them to this house, not 
 much 1 think to his credit, and certainly contrary to the sense of the 
 house and of the country. Now how did he got these documents. Wo 
 had Mr. George W. McMuUen, who was the American agent of these gen- 
 tlemen. He had carried on this correspondence with Sir Hugh Allan, and 
 when he came to me in December and tried to levy black mail on me (hear, 
 
 hea") T toW hi'At to 450 to , well I did not use any improper language, 
 
 but I told iiiiu to stop out of my ottice (laughter and cheers,) aad ho went 
 to the hon , gentlemen opposite. (Cheers. ) This is no mere hypothesis 
 of mine. Sir Hugh Allan had promised to pay this man §17,000 for these 
 papers, and although he had the money almost in his hand, the hon. gen- 
 tleman gave him scmething more. (Cheers.) The hon. gentleman cannot 
 deny that he did. 
 
 Hon. Mr. Huxtington — I do d > / it. (Opposition cheers.) The 
 statement is without foundation. 
 
 Sir John Maodonald — If there is one person in the worid whom 
 the hon. member for Shefford has as a friend, it is the editor and pro- 
 prietor of the Montreal Herald (hear, hear), I think he takes him 
 to his bosom ; I think they sleep together. I think they have but 
 one thought. He is his guide, philosopher, and friend, and when we 
 have the announcement from the Montreal Herald, of May the 22nd, 
 1873, I think we must accept it. " No one can suppose that such a 
 plot could have been laid bare without great labour and large ex- 
 
API'ENDIA'. ^ 
 
 pendituru" (choor»), again, tho Ih-rn\d says, upoaliitiK of Mr. Hunting- 
 ton, — *' Hut for tho counigo with whioh lio nssMinod it, as woU im for tho 
 pains and uxi>on(Uturu which it has oort him to uxpono tho niystury, ho ii 
 entitled to tho warinost gratitudo." (Choors on both sidosof tho house.) 
 I judgo from tho chocrs of hon. gontlemon opposite that tlio hon. member 
 for Khotford has their thanks ; but that is an admissi(m tliat he made the 
 expenditure. (Oh ! oh ! and choors. ) This man bought Mr. McMullen. It 
 is admitted by tho Montreal llemld that ho bought him. (No ! no ! and 
 bear, hoar.) 
 
 Hon. Mr. Huntinoton — T have already stated in the house that tho 
 charges wore n<jt founded on any information from Mr. McMullon, and 
 that tho statoments whioh have ai)peared were falhu. I never ^jot any in- 
 formation. I never got any information from McMidlun till long after 
 I made the charges. I never paid nor promised him a cent, and the state- 
 ment of tho hon. gentleman is utterly without foundation. (Oppo.sition 
 cheers.) The statement also that ho mado a few miiiuti^sago that I have 
 been intluenced hero by foreign gold, and that foreign tiokl had boon used in 
 my election, is an utterly niifounded statement, false in every particular ; 
 and I challenge the hon. ge/itleman to tho combat, and dare him on his re- 
 sponsibility to take the committee. (Mr. Huntington was proceeding, wliec 
 cries of " Order ! " wore raised on tho government benches, answered by 
 opposition cheers. The hon. gentleman wont on spoakini; ui the midst of 
 an uproar which rendered his remarks perfectly inaudible). On order 
 being restored, 
 
 Sir John Macdonalu proceeded. There, sir, is the very evidence 
 that I have hit tho spot ; that I have hit him on a sore point. (Cheers 
 and No ! no !) 1 have told the hon. gentleman that I am willing to have 
 a coiamitteo to inquire into the whole matter, including the case of the 
 hon. gentleman. 
 
 Hon. Mr. Huntington — Oh ! Yon can back out as you will. 
 
 Sir JouN Macdondld — I am not backing out, but the hon. gen- 
 tleman cannot expot to have it all as ho likes. I'll read another extract. 
 "Mr. Huntington said that the charter was obtained in the session of 
 1872, long after the men who furnished the money to him (Sir Hugh 
 Allan) were repudiated, and made arrangments with him (Mr. Hv 'ting- 
 ton) to bring the charges against the government. " (Cheers.) 
 
 Hon. Mr. Huntinoton rose to a question of order. The report of 
 my speech is entirely without foundation. (Cries of order, order.) 
 That is a question of fact, and the hon. gentleman can correct it after- 
 wards. 
 
61f A ri'ENDLV. 
 
 Sir John MAcnoNAt.n— I hoard it myiiolf. (Crio« from Kovornment 
 bunchuH, " Wo all huiinl it.") i'urhaim tho hoii. ({utitltitniin will dony 
 that ho Hiiiil •lay Cooku would not havo him in hin oDicu without ix witnoM. 
 
 Hon. Mr. Huntiniiton— Tlmt is another faUuhood of tho Ottawa 
 TintM. That papur, which iH innpirod hy him. {[(ontlomon opponito, d^' 
 «ratoly falsi liud my Hpouch from thu ho^innin^' to tho ond. I rufiiscd to 
 disi^raco mywulf hy notioin^ tho malignant statomont of tho duHtard Hhoot. 
 What I said was that 1 had not leen Jay Cuuko for four yoara ; that I 
 wont to a prominont promoter of tho Northern Pacitic railway (hoar, hoar), 
 with tho viow of coiivorsin^ with him, and found that thoy woro tho allios 
 of tho hon. j^cntloiiion oj>poHito, boeause thoy would not even talk to me 
 without p(v>plo bi)in>( prosont. (Hoar, hoar.) 
 
 Tho Hi'KAKKii— I must call tho hon. mombor to order. I hopo this 
 iiitorruption will ccuHe, Thu hon. mombor knows what tho rules of de- 
 bate are as well as any one else in tho house, and this plan of interrup- 
 tion can only load to unHoomly confusion in tho house. Tho hon. gen- 
 tleman will ask his oppu^t mity from tiie house. I am sure it will be 
 given to him, and he can then make his denial on tho 'luestion of fact. 
 
 Sir John Macdonalu — I wish to invite tho attention of every hon. 
 member of this hoiiHi; who is an honest and candid man, to tho Rtatement I 
 «ni making. There coidd bo no amalgamation l)eforo the olectifms. In 
 uiy telegram of tho 2<!th of July I stated that the ({uestion must Rl.md oyer 
 until after the elections ; that the two companies would stand on per- 
 fectly e(|ual footing, and that the arrangements which had been made be- 
 tween Mr. Macphcrson and Mr. Abbott should be the guiding line. That 
 arrangement was lliat Upper Canada should have seven, Lower Canada 
 six, and each of tho other provinces one director on the board. Not by 
 any chance or possibility could Sir Hugh Allan by his largo capital, or 
 the influence created by that capital, give undue intiuence on tho -board for 
 Lower Canada or for himself over ray own province. On the iJOth of July 
 I received a letter from dir Hugh Allan, Sir Goo. Cartier being sick, stat- 
 ing that he had made certainarrangements with Sir George, and it was a 
 bad arrangement, for it was something like this, that if there should not 
 be an amalgamation he thought that Sir Hugh Allan's company ought to 
 got the charter. I received that message in the middle of my election 
 con "eat, and I said to myself it is not of much conse([uence whether one 
 c )mpany or the other gets the charter if they unite, but it will kill me, it 
 will kill us if the Montreal company without amalgamation receives it. 
 However, I telegraphed back at once that I would not agree to the ar- 
 rangement, and I would go down to Montreal that night. Yes, M •. 
 Speaker, in the midst of a severe election contest, for I was elected only 
 
A ri'ENDIX. ei8 
 
 by \'M), wiiornni nt tho prnviniii election I had n niKJority of .'I(M), I itnid I 
 wiMilil run down to Moiitruiil on thin niiittor. I tul(>Krii|)hod to Sir (too. 
 Cnrtiur tlmt I would not uonaunt to tho urranuoniont, and that my ttdo- 
 gram of tliu '20th of July, IH7'2, would hu tho duciaion of the govornmont, 
 niul thu ({ovornniunt would ho hound thurehy, and would ho gi>vomt)d hy 
 notliiiiL( ulm*. I wiah it to ho oloarly undorstixxl, hcynnd thu ixissihility 
 of doiiht, that thu (Canadian govoriunent had lt^r()<■d that ninuo it could 
 nut obtain an amalgamation of tho two uompanioH before tho ulwctions 
 thuy would try to gut an amalgamation after tho eleotiona, and in auch an 
 anuilgamiilion they would do what wan fair, in order tu got Hir Hugh 
 Allan miido prenidunt of tlu amalgamated coiiquiny. (Cheern. ) I nay 
 that that arrangement made by Hir (leorge Carlier wan Hot anide, and why / 
 Ik-caudo it would have killed mo in I'pper Canada. I telegraphed that 
 even at the riak of my election I would go down to Montreal and put an 
 ond to it, and Sit (jleorge ('artier, wluui he got my meaaage, aaw what 
 an absurd proposition it wan, and there wan an end to it, and Sir Hugh 
 Allan telegraphed bauk that the bargain wan ended. At that time there 
 had not been one singlo word said abimt money aubnuriptions. Sir, it nuvy 
 be very wrong tu give subscriptions to election funda ut all, but is there 
 any one gentlenuin opposite who will nay he has not t)xpended money him- 
 self, or haa been aided in duing so by his frieudn. (Several membors u£ 
 the uppoaition hero denied tho charge.) Whether those acts had been 
 dune by the membors themselves ur their friends, money was spent 
 and ulwaya would be apont on olections. 1 don't hesitate to say— and I 
 •tate tiua in tho face of thia houae, of tho country, and of tho world — that 
 £ am not aware of any one single farthing having boim spent illegitim itely 
 and contrary to law (oppoaition laughter and cheera) —by membera on 
 tho guvornmeut side of the house. I can tell of one man on the other 
 side who spent ^2G,000 ; another case I can prove of spending §30,000, 
 and I can also prove caaos uf spending 8o,(M)(), 8(5, 000, 87,000, and 8H,000, 
 and when the committee which thu hon. member for liothwoU challenged 
 mo to move, and which I intend to move, is appointed, 1 ahall give tlie 
 proofa. (Laughter, in which Mr. Blain joined.) 1 can prove the e.xpendi- 
 ture of money by that gentleman (Mr. Ulain) himself. 
 
 Mr. Blain — If the right hon. gentleman refers to me, I say there is not a 
 particle of truth in the statement. Not one single, solitary cent came out 
 of my pocket unfairly. (Cheers and laughter. ) 
 
 Sir John Macdonald — Perhaps the hon. gentleman has not a pocket. 
 Perhaps his wife has. (Laughter, and cries of "shame" from the opposi- 
 tion.) 
 
014 Ari'KUDlX. 
 
 Mr. Hr.Alv ri)M). (OriM of "ontor. ") Koanid thn rit<lilh<in. R«nt1uniAn 
 had iiiiidit II cliiirKo ti((iutiiit him. IIo would luuwor it iit niiothor tiiiiu. 
 
 Hir.IoiiN Ma<'iio.nali>- Uufuru thu u<iiiiiM;ttou which I propimo to iiiovOf 
 uiid which will huvo thu powtr tu (vdiiiiiiiitur nii onth, and wliioh thu mum* 
 bor for Hotli Willi hiui invitod, I nhiill hu uhlu t<> provo thu fuut I atAtud. 
 Tlio hull, ^uatl<)mul will iiufh.ipH ruaorvu himsolf for that. (Inturrup- 
 tloli.) 
 
 Mr. HoLToN — I riUHu tho i|iiuttioit of ordur. I doiiht whutiior thu ri^ht 
 hon. Kuntlumnii it in ordor in nmkiiig Htiitomunttf iifl'octinK tho ri^ht of 
 hon. juntluiiicn to ait in thiH hotisu without formuhitin^ chargtm to \w foN 
 lowud hy a iiidtioii. 'i'lii' hon. gentloman intinintuH his intontixn of nuik- 
 ing a motion at a future timu, but hu cannot, movu a motion of thu kind 
 indicatod in a duhatu on tho addroua. To ohargu nntmtiurM witli having ob- 
 tained thuir Buata by impropor moauH ii thuruforu a violation of thu pro- 
 priutica of dubatu, and I boliovo of othuratanling ordura of thu hoiiae. 
 
 Mr. Di.AKK — III tho ciiHO of tin- ncnibor for W.Ht York tho proc 'untj :■ 
 doubly irregular, for it ia intorfcring with an actual pitition ['om'ing bo- 
 foru an uluction committoo. 
 
 The HrKAKKH nuid a good deal of languago had boon uaod during tho do- 
 bate which would liavo boon hotter aot uaf!, but thoaubjoct waaof a ich a 
 (iliaracter that ho Hhould not intorforo 'viiii fro diseuHHioii. It would b« 
 Iwttor if tho uiiniHtor uf Justice rufrainud fruui directing charges againat 
 individual momborH. 
 
 Sir John MAcnoNALD— I 3\ibmit to your dociition, air, I wtmld not have 
 nlliidad to thu hon. mombor if it had not boon fur tlio otfonaivo way in 
 which ho interrupted mo, and my knowledge about ''is case. Tho hon. 
 gentlemen opposilu will tind out that I know a great deal more about their 
 clectiona tlum tliey would c;iro that I should know. I ahall now proceed 
 with the hintory I am giving to the houae as well a<i I can under thoae un- 
 Buemly interruptions. Sir, there never was an occasion, thoro nover waa 
 a luinuto, in which tlio intoreats of Canada were sacrificed by tho govern- 
 ment of C mada for election purposes. (Loud cheora.) I aay that we c!ir- 
 ry out tho law aa well as the l.iw can bo carried out. (Cheers.) I aay 
 that up to tl.cj very last moment we tried to obtnin an amalgamation of 
 tho two companiea. I almost wont on my knees, which is not my habit, I 
 am Borry to say, to my frioidH in Toronto, for the piirpoae of securing 
 an amalgamation, and though I did not secure an amidgamation of the two 
 oompanies, yet I got an amalgamation of the two intereata and aecurod the 
 beat men in wosteni Canada. I have no hesitation in saying that in the 
 company chartered by tho government, we have the very beat men in Can- 
 ada, conaidering all tho circu!u.'*^ance8. Let ua go over tho whole board 
 
AVI' F.N mX. «15 
 
 from ITppor Catiii.I». Thi ro iit Mr. Oonffld Mclnnoi, of Ilannlton, I will nak 
 tho hull, nioinhoi' r'<>r Wullaml if Im ii not n initrcliniit of iitiiiiiliii}; iind rcn* 
 {uH-tahility, and onu of tho lunt innn t') holl tho tntcroitii of the Doiiiinion to 
 tho Yankeoi. I iiMkod tho Hon. Mr. ('arlint( to citmo on the )>.<aril, hut 
 when tho hoiuu cniiio to thi> eonolniiion to uxolutU) nioiuhorn (i. ^i.rliiuiHint 
 from that bimnl, I i>>>tainu<l Major Walkoi', ruproHuntinK ono of tlio load- 
 inK iixloKt'-icR in tho wvat. '1 hon thoru ia Col. t/'inburland, atxlcan we 
 stip[ioao that Col. Cnin^wrland who ia at tho liead of Uio Kf^at riiilway in« 
 teroatH, and ia ohi<ru;od with tho niana((oniunt of milliona of dolhin\ wotihl 
 floll hiiiiHolf to .'.ir Ilii^^h Alan or thu Yankoua. ((Mioora.) I aukod Mr. 
 Floniiii)^, tho i;ii '.inner, tho nan whoao \\m\w will Hvimhi tliia continent for 
 hia groat onginoering oxploita, and wlm van u})joctud to withCul. (^unihor- 
 l;ind and Major Walkor by J^i" Utigh Allan. Thon tho Inst man I aakod 
 waa Mr. VValtor Hhaidy. To lonio of you Waltor Shanly may be un- 
 known, but in tho old provincoa of Canada liu ia ovorywhoro known n,% bo. 
 ing nioHt highly roapo. red, and aa .in onginoor, iho man who formurly nmn- 
 agod tho (h'and Tr\ink, tho man who achievud tho groat triumph of coii- 
 •trucing tho ilooaac Tii utol. I aakod him aa a pergonal friondof mine, aa 
 nn old Ontarian, aa on>) .^o waa ro|>roaonting a w>mlthy cimstitutMicy, to 
 como (m that Ixmrd, and much againnt hia will ho c imo. In tho aamo way 
 lot UH look at th:' lower provinct membors. W'o look ;<,'., Mr. E. II. Iturpoo. 
 That iH a truly ;. 'n» tired naniu, I am told, in Now Brunawick. Do you 
 think that E. R. Itarpeo ia K"''!? ^'^ ^^^' ^<> ^^>" Yankoea, Jay Cooko, ^ 
 Co., or to the moirbor for ShefFord ? (Laughter and choera.) Thon we 
 come to Liout. -go\ eriioi Archibald, of Nova Sc< tia, and ia ho likoly to sell 
 'ia to tho Yankee: , tho membor for ShofFord, ot Jay Cooke & Co. / I ap- 
 peal to all the meirj')crri for I, 'itiBli Columbia, aomo of whom wore oppoa- 
 «d to him in politics, whether the name of Dr. f lelmeken did not iiiHpire 
 roapect. (Cheera.) With respect to Manitoba, I will only aak yon to say 
 whether Mr. McDermott, tho richoat and oldoat merchant in Manitoba, a 
 / man who w,\b the laat who would aoll tho interest of this j/roat Dominion to 
 the Yankees, whcthor that man would sell Canada. If evo:* any government 
 succeeded in accompliahing any particular object, auroly this government 
 tried, and succeeded, to prevent foreigners from obtaining influence in, or 
 control over, our trans-continental railway, (Cheers.) By their line of ac- 
 tion, tho gentlemen oppuaito have postponed for some years the building 
 of that railway, and they have besmirched unjustly, dishonourably, the 
 character of the Canadian government and of the Canadian people. 
 (Cheers.) If there bo any delay, any postponement in the completion of 
 that great system of railways, I charge it to the hon. gentlemen opposite. 
 (Cheers.) Long after this (quarrel is over, it will be recorded in the his- 
 
616 AVrENDlX. 
 
 tory of this Dominion of Canada that there was one body of men in thi» 
 country willinij to forgot solf, to forget party, to forgot section, to build up 
 a great interest and nijike !* great country, and they will say there was an- 
 other party who fought section against section, province against province, 
 who were unable to rise to the true position of afVaira, and I say the his- 
 tory of the future will be our justification, and their condemnation. (Loud 
 cheers.) But, sir, I have some more to say. I say this government has 
 been treated with foul wrongs. (Cheers.) 1 say this government has been 
 treated as no government has ever been treated before. It has been met 
 with an opposition the like of which no government in any civilized coun*« 
 try was ever met. (Loud cheers.) I say we have been opposed not with 
 fair weapons, not by fair argument, not by fair discussion, as a govern- 
 ment ought to be opposed, but opposed in a, manner which will throw 
 shame on hon. gentlemen opposite. (Renewed cheers.) When we first 
 met in this house, and we first discussed these Pacific railway measures, I 
 told you, sir, that there was a confirmed plot to kill the Pacific railway 
 company. The attack on the government was a secondary matter. It 
 was a comparatively inferior matter. But those gentlemen opposite 
 went into the attack for the purpose of getting in evidence as quick- 
 ly as possible 'or the purpose of sending it across the Atlantic by 
 cable and kill Sir Hugh Allan's enterprise, and afterwards leave the 
 proof of the evidence to chance. Then we found that Sir Hugh Allan, 
 by a very natural feeling agreed to pay a certain smn of money to 
 Mr. McMullon for the return of his correspondence, which was accepted, 
 and the whole matter was arranged. Then blackmail was attempted to be 
 levied on me, but I was not subject to be blackmailed. (Laughter.) They 
 did levy blackmail on Sir Hugh Allan in Montreal, and McMuUen for sur- 
 rendering his letters to Sir Hugh, was paid §20,000, and was promised 
 817,000 more on certain conditions being fulfilled. McMuUen got his ex- 
 tra sum from some one. The hon. gentleman (Mr. Huntington) would 
 deny that Mr. McMullen was paid by some one. Everyone will believe 
 that the man who was to be paid that large sum of $17,000 did not accept 
 it because he was offered some larger sums. (Cheers.) I believe that 
 when we have the committee which the member for Bothwell challenged 
 to move for, I shall be able to prove more than the §17.000, and I believe 
 I shall be able to prove there were other parties in the purchase of G, W. 
 McMullen, who over-bid Sir Hu^h Allan. (Cheers and an opposition 
 member, "is it not right ? ") It was never right to buy him in the first 
 place, nor in the second place, but if Sii- Hugh Allan by paying §17,000 
 committed a crime, the man who paid him a larger sum must surely have 
 committed a larger crime. (Laughter and cheers.) I say that you mu»t 
 
APPENDIX. 61 r 
 
 have a committee in order to ascertain who are the gentlemen who went 
 and deliberately bought those documents from Sir Hugh Allan. That may 
 be fair war, but some one said it was striking below the belt. The man 
 who goes deliberately and bribes people to hand a man's private letters, 
 is a man who will be marked a« a criminal all his life, and the man who 
 goes and deliberately purchitbes private letters for any purpose, even 
 though it may do good to the public, and expose a corrupt government, 
 ■will be generally condemned. Then we come down to a litcle more in- 
 famy. When I tell you that a letter of mine, addressed to a colleague at 
 Montreal, was deliberately stolen, and when I tell you there is no doubt 
 that it was stolen because it was thought to contain something that could 
 be made politically useful, you can understand what infamy that is. 
 
 Mr. Blain rose to a point of order, and submitted that this (question was 
 not before the house. 
 
 Mr. Si'EAKEK 1 uled against him stating that it came on the address, which 
 covered all grounds. 
 
 Sir John Macdonald — When I wrote that letter to my colleague, the 
 Minister of Agriculture, I sent, at the same time, three telegrams to three 
 di/ferent places, and that telegram was seen by some one acting in the in- 
 tereots of the Opposition, and from it they supposed that the letter would 
 be connected with the Pacific railway matter. That letter was deliber- 
 ately stolen, not only stolen but was stolen by an officer of the Post Office 
 Department. I say stolen by an oiHcer who was bought by some one, and 
 who will some day, not long distant, for the evidence is being followed up 
 and has not been abandoned, be found out, and it will be shown that he, be- 
 lieving that the letter contained something that would criminate the govern- 
 ment, stole it from the office and lianded it over to be used in the manner 
 the house was aware of. True it was that the letter contained nothing re- 
 specting the Pacific railroad. I have got evidence beyond the possibility of 
 a doubt, that my telegrams were stolen from Sir Hugh Allan's office, day 
 after day ; that a man went to the office night after night, after six o'clock, 
 and copied those telegrams, and brought them down and sold theia to the 
 opposition ; that the safe of the oflice was not broken, and that after the 
 documents were copied and sworn to by the man, he was paid money for 
 them. I state this in presence of the bouse and of the country ; and there 
 was such a dishonest system of espionage carried on. And I say more than 
 this, I join with the hon. member for Both well in asking for the committee, 
 before which 1 will prove all that I have said, and will put a credible wit- 
 ness in the box, who will swear he saw it with his own eyes. You can 
 judge how poorly the government has been treated. In fact no goveni- 
 nient in the world could exist if every drawer i« to be searched, if every 
 
018 APPENDIX. 
 
 confidential servant is to be bribed by money offered to them . I may tell 
 you this one thing, that I had got (he evidence of this treachery, parties 
 actually approached a secretary in Mr. Abbott's office, and offered him 
 money to tell how much evidence had been obtained. Mr. Abbott is pre- 
 sent in the house and will attest the truth of what I state, I can prove 
 that from the beginning to the end of this business, there was never a 
 more gross system of espionage, of corruption, of bribing men to steal 
 papers from their employers ; and I would ask how any opposition or 
 party in this coimtry could stand under such an accusation if it bo proved. 
 Sir, before I sit down I will touch upon one point to which I have not 
 yet adverted, and that is how far a government, or member of a govern- 
 ment may concern themselves in elections, and the necessary expenditure 
 or supposed expenditure of money ai: elections. I would wish to point 
 ouc what has taken place in England, not under the old rdijime, but by 
 the reform party in England. It is of some importance, as showing at all 
 events that for everj'thing I have got good authority. The house well re- 
 members the great struggle, almost amounting to a revolution , which ac- 
 companied the passage of the Reform bill in England. Well, Mr. Speaker, 
 strange to say, the reform party there, who were going to purify the po- 
 litical atmosphere, those who were going to put down the old borough- 
 mongers, did not hesitate to spend money at elections. They did not 
 trust to the excellence of their measures, to the justness of their cause, 
 and the consequence was that before the date of the Carlton club and the 
 Reform club, of which so much has recently been said, the Reform party 
 had a treasurer, and whom do you think they gave the office to ? It was 
 to the maker and unmaker of Whig^ery, Edward EUice. Now, Edward 
 Ellice was the man who made the Whig government. He was a member 
 of the government and acted as whipper-in of the party, and was the 
 man ordinarily employed in making arrargements about elections. 
 But Edward Ellice was a man incapable of doing anything which he 
 did not think he was justified in doing. Any man who knew that right 
 hon. gentleman, who knew what a great influence he had on the history 
 of his country, would know that Edward Ellice was perhaps a greater man 
 for pulling the strings and making arrangements for reform than even Lord 
 John Russell himself. Let me t«ll you a little story about him. In ray 
 boyhood, when I knew him, he often told me stories of this sort. In 1834 
 there happened to be a committee on the inns of court. Mr. Danie[ 
 O'Connell was the chairman, and it came out in that investigation, which 
 involved the seat of a member of parliament, that Lord Westham had got 
 five hundred pounds from Mr. Ellice, the secretary of the treasury, in or- 
 der to carry the Liberal candidate. O'Connell felt it his bounden duty to 
 
ArVENDIX. 619 
 
 report this matter to the house, and there was a motion of censure moved 
 against Mr. EUico by Mr. O'Conneil Mr. Ellico resigned liis place, and 
 I shall re'id yuu what he said. At the time ho made that speech ho was 
 secretary of war ; at the time he expended the money ho was secretary oi 
 the treasury. He was an important man to t'-o cjovernment, and might 
 have been a cabinet minister, had it not been that, as every one who knew 
 the history of those times knew, he would not take that position. 
 He was the man who arranged matters for the whigs, and he was charged 
 with having used the secret service money in elections, as by tho way, I 
 was a short time ago. The right hon. gentleman then quoted from Mr. 
 Ellice'n speech, vohnne 27, ** Mirror of Parliament," andnow, said he, I will 
 quote from Sir Charles BuUer, Sir Charles Buller was tiie heai! and front 
 of the philosophical radicals of England. They formed a paity of their 
 own, and tried to engraft their principles on the politics of England, and, 
 although they did not succeed, they sowed good seed, the results of which 
 are seen at the present day. I, who was a boy, remember hiui, and re- 
 member the kindness with which he discussed i^olitics with me, and I im 
 certain that he would have sustained the cause of the liberal party by no- 
 thing that was wrong. The right hon. gentleman quoted from the speech 
 referred to. The attack was made upon Mr. Eliice that he had spent 
 money out of the secret service fund ; but when Mr. Eliice rose and said 
 that he had spent no money out of the secret service fund, and that al- 
 though very large sums of money had passed through his hands for elec- 
 tion purposes, none of it had been improperly procured, the hi use passed 
 on without taking any action, though Mr. O'Connell supported the mo- 
 tion with all his great eloquence and ability. A rsmark has been made in 
 the newspapei's that on one occasion I stated that no money had been ex- 
 pended by the government on elections, and in answer to the charge I 
 asked Mr. Kidd, on the hustings at South Perth, whether any money had 
 heGW expended at his election, and ho said no, no statement could have 
 been truer. Sir, the money that was expended by the committee, of 
 which I was a member, was not with the purpose or object of endangering 
 «ny man's seat. (Ironical cheers from the opposition, and cheers from the 
 ministerial benches.) 1 state distinctly, so far as I know, not one single 
 farthing that passed through my hands was expended improperly or con- 
 trary to the law. If it is so, the election tribunals of the country will set- 
 tle that question, and, as I understand it, no improper expenditure has 
 been proved in any election tribunal. ^^Chesrs.) I say distinctly, say it 
 in my place as a member of parliament, |that money was distributed for 
 the purpose of fighting monty against money, fire against fire, influence 
 against influence ; and we were over-matched by the hon. gentlemen op- 
 
620 APFENDIA'. 
 
 posite. (Loud cheers.) There is one more remark that I have to make 
 before 1 sit down. The govorimiont never gave Sir Uugh Alla)i r>ny con- 
 tract that I am aware of. (Cheers.) We never gave him any contract in 
 which he had a controlling intiiionce. We had formed a committee of 
 thirteen men, chosen carefully and painfully, for the purpose of control- 
 ling Sir Hugh Allan from having any undue influence. We pn)misod, we 
 provided, that not one of the board should hold more than one hundred 
 thousand dollars of the stock ; that not one single man should have 
 any interest in the contract wliatever, which were of course, only the 
 ordinary provisions in a charter of incorporation. (Cheers.) 
 
 Now, i«lr. Speaker, I have only one more thing to say on this point. I put 
 it to your own minds. Then- were thirteen gentlemen — Sir Hugh Allan 
 and others — incorporated by that charter. That charter — study it, take it 
 homo with you . Is there any single power, privilege or advantage given 
 to Sir Hugh Allan with that contract that has not been given equally to 
 the other twelve? (Cheers.) It is not pretended that any of the other 
 tv/elve paid money for their positions. It is not contended that the gen- 
 tlemen gave anything further than their own personal feelings might dic- 
 tate. (Cheers.) You cannot name a man of these thirteen that has got 
 any advantage over the other, except that Sir Hugh Allan has his name 
 down first on the paper. (Cheers.) Can any one believe that the govern- 
 ment is guilty of the charges made against them ? I call upon any one 
 who does to read that charter. Is there anythin<{ in that contract ? If 
 there is a word in that charter which derogates from the rights of Canada; 
 if there is any undue privilege, or right, or preponderance, given to any 
 one of these thirteen directors, I say, Mr. Speaker, I am condemned. 
 But, sir, I commit myself, the government commits itself, to the hands of 
 this house; and far beyond the house, it commits itself to the country at 
 large. (Loud cheers.) We have faithfully done our duty. We have 
 fought the battle of confederation. We have fought the battle of union. 
 We have had party strife setting province against province; and more than 
 all, we have had in the gi-'eatest province, the preponderating province of 
 the Dominion, every prejudice and sectional feeling that could be arrayed 
 against us. I have been the victim of that conduct to a great extent; but 
 I have fought the battle of confederation, the battle of union, the battle 
 of the Dominion of Canada. I throw myself upon this house; I throw my- 
 self upon this country; I throw myself upon posterity; and I believe that 
 I know, that, notwithstanding the many failings in my life, I shall have 
 the voice of this covntry, and this house, rallying around me. (Cheers.) 
 And, sir, if I am mistaken in that, I can confidently appeal to a higher 
 court — to the court of my own conscience, and to the court of posterity. 
 
APPENDIX. 681 
 
 (Cheers.) I leave it with this house with every confidence. I am equ.vl 
 to either fortune. I can see past the decision of this house, either for or 
 ayainst mo; but whether it be for or against lue, I know — and it is no vain 
 boast for me to say so, for even my enemies will admit that I am no boaster 
 — that there does iiot exist in Canada a man who has given more of his 
 time, more of his heart, more of Lis wealth, or more of his intellect and 
 power, such as they may be, for the good of this Dominion of Canada. 
 
 The right hon. gentleman resumed his seat, amid loud and long continued 
 cheering. 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 ' EXTRACTS FROM LORD DURHAM'S REPORT. 
 
 THE CONDITION OF LOWER CANADA. 
 
 His lordship thus describes the state of affairs in Lower Canada upon 
 his arrival there. Like other British statesmen, till he came upon the 
 spot he was ignorant of the " true inwardness " of the strife in that dis- 
 tracted colony. He says : — " 
 
 " I expected to find a contest between a government and a people ; I 
 f >und two nations warring in the bosom of a single state. 1 found a strug- 
 gle not of principles, but of races ; and I perceived that it would be idle 
 to attempt any amelioration of laws or institutions until we could first 
 succeed in terminating the deadly animosity that now separates the inhab- 
 itants of Lower Canada into the hostile divisions of French and English. 
 . . . . The national hostility has not assumed its permanent influ- 
 ence until of late years, nor has it exhibited itself everywhere at once. 
 While it displayed itself long ago in the cities of Quebec and Montreal, 
 where tlie leaders and masses of the rival races most specially came iiit>) 
 collision, the inhabitants of the eastern townships, who were removed 
 from all personal contact with the French, ^.nd those of the district below 
 Quebec, who experienf^ed little interference from the English, co.itinued 
 to a very late period to entertain comparatively friendly feelings toward* 
 
Ml „ APPENDIX. 
 
 thoHe of tho oppoHito racea. But this ia a distinction whicli has unfortu- 
 nately, yearulter year, boun exhibiting <taolf more strongly, ami (liU'iiHing 
 itaelf more wiJoly. One by one tho anciont English leaders of tho assoin- 
 lly have fallen off from the majority, and attached thomsolvos to tho 
 party which supported the Hritiah government against it. Every election 
 from the townships added to tho English minority. On tho other hand, 
 year after year, in spite of the various influences which a governmont can 
 exercise, and of which no people in the world aro mcjre susceptible than 
 the French Canadians , in spite of the additional motives of prudence and 
 patriittisui which deter timid or calm iron from acting with a party, ob- 
 viously endangering the public tranrpiillity by the violence of its conduct, 
 the number of French Canadians, on whom the government could rely, 
 has been narrowed by the influence of those associations which have drawn 
 them into the ranks of their kindred. 
 
 "' Tho insurrection of 1837 completed the division. Since the resort to 
 arms, the two races have been distinctly and completely arrayed against 
 each other. No portion of the English population was backward in tak- 
 ing arms in defence of tho government ; with a single exception, no por- 
 tion of the Canadian population was allowed to do so, even where it was 
 asserted liy some that their loyalty inclined them thereto. The exaspera- 
 tion thus generated lias extended over the whole of each race. The most 
 just and sensible of the English, those whose politics had always been 
 most liberal, those who had always advocated tho most moderate policy 
 in the provincial disputes, seem from that moment to have taken their 
 part against the French, as resolutely, if not as fiercely, as tho rest of their 
 countrymen, and to have joined in the determination never again to sub- 
 mit to a French majority. A few exceptions mark the existence, rather 
 than militate against the truth of the general rule of national hostility. 
 A few of the French, distinguished by moderate and enlarged views, still 
 condemn the narrow national prejudices and ruinous violence of their 
 countrymen, while they equally resist what they consider the violent and 
 unjust pretensions of a minority, and endeavour to form a middle party 
 between the two extremes. A large part of the Catholic clergj', a few of 
 tho principal proprietors of the seignorial families, and some of those who 
 are influenced by ancient connections of paity, support the government 
 against revolutionary violence. A very few persons of English origin 
 (not more, perhaps, than fifty out of the whole number), still continue to 
 act with the party which they originally espoused. Those who affect to 
 form a middle party, exercisa no influence on the contending extremes ; 
 and those who side with the nation, from which their birth dist'Kguishes 
 them, are regarded by their countrymen with aggravated hatred, asrene-- 
 
APPENDIX. 023 
 
 gades frum their raco ; while they obtain but little uf the real all'octiou, 
 confidence, or esteem, of those whom they have joined. . . , 
 
 " Tlie French Canadians have attempted to shroud their hostility to the 
 influence of English emigration, and the introduction of liritioh institu- 
 tions, under the guise of warfare against the government and its support- 
 ers, whom thoy represented to be a small knot of corrupt and insolent de- 
 pendents ; being a nuvjority, they have invoked the principles of popular 
 control and democracy, and appealed with no little etFect to the sympathy 
 of liberal politicians in every quarter of the world. The English, finding 
 their opponents in collision with the government, have raised the cry of 
 loyalty and attachment to British connection, and denounced the ropuli- 
 licaii designs of the French, whom they designate, or rather used to de< 
 signate, by the appellation of radicals. Thus the French have been view- 
 ed as a democratic party, contending for reform ; and the English as a 
 conservative minority, protecting the menaced connection with the British 
 crown, and the supreme authority of the empire. . . . 
 
 " Nor did I find the spirit which animated each party at all more coin- 
 cident with the represontations current in this country, than their objects 
 appeared, when tried by English, or rather European ideas of reforming 
 legislation. An utterly uneducated and sinjularly inert population, im- 
 plicitly obeying leaders who ruled them by the influence of a blind confi- 
 dence and narrow national prejudices, accorded very little with the resem- 
 blance which had been discovered to that high-spirited democracy which 
 effected the American revolution. Still less could I discover in the Eng- 
 lish population those slavish tools qf a narrow oflicial clique ; or a few 
 purse-proud merchants, which their opponents had described them as be- 
 ing. I have found the main body of the English population, consisting 
 of hardy farmers and humble mechanics, composing a very independent, 
 not very manageable, and, sometimes -> rather turbulent, democracy. 
 Though constantly professing a somewhat extravagant loyalty and highly 
 prerogative doctrines ; I found them very determined on maintaining in 
 their own persons a great respect for popular rights, and singularly ready 
 to enforce their wishes by the strongest means of constitutional pressure 
 on the government. Between them and the Canadians I found the strong- 
 est hostility ; and that hostility was, as might be expected, most strongly 
 developed among the humblest and rudest of the body. Between them 
 and the small knot of oflicials, whose influence has been represented as so 
 formidable, I found no sympathy whatever : and it must be said, in justice 
 to this body of oflioials, who have been so much assailed as the enemies of 
 the Canadian people, that however little I can excuse the injurious influ- 
 ence of that system of administration, which they were called upon to- 
 
<J24 APPENDIX. 
 
 cftrry into execution, the inombom of the oldest and most powerful ofllcial 
 fumilies wore, of nil the EngliHh in the country, tlume iti whom I gonurully 
 found most syniimthy with, and kindly feeling towardn, the French popu- 
 lation. 1 could not therefore believe that this animosity wa^i only thr.t 
 BuhMisting between an ofticial oligarchy and a people; and again, I wai 
 brought to a conviction that the contest, which had been represented as a 
 -contest of classes, was, in fact, a contest of races. . . 
 
 " The two races thus distinct have been brought into the same commu- 
 nity, under circumstances which rendered their contact inevitably produc- 
 tive of collision. The difference of language from the first kept them 
 asunder. It is not any where a virtue of the English race to look with 
 complacency on any manners, customs or laws, which appear strange to 
 them ; accustomed to form a high estimate of their own superiority, they 
 take no pains to conceal from others their ctmtompt and intolerance of 
 their usages. They found the French Canadians filled with an e(inal 
 amount of national pride ; a sensitive, but inactive pride, which disposes 
 that people not to resent insult, but rather to keep aloof from those who 
 would keep them under. The French could not but feel the superiority 
 of English enterprise ; they could not shut their eyes to their success in 
 every undertaking in which they came into contact, and to the constant 
 superiority which they were accpiiring. They looked upon their rivals 
 with alarm, with jealousy, and hnally with hatred. The English repaid 
 them with a scorn, which soon also assumed the same form of hatred. Tlie 
 French complained of the arrogance and injustice of the English ; the 
 English accused the French of the vices of a weak and concj'iered people ; 
 and charged them with meanness and perfidy. The entire mistrust which 
 the two races have thus learned to conceive of each other's intentions, in- 
 duces them to put the worst construction on the most innocent conduct ; 
 to judge every word, every act, and every intention unfairly ; to attribute 
 the most odious designs, and reject every overture of kindness or fairness, 
 as covering secret designs of treachery and malignity. . . . 
 
 " No common education has served to remove and soften the difForences 
 of origin and language. The associations of youth, the sports of ch.ld- 
 hood, and the studies by which the character of manhood is modified, are 
 distinct and totally different. In Montreal and Quebec there are English 
 schools and French schools ; the chilclren in these are accustomed to fight 
 nation against nation, and the quarrels that arise among boys in the streets 
 usually exhibit a division into English on one side, and French on the 
 other. . . . 
 
 " As they are taught apart, so are their studies different. The literature 
 Avith which each is most conversant, is that of the peculiar language of 
 
A rPENDIX. 
 
 oacli ; and all tho ideas which men derive from hooka come to each if them 
 from perfectly ditfurent sources. The ditlerenco of lan>{iia^e, in this res- 
 pect, produces etrecta ipiifce apart from those which it haa on the mere in- 
 tercourse of tlie two races. Those who have retU*cted on tho powerful in- 
 tiuence of language (m thought, will [>erceive in how ditl'erent a maimer 
 people who speak in ditlurent languages are apt to think : and tlioae who 
 are familiar with tho literature of Fra'ice know that the same opinion will 
 be expressed by an Knglish atiti Fronoli writer of the present day, not 
 merely in dillorent words, but in a t ,'yie ao diti'erent as to mark utterly 
 ditl'erent habits of thouglit. . . . 
 
 ** One of the greatest of all tho evils arising from this .'«ystom of irre- 
 ap'jnsiblo government, was the mystery in which tho motives aul actual 
 put poaes of their rulers wore hid fronx the colonists themselves. The most 
 iniportant biisiness of government was carried on, not in open uiacviSMiona 
 or public acts, but in a secret oorrospondonon between Lhe j^overnor and 
 tho secretary of state. When'.»ver this mystery was dispelled, it was long 
 after tho worst effects had been produced by doubt a; d misapprehension ; 
 and the colonies have been froc^uently tho last to learn the things that 
 most concerned them, by the publication of papers on tho order of tho 
 British houses of parliament. . . 
 
 " The French Canadians are exclusively catholics, and their church has 
 been left in possession of the endowments which it had at the conquest. 
 Tho right to tithe is enj(jyed by their priests ; but as it is limited by law 
 to lands of which the proprietor is a catholic, tho priest loses his tithe the 
 moment that an estate passes, by sale or otherwise, into the hands of a 
 protestant. This enactment which is at variance with tho true spirit of 
 national endowments for religious purposes, has a natural tendency to ren 
 der the clergy averse to the settlement of protoatants in the seigniories. 
 But the catholic priesthood of this province have, to a very remarkable 
 degree, conciliated the good-will of persons of all creeds ; and I know of 
 no parochial clergy in the world whose practice of all the Christian virtues 
 and zealous discharge of their clerical duties, is more universally admitted, 
 and has been productive of more b-neficial consequences. Possessed of 
 incomes sufiicient, and even large, according to the notions entertained in 
 tho country, and enjoying the advantage of education, they have lived 
 on terms of equality and kindness with tho humblest and least instructed 
 inhabitants of the rural districts. Intimately acquainted with the wants 
 and characters of their neighbours, they have been the promoters and dis- 
 pensers of charity, and the effectual guardians of the morals of the people; 
 and in tho general absence of any permanent institutions of civil govern- 
 ment, the catholic church has presented almost the only semblance of 
 NN 
 
020 A I'l'J'JNVLV. 
 
 ■tability anil orKanixntion, atid fiirniiihod tho only offociual support for 
 iMvili/atioii niul onlor. Tlio ciitholio clur^^y of Lnwor ('luiailii arc «iititlu<l 
 to thiit oxpr(<HHion of my ustnoin, not only buciiUBU it in foiimlcil on tnitit, 
 but hocaiiRo a KHituftil recognition of thoir eminent aorvicos in roaiHting 
 ilio arta of thu iliaatluctod, ia oapvcially duo to tliom from one who haa 
 ailininintured thu governinont of thu province in thuau troubled timua.". , 
 
 THII •' KAMll.V COMrAfT." 
 
 Hia lordah'p with hia iiaual inaij(ht, accuracy and preciaion thua duacribu* 
 the •' Family Compact." 
 
 "In the preceding oci'ount of the working of tho conatitntioniil HyHtom 
 in Lower Canada, I have <U!Hcrii)«!d tin* etlVct which the irruHpoiiHibiiity of 
 the real adviHcrs of tho ^ovorner had in Iodising permanent authority in 
 the handa of a powerful party, linked together not only by common party 
 intorestB, biit by personal ties. But in none of the North American pro- 
 vinces has this exhibited itself for so long a period or to such an extent, 
 as in I'ppur Canada, which has long been entirely governed by a party 
 commonly designated throiighout tho province as tho ' Family Compact,' 
 a name not much more ai>pro[)riatu than ]>arty designations UH\mlly are, 
 inasmuch as there is, in truth, very little of family connection among tho 
 persona thus united. For a long time this body of men, receiving at 
 times accessions to its niimbers, jiossessed almost all tho highest public 
 ofUcos, by moans of which, and of its inHuenco in the executive council, it 
 wielded all the powers of government ; it maintained influenco in the 
 legislature by means of its predominance in the legislative council ; and it 
 disposed of tho largo numbt • of petty posts which are in the patronage of 
 the government all over the province. .Successive governors, as they camo 
 in their turn, are said to have either submitted quietly tc^ its influenco, or, 
 after a short and unavailing struggle, to have yielded to this well-organized 
 party the real conduct of alFairs. The bench, the magistracy, the high 
 offices of the episcopal church, and a great part of the legal profession, are 
 tilled by the adherents of this party : by grant or purchase, they have ac- 
 quired nearly the whole of the waste lands of tho province ; they are all- 
 powerful in tho chartered banks, and, till lately, shared among themselvoa 
 almost exclusively, all offices of trust and profit. Tho bulk of this party 
 consists, for the most part, of native-born inhabitants of the colony, or of 
 emigrants who settled in it before the last war with the United States ; 
 the principal members of it belong to the churck of Englar'' , and the 
 maintenance of the claims of that church has always been one of its dis- 
 tinguishing characteristics." . . . 
 
MirpRRMAoY <>!>' THR LKitl)i||,ATttRR. 
 
 Whon Lord Durhniii ouino to CiuindA, tho liiipurinl mind wah not oloar 
 Ki to how iiiiich froodom nliould ho uxtondud to coloniiil pnrliiunniita ; and 
 a niiijority of ItritJHh RtatuBiiiuii roi^nrdod iirl>iti»ry luithority in tho hnnda 
 of tho governor iia thu only utiluiont and Hiifo niotliod of Kovuniniunt. H<it 
 Lord Dtirhnni hiid not tho tihn of Ai{U and cuitoni upon hia oyoa, hut at 
 onoo aaw wiiat waa duu to thu colonioa. lio ^ivoa liia opinion with no un- 
 curtain Bound : 
 
 " Wu are not now to cnnaidor tho policy of ontabliahing roproaontativo 
 govununont in tho North Amurioan colonics. That hoa boon irrovocably 
 done ; and tho uxperiniunt of dupriving tlio pooplu of thoir proaoiit coiiati- 
 tutional powor, ia not to bo thought of. To oondiiut thoir govornnient 
 harnionioualy, in accordance with its UHtabliahod priiicipU)a, ia now the 
 bnainoHH of itH rulers ; and I know not how it ia possihlo to auoure that 
 harmony in any otlinr way, than by administoring tho govurnmont on 
 thoBO principles which have boon found perfectly edicacious in (Jroat Hri- 
 tain. I would not impair a single prurogative of tho crown; on tho con- 
 trary, I boliovo that tho intorusts of tl\0 pouplo of those coh>niea require 
 the protection of prerogatives, which have not hitherto been exercised. 
 Hut tho crown must, on tho other hand, submit to tho necessary conao- 
 (|Uoncos of roproHontativo iuHtitutions ; and if it has to carry on the gov- 
 ernment in unison with a reproaentative body, it must consent to carry 
 it on by nusans of those in whom that reprosentativo body has ccmfidonce. 
 In England, this principle has been so limg considered an indisjiutable and 
 essential part of our constitution, that it has really hardly over been found 
 necessary to inciuire into tho means by which its observance is enforced. 
 
 " When a ministry ceases to command a majority in parliament on groat 
 (juestiona of policy, its doom is immediately sealed ; and it would appear 
 to U8 as strange to attempt, for any time, to carry on a government by 
 means of ministers perpetually in a minority, as it would be to pass laws 
 with a majority of votes against them. Tho ancient constitutional reme- 
 dies, by impeachment and a stoppage of the supplies, have never, since tho 
 reign of William 111., been brought into operation for the purpose of re- 
 moving a ministry. They have never been called for, because in fact, it 
 has been the habit of ministers rather to anticipate the occurrence of an 
 absolutely hostile vote and to retire, when supported only by a bare and 
 uncertain majority. If colonial legislatures have frequently stopped the 
 supplies, if they have harassed public servants by unjust or harsh impeach 
 ments, it was because the removal of an unpopular administration could 
 
IIS8 API'ENVLY 
 
 not b« •Aeted in tli(« coloniuN t)y thoxu milcl'*^ ii})) u ma nf a want of 
 coiitltlonoe, which havo iilwiiya stitlli'ud to atrit i. f »< in ifio motiier 
 
 uoiiiitry. . . . 
 
 " Tho colon iatn may not alwAya know wli i t nru boil for tli«ni, or 
 which of thoircouiitryntun are the tlttest for >. . uctin^ thoit nlViiii'i ; but, 
 at luikHt, tliity hitvu n Ktuator intoreiil in coiuini{ to n rii^ht jtidKintMit on thoio 
 pointM, mill Mill iaku ({niitur painn to do mo thtm tlKftu wlionu wt Ifnru ii 
 very roniotuly iind nliijlitly iit!'uot')u by thu y^ovii or Intd iujjiBlatiun of thoiiu 
 portiuns of thu umpire. 
 
 " If the colonintn niiiku bud Iuwh, and Huluct iniprupor pumona locniiduct 
 thuir Htl'iiirn, tliuy will ^cnurally b'< thu only, idwayn thu ((roiitcHt, HnH't-nTH; 
 and, liLu till' puoplu of utlur ciiiiiitricH, thuy iiiiiHt buar thu ilU which tlu>y 
 bi ing on f 1 niM'lvua, until tliuy choosu to ii|>ply thu runiudy. Hut it Hun-ly 
 civnnot be tl.o duty or the intereat of Gprnt Hritain to ko<>p n moat uxpen- 
 I /n militaiy I osHoHaion of thuac oolonien, in order that a governor or 
 fi'cretary of Ut.iu niiiy l)uablu to confer colunial appointniuiitH on onu ra- 
 ther than am tncr not of pornonn in the colonitm. For thiH ia rually the 
 only (pumtiou .it iHHUu. Thu alij^htuat aciiuaintancc wiih thusu coloiiica 
 provua thu fallacy of thu common notion, that any considurablu amtjunt of 
 patronaj^u in thuni in dintributod amon;^ atraii^ura from thu mother coun- 
 try. Whatever incoiivcniunco a constant fruijuoncy of chanyiH aiiionf< thu 
 holders of othc»3 may produce, is a necuHsary disadvantaxo of frt'u govern- 
 ment, which will bu amply contpeuMatud by thu porputiial harmony which 
 the aystum muat produce between thu people and its rulrua. Nor do I 
 fear that the character of the public aervanta will, in any reapect, au/!ur 
 from a more popular tenure of ottioe." . . . 
 
 MUNIOIl'AL aOVEUNMENT. 
 
 One of the cures proposed by hia lurdahip waa munic;;> governnn nt, 
 which Lord DufTurin has since deaoibod aa the baaia upon which the jO- 
 tifii governmental fabric stands. Mr. (Uadstone has in recent y^ara, .t- 
 tompted to introduce " Home Rule " i.i agitated Ireland, by applying the 
 munioipal system, and the Marquis of ilipou has made a similar effort ui 
 India. No man, however superior, can entiruly escape bias from the un- 
 enlightened iriHuences of the age in wliich he lives ; as will be seen from 
 this, that even the great-nunded Lord Durham aaw as the chief merit of 
 muriioipjii government, that it distributed the political power broadcaat, 
 iuf'.teAd of allowing it to preponderate in dangerous unily. Municipal 
 
 '*s>^*'- 
 
A VrKNDIX. m$ 
 
 govornm )iit., no one now comiilvrt n iiiAtter of powor, but of popiilur «x* 
 
 |)tidiuncy. Snyn liin lor<l*lii|) : 
 
 " Tho (tntuhlinliiiii'iit of ii i;(iod HyNtoiii of luiinicipHl iiiHtitutioiis throiiKli- 
 out theiu proviiict'i, iiu innttur of vital iiiiportiuicu. AuomirAl luKJiiltitnio, 
 wliicli iiiniiAK* H t)io pi'ivutc IjintiiioiiH of mtry iinriith, in rildition to t'te 
 coiniiioii liiiiiiicrN of tht* country, wicM)! n powur wliicli no iiin^lo body, 
 bowuvi r pnpiilur in ita coniititution, ou({ht to hnvo ; ii power wbicli niiiat 
 bi) doHtrui'tivo uf any coniititutional bnlimco. Tint trnu principle of limit* 
 '\v,\i popnliir power ii tliat iipportionmont of it in many ditittrunt diipoRito- 
 rit'N wliioh liiiH Ix'tMi iiduptt-d in nil tho niont free imd Htiiblu Htnten <>f thu 
 uniiiu. InHteiul if contidin^ tliu wbolo collcctiou and iliNtribution of all 
 till' ruviMiiu'H rniai'd in any country for all ^unurnl an<l local piirpoHcn t) a 
 Riufjlc rcprcAuntativu bod)*, tho power of local aaseRRnient, an<l thu appli- 
 cation of the fundM ariHin^ from it, ahotdd be entruRtod to local nninaf^u- 
 inont. It in in vuin to ttxpcct tliat tluH Haciitice of power will be volun- 
 tarily nuule by any rcprcRentativo body. The en aliiiithniuut of uiunici|ial 
 inHtitiitioUH for the whole country ah.ould be made a part of every colonial 
 institution ; and tlio prerogative of thu crown should be conntantly intor- 
 potu'd to chuck any encroachment on thu functions of the local bodies, un- 
 til the )ieop!e should become alive, iis most assuredly they alnt|ist innue- 
 diately would be, to thu necessity (-f protecting their local privileges." . . 
 
 EXTlNdUIHIIINd IIIK KIIKNCU NATIONALITY. 
 
 It is not generally known that one of Lord Durham's dearest sohomea 
 in his report was tho un-raceinent, if wo may make that expression, of tho 
 French Canadian people ; and in view of tho utterances of s )me of the 
 leading EngliHli-Caiuidian preisof late, on the industrial and social infe- 
 riority of the French Canadian, and the expediency of Quebec coming 
 out of the shell of hor foreign exclusivenesa, the views of tho high com< 
 missioner may be in tei outing. 
 
 " I entertain no doubts as to the national character which must be 
 given to Lower Canada ; it must be that of the liritish empire ; that of 
 the majority of tho population of IJritish America ; that of the great race 
 which must, in the lapse of no long period of time, be predominant over 
 tho whole Norlu American oontinent. Without effecting tho chaiige so 
 rapidly or so roughly aa to shock the feelings and trample on tho welfare 
 of the existing !,'eneratifin, it must henceforth bo the lirst and Htoady pur- 
 pose of the British gwernmcnt to establish an English population, with 
 
680 APPENDIX. 
 
 English laws and langnai/c, in ti...i province, and to trust its government 
 to none but a decidedly English legislature. . . The Frencii Cana- 
 
 dians are but the remains of an ancient colonization, and >.ro, and ever 
 must be, isolated in the midst of an Anglo-Saxon world. Whatever may 
 liappen, whatever government should be established over them, British or 
 American, they can see no hope for their nationality. They can only 
 sever themselves from the British empire by waiting till some general 
 cause of dissatisfaction alienates them, together with the surrounding 
 colonies, and leaves them part of an English confederacy ; or, if they are 
 able, by eifccting a separation simply, and so either merging in the Ameri- 
 can \inion, or '<ijeping up for a few years a wretched semblance of feeble 
 indepciidence, ivhich would expose them more than ever to the intrusion 
 of the Purroui)dii)g population. I am far from wishing to encourage indis- 
 crimately thetio pretensions to superiority on the part of any particular 
 race ; but wJiile the greater i)art of every portion of the American conti- 
 nent is still uncl< ared and unoccupied, and while the English exliibit such 
 constant and marked activity in coloidzatirjii, so long will it bo idle to 
 imagine that there is any portion of thnt continent into which that race 
 will not penetrate, or in which, when it has penetrated, it will not predo- 
 minate. It is but a question of time and mode ; it is but to determine 
 whether the small number of Frencii who now inhabit Lower Canada shall 
 be made Englioh, under a government which can protect them, or whether 
 the process shall b( delayed until a much larger number shall have to un- 
 dergo, at the rude hands of its uncontrolled rivals, the extinction of a 
 nationality strengthened and embittered by continuance. 
 
 " And is this French Canadian nationality one which, for the good 
 merely of that people, we ought to strive to perpetuate, even if it were 
 possible ? I know of no national distinctions marking and continuing a 
 more hopeless inferiority. The language, the laws, the character of the 
 North American continent are English ; and every race but the English 
 (I apply this to all who speak the Englieh languig.), appears there in a 
 condition of inferiority. It is to elevate them from that irifciiority that 
 I desire to give to the Canadians our English character. I desire it for 
 the sake of the educated classes, whom the distinction of language and 
 manners keeps apart from the great empire to which they belong. 
 
 " At the best, the fate of the educated and aspiring colonist is, at pre- 
 sent, one of little hope, and little activity ; but the French Canadian is 
 , cast still further into the shade, by a language and habit foreign to those 
 of the imperial government. A spirit of exclusion has closed the higher 
 professions on the educated classes of the French Canadiuns, more, per- 
 haps, than was absolutely necessary ; but it is impossible for the utmost 
 
A ITENDIjr. G31 
 
 liberality — on the part of the liritisli government — to give an equiil posi- 
 tion in the general coni[)etion of its vast population to those who speak a 
 foreign language. I desire the amalgamation scill more for the sake of 
 the humbler classes. Their present state of rude and e^ual plenty is faet 
 deteriorating under the pressure of population in the narrow limits to 
 which thoy are confined. If they attempt to better their condition, by 
 extending themselves over the neighbouring country, they will necessarily 
 get more and more mingled with an English population ; if they prefer 
 remaining stationary, the greater part of thoui must be labourers in the 
 employ of English capitalists. In either case it would appear, that the 
 great mass of the French Canadians are doomed, in some measure, to oc- 
 cujjy an inferior position, and to be dependent on the English for employ - 
 meni. The evils of poverty and dependence would merely be aggravated 
 IP a ten-fold degree, by a spirit of jealous and resentful nationality, which 
 should separate the working class of the community from the possessors 
 of wealth and employers of labour. . . . 
 
 There can hardly be conceived a nationality more destitute o!' all that 
 can invigorate and elevate a people, than that which is exhibited by the 
 descendants of the French of Li-wer Canada, owing'to their retaining their 
 peculiar language and manners. They are a people wir'\ no history, and 
 no literature. The literature of England is wrJtt jn in a language which 
 is not theirs; and the only literature which theii 1. nguage renders familiar 
 to them, is that of a nation fro..i which they luv j b'fion separated by eighty 
 years of a foreign rult , and still more by those changes which the Revolu- 
 tion and its consequences have wrought in the whole political, moral and 
 social state of France. Yet it is on a people whom recent history, man- 
 ners and mode of thought, so entirely separate from them, that the Frenc'i 
 Canadians are wholly dependent for almost all the instruction and amuse- 
 ment derived from books ; it is on this essentially foreign literature, whie 
 is conversant about events, opinions and haLits of life, perfectly strange 
 and unintelligible to them, that thoy are compelled to be dependent. 
 Their newspapers are mostly written by natives of France, who have either 
 come to try their fortunes in the province, or been brought into it by the 
 party leaders in order to supply the doarc'a or literary talent available lor 
 the political press. In the same way, their nationality operates to deprive 
 them of the enjoyments and civilizing intli;ence of the arts. Though de- 
 scended from the people in the world that most generally love, and have 
 tnost su ;cessfully cultivated the drama — thou£ '■ living on a continent, in 
 which almost every town, great or small, has an English theatre, the 
 French population of Lower Canada, cut off from every people people that 
 speak its own language, can support no national stage. 
 
632 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE UNION SCHEME. 
 
 The following are the suggestions which gave impulse to the movement 
 
 which finally resulted in confederation, though the earlier result was the 
 
 union of Upper and Lower Canada, an unwise and short-sighted piece of 
 
 legislation: — 
 
 " Two kinds of union have been proposed — federal and legislative. By 
 the first, the separate legislature of each province would be preserved in 
 its present form, and retain almost all its present attributes of internal 
 Jegislation; the federal legislature exercising no power, save in those mat- 
 ters of general concern, which may have been exjiressly ceded to it by the 
 constituent provinces. A legislative union would imi>ly a complete incor- 
 poration of the provinces included in it under one legislature, exercising 
 universal and sole legislative authority over all of them, in exactly the 
 same manner as the parliament legislates alone for the whole of the British 
 Isles. On my first arrival in Canada, I was strongly inclined to the pro- 
 ject of a federal union, and it was with such a plan in view, that I dis- 
 cussed a general measure for the government of the colonies, with the 
 deputation from the lower provinces, and with various leading individuals 
 and public bodies in both the Canadas. I was fully aware that it might 
 be objected that a federal union would, in many cases, produce a weak 
 and rather cumbrous government; that a colonial federation must have, 
 in fact, little legitimate authority or business, the greater part of the or- 
 dinary functions of a federation falling within the scope of the imperial 
 legislature and executive ; and that the main inducement to federation, 
 which is the necessity of conciliating the the pretensions of independent 
 states to the maintenance of their own sovereignty, could not exist in the 
 case of colonial dependencies, liable to be moulded according to the plea- 
 sure of the supreme authority at home. In the course of the discussions 
 which I have mentioned, I became aware also of great practical difficultiea 
 in any plan of federal government, particularly those that must arise in 
 the management of the general revenues, which would in such a plan have 
 to be again distributed among the provinces. 
 
 But 1 had still more strongly impressed on me the graat advantages of an 
 united government ; and I was gratified by finding the leading minds of 
 the various colonies strongly and generally inclined to a scheme that would 
 elevate their countries into something like a national existence. I thought 
 it would be the tendency of a federation sanctioned and consolidated by a 
 monarchial government, gradually to become a complete legislative union ;^ 
 and that thus, while conciliating the French of Lower Canada, by leaving 
 
APPENDIX. (j33- 
 
 them the government of thoir own province and their own internal legis- 
 tion, I miglit provide for the protection of JJritish intereBts by the general 
 government, and for the gradual transition of the provinces into an united 
 and homogeneous community. 
 
 If the population of Upper Canada is rightly estimated at 400,000, the 
 English inhabitants of Lower Canada at 150,000, and the French at 450,- 
 000, the union of the two provinces would not only give a clear English 
 majority, but one which wouhl be increased every year by the influence 
 of English emigration; and I have little doubt that the French, when once 
 placed, by the legitimate course of events and the working of natural 
 causes, in a minority, would abandon their vain hopes of nationality. I 
 do not mean that they would iuimodiately give up their present tvnimosi- 
 ties, or instantly renounce the hope of attaining their end by violent 
 means. But the experience of the two unions in tlie British Isles may 
 teach UR how effectually the strong arm of a popular legislature would 
 compel the obedience of the refractory population; and the hojjelessness 
 of success would gradually subdue the existing animosities, and incline the 
 French Canadian population to accjuiesce in their new state of political 
 existence. ... 
 
 " But while I convince myself that such desirable ends would be secured 
 by the legislative union of the two provinces, I am inclined to go further, 
 and inquire whether all these objects would not more surely be attained 
 by extending this legislative union over all the British provinces in North 
 America; and whether tht advantages which I anticipated for two of them 
 might not, and should not in justice be extended to all. Such a union 
 would at once decisively settle the question of races ; it wo\ild enable all 
 the provinces to co-operate for all common purposes; and, above all, it 
 would form a great and powerful people, possessing the means of securing 
 good and resyonsible government for itself, and which, under the protec- 
 tion of the British Empire, might in some measure counterbalance the 
 preponderant and increasing influence of the United States on the Amer- 
 ican continent. I do not anticipate that a colonial legislature thus strong 
 and thus self-governing, would desire to abandon the connection with 
 Great Britain. On the contrary, I believe that the practical relief from 
 undue interferences which would be the result of such a change, would 
 strengthen the present bond of feelings and interests ; and that the con- 
 nection would only become more durable and advantageous by having 
 more of equality, of freedom, and of local independence." 
 
<534 APPENDIX. 
 
 INPEPKNOENUE OF THE COLONIES. 
 
 Here, however, is statosmanship grand enough to be able not ah>ne to 
 
 stand unawed before that liorrible possibility seen lowering behind the 
 
 ■curtain of the future, independence, but to say if such a destiny is writ 
 
 for the colonies, then to let it be ; wo cannot stay its fultilmont ; it is 
 
 ■right: — 
 
 " But at any rate, our first duty is to secure the well-being of our colo- 
 ■nial countrymen; and if, in the hidden decrees of that wisdom by which 
 this world is ruled, it is written that these countries are not forever to re- 
 main portions of the empire, we owe it to our honour to take good care 
 that, when they separate from us, they should not be the only countries 
 on the American continent in which the Anglo-Saxon race shall be found 
 innfit to govern itself." 
 
 THE SMALLER COLOMES. 
 
 >0f the islands of Newfoundland and Prince Edward, Lord Durham 
 
 •said: — 
 
 ''With respect to the two smaller colonies of Prince Edward Island 
 and Newfoundland, I am of opinion, that not only would most of the rea- 
 sons which I have given for an union of the others, apply to them, but 
 that their smallness makes it absolutely necessary, as the only means of 
 securinj .ny proper attention to local interests, and investing them witii 
 that consideration, the deficiency of which they have so much reason to 
 lament in all the disputes which yearly occur between them and the citi- 
 zens of the United States with regard to the encroachments made by the 
 latter on their coasts and fisheries." . , 
 
 REPRESENTATION OF PROVINCES. 
 
 Strangely enough, the high commissioner favoured an unjust plan of 
 representation for the provinces — unjust, if it be considered that Lower 
 Canada had political rights, and were entitled to their antique and exclu- 
 sive existence. Says his lordship: — 
 
 "As the mere amalgamation of the houses of assembly of the two pro- 
 vinces would not be advisable, or give at all a due share of representation 
 to each, a parliamentary commission should be appointed for the purpose 
 •of forming the electoral divisions, and determining the number of mem- 
 bers to be returned on the principle of giving representation, as near as 
 
APPENDIX. G35 
 
 may bo, in proportion to population. I am averse to every plan that has 
 been proposed for giving an o(|vial number of members to the two prov- 
 inces, in order to attain the temporary end of out-numbering the French, 
 because I tliink the same object will be obtained without any violati(jn of 
 the principles of representation, and without any such appearance of in- 
 justice in the "ichemo as would set public opinion, both in Kngland and 
 Americi., strongly against it; and because, when emigration shall have in- 
 creased the English popiilation in the upper province, the adoption of 
 such a principle woiild operate to defeat the very purpose it is intended 
 to serve. It appears to mo that any such electoral arrangement, founded 
 on the present provincial divisions woidd tend to defeat the purposes of 
 union, and perpetuate the idea of disunion. . . . 
 
 "The same connnission should form a plan of local government by elec- 
 tive bodies, subordinate to the general legislature, and exercising a com- 
 plete control over such local affairs as do not come within the province of 
 legislation. The plan so framed should be made an act of the imperial 
 parliament, so as to prevent the general legislature from encroaching on 
 the powers of the local bodies. 
 
 "A general executive on an improved principle should be established, 
 together with a supreme court for all North An' jrican colonies. The other 
 establishments and laws of the two colonies should be left unaltered, until 
 the legislature of the union should think fit to change them; and the se- 
 curity of the existing endowments of the Catholic church in Lower Canada 
 should be guaranteed by the act." 
 
 RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 He sounded a clear note on the necessity of ministerial responsibility to 
 
 the legislature. His view on the question set the tory world aghast,— but 
 
 he probably held the belief that the universe was not made for the tories. 
 
 He wrote: — 
 
 "The responsiblity to the united legislature of all officers of the govern- 
 ment except the governor and his secretary, should be secured by every 
 means known to the British constitution. The governor, as the represen- 
 tative of the crown, should be instructed that he must carry on his gov- 
 ernment by heads of departments, in whom the united legislature shall 
 repose confidence; and that he must look for no support from home in any 
 contest with tlie legislature, except on points involving strictly imperial 
 interests." 
 
/ 
 
'^' 
 
 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 AliUOTT, J.J.C, 247, .W), 3!»2. 
 
 Aherdecii, Loril, 107, 201. 
 
 Act Uiiiuii (1841), 4r), 4tl, G7, I'll, British 
 
 North Aiiiericii, .'U.'{-;U(). 
 Adiiins, Mr., 203, 2r)4, 2t)7. 
 Adam, (Jriiiino Mercer, 444, 448, 44!t, 
 
 4.');{, 4rM, 4!>(). 
 Ai/ripiiiiiii, tliu, 2(54. 
 Aiken, J. ('., ;t51, 420. 
 Akers, ('ai)taiii, 272-274. 
 Alabama, the, 141, 2r)7, 200-208, 378. 
 Alleyn, ChiirleH, 221, 
 Allan, Sir Hugh, ;W(;-400. 
 Anglin, T. W., 342, 341>, 380. 
 Angus, M., 423. 
 Archibald, Adams fi.f 289,312, 310, 303, 
 
 304. 
 Archer, Dr. Andrew, 100, 311, 444, 445. 
 Arthur, Sir George, 44, '.II. 
 Artluir, Prince, 351. 
 Arid, tlie, 205. 
 AMhburton Treaty, the, 413. 
 Athvntic Oable, laying of, 213. 
 Aylwin, Judge, 72, 74, 82, 8.1, 120. 
 
 BAHAMA, the, 204. 
 Bailey, Professor, 440. 
 Barren, (.Joniuicdore, 2.58, ?.50. 
 . Baby, L. V. (i.,420. 
 Baldwin, K(jbe.-t, 40, 47, .54, 58, 08, 74, 
 
 77, 78, 87-80, './(), 114, 115, 120, 122, 132, 
 
 138, 148, 1.52, 157, 150, 223. 
 Baldwin, Dr. William Warren, 87. 
 Baxter, Mr-, 25. 
 
 Badgley, Hon. William, 112, 129, 102. 
 Berkeley, Admiral, 157, 150. 
 Bender, P., 440. 
 
 Belleau, Sir Narcisse F., 221, 233. 
 Bernard, Montague, 372. 
 Bismarck, Herr Von, 250. 
 Blake, Hon. Edward, 108, 342, 378, 383, 
 
 384, 303, 390, 400, 408, 411, 417, 431- 
 
 433. 
 Blake, William Hume, 110, 123, 124, 
 
 125, 132, 431. 
 Blaine, David, 400. 
 Bleury, Mr. C. S. de, 73, 70, 
 Blair, A. U.. 424. 
 
 Bourinot, J. (;., 490. 
 
 (Jooker, Colonel, 272-27(>. 
 
 Boucherville, M. de, 423. 
 
 Boidton, Major, .3.">8. 
 
 15oyd, Hon. .John, .381. 
 
 Howell, Mackenzie, 411, 420. 
 
 l5onst?(;ours Market, 120. 
 
 Bruce, .lohn, 3,54. 
 
 Brown, Professor, 4.50. 
 
 Brown, (Jeorge,57,58, l.{8, 140, 141, 142, 
 144, 140, 158, 159, 102, 100, 171, 172, 
 175, 170, 170, 185, 180, 20.3, 204, 207- 
 209, 22.3, 230, 231, 235, 248, 281, 283, 
 289, 299, .304, 300. 
 
 Brown, I'eter, .5(J. 
 
 Bright, .lohn, 103. 
 
 Buchanuu, President, 234, 
 
 Bureau, M. 212. 
 
 Biiri)ee, Isaac, 407. 
 
 Burton, Governor, 03. 
 
 liuchanan, Isaac, 227, 255. 
 
 ByHandcr, the, 207, 210, 283, 300, 305, 
 300, 328, 337, 419, 448, 450, 459, 400, 
 404. 
 
 CARTER, Frederick B. J., 292-294. 
 
 Cauniff, Dr. 441. 
 
 C-vsgrain, L'Ahbe R.H., 438. 
 
 Campbell, Sir Archil)al(i, 225. 
 
 ( !ami>bell, Thonuis, 2.30. 
 
 Canada under Dufferin, 332, 333, 398, 
 
 424. 
 Canadian Independence, 301, 302, 410, 
 
 417, 49049t\ 
 Canadian Monthbi, the, 330, 309, 450, 405, 
 
 490. 
 Carling, Hon. John, 207, 245. 
 Cameron, Malcolm, 120, 138, 148. 
 Caron, R. E., 119, 149. 
 Cameron, John Hillyard, 108, 112, 180, 
 
 194, 195, 350, 374-370. 
 Cauchon, Joseph Edouard, 71, 170, 171, 
 
 184, 341, 38.5. 
 C;ampbell, Alexander, 30, 251, 255, 292, 
 
 319, 335, 337. 
 Cartwright, John S. , 71. 
 Cartwright, R. J., 3. 8, 399, 407, 418. 
 Caroline, The, 92, 121. 
 
038 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ciithiart, T.url. 107, 117. 
 
 Cuvloy. Hon. Wm., Km, l.HB, 17», 20<l, 
 
 •J-.'O, 'I'lA. 
 ( 'iiititT, Sir ( J.-orj,"- K., Il'.t, 177. '."JO, '.".'1, 
 
 •-':C., 2^(1, •2-»(i, iTm. •.'«», •.".•1, •-".•7, 'I'M, 
 
 :«).•>. :{rj, ;n!i, .■f.'0-:»i.';{, :i74, 378, ;W4, 
 ;t',t2, 4(Mi. 
 
 CuiiiiIm, 1-I'2 
 
 ("iiiiuvL'au, p..r.()., i7!t, ;iio, 4;«7. 
 
 CliiirlfH (I). XK. 
 
 ChriHtif Divviil, l;W. 407. 
 
 ('liroiiicft', IWitinli, .'')7. 
 
 Cliiimii', Itolx-rt, 441. 
 
 i'hiKiipi'iikf, the. 2r>7-'jr)!l. 
 
 Cliisliolm. Mr..-JS. 
 
 Cl.iilM.t, .1., iri>. 
 
 ("liiuull.r, H. 15.. '->'24, *.'8!l. 
 
 ClmiiiiiH, .1. (;., '»',:,, 2<I2, :U!I. 
 
 (/'ufklmiii, .liiiiu's, 'J.*>.">, 'M'l. 
 
 C'uhilt'ii, IJichaid. 103. 
 
 Coli'M, (jii'ort;t;, '2S!t. 
 
 ("D.Mtimvn, .lol.ii, ;!71-:?81, 42!)-4:»l. 
 
 i'liinriirM iIik linis, ',\f)\\. 
 
 Cotfiii, 'I'liiiiiiftH, 4(W. 
 
 Coiiiu'il, 1,1'Kisliitive of (.'aimdii (made 
 
 ele(^tivr|, 200. 
 ('..lliiiH, !I4. 
 
 ('i)Ui(irne, Sir Jdhii, 4;"). 
 Coiifodfi'atiiiii, tlie Hclu'ine of, 229, IiIh- 
 
 tory of, 2«7-;ttO. 
 Compact, till' Kaiiiilv, 3r>, 30, 3'.t, 44, ''", 
 
 07, 8S, '.10, 107, 111', 121, 144, 224. 
 ( 'ocklmrii. Sir Alt'XiiiHit'r, 208. 
 ("ocklmrii, .Taint'M, 2112. 
 Coin ]ja\vs, repeal of, 102, 103. 
 C'urrigan, l/.obert, 104, 19.5. 
 Connor, S., 211, 
 Ceane, Hon. Mr., 22."t. 
 Crimen, the War in the, lt)4, 105, 185, 
 
 200, 201. 
 Crawford, John, 238. 
 Crema/ie M. Octave, 401. 
 Civil War in America, 230-242, 
 
 DAWSON .S. E, 443, 444. 
 
 Day, .IndKe, 300. • ' 
 
 Daly, Dominick, .W, 93, 94. 
 
 Davis, .lefferson, 240. 
 
 Davin, Nicholas Flood, 331, 309, 442, 490. 
 
 Deerhttinid, the, 207. 
 
 Dent, JohnCUiarles, 29,91, 230, 287, 445. '■ 
 
 44(J. 
 Dennis, Jiieut. -Colonel, 272, 353, 354, .357. 
 Denison, Lieut. -Colonel, 444. 
 Disraeli. Mr. 73, 77, 80, 81, 133, 170, 222. , 
 Dickie, K. B., 289. 
 
 Direct Taxation, 418. | 
 
 Dorion, A. A., 211, 22.», 2.36, 238, 247, ! 
 
 252, 278, 279, 284, 297, 321, 407. ! 
 
 Dominion of Canada, 313-31.5. i 
 
 Draper, William, .58, 59, 09, 70, 83, 86, 
 
 87, 108, 112, 113, 118, 319. ! 
 
 Drummond, L. J., 149, 102, 179, 188,195, ! 
 
 198, 211. 229. 1 
 
 Dufferin Loid, 363, 364, ;^82, 383, 392- 
 ^ 402, 422. 426. 
 Durham, Lord, 41-45, 88, 182, 435, 436, 
 
 Dunn, I'oter, 7.3, 74,70. 
 Duval, .Fudiir, 19.5, 19(;. 
 Dunkin, .Mr., 279, 297. 2itH, 3.51. 
 Diivar, John Hunter, 488-491. 
 
 i;i)UAU, J. D., 112. 
 
 ElKin,liord, 95, 110-112, 120, 127, 128, 
 
 130, 131. 132, 133, i;iO, 148, 105, 182, 
 
 18.3. 
 Kl',in, l-adv, 182. 
 Kl.ler, W.,'424. 
 Krniiitin„'er, Col., 132. 
 Ji.iiiiiiini r, tlie, 1.5.5, 
 Krs.hile. .Mr., 128. 
 Evanturel, Franvois, 247. 
 
 FALKLAND. L(ud, 226. 
 
 I'amine, tlie Irinli, 103.1(Hi. 
 
 Ka\icher, M., 438. 
 
 i'l'iiiiin Hrotherliood, 209, .'H7. 
 
 I'enian Uaid, 20!»-270, 309, 373. 
 
 V'erland, Alilie, 440, 
 
 Fliiridii, the, 202. 
 
 Fer^'UHHon-Ulair, A. J., 2.52, 319, 344, 
 
 345. 
 Ferle.^ Mr,. 128. 
 
 Fisher, Charl.s, 226, 227, .312, ;V42. 
 Fisli, Hon. Hamilton, 371. 
 Foley, M. H., 211, 247, 253, 255. 
 Foumier, Telesphore, 407. 
 Fox, 31. 
 
 Fon.it and Stream, 450. 
 FoUett, 75. 
 
 Froude, I{ichav<l Hurrell, 99. 
 Fra«''r, .lohn .1., 379. 
 Franklin. Sir .lohn, 84, 85. 
 Frmiir. Ln Jriine, 121. 
 Frechette, Loui^< Honore, 464, 480, 481, 
 
 482, 483, 491, 
 
 GALT, Sir A, T.. 119. 221, 227, 2.55, 278, 
 281, 282, 283, 299, 309. 312, 318, 319, 
 323-320, 341, 344, 300, 410. 
 
 GasjxS M. Philip Aubert de, 4.38. 
 
 Gavaz/.i, Padre. 142, 100, 101, 289. 
 
 (larry. Fort, .353, 303. 
 
 (Ia:eitf, The (.Montreal), 39.5, 
 
 (iillmor, Major, 272, 
 
 (iirouard, M., 90. 
 
 " Grits, Clear," 138, 423. 
 
 (ilenelK, Lord, 41. 88. 
 
 (Jrey, Karl, 147,220. 
 
 (;ioi,e, The, 58, 138, 140, 141, 142, 149. 
 103, 107, 172, 170, 179, 180. 240, 244, 
 248, 328, 406, 455, 450, 402, 403, 404. 
 
 Gladstone, 79, 81, 133, 170, 222, 223, 369, 
 370, 432. 
 
 Gosford, Lord, 37, 38. 
 
 Gordon, (rovernor, 291. 
 
 Gowan, Oglell., 71, 118. 
 
 Gowan, Judge, 399. 
 
 Grant, Rev. Principal, 449. — n — -^—-^ 
 
 Grant, President, 371. 
 
 Graham, Sir James, 170. 
 
 Gray, John Hamilton, 289, 298. _:_ 
 
 Gray, Hon. Col., 239, 442. 
 
 Gray, Earl de, 372. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 iirUYui, Martin J., -^IM, 4»5. 
 <iei)r>{i;, Mciiry. IM-v. 
 (tllKV, iJolc.iio'l, l'_"2, l.'U. 
 
 HALIFAX FISHERY COMMIS- 
 SION, .172. 
 Iluniiiiy, JmiicH, •Ml, AVI. 
 Ilalfl.t-f.-d, tlif, H.JJ-;Hi». 
 lliitlii'Wiiy, (leoPKi' li., 'Ml, 310, 
 tliilifiiN, Lord, 170. 
 
 lIllllt'llM Col'IltlH Act, 27. 
 
 ii,ii.ii,nit, ;w. ;iH,. •('.», uc, inj. 
 
 tliil4<Tiiiiui, CliiistiipJH'r A., 8(1. 
 
 HiinliiiK. Sir .lohii, 2i'>4. 
 
 Iliirvcy, Sir.l)lin, 22l>. 
 
 nutlcmn, Tlu", 2(;"). 
 
 lliiniMoii, Mrn. .1. F. (" SeraniiH") A'd't, 
 
 I'.Hl. 
 Hiriihl, Tiif (Mt.ntrnil), •t<.»r.. 
 lloiul. Sir Francis Hdiul, 40, n,.S(i, !ll, 
 
 14.->. 
 Hf.i.l, Sir Ednmiid W., 18;t, 184, 2011, 
 
 211-220, 2.t;». 
 ll.-n., the, 2.J1, 2'X.>. 
 Hcmv. William A., 2rt«. 
 HiiickH, Sir FnviiciH, 70, 71, IIH, 120,i;!0, 
 
 i:{.Vl:5<i, 14t', 147, 14H, 140, 1.".4, ir)5, 
 
 li", 150, Kil, Hi"), l(i71()0, 17;{, 174, 
 
 17."), i7(i, 177, 18.*., iHi;, ;j.5i, ;«ir), •m\, 
 
 W", \\M. 
 Hind, I'n.f. \in\\v, 44!t. 
 Hoar, KlHMiczcr J{., ;{71, 
 llolnics, i:«). 
 
 Holtou T. H., 2r>2, 284. 207, 'Ml 
 Honour, l'"otintiiin of, (iO. 
 llowland Sir V.'. 1'., 207, 247, 2.')2, 207, 
 
 ;w.t, ;n2. ;iio, ;«4, ;«.*•, wm, .'Wo, mw. 
 
 llowo, Josei.li, 22(>, :<1.S, .'WO, MQ, 342, 
 
 ;i4r>, .riO, 357, ;ttii. 
 
 HunttTs', liod^;uH, 27, 28. 
 
 H\iard, Anj,'nHtnH, 127. j 
 
 Hndson Mav Co'upany, 202, 'A^A, '.\'\T>, 
 
 ;{r.7. 
 
 Huntinfe'ton, L. S, 2r)2, 207, 380-40(;. 
 Humplirey, Capt., 2.o0. 
 
 JACK, Edwar.1, 271, 450. 
 Jamaica Bill, 222. 
 Jefferson, President, 2.59. 
 Jolinson, Jolin M.. 280, 812. 
 Joli, Henri (Jnstave, 2;«, ;W.-., 42.S. 
 •Johnson, President Andrew, 271. 
 Justice, Mirror of, CO. 
 
 KEARSAGE, The, 2ti6. 
 Keble, Kev. John, 00. 
 Kent, the Duke of. 287. 
 Kenny, PMward, 310. 
 Kirby, William, 448. 
 
 I.AMPMAN, Mr. Archibald, 49(J. 
 Lallue, Prof Hubert, 438. 
 Laird, Messrs. , 263, 2G4. 
 liaird, David, 407. ___— 
 
 J^framboise, Maurice, 252. 
 
 I^anjfevin, Hector Louis, 207, 212, 255, 
 
 280, 300, 312, 31!l, 328-320, 420, 
 ]<ulierKt), C. J , 211. 
 LafoMtuiin«, f.4, 08, <M), 01, 'Ml, 110, 131, 
 
 148, !V2. 
 I.eprohon, Mrs. 448. 
 lit'plne, Andtrose, ;t")4, 3t)2, 
 l.nifiiinl, the, 2.')8.2(;(». 
 L.iui.nx, Fraiuis, 184, 211, 238. 
 Le.Moiii,., .1. M., 487. 
 , Leslie, Jam«H, 110, 138. 
 i Lestanu. V'viv, .3.">0. 
 Letellier, M. liuc. 140, 2.">2, 407, 422-424. 
 Lei^'islativc I'nion, 200. 
 LeMav .M.. 101. 
 i-eSneiir, W. I).. 40<l. 
 Lindsey. Charles, 41, 280, 441. 
 Lincoln, Abraham, 210, 242, 250, 
 
 200, 2t;o. 
 Lilxral Conservativos, f23. 
 LoriH', Lord, 422, 424. 
 Louise, Princess, 422. 
 Lo),'an, Sir William, 440. 
 L'Uiiiiin (iiD J'ri>rinn» dr VAmrritiiic dii 
 
 Nord, -ML 
 
 MACI)(>NA1;D, Ki^'ht Hon. Sir .lohn 
 A., arrives in « 'anada, 17; nncestors, 
 18, 10, 20 ; where born, 21 ; put at 
 school, 21 ; holiday haunts, 22, '/.i ; 
 talent at school, 24 ; studies law, 25 ; 
 defends Shoultz, 20-31 ; jireparinj,' for 
 public life, 50-55 ; f,'oes to the hustinKs, 
 
 01 ; seeii through his first ciiinpaii,'n, 
 
 02 (id ; first elected to Parliament, (iO • 
 as first seen in the Legislature, 72 7.3 • 
 his first speech, 74 ; description of 
 manner in House, 75, 70 ; method of 
 advanceme!it, 77 ; his silence in the 
 House 77 ; defen<ls primo;,'eniture. 78 ; 
 early Tory opinions like mornin;,' va- 
 l)ours, 70 ; honest chan^'e of opjuion, 
 80,81 ; punctures a wind spout, 82-83 ; 
 takes a disappointment with philo- 
 Bophical coolness, 108-10!> ; first \it(er- 
 ance in favor of Protection, 100 ; "Your 
 time has come at last, Macdonald," 112, 
 113 ; returnedsecNimi time for Kin^'s- 
 8ton, 118 ; attiturle through the storm, 
 of '40, 125, ,20 ; censures f,'overnment 
 for lackinj,' 1 recaution against it, 120, 
 130 ; connection with the liritish Am- 
 erican Leatrue, i;« ; i>re<lict8 the down- 
 fall of the liiberals, 1.37 ; holdinj^ Sir 
 Allan in bou uls, 143 ; weights upon his 
 wing-i 144 ; suggests the legalization of 
 murder, 147 ; " the two masts are over- 
 board," 148 ; growth of friendship be- 
 tween himself and E. P. Tache, 1.5(i ; 
 gets ready for the fray, 1.50 ; attitude 
 towards the University Bill, the mea- 
 sure to restrain sale of liquor, tlie 
 llepresentatives Bill, and on the Act 
 providing for the confiscatiou of Seign- 
 euries, 101, 102 ; grows peerish at Mr. 
 Hincks' doctrine on insufficient repre- 
 
«4U 
 
 JNUKA'. 
 
 in'ntfttli>n, I*!'' : tlm lii-pirHr of Mir 
 Allan, !))'> ; liii* oiiHJniuht on t)ii> Ko 
 formtTH, "nti'«'|i<'il ti) till' 1I|»H ill ill- 
 fHiny," l*H'. ITO ; |iriit<Mt- at{ain»t iiii 
 iiiiiNtitiitl'triiil iiioroKiitiuii, 172 ; foirii- 
 
 Utillll '>( l,illl'lrtl-«'"l»K«MV(ltivi< KOVl'lll- 
 
 iiiitnt, 17H ; Im'iiiiih'h Attcinicy (Ji'Tifnil, 
 17',( ; vli'WH Iff (Jlolir 1)11, ISl ; iiltiK'kfil 
 liy Mr. Maoloiiiiltl "f |Jlfiininry, IHI ; 
 t'rii>ii<lHlii|i lii'twi'i-it liiiiiMxIf Hiiil M. 
 Ciirtli'i- HpiiimH ii|>. \Ki; puxHiiKf with 
 (Jforjfi' llriiwii ill tln' AMtfinlily, iMtl- 
 IhS ; piiHKimt' witli ColuiH'l Kiiiikiii, 
 IH'.t-l'.IU ; till' CotiHiTViitivi' piirty ill • 
 Hiri'M his liHiul at tin- h.'liii. I'.U I'.IN ; 
 his tint Hhowiiik' it.wlf, IK/ IIW ; I'lumfii 
 U'licler iif hin jiiirty in AMHUiiihly, l'.»H ; 
 HUKU*''**'' iii'ii'ii'*iti"ii of llmixi'ii Hay 
 'rcrritoiy, -U- ; atlitmh' towiinlH " rrp. 
 Iiy pop.'V-'l* ; n'fi'i-iipii"<ticiii of t'apital 
 to Hit Maji'Hty, --'O."., •.'(»(•. ; lii< in tli.' 
 virtual ooninuimliT "f llm ship, '.'(Ml ; 
 his iiiil„'iiifiit I'liinpari'il with (fomx'' 
 Mi-oWIi'h, '-'OH ; Hull thlollKh tlln 
 •■ |)„.il)U.Sliiim.s"liO'.t--'-j:{; hiMfiiiMiil- 
 
 ship fill- .1. •'. MiHTi-foi", --"•'. ■-':*"; 
 
 '• promoting iHnci'l ' aiiiniiK hiH op- 
 iionfiits, •-';(') ; reaxoiiM for oppoMiii^,' 
 Hep. hy I'op- '-■*' ; fiaiiii'H his militia 
 hill, -'i;< ; iiiaki-H a tour of l'|>pt r 
 i'anaila, l!*l ; a dream of our futiirt', 
 t;4l, -J">; militia liill luiii irrien, '24(i ; 
 trai'isatlaiitic iliwcusHioii on n-jfctioii of 
 hiH militia liill, -'''•', -■"'•'; "vrthrowH 
 .lohu Saiitltii'lil Maciloiialil, 'SA , '2',2 ; 
 capturt's A. N. Ifii^hiinri* coiiMtitui.'iu'y t 
 for hif< party, •2.">;i-2."it ; foriiiK a (.rov.'rn- 1 
 meiit with «'ol. 'racht', '2'A, '_'.•).•>; now 
 trustHtoliiik, 277 ; in tae j vwh of di-ail- 
 lock, -'SO; i'om|)aft witlide .r'^>! Brown, j 
 2Hl-2«;<; his part in tin- < 'oiifi'iU'iation 
 inovemuiit. 28.5-2H6 ; his fari.lty for 
 Kaut,'inj,' puhlii: opinion, 2K<>-2H7 ; pro- 
 poHi'H a " iluscent " on I'rineo Hdward 
 iHlaiid, 28H; Hpeech at I'rinco Kdward I 
 Inland 2'.tl ; at Ottawa with the Con- | 
 fi'duratu (U'leKates, 2',m; ; hi< advocacy 
 4.f ( 'oiifi'diTatioii in I'arliaiiicnt, 297;, 
 iirocei'dh to Kni,'land in Coiilfileration ' 
 interests, 2!t'.» ; ft-ars local and joint 
 nuthority ^vill hi; incompatible, 2!W ; 
 attitude towards Confederation schetne 
 in Hn«land, 301, 302, 303 ; invited to 
 the premiership m room of Hir K. 1 . 
 Tache, 303, .304 ; consents to act under 
 Sir Nareis'se Belleau, 304, 305 ; the 
 virtual premier, Sir Narcisse, the 
 nominal head, 300 ; a),'ain visits Loii- 1 
 don as a coiifeilerate delegate, 312 ; is 
 chairman of the London conference, 
 312 • towers ahove his confreres at 
 con/erence, 31(5, 317 ; invited to form I 
 first Dominion Cabinet, 317, 318 : re- 1 
 ceives the order of knighthood, 31!) ; : 
 charged with selHshness, 31<J, 320 ; j 
 evidence of liia friendship and chivalry, 
 320 ; visits Nova Scotia to iiacify the 
 malcontents, 34'J, 3.50 ; instructions to 
 
 nfuhop Tachi!, :mi ; doiihtM UM'm loy. 
 »ity, MVA , litti'iuU U'lixhinKton Con- 
 vention, 372'. 174 ; his Npcvrh on treaty, 
 374 ; ptirNonally defeiidt'il by .lohu 
 Millyard Canieron, ;<7 1 370 ; st>en 
 throiii^h the history of the l'at;itic 
 iUilway " H.andal ", Mi 10*1; speech 
 on I'arilic Kiiilway chartur, 402 ; jiftcr 
 defeat and before victory, 417-420; t.) 
 p'lwer on the wavd's top, 420- 420 ; atti- 
 
 tl lie on lii'tellier •piestioli, 122; ail 
 11 lanswerable argument, 427 ; neeii at 
 ho iiu, 41)0 riD'.l. 
 
 Aranioiialil, Lady. !H)7!'m. 
 
 .M.uk, I2H. 
 
 Macdoiiald, A. A., 280. 
 
 Maciloiiahl, John Haiidtiilil, 0(i-!)M, 147, 
 
 140, 1.".7, I7.t, 177, IMo, lOil, l!)7, 211, 
 220, 23.-., 23<!, 247, 24H, 2,^1, 2r)2, 2-.4, 
 277, 207, 340, 378. 
 
 .MaiMlonalil, Hii»;li, 18. 
 
 MatluWH, 44. 
 
 Maimliaii, A., r.3, (12, (',3, (1(1, (17. 
 
 .Maikeii/.ie, Hop. Alexander. ,')7, 132, 
 
 141, U;.l, 17."., 17(1. 170, l«0, IHH, 210, 
 220, 23(1, ;,'a8, 230, 283, 317, 3r)(), 3.-.1, 
 .t'.)0. 407-420. 
 
 Macdonald, Donald A , 40/, 
 .NIackon/.io Hope !■'., 238. 
 Macdonald, ilon. .Jaines, 401, (20. 
 Mackenzie, (rt'or^;e, 2."i, 2)i 
 Mackeii/ie, William Ly 20, 27, 30,94, 
 
 132, 141, 14ii, 172, 18,-.. 
 MacNab, Sir AHan, 07, 01, 02, 118, 122, 
 
 120, 13.-., 143, 118, l,-.7, 100, 171, 172, 
 
 174, 177, 178, 188, 180, 103, 10.-.-107, 
 
 100, 2(H), 231, 2.'.L 
 Macoun, I'rof, 140. 
 Masson, L.K.U , 420. 
 Mars, Champ de, 127. 
 Afdcinilliih'ii AI(i</ii:iiie, 444. 
 Marniette, M. .losei»h, 4.38. 
 Mason, William, 134. 
 Mai/, The, 403, 404, 404. 
 Maclean, Mrs. Kate .Seymour, 48;j, 480. 
 Machar, Miss A«ne8 .\l., 488. 
 Marcy, \V. L., 100. 
 
 McMuUen, John, 105, 410. 
 
 McMurrich, W. H., 433. 
 
 xMcdee, Thomas D'Arcy, 200, 207, 229, 
 
 247, 2.-..3, 255, 289, 207, 345-348, 449. 
 McDou(fall, Hon. William, 247, 252, 284, 
 
 289, 312, 310, 3.35, ;{38, 339, 344, 351, 
 
 352, 353, 357, 300, 374. 
 McLean, Mr. W.,4(i4. 
 McMullen, G. W., 38!). 
 McCarthy, eu.stin, 407. 
 McCully, Jonathan, 280, 312. 
 McTavisb, Ciovernor, .355. 
 McLean, Archdeacon, 358, 
 MoPherson, Hon. 1), L., 386, 387. 
 
 McPeako, Patrick, .381. 
 
 McLelan, A. W., 429. 
 
 Melbourne, Lord, 222, 382. 
 
 Metcalfe, Sir Chai-les, 47-49, 52, 55-61, 
 
 07. 70, 83, 84, 88, 90, 101, 110, 120. 
 Medley, Metropolitan, 450. 
 
INDH.Y. 
 
 641 
 
 UMa, Th.' Fr.'Mch, IttM. 
 MtH«nii(!h, 2.^1. 
 Afifhlua,,, Tli«, •^T2. 
 Mitchnll, pKtur, ;<r.', :ifj. .ccj :ui. 
 
 Mill^ It. Hinrv 11., III). III. 
 
 M.-iiii. A. X.. IIH, ll<», 15,-., l.'itl, 17U, 1H4. 
 
 MotriN, Willliiiii, .V.t. 
 
 Mo..,li... Mrn,, '.M. nil, 41«1, 147, 448. 
 
 Motfutl, linn. (}f..iKi., 73, 7«, M. 
 
 Moril^'oiiiuri)', Mr., I'JH. 
 
 M..iTi.<, .linii.<i, IIH, *JI!, 217. 
 
 M..iTi«<.n, .1. ('.. W>, -Jim, TM, IW, 2:W. 
 
 Mowiit. H.iii. Ollv.r, 207, 211, 2.V2, 2H.|, 
 
 2;m;, -".t7. .wi, 4.-(). 
 
 Morrin, Alcxiiriili!!', 2Ml. 
 
 M(«mit<!UMtlf, .Mi* V'.. 4!»2 HU. 
 
 M.aii k, Lord, 24:i, 24!), 2(14, 'Mi, 312, 3Ut, 
 
 ;ti7, 3111, ;»:.(). 
 
 Mulvtiity, ChuileN I'elhara, 4.S3tHA. 
 
 "NATIONAL (!()MM1TTKR," Tli.-, 
 
 8r.4. 
 National Policv, Ttio, .m, 118-422. 
 Nii>linlh\ 'i'li.i. 2«".2. 
 Niipit-r, .Miiiipr-(!<'iu'riil, 272. 
 Ni-w HiuuMwiik S.h<M,l Kill, :I7H-.'W1. 
 N.-vvniun, \Uv. Honry .lohn, 1)1)101, 131). 
 N.a«(.n, Dr., l.'II,.TJ!. 
 Nowfoiiniilund fmiiliiU'H the (■ air- Cowl, 
 
 311,312 
 NewcHHtle, 'I'ho Puke of. 2.34, 241. 
 NoIho-1, Hon. HiiiiiiK'], 371. 
 Noruiiiiil>y, liiiily, 222. 
 Northcote. Sir Stiitfoni, 372. 
 Nortoti, Lady ('arolint', 3H2. 
 
 OA'l'HS lULL, Th.«, 31)2, 303. 
 
 O'Conii.ll, 10M03, 170. 
 
 t)'I)on(i;,'hun (The I''ouiiin), ;!»).3. 
 
 Oirto, The, 2t!2. 
 
 ()'( Vduior. .lolm, 420. 
 
 ()*N«il (Till- >enian), 271-27»'>, ,301), ;K5t;, 
 
 3C.7. 
 Ori'Kon, Boundary, 10<i, 107. 
 
 PACIFIC KAILWAY.the Inception of, 
 .377, 378 ; luHtory of " Sciuulal," 3«(;- 
 40ti ; Contract with Symliciito, 426-428. 
 
 Pahuerston, Lord, 250, 200, 201. 
 
 I'litton, JaniHH, 245. 
 
 PakinK'toii. Sir John, 147. 
 
 Palnior, Kdward, 2S<). 
 
 Papineau, L. .1., 2(5, .37, 38, 40, 59. 
 
 Papineaii, D. P. 59, 08. 
 
 Parliamuut BuildingH burnt b^ a mob at 
 Montreal, 128, 129 ; Parliament re- 
 moved from Montreal and establiHlied 
 at Montreal and (^uel.ec four yearn al- 
 ternately, 134 ; Ottawa Hugsested aH 
 cjipital, 20.5. 
 
 I'HnI, The, 2(i2. 
 
 Peeh"l, Admiral, 2.34. 
 
 Peel, Sir Robert, 103, 1.33, 222. 
 
 J'edley, Rev. Charles, 228. 
 
 Peacocke, Colonel Geort,'e, 272-27(5. 
 
 PhippH, U. W., 428, 432, 433, 450. 
 
 00 
 
 Pilot, The, 71. 
 Pirhe, M.,2<>7. 
 pope, .1. C., 120. 
 Pop.-. W. II., 281). 
 
 Poi.H, .1 II. 284. 420. 
 Polittt)', .Indict*. MM. 
 Prinu«, (.'ol.. 72, 122,213. 
 Price, J. H , 120, i;«). 
 I'ri. e H.nry. 152. 
 PuH.ty, Uiv. Dr , 00. 
 
 RANKIN, Colonel, 189, 193, 270. 
 
 Kattray, W. .1., 412. 413. 
 
 UailuayH. Tlie iiiterciiloniai an a colo- 
 nial proj»<et, 1 Iti, (irand Trunk, (treat 
 Wenttfrn, Ontario, Sinuoi- und Huron 
 ' (Northern), 105, hitrreolonlal as an 
 I Imperial Hchetne, 31.3. 
 ! Repr<Nentat!on by population, 203, 200. 
 
 U« eiproeitv Treaty, lO.'., I(i(i, lf.7. a70. 
 
 Pfctoriert f'lniiownient of, 151. 
 
 Keheliion LoHHeM Pill. 115, H«, 120, 121). 
 
 " lieformerH," 122. 12.3. 
 
 |{.'ad, John, IKO, 4SH. 
 
 |{e.-..rves, Cler.,'V, 1".(), 1.52. 
 : Kepeal .Movenuiit (Ireland), 101, lOJI. 
 
 KichardH, VV. P., 148. 
 I /irrirw, Fiirriiin Quiirtrrly, 183. 
 I Kiel, LouiH, .354, .3H4, 378, 384, 411. 
 ! RoliiiiMon, vV. I)., lOH. 
 
 Hobinxon, (!hi«f .Jiintice, 88. 
 
 /.'../-/., Th.-, 27.3. 
 
 RobertH, Ituv. (}. Ooodriilge, .\LA.,4r>fi. 
 
 PobertM, Minn .lano K. tl., 480. 
 
 KoHs, William, 408. 
 
 Uobiin, Mr. 77. 
 
 Rolph, Dr., 138, 14H. 
 
 RoHH, Ho 1. .rohn,H9 179, IIM), 221, 24.5. 
 
 Robert.-* Cliarien (J. 1).. 104, 1(55, 435,437, 
 40.5, 180, IHI, 483, 491. 
 
 KoHo, John, 207, 2(;)i, 344. 351. 
 
 Itoinie, I.r I'ard, 138, ICD, 423. 
 
 Rowan, Major (Jetieral, 134. 
 
 RobiuMon, .John Peverley, 21V, 24.5. 
 
 Russell, Loril John, .38, -Iti, 13,3, -222, 2«iO, 
 2153, 2(54, 2(;il, 2(57,208, 410, 432. 
 
 PichardH, A. N., 253. 
 
 Ritchie, Mr., 312. 
 
 Ritchie, Sir W. .1., 425,42(5. 
 
 Ritchie, Lady, 42(5. 
 
 Ritchie, J. A., 49(5. 
 
 Ruinball, Charles, 450. 
 
 SAVANNAH, Tlie, 202. 
 Salaberry, Colonel De, 357, iiOO. 
 Sangster, (Jharles, 41X5. 
 &an Jacinto, 242, 257, 2.VJ. 
 Sehenck, Robert (;.,. 371. 
 Hcott, R. W., 408. 
 
 Scott, 'I'hoinaH, 359, 3(50, 302, 383. .-^ 
 
 Srribncr's Ma},'uzine, 475. 
 Schools, denominational and non-secta- 
 rian, 18(5, 20ti. 
 Senate, The, 33(i, .337. " 
 
 Sewell, Chief Juatice, 287. 
 Seward, Mr. 200. 
 
(U2 
 
 . IXl/E.Y. 
 
 HifrnMlofi iif .Southern HUt<>H, 'SM, 240. 
 Si-riiiiif«, «'ii|>t , 'JIM. '2i\,\ '.IMl, 2117. 
 HIi.tIiIiiii, |{. It., :M'1 
 
 "simmi-, Til.' i>..tii.i.-,"»ci, w:». 
 
 Hhoiilt/., S. V..ri., 'JH, «'.». ;«). 
 
 Hhiilt/., Dr. AM, ;CiM. 
 
 Hh.rw.M..|, lliiii. (Jfortfi', im, IW, 17'A 
 
 '-'•M 'JIft 
 Sli"».'»*l..ii. Atnl.nmi.. 2t»*i, 'JIM, 811, MV. 
 Slum. Hon. K. II., .112. 
 
 Siuilmnll, .Ilillll'N, '2'^>!i. 
 
 SLott... lion. I,, v., 170, 171, 177, «1, 
 
 •247, 'IM. 
 HitiioiKlH, rimrli'N, Tii. 
 Hiimll, Mr., MS. 
 Hmitb, Oolilwiii, MM), 2.12, 41(1, 44R, 4M, 
 
 4«12. 
 Hniith, MitulNtrntx, 27. 
 Smith. C. M.,.H»n, 401. 
 Hiiiith, Jiuiii-M, .V.I. 
 Riiiith. Sir M.iiry, 112, 228, 2:J3. 
 Smith, Syaimv, 221. 
 Hmith, A. .I.,'271, ;M)1. 310, :m, 407. 
 Hmitli, lioiiulil A.,.<a7, :<*i<). 
 H|H•ll'•.^ i{c)li.Tt, 17'.», 2(H1. 
 Btiickliiiiil Family, 'l'hi>, MR. 
 Htrickliitxi, Moiit. ('<>!., IIS. 
 Htiirilfy. Lord, tl7, 224. 
 Ht.-ev.'M. W. H., 2H'J. 
 Btimhau, HiNhov, l.M. 
 Hulliviui, l{. »., f)7, !t4, Itr., 120. 
 St.'wnrt, O.M.rK.i, jr., 3U2, ;W;{, .We, UOO, 
 
 :t!Mi, :{'.m, 12 1, i.il -4B:». 
 
 Streot, Hon. (Joorj^i. K, 225, 
 
 Siimtir, The, 202, 204. 
 
 Siiiiitfr, Fort, 240. 
 
 Buiirciiie ( 'oiirt of ('nnwla KHtal)liHhi'il, 
 
 4i;i. 
 Suit.', nenjamin, 4:{tt, 491, 492. 
 
 TACHF. K, v., 120, 14i>, hVi, 157, 179, 
 IH4, I'.Hi, 200, 255. 2'J2, 303. 
 
 Taylor, Ffimin^'H, 174. 
 
 TaHclieniiu, Henry Kleazar, 2'M. 
 
 Tftclu^, ArchhiHhop, ;I.W, 300-.XM, 37«, 
 :M4. 
 
 Tach.S J. C. 4;J7. 4.'«. 
 
 'JVHHier, N. .T„ 247. 
 
 Teuiiri", Heij^iiorial, l.'i.S, 1.54, 
 
 ThouKlit and Literature, 435. 
 
 Thihau.leau, .loHenh, 207, 211, 238. 
 
 Thil.anlt, Vicar-(}.iiernl. ^.W. 
 
 ThiLodo, AiiKUHttw, 2(i, 27, 145. 
 
 ThoniHon, (!harliH Ponthill (Lord Syden- 
 ham), 47. 
 
 Thornton, .Sir K.'wttrd,37*i. 
 
 r.m./.. Tht.( London 1,2 r.». 
 
 Tlll.'V, «. i... 2H'.». 202, 2!»3, 311, 812. 31W, 
 
 32',», 332, 374. :iM, 420, 422, 
 jTorviim on iti. iMt trial, 110. It fulU, 
 I I In, III). 
 
 'I'odil, AlphtPiii), 115, 44n. 
 I TriM'tariaii Mnvi'inent, 99-101. 
 
 Traill. Mrx., 4MM 
 
 Ti-rnl, Th«, 212, 24.1, 257. 
 
 Tnitth, VV. .1. ,<7H. 
 
 Tiir.otte. L. I'., 430, 410. 
 
 TiipiMtr, lion < harli.H, 2hH, 2'.H), 2'>2, 203, 
 312, 3l.i. 3r,», 'XW, 340, ;i42. MA, M\ 
 
 :m, ;i«w-37o, 371. 420. 
 TiittU', ClmrleN K., 440. 
 
 UphuavalH, Political, .12-49. 
 
 VANKOinjMNFT, I'. M., 213, 221 . 
 VlKor, I). H,, 5'.». «W, It.',, iNl, 107, 1.50. 
 ViK.-r, L. M., 120. 
 Victoria UriiLo, 22H, 233. 
 Viii/iiiieni't, 3.53. 
 
 WATHON, H. .1 ,:WB,4BI 
 \Val«H, Prime of, 22H, 231-2.34.' 
 \Valr..nd, Mr., 110. 
 Wallneoiirt, Lord, 08. 
 Wallhridi,'.., Mr. 247, 
 WaMhiiintoii Treaty, ,372. 
 Welliniftoii, Duke of, 247, 410. 
 Wedderhurii. IL.ii. William, ;tSO. 
 WilliBiiiH, (i(or)."- II., 371. 
 Wilson. May.H', 100, 1(11, 247. 
 William (IV.), 34. 
 WilkeM, ('apt., 259. 
 WilkeH, 30. 
 
 Withrow, llev. W. H,, 440. 
 WilHon, John, i2?>. 
 WiMfMian. ('ardiri,'!, 1.30. 
 Wilmot, Hon. L. .>.., 22.5, 227, 349 
 Wilmot, Hohert I iinean, 312. 420. 
 World, Toronto, (1, 428, 4.12, 404. 
 
 YKO, HTU JAMES, 01. 
 Young, Kev. Mr. 359. 
 Young, (!ol., -M. 
 Young, Hon. .rohn,149. 
 Yt»ung (Confederate Soldier), 209. 
 Y )»in;,- .Sir John (Lord LiBgar), .3.50, 357, 
 {01, .382. 
 
 -r-'.