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"i;:^;..- ■ .r-^'J'. 
 
 
 
 ,-r.:«i*i/-_ 'la'i ■' .: v(.,cri--a i; (!:.,(. 
 
 
 THE. FRASER BANQUET. 
 
 ■'J ;;<■•( 1: ■ . ! : 
 
 ■in ^^ A .!,-r) ..:-■ 
 
 
 MAGNIFICENT XrvIBUIE OF RESPECT AND CONFIDENCE TENDERED 
 
 
 TO THE 
 
 HONORABLE G. F. FRASER, 
 
 ', > 
 
 :; .:i 
 
 -:/.' -.^ I ! p>i 'ftiJi ./J, COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC WORKS. 
 
 .•",.» '>..r •.•t'l ;l^t■'' •;.:;; <•( .<■,,,■ „__ . . / 
 
 .••:,!J i»..J>l.'1^i C'-'IV 
 
 REPRESFNTATIVE MEN FROM ALL PARTS OF T. E PROVINCE ASSEMBLE TO 
 
 DO HIM HONOUR 
 
 ELOQUENT SPEECH BY THE GUEST OF THE EVENING. 
 
 One of the grandest and most successful 
 demonstrations of the kind ever held in 
 Toronto, was the banquet given in honour 
 of the Honourable C. F. Fraser, at the 
 Rossin House, on Thursday evening of 
 last week, the Ist iust. In the unexpect- 
 edly larote attendance, in the completeness 
 of the arrangements, in the harmony and 
 enthusiasm of the company, and in the en- 
 tire satisfaction with which everything 
 passed off to the end, it left nothing to be 
 desired. The members of the committee 
 are to be congratulated on the manner in 
 which they performed their duty ; but they 
 probably feel rather like thanking the pub- 
 lic for tlie ready response with which their 
 invitation was met, and which led to a de- 
 monstration, of the like of which any public 
 man might well feel proud. ■. •- 
 
 Before eight o'clock in the evening the 
 Rossiu House presented an unusually ani- 
 mated appearance. The halls and corridors 
 up stairs and down, were filled with 
 
 I-",'* (lit! 
 
 grou >=i of gentlemen, many of them from 
 different quarters of the Province, in busy 
 conversation, exchanging congratulations 
 on the maguificant prospect for the success 
 of the coming entertainment, or discussing 
 the current topics of the day. The 
 capacious dining hall was gaily decorated 
 with British, Canadian and American flags. 
 The chairman's table was laid at the north 
 end, from which three other tables extend- 
 ed nearly the whole length of the hall. 
 They were all literally loaded with a choice 
 and elegant display of ornamented cakes, 
 confectionery, jellies, &c., «&c., and a rich 
 supply of fruits, and the room, brilliantly 
 lit up as it was, gave a splendid notion of 
 what a magnificent banqueting hall ought 
 to be. Nor was the bill of fare at all out 
 of keeping with the general surroundings. 
 It was fully up to the high reputation of 
 the Rossin House, under its present man- 
 gement, and that is saying that it wasa 
 more, both in the variety and excellence of 
 
XX 
 
 the viands, than the greatest epicure could 
 reasonably desire. The band of the Queen's 
 Own, was stationed in the corridor at the 
 north end of the dining room, and played 
 some splendid selections as the company 
 filed into the room and took their seats, 
 and occasionally at other times during the 
 evening. 
 
 r i . '■' 
 
 On the invitation of those members of the 
 Committee ^\ho acted as stewards, at about 
 half- past eight the whole company proceeded 
 to the dining room, the way bein^^ led by the 
 Chairmanofthebanquet,HughMcMi\hon,Esq., 
 Q.C., of London, with the Hon. C. F. Fraser, 
 the guest of the evenirg, on his right, and 
 the Hon. Oliver Mowat, Premier, on liis left. 
 The band discoursed some lively strains, to 
 the buzz and clatter incident to the seating of 
 80 large a company, the number being 
 fully two hundred, and in a very few min- 
 utes ail were comfortably settled down, with 
 some thirty or forty waiters busily gliding to 
 and fro and catering to their several com- 
 mands. To the right of the chair, next to 
 the guest of the evening, sat the Hon. Adam 
 Crooks, and to the left, next to the Hon. Mr. 
 Mowat, Mr. K. Chisholm, M.P.P. A num- 
 ber of the Rev. clergy of the city were also 
 present, and Messrs. Thomas Ballantyne, 
 M.P.P., Thomas Gibson, M.P.P., D. D. Hay, 
 M.P.P., and many other prominent gentle- 
 men from a distance, as well as leading citi- 
 zens, were noticeable in the company. The 
 vice-chairs were filled by P. Hughes, Esq., 
 of this city, and Wm. Harty, Esq., of King- 
 ston. 
 
 Full justice having been done to the good 
 things provided, the Chairman called the at- 
 tention of the assemblage to the other duties 
 ©f the evening which were now before them ; 
 and briefly and appropriately introduced the 
 first toast— "The Queen "—which was re- 
 ceived with cheers. 
 
 The next toast was " The Prince of Wales 
 and the rest of the Royal Family," in pro- 
 posing which the Chairman called attention 
 to the public spirit of his Royal Highness and 
 the signal service he had rendered to Canada, 
 especially at the Paris Exhibition, as no doubt 
 it was due in great part to his attention that 
 Buch prominent notice was taken of the Cana- 
 
 dian exhibit, and that so many Canadians 
 were now decorated, as they deserved, for 
 their labours on that occasion. (Cheers. ) 
 
 The Chairman, in proposing "The Army, 
 the Navy, and Volunteers," spoke in high 
 praise of the valour and intrepidity of the 
 British soldier. 
 
 The toast called forth a brief and appro- 
 priate response from Col. Arthurs, and a song 
 from a gentleman in the company whose name 
 we did not learn. 
 
 The Chairman then gave "The Governor- 
 General and the Lieutenant-Governor of On- 
 tario," referring in fitting terms to the anci- 
 ent lineage and high social and political dis- 
 tinctions of his Excellency, and considering it 
 as an honour and pride to Canada to have 
 such a distinguished nobleman as representa- 
 tive of the Queen. He also spoke of the un- 
 exceptionable qualifications of the Lieutenant- 
 Governor of Ontario, who though one of our- 
 selves, and formerly engaged in political war- 
 fare, understood well when raised to his ex- 
 alted position how to exclude uU recognition 
 of one party from another in the impartial 
 performance of his duties. (Applause. ) 
 
 The toast was received with cheers. , ^ 
 
 The Chairman, before calling upon the 
 
 company to fill a bumper to the toast of 
 
 "Our Guest," said the Secretary of the 
 
 Committee had received the following letters 
 
 of apology for non-attendance : • 
 
 St. Michael's Palace, 
 
 Toronto, May 1, 1879. 
 
 Dear Sir, — My custom of never attending 
 public banquets, I hope, will excuse my ab- 
 sence this evening from the one given in com- 
 pliment to Hon. Mr. Fraser. That gentle- 
 man's ability and worth deserves every appre- 
 ciation that his friends and admirers could 
 manifest towards him. 
 
 Yours very respectfully, 
 
 John Jo!»eph Lynch, 
 ^ , Archbishop of Toronto, 
 
 ■'•■ 1 • ' Bishop's Palace, ' ..-. . 
 Kingston, April 30, 1879. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I am directed by His Lordship 
 the Bishop of Kingston, to acknowledge with 
 thanks the invitation to the banquet about to 
 be tendered to the Hon. C. F. Fraser. 
 
 While nothing would afford his Lordship 
 greater pleasure than to be present, in order 
 to show his appreciation of the Imn. gentle- 
 man and the sterling qualities he has mani- 
 fested on all occasions where the iutercs^is of 
 the country were concerned, his Lonlship 
 regrets exceedingly that oificial business cf a 
 
it 
 
 most important nature prevents his Veiog pre- 
 sent on this occasioc. 
 
 Assured that the banquet will be, as 
 should be, a perfect success, 
 •_w , I .( His Lordship remains, 
 
 *" '• ) Yours, &c., &c., 
 
 , . '.\_ John, Bishop of Kingston. 
 
 ., . ,. , St. Peter's Palace, 
 
 London, Ont., April 28th, 1879. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I beg to acknowledge receipt 
 of your invitation to be present at the compli- 
 mentary banquet to be given to the Hon. C. 
 F. Fruser on the Ist of May, and I regret very 
 much my inability to avail myself of it, Mr. 
 Fraser is eminently worthy of any honor his 
 friends can bestow upon him. 
 
 Thanking you for the courtesy of your in- 
 vitation, » • , >/ ■ 
 I am, dear sir, ' ' ' 
 
 ' • .'"', l", li Yours very sincerely, 
 ' ■ I •;' • John Walsh, 
 
 '. Bishop of London. 
 
 Bracebridge, 26th April, 1879. 
 
 My Dear Sir, — I am thankful to the com- 
 mittee for their kind invitation to the banquet 
 to be given in honour of the Hon. C. F. 
 Fraser. Our distingnished friend has well 
 merited the etteem of the public for the talent 
 he has displayed in the House of Assembly, 
 and for his services as a Minister of the 
 Crown. I am sure that the manifestation will 
 be a complete success, and worthy his accep- 
 tance. 
 
 My arrangements for the next week will not 
 permit me to be present. 
 
 '. ^,-, Faithfully yours, ^ ,, 
 
 ^ ■ ' John Francis Jamot, 
 
 Bishop of Sarepta, 
 , , Vicar Apostolic of Northern Canada. 
 
 Ottawa, 30th April, 1879. 
 
 Dear Sir, — It would give me great pleasure 
 to attend the complimentary banquet to the 
 Hon. C. F. Fraser, and join with his many 
 friends in doing honour to one who, by his 
 talents and industry, has earned fc himself a 
 high position in Ontario, but "^ lae session of 
 Parliament is drawing to a close, and there 
 are important subjects coming up for con- 
 sideration, I will be unable to leave. I desire, 
 however, to express the gratiiication it affords 
 myself and many other friends that this well- 
 earned compliment is being paid to Mr. 
 Fraser. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 — • R. W. Scott. 
 
 " '< ' '""•'.»■"■' !• House op Commons, 
 . : April 29, 1879. 
 Dear Sir, — I am sorry that I cannot accept 
 the invitation to the complimentary banquet 
 to be given to the Hon. C. F. Fraser on the 
 first of May, which the Committee have so 
 kindly sent me. It would afford me much 
 pleasure to join in this well-deserved tribute 
 to a public mau, whose honesty, consistency, 
 and ability entitle him to the lespect and 
 esteem of all his fellow-countrymen. 
 
 I have the honour to be, ' ' . 
 
 Your obedient servant, ",' .' , 
 
 n , ' .,1 " r. ■ ■ 
 
 . , J.: ,. . T. W. Anolin. 
 
 Brantford, May 1, 1878. 
 
 I had expected to be with you in doing 
 honour to my friend and colleague Mr. Fraser, 
 but at the last moment cannot escape from 
 Court. Express my sincere regret to Mr. 
 Fraser and the Committee. I wish you a 
 successful and happy occasion. 
 
 A. S. Harey. 
 
 My Dear Sir, — I repret that my arrange- 
 ments are such that it is impossible for me to 
 accept your kind invitation to the banquet to 
 be given to Hon. Mr. Fraser on Thursday 
 night. 
 
 Jl .1 . Truly yours, 
 
 T. B. Pardee. 
 
 Sarnia, April 27, 1879. 
 
 Toronto, 29th April, 1879. 
 
 My Dear Sir, — I regret very much that I 
 am unable to accept the kind invitation of 
 your Committee to the banquet to be given to 
 Mr. Fraser on Thursday evening next. 
 
 I leave town in a few minutes for South 
 Bruce, and commence a long series of meet- 
 ings to-morrow night. I think that the idea 
 of paying this compliment to Mr. Fraser is a 
 very happy one, and it would have given me 
 especial pleasure to have taken part in it. 
 Mr. Fraser is undoubtedly one of the ablest 
 of our public men ; and if his health is spared 
 he is safe to become one of the most dis- 
 tinguished of Canadian statesmen. I feel 
 very proud of him as a Canadian, and I think 
 you are doing exactly the right thing in pre- 
 senting him with this public testimonial. 
 
 R. M. Wells. 
 
 irtT • 
 
 Toronto, May Ist, 1879. 
 
 Mr Dear Sir, — I find I must return to 
 Lindsay this evening, as I have to meet some 
 parties at Oakwood to-night by appointment, 
 and also have business in Victoria to-morrow. 
 I very much rsgret, therefore, that I will not 
 have the pleasure of being present with you 
 

 this evening, and join in the honour done to 
 one of my colleagues. 
 
 Faithfully yourb, 
 
 :...,;, , ..„..„'„. S. C. Wood. 
 
 «';j^» 
 
 Ottawa, April 30l'-i, 1879. 
 
 My Dear Sir, — I exceedingly regret that 
 preesiiig business engagements will prevent 
 my attendance at the banquet to be given to 
 our friend, the Hon. Christopher Fraser, to- 
 morrow evening. 
 
 His Bervices in the Liberal cause are de- 
 serving of the highest recogr'*-on at the 
 hands of every true Liberal and honest man 
 throughout the Province, and it is a matter 
 of congratulation that his Liberal friends in 
 Toronto have undertaken to make manifest to 
 him to some extent the high place which he 
 holds in the esteem of the members of the 
 Liberal party of Canada, both on account of 
 his eminent abilities and sterling personnl 
 worth. Our friends from the east here will 
 be able to express to you much better than I 
 can in this liurried note how absolute is the 
 confidence that is reposed in him by the 
 Liberrls of Eastern Ontario, whose leader and 
 representative in the Cabinet he is, of what- 
 ever creed or nationality they may be. 
 
 I sincerly trust the banquet will be in all 
 respects as successful as it ought to be, and 
 that it may serve to encourage its recipient to 
 continue in the time to come as he has done 
 in the past to "discharge with the same zeal, 
 honour, and ability his duties to his country 
 and his party, duties that are surrounded 
 with so many difficulties, and the honest dis- 
 charge of which is attended by so few per- 
 ceptible rewards. 
 
 ""^ ■ - . Yours sincerely, , " '."'!ZC-^v, . , /. 
 
 A. P. McIntyre. 
 
 Thk Chairman, in rising to give the toast 
 of the evening, "The Health of the Hon. C. 
 F. Fraser," referred to the long acquaintance 
 which he bad had with that gentleman, and 
 to the fitting opportunity which was afforded 
 at the present time of paying him a tribute, 
 as he was about to enter upon the corning 
 political battle. Such a demonstration as 
 this would inspire him with hope and confi- 
 dence to enter upon that content, and ho 
 would fight all the more heartily when he 
 e&\r that he was in possession of the sym- 
 pathy of friends, not only in Toronto, but 
 throughout the entire Province. The guest 
 of the evening, though a young man, and oc- 
 cupying a place among the rising Canadians, 
 bad achieved a position which was as gratify- 
 ing to his friends as it was creditable to him- 
 Beff. He ha<i achieved that position without 
 any sacrifice of principle or of independence 
 of character. He had had to face opposition 
 
 of no ordinary kind ; but he bad been able to 
 preserve throughout not only the liberality of 
 his opinions and the courage of his convic- 
 tions, but he had exhibited a foresight and a 
 knowledge of the requirements of the coun- 
 try, which placed him in the foremost ranks 
 of those who were worthy to be entrusted 
 with the management of the public affairs. 
 The position the hor. gentleman now occu- 
 pied was one of wl.ich he might very well 
 feel proud, because it was that of being not 
 the least member of an Administration the 
 equal of which had never occupied the 
 Treasury benches in any Parliament in this 
 Canada of oura. (Loud Cheers.) He made 
 that statement unhesitatingly, and with the 
 greater confidence because their iK)litical ene- 
 mies themselves were sometimes forced to 
 admit that it would be impossible to fiud in 
 their ranks six such gentlemen as now com- 
 posed the Mowat Administration. He (Mr. 
 McMahon) came from a constituency not 
 famed for its Keform proclivities, yet even in 
 that constituency there was a candidate in 
 the field who had every prospect of defeating 
 the leader of the Opposition. He gave the 
 health of Hon. C. F. Fraser, which was 
 drunk amid long-continued cheering and 
 singing " He's a jolly good fellow." 
 
 ,g^i .^ HON. MR. FRASER's SPEECH. , ,, 
 
 Hon. Mr. Fraser on rising to respond was 
 greeted with long and loud cheering, the 
 guests rising to their feet in their enthusiasm, 
 and for some moments he could not be heard. 
 On order being restored, however, he pro- 
 ceeded : — Mr. Chairman and gentlemen. 
 They are not idle words, it is not a mere 
 phrase of the lip I use, when I say that I 
 never felt so completely meritless as I do at 
 tliis moment. Looking back to my past 
 public life, which has not been a very long 
 one. I cannot realise that I liave ever done 
 anything that would merit, that would claim 
 to merit, so magnificent a reception as you 
 have ttiuUred me this evening. I wish I 
 could feel that anything I have done could 
 justify such a greeting, and I am very much 
 afraid that you have far over-estimated any 
 just deserving of mine. I fear that wfiat you 
 are giving me credit for is only a little re- 
 flected light, that I am receiving the esteem 
 and approbatitm due to the man whom I have 
 cheerfully and loyally followed as my chief 
 for fix years, and whom 1 shall be glad to 
 follow in the future. (Cheers.) Tlie more I 
 think it out, the more I believe this demon- 
 stration really arises from the fact that those 
 who are now listening to me have seen that 
 during the past seven years my frimd the 
 Attorney-General has led the affairs of this 
 Province with honesty and more than marked 
 ability. (Loud cheeiing.) I do not think 
 that the people of Ontario entirely appreciate 
 
6 
 
 the services they have received at the hands 
 of the leader of their Local Government. We 
 have heaid it frequently said that he made a 
 descejit from the l)ench, that he left the higher 
 sphere of tlie judiciary to assume a place in 
 tlie political arena, and that in doing so he 
 made what his opponents are pleased to 
 characterize as a " descent" — a descent in the 
 sense that the step taken was an unworthy 
 one. I think it was a fortunate thing for this 
 Province — descent or no descent — that when 
 he did, as he did, the Hon. Oliver Mowat con- 
 sented to sacrifice pei manency for the more 
 procariiiU3, and more onerous, post of Premier. 
 There were the 
 
 LARGE AND IMPORTANT QUESTIONS 
 remainincf to be settled — questions that re- 
 quired a man of just such experience, and of 
 just such untiring industry, great honesty 
 and equally great ability, and all these he 
 possesses in a measure equalled by no other 
 man in the Local House. (Cheers.) Why, 
 Sir, if the people would but consider the vast 
 difficulties that attended the settling of only 
 the municipal loan fund indebtedness, if they 
 knew the application and untiring zeal with 
 which he applied himself to the settlement of 
 this involved and difficult matter, there 
 would bo a meed of thanks given to him far 
 greater than any he has yet received. A 
 matter of no less, but rather greater, interest 
 to all interested in the welfare of the Pro- 
 vince was the fixing and ascertaining its 
 boundaries in the north and west. No one 
 not acquainted with the facts can appreciate 
 the amount of study and research that have 
 been devoted by the Attorney-fxeuera' to the 
 preparation of what might be called the 
 "brief" on this subject; nor to that other 
 important and involved question of the dis- 
 puted award so long pending between this 
 Province and Quebec. (Cheers.) These were 
 and are three matters of grave import and 
 consequence to the Province, and for the sat- 
 isfactory and successful conclusions reached 
 in all of them thvre is due to the Attorney- 
 General above all others the chief, if not the 
 entire, credit. (Cheers.) I feel, therefore, 
 that in these, as indeed in all other things 
 which commond his Government and his col- 
 leagues, the true aud just merit has besu his, 
 and that in being singled out for such a mag- 
 nificont reception as you have tendered me 
 to-night, I am perhaps being credited with 
 deservings that are not all mine, but are 
 rightfully due to my leader. (A Voice — "No, 
 no.") And now whtt am I to say further ? 
 Perhaps it might not be an unwise thing 
 should I venture upm one or two questions 
 relating to our public alfaira as they are now 
 before the people ; make answer to some of 
 the opposition now being offered to the Ad- 
 ministr-vtiou, and thus justify my own public 
 
 career in defending the Government. If 1 
 were not prepared to do that I should not be 
 worthy of your approbation. But on account 
 of the late hour of the nijjht, and because I 
 do not feel Dhysically able to prolong this 
 speech, my remarks to you must be brief. 
 Just let me at the outset makesome reference to 
 an editorial comment which I found in this 
 morning's issue of the organ of the Opposi- 
 tion. One of the many things now being spe- 
 cially noticed in the campaign is the vexed 
 question of the 
 
 INDEMNITY, OB THE "SALARY OBAB," 
 
 as it is more commonly called. (Aj)plau8e. ) 
 The Opposition in their leading oracle to-day 
 partially justify the position they are attempt- 
 ing to take upon this question by referring to 
 an alleged report in some former issue of the 
 same paper of a speech said to have been made 
 by me in the past session. The only speech I 
 did make upon this subject was made in the 
 session, during the debate on the amendment 
 to the amendment moved by the member for 
 South Simcoe to a paragraph of the answer to 
 the Address from the Throne. It is ^^aid that 
 I then roundly asserted that the Governni-mt 
 intended to stand by the indemnity, and that 
 I called upon the House to sustain the Gov- 
 ernment in its proposed action of retaining it 
 at the old figure of $800. I deny in the 
 broadest terms that during that deb vte, or 
 at any other time in the last session, I uttered 
 anything that might have been construed into 
 an appeal or a statement of that kitid, 
 (Cheers.) What I did confine myself to was 
 a condemnation of the conduct of the Opposi- 
 tion on the question. I was endeavouring to 
 to show the attempt being made by Mr, 
 Meredith and his lieutenants to embarrass 
 the Government supporters by trickery, and 
 to riake capital unfairly at their expense. 
 All irhrough what I said I purposely limited 
 myself to that line of remark, and I took 
 particular care not to say a single ward atjout 
 the intention of the Government with regard 
 to the indemnity, because I did not wish, nor 
 did my colleagues wish, that the Opposition 
 shouhl be gratified with the admission that 
 we had already decided what our proposition 
 to the House should be. The position the 
 Opposition had taken warranted us in treating 
 their whole course with confompt, and this is 
 what we diil during that eight or ten (hy'a 
 debate, aud their attempt now ta make it ap- 
 j)ear that we resisted the reduction of the in- 
 demnity, and were only induced to make a 
 chanue on account of the appearance of their 
 amendment, is not only faUe, but it cau bo 
 shown oouclusively to be so even in their own 
 esteem. Their effort was to get us at a dis- 
 advantage ; for if not, and if they believed we 
 were not going to reduce the indemnity, what 
 would have been their plain course? Why 
 
6 
 
 to wait until we had introduced our estimates 
 and then attack us upon them. Bntthey had 
 learned in advance, oy some means or other, 
 that we proposed to reduce — I do not pretend 
 to say how, but these things will leak out of 
 the Departments, and they find their way 
 by some means to the knowledge of the 
 Opposition. That I am right is proven by 
 this further fact, that they did not content 
 themselves by moving an amendment 
 to the particular clause of the Address, 
 but they also very cleverly — if mere trickery 
 is to be called cleverness — moved an amend- 
 ment to the amendment, using the hon, mem- 
 ber for South Simcoeas their instrument, and 
 thus by the rules of the House placed the 
 supporters of the Government in the position 
 of seeming to vote against any reduction by 
 opposing the : motion and 
 
 REFl'SING lo VOTE WANT OF CONFIDENCE 
 
 in the Government. It was this contemptible 
 style of political warfare which I aaked the 
 House to unite in repudiating. (Cheers.) 
 And my only excuse in referring to it now is 
 that at the earliest moment my denial should 
 be given to the version of my speech put for- 
 ward in the article referred to, (Cheers.) 
 And I hope that I have not occupied too much 
 of your time in my remarking even so briefly 
 upon what are the true facts in this matter of 
 the indemnity to members. Now, as a Govern- 
 ment, we are rightfully expected on the eve 
 of a general election to render an account of 
 our stewardship. The other day at Richmond 
 Hill the leader of the Opposition and two of 
 his trusted lieutenants delivered what may be 
 called the opening speeches from their side of 
 the pending campaign. They were pretty 
 fully reporteil in the papers. Mr. Meredith 
 there took occasion to say that we who now 
 administer the affairs of this Province were 
 but, comparatively speaking, apprenticehands, 
 and by way of contrast referred to Sandfield 
 Macdonald as having " been in the smoke 
 of battle." Well, I do not know whether he 
 wished it to be inferred that he and the 
 couple of gentlemen who were with him 
 were veterans in political warfare, and bad 
 served under Administrations ; but if be did 
 80, he certainly spoke without the book. 
 Whatever may have been his motive for so 
 speaking, Mr. Meredith has certainly uo 
 right to lay claim to anything in the shape 
 of experience in governmental administra- 
 tion. But, Sir, I only refer to that occa- 
 sion to draw attention to what I believe will 
 b« 
 
 THE TWO LEADING PLANKS 
 
 in the Oppositioi' ])latform. If I understand 
 their position aught, they will base their 
 attack upon the present Administration upon 
 two grounds — one, that we have been ex- 
 
 travagant in administering the financial 
 affairs of the Province ; and the other, that 
 in the contest of last September most, if 
 not all, of the members of the Govern- 
 ment took a greater or less part in the 
 battle then being fought. I cnnnider that no 
 part of the record of the present Government 
 is, in honesty, less open to attack than that 
 which has to do with the finances of the 
 country. (Cheers.) It is alleged that we 
 have been wasteful, and that we have been 
 corrupt, and the text-book for it all is the 
 now notorious pamphlet said to have been 
 written by Senator Macpherson. I tliink 
 that two or three very significant answers 
 can be made to those assertions of extrava- 
 gance and corruption, and I will endeavour 
 to give them very briefly. The accusation 
 of extravagance against us is chiefly made by 
 comparing our expenditure with the expendi- 
 ture under the late Sandfield Macdonald 
 Government. The financial record of the 
 year 1878 is compared with that ot 1871, 
 and we are charged with having, in round 
 numbers, increased the expenditure by about 
 80 per cent. The chief increase in the ex- 
 penditure of this Province was made in 1873, 
 and I think one legitimate and reasonable 
 way of testing whether we, as a Government, 
 are extravagant or not is to compare the ex- 
 penditure of that year with the expenditure 
 of the past year. That will be one method 
 of showing that the accusations against us are 
 entirely unfounded, and, to use a mild phrase, 
 completely astray. To put it briefly, in 1873 
 we were proposing to expend nearly three 
 millions of money. What items in that sum 
 total did the Opposition challenge? Let it 
 be borne in mind that at that time they 
 were led by a member of the Sandfield Mac- 
 donald Government, and that there were be- 
 sides two other members of the Sandfield 
 Macdonald Cabinet in the House, Messrs. 
 Richards and Wood. The increase that was 
 proposed to be made was then perfectly fresh, 
 so to speak ; that year being the first of my 
 hon. friend the leader of the Government. 
 The Opposition were in full possession of the 
 facts relating to that increase, and were then 
 just as desirous of making capital against us 
 as now. You may rest assured that under 
 their then leader, the Hon. Mr. Cameron, no 
 opportunity w&a lost of endeavouring to bring 
 home to us every possible objection to our 
 management and to our expenditure. But 
 with that criticism and that leadership, with 
 a proposed increase that was strikingly new, 
 how much do you think the Opposition pro- 
 
 [losed to save out of that nearly three mil- 
 ions ? We are charged with being a waste- 
 ful Government, with having squandered the 
 surplus moneys of the people, and that for 
 many years we have had deficits instead ot 
 surpluses. How much did this Opposition, 
 
careful of the people's money, anxious to 
 overturn our Administration, trying to make 
 a record for itself, challenge out of this 
 
 NEARLY THREE MILLIONa 
 
 that we then proposed to expend ? Leaving 
 out of consideration for a moment the items 
 to which I shall presently refer, they objected 
 to less than $10,000 (cheers), and even some 
 of the motions that were made in favour of 
 this reduction were opposed by Mr. Cameron, 
 some by Mr, Richards, and some by Mr. 
 Wood. Ten thousand dollars will more than 
 cover the entire sum they then objected to in 
 a proposed expenditure of about two millions 
 for Civil Government, Legislation, Adminie- 
 tration of Justice, Education, Maintenance 
 of Public Institutions, and the other items of 
 that year's estimates, but not including Im- 
 migration, Public Buildings, and the item of 
 Uiifcre^oen and Unprovided. (Cheers.) True 
 they likewise proposed to reduce by $4,000 
 the immigration appropriation for that year, 
 and to leluce the appropriation for what is 
 called unforeseen and unprovided by 
 $25,000. This item denominated unfore- 
 seen and unprovided is one the ex- 
 penditure in respect of which is un- 
 certain, and is liable to occur at any 
 time, and most usually for some object which 
 is not anticipated and for 'which no specitic 
 vote has been made by Parliament. If, for 
 instance, any structure in connection with 
 the Parliament House were to be destroyed 
 during the recess, and which it was necessary 
 to replace before the assembling of the Legis- 
 lature, " Unforeseen and Unprovided" would 
 be charged with the construction of anything 
 eo destroyed. The Opposition then, as now, 
 objected to allowing so large a sum <ts $50,- 
 000 to remain in the estimates to bo expended 
 at will by the Government witliout votes for 
 specific purposes, and proposed to lessen it by 
 $25,000. It was not properly a proposition 
 to reduce the expenditure ; it was simply the 
 assertion of a policy in respect of this special 
 item. The only other item in regard to which 
 in that year they made objection was that for 
 the ( >nstruution of the 
 
 NORMAL SCHOOL AT OTTAWA. 
 
 The erection ot this School was a recom- 
 mendation of the late Chief Superindent of 
 Education, and the opposition to it partook of 
 the nature of a protest against the scheme, 
 and not against the proposed cost of the build- 
 ing, I repeat, then, that, omitting these 
 three items just specially mentioned, the 
 total of the other proposed reductions for the 
 year 1873 were less than $10,000. The then 
 attitude of the Opposition virtually was that 
 if they were allowed to assume the reins of 
 power, out of a total proposed expenditure of 
 over two milliona they would — if they could 
 
 — curtail the intended outlay for the year by 
 perhaps one-half of one per cent of its amount. 
 (Cheers and laughter.) Such is the result of 
 the test of 1873 — a test of their own deliber- 
 ate and recorded making. (Cheers.) There 
 is another fair answer to this c'^arge of our 
 being extravagant, and it is this : — We went 
 to the country in 1875 with these accusations 
 against us then, and we mado good our de- 
 fence, The verdict of the people was in our 
 favour, and they returned our candidates by 
 a majority beyond all questioning, and larger 
 than that supporting us in the Parliament just 
 prior. That the people — our masters — did so 
 ought of itself to be our complete vindication, 
 unlessthose whocharge us with malversation of 
 affairs are able to show that since 1875 — the 
 year of the last general election — we have in- 
 creased the expenditure in a manner that now 
 deserves condemnation. I say most emphatic 
 cally that we have not so increased it since 
 then. (Cheers.) Under the only two heads 
 as to which the government can fairly be 
 brought to book -Civil Government and 
 Legislation — we have not so increased the ex- 
 penditure since 1875. One hears a great deal 
 about Civil Qovernment and Legislation just 
 now. If - . ' < 
 
 SENATOR MACPHERSON's PAMPHLET 
 
 were to be believed, the increased outlay over 
 the whole Provincial field has been enormous 
 and extravagant ; and, to use one of his own 
 words, "appalling." Let me quote to yoa 
 some of the figures of Senator MacPherson's 
 pamphlet — even dished up and put together, 
 as it has been, for the purpose of deceiving 
 the people of Ontario. Civil Government as 
 you know, covers all that is expended in the 
 various Departments. In 1873 the expendi- 
 ture under this head was $152,500 ; take even 
 the Senator's figures, and you will find that 
 the average expenditure of the six years from 
 1873 to 1878, inclusive, is only $153,000. 
 (Cheers.) We are denounced for alleged 
 alarming increases in the Departments, in face 
 of the indisputable truth that we have kept 
 the expense of Civil Government at almost 
 the exact figure at which it stood in 1873. 
 (Cheers.) And this including the addition to 
 Ministers' salaries — except, of course, that of 
 the Minister of Education, which comes more 
 properly under the head of Education. Now, 
 Sir, I should like to know how any honest 
 man amonirst our opponents can truthfully as- 
 sert that the cost of Civil Government has 
 been increasing from year to year, when the 
 a vera;, e of the last six years is almost 
 identical in amount with that of 1873, 
 (Cheers.) I mieht treat Legislation in the 
 same way. You will all reccollect that in 
 the session of 1875 the iadeninity of mem- 
 bers was increased from $450 to $600, an 
 increase which no one will attempt to obal- 
 
B 
 
 Jrnge, but which together with the admisninn 
 of new nienibeip, iiicrGased <he cost of h-pis- 
 latioii l>y Rcmething like $13,000 or $14,000. 
 If jdu tnke the ittnis niider this head, as I 
 have laken the ittnis of civil j;overmneiit, 
 niid averaue them tl e same way, but omitting 
 for the jiast three years the additional $200 of 
 members' indemnity, you will find the result 
 to be much the same — viz., that since 1873 
 the increase has V)een but of the most trifling 
 figure. (Cheers.) We, in a word, made our 
 subHtantial increases in 1873, and we have 
 only maintained them since. There are un- 
 questionably other items of the public ex- 
 t)endilure in which, since 1873. there havo 
 leen increases, but into the details of the»e I 
 need not go, because our accusers can be 
 falsified out of their own mouths. By how 
 much did they last sessitm, with their re- 
 newed efforts to make for themselves a record, 
 attenix^t to 
 
 f , - . 
 
 REDUCE THE EXPENSE OF 
 
 Civil Government, an amount which, as I 
 have said, has remained at the almost station- 
 ary figure of $153,000 since 1873 ? Including 
 the ten per cent, reduction, the total saving 
 proposed by the Opposition was only )513,000. 
 Under the head of Legislation, the cost of 
 which was in 1871 $01,000. and for which we 
 have asked in 1870 $111,000, how much did 
 they ])ropoae to eflTect by way of a saving? 
 The magnificent amount of $670. (Livnghter 
 and cheers.) Under the head of Administra- 
 tion of Justice, we asked $285,000, and the 
 Oppofiition — giving thtm always the benefit 
 of the ten per cent, reduction — voted to save 
 out of this the bagattUe of $6,300. (Cheers.) 
 For educational purposes we expend this year 
 over half a million of money, and it shonkl 
 1)6 bornw in mind that that large expenditure 
 is largely entailed to save you from direct 
 taxation, (Cheers.) The amount by which 
 Mr. Meredith proposed to reduce the edu- 
 cation et-timates last session was how much, 
 think you ? Just $3,860. (Cheers.) For 
 the maintenance of puMic institutions, which 
 covers all the expenditure for maintaining 
 the Lunatic A?ylums, the Institute for the 
 Blind, that for the Deaf and Dumb, the Cen- 
 tral Piis >n, and the other public institutions 
 of the Province, we were asking for this year 
 another half a million of money. By how 
 much did the Opposition, eager to score any- 
 thing against us which might be of advantage 
 to them in the elections, propose to reduce 
 this suui, and a fairly large one it is in the 
 total of our alleged extravagance ? Why, 
 Sir, by only $2,700. (Laughter,) It was the 
 old case of "much ado aliout nothing." It 
 was a "great cry, but little wo L" (Laugh- 
 ter.) I'ur Civil Government, Legislation, 
 Education, Administration of Justice, and 
 the uiaintt-uauce of Public Institutions, we 
 
 intend spending during this year a million 
 and a half of money, and the Opposition pro- 
 claim, in just BO many words, that if they 
 are allowed to take our places, out of that 
 total of more than a million and a half, they 
 would, if could, save just about .$20,000. 
 (Cheers.) In other words, taking the ]ior- 
 centage of increase as given by Mr. Mere- 
 dith at Richmond Hill at 80 per cent., they 
 offer to try their veteran hands at reducinjf 
 our extravagant expenditure by, as nearly as 
 may be, one and two-thirds per cent. (Loud 
 Cheers.) And, mark yon, that is not to save 
 the people of this country from direct taxa- 
 tion, for any effectual saving would only add 
 to the surplus. This would be the prize 
 offered you— that each one of you, as a unit in 
 the population of this Province, would, if 
 these contlemen were planed in ])ower, have 
 an additional couple of cents of interest in an 
 accumulating surplus more than you have 
 now. And, if they continued in power for 
 twenty years, each one of you, at the end of 
 that time, would perhaps have forty or fifty 
 cents more at his credit in the Treasurer's 
 box. (Laughter.) Beyond what I have al- 
 ready referred to, Mr. Meredith and his fol- 
 lowers suggesteil that $15,000 be struck from 
 Immigration, 911 which we spent in 1873 
 $160,000, and in 1870 only contemplate an 
 outh'-y of about $27,000. Tlu^y proposed 
 likewise that the item of Unforeseen ; nd Un- 
 provided, which under ua has always been put 
 into the estimates at .$50,000, should be re- 
 duced by $30,000; and that an amount of $11,- 
 300 for insurance of your public buildings 
 should bo discontinued. The grand total of 
 their proposed reductions last session amounted 
 I0 in round numbers about $83,000, and 
 which, if you take my figuring of a moment 
 ago — and bearing in mind the percentage of 
 increase to be what it is charged to be, 80 per 
 cent. — would reduce the $2,300,000 of antici- 
 pated expenditure for 1870 l)y less than foi^r 
 per cent. That is to say, give them the reins, 
 and believe, if you can, that they would carry- 
 out their promises, each man of you would 
 have annually added, on his own behalf, to 
 the surplus moneys of this Province about 
 four cents, and if this good fortune continued 
 to you for the next twenty-five years you 
 would have each a big dollar there. (Ciieers.) 
 But do not forget that they gave as their 
 reason for proposing a reduction in all salaries 
 above $800 that the price of provisions had 
 gone down. Their p dicy was what I styled 
 the 
 
 " PRICE OF-PORK POLICY," 
 
 by which the Government would require to 
 have some new-fangled machine with which 
 fco register the price of provisions ; and the 
 salaries of the clerks ia the Departments 
 would go up or down as the price of potatoes 
 
9 
 
 anfl flour anrl beef rosp and fell, (Laughter.) 
 Hut is it at all likuly tliat rnco in jxiwer our 
 frienils would reduce tiie salaries whioli they 
 80 vigorouslv denounced last session. Would 
 they not suddenly find out, that, through the 
 oi)erHtii>u of the N. I*., or some other equally 
 valid eause, joik had mcantimo gone up, and 
 that thus the reason for reduction luiving 
 vanished, it was imperatively necessary that 
 the salaries should remain untouched. So, 
 too, with reference 'o our salaries ua Minis- 
 ters. The increase there, they say, was made 
 only upon the condition that we should give 
 our whole time to the duties of our various 
 Departments. In our innocence wo supimsed 
 that all the time the people of this country 
 wanted at our hands was that — he it less or 
 more — actually necessary to manage their 
 affairs. However this may he, we had, so 
 they said, gone about electioneering — we had 
 not given our whole time to our Departments, 
 and hence this economical Opposition pro- 
 posed to give our salaries another cut. la it 
 at all probable, however, that these same gen- 
 tlemen Wduld reduce their own salaries should 
 they be— unfortunately for the country— re- 
 turned to power, or is it not more likely that 
 on the pretext that they were, unlike us, 
 giving their whole time they would consider 
 their salaries at our present figure none too 
 high ? I put it to vou, then, who are listen- 
 ing to me, to say whether, judging our re- 
 cord in the light of that endeavoured to be 
 made by the Opposition, and by the manner 
 in which we have managed not alone the 
 financial but all the other affairs of Ontario, 
 whether you ought not to prefer placing again 
 at the head ot these affairs those who have 
 proved themselves able and willing to conduct 
 them in a manner worthy of your confidence. 
 (Loud cheering.) Let mo now briefly make 
 reference to 
 
 ONE OTHER FEATURE 
 
 of what I believe to be the campaign plan of 
 the Opposition — the charge that we did wrong 
 in taking part in tiie elections of last fall. I 
 I am not going to discuss whether we were on 
 the right or wrong side then, I am not going 
 into the infinite labyrinth of the N.P., as it 
 was debated then and has been discussed 
 since. What I do say is this : that the mem- 
 bers of the Local Government, aa common 
 citizens of this Dominion along with you, 
 having precisely the same but no different or 
 other interest iu the right disposal of those 
 affairs, and the same common concern iu the 
 proper government of the whole Dominion, 
 having the same right too to exercise the fran- 
 chise, were entitled to the same freedom to go 
 upon the public platfoim and to discuss and 
 to ask the people to listen to what we thought 
 of these great public matters, lu which we as 
 well as they were so concerned. (Loud 
 
 cheers.) They who say that any one who 
 has had the right to sJM'ak for the Reform 
 party has ever taken any other ground say 
 what is untrue, and what has been proven to 
 be untrue uiton more then one occasion. 
 (Cheers.) When that charge was made 
 against us last session, and when it 
 was alleged that Mr. Blake had spoken 
 nutuinst the practice, I ])rodnced to the 
 House Mr. Blake's speech, and read it sen- 
 ti'uce by sentence, line by line. That evi- 
 dence was conclusive to every honest nrian, 
 and appeared to be so even to the Opposition, 
 for we heard no more of the matter during the 
 session. It proved beyond all question that 
 Mr. Blake never did take thfl gnmnd that as 
 citizens of this Domini(m and of this Province 
 of Ontario, having its common interest with 
 the whole Dominion, the members of the Lo- 
 cal Government should, under no circum- 
 stances, take part in the discussion of Domi- 
 nion affairs. When Mr. Blake made his 
 speech declaring what, upon this policy, 
 was to be the policy of his own Administra- 
 tion, ho was the accredited leader of the 
 Liberal party ; but beside.^ being Premier of 
 the Ontario Government, he was then a mem- 
 l>er of the Dominion House of Commons G,nd 
 in avowed opposition to the Dominion Gov- 
 ernment of that time. It is impossible to be- 
 lieve that he, with his far-seeing and compre- 
 hensive grasp of every subject to which he 
 gives attention, fihould have laid down the 
 riiliculous rule that would h.ive put the gag 
 into his own mouth and the manacles upon his 
 own wrists whenever questions of Dominion 
 affiirs arose. On the contrary, he took care 
 to have it understood that he was speaking of 
 this Government as a Government, that as 
 between Dominion and Local Governments as 
 Governments there should be 
 
 NOTHING BUT STRICT Nl.UTRALITY. 
 
 The Local Government are administering the 
 affairs of the whole Province — of the whole 
 people — and in doing so should deal with mat- 
 ters affecting the Dominion as a whole in a 
 spirit of perfect fairness ; but said Mr. Blake 
 in effect — as a citizen of the Dominion, as a 
 Canadian, I am not favourable to the 
 Administration at Ottawa, and I shall 
 hold myself as in unqualified opposi- 
 tion to them. Well, Sir, we agreed with 
 Mr. Blake in that regard, and we thought, 
 and we still think, that we had a right to 
 take part in such an important event as the 
 Dominion general election. I repeat that in 
 this last case I am not now questioning 
 whether we were on the right or wrong side 
 — the people, our masters, have decided that ; 
 but I do say that those who are attempting to 
 show that because as individuals any of ua 
 were opposed to the National Policy we will 
 therefore as a Government be hostile to or can 
 
11. 
 
 10 
 
 n- 
 
 H 
 
 in any manner emiiarrass the carrying out of 
 the N.P, are deliherately asserting what they 
 believe to be untrue. We have no desire to 
 interfere with the carrying out of the National 
 Policy — we have nothing whatever to do with 
 it, and our return to power will not by even a 
 tittle prevent its carrying out. (Cheers.) 
 But with regard to other affairs I believe, 
 speaking for myself alone, that there may be 
 times when it would be the bounden duty of 
 the Local Administration as an Administra- 
 tion to take very strong grounds on what 
 might be considered Dominion questions. 
 Everybody who has cared to think out this 
 grave matter commonly known as 
 
 THE " LETELLIER AFFAIR " 
 
 will agree, I think, that it is one upon which 
 the Provinces, as such are entitled to be 
 heard. If the Local House were sitting now, 
 I think the Letellier affair has taken such 
 present phase and proportion that it would 
 not only be the bounden duty of the House to 
 speak upon i*', but it would be the duty of 
 the Administration to lead the House to speak 
 out. I no more intend to discuss the right or 
 wrong of Lieutenant-Governor Letellier's act 
 and the constitutional rights of the people of 
 Quebec in that regard than I did a moment 
 ago the right or wrong of the National Policy, 
 nor would I desire to make political capital 
 out of the embarrassment of the Dominion 
 Government ; but I think they and their 
 followers at Ottawa, in their blind way of 
 dealing with this question, are burying out of 
 sight the rights — the distinct and separate 
 rights— of the people of each Province, since 
 we have had Government in Canada under 
 the scheme of Confederation. Much is now 
 being violently and abusively said about 
 responsible government, and the people's 
 rights thereunder, but only as if re- 
 sponsible government applied to the affairs 
 and administration at Ottawa and nowhere 
 else. That which to us as a Province is an 
 equally, if not a more vital question — self- 
 government and responsible government as 
 applied to our local affairs as a Province — that 
 self-government which is our Provincial right, 
 and which should not be interfered with at 
 Ottawa — is unheard and unheeded in the mad 
 clamour of those who seek Letellier's dismissal. 
 (Cheers. ) Before Confederation, self-govern- 
 ment in this country ran as it were only in a 
 single stream. Confederation changed that. 
 It comes to us now in two streams — one flow- 
 ing to Ottawa for the Dominion as a whole, 
 and the other to each Province for its 
 
 ; LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT, 
 
 unhampered by Ottawa. I say that, if the 
 chief recommendation of Confederation to the 
 people of Ontario was — as it was — that it gave 
 them control of their own Provincial affairs, 
 
 no more dangerous blow could be levelled at 
 that control than to admit that any political 
 majority at Ottawa had the right to interfere, 
 and, as it might be, against the will of the 
 Province, remove a Lieutenant-Governor, 
 who, under our Constitutional Act, is one 
 branch of our Local Legislature. If, upon 
 the partisan verdict of sume mere political 
 majority declaring some special act of a 
 Lieut. -Governor to be unwise, he is to be dis- 
 missed, no matter what the Province to be 
 affected may, by its Local Parliament — its con. 
 stitutional voice — say to the contrary, then it is 
 possible for such a politioal majority at Ottawa 
 to make of Provincial self-government a mere 
 myth. (Chuers.) They say now that the 
 dismissal of a Ministry was unwise ; to-mor- 
 row they might, for some other reason, inter- 
 fere, and pronounce the not dismissing of a 
 Local Government to be also *" unwise." To- 
 day it might be " unwise" to assent to some 
 particular measure ; next week the same 
 censure might be pronounced because of 
 non-assent. How many things there are 
 which a political majority might think fit 
 to characterize as unwise in the conduct of 
 a Lieut. -Governor, and, therefore, demand 
 his dismissal. Speaking for myself again, I 
 say that the people of Ontario, in respect of 
 their Local Legislature and the constitutional 
 right of local self-government, ought to be as 
 independent of, and as free from being con- 
 trolled by, the political majority at Ottawa 
 as the Dominion, represented by Ottawa, is 
 unfettered and uncontrolled in its proper con- 
 stitutional sphere by us. ( beers.) The 
 Lieut. -Governor is, as I have said, one branch 
 of our Legislature here, and if he is to be of 
 that etiicient, untrammelled service to us 
 which, as ftne arm of our local self-govern- 
 ment, he ought to be, he should not have to 
 fear that he only remains at his post by the 
 mercy or clemency of any mere majority in 
 the Dominion Pi'rliament — be that majority 
 Grit or Tory. (Cheers.) If he is to be the 
 safe-guard to us, which the Governor-General 
 is to the Dominion, he must be allowed his 
 course to unbiased as possible. A Lieutenant- 
 Governor should be actpated alone by a just 
 sense of his duty towards the people of the 
 Province, and not by any fear that his every 
 act must be guided by a regard to what may 
 be pleasing to the party which from time to 
 time may happen to rule the Dominion. 
 Even were we ready to admit that the gentle- 
 men appointed to the ofBce have ever the 
 courage to exercise their unbiassed opinion, 
 we cannot afford to run a rink. We should 
 not yield a jot of our right to be the judges 
 in our own aff'airs ; and if the Constitutional 
 Act does not provide for such independent 
 action of the Lieut. -Governor as I have re 
 ferred to, then we of the Provinces ought to 
 see to it that it is not aUowed to continue so. 
 
 in 
 
11 
 
 iWeA at 
 political 
 terfere, 
 of the 
 ivernor, 
 is ODe 
 f, upon 
 )oUtical 
 t of a 
 I be dis- 
 3 to be 
 -its con. 
 ,hen it is 
 , Ottawa 
 b a mere 
 hat the 
 to-mor- 
 n, iater- 
 ing of a 
 e." To- 
 to some 
 ;he same 
 sause of 
 lere are 
 think fit 
 nduct of 
 demand 
 again, I 
 •espect of 
 Ditutional 
 b to be as 
 •eing con- 
 t Ottawa 
 )ttawa, is 
 •Djier con- 
 's.) The 
 lie branch 
 a to be of 
 ce to us 
 If-govern- 
 )t have to 
 >8t by the 
 ijority in 
 majority 
 to be the 
 )r-General 
 lowed his 
 ieutenant- 
 by a just 
 jle of the 
 his every 
 what may 
 m time to 
 Dominion, 
 he gentle- 
 ever the 
 d opinion, 
 We should 
 bhe judges 
 stitutional 
 dependent 
 I have re 
 ought to 
 tutinue so. 
 
 Otherwise in our legislation, instead of, as 
 now, saying, '• Her Majesty, by and with the 
 advice and consent of the Legislative As- 
 sembly of Ontario, enacts " so-and-so, we 
 can only with truth say, " The political 
 majority for the time being at Ottawa, by 
 and with the advice and consent of the 
 Legislative Assembly of Ontario, enacts " 
 thus-and-so. (Jheers and laughter.) I say 
 again, then, that this Letellier matter 
 affords an instance of how it may be not 
 simply the right, but might be the patriotic 
 duty of an Administration as an Administra- 
 tion to interfere against and resist any threat- 
 ened encroachment from Ottawa upon the 
 rights and constitutional control of a Province. 
 I fear that I have already detained you much 
 too long, but before sitting down I wish to 
 touch upon another subject. I have not be- 
 fore had the opportunity since coming into 
 public life of meeting so many of my Roman 
 Catholic friends. I' think it is a wise thing 
 to deal frankly when speaking of public af- 
 fairs, and I wish in that spirit to observe 
 upon one or two matters important to us as 
 
 MEMBERS OF A BELIGIOUS MINORITY 
 
 n this Province. I would not for a moment 
 venture upon taking up such a subject it I 
 thought it would give offence, and I am sure 
 that what I am about to say will not offend 
 any person present. (Cheers.) I quite real- 
 ize that my going into the Administration 
 was not a matter of my own deserving, for I 
 then had had but little political experience. 
 But it was a recognition of the justice of the 
 claim, which had been made with more or less 
 urgency, that the religious minority in Onta- 
 rio should always have representation in the 
 Local Government. That demand has always 
 been admitted by the Liberal party — (cheers) 
 — and it was upon that ground mainly that 
 when a vacancy occurred in the Cabinet the 
 position was offered to me. During the past 
 five or six years many have been the attacks 
 made upon me and those who, like myself, 
 took ground ou behalf of our fellow-Catholics 
 with regard to this question of their represen- 
 tation. It has been said of us that we made 
 a dishonest compact with the Liberal party. 
 It was called an "unholy alliance," and we 
 were spoken of as men who had not the inte- 
 rests of our people at heart, and in truth mere 
 place-hunters. I think my hon. friend George 
 Brown also came in for a certain share of the 
 same kind of condemnation. I pass by the 
 charge that we had an interested motive in 
 what we did. I pass by as quite unworthy 
 of notice the idea that we were actuated by 
 motives that were not from our standpoint 
 patriotic. I might go back a little and find 
 in the history of our political decriers our 
 comptetest justification. Most of my friends 
 will remember the 
 
 CATHOLIC CONVENTION OF 1867, -^ 
 
 held, I think, in July of that year, and will 
 recollect that on the day prior to it^ actual ^ 
 meeting D'Arcy McOoe addressed his then ) 
 ]<olitical friends at a large gathering in Mont- ' 
 real, and there read a correopondenee he had 
 with Sir John Macdonald, ai the Premier of 
 the then Dominion Government. That corres- ' 
 pondence can be found by any one looking up ' 
 the papers of that date, particularly the files , 
 of the Leader. The first letter was by Mr. 
 MoGee, asking Sir John to give, with the con- ' 
 sent of his Excellency, such a memorandum 
 of facts and interests — I think that was the 
 precise phrase — such a memorandum of facts 
 and interests as would show the policy of 
 Sir John's Government upon this very matter 
 of the representation of the Catholic minority. 
 Sir John in his answer refers to Sir Edward 
 Kenny being a member of his Government, 
 and that his, Sir John's, policy had placed 
 himself, McGee, in nomination in Prescott, 
 Mr. Scott in Ottawa, and Mr. French in 
 South Renfrew, and th°t his Government and 
 his party were willing to do whatever more 
 in the same direction could be accomplished. 
 I make reference to this correspondence 
 merely to show what unholy alliances our op- 
 ponents can sanction and approve of when 
 entered upon by their own leaders. (Hear, 
 hear. ) Now, I am aware that by very many 
 it is thought a very singu'irand perhaps an 
 illogical thing that the Catholic minority in 
 Ontario should seek to get representation in 
 the Government and in the Legislature. I 
 don't know that one can answer with strict 
 cold-blooded reasoning the objection that 
 all representation should be and is for the 
 whole people, that in that sense the " best 
 men," without regard to race or creed, 
 should be chosen, and that if this be done 
 there ought to be no room for complaint. 
 But 
 
 SENTIMENT AND SYMPATHY 
 
 t,.(' 
 
 are factors in the political problem which no 
 party can overlook, and which no statesman 
 can disregard. Put upon either ground, the 
 complaint of my fellow-Catholics was well 
 grounded, and they had before them, then 
 and now, the example and the,position of the 
 religious minority — the Protestant minority 
 of Quebec. Read the debates on Confedera- 
 tion, and there you will find that one of the 
 most important features in the whole dis- 
 cussion was that opened up by those who re- 
 presented the Protestant minority of Quebec. 
 8ir John Hose and Sir Alex. Gait took the 
 opportunity to get categorical answers from 
 the Quebec Catholic leaders, and to make it 
 clear and unquestionable that the Protestant 
 minority of Quebec would be protected in 
 their asserted right of representation both at 
 Ottawa and Quebec. The Protestant popu- 
 
12 
 
 lation of Quebec was then only 170.000 as 
 against 270.000 Roman Catholics in Ontario, 
 and these 170,000 had then not less than 
 fourteen Protestant representatives out of a 
 total of 65 munibera belonging to their Pro- 
 vince, while in the same Parliament we, the 
 miucirity in Ontario, had only two — our pre- 
 sent Lieut. -Governor and his brother, the late 
 Saudiield Macdonald. But there is this 
 further to be said. What we have here oven 
 now, we receive as a kind of favour, and by 
 courtesy, from our friends of the Protestant 
 majority, and not as a matter of 
 any recognized constitutional right, whilst 
 the minority of Quebec has guaran- 
 teed to it by the British North 
 America Act that of twelve constituencies re- 
 turning Protestant members not one can be 
 re«rganizL'd, or changed, or "gerrymander- 
 ed," (laughter) without the consent of the 
 majority of the representatives of those twelve 
 constituencies, and not even then can tlie 
 Bill be assented to unless upon an address to 
 that effect by both the Legislative Council 
 and the Legi.slative Assembly. Now, I say, 
 and I think I am saying what every one here 
 will concede, that if it was a fitting and right 
 thing that tiiere should be such a statutory 
 safeguard for the Quebec minority, ray Roman 
 Catholic friends in Ontario may at least be 
 permitted to assert their right to some similar 
 concession — not by Act of Parliament, but 
 from tlie good-will and toleration of their Pro- 
 testant neigh i)ours. (Cheers.) At the same 
 time I am bound to say that the Liberal party 
 in this Province, the great mass of adherents 
 and those who speak its opinions and are its 
 leaders, not only admit, but contend for, 
 just right to representation at Ottawa and in 
 our Local Assembly. (Cheers.) In view of 
 that let me say to my Roman Catholic friends 
 that they have certain responsibilities in the 
 same connection which thgy shouhl not and 
 cannot overlook. I suppose a religious mino- 
 rity may not look for more than approximate 
 justice, if the measure of it is to be reckoned 
 by their numbers. But looking at the state 
 of affairs in 1867 and that which obtains now, 
 I am justitied in my feeling that our position 
 is vastly imprQved. Instead of making an 
 advance that might have been calculated at 
 hundreds per cent., the strides we have since 
 then made toward getting what I may call 
 "fair play," and the advantages we have 
 gained in that advance, may be reckoned by 
 thousands per cent. In 1867, what we were 
 complaining of was that we 
 
 "^ HAD NO REPHESENTATTON. 
 
 In the Assembly returned in 1867 we had 
 but two members — iSaudtield Macdonald and 
 Mr. kScott. In the next House that number 
 was increased to three, and in the last House 
 we had nine all told, (Cheers.) Having 
 
 reached that vantage ground, it is fair, it is 
 simple honesty, that my Roman Catholic 
 friends should consider what their own duties 
 are to the party which broui^ht about that 
 measure of justice in their favour. Repre- 
 sentation, and representation only, should 
 not be, and cannot be, the "be all and the 
 end all " for us as a minority. It is the high- 
 est duty of every citizen to sustain good 
 government. We have, in common with our 
 neighbours, a vital interest in the honest, 
 fair, and impartial administration of public 
 affairs — nay, our very helplessness as a mi- 
 nority gives us a greater anxiety and a live- 
 lier interest in securing this fairness and im- 
 partiality. I realize this keenly, and I have 
 the proud satisfaction of knowing that for 
 the past eight years the Liberal Government 
 of Ontario has held its way with careful and 
 honest recjgnition of every fair and reason- 
 able demand of the minority. So truly has 
 this been the case that I am free to say here, 
 in the presence of my chief, that I would be 
 willing to quit public life to-morrow and con- 
 fidently leave the interests of my co-religion- 
 ists in his hands, so certain am I that abso- 
 lute fair play and justice will be given my 
 people so long as the man who sits there leads 
 the Legislature of Ontario, (Li>ud and pro- 
 longed applause.) I have had no moment, of all 
 these years during which I have been under 
 him, when I have not found him freely labouring 
 for, and generously interested in, every reform 
 for which we have sought. Willingly, then, 
 could I leave the interests of the Roman Ca- 
 tholic minority in his keeping, satisKed that 
 truthful, frank, even-handed justice would be 
 done to all, without regard to race or creed. 
 (Applause.) I state this so emphatically he- 
 cause I am quite alive to the effort being made 
 to attract away some of my Catholic friends 
 who have hitherto stood by us. 
 
 EFFORTS ARE BEING MADE 
 
 by the Opposition to make my co-religionists 
 believe that their safety and their advantage 
 lie in attaching themselves to the Conserva- 
 tive p rty. But I utter a word of warning to 
 my fellow Roman Catholics. I would like 
 them to feel as I do, that there is very grave 
 danger in their taking — in their being tempt- 
 ed to take — a course which may give the Pro- 
 testant maj'irity to believe that the Catholic 
 minority have no fixed political principles of 
 any kind at all. Nothing more dangerous can, 
 in my opinion, happen to my co-religionists 
 than that they should become shifting and 
 uncertain allies. (Cheers.) And why do I 
 say that ? As a minority., we are asking from 
 the majority that they shall deal fairly with 
 us — that, as with them rests the power they 
 will control the affairs of the country with 
 fairness. They have a majority's power, and 
 anything that we secure iu our favour must 
 
13 
 
 can, 
 
 )aista 
 
 ; aud 
 
 do I 
 
 from 
 
 with 
 
 they 
 
 with 
 
 , aad 
 
 must 
 
 be secured at their hands. It is plain, then, 
 that as political allies we ought to — we must 
 — ourselves be loyal and honest. (Cheers.) 
 Apply that rule to the contest upon which we 
 are now entering. A Liberal Government 
 has for eight years so well performed its duty 
 that no just complaint can be made against it 
 by any Catholic who has hitherto given it his 
 support and adlierence. What possible justi- 
 ficatiou, then, can there be for any of our 
 Catholic friends refusing to support so good a 
 Government ? Will they be mad enough in 
 any constituency 
 
 TO VOTE FOB THE DEFEAT 
 
 and destruction of such a Government because 
 the Tory candidate happeus to be a Catholic, 
 aud the Tories liave been crafty enough to 
 give him a nomination ? If that is to be the 
 course taken, then we had better proclaim 
 that with us "good governnieut" goes for 
 nothing — that we are ready to desert any 
 Government and any party, if the other side 
 but select a Rumuu Catholic to seek our votes. 
 I appeal to my Roman Catholic friends 
 throughout Ontario, to those who believe that 
 we have done right, that we have ad- 
 ministered the allairs of the Province well 
 and fairly, that they be not seduced away 
 anywhere, by the fact that a Catliolic has been 
 brought forward to oppose the Government 
 candidate. (Chetrs.) If I have throughout 
 this Province any friend, who feels that 
 during the time 1 have been in oliico 1 have 
 done my duty faithfully, and who would care 
 to see uie with the approval of the country 
 continue where I am, 1 hope that he will 
 give his support, his influence, his vote, and 
 his voice towards those who will come to 
 Toronto to su&tain the administration of my 
 honourable Irieud the Attorney-General. 
 (Loud cheering.) I know jf no reason in the 
 world why 1 siiould be expected not to 
 oppose, as I would that of any other, the 
 candidature of a Koman Catholic who, op- 
 posed to me aud my colleagues, eayy, that 
 they and 1 as a Governnieut have not done 
 right. Why am 1 to stand quietly by and 
 allow unchiilleiiged my Komau Catholic^friends 
 to desert me to vote for such a man ? (Uheers.) 
 I am not quite bouud to tolerate or support 
 any man whose caudidature on behalf of the 
 Opposition is my express condemnation. I 
 aia justified in saying to him, " You have no 
 cuulidence in mc aud i have no confidence in 
 you." (Cheers.) 1 feel that I am tiling jou, 
 but }ou will bear with me perhaps for a tew 
 moments more, whiUt 1 refer very shortly to 
 some allusions made to what is commonly 
 quoted as my 
 
 " DUNN VILLE SPEECH." '. 
 
 I was unfortunate enough to go once to the 
 village of Duuuvillo ami make a speech at a 
 
 {olitical gathering which was being held there, 
 t was about the tine that discussion was 
 waxing somewhat hotly, and a good deal was 
 beinj said about "Scotch ascendancy." 
 (Laughter.) I suppose you have heard so lit- 
 tle of that lately that you may have forgotten 
 the phrase. (Laughter.) A hue and cry were 
 being raised that the Scotch were having more 
 than their fair share of representation in both 
 the House of Commons and the Legislative 
 Absembly. It was being put upon the broad 
 ground of nationality — and nationality only ; 
 and comparisons were being made between 
 the respective positions of the English, the 
 Irish, the Scotch, &c. The question of reli- 
 gion did not enter into the controversy at all. 
 It occurred to me th^t it would be well to 
 draw some attention to what, iu my view, 
 was a very important omission — au oversight 
 amongst the disputants, and accordingly I 
 suggested that in all this wrangling about 
 Scotch, and English, and Iri^h, there had 
 been an entire forgetfulness of those who called 
 themselves Canadian. (Cheers.) I pointed 
 out, moreover, that so long ago as 1S31 more 
 than one-half the population ot this Province 
 was native born, aud in 1871 three-fourths 
 were native Canadians. I said if representa- 
 tion was to be regulated and directed aud 
 governed by nationality, there should be some 
 consideration given to those whose na- 
 tionality was Canadian. (Loud applause.) 
 I Mas almost immediately challenged 
 with an accusation of KnownothingisTi. I dj 
 not believe in the cry of "Canada for the 
 Canadians," if by that be meant exclusion uf 
 any other nationality from the least right and 
 equality of citizenship. Whatever be Lis 
 country, the man who comes amongst us, 
 showing a willingness to become a citizen, 
 should have no disadvantages aud should be 
 under no ban. (Applause.) It was Kuow- 
 nothingism that would have it otherwise. 
 (Applause.) But if anything could he worse 
 than Knownothingism, it would be that those 
 who are not native Canadians should attempt 
 to bar out those who are. (Cheers.) That 
 was the view I took of it. What we have 
 most need to avoid in this Dominion are the 
 narrow views of sectionalism aud purtisau- 
 ship, and when we discuss who our represen- 
 tatives to Parliament should be, let it not be 
 forgotten that we do not select them to con- 
 siUer or discuss English, Irish, Scotch, or in- 
 deed any affairs but those of Cauada. Whether 
 here or at Ottawa, it is with Canadian adairs 
 alone we deal, and in these arenas who more 
 fairly entitled to place than Canada's own 
 sous ? (Applause.) I am the last man who 
 would like to see any discord uf creed or 
 uaiionalty in this my native land, and 1 hope 
 the day will yet come when in our public af- 
 fairs one common feeling of patriotims aud 
 good will shall so unite us all that race or 
 
M 
 
 0-; 
 
 faith will find no place in our public diecua- 
 siona. (Loud applauae.) I have kept you 
 longer than I intended, but I truat you ^t'ill 
 listen with the same patience to the speaLera 
 who follow aa you have listened to me. I 
 cannot sit down, however, without again 
 thanking you for tbia magnificaut reception. 
 I do not feel that I have deserved ao 
 much. I have atriven to do my duty, my 
 whole duty, as a public man — I have ever 
 end<favoured te carry on the affairs entrusted 
 to my charge t.s an honest man should ; and 
 my proudest knowledge is that I have done 
 everything with a ?iugle eye to the beat in- 
 terests and prosperity of my country. 
 
 On resuming hia seat the hon. gentleman 
 waa again greeted with round afcer rouud of 
 cheers. VV hen quiet had b een restored. 
 
 The Chairman in a brief and eloquent 
 speech, gave the next toast — "The Ontario 
 Government." He expressed hia full ap- 
 preciation of the ability with which the affaira 
 of the Province had been administered, and 
 paid a high tribute to the peraonal worth and 
 Btatesmauship of the Premier. He said he 
 had the most firm belief that the administra- 
 tion of the Hon. Mr. Mowat would bo 
 triumphantly sustained at the coming elec- 
 tion. (Cheers.) 
 
 Hon. Mr. Mowat on rising waa greeted 
 with a perfect storm of applause. He re- 
 turned tiiauka for the manner in which the 
 toast had been received. After pointing out 
 that it was neceasary in the conduct of an 
 Administration to make a distinction in the 
 matters of patronage and power between 
 political friends and political enemies, he 
 ahowed that the Government of which he waa 
 the head had done ita utmost to extend equal 
 righta and equal privilegea to all classes and 
 all creeds. Uia colleague had advocated the 
 cause of the Church of which he waa an 
 ardent and consistent member, and he (Mr. 
 Mowat) could speak with equal fervour of the 
 Chuich to which he belongeJ. 'Ihey should 
 never forget that no one creed hau a right in 
 this country to predominate. It had been hia 
 constant endeavour to give the Roman Catho- 
 lics of Ontario aa much reason to love their 
 country aa their Protestant fellow-citizens. 
 He believed he had aucceeded in obtaitjiug 
 for them justice, and they would not seek, 
 and could not be granted, more. He re- 
 juiced to know that his co.league in the Gov- 
 eruweut possessed the confidence of the great 
 majority ot hia co-religionists in the Province, 
 and also of a great many who were neither 
 hid co-religiuuista nor those professing the 
 fcame political faith. He referred in warm 
 terms to the personal and political character- 
 iatics ot hia irieud the Commissioner of Pub- 
 lic works, and aaid that no man poases^ed 
 more the confidence of the Liberal party of 
 
 Ontario, and no man deserved it in a larger 
 degree. He waa a young man — the youngeat 
 member of the Government— but he had made 
 hia mark upon the political and legialative 
 history of our country. The hiatory of the 
 rresent Adminiatration during the time for 
 which Mr. Eraser had been a member of it 
 was the history of a Govern medt which had 
 shown itself capable and successful in dealing 
 with important and difficult questions affect- 
 ing various interests in the community ; 
 capable and successful in enacting laws 
 in regard to every matter within the 
 scope of the juriadiction of the Legisla- 
 ture ; capable and successful in conducting 
 efficiently and economically public affaira ; 
 successful also in so dealing with the Provin- 
 cial finances aa to advance in the beat possible 
 manner every interest of the country. (Loud 
 Cheers.) The results hia Government had been 
 able to achieve were not the results of the la- 
 bour of any individual Minister ; they would 
 not have had such an efficient Administration 
 had not every one of his colleaguea devoted 
 himself with all hia ability and all hia energy 
 to the apecial duties of his department. 
 (Cheera. ) Amongst the others, his colleague, 
 the Commiasioner of Public Worka, had 
 proved himself a faithful Minister, an able ad- 
 ministrator, well skilled in debate, and a 
 weighty man upon the public platform. 
 (Cheers.) He hoped he would long live to give 
 their common country the benefit of his 
 services. (Loud applause.) 
 
 The Chairman in a brief speech proposed 
 the next toaat " The Senate and House of 
 Commons," which was duly honoured by the 
 company. 
 
 He next gave " The Legislative Assembly," 
 which waa responded to by 
 
 D. D. Hay, M.P.P., who alluded to the 
 vigorous policy wiiich the Government had 
 pursued in opening up the back country, and 
 thought that for tliis reason, if for no other, 
 they were entitled to the renewed confidence 
 of a people. He had always been a supporter 
 of the present Government — (applause) — and 
 would continue to be so long aa they continued 
 their present policy. The Opposition also 
 had done very well, and should be returned 
 to occupy their present positions. ( Hear, hear. ) 
 He concluded by expressing hia pleasure at 
 being present to do honour to the guest of the 
 evening. 
 
 Mr, HCGHES, Vice- Chairman, then pro- 
 posed " The Commercial, Agricultural, and 
 Manufacturing Interests ot Canada." He 
 believed that the present Administration 
 had done much to advance every branch of 
 business in the Province, and were entitled 
 to the support of the mercantile and farming 
 coinmuniti«a. The toaat waa drunk with ap- 
 plause. 
 
15 
 
 Mr. M. O'Connor, J.P,, stated that he had 
 been requested to propose a toast in honour 
 of one of the most unportant interests of the 
 Province. As the hoar was advanced in the 
 morning he would not detain them with any 
 remarks, especially as the worthy and dis- 
 tinguished chief of the department which had 
 these interests in its care was far better able 
 to do justice to the subject. He proposed 
 "The Educational Interests of Oatario," 
 (loud cheers, and calls for Mr. Crooks. ) 
 
 Hon. Mr. Crooks on rising was received 
 with cheers. He said that the lateness of the 
 hour would prevent him from entering upon 
 any lengthened remarks upon the very im- 
 portant, sabjnct of the toast, such as he would 
 have beeu g . ^ > have made in the presence 
 of such an assemblage had the opportunity 
 been more favourable. After some brief re- 
 marks on the subject of the toast, he expressed 
 his great gratification at witnessing such a 
 splendid tribute to his colleague Mr. Fraser, of 
 whom he spoke in the highebt terms of praise. 
 After a short reference to some matters of 
 public interest he concluded by expressing 
 his confidence in success at the approaching 
 elections. (Cheers. ) 
 
 Mr. Hughes, with appropriate, though ne- 
 ceesarily brief, introductions, then gave the 
 following toasts in suscession : — 
 
 "Our Municipal Institutions," responded 
 to by Mr. James Fisher, of Stratford. "The 
 Learned Professions," responded to by Mr. J. 
 Campbell, barrister; and "The Press," re- 
 sponded to by Mr. Alex. Pirie. 
 
 Hon. Mr. Fraser then proposed the health 
 of the Chairman. (Loud oheers.) He spoke 
 ill complimentary terms of Mr. McMahon's 
 liigh standing, both at the bar and as a citi- 
 zen, and thanked him cordially for the admi- 
 rable manner in which he had diiicharged the 
 arduous duties of the evening. (Cheers.) 
 
 The toast was received with " three times 
 three."' 
 
 Mr. McMahon, in the course of his reply, 
 and after duly acknowledging the enthusiasm 
 with which his name had been honoured, 
 stated that he had made up his mind when 
 the citizens of Toronto requested him to pre- 
 side at the banquet that he would do it, no 
 matter what iueonveuience he had to suffer 
 thereby. He stated that he had entered the 
 brtach in days gone by, and although he had 
 been defeated he was .going to try it in the 
 future again, and the next time he believed 
 he would be successful. He referred again to 
 the noble stand the Reformers were taking in 
 the West, and trusted they would all leave 
 no honest stone unturned that would assist in 
 the Mowat Administration again receiving 
 the confidence of the majority of the electors 
 of the Province. (Chceta.) 
 
 " DISGRACEFUL TACTICS." 
 
 From the Whitby Chronicle, May 8th, 1879. 
 
 Such is the heading which the Irish Vana- 
 dian puts to a three-column article attacking 
 the Hon. Mr. Fraser. His Grace the Arch- 
 bishop, and the Bishops of Loudon, Kingston, 
 and Sarepta are also dragged in and covertly 
 assailed, because of their letters read at the 
 banquet expressing their approval of Mr. 
 Fraser as a public man. "Scotch Covo- 
 nanters," Scotch Asceudancy," "unscru- 
 pulous intrigue," "imposture," "disgiace- 
 lul audacity," are the slaig epithets with 
 which the Irish Canadian mixes up the 
 names of the dignitaries of the Church and the 
 reverend Clergy present on the occasion to do 
 honour to Mr. Fraser. None know better 
 than the Bishops and Clergy how to appreci- 
 ate the services of Mr. Fraser, and no Catho- 
 lic will fail to take their guidance in prefer- 
 ence to the malignant outpourings of our dis- 
 appoiuted contemporary. It was Father 
 Stafford last week; — the venerable Arch- 
 bishop, Bishops, and Clergy, and Mr. Fraser 
 this week, who come in for the sneers and 
 jibes and shameful abuse of the Irish Cana- 
 dian. Surely in this course, our old friend 
 must be doing something, (or permitting 
 something to be done in his columns), of 
 which his conscience cannot approve ? The 
 elocj[uent speech of Mr. Fraser stands out 
 in manly contrast to the vituperation 
 of his assailant. And when intelligent 
 Catholics come to compare them, we 
 well know what the verdict must be. 
 The convictions and actions of our contempor- 
 ary, appear to us to be as contradictory as 
 its worst enemies could wish. And we know 
 — and we regret it — that the mad course he 
 is pursuing, is faat losing for the paper any 
 little remnant of respect with which it is still 
 regarded by its Catholic subscribers. As for 
 the production on the Fraser banquet, it can 
 be only adequately characterized lu two words 
 — Malice aud Misrepresentation. — And one 
 last word of advice— If our contemporary 
 could manage to be a little less obtrusive, 
 self-important, aud boastful, there are people 
 who honestly think it would be a great im- 
 provement in liis coluinus. 
 
 THE BANQUET IN HONOUR OF MR. 
 C. F. FRASER. ^' ' 
 
 From the Tribune, May 9, 1879. ■ u- ;.-. 
 The banquet held at the Rossin House 
 outhe evemug uf Thursday, the 1st inst., 
 in honour ot the Hon. C. F. Fraser, was 
 one of the most magnificent demonstrationa 
 ever held in Toronto, or indeed in any 
 part of the Province. It far exceeded the 
 
Id 
 
 expectations of the Committee, who had 
 merely contemplated the carrying out of a 
 long cherished idea of tendering to Mr. 
 Fraser some public mark of the contidence 
 and respect inspired by his personal worth 
 and distinguished public services ; and a^ 
 the same time of affording him an oppor- 
 tunity to publicly defane his position before 
 those whose political representative he is 
 in an especial manner, as well as before 
 the Province at large, in his capacity of a 
 Minister and a member of the Mowat Ad- 
 ministration. ' A banquet was naturally 
 suggested u the readiest and most con- 
 venient mode .of accomplishing both these 
 ends ; and the complete and very flattering . 
 success — a success which left nothing 
 to be desired — which crowned the etlbrtB 
 of the Oottimitteo must have been 
 felt by each snd all of its men. bers as far 
 more than an abundant rewtird for theiir 
 labours. Xndeedi it was found that their 
 efforts had to be directed towards makintf 
 provision fur a miiuh larger concourse o| 
 friends than they had at first anticipated ; . 
 but, thanks to the unrivalled faoilitiep of 
 th« Rossiu House, this part of their work 
 was rendered easy, for the two hundradi. 
 gentlemen who banqueted there, on ThunNK 
 day evening sof last week, found every ap^- 
 pointm6nt complete and the arrangementi 
 all thtit codld have been desired by tho 
 most fastididOB. ^ 
 
 1*0 Miu Ve^r, the demonstration mu^ 
 indeed havAj\beeu gratiiying beyond ex-' 
 pressiou. ,)ae cannot but have looked back . 
 to the timtt.when in 1807, on the very, 
 threshold at Confederation, he first aopglit 
 for a seat in the Legislature of his native* 
 Province, w>hen that Legislature had been 
 restored to ft under an entirely new con* 
 stitutional system ; *nd he, no donbti 
 hoped at that time, as he has learned tft 
 feel since, that in the carrying out of the 
 new onier of affairs a conspicuous positioDa 
 awaited hilU. But we question if, in his 
 highest anticipations, after his tfen^- 
 reverse in Urockville, he ever 
 
 porary 
 
 any, 
 
 or at least f(H: 
 
 hoped for .. 
 
 such eariy, and such complete, recog- 
 nition as a principal among the foremost 
 public men of Untario. Yet he has receiv- 
 ed an ovation, such as any one of the oldest 
 and first statesmen of tlio Dominion might 
 well be proud of, and he has received it 
 at the hands of those who are proud in th« 
 conviction that he has well deserved ii 
 
 We need not go over the incidents of his 
 brief but brilliant political career. Five 
 years after his defeat iu Broukville, he was 
 returned for his present constituency of 
 South Grenville, ftnd he had only been a 
 short time in the Assembly, when he be- 
 came distinguished for his tine oratorical 
 powers, dud his keen, incisive and ever 
 ready resources of argument, constituting 
 him, after an exceedingly brief experience, 
 one of the ablest Parliamentary debaters of 
 the day. The retirement of the Hon. R. 
 W. Scott, fronji ^He Assembly and from 
 the Mowat Cabinet, ia order to take a seat 
 in the Government frrmed by the Son. 
 Mr. Mackenzie at Ottj,wa, in Nov. 1873, 
 left a vacancy in the Ontario Ministry, and 
 the Hon. Mr. Mbwat offered the. seat to 
 Mr. Fraser, wh*^ accepted it, and was 
 triumphantly re-el*cted by his constituents. 
 It was this step — his accession to the 
 Cabinet— which gave the H hi. Mr. Fraser 
 the wider constituency, the special repre- 
 sentative character, which attaches to him 
 as the Catholic member of the Catiinel. 
 Since the commencement of the present 
 political system, it has become recognized 
 by custom that there shall be one Koman 
 Catholic repreBent»tive in, the Oabiaet — 
 selected ffom, and in political sympathy 
 with, the party ii» power, and it was 
 espeoially, thpugh not exclusively, in this 
 cWa<;ter t|ia^ his friends deemed it due to > 
 him tliat he sbottld woeive a public ex-^ 
 pression of .their ooufidence, and that he 
 should have 4n t^portunity of publicly ex- 
 pressing bis aeofie of the responsibilities at- 
 taching to that peftiti(»), as well as his 
 views' on the .general .political situation. 
 That the dehiionstratittn should have taken 
 a wider r»hg«l, afSd assumed a less exclusive 
 character th&n w«s at fii-st intended, or 
 even expected, is not merely an incident 
 fi ittering to Mr. Fraser and very gratifying 
 to his Catholic friends and sopportei-s 
 throughout the country. It is more ; it is 
 an evidence of the thorough heartiness and 
 entire good faith with which the Protestant 
 supporters of the Mowat Adminidt ration 
 throughout the Province uphold the ar- 
 rangement that constitutes the Hon. Mr. 
 Fraser the representative in the Cabinet of 
 the Catholic minority' It only needed 
 this manifestMion i of feeling, which was 
 spontaneous and unsoliaited, to render the 
 banquet all that its promoters could have 
 hoped for, or its recipient desired. 
 

 
 
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