T IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // 1.0 I.I 11.25 ■tills 12.5 ■ 50 "^^ ■■■ Ui Uii 12.2 !^ lit III 1.8 1.4 P^ fr»Bawi F** THE INDEPENDENT PRESS / OIT THE 1II91T CiVERNMlT '■.] A FAVORABLE VERDICT. The Financial Administration of the Province. On April 11th, 1880, the 'Mail said editorially: — '*The Government can also make out a good case for itself in regard to its administration of the finances. After dealing liberally by the ns .inicipalities and exhibiting a creditable enter- prise in building railways and erecting public institutions, Mr. Mowat is able to show a comfortable surplus. Instead of having a surplus of five or six millions ill the treasury, Quebec has a debt of thirty millions, and, in spite of the direct taxes imposed on commercial corporations and of other revenne-raising devices, a fresh loan is inevitable. It must also be admitted that Mr. Mowat has passed many progressive measures affecting the generai. interests of the community, AND THAT, ON THE WHOLE, HIS MANAGEMENT HAS BEEN CLEAN AND FKBB FROM SCANDAL. These are povbrfttl reasona for giving him a new term." The Ontario Ballot Act. .,, . The Toronto Telegram, of March 7, 1890, said: " As it stands, the Ontario Ballot Act is an improvement upon the systems that govern Dominion and Municipal elections. The provision for numbering ballots, it is argued, enables partisan officials to trace the choice of the voter. ■ The Attorney-General guards against this offence by placing deputy-returning officers under obligation to respect the secrecy of the ballot. Oaths do not always bind excited partisans. The men who a 'e bad enough to seek to identity the voter by the number on his ballot paper are qualified to profit by the opportunities which the Dominion and Municipal systems oft'er for spoiling ballots, and stuffing ballot-boxes. It is out of the fulness of bitter experienc* that our faith in the superiority of the Ontario system is speaking. The numbered ballot provides a way by which bad votes can be judicially subtracted from the total of a candidate who wins by fraud When the ballots are not numbered the votes of dead men, of absentees, of repeaters, pass at their face value and cheat the choice of an honest majority out of his rights." The Government Temperance Record. The Good Templar of Canada (the organ of the Good Templars), of January 15, 1890, said: "Mr. Mowat 's government has always shown a desire to meet the wants and desires of Temperance men in passing legislation favorable to Tem- perance Reform, and on no occasion, that we are aware of, have they ever refused to make any amendments to our laws that were deemed necessary. It therefore becomes our duty to do all in our power to strengthen their hands, and not to 4t) i 461 _i — _ z^rjT H99 4»r-- be carried away by wordy politicians, who are full of promises at election times^ Actions are what we want, and the record of the Mowat government apeaks for itself." The Lioenaing Power The Mail of January 13, 1890, says: '• Mr. Meredith's proposition to restore the licensing power to the Municipal Council^ does not meet with much favour anywheie. Theoretically, the Councils are best fitted to exercise it, and, as Mr. Meredith has shown, Mr. Gladstone warmly approves of vesting the newly organised Councils in England with such authority. Experience is better than theory, ho*vever, and our experience of liquor control by councils was on the whole unsatisfactory. The ward "heeler" was usually the first choice of a city aldermen, while in the rural districts licenses wer<3 bestowed upon anybody who could afford the fee, the chief aims of the councils being to increase the revenue. There were exceptions, of course, to the rule, but, speaking generally, the system worked badly ; and most persons felt relieved, when the Provincial Government took the power to itself." The Parliament Buildingrs. The Toronto Telegram, of April 23rd, 1890, said :— " Hon, C. F. Fraser is fortified against effective attack upon his dealings with the question of erecting new parliament buildings. The Opposition appeals to provincial jealousy of, and agricultural prejudice against Toronto, by attacking an expenditure essential to the safety and the dignity of the province. New parliament buildings were sorely needed. Ontario could not continue to house public documents of immense value and public men of less worth in a dingy brick bam. The Government fupported an outlay that is barely sufficient to satisfy the requirements and keep up the dignity of the province. The Minister of Public Works is seeing that the province gets value for every cent it spends. The country is not being cheated, and when the Opposition cannot boldly impute wrong to the Hon. Mr. Fraser it is unfair to declaim against an expenditure that was wholly unavoidable. As to the architect, the Government acted upon its judgment of what was right. Political interest would have dictated the choice of a native Canadian to originate and execute designs for the new Legislative building. The Government put aside every consideration but that of fitness, and did not allow the unpopularity of its course to deter it from doing what was right." And again, on May 19th, 1890, it said : — ' ' Of all the small-sized issues ever imported into Ontario politics the complaint about the Ontario Government's dealings with the Parliament buildings is the smallest. There is absolutely nothing in it. From beginning to end the Government has acted in the best interests of the country. It would have been easy, for it to employ a Canadian architect and excuse his mistakes by appeals to a spurious patrio' ism. The Government could gain no political glory by its action. It served the province in this particular at the expense of parly interest, and time will declare praise, not cenr^ire, to be the just portion of the men charged with responsibility of the erection of the new legislative block. " The Port William " Jourp.al" on the Mowat Government, '' Begarding the present Adminstration, it must be admitted that it is more than a political success. Hon. Oliver Mowat has been Premier for eighteen years, during which he has had the continuous confidence of the Legislature and the people. This is a record for which we cannot find a parallel in the history of the whole world. If any of our readers will furnish one we will be pleased to publish it. On several important questions regarding the welfare of the Province Mr. Mowat has come into conflict with the Federal GovemmeiRb, and MS^km Mxa ~ '^ »• 4/^y on each ' oaaion has been successful. Among those may be mentioned the Northern and Western Boundaries, the Streams. Bill, the Escheats Question, etc. This, with his valuable legislative enactments and superior administrative abilities, unao\ibtedly ranks Mr. Mowat as a statesman of the lirat order, in hiH Cabinet the Premier liaa had seme able assistants, and the business of the different departments has not been allowed to suffer. Messrs. Mowat and Rosa are excellent speakers, able debaters and enthusiastic workers. They take an active interest in the advancement of moral, social, temperance and religious work. They are gentlemen of high Christian character, and of the type in whoso hands wo are pleaaed to see the direction of our Municipal, Provincial or Dominion affairs." i' 1^ V The Government Commission aB to the Eastern Ontario Schools. Referring to the Commission appointed by the Ontario Government to enquire into the French Public Schools of this Province, the Mail of 28th August, 1889, said : ■ On the whole the Commissioners appear to have done their work thoroughly and conscientiously. " Referring to " French- English Schools," the Mail of October 22nd, 1889, said : " The ' Instructions to teachers and trustees of French-English Schools' just issued by the Minister of Education are designed to carry into effect the recommendations made in the report of the Government Commissioners who recently visited the French districts." * * * * " These instructions if properly carried out. ought to do much to remedy the unsatisfactory state of affaii-s which has been found to exist in the French Schools of the Province, " r/ie Canadian Baptid said ; " This evidently impartial report, while it does not perhaps add largely to the information already possessed by those who have followed up the discussion in the Legislature and in the press, will be of great service as giving, in concise form, a reliable basis for inference and section. Most unprejudiced persons will, wo think, agree that the recommendations of the commission are eminently judicious. They include about all the action that seems necessary and desirable." The Canadian Presbyterian said • '* As was to be expected from men of their character and standing, thay did their work with diligence, thoroughness and impartiality. Their report has just been issued and it is strictly correct to say that it is untinged by political coloring. The report is valuable because it pre- sents a clear and unbiassed statement of the actual state of affairs in these schools dominated, as they largely are, by French Roman Catholic influences ; it will also, doubtless, lead to the adoption of the corrections necessary to pre- serve the integrity and usefulness of the Public School system in Ontario." The Presbyterian Review said : " With the report we are much pleased. It is full, carefully prepared and clear. The Commissioners have done their work well, and we are happy to agree to the recommendations they make." The Christian Giiaidian said : " As far as we can judge, the Commissioners have done their work with great thoroughness and fairness." The Tormito Mail said : *' On the whole the Commissioners app'^ar to have done their work thoroughly and conscientiously. " The Ottawa Citizen (Tory) said, " It was hinted in some quarters that the report of the Commissioners appointed by the Ontario Department of Education to investigate the condition of the Public Schools of the Province in counties where the French-Canadian population is numerous would prove a white-wash- ing one, and that the object aimed at would not be attained ; but a careful examination of the report, briefly summarized in yesterday's Citizen, shows that the Commissioners performed the duty assigned to them in a most careful and t ihorongh manner." x/ 'wp ■^r^i ■ 'iwifpi|J, 6 z^ >. Tf ...^ vL A British Oolumbia Opinion. The Vancouver, B.C., World, an independent journal, says : — •* Hon. Oliver Mowat has been in power uninterruptedly for eighteen years. A deter- mined effort now, as on previous occasions, will undoubtedly be made to do- throne him and his Ministry, some of whom are amongst the ablest men in the Dominion. The Opposition in the Ontario House ie not strong either in brain power or administrative ability. For many years Mr. Meredith ha» led a for- lorn hope. Himself a popular gentleman, of fair abilities, his following in capa- city are hardly equal to the ordinary County Councils of the Keystone Province." A Winnipeg Opinion- The Winnipeg Free Freaa, also an independent journal, says ;-"T' real revenue and object of their (the Opposition) crusade is to get hold of the resources of Ontario on the strength of Protestant prejudices. They think there is a chance of riding into power on the Protestant Horse, and they have taken the risk of a fall for the chance of success. Should they fortunately succeed, what a glorious old time they will have dispensing among themselves the spoils of the richdst, and heretofore best-governed Province in the Dominion 1 It would not be long after they got there before Ontario would lose her proud dis- tinction of being the only country in the world that has no public debt, whose resources are untouched and whose Government is the most honest and economi- cal that was ever known. , If ever common sense was needed by a people it is needed by the people of Ontario in the crisis createu k.. designing and wholly unprincipled demagogues. But, if the Liberal party wiL ouiy stand true to themselves they can prevent a change of Government in Ontario, which under the circumstances stated, will be nothing short of a national calamity." A Quebec Opinion. The Montreal Gazette, the ablest Conservative journal in Canada, says ; — ''Quebec pays out nearly one-third of its revenue in interest ; Ontario has no charge under this head. The tremendous advantage this gives to the sister Province, however, is increased by the higher expenditure of Quebec in other items in the general statement. When it is remembered that in Ontario there are one-third more people than in Quebec, and that naturally the cost there should be greater, these figures are all ihe more significant. It costs Quebec more for legislation, and nearly as much for civil government, as it does Ontario The charges for the administration of justice in the two Provinces are not in . proportion to the population. Quebec manages to spend much more on agri- culture than Ontario, without apparently getting so much benefit from it. For education the expenditure iii the two Provinces are fairly proportionate, but in all the other items, except public institutions, which Ontario has on a better scale than any community almost in America, the charges are heavy beyond reason in Quebec, and show a constant tendency to increase. Then while On- tario draws on her accumulated funds for capital expenditure at a moderate rate. Quebec has to depend upon loans to meet an outlay on this account. " The Natural Conclusion. ' Among thoughtful electors Ontario is admitted to be one of the best-governed Provinces in the Confederation. The Provincial Ministers are men of national reputation. They are spoken of all over Canada as among the greatest of her ■ons and the best and purest of her administrators. The men whose abilities entitle them to this national pre-eminence, and who have lifted Ontario to her proud place among the Provinces, ought not and will not appeal in vain for a renews of the confidence of their feUow-citizens, and will not be overthrown by a set of cries which endanger the peace of the community and imperil thr' ^ue interests of all classes of the population. ' w PI f i \l -" Hon. A detur- to do- A CONDENSED RECORD OF The /low/iT QoverHmi^HT : SHOWING Eighteen years of Good Qovernment. Eighteen years of Wise Economy. Eighteen years of Beneficent Legislation. Such continuous conlBdence (viz. , eighteen years of Government) wu never before extended to any Premier or Cabmet, in either the Mother Land or any of the Colonies. The largest record in the annals of British Parliamentary Government (the first Pitt Ministry which remained in power for seventeen and a half years) has been distanced by a Canadian Statesman — Oliver Mowat. How ha43 the Mowat Qovemmenfc dealt with its Finanoes? It has distiibuted $3,447,525 to the municipalities under the Municipal Loan Fund. It has invested $1,084,705 in drainage debentures. It has returned to the people no less a sum than $27,429,370 during eighteen years for education, agriculture and arts, hospitals and charities, asylums, administration of justice and colonization roads. In addition to this liberal expenditure it has a surplus of $6,427,252. What has the Mowat Government done for the Municipalities? It has produced a Municipal Law which, in the opinion of the late Chief Justice Harrison, " forms the most complete and perfect code of the kind that he knew of in any country of the world." This law includes : — Assessment reforms. Exemption reforms. Control of city police by commissioners. Improvement of the law regarding watercounes, lind fences, bridges and public highways. Improvement of the debenture laws. Improvement and extension of the drainage laws. The local improvement plan for street improvements. Extension of the municipal franchise. The establishment of industrial farms and houses of refuge. Licensing transient traders. Facilitating the purchase and abolition of toll roads by municipalities. It has distributed $3,447,525 to municipalities under the MunicipaJ Loan Fund. It has invested $1,084,705 in drainage debentures. What has the Mowat Government done for the Administration of Justice ? It has instituted radical law reforms and materially simplified the law practice.. It has given us t^e {Judicature Act. It has given us the Division Court Act. It has given us two revisiona of the Statutes. 7 ^i\ > n,t,iiijtMss)9\p u y What has the Mowat Qovernment done for Bduoation ? It has expended 99,448,K2.'i during eighteen yean on eduoation. In oonforniity to the advice uf the late Dr. Ryeraon (then Ohief Superintendent of Education) it ])ut the Departinunt of Education under the direct and respon- sible control of a Minister of the Crown. It effected a usoful und important consolidation of the Provincial school laws. It has improved the school system on sixteen distinct line||i, making it the most complete and effective of any similar system in the world. It had done much to further Higher Education in the Colleges and University. It has expended a large sum for the establishment and equipment of a Sonoul of Practical Science. It lias established County Model Schools, Training Institutes, Art Schools, Teachers' Associations and Mechanics' Institutes. It has dealt satisfactorily with the French and German Schools, Separate ■Schools, and with Text Books. What has the Mowat Government done for Temperance ? It has satinfactorily regulated the liquor traffic. It has given us the Crooks Act which has reduced the number of licenses from 6,185 in 1874-5 to 2,485 in 1888-9. It has increased the total revenue (Municipal and Provincial) from licenses to 1422,809 in 1888-9, It has met the growth of temperance sentiment by more stringent legislation. It has conferred the powers of a local option law in all oases of new applica- tions under the amendments of 1890. This Act also Prohibits the sale of intoxicating Wqaor on vessels navigating the lakes and rivers of the Province ; Increases the age of " minors" from " sixteen " to "eighteen," thus subjeict- ing to a penalty those who sell liquor to persons vvdkk eighteen years oj age : Provides a penalty when liquor is supplied to any person under twenty -one years, in respect to whom notice in writing has been given, prohibiting such licensed victualler to sell or supply liquor to the party in question ; And gives greater authority to search unlicensed premises and " div^ ' " to ;Beize liquor and arrest persons found on said premises. What has the Mowat Government done on the line of Public Works and BuUdings ? It has expended 04,400,000 on Public Works since 1872. It is now superintending the erection of new and commodiotis Parliament Buildings. It has expended nearly $2,600,000 on the erection and improvement of Asylums for the Insane and Idiotic. It has expended nearly iJ500,000 on the erection and improvement of Insti- tutes for the Blind and Deaf. It has expended over $750,000 Educational Buildings. wnat has the Mowat Government done to Maintain Provinoial Rights? It has established the legislative rights of the Province, after a series of appeals from the decisions of the Dominion Government to the Privy Council, in the following test cas6s : The Insurance Case. The Esoheats Case. The Biyers and Streams Case. The Liquor liicense Case. The Boundary Award. The Indian Titles Case. it. \ M » i\ |ipiP'«)pwiiPfPP?wfPPfP rintendeiit lid respon- *»-w .^r» 3 What has the Mowat Government done for the Fanrars? It luw eatablishod und succo^sfuUy oarriud on an Agricultural Oullege. It has facilitafcod the holding of I^anners' Inititutes. It collects accurate agricultural gtatistics. It has given lihtital grants to electoral district, township agricultural horticultural societies, totalling $1,118 421 since Itt?!. It has given liberal grants to and The Fruit Urowors' Association. The Dairymen's Association. The Oceameries Association. The Entomological Society. The Poultry Association. The Beekeepers' Acsociation. It has authorized township municipalities, under certain conditions, to bor- row money from the Provincial Oovernment and loan it to farmers to enabl* them to tile drain their land. It has instituted a forest propaganda. It has added the portfolio of Minister of Agriculture to the Cabinet. It has granted $2,114,678 under the head of '' Agriculture and Arts " dur- ing the past 18 years. What has the Mowat Government done for the Laboring Glasses 7 It passed the Mechanics' Lien Act. , ., -' It passed the Employers' Liability Act. . , j ' ; ''[ ' ' It passed the Factory Act. ' • ' • It passed the Railway Accidents Act. ' It passed the Act for the Relief of Co-operative Associations. It passed the Creditor's Relief Act (which applies to wage-earners). It passed the Franchise and Representation Act of 1885. It collects valuable industrial statistics. to What has the Mowat Government done as to the Representa- tion of the People ? It has established Manhood Suffrage for the Legislative Assembly. It has provided the system of voting by ballot. It has passed " The Ontario Voters^ Lists Act, 1889." It has perfected the law relating to election trials. It has readjusted and equalized the representation throughout the Province with equity and fairness. What ha& the Mowat Government done for Colonization Bail- ways? Railway Fund " was_increased in 1872 from $1,500,000 to $1,900,000, was 'created by setting apart the sum of The and a " Railway Subsidy Fund " $100,000 a year for 20 years. Special appropriation to particular colonization railways were made by Acts passed in 1876, 1877, 1878, and 1881. In the sessions of 1889 and 1890, aid was voted to certain colonization rail- ways in the distriofc of Thunder Bay, Algoma, Parry Sound, and Nipissing. $828,000 was tha<) voted during the last two sessions. Over seven and a-half millions of dollars have been given back to the people out of surplus revenues by grants to railways. Their liberality in this respect has secured the building or projected building Ontario's area. ltlilad»Ankltitt«l%d«MiiAu>iof the Province in tJie interests of the tOioU people and on a basia of equal rights. ^r- A in yz^ A/ f ROVIIfCIAL POLITICS. 1890, .) From Mr. ilownCit Mprrrh nt Rnibro. Itrri'iiibcr, IMt. i i Origin and txistence of Separate Schools. I hhould groutly refer, and I have alwiiyH in the coiinnoii iutorebt prc^ftiirod, that the child- feu of Human ('utholica and Protestants should Im educated together in our Public Hchools, an well an in our Hi^h Schools and GoUc^c^h. Bat in \ Ipite of all who took that vinw^ Roman OatholicH have had Separate ((Schools in this Provinoc for nearly half a contury. The first Act for itheir OHtalilishinerit wia passtvl as far l)a>k as 1841. In ISU Rev. Dr. Kyerson bocanio (Jhief Superintendent of Kducation, and he filled that ' bfHce with acknowh'fljjtid ability from l81t to 1876. Dr. Ryenion was ne of thoHe who did not like Separate Schooln. He thought them need-- SB, as he himself said, and at tho same time injiirious to their supporters ; nd in the common interijst he preferred mixed schools, so conducted as ot to distiirb the conHi;ience8 of parents or children, Protestant or Roman latholic. But he found difficulties which he thought insuperable, in conse- uence both of the doctrine of tho Churcli of Rome with respect to schools, and the an.xie'.y of the Protestants of Quebec to retain the Proteg • "tant Sepirato or Dissentient schools in that section of Canada. Dr. t/erson thns explained the first uitRculty, in one of his writings before Donfedoration : " Separate School education is now a dogma of tho Roman ^'athoiic Church, as much as tho immaculate conception is. In 1850 the |,oman Catholic College of Thurles in Ireland, passed a statute condem- itory of mixed education ; the Roman Catholic Provincial Colleges of iBaltimore and Quebec have since done the same. These statutes have [been ratified by the Pope. This is therefore the dogma of the Church, [however much it may fall into disuse in some places, as Sir Thomas N. ledington says it does in some places in Ireland. But as a dogma no jmomber of the Roman Catholic Church, however liberal, and however be [may disregard it in the education of his own children, can possibly oppose it. It is tJierefore prepisterous to think of legislating Separate Schools of existence. The Roman Catholic will as hitherto vote against tho of the Separate School provisions of the law." In another of his Itimgft before OonfedeMtion, Dr. Byerson made the follow lug itatemeat Si m :^*-= -- *t«s:3*Mr. i-/ /T'i' S,- i /■ on the samo 8ul>|pct : "Thn Roman Catholics make it part of their religi- ous duty to coiiiiine rolijjioii with KOMilar H.lucation. This nanriot ho done in the present, Common Schools of Upper Cana'U ; and the consequenctj obviously it tlnu those per pie must abandon their r» ligioua convictions, or have schools of theii- own, or jjjet no education at ail. Tlie first, abandon their convictions, they will not do. The last, leave them uneducated, an intelligent pviblic ou;_rht not to admit. So that tlnire is nothini^ for it but to permit, in a kindly and liberal Sj)irit, the only system by which tb^y can bh educated agreeably to tlieir own con- aciences, and without perpetual misunderstandings with the rest of the poople. Thf syhtem is m.inifestly to let them educate ihemselves in lhi>ir own way." Dr. Kyer.son held strongly the view tlmt it w.t.-< better that Roman Catholics should be educated, even though the education should be in close connection with the teaching of Roman Catholic dogmas, than that the? should not be educated at ail. Vioiii Mr. Mowat'ii !Sp«>c('.li In lh« Lrgli«intare« Marrh ijntht 1800. The Ballot for Separate Schools.— "My own idea is* that the ballot would not make a particle of difference to the Roman Catholic clergy in school matters ; and it is for the Roman Catholic laity them- selves to say when the time has come fcr the adoption of the ballot sys- tem as regards their schools. For years there has been no petition for the ballot for Separate schools ; no resolution has been passed any- where in support of the ballot lor S(?parate Schools ; tU-'jre are ne^y^- papcrs support* d by the Roman Catholic laity, and none of tHese has hitherto asked for the ballot so far as I have seen. We have entirely failed to find any evi-^'ence that the Roman Catholic laity or any consider- able number of them are yet prepared for the ballot in their school elections. So far as there is any evidence either way, it goes strongly to prove the contrary." From Sir. .Wownt't Speech at Woodstock, December ?r«I, 1889. The Alleged "Subserviency to Rome" — Our assailants delight in general statements quite false, and usually unaccompanied with even the pretence of proof. In this way their tactics are to declare, however falsely, and to keep on declaring, that, Protestants as we are, we have sold ourselves to Rome ; that we procure the passing of just such laws as Rome through its Bishops or clergy, dictates or permits ; that we make just such appointments as the Roman Hierarchy choose to demand ; that we have entered into a conspiracy with that church to "destroy our Public Schools " ; and that we give to those who hold the Romish faith other un- just Advantages, to the prejudice of the Protestant faith. * * I need not tell the FrotesUnto of Oxford that all thii rituperation of our oppo% H tl l"^-* vr^.l ^^ c \^> ■4F'i'>^ ^■ Vvi: I' r 4. ent8 to '•atch Protestant votfis, is falsehood and folly. There has been no Belling, and no buying ; no dictating ; no demanding ; no subserviency ; no unjust or unjustifiable logialation , no conspiracy ; no price agreed on for the Roman Catholic vote ; no agreement of any kind for tho Roman Catholic or any other vote. I HAVE DSNTIBD EMPHATICALLY THE CHARGES AGAINST US OP SUBSERVIENCY, CON- SPIRACY AND LIKE CRIMES IN THE INTEREST OP THE CHURCH OP ROME, and yuM will mark this difterence between the assertions of our adversaries and my denial. They cannot pretend to know the things which they assert ; I KNOW THAT THE PACTS ARE AS I STATE THEM TO YOU. - * AS TO DICTATION BY ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS, IP THERE HAD BEEN ANY ATTEMPT OR A CLAIM TO DICTATE, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN RESENTED BY US. BUT THERE HAS BEEN NOTH- ING OF THE KIND TO RESENT. IP I HAD HAD IN LEGIS- LATION OR ADMINISTRATION TO YIELD TO DICTATES AND DEMANDS -£.S THE PRICE OP WHATEVER ROMAN CATHOLIC OR OTHER SUPPORT THE LIBERAL PARTY RECEIVED, THE GOVERNMENT WOULD HAVE COMB TO AN END LONG SINCE. IT WOULD HAVE COMB TO AN END. BECAUSE I WOULD NOT HOLD OPPICB ON ANY SUCH TERMS. ♦ * As for the offices given to Roman Catholics, it is not true that an excessive share has gone to Roman Catholics, or that the offices they have got have been given to them on the dictation or demand of their Bishops or clergy. On the contrary, the aggregate value of the offices to which Roman Catholics have been appointed is less, not more, than the proportion which Roman Catholics bear to the whole population of the Province. ♦ ♦ * Then as to the supposed influence of the bishops and clergy in the appoint ments made, this is the bugbear of our opponents' present tactics ; but the fact is, that the Roman Catholics appointed are invariably selected by our- selves or by the local member, just as the Protestants appointed are selected by ourselves or oy the local member, and adopted by us. Roman Catholic appointees are no more the choice of their bishops or clergy than Protestant appointees are the choice of theirs. I doubt if one appointee in ten, or perhaps one in twenty, of either class has had a recommendation or certifi- cate of bishop, clergyman or minister, Roman Catholic or Piotestant. We sometimes receive such recommendations, and far more of them from Pro- testant clergymen than from Roman Catholic. We are glad to receive them from either, especially when the applicant is not known to us person- ally. The recommendation or certificate of the clergyman, Protestant or r-'t y-t^/ "■ V Roman Catholic, assures us of the moral character of the applicant, and that his appointment would, so far as his pastor has thfj means of judging, be a fitting one ; and assures us of whatever else the clergyman may happen testate, r From Mr. Mowal'it l^peech a< Einbro, December, 1889- Ontario Protestantism not m Danger. — The Ontario Opposi- tion are just now affecting to be alarmed about danger to Protestantism ; but not, as in former days, from a Legislature in which Roman Catholic constituencies nearly equalled in number Protestant constituencies, and in which the Upper Canada Protestant majority was often overcome by com- binations with French Canadians. The pretended alarm of our political opponents now is from a Protestant Legislature, in which out of 90 mem- bers the Roman Catholics have never had more tlian eight or nine, includ- ing in this number Conservatives and Reformers ; a Protestant Legislature of a Province so Protestant that we Protestants are five times as numerous as the Roman Catholics ; and possess more than five times the wealth ; more than five times the number of merchants, manufacturers and other employers of labor j more than five times the number of school teachers and college professors ; more than five times the number of students and pupils attending the schools and colleges ; and more than five times the number of clergymen and other religious instructors ; and Protestants occupy in still larger proportion other positions of influence, such as wardens, reeves, mayors, municipal councillors, Provincial and Dominion oflBcers, judges, magistrates, architects, doctors, lawyers, surveyors, and so on. It was not legislation from constituencies so constituted, or from a Legislature so constituted, that Mr. Brown, as a strong Protestant, feared, or had reason to fear, further encroachments. His grievance as a Protest- ant and an Upper Canadian was, of legislation by a Legislature elected by constituencies so constituted that Protestant electors had not a representa- tion therein proportionate even to their numbers ; not to speak of their greater proportionj,te wealth or of other considerations; his complaint, was, of legislation for Upper Canada forced on it in such a Legislature by Lower Canada votes, notwithstanding vigorous resistance by a Protestant majority from Upper Canada. Whether an Ontario Government were Conservative or Reform, a pretence of serious danger under our present Constitution would, in Mr. Brown's eyes, strong Protestant though he was, be ridiculous and contrary to common sense ; and I venture to say that, when the present excitement passes awny, all intelligent Protestants, without distinction of party, will feel this, if they are not perceiving it already. ' ^. ' 1 J ' V } yj STAND TO YOUR GUNS. j^r\ %f THE MAGDONALD-M'GARTHY-MERIOITH PLOT TO DEFEAT MOWAT^ \ ^'■.1 though he ture to say Protestants, jerceiving i* i r TO THE ELECTORS. — If thero are an^ Reformers who still doul3t v.liat Dalton McCarthy and Meredith are simply oloeying Sir John Mac- donald's commands in trying to defeat Mo'wat ty means of the Eqnal Rights movement. I would like to give them the recent words of a Conserva- tive just fresh from the counsels of the Ottawa Chieftain, and who is quite familiar with hia political plans and purposes. He said :— " The whole thing is perfectly understood be- tween Sir John, McCarthy and Meredith, and McCarthy never makes a move in the campaign without consulting Sir John.'' This is the plot plain and palpahle. And do not the developements of the cam- paign prove it ? Esoept in Toronto (where Conservatives consider themselves strciig enough to do without Equal Righters) McCarthy and his Conservative allies are supporting Equal Rights candidates only against Reformers. The plan has a douhle purpose, namely, ta defeat Mowat and save Sir John, for if the fires of sectarian hate are fanned successfully against Mowat now, it is hcped that they nay die out of all hut Reform hearts before Sir John seeks re-election two years hence- Reformers everywhere should unmask, ezposs and repudiate the plotters. Let them close up their ranks, stand to their guns, and on June 5th bear forward to victc^ry once afi^ain the flac of theii* in^TiriWa laa^^ow y- m